A/N: For those of you who have wondered what Naruto's buki form is, this is the chapter for you. If you're disappointed with my choice, then I'm sorry.

As I stated previously, I am focusing on Naruto, so this chapter basically abbreviates episode 7 of the anime and goes right to episode 8.

By the way, I'm surprised no one has asked me about Kyuubi's fate.

Chapter 4

Maka cringed and held Soul tighter. 'Why didn't I wait? All we had to do was a small extra-curricular assignment. How could this happen?' She looked down at her injured buki. 'Soul was injured because of me! It's my fault. I wasn't strong enough!' The demon sword meister, Crona, began to swing his sword.

"What happened? My body…!" Crona was shocked to see a silver spike lodged in his stomach. Maka looked up to see the spike pierced through the door and Crona's body. The door cracked and shattered as a smaller set of spikes slammed into Crona's stomach, followed by the rest of Naruto's foot. "Naruto-hakase!"

As Naruto pushed Crona back, Stein walked in and comforted Maka. Naruto ignored Stein and Maka in favor of studying the 'demon sword.' He noticed a bulbous head on an elongated neck stretch out from Crona's body. "I hardened the blood from your wounds and stopped the bleeding! How about some thanks for me?"

"Yeah, thank you." "How about a 'very much'? I'll beat the shit out of you, punk!" Naruto watched as buki bullied meister. He was aware of Stein explaining to Maka about the strange pair and their potential to become a kishin.

Flashback:

The Reaper was standing in his mirror, speaking to Stein. "Go with Naruto-kun and stop the demon sword from becoming a kishin." Stein straightened. "Yes sir. That's the reason why I've been returned to Shibusen." His face hardened. "Leave it to me."

The Reaper's voice was solemn. "We cannot allow the Kishin to be reborn. I'm counting on you and Naruto-kun, Stein-kun." Naruto walked up to stand next to him. "Naruto-kun, will you agree to a partnership with Stein-kun?"

Naruto's mask was expressionless as usual as he looked at Stein. Stein looked back at Naruto's mask. "If you will control yourself, Stein-kun, then I will allow it." His voice lightened. "Let's see if you can even use me correctly."

Stein smiled at his old friend. "I would be honored, Naruto-san."

Flashback End:

"Let's go." At those words, Naruto looked back towards Stein, who was removing his shoes and socks. "Are you ready, Stein-kun? You haven't practiced much with my buki form." He smiled behind his mask. "And your older now."

"Stein frowned for a moment. "You didn't have to say it like that." He moved to stand beside Naruto as the masked buki began glowing silver. His form transformed into a silver liquid that flowed around Stein before settling over his hands and feet. The light faded to reveal Naruto as a true buki.

Stein's hands were covered by silver and black gauntlets that wrapped around his hands and extended to his lower arms. A pair of curved blades extended from Stein's wrists, but Stein flexed his hands and they retracted into the casings along the lower arms. His feet and lower legs were encased in what looked like silver and black greaves that ended in claws that clicked as Stein stepped forward. A set of chains connected the four pieces, meeting across Stein's chest and fusing together.

'Is that Naruto-hakase's buki form?' Maka was in awe and a small part of her mind was jumping for joy at the fact that she was the first to see Naruto's true form. 'The others will be so jealous.'

Floating in the air above the confrontation:

A blonde figure sat on a broom, watching the spectacle below her. "The strongest of all meisters at Shibusen. But who is the buki?" She searched her mind for a moment in confusion, trying to place the blonde buki. "I wonder how long Crona can last? It'll be a nice experiment…"

Back with Naruto and the others:

Stein flexed his hands and stretched, then moved into a stance. "Naruto-san, you can block that demon blade, can't you?" Naruto's mask appeared on Stein's left gauntlet. "Of course! I'm a pacifist buki who hates fighting."

Stein sweatdropped. "That…doesn't make any sense." Naruto chuckled. "It's only the third time you've wielded me, Stein-kun. Are you sure you don't want me to take him on myself?" Stein laughed. "Don't compare me to how I acted all those years ago. I've grown up."

The demon sword pair had by now finished their squabbling and Crona ran towards Stein. "This is the first time I've seen someone with a screw stuck in their head. I don't know how to deal with you!" Ragnarok responded. "Eat him! Every last bit of him!"

