Hello, everybody! This is the moment you've all been waiting for: the long-awaited update! I've had to go through so much to get this updated! First there was the writing, then the re-reading, then the typing, more re-reading, the dividers, and even these little author comments. I have a bad feeling that I'll be getting at least one flame for this chappie, though. I'm still nervous about if I typed this correctly, I might have made the chappie too long, and people might tell me that I've made character's too OOC. I just hope things will run more smoothly for me than they did last chappie. You may or may not have realized that last chappie didn't have the whole preview for this chappie. Well, that was because the computer was being mean to me! Well, before I bore you anymore, let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: Come on, guys! The answer to this one is obvious!(For those who don't know the answer, it's no, I don't.)
Revealing the Secrets
It was sunrise in the hidden leaf village. The birds were already whistling merrily, and the clouds were smeared across the bright blue sky.
It was at this time in the morning that Sakura and Tea were walking through the halls of the training building where the boys were staying. While they were walking, they quietly chatted about several different things.
"So you guys are ninjas?" Tea asked her new female friend. "That's amazing for how old you guys are!"
As they turned into a hallway on their right, the pink-haired girl replied, "It's not that impressive, actually. There are much more ninja out there that are younger than we are."
"Really? That's incredible!" the brunette exclaimed, clearly impressed when hearing this.
Soon, the two girls came to a stop. They had reached a door on their right that had a note with Japanese writing taped on it. When she saw this, Sakura took the note and began to read it.
"It looks like we can go in," Sakura said. "According to this note, Sasuke left the door unlocked for us."
"Oh, which one was Sasuke again?" Tea asked as they entered the room.
While they entered, the kunouchi replied, "Sasuke was the one your friend called, 'mini-Kaiba'."
". . . Oh," Tea uttered as she remembered the raven-haired boy from yesterday.
When they entered the room, the girls saw food packets scattered in the lower right corner of the room. There was a window on the left side of the far wall and a door to a storage closet on the left wall. Naruto, Joey, and Tristan were all sprawled across the middle of the floor with arms and legs spread out and mouths agape while Yugi was found sleeping peacefully near the window.
The two girls were disgusted at the sight of the three sprawled out boys and wondered how they became friends with these guys.
After staring for a few seconds, Sakura asked, "Well, how do we wake them up?"
"Hm . . ." Tea thought aloud. "I'm not sure. The only thing I know that might help us is that Joey will wake up at the slightest mention of food."
"That's perfect!" Sakura exclaimed. "Then I know just what type of food to use, then!"
After saying this, she bolted towards the food packets and searched for a certain thing. While she kept on saying, "Where is it? It has to be in here somewhere!" Tea quietly walked over to where her small friend slept. She slowly bent down and began to shake him gently, whispering, "Yugi, wake up. It's morning."
It took a few more seconds of shaking before he finally began to stir. Yugi slowly moved into a sitting position. Then, while he rubbed his eyes, he mumbled, "Mm . . . Morning, Tea."
As Tea looked at Yugi, she noticed that he looked like he hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. Concerned for him, the brunette asked, "Yugi, are you all right? You don't look well rested."
He stopped rubbing his eyes for a moment and faced Tea. Then, he replied, "Don't worry, Tea. I'm fine, really. I just had a strange dream, that's all. I'm sure it's nothing."
". . . A dream?" Tea wondered. Before she could ask what kind of dream Yugi had, however, she heard Sakura shout from across the room, "I found it!"
The two teenagers looked over at the pink-haired girl, who was now holding a small plastic cup in her hands. She walked over to them and slightly opened the top. When they looked at what was inside the cup, they saw some noodles.
"Sakura, what's that?" Tea asked her.
"It's Naruto's favorite meal," she told them. "If we're lucky, this will wake all three of them up at once!"
"So, what type of food is it, Sakura?" Yugi asked.
Then, Sakura replied in a loud voice, "It's Ichiraku brand pork-flavored ramen."
After these words escaped the kunouchi's mouth, the three snoozers slowly got up while saying in small fragments. . .
"Ichiraku . . ?" (Naruto)
"Pork-flavored . . ?" (Joey)
"Ramen . . ?" (Tristan)
Then, as if by magic, all three of them jolted wide awake and ran to Sakura, shouting in unison, "GIMME, GIMME, GIMME!!!"
". . . Oh, geez," Sakura uttered out, seeing her mistake after noticing them stare after the small cup with deep, burning desire. She immediately got up and ran to the left side of the room with ramen cup in hand.
Tea sweatdropped as she watched this as she said, "I guess her plan worked a little too well. Right, Yugi?"
She got no reply from him, however, and she turned to face him. She saw that Yugi had a troubled look in his eyes that told her that he was thinking about something. She quietly thought to herself, "I wonder what's wrong."
"Tea, catch!"
Sakura threw the cup towards the two, and Tea stretched her arms out to catch the ramen cup. Then, seeing that the three maniacs were running towards her now, she ran over to the right side of the room.
"Sakura! Why did you get me involved in this?" the brunette asked as she tossed the ramen cup over the boys' heads and back over to her.
"I'm sorry! I can't handle three crazy guys running after me for a useless cup of noodles!" Sakura shouted back to her as she caught the cup with her right hand. As she passed the ramen back to Tea, she yelled, "I can't believe that you gave me the idea of using ramen to wake them up!"
When the brunette caught the cup, she answered, "Hey! I didn't tell you how to wake them up, did I?"
Tea tried to pass it back, but then Naruto jumped up in the air to try and catch it. His fingers brushed the bottom of the cup, causing it to change course and move toward the door.
It was at this moment that the door was opened by Sasuke. He opened the door and began saying, "Well, it looks like we have no missions to-"
He was interrupted, however, as the ramen cup hit his forehead and landed in his hand.
