Disclaimer - I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor do I own Naruto
Saber watched as Naruto struggled to move against the black control rods shoved through his hands and body, pinning him to the ground courtesy of Pein. Now, considering the fact that Naruto had summoned her for the Holy Grail War he had clearly made it out of that ordeal with Pein alive, but still, as she watched Pein reach out to capture and extract Naruto, she automatically found herself hoping for someone to come and save him.
Her prayers were answered in the form of a lavender-haired girl.
"I won't let you lay another finger on Naruto-kun!" The lavender-haired girl (Hinata, Saber recognized) yelled as she tried to strike Pein with her unique brand of Taijutsu. The strike didn't manage to land, but it did manage to force Pein to retreat a few meters away from Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened as he struggled harder against the black rods pining him to the ground, "What're you doing here!?" He yelled, his voice racked with panic, "Get out of here! You're no match-"
"I know," Hinata's soft voice echoed, injected with some kind of mysterious emotion which snapped Naruto into silence, "I'm... just being selfish..."
Saber could see Naruto's confusion, frustration and worry peak, "What're you talking about!? What're you doing here!? it's dangerous!"
Hinata activated her byakugan and glared at Pein, her resolve burning in her eyes so intensely that even though Saber knew that this was only a memory, she still felt her body tense in anticipation of a particularly fierce attack.
"...I'm here of my own free will," Hinata said softly.
Confusion flashed through Naruto's eyes, but he couldn't seem to open his mouth and actually ask what she meant. To be honest, Saber felt the same way.
"...I used to always cry and give up..." Hinata continued, her eyes gazing at something only she could see, "I nearly went the wrong way... But you... you showed me the right way..."
"..."
I was always chasing you... wanting to overtake you... I just wanted to walk with you..." Hinata paused for a second before she spoke again, "I wanted to be with you... You changed me! Your smile saved me! So I'm not afraid to die protecting you!"
Pein brought down the full force of his glare upon Hinata, but Hinata only smiled,
"Because I... love you..."
And then, she charged.
When Naruto finally made it back home - late again, she might add - Saber noticed that he had a different look in his eyes and a different gait than when he had left that morning. She would've called him out on it, but she had plenty to ponder about herself and wasn't really in the mood to pry.
"Ready?" Naruto asked. He'd already changed out of his uniform and into his orange hoodie and jeans.
Saber gave him a look, "Naruto, I am always prepared. You were the one who had to freshen up and change."
Naruto grinned as he put on his shoes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. If we're all done here then let's get going. Rin's gonna be crazy angry if we arrive late."
"I will be sure to tell her exactly why we were late," Saber intoned, shooting Naruto an annoyed glare.
Naruto gave a nervous chuckle in response as the duo exited the house, making sure to lock the door behind them.
The Mion river glittered under the cloudless sky as Naruto and Saber walked alongside it. Of course there were railings to prevent people from falling in, and there was a slight elevated distance between the actual river and the path that people were allowed to walk on, but Naruto and Saber were walking close enough to the river to render the description "alongside" apt.
"Can I ask you something, Naruto?" Saber asked hesitantly, breaking the comfortable silence that they had settled into up to this point.
Naruto nodded, "Sure, go ahead."
"Why are you here?
Naruto raised his eyebrows, "What do you mean?
"I already know that you're from an entirely different dimension, but I don't understand why you're here exactly."
Naruto nodded again, "Ah, you probably saw my past in your dreams, right?"
Saber silently nodded.
"Yeah, that weird priest told me that this "dreaming of the other person's past" thing would work both ways."
"So?" Saber pressed, "Why did you come to this dimension?"
Naruto chuckled wryly, "It was honestly a mistake. I wanted to explore new dimensions, but a weird sigil interfered with the technique that I was using and deposited me to this hostile dimension where my powers remain completely suppressed."
Saber frowned and tried to ignore the sting she felt inside her from Naruto basically telling her that he regretted his decision to come here. Instead, she latched on to another part of his explanation, "You have the ability to move through dimensions?"
Naruto shook his head, "No, not me. You know Sasuke, right?"
Saber nodded, "Yes, I saw him in your memories."
"Yeah well, it's actually Sasuke who has that ability. I was just the one he was using it on."
Saber nodded in understanding, "I see..." she still had another question to ask though, "However, there is still one thing I don't understand. You said that you were adopted by Kiritsugu when you were ten years-old, but considering your memories, you were still in your own home dimension at that age."
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I guess it wouldn't make much sense to you if you didn't see everything. Well basically, when I arrived in this dimension the world itself tried to suppress me 'cause I was unnatural or something. I don't know much about what happened, but the world didn't completely succeed or fail. It managed to suppress my powers and de-age me back to a ten year-old, but it failed to actually make me disappear entirely."
"I see..." Saber said before giving him a small smile, "You live an incredibly exciting life don't you, Naruto?"
Naruto smirked, "I guess-"
Suddenly, Saber's eyes barely caught the rapidly expanding shadow on the ground that indicated that at least something was descending upon them before she grabbed Naruto and leaped forward to dodge.
A small explosion of grey dust rocked the ground behind her as she landed, and in an instant, Saber spun to face their attacker.
There, in front of her stood a bald and wrinkly old man with obvious cruelty visible in his sulphuric eyes. The old man was garbed in traditional Japanese brown and green dressing, and was leaning on a wooden cane. To be honest, he actually looked quite frail.
Was this old man another Master?
"Zouken!" Naruto exclaimed from beside her, "Why the hell are you here, you wrinkly old fart!?"
The man identified as Zouken cackled in such a way, that even though he looked so frail, Saber couldn't help but shiver a bit.
"Kakakaka! How disrespectful, boy! It's been some time since I've been the target of such disrespect!"
Saber could hear Naruto loudly gritting his teeth before he spoke, "Just answer the question, damnit!"
Zouken smirked and the shadows instantly seemed a little darker than they had a second ago, "Oh, I just came here in search for a new Servant," he said as if he were simply discussing the weather, "You wouldn't happen to have one, would you?"
"I knew you were creepy the instant I met you," Naruto growled, "But I seriously didn't expect you to be a part of this stupid ritual."
Zouden's smirk widened as he gave her a predatory look, as if he were eyeing a particularly delicious morsel, "I'm not. By tomorrow, however, I will be."
Saber instantly picked up on his intentions and primed her invisible weapon, "And how exactly do you intend to do that?" She asked as she warily watched his every little action. Who knew what kind of tricks this old man was hiding?
Zouken simply upheld his smirk, and then, suddenly, the air froze as hate, anger and all sorts of negative emotions pervaded the air. The world darkened around her and it almost seemed as if the world itself had distorted.
"Wh-what?" She hoarsely whispered.
Zouken's smirk only widened, "Behind you," he said, his voice barely audible to her ears.
Normally, Saber would never take her eyes off her enemies; to do so would simply be foolhardy. These, however, were not normal conditions, and so she almost automatically turned around to face whatever was exuding such an extreme presence.
It was a strange, unidentifiable... thing. The thing had the height of a normal human, but it looked almost unsubstantial, as if the it were shadow that had simply decided to stand up. It's shaped resembled that of jellyfish's or some sort of sea monster, but Saber could not identify this... shadow's true species even with the vast knowledge that the Holy Grail provided her with.
"Wh-what is that?" Naruto whispered from beside her.
She did not know how to answer his question, but apparently Zouken already had one prepared,
"Your doom."
