Disclaimer: I don't own anything belonging to Code: Geass or Naruto.
Nunnally had no idea where her brother and Suzaku were taking her since she couldn't open her eyes to look around and she couldn't walk with them because of her useless legs which left her brother to carry her which could not have been easy since Lelouch was not the best when it came to physical activities.
"Where are we going? Are we getting moved to another place again?" Nunnally asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.
How she wished she could open her eyes.
"It's one of the Kururugi homes. This time it's the main house, okay?" Her brother's voice, it sounded so young compared to how he sounded now, answered reassuringly. "Keep on walking, Suzaku."
"But-"
"Keep walking." Lelouch cut him off sharply.
" Where are we? It smells really bad here. " Nunnally inhaled the air, noting the stench and was starting to grow worried.
"We're going by a garbage dump. Right, Suzaku?" Lelouch answered but Nunnally didn't hear an answer.
Nunnally thought she heard a sob. "What's wrong, Suzaku?"
"I… I…" Suzaku stuttered.
Nunnally reached out and placed a hand on his cheek, seemingly surprising him.
"Nunnally?" Suzaku asked in surprise.
Nunnally smiled. "My mother taught me a warm touch is good for tears. Do you think it is true?"
Lelouch narrowed his eyes as he looked over the latest reports regarding Britannian activity in Japan. Cornelia had doubled security and increased patrols along the ghettos, obviously because she wanted to know how the Black Knights were getting in and out of Japan. The mere fact that they could attack an outer base in the middle of an ocean while holding a Princess of Britannia while at the same time defeating her knight was like a slap in the face for the Empire and it made Cornelia look bad in front of the rest of the world.
She no doubt took it personal that Euphie was almost captured again.
"Now that the Geass Order's plan has failed, I can get back to dealing with ridding the world of Britannia." Lelouch closed his eyes.
"Master Lelouch?" The door to his room and Sayoko peeked her head in. "Do you have any dinner plans?"
"Hm? Nothing special. I am thinking of inviting Suzaku over for dinner again." Lelouch closed his laptop and stood up. "Where's Nunnally?"
"Lady Nunnally is out jogging again." Sayoko answered neutrally.
"Again?" Lelouch sighed. "She'll have to clean up immediately if she doesn't want to be dirty when dinner is ready. Is someone watching her?"
"Master Naruto and Lady C.C. volunteered to watch her and bring her home." Sayoko stated.
"Well, I can expect the two of them to at least make sure she gets back and doesn't do anything too strenuous." Lelouch said resignation.
He just hoped Nunnally wouldn't go too far and end up leaving herself sore for an entire week.
"Sixty seven…"
"Sixty eight…."
"Sixty nine…"
"GAH! I can't do anymore!"
"Come on, Nunna-chan! You're nearly there."
"Is this all our little apprentice is capable of?"
Nunnally didn't know whether to be grateful she was being trained to be stronger or to hate and curse Naruto and C.C. to the depths of Hell for their torture-training that they were putting her through. Naruto was moderately better as he endlessly encourage her and promised her a nice cold water for when the training was over with something to take care of the painful aching all over her tiny body. Sayoko was slightly better as she patiently taught Nunnally numerous stances that allowed for quick speed and precision which would fit Nunnally perfectly as while she was more physically capable than Lelouch she was not a powerhouse yet.
C.C. on the other hand was the definition of the word 'witch' as though she liked to encourage Nunnally she was also annoyingly so smug about it made Nunnally actually more determined to get through the training to beat that smirk off the former immortal's face.
She was dressed in the gym clothes worn at Ashford Academy which she was actually happy for as she had never been able to engage physical activity for a long time and she had a lot of catching up to do. Especially in light of what she had learned from her trainers about her brother's activities. The fact that Suzaku was part of the Britannian military had been surprising at first, even if it had been a simply technician job but Nunnally was glad he was alive all the same. It was the fact that Suzaku was not only the Knight of Euphie but was also the pilot of the Knightmare that been one of Lelouch's most persistent enemies and had even tried to kill him on several occasions.
