Author's note: To all my loyal readers, I have a project for you. In fate/stay night, Gilgamesh uses a dagger that freezes space when swung. See if you can figure out the name of the dagger. In addition, he wields a scythe that drains Prana, again, no name was ever given as far as I can tell. If you know the name, or have a kick ass name for it let me know. Also, remember that the team has already done the tree climbing exercise. Now it's time to use a technique that had a lot of potential, but the authors never really use much.

Mage's Tower

While she would never admit it, Rin was glad Luvia was helping her finance this project. If she had done this alone, Rin suspected that she would go bankrupt on this task. A part of her was still saying that this was a fool's errand, she wasn't ready for this advanced use of Second Magic. The rest of her, however, told that part to shut up and went back to work.

Rin's first impulse was to kill Zelretch for not telling her about the mirror. Apparently, it was one of the most advanced forms of Kaleidoscope. With it, one could communicate to different worlds. That impulse died the instant she saw his face. The term grim was an understatement. It would have been no stretch to say that it looked dark. Rin had been completely thrown off by that. By all accounts, Zelretch was almost never upset, to him, most everything was an amusement. When Rin and Luvia had blown up three classrooms and hospitalized four students and a teacher, he had laughed and said that they were spunky.

Zelretch had grown even darker when Rin told about what she told about Shirou and him being Saber. She had assumed that he was being summoned for a war, and tried to demand an answer from one of the founders of the Holy Grail War. Instead, Zelretch dismissed her and told her, "Get back to your studies girl. Forget what you saw and stay away from the mirror."

Rin had been furious, Magician or not, how dare he dismiss her worries like that. That moment, she swore she would steal every scrap of magic she could from the old man. It had been simple to enter his office and research the mirror. In fact, she had been lucky to find a book on how to recreate the mirror. It had been hidden behind several other books, but she had it now. Using a simple bit of magic, she created a copy for herself before returning the book. It had been there that she ran into the first hitch.

While she was confident she could create the mirror, the materials used for it were incredibly expensive and rare. Rin spent two days arguing with herself, and came to the inevitable conclusion. She needed the pompous Edelfelt bitch to fund this project.

Rin was a lot of things, genius, heir to Second magic, survivor of the Fifth Holy Grail War, but Rin was no fool. Luviagelita Edelfelt would want to know the exact reason for funding this project, and a lie would be to difficult to keep her interested in funding it.

On the other hand, the truth was more than enough to stimulate that rich brat's interest. Both Rin and Luvia had fought over Shirou for many years, and his sudden death was affecting Luvia almost as much as Rin.

So she told Luvia what she had seen.

It took about ten seconds, then Luvia began making calls. It took months to locate all the things they needed, but everything was collected.

Then the second hitch came, turns out, the mirror had been a joint project between the Matou's, Einzbern's and Zelretch before the Holy Grail war was conceived. It looked like the two of them would need to have a trip to Fuyuki City.

In the shadows, Zelretch was pleased with his two disciples. Their drive was astounding, their knowledge and skills were increasing exponentially. It seems the boy's death had been the best catalyst for the two. Frankly, Zelretch was expecting a perfect mirror made within a year.

Zelretch smiled even more, these two were certainly making the place interesting,

Team Seven

For the first night in a long time, Shirou was no longer worried. He had a purpose. Oh, sure, there was the whole imminent battle between Rider and Zabuza, but he'd figure something out. Now, now he had an idea of what the hell he was doing here. Shirou began planning on an intense training regimen for the team least they were caught unaware. True, Rider now knew about Harpe, but there were hundreds of other weapons at his disposal, and he had yet to use his Reality Marble. With his body now returned to its normal biorhythm, Shirou was confident that Rider would fall. The problem would be Zabuza and the masked boy.

While Shirou could go on the offensive within a day or two, he would risk Naruto in the process. It would take some time to plan the next course of action. No to mention, Kakashi's physical abilities needed to be evaluated.

Through the night, he began preparing for the battle ahead.

Location unknown

"Keep them off me Assassin," Fuu yelled running through the woods. Behind her, a hundred black shadows attempted to kill the two intruders.

"Run, run," A woman mocked. She was short, about five foot two. Black hair that fell below her shoulders and a head plates of a scratched cloud. Her voice was somewhere between a screech and nails on a chalkboard. She was wielding what looked like modified tonfas, the ends had spikes instead of blunt ends, and blades sticking out on the sides. The woman was dressed in a black outfit with red clouds detailed on it. Beside her A tall dark man with bright green eyes, a face mask and green eyes rimmed with red.

