I Don't Own Naruto or Fate/Stay Night

"Rin, wipe that scowl off your face."

"Shut up, Archer. I'm not scowling."

"Sure you aren't."

"Well well, look at you two lovebirds!" Rin's voice echoed from behind Naruto.

Naruto, who still had Saber on his lap, twisted his head to look back. Rin and her Servant were walking towards them. Rin, who had an unconscious Sakura on her back, had a teasing smirk on her face (though it looked sorta… forced?), and Archer had Rider and Shinji draped over his shoulders.

Naruto smiled, "You already saved Sakura! I knew that you'd done something when I felt the Shadow's presence disappear!"

Rin nodded, "Actually, it was Archer who took care of her. He still hasn't told me how."

Naruto's smile faltered as he hesitated for a second before turning to the Servant garbed in red and tipping his head a little in gratitude.

"Thanks—"

"I'll be in the brat's house, Rin," Archer cut him off coldly before leaping away.

A troubled look appeared on Naruto's face, "Rin… you go too—I'm sure you know where the futons are. We'll be with you in a bit."

Rin teasing grin twitched a little, "...Fine. You stay here and continue your lovey-dovey moment, I'll go take care of Sakura."

With that, she walked off into the night—almost seeming to Naruto as if she was barely stopping herself from stomping away.

Naruto looked back down at Saber and frowned. The petite Servant in his lap didn't look well at all. She was breathing heavily, her face was pale, and her skin was clammy.

"You okay?" Naruto asked.

Saber nodded weakly, "I am simply suffering from a little mana deprivation. For now, it is nothing to concern ourselves with. However, I estimate that if I don't receive any mana in approximately two days, I will disappear."

Naruto showed her his wrist, "If it's mana that you're worried about, then—"

Saber put a hand up, "No, your paltry amount of mana will do nothing, Naruto—and I distaste such methods of mana transfer."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "But what about your magic core thingy? Won't it use my small amount of mana to kickstart the process of creating its own mana?"

Saber feebly shook her head, still managing to look dignified as she did so, "I seem to have pushed my magic core beyond its limits to fight away the Shadow's corruption. I am fairly confident that it will take some time for it to heal and work as intended again."

"Another problem on the pile..." Naruto muttered as he rubbed his head with a sigh.

They sat there for a few moments before Naruto got to his feet and helped Saber up.

"Come on, let's get back home," Naruto said as he allowed Saber to lean on him.

"I concur."

The blonde duo were just about to trudge through the gates of the Matou manor when Saber asked,

"Naruto, I know that you have already cut my connection with Sakura, but is it really wise to simply leave a Noble Phantasm here?"

She pointed at Rule-Breaker, which was lying innocently on the grass, on the exact spot where Saber had thrown it in her corrupted state.

Naruto blinked. Then he paled as he remembered the contract with Caster.

Kurama dissolved into roaring laughter.

"YOU ALMOST FORGOT RULE-BREAKER!?"

'Perhaps telling Rin that might have been a mistake,' Naruto reflected as he bowed his head.

'Ya think?' Kurama asked before laughing his ass off again.

Saber and Sakura had already been situated in their futons, and Archer was on the roof again, keeping watch. Thus, it had fallen to Naruto to answer Rin's question of, "So, did anything happen?"

Naruto felt that maybe he should've just stopped after, "Nothing much."

"HOW COULD YOU ALMOST FORGET SOMETHING AS IMPORTANT AS THAT!?" Rin yelled, shaking Naruto by the front of his hoodie.

"W-wait! I still got it though, didn't I?" Naruto protested.

"ONLY BECAUSE OF SABER!"

"Well, yes, but—"

"No buts! First you fall asleep in our deal with Caster, then you almost forget Rule-Breaker! Just how irresponsible can you be!?"

Kurama's booming laughter abruptly evaporated.

'Wait, you fell asleep there too?'

Oh shit.

'MOTHERFU—'

"All right, all right!" Naruto put up his hands, "Let's leave the scoldings for later. Let me just return that thing—" he nudged his head at Rule-Breaker, which was hanging above the kitchen sink with all the other kitchen knives in the house, "—to Caster. It's almost twelve."

Rin looked like she very much wanted to keep her tirade going, but decided to let it go with a sigh and nod,

"Fine, go. And take Archer with you—just in case."

Naruto suppressed a grimace,

"Archer and I… aren't on the best terms right now."

"I don't care." Rin returned without pause, slwoly enunciating each word clearly as though she were talking to a particularly idiotic child, "You're going to take Archer with you, because if you don't, you might end up dying."

Naruto groaned. But, knowing that Rin was right, he didn't continue resisting.

He got up with a sigh, plucked Rule-Breaker out of its place from above the kitchen sink, popped on his shoes, and started down the road which lead to the warehouse that Caster was waiting in.

Rin gave Archer a mental order to follow him. Archer gave an annoyed grunt, but entered spirit form and acquiesced nonetheless.

Once the house was quiet of any activity, Rin blinked. Why had a Noble Phantasm been placed with common kitchen knives anyway?

'Well, no matter how much magic there's in them, knives are knives, right?' Naruto answered Kurama as he walked through the lonely road lit by blinking street lights, 'So it was obvious that I was going to put it there.'

'What about your kunai then? They're knives too—throwing knives.'

'There's not enough space to fit them all there.'

'...Seriously?'

Naruto took a turn, and there—in front of him—was the warehouse. He entered it and, even without Kurama's negative-emotion sensing, easily sensed bloodlust directed towards him.

"Caster."

As if her name were a cue, the air in front of Naruto swirled like a purple tornado, and from within it, Caster appeared.

"So… you have succeeded in your task."

Caster was not asking a question, she was simply confirming a fact. She knew that the only way Naruto could have been here to return her Noble Phantasm was if he managed to defeat Saber and the Shadow, alternatively, he could also be here if he simply didn't face them at all. But when she considered blond boy's personality, she found it hard to believe that he would take the route of cowardice.

Also, the fact that she had spied on every part of tonight's battle helped in her assuredness.

"Yep," Naruto said, returning her Noble Phantasm, "Thanks for the help."

Caster floated there for a while, staring at her recently returned weapon as she twirled and twisted it in her hand. For all intents and purposes, she seemed like she was simply inspecting Rule-Breaker.

But she was not.

Instead, she was currently reevaluating the threat that Uzumaki Emiya Naruto presented to her.

"You managed to defeat even Saber..." she said to the boy in a distant voice.

"Yep," Naruto said, narrowing his eyes, "And I see that you didn't bring Kuzuki-sensei with you this time."

Caster aimed a glare at Naruto, "That is none of your business."

Naruto shrugged, "True."

A slightly tense silence enveloped the shed as Caster and Naruto both delved into their respective thoughts.

Naruto was the one to break the silence,

"Caster..." he hesitated for a second, "What do you want from the Grail?"

"Once again, that is none of your business," Caster responded coldly.

"It is." Naruto returned firmly, "I have never once fought an enemy without understanding why we can't solve our problems peacefully. If I'm going to be fighting you, I wanna know why."

Caster paused. Then she smirked,

"How amusing. Despite all your prowess, you are quite naive."

"And?" Naruto asked a bit defensively, "The world would be a much better place if everyone was naive."

Naruto wasn't sure, but it almost seemed to him as though Caster's smirk had softened a little,

"Yes… perhaps that is true. But to be cynical is not a negative thing—it is simply an attitude that results from an individual wisening to the ways of the world. To be naive is idealistic at best, and foolish at worst."

"But—"

"There have been many heroes in history," Caster said, "Many began their legends with a powerful amount of naivete in their hearts, but they only managed to accomplish something of true significance once they managed to acquire some measure of cynicism."

Naruto frowned, and Caster looked down at him with a knowing smirk on her face,

"You should recognize this fact. After all, your former Servant is one such hero too."

"...What are you trying to say?" Naruto asked warily.

