Disclaimer – I don't own Fate/Stay Night nor do I own Naruto
"K-Kurama, I can't sense negative emotions anymore, and my old instincts are gone too, but this church…this atmosphere… I don't know why but it's almost suffocating me...' Naruto divulged as he felt cold sweat run down his back.
'You're not wrong,' Kurama agreed, 'This church… it's leaking negative emotions like a damn faucet.'
'Is this place the source of the negative emotions muffling your senses?' Naruto asked.
'No,' Kurama denied, 'But be careful all the same; this place is no less evil than the one permeating throughout Fuyuki.'
'Right,' Naruto assented.
"What's wrong, Emiya-kun; aren't you coming?" Rin asked curiously.
Naruto gave her a nervous smile, "Don't worry about it, I just got a really bad feeling for a sec there."
He shook his hand in front of his face as if he were waving away a mosquito, "Let's not waste any more time and go."
Rin gave him a look of suspicion but chose not to press the subject.
"Naruto, I shall stand guard out here. This place… I do not like it," Saber interjected.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'She noticed it too.'
His cerulean eyes lost their intensity in an instant as he gave her a grin, "Alright, we'll be counting on you, Saber."
He turned to Rin, "Let's go."
"Wait. So this "fake" priest - as you keep emphasizing - used to be your father's student, and when your father died, he became your second teacher. Did I get everything?" Naruto summarized.
Rin nodded, "Pretty much."
She grinned mischievously, "It seems you're not as dumb as you look, Emiya-kun. Congratulations."
"Oi!"
Rin's smile widened, "Oh? You managed to catch the insult? I'm impressed. It seems you're not lacking in common sense as much as you're lacking in magecraft."
Naruto's eye twitched violently, 'This bitch…'
He forced out an ugly smile, "Oh? Are you jealous that I got a Servant that's soooo much more awesome than yours?"
Rin turned a color that would make her overcoat proud, "Grrr, obviously! You can't even give her any mana; you're useless as a Master!"
Naruto gave her a condescending laugh, "HA! We'll see about that!"
Rin gave him a curious look, "Hm? What do you mean by that? You've already failed as a Master."
Naruto's mouth curved into a gentle smile, "Yeah… I completely fail as a Master, so I have no choice but to help her out as a partner."
He looked positively radiant; It was as if all the darkness around them had been banished due to his smile.
"..."
Rin tried to be indignant, she really did, but whatever charm he had put on his face completely prevented her from doing so. All she could do was change the subject, lest she embarrass herself.
"Let's just go in!" She ordered in a tone that left no room for discussion.
Naruto couldn't stop himself from raising an eyebrow and cocking his head,
'What did I do?' He asked himself as Rin opened the large, heavy doors leading into the church.
They headed inside slowly in total silence, wary of their surroundings. This may have been a place of God, but the aura radiating from it was anything but holy.
"You've never accepted my repeated invitations, and now, here you are, with an unusual guest," an oily voice called out from the darkness.
The mysterious man took a step forward towards the duo, revealing his features to them, and continued, "I take it this means he is the seventh, Rin."
'Kurama, how close do I have to be to him for you to sense his negative emotions?' Naruto asked, as he examined the priest.
'Around three meters is my range,' Kurama answered.
'Get ready,' Naruto commanded.
The priest gave Naruto a polite yet spine-chilling smile, "My name is Kotomine Kirei," he informed, "What is your name, seventh Master?"
"Naruto. Uzumaki Emiya Naruto."
The priest couldn't stop the expression of surprise from appearing on his face, "Emiya?"
Naruto marked down the man's reaction in his mind as Kotomine let out a silent chuckle,
"Uzumaki Emiya Naruto, am I correct in assuming that you are the Master of the Saber class?"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, and calling me Uzumaki Naruto is fine," he notified.
Kotomine smirked and walked towards the blonde teen, "So? Since you haven't left, I'm guessing you want something from me."
'He's almost in range,' Naruto thought to himself as he said, "Yeah, I want an explanation. Rin already told me the basics, but she didn't tell me anything about why people want this Holy Grail thing."
Kotomine stopped in front of the whiskered blonde and smirked, "This battle you've been caught up in is a ritual meant to determine the one person who is worthy enough to hold the Holy Grail," he explained, "The Holy Grail is a miraculous wish-granting device-"
"Pfft, What!?" Naruto interrupted, laughing, "Wait, seriously, you guys don't actually believe this, do you? I mean- this war is almost as stupid as someone casting an illusion on the moon and reflecting it back on earth to trap everyone in some kind of an ever-peaceful dream-like state."
The other two people in the room looked at him in confusion.
"Uhhh, what?" Rin asked, stupefied.
"HAHAHAHAHAH! Oh my god! All this crap for a wish-granting cup!? Has the cup actually ever granted someone's wish before? I'm genuinely curious," Naruto asked, gasping for air,
Kotomine was the one to answer, "no, but-"
"No buts!" Naruto yelled, making an X shape with his arms, "You guys have no proof that this thing grants wishes, and that's the most important part. Don't you guys think that it's a bit weird that four of these very same wars happened, but not even one person had their wish granted?"
