Boken31 – As I said last chapter, Naruto thought that Sasuke would soon arrive to take him back, and everything - including his skills - would revert back to normal. That's also the reason why he didn't really practice. What was the point in training to improve when very soon, he would be back in Konoha with his old skills back? And no, Kiritsugu did not tell Naruto why the fire occurred. You might be right though, Canon Naruto might've trained to make up for his lack of abilities and might've become a second Lee. But, in my opinion, just because we know the character's basic personality and way of thinking, doesn't mean we know exactly what he's going to do in every situation. There are a multitude of decisions a character could make, and, for the sake of the plot, this is the decision Naruto made in my story.

She was dreaming, dreaming about an anachronistic village.

Night had fallen and the village was lit up with lights and was bustling with activity. Looking over the village, was a massive cliff face with four large heads carved in them.

And in that village… a nine tailed fox suddenly appeared.

Saber gasped as she shot up from her bed.

'A… dream?'

She shook her head to get rid of the foolish thought. She was a Servant, and therefore couldn't have dreams.

No… that monstrous nine tailed fox… it was a part of Naruto's past.

That was impossible though. She'd heard of nine tailed foxes before, but none were described to look so… terrifying.

She involuntarily shivered.

She'd only seen it briefly since she had woken up as soon as it had appeared, but… the amount of hate it was leaking… it was blood-curdling.

It was like watching the very incarnation of hate appear before her.

That… thing was a part of Naruto's past?

'Naruto... what… what was that? Why does that thing register as one your earliest memories? …What exactly have you been through?'

Naruto sighed, "Looks like no one attacked us last night…"

'You sound disappointed,' Kurama noted.

'Obviously,' Naruto responded, switching to talking with Kurama mentally so as to not arouse suspicion from anyone who walked in on him, 'The waiting period is worse than the actual combat period. If the enemy attacks, then that means our plan worked; if they don't, then that means we're forced to keep guessing whether the enemy is just waiting to attack us or whether they just didn't see the bait.'

'Not to mention the fact that it's been a long time since you've fought and you're actually looking forward to it,' Kurama continued.

'Yeah I- Oi. I'm not looking forward to fighting,' Naruto denied.

'You and I both know that that's not true,' Kurama said.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, but didn't respond.

He folded up his futon and distracted himself by trying to guess what Sakura made for breakfast,

'Plain old scrambled eggs, maybe?' Naruto wondered.

'No way, that Sakura brat isn't one to make something so simple,' Kurama shot down.

"Hmmm," Naruto hummed to himself as he tried using the smell as indication.

'Oi, Kurama. That's…'

Kurama face-palmed, 'Yeah… it's ramen.'

Naruto fist-pumped. 'Awesome! The ramen that Sakura makes is insanely better than the cup versions!'

Kurama sighed despondently, 'That damn ramen addiction…'

Breakfast had gone by in a flash and it had been about forty minutes since Sakura had left for school when Naruto decided that it was time to get going lest he arrived late for class.

There was only one problem left to deal with before he left.

"I'll be fine. You seriously don't need to go with me, Saber."

"Naruto, you are not careful enough. That carelessness will get you killed," Saber admonished.

"Don't worry about me. Think about it; I'm going to school, so that means I'll be surrounded by students," Naruto argued, "No Master will be able to attack me with that many people around me."

Saber sighed, "Still…"

Naruto gave her a beaming smile, "Don't worry. I'll be back safe and sound in no time."

Saber took a look at his smiling face and felt her defenses crumble, "…Very well. I shall have faith in you. Please do not disappoint me."

"I'll do my best," Naruto promised.

Naruto had gotten to class in time and, as usual, he found himself in the student council's room with Issei before he knew it. Normally, he would've been distracted and unfocused even during lunch, but today was different.

Today, he had a Matou to hunt.

"Hey, Issei," Naruto called out.

Issei, who had been sleeping on the table, turned his head up towards Naruto and raised an eyebrow,

"Well this is a surprise; this is the first time I've seen you start a conversation."

Naruto's eyes narrowed a tiny bit, "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Naruto casually dismissed, "Let me continue, do you know where Shinji is? He wasn't in class today, I know that."

