Saber held a hand behind his head and scratched, smiling all the while. "So, how many of you figured it out?"
Shikumaru, Neji, and surprisingly Hinata all raised their hands.
Saber arched an eyebrow. "What gave it away?"
"Byakugan shows your unique body to us." Neji answers. Hinata nods her head nervously.
"Oh? What do you mean?" Saber asked.
"Y-y-ou l-look like a-a-ah g-g-g-ggreat being offff llighhht." Hinata stuttered, nervous of all the attention she was drawing upon herself. Neji twitched an eyebrow irritatingly, but nodded as well.
Shikamaru shrugged. "It was obvious that you two were new additions to the environment. Not to mention, no creature would react to every noise we made. Besides, there are no such things as ghosts."
Saber smiled wildly, "Are you sure? I met over half a dozen when I was a little older than you were."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Saber was too troublesome for him to deal with tonight.
"Anyway," Asuma broke in. "It's clear that phase one has ended, so, tomorrow, phase two will begin."
"Phase two?" the genin ask.
Shirou smiled, "Yep, now I get to attack you with weapons when you get noisy."
The genin all paled.
"What? You didn't think we weren't expecting the ruse to be figured out eventually?" Saber asked.
Anko whistled quietly remembering her bet had been that no-one would figure it out till the end of the week.
"So...you'll throw swords at us?" Kiba asked nervously.
"And arrows, and spears...oh, knives too." Saber said grinning, looking forward to the rest of the week.
Suddenly, Shikamaru begins to think that phase one was preferable to phase two. At least in phase one they had the ability to rest while waiting for the 'attacks' to end.
"Unh," Naruto groans as he wakes up. "What happened?" He looks up to see Saber glaring at him.
"You, my Master, have some explaining to do." Saber states.
Naruto looked around and saw the crowd around him. "Bad dreams," He answered.
Shirou nodded and helped his Master to his feet. "Follow me Master, it seems that you need some counseling." Saber took Naruto away from the group with Rider in tow
Everyone else noticed a wooden sword in Saber's hand as they left and drew the obvious conclusion.
"All right you little brats." Anko said cheerfully, "Since you're all wide away, let's go for a brisk jog."
The remaining eleven genin groaned, they all knew that the 'job' was going to be another marathon.
"I'm not sure if I envy Naruto or not." Kiba states as he begins following Anko through the jungle.
"I'm not." Sakura replies, "That sword is evil."
Sasuke nodded, that wooden sword always seemed to want blood. There had even been one time where he swore he saw a short brown haired woman in a yellow and black shirt and a green dress replacing Saber...but that was ridiculous. The sword must have hit him harder than he thought, yeah, that was it.
The 'jog' ended up being a fifteen mile run through a hazardous course that randomly shot kunai and senbons out at hapless genin. The eleven genin were forced to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and...well...dodge any attacks. Anko was even in front laughing her head off at the crazy stunts the kids had to pull to evade the surprise attacks. Kiba ended up doing a 360 spin on one leg to avoid five shuriken shot at him. Choji ended up displaying an unusually good display of agility performing a limbo maneuver while a spear shot out at him. Shikamaru sighed and seemed to calculate exactly when each attack was going to come and evaded the traps.
Neji was forced to block attacks coming from above as well as both his sides at the same time. He ended up spinning in place blocking all attacks almost simultaneously. The look on his face told that he had discovered something. 'If I can figure out how to block all attacks by spinning, I'll have the ultimate defense.'
TenTen was able to snap up several weapons aimed at her and added them to her scrolls. Saber had told her that the biggest weakness of her style was the limited weapons. According to him, the best way for her to fight for long periods was to focus on collecting weapons on the battlefield and storing them till she needed them.
Sakura and Ino were getting frustrated. For some reason, everyone was expecting the two of them to fix any injuries the others receiving.
"I don't get it." Ino said irritably, "Why are we the medics?"
"Because we were the best in the class when it came to field medicine." Sakura snapped as she finished putting a bandage on Lee. Lee was looking at the bandage like it was a gift from a goddess.
"Yosh, I swear upon my youth that I will treasure this bandage Sakura-chan." Lee exclaimed.
Sakura persisted the urge to slap Lee on the mouth to silence him. Now that the monsters were exposed, the whole team felt relaxed about making noise. That, and they were running on less than two hours of sleep. Before them, the sun was rising as the night ended.
*Groan* "Is this what's going to happen all week long?" Kiba asked Shino, who merely shrugged.
Behind them, Hinata was running out of breath. Her weights were sooo heavy and she desperately wanted to lay down and nap. 'But I can't give up now.' Hinata thought. She was one step closer to becoming a ninja that Naruto and the others would acknowledge.
