Broken Faith 19
Stop Holding Back
Disclaimer : I don't own anything. Don't own Naruto, Don't own Kateikyo Hit man Reborn, Don't own Mahou Sensei Negima. Don't own Gundam either.
Anyway, this came up early because of another achievement, besides we nearly hit 550 in less than one week, Good Job and Thank you to my reviewers by the way. So much for the review haters *blows raspberry*. Broken Faith is now listed on the fanfic recommendations under Negima! on tvtropes, so thank LordGale119 for doing the dirty work. xD Here's to hoping this fic gets its own page next, but I suppose it needs to get a lot longer before we can see a decent page on it.
Cheers and enjoy the chapter. John.
Some reviewers have expressed concerns about that conversation between Naruto and Konoka giving them the impression that Naruto is being an emo jerk. To me, Naruto isn't going to give up, but he isn't some idealistic idiot that thinks Kami will come down and fix everything either, so he is preparing for eventualities without being too obvious like distancing himself. He just doesn't want to hurt Konoka in the long run. Don't be mistaken, he likes her; he just doesn't want her to get hurt. Plus, the way he dealt with it, the jerk part, I fully admit that is my fault. You see I want Naruto to grow, he is an expert in the battlefield, but he isn't that good with people yet, so I wanted him to mature in that aspect and to grow up in the way he deals with his inevitable death. In summary I wanted to make Naruto grow up, but in order to grow up, he has to grow up from something but I didn't do it very well. I know the concept I wanted to present in my fic, but I admit I didn't do very well at expressing that concept on paper. Hence him seeming like a jerk.
Soundtrack List
Gundam Seed Destiny OST – Honoo no Tobira
Macross Frontier OST - Lion
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann OST – Gattai Nante Kuso Kurae
Xenosaga 3 OST – Fatal Fight
Gundam Seed Destiny OST - Kimi Wa Boku Niteiru
****Broken Faith****
The crowd roared in approval as a blonde girl punched the robot clear off the stage in her embarrassment. Of course they were also roaring in approval at the fact that she was as good as naked.
Up on the roofs another blonde gave his very excited companion a disturbed glance.
"Albireo... if you don't stop jumping up and down and trying to get pictures, I swear to God I'll make you think you were a girl, then you don't have to be so excited about taking pictures when you can just look in the mirror."
The man pouted at him, causing Naruto to shiver at the thought of a full grown man giving him puppy dog eyes like that, "Come on, I rarely ever get out to enjoy the weather, at least let me stockpile all this wonderful material before locking myself back down there again."
The blonde sighed, "Whatever, just settle down. Anyway, what do you think of the next match?"
Albiero chuckled, "Knowing Takamichi, Negi will win and lose. No doubt."
Naruto grinned, "Yeah, that's what I thought as well."
"And you? You'll be fighting your students right?"
"Meh..."
After a couple of minutes they heard Kazumi start to speak again as Takahata and Negi both walked on stage, "Now, on this side is the formidable school district instructor whose name is known to all the delinquent's, Takamichi T. Takahata!" Naruto heard the crowd go wild as that was announced. "In the other side is the child teacher of rumors who started working in Mahora last year! Negi Springfield!"
The blonde grinned at the wildly clapping crowd, no matter what, things like this never failed to make his blood boil for a good fight.
"Just by himself, Takahata has suppressed the various disputes and fights in the school. The nickname given to him was 'Glasses of Death-Takahata! Surely he's the mightiest school district instructor! How will you fight child teacher?" Kazumi announced. "So for the bets have Glasses of Death Takahata with overwhelming popularity! Certainly the results of this fight is brighter than the sun!"
Negi gulped slightly as he heard the man with a pompadour style commenting on the prowess Takahata-sensei showed in the prelims.
"Maa maa, there's no need to be nervous. Just do your best."
Negi nodded nervously at Takahata's advice before drawing a deep calming breath and stepping into a steady stance, 'A 10 metre range attack that is aimed at the chin. Alright! I can do this! I'm not giving up. Even if I lose here, as long as I don't give up, it's my win!'
Takahata smiled. Whatever the boy was thinking, it worked. Negi's fists had steadied and firmed as bright eyes watched his every move carefully.
"START!"
Without missing a beat Negi charged forth, simultaneously activating the Cantus Bellax and a silent Deflexio. He noted the slight flashes around him as whatever Takahata-sensei was throwing at him was deflected by his barrier.
