AN: This takes place about a month after the end of the Zekken story arc.
Warning, as with the rest of my stories, this is mostly AU.
Some light-moderate mythological references as always, and my OC will appear on the sidelines a few times more than likely.
Not going to be OC centric. Will be centered around Kirito/Asuna and a little Naruto and crew.
Dont worry, Naru/Hina will stay Naru/Hina. Just wont be talked about much even though i love Naru/Hina.
Also, several people will most likely be OOC every now and then. or a lot. depends on the voices and my mood.
Obligatory disclaimer:
If I owned Sword Art Online or Naruto i would be living on my own mobile island modeled after Aincrad or a house modeled after Yggdrassil.
Since I am not, I do not own.
All rights to their respective owners.
This one's for ye Ducky
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Demon Talking"
'Demon Thinking'
Swords of the Shinobi
Chapter 1:
The Update Incident
It all started like any other day. It was slightly chilly with an overcast sky promising rain later in the day. Asuna rolled out of bed and looked in the mirror, starting her morning routine, walking to the bathroom and stripping off her pinkish-white nightgown before stepping into a warm, steamy shower. A few minutes later, she steps out and dries off while brushing her teeth and brushing her long amber hued hair. Walking back to her room to get dressed, she notices what time it is, along with a text from Kirito, telling her that he was going to pick her up for school that day. Getting dressed faster than most people think a woman could, she grabs her bag and rushes out the door, locking it right as Kirito screeched to a halt in front of the gate.
"Perfect timing!" Says Asuna as she runs over and jumps on to the motorcycle behind him.
"Always, Asuna." Kirito says as he gives her a quick kiss before handing her a helmet. "You excited about the update today? Its advertised that you can play while its installing."
"Really?" Asuna asks as they speed of in the direction of the school. "What's in this update again?"
"They are adding a new race, complete with its own weapons, armors, and skills. Not much has been revealed about it except the race name, Shinobi, and that they have a race specific ability called Chakra. There are several skill trees apparently; but again, not much is known about them, they've been very tight lipped about this one." Turning a corner they see the school ahead. "Not even my network or Yui have much of anything on it." Slowing down and pulling into an open spot, they both get off the bike and walk to the entrance of the slightly imposing building.
"Well I guess I'll see you later then, Kirito-kun" Asuna says as she gives him a quick kiss and runs off to class.
Throughout the rest of the day, all Asuna could do was think about the possibilities and repercussions of the new update. She talked about it with Sinon, Lisbeth (aka Liz), and Silica, sparking some rather heated debate during lunch.
"I think I should get my character re-incarnated as one of these Shinobi." Says Sinon as they eat. "If they make it anything like the legends we know, then one of the skill trees should be assassination."
"Dont they already have an assassination skill tree?" Asks a slightly confused looking Silica
"Hmmm... I don't think so, unless you count the silent kill or ambush skills." Says a thoughtful looking Liz.
They continue arguing various theoretical points, blissfully unaware that Kirito is standing under a tree near them.
"What do you think Yui? Should we announce ourselves? Or should we just watch?" He says to a camera on his shoulder.
"Hmm... I think that we should go say Hi, poppa." Yui replies. "And plus, I found some information on the update that I think you all might want to hear!"
Kirito slowly sneaks over to the his friends with an evil grin on his face and tickles Asuna, causing her to jump about 3 feet in the air. Landing crouched like a cat, complete with her hair fluffed up and hissing like said animal, everyone busts out laughing, food completely forgotten in the presence of their favorite person.
"No fair!" Yells an indignant Asuna, just about breathing fire as roaring flames appear behind her and in her eyes causing everyone to sweatdrop, take a few steps back, and hide behind Kirito. Kirito quickly gets over it and transfers the camera to Asuna's shoulder, much to the joy of Yui.
"Momma!" She yells excitedly. "I missed you!"
"Its only been a few hours Yui. But I missed you too." Says Asuna, brushing her cheek against the camera.
