~NRK~

She peered down at the opposition, its smooth surfaces, humanoid body with a thick column for legs, and its helmeted head peering up at her even with its ten-stories height.

"Leo, open the field for 40 seconds only," she said as she hopped off the building they stood on.

"I could hold it for-oh, okay," her Limiter said with a nervous laugh before getting down on a knee and raising his hand. "Freezing!"

She noted how the dark teal hexagon fell down the building's length and then to her feet, surrounding her.

"Its Freezing has been negated!"

She nodded, looking at the Type-R Nova, its gaze turning to her.

Its arms, thick, broken-off-looking stumps, flared up.

She dodged to the side, her bluish-green eyes never losing their focus as the area behind her was devastated by the projectiles from the Nova.

She skidded to its side before crouching, feet destroying the space beneath her.

Tempest Turn!

She lunged at it, several afterimages, each bearing the weight of the actual young woman, around her.

The Nova didn't get much of a chance to do anything other than turn its head.

Her tonfa-blades, carved throughout its headpiece, her copies doing the same and helping destroy the head with precision and power.

She landed a bit away, copies fading, and the Nova's form cracking before it exploded into flames and noise, the light show not lasting for much more than a few seconds.

Her earpiece sparked to life. -Field time 1 minute and 20 seconds, exactly on the mark, Ingrid-senpai!-

"Hmph," she flipped back her long red hair, her Genetics school uniform, with fingerless gloves, settling down from any nearby winds. "Good work, Leo."

~NRK~

Coming out the Simulation Room # 5, she nodded to her yellow-haired, black-eyed, Limiter.

"It's a pleasure like always, ma'am," he said, bowing in his male Genetics uniform. "Today we finally got the timing down, I'm glad all that time doing accuracy checks worked out."

"Indeed."

"Destroying a Type-R in less than a minute?" Came a call from her side, gaining Ingrid's attention. "I guess for the Rank 7, we should expect nothing less."

There, walking up the hall past another Simulation Room door, was another Pandora and Limiter.

The girl who'd called out to them had short, silvery hair, set in a pair of large drills, wearing the female Genetics uniform while the young man had black hair that came down to his shoulders, giving him a droopy look.

"Attia Simmons," Ingrid said as Leo nodded to his fellow Limiter. "What do you want?"

"Whoa, now, that was pretty cold," Atia said with a shake of the head, her light brown eyes gleaming with mirth. "Come on, now! At least greet your fellow high-ranker."

"... Hmph," Ingrid turned from the superior-ranked Pandora and continued walking. "Come, Leo, I'm not here for small talk."

"Very well, ma'am," Leo said before tossing a wave at Attia's Limiter. "Later, Marc!"

"Now, hold on there, Bernstein!" Ingrid stopped, eyes narrowed. "I'll have you know, this isn't just some small talk, there was some information I wanted to impart to you."

"Of what kind?"

"The rule-breaking kind."

The air around Ingrid grew thick with intent, her eyes glowing in the shadow of her bangs.

"What?"

~NRK~

The following day, when class ended for the three Freshmen, they were already up out of their seats, bags packed, and heading towards the door.

"How do you like classes so far?" Kaho asked as they left class. "With how everything went yesterday, I kind of forgot that you transferred in the mid-school year."

"Well, in my old school, it wasn't much different. Though I think we were a bit ahead of this," Kazuya said.

"It makes sense, really," Arthur said. "If you only went to a normal school before this, they're not focusing on all the extra classes we have. It's why most of the STEM fields require complete and total investment from people who ignore the rest of class here."

They chatted and walked, Hiiragi pointing out things for Kazuya that he may not have gotten a good explanation for the day before.

As they made their way to the medical hall, they blinked at the pale crowd in front of the medical wing.

Kazuya laughed nervously as Genessa came upon the group's back.

"What the hell is going on here?" she asked, surprising the group a bit.

"O-Oh, hey, Genessa-senpai," Hiiragi said with a nervous chuckle. "And, I don't know."

"I might have an idea," he said nervously, pushing through the crowd with the others. "I-It's probably her," Kazuya explained, getting blinks and then nervous chuckles from the others.

"Oh, it's-"

"Hmph, you all?" came the call of Satellizer L. Bridgette, the girl's arms full with a large bag with the words 'Burger Queen' on it. "I thought I'd be the only one coming today," she said.

Kazuya and the others laughed nervously as they went in with her in two, the crowd of Pandoras and Limiters shocked out of their minds.

"What the hell happened?!"

Reaching Naruto's room, the group blinked as they looked through his medical window to see the blonde there with Dr. Schmitz and Chiffon Fairchild.

"?" he turned to the window before waving with a bandaged but workable arm. "Hey, guys!" Naruto greeted the group, catching both his current visitor's attention.

"Oh, it's you all… Wait, even Satellizer came?!" the 'Monster' of West Genetics wilted under the flat stare of said girl. "O-Oh, don't be like that!" she squeaked.

Okay, so that'd been a little tactless.

"Chiffon-san?" Kazuya blinked at her. "What are you doing here, senpai?"

"Well…" the third-year scratched her cheek with a finger. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday, I should have intervened when I noticed that Miyabi had her whole Limiter set with her."

"You should have," Satellizer said, getting a slump out of the third-year class president. "Had we not got there, Naruto might have…"

"Look, it's fine," Naruto said with a shake of the head. "I'm fine, you're fine, Kazu's fine, we're all fine, now."

"Naruto…" Kaho grimaced. "I don't think you can just forget what happened yesterday."

"I'm not saying we should," Naruto said with a frown. "But turning against one another for a mistake isn't something we should be doing. Chiffon-senpai's already apologized, I can't very well blame her for being unaware of just how far Miyabi-teme would have gone."

"... That's very mature of you, Naruto-kun," Elize said. "And, I see your viewpoints, both of yours," she said to Satellizer. "But, if necessary, I'd like for you both to have a therapy session with me, if you want."

"Therapy?" Kazuya asked.

"Yes, some people may not realize it but some events don't affect them outright," the doctor said. "Sometimes, it can emerge in small, subtle, ways. Naruto's not been out of his hospital bed, yet, for anything more than a healing session, so far. I'd like to see if I can catch something before he's released."

"I mean… I don't know if I'm as affected as Satellizer-senpai," said girl looked down. "At least I wasn't straight-up assaulted."

"It's open, for both of you," she said, looking at Satellizer. "My door's always open, just so you know."

"We do, thanks, Doc," Naruto said before tilting his head. "But that's not what you were asking before they came."

"Yes," Elize smiled at the more positive topic. "Naruto, I've never seen what you could do before in anyone! Not in the Nova or Limiters! I want to document your way of using Freezing. If we can train the other Limiters in this new way of using the technique, we could see a huge increase in lowering casualties!"

"I mean, I don't mind," he said as the others found themselves places around the room. "I think the only issue would come from people not respecting my authority on the subject-Wow, I didn't think I'd ever say those words," Naruto said in disbelief as Genessa snickered along with Kaho.

"You're not exactly a genius doctor, Naru-Naru." Genessa teased, getting a shot-out tongue for her troubles. "Hah!"

"So you want Naruto to teach the Limiters his way of using Freezing, right?" Arthur asked, getting nods from Chiffon and Elize. "Naruto, that's certainly one way to hit it big."

"Hehe~ I'm fine with helping in any way I can," the blonde said with a shrug. "Once I'm out of here, I'm gonna double up on my training. I got blindsided by Miyabi, and her Limiters, and can't let that happen again."

"Being fair," Eliza said. "Most, if not only just a few, Pandora keep more than one Limiter. It's one, just not safe. The Freezing used would need all Limiters within the group to use theirs at the same time. There's a reason you don't see it… At all, save for maybe some in the middle-eastern regions."

"I always wondered why Pandoras don't have more than one," Naruto said. "I mean, not, like, romantically, but I always wondered if it wouldn't be better to have a team of Limiters on standby."

"In practice, that's not a bad idea," Chiffon said with a smile. "But, practice and real combat are two different things. The drop in Freezing potential doesn't really make up for the Limiter amount."

"Yes," Arthur nodded. "Likely the only people who could pull that off are you and Kazuya."

"I want to learn how to be useful," the transfer said with a determined frown. "If I was able to help break those guys' Freezing yesterday, you both wouldn't have had to deal with that."

"It's what it is," Naruto said with a grin. "That said, I can still give you training while I'm like this," he said, looking at Arthur. "Honestly, you could have asked Arthur. I'm sure he would have shown you some of the exercises I've got him doing."

Arthur sweated. "They're all so tiring," he said with his head in his hands as Genessa snickered. "I feel like my entire body's gonna cramp up if I push it."

"What are these exercises, Naruto-kun?" Elize asked as Satellizer bit into one of her burgers. "This can be the start of our process."

"Well, for one, bounce a ball and freeze it mid-air," the blonde said, surprising the group. "Guys, if you want to work on your Freezing, you've gotta push the basics. Learning how to freeze objects is gonna be crazy handy. Trust me, once you're able to be able to slow it down, you can move onto the second step of encasing an object in Freezing. The idea is first to increase your ability to freeze and then focus on control. When those two things have gotten to a good level, I'll move you on to environment stuff… Chiffon-senpai," the third year perked up.

"Yes?"

"Mind stepping on the wall over there?" Naruto asked, casting his Freezing on it. "This is a thing I've been working on for the past year."

"?" She made a confused sound but did it regardless. "... I can't…" Chiffon tried pulling on it.

"Nuh-uh," the blonde grinned. "Put your next foot up there."

The room stopped as Chiffon blinked at him in disbelief.

"W-Wait, wait, wait, you're trying to say," Genessa looked excited. "You can make us walk on walls?!"

Chiffon was just as floored but did as suggested, orange hexagons spreading across the wall.

"Go on, walk around."

The third-year swallowed before she did as suggest. "... T-This is ridiculous!" she nearly squeaked looking down and she noted her hair didn't obey the laws of physics. "N-Naruto-kun, this goes against everything I know about Freezing!"

"Hehe~" Naruto snickered as Elize vigorously wrote down notes. "Well, for me, my Freezing is stronger than most but I've got the drawback of only using it one way or two, weaker, ways," the group blinked at him. "Well, I can cast it over a wide area or a small one but it's not as strong as it could be and I lose the ability to move during."

"You can move during Freezing?" Satellizer asked in shock. "M-Most Limiters can't."

"Eh," Naruto shrugged. "I'm working with Arthur to figure out why. The way I see it is that you can freeze an area and, once it's completed, you've, sort of, captured it. That's why those guys from yesterday could move even though we couldn't," Naruto said with a frown. "I don't know much about Novas but I think the only reason most Limiters can't move is because they can't 'capture the field'," he twitched his fingers.

