Here it is folks, the grand finale of the Royal Academy arc. Thank god.

I know I'm scum for leaving this for months, but with college I've either forgotten about fan fiction or I'm too tired to do anything. I'd give reasons, but to quote Scar "Anything I say would only be an excuse."

Prepare for the (decidedly un-)epic end of the arc! [Beta'd by TOA Naruto, who did an amazing job of improving this chapter {that's right, I have a beta now. I'm sure you're all ecstatic}]

Chapter 21- FINALLY, URGH!

Naruto stared at the panting man before him with wide, unbelieving eyes, whilst Daniel glared back at him, his pupils shaking with unrestrained insanity. The blonde's mouth opened and closed uselessly, trying to come up with something to counter Daniel's outrageous accusation, but nothing came. Down below, the Duel Academy students weren't fairing any better.

"Wh-What did he mean by that?" Shou asked shakily, his wide eyes still glued to the platform. Ryou, not having an answer ready for once, shook his head with a frown.

"I-It's a lie." Asuka said quietly, grabbing Misawa's attention, who was frowning in thought like Ryou. "It has to be…" she continued, before her voice finally trailed off in disbelief.

Samejima closed his eyes, before turning around and examining the locked security door behind him. He knew that if he didn't act fast, things could spiral out of control for the young Ra Yellow. But before speculations could run wild amongst his students, a calm voice rang out from the arena entrance.

"I can explain everything." Everyone turned to where they heard the voice, only to be surprised to see both Judai and Manjoume.

"Manjoume! What are you doing here?!" exclaimed Asuka.

Manjoume just shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now. What does matter is that you all know the truth about Daniel Joseph Greye, and why what has happened today came to be."

Samejima frowned and took a step closer towards the former Duel Academy student. "Alright, start talking Manjoume-kun. We can talk about why you're here, and how you know about all of this, at a later date."

Manjoume nodded, before he turned his attention to the student body. "Right. It all started 32 years ago." (Exclaimer- I apologise if any offense is taken from my incredibly inaccurate telling of anything related to religion, culture or existence)

Daniel was born in the city of Rome, Italy, or to be more accurate, in an orphanage in the Vatican City. The orphanage belonged to the Catholic Church, so as one can imagine, it had several extremely strict rules and regulations. Any child in this type of living environment would feel constrained, and Daniel was no exception. He had often dreamt of having a life outside the orphanage that he had never left since the day he'd been born, after talking with the older orphans who once had families. So, at the age of five, he snuck out, an impressive feat in itself, and ran out into the streets of the Vatican.

For a year, he lived off of scraps and rubbish, but he was happy just to be out of the home that had constricted him for so long. Yet even if he was happier on the streets, however, a young boy's body needs more nutrients than what can be gained from the scraps found in bins. His body began to wear away, until eighteen months later, he was nothing but skin and bones. It was then that he met his saviour: Joseph Greye.

Greye was a priest for a small church in Rome, who had come to the Vatican for spiritual reasons. He was a short man in his mid-fifties, small in stature, but big in heart. He happened upon the weakened husk of Daniel merely by accident, and hastily took him to the small house he stayed in whenever he visited the Vatican. A few months later, not only had Daniel's body recovered, but so had his soul. He grew to see Joseph as a father figure, something he had never had growing up around nuns. And once Daniel had fully recovered, he was ecstatic to find out that Joseph had visited the orphanage and adopted him as his son.

That was the day he became Daniel Joseph Greye-

"Question!" shouted Shou, his hand raised in the air. "How do you know all this Manjoume-san?" Said boy twitched with irritation at being interrupted.

"Shut up, slacker! We'll get to that later!" With an 'EEP!', Shou quickly put his hand down. "Good, now where was I?"

"You were on the part where he was adopted." stated Asuka.

"Right, as I was saying…"

That was the day he became Daniel Joseph Greye, an altar boy for his father's small church in Rome.

Over the years, his faith grew, as he believed God's divine intervention was the reason he now had a father and a better home. But after a quiet, but happy 20 years, he noticed his father had become weaker and frailer with each passing day. One day, it became too much for Joseph, and he collapsed during a service.

"Father!"

The doctors diagnosed Joseph with a rare terminal disease, and seeing as they were but a poor church, they could not afford to go oversees to see a much needed medical specialist. Daniel became desperate over the weeks, before a chance fell into his lap.

"A Duel Monsters tournament?" Daniel quietly read out loud from a leaflet he was holding "Next week in the beautiful city of Rome. Grand Prize €50,000." Scrunching the paper tightly in his hands, his eyes blazed with determination. "I'll do it!"

Over the week, Daniel pulled together all the scraps off money he owned, and purchased a deck. He spent a few days practicing in a local park, where he, and many of his unfortunate opponents, discovered he had a great talent for the game. And so his hopes were set; he would win this tournament, no matter what.

From high up above, Daniel glared down at his elite duellist. 'What is this?! How does that boy know about my past?!' His eyes narrowed further on the black haired boy. 'Who are you really, Manjoume Jun?'

