Maelstrom EXE.

"Normal speech"

"Tailed Beast speech"

[Talking from the PET]

Chapter 11: Targeted

Upon exiting through the portal, Naruto had to watch himself as he was descending a couple feet in the air before safely landing on the ground. He proceeded to look around and was surprised at the sight of the stage. He appears to be standing in the streets of a city similar to that of Dentech city, but the major difference is that it appears as if the apocalypse had descended upon it, given that some of the buildings broken and burning within, others knocked over from their foundations, destroyed roads and highways, even the clouds are pitch black with no signs of sunlight whatsoever. This reminds Naruto of the aftermath after Konoha had been attacked by the Sand and Sound village though not as bad as what he's seeing.

"Man, what a dreary place," Naruto mused to himself as he continued to survey the area.

"Maybe so, best you exercise caution here. There are numerous places for the enemy to hide and attempt to ambush us," said Kurama sternly.

"I know, that fact has been driven into my head thanks to my past experience. I need to find Archer before he finds me," Naruto choose a random direction and proceeded to navigate his way through the desolate city whilst watching out for hazards and keeping an eye for any signs of the enemy.

Naruto landed in the middle of a juncture and began looking around only to find nothing yet again, the blonde let out a sigh of frustration and was about to walk away when something suddenly zipped through the air and pierced his chest, knocking him down to the ground and revealing itself to be an arrow. Naruto laid there unmoving until he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, a head slowly poked out from behind a building which turns out to be the real Naruto as he took note of a dark silhouette positioned at the rooftop of a tall building before quickly disappearing, causing him to frown.

"So he was acting true to his name, using a bow and arrows to attack from a distance. It's a good thing that I had a shadow clone act as bait," Naruto muttered to himself.

"But now he's aware of your ability to create clones and so will be on guard," said Kurama.

"I know, I'll see what I can do to flush him out," Naruto stood up and crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands "Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!" in a large puff of smoke, there were at least three dozen of himself standing before him attentively "Okay guys, you know what to do!"

"Roger Boss!" the clones responded in affirmation before taking off in random directions as they commenced with the assigned objective.

Elsewhere in the rooftop of another tall building was Archer crouched down on one knee with a black bow in hand as he watched the clones of his opponent take off in multiple directions and has a good idea of what he intends to do "So he's capable of creating dopplegangers, there's more to him than I initially thought,"

A holoscreen of Kuro appeared next to him [So do you have a plan for this Archer?]

"Not entirely, but I will have to move from place to place more frequently whilst taking out the clones in order to seek out the original and take him out," Archer replied.

[Okay then, just let me know when you need battlechips and I'll supply them]

Archer nodded in affirmation then he quickly ran towards the edge and leapt off to land on the next roof, he traversed along the broken buildings till he came across some of the clones patrolling the area and hid behind a dented vent. He peeked over to see that none of them had seen him before nocking an arrow and took aim at one of the clones whose back was turned towards him and fired, piercing through its back before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Then he noticed that the clones suddenly stopped for a moment before turning to look in his direction before flinging chakra shuriken and kunai, causing the NetNavi to hide behind the dent for cover.

[Archer, they're heading your way!] Kuro called out in alert.

"No need to point out the obvious since they're already here," Archer stepped out to see a group of the clones standing at the ready to attack as they charged with chakra kunai in hand. Archer swiftly weaved in and out of the incoming attacks whilst using his bow to parry several incoming slashes and kicking the clones away from him before somersaulting backwards and rapidly firing arrows to take the clones out before quickly leaping off the rooftop along other buildings till he felt like he had built a safe distance from his opponent.

"Well that escalated quickly, seems there's more to those copies than I thought,"

[What do you mean?]

"The moment I took out one of the clones, the others immediately knew what happened and deduced where I was hidden before moving in. that leads me to believe that they're somehow linked to each other," Archer explained.

[If so, then destroying any of them would expose us and we won't figure exactly where the original is] said Kuro with a frown.

"Not exactly, I just need to be quick with my attacks,"

[Here's hoping that it works]

"Indeed,"

Archer took off once more and went to hide himself within one of the broken apartments where he located several more of the clones and prepared his bow once more. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath "Hawk Eye," he opened them to reveal his eyes glowing faintly then he locked on to the clones and rapidly fired multiple arrows before quickly exiting the building without needing to check if the projectiles made their mark…which they did. Surviving clones tired to zero in on the source of the snipe but were unable to locate the enemy only to be shot down as well.

