Naruto dreamed

Saber and Ria had stumbled home after facing Gilgamesh. They were tired, both had been beaten almost to the point of death. Both of them had bled and suffered at the hands of the mad king. Ria placed Saber down to sleep for a while. The boy is exhausted, he has faced one of the strongest Servants to ever exist, and won. As he slept, Ria places a hand on his heart feeling the familiar essence of Avalon, the sheath of Excalibur. As he lays there fervently dreaming of Ria's end through his own Dream Cycle, Ria wipes the sweat off his brow and watched over him, a strange look in her eyes.

Finally, after many hours of resting and healing at an abnormal rate, Saber awakens. The two talk for some time confirming that both are safe and sound. Ria thanks him for saving her, it was foolish and stupid, but he saved her. As she says this, Ria smiles. It is a warm smile that has rarely been shown since the war began. At first, Ria never smiled, she was stoic and unreadable. But now, she seems much more human. Her emotions, her stance, her very being has shifted from a weapon into a person.

Saber sits up and hugs her. She tries to resist weakly.

"Shirou? Please..." Ria gets ready to push him.

"It's okay, you need to smile for your own sake." Saber tells her.

"Eh?" she hesitates, she has no idea how to respond.

All her life, she lived for her people. Never has she smiled for her own sake, only for the sake of others. She killed her emotions to be the perfect king, the perfect ruler, the perfect knight. In doing so, they called her unfeeling, heartless, cold. They could not see her for what she was, a girl giving her all for the sake of the country. They saw a man, a cold man who believed in justice and fairness without mercy. They were blind.

Not Saber, he doesn't see the weapon, the ruler, or the knight. He sees the girl and weeps for her sake. Wishing that she finds her own happiness.

"Saber," he says, "Isn't it enough? You've done your best. You fought even by yourself. So...you have to find your own happiness. You've fulfilled your oath, so you can go back to being Arthuria."

The look in her eyes is a combination of shock and hurt. "You're still talking about that?"

"Yes, I'll keep on saying it. I can't help it, I've fallen in love with you. I won't give up until you change your mind." He tells her.

"Shirou," she says softly, "Please do not bother me. This is unpleasant, even if you are my Master."

"I'll move away if you don't want this. I said I like you, so I'll let you go if you don't like me." Shirou responds.

She doesn't respond, she looks to the side and blushes, hanging her head to escape his gaze. She grits her teeth, "You are being unfair. You know my past, but you continue to invade me. You should know my answer already, so why do you continue? Why are you so concerned about me? You must have seen the sins I've committed."

"I know," He says, "I don't know what this emotion is, but I just can't leave you alone. I just want to be with you and see you smile."

A childish confession in a way, but that singular confession, that acceptance makes her blush.

"My answer will not change," She says sadly, "I cannot break my oath as a king. My people needed me and I failed...so, this freedom is not permitted to me."

She looks like she is about to cry, but he comes forward and kisses her holding her tightly. The two kiss deeply, passion and need envelope the two.

She tries to push him away, but he refuses to admit it is a mistake. He tells her that he will stop if she wants, but he will not stop until she tells him. She calls him unfair, but does not tell him to stop.

"Shirou, will you hold me like you did that night?" she asks.

"No," he tells her, "That was different then, we were desperate and looking for options. I don't want that, I want to treat you better, just the two of us."

"I see," she pushes him away.

"Saber?" he asks his heart is about to tear.

She stands up, looking vulnerable for some reason. "...I have a proposal, please look away until I tell you to Shirou."

His mouth becomes dry, talking is impossible right now, all he can do is nod and turn away. Behind him, the sound of clothes rustling is audible.

"You can turn back now Shirou." she tells him.

He looks back, she's standing there, as beautiful as the moon, as pure as snow, as gentle as a breeze. Saber's mind cannot keep up with what it's seeing, it goes blank from the pale glowing body before him.

"Sa-ber?" he chokes out. She's clearly embarrassed about being naked, but even the red tint on her skin is beautiful.

"It's unfair," she says weakly, "I am the only one naked here." His clothes cannot come off fast enough.

Naruto watches yet another form of sex before him. The first time he watches, he saw a boy and two girls using every means they have to survive. They were embarrassed and awkward leaving him embarrassed to watch it. The second time had been the rape of Rider at the hands of Poseidon leaving him sick of what he was seeing. Here? The two were in love, though they were both awkward about admitting it, but tonight, they would treasure for all time for they did not have much longer before they had to separate. Naruto felt far worse for seeing what was a special moment that he had place watching. It was here that the two of them made a lifetime of memories before they would go off to face the final battle.

In the afternoon, the two of them overslept from exhaustion, Saber gets up, leaving the sleeping Ria in the bed. He dresses, and comes to a decision, he's going to the church again. Kotomine might know a way for the two of them to fight evenly against the sword Ea.

As he enters the church, he calls out, "Kotomine? I came to talk." There is no answer, the place is as silent as a tomb. Strange, Kotomine was the kind of person who always seemed to know when someone was coming, no matter the hours. "Kotomine?" he calls out again. Maybe the man is in the back again. Saber walks forward, his footsteps echo in the church, it seems as though each step is a thunderclap in the silence. "Are you not here Kotomine?" Saber whispers. Strange, he should be calling out louder to be heard, but this place...it seems to be suppressing his presence and demanding for silence. Not like a holy place, no, this place is more like a cemetery at midnight on Halloween, old, quiet, and haunted. As he enters, Saber feels like a God or something would come down at any minute and cut his head off for disturbing the ambiance.

Saber walks toward what he remembers is the back room where he talked to Kotomine before. He knows that he should be calling out for Kotomine again, but the church...it seems to demand silence.

SoMetHiNg

Breathing gets harder as he comes deeper into the church.

Why?

Even though the place is cool, Saber is sweating profusely. He tries to look around, to get a sense of the surroundings.

...Do I hAvEsUCh a...

He doesn't know. He doesn't know why every part of his body is telling him something...

...aN OmINoUs pLaCe...

Everything in this place is telling him to go back. It keeps repeating in his head.

Go Back, Go Back, Go Back

Kotomine isn't here. Go back. There's no reason to be here, Go back. You're by yourself here. Go back. Your actions are a mistake. Go back. Your decisions are a mistake. Go back. Your chill is a mistake. Go back. Go back. There's nothing bad here. Go back. There is nothing here, go home. Go back.

Saber bends down, looking like he's going to throw up. He's nauseous and he knows he's in danger. That's why...he cannot stop. A magus must be prepared for death. That one teaching was beaten into his skull since he started his path on being a magus. He follows the feeling into the darkness.

Underground?

A basement of some sort? There are some stairs ahead. He shouldn't go in there.

KotOmInEwON't bE dOwN tHeRe.

Again, the feeling won't leave him, but he pushes forward.

He needs to go down there.

He sHoUldN'tgO dOwN tHeRe.

There's something down there.

tHEre cAn'T bE aNyThInG dOwN tHeRe.

For as much as his senses are warning him and telling him to flee, he has to go down there. Something very small, very brave, and resolute tells him to go on. Tells him he has to see what's down there. Should he flee, he will die. There is only one path, to go forward.

So, he goes down the stairs.

It is a room made of stone. There are no lights, but the room glows faintly blue, like it is a living organism.