Sasuke was delighted that the training was serious. He could feel himself being pushed to new limits. 'I'm catching up.' He thought with delight. Kakashi was always lazy about training them. Every time he taught Sasuke something, he would then leave them to read his books. Now, there would be no way for the jonin to laze about during this camp...hopefully.
Elsewhere
"All right Master, what did you see?" Saber asked Naruto with narrowed eyes. That reckless charge had been the stupidest, most reckless thing he had ever seen...not counting himself of course.
"Berserker, he was going to kill you. Rin was in his hand, dying. You were charging at him, sword in hand. You were going to die." Naruto blurted a million miles an hour.
"Whoa, slow down." Shirou said. "Now, start at the beginning and tell me what you dreamed."
Naruto took a deep breath and began from the dream about Rider. Saber watched as Rider recalled the memory of Pegasus with happiness. It had been one of the best moments in her life. Yet, at the mention of the gleam in Poseidon's eyes, Rider became stiff, remembering of things best left forgotten. Saber made no comment as Rider's life was her own to tell if she wished.
Naruto went on to tell about the battle against Berserker and how the dream had been cut off when he was woken.
Shirou sighed, "No wonder you panicked. You weren't able to see what happens next. You must have heard my roar and thought it was Berserker in your half awakened state."
Naruto looked up, "What happens next?"
Saber looked up at the rising sun, "I cut Berserker's arm off while Saber blocked the blow, then we killed him."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, "So...you were okay."
Shirou shook his head, "Not exactly, but it's a long story."
Naruto laughed, "I've got time."
Shirou smiled evilly and held up the wooden sword. "Oh? I'll have to fix that."
Naruto paled, "N-n-n-now Saber, I'm your Master."
Shirou picked Naruto up and stood him on his feet, "Indeed my Master, but since you seem keen on charging at your enemies...I'm afraid I must increase your training." Shirou entered a battle stance,
"Draw your weapon and defend yourself."
The surrounding area was filled with the sounds of Naruto's screams and the sound of wood meeting flesh.
It was breakfast time. The genin once again had to find food to eat.
It was during this foraging that they found Naruto sparring against Saber. Over one hundred clones were trying to stab, maim, and probably murder Saber...if they could ever touch him. They fell by the dozens as Saber smashed, slashed, and danced between the clones. It was, in a word, brutal. What was worse, was that Saber was fighting with only on sword and one eye closed
The genin all forgot their hunger and exhaustion as they witnessed the battle before them.
"How does he do that?" Ino asked Sakura, "Those clones are all solid."
Sakura shook her head a bit, "I don't know, but that's his ability. He's able to keep that going for hours at a time."
Any further discussion was cut off when chains began rattling behind them.
All eleven other genin froze and turned to that hauntingly familiar sound. Behind them, Rider was looking at them smirking. "It seems that you want to play as well." With that, she kicked Lee in the chest and sent him flying into the clearing with Naruto and Saber. Rider turned to the others and began pummeling them with her legs.
All the genin were forced into the clearing and watched as the last clone was destroyed. Saber looked at all of them with both eyes and smiled. "Ah, company. Good, my Master is lonely." He bowed at the group before him. "Servant Saber, a pleasure."
All the genin looked at him. Why was he introducing himself again? They all knew who he was.
Saber dashed in and smacked Neji on the head. From there, he hit both Kiba and Choji in a split second. From there, he began pummeling everyone of the genin. Only Sakura and Sasuke instantly went into battle mode, used to the sparring sessions. Not that it helped much mind you. They were hit on the head as often as everyone else.
…
Four hours later
Every one of the genin had passed out from exhaustion and lack of food. None of them had eaten since dinner and with only two hours of sleep, they were all unable to move a single step further.
Saber and Rider looked on at their passed out charges.
"Was that necessary Saber?" Kurenai asked as she entered the clearing
Shirou nodded once. "They will not always meet the enemy in optimal conditions. They need to be able to fight even on the verge of exhaustion without food, water, or relief."
"That's too harsh to expect of children." Kurenai argued.
"I agree, but I'm not the one who graduated children and called them ninjas." Saber replied.
Kurenai winced at that.
Saber pointed at her, "You want them to be chunin? Then we need to increase the training. They are not ready."
"B-bring it on." Naruto wheezed.
Rider smiled, "It seems the master is awake."
Saber nodded then looked to the forest. In the distance, between trees, he saw it. He drew forth his bow and an arrow and aimed. With a perfect shot, the target goes down.