Naruto was hiding out in a shop and frowned as he received the memories from his dispelled clones which was increasing gradually "He's taking out my clones much quicker than I thought and from that far too, my clones won't be able to get to him fast enough before he switches locations,"

"Best conclusion is that he has figured out how your clones work," said Kurama.

"Then I'll just have to switch strategies just like he did," Naruto exiting from the shop and created another large group of shadow clones but with different commands as they went off in random directions.

"I'm pretty much losing count at how many of these doppelgangers that I've shot down already," Archer leaping off a rooftop after sniping several more of the clones.

[But we're getting somewhere though, we can tell that this technique would be taxing on Maelstrom so he can't really be able to create more without wearing himself out] said Kuro.

"Hn," Archer landed on the next building upon locating the next batch and was about to take aim at them when something suddenly slammed into him from the side, he skidded along the ground and looked up only to be surprised upon seeing one of the clones rushing up to him with the Vorpal Blade in hand and slashed but he was swift to leap out of the way and fired an arrow in midair to take it out "How was he able to locate me?"

[Archer, below you!]

Archer looked down and was further surprised to see more of the clones grab each other and launch them towards him as makeshift projectiles, he somersaulted in midair and kicked off the side of the building into the air. There he proceeded to evade the incoming clones whilst using a few of them as stepping stones for aerial maneuvers before countering by firing arrows at the clones on the ground to prevent anymore from being thrown at him. Suddenly he felt something descending from above and looked up only to quickly raise his bow to blow a strike from a clone equipped with the Tiger Claws although he suspects that he's the original.

"Take this!" Naruto launched a flurry of slashes with Archer parrying with his bow before seizing the wrist of one hand before spinning round to throw him to the ground. The clones were quick to catch him, causing Archer to suspect something before calling out to Kuro.

"Kuro, I need a battlechip!"

[Got it! Caladbolg II battlechip in, download!] Kuro inserted the chip into her PET as an oddly shaped sword appeared in Archer's hand which he then nocked onto the bow, causing it to take on the shape a corkscrew like arrow.

"I am the Bone of my Sword. Spiral, ready! Fire!" Archer let the bowstring loose as the arrow zipped through the air at blurring speeds

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, his instincts were screaming at him to not get hit by it no matter what "I need defense now!"

[I'm on it! Barrier battlechip in, download!] C-Naruto hastily inserted a chip into the PET for a transparent protective dome to encase Naruto and the clones. But the moment the arrow made contact with the barrier, the latter was instantly shattered into pieces before striking its target, resulting in a massive explosion.

[Did we get them?] asked Kuro curiously.

Archer was silent for a few moments before responding "…No, he managed to escape at the very last moment before the Caladbolg could strike him,"

[Should we go after him?]

"Obviously, especially now that all of his clones are taken out," Archer took to the rooftops once more in search of his opponent.

Elsewhere, Naruto was leaning against the side of a building in the middle of an alleyway. The blonde ninja had used the substitution jutsu as a precaution even when the barrier was set up which was the right call when it was destroyed and managed to escape from the explosion that came afterwards.

"*Pant, pant* Never in my life have I ever seen anyone use a sword like an arrow and yet pack enough punch to make explosive tags look like fireworks," said Naruto, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart from the lucky escape.

"At least we have a clear idea on how he was able to progress through the tournament with such level of power and skill," said Kurama thoughtfully.

"Got any suggestions to turn this all around?"

"First is to draw him into close combat since it's obvious that his long-range attacks far outclass yours, plus it has to be somewhere within an enclosed area as well,"

"Hmmm, I might be able to do something about that," thought Naruto, suddenly he heard something whooshing through the air and immediately ducked in time for an arrow to hit the wall where his head was leaning against and looked up to see Archer preparing to firing another arrow "Man, he's fast. Let's see how I can do this, I need cover!"

[Okay then! Invisible battlechip in, download!} C-Naruto inserted the chip into the PET, making Naruto turn invisible for Archer to lose sight of him.

Archer's eyes narrowed as he held his bow at the ready and tried to sense for the concealed opponent, he leapt high into the air upon sensing something heading towards him at high-speed before retaliating by firing multiple arrows in the direction which the kunai were thrown from, striking a hidden clone which was then dispelled. Archer suddenly felt something wrap around his body and a familiar voice yelled out.

