Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Wakfu franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't straight up hate or flaming. If you do not like, no one is forcing you to read and you can just leave.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy

Wakfu: Chronicles of the Lost Ninja

-Chapter 4-

-Last Time-

As the orange pigment faded away, his once again cerulean eyes slowly cracked open to reveal the despair within them as he cried full force. "…no… …no... this can't be true… please no…" He muttered, his body sagging to the floor as the reality hit him. Clenching his fists, he smashed one into the ground with enough force to spiderweb it with cracks. "…no… No… No, No, No! NOOOOO!" Naruto screamed, each word punctuated with a stronger punch than before, causing the ground to crater beneath him from the force.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-And Now-

Sunlight streamed through the canopy of leaves, glistening off the numerous dewdrops that had collected on them while a gentle breeze carried along the soft chirping songs of the birds' overhead. All in all, it was a very tranquil and cheery scene that would many people smile.

Naruto was not one of those people at this moment, his face locked in a completely emotionless expression as his bloodshot eyes refused to lift from the muddy ground he was trudging on, dried tear trail framing his cheeks. His movements were stiff and robotic, only truly moving thanks to others nudging him along every few minutes.

"It's been almost three days; how long do you think he'll be like that?" Yugo asked Ruel while glancing back at the depressed teen. After his little tantrum, Naruto had all but shut down, only really reacting to the word around him when he needed to eat, use the restroom, or when something important/interesting was happening. Such as when Dally accidently buried himself via rocky avalanche when he tried to catch a wild gobbal for dinner.

Said old man sighed with a shake of his head. "To be honest Yugo, he may never recover. This isn't something like a friend passing away or a family home burning down. I would rather loose every ounce of gold I own than have to go through what that lad is experiencing."

"Well maybe if someone had a little more tack, we could have eased the news on him a little easier instead of smashing him with it like a rampaging Bwork." Amalia said sourly, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Oh and I'd just love to hear how you intended to do that your highness." Ruel snarked back with a roll of his eyes.

"Would you two quit arguing already? You've been at each-others' throats all day." Eva cut in from her position at the front of the group with Dally and the talking map. "Besides, we have other things to worry about." She said while pointing ahead, getting everyone, even Naruto, to look to where she was gesturing towards and freeze.

Somehow, the entire area ahead of them had gone from lively, thriving, and beautiful to decaying and shadowed thanks to the unnatural amount of cloud cover, even having a literal line where it cuts off between the two. Situated in the middle of this horrible landscape was a small, bleak looking town with a large ominous castle. "That… is rather disturbing." The depressed blonde couldn't help but mutter, the natural energy in the area making him shiver from the mild tainted feeling it held.

Amalia had a similar reaction once she placed her hand on one of the dead looking trees for a few seconds before recoiling. "Something is very wrong with this place, nature has been twisted here."

"Oi map! Do we really have to pass through here to get to Oma Island?" Dally asked, unrolling the seemingly blank map until an orange smiley face appeared with a mischievous snicker.

"Why of course! See for yourself!" It said before it's appearance morphed into that of an actual map, showing both the area they were in and the place they were headed into. "The only way to go is through the quaint little village of Forfut. Don't worry though, it's a nice place, real lively." As soon a she said this, the dead body of a ball shaped bat with tiny wings landed on the ground in front of them with a sickening *Splat*

"Yeah… lively." Eva repeated sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she marched forward. "Lets just get this over with."

"Hopefully we'll be able to get something to eat alt least. I'm starving." Dally said with as he held his grumbling stomach.

"No kidding, I could eat a whole gobbal." Yugo added in with Ruel nodding in agreement… after he discreetly ate an entire fish that he pulled out of his bag.

"Then maybe you boys shouldn't have eaten all of our food at once. We told you to be more conservative, now look where it's left us." Amalia told the three off, wagging her finger in front of their faces for added emphasis. "You'll just have to deal with it till we get there."

"Fine, how about we just stop talking about food, it's making me hungrier." Ruel suggested, inadvertently causes Amalia to recoil as his fish-breath washed over her.

"By Sadida! When was the last time you brushed?!" She demanded between coughs as she pinched her nose shut and waved her hand in a fruitless attempt to dissipate the horrid stench. "It smells like something died and was left to rot in the sun for several weeks!"

"Oh quit being dramatic, it's not that bad." Ruel huffed, laughing internally as the simply action made the plant princess freak out even more. "I know, how about you tell us how the you and Evangeline first met."

"That's a little out of the blue, why the sudden interest?" The Cra asked, looking back at the old man with a raised eyebrow.

"Simple curiosity really," Ruel said with a shrug. "Most of us have been travelling together for almost a month now and we still barely know anything about each-other."