"An underground temple?" he wonders. It's clearly been used before, and often as there is no sign of dust or mold. Not even a spider web, not like anything would dare to live here. The place feels like an alter to the devil or Cthulhu or something. It reeks of madness and hate, ugliness and despair, pain and suffering.

Saber has to hold back on gagging, the room smells rotten. It's not a momentary smell, but constant. As if the room was marinated in spoiled meat. No, there's the smell of formalin in the room. Medicine?

As he goes deeper into the darkness, he spies a door. The smell is stronger there.

He opens the door, to be enveloped in darkness. As dark as the temple had been before, this place was worse. The smell is almost overwhelming, here is the source of the smell. Saber walks forward into the darkness as something beckons him forward.

As he walks, the darkness shifts. At an unspoken command, the darkness recedes. The sight before him does make Saber throw up.

Bodies

Hundreds of bodies

This is it, the source of the rot and medicine. It's these...things that are doing it. They've been here for many years, several bodies are half decomposed.

The scene is very much like that of the fire ten years ago. Bodies are laying everywhere.

But these are not corpses. There is no way around it, no other conclusion that can be made.

They are alive.

Every single body is still alive.

How? How could this happen? Anywhere else, they would be dead, they should have been dead for a long time. Bodies don't rot like this and stay alive at the same time. The bodies are all deformed and disgusting. They are mere parodies of people, their limbs are rotten and thin and most have been cut off. Their eyes are missing or dark. Their lips and tongues are all long gone leaving blackened marks and stubs where they used to be. Not even death camps could do this to people and still keep the people alive.

The coffins, the coffins are eating the bodies. There is no clue on how it works. The bodies were placed in the coffins and the coffins feed on the body, stealing the nutrients. It's slow, the coffins won't take enough to kill them, but they won't let them live either.

It seems that a wind is blowing in the room.

No, the bodies are screaming. Their throats have rotted away, till they can barely breathe, their larynx is gone, but they are still screaming as best they can though they have no voice to scream.

One of the bodies turns it's head slightly. It's eye rolls out of the head, but still.. it's looking at Saber. It's lost lips move, not making a sound, yet a voice is heard.

"Where am I?"

It's not screaming in pain or for death, it's asking where it is. Its like it was in that twisted form before it realized it. It went to bed to sleep, then woke up in the coffin. It's limbs are gone, it lost it's eye, it cannot scream or wail. All it can do is hope that it is a bad dream.

As Saber gazes on them, he cannot help but think...

'I know them.' Somehow he recognized them. In his mind flashes the hospital that he was staying in after the fire. This is the first time that he's ever seen them. The first time that he's ever met them. Yet, even as they are twisted parodies of men, he still recognizes them. They are all the same age as him. They were all children once, roughly the same age as him.

"Oh? Welcome Emiya Shirou." A voice calls out behind him as a finger taps his shoulders in a friendly manner.

Saber's body freezes. He can't move. He knows that voice, Kotomine Kirei. The priest who made this hell. And...a devil who must not be met more than anything else in this place, this nightmare.

"What awful timing. It was a foolish mistake to prepare food for you thinking you would come soon. I was unable to greet you properly last time correct? I thought I was attending to your needs, but it seems we missed each other." The man is unflappable yet friendly at the same time. The monster is talking like Saber and he missed each other at a planned meeting and the two had merely walked passed each other.

Saber cannot move and the hand lays heavily on his shoulders.

"However, I cannot approve of trespassing. If you do such things, you will end up seeing things you should not. Such as, a truth that will set back a relationship to a blank page." The bastard is smiling as he says this with the most cheer in his voice than it has ever been heard.

That's why, Saber is frightened. No threats, no promises of death, the man seems to find no real problems with what is happening here. Neither the bodies nor Shirou's discovery of them seem to make the false priest upset.

"What's wrong Emiya? You came to talk, so it does you no good to stay silent. Is the spectacle before you really so outrageous?" The man is talking about the most inhumane things in the most disturbing cheerful voice. The man has no problems seeing such things before him.

"Oh? That's rather cold of you Emiya. It's simple compassion to say that it is not even if you think that it is unpleasant. After all, you guys are like brothers and sisters. They won't be saved if you act that way."

"Eh?" Saber is hit with a revelation, "What did you say?"

"I said that you and these corpses are fellow mates. By whatever means, you all survived the fire. Even if you have no blood relations, I believe the connection is close to that of brothers and sisters...am I wrong?"

That's why they looked so familiar. This-this...monstrosity is a continuation of ten years ago.

The children who lost their homes and parents. They were supposed to have been sent to an orphanage and stay there until they found someone who would adopt them. But Saber, he was adopted by Emiya Kiritsugu before that. The fate of the children had been unknown by Saber...until now. The orphanage was the church at the top of the hill...this church. Where they stayed enduring hell for ten long years...

That's why he never saw anyone else who survived the fire. That's why he never met anyone else who went through the same hell as him. They were here, being drained of their very essence by this man for ten years.

"If you had not been taken by Emiya Kiritsugum you would have been one of them. Do you understand? You alone survived, once again. Everyone around you dies, but you survive. What do you think? Do you think that's fair Hero?"

Saber's blood begins to boil

"Oh no, I am not criticizing you. It is rather delightful. Emiya Shirou's survival abilities are impressive. Honestly, I did not expect you to remain until the end. That's why, I have allowed you to be reunited with your brothers and sisters in your final moments."

"Y-" Saber begins.

"You really are lucky. I was planning to close this place up after today, so you barely made it. Hmm, it's been ten years now. I kept them alive to feed the Servant, but it's coming to an end. I cannot hope to extract the same amount of souls as when I started and there's no more need for food in any case. All that remains is to kill you and your Servant."

With that, Saber breaks free of the paralysis. His blood is on fire and his rage is unmatched. "You!" he yells as he turns to face the priest. "Kotomine" he roars.

Yet, as his back turns so that he faces the priest, a shock runs up his back. His vision turns red.

"Ah..guh?" he grunts as he feels a massive burst of pain. He looks down, a spear, he's been run through with a red spear. Only one person wields that weapon.

"Oh, have I not told you yet? I shall formally introduce you. This is my Servant." Kotomine says with a smirk.

With the spear still in him, he turns around to see a familiar person.

Lancer.

The dream shifts

Rider is heavy with a child, no, she's in labor actually. She is laying in an unfamiliar temple. Unlike the other temple that was covered in white stone and marble, this place is darker, redder, uglier. Rider holds Stheno's hand as a contraction rips through her body again. Rider's scream echoes through the room.

"Again," Euryale commands as she prepares to catch the baby. The head is almost protruding.

Rider and her sisters were banished by the Pantheon of Gods at the behest of Athena. That goddess was not one to take the defiling of her temple lightly. Though she could not punish Poseidon, brother of Zeus, she could deal with the failure of a goddess. Medusa had been banished to a remote island, known as the Shapeless Isle. Her two sisters had refused to part from her and left their temple to follow her to the island. Rider had become pregnant with Poseidon's seed and his spawn would soon emerge into the world.