Issei closed his eyes as he thought about Naruto's question, "Hmmm, I don't think anyone told me where he is today. Knowing him though, he's either sick at home or out flirting with girls in an Italian restaurant."

Naruto grinned, "That sounds like him alright."

"That's great. Now let me sleep," Issei groused.

"Why're you so sleepy today?" Naruto asked curiously, "Did you stay up late? That doesn't sound like something you would do…"

"I didn't!" Issei denied, "It's just- no matter how much I sleep, I still feel sleepy all the time."

Naruto raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, 'Tch, why did Shinji have to miss class today of all times?'

Several minutes passed before a steady knock came from the door.

"Looks like someone's here, Issei," Naruto informed, noticing that his friend wasn't getting up.

"Tell them that the Student Council is closed for today," Issei sleepily ordered.

"Ryuudou," Kuzuki-sensei's calm voice called from outside, "I need to talk to you."

Issei did not respond, mainly because he just didn't hear the bespectacled teacher.

"Oi, Issei. It's Kuzuki-sensei. Are you sure you want me to say that?" Naruto asked in an amused tone.

"Ah!" Issei yelled in surprise as he shot up, "I-t's fine! I'll go!"

He proceeded to briskly walk to the door and open it.

"Yes, Kuzuki-sensei?" He inquired.

Kuzuki looked inside the room and spotted Naruto. He greeted the blonde boy with slight nod that said blonde boy barely caught and returned.

"Let's talk in the hallway," Kuzuki suggested.

Issei, not one to disobey a teacher, nodded his head and walked out alongside Kuzuki.

It had been around two minutes when Issei opened the door and reentered the student council room with a grave look on his face.

Naruto, who had been bored out of his mind waiting for Issei, sprang up from his chair and asked excitedly, "What took you so long!? More importantly, what did Kuzuki-sensei say?"

Issei raised an eyebrow, "Hm? What's gotten into you today? You never care about what I do."

Naruto swept aside his claim with a wave of his hand, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm curious. Kuzuki-sensei told you something he doesn't want me to know, and that just makes me want to know more."

"What makes you say that Kuzuki-sensei didn't want you to hear what he told me?" Issei questioned.

"Don't play dumb. If Kuzuki-sensei was okay with me knowing, then he wouldn't have talked with you outside... Or it could be something private. In that case, you don't have to tell me anything." Naruto said, adding in the last part as an afterthought.

Issei put a hand on his chin and held a short mental debate within himself to decide whether he should tell Naruto what he had been told or not.

In the end the part arguing for telling the blonde haired boy won out, "Fine, I'll tell you. It's not like you're an outsider after all."

Naruto propped his hand up on the desk and leaned his head on it while Issei continued, "Yesterday, the school got a call from a family saying that their daughter hadn't come home yet… She… she still hasn't been found."

Naruto tried to but wasn't able to hold back a slight glare from appearing on his face.

"Don't stall, Issei. Who is this missing person?" He asked in a voice as frigid as ice.

Issei averted his eyes from the blonde's, "It's… Mitsuzuri Ayako."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"We're your friends, after all."

He clenched his fists.

Strangely enough, rather than hot anger, he felt cold fury run through him,

"Issei, has anyone found any clues?" He asked in a calm yet dangerous voice.

Issei felt a shiver run down his spine, "N-no. The only thing we know is that the last person that Ayako was seen talking to before disappearing, was Shinji."

'Shinji, huh? It's too early to judge whether Shinji had a hand in Mitsuzuri's disappearance. But… he was the last person she was seen talking to so she may have told him some info like where she was going or something. Looks like I have another reason to hunt him now,' Naruto internally assessed.

"I see…" He said out loud.

Issei looked worriedly at Naruto before he noticed the time, "Oh! Looks like lunch is ending. Let's get back to class before we arrive late."

Naruto honestly wanted to start searching for Shinji immediately, but after putting some more thought into it, he realized that his best method of finding Shinji was probably asking the girls that he hanged out with…or Sakura.

To be honest, he was originally trying to find Shinji without alerting Sakura, but it seems like the situation had changed.

If he started his search now, then he probably wouldn't be able to get any results since Sakura and all the girls that he knew hung out with Shinji would be in class.

The best possible course of action was to wait till school ended, and then he would ask them.

"…Fine, let's go to class," Naruto agreed.

