The Hunter Chapter 3
The Sister
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Sword Art Online and Naruto belong to their respective creators and I am just using that, illegally, without explicit permission. Sue me. The only things that are mine are the ideas that I introduce in this fic.
I received a rather impolite anon review from a reader: Another pathetic OOC Marry Sue, you might as well have written a pure SAO fic with an OC instead of shamelessly using Naruto to draw in more readers as an OOC.
It kinda pisses me off that he sort of does have a point, but in my defense, I'd just like to say that I've been reading a few of the other SAO/Naruto crossovers when I noticed some common issues amongst those that feature a chakra wielding Naruto. I was originally going down that path, and it was even in the concept drafts of The Hunter, but I honestly found even describing or thinking up a reasonable mechanic to allow jutsus into SAO to be an incredible pain in the ass. I mean how would the system detect the cues and activate, how would jutsus even reasonably work without a connection to a viable energy source (Chakra/body), unless you're saying that the mind can somehow compensate by neuron electricity alone or chakra from the body can flow into the game through the NerveGear, but then how would you control something ungoverned by the system? If the code for creating gusts of wind doesn't exist, it's not going appear in the game so how would a Rasengan appear as code, how would your Kage Bunshins know what to do, how the fuck can a Sharingan affect your opponent when you're not even making real eye contact? Hand waving all of the above seems like it would be even more of a mistake than using an OOC wouldn't it?
I'm not saying it's impossible, but it seems to depend on whether or not the writer can make it seem viable. Then again, most of the fics so far are pretty new, only about 3-5 chapters, so I wish the best of luck to those that decided to take the path I did not, I on the other hand, admit I'm a lousy writer and will therefore stick to my pathetic OOC of an archer.
On a completely unrelated side note, there's a disgusting amount of rule 34 in play for Asuna, couldn't even safely look for a decent picture of a blonde in SAO without hitting at least one NSFW picture of her.
Soundtrack List
K-ON! – No, Thank You!
ALTIMA – Burst the Gravity
Nakagawa Shouko - Happily Ever After
****The Hunter****
24th December 2022
The weather simulator that governed every gust of wind, every cloud and even the smallest variation of temperature on the virtual floating city of Aincrad's was truly a magnificent piece of work.
While the four seasons were generally synchronized with reality and was one of the few ways to keep time in Aincrad, the degree of accuracy in reproducing the weather depended on a ridiculously large amount of variables; whether it was going to be a dry winter or a humid summer. In addition to the temperature outside, the system also considered rain and wind, moisture, dust level, and even insects gathering as parameters. The amount of work put into ensuring full immersion, into making Aincrad as close to reality as possible was almost overwhelming.
From a purely intellectual standpoint, Naruto could certainly admire the effort, however as he rubbed his eyes blearily, wincing from the bright glare of the sunlight that had just woken him from a restful slumber, the blonde could only curse them for being so detailed.
A cold breeze blew through the slightly open window, ruffling the soft golden hair on his scalp, causing him to shiver as the sleepy blonde turned off his alarm with a displeased sound. Now that he was cold, he knew there was no going back to sleep, giving in to the inevitable, the topless blonde reluctantly clambered out of the warmth and safety of his bed and stretched with a wide yawn.
Scratching his abs blearily, he threw on a simple shirt in a pathetic attempt at decency before making his way to the small kitchen and put a kettle on the stove with a fluidity that spoke of familiarity, igniting the small stove with a tap of the menu. Minutes later, the kettle began whistling and the blonde took it off the stove and threw some herbs into the kettle. Setting it back down, he flicked his left hand, drawing down a menu from which he selected an option. Almost instantly, a rich earthy smell filled the small kitchen and the blonde happily poured a thick brown liquid into three mugs.
He heard the sound of cloth rustling from behind him as the other inhabitant of his small shack, set on the seventh floor of Aincrad, Tardue, and jointly paid for by its inhabitants, woke up to the smell of coffee.
It was small, cosy and plain house, each room was about as big as normal 8 tatami room in Tokyo, featuring a small bathroom, a kitchen and three rooms, built on the edges of the main city which two floors beneath the current frontline for SAO's clearers.
A sleepy looking Asuna made her way into the kitchen, looking as if the only thing keeping her conscious was her nose, which wasn't really that far from the truth.
"Yo. Morning." The blonde cheerfully greeted the half lidded girl with a grin, pushing the second mug across the counter towards her, "It's a cold day, get some coffee before you leave."
"Muughh…" was the sleepy reply as the brown haired girl, dressed in a simple gown meandered towards the blonde. Leaning into his side with a satisfied puff of her cheeks, she gratefully grabbed the mug with both hands, savouring the both the warmth of the blonde she was leaning against and the warmth and smell of the coffee before practically inhaling the contents of the ceramic cup.
Despite being in a game where everything was virtual and knowing that the caffeine was nothing but electrical messages selected from an archive to be sent to her brain through the Nerve Gear, the simulated earthy taste and the sensation of caffeine flowing through her veins was still more than enough to wake her up. It was something more of a habit rather than any real need for the black liquid, then again, she never had had this habit until Naruto finally managed to brew a decent cup of Joe after much experimentation. Snake guts were never meant to be used that way, she remembered with another shiver.
When the warmth of the coffee had seeped itself deep into her extremities, she let out a bone deep sigh of happiness, "Kirito's not awake yet?"
"Mu... he came back late last night. I think he was training out again." The blonde muttered, peering into his cup.
Asuna accepted the reply with a simple nod, it wasn't really that surprising. Despite staying in the same house, all three of them had their own quirks and preferences. The two men usually woke up early before going out to train alone while she looked for a raid party or did quests with the other two when she needed help. More often than not, they would all then gather again at night for dinner before going back to bed.
