Hinata Chronicles Chapter 49, a Naruto + Kingdom Hearts Crossover fanfic

Hinata Chronicles Chapter 49: Team 8 vs. The Cloaked Schemer

In Konoha, three weeks after the group left for training. . .

"So, the final preparations are complete?" Tsunade asked.

It was a clear, normal day outside, but inside was a serious atmosphere. Currently, she and her assistant, Shizune were in her office. Tsunade was sitting at her desk, papers and scrolls strewn atop it. Shizune was standing attentively in front of her desk, eyeing the papers worriedly and secretly looking for any sake bottles that shouldn't be there.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Shizune said. "Hinata and Naruto will be living together in a new apartment as planned."

"And the rest of the Hyuga clan?"

"They don't know. The only ones that do are Lord Hiashi, and his second daughter Hanabi."

"Good. You may go now." Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, my lady." Shizune said as she bowed and left.

With sharp hearing, Tsunade listened as her assistant's footsteps faded away. After they were completely gone, she sighed tiredly with relief and opened one of the desk drawers. Reaching in, she took out a bottle of sake and opened it.

"Naruto. . .you better be able to handle this when you get back. . ." she muttered before chugging down the bottle's contents. "And Jiraiya better get back here soon, too!"

In Radiant Garden. . .

The group returned to the cavern, feeling stronger then before thanks to the experience with the Heartless war that happened. After having a day of relaxation, they returned to the cavern, rested up and ready to take on the next member.

Naruto suddenly sneezed and he covered his mouth.

"You alright?" Kakashi asked as everyone looked at him; some in concern, other in confusion or both.

"Yeah, I'm alright, just getting a little cold. Naruto said. "Somebody must be talking about me." he thought.

"Well then," Xion started as everyone then turned back to her. She was standing in front of the door to the next member. "We're at the final six, supposedly the toughest members of the original organization," she continued.

"Jeez Xion, don't put that much pressure on us." Kiba muttered.

"Nervous, Kiba?" Ino jokingly asked.

Kiba growled at Ino and next to him, Akamaru did the dog-equivalent of a face-palm with the back of his paw. "No, it's just that the way she was describing these guys, they seem to be extremely tough."

Xion nodded. "And they are," she agreed. Stepping away to stand next to the door, they could see the silhouette of a book with an engraved Nobody symbol in it.

Instantly, eyebrows rose in incredulity. "A book?" Naruto said. "Seriously? What's this guy gonna do; Bore me to death with lectures?"

"Don't forget, no-balls," Sai said, ducking from the responding punch. "I fight with my sketchbook," he pointed out as he leaped away to avoid anymore attacks from an angry fox-container, teammate, and Hyuga heiress.

"Don't understate him," Xion said, gaining everyone's attention again. "Zexion is really tricky and loves to mess with your mind. From what I can remember and what Axel told me, he can trap you in that Lexicon of his."

She paused and crossed her arms. "I think it would be very helpful for Hinata to use her Byakugan and see through the illusions. Also. . . Isn't your teacher a master of illusions?"

"Kurenai-sensei's the best genjutsu user there is!" Kiba said proudly, Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Hmm. . ." Xion looked to the sky in contemplation for a moment before turning to Hinata and her teammates. "Well, how about the original Team 8 fights Zexion?"

"It could help sharpen their senses against illusions." Kakashi agreed.

"It'll be great to fight with you guys again," Hinata said as she smiled at her teammates.

"Heh," Kiba smirked. "Just like old times!"

"Indeed," Shino said with a smile that was covered by long scarf he wore.

Akamaru barked in agreement and padded up to Xion. The nindog then gave her a lick to the cheek, probably meaning that he was thanking her.

Xion couldn't help but laugh. "You're welcome Akamaru," She then noticed that the Fire and Steal Materia were equipped to his new collar. "I guess you like the collar huh?" She jokingly asked as Akamaru barked happily.

The other three members of Team 8 headed up to where Xion and Akamaru were. Kiba got on his partner's back.

"Alright! I can't wait to get started!" Kiba said as he rubbed Akamaru behind his ear, the nindog's tail wagging in response. "We're gonna give it everything we got!"

"Easy, Kiba," Xion said as she rubbed Akamaru's other ear. "You gotta remember not to fall for his tricks or it could be your down fall. He's a master of illusion."

"Xion's right Kiba," Shino said. "We all still remember what you told Akamaru to do against Saïx."

Kiba face-faulted a little but managed to keep his grip on Akamaru. "You guys aren't gonna let me live that down are you?"

Naruto and Choji chuckled a little but they were then glared at by Sakura and Ino, respectfully. "We'll be good." They said in unison.

"Ok. . .moving that out of the way," Kakashi said. "Are you four ready?"

"Yes!" The three said in semi-unison and Akamaru barked a 'yes'.

"Then you better head in there," Xion said, waving a hand to the door.

"Let's do this!" Kiba said as Akamaru ran in with Kiba on his back.

Shino felt like palming his face, but he just looked on and sighed as he calmly walked in.

"Be back soon," Hinata said as she quickly winked at Naruto and followed her teammates. The portal glowed a final yellow.

The rest of the group then huddled over the computer to watch the action unfold.

The first thing Team 8 noticed was that it was dark. Not pitch-black dark, but the arena was dim.

The second thing they noticed was that it was windy. Gusts blew from nearly all directions, whipping their clothes and hair to and fro. The winds were, thankfully, not strong enough to lift them off their feet.

Then they noticed just where they were. They were on a single piece of land that looked to be part of a beach. Instead of an ocean, it abruptly cut off into a drop that had a deep purple, almost black, substance below. Around the whole area, dark storm clouds tinged in purple swirled and rumbled, filled with thunder and lightning, but no rain. Pieces of rocks, of the same beach, floated in the air around. On their piece of land, the wind blew the sand around, slightly stinging, what plants there were, tropical flora and palm trees, were either crushed or a wilting brown, providing little to no shelter/cover. Broken planks of wood littered the edges and the remains of a bridge hanged off into the air from the land.

The whole place was desolate and ruined.

Outside, everyone was staring wide-eyed at the scene that greeted them on the monitor, some with mouths gaping.

"What. . ." Sakura muttered, a hand to her mouth in shock. "What is that place?"

There was only silence, but in the edge of his sight, Kakashi noticed that Xion was shaking. Badly. Her blue eyes were wide and lit with fear.

"Xion. . .?" Kakashi asked quietly. Everyone heard it and turned their attention to the ex-Organization member, most giving her concerned looks.

No answer. Kakashi stepped closer and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, making her jump. She looked around for a moment, before giving a shaky sigh and running a still trembling hand through her black hair.

"Xion?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"That's. . ." Xion tried to say, but it felt like there was a lump in her throat. She gulped before continuing. "That's what happens when the Heartless take over and find the heart to the world; covering it in darkness and engulfing it."

Everyone was shocked into silence; even Choji stopped his chip munching to gape in shock. Others have taken to looking at the screen in horror at the destruction it showed.

"No way. . ." Naruto muttered. "That's what happens when the Heartless take over!?"

Xion nodded numbly. Shikamaru, with sharp eyes, noticed the reluctance in her eyes as she gazed at the ground.

"That's not all," the lazy genius said. "Is it?"

Xion emitted a soft sound of distress before answering. "No. That's Destiny Islands when the Heartless came and took its heart."

It might not have been anymore possible for wide eyes to grow wider. They alternatively switched their gazes from the former replica, whose shoulders dropped seemingly in fatigue, to the screen and back. Naruto came up and placed a comforting hand on her other shoulder and she glanced back him to give him a grateful smile before turning her attention back to the ground, biting her lip.

Meanwhile, Sai was looking critically at the screen, eyes narrowed in concentration. Next to him, Shikamaru rose an eyebrow. "Sai?" he asked.

"I doubt you would have noticed, Pineapple-head," the artist said. "But where is Team 8? They're not on the screen."

This immediately took everyone's attention; even Xion as her head snapped up to look at the screen in surprise.

"What's going on?" she said quietly.

Back in the arena. . .

Kiba and Akamaru looked around in horror. They had never seen a destruction like this ever in their lives.

"Geez," Kiba muttered, still sitting atop Akamaru, whose tail was tucked between his legs. "Where do you guys think we are?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to where his teammates were.

There was no one. Shocked, Kiba leapt off his partner and spun around every direction in search of his teammates. But there was only the edges of the piece of land and the endless storm around it, dark and unwelcoming.

"Hinata?" he called out, Akamaru joining him with a series of barks. "Shino? Where are you guys!?"

Hinata looked around fearfully at the destruction around her. She remembered from what Xion and Master Yen Sid had told her; about what happens to a world when its heart is taken over by the Heartless. It's why the Keyblade was so crucial to the survival of the worlds; to lock away the world's heart so the Heartless would never get it.

What worried her the most was the fact that her teammates were missing. She had hoped that upon stepping through, Kiba and Shino would be waiting for her. But they weren't there.

Her Byakugan was activated, remembering from what Xion had said before that their opponent was an expert on illusions. But there was still no sign of her friends.

She was all alone.

Shino gazed at his surroundings silently, critically.

His eyes were hidden under his sunglasses and his mouth was covered by his scarf, which whipped behind him in the wind. But there were still indications of how upset and worried he was; the tense muscles and clenched fists. Below his skin, his bugs skittered to and fro in unrest.

For some reason, his plan went wrong. Earlier, when he had heard Xion's advice about their opponent's expertise in illusions, he had planted some of his female bugs on his teammates, just in case. But now, his bugs were confused, trying to find the scent that the planted bugs gave off and unable to.

He was about to send out more of his hoard when something strange happened.

"Huh?" Xion said, blinking in disbelief.

On the screen before the group, the destroyed land of Destiny Islands seemed to flicker for a while before something happened. It started to rain.

"But," the replica said confusedly. "It didn't rain when the Heartless took over."

Kakashi's eye narrowed in thought. "Xion," he said, making her turn to him. "Didn't you say that their opponent, Zexion, was a master of illusion?"

Xion blinked at him. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with the sudden rain?"

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "The rain itself could be an illusion. Maybe even what we're seeing on the monitor is an illusion itself and that's why we can't see our friends."

"Nor the enemy." Sai added in.

Xion's eyes widened slightly in realization. "You're right!" she then turned back to the computer and began messing with the controls. "Maybe I can bypass it with the computer. It'll probably take a while though; I don't much about computers myself." she explained as she continued to type away on the keyboard.

Naruto bit his lip as he turned back to the monitor. Added to the rain were flashes of lightning and the sky seemed to have grown dimmer, making the whole scene look ominous.