Mulling it over in her head for a few moments as she walked, Eva eventually gave a small nod as she conceded to his point. "Fair enough. Amalia and I have been companions since we were little. I was assigned as one of her ladies-in-waiting when just after she turned five." A nostalgic smile slowly worked its way across her lips. "In fact, the first time we met was when she had decided to try out dressmaking by herself."

As the elf-girl spoke, Amalia groaned loudly. "Ugh, not this story, it's soooo embarrassing."

Unfortunately for her, Eva just smirked wider while continuing to talk. "I stood outside her room for two hours with the royal tailors since she wanted the outfit to be a surprise. When she finally did show herself though, it took every single ounce of my etiquette training to keep a straight face at the ridiculous sight."

"Come on! It wasn't that bad, and I was only five for Sadida's sake."

"Amalia, it WAS that bad. That 'outfit' had so many flashy baubles and decorations on it that it might as well been a walking gift shop." The greenette opened her mouth to say something in her defense, but no words came out and she eventually just clicked her jaw shut and looked a way with a huff as her cheeks turned slightly red. "Anyway, like I said it was my first day as a lay-in-waiting, I had no idea what to do when I saw her wearing that silly thing."

"So what did you do?" Yugo asked eagerly, completely enraptured by the story.

In response, Eva burst into a small fit of giggles while Amalia's cheeks turned even redder. "I told her my honest opinion, that she looked like a gobbal. She ignored me however and proceeded to wear the outfit all day as we went around the kingdom. For months, the people called her Princess Gobbal." She said before busting out in laughter, with everyone but Amalia and Naruto joining in seconds later though the whiskered blonde did smile lightly.

"I should have had them all thrown in the royal dungeons! See them laugh after that!" Amalia yelled in indignation, which only caused the gang to laugh louder. "Don't tempt me! I'll do the same to you!"

The group continued to talk as they walked, Ruel told of his times as a bounty hunter with Alibert, Yugo talked about growing up in his home town. Dally even managed to get Naruto to briefly chuckle when he described some of his misadventures before meeting them, such as when a Bwork stole all his kamas while dressed up as a princess.

Eventually everyone had shared something about themselves except for the enigmatic ancient blonde teen, and while everyone was extremely curious about his past, nobody wanted to possibly push the blonde even deeper into depression by bringing it up.

Luckily for them, it was an unnecessary fear as Naruto surprisingly opted to speak without a prompt. "Guess it's my turn then, hmmm…" He rubbed his chin in thought. He was in a slightly better mood as the story telling helped distract him from his depression, if just for the moment.

"Well, there was my first official mission as a shinobi. It was supposed to be a simple escort and protection job for an old drunk bridge builder Tazuna-Jiji. Heh, almost failed that mission before we even left when I tried to pummel him into the ground for calling me short." He said with a dry wistful chuckle.

"You said supposed to be. I'm guessing something unexpected happened." Ruel said, speeding up his stride slightly until he was walking right next to Naruto as they traversed across the dead craggily terrain.

"Right in one Jiji, turned out Tazuna's home Nami no Kuni had been taken over by this cruel midget businessman called Gato. The Teme was rapidly strangling the economy into nothing by monopolizing the fishing and shipping industries. Because of that, Tazuna lied about the difficulty of the mission when he paid Konoha for the protection detail and instead of a more experienced squad he got me and my teammates."

"You had a team? What was it like?" Yugo asked excitedly, once again enraptured by the story though now Amalia had joined him as she stood beside him with an identical expression on her face. Instead of answering verbally, Naruto reached inside his jacket and fished out an old battered photograph. Glancing at it briefly, a somber look settled across his face before he held it out while everyone huddled in for a look.

On it was a younger naruto, roughly 12-13, wearing a bright orange outfit with a large white puffy collar. The picture him was trading glares with a brooding raven-haired boy whose head looked like a duck's rear end. Standing between them was a girl with bubblegum pink hair and an awkward smile on her face while a masked silver-haired man leaned over the trio and ruffled the two boys' heads. "The Teme on the right is Sasuke, the pretty girl is Sakura-chan, and finally the guy behind us is Kakashi-sensei."

"Wow! This painting is so detailed! Its almost like I could walk right into it. You can't even feel the brushstrokes." Amalia said, running her fingers over the smooth surface of the photo in awe until Naruto pulled his arm back and put the picture away. "Whoever made that must have been an amazing artist."

"Not really, watch this." Naruto said while once again reached into his jacket, this time pulling out a small scroll. Unrolling it to reveal a variety of small clusters of odd squiggly drawings, Naruto placed a finger on one of them causing it to release a small puff of smoke. When it cleared, he was holding what looked like a really blocky spyglass to the others with the kanji for 'The Peeper keeper 3,000' and 'Property of Jiraiya' on either side. "Smile," The blonde said as he pointed it at Amalia and Yugo and pushed the button.

