I do not own these series, nor do I make any money off of this.

"talking"

'thinking'

Chapter 66: Separation II: Naruto

Naruto managed to calm down a few minutes later. He knew somewhere in his heart that Sasuke was still alive. This meant that somehow, they had been separated into two different worlds. He knew that Sasuke had the mirror to contact Yuko and that he'd do so after not seeing Naruto's name on his own map. Then a thought came to his mind. What if Sasuke landed in a world were another version of himself lived? What if in that world, Sasuke was already dead? Would Sasuke go to find that Naruto believing that it was him? Naruto shook his head. Sasuke would be able to see the differences. But this meant that it may take Sasuke a long time to realize that they'd been separated. Naruto nodded to himself. He'd have to put his trust in Sasuke and wait. He heard a growl from inside himself. Knowing it was just Kurama's hatred of Sasuke coming out, Naruto ignore it. He glanced down at his map. Seeing a few names nearby, Naruto began to wonder if he should go to them or just stay hidden. Naruto chose the latter. He jumped into a tree and sat on a branch so high up that no normal person would be able to see him. He looked at the sky before finding his eyelids too heavy to keep open.

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Whispers traveled to Naruto's ears, awakening him. He blinked as he took in the darkness around him. Night had fallen meaning that it was time for Naruto to move. He carefully stood up and silently jumped down. Following the sounds of people, Naruto headed towards them. Just as he was about ten feet away from whomever was speaking, Naruto ducked to miss fire coming at him. He stayed still, not wanting the attacker to realize that Naruto was still there. But it didn't work.

"I know you're there," the attacker said. "You can't hide from me." Naruto put his hands together in a familiar sign. The small blast of smoke caused the other to blink before sending another attack Naruto's way. The attacked missed Naruto, hitting several trees. The attacker made an annoyed sound before water suddenly put out the burning trees. The water managed to hit Naruto and he yelped. Naruto was pushed out of the bush. "I knew it." The attack bent down and picked up Naruto, who was currently a fox. He hoped that his henge would work just as it did back in Meliodas's world. "Interesting." The man carried Naruto to a group of people sitting around a small fire.

"Hao-sama!" a boy with brown hair and grey eyes called. "Welcome back."

"Ashil," Hao said in greeting.

"What's that?" Ashil asked, pointing to Naruto.

"It's a fox," a man in a black suit wearing a black hat said.

"I know what a fox is," Ashil said.

"It's not a fox," a little girl with brown hair wearing a poncho said. "Opacho can tell."

"Yes, Opacho," Hao said, patting the little girl's head. "This isn't an ordinary fox."

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that they saw through his Henge. He began to struggle, but Hao held him tighter. Hao smirked. "Shall we see if he reverts back after death?" Hao' s fingers movement Naruto's neck, strangling him. Sending some chakra to his legs, he kicked backwards. Hao dropped Naruto in surprise allowing the fox to jump away from the group.

Naruto shifted back into his normal form. He quickly entered One-Tailed Mode, ready for a fight. Everyone except Hao and Opacho looked surprised at Naruto's form. Hao suddenly laughed. "What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"Just the fact that you think you could beat me," Hao said. He took a step forward. Naruto began to form a Rasengan. "Interesting. You're not a Shaman, yet you can use Mana so freely. In fact, your Mana level is quite high. It may even be higher than Yoh's."

"If that's true, than we should get rid of him," Ashil said.

"Now, now," Hao said. "There's no need for that." He smiled. "Give yourself to me."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Give your power to me," Hao said. He held out a hand. "Obey me or else I'll burn you."

At Hao's words, Naruto grinned. "Go ahead and try it."

Hao frowned. "So be it." A giant creature with arms that nearly touched the ground appeared behind Hao. Hao's group backed up a little. "Spirit of Fire, incinerate him." The creature's hand rose before fire blasted out towards Naruto. The fire surrounded Naruto, blocking Hao's group from seeing him. Hao laughed. Opacho tugged on Hao's poncho causing his laughter to die out. His eyes widened along with those of his followers. The fire spun and eventually died out revealing that Naruto was fine.

Naruto was glad that he didn't have to use more of Kurama's chakra to survive Hao's attack. He knew he needed to save it for the battle that was about to begin. It was clear that the people before him wanted him dead and that they would use all of their own powers to make it happen. Naruto hoped that the fire that the Spirit of Fire just used was its strongest attack. He knew he could survive any fire as long as it wasn't hotter than the flames of Amaterasu. Those black flames were the only flames close to destroying his chakra shield.

Naruto's eyes looked around and noticed the slight fear in some of Hao's group. Hao himself was surprised, but there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, he looked excited. "Look," Naruto began. "I don't want to fight you. Just let me go and we can forget any of this happened."

"I don't think so," Hao said. "You are worthy to become one with the Spirit of Fire."

Naruto sighed. Hao reminded him of someone, he just couldn't remember who. "Twice now your attack didn't work. What makes you think a third time will?"

Hao glared at Naruto. "You will die tonight!" All of his comrades snapped out of their fear and got in fighting stances. Naruto sighed. He knew he could easily defend himself against the flames of the Spirit of Fire with the Kyuubi Cloak. He most likely could stop Hao's water attack with his wind chakra. The only problem was that he didn't know what powers the others had. The light bulb above Naruto's head turned on and Naruto grinned. After putting his hands together in his most famous jutsu, over twenty Narutos appeared. The smoke from the jutsu gave the real Naruto enough cover to leave the area. He came to a stop on the beach where there were a group of people sitting down around a fire.

