Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Key Through the Heart ❯ Morning in Konoha ( Chapter 11 )

llIVoice of Destiny/Inner Sakura
“Normal Talking”
Thoughts/Sound Effects
“Flashback dialogue/Japanese/Emphasis of words”
“Demon speak”
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Key Through the Heart
A fanfiction by Andrew J. Talon
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters or properties mentioned in this story. The story’s mine, the concept is mine, but everything else is not mine. And I’m certainly not writing this for profit.
Author’s Note: I’ve decided to stop worrying so much about the details of the future chapters of this fic. I’ve got the outline, I know where to go, and the details can emerge as I write.

Of course, I’m still happy for suggestions, just don’t be pushy about it, okay? Okay.

Now then, on with the show!

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto walked on a familiar platform, standing once more in a vast, black abyss. He looked around curiously, eyes scanning for something, anything… But there was nothing.

“Aw damn, not again,” he mumbled, the Keyblade flashing into existence in his hand once more.

“Um… Voice? Hello? Voice, you there?”

“So, you made it,” a smooth, silky voice startled Naruto, making him jump. He turned around, jaw dropping at the sight before him.

The woman looked about Ayame’s age, with pale, deathly-white skin that emphasized the fiery red hair hanging down from her head to her waist. It spilled over her voluptuous figure, barely encased in a skin-tight black kimono.

But her face… The woman’s eyes were blood red and feline, while her cheeks were defined by whisker marks, just like his own. Naruto tried to form words, but none came to mind.

“Tell me, brat… How did you like that taste I gave you?” She asked, her melodic voice curling around him like steel chains, wrapped in silk. This woman had power, that much was obvious to the blond ninja.

“T-Taste?” He murmured back nervously, as the woman licked her lips with a feral smile.

“Yes… Taste… A mere drop of my power… Through that weapon you wield…” She held out her hand, long, razor sharp fingers opening. A red flash of light, and Naruto’s eyes widened. The woman held out a Keyblade… But it was that bright red, cruel one that had seemed to burn.

Even now, he could feel pain, as though sparks were nipping at his heart. The woman held out the red Keyblade and smiled languidly.

“Take it,” she crooned. “Take it… It can make all your dreams come true… Anything you want, will be at your fingertips…”

Naruto felt his hand rise of his own volition… The curved, scarlet Keyblade inched closer… closer…

CLANG!

“GAH!” The woman cried out, holding her empty hand with a pained hiss. In Naruto’s hands was his Keyblade, shining in it’s humble glory. The blond smirked.

“You think I don’t know who you are… Kyuubi?” The woman snarled, her eyes glowing red.

“Fool… You would deny my power? For what? That paltry stick you carry?”

“You tried to wipe out my village! You’ve made my life a living hell! Plus, I know what I felt when I was using your chakra! I’m not about to let you have control over my life!” Naruto bellowed.

“You have more than enough already!”

The Kyuubi smirked.

“Very well, brat. Just be warned… You cannot escape me. And there will be another time when you need my power… “ She was instantly gone, and the Keyblade refused to warn Naruto of her presence… Even as he felt hot breath against his ear that made him shiver.

“And someday… You will be mine…”

CRASH!

“OW! SON OF A-!”

Naruto grimaced. He’d fallen, tangled in the sheets (again) to the floor. With a sigh he summoned the Keyblade and glared at the weapon.

“Am I ever going to get a good night’s sleep with you around?!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nara Shikamaru was among the laziest of Konoha ninja (he wouldn’t contest it-too troublesome). At the same time, he was also among the most observant. There were few things that attracted his curiosity like puzzles, for the simple reason that if they were solved, things were much simpler.

And right now, the puzzle facing him was one Yamanaka Ino.

First, she becomes more serious about training than she did in the academy, when before she had no desire to (“Sasuke-kun doesn’t like butch women!”). This led to her to nag Chouji and himself nearly unrelentingly. Shikamaru occasionally humored her and whipped out his shadows, while Chouji tried to catch her with his family jutsus, but she was never satisfied.

