Am I right in thinking this is the fastest I've ever uploaded a chapter?
Act 4
Their tale was an incredible one. A thousand years or so ago their planet and moon had each been ruled by a single mighty kingdom. Endymion, prince of Earth, and Serenity, princess of the moon, had fallen deeply in love but an earthborn witch had sold her soul to a great evil and raised up an army to overthrow both kingdoms. After seeing her daughter commit suicide due to her lover's murder and foretelling darkness consuming all mankind, the moon's queen, confusingly also named Serenity, sacrificed her life and her kingdom to seal the evil and send the souls of the fallen to be reincarnated in a more peaceful age.
Now, in the modern age, fate had brought Usagi, the reincarnation of Serenity (the younger one), into contact not only with her old guardians, the Sailor Senshi, but with the reborn Endymion, Chiba Mamoru, now her boyfriend 'Mamo-chan'. He now assisted his true love as the hero Tuxedo Mask, prompting Naruto to ask what a tuxedo was.
Needless to say, this was a lot for Naruto to take in. All this talk of destiny also bothered her; it reminded her of a certain arrogant jerk who she'd forcibly had to beat some humility into.
The tale got weirder. Just after the ancient evil had been defeated for good and their peaceful lives had resumed, they encountered a little girl, the improbably named Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity, Usagi and Mamoru's future daughter. While being pursued by deadly enemies, she fled to the present day seeking to save her mother... by robbing her mother's past self of the Legendary Silver Crystal, the source of her power as Sailor Moon. Travelling a thousand years into the future the Senshi found Crystal Tokyo being corrupted by a dark monolith and Neo-Queen Serenity trapped in a coma. Only through the sacrifice of a comrade and the awakening of Chibiusa, as the little princess was known in the present, as the next Sailor Moon could they overcome their enemies and restore the world. That would have been the end of it had the resurrected queen not foisted her daughter onto her past self.
The two cats showed Naruto how to access footage of the Senshi's past battles on the computers. It was compelling viewing but the (on paper) professional soldier couldn't help being concerned...
"...which is why I called you here today."
About a week had passed since Naruto had arrived in Tokyo and she was starting to get use to its perpetual hubbub. Her exploratory wanderings had led her to the Arisugawa-no-Miya Memorial Park, a pleasantly forested patch of land only a few streets away from the Hikawa shrine. Between the trees, the lake and the spots of classical architecture, Naruto's homesickness began to ease a little. Heck, if she'd been able to afford anything in the convenience store to the south, she would have been tempted to set up shop here.
"It would have been helpful if you'd said where in the park you wanted to meet!" Minako chided the girl. Rei stifled a laugh with the back of her hand; she'd come with Naruto and so had to endure none of the ordeal that her friends had to.
"Oops?" Naruto laughed sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head. "Look, I've got a question for you guys: how long has it been since you guys last had to spring into action?"
"A week ago; you were there!"
"Usagi, I meant before then."
Ami pursed her lips contemplatively. "It was back in last year so I'd say eight or nine months now."
"And how often do you train?"
Realisation dawned on Minako's face; she could see where this was going.
"We... don't?"
"Not as a Senshi, but I do Karate."
"We've never needed to. The power just comes to us when it's needed."
"When it's needed? So you didn't need it when the Spectre Sisters overpowered you with your own elements and kidnapped you?" Naruto mercilessly pounced on Rei's response. "You're fine with being helpless against a stronger opponent?"
"That's not..." Tears began to form in the shrine maiden's eyes and Naruto realised she had crossed a line.
"Look, I'm sorry. It's just you guys have a lot of raw power but little finesse." Naruto did not know the meaning of hypocrisy. "Pretty much all you do is stand back and lob your biggest attacks at your opponents. If the other guy's stronger than you, you've got nothing to fall back on. 'Sides, people back home would tear you apart if you're that predictable."
"That's not true!"
"It kinda is."
"Hey! I'm not that bad!"
"V-chan! You traitor!"
"I do karate?"
"So this is why we're here. You've given me so much kindness and I've got so little to give back to you so I'm going to help you with one of the few things I'm actually good at. I want to train you."
Usagi clasped Naruto's hands in her own. "If you want to train us, then I want to be trained... Naruto-sensei!" She smiled. Behind her, the other Senshi nodded their approval.
Naruto put on her serious face. "Then here's how it's going to work. Me against all of you. I won't use chakra; you don't get to transform. Come at me with the intent to kill," she smirked maliciously as she repeated her sensei's words, "if you don't want to die!"