"Yuki, hurry it up, your wasting time." Kakuzu said irritated. Honestly, why did he end up pairing with the weird ones. Worse, they always seemed to not care how much time and money they were wasting. It wasn't like Kakuzu wanted to spend all day chasing a brat. The books needed balancing, and there were rumors of a couple of hefty bounty targets in the area. But nooo, he had to be stuck with the rookie bitch who seemed to think she was Kami's gift of nature. Silently, he swore to add her heart to his collection if she kept this up.

"Fine, Fine," Yuki said as she killed two more Assassins. The leader had stressed being careful around these things. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why. Sure, they were stealthier than any jonin she ever met, but once she got close to them, they died like anyone else.

"Master," one of the Assassin's said, "We cannot hold them."

Frankly, when Assassin had been summoned, they had been surprised. This little girl was their Master? At first, they had been amused, Fuu was a spiteful creature and Assassin's ability to kill without being detected had been one of their Master's favorite past times. For months, they would kill anyone who ever offended her. The population of the Hidden in the Waterfall village had dropped dramatically within a few months.

Looking back, it was obvious that the village would hire someone to deal with them. Of course, Assassin hadn't thought that there was anyone they couldn't beat, yet here were two of them. 'Who are they?' they collectively thought.

Fuu was scared, all her life, she had been beaten and shamed by the village. Oh, how she hated all humans for what they did to her. Yet, Assassin was different. One look, and she could tell they were not human. The Seven Tails was hissing with excitement for some reason.

Something about "The time has come again."

Whatever that had meant, the fat beetle had kept silent.

The only other thing she got out of it was, "At last. After countless years, the ceremony begins again."

Fuu had her suspicions, the beetle had never cared about men. They were beneath it. Heck, it only tolerated her because she was the jailor. It never gave her any chakra unless she fought for it or was on the verge of death.

Fuu heard the commotion behind her as she ran. The last of her Assassins were dying, only the lone female one beside her remained. Fuu had always had a soft spot for that one. She thought that one knew what it was to be alone just like her. The problem was, that one was always silent, it was one of the others that always did the talking. The speaker had refereed to the female one as seduction and poisoning when Fuu asked for that one's name.

A sudden scream went out behind Fuu. Hoping beyond hope, she stopped to see what had happened. Behind her, the largest of the Assassins had done it, the woman was dead. Looking closely, she saw that it had cost that Assassin's life. Now, it was her the female Assassin and the masked man who were left. Fuu smiled, together, they could take him, she was sure of it. What kind of person could hope to beat the two of them.

Team Seven

Morning came early for the team. The smell of a delicious breakfast hung in the air. Tsunami and Saber were busy making a hefty meal for everyone.

After everyone had eaten it was time to plan for the next attack.

"Kakashi," Shirou asked, "Are you going to be bed bound for some time?"

Kakashi considered his body, "I won't be able to fight for about month, but I won't be be bound."

Shirou nodded, "Good, then you can help me train them."

The three genin were unsure how to feel about this. Zabuza had been too much for them the last time, it had taken Kakashi to finish him off. Now, Kakashi was out, and Shirou warned that he'd be busy with Rider.

"I won't separate from you this time," Shirou tried to assure them, "I'll be near you when the attack comes."

In truth, that increased the difficulty greatly. Servant battles were always dangerous and usually devastated the land. Heck, yesterday had already proven that. Thousands of acres had burned in a wild fire and the large lake had rescinded four feet from the fight. The battle between him and Rider would have to be quick. If Rider revealed her eyes or summoned Pegasus, the chances of survival were less than 1%

'Luckily, I've got a plan' Shirou thought. Besides, he'd faced worse odds, and he still had that trump card waiting.

"But sensei." Sakura cried, "How can we hope to match a jonin."

Shirou was getting annoyed with Sakura's attitude. Yes, the odds looked bleak, but that attitude was going to get her killed.

"First," Shirou said looking at her, "My injuries are healed." He flexed his arms to show "Before, I was fighting while heavily injured." How injured he wouldn't tell, nor he would tell that he was low on Prana reserves

Shirou continued, "Second, I know of two ways you all can fight at his level, I'll explain that later later. Third, you're attitude Sakura is not helping the situation, so please, be quiet."

Sakura flinched at the rebuke. She understood that complaining was not helping, but Zabuza terrified her.

Saber stood up and began washing the dishes. Tsunami tried to tell him that she would, but Saber waved her off.