Granted, this was not very unusual in of itself, but the reasons Ino had for nagging had changed significantly.

Finally, she had taken to practicing in the woods, alone, and during the meetings after missions-Always with that unusual quarterstaff she’d begun carrying around.

If figuring out the puzzle that was Yamanaka Ino’s recent behavior (Shikamaru had long ago decided that trying to resolve the entire Ino puzzle, along with the puzzle of women in general, was impossible) would allow him to get some peace, then by God he was going to figure it out.

This was why Shikamaru had decided to spoil a perfectly good afternoon to follow the blonde out into the woods. Despite her busy-body nature, he noted with a smirk, she really had bad situational awareness.

The clearing she was in was near some of the main training grounds, but extremely isolated. She’d taken out her staff and seemed to be meditating with it. Shikamaru frowned, and settled in for a long wait.

So troublesome…

“Sleep,” said a small, child-like voice. Shikamaru tried to turn and see who had spoken, but his brain decided that the command was a very good one to obey…

- - - - - - - - - - -

“Hmph, thought he could sneak up on me,” Ino said with a grin, as Vivi used his Float ability to bring himself and Shikamaru to the ground, gently setting the boy onto the ground. The blonde looked over her team mate with a smirk, and stuck out her tongue.

“Nyah!”

“C’mon, this is serious,” Vivi protested. “What if he finds out about me?”

“Vivi-sensei, I know he looks, well… Lazy, but he just so happens to be brilliant. He’d figure it out eventually… We just need to make sure he only finds out what I want him to find out,” she emphasized. Vivi nodded thoughtfully, stepping over the snoozing boy with the odd hair, and he and Ino walked over to the center of the clearing.

“Now then, the Sleep spell is not very difficult to master,” Vivi began his lecture, as Ino paid rapt attention. “It can be used against multiple targets or single targets at once, depending on how much magic-chakra-you put into it. Unfortunately, I already have a huge resistance to that spell, so practicing it on me won’t be very useful.”

“So, what do I do?” Ino asked. Vivi looked over at Shikamaru, and shrugged.

“Well, you’re the one who said he’d find out eventually…”

“Oh, like he’d consent to being my training dummy,” she huffed. “Besides, I wanted this stuff to be a surprise for the next chuunin exams!”

“Chuunin exams?” Vivi asked curiously. Ino turned serious.

“It’s a huge test and tournament to decide who gets promoted to the next ninja rank, chuunin. It’s very tough and lots of people die every time it’s taken.”

“And I thought the Festival of the Hunt was bad,” Vivi murmured thoughtfully, but shook his head. “So, you go through this exam with your team?”

Ino nodded.

“Then maybe you should reveal your abilities soon enough for you all to learn how to fight as a team. You said Shikamaru’s brilliant? Then he can probably figure out how to use your new powers a lot more effectively than I can,” Vivi concluded.

Ino frowned.

“But… Vivi-sensei, you know the abilities! All these jutsu! Sorry, spells,” she corrected as usual at his look. The black mage sighed and shook his head.

“Yes, but he knows this world. I don’t.”

The blonde sighed as well, looking over at her snoring teammate and friend thoughtfully.

“… Fair enough… How do I wake him up?”

“Just hit him… Or use a damaging spell on him,” Vivi advised. His eyes widened at the evil smile that appeared on Ino’s face.

“H-Hey! Hold on!”

“Look, just do that jutsu-spell, sorry- that makes yourself invisible.” The sky above had already begun to turn dark as Ino concentrated. Vivi sighed.