The fact that Suzaku would perhaps be one of her greatest enemies if she chose to stand with her brother had never entered her mind until she listened to the stories of how her brother's rebellion had started. Now she knew everything and she honestly didn't know what to feel:
Sadness that her brother and his best friend are enemies trying to kill each other.
Anger that they were fighting.
Despair that she couldn't do anything to stop it without giving away her brother's secrets.
Rage that Suzaku was fighting for Britannia while killing innocent people, including his own people, and deceiving both her and Lelouch in such a way.
And right now that anger was being channeled into her training which was heavy and she wondered how she was still alive.
"All right, Nunnally. Break time." Naruto stood up and walked over, smiling at Nunnally collapsed onto the ground, panting for air. "I think she might be exhausted."
"What a little girl." C.C. scoffed, leaning her head back to look up at the sky.
Nunnally growled. "Go… to… he-"
"Uh-uh-uh!" Naruto put a finger on Nunnally's mouth. "No language here young lady. Now let's get some water and then onto the next exercise."
Nunnally groaned but greedily accepted the bottle of water Naruto offered her and the water was gone in under ten seconds.
"Now then, onto the next stage." Naruto declared proudly but frowned as Nunnally groaned. "What's the matter, Nunnally? I thought you wanted to be strong."
"I do, I do! But I feel like I am about to collapse and I'm not sure I am strong enough for the next stage." Nunnally weakly answered.
"You're too weak to make a few hand signs?" C.C. teasingly asked.
"Hand signs?" Nunnally perked up in confusion.
"Essentially yes. What we're working on next is hand signs to help better control your chakra." Naruto sat down in front of Nunnally. "Now listen and watch closely as I show you."
Nunnally watched as he made twelve hand signs and showed them to her repeatedly and asked her to copy him.
Bird
Boar
Ox
Dog
Dragon
Tiger
Serpent
Rat
Horse
Monkey
Hare
And Ram.
"These are the twelve basic hand seals to harness and control your charka. Usually it'll take an average academy student months or likely years to memorize these hand signs but with enough practice you'll have them committed in only a few months." Naruto stated as he did the hand signs over and over again with Nunnally struggling to keep up.
"You use these hand signs for all your powers?" Nunnally asked, trying to keep her hand signs as accurate as possible.
"With enough practice you can make so fast you could possibly even do it with one hand but those are extremely rare." Naruto replied. "I know it took C.C. two months while it took Rakshata two and a half months and Sayoko only one month to memorize everything. Rakshata had her high IQ to help her and Sayoko-chan was already proficient in taijutsu before we met. The next step, once you're ready will be practicing chakra control exercises which will help you control your powers and lessen the risk of being exhausted if you use them in a fight. Even if you have a large amount of chakra you can still use it all up, especially if you don't have any control."
"I understand." Nunnally nodded.
"With enough control you'll be able to do almost… anything from making copies of yourself to walking on water." Naruto continued but was stopped when Nunnally interrupted.
"Wait a minute. You can walk on water?" Nunnally asked, surprised at such a thing.
"We can do much more than that, Nunnally-chan." C.C. teased with an annoying grin. "Walking on water is so… basic."
"Basic enough that you were spent a whole falling into the pool when you were practicing." Naruto shot back.
C.C. shrugged and leaned back.
"Well, she's right about one thing. Water walking is basic compared to the more powerful and complicated techniques." Naruto said, getting back to the lesson. "Our techniques are divided into three categories: Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu."
"Taijutsu? Like martial arts?" Nunnally spoke up.
"Exactly." Naruto nodded. "Genjutsu is for illusionary techniques and Ninjutsu stands for all sorts of cool techniques like elemental techniques and the ability to make clones, both solid and made of more than one element. I'll teach you basic Ninjutsu and Genjutsu but C.C. has a better grasp on Genjutsu than I do and Sayoko-san will be in charge of Taijutsu."