"OH! Before I forget, I have some info on the new update for you all!" Says Yui as they all sit down in a circle, with everyone trying to get Kirito to taste their lunch. "Apparently, in addition to the new race, there is a hidden Shinobi enclave in each territory! If you find one, they give you a really really rare item. Also, these enclaves have special stores where you can pick up missions for the surrounding area! Completing these and turning them in gives you a new type of currency, called Chakra Tokens, which you can then spend to unlock higher ranked missions worth even more Chakra Tokens, or buy special armor and weapons, crafting recipes, and even skills! What is available in the shops also depends on which enclave you are at. There is a slight problem though... They move every week."
"What? The shops?" Asks Liz curiously.
"No silly, both the whole enclave and the shops!" Laughs Yui. "They wouldn't be hidden or secret if they stayed in the same place all the time would they?"
"Interesting..." Mutters a thoughtful Kirito. "This could be both helpful, and not..."
"I almost forgot! The Shinobi race also has elements that you can choose to specialize in! Along with the fact that whichever enclave you choose to start at, you always know the location of!" Shouts an obviously excited Yui.
"Any info on what the skill trees are?" Asks a hopeful Sinon.
Somehow, the camera that allows Yui to see and talk to them sweatdrops. "Sorry... I couldn't find anything on those..."
"Its alright Yui-chan. Guess I'll just have to find out myself." Sinon says to her gently. Hearing the bell for classes to start, everyone says goodbye to each other, promising to meet up later in ALO.
XxX
XxX
When school was finally over for the day Asuna ran to Kirito's motorcycle, causing every one she passed to choke on the cloud of dust she raised behind her.
"What the *insert extreme coughing fit* What hell was that?" A dust covered student asked her friend.
"Dunno." He replied, trying to wipe a thick coating of dust from his glasses.
Finally reaching the motorcycle, Asuna looked around expectantly, growing more and more irritated with each passing moment. "Where is he? Where is HE? WHERE IS HE?!" She says/shouts as she starts losing whats left of her almost nonexistent (at that moment) patience.
"I'm right here Asuna." Says Kirito, popping out of nowhere, causing Asuna to go into cat mode again. "You ready to go?"
Asuna just growls at him before shouting "I've been ready to go since lunch ended!" Suddenly smiling, she hugs him while blushing slightly saying "I'm glad kaasan said you could come over for a bit so that we could spend time together in person, instead of just meeting in ALO."
"Yea, its good to be able to finally spend time together. Now lets get going, we want to be the first ones to log in when the update starts downloading remember?" He says as he straddles his motorcycle.
"Of course I remember!" Asuna mutters as she gets on behind him.
Soon, they're rocketing back towards her house. "Left, Left, Right, Left, Right, Straight, Right, out of my way bastard..." Kirito was heard muttering as he zipped them through traffic and intersections, finally coming to a perfect stop right outside the gate to Asuna's house.
"19 seconds faster than last time poppa!" Shouts Yui from her camera's perch on the handlebars. "Its a new record!"
"Come on! Come on!" Says Asuna as she almost literally drags him through the gates and into her house, barely giving him enough time to hit a button to lock down his bike, grab his bag, and grab Yui's camera. "Kaasan! I'm home!" She shouts as she drags Kirito to her room and stetting everything up.
"Geeze, calm down a bit will you? Its only an update." says Kirito, making the understatement of a lifetime as he lays down next to her on the bed holding her hand. "We'll meet you inside, ok Yui?"
"Ok daddy! See you there!" Yui cheers before the camera powers down.
Right as they're about to start the game, Asuna's mom walks into the room. "Ok you two, I don't want to hear any weird noises coming from in here, am I understood?"
"MOM!" Shouts an embarrassed Asuna, her face quickly flushing to an interesting shade of red.
"So long as I'm understood." She says, turning around to leave.
Seizing the opportunity, Asuna and Kirito kiss quickly and activate their Amuspheres.
