XxxxXxx

-Ruins-

"Would you move already, you've been moping there for the past five minutes!"

Throughout his long, long five hours of sleeping on a poorly placed bed of roses, Napstablook never me met someone so pushy. He half-sighed, too dreary to let out a full one. "Z-Z-Z-Z...Forget it, my Z thing isn't working on him. Maybe if I lay down and turn to my side, he won't-"

"Are you talking to yourself?"

"..." 'Forget this, my Z thing isn't even working on him. Maybe if I lay down and turn to my side, he won't notice my existence and he'll go away.'

Naruto paced around, he stopped in front of the somber spirit with a face that frightened him. "I decided I'm gonna fight you then since you won't get out of my way."

"If we have to." Napstablook heaved himself up, his head hunched downward. "Let's get this over with," A stream of bleached tears raced down his short body before the fight even started.

'It won't be fun to fight him if he obviously doesn't...this is my prefect chance to escape!' "Alright, I'll go first so you won't have to worry about making the first move."

"Oh, that's so nice."

"Don't mention it."

Naruto walked back, he gave Napstablook a weighted stare that disturbed him even more of the human. 'I really hope this works!' He charged headfirst towards Napstablook, his heel turned to the side and threw himself at the dour embodiment. '...? The ground's surprisingly sof-wait...I-I'm not on the ground!'

"Are you attempting to 'hug' me?" Napstablook asked. Although he enjoyed the newfound body warmth.

Naruto tore himself off him. "No, I was supposed to go through you like a regular ghost!" He explained.

"Either way, I...I actually liked it, in a weird sort of ghost way...It's been forever since someone's ever hugged me and when you did, it reminded me of when he used to...oh, I'm rambling again, I'll get out of your way."

"That wasn't hugging! Damn you..." It was only a fraction of an inch, but Napstablook's embedded frown curved. Naruto blissfully sighed, realizing the damage he'd done couldn't be taken back. "Just don't get too happy, I'm never doing that again."

XxxxXxx

Spyash2: Naruto pretty much acts like this in the anime, but I hope I'm not making them too mean-spirited, he has his moments, sometimes, but you're definitely right about Undyne.

Guest: Same

Chapter 9: Alone with you

"...while every monster contained and could manipulate 'magic' every human contained a substance known as 'chakra' but not all humans could manipulate said chakra, the ones who did were ninja. In terms of strength, magic has always been stronger. Where chakra was limited, magic was limitless...yeah yeah...I know that...the ninja attacked suddenly, and without mercy."

"In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the ninja were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single soul was taken and countless monsters were turned to...ha, this stuff is so old, ninjas aren't like...that, right Ki-"

A long path of boardwalk awaited Naruto when his head turned right. "This sucks..." He muttered, the familiar feeling of terror creeping up his spine when he entered the purple labyrinth.

OoO

Naruto's foot landed in a neon blue circle, he stepped back and more circles surrounded him. Several spears sprung from the circles nearly killing Naruto on the spot. 'Undyne's back! Shitshitshitshitshitshit!' Unable to move from the sudden shock, Gah, I can't freeze up now!' Fueled by a sudden surge of adrenaline, Naruto got to his feet and ran away.

Naruto saw a gap ahead of him. 'There's footing on the bottom, that must be where Undyne is!'

Undyne grabbed another one of her spears and prepared for another thrust. 'That's weird,' She paused. 'He's not moving...but he couldn't of died already, it's too early.'

"..."

"THERE YOU ARE!" Undyne threw spears left and right, oddly enough, they emitted empty clanks. 'I couldn't of missed, I threw like a million spears.' Undyne's neck suddenly snapped forward and she struggled to stay balanced.

"Sweet move, huh," Naruto said as he landed on the bottom boardwalk.

"What're you talking about, that was lame!" Undyne retorted, she whipped around, tightly gripping her spear. "You won't get away with that a second time!" She yelled, throwing the spear.

Naruto raised his arm, cupping the spear in his grasp. He stuck his tongue out. "You sure about that?!" Naruto and Undyne ran towards each other equipped with spears, right as they were about to clash spears, he turned his to the side and slid in between Undyne's legs.

He firmly held his spear and whacked it on her back. 'He did that sliding thing to me again!' Undyne shuffled around, finding a spear. 'Damn him, that brat's gone already, but...NOT FOR LONG!'

Naruto jumped back to the top boardwalk. 'This should trick her, she'll still think I'm on the bottom and won't attack at the top. Hehe, I'm such a genius!' Naruto soundly flew past the narrow strips of boardwalk, he skidded to a stop. "Looks like I'm almost out of this place, all there's left is this big area, should be easy."