"You're all going to die," came a new voice. Everyone except Shirou turned to the new source. It was Inari, Tsunami's son. "There's no way you can take on Gatou."

There was a brief pause before Shirou broke in, "We did once already, we'll do it again."

Inari humphed at that. "What are you? Some kind of hero?"

"Yes." Shirou answered shamelessly.

"Well whoop de do." Inari said, turning to his mother he told her, "I'm going to my room."

Naruto followed intent on beating some sense into the kid when he stopped. Behind the door, he heard Inari crying for his dad. Naruto left and went back downstairs.

Elsewhere

Kakuzu was pissed. The whole operation had taken too long, and even worse, the damn rookie had gotten herself killed like the rest. Kakuzu sighed, ah well, at least she didn't need to be paid.

Picking up Fuu, Kakuzu began the trek to the designated sealing site.

'Hope the next one does better,' Kakuzu thought. Truly, the quality of ninjas had gone down hill since his youth.

All around him, the terrain had been destroyed by the terrible battle. Kakuzu walked unruffled by the craters and fallen trees around him. The land was so badly scarred, that the forest was almost completely blown away by the battle. It would be a lucky tree to have remained standing erect after the titans clashed.

"You will regret interfering human," the demon spoke through Fuu. "The ceremony will continue even if I am beaten."

Kakuzu continued to drag his beaten foe behind him. According to the reports of the others, the five tailed beast had made the same kind of threats. Though, that one had not had a powerful companion by it's side. 'Damn shame those black guys wouldn't join up. They looked professional enough, even if they suck at battling.'

Ah well, life never handed anything out in a silver platter. It was time to get to the rendezvous point and then pick up the paycheck.

Team Seven

Team Kakashi arrived in a clearing near the bridge.

Shirou had half dragged half carried Kakashi over join the kids.

"As you are now," Shirou lectured, "None of you will be able to stand a chance against Zabuza."

Gesturing to Kakashi, he continued, "As your sensei is incapacitated and probably unable to fight him again soon, I must assume you three will have to take on Zabuza and the other on your own."

Sakura opened her mouth to deny her abilities, but Shirou slashed a hand her off.

"You have no choice in the matter Sakura. Unless you run now, you will not live long." Shirou said, "I have already revealed Rider's identity. She will track you down to the ends of the earth to find you and silence you." No Servant would ever let their name spread lest the others find out.

"Why is her identity important?" Kakashi asked.

"Because Kakashi," Shirou answered, "Since I know who she is, I know her abilities and her weaknesses. Think of it like this. Up until now, she was an unknown fighter, no-one knew her true abilities. But because I know her, I can counter her abilities."

Kakashi understood, it was like the bingo books. The unknown ninjas were dangerous due to no-one knowing how strong they were. Once they were entered into a bingo book, anyone could use the enemies weakness against them.

Shirou turned to the three genin and said, "There is only one way you three will be able to stall him until I can join him."

Shirou stood up and brought forth a sight that chilled their bones. In his hands was Zabuza's own sword.

"S-s-s-s-Saber?" Sakura chattered, her entire body was shaking. She had seen the fake Hunter take the sword, yet, Saber was holding it right now.

"Naruto!" Shirou barked. Naruto sprang up, feeling sick to his stomach at what was going to happen. "Fight me." Shirou said.

Naruto drew his knife and prepared for a beating. He was not disappointed. Saber swing the flat of the sword and nailed him hard.

"Wrong," Shirou said, "Stop holding back and call reinforcements."

Naruto blinked for a second, then performed Kage Bushin. Thirty clones appeared in front of Saber.

"Good, use any technique at all, you need to slow me down." Shirou said.

Naruto sent all thirty of his clones out, only for them to be decimated in one swing.

Shirou sighed, "Alright, try again, but space out. You need to slow me down, distract me, not win. You have no chance at winning, only slowing down."

Naruto summoned thirty more clones, but Saber held his hand up. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto is getting killed out here. Help him."

Kakashi was unsure of how Saber was going to pull this off. The three were going to die in seconds if Zabuza attacked at this rate. Silently, he cursed himself for not being able to move. He figured, it would take about a week to even walk unaided with a crutch. Shirou had asked him earlier if it were possible to call for reinforcements, but Kakashi was unable to help him. It would take spectacular luck for any other teams to arrive in the area.

