Kenta: I feel so excited! Running through so many old dungeons and finding little tidbits and gold skultallas that I missed before, completing things that I was too scared to do when I was a kid...it's all so much fun! Now that I'm back from my family trip to Chicago (No, I didn't mention it before I left) my cousin is over visiting. So while he's still sleeping, I'm typing. :D

"Great Deku Tree! I've returned!" Navi said floating over to the old tree. She floated next to the tree before turning around and watching Naruto and Sasuke run up to the tree, Naruto's big smile starting to fade. Sasuke seemed to notice something was wrong as well.

"Welcome...Naruto...and Sasuke..." The Great Deku Tree said slowly.

"Great Deku Tree?" Naruto asked hesitently. Why was the Great Deku Tree so tired? Did he have a bad dream like he and Sasuke have been having?

"Great Deku Tree..." Sasuke started. "What's going on? There were monsters in the forest when we collected the berries..." Sasuke's arm tightened and Naruto noticed a small trickle of red run down the back of his arm.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes suddenly widened. "You're hurt aren't you!" Naruto gawked as Sasuke gave him a harsh glare. The black-haired boy turned back to The Great Deku Tree.

"Please...what's going on?" The old tree inhaled deeply before looking at Naruto and Sasuke.

"Listen carefully to what I, The Great Deku Tree, am about to tell thee..." He started. Naruto and Sasuke listened intently to the wise old tree. "Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless and full of nightmares..." Naruto and Sasuke Nodded. "As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast sensed it."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other before looking away. They usually woke up at about the same time on those nights. How long had it been happening? Too many nights for Naruto to count. Not that he could really count that high...

"Naruto..." The Great Deku Tree started, looking at the blonde. "The time has come to test thy courage..."

"What?" Naruto suddenly started shaking. He was about to hear something bad...he knew it...

"I have been cursed..." The silence between the two boys allowed the tree to continue. "I need thee to break the curse with thy Wisdom and Courage. Dost though have Courage enough to undertake this task?"

Naruto started shaking. The Great Deku Tree was cursed? And now he was asking HIM to BREAK the curse? "I- I can't! I'm too scared! There's no way I can do something like that! I...! I...! I...!" Naruto tensed as a hand touched his shoulder. Turning, the blonde saw Sasuke.

"You can do it. Remember? You got the Kokiri Sword. It takes a lot of courage to get a sword like that." Sasuke smiled.

"But! But I only got it because I wanted to show Mido I could do it!" Naruto shook his head, his eyes tearing up.

"But WHY did you want to get past Mido?" Sasuke asked, causing Naruto to stop. The blonde looked down, sniffling.

"Be...because, I wanted to help The Great Deku Tree."

"Then you've got all you need, right?"

"But why don't YOU do it?" Naruto quickly asked Sasuke before suddenly stopping. He looked back to Sasuke's arm. It was his sword arm, and Naruto saw more blood running down it.

He was injured, and he COULDN'T do it.

Naruto hung his head. "I'm sorry..." Naruto sniffed. "I'm always...SNIFF...so selfish..." Naruto sobbed. The blonde rubbed his eyes with his arms before pulling them away and walking to The Great Deku Tree. The blonde looked up to The Great Deku Tree and nodded. "I'll do it." Naruto said.

"Then Enter, brave Naruto...and you too, Navi...help guide Naruto...and listen to her words of wisdom Naruto..." The Old Tree opened up what looked like his mouth before Naruto started walking inside. Sasuke stood still, his left hand gripping his right arm. If only he hadn't gotten attacked by that Stalfo... Sasuke gripped his paling arm tighter as he looked down, tears falling from his eyes. The last sight of Naruto he saw, the boy's entire body was shaking, and Sasuke could see the tears falling down his eyes...

Sasuke then turned to head back to the forest. His right arm was now a pale blue, and he knew what he needed to do. An image of Sora, Kokiri Forest's shopkeeper, flashed in his eyes, the boy looking down at his legs. He remembered when Sora first had to use the wheel-chair Saria had made.

"Saria...I need a favor..." Sasuke called into the house next to his and Naruto. His back faded away as he walked into the green-haired Kokiri's house.

The sounds of boots tapping against wood echoed around him, and he knew that he could die in here now. Strange, as The Great Deku Tree was the nicest to him. Maybe it was because he was told by the old tree himself that he was cursed...or maybe it was all of the Skulltulas, Deku Babas and Deku Scrubs that kept attacking him that made Naruto think he was going to die. The Blonde sat down near a wall, gasping for air. Why did he hurt so much? Why? Why was it like those nightmares? Those dark, dark nightmares? He could see fine now, despite being INSIDE of The Great Deku Tree...

...Inside of the old tree...

The blonde shivered, his eyes tearing up again. Why did this have to happen to The Great Deku Tree? Why was it that the nicest people always get hurt? It was the mean people that always hurt them too...

