In the dark room with fire torches, the sparks of the blades clashed against each other, flashing of light and loud clanging noises. A katana slashed the kunai as the shinobi blocked a blade from reaching his head, but cut his blond hair. The blonde shinobi pushed his opponent away from him before things went really bad for him. His opponent has gotten a little tougher than the previous bosses he already defeated.

No holding back, he needed to take her down before she got him first. He charged forward to her, flipping his kunai into the down side as he began to strike her, but her katana stopped him before it could reach. However, he showed his smugness when he created a Rasengan on his free hand, and then he smashed right in her guts directly. It's a clean hit, enough to destroy her life bar with that strong jutsu he used.

"Alright!" Naruto defeated her, but he noticed her body began to fall and didn't fade yet. He chose to grab her body before she could fall to the ground.

It was a pretty young girl with long black hair and red eyes. She wore a dark sleeveless tank top with a white collar and a red tie; she wore a red belt that has a red side skirt cover over a black, pleated skirt. She wore it with long black socks and black shoes. She also wore red gauntlets and black gloves.

She may be a pretty girl, but she's a boss. The rumors said if someone defeats this boss, then a person earns a legendary weapon.

"Murasame?" Naruto thought, looking at a legendary weapon, One-Cut Killer: Murasame on the reward box. He clicked the 'yes' word and then a katana appeared on his hand. The sheathe was red with yellow tie and black colored in the point. The katana's handle was red with paper written on it.

"You…"

The shinobi heard her voice as he looked at the dying black-haired girl in his arms who reached for his cheek with her bare hand. Looking into her ruby eyes, they were real and almost like she's a real girl.

"This girl…" Narutuo thought.

"You look like…no... I'm happy you defeated me. Please take good care of my katana." The girl said with a smile before she shattered into blue polygons.

Naruto didn't say anything as he stood up and looked at Murasame, but he promised her that he would take care of the katana for her.

"Hey, hey! Not too shabby!" Keita said as he stood in the armor shop with guildmates. They all looked at Naruto with new armor.

Well, Keita and guildmates helped Naruto learn how to wear armor more properly and look very cool. The shinobi wore new armor and new clothes. It was black hooded sweatshirt, orange cuff, and orange zipper. An orange scarf wrapped around his neck. His arms were different because his left arm was full of yellow light armor, shoulder plate much like a fox head. His right arm was black sleeve, open-finger glove, and attached with orange vambrace.

He also wore a black combat pants with a belt that allowed him to hang for kunai and shuriken. His shoes are black.

The armors Naruto wore, he actually got them from the monsters and bosses. The items were very rare and strong. He didn't know he had them a whole time until he went back to Black Cats guildhall to ask the members. Well, Naruto was lost and oblivious when they got very excited, so they decided to help him how to wear armor.

Naruto looked at his new outfit as he stretched out his body, seeing if his new clothes fit him. "It feels… perfect!" He smiled while punching and kicking for testing his new outfit. "Really! Thank you!"

"It's no problem! After everything you did for us, you deserve a reward." Keita said before he noticed he saw a red handle of katana on Naruto's waist. It caught him a surprise to see that. "Hey, is that One-Cut Killer: Murasame?!"

The shinobi looked at his sword where Keita pointed at it before he nodded to him. "Yes, I got it from the boss. Actually, it was a special quest which no one could handle." He said.

"Yo, that's a legendary weapon!" Ducker said, inspecting Naruto's Murasame. "People are going to be jealous when they see this. And, Naruto… Do not sell your katana!"

"Ok, ok. I won't sell my katana since you told me about it." He nodded to Ducker, promising him that he won't sell a legendary weapon.

Well, a legendary weapon he had would be a good idea to keep since he broke a lot of kunai and threw shurikens. However, he could find a person with a smithing job that sells throwing kunai and shuriken. He didn't know how to find it, but luckily, his friend Sashi, who just noticed and gave a good guess at what he needed.

"I know a person."

June 24, 2024. Floor 48: Lindas

"That'll do it." A pink haired girl said with a smile, looking at a shining rapier after she sharpened the blade. She then walked toward her client, the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood, Asuna.

"Thank you, Liz." Asuna said, hopping down from the table as she waited for her sword to be sharpened. She gave, pink-haired girl, Liz, some money and took her sword.

Liz wore a dark red top with puffed sleeves and a flared skirt of the same color, combined with a pure white apron on top of it, as well as a red ribbon atop her chest.

"You're welcome!" Liz replied. "Aren't you going hunting with the guild today?"

Asuna thought for seconds, before she answered. "I took the day off. I'm meeting someone." She said.