A boy with headphones on his head turned and smiled at Naruto. "Care to join us?" Naruto looked around at the group before sitting down in the sand. The memories of his clones came to him one after the other until the last one. The last clone came with the memory of Hao angrily cursing Naruto's clear escape. Naruto hid his presence as much as he could surprising those around him, but none of them said anything. Naruto glanced at the boy beside him and guessed that it was his influence. He allowed himself to relax into this time of peace.

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Over the next few days, Naruto watched as Yoh and his comrades trained. Yoh had explained that Hao was his brother and that he sought out the position of Shaman King. Yoh went into further details to explain everything about the battle to become the Shaman King and what it meant to be a Shaman. It was surprising that Yoh was willing to give up such important information so easily. In return, Naruto told Yoh the truth about himself. Yoh wanted to help Naruto, but he had no idea how. Naruto wanted to help Yoh by offering to use his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Yoh refused Naruto's offer as he believed that he needed to get stronger on his own. Naruto tried to tell him that training with someone else would make his get stronger faster, but Yoh said it wasn't fair as Naruto technically shouldn't be here, that Naruto didn't belong in this world. Naruto ignored that pain he felt at hearing that and decided to just watch.

Naruto extended his helping hand to Yoh's comrades, but just like Yoh, they refused. Manta was the only one who thought they should take up Naruto's offer. The boy was sitting next to Naruto reading, but every now and then he'd take a peek at Naruto. Naruto knew why. Ren had gotten mad at Naruto's offer and made it seem like Naruto was weak. Naruto had let his anger get the better of him and had made a Rasengan. Yoh had stepped in causing Naruto to let the Rasengan disappear but it was already too late. Ren went on a tirade against Naruto calling him irritable. Jun then said that ten was being a hypocrite as he himself was cantankerous. Naruto didn't even know what that word meant, but Ren seemed to. It caused him to ask Naruto what his furyoku level was. Naruto said he didn't know and Ren called him a liar, and that Naruto just didn't want to admit that he was weak. Horohoro tried to interfere with the fight that started only for Ren to call out his weaknesses. Pirica and Anna managed to shut Ren up by attempting to read Naruto's furyoku level off of Yoh's bracelet, but they couldn't see it. Yoh said it didn't matter as he could tell that Naruto was very strong. Ren finally shut up and went off on his own.

Naruto glanced down at his bracelet. The gem was broken. He wasn't sure what that meant, but if he had to guess, he was stuck in this world. He hoped that Yuko could send Sasuke to this world with a new one or some way to fix this one. Naruto was so busy staring at his bracelet that he didn't hear someone approaching him.

"Look out!" Manta yelled. Naruto ducked, missing the water attack that came at him. He stood up and turned to face Hao.

"I found you," Hao said.

"Hao," Manta said. "Naruto, we need to get Yoh."

"Now Manta, let's not get my dear brother involved in this, shall we?" Hao said.

"Yoh would want to know what you're up to," Manta said.

Hao grinned. "I hope he does. We are going to become one soon." His words made Naruto remember how Orochimaru was planning on taking over Sasuke's body. He wondered if Hai meant the same thing. He clenched his fists. Naruto knew it wasn't his place to interfere in this world which was why he so easily accepted Yoh's declination of his help. But knowing what Hao was most likely planning pissed him off. Hao and Manta felt the sudden change in Naruto's aura as he tried to calm himself down.

"Naruto-san?" Manta asked.

Naruto took a deep breath and reigned in his anger. He turned and smiled at Manta. "Don't worry. Everything is ok." He turned back to face Hao. "Right Hao?" Manta and Hao shivered as they could feel the threat hidden in Naruto's tone.

Hao shook it off as he regained his confidence. He was going to be the Shaman King after all. "I think it is about time I get rid of you."

"Leave them alone," Yoh called as he jumped the last foot to Manta's side. "I believe you want to talk to me?"

"Ah Yoh," Hao said. "Yes I…" There was a sudden flash of green light from Naruto's bracelet that caught Hao's eyes. "What is…"

"It still works?" Naruto asked out loud in surprise.

"Naruto," Yoh called. Naruto looked at Yoh. "Good luck." Naruto couldn't help but smile as he realized what Yoh meant. He closed his eyes in relief. The green light expanded and Yoh grabbed Manta before jumping back. Hao saw Yoh's movement and did the same. He didn't know what that green light was, but he was ready to watch and find out. A few seconds after Naruto was completely surrounded by the green light, it flashed causing Hao, Yoh, and Manta to close their eyes. The light soon vanished along with the smiling blond. Hao looked at the spot Naruto once stood in confusion.

"Do you think he'll make it back to his own world?" Manta asked.

"I do," Yoh said.

At their words, Hao turned around. "I'll see you later, Yoh." And then he walked away.

"Yeah, see ya," Yoh said.

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Naruto felt a little light headed as he allowed the bracelet to transport him to the next world. His hand was on his pack ready to take out the map to see if he could find Sasuke. At his sudden dizziness, his hand went to his mouth before he tripped over nothing and landed on the ground, or at least what he thought was the ground. He managed to calm his stomach as he heard a grunt from below him. He was about to move when he heard a soft click. Looking up, Naruto's eyes fell upon an infant, an infant that was pointing a gun at him.

Sorry this chapter took so long. I had a few problems with getting Hao's personality right. His personality is a bit different between the manga and the anime so I tried mixing them together. I hope it came across right.