“Vanish,” he muttered, thankful that Quina had taught him this ability of hers before… Everything. He activated his Float power at the same time and ascended to a safe altitude. Over the weeks he’d been teaching her, he had to say he was impressed. She’d mastered most of the lower-level spells he knew, and because of her more flexible magical signature she’d learned some of the White magic he’d picked up from Eiko and Garnet (though these were just status-inducing spells, like Blind). He felt great pride in her, a pride he decided that was associated with being a teacher.

“THUNDER!”

CRACKA-BOOM!

< /i> “YEOW!”

Of course, he noted with a mental sigh, he also felt exasperation with her. Maybe that was part of being a teacher too…

- - - - - - - - - - -

“So, let me get this straight… You were sick of not being trained by Asuma, so you found this old scroll on… What was it called again?” Shikamaru asked, surprisingly calm despite being zapped by lightening. Ino had been laughing too hard to answer his angry demands of what had happened. He sighed as he ran a hand through his now spiky, static-filled hair.

Troublesome girl…

“Hee hee… Uh, ‘object focusing jutsus’,” Ino got out with only a mild giggle. She bit her lip, but still couldn’t look directly at Shikamaru and his afro without breaking into guffaws.

“Essentially, that staff shapes your chakra into a preset form for a particular jutsu?” Shikamaru asked. Ino nodded, still resolutely looking at Shikamaru’s feet as they stood in the field.

“Yes, but I can also shape it in different ways, by remembering how I shaped it on other staves for other jutsus,” she replied. Shikamaru sighed.

“Tch, troublesome…”

“Look, I’m sorry for hiding it but you guys weren’t exactly helping!” Ino retorted. “How are we going to survive the exams if we don’t get our act together?!”
“You could have told us sooner! Preferably without blasting me with a lightening bolt!” Shikamaru replied, annoyed. Ino sighed.

“But… Since arguing more over it would be more troublesome, I say we just move on. Drama is stupid,” the genius surmised. Ino smiled brilliantly at him.

“Thank you, Shikamaru!”

“Now then… You’re going to tell Asuma sensei about everything you can and have been doing. And I’ll… Train with you,” Shikamaru got out with a grimace. He hated training.

“How much?”

“Just during team meetings. You’ll have to do the rest on your own,” Shikamaru said flatly. Ino shrugged.

“Yeah, fine, whatever… So, want to see what I can do?”

Shikamaru sighed.

“Too troublesome. It’d be better to do it with the team so you don’t have to repeat yourself,” he said. Ino snorted.

“Lazy bum.”

“Troublesome girl.”

“Do I have to strike you with lightening again?”

“I’d much prefer that sleep jutsu of yours, it’s the most useful ability of yours I’ve seen,” Shikamaru replied honestly.

WHACK!

“OW!”

“BASTARD!” Ino shrieked.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto got out of his bed, cleaned up and headed to his kitchen for his usual breakfast of ramen and red bean paste. He sat down to it and began to happily slurp up ramen.

"Yo."

"DAH!" Naruto cried out in shock, flinging his chopsticks at the source of the noise. An amused Kakashi caught them between his fingers.

"Morning, Naruto!"

The blond glared at his sensei.

"What the hell are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?!"

"Maa maa, is that any way to greet your teacher? Here," Kakashi replied, handing over a basket of fruits and vegetables. Naruto glared suspiciously at it.

"I hate vegetables! They always taste bad!"

"This is fresh. And besides, it's not healthy to only eat ramen. A ninja must be in good health, after all," the jounin explained. Naruto took an apple out of the basket and sniffed it suspiciously. He took a bite, and chewed it thoughtfully. His eyebrows rose.

"Huh... It's... Sweet. And not rotten!"

Kakashi eye smiled at that.

"Knew you'd like it. Well, see you at seven o'clock, sharp."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Which really means eleven o'clock, right?"

"Maa... More or less," the Copy Ninja replied, vanishing as silently as he'd arrived. Naruto stuck his tongue out after his sensei, and set into his breakfast.