"SQUEAL." the dying boar cries.
Saber rushes forward and claims the meal before the forest grabs it. He drags it back and places it in front of the genin.
"Here, lunch." Saber says then heads off to meet the other jonin. The exhausted genin look on in awe.
"How did he do that?" TenTen asks in wonder. "That must have been over five hundred feet in dense forest."
Naruto gets up and shrugs. All he wants to do is eat and go to sleep. "Right, me and Kiba will get it cleaned, someone set the fire."
Kiba struggles, but is able to stand and helps Naruto skin and clean the boar for eating. The rest of them gather firewood and Sasuke uses a fire jutsu to light them on fire.
Jonin encampment
"That was a most youthful shot Saber-san," Gai cried out.
Saber shrugged, "My optimum sniping distance is within about a mile."
Anko began choking at that, *cough cough* "A mile?"
Rider waved her hand dismissively, "An Archer should be able to hit a target at two miles at a minimum."
The others noted the capital in Archer and mulled it over.
"Saber." Kakashi asked, "How many of there are you?"
Shirou waves a hand, "Seven, but it doesn't concern you." He began walking off. "I've got to go back to the village for a while, need anything while I'm there?"
"Where are you going?" Asuma asked.
"I have a promise to keep. And in my experience, it's best to not leave a lady waiting long. I usually have hell to pay when I do." Shirou explained.
"Dango," Anko called out, "I need more dango,"
Shirou smiled, "Very well, one order of dango. Anything else?"
The others shook their heads.
With that, Saber dashed back to the village.
"Wonder why he's in such a hurry," Kurenai pondered.
"Hanabi," Kakashi answered without looking up form his book.
"Asuma shook his head, "Sometimes I wonder about his tastes. I hope he's not a pedoph-"
A senbon flew across his cheek and the nail weapon smashed the tree next to him shutting him up. Asuma held his hands up in surrender. Anko and Rider both looked pissed. Asuma coughed and excused himself to check on the victims...er genin, yes genin.
Anko and Rider looked on at the other jonin. Gai and Kakashi both took the hint and made themselves scarce lest they end up as target practice for the kids while tied to a pole. Kurenai on the other hand remained where she was. She had known Anko for years and knew exactly why Anko was so violent today.
"You've got it bad girl." Kurenai stated.
Anko blushed a bit, "Yeah, he's a good catch."
Rider shrugged, she felt no such thing towards Saber herself.
Anko continued, "I mean, he's handsome, strong, great chef, likes doing housework, good with kids, and loyal."
"Why hasn't anyone taken him yet?" Kurenai joked. "He sounds perfect."
Anko chewed on her senbon needle, "Ah, he had a girl, but she died. He's doing the old faithful after death routine." Anko licked her lips, "And now he's available."
Rider smirked, "Yes, yes he is." She motioned for Anko to follow, "Go get him."
Anko smiled but shook her head, "Oh no, need to let him lower his guard a bit before I nail him. Besides, I've got so many toys to play with right now." Anko began swishing towards her twelve charges grinning evilly.
For the past minute, Shirou had felt his body racked with shivers and sneezes. 'Rin and Luvia must be arguing again. How many rooms did they destroy today?'
He landed in front of the Hyuga compound and bowed to the guards. 'Huh, I've seen these two for months, yet we've never introduced ourselves.' "Apologies, but I never caught your names."
The two guards blinked, this was new. "I am Hayate and this is Hitashi."
Shirou bowed, "It's nice to meet you."
They bowed as well before letting him enter...only to be tackled.
HARD
*Oof*
"Hanabi, I need to breathe if you want to hear about my adventures." Shirou told the mini-missile.
Hanabi looked at him, once more he swore there were stars in her eyes. "Really? A story? Yay!" Shirou awkwardly walked to a bench and sat down, Hanabi hanging on like a clamp the whole way.
Shirou cleared his throat, "Once upon a time, a young lord and his faithful knight had to leave on a quest. They were given a job by the king to guard the legendary architect Tazuna. To aid them in this quest, the king sent two squires, Kuro and Blossom, as well as the laziest guard in the kingdom to assist the young lord..."
Hanabi listened in rapt attention as Shirou told her of the two bungling spies sent by the king to watch over the young prince. The meeting of the band of brigands soundly defeated by the young lord while the kinght stood back to see the progress of the lord. The meeting of Big Sword Zabuza and the beautiful snake woman. The mighty battle between the lord and squires against Big Sword while the guard took a nap and the Knight faced the deadly snake woman.
Hanabi laughed in delight as the knight collapsed with exhaustion and had to be dragged to the architect's home by the young lord and squires while the guard was left behind to sleep.