"Do it now!" Naruto yelled.

[On it! AreaSteal battlechip in! Download!] C-Naruto inserted the chip into the PET, Naruto immediately warped himself with Archer in his grips and they ended up crashing through the roof of what appears to be a ruinous cathedral as they tumbled away from each other before getting back to their feet.

"So that was your plan huh? Forcefully relocating us to an area where you can engage me in close range. Quite smart I must admit," said Archer as he looked around the area.

Naruto shrugged in response "Given that you've been shooting arrows at my clones and I like fishes in a barrel of water, I had to change my strategy a little,"

Kuro appeared next to Archer via the Holoscreen [Maybe so, but don't go thinking that Archer is only good with a bow and arrow as you're about to find out]

[We'll just have to see about that] C-Naruto replied.

Naruto unsheathed the Chakra Blade in a normal grip and the Vorpal Blade in a reverse grip before taking an combat stance as Archer held his hands out as if holding something then there was a flash of light which dissipated to reveal him holding a pair of short swords with both bearing the yin-yang symbol on the hilt and black handles with the black sword embossed with red hexagonal patterns whilst the white sword has less of the shine of a polished metal in its ore than it has the haze of a cloud.

"Show us the strength that brought you and your operator all this way," said Archer.

"Oh we're gonna show you alright and then some!" said Naruto before charging towards his opponent to begin the fight.

Music Start: Chaos Legion OST; Battle Cry

Naruto rushed up to Archer but was taken by surprise was suddenly right in front of him with one of the swords already in the middle of a slash, forcing him to parry with the red NetNavi zipping and turned round to see him right in front once more with another incoming strike so Naruto blocked with the Vorpal blade and retaliated with the Chakra blade only for it to be blocked with Archer's other sword as he was struck in the chest with an elbow strike.

Naruto jumped backwards to put up some distance whilst smarting a bit from the hit to the chest "I knew he's fast but this is something else altogether, but there's no time for complaining here," he saw Archer disappear from his sights again and quickly spun round to deflect a strike from behind with the force causing him to stumble to which he quickly regained his balance to deflect another slash but was beginning to feel frustrated having been forced into the defensive role, Archer slashed at Naruto with both of his swords and Naruto blocked with his blades but was knocked down to the ground with a knee strike.

"Is this all you can do, block attacks? I was hoping for a lot more than this," said Archer stoically.

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger at being looked down upon, he got back to his feet and retook his combat stance "I might as well change that point that point of view," he dashed at Archer and proceeded to clash blades with him at a rapid pace then performing a low sweep kick which Archer leapt into the air to avoid then he threw the Vorpal Blade at him but it got deflected before Archer switched his swords out for the bow to fire several arrows at the blonde ninja. Naruto deflected the incoming arrows with his Chakra Blade then summoning the Aurum Blade to his free hand then pulled the trigger to launch a barrage of plasma shots. They continued to exchange fire till Naruto threw his Chakra Blade at Archer for him to dodge before quickly running up to him whilst having a blade made of cyan energy shot out of the muzzle of the Aurum Blade.

Archer summoned one of the short swords to block the incoming attack then switching the bow out for the other sword and lashed out in a counter. The Chakra Blade flew back into Naruto's hand in time for him to block the counter, they struggled for dominance until it ended in a stalemate as they leapt away from the other. Naruto tossed the Chakra Blade into the air and formed a handful of cyber shuriken and threw them at Archer who deflected them swiftly but he refused to stop and kept throwing more while running until the Chakra Blade fell back to his hand and performed a cross slash but Archer evaded it by dashing backwards.

"Hmph, let's how he handles this! Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto summoned a small group of clones that charged ahead with him following afterwards. Archer adjusted his stance with his short swords in hand as the clones lunged at him then he proceeded to weave in and out of their attacks whilst parrying then countering with attacks of his own to forcefully deflect them but Naruto would create more clones to replace the ones lost. It was at a certain moment that Archer kicked at a shadow clone as a spring to somersault away whilst reequipping his bow and Kuro took out a battlechip.

[Hrunting battlechip in, download!] Kuro inserted the chip into her PET and a red arrow appeared in Archer's hand which he then nocked onto the bow and took aim.