Man, why didn't anyone tell me fresh fruit tasted so good? Naruto wondered, eagerly devouring the fruit alongside his ramen. He then dressed and leapt out of the window, landing easily and walking along the street at a sedate pace.

Ever since they'd returned from their C-Rank mission turned A, Team Seven had been taking D-Rank missions again. Babysitting, trash clean up, the same old same old. Though they'd certainly been getting a lot of requests for birthday parties. Probably because of Naruto's ball act. After all, Sakura-chan (though still wonderful in his eyes) sucked hard at magic tricks, and Sasuke was the worst clown he'd ever seen. Admittedly, he couldn't stop laughing when he caught sight of him, but that was probably because he knew him.

He soon caught sight of Hinata, walking through the village proper. The blond grinned and waved.

"Heyah, Hinata-chan!" The blue-haired girl turned and blushed at the sight of him, but managed a smile.

"N-Naruto-kun! It's nice to see you..."

"Same here! So, how have you been?" Naruto began walking alongside Hinata, to which she turned a little redder but stayed strong. She was happy to see him again, happy to have him back, happy to have him talking to her. She wouldn't get nervous now.

"Oh, um, good. My team has been on s-several missions already," she said softly. Naruto nodded.

"That's cool. My team was on a C-Rank mission, that turned A-Rank on us."

Hinata's pale eyes widened just a bit at this.

"A-A-Rank? Are you okay? What happened?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head with a smile.

"Um, some missing nin, and other assorted things... But it turned out fine.. In the end," he said, his face becoming a bit sad. His thoughts turned to Haku. What had happened to her? Was she allright? Did she... Did she find new meaning to her life? Or, after seeing Zabuza's death, had she...?

Hinata frowned at Naruto's unhappy expression, and moved a bit closer. He looked to her, and she blushed even harder at the proximity but powered on.

"Um... Naruto-kun... If... If you'd like to talk about it... W-Well... I'm always willing to listen."

Naruto blinked at her, and smiled. Not his full blown grin, but a softer, and slightly more honest smile. It made Hinata's heart flutter.

"I'd... I'd like that," Naruto said quietly. "Thanks, Hinata-chan."

He turned and waved goodbye, which Hinata managed to weakly return.

"I'll see you later, Hinata-chan! Let's have ramen sometime!"

"O-Okay!" Hinata squeaked, smiling dreamily. Ramen with Naruto-kun... Like... Like a date? A date?!

She felt faint...

"Oy, Hinata-chan!"

"Eep!" She squeaked, spinning around. She saw her teammates staring at her. Shino with his usual impassive look, Akamaru barking and wagging his tail happily at her, and Kiba glaring after Naruto.

"Uh, h-hello, Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, Akamaru," she returned warmly.

"Hey, was that idiot Naruto bothering you?" Kiba growled. Hinata shook her head.

"N-No, no he wasn't..."

"Okay, but let me know if he does," Kiba smirked. "I'll kick the crap out of him!"

At Hinata's slightly horrified expression, Shino decided to intervene.

"We should probably hurry. Kurenai-sensei said she had something important to tell us today."

Kiba grinned.

"It's probably the Chuunin Exams! She said that we're ready, didn't she? This'll be awesome!"

"That may be likely, however, you should not take such an offer likely. The Exams will doubtlessly be extremely dangerous," Shino opined. Hinata tapped her fingers together as they walked to the training ground they usually met at.

"Um, but Shino-kun, would Kurenai-sensei really enter us if she didn't think us ready?"

"Most likely not, but it does not mean we should drop our guard," the Aburame replied. Kiba laughed cockily.

"C'mon Shino! We'll mop the floor with the competition! Isn't that right Akamaru?"

The white dog barked in agreement.

"Arf!"

- - - - - - - - - - -

Sasuke ran through his forms, like he'd done every morning ever since he'd gotten his sword. It's balanced weight merged with his movements perfectly. He was one with his blade, and with the Sharingan active he could direct every thrust and kick and lunge with artful precision.