"What the . . . ?" He thought outloud, wondering why a ramen cup was thrown at his head.
"Oh no," Tea uttered, knowing what was going to happen.
"Sasuke! Watch out!" Sakura shouted, trying to warn him of the danger.
The young boy looked up to see Naruto, Joey, and Tristan all running towards him and shouting, "RAMEN!!!"
At first, Sasuke just blinked at them, sort of caught off guard at the sight before him. Then, he sighed and went back to his usual expression. He just calmly stood there as the three of them ran toward him, wanting the small cup of ramen that he now possessed. However, just before they reached him, the Uchiha just casually stepped out of the way.
Unable to react to this, Naruto, who was in the lead, went face first into the wall of the hallway. Shortly after, Joey ran into Naruto, and then Tristan collided into Joey. Finally, the three of them fell to the floor with dazed looks in their eyes.
Sakura, Tea, and Yugi stared at them, shocked at how they were stopped with Sasuke doing barely anything. Meanwhile, the raven-haired boy glared at them for a minute or two. After doing so, he turned away and entered the room while uttering, "Losers."
The three boys lying on the floor growled with anger at Sasuke, furious with how he made them look bad.
Ignoring the scene that had just happened, Sakura asked her crush, "So, where have you been all this time, Sasuke?"
"Unlike you, I've been busy," he replied while dropping a bag full of different colored books in the middle of the floor.
"What are those?" Tea asked him, also wondering what he had been doing.
Turning to her, Sasuke answered, "They're jutsu study books. Like I tried saying earlier, we don't have any ninja missions today, so we need to spend as much time as possible to try to find a way to get you people back to where you came from."
"HEY! We have names, you know!" Joey yelled after recovering from his collision in the hallway.
Sasuke just ignored the blonde and dug around for a book. This caused Joey to get even angrier and yell, "Hey! I'm talking to you, jerk! Don't you dare ignore me!"
After finding an evergreen book, Sasuke finally turned to face the blond teenager. He gave him a cold stare and said, "Do you ever shut up? I swear, sometimes, you're even more of an idiot than Naruto."
"HEY!" the two blonds shouted in unison, furious at that last statement. They both began to crack their knuckles and walked into the room, but before they could even attempt to attack Sasuke, Sakura got in front of the two and said with a demanding tone in her voice, "Don't. You. Even. Dare!"
This caused the two boys to think for a moment. After remembering how violent the pink-haired kunouchi could be, they immediately forgot of their previous plans and sat down without any argument whatsoever.
After everyone got into the room and ate a small breakfast, Sakura took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Let's get started." And with that, they began to search for a solution to their problem.
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Tsunade sat at her desk in the Hokage's office, tapping her fingers on the wood. She was clearly troubled by something.
While the blond woman continued doing this, Shizune walked into the office happily. When she saw the troubled look on her friend's face, however, she asked, "Lady Tsunade, what's wrong?"
The legendary sannin looked up and said, "Oh, Shizune, today's just not my day. This whole morning has put me in a sour mood! I missed having my cup of coffee, I've had a headache for the past ten minutes now, and, to make things worse, I still have all of this paperwork to do!"
After hearing Tsunade's complaint about the paperwork, Shizune laughed nervously and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help you with that."
As her assistant said this, Tsunade thought to herself, "There's something else that's troubling me . . ."
It was about five in the morning, and the sun wasn't even up yet. Tsunade sat at her desk, half-asleep as she organized the many files scattered around her office.
"I really need to think about getting Shizune to clean this place up," she mumbled as she began carrying a huge stack of papers to her filing cabinets.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Startled, the Hokage jumped a little, causing her to drop the stack of papers and spread them all over the floor. She groaned at the thought of having to pick them up later and slowly walked over to the doors while thinking, "Who would come here at this time in the morning?"
As she opened the door, she saw Sasuke, standing there with his usual dead serious face.
"Geez, does this kid ever sleep?" Tsunade wondered while staring at him with a blank face. Then, she asked, "What do you want?"
"Has Kakashi returned yet?" Sasuke asked, making sure that his voice was loud enough for her to hear him.
She stood there for a moment, trying to focus on what he said. After a moment to think, the tired sannin replied, "Oh, no, he hasn't, so tell Naruto that he'll have to deal with it."
As she turned around to walk back to her desk and yawned, she heard the young boy say, "So, you're saying we don't have any missions today?"
"Not until Kakashi comes back," she said as she sat at her desk. She yawned once more, and then, as she turned to face Sasuke, she continued, "So, you guys need to occupy yourselves like you did yesterday, and I don't want to hear any complaints. Got it?"
However, when she opened her eyes, the Hokage noticed that Sasuke had already left. She was left staring at the place where he used to be. Then, she went back to her normal morning schedule.
"Normally, none of them, not even Sasuke, come that early for missions," Tsunade still wondered. "and I thought for sure that I'd get at least one groan. They're up to something, but what?"
Seeing that her assistant was still there, she asked, "What is it, Shizune?"
Remembering what had sent her up to the Hokage's office in the first place, Shizune replied, "Well, I just came up here to tell you that Kakashi has completed his mission and that he'll be back in about 20 minutes, but since I've been up here, at least 10 minutes should have passed."
"Oh, good!" Tsunade replied. "I think as soon as he gets back, I may need him to find something out for me."
As Shizune stared, wondering what her friend had in mind, a Jounin with brown hair and brown eyes came in before any other comments could be made. He said in a deep voice, "Lady Hokage, we have a problem!"
"What is it?" she asked half-paying attention to what he was saying.
"A pair of rogue ninja has somehow sneaked into the leaf village!" he shouted.
"What?!?" Tsunade replied now paying full attention to what he was saying.
He continued to say, "Our guards have been knocked out for the past hour. One of them managed to recover and give out the message. I came as soon as we learned this."