Issei breathed a sigh of relief, "Phew, for a second there, I seriously thought you were going to do something stupid."

Naruto forced a grin, "Heh, I'm not that dumb."

Issei shook his exasperatedly, "Only you think that."

"Oi."

School had ended, and just like every day, the sky had turned red, which in turn had dyed the entire school the same colour.

"Shinji? I'm sorry, but he didn't really tell me why he didn't come to school," A brown haired girl that Naruto had seen with Shinji before, apologetically stated, "I'm sure there's no need to worry. He probably just took a day off since he was sick or something."

Naruto sighed, "I see. Thank you for answering my questions," he politely replied.

"It's no problem, Uzumaki-san. If I see him, I'll definitely tell him that you're looking for him," the brown haired girl said.

"Thanks. That'll help a lot," Naruto responded before he turned and left.

He wandered the now empty hallways as he thought about his next course of action, 'Damn it. That was my last lead. Sakura already said that Shinji wasn't at home in the morning, so him being sick is out. What should I do? Should I ask the teachers?'

He looked out the window as he walked, 'It's getting late… Damnit Shinji, this is all your fault! What the hell are you doing dating thirteen girls anyway!?'

He turned left and walked up the stairs before a flashy red overcoat immediately snapped him out of his thoughts.

There, on top of the stairs stood the one and only, Rin Tohsaka.

Naruto casually raised a hand in greeting, "Yo, Rin. How's it going?"

Rin glared down at Naruto, "When the hell did you get on a first name basis with me? Actually no, that's not important right now. What I want to know at this moment is, how can a person be this dumb?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "Oi, what is this, Make-Fun-Of-Naruto day? Why's everyone calling me dumb for no reason?"

Rin face-palmed, "Emiya-kun, do you have a mental disease, or were you just raised this way?"

Naruto clenched his fists as the twitching in his eye increased in intensity, "Oi, just hurry up and say what you want to say. I have stuff to do."

Rin closed her eyes in dismay before she opened them to reveal her steel filled aqua colored irises, "Emiya-kun. You've gotten all the information about this war from that fake priest, and still you decided to come to school without your Servant. That's the most foolish thing you could have done."

Naruto casually stared at her with dull eyes as she continued, "Emiya-kun…I let you go last night, but don't expect the same courtesy today."

In a flash, Rin rolled up her left sleeve and pointed the unveiled arm marked with a giant blue glowing abstract tattoo at Naruto,

"I told Archer to go home. The 'Gandr Shot' in this magic crest should be enough to defeat you."

"Move, Rin. I don't have time to deal with you," Naruto said with an apathetic look on his face.

"Don't you understand your position here!?" Rin exclaimed angrily, "It doesn't matter whether you want to deal with me or not; you've already lost!"

Naruto let loose a tired sigh, "Oh? How do you figure that?"

Rin's glare darkened, "You've already seen how powerful my Gandr shot is. Even if you have some of those shurikens with you, as soon as you try pull them out, I'll use that opening to fill you with holes."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What if I try to escape?" He challenged, "This staircase has eleven stairs in total, including the top one. I'm on the third stair. That means there's eight stairs in between us; that's too much distance for me to cover to attack you, but that also means that I can escape into the hallway behind me. True, one of your Gandr shots will probably get really close to me, but it's still almost completely certain that I'll manage to escape this stairwell."

Rin's expression didn't change, "And then what?"

Naruto shrugged, "Didn't you say it yourself? You're pointing your 'Gandr Shot' thing at me and that's why I can't take out my shuriken, but… if I escape into the hallway, then I'll easily gain a large enough opening to take out and fire my shuriken."

Contrary to his expectations, Rin did not lose her composure. In fact, she let loose a predatory grin instead, "That's a good plan… too bad I already expected you to do that. Since I'm the one who decided to attack, I had plenty of time to try and predict how you would respond in a situation like this."

Naruto felt an amused smile creep onto his face, "So that's why you chose to attack me here. You already had the entire situation planned out, didn't you?" His amused grin widened, "So? What's this amazing counter of yours?"