And so the day finally came, the fifth Italian Annual Duel Monsters Tournament (IADMT). Daniel stormed through the competition, effortlessly beating anyone who stood in his way, his determination to save his adopted father driving him onwards.

Unfortunately for him, however, someone else was also there. Another much too talented young duelist. A blonde ten-year-old boy named Uzumaki Naruto. He was there with his mentor, Pegasus J. Crawford, as a learning experience, since those who entered the IADMT were usually not very skilled. At that time, Duel Monsters was still relatively new worldwide. Like Daniel, he effortlessly cut down anyone he faced with his Six-Samurai deck.

Inevitably, the two of them met in the finals, and in an unexpected turn of events, the ten year old boy defeated the grown man. Daniel was crushed, his hopes shattered, and with a heavy heart, he returned home.

A week later, his father was on his death bed.

"Father!" Daniel cried, as he held Joseph's frail hand. "I'm so sorry that I've failed you." Joseph gave his son in all but blood a kind but weak smile.

"Be at peace, my son. Seeing your efforts warmed this old man's heart beyond comprehension." He squeezed Daniels hand weakly, and the young man grasped his father's own hand with both of his. "Do not despair, my child. If I am to go now, then it is merely a part of God's divine plan." His eyelids began to droop, and Daniel moved from his chair to kneel on the floor. "Do not blame yourself," his eyelids slowly closed "Keep your faith…my son…" And just like that, with no dramatic final breath or dropped head, Joseph Greye passed away.

"FATHER!" Daniel yelled with tears rolling down his cheeks. The local doctor came over to check Joseph's pulse, and shook his head sadly, before laying a hand on Daniels shoulder briefly, and then leaving the room. Daniel held his father's hand to his forehead.

"Why…" he whispered. "Why would God be so cruel?" He stood up violently, raising his head to the roof. "WHAT KIND OF PLAN DEMANDS DEATH!?" But he received no answer, and collapsed to his knees in despair. Suddenly, he remembered his father's last words.

"…merely a part of God's divine plan…do not blame yourself…keep faith…"

Daniel chuckled, a weak, but insane chuckle. Getting onto his feet, his chuckling turned into full blown laughter.

"I see now!" he cried. "I understand! I am not to blame! This is a part of God's plan!" he walked over to a local newspaper, and flipped through it until he found an article on the IADMT. There, taking up a corner of the page, was a picture of the tournament's victor, Uzumaki Naruto. "This is God's way of telling me that Uzumaki Naruto must die!" he laughed once more, hatred and madness pouring from his words. Holding it to a candle, he watched as the photograph was engulfed in flames. "Despair, Uzumaki Naruto! For against the wrath of the heavens, YOU STAND NO CHANCE!"

Anyone who walked past the church that day would have heard the laughter of a mad man, driven insane by loss, and a desperate desire to keep faith.

Everyone was silent after hearing such a tragic story. Many people were crying, including Shou, Hayato, Momoe, and Junko. Samejima looked down for a second, before clenching his fist.

"As sad as that may be…" he began, gaining everyone's attention, "...it does not excuse his actions. Daniel Greye may no longer be of stable mental health, but he is a criminal, a danger to society." He looked back up, his eyes set in determination "He must be stopped!"

Manjoume nodded in agreement. "Yeah, well, someone will be here to take care of that later." With that, he turned back to Naruto and Daniel, ignoring all other questions. "They're starting."

[Just after Manjoume's tale]

Naruto stared at the glaring man opposite him with a blank expression, whilst Daniel's attention was still focused on Manjoume, before he turned back to face the blonde.

"Hm, I don't know how Manjoume found out about my history, but it doesn't matter." He sneered, before grinning madly. "I'll deal with him later, right after I destroy you!"

Naruto closed his eyes in frustration. 'Grrrrrrrr, damn it! This time, it really is all my fault! I got my friends got involved in this mess, and-'

'NO!' His eyes opened and he turned his head to the right to see Haku standing next to him with a glare on her face. 'Don't you dare blame yourself!' she said, and before he could say anything, she slapped him. 'It's not your fault that his father is dead, he is just blaming you to keep hold of his faith! You need to stop him now, before he hurts anyone else!' Naruto stared at the spirit with wide eyes, before smiling slightly.

"Yeah…thank you, Haku." he whispered, before turning back to glare at Daniel, who had been watching Naruto with a raised brow.

The crazed religious zealot smirked when he noticed that his opponent's attention was on him. "I take it you are ready to start, Uzumaki? Then let us begin!" he declared, as they both activated their duel disks. "Let us begin your descent into hell!"

"DUEL!"

#Naruto- 4000#

#Daniel- 4000#

"It's my move! Draw!" declared Naruto, before looking at his hand. 'Okay, I've got a good hand here, let's try and end this as quickly as possible.' "I summon 'Akatsuki- Deidara' in attack mode!" In a flash, the blonde bomber of the Akatsuki appeared on the field.

#A-D Atk-1600#

Two clay tokens flew out from Deidara's hands, and landed on Daniel's shoulders. The man looked at them momentarily, before dismissing them completely. "I take it I don't have to explain that to you?" He took Daniel's smirk as a 'yes'. "I end my turn."