Skidding to a stop right behind a slightly surprised Takahata, the boy ducked and swept Takahata's feet out from under him with a leg sweep, before the older teacher could regain his balance the younger teacher slipped under the airborne Takahata and slammed both palms into Takahata's back.
"Guk!"
Takahata flew into the air and tried to right himself to aim at Negi, when he finally turned around to face the arena from his vantage point, his eyes widened.
Negi wasn't there.
A shadow appeared over his shoulder with determined eyes.
Flinging his elbow around to defend himself, the presence that had suddenly appeared behind him simply deflected his elbow before landing an axe kick charged with a Sattica Magica Fulguratio crashing into the back of Takahata's neck.
Takhata grimaced at underestimating Negi so much. Seeing the young teacher falling down above him at a slower pace, he smiled, half in pride that the boy had become so strong, and half in amusement.
The crowd went silent as Takahata was tripped, sent airborne and smashed into the ground with awesome force from the sky, all in the span of 3 seconds.
The shadow that had axe kicked the infamous Glasses of Death landed lightly on the edge of the stage and rubbed a slight bruise on his cheek while watching the dust cloud Takahata's crash landing had kicked up carefully.
"Wha-what is going on? What an upset! Has Negi-sensei won?"
Negi rubbed some blood away and glanced at the stain on his fingers before moving back into a ready stance, 'He managed to get that one hit off while falling... so he can only hit what he can aim at, he can't use that technique when I'm too close and that leg sweep showed me that his footing doesn't matter, the hands in his pockets compensate for the stability... so as long as I stay behind him, or near him I should be fine.'
A silhouette calmly walked out of the dust cloud while dusting his suit off, "Heh, very good Negi. You've improved a lot. But I think you probably shouldn't listen to Naruto too much,"
The teacher cricked his neck, "If that were any other person, you would probably have snapped his neck off."
Negi grinned, "I know you and Naruto-nii san are good friends, therefore it goes without saying you're bound to be just as stubborn and hard to put down as he is." Negi suddenly started moping in a corner, "I spent so much time thinking off a special move of my own, that bastard agreed to let me try it out on him. So I hit that bastard 10 times over with that kick. He just smiled at me and said it tickled."
"Oi! I'm an orphan not a bastard!"
Takahata grumbled under his breath before discreetly flipping off the figure on the roof that had spoken, turning back to the moping Negi, "Maa maa, it was a good move. It didn't work on Naruto because his head is harder than..." Takahata scratched his chin in thought, "Actually his head is the hardest thing I've ever seen. Period."
"Oi! I'll kick your ass!"
Takahata and Negi readied themselves again, sensing the moment of levity was over and charged, meeting each other head on before disappearing and reappearing with unbelievable speed around the arena while exchanging powerful blows, Negi making sure he stayed near Takahata no matter what.
"Ah! I know it's a really flashy fight but both of you are out of bounds! I'll have to take count if you don't get back in!"
Takahata smirked before skidding to a sudden stop, causing Negi to overshoot him right into an incoming foot that kicked the boy back into the arena, Negi landed hard but before he could get his guard up his body was wracked with pain as a few invisible blows punched through his unsteady defense, 'Guh! The chin! His aiming for the chin again!'
Unfortunately before he could respond he received a hit that was more powerful than anything else so far from Takahata who was casually walking towards him.
"Not bad Negi. You managed to avoid that on by twisting your body slightly. Can you see my attacks now?"
Negi struggled to his feet and chuckled in response, "A little, if you keep repeating those attacks, sooner or later I'll be able to see them entirely." Without saying anything more he dashed forward, intent on taking the initiative.
Takahata smiled and took half a step forward and simply tripped Negi from his Instant movement.
"Like Kaede-san's opponent said, instant movement is a good technique, but once executed you cannot change direction or stop before you reach your target, Kaede-san was unfortunate in that her opponent immediately took the opening and landed a decisive hit before she could regain her balance, most fighters can also discern where their opponents will reappear as well if it's used too frequently. That being said, I can use Instant movement too."
"Wha?" Negi's eyes widened as Takahata's presence suddenly registered behind him, ducking instinctively he landed a reverse kick on the surprised Takahata.
"Oh? You have good instincts as well. But can you keep up?"
Albiero grunted as Takahata started to speak about his teacher between flashing around the arena and landing quick blows before flashing back out of Negi's range. He gave a small smile in remembrance of Gateau.
