Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Key Through the Heart ❯ The Forest of Death, Part 2 ( Chapter 15 )

llIVoice of Destiny/Inner Sakura
“Normal Talking”
Thoughts/Sound Effects
“Flashback dialogue/Japanese/Emphasis of words”
“Demon speak”
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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.
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Sakura had tried to get some sleep, lying blushingly between the two boys. It was a fitful rest, especially when she brushed up against Naruto or Sasuke and had to fight the urge to latch on, as though they were big teddy bears.

Warm, muscular, strong-

SHUT UP ALREADY!

Honestly, was she so frustrated and scared that she’d lost all reason? Cuddling up to Naruto?

With this cheering thought she managed to fall asleep… Only to be awakened as the wires she’d attached to her fingers were tugged.

The traps…!

A loud boom reverberated through the shelter, as her log trap was triggered. She extended her chakra senses and grimaced. Three signatures… all fresh.

“Oh, cute, really cute,” jeered a rough, young male voice. Sakura quickly checked Naruto and Sasuke again.

Damnit, both still out?! She popped her only soldier pill in her mouth and steeled herself. As quietly as she could she created a single bunshin to peek out of the front entrance of the shelter, as she eased herself through a gap in the roots behind the shelter.

She heard a few of her spring-launched kunai traps go off, and the chakra signatures of the assailants moved.

“Gah, this is so annoying! Look, hand over Uchiha Sasuke, and no one gets hurt! We’ll let you keep your pitiful lives!” That same voice shouted again. Sakura backed into the bushes surrounding the small clearing, and finally spied the assailants.

Those Sound nin from before!

Kabuto had pointed them out, just before the exam had begun. A messy, black-haired boy wearing grey and black camouflage fatigues stood in the center, hands wrapped in bandages. A pale girl with long black hair and similar fatigues stood at his left, glaring. Finally, a hunched over figure, covered in bandages to the point he resembled a mummy, with an unusual metal gauntlet over his right arm, surveyed the area with his one visible eye.

Sakura frowned and formed a few handseals. Jutsu activated, she cleared her throat.

“What do you want with Uchiha Sasuke?” She asked, her voice echoing around the clearing. The mummy-guy adjusted his gauntlet as the spiky-haired guy snorted.

“Funny. Ventriloquist jutsu? It won’t do much good against ninja from the Sound village,” he smirked. Sakura frowned.

“What do you want with Uchiha Sasuke?” She repeated, running her fingers over her equipment pouch and mentally doing an item check. Four kunai, four shuriken, two explosive notes, two flash notes…

She’d used most of the remaining weapons to set up traps around their shelter. Even now, as the Sound kunoichi took another step forward, another trap was tripped and another set of kunai was fired. She dodged, and cursed. The spiky-haired guy growled, holding his hands up. From this distance Sakura could just make out tiny holes in his palms.

“Enough of this! Let’s just summon them and kill them all!” He stated. The kunoichi cringed.

“I don’t know… I mean, are you-?”

“Screw it!” He shouted, cutting her off. He held out a hand over the ground before him. The spot under his hand’s shadow erupted into black smoke, which coalesced into a small, squat being. It was hunched over, two glowing yellow eyes peering out from twitching antenna. A pair of clawed hands grasped at the air, as the creature twitched and shook.

“All right, find her!” He ordered. The creature hopped forward, looking around curiously. It’s pupil-less gaze looked on Sakura, and she shivered. The spiky-haired boy smirked.

“THERE!” From his outstretched hands a huge blast of wind issued, which Sakura barely dodged. Forced into the open she quickly made ten bunshins and rushed the Sound ninja, throwing a flash note above her illusions. As it flashed she kept her eyes closed, using her chakra senses to steer her in the direct of her targets.

“GAH! Die already!” Screamed the spiky-haired guy, and a blast of chakra-enhanced air came forward again. Sakura dove, covering her head as her bunshins poofed out of existence. She grimaced as cuts appeared in her skin, before the wind lashing ceased. She leapt back up, throwing four shuriken at the spiky-haired ninja. He dodged, off-balance. A burst of chakra to her legs and Sakura was on him, her fist slamming into his stomach. With her other fist she slammed his jaw and leapt off to avoid his teammates from-

“GAH!”

-catching us, Inner Sakura said sullenly. The mummy ninja had her by the ponytail. A backhand to the face sent her sprawling.