"... Nova Freezing is far more powerful," Elize said in shock. "I-If it's fighting off the influence, on principle, that would mean that they can't 'complete' the zone is what you're saying?"

"Yerp," Naruto said. "At least, that's how I feel. Once you've finished with a field, you can't freeze anymore but you should be able to move."

"Fascinating!" Elize scribbled faster as Chiffon tilted her head with her arms crossed, all horizontally.

"So, you've already 'finished' this field, Naruto-kun?"

"Yup," Naruto nodded.

"Intriguing, then your ability to secure an area is faster than many others… I wonder. Dr. Schmitz told me of your talk from yesterday. Can you freeze weapons to increase their attacking power?"

"Sure," Naruto said. "Me, mom, and dad practiced this a lot. She's a Pandora as well under our personal permit."

"Personal permit?" Kazuya asked, Satellizer looking confused as well.

"It's basically like companies having their own, personal, Pandoras," Arthur explained. "Companies can apply for permits to have their own set of Pandora but the process is very intensive. The only corporational entities who have this permit are typically those from the noble class or companies with concepts connected to Pandoras," the paired blonde looked at Naruto with interest. "Naruto, what does your family do that you can get this permit?"

"... So, I need confidentiality, doc," the laid-up blonde said, getting a raised brow from Elize. "Whatever is said here never leaves this room. Company secrets and all that."

Elize nodded moving to, and closing, the door to the room before pressing on her collar, the cameras in the corner of the room going down.

"There, complete radio silence."

"Thanks," Naruto nodded. "Okay, you guys know about Pandora suits, yeah?" the group balked as he nodded. "My dad and mom are making new versions of them."

"They are?!" Genessa grinned. "You know… I am your closest friend and senpai, Naru-Naru."

The blonde snorted. "Senpai, you're horrible," the woman didn't look the slightest bit ashamed. "It's not just Pandora Suits, though. Besides making specialized attachments for them, we're also making Limiter Suits."

"What?" Arthur's mouth dropped. "Hold on, we can't even call on the Volt Weapons! How can we use the suits?!"

"Well, they're more for being used when you're going into actual combat," Naruto said as Elize leaned forward interest. "They're suits that are to increase our physical abilities. Mom's been abroad before, in the Chinese branch, and learned pressure point techniques that the suits make use of. You've seen some anime, yeah? It's stuff like that but obviously more realistic."

"That's insane," Chiffon said, still standing on the wall. "Naruto-kun, that sounds amazing!"

"Hehe~ I test them out at the beginning of every month," Naruto said. "And, with the gloves, since I can freeze them, I can have an actual weapon to fight back against even Pandoras with some new ideas I've had as of late."

"Now that's taking the insanity too far," Kaho said with crossed arms. "I don't want to think about you trying to square up against a Pandora!"

"I'm not going to try to," Naruto specified, Kaho grimaced. "But, should the day come, and with my track record, it's better to be safer than sorry, yeah?"

"I hate that you're probably right."

"I'd hope you don't get into such an altercation, Naruto-kun," Chiffon said, finally coming down from the wall. "I'll need to keep an eye on you, young mister."

"H-Hehehe."

"Can we activate the lights again?"

"Hit it, Doc."

With all the information equipment returned to life, Elize smiled.

"This has been an eye-opening experience," she said to Naruto. "I didn't think such things were in the works."

"Yeah," Naruto grinned. "Actually, come the middle of the year, we're gonna be displaying them to more investors," he said, turning to Kazuya. "Kazu, your granddad's actually been talking to my dad as of late and he's trying to get first seats to the event."

"My grandpa?" Kazuya said in interest. "Hmm, I guess, since he's the head of the Pandora project, he'd want to help out the Limiters as well!" He said with a grin.

"Hmph, so now we have, potentially, two big wigs in our school," Genessa said as Satellizer ate her tenth burger. "Heheheheheheh and I'm connected to both of them by proxy!"

"Well… A-Ahehehe," Chiffon chuckled nervously at the redhead's opportunistic glee. "W-Well, having high goals aren't the worst thing to have."

"... Mm," Satellizer went into her bag of food before a growl emanated from the laid-up blonde who chuckled embarrassingly.

"Y-Yeah, I haven't really eaten as of-thanks?" Naruto said sheepishly before being presented a burger by the blonde Pandora. "... Thanks, senpai," he said, taking the food before undoing it with one hand, skilled fingers gripping the food. "God, I hate hospital food… No offense, Elize-hakase."

"No, I understand it," Elize said with a shake of the head. "I have to believe that it's to do with the air. Because I know that the food here tastes fine without being in the medical wing."

Naruto shrugged before eating.

~NRK~

The light of the dawn the following day saw Naruto moving about the field outside of the medical bay, able to walk but not run without assistance.

The others were with him today, as well, along with doctor Elize and one other.

Their surprise guest of the day was one of their instructors, Yu-Mi Kim, a Korean Pandora who used to be in the Numbers, a highly-revered unit of Pandoras from back in the day.

She was a short woman which, now that Naruto thought about it, almost ALL the women he knew from this place were short!

Like, damn! It was weird being, most likely, one of the taller people in West Genetics! That was so crazy to him!

She wore a pair of dark blue heels, dark brown pantyhose, a dark blue office skirt, and a light blue dress shirt with a dark blue tie. Naruto guessed she liked the color.

Her skin was slightly tan and her hair was brown and medium-length, the back of her hair flaring out after condensing at a point. Her eyes were brown in color and, the last thing of note on her person, was her Volt Weapon, a bladed lance.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this development," Yu-Mi said with a discerning eye watching Naruto perform in front of the other students. "Elize, this doesn't make sense."

In front of those on the grass, he made a rotating ring of orange hexagons that he allowed to trail around from the air to his neck to the arms of each of the other students. Next to him, Arthur focused on a spoon in front of him with Genessa egging him on.

Next to the spiky-haired blonde was none other than the Untouchable Queen, a face that blew Kim's mind as she watched the girl stand by Kazuya and Naruto with little issue.

"Since when was she used to boys?" she whispered to her former Numbers comrade who was writing things down in her clipboard. "Elize this doesn't make sense!" Yu-Mi hissed in disbelief.

"I told you, didn't I?" Elize grinned. "Everything that has happened ever since Kazuya's arrival. It's been outright crazy how things have gone and it seems like those boys are the reason for it."

Naruto held his hands out in front of him, a small circle of orange hexagons in front of him. Satellizer placed her hands against it and they didn't pass through, much to her and Kazuya's amazement.

"I looked at Naruto and Kazuya's records," Elize said. "Hell, I did it for Naruto when he first showed being able to use Freezing without an Ereinbar Set. I kept it to myself, I wanted to see how things went for a few months but then Kazuya appears to have the same ability and then he started doing things with Freezing I've never seen before and it all snowballed from there."

"Kazuha's brother does?" Yu-Mi asked in disbelief, Elize nodding. "... Y-You don't think they're related, do you?"

"Already ruled out," Elize said. "I've run their blood samples with consent, they've got different blood structures and all that… With Naruto's being far more… I guess the word 'healthy' would be appropriate. They're so thick. It's rather interesting watching them metabolizing everything with more efficiency than I've ever seen in red blood cells."

"So, what, he's some physical marvel?"

"Maybe…" she brought out a piece of paper from her clipboard and handed it to her coworker who placed her weapon in the ground and took it. "I'll show you more when we get back to the office but here are some images of the two's body diagnostics."

Receiving the papers, Yu-Mi looked at them for a moment before staring at the arrangements of light blue spread across the two's bodies.

"What are these?"

"That, Kim, is the image of the stigma tissue in their bodies," Elize nodded at her coworker's flinch. "Yup, for Naruto-kun, it's almost 60% around his body. I have to imagine that since he's been using it for longer, the growth has gone unnoted. With Kazuya's, it's about twenty-five to thirty percent and he just used it."

"T-These boys?!"

"The thing is… My hypothesis," Elize said with a frown as they watched Naruto make two platforms beneath Kazuya and Satellizer's rears, the two sitting on them. "... He's amazing… B-But, back on focus, you remember how special Kazuha was, right?"

"Yes," Yu-Mi said. "She's the Heroic Pandora, after all. The one whose body housed not four, not eight, but twenty stigmata with ridiculous power within each one. Our creator of High-End skills."

"Yes and she also had what I like to call a 'stigma body'," she said, shocking Yu-Mi a bit. "A body perfect for nurturing stigma, a body with a ridiculously high synchronicity rate… If Kazuha had been a Pandora Specialist… Then Naruto and Kazuya are Limiter Specialists but that's not where the weirdness stops. Naruto-kun, his stigma… They're scarily matured, Yu-Mi."

"You said his tissue covered 60%, right?" Yu-Mi observed the blonde's record. "That's a worrying prospect."

"Yes but it gets… weirder," Elize said before handing the instructor another paper. "When I was running Naruto's stigma tissue under a microscope, I found something… worrying, possibly?" Her friend looked confused. "It's not normal, Yu-Mi. I've run it against all kinds of living material and… And the one with the most worrying match was Nova tissue."

"What?!" She hissed once more, looking back to see Naruto meditating on a raised orange hexagon. "W-What does that mean?"

"... It seems like his stigma tissue is undergoing a metamorphosis, I'd guess and Nova tissue seems like the most likely thing to change into but those tissues that I've recognized as greatly changed, they have something different about them," Yu-Mi urged her forward. "I told you, he's not normal… But these changes also remind me of a Pandora's cells when they use Pandora Mode."

"... What, so he's turning into a girl?"

"Hah!" She snorted. "Nope! His chromosomes remain unaffected in being changed to do all the processes of his normal body," Yu-Mi's eyes widened. "Yes… I believe that Naruto's body is slowly changing him into a completely different being and no one knows."

"What… What should we do?"

"... Watch him, talk to him, see if he's feeling any different?" Elize shrugged. "Naruto isn't a monster, emotionally, he seems far wiser than a teen should be if anything. That said, that's it, he bleeds, disposes of waste, needs cleaning, and eats like a normal person."

"And his stigma tissues are, basically, becoming a perfect part of his body?"

"Yep… Actually, I should ask him that," Elize said. "I want to know how he got stigma tissues."

"... I'll do what I can," Yu-Mi said as a small explosion happened near Arthur's area. "He's a little dim when it comes to STEM fields but Naruto has always worn his heart on his sleeve, kind, and physically powerful… I'm worried that that last one is a foreshadowing of his changes."

"We'll see. Now, come on, I want to see what he can do with your Volt Weapon!" Elize announced, dragging her friend over, Yu-Mi grabbing her Volt Weapon as she did. "Naruto-kun~"

Naruto perked up, stopping the rotating hexagons around his arms as Kazuya focused and held his arms out.