It was a stable and quiet life despite being stuck in life and death game but she could not say that she disliked it; going out in the morning, training and getting stronger and being greeted warmly when she came back with her body all sore, usually by the older blonde.
It was a home and a cosy way of life that she really didn't dislike.
"I'll go get him." Asuna was jolted out of her cup of coffee when the blonde replied, only nodding with a smile, too lazy to say anything.
Swirling the mug of coffee in one hand, the blonde shuffled his way to the last room in the house and was just about to turn the corner when the final member of their little household appeared, his raven haired tousled cutely, rubbing his eyes sleepily when he walked straight into a wall of muscle, "Ack!"
The taller blonde immediately grabbed the black haired boy around his waist to stop him from falling down on his butt, "Oi, oi, I know you're sleepy but at least watch where you're going." He groused at the sleepy boy on his chest.
Steadying himself with one hand on the blonde's chest, Kirito murmured an indistinct apology before heading straight for the mug on the table.
When his eyes were finally properly opened properly by the fresh taste of the bitter brew, he quirked an eyebrow at the blushing girl on the other side of the table, who's nose happened to be bleeding.
Again.
"Are you SURE you're not sick?" he asked her with concern.
Asuna resolutely shook her head and dashed out the house with a quick apology and a bright red face.
Behind him Naruto glared at his mug of coffee with an almost exasperated curiosity, "What in the world am I doing wrong? Why does everything I cook seem to make her nose bleed?"
"Dunno. Whatever the reason, she didn't even take her usual morning bath. Anyway, are you going out the usual spot again?" Kirito asked.
"I guess. Just for a while though, I just need one more point to getthe Pursuit skill. I want to go somewhere else after that." Naruto replied vaguely as he drained the last bit of his coffee.
Kirito nodded without further questions. Unlike Asuna who preferred to level with a party or through quests because of her rapier's lack of any ranged or AOE skills, he liked to solo in areas with high spawn rates, mowing through truckloads of monsters with his sword skills, this method was usually the best way of obtaining experience, comparable only to how Naruto usually gained his experience.
The older blonde preferred places where spawn rates were slower, but yielded better experience points, fighting monsters on a one versus one basis as a fleet footed spearman. However, despite the high experience point yield as Solo players, this method of training was extremely risky since they had no support or back up.
Even a single mistake could be lethal. For example, Naruto usually chose to train on Blackbone Mountain on the ninth floor where the big but slow Armoured Bears spawned, taking them down one by one with his spears while avoiding their poison tipped claw slashes. Even getting a simple scratch would throw the blonde into a paralyzed state, leaving him completely open for the Bears to maul easily.
Kirito himself trained in the Berry Forest located in the South quadrant of the ninth floor where Greater Nepenths, human sized Venus flytraps that spawned like flies, much less exp than Bears but died easily after a hit or two. The only problem being that they had advanced algorithms and employed tactics where they either continuously tried to surround him with numbers or hit him with flailing vines that could easily stun lock him with rapid attacks.
Yawning widely, Kirito waved his mug at the blonde, "Good luck. Don't die or rather; make sure you cook dinner before you do."
Naruto smiled as he placed the mug into the sink and threw his white cloak onto his shoulder, "Cold bastard. I'll see yea later." To himself he mumbled, "I'm going to use less salt tonight... Maybe she won't bleed so much then... High blood pressure I guess. Oh by the way, Kirito?"
"Hmm?"
"Try to come back early tonight. I'm cooking something big. I'll send a message to Asuna later as well."
"Hai. Hai. Good luck."
When the door had closed behind the blonde, Kirito glanced at the wall where a calendar hung, "That's right... We just cleared the eighth floor didn't we? If you have time to do something like that, why don't you use it to level faster..." he muttered lowly.
****The Hunter****
A tall muscular man with an open fronted white cloak appeared out of a shower of white lights encircling his lean torso and a white hood pulled down over his hair though some golden bristles poked out from under the covering; a great bow made of some undetermined wood strapped to his back along with quiver of spears.
When his sapphire blue eyes opened once more, he looked around the pavilion warily. Despite the front lines already being at the ninth floor where discrimination towards beta testers was more or less nonexistent amongst the clearers, the resentment was still somewhat prevalent amongst the middle and lower levelled players that gathered in the lower levels, especially the City of Beginnings.
Without another word, the man began running towards the centre of the circular CoB at a light jog with his white cloak flowing out behind him. The stone buildings, built with a medieval style that resembled those that might have been found in old England seemed to blur by as he ran through the yellow stone streets. Within minutes, the CoB wasn't really that big, the main gates of the Black Iron castle slowly loomed out of the gloomy air at the end of the street he was currently on. Passing though the open gates, and slowing down to a fast walk, he arrived at base of a gigantic monolith made of black stone that served as a gravestone for all the people that had failed to escape Aincrad, and never would.
A small smile appeared on his lips as he pulled out a bunch of flowers from his inventory, which he laid at the base of the massive black stone grave decorated with row upon row of names, some of which were crossed out with a single, simple line, as if mocking how easily one's life could be snuffed out, especially for the most trivial reasons.
The ones crossed out with a line were the ones that he was here for.
Silently, he got to his knees and slapped his palms together in prayer with his eyes closed under the hood, "Yo, I'm back again. I just thought you might want to know that we're already at the ninth floor; it won't take much longer before everyone gets out, there's just another 91 to go. You guys just rest here and wait patiently; I'll definitely clear the game so that all of you didn't die in vain."