Rider pushes as hard as she can forcing the head of the child out. The baby takes a moment before it screams at the top of it's lungs. Rider continues to push until the child is expelled. Rider all but collapses from the effort, but she still has to push the placenta out. Euryale wipes the baby off and removes the cord. With an ugly look in her eye, she takes the spawn out of the temple and heads for the sea. Before she leaves the temple, she grabs a golden sword and a shield with a picture of a boar with wings. It was decided by the two eldest sisters that the child should have something from the mother lest the child decide to have vengeance on the mother. Rider is uncaring at this point as she did not want anything to do with the child.

Euryale takes the child to the beach and yells, "Naiads, come forth. Come collect you precious lord's child he has no place here." From the sea, several creatures that look similar to naked woman with green or blue skin and gills come forth. One naiad, by the name of Callirrhoe , takes the child while two of her sisters grab the spear and shield.

"What is his name?" Callirrhoe asks.

"Chrysaor." Euryale says tartly as she walks away.

"One who has a golden armament." Callirrhoe says softly looking at the golden sword. It was a name, all right, though the goddess should have given the child a less obvious name than remaking on what he owned. The three naiads take the child away and leave the Isle never to return.

Back in the temple, Rider cries as she expels the placenta. Finally, after hours of pain and work, Rider is finished. She closes her eyes and sleeps. The two sisters watch over their pitiful sibling as she dreams. Rider's life has been turned into hell. She is an outcast, a pariah, though her sisters can leave at anytime and return to Olympus, she is to remain here for the rest of her days.

Rider dismissed Pegasus, or more like chased him away from her as he reminded her of Poseidon. All the lovely gifts he gave her she smashed and threw away. The Temple was given the nickname Blood Fort Andromeda by the populace. As she raves and grieves, over time, Naruto noticed that her skin started to turn scaly and she was getting a bit bigger. As time passed, Rider's beautiful skin became purple and looked like a snake skin. As this occurred, the sisters kept back form her. Though to Rider it looks like they are disgusted from her, in reality, they are giving her distance that she needs and keeping an eye on her to prevent her from doing stupid like challenging Poseidon. Rider has become a bitter being. Any of the old worshipers that took a pilgrimage to visit them she kills in her rage and her grief. The more she rages, the worse she looks and the more monstrous she becomes.

Back at the temple of Athena, the goddess of war incites the people telling them of the monster that keeps the beautiful Stheno and Euryale locked up. The people are agitated and full of zealous fury. They will attack the monster and kill her. All in the name of the goddesses of beauty.

The people attack, they charge the beaches with sword and spear to kill Rider who is as large as a house. As numerous as the worshipers are, they are no match for Rider's gaze and strength. They die by the thousands. From the corpses of many of the worshipers, Rider's rage and grief envelopes her.

Euryale and Stheno approach her. "Sister, you must stop this." They tell her. "You will be punished by the other gods if this keeps up."

Rider has little sanity left in her. She become as tall as a tower or a hill. She no longer looks like a human, but rather a monster. A creature made of massive purple coils with one large black eye. Rider gazes upon those whom she once called sister and roars. The sisters can tell that their sister is lost. They look at each other and nod accepting their fate. They walk forward as Medusa descends upon them with an open maw. It is over in a moment. The sisters are gone, eaten by their own sister in hopes of regaining her sanity.

It does no good. Rider is lost to madness and grief.

Up upon Olympus, the gods debate. What must be done with the mortal turned monster? They decide that she must die for she has not only killed her kin, but killed goddesses at that. This cannot stand. Now, they must choose how to kill her...


Uchiha district.

Naruto woke up finding himself laying in the middle of a small crater. As he gazed upon where his head was resting, he could see a crude imprint of his face on the ground.

'damn,' Naruto thought, 'That hurt.'

He tried to stand up, but found himself to be too shaky to stand fully. He had to rely on a wall for support as he trudged over towards his house. As he opened the door he could hear voices inside that filled him with dread.

"So Archer bet everything he had on being summoned in the Fifth Grail War. Fascinating." Rin muttered as she was busy scribbling something. Probably planning on giving Archer one hell of a retribution for lying to her and trying to kill himself.

Naruto shut the door quietly and backed away. There was no way he was going near those girls for a long time. Behind him he hear a familiar giggling. Turning he saw Rider doing her best not to be too audible. Naruto found himself looking down to the ground. Saber had told him that Rider was a tragic person, but he had no idea. Everything about her life from the moment she was born was tragic. While her sisters were immortal, she was mortal. Where they remained young, she would age. While her sisters had lovely, if exotic eyes, Rider's eyes killed. In that weakness, Poseidon took advantage of her, raped her. Her child was unloved and cast out. Those who once worshiped her tried to kill her, and finally she ate her sisters.

Naruto did not want to see the end of Rider, sure that she would suffer horribly before she died.

The grail war was entering the climax and she knew that her own past was spiraling down towards the end.

" It's nothing," Naruto said as he put on his fake cheerful face. He had perfected the look over the years before he met his Servants. Rider, however, was not fooled. However, she didn't want to push, so she let it go for now. He would talk about it once he was ready.

"As you say Master, let me know when you want to talk." she offered.

Naruto nodded his head absently. He wasn't sure that he would ever want to talk about it. Right now, he wanted to get away from his Servants and think. That, and to run from the crazy girls as far as he could. "Rider," he said seriously. Rider looked at him waiting. "I need some time to think. Can you hang here for a while."

Rider's eyes would have narrowed if she wasn't wearing Breaker Gorgon. "Master, Berserker is still active and Archer is still a dubious ally at best."

Naruto held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, but could you back off for a while. I need some time to myself." Rider nodded once and vanished. Naruto could still feel her nearby with his Seals, but he accepted it as the best he could have at the time. Naruto folded his hands behind his back and began walking towards the village. Ichiraku was too close to the house for comfort with Saber's friends nearby. No, he would have to leave for a while and let them cool off, or at least find a new target to attack.

Naruto began wondering what to do. His favorite ramen was denied to him, he couldn't go home, and he was probably disqualified from the third exam leaving part of the way there. Naruto sighed, 'Well at least I can see if there's a mission I can take while the other go through the exam.' True d rank mission were a pain and drop dead boring, but it was better than facing the wrath of Rin and company.

He headed off for the tower. Yet, as soon as he got to the gates of the Uchiha compound, he stopped. Before him were dozens of shinobi of Jonin rank or in the Anbu.

"Geh." Naruto said nervously as they all looked at him.

"Naruto?" Kakashi said surprised. "How did you get in there?"

Naruto blinked, "Same way I always do."

'Hmm, he must have gotten in before this strange barrier was put up.' Kakashi thought. "Stay where you are, there's some sort of barrier in front of you that causes sickness."

Naruto blinked then remembered Saber telling him about how Magi kept people away when they went to battle. It was time for him to pull a lie out of his ass. "Ah, that. I'll take care of it." He told them.

'huh?' the other ninja all thought. How was Naruto going to take care of it? Elite jonin and Anbu were beaten down by the barrier and the village seal experts were stumped.

Naruto ran into an alley and turned to where Rider was hiding. "Rider, go get Saber to turn off the barrier. Then come back and tell me." Already in his head a perfect lie was forming.

"Understood," Rider said as she dashed off.

Naruto headed for the entrance. "In a moment it will be down. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"What's going on?" an Anbu asked.