"An old friend?"
"A good old friend."
Naruto smiled, "Yeah, I get the feeling."
"And that's why I call you an old man."
Negi grunted from receiving another blow to the gut, he was starting to see slight afterimages from Takahata's attacks but he couldn't keep up with the so called iaiken and instant movements at the same time.
He couldn't run either; Takahata was making sure that he remained more or less in the centre of the arena where everything in the arena was within his reach.
The young teacher sighed and his shoulders slumped as his arms fell to his side, feigning despair, Takahata seeing the boy drop his guard immediately attacked with a blow headed for the boy's chin to finish the fight.
Just as his fist nearly reached the boy's chin, Takahata quirked an eyebrow, there was a small smile playing on the boy's face.
The boy twisted his head slightly and grimaced as the blow hit his shoulder instead of his chin, flashing a few steps forward, right under theoutstretched arm Negi immediately deflected the incoming elbow before slamming his own elbow into Takahata's abdomen before flowing into a modified two fisted Raika HouKen. One fist to the torso and another on his chest.
Takahata was blown completely back into the water and slammed into the wall with a resounding smash.
Everyone's jaw fell, "What was that! it was even more powerful than that earlier kick! Will Negi-sensei really come out victorious this time?"
A slight chuckle told everyone that the more experienced teacher was alright.
Chisame was practically vibrating in her seat at the idiots around her that brushed off the frankly unbelievable and inhuman feats of skill and power. No one should have been able to survive being hit like that. Even if Negi-sensei's glowing punches didn't hurt, slamming into a wall like that would have killed anybody. Was she the only sane person here!
"That was good Negi. That was very good. You couldn't properly see or dodge my attacks, so you drew me into an attack you knew was coming before stepping into my guard to deal a critical hit. In return I'll show you something very interesting. Something my teacher taught me."
The teacher lifted his hands as something started glowing in his palms, causing Negi to tense himself and prepare to defend anything his senior could throw at him.
"Magic in the left fist, Ki in the right fist." The glow got even brighter as he moved squashed the glowing orbs together, "Combine."
There was an explosion of energy in the arena as Negi desperately tried to squint through the bright glare to gain any hint on what the teacher was doing.
His eyes widened in shock as he felt a sudden shockwave burst out of the light at ridiculous speeds, barely tilting to the side, he gritted his teeth as he dodged the majority of the attack felt the hit completely numb his right shoulder.
"This is what we call Kanka. Try to dodge properly this time Negi. That first hit was just for show."
"Shit."
Negi desperately jumped away as something hit the spot where he had been standing a split second ago powerful enough to leave a crater in the floorboards.
"Wha-wh-ah!"
He started running as Takahata didn't give him an opportunity to speak and continued raining something similar to his earlier attacks only magnified in power.
Running around the arena from the big blasts, Negi desperately tried to think of a solution, he couldn't keep dodging. Gritting his teeth he hurriedly timed the pause between each large shockwave, there! Skidding to a sudden stop he spun and charged at Takahata only for the older teacher to stop him with a normal iaiken and follow it up with a bigger one.
Desperately the boy threw himself onto the floor but the attack hit his left foot. A slight cracking sound told him it was at least fractured. Another shockwave was launched at him, frowning at his hurt leg, he called out a defensive spell since he couldn't avoid the blow with his hurt leg. He wasn't really expecting it to work, so when the Flans Paries Aerialis successfully stopped the attack he gaped for a moment, allowing Takahata to land a normal blow, knocking him onto his knees.
"Is this your limit Negi? Did you know that at the moment Naruto is only slightly weaker than me in terms of pure power? But if we fight, he will win every time, if only because he uses very unorthodox methods."
"If you're still angry about that loss, next time; don't wear pants that tear easily!"
Takahata face palmed and punched in the direction of the voice.
"OI! Watch it!"
"Nonetheless, that is our limit. My teacher and his friends; they are far more powerful than either of us. If this is your limit, you will never reach us or your father."
Negi clenched his fist and charged, ignoring the pain in his foot; he recklessly punched the calm teacher, only for his fist to go through an afterimage.
"If this is your best, I'm not impressed."
Takahata had flashed behind him and cocked one fist. Time slowed and all Negi had time to do was turn his head to see the incoming shockwave.
Shielding his eyes, he felt his ribs creak under the force of the attack as he was slammed deep into a crater.
Groaning in slight pain he tried to move a limb but nothing was responding.
