Caliburn Initiative Chapter 2

Second Step: Made to Kill

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Nanoha is owned by Seven Arcs and Naruto is owned by Kishimoto.

It's summer. Fuck this heat.

Soundtrack List

Yuna Ito – I Don't Want to Miss A Thing

Legend of Heroes OST - Whereabouts of the Stars

Angel Beats OST – Ichiban no Takaramono

****Caliburn Initiative****

"Vi-Vita?!" the blonde woman placed her hands one the spasming girl's chest and pushed as much of her power in as she could afford, "Pl-Please be alright!"

The red haired girl coughed even more blood out and her eyes slowly dimmed even as her heaving chest slowed.

"N-No!"

"It'll be alright, we still have time." A quiet whisper said from her side, causing Shamal to start as a rough hand palmed a small black ball and pushed it into Vita's bloody mouth before pouring some water from a bottle into her mouth to help her swallow.

Shamal growled and swiped the masked man away from her and Vita, from the corner of her eyes she confirmed that Signum was rushing towards them, leaving a burning corpse behind, "Who are you!? Are you that man's accomplice?"

The masked man in the same midnight blue suit with a numerous pockets on his trousers held up his hands in surrender as he slowly retreated from them, "I mean you no harm; I just wished to... let you and your friends know that my friends are off limits." He seemed to glance at Vita, whose pallor had returned a little and breathing had eased, "I'm a little out of practice, it was supposed to just knock her out instead of rupturing her lungs." He admitted somewhat sheepishly, "Fortunately this isn't the first time I made that mistake, and have a few counteragents for it. The pill I fed her will help stabilize her core and regeneration. The rest will be up to her. The wolf will be fine, but he might have a pretty horrible headache for a few days."

Signum sensing no hostility from the man slowly sheathed her blade, but made no other effort to be welcoming, "Why?" She asked coldly.

They got the impression that the boy was amused, "I've heard somewhere that when two high level fighters cross fists, they can understand each other... that was enough for me." He nodded at them but did not elaborate as he stepped closer to the edge of the roof.

The pink haired woman hesitated but nodded, "I'm... sorry about your friend. He was a good fighter." She rubbed her busted chest plate and winced a little as she pulled the piece off, she did not want to know what a direct hit would have done to her if just a simple brush had warped her armour like so much tin foil.

The masked man cocked his head in amusement, "What friend?"

"That... friend?" Signum gestured at the burning pile of... logs, when she whirled around again, the masked man was nowhere to be seen.

"Wha-Whe? Whatever..." Heaving a sigh, Signum tiredly took a seat beside Vita and gently brushed red bangs out of her face, "Is she alright?"

Shamal laid her hands on Vita again and concentrated for a long moment. When the blonde woman's shoulders sagged again, Signum felt her mouth go dry until Shamal smiled in relief, "She's fine. Her core is no longer fluctuating and her lungs have repaired enough for her to breathe again."

Signum nodded coolly and made a mental reminder to never let the masked man get his hands on her if they ever crossed fists again. Unlike with Fate where their fight had been almost enjoyable, like two knights against each other, the boy went straight for the jugular. Knight Armour or not, a simple brush from his fingers was some of the most lethal things she had ever seen in her long service to the Book of Darkness. The fact that he did not mean to do either, only made it worse.

It meant that he was holding a lot more than just this back.

"Neh, Signum..."

The red haired woman looked up at where a downcast Shamal was taking care of a downed Zafira, "Yes?" She replied quietly.

"Maybe... we should stop?"

The leader of the Cloud Knights slowly nodded as she thought Shamal's suggestion over, "We can't, Hayate needs us. Our only chance of healing Hayate... of saving her life is to fill the Book of Darkness. In any case... it's too late."

"I see..."

Signum held up her hands, "But I understand that you are having doubts about what we're doing... I propose that for now we go after other non sentient creatures for their Cores. It'll be slower, but at least that way, we won't step on any toes and keep that boy's sights off us, or at least not until we can confidently counter him."

Shamal smiled brightly in relief and thanks.

Standing up with a straight back, Signum carefully picked up Vita, "Let's get Vita and Zafira home. I don't think they're in any condition to harvest Cores for the moment and we've got to hide this from Hayate as well."

"Understood."

****Caliburn Initiative****

Play Aerosmith – I Don't Want to Miss A Thing

Naruto gingerly tip toed onto the porch and turned the doorknob, wincing a little at contact with the smooth grained wood of the door as he pushed it open slightly and stepped in. Gently making his way through the hall, he was about to go upstairs when he heard a deliberate cough.

