Maelstrom EXE.

"Normal speech"

"Tailed Beast speech"

[Talking from the PET]

Chapter 6: a Play Date and 2nd Round

It is the second day of the Moon Cell Tournament and Naruto is already awake and was currently walking through the school grounds by himself. There was another message this morning from BB, apparently the next stage will commence at night and that the participants are allowed spend the time before then on whatever they want, even revisiting the previous levels in the Sakura Labyrinth. The blonde cyber ninja contemplated whether or not he should go and decided not to, right now he's walking while deep in thought with his mind straying to a certain person…a girl to be exact.

"I wonder where Alice has gone to? I haven't seen her since I got back from the forest stage of the labyrinth," said Naruto.

"I don't know, but I advise that you be careful around her," said Kurama.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in confusion "What do you mean by that?"

"Out of everyone here, you're the only one she seems to appear to which leads me to think that she wants something from you,"

"But…those eyes of hers, they show how lonely she is,"

"Just be careful, ok?"

Naruto was about to say more when he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Ah, Maelstrom-san,"

He turned around to see that it was BB who was standing behind him with a smile on her face to which he returned with a smile of his own.

"Oh hello BB-chan, I thought you were busy arranging for tonight's next stage?" he asked curiously.

"He added chan to my name," she thought mirthfully "I was, I just left the rest to my associates to complete the rest while I decided to take a stroll and then I met you,"

"Oh I see," Naruto nodded in understanding.

"So what are you up to at the moment?" she asked curiously.

"Kinda wandering around at the moment before the time comes for the second stage," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly causing BB to giggle.

"May I suggest the library? It would do you a lot of good to acquire information in preparation for the competition in future," said BB with a smile.

"Uh…I'm not exactly a book person but I'm not one for turning down advice either. So I'll be going to the library then, thanks though BB-chan," Naruto away waving his hand with BB doing the same.

"Okay Maelstrom-san, I'll be looking forward to your future battles," BB watched the blond leave before reaching into her pocket and bringing out a photo of Naruto smiling just now, letting herself coo at it "Wouldn't want a kind cutie like you to be defeated so early in this tournament," but then she glanced to the side to see a nun walking away with a frown on her face.

Naruto had arrived at the school building and ascended the flight of stairs to the second floor in direction of the library, when suddenly he heard another familiar voice from behind him.

"Mister!" it was Alice who ran up to him happily.

"Oh Alice-chan, I was wondering where you were since yesterday," said Naruto, despite Kurama warning him about her, he couldn't help but sympathize with her unknown past.

"Well Alice saw that you were busy, so Alice decided to wait until you weren't busy anymore and we could play. So can we play?" Alice looked at Naruto pleadingly. Naruto recognizes those eyes, it's like staring at a mirror…a young child desperate for any kind of attention.

"Yeah…we can play since I have some time," Naruto with a smile, no point in denying a girl something he didn't get until years later.

"Aren't you supposed to be heading to the library like you told BB?" asked Kurama.

"I can simply send a shadow clone to the library and read for me," thought Naruto.

Alice hopped up and down happily at his answer "Yay! I knew that you would play with Alice! She is me and I am her! We are ourselves!"

Naruto blinked confusedly at what she just said…is she speaking in the third person or talking about herself and another person?

"Let's start now! Tag, you're it! Alice will be waiting for you in the Sakura labyrinth!" Alice tapped Naruto and scampered off before what she said registered in his mind.

"The labyrinth?! But that place is dangerous for a girl like her," thought Naruto.

"Like I said before, there's more to her than we know. Just be cautious," said Kurama.

"Right, I'm going after her," After sending a shadow clone to the library, Naruto ran down the stairs and out of the school building in direction of the Sakura Tree, the portal opened up for him to pass through quickly and was back in the forest stage. Upon arrival, Naruto started looking around for Alice in hopes of finding her before any of the enemies show up and attack "Ah there she is!" he finally saw her standing in a small clearing ahead and made his way towards her.

Alice brightened up upon seeing Naruto approach her "Ah mister! Over here, over here! You're 'It', so if you catch Alice, you win!"

"But Alice, this place is dangerous. Why don't we-" Naruto spoke but Alice cut him off.

"All right, ready…Go!" Alice turned and ran deeper into the forest before Naruto could say anything else.

"Damn it! I gotta go after her before anything bad happens to her!" Naruto took off after the girl while weaving through the tall trees and leaping over bushes. He caught a glimpse of her running behind a tree then quickly dashed over and looked behind only to find her gone. Naruto looked around before seeing Alice running off in another direction but finding it strange at how she got there so fast "What's with this girl running all over the place? She's moving too fast,"

"She's confirming my suspicions with these actions of hers," said Kurama.