“Not bad, for a Leaf ninja,” sneered the kunoichi. She sighed as the spiky-haired Sound ninja moaned. “Oh would you stop being such a pussy Zaku?”

“Look whose talking, Kin,” he muttered back, getting to his feet. “That little bitch coulda broke my jaw!”

“Hmph. You complain too much,” the mummy ninja stated flatly. “Get control of your summon.”

Zaku looked over and groaned. The creature couldn’t be seen.

“All right… Dosu, you kill the bitch. I’ll deal with the Uchiha and the idiot.” He got up and stalked over the shelter. Sakura struggled, trying to get out of Dosu’s grip. Kin kicked her in the ribs, making her cry out.

“Silly little girl, playing ninja,” she sneered. She grabbed Sakura’s hair and yanked her close, breathing menacingly in Sakura’s hair.

“Having such long, soft hair. Doesn’t look like you take things very seriously,” Kin further said with a smirk. Sakura kept her eyes closed, teeth gritted in pain… Before she slammed a fist into Kin’s stomach, using a kunai to slash off her ponytail in the same movement. She leapt to tackle Dosu, but her ears exploded in blood as his gauntlet came near.

“AUGH! DAMNIT!” She shrieked, as he punched her back. Dosu closed his visible eye, as though he was smirking.

“Shame… She’s not too bad looking. Little flat,” Dosu commented. Sakura grimaced, holding her ears. She saw Zaku approach the shelter, hands outstretched. She began shrieking out in warning, not able to hear herself but hoping she could alert Sasuke and Naruto in time…

A flash of green entered her vision, and Sakura saw the last person she’d ever thought she’d see.

“YOSH! I am Rock Lee, Konoha’s Beautiful Green Beast! And I am here to save my beloved Sakura-chan!”

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

“Oh for crying out loud! Lee! Where did he go?” Tenten glowered, narrowing her eyes and scanning the forest. Neji had his Byakugan activated as he leapt with her.

“The idiot said he would only go to the bathroom,” Neji snorted. “Probably got lost or…”

“Or?” Tenten prompted.

“Or he’s fighting to defend Team Seven from those Sound ninja from before,” Neji commented, shifting course and accelerating through the foliage. Tenten followed, biting her lower lip.

“Can… Can you see Naruto? The blond ninja.”

The Hyuuga frowned, but widened his area of scan.

“Yes. I’d recognize his chakra signature anywhere, though it’s dangerously low, like the Uchiha’s.”

“So that explosion yesterday?”

“They seem connected,” Neji allowed, a frown growing on his face.

Three other chakra signatures appeared in his vision. He raised an eyebrow.

“Looks like some of our fellow Leaf ninja are giving the idiot some assistance, before us,” he commented. Tenten nodded, her keen eyes picking out the battlefield.

“I can see that… Woah. What the hell are those things?”

Neji focused in. He could see the creatures moving about, but as far as what they were? They only appeared as black shapes in his bloodline’s vision.

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Lee fell back from Dosu, clutching his ears. Sakura had gotten some distance from the Sound ninja, stumbling after him.

“L-Lee!” She called out, her hearing gradually returning. However, it was like being underwater, everything was distorted.

He caught Zaku yell something, but her eyes widened at their results. A dozen of the same creatures from before appeared, the shadows converging on Lee.

“Lee! No!” Sakura shouted. She pushed some chakra into her fist and brought it down on one of the creatures. The energy passed into the creature and turned it into dust. Encouraged, Sakura leapt after another before a fist slammed into the back of her neck. She fell, tasting blood in her mouth. She snarled in defiance, trying to get to Lee, but her assailant wouldn’t let her go, and the creatures were closing in….

“THUNDER!” Blasts of lightening dropped on the dark creatures, blasting them to dust. The pressure on her neck abruptly vanished. Sakura didn’t pause. She got back up and crawled over to Lee, checking him, and then dragging him out of the line of fire as Team Ten joined the battle. She couldn’t help her incredulous expression as she saw Ino.

Is she calling down lightening from the sky?! How the hell is she doing that?!

“Die you son of a bitch!” Ino screamed. “FIRE!” Three blasts of flame burst from her staff at Zaku, who deflected them with his air cannons. Chouji launched himself at Zaku next, calling out “NIKUDEN SENSHA!”, while Shikamaru threw kunai to make Kin fall back. Chouji did little better against Zaku than Ino, his bulk spinning in place against the force of the Sound nin’s hand cannons.