Kotomine calmly brought up a hand, "How do you explain the presence of all these ancient warriors then?"
Naruto smirked challengingly, "bringing the dead back to life isn't such a crazy feat."
'Naruto…it's not something to be surprised about in our world, but in this world…' Kurama reminded.
'Still, a wish-granting cup? Seriously?' Naruto asked in a skeptical tone.
'Don't forget, we're in a different world,' Kurama pointed out, 'For all we know, this wish-granting cup could actually be the real thing.'
The massive fox paused for a second, 'It might even help us get back home.'
'…fine. I'll believe these guys. For now,' Naruto complied.
"well, assuming you guys are telling the truth, if this cup can grant any wish, then why doesn't everyone involved just share it?" Naruto asked.
The priest and the magus both spent a second in silence as they tried to wrap their minds around the blonde's complete 180 degree shift in attitude.
"Well, the Grail itself decided that only one person is worthy enough to hold it. That person is the Master that survives till all the other Servants are dead," Kirei said after a while.
'The cup is sentient now!?' Naruto mentally exclaimed incredulously.
"So? Any questions?" Kotomine asked.
Naruto let out an evil laugh, "Oh ho ho, get ready, Mr. Priest. The amount of questions I have is ridiculous."
Kotomine felt the sudden urge to kill the blonde brat right then and there.
An hour passed and finally the questioning session had come to an end. Kotomine, as the overseer of the Fifth Holy Grail War, had been forced to explain all sorts of thing to the spiky blonde haired teen. From "what are Noble Phantasms" to "how to use command seals".
Rin had already dozed off thirty minutes ago and he honestly felt like just killing the boy to get some much needed rest.
Elders needed their sleep too, you know?
Plus, it was extremely late and the darkness in the church was not helping.
When the infuriating brat finally said that he had no more questions, Kirei actually almost jumped in joy.
He managed to restrain himself at the last second though. He wasn't about to ruin his image just because some blonde boy had driven him up the wall.
The two worked together to rouse Rin from her blissful sleep and as the duo were walking out the grandiose church doors, Kirei unveiled the speech that he had prepared over the course of his explanation,
"Rejoice, young man, for your wish has come true!" He stated dramatically.
Naruto squinted his eyes and gave him a confused look, "My…wish?"
Kirei gave the boy a condescending smirk, "Yes. Your wish of doing something of worth, something that holds meaning, something that doesn't involve you just sitting and doing nothing."
The shadows seemed to darken with each word that left Kirei's mouth.
"Wh-what are you talking about? How did you get to that conclusion?" Naruto asked, his voice wavering.
Kirei's smirk widened, "You're tired of passively sitting on the sidelines aren't you?" He asked rhetorically, as if he already knew the answer, "That's why you didn't try to back out of this war even once. You gathered information, learned more about the situation, but not once did you try to withdraw from this war."
"Th-that's-"
"-Because you finally felt a sense of duty." Kirei interrupted, "The feeling of working for something greater than yourself. That is your wish. You wish for direction, for purpose, for duty. You wish…for something to strive for."
Kirei's eyes bore into Naruto's soul, "Just try to deny it, Uzumaki Naruto, a small part of you is happy that a horrible event like this occurred."
"I-I…" Naruto trailed off before he could even say anything.
'He's not wrong. Not fully wrong that is. Ever since arriving in this world, all I could do was sit and laze around as Sasuke and the others tried to find a way to this dimension. I hate it. I've always strived for something, be it Hokage, world peace, or saving Sasuke. There was always a clear next objective in my mind. Now though… now all I can do is wait for the people on the other side to find a way to come get me.'
He glared at the priest and clenched his fists, 'This bastard… he's not wrong, and… I hate him for it. I hate him for noticing this part of me before even I did. This guy… absolutely pisses me off!'
The priest gave a mock bow, "Have a safe trip."
"Naruto, have you concluded your business here?" Saber asked as her Master and Rin walked out the metal gate.
Naruto glared at the ground in front of him and answered in a barely audible voice, "Yeah."
"And?" Saber asked.
"And what?" Naruto asked, confused at what she was asking for.
"Have you decided to fight as a Master?" Saber clarified.
'I didn't even think about not fighting in this war. A normal person would have at least had some reservations in fighting in something like this. Damnit, I just proved that bastard priest correct,' Naruto angrily thought to himself as he hoarsely told Saber, "Yeah, I've decided to fight as a Master."
He gave her a weak grin and held out his fist, "Let's kick some ass!"
Saber looked at her Master in confusion and a bit of veiled worry at his odd behavior, "What are you doing, Naruto?"
Naruto gawked, "Eh? You don't know what a fist bump is?"
Saber shook her head.