"Hinata. . . " he thought worriedly but determinedly. "Kiba. . . Shino. . . Stay strong and you'll all make it through this."

Back in the arena. . .

The storm had intensified. Lightning flashed purple and white and the clouds darkened, making the flashes almost blinding. The thunder roared in their ears and the winds picked up. But that was the least of Team 8's worries.

The rain. The rain hurt.

At first, it simply poured, drenching their clothes and making the ground mucky as it wet the sand underneath them. But in a split second, the rain changed to something else. It was no longer a bunch of drops of water. They stung like needles, seeming to pierce into their very skins. Thin paper-cuts appeared on whatever flesh was left exposed to the elements. The rain wasn't a numbing cold to soothe the stings, but not too warm either. The winds still whipped the sands around, getting the particles into the cuts and making them sting even more.

By now, puddles began to form on the piece of broken land. Whatever trees still standing groaned in the winds and swayed dangerously, threatening to fall over. The remains of the bridge creaked and some of its planks cracked, but it didn't fall off. . . yet.

Suddenly, streams of data appeared in front of each of the members of Team 8. They congregated and their opponent appeared. He looked young with his short stature and half of his face was hidden underneath a veil of sleet-blue bangs that reached to just passed his chin. The winds made his hair flutter slightly and his Organization coat whipped to and fro. Both became damp in the rain, but either than those, he looked to be unaffected by the elements and destruction around them.

The visible eye, a dark blue, was staring at them critically and he had a smirk on his face.

Back in the Cavern. . .

Xion was still typing away at the computer when suddenly, the screen above flickered. Static filled it for a moment before it went back to normal, showing the broken island with a noticeable difference.

"Hinata!" Naruto cried as his girlfriend appeared on the sand. Her hood was up as the rain pelted her body.

"Looks like I'm breaking through," Xion said in relief as she looked back up to the screen with a smile.

"Wait, where are Kiba and Shino?" Ino said worriedly, noticing that the Hyuga heiress was all alone on that piece of land.

"Must still be the illusion," Xion said before turning back to the keyboard and typing away at it. "Geez, I feel like Cid with all this typing. . ." she thought, sweat-dropping slightly.

The others watched as, in a stream of data, the sixth member of Organization XIII appeared.

Back in the arena with Hinata. . . .

Hinata quickly summoned her keyblade as soon as Zexion appeared. She glared at the cloaked member and assumed her battle stance.

"Now, now. Must we resort to violence?" The Cloaked Schemer calmly said, his voice strangely loud enough to be heard over the storm and his hands up in a pacifying gesture.

Kiba slowly lowered his guard and Akamaru began to relax as well. But the kunai was still in his hand and his partner's fangs were still bared at the Organization member.

They glared at the Nobody. "Where are Hinata and Shino? What did you do to them?!" he shouted over the storm angrily.

"Your friends are on other pieces of land; beyond the storm and hidden by the clouds." Zexion answered, the dark smirk having vanished into an emotionless face.

Shino lifted a hand to push his sunglasses back up his nose, it having slipped a little from the rain. "Alright," he said quietly, unseen by the scarf covering his mouth and unheard by the storm around them.

A bolt of lightning flashed by, illuminating the world around the combatants and nearly blinding them. A streamlined sound whipped through the air as a kunai streaked towards the illusionist. . .

. . . who promptly faded into black dust like the Heartless as soon as the kunai made contact.

"What the-?" Kiba yelled in surprise, Akamaru growling next to him.

"How deplorable. What did I say about violence?" a dark and ominous voice sounded, seemingly to come from everywhere around them.

Kiba and Akamaru only had a split second to dodge the lightning strike. It crashed into the ground, blowing more sand into the air and adding it to the gale.

Hinata lifted an arm to her head, trying to shield her face from the stinging elements, added by the recently thrown up sand. She was thankful that she was quick enough to dodge that lightning strike, but it wasn't over. The wind had picked up, and she had to either dodge or throw up a Reflect spell against the incoming debris that had been taken up by the storm.

She spun around and looked everywhere, trying to locate the illusionist with her Byakugan eyes. Nothing.

A palm tree, uprooted by the force of the storm, came her way and she ducked under it. She quickly threw a Reflect spell around herself when she noticed the planks of wood flying towards her. They bounced harmlessly off and continued to be thrown around by they winds.

"Relying on magic again, are we?" Zexion's voice sounded again, followed immediately by a boom of thunder. "But then again, you always were the weakest of the bunch. . . . especially to your clan."

"You bastard!" Naruto shouted angrily as he heard what the Cloaked Schemer said. "Hinata's one of the strongest people I know!"

"That's right!" Sakura agreed, even though they all knew that neither combatant could hear them.

"I have heard that your cousin knows and can execute all the clan's secret techniques," the Cloaked Schemer continued. "And what of you? You can barely perform the Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation. At least, not without exhausting yourself afterwards," he added as though in afterthought.

Hinata was running around, leaping and ducking to avoid flying debris. She faltered mid-step when he mentioned Neji and paid dearly when a plank smacked the back of her head. She fell to the ground, managing to catch herself on her forearms to avoid a face-plant.

Lightning flashed and she saw a shadow looming over her rapidly. She quickly rolled out of the way as a tree fell where she once was, throwing more sand into the air. She rolled back to her feet and threw up a Reflect spell to shield herself from the lightning strike.

"You can't even save your cousin," Zexion sneered. "And you call yourself a Keyblade Master."

"So what?!" Hinata yelled into the winds. "I've still got my friends and they'll help me get Neji back! And Sasuke too!"

"Ah, but you must remember," the Cloaked Schemer continued, as though he didn't even hear the heiress' protest. "If you hadn't been able to summon that keyblade, you wouldn't have been able to beat him. His defeat is what drove him to the Darkness. And all because of YOU!"

Hinata froze, pearl orbs widening in horror. In her mind's eye, she saw the humiliation and anger in Neji's eyes before falling unconscious. To be beaten by someone who was clearly weaker than himself; and in front of the Hokage! Her mind turned over what the illusionist said; the facts he provided and made her realize.

"It's true. . ." she thought despairingly. If she hadn't had beaten Neji, he wouldn't have been so tempted by the Darkness, by Ansem. It was all her fault!

Tears began to gather at the edges of her eyes but were quickly swept away by the rain and winds. She continued to dodge the flying debris, but halfheartedly and was getting more scratched up

"Shall we see what would have happened if you had lost? If you had not summoned the Keyblade?" the voice asked.

Outside, the screen flickered. It was soon filled with dark grey static.

"Huh? What's going on?!" Tenten cried in distress.

"I don't know!" Xion answered as she continued to type away at the computer.

Everyone behind her was clearly in a state of distress and anger; worry for their friends and anger at the illusionist. Naruto seemed the most agitated, glaring angrily at the portal where his girlfriend and her teammates had disappeared into. His eyes were narrowed and fox-red with slit pupils.

"I think I've got something!" Xion called and everyone turned their attention back to the monitor.

The static-filled screen flickered and an image began to form. They were once more seeing the broken island, full of wind and rain and lightning. But instead of Hinata, there was someone else.

Kiba and Akamaru ran around the piece of land, throwing up wet sand in their wake. They leaped, they ducked, they rolled and they slid as they dodged as much debris and lightning strikes as they could.

"So what if we weren't able to bring Sasuke back?!" he yelled indignantly, Akamaru running beside him. "That's why we're here! To train! To get stronger so that we can bring him back next time!"

Akamaru barked next to him before having to leap above a fallen tree trunk. "And Neji, too!" Kiba added in as he, too, jumped over the trunk before it was lifted away into the winds.

"But you weren't able to defeat either Ukon and Sakon. They survived and they severely injured your partner, did they not?" the (very annoying) voice asked. "You both had to be saved by one of the Sand shinobi."

Kiba grit his teeth and Akamaru growled. "So?! They're our friends! We would have done the same thing, too!"

"Your dog was gravely injured, no? If you had been stronger, then he would haven't had suffered so. Ripped tendons in all four of his limbs? And all you received were simple lacerations. How could you have let that happened? And he was only a young puppy at the time, too." Zexion droned on, voice tinged in what sounded like sadness and disappointment.

Kiba grit his teeth to keep himself from crying out in agitation and distress. Guilt and despair settled deep within his heart at the illusionist's words. He remembered seeing the nindog lying in a heap on the ground after he had escaped Ukon and Sakon. He had nearly cried out in relief when the vet said that Akamaru was going to survive from such injuries. But when his sister told him the severity of the nindog's injuries, he couldn't stop the guilt; especially when he compared his own injuries to that of his partner's.

He was let off easy. It was Akamaru that suffered greatly so in that battle.

It was getting harder and harder to dodge the debris. He wasn't sure if the water on his cheeks were from the rain. . . . . or from the tears that had escaped. Akamaru, sensing his partner's grief, kept ever closer to him.

"Your clan must be so disappointed in you to have let it happen," the sixth member said.

"This guy," Naruto growled. "He's horrible."

Everyone else around him in the cavern couldn't have agreed more. Fists were clenched and all eyes, narrowed or otherwise, were glaring up at the screen.

"The Inuzuka clan is not only known for their advanced sense of smell and other enhanced senses, but also for their teamwork with their canine partner. They can understand them like no other and in turn, their partner's are extremely loyal to their human," the Cloaked Schemer said.

"You have failed not only in the mission, but to the clan as well," Zexion sneered. "Do you know why you had the less severe injuries compared to your partner?"

Kiba didn't answer, too busy sliding under the a large piece of what looked like the leftover roof of a hut. Beside him, Akamaru dodged to the side before regrouping with him.

"He was protecting you. If you hadn't been so weak, if you had been more attentive, then you could have dodged the strike from your opponents. But, no. Because of your foolishness, Akamaru was left severely wounded, with little hope to recover. It's all YOUR fault!" the voice, that annoying and ominous voice, spat in disgust.

A gigantic flash of lightning struck the center of the island piece, illuminating the world in bright purple and white, blinding everyone. The following thunder drowned out all other noise.

Back in the cavern. . .

The moment the lightning struck the island, everyone covered their eyes from the flash that lit up the whole cavern. At first, they thought that they were being transported to see another vision. But the sound of static countered that assumption.

Blinking the spots out of their eyes, they looked up to see that grey static had once more filled the screen.

Tenten let out a groan of frustration. "Ugh, not again!" she cried out angrily.

Xion was tapping furiously at the computer, trying everything she could think of. She tried to recreate the same coding like before, but it wasn't working. Frustrated, she slammed her hands on the keyboard.