Caster simply shook her head, an amused smile adorning her face now, "Simply a lesson that every naive individual should learn before their lives are steeped in tragedy."

She shook her head, "Enough of this. Leave."

The two simply stayed in place for a moment, their gazes piercing each other, even despite Caster's hood covering her eyes. Then, Naruto turned and made to leave the shed.

Before he walked through the exit though, he paused,

"Caster… your life must've sucked for you to be so cynical." He turned his head a little and glared at her out of the corner of his eye, "But that's not an excuse to harm innocent people. I think the world would be a much happier place if people like you didn't try to introduce tragedy in people's lives and then go "oh, this is just how the world is!"."

He turned away and walked away,

"Goodbye Caster."

As Naruto walked through the chilly and lonely streets of Fuyuki, his thoughts swirled around in his head like a violent tornado.

He was aware that he was naive, but what was wrong with that? He had challenged the impossible time and time again, and despite his many failures, he had always managed to overcome the impossible.

Bee had said it best,

"...The ones who accomplish things are the big idiots that don't care about how thick and strong the wall is, yahoo!"

So he was a big idiot. What did that matter? His idiocy only helped him in challenging the impossible—there was absolutely nothing wrong with it!

"How stubborn," Archer's voice rang out in the clear night as he materialized in front of him.

Naruto blinked. After last night's events, he hadn't expected Archer to address him directly and cordially so soon.

Archer said in an almost bored sort of tone, "I can just tell from that look on your face that you have no intention of heeding Caster's advice."

Naruto scowled in defiance, "So? I've always lived my life by running towards my goals. I have no intention of changing my course just because some stupid walls show up."

Archer nodded, "I see. And what exactly are those? Your goals."

Naruto proudly jutted a thumb into his chest, "To become Hokage—the leader of my country—and to bring peace to my world!"

"And taking you as my sample, I assume that humans in your world behave in the same way as they do in your world?"

Naruto nodded, "Yep. While we have different powers, the humans in my world are the same as the humans in this world."

"Then let me ask you this: Do you think that world peace is an accomplishable goal?" Archer asked.

Naruto shook his head as his argument with Nagato flashed into his mind, "You're not the first person to have asked me that. I know that it's probably impossible, but I won't stop searching. If there's such a thing as peace in my world, then I'll find it! I'm not gonna give up!"

Archer stood there for a second, his expression inscrutable. Then, he sighed,

"...You're definitely not my past self... and yet, you are." He shook his head as he dematerialized, "I won't say any more than this: I wonder how long you can keep challenging the impossible?"

Naruto plastered the best challenging that he could onto his face,

"Obviously, for as long as it takes!"

"We're back!" Naruto announced as he kicked off his shoes.

Rin's annoyed head poked out of the living room, "I know, Archer already told me. And don't be so loud, you'll wake Sakura."

"Ah, sorry," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Rin motioned for Naruto to join her in the living room, and when he did, she asked in a volume that could almost be called a whisper,

"Remember when Caster said that Zouken's true body is attached to Sakura's heart?"

Naruto nodded, his face sobering.

"Well, I ran a couple of subtle spells from your shed, and it's true that there's a concentration of malevolent energy in her heart."

"Which means that Caster was probably telling the truth?" Naruto asked, his forehead wrinkling.

Rin nodded with a scowl on her face,

"Yeah, probably."

Naruto looked down at the table as his mind raced. He could feel the mental exhaustion of today's events war with his focus, but now that Sakura's life was on the line, exhaustion found no purchase.

He put a light hand on his chest,

'Heart, huh...?'

He looked back up at Rin, his mind still frantically trying to find some sort of course of action.

"How long do we have?"

"Her condition's kinda stable now, but she's running out of mana quick—especially since Rider's so heavily injured."

Naruto's brow furrowed, "Rider? What does Rider have to do with this?"

Rin sighed, "I checked, and it turns out that Sakura's the true Master of Rider. Shinji was just a temporary Master."

Naruto rubbed his head tiredly, "Crap. And how long before Sakura's completely empty?"

Rin shrugged, "I can't really say, but I do know that we have to refill her reserves as soon as possible. She'll die from simply being drained dry if we don't."

"In that case, I'll do it," Naruto said, "You rest; you look exhausted, Rin."

And indeed she did. Her hair was all frazzled, her eyes were drooping with drowsiness, and she was leaning on her hand like she was going to fall asleep any second now.

Rin closed her eyes and let her lips stretch into a slight smile,

"Thanks, Naruto."

Naruto smiled back,

"No problem."

When Naruto walked into the room where Sakura was situated, he almost felt the urge to punch something. Sakura's figure was lathered in sweat, her breathing was uneven and raggedy, and her skin was unusually pale.

She looked as though she wouldn't even survive the night.

Naruto knelt down beside her and gently shook her awake.

After a few tries, Sakura opened her hazy eyes, and when she saw him, she weakly murmured,

"S-senpai?"

She didn't even seem entirely aware of what was going on in the present.

"I-I'm sorry, senpai," she continued murmuring, "I gave in, and..."

Naruto continued to allow her to babble wildly while he spoke with Kurama,

'The sheathe still working?'

Kurama nodded, 'It's weaker, but yeah. From what I can see, the effectiveness of the sheathe depends on how physically close you are from Saber. And when you had that contract with her, the sheathe seemed to be basically working at maximum capacity.'

'Good.'

Like in the Matou courtyard, Naruto slit one of his wrists in one swift move and gently pushed the bleeding portion into Sakura's mouth.

Sakura, who still didn't seem very aware and present, simply stared up at him with a blank look in her eyes. The blood dribbled down the side of her mouth.

"You have to drink, Sakura," Naruto said softly.

Thankfully, while she didn't say anything, Sakura began swallowing the red liquid.

'...There's GOT to be a better way to do this,' Kurama said with a grimace.

'When you find one, let me know.'

Slowly, the colour returned to Sakura's face, and after a little while, her breathing settled into a calming relaxed pattern.

Naruto separated his healed arm from her mouth and sat there for a bit. The loss of such a large amount of blood twice in a night had made him quite lightheaded. He suppressed the urge to just collapse then and there.

'Alright, brat. Time to get some sleep,' Kurama said.

Then, after a second, 'Although I wonder why you need so much sleep when you already slept at that negotiation with Caster.'

Naruto groaned as he covered his eyes in annoyance.

'You're never going to let this go, are you?'

Kurama growled,

'Never.'

The next morning, after having some of Rin's delectable breakfast, Saber, Naruto, and Rin convened in the living room.

"The Holy Grail is corrupted," Saber stated simply, "Any wish made to it will be fulfilled in the most evil manner possible."

Neither Naruto nor Rin looked surprised at that.

Rin sighed, "Damn it, I had a suspicion when Caster mentioned that the "Grail's taint" was the most important factor in allowing Sakura to take the form of the Shadow."

Naruto propped up his head with his arm, "And that's why Kiritsugu destroyed the grail in the last war. Or at least he tried to."

Saber nodded slowly, apprehension colouring her features, "Yes... I had despised Kiritsugu for using his Command Seals on me to force me to destroy the Grail, but it seems now that he had valid reasons for doing so..."

She was honestly torn at the moment. While she mostly blamed herself for failing to understand Kiritsugu, some part of her had also despised the dour man for denying her the Holy Grail when it was so close in front of her eyes. But now she knew why he had made his order, and she honestly didn't know what to feel about him anymore.

Obviously, she still disliked him for his attitude, beliefs, and actions in the last war; but at least now she knew that he had possessed an undeniably good reason to stop her from reaching the Holy Grail.

Saber knew that she would never be able to come to accept Kiritsugu, but she felt that in some strange sense, they had come to some sort of posthumous understanding.

"How did you find out that the Grail is corrupted, Saber?" Rin asked, bringing Saber out of her thoughts.

"I was connected to Sakura as a Servant, who in turn was connected to a Servant inside the Grail. Thus, I was able to discern the true nature of the Grail."