With a soft click, a piece of paper slid out the front of the device that he grabbed and started shaking it while sealing the camera back into the scroll. After a minute or so he stopped and held it out for them to see the fully developed image of Yugo and Amalia's confused faces. "Ta-da."

"Cool!" x2

Smiling lightly at the looks of wonder that crossed the group's faces as they looked over the photograph, Naruto waited a bit before continuing. "Anyway, we quickly learned the truth when we were attack by a pair of nukenin called the Oni Kyōdai barely a day after we left…"

The next hour was filled with Naruto telling of the Wave mission. He described how his team had decided to continue on after the revealed falsification, mostly thanks to a combination of Tazuna guilt tripping them and the genin's stubborn nature. Then he told of Tazuna's plan to save his home and the first battle with Zabuza the Kirigakure no Kijin, where Kakashi had gotten caught and it was only thanks to Naruto's quick thinking that they got out of that fight alive while Zabuza fled with a false hunter-nin named Haku.

He even used a technique called the Henge no Jutsu to turn into the people he was mentioning for added affect. Their reaction to Zabuza and Haku were quite humorous, with Amalia shrieking in fear at the sight of the giant blade wielding man and Dally gushing over Haku's appearance until Naruto revealed that the ice user was a guy.

Following that was the meeting with Tazuna's family, the training in the woods where Naruto had to demonstrate the tree walking technique with some difficulty as his control was off for some reason, the talk with an unmasked Haku in the woods, and finally the last battle where Gato, Haku, and Zabuza died.

"With his arms to injured to use and nothing but a kunai in his mouth, Zabuza went right through the entire army of bandits, killing dozens of them before finally reaching that double-crossing midget and taking him out. He died soon after thanks to the wounds he had gotten, his last words being that he wished he would be able to join Haku in the afterlife. I know Haku felt the same as it started to snow moments later." Naruto said, finishing his tale just as they reached the outskirts of Forfut and night fell.

"That… That's so sad yet so sweet." Amalia said with a sniffle as she wiped her eyes.

"To perish in battle in a noble death! Especially when it is to protect your loved ones." Dally exclaimed while taking a dramatic pose until Eva smacked him on the back of the head.

"Not to be the one to break the mood and all, but am I the only one creeped out right now?" She asked while gesturing to their surroundings. The entire village was rundown, with most of the buildings looking on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile the villagers looked like walking corpses, with sickly greenish skin and blank lifeless eyes that stared at the group as they passed with creepy smiles.

"Now that you mention it," Ruel muttered as he adjusted his grasp on his shovel. "We shouldn't doddle. Let's hurry and find an inn, hopefully we'll be able to get something quick to eat before leaving in the morning."

"Yeah, I agreeEEEP!" Amalia yelped when she rounded a corner and found herself face to face with the creepiest little boy she'd ever seen. Stumbling back from the surprise, the greenette almost fell over before Naruto caught her.

"Easy there Happa-chan," He said while helping her back on her feet, missing the light blush that crossed her face at the close contact.

'Stop thinking about when you snuggled with him! Stop thinking about it! STOP IT!' She mentally screamed at herself, memories of those moments playing around in her head. "T-thanks," She muttered quietly while avoiding eye contact.

It didn't take long to find an inn, though food was out of the question as the only thing to be had was a horrible rotten slop called Mamaliga. To make matters worse, they were forced to spend the night after a thunder storm came in out of nowhere. So they rented two rooms, one for the boys and the other for the girls with everyone now fast asleep except for Naruto and Eva.

Said blondes were currently in the hallway, standing just outside their rooms. Naruto had reverted back into his depressed state, but he was still aware enough of his surroundings to notice the discomfort that would cross Eva's face every few minutes. "You okay Surudoi-chan?"

"Yeah, I just keep getting a strong feeling we're being watched." The elf-girl said, her grip on her bow tightening and relaxing as she tried to keep her cool. This wasn't to be however, as several heavy thuds above them immediately set her further on edge.

"Looks like it was for good reason." Naruto stated just as several dozen humanoid creatures with pitch black skin and skull like faces burst through the windows and ceiling. "Wake up the others! I'll keep them busy!" Without giving her a chance to respond, Naruto charged right at the group of monsters.

Ducking under the wild swing of the nearest one, he returned the favor with a strong punch to the creature's torso, launching both it and the dozen or so behind it right back out the window they came from. Naruto then spun around and punted another one right through the ceiling while clotheslining two others.

'Wow, these things are so… slow, and weak.' Naruto couldn't help but think as he calmed down, even looking a little bored as he continued to swat the things away like they were flies. These things were barely moving at genin speeds, their attacks were incredibly easy to predict and avoid, and the few that did land felt like they were coming from a child compared to what he had to deal with in the past.