"And where were you at this time of the night?" He winced again and spun around to face a sleepy eyed , frowning Lindy, who had been sleeping on the couch if her rumpled dress was any indication, " I was so worried when I realized you weren't in your room." Her nose wrinkled a little, "And what is that burnt smell?"

The blonde boy laughed awkwardly, "I was uh... training. Couldn't sleep."

The green haired lady narrowed her eyes at him and grabbed his left hand, pulling back the sleeves of his blue suit, revealing a burnt arm, "What, exactly, is this?" She asked dangerously.

Naruto pulled back the arm hastily, "I just got injured training, Nothing big." In front of her very eyes, the raw red burns seemed to slowly disappear without barely even scratch. Dead skin peeled off the formerly burnt area, revealing new healthy pink skin and Lindy's eyes widened incredulously.

Crap. He should have waited until the healing was done.

"As long as you're in my home and in my care I expect you to be honest, young man." She gestured at the arm, "Now tell me what you were doing."

He held up his hands in surrender, "I was really just training and burnt myself a little, and I've always had some pretty good regeneration." He smiled lopsidedly, "Perks of being me I suppose."

"Show me." She ordered him shortly, Admiral Lindy showing through the motherly persona she usually wore.

The blonde's eyes turned into cold blue pinpricks, "Answer my questions first. How long have I been floating in that stupid place before I was recovered? And does the TSAB know anything about where I came from? The old lady has too many agendas at stake to give me a straight answer no matter how many times I asked, and nothing was written in my files when I snuck a look."

Lindy hesitated at the cold look before relenting; what he was asking for was classified information but it was his right to know after all, "If I answer this, will you show me?"

Naruto nodded slowly before motioning for her to go first.

"We don't know." When Naruto opened his mouth to call bullshit, Lindy stalled him by holding her hands up, "I'm being honest. Time flows strangely in dimensional space. You could have been floating for ten years or ten thousand years. While floating, your body would have kept changing, getting older and younger at random, until you finally froze over. As for which dimension you came from..." She shrugged helplessly, "Your magical trail had been decayed too badly for us to track it down. That alone told us you were adrift for at least a couple of years."

Lindy would never know it, but her frankness went a long way to gaining the strange boy's trust.

"I... I see..." So he was stuck, he would never be able to see his friends grow old, have children... He would never be Hokage.

The blonde rubbed the bridge of his nose and chuckled humourlessly, the words of his detractors while he was a child rung loud and clear in his mind. Looks like they got their wish. Still... there was a chance. They didn't know how long he had been adrift, the possibility that it hadn't been too long since then remained.

He clenched his fist, he wouldn't give up. And if there was one thing Naruto Uzumaki was, it wasn't a quitter.

"It's not that bad. We can be your new family." Lindy replied hopefully.

Naruto gave her a dry smile, "You'll have to forgive me if I don't stop looking."

"Understandable. As long as you give us a chance." Lindy warmly said.

"I'll try... as long as Chrono doesn't fry my ass." He muttered under his breath, somehow he got the impression that the black haired boy would take the offer to be family in a completely different direction.

Sighing, the blonde led Lindy back out to a clearing behind the house where a copse of trees stood with a resigned expression. Stuck to the last standing tree was a standard issue Investigator's Barrier Jacket, every other tree in the clearing had already been reduced to burnt or warped kindling. Littered all over the ground were rubber balls for some reason.

Lindy calmly watched the boy stand in front of the tree and slip into a strange stance, he breathed in slowly. When his eyes snapped open, his arms flared with a ghostly blue flame and in one smooth lunge, the blonde began rapidly flicking at the Barrier Jacket so fast that his arms turned into a blue blur, each hit that connected emitted a hollow explosion of air.

Twisting his feet, the sweating blonde spun and using the centrifugal force, blasted the tree with a simple palm blow before leaping back.

Letting out a gusty sigh, the blonde set his arms back down and allowed the flare to die down before showing her fresh burns on his arms with a critical smile as he seemed to inspect the tree with squint, "This is about the only technique I had that could counter the standard issue barriers that all your mages seem to have, so I decided that I needed some practice."

That was a lie, he had others.

Unfortunately, they were also liable to turn the barrier... and the city it was in and everything in aforementioned city into chunky pasta.