The pinked-haired girl blinked her eyes, then she noticed the purple earring Asuna wore. She grinned, knowing that she wanted to meet someone, much like a man. "So that's it." She said as she started to tease her friend.

"What?" She said, but the bell of the town rang. When the bell rang, she realized that she had to go. "I have to go!" She ran to the door.

"You've found something important to you." Liz whispered, her voice caught Asuna's attention as she turned around and looked at her before she could leave. "Oh no. It's nothing. Have fun on your date." She smiled.

"Huh?! It's not like that!" Asuna said, blushing on her face. "Anyways, see you!"

Liz smiled watching her friend leave her shop, she then looked at a photo of her old friends. "I wonder if I'll ever find something." She said.

So, an hour later, Liz just looked at the sword she just forged. This one wasn't too shabby. She heard the sound of her shop door open, so she put the sword down. The pink-haired girl equipped the gloves, and looked at the mirror.

"Alright!" Liz smiled at the mirror as she walked upstairs to her shop. She opened the door to her shop, the sight of many weapons greeted her, although she was used to it since she's the one who made it.

She greeted her customer with a cute smile on her face, saying 'Welcome to Lizbeth's Smith Shop', but she noticed her customer didn't seem to hear her. A customer wore black clothes, mostly all of them and carried a black sword on his back. However, he finally turned around to her.

"Well… I'd like to order a custom-made weapon." Kirito said.

Liz narrowed her eyes in curiosity at her customer. "Does he have enough money?" She thought, looking at his clothes that he didn't wear anything fancy. "At the moment, metal prices are high." She spoke.

"Don't worry about the cost. I just want the best sword you can make right now." He said.

"That's somewhat vague. Could you give me an idea of the stats you're looking for?" She asked.

Kirito nodded, taking his sword sheathed from his back as he walked towards Liz. "Then, something as good as this or better?" He asked as he dropped his sword Liz's hands, shocking her for what she just looks.

"An Elucidator." She read the sword's name as she unsheathed the black sword. "It's one of the magic swords you can get from a monster drop."

"Can you do it?" He asked.

Liz turned around and searched for a weapon in the weapon storage. "Try this, it's the best one I've ever forged." She showed her customer a long sword with green guard, the blade is thinner than the Elucidator.

Kirito took the sword and tried it out by swingings. "It feels a little light." He said.

"I used a speed-type metal to forge it." She said.

"May I test it a little?" He asked.

"Test it?"

"Its durability."

He then took his sword, lifting the other sword up as he began to swing that sword and clashed on his sword. However, the other sword with green guard was broken in half by the Elucidator. It surprised Liz when she saw her sword break, but she wasn't too happy about it and she screamed in panic.

She took her broken sword from Kirito, looking at it before it faded into crystal. "Why did you do that?!" She yelled.

"Sorry! I didn't think that yours would be the one to break!" Kirito apologized to her for breaking her sword. Honestly, he didn't know that his sword would break her sword, which means her sword is too weak.

"Are you trying to tell me that my sword was weaker than you expected?!" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess." He answered.

"Just so we're clear, if I had the materials, I could make a dozen swords that would snape your sword in half."

"Oh… I'd really love one. Something that could snap this in two."

"Then you'll have to help every step of the way!"

"Every step of the way?"

"Yeah, starting with obtaining the metal."

"I can get it myself. I'd rather not have you slowing me down."

Liz gave Kirito a pout on her face. "Don't you insult me. Believe it or not, I'm an expert mace user." She said.

Naruto was on his way to the blacksmith shop called 'Lisbeth's Smith Shop'. Following the map with a red mark on the blacksmith, it was very helpful for him to keep on track. He arrived at the destination as he stopped by the small blacksmith shop. It wasn't big in his opinion, but he heard the owner is a master blacksmith and she's a girl. He opened the door, but the knob was locked, wouldn't move it.

He was confused at first, so he checked the sign to see if this shop was closed or not. The weather was sunny, but something was telling him about it. Maybe, the owner went on vacation or something else. He was planning to leave the shop and wait for the owner, but he stopped when he saw a familiar girl with a chestnut chair, running toward his direction.

"Asuna?" Naruto asked, wondering why Asuna was tired after she ran. "What happened?"

"M-My friend! I need you to help me! She has been gone for a couple hours! I...I..." She spoke very fast and panicked, it made Naruto hard to understand her.

"Asuna, Asuna, calm down a bit." He put his hands on her shoulders and calmed her down. "You're saying your friend has gone missing. When was the last time you saw her?"