"A Servant inside the Grail?" Rin asked.

Saber nodded, "Yes. There is a Servant in the Holy Grail who is the cause of the Grail's taint. While I do not know that Servant's true identity, I do think that it matters little. It has no power to affect the world anymore, unless, of course, someone makes a wish on the Grail."

"So we just have to destroy the Holy Grail before anyone can make a wish on it," Rin said.

Saber closed her eyes and slowly nodded again, saying in a clinical tone,

"Essentially, yes."

Rin smirked and turned to look at Naruto, "Looks like we're going to be allies for the entire war now, Naruto."

Naruto shot a grin back, but then he looked back at Saber and raised an eyebrow,

"But how are we even going to destroy it? You said that Kiritsugu ordered you to in the last war, but that clearly didn't work. I mean, that stupid cup still exists, right?"

Rin shook her head, "No, your father most likely succeeded in what he intended. You see, the "Holy Grail" is divided up into two parts: the Lesser Grail, and the Greater Grail. The Lesser Grail is the vessel, which is what your father destroyed in the last war. The Greater Grail is where all the magic to make someone's wish come true happens. Since the Greater Grail probably receded into the earth after the destruction of the Lesser Grail, your father wasn't able to destroy that."

"So why don't we just go and destroy the Greater Grail now?" Naruto asked, " That way, there's no need to waste our time trying to take down all the other Servants."

Rin shook her head again, "Unfortunately, we don't have the tools to dismantle the Greater Grail without consequences right now. At the moment, it's best to just focus on destroying the Lesser Grail."

"Let's just go and do that right now then," Naruto said, "We can just get Saber to destroy that Lesser Grail thing again, right?"

Rin frowned, "Well... technically, we could try to do that right now, but we'd just fail."

Naruto tilted his head questioningly, "Why?"

"Because the Lesser Grail is currently under the protection of Berserker."

Naruto blinked and paused as he took a few seconds to process that,

"Wait... are you saying that... chibi is...?"

Rin nodded, "Yes. Illya is the Lesser Grail."

Saber spoke up, "Speaking of Illyasviel Von Eizbern, I would like to inform you two of the fact that I sensed the souls of Lancer and Assassin leave Sakura's body and head towards the direction of the Einzbern manor."

"Normally the souls would just dissipate and return to the Throne of Heroes..." Rin mused, "This means that the souls went to that little brat."

"Wait, wait!" Naruto interjected, "We can't destroy the Grail if it's actually Illya!"

"And why not?" Rin asked, "The only time you guys met, she tried to kill you. If innocent lives are at stake, wouldn't it be a better move to just kill her?"

Naruto winced, "Well... I've actually met her outside of battle too, and I really liked her, so I don't want to kill her."

Rin's jaw dropped, "You met her!? Did you at least have Saber with you when you just walked right up to the enemy and talked to her?"

"This... happened yesterday..." Naruto said, looking away almost guiltily.

Saber sighed as Rin rubbed her head in annoyance.

"Naruto," Saber said, "You must learn to exercise caution."

"Hey! It was fine!" Naruto exclaimed defensively, "There was only a little problem at the beginning when she used some sort of binding spell on me. After that, we had ramen together and everything!"

"She used a binding spell on you!?" Rin yelled.

Naruto wilted, "Only at the beginning..."

"Rin, it seems that Naruto is unharmed, so I suggest we move past his reckless decisions," Saber said.

Rin sighed, "I guess you're right, Saber. So, Naruto, if you don't want to kill Illya, then there is one other way to stop the Holy Grail from activating. All you have to do is defeat all the enemy Servants and then have a Servant strike down the physical manifestation of the connection that Illya has with the Grail."

"So just win and then destroy anything weird that pops up from Illya?" Naruto asked.

Rin nodded, "Pretty much."

"Onto other matters," Saber said, recognizing that a course of action had been decided, "When I was corrupted, I was partially incarnated into this world. This means that I will need far less magical power to remain in this world, but the fact remains that I do still need some amount of magical power to continue existing."

"Yesterday you said that you had two days left," Naruto remembered, "So now it's one day, right?"

Saber nodded, "Yes."

Naruto let his head fall onto the table, "And we need to find a way to deal with Sakura's problem too..."

Not to mention that Naruto still couldn't get Archer's predicament out of his head. Honestly, these problems were wasting no time in piling themselves up.

Then, with no warning, the front door loudly slammed open and Fuji-nee came flying in,

"NARU-CHAN, SOMETHING MAJOR HAPPENED LAST NIGHT—!"

Fuji-nee came to an abrupt halt when she spotted both Saber and Rin sitting on the table with him.

"Eh? Saber? I thought you'd already left to go home or something. And why are you here, Tohsaka-san?"

Naruto shot Rin an alarmed look. While he loved Fuji-nee, he couldn't have her here forcing a pause in their discussion right now—they were already short on time as it was.

Rin nodded in understanding and got to her feet.

"Actually, Fujimura-sensei, I came here because I wanted to ask you a question."

Fuji-nee looked a little thrown for the loop, but nodded nonetheless,

"Go on."

Rin put on an act of hesitance, "My apologies, Fujimura-sensei, but can I ask you my question in private?"

Fuji-nee tilted her head curiously, "Sure...? Just wait for me out in the hall—I have something that I need to tell Naru-chan."

Rin nodded and left.

Fuji-nee's head whipped back to Naruto,

"Naru-chan, for now, I'll ignore the fact that you skipped school yesterday because I have some really alarming news!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Sakura's house was attacked last night, and she, Shinji, and their grandfather are all missing!"

Naruto and Saber shot each other a furtive glance. Then, Naruto shook his head apologetically,

"Sorry, I have no clue where they could be right now."

Fuji-nee blinked, "I wasn't expecting such a... lacking reaction from you. I thought you'd be taking to the streets in search of Sakura right about now."

Naruto suppressed a grimace. Fuji-nee knew him far too well.

"Well—uh—thing is..." Naruto trailed off, his head producing a blank.

Fuji-nee narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Yes...?"

Then, the spark of inspiration hit Naruto,

"Alright fine, I'll tell you the truth. Sakura is actually here in my house right now. She came yesterday and told me about how she had a huge fight with her grandfather. She said she didn't want to talk to anyone, so I didn't tell you that she was here."

Fuji-nee's eyes widened, "SO YOU ATTACKED THEIR HOUSE!?"

Naruto's eyes widened to match hers, "What? No! I don't know who attacked their house!"

Fuji-nee calmed down, "Oh." Then she grew agitated again, "But just because she had a fight with her family, doesn't mean she doesn't care about them!"

Naruto stifled a sardonic chuckle as he nodded, "Yeah, I know. But because I don't care about Sakura's family as much as Sakura, I'm sensible enough right now to acknowledge the fact that I won't be of any help if I charge out and try to search for them without a plan."

Fuji-nee rubbed her chin, the look of a detective analyzing clues on her face, "Well, I guess that makes sense... but she's going to have to talk to the police, even if she doesn't want to. We can't just let her family stay missing."

Naruto resisted the urge to palm his face. How on earth was he going to stop Fuji-nee from calling the police? And considering the condition that Sakura was in—

"Hello, Fujimura-sensei, I'm sorry that I didn't come out and greet you," A gentle voice rang out from the doorway.

It was Sakura, her flesh still pale, and her body still covered in a thin sheen of sweat. But, to Naruto's relief, she at least looked marginally better than last night.

"Sakura? Are you okay? You don't look too good," Fuji-nee noticed.

Sakura nodded weakly and took a seat at the table, "I'm alright—just a bit sick."

"Naru-chan told me that you had a spat with your family?"

Sakura's lips twitched, "A-ah, yes. I just had a little argument with them."

She stealthily glanced at Naruto to confirm whether that was the story had Naruto had given Fuji-nee, and Naruto nodded back in confirmation.

