Preface:

Thanks for the kind words everyone who's reviewed so far. I'd still like to hear more about the romantic angle but it seems like a harem is the general consensus.

I mentioned minor things about SAO will be changed last chapter. This chapter I say the party limit is eight. I don't know where I got that number from, but that's where its staying (it's six in progressive).

Hope you enjoy!

All rights and privileges of Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, not me, duh.

Chapter 3

"Oh no this… this is bad," Arthur mumbled pale-faced from Kayaba's revelations.

"Just calm down guys, we can get through this," Naruto calmly intoned. After Kayaba had finished his spiel on how SAO was no longer a game, Naruto had promptly dragged the other two out of the courtyard in an attempt to prevent a meltdown. "Now, is there any way that what Mr. hollow robe said in there is true?"

"W-well, yes," Klein replied appearing to be taking the news slightly better than Arthur. "While I don't fully understand how the device manages to exactly excite the correct neurons, the principle is similar to that of a microwave. Enough juice and..."

"So, probably a stupid question, but why can't they just unplug them?"

"The Nerve Gear is mostly batteries," came Arthur's dull voice in response to that question, "and, before you ask, they probably know how our bodies look due to the calibration steps when setting up the Nerve Gear."

"A mind reader as always, you are!" Naruto crowed. "So, now that we know the threat is real, I propose that we become the strongest in the game and free everyone trapped within!"

At Naruto's boundless optimism the others couldn't help but break into smiles as the shadow of dread hanging over them receded a little.

"Ah!" Klein exclaimed, "I forgot about my friends, they're probably logged in and panicking, I need to find them!"

"Well, why don't you give your drops to us to sell, that way we can buy some potions and maybe a shield for them?"

"That could work," Arthur cut in, strength starting to return. "We will be close to level 3 after handing in these quests and it should be safe to help Klein's friends to level up."

"I think the problem will be information," Klein asserted trying to resume his role as leader. "The boars and wolves will be easy to deal with which will get us level three and access to the next town, but new enemies bring new issues. How do we safely learn this stuff?"

As memories of entering the red zone assaulted his mind, Naruto's confidence started to wane. He had almost died to the 'Big Blue Boar' while a pack of 'Small Wolf' monsters had almost done in his friends. Every new monster had brought with it new problems that required quick adaptation. While Naruto was contemplating this unforeseen problem, Klein and Arthur's whining about the lack of forums and info sights helped Naruto remember the third person he had registered on his friends list.

"Hey guys, get a load of this! The person I helped earlier when I left you? They were an info broker!" Naruto informed them with a laugh.

Klein could only open and close his mouth repeatedly before muttering an undeniable truth, "you really are something, you know that Naruto? Well I'm going to go get my friends, peace guys."

"Hey Naruto, you give me your drops as well and go meet up with that info broker. A good relationship with one could be crucial."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Naruto replied with a salute before opening his menu and shooting Argo a message.

The person who stood before Naruto now was the same height as he remembered, but she now had mossier hair and, to put it politely, a less feminine body. While her face was similar, her new face really accented the makeup giving her the appearance of a rat.

"I like your new look Nar-boi, it's cute," Argo said in her nasally voice, attempting to keep things light. Despite the tough exterior Naruto could tell that something was eating at her.

"Well, I did always want a pet rat," Naruto informed her with a wink. A slight blush creept up her cheeks but her nervous demeanour remained. "H-hey Argo, what's wrong? Did I say something stupid?"

"Besides the whole death-game thing?" Argo replied softly. "I almost got you killed earlier Naruto. How are you not mad at me?"

Hearing his full name come out of Argo's mouth was strange enough, but her tone contained a vulnerability to it that hadn't been there before. Fortunately, Narusaka Kazuto had a lot of practice in his 14 years of life in dealing with people. He knew that what he said here would have a lasting effect on the girl.

Mustering up his courage, Naruto stepped forward and ruffled Argo's hair with his right hand. "You think a little pig like that could kill me? Also, I doubt death was permanent until that tutorial finished anyways." Naruto told her with a smile.

In response Argo moved forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto. "Thank you, Nar-boi. It means a lot."

Getting over his shock Naruto kept his hand moving on her head and wrapped his left arm around her small body and held onto her until the shaking stopped.

"Is everyone here then?" Naruto asked as he approached the group gathered in the park they had previously designated as the meeting point.

"Yeah, I found them all!" Klein replied, obviously thrilled that all of his friends were safe.

"Good, this is Argo, my info broker friend I told you about."

"A-a girl!" Klein exclaimed, which was mimicked by his friends.

The onslaught from the group of strange men resulted in Argo hiding behind Naruto's back. "Really? These people are your friends?" Argo asked, disgust and surprise thick in her voice.

"Oh, they aren't that bad," Naruto reprimanded her lightly, feeling the need to come to Klein's defence upon seeing his crushed expression.

"That's right!" Klein confirmed, confidence restored by Naruto's support. "Me and Naruto here go way back, and any friend of his, is a friend of mine! Name's Klein by the way."

"Yeah, a whole five and a half hours." Naruto added on after confirming it was just after seven.

"Uh huh, a real long time, eh Kline?" Argo scathingly told him.

"A-actually the names Klein, and these are my mates: Dale, Dynamm, Harry one, Issin, and Kunimittz."

After introductions had finished and Naruto had registered the rest of Klein's friends on his friends list, the group unanimously turned to Argo like a team waiting for instructions from their coach.

"What are y'all looking at me for!? Information costs money you know?" Argo shot back at their expectant faces.

"But Argo!" Naruto pleaded, "just this one time? Pretty please?"

"Fine, since I owe you one. But don't expect preferential treatment, got it?"