"Well this game has gone on long enough, I'm ending this now!" Naruto ran up a tree to land on its branches before leaping from one tree to another while scoping out for the wandering girl, it didn't take him too long to find the girl as he saw her running below then he jumped down on the ground before her and turned around to look with a small smile "Looks like I caught you Alice-chan,"

Alice was surprised at how her playmate appeared before her so quickly "You're pretty good mister. Say…do you wanna hear Alice's story?"

"A story?" Naruto looked at her confusedly.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Alice, who lived in a country far, far away from here…"

Naruto blinked once…and he saw another Alice standing the first one but the color of her clothes were black.

"What the…two Alices?! Where did the other one from?!" thought Naruto astounded at the sight.

"And she appeared without a trace, just like the first…but there's something odd about her," said Kurama.

The unknown girl spoke up "And then, a scary country came with their tanks and planes and metal helmets and guns. The sky got really red and my house got really black. Then I woke up in a white room. Nothing ever changed. I had no friends. I had no mommy or daddy,"

"These girls are orphans from a war?" thought Naruto.

Alice followed up "Daddy always said that when I got hurt I should tough it out and would get mad if I said it hurts. But something happened that hurt so much that I couldn't tough it out. Then I woke up here," then she smiled happily, but something was definitely wrong with it "But it's okay, it's really fun here. There are bunches of nice people,"

Black Alice nodded in agreement "Uh-huh, that's right Alice. You can play as hard as you want here right?"

"But if I play too hard, I break my playthings. I don't want their heads and arms to come off!"

"Don't be silly. If we break them, I can sew them up with the needle and thread mommy gave me. I'm not very good at sewing, but I can at the very least stitch them together," said Black Alice.

"What a relief, I wouldn't want to make mommy mad again," said Alice.

"There's something very wrong with that new girl! The way she's acting is almost the same as Gaara before he changed!" thought Naruto.

"Indeed, her warped view certainly equals to that of Shukaku's host," said Kurama in agreement.

"Then let's play really with the mister! Cuz he is our brand new friend," said Black Alice "Hey, let's see if 'he' wants to play too,"

Alice nodded excitedly in agreement "Yeah! That's a good idea," she raised her hand into the air, a dark shadow slowly rose from behind the girls and loomed over them before revealing it to be gargantuan humanoid monster of burgundy skin with pink markings, a single eye, and a pair of wings on its back.

"Play with him, mister," said Black Alice with an innocent smile.

"How the hell I am supposed to play with this thing?!" As Naruto gazed at this creature, he could feel power practically flowing out it and the entire forest shakes under its influence. He took a step back in fear, every single part of his body is screaming at him to run away and stay away!

"Kit, you better pull back so we can come up with a plan. We can't afford to make any mistakes!" said Kurama, he could tell that his host wouldn't stand a chance if he face off against that monster then and there.

"Couldn't agree with you more!" Naruto turned around and ran away from the beast as fast as he could but he could still feel the power from it all around him.

"Look, mister has run off," said Alice.

"He must be playing hide and seek, so our friend must go and find him," said Black Alice, she turned to the monster "Go and seek him," the monster let out guttural roar and strode in direction of its 'playmate'.

Elsewhere, Naruto was hiding behind a tree, panting before trying to catch his breath and calming down then called out to Kurama.

"Got any idea on how to take this thing out?" asked Naruto.

"Obviously taking it head-on is suicidal, I suggest attacking from a distance with battlechips and shadow clones," Kurama responded.

"Good idea, that thing really scares me. Haven't felt this scared since I first met Zabuza," Naruto felt the ground shake and peeked out from behind the tree only to see the monster walking towards him "Damn! It's already here, well let's get to it!" he ran up the tree and equipped himself with the Aurum Blade as he reached the top. He leapt through the trees until he found a suitable position which is overhead and viewing the back of the beast. He began to charge the firearm up to its maximum power "Take this!" he pulled the trigger to fire a large plasma bullet which exploded upon impact, when the smoke cleared, it revealed not a single scratch or burn mark much to his shock "Grrrr…Shadow Clone jutsu!" he formed a large number of clones which lunged at the beast with their chakra blades out and began slashing with some others using the Aurum Blade for long range support.

None of these seem to even bother monster as it simply knocked them all away with a single backhand, dispelling the clones.

