Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Key Through the Heart ❯ Energy Required ( Chapter 5 )

llVoice 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.

Author's Note: If you have questions about the fic, please refer to the reviews I answer at the end. If you have a question that I have not answered, then ask that, but I'd prefer to not have to keep repeating myself over and over. With that out of the way, enjoy!

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Uchiha Sasuke was not at the top of his class for nothing. While much praise and applause had been directed his way, out of pity and the prestige of his name, he'd made sure to earn every bit of it. He took being a ninja seriously in all respects. He had to, to fulfill his mission.

 

Every lesson he'd studied ruthlessly, every jutsu and training exercise he'd put in the effort to master. He trained every day, no exceptions. And he had little patience for those who got into this job for glamour or romance (such as the babbling, pink-haired fangirl at his arm right now).

 

But, as Sasuke looked out at the small stream underneath the bridge he was standing on, Sakura chattering happily nearby, he was faced with a conundrum he couldn't resolve.

 

Uzumaki Naruto. The dead last in their class. He was the clown, the goof off, the loud-mouthed moron who could barely make it to class on time. He was one of the aforementioned people Sasuke thought didn't take the way of the ninja seriously. True, Sasuke felt something close to camaraderie with the blond, since they both seemed to have been alone for the majority of their lives. But still, Naruto had failed to graduate three times, despite entering the academy three years early.

 

Sasuke had seen Naruto as someone who wasted opportunities, who didn't work for what he'd been given. Especially now, with that bizarre weapon of his.

 

“I hope you like this brand of conditioner I'm using, I think it's much more pleasant than the last don't you think…?”

 

What was that thing? Sasuke wondered. It looked every bit as comical and ridiculous as Naruto himself, and yet the dead last clearly knew how to use it. This was certain, given his performance against Kakashi and the training session Sasuke had observed yesterday. What was more, how did Naruto learn a jounin level technique anyway? It seemed likely that the key-like weapon, the Kage Bunshin, and Naruto's newfound skill (that, Sasuke grudgingly noted, was easily a match for his own in many circumstances) were all connected. How, he was unsure.

 

But Sasuke was going to find out. Because if that weapon got Naruto up close to his level, what could it do for him?

 

“Oi, morning Sakura-chan!” The blond in question announced happily, landing on the bridge with a grin. “Morning, bastard!”

 

“Loser,” Sasuke returned flatly as Naruto smirked. Sakura growled.

 

“Naruto you idiot! Don't call Sasuke-kun that!”

 

“What else would I call him?” Naruto teasingly replied. Now that was unexpected, Sasuke noted. Sakura blinked rapidly but her scowl came back.

 

“IDIOT! I'm going to-!”

“Loser,” Sasuke interrupted, speaking a bit more loudly than his usual monotone. Sakura and Naruto paused, both turning their attention to him.

“Er, yeah bastard?” Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Fight me.”

“Eh? Why?” Naruto asked, frowning. Sakura laughed a bit.

“Yeah, why Sasuke-kun? You'll just slaughter him and-!”

“Loser takes Sakura on a date.”

“WHAT?!” Replied both in shock. Inwardly, Sasuke smirked. He was brilliant…

“Wait a minute here, bastard! Shouldn't it be winner takes Sakura-chan on a date?” Naruto protested, but he was already assuming a fighting stance. Sasuke smirked outwardly this time.

“Since you'll lose anyway, I suppose I should make sure you get something you want,” he returned simply. Naruto growled and Sasuke congratulated himself on actually paying some attention to his useless teammates. He'd beat Naruto, and hopefully this set up would make the idiot congenial enough to spill information about his changes. Directly asking was not Sasuke's style-It would look weak.

“How about the winner gets to decide the prize?” Naruto retaliated.

“Again… You have no chance, loser. Now, are we going to fight or not?” Sasuke asked. Naruto narrowed his eyes and held out a hand. In a flash, his strange, Key-shaped weapon appeared. Naruto settled into that unusual fighting stance from before. Sasuke felt a little surprised at the raw determination seemingly burning in the blond's eyes. Sakura backed off, watching a bit pensively.