"Cheer up Naruto! Once we break The Great Deku Tree's curse, everything will be fine!" She tried to encourage the blonde. Naruto, who had laid his head on his arms, which were resting on his legs, suddenly looked up, a furious glare in his eyes. "Naruto?"

'Someone cursed The Great Deku Tree...' Naruto thought furiously in his mind. 'He's the one who made Sasuke get hurt...he's the reason there are monsters INSIDE The Great Deku Tree...' Naruto suddenly stood up. "Come on Navi. We're going to break this curse and beat up the guy who caused all of this to happen!" Naruto said running further into the old tree, pulling out his sword and shield and slashing at any evil creature that tried to attack him.

'Naruto...' Navi thought sadly as she floated after the blonde. She knew the truth...and knew Naruto wouldn't like it.

Nobody would like it.

"HAAAAAHHH!" Naruto shouted as he jumped at a strange, one-eyed creature. He slashed the small enemy before turning around, eggs falling from the cieling. "What the heck ARE these things?" Naruto shouted as he swung his sword again.

"They're Gohma larva! They'll attack you in groups!" Navi shouted, watching Naruto fly back and forth, slashing at enemies. How in the heck was he doing this? He'd been running almost non-stop since he first entered The Great Deku Tree, and he was still jumping and shouting at every monster that attacked him. Where in the world did he get such stamina?

"HAAAAAHH!" Naruto jumped once more, slicing another Gohma larva in half, the monster disappearing into purple smoke. The blonde panted as he sheathed his sword. "Okay, huff, I think that's the last of them." Naruto looked around, trying to find out where to go next. "Well...CRAP!" Naruto panicked. "I've never even BEEN inside The Great Deku Tree! I don't even know where to START looking!" The blonde panicked.

Navi stared at the blonde in pity. He was so lost...

"Look, take the door to your left and follow it down and take the first door on your right." Navi sighed. How could he NOT know this? Naruto stared at the blue fairy in confusion.

"How the HELL did you know that?" He said bluntly before blinking. Where did he learn that word? And 'Crap'? He had never said those words before. The blonde shook his head non-the-less and entered the room, following Navi's directions. As he walked, a bunch of other words flowed into his head.

Sakura-chan.

Sasuke-teme.

Kakashi-sensei.

Hokage.

Chakra.

Ninjutsu.

Yondaime.

Ramen.

"..." Naruto suddenly stopped walking, causing Navi to look at him oddly.

"Naruto? What's wrong?"

GROOOWWLLLLL

"WHY THE HELL AM I SO HUNGRY RIGHT NOW?" Naruto suddenly shouted to the cieling, clamping his hands to his head in confusion.

In the back, a small blue fairy hit the floor.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THAT'S IT? GEEZ! YOU ARE SO WIERD!" Navi slapped a hand to her forehead as she clenched her hand in fury. "STOP THINKING ABOUT FOOD AND START FOCUSING ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT!" She yelled, punching Naruto's hat-covered head.

"OW! I CAN'T HELP IT!" Naruto complained, rubbing his head. "I JUST THOUGHT OF THE WORD 'Ramen' AND-!"

GROOOWLLLL

"SEE! IT DID IT AGAIN!" Naruto flailed as he walked, trying to make sense of it all. Navi sighed.

"Whatever, just watch out. There's a hole around here that The Great Deku never seems to fix..." Navi suddenly twitched as she could hear a faint, 'aaaaaaaahhhhh!' behind her. "Aaaand...you fell down the hole, didn't you..." She turned around to find a Deku Scrub staring at her on the other side of the room before hiding again. She looked down to see a green lump floating to the top of the water below her. "Well crap." She floated down to the blonde. Naruto swung his head up, gasping for air.

"I told you to watch out." Navi rolled her eyes, even as Naruto glared at her.

"Thanks for the heads up..." The blonde splashed out of the water before looking in front of him. "And I get to find yet ANOTHER door..." He started walking towards it before he suddenly stopped. An eerie feeling crept up his back, and he could feel his left hand shaking. "Navi..." Naruto started.

"Yeah...I think the monster that's cuasing the curse is behind this door..." Naruto swallowed heavily before reaching out a hand to the door.

Kenta: And that's a wrap for Chapter Three!

I ended up watching 'The REAL Legend' on Newgrounds by 'Granfaloon' while writing this and it actually affected my writing...wierd. Navi, who started out as a slightly comical, helpful character, is becoming more of the Navi in Granfaloon's animation series...

I actually think that it suits her better...Naruto's kind of an odd-ball/space cadet, so it makes sense that he'd need someone to keep him in line. Not to mention I'd like to see Navi beat the living $#!t out of a Wolfo instead of just floating around giving directions and crap. It's funnier that way.

Just like in 'The Legend Of Naruto, Twilight Princess' Naruto will get some memories back, which is what happened in this chapter. I plan to have small interactions with Naruto's past life as a Manga character and add other quests and stuff during this story.

Hope you guys continue to enjoy!

Kenta Raikiri