"How's this then? Multiple MiniBomb battle chips in, and download!" C-Naruto held many battlechips in between his fingers and proceeded to rapidly insert in them into the PET, the spherical bombs materialized in each of Naruto's hands every time he flings one towards the monster below him.

Suddenly in an unbelievable burst of speed, it appeared right before Naruto with a fist reared back to punch him…hard.

"Hang on boss! AntiDmg battle chip in, download!" C-Naruto quickly slotted a chip into the PET as Naruto's body glowed faintly before being punched only to disappear into a puff of smoke, leaving behind a plush toy of himself with the monster roaring in anger. Naruto ran through the forest, frantically trying to come up with a plan. So far none of them would work, the monster is fast, strong and very, very resilient. He slid down against a tree trunk to catch his breath.

"What do we do Kurama? Nothing seems to even bug that guy!" said Naruto.

"I've never encountered a beast like it before, but I know that it has a weakness," said Kurama.

"But the big question is what? He didn't even flinch to show one…hmm?" Naruto felt his touch something and looked down to see something lying next to him, it was a dagger entirely pitch black in both the handle and blade but he could see silver engravings along the blade though he couldn't translate the language it was written in (an Hestia Knife from Danmachi) "What is this?"

"I don't know but I feel strange energy emanating from it," said Kurama.

"Think it might help us with our invincible monster problem?"

"As of now, anything helps,"

Sure they heard the all familiar roar and saw the monster approaching them once more. However as it drew close to them, the black sword began to emit a crimson aura which seems to make the monster writhe in anguish as its frightening aura shrinks rapidly. Naruto looked confused at first before realizing what's going on.

"I don't know what this blade is, but it definitely has an effect on it," said Naruto.

"In that case, you can damage it now!"

Naruto charged forward while equipping the Aurum Blade and firing at his target, this time inflicting wounds on it. the monster swung at him but Naruto leapt into the air and formed three shadow clones in midair "Firehit battle chip in, download!" their fists ignited in flames as they dove at their target and proceeded to unleash a barrage of fiery punches with relentless vigor. Naruto created more of his clones and leapt high into the air altogether and descended with a somersault "Clone Spinning Axe Kick," they slammed their heels on the monster's head consecutively before flipping backwards to land in a four point stance "Clone Body Blow!" they lunged forward to slam into its torso with flying Headbutts which forced it to stumble back, completely unaware that the original dove in from above with the black dagger held over his head until it was too late as he plunged it into the monster's chest and heard its wail as it disappears.

"Phew…that takes care of it," said a relieved Naruto.

"Uh-oh! It's a Vorpal Blade! How did he get that?"

"Hehehehe, Really I wonder how,"

Naruto turned towards the voices with a frown on his face before speaking to them "What was that about Alice-chan? Were you trying to get me killed?"

Alice looked a bit frightened "But I thought we were playing a game mister,"

"Well it wasn't a nice game, if I had gotten hurt or worse. I wouldn't be able to play anymore games with you,"

Alice looked horrified at what he said "No! Alice doesn't want that, you're very nice and wanted to play with Alice. Please don't say that!"

Black Alice appeared nonchalant about all this "Maybe you were being a better player than the others, we'll have to come up with another fun game. Let's go Alice,"

"Okay Alice, bye-bye mister," Alice and the other girl both disappeared without a trace, leaving Naruto alone in the forest.

"What's the deal with that girl with the black dress?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know, but be even more careful the next time you meet. Whatever games that they'll come up with which shall be even more dangerous," said Kurama.

"You're right, I better head back to rest a bit while my clone goes to recharge the battle chips," Naruto made his way back to the portal, unknown to him was that a black silhouette peeked out from behind a tree with eyes of demureness.


He exited the Sakura Labyrinth not before noticing the dagger disappear into many pixels then reappear in a black holster strapped to his left thigh with C-Naruto alerting him that it had installed in his system by itself and won't allow itself to be uninstalled. He felt memories of his shadow clone flow into his mind, apparently the clone was reading on a couple of books with interesting titles and decided to sort them out later. Naruto walked back to the school building with the intention to visit Sakura over at the infirmary, he was getting close to the building when he saw someone walk out and it was Nero.

"Ah hello Nero-chan," Naruto greeted.

"Why hello there Maelstrom-san, and pray tell why are you covered in dirt?" asked Nero upon seeing one of her contenders appearing so colly.

"I was doing some…battle training over at the first stage of the Sakura Labyrinth," said Naruto, no way is he going to tell her that he just survived a deathly game with innocent girls having a distorted view of the world around them.

