AN: My inspiration comes and goes at weird intervals. But I finally had a stroke of inspiration for this story after finding my old notes on Naruto IS mecha.

Disclaimer: Do not own.

Story Start: Chapter 3

Time Skip: 1 week later, Monday afternoon 2pm.

It had been a week since Naruto had been unwillingly volunteered to run for class representative by his classmates. It wasn't that Naruto wasn't confident in his own abilities, like his within martial arts, but he had doubts about how well that it could possibly help him in piloting his mech. It seems he didn't need to worry as much as he thought as Houki not only confirmed that personal combat skills previously learned by the pilot helped but it made a huge difference in their actual ability as a pilot. Those who were more physically fit tended to adapt better than others.

While this did improve his confidence in that department, it backfired in a way when Houki decided to set up a training regime for him during the week. He honestly had forgotten how much of a slave driver she could be. Regardless he was more than happy to spend that time with her, the six years had been too long. Maya-sensei had even granted them permission to use two training based IS mechs until Naruto's arrived for the match. Houki made sure to beat into him the basic maneuvers that she had learned prior to the academy. This would at least allow him to have something to draw off of in time for the real match.

The sound of clicking heels brought him back to attention, Chifuyu had arrived to escort him to the arena. She didn't bother to say anything preferring a curt nod and turned with him now following.

She lead him through various hallways until they arrived before a door that said ' Competitors`.

"We're here Uzumaki. Proceed into the locker room and change into your gear and I'll meet you on the other side."

She was about to leave when his voice stopped her.

"Uh Orimura- sensei? Just a small, teensy little question?"

"Oh? And what might that be?" She replied.

"Just how am I supposed to fight out there without an IS?"

Her response was a small sigh and turned to leave once more.

"Just do as you're told Uzumaki, and like I said, meet me on the other side when you're done."

Seeing that he wasn't going to be getting any more than that, Naruto simply shrugged and turned to trudge into the vacant locker room.

Five minutes later he emerged out of the other side of the "new" male changing area sporting a tight black muscle shirt with a white spiral design in the center of his chest and black combat slacks with a solid orange stripe running down both sides. His shoes were black and orange sneakers.

Chifuyu, good to her word, was waiting for him outside. Going over his appearance again she gave another small nod and gestured him to the next room.

"As you mentioned earlier Uzumaki it would be quite difficult to fight without the assistance of an IS, albeit entertaining…"

At this Naruto shot her a small glare which didn't seem to faze her in the slightest as she continued.

"… So the Japanese government funded a special IS designed just for you."

Inside the next room stood the hulking machine in its inactive state. It was slightly larger than any IS he had ever seen, more than likely to accommodate to his height. The hands had different slots within them, 4 on each to be exact, 3 above the knuckles and one on the wrist. On the back there were nine more slots that were close to where a pilots tailbone might be. It was mainly black with white and burnt orange accents. Honestly Naruto could've gone on forever about this particular IS but he was quickly pulled back into reality by Chifuyu.

"This, Uzumaki, is Kyubi a multipurpose IS with a few unique components."

That really caught Naruto's attention.

"What exactly are these unique components exactly?"

Without pausing Chifuyu began to explain. Apparently Kyubi had not only more available weapon slots then most IS at 15 but had been designed with some amazing weaponry that Naruto was itching to try out. The slots it seemed played a key part in this, the 3 on top of each hand actually allowed for two sets of claw like beams that had some amazing cutting power. The others that resided on the bottom of each wrist and those on the tailbone brought about these long black and orange chains with sharpened heads that could pierce armor. Apparently when those around the tailbone were used they resembled nine tails. The only other weapon currently equipped in the inventory was an ion laser based gun that could be used not only to harm an enemy but also temporarily blind them.

"So fucking cool!"

"Indeed but there will be more room for improvement in the future as you learn." Chifuyu paused before continuing.

"Regardless, you really don't have too much time to familiarize yourself with the controls before your match due to some… setbacks in its actual delivery here. You'll have to figure it out as you go, and unlike you Cecilia has had her, IS Blue Tears, for quite a while now, a notable disadvantage."

Naruto nodded at that. This would be literally both his first battle and test run wrapped into one. Cecelia was more than familiar with her IS and undoubtedly knew more about its mechanics than he did.