Crona swung at Stein, but the dissection-mad meister lifted his right gauntlet to block Ragnarok. He stared down at Crona, and then pushed the black sword to the side. Crona's balance was thrown off and Stein brought his left hand around to the boy's back while kneeing him in the stomach.

"Soul Force!" Crona slid off Stein's knee and collapsed on the floor, coughing up black blood. He raised his left hand again. "One more!" Naruto noticed something was wrong with their surroundings. "Stein, move!" "What?!"

A long thin spike had formed from the blood Naruto drew from Crona and was embedded in Stein's side. He looked around and saw more droplets floating in the air around him. "Bloody Needle!" Stein quickly jumped back as the droplets stabbed where he had been.

"Stein-hakase!" Maka looked on in fear for her two teachers. Naruto grimaced. "He's using even small droplets of blood as a weapon. Amazing." Stein tensed as more droplets floated around them. "The demon sword was created from excessive harvesting of souls. If we don't stop him now, he will without a doubt become the Kishin."

Naruto was examining their opponent with his own unique vision. "Stein-kun, look at their souls." Stein followed his buki's advice and examined them. "The meister and demon sword...it's like the buki's soul is trying to engulf the meister's soul. He's fighting back for now, but…"

Naruto was more interested in the black snake that was coiled around both meister and buki. "That snake, Stein-kun…" Stein charged towards the demon sword pair as they bickered. He leaped over consecutive Bloody Needles, then began pushing back the demon sword.

Crona was nervous and swung wildly at Stein, who began to overwhelm his opponent and create an opening. Maka stared at the two. 'So this is Stein-hakase's fighting style. He uses Naruto to block the demon sword and keep his opponent off-balance, then attack him directly with…' "Soul Force!"

Stein lifted Crona bodily and sent him flying out through the opening Naruto had made. Maka watched as Stein ran headlong after Crona. "Incredible!" Stein jumped past a Bloody Needle only to land directly in front of another wave. "Damn, he delayed it!"

Ragnarok emerged from Crona. "Die, you four-eyed screw-head! Bloody Needle!" Maka screamed. "Hakase!" Blood dripped to the ground as Stein's broken glasses fell from his face. He began grinning. "I'm going to dissect you!" His grin faded when he saw more black blood surrounding him on all sides.

"This is the end, screwshit!" "Naruto-san!" "Ready!" Stein dug his clawed greaves into the stone pavement as Ragnarok's blood droplets swirled around him. As Ragnarok screamed "Bloody Needle!" Stein slammed his gauntlets into the ground. "Soul Shockwave!"

A visible wave of energy created by Naruto's soul wavelength erupted from the ground around him, shielding Stein from the Bloody Needle. Ragnarok was not impressed. "They can't pierce through?" The insane buki looked back at Stein.

"He's gone? Hey, screwshit, where'd you go!? Son of a bitch!" He looked left and right for the Shibusen teacher, then finally looked up to see Stein flip down with a heel drop that disoriented Crona.

"Damn, that's it! Hurry and pull yourself together! If we take another hit from his soul wavelength, we're done for!" Crona wasn't listening. "I can see stars! I don't know how to deal with stars…" Ragnarok began pulling at Crona.

"How to deal with stars? Just do what feels natural, in the moment! Just snap the hell out of it!" Stein took this opportunity to charge in and slam both palms into Crona's body. "Double-Palm Soul Force! Twin Spear!" Crona's body was sent flying again and Ragnarok dissolved into black droplets.

Maka looked out from inside the Basilica. "More needles are coming!" But none did. Black blood fell to the ground and did not rise. "No, it's over." He looked sadly at Crona's limp body. "It's a pity, but I have to finish you off." Neither noticed the shadowy figure silhouetted by the bloody, grinning moon. Crona's hand twitched and both tensed as Crona and Ragnarok began screaming.

Bloody Needles began spiking out from Crona's body randomly. Naruto transformed back to his human form and watched in fascination. Stein stared for a moment, then frowned. "It's a rejection reaction." Maka watched as the demon sword pair flailed around and screamed incoherently.

"The soul's wavelengths, in a single body until now, are going wild…" Suddenly, Stein and Maka jerked their heads up as they sensed a witch's soul wavelength. Naruto glanced over at his temporary meister and student. "She must have been here the entire time, hiding from all of us." To Stein and Maka, who used their Soul Perception, the witch's soul wavelength seemed sinister.