A small smile graced the face of the female blonde as she nodded in affirmation "Fumu, it's admirable of you to tune up your strength for this tournament. I hope to cross blades with you to test this strength, it is to be artful,"

"I hope for the same from you, Nero-chan. Cause I'll be coming at you with everything I've got!" Naruto looked at her with fire in his eyes, something which Nero found to be quite enticing…from an expressionist perspective.

"Very well then but know that once on the battlefield, my blade with cut down all who stand before me. And I expect you to do the same thing, farewell," Nero walked past him with a glance at his face, still finding him interesting despite his uncouth behavior.

Naruto watched the girl leave with a quirked eyebrow "She's a weird one,"

"You shouldn't talk, given that you're just as odd," said Kurama.

"Point taken," Naruto continued on his way into the school, climbed up the stairs and now was standing in front of the door leading into the infirmary. He knocked on the door a few times and heard a soft response before making his entrance "Hello Sakura-chan, I came by to visit you,"

Sakura turned to her visitor with a smile on her face "Oh hello Maelstrom-san, what happened to yourself?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly "I did some training before I came here, my bad,"

The school nurse giggled a bit "It's quite alright, it's very nice of you to visit. Caster-san came by sometime ago and told me of her venture in the first stage before speaking about yours," she could remember how excited the fox girl was when she spoke of the blond.

"Yeah, that Ghost Data whom I fought was tough as nails…" said Naruto. The two spoke for quite a bit until Naruto saw that it was getting close to the time for the second stage to commence "I gotta go now, but I'll be sure to visit again soon,"

"Ok, I really enjoyed your company," Sakura smiled as she watched Naruto leave before frowning "As long as 'they' don't take things too far,"

Naruto ran back to the dormitory for a quick refresh and was leaving his room when he saw Lancer passing who smiled upon seeing him.

"Hey there kiddo, looks like you're all prepped up for the next stage eh?" said Lancer.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yeah, even did a little training in the first stage as a warm-up,"

"Good call, especially with these guys taking part in the tournament," said Lancer.

"Can you tell me more about them?"

"Trying to scope out the competition huh? I don't really know most of them…especially the females," Lancer smirked at that, causing Naruto to look at him with a deadpanned expression upon figuring out what's going on in his head "But I do know about Gilgamesh, I hear that he goes by the moniker Golden King since he acts like one but is definitely no slouch in combat to the point of winning NetBattles without raising a finger. Now for Archer, not much is known about him but I heard that his previous NetOp was a very dangerous man in the real world, no one heard of them until he showed up here in the hands of another NetOp,"

"Hmmm, they sound very high level," said Naruto.

"Pretty much, so my word of advice is that you should be extra careful when you run into them," said Lancer.

"Okay, thanks for the info,"

"Anytime, just give me a good fight should we bump into each other,"

Lancer and Naruto had arrived at the entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth with the rest arriving soon afterwards. Caster perked up upon seeing Naruto and skipped over, Elizabeth took and wondered why she bothers herself with that male NetNavi and Nero felt slightly annoyed for some reason. The group didn't have to wait any longer as BB materialized before them.

"As we're all gathered here, the second stage of the tournament is about to commence. Please be aware of the growing difficulty as you advance to the final area," said BB.

Gilgamesh snorted "I rather prefer such odds, the outset was quite dull,"

"The rules are the same as the ones before, I wish you good luck," BB watched as the competitors passed by to enter the portal to begin the next stage. When Naruto was walking past her, she saw the Vorpal Blade and smiled as if familiar with the weapon before he disappeared into the entrance as well.


Arriving at the other side of the portal, Naruto found himself standing himself on top of a hill overlooking a vast hinterland of long grasses beneath a boundless night sky. Naruto scoped ahead to see a small forest in the distance and beyond that is what appears to be a castle situated on top of a mountain with a town below and a tall surrounding it along with a moat.

"Guess that's where I should be heading to," said Naruto.

"It may seem so, we better get moving before the others arrive there as well to acquire the moon tablet pieces," said Kurama.

"Gotcha,"

Naruto ran down the hill in direction of the castle town which he'll have to get through the forest ahead of him first. He was on the move when from the corner of his eyes, he saw something sifting through the tall grass from his left side but pretended to not have noticed. That was when three shadows jumped out from the grass, he drew out the Chakra Blade to deflect the first strike then roll under the second attack before dashing away from the third and final strike then he turned to get a better look at his assailants. They appeared to be humanoid in shape with pieces of silver metal on their bodies similar to those knights which his clones read about, these new enemies drew out swords and charged at with the intention to attack.