"Wha-wha! Contestant Negi is barely hanging on by a thread! Wa-wait this isn't the time for that!" Kazumi rushed to the groaning Negi's side, "That was too ruthless Takahata-sensei! We already knew you would win, you didn't have to go this far."
Kazumi scrambled to Takahata and lifted his arm, "En-enough, look, Contestant Takahata wins! Now we ha-"
"I haven't won yet." Takahata cut her off and gazed at Negi, "Is it over Negi? Are your dreams only worth this much?"
Play Gundam Seed Destiny OST – Honoo no Tobira
The crowd started muttering, grumbling at Negi to give up. So that he didn't have to suffer anymore.
"Tch, NEGI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IDIOT? STAND UP!"
Negi blearily looked at the girl who had shouted, "A-asuna..."
Why? Wasn't she rooting for Takahata-sensei?
"Ne-Negi-sensei! Don't give up! You can win!" – "No-nodoka..."
She wanted to help me find my father. She put in so much effort, but have I? The kind of effort that mattered.
"Negi-bouzu! You can do it!" – "Ka-kaede?"
"Negi!" – "Ku Fei-sensei..."
Ku Fei-sensei had taught him so much. Was losing here really ok? Was everything she had taught him useless in the end?
A quiet voice spoke in his head, "Is this where you stop? Were your promises empty? Will you give up like this every time a wall blocks your way?"
Na-naruto-nii san...
He hadn't thought that he wanted to win this badly. He thought it was ok to lose as long as he didn't give up right?
"STAND UP. DON'T GIVE UP. WIN WITH YOUR OWN METHODS, YOUR OWN WORDS. SURPASS US!" someone roared, making everybody in the audience still.
Negi roared back, "WHO THE HECK SAID I WAS GIVING UP? I WAS JUST RESTING DAMMIT! "
He exploded from the crater, 6 glowing orbs surrounding him, instead of flashing towards the teacher in one predictable go he flashed in short bursts so that Takahata couldn't stop him.
Landing right below Takahata in a crouch he spun around to avoid a large blast before using the momentum from his pivot to counter attack with 3 quick, "Raika HouKen!"
Takahata was launched upwards again and Negi leapt up to follow the teacher, hitting him another 3 times with his Raika HouKen and launching the teacher even higher with each blow before landing and preparing himself.
As the stunned teacher reached the peak of his momentum and started falling back to earth, Negi started chanting quietly, "Veniant, spiritus aeriales fulgurientes, Cum fulgurationi flet tempestas austrina,"
Just as Takahata was about to land, Negi leapt above Takahata with an instant movement. With his fists crossed in front of him, he crashed Takahata into the ground like a comet with the force of the instant movement, full body blow and releasing the Jovis Tempestas Fulgurientes in a manner similar to how he had been using the Sattica Magicas up till now.
"Raika HouKen : Nii-gata!"
A pillar of light appeared from where Takahata was smashed into the ground before an explosion rang out from the arena.
Kazumi grunted and fought against the shockwave, once everything seemed to settle down she tried to peer into the dust cloud, "C-contestant Negi's ultimate technique 'some-kind of-incredible-glowing-body blow' HIIIITS!" Kazumi shouted into the mic. "Furthermore, what an intense strike that smashed right into the ground! A giant reversal. However the 15 minutes mark has elapsed and this match has timed out! Contestant Negi is all ragged and torn up too. Now then who wins? What about Contestant Takahata?" Kazumi then started the countdown. But when she reached five, Takamichi sat up.
He smiled at Negi and ignored the announcer's continued countdown, "That was a good hit. A very good hit against me who even fought seriously against someone twenty years younger than me." Takahata smiled and gave Negi a thumbs up, "This match, is your victory."
As he said that, Takahata fell flat on his back a smile on his face just as the count reached 10. "Contestant Negi wins! The ten year old teacher advances to the second round! Woooohooo!"
Everbody cheered as Negi grinned widely.
****Broken Faith****
Up on the roofs Albiero looked at his softly smiling companion.
"I'm surprised you encouraged him to continue. This wasn't a serious fight; there was no need to push himself like that."
Naruto smiled, "True. But I wanted him to push himself. Falling back to rest and gather your strength again is good, but if he keeps doing that every time he encounters a block, he will never make significant progress in time and he will never learn how it feels to really reach the bottom, how it feels when he loses but keep hope at the same time. This fight was an example, so that when the time comes for a real battle, he won't give up, even when he has reached rock bottom and it showed him those who had faith in him."