The screen suddenly flickered like before. It was slower this time, but the image recreated itself and everyone's attention was once more redirected to it.

Shino was in a bind and he knew it. He couldn't send out his bugs, one of his greatest assets, because the rain and wind would just blow them away or pierce them. He was also beginning to feel tired from running and moving around so much.

He rolled away from a lightning strike and was soon back to his feet before running again.

"It is no wonder that you weren't chosen to go on the Sasuke retrieval mission," Zexion said after a long period of silence, excluding the sounds of the storm. "You're not very helpful, are you?"

Shino stayed silent except for a grunt or two as a stray stick or plank of wood managed to hit him. He kept to his feet, though and didn't stop moving.

"Ah, but maybe you could have helped your friends somehow," the Cloaked Schemer said in contemplation. "Perhaps helped Kiba and Akamaru from sustaining those severe injuries. Or maybe even help Hinata in her trauma at the revelation about Neji."

Shino looked as emotionless as ever, though stained in sweat, rain, and fatigue. But inside, he was frustrated. He trusted Shikamaru's judgment, the boy was a genius after all, but still. . . . . it aggravated him to no end that he couldn't have helped somehow.

"But then again, you aren't exactly a people-person," Zexion continued as Shino quickly leaped away from another lightning strike. "Ironic, no? You, whose insects rely heavily on teamwork and cooperation, can barely get along with his own teammates, much less comfort them."

Leap left. Roll. Jump then sidestep. Leap right, run before jumping again. Bend and duck.

Shino continued to pour his attention to the debris, to dodging. Trying to focus more on surviving than the ravaging frustration in his heart.

He knew he was rather anti-social. Hinata was once as anti-social as him because of her shy nature, but ever since beating Neji, her confidence has grown in leaps and bounds. Kiba had matured over the years, but was still his confident, friendly self.

But what of him? He still had his 'nitpick' attitude. He still got into arguments with Kiba, though not as much anymore. He was still awkward in comforting others whenever the situation called for it.

Except for differences that were too subtle to take note of, he hadn't changed. He hadn't changed at all.

"It must have been traumatizing for her to find out that her own blood, her cousin, had turned traitor and is so set on killing her," Zexion's voice said. "It was given for Naruto to be the one to comfort her greatly. Their affections for each other are strong. But what of you? You're her teammate. You had spent lots of time with her during training and missions; how well do you actually know her to help her? To comfort her?"

"How well do they actually know you?"

"Oh, come on!" Ino yelled indignantly. "What the heck is wrong with this thing?"

"Damn it all!" Naruto snarled.

Everyone else were also agitated and frustrated with this turn of events. Even Kakashi and Sai, though it was harder to see because of their blank faces. It was clear that though the Cloaked Schemer looked harmless, he was not to be messed with or underestimated.

"If that's just the first of the remaining six," Sai stated. "Then they truly are powerful."

"Yeah. . ." Tenten agreed.

Sakura bit her lip, green eyes brimming with worry. "Do you think we can defeat the rest of them?" she asked Kakashi.

Before he could reply, however, Naruto interrupted. "Of course we can!" he said reassuringly, though his clear blue eyes were also full of anxiety and a tinge of fear. "Besides," he added as he looked back to the static-filled screen. "There's no way that Hinata and the others will let this jerk stop them! They won't give up! I know it!"

Xion was typing furiously at the keyboard. She slammed her hands on the keyboard once or twice to see if she could reproduce the same results as before, but it wasn't working. She also didn't want to risk breaking the computer and, therefore, their only visual aid in seeing what was happening with their friends; even if they couldn't see anything. . . yet.

She was sorely tempted to copy what Roxas did with the data Old Mansion's computer and take a literal whack at the machine with her keyblades.

She heard the last few words Naruto said and smiled. "That's right," she thought. "Hinata's changed over the few years and I know she'll never give up. And I think you helped, too, Naruto."

Suddenly, a strange whirring sound filled the air above the quiet murmur of the Konoha shinobi. Everyone looked around for the source of the noise, muscles tensing in case it was an attack of some sort.

"Huh?" Choji said as he caught the sight of something from the side of the computer.

All attention went to the computer. Blue electrical sparks climbed the sides of it and the static on the screen was replaced in a solid, blue glow. If Cid were there, he would call it the 'Blue Screen of Death,' but it wasn't because instead of the bright blue, it was ten shades darker.

Suddenly, the whole computer itself flashed the same dark blue, causing everyone to blink or flinch away for a moment. Looking back after blinking the spots away, they saw that dark blue sparks flew from the computer to land harmlessly on the ground. The whirring sound got louder and to their startled amazement, parts of the computer began to move.

The arms containing two other monitors began to rotate to the front where the keyboard was. The frontal monitor moved inward slightly and the other two monitors moved next to it while seeming to expand at the same time. With a final, mechanized clang, the other two monitors locked themselves next to the main monitor, one on each side.

The blue glow on the now three-screen computer started to fade away. Once more, there was the sight and sound of static. But those, too, began to fade as images began to form on each of the three monitors.

The image of the dark and desolate piece of Destiny Islands greeted them, but what made some of them gasp was the sight of who was on it.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shino!" Naruto yelled in anxiety; for indeed, their friends were depicted on the monitors. But there was something, or many things, wrong with the images.

Firstly, they still didn't appear to be on the same space. The monitors each show the same area of the broken piece of land as though copied the same image onto each monitor. But the only difference between each one was that there was a different member(s) of Team 8 in each scene. Hinata was in the middle, Shino to the right, and Kiba on the left monitor.

Secondly, there appeared to be a dark, transparent form of Zexion in front of each member of Team 8. He appeared to have been injured slightly, holding his stomach and patting out something on one of his shoulders. A slight puff of smoke followed after each pat as though his shoulder was hit with a small flame.

Finally and the most worrisome, was how each of their friends looked. A clear liquid streamed down their cheeks, but it was hard to tell if they were just from the rain. . . or from tears.

In the middle monitor, Hinata's legs were folded beneath her and her hands were clenching the sand on either side. Even though her hood had fallen off, her head was bowed and her bangs hid most of her expression, especially her eyes. But they could see that she was biting her bottom lip as though to keep herself from saying, or sobbing, something. It hard to tell with the constant movement of the storm, but they could see that her shoulders were shaking.

To the right, Shino looked to be in a better state than the Hyuga heiress. But not by much. He was still standing, but stiffly so and his own shoulders drooped as though in utter defeat. The sunglasses and scarf hid most of his face away, but his fists were clenched to his sides and there seemed to be a bit of blood leaking between the fingers, only to be washed away by the rain. The flashes from the lightning only made the streams on his face more prominent.

Kiba and Akamaru were nearly altogether different from the images of their teammates on the left monitor. Kiba was on his hands and knees, head bowed so most of his face was unseen from the overhead camera. But his whole body was shaking and wet sand toppled from between his fingers as he fisted the ground beneath him.

Before him, Akamaru was barking maddeningly at both the faded form of Zexion and at his own partner.

Everyone was in a state of shock and horror. One thing, one question, ran through their minds:

What happened?

~*flashback*~

Shino brought an arm to his face and buried his mouth into his scarf to shield himself from a huge gust of soaked sand. A flash of lightning, close but thankfully not striking him, further blinded him and the following boom of thunder rattled his ears.

For a while, he couldn't hear anything. He had to rely only on his sight to dodge the debris and lightning strikes. But sound gradually returned and he was half-relieved and half-suspicious that Zexion had fallen silent. There was nothing but the storm and his own panting breaths.

Suddenly, a piercing howl filled the air, louder than the winds and thunder. Shino froze and watched in horror, mouth dropping, as something big, pale, and red fell from the sky above, pass the edges of his broken piece of land. A dark blur closely followed after it, positioned straight like an arrow or a kunai.

He recognized them. Fucking hell, he knew them. The pale blur was Akamaru, falling freely and nearly unrecognizable with all that blood, seemingly dead. The other figure was Kiba, who had his arms straight out in front of him, hands reaching for his beloved partner and eyes wide in desperation despite the tears. He, too, was badly injured with numerous cuts and tears on his body, even through the clothes.

A final, bright blur streaked through the air towards the two partners, ripping his attention away from the horrifying sight. It was Hinata, also bloody and injured, and she was crying, but with desperately determined eyes. She was riding her Keyblade Rider and racing to Akamaru and Kiba, who had finally reached the nindog and wrapped his arms around the blood soaked, furry neck.

But before Hinata could reach them, a lightning struck her Rider, causing it crash into the broken piece of land and then flash. It returned to its regular Keyblade form and because of the momentum and speed of the crash landing, was thrown far away and off the edge.

That flash broke Shino out of his horrified trance. He ran as fast he could to the edge after Hinata, who had quickly gotten up and raced to the edge herself. She stopped before she could fall off and, on her hands and knees now, reached an arm out to her comrades.

There was too much distance. They were too far away. They could only watch as both teammates fell far past the edge of the island piece.

Shino reached the edge by that time and stared in numb horror as his two closest friends disappeared beneath the clouds. A lightning bolt flashed in front of his sight and they were gone; lost to the depths of the storm and the dark sea far below.

He could barely hear anything now, so numb was he. Not the storm. Not the thunder. Not even Hinata as she sobbed her heart out.

Another flash of lightning, but it was brighter than ever before. He shut his eyes against the light and suddenly the storm seemed to have disappeared. Opening them, he saw that he and Hinata were back in the Cavern. He looked around hopefully, but Kiba and Akamaru were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, everyone crowded around Hinata. Naruto had his arms wrapped tightly around her and she sobbed with her face in his chest. All around, everyone offered their sorrow and some, like Sakura, were crying with her. They were all trying to comfort her.

But not him. He was ignored. No one came to him. He was still numb to almost everything around him as the horrifying reality of having lost a dear friend slammed into him. After that quick look around, his eyes remained trained on the ground below him. Everything around him seemed to have faded away.

Well, almost everything. Hinata's heart wrenching sobs echoed in his ears, louder than ever before. The sounds resonated in his heart, adding to the pain already set there.

"See?" a voice in his head sneered. "You just stood by as they fell. And here you are again; standing by. That guy was right. You can't even bring yourself to comfort her."

It was true. He could have saved them; send out a huge swarm, probably all of his hoard, to capture them like a cloud. He had enough. But, no. He just watched it all and he was doing it again! Watching!

He needed to comfort her. He should comfort her. She was in a worse condition than he was; AT LEAST SHE TRIED! To see her attempt to rescue them fail must of been, in fact was, traumatizing. Why wasn't he there? What was he doing here? He had to get over there! He had to comfort her! He had to!