As the, "yes ma'ams" rang out from the eight boys Argo settled in to give a lecture on Sword Art Online, and more particularly, the first floor.

"Now listen up, cuz I ain't repeating myself, k? SAO follows the same general principles of other MMOs in that doing monster hunting quests is the fastest way to level up. These include both killing a certain number and bringing back a quest drop.

"The different monster types are: common, elite, rare, dungeon, raid, and boss. All of the normal mobs you find walking around the floor will be common, hence the name. Elite monsters, as Nar-boi knows," Argo added with a smirk, "are bigger, tougher versions of the common monsters. Typically, I'd recommend hunting them due to them giving more profitable quest rewards. However, due to elite monsters being able to one-shot squishier targets with some abilities that seems like a bad idea. Building on this, never enter a dungeon labelled as a raid dungeon. These are high difficulty dungeons designed for 3 entire parties to test their skills against.

"Rare monsters are elusive spawns ranging in power from an elite monster to creatures that can't attack. These creatures have a high chance to drop rare loot but are obviously hard to find. Finally, multiple dungeons exist on each floor and contain the dungeon category of monsters. Dungeon monsters are slightly stronger than common monsters of the same level which makes them hard to solo. At the end of every dungeon lies a boss monster. This includes the labyrinth, which is merely a special dungeon. Boss monsters are set apart from other monsters due to their multiple health bars which usually take up to ten minutes to defeat.

"Now, floor one of Sword Art Online has a little bit of everything in it. While the Town of Beginnings takes up a large portion of the southern end of the floor, the surrounding area is hilly plains with sparse copses. In these plains you will find the level 1 boars, the level 2 wolves, and their elite varieties.

"If you follow the path for about a kilometre you will come to the town of Horunka just west of the centre of the floor. From the western edge of Horunka lies a forest which stretches to the edge of the floor. In this part of the woods are mainly creatures called 'Little Nepenthes'. They are the level 3 creatures and have no real danger associated with them. Watch out for a variety with a fruit on its head though, because, if you cut that then all of the surrounding ones will be called and attack you as well."

At this declaration Klein shivered and thanked the gods that they had gotten the information before heading out.

"Umm Argo, don't want to interrupt you, but how do you know all of this information is right?" Naruto hesitantly asked, expecting backlash for interrupting Argo's lecture.

Contrary to Naruto's expectations, Argo seemed to contemplate the question for awhile. "I suppose you're right," Argo said slowly, "while I can't be 100% sure as most of this knowledge is from the beta, I think from what I've gathered today that almost everything should be the same. However, as Nar-boi mentioned you should always be careful when fighting a new enemy as some things may have been tweaked between the beta and now.

"To finish up the summary of the first floor, after you leave Horunka you have two options, one is to follow the path North through a swamp with level 4 kobold enemies that have a disarm skill, or to branch east into the mountains. The northern path takes you to Tolbana, the town closest to the labyrinth, whereas the eastern path takes you to Medai. Please remember that Sword Art Online is massive; there are many more settlements on this floor and hundreds of quests. Despite this, if you really do plan on fighting the floor boss then sticking to the aforementioned towns would be wise as they keep you close to the main enemy centres and major quest givers.

"Finally, the last piece of knowledge I will give you for free is teleportation. To teleport you need either a teleport gate, or a crystal, then you call out Teleport: city name. Each floor has a major teleportation gate, the one here is in the square where we got the tutorial… Moving on, if, I mean when, the first boss is defeated, a global message will be sent to the players informing them that Urbus, the main town on the second floor, has been linked to the teleporter.

"What you probably didn't know, is that it is possible to teleport between the various other towns on the floor. Each town with a limits border that prevents attacking other people will have one. What's different about these, is that they are person specific and therefore you need to go activate it yourself if you want to teleport there." Wrapping up her speech Argo finally fell silent having given the boys a succinct summary of SAO and the initial routes through the first floor.

"I have a question," Arthur said, breaking the temporary silence following Argo's lesson, "you mentioned a monster with a disarm skill. Can you elaborate on that?"

"Hmm I suppose I can give you this one," Argo muttered with hooded eyes. "A disarm skill is one that has a high chance of knocking your weapon out of your hand when you block it. Also, don't say something like you'll just hold onto it tighter, if the disarm status applies, you WILL drop the weapon. The trick is to either have a backup or wait until the mob is frozen in post-motion delay before trying to pick it up again."

"Ah I see, thanks," came Arthur's uncertain reply, unsure of how he was supposed to act around this unfamiliar girl.

"Yeah, thanks a bunch Argo! I'm sure this game will be a breeze with you helping out!" After saying this Naruto tried to send Argo a party invite only to be greeted by an error message.

"Maximum party limit reached? Oh, I guess you can only have eight in a party huh, that's unfortunate."

"As much as I appreciate the gesture Nar-boi, I have to go. I've spent too long here as it is. I need to contact my associates and begin working on my project. Well, Later!" With a final goodbye Argo scampered off into the night leaving eight confused boys standing alone in the park.

"Alright, well you've heard the lady, boys," Klein announced stepping forward to take attention of the group. "Tomorrow there are going to be no boars left anywhere as the fields are picked clean, that means that all of you are hitting level two tonight, same as us."

"Uh Klein? I'm level three dude." Naruto disagreed.

"Huh? How on earth did you manage that when we did more hunting than you?"

"Well, I did kill that elite boar monster for Argo while you guys were doing that. Got a bunch of experience from that."

"You… you really are special, aren't you dude?" Klein could only shake his head with awe in his voice at Naruto's unassuming great deed.

"Do you think you could do it again?" Arthur asked, starting to get excited.