"Focus, Kazu, feel your body extending outside it!"

"G-Got it!" Kazuya said, focusing as he held his hands towards a bush a bit away. "Mmmmmm!"

"What's up, Elize-hakase?" Naruto asked, the doctor smiling for him as she gestured to Yu-Mi. "Sup, Yu-Mi-sensei."

"Hello, Naruto-kun," she said with a nod. "Elize tells me she wants to see your ability to cover objects in your Freezing."

"Sure, I don't have any problems with that," he said honestly, getting a sigh from the instructor.

Please, don't give this boy problems, despite his weakness in STEM, Naruto was still a kind young man.

"?"

"It's nothing important," she said. "Come on, let's see what your proficiency in this technique can do."

Naruto nodded, Yu-Mi handing him her weapon.

The former shinobi felt out the weapon, hands going down the shaft and up to the blade.

He went down into a meditative stance, crossing his legs with the bladed lance in his lap and his eyes closing as his hands, in fist form, met together at his stomach.

"... Is this what he did before?" Yu-Mi asked as the boy went completely still.

"No… Naruto explained to me that he's one for lots of meditation," Elize said with interest, writing it down. "Let's see, yeah?"

Orange, long, hexagons flowed up from the pommel end of the polearm, Naruto's hands alight with the recognizable lines of someone using Freezing.

Both veteran Pandoras noted how his glowed gold in comparison to the normal blue all Limiters had.

The hexagon reached the bladed portion when the people near the blonde stared as it flowed over the blade.

Where it'd been almost a one-sided blade, the object grew three prongs on the none-sharp side, the weapon turning orange.

Naruto's eyes slowly opened and Elize wrote down the shocking discovery of their now yellow color.

'What could this mean?' She wasn't fully sure but one thing was for sure.

Naruto could activate this ability, it seemed, but it took large amounts of concentration.

His eyes fell on the weapon and the blonde blinked before tilting his head.

"The hell…?" he said, getting up and holding the Volt Weapon. "... This is new," he said with a frown as Kazuya and Satellizer looked his way.

"What's that? Is that a Volt Weapon?" he asked, his concentration broken but a trail of blue hexagons shooting towards the bush in front of him. "I-I did it?!"

"Hehe~ Good on you," Naruto said with a grin as he held the Volt Weapon in his hands aloft. "Um, sorry?" he said to the instructor who took the weapon back with a raised brow.

The shaft was now full of hexagonal patterns and had a tinted orange color, much to her fascination.

Moving a few feet away, Yu-Mi held her weapon in both hands before her eyes widened at a feeling within her core.

Energy. Power flowed through her palms to her body and she stared at the weapon one more time before taking a few deep breaths and lunging into the clear-

She stumbled as she skidded to a stop, wincing as she heard the stiletto of her heels break, blinking at her feet.

"Y-Yu-Mi, what the?!" Came Elize's call, the instructor looking behind her to see-

Yu-Mi came to a horrid realization as she saw the twenty-meter distance from her previous position.

Whatever was happening with the blonde Freshman's body… He was becoming powerful in ways that might not become apparent yet.

~NRK~

"And that should finish things off, Naruto-kun," Dr. Schmitz said as the spiky-haired blonde got off the tanning bed-esque table, removing the bandages from his shin with surprise.

"Damn, that stuff's amazing!" Naruto said as he hopped around a bit, walking on the wall with a trail of hexagon following his feet as he then traveled to the ceiling. "Dude, this is so crazy!" He cheered, ignoring his friends' disbelief at his current position.

"A-Are you allowed to say that?" Genessa said in shock as the blonde flipped down to the floor. "No, seriously, what earth do you come from?!"

"Hehe~ One far far away~ Dattebayo~," He said faux-mysteriously as Satellizer took a single step forward. "... N-Nooo, senpai, please~," Naruto said as he blushed and took a step back.

He looked to his side, saw an open window… and leaped through it with ease, landing on the tree branch outside.

Elize and Yu-Mi sweatdropped as Satellizer looked at his current position… And gave chase.

"SHIT!" The blonde male said, running. "No, no, no, no, no!"

Kaho, Kazuya, and Arthur chuckled nervously as Genessa held her forehead in her hand.

"That little idiot."

~NRK~

Ingrid frowned as she and Leo sat in her quarters, the third year Pandora wearing an opaque, red, teddy as her Limiter laid in their bed, asleep.

'Satellizer L. Bridgette,' her blood boiled hearing the name, what with the news she'd heard of the girl. 'A troublemaker, a rule-breaker.'

Someone like that had no place in this university! Rules were there to protect them all, the Pandoras, Limiters, and the masses!

And yet this second-year had raised her hand against a third-year.

She'd been prepared to go and find her two days ago but had held off, knowing that the girl was already under the watchful eyes of Chiffon Fairchild.

No… She needed to get her where no one could interfere… She covered her mouth in thought.

… Well, the Simulation Rooms were also for the underclassmen to learn in, right?

~NRK~

She considered the body graph before her with disbelief.

"61%?!" What?!

How did that happen?! The system read it fine yesterday!

What had chan…?!

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she remembered how Naruto had casted Freezing over Yu-Mi's weapon and, by proxy, boosted the Pandora's abilities.

Was that it? When Naruto activated whatever power he'd had, did the stigma tissue grow as a result of it?

She observed the tissues more before finally really looking at them.

Unlike Kazuya's, where the tissue all grew from one spot and outward, Naruto's had been… sporadic, for lack of a better word.

There were two patches around his head, one by his heart, stomach, tailbone, chest area, and diaphragm. All a bit or so off-center.

… Wait, that was both not sporadic and… familiar? Where had she seen something like this before? Had she seen this before?

Meditation… Enlightenment?

…?! She shot up and out of her seat before rushing through a computer at her side, her thoughts coming to fruition as she looked at the webpage before her.

The Seven Chakras of the Body

Oh crap.

~NRK~

The next morning, Naruto had gone to class with a pep in his step, glad to be out of his medical room. He'd been expecting a few stares, maybe telling his class how things truly were, but he expected the day to go normally.

He should probably learn to never have such hopes again as he saw a quintet of Pandoras outside his classroom, his classmates with them, and the entire group turned to see him.

"... Hi-?"

"H-Hello!" Came one of the Pandoras as she and her pack of fellow women strove forward, giving Naruto bad flashbacks. "U-Um, if you wouldn't mind… We heard about your fight with Miyabi-senpai and… Could you become our Limiter?!"

Naruto's nervous expression froze before it shifted into one of complete confusion.

"What…?"

"Yeah, we heard all about it," one of her friends said. "It was you up against all four of them, right?"

"What?"

"Yeah and we figured, since, ya know, you can use Freezing on your own… Ya know?" Came another girl's words.

What freaking rumor mill was he dealing with?!s

~NRK~

He laid his head down on the lunch table, his close circle of friends sitting there and admiring his misery.

"Ya know… I think this is the first time I've ever seen this happen," Genessa said slowly, completely confused. "I'm… Not sure how you being all their Limiter would work."

"Isn't it that they'd want him to just act as their Limiters without a Baptism?" Kaho asked, a tangy item in her grip. "Ya know, in a way, only you two could get away with such a scenario," she said, looking at the face-down Naruto and the nervously laughing Kazuya.

There was a small murmur before the seat on Naruto's other side, opposite Kazuya, was filled with their notorious senpai.

"Mmm, Matmm-pai," came Naruto's muffled greeting to the normally standoffish sophomore.

"... Hello?"

"Mmm."

Arthur and Genessa snickered at that as Kaho cracked a smile before another familiar face came up to their table.

Chiffon smiled, behind her was Ticy Phenyl, and behind the two were their Limiters.

"Naruto-kun?" the Monster of West Genetics got a muffled 'Yes?' for her troubles. "What's this crazy rumor I'm hearing about?"

"I believe it's the rumor mill being weird," came Chiffon's Limiter, a young man with dark blue, that was slightly long, and light blue eyes. "Miss, you may want to handle this before it gets… weird."

"Mmm, Eugene, I think you might have a point.

Naruto's head came up, his flat expression getting a giggle out of the third-year's posse who found their places at his table.

"Sssuuuppp, Chiffon-senpai, here to inform me of more bad news?"

"Well… None that you seem like you know already," she said with a shrug. "Well… There are some things I want to warn you and Satellizer-chan about," Satellizer blinked around her burger, looking at her upperclassman. "With the news of this move… Things for you two might get worrisome."

Naruto frowned, sitting up with a serious frown. "What do you mean?"

"... Naruto-kun, do you understand how the hierarchy in this university works?" Chiffon asked, getting a deeper frown from the blonde. "When it comes to Genetics, you wouldn't be wrong to consider ourselves an army, military command and all," she said. "Our classes are considered ranks and, as such, the issue comes that a Pandora should never fight a Pandora. Such an event is a crime… And that's not the worst of it."

"I'm going to be honest, senpai," Naruto said, eyes narrowed. "Anyone who tries to complain about Satellizer-senpai defending herself, won't be leaving any fight they have without a broken fucking nose."

"Naruto!" Kaho cringed back. "What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying," Naruto's head surveyed his table, eyes narrowing further. "If this becomes a fight, we are winning that fight, I don't give a damn."

"Naruto-kun!" Chiffon grimaced. "You don't understand what you're stepping into!"

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm stepping into! If people got their feelings hurt that my friend defended herself," he stood up and took a large stomp on the lunch table. "They better fucking speak up and present themselves!"

The lunchroom was silent as Naruto's eyes landed on a specific area of the hall.

"Naruto!" Chiffon was up and out of her seat with a growl. "You can't-"

"You got something to say to me, Limiter-boy?" Came a girl's call as she stood up from her own table. " You must have a problem with how things are run around here."

"And you must have a problem with an unswollen face," Naruto shot back, stepping away from the table as many, Pandora and Limiter alike, parted for him with ashen faces. "But, sure, I could help you with that."

"You two must stop!" Chiffon ordered. "I will not have the rules in this place forsaken for this."

"Then control your classmates," Naruto said with finality as the third-year Pandora growled, her table's gazes all on him. "Oh, you all have a problem?"

"Trust me, kid, I'd hand you your ass right here and now."

"You all!"

"Chiffon-senpai," Naruto spoke up. "Just as you said, Pandora fights are a crime," the blonde said as the president grimaced. "Me putting her face into the ground isn't."

"Do you realize what you're doing?!"

"You're damn right, I do," Naruto said before focusing back on the now-stalking third-year. "Bring it, you bastard!"

Accel

She disappeared from sight and Naruto put his hands on his hip as Satellizer stood up from her seat.

His eyes snapped open before he stepped forward and gripped the neck of the reappearing Pandora.