“I get the feeling I'm going to be saying this a lot, believe it,” Naruto began, “but don't underestimate me!” The blond lashed out with his weapon and Sasuke brought out a kunai to parry it. Sasuke found himself slightly surprised as Naruto continued his attack, forcing Sasuke to move back as the strikes grew stronger. Sasuke finally leapt off the bridge entirely and landed on the bank nearby, in a large grassy field. Naruto leapt after him, twirling the key around in flair before throwing it with deadly accuracy at Sasuke.

The Uchiha leapt away, mindful of Naruto's strategy with the weapon before, and wasn't disappointed when it teleported back into Naruto's hands. He parried the blond's next strike with his kunai again, using the momentum passed to him from Naruto to power a roundhouse kick to his opponent's shoulder. Naruto twisted away from the blow, rolling the ground and to his feet, his fingers in a cross over the hilt of his weapon.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Ten more Narutos appeared and they charged, striking at him in pairs. Sasuke leapt up and flipped backwards in midair, making four handseals.

“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!” The fireball slammed into the mob of Narutos, easily blasting them out of existence and sending the real thing flying back, skidding along the ground on his feet and barely avoiding falling into the water. Sasuke landed easily and smirked at Naruto, who glared and made the same handseal again.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” A dozen Narutos poofed into existence this time. All but two charged for Sasuke, while one grabbed the real Naruto and began to swing him around at high speed. Sasuke pulled out two kunai and threw them at high speed, two Naruto clones being hit and poofing out of existence as the rest avoided it and continued forward. Sasuke kept moving out of range, sniping the clones, as the real Naruto was let loose, flying forward above the field. Naruto spun up his key again and threw it for Sasuke, just as the remaining clones threw theirs as well. Sasuke, mindful of Naruto's fight with Kakashi, quickly made handseals again.

“Katon: HÅsenka no Jutsu!” Sasuke spit several precise, bird-shaped fire blasts, taking out several of the cloned keys. Just before he shot the last one, however-

“Kai!” This key-like weapon burst into smoke and became Naruto. The real weapon flashed into his hands as the last firebird left Sasuke's mouth. Naruto swung through the fire bird, blasting through it as he landed and charged a surprised Sasuke.

CLANG!

Damnit! Sasuke and Naruto thought, kunai pushing back against key-weapon. Naruto was frustrated his gambit hadn't worked, and Sasuke was mentally cursing because he'd never seen Naruto use this tactic in his training. Did he come up with it while we were fighting, or before?

Sasuke recovered quickly and struck, driving Naruto back, who deflected and parried every blow the Uchiha lashed out with. Naruto fell back slightly to one strike and twirled around, swinging his key-weapon for Sasuke's side. The Uchiha brought out a second kunai and knocked the weapon away, thrusting with the other for Naruto's arm. The blond bent his knees and dropped, swinging the key-weapon for Sasuke's legs. Sasuke jumped back, and both genin glared at eachother. Naruto was breathing a bit harder than usual, but Sasuke was nearly wheezing despite his efforts to focus and control his respiration.

Damn… Only enough chakra for one more Goukakyuu… Sasuke snarled as Naruto mad the ram seal again, and a dozen kage bunshin appeared once more. Loser! How dare you become stronger than me!

“Moron! How the hell are you getting so strong?!” Naruto smirked, Sasuke's rage increasing.

“What's the matter, bastard? Afraid of taking Sakura-chan out on a date? I guess you really are gay!” That did it. Sasuke forced just enough chakra into his legs to leap high above Naruto and his clones. He made the proper handseals and focused his rage along with his chakra into the first fire jutsu he'd ever mastered.

“KATON! GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!” Sasuke roared, producing an even bigger fireball that raced down for Naruto. Naruto spun his key again, the weapon beginning to glow a fierce blue, before he threw it up as hard as he could. The two projectiles-fireball and key-like weapon-met in a terrific explosion that blinded Sakura, who was watching from the sidelines.

KABOOM!

“Kyah!” She cried, covering her eyes with a grimace. She blinked rapidly, slowly forcing the spots from her eyes as she ran anxiously over to ground zero. Several trees had caught fire, while the surrounding field now had a pretty large crater in it. Sakura looked about anxiously.