Naruto's grin brightened as he instructed her in the fine art of fist bumping, "First, you hold out your fist."
"Like this?" Saber held out a fisted gauntlet and asked, unsure.
"Exactly!" Naruto commended, "Then you press it against my fist. Like this!"
Saber did so and found herself asking a question, "What does this… fist bump signify, Naruto?"
Naruto put his hand behind his head and gave her a toothy smile, "It means we're friends!"
Saber almost recoiled in surprise, 'Friends?'
Naruto brought back his hand and raised it towards the sky, "Even if I don't have any chakra, I'll make sure to win this crazy ritual," he said to himself as he clenched his hand into a fist, as if he were grabbing the stars, "That's a promise!"
Rin looked on in amazement as she stood on the sidelines, 'Just a second ago he was so shaken up that he could barely speak, but now…'
She sighed, 'You're an extremely optimistic person aren't you, Emiya-kun?'
Her eyes narrowed, 'Too optimistic. That optimism might just end up getting you killed.'
The walk back was spent in total silence since each participant was absorbed in their own thoughts.
'Kurama, what did you find?' Naruto asked.
'That guy… the amount of negative emotions he was leaking out was unnatural' Kurama informed.
'Unnatural? Unnatural how?' Naruto asked, confused.
'First of all, he was simply leaking too many negative emotions for an average human, and second, for some reason, the negative emotions were… leaking out of his heart,' Kurama explained.
'His… heart?' Naruto asked, trying to make sure he heard right,
'Yeah. Most of the negative emotions I sensed coming from him, were actually leaking out of his heart,' Kurama said, 'That guy is someone you have to be extremely wary of. I'm pretty sure he's not a normal priest.'
'Gotcha,' Naruto assented.
The group of three walked some more before they reached an intersection and Rin halted.
"Emiya-kun, this is where our paths diverge."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Tohsaka?"
Rin turned to look at Naruto in the eye, "I brought you here because you weren't officially my enemy yet," she explained, "but now, you're a fellow Master, Emiya-kun."
Naruto scowled, "Are you saying we shouldn't hang out because we're enemies?"
Rin nodded, "Exactly. We're enemies in this war, so talking is the last thing we should be doing."
Naruto gave her a fed-up look, "Why not be enemies and friends at the same time?" He asked, stretching out his fist towards her, "I don't want to kill you and, since you helped me, I don't think you want to kill me either. Once this is all over we can stop being enemies and just be friends right?"
Contrary to his expectations, Tohsaka did not agree; instead, she gave him a fierce glare,
"You know, Emiya-kun, this war is much more dange-" She started but was cut off by her own Servant,
"Rin, if an easily slain enemy presents himself, then we ought to take the chance," Archer said, materializing.
Saber subtly tensed.
Fortunately for the blonde haired duo, Rin did not comply with her Servant, "You don't need to tell me that, it's just…"
"It's just that you're a nice person," Naruto finished for her easily.
Rin turned to him and pinned him with a sharp glare, "Flattery won't save you from me. I'm taking pity on you for tonight but come sunrise, I won't hesitate to take you down!"
Naruto held up his hands in a placating manner, "Right, right."
"!"
Suddenly Saber turned and visibly readied her entire body.
"Naruto!" She called out in warning.
Naruto and Rin both caught on in an instant and prepared themselves for the upcoming fight as they too turned around.
Right in front of them were two contrasting figures. One was an extremely muscular and large man, while the other was a small girl that looked like a child. The child-like figure was garbed in European style purple clothes, while the large muscular figure was decked out in skirt-like armor that went from his midriff down to his knees.
All in all, the two made quite a terrifying pair.
The girl wouldn't have looked so frightening by herself, but the casual, innocent smile that she had on her face while standing beside such a beast of a man that reeked of death, made her look positively spine-chilling.
'I can't believe I let such a large guy blindside me! I should have noticed him immediately; I really need to stop getting so lost in my thoughts,' Naruto mentally admonished himself.
"So, are you done talking?" The small girl asked politely.
Rin gulped, "Berserker?"
The white haired girl flashed Naruto a courteous smile, "Good evening, Onii-chan. I'm glad to see that you've decided to participate in this war."
'…Does she know me?' Naruto wondered, 'I know I've never seen her before…'
The girl garbed in purple took a few steps forward, closed her eyes, and curtsied, "It's nice to meet you," she greeted, "My name is Illya, Illyasviel von Einzbern."
She opened an eye to give Rin a provocative look, "You recognize the name Einzbern, don't you?"
Rin narrowed her eyes, "Einzbern…"
Naruto forced out a grin as sweat dripped down the back of his neck, 'This guy… if we had some time to prepare then we could probably fight him, but from the look of things, a surprise face-to-face battle will probably end up with us losing.'
"I'm astonished," Rin informed, "In terms of raw ability, that thing outclasses Saber."
"It's incredible," Archer commended, "that Servant could face the other six alone."
"Meaning we can't defeat this opponent through brute force, huh?" Rin said, frowning.