The room was silent as he hefted the girl into the air, her eyes widened in horror as she looked down at him.

"Want another go?" Naruto told the shocked Pandora before grunting, a series of orange hexagons fluttering about his hand. "Didn't think so."

He swung her around before slamming her into, releasing his Freezing at that exact moment, and through the lunch table behind his own.

The dust and crackle of the table got a jump out of many of the people in the lunch hall, the dust falling away to reveal a gasping Pandora, letting out raspy coughs.

Naruto's head turned back to the third-years.

"You wanted a fight, right?"

The silence reigned as the Pandoras took a step back.

"... yeah, that's exactly what I thought," he said, shaking his wrist before turning back to his table of shocked friends. "No one is messing with my friends for doing what's right, anyone who does…"

Chiffon's eyes peaked out of their lids.

"Has a problem with ME."

The air grew thick in the hall as all within choked on the icy winds. Pressure landed on their shoulders as the blonde's slit-pupils-

He buckled as Chiffon's knife hand left his neck, the Pandora's slightly open eyelid peering down at the shuddering Uzumaki's whose gaze turned to her.

"Haaa," Chiffon sighed.

The blonde cratered the floor as her hand chopped his upper back one more time.

The air returned to normal as the Monster of the West let out a long, whistling, sigh.

"..." Picking him up, she took the troublemaking Limiter out of the hall. "... I don't wish to agree with him, the facts remain that a crime is a crime… That said," her head turned back to the room.

And the thick pressure returned as a glowing pupil peeked out of calm eyelids.

"Any fights between students are FORBIDDEN."

She left after that, leaving a knocked-out Pandora, a horrified lunchroom, and a table of friends completely silent.

What happened that hour would never leave the general populace's thoughts.

A statement had been made by a Limiter defeating a Pandora.

Satellizer's hands laid on the table, her eyes looking down at her shaking digits.

When Naruto had done it, she'd, at least, had the ability to move somewhat… but Chiffon's gaze… It'd shut down every part of her mind at first sight.

'W-What…' She didn't understand it.

How had they cowed her in a matter of seconds?

She clenched her fists as she took in a deep, shuddering, breath.

She followed after the two, stacks of burgers ignored.

"..."

"..."

"... W-We're not going to say anything?" Attia hissed even as her hands fought down the tremors within her palms. "Guys?!"

"... What do you want us to do?" Came the words of a red-haired girl, her hair set in a tall ponytail, and her amber-colored eyes stayed on the exposed legs of the first third-year who'd gotten up. "Chiffon's serious. I don't think trying to pull normal tactics will work… Even if I want to see what that kid can do."

Another girl at their table, looked at the down Pandora before her gaze went to the doors the Limiter's, the odd one's, friends just went through.

White hair and brown skin shifted as she gripped her fist in her other hand, grey eyes recalling the entire exchange.

"He knew where she was going to be," she said, gaining her table's attention. "While that girl wasn't exactly a high-ranked Pandora, she's still a third-year one and he caught her."

Attia grimaced. "Arnette," the redhead perked up. "Creo," the dark-skinned one raised a brow. "We'll have to deal with both of them to maintain order. That's not a question anymore, he's already put his hat into this ring."

"I know," Creo said with a frown. "That said, Chiffon."

"I know, I'm working on it."

"That will be unnecessary," came Ingrid's voice from the side of the three, the redhead's eyes narrowed after Naruto and Satellizer. "I've already got an idea on how to deal with this. You all know that you can have someone else set up an appointment within the Simulation Rooms, right?"

~NRK~

When Naruto Uzumaki awoke, it was to the stern face of Chiffon Fairchild and a lot of annoyance on his end.

"..."

"… Not going to say anything, Uzumaki-kun?"

"The only thing I can say is that I regret nothing."

"Snnn," Chiffon breathed in through her nose, an annoyed twinge on the edge of her mind forming as Elize watched from the corner of the room. "Why? Naruto-kun, why? You're making an opponent of an entire year of Pandora. What would possess you to do this?"

She wanted to know why?! Naruto was not a bad person, his words from the day before, hell, a moment ago made it clear he cared.

But why was he so reckless?! Handling one Pandora, someone who wasn't even within the high ranks of the year, was not impressive in the grand scheme of things!

"... I told you earlier," Naruto said simply as the others came into the room. "If they're gonna decide to try to come after my friend, they're dealing with me. No, if's, and's, or but's, I'm putting them into the ground."

Chiffon wanted to scream! "N-Naruto-kun…! What would you do if they all came at you at once?!"

"Freeze all of them and knock as many of them as I could before their Limiters regained their composure," he answered immediately, getting a grimace from the third-year president. "Chiffon-senpai, you're not gonna get another answer out of me, this is the hill I'll die on."

"Emphasis on die," she tried to make him see reason.

Why were humans like this?! This nonsensical need to prove a point! Why?!

"Naruto, you've met Satellizer for, what, two days?"

"So? There's no rule on how long it takes friendship to form," Naruto said with a tilt of the head. "I mean, we've only really met that same day and I consider you a friend."

She just stared at him like he was an, obviously, idiot.

Friend? T-That's not how that worked! W-What?!

"And I protect my friends no matter what," Naruto said with a nod at the shocked Satellizer. "It doesn't need to be more complicated than that, senpai. It's just that simple."

… Simple? Chiffon wanted to laugh at how stupid that sounded!

Humans were never so simple, Naruto-kun! Hell, right now, you are proving to be as un-simple as possible, as we speak!

"... I can't… I don't get you."

"That's fine, I'm told I'm hard to get a grasp of," Naruto responded as Genessa snorted. "See? That dere goil said it."

Arthur chuckled at the blonde's horrid accent as Kaho moaned into her hands.

Ticy Phenyl frowned at the Freshman. "That's suicide."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"There is no 'maybe not'."

"Says you, senpai."

Ticy's eyebrow twitched as her Limiter nervously pat her shoulder to calm her down.

He chuckled a bit, his rustic orange hair and eyes looking from her to Naruto.

"I get what you're saying, had it been Ticy… I'd have faced every Pandora in that room!"

"A-Abel?!" The girl blushed bright red and stuttered. "No!"

"Mmm, I can't agree, mi amore."

"You're in the doghouse tonight!"

"H-Heh?!"

Naruto snickered as his eyes locked onto Chiffon.

The third-year president's arms fell to her sides with a long sigh.

"You're really about to take on the third-years?"

"Only those who make it an issue," Naruto said and she felt some sort of relief. "O-Oi! What kind of mad dog do you take me for?!"

"I don't know, Naruto-kun~," Chiffon said with an airheaded laugh, her Limiter laughing nervously at this act. "Why, I'm just trying to help one of my completely clueless kouhais!"

"T-That's rude!"

Kazuya chuckled as Satellizer stared.

Friend? Naruto considered her his friend? A friend to go to the ends of the earth for?

… Her hands gripped her long skirt in thought before a hand on her shoulder got her attention.

"He's right, though," Kazuya said with a grin. "We're in this until it's all over! We can't call ourselves men if we back down from this!"

"You're damn right, Kazu!"

"Hm, hm, hm," Elize chuckled as she turned to the group. "Seriously, it's like watching like manhwa. You all are just the rightly colored squad to be such characters," she told them, getting stutters, laughs, and grins aplenty. "And, for your information… I and Kim can do what we can to try and reign in the third-years. It's only right that we help deal with the students of this academy."

"Thanks, doc," Naruto nodded before clenching his fists with a nod. "I need to make sure to get all my equipment and carry it on me at all times. I'll never know when they're coming and I've gotta be ready for whenever!"

"Well, what kind of training do you do?" Abel asked with a grin. "Maybe we can at least give you some hints."

Naruto grinned. "Alright, so, the first thing I do are 100 push-ups, squats, and sit-ups, after that, I run two rings around the school grounds," the blonde said mindlessly, the others blinking. "After that, it's an hour of meditation wherever I can fit it in. Then, once that's all done, I do my best to try and freeze squirrels in the forest and catch them when I first see them. They're fast so I have to focus too!"

Abel's smiled froze on his face as sweat began to fall.

"Any pointers, senpai?"

"U-Uuuuhhhh."

"Don't, senpai," Arthur said with pale energy along with Genessa. "He… He really does all of it, he tried to ring us in on it and we couldn't move for the next day."

"Ohhhhh... ?" Chiffon blinked. "Wait, is that why you were tardy that day, Genessa? I remember your teacher had seen me passing by and asked me to get you. I left you cause I thought it was lady problems."

"... It's basically a tie," Genessa said with a shiver. "I-I don't know how he does it, he's ridiculous!"

"Huh?" Naruto raised a brow at her. "You got through it just fine."

"I was dying by the end, Naru-Naru!"

"Uh," Naruto sweatdropped as he coughed off to the side. "... okay, maybe."

"Don't you 'maybe' me, you bastard!"

"Look, all I'm saying is… It's good that you got to go loose in some training! You never did join me for meditation, it would have calmed you down!"

"About that, Naruto-kun," Elize spoke up with an amused smile. "About your meditation, is there something special about it?"

"Mmm, well, yeah," Naruto said with a shrug. "By gaining the ability to stay as still as nature itself, I can increase my senses. For example, there are… Twelve Pandoras outside the room with eight Limiters, right now."

The group blinked as Abel looked outside the door, balked at the people, before discreetly counting.

"... Holy shit, he's right?!"

"Outside the window, down below, there's a Limiter and Pandora."

Elize looked out said window and balked at the sight of two kids enjoying some food.

"O-Okay?!" She said with wide eyes.

"And," Naruto raised a brow. "I can sense how strong most Pandoras are," the third-year group raised brows at that. "For example, at that table that Pandora came from, the two girls with red hair, the woman with a ponytail and the one with bluish-eyes, and the silver-haired one, they're some of the strongest, right?"

"Y-Yes," Chiffon leaned back at this fearsome skill. "N-Naruto-kun! W-Where did you learn this skill of yours?"

"Toads," the blonde answered with a snicker at the looks of horror on the group's faces. "Oh calm down, learning how to live in nature isn't bad for your skin, ya drama queens."

"W-Wait, how do toads teach you anything?!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Well, it's not like got it in I got it in one go," Naruto answered truthfully, his training on Mount Myouboku being no cakewalk. "At a minimum, it took… I wanna say, an entire year before I can even feel Natural Energy. That's energy from all living beings, trees, animals, humans alike."

"I think I need to sit down," Genessa said with a swallow. "Y-You're saying all the hokey stuff is real?!"

"Hokey… Oh, those guys on the TV and stuff? Nah, that stuff is fake," Naruto said with a sour expression. "That said, I've tried out all the monk, spiritualism stuff, that's got some truth to it but you need more than just a couple of years to do that. I'm just lucky I'm pretty in tune with my spiritual side. It also helps with my Freezing."