Satisfied with his work, the blonde noted casually, "Too much and the tree generally turns into charcoal, too little and it doesn't do anything but with my control the way it is, the overflow burns my arms something bad."

"Directly manipulating your magic, to the point where it becomes visible to the normal eye, is indeed impressive and not something a lot of mages can do, but I still don't see what's so special about it aside from its corrosive properties." Lindy remarked blandly.

The blonde smiled, "Most don't until it's a little too late."

He snapped his fingers. The loud click reverberated in the clearing.

Behind him, the tree creaked before slowly toppling over and Lindy's eyes widened when the tree landed with a loud crash.

The tree was but an empty shell, leaving the barrier itself completely undamaged.

The blonde tossed the wide eyed Lindy a casual wave over his shoulder as he entered the house with at a lazy pace, "I'm going to bath. Feel free to keep standing there."

The mother in her was utterly shocked and more than a little scared.

The commander on the other hand was critically assessing the blonde's combat potential; a technique that was able to completely bypass barriers and deal incredible internal damage was not something just any mage was capable of doing. Of course, without a device, he lacked the manoeuvrability or aerial ability that Fate and Nanoha had, or large shooting type spells such as the Divine Buster or Chrono's Stinger Blade, not to mention that the blonde had yet to go up against different types of protection, such as fields or deployed auras. So that greatly limited the blonde to on land close range combat by default.

Still... Maybe Head Investigator Crowbel had a point, he had potential.

She'd have to look into the Device Archive again, maybe a wearable- type? Knuckledusters would certainly suit his style it seemed.

****Caliburn Initiative****

"Crowbel-sama. Uzumaki-san is here for his daily check in." A brown haired man politely announced the blonde's arrival to the purple haired lady before giving Naruto a warning glare not to say anything bad. He was about to be disappointed.

The woman barely looked up from her papers and waved shortly, "Let him in."

Giving the blonde who had plopped himself down onto the available chair and slapped his feet onto her table a quick glare, she brushed his feet off with a gesture, "I heard you were injured."

"I was." The blonde agreed but offered no other explanation other than a smirk.

She motioned at the report on her table, "Lindy put in a request to ask for a few cadets help you train, with particular emphasis on those that excel in casting barriers and fields for some reason. Care to enlighten me?"

Naruto made a mental reminder to do something nice for the green haired lady maybe that green tea she liked so much, "Not really. I was just interested on how the Mid-Childan systems worked, compared to my own. You might want to give them hazard pay though, they're going to get roughed up a little."

Crowbel sighed, "At any rate, there was something I needed to talk to you about. Your comprehensive medical report came in and there was something strange about your Linker Core." She steepled her fingers while the blonde actually got an interested look, "When we first took a look at it, we thought that the reason it was so huge was an abnormal side effect of you drifting in dimensional space, but then we took a closer look and realized you actually had TWO Linker Cores, or rather, you have a parasite melded into your Core..."

Naruto winced, "Gyah! I got it! I got it! Now quit yelling! I wasn't even the one that said that!"

Crowbel blinked, "I wasn't yelling?" She half asked, half stated when the blonde who was wincing and digging a finger into his ears as if something was shouting at him raised one finger and shushed her.

She quirked an eyebrow at the boy.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing... he just didn't like being called a parasite."

"He...?" the Head Investigator of TSAB blinked warily when she connected the dots, of course the blonde may have been just screwing with her but she doubted it, "You can... communicate with him? What did he say?"

"You want the full version or the polite version?" the blonde questioned with a grin.

"The... polite one?" A nonplussed Crowbel replied.

"I have a name; please do not call me parasite." Naruto paraphrased, "His ego demands that he called The Great Furball." The yelling in his head was totally worth it.

Crowbel blinked again and felt a headache coming on, "And the full version?

Naruto smiled and promptly obliged her request, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A PARASITE YOU BAGGY OLD WHOR-"

She instantly lunged forward and clamped her palms over the blonde's grinning mouth. He rolled his eyes as if to say 'You DID ask for the full version.'

Sighing, she made sure the blonde wasn't going to continue before speaking, "Alright... so you already know about him and it appears that you two are on relatively good terms on each other." Purple irises narrowed at the blonde, "That IS what his saying and not you isn't it?"

The blonde shrugged and slowly removed the palms keeping his mouth shut before tossing an innocent look at the older woman, "I may have ad libbed a little. Nothing he wasn't going to say himself I assure you."