"In the morning, I asked her to repair my rapier. Her name is Liz! After that, I told her I'll be back before I leave. A couple hours later, I came back and noticed her shop was closed. I waited for her for about an hour, and then I got worried. I can't send messages to her, or track her on the map." She said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in seriousness, meaning that he's willing to help his friend, Asuna to find her friend, Liz. But, finding Asuna's friend wasn't too easy because he couldn't know where she was. This world is too big and it would take him some time to find her. He could use Sennin mode to sense her aura or energy. That would be easy for him, but he couldn't reveal his power in front of Asuna.

What could he do? Would he have to use Sennin mode to find her friend? He didn't want to wait here for too long. Unless…

"Asuna, I know you want to come with me to find your friend, but you have to wait here. Wait here until I find her and return here. In case she comes back." Naruto said before he left her at the shop. On his way to find a person named Liz, he entered Sennin mode, his eyes changed to yellow toad eyes and orange pigmentation around his eyes.

He entered this form to find her aura, and it didn't take him too long to find her. He sensed her aura on the upper floors-hold on… he found two of them. One was Liz. The other was Kirito. He didn't know she was with him, but that made sense why Liz didn't return home. Maybe, Kirito asked her to forge a weapon, however it requires a metal. They must have gone for a small adventure to find a rare metal.

Anyways, that one wouldn't be his concern. More importantly, he found them. It was just several floors until he reached the destination. This wouldn't be a problem for him to handle. He could just go run really fast to get there.

Floor 55: Western Mountain

"Woah! I didn't think this game had snow! It brings back the memories." Naruto said while running on the snowy mountain.

He kept running and following Kirito and Liz's aura. Thanks to his Sennin sensor, that made his quest easy to find them. After a couple of minutes, Naruto reached them in some kind of a crystal valley. Walking through the crystals, he heard a roaring from behind a crystal tower. It was a white winged-dragon with huge jaws and ruby-red eyes. Its body was covered in scale-like crystal shards of ice. It only has a right arm.

Naruto drew his new katana, Murasame, before a white dragon charged towards him. Since he still had Sennin mode, he could beat it in seconds, but he wanted to test out his new katana. Seeing a white dragon starting to attack him with its right claws, the shinobi easily dodged its claw attack, and he sliced its right arm off. He mounted the dragon's back and stabbed on its back with his Murasame.

It gave a painful roaring as its wings started to flap, flying upward into the sky and taking the blond shinobi with it while mounting on its back. Naruto grabbed on the dragon's scale as he pulled his katana out, continuing to attack by slicing off its wings. He sliced one wing off and it began to fall down, both of them as he let go of its back. The shinobi smirked when his time had come as he opened his free hand.

"Take this..." Naruto created a Rasengan, but its size grew bigger than regular size. "Senpou: Odama Rasengan!" He smashed into a dragon's entire body, sending it down to the ground.

The shinobi watched a dragon fading into crystal pieces, and it's over. Way too easy to kill a dragon. He started to like his Murasame, maybe he could keep it. Anyways, he killed a dragon, and he had to find Kirito and Liz. He continued to search for them until he stopped at the giant hole. A very deep hole with pitch black, hard for him to see, but he could sense them in the bottomless.

But first, he had to wear off his Sennin mode before going in. The hole was too deep and hard to see, so he would have to use chakra for his foot to walk on the wall.

"Kirito! Are you there?!" Naruto yelled, continuing to walk on the wall.

"Naruto?! Is that you?! How did you know we're in trouble?!" Kirito yelled, even though he couldn't see him, but heard him shouting.

"Asuna ran toward me and told me about her missing friend, Liz!" He said.

"That's me! And..." Liz shouted, seeing the blond walking on the wall without falling. "How in the world can you walk like that?!"

"It's my ability. So, you must be Liz. Your friend Asuna got worried about you because you've been missing. So, I helped her to find you." Naruto said as he jumped off the wall. Now, it's Kirito's turn that he had to look at. "I'm surprised you were with her. Asuna won't be happy when she finds out you two are-"

"No, we're not!" Both of the embarrassed couples said together with blushes on their faces.

"Sure…" He said with a playful look on his face. "Anyways, I'm going have to carry you two and run up the wall."

…

…

…

"Are you stupid?" Liz asked, her brows furrowed with concerned, thinking of the blond was stupid and crazy.

"Watch me. You saw what I did."

A couple minutes later…

"Never do that again!" Liz scolded Naruto angrily for carrying her and running the wall very fast. She got hella scared of his crazy idea and didn't know he would do it.

"It's the only way I can do it." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at Kirito. "Kirito would've done the same thing."