"It does?" Satellizer asked, sitting by his bedside and away from the crowd of people. "How?"

"Well, for one, if I spread out my field, I can tell whoever enters it or not."

"That doesn't make sense, though?" Eugene said with a frown. "If someone's within your field, it shouldn't matter, they'll be frozen or fight back."

"Yea, if I allow the field to have that much power," Naruto explained, Chiffon gasping in realization. "You get it, senpai. I can control just how heavy my Freezing fields are per section. If I wanted to hide my presence and keep an eye out for people, I'd spread out a weak field and stay hidden."

"That sounds amazing!" Abel said with eyes full of admiration. "My junior, you are just a pot of interesting ideas!"

"Eh, I don't mind trying to throw some knowledge your way, Abel-senpai, I'm already working on it with Arthur and Kazuya. Maybe you could even help Kazuya with his own abilities."

"Gotcha!"

"How did this turn into a giant training session?" Kaho asked Genessa whose face went blank. "I feel like we were supposed to be worried about something."

"It's because there's no point to worrying," Naruto said, getting a flat look from his class president. "Hold on, let me explain."

"You mean there's no point in worrying about things you can't control, right?" Dr. Schmitz said.

"Yeah, basically," Naruto said with a grin. "I'm not lacking in training, I do it almost every day, so I don't feel unprepared save for not having my preps. There's not much else I can do besides wait and see what happens. I'll know about any possible ambush anyone could make so I'm seriously not worried about me," he emphasized with a frown before turning to Satellizer. "It's you I'm worried about, Satellizer-senpai. I don't know how you fair against a third-year from the offset but, while you're strong, those guys are on a whole other crazy level."

"... Then give me tips like you did with Genessa," Satellizer said after some thought, shocking the group as Kazuya chuckled. "She was far stronger than I remember her being back at the Carnival."

Genessa blushed a bit before putting her hands on her hips with a smug huff. "Hmph! It's all about creativity, Satellizer."

"Well, ignoring the sass," Naruto said as Genessa chuckled. "Yeah, while we can't train your body at the moment, I think you should work on getting creative."

"How so?" Eugene asked. "In what ways?"

"Well, for one," Naruto began. "Senpai, how many weapons can you all have at one point in time?"

"Hmm, you think she should try to dual wield?" Chiffon asked.

"Hmm, no, not right now, there'd be no time," Naruto said. "But, I'm curious about just how much control you guys have over your Volt Weapons. Like, can you make them smaller?"

"Hm?!" Ticy stared at the blonde in confusion. "Why would you want to make it smaller?"

"Hidden attacks, for one," Naruto offered as Satellizer considered the idea. "Say, you had one as a 'button' on your shirt. Imagine what you could accomplish if someone got in too close."

"It's a nice idea but that's not possible," Chiffon explained. "Of course, maybe it's possible but no one's ever done it before. For now, trying new things in that fashion probably isn't a good idea for you."

"What about how many you can have?"

"Hmm, on average, two," Chiffon said. "Pandoras with two weapons can only make that many but I've seen Pandoras with single weapons made only two. I guess that's the limit."

"Satellizer-senpai, what's you Volt Weapon?"

Satellizer produced her weapon, Nova Blood, Naruto looking at the large cleaving weapon.

"Hmm, can you guys improve this somehow?"

"Using Volt Textures, Pandoras can increase the ability of their Volt items," Ticy added. "Our weapons, clothes, even our bodies, we can use Volt Textures to increase their capabilities."

"Good, then, can you guys make weapons appear in the air instead of your hands?" Naruto asked with a sneaky grin.

"... You want them to use a sneak attack?" Arthur asked with blinking eyes. "I mean… Actually, that sounds like a good idea."

"And not just as a sneak attack," Naruto explained. "If senpai can't bring her arms up in time, making one of her weapons on the floor would be a good defense in a crisis."

"It's not a bad idea," Chiffon said with a smile. "And that shouldn't be impossible."

"Nice!"

~NRK~

Walking back to the girl's dorms of the third years, Chiffon let out a huff.

"Everything alright, Miss?" Eugene asked. "Worried for Naruto?"

"Him and this whole mess," she said with a pout. "Though, I kind of want you guys' opinion on Naruto-kun."

"He seems pretty cunning," Abel said with a grin as Ticy crossed her arms in thought. "I don't think I've heard of Pandoras who tried out what he was thinking."

"I've seen his grades," Ticy stated. "He's an average student but his combat prowess has never been brought up. People should have known about this."

"Wait," Eugene tilted his head in thought. "Wasn't he the Limiter who had the highest physical scores in the beginning year?"

Chiffon nodded. "He was, it was one of the many reasons so many Pandoras went after him since he joined."

"Hmph, as for your question, Chiffon… He's a troublemaker," Chiffon giggled at Ticy's observation. "He's headstrong, confident, willing, but capable. That all in a little package is bound to cause issues."

"But, Ticy, he's taller than even I am?"

"C-Chiffon, he's a boy, of course, he might be taller!" Ticy squeaked as Abel snickered. "Abel?!"

"I-I'm sorry, your face is so cute," she burned bright red. "Ahhh, I love it when she's flustered, Chiffon."

"?!"

"See?!"

"Hm, hm," Chiffon giggled a bit as Ticy burned neon red, her Limiter hugging her and embarrassing her further. "Hm, what of you, Eugene?"

"... I find him interesting," Eugene said with some thought. "He's so willing to defend someone he's barely met, he's strong, abnormally so," the man said with confusion. "He's brave and, now, he's notorious. It'll be interesting watching the events that unfold, Miss."

"Mmmm, Eugene, we're supposed to stop that!"

"Hm, hm, yes, you're right," he said with a chuckle.

Yes, this Naruto character would be capable of making waves.

Eugene even thought that this young man might very well be one of the greatest assets they'll ever have on the field.

~NRK~

The night came and Naruto stretched as he chilled in his room.

'Gotta keep an eye out,' he thought as he laid down, eyes on the ceiling of his room. 'I'm right, though, we've gotta be prepared for anything that comes our way.'

He'd do what he could to help his friends in this time of… well, not 'war' but it was close.

He, Satellizer, and Kazuya were in on this.

Hmph, it'd be nice to have another person to help out. He looked at the space by his door.

A pair of elbow-length gloves with metal padding down the forearm and knuckles sat there in a bag with a specialized bodysuit and some tape for his ankles and wrists.

He'd be carrying that around for the coming future.

His eyes went to his window, the full moon in the sky full of so many other meanings to him.

The only one that he worried about, that had him sweatdropping, is if Kaguya had any form of family in this place. Of course, that brought up a whole other set of questions of if he'd simply reincarnated on another planet in the universe.

… Yep, he was not built for these questions!

He let out a sigh as he watched it, his body thrumming as he remained still.

Stupid moon.

~NRK~

She peered out over the waters, her eyes looking ahead of the ship at the city of lights and amazement ahead, two days away, they'd said.

This was it, she'd left Tibet for this, for her time to find her 'fated one'.

Her Kunlun burned brightly in her core as the Tears of Kunlun hummed in resonance with her thoughts, her dark blue eyes looking up at the moon.

Was her fated one also watching the moon with her? Was he awaiting her as she was him?

~NRK~

The next morning, Naruto took a shower and looked at the time.

"... Wait, isn't it a Thursday?" He said to himself, wearing a pair of orange, green frog, boxers. "Classes aren't gonna be that long, yeah?"

He got dressed like always, ignoring his blazer and barely putting on his tie.

Putting on his dress shoes, Naruto picked up his bookbag before grabbing his equipment bag and slinging it over his shoulder as well.

He opened his door, looked down at a pile of letters, and balked.

"Oh, hey, Narut-What are those?" Came Kazuya's greeting before he saw the letters. "U-Um, are these l-love letters?!"

Naruto snorted, placing his stuff down and crouching by the pile outside his door. Looking at them, he laughed nervously as he turned one over.

"... Is this a letter of challenge?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "... Ya know, this is honestly way better than most other ideas… Wait, a letter of sparring?" he said, reading it carefully.

"... I think this is their way of trying to get around Chiffon-senpai's words," Kazuya said nervously, turning one around. "And here's a-Oh, wait, no, this one is a love letter."

"Read it for me," Naruto said as he separated the pile of letters, handing Kazuya the letter he'd picked up. "Seriously, there's gotta be, like, ten of these."

"Hmph, here we go," Kazuya said as the door on the other side of Naruto's opened. "Ahem, dear Naruto, I've watched how you stood up to those b-bitches, wow that is… rude," he said with a flush as Arthur came over and crouched by them. "Um… Arthur, you read this for Naruto."

Being given a letter in confusion, Arthur rolled with it and read off where Kazuya left off.

"Those bitches in the third year. I've always thought they needed to be taken down a fucking peg and I'm glad you smashed that cunt Cindy's face into the lunch table," Arthur's face became confused. "I honestly feel like you should have found a fork an-Okay, yeah, that was a bit too much even for me," he said, dropping the letter with a look of disgust. "Were… Were all the girls in this school this… odd?"

"Dude, at this point, I'm not even sure what's going on besides some girls wanting to fight me… With stakes?" Naruto read the letter he'd first looked at. "If you lose, I wish for a date to show you how, okay, now she's just trying to date me! Aren't these from third-years?!"

"Um, it takes all kinds?" Kazuya said and Naruto's blank expression said it all. "Uh… yeah, ya know what, we should probably get to class."

The two blondes nodded, Kazuya and Arthur helping Naruto pick up his letters and sort them before he put them away in his bag.

"Okay, hopefully, today goes well."

~NRK~

"God, I hate my luck!" Naruto grumbled as he laid his head down on his group's table, the scene rather familiar to everyone there.

Next to him, bulging in capacity, was his bag with letters coming out the wazoo.

"You'd think girls would want less of what I'm on right now!" He mumbled to his friends who chuckled and shrugged.

"Let me tell you something, Naru-Naru, women can be crazy," Genessa said with a single eye closed. "I once saw a pair of girls fighting over an eyelash."

"... You did mean to say 'eyelash curler'... right? Please tell me you just didn't finish your sentence."

"No… No, it was an eyelash," the blonde looked horrified. "Hey, for some girls, they just don't have the right eyelashes," she said, battering her long ones. "Sometimes, it takes the smallest of things to make you pop! Take notes, fellas."

"... I'm scared," Naruto said as Kazuya nodded furiously.

"Ah, my girl can't be more right."

"You damn simp," came the Odd Limiter duo's call. "Dammit, Arthur."

Satellizer smiled a bit at that, eating more burgers when she saw Chiffon coming up to them, alone this time.