He looked up at the sky, "I think that was what Takahata wanted to show him. How it feels to fight a nearly unstoppable opponent. Despair when you don't have the power to fight back, but never losing hope and gaining the wisdom to know when to not give up and when to retreat."
"Hmph... Now you really sound like an old man."
"Heh, for once it ain't so bad."
"Two of your students fight next, what will you do?"
The blonde stood up, looked down at where Konoka, Asuna, Setsuna and everyone else were congratulating Negi while the Arena was being fixed. He smiled sadly at their happy faces as Asuna hit Negi's back with a blush while Konoka hugged him.
He didn't join them.
He couldn't.
Naruto stretched before walking off.
"Oh? Where are you going? Aren't you going to watch?"
"Nah. I have something planned. Remember, don't hurt her."
"Honestly, I'm not going to. I just have a gift, or rather something that was originally hers. I just intend to return it back to her."
Naruto waved at him over his back, whether the blonde heard his words or not, Albiero couldn't tell.
****Broken Faith****
Chao sat on her chair, her fingers playing with one strand of hair while she watched Negi and his friends celebrate with a smile that disappeared as soon as she felt a presence approach her.
Grimacing slightly before putting on her cheeriest smile, she greeted the presence.
"Naruto-san. I hope you had fun with the Tournament so far, if not how can I help you?"
"I have a small request."
"Oh? And what request is that? If it is within my power, I'll be happy to help and try to fulfil it for you."
Naruto outlined his plan to her.
Chao frowned slightly, "I-I see... this isn't standard procedure though, and it might unsettle the crowd as well as make the other contestants try to do the same thing though..."
"If its favouritism you're worried about I'll willingly contribute another 5 million to the prize, specifically for the winner of this match, and another 5 million to the grand prize."
"In that case... I don't see a reason why not."
Naruto smiled slightly at the small girl while pushing the slight buzz in his head aside, "Thanks. That'll help a lot." Without realizing it his hand had stretched forward to ruffle her hair.
"Heee..." Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the girl as she nuzzled back into his hand as if silently asking for him to pet her more.
He just kept petting her but drew the line when she started purring, "Ahem."
"Ah! Sorry, sorry. I got carried away. Hehehe." The girl chuckled sheepishly before a slight beeping drew their attention, "Oh, I'm sorry but I have something to do. I'll pass on the instructions to Asakura-san so don't worry about anything."
She bowed politely and left the platform as did Naruto.
****Broken Faith****
"Ah? Se-chan? Where did you and Asuna go? Your match with Asuna-chan is starting soon you know. Huhuh... did you two go somewhere to do something naughty?"
Asuna blushed hard and smacked the back of Konoka's head lightly, "We're not like you!" while Setsuna who was as red as a tomato spluttered before relpying, "Go-gomen Konoka-ojou sama. We-we weren't doing anything like that! I only like yo- I mean, we were just helping Takahata-sensei with something and we're going to get changed for the match now."
"Hmm... I guess I'll follow. I was told my uniform was ready as well, and my fight is after yours anyway..." a weird expression flashed across her face at the last part but neither Asuna nor Setsuna noticed, mostly because Asuna was giggling at Setsuna's red face.
"Ko-ko-konoka-ojou sama is going to change with us!"
Setsuna was about to run away but before she could she was dragged back by a surprisingly strong Konoka, "Fufufu, it'll be like old times when we used to bath and change together right Se-chan?"
Asuna sweat dropped as she watched Konoka drag a squirming Setsuna to the changing rooms, "Eh... whatever."
The three of them walked, or rather two of them walked while the third was dragged, to the room where their battle uniforms were supposedly prepared. There they changed but made sure to keep the topic away from Naruto, sensing Konoka was in a funny mood when it came to the blonde.
Suddenly Konoka flung herself at Setsuna and Asuna, "Se-chan! Asuna-chan! Kawaii!"
"Huh?" the both of were startled by the sudden hug before looking down, "Gyah! Wha-what is this?" they had both been so preoccupied with joking that they hadn't noticed what they were dressed in.
Setsuna was dressed in a ninja maid uniform with a pair of neko mimis while Asuna was dressed in a frilly goth maid uniform complete with frilly underwear. Both of them looked at Konoka to find her gleefully dressed in a full maid outfit and cute white bonnet, unlike theirs her skirt was ankle length with long white stockings and while it was frilly, it wasn't as frilly as Asuna's.