Daniel smirked as he drew from his deck. "A humble beginning, for someone like you. Is that all you are able to do, or are you hiding something? Whether you are or not, it does not matter. My divine deck will defeat you no matter what new tricks you pull out! I summon 'Pastor' in attack mode!" A man with slightly pointy ears, short black hair and red eyes appeared on the field.

#Pastor- Priest/Light lvl: 4#

#Atk/Def- 1650/1450#

Naruto frowned at the new monster. 'Priest? I didn't know that type existed!' he thought, before a new revelation struck him. 'Wait a minute, Pegasus mentioned that he was creating a new monster type once, but the prototype deck he created got stolen on the way to the production line. So that's what happened to it.' (Yeah I know…trust me, I know…..just roll with it)

Daniel pointed at Naruto's monster. "'Pastor', destroy that abomination!" With a smirk, the pastor charged and punched Deidara in the face, destroying him in a massive explosion.

#Daniel- 4000#

#Naruto- 3950#

After 'Deidara' was destroyed, the tokens on Daniel's shoulder glowed before they too exploded, engulfing Daniel in a cloud of smoke.

#Naruto- 3950#

#Daniel- 3000#

Once the cloud dispersed, Daniel was revealed looking quite unphased, his red robes only slightly ruffled. "I place one card face down and end my turn."

Naruto grinned, before drawing a new card. 'This is going well so far.' "I summon 'Akatsuki- Sasori' in attack mode." The misleadingly youthful redhead of the Akatsuki appeared in a swirl of black sand.

#A-S Atk-1800#

Naruto grinned, before pointing forward dramatically. "'Akatsuki- Sasori', destroy 'Pastor'!" 'Sasori' swiped his hand, but Daniel acted quickly.

"I activate the trap card, 'Wrath of God'! When an opponent's monster declares an attack on a Priest type monster on my side of the field, it is negated and the battle phase is ended." A large bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and struck 'Sasori', stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Tch, fine." Naruto muttered, before picking a card from his hand "I place down a face down and end my turn."

Daniel laughed before drawing a card from his deck. "Even the heavens side with me Uzumaki! You don't stand a chance! I equip 'Pastor' with the spell card 'Holy Bible'! This gives the equipped Priest type monster 300 attack and defense points."

Instead of looking distressed, Naruto grinned, before holding his open hand outwards. "I activate the spell card 'Explosive Tag', and you already know what it does, don't you?" Daniel's eye twitched as the good book was destroyed in 'Pastor's' hands.

#Naruto- 3950#

#Daniel- 2500#

Daniel closed his eyes briefly before picking another card from his hand. "I tribute 'Pastor' to summon 'Iscariot- Heinkel Wolfe' in attack mode." 'Pastor' shattered, before being replaced by a blonde woman in a priestess' uniform and round glasses. A cigarette hung from her mouth, smoke billowing from the end. In her hands, she held two pistols.

#Iscariot- Heinkel Wolfe- Priest/Light lvl: 6#

#Atk/Def- 2300/2100#

"'Heinkel' destroy 'Akatsuki- Sasori'!" Daniel commanded. 'Heinkel' aimed her twin pistols at the red-head and fired a barrage of bullets, which shredded him to pieces.

#Naruto- 3450#

#Daniel- 2500#

Daniel laughed as Naruto put Sasori in the graveyard with a frown. "I end my turn with a facedown!"

Naruto looked at his deck, before drawing a card and adding it to his hand. 'Right, I need to be careful of that facedown, I don't need a repeat of what happened earlier.' His eyes glanced down at the collar around his throat. 'I really can't afford to screw this one up.'

[Further within the submarine]

Yoshiki grunted as he placed his hand on the corridor wall to hold him up, before pushing off to continue limping. He successfully walked two steps forward, before he stumbled and fell face down.

"Ow." he groaned, his voice muffled by the floor. He was contemplating on just laying there, when he heard a sigh from above him.

"Just look at you, laying there on the ground like some dead person. It's pathetic." said Raiden, looking down at his classmate with a flat expression. Yoshiki just chuckled, turning his face slightly to see a familiar pair of purple boots.

"Hey, Raiden, I take it from your ability to walk that you won your duel?" Raiden kneeled down and grabbed the purple-haired eccentric by the arm, and pulled him up. He flung his arm over his shoulder and steadied him.

"Close enough. Manjoume was defeated before I could finish my duel."

Yoshiki scoffed. "That guy's nothing special, you could take him on easily." Raiden rolled his eyes as the two began to walk, with the blonde supporting his fellow elite along the way.

"So could you, if you actually used your real deck, and stopped pretending to be so weak." He narrowed his eyes as he stared directly at him "It's annoying."

Yoshiki's face fell slightly. "You know I can't do that. After all, I am weak. It's my fault that-"

"Don't." the short blonde said firmly. "Don't go there again. What happened to Commander Yuuto wasn't your fault." His expression softened slightly. "You know that."