She was filled with wonder as the young lord was given in a dream by ancient spirits the courage and knowledge to use an ancient and forgotten technique that would allow one to battle the mightiest of enemies. The loyal knight used all his skill and knowledge to help the young lord perfect the technique. It was long and arduous training, but the young lord learned the skill and prepared to fight Big Sword while the knight went off to face the snake woman.
The battles were fierce but the lord and the knight were victorious. The evil one was beaten and the snake woman was redeemed and sought to serve the lord with the same devotion as the knight.
From the side, Hiashi listened to the child's version of the mission. It was obvious that much of the story was altered for a child, but it was a mission debriefing of sorts. He watched as Hanabi listened to the story with rapt attention. 'Truly, I wish that Saber was here when my beloved wife passed away. It would have done Hinata good.'
Hanabi hugged Saber even tighter as the story ended. "You're the strongest onii-chan. No-one can beat you."
Saber shook his head smiling, "Nonsense, I know of at least ten people stronger than me."
"No," Hanabi declared with the certainty of a child. "Onii-chan is the strongest."
Hiashi chuckled silently as Saber blushed a bit. The man seemed weak with little girls.
Saber stayed by Hanabi's side for a while telling her new stories and asking her how she had been. Neither one of them mentioned the attack, and neither one mentioned apologies. The past was the past, and they had both moved forward. Finally, Saber left Hanabi and headed off for the nearest dango shop. Promises made had to be kept if he planned to live very long.
Of course, any plans made will inevitably fail at the worst possible moment. It began so innocently. Saber had just arrived at the dango shop, only to find one of the most elusive men in the village. Considering that this is a village of ninjas, that is saying something.
"Ah, Saber I believe," Danzo called out as he finished the last of his tea.
"Shimura Danzo," Saber said inclining his head in respect, "You're a hard man to find."
"Oh? I wasn't under the impression that you were looking for me." Danzo said with the faintest hint of surprise in his voice.
"To find a fox, one must not look for the fox, but wait for it to show itself." Saber said sagely. "I've wanted to meet you for months."
Danzo grunted, "Walk with me."
Saber held up a hand, "If you don't mind, I have to pick up an order of dango first."
Danzo nodded and waited for the dango to be delivered.
The two walked silently for a moment, before Saber spoke up. "I need your help."
Danzo kept his face neutral. "Oh? What may that be?"
"Simply put, I need your help in training several genin before the chunin exams." Saber answered. "According to my intelligence, you run a secret elite group called Root that protects the village in the shadows."
Danzo snorted, "That was years ago, it's been disbanded for over a decade."
Saber smiled and whispered, "I doubt you would let such a powerful group fall. They are one of the first lines of the village's defenses. No, you've sent them in hiding. Which is exactly what I need."
Danzo continued to look calm and asked, "What makes you assume that I have such a group these days? I am but an old man."
Saber snorted, "There are old soldiers and foolish soldiers, but no old foolish soldiers. No, you've still got a few agents out there. How many, I care not. Rather, I need your to help with the training we have going on right now."
"And what," Danzo asked silently, "Is it you want help with?"
"I need them ready for the exam in three weeks. I have recruited five jonin to aid as instructors, but they seem to miss the main purpose of the training camp. Only Anko is willing to push the others beyond what the others think the genin can do." Saber said. "I need you to help them blend in with the crowds, to spy without being seen, to hunt without being hunted, to kill without hesitation if needed."
Saber looked down, "As it is, I can get them to be world class commandos, elite troops that can storm a fortress and kill the enemy. What I need are ninjas, people who can quietly take out a target or army without even being noticed or seen."
Danzo was secretly smiling. 'Finally, after so many years, someone understands my methods.' "Hmm...so what you want is my years of experience training others for your little group."
"Indeed. Their instructors want them to enter the exams, but I feel that they are not ready. They will enter the meat grinder unprepared, under equipped, and unready. As it is, all twelve of them are good with D missions, but there is no guarantee that chunin missions will stay chunin level. My master ended up in an A ranked mission that had been ranked as C. What's to say that it won't happen again?"
Danzo nodded silently, "Indeed, the youth these days are not ready for the challenges ahead. Yes, I believe that I will be willing to assist you with you little camp."
"Thank you very much." Shirou bowed, "We are training them in area forty four as it is the only real area that is a challenge."
Danzo fought a smirk on his mouth, "A wise choice, the youth these days are too soft, too weak to call themselves ninja."
Shirou shrugged, "I'll take stealth and tactics over strength any day."