Rin's voice and grin both involuntarily allowed a bit of pride leak through, "Reinforcement sorcery. Specifically, reinforcement sorcery applied on my legs. I've already calculated everything. With this, even if you use the corner as cover, I'll easily be able to catch up to you and fire a Gandr shot just as you're about to remove your shurikens from your pockets. Since I pre-applied the Reinforcement sorcery, I'll only be able to use it for one leap."

Rin's eyes danced menacingly, "That one leap though… it'll be more than enough to kill you."

'Looks like she's cornered me. The fact that I don't even have any shuriken with me just makes this situation even worse,' Naruto analyzed casually without letting his expression change.

'What? Why!? Why on Earth would you leave your weapons at home!?' Kurama asked incredulously, 'You know exactly what situation you're in, and you still decide to leave your weapons at home? Why?'

Naruto gave Kurama a sheepish smile, 'I, uh, forgot to bring them with me.'

Kurama looked gobsmacked, 'You… forgot…?'

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Ahahaha, yeah…"

Kurama's eye twitched rapidly before he exploded, 'You absolute DUMBASS! How the hell did you get so far in life with a brain like that? Do you even have one? How the hell are you even functioni-'

'Alright,' Naruto said as he clapped his hands together, That's enough. If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit busy here.'

'So? How do you intend to get out of this mess?' Kurama asked curiously.

Naruto smirked confidently, 'Simple. I'll bluff my ass off.'

'…'

'Oi, Naruto… there's a limit to what you can say with a confident face,' Kurama groaned.

'Yeah, yeah. Just you watch,' Naruto assured, unruffled.

"Give up, Emiya-kun. You've lost," Rin stated with absolute certainty, "If you give up, then all I'll do is take your command seals and wipe your memory of this war ever happening."

Naruto shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, but I really can't do that. I don't know what I'll do with the Holy Grail, but I do know this. Saber wants it. Even after death she's fighting for it, and she trusted me to help her out. What kind of a friend would I be, if I promised to help her out and then gave up at the first opportunity?"

"…I see… so you won't give up. In that case, I'll have to kill you," Rin stated in a voice devoid of any emotion, "I already told you, didn't I? You've already lost."

She was about to fire her Gandr shot before Naruto interrupted her with a smirk and spoke up in an amused voice, "You've clearly put some thought into this."

His cerulean eyes started glowing dangerously against the vivid red atmosphere, "Too bad it wasn't enough."

"What? What do you mean?" To be honest her arm was getting really tired here and she really wanted to hurry it up, but a claim like that hit her pride at point blank range.

"It's true, if I try to take out my shuriken in the corridor, then you'll easily obliterate me, but… what if I try to summon Saber?"

Rin's eyes widened as Naruto continued, "The reason you thought you had me cornered was because if I tried to take out my shuriken while trying to get to cover, my mobility would be hampered and my chances of dodging those Gandr shots would significantly decrease. The same doesn't go for summoning Saber though. Putting my hand in my pocket restricts mobility, especially in these pants, but saying something, on the other hand, doesn't. At least, that's the case for me. If what you said about your calculations was true, then you already know that by the time I get around the corner, Saber will already be there."

Rin grit her teeth.

"And if I summon Saber, you'll have to summon Archer since I'm pretty sure that you don't have the skills to fight a Servant. At least, not Saber," Naruto predicted, "I know that Saber and Archer can't fight here since there are teachers on the first floor and the battle will no doubt end up being extremely chaotic, but… if I summon Saber, then you'll have to summon Archer, because if you don't, then there's no doubt that you'll be defeated in an instant."

Rin remained silent while Naruto shrugged as he continued illustrating the hypothetical scenario, "If we both summon our Servants, then we'll probably both simply retreat. In this hypothetical scenario, we'd both end up using one Command Seal, and we would both suffer the same loss. Only… if that happened, you'd be put in a much more disadvantageous position than me, since you have only two Command Seals left, while I have three."

He menacingly pointed his index finger at her, "In a situation like that… I don't win… but you definitely lose."

"Kuh!" Rin took a step back.

'…Which part of that was a bluff?' Kurama asked as he analyzed Naruto's words.

'The part where I said that I would summon Saber,' Naruto informed, 'Everything I said is possible, but I won't summon Saber unless it's an absolute emergency. There's a classroom just around the corner. Even if she can shoot at me before I can take out my shuriken, I can dodge into the classroom and jump out the window to escape her. If I'm fast enough, that is.'