"Actually, that was my idea." He started to look at Naruto, who found them from the pit and defeated the dragon.

He was curious how Naruto found them. No one could find them so easily when they're in a deeper place or farther away. It's impossible that no one has a tracking or sensing ability.

"Kirito?" Naruto noticed him looking at him.

"It's nothing." He said as he looked at the crystal ingot in his hand he found from the hole or dragon's nest he preferred. "I finally got crystal ingot. Thanks for your help, Naruto."

"You're welcome." Naruto smiled before he saw Asuna charged forward Liz and hugged her.

"I couldn't send messages to you, or track you on the map! I was so worried, so I had to call my friend to find you." Asuna said as she turned around to Naruto. "Thank you for finding my friend. I-I didn't know what to do if you weren't on my friend lists."

"It's no problem, Asuna. Oh! Kirito was there with her." Naruto pointed his finger at Kirito.

Now, Asuna was surprised to see her another friend, Kirito who was with Liz. When they started to talk with each other, Liz widened her eyes to learn that she knew Kirito. They seemed like they knew each other for a long time.

"You two know each other?" Liz asked Kirito and Asuna.

"Yeah, we're both part of the lead group." Kirito said.

"Oh! Liz, I'm guessing you haven't met Naruto. He's the one who I sent him to find you." Asuna said.

"Ohh… No wonder how you know her name and my name. That makes sense." Liz said.

October 17, 2024. Floor 50: Algade

"N-No way! Seriously?!" Agil said, feeling shocked to see what Kirito brought when he came to his shop. "This is… This is an S-Class rare item! I've never seen one before." He looked at the food item that Kirito showed him. He then looked at the black-swordman.

Kirito must have gone hunting until he found an S-Class rare item called 'Ragout Rabbit Meat'. It didn't do any much, but cooking the food he found would be good food. It was his luck to find it, but it would be hard to find.

"I'd love to eat it. I'll probably never get one again." Kirito said.

"Then." He said.

"The problem is we need to find someone with a high level of cooking skill. If we tried, we'd just burn it…" He said before he could find someone, but his sleeve was pulled by someone's hand and heard his name. He turned around and found Asuna and her bodyguard behind her.

"Hello, Kirito-kun." She smiled, waving her hand to greet him.

Kirito stared at Asuna for seconds until he suddenly grabbed her hands with his hands. "I've found my chef!" He said.

"Wh-What?" She asked.

The man behind her glared at Kirito, making him let go of Asuna's hands. He coughed a little to ease the tension in the room and looked at Asuna.

"It's rare to see you in a dive like this, Asuna." He said.

"It's almost time for the next boss. I just came to see if you were alive."

"I'm on your friend list. You can tell from that."

"If you're still alive, that's good enough. Anyway, so what was that about a chef?"

"Oh right! What's your current cooking skill?"

Asuna smirked when he asked her. "I maxed it last week." She said, shocking the two men to find that she maxed her cooking skill. "Amazing, right?"

"If you're that good, I have something to ask you." Kirito said as he did an inventory thing and showed her S-class meat.

"Th-This is a ragout rabbit!" Asuna shocked.

"We'll trade. If you cook it for me, I'll let you have a bite." He said before his collar was grabbed by Asuna, glaring at him.

"I want half!" She said

So, Kirito nodded and agreed to give her a half she wanted. After they made a deal, they left Agil's shop. But then, they saw Naruto who was about to head for Agil's shop, but he noticed them as he stopped by to see them.

"Hey guys. Where are you two heading?" Naruto asked.

"Well… actually, we can cook at my house. Oh, you can come too! You should eat with us!" Asuna said with a smile as she turned to her bodyguard. "That will be all for today."

"Asuna-sama, you can't let such suspicious people into your home." The man said.

Asuna sighed and knew this was going to happen again. "They may be suspicious, but they're also quite skilled. They're probably ten levels above you, Kuradeel." She said her bodyguard's name.

"You're suggesting they're superior to me?" Kuradeel asked, looking at the two men before he realized who they were. "I see! They're one of those beaters!"

"Yes, that's right." Kirito said.

"Asuna-sama, all they care about is themselves! Nothing good will come of being around him!" He said loudly, causing everyone to watch them.

The scene was an argument about the beaters because he tried to warn Asuna, not letting the strangers into her house. People who watched them recognized her as 'Lightning Flash'. Some of them said that she's cute.

Asuna noticed the attention as she turned to her bodyguard. "Just head home for today. That's an order from your vice commander." She ordered before she turned around and dragged both Naruto and Kirito away.

"Hey, are you sure?" Kirito asked while being dragged away by Asuna.

"I'm sure!" She answered.