"Archer, you should use your class's usual methods," she ordered without taker her eyes off the hostile duo.
"What about defense?" Archer asked.
Rin looked towards her other two companions, "There's three of us here," she pointed out, "at the very least we'll be able to hold it off."
"Understood," Archer complied as he jumped away to find a good vantage point.
Rin took a glance at Naruto and expected to see him cowering or at least trembling a little,
But…
All she found was the blonde Master calmly gazing at his opponent as if this situation was a common occurrence for him.
She gulped.
Why?
Why did he look so calm? Why did he look so at peace?
This was a battlefield.
So why was it that he looked like he belonged here?
"Are you done with your planning?" Illya asked with a smile.
Tense silence answered her.
"Well then, I'll kill you now," she stated in a peppy tone, "Get them, Berserker."
Berserker let out an earth-shattering roar and appeared in front of Naruto in an instant.
The mad warrior gave Naruto a horizontal slash with his giant axe-sword but Naruto jumped just in time and back-flipped over the slash and out of his range. Saber, sensing an opportunity, dashed from under Naruto's back-flip and tried to inflict a fatal blow on Berserker.
But Berserker wasn't a Heroic Spirit for nothing.
Berserker leapt back and dodged Saber's blow, and as soon as he landed, seven arrows came flying from the distance and crashed straight into the white-haired girl's Servant. Instead of simply piercing through like normal arrows, these one exploded on impact, covering the mad warrior in smoke.
"We got him!" Rin yelled excitedly.
The smoke cleared and Berserker simply stood there, unscratched, as if the last few seconds simply hadn't happened.
Archer clucked his tongue while Rin took a step back.
"It had no effect?" She asked, horrified.
Naruto glanced around and noticed something, 'That Illya girl went into the forest already. She knew that if we couldn't take Berserker, then we would just have Archer kill her.'
"Ignore Archer's arrows Berserker!" Illya's voice rang out around them, "They can't do anything against your Noble Phantasm anyway!"
Naruto's eyes narrowed at her words, 'Berserker's Noble Phantasm? It's already active? Is that why he just took Archer's arrows with no effect?'
He glared at the spot that Illya previously occupied, 'She didn't mention anything about being able to take Saber's attacks and Berserker dodged her slash. Does that mean his Noble Phantasm has the effect of rendering projectile weapons ineffective? Or is it that, unlike Archer, Saber's weapon is powerful enough to pierce his defense?'
'Whatever the case, it seems like Saber's sword is the only thing that will work on that meaty fleshbag.' Kurama said.
'We don't know that,' Naruto pointed out, 'his Sanity's gone, so maybe he just dodged Saber's attack on instinct.'
'If that was the case, then he would've dodged Archer's arrows too,' Kurama rebutted.
'Oh yeah, I guess you're right,' Naruto conceded.
He could just feel Kurama's smug smirk, 'Obviously, there's no way I, the mighty nine-tails, would be wrong.'
Naruto's eye twitched while Saber tensed her leg muscles,
"Prepare yourself, Berserker!" She yelled before she appeared before him and gave him a left to right downward diagonal slash to the chest.
Berserker easily blocked it and the two locked their feet in position as they clashed their weapons against each other for dozens of times under a split second.
"That guy's sword skills are way too good!" Rin complained, "How the hell does he qualify as a Berserker!?"
Berserker blocked another blow before he back-flipped out of Saber's slashing range. As soon as he landed, he used his formidable leg muscles to leap straight at Saber with a horizontal slash. Saber blocked the mighty blow, but Berserker's momentum, combined with his strength, sent Saber flying away.
The entire exchange didn't even take a second.
Saber recovered from her unexpected flight easily and landed on her feet before she leaped back, away from her opponent, and settled inside a graveyard.
"Follow her, Berserker!" Illya's voice rang out.
Berserker let out an unearthly roar and chased after his petite opponent.
The two Masters watched him leap off before Rin opened her mouth to warn the blonde boy to run away,
"…"
In the end... she couldn't say anything.
She tried, she tried her best to make some kind of sound.
But… before the words could spill out of her mouth, the image of the orange wearing blonde calmly gazing at the enemy flashed in her mind.
How could she say anything if he made an expression like that?
So she closed her mouth, swallowed a lump in her throat, and ran off into the forest, intent on finding the Master of the Einzberns and distracting herself from that haunting image.
The haunting image of the cheerful boy waiting for the battle to start with a small smile on his face, as if this was where he truly belonged.
'What's with her?' Naruto asked himself as he watched Rin run off, 'I was a hundred percent sure she was going to say something. Did I make her angry or something?'
He shrugged, 'Well, whatever. Right now I have to focus on the battle,' He casually thought to himself, 'I can't take Berserker on, so the next best choice is to take down that Illya girl. Rin probably thought the same thing, and that's also probably why she ran into the forest.'