Clapping his hands another time, the blonde slowly got up and brushed down the creases on his trousers and cloak. He was about to leave and go back o get dinner ready when the sound of an argument reached his ears.
"But you have to help me! My sister's been missing for 2 days already! She's a part of your guild right!? Why won't you look for her?"
It was the voice of a young girl, desperately pleading, coming from further in the complex, obviously at the entrance to the Black Iron Castle which was being used by the 'The Army', as their home base. Without being too conspicuous, the white cloaked man slowly stepped behind the monolith, into its shadows to listen in to the argument.
"I'm really sorry, but we can't spare anyone else to go onto the front lines." A gruff voice that sounded genuinely sympathetic replied. Activating his Tracking skill with a mental command, two blue flames gleamed in the dark and his vision zoomed further into the complex to see a vaguely familiar tall man bowing to a pink haired girl dressed in a leather tunic, white undershirt and a light pink miniskirt, no doubt the one whose sister was in trouble.
Beside him a familiar looking ratty man with stringy red hair, the row of medals on his chest signifying a higher rank than the tall man in a plain green uniform beside him, laughed in a disgusting manner as he leered at the girl with a heart shaped face and crying blue eyes, "She's dead already kid, serves her right for being so arrogant and hissy too. Now leave. We're too busy to look for someone who couldn't even follow orders."
The massive gates of the Black Iron Castle slammed shut in her face, the clanging of the iron gates echoing around the empty compound. Dejectedly, the crying girl fell to her knees and began sobbing in to her hands.
Carefully making sure that no one was around, the man in white slowly walked out of the shadows, thick boots making rhythmic clicking sounds on the yellow stone, though the girl failed to notice his presence at all. Not very surprising, he figured she was too caught up in her problem to notice very much.
Pulling down the hood to make sure that he wasn't recognized, the blonde verbalized his question, "What's your sister's name? And on what floor was she supposed to be on?"
The pink haired girl jumped a little and scrambled away from him, wide, wet blue eyes peering up at him in fear, "Wh-Who are you?"
"The name's Naruto. I was just passing by when I heard you asking the The Army for help." Naruto squatted down in front of the girl and pulled back his hood to show her a warm and comforting smile, "You're sister is missing right? Which floor is she on, and what is her name?"
She slightly nodded, "Her name's Lightning, typed with English letters, the last I heard from her, was that she was on the eighth floor with all the other Army members for the eight floor boss battle." Her voice broke a little, "But when the Clearing members came back two days ago, she wasn't with them. Her name is still on the Monument of Life, so I know she's still alive!" the pink haired girl added desperately!".
Naruto tapped his chin for a thoughtful moment, "Can you describe her? I was there as well, but I don't recall meeting anyone with that In-game-name off the top of my head."
The young girl, who he surmised to be about Kirito's age nodded hesitantly, had the expression of someone unsure of whether what she was doing is right but couldn't think of anything else except accept the help of a stranger, "She has pink hair that is cut a little shorter than mine and blue eyes like me. She was wearing a white leather jacket and a brown leather skirt when she left. Ah, we also have the same band I do on her right bicep."
Naruto accepted the friend invite, giving her name a quick glance he grinned and petted the girl's head reassuringly "Yosh, Your sister might be in a dungeon right now, that's why she can't reach you through private messages. I'll do my best to find her. For now, add me to your friend's list so that we can contact each other through PMs. Don't worry so much about it, alright? Just go rest at an inn, promise I'll get her back."
She bowed down lowly, touching her forehead to the pavement, "Pl-please help my sister. I would go myself, but she insisted that I never leave the City of Beginnings, so I'm still only level 5 or I would have gone to look for her myself. I can never repay you for helping a stranger like me."
Naruto stood up with a grin, "The only payment I need is for you to smile. For now, just wait for my message, Serah, and stay safe until I bring your sister back to you." Wasting no time, he spun around and dashed towards the teleporter, cloak flaring out behind him as he gave the small clock on his interface a quick glance. It was still early, so there was plenty of time for him to make it back by dinner.
Hopefully.
Serah's sister was still alive, but judging by the lack of contact from her, it might not stay that way for long. He really couldn't expect her to last too long. Practically leaping through the portal, the blonde was hurled out on the other side at the village of Friben, the main village on the eighth floor. Had anyone else been watching, all they would have seen was a white shadow almost being catapulted out of the portal before flipping around in mid air into an upright position and acrobatically landing with a skid. He crouched and sprung forwards again, simultaneously activating the Pursuit skill as he ran, which he ironically only managed to gain earlier today.
While Tracking had identical capabilities with its successor, Pursuit, it only applied to monsters (Beast or Bird type monsters), whereas Pursuit was capable of tracking humanoids and NPCs as well as multiple targets with greater accuracy as well as giving him passive vision bonuses that enhanced accuracy and range of sight every 100 levels and increased damage against fleeing opponents when Mastered.
Rapidly scanning the areas around the main compound, broken traces of footsteps belonging to the player avatar Lightning began glowing faintly on his HUD. The blonde sighed in some relief, luckily for him, the tracks were only a day old or so, any longer and there would be nothing for him to find, which would have complicated the entire situation needlessly.
Following the footsteps, Naruto ducked and weaved his way through the thick tropical landscape. Halfway through the village, the glowing footsteps disappeared entirely due to the low skill level, but it was enough for him to guess the general direction and pick up the broken trail again further into the forest, which wandered off towards of the tower that stood forebodingly right in the middle of the floor. Unlike all the previous floors below it, Friben was different in that the entire floor was covered in forest with nothing but a scattering of small villages all around the topography, serving as safe points for tired players. Friben itself, the main village was the largest off all the small villages, was barely half the size of the City of Beginnings and there was no particular importance or attractions that the floor held save the main dungeon. Even the usual secret dungeon had been short and unrewarding.