"Hrunting: Hound of the Red Plains – Fatigue!" Archer fired the arrow which struck one of the Narutos, causing him to go down on one knee with the feeling of exhaustion which also affected the other clones as they began disappearing one by one, exposing him as the original. Archer switched back to his short swords which were glowing ominously with energy "This is the end, Triple-Linked Crane Wings!" Archer threw the swords at Naruto who used his blades to deflect but was caught off guard as Archer rapidly approached him with a second pair and slashed at him consecutively and the first thrown pair came flying back and hits the blonde from behind. Finally, he creates a third pair which are longer with a featherlike appearance and he performs the final strike with them whilst appearing behind Naruto.

"I suggest that you give up this fight, your fighting prowess is no match for me," said Archer as a matter-of-factly.

Naruto got on his hands and knees before looking back to glare at him "And I suggest not counting your cyber chickens before they hatch," right as he said that, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing to be a shadow clone after all much to Archer's and Kuro's shock.

[That was a clone too? Then where's-]

Suddenly there were plumes of smoke around Archer as blurs shot out of them towards Archer for him to see that they're shadow clones. The first clone dashed forward and punched Archer in the face, causing him to stumble, the second clone came from behind with a slide kick to knock him off his feet. The third clone dashed in from the left and used a rising kick to launch him into the air while the original leapt into the air whilst spinning, the final clone appeared under Archer while performing a handstand and dealt a double kick to send him higher. "Maelstrom Barrage!" Naruto slammed a powerful heel drop kick and they both descended towards the ground resulting in a small crater.

"Finally got a hit on ya," said Naruto with a frown.

Music End

[Archer, are you okay?] asked Kuro worriedly.

"…don't worry about me, I can still fight," Archer replied, getting out of the crater before turning to face Naruto "But now I can see how you made it all the way here, you lack the strategic mindset common in battle hardened NetNavis and physical abilities are not always on par with your opponents. However, it appears that you instinctively adapt to the skills and techniques of your opponents then come up with ways and methods to counter them while at the same time creating new techniques and strategies of your own while on the move,"

"I don't really get what you're talking about, but you're making it sound like my chances of beating you increases the longer this battle goes," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.

[And you think we would allow that to happen?] Kuro scoffed in response.

[We'll just have to see, won't we?] said C-Naruto.

"Then I'll end it here and now," Archer declared, this caused Kuro to look at Archer in surprise.

[Are you planning on using that? I thought we're going save it till we're in the finals]

"I may have said that, but I don't intend on wasting anymore time with our opponent,"

[…okay Archer, I'm executing the program]

"What's going on?" thought Naruto confusedly.

"Sounds to me like Archer intends to use his trump card," said Kurama with a small frown, then they heard Archer utter some sort of prayer which sounded very powerful in their ears and flames of blue fire sprang up from the ground.

I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unknown to Death,
Nor known to Life.
Have withstood pain to create many weapons
Yet, those hands will never hold anything
So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works.

Suddenly a bright light filled Naruto's vision, causing him to shield his eyes to avoid being blinded then opened them only to be shocked upon seeing that he was no longer inside of the chapel anymore. Around him is what appears to be an open barren desert with a thick hazy atmosphere which he saw giant monolithic black gears gyrating in the distance. What caught Naruto's attention the most was the countless number of swords all around, anchored to the ground like grave markers, making him feel like he was standing in the middle of a cemetery.

"Where on earth am I?" asked Naruto confusedly.

[The PET tells me that you're still within the chapel] said C-Naruto.

"It looks to me that Archer is capable of altering reality just like Alice and Shiori but his far surpasses theirs, best you exercise great caution," said Kurama.

"Noted, this is going to be a lot tougher than I thought and I get the feeling that those swords aren't just for show," thought Naruto, he looked around found Archer standing at the top of a hill looking down at him.

"Best you prepare yourself for I'll not be holding back from here on out," said Archer summoning the dual short swords to his hands.

Naruto himself held the Chakra Blade and Aurum Blade at the ready "Same here, time for the second phase of this duel,"

Music Start: Fate-Stay Night OST; Emiya

Naruto constantly clashed blades with Archer atop the hill adorned with swords as he attempted to gain dominance over his opponent, the blonde cyber ninja began noticing that the red NetNavi's speed and strength seem to have increased compared to before using this unique technique of his but chalked it up to activating this Unlimited Blade Works of his. He broke off from the currently clash and dashed backwards to build some distance "A chip!"