Nunnally smiled at the idea of Sayoko teaching her.
"And then we find out what your Path is." Naruto said, making a dragon sign for Nunnally to copy. "Three paths left: Deva, Preta, and Naraka."
"What do these paths do?" Nunnally asked.
"Well, each path has their own special power as we already told you. The Human Path which Rakshata has is able to read the minds of anyone through physical contact and forcefully remove the soul from the victim's body. The Asura Path transforms the host body, creating mechanical armor that oddly enough is a lot like a Knightmare machine but it's more unpredictable as the Asura Path alters the body to be more like a mechanical demon than a Knightmare. The Animal Path summons animals of any kind that can be connected to the Path through the Rinnegan and not only does the summoner have a shared vision with the animals but so the rest of us." Naruto rubbed his head. "But for the sake of not going overboard Sayoko doesn't summon the animals very often. It's already hectic enough with five of us sharing the same vision."
"And the other three?" Nunnally asked, now looking slightly eager.
"The Naraka Path summons a creature that can heal anyone it swallows instantly and it can store souls stolen by the Human Path and remove souls of liars who are being interrogated. The Preta Path absorbs all form chakra based attacks but it might be able to do more than that in this world. Finally, the Deva Path can repulse or attract anything with great force to the point that if a person is repelled their bodies could be shattered if they hit anything like a tree or a wall. The Deva is the strongest and most dangerous since it basically manipulates gravity in a way that it is almost unbeatable but it can be beaten with the right strategy." Naruto continued. "Right now we have no way of knowing which Path you are yet but it's important we find out which one you are and fast."
Nunnally nodded. "So I can avoid being a danger to everyone around me."
"Exactly." Naruto nodded.
"But if the Rinnegan is so powerful that only a single path can cause untold amounts of destruction why didn't you give my brother Rinnegan instead of his Geass?" Nunnally questioned. "Combined with his intellect my brother would have been unstoppable."
"He might have been but…" Naruto trailed off.
"But Lulu is too much of a scrawny slacker to train like this." C.C. said with a smirk. "He was always more brains than strength so granting him the Rinnegan would have been a waste. You on the other hand have more potential, perhaps even the potential to rival and surpass your mother if we test you in the cockpit of a Knightmare."
"A Knightmare?" Nunnally's eyes widened as she looked at Naruto. "You think so?"
"It's possible. We've tested Lelouch in the simulators while he's not bad he's no match for pilots like me, Cera, Kallen, or Suzaku. That's why the Arashikage was customized for him, it played on his strengths and allowed him a solid offense and defense." Naruto answered.
"I saw the news feed on the battle at the prison. Lelouch's Knightmare was… amazing." Nunnally admitted. "Will I get a Knightmare?"
"Do you want one?" C.C. asked, sounding interested.
"I'll need a Knightmare if I want to keep my brother safe on the battlefield." Nunnally answered, determination settling onto her face.
"We'll have to talk to Rakshata after you've had some training." Naruto said sternly. "It's a little too far to talk about that."
Nunnally nodded in understanding. "When will my brother find out?"
"We'll… keep that a secret for now." Naruto looked away and rubbed his head.
C.C. didn't look guilty or like she even cared.
It was likely she didn't really care.
"Now, let's work on those hand signs." Naruto said, showing Nunnally the hand signs again and then had her copy them over and over again.
"Well this one took a little work but we finally have the Lancelot back up and running." Lloyd sighed as he looked over the report. "Now the question is how long it will be before its next fight and how much repairs will be needed?"
"Lloyd?" Suzaku asked from the Lancelot's cockpit.
"I mean after all considering our less than admirable record it's a wonder we're even still in business. I guess having the Knight of a Princess does have some advantages." Lloyd mused out loud. "Still though, unless we make a major breakthrough we won't gain much ground against those Black Knights and those new toys Rakshata keeps on pulling out of her hat."