Fuji-nee nodded understandingly, "I know that sometimes we lash out at our family members for certain things, but it's important to reconcile too. On that note, I have some bad news Sakura. Someone attacked your house last night, and your brother and grandfather are nowhere to be found."

Sakura shot Naruto an incredulous look, and Naruto mimed a small apology in return.

"I-I see," Sakura said, "I wouldn't worry about them, they... called me this morning to tell me that they're... going on a vacation."

Fuji-nee's forehead creased, "And they just left you here?"

Sakura nodded, "They knew that Senpai would take care of me."

"That's still pretty irresponsible of them..." Fuji-nee coughed into her hand, "Either way, someone still attacked your house last night, so we need to get in touch with your family members so that they can talk to the police."

Sakura shook her head, "Sorry, Fujimura-sensei, I don't know anything about who would attack us, and grandfather and brother didn't tell me where they were going. They always turn off all their phones when they go on vacation."

Fuji-nee sighed, "I understand. Let me know when they come back. For now, I'll call the police and—"

"Sorry, Fuji-nee," Naruto interrupted, "Can you tell the police that Sakura also went with her family? She's in a pretty bad condition, as you can see, and she's still pretty upset from last night. I don't want them asking her questions right now."

"It's for her safety though!" Fuji-nee protested.

"Yeah, but Sakura clearly knows nothing. There's no point in upsetting her further."

Fuji-nee looked troubled, but then Rin poked her head back into the room and asked,

"Fujimura-sensei, are you done with your conversation?"

Rin caught sight of Sakura, but instantly turned her eyes back to Fuji-nee. Sakura's posture drooped a little at that.

Fuji-nee got to her feet, "I'll answer your question first, Tohsaka-san."

She exited the room with Rin.

As soon as she left, Naruto's head whipped towards Sakura,

"Sakura, are you feeling okay?"

Sakura smiled weakly, "Yes, I am fine for the time being."

"I see."

Now that Fuji-nee wasn't here cornering him, Naruto could clearly see that Saber had assumed a slightly defensive position against Sakura. It wasn't something an untrained person like Sakura could notice, but Naruto could.

Saber had one eye trained on Sakura. The blond Servant had changed her sitting posture to having one foot flat on the ground, her muscles were slightly tensed, and the palm of her right hand was subtly testing the traction of the table. These subtle actions would ensure that Saber had enough explosive mobility to move in an instant and easily adjust her direction if she wanted to.

Naruto understood why Saber was being wary. Even though Sakura was no longer the Shadow, she still had Zouken in her heart. Besides, the experience of being corrupted was probably quite traumatic for Saber.

But even though he understood it, he still didn't like it...

"I-I'M GOING, OKAY!? LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU DEVIL WOMAN!" Fuji-nee's teary voice shook the house. It was then followed by a loud slam of the main door.

Rin walked back into the living room, a pleased and faux-innocent smile on her face,

"It seems that Fujimura-sensei got tired and went back home. She also decided not to call the police."

Naruto shuddered. He didn't know what Rin had done to Fuji-nee, but it couldn't have been anything good, considering what he'd just heard.

Rin turned to Sakura and bluntly said, "So, you're the Shadow that tried to kill us, huh?"

Sakura looked down, an obviously guilty look on her face.

"Making that expression won't solve anything now," Rin said coldly, "Saber's about to disappear because of you, and Rider isn't doing much better. Not to mention, you made us waste two whole days on fighting a threat that shouldn't have even been a part of the Holy Grail war."

Naruto tried to speak up, "O-oi, Rin—"

Rin's glare shifted to Naruto, "Don't butt in. She needs to hear this."

Naruto winced. If this was Rin's way of treating those she claimed to care about, then how would she treat those that she hated?

Sakura quivered, and her voice did the same, "I... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I fell into temptation and ended up hurting so many people, a-and I know my useless apologies won't fix anything, but still, I'm so sorry!"

Rin nodded as her tone became a little more gentle, "Good. If you've reflected, then that's good enough. Thankfully, you didn't kill anyone other than Servants when you were the Shadow. If you had taken innocent lives, we would have had to find a more drastic punishment for you."

Naruto smiled. While Saber still hadn't shifted from her defensive position, her tense muscles had slacked slightly after that apology. For now, that was good enough for him.

"But still," Rin continued speaking, "As punishment for your actions as the Shadow, I'm going to ground you to your room."

Sakura blinked with her teary eyes, "...Eh?"

"You heard me. Scram, now."

Sakura dazedly left the room, a thoroughly bewildered look on her face.

Naruto could sympathize with her confusion, "You... grounded her?"

Rin waved his statement away, "I just needed her out of the room so that we could discuss a way to save her without letting Zouken know."

"Ah, gotcha," Naruto said, "Did you come up with any ideas?"

Rin shook her head with a scowl, "None. It's impossible to get rid of Zouken without damaging Sakura's heart. If only there was a way to heal Sakura's heart instantly after Zouken is extracted, then maybe I could come up with something in a month or two..."

Naruto blinked, '...Heal?'

Then, a lightbulb went off in his head.

'Oi, Kurama. That weird sheathe is probably Saber's, right?'

'Definitely. It only reacts to Saber's presence; I don't know who else it could belong to.'

"Saber, that sheathe of yours, can it heal a damaged heart?"

Saber tilted her head curiously, "My... sheathe? Do you mean Avalon?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't really know its name."

"I do not know any sheathe that belonged to me and had healing properties other than Avalon," Saber said, "But I do not possess it anymore. In fact, I am quite surprised you even know about it, Naruto."

"Well, you don't have it anymore, but I think I do," Naruto said.

He held out his hand and expelled the golden sheathe from his body. The feat was quite easy since he and Kurama had not allowed the artifact to disseminate throughout his body and kept it in one piece. Thus, even without magic circuits, Naruto could take it out anytime he wanted.

As the sheathe left his body, Naruto felt a significant decrease in his energy. It was as if he had been running on gallons of caffeine all these years, and suddenly, all that caffeine had run out.

'Shit...' Kurama said, sounding a bit strained, 'I thought the sheathe had stabilized our existence in this world, but it looks like I was wrong. I don't think we can last more than a few days without that.'

Naruto suppressed a frown, 'Gotcha.'

In the outside world, Rin and Saber were both looked gobsmacked as they stared at the sheathe in a stunned silence.

"I-is that the real Avalon?" Rin asked, "The magical artifact of the fae that provides the ultimate defense?"

Saber slowly nodded, "Yes... that is undoubtedly Avalon. My sheathe."

"So," Naruto said, "Will it be able to heal Sakura's damaged heart?"

"I will have to make a contract with Sakura," Saber said slowly, almost reluctantly, "But yes. Once she is my Master and Avalon is implanted in her, she will be able to regenerate even a completely demolished heart."

"H-how did you even get that?" Rin exclaimed.

Naruto smiled, "Kiritsugu gave it to me. To save my life."

"I see," Saber said, "So Kiritsugu had Avalon all along. That must have been the catalyst that he used to summon me, and you must have done the same, Naruto."

"Either way," Rin said, shaking herself out of her shocked stupor, "even if Avalon can regenerate Sakura's heart, I still don't have a solid method to extract Zouken from her."

Naruto nodded, "Then leave that part to me."

Midday approached and Zouken mulled as he waited. He had no choice but to wait for now since any pieces that he had possessed had been snatched away by those Emiya and Tohsaka brats.

No matter. He would outlive them and simply win the next war. For all the skills that these children possessed, they still wouldn't be able to reach his level of magic and achieve pseudo-immortality.

His attention was brought to the outside world when those two infuriating brats and Saber entered his tool's room. While it was true that he simply had to wait, there was also the fact that he had to remain wary. Somehow, their group had known that Sakura had been the Shadow, and they had known not to kill her. Therefore, it wasn't a stretch to imagine that they perhaps knew about him too.

