Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Naruto or Digimon franchises. Comments/Criticism is fine as long as it isn't just 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

Humon

-Chapter 27-

-Last Time-

"GRRRRRRR!"

"No! S-stay away from m-me you beasts! Stay away! AAAAAAAGH!" *Squelch* *Crackle* *Squish* *Squ-crunch* *gurgle*

As Cockatrimon's screams died out, they were replaced with the sickening sound of breaking bone, tearing flesh, and a symphony of howls. In the surrounding darkness, all that was visible were absolutely hundreds of glowing red eyes that held nothing but bloodlust.

-And Now-

"Oh, what will we do with a drunken sailor~, what will we do with a drunken sailor~, what will we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning~!" A now normal sized Naruto and a trio of his clones sang cheerily as they managed the controls to the Sandoraidā, each of them henged into different stereotypical pirate outfits.

"Shave his belly with rusty razor~, shave his belly with a rusty razor~, shave his belly with a rusty razor early in the morning~!" Mimi and Palmon sang as well from either side of the original blonde, the former dressed up in a woman's captain uniform while the latter had an eyepatch.

All three had wide smiles on their faces as they broke out in laughter while the clones continued to sing in the background. Off to the side, Izzy watched this all happen with a good-natured roll of his eyes as he tapped away at his laptop, which was currently connected to the ship's main computer. It had been a little over a day since they had 'acquired' the cruise ship from Cockatrimon and it had been nothing but smooth sailing ever since.

They didn't even have to worry about fuel as the ship was entirely electric powered and they had a reliable way to generate it.

- Sandoraidā Engine room-

"And that's break!" Several groans of relief filled the air as a few dozen shadow clones stepped off of treadmill like machines, surrounded by large amounts of machinery that was hard at work moving the ship. Off to the side, another clone was watching over a screen which showed the current power reserves and consumption rates. "Take thirty you guys."

"Man, why does boss keep us working like this? The batteries are practically full and we have enough power to keep the ship going for a week." One of the clones grumbled as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Because boss might not always be around to make more of us to keep this place going, duh." Another clone stated while stretching his legs.

"That or he gets knocked out… again." A third clone added with a chuckle that was contagious.

"My question is, why the hell is the ship powered this way?" The second clone said/asked, getting shrugs from the rest of the clones. None of them noticed the pile of ruined black cable that lay piled up in the far back, alongside a half-finished order request form.

- Sandoraidā Bridge-

"Achoo!"

"Bless you," Mimi said as Naruto wiped his nose after a sudden and powerful sneeze.

Nodding in thanks, Naruto quickly grabbed the helm again as it started to deviate and reset the ship's course just as it started to list. "Hey Izzy, how are we doing? We should be getting pretty close by now, right?" He asked while looking towards the computer whiz.

"If my calculations are correct then yes, the crest should be very close." The redhead stated without looking up from his computer. "I'd estimate an hour, maybe an hour and a half, until we arrive at its general location as long as we maintain this course."

"Great, then I'm going to go get something to eat." Naruto said as he swapped out with a clone. "Maintaining all these clones is making me really hungry." As if to emphasize this, Naruto's stomach growled loudly right after he said that, causing him to smile sheepishly as he left.

Barely thirty seconds after he left, Mimi began to get super twitchy and nervous looking. "Oh, you know what, I'm feeling kinda peckish myself." Mimi said quickly as she hurried after the whiskered boy with Palmon, not noticing the analytical, and slightly pitying, look Izzy was giving her on the way by.

'I'm pretty sure that was the longest amount of time she's stayed been separated from Naruto all day.' He thought with a quiet sigh. Mimi was doing a little better than she had been, no longer looking like she was ready to hop out of her own skin at the smallest noise.

But… she still stuck to Naruto's side like glue, always coming up with one excuse after another to ensure that she did. The only exception to this was whenever she or Naruto had to use the restroom, which she would ask him to wait until she was done or remain hovering by the door until he finished his business.

Knowing that there wasn't anything he could do to fix this though, Izzy decided to have another talk with Sora about it later before returning his attention back to his computer, which now displayed an image of Naruto's heart with several different readouts.

Back with Naruto, Mimi and Palmon had just caught up with the blonde and the trio were heading to the dining deck. Along the way, they talked about little things such as what they wanted to eat and how much they were enjoying the ship's amenities.

When they finally arrived at their destination, it was to the sight of Tai, T.K., Matt, and all the other digimon chowing away at a plethora of different foods and drinks. "Sheesh, do you guys ever stop eating?" Naruto asked as he, Mimi, and Palmon took their seats.

"Like you're one to talk, this is like your fourth meal today and its only noon." Tai said between bites.

"Yeah, and I'm also doing almost a hundred things at once to keep the Sandoraidā working, including washing the dishes we're eating off of." Naruto retorted dully while jabbing his thumb over to where a clone was dragging off a cart of dirty dishes. "Do you know how much chakra it takes to keep so many clones going for so long?"

