Ch. 3

The Country of KuFei

The six landed in a valley cupped between the sea and hills. They were immediately surrounded by stone creatures who charged them, sensing a threat. Even more quickly, Negi whipped out his wand and cried, "Flans Protego!" creating a shield of wind between them and the golems. The shield was actually a carefully controlled and highly localized tornado, with the six at the eye. It completely blocked the golem's view of the people inside, and kept them at bay.

"What's this?" asked Naruto, "a wind-shield?" The others groaned at the pun.

"This shield of wind won't hold them off for long, and it will take up too much of my magic. Besides, we can't get out either." Negi replied.

"So what do we do?"

"Lemme think for a bit."

As Negi was thinking, they heard voices from outside the shield.

"Hey, wasn't that the shrimp-boat-sensei we fought before?"

"Sure was, but the others certainly didn't look like girls."

"Damn. I wanted to fight them again, especially since we've got the upper hand this time."

"Oh, well, it's not like we actually remembered to bring the beer."

"What the heck?" said Kiba. "Do you know these things, Negi?"

"I don't believe it! These guys are from a part of my world, they were summoned by a witch to stop us from chasing her, but my students and I managed to defeat them and the witch. There are a lot more of them this time though. Over a thousand! We only fought a hundred or so."

"So do you know how to beat 'em?"

"Yeah…yeah I do! Just destroy their heads or bodies and they'll be sent back to where they came from. They can't really die, since they're not really alive in the first place."

"So once we destroy them, we're done?"

"No, I'll still have to fix the 'leaks' or they'll just come back later. But I can't see the leaks, so it'll be a challenge."

"I can see them." Everyone turned to stare at Watanuki.

"You can?" Asked Chouji

"Yeah, there are three, in that direction." He pointed vaguely to the right. "They make me feel… bad."

"I still can't see them," said Negi, "So you'll have to direct me where to aim my magic. And since the spell I'm going to use takes a lot of time and concentration, I won't be able to defend myself or you." He turned to the four ninjas, "That means that you four will have to protect us from the golems while destroying as many as you can."

"No problem!" said Lee confidently, "We will protect you!" (strikes the nice guy pose)

"Fuzzy-eyebrows is right, you don't have to worry!" agreed Naruto, grinning too.

Kiba and Akamaru just smirked, while Chouji nodded.

"Right, I'll drop the barrier. If you run into trouble, tell me; I can hold the spells for a while, long enough to get help."

"Okay, here we go!"

Negi dropped the shield, and immediately the battle began.

"Konoha Senpuu!"

"Baika No Jutsu! Nikudan Sensha! Roll, Roll, Roll!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Yaaah!"

"Yosh! Akamaru, Jujin Bunshin no Jutsu! Gatsuuga!"

The four ninja fought fiercely, as the golems charged. Watanuki cowered behind Negi, getting a really good look at the portals.

"Hurry, Negi-kun! They're getting bigger!"

Negi held his wand crosswise in front of himself and began muttering in what sounded like an odd mix of Spanish, English and German.

Minutes passed. The ninja were destroying dozens of the golems, but they never seemed to run out. Lee took a second to look at the ones they were defending. Negi was still muttering, but now the bandages wrapped around the wand were loosening, and light was leaking from between them.

"Lee look out!" cried Kiba.

Lee dodged a monstrous stone sword just in time; then smashed the chest of the golem who had wielded it. It crumbled and disappeared. Lee plunged back into the melee.

More time passed. Kiba and Akamaru were growing tired from too many Gatsuugas. Chouji had started to get dizzy from all his rolling around, and Naruto was running out of Kage Bunshins. Even Lee was breathing hard. Just then, the real Naruto was back-handed by a golem, and flew back.

"Naruto-kun!" Watanuki threw himself forward to catch him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Get back there! We're supposed to be protecting you!"

"AAAGH! I'm in the middle of a fight!" He ran back to cowering behind Negi.

Weird guy. thought Naruto, before creating more Kage Bunshins and leaping back into the fray.

"Hey, Negi-kun. I think they could use some help, how close are you to finishing?"

Negi didn't reply. He looked up from his muttering and cried "Hold!" He then drew from his pocket three cards. They were about the same width as normal cards, but approximately twice as long. He placed the cards against his forehead and said, "Pactio! Kagurazaka Asuna, an Sakurazaki Setsuna, aki; an Tatsumiya Mana, sen paces! Summon!" Immediately the backs of the cards glowed, as did a portion of the ground nearby. In the glow appeared two forms, which turned out to be girls about 15 years old. The taller one was dressed in a middle-school uniform and running shoes; her hair was pulled into two long pigtails with bells at the bases. The other girl had her hair in a style similar to Shikamaru's, a spiky ponytail on the side of the back of her head, except she also had bangs and locks in front of her ears. She also wore a middle-school uniform, but she had bike shorts on underneath the skirt. She was also wielding a ridiculously long, thin, katana-like sword.

"WHAT THE HELL? WHY DID YOU CALL US HERE NEGI?" yelled the taller girl.

"I don't have time to explain! Those ogres are attacking us! I need you and Setsuna-san to defeat them so I can seal them out of this world!"