However, it did allow Ino to attack from the side. Leaping down, blonde hair whipping out behind her like a flag, and her staff blazing with power, she shouted her attack once more.

“FIRE!” Three blasts hit the ground under Zaku’s feet, blasting him into a sprawling heap. Chouji broke through, still in Meat Tank form and barreling for Sakura and Lee.

“Shit!” She shouted, dragging the unconscious taijutsu specialist out of the path of the Akimichi. They tumbled, and she found herself under the extremely heavy Lee.

“Gah…” She muttered, struggling out from under the mercifully still unconscious Lee.

“Oh, sorry Sakura!” Chouji shouted. Sakura turned to glare at Chouji, before her eyes widened.

“CHOUJI, LOOK OUT!” She shouted, as a huge, black creature that resembled the Akimichi in his Meat Tank jutsu form appeared. Chouji turned around just in time to be bowled over by the creature’s charge, flying and tumbling into a tree root.

“Oooh… What hit me?” He muttered. Chouji shook his head and dodged as the monster charged for him again, and formed handseals.

“Bubun Baika no Jutsu!” Chouji shouted, his arms growing to massive size and slamming down on the beast’s head. He crushed it into a cloud of black smoke, but before he could savor his triumph two more appeared.

“All right! Take this! NIKUDEN SENSHA!” He became a giant ball of human flesh once more and rolled at full against the two charging creatures. Sakura ducked as they rammed into each other, bouncing off into the directions they’d come from. Chouji’s technique failed with a poof of smoke, leaving him lying dazed against a tree trunk, while his adversaries got back up and began to lumber for him, through slowly.

Shikamaru, in the meantime, was finding himself occupied. Kin summoned flying Heartless, that resembled small lanterns floating in the air. They were all purple, and fired sonic blasts after him that he was hard-pressed to dodge. His shadow jutsus were little good while he was on the move, and he had to be as the little demons kept swarming him.

“Damnit, this is too troublesome…” He muttered, jumping to a branch and flipping onto the top, as the flying lantern demons flew under him. He tossed an explosive tag after them and leapt away, a small smirk emerging on his face as the creatures were blown to smithereens.

“You little punk! I’m going to kill you!” Kin shouted, throwing kunai of her own. Shikamaru blocked them, cursing as he spotted Zaku recovering from Ino’s attack. Said kunoichi was occupied with several larger black creatures Dosu had summoned. Shikamaru frowned.

Don’t know what this’ll do, but… He engaged his family’s signature jutsu and reached out, grabbing the shadows of a few smaller creatures nearby. They just looked at him and sunk back into the ground, and his shadow lines seemed to swell as they followed them back to him.

“Damnit, this is just not my day,” Shikamaru growled, disengaging the jutsu and leaping away as the demons continued to increase in number. “Ino, if it’s not too much trouble-“

“I’ve got my own problems, Shikamaru! Deal with it!” Ino shrieked back, ducking a swing from a large black creature and blasting a purple, lantern-shaped one with a fire blast. She cursed-She was already low on chakra, having to use so many high level jutsus in such a short amount of time.

“Where’s Naruto when you need him? Or Sasuke?” She muttered in anger and concern.

A massive spike of chakra from behind caught her attention. She spun around, eyes widening at the sight. For a moment she was concerned the Sound ninja would take advantage of her shift in attention, but a quick check revealed she didn’t have to worry.

They were just as focused on the dark figure, surrounded by a towering maelstrom of burning, demonic chakra. The figure looked up, red Sharingan eyes blazing, as a smile came over his face.

Normally, Ino would have been happy to see a smile on Sasuke’s face, but this… Combined with the terrifying chakra pressure, bizarre markings spreading across his body like a rash, and frightening, almost insane glint in his eyes…

Sasuke-kun, what the hell happened to you? She wondered, clutching her staff more tightly.

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Sasuke had to admit… He hadn’t expected to wake up feeling this good. Hell, part of him thought he’d never wake up again. His promise, once more, falling to the might of the forces opposed to his vengeance.

But this… He felt a giggle come up from within him, and he let it out as he continued to look at his hands. Chakra, visible chakra swirled around him in a maelstrom. According to his Sharingan, it was dense, energetic, powerful…

Sasuke looked at the broken chokuto in his hand, one swiftly becoming covered by black stripe-like markings. He grinned. He felt like he could take on and defeat anyone.