Timeskip

Naruto and Kirito were amazed when they entered Asuna's house. It was so clean inside. She must have cleaned her house by herself. The decorations and design are very pretty. The two men didn't know that she owned this house.

"How much did all the cost?" Kirito asked.

"The room and furniture were probably around 4,000,000 Cor… I'll go change, so have a sweat." Asuna said as she walked to her bedroom to change her clothes.

Both Naruto and Kirito sat on two sofa chairs, continuing to look around her house. They were quite surprised that Asuna could afford this expensive house. Guessing that Asuna must have gridded very hard to earn money and saved it to afford it.

"4,000,000 Cor. 4 mega-Cor. I'm sure I've saved up that much." Kirito said softly before he started to look at Naruto, who still looked around. "Hey, Naruto."

"Yeah, what's up?" The blond asked.

"I know this is sudden, but there's something I want to ask you-" Kirito was interrupted when he heard the door closed and footsteps, walking towards them. He turned and saw Asuna wearing a white sleeping gown.

Both him and Naruto blushed at an admittedly beautiful girl dressed in a sleeping gown.

"How long do you plan to stay dressed like that?" Asuna asked.

The two men blinked, but looked at each other and stopped their daydreaming. They changed their clothes. Kirito wore black sweater and black pants. However, unlike Kirito, Naruto asked Asuna if he could use a bath since she owned the house. She allowed him to take a bath, so he went into the bath.

While Naruto's in the bath, Kirito and Asuna were in the kitchen, already starting to cook. With Asuna's max cooking skill, she could cook S-class meat in any kind of food she wanted. Before she cooked, she looked at Kirito.

"How do you want it cooked?" She asked.

"Chef's choice." Kirito said.

Then, Asuna picked her choice, making a stew since Kirito wanted her to cook. It didn't take too long to cook the dinner, however, Asuna's cooking skill is amazing. She opened a pot cover and revealed a delicious stew she cooked with S-class ragout rabbit. Kirito was amazed at her cooking skill and she has been leveling up her cooking skill for a month.

He felt very hungry when she opened a pot cover, and couldn't help it but he wanted to taste a stew.

"Oh, nice! Dinner time, but too bad that I didn't see ramen. It's my favorite food."

Kirito and Asuna turned to Naruto, wearing an orange sweater and black pants. Unlike his appearance, he took off his headband and his spiky hair was down after he finished the bath. Asuna blushed at an admittedly handsome, teen male with his hair down and casual clothes. At first, she thought he wasn't an attractive guy because he wore armor, but she admitted herself wrong about him. He's a very attractive guy. Liz would've fallen in love with him if she met him first before Kirito.

"What's up?" Naruto asked, noticing his two friends were staring at him.

"Nothing… It was just… you look so different without your headband. Even your downed spiky hair." Kirito said. He could make a guess that Naruto would probably make girls fall in love with him in that appearance. Klein would be really jealous if he saw him like this.

"Do I? I always look like this." Naruto said as he sat down on a chair while looking at the food Asuna cooked, but he noticed those two were still staring at him again. However, they turned to look at the food and started to eat.

Floor 74: Kamdet.

"She's not coming..." Kirito said tiredly before he yawned while waiting for Asuna. He got up really early and waited for Asuna.

Naruto had the same feeling and experienced the one time where he waited for Kakashi sensei. "Kirito, I'll be back." He said as he walked and left Kirito behind.

When he left, a light in the teleporter gained Kirito's attention, the black swordsman turned around and found Asuna who suddenly jumped and screamed 'Watch out". Her body slammed on Kirito, both of them fell together on the ground. Kirito was on the ground. Asuna was on top of him.

"What is…" Kirito questioned, squeezing something soft on his hand. "...this?" He squeezed again before his face got slapped by the power of a hand. His body rolled over and landed into a pillar really hard, it hurt his back.

He rubbed his head in pain and looked at the person who hit him a few feets away. It surprised him when he saw Asuna who blushed on her face and held her chest. He then realized he just groped Asuna's breast with his hand.

"You came." Naruto said while holding his favorite food cup of ramen. He noticed Asuna's red face and Kirito on the ground. "Kirito, an accident can give you a good life." He joked, making Kirito blushed.

Joking around a little, Asuna got up and quickly ran behind the two, Naruto and Kirito. Before they could ask anything, the portal opened up and Kuradeel appeared. At first, he looked around the area until he found Asuna, who hid behind the two men.

"Asuna-sama, you shouldn't act like this. Let's go to guild headquarters." Kuradeel said.

"No way! And what were you doing outside my house so early in the morning, anyway?!" She said, shocking Naruto and Kirito to hear that.