He turned his head to look at the general direction of where Archer was supposed to be situated, 'Archer can't track that chibi Master with all those trees blocking his vision, so Rin is on her own against her.'
…
'I'm worried…'
RIn was not doing well against her opponent. True, the enemy she was fighting was a chibi, but that chibi was extremely skilled. So skilled in fact that Rin had her ass handily handed to her.
The chibi's sass just made it worse.
Grrrr, that annoying little girl pissed her off!
"Besides," She mockingly mouthed, "what do you expect me to say to someone who's going to die here, huh?"
She wasn't going to take that comment lying down. All she had to do was climb back up the small ledge and destroy the four autonomous, white-colored, sparrow shaped familiars that formed up her enemy's defense.
Simple really, since she had just the tool for the job.
"Huh? A frontal assault?" Illya asked, surprised, "That's brave but foolish, Rin."
Rin's glare intensified as she took out a green gem shaped like a square from her back pocket, "We'll see about that!"
She threw the gem in front of her, which then proceeded to glow and expand into a rectangular shield that revolved and kinda looked like a door without hinges or a handle.
"Gandr!" Rin yelled, throwing up an arm in her firing position and shooting out two fast moving red orbs.
The four sparrows shot beams akin to lasers at Rin, but the attacks were unable to bypass the giant door-like shield protecting her. In response, the red orbs flew towards the sparrows and both orbs managed to make contact with their targets and eliminate them.
Rin smirked and was about to fire two more Gandr shots to take down the rest before one of sparrows morphed into a sword and broke through her shield and came flying at her.
She was barely able roll to the side to dodge the sword that easily broke through her defense,
'The familiar changed shape!?' She asked incredulously.
Illya's smirk widened as her remaining sparrow followed the other sparrow's example and morphed into a sword, "You may have fended of Zelle, but you won't be able to block Degen."
She let out a small sigh, "I thought this was going to be fun; how disappointing."
The sword took aim and flew towards her at speeds she couldn't possibly react to…
...Only to swerve back and block a speeding grey projectile heading towards its creator.
"A…shuriken?" Illya observed.
"So that flying sword is an automatic defense, huh?" Naruto's voice dissected as he walked out of the woodwork.
"Even if you yourself don't notice the danger, that sword will protect you automatically. Seems like it can be easily destroyed though," he said to Illya as he walked up to Rin.
"Yo!" He greeted cheerfully.
"Y-you idiot! Why are you here? You can't def-" Rin abruptly stopped as the that image once again flashed through her mind.
"Hey, Rin. You okay?" Naruto asked, worried.
She glared and forcefully ignored the memory in order to scold the boy, "Get away! There's no way you can defeat her without any magic!"
Naruto gave her a "duh" look, "Obviously. It's clear that those uhhh, what was it called again?" Naruto asked.
"Degen," Illya helpfully supplied.
"Thanks," Naruto said before he turned to Rin, "It's clear that physical objects, like shurikens, can't destroy those Degen things. I don't know about missiles and the like though."
Rin gaped, "...THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE IF YOU KNOW THAT!?"
Naruto covered his ears, "OW! WHAT THE HELL, LADY!? IS THIS HOW YOU TALK TO SOMEONE WHO SAVED YOUR ASS!?"
Rin huffed, "First of all, I took you to the church, so we're even. Second, I'm yelling at you because you're doing something INCREDIBLY STUPID! You know you don't stand a chance against her, so why are you here?"
Naruto gave her a confused look, "When did I say I don't stand a chance? To be honest, it's really easy to take down this Degen thing, if we work together that is."
"Really easy?" Rin asked.
"Yeah," Naruto said as he showed her eight shurikens held in between his fingers in both hands, "All I need you to do is enhance these with your magic."
Rin looked down at the grey, obsolete weapons, "Shurikens? What are you, a ninja?"
Naruto chuckled and gave her an enigmatic smile, "Something like that."
Rin scrunched up her face in confusion before she sighed and enchanted the shurikens with enough magic to destroy a Degen, "Are you even any good with those?"
Naruto gave her a confident smirk, "Just watch."
"Do you really think I'll let those hit my defense?" Illya asked as she summoned her other sword back to her.
"You don't have a choice. When your Degens were in bird form, they shot their cool laser beams to deflect Rin's Gandr shots, but in this form, your flying swords can't block these. When those things are in sword form, they make an excellent attack in exchange for becoming a poor defense," Naruto said.
Illya chuckled, "And I suppose you'll throw some shurikens at me so that my Degens block it and break, and then you'll proceed to throw the rest to kill me?"
Naruto shrugged, "Sounds about right; I have eight shuriken, while you only have two Degens, you know?"
"I can make more," Illya informed him.
"False," Naruto rebutted, "The moment you try to make more, you'll be open for me to kill you."
"That's a bluff and you know it," Illya accused, "my defense is automatic, so I'll have plenty of time to make more while you take them down."
'Heh, let's hope she falls for it,' Naruto thought to himself as he made a face of false bravado, "Do you want to take the chance? Go ahead, I won't stop you."