It still… Wasn’t… Enough!

His rage grew, echoing in his movements. He’d fought so hard, even unlocked his bloodline, but in the end, he’d had to be saved…

That damn deadlast… How the hell did he get that weapon? How’d he beat Haku?!

Why couldn’t I beat her?!

Another sore point with Sasuke was that he’d been beaten by a girl. Admittedly, a powerful kunoichi, but still… It was another blow to his already battered pride.

Slash, parry, lunge, deflect…

Jump, kick, slash, flip, spin…

“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!”

Sasuke threw his sword at the same time he blew the fireball, and with the chakra wire attached to the end of it the flames followed, catching up to and twisting around the blade, transforming the whole thing into a giant, fiery comet.

KABOOM!

The projectile slammed into the training post, utterly decimating it and blowing a several meter-wide crater out of the ground.

Sasuke landed, panting only slightly. He tugged on the wire attached to his sword and it sprang up through the smoke, landing easily in his hand. The Uchiha smirked.

“Now, all it needs is a name,” he murmured thoughtfully. He noticed how his shadow was cast by the sun above, and sighed.

“I’ll be late…” He muttered, sheathing his sword. He turned and leapt over the wall of the Uchiha quarter, setting out for the training field.

- - - - - - - -

“Naruto! Hey, Naruto!”
The blond looked up and spotted the familiar form of Tenten, waving at him from the front of her shop. He smiled and waved back, mindful of the glares of the people around them.

“Uh, hey Tenten!”

The bunned-girl noticed the glares, but paid them little mind as she walked over to Naruto with a smile.

“How goes it?”

“Not bad, you?” The girl sighed, popping her neck.

“Gai-sensei’s had us training nearly non-stop. He’s entering us in the Chuunin exams this year.”

“Chuunin Exams huh?” Naruto asked. Tenten raised an eyebrow.

“Where have you been? It’s starting in only a week!”

“A week?! Oh man! I completely forgot!” Naruto cursed. “It’s just that, my team was off in Wave Country for a while and-“

“Wait…Wave Country? You mean you were mixed up in that Gato business?” Tenten asked, wide-eyed. Naruto grinned.

“So you’ve heard?”

“Hard not to, once we started getting business from them again,” Tenten explained. She smiled. “Most of the gossip lately has been about the new, Great Naruto Bridge.”

“Naruto bridge?” The blond asked, grinning in delight. “OH YEAH! The old man named it after me! I knew he would! I knew it!”

Naruto began to do an odd victory dance, taking a bemused Tenten’s hands and spinning her around happily. She laughed at his child-like exuberance.

“Now now, Naruto! Don’t get so cocky!”

“I’m not! But I’ve got a bridge named after me!” Naruto cheered. “Soon, I’ll have a whole constellation named for me, just you wait!”

“Constellation? Who’d name a constellation after you?” Tenten teased. Naruto smirked.

“Some poor, defenseless princess, who just so happens to be the head of the… Uh… Constellation Naming Council!” The blond announced, leading Tenten to giggle.

“Tenten!” Barked an older male voice. The two genin stopped their silly dance and looked back. A tall, brown-haired man in blacksmith’s gear glared at Naruto.

“Get back in here, the forge needs cleaning,” he said flatly. Tenten sighed, but smiled at Naruto. The blond nervously smiled back.

“Aw well… See you later, Naruto,” she said, before turning and heading back in. Her father glared at Naruto, who smiled weakly back. He walked over to the blond and spoke in a harsh whisper.

“Just stay away from her, demon,” he hissed, before turning and storming back into the store. Naruto glared back, before sighing and heading off.

Swell… When we meet again, she’ll probably think I’m a demon too, he thought sadly, though he got his grin back up when he reached the training field.

“Morning, Sakura-chan!” He shouted happily. The pink-haired girl glared at him.