He released a shaky breath and shuddered, still unnoticed by everyone else, even the sharp-eyed Kakashi. But before he could take a single step, the whole world around him flickered and wavered.

Static filled his vision for a brief second, but it was enough. Because in that split second, he realized just how badly he had been played the fool.

Zexion suddenly vanished. Hinata tensed, readying herself in case of an offensive strike. But instead, the world around her wavered before, with a flash, it changed completely.

She looked around, Byakugan activated. She then realized that she was just outside the stadium for the third and final part of the Chunin exams, the one after the preliminaries. Before her was the gate that would lead to the inside arena.

She suddenly whipped around at the sound of running. Running towards her was a pair of young boys, one of the locals. She began to sidestep out of their way when a familiar voice filled the air. "You don't have to do that, you know. . ." Zexion said.

Hinata froze midstep and the her pale eyes widened at what happened next. The two young boys ran right through her like air. It was as if she wasn't there at all. Like she was a ghost.

She watched in shock as the boys continued on their way, not giving her any glance or notice. Suddenly, she heard a great cheer from inside the stadium.

"Why not take a look?" Zexion asked. "It sounds like the tournament is about to start."

"It could be a trap," was her first thought. That was reasonable enough; he was a master of illusions after all and because this was an illusion itself, who knew what dangers lurked?

"But he hasn't lied so far, right?" was her next thought. She remembered what he said earlier; of how it was her fault that Neji had turned to the darkness. And she believed it. That dark aura she had seen surrounding her cousin looked more like a dark grey now that she thought about it.

It was also her fault that Neji had become so dark at all. Because she was the heiress of a powerful clan, she was a valuable target. When a ninja from Kumogakure, her father had killed the kidnapper. But because Konoha had signed a peace treaty with that village earlier, her uncle, Hizashi, had been sent in place of her own father to stop a war. Hizashi was Neji's father and losing him was no doubt traumatizing enough for him to be so cold, especially to her.

And besides all that, she was curious. What would have happened, had she lost? With her defeat, what would have Neji done?

She gulped and then mustered her courage. She would never know until she found out herself. She took a deep breath and entered the gate.

Hinata blinked as she found herself inside the arena. She watched in shock as her boyfriend, Naruto, and Neji faced each other down. Genma was also there, standing between the two.

"This truly is a vision," she thought. Naruto and Neji were younger here. That dark aura around Neji was definitely a dark grey instead of the deep black and purple that she saw now.

The vision continued and she watched in shock and ever-growing grief as the match began. It was obvious that Naruto was getting beat by Neji's pure skill and genius. But what hurt the most were the words being exchanged, the argument between their different ideas of fate; of how it was inescapable to Neji and changeable to Naruto.

She admired how Naruto never gave up, continuing the fight even after it was almost declared in Neji's favor. She was further surprised to see Neji perform the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms strike and the Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation, which were attacks only those of the main branch were able to perform. But then again, she should have expected it, after what Zexion said.

In the last few moments of the fight, tears streamed down her cheeks and her eyes widened in shock. Despite having all of his chakra closed off, he managed to control and use the Fox's chakra. The following, final clash created an explosion that spread smoke all around.

After the smoke cleared, the two combatants had disappeared into two craters on either side of the appearing examiner. With bated breath, Hinata watched as Neji slowly and painfully pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to the other crater. Naruto lied there, unconscious.

"Sorry," he said to Naruto's form, not sounding sorry at all. "But this is reality. You're a failure."

"This match is over!" Neji declared.

A crumbling, crunchy sound. A fist shot out of the ground followed by an orange-clad body. With a yell, Naruto gave a sharp uppercut to her cousin.

Neji laid there on the ground, unable to move. The Naruto in the crater burst into a cloud of smoke, revealing that it was a shadow clone. In the crater was a hole leading underground.

Hinata listened as Naruto told of how he failed the Graduation Exam 3 times because of nearly the same jutsu; the Clone jutsu. But now, the Shadow Clone jutsu had become his specialty.

"You can do it, too. Because unlike me, you're not a failure." Naruto finished.

Genma declared Naruto Uzumaki the winner and the crowd cheered. Hinata couldn't help herself but cheer along with them.

Suddenly, there was great flash and she shut her eyes against it. Blinking the spots away, she found herself in an infirmary. On one of the beds was Neji, lying stock still and a faraway look in his eyes.

Hinata and the two medic-nins there turned to the door as it opened. Her father, Hiashi, entered. The two medics were dismissed, though after a little protest and there were only Neji, Hiashi, and Hinata.

After they left, Neji struggled into a sitting position. Hinata listened as her father retold that day when Hizashi was killed. Neji protested and the Hyuga lord reached into his robes to pull out a scroll. He left it next to Neji, who ignored it at first. But then, his eyes widened and he picked it up, opened it, and began to read.

Unable to escape curiosity's hold, Hinata slowly walked up to them and began to read the scroll as well. What was written on there shocked her. Hizashi wrote it and revealed that he sacrificed himself to take his brother's place, who had originally accepted the position and protested against the replacement, not only for his own brother, but for his son as well. To do so, would keep the village and Neji safe.

He had done so out of his own freewill. He chose death to protect his village and his family, not the clan. He defied the clan and chose his own fate.

Hinata couldn't stop the tears from flowing, a hand to her mouth in shock as she finished reading. Beside her, Neji's shoulders shook.

She was still gazing at the scroll, but a soft gasp startled her out of her thoughts and she turned. She, too, gasped at the sight of her father, the head of the Hyuga clan, bowing with his head to the floor to Neji, a member of the Branch family. He begged for forgiveness and there was a pause that seemed to stretch across all of time.

The Hyuga prodigy finally looked away, face darkened, and told him to not bow. Another flash and Hinata found herself standing in front of the window, Neji standing next to her. All of a sudden, a voice filled her mind; her cousin's voice.

She listened in shock as Neji's views of fate changed. He was confused on what exactly the idea of fate was; but it was no longer just set in stone or like a cloud victim to the winds' currents. She stifled a gasp as Neji declared that his goal, his new goal, was to get stronger so that he wouldn't be defeated again.

But there was an underlying motive, she could feel it in her heart even if this was all just an illusion. It was like young Riku's reason to go to other worlds; to protect those he cared about.

Suddenly, the entire illusion seemed to shatter before her very eyes. She was once more standing on the broken piece of island, though her knees felt weaker.

"You see?" Zexion's voice boomed, accompanied by a flash of lightning. "You see for yourself what your foolish actions have done! If you hadn't had defeated your cousin, he wouldn't have been filled to the brim with hatred and vengeance; therefore the darkness."

That was it. She was sobbing loudly now as she broke down, tears streaming from her pearl orbs to join with the piercing rain. It was her fault. All her fault!

A lightning bolt flashed and numerous images filled her head, the following thunder unable to block out the voices that accompanied them. Images and scenes of Neji taking her place on the Sasuke Retrieval mission and how he declared that Naruto would be able to save the Uchiha from the darkness just like he did to the Hyuga prodigy; of how he made peace with her father and slowly warmed up to everyone, even her, practicing with her to improve her Gentle Fist skills; of how Tenten would joke around with him, causing him to blush, and the slight affection in both of their eyes. She even saw a scene where they were fighting off a bunch of strange humans with pure white skin, fighting together seamlessly.

"He could have changed for the better!" Zexion continued.

As the images and voices continued to pour into her mind, she gripped her head between her hands and sunk to her knees. Her cries of inner pain went unheard and her tears were lost to the storm.

Her eyes were clenched shut tight. But soon, they snapped open at a strange sound, heard over the ravaging storm and the voices. She slowly looked up and then the world around her seemed to waver. Suddenly, static filled her vision, stopping the flow of scenes.

Another flash of lightning and she saw it. It was there for less than a second, but even through the rain and tears, the image was clear.

It was a shadowy form of Zexion and he appeared to have been injured.

Kiba brought an arm to his face to block out the flash. At the same time, he tried in vain to wipe away the rain that had managed to get into his eyes.

He looked back up only to stare in shock. Cliffs stood tall around them, their shadows imposing; terrifying. To the side, a stream bubbled blue. The air was thick in sweat and blood.

Kiba and Akamaru were back in the canyon where they fought Sakon and Ukon.

A sudden gust blew through the canyon, followed by an explosion of smoke from up on the cliffs. Kiba and Akamaru turned to look, recognizing it as the cliff where they had fallen with the brothers. However, no figure fell from the cliffs and when the smoke blew away, it was empty.

Sudden chuckling made them spun around to in front of them. Before them was a familiar demonic-looking wall. It was one of the ultimate defenses, known as Summoning: Rashōmon. However, there was a big dent as though something big had tried to break through.

Chuckling, echoing slightly, ripped their gazes away as Kiba and Akamaru began to look around, tensing themselves further. The wall suddenly exploded in a great big cloud of smoke and a shadow-y figure could be seen. As the smoke cleared, the figure revealed itself to be Sakon and Ukon, merged into each other. They were in the second stage of the curse mark, their skin red and a horn protruding from each of their heads.

Sharp fangs stuck out over their lips as they smiled wickedly at the duo. "What are you in the mood for, brother?" One head, Sakon, said.

"Rippin' them apart," the other head, Ukon, replied.

Kiba tensed, getting ready to dodge the charge he knew they would do. Even though the wall was already summoned, who knew if they could do it again?

"But, oh," Ukon suddenly said. "Why don't we use the new power Lord Orochimaru granted us? It should make this more enjoyable."

"Oooh, good point, brother," Sakon said, his grin going wider. "I do feel like showing off."

Their already dark red skin grew darker until it was an inky black. Their hair and clothes soon followed until they became nothing more than a silhouette or a shadow. Two pairs of glowing yellow eyes glared at the duo.

Kiba's eyes widened at these change of events. He watched with a gaping mouth as the Heartless-like brothers slammed their hands to the ground and the Rashōmon wall was summoned again in a cloud of smoke. Then it, too, darkened and the brothers seemed to merge with it.