"Well, don't just stand there! Send someone to get rid of them!" The blonde woman ordered.
"Wait, Lady Hokage! There's something else you have to know!" the young man said. "We learned the identity of one of the ninjas."
"Well, who is it?!?" Tsunade asked in an angry tone in her voice.
"Well, it's . . . um. . ." he uttered. Then, he went up to her and whispered something in her ear.
As soon as she heard the name, Tsunade froze with a face showing shock and fear. She thought, "Seriously? He came to the village? That can only mean one thing!"
"Lady Tsunade, what's wrong?" Shizune asked when she saw the look of worry on her friend's face.
Immediately, the Hokage demanded, "Get as many of our ANBU officers as you can to find them! Shizune, as soon as Kakashi gets here, send him to my office! I have a very important job for him!"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade!" they both replied, and they were gone in a flash.
As they left, Tsunade thought, "They had better catch them before those rogue ninja find what they came here for!"
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It was now eleven in the morning. After eating their breakfast, the three shinobi and the four teenagers had began to look for something that could help them undo what had happened the day before. However, after 10 minutes, Naruto, Joey, and Tristan had gotten bored and quit to talk with each other.
While Joey and Tristan told Naruto of some of their adventures in Battle City, Tea, Sakura, Sasuke, and Yugi were still trying to look for a jutsu that could help them.
As Sakura turned the page in her blue jutsu book that she held in her hands, she heard Tea suddenly ask, "Why did you summon people from our world?"
"What do you mean?" the pink-haired girl asked her.
As Tea placed her black jutsu book in her lap, she answered, "Well, there are probably more worlds out there. You could have picked any universe, but instead, you summoned us. Why did you choose our world?"
Without even looking up from his red jutsu book, Sasuke said, "You can thank Naruto for that. When he read the description of your world, he saw the word 'shadow' and instantly thought that you would be stronger than you really are."
"Shadow?" Tea repeated quietly to herself. Suddenly, she realized why that word would be used to describe their universe and told them, "That book must have been referring to the shadow games."
"Shadow games?" Sakura asked. "What are those?"
"Well," the brunette began to explain. "The shadow games are special duels in our world that are really dangerous. Several times, it was because of a shadow game that we almost lost our lives."
"Whoa," Sakura uttered, clearly amazed at this information. "So, is it difficult to always be put in danger like that?"
"Actually, most of the time, we're not in danger," Yugi told her after turning the page of his deep purple jutsu book.
"Really? How?" the pink-haired kunouchi asked him.
He placed his book down and replied, "You see, shadow games can only happen if one of the duelists possess a millennium item."
After hearing this, Sasuke finally decided to be interested and pay attention to the conversation. Meanwhile, Sakura asked, "What's a millennium item?"
Yugi thought about what to say, and when he decided that it was okay to talk a little bit about the millennium items, he told Sakura, "Well, a millennium item is an extremely rare object in our world. There are only seven, and each item is said to have strange and magical powers."
"Hm . . ." Sasuke wondered. As soon as his eyes came across the golden object around Yugi's neck, he asked, "That thing wouldn't happen to be one of those items, would it?"
Yugi looked over at the raven-haired boy and was acknowledged by a cold stare. He wasn't sure why, but something about Sasuke made him feel uneasy. He calmly answered, "Actually, this is a millennium item. It's called the Millennium Puzzle, and it's probably my most prized possession that I own."
"So what powers does that item of yours have?" Sasuke asked almost immediately after receiving his answer.
Yugi stared at him, wondering why Sasuke was so curious. Meanwhile, Tea worried and thought, "What should we do? We can't let Sasuke, or anyone for that matter, learn about the powers of Yugi's puzzle!"
"Sasuke, why are you asking Yugi so many questions?" Sakura asked her crush.
Tea joined in by asking, "Yeah, Sasuke. Why are so curious about Yugi's puzzle, anyways?"
The young Uchiha boy glared at the two girls and was about to tell them to mind their own business, but all of a sudden . . .
". . . when all of a sudden, SPLOOSH!!!"
The two girls jumped at the yell, and the two boys stared in shock, wondering what the heck the other three guys were doing.
After taking a breath, Tea turned around and yelled angrily, "Dang it, Joey! Could you keep it down over there?!?"
"Yeah!" Sakura added in the shouting. "Unlike you, we're busy, so keep your mouth shut!"
"I was just getting to the best part, though!" Joey whined.
Tristan added, "Just let him finish this story!"
"Yeah! Let him finish!" Naruto yelled, wanting to hear the end of the story.
"What story could you possibly be telling that could cause this much noise?" Sakura asked, annoyed by the boys' whining.
"A very dangerous one!" Naruto yelled back. "These guys are telling me about this freaky duel that this freak, Marik, forced them to do, and how they almost got killed!"
Sakura quickly went out of her anger and became interested. She asked, "Oh, was it a shadow game?"
The blonde ninja just gave her a blank stare. He hadn't learned what a shadow game was yet, so he just sat there and thought about what it was. Meanwhile, Joey answered, "Actually, it wasn't, but it did put our lives in danger."
"Which duel was this again, Joey?" Tea asked, trying to remember all of the duels that took place in Battle City.
"You don't remember?" the blonde teenager asked his female friend. "It was that duel near the dock where I was brainwashed and . . . well, you know . . ."
"Oh, that duel?" the brunette asked, remembering that duel and wondering why her friend wanted to tell Naruto about that one moment. Meanwhile, Yugi had a thoughtful stare on his face as he remembered that hectic day while Tea continued saying, "I'm surprised you're okay with talking about that duel now, Joey."
"Aw, c'mon, Tea," Joey said. "Why wouldn't I want to talk about it? That was one of the shining moments in my life, if I remember correctly."
In response to this statement, Tristan said, "That's funny. If I remember correctly, you were pretty ashamed of yourself for that duel in Battle City."