Sounds of animals chirping, roaring and snuffling reached his ears as he dashed past the forest animal themed monsters heedlessly, it was considered extremely impolite, not to mention flat out dangerous to anyone in the vicinity but he really didn't think there would be a problem. By now, almost everyone would have left the eighth floor already, following the trend of staying with the front lines until things settled down a little, not to mention almost everybody was taking the day off as celebration for the clearing of the eighth floor. Except a certain few idiots that shall go unnamed.
When he reached the short length of steps that led into the dungeon, the glowing footsteps disappeared entirely, signalling the end of his skill. At its current level, Pursuit could only be held for 10 minutes with a cool down of 15minutes between uses. Heaving a disappointed sigh, Naruto resigned himself to searching the entire 30 mini levels inside the tower.
Finding a needle in a haystack never sounded more appropriate.
Hefting the bow on his back into a more comfortable position, the blonde set his jaw and pushed open the huge doors. With a weird sense of urgency.
Pulling up the completed map of the tower, the blonde began hurtling towards ever suspicious looking nook on cranny, floor after floor, dodging and hiding from as many enemies as possible to save time. With a resigned sigh, he reminded himself to take the Hiding skill when he next could, it would make everything so much more convenient, especially if he needed to conceal his presence.
All players received 3 beginner skill slots when they logged into SAO for the first time but it was possible to gain more of those slots by levelling up naturally or doing specific (Read: Humiliating and embarrassing, Kayaba was an asshole. Period.) quests that became available every 20 floors. There were apparently 2 more hidden slots, hidden in the programming as part of the reward of 2 secret quests that could be found, but as of last week, no one had even an inkling about where to start looking for the secret quests or its prerequisites. Part of the intrigue of playing SAO was of course the incredible variety of skills and customizations available in the game, to mimic real life as close as possible, but a player could only received a maximum of 20 by the system's limits, so there was great degree of skill micro management required in order to get the best results, especially during the early to middle game phases.
Each skill could only be levelled up independently by using it, like the Pursuit skill, or by certain requirements such as the Battle Healing or Armour skills that could only be levelled by taking damage. As they progressed higher and higher, the equipped Skills granted passive or active bonuses every 100 levels, such as the two handed spear Pierce skill which was learnt at level 200, the passive movement bonuses granted by level 300 Cloth Armour skill or the Passive Strength and Dexterity stat bonuses that the Martial Arts Skill granted at level 100.
The way the system and skills worked created an incredible level of customization for avid players, giving them a true sense of achievement as they progressed, both in character level, Skill level and the game. Kayaba Akihiko... for all his lunacy of trapping ten thousand people in a death game was a true genius of ridiculous proportions. So much in depth forethought about the player-player-environment interaction, every single loophole, and then programming every single bit into the game by himself, Naruto could only imagine that it must have taken him a near titanic effort and only 6 years to bring Aincrad from concept to reality.
"Bad, bad Naruto. Totally not the time to be thinking about insane men. I've got a girl to find." He muttered to himself. Activating Pursuit once more, he searched around the main staircase, heaving a relieved sigh when the faintly glowing footsteps showed up once again. Taking the opportunity, he downed a quick drink of water before hurrying through the portal to the 28th floor at the top of the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, the sound of rocks being rocks being repeatedly crashed reached his ears, as if something huge was repeatedly banging on a wall. Immediately a sense of relief flooded his tense body, if whatever it was that was attacking her was still doing it, then it meant that she was still alive. Without wasting anytime, the blonde immediately hurried off in the general direction of the sound, the map that floated in front of his face told him that the short path led off the main road into a dead end.
Naruto skidded to a halt and crouched behind the last turning, peeking from behind to cover to check on whatever it was that was making that noise. A massive humanoid bull, a Minotaur with a double ended axe that was as tall as the Monument of Life charged into the rough rocky surface that signified the end of the path, slowly, the massive beats took a step backwards before repeating the manoeuvre again, to Naruto's confusion.
It didn't look like there was anything there, nor did he see anybody on the ground, so what in Akihiko's name was the stupid bull doing? Testing out its stupidly tough skull?
The Minotaur lowered his head, nosing at a thin vertical crack in the wall that Naruto hadn't noticed and emitted a massive, deep roar. The sound of someone scrabbling deeper into the crevice, away from the Minotaur caused him to blink in surprise before activating narrowing his eyes at the crack in the wall. Blue eyes gleamed in the dark as his vision zoomed itself, piercing through the light fog in the distance, revealing a heart shaped face with smudges of dirt on it, and tousled pink hair that was untied hanging down one shoulder. Eyes that were equally as blue as his own peered out through the crack with a fierce look, as if willing the bull to turn into well done steak with a look.
Naruto whistled lowly, now that was what he called a glare.
He turned back to the bull and fluidly notched a spear on his bow, a recurring mini boss on the 8th floor, Rampaging Minotaur with ridiculously high strength stats enhanced with its equally ridiculous double sided axe, possessed a very basic A.I. that was similar to the Trembling Ox on the 2nd floor in that whenever it saw a target, it generally didn't stop chasing until it either died, or the player managed to run into a safe zone, bulling its way through sheer rock if necessary.
Play K-ON! – No, Thank You!
Chewing his lip, he let the spear fly, the red comet whistled through the air... and bounced off the ridiculously thick back of the Minotaur, the bull barely even noticed the tiny reduction in its HP gauge and continued to slam the edge of its axe into the crevice, as if trying to wedge it open.