In a flash dark light, Kiba and Akamaru looked at the new form the brothers had taken. The wall was still demonic looking with big spikes protruding from the top and black chains connecting them. Like engravings or gargoyles, the brothers, separated from one solid body, were merged with the wall, one half of their bodies from a shoulder down. They have also turned more animal-looking with big, bat-like ears (colored in jagged stripes of yellow and black) and purple spiky collars encasing their whole necks. Spikes tipped in dark red protruded from what little of their backs were available. The bottom of their bodies were further integrated into the wall and had turned into wisps that overlapped each other until it separated into golden swirls. Around the waist-area were tan wraps like the robes they've worn before. Between the two figures were more claws that seemed to covering a large dent. Their arms were thick in muscles and had three fingers tipped in sharp, dark red claws. Around the each wrist was a thick, spiked, and dark red wristband and tied to each were black chains that ended in a large weight, effortlessly carried by their increased strength. They had jagged mouths and their eyes were the same unearthly yellow of the Heartless, though outlined in red.

The two brothers looked at each other before pounding fists, the chains jingling, and glaring at Kiba and Akamaru. They reared their fists back and the pair leapt away as a fissure appeared from the following punch to the ground. The pair had to keep jumping around to dodge the other shockwaves.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the Heartless-like brothers stopped, seemingly tired. By this time, Kiba and Akamaru were hidden behind two large stalagmites that barely managed to hide them. As they tried to catch their breaths, Kiba tried to think of any way to defeat their transformed opponents.

Beside him, Akamaru nudged Kiba's hand and gave a short growl. Kiba blinked out of his thoughts. "Hm? What is it? You've got an idea on how to beat this thing?" he asked.

Akamaru nodded and pointed with his muzzle to the brothers, who were looking around for them. Kiba looked closer and noticed the dent in the middle of the wall.

He smirked and turned back to his partner. "Heh, good eye buddy," he said. "It looks like that their new upgrade couldn't heal that dent. But how are we going to get past those thorns?"

Akamaru suddenly barked and Kiba looked back up to see a giant, chained weight coming his way. It was flying too fast for him to react, much less dodge.

A furry weight knocked him off his feet and out of the weight's path. Time seemed to slow down as he watched with mind-numbing horror as Akamaru, his nindog, his partner, his best friend. . .

. . . took the hit for him.

A loud, hoarse noise filled the air and it took him a while to recognize it as his own screaming. He soon got back to his feet and ran to his beloved friend, unknowingly dodging the second weight that was about to crush him.

Reaching Akamaru, he found him to be a bloody mess, nearly unrecognizable. One of his limbs at an odd angle and for a moment, he thought him to be dead. But a whimper, however soft, instantly dispelled such thoughts and Kiba drew a shaky breath. The slight rising and falling of his chest only further relieved him.

A familiar, booming voice rattled his ears. "Now look," Zexion droned. "He tried to protect him and now he's dead."

"He's not dead, you bastard!" Kiba snapped, but the illusionist only chuckled darkly.

Gritting his teeth, he turned back to his friend and instantly froze. He was no longer breathing, the chest having stopped moving. "Akamaru?" he whispered shakily, disbelieving.

"Akamaru?" he repeated louder, reaching out with a trembling hand to see if he can shake his friend awake. But his partner was stiff and didn't respond with neither whimper nor twitch of acknowledgement.

"Akamaru!?" he yelled, shaking the body with both hands. Tears poured from his eyes, but he didn't notice. Unable to accept that his best friend had died, he didn't stop trying to shake the nindog awake.

"AKAMARU!"

Akamaru kept barking at his fallen partner, both paws trying to shake the teen awake. Nothing.

"See?" Zexion, the hateful illusionist, sneered, "You couldn't protect him like before. You can't protect anyone."

Rage flowed through his veins and Akamaru finally, slowly stopped shaking his partner's body. He looked down, eyes shadowed and hackles raised. He barely acknowledge the sound of weights being dragged back for a second round.

Akamaru turned around, head still kept down. At the sound of echoed chuckling, that sounded more like rumbles. he snapped his head up to growl menacingly at the brothers. His jaws were hot and only getting hotter. A strange feeling began to build up in his throat.

Another sound, a third chuckle, though considerably darker. His sharp hearing quickly caught its location over the storm and the blood pumping in his ears. He turned his head in the direction of the third chuckling, who he knew to be Zexion, the real cause, and he barked loudly.

But something strange happened. The moment Akamaru barked, a fireball shot out of his jaws; an actual fireball.

The fireball was too quick and too hot to be diminished by the rain, so powered by rage and grief as it was. The fireball hit something that wasn't there before, followed by a shout of pain.

The world around the nindog was filled with static for a moment. Afterwards, he recognized that they were back on the broken piece of land. The brothers were gone, but in their place a slightly transparent shadow.

It was Zexion and he was injured.

A sudden sob caught his attention and he snapped his head to see, in amazement, that Kiba was on his hands and knees next to him. His eyes had a faraway look to them and tears streamed from them to join the rain. Akamaru quickly came to the conclusion that his partner was still trapped by the illusion. With that, he began barking at his master while also keeping an eye on the wounded illusionist.

~* end flashback*~

Kiba was sobbing loudly as he continued to shake the. . . the. . .the body of his best friend. Still, Akamaru was still and his own movements began to slow down.

But then something amazing happened. As he gave one more last shake to the fur soaked in blood, Akamaru's form seemed to flicker slightly before disappearing in numbers and static. At the same time, he felt a sharp pain on his forearm. The world around him flickered and then dissolved away in the same manner as "Akamaru."

Kiba gasped as he suddenly found himself on his hands and knees, soaked sand beneath him. His throat hurt and his eyes stung. The pain on his arm had lessened, but it still felt like something bit him.

". . .Bit. . .him. . ." Kiba's eyes widened and he quickly looked up and around. He realized that he was back on the broken piece of land. But what caught his immediate attention and set pure joy and relief in his heart was the fact that his partner, his nindog, his best friend was standing next to him, healthy and uninjured except for small scratches.

Akamaru was alive. Alive!

He couldn't stop himself as he turned and wrapped his arms around the big dog's collared neck, crying out his name. He buried his nose in his friend's fur, soaked not in blood but rain. He listened intently for the strong heartbeat and every 'thump' of the dog's big heart sent another jolt of elation and relief into his own heart.

But then Akamaru, the sound reverberating in his throat. The vibration caused Kiba to look up questionably. "Akamaru?" he said, voice hoarse and scratchy.

Akamaru wasn't looking at him but at something in front of the pair. Before he could turn to look, however, flames appeared at the edges of Akamaru's maw. He watched in amazement when Akamaru barked and a fireball was sent flying.

His wide eyes followed after it and was surprised when it hit its target, drawing a short cry of pain. It was Zexion, or at least a faded shadow of him.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed.

Everyone, even Sai and Kakashi, was amazed when Akamaru barked out a fireball at Zexion. Even though it was smaller than the Firagas they've seen Xion and Hinata cast, it was still powerful enough to injure the illusionist. Because of its small size, it was also faster, leaving no time for the sixth member to dodge.

"Looks like a simple Fire spell," Xion commented. "I bet if he practices, it could get stronger and evolve the Materia. Then he might even be able to use a Firaga spell."

"Alright!" Tenten said joyfully. "Glad I got him that collar! I've got to thank Nathan and Yuffie when all this is over."

"Go Akamaru!" Ino cheered.

"And look," Kakashi pointed out as he switched his gaze to the other screens. "Now that Zexion's concentration is broken, the other two are coming out of their own illusions."

Naruto immediately turned to the middle screen, concern for his girlfriend returning in full. Xion joined him shortly afterwards and the others split in watching the three screens between themselves.

Shino kept his face to Zexion's injured form, but his eyes, hidden by his sunglasses, looked around and tried to regain his bearings. The Cavern and his friends had flickered away in a burst of static and numbers and he was back on the broken land piece. The storm raged on, but the rain had lessened somewhat.

His face was stoic, but his fists were clenched in anger. Anger at the Cloaked Schemer for the illusion and at himself for falling for it.

Though it was true that he wasn't as extrovert as Kiba and now Hinata, he wasn't entirely useless. He remembered during their training sessions together that he'd offer some advice to Hinata and Kiba. Kiba didn't show it, his pride wouldn't let it, but Shino knew that he appreciated it. He had even caught him and Akamaru practicing with the advice in mind in secret when they thought he wasn't looking.

No, he wasn't useless. He also wasn't as unfriendly as some may believe. He wasn't entirely unemotional; the fading feeling of his stinging eyes and his clenched fists proved it.

With anger and confidence, he brought out a kunai and widened his stance. Time to prove to this bastard that he wasn't one to be messed with.

Hinata glared through the rain and her tears at the faded shadow of her foe. Her hair whipped around in the wind, but she ignored it, even when some of her bangs got in the way of her eyes.

Her heart still felt heavy, but there was a fire burning within it. After seeing those visions, she felt even more determined to save Neji and Sasuke. If that's what could have happened had Neji turned to the light, then she could just imagine what Neji could be like if he returned to the light now. And Sasuke, too!

Sniffling from the aftermaths of her sobs, she climbed back to her feet. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned her keyblade and slid into her stance, Byakugan activated.

The shade in front of her suddenly cried out in pain. Zexion immediately placed a hand on his shoulder as though it would lessen the pain. Though it was faint, she could see a flickering flame on that shoulder.

But it couldn't have come from nowhere. Hinata's eyes widened and a smile graced her lips. "Shino. . . Kiba. . . Akamaru. . ." she thought happily.

As the illusionist began to pat out the fire, Hinata took this chance and charged at him. She took a swipe at him, but unfortunately, Zexion looked up in time to dodge out of the way.

"Infuriating brats!" he spat as the flame was finally snuffed out by the pouring rain.

He raised a hand to the sky and his shadowy form darkened and expanded until it was a solid black blob. Then, it separated into two blobs that soon took on Zexion's form, though without mouths and eyes. A flash of lightning and each form summoned in a black burst a thick book. Held on the forearm and kept open by the same arm's hand, the shades (Hinata decided to call them shades so as to not mix them up with the Shadow Clone Jutsu) each waved a hand out menacingly to their opponent.

One of the shades, the one to her left, brought his book close to him and swiped a hand over it, sending a page coated in darkness at her. She tried to dodge, but-

Shino narrowed his eyes as he saw that the kunai he threw only grazed one of the shades' arm. He had to dodge out of the way of that shade's following charge before jumping away from a lightning strike.

He turned his attention to the other shade but widened his eyes. "Where-?" he couldn't finish that thought as the missing shade suddenly appeared in front of him and slammed its book into his chin, sending him flying.

Kiba smirked as he punched the shade away. Behind him, Akamaru had sent a fireball at the other Zexion shade, who dodged and raised a hand to the air. Moments later, lightning flashed and Akamaru narrowly dodged it.

He turned his attention to the other shade, which had gotten up. It quickly thrust its hand out and Kiba dodged the fireball that followed.