Chifuyu checked her watch and told him it was time. Naruto gave one last affirmative nod then proceeded to climb into the Inactive IS. As soon as he was in the IS came to life. Red holographic screens popped up below his eye level showing energy levels and that all parts were functioning at optimum capacity. Around his head a headband appeared made entirely of black metal, it encircled his head entirely and went down the sides of his face, coming back inwards after reaching his jaw.

"Good luck Uzumaki" stated Chifuyu as she began to make her way out of the room and towards the teachers' observation station. As the doors closed now shielding her from his view he turned to the cargo bay doors that lead right into the arena. Above the door a countdown clock appeared and started making Naruto tense more.

"10!"

"9!"

"8!"

'I can do this!'

"7!"

"6"

'I will do this!'

"5!"

"4!"

'And I will show them all what a man can really do!'

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"LET'S GO!" shouted Naruto as he blasted out into the field.

Cecilia was waiting for him out there. She was outfitted In a blue training uniform along with her usual hairband. Her IS was in its active state and managed to appear both elegant yet intimidating at the same time. It, like her outfit, was a dark blue in color, and was lithe and light looking. In Cecilia's hands was a laser based sniper rifle, likely a medium ranged one based on its length and design he guessed as Naruto had seen a few similar ones when he visited his father at work as a child.

"Well, well, I was wondering whether you would show up." Came the British pilots voice from across the field, full of arrogance and a sense of superiority.

The whiskered blond only grinned in response. "And miss all the fun? It takes two to party after all baka-hime."

"Audacious one, aren't we? We'll have to fix that. You stand no chance against someone like me, boy. I am a part of the elite if you recall?"

"Kinda hard to forget when you continuously say it, but enough of this. I'm ready to go right now!"

"Since I'm feeling generous today I'll give you a chance to back down and spare yourself the humiliation Uzumaki-san. Decide carefully because if you don't forfeit I'll be more than happy to put you in your place."

Naruto was going to retort until the slight screech of the stadium's sound system caught both pilots' attention.

"Would you two idiots kindly start already! I didn't rent this arena for you two to chat it up." Came Chifuyu's voice over the loudspeaker, though still rather calm it had just a hint of irritation within it no doubt because of the battle of the dumb blonds had yet to get underway.

"Yes Sensei."

"Of Course Orimura-sensei!"

Without another word Naruto turned up his thrusters and charged at Cecelia only to be faced with four blue drones all pointed at him where the other pilot had been moments prior. He spotted her not a second later about a hundred yards from her previous position.

'How the hell did she get up there so fast without me even noticing?' Naruto asked himself. He was hardly allowed the luxury to ponder before the four drones started firing off laser shots.

Maneuvering quickly out of the way Naruto managed to bring up the screen with all of his preset equipment and equipped the dual laser claws on both hands. Reddish orange beams sprung from the slots on the back of the IS's armored knuckles and extended to about 3ft before stopping.

'Note to self: Thank Houki after this.' Thought the blond thankful for his friend showing him not only basic maneuvers but also how to access menus, like equipment, rather than allowing him to flounder with the controls. He had no illusion in his mind that if not for his old friend's tutelage that this fight would be entirely one-sided.

Locking onto Cecilia's distant form Naruto again attempted to charge and take the fight into a more close range battle. Cecilia, however, had different ideas as her drones moved to intercept him once more. Forced into defense again made Naruto realize that he'd have to deal with these drones first if he wanted to get up close and personal. Bringing up his equipment screen again Naruto activated the chains within the wrists of the Kyubi. Aiming the chains toward one of the drones Naruto fared well in securing it after a small hole was punched into the metal enough allowing him to tug it back towards him and into the claw of the same hand, wrecking it beyond any further possible function.

"Alright! See that baka-hime?" yelled an excited Naruto to his opponent.

Cecilia was angry and surprised to say the least. How could a man possibly adapt so quickly to an IS, not only at all but within minutes of acquiring it? It was completely unheard of! Not to mention he had already managed to damage on of her drones which alone should've been more than enough to deal with this upstart! Catching and forcing herself to take a deep breath, Cecilia composed herself. This was far from over after all.

"Not too shabby you simpleton, but we're far from finished here." She called back in a cocky tone.

Calling the drones back for now Cecilia re-equipped her sniper rifle setting her sights on the boy's IS and started firing volley after volley of precise shots.

Naruto was now forced to continuously dodge Cecilia's well placed firing and attempted to close the gap between them. This was easier said than done however as progress was slower than he liked and whenever he got close enough she managed to distance herself more by temporarily deploying the drones once more.

