I groaned as consciousness returned to me, and with it, a massive headache that made me wish I'd remained in the land of the blissfully unaware. Memories and knowledge not my own floated around in my head and my eyes hurt for some reason. I managed to get out of bed and stumbled to the wash table and looked into the mirror.
My face with a pair of mature Sharingan eyes looked back at me.
I gasped and stumbled backwards, tripping over something dropped on the ground. I fell, but reflexes and entirely new muscle memory kicked in and I caught myself before I hurt myself. Memories from last night flowed back to the front of my mind. Halloween. Ethan's. Costumes... That's right, we all turned into our costumes last night. I'd dressed up as a made up character from the Naruto manga, Uchiha Arashi, a child born of both an Uchiha mother and an Uzumaki father.
Standing up again, I checked my eyes in the mirror once again. Nothing. My own brown eyes stared back at me. Drawing on foreign memories and the chakra I felt within, the Sharingan activated, bringing the world into such clear focus unlike anything I'd ever known. I focussed inwards and found a large chakra pool within myself, easily low-jounin as my 'experience' told me. Turning my attention to 'my' jutsu, I easily recalled several dozen different jutsu, in various stages of mastery. Arashi had been an exception among the Uchiha, probably because he was part Uzumaki. Instead of merely copying each and every jutsu he came across, he trained himself in each jutsu he'd copied until he could say he had mastered it. His arsenal was impressive, but only about a dozen jutsu, with at least one of each element, had been fully mastered. I had based Arashi partly on Ranma Saotome, being able to analyse a fighting style even as my Sharingan copied them, and then incorporating the best parts of the style into my own.
My attention drifted from my eyes to my body and suddenly I could only gape at myself. Sure, Arashi had been fit and fairly buff, but I hadn't been nearly that impressive. Evidently, last night had had its effects on my body too, as I looked like a bulky swimmer or athlete. Lean, yet buff. A grin crept on my lips, I couldn't help it. I quickly sealed for a minor jutsu and moments later I was exhaling a small stream of fire. Another quick series of seals and I was looking at a wood clone I'd created. Knowing that wood clones were fairly durable, and had all my knowledge, I instructed it to take my place at school, I had to talk to Giles.
"Xander? What brings you here this early?" Giles asked as I all but ran into the library. "Is something wrong?"
"Something's definitely not normal G-man, check out my eyes." I said before channeling a bit of chakra to them, activating my Sharingan and bringing the world in great focus.
"Good Lord!" Giles exclaimed, pretty much as I knew he would. Subtlety, thy name is not Giles. "Xander, what is that?"
"It's called the Sharingan, it's a bloodline limit from a manga called Naruto. With them, I can predict an opponent's movements, I can copy their fighting style and any jutsu they cast as long as it's not from another bloodline. I can also cast illusions with them, I'm good enough that I only require eye contact to make it take hold. And that's not all G-man, my body's stronger and faster too, I'm as strong as my character was, probably as strong or slightly stronger than Buffy at the moment."
"Truly? You believe yourself equal in strength to a Slayer?" I could hear the skepticism in his voice, not that I blamed him.
"We'd have to face off, but yeah, I think so. If not, then at least I wouldn't be far behind. Maybe we can set up a spar, to check?"
"Yes... Yes, that might be a good idea. Imagine if you were, then Buffy would have a partner to go on patrol." Giles replied, his mind already going over the possibilities of his Slayer having proper backup in her Calling.
"That's not all, G-man. The skills I have? I can teach them to others, so if we do this right, then the Slayer will never have to be alone again. She'll have proper and trained backup from the moment she's Called. Maybe we can set up a new group, separate from the Watchers? The Hunters or something? I don't know..." I started rambling, until Giles put a hand on my shoulder, making me look into his eyes.
"We will see, Xander. I will help you, of course, anything to ensure the safety of Buffy and those who come after her."
"You know a fair bit about magic, right? And Miss Calendar too? Maybe you two could combine your knowledge and setup proper magical backup for the Slayer too? So we don't rely on any one thing too much?" I offered.
"Perhaps, I shall bring up the subject with Miss Calendar. What other skills to you now possess besides your eyes and the ability to breath fire?" Giles asked, ever the scholar. I started explaining and going over exactly what I could do.
"You want me to what?" Buffy asked her Watcher, sure she'd heard wrong.
"I would like you to spar with Xander tonight." Giles repeated, a mischievous little smile on his lips that Buffy couldn't place. "Just start slowly and take it from there. For some reason Xander's body didn't revert back to his normal body, and he wants to test himself against you. A word of warning, do not underestimate him. I have reviewed his forms and believe it will be beneficial for you to face each other."
It took a little, but finally Buffy agreed to face me in a spar. She took her ready stance, I took one of Arashi's, one designed to make my opponent underestimate me with the seeming large holes in my defense. I could see that Buffy noticed them and she shook her head slightly, probably thinking this would be a waste of time. Giles signalled for us to begin.
Almost immediately, Buffy rushed me and threw a haymaker at my head. Using only the energy and movement required, I tilted my head to the side, letting her fist pass me unharmed. The look of surprise on her face was priceless, though it quickly changed to a grimace as I jabbed her in the stomach as she passed, before darting out of her reach. First blood, so to speak, to me and I could see that she wasn't happy with it.
Her next attack was faster than the first, but still not fast enough that I couldn't follow it with ease. She tried a faint this time, but I once again sidestepped it and quickly fell to the ground to sweep her feet from under her, making her fall on her ass. The look in her eyes was now positively murderous. I guess the Slayer in her can't get over the fact that someone's beating her, let alone someone she regards as being normal.
The spar continued to intensify and soon I had to fight her for real and couldn't avoid her strikes quite as easily anymore. Soon enough Buffy was fighting me all-out, and much to her astonishment as well as Giles', not to mention my elation, I was able to match her blow for blow. After a few moments of going against each other full out, I jumped back.
"You're very good Buffy. I have something else that I kept from last night, would you mind if we stepped it up a notch? My eyes will change somewhat, just so you know ahead of time." I asked her, breathing a bit heavier as I did, but happy to note that she was breathing heavier than normal as well, though not as much as me. Looks like I could match her in skill, but she probably had more stamina than I did, being mystically enhanced and all.
Buffy glanced back at Giles, who indicated that it was her choice, but that he'd already seen what Xander was talking about. "Alright, do your thing. I have to say Xander, I never thought you'd be this good. And your style is interesting, I'd love to learn more about it."
"Sure thing Buffster, anything to help my favorite Slayer." I replied, catching a small smile ghost over her lips as I said that. Directing a small bit of chakra to my eyes, the world brightened and I could see Buffy's surprise at my eyes. I cocked my head to the side, allowed an arrogant smirk to settle on my lips and made the come-hither gesture at her, taunting her to come at me.
Her Slayer pride wouldn't allow her to ignore the challenge, and she shot at me full speed, but with nearly a second advance warning, I danced around her like she wasn't even trying.
I could see it was infuriating her, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't touch me. I smirked and jumped back, sealing as I did, chakra gathering to cast the jutsu. A strong gust of wind shot from my mouth as I slammed myself in the gut, strong enough to knock her head over heels till she lay on her back with a wondrous look on her face.
"What was that?" She asked once she'd levered herself up on her elbows.
"A minor wind jutsu. I'm pretty sure I can teach us all how to use chakra and such, but only if you're willing to listen to me as a teacher. If you can't take me seriously as a teacher, don't even bother trying, you won't learn anything. This is serious stuff and it needs to be taken as such." I said, hoping to express how important this was.