And then, as if those words were a command or switch or something, the Shadow suddenly shot forward and whipped one of its tentacles at her. Saber instinctively dodged before her mind could comprehend the situation, and retreated a ways away from the Shadow and Zouken. She didn't know why, but her instincts were screaming at her to avoid touching the Shadow at all costs.
"My, my, Saber... afraid?" Zouken taunted.
Saber could do nothing but grit her teeth.
"It feels familiar..." Kurama said.
'What does?' Naruto asked as he leapt away from both Zouken and the Shadow and landed beside Saber.
"That feeling that Shadow thing is giving off is something I've felt before..." Kurama explained.
'We'll figure out why later,' Naruto said, 'Right now we have figure a way out to deal with this thing. I feel like it isn't going to be anything simple as stabbing it with a kunai...'
"Obviously."
Naruto surfaced from his mental conversation and briefly glanced at his surroundings.
"All the people are gone," he noted as he turned to Zouken, "Neither Saber nor I felt anything when we entered this area, which means that you chased all the people off beforehand. How did you know we were going to pass through here?"
"Brilliant deduction," Zouken praised, "I must admit though, I'm surprised that you two didn't notice the unusual lack of people while you were walking."
Naruto didn't know about Saber, but he had been to busy with thinking about the events of this evening to actually notice anything unusual. A foolish mistake in hindsight.
"I had some stuff on my mind."
Zouken cackled, "Kakaka! I see. Now, to answer your question, I already knew that you two were headed for the Tohsaka manor so I emptied out a spot on the way from the Emiya house to the Tohsaka manor in order to prepare our battleground in advance."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Oh?"
"Of course, if you two had simply taken to the rooftops, then I would've had to attack you in midair- which would have been extremely inconvenient. I'm grateful that you decided to walk."
"And how did you get to know that we were heading to the Tohsaka manor in the first place?" Naruto asked, his tone taking on a dangerous lilt.
Zouken cackled again, "Kakakaka! Shinji, of course! You neutralizing him gave me something incredible in return! An unknowing spy!"
Naruto scowled. This was bad. Zouken would not have attacked if he wasn't sure of his victory. This entire battle had been initiated by a fully informed Zouken which put them at an extreme disadvantage.
Naruto took a quick glance at Saber. She had regained her bearings, and was already looking calm and confident. However, she was unable to hide her unwillingness to face the Shadow. She was edging away from it and was watching it like a hawk, but she did not seem hesitant due to fear - No, it seemed more as if she was wary of that thing due to her gut instincts, like a person is not afraid of an extremely hot pan, but is unwilling to touch it.
The plan was obvious then.
"You take Zouken, I'll take the Shadow," he commanded.
"What!?" Saber hissed, "No! I cannot leave you to fight against that-"
"You have to!" Naruto interrupted, "Zouken knew there were two of us, but he still joined in this battle. This means that he at least has something else up his sleeve!"
"That Shadow is not any different!" Saber argued hotly, "The abilities of the Shadow and Zouken are both unknown!"
"Yeah, but Zouken's probably controlling the Shadow," Naruto pointed out, "Take down Zouken, and you take down that Shadow thing. Zouken has the higher priority here, and you're stronger than me right now."
Saber glared at him out of the corner of her eye before she sighed and conceded, "Very well. Please be careful."
"Aren't I always?"
"Are you two done?" Zouken asked, a chilling sneer on his face.
Naruto grinned, "Yep! You better prepare for the largest beatdown of our life!"
Saber shot towards Zouken like a bullet and raised her blade high, ready to neatly cut him in half when, suddenly, Zouken put up a hand and calmly rasped,
"Wait. I only wish to speak with you."
Saber felt the urge to ignore his words and bring down her sword, but she suppressed that urge. No matter how much this old man creeped her out, she was still a knight, and cutting through a person proposing dialogue over combat as a solution to their conflict went against her code and honor.
"You have ten seconds. Talk," she bit out, bringing the tip of her invisible blade to his neck. She had not forgotten the fact that it had been Zouken who had initiated this conflict in the first place.
Zouken smirked, showing absolutely no fear or nervousness, "Very well, I'll keep this short then: You can't win."
Saber narrowed her eyes, "Can't win? I believe you are forgetting the fact that you are at my mercy, fiend," She made a small cut on Zouken's neck to emphasize her point.
Zouken didn't even flinch, "Yes, you can cut me down, but even if you do, there is simply no way for you to defeat my... Shadow, as your Master called it."
"Useless posturing."
Zouken's smirk widened, "Don't be so quick to judge, Saber. As I'm sure you've already sensed, Servants are the natural prey for my Shadow, but what you don't know is that all mana-less physical objects are useless against it."
Saber grit her teeth, "You mean..."
"Yes... now you see don't you? on matter how resourceful or skilled your Master is, he simply cannot defeat my Shadow."
Saber's hand trembled with a strange combination of rage and nervousness, "And why should I believe you?"
Zouken let loose a harsh chuckle, "Don't be a fool, Saber. You know I'm telling the truth- your instincts and intuition are too sharp for me to fool you."
He wasn't wrong. Saber couldn't sense lies, but she could tell that Zouken was completely confident at the moment, even with a blade pointed at his neck. It was very likely that what he was saying was true.
"I will simply kill you then," Saber said, "With you dead, that Shadow will no doubt disappear too."
"Once again, you are mistaken; Killing me will not disperse my Shadow, it will only release my control over it. Can you guess what will happen if I lose control over my Shadow?"
Saber glared at him, silently waiting for his answer.
"My Shadow craves mana, and if I lose control over it, then it will go on an indiscriminate rampage in search of mana," Saber's eyes widened as Zouken's ugly smirk turned even more sinister, "innocent people, mages, Servants, Masters... no matter what they are, my Shadow won't hesitate to consume them."
Saber took a deep breath to calm her tumultuous stomach before leveling a cool glare at Zouken, "Oh? And you think I will simply take your words at face value? At the very least, Naruto is resourceful, if anyone can defeat that abomination, then it is my Master."
Zouken looked unfazed, "Well, I cannot prove my Shadow's desires in a way that wouldn't anger you, but why don't we watch the battle behind you? Let's see how effective your magic-less Master proves against my Shadow."
Saber took a moment to mull the idea over in her head before she walked over to Zouken's back - sword still pointed at his throat - and faced the direction she had just come from. From this position both Zouken and Saber could see the battle between Naruto and the Shadow.
"Don't you dare move," Saber commanded.
Zouken let out another raspy chuckle, "Don't worry, Saber, I have no intention of doing so."
Somehow, that didn't reassure her one bit.
Naruto's eyes roved over the Shadow as he tried to find some sort of weak point to target.
He was decidedly unsuccessful. He gave a mental shrug as he brought out multiple kunai and shuriken; he'd never figure out this thing's powers if he just sat there and stared at it.
"Well, nothing to it!" He said with a grin as he let the kunai and shuriken fly. The projectiles made contact with the Shadow, and for just a moment Naruto thought that defeating this thing had actually been as simple as stabbing it with a kunai, before the notion was erased from his mind when the kunai and shuriken simply passed through the Shadow like it was simply a hologram or something.
The grin dropped off his face, 'Kamui!?'
The similarities between this Shadow's power to slip through objects and Obito's power to slip through objects was uncanny. This was disturbing; he didn't have enough weapons to make use of the five minute time limit weakness that Obito had, and the other method - the one his dad had used against Obito - was simply too risky. Saber may have been more deeply affected by that Shadow's presence, but that didn't mean that he had any doubt that something bad would happen if he let that thing touch him.