"Right..." she sighed and fell back into her chair, "At any rate, any attempts to probe it deeper has failed. Something in it seems to be repelling all of our spells, almost like it has anti magic properties. Another reason why all our Devices are not working for you properly, even though they are equipped with the Cartridge System if I might add, so we'd like to ask you to let us run a few more tests on you. We can't take the chance that you ... it might infect our other mages," Seeing the look on the blonde's face, she pushed forward before he could protest, "You wouldn't want to infect Fate or Lindy right? We have no idea how an anti magic virus may affect mages. At worst, their lives might be endangered."

When the blonde simply grunted, Crowbel decided that he needed another push and dangled her bait in front of his nose, "If you agree, you don't have to go to school."

Needless to say, the blonde instantly agreed.

****Caliburn Initiative****

Play Legend of Heroes OST – Whereabouts of the Stars

He had been tricked. Bamboozled. Cheated. That baggy old whore!

"Harlaown-SAN! Are you listening?" a tinny impatient voice drilled into his consciousness.

"Damn right I'm listening. I'm not paying attention though." Naruto muttered, low enough that his class teacher couldn't hear it, "I'm listening, Ojima-san." He finally said out loud in a flat tone.

"It's your turn at bat." The heavily muscled PE teacher said with some frustration.

Sighing, Naruto took the offered wooden bat and stood there with a scowl on his face. He was going to get that old bitch back for this; he was only allowed to skip school as long as he was being tested. Any time he wasn't, was fair game. The inspection ended before class started, go figure and the next one was on a Sunday.

Halfway through his daydreams about kicking Crowbel out the nearest space hatch, some inconsequential classmate wound up his arm and pitched a fastball at the blonde.

9 year olds, being 9 year olds, the fastball went awry and the baseball slammed straight into a daydreaming Naruto's face.

"DEADBALL! Naruto-san? You alright?!" his classmates rushed over to him only for the blonde to give them a blank look, "Huh?" he glanced at the ball rolling on the floor, "Oh... that's a walk isn't it?"

When his classmates and PE teacher dumbly nodded to his question, they then dumbly watched him drop the bat and began walking to first base at a leisurely pace and a stupid smile on his face.

The PE teacher coughed awkwardly, "I... uh... think we should end the game here. Someone please take Naruto-san to the infirmary. Game goes to A team!"

"Uoooh! You did great Naruto-san! You won the game!"

"Kyaah! Harlaown-sama is soo cool! He's so good at sports!"

Every single one of them rushing towards the blonde to congratulate him was stopped cold by a wintry glare from the blonde himself, he snorted, "I didn't win you anything. I wasn't paying attention and it was a fluke." He said coldly.

"Kyaah! He's so modest! He's so cool!" a group of girls squeed.

He wondered if he shouldn't have dropped that bat after all, why in the world 9 year old girls so persistent.

Sighing, he brushed them off with some resignation; they obviously weren't going to listen, "Please do not bother me. I need to change."

He was fully aware that he was acting not quite unlike a certain childhood rival, but in his defence, he wasn't trying to look cool or aloof. PE was the only time that he was able to enjoy himself by moving his body; it wasn't his fault that all the other males in the vicinity were the physical equivalent of Shikamaru to him. Just like it wasn't his fault that he could jump five times higher than anybody else in class, or shoot hoops all the way from the other end of the court, it was nothing compared to shuriken practice. The blonde was genuinely annoyed by all the attention, was it really so hard to just leave him alone?

This world was so strange, he was popular because he won a game because he got hit in the face with a ball... the hell?

Not to mention the way those girls looked at him was rather... disturbing.

Just thinking about their drooling eyes made him feel like he desperately needed to bath... "They're NINE YEARS OLD for God's sake! Was this how Sasuke felt?! WAS THIS WHY HE RAN AWAY!?"

"An... Ano... who are you shouting at?"

"Eeek!" Naruto spun around defensively only to find Fate watching him with a vaguely worried look on her face. He sighed in relief, "Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here anyway?"

She smiled worriedly at him, "Ojima-san asked me to take you to the infirmary, are you really alright?"

He waved at his pseudo sister, "I'm really alright. A simple tap like that won't hurt me. I'm more annoyed than I am hurt."

She fidgeted with her fingers, "You're really having trouble fitting in aren't you?"

He smiled wryly, "I wouldn't say trouble. I just can't really care less at the moment. I just sort of...," He made a vague gesture, "Just want to be left alone, and I can't do that here. Sitting for hours in class is bad enough, but PE is the only chance I get to move all day and everyone keeps watching me or something." He sighed, "I'm sorry; I'm not making much sense am I?"