*SMASH

Splintered pieces of wood scattered at his feet. "What is..." He turned, unlike the last time, Undyne's spears tore straight through the boardwalk, her spears cut as if it were knife to butter againt the dense pieces of wood.

Naruto ran for his life as the spears engulfed the boardwalks. 'It would've been nice to know some kind of jutsu, shit, what was it called? Clone something?!' He barely dodged an incoming spear falling from above him. 'I can't think about this right now!'

Then it ended.

Naruto couldn't go any further, he gazed at the black chasm. "My only options are to fight and risk dying or to jump and risk...not trying at all." The immediate clanks of metal gave him his answer.

"This is the end for you, brat." Undyne hissed.

Before Naruto could argue, the boardwalk cut in half and he fell.

OoO

'It sounds like it came from over here...oh! You've fallen down, haven't you...'

'Are you okay? Here, get up...'

'...Menma, huh? That's a nice name.'

'My name is-'

'...'

'Well, what is it?'

'Huh?'

'The name.'

'I don't...remember.'

OoO

Naruto awoke with a startle. "...! Am I...am I still alive?!" He felt the ground beneath him was nothing but a bed of golden flowers. "I-I started over?! Tor-wait," His nose wrinkled. "What's the awful smell?"

He fell off the flowers and to his chagrin landed in water that nearly reached his neck. A piece of garbage floated past him while he trampled through the thick waters. "An...empty ramen packet?! If there's one that means..." His eyes landed on a floating heap of garbage. He went directly to it, pulling out mostly dango sticks and empty packets of military ration pills along with the occasional broken shuriken. "Anddddd, here it is!"

'Iruka-sensei made me throw it away, but now I have it!' He crammed a water damaged magazine into his pocket and continued through the garbage littered stream.

"Hey-hey, what's this?!" Naruto opened a new basket filled to brim with microwaveable curry. "Aw come on, it can't all be curry!" He rummaged through it and concluded there really was only curry. He closed the basket lid, a dummy catching his attention next.

"You look like the dummy Goat lady made me talk to in the Ruins, ha, I don't have to talk to you since she's not here!" Naruto brushed past the dummy, not expecting it to appear in front of him. "I SURE AM NOT YOU FLY, that was my cousin and they used to live inside a dummy too until...YOU CAME ALONG! When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat...But th-DON'T WALK AWAY WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! RUDE."

Naruto stopped at the exit. "You're kind of boring."

"BORING?! I'll show you boring! Rise my-wait, wait, I said that wrong. Forget what I said, ahem...BORING?! I'll show you what is not boring, rise my dummy bots, RISE!"

Clusters of white robots rose from the water, surrounding Mad dummy. "Attack. Attack! ATTACK!" The dummy bots shot tangled pieces of twine at Naruto, at the speed they were going, it hurt a lot worse for what it was.

Naruto tried grabbing the bots, but they disappeared before he could touch them. "Where'd they go?!"

Mad dummy let out a dry cackle. "Futile. Futile! FUTILE! I have bots installed in the entire Trash Zone!" The dummy bots appeared on the ceiling and continued shooting.

"Alright, then take this!" Natuto's fist phased straight through Mad dummy making him burst with even more laughter. "You idiot, I'm a ghost! Physical attacks won't work on me!"

'I thought I couldn't go through ghosts! Can ghost just turn this stuff on and off whenever they want?! If physical attacks won't work, then I'll have to try this!' Naruto weaved the signs: ram, snake, then ended with a tiger seal. "BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

*poof

A clone of Naruto around less than half his size stood in front of him. "...it's not the best, but it'll have to work!" He grabbed the pitiful doppelgänger of his himself and threw it at Mad dummy.

'That can't be, this human's a ninja?! A lousy one at that, but still. Ah well, it shouldn't hurt me.' His clone slammed Mad dummy into the water, shortly dispersing on impact. "What?! But I can't be touched by physical attacks!"

"Bunshin no jutsu is an illusion technique, it's not physical."

"Whatever...ugh...dummy bots, get him!" Naruto picked Mad dummy up and used it as a shield. "Unhand me you buff-Ow. Ow! OW! HEY GUYS! Dummies. Dummies! DUMMIES! Who told you to shoot at me like that? Well, guess what, you messed up one too many times...FAILURES! YOU'RE FIRED! YOU'RE ALL BEING REPLACED! Hahaha. Hahaha! HAHAHA! Now you'll see my true power: relying on people that aren't garbage!"