But to Naruto, who only saw soul wavelengths, she seemed almost beautiful. Stein was feeling uneasy. "Her soul…it's overwhelming. That's the witch who put that weapon in this child's body." Maka had never seen a true witch's soul and was terribly frightened. "But how? I couldn't feel any souls this powerful until now!"

Naruto didn't take his blind eyes off the witch. "Soul Protect, an advanced magic usable by witches that conceals their soul wavelength with magic. With it a witch can live an ordinary life as a human." As Maka began to shake and mumble to herself, Naruto continued to watch the witch.

"Crona is far too careless. I'll have to punish him when we get back. Nake, snake, cobra, cobubra…" She began motioning with her hands in a way that alerted Naruto. "Nake, snake, cobra, cobubra…But before that…" her face elongated to look eerily like a snake. "You will be punished as well!"

Her hands extended and black arrow-like shadows began moving forward. "Vector Arrow!" The shadows shot towards Naruto and the others, but the masked buki just leaped up. He extended blades from his hands and feet and began spinning as he met the Vector Arrow.

"Spiraling Claw!" Maka gasped and Stein grinned as Naruto shredded the incoming arrows with ease. Medusa was surprised to see a buki that could fight so well without a meister. Her eyes narrowed at the unknown buki. "Who are you?" Naruto landed lightly on his feet.

"Naruto." Medusa grinned as the snake tattoo on her right arm came to life, slithering down and morphing into a large green snake that picked up Crona in its mouth. "I had some minor business I wanted to take care of here, but I wouldn't have dreamed I'd get to meet Shibusen's strongest meister."

"I'd really like to play with you a bit more, but, I'll have to excuse myself here, for today." Her eyes met Naruto's mask. "As for you, Naruto. I'll definitely play with you again." The blonde witch streaked off with Crona.

Stein moved over to see how Soul was faring, but Naruto gazed out to where Medusa had disappeared.

Back in Death City, Death Room:

"I see. How's Soul doing, then?" The Reaper looked out at Naruto from his mirror. "Stein is still operating, but I think he'll be fine." The Reaper paused for a moment, collecting his thought. "So the demon sword and its meister, formed into one body…A witch was behind them, yes?" They both sighed at that.

The Reaper suddenly held up his hands as if to say, 'what can I do?' "This is all a big pain in the neck, wouldn't you say?" Spirit, the current Deathscythe stepped up next to Naruto. "You may be taking this a bit lightly, Shinigami-sama." The Reaper shrugged. "Oh, really?"

Later that evening in Naruto's classroom (middle balcony):

Naruto stared vacantly into the city. His thoughts were muddled and he felt a headache coming on. 'Why can't I stop thinking about that witch?' He took his mask off and rubbed his forehead. "I'll go to the Dispensary for some headache medicine. Maybe then I can concentrate on tomorrow's lesson."

He went back inside and walked down the halls to the Dispensary. Soul was resting peacefully after his surgery, and Maka had fallen asleep in the bed next to him. Naruto looked around for a moment, but didn't see the nurse.

"Can I help you?" 'Damn it!' Sometimes, Naruto hated not being able to see like others. Seeing soul wavelengths didn't help with ordinary humans like the nurse. 'That or I'm just really tired.' Naruto turned around to see Shibusen's nurse.

Naruto hadn't been down to the Dispensary since his arrival, so he hadn't introduced himself before now. He held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Naruto." The woman grasped his hand firmly and shook it. "My name is Medusa. I'm surprised to see you here, Naruto-hakase. The other teachers have mentioned you, but you've never come to see me."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Sorry about that. I just came down to get some headache medicine before I left for the day." Medusa chuckled as she moved to the medicine cabinet and selected a pill bottle. "This should help with your headaches."

Naruto smiled at her. "Thank you. I'll be sure to come by and visit more often." He walked out the door and Medusa waved as he walked down the hall. As he turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Medusa smirked. "I think we will be seeing each other more often, Naruto-kun." Her face elongated to mimic a snake. "I definitely want to play with you some more."

A/N: I haven't decided on Naruto's pairing yet, despite the final content of this chapter. This is part of the plot and if Medusa doesn't win the poll, then this will be used as different plot device and not something to accelerate a romantic subplot.

Here are the current poll results:

Marie: 6

Medusa: 4

Arachne: 3

No Pairing: 2

Other Pairings: 0. No one has PMed me about a different romantic interest for Naruto.

I thought it might be a close match between Marie and Medusa, but there's still time for voters to surprise me. I will keep the poll open for maybe two more chapters.