Illya felt a bit of apprehension crawl up inside of her stomach, 'Why is he still readying his shuriken? Does he have a plan?' She asked herself before she shook her head, 'No, if he did, then he wouldn't have tried that pathetic bluff. Those shurikens are probably a final desperate attempt to survive. I have the complete advantage here.'
Naruto swung his left arm two times. For the first swing, he let loose one shuriken, and for the second he let loose the other three left in his hand.
At the same time, one of the Degens moved right in front of its creator to protect her while she brought up both her hands to her hair to create more of its brethren, at the same time, the second Degen took off at an incredibly high speed towards the blonde haired boy.
It all happened in an instant.
Illya created four more Degens, while the three shurikens thrown in Naruto's second swing all ricocheted off of Naruto's first thrown shuriken in three different angles. One destroyed the Degen protecting Illya, another destroyed the Degen screaming towards him, and the last one destroyed a Degen that had just been created.
Illya gulped. The last Degen had been destroyed way to close to her face. It had only been around a millimeter away from her head since it had just been created after all.
The newly created, other three Degens quickly took a defensive position around her and transformed into sparrows.
"H-how?" Illya asked, a little shaken.
"You had the right idea," Naruto commended, "You thought the shuriken only travels in a straight line, so you came to the conclusion that I would first throw my shuriken at you, wait for the Degen to be destroyed, throw another shuriken, wait for the other one to be destroyed, and only then would I have a clear path to hit you. If you think about it, then you're correct; that would buy you more than enough time for you to make reinforcements. In fact, you thought that even destroying one Degen would take too much time, and that's why you sent the other Degen to attack me."
Naruto grinned as his cerulean eyes lit up ominously, "Too bad I expected you to do exactly that."
Illya took a step back.
"W-what?" She asked, suddenly feeling as if rats had decided to run around in her insides.
"It's the logical conclusion. When you have the advantage, you will try to use that advantage to the fullest. It's the course of action that makes the most sense," Naruto explained, "The deciding factor was that the advantage you thought you had, didn't exist in the first place. I could tell from our conversation that you didn't really know all that much about shuriken-jutsu."
Illya clenched her fists, "So I lost because I lacked information…"
Naruto nodded, "Yep. You overestimated your position in this battle, and trying to keep you from suspecting otherwise, was the most challenging part of this entire battle."
Illya mulled over his words before realization struck her, "The bluff…"
Naruto nodded again, "Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" He cheerfully announced, "You're exactly right. If I had just started the battle without saying anything, then you would have suspected that something was wrong. It's pretty suspicious when an enemy walks into a battle he knows he can't win."
'I see,' Rin thought to herself, 'That's why he made that obvious bluff. It was an act to look desperate and show that he was grasping at straws.'
She glared at the blonde Master, 'There's something about you, Emiya-kun. Something strange. Even if a normal person knew this shuriken-jutsu thing, there's no way they would have been able to hit one of those targets. Specifically, the Degen that was attacking you. You would've had to know its travelling speed to predict where to throw that shuriken, and the only time you could've seen and figured that out was when it came flying towards me. No ordinary person would've been able to calculate the Degen's speed and predict its movement just by seeing it move at full speed once.'
Her frown darkened, 'Not to mention…that expression you had on when we first saw Berserker…'
Illya took a deep breath and fixed her opponent with an intense stare, "That was a tricky attack, but I wouldn't be so smug if I were you," She said grinning, "I have three Zelles now; I can stop your attacks before they reach me or my defenses."
Naruto casually shrugged, "True," he admitted, "But it doesn't suit you to bluff, chibi-magus."
Illya glared at him for the nickname, "What do you mean?"
"Don't pretend you don't understand," he said playfully, "You already get it don't you? Your main disadvantage is the fact that, unlike you, I have an ally to help me out."
"That only increases your chance of winning," Illya rebutted, "There's no guarantee that you'll win. In fact, you only have four shuriken left, so the support you can provide is limited."
"Also true," Naruto said, "In the end, our chances of winning this battle are about equal."
Illya tensed.
"Soooo, let's just not fight!" Naruto suggested cheerfully, clapping his hands.
"Huh?" Rin and Illya both asked at the same time.
"Yeah!" Naruto said, "If we both have an equal chance of losing, then let's just not fight! That way, none of us will have to take the risk of dying today!"
Illya gave him a blank expression for a few seconds before she chuckled, "Heh! You're funny, onii-chan. Very well, I suppose retreating now wouldn't hurt."
She walked into the woodwork before turning to look at Naruto one last time, "But you made a giant mistake, onii-chan. This was probably the best chance you had to kill me, once I go back to Berserker's side, none of you will be able to do anything against us."
Naruto gave her a challenging smirk, "Oh really?"
Illya nodded, "Of course," she responded with child-like innocence, "There's no one stronger than Berserker after all."
"…"
They waited until her footsteps disappeared before they relaxed their muscles.