Yoshiki just shook his head violently. "NO!" he yelled. "It IS my fault! If I wasn't so weak, then the Commander wouldn't have even been in that car!" They stopped, and Raiden looked at his friend worriedly. "If I hadn't of lost that one duel, or made such a big deal about it, then Commander Yuuto wouldn't have come to visit me!" Yoshiki grit his teeth angrily. "And now we're stuck with that nut-job! One wrong move, and our families are done for!" Tears dripped to the floor, which Raiden took as his cue to look away. They stood there for a few minutes, before Raiden started moving again without saying a word.

[Back at the Duel]

Naruto examined his hand for a few minutes, before finally picking out a card. "I summon 'Akatsuki- Zetsu' in attack mode."

#A-Z Atk-1000#

"Next, I play the spell card 'Foolish Burial' to add one monster card from my deck to the graveyard." A card shot from his duel disk, which he caught between his index finger and thumb, before sliding it into his graveyard. "Then, I play the spell card 'Edo Tensei' to special summon a monster from my graveyard by tributing a monster on my side of the field." Immediately, 'Zetsu' disappeared in a shower of pixels. "I special summon from the graveyard 'Akatsuki Leader- Pain', in attack mode!" In blinding flash of light, the leader of the Akatsuki appeared in the air, before descending to the floor.

#AL-P Atk-3000#

"And now that he's out on the field, one of 'Pain's effects activates, allowing me to special summon one level 5 or lower 'Akatsuki' monster from my hand. So I choose 'Akatsuki- Konan', and summon her in attack mode, too. (quick note, I've been inconsistent with Konan's attack points, so from now on it stays at 1900. When at times before it wasn't, just forget about, pretty please! If I can be bothered I'll make changes to the chapters to fix it.)

#A-K Atk-1900#

" 'Pain' destroy 'Heinkel'-"

"I activate my trap, 'Holy Water'!" shouted Daniel. "When one of your heathens attacks, its attack points are reduced by 400!" 'Heinkel' pulled out a small bottle, opened it, and threw its contents at 'Pain'.

#AL-P Atk-2600#

"Continue your attack, 'Pain'!" Naruto commanded. Raising his arm, 'Pain' fired a black rod from his sleeve, which impaled 'Heinkel' (ironically), through the heart.

#Naruto- 3450#

#Daniel- 2200#

"'Konan', follow up with Shikigami Dance!" With a wave of the blue-haired beauty's hand, Daniel was buffeted by a whirlwind of paper.

#Naruto- 3450#

#Daniel- 300#

Daniel collapsed to one knee, panting madly as his shoulders heaved up and down. Naruto stared at him warily, before he jumped in shock as the man let out an angry wail.

"GAAAAAAH! I WILL KILL YOU, UZUMAKI!" the mad man raged, as he stared at the blonde with wide, wild eyes.

The crowd down below flinched at the explosive outburst. Unsure on what to make of the situation, Shou looked at the others nervously.

"Th-That means it's going…well… right?"

Misawa nodded hesitantly. "I…believe so…" he said with a frown.

"It would seem that his mental state has slipped even further." said a new voice, causing everyone to turn to where they heard it, only to gape in shock at who they saw. Standing behind them was a man dressed in a grey-blue coat, over a white shirt and red tie. He had long brown hair, some of it braided into a short ponytail at the back, and the rest flowing down to his shoulders. On his face he wore glasses with round, green lenses and white frames. Samejima, instantly recognizing the stranger, pointed a shaky finger at the man.

"Yu-Yu-Yu-,...but he said-!" But the chairman was silenced by a raised hand.

"Yes, well, he can dream, but it would take more than some poorly planned sabotage plot to kill me." the man said with a smirk. Ryou blinked in shock, before smirking and shaking his head. Chronos, on the other hand, looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Asuka turned to the wide eyed chairman with a confused look on her face. "Chairman, who is this man?" she asked. But instead of Samejima, it was the newcomer who answered her question.

"I guess I should introduce myself." The man said, adjusting his glasses. "My name is Kidou Yuuto, the true commander of Royal Academy." Nearly everyone looked at him in confusion, except those who had been there to meet Royal Academy earlier that day. Shou and Hayato, however, screamed in terror before latching onto each other.

"GHOST!" they yelled, making everyone sweat-drop. Yuuto just looked at them blankly.

"I assure you, I am no ghost. I am very much alive."" he deadpanned with a sigh. "I suppose I should explain-"

"Co-Commander?!" a surprised voice rang out from behind the amassed group. The group about faced to see none other than Yoshiki and Raiden staring at Yuuto, with Yoshiki visibly more affected by their "deceased" leader's appearance than Raiden. "Y-You're alive!" Yoshiki stuttered as the two students limped over to the man. Yuuto (ignoring a slight yell of surprise from the up high arena) put his hands on both of the boys' shoulders.

"I'm sorry that I had to leave the two of you with him, Raiden, Yoshiki,"he said solemnly, "but I couldn't risk him finding out my plan." The two Elites just nodded numbly, before they and Yuuto heard the sound of Samejima clearing his throat.

"Excuse me, Yuuto-san, but I believe you were just about to explain what's going on around here."