"LINK, START!" They both say excitedly before her mom can say anything, causing said mother to glare at them in frustration, arms crossed and foot tapping while deciding whether or not to cut the power.
Inside the game
Giant words flash across their vision as they stand next to each other in a pure white area. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE FIRST TO LOG IN TO THIS UPDATE! INITIALIZING DOWNLOAD! Suddenly it feels like their head, no, every part of them, is on fire!
"WHATS HAPPENING!?" Screams Asuna, nearly passing out from the amount of pain, tears streaming from her eyes.
"I HAVE NO CLUE!" Screams Kirito, writhing in pain as their bodies start to glow.
Back in Asuna's room
'Ah, I'll just leave them alone' Decides Asuna's mom, but as she starts to turn to leave the room and make some tea for herself, her eyes almost pop out of her head as the teenager's bodies start to GLOW and begin to float in the air twitching slightly, as if having a bad dream.
'Oh, this cant be good...' She thinks in horror
RUMBLE
Feeling the house starting to shake, she utters some very, very un-ladylike language. Her eyes can apparently widen even further in shock as what looks like a jagged edged rift, glowing with an internal purple light and emitting a strange cross between a shriek and a hum, appears floating over the two immobilized teens. "Oh Kami... What's happening?!" She shrieks in pure horror right before passing out, not seeing the rift swallow Kirito and Asuna, leaving only a pair of mangled, half-melted, Amuspheres behind.
Inside the game
Still writhing in torment from the force flowing through them, and not being able to see due to the literally blinding pain, Kirito and Asuna never see that Yui is caught in a field similar to theirs, or a tall figure in a lab coat standing a little to the side, watching them with sad eyes after the words UPLOAD COMPLETE! DOWNLOAD PROGRESS 69% Complete appear for a few moments.
"I'm sorry about this, I really am. I had no clue that it would be you two that would get this 'Reward' from being first to show up for the update." Sighs the mysterious figure sadly. "And after all that you went through for each other too; Beating my Death Game, Rescuing her from that insane pervert, fighting countless battles, just to see each other again. At least you three will be together there..."
All of a sudden, everything stops. The pain is gone except for a slight headache, the glow surrounding the three of them has faded away, and their vision has been restored. Just in time to see the words DOWNLOAD COMPLETE! appear in front of them.
Sensing someone, Kirito turns and his eyes widen in shock, and a little understandable fear. "How... How are you here Kayaba?" He asks.
"The same way I was able to help you last time." States the now named Kayaba Akihiko cryptically.
"What happened?" Asks a confused Asuna as she wipes her eyes dry.
"You received the final version of the process that I underwent. It is a dimensional transfer procedure, simply put." Explains Kyaba "I am sorry that it was you two that received it though, for I know what you have been through."
"For some strange reason, I believe you." Says Kirito. "Is there a way to reverse it?"
"I'm sorry, no. What happens is that instead of just turning you into basically a living A.I, like what happened to me, the program actually uploads you, every last bit of you down to the oldest memories, to this room." Says Kayaba, shaking his head in sad resignation. "If i could send you back, I would. But as I already said, to do so would be impossible."
Sighing sadly and taking Asuna's hand in his own, Kirito asks the obvious question. "So what happens to us now?"
"Well, Since the procedure is irreversible, I guess you should continue on to the world I based the update off of." Replies Kayaba. "But before you go, I must tell you something."
"And what might that be?" Mumbles an Asuna on the verge of breaking down at the thought of never seeing her friends or family again.