"Well... Like they always say, if you can't beat him..." Naruto muttered before sprinting out of his cover at a low to the ground as he notched another spear. Vaulting high above the Minotaur, he let loose a rain of spears that pelted its thick skull uselessly while upside down. Streaming his body into a thin arrow, the blonde slipped under a wild axe swing from an enraged Minotaur and landed directly front of the Minotaur.
He cocked a black iron spear, far more bigger and powerful than the ones he usually used and rolled between the Minotaur's legs. He looked up, "...Kick him in the gonads." And launched the Pierce empowered spear skywards, directly up into the Minotaur's danglies.
The bull's eyes bugged and it... squeaked in pain, as it began trying to stomp on the insect darting around its feet.
Diving between the huge hooves, the blonde rolled and darted into the small crevice that barely managed to fit him and his bow.
He pulled out a bag and waved at the girl who looked like she was about to hit him with a cheery smile, "Yo, I'm Naruto, are you Lightning?"
"You shot him in the balls." The girl replied in disbelief, shock and confusion, mostly disbelief, "You actually shot him in the balls."
"Well, yes. Complete realism has its upsides and downsides. Soft spots happen to be an upside." He offered a bag to her, "Peanut?"
"Are you insane?! Wait no, don't answer that. What were you thinking? How did you even know I was here?! If you knew I was here, why did you jump in here with me to corner yourself, you already had his attention, you could've just left while I escaped!" Lightning huffed after finally spewing out everything she had been holding in.
"Yeah... is that all you wanted to ask?" When she nodded, the blonde continued, "In order of the questions you asked, I can't run that fast so getting his attention is suicidal unless I have a nice spot to hide in. Your sister asked for my help and..." The blonde replied cheerfully before setting down his bow with a thud and began pulling out spears and sticking them into the earth around them, "I can't run away but getting his attention on me however, let's me do this."
"Do what? Wait, my sister?!" The girl asked disbelievingly.
"Heavy weapon skill, Rebellion, common to all heavy weapon classes, only usable when the user is the target of hate, dramatically increases damage and piercing capabilities for a short period of time." He uttered quietly in reply as he sighted down the shaft and waited for the proper moment. The Minotaur began his cycle again, charging into the rocky surface uselessly, taking a step back and repeating his earlier charge. Naruto tensed himself as the Minotaur began the next part of its attack sequence, pounding on the ground, and roaring.
The moment the gaping jaw dripping with cow saliva appeared outside the cave and began inhaling for the intimating roar, Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Original Skill: Crescendo."
Deep blue comets began rushing out of the thin opening; the first spear buried itself at the back of the jaw, before being stopped by the thick skin, before anything else could happen, another spear slammed itself into the butt of first spear, and another, and another. Lightning watched in disbelief as the blonde's hands nearly blurred, his face a cold stone carving of concentration, notching and releasing blazing spear after blazing spear with near ridiculous accuracy, each hit slamming the entire procession of spears up its throat until the first spear burst through the back of the Minotaur's cranium with predictable results.
The dead Minotaur fell down face first on the ground with a final earth shaking rumble, dissolving into a shower of lights after a few tense moments.
"Phew." His shoulders sagged in relief and offered a blue teleport crystal to her, "Shall we go back? Serah's waiting for her Nee-san."
The pink haired girl who had fallen to her knees looked up at him in disbelief at the completely... random blonde that had suddenly appeared in her life. The lost look was suddenly wiped away from her face and she slapped his hand away, getting up with a forceful growl, as she pushed past him, "I don't need your help. I can get back by myself."
The blonde shrugged as he followed behind her, "Suit yourself."
A few minutes later, an angry Lightning spun around at the whistling blonde behind her, "Why are you following me!?"
He nonchalantly notched a spear and shot a monster that had been creeping up behind her, "That's why. You don't have weapons do you? Or any crystals or potions. Or you wouldn't have been stuck in that crack for a day and a half." Naruto observed idly, "How did you even get stuck there anyway?"
"That's none of your business. I'll get back on my own." She coldly replied.
The blonde simply quirked an eyebrow at her, "I promised your little sister that I'm bringing you back, and nothing's going to stop me. That includes you. The only reason I haven't knocked you out and carried you back to the CoB like a sack of potatoes is because of the Sexual Harassment Protection Code."
"Leave my sister out of this, she shouldn't have asked for your help. I am perfectly capable of dealing with monsters and getting on my own." Lightning retorted sharply, "You're just another idiot with a hero complex in this god forsaken game chasing trying to impress girls."
Blue eyes immediately went stone cold and he lashed out with one hand, slapping the girl who was half a head shorter than him across the cheek. The marker above his head instantly turned orange, "Shouldn't have asked for help? Nothing to do with her? She was crying in City of Beginnings, begging members of The Army for help when they refused. She was so worried and you say she has nothing to do with this? She. Was. Crying. And. Begging. What kind of a person are you to let your little sister cry and worry about you?!"
He grabbed the stunned girl's arm roughly, "Now move it. I plan on getting you back to Serah before the sun sets."
Lightning obediently followed the rough grip no her arm in a subdued silence, "I'll co-come. Stop pulling on me."
Rolling his eyes, the blonde let go and focused on keeping the girl behind him safe until they reached the CoB.
****The Hunter****
Cold sweat shot down the back of Naruto's neck as he stepped through the portal, completely regretting the fact that he had lost his temper. The fact that Lightning hadn't stopped glaring a hole at the back of his head only made it worse as his body rematerialized in the centre of the City of Beginnings. An incredibly silent Lightning appeared behind him moments later.