"That's different!" Joey yelled at him. "Back then, it was more recent, and the world wasn't endangered by that maniac!"
"Hn, loser."
"What did you say?!?" Joey yelled as he glared at Sasuke.
"I said you're a loser," the raven-haired boy replied, making sure to stretch out the last word to purposely irritate Joey. "Seriously, you speak without thinking, like Naruto."
"Hey! I heard that!" the blonde ninja yelled at him.
"Yeah!" Joey yelled. "We don't need to hear that load of garbage coming from you, mini-Kaiba, so why don't you mind your own business?"
Sasuke just gave them a 'you're a moron' stare and went back to his search. After a brief moment of thought, Naruto asked, "Um, Joey, what's a Kaiba?"
"Huh?" Joey at first didn't hear his question. As soon as he was able to pay attention, however, he replied, "Oh! Actually, Kaiba isn't an 'it'. He's actually a person. If you ask me, though, he's a heartless jerk who just goes out of his way to make me look bad! I HATE THAT BIG, FAT SON OF A-"
"Oh, be quiet, already!" Sakura yelled as she hit him in the head with a fist. He fell to the floor seeing stars, and the pink-haired kunouchi said, "Honestly, you're giving me a headache!" Then, she turned to Tea and asked, "So, who exactly is Kaiba?"
Tea replied, "Well, his actual name is Seto Kaiba, and he's the head of a major company in our world."
"He's also the second best at duel monsters!" Tristan added after getting Joey out of his concussion.
"Second best?" Sasuke asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah! And you act a lot like him, mini-Kaiba! You even have that same, emotionless, 'you're all morons' stare that he's got, and I don't like that about you!" Joey yelled while pointing his finger at the raven-haired shinobi.
While Sakura stared angrily at Joey, she thought, "If he bad mouths about Sasuke one more time, I swear I'm going to pulverize him!"
Suddenly, she thought about something and asked, "Hey, wait a minute. So if Kaiba is second best, then who's the one person that beat him?"
"Come on, Sakura! Didn't you hear Joey yesterday?" Naruto asked her, surprised that she didn't remember. He then continued saying, "He said that he was the greatest duelist, and it's probably true! I mean, he's pretty cool, and he-"
"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted. As the blond ninja stared at him, he said, "Do you honestly believe that this pathetic excuse for a duelist could ever be the best in anything?"
"What?!?" Naruto asked angrily. "You jerk!"
Before he could think of anything else to say, however, Joey said with regret, "Unfortunately, he's right, or at least he is about the fact that I'm not the best."
Naruto looked at him with confusion and asked, "But, if you're not the best, then who is?"
Joey replied, "Well, actually, Yug is the best! He's the only person to ever beat Kaiba!"
". . . Really?" Sakura asked.
All three of the shinobi looked over at Yugi, who now felt pretty awkward from the sudden attention that he was getting. The only response he had was a shrug.
After a few seconds had passed, Sakura said with wonder in her voice, "Wow, and you guys think it's impressive that we're ninjas at our age?"
". . . What do you mean?" Yugi asked, being caught off guard by this statement.
"Well," Sakura began, "This 'duel monsters' game sounds pretty challenging . . ."
Then, Naruto finished, ". . . but you're already number one! It's pretty cool for how young you are!"
". . . . . . . Pardon?" Yugi asked nervously, knowing what was coming.
"Aren't you 13 like us?" Sakura asked.
"Um, not exactly," the tri-colored haired boy answered.
"Oh," Sakura said, a little bit startled. "Then, are you 12?"
". . . No," he said quietly. Meanwhile, Joey and Tristan were holding back laughter, clearly amused by this.
"Okay, then are you a short 14-year old guy?" Naruto asked as he was beginning to lose his patience. After seeing Yugi shake his head, the blond ninja shouted, "I don't get it! How old are you, then?"
He looked over at the other two teenage boys who were still holding back laughter, and Naruto asked, "And what's so funny?"
Hearing this question, the two boys quickly calmed down and tried to keep straight faces. Then, Tristan said, "Man, you guys don't get it, do you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked, also wondering why they were laughing. She looked over to Tea expecting an answer. The brunette looked over at Yugi as if she was silently asking for permission. Her friend took a deep sigh and nodded, and she turned to Sakura and Naruto.
Then, she quietly told them, "Well, as unbelievable as it sounds, Yugi is actually 16, like the rest of us."
"Actually, I'm 17, Tea," Joey stated, wanting to get the facts straight.
"Whatever!" Tea stated, showing that she didn't care.
A long and awkward silence followed when Sakura and Naruto heard about Yugi's actual age. Naruto just stared with his mouth agape, and Sakura tried to think if she heard that sentence correctly. After a moment, she nervously said, "Well, that's . . . interesting."
"Weird," Tristan said. "I thought for sure that Naruto would have been more surprised."
"Yeah, me too," Joey added.
Sasuke just stared at them and thought, "Knowing Naruto, he's probably still stunned. He'll probably start shouting with shock in 3, 2, 1 . . ."
"WHHHAAAAAAAT?!?"
Everyone in the room except Sasuke jumped at Naruto's sudden shout. Meanwhile, Sasuke thought to himself, "I knew it. That loser is so predictable it's embarrassing."
He continued to smirk to himself until he felt a dark presence. He turned to the window, but no one was there. He quietly thought, "Something's not right. Who was that?"
Meanwhile, Naruto continued shouting, "How the heck can he be 16?!? He's so SHORT!!! That's insane!!"
"Naruto, cut it out!" Sakura scolded. "You know, you're pretty short for your age."
"Yeah, but at least I'm no dwarf!" the blond shinobi yelled back.
Sakura just yelled at him, "Stop being so inconsiderate, Naruto!"