"Of course, it's just a large pig, however, I will admit it would be easier with party members." Naruto assured him.

"Then how about Klein and I pick up the elite quest and do it with you helping while the other five hunt boars to hit level 2 and then meet back at the inn tonight."

"Hey, if this quest gives so much experience then why don't we do it as well." Kunimittz complained.

Surprisingly it was Klein who shot down his friends' complaints. "It's not just about levelling up, it's learning how to play the game.

"We are going with Arthur's plan, you all know how to activate sword skills. Just be sure to remain calm and drink a potion if you drop into yellow health."

"You know, maybe you are a decent leader!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "Well, once you stop trying to show off, anyways." He added on with a smirk.

Klein who had been puffing out his chest at Naruto's comment slowly deflated before sighing. "Whatever, let's split into two parties and head out. See you guys in an hour or so."

Leading them for about five minutes through the still mostly empty streets of the giant Town of Beginnings, they eventually found a dejected looking young woman sitting beside a tree. For Klein and Arthur, they both saw a question mark above her head whereas Naruto only had a yellow cursor, indicating he had cleared her quest already.

Eyes gleaming with chance, Klein lept forward and began speaking, "Hello there, Miss! Is there perhaps a problem that I can help with?"

With an awkward delay that Naruto remembered from his time accepting the quest, the NPC slowly looked up and began her pre-programmed spiel. "Yes, brave adventurer. I recently lost my father to a 'Big Blue Boar', while I know it won't bring him back… it would mean a lot to me if you could slay one. To help others avoid his fate."

"Ah! Your plight touches my heart, young maiden of course I shall fulfill any deed you require!" Klein replied with a gusto that intimidated the other two.

"Umm don't you feel like that was… excessive?" Naruto tentatively asked Arthur.

"Yeah… either he forgot she's not a person or doesn't care." Arthur replied measuredly.

Standing in front of the 'Big Blue Boar' Klein and Arthur were just as unimpressed as Naruto had been the first time he had seen it. "This thing seriously gives a quest this good? For just one of them?"

"Focus guys. You can die easily if you underestimate it." Naruto told them with an oddly serious voice. "This thing hit me for about 70% of my health last time I fought it."

"70%!"

"It hit you?!"

As the boys let out their shocked exclamations, Naruto could only nod grimly. "It's both faster and smarter than the normal ones. Furthermore, it gets stronger and faster below half health. If it hits you in that phase, you will die."

As Naruto continued to give his friends information, their terror grew. "You know, I decided I don't really need level three that badly, what do you say we go find the others and help them out?" Klein told them breathlessly.

"If you want to stand and watch that's fine, just don't draw aggro if you aren't fighting." With these parting words Naruto drew his sword and advanced towards the outermost 'Blue Boar', ready to repeat his performance from earlier.

"Wait dude, hold up," Arthur said breathlessly, grabbing Naruto's arm to stop him from advancing further. "Isn't this a little risky? And why are you going after the small one anyway?"

"No, I can do this, I swear. Also, if you aggro the big one, all three small ones will also attack and vice versa. Therefore, I need to kill the small ones first."

"In that case let me and Klein deal with the small ones while you distract the big one. That should work, right?" Arthur was breathless trying to convince his friend to not walk straight into this battle alone.

"Yeah, I don't like it, but I won't let you fight alone. Leave the small ones to us." Klein added pulling out his curved sword and joining Naruto.

The battle had been going well for the first five minutes. Naruto had reduced the big boar by 20% and Klein and Arthur had teamed up to kill two of the small boars. Naruto saw it the moment it happened, the third boar let out a cry as it took serious damage from Arthur's sword skill. The cry rang out, and the big boar wheeled away from its faceoff against Naruto and set its sights on Klein who was getting ready to finish off the third boar with a sword skill of his own.

"Look out!" Naruto's scream drew the attention of Arthur who leapt back immediately. Having had much longer to build a bond with Naruto, Arthur would trust Naruto with his life. Klein, unfortunately, did not have the same bond and continued through with the sword skill, killing the small boar with a shout.

Naruto, refusing to let his friend get gored by a boar, unleashed a 'Horizontal' and connected on the boar's right tusk. With a sickening crack, the 'Small Sword' that Naruto had been using until this point snapped at the point of contact. Luckily, this had the desired effect of diverting the boar's charge away from Klein. Unfortunately, as the boar turned its attention back to Naruto, he had no way to fight back.

"Naruto!"

"Kaz!" The desperation of the situation once again making Arthur break etiquette.

"Well, that's unfortunate," was all Naruto said. Despite his friends' panicking, Naruto remained calm in the face of his enemy. He'd already overcome this obstacle and by no means would he lose now. "Predicable," Naruto smirked as he dodged a three-part attack from the boar. Right tusk, left tusk, and hoof stomp. As each attack came, Naruto beautifully dodged every part by inches pushing his low agility stat to its limits.

While the boar was stuck in post-skill delay, Naruto relayed his plans to his friends. "It's alright guys. I'll hold aggro through its next skill. At that point hit it with sword skills."

This time the boar came at Naruto with a different skill. Hoof stomp into a right tusk jab, but similar to its last attempt, Naruto slipped past its attacks making it look easy in the progress. As the boar came to a stop two sword skills ripped into its sides draining over 10% of its health.

Thankfully, the boar kept its attention on Naruto as it wound up for a charge to close the distance between them. "Come!" Naruto shouted to his friends as he turned tail and ran forcing the boar to continue running after him. Unfortunately, the distance to the nearest tree was slightly too far to reliably get the boar to crash into it.