He had to remain cautious in case they tried to extract him from Sakura's heart. If they did, then he could simply threaten Sakura to get them to leave him alone. But he would only do so if they actually tried anything. There was no point in revealing an advantage that they were unaware of—not when he could gain so much more information out of this situation.

"Sakura, I need you to make a contract with Saber," The Emiya brat said to his "granddaughter".

A strange course of action, considering that Sakura was already struggling to keep Rider from disappearing.

And of course, his tool accepted in an instant with no hesitation. She always was enamored with the Emiya child.

"Sakura, we can't get rid of the main cause, but we can at least help you feel a bit better," The Emiya boy said once the contract between Saber and Sakura was made.

Zouken grinned at that. That statement clearly meant that neither he nor that Tohsaka girl had any way to extract him.

A glowing golden artifact was inserted into Sakura, and after a few minutes, Zouken felt the presence of his crest worms vanish one by one.

He scowled at this development, but the crest worms weren't really necessary for him to win. It was just another piece of his that had been taken from the board. As long as he himself existed, his dream would be within reach.

And the golden artifact would not erase him. The crest worms were simply physically incompatible with Sakura due to their very nature. They were a complete abnormality that caused her body to react unnaturally.

Zouken's true body was different. He had used his considerable knowledge in magic to meld himself to Sakura's heart. The artifact would not be able to sense where Sakura's heart ended and he began.

The scion of the Tohsaka took out a jewel from her pocket and used a fairly advanced spell on Sakura—a spell that he was sure almost no magus her age knew.

In under a second, Sakura fell asleep.

Zouken felt intrigued. This was no ordinary sleeping spell that the Tohsaka child had used. This spell would put Sakura in a sleep so deep, that even being stabbed would not wake her. This was a spell that most magus only used when undergoing a severely painful operation of some kind to implant something within themselves.

The point of the spell was, quite simply, to avoid the pain of surgery.

Next, the Emiya boy rolled up his orange sleeve, and the Tohsaka magus used a much simpler spell to sterilize his entire limb.

"The entry point should be somewhere here," The Emiya boy said, gesturing to the side of Sakura's chest.

The Tohsaka girl used a structural analysis type spell on Sakura, and then her mouth fell open in visible shock,

"Y-you're right," She said, "the path of least resistance is right there."

She pointed to a specific point on Sakura's body, which was within the general area where the Emiya boy had gestured.

The boy took a deep breath, then nodded,

"Make the cut."

The Tohsaka girl made a large incision in the location where she had pointed, and used another spell to make sure that Sakura's blood did not leave her body from this new opening.

The Emiya boy flexed his fingers for a second, before, in one swift move, he buried his arm through the incision.

Blood splattered out, which was only natural. The spell that the Tohsaka girl had used would keep Sakura's blood from leaking out from the incision only if it wasn't disturbed. If someone entered their arm, the displaced blood would obviously have to leave.

Still, the spell had been the right one to cast, as it ensured that Sakura wouldn't lose any more blood than necessary.

Leaving that aside... he still didn't understand what these children were attempting right now. The only thing left in Sakura's body that could cause her harm was—!

Zouken's eyes widened in understanding, but it was too late.

The Emiya boy's rough hand grabbed his true body, and ripped it out of Sakura's heart. Naturally, a large portion of Sakura's heart was torn off as well, but the boy did not seem to care.

Instead, he was pulled out into the cold outside world, and saw himself facing the Emiya boy's ugly smirk.

"Found you~" He sang. His tone was mocking, but his cerulean blue eyes brimmed with hate and anger, "Looks like it's my turn to "gaze upon you with my own two eyes"."

"Y-you said that you couldn't get rid of the main cause!" Zouken yelled, hating how pathetically high pitched his voice sounded.

He wiggled his body in resistance, but being a worm, he couldn't loosen a human's tough grip, even despite how slippery it was due to all the blood.

"I lied," The boy said, "If you knew that we'd found a way to get rid of you, you would have just gone ahead and threatened Sakura. I couldn't give you the chance to want to resort to that option until it was too late.

A desperate fear invaded Zouken's body. For the first time in his life, he couldn't see a way out. Was... was he going to die here, having almost reached his dream of true immortality?

His entire body trembled with the fear of a fully grown and withered human. And yet, he knew that he looked no different from an ordinary worm flailing around on the cusp of death.

"I—" Zouken began to speak, hoping to strike any sort of deal to continue retaining his existence, but he was interrupted by the Emiya boy before he could get any more words out.

"Is Sakura healing properly?" He asked the Tohsaka girl worriedly.

The girl ran a small magical scan, then nodded,

"Her heart has perfectly healed and the incision is closing up. Looks like Avalon is working perfectly," She turned to Zouken, "You're the only problem left now, worm."

"Rin Tohsaka, think about it," Zouken said, his voice barely displaying a sense of confidence that he certainly did not feel on the inside, "I have lived and researched magic for a long time, if you kill me, you will lose access to all that knowledge."

The girl smirked impudently, "You underestimate me, worm. What makes you think that I desire your second-rate magecraft?"

Zouken felt his pride flare like molten fire overtaking the cold ice of fear,

"You—!"

"Enough!" The Emiya boy yelled, quivering with rage, "No more deals, no more banter! Tell me, you old fart, why did you do this to Sakura!?"

Zouken sneered, "I simply wished to live forever, nothing more."

"That's it!?" The boy exclaimed, "You forced Sakura to go through all this simply because you wanted to live forever—"

"And so what!?" Zouken yelled back, his temper getting the better of him, "Humanity's greatest instinct is to survive, so what is wrong in me pursuing that dream!?"

"The fact that you're hurting other people in the pursuit of your dream! That's what's wrong!"

"And?" Zouken asked, the sneer still fixed on his inhuman face, "Fundamentally, none of you are different. Resources are finite. You live, which deprives others of life; you have shelter, which deprives others of shelter; and you have a livelihood, which deprives others of a livelihood. I am simply honest enough to admit my desires and look my victims in the eye!"

The boy grit his teeth and clenched his fists, it seemed as if the boy was restraining every muscle in his body from attacking him,

"Every single one of you... spouting your bullshit like what you're doing is completely above reproach... That's not how the world works!"

"Then tell me," Zouken challenged, "How does the world work? You also understand that living your life and achieving your goals means sacrificing other people's lives or goals. What is it that makes you any better than me!?"

The boy put a hand on his chest, "The fact that I have moral boundaries! You people go on and on about us being the same, but the truth is, we couldn't be more different! Yes, almost every human wants to live, which means that somewhere, someone's life cannot exist. But that's simply the cost of living—it's an unavoidable fact of reality. But unlike you, I don't use that as a justification to harm and take more lives."

"And do not forget, worm," Saber spoke up, "Unlike you, we also help people. We do not simply make our lives all about ourselves."

Zouken scowled. Master and Servant, they belonged with each other. They were both idealistic fools who refused to acknowledge the facts of reality. They both idiotically wished for life to be this miraculous place where no one would want to hurt each other.

"You both are mad," Zouken said, "You refuse to see the world for the place it is. People cling to life with everything that they have, because that is all that truly matters to people. Any person in the world will betray you in a heartbeat if it means that they get to live for even one more day."

The boy frowned and rubbed his head. He was now exuding an emotion that Zouken simply couldn't recognize.

"Go, Naruto, Saber," The Tohsaka girl finally said after a period of strange silence, "Sakura and I will deal with him."

The boy looked unsure, "Rin, this isn't—"

"I know what my options are," The Tohsaka girl cut him off, "Please, let us finish handling our family matter."

The boy considered the plea before he nodded, "Fine, it's your choice."

Then, he turned to Zouken, "Matou Zouken, no matter what they choose, I won't see you again, so I'll say this now: If the world is really how you describe it, then why cling to life so pathetically at all? what's waiting for you in life that you so desperately don't want to leave it behind?"

Zouken frowned as he tried to identify the unknown emotion that the boy was exuding. The answer was on the tip of his tongue, but the last vestiges of comprehension refused to make themselves known.