Meanwhile, Inner Sakura thought, "Hahahahahahaha!!!Oh, my gosh! This kid brings a whole new meaning to the word, 'short'! This is hilarious!"
"Apologize to him, NOW!" Sakura threatened, now having completely lost her temper.
Naruto cowered in the corner with fear. Before Sakura began to beat him to a bloody pulp, however, Yugi calmly told them, "It's all right, Sakura. Calm down. He doesn't have to apologize if he doesn't want to. Besides, I've been called short and worse before."
"Are you sure?" the pink-haired kunouchi asked him. He nodded, and then, she sat wishing that she could've done something to help him.
As soon as everything was calm again, Joey got back to telling his story with Sakura now listening, too. While he did this, Sasuke was still staring at the window, wondering, "We need to find out who was watching us just now. It felt like an evil presence was here just a few moments ago. That has to mean that either another sound attack is about to happen or . . ."
While he continued his thoughts, Joey's story was coming to a close. In the middle of his story, Sakura had asked, "So, wait a minute. Then, how did you save yourself if you didn't have your key?"
"I didn't," the blond teenager simply stated. "My little sister, Serenity, jumped in and saved me."
"You have a little sister?" Naruto asked. "What's she like?"
"Oh, Serenity is the sweetest girl you could ever meet," Joey said with pride. "She's around your age, actually. In fact, I know I have a picture of her here somewhere."
After saying this, he began searching through his pockets. As Sakura and Naruto stared at him, Joey pulled out his wallet and flipped it open.
"Well, here she is!" he said, showing them a picture of girl with long, orange hair and light brown eyes. She wore a pink vest with a high collar and a short-sleeve yellow T-shirt underneath that.
"Wow, she looks cute!" Naruto said excitedly.
"Yeah, she is," Tristan said with a dreamy look on his face. "If only I could see her. Then, I'd-"
"Hey! Back off, Tristan!" Joey yelled angrily while putting him in a headlock.
"Well, I see he's a bit overprotective of her," Sakura thought as she saw the two boys fight. Meanwhile, Naruto thought, "Whoa, I wonder if he'd do that to me if I wanted to date his sister."
Before he had a chance to ask, though, he heard Sasuke tell him, "Naruto, we should look for Kakashi now."
As everyone stopped what they were doing, Sakura asked, "Wait. Do you really think that Kakashi-sensei came back from his mission already?"
While Sakura asked this, Tristan whispered to Naruto, "Hey, who is this 'Kakashi' guy?"
"Oh, he's just our weird teacher," Naruto replied, not really wanting to go into detail about how weird he was.
"I'm not sure," Sasuke continued. "but I think Naruto and I should make sure that he doesn't stumble across these guys."
"What? No way! I'm staying right here!" Naruto argued, and he sat and stared defiantly at the young Uchiha while crossing his arms.
"Look, you loser," Sasuke said, raising his voice slightly in annoyance. "We can't afford to let anyone discover the people that you summoned, and Kakashi could be back anytime now. If you want to keep them hidden, we'll have to keep him busy, so we're going to find him."
"Why can't you just have Sakura go with you, then?" Naruto countered back.
"And leave you here so that our friends get headaches? No way!" Sakura said sternly. "You wouldn't even be able to keep things under control!"
"I could too!" Naruto whined. "What makes you think that I wouldn't keep things quiet, here?"
"How about the fact that you're never quiet?" Tea argued with him while taking Sakura's side.
This left Naruto speechless, now that he had two girls arguing against him. He stuttered with his words, trying to think of a witty comeback. When he failed to say anything after two minutes, Sasuke said, "Well, since you've made yourself look like a complete moron, again, can we go now?"
As Naruto growled at him angrily, Joey yelled, "Hey! Watch what you say, or Naruto may have to knock your teeth out! Anyways, can't you get one of Naruto's other friends to find this Kakashi guy for you?"
When Naruto heard the blond teenager's last question, he snapped out of his rage and became quiet. Meanwhile, the raven-haired boy stared coldly at Joey and said, "No, I can't, Wheeler. Kakashi is only our teacher, so I don't think it would be any of their business."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey asked, getting really enraged by Sasuke.
Before getting an answer, though, they heard the blond shinobi say, "Also, I don't really have a whole lot of really good friends."
". . . Huh?" Joey uttered, barely hearing what he said.
"Well, actually. . ." Naruto continued in a much more mellow voice. "Before I became a ninja, I didn't really have any friends."
"WHA . . .?" Joey, Tristan, and Tea yelled in shock. Meanwhile, Sakura stared in confusion, Sasuke looked away without showing any emotion whatsoever, and Yugi stared at Naruto with a curious and questioning look in his deep amethyst eyes.
"Are you serious?!?" Tristan asked him, barely believing what he had just heard.
"There's no way that a cool guy like you didn't have any friends!" Joey said, also shocked at the shinobi's last statement.
"Is that the truth, Naruto?" Tea asked him.
"Yeah," Naruto mumbled, avoiding eye contact and staring at the wooden floor. "I don't like talking about it that much, so let's just forget I ever mentioned it."
". . . That can't be true."
Everyone stared at the small teenager, who was now looking at Naruto that expressed hope and disbelief. The blond ninja blinked in confusion and asked, "What do you mean, Yugi?"
"Are you sure that you didn't have a single friend when you were a kid?" Yugi asked him. "You couldn't have been all alone."
"I already told you, I didn't," Naruto said. "There were only a few people that I hung out with, but they were more like . . . associates."
As he was saying his last word, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his forehead and began to grip it.
"Are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura asked when she saw him do this.
"Oh, yeah," Naruto mumbled. He grunted from the pain, and then continued, "I'm just getting a headache, that's all. I'm just thinking too much."
"Why is this happening again?" the blond shinobi thought to himself. "Yugi says one little thing, and I get this splitting headache! What's next??"