In a panic, the Senshi hastily adopted fighting stances of various degrees of quality. Ami's stance made her look like she needed certain facilities rather desperately; she became the ninja's first victim as a light sweep to the back of the knees knocked her on her derriere.
"Sailor Kick!" As if the clumsy kick was not telegraphed enough, Usagi's cry made it readable from the other side of the planet. Naruto ducked under the foot aimed, optimistically, at her face and use the upraised leg to throw her prey over her shoulder into an unready Rei, leaving both girls sprawled on the ground under their combined weight. Three casualties in only two moves.
Makoto was another matter. Naruto was forced to block the initial barrage of punches with both forearms which hurt a lot more than she expected. She whistled with appreciation as she reluctantly gave ground.
"I told you: I do karate."
Something lashed across the newly formed bruises on Naruto's arms. She looked to see that Minako had unfastened the belt from her jeans and was now utilising it as a whip. Not only had her loose stance been the best out of admittedly bad bunch, which was why Naruto had planned on leaving her for last, but she was now showing a degree of resourcefulness and underhandedness worthy of being a ninja. Naruto approved.
Individually, Naruto reckoned she could beat either girl but they were both good enough that together Naruto was fighting a losing battle. Though she was able to get in the odd attack and even, one time, snatch Minako's whip out of the air, she was steadily losing ground and eventually ran out altogether.
A careless reverse step onto nothingness sent her rolling head over heels backwards down the bank and onto the lake. She was about to leap back into action when she realised what she was standing on. Laughing and, to her surprise, panting, she signalled her concession.
"We won?"
"How do you like us now?"
"...two out of five."
"Wait! That's it?"
Naruto pointed behind Makoto to where Ami was leaning against a tree, brushing dirt off her skinned knees, and where Rei and Usagi were still trying to get out from each other and failing, sparking a row.
"Two out of five still standing." Naruto said before she leapt up the ten foot of bank in a single leap. "Do you guys want to take a break?"
The girls practically chorused their agreement.
After they had finished taking turns on the public water fountain, Rei sheepishly turned to Naruto.
"...now that we have got everyone here, there is something we need to talk about Naruto-chan."
"Hmm?"
"I love having you staying with Grandfather and myself, you are a breath of fresh air at the shrine and so good at keeping him in check..."
"Not to mention I rock the uniform!"
Rei giggled before composing herself. "...but you can't stay with us forever. Grandfather allowed it because of your circumstances but sooner or later he is going to start asking questions.
"I see." Naruto's shoulders slumped. "When do you want be to pack my things?"
Makoto placed a soothing hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "How about as soon as you're ready to move in with me. I live alone, I could use the company and you can help with my plants."
Naruto's head flickered back and forth between the two girls. "Were you two planning to give me a scare?"
Rei blushed furiously and poked her fingers together like an embarrassed schoolgirl, which, admittedly, she was. "I may have mishandled it... just a little."
The training continued through the afternoon with Naruto using her shadow clones to give each girl one-to-one training as necessary. The sun was starting to set when they took their final rest break before heading home. Ami used this opportunity to finally espouse her theory regarding the Senshi's disguises.
Apparently, ordinary people couldn't see the Senshi's ususual hair and eye colours when they were in their civilian forms and Ami believed that there was a form of perception filter that caused people to disbelieve that a group of ordinary schoolgirls could possibly be superheroes, despite the glaring similarities. She also said that Naruto was able to figure it out due to being "out of context"; she had no reason not to believe they were the same people. This was all theoretical, however, as Luna, when Ami had asked her about it, wasn't able to give any kind of confirmation as the Senshi of the Silver Millennium had no need for anonymity.
The conversation had moved on to various anecdotes when a lone droid shuffled out of the treeline. As it approached the alarmed girls, it seemed to grow with every step. It tilted its head back and let out a terrifying scream, despite having no mouth, and its formed exploded with a cancerous growth. Tendrils of dark matter lashed out to grab the girls before lifting them off their feet. The Senshi tried to transform but their arms were bound and they could feel their energy being drained.
Naruto grit her teeth and a red aura flared around her. The tendril binding her exploded into goo and she dropped to the ground, landing with trained grace. As she raised her head to glare at the mutated droid, the Senshi were shocked to see an all too familiar sigil blazing on the girl's forehead. A wand appeared floating in the air before her. The necessary words emerged from Naruto's soul rather than her mind.
"Eris Planet Power, Make Up!"
Cliffhanger!
Hands up if you saw that coming! Now use those hands to smack all the oblivious people who didn't.
Now I have to write a description of a transformation sequence. Fun times!
Hopefully the next chapter will be out even quicker. (This chapter was mostly written over two Saturdays. I just had to kick my arse into actually doing it.)