However, before he could counteract, he felt a series of stinging and sharp pains on his back. The shade that Akamaru had fought had sent a flurry of pages to him, though it didn't tear through his clothes.

He quickly turned around after it was over and leapt at the shade. "Fang Passing Fang!" he yelled as he spun toward the shade that had attacked him. Akamaru copied and spun towards the other shade.

Hinata slashed at the back of one of the shades. She leapt back to take a quick breather, but gasped in surprise at what happened next. A whirlwind of pages spun around the shade until it disappeared from view. The same was happening with the other shade and both tornadoes lunged toward her. She thankfully dodged just in time and she looked back with a curious eye.

That attack looked awfully familiar. . .

Suddenly Zexion voice filled the air, over the raging storm. "So you're going to deny it? Deny the truth that it was your fault that Neji turned to the darkness? I wonder what will happen if Naruto knew." he seemed to contemplate. "He would no doubt be angry at you. Probably even leave you."

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM HINATA! I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU LIKE THAT!" Naruto yelled at the screen.

"This guy. . ." Sakura said as she clenched her fist.

"Hinata. . .I don't blame you for what happened to Neji." Tenten muttered as Lee nodded in agreement. "Even though we tried to be nice to him. . .he was always cold to us."

"Hinata. . ." Xion muttered.

Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Sai were looking between the fights critically. Shikamaru turned to the Jonin. "Kakashi. Do you see this?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah," he answered. "Though they look a little different, these shades are using the same attacks. I think that they're fighting each other."

The lazy genius nodded in agreement. "Troublesome. And he combined Kiba and Akamaru so it would be difficult to notice. . ." he said.

"This guy's a real piece of work," he thought with narrowed eyes. His gaze kept switching between the three screens.

Sai stayed silent and looked on at the fights, face blank.

Shino dodged out of the way of the twin tornado attacks. The familiarity of the tornadoes helped him figure out what kind of game the illusionist was playing.

These shades. . . they actually represented his friends and even copied their attacks, but not completely. Though Zexion was injured, he hadn't escaped the illusion yet. And no doubt that his teammates were also still under the Cloaked Schemer's influence.

"So stoic," Zexion's voice said. "The others must be uncomfortable with you, what with your attitude. Why, you've probably never even laughed or had fun before."

Shino dodged out of the way of a lightning strike summoned by one of the shades, one that he suspects represented Hinata. He glared at the sky. "That's not true," he said. "Even if it was forced through a drug, I have laughed. Naruto was there, so he can vouch for me about that incident. I even had a little fun near the end. . ." he finished quietly, unheard over the storm.

"Oh yeah, I remember that mission!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You actually heard Shino laugh!?" Everyone except Kakashi, Sai, Shikamaru and Xion said.

Xion gave them all an odd look. "What do you mean?"

"It's a long story." Naruto said.

"Let's just say that no one, and I mean no one, has heard Shino laugh before. . ." Kakashi explained.

Xion only gave them all a weird look before turning back to the screen.

Kiba leaped away from a lightning strike called upon by the Zexion shade. Using the flash, Akamaru attacked from behind the other shade and preceded to bite it, but he missed due to that shade dodging. The shade that Kiba was fighting joined up with the other one and they released a large fireball at the duo. They quickly dodged it and leaped away to widen the distance to figure out a new strategy.

So far, they hadn't been able to make much progress. The rain had become more of a drizzle now, but their sense of smell was still damp and effectively useless. When he tried to counter the rain by pouring chakra into his nose to better amplify it, he smelled the scents of his other teammates, Hinata and Shino, on the shades.

"Humph," he thought with a scoff. "As if we would fall for that trick!"

But he was getting tired and so was Akamaru. They could only keep this up for so long. They couldn't risk using the Two-Headed Wolf jutsu because the rain would just dampen their sense of smell and they needed that sense for them to attack in that form.

His thoughts were interrupted by the real Zexion's voice. "Have you given up?" he asked with a mocking tone. "No surprise. After all, we wouldn't want to risk your dear friend's life again."

"Shut up!" Kiba yelled out to the sky. Akamaru barked beside him.

"Oh, but then again," Zexion continued, ignoring Kiba's cry of outrage. "He is also a great danger to your village, is he not? He turned berserk and attacked innocent civilians and shinobi. . . even you. In fact, he nearly killed you."

"It was only because of an infection!" Kiba retorted. "We were able to cure him though! And I don't care if he attacks me! He's my best friend, I'd never abandon him!"

Zexion only chuckled, infuriating Kiba further. "Akamaru, let's-" he stopped when he turned to his best friend, whose tail was drooping and appeared to be sad and ashamed.

At this, Kiba was in a rage and charged at the shades, who were simply standing there at the time. With one hand, they opened their books to the sky and pages began to whirlwind around them. Just as a sphere of the paper was formed around the shades, Kiba jumped and attacked with Fang Over Fang, but was stopped by the paper. He was about to land back on the ground when the sphere of paper suddenly pulsed and a dark shockwave was sent out. He was thrown back and fell on his back in front of Akamaru, who quickly came up to him and licked his cheek.

Kiba got back up to stare in shock at the paper barrier as it collapsed. That counter-attack. . .It was so familiar; especially that shockwave.

"Kiba. . .don't wildly just attack him," Kakashi muttered.

"Did all that stuff actually happen to them?" Sai asked, a bit curious.

Kakashi sighed. "Let's just say Kiba's laying it on lightly," he replied. Sai looked a little confused at this, but he shrugged it off and turned back to the fight.

"Kiba. . . Akamaru," Xion, who had overheard the short exchange, thought. Her concern for her friends was growing and she bit her lip as she continued to watch.

Hinata pulled back down her Reflect spell after the shockwave threw back the attacking shade. She looked on curiously as both shades simply stood there, the other having gotten back up after being thrown onto its back.

Again, she recalled the familiarity of the shade's attack. It greatly resembled Kiba's Fang Over Fang, but with swirling pages and a dark blue aura. But why? Was Zexion trying to gain an advantage by surprising and confusing her by using attacks that greatly resembled her teammates' own attacks? If that was the plan, she reluctantly agreed that it was working so far.

One of the shades spread its arms and its book opened up to the sky in front of it. The book flipped its pages quickly and small slips of paper flew out. Hinata prepared herself for an attack, but was shocked at what happened next.

"What?!"

Kiba narrowed his eyes in suspicion and Akamaru growled beside him, hackles rising. In front of them, one of the shades had spread its arms and slips of paper flew out of the floating book.

The pieces flew through the air, wavering in the wind but not completely blown away in it. They began to gather in front of the pair of shades, just in the middle between the two groups. Kiba and Akamaru tensed further as a low-lying figure began to from the slips of paper.

When the figure finished forming, Kiba can only gape in shock at it.

"What?!"

Shino smirked at the sound of Zexion's shocked shout. In front of him, the shades were completely still, their books held closed on their sides. But the manner of interest was the figure Shino had his bugs form in between the opposing sides.

It was a bug. But not just any bug, a familiar bug. It was a medium-sized version of the Bikōchū, an insect that could remember the first scent it detects after metamorphosis.

Shino was confident that his teammates would recognize it. After all, they and Naruto gone on mission during the week Xion had gone to make the preparations for this training trip. It was to retrieve this very insect in the hopes that it would find and follow the scents of either Sasuke or Neji. Even though the mission ended in a failure courtesy of Naruto, they had shown great teamwork together.

He was rewarded when the shades froze completely. Their forms began to waver dangerously. The storm also lessened until the rain disappeared completely. Shino smirked further at the cry of horrified pain that accompanied it.

"Ugh!" Zexion faded in, to Shino's far left and near the edge of the piece of land. On the hems of his cloak were Shino's bugs, not as much as those that were used to form the Bikōchū, but enough to cause damage. He still needed to create and breed insects that could drain magic, but simply causing blood loss and bug bites would have to do.

"You!" The illusionist shouted angrily. "What did you do?!"

"Simple," Shino replied, recalling the insects that had formed the Bikōchū back into his body. "Every time I hit the ground as I dodged, I sent some of my bugs underground. The impacts loosened the ground enough for them to go through and because this is sand, the holes they made were filled back in and no longer visible; leaving no evidence."

The shades leaped next to him, but the bug-user didn't panic. Instead, he smiled as their dark forms finally shattered and his teammates, his friends, stood beside him. Team 8 stood ready and willing to defeat this opponent.

"Alright!" Xion said excitedly at seeing the illusion finally shattering, the other two screens showing only static. "Great job Shino! Now you guys can finish him off."

"Take that bastard down!" Naruto yelled as Choji and Lee cheered them on.

"Prove him wrong on everything he said!" Tenten said as Ino nodded in agreement.

Zexion glared at the team angrily. With a flick of his wrist, his own tome, the lexicon known as The Book of Retribution, appeared in his hand and he held it close in front of him while keeping his other hand idle by his side. Out of the shadows, three clones of himself were created, their own books held ready.

"Heh," Kiba smirked as he stood ready with Akamaru beside him. "Good job on that insect. I almost forgot on what we went through to get that thing."

"Thanks Shino," Hinata said with a small smile before turning to glare at the sixth member. "But let's take this guy down."

"Right," Shino nodded. "My bugs should make his illusions useless now. But please don't kill off all of them; I still need them."

"Then let's go!" Kiba shouted before charging at the illusionist. He and Akamaru performed a Twin Fang Over Fang while Hinata rushed to sneak up from behind.

"See my illusion!" Zexion cried before any of them could strike.

All four Zexion's opened up their books to them and a sphere of darkness was created in the center of the battlefield. They began to rotate around it, leaving afterimages. As the enemies' rotation sped up, beams of energy began to enter the sphere.

Team 8 stood their ground at the force that was trying to pull them in to the sphere. It felt like their energy was being drained as well. Shino watched in shock as his bugs, which had been still attached to the original Cloaked Schemer, were mercilessly dragged into the sphere and disappearing in it.

"Take this!" Zexion shouted, echoed by his clones.

In a wave of light, the dark sphere burst. The bright pulse hit all of them, knocking them off of their feet. The light faded away and just as they were about to get back up, they were struck by dark lightning, stunning them further.

"That's aught to hurt." Zexion sneered, the clones having vanished along the light. He lifted his book and opened it up to them.

Again they felt the pulling force, but couldn't resist it this time. They were dragged into the book, which promptly shut itself as Zexion laughed victoriously.

"Oh no!" Naruto gasped, seeing his girlfriend and her teammates get dragged into the lexicon. "Hinata!"