'Why not just summon Saber?' Kurama questioned.

'There are seven Servants in this war. Out of those seven Servants, we've only seen four. Out of those four, we know the Noble Phantasms of three. Berserker's twelve lives, Saber's Excalibur, and Archer's… whatever that explosion was. My point is, we don't know anything about our enemies, and the ones that we do know about, are all extremely strong. We don't know when we might need Saber's Noble Phantasm.'

His glare darkened as he thought about their situation, 'This situation is only made worse by the fact that Saber's Noble Phantasm uses almost all of her energy. We can't go around wasting Command Seals.'

'So, it would've been risky, but you could have escaped anytime,' Kurama summarized.

'Well, Yes, but...'

Kurama gave Naruto a questioning look but Naruto's focus had already resurfaced in the outside world.

"I… lost? Without even fighting?" Rin asked as she lowered her arm and took a step back.

Naruto stared at her with a silent frown as she continued, "How? How the hell did I lose against a normal person like you!?"

The blonde haired boy let her catch her breath before he answered,

"It's because we're friends."

Rin clenched her fists and glared at Naruto, "What kind of a vague answer is that!? That doesn't even make sense!"

Naruto stretched his fist out towards her and grinned happily, "It does. It absolutely does. Even if we haven't officially sealed our friendship, even if you say that we aren't friends, on the inside you still count me as a friend," he resolutely said, "I know this because you told me about the Reinforcement sorcery applied on your legs."

"What? Are you saying that I wanted you to defeat me? I'm a hundred percent sure that that's not the case," Rin huffed as she angrily put her hands on her waist.

Naruto casually waved his arm in front of him to show his dismissal, "Obviously that's not the case. That would be stupid. No… you already told me the real reason, remember? You were the one who said, "Give up, Emiya-kun."

Rin narrowed her eyes as Naruto's grin widened, 'Heh, that's right. If you were fighting me and you weren't my friend then you would have still asked me to give up, but you wouldn't have told me about the Reinforcement sorcery in case I rejected your offer of surrender and tried to escape you."

"I… wanted you to give up?" Rin asked, still a little confused.

"Yep!" Naruto chirped jubilantly, "you gave me all that info because you wanted me to see just how hopeless my situation was. You tried extra hard to get me to give up so that you didn't have to kill me. All because we're friends."

"And because of all that information, you were able to make a counter strategy," Rin finished for Naruto.

"Heh. Exactly," Naruto said as he rubbed his nose, "So stop being so stubborn and fist-bump me already!"

Rin glared at the blonde boy, but… that expectant face of his made short work of her defenses.

She sighed before she flushed a bit and walked down towards him, but as soon as they got within three steps of each other, a loud scream rang out from the floor below them.

Instantly, the two Masters' expressions became grim as they gave each other a nod and shot down the stairs in an effort to locate the source of the scream.

They skidded into the hallway and ran through it until they found a brown haired girl unconscious and twitching in front of the emergency exit.

'That's the girl I talked to before I faced Rin!' Naruto noticed, 'It looks like she's unconscious… but, that twitching and labored breathing… it's abnormal…'

"Rin, she's not just unconscious is she?" He asked gravely.

"…Yeah. It looks like she's been drained dry," Rin noted.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Drained dry? What's that?"

Rin bent down, took a green jewel out of her pocket and pressed it against the brown haired girl's chest, "It means that her life energy's been drained," she explained, sweating in exertion and concentration, "I can probably save her with this jewel…"

Naruto looked down at her in concern before a flash of silver caught his eye.

A stake connected to a chain flew towards Rin and would have easily gone through her face if Naruto hadn't brought a fist up and sent it flying upwards. One second, the stake was heading towards the ceiling, by the next, it had already been retracted back out the emergency exit.

Rin had a look of shock on her face, 'He… he deflected that? Impossible! No normal human could've deflected something moving that fast! Intercepting it if you know where it's going, that's within the realm of believability, but… to deflect it…'

Naruto gazed at his hand, the hand that had just deflected away that silver stake, 'I can see it.'