Worse yet, he wasn't even sure if this Shadow had the same weaknesses as Obito. How would he even go about figuring this thing's-
A rapidly approaching tentacle snapped him out of his musings and forced him dodge backwards. The Shadow persisted and surrounded the blonde boy with three more tentacles, which proceeded to shoot towards him like a bullet. Naruto barely managed to jump above the tentacles and threw his remaining kunai with all his might at the nearest tentacle-free area and pulled on the thin wire-string he had tied to it. This way he pulled himself away from the four tentacles shooting towards him from underneath and landed on strictly pavement.
Naruto frowned and watched the four tentacles retract back into the Shadow. Maybe if he could get a read on the emotions that the Shadow was feeling, then he could come up with some sort of plan. Unfortunately, the Shadow didn't even have a face, thereby making the task of reading its emotions a lot harder than he wanted it to be.
'You got anything, Kurama?'
'No,' Kurama's eyes narrowed as he spoke, 'This thing... it's filled with so many negative emotions that I can't even get a solid read on it. It's all a jumbled mess.'
Apparently, the Shadow had had enough by this point, because the power it was exuding rapidly skyrocketed. Countless shadowy tentacles sprouted from its body and gathered behind it like a giant black cloud.
There was no indication or signal. One moment, the Shadow simply hovered there, the next, all of its tentacles shot forwards like countless black laser beams.
'DODGE!'
Naruto let out a strained grin, 'You don't need to yell, you bastard!'
With that, he charged straight at the barrage. Right when the tentacles were about to pierce through him, he leaped and corkscrewed between the extremely narrow gaps of attack.
He didn't stop once he landed. The black tentacles kept coming from the Shadow, wave after wave, and it took every single muscle in his body to avoid touching any of them. He ducked, weaved, rolled, and leaped through the countless number of tentacles.
A thought occurred to him, 'I can see them...'
He had no doubt that his Elemental Nations self's eyes would have had no trouble keeping up with this barrage, but his Earth self... a few days ago, his eyes would have easily lost the countless tentacles. But now...
Naruto's eyes blazed as he pirouetted around another tentacle.
There!
In one clean swipe, he let loose his final remaining kunai- which whizzed through the air without hitting a single tentacle, and pierced through the Shadow.
Rolling underneath under another incoming tentacle, Naruto looked up hopefully, only to see the barrage still continuing. The kunai had done absolutely nothing- the Shadow didn't even look fazed.
His eyes widened as his insides churned nervously, 'Does... does thing have no weaknesses? Even Obito's weakness didn't work on it!'
He tried to advance, but a sudden flash of black right in front of his face forced him to drop backwards towards the ground. Using his legs as a spring, he leaped even further back, all the while twisting and weaving through the barrage. Without any weapons, there was no way to attack this thing. Not that the weapons had actually managed to do anything.
He had to think of a new plan.
"He's growing tired..." Zouken smirked as he watched the blond Master dance around the Shadow's unstopping barrage, "Make your choice, Saber."
Saber's hand trembled as her mind raced. What should she do? Naruto had no chance against that Shadow, and her instincts - which she trusted above all else - were already screaming at her to not fight with it. Should she take his offer to surrender?
No, that would be too hasty.
Saber hand stop trembling as her sword inched closer to Zouken's neck. Perhaps... killing him would be the best option?
"My Shadow craves mana, and if I lose control over it, then it will go on an indiscriminate rampage in search of mana."
Those were the words he had said back then, and her intuition and instincts hadn't detected a single lie. Perhaps he was just an extremely skilled liar who could fool even her instincts and intuition, but nevertheless, she couldn't take the risk.
Like she said, her instincts were one of the only things she she trusted above all else after all.
In that case, the best option would be to retreat.
Naruto would be so pissed.
Naruto panted, and sweat ran down his face as he continued to create space between him and the Shadow, all the while dodging its relentless barrage.
He was running out of energy, an experience he hadn't been through in a long time. He could only keep this up for five minutes tops, and unfortunately, he still hadn't come up with a viable plan.
'Duck!'
Naruto didn't even hesitate. he dropped to the ground at the command and watched a black tentacle fly past from above him - through the spot where he had just been standing - and let out a sigh of relief.
"Damn..." He muttered in between pants, "I'm all outta-"
"Naruto!" Saber's voice called out from above him right before a blast of wind cleared out a small part of the tentacle barrage in front of him. Another wave of black tentacles were already in the process of filling that hole in the barrage, but Saber was a split-second faster. She landed right in front of Naruto, scooped him up and leaped away just before the tentacles hit her.
Flying through the air in Saber's arms princess-style, Naruto finally managed to feel the true extent of his exhaustion as the wintry wind cooled away his adrenaline. His heart was desperately pounding in his chest and he was rapidly breathing, trying to shove as much air into his lungs as fast as possible.
"Hang on, Naruto!" Saber yelled as she swerved around... a black tentacle? What the hell? The Shadow was still chasing them?
Saber grunted as she landed and almost lost her balance before she shot off away from the rapidly approaching Shadow.
The Shadow fired four more tentacles, and Saber managed to barely dodge three of them before the last one struck the ground in front of her, throwing her off her feet and causing her to accidentally let go of Naruto.
Naruto skidded across the ground due to inertia and-
BANG!
He only came to a stop when he slammed loudly against the railway separating the walking area from the Mion river. The metal railway bent behind him from the force of the impact.
He groaned in pain as a painful buzz muffled his ears, and tried to bring himself up, but the blinding pain in his back and his exhaustion made him too dizzy and confused to even muster up the strength to do that.
Tok, Tok, Tok... the sound of a wooden cane softly tapping against the ground slowly got louder and louder until finally it stopped a ways away from him.
That creepy old man was saying something. He didn't know what, but that raspy voice was definitely Zouken's.
Mustering up every ounce of his strength, Naruto blindly reached out with his hand towards where he'd heard Zouken's voice come from, and forced an almost inaudible rasp out of his empty lungs, "Zou... ken..."
"I'm impressed," Zouken said as he watched the blonde Master try to valiantly reach him, "Most people would have been knocked unconscious from a crash like that."
Saber remained silent, waiting for either Zouken or the Shadow to make a move.
"Saber, cease you fruitless struggling," Zouken continued, looking more amused than anything, "There is simply no way for you to escape. Not with your Master dragging you down, at least."
Saber's head and eyes eyes subtly but rapidly tilted from here to there in an effort to search for- something, anything to get her and Naruto out of this desperate mess.
"What is it that you want, scum?" She growled, her brain flying through a thousand different strategies all at once - each increasingly more improbable to work than the last, "Why do you continue to taunt me so?"
Zouken let loose a sinister cackle, "Hahaha! What do I want!? Haven't I already told you, Saber? I. Want. You."
Saber's eyes narrowed, "Never."
A vile, unsettling smirk settled on Zouken's face, "Oh? Not even to save your Master?" Saber's eyebrows furrowed as Zouken continued, "If you give yourself up to me, then I will let that idiotic brat go free. But... if you don't, then I will surely kill him- and not peacefully either. He will suffer for eternity within my Shadow, wishing for the merciful release of death."
"And what stops you from doing so without bartering with me?"
Zouken's face didn't even twitch as he languidly pointed his cane at her, "You. If you suddenly to decide to escape alone or let loose a suicide attack, then my plans would be incredibly inconvenienced. Not that it's likely, but I do not wish to take that chance, King of Knights."
Saber's eyes widened, "H-how? How did you figure out my true name!?"