"What do you suggest, Lloyd?" Cecile asked, wondering what was going on in her co-worker's head.
"Simply put without a complete understanding of how those Knightmares wore we might be in over our heads at this point. We need a way to counter them which is not easy since they always seem to overpower or trick us." Lloyd stated, remembering the records of all the battles the Lancelot had been in against the Black Knights.
Suzaku frowned in thought as Lloyd was right.
Almost every time the Lancelot had gone up against the Black Knights it had come back damaged and defeated. Sure it had been making some headway but not enough and unless something was done Suzaku could not climb up in rank to start working to change Britannia from within.
"We could work on the energy wing project." Cecile suggested.
"We don't have enough data and it hasn't even been tested yet." Lloyd replied. "The fact is that Rakshata has found a way to give her new Knightmares an enormous boost of power far beyond current power sources…" Lloyd's eyes widened. "Or maybe she has created a new source of power."
"Lloyd?" Cecile and Suzaku asked at once.
"It all makes sense now! Rakshata has made a new source of power that has allowed her to make advancements ahead of anything we've seen before!" Lloyd grinned with a look of excitement on his face. "That's where we start!"
"You mean… giving the Lancelot more power?" Suzaku asked.
"Yes. We look over the energy readings from the last battle… and then we find a way to increase our own." Lloyd nodded, looking excited.
Suzaku looked down at the controls. 'Power… Is that what I need? More power?'
He thought back to all the times he had faced the Black Knights and all the times he had lost.
'If I need more power… Than so be it.'
"Yes it is true that the invasion by the Chinese Federation and the terrorism of the Black Knights have disrupted out society but that is a completely separated issue! The fact remains that you both have been absent from class far too often! I don't care how good your grades are or that you are Princess Euphemia's knight if you don't improve you will repeat this year!"
Lelouch simply tuned out the teacher's ranting, wondering why Naruto, C.C. and Suzaku aren't in here with him. Oh right, Naruto and C.C. could skip through the use of Shadow Clones and Suzaku was working late night shifts.
'Figures they'd leave me like this.'
"So the opinions in the Ghettos are split?" Ohgi asked. "Some are submissive and some want to fight?"
"Bet they'll all be shocked when they find out Zero's goal is to start an independent nation." Minami commented. "Yeah right, we need to be realistic."
"I agree with Zero." Tamaki spoke up, earning all eyes on him. "Well, isn't it true? We stick with him we might get a huge lucky break. We might even get my dream of being a bureaucrat."
"A bureaucrat? Seriously?" Kallen asked, unable to picture such a thing in her mind.
"Hey, even I had a dream once." Tamaki retorted.
Ohgi was silent as he watched everyone continue to debate. He perked up when he heard Tamaki say if he had joined the Black Knights he'd on Refrain by now and that caused him to start thinking of a certain woman in his mind. 'Refrain might help her get her memory back so I can find out who Zero is. But what would I do if I know?'
"Ohgi?"
Ohgi perked up when he heard Kallen mention his name. "On that other issue, you wanted to ask for instructions but we haven't heard any word from Zero."
"Don't worry about Zero."
Everyone looked at the door and saw Zero's knights walk into the room. "Zero's got a personal life outside of the Black Knights like everyone else. We can't rely on him for everything."
"Seizan. Shinryoku." Ohgi straightened himself up. "What exactly are we doing?"
"For the moment, nothing." Seizan answered. "Our recent activities with the Chinese Federation and the abandoned facility has for the most part put everyone off balance. The Britannians remain focused on maintaining order in Japan but Suzaku Kururugi's ascension has caused a split amongst the people now. His defeat in our duel has caused some damage to his reputation but not enough that we are strong enough to start striking back. We will wait until we have enough strength that we can strike at the head of Britannia in this country and force them to either fall back or surrender when their structure of power collapses."