Suddenly, an unfamiliar picture flashed into his mind.
It was a sunny day in the forest. A large, oak tree stood out, and in front of it, there were two boys running and holding hands. They both seemed to be friends. One wore a black T-shirt and grey shorts. The second boy wore an orange T-shirt, blue shorts, and an orange baseball cap turned backwards. They were both laughing happily.
Naruto's face became filled with shock and disbelief as he gasped. He thought, "Whoa! What the heck was that?!?"
"Naruto?" Sakura asked with worry when she saw her teammate's face. "Naruto, what's the matter?"
"Yeah. You look like you've seen a ghost!" Joey added, concerned about his new friend.
Naruto immediately took his hand away from his head and began to panic in his mind, not wanting his friends to learn about what he saw. He nervously said, "Oh, uh, nothing! Nothing whatsoever! Everything is a okay! Now, I gotta, uh . . . go, uh . . . . . . . . go freshen up!"
He dashed over to the closet, stepped inside, and slammed the door behind him, leaving everybody confused. While everyone blinked in confusion, Sasuke stared suspiciously at where Naruto had retreated.
"Uh, what just happened?" Tristan asked to no one in particular.
Tea replied, "I honestly have no idea."
Meanwhile, the Uchiha male thought, "He's been acting very strange ever since yesterday. . ."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Naruto said angrily to him. "Out of the four of them, Yugi is the most trustworthy!"
"How do you know, Naruto? You've only met him recently," Sasuke said.
The blond was caught off guard, and he began to stumble with his words. Finally, he said, "Well, it's just that I have this feeling in my gut that Yugi's a good person."
The blond, hyperactive ninja laughed nervously after he said this.
Still glaring, Sasuke thought, "Yesterday, I didn't think that was a big deal, but now I'm suspicious. I'm going in there and seeing what's wrong with him."
Before Sasuke could make a move, however, he stared at Yugi as he got up and began walking to the closet. Tea asked, "Yugi, what are you doing?"
The tri-colored haired teen paused right in front of the door to the closet. He turned to his friends and answered, "I'm just going to check on Naruto. Just to make sure he's all right."
"Oh, okay," Sakura said, surprised that he came to that decision so suddenly.
"Besides, I need to tell him about that dream I had," Yugi thought. "I have a strange feeling that Naruto's actions have something to do with it, and I need to know what happened to him!"
Yugi slowly opened the door, stepped inside, and quietly shut the door behind him.
"Well, now what do we do?" Tristan asked now that things with the blond shinobi were being taken care of.
Sakura then asked, "Well, could one of you guys please explain this 'duel monsters' game? I still don't understand it."
Hearing this, Joey said, "Oh, sure. No problem, Sakura." While he began looking for his deck to better explain the rules, he shouted over to Sasuke, "Hey, mini-Kaiba! You better get over here if you want to see something interesting!"
Sasuke reluctantly moved over to where they were all sitting while he was thinking, "I guess I shouldn't worry about that idiot right now. The biggest mystery that I should be focusing on right now is Yugi's puzzle. Maybe Naruto can actually find some answers for me."
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Naruto stood alone in the closet, still trying to wonder what had happened a few moments ago. The closet which he stood in had kunais and scrolls stacked and scattered all over the room. The only light came from a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
"What did I see just now?" he thought, still in shock. "Who were those kids? Man, I feel confused."
"Naruto?"
"Ah!" the blond ninja shouted in shock. As he spun around, he saw Yugi standing in front of him. Then, he calmed down and said, "Oh, hey Yugi. You kinda scared me there."
"Oh, sorry," the small boy apologized.
"Oh, don't be," Naruto said. "It's my fault. I should have been more prepared." He sat down on the floor and asked, "So, what do you want?"
"Oh, well," Yugi began to reply as he tried to find a clear place to sit. "Everyone was worried about your strange behavior. Is something wrong?"
The blond ninja stared for a moment, lost in thought. Then, he thought to himself, "I guess I should tell at least someone about this. I mean, Yugi does seem pretty trustworthy. Plus, I can't shake this feeling I have that he had something to do with my vision."
After Yugi finally found a comfortable place to sit in front of him, Naruto said, "Okay, this may sound crazy, but I think I had a vision or something."
"What kind of vision?" Yugi asked, not wondering what he meant by a vision.
Naruto replied, "It was a pretty weird one. It wasn't exactly clear. I just saw for a brief moment these two boys running and laughing through this forest. I honestly have no idea what it means."
Suddenly, a thought came across Yugi's mind. He quickly asked his blond friend, "Wait a minute. Naruto, what did the two boys look like?"
"Well, I'm not sure," Naruto began. "The vision was a little fuzzy, so I could only notice what type of clothes they had. One wore a black shirt, and the other one had an orange shirt and an orange hat. Why do you ask?"
Yugi gasped in shock, and with out thinking, he said, "No way!"
"'No way' what?" Naruto asked, confused by his reaction.
"Yugi, what's wrong?" Yami asked through their minds, also confused.
"Your vision!" the short boy exclaimed in disbelief.
"What about it?" the blond shinobi asked him.
Yugi replied, "It sounds exactly like the dream that I had last night!"
Yami was shocked to hear this and thought, "How is that possible?"
"No way! You've got to be kidding!" Naruto said in complete shock.
"I wish I were," Yugi replied quietly. "I'm worried about this. I remember having this dream about six years ago. What do you think this means?"
"Don't ask me!" Naruto quietly shouted. "I'm just as confused about this as you are, if not more. Man, I just wish I knew why this is happening to us!"
After a moment of thought, Yugi suggested, "Maybe it has to do with how you performed the summoning jutsu."