Zouken's smirk widened, "Why do you think I even set up events in this way. It is because I know your identity, and thus, your nature," suddenly his face split open into a twisted, sadistic grin, "Now choose: your life for your Master's, or your Master's life for yours?"
Saber's grip on her sword tightened "So... to save Naruto's life, I must become your Servant?"
Zouden's sadistic grin widened even more, if possible, "Yes... you will bathe in my Shadow's mana and lose yourself to its darkness! Come, King of Knights! Become mine!"
Saber suddenly felt as if a terrible cold had washed over her. Her joints locked into place, refusing to move, and her entire body shivered minutely. She knew this feeling...
Fear...
The thought of agreeing to even slightly touching that Shadow froze her to her spot and sent her heart racing in fear. She didn't know why she felt afraid of this thing - it's not like she had ever encountered a being like this before - but her instincts continued to deafen her with a single message:
RUN AWAY!
"I..."
The choice was obvious. There was simply no other path for her; She would never be able to forgive herself if she traded in Naruto's life for her own. But still... even though she already knew what her choice would be, her body still would not move, her voice would not call.
She turned her head to look at Naruto,
"I..."
His battered and broken form reminded her of something... something she had seen not so long ago... a memory.
And then, she was no longer looking at just Naruto. Now, a young, lavender-haired girl stood protectively over him, ready to face a man with the powers of a god.
All because...
"Because I... love you..."
Suddenly, the tension eased away from Saber's body and her heart lit alight with an indescribable warmth. Courage burst from deep inside her like geyser as she let loose a loud exhale.
A sixteen year-old had done what she couldn't, all in the name of something as fickle and stupid as love. Saber had promised to protect Naruto no matter what, hadn't she? She'd promised Naruto her loyalty, hadn't she?
So why hesitate now?
After all... sacrificing Naruto was never really an option to her in the first place.
The voices were becoming clearer and the blurriness in his vision was rapidly fading. His vision and hearing still hadn't reached the point where he could coherently understand what was going on, but he was pretty sure that he only needed a few more minutes for everything to start working right again.
Naruto groaned as he put his trembling hands on the bent railing and tried to push himself up, despite his protesting legs and hands. And, for a brief moment, he actually managed to stand for a bit, but in a flash, his hands and legs both gave up at the same time, leading him to collapse onto the ground like puppet with its strings cut.
Damn it...
He grit his teeth and put his hands in the railing once more, but before he could try to push himself up again, his hearing returned to him (though, there was still a faint, high-pitched whine in the background) and he heard something curious.
"Very well," Saber's voice rang out, "I agree to your terms."
Wha-
Before Naruto could even start to comprehend those words, his eyes caught a flash of blue and silver rapidly approaching his stomach, and instinctively blocked the blow with both his hands.
But the blow was too heavy.
"GAH!"
He cried out in pain as his hands dug into his stomach and he was sent flying back, through the railway behind him, and straight into the Mion river He couldn't feel his hands anymore, and the pain in stomach was so terrible that his mind was automatically shutting down on him to escape the agony.
Sinking into the river and fighting for his rapidly escaping consciousness, Naruto could only think of one thing before his mind slipped into the unfeeling abyss.
Those emerald eyes... Saber?
Zouken couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the spectacle before him. Saber had, immediately after agreeing to his terms, rushed towards Naruto and kicked him into the river.
"I'm impressed, Saber... Although, I do wonder what caused you to do that?"
"You were the one who said it; My instincts are too sharp for you to fool. Had I trusted your word and given myself up, you would have simply killed Naruto."
Zouken let loose an amused chuckled, "Perhaps..."
"Meanwhile, I find myself wondering why you did not attack me while I sent Naruto into the river."
"It is because I know your true identity. I know that you, the King of Knights, would never go back on your word."
"Oh?"
"Yes, and that is not all," Zouken said, "I was there during the fourth Holy Grail war ten years ago; I already know how honor-bound you are."
"I do not remember you being one of the Masters..."
Zouken let an amused smirk play on his lips, "Who said I was?"
Saber furrowed her brow, "Then... how?
"My grandson was Lancelot's Master, I felt it my duty to at least observe."
"Lancelot? How-"
Zouken raised a hand to stop her, "Enough. Your precious Master has already drifted far beyond our sight. You can stop stalling me with conversation now."
Saber's eyes widened, "You knew?"
Zouken cackled loudly, "Kakaka! Of course! You are a lot more subtle than I had imagined, Saber, but my skills in subtlety surpass yours."
Saber grit her teeth.
"Don't worry so much, Saber, I won't hunt down your Master. After all, he is useless without his Servant," Zouken's eyes lit up with malice, "Now, let my Shadow envelop you; It is time... for you to fall!"
Saber clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She mustered up all of her willpower to beat back the call of her instincts, and opened her eyes. With one last look towards the direction where Naruto had drifted, Saber took her first step towards her new Master.
A familiar white ceiling, a cloth blanket, a standard mattress, the smell of antiseptics, and the light fixture radiating light right above him.
He felt numb. And cold. His memories eluded him, and the only thing he could focus his mind on was his surroundings.
"Wha...?"
He moved to sit up, when a sharp, unbearable pain erupted from his stomach.
"Ugh!"
"Naruto-kun!" A female voice from beside him called out concernedly.
He winced as his name triggered the return of his memories, which rushed back like a waterfall and gave him a vicious headache in the process.
A pair of a feminine hands gently eased him back into a resting position again.
Naruto waited stilly for a few moments until the pain in his stomach and head both ebbed away. He turned his head to the side to take a look at who had helped him just now.
It was a familiar looking, brown-haired woman in a doctor's coat. It took him a few seconds to recognize her.
"...Dr. Mayers?"
The woman smiled, "The one and only," she gestured her head at his stomach, "It's been some time since I've seen you in this hospital... when was the last time again?"
Naruto ran a hand through his hair and gave her a wry grin, "At least a few years, 'cause of that stove that randomly blew up in front of my face."
Dr. Mayers raised an eyebrow, "Randomly? I seem to recall that that was your stove and that you were the one cooking when it blew up."
Naruto shot her a glare, "I followed the directions on that instruction manual perfectly, that stove shouldn't have blown up at all. It was no doubt the stove's fault."
Dr. Mayers gave him an unconvinced nod, "Uh-huh. And I would believe you too if you and Kiritsugu weren't always ending up in my hospital for getting sick by eating food that you both cooked, or receiving burns from exploding kitchen appliances."
"A stove isn't a kitchen appliance... is it?"
"That doesn't matter now, what matters is that-" she pointed at his stomach, "-How on earth did you get that?"
Naruto stayed silent as Saber's emerald eyes flashed in his mind.
"...Naruto-kun?" Dr. Mayers called out worriedly.
Naruto gave her a strained grin, "Don't worry about it, it was just an accident. More importantly, how was I found?"
Dr. Mayers seemed to have picked up that something was wrong but didn't press him, "Well, from what I understand, a few people found you floating down the Mion river and pulled you out. They thought that you were dead at first, but when they saw that you were alive but injured, they brought you here."
"I see... can you tell them "thanks" for me?"
Dr. Mayers smiled kindly, "They've already left, but if I see them again, then I will be sure to."
Naruto nodded, but otherwise kept silent. He wasn't in the mood to talk.
"Get some rest," Dr. Mayers said after a while, "Your stomach and hands were both severely damaged. They were healing at an unnaturally fast rate until an hour ago, but its slowed down since then. Rest is exactly what you need for your wounds to finish healing completely."
Naruto gave her another unenthusiastic nod and closed his eyes.