"I thought this might happen, so for the past month, part of my mission has been to observe in Selmburg." He said.

"That wasn't in the guild leader's orders, was it?"

"My mission is to guard you. That includes at your home."

"No, it doesn't, idiot!"

Kuradeel sighed as he began to walk towards Asuna. "You should stop acting like such a brat. Now, let's return to headquarters." Before he could grab Asuna, but Naruto slapped his hand away from her.

The blond shinobi has stopped him from grabbing Asuna, defending her from this man. "Sorry, but I can't let you take one of my friends." He said.

"We'll be borrowing your vice commander today." Kirito said as he stepped up and defended Asuna. "We'll take responsibility for her safety. We aren't facing a boss today. You can go to headquarters alone."

"Hell no!" Kuradeel snapped. "A low-level player like you two couldn't possibly protect her! I am a member of the glorious Knights of the Blood Oath..."

"We can do a better job than you." He said.

"If you're that certain, you're prepared to prove it, right?" He opened the menu and clicked a few options. A challenge message appeared in front of Kirito.

Kirito looked at Asuna, not feeling well to face her bodyguard because this guy was too easy to beat. However, she nodded to him, meaning yes and let him accept his challenge.

"It's fine. I'll speak with the guild leader." Asuna said.

Kirito agreed and accepted Kuradeel's challenge as he clicked on the mode 'One-Strike mode'. Both of the two challengers have taken a stance, unsheathing their swords and pointing the blades at each other. They waited for the right moment until the countdown was zero.

When the countdown went zero, Kirito and Kuradeel started to charge each other. Lift their swords up. Kuradeel began to downward slash toward the black-haired man, grinning like a madman. However, Kirito slashed at his sword as a loud clang was heard. The sword Kuradeel held got broken into a half.

He couldn't believe what he just saw. His blade got broken and fell into the earth. "I-Impossible." He said in disbelief as his sword shattered into pieces and fell on his knee.

The black swordsman sheathed his sword when it's over and looked at the fallen knight who lost the match against him. "If you want to try another weapon, I'm okay with it. But that's enough, isn't it?" He asked.

Kuradeel gritted his teeth in anger and opened his equipment menu to take out a dagger. He then charged at Kirito, shouting his battle cry, but his dagger was thrown into the air.

"A-Asuna-sama…?" He asked in surprise at the sigh of his vice commander who threw his dagger into the air. "H-He cheated! He used some trick to destroy my sword! Otherwise, I couldn't have lost to some dirty beater."

"Kuradeel." Asuna began. "This is an order from the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath. As of today, you are relieved of your escort mission. Stand by at guild HQ until you receive further orders. That's all."

"What?!" He shocked as he began to glare at both Kirito and Naruto. "Y-You-" He got cut off when he earned a death glare from Naruto, who was more fierce than Kirito. That made him drop a sweat, so he walked toward the teleporter. He said 'Teleport: Ggrandzam' as he was covered in light and disappeared.

After he left, Asuna let out a breath of relief and fell down, but got caught by the two boys. Looking at her face, they could tell that she was distressed and annoyed for being followed by her bodyguard. The winner of the duel match is Kirito.

"Huh?" Naruto caught a familiar scent that was in the crowds, but it walked away. He felt like someone was watching them.

"Sorry for involving you two in that." Asuna said, looking at her two friends.

"No, it's fine." Naruto smiled. "No one messes with my friends. That's all I care about but are you okay?"

"Yes. I think my problems with the guild are because I was too focused on clearing the game. And I was too strict with the other members."

"Well, I don't know. If you hadn't been, we'd never have come nearly as far as we have." Kirito said as Asuna turned and looked at him. "I just mess around as a solo player, so I have no right to judge. Still, even if you decide to take a day off to party with a slacker like me, I don't think that gives anyone the right to complain."

After hearing that small speech, Asuna smiled at him and sheathed her weapon. "Well, I guess I'll say thanks. So, I'll accept your offer, and take it easy today. You two can play forward." She said as she patted them on their shoulder.

"Wait a second!" Kirito said, following Asuna.

"This should be fun." Naruto said, cracking his knuckles while following Asuna.

Timeskip. Floor 74: Dungeon.

"Naruto, are you out of your mind?! Fighting the boss by yourself!" Asuna scowled Naruto, who got really scared of her wrath.

"L-Look. Do you remember we faced the 1st floor boss? Well… we beat it and survived without recruiting more players." Naruto smiled nervously, still feeling so scared of her anger. Man...she has a personality like Sakura, who is always a scary woman.