Mad dummy pushed away from Naruto's hold and levitated above him. "Arise my replacement dummy bots now go MAGIC MISSILE!" Metallic robots rose from all over the room and shot a hoard of miniature missiles.

The missiles swarmed together, as they were coming, Naruto moved out of the way. 'Huh, that was easy.'

"You think THAT'S it?! Look behind you!" Mad dummy screeched.

Naruto gulped, the missiles were back behind him again as if he didn't dodge it. Dodging another time put him in the same situation. Getting the idea, he led them to the wall and jumped away at the last second.

'It worked but...' Naruto watched Mad dummy, they didn't seem worried. 'What is that thing up to?'

"So that's how you're playing. Dummy bots: Second Mode!"

The dummy bots collected on the ceiling. Naruto clenched his fist. "What're you doing with them?"

"You'll see RIGHT NOW! GO MY BOTS GO!" The bots disconnected from the wall and fell down, all of their individual shadows painting the water black.

*BOOM

*...

*Rumble.

"Hey. Hey! HEY! You dummy bots watch where you're shooting those things, the entire place is crumbling down because of you!" Mad dummy shrieked. "...hey, where'd the human go?"

"..."

Mad dummy floated to an area in the water where small bubbles were forming. "He's right here! Shoot. Shoot! SHOOT!" And the bots did, mistakingly at Mad dummy. "DUMMY BOTS! TRY AGAIN!" And the bots did, again, at Mad dummy. "NOT AT ME YOU WORMS! Ugh...these guys are awful."

They shot at the water until Mad dummy was satisfied.

"That's enough. Whelp, I successfully killed the human, now I can take his soul, then I'll go across the barrier and live my life standing in the window of some fancy store! Everything will be MINE!"

"Except I'm not really dead yet," Naruto said, his head bobbing up and down in the water. "I can't believe you got tricked by a rock, idiot!"

Mad dummy shook its head, mumbling idiot under their breath. "It's not over yet! DUMMY BOTS! FINAL ATTACK, HIT IT HOME THIS TIME!"

*Rumble!

*RUMBLE!

"Wh-what?! Unable to handle another blow from the missiles, parts of the ceiling collapsed and plummeted into the water. Mad dummy was corporeal so it didn't matter, but the dummy bots weren't. Mad dummy watched the shattered remains of his bots floating in water. "WHAtever, those guy were even more worse than the other ones. Argh. Incompetence."

Naruto climbed out of the water and rested on the floating debris, breathing heavily. 'The bots are gone, at least.'

"Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES! I DON'T NEED FRIENDS! I'VE GOT KNIVES! Actually I'm... out of knives. BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME...Forever. Forever! FOREVER!"

"Nah."

"NAH?! You can't nah me, I'm...Wh..." Mad dummy felt something splash on its head. "What the heck is this!? Ergh! Acid rain!? I can't handle this...FORGET IT! I'm outta here!"

"...sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I?"

"Ghost guy! You're back!" Naruto bounded to his feet, relieved he was in the way for once.

"It's...Napstablook." He said quietly.

"Ghost guy."

"...fine...I...I hope you're not upset, as soon as I came your friend ran off and it looked like you two were having fun and-"

"Not really, I hate that guy."

"Oh, well...I'm going to head back home now...uh...feel free to 'come with' if you want. No pressure or anything. I understand if you're busy, it's fine. No worries, just thought I'd offered it y'know..." Naruto followed Napstablook to a quiet area divided off by tall walls. "By the way, my house's ahead...just in case...you wanted to do the 'mingling'."

OoO

"...You came after all. Wow, that was unexpected...well, it's not much as you can see, but make yourself at home."

Napstablook's house was somewhat an extension of himself. The small, single-room house was wrapped in a plain shade of brown that fittingly complemented the exhausted furniture.

His fridge leaned on the wall with a paint job that screamed withered plant. Naruto opened it. "...There's a ghost sandwich in there...but I'm afraid you can't...um...eat it." Napstablook explained.

"I don't like sandwiches that much anyways." An old TV slanted on the fridge, which Napstablook also jumped in to explain. "And that's my TV, I watch a show on it...sometimes. There might be something on right now if you're interested."

Natuto pressed the button, flickering a bit before it settled on some kind of news channel. Napastblook left his computer and floated next to Naruto. "Met...he, never really has anything to report, so he usually just fills the time slot by talking about how cool he is or something about his legs."

'A smug calculator, I hate him already.'