A few moments later, he found himself back inside a familiar sewer where a giant nine-tailed fox stared down at him.
"Naru-"
"Was it Saber?" Naruto asked, his voice a deathly whisper.
"...Yes. I don't know why, but-"
"That's enough, Kurama," Naruto said, his eyes hollow, "We tried our best, but we failed. It's over."
Kurama's eyes widened before he snarled viciously, "Failed!? You brat! Are you going to give up now!? Are you just going to go back to school pretending that none of this ever happened!? Aren't you going to save Saber!?"
Naruto uncaringly met Kurama's eyes, "It was Saber who did us in, Kurama. What would I go save her from?"
"What the hell is wrong with you!? In all the time that you've known Saber, has she ever show the desire to betray you? It's obvious that something must have forced her to do that!"
Naruto sighed, and turned away from Kurama. Why couldn't Kurama understand?
It. Was. Over.
It felt as if that familiar cocoon of despair which had recently started to unravel had tightly closed around his heart again. There was no point in chasing after and saving someone who had betrayed him.
"Don't get me wrong, I don't give a crap about Saber. But you... The Naruto that I knew would be the first one to-"
"I said, enough, Kurama," Naruto interrupted, his voice softer yet heavier than anything in the world,
"Let me rest, I'm just so- tired."
A few hours later, when he came to, the sky was still dark outside. Like always, he found his thoughts drifting back home.
Ah, Konoha... how dearly he missed it.
Once he got back, the first thing he would do is take a few laps around the village to just savor the sight. Then he would go to Kakashi and demand that the Hokage's position be handed to him.
No, wait, first he would get about a hundred bowls of old man Ichiraku's ramen, then he would take a few laps around the village, and then he would go to Kakashi for the Hokage position.
Ah, he could almost feel that awesome hat perched atop his head, and-
"NARU-CHAN!"
Fuji-nee came barging into his room with a panicked expression on her face, and in an instant, was by his bed.
"Naru-chan, what happened!? How did you end up here!? Dr. Mayer's told me that people found you inside the Mion river! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?"
She was barely an inch way from grabbing him by his hospital gown and wildly shaking by now.
Heh, Sakura (Haruno, not Matou) used to kinda act like that, didn't she? She was a lot more violent with her worry though.
Naruto gave Fuji-nee a lopsided grin, "Don't worry, Fuji-nee, I'm alright now. Dr. Mayers says that I'm almost completely healed. All I need is a little more bedrest."
His words seemed to calm Fuji-nee down somewhat, "Right... yeah, you don't look too bad. But... but what happened? How'd you end up in that river?"
Naruto felt a sigh bubbling in his throat, but pushed it down and simply shrugged, "Eh, it was just an accident, pretty embarrassing too, so I'd rather not explain."
He had no desire to explain, nor did he have any desire to continue this conversation.
"I-is that so?" Fuji-nee's shoulder slumped before she dropped her head into her hands, "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought you'd been attacked and dumped into the river to get rid of the evidence or something."
Naruto chuckled, "Nothing like that, I'm afraid."
Fujimura fell silent. Something was wrong. The way Naruto was acting... it was familiar, but not something she had seen recently.
Naruto was silently waiting for her to respond, but...
He wasn't.
And suddenly her eyes widened in realization. When Kiritsugu had first adopted Naruto, this was exactly the way he'd acted. He held a conversation normally, but when it came down to it, nothing ever seemed to make him actually care.
If she decided to walk away right now without saying anything, then Naruto would simply turn away and never mention it again.
"Naru-chan..."
She had never wanted to see those vibrant cerulean eyes so uncaring ever again.
The next day, when Naruto returned home after being released from the hospital, the first thing Fujimura did is insist he go to school.
"But, Fuji-nee! I spent the entire night in the hospital!" Naruto said.
Fujimura raised an eyebrow, "So? It's not like you did anything other than sleep. Plus, you're already all healed up."
"It still hurts a bit," Naruto muttered.
"There are plenty of students with broken arms or legs who still go to school," Fujimura said, "Don't be a baby."
"...Fine," Naruto relented tiredly.
Fujimura clenched her fists with worry. This was not normal Naruto behavior. Naruto would have stubbornly argued a lot more and would probably have pulled some kind of trick to force things to go his way if she didn't agree.
"Good, now go take a shower and brush your teeth. I got two bentos ready for breakfast since Sakura was busy last night," she forced out of her mouth, even though she desperately wanted to scream and ask him 'WHAT'S WRONG, WHY ARE YOU ACTING THIS WAY!? WHAT HAPPENED!?'.
Naruto nodded silently and walked away.
Fujimura rubbed her head and sighed. What should she do?
...And where on earth was Saber?
Once lunch time arrived, the first thing Rin did was stalk over to Naruto's classroom, and punch him straight in the gut while he was still in the middle of talking with Issei.
"You bastard! Where the hell were you last night!?" She yelled angrily.
The crowd around her froze, Issei along with them.
"Do you know how long I waited for you? How could you ruin our plans like that!?"
Shocked whispers broke out around them.
"H-Hey, what's she talking about?"
"You don't... you don't think that she could be...?"
"N-no way, there's no way!"
"Yeah, I mean Emiya's friendly and all, but Tohsaka..."
"But what if... what if they are...? I mean, she's blushing..."
Rin felt the heat rush to her face, and wisely decided to continue this somewhere else.
"Come on!" She said as she dragged Naruto to the chilly rooftop.
She roughly threw him to the ground and assaulted him with her fiercest glare.
"Explain," she growled.
Naruto winced as he brought himself back to his feet and ran a hand through his hair,
"Ah, yeah, about that. A lot of stuff happened, and, well, I ended up losing Saber."
Rin's eyes widened, "...WHAT!?"
"Yeah, Shinji's grandfather ambushed me while I was coming to you guys, we fought a little and then Saber ended up betraying me," Naruto said wearily.
Rin's jaw hit the floor, "E-eh? What do you mean she betraying you!? This is still Saber we're talking about right? And you said 'fought a little'! How did a normal magus even stand a chance against Saber?"
This was too fast! Just yesterday they were about to confidently attack Caster and Assassin, and today it turns out that that Saber had already been lost! How was that even possible?
"That old man brought this weird black jellyfish-like thing with him," Naruto said, "From what I could see, Saber was crazy afraid of it."
Rin curiously raised an eyebrow; something Saber was visibly afraid of?
"Was it maybe something that Saber encountered when she was alive?" She asked.
Naruto shrugged, "Maybe, but I don't think so; Saber didn't really give me any info before she rushed off to face Zouken, and I didn't see that thing in her memories either- mind you, I also didn't really watch all of her memories, so maybe it appeared later on."
Rin rubbed her chin, as she let her mind review the information presented to her.
"A black jellyfish-esque creature that made even Saber visibly afraid, eh?" She wondered out loud.
"Or perhaps, she didn't give me any info because she was planning to betray me in the first place," Naruto said uncaringly.
"What?" Rin exclaimed, "No way, Saber would never-"
"Alright, that's enough" Naruto interrupted with a sigh, "Sorry, you can speculate all you want, but I still want to go eat my lunch so you'll have to speculate alone."
Shock took hold of Rin for a few seconds as Naruto walked past her towards the door, before anger came crashing in, "Don't you care?" She asked harshly, "Don't you care about Saber at all!?"
Naruto didn't stop walking, but still tipped his head a bit to look at her out of the corner of his cold, uncaring eye, "She's the one who betrayed me, y'know? Why should I care what happens to her?"