So, what happened was they found the boss's room. They went inside and met a large minotaur-like creature that wields a large sword. It has crimson eyes, blue fur, and snake-tail. Kirito and Asuna decided to retreat, though they had to force drag Naruto along with them as the blond wanted to fight. That's that Asuna was pretty pissed off at Naruto.

Right now, the three sat down and took a break while making a plan of what to do next.

"Alright, the only weapon I saw was that big weapon, but I'm sure it has special attacks." Kirito said.

"We'll have to put tanks in the front row and keep switching." Asuna said.

"Around ten shield users, I'd say." He said as he started to look at Naruto, who had an angry look on his face. He saw his fists clenching really hard, almost like he wanted to beat the boss and get out of here.

However, Naruto took a deep breath and calmed his anger when he noticed Kirito. "Sorry, I'm thinking too much. But… I need to beat this game." He said as he lightly clenched his fists again.

"Naruto… Why-" Before Kirito could say anything, he heard a noise at the entrance. He saw a person in red samurai armor, walking from there and seeming to be exhausted.

But, he wasn't alone because he had a group of men in red armor, similar to his red samurai armor. That man was a familiar person with a red bandana and red hair.

"Oh, Kirito! Naruto! Both of you are here! It's been a while!" Klein said, walking fast toward his two friends to greet them. "It's very surprising to see you two together! Kirito, aren't you always solo-" He noticed there was a pretty girl, who stood behind the two.

"I'm sure you've met him during boss fights. This is Klein, of the guild FurinKazan." Kirito introduced Asuna to his friend. "And this is Asuna, of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Klein?" He waved his hand.

Naruto smiled, but he stopped when he saw a group of armored men with green capes walking from the entrance. The men that were behind a guy with a red cape, they were really exhausted. He never met them before, but looking at their armors, they must be the guild of the Aincrad Liberation Army. Heard the rumors about them.

However, they're not important. Most importantly, he needed to get out of the video game world. His world and his friends needed him to fight against Kaguya. Of course, he remembered the time is different, but that didn't mean he's ok with it.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Naruto heard the person in charge with a red cape as he saw Kirito give away a map to him.

"If you plan to pick a fight with the boss, I'd recommend against it." Kirito warned a person with a red cape, Corvatz.

"That's my decision to make." He said.

"We just looked in the room. You won't get anywhere with only a few people! And your party's exhausted..." He said while looking at the exhausted men.

"My men aren't so weak as to give in this easily! Stand up, men!" Corvatz commanded his men to stand up. He and his men continued to move forward.

Naruto didn't know what's going on, but he had a bad feeling that they would go to the boss room. "We'll stay and have a look. Just in case..." He spoke.

So, they stayed on the dungeon floor for several minutes. They were just defeating the minion, but Naruto sensed danger as he began to run toward the boss room, ignoring his friends who called his name. He kept running until he reached the boss room and stopped. His teeth were clenched to see an idiot leader fighting against Gleam Eyes with his men after all Kirito warned him.

Then, Kirito and the others came into the scene, looking so shocked and horrified when they saw Corvatz and his men fighting Gleam Eyes. Those men are going to die now.

"What are you doing?! Use your teleport crystals!" Kirito yelled.

"We can't… The crystal won't work!" One soldier said, holding up a crystal he had, but it won't work.

"There hasn't been a boss with a trap like this before." Asuna said.

"Kayaba must have put it there...just like the one time where we were…" Naruto remembered that time he saved Moonlit Black Cat from being trapped in the hidden room. Now, this one was done the same thing like before.

He gritted his teeth as he charged in the boss when idiot Corvatz ordered his men to attack Gleam Eyes. Naruto unsheathed Murasame and stopped its giant blade from killing Corvatz, kicking him in his stomach to move away from him. His entrance surprised Kirito and Asuna who stood in the safe room and watched him how he saved those men from Gleam Eyes. His craziness. His courage. His selflessness. He went in without second thoughts to save them.

In the fight, Naruto had blocked every single attack from Gleam Eyes. Not just swinging attack, but it can breathe blue fire and use snake tail to bite. He could solo it, but he didn't want to do it in front of people and his friends or else he could reveal his chakra. If not, then he would've to use it against Gleam Eyes since Kayaba set the difficulty up for him.

When he blocked an attack from Gleam Eyes, his body was punched by its fist, rolling over the ground, but he turned his body up and did a slide on his feet to recover his balance. Another attack came towards Naruto when he saw it and was about to dodge. However, he heard Asuna's screaming 'no' as she charged in and struck Gleam Eyes in its back from behind.