"How's it going, you guys?" she asked.

"Well, one, we've learned that Arthur is a lost cause," Naruto said to his lovedumb friend.

Not 'Lovestruck', 'Lovedumb', he knew what he was talking about.

"Well, I'll have you know, we've kind of come up with a small solution to your problems," she said with a nervous smile. "Naruto-kun, what do you think of sparring matches?"

"It was you?" Naruto asked in disbelief as the other blinked. "You're the reason my backpack is a mailbox?!"

"Mm, hm, guilty as charged," Chiffon said with a little giggle. "Sorry but finding a rather non-violent way to get this solved isn't easy when you've got as many headstrong personalities as those in the third-year classes."

"Non-violent?" Satellizer asked in confusion as Chiffon chuckled nervously.

"Some still want a piece of him, Satellizer, sadly, not everyone wants to talk it out," the third-year president pouted at the second-year repeater's shrug. "So, finding a way to handle their pride and Naruto's face is a hard job."

"Oi!"

"Oh hush you! Look at all the effort your amazing senpai is going through! You should be thinking of a way to thank your gracious, beautiful, kind, smart senpai whose neck is put out for you!"

Naruto laughed nervously, taking out one of the sparring letters.

"Well, whatever you did, it also came with some… disturbing 'love' letters," he said with twitches of the fingers.

"Mm?" Chiffon raised a brow. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"Naruto, show her the first one," Arthur said as his face grew pale mid-praise for Genessa. "That basically sums up that scenario."

Handing Chiffon the letter, the woman looked confused as she read it… Then she read further down… And down… And, all of a sudden, she realized that maybe this was a bad idea.

"Hmph… Fine, let's see who these all came from," Naruto said as he took out five sets of letters. "... Hmph, this one's not so…" he blushed a bit as he got to the 'reward'. "O-Oh…"

Leaning over his shoulders, Satellizer and Kazuya looked at the letter's reward section before blushing.

"C-Can they even request that?" Kazuya asked with red coming down his neck.

"I-Inappropriate!" Satellizer said.

Chiffon paled. "N-Naruto-kun, what's written on that paper?"

"..." Naruto coughed. "She wants nudes."

Genessa and Arthur choked mid-chat, both their heads snapping in his direction.

"S-She wants WHAT?"

"... Yeah, yeah, that's what it looks like," he said as he dropped the letter off to the side before opening another. "... Okay, she just wants a… Fuck me, she wants a french kiss."

"O-Oh?" Arthur blushed along with Genessa who was scratching the bridge of her nose. "Well… In a way, it's not the worst thing that could be asked for."

"Hold on… Chiffon-senpai, how many third-years have a Limiter?"

"..."

The silence was damning. "My god… I was right!"

"Naruto, no you weren't!" Kaho exclaimed back, cheeks bright red. "W-We're not animals, you dick! T-That is… Not all of us," she said, covering her face in her hands. "Who the hell are all these women?!"

"Snrt," Kazuya snorted as Arthur choked a bit off to the side. "S-She's right, Naruto-kun, t-that's not nice," he said but his shoulders shook with hard-to-control amusement.

"?" Satellizer tilted her head at the red-faced Kaho.

"Ignoring my truths-"

"Fuck off, Naruto."

"The next one asks for… help around the gardening club?" He said with some relief and interest. "Yea, it says she wants me to help plow her fi-It's an innuendo!" Naruto slammed that one down. "Am I… Am I literally gonna have to fine print read all this shit?" he realized in horror.

"It seems so," Kazuya said with a smile. "I can help out if you want?"

"Please and thank you," Naruto professed. "Ignoring the rewards, it seems like I'm gonna be busy in the afternoons."

"Hmm, wait," Satellizer frowned. "Why haven't I gotten any of these letters?"

"I think it's because they want a bit more out of Naruto-kun," Chiffon said with a sigh. "Oh, I didn't think this would happen."

"... Hey, Chiffon-senpai," Naruto said slowly, gaining her attention. "What was the wording for this?"

"Hmmm, well, it was as such. 'If you want to deal with the troublemakers in recent times, challenge them to a school-sanctioned sparring match. Don't be some cowards', like that."

"Heh," Naruto grinned. "Hey, Satellizer-senpai, it did say troublemakers."

Satellizer hummed before her lips settled into a righteous smile as Chiffon chuckled.

Oh, yes, these two were definitely troublemakers.

Class finished with one last half-period after that before Naruto headed off towards his sparring location with his entourage in tow.

… As well as a ton of other people trailing behind him.

"No, really, they're not noticeable, at all," Naruto grumbled as they reached the Simulation Center. "... Huh, I don't think I've ever been here, actually."

"It's mostly used by Pandoras and their Limiters for scenario training," Genessa explained. "Honestly, when I think about it, we should probably use this place more often but man those appointment slots are the worst-timed things to get."

"So… Chiffon-senpai probably reserved it for this?" Naruto asked with a sweatdrop. "How much power does she have again?"

"I can never tell."

Going in, the newbies to the area looked around in interest before Naruto noticed, most nervously, a line of third-year Pandoras without their Limiters?

"... I'm scared to ask," Naruto said. "... But… Do any of you have a Limiter?"

"No."

"Yeah that explains a lot," he said with a groan before a familiar, friendly, face came down the hall. "Chiffon-senpai?"

"Hello, Naruto-kun," she said with a nod as Eugene waved from behind her, Ticy and Abel behind them. "I was just setting up the Simulation Room you all would be using. You'll be using room number nine."

Naruto snickered at that. "That's my favorite number!" He said with a competitive grin. "So I know today's gonna go well."

"Too much confidence comes before a fall," Ticy declared as the group moved. "Don't get ahead of yourself, you're fighting Pandoras."

"And I'm not," Naruto said, jostling his equipment bag. "Are there change rooms in the Simulation Rooms?"

He nodded at the mirror in the men's locker room, Kazuya and Arthur watched from a bench as Eugene and Abel leaned on some lockers.

The blonde wore a pair of black ninja sandals followed up with a pair of thin black shorts with orange circles on the back and front of each pants leg. Over his upper half, he wore an orange muscle shirt with the Uzumaki symbol on the back. Underneath it all, he wore his specialized bodysuit, the item black in color with orange lines down the length of the short sleeves.

"Oh… I think I've seen that symbol before," Kazuya said, Arthur nodding sagely next to him. "... Yeah, wasn't it on ramen?!"

The blonde in an Ereinbar Set nearly fell off the bench. "What?!"

"Hehe~ We also have a foot in the ramen market," Naruto said with a grin at the gawking Arthur, adjusting his red gauntlets before tying his athletic tape around his wrists and ankles. "Me and mom love it so dad went all in and we have a part of our company dedicated to it."

"Just because you and your mother like ramen, huh?" Abel said softly before chuckling. "It seems like your family is an amazing one."

Eugene crossed his arms with a nod but his eyes trailed over the back of his underclassman.

It was an odd thing to say but, with everything Naruto had said to them the day before, he felt thinking this.

Naruto had a powerful Aura about him, just from watching his back, his arms, and legs, he saw how powerful those muscles were. They were trained to the limit, after all, so he guessed that made sense.

'I want to see him in action.'

The thought pervaded his mind and he gave little resistance. He did want to see what this Freshman would accomplish.

Whether it was a true victory or an embarrassing flop, he wanted to see it.

"Alright," Naruto nodded. "Time to head out and take some names… Even if I wish I didn't know a few of them," he said nervously, much to all the other boys' own forms of nervous laughter.

Seriously, some of the girls in this school were just as bad as they could be at times.

Naruto grunted before heading out with the others at his back, eyes closed before he opened them slowly.

Time to make an entrance, yeah?

He spread his presence throughout the area as he entered Simulation Room #9 proper.

And all eyes were on him.

"Mmmm, what a troublesome Freshman," Chiffon said with an exasperated smile as Ticy's eyes narrowed at the pressure that passed by the five of them.

"He did this yesterday as well," Satellizer noted. "... What is this skill?"

"... This, Satellizer, is something one might call 'The aura of someone willing to do everything to see things through'. Or, as said in some media, 'Killing Intent'," the junior president explained as Genessa raised a brow and Kaho sputtered.

"T-That stuff's real?!" The Freshman Pandora asked in disbelief as the boys made their way to them. "Senpai?!"

"... It's true," Ticy said with a frown. "There are many people who can instill fear into you with just a look, that's what you'd call 'Killing Intent'... And the fact that he can do that…" her eyes narrowed as Chiffon hummed.

"Hmmm, I'm curious about what will happen."

Naruto's group made it to her. "I'm ready," he said.

"Alright," Chiffon clapped her hands once, the large dojo-like area they were in reverberating well with the action. "Will Tifa come up?"

Naruto noted that this Pandora already had her Volt Weapon out, a pair of tanbo in each hand being her fighting style.

"I'm here," she said, looking at Naruto with a smirk. "Dressing up to lose? Gotta at least look pretty, yah?"

"... We'll see," Naruto said with a grin.

They were led out to the middle of the room, Naruto stretching his arms behind his head as the third-year Pandora got into a stance.

Chiffon stood between the two. "Are both combatants ready?"

"Yea!"

"Yes."

"Then let this match…" Chiffon raised her arm before bringing it down. "Begin-!"

There was a loud thump as Naruto bounced the heel of his right foot against the floor.

Some tossed her hair to the side, a blur of orange and black, getting a confused sound from the Monster of the West.

There was a thump as some fell against the floor, the sound of two metal items rolling against the floor accompanying it.

Chiffon tilted her head in confusion as Naruto walked past her casually, hands behind his head.

"Next?" He asked the crowd of shocked Pandora, arms out at his sides in the making of a welcoming gesture. "These hands are rated 'E' for Everyone, come on."

Genessa, Arthur, and Abel snorted at the joke.

"... I see," came Chiffon's words of curiosity at the downed girl on the faux mats beneath them. "I wasn't aware you were that fast, Naruto-kun."

"Creativity and just the fact that she's still human," Naruto said with a shrug before explaining at Chiffon's confused look. "If I hit you in the chin, in between the eyes, or the back of the neck, you're gonna go down like any normal person. You're not gods," he said, turning back to the crowd of Pandoras. "Now, let me ask again."

"Who wants these hands?"

The line of Pandora, who'd challenged him, had seemingly gotten more nervous about this.

Arnette's eyes narrowed as she replayed what had happened, her Limiter sputtering at her side.

'He did something with his foot,' she thought, eyebrows furrowing. "..."

She'd seen something orange down there, beneath his odd sandals. She recalled his 'fight' with that third-year from yesterday and found her lips spreading in a grin as she remembered one thing.

Freezing. He'd done something with the skill to gain that speed, huh?