Everyone else watched with bated breath as the screen went dark for a second. Afterwards, they saw their friends again, seeming to stand on thin air as swirling, grey and silver wind blew around them. It looked like they were caught in the middle of a tornado or a whirlwind. Copies of the lexicon floated around them and they were looking around as though searching for something.

"There!" Hinata shouted aloud as she pointed to one of the books, her Byakugan activated. She, Kiba, and Akamaru moved to attack him while Shino brought out a kunai attached with an exploding tag.

The targeted book flew away before the three could take a swipe at it. But it didn't get far as a kunai struck it before shortly exploding. A dark image of Zexion appeared briefly before taking on the form of the book again.

They went after it, but the field around them grew more erratic. Books and sharp pages flew left and right, trying to hit them and lightning flashed. When they tore through one of them, they felt a shock. Some of the tomes opened to release a dark indigo meteor, creating an explosion.

Eventually, they made it to the lexicon-disguised Schemer and began to attack it. With a cry of pain, the book blew up into pages and in another flash of light, they had returned to the destroyed piece of beach. In front of them was Zexion, wounded and holding his side.

They attacked him for a while, landing hits and cuts to his cloak before the illusionist's book appeared behind them. It turned into a dark cyclone and began to pull them into the center of the field.

"You shall share your powers!" Zexion hissed.

They tried to resist the force of the cyclone, but they were still being dragged to it. The moment they touched the dark area the cyclone emitted to the ground, they felt their energy drain at an alarmingly rate. Worse yet, they can see that Zexion was using that stolen energy to heal himself. The cyclone stopped, but the pull was still there and with their energy drained they couldn't resist being pulled into the lexicon again.

This time, they were in a dark room, seeing nothing but black. Suddenly, three big red spotlights appeared around them, seeming to come from somewhere far above. In a cloud of smoke, a lexicon appeared above one of the red spots, turning it blue. They immediately ran after it, but it disappeared from that spot, making it turn red again, and appeared over another, also turning it blue. This action repeated multiple times with all three spots and Team 8 chased after it. Finally it stopped on one spot, the blue outlined in white. Kiba and Akamaru made it, but before they could leap to attack the book, cries of pain emitted from his teammates. The duo turned to see their friends getting hit by flaming orange lexicons that flew by and came from the darkness like meteors.

"Hinata! Shino!" Kiba shouted.

There was another flash of light and they were back in the chaotic area of swirling grey wind. The books were more numerous and they began to attack the team mercilessly.

Hinata found some room to lift her keyblade and cry, "Graviga!"

All of the books drifted to the gravitational sphere. With Hinata holding up the spell, the other three attacked all the books. They eventually found Zexion again and Hinata released the spell. With a slash of her keyblade, the world disappeared and they were once more back on the piece of land.

In front of the wounded illusionist, a giant version of the Book of Retribution floated, shielding him. They couldn't get past it until it was eventually destroyed by Kiba and Akamaru's Twin Fang Over Fang. Zexion awaited them, his book held ready.

"You think you can be forgiven?!" he sneered.

He floated in the air, the book open in front of him and to the air. A bright glow emitted from its pages and suddenly, flaming spheres of dark indigo energy fell from the sky. It attacked all around him and ruthlessly hit Team 8. When they thought it was going to end with the fewer spheres falling, Zexion spread his arms to the sides and the a glow surrounded him while the light from the book grew.

"You brought it upon yourself!" Zexion shouted to them and to the skies.

The barrage of spheres grew more numerous. They were also bigger and faster as they crashed into the ground and onto Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru.

Finally, the attack ended and they struggled back to their feet. Zexion opened his book to them again and multiple pages flew out. But quickly, despite the pain, Shino released almost all of his remaining insects and performed a hand sign.

"Wall of Insects Jutsu," he said, sweat beading on his neck. The insects flew around the team rapidly, forming a round barrier similar to that of the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation. The sharp pages were unable to make it through, but then Zexion switched strategies and floated back into the air again.

"You think you can be forgiven?!" he shouted in rage.

Again, balls of dark indigo energy crashed to the field. They hit the insect shield and it was slowly breaking apart. Still, the insects flew around the team at high speeds.

"You brought it upon yourself!" Zexion finished as he began to glow with the same light as the book.

The meteors of energy grew in number and speed. They fell onto the shield in waves until it finally dissipated, with the remaining insects retreating underground. But around the team was a bright shield made out of hexagons; a Reflega spell courtesy of Hinata when she heard Zexion's shout. The magical barrier was glowing brightly and Zexion watched in horror as it finally broke, the retaliating pulse heading towards him. The energy hit him with double, maybe even triple, the power he exerted in his attack.

"I can't be. . ." Zexion struggled to say as he stumbled back afterwards. "Defeated. . ." he finally finished softly. Just before he faded away completely, he looked to the group and gave them a nod.

Everyone, excluding Kakashi and Sai, cheered; instead they smiled happily, but before anyone could say anything, the bright appeared as it brought the group into another vision of the past.

The group then saw Aqua and Ventus, still together as Ventus was frozen from Xehanort's last attack. Naruto and Hinata were embracing each other in a hug as Sakura was examining the other from the fight. Everything was quiet until. . .

"How 'bout you leave the popsicle with me, so you can have your little fight with Terra." A new voice (except to Xion) said as it confused to the group.

Xion could help but have an eye twitch and an annoyed look on her face as she recognize the voice that gave her a stupid nickname in the past for her. "You gotta be-" She thought as she and the group turned to see a black haired man that was in a ponytail, he had a yellow eye that was his left eye because the right eye was covered in an eye patch, scars on his face and pointed ears. He was wearing what looked like a guard's uniform that was dark slate grey jacket, silver highlights, and two rows of gold buttons on the front. He wore a black belt and white gloves adorned with a silver, curled heart symbol. Finally, he was also wears black, knee-high boots and a tattered, red scarf. "Seriously. . .him!?" She thought.

"Who?" Naruto started.

"The heck?" Kiba asked, wincing in pain a little.

"Is that guy?" Ino finally finished, placing a hand on her hip, examining the guy.

Kakashi then noticed Xion's eye twitching and sighed. "You'll explain later right?" he whispered.

"Yup." Xion bluntly whispered back as the group looked on.

The man looked at the Kingdom Hearts moon as he continued. "You can't be two happy about him deep-sixing your Master." He then started to chuckle as he looked at Aqua, Ventus and the invisible group.

Aqua stared him down. "Who are you?"

"That's what we want to know." Sakura muttered as everyone except Xion nodded in agreement.

The man then smirked at them. "You think you two have some grand role to play. As if. You're only here so that when I finish you off. . .Terra will succumb to the darkness."

Naruto glared at the man. "Another one of these guys. . ."

"So. . .who wants to go first?" The man coolly said as the group then heard some struggling grunts from Ventus.

Ventus then glared at the man angrily. "Shut up!" He yelled at the man.

"Oh, so this kiddo thinks he's a full-fledged Keyblade wielder?" The man said in mock shock. "He's got the angry look down."

"And what would this guy know about Keyblade wielder?" Kiba scuffed as Akamaru resisted the urged to send out a fireball.

"Go ahead if you want to waste your time. Keep trying to drive us apart with your mind games, it'll never work." Aqua said as she placed Ventus down.

The group watched as Ventus struggled on the ground, not being able to move cause of the ice.

"Terra will prove to you he's stronger!" She said as she summoned her Keyblade.

"Aqua!" Ventus called out as she ran in to battle the man as he summoned out two silver and purple crossbow looking weapons.

Xion sweat-dropped. "Even the same weapons. . ." She silently muttered. Suddenly a flash of light appeared as Aqua and the man were about to clash.

"What the!?" Most of the group thought as the light cleared, to see Aqua victorious against the man as he jumped back, panting.

"I keep forgetting- don't mess with Keyblade wielders." He said in exhaustion.

"Well duh dumbass." Naruto said as he then got whacked on the head by Sakura. "Ow! Hey!" Sakura then gave him a sweetly smile, telling basically to be quiet and continue watching.

"But you know what? That just means I made the right choice!" He said as Aqua started to run into him.

"Of course, a distraction." Kakashi muttered as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well. . . he wanted me to by time, and I'd say he got it." He said as he then ran off.

"Yeah you better run ya prick!" Kiba yelled out to him, even though he couldn't hear him.

"What?" Aqua said as she stopped chasing him. She then gasped as she turned around. "Ven!"

Ventus was still struggling with the ice, wanting to get out.

"Damn. . .he better get out soon, who knows what'll happen." Naruto muttered.

Ventus suddenly gasped as he looked above. "Aqua!"

The group then turned back to Aqua as they all saw Vanitas diving above Aqua.

"No Aqua!" Xion called out as she and the group saw Aqua get slashed by Vanitas as it knocked her out and fell to the ground.

"No. . ." Hinata muttered.

"That little. . ." Kiba angrily growled as Akamaru did the same.

Sakura clenched her fist as she suddenly ran up to Vanitas.

"Sakura no!" Kakashi yelled.

"YOU BASTARD!" Sakura angrily yelled as she tried to punch Vanitas, as it only phased through him. "DAMN IT!"

"Calm down Sakura!" Xion called out.

Ventus continued to struggle as Vanitas got ready to stab Aqua.

"AQUA!" Naruto tried to call out.

Ventus continued to struggle out, steam coming out of him.

Choji sped up the eating of his chips while the other watched on, feeling helpless that they couldn't do anything.

Vanitas was about to thrust downward when. . .

"NO!" A cry went out. The group and Vanitas turned to see Ventus, finally thawed out of the ice as he glared as Vanitas.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered as Kiba smirked at him. "Take him down!"

Kakashi eye smiled at the determined look on his face. "To think, using sheer willpower to thaw out of ice." He then looked at Naruto. "He's a lot like Naruto in a way." He thought as the group then watched the battle.

Ventus and Vanitas clashed like when Terra and Eraqus fought before, pure light versus pure darkness. But there was one difference, being that these two were one in the same person. Once in a while, Vanitas tried to attack Ventus with the cyclone of keyblades, sometimes he got hit, other time he was wasn't with direct attacks and dark magic variations of fire, blizzard and thunder. Every time the two clashed for a moment, a small shockwave was released.

"It's amazing how much power there is in these two people." Sai said as Shino nodded in agreement.

"Not one of them is letting up for a moment." Kakashi said.

At one point or another, Ventus attacked Vanitas so many times that he suddenly gained a aura of fire around him.

"INCREDIBLE! VENTUS'S FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE POWERING HIM UP!" Lee cheered as tears ran down his eyes. Everyone sweat-dropped at the comment.