Unfazed by the shrinking distance between them, Naruto continued to run, followed closely by the boar and his friends. Reaching the tree mere feet from the boar Naruto leapt off the ground at the tree. Planting his foot on the tree, Naruto was able to flip backwards over the boar as it smacked solidly into the tree draining more of its health. The boar let out a screech as Arthur's and Klen's sword skills tore into it lowering its health below 50%.

This had two effects, first, the boar began to generate a red aura which increased its speed and power drastically, and secondly, the damage from Arthur's powerful spear drew aggro. Turning to find its new target, the boar spun 180 degrees and began to charge.

"Ah, fuck it," Naruto sighed before performing quite possibly the stupidest move in his life. Jumping in front of the boar Naruto grabbed onto both tusks and attempted to stop the charge. Unsurprisingly, this failed, and Naruto was pushed back as the boar continued its warpath, albeit more slowly. With a yell Naruto dug in and put more force into stopping the boar, ignoring his rapidly declining health. Finally, with a flick of its head, the boar dislodged Naruto, sending him skyward.

"Not so fast, pig," Arthur cried, activating his sword skill point blank. The 'Thrusting Strike' slammed into the boar's snout for a critical hit. This was compounded by a 'Reaver' from Klein which he released with a shout. The health on the boar dropped precipitously to under 30% from the combo.

The red aura on the boar seemed to dim a little as it backed away from Arthur, wary of his spear. "You know, I've noticed that the all the boar's we've fought really dislike your spear," Klein commented, trying to stay calm.

"He's right," Naruto agreed, "and it's not just the extra damage. Maybe some programming to hate them due to boar hunting?"

"Does that help us in any way?" Arthur asked warily, still facing off with the large boar.

"Yeah, that means when Klein hits it in the face with a sword skill, it will hesitate between attacking back or attacking you. That will give you time to get in front of Klein and counter its skill with yours."

"Not sure if your crazy or brilliant dude," Klein sighed, admiration in his voice.

"It's definitely both, always both." Arthur told him exasperatedly.

"Well, here goes nothing," Klein muttered before unleashing a 'Reaver' at the boar's snout.

Like following a script that Naruto had wrote, the boar hesitated to take advantage of Klein's opening before deciding that it couldn't overlook the easy chance to gore the fool that would attack it straight up.

"Like hell I'd let you do that!" Arthur roared as he met the boar's searching hooves with his spear. The resulting collision knocked both participants back. Having been hit by another two sword skills, the boar's health was hovering just over 10%. However, due to the boar's higher strength stat, Arthur also took close to 5% damage despite not being truly hit.

In this way, SAO put a limit on how far skill could take you in overcoming a numbers advantage. By having the weaker opponent take damage in a trade of skills also meant that pure agility builds would not overpower slower, strength-based ones.

"Just as he said it would happen," Klein sighed, a mixture of exasperated and awed at Naruto's instincts and abilities. Despite not knowing the terminology for it yet, what Klein and Arthur had just pulled off was a kind of switch. By forcefully drawing aggro, Klein had confused the monster's AI and by having a partner covering him, had escaped unscathed. These little intricacies in manipulating aggro, AI pattern, and skill cooldown would distinguish good players from the best. While being mostly inconsequential against weak enemies, like the boar's that roam the plains, against bosses and elite mobs, teamwork was crucial.

"Dive!" Naruto yelled to his friends as the boar geared up for one last attempt to maul them. Thankfully, both hit the floor as the boar charged with little room to spare and kept going. Around 30 metres from the boys, the boar finally stopped and observed the group. Rearing back its head it let out an ululating cry.

"STOP IT!" Naruto screamed, fear entering his voice for the first time. When Arthur and Klein hesitated at running towards a giant boar for obvious reasons, Naruto quickly scanned the ground around him. Finding a rock, Naruto cocked back his arm and whipped it at the boar just before it could release another cry. With a solid smack, the rock hit the boar in the side of the head causing it to stumble and removing perhaps a percent of its health.

Arthur, not missing out on the opportunity cast a sword skill at the boar released 'Thrusting Strike' with a shout. With a squeal the rest of the boar's health drained and it exploded into blue polygons, leaving nothing behind.

"Let's never do that again. Please." Klein said while sitting down exhausted.

"We don't have time for that! We need to leave, now," Naruto told them tersely.

"And why would we need to do that?" Arthur asked walking back to the two of them with a happy grin on his face.

Before Naruto could reply, a faint snorting came from the tress and answered Arthur's question for him. Emerging slowly, a 'Big Blue Boar' came sauntering out followed closely by three small boars, sticking close to their protector.

"Yupp, I've decided I'm good to go," Klein agreed nervously as the trio left to find the friends that they had left.

"How did you know that would happen though?" Arthur asked curiously as they left the grove behind.

"Yeah, seriously dude, you're honestly starting to scare me," Klein added on.

"Haha, well I could sense that something bad was going to happen." Naruto answered while scratching his head. "I didn't necessarily know it was calling for backup, but I did know that it would be its final gambit. You know what they say, wounded animals are dangerous or something like that." Naruto laughed.

Klein and Arthur could only sigh at their friend's antics.

"What"

"Is"

"Happening?" the three asked upon finding the five that they had left behind. The scene they stumbled upon was an epic battle ensuing between one 'Blue Boar' and five adventurers encircling it. Even Klein who had little battle experience could understand the mistake his friends were making. Eventually, as expected, multiple sword skills were haphazardly released and collided with each other resulting in more damage to themselves than the boar. Thankfully, Kunimittz's 'Lightnening Strike' from his one-handed spear finished off the boar allowing the three of them to approach.

"Hey! That one went pretty well!" Dale exclaimed, his large frame shaking from laughter.