“SASUKE-KUN! SASUKE-KUNNN!” She cried out… Just as a familiar blond head popped out of the ground nearby with a scowl.

“Hey! What about me?! I'm the one he tried to fry!” Naruto shouted in irritation. Sakura gawped at this, her green eyes darting between the crater and Naruto quickly.

“Damnit Sakura, don't yell so loudly,” an irritated (and familiar) voice grumped. Sakura turned and saw a dirty (but alive) Sasuke trudging up. Ignoring Naruto as he struggled to dig himself out, Sakura rushed and glomped Sasuke.

“Sasuke-kun! I thought-I mean, I didn't think you could-! But Naruto-!”

“Oi, bastard! The hell was that for?” Naruto demanded, finally fully out of the ground. He brushed himself off, scowling at Sasuke. The Uchiha scowled back.

“Idiot… Quit complaining you were too weak to fight me!”

“I'm not the one barely able to stand, bastard!” Naruto retorted, his weapon flashing back into his hand. Sasuke shoved the concerned Sakura aside and stalked for Naruto.

“I'll show you barely able to stand, you-!”

“Ahem.” All three genin turned to see Kakashi standing at the edge of the crater. His one visible eye was closed in that unusual smile of his.

“Since you seem to have so much energy in fighting eachother, why don't we find out just how much you can put into today's missions?”

“Mission? What kind of missions?” Naruto asked with a frowned. Kakashi's eye smile seemed to grow. A sinking feeling appeared in Team Seven's stomachs.

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Kakashi sat on the upper branches of a tree overlooking a backyard, contentedly reading his Icha Icha Paradise Volume 5. Below, a large assortment of kids were all gathered. A banner with the words “Happy Birthday Asuka” was strung over the house, as the red-headed birthday girl herself and a number of her friends scowled at Sakura. The pink-haired girl smiled uneasily back as she held out some cards.

“Um, your card is… The jack of spades?”

“Wrong! You stink!” The birthday girl yelled, as the rest of the six-year olds booed. Sakura grimaced, but her discomfort was nothing next to Sasuke's.

“Mister Ninja, can I have a balloon animal?” Sasuke's eyebrow twitched violently. He stood as still as a statue, hair dyed red and face painted white as for a clown. His nose was covered in a red plastic squeaky ball.

“No.” The little boy pouted.

“What kind of clown are you anyway?” Sasuke smirked, as a not-quite-sane glint appeared in his eyes.

“I can breathe fire,” he said menacingly, causing the little boy to run off crying. A number of Naruto's clones were trying to entertain the other kids with kazoos and other noisemakers, but they weren't very happy with them.

“OW! You little brat! Why'd you kick me?”

“HEY! QUIT THAT!”

“When I get my hands on you-!”

The mother of little Asuka (who, Kakashi noted, had a perfect figure-Part of the reason he'd taken this mission) walked underneath his tree and sighed.

“Are you sure they can't do anything better?” Kakashi frowned and shrugged.

“Well, the blond one said he had to go get something…”

“I'M BACK!” The original Naruto hopped over the fence, grinning from ear to ear. In one hand he carried a large, grey ball. He walked up to the sulking birthday girl.

“Hmph! And what's that for, huh?” Asuka snorted. Naruto grinned.

“Watch this! HIYAH!” Naruto threw the ball up into the air, before holding out his hand. The Keyblade flashed into existence in his grip, making the watching children gasp. With a grin and wink at Sakura, Naruto leapt up and whacked the ball even higher, backflipping in mid-air and landing easily on one foot.

The ball fell towards Sasuke's head, and just before the emo-clown was about to whack it away in irritation, a Naruto clone (with it's own Keyblade) hit the ball back up into the air with three consecutive strikes. Asuka began to cheer, as did the rest of the children, as Naruto and his clones kept up the show, hitting the ball into the air while performing stunning aerial acrobatics. Even the mother (who had given Naruto nothing but glares since he arrived) began to smile and applaud with every dramatic leap, combo, and twirl the blond put into his performance.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile a bit himself-Naruto always did want attention, but he'd had to contend with negative attention most of his life. Positive attention was definitely to the demon container's liking, as evidenced by the carefree nature of his laughter and the honesty of his smiles.