[On it! Airshot Battle chip in and download!] C-Naruto inserted the next battle chip into the PET as Naruto sheathed the Chakra Blade for his free hand to transform into an arm cannon. He took aim and proceeded to fire spheres of air at the enemy, suddenly the swords around Archer pulled themselves out of the ground and then conjoined to form a defensive wall to block the incoming projectiles before launching themselves towards a surprised Naruto who quickly snapped back into focus and backflipped rapidly to evade them until the barrage finally ended

"Guess those swords weren't just for show, I bet Tenten would have fangirled at the sight of this since she's practically a walking arsenal," Naruto muttered to himself.

"Stay focused kit! This revelation just made things a whole harder!" said Kurama urgently.

Naruto felt something shifted underneath where he was standing and quickly leapt into the air just in time as several swords burst out from the ground "Cyber Shuriken!" he sent away the Aurum Blade to summon said tools into both hands then proceeded to throw them towards Archer with the swords once more rising to deflect the incoming projectiles before launching themselves towards the ninja, Naruto created a shadow clone to grab on to him and toss to the side to evade the swords whilst landing back on the ground.

[Vulcan battle chip in, download!] C-Naruto inserted the next chip into the PET for Naruto's arm to transform into a gun with multiple barrels which began to spin as bullets shot out of it. Archer darted to the side and began running while mentally ordering the swords to attack, Naruto evaded the return fire and began running as well. Both sides continued to exchange fire until finally having enough and leapt into the air towards each other with Archer forming the large versions of Kanshou and Bakuya once more [Aquasword and Firesword battle chip in, double download!] Naruto was quickly equipped with blades of fire and water in his arms as they clashed in the middle before landing on the ground to form a crater underneath their feet.

Embers of flames and splashes of water cold be seen from the constant clashes between the warriors, Naruto was pushing as hard as he could but Archer was doing the same on his side but neither were intending to give an inch to the other. The blonde cyber ninja took note of his HUD alerting him of the Chakra Blade is fully charged so he deactivated the elemental blades before unsheathing the weapon from his back and tapping the Konoha symbol for the blue chakra to surge out of the blade and take shape of a longer variation "Overflow State active, now l'm getting serious here!" Naruto charged into the fray once more but he was taken by surprise when he saw Archer actually form a replica of Nero's sword and used it to block his attack "Guess there's more to it than just launching swords,"

"You catch on quick, let's see how much you've figured out," Archer pushed Naruto back and swung the sword to launch a wave of flames with Naruto swinging the Chakra Blade to a wave of chakra which collided with the incoming attack and cancelled it out. Naruto pointed the Chakra Blade at Archer "Blistering Blades!" wisps of chakra flowed out of the blade and took on the of the Chakra Blade with four hovering at each side before launching them at the target with great speed, Archer summoned blades as well to launch them and cancelling each other out. "Let's see you handle this!" Archer waved a hand to make swords surround Naruto before launching them towards the blonde cyber ninja, Naruto's mind raced quickly before coming with a crazy idea as he performed a 360 spin whilst making the Chakra Blade's energy blade to extend outwardly in a way of imitating the Hyuuga's Rotation technique and was somehow able to deflect all of the swords then turned to glare at Archer.

"My turn then," Naruto gripped the Chakra Blade with both hands and rearing back "Take this, Overslash!" he swung it forward to launch a large wave of chakra towards Archer.

Kuro's eyes widened in shock as the attack is similar to the ones she saw those NetNavis at the N1 Grand Prix if she recalls is the Program Advance and knows that it mustn't hit Archer no matter what, she quickly took out a chip which has a picture of a silhouetted roman soldier bearing a shield before inserting it into the PET. Archer's hand twitched as he held it forward and called out in a loud voice.

"Rho Aias!" then a seven layered barrier in the form of seven flower petals made from light in the shape of a pinkish iridescent flower appeared before him, the chakra wave slammed into the barrier with sparks flying everywhere as Archer maintained it, the attack managed to break through the first followed by the second but dissipated upon breaking through the third much to Naruto's surprise.

"What the? How come the Overslash didn't destroy the barrier completely?" Naruto muttered in disbelief.

"Don't forget that the amount of damage capable by the technique depends on the amount of chakra remaining in the blade, it might have lacked the needed attack power since you used several techniques with it," said Kurama.