"Hm. . . Maybe," Naruto said quietly as he rested his chin in his hand. "I remember that I had tried to summon five people yesterday, but instead, I was only able to summon four. I followed all the rules, but in the end, I couldn't summon all five spir-"
Naruto suddenly stopped talking. He had suddenly remembered what the book had said . . .
Step 2: Make sure that your blood is placed on as many fingers as you want spirits.
The word 'spirits' echoed in Naruto's head. Realizing what the book meant by that, he uttered in a barely audible voice, "That's it. That's it!"
"Naruto?" Yugi asked, wondering what the blond shinobi was thinking about.
"Yugi, don't you see?" Naruto asked, happiness and excitement filling his voice. "The reason why we only found you and your friends is because that jutsu book said that you summon spirits! I did summon the fifth person after all! He's probably just sharing a body with one of you guys!"
Yugi just froze and stared at him with shock while Naruto happily thought, "Man, I can't wait until I find out where that fifth spirit is hiding! Now, who could that spirit be with?"
"Oh, no!" Yugi thought to the friend sharing his body. "What if he finds out about the secrets of the puzzle?"
"Yugi, I wouldn't worry yet," Yami calmly told him. "He hasn't asked about it, yet, so we're all right for now."
Naruto quickly looked at Yugi. When his eyes spotted the golden object, the blond, hyperactive ninja asked, "Hey, Yugi! That puzzle, is that where the fifth spirit is?"
Both Yugi and Yami couldn't believe what they had just heard! Naruto was just one step away from discovering their secret!
Yugi hid his shock and worry from Naruto and replied calmly, "Now, why would you think that, Naruto? I mean, it sounds a little bit crazy, doesn't it? I don't think anyone has ever heard of two spirits living in the same body."
". . . Actually," Naruto said bringing his voice down. "To me, it sounds perfectly normal for two spirits to inhabit the same body."
"What?" Yugi wondered out loud.
The blond boy sat in silence, wondering whether or not to tell him of his deepest, darkest secret. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Naruto, he said quietly, "You know, this will be the first time I've ever told someone about this. Most people don't know about it, not even Sakura and Sasuke. I'm . . . not sure how to say it, so I'll just show you."
He began to take off his jacket, and Yugi wondered what Naruto was going to do as he stared at him. As the blond ninja threw his jacket and began to take off his shirt, Yugi asked, "Naruto, what are you doing?"
"Just watch," Naruto simply told him. Then, he formed a hand sign and began to mold his chakra.
At first, Yugi saw nothing and was left in confusion, but after a few more seconds, his eyes went wide with shock as he saw strange, black marks appear on Naruto's stomach. While Yugi reached out his hand and touched the strange markings, he asked, "What is this? A strange tattoo?"
"No, but I wish it were, though," Naruto told him.
When the tri-colored haired boy gave him a questioning look, the blond ninja began to put his clothes back on while he explained, "I don't really know most of the details, but apparently, thirteen years ago, our village was being attacked by a demon called the nine-tailed fox. According to Iruka-sensei, though, the fourth Hokage saved the village by trapping that stupid fox inside a human vessel, and . . . well, I'm guessing you can figure out the rest. Those black markings I showed you, that was a seal. It's supposed to contain the demon within me."
After his story, there was a long and unnerving silence. Yugi just had a shocked expression on his face. As he saw his face, Naruto thought, "Oh, man! Telling him about that stupid fox was a bad idea, wasn't it? I should have known better than to just spill my guts to him like that! He'll probably laugh at me, or worse, start hating me!"
"Whoa, I never would have guessed."
Naruto looked at Yugi, startled by what he had said. The small teenager now showed sympathy and kindness, and he continued saying, "It must be difficult for you to carry such a burden. Why don't you tell your friends about this?"
"I can't tell them," Naruto said. "If they knew that I had a demon inside of me, what would they think? I don't want to risk losing the friends that took me so long to get!"
Yugi stared at him sympathetically and thought, "I feel bad for him, Yami. Having to keep such a big secret must be very difficult for someone his age."
"That's true," Yami replied. "He seems to have been through many hardships, but that doesn't mean he should know about me."
"So," Naruto continued saying. "If there's a demon inside of that puzzle, I understand."
Yugi's body tensed slightly. Even if Yami didn't know about his past, Yugi knew for sure that he was no demon.
"I mean, it's not your fault that you have an evil spirit inside of that object of yours," the blond ninja added, assuming both that there was another spirit within Yugi and that the spirit was evil like the nine-tailed fox.
When he saw Yugi put his hands into fists on his lap, Yami cautioned, "Yugi, you have to calm down. You must remember that he doesn't know anything about the Millennium Puzzle."
"I know," Yugi thought back. "That's what's making me so furious! He can't just assume things!"
Before Yugi could have a chance to calm down, Naruto said to himself, "That demon must have destroyed millions of lives, no doubt."
"He's NOT a demon!"
"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused at Yugi's sudden temper.
The tri-colored haired boy continued saying angrily, "Yami is NOT an evil spirit! The only reason we're not completely sure is because he lost his memories from five thousand years ago, but when he gets them back, we'll know he was a good pharaoh the whole time! He is NOT EVIL!!!"
". . ."
Naruto just blinked in confusion while trying to process all of the information. Yugi, realizing what he had just revealed, gasped and covered his mouth, wishing that he hadn't said any of that.
"Yugi!" Yami shouted, shocked at what his friend had just done.
"Oh, no!" Yugi thought with dread. "I can't believe I let that slip out!"
Naruto's head was now filled with many questions. He quietly uttered, "Five thousand years? . . . Is that even possible? . . . What in the name of Ichiraku Ramen is a pharaoh supposed to be anyways?"
After uttering this, he looked at Yugi with extreme confusion in his face and asked, "Yugi, what's a pharaoh?"
Yugi just stared at him blankly. After realizing that Naruto hadn't clearly understood everything that he had just said, he got up immediately and made a swift move to open the door.