Danzo found that he could not keep that traitorous smirk from climbing into a smile. "Indeed Saber, I think you will be pleased with the results."
'Pleased with the results huh?' Shirou thought, 'The man thinks that they are only tools. Tools are to be used and discarded, these are people. People I intend to get through alive.'
Shirou looked at the position of the sun and paled a bit, it had been hours since he left. 'Anko will be pissed for waiting so long.'
With that, he dashed off, leaving Danzo behind.
'Hmm, that man is a mystery. He says he prefers stealth, but wears that ridiculous outfit. Tactics I can believe, but Saber hasn't got a bone of stealth in his body.' Danzo pondered. He could feel a few joints ache slightly, but ignored the pain. Pain was to be heeded in peace, but ignored when unneeded. 'Truly, this may be a way to gain the title of Hokage. Many of those new recruits are heirs to powerful clans.'
Yes, he could see it now. By training these children in some of his tactics and arts, they would be perfect instruments to protect the village. 'Hmm, the exams are only a few weeks away. I'll have to work them to the bone if they are to be ready in time for the exams.'
Danzo mentally shrugged, it hadn't been the first time he trained agents under a time limit. Danzo signaled his shadow, the porter walking parallel to him a street over to come to him.
"Inform the others that I will be in area forty four. Send me two of the best as shadows. Their orders are to watch, but not interfere unless I am in danger." Danzo ordered.
"Yes sir." the 'porter' acknowledged then headed off to complete the mission.
Danzo began a steady pace towards the forest, smiling for the first time in years. Everything was going his way for once.
Funny how easy people are to manipulate if you give them what they want.
Shirou had just entered area forty four when the assault began. Knives, shuriken, senbon, and explosive tags flew straight at him. Instinct took over and he deflected and dodged ever attack. But the next wave of attacks was closing in fast.
'Great, Anko must be pissed for waiting so long for the dango.' Shirou thought. 'Note to self: never take to long to deliver her dango.'
He jumped to the left as a dozen senbon flew at him.
"Knock it off Anko, unless you want me to squish the dango." he yelled.
One last senbon flew at him, only for him to block it with the box of dango to solidify the threat. Anko came out smirking, "Well, it's about time. I was starting to wonder if you planned on spending the night."
Saber shrugged, "I got held up recruiting one last person."
Anko blinked, "Oh? Who might that be?"
"Shimura Danzo." Saber answered
Anko narrowed her eyes, "You want to bring that old war hawk here?"
Shirou smiled, "Of course, there's no one better at training them how to scheme and plot against their enemies."
Anko considered it as she grabbed the boxes of dango, "Hmm...you've got a point there. That old foggy can scheme like no-one else."
"He's also used to training large groups of ninjas at a time and has the experience on maintaining discipline in the ranks." Shirou added.
Anko rolled her eyes, "Yeah, by removing the personalities of his trainees."
"That's why we're all here, to make sure that he doesn't go too far." Shirou countered.
Anko grinned again, "You know, I swear you're aiming to kill the little brats."
Shirou glared at her a bit, "No, I am simply getting them ready for the exams. We will push them to new limits and show them what the level of a chunin must be. If they are not ready, we will stop them from entering now."
Anko held up a hand palm out, "Alright, don't have a cow on me. Geez."
Shirou leaned in next to her and whispered, "Besides, you know you want to bleed them a little."
Anko looked like the Cheshire Cat, "That I do, that I do." She giggled evilly. "You sure know what to say to a girl hot stuff."
Shirou shrugged, "I've had practice, now let's go see our charges."
The rest of the jonin weren't happy that Danzo was joining them, but they acknowledged that as long as they kept an eye on him, that he was an excellent trainer.
This had of course involved a great deal of fast talking, but they agreed to let Dazno join in.
The next day, Danzo arrived and looked over the training. Two minutes later, he was barking like a drill sergeant telling them how short their life would be on the battlefield. He mocked their ideas of stealth pointing out that bright clothes, clean skin, and bright hair were all giant target signs on their backs.
The genin then had to roll in mud pits and begin the course anew. Any noise was punished with a smack on the head by either Danzo or Saber.
Every night, the genin were rudely awakened by Danzo's bark for inspection. Any genin who was sleeping in the open or unconcealed was made to run several kilometers for buckets of water and firewood collection.
The jonin watched as Danzo and Saber seemed to compete for the nastiest ideas on how to push the genin's one step further. Saber would chase them with real swords and swipe at the slowpokes. Danzo would unleash fire jutsus at the feet of passing kids. Saber would fire dozens of arrows within inches of the genin. Danzo would have them climb rope with one arm tied behind their backs.