She wondered if Abebe could do this for herself… Imagining such an increase in speed had her chuckling maniacally, Abebe chuckled nervously at his Pandora's side.

Oh, he was in for something, he thinks.

The next Pandora went up and Arnette nodded as the girl wielded a large scimitar, holding the Volt Weapon across her face with her eyes peeking over the back of the blade.

Smart. He'd said it outright to them already. Protect your vitals.

Back with Naruto, the blonde got into a loose boxing stance.

"The next match between Naruto and Anene will begin!" Chiffon brought her raised arm down.

Naruto was already in front of the prepared Pandora whose eyes narrowed as his fist swung out-!

She froze in shock as she couldn't move, Naruto's palm on her weapon, the boy chuckling as he walked around to her back.

"Please remember, I'm a Limiter," he said with a raised brow, slamming his fist into the back of the girl's head, her collapsing immediately. "I hope the rest of you actually provide a challenge or this is gonna be sad."

Chiffon considered the idea of actually stepping out onto the field before sweatdropping at the idea of the overkill.

Naruto saw her focus and laughed nervously, confirming her disappointment.

She pouted.

Abel blinked as another Pandora fell, this one being named Alana.

"Okay… So, I'm not the only one who sees this as weird, right?" he asked the others. "T-This doesn't make sense!"

"..." Ticy's eyes narrowed as she watched Naruto stretch as his next challenger came up to him. "His Freezing abilities have to be high. He's establishing a field quickly, and completely, in less than a few seconds. Never mind that he's able to walk immediately after… It's worrying behavior."

"He's an odd one," Eugene noted with a hand cupping his chin. "For us, completing a field takes at least a few seconds. As you said, ma'am, his affinities must be extremely high."

While Ticy agreed, that's not what she'd meant.

The only beings who should have been capable of moving during their Freezing… Had been Novas. What was wrong with this picture?

Naruto was onto his fourth fight already and barely three minutes had passed when she noted that this Pandora was far more capable than the past three.

It seemed like Naruto thought the same, the blonde's eyes narrowing as he stopped stretching to address her.

"... Now this is probably gonna be different from the first three, huh?" he said to the Pandora who wielded a pair of sais.

"Hmph, you'll learn soon enough," she said, a far more prissy girl than Naruto had been expecting. "I'm here to make sure you learn your place, young man."

"Well if you could do that we wouldn't be here, would we?" Naruto shot back, getting a frown from the girl. "I'm gonna make a point, outside of Chiffon-senpai, I don't fear a single one of you. That's been the case since I arrived here and it hasn't changed."

The girl's features scrunched together in an expression of anger as Chiffon considered Naruto's words.

… Well, at least he knew she was the top dog!

"Are you both ready?" she asked them, the two giving their affirmation. "Hmph, then let this match between Naruto Uzumaki vs Karin Collette… Begin!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he thumped his heel against the floor before meeting the far more prepared Pandora in the middle of the distance between the two of them.

"Not this time!" She swung out and he raised his gauntlet before allowing the slash to skid off to the side.

He turned his body and made for a hook but she rotated around him, dodging his blow.

Naruto leaned back as a sai made its presence above his chest.

His hand snapped out and the Pandora grunted as her body slowed down, Naruto rolling before backflipping into a crouch, the Pandora before him still moving.

'She's far more prepared to handle my Freezing,' which wasn't surprising.

He'd been able to take out that second girl because she, somehow, forgot he was known for having the ability to use the skill without being in an Ereinbar Set.

So he'd been able to catch her completely without issue and lock down the area… But that wouldn't work with people who were prepared. Or, really, Pandoras and most likely Novas.

She smirked at him, moving out of the small field he'd placed down.

"Not so hot when your little tricks don't work as well, huh?"

"Well, there are these two I like to call 'fists' that work on average."

"Bring it, bitch."

She lunged at him with a grin and her sais at the ready.

Naruto grunted before meeting her charge with a 'dash' of his own, his gauntlet-covered forearm and her sai slamming together.

Her strength was no joke, there was a reason he didn't try to meet these things head-on.

He stepped into her guard, throwing his forearm out and opening up her left side.

"Gufu!" She let out a gasp as his fist found her abdomen. "Grrrr!" she swung at him with her right sai but Naruto already rotated to her right side, going low. "Ahh!"

His fist slammed into her side once again, rocking her body before kicking her away, the Pandora bouncing once before skidding to a stop on the tatami mats.

"Not so little 'tricks' anymore, huh?" He teased her, the girl shakily getting to her feet. "Oh, what was it you said?" Naruto faked thinking about it before snapping his fingers with a grin. "Oh, right. Bring it, bitch."

She growled before the area around her erupted into a burst of wind before she disappeared with Accel.

'Finally brought it out, huh?' He thought, closing his eyes like he'd done the day before.

He pulled in the energy of his surroundings before sliding to the side, the Pandora reappearing with a growl before disappearing once more.

Naruto jumped up over her charge before jumping back from a slash and then flipping over her follow-up lunge.

"Stay still!" she shrieked at him, disappearing from- "Hurk!" she choked as his palm found her stomach, halting her moment and causing a wind to pick up from behind him.

"Orraaayyyyaaa!" Naruto brought her down onto the floor, the mats cratering under his palm strike into throw combination. "Hmph!" He smirked as she laid there, stunned. "Gotcha," he said with a snicker, jumping back a bit and watching her.

Chiffon walked over and looked down at her fellow third-year. "Is everything alright, Karin?"

"I-I think I'm good."

"Hmph," Chiffon smiled, lifting her fellow Pandora up before taking her off the field. "Next!"

Creo breathed in an excited breath, fists clenched as she watched the Limiter take on Pandora after Pandora.

His martial prowess made her want to take a go at him as well! He handled Karin with such ease and tactics… Ooohhh, please, she wants to put him in his place!

"... Creo… Creo!" Her Limiter broke her out of her reverie, getting a blush from the Pandora. "Right… You were thinking of fighting him, weren't you?"

"What? Nooooo…" she didn't look him in the eyes. "... Garou, you're crazy…"

"No, Creo," Garou, the tall, straight-faced, Limiter ran a hand through his short black hair as his amused black eyes looked at his blushing Pandora. "Geez, you might as well have sent him a challenge letter."

"I-I didn't know he was actually strong!"

"Yes, yes, yes… Snrt," he snorted into his fist and Cleo burned bright red. "Anything you say, Cleo."

"G-Garou!" She hissed. "... You're not moving tonight," she growled at his neck and the Limiter glowed bright red, much to her amusement. "That's right."

"Jesus, Creo, can you keep that behind doors?" Attia said with a hand on her face, Mark chuckled even as his cheeks glowed a bit red.

"?!" Both Pandora and Limiter burned bright red.

Naruto was feeling pretty good about this as he almost went through half of the challenges he had for the day.

"How are you feeling?" Chiffon asked. "Tired? Worried? Thinking about ramen?"

"Now I'm doing the last one," he said, stomach growling. "... I probably should have eaten more before doing this."

"... Naruto-kun… You ate three bowls of ramen the size of my head."

"And I could have eaten more, senpai."

"You're a glutton."

"Guilty as charged."

"Hmmm, tell me, Naruto-kun, what do you think of them?" Chiffon asked.

"If you mean, combat-wise, they don't have enough spatial awareness nor respect for their opponents," Naruto observed. "They think they're the hottest thing on the market, I feel like they need to be taken down a peg, eventually, before it happens on an actual battlefield."

"Hmm," Chiffon did agree on that. "I see your point but that's not exactly easy, Naruto-kun. You'd have to beat them, first and foremost, and that's not going to be easy," she told him. "I saw how you had to actually focus on Karin… Even someone like Ingrid, the Rank 7 Pandora in my year, would consider Karin child play."

Naruto considered that. "I… I might have a technique for that but they haven't brought themselves up. I don't want to show everything I can do."

"Wall walking, environment usage, or using two-handed Freezing?"

"All of that, I'm trying to gauge how strong the third years are," Naruto said as Karin was brought back to the world of the conscious by one of her fellow Pandora. "I'm getting used to their Accel. The thing is, none of the ones I've fought have used Tempest Turn, I think the name is?"

"... You're truly one of a kind, hm," Chiffon giggled. "And, yes, that's its name. And, as for the Pandora you've faced, they've all been Accel-Types."

"What's that mean? They can only use Accel?"

"Yes, basically, and those who can only use Tempest Turn are Tempest-Types."

"... You won't give me a heads up on who is which one, are you?"

"Now, where would the fun be in that?" Chiffon asked with a grin. "What I will say is that, among those not in the higher ranks, there is only one All-Rounder, a Pandora who can use both."

"I see," Naruto said with a grin. "I'm excited."

"... Boys," Chiffon shrugged as the next Pandora came up. "Well, enjoy this experience, Naruto-kun."

"She's a Tempest-type, isn't she?"

"I don't know~"

"Dammit," the blonde said before standing to his full height, looking at the woman across from him with a bastard sword that was about five feet tall in total, the blade four of those feet. "Geez, compensation much?"

"Hush, I'll have my prize once this fight is done!" She said, holding her weapon in front of her with an ease that got a grin from the blonde. "I suggest you remember the name 'Corrina' from the letters."

"Hm, hm, hm, are the combatants ready?" Chiffon asked with amusement. "Yes? Then the fight between Naruto Uzumaki vs Corrina Clint begins!"

Naruto held his loose boxing stance, inching forward.

"He's not rushing her this time?" Kazuya asked. "Did he feel her being stronger?"

"Most likely," Abel said as Ticy crossed her arms. "Ya see, Corrina's an All-Rounder, a Pandora who can use both Accel and Tempest Turn. She may not be highly ranked among her year but she's literally just outside the good ranks, being above all the third years who can only use one of the two techniques."

"..." Satellizer grimaced, at the ready. "... If it comes to it, I'll handle her."

"You and Naru-Naru made a plan, right?" Genessa asked.

"... Yes, these fights, while addressed to him, are supposed to address the troublemakers," Satellizer wore a thin smirk. "Last I checked, I'm among that title."

"Hmm, so you can step in, regardless?" Arthur asked, getting a small nod from Satellizer. "Well… That's a relief. God knows I don't want Naruto to become a burger patty if he ends up fighting one of the high ranks."

Kaho frowned as she watched the match unfold, Naruto almost immediately in Corrina's greatsword's range.

"We'll see just how much trouble he is with this match," she told Creo, Arnette, and Ingrid. "If he can bypass Corrina…"

"Then we'll just have to fight him," Creo said with a small, excited, smile. "The order must be maintained."

Arnette chuckled. "Imma teach him what real speed is. These girls could hold a candle to what I can do."

"Oi, hold on," Creo said. "I'm fighting him."

