Naruto: Knight of Highever

Chapter 4

Written by KitBeast

Beta'd by Vixen's Shadow

Disclaimer:- In no way do I own the franchise's of Naruto or Dragon Age. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Bioware. No profits are made by this story.

It had been three and a half months since Naruto began his basic training in the Warrior style. After the first two months had passed, he had been given the choice of which style he wished to train in: warrior, rogue, or mage. He had been confused since he had only been trained in the basics of the warrior and mage styles. But when Fergus had explained to him that rogues were essentially the Shinobi of Ferelden he understood. After spending an entire weekend focusing on the choice Naruto decided that the way of the warrior was more suited to him. He never had the control needed to walk the path of a mage, and he never had the finesse to really grow as a rogue. This had left him with the Warrior styles. Having made the decision on the direction of his future, Naruto threw himself into his training and in the period of one month he had caught up to Fergus.

Both Fergus and Naruto could regularly be found in one of the castle's many training grounds, sparing to increase their skills and perfect their arts. The many hours spent together both boys had began to think of the other as more than friends, and more as brothers, or very close cousins.

This closeness however didn't stop them trying to out do each other. Even with the head start Fergus had, he was struggling to keep ahead of the monstrous pace Naruto was learning at. The only thing that Fergus was confident about was his strength. He knew it would take Naruto at least a year of hard training to even threaten his dominance in that department. However even with this advantage Fergus still found himself losing to Naruto more often as days pass. At first Fergus was not overly concerned about this, after all he had witnessed the effort Naruto had put into his training. He had neglected it in favor of wooing the opposite sex; a choice which had demanded a lot of his time. But as time passed and Naruto gained more and more skill, and more victories, he became increasingly arrogant, and over confident in his skills.

Finally having enough of this new behavior Fergus thought it would be best if Naruto learned he was not indomitable. And the quickest and easiest way to do this was to make him lose against someone in a spar. He had seen a fair few soldiers who had grow arrogant never return, having underestimated their opponents. So that was why he was currently standing outside his parents' chambers.

After receiving permission to enter, he did. As Fergus had expected it was only his mother that was present, but that was perfectly acceptable.

"Hello mother." Fergus said

"Fergus? I thought you would be with Naruto training?" Eleanor asked pleasantly surprised to see her son.

"I know. But I really need to speak to you mother."

Now Eleanor was worried, since she knew Fergus was a very independent person. The last time he had asked for her help was when he wasn't sure how to go about healing a broken arm he'd suffered when he fell off a horse. So what ever was troubling him would be serious.

"There is a big problem with Naruto mother."

"Naruto? Is he injured?" She asked worriedly

"No mother, at least not yet."

"Not yet? Fergus you aren't making any sense. Please just tell me what's wrong."

"You are aware of how well Naruto's training has progressed over the last few months?" Fergus asked, and when he saw her confused nod he continued, "Recently he has been besting me in our spars. While normally this would simply mean that I need to step up my own training, his behavior has become very troubling. He has somehow come to think that nobody would be able to beat him. I have known many men and women who thought the same, and all of them died very soon afterwords. I do not want that to happen to such a close friend as Naruto."

"Yes, that is disturbing. But what am I to do about it?"

"Naruto is unaware of your past mother. Therefore if you were to beat him in a spar, something I know you're more than capable of doing, then he should learn that he is not the best, before it is too late."

"That could work. The shock would most likely break him of his behavior, and I'm sure I'd enjoy a spar. Yes, I think that I have neglected my own training for too long. Please Fergus, go and bring Naruto to the main training ground. I'll meet you there."

Quickly leaving the room Fergus made his way to the grounds where Naruto was practicing. Seeing that he was currently taking a break Fergus was overjoyed. Since Naruto was rested, then he had nothing he could blame for losing except himself.

"Naruto. Come with me quickly."

"Eh Fergus? Go with you where?" Naruto asked curious as to the glee lasing Fergus's voice.

"Since you keep beating me, I thought you'd like a better opponent."

"You found another sparing partner?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yes Naruto. We're to meet them at the main training grounds. That is if you want to spar against them of course."

"Of course, I want to spar against them. I know they won't be able to beat me, after all the practice I've put in, nobody can. But they may be able to offer a challenge."

"I wouldn't be so sure Naruto. They were known for being the strongest by a lot of people." Fergus chuckled.

"I doubt that I was the strongest Fergus, but I do appreciate the confidence that you have in my abilities." Eleanor said walking up behind Naruto.

Quickly turning at the sound of her voice Naruto was shocked to see her wearing a set of well worn battle armor. The armor was made of a combination of a light leather cuirass and leather skirt. She also had a pair of steel greaves, and steel pauldrons which completed the armor set. Eleanor also had a relatively plain sword and basic Buckler.

"You're the person I'm suppose to spar against?" Naruto asked clearly in shock.

"Don't sound so surprised Naruto. I wasn't always a Teynra." Eleanor said "Now Naruto I believe we should start no?"

"If you wish my lady, but don't blame me when you're beaten."

"You shouldn't brag about victory before you have actually achieved it Naruto."

While facing off against each other Naruto couldn't help but feel confident. After all the training he had done, he had become what he believed, was unbeatable. This belief was reinforced by the constant victories in the spars against Fergus. While he was willing to admit that Eleanor might have been powerful, but she was beyond her prime. And Naruto had seen what that could do to a person's ability to fight. That was one of the reasons Orochimaru managed to beat the Third Hokage during the Chunnin Exams. While in contrast Naruto was still to enter his prime. He could only get stronger in the coming years. This combined with the endless training, gave Naruto the belief that he had already won.