"Sounds like my kind of plan!" Tamaki grinned in excitement. "Tell us what to do, boss."
"For now we make for the hidden escape route that Diethard set up. There is word of someone who wants to join us and we need inside sources." Seizan stated.
"So we're going in as planned." Ohgi commented.
"I still think it's a trap." Tamaki scowled.
"We don't have a choice." Kallen replied. "We need all the help we can get."
"Good and in the meantime, Kallen, you go back to school." Seizan said, earning a surprised look from Kallen. "We wouldn't want your grades slipping."
Kallen scowled, wondering what Naruto was up to.
" Good morning everyone! I'm proud to announce the start of the Ashford Academy school festivel! Everything will start at the signal. "
Nunnally took a deep breath. " MEOW! "
Fireworks shot into the sky as students wearing school uniforms and cat costumes cheered loudly, mimicking Nunnally's 'meow'.
"Must they be so loud?" C.C. sighed in irritation as she watched from the roof top with Naruto and Lelouch.
"Why are you complaining? You've been looking forward to this." Naruto pointed out.
"I only came for the giant pizza." C.C. huffed.
"Right." Naruto looked down at the festival. "Maybe I can get Milly to invent the world's biggest Ramen bowel."
"That's stupid."
"It is not!" Naruto said outrageously. "How dare you say something like that?!"
"I only speak the truth."
"Bull shit!"
Lelouch tuned both of them out, listening to Deithard's report. "That's what I thought. So even Sawasaki and the others turned out to be useful. We've covered all the tasks at hand."
" Yes. We've gathered all the sector data on the emergency attack that they left behind. " Lelouch spotted a camera and quickly ducked as he listened. " We've identified the solar panels in each settlement as well as the energy storage sites. Oh and what about that collaborator issue? "
"I've handled most of it myself. About seventy two percent of it is complete. And Todoh?"
" He's drawing up a list occupational targets, broadcasting stations and such. I need you to check them, including the dummy plans we're sending to Kyoto. "
"I understand. I'll confirm tomorrow."
" Oh and I know we're late in reporting this to you but regarding the operation of the Zero squad- "
"There he is!"
Lelouch turned and saw Milly coming onto the roof. "I'll have to contact you later."
He hung up just as Milly found him and dragged him off. "What are you doing goofing off like that? You're the festival chairman!"
"But everything is running fine." Lelouch pointed out. "There's no problem."
Naruto and C.C. stopped their fighting and watched as Milly dragged Lelouch off.
"Milly is the one in charge of the giant pizza, right?" C.C. asked, stopping them.
"Yeah, she is. She declared we had to have a twelve meter pizza." Lelouch answered.
Both Lelouch and Naruto saw what looked like stars forming in C.C.'s eyes as she slowly sauntered over. "Can I help?"
"You want in, Tsunade?" Milly asked with a grin. "After all it's going to the largest one of its kind in the world!"
"Yes. I do." C.C. nodded.
Naruto sighed as he leaned against the railing. "Oh boy."
C.C. looked over at Naruto. "And Naruto can help?"
"Well what are we waiting for?!" Milly exclaimed as she dragged Lelouch off, followed by C.C. who dragged Naruto with her.
Naruto sighed as he walked to the door leading the kitchen, spotting Suzaku cutting up some onions. Naruto looked over his shoulder and saw Kallen with her knife pouch out. Moving quickly Naruto was in front of Kallen and snatched her pouch away.
"Hey!" Kallen protested quietly.
"Not here, Kallen. Today's a good day and I'm not letting you spoil it." Naruto said sternly. "Don't let your hate cloud your judgement, especially here of all places."
"How can you say that?!" Kallen whispered incredulously. "After everything that he's done-"
"This isn't about that. As far as I am concerned this is neutral territory so weapons and powers are off the table." Naruto cut her off.
"Suzaku the truck is here and the cheese on its way."