It was perhaps a sign of his maturity that he hadn't pranked his class and his teacher to kingdom come out of sheer boredom. 10 hours of goddamned classes each day, filled with droning voices and irritating, energetic, children. Earth school was even worse than the Academy, at least there, they could occasionally fight. Physical movement here was limited to stupidly simple exercises or games.

GAMES.

"No... I think I understand. I've never been to school either," Fate smiled softly, "Being surrounded by so many other people makes me a little jumpy too."

Naruto grinned, "That makes two of us then." He pursed his lips, "Want to get away from it all?"

Fate's eyes widened at the offer, "Ge-Get away from it? How?"

The blonde seemed to shimmer away and the next thing she knew was that someone had pulled her legs out from underneath her, "Eep! Naruto!"

Naruto grinned at the girl in his arms, "Hold on tight." The muscles in his legs bunched up and he leapt straight into the air, dashing from wall to wall with ease before vaulting out of a window with one arm, screaming girl in hand, "Kyaaah!"

After a few moments of extreme movement, Fate finally stopped screaming when she realized the two of them weren't moving anymore.

"Open your eyes." Naruto's voice breathed in her ear.

Crimson eyes hesitantly opened, before widening to the max at the expanse of clear blue sky and puffy white clouds, "Where... are we?"

"The highest point I could find in school. Top of Seishou Academy's Clock tower." The male replied before gently setting her down on her feet. The blonde opened his arms wide and whooped loudly before falling onto his back as he laughed loudly, "Finally. Freedom!"

Fate giggled at his actions, even as her breath was taken away by the view of Uminari City lay before them like a toy town.

Naruto stared at the stunned girl watching the view before them with a quirk of his lips, "You're enjoying his more than I expected you to." He commented quietly.

"Eh? Why would you think that?" Fate questioned him softly.

"You can fly can't you?" He sat up in a lotus position and vaguely gestured at the town before them, "I thought you would have been bored of something like this."

"Oh..." She pondered the question silently; all things considered, it was a pretty accurate judgement and she wondered why she was so surprised as well.

She took a seat beside the other blonde, "I guess... when everything's said and done, I've only done it for fights. I've never... stopped and just took the time to look at the view like this. Especially not when... I was still fighting against Nanoha-chan."

He grinned mischievously, "Sure didn't stop you from screaming all the way up here."

The girl blushed, "I-It's different."

"Oh come on, you can fly like you were born to do it, and yet you scream with just a few jumps?" Naruto teased the blonde girl.

"That's different!" She huffed, "Bardiche is under my control, that wasn't!"

It was obvious by the smirk that he was going to hold this against her for the rest of her life regardless of what she was saying. Puffing her cheeks out, Fate poked his side, "You haven't answered my question, you're having trouble making friends haven't you?"

"I can't have problems making friends if I don't want to make any in the first place. In fact, you say that everything is going according to plan." Naruto pointed out.

Crimson eyes met sapphire ones, "Why don't you want to make friends?"

Fate watched as the boy made a conflicted expression before it turned to one of resignation, he fell on his back and lifted his hands out towards the sky, "It's something stupid."

"Tell me." She insisted in her own quiet way.

The blonde struggled to put his troubles into words, it wasn't something he felt like hiding, at least not with Fate, "I've never had much friends from where I came from, even before I left, there weren't many. I'm afraid if I DO make some here, enough to outweigh the ones back home... I won't want to go back. That scares me because... I've never really had that much to go back to anyway. Not after that war..."

He chuckled, "Stupid right?" the hand that was still facing the sky made grasping motions, "I wonder if they're up on one of those stars up there..."

Fate bit her lip, and wondered what she could do, even if he didn't realize it, for that one split second, Naruto had looked so lost and alone and it struck her that just like her, he was just another person trying to find an anchor in his life.

"Stay at home tonight."

Naruto blinked, "Huh?"

"Stay at home tonight. Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan are coming over to study for the exams. I'll introduce you to them." She stared at him with resolute eyes, daring him to refuse.

Naruto chuckled with slight exasperation, "Fine, fine. You win. I'll stay home tonight."

"Good." She nodded lightly, "In return, tell me who Sasuke is."

He gave her a dry look, "Oi, oi, this isn't fair. This is all give and no take for me."

"It's not fair because I'm ordering you as your senior."

"Pushy girl, you're never going to get married like that." He noted with a smirk.