Instinctively he focused some of his new chakra to his broken blade, and the burning energies took the form of a long, jagged sword. Almost like the wing of a raven, it wavered and changed as though a cross between smoke and feathers.

He giggled again, feeling giddy. His thoughts seemed to rush about at random, until they settled on one thing:

I want to fight someone…

He looked out over the clearing, seeing the demons, and some of his teammates. The unconscious Naruto behind him didn’t matter. Naruto couldn’t fight, so he had no interest-

Sakura… Injured… She was staring at him, eyes and mouth wide, as she crouched near the limp body of Rock Lee. He stared at her, unfamiliar feelings welling up in him. They seemed to be summed up in one word:

MINE…

“Who did that to you, Sakura?” He asked, and in an instant he was before her, staring down, smiling. She was staring back at him, shocked, moving slowly, so slowly, but he didn’t mind. Everything seemed to be moving so quickly and slowly at the same time and Sakura was here. Sakura was hurt.

Sakura had been hurt. Which meant she had been fighting.

MINE, FIGHT, MINE!

“Who?” He asked again. He heard a laugh. Identified the source.

“We did, Uchiha! And we’re going to do worse to you!” Chakra building up in his arms, wind merging with it…

Sasuke simply took Sakura’s hand and pulled her up, before grabbing Rock Lee and tossing him out of the line of fire, before pulling Sakura away. She was gripping his hand tightly, still staring, eyes wide. He felt more stares.

FIGHT, KILL, MINE!

His blade lashed out and struck through one of the demons circling around. It dissolved-Hardly interesting to him. Still, maybe killing more would be interesting? The boy who hurt Sakura wasn’t strong enough to be a challenge…

“What the hell are you?” Said boy shouted in disbelief. Sasuke grinned.

Hurt Sakura, hurt Sakura, hurt him, MINE, no one hurts mine…

He was behind the boy now, blade having moved so quickly that Sasuke barely noticed him screaming as his hand came off. Sasuke kept grinning. Pain to others… This power… It increases when I cause pain…

“You seemed proud of your hands,” Sasuke noted casually, as the Sound ninja fell to the ground, gripping his bloody stump in agony. “I took one. Shall I take another?”

“Sasuke, stop it! Please! This isn’t you!” Sakura shouted. Sasuke ignored her, slashing apart another demon as it tried to attack him. Pests…

“You’re not laughing now…” Sasuke added. He held the blade up, savored the terror in the eyes of the Sound ninja, grinned just that much more…

“Bastard, what the hell are you doing?!”

Light in the back of his chakra senses. Hope, strength, power… Sasuke grinned and giggled again, turning back to see Naruto stumbling out of the shelter, Keyblade in hand.

“Deadlast… Fight me,” he stated, holding his new dark blade out in challenge.

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Okay, this wasn’t what I was expecting when I woke up this morning, Naruto decided. The Keyblade and his own chakra senses were screaming not right about the chakra now enveloping Sasuke. Not to mention the weapon he now wielded.

It resembled a curved bat wing, cruel spines on the inner blade that glistened blood red in the sunlight. The guard of the blade was also wing-like, only pure black and feathered, forming protection for Sasuke’s knuckles but only on one side of the hilt.

The most prominent feature of the weapon, however, was the circular emblem between blade and guard. It was blood red, with a single black circle in the center and three black tadpole-shaped spots swimming around it. It was a perfect Sharingan, though Naruto didn’t know this.

Is that thing a Keyblade too? Naruto thought, disturbed. If it was, it seemed as dark as the Kyuubi blade… And potentially just as powerful.

Crap, what am I going to do? The blond thought frantically, as Sasuke advanced, still grinning disturbingly.

Pale arms suddenly closed around Sasuke from behind in an embrace, and Sakura’s sobs could be heard over the commotion.

“Sasuke-kun, please! Please, stop! This isn’t you! This can’t be you! Please!” She cried, holding him tightly. Sasuke continued to stare down Naruto, black blade in his hand. The blond kept his Keyblade at the ready should the Uchiha still attack.

The dark chakra began to fade, as the black markings began to recede from Sasuke’s skin. He collapsed, panting heavily, as his once more broken chokuto fell from his grasp.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief (and a bigger one when the Sound nin dispelled the demons they’d summoned). They left them their Earth scroll before retreating, helping the maimed Zaku to safety. The rest of Lee’s team, including Tenten, arrived soon after that, and they stopped and rested for a time.