After a couple of times Naruto got distracted by a drone just enough for Cecilia to finally get some easy shots on him. The barrage of gunshots managed to push Naruto back a little more and damaged his shields considerably. This continued for another couple of minutes, and his shields were taking too much damage as it was. Letting out a frustrated growl the blond was forced to reevaluate his tactics.

'I need to get in close but how? I'm not familiar with longer range weaponry like my ion gun yet but maybe… Yes! If I use it with the chains then this may actually work! '

Retracting the claws and chains briefly, Naruto equipped the ion gun. It was mainly white and orange with the main barrel being made of a see through, military-grade level tube of unbreakable, bullet proof glass or something similar. The head of the gun narrowed more to allow a more precise shot. The design suggested it being for more close to medium range in terms of accuracy. Naruto would've inspected it further had he the time to do so.

Setting his sights on his opponent once more Naruto moved to close the gap just enough for his plan to work. Cecilia mistook this however as a repeat of his previous plan.

"Foolish boy," she yelled haughtily. "Do you seriously think that you can touch me using that same tired tactic?" She deployed her drones again to intercept the charging Kyubi.

Thankfully her moment of arrogant gloating offered Naruto just enough time to get close enough for his plan. He sent a larger pulse of energy in to his arm holding the gun, charging it. He raised it skyward, while averting his eyes from the flash of energy. Cecelia however didn't realize until it was too late as the light made everything go bright.

With his opponent briefly indisposed, Naruto closed in unequiping his ion gun in favor of the claws and the chains. Cecelia was coming to her senses and this would likely be his only chance. Unleashing the chains on to the Blue Tears he secured in place in case the British pilot planned on going anywhere soon. The chains, charged with energy not only prevented her from moving but also started to drain the energy from her mech. Willing the chains to move back towards him Naruto launched the claws into a series of slashes and jabs breaking down Blue Tears' defenses. Cecelia tried to properly counter but was unable to do so properly, and watched desperately as her energy levels hitting zero.

She expected to feel the sensation of falling; she jolted when she realized that the sensation was not coming instead finding herself in the secure hold of Naruto and his IS. This boy had surprised her yet again. She had mocked and belittled him, nevertheless he didn't look like he was about to revel in his victory against her nor did he let her once think that he'd actually allow her to fall to the floor of the arena. His hold was strong and his smile kind, and upon seeing this Cecelia couldn't stop the blush that bloomed across her fair cheeks.

"B-but why?" she managed to choke out.

At the question the boy cocked his head in a confused expression, put a little off by it.

"Why what?"

"Why didn't you allow me to fall? I deserve no better for my disgraceful behavior and my loss." She replied in kind.

Naruto smiled and looked to the sky, "I already made my point and anything more than that would be unnecessary and shameful. Besides…" he returned his gaze to her, "...I could never live with myself if I let a cute girl get hurt because of my pride." He finished grinning in a fox like manner.

That statement and the moment only fueled Cecelia's blush, her face resembling something closer to a tomato. Naruto then proceeded to lower them both to the ground to where Chifuyu and Maya were waiting for them. They were given a quick look over for any noticeable injuries were both commended by Maya for a great fight while Chifuyu herself stayed silent. More things were mentioned but Cecelia paid them no mind her focus set on Naruto. Moments passed before she realized she was being addressed by the blond teen.

"Earth to Alcott-san? Can you read me?"

"What?! What is it?"

Seeing she was alright the whiskered boy let out a small sigh of relief having feared for a moment that she might've sustained a concussion of some matter.

"It's just time to head back is all but you were spacing out."

She jolted upon realizing he had seen her looking at him in that kind of state.

She recovered enough though to let him know otherwise.

"I'm quite fine, thank you."

"You ready to go then?" he said motioning his head toward the exit.

"O-of course! My apologies Uzumaki-san!"

"Just Naruto."

The British noblewoman jolted again at this statement.

"Pardon?"

"Just call me Naruto, no 'Uzumaki-san', just Naruto." He finished with a smile.

The blush returned to her face along with a smile this time.

"Naruto…" she tested the name off her lips. "Very well but on one condition Naruto."

"And what would that be?"

"Call me Cecelia."

They smiled to the other in understanding.

"Okay Cecelia-chan!" His foxish grin appearing once more.

Cecelia transformed into the envy of a tomato again but smiled still. They started their trek back into the main halls of the academy. But one thought remained on her mind.

"Naruto…. My Naruto doesn't sound too bad."