[Mettaton] OHHHHHH YESSS! Good evening, beauties and gentlebeauties! This is Mettaton, reporting l-ive from MTT news! Now usually I fill the time slot by talking about how cool I am or something about my legs, but not today! As you all know, the human lurking in our underground is incredibly dangerous and should be taken care of immediately, but recent reports from, um...turn the camera Alphys,

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto nearly punched the screen when an image of Mad dummy came into focus. "How did that thing get there so fast?!" He looked to Napstablook for reasoning who lazily shook his head in response.

[Mettaton] Anyways, Fad dummy,

[Fad dummy] Mad dummy.

[Mettaton] Right, right that's what I said, Mad honey. So, tell the viewers of what you saw.

[Mad Honey?] The human used a hand trick on me which means he's a ninja. Ninja! NINJA! In...training.

[Mettaton] You heard it folks, the human's a ninja!

[Mad Honey?] In training. He sucks at doing them.

[Mettaton] Same difference. The human isn't only a threat, but he's a ninja! This has been a public service announcement so spread the word my ten viewers! Now back to your regularly scheduled leg appreciation program.

"Monsters just not like ninjas at all here..."

"A few of the humans who fell down before you were ninjas and they were the worst. It took countless attempts to take their souls, not to mention all the monsters that died in the process. Yep, they suck. At least...that's what I got from, watching MTT news. But um...it's mostly rumors anyways."

"Yeah, well, thanks for inviting me, this place is pretty cool," Naruto's got himself up. "But I gotta get to wherever Mad dummy is at and beat him up for insulting my jutsu like that!"

"The MTT news station is in Hotland, it's actually not too far from here, it's just past this weird mountain place,"

"Hotland? I'm guessing I'll be in some kind of desert." Naruto left Napstablook's house, completely ignoring the glamorous pink house adjacent to his and went south. 'What's the deal with this ninja and monster stuff, all Iruka ever told us was that monsters weren't real, how did it get this bad?'

Down the hall was a small shop and the reoccurring treasure chest Naruto never bothered with. 'I sell weapons, armor, items and knowledge. Yeah, that's just what I need!' He entered through greeted by the presence of an old and snappy tortise. "Whoa there! I got some neat junk for sale!"

Gerson eyed the human suspiciously. "But don't expect to get out of here with some free stuff, the vendor down in Snowdin told me all about you."

"Oh uh..." Naruto shifted his weight. "I wasn't thinking about that, I read your sign and it said something about weapons..."

"Weapons? You don't need it."

"Are you blind or something?!" Naruto smacked his hands on the counter, surprising Gerson. "I'M A HUMAN I came here because I know I'll have to fight someone eventually and...I also know I'm not strong enough to protect myself against them...please, I'll work for it if I have to!"

"So you're this serious about fighting Undyne,"

'He already knows who I'm talking about.' Naruto's hands recoiled back into fists. "Of course I am! She's the one I want to fight the most, I just know I'll mess up, make one wrong move, and I can't take that back..." His voice reduced to a low mumble, almost as if he was talking to himself. "And I can't die. I told him...I can't."

Gerson twirled a finger through his beard. To him, the human was simply another one of his history books he studied. "Yo hoho, what does an old tortoise like me know anyways? I'm just saying someone who's been using their heart instead of fists wouldn't know a thing about using weapons."

"Besides...Undyne isn't all that bad when you get to know her..."

XxxxXxx

Hours earlier...

"Oh Undyne, my favorite customer! Ho ho, my only one...come here for the usual?" Gerson asked, wiping off his counter.

"Nah." She removed the heavy helmet and held it by her side. "I wanted to ask you about something...have you seen a human, spiky blonde hair, stupid face, pretty short for his age too."

"Not yet," Gerson said, looking up to see a perplexed expression wearing down Undyne's face. "The human's been causing you a lot of trouble, huh?"

"It's nothing I can't handle, it's just that he used to be scared of even being in the same room as me, but now I could tell from our last encounter he's really excited to fight me...I have a feeling he'll be coming here soon, so don't tell him I said this but..." She paused, reluctant to say the last part. "...I'm excited to fight him too."

A/N: Going from "Listen, if I ever face a monster like that, I'll fight them. I won't have to die for their sake." To "I also know I'm not strong enough to protect myself against them...please, I'll work for it if I have to." In just seven chapters.

Update: might as well say this, but the jutsu Naruto uses against mad dummy is kind of strange. It's not really an illusion and it's not really physical. According to the official Naruto wiki, you can pick some of them up so I implemented that idea. I figured non-physical attacks would work with non-physical bodies and...just work with me here.