Naruto looked towards Rin and gave her a teasing grin, "Hey, you're welco-"
Rin didn't let him finish. She pinned him with an accusing glare, "You let her get away."
Naruto blinked, not understanding what he did wrong, "Well…yeah. I even explained why I did…"
Rin shook her head, "No, not that!" She yelled, "That last shuriken of yours could've easily been aimed at her head, it hit the Degen beside her head after all! That was your best chance! Why didn't you take it!?"
"Well, she let you enchant my shurikens, right?" Naruto asked owlishly, "So I repaid the favor; she gave us a chance, so I gave her one."
"…"
'Liar,' kurama accused, 'The only reason you didn't take that chance was because you thought that killing a small girl was too disturbing. Well that, and because you don't kill "good" or "tragic" people.'
'…I feel like she would yell at me if I told her that,' Naruto explained.
Rin face-palmed, "You're really unbelievable, Emiya-kun."
"Oi, is that meant in a good way or bad?"
BOOM!
Another gravestone had been smashed through by that monstrous axe-sword. Saber felt sorry for disrespecting the dead by using their gravestones as cover, but at the moment, this battle was much more important.
So she abandoned all useless thought and focused on defeating the giant of a Servant in front of her.
Berserker roared once again (he did that a lot) and charged towards her. Saber ducked under his horizontal slash and tried to stab him.
Unfortunately, Berserker's instincts were too honed for such an obvious attack to work.
Berserker kicked his leg up in an effort to disarm her, but Saber easily disengaged in time by leaping back. They had been going back and forth for a few minutes now, and it was clear that she had the slight advantage, but she couldn't do anything more than pressure him.
Every time she tried to deliver a fatal blow, Berserker would display his overwhelming agility and slip out of the situation.
"I'm impressed, Berserker. You must have been a hero of quite some renown to have this much skill," Saber commended.
Berserker roared and sent a vertical slash towards in response. Unwilling to receive such a response, she dodged to the left, a place still ripe with gravestones, and stood there to bait him into attacking.
Berserker wasn't exactly in the clearest state of mind, so he charged in without thinking of the consequences and sent a flurry of blows at her. Saber nimbly evaded each one by using the gravestones to slow him down and block his sight of her before she spotted an opening.
"Hah!" Saber yelled as she repelled the giant's sword and brought down her own.
SLASH!
It cut him, but not deep enough to be fatal.
"Don't you dare lose, Berserker!" Illya's voice rang out from the woods, just as Naruto and Rin came stumbling out of the woods themselves.
"Eh? Naruto?" Saber asked, confused at why he was still at the site of battle.
"Yo, Saber! We just got back from fighting that chibi and totally kicked her ass!" Naruto notified her cheerfully.
"Liar!" Illya's childish voice rang out again, "it was a draw! You even said so!"
"Whatever you say, chibi," Naruto said patronizingly.
"Grrrr, kick Saber's ass, Berserker!" Illya yelled angrily.
"Oi! Kids shouldn't curse!" Naruto reprimanded.
"Shut up!" Illya hollered like a kid denied candy, "I'm not little!"
"Pffft, riiiiight," Naruto sarcastically said, making it clear exactly what he thought of her statement.
"Naruto!" Saber wisely interrupted their banter before it could escalate, "You should run while you have the chance! This place is dangerous!"
Naruto picked his ear uncaringly and said, "Meh, it's fine."
"H-how Can you be so calm? You have no way of defending yourself!" Saber asked, distressed.
"It'll be fine," Naruto placated, "Besides, I think you should focus on your opponent."
Saber opened her mouth to argue, but felt her instincts flare up like a freaking firework.
She leaped backwards, and looking at the spot she previously occupied being turned to rubble, she was glad she did.
Saber landed and primed her weapon, "Here I come, Berserker!"
She took a step, and used that step to propel herself towards her opponent.
"Hyah!" She roared, as she gave him a particularly hard blow combined with her impetus.
Berserker blocked, but even he couldn't keep his sword in place with a blow like that. Saber took that opening and tried to slash upwards at his abdomen, but Berserker pivoted to her right and brought his sword down to meet the sword coming towards his face now.
CLANG!
The two warriors clashed, but neither gave ground. They stayed there, locked in a power struggle, before Saber once again retreated.
It was obvious after all. Saber used Mana Burst; a skill that allowed her to release her magical energy at the precise moment she struck. That is what allowed her to match her opponent's strength, even with such a petite body. Mana Burst only worked when she struck, so a power struggle was an extremely disadvantages position for her.
Not to mention that she chose this battlefield because it allowed to amplify her dodging, and slowed down Berserker by a small amount. A straight up fight would end in her loss, she had to use her advantage to its fullest.
"Come, Berserker," Saber commanded calmly.
Berserker roared and launched himself towards her in an effort to smash her head with his weapon.
Too bad she dodged and all he managed to get was another gravestone.