Instead of being depressed, Shirou had only shrugged, like it had only been an after thought. For some reason, Shirou was completely sure of himself. Like he had a plan that couldn't fail.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke and Sakura joined in the fray. Time and time again they were all knocked back from sword swings or punches. It took hours, but the team were finally getting used to the range of the weapon, and more importantly, how to get out of the way. Shirou was especially impressed with Naruto. His little Master had quickly caught on that he was the most important person on slowing the Demon Zabuza down. It would require his one man army to constantly sacrifice themselves to keep Sasuke and Sakura alive. Shirou estimated that it would take days for the other two to get used to the concept of hit and run.

Lunch time had come around, and Shirou called for a break.

"Good job you three, you've only died about three hundred times." Shirou said a bit sarcastically.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto flinched at the comment. True, if they were up against Zabuza, they would be dead, but they were trying dammit.

Shirou served lunch, and finished the last bit of planning. He found himself nodding slightly, it was a good plan, it had about a 87% chance of success. He'd take those odds any day.

"Naruto,"Shirou said, "Show me that move you used on Zabuza."

Naruto was confused.

"The one where you turned into a weapon." Shirou cleared up.

Naruto made a sign and said, "Henge." Where Naruto once stood, now was a large Shuriken. Shirou promptly grabbed it. 'Transfiguration? But the weight changed as well. Ah well, the lighter he is the better.' Shirou suddenly threw 'Naruto' up into the air. "My, what a convenient place to throw a weapon," Shirou drawled. He watched as Sasuke and Sakura suddenly saw what he meant and smiled a bit. Shirou held his hand out and caught 'Naruto' effortlessly.

The three genin went a ways a bit to plot out their next move.

Shirou went over to Kakashi to wait for the three to finish their plans.

"How did you get that sword?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"I made it." Shirou answered honestly.

"Made it?"

"Yep, it's a specialty of mine." Shirou once again said honestly. One great thing about his ability, was that it was so rare, that only seven or eight people had ever done it before. Reality Marble is just to hard and too obscure for it to be used by most people. In fact, all history of the previous wielders say that Reality Marble was only ever used as a weapon. Supposedly, there was someone who used something like it in the Fifth Holy Grail war, but Shirou had seen no evidence to prove the claim.

Kakashi could only shrug at that. He figured it had to be a form of bloodline jutsu unique to Saber. He had no idea how far off, yet so close to the mark her really was.

Shirou stood up, his little students were ready to begin round two.

Gatou's Hideout #03

"How long will I be out Haku?" Zabuza asked.

"Untreated? About a month." Haku answered, "But only about a week or two if I get some medicine."

"Go," Zabuza ordered. Haku bowed before his teacher and left. Zabuza could not afford to wait a month. The bridge was progressing steadily. It would probably be done in about a month unhindered. Turning to Rider he ordered, "Rider, I need some of the local thugs to hit the village."

Rider shifted uncomfortably. "Master, the men seem to be suffering some form of weakness."

"Poison? Damn, they must have found this place." Zabuza grunted. "We need to move now. Leave anyone behind who can't keep up."

"That won't be necessary Master," Rider replied, "I was the one who caused them to weaken."

Zabuza blinked at that. Rider never tried to betray him before, she had always displayed a great deal of loyalty to him. "Why?"

"I needed their energy to heal Master." Rider explained. "I would not be able to fight beside you for some time without assistance. I took what I needed to heal."

"Can you fight now Rider?" Zabuza asked intrigued.

"No Master. While most of my wounds are healed, I will still need days to return to my full strength."

Rider said, "In addition Master, I need more strength if we intend on winning against Saber. He is too strong right now."

Zabuza sighed, "Can you do anything to weaken him?"

Rider shook her head again, feeling uncomfortable for talking so much. "No, I can only get stronger than him."

"Do what you will." Zabuza said. By Kami, he was tired. Haku's medicine was top grade, but that last blow had taken a great deal out of him.

"So, the mighty have fallen." came a greasy voice. It was Gatou. "Hmph, can't even move can you? What the hell happened to your vaunted skills?" Gatou tried to poke Zabuza, only for Rider to grip his arm tightly."Let go you bitch"

"You will not touch him," Rider warned. A snapping sound came from Gatou's arm

"AAAAGH OWWW," Gatou yelled, "Bitch, you broke my arm. Guards, kill her."

The two thugs behind him were instantly pierced by the nail weapon and were pinned to the wall.

"Gatou," Zabuza warned, "I said I would kill the old man. Now get out." The room became oppressive, and the scent of blood filled the air.