"While your physical bodies have been uploaded, your data, Asuna, from Sword Art Online and Alfheim Online, has been downloaded to you. Meaning that all of your attacks, skills, stats, and your combined inventory from both before Aincrad was cleared and from Alfheim after Kirito here rescued you, have been downloaded to your muscle memory, brain, and you in general. Your data, Kirito, consists of your Sword Art Online, Alfheim Online, and Gun Gale Online, as well as your combined inventory from each, has been downloaded in he same way to you. Little Yui here still has all of her data; Including her original coding from Sword Art Online, minus the restrictions the Cardinal System placed upon her, which has successfully been merged with your own improvements and modifications Kirito. She retains the ability to shift between her Navigational Pixie form and the form that you met her in, as well as now being flesh and blood. In addition, you three will gain a form of energy called 'Chakra' which is similar to Mana. And last, you will still have access to your game menu, though it will be missing the 'log-out' and 'contact game-master' options."
"So will we be able to contact you?" Asks Kirito
"Yes and no." Sighs Kayaba. "I will be able to talk to you through various means, and you can reply, but you will not be able to initiate the contact." Shaking his head with a sad smile he continues. "I will only contact you if it is very important though, as doing so causes me to fade away for a long period of time. Doing so too often will cause me to fade away permanently."
"Fair enough..." Sighs an exasperated Kirito. "If that's all, can we get going?"
"Of course" Smiles Kayaba as he knocks them all out with a telepathic nudge. Picking hem up, he turns and walks to the DOWNLOAD COMPLETE! sign and proceeds to throw them through the 'O,' which suddenly blazes with a purple light revealing itself to be a stable dimensional portal,plunging them into darkness for a few minutes. Not that any of them really cared, being unconscious and all.
XxX
We now find our unconscious trio jumbled together on the main road a few miles outside of Konoha as team 7 returns from their fateful mission escorting Tazuna
XxX
"What was that purple flash?" Asks Sakura quietly after they recover from the shock of bright purple light searing their eyes.
"Beats me!" Says Naruto, eager to go and check it out.
"Hn" Huffs Sasuke, giving his general response to anything and everything.
Kakashi looks up from a familiar orange book for a moment and says "We might as well go and check it out. Its on our way." before he sticks his nose back in his book and starts walking slower, allowing his students to take the initiative instead of holding them n check like he usually did.
"ALRIGHT!" Shouts Naruto as he jumps into a tree and takes off towards whatever had caused the disturbance.
"WAIT FOR ME!" Yells Sakura, taking off after him at a breakneck pace.
"You stay here Sasuke. I'm going to teach you a little something" Says Kakashi. Putting his book away, Sasuke grins and nods as Kakashi whispers something about training and power in his ear, both heading for some tall bushes.
Reaching the site of the dimensional hop, Naturo screeches to a halt seeing the three bodies tangled together in the bottom of a crater in the road. 'Holy shit... what happened here?' was his first thought, his second being 'I wonder if they're alive.' Realizing that since he was the first on site, he should be the one to check, he hops down into the fairly deep crater and checks for their pulses.
Feeling something touch his neck, Kirito's eyes snapped open. Springing to his feet, drawing Elucidator, and settling into a relaxed fighting stance, he quickly took in his surroundings. Seeing a blonde haired boy crouching warily perhaps a dozen feet away and a girl with pink hair clutching what he thought was some kind of throwing knife or dagger crouching at the top of the crater, he quickly stepped back to better cover a groggy Yui and an out cold Asuna.
"Come closer and see what happens." Kirito snarls at Naruto, thinking him to be a threat. "Elucidator is hungry." He added, tightening his grip on the grip of his favorite sword.
"Who are you?" Asks Sakura, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Shut up pinky!" Naruto and Kirito growl together. Their eyes hardening. Naruto's to chips of blazing bule ice, Kirito's to pieces of granite the color of heavy storm clouds.
Snapping fully awake due to the massive amount of killing intent being traded between the two hot-blooded males, Yui tries to wake up Asuna.
"Poppa! Momma's not waking up! and her HP is dropping fast!" Shouts Yui to Kirito. Snapping Kirito out of his blood-lust and causing Naruto and Sakura to do a double take.
'Poppa? Momma? What the fuck? How old is this guy?' Were their identical thoughts.