The smoke from the destroying the gravestone clouded his vision for only a second.
But as they say; "In a battle, a second's distraction is enough to guarantee your loss."
And Saber wasn't the type of person to let a chance like this go.
She rushed in and took off his head before he even had any time to realize what was going on.
"You were a worthy foe, Berserker," Saber praised, "It is a shame I could not trade names with you, I would have liked to know yours."
On the roof of a building, hundreds of meters away, Archer sighed.
"You did good Saber," he complimented as he materialized a weapon in his right hand, "But unfortunately, it wasn't enough."
Back in the graveyard, a new head started growing from Berserker's flat neck. First, the raw flesh regenerated in a grotesque manner, before the skin grew to cover up all the new organs that had just been reformed.
It was like watching some kind of a monstrous example of partial asexual reproduction.
"He regenerated?" Rin asked, horrified, "From that!?"
Illya chuckled, "Heh, to absolutely defeat Berserker, you have to kill him twelve times!"
Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion, "Twelve times?"
"Yep! Twelve times!" Illya confirmed, "Your Servant must have been quite the hero in life if she managed to take down even one of my Heracles's lives."
"Heracles!?" Rin asked, shocked, "You mean that Heracles!?"
"Of course!" Illya said merrily.
'They're talking about this Heracles guy like he's a big deal, but I still have no idea who he is or what the hell he actually did," Naruto nervously thought to himself.
Saber prepared herself for another assault while Rin said something incredibly strange,
"Eh? What do you mean "get clear", Archer? You're not going to-"
'Get clear? Is that guy…?'
…
'Shit!'
Naruto leaped straight into the graveyard and ran up to Saber.
"Emiya-kun!" Rin yelled in warning.
"Get us away from him, Saber!" Naruto yelled desperately as he took her hand.
"Wh-what?" Saber asked, horribly confused.
Naruto looked up and spotted a glowing red projectile heading towards them at high speeds,
"Just do it! Please!"
Saber was confused, but her Master's desperate face easily cemented her decision for her.
She pulled him close to her in a swift motion and leaped.
Just in time too.
As soon as they took to the air, the entire graveyard exploded in flames. The fiery blaze almost reached them, but the force of the explosion propelled them just out of range.
The unceremoniously tumbled to the ground before regaining their vision and looking up to try and make out what had happened.
The entire graveyard was covered in flames that doused the entire scenery in a vivid yellow and orange. In the middle of the setting stood a hulking giant of a man, unconcerned with the flames eradicating everything around him.
Berserker.
He was just standing there, as sturdy as ever, with no signs of damage on him.
It made for quite an intimidating sight.
"N-no way…" Naruto heard Rin say from afar, "He blocked a rank A Noble Phantasm?"
'Blocked? The guy who was ignoring all of Archer's arrows up till now, decided to block just this once?' Naruto thought to himself.
"Did she say he blocked a rank A Noble Phantasm?" Saber asked in a weak voice.
"Hooo," Illya made an impressed sound, "Your Archer's pretty skilled, Rin."
Berseker turned towards Saber again and the blonde duo tensed, "You still wanna fight, huh?" Naruto asked, a little nervous.
"There's no need for that," Illya told them, "I'll let you guys go for now. I don't want to get rid of all the entertainment in one night."
"Heh! You running away?" Naruto asked tauntingly.
"Don't worry, Onii-chan," Illya assuaged, "We'll see each other again soon enough. Let's go, Berserker!"
Berserker growled a bit before he took a massive leap and disappeared into the forest to pick up his Master.
The three waited until the giant thudding footsteps died away before all three relaxed themselves.
Well, Naruto relaxed himself way more than Rin or Saber did.
'Whew! That was intense!' Naruto thought to himself, 'I haven't gone through something like that in a long while!'
'Get used to it,' Kurama ordered, 'Remember, you're gonna have to go through all this for sixteen more days, at most.'
'True.'
'Plus, don't tell me you didn't enjoy that,' Kurama said in an amused tone.
'Eh? How do you figure that?'
'Well, if you didn't enjoy that, then you wouldn't be smiling right now.'
'I'm…smiling?'
"Naruto I am confused," Saber said, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Why are you smiling?"
Naruto laid down on the ground, put his hands on the back of his head, and gave her an enigmatic smile, "I have no idea."
Saber frowned, "I…see."
The two relaxed there for a few seconds before Rin came up to them with a strange expression on her face, "Emiya-kun… Archer and I…we'll be leaving now. Don't forget that we're enemies after tomorrow, okay?"
She swiftly walked away without waiting for a response.
"..."
Naruto raised an eyebrow as he watched her go, 'What's with her?'
Author's Note - I played through the Heavens Feel route, and I gotta say, It's pretty good. I take back what I said earlier, I'm definitely putting some elements of Heavens Feel inside this story.
For those of you who are worried that I'll simply make Naruto do exactly what Shirou did, don't worry. The more the story progresses, the more these events will diverge from the original plot line.