"Ah, ah," Gatou gasped, "F-Fine...then do your job. Hmph worthless overpriced ninja."

Gatou left, leaving the shreds of dignity, and his two guards behind.

"Master," Rider asked, "May I deal with these two?"

"Do what you will," Zabuza sighed, the job was becoming a bad investment.

The two guards whimpered for a moment before Rider bit into their necks. After a brief moment, like bugs caught by a spider, they ceased to breathe. Rider could feel their souls add a slight amount of power to her dwindled supply. She would need many more souls if she intended to take on the mysterious Saber again.

Team Seven

Shirou was impressed how fast the genin were improving. With one hint, the whole battle dynamic changed. Naruto summoned dozens of clones and had over half of them turn into various weapons. The clones, Sasuke, and Sakura would throw the henged clones in various directions.

The clones would revert back only to throw other weapons at Shirou. In addition, some of the thrown weapons from the clones were clones as well. Shirou dodged, blocked, and smashed most of these copies, but they were getting smarter. When Shirou suddenly made a break and attacked Sakura, she turned out to be a changed shadow clone herself courteously provided by Naruto. Shirou had to make a quick reevaluation then. He could no longer assume that any of the apparent students were real and not clones. Not all the thrown objects on the ground were clones either, many turned out to be real weapons thrown his way. Shirou made a mental note to trace several kunai and shuriken for later. The team would need a ton of weapons for the battle.

In the end, it took him a grand total of ten minutes to locate and knock out all three of the students. The telling blow had been when Saber knocked out Naruto by chance causing all the other clones to vanish. The two remaining 'Naruto's' were quickly dealt with.

"Good job," Shirou complimented, "You all lasted ten minutes with me."

The three children smiled at his praise. It had been a hard battle, but they could see how much they had improved. For the first time, Shirou actually broke a bit of a sweat.

They were getting better, but Shirou knew that they were still a long ways away from his goal.

"Don't get cocky," Shirou warned, "I've been holding back a great deal during these matches, It's time to up the difficulty."

The three began to stand up, but Naruto suddenly collapsed.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried.

"Oi," Sasuke said, "Get up Naruto."

Shirou held up a hand, "Take a break, he's been through quite a bit from that exercise."

Sasuke and Sakura collapsed with relief, they were also tired from the training. It was only the first day of training, but they had worn themselves out.

Shirou shook his head, "I guess we're done for now." Shirou looked over at the bridge. "Sakura, Sasuke, when you two have caught your breath, I want the two of you to stand guard over Tazuna."

Sasuke and Sakura nodded their heads in acknowledgment.

Shirou went over to Kakashi for his opinion.

"Honestly, I swore I was seeing a ghost for a second." Kakashi said, "Naruto reminded me of my old teacher."

"Oh?" Shirou said

"Yeah, my teacher was once known as the yellow flash. His greatest technique the Flying Thunder God Technique allowed him to teleport wherever he wanted."

Shirou analyzed that information. It sounded like a space time magic, but incredibly useful. Unfortunately, Shirou was no true Magus, so learning the technique was moot. "Sounds useful, but Naruto is relying on his clones rather than teleporting."

"Yeah I know, but the whole thing was incredible to see." Kakashi said in awe.

"Maybe, but they are not ready. I need them to be able to hold me off for at least an hour." Shirou said. He figured that the fight with Rider would take less than an hour to finish one way or another. If she unleashed her eyes, the battle would end. Shirou would have to keep a watch at all times least she get the drop on him. Mentally measuring himself, he could feel himself restored to about half of the energy he had wielded the previous day.

It seems that Hanabi had also affected his ability to receive Prana from Naruto. Frankly, Shirou was impressed by the amount of Prana Naruto was providing. If this pace continued, he would need only a few days before he would be at full strength. 'If he were a Magus, he would probably be at the level of the Lords of the Tower.' Shirou thought. Rin probably held only a fraction of the potential power that Naruto had.

Granted, it was probably coming from the Demon, but it was still a frightening amount of power in his Master. 'And yet, how strong would he be if I wasn't here?' As long as Naruto held the command seals, Shirou was constantly draining Naruto's power to keep him in this world.

"What are their chances right now in your opinion?" Shirou asked seriously.

Kakashi considered what her knew of Zabuza, "Low, Zabuza is a master in silent killing. They rely too much on their eyes, which the mist will hide him from. Not to mention, we have no way to tell how strong his associate is."

Shirou nodded, "That was my thought." Saber was grinning now. Even when he admitted that the chances were low, he smiled like he knew he could win.