Naruto shrugged, "When we were rebuilding this place, we discovered a security measure that formed the barrier. It must have triggered accidentally. It should turn off any minute." There, that should explain the problem away.

A few veteran Anbu were not surprised the Uchiha had developed such security measures. The whole clan had been a secretive and suspicious bunch. Always separating themselves from other believing themselves to be superior to everyone else.

"It's done," Rider told him in astral form. "It's safe to go through." Rider told him. She decided to omit that it was easy to escape the barrier, it only prevented anyone from entering it.

Naruto confidently strode forward and walked through where the barrier was. A few people tried to get him to stop, but he kept on waltzing through and past them. The other shinobi looked at each other then one tentatively strode forward only to find that the barrier had lifted. The ninja raised his thumb indicating that it was fine and they dashed forward to find out where Saber was and where the mysterious attacker was. Yet, for some reason, they completely ignored Naruto's house, like none of them even realized that it was there.

As Naruto continued to walk, Kaksahi, Sakura, and Sasuke all caught up with him.

"Naruto," they all called out.

"Hey guys, whats up?" Naruto asked trying not to show them that he was sweating.

"What happened? One minute Saber's acting all irritated, next minute he sprouts weapons like grass out of his body and smashes everything in his path heading towards you." Sakura asked.

Naruto resisted the urge to flinch, "Uh, never let a girl know what I did in the fight." The others blinked then recalled the naked Ria incident. They knew Naruto had to have been in Ichiraku. They put two and two together and got that Naruto had told Ayame about the fight and she had promptly beaten him within an inch of his life.

"hmpf, serves you right for that disgusting technique." Sakura said with self-righteousness.

Naruto winced, sure that Sakura had made a wrong connection but didn't want to explain why there were so many intruders in the village.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it. I just want to take a mission while you guys...say, what was the third exam on? And why are you here?" Naruto asked.

The others blinked then remembered that Naruto had been absent from the announcement. They gave him a quick run over the tournament in a month and that he would be fighting Neji. Naruto was glad that he wasn't kicked out of the exam, but he was not looking forward to facing Neji. Many tactics he had trained with Saber on stealth would fail because the Byakugan could see him wherever he hid. Then there was the talk about Neji hitting the chakra points on his body preventing him from using most of his abilities.

Well, maybe Saber could give him some advice...

Naruto winced again at the thought. He had burned many bridges for a single victory that was fairly insignificant. Naruto knew that he could not afford to make this kind of mistake again. Naruto sighed, he would have to bite the bullet soon and apologize to Saber, though he was not expecting forgiveness for a while. His last dream cemented Saber's dedication and love to Ria. She constantly rejected him, yet time and time again he held out his arms and accepted her and saw past the mask she wore to protect her country.

"-uto, Naruto!" Kakashi called in his ear. Naruto had been so focused on his thoughts that he had blocked out the others.

"What is it?" he asked.

Kakashi sighed, "I said that I found a tutor perfect for you before the exams."

Naruto would have cocked his eyes wondering why Saber was not good enough, but right now he was looking for anyone else to teach him until Saber cooled off. The only way Naruto could probably get the man to train him was through a command seal, and that was something that he would not do.

Naruto followed Kakashi to the hot springs in a remote corner of the village. Naruto wasn't sure why there was a natural hot spring in the village when there was no volcanic activity for hundreds of miles, but he had better things to focus on.

Waiting by the springs was a familiar face, it was the strange and eccentric teacher that came every now and then to pick up Konohamaru. The man clearly did not like Naruto, but he seemed to have a small amount of respect for the boy for straightening up Konohamaru. Naruto and Konohamaru made sure that the sensei learned it had been a combination of learning Sexy no Jutsu and Saber's wrath that had done that to him.

Huh, looking back, it seemed that Sexy no Jutsu only brought trouble to him whenever he used it anymore. Maybe.. it would be better to seal it away for good.

The new jonin adjusted his black glasses and introduced himself as Ebitsu, Kakashi in the meanwhile vanished to plan his training with Sasuke. Naruto bowed politely to his new sensei and asked Ebitsu, "What will we be training on?" He hoped it would be new jutsus or strategies to use his existing ones.

"I have been briefed," Ebitsu said, "And it seems that you lack the basics. Only through the basics can you improve upon what you have."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at the man, "How will that help me against Neji?"

Ebitsu adjusted his glasses again as he motioned to the stream of hot water flowing beside the onsen. "True, you learned the water walking jutsu, but you have yet to be able to fight on the water for long periods of time. When you can do that, you will be able to fight at a higher efficiency level and outlast the Hyuga boy."

Naruto was beginning to suspect that he had been given a useless teacher. Yes, he would be better at controlling his chakra, but he already had far more than jonins anyway. Efficiency was secondary to him with the sheer amount of chakra he could pull out. No other jonins could summon hundreds of clones and still be able to fight for hours. Saber had already pushed him to new heights through the sparring. But... with Saber likely in a bad mood, Naruto would endure it for a while.

Naruto turned to the stream and walked to the stream and began walking on top of it. He looked over that the building and thought that a nice long soak after today would sound good. Unfortunately, Ebitsu took it the wrong way.

"Naruto, that is the woman's bath. I will not allow for shameless acts here."

Naruto was going to roll his eyes, but he found himself looking at a horror that made him want to run for the hills. Naruto dashed for the nearest cover, which was, by the way, a bush right next to the bathhouse.

"Naruto, what did I tell you." Ebitsu yelled as he gazed at the shivering Naruto thinking that Naruto was peeking.

At that moment, Naruto would have rather ripped his eyes out rather than peep as he had just witnessed Rin, Illya, Aoko, and Luvia entering the bathhouse. It seemed that Saber had lead them to the hot spring to relax. Naruto silently began contemplating the life of a monk at the moment in hopes of evading the girls. While evading, he failed to notice that the Niibi host and her team also had come to relax at the hot springs.

Archer, however, noticed Rin and company immediately and hid himself lest the little hellion see him and rip him a new one. Unseen by Rin or the others, though Arcuied did sense him, but he was far too similar to Saber for her to tell the difference, Archer headed for the male side of the bath. If the worst should happen and Yugito was attacked, he would be there to protect her in an instant. Besides, even Servants needed to relax every now and then.

Naruto continued to hide in the bush unwilling to move from his hiding spot. Though someone looking at him now might have assumed the shivering in the bush was a sign of excitement, it was actually Naruto doing his best from bolting from the bush and running like a chicken with its head cut off screaming like a little girl.

Yeah, Rin and the others left a powerful scar upon Naruto's psyche, though he would never admit it. Looking back, Naruto would always wonder how he found the strength to aid Saber in the Uchiha compound. It would be the last time that he could ever stand against the girls in Saber's old life.

"ehehehe" a whisper came out from the left. It sounded like a perverted old man was peeping or something.

Naruto turned in the direction but could not find the source. All he saw was a strange white tree with some red color on the sides...wait a minute.

"Aaah!" Naruto yelled pointing at the old dude with a huge amount of red hair. Seriously, the man had way too much hair on his head.

Ebitsu looked where Naruto's hand was pointing from out of the bush. How obscene, how perverted. Well, this was one pervert that he, the great Ebitsu the tutor of the honored grandson, would not let this continue. "I don't know who you are," he declared dashing towards the white haired man, "But I will not forgive such shameless behavior."