Sakura, for her part, tried to not smile (since her crush was scowling at the entire thing), but found herself failing to keep a straight face.

 

Wow… Naruto's really impressive! I mean, today he fought Sasuke-kun so well… Wait, what am I saying?

 

YEAH! Naruto's still a loud-mouthed idiot! No way he could have beaten Sasuke-kun! SHANNARO! Her inner self piped in, letting Sakura dispose of her smile…

 

“Hey Sakura-chan! Hey! Watch this!” Naruto shouted. One of his clones smacked the ball right to him, to which he whacked the ball to another clone, from there to another, and finally it was smacked back to Naruto who had leapt high into the air. He whacked the ball straight down and it plummeted, making most of the kids gasp… Then cheer as another Naruto kage bunshin appeared right underneath the ball and whacked it back up just in time. Sakura found herself clapping happily.

 

Well, so what? Just because he's funny doesn't mean I like him or anything.

 

Definitely! SHANNARO!

 

Sasuke had taken to brooding near the punch bowl, watching every feat Naruto performed with a scowl.

 

How the hell did that idiot get that weapon? It's not fair-A loser like him doesn't deserve something so powerful!

 

“What is that thing?” Asuka, the birthday girl, asked loudly, indicating Naruto's weapon. The original had taken a brief break as his clones continued to knock the ball around above. The blond grinned.

 

“It's a Keyblade! It's, uh... A family heirloom!” The little kids crowded eagerly around Naruto, oohing and ahhing over the Keyblade, which Naruto was happy to let them examine and touch. The blond looked up briefly to see Sasuke scowling at him, to which Naruto just grinned.

 

Family heirloom? Yeah right… I'll find out how you got that thing, dead last. And when I do…

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Dun dun dunnnn! Looks like Sasuke's envy of Naruto has appeared, but will it stay?

 

Beta'd by Captain Sarcasm. Thanks!

 

Yes, the ball thing is in homage to Kingdom Hearts II. There will be several such homages in this fic, as well as foreshadowing.

 

I really loved putting Sasuke in the clown costume. I'm so evil…

 

I'm not sure if Sasuke should develop the Sharingan before the Zabuza arc or during. Tell me what you guys think!

 

Now then, it's time to answer the reviews:

 

Sir Chris: Upon further consideration, it's too troublesome to change the fic's name now, so I'll keep it. Thanks though!

 

Biomonkey: Ayame, Tenten, and Hinata? Hmmm… Interesting, but problematic. How would that work? And don't worry-Naruto's Keyblade will have other forms.

 

Soul of the Silver Phoenix: Thanks! I'm glad you like it! And no, no Sora etc., though I may have them make a cameo appearance.

 

Rubius: Yes, it's Naruharem, but it'll be slow.

 

Dark Dork of Chaos: Oh well, it's too troublesome to change it now, so I might as well keep it.

 

The Violent Tomboy: A little, but Sakura has her own riverside property on Denial, so she'll survive.

 

NarutoViking: The Heartless have already appeared! But if you mean in the Real World, then it'll definitely be in the next chapter or so, in Naruto's world. On Naruto's Nobody: That would be telling.

 

bounder7985: Indeed!

 

Starjacker: Alas, Naruto won't be learning that kind of magic for a while yet. Not until he meets Donald and Goofy. At this moment, Sasuke and Naruto are pretty evenly matched, though that will change over time. And Naruto will figure out he learns what his bunshin learn soon enough, heh.

 

Mdizzle: Consider it done!

 

Endermon: Glad you agree! Hope I did Sasuke well in this chapter. He's pretty “fired” up from his fight with Naruto and therefore has a lot less emotional control than usual. Even so, I hope he's in character.

 

And most of the other reviews I directly responded to, as it's a lot easier that way. Still, this way is more interactive, so I'll keep responding to a lot of reviews in this way.

 

Preview for Chapter Six:

“Naruto? What took you so long?”

 

“Um, nothing… I just… Saw something in the shadows…”