He may have a huge amount of the stuff, but it wasn't endless, and he had clones all over the ship maintaining the engines, manning the bridge, acting as lookouts, repairing the damage they'd done while taking the ship, and doing general cleaning. That's not to mention that without the Kyuubi's chakra gradually siphoning into his own reserves anymore, it took almost twice as long for them to refill than it used to.

"What have you been doing exactly to work up an appetite, huh?" Naruto asked bluntly, getting the goggle wearing boy to smile nervously while scratching the back of his head.

The only ones that had been helping Naruto with anything were Joe, who'd been doing some of the cooking, Sora, with the fix-up, Izzy, computer stuff duh, and Mimi, who did her best to help the real Naruto with what he was doing at the time. The rest had been goofing off or relaxing, with the digimon getting a free pass since they had to do all the fighting.

"…I'll just shut up now."

Naruto smirked victoriously while grabbing himself a big bowl of ramen. "That's what I thought."

"You know, I'm surprised you're not kicking back, Mimi." Matt stated while looking at the girl with mild curiosity. "You were always going about it when we were walking, yet now that you have the chance you're doing anything but relaxing."

This statement caused everyone else to blink in realization before turning to the naval garbed girl, who was currently imitating Tai's early expression "W-well, I have tried a couple of times, but after a few m-minutes I start to feel so restless that I have to do something." Mimi 'admitted' nervously as she helped herself to a plate of sushi, stuttering a tiny bit as she spoke.

"Oh, I know that feeling, I get it all the time whenever I was in class or stuck in the hospital." Naruto said with a nod as his face scrunched up in thought. "One of the nurses said I had cabinet fever and something about unconscious remembering thingy with muscles."

"I think you mean cabin fever and muscle memory," Matt said as Naruto chuckled sheepishly, before turning his attention back to Mimi. "And that does make sense, you've probably gotten so used to moving around now that it's become almost habitual."

"Y-yeah, that must be it." Mimi murmured with a soft sigh as everyone went back to their food, glad that she wasn't the center of attention anymore. However, just as she started to fully relax and enjoy her food, a clone came charging in with a frantic look on it's face.

"Boss! We have incoming gaining on the stern! And I'm positive they are not friendly!" It yelled, getting everyone to shoot up from their seats in alarm.

"Got it! Go warn the others!" Naruto ordered, getting a salute from the clone as it shot off before he turned to the others. "Why the hell do you guys keep just standing around like that when this stuff happens?! Get moving already!"

Startled by the whiskered boy's sharp words, the digidestined and digimon quickly sprung into action, scrambling away from the table and towards the doors. Being the fastest of them all, Naruto easily overtook the rest and in only a few seconds reach the top deck.

Not wasting a second, he jumped to the back of the ship while wordlessly accepting a pair of binoculars from one of his doppelgangers and focused them towards where a large dust cloud could be seen steadily gaining with the ship. As soon as he got sight of what was coming though, his eyes widened in shock before narrowing as he grit his teeth.

"Kuso, looks like those guys weren't limited to just the snow storm after all." Dozens upon dozens of familiar looking wolves were sprinting at absurd speeds towards them. However, unlike the ones they had encountered in the blizzard which were made of ice and snow, these were made of various mixtures of rock, dirt, and sand.

Not only that, but their sizes were varied greatly, with some being roughly the same size as the ice wolves while the rest were anywhere from twice as big to eight or nine times larger. The only thing that all of them had in common were their eyes, which were glowing crimson orbs of bloodlust that Naruto easily recognized.

"So, that's how you want to play huh Kyuubi." He muttered while tossing the binoculars back to the clone and digivolving into Teumesemon. The fire around his tails flared out before condensing into three moderate sized fireballs. "Then let's play, Seirei-en no Dangan!"

With an almost casual flick of his fluffy limbs, the trio of blue flames were launched through the air and soared in an arcing path towards the approaching enemies. Upon impact, they exploded violently, gouging deep holes into the ground and sending sand flying.

Unfortunately, most of the wolves were able to maneuver out of the way of the blast radiuses and only three or four actually getting damaged or destroyed. Not deterred in the slightest, Naruto kept firing, only this time going for a plethora of smaller but dramatically faster blasts, that while not doing nearly as much damage at least managed to hit their targets.

"Oh man, these guys again? I thought we left back in the blizzard." Ikkakumon grumbled as he and the other now digivolved digimon, except Patamon, joined the blonde in attacking.

"Howling blaster! Looks like we were wrong." Garurumon said while breathing out a torrent of sapphire flames, before growling quietly when one of the larger wolves blocked it without barely any effort. The rest followed suit and soon all the smaller stone beasts were hidden behind their larger companions whom continued to tank the incoming attacks as they drew closer. "They're definitely smarter and tougher than last time, we're barely doing anything."

"He's right, they're way too agile for us to take out this way, we're just wasting energy." Kabuterimon said as he stopped attacking.

"Damnit," Naruto swore under his breath and let his tails lower when he saw this was true. "Alright then, we need a plan." He said before blinking in surprise when all the digimon looked at him expectantly. "What?"

"We're waiting for the plan." Greymon stated like it was most obvious thing.