"Goodbye, Zouken."

With that, the boy walked out of the room, Saber trailing behind him and closing the door behind her.

As the door thudded shut, the answer to his confusion clicked.

Pity.

Despite how much he hated Zouken, there was a part of Uzumaki Emiya Naruto that simply pitied Zouken's way of life.

A shock of white hair flashed through his mind, before slipping away like water through his fingers. It was an incomprehensible image that lasted only for a second.

It should have meant nothing.

It was simply something old that he had discarded long ago.

But...

For some reason, it caused an infinitesimal part of Zouken to accept his greatest fear.

The living room, which was only occupied by Naruto and Saber, was filled with a grim silence.

Neither Naruto nor Saber had any illusions as to what Sakura and Rin would choose to do with Matou Zouken, and while neither were particularly sad about what fate lay in store for him, the weight of death was still a heavy one.

The sat there for a few minutes before Saber closed her eyes,

"It is done."

Naruto didn't respond, but Saber knew that the message didn't need to be repeated.

The day was ill-fitting for such an occasion. The sun shone with brilliance and the skies were clear, even though an existence had just been condemned to death.

The door opened and Rin and Sakura entered. Rin didn't look shaken in the slightest, but Sakura was trembling, her face more ashen than he had ever seen before.

"You were the one to do it?" Naruto asked Rin.

Rin nodded unconcernedly, "Yeah. It took a little time, but I was finally able to convince Sakura that killing the worm was the best choice."

Naruto scowled at her flippant tone, while Saber scolded, "Rin, you must dispense some gravity to an act as grave as killing."

Rin frowned, "Why would I treat killing that thing with any gravity at all? He was barely hanging on to life by a thread—all I did was cut that thread."

Sakura looked away, her trembling increasing in scale.

Naruto felt a stab of pity at the sight. Despite having been the Shadow, Sakura was still too gentle of a girl to find any sort of pleasure in the act of killing—even if the death had been given to the one who had tortured her physically and mentally for years on end.

But still, Naruto had no doubt that Sakura had also buried within herself an enormous sense of relief at having witnessed her tormentor's death, on the account that she shouldn't feel such a feeling at someone's death.

He could spout off a variety of speeches to both sisters right now, but for the time being, it was best to simply wait and let them come to terms with what they had done tonight.

"Alright everyone," Naruto said, interrupting Saber, who had her mouth open and an admonishment for Rin on her tongue, "Let's all stop all this Grail War business here for now, and relax a little. I think we've had enough for one day."

"I concur. However, before that," Saber said, "Sakura, I would like it if you relinquished me from our contract as Master and Servant."

Naruto frowned as Sakura looked a little downtrodden,

"O-of course, no problem."

Saber shook her head, "Please understand, Sakura. My intentions are not to hurt you, I simply swore to fight alongside Naruto, and wish to continue to strive to fulfill that promise."

Sakura perked up a little at that, and Rin nodded, "I think that's a good idea too. Sakura, even without the crest worms or Zouken in you anymore, you're still going to drain yourself dry trying to maintain two Servants."

"Y-yes, I understand," Sakura said before raising the which had her two remaining command seals on it, "Saber, I hereby conclude our contract as Master and Servant."

A gust of wind told everyone in the room that the magic had succeeded.

Then, Sakura turned to Rin, "Tohsaka-senpai, can you please give my command seals to Naruto-senpai?"

Rin raised an eyebrow while Naruto blinked,

"Sakura..."

"Of course," Rin said as if it were a trivial matter, "If both parties are willing, I can get this done in an instant."

Naruto shook his head, "Sakura, you don't need to do this—"

It was Sakura's turn to shake her head stubbornly, "No, senpai. This is the way I want to thank you and apologize. After all, I was the one who made your Command Seals disappear in the first place. Please... let me atone for my sins at least a little in this way!"

Naruto wanted to decline, Command Seals could help Masters escape from tight spots by summoning their Servants to their vicinity after all. But Sakura looked as though she would crumble into pieces if he said no, and Naruto supposed that it was time that something went her way for once.

"...Alright then. I accept."

Sakura's face gained back a bit of its colour as she smiled slightly, and Naruto instantly knew that he'd made the right choice.

"Hold out your arms," Rin commanded.

Naruto and Sakura complied.

Rin grabbed their arms and muttered a long string of unrecognizable incantations in German. After a small period of time, Sakura's Command Seals glowed dully before slowly bleeding onto Naruto's hand.

Naruto felt a slight stab of pain as the two Command Seals on his hand shone once to signify their new allegiance.

"And done!" Rin said, looking a little winded, "I have to admit, despite what I said, Zouken was honestly a genius which barely a few people in the world could match. Those Command Seals are a ridiculously amazing achievement..."

Sakura's face lost its colour again at the mention of her "grandfather". Rin noticed and took Sakura's hand,

"Come on, Sakura. Let's get away from this house for a little while," the Tohsaka magus turned to Naruto and Saber, who had both not made to leave yet, "You both coming?"

Naruto nodded, "In a sec; we have something to wrap up here first."

"Of course you do," Rin muttered under her breath as she left the room with Sakura in tow, "We'll wait for you outside then."

The door closed and Saber turned to Naruto and grandly stabbed her invisible blade into the ground. Instantly, Naruto could tell that the air around them had changed into something greater.

"Uzumaki Emiya Naruto," She called, her voice filled with majesty and purpose, "I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Naruto grinned, not even having to think to answer that question,

"Yep."

Saber smiled softly in return, "My sword will henceforth be at your side; your fate is henceforth my fate."

She closed her eyes, "The pact is now sealed."

"Then, Saber," Naruto said, "By the power of my Command Seal, my first order as your Master is to replenish your magical reserves!"

One of the two red marks on Naruto's hand shined before fading, and Naruto felt the skin on his entire body tingle. He had no ability to sense the energy in this world, but right now, even he could tell that a colossal amount of mana was being used.

Saber glowed for a second, and Naruto instantly knew that his Command Spell had worked as intended—it had transformed into pure mana that Saber could use.

Before, Saber had been merely been pretending that she was not suffering from a lack of mana, but now, it was completely, yet subtly, different. It was not noticeable to a normal passerby simply taking a glance, but to a warrior like Naruto, the changes were obvious. The colour had fully returned to her skin, her eyes seemed far more focused, and her form seemed infinitely more steady.

Naruto grinned,

"Let's go, Saber."

"Of course."

"So, now that Sakura isn't having her mana leached away, Rider should be awake and useful soon," Rin said as she, Sakura, Naruto, and Saber walked down the busy market street.

It was Saturday, so the market was far more packed than usual. But it wasn't too packed, and the four could still navigate the road quite easily.

Sunday was when the nightmare began.

"It's also weird that Shinji still hasn't woken up," Naruto remembered.

Of course, they had fed and watered the elder Matou sibling in his sleep, but the fact that he still hadn't woken up was a bit strange to Naruto.

"Of course," Rin said, "I didn't remove the sleeping spell from him yet. I didn't want him to interfere while we were busy with... the other stuff."

It was obvious that she was about to say "Zouken", but she had remembered at the last second that the entire group was trying to get Sakura to stop thinking about the old worm's death.

"A-anyway," Rin powered on, "I'm surprised, Naruto. How did you know the approximate location to make the cut and reach Sakura's heart?"

Naruto winced as the memories of the Fourth Great Shinobi War flashed through his mind. He had not been conscious at all after Kurama had been ripped out of him by Madara, but the searing pain he had felt once he woke up again had been no joke.

Later he had found out that Sakura-chan had stuffed her hand inside his body and kept his heart pumping.

He could still remember where the incision had been made on him back then, and could therefore give an approximate location as to where the incision on Sakura had to be made here.

In the end, Rin's magic was more than enough to pinpoint where to begin the extraction of Zouken from. His experience in the past had simply told him that reaching Sakura's heart was entirely possible.