"Yeah, no one dropped into yellow this time," Dynamm agreed while stroking his seedy looking moustache.

"And uh, how many have you killed?" Naruto interrupted the celebrating by walking into the group's midst.

"Five!" Harry One declared proudly, puffing out his chest.

"Wow! I knew you guys were bad from that last fight, but that's impressive!" Naruto answered honestly. "I mean, you've been hunting for about 40 minutes. That's eight minutes a boar!"

"Its been rough going," Issin admitted while Kunimittz nodded his agreement.

"Well," Klein started, rubbing his head, "let's break into two groups, there are too many of you here to fight one at a time."

"What!?" Harry One all but screamed, "but less people will make each fight even harder and make us take more damage. We could be in risk of dying!"

"No," Arthur interrupted, "most of the damage you are taking is self-inflicted from overlapping sword skills. The large group is doing more to harm you than providing safety."

"I mean seriously guys; how did you not notice that?" Naruto asked with wonder.

"We tried our best, alright?" Dale defended himself, cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Oh well," Klein sighed. "Harry, Dynamm, and Kun, go with Naruto. Everyone else with me."

"And leader Klein is back," Arthur whispered to Naruto before following Klein to find another boar.

"Well, two groups of four makes sense," Naruto agreed, nodding sagely. "I guess it's a good thing we never split the party in the first place though."

"Well?" Kunimittz snapped, impatient to begin hunting again.

"All in good time my pupil. First you three just stand there and watch me kill a boar. I think it will help you a lot." Walking across the grass plain, Naruto stood in front of the 'Blue Boar' before noticing the problem. "Ah, can I possibly borrow that sword of yours, Dynamm?"

"What happened to yours?" He shot back, not wanting to part with his weapon.

"The elite boar broke it." Naruto answered exasperated. "I just need it for a moment, alright?"

"Fine. Just don't break this one."

Sword in hand, Naruto stepped forward to face the boar. Easily dodging the charge, a side swipe took off close to 15% of the boar's health. The simple increase in damage from levelling up was enough to raise Naruto's spirits. In a repeat of Naruto's first fight with a 'Blue Boar' he met the second charge with a 'Vertical', the speed increased to the maximum. The resulting critical hit sent the boar flying backwards. After a couple of seconds, its health bar finished emptying and it exploded into polygons at the feet of the three men.

The shocked silence continued unabated until Naruto handed the borrowed sword back to Dynamm.

"I knew that there was a better way of fighting… But I think we all realized just how bad we are." Kunimittz admitted.

"No, think nothing of it," Naruto rebuked him, "it was our fault to leave you all with no instruction."

"While it is tempting to blame you guys; didn't all of you just start today as well?" Harry One asked.

"None of us were in the beta test," Naruto answered slowly, "but Arthur and I have real-world fighting experience and I've played another VR game on top of that."

"So, how do you think we should approach this?" Kunimittz asked, acknowledging and accepting Naruto's leadership to his pleasure.

"Obviously we should just solo them," Dynamm replied nastily, still upset at having had his sword taken, however briefly.

"Close, Dynamm," Naruto told them, ignoring the tone, "One of you will get aggro and stop the charge with a sword skill. Then, the other two will hit it from the sides. As both Harry and Kun have spears I recommend that Dynamm takes aggro at first. Any questions?"

"That's not really soloing it…" Harry One commented, confusion clear on his face.

"Haha, I guess you're right," Naruto admitted scratching his head. "The initial part is done solo though. I think you should rotate through that to get used to cancelling a monster's skill with your own."

"Let's get this over with," Dynamm commented, nerves combating his anger.

"Oh, personally I'd recommend using 'Slant' to cancel the charge Dynamm," Naruto coached from behind as Issin approached the boar.

"I'll be fine," Dynamm replied, but still changed his activation stance. Looking up, the boar looked at the approaching form of Dynamm for a second before charging him. Unfortunately, Dynamm panicked, and released the 'Slant' too early, only scraping the front of the boar and not fully connecting. The slight connection was enough to slow the boar down enough that Dynamm only lost 10% of his health and the charge was stopped on impact. Thankfully, Harry One and Kunimittz kept a level head and released their respective skills into the boar's sides.

The 'Blue Boar', the starting mob for level ones to fight could be considered the equivalent of slimes in other games. This meant that as long as a player used their starting skills, it was a piece of cake to defeat. When the 'Blue Boar' shattered into polygons because of the dual spear hits, Klein's friends finally realized this.

"Why…"

"Was that so easy," Kunimittz finished for Harry One.

"Well that would be because you guys actually hit the enemy with your skills." Naruto informed them wryly. "I want you guys to kill two more the same way and then switch to a different tank. Got it?"

"Yes," the three replied with varying degrees of enthusiasm. While Kunimittz and Harry One were just thrilled that they finally felt like they weren't trash, Dynamm was still upset that Naruto had helped them out so easily.

"Hey, get that snarl off your face, Dynamm," Harry teased him, "jealously doesn't fit you."

"Yeah, you're gaunt enough as it is," Kunimittz added.

"Shut up," Dynamm replied embarrassed. "Let's just get this done."

"So, how was your group?" Naruto asked Arthur when they retired to their hotel room at a random inn in the city.

"Bad," Arthur replied truthfully with a yawn. By the time everyone had finished their hunting quests and returned the city it was past nine. Naruto had had no time to pick up a replacement for a sword. The plan was for the other seven to start the wolf hunting quests while Naruto got a new weapon and information on reaching the next village.

"That's too bad, on the bright side, my three got it together. They aren't brilliant fighters, but they can use their Sword Skills without hitting each other."