"She should be around. I already sent her a message that we were on our way back." Naruto murmured lowly as he made to step back into the portal.
"Wait."
Naruto froze with his back to her, "Yeah?"
"Tha-thanks." She muttered with averted eyes.
"Yeah. Just don't leave her alone again. You don't want to know how much it will hurt when you lose her."
He lifted his hand to reopen the portal when a high pitched scream echoed around the square.
Lightning widened her eyes in horror at the familiar voice before darting off towards the source without any hesitation whatsoever, "Serah!"
Cursing under his breath, the white archer immediately chased after the pink haired hair, knowing that she had no weapons on her at all, "Wait!"
Running down the small corridor, both archer and swordswoman skidded to a halt in a small alley behind the Black Iron Castle to see Serah being surrounded by a group of men in green uniforms surrounding her.
The leader, a ratty looking man that Naruto now remembered from the first boss fight was standing in the middle of the circle, leaning over a trembling pinkette. Three or four more men in green uniforms unique to The Army were leering down at her. Luckily, they were still in the save zone so none of them could or had directly harmed the young girl, but they were boxing her in, slowly pushing her towards the exit with their bodies.
The two clearers shared a look and nodded, as one both of them leapt up, using their agility and dexterity to run along the wall, bypassing the wall of men and landing behind Serah. Naruto immediately stepped in front of Serah, shielding her with his own body while the older pinkette crouched down to comfort her sister, "What is the meaning of this? Did we just find you trying to push someone out of safe zone?"
Behind the men, at the spot that Naruto and Lightning had just left, fearful spectators began gathering and excited murmuring could be heard from them.
"Thi-this is bad, Aniki, there's a lot of people here now." A tall blocky man worriedly muttered to the stringy haired man.
He shut the taller man up with a glare before turning back to Naruto with an almost slimy smile, "What are you talking about? She was just asking us for directions. We were helping her find her sister when she suddenly started screaming and falsely accusing us of things we didn't do."
"Helping me?" Lightning spoke up as she stepped out from behind the blonde's broad back.
The ratty haired man immediately stumbled backwards as he paled dramatically, "Yo-you!"
"Me." She said with an almost frigid calmness, "I'm afraid your plan to kill me failed."
"Kill you?" Naruto echoed disbelievingly.
The murmuring got just that bit louder as the spectators, mostly players who were too afraid to leave the CoB watched on excitedly, the entire spectacle unfolding into what had been the most excitement they had in a month.
"He and his friends were part of my team. Shortly after the boss was defeated, they surrounded me and attacked me, yelling at me for being arrogant and an upstart that should know my place just because I gained ranks in The Army faster than they did." She replied offhandedly with an eerily flat tone, "They implied that I should service them if I wanted to live. I managed to escape but found myself being cornered by the Rampaging Minotaur in the room you found me in."
She lifted her finger to point at the pale man with red hair, "He was the leader."
"Is this true?" Naruto demanded angrily from the red head, unconsciously readying his bow in anger, causing the group of five men to stagger backwards from his wrath.
"What's going on here?!" Naruto couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose when he heard the Kansai Dialect, a rather unpleasantly familiar figure pushing his way through the crowd with a group of Army members behind him, all of them dressed in full Army regalia, "Oh it's you again huh?"
"It's me. Your members were caught trying to PK Lightning and her sister." Naruto flatly stated as the situation slowly worsened, "I was unaware that The Army has dropped low enough to become an orange guild. Orange players were the term used to address individuals who lacked any regard for life and the game, choosing to indulge in killing players despite knowing the costs. A group of orange players that banded together were generally known as Orange Guilds.
"Huh?!" Kibaou sneered slyly, "They were caught trying to PK someone? Is this true? Or is the great Joker lying again?"
The five members including the rat man snapped to attention at Kibaou's presence, "He's lying, sir. We're all innocent here, we were just trying to help the girl when they appeared and started blaming us for stupid stuff like that. Clearly he is just jealous of The Army and is trying to smear our name, you know, since no one likes him and he can't join a guild as a Soloer." The rat man finished with a cruel grin at his jab.
The pink haired girl leaned in to whisper into the blonde's ear, "That's Kibaou, he is a high ranked player in our guild. That rat guy and his friends are all under his jurisdiction."
"Alright. Let's try to push his buttons and see if he had any hand in this. Ask to bring this to the other top ranks." Nodding at the bit of information, Naruto calmly whispered back, "I've met Sinker before; and he seemed like a good guy. So I doubt something like this would be glossed over so easily."
Hearing a murmur of agreement, he stood aside for Lightning, "We have a witness. Plenty of people even saw them trying to push Serah out of the safety zone."
Nodding shortly, the aloof pink haired girl stepped forward, "Lieutenant Kibaou, I would submit a formal complaint regarding my team, if you can call them that. I was ambushed by my team members shortly after The Steel Orc, the boss of the eighth floor was officially defeated, citing my arrogance as the reason for my forced retirement. I managed to fight my way out of their ambush but used up all my potions and durability of my weapons in the process. Further, I was cornered by the mini boss on the floor beneath the Boss room for a day and a half. If you will not take action, I shall go straight to Commander Sinker or Yuriel-san and demand justice and punishment for you and your squad."
The watching crowd began to turn their ire on the uniformed members and the volume of their harsh words drastically got turned up.