Spinning around, budding fight with Naruto already forgotten, Kirito rushes over to Asuna and with a few swipes of his hand, has a healing crystal in his hand. "Heal" he whispers, hoping and praying he wasn't too late.
Seeing this, Sakura and Naruto relaxed a little, knowing that a guy showing that much concern for the girl, who was obviously his partner and team mate if the matching insignia and rings, as well as the fact that the little girl had called them 'momma' and 'poppa' were anything to go by, couldn't be too bad. And seeing how he tenderly treated her like a glass figurine as he attempted to heal her, they relaxed more and waited till he was done.
Turning toward them after asking Yui to keep an eye on Asuna's fluctuating health, he slowly picked up his discarded sword and sheathed it. "I need to know, is there a hospital near here? Healing crystals can only do so much, and my healing magic is weak at best." He asked the stunned pair.
'One minute he's about to fight us and the next he's asking for our help?' Thought Naruto as he rubbed the back of his neck.
'Geeze! this guy has worse mood swings than Naruto!' Thought a slightly ticked off Sakura.
"Yea, we have one in our villiage, its only a few miles away from here." Said Naruto, grinning brightly "If you want, I can carry her there for you?" He asked, trying to be helpful.
"No." States Kirito in a flat voice. "I don't know you yet. More to the point, she doesn't know you yet. And I can most likely run faster than you anyway. Which way to the village?"
"Naruto are you crazy?" Sakura shouts as she starts trying to beat him into paste. "We don't know what village he's from! Or what his name is! He could be a spy! I don't even think he's a Shinobi!"
As he's about to sprint off in the direction Naruto pointed before Sakura started trying to maim said Shinobi, Kirito freezes and turns around. "What did you just say?" He quietly asks Sakura.
"I SAID I DON"T EVEN THINK YOUR A SHINOBI, NUMBNUTS!" Shrieks an enraged Sakura, who is still chasing after Naruto.
"Yui..."
"You got it poppa!" Says Yui as she changes into her Navigation Pixie form and starts searching her brain for information on Shinobi after taking her usual place in one of Kirito's pockets.
"Now if you'll excuse me, my girlfriend need to get to the hospital." He says while giving a slight bow. Seconds later, everything is covered in dust and two parallel lines of foot shaped craters are headed directly for Konoha.
"Now you've done it..." Mutters Sakura to Naruto, who is still staring at the cloud of dust headed towards the villiage at amazing speeds.
"He's right... He is faster than me..." Whispers a subdued Naruto as he watches in awe.
Coming to a halt in front of Konoha's East gate with a shower of pulverized dirt and a cloud of dust, Kirito shouted up at the two vague figures standing guard. "I've got wounded! let me in please! Take me in under guard if you have to, but just let me get her healed!"
"I don't know... I don't recognize him..." The first guard whispered to his friend.
"Shut up. he said he has wounded, and he's not in the bingo book." The second guard whispered back. "How many wounded?" He called down to Kirito.
"One! I've done my best to help her but she's struggling badly right now!" Kirito shouted back up.
Hearing the note of desperation in Kirito's voice and recognizing it as worry for someone's loved ones, the second guard called down "Opening the gate! come in slowly and make no suspicious movements!"
Seconds later, Kirito, Asuna, and Yui were inside and surrounded by five figures who's faces were covered by masks with animal features on them.
"How badly wounded?" One with a mask that's half bear and half wolf asks.
"Unknown, my healing skill is too low for me to do anything but basic diagnostics and flesh-wounds. I've used crystals and potions, but her gauge is all over the place." Kirito reported, now somewhat in control of his voice again.
"Follow us, we will take you to the hospital" Says one with a dog-like mask. 'I have no clue what these crystals of his are, except that apparently they have healing properties. And gauge? What the fuck is that?' He thought as they started towards the hospital.
As they all rushed to the hospital, nobody noticed the fact that Asuna's stomach was giving off a faint, silver-streaked, black and red glow which quickly faded, leaving nothing behind except for a small tattoo looking mark that resembled a phoenix.