"What are you planning Saber?" Kakashi asked.

Shirou leaned forward, "Haven't you noticed? We've been followed since we left the village."
This was news to Kakashi. 'Enemies? Anbu maybe? What's going on?'

Shirou whispered, "I'm off to do some recruiting. Have Naruto rest for a while, he's earned it."

Root Spies

Danzo was not going to be happy with Crane and Cat. Their mission had been to observe Saber and Naruto and watch for the two to send information to other ninjas. If they found the two giving out information, they were to report back and request reinforcements to terminate Saber and hold Naruto captive. Crane and Cat had always enjoyed the mark of honor of being the two most silent observers in Root. Danzo had personally told them they were better than most Hunter nin at hiding and tracking.

They had carefully followed Team Kakashi for the past week. Only once, when a single bird took flight by chance did they give away their position. It was for a brief moment, but Cat swore that Saber had stiffened slightly before continuing. Saber gave no sign he had noticed them, but Cat wanted to abort. Crane had overruled him and the two continued on.

They had been sure that Saber was nothing more than a common mercenary. Their whole perception changed when Zabuza attacked. Former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Demon Zabuza is an infamous criminal known for staging a failed coup on the Mizukage. It had come as a great shock to the world, as Zabuza's loyalty had never been called into question before.

All the old Bingo books warned of his intense loyalty, and he could not be bought off. Yet, he seemed to have had a change of heart years ago and did everything he could to kill the Mizukage.

It just went to show, anyone could turn traitor...except the Root of course.

When Medusa showed up, they were doubly surprised. There had been whispers of a dangerous woman by the code name Rider who matched her description, but Saber seemed to know her real name right off the bat. They had added the fact that the similarities in code names could indicate that the two came from the same area. It was still unknown if Medusa was aware of code name Saber's true name.

Cat had opted to watch over Naruto while Crane went to watch over Saber when the two separated. Cat had planned on staying hidden unless the jinchuriki was in danger.

Danzo had stressed how important it was to keep the Demon alive as a viable weapon for the village. Should he have to, Danzo had provided an alibi that Crane and Cat were there to deal with a local crime lord by the name of Gatou per request of the Wave Daimyo. Cat had watched with fascination at the level of determination Naruto displayed in beating Zabuza and the pride of being a Leaf Ninja. Cat would have to mention the high level of loyalty the jinchuriki was displaying.

Crane had tried to keep up with Saber and Rider, but the two were remarkably fast. He had to follow the best he could without giving away his position. He had witnessed Saber summon four swords and had them fly at each other causing them to explode with more force than an A level explosive tag. Crane had nearly been blinded by the flash of the explosion. When he could see again, he saw Saber holding a spear and dancing with it better than a weapons specialist. What was more amazing, was how different Saber was wielding the spear. True, all jonin had to learn the basics of several styles of taijutsu to vary their attacks, but Saber had completely changed his fighting style of the spear. Crane later made notes for the report on how Saber was displaying master over several weapons, and it seemed he had mastered several types of schools of weapons in the process.

What was even more interesting was when Saber had summoned a new spear and a massive bow. The bow should have been too large and too heavy for anyone to wield, but Saber handled it with ease. Again, Saber's stance changed when he wielded the bow. His every being seemed to form into the perfect archer. The fact he shot the spear out of the bow like an arrow testified at Saber's strength.

When Saber suddenly dashed away, Crane could feel; his every instinct scream at him to run away. It had been a good thing too. As he ran, something behind him plowed through the forest decimating the area he had been earlier. Unfortunately, in his haste, he lost Saber's trail. He only picked it up again after a large explosion tore through the forest a bit later.

Everything Crane had thought about Saber died when he saw the trench running through the forest. Whether Saber or Rider caused that, the fact was, Saber had survived it made Crane nervous. The man was to be considered an SS rank threat if her ever betrayed the village.

Crane and Cat convened after the battle to share notes. Cat had been a bit skeptical of Crane's report, but trusted Crane to not exaggerate. The two had planned on keeping a low profile for the rest of the mission. They figured that they would remain undetected for the rest of the mission.

They were wrong.

Saber

It was clear that the two spies were from the village. They had done nothing to interfere with either the Demon brothers or Zabuza. Judging by their skills, they were definitely among the elites of the village. Their orders were probably to observe the mission and not interfere.

All fine and dandy if the mission had gone according to the description. Now, Shirou could not allow the two to be partisan.