The people who finished first and last were required by Saber to run the course again. Danzo tried to top everything by having them crawl through a trench filled with animal guts.
"This is nothing like real life." Danzo roared. "In real life, you have people screaming, crying, and wailing as you wade through their bodies. You think this is bad now? Wait till you get out in the real world brats."
Everyone, including Sasuke had to have regular counseling sessions to prevent mental breakdown. The sheer amount of mental torture, exhaustion, and hunger was driving the genin to the breaking point.
Which, as Danzo and Saber agreed, was the whole point of the thing.
Sasuke had given up by the fifth week that the training would make him strong. He was certain that Danzo was just trying to finish off his clan in a slow and agonizing death. Saber's kind voice was soon synonymous with extra work. Any praise was finished off with, "Now do it again, only better." Anko seemed to throw a senbon at him every two minutes. The other jonins just seemed to sit back and let the training continue. The only one worse than the others was that creepy Gai. He always seemed to encourage being youthful by adding weights or insane numbers of pushups.
"He's been spoiled," Danzo said with a bit of disgust. "I suspect that he only received the title rookie of the year because of fawning teachers. Back in my day, we were pushed to do worse before we were five."
Saber shrugged as he continued to cook the meal. "I'd like to point out that he had to watch his entire family die in front of him. That changes people. I know it all too well."
"Oh? What happened?" Danzo inquired.
"There was a fire from a battle, it killed everyone within several miles. Only I and a few others survived. I ended up losing all my memories before the incident, and a drive that made me the person I am today." Shirou answered.
"Hmpf, then let us see how much drive the boy has yet." Danzo said as he held out a plate for the food.
'If all else fails, Saber is a good cook.' Danzo admitted.
Sakura and Ino were now fully experienced treating sprains, strains, cuts, bruises, the shakes, hyperventilation, sleep deprivation, and breakdowns by the end of the sixth day. Everyone ended up injured and had to be treated by the two of them. While there was no severe or permanent damage, the two of them were beyond tired of treating the others. They had become adept at using the smallest amount of bandage from their limited supplies as well as natural medicines found in the forest.
"They should end up in the medical corps at this rate," Asuma said quietly. "I'll have to see if I can call in a favor and have an old friend of mine in the corps come and teach them while they are here."
Hinata had broken down twice during the training and had to be pulled out by the jonin while she calmed down. A few murmurs about her getting time to nap were quickly silenced by Saber.
Hinata was not allowed to sleep while she talked with the adults, but Saber was worried that they may have pushed her too far. Turns out, she would soon be able to continue on after about ten minutes of crying. Honestly, he was impressed how determined Hinata was at continuing the training. She seemed to have an inner drive that would not let her quit no matter how much abuse she suffered.
"And that is why I'm glad she is here," Saber told the other adults. "Look at her, she has found a source of strength that few ever achieve. Knock her down a million times and she will get up once more." He looked on at the sleeping form of her with pride. "I have high expectations for her once this is all said and done."
Kiba displayed a great deal of aptitude physically, but he suffered from a need to be loud whenever he suffered pain. No matter how many times it happened, as soon as he was cut, he would yell out at the top of his lungs. Saber mentally contemplated having Kiba wear a gag for the rest of the training. Akumaru was doing little good as he was always growling at Saber and Rider. While a warning system is good, the dog needed to learn stealth as much as the rest of the team.
Kurenai sighed, "I swear, the only time he's ever stealthy is when he's busy pulling a prank."
Danzo frowned for a second, "Hmm, I think I know what to do then." Danzo went to have a short talk with Kiba. From then on, the boy ground his teeth when in pain, but refrained from crying out. Danzo refused to comment on what was said, leaving the other jonins nervous.
Shino was performing with superior skill and stealth, but lacked behind in physical endurance.
"He relies too much on his clan's bugs for a fight," Kakashi pointed out to Kurenai. "Granted, he's the stealthiest of the bunch, but he's relying on his insects to keep him alive."
"Don't worry my rival," Gai said in the nice guy pose. "I will endeavor to improve his physical abilities ten fold or I will walk around Konoha one hundred times on my hands."
"I'd rather you just work on doing the best you can," Saber muttered.
Shikamaru was by far the laziest of the group, but he seemed to find ways to make the course easier on himself. He seemed to figure out how much energy was needed per exercise and used the bare minimum to achieve the end result.
"Too much like his father," Danzo said to Asuma. "The both of them are as lazy as any ninja in the world, but they have enough smarts to counter that."