Launching forward with as much speed as his legs could muster, Naruto tried ending the spar before it had even begun with a simple thrust. However the move had been telegraphed and Eleanor easily countered. Parring the thrust to the side she followed through by placing her blade at Naruto's neck.

Naturally, Naruto was shocked that he was beaten so quickly, but in his arrogance, he simply put it down to luck.

Removing her blade, Eleanor stepped back, disappointed at how much Naruto had allowed arrogance to control him. It seemed that Fergus wasn't overstating, as she had originally thought. And now she would deal with it the quickest way she knew. Humiliation.

Settling down into a more relaxed stance, she quickly put her plan into action when Naruto once again attacked with an overly telegraphed strike, this time a over head strike, that would cut from her left shoulder down to her right hip. That was if it wasn't once again blocked by the simple buckler that she wore on her left arm, leaving Naruto's guard virtually destroyed. It was a really simple task for her to thrust her blade once again at his neck. This time however, she didn't stop early like she had done before, allowing her blade to leave a shallow cut on Naruto's neck. While the wound wasn't dangerous, or life threatening, it would leave a scar.

Now Naruto was truly shocked. Not once but twice he had been beaten effortlessly. But Naruto was never one to give up, so once again he launched another attack once they had returned to their ready stances. And once again he was easily defeated.

This continued for almost an hour, each time that Naruto attacked, he was completely defeated. However his pride refused to believe that he had lost. Even though he knew he had, he simply refused to believe it. Something that was starting to wear on Eleanor's patience. Deciding that she had enough of this behavior, she caught Naruto's latest attack and flipped him so he landed hard on the ground, and once again found her blade at his neck.

"Enough Naruto. I cannot believe that I had not noticed how arrogant you had become" Eleanor said, frustration clear in her voice.

"What?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You have somehow got it into your head that you are the best. Let me tell you, you're not. I myself have beaten you repeatedly. And I am not a master of the sword. I am much more better trained in archery, and yet I beat you. Do you have any idea why this is?"

"Experience." Naruto said unsure of his reply

"While that had something to do with it, it was not the main contributor. Your belief that you can beat anyone meant that you let your guard down, leaving multiple ways that you could have been killed. There is a very simple saying that I think you should take to heart. 'There is always someone better than you.' Which means while you might become good, if not truly great, you will never become unbeatable."

"But what about all the people I heard about? Calenhad the Great was considered to be an unbeatable warrior."

"He was an ferocious warrior, that much anyone would admit, but that did not mean he was unbeatable. While normally it would take one or two people to beat an average warrior. It would take hundreds to beat Calenhad, but he would still fall like everyone else."

"So everything that I've worked for is useless?"

"Oh? I thought you said that you wanted to be strong enough to protect your precious people? No amount of work would be useless if that is achieved. Now Naruto that's enough for the day. I want you to take the next couple of days off and think about what exactly you want from life, and how to go about gaining that."

"Yes my lady." Naruto said dejectedly.

Walking into his room Naruto flopped, almost boneless, onto his bed. Everything he had thought, everything he believed for the last few months had all been shattered in just a few minutes. He had begun to believe that maybe he might have been strong enough where he wouldn't let down his precious people, and break his promises like he had done with his promise to Sakura.

But apparently he wasn't anywhere near.

Sighing, he stood up so he could remove his training clothes and get dressed in a simple pair of boxers so he could go to bed, even though he knew that sleep would most likely allude him.

Lying in the confines of his bed, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to the time two months ago since he had made his decision as to which style he would study.

Sitting in the courtyard of the castle, Naruto was giving the choice of which style to follow another thought. It was easy for him to rule out the way of the mage, after all it was virtually impossible for him to learn anything other than the Arcane Bolt without spending a lifetime learning control that might not even help him. So this left him two choices. rogue or warrior. While he was familiar with rogues because they were basically the shinobi of Ferelden. But then again the rogues of Fereleden emphasized stealth and striking from shadows, using brains and finesse to defeat opponents in a way they would never expect. While Naruto knew how to hide when he needed to, he preferred to fight his opponents face to face, something that suited Warriors perfectly. Naruto knew that he would never be able to abandon the lessons of Shinobi that he had learned, because they were all that he had left of his home. But that didn't mean that he wasn't ready to follow his own path. The path of a Warrior really did seem perfect. It would give him the strength to protect the people he cared about, plus he knew that even if he died, because warriors were always on the front line, then they would at least fall before any one else.

Nartuo was clear as to what he would do. He would become a Warrior and make sure that everyone he cared about was protected by his Sword, his Shield, and, more importantly, his own body. He even remembered something Fergus had said about a group of Warriors, that were considered to be some of the best close range fighters. A group that was a mages' worst enemy. Hopefully if he proved himself, maybe he could even become one.

When he finally returned from his thought's Naruto saw that it had been a couple of hours since he began thinking, and he was beginning to feel drowsy. It seemed that he wouldn't be losing as much sleep as he had thought he would be. Then again, he had just got back some of the motivation that had been lost in his arrogance. He promised to himself that when Eleanor allowed him to start training again he will train as hard as possible. This time he wouldn't train to be the best, he'd simply train to be better.

While this chapter had the 'Filler' feel to it, it is important. It's the chapter that explains why Naruto chose to be a Warrior, not a rogue. And of course it shows that he is also human, and capable of making mistakes. And of course a little bit of his training. Do you think that I should give Naruto more than one weapon? or should he just use the same weapon through out the story?