Fate huffed but refused to let him change the topic.

With a crooked smile he began, "Sasuke was... an idiot."

****Caliburn Initiative****

"Where's Lindy and Uke?" Naruto asked the brown haired girl as he dropped his bag and himself onto the couch, "It's rare that Uke isn't around fiddling with something."

Amy breathed deeply and tried not to let her temper show, "They have some business at Headquarters, so it's just me and you kids for tonight." She finished a little maliciously, knowing that his age was a soft spot in the blonde's defence.

"That means you're in charge of us kids for tonight eh baa-chan?"

"Gyaaah! I'm just 18!"

"Ahaha..." Fate laughed awkwardly as she played her usual role of peacemaker, "I'm sure that it means that Lindy-san and Chrono-san really trust in you."

The brown haired girl quickly regained her confidence, "Ohoho! That's it isn't it? They trust me!"

Naruto let her continue but smirked as he enjoyed his little victory. The small things mattered after all, he'd take every bit he got.

"That's right, besides it's a quiet night, I'm sure nothing bad will-"

The alarm began ringing and Naruto sighed, knocking his head back onto the couch, "Why'd you have to tempt fate?"

The blonde girl cocked her head even as Amy dropped the pumpkin she was holding, "Tempt... me?"

"Never mind, it's just a joke."

"This is no time for jokes!" The panicking brown haired girl ran off towards the monitoring room. The three younger ones shared a look before following Amy.

"Systems have detected the Wolkenritter, they're on a deserted planet." She wrung her hands as everyone watched a red haired woman fighting against some sort of huge worm, "At best, even if we contact Headquarters now, our forces won't get there for another 45 minutes or so."

Fate squinted at the screen, "Why... are they fighting something like that?"

Amy chewed her lips, "We've been getting reports about them attacking creatures, draining their Cores to fill the Book of Darkness. It seems like they've changed the modus operandi so we changed to match but I never expected to catch them this early."

The blonde boy who was leaning against the wall shrugged, "Why bother? They're not doing anyone harm are they?"

Their senior shook her head, brown bangs bouncing, "They may not be doing anything to harm people, but they're still filling up that book. All the records we could find say that it can only be used for destruction. With something of that kind of power, in the end, their Master going to hurt someone anyway and we have to stop them before they do."

Fate leaned in, "Amy, can you teleport me there?" she asked softly "I have something I need to do with Signum." She glanced at Nanoha who was worriedly watching another screen that depicted a short red haired girl that Naruto recognized as the one called Vita. It seemed like she was back on her feet, "Fighting them may be the only way, but we want to understand why they are doing this even though they know its wrong... It's the only thing I can do for people like me, isn't that right Nanoha-chan?"

"Un. Let's go help them!"

Amy hesitated before nodding, "Understood. Please get ready; the teleporters will be ready in a moment."

Play Angel Beats OST – Ichiban no Takaramono

As the two girls ran off to their respective rooms, the blonde boy stayed behind, resolutely staring at the screen with arms folded. No one noticed blood dripping from his clenched fists.

'Why do you want to help them? You have your own troubles. Finding more like this is stupid.'

'They're my... people I might learn to like.'

It snorted, 'Weren't you the one that said you didn't want friends? Besides, it's not like you really want to help them isn't it?'

He chewed his lower lip, 'I don't know what you're talking about. '

"Is it? Or do you not want to admit that this is just for your own self satisfaction? There are so many others you can help, so why these two children? Is it because they are the only ones in front of your eyes? What about those that aren't? Pfft, helping your friends my ass. Just focus on your own problems, find our way back to that pitiful lump of mud. Become Hokage, make babies and die peacefully. You already earned it after all.' The voice snorted, 'It's not like they can't handle it anyway. Face it, they DON'T need you.'

'You know... I'm really happy that you're here.' He cricked his neck and leaned forward to stare at a screen filled with nothing but sand. Off to the side, Fate was battling Signum.

The presence sounded stunned, 'What? Why?!'

He grinned, 'It kinda sucks, but even if I die, even if I was thrown into space or whatever, you're always here with me, never changing, aren't you? Speaking of which, you never told me you liked babies.'

The voice growled and the presence in his mind retreated.

Probably embarrassed, pity he couldn't see the huge ball tsundere's face right now. That would've been one for posterity.

"How fast can you teleport me to where Fate is?" Naruto asked blandly.

Amy who had been focusing on the fight between Fate and Signum could only stare at him stupidly, "Wha-huh?"