"The same was done to me some time ago," Naruto answered Rin's question, "My heart had stopped beating, so a friend of mine manually forced my heart to beat until I was healed up enough."

Rin blinked. Then her eyes widened, "...What!? How on earth did that happen!?"

Naruto rubbed his chin and considered his answer. There was really no point in hiding the truth anymore, was there? Not after he knew that he could trust these people with it.

"Well, the truth is, I'm actually not from this world," Naruto divulged, "I'm from a different world, where I was a warrior. I fought a huge-ass war there and almost got killed a couple of times. Then I defeated the bad guys and then accidentally ended up here."

Rin and Sakura both seemed to take a minute to process this revelation. However, Rin recovered far more quickly than Sakura.

"B-but still, you've been in this world for at least seven to eight years, right?" Rin tried to make sense of it all, "That means you must have been like ten years old when you fought in that war of yours."

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, I was seventeen in my world. I just de-aged when I came to this world. Let me tell you, it was really weird, and not fun at all."

"A-ah..." Rin appeared faint, "I… I guess that makes sense."

And indeed, unknown to Naruto, it kind of did. She had already acknowledged that Naruto was an existence more akin to Servants than normal humans, and this disclosure only helped explain how that could be possible.

Rin shook her head and yanked back her bearing and poise, which had been abruptly whacked out of her earlier, "So… you must have been a pretty weak warrior compared to the warriors of this world, considering how you're probably not even strong enough to put up a fight against the weakest Servant."

Naruto's eye twitched, "Oi, it's simply that I can't use any of my power because this stupid world keeps suppressing it. I'm actually super powerful you know!"

"You're also basically in your late twenties," Rin teased, "Pervert. So that's why you attended high-school again..."

Naruto's eye twitched again, "That was the law! I had no way of going against the law enforcement of this world! What, do you think that they would have accepted me saying 'Oh don't worry officers, I am actually an adult on the inside and have simply been turned back into a child due to dimension-traveling mishaps—so I don't need to go to school'?"

Rin laughed. Truthfully, she didn't care for his age. There were many, many, many existences in this world that were far older than they looked.

A prime example was Saber herself.

Various sources disagreed with what Arthur Pendragon's age was when he died, but they all at least agreed on the fact that he had been older than thirty years old.

But here she was, walking around with a body and face that no person would ever claim was older than a teenager's.

"A-another world…" Sakura finally spoke up, "Senpai, you said that you accidentally came here… does that mean that you want to go back?"

It was obvious to Rin that Sakura wouldn't have cared less about Naruto being from another world if a possibility didn't exist of him wanting to return.

But Naruto, oblivious to Sakura's feelings, looked up at the sky with a nostalgic look on his face and promptly dashed her hopes,

"Yes…" He closed his eyes and smiled, "More than anything, I want to go back. It's my home after all; there's no way that I can stop missing it."

Sakura clenched her fists and looked away with a heartbroken look on her face. Surprisingly, Rin, for some reason, felt like doing the same.

Thankfully, she had enough practice in hiding her emotions.

Naruto, however, had other concerns at the moment.

Namely, his limbs weren't responding to him as well as they were an hour ago. It was as if he was wading through water, and as time went on, he could almost feel the viscosity of the water increase.

But he expertly hid that within himself and merely grinned. He couldn't be sure that removing Avalon from Sakura right now wouldn't affect her heart in some negative manner, and if he let it be known that he needed Avalon, Sakura would force the relic out of her body no matter how much he protested.

No, it was best to keep this quiet for now.

Judging from the worried looks that Saber was subtly shooting him though, he suspected that she had an idea of what was going on. Still, he knew that she wouldn't say anything when he nodded reassuringly back to her.

Saber understood why he was doing this after all.

The sun set, revealing the sea of stars above. The moon was out too, only a sliver of its existence hiding behind the darkness of the night.

But Naruto barely noticed any of that as he winced and put his hands on his rumbling belly. His stomach felt like it was on fire—as if he had inhaled copious amounts of lava or something.

And for all intents and purposes, he might as well have. Only, this form of lava was called "mapo tofu."

A while ago, the group of four that were now walking home had decided to eat dinner in a random restaurant. The restaurant had boasted of its specialty dish: "mapo tofu."

Unaware of the hell that awaited him, Naruto had decided to order the dish at Rin's urging (of course, that was only after he had asked the waiter and found out that they had no ramen).

Naruto's stomach roared again, prompting a snicker from Rin. He glared at her out of the corner of his eye. Now that he thought about it, Rin had adamantly not allowed Sakura to order the same dish as him…

Maybe the choice in restaurants hadn't been so random after all…

Naruto snuck a sideways glance at Saber. She too had eaten the same dish as him, but didn't seem affected in the slightest.

...Did she have a stomach made of iron or something!?

No, even iron would be corroded before this tactical weapon disguised as a dish. Saber's stomach was made of something far greater than iron…

Freaking Mythril was his guess.

Naruto felt a sense of immense relief as soon as his house came into view, and the first thing he did after entering it, was rush to the bathroom.

Lights had been turned off and people had gone to sleep by the time Naruto had exited the bathroom.

So, imagine his surprise when he spotted Saber, in the still of the night, waiting for him in his room. The light of the moon seemed to actively seek her out and illuminate her entire figure, making her seem like a heavenly divine that had descended onto the Earth.

"Naruto," she greeted with a nod of her head, "Are you alright?"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he set up his futon, "Oh I'm fine. That mapo tofu was just a hell of a lot more dangerous than I expected."

Saber shook her head, "I am not concerned about what you have ingested, Naruto. I am talking about your very existence. I am connected with you through our contract, so it is obvious to me that your existence is steadily being overwritten by reality itself."

Naruto suppressed a grimace. He should have expected her to confront him about this matter.

He waved her concerns away, "Don't worry. Once we're sure that there are no lasting effects from us removing Zouken from Sakura, I'll take back Avalon. It'll be fine."

Saber closed her eyes and sighed, "Very well, I will defer to your judgment on this matter. However, if I deem your condition critical, I shall take action, regardless of your opinion on the matter."

Naruto dropped onto his futon and chuckled unconcernedly, "Sure, go ahead. But I'm telling you, it won't get to that point."

'...Probably.' He failed to add.

Yes, it was true that he had no intention of allowing himself to reach the cusp of nonexistence, but honestly, his situation was deteriorating faster than he could have ever suspected it would. By his estimate, he wouldn't even be able to last until tomorrow night.

"I wanted to ask you the same question, actually," Naruto remembered, "Are you alright? We have to destroy the grail now, and I know how badly you wanted it..."

Saber nodded as her face darkened, "Yes… I am perfectly fine. While I did not enjoy being corrupted by Sakura, I will admit that there were certain benefits. Namely, with my darker side brought to the forefront, I came to realize that the destruction of Briton was not my fault. Such a fate had already been prophesied, and while I had hoped to grant Briton a quiet and peaceful ending, the chaotic end that came about was not entirely my fault."

"So… you don't want to go back anymore?" Naruto asked.

Saber hesitated, "Perhaps… some part of me still does... However, with my newfound realizations, I have come to the decision to abandon my previous course of action. Briton and its inhabitants had their chance to live. It is time for their lives to end, and their legacy to live on."

"...And you?" Naruto asked softly, "What are you going to do after destroying the grail?"

"I will die with Briton, as I must," Saber said simply.

Naruto scowled, "So you're just going to accept your death?"

Saber tilted her head curiously, "Is that not what you wanted, Naruto?"

"Of course not!" Naruto exclaimed angrily, barely remembering to keep his voice down, "I just wanted you to stop chasing after your dream to change the past! That has nothing to do with you dying!"

Saber's lips spread slightly into a melancholic smile, "Naruto, my time has ended. I have already lived my life, and now I must accept my death."

Naruto shook his furiously, "That's not true at all! I've seen your past in my dreams! That life of yours… that can't be called living!"