Naruto ran towards and quickly slid in between one of their legs, then he drew out the Vorpal blade and threw it to stab one of them in the back, then raised the chakra blade to block an overhead strike while conjuring the Aurum blade to fire a plasma shot to disarm one of the knights rushing in to attack. Naruto turned his attention back to the knight he was engaging and kicked it in the torso for a knockback then he dashed in to execute an X-slash with the Chakra blade and the Aurum Blade, "Chakra Blade Boomerang!" he spun around to throw the Chakra Blade at the last knight to slice through its midriff and watched as it disappeared in particles of data while catching his weapon, he heard a swooshing and looked to see the Vorpal blade flying back into its sheathe.

"This blade is really attached to me," Naruto mused for a moment before resuming his run to the marked destination with no more ambushes until arriving at the woodlands. He cautiously traversed the dark forest while keeping both eyes and ears out for any enemies lying in wait to attack him from the darkness. His encounter with Zabuza and time in the Forest of Death during the Chuunin exams taught him that much. He suddenly heard a twig snap several meters, alerting him that there were enemies inbound and whispered out "I need some camouflage,"

"Got it boss, Invisible battle chip in, download," C-Naruto slotted a chip into PET, Naruto's body became completely transparent before jumping to the treetops silently and took a route around the source of the sound to approach it from behind. He saw a dark shadow moving quietly through the trees and followed after it. Upon closer viewing, he saw that the figure wore a black cloak with the hood up and it held a bow with an arrow nocked and ready. Naruto silently approached the figure from behind while drawing out the Vorpal blade and positioned it at the neck before whispering "You can never surprise a ninja so easily," then he slashed the neck off to take it down and noticed that it dropped something on the ground and recognized what it is "It's the first piece of the Moon Tablet!"

"Wouldn't have expected an enemy possessing it since it was obviously not a ghost data," said Kurama.

"Well we got one, and now for the second one," said Naruto resumed the trek and after a while, arrived at the castle town. The problem was that the bridge was up, denying entry into the place, Naruto simply scoffed at that "For a normal person, this would stop them…but definitely not a Shinobi!" he formed a handsign to channel chakra to the soles of his feet before easily walking across the moat and then running up the wall and vaulting over to get inside.


Elsewhere at the grasslands, one could hear the sounds of explosions and craters are scattered everywhere. Someone was sent skidding backwards from a powerful and looked to glare at the opponent, revealing it to be Lancer who was wounded all over and the opponent was…

"I must admit that a plebeian like you could last this long against my treasures," the voice of arrogance belonged to none other than Gilgamesh who stood away with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

Lancer grunted a bit as he got back to his feet and retook the his fighting stance with his red spear in hand "Don't sell me short, I'm having the time of my life fighting and I don't plan for it to end anytime soon,"

"Hmph, well I'm done wasting my time on you and need to be on my way to fight more worthy opponents. But being the generous person I am, I'll grace you with one of my most powerful attacks…boy if you would please,"

"Okay, Key of the King's Law Bab-ilu battle chip in, download!" Gil slotted in a golden chip into his PET, then a golden key-shaped key appeared in Gilgamesh's hand, he held it forward and twisted it then golden ripples appeared overhead where spears, swords and many more weapons appeared from them.

Lancer frowned at the sight, then he leapt about a hundred meters away from Gilgamesh and took a crouching position on all fours "In that case, I'm pulling out my trump card. Resign yourself, and receive my blow!" then he dashed forward about halfway before leaping high into the air, he reared the red spear back as it surged with red energy "Gáe Bolg!" he hurled it towards Gilgamesh with all of his might in the form of a crimson streak.

The Golden King continued to smile and with a twitch of his fingers, the weapons shot forwards at blurring speeds which resulted in a massive explosion which could be seen from distance with those that had noticed to wonder who the cause of it was?


This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto encounters the mysterious girl Alice who entices him to play a game with her, he agrees only to find himself playing a deathly game with her and a twin sister while barely surviving with the help of an unknown weapon which appears to have been given to him by an unknown person and BB recognizes it. Now the second stage of the tournament is underway and Naruto was lucky to acquire the first piece and is now in the next, and what would be the conclusion in the battle between Lancer and Gilgamesh. Who would be Naruto's opponent in the second stage?

I'm also setting up a poll for which type of story you would want me to publish next? Be sure to check out later on my profile page.

So read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana

Signing out.