Jiraiya was irritated by the interruption. Several new beauties that he had never met before had entered the hot spring. Of the new girls, most of them were clearly not built like ninjas. Not that there was anything wrong with them, but he needed new ideas for his next book. The busty blond girl with massive swirls for hair was looking especially promising as she was egging on a nearly flat chested brown haired girl. Then again, there was that beautiful looking woman with what looked like golden hair and red eyes. That one seemed to exude the weight of ages upon her, yet seemed almost childish at the same time. And then there was that woman with bright blue eyes and long red hair. That one seemed to be completely care free, yet the others seemed to be wary of her at the same time. Hm..a dominatrix woman maybe...

Yes, the loudmouth four eyed annoyance needed to go so that he could appreciate the lustful bounty before him. He made a quick hand sign as he glanced at the konoha ninja and summoned one of his toads.

"You, you are..." that was as far as Ebitsu got before he was sent flying by the toad.

"Man, keep it quiet," Jiraiya warned him, "Whatcha gonna do if I get caught." With that, he went back to peeping. He was just in time to see a blond girl from kumo enter the springs. "ehehehe"

Naruto cautiously crept out of the bush to check up on what should have been his sensei for the month. Yep, he was out for the count. It seemed that his jonin instructor was far too weak. The pervert had beaten him in an instant. Naruto looked over at the giant frog the size of a large horse in front of him who seemed to be looking up to the sky as if asking the heavens why he had to work for the pervert who was giggling quietly while looking into the springs. "Hey, ero-jiji, who the hell are you, and what's with this huge frog?"

'ero-jiji?' Jiraiya thought with annoyance, "Alright hold on. I am Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin, also known as the toad sage. Remember that." During this speech, Jiraiya went into his signature pose trying to be dramatic. Naruto, however, was not impressed.

"Look at what you did." Naruto said pointing to the unconscious Ebitsu, "He was supposed to train me for the chunin exams. Take responsibility."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "He was interrupting my research for my next book."

"Research?" Naruto asked. With that, Jiraiya pulled out a familiar looking book, though this one was labeled Icha Icha Paradise. "Aaaaah, that series" Naruto yelled recognizing the book as the same Kakashi was always reading. Though, strangely, Saber was reading a book with the same color scheme on the cover as Kakashi's but from what Saber had told him, The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja was an action and adventure novel instead of a perverted book.

"Oh, you've heard of it." Jiraiya said happy to have become so famous.

"It's that book nasty book series Kakashi-sensei is always reading." Naruto yelled. Jiraiya felt mildly insulted that his work was casually called nasty.

Unnoticed by Naruto, Rider was trying her best not to giggle watching the whole scene in astral form. The interaction between the two was almost too much to bear for being so funny. Naruto began to yell at Jiraiya that the entire series was the most disgusting piece of work ever written and that the research was nothing more than perverted peeping. The expression on Naruto's face sent new shivers through her body as her young master was yelling at the old man. Actually, Rider had borrowed one Kakashi's books to read during the night while Naruto slept and found the book to be rather interesting. Erotic, but interesting as well. The writing style was captivating and it's descriptions were rather...vivid.

Jiraiya argued that peeping was what gave him inspiration, and that it was truly research. Honestly, Rider was surprised that none of the girls could hear the two yell at the top of their lungs. It should have brought them all out armed to the teeth to dispose of the pervert.


"What did you say you damned bitch?" Rin yelled. The two had been arguing and yelling almost as soon as they entered the onsen, making everyone else in the hot spring seriously consider either throwing the two out of go elsewhere to relax.

"Ara," Luvia said with a loud laugh, "As any of us here can see, only Illya here is less developed than you."

Rin clenched her fist, and threw a washbasin as hard as she could at Luvia who barely dodged it. Luvia picked up a wash basin herself and threw it at Rin. In an instant, a slew of basins flew between the two in all out war attempting to kill each other drowning out all other noise. In the midst of the chaos, Illya began quietly trudging towards Luvia preparing to smash her own basin into Luvia for insulting her dignified looks. It wasn't her fault that she had been designed to remain in the form of a child for all her life, however long it unintentionally ended up being.


"Who gives a damn about your research," Naruto yelled. "What are you going to do about my training since you knocked him out? Take responsibility."

Rider nearly split her side at the last two comments. Naruto had no idea how perverse those two words could sound if taken in a different tone. Truly, she should have been summoned for this master instead of Saber. Naruto was far too funny to miss out on.

"I hate disrespectful and rude brats!" Jiraiya yelled. "And I don't like men!" he added also hearing the perverseness in what Naruto had said.

Naruto began to rack his brains for ways to convince the old man to rain him, but Fate decided to intervene. Jiraiya felt a firm hand placed upon his shoulders. Jiraiya turned to find himself facing Saber who had a strange face, one of wonder and curiosity. Saber pulled out his book and turned to the back cover and compared the face of the author with that of the man before him. Jiraiya noticed that it was his first book, The Tale of a Gutsy Ninja while he had poured his soul into the book, it never took off. One time, he even had a book signing without having a single person even show up.

Saber wordlessly pulled out a pen and held the book out, clearly intent on having the book signed. Jiraiya felt a bit of nostalgia seeing the old book again. A small tear fell down his cheek as he signed his name. "Who do I make it out to?"

Saber solemnly told Jiraiya him to make it out to Naruto. His young master was surprised to find the signing was dedicated to him. Jiraiya was also startled at the name, though he did know about the jinchuriki and his godson, he had been too busy with his spy network to ever get involved. He had heard through the grapevine that lately his godson had acquired a few loyal retainers by some sort of contract. The man before him fit the description perfectly for the man named Saber. As soon as Jiraiya finished signing the book, he handed it back. However...

Saber's face suddenly hardened. While one hand held the book, the other hand gripped Jiraiya's in a death grip. Jiraiya had a sudden feeling of doom as Saber suddenly jumped in the air taking Jiraiya with him. With a mighty heave, he threw Jiraiya into the woman's bath yelling "Pervert incoming" Jiraiya landed face first into the water and came up sputtering to find himself surrounded by dozens of women. While many of them shrieked in fear, just as many shrieked in anger. While the female ninjas were deadly, strangely, it was the new women who had entered the bathhouse that were not from Konoha that seemed the deadliest. Several of the girls raised their fingers and chanted in strange languages.

This would become the second time in Jiraiya's life that he ever came close to death...

Saber turned back towards Naruto, any form of good cheer was long gone from his face. "Master, why did you want to learn from the pervert?" Rider suddenly appeared holding her sides laughing loudly at the development and the total destruction that was going on from within the onsen. Naruto knew that Rider would not back him up and had to explain rather quickly about how the ero-jiji had easily beaten Ebitsu by summoning a frog...

"Toad," the large toad corrected, "I'm a toad."

Naruto whirled to the Toad surprised, "You can talk?"

The toad rolled his eyes, "Of course I can." The Toad suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Gensoushu " Saber whispered in wonder. The toad was a Gensoushu , a phantasm race of legends. This toad was a being of legends and fairly tales that probably exceeded the power of modern magi. In the world of his past, almost all phantasm races were extinct and the few remaining were centuries old. If the old man was able to summon a phantasm race, he was far stronger than Saber had estimated. Perhaps...there was something to be learned from the old man. That is, if he lived long enough. From the sounds of it, that probably wasn't going to happen.