Arriving at the hospital, they were rushed to an emergency room where a thorough diagnostic showed that she had compound fractures in three ribs, five of her vertebrae were destroyed, one of her lungs had collapsed, and hear heard had suffered massive bruising that was causing internal bleeding.. Almost before they were done finding what was wrong, several people ran in, most with their hands glowing green. After almost four hours of intense, chakra consuming healing, the head surgeon declared that she was going to make it. "We have restored the pulverized vertebrae and re inflated her lung. As well as knitting the damaged ribs back to full strength. And repairing the damage done to her heart." The older looking man told Kirito. "What happened that caused such extensive damage to your..." He trailed off, not knowing what their relationship was.
"My girlfriend." Said Kirito quietly. "And if I told you what happened, you would probably throw me in a padded cell for the rest of my life."
"Poppa? Is Momma going to be alright?" Asked Yui quietly after poking her head out of her pocket.
Suddenly, everything was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on carpet.
"What. Is. That... Thing." Asked a quiet, steely, voice from behind Kirito.
Kirito leapt to his feet and spun around, his danger sense flying off into uncharted territory. Standing before him was none other than Sasuke.
"That thing, as you call her, just so happens to be my adopted daughter." Snarled Kirito in a voice so menacing, several of the ANBU that had escorted him from the gate pissed their pants. "Yui, if you could please?"
"Sure thing Poppa." Chimed Yui as she flew out of her pocket and flipped twice, transforming into her original look.
Next thing anybody knew, more weapons were pulled in that room than had ever been seen in one place before. Katana, Kunai, Ninjato, Nunchaku, and many more being wielded by the Shinobi present in the room. While Kirito had drawn Elucidator and Excalibur while having Yui change back and hide in one of his pockets.
"Why do you have a demon as a daughter?" Rumbled the bear/wolf masked ANBU threateningly.
"My daughter is not a demon." Growled Kirito, causing the temperature in the room to drop noticeably. "And before you go accusing people of being Demons, why dont you look in the mirror? I can sense enough demonic energy coming off you to send five battalions of Seraphim into a bitch-fit by yourself."
"You're good kid... Real good..." Reaching up and pulling off his mask, standing there in all his full glory was Reaper. Son of the Valkyries of Odin. Dimension walker by the will of Heimdallr. Master of arms and armor. Scion and student of Weiland, smith of the gods. Guardian of the Sacred Flame. Guardian, Descendant, and Bearer of the Black Dragons Chapter Gene-Seed. Younger brother of Bruenor Warsong. Sire of Grimnost, Nox, and Falcor. "But you're wrong as well. I'm only half 'Demon' as you put it. My mother was a Valkyrie, My father was 3/4 blood of the Black Dragons Chapter. What you sense, Is the taint of the warp. But that is a story for another day. Tell us how you came by your... Daughter...
"This is going to sound insane, are you sure you want to hear it?" Kirito responded. He receives several nods in response. "Should anyone important be here?" He adds.
"I'll go get the Hokage." Says the dog masked ANBU before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. After a few minutes, he reappears with a wizened old man in strange robes.
"Why have you summoned me?" He asks Kirito.
"I did not summon you sir, i simply asked if they thought someone important should hear what I have to say." Kirito replied.
"A good response young man. Now, begin your tale."
"I should probably start off by introducing myself. My name Is Kirigaya Kazuto, though most people I know call me Kirito. It all started..."
AN2: Thanks for reading you guys/gals. Much appreciated. Dont forget to REVIEW please. A couple of words won't kill ya... Well maby it will in some countries... BUT THIS IS THE INTERNET DAMNIT! Fight the words. Fight. Foamy shall find you, and he will steal. your. BAGELS! Fear him.
AN3: Sorry this took so long to get out there, but I'm having communications problems with my beta. So I ended up doing a self beta. Hope you liked it. Also, poll on my profile about adding more characters from SAO.