"Nevertheless, I must accept my fate. Just because I was not able to achieve my dreams does not mean that I have the right to continue my existence. There are multitudes of people in the world who failed to live a life they could be proud of before their death. Besides, there is simply no way for me to continue living after the grail is destroyed—that is a fact that cannot be changed," Saber's tone was gentle, but Naruto could detect a hint of something sharp and hostile hidden within, "Now, if you will excuse me, I must rest to preserve my mana."

She swiftly got up and exited the room, leaving Naruto to frustratedly flop onto his futon.

He was getting a bit of deja-vu from this situation. His dad too had been unnaturally revived into the world through the use of a Jutsu, and Naruto had been forced to say goodbye to him as he accepted the end of his reanimated life with a smile.

He hadn't protested back then, because he had known that things were simply supposed to be that way. There was simply no way of keeping his dad reanimated indefinitely, and besides, his dad had undoubtedly lived a good life.

But things were different now, weren't they? Saber had never been able to live for herself, and the priest had said that the grail only made it easier for Masters to keep Servants materialized.

The word "easier" meant that it was entirely possible to keep Servants materialized without the grail, right?

If not—

'The priest!'

Naruto blinked, having been roughly yanked out of his thoughts by Kurama,

'What?'

'Remember when I said that the Shadow's presence felt familiar? Well, I just figured out why.'

Naruto waited curiously.

'The Shadow's energy signature was identical to energy and negative emotions being exuded from that weird priest's heart.'

'Hm... Caster mentioned that Sakura turned into the Shadow because of the grail's taint. Maybe that weird priest also somehow came in contact with the grail's taint...' Naruto speculated, 'Let's check it out tomorrow.'

'Make sure to get that scabbard back first,' Kurama said, 'You're not going to stand a chance in a fight in your current condition.'

Saber sighed as she tucked herself into her own futon. Naruto probably hadn't noticed, but Saber had felt her body wracked with a strange and ugly emotion when Naruto had insisted that she not accept her inevitable death.

She could not identify what that emotion was, she only knew for certainty that a knight was never supposed to possess a feeling so... vile.

This strange emotion made her want to hit Naruto for some reason, and she could not tolerate harbouring such feelings.

She shook her head. It was best not to dwell on this subject, it would only allow the base feeling inside her to fester. What she needed to do now was simply distract her mind.

And what better distraction was there than Naruto's past?

Sleep came to Saber easily, for, even as a wraith, she had retained her astounding discipline.

And, along with sleep, came Naruto's memories.

The battle against the Nine-tails;

The Fourth Great Shinobi World War;

The resurrection of the Ten-tails;

The rebirth of Kaguya Otsutsuki;

And the battle against Uchiha Sasuke.

Perhaps it was because she and Naruto had connected their minds in the Matou mansion that the memories were flowing in such abundance. The memories didn't even stop there, they continued on to show Naruto's life in this world.

But they were shown in a strange way.

They were simply long periods of grey, interspersed with a few flashes of actual events taking place.

Saber supposed it made sense. Naruto had spent most of his life in this world simply adrift in his own memories after all. He had never truly lived in this world. It was as if he had been frozen in time, and only recently, his time had begun to move again.

She could feel her rest ending as the final memory that would be shown to her appeared.

Lancer.

She saw as Naruto tried to evade Lancer the entire night, and was finally cornered in the shed. She knew what would happen next.

But she wouldn't be shown it. The dream would end right before her appearance, and no more memories would be shown.

The magical circle beneath Naruto shone, and Saber gave Lancer a remorseful bow.

"I am sorry, Lancer."

She knew that she was only talking to a memory, but Saber still felt that she owed Lancer an apology for what she had done to him.

A dishonorable end by a person he had expected an honorable battle from…

Assassin had suffered the same fate.

Saber closed her eyes as the dream began unraveling into darkness. He wasn't even in this memory, but she felt that she owed him these words too.

"I am sorry, Assassin."

Saber's opened her eyes slowly, allowing them to gradually adjust to the bright sunlight filtering in from the window above her face.

After packing away the futon and conducting her daily hygienic rituals, she relocated herself to the dojo to meditate and reflect.

Wrapped by the still and calming air of the dojo, Saber allowed the thoughts in her mind to flow.

Naruto was strong, undoubtedly so. If she were being completely honest, he was probably stronger than her.

Not only that, but he had faced several creatures that resembled high-tier phantasmal beasts. His resume was more than impressive.

But seeing his memories… the hostile feeling inside her only seemed to grow in size. It seemed to squeeze her heart into a tight ball and made her want to violently gnash her teeth.

She didn't like this feeling. She didn't like it one bit—

"Saber?" A gentle voice called from the doorway.

Saber's eyes snapped to the doorway and spotted Sakura entering the dojo timidly.

Instantly, her body tensed slightly. It was not that she hated Sakura; Saber knew that Sakura had not been entirely in control of her actions as the Shadow. Nevertheless, Saber could not find herself fully at ease around the Master of Rider.

"Sakura," Saber professionally greeted back, making sure that no hostility was woven into her tone.

But Sakura smiled sadly, leading Saber to suspect that she already knew of Saber's feelings toward her.

"I just wanted to return this," Sakura said, extracting Avalon from her body, "I'm not an idiot; I know that Senpai is struggling without this for some reason."

Saber stared at the sheathe being offered to her. Then, she looked back up at Sakura,

"Sakura, you are aware of the reason Naruto has not asked for Avalon back, correct?"

Sakura nodded, "I know. But I'm fine. See? I removed Avalon from my body, and nothing bad is happening."

"The consequences may manifest at a later time," Saber warned.

Sakura shook her head, "Don't worry. If that happens, I'll just ask for Avalon again."

Saber had the feeling that, in truth, the purple-haired girl would never do such a thing. If anything were to happen to Sakura, then Saber and the others would only find out when Sakura would no longer be able to contain her suffering.

But still, currently, Naruto clearly needed Avalon more than Sakura. In the first place, the sheathe of the fae had only remained in Sakura for this long as a precaution.

Saber gazed upon Sakura's timid smile and sighed, her body relaxing as she did so. Sakura was undoubtedly a gentle girl, despite what she had been through.

"Thank you, Sakura," Saber said with a nod. But she did not take the sheathe, "If you are truly sure about this, then please return the sheathe to Naruto. I shall continue meditating here."

Sakura blinked, and her face lit up a little in happiness.

"Th-thank you, Saber."

Saber nodded, "No problem."

Sakura smiled softly as she inserted Avalon into a loudly snoring Naruto.

The effects were instantaneous. Much of the tension on Naruto's face and body melted away immediately, and his rest seemed to be far more peaceful than even just a second ago.

He was always like this: more expressive than any other person she had ever met, and yet always hiding his pain. It was what had attracted her to him in the first place. He seemed to suffer so much every single second of the day, and yet, he was so bright.

That brightness… it had enraptured her.

So much so that she had fallen into her desires and had become the Shadow.

But she had already known deep in her heart that Naruto had absolutely no romantic attraction towards her. She knew that she was simply like a sister to him.

It was… heartbreaking. It felt as though her chest were being squeezed into a minuscule little ball, and then was being trampled underfoot by a herd of elephants.

But, the fault only lay with her. She had never once considered herself worthy enough to stand by his side, and naturally, this was the result.

"Senpai…" She whispered as she ran a hand through his soft blond hair, "I really wish..."

She stopped. There was no point in voicing that desire now.

…

But one time. Just one time, she wanted to say it.

"I... love you, Naruto."

AN: Ha ha! Didn't expect to me see so soon, didja!?

Well, me neither, so I guess we're all on the same boat.

Anyway, a bit of a cool-down chapter to take a break from the last few chapters' heavy and fast-paced events.

The story should pick up in terms of pace again in the next chapter.

P.S. The text for this chapter has been transferred from platform to platform. I double checked, but I would really appreciate it if any of you can quickly inform if there are any formatting errors. I'm just one guy after all.