Asuma took a puff of his cigarette, "True, I've yet to figure out a way to beat him in strategy. I just had him take an IQ test, and found him to be over 200. He's a genuine super genius."
Danzo snorted, "IQ has nothing to do with it. The boy will only perform the bare minimum to survive."
"You haven't seen him when his friends are in danger." Asuma countered
"By then, it will be too late Asuma." Danzo retorted, "We need to get him to do more than the minimum."
Choji continued to be last for most of the training. He threw up twice while crawling through the intestines, and seemed depressed that he was dead last. Everyone else was able to run rings around him in the course. He could see it in many of their eyes. 'fatass, lardball, slowpoke.' None would dare say it to his face, but he could see in their eyes.
Saber took him aside for a bit.
"Choji, don't feel bad about being last place." Saber told him. "You're job is to be the anchor, the rock. Where others yield, you remain. You are the mountain, unmoving and unyielding. People like Naruto and Neji will be the vanguard, charging forward to smash the enemy lines. Your job is to guard the rear and act as the heavy hitter."
Choji nodded, "But you're still going to make me run that course again."
Saber nodded grinning, "Yep."
There wasn't much to say about TenTen. She was tired, but continued on regardless. It was clear that Gai had given her an intense training regiment of her own.
"You'd better teach me for the last two weeks" TenTen hissed at Saber.
Saber held up a hand, "On my honor as a Servant, I swear that I will teach you how to shoot an arrow through a needle and wield a sword with decent skills."
TenTen smiled and went back to complete one hundred pushups.
Neji was pushing his eyesight to the limit as well as practicing that spinning defense when he could. He never mentioned it to anyone, and no one forbade him on doing so.
'Not fast enough, not nearly fast enough.' Neji thought as he blocked four attacks at once.
'Hmm, looks a lot like that Hyuga Heavenly Spin. I thought that was the Main Branch's special move. Looks like he's learning it on his own.' Danzo observed. He marked it down as a possible breakdown of the Hyuga family. Though rather proud, the Hyugas had always been loyal to Konoha, and could not be allowed to fall into a civil war.
Naruto was given a special regimen for his training. While he would personally train at the course, Naruto was ordered to create several shadow clones for additional training. Kakashi had the clone determine that Naruto had wind affinity through a special paper. From there, Asuma, as one of the few wind users in the village began coaching the clones on wind affinity. The clones were ordered to cut the leaves using his chakra, but were making little progress at the moment.
"Actually, he's making remarkable progress for a genin." Asuma told Kurenai. "Usually a jonin takes months or years to master their affinity, but he's already made cuts into the leaves. That should have taken him weeks already."
"How is that possible?" Kurenai asked.
"Simple really," Asuma told her. "All shadow clones share their experiences with the original. As soon as one of them disperses, the rest learn from the clone's mistakes and accomplishments. Since he's summoning twenty clones a day, he's learning twenty times faster than anyone else."
"It's something only he could do," Kakashi added. "Only someone with his reserves could do this kind of training."
Saber smiled, his master was going to power up quickly at this rate.
The week of hell passed slowly for the genin. They were all tired, dirty, hungry, and ready to kill Danzo. The old man had given them nothing but hell since he showed up. Saber was on the shit list for many of them as well, but Saber seemed to know exactly when to back off. He still pissed them off, but his advice was sound and he treated them with respect and fairness. The old bastard just made everyone miserable.
"You're not going to win any popularity contests for the moment, but they might silently thank you years from now," Saber told Danzo.
Danzo grunted, "If you had let be harder, I could have them match several Tokubetsu Jonin."
Shirou shrugged, "Maybe, but they'd be useless for the next two weeks. And if you continued beyond that, they'd be unable to fight effectively during the exam. No, this is about as hard as we can press them."
Over in a clearing, Asuma was telling the twelve genin that they had just finished hell week. "I'm very proud of you all for sticking with it. With this, we have seen you display higher levels of endurance, strength, and skill than any other genins in years. It has been an honor to train you for the past week. Now, however, we will begin as of tomorrow two weeks of refining your skills. Each of you will be assigned to various instructors for the next two weeks. For now, Saber has finished cooking a celebratory meal for you all follow me for a real meal followed by eight hours of guaranteed uninterrupted sleep."
The twelve cheered with glee. Eight hours of sleep and real food sounded like heaven. They followed Asuma to another clearing where the jonins, Danzo, Rider, and Saber had set out a table filled with various foods, and a barbeque. Everyone, including Ino and Sakura dug in with gusto heedless of calories. The food tasted better than any they had ever eaten before, though that may have been due to the poor eating conditions for the past week. After everyone had eaten, they made their way back to their designated sleeping areas, covered themselves up and fell fast asleep. No amount of food was going to let them forget Danzo's nightly tortures.