"Yes, of course." he replied with a short nod, before he squared his shoulders and put his hands behind his back. "Two years ago, my second in command, Sakuma Jirou, retired due to an accident which cost him his right eye, and crippled his left leg permanently. So naturally, I announced that I required a replacement to take over Sakuma's position, and one of the more promising applicants that I reviewed was none other than Daniel Joseph Greye. He had excellent credentials and high praises from past employers, and at that time I thought that he would make an adequate first lieutenant. After a few interviews, I decided to hire Greye for the position, and at first all was well; he worked efficiently and his personality ensured that the students liked him well enough." He frowned and took a moment to adjust his glasses. "But as time went on, however, I started to notice that the students got along with him a little too well, to the point that they seemed fanatically loyal to him. Oddly enough, this disturbing behavior only occurred with the students who took his class, not the rest of the student body. This alone was enough for me to becomes suspicious of Greye's true intentions. Unfortunately, the only way that I could get a clear understanding on what went on in Greye's classes was by having someone on the inside report directly to me. So I asked one of my top students if he would enter the class, and find out what was going on in that classroom. Despite the potential risks he would have had to face, Nakamura Theron agreed to act as my mole within Greye's classroom."

Everyone's eyes widened as they turned to the unconscious teen on the ground behind them. "What?!" exclaimed Yoshiki. "You-You mean, Nakamura succumbed to that?! But-He's Nakamura!"

Misawa frowned, confused to what the Elite was referring to. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

But it was Commander Yuuto who answered him, his expression dour. "What Yoshiki means by that, is the reason why a majority of my students are so emotionless, almost as if they are nothing but subservient army drones: brainwashing."

"Bra-Brainwashing?!" Shou yelped. "Like in the movies?! Tied-to-a-chair-and-eyes-held-open-brainwashing?!"

Ryou, although having better control over his emotions than his younger sibling, stared directly at the bespectacled adult, his wide eyes the only indication that he too found the entire situation unnerving. "It does sound rather far-fetched." he said, his calm tone belaying the revulsion he felt towards Greye.

"I whole-heartedly agree with you, young man. If Theron hadn't been so insistent in his reports, I would've disregarded the possibility entirely." The Royal Academy Commander then turned to the two conscious Elites, snapping them out of their daze. "I assume he tried the same on you?"

"Yeah," said Raiden, despondently, "but, he underestimated us."

"It was just a few months ago." Yoshiki continued, his fist clenching tightly has he recalled those horrible memories. "After your supposedly fatal crash, he took over as de-facto Commander and brainwashed the rest of the academy in assemblies. Luckily, we were able to resist it, but he seemed to be in a hurry for some reason. As a result, he took more direct...methods...to ensure our loyalty."

Yuuto nodded solemnly, his visage taking on a more morbid expression. "He took your families hostage, didn't he?" Again, everyone was horrified by how far the religious zealot was willing to go to get his way.

"Yes. Not to mention he made us wear these accessories around our necks." said Raiden, as he thumbed to a shock collar around his neck.

Yuuto remained silent for a brief moment, silently contemplating on the most painful way he could kill Daniel Greye for the cruelty he put his students through, before continuing his explanation. "Those with a strong enough mind could resist Greye's brainwashing to some degree, as it took a year just for Theron's mind to be heavily altered to its current state." At the mention of his name, said boy groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing his back in pain as he re-entered consciousness. Quickly making his way over, Yuuto kneeled next to the bluenette. "Are you alright, Theron?"

"Urgh…Commander Kidou?" the student asked groggily "Wha- Where…" His eyes suddenly shot wide open as the memories finally came back to him, before he hung his head in shame. "Damn….Commander I…."

"Don't blame yourself." interrupted Yuuto. "The fact that you held off Greye's influence for so long says a lot of your strong will." He helped the boy to his feet, steadying him as he wavered a bit, before turning back to the crowd and picked up where he left off. "After that, it wasn't long before the accident. I was on my way to visit Yoshiki, who was feeling down since he lost the duel which would determine who would represent Royal Academy in this year's school duel to Theron, when it happened. I was run off the road by a truck, and was later taken to the hospital."

XXX~Flashback~XXX

Yuuto groaned as he awoke and noticed the white walls and ceiling. 'The hospital.' he mused 'Why am I….'

"You gave me quite the scare there, Yuuto." said a familiar voice, further rousing him from his groggy state. Upon sitting up, he saw his old school friend.

"Shuuya…what's the head of the hospital doing treating a patient?" Goenji Shuuya chuckled whilst Yuuto took the time to examine him. The man had white hair tied back in a lazy ponytail, and two coal black eyes, which looked at him with amusement laced with worry. The doctor was also wearing a white lab coat and had a clipboard in his hand.

"Well, you're not exactly my first choice of a patient, you know." he said "How'd you end up crashing your car into a truck? You're the most careful driver I know, annoyingly so in fact." And with that question, it all came flooding back to him.

'Of course!' he mentally screamed, before he remembered everything. 'Before I lost consciousness…. I noticed something about the truck….!' His red eyes widened in realization. 'That symbol! It was a Royal Academy supply truck! But the only reason it would've been on the road at all is if a delivery was on the way, and since delivery day was last week….' He absentmindedly put a hand to his chin, ignoring Shuuya's inquisitive glance. 'It should have still been at the Academy garage, and the only ones who have access to it are myself, the driver, and…' His eyes narrowed momentarily. 'Greye. Theron's cover must have been blown!' He grimaced at that thought. Looking back at his friend, he shocked the man with the intensity of his glare.