“Hey Naruto?” The blond looked up from the stump he’d been sitting on. Tenten was standing over him, looking curious. Nearby, Ino was fixing Sakura’s hair and evening the cut the pink-haired girl had made, Sasuke was looking through their supplies, Shikamaru was patching up Chouji, and Neji was just standing apart, stoic as usual.

“Yeah Tenten?” Naruto asked, giving her a small smile. She actually seemed to blush, but pressed on.

“That… That explosion yesterday… What happened there?”

Naruto laughed uneasily.

“Er, well… Let’s just say a new move of mine didn’t work out exactly as I’d planned…”

“Are you kidding? We could feel it from a mile away!” Tenten emphasized. “Just what kind of move was it anyway? Because if that was how it was when it wasn’t ‘working out as planned’, then…” She grinned and shrugged a bit. Naruto grinned back nervously.

“Um, well… If I ever manage to do it again, you’ll be the first to know, heh…”

Sakura walked over, finishing wrapping her forearms in bandages. She held up a Heaven scroll happily.

“Hey Naruto, Ino’s team traded us the scroll we needed for the extra Earth scroll we got from the Sound ninja.”

“Allright! Third stage, here we come!” Naruto crowed.

“Just try not to blow up any more parts of the forest again, Naruto,” Ino quipped dryly. Sasuke shot Naruto a glare for that, to which he just shrugged. Considering how Sasuke had acted while in that weird mode… With that dark blade… He didn’t want to risk provoking the Uchiha into summoning it again.

At least, not until I’m strong enough to fight him off, he added mentally, tightening the grip on his Keyblade.

“Yeah, yeah, same to you fire bug,” he returned to Ino with a smirk. The blonde stuck her tongue out and headed out, Shikamaru following with a sigh and a “troublesome”, while Chouji bounced after.

“Tenten, Lee, let’s go,” Neji commanded. Tenten winked at Naruto.

“I’ll see you at the tower, Naruto-kun,” she teased, before leaping off. The blond couldn’t help but blush just a bit at that. Lee staggered afterwards, giving Sakura a grin and thumbs up.

“YOSH! I will see you soon, Sakura-chan! Naruto, Sasuke, I look forward to meeting you in the next part of the exam!” With that, he leapt off after his team into the trees.

“Man, is that guy weird,” Sakura noted, shaking her head. Though Naruto saw the small smile on her face as she said it.

“C’mon,” Sasuke said irritably. “If we move at full speed we make it to the tower before nightfall.” He jumped up into the foliage and took off. Naruto paused and shot a grin at Sakura. She frowned and narrowed her eyes at him.

“What?”

“I saw you… Smiling at Lee. Someone getting over her obsession with emo boys?”

“Shut up Naruto!” She bawled, jumping off after the Uchiha. Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Well, it’s a start,” he decided. “Either she wises up, or the bastard gets wise…”

Sure, Sasuke was an asshole, but when someone puts their life on the line for you, they kind of grow on you. Even if they were arrogant clan heirs with sticks up their butts.

And Sakura, well… He just wanted her happy. He saw that she desperately needed someone to either make her happy, or help her find a way to it herself, and Naruto hoped he could be that person.

“Aw damnit, I’m getting all mushy and introspective… Again,” he noted in disgust. He glared at the Keyblade. “This is all your fault, you know.”

He leaped after his comrades, switching his thoughts to the tower, and third part of the exam to come. Trying to keep his thoughts off Sasuke’s transformation, and that dark blade that was frighteningly familiar…

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Not too far away, Kabuto’s team had caught up with him. The medic ninja was looking into the distance as his comrades landed on the branch he stood on, flanking Kabuto on both sides.

“You have the scrolls?” He asked. Misumi nodded.

“Took ‘em off a Mist team and a Stone team. Small fry,” he said flatly. Yoroi snorted.

“The Mist ones were trying to set up an ambush near the tower with a pathetic genjutsu. Easy pickings. As for the Stone… Feh. Insects.”

“Good,” Kabuto spoke. “We should find Zaku’s team. They suffered rather severe injuries fighting Sasuke-kun.”

“So, the Uchiha survived?” Yoroi asked. Kabuto nodded.

“As did the Keybearer… Orochimaru will be pleased.” He crouched. “Come-We have a limited amount of time before gangrene sets in.”