Rin tightly clenched her fists, "Saber would never willingly betray you; you know that!"
Naruto turned away and carelessly waved her goodbye, "Right, right. Anyway, see ya."
Rin's anger spiraled out of control. In one smooth move, she leapt at Naruto, threw him to the ground on his back by pulling the scruff of his shirt, put a foot on his chest to keep him from moving, charged up a bright red Gandr shot, and aimed it right at his face.
These damn eyes!
"Look at me- LOOK AT ME, DAMNIT!"
Naruto looked unfazed, "I am," he responded, almost as if he were bored.
Rin held her position and tried her best to catch even a small glimpse of the lively boy she had come to know underneath this uncaring, cold-eyed... imposter!
Nothing... nothing at all. It was as if that cheery boy had never existed at all.
She powered down her Gandr, and sighed sadly as she lifted her foot off him,
"No... No, you're not."
School had finally ended, and so, under the warm red glow of the sunset, crowds of students spilled out of Homurahara academy's entrance gate like water and scattered everywhere. It was here that Shinji was impatiently tapping his foot and waiting for Tohsaka to show up.
Last night had been annoying. At first he thought it would be great since Naruto was late, which meant that Tohsaka and Shinji would both be alone together.
The perfect time to seduce her.
Things hadn't gone as well as he'd expected though. Every advance he'd made had been rejected by Tohsaka, and even talking to him seemed to make her physically ill. Why couldn't she just be as submissive like her bitch of a sister!?
Ah, whatever. She'd fall to his charms someday.
The number of students exiting the school had decreased to a trickle now, and there was still no sight of Tohsaka when Naruto came walking out.
"Oi, Emiya," He called arrogantly, "you really messed up our plans for last night, didn't you?"
Naruto barely glanced at him, "Yeah, sorry."
Shinji felt his blood boil at being ignored, "And where the hell are you going? I'm not finished with you yet!"
Naruto stopped and turned to look at Shinji, "I really gotta get home before Fuji-nee, so can we hurry this up?"
Shinji's anger spiked even more at Naruto's uncaring tone.
"Where the hell were you last night?" He spat. Fortunately, no one else was around to see him lose his composure like this, "You always were an idiot, I wouldn't be surprised if you had simply forgotten that we had an attack planned at all!"
Naruto smirked, but there was barely any anger or challenge behind it, "Oh? Is that the best you can come up with? If you're so pissed, then why don't you talk with your fists? We'll see if you can take me."
Shinji opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of footsteps stopped them both in their tracks. They simultaneously turned to look at the source, and found that it belonged to one Tohsaka Rin. As soon as she spotted Naruto, her gait tensed and her face harshened.
Suddenly and uncharacteristically, Naruto hastily muttered some excuse that Shinji couldn't hear and jogged off.
"Oi, Tohsaka," Shinji called out as Tohsaka passed by him, seemingly having no intention of even acknowledging him at all, "Did you find out what happened to Emiya last night?"
Tohsaka stopped for a second before she pinned him with a fiery glare out of the corner of her eye, "That... bastard! he lost Saber, and now he's just... moping!"
Shinji's eyes widened, "He lost Saber?"
He tried to walk to Tohsaka's side, but she turned at the last moment,
"Shinji, with Naruto gone, our alliance is over-" Shinji's eyes widened once again at this, "-I'm not going to attack you right now since there're still a few students left in school, but the next time we meet..."
Shinji clenched his fists, "You can't do this! We're allies!" He snarled.
"Deal. With. It." Tohsaka sniffed.
With a final glare, she spun on her heel and stalked away.
Kurama roared in frustration as he tried to make his voice heard to Naruto. It wasn't like Naruto had put mental block between their connection or anything, but he had been steadfastly ignoring Kurama's yells the entire day.
"NARUTO! IF YOU DON'T STOP ACTING LIKE A DAMN MORON THEN I'LL..." He paused uncertainly for a second, "I'LL... LEAVE YOUR DAMN BODY!"
It was empty threat and they both knew it. Even if Kurama was willing to leave Naruto's body (which was an unlikely event in the first place) that weird power that the world of this dimension had would just crush Kurama's chakra and soul both, ending his life.
"NARUTO, ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!"Kurama tried again.
"He won't answer," A mysterious voice called out from the darkness of the sewer.
Kurama's head jerked as he peered at the direction of the voice, "Who..." the mysterious person revealed himself, and Kurama's eyes widened in recognition, "You... I didn't think that things would ever get this bad..."
Naruto rubbed his head to stave off the headache caused by Kurama's yelling as he lethargically waited for his cup ramen to finish cooking. With only Naruto present, the house was silent, and the warm atmosphere which always seemed to envelop the house was conspicuously absent.
"Naru-chan," Fuji-nee called out from behind him, surprising him a bit. When had she entered the house?
Naruto raised an eyebrow and twisted his body a bit to look behind at Fuji-nee, "Ah, Fuji-nee. I didn't hear you come in. What's up?"
A frown briefly flashed over Fuji-nee's face before she smiled cheerfully, "Guess who came to visit with me?" She asked in a sing-song voice.
"Uhm... Sakura?" Naruto guessed.
"Yep!" She said with a clap of her hands.
Taking this as some sort of cue, Sakura with her trademark purple hair and purple eyes walked into living room.
"Hello, Senpai," She greeted with a shy wave before her eyes landed on the cooking cup ramen in front of him, "I see you're eating ramen again tonight."
Fuji-nee frowned and plopped down at the table, "That's no good, Naru-chan," she said in a chiding tone as she wagged her finger at him, "You have to have a balanced diet; you can't just eat ramen all the time."
Naruto muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "Watch me."
Fuji-nee shot him a glare.
"It's been some time since I visited, so I suppose I should make up for it, no?" Sakura proposed brightly as she made her way to the kitchen and put on an apron with practiced ease.
Fuji-nee grinned in excitement, "Ah, Sakura-chan! I haven't tasted your cooking in so long! I can't wait!"
Fujimura and Sakura both waited for Naruto's inevitable attack on the young teacher's behavior.
But this time, none came. All they got was a disinterested "Hm."
"...B-by the way, Senpai," Sakura spoke up awkwardly as she turned on the stove and propped a pan on it, "I noticed that mark on your hand is gone..."
Naruto wasn't sure but there seemed to be a bit of relief in her tone.
"Yeah," he responded, "Turns out it was nothing permanent. It got erased off pretty easily."
Fuji-nee raised an eyebrow, "Mark?"
Naruto waved his hand carelessly, "Don't worry about it."
Fujimura narrowed her eyes, but decided not to dig.
"Anyway, Sakura-chan," She said, turning to the purple-haired girl, "What're you making tonight?"
Sakura put a finger on her chin, "Hmmmm, I was about to make something with eggs, but I just remembered that the only dishes that Senpai can make are cup ramen and fried eggs. I should probably make something more unique today."
"Oh!" Fuji-nee jumped, "How about crabs? I just received some from a friend today!"
"But won't it take time for you to go to your house and bring them?" Sakura asked.
Fuji-nee laughed, "Nah, I live really close by. Plus, I asked for the crabs to be delivered here, there's no way that I'm leaving something as expensive as crabs in my house with grandpa."
"Crabs..." Sakura mused, "well, its certainly an ingredient I haven't used in a long time, but I still hope my dish manages to satisfy!"
Fuji-nee laughed again, "Of course it will!"