"Shuuya, I need you to do me a favour…"

XXX~EndFlashback~XXX

"Shuuya faked my medical records to say that I had died, and since he had the credentials to identify me, no one questioned it. With that, Greye's guard was down, and sadly he was free to take control of the Academy." His fists momentarily tightened in anger. "Allowing him to take Royal Academy…was the most painful thing I ever had to do, but it was necessary." Taking some calming breaths, he continued. "I secretly met up with a high ranking contact in the police, and he helped me set up a private investigation into Daniel Greye. What we discovered was shocking: his records had been faked, and we managed to trace him back to Italy, and then narrowed our search down to Rome. After we discovered that the documents were forged, we investigated his recommendation, and found that it was from a company known as Amok Inc."

Chronos' eyes widened at that name. "B-But that's the company that prints Duel Monsters cards!" (OC- Original Company. An Anagram of Konami, with a C added in)

Yuuto nodded. "Yes, we were surprised as well. At first, we were confused as to why Amok would be behind something like this, because their company records have never so much as mentioned anyone by the name of Greye. It was at that point that we reached a dead end; without an inside source, we would have never known what was going on, or what Greye's true intentions were. That's where Jun came in."

"What?!" Everyone turned to Manjoume who wore a smug smirk.

[A few minutes ago]

Daniel stood back up, shooting Naruto a deranged glare as he drew a new card from his deck. "I summon 'Iscariot- Makube' in attack mode!" A man with slicked back hair with two bangs hanging out, and a scar down the right side of his face, appeared on the field. Like all of Daniel's previous monsters, he wore a priest's outfit.

#Iscariot- Makube Priest/Light lvl: 4#

#Atk/Def- 1500/1250#

"Next, I play the spell card 'Double Summon' and then sacrifice 'Makube' to summon '9th Division Crusaders' in attack mode." Three men in white robes with pointy hoods appeared in 'Makube's' place. The one in the middle stood out the most, as he had one blue cross on its 'face' and another, smaller cross on its forehead.

#9th Division Crusaders Priest/Light lvl: 8#

#Atk/Def- 2850/1300#

Naruto stared at the trio. "Let me guess, 'Makube' allows you to treat him as two summons, right?"

Daniel nodded with a mad smirk. "Indeed. Next I play-"

"Co-Commander!" The two duelists blinked and looked down, to which Daniel was shocked at who he was seeing.

"WHAT?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" he screeched.

As they listened to Yuuto's explanation, Daniel's anger burned hotter and hotter. Naruto, on the other hand, just listened intensely; everything was now beginning to make sense. He was snapped out of his musings when Daniel continued his turn.

"I play the field spell card 'Vatican City'!" All around them, many large buildings rose up, obscuring them from the group bellow them. "This card raises the attack and defence of all priest type monsters by 200 points…"

#9DCP Atk/Def-3150/1500#

"…and decreases the attack and defence of all other monsters by 300!"

Naruto's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting the field spell to have an effect on his monsters as well. "Shit!"

#AL-P Atk/Def-2300/2500#

#A-K Atk/Def-1600/1500#

Naruto started to sweat as he looked at his weakened monsters. Daniel, seeing this, smirked and pointed at 'Konan'. "'Crusaders'! Destroy 'Akatsuki- Konan'!" The three cloaked men charged at 'Konan' and struck her with their weapons, destroying her.

#Naruto- 1900#

#Daniel- 300#

The mad priest laughed before ending his turn. "You better make the next turn count, Uzumaki!"

[Back on the ground floor]

Before Yuuto could continue his lengthy explanation, he was interrupted by a loud noise from the aerial arena. Looking up, they saw the arena become surrounded by many buildings. Shaking his head, Yuuto cleared his throat and continued his story.

"I hid in the old Royal Academy building after Greye moved it to this submarine. It was there where I coordinated my plans from, with the help of a detective by the name of Onigawara. One day, a young man had entered the gates."

Turning to Manjoume, the elite continued the story. "I fought against nature in order to collect enough cards in order to enter those gates. I battled killer sharks, polar bears and even vampire bats! I swam through freezing waters, and climbed dangerous mountains in order to collect those cards… only to give one of them away to an old man."

Yuuto smiled at him. "Yes, and when you passed my little test with that act of kindness, I knew that you were the one I needed to help me. Coincidentally, it also told me you needed contact lenses." He turned to the others, and covered his mouth with his hand. "He didn't see that man until he had already walked past him." he whispered, making Manjoume twitch in annoyance.

"Shut up!" he shouted indignantly.

"Anyways, after he entered Royal Academy, I informed him of the situation. After promising him a rematch with Yuki Judai, and the opportunity to become stronger, I enlisted Jun to be my second spy. After some quick training I sent him to infiltrate Royal Academy."

"How did he infiltrate Royal Academy?" Misawa asked, skeptically.