A small grin creeped up onto his face, 'Looks like watching all these high speed battles is improving my eyes. My eyes might even reach their old level…'

Kurama scrutinized Naruto as his slit ruby eyes narrowed, 'No… no human can improve that fast… not even a shinobi. If I didn't know any better, then I would have thought that you're regaining the skills suppressed inside of you.'

'You mean that's not what's happening? If not, then what actually is?' Naruto asked, tired of his complicated circumstance.

'It's true that your eyes are improving because of all the high speed battles that you're trying to keep up with, but there's something accelerating that improvement,' Kurama explained, 'Namely, it's your old skills. You're not regaining your old skills, but those very same old skills are helping you improve faster.'

'I, uh, totally get it,' Naruto said as he put a hand on his chin and squinted his eyes.

'You have no idea what I just said, do you?' Kurama deadpanned.

Naruto looked down at the ground and gave up his obvious lie, "Yeah…"

'Think of it this way; you'll get stronger faster than normal, but unless you find something to keeps the Earth's power away from you, you won't be able to actually defeat a Servant in a fair face-to-face battle,' Kurama simplified.

'What happens if I do find something to keep Earth's power away from me?' Naruto asked.

'Simple. As soon as Earth's power stops suppressing you, you'll get all your old powers back. From your instincts to your old skills. Even the physical stuff like your muscle memory. Everything in this body will be overwritten by the power that you had before. In other words, you'll get back everything. That's only as long as the Earth doesn't suppress you though. As soon as the Earth's power manages to make contact with you again, your powers will all recede back into your body and be replaced by the stuff that was raised in this world,' Kurama explained.

'...Probably,' he added as an afterthought.

Naruto looked at his hand again, 'I see.'

'…'

'…Not to interrupt, but I think you have something to do,' Kurama reminded.

'Oh, right!' Naruto's head snapped back up as he focused on the outside world.

He turned his head to look at Rin and saw her holding a glowing green gem over the brown haired girl's heart with a look of intense concentration on her face.

"Oh? I'm surprised, Emiya-kun," she said as the gem disappeared and the glow died down, "I thought you would go straight after the person who threw that stake."

She wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Looks like we had the same idea. The attacker can't afford to make a lot of ruckus, so the only way that they can attack are from the entrances. That means, if we watch out for the windows and the emergency exit, we stand a higher chance in fending them off."

"Uh… yeah. That's totally why I stayed here and didn't chase after that person," Naruto laughed nervously before his tone became serious, "That was a Servant, right?

"Obviously. I didn't sense any magic being used, and only a Servant could throw a weapon that fast without magic," she paused for a second before she amended her sentence, "Well, technically there are a lot of beings out there who could have thrown something that fast, but this person was attacking us during the Holy Grail War and normal mages generally can't throw something that fast without magic. That's why I came to the conclusion that this was a Servant."

Naruto sweat dropped, "You really didn't need to explain all of that to me, ya know? I got what you meant at the start."

Rin bowed her head in seemingly sincere apology, "I'm sorry. I just thought that you were too dumb to understand the omitted parts without the proper explanation attached."

A vein throbbed on the side of Naruto's forehead, 'Seriously, this bitch…'

Rin looked around a bit more before she slightly relaxed her body, "Looks like the enemy's gone. It should be safe to take her to the nurse's office now."

"Good, then you go and take her there," Naruto instructed, "I have something else to do."

Rin raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"

"Mitsuzuri's missing and the last person who was spotted speaking to her was Shinji," Naruto explained somberly, "I wanted to ask him if he knew anything but he was absent today. I already asked all the students who should know where he is but it seems none of them do, so I was going to ask the teachers whether they knew where he was."

Rin's eyes widened, "Ayako's missing? I see, so that's why you were in such a hurry before. Although, I have to ask, the teachers were downstairs so why were you trying to head upwards?"

"I wanted to check the third year's class in case he left one of his girlfriends a note or something that explained where he went. It was a long shot but I already checked our class, so I thought, 'why not?'," Naruto explained, "There was still some time before the teachers left so I figured that I had enough time to check there before asking them."

He leveled a pissed off glare at Rin, "too bad I don't have enough time for that anymore because SOMEONE decided to attack me."

"Even if I didn't attack you, this girl would have been attacked anyway; you still wouldn't have had time to inspect that classroom," Rin casually dismissed, "More importantly, why don't you check Shinji's house? He's probably sick or something."