She turned, "Fine, come on Setsuna," she grinned, "Let's go slay us some ogres!"

"Right, Asuna-san." said Setsuna.

"Adeat!" Asuna summoned a large harisen and charged the golems.

"Kiba-san, Naruto-san, Lee-san, Chouji-san! Fall back to defense only! Let them destroy the enemy!" cried Negi.

"Right!" they replied.

"Negi-kun, are you sure they'll be all right? There's only two of them." asked Chouji as he retreated.

"They'll be fine. They're the ones who fought these guys before, and their weapons are perfect for this. Asuna-san's harisen is the Magic Destroying Sword, it'll send any golem she hits back home, even if it's just a glancing hit. And Sakaki-san's sword is powered up with my magic, so it'll cut through them easily."

"But Negi-kun, didn't you summon three? I could have sworn you said three names." interjected Watanuki as the ninjas went back to defending them.

Negi grinned, "Yep. The third one I summoned about 100 meters away. Mana-san should be helping out any second now."

Spang! Crunch! Spelled bullets zipped through the air, each hitting one of the larger, more dangerous golems between the eyes, destroying them and sending them back at once. Watanuki glanced toward where they came from, and saw a girl of about 16 aiming an air rifle at the battle, wearing what looked to be a very short dress. She had coffee-colored skin and long hair, with two large pieces in front of her ears, wrapped with thongs. The golems saw her too and charged, surrounding her and menacing her with their weapons. "That rifle no good at close range!" they snarled.

"I know." She dropped her rifle and kicked something up from the ground, which turned out to be two pistols, the kind seen in a James Bond movie. Then she began firing, her hands moving so fast she seemed to shoot dozens of bullets at once. The golems surrounding her were destroyed. She lifted the pistols, ejected the cartridges, and had new ones in before anyone could blink.

The ninjas were flabbergasted; the three girls were decimating the golem's ranks. At this rate, if they didn't tire, they would kill them all in about 10 minutes. There were still plenty left for now though. They had to work hard to defend Negi and Watanuki, who was looking around for the 'leaks' again. Negi was back to muttering.

"Negi-kun, are you done? I can point you to the nearest one."

Negi looked up, the wand shining steadily. "Point me."

Watanuki caught hold of his shoulders and turned him slightly to the right. "Aim directly between those two… pine trees?" They had purple needles… "Yeah, pine trees. Aim there."

"Right." He spun the wand around in his grip and yelled, "Get out of the way!"

His allies listened, ducking to the left or right to get out of the line of fire. The golems tried to take advantage of this by attacking Negi head-on.

"Barrier Shot! First strike!" Holding the wand like a bazooka, he aimed directly between the two trees that Watanuki had indicated. Kabloooom! A big beam of light shot out of the wand's end as the bandages unwrapped. The light went directly towards the portal, destroying all of the golems in its path, which was about a hundred.

"Next!" cried Negi, "point me to the next one!"

"Fifty meters to the right, twenty meters back!"

"Got it! Barrier Shot! Second strike!" again scores of golems were vaporized, as Negi's allies scrambled out of the way.

"Hell, yeah! Great shooting Negi!" cried Kiba, as Akamaru barked triumphantly.

When Negi didn't reply, they looked at him to see why. He was pale and trembling, breathing heavily, the light almost gone from his wand.

"Negi-kun, are you all right? Asked Chouji, worried.

Negi just panted tiredly and said "One… to… go."

Suddenly Watanuki doubled over, clapping a hand over his mouth to keep from throwing up. When he had control, he gasped, "Negi, hurry! Something's coming through. Something bad."

Negi raised the three cards to his forehead again, "Pactio! Kagurazaka Asuna, Sakurazaki Setsuna, an Tatsumiya Mana. Banin!" The ground beneath the girls glowed, and then they disappeared.

"Why did you do that?" exclaimed Naruto, "they were kicking ass!"

Negi didn't reply, instead he said, "Last… one… Watanuki-san, aim me!"

Watanuki stood unsteadily, and turned him toward an outcropping on the beach. "Aim at that."

Negi's wand glowed again, but the magical light looked different, whiter somehow, almost painful. "Barrier Shot! Third strike!" The blast destroyed the remaining golems and struck the 'leak', flashing once before disappearing. Negi collapsed to the ground as the witch's light encompassed them and brought them back to the Wood.

"Negi-kun!" cried Watanuki, lifting his head off the ground, "Negi-kun, are you okay? Negi-kun!"

Sakura ran over and pressed her head against his chest. "He's barely breathing, and his heartbeat's so slow…" she looked up, "What are we going to do?"

"He used up all of his magic. In fact, he used some of his life-force to finish that last blast." said Yuuko, looking at the boy. "If he doesn't get a transfusion soon, he'll die."

"He can't die, I won't let him!" Sakura pressed her hands against his chest, trying to use chakra to stabilize him. "Maybe chakra is close enough to work!"

Slowly, ever so slowly, his breath and heartbeat strengthened. His eyes opened. "Naruto-san…"

Naruto knelt beside him. "What is it, Negi-kun?"

"The first duty… of a teacher… is to protect… his students. That's why I… sent them… away." He sighed, and then dropped into a deep, restful sleep.