Every one of them did their very best to hide themselves from the old man lest he send them on another bucket dash.
"Good to see habits built into them." Asuma said looking at the seemingly deserted clearing. Not one genin was visible to the naked or discerning eye.
"More like beaten in," Kurenai glared at Danzo and Saber.
Shirou sighed, "Look Kurenai, you can't baby them anymore. While I admit I despise the fact that we are doing this to them, this is the only thing we can do in increase their odds of survival. Look what happened to our team in the Wave mission."
Kurenai winced, she knew about Zabuza and his accomplice.
"The fact is Kurenai, if I wasn't there to stop her, Rider here would have killed them all in a few seconds." Shirou lectured, "She is that deadly and that swift. Zabuza was but an after thought compared to her."
Kurenai looked Rider over who smirked at the compliment.
"Why do you trust her Saber?" Danzo asked.
"Simple really, she's signed a contract with our master. The Contract is binding for us. The two of us will fight to the death to protect him now." Saber answered "We are the best of the best, but we are all instilled with loyalty towards those we have contracts with."
Danzo pondered this. He was now more certain than ever he needed to figure out how to gain a contract like this. Saber and Rider were truly powerful from what he had seen. The only thing he could determine about Naruto was that he had two different tattoos on him that no-one recalled him ever having. If this was the contract, there was probably a seal of some sort on them. *Sigh* this would require more research, and it was still fruitless to find more leverage with Saber. The best he could find was threatening Naruto or that Hyuga girl, but the chances of that failing were too high for him.
Rider looked on at the sleeping children and found herself smiling. These twelve worked so hard to be better than they were before. She had never seen humans willing to put so much effort for so hazardous a job. Her own guards back when she was alive were lazy buffoons who spent their time looking intimidating and flirting with the priestesses. A few of them even tried to charm her sisters and herself, but those fools learned the hard way why that was a bad idea.
Rider sighed, truly she felt a bit of hate for Saber. He had killed her dream and reason for fighting when he told her the truth of the grail war. Now, she could not help but view the Grand Ceremony with suspicion. Any hope that she could see her sisters again died that day. Now, she was a ghost of herself. There were few reasons left for her to remain in this world.
The only real reason left was her Master, her sweet, innocent, foolish master. He seemed to worship Saber. Rider would not have been surprised if her Master suddenly had a wardrobe change and began wearing red and black instead of that hideous orange.
"Whatcha doin Rider?" Anko asked. The snake woman had formed a strange friendship with Rider over the week. Rider sometimes wondered where the woman ended and the snake began. Ah well, at least Anko was interesting to be around. Her blunt speech and her barely restrained blood lust was comforting for Rider in a way.
"Just keeping watch," Rider answered silently.
"Hmm, well whatever." Anko said. "Say, do you know what type of person Saber likes?"
Rider smirked, this was the other reason why Rider liked being around Anko. Through Anko, Rider could mess with Saber and be free of retribution.
"His last one was a warrior. Rather blunt, short, and had short hair." Rider told her. Anko grinned even deeper hearing the description. It sounded a great deal like her.
"Any clue how he is in the sack?" Anko asked.
Rider shrugged. She had no clue if Saber was even a virgin in life or not. Frankly, she figured he wouldn't have been one very long after their reunion.
"Ah well, I can always teach him how to enjoy a wild woman." Anko said.
Rider grinned deeply, "Yes, yes you can. So...when will you strike?"
Anko closed her eyes and took on the tone of a teacher, "All in good time Rider. First he needs to treat me to dinner. Then we'll go from there."
Rider was looking forward to the future. She was sure that she could yank Saber's chain a great deal before the end of the Ceremony.
Elsewhere
Shirou felt a shiver crawl up his spine again. 'It's getting worse these days. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I was getting sick.' *Sigh* 'It's probably Rin or Luvia. That or God help me Blue.'
Author's note: Well, week one is done, and I'll probably merge week two and three of the trip into one next chapter. The poll is closed people and you have spoken.
Archer's real identity is...Emiya Shirou Counter Guardian by a landslide.
I will post Archer's stats in the next chapter. Look forward to it.
I would like to thank L33t Horo as my Beta, though some of his ideas are strange, and sometimes disturbing.
(No I don't own either franchise, though I can dream. I'd have the entire fate/stay night game series sold in America in a heartbeat.)
As a note, I'm feeling rather sick right now, so I have no idea when I will upload the next chapter. It may take all week and then some.