"That's what everyone thinks, but Sakura said that he wasn't at home when she left in the morning,' Naruto informed, "So I at least know that he's not sick at home."

"He might've gone home by now though," he added as an afterthought.

"I get why the teachers didn't tell everyone that Ayako's missing, but how did you find out, Emiya-kun?" Rin interrogated as she put a hand on her chin.

"Kuzuki-sensei told Issei, and after a bit of questioning, Issei told me," Naruto answered.

"That means that Issei wasn't really supposed to tell you, right?" Rin pointed out.

"Yeah, so? Where're you going with this?" Naruto questioned.

"Fujimura-sensei comes to visit you a lot, doesn't she?" Rin asked rhetorically, completely ignoring Naruto's question, "I think you should ask her, instead of all the teachers here. The teachers all get the same info so if you ask just Fujimura-sensei, it won't make a difference."

Naruto squinted his eyes, "Why do you want me to ask only Fuji-nee?"

Rin raised her index finger in a manner reminiscent of a teacher, "If you ask only Fujimura-sensei, then along with information about Shinji, you can also ask for information about Ayako without getting Issei in trouble. You and Fujimura-sensei are quite close after all."

"You want me to ask about Mitsuzuri too?" Naruto inquired.

Rin nodded her head, "Exactly, she might've disappeared because of something to do with magic. The teachers may have found a clue that I can use but they can't."

She paused for a second before she lowered her finger and continued, "Plus, I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Go on," Naruto prompted.

Rin shook her head, "Not here. I'm pretty sure that no enemy Master is listening in, but it's better to be safe the sorry. Let's get this girl to the nurse's office, then let's go to my home and talk."

Naruto had a short mental debate on what do and the side which said listening to Rin was a good idea won out, "Fine, let's go," he agreed as he lifted the brown haired girl and put her on his back, piggyback style.

"You have a freakin' mansion!?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Rin flicked her hair back, "Impressed?"

Naruto glared at her but didn't say anything.

Rin let out a patronizing laugh, "Don't worry, your traditional Japanese house doesn't look bad either."

"How do you know what my house looks like?" Naruto asked, confused.

Rin blushed a bit, "I-I-uhhh it's because Fujimura-sensei told me!" She yelled out, "Yeah! That's why I know!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I…see…?"

Kurama face-palmed, 'Naruto… you're one of the dumbest people I've ever met.'

'Eh? Why!?' Naruto asked, 'What did I do now!?'

'Just… just don't worry about it.' Kurama sighed out, sounding like he'd given up on something.

'O…kay…?'

Kurama watched Naruto interact with the black haired girl and privately wondered to himself, 'She doesn't seem like the stalker type though...'

"Like I said, this won't take long. I just need to talk to you about something," Rin reassured.

"I hope so… Saber's probably already really pissed at me," Naruto nervously let slip.

"Then let's hurry it up," Rin suggested, "Follow me."

Naruto sighed but didn't resist. He figured that the faster this was over, the faster he could get home and temper Saber's rage.

"You want to team up?" Naruto asked, a little surprised. He had thought that she was too proud for this sort of thing, but it seems like she was a lot more practical than he thought.

"Didn't I just say that?" Rina asked snidely.

"Yeah… but I don't get why." Naruto told her.

"It's because we're in the same boat now," Rin informed, "We were both lured out by an enemy Master. An enemy Master who now knows our identity while we don't know theirs. In other words, we're at a disadvantage."

She held out her hand, "I figured that us allying together would be enough to make up for that disadvantage. What do you say?"

Naruto's response was instantaneous, "Sure, why not," he accepted as he shook her hand.

Rin looked a little surprised at his split-second decision before she smiled a bit, "That's just like you, Emiya-kun…" She muttered under her breath.

"Hm? What was that?" Naruto asked, leaning in closer.

"Nothing. I was just saying that calling you 'Naruto' is much easier than calling you 'Emiya-kun'," Rin said, her smile brightening, "That's why, that's what I'm going to call you from now on, Na-ru-to-kun."

Naruto let go of her hand and shrugged, "Fine with me. I don't really care about stuff like that."

Rin let out a small giggle before she thought of something, "You have to get home quickly, right? Want me to tell Archer to carry you home?"