Yoroi and Misumi both smirked behind their masks at the implication, and followed Kabuto. One of those hotshot genin punks being in pain never got old...

They were not disappointed.

“AUGH! God damn it, Kabuto you shit! Couldn’t have gotten here sooner?!” Zaku demanded, cradling what was left of his hand. Kin stood back a ways, eying Kabuto warily, while Dosu crouched near their injured teammate.

“You can help him, I presume,” Dosu spoke quietly. Kabuto smirked and knelt, pulling out a scroll from his pack. Releasing it’s seal in a burst of smoke, the medic produced an elegant, metallic hand. Zaku gazed at it in wonder, even as Kabuto unwrapped the crude bandages around his stump.

“This is but one of a few experimental replacement limbs I have been working on… And carrying with me,” Kabuto explained at Dosu’s look of suspicion. Even Kabuto wasn’t good enough to predict this happening.

“Force some of your chakra into it, and it will bind automatically with your flesh.

Zaku did so, directing some of the energy into his wrist-And screaming in agony as it glowed. Kabuto grabbed Zaku’s wrist and held him still, forcing some of his own healing chakra into his arm. Zaku bit his lip and squelched his screams, as the pain gradually subsided. He experimentally flexed his new metal fingers, and smiled as they responded to his will.

“This hand is very strong. Direct sufficient chakra into it and you can punch through solid marble. But be warned-Do not overexert yourself. You may burn all of your chakra if you are careless,” Kabuto stated flatly. Zaku nodded, as Kabuto stood up and looked at the whole team.

“Now then… Orochimaru will want to hear how you used the Heartless in battle. I will take your report to him. So, why don’t you start at the beginning?”

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

So ends the Forest of Death. No Mist ninja ambush this time around. Whether they died or not will be revealed in time.

I had originally wanted Sasuke and Naruto to fight, but considering Naruto’s exhausted condition I didn’t want to press my luck as far as keeping to canon limitations of the characters.

I gave Chouji a bigger role in this fight than in the canon I think. He took out a Heartless on his own, which is no mean feat, but I explain it being his strong heart and the fact his techniques fill him with chakra, which is close enough to magic to do enough harm to Heartless.

Also, any complaints about the characters not being at such and such a power level or should be at such a level will be dutifully ignored. Not out of malice but because it’s my story and I’ll write it as I see fit. Again, I’m trying to translate the mechanics of a video game world to an anime world, which is no easy task if you’re trying to do it right.

I tried to base Sasuke’s curse seal episode on some written experiences of people on mood altering drugs. Hopefully I did it reasonably well and didn’t make him too mushy concerning Sakura.

Hope you Zaku fans like the fact he’s gone Darth Vader. His battles will certainly prove interesting.

Is Sasuke’s new weapon the Soul Eater? Sort of. It’s a magic sword based on the Keyblade in that it’s an expression of it’s wielder’s will and power, but corrupted and far less powerful in the long run. I wouldn’t mind suggestions for its name.

And, as always, please review!

To make up for the relatively short chapter, here’s an omake. Feel free to write and submit your own via personal messenger or email:


Omake: What Kind of Demon Again…?

Kakashi blinked as he faced off against Zabuza. Is that the Kyuubi’s power…? But, it doesn’t feel like it…

Zabuza also blinked at the unusual chakra signature. He focused his eyes beyond the mist to the mirrors Haku had surrounded her prey in.

Within the mirrors, Haku gaped at the sight before her. The Uchiha was down, the strange chakra was growing ever more powerful from Naruto…

Who, instead of attacking, merely grinned at her while leaning on a red chakra tail.

“Prepare to be bounced, cause it’s what ninjas do the best! Woo hoo hoo hooo!”

With that, Naruto bounced abou, his chakra aura’s shape beginning to resemble the profile of a certain stuffed tiger.

“Oh the wonderful thing about ninjas, is that ninjas are a wonderful thing! Their tops are made outta rubbah! Their bottoms are made outta springs! They’re bouncy trouncy rouncy fun fun fun fun fun! Oh but the most wonderful thing about ninjas, is that I’m the greatest one! I’M, the greatest one!” Naruto concluded.

“KAWAIIII!!!” Haku squealed, before leaping out of her mirrors to glomp the bouncing ninja.

Zabuza groaned, as Kakashi unsuccessfully smothered a laugh.

“Her one weakness…”