"Rider, Saber" Naruto said. The two looked over at him, expecting the command. "Save him, he has something that he can teach me."

With that, the two shifted into astral form and ran into the onsen.

The whole place was in chaos. Somehow, the old man was still alive, if for no other reason than there was another intruder in the hot springs.

Archer.

The Servant had felt his Master's distress and had bolted into the woman's side intending to protect her. Unfortunately, the woman all jumped to conclusions and thought he was another peeping tom and began assaulting him too. In the chaos, Rider shifted into Physical form, grabbed the old man and fled quickly.

Saber, in Astral form, made a small prayer for Archer hoping for the counter guardian to survive and followed Rider. This place was too crazy for him to remain for any length of time.


Later

It had been a miracle, but Jiraiya was still alive. After ogling Rider, only to get slapped, Naruto explained that he had been the one to order for his rescue. They had taken him to a distant training zone with a large canyon nearby. The old man had agreed to teach him how to summon the Toads.

"First, there's something you need to understand, you have two types of chakra." Jiraiya told Naruto.

"Two types, mine and the Kyuubi right?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya was a bit startled about Naruto knowing about the demon within him. Clearly someone had told Naruto already, but his sources had not informed him of that. "Correct. Now, have you ever felt yourself using it's chakra?"

"Yeah, I'm using it all the time." Naruto said.

Jiraiya blinked, he sure wasn't feeling the familiar hate the Kyuubi exuded. "Huh?"

"He means more than the amount you are passively feeding the two of us." Saber whispered.

"Oh, well.. there was that one time in wave when I felt a lot more powerful." Naruto said. "I can't remember much, but if my regular chakra was blue, the kyuubi felt red."

"I remember far too clearly," Saber told Naruto, "You thought Sasuke had died. I could feel your power from a quarter of a mile away."

"I see," Jiraiya said, not trying to think of what it meant if Naruto was constantly using the Kyuubi's chakra. Perhaps it wouldn't take much for the boy to learn how to summon a Toad. "Then try to release that red chakra right now."

Naruto concentrated, and tried to pull forth the demon's chakra. To no avail. "No good, it's only my regular chakra."

Jiraiya sighed, a bit disappointed that his godson had no talent for this. It looked like he would have to do something drastic to get him to pull out all his chakra. "Okay, first, use up all of your chakra." Perhaps that would be enough for him to activate it. Though he was a lousy godfather, he wasn't willing to use his last resort unless he had to.

Naruto concentrated and summoned hundreds of shadow clones. Each of the clones and the original began throwing out as many jutsus as they could sending massive gusts of wind everywhere. Finally, Naruto all but passed out from sheer exhaustion.

"All right, it looks like it is time for you to learn the jutsu." Jiraiya said.

"Sweet, this is what I've been waiting for." Naruto said with a grin forgetting all his exhaustion.

"First, I'll show you how it's done. Watch closely." With that, he bit his thumb, and smeared blood upon his palm. He then slammed it into the ground causing a seal to form on the ground and yelled, "Summoning no Jutsu."

From a burst of smoke came the same Toad Naruto and the others had seen back at the onsen. In it's tongue was a large scroll. The Toad then passed the scroll with it's tongue to Naruto. Naruto unfolded it to see a list of names written in blood upon the contract.

"This scroll has been passed down through many generations. It contains the contract for one to summon the Toads in times of need." Jiraiya explained.

"Oh? It seems to me that you summon us at the most random times or whenever you are caught you leach." The Toad interrupted.

Jiraiya ignored the toad and continued, "Write your name in blood and under that press your fingerprints below. Afterwords, you will be able to summon them when you produce enough chakra and place the hand you signed the contract with on the ground."

Naruto was impressed by the simplicity of the contract. Yet, it was far too familiar to when he summoned Saber in the forest all those months ago. In a way, he was rather nervous that the contract would drain him as badly as the first time he summoned. However, he still needed to get stronger for the chunin exams.

Naruto finished signing his name and placing a bloody hand on the contract finishing the deal. "That's it?" he asked.

"Your red chakra should be easier to use in your current state. Give it a try." Jiraiya answered.

Naruto concentrated, summoning as much chakra as he could, He took his bloody hand and slammed it on the ground. "Summoning no jutsu."

A seal appeared on the ground and with a puff of smoke, a creature was summoned...

A tadpole.

Everyone just stared for a minute, completely lost for words.

"Kid, you've got no talent." Jiraiya said bluntly.

"I'm trying'" Naruto yelled, "I'm all out of chakra here and I can't get the red stuff." For the next several hours, Naruto continued to attempt at summoning Toads. Four hours of failure resulted in him being able to summon a tadpole with legs. "Ha, I did it." Naruto celebrated...right before he passed out.

Jiraiya shook his head, *sigh* "It looks like he won't be able to pull out his chakra normally."

Saber shrugged, "Not surprising. The demon is far too vast and powerful to be wielded by him. It's a testament to whoever sealed it in him that the seal didn't break or weaken."

Jiraiya couldn't argue that. Minato was a genius at sealing. No matter how many times he looked at the seal, he couldn't help but marvel the complexity of the seal. Truly, Konoha lost a great man when the Kyuubi attacked. With Minato as Hokage, the village would have been greater than any time in it's history. Well, no use mourning over what will never come to pass. "If it takes heightened emotion or personal danger to summon the chakra, then I have no choice." He moved forward to pick up Naruto, but Saber blocked his arm.

"And just what are you planning?" He asked with steel in his voice. Sure, Saber was still upset about Naruto using her image as he pleased showing off every inch of her to the world, but he would not let his Master die.

Jiraiya could feel the killing intent rising from Saber. The man was clearly going to fight him to the death to protect Naruto. "It will take a real threat to his life for him to access the Demon's chakra." He pointed to the canyon behind Saber. Saber narrowed his eyes for a second, then seemed to consider something. "You're sure that is the only way?" Emiya Shirou understood the concept of facing death for power. A magus must always be prepared for death. When he was Naruto's age, Shirou was already risking his life practicing his magic which could have easily killed him with a single mistake. If Naruto had to face death to gain power, so be it. However, that didn't mean that the Servants had to stand idle.

"Rider, looks like we'll be needing your steed today." Saber told her. Rider nodded her head, she understood.


Later

Naruto woke up slowly, his entire body felt like it had gone through a major beating from a crowd. His muscles were stiff and sore and his vision was a bit groggy. "Huh? Wha?"

"Get up." Jiraiya ordered. Naruto slowly got up. He could tell that something was different, the man's normal demeanor was gone and replaced by a deadly serious one. As he looked around, he saw what looked like Saber and Rider laying face first on the ground. Something had happened to them, something bad. It looked like Saber was covered with thrown shuriken and Rider had a steady stream of blood coming from her back.

"Your Servants are gone boy. They will not be able to help you now. All that can save you is the Kyuubi." Jiraiya told him. With that, Jiraiya flicked a finger on Naruto's head sending him flying backwards and into the air. Naruto suddenly noticed that he was falling past a cliff. Oh god, the old bastard had thrown him into the canyon.