Both Naruto and Kallen turned and saw Lelouch at the door who waited for Suzaku to come out. Both boys stopped upon noticing the two in the hall.
"Kallen, you came back." Lelouch stated.
Kallen quickly adopted her 'Kallen Stadfeld' persona. "Yes. I am feeling much better now."
"I thought you would never come back." Suzaku said with a happy smile.
Lelouch smiled. "Kallen, if you don't mind could you go check in with your class? They seem to be a bit short handed."
"Sure I don't mind." Kallen stated.
It's not as if Lelouch was going to order her into some stupid costume.
"I DO MIND!" Kallen shouted as she stood up, wearing what appeared to be a mattress with a big scary grin painted on it that scared off the young couple.
Naruto burst out laughing as the couple ran of screaming. "Nice one, Kallen!"
It wasn't just the costume she was in, her face was painted red and her hair was dyed blue with a blue eye drawn onto her forehead making her look like a funny devil, especially with the ticked off look on her face.
"Shut it, Naruto!" Kallen cried. "Seriously, something like this actually scares people?! I am going to get Lelouch for this! And I think you had something to do with this too!"
Naruto snickered. "Sorry, can't claim credit for this one. If you had been in class you'd have known that it was running the horror house."
"And to think before I know who he was I would have thought the only person I wanted ordering me around was Zero." Kallen groaned as she sat back down on the fake gravestone she was assigned to hide in.
"Aw, what about me, Kallen? Technically I'm your superior and I put my back into training you to be tough." Naruto commented, smirking at the huff Kallen had made as a reply.
Naruto looked around with a big grin on his face, too entertained by antics of 'demon Kallen' to care about anything else. He spotted movement coming towards them and grinned at the expected show Kallen was supposed to put on. When they came into view Naruto nearly lost his composure upon seeing Ohgi and next to him was a woman wearing a white dress and a sun hat on her head. They seemed to be having a good time but it wasn't the fact that Ohgi actually came here with a date was what surprised him.
It was the fact that the woman was the same one who teamed up with Mao to try and capture Zero.
'No way. Ohgi, you are going with a Britannian? The same one who kidnapped Kallen?' Naruto thought as he sensed the woman's emotions.
They were not what he expected. The woman was happy and tranquil, a major difference from she was the last time.
' She must have amnesia. She hit her head pretty hard. ' Kurama pointed out.
"MOVE YOUR ASS!" Kallen shouted as she 'rose' from the grave.
Ohgi and the woman screamed in shock, jumping back and covering their faces.
Kallen stopped when she saw who she was trying to scare. "Ohgi?"
Ohgi opened his eyes. "Kallen?"
Both Black Knights stared at each other in shock while Naruto looked on. "Ohgi… You got some explaining to do."
"That's it?! You're helping her because she lost her memory?!"
Ohgi flinched and stepped back at the scary look on Kallen's face which was actually enhanced by the face paint. Naruto had taken Chigusa, the woman he named since she couldn't remember her real name, aside and left her to wait while Ohgi and Kallen had a little… Talk.
"She had no memory and it felt wrong to keep her locked up." Ohgi weakly defended himself.
"She kidnapped me and almost got me killed!" Kallen shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you?! She's the enemy!"
'I'm not one to step one someone's toe because he didn't want to hurt someone who didn't know why they were locked up but he didn't tell Lelouch or Kallen about it.' Naruto thought as he watched Kallen angrily scold Ohgi for being so stupid. 'Why would he… Was he looking for information on Zero? Did he think she could identify him?'
Naruto looked at the woman who simply sat and watched with slight worry for Ohgi.
' She's no help. She can't remember shit. ' Kurama grumbled.
'Still though.' Naruto frowned. 'If Ohgi was willing to let her go on the hunch she had information on Zero that means he might suspect that Zero either lied about his Geass or he's looking to double cross at the right time.'
Things just got complicated.