Chapter 2
Patchwork Laboratories:
Naruto watched as the Shibusen students, with Sid in tow, made their way to the Patchwork Labs. He hid in the shadows of the main building and watched with a smile as Stein rolled his way out on his chair. 'He never changes. Still acts so strange to throw his opponents off guard.' He watched as Stein moved back inside, only to roll out and topple over again.
"Then again, he could just be weird." Stein was a large part of this maintenance mission the Reaper had sent the kids on, but Naruto wanted to make a good impression with his future students as well. "Yahoo!" A loud exclamation made Naruto look up to see Black Star standing on the roof. 'When did he get up there?' Unknowingly echoing Maka.
Naruto shifted beginning to dig underground to move towards Tsubaki and Sid. No sense in wasting an opportunity to make an appearance. As Tsubaki cried out when Black Star was easily put down by Stein, Naruto rose up silently behind her.
"You're supposed to be an assassin, are you not?" He spoke in her ear and chuckled as everyone turned to stare at him. "Yo." He waved a hand at them.
The Death Room:
Death the Kid stared at the strange figure who managed to sneak up on Tsubaki, a trained ninja demon tool. "Father, is that the one you spoke of?"
"Yes, Kid-kun. Naruto is a very good choice for a professor at Shibusen. He is easily the equivalent of a three-star meister." The Reaper turned to look at his progeny. "In fact, he can match Stein in combat with little difficulty." The two shinigami watched the tableau occurring at the Labs as the students found themselves between two opponents, one of whom just took down Black Star with ease.
"So he isn't a meister, then?" Kid examined the masked man who dodged a quick punch from Tsubaki. "No." He looked back at his father. "Naruto is a buki who I met back during the Grim Times. And before you ask, no, I will not tell you how he is still alive." Kid looked into his father's eyeholes. "Even I am not sure of Naruto's full strength, but he has sworn to never kill again, be they witches or evil humans."
They both watched as the masked buki jumped up to seemingly stand sideways on a wall and look down at the children.
Patchwork Laboratories:
Stein looked up at Naruto with interest. "Naruto-san, I didn't realize you were a part of this." Naruto shook his head at the mad scientist. "I'm not. Just decided to see what you were up to, Stein-kun."
Everyone refocused their attention on Stein when he smirked. "Well, if Naruto-san doesn't mind," he grinned and the Shibusen students shivered slightly. "Shall we start the experiment?" Soul transformed into a scythe and Maka streaked with him towards Stein.
'She is quick, but she's not really used to fighting such an unsettling opponent.' Naruto knew this was a favorite tactic of Stein's. He would keep his enemy off-balance and remain in control of the engagement. With his abilities, it was easy to dodge and repel Maka's swings while knocking Black Star back. "You haven't changed at all, Stein-kun." He called down to his old friend who was taunting Maka.
Stein smiled as he acknowledged the compliment and began speaking again to Maka. "I'd love to dissect you." He grinned as he rolled his chair towards Maka, hand held open. Naruto raised a hidden eyebrow at this. "He's using that against those children?"
Death Room:
Kid was amazed to see Stein force Maka and Soul back with a simple open palm attack. "I don't believe it… Buki have physical attack strength, of course…but moreover, it gets amplified by the wavelength of the meisters' soul to become more formidable. But even so, he managed to knock down his opponent without passing his soul's wavelength through a buki?"
"Yup." They watched as Stein got up from his chair.
Patchwork Labs:
Naruto watched the scythe meister cry out as she ran towards Stein, ignoring her buki's words. A simple open palm was enough to repel her swing and knock her off-balance. As Naruto listened to Stein's sinister words, he noticed the other kid, Black Star, get up and start running towards Stein. 'What would be the point? This one seems to lack common sense.'
"You're not the only one that can kick ass with just the wavelength of your soul!" Stein looked back at him. "What?!" Naruto was definitely interested in this kid. To be able to strike with just his soul wavelength at his age was very impressive. 'His soul is very large, but Stein-kun has experience on his side.'
Ignoring Stein's monologue for a moment, Naruto watched Maka closely. She had already given up it seemed and was frightened of Stein's skills. 'She needs to have more confidence. If she falters so easily after being beaten, then she will be of little use against stronger opponents.' He studied her carefully. 'If her scythe skills are negated, she has nothing to fall back on. Something to consider for the future.'
Naruto was drawn out of his inner thoughts by Soul's shouting. 'He is her confidence. He supports her in her weakness while playing upon her strengths.' He watched as they began the Resonance of Souls technique all meister/buki partnerships practiced.
'Although I have never partnered with anyone. I wonder what it truly feels like? To connect your soul with another's.' The Reaper had offered to take him on as a buki, once, but he had respectfully declined. He was content to fight on his own terms, without depending on another's strength in battle.
'And I hope to never see a battlefield again.' Naruto glanced down to see Maka and Soul about to perform the Witchhunter against Stein. "I guess I should intervene before Stein actually kills the kids." He muttered as he leaped from his perch on the wall to land in front of Stein.
"Witchhunter!" Naruto crouched down and dug his feet in, then held his left hand outstretched to face the Witchhunter. He pointed his hand straight out, then concentrated. A bright flash of light exploded outward from Stein and Naruto's position, blinding the Shibusen students and Sid.
Death Room:
The Reaper watched his son and two buki leave, then turned his attention to the mirror in time to see Naruto and Stein disappear in a burst of light. As the light faded and the smoke cleared, everyone saw two thin crevasses extend to the side of his new professors. Naruto's hand had transformed into a metallic blade that had divided the Witchhunter right down the middle.
"I see you have improved, Naruto-kun."
Patchwork Labs:
Stein patted Naruto on the shoulder, then moved forward to where Maka had fallen down in exhaustion. "Looks like you're just barely still conscious." He crouched down to watch as Soul transformed back and protected Maka with his body.
"I won't let you lay a finger on my meister!" Stein smiled at that. "Then I'll start with you." He reached out his hand and clapped his hand on Soul's head.
"You get a passing grade." Naruto ignored the rest of their conversations as he quietly slipped away. He had a lesson plan he had to finish and present to the Reaper before his class started. "I have to admit; it was fun knocking those kids around." He unknowingly echoed Stein's comment as he began running back to Shibusen.
The Next Day at Shibusen:
Stein spun around on the classroom floor. "All right, let's start class." He inwardly smiled at the comments from his class. "Today, we'll be doing frog dissections. By the way, after my class, there will be a special course for buki who want to learn more about transforming part of their bodies. I would recommend you drop by visit if nothing else." He twisted the screw in his head around until it clicked.
After Class:
Soul and Tsubaki decided to check out the special course Stein-hakase had mentioned. After seeing off their meisters, the two buki headed out to the balcony their new professor had said was the meeting place.
Soul looked around. "Are we the only ones here? Not cool at all." Tsubaki smiled nervously at the scythe buki but agreed it was odd. They were the only ones on the balcony; no other students were around, not even the professor who was supposed to be teaching the class.
"You two should pay more attention to your surroundings." The two buki jerked as a voice spoke from above their heads. They slowly looked up to face the masked man from the night before. 'It's him!' They both thought.
Naruto grinned behind his mask as he hung upside down from the overhang above them. "Hello again. Today I will begin describing the basic transformation of limbs into weapons." He morphed his hands into long blades pointed at their heads.
Neither of the two was sure who had actually said the word, "Help…." But both were thinking it.