Dear old cactus head began sweating as the scale of what had happened slowly blew up in his face, obviously not expecting something of this magnitude. The way his eyes darted between the apprehensive Rat-like man and Lightning's flat stare told Naruto that he had obviously realized that sticking his neck out for his subordinate clearly wasn't going to be in his best interests, especially not if the matter was too big for him to cover up, "Uhm. Ye-yes, I understand Sergeant Lightning. Men arrest them and throw them in the dungeons, the-there's no need to bother Sinker with this. He's too busy running the Army after all."
The blonde internally wondered if they knew how pretentious all the ranks and such sounded, probably not, Kibaou really seemed like the type to pomp himself up with all sorts of important sounding stuff after all.
"You're going to believe him?" the men being arrested hollered desperately, "You said you would help us, Kibaou! Damn you!"
"WAIT! This is a lie! I challenge You to a duel Joker! If I win, you let us go!"
Play ALTIMA – Burst the Gravity
"What use would that serve? You are clearly guilty." Lightning spat out.
Naruto grinned coldly, "I accept. Just in time too, my bow is itching for something to shoot."
Lightning glared at him in disbelief as they moved the confrontation towards the central complex for more room, "Stop being so reckless! This isn't about you; you're going take the risk of letting him get away for fun?"
Cold blue eyes turned on her, "I can accept a lot of things. But he tried to hurt Serah, he tried to hurt you. Innocents that are just trying to escape the game, as it is going right now, he is just going to sit in a cell and rot." Those cold sapphires sharpened even further as the pinned the grinning rat standing across the square from him.
"I want him to suffer."
The arena, if you could call it that was nothing but a small elevated platform outside of the Black Iron Castle surrounded by interspersed thick marble pillars. Red and orange artificial light filtered through the large gaps of the pillars as the sun slowly set.
"This will be a 50 / 50 duel. Any complaints?" The red head sneered, the 50 / 50 rule meant that they would fight until either one of them hit the half point in their HP gauges, reducing the chances of a mistake like in a first hit duel and there was no chance of anybody dying due to the Safety Zone effect kicking in the moment someone's HP gauges dropped below 50%.
Naruto slowly walked forward with a flat out innocent smile and a hand held out, "Nope. May the best man win."
Grinning, his opponent grabbed the offered and they shook on it before both of them returned to the opposite sides of the arena, a floating, translucent window with a portrait of the blonde and the stringy red head appeared right in the middle with a countdown and their names displayed on it.
Beside a worried Lightning and Serah, someone lowly spoke, "Argo. We got here too late. The match is already over."
Over?
"Mou... I thought we could see him properly fighting a duel for once-sa. What a waste."
Serah turned around to find a raven haired swordsman, a brown haired girl with a rapier at her side and a short girl wearing a brown hooded cowl, "A-ano, what do you mean that the match is already over?" She pointed at the floating screen, "It hasn't even started yet."
The raven haired boy scratched the back of his head and dryly replied while Argo and Asuna began giggling, "If you want to duel Naruto there are two things you must absolutely do beforehand. The first; you must absolutely tell him that it has to be a fair fight with nothing but our own skills. Otherwise the idiot will cheat. And trust me, he cheats. Outrageously. The second, is never stand still, doing that is like asking him to put a spear between your eyes with a target painted on your face for better measure."
The countdown hit zero and the rat like man who was already in a crouch, with two daggers pulled out, sprung forward without any hesitation. The blonde, who hadn't even pulled out his spear or bow, calmly dodged the first swipe and back flipped before leaping over the man.
Running up a pillar, he agilely began leaping from pillar to pillar, the AGI build knife user following behind with little difficulty due to his specialty, "What's wrong Archer? Why are you running?! Scared?!"
Naruto landed while the red head immediately darted in to back stab him when the blonde back flipped over the dagger swipe without even looking, soaring over the rat man's head and landing in a crouch on the other side of the arena. Only then did he pull out his spear, "Nope, I'm just waiting."
"Waiting? For what?"
[Boom!]
The man who looked like a rat immediately began screaming as his pants exploded, liquid fire clinging to his entire body. Smiling coldly at the body rolling around on the ground, Nauto notched a spear, "For that."
He ended the battle with a spear to the testicles. Just because he could.
"How the fu-?"
Giggling, Asuna patted the taller pink haired girl on the shoulder, "Just don't let him touch you if you're going to fight with him. He'll pick your pocket without you realizing, only instead of taking something out like everybody else, he puts something in, usually something really nasty. In fact, that's how we usually tell whether he likes that person or not. If he REALLY doesn't like that person, expect to see his pants exploding in the most ludicrous way possible, sooner or later."
"Bu-but whe..." Realization dawned, "The handshake?!" Lightning asked incredulously.
"Yep. Now come on, you and you're sister are invited for the Christmas dinner." Asuna cheerfully replied.
Walking back to the group, he waved at them with a slightly startled look, "What are you guys doing here?"
Argo waved back, "You were late-sa, so we came to pick you up."
"Aww..." the blonde said tearily, "You guys DO care!"
"You wish, we were just hungry, and seeing as you're the only that can cook anything decent amongst any of us, so we came to see what was the hold up on our dinner, assuming it doesn't blow up on us like that guy, PoH, that is." Kirito grinned.
"Oh, is that his name? I never noticed. Meh." Naruto replied before cheerfully placing his hands on Serah's shoulder, "Now come on. You two are invited to the Christmas Party."
"E-eh? Us?" Serah muttered doubtfully as she glanced at her aloof sister, "I-I don't think we can come."
"Why not?" Lightning turned aside so that her sister couldn't see her face, "I guess... relaxing once in a while isn't too wrong."
"Nee-san... Thanks..." Serah jumped on her sister.
"Gaah! Not in front of all these people!"