"I feel like that shouldn't be an accomplishment," Arthur said dryly. Despite the levity of the conversation, gloom was beginning to descend on the boys. Since the events at the so called "tutorial" Naruto had kept them busy completing quests and getting stronger. Now, however, the darkness of night, and the lack of work allowed their minds time to think for once.

"I'm going to miss my cousin's tournament," Naruto said out of nowhere. "I've never missed her compete unless we had overlapping schedules. She always tried so hard for me…" His voice trailing off as tears entered his eyes.

"I told my parents that I would go shopping with them after school tomorrow," Arthur replied. "It seemed like such a small thing, but they always got so much happiness out of doing stuff as a family." Arthur finished, his voice small.

"Do you think…" Naruto stopped and swallowed before starting again, "Do you think there's a point to this? That there's a reason this happened to us?"

With eyes locked on Arthur's and vulnerability in his voice, Arthur remembered that Naruto was his age. No matter how tough he had acted today, or the persona of aloofness he presented, Naruto had only lived 14 years, same as himself. Rather then immediately replying, Arthur looked up at the ceiling of the room they shared, where the wood of the slanted roof gave off an appearance of middle age living conditions. With matching walls and floor, the same wooden texture could be found wherever one cast their eyes in the quaint room. Straightening his thoughts, Arthur finally replied to Naruto's question.

"I don't think that we will get anything from this to be honest." Arthur replied levelly. "I think that Kayaba created this world to pretend to be a god. To play with our lives, not to give us something. There is no point…"

"Thank you, Arthur." Naruto's hard voice making Arthur look over in concern. "I was hesitating, but I won't anymore. I will beat this game as fast as I can, so everyone can return to their lives."

Fear gripped Arthur's heart as he looked into his friend's eyes. While he had spoken what he believed as truth, he felt now, that his words had been a mistake. The monster had been awoken. The kid that Arthur knew was now gone. Kazuto, with his happy-go-lucky personality had disappeared. In his place was a beast Mozuri had only seen flashes of. "W-what are you going to do?" Arthur finally got out.

"Hmm, you're right, I should plan it out now. I'll get a sword tomorrow, talk to Argo and head to the next town. I'll leave you in charge of getting the others up to speed." Naruto replied, cold and exact, not open to opinions.

"Don't you think you should…" swallowing Arthur finished his thought, "you know, stick with the group?"

Naruto didn't deign his question worthy of a reply, merely a glare that made Arthur wish they had separate rooms. Silently, Arthur turned off the light, a candle surrounded by glass that was manipulated using the menu. After the light was out Arthur turned his back on Naruto and pretended to sleep.

Around midnight Arthur heard a rustling from Naruto's bed as he got out of it. Keeping his breathing level to not let Naruto know, Arthur listened as Naruto left the room. Seeing as no one had to go to the washroom in SAO, there was only one place Naruto could be going, the fields.

Initially moving to follow his friend, Arthur paused. Indecision held him place. Could he honestly face down his friend as he was now? Did he have the right to? His words had turned Naruto into this monster, could he revert him, and even worse, should he? Sinking to the floor, Arthur sighed to himself as thoughts tumbled around inside his head.

With a new sword in hand, Naruto stalked the 'Blue Boar' mobs outside the Town of Beginnings like a spirit of vengeance. Having quickly gathered the ten tusks on the repeatable Naruto returned swiftly to town, rage depleted. Remembering how he had treated Moz, no, Arthur left a bad taste in his mouth now that he had cooled off a bit. Despite that, Arthur's word still rang inside his head, "there is no point", these damning words ran circles in his head chasing away rationality. There was no time for nicety, no time for mercy, there was an enemy that needed to be defeated.

Running through town Naruto thought back to the last time he had faced a true enemy. When he was twelve, Naruto, or Kazuto more accurately, and Sachi were walking back to her house so she could show him the new computer that she got. It was approaching five pm since Kazuto had stayed after school to finish baseball practice. He and Sachi had been chatting about numerous things when a group of boys appeared from an alleyway and blocked their path. There were four of them, from a nearby high school by the look of them. Initially Kazuto thought they were normal students, but that glazed look in their eyes spoke of danger. The boys looked thin and pampered, but the height differences their age provided still scared Sachi and Kazuto.

"Umm, excuse me," Sachi mumbled, not picking up on the danger.

"Hey Sac…" Kazuto tried to warn her while grabbing her hand, but his words were cut off by the obvious leader of the group.

"Well, well, aren't you a pretty one." The boy slurred, lust filling his eyes with a fervent glow. Reaching forward the boy stroked Sachi's long black hair while looking her body up and down.

"Knock that off!" Naruto yelled, voice cracking with fear.

"Stay out of this, boy," the largest of the group growled before pushing Kazuto to the ground.

"Kaz!" Sachi screamed and tried to run to him. The leader's grip on her arm prevented her and made her release a pained shout.

"Get off of her!" Naruto growled. Trying to stand up to make another attempt was thwarted as the group sent him back to the ground.

"Know your place," the leader said while glaring at Kazuto. "If you stand around quietly… I might even let you watch." He added with a vicious leer.

Pulling Sachi into the alley Kazuto lay on the ground as he listened to the thugs' words. "You know, this encounter was fate, right? Here we were, talking about how all the girls in our school are too mature now, ya know? They've lost that appealing charm they had when they were younger. Forced us to rely on these pills. But you… you're perfect. Short, with a budding chest, and slender legs…" Reaching this point the leader cut off as he began to run his hands up Sachi's leg.

"Kazuto!" Sachi cried again, tears in her voice. In her heart, she knew salvation was impossible, but Kazuto was her hero. He would save her, or so she told herself.