"Every year, Amok Inc. runs a competition in order to scout out any talented duelists for them to sponsor, and this year they were using it to find recruits for the new Royal Academy. Jun entered the contest and took it by storm, which resulted in Amok sending him to Royal Academy. Greye, seeing his skill from Amok's reports, made him one of his elites."

"All of this seems rather convenient."

Yuuto shrugged. "In their haste to enact there plans, they desperately took any help they could get to kidnap Uzumaki Naruto." Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief. "Yes, it's true. Jun had managed to hack Greye's private computer and discovered the reason why Amok recruited Greye: his grudge against Naruto. They also knew that Naruto had close friendships with both Seto Kaiba and Pegasus J. Crawford. They figured that if they could hold Naruto hostage, they would be able to demand anything from the two of them, as well as everyone in Duel Academy. It was after a private meeting with Pegasus, I learned that he and the head of Amok Inc. have had several arguments over their cut from printing Duel Monsters cards. You see, as the creator, Pegasus gets sixty percent of all profits, while Amok gets the remaining forty. Now this is just speculation, but I believe that they planned to kidnap Naruto when he was most vulnerable, like in the middle of the ocean, on an island away from the mainland. Once they successfully abducted him, they would've threatened to harm the boy unless they received more royalties for the Duel Monsters franchise."

Samejima just stared at his friend, aghast at what he had learned. "So all of this... is about money?!"

Yuuto nodded sombrely. "Indeed. A greedy man alone is bad enough. But a greedy man with money and power at his disposal is much, much worse." Finally done with his tale, he looked up, and grimaced at the arena. "Greye's cornered and he knows it; the police are on their way right now. Even if he wins, Greye is going to prison. However, for that boy's sake, I hope he doesn't."

[Back at the arena]

Naruto looked at his opponent's field warily, knowing full well that if he didn't pull a miracle out of somewhere, he was in for a world of pain. Looking at his deck, he began to hyperventilate as his fingers hovered over the top card. Closing his eyes, he tried to draw from his deck, but he couldn't because of his shaking. Suddenly, he felt a light pressure on his hand, making him open his eyes out of curiosity. Seeing a transparent hand on top of his own, his gaze followed up the arm it was attached to, and saw Haku smiling at him. Feeling another small pressure form on his shoulder, he looked behind himself and he was stunned to see Itachi staring down at him. Haku blinked in surprise, before smirking.

'It's about time somebody else paid him a visit. Though to be fair, I doubt the others would want to talk to Naruto-kun.' she thought with a sweat-drop.

'Relax, Naruto-kun.' said Itachi, with a ghost of a smile on his lips. 'Believe in your deck, and it will answer you.' Deciding to leave wondering why Itachi had suddenly appeared for later, Naruto nodded, and steadied his breathing. And after taking a deep breath, his hand made contact with his deck, and slipped a card from the top of it. Looking at his newest card, Naruto could barely keep a straight face.

'This is perfect!' he thought, gleefully. Looking back at Greye, he smirked dangerously. "You know, one would usually expect a duel like this to have an epic conclusion, like a clash of powerful monster against powerful monster; a battle to the death." Daniel raised a brow at Naruto's growing grin. "Well, I've always gone against the expected! I play the spell card 'Explosive Tag!'" Daniel's eyes widened as a holographic image of the spell card appeared on Naruto's side of the field. "Oh yeah." Naruto smirked, "I skipped the explanation earlier, so how about I give it now? 'Explosive Tag' is an quick play spell card which destroys one spell or trap card on the field, while also dealing 500 points of direct damage." He paused to point at the city around them. "Now, that appears to be a spell card. And oh, what do you know, you have 300 life points left. And as it happens, that's a lot less than 500!" Daniel watched in horror as the small slip of paper shot out of the card, and flew towards a nearby building.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

BOOOOOOM!

The crowd down below looked up at the explosion, and covered their eyes from the holographic dust. When it finally died down, they noticed the city was gone. All was silent for a minute, before Shou slowly looked at the score board.

#Naruto- 1900#

#Daniel- 0000#

"He did it…" he muttered. "NARUTO-SAN DID IT! HE WON!" And that was all it took to break the silence before cheers rang across the stadium.

"He did it!"

"We're saved!"

As the crowd celebrated, the duel arena slowly lowered back to the ground. Up above, Naruto was finally able to breathe properly as the shock collar was removed from round his neck, and the restraints were no longer holding his legs. Turning back to face his opponent, he saw Daniel still standing with his hand raised, staring forward unseeingly, with horror visible in his eyes. Suddenly, he collapsed to his knees and slumped forward, his forehead touching the floor in defeat. As the arena finally reached the ground, Naruto lightly hopped off, before he was crowded by grateful students.

"You did it!"

"You the man!"

"All hail the Pharaoh of Ra!"

Naruto was wide eyed at the attention he received, when he heard a certain familiar giggle. Turning to where he thought he heard the source of the noise, he saw Asuka smiling at him. Returning the grin, he gave her a thumbs up, to which the smiling Obelisk did as well.