"Yeah, now come on, those guys aren't getting any further. What is it already?" Ikkakumon demanded impatiently.

"You think I have a plan?" Naruto asked incredulously, honestly surprised that they expected him to know what to do. He may not like to admit it, but he was well aware that he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch and tended to act stupidly some… most of the time.

"If you don't, then I'm sure you will soon. You haven't let us down yet." Garurumon said confidently, getting the whiskered boy to stare at him in astonishment.

"Uh, um well," Naruto stumbled on his words as he felt a warm feeling in his chest, and it had nothing to do with the gear shard. However, spotting the incoming threat once more in the corner of his eye, he shook his head few times to clear his thoughts.

"Ok, we can't take them out at range, so we'll have to let them get closer." He muttered while rubbing his chin in thought. "Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Patamon, you guys go back to the others and make sure they stay safe, get ready to get them clear if things get hairy. Everyone else spread out along the sides of the ship and wait until their close enough to hit properly. Focus on taking out the big ones and leave the small fry to my clones unless to many get aboard."

Almost immediately after he was done talking, the digimon went off to do what he said, thus preventing them from seeing the incredibly nervous look on his face. 'So this is what being a team leader feels like.' He thought while trying to calm himself down with several deep breaths. 'Oh Kami, I really owe Kakashi-sensei an apology when I get back.'

Once he managed to get his heart to stop trying to burst from his chest, the blonde stretched a bit before grabbing a rope that was lying around nearby and tying it around his waist. "Now, back to being an idiot." He said while leaping off the back of the Sandoraidā and flying straight towards one of the largest earthen canines, which was made mostly of dull yellow sandstone with sandy dirt acting for the joints.

"Here boy! Catch!" He shouted as he spun around in mid-air and slammed his tails into the side of the thirty-foot-tall wolf's snout with a loud *Crack*. The force of the blow caused the beast's head to snap to the side as a large chunk of its upper jaw was caved in.

Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, Naruto latched onto the wolf's forehead and buried a flaming Rasengan right between its eyes. A smirk crossed his lips as the deadly sphere swiftly ground its face into dust before exploding, sending him flying back to the ship.

Landing on the railing, he got ready for another leap, only to stop as he saw the now headless wolf golem still moving and even… regenerating?

"Oh, that's just fucking perfect. As if this wasn't going to be annoying enough already." He groaned as the giant wolf's face reformed with an angry snarl, though it was at least five feet shorter than it was before.

"GRRAAAA!" The beast roared as it sprinted even faster and rammed into the back of the ship, causing the entire thing to shake violently.

"OI! Bad dog! Stop that! I just got this boat!" Naruto yelled angrily, only to be ignored as the wolf tried to bite him in half. Narrowly dodging out of the way of the still pretty massive jaws, the foxy blonde rolled to the side and stabbed his hands into the soft dirt that made up the beast's neck.

"I hope you aren't too attached to this face, because I'm taking it!" Naruto said before literally ripping the stone canine's head clean off with a single vicious tug. Chuckling a little as he saw the once again headless body stumble back, and accidentally squash several of the smaller ones in the process, Naruto gave the now inanimate chunk of rock in his arms a look of mock consideration.

"Hmm, you know what, not really my style." He said while readjusting his grip slightly and sending the still recovering monster a wicked grin. "Here, you can have it back!" With a small huff of effort, he hurled the head straight at its owner at high speed, causing both to shatter into pieces upon impact. "Who's next?"

-Meanwhile-

"Geez, remind me never to get on Naruto's bad side." Joe said as he and the rest of the kids watched all the fights going on from the top of the raised decks at the front of the Sandoraidā while Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Patamon stood around them protectively.

"No kidding, I thought Ikkakumon was being brutal but that takes the cake." Tai stated, his eyes glancing over to the giant seal digimon as he fired a torpedo into both of a granite wolf's eyes, then several more straight down it's gullet when it roared in agony.

Similar scenes were playing all across the ship, such as Togemon smashing in one of the wolf's faces in, or Greymon blasting two wolves into dust at once with his 'Nova Flame'. The same time, Naruto's clones were weaving in and out, tearing apart the smaller wolves that managed to get aboard by either scaling the ships hull or hitching a ride on their larger counterparts.

"Uh guys," Matt started as he watched the almost completely one-sided massacre. "Not to be a downer or anything, but am I the only one who feels like this is going a bit too well?"

"…Say what now?" Tai asked while the whole group turned their focus onto the dirty blonde.

"I don't know why, but something about this whole thing just feels off." Matt muttered, his eyes continually flickering around the ship before jumping slightly when Sora placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Matt, I'm sure you're just being- *CRASKCH* "SURPRIIIIIISE, YEAH!" …paranoid." Sora finished weakly as her eyes widened in horror as the ground in front of the ship exploded outwards and a dreadfully familiar voice rang out.

Out of the clouds of sand, a massive stone version of Etemon emerged, a wide smirk on its face as it towered over their ship. "HELLO DIGIDESTINED! DID YOU MISS ME!?"

"You were saying?"

"Shut up."

-End Chapter-