"I asked how fast can you get me to where Fate is?" Naruto repeated his question slowly, as if talking to a child.

"What're you talking about?" Her eyes bulged, "I can't do something like that! It's against all protocols to send a civilian into a warzone."

"What about Fate and Nanoha?" he retorted.

"They're... They're Contract Mages. It's not the same."

Sighing, he grabbed Amy's shoulders and turned her to face the screen that he had been looking at, "You need to get me there now or Fate will get hurt. There's someone out there other than the Wolkenritters."

"What in the world are you... talking... about?" Her eyes boggled as she saw what the blonde was seeing, footsteps were appearing in the sand dunes, slowly approaching the battlefield, footsteps that belonged to someone using flawed invisibility.

"I... I can't! The systems are down; I only have enough power to send an alert to Headquarters! If I send you there, we won't have anything left!" Amy cried out in conflict.

Naruto shook her lightly, his face set in stone, "Amy. AMY! Listen to me. Fate is in danger." He stared straight into her eyes, "I need you to do this for me. Please, Amy."

A long silent moment passed, the only sounds in the room came from the monitor which was throwing up alert after alert of someone invading their security and their breathing.

Amy set her jaw, "Alright, get in the teleporter while I get something."

Naruto smiled crookedly, "You'll make a good leader some day."

She arched an eyebrow at him, "Some day?"

Naruto nodded, "Some day."

"Get in there and shut up brat."

He grinned as the older girl pushed something into his hands. He inspected it with one raised eyebrow, "What's this?"

"It's an advanced Trans-Locational Device." She replied archly.

"It's a damned ski board, besides Devices don't work for me."

"Just shut up and get in, we only have enough juice to get you within a kilometre or two of where Fate-chan is. That thing will get you the rest of the way, and don't worry about it blowing up. It doesn't draw from you so it won't overload, it has its own power source. Just put your feet into those holders and it'll fly according to your orders." Amy yelled out as she rapidly typed in orders, processing them faster than the virus could shut them down.

Naruto scratched his cheek even as a green glow surrounded his body, finding it rather funny how a panicking 18 year old girl could outsmart a building full of technicians and scientists.

Amy saluted him, "If I get fired for this, you're taking responsibility for me!"

He returned the salute with a sloppy one of his own, "Fuck no."

And then he was gone.

****Caliburn Initiative****

"You've improved, ever since this battle started, you've been getting faster and faster and more efficient with your moves. I couldnt keep up with you at all in that last few moves." A scratched up Signum gave a bleeding Fate an approving nod., "It was only thanks to my training that I repelled you."

"Thank you... You're very skilled as well. No matter what I do, you and Laevantein continuously overpower me in the close and mid range." Fate replied, even hurt and bleeding badly, she managed to keep her soft and measured tone as she wiped the blood away from her left eye, "This next hit will decide the battle. I will have nothing left after that."

"Understood. I will give my best as well then."

"Bardiche, Sonic Form." Fate softly ordered.

[Yes, sir.]

The two of them burst forwards with a blast of speed, sending a cloud of sand up behind her, yelling out their respective battle cries when crimson eyes widened incredulously, her body coming to an abrupt stop as it dangled uselessly; a ghostly arm poking out from her chest.

"Wha-what?"

"FATE!"

The man whose mask was decorated by a little blue crystal on the centre of his forehead unlike the boy who attacked them a few days ago motioned with his hand that was clasping a golden orb, Fate's Linker Core cocked her head, "Sympathy for your enemy, Signum?"

"It's called respect! Unhand her!" the rose haired woman spat out.

The masked man opened his fist, allowing the orb to float forward, "Just do your jobs. There's no value in your existence as programs otherwise."

Signum cursed, the man was right even if his words were hateful.

"WHERE ARE THE BRAKES ON THIS DAMNED THING?!" the masked man looked up, just in time to receive a faceful of ski board, sending all three of them into the ground in a crumpled pile.

Signum could only blink at the incredulousness of the situation.

"Ow..." Naruto spat some sand out of his mouth, he wanted to curse Amy but was too busy cleaning sand out of his mouth at the moment when he remembered his mission, "Fate, Fate?! Where are you?!"

He scrambled towards the limp and bleeding girl dressed in a black leotard, "You alright?"

Hazy eyes futily tried to focus, but she didn't need her eyesight to recognize that voice, "Na-Naruto? What ar...are you doing here?"