[Some time later, back on land]

Naruto watched as the Royal Academy students were ushered out of the giant submarine by the police, with Commander Yuuto overseeing the process. They were to be taken to many professional psychologists, so that they could recover from Daniel Greye's brainwashing. He idly noticed Nakamura Theron standing next to the once more Commander of Royal Academy, and made his way over to him. Seeing the blonde approach him, Nakamura tensed when Naruto stood before him and they stared each other down. Suddenly, Naruto grinned and offered a fist to Nakamura, which made him flinch, before he realized that it wasn't hurtling towards his face.

"Hey, Nakamura." Said boy looked up to see a small smile on the blonde's face. "Looking forward to our next duel, hopefully you won't be indoctrinated next time. I want to duel you at your best."

Nakamura stared at the blonde with wide eyes, before smirking and raising his own fist. "Hm, sure. And call me Theron from now on, Nakamura sounds too….evil now." Naruto's smile grew into a grin once again.

"Sure, then call me Naruto. Uzumaki sounds too…actually no, it still sounds pretty damn good!"

Theron laughed, before the two bumped fists. Yuuto watched the interaction with a smile, before turning around and approaching the nearby Yoshiki and Raiden, the former receiving medical treatment. The two looked up at the man once he was in front of them.

"Don't worry about your families you two, they've been secured already." The two boys looked relieved.

"Thanks, Commander." Yoshiki said shakily. Yuuto just patted him on the shoulder before walking away, when Samejima approached his younger friend.

"So what will happen after this, Yuuto-san?"

"Well, we have enough evidence to incriminate Amok Inc. three times over. The CEO will be arrested, and his successor will most likely have to deal with many lawsuits from me, the parents of the students involved, Duel Academy" at this Samejima nodded in agreement "and not to mention Seto Kaiba and Pegasus J. Crawford." Yuuto smirked triumphantly. "Let's just say that Amok Inc. will be dealing with its founders' mistakes for generations to come." Samejima nodded in agreement, before looking at the entrance to the submarine.

"And him?" he asked, gesturing to the defeated form of Daniel Greye, who was being escorted from the sub by four police officers. Yuuto narrowed his eyes at the sight of the religious man.

"Well, who knows? All I can say is that Daniel Greye won't be seeing daylight again for a very long time."

Daniel stared at the ground, numbly aware he was being taken somewhere. His justice, God's divine plan, it had all been thwarted, and by the same brat who caused all of his suffering to begin with. His eyes burned in rage, before he started thrashing wildly, catching everyone's attention.

"UZUMAKI! YOU WILL PAY! GRRAAAAAH!" He was quickly restrained by all four officers, albeit with great difficulty. Meanwhile, Yuuto slowly and calmly made his way over the mentally unstable man. "GOD'S PLAN! IT MUST BE CARRIED OUT!" Yuuto stared down at the slightly frothing man, before frowning.

"Greye." His voice grabbed the mad man's attention, making him stop his thrashing. "What happened to your father was not Naruto's fault. I spoke to your father's doctor, and he told me that your father's illness was untreatable, he was too far gone. Even if you had won the tournament's prize money, he wouldn't have survived long enough for the treatment to take effect." Daniel's eyes widened with horror as his head slowly shook from side to side.

"No...no…NO! YOU'RE LIEING!" But after staring into Yuuto's bespectacled eyes, he saw nothing but the truth. "No….WHY GOD?!" he screamed, his head whipping back as he screamed to the heavens. "WHAT PART DOES THIS HAVE IN YOUR PLAN?! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Tears streamed from the man's eyes as he let out a heart-wrenching scream. "WHAT IS YOUR AIM?! SPEAK TO MEEEEEE!" He was quickly lifted to his feet and dragged towards a police helicopter. With a quiet "Why?", the door was shut, and a minute later the copter took off.

Naruto watched it fly away with a frown, before a yell came from behind him. Turning around, he saw his friends approaching him. Grinning at them, he went over to greet them, and as they laughed and talked, the stress of the last few hours seemed to melt away.

Chapter End

OR IS IT?!

The helicopter slowly descended to the ground, the blades halting their rotations. The door opened and out came Daniel and his guards. But before he could be taken over to the awaiting police car, a loud horn sounded from the nearby road. Turning to where he heard the disturbance, the last thing Daniel Joseph Greye saw was a truck's head lights, before he joined his dearly departed father.

A lone figure walked past the wreckage. The truck had taken out all of the police officers there along with Greye. Approaching the priest's corpse, the figure shifted through its coat pockets, before pulling out a deck.

"It would be such a shame if this were to be returned to its rightful owner. After all, this deck doesn't deserve to be locked away, never to be used again. I'm sure it could aid someone else in their 'divine' plan." With a deep, mocking laughter, the figure walked away, before getting into the back of the truck. From within the trailer, a normal, inconspicuous car backed out, which proceeded to drive away.

Chapter End

Thank fuck, it's done. Oh. My god. This…this. I'm so glad it's over. This damn original arc has been sapping my creativity from me for months!

I've been unable to write anything else thanks to this monster looming in the back of my mind.

Any unresolved issues will be talked about next chapter.

I know this probably sucks, but I really just wanted it over and done with, so please don't complain about the end being lacking.

Look forward to cannon again!

Until next time!