After a delicious dinner (where Fuji-nee once again sang praises of Sakura's admittedly good cooking) Fuji-nee and Sakura headed home, after which, Naruto decided that he didn't really feel like cleaning up the dirty dishes and went straight to brushing his teeth and taking a shower.
After changing into his pajamas, he laid out the futon, climbed in, and turned off the lights. It was particularly dark out tonight, and once the lights were off, Naruto couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.
He wasn't really sleepy, but for some reason, he still dozed off within minutes of closing his eyes.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes only to find himself standing inside a familiar sewer- his mindscape. Only, Kurama was missing.
"Ha ha, very funny, Kurama," Naruto dryly called out, "I already told you: leave me alone."
"It wasn't Kurama who called you here," A voice said from behind him.
Naruto spun and found himself staring at- himself.
"Surprised?" His other self asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
"Wh-what?" Naruto stammered.
His other self lost his grin and hard look appeared on his face, "As you can already tell, I'm you. Or more specifically, I'm the feelings you've repressed."
"You mean like that time in the Falls of Truth?" Naruto asked confusedly, "How's that even possible?"
His other self shrugged, "I'm you, remember? If you don't know, then I don't know either. Maybe since we've already been to the Falls of Truth? Or maybe things have just gotten really bad..."
"Gotten really bad? What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked as his heart nervously hammered in his chest.
His other self glared at him, "Like I said, I'm you, remember? You know exactly what I mean."
Then, with two confident strides, his other self crossed the distance between them and, with a powerful THWACK, sent him flying with a punch to the face.
Naruto skidded along the ground and came to stop before he looked up at his other self with an astonished look on his face.
"Wake the hell up, you damn bastard!" His other self yelled, "Get your goddamn act together already!"
Naruto face stung harshly as he tried to say something. But he couldn't, it seemed as though that punch from other self had knocked away his ability to speak.
"What the hell are you doing acting like an emo bastard!? When are you going to go save Saber!?"
And then, with those words flung at his face, his voice returned with vengeance, "Save her!? She betrayed us! Why-"
"That's an excuse and you know it!" His other self yelled, snapping his mouth shut, "You know that Saber would never betray us! You've just given up because you're too afraid!"
Something inside Naruto snapped. In a flash, he was on his feet, a rasengan springing to life on the palm of his hand, "What the hell do you know!?" He yelled as he charged at his other self.
"I know exactly what you do, you coward!" His other self yelled as he grabbed Naruto's wrist and forced the rasengan to dispel into the ground, sending water flying everywhere.
Naruto performed a handstand on his now rasengan-less hand and kicked his other self away from him. His other self skidding along the wet ground before he smoothly flipped to his feet.
"Yeah, we can use all our old techniques here since we're inside you," his other self said slowly as he wiped the trail of blood leaking out of his busted lip, "But you know that us fighting against each other will solve nothing."
Naruto, now back on his feet, shot his other self a hateful glare, "Is that why you're here? To convince me to save Saber?"
His other self returned the glare with equal ferocity, "Of course not. I'm here because you've suppressed too much these last ten years. You've strayed too much." He started walking slow and deliberate steps around Naruto, "Living a wretched life without even acknowledging this world. To you, nothing in this world mattered, nothing ever concerned you- concerned us. But... that was wrong. No one should have to live a life where nothing that they do matters to them. Where everything is meaningless and everyone is basically background noise."
Naruto stayed silent as mind and heart both jumbled up, trying to provide a reasonable excuse- or anything really, to justify his actions.
"I suppose, in your own twisted way, you didn't give up on Konoha," his other self continued, "At first, you thought that Sasuke would come rescue you, so nothing in this world should matter. But then, as the years went by, despair consumed you and you closed yourself off from reality to stop that horrible feeling. You lost yourself in that process though. When you closed yourself off from reality, you locked your own self away inside of you."
Naruto wanted to scream- to yell, "YOU'RE LYING!", but... nothing escaped from his open mouth.
His other self didn't stop, "You didn't want to acknowledge the fact that you lost yourself, so you tried to force it. You forced yourself to act like how you were supposed to. You've been in this world for ten years, but you haven't lived a day!"
"I..." Naruto's voice was hoarse as he looked down at his hands, "I don't-"
"Fuji-nee, Kiritsugu, and Sakura were the only people in this world to ever completely break through your shell and truly make you consider them real. Remember how you promised that you would definitely find a way to introduce Fuji-nee and Sakura to everyone back in the Elemental Nations? Tell me, just how much of that did you say to yourself because you knew, that as Uzumaki Naruto, that is what you would have said? How much of that was genuine resolve?"
"That's... that's not true..." Naruto whispered hoarsely.
"Do you really believe that?" His other self asked whims he came to a stop in front of him and locked his eyes with him, "Do you really, really believe that?"
Naruto was suddenly reminded of his conversation with Obito when the entirety of the Allied Shinobi Forces were pulling all of the Tailed Beasts out of him. He couldn't help but marvel at the similarities of that conversation and this one.
And, just like Obito, Naruto found himself breaking eye-contact.
His other self took this as a sign to continue, "And then, the Holy Grail war started, and you accidentally ended up summoning Saber. Finally, after ten years, you finally had a goal again. You finally found yourself striving towards something again. That promise that you made to Saber after meeting with that creepy priest that night, it wasn't a false promise. You didn't make it because you thought, 'It's what I would have done'. No, you made that promise because you wanted to- because your heart told you to!"
Naruto watched as his other self smiled, "The more the war progressed, the more you started acknowledging reality and recovering yourself," Then, his other self's smile vanished, "Until you lost Saber, that is. Once you lost Saber, you tightened up and the situation became even worse than before. And that's why I'm here."
Naruto silently mulled over his other self's words before he plopped down onto the wet ground and tiredly rubbed his head, "...If things were so bad, then why did you appear only now?"
"Because of this Holy Grail War thing," his other self answered, "You started getting better these past few days before you completely clamped up after you lost Saber. But those past few days were enough, they gave me the strength to materialize. If you still had Saber and were still recovering, then I would have naturally just melded with you, but... you know, here we are..."
"...It's impossible for me to save Saber," Naruto said after a while, "That Shadow's too strong, and now, even Saber's under that wrinkly old fart's control."
"I know," his other self said, "Like I said, I'm you. Of course I know. That's also why I called you a coward. You needed some excuse- any excuse to justify not fulfilling your promise to Saber. Her betraying you was the perfect excuse."
Naruto dropped his head into his hands, "And the Holy Grail? Even if we keep our promise to Saber and win, that thing's still a shortcut based on killing at least six different people. We were the ones who told both Obito and Konohamaru that 'there are no shortcuts'."
"But we're not fighting for that shortcut, are we?" His other self said, "We're fighting for the sake of the promise we made to Saber. We'll have plenty of time to convince her not to use it. As for the Servants, well, the've already lived their lives once, haven't they? They're basically Edo Tensei."
"That still leaves the problem of saving Saber," Naruto weakly pointed out, "We both agreed that it's impossible."
"This is what I meant by losing yourself," his other self answered, "Remember Sasuke, Madara, Obito? Did you forget that they were all stronger than us? Granted, they were all born with an insanely overpowered bloodline limit, but that power was still theirs, wasn't it? We were born with nothing, not even talent. The only advantage we had on our side was Kurama, but even he came with a giant weakness. If we used too much of his chakra, then he would escape the seal."
"We had a lot of chakra..." Naruto weakly protested.
"Which completely shot our chakra control, bringing us back to square one. Yeah, we improved our chakra control, but it's not like Sasuke, Madara, or Obito had too little chakra or anything. Their reserves were way larger than average. But still, we won against them all. Why?"