"... Creo, be reasonable!" Arnette cried. "Come on, I can't let this offensive to my skills slide!"

"Ya-huh but if he's a martial artist, I've got to deal with this properly," Creo said as Garou coughed off to the side. "It's my duty to deal with this."

"Are you two taking this seriously enough?" Ingrid asked as the two girls looked at her. "He's making a mess of our system of rules and guidelines. How can you two be taking this so easily?"

"Well, duh," Arnette said with a drawl. "Because he can't beat us. Seeing how far he gets, on the other hand," the ponytailed redhead grinned viciously. "That is what I want to see."

Ingrid scoffed in distaste as Leo chuckled before observing the blonde out in the arena.

"... He is interesting to watch, Ingrid," Leo's Pandora grimaced. "I know, I know, but surely this is interesting to you, as well? I didn't think the son of the upcoming Uzumaki Clan would be so physically capable."

"..." Ingrid focused back on the fight, eyes narrowing. "His title means nothing and I'll be making sure he understands that. Both of them, understand."

Leo sighed. 'Good luck, you two, you'll need it.'

When he got within a foot of the blade, Naruto lashed out with a fist.

The weapon curled around his cross before coming down. He didn't let it happen, immediately appearing within the Pandora's personal bubble… Before she disappeared from sight, reappearing a bit away.

"You'll require more than just that, young man."

Maybe.

His formed lunged at her at incredible speeds, for a Limiter, but the Pandora blocked him before Naruto's Freezing activated with one raised hand. "H-Hmph!" she grunted as it landed before swinging out at slow speeds, Naruto ducking low before he slammed his fist into her midsection in a body blow.

She grimaced before using the hit, and her leg power, to get out of the little circle of orange hexagons.

Canceling his technique, Naruto lunged once more only to come skidding to a halt as the Pandora split into two.

'Tempest Turn!'

He knew the basics of it. They were basically shadow clones with limited mobility and no information gain.

The copy and original rushed at him from a low dash, weapons angled behind them.

He backflipped over the original's slice before landing with his down as the copy made the follow-up slice above his head.

Naruto swung his fist back into the copy's head, dispelling it before he jumped to his feet.

The Pandora was also up, another clone following after her as they rushed him.

Naruto rushed to meet her before twisting around the side only to be shocked when the copy turned to attack him!

He caught its blade in his hands with a yelp before seeing Corrina out of the corner of his peripheral.

Naruto grimaced before kicking at the shin of the copy before jumping over the horizontal slice of the original.

She made to jump back and his eyes narrowed.

Corrina let out a wet cough as Naruto slammed into her stomach with a shoulder charge, sending her flying away and rolling a bit.

Naruto's feet touched the floor before rushing after her, knowing that he couldn't give her time.

Corrina barely got up before being tackled, the two of them rolling together before Naruto's feet gripped the floor and he sent her spinning, and flying, into the wall of the room, cratering the surface.

Corrina slid down the wall with gasping breaths before collapsing to the floor with a shaky body.

Naruto winced as he turned to Chiffon. "Uh…"

"No, while a bit unfortunate, this should be an expected outcome should you fight at your best," Chiffon said, turning to the lined-up Pandora. "We need to be clear about this, as well. Anything that happens on the field, you don't get to plead foul. Unless some really underhandedness takes place, everything goes."

The crowd winced, turning their heads back to the tremoring Pandora as two girls from the crowd ran over and got her out of there.

"... Alright," Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a wince. "Next?"

In a way, the crowd was astonished as things progressed the way they had.

There the Limiter stood, with a few cuts but victorious and still standing in comparison to his Pandora opponents.

"That's it for today, right, senpai?" Naruto asked as he stood there with crossed arms. "We good?"

"Yes, for today, those are all the challenges that will be held," Chiffon said with a nod as Naruto came up to her side and she turned to the crowd. "Those are the rules. Once you've tried to fight any of the 'troublemakers' and have lost, that's it. There are no redos, regardless of which you end up fighting."

Many were still rather shocked that the blonde had gone through all ten Pandora and won.

Attia kissed her teeth in disbelief as Mark blinked in awe.

"Damn… He's so good, it's scary," he remarked, Leo's gawking form next to him.

Arnette and Creo grinned in excitement.

"I'm dealing with this… You want to go, bitch?"

Garou and Abebe chuckled nervously at the two's sparks shooting between their eyes.

'Good grief.'

Ingrid… growled at what was happening before her.

This… This couldn't be allowed to bend the rules! His being powerful meant nothing.

And it seemed like she was the only one who thought that way.

"Not bad!" Genessa cheered with a ferocious grin. "You go and rub it in their faces, more."

"G-Genessa-senpai, please," Naruto begged. "Don't put more gas on this fire, I'd be worried about these guys jumping me at this point."

"Y-You were amazing, my fellow blonde!" Arthur said with a grin and wink. "Truly, you went in classy."

"Thanks, Arthur, I'm surprised you ignored what Genessa-senpai said."

"What'd she say?"

"Oh, God, he's not gotten better."

"Dude, that was crazy!" Abel praised with double thumbs-up, Ticy's eyes blank and on Naruto, the confusion in her gaze was apparent for all to see. "Very nice!"

Eugene clapped a bit as Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "It truly was," he said with a chuckle. "I can't say I was expecting such spirit from you, Naruto."

"Hehe~ I train hard for times like these," Naruto said with a flex. "Trust me, I ain't going into any fight without being ready to dish out some damage."

"I see, hm, hm."

"... Amazing," Satellizer said with a tilted head as the group moved to leave. "I… I've never seen a Limiter beat a Pandora, in a fight, before."

"Well, you'll be seeing more of it in the coming days," Naruto said with a nervous chuckle as he passed by those signatures he'd felt from that day before. "... And I'll be waiting to put you in the dirt," he teased as he passed them, Arnette and Creo freezing before they turned as one.

"The fuck did you just say to me?"

"Nothing~ Senpai," Naruto said with all of the innocence of a honey badger. "Ya know, just saying, prepare two stretchers."

"Bitch, it is on."

Naruto cackled as his group left, Genessa and him hi-5ing.

"I knew you had the smack talk in you, you magnificent bastard!"

"Damn right!"

Arthur smiled, his world a place of comfort and complacency as Kazuya chuckled nervously at his other blonde friend.

Seriously, dude, you need to chill.

"And, from Friday to Sunday, you should be fine," Chiffon said as Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "Hm, hm, I figured actually giving you rest days would be for the best, you'd literally be fighting forty Pandoras in a week. Even if you've proven to be tough, you're still a Limiter, young man."

"I want to tell you otherwise but…" Naruto began to say before chuckling nervously. "You're probably right on this move. Besides, I wanted to go and visit one of the family ramen shops tomorrow," the blonde said with a grin as the others laughed nervously. "And I get discounts! All towards Ichiraku. You guys can come if you want, my treat."

Kazuya considered. "... Sure, sounds like fun."

"I wouldn't be against it," Arthur said with a smile. "I do wonder how it compares to the ramen at school."

"Ehh, the ramen at school's great… But it's got nothing on Ichiraku. Kaho?"

"I actually wanted to go out tomorrow as well," she grinned. "I'm all for it."

"Senpais?"

"I'm all for some free food," Genessa said with a smirk. "Add on that I did want to do some clothes shopping."

"Of course, ma'am!"

"Arthur you are not…" Naruto shook his head. "God help this boy."

"Hm, hm, we'll have to pass, though," Chiffon said, getting a raised brow from the Uzumaki. "We've got student council duties to perform tomorrow. Never mind that we have to inform… Sister Margaret… Hm, hm, hm," she admitted with a nervous chuckle as the entire group shot her flat looks. "H-Hey, guys, come on! You can trust your super-strong, totally not in trouble, Chiffon!"

"... I worry about you sometimes," Eugene said, getting a slump from the Monster of the West. "So, yes, we'll be busy, Naruto."

"Mmm, one of these days," the blonde said with a shrug before turning to Satellizer. "Satellizer-senpai?"

"... I've never really gone into the city before," Satellizer said with a frown.

"That's fine," Naruto said with a grin. "I'm pretty sure half our group hasn't."

"Guilty," Kazuya said with a nervous raise of the hand.

"I've been there, like, twice," Kaho admitted with some nervous laughter. "Hahahaha… Yeah, I don't know that much."

"Then let this Uzumaki take you guys on an adventure," Naruto said with a snicker. "I guess we're leading this troupe, Genessa-senpai."

"So it seems, Naru-Naru."

Naruto was sure he'd enjoy whatever came tomorrow.

Even if he didn't know, the blonde had a destined encounter Friday.

~NRK~

So, I'm gonna go through some powerscaling efforts here.

When it comes to General Pandora, it goes as such.

First Years and E-Pandoras→ Genin

Second Years → Genin to Chunin

Third Years to Chevaliar→ High-Chunin to Jounin/Special Jounin

I'm currently rereading the manga so I'll rank the other 'Pandora Copies' down the line.

Naruto, skill-wise, is above any third-year below the top ten ranks. At that point, he's gonna have to pull out all the stops and techniques to beat even Attia, much less Arnette and Creo.

Power-wise, it depends on his skill with Freezing. I noticed that, at times, when Freezing fields are overtaken, and broken by proxy, they seem to release some kind of force and will be running with that.

Fic story points time:

-Yeah, since Satella isn't incarcerated, and it's known that Chiffon is watching her, Ingrid can't make the same moves she did before. She has to go about it a bit more tricky.

-Naruto is not a person who'd let threats to his friends go unpunished. He's perfectly willing to call people out if it's necessary.

-Chiffon is far more involved with the group due to Naruto's influence, we'll see how that goes. I let some parts of the story write themselves, after all. So far, the only change is that her and Ticy's Limiters are more introduced.

- I read most of the Pair Love Stories manga and got to the point of meeting Abel's and Mark's characters, who I like well enough. Abel's being my favorite with Garou (Creo's Limiter). I'll need to read further along but Eugene's (Chiffon's Limiter) character is completely headcannon. All I know about him, right now, is that he and Chiffon have a professional relationship instead of a romantic one.

- Naruto's might is known and recorded. He has his parent's backing and Minato and Kushina are in the weapon-making, and ramen, biz.

-Seriously, though, I know that the Pandora Suits were dropped, most likely, for knowing which character was speaking at a time but they were so cool! We're gonna be using them a lot in this fic.

- And Rana's on the way. I read all of her portion in Freezing Zero with only a little bit of Kazuha's. I think, of her and Satellizer, like I said in the previous chapter, I just like Rana, more, overall. I may want to protect Satella but I'd want to hang with Rana through many of phases of her life.

I hope I can crank out another chapter by Monday, time will tell.

Words: 17.4k+

~NRK Out~