"Yugi?" the blond boy asked, wondering what was wrong and what his short friend was doing.
Meanwhile, Yugi was frantically thinking, "We have to get out of here before somebody else finds out about the puzzle!"
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While Yugi and Naruto had been in the storage closet, Joey was busy telling Sakura and Sasuke all the rules of duel monsters. Apparently, they hadn't heard a word that their two friends were saying in the closet (luckily for them, the doors made it so nothing could be heard) and Joey had just said, ". . . and that's how you do a fusion summon!"
"Wow, this game sounds so complex!" Sakura said as she tried to remember everything that was being explained to her. Meanwhile, her crush looked as if he could care less about their games.
Right before the blond teenager could continue his explanation of the game, the door to the closet swung wide open, and Yugi rushed out quickly.
"Hey, Yug," Joey greeted, being in a much better mood than before. "Can you help me explain ritual summoning to these guys?"
The tri-colored haired boy just walked quickly past him and gathered the few things that he and his friends had with them. Confused, Joey asked, "Yugi, what's the matter, pal?"
Without even looking up from his task, Yugi replied quietly, "We have to go."
"What?!?" Everyone replied in shock except for Sasuke, who just stared at him and wondered why he was acting like this.
"Leave?" Tea asked her friend. "But why?"
The short boy still ignored them and sped toward the exit. Sakura yelled, "Yugi! Why won't you answer her?"
Without even acknowledging either of the two girls, Yugi began to turn the doorknob. Before he could open the door, however, Naruto ran out of the closet and asked, "What are you doing?"
Yugi quickly paused. Then, he turned to face him and said, "I'm sorry, Naruto, but my friends and I have to leave before anybody else finds out."
The blond shinobi just yelled back, "Could you at least explain to me what the heck ha-"
Suddenly, Naruto stopped in the middle of his question and stared with fear in his eyes. Through the crack of the door, he could see robes of black and red, and there were only two people he knew that wore this type of outfit.
Quietly, he whispered, "Yugi, don't go out there."
"I have to," the small boy answered. "If the wrong people find out my secret, my friends and I, and even you guys, could be in great danger."
"Don't you get it?!?" Naruto yelled with frustration and fear in his voice. "You'll be in danger if you go out there!"
As the blond ninja said this, Sasuke felt the same dark presence that he felt earlier that day. At that moment, he understood why Naruto was panicking; he was here. Quickly, the Uchiha boy yelled, "Yugi, listen to him for once!"
While the other people in the room stared at Sasuke, wondering why they were persisting so much for them to stay in there, Yugi just said, "I'm sorry, but we have to go."
He opened the door, but as he exited, he bumped into a man who was standing in the hallway. This stranger had blue hair and blue skin. He also wore black robes with red clouds decorating it.
"Oh, excuse me, sir," Yugi said without looking up, and he continued to walk.
As Sasuke stared in shock at what was about to happen, Naruto shouted, "Yugi! Watch out!"
Confused, Yugi looked up. Before he could react, however, he suddenly felt himself being gripped by the neck and pushed into the wall. His old friends and his new friends gasped when they saw this happen.
The small boy took a look at who had grabbed him and saw another man who had long, black hair and piercing red eyes. He also wore the same exact robes as the other stranger. Yugi stared, afraid of that cold, merciless stare that was being given to him, and he desperately tried to struggle and free himself. However, he couldn't get away.
"HEY!" Joey yelled with extreme rage. "Let go of my friend, punk!"
He ran and tried to get out and help Yugi, but he was stopped by a huge, bandaged sword that was blocking his path. The room's occupants froze and stared at the blue man's weapon as he said menacingly, "Not so fast! If you want to help your little friend, you'll have to give us what we want first."
Joey growled with rage, furious that he couldn't do anything to help, and Tea looked at these two men.
"Who are these guys?" she thought with worry and dread. "And what do they want?"
She looked over at Naruto. He seemed to look frozen with fear as he stared with fear and dread. This only worried Tea even more as she thought, "Naruto looks so frightened. These guys must be really dangerous if even he's scared! Oh, Yugi, please be okay!"
"Who are you, and what do you want? Why are you doing this?" Sakura demanded. Her voice also had a hint of fear in it.
The blue man just chuckled evilly. When hearing this, Sakura said in a shaky voice, "W-what's so funny? I just asked you some questions."
While he enjoyed seeing them squirm, the black haired man spoke calmly, "Well, if you wish for this boy to live. . ." he suddenly tightened his hold on Yugi's throat, causing him to grunt in pain and struggle more. Also, Tea brought her hands to her mouth and gasped, holding back tears of worry, Tristan and Sakura gasped in shock, and Joey growled angrily at this evil man.
Then, the man continued, ". . . it would be wise for you to come with us. . ." He turned his red-eyed stare towards them and uttered the name of who they seeked.
"Naruto."
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Naruto: Oh, man! What are these guys doing here?
Joey: Wait a minute, Naruto! You know these guys?
Naruto: Yeah, and their really dangerous! It's a long story!
Joey: It can't be that bad, can it? They don't look so tough!
Naruto: Oh, believe me! Their tough all right! Especially Itachi! We need to do something really quick before Yugi gets himself killed!
Next time: The Power of the Enemy and a Familiar Strength of Willpower!
Joey: Wait a minute, what do you mean KILLED?!?
Well, there you have it! It took me a while to think of a good title for the next chappie, but I still think I could've done better. The next chappie will be even more difficult to write, though, since it will be my first descriptive action scene, so wish me luck! I think I was able to express the twist in my story even better than last time, and I'm sure almost all of you caught it. Once again, you don't need to tell me what it is, since I'm the authoress. If any of you have any ideas of what my dividers in the story should be next time, just send me a review! Thank you for reading, and good night/day to you all! This is AnimeSnowflake signing off.