The broken voice of his best friend was the final straw for Kazuto. Coming from a well-off family, he had his own baseball bat he brought to practice. Ignoring his dad's warning to never point the bat at someone, Kazuto drew the bat from his bag and rose to his feet. Noticing movement from the corner of his eye the large one turned to look at Kazuto.

Sensing something was wrong, the other three also turned to see what their friend was looking at, the sight filled them an instinctual, albeit irrational fear. Kazuto's slow gait with the baseball bat held loosely at his side was intimidating for some reason. When he had finally closed the gap to a couple metres Kazuto looked up from his feet to meet the eyes of the thugs.

Locking eyes with Kazuto brought out the thugs' most primitive instincts, even through the drug. Calling back to a time before civilization, when humans had been preyed upon by the beasts of the night. For this is what they were faced with now, not a child, but the beast of their nightmares. There was no fighting this their instincts told them, only flight.

Civilization, however, was built upon humanity's ability to overcome their instincts. Likewise, the thugs overcame their terror by reasoning that this wasn't a monster, it was a child. Stepping forward to push him back to the ground, the largest thug took the bat to the top of his head. With a sickening crack, the large boy toppled like a bowling pin. Only afterimages of the swing remained in the others vision.

"What the hell, man. This is so screwed up." The shortest of the group said while backing up. Unfortunately for him, the alley was blind. They had trapped themselves in with a monster. Three swings later, the fight, if it could be called that, was over. The leader and the short one were still conscious, clutching a broken leg and arm respectively.

Grabbing Sachi's arm, they ran away and didn't slow until they reached Sachi's house. Reaching for the doorknob, Kazuto stopped as he felt Sachi's heaving form press itself into his back.

"Thank you, Kaz," Sachi mumbled snaking her arms around his waist to pull him closer. They stood like that for several minutes as Sachi's hot tears further drenched Kazuto's sweat-soaked uniform.

Back then it had been Sachi who had turned Kazuto back to himself. Now though, there was no Kazuto, only Naruto the swordsman. Furthermore, and more importantly, there was no Sachi to quell the flames of anger inside him.

Yes, for Sachi, for Sugu, for his parents. He would tear this castle apart to return to them. Determination returning, Naruto returned to his hotel room to get a couple hours of sleep. Opening his room door quietly, Naruto gasped upon seeing his friend sitting on the floor, head in his hands.

"Arthur…"

At his friends' words, Arthur looked over, his tear-streaked face causing Naruto pain.

"I guess you noticed me leave…" Naruto said awkwardly.

"I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again. You could have died," Arthur choked as emotion overcame him. "and it would have been my fault…"

As Arthur trailed off, guilt once again assaulted Naruto's consciousness. He was hurting his friend who already felt responsible for getting him trapped in this game. However, this was not enough to convince Naruto that he was wrong.

"This is my duty Arthur. I will free you from this world, don't worry."

"Then I will do it with you!" Arthur yelled, standing up to face Naruto down.

"No, you won't. I won't have your death on my hands." Naruto replied resolutely.

"And what about our promise? To explore and conquer this world together? What about that?" Arthur shot back, refusing to back down.

"That was back when this was a game," Naruto growled. "I have to do this alone."

"Why? Why do you have to do it alone? You aren't a god! You aren't immortal! You. Will. Die!"

In the face of all of Arthur's rage and caring, Naruto sighed, seeming to give up the fight. "You don't know what it's like to face a true enemy Arthur. To fight with your life on the line. You should stay like that. I'll be fine on my own." Smiling sadly at Arthur, Naruto calmly explained his reasoning.

"B-but…" giving up on words, Arthur leapt forward and embraced Naruto in a hug. Naruto wrapped his arms around his emotional friend and stroked his back in an attempt to calm him.

After fitfully sleeping for a couple hours, Naruto roused himself from bed at around 6 in the morning to fill the hole in his stomach. Buying hard bread for one col, Naruto chewed it unhappily as he walked slowly through the streets. Argo's position on his friend search was labelled as unknown. Most likely she was still sleeping. Naruto was anxious to continue, but he wanted to talk to Argo first, her knowledge would be essential. A couple minutes later, a pinging noise interrupted his grumbling. Opening his menu, Naruto saw a message from Argo saying, Yo Nar-boi, if you got money I got info ;) I'll be in the lounge of the tavern I spent the night at. Should be able to track me on the map now. Later, Argo.

Re-trying the friend search and seeing it work, Naruto grunted appreciatively and changed directions to bring himself there.

Arriving at the bar, Naruto saw a terrible looking Argo sitting in a booth hammering away at her keypad. Walking over to the booth and sitting opposite of her, Naruto waited for Argo to finish typing. After five minutes of unabated typing passed, Naruto couldn't contain his frustration and broke the silence. "Argo? You look like you haven't slept, but you don't have to ignore me."

Fingers finally pausing over her keys, Argo locked eyes with him. "You were able to sleep? You must be made out of different stuff than the rest of us." Argo mumbled before breaking her gaze and going back to typing. "As for me, I didn't try to sleep, I've spent the whole night typing."

"W-what?" Naruto mumbled with confusion.

Sighing, Argo closed her menu and rubbed her temples, obviously far more exhausted than Naruto was. "Normally, I'd charge someone an outrageous amount for this information but seeming as it's you…"

When Argo trailed off, Naruto sat there politely waiting for her to continue despite burning with curiosity.

"I'm writing an information guide. SAO was originally designed as a very hands-off MMO. This means that it relied on the players to solve problems on their own and figure things out with trial and error. That error, however, usually requires the player to die. I'm hoping to change that by providing the players with a suitable amount of information."