Walking a short distance and going behind a tree, Shirou reverted to Spirit form and dashed over to the two spies. The two have no clue how close he is to them. Their backs are turned to him as they continue to watch over Naruto and Saber's last position.

Shirou silently raises his hands up.

He reverts to physical form.

One swing of his arms, and they are out.

Shirou traces two ropes and ties the two up. He removes their masks and sits down to wait.

Crane woke up with a nasty crick in his neck. One motion, and he knew he had been caught. He opened his eyes and saw a sword pointed at him.

"Ah, good. You're awake." Saber said, "We need to talk."

"Never," Crane retorted. The seals on his tongue would take care of that.

Shirou rolled his eyes. 'The thing is, I need your help. And, I'm willing to offer an exchange."

Crane instantly saw where this was going. "You want us to help you fight against Zabuza."

"Yes, and in exchange, I will answer one question for you." Shirou offered. Shirou then untied Crane.

"Talk it over with your companion when he wakes." Shirou said. "I'll be waiting for your response."

Crane unties Cat and wakes him up. Crane quickly filled in Cat on the situation and the deal.

"It's a good offer." Cat says. "We have to keep the jinchuriki alive at all costs. With this, we can get one piece of information"

"Oh, did you notice he never said he would answer honestly?" Crane retorted.

"Would you have believed him if he did?" Cat countered. Crane was silent at that.

Cat elected to give their answer. He found Saber watching over the bridge with a bow in his hand.

"You have decided to accept." Shirou said, it was not a question but a statement.

"Yes, if you answer one question." Cat answered.

Shirou remained silent, watching over his charges from a distance.

Cat saw that Shirou would not ask so he continued, "What is your name?" With his name, Root could track down anyone bearing it.

Shirou bent down and wrote down a kanji. Shiro, as in the word white. It was similar to his name, but Shirou in Kanji means professional or department. It was so similar, that Shirou knew he would respond to Shiro as easily as his real name. At the same time, he was not telling his identity. The Japanese language is full of homophones like that. They sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Besides, one look at Shirou's hair and one would think he was named after his hair color.

Cat raised an eyebrow, not like anyone could see it behind his mask. "Shiro? No last name."

Saber shrugged, "I have no memories from before I was ten. I don't know my last name." Again, not the complete truth, but no lie either. Emiya was his adopted name, not his real one. But he had been Emiya so long, it might as well have been his real name.

Cat saw that he would get nothing else, and shrugged. It was more information that when they had started. "What do you want us to do?"

Shirou quietly told him the plan. Cat was surprised at the deviousness of the plan.

The next day, two young men applied to work on the bridge. They had no credentials, but the bridge was so short on help that they were accepted.

Team Kakashi

Kakashi went to bed with ease. Saber had filled Kakashi in on the situation and the unexpected help. While he was not pleased that someone had sent two jonin to spy on them, he was grateful for their assistance. He knew his genin were not ready to face someone of Zabuza's caliber, but between the training and the three combat ready adults, Kakashi was sure that they would get through it alright.

Saber recommended he stay in bed for the week and keep an eye out on the village. Kakashi thought that was a good idea. It would take a week before Zabuza was up at the earliest.

That evening, Naruto told Saber about meeting a friendly guy named Haku who had been gathering herbs. "Yeah, Haku said that people get really strong when they fight for their precious people."

Shirou nodded, "Very true. It's a good sentiment."

"From now on, I'll fight for my precious people," Naruto declared, not realizing how amusing he looked. Shirou smiled at Naruto's antics. Personally, he had never thought about it that way, he had gotten stronger because of his ideal, and his love. In a way, Naruto's sentiment was similar, but Shirou did not restrict himself to only his precious people. He got stronger for the people who needed saving.

Naruto then told about his dream of Rider's and Shinji's death.

"Wondered what happened to him." Shirou said quietly. As far as he could tell back then, Shinji had vanished off the face of the earth. Shirou had assumed that Shinji had made it to the church for sanctuary. 'Ah well, at least Illya took care of him for me.'

Shirou sent Naruto off to bed, tomorrow, he would need all the sleep he could get.

That night, Naruto dreamed of ordinary things, ramen, Zabuza chasing him with a carving knife, Haku in a kimono, those kinds of things.

Fuyuki City

Rin paused for a second looking at the house. Little had changed since she last came here. She remembered the first time she came here, Saber had nearly killed her.