****The Hunter****
Play Shoko Nakagawa – Happily Ever After
"Oi, Kirito, pass the potatoes!" A thuggish looking man dressed in red shirt and a head band cheerfully yelled at the blonde across the table. Kirito paused from his heated discussion, or rather, heated lecture to an amused Serah about game mechanics to hand the gravy soaked potatoes to the spiky haired man and his guild mates, the Furinkazan.
Further, in the hall, a whole group of people, including a huge chocolate skinned man, his bald head shining in the candle light, and the short girl with whiskers, only she wasn't wearing her hood now, Argo, that she and Serah had met earlier, were talking about new spawn spots and resources.
Lightning stood uncomfortably in a corner, sipping some juice from a cup; she barely knew any of these people though she recognized quite a few of them from the Floor Boss Strategy meetings. Almost everyone here was well known in one way or another, leaders and forerunners in their own departments and chosen skills.
Argo the Information Dealer and fastest person on foot in SAO.
Egil, leader of the Merchants Guild.
Kline of the Elements, the only Clearer's Guild to never lose a single man no matter the odds.
Kirito the Black Swordsman.
Asuna the Red Flash.
Joker the White Archer.
A blonde interrupted the party as he walked out of the kitchen, carrying a massive steaming boar that he had apparently procured and roasted from the ninth floor. The resulting cheers was almost deafening as everyone rushed to cut the boar apart.
"Kline, put that stupid katana away!" Naruto yelled.
"Awww! Wouldn't carving the boar up with a katana be totally awesome though?"
"... Go ahead."
"Yosh! Let me show you my new sword skill!"
Lightning face palmed and deftly ducked a piece of flaming meat as pieces of roasted boar began flying everywhere.
"KLINE! NARUTO!"
Laughing cheerfully, the beautiful brown haired girl appeared beside her with her own cup of juice in hand, "Why are you just standing in a corner here? You should join them."
Lightning awkwardly shook her head, "No thanks, I think I'm going outside. It's getting a little... excitable in here."
The brown haired girl looked back at the table where everyone was dog piling a laughing blonde and Kline and found that she couldn't help but agree, "Sure, let's go out and get some air."
The two females stood side by side, leaning on the railing, the pink haired one staring into her cup while the brown haired one breathed in deeply and sighed happily as she looked up at the stars when she heard a mumble from beside her, "Why... How is everyone here so happy?"
"Hmmm? Why not?" Asuna replied in confusion.
Lightning swirled her cup of juice thoughtfully before elaborating quietly, "I stay on the first floor with my sister, Serah. Every day, it's nothing but gloom and darkness, everything I have and will do is to get out of this death trap with my sister. Relentlessly. Almost everybody else I've ever met so far, act the same way, including many of the people in that room, but here, why are they all smiling so brightly?"
"I guess. It's because of Naruto isn't it? There's a reason they call him the White Archer."
"What do you mean?"
Asuna carefully considered her words, "I think... without him, everybody would indeed be as you say, I'd still be training alone like some mad woman by myself in some deep dark dungeon on Christmas night. Kirito would be alone, distancing himself from everyone and doing much of the same. But he wouldn't accept it. He stands there, bearing the worst of everything with us, works as hard as anybody else, but then he bulls his way into your life like some truck and he doesn't care if you DON'T want to be happy. He'll just drag you kicking and screaming towards it if he has to."
Asuna paused and sipped the juice to wet her throat, "He told me something once, there's a chance that everybody here won't make it out alive. We all know it, we accept it but in some way, he wants to make sure we at least get the best out of life, go out with a bang so to speak, cause we're not just fighting for ourselves here."
She leaned on the railing, "We're not just fighting for our own freedom. The wishes, the hopes of everyone who has already fallen and those who cannot fight for themselves, whether we want to or not, just by being on the front lines, we carry those hopes and wishes on our backs because that's just how being a human works. It sounds really bad at first, but somehow, it makes me want to work harder, to make everyone smile and leave the game together."
The brown haired girl blushed, "Ah, I'm sorry; I probably wasn't making much sense."
"No... It does. In a twisted way, self-sacrificial way." Lightning corrected her, "I want to get Serah out too, but it's no point if she suffers the entire time she's waiting for me."
Asuna just smiled and patted her on the back silently.
Suddenly, the sounds of two sets of feet reached their ears, causing them to tense and stare out in to the darkness.
The door swung open and a brown haired girl walked in with a worried expression, "Naruto, there's someone that wants to meet you."
"Huh? Who? I thought everyone was here already." The blonde replied from the couch where he was playing cards with Egil.
And loosing horribly, who knew those big ass fingers of his could move so fast.
A tall brown haired man, dressed in strange red robes that weirdly enough, reminded everyone present of a monk's robes, stepped in. Behind him a demure looking girl with fluffy pink hair, dressed in a blue kimono that came up to her thighs and a black bow behind her followed, standing slightly beside the tall stranger.
"Good afternoon." The distinguished gentleman greeted those present with a half bow.
The blonde slowly got up with a strange, almost amused smile, "I'm Joker. How can I help you and Tamamo-san?"
"My name is Heathcliff. And I want to start a guild with you."
****The Hunter****
Naruto Uzumaki Current Stats
Current Level – 31
Skill slots (3 + 3)
Spear – 650
Martial Arts- 390
Wood Crafting – 540
Cooking – 430
Kleptomancy - 590
Pursuit (Prerequisite: Tracking of 500) – 100
Notable Traits
He cheats. Outrageously. – Kirito
****The Hunter****
Author's Note
OCs are finally introduced in this chapter.
Feel free to start guessing what's going to happen. Bwahaha.
Pictures for Tamamo on profile.