"No, I'm good," Naruto declined, "Saber's gonna kill me anyway, so there's no point in being carried back home by a guy in a skirt."

"Oi. Who the hell are calling 'guy in a skirt'? Archer asked, his eye twitching as he materialized right beside Rin.

"Holy crap! You were here!?" Naruto yelled in surprise, putting a hand on his chest, "Don't be creepy you weird Servant in drag!"

"S-Servant in drag?" Archer asked incredulously, "This shroud is both stylish and fabulous, if you must know."

"…The fact that you're called a Servant makes this even worse," Naruto continued, blatantly ignoring Archer's rebuttal, "I mean what would a person think if they heard, 'hey, I have a Servant with me who's always in drag,' huh?

"I'm not-" Archer testily started before he was interrupted by Rin.

"Puhahahahah! It's fine isn't it," she said between breaths, "I mean- you actually do have something that looks kinda like a skirt on!"

Archer's eye-twitching intensified, "Oi, Master. Are you sure we have to cooperate with him? Are you sure we can't kill him? Not even a little bit?"

Rin heaved a few breaths before she calmed down, "Yes, I'm sure that you can't kill him. It'd be a waste of a manservan- I mean of an ally."

Naruto glared at her, "Oi, I heard something really scary there. You wanna explain what you were about to say there, Rin-san?"

Rin waved her hand in dismissal, "You should get going Naruto-kun. It's getting quite late."

Naruto looked up at the clock and gulped, "Crap! Saber's going to kill me. See ya, Rin! We'll discuss the plan tomorrow!" He said as he ran out the door.

Rin cheerfully waved goodbye as he left before she addressed the Servant standing beside her, "Archer, escort him home. Make sure nothing happens to that careless guy."

Archer's glare remained but he complied nonetheless.

"Hurry up. Why are you just standing here?" Archer asked as he materialized behind Naruto.

The blonde boy had just been standing on the road and staring at the front entrance to his house for about five minutes now. Frankly, Archer was getting really tired of watching the blonde boy just standing there, and wanted him to seriously hurry it up.

"Oh, did Rin send you to escort me, Dragcher?" He asked in a subdued voice, without averting his gaze.

"D-Dragcher?" Archer incredulously asked, "Who the hell is that!? Is that me!? It better not be me!"

Naruto gracefully ignored Archer's protest and continued, "Hey, can you come inside with me, Dragcher? I'm afraid of what Saber will do to me of I enter now."

Dragcher face palmed, "I should just kill you now, seriously, just go die in hole somewhere. Please. It'd make everyone's life a lot easier."

"So will you come inside with me?" Naruto asked, still ignoring whatever Dragcher said, "Please man, I'm sweating buckets here."

"No."

"Damnit Dragcher, Rin sent you to escort me right?" Naruto asked.

"…yes…" Dragcher hesitantly confirmed, "and stop calling me Dragcher."

"So protect me from the Servant that's about to kill me, please," Naruto answered, ignoring the last part.

"Enough with the histrionics, just go," Dragcher commanded.

"…Fine," Naruto complied as he pouted before a solemn frown overtook it,

"Hey Dragcher… make sure to protect her, okay?"

Archer looked surprised for a second, before he smirked, "Hn, I don't need you to tell me to do that… and seriously, stop calling me Dragcher."

Naruto let out a small smile as he unlocked the front door, "I'm glad… I'm glad that she got a Servant like you."

He looked back and all he saw was an empty street devoid of Archer's signature red presence.

Naruto smirked, "Heh, that bastard."

IMPORTANT

Author's Note 1 – A reviewer recently suggested that Gilgamesh be female. At first, I couldn't even figure out how I would characterize that. Then, I read 'Wife of The Golden King' which I can't find again for some reason, and read the wiki to get me a more in-depth view on his personality. So now I'm pretty sure I can write Gilgamesh as any one of them, a female or male. The only thing remaining is to actually decide which gender to make him. That's where you guys come in. I set up a poll so that you guys can decide which gender you want Gilgamesh as. The poll will be open until his actual appearance in the story.

Author's note 2 – I know that the Kurama appearing in the village scene wasn't really a part of Naruto's memories, but let's just pretend that it is. I mean- Shirou saw parts of Saber's past from a third person perspective right?