Then, Kirito jumped into the action and stopped the giant blade before it could reach Asuna. He decided to help Naruto and Aincrad Liberation Army guildmates since he and Asuna jumped in first before him. Klein and his friends helped the injured players while the three fought Gleam Eyes.

Kirito had a bad feeling that they wouldn't beat Gleam Eyes. "Do I absolutely have to use it? But..." He thought while looking at his friends' health bars.

"Kirito, watch out!"

He snapped out of his trance as he saw Naruto who blocked Gleam Eyes's giant sword for him. The large blade almost reached for Kirito's face, but it caught Naruto on his cheek. Noticing Naruto's health bar, it didn't drop like it was supposed to when struck by a monster.

"Naruto...you're bleeding…?" Kirito asked.

Naruto glanced at him, noticing how his attention was focused completely on the blood coming out of his small wound, but no time to explain now in this bad situation. He could explain to him later after they beat the boss first.

"Kirito, focus on the boss! We need to take it down right now!" Naruto said.

Kirito shook his head to regain his focus on the boss as he opened the skill menu and searched for something quickly. "Naruto! Switch with me!" He yelled at Naruto to move away from the boss as he did as he was told. He charged forward and stabbed Gleam Eyes in its stomach with another sword in his left hand.

"Starburst Stream!" He shouted, dealing a multi strike at the boss with two swords in his both hands.

Naruto watched him in amazement how he deals so much damage to the boss with amazing speed. He smirked as he took a deep breath, closing his eyes to concentrate his chakra. Then, his eyes opened with sharpness and vanished in a yellow flash, dashing towards Gleam Eyes and slicing everywhere with Murasame.

Asuna and the others widened their eyes with shock to see the two works together. The boss couldn't keep it up as the strikes were so fast from them.

Seeing Gleam Eyes's health bar turned into a red zone, Naruto and Kirito finished it with their own dramatic finish. The black swordsman struck in its chest with a sword and shinobi smashed into its guts with a giant Rasengan. The boss flew and crashed into a wall when a giant Rasengan launched it off from Naruto's hand. Finally, it shattered into blue polygons and the panel showed 'Congratulations!'.

Kirito sighed tiredly and began to fall, but his body got caught by his friend, Naruto. He looked at him with a smile on his face, but he had something to say to him.

"I'll explain to you later after this. We need to talk someplace else." Naruto said, his tone changed seriously.

"O-Ok…" Kirito paused, noticing a wound on Naruto's cheek was gone.

After the fight was over, Naruto and Kirito went back to Floor 50: Algade. Asuna went back to her guild because someone messaged her. However, she told the two that she won't be long. Now, the two guys sat in the bedroom where no one could be listening to their conversation.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Naruto said while looking at Kirito who blinked his eyes and looked very shocked after Gleam Eyes was defeated. The shinobi could tell that the boy had a lot of questions when he was exposed by revealing his wound.

"Y-Yeah, I don't know what to ask. Maybe lots." Kirito said. "I saw your cheek got-"

"Yes, my cheek got bleed when Gleam Eyes cut it with a giant sword. But, it's already healed." He said.

"How is this possible? You were bleeding…but your healing skill heals you crazy. No wonder why you have to play carefully and not try to get hurt." He said.

"That is my secret." He said.

Before Naruto continued, the door slammed open as Asuna was panted, looking so worried and panicked.

"We're in trouble! What should we do?!" She asked.

Floor 55: Grandzam

"I believe we've never met, Kirito and Naruto?" The commander asked, looking at Kirito and Naruto.

"No, we had met at the strategic meeting at the 67." Kirito answered.

"No, it's the first that we meet,but I've heard about you. You must be Commander Heathcliff." Naruto said, looking at the man in the red uniform.

"That was a difficult battle." He spoke to Kirito. "We almost lost members as well. Even a top guild never has sufficient members for the front lines. And now, you are taking one of our most important players."

"If she's that important, you should do a better job of picking her bodyguard." Naruto said, stepping up in front of Kirito and Asuna.

"I apologize for the trouble you two had with Kuradeel. But we simply cannot allow our second-in-command to leave. Naruto-kun and Kirito-kun, if you two want her, take her with your blades. If you can defeat me in combat, you may take Asuna-kun. But if you lose, you will join the Knights of the Blood Oath." Heathcliff said, narrowing his eyes at Naruto and Kirito.

Asuna looked at them to see if they should or not accept her guild leader's duel request.

"Very well. If you'd rather settle this with swords, that's fine with me. Let's settle it with a duel." Kirito said.

Note: I'm going to do a timeskip in next chapter and maybe Fairy Arc. Just let you know that.