"NO! EVANGELINE!" That boredom swiftly turned to worry however when he heard Amalia scream from across the building. Bulldozing his way through the horde of enemies, Naruto rounded the corner just in time to see an unconscious Eva get abducted by an unknown caped man in a twirl of cloth as Yugo, Ruel, Dally, and Amalia were being kept back by more of the zombie creatures.

"Cursed ghouls, get out of the way!" Ruel yelled battering an entire swath away with his shovel. "We don't have time for this, that Vampyro guy is getting away!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands into an odd cross sign as a massive amount of smoke erupted everywhere. When it cleared, both the ghouls and the group stopped cold at the sight before them. The entire building was filled to the brim with copies of the ancient ninja, each one cracking their knuckles in a threatening manner. "Charge!"

"Hai Boss!" x a lot

It was a bad day to be a ghoul.

-Moments later, Ominous Castle-

In a twirl of black cloth, Vampyro and Eva appeared inside a large chamber within the darkly decorated chamber. With a casual flick of his hand, his cloak set the Cra's unconscious form into the middle of a ritual platform that swiftly lit up with purplish black energy. Said energy then proceeded to make her slowly float off the ground as pitch black markings began to slowly worm their way across her form

"Soon, soon my love you will have a new body all of your own." He said in a loving tone as he held up one fist up to his face, revealing a demonic looking black ring stylized like a bat with a round glowing purple gem. As he spoke, a small silhouette of a face appeared with a soft feminine giggle.

"Yes, once the transfer is complete. Then the two of us shall rule over this world together forever my dear Vampyo." The ring said with a dark chuckle, one that Vampyro quickly joined in with.

*BOOOOM!*

"What was that!?" The ring yelled as an explosion suddenly caused the entire castle to shake, swiftly followed by several smaller ones in various different directions.

"Probably those idiots we ditched back at that worthless inn. Don't worry Shadofang, I'll deal with them." Vampyro said confidently, giving the gem a gentle kiss before turning towards the large entranceway as it was blown off it hinges. Smiling widely, he began to prepare his grand entrance…

…only to freeze when he found himself up against not only the group from before but also a literal army of angry whiskered blondes wielding everything from unusual knives to chunks of stone to even some of his ghouls as makeshift flails. Heck the only thing that wasn't being used was the kitchen sink. Wait nevermind, one of the clones near the back just hefted it onto their shoulder after bashing a ghoul with it.

Speaking of which, the vampire rip-off gapped in horror as he saw the complete and total ruin that used to be his castle. "What…what have you done to my ho-AAAHG!" He was cut off as one of the blondes appeared right in front of him and socked him hard in the face.

"You know, I'm normally a really nice guy." Naruto said as he punched Vampyro again as he was trying to get up. "But unfortunately for you not only did you happen to catch me in a really, REALLY bad mood, but you also decided to kidnap Surudoi-chan." This time the blonde hit him with a heavy drop kick and embedded him several inches into the stone floor. "So guess what that means?"

"Wha… wha… wha…" Vampyro failed to say anything coherent as his slowly pulled his bruised face out of the granite. Grabbing him by the collar and hoisting him up to eye level, Naruto grinned wildly while holding up his clenched fist.

"It means you just volunteered to be my stress relief punching bag. And between you and me, I have a lot of kuso to get off my chest."

"…mercy?" Vampyro begged meekly before he almost pissed himself from the blonde's next three words.

"What is that?"

"AAAHHHH!"

What followed was a beating so thorough and brutal, no words could properly describe just it, especially after the clones joined in while the others freed Eva from the dark ritual she was being put through. It only ended twenty minutes later when Shadofang was accidentally dislodged from Vampyro's finger and released a large wave of purple light with a scream.

When it cleared, Vampyro was gone and in his place was a mildly bruised up redheaded man that was groaning in pain while all the ghouls gradually turned into miraculously unharmed regular civilians who looked around the place in confusion. At the same time, the dark gloomy atmosphere that had been encompassing the entire town dissipated within seconds, and life seemed to return to the land.

Completely lost at what was going on, Naruto dispelled his clones and scooped up the ring with a confused look. "What the hell just happened?"

-End Chapter-

AN: Yeah, I'll admit that end bit was based a lot on Naruto's confrontation with Mizuki when he was tricked into stealing the Scroll of Sealing. In my defense though, Vampyro is pretty much a joke in the show given that his one big weakness was a frickin Tofu (The bird not the food), and I just couldn't think of a way to make him honestly more badass. Besides, he broke the number one rule when dealing with Naruto, never, ever mess with his friends. Also, I hope I did a good job portraying how Naruto would act if truly depressed but if you have any suggestions feel free to give them. Finally, if you haven't figured it out, the camera was something Naruto inherited from Jiriyia after he died, cause I could totally believe the self proclaimed super pervert would have something like that. Thanks for reading and please review.