"you have shown me your best move, allow to show you mine," Archer held out a hand before himself to summon a beautiful double-edged sword, he crouched slightly with the sword reared back in a double grip. Naruto saw the mass amounts of energy gathering at the blade and had the same feeling as to when Archer was about to fire that spiral shaped sword but only greater "May this light reach the King that can't be reached…Excalibur Image!" Archer practically appeared right in front of Naruto already in midswing, the ninja raised his Chakra Blade overhead to defend himself but was completely unprepared for the impact which resulted in a massive explosion of blue and golden energy before dissipating to reveal Archer standing in front of a large crater and Naruto was seen lying face down in the middle of it with a broken Chakra Blade next to him.

[Maelstrom get up! You can't give up here!] said C-Naruto worriedly.

[It's over, that attack is one of Archer's most powerful attacks. No one has ever gotten up to resume battle after being hit from it, this battle is over] said Kuro.

"…hey…don't think…you can…write me off…like that…," Archer looked in shock as Naruto slowly struggled to his feet and stared back at Archer in defiance "…this fight…isn't over…not by…a long shot…"

"Your body is critically damaged and in no condition to continue this fight, and I can tell that you've used all of your strongest moves and tactics. This battle won't be in your favor if you insist on fighting me," said Archer.

Naruto chuckled in response "If I could get a zenny for every time I heard that, by normal standards you could be right about that. But the thing is…," Naruto looked at Archer "…I'm not a regular opponent,"

Taking that as his cue, Kurama unleashed his chakra for his host's body to be enshrouded in a crimson red aura with tendrils swirling around which surprised Archer to take several steps back in shock.

[W-what's going on?! Where is this power coming from?] asked Kuro confusedly.

"It appears to be coming from within and is even healing the damage inflicted upon him at a rapid rate," said Archer with narrowed eyes.

Naruto felt the familiar power flow through his body as it healed his wounds and empowered him before speaking out to Archer with a smirk "Time for the final round!"

He disappeared from view, causing Archer to broaden his senses to locate his opponent, eyes widened in shock and looked up to see Naruto descending towards him with a heel drop kick which he jumped away from for it to slam to the ground and form a crater. Archer summoned his dual shortswords and flung them towards Naruto with him unsheathing the Vorpal Blade in a reverse grip and swiftly deflecting them in a single movement before blurring out of sight again. Archer bent his upper body backwards to avoid an incoming slash from his left side by Naruto having equipped himself with the Tiger Claws who rolled along the ground and was on fours like a feral beast whilst glaring at the red NetNavi. Archer summoned barrages of swords launch at Naruto but he would dart from side to side to evade them with movements as if he was teleporting despite being pure speed.

[He's so fast! Is this what helped him advance this far?] asked Kuro.

"Apparently so, I'm hard-pressed to keep a beat on him," said Archer, he heard something zipping through the air from behind and will several giant swords to burst out from the ground to block the barrage of energy bullets being fired by Naruto through his Tiger Claws, Archer summoned multiple swords around Naruto with no way of escape before firing them simultaneously.

"Clawed Storm!" Naruto jumped into the air and spun around very fast whilst the claws produced an onslaught of whirlwind projectiles to deflect each and every one of the blades before landing back on the ground to glare at Archer "Let's see if that shield of yours can block this!" Naruto held out his open right hand as a blue spiraling sphere of energy appeared on it before taking on a darker color due to Kurama's influence, he crouched slightly before taking of at highspeed.

"I can't let that attack get anywhere close to me!" thought Archer as he launched wave after wave of swords at Naruto who would dash in a zigzag pattern and using the Vorpal Blade to deflect any he couldn't dodge in time as he rapidly drew closer "Damn! Need to use Rho Aias again!" he quickly projected the barrier right at the moment Naruto was in front of him.

"Vermilion Rasengan!" he slammed the Bijuu enhanced jutsu against the barrier with sparks flying from the sphere grinding against it, Archer was constantly maintaining the barrier by supplying it with energy but he was taken by surprise when the Rasengan began through each layer of the barrier much sooner compared to the Overslash technique of the Chakra Blade till he was down to his seventh barrier, both combatants roared out as they unleashed everything they had into the attack, resulting in a bright flash of light.

Music End

The light soon dissipated to reveal them back in the ruins of the cathedral with the results of the clash clearly visible on their bodies. Naruto's body is covered in scorch marks and clenching his right arm with rips and tears on the suit, Archer on the other hand was down on one knee with a majority of his red coat shredded whilst clenching his right arm as well which was having data float out of it.

"Man, we really went at each other eh?" said Naruto with a pained grin, feeling Kurama's chakra healing him.