Naruto's eyes slowly widened as the answer dawned on him, "...It was teamwork! Sasuke was born with that insanely powerful Sharingan, and all we had was larger chakra reserves! But we still managed to close that gap in power because of Kurama's support!"
His other self nodded in a satisfied manner, "Exactly. After Sage mode, Every single power up we've gotten has been because we've relied on others for help. Kyubi Chakra mode, Sage of Six Paths mode... Even in the Holy Grail war, you managed to force that Illya brat back because you had Rin supporting you; you managed to stop Rin because of Saber; you managed to outmaneuver Caster because of Archer and Saber! That's our strength, and that's what you lost sight of! You despaired because you couldn't use anything - neither chakra nor magic - to find a way back home, but if you had just tried to look for someone who could help- someone who was good at dimensional magic, then we might have found a way!"
A small fire started kindling inside Naruto's stomach. Slowly, but surely, he lifted his head from his arms and brought himself up,
"You're right..." He grinned, "I never expected to have some sense knocked into me by myself though..."
His other self shrugged, "What can I say? we excel at being unpredictable."
Naruto smirked as his cerulean eyes blazed to life, "That we do-" he slowly reached out his arm and balled it into a fist, "-Now, let's go be unpredictable and do the impossible once again."
His other self grinned and softly met the fist with his own, "Heh, yeah. We've sat around enough for a lifetime; it's time for the hero to make his entry!" He paused for a second, "Took us long enough."
Naruto chuckled, "What can we say? The hero always arrives at the last minute!"
With identical grins on their faces the two Uzumaki Naruto vanished.
His eyes snapped open in the darkness of the night. With resolve still blazing in his heart, he leapt to his feet and ran to his wardrobe. In a few swift motions he pulled out his orange hoodie, dark blue jeans, and white socks before he quickly shed his pajamas.
'Oho! Look who's in hurry!' Kurama's sarcastic voice echoed from his mind, 'Why it's Uzumaki DUMBASS Naruto! The guy who ignored the giant, fearsome fox in his head for AN ENTIRE GODDAMN DAY!'
Naruto made a sheepish face as threw on his clothes, "I guess I owe you an apology, Kurama. Sorry 'bout today."
'Oh yeeaah! A simple sorry solves everything, doesn't it!?' Kurama yelled, his voice still dripping with sarcasm. His voice dropped down into a deadly growl, 'You do something like that again, and I'll freakin' gut you. Got that?'
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto unconcernedly waved off as he quickly washed his face and gargled in the bathroom before rushing off to the main door and putting on his grey sneakers.
'So? You got a plan?' Kurama asked.
Naruto froze in the middle of swiping the house keys from on top of the shoe-rack,
'...Ah, I forgot.'
'Think of a plan first, you dumbass! If you just charge at them like an idiot, then all you'll manage to do is die!'
Naruto laughed sheepishly as he sat down on the step leading into his home. His mood sobered,
"Saber's probably already that wrinkly old fart's Servant, and those Command Seals can easily force her to fight me. The first thing that I need to do is figure out how to defeat Saber..."
'Impossible,' Kurama said, 'You haven't defeated Saber even once. And considering how she fought against other Servants, she wasn't even trying her best against you.'
Naruto's eye twitched at the jab, "Yeah..." he agreed reluctantly, "There's no way I can defeat her in a straight up fight... Unless..." his eyes lit up as an idea suddenly started taking form in his mind, "Yeah... that might just end up working!" He leapt to his feet and rushed out the door, making sure to lock it behind him,
"Let's go, Kurama!"
'What?' Kurama asked, 'What's the plan?'
"It's nothing concrete yet, but I've got a general idea!" Naruto said excitedly before he switched to talking telepathically, realizing that almost everyone was asleep at this time and might not appreciate his loud enthusiasm, 'First we have to go Rin's house!'
'Yeah, ok, but what's the plan!?"Kurama asked frustratedly.
'I'll tell you along with Rin!'
With a large grin blooming onto his face, he ran through the empty streets towards Rin's house.
In the brightly lit living room of the Tohsaka manor, thousands of potential strategies ran through Rin's head as she leaned over a map of Ryudou temple alongside Dragch- ahem, Archer. They'd already been debating over how to assault Caster and Assassin for hours, yet they still hadn't come up with anything solid.
"How about you engage Assassin and lure him here?" She asked as she pointed at a location in the map, "I can set up a bounded field and we'll easily get rid of Assassin before Caster shows herself..."
Archer shook his head, "No, Assassin won't stray too far from the temple, and even if he does, Caster-"
Suddenly, a presence entered the perimeter of her bounded field which caused her head to snap up, interrupting Archer. She glanced at the fancy old grandfather clock,
"It's one in the morning, who on earth could it be?"
"A boyfriend of yours perhaps?"
Rin glared at her Servant opened her mouth to retort, but-
DING DONG. The sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house.
Rin's mouth pressed into a thin line, "...Go to the roof and get ready, Archer. Whoever this is, even if they rang the doorbell, there's no discounting the possibility that they're here to attack us."
"Do you sense a Servant?" Archer asked.
Rin shook her head, "No, but we'd still better be prepared- just in case."
Archer gave her a small nod and Dematerialized. A few seconds later, she heard him groan through their mental link,
'Ugh, him.'
"Who is it?" She asked curiously.
'Just- go open the door.'
Run bristled at being ordered around, but walked to the door anyway. She took a peek through the peephole and recognized the whisker-marked, spiky haired, blonde boy standing in from of her door.
Instantly, her mood soured.
"Oi, Rin! I know you're there!" Naruto yelled through the door, "I heard your footsteps, open up!" Then it seemed as if he realized something and added, "...Please?"
Rin took a few seconds to consider her next course of action before she came to a decision. She turned the knob on her door and only pushed it open enough to fit her head through. She fixed a fierce glare on her face and only popped her head out to meet Naruto.
"What?" She asked, her voice murderous.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish grin on his face, "Well, uh, first of all, sorry about today..."
Rin didn't drop her glare, "You damn well should be. And? What else did you want?"
Naruto looked so discouraged by her enduring anger that Rin found all her rage immediately evaporating.
"Fine, I'll forgive you," she said with a roll of her eyes, "But something like this better not happen again."
Naruto instantly brightened up, and Rin found that his smile was quite infectious. She barely managed to stop herself from grinning along with him,
"And?" She asked, a lot less harshly this time, "Why else are you here?"
Naruto's grin turned mischievous, "Right, and second, I've come to cash in on that favor you owe me."
Run raised an eyebrow.
Author's Note - Sorry everyone. I know I said that the updates would take longer, but I honestly didn't expect it to take thislong. I'm almost a hundred percent sure that the next update won't take nearly as long. Also, you guys remember how I said that the chapters would be a lot shorter? Yeah... that idea was scrapped. it was actually thanks to a reviewer, Yandarella Kiuha, that this idea was scrapped. So thanks, Yandarella Kiuha (Even though the way you wrote your review with multiple "hmphs" in it was a bit weird, but I suppose that's the joke).
Anyway, I couldn't find the time frame for how much time is at least required to make the Shadow manifest if Zouken is trying his hardest, so I took liberties. Also, seeing as even Berserker could sense the danger of the Shadow, Saber's instincts told her the same here (Also since, you know, her instincts are ranked higher).
And finally, Naruto's gotten his head back in the game! Glad that's over with!
P.S. Why on earth is it so hard to use these things: "-"?