"AAAAAAAGGGH" Naruto yelled in fear as he fell.

Back on top of the ridge, Jiraiya's clones disguised as the Servants vanished leaving Jiraiya all alone. The two Servants had left Jiraiya after telling him that they had a plan in case this plan failed. Jiraiya hoped it would not come to it, but he was glad that someone was looking out for his godson. Jiraiya watched with interest as Naruto attempted to use his chakra to grip onto a slick outcropping of the canyon, but the rock was covered with water and Naruto's energy was all but depleted.

'Lets see if this power was truly meant for you or not,' Jiraiya thought as he could see Naruto flailing his arms in despair.

'Oh shit, shit shit shit. I'm going to die,' Naruto thought, 'I'm going to die, I'm going to...' Naruto saw white...

*Drip, Drip, Drip*

Water? Why was there water?

Naruto looked around and saw that he was standing in what looked like a long corridor, no, a sewer. There was a thin layer of water on the ground that splashed lightly when a drop of water fell to the ground. The area was barely lit by dim light bulbs that seemed to flicker whenever he looked at them. Various pipes were attacked to the ceiling. Naruto was confused. One minute he had been falling, and the next minute he was here.

"OOOOOOOO" a roar came from the end of the path. With the roar came a familiar feeling, one of hate and violence. Naruto headed towards the sound, sure of his destination. As Naruto walked, he looked down the various corridors that shot off to the sides. As he looked, he could see that they contained various rooms. Some were filled with books, some were filled with ramen, one was filled with pictures of Iruka and various texts that held all that he remembered about the man. As he closed in towards the source of the chakra, he stopped for a minute to look into two rooms.

While the other rooms were filled with the things he thought about, these two were very different. Both rooms were dedicated to the two Servants, and each were almost worlds apart from what he had seen in the other rooms.

The room that was dedicated to Rider looked like the inside of the Temple on the Shapeless Isle. It was coated with Marble stained with blood and covered with cracks looking like it would fall down at any moment. The room smelled of blood and sickness. In the corner, various statues of Rider stood. Each of them held the different forms of Rider. The left most statue was Rider when she was very young, when she looked just like her sisters. Next stood Rider as Naruto knew her. She was still beautiful no matter what the gods of old said. Beside that stood Rider in her transitional stage covered in scales and her hair turning into snakes or tentacles. The final statue was that of her in her fully monstrous form towering over the others. Beside that stood what looked like a pedestal where another statue should be, yet it remained empty. Naruto was confused, but turned to the other room.

The other room looked like a hill surrounded by a nearly barren plain. Naruto recognized it as the place where Saber fought in Unlimited Blade Works. Yet, instead of swords, stood various statues of the people that influenced Saber. Berserker stood with his massive sword upraised in preparation of slicing an invisible opponent. Rin was standing in one of her lecturing poses as if admonishing someone. Illya stood with her arms raised as if she was going to hug someone. Lancer stood with his spear pointed forward preparing to attack. Gilgamesh stood in his haughty stance laughing at some unseen worm. On and on the various statues covered the lands, though there were countless pedestals that were unfilled as if waiting for the artist to add more statues to the collection. Yet, above the others at the top of the hill stood Ria. Her sword was planted in the ground, her hands upon the top of the hilt. He hair seemed to be waving slightly from a breeze. She seemed to be gazing towards the horizon as if preparing to do her duty once more. Beside her, Saber stood walking forward with his twin swords. Saber's face was set as if he was prepared for some hard battle.

Naruto would have looked in more, but the roar came once more forcing him to focus on what stood before him. It was a giant prison cell with a large seal affixed to the space where the two doors met. In the dim shadows, he could see the outline of a massive beast. The hate and malice of the beast was almost suffocating Naruto. Naruto figured that the only thing that could compare to the size of the beat was Rider in her fully monstrous form, though he figured that Rider was taller and her hair made her many times longer.

"Kid Come Closer" the beast said. Naruto took a step closer, only to leap back as a giant claw slammed against the bars. "I Want To Eat You, But This Damn Seal."

"Kuubi." Naruto said realizing what he was facing.

"For You To Come Here, Want Do You Want Boy?"

Naruto felt all fear leave him, instead, he felt a great boost of confidence. The beast was sealed it would not be able to escape. "Give me your chakra. You're living in my body, instead of rent, I'm charging you chakra."

The demon's eyes widened at the confidence at the boy then began laughing deeply, "You Dare To Make Demands Of Me? That's A Riot."

Naruto waited until the demon stopped laughing. "If I die, you will die as well."

The demon considered it, "Cheeky Brat, But You Are Right. Very Well, I Will Lend You My Power As A Gift For Coming This Far."

Naruto watched as a black water surrounded him and enveloped him filling him with more power than he had ever felt save once. Naruto was then flung from the sewer back into the real world.

In the sewer the Kyuubi chuckled, "Keep Thinking You Are The Master Boy. I Will Claim My Servants Soon Enough." On his right paw large seals that looked like three flower petals and a Chinese sword glowed in the darkness. Let the boy think he was the lard instead of the slave. The host would learn soon enough who really held the command Seals. The Kyuubi had been pleased when the host had summoned the mightiest of Servants. Now, with Rider as his second Servant, Kyuubi was sure that victory would be assured.


Naruto opened his eyes as saw that he was still falling towards the canyon floor. It seemed that time was different wherever the Kyuubi was stored. Naruto could feel the power burning within him and knew that he needed to summon something big. He bit his thumb and made the appropriate hand signs. Thrusting his had forward, he yelled, "Summoning no Jutsu."

At the top of the canyon, Jiraiya was pleased to see his godson had successfully summoned a Toad, and judging by the smoke, it was a big one. Jiraiya's eyes suddenly widened as he saw that it was Gamabunta, the boss of the Toads. "Not good." Gamabunta was still upset at him for being used as an escape vehicle from a horde of pissed off women back in Iwa. Jiraiya decided to make himself scarce least he have some explaining to do. Gamabunta easily stopped Naruto's fall as his massive frame As he left, he could hear Naruto celebrating his successful summoning.

"You Little Punk," Gamabunta yelled as Naruto was dancing on his head. "What'cha do'in on my head? Stupid Punk."

Naruto blinked surprised at the giant Toad's comments.

"I finally get some air way from the mountain and I end up in this Kami forsaken place." The Toad muttered. He focused on Naruto and asked, "Hey Punk, where's Jiraiya?" Seeing that Naruto had no clue who he was talking about, he added, "The perverted old bastard. How dare he call me here and drop some little punk on me."

"Actually, my Master was the one who summoned you." Saber told him. Naruto and Gamabunta looked to the right to see that Saber and Rider were atop Pegasus. The two had left for some distance to summon the legendary steed and were prepared to catch Naruto if he failed to summon a Toad.

While Naruto was ecstatic at seeing his Servants, Gamabunta was paralyzed with fear. A Servant. No, two of them. It had been over a centuries, but he still remembered the last time he watched a fight between Servants. Gamabunta had been little more than a tadpole when he watched the fight, but the sheer destructiveness of the battle had scarred him for life. Gamabunta looked at the boy who was the supposed Master and froze. The boy looked like a chibi Minato. It had to be the boy that Minato was expecting before he died.