She would have killed her if Shirou had not wasted a command spell on saving her life. Rin placed a hand on her heart. She had developed a crush on him a year before that, but it was that night she fell in love. Rin walked through the archway and felt the memories wash over her.

Over there in the shed was where Shirou had practiced his magic, never knowing what he was really doing. Always wasting his time building a magic circuit every time he used his magic.

Over there was the dojo where he sparred with Saber during the war and trained himself afterward.

She slowly, almost reverently knocked on the door. She knew that he wasn't there, but she could still here him call out "Coming, I'll be there in a second." Instead, a higher pitched voice gave the same call.

Rin knew she needed to look down to meet her old friend and sometimes rival for affection.

Illyasveil von Einzbern had never grown out of her child sized form. She had been designed to be used for the Holy Grail war. Rather than perishing or attaining the Third Magic, Illya had lost the war.

Unlike all her predecessors, she did not die in the war. So, Illya was alive, and basically useless to the Einzbern family. She could only be used once for the Holy Grail war, and thus she had already failed her purpose.

Not that it had dampened her spirits any. Instead, she got to stay with her brother. Rin had been shocked when Illya revealed why she called Shirou Onii-chan. To think, she was Emiya Kirisugu's real daughter. With Shirou being Kirisugu's adopted son, that made the two legally family.

The Einzbern family had tried only once to separate the two. The end result had been expensive to the family. Four combat homunculus destroyed, the head of the family lost an arm, and several younger members had lost their lives. The end result, the Einzbern family relinquished all claims on Illya and left her alone.

Rin knew the family was still trying to make another homunculus for a sixth war, but were having no success yet. Especially since the Great Grail had been destroyed years ago. If there was to be another Holy Grail War, the Einzbern would need to recreate the Great Grail from scratch.

"Rin! What a surprise." Illya chirped happily, "Come in, I'll get the tea ready."

Rin shook her head, Illya had lost very little of her childlike exuberance, but at least Shirou had taught her some of his morals. Rin followed the white haired girl to the dining room and waited. Illya served her tea and sat down to enjoy her own cup.

Rin took a sip and found the tea was delicious. She could hardly believe how good Illya was getting at cooking over the years.

"So, what brings you here Rin?" Illya asked.

"Why weren't you at the funeral Illya?" Rin asked first. It had been a sore spot for her when she didn't see Shirou's little sister there.

"Oh, that. Why should I?" Illya answered bluntly. "I'll be seeing him soon enough."

Rin spat out her tea.

"Riiiin," Illya pouted, "That's bad manners." Shirou had worked hard to intill manners in her. True she had been taught how to be courteous and graceful from her old maids, but she enjoyed having Shirou teach her the Japanese way.

Rin stood up and pointed at her, "How long? How long have you known?"

Illya chuckled slightly and pulled out a book from under the table. "Two weeks before his end silly."

Illya slid the book to Rin. Rin picked it up, but didn't bother reading it. She knew Illya had given her what she needed. How she had gotten it was beyond her, but right now, she couldn't care.

"Who told you?" Rin asked with gritted teeth.

"Who do you think?" Illya countered.

There was only one person who would do something like this.

Zelretch.

The man was becoming Rin's number one enemy quickly.

"I'm coming with you Rin." Illya announced. "Shirou broke his promise."

Rin was hardly surprised by this. She had figured Illya would demand to come along and see Shirou before she even left for Japan. "Fine, but we have another stop to make before we begin."

"Yep," Illya said cheerfully, "Sakura is waiting for you at her house."

That did it, as soon as she went back to the Tower, Zelretch was going to die.

Author's note: First, I know some of you are upset that Shirou gave his 'name.' Remember, that the Japanese language is very different from English. By calling himself Shirou, he is basically calling himself White, rather than Professional. Yes, the words sound the same in Japanese, but the translation, and thus, the whole name changes in other languages.

Second, Why do so many people assume that Illya is going to die after the Grail war, unless they followed the UBW route or the HF route, in which case, she dies in the war. Other than the fact that Illya dies in Archer's past, we have no clue as to how Illya died after the Fifth Grail War. I had planned on having Illya grow up like her mother, but according to my Beta, Illya was said to always be stuck as a child according to a magazine from typemoon. Don't know if it's canon or not, but it makes for a funny story. Lets face it, she's a twenty something woman in the body of an eleven year old. Frankly the whole idea amused me to no end.

I'd like to thank L33t Horo as my beta, and I apologize for taking so long to make this next chapter. (Ah, who are we kidding, it's been less than a week since I last posted. You guys are spoiled by me.)