"That's a very selfless goal. How unlike you," Naruto smirked at her, unable to resist poking fun at the friend he had made yesterday. However, the laughter faded quicker than yesterday.

"Did something happen last night, Nar-boi? Your friends are… they're OK, right?"

"No one died, Argo." Naruto told her plainly to relieve her growing fear. "But I'm going on by myself now. I want to know the best route to the next town and the best quests and their locations. I have 1,500 col right now that I can give you."

"Slow up, Nar-boi," Argo said raising her hands to stop Naruto's verbal rampage. "What do you mean you're going on by yourself? I know you're good, but going solo is crazy."

"I won't let them risk their lives Argo. I will free them by myself."

The passion burning in Naruto's eyes took Argo aback for a moment. With warmth spreading in her chest, Argo made a split-second decision. "Then come with me Naruto. I'll be finished this guide in an hour. Another hour to publish it and give it to shops and I'll meet you in the wolf fields to go to Horunka. Sound good, Nar-boi? Nar-boi?" Repeating his name in confusion Argo followed Naruto's gaze to what had grabbed his attention.

Upon seeing a girl, with a pretty face and long black hair, Argo burned with righteous fury. So, Naruto was a playboy, was he? A pretty face and he was drooling. Clenching her fists, ready to yell at the boy, when Argo saw his face her rage vanished instantly. There was no desire or lust in Naruto's face, only horror. "Sachi… no."

"Huh?" Argo's confusion continued to increase at Naruto's words. "He knows this girl?" Argo mumbled to herself. Sitting back and observing, Argo watched as the girl eventually saw Naruto and they locked eyes.

"Kaz!" with a shout drawing the attention of the limited patrons, the black-haired girl launched herself into Naruto's embrace.

"S-Sachi, no. You can't be here… You can't…" Despite Naruto's attempts to convince himself that Sachi wasn't there, the girl in his arms became no less real.

Almost directly contrary to the fear gripping Naruto's heart, the fear that had consumed Sachi since Kayaba's tutorial was steadily ebbing away. Here in the arms of her best friend, her hero, the world made sense again.

"Sachi…" Getting a grip on his fear, Naruto gently embraced the trembling girl and stroked her beautiful black hair.

"Hey, Kaz, umm…" trailing off Sachi blushed and buried her head in Naruto's shoulder. Looking around the room first, Sachi whispered the rest of her words into Naruto's ear preventing Argo from hearing the question.

Argo didn't need to hear the question to deduce the principle of it though. As Naruto turned red and began stammering, Argo walked over to introduce herself.

"Nice to meet you, Sachi, was it? I'm Argo, Nar-boi's… friend."

Upon Argo's strange emphasis on friend, Sachi's face turned molten with rage. "Well I'm his best friend!" Sachi spit in reply still hanging onto one of Naruto's arms and refusing to let go.

"Well, Nar-boi here is coming to the next village with me. I'd invite you, but I doubt you'd make it."

"Actually, Kazuto, is coming up to my room." With special emphasis on Naruto's real name, Sachi smirked at Argo. "I'd invite you… but I doubt you'd want to come."

Finally coming to, Naruto tried to quell the fighting girls. "Can you both calm down? Argo, everyone needs that guide, so finish that and I'll meet you in two hours. Sachi, we can talk until then."

"Talking better be all you're doing Nar-boi." Pouting, Argo walked back to the table and began hammering away at her keys with a vengeance.

"Come on!" Pulling his hand excitedly, Sachi led him back to the room that she had rented for the night.

"Look Sachi," Naruto began awkwardly as Sachi closed the door behind them. "I'm going to the next town with Argo. I can't, uh, you know…" Scratching his head, Naruto was unable to finish the embarrassing statement.

Looking at him in confusion, Sachi thought back to what she had whispered in Naruto's ear, 'come sleep with me'. Waving her hands, trying to dispel the misunderstanding, Sachi almost shouted, "I didn't mean it like that. Unless of course you want to… I mean uh." Burying her head in her hands, Sachi wondered if someone could die from embarrassment.

Thankfully, Naruto looked over the second part of Sachi's statement and focused on the first. "I'm guessing you didn't sleep too great either last night?"

"How could I?" Sachi almost whispered. "I thought I'd never see you again…" Locking eyes, Naruto was struck by how beautiful Sachi's eyes were.

"Sachi…"

"Kaz…" Walking hesitantly up to him, Sachi slowly extended her head and gently touched Naruto's lips with her own.

Gazing dazed at her, Naruto's mouth flapped uselessly as he tried to generate a coherent statement.

"I mean, I've liked you for awhile Kazuto, and now that we're trapped here… Well, I don't want to be apart from you…" Trailing off, Sachi stared red-cheeked at Naruto waiting for his response.

"Kazuto really likes you too, Sachi." Naruto replied dully, breaking eye contact. "But here…" Mustering his courage, Naruto locked eyes with Sachi as he dealt the final blow. "Here, I am Naruto. I need to fight to free us. All of us Sachi. This world isn't real, even if you're feelings are."

The firm denial sent Sachi reeling back. "But, but us meeting here… It's a miracle!" Sachi yelled, tears threatening to spill over.

I'm sorry Sachi," Naruto replied with a dead voice. "I'll free you from this world, after all, fighting is all I've ever been good at."

As the door closed behind Naruto, Sachi collapsed onto the cold wooden floor and wept.

Author's note:

So, hopefully it was alright.

If you feel Naruto's actions were a little OOC there, I tried to remember what it was like to be that age. Where emotions easily overpower logic. Anywho, please leave a review :)

PS. The first floor is going to be pretty slow. I'll probably speed it up after that. Try to flesh out places we haven't seen as much of in the game