Archer smirked in response "Indeed we did…but in the end you were the winner…barely,"

[What are you talking about Archer, you can still go on after I heal you] said Kuro confusedly as she prepared to insert a recovery chip.

"It won't work, his technique had managed to break through the Rho Aias which inflicts damage upon myself and it had some sort of side effects on my arm that I can't even feel it. What's more, I can see that he's still capable of continuing the fight unlike me right now," Archer explained seeing Naruto stop holding his right arm "Not to mention that there's a clone probably hiding somewhere to take me out if I were to attempt attacking…am I wrong?"

Naruto's lip curled up slightly at the last bit "So you figured that out too, you remind me of a good friend of mine…very lazy and finds almost everything troublesome but extremely smart,"

[Oh darn, I was hoping that we would go all the way but a loss is a loss] Kuro pouted.

[We don't mind a rematch after the tournament, ya know] said C-Naruto.

[Then next time, we won't lose to you!]

"Looking forward to it," said Naruto with a smirk.

"I advise that you two be careful, this tournament is more than it seems," said Archer seriously as he began to disappear in a beam of light.

"Guess we weren't the only ones to notice, we'll be sure to get to the bottom of things," said Naruto, Archer nodded before fully disappearing and the link with Kuro ended.

[I kinda find it weird that we've been unable to contact the other NetOps since we arrived here] said C-Naruto.

"I know, another thing to keep an eye out for. Might as well return and recover," Naruto walked over to the Chakra Blade and picked up the pieces "How are we going to fix this?"

[There's an auto fix feature on it, just need to send into the PET system to start it up] said C-Naruto.

The original nodded in understanding before the weapon disappeared from his hands but was taken by surprise when the Aurum Blade appeared then it suddenly transformed into a bow that is made up of two gold blades containing blue accents and it possesses a brown handle, a red emblem that attaches to the back of the Naruto's hand, and two halos that wrap around his forearm.

Naruto felt information flow into his mind concerning the weapon "So it's called the Palutena Bow, it must have based itself on Archer's combat skills," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"You can admire it later, just use the Moon Tablet and head back so you can recover," said Kurama.

"Right," Naruto turned towards the Moon Tablet which had appeared before him and took hold of it to release a beam of light towards the ground to form a small circular platform with a metallic outline and a glowing bright blue center with the symbol of a moon at a focal point. He stepped onto the portal and felt himself being transferred to the front entrance of the Sakura Labyrinth. He took a couple steps away when he heard the sound of transference and turned to see that it was none other than Gilgamesh which meant that Tamamo lost to him much to his sadness "I guess she couldn't beat him,"

Gilgamesh took note of Naruto and had an idea for the reason of his silence "Were you expecting that woman to be the victor of our match, I find it to be quite an insulting notion. She hardly stood that much of a chance against a king such as myself despite having used her most powerful technique, but you needn't feel sad as you'll soon be joining her,"

Naruto growled in anger at his words "We'll see about that…I won't be pulling any punches when we meet on the battlefield," he walked away before he would most likely lose his temper around the arrogant NetNavi.

"Such arrogance, reminds me of someone whom I hate more than anyone else in the world or rather worlds," Kurama muttered with a low growl.

"Who are you talking about Kurama?" thought Naruto curiously.

"I don't really want to talk about it, maybe some other time,"

"Oh okay," Naruto began making his way over to the infirmary to get healed by Sakura and rest for the finals tomorrow, but he has a gut feeling that something serious is bound to happen and it could be something no one would be expecting.


This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto has advanced to the semifinals where he faces Archer and his NetOp Kuro in a battlefield themed after an apocalyptic city. Both proved to be able to contend with each other to the point that Archer used his trump card which pushed Naruto close to his limit until Kurama lent his chakra to turn things around and earning a close win. Archer alerted Naruto of his suspicions about the tourney which he's already aware of but regardless heeded his advice to exercise great caution. Naruto returns to find out about Tamamo's defeat at the hands of Gilgamesh and promised himself to defeat the arrogant NetNavi.

From my research and planning, I say we got at least two more chapters till the end of this arc and we can finally move on to some Megaman stuff like we were supposed to. For those wondering if Naruto will have a real body, all I can say is that he might be able to do so some time after Rush's emergence into the real world.

Sorry about the late update by the way, school's been on my case this semester.

Read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana

Signing out.