The blonde snorted, "Helping you what else. Saving helpless little girls is my hobby after all."

The blonde girl smiled, "What a bad... hobby. Neh... we're friends right?"

Naruto bit his lip before smiling, "What the heck are you talking about at a time like this, don't start hallucinating on me, Fate. Gotta get you home first."

A shadow fell over them as the masked man stood up again with one hand stretched out, a decorated card held in his hand, "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Bind!"

Ropes made of purple hazy smoke tightened around his arms, causing Naruto to drop Fate to the ground with a grunt, "Garrgh!"

The masked man casually strode towards a near unconscious Fate and dipped his hand into her chest, pulling out an orb right in front of a grunting Naruto's face, "I'm sorry about this boy. But you'll learn this is for the best. She'll be alright, although she might not be able to cast magic ever again, then again, that might be a good thing for you isn't it?" the man seemed to smile behind his mask, "You don't have to save her again." He stood up and tossed the orb towards a torn Signum, "Take it and leave."

The blonde boy whose eyes were hidden by his bangs growled as he struggled to stand up, "I thought better of you, Signum."

He took one step forward, veins in his muscles standing out, the chains binding him started to creak.

"Don't waste your time, that spell isn't something a normal person can break without magic. Just stay there until the spell fails, then take Fate-chan to the hospital. It's easier that way." The masked man casually ordered.

Naruto began laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"If there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that nothing. NOTHING. Chains me. I do what I want." A wave of energy pulsed from the strange boy, pushing the masked man away, "And right now, I want to help Fate."

For a moment, just a simple moment, Signum thought she saw a phantom forming behind the strange blonde boy she did not recognize, a grinning canine skull. Everything in her was telling her to run and never stop, that there was a massive predator looking down at her with amusement.

He flexed again and the chains simply shattered.

Then he disappeared with a soft puff of sand.

One single upper cut blew through her barriers with ease, the masked man falling to the same.

No finesse, tricks or special moves, just pure brute force. Fortunately for her, the blonde whose eyes had turned a menacing purple decided that the masked man was a more attractive target.

Even with a cracked mask, the man defended himself proficiently against the rapid blows from the intense blonde, deflecting them away from his body until he locked the blonde's joint, throwing the boy into the air and fired a sharp knee strike at the defenceless boy. The blonde seemed shocked for a moment, before he grinned, taking the knee strike to the face, only for the masked man to gape as his knee passed straight through the blonde's face.

An elbow dug into his spine from the back, sending him stumbling forwards, "Gurk!"

He blinked, he was sure that attack had hit. Leaping back up, he swept the blonde off his feet and returned the favour with a hammer strike. The blonde seemed to phase away again, leaving the masked man completely open for a vicious kick to the jaw from below, "That's it! You're annoying!" Lunging forward, he grappled with the boy only for him to dematerialize again, leaving him holding nothing but air and savage elbow smash to the face, "How are you doing that?!" he demanded from the boy who seemed to be literally teleporting around him through some unknown skill.

The boy who was dancing around his attacks shrugged even as their legs locked with each other in a powerful kick, "Skill."

Someone kicked his knee from behind, and his eyes widened as he realized there was two of the blonde. Both blonde's bent their knees locking the man's knee into place between them and preventing him from escaping, both of them then whirled in sync making a graceful circle that finished with a glowing blue orb in hand slamming the attack into his front and back simultaneously, "Rasengan!"

He screamed painfully as the orbs ground into flesh, a thankful green spell array that would take him away from the ridiculous boy appearing above his head was the last thing the masked man saw as he fell into a blessed darkness.

"Ack!" Both blonde boys fell onto each other when the masked man disappeared from their trap, slamming their respective orbs into the other; sending both blonde's flying into the sand dunes comically.

"Ow... Come to think of it, I never actually tried getting hit with my own Rasengan. Not fun." Naruto muttered slowly stood up while his clone puffed away. Wincing as he touched his chest, he began moving towards a stationary Signum who was standing over Fate in a protective stance.

When the two of them stood face to face, the rose haired woman, "I have no excuse." She said curtly as she stared at the blonde with a whirl tattooed onto his chest, a result of his own technique, a technique she finally recognized as the one that had blown away Laevantein's Fire Tornado in an earlier match.

The blonde boy pushed past her without a word and heaved an unconscious Fate onto his back.

Signum watched the two of them leave before she called at them one last time, "Tell her it was my loss."

"Tell her yourself."

****Caliburn Initiative****