Gamabunta cleared his throat, "So, this...kid summoned me? I see, if he could summon a Servant, it makes sense."

Naruto carefully grabbed Saber's hand and he and his two Servants flew up while Gamabunta jumped up to the top of the canyon. Once they were all safely on the ground, the two Servants introduced themselves as did Naruto. Gamabunta introduced himself as the Boss of the Toads. After the greetings, the two Servants explained that Jiraiya had thrown Naruto into the canyon to unlock his latent potential. Gamabunta could tell that they meant the Kyuubi that was sealed within the son of Minato. Privately, the Boss Toad was impressed that the boy had been able to summon him. Besides Jiraiya and his perverted escapades, the last person to summon him had been Minato. For the boy to summon him at this age was impressive to say the least.

Gamabunta explained that while he was summoned, he was by no means a slave. Naruto fully understood as he already had two Servants and knew that they were slavish in their behavior. They might obey, but they had their own wills. Gamabunta explained that the contract between the Toads and Naruto would be complete as soon as they exchanged Sake. Saber nodded, but asked where they were expected to find such a large amount of alcohol.

"Tell you what, summon me tomorrow around three and we'll exchange Sake." Gamabunta explained. Naruto hoped that he would be able to pull out all the chakra he would need without being thrown off the canyon again.

Naruto then felt himself drained. Not surprising really, he had worked himself to the bone today between expelling as much chakra as possible, attempting to summon a toad for four hours and then summoning one of the strongest Toads. As soon as Naruto passed out, Rider took him home while Saber stayed for a bit to ask the Toad a few questions.

"I noticed you knew what we are as soon as you saw us." Saber said.

"Kid, no one forgets seeing a Servant no matter how many years pass." Gamabunta told him. "I know all about you Heroic Spirits, and the standard thing to do when any of us see your kind is to run as far away and as fast as possible in the opposite direction. You're all rather memorable beings"

"I noticed that myself. When I was alive, I was a Master in my own right." Saber told the giant Toad. "I will never forget the Servants I faced and the fear I had facing them."

"Is that all you wanted to ask?" Gamabunta asked.

"Are you aware of what he has inside him?" Saber asked.

"I am."Gamabunta told him. "The Kyuubi's chakra is thick around him."

"Will this affect the contract at all?" Shirou asked

"No, he signed the contract. As long as he does not attack us, the contract is valid." Gamabunta explained.

Saber bowed formally to the Boss of the Toads who vanished in a puff of smoke.

Saber was pleased at the development. His Master was becoming stronger than ever. It would be necessary for what was coming. Saber had developed acute senses for war over his life, and they were all screaming that something was developing in the horizon. He would need to consult a few people in the village and warn them of his feeling.


Omake: Poor Archer

Today had been hell for him. There had to be some sort of divine being or cruel Fate that he had run into Rin today. The Hot spring had been a nice place to relax, but then it all went to hell. He had been relaxing in the hot spring soaking away his worries when he heard his Master screeching on the other side with the other women. He had shifted into astral form and jumped into the woman's bath preparing to kill whatever it was. In the process, he had donned his Shroud of Martin and landed in the water swords at the ready.

Only to have to dodge a Gandr.

It turned out that an old man had been thrown into the woman's bath. By entering the woman's side, Archer had been instantly considered a Pervert as well and all the other woman began to attack him as well. Because he was so fast and nimble, the others had focused their efforts on him rather than the old pervert. In the chaos, he had barely been able to see the legendary Blue blow him away. Though he had never met her himself, her powers and temper were famous. Why she was here was beyond him, but it sent him flying backwards into the wall.

He could barely open his eyes, but what he saw made him cringe. It was his Master looking at him with deadly serious eyes. She could tell that it was he, rather than Saber who had entered the bath. Of course, as all the woman were looking at him, they didn't notice Rider suddenly appearing and taking the old man away. Why she did that was beyond him, but he had other things to worry about.

Like Rin.

Oh, how she had been pissed. Beside her, Rin's rival Luvia, who he met only twice in life was also furious. Both of them had hit him with dozens of Gandr. Then, there was the True Ancestor. Why one of those creatures were here in this world was beyond him, but he learned that she had a mean right hook. The True Ancestor kept yelling at him asking him why he would do something like this and that a person who gave Shiki the elixir should have been a better man.

Then Illya came up to him. It broke Archer's heart to see her again. The last time he had met her, he had held her hand as she lay dying. Without thinking, he suddenly grabbed her and hugged her. Illya had been the last person to believe in him. All others turned away from him and left him to his ideal. To see her again, to hold her again was a dream come true for him.

"Shirou?" Illya asked, any anger she ever held was instantly replaced by worry as Archer hugged her and wept.

"Archer?" Yugito asked worried.

"Archer?" The girls in Saber's life all asked. Then it hit them. Rin and Saber had told them about the counter guardian who wanted to kill his past. Anger turned to worry then turned back to anger. Archer had excused himself and fled for a while. The unaffiliated women didn't follow him as Yugito explained the he was her bodyguard and had assumed her screams meant that she was in trouble. He wanted to be alone, yet Yugito would not let him.

She lead the others right to him. Though he was in astral form, his Master could tell where he was and told the others where to look. From there, Rin told Yugito about Archer's story. It seemed to take his Master back a bit, but she accepted the knowledge and left Archer to Rin.

She had not been gentle. Her tongue was a lash calling all kinds of an idiot and a fool. She threatened to do many different things to him for lying to her in the Grail war and if he dared to say that he didn't remember the incident she would unleash all the power of Kaleidoscope at him.

After hours of being yelled at, Archer was left alone feeling like something a dog chewed up and spat out. He headed for his Master, only for her to lock him out and to not come inside until she forgave him for seeing her naked.

So, here he was, standing atop the hotel waiting for the sunrise. The only thing that would have made it worse was if it rained.

*Drip Drop*

Of course, it immediately began to rain as soon as he thought about it.

Today sucked royally.


Author's note: First off, sorry for taking nearly two weeks to upload the newest chapter. Between work, college, and twelve hour clinicals, there isn't as much time to write as I would like. In addition, I was hit by a massive writer's block. Every time I tried to write, I got nothing or ideas that will occur far down the line. I wrote those ideas down, but the chapter didn't get any longer.

Many reviewers commented that this chapter was focusing too much on Saber and barely on Naruto. I find that they are probably correct, but the, I like Shirou far more than I do Naruto. Shirou is far easier for me to understand and write than Naruto. I'll try to balance the two out.

The rooms in the mindscape are somewhat important. I intend to use them again as more dreams are added. I'll bet though that many of you did not see the little fact about the Kyuubi coming. Remember, that this ceremony is about one of the demons becoming the spirit of the planet. Though they are trapped in hosts, it is the demons who are summoning the Servants through the host. Hence why they have the command seals. Though the hosts can use the seals, the seals are actually on the demons' flesh. Think of it as the case in Fate/Zero with Archibald and Sophia. Though Archibald was the one who retained the 'Authority' of the Lance of the time, it was Sophia who held the images of the seals and provided the Servant with prana.

One thing I am not sure on what to do is figure out if the Kyuubi is male female or neither. I would like to hear what my readers think and their reasons why.