“YOU’RE LATE!”

“Er… Well…” Naruto began. Sasuke smirked very slightly behind the girl, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at the Uchiha before smiling brightly at Sakura.

“Ah, well, you see Sakura-chan, I had to dance with this girl and-“

“LIAR! Honestly, you’re getting as bad as Kakashi-sensei!” She huffed. Naruto smirked.

“Or maybe he really is late all the time because of the reasons he says?” The blond suggested. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“Hmph… I didn’t think you were that dumb, Dead last,” he said.

“Oh, big, big mistake emo boy,” Naruto returned, feral smile on his face. “You don’t want to get your butt kicked by me again, right Sasuke-chan?”

Sasuke sent a glare and blast of killing intent that made Sakura shiver, but Naruto just smirked into it. The Keyblade flashed into his hand.

“Bring it, bastard!”

“Don’t get cocky, dead last!”

“Ahem,” Kakashi interrupted. The genin looked up at Kakashi sitting in a tree branch above them. He eye-smiled.

“You know, I was about to hand you these forms,” the jounin mused, holding up a few pieces of paper, “for entrance to the Chuunin Exams, but now…”

“Ch-Chuunin Exams?” Sakura asked nervously. “Kakashi-sensei, you really think we’re ready for that?”

“Well, I did, until I saw how immature you all were acting,” Kakashi went on airily. A shared look between Naruto and Sasuke put their rivalry on hold for the moment. They looked at Kakashi, determined.

“C’mon Kakashi-sensei! We can do it, dattebayo!” Naruto insisted.

“Yes,” Sasuke added. Sakura nervously put in her two cents.

“Um, I think… I think that, together, we might…”

“Well, I’ll leave it up to you,” Kakashi shrugged, tossing them the papers, which they each caught effortlessly. “No other missions for today, I’ll see you next week if you decide to sign up!”

And with that, the silver-haired jounin vanished. Naruto grinned.

“Allright, day off! Sakura-chan, want to go do something?”

“Heck no! Um, Sasuke-kun?”

“No,” Sasuke replied shortly, walking off. Naruto sighed and shrugged.

“Oh well, can’t win ‘em all…”

Naruto heard something behind him, and stiffened. He swung around, Keyblade pointed at his foe…

Which happened to be a box, painted to look like a rock. He sighed.

“Konohamaru, rocks aren’t square…”

BOOM! The box erupted into smoke, leaving three coughing eight-year olds before him.

“As expected of my rival!” Konohamaru grinned, revealing the gap in his teeth, as he shot up dramatically. “Prepare for trouble!”

“And make it, er… Triple!” A little girl added in.

“To protect the world from devastation!” A glasses-wearing boy sniffled.

“And unite all peoples within our nation!” Konohamaru declared.

“To fight for the virtues of truth and love!” The girl sang.

“To extend our reach to the stars above!” The other boy wheezed again.

“Moegi!” The girl struck a pose.

“Udon!” The glasses-wearing boy mirrored her.

“Konohamaru!” The leader declared.

“Konohamaru Corps, blast off at the speed of light!” They all shouted. “Surrender now or prepare to fight!”

“…” Was Sakura and Naruto’s reaction, blinking. Konohamaru grinned.

“What do you think of it?”

“I’m still trying to figure out what it is,” Sakura muttered, as Naruto laughed sheepishly.

“Er, Konohamaru… Guys… How did you come up with that… Whatever it was?”

“Television!” They chorused. Naruto and Sakura sweatdropped.

“Knew that thing only caused trouble,” Naruto muttered.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Sorry for the long wait, I’ve been really busy.

Don’t worry though, the series will continue. Still working out how to handle the Chuunin exams entirely, but don’t worry, there will be lots of differences.

Next chapter we meet Gaara and the others, so stay tuned!

Preview for Chapter Twelve:

“You shouldn’t draw attention to yourselves, or you won’t make it out alive…”