"What is that anyway?" Shino asked, curious at what was happening to Ventus.

"Firestorm." Hinata said as she looked on.

"Fire-what?" Ino asked, confused at what she said.

"A command style just like the series of attacks that Terra used against his master when we watched his fight a few days ago."

Ventus suddenly changed again as now he glowed white with six blades hovering around him.

"Now it's the Wingblade command style!" Xion said as she looked on.

"So can you girls do something like that?" Naruto asked.

The two then gave a thoughtful look for a moment. "We haven't tried yet, so we don't know." Hinata said.

"It could be possible at one point." Xion added.

The battle raged as Ventus did what looked like the final attack for Wingblade as he threw the swords into the ground, creating a circular magic emblem made of light. Ventus then lands in the center of the swords, sending out a shockwave of light to the entire area.

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed with stars in his eyes. Hinata couldn't help but chuckle a little at her boyfriend's antics.

"Impressive finishing move there." Sai said.

Sakura then scuffed. "That'll show not to mess with other." She said as she put a hand on her hip.

Ventus returned to normal as he stared down Vanitas. That when everyone noticed a black aura coming out of him.

"Oh no. . ." Xion muttered as she became wide eyed.

"You've done it Ventus." Vanitas said as he got back up.

"What!? He's not done yet!?" Naruto growled along with Kiba and Akamaru.

Vanitas then sent away his keyblade as the mask covering his face disappeared. "Now that my body is about to perish. . ."

"Shit!" Kiba angrily muttered as everyone glared at him.

"You and I will have to join together!" Vanitas finished saying.

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled as he tried to rush in to attack, but was stopped by Kakashi who was shaking his head.

"The χ-blade will be forged!" He said as a black smoke circle appeared around the two.

"Run Ven!" Xion called out.

At that moment, a group of sleek, humanoid creature with blue skin. Its arms and legs end in points and have no distinct digits. It has a triangular head with two long, jagged, lightning bolt-shaped antennae, and red eyes that made it look like it was always angry.

"What the hell!?" Kiba said as they all looked at the new creatures that were wrapping themselves around Ventus, making him unable to move. Sai meanwhile, quickly took out his sketchbook and started draw. . .again.

"What are those creatures!?" Kakashi said as he turned to Hinata and Xion.

Hinata and Xion were shocked at these new creature and they'll have to ask Yen Sid about them when they see him again.

As Ventus struggled to get freed, he stared back at Vanitas. "The Unversed. . . come from you?"

"Unversed?" Was everyone's thought.

A portal then started to grow behind Vanitas as more of the 'Unversed' started coming out. Besides the ones that ensnared Ventus, there were other. One was a flying one, it looked like a flying disk with an antenna on it. Another was a round one that looked like a giant bomb. Finally the last one that appeared was a large one that looked like it was made of three separate parts, a head, arms and leg. Vanitas smirked at Ventus. "It happened when you and I were split into two. The negativity took shape of these monster. They are what I feel- a horde of fledgling emotion under my control. I released them into all the worlds I could, hoping to lure you away from and isolate you from your Master." He explained as he walked up to him.

"So that explains it." Kakashi said as the other gulped at thought.

Vanitas then stopped in front of Ventus. "We needed to make you stronger. The Unversed were the perfect opponents." The Unversed that were behind suddenly started to disappear into black smoke as it went into Vanitas. "And better yet, no matter how many times you defeat them their negativity flows right back into me." He then started to stare Ventus down.

"Three different types of monsters now." Sai said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked as he turned towards him.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, curious at what he said.

"Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed. Three types of monster, each of them using darkness in their own way." Sai explained.

"Four. . ." Xion said as she didn't turn her head.

"What?"

"Four types. . . there's another type."

"Really, what's it called? I'm interested."

"I'll tell you later. Keep watching."

"You never stood a chance against us Ventus." Vanitas said in a gloating tone. He then started to walk into Ventus, causing a bright, blinding light to appear.

"What the-!?" Naruto said as he covered his eyes.

"Ven!" Xion called out as she covered her eyes as well.

As the group shielded their eyes, they heard a cry in pain.

After a while, the group and Ventus reopened their eyes, now they found themselves at someplace completely different.

"This is. . ." Naruto said as he and the group looked around.

"A Station of Awakening." Xion said as she and the group looked down at the stain-glass. Both Ventus and Vanitas were on it, both of them holding their keyblades. The group then turned to see Vanitas, floating down with a new, strangely broken looking blade. It looked like two Kingdom Key Keyblades merged together in an 'X' and there was an extension coming out of it looking like a sword. A black light aura covered the blade.

"So. . ." Tenten said with a little fear, scanning the blade.

"That's the χ-blade. . ." Kakashi finished.

"Our union was not finished." Vanitas stated.

"Good you asshole." Naruto muttered as they glared him down.

"The χ-blade shouldn't stay broken like this." He then raised the blade above his head and then pointed it at Ventus. "Join me now, and we can complete the χ-blade!"

Ventus shook his head as he turned toward him. "I've got a better idea." He then summoned his Keyblade. "How about I destroy you both!?" He then got into is stance.

"Now that's more like it!" Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

Vanitas then started to laugh. "The χ-blade is made your heart, too, idiot. If you destroy it, your heart will vanish forever."

Everyone except Kakashi and Sai swallowed as they continued watching.

"Whatever it takes. Anything to save Terra and Aqua." Ventus said, still giving him his determined look.

Vanitas then scuffed. "Hmph, it's always about your friends, isn't it?"

"At least he has some!" Naruto declared.

"At least I have some!" Ventus said, causing the group to look as Naruto, who was smiling widely.

"Yup, similar." Kakashi said.

"Definitely." Xion said with a small chuckle.

"I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine."

Xion smiled, remembering Sora saying this before, now knowing where he got that saying from, as she turned towards Hinata and all of her new friends. "My friends are my power and I'm theirs!" They both said in unison, Ventus getting ready to fight his final battle.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile. "That was a good speech he made."

"INDEED IT WAS KAKASHI-SENSEI! FRIENDSHIP IS A MOST POWERFUL AND YOUTHFUL THING!" Lee cheered. Unlike every other time, everyone smiled.

"You got that right!" Kiba said as he pet Akamaru.

Naruto rubbed under his nose as he then kissed Hinata on the lips. "You and me are more then friends Hinata."

Hinata smiled back at Naruto with a light blush on her face. "Yeah."

Shino smirked as Choji chuckled and placed a hand on Shikamaru. Sakura and Ino smiled at each other along with Tenten.

Sai was amazed, he met someone, willing to risk his life for the sake of his friend. He was always told by his master that friendship lead to weakness and that there was no point in it as shinobis should be emotionless. "Incredible. . ." He then began to ponder about something. "Could Lord Danzō. . .be wrong?" He thought.

The final clash had now really begun as Ventus and Vanitas fought for control of the body. Ventus nearly dodged everyone of Vanitas attack, which were incredibly powerful. He countered almost every move he made as he fought. He had even got into a command style twice just for this last battle as he was willing to sacrifice himself to prevent the χ-blade from coming into existence.

Vanitas soon started float above everyone. "Play times over." He then rushed into the arena and destroyed it.

"Why did he do that!?" Naruto yelled as they were all now floating.

"Geez, this guy doesn't give up easily." Tenten said.

"They never do." Xion sighed as they continued watching.

Ventus then started displaying new moves as he and Vanitas first rushed into each other, coated in their respective siding as their blades spun like drills.

"Woah!" Naruto said as he looked on at the attack. "Maybe I could do something like that?" He thought.

Suddenly, Ventus took aim as he shot a beam of light at Vanitas and he did the same except with darkness. Everyone had to cover their eyes for a moment from the sheer power. The two then finally started warping at blinding speeds as they continued clashing.

"YOSH! WHEN I GET HOME, I AM INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF WEIGHTS FOR EVEN TOUGHER TRAINING SO I CAN TOO OBTAIN THAT SPEED!" Lee said as Tenten silently wept.

Kakashi couldn't help but palm his face. "Great. . .more of a reason for him to over do it. . ."

"Light!" Ventus called out as he surrounded Vanitas with three beams of crystallized light. He then rushed into him and shattered them.

"Awesome. . ." Naruto muttered in awe as everyone looked on.

Vanitas lost grip of the χ-blade. He became shocked as he tried to get the χ-blade back into his hand, but it looked like he lost his strength as he started to fall and the χ-blade shattered like glass.

The group then turned to Ventus as his own Keyblade shattered as well. They all watched as Vanitas faded from existence and his Station of Awakening rebuilt itself as he landed on it, but now it just had Ventus on it. Ventus smiled as he started to float away as his heart left.

"Ven. . ." Xion muttered as a lone tear fell down her face.

Naruto clenched his fist as he looked away. "Xehanort will pay for this. . .I swear it."

"No one deserved this fate." Kakashi said.

The group watched as the heart flew off to who knows where. Soon enough, a blinding light appeared again

The group now was at somewhere they didn't expect at all. They saw young Sora as he opened his eyes.

"Another Station?" Sakura asked.

"This must be his before gaining the ability to wield the Keyblade." Xion said as they looked on.

They all looked as they saw what was left of Ventus coming towards them.

"Ven!" Xion happily said, tears flowing down her face.

"Alright! He survived!" Naruto cheered.

Young Sora looked over to Ventus's heart. "Hey. Can you hear me?" He called out.

"I heard your voice. It cut through the darkness around me." Ventus said.

"Thank goodness." Sakura said as she had a sigh of relief.

Kiba smirked as Akamaru barked happily.

"All alone, I followed the sound, into a sea of light. . ." Ventus's heart then landed into Sora's hands. "And found myself here, with you."

Ino couldn't help but squeal at how cute the young Sora was as Tenten gave a light chuckle. Shino smirked again along with Shikamaru as Choji happily ate his chips.

"You gave me something back when I needed it most. A second chance."

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Kakashi said as Sai placed a hand on where his heart was.

"I did?" Sora asked, confused a little.

"But. . . now I have to go back to sleep again." He depressing said.

"Ven. . ." Hinata depressingly said, feeling sorry for him.

"Are you sad?" Sora asked.

A moment passed when Ventus spoke again. "Would you mind if I stayed here, with you?"

Xion lightly smiled again as she watched on.

"Sure, if it makes you feel better." Sora said.

"Thank you." Ventus said as Sora brought the heart into his body and went into him.

"Sleep well. . .Ven." Xion muttered as a bright light appeared again and the group returned to the garden, Shino now holding Zexion's Lexicon.