"Gyah! We can't wear this out there! Hurry and change again!" Asuna frantically said as she tried to pull off her frilly top, but before she could someone slammed the door open, prompting a slight squeal of embarassment from the red haired girl.
"Hehehe, I wonder if they'll let us keep this uniform? We can be the three fighting maids of 3-A!"
Setsuna sweat dropped, "O-ojou sama... this is too embarrassing to wear into battle.
"No time for that! And our sponsor ordered you to wear them because you don't have special pull or titles like Takahata's 'Glasses of Death' or 'Last year's Champion'!" Asakura broke in, the next battle is about to start, Konoka, you have to come too!"
"Eh?"
Without a reply Kazumi pulled the three of them out in to the waiting area for contestants.
Setsuna and Asuna blushed deeply at the cheering they received from the crowd while Konoka waved cheerfully.
Asuna hid her face in her palms, "Oh God, what if Takahata-sensei sees me like this. I shouldn't have listened to blondie!"
"Fufufu, If you worry about things like that you won't get strong you know," a hand landed on her head and started ruffling her hair.
"Wha-what are you doing all of a sudden! Stop that!" pushing away the hand she looked up to see the hooded man that Naruto had been spending time with.
Setsuna and Konoka both tensed beside Asuna, this man had sneaked up on them without any of them even sensing his approach and they had no idea what his intentions were even if he didn't seem like he could hurt anybody.
"Yo-you!"
"Hmhmhm, me. Ah... every time I look at you I still can't believe it. The small girl that looked like a fragile doll has blossomed into a beautiful young woman that is surrounded by her friends and allies. That stoic little girl even knows love now, Gateau Kagura Vandenburg made the right choice in entrusting you to Takahata. I can see why Naruto would be interested in you."
"Gya! What the hell are you saying all of a sudden! Do I even know you?" Asunda demanded from the hooded man that seemed to be spacing out.
"Hmm? Oh right. Time is short so I only have a small bit of advice. Don't worry about anything, make yourself calm and empty, accepting of everything and anything. If it's you, you should be able to do it easily."
"Empty? Like Naruto's meditation? Wait, who are you and why are you even telling me this for?"
She saw a small smile form underneath that hood, "Who I am doesn't matter. As for why I'm telling you this... I'm simply giving you back something that was originally yours. As long as you can make yourself empty, focus the magic you receive from Negi into your left hand and your Ki in your right hand and combine both of them. If you can do that, you will be able to unlock the technique Takahata did earlier. The Kanka."
The hooded man tilted his head to the side, allowing a foot that was aimed at his head to miss, "Kii! What are you doing out here! Shouldn't you be stuck in a hole!"
"Evangeline, it is nice to meet you again."
"Screw that, what're you doing here with my students? Are you corrupting them with your otaku-ness?"
"Oh? I was under the impression they were Naruto's students."
"They're my students too! That idiot just gave them basic physical training! Anywa you didn't answer me! What are you doing here with Kagurazaka?"
"Oh? You don't know? Hmhmhm, how interesting. Then I'll keep it a secret just a little longer. Just to mess with you."
The girls watched the two bicker back and forth like a tennis match, Konoka nudged Asuna, "You know that man? He seemed to talk to you as if he already knew you."
Asuna gave her a troubled look, "I've never met him or felt his signature before. But that name he mentioned; Gatou something. It felt familiar for some reason."
"Hmm... Asuna, you're a mysterious girl aren't you? Hehehehe... more layers to peel away before I ravage you."
Smack!
"I-itai Asuna..."
"There's nothing to ravage!"
Before the two of them could continue their argument the hooded man brushed a fuming Evangeline off and turned back to Asuna, "Time is up. The tournament is starting again. Remember, make yourself blank. If you can do so, you will have enough power to protect those precious to you. So that you don't have to watch any one die in front of you again."
With those last ominous words the hooded man literally faded away.
The clearing was silent and the temperature felt like it was freezing.
"Annnnd the stage's preparation is complete! But our organisers have a special surprise for this round, one of the contestants in this round has made a special request as well as added 5 million yen to the grand total prize and another 5 million yen for the winner of this round!"
Konoka, Setsuna and Asuna who had both been stunned by the hooded man's sudden departure snapped from their musings at that announcement.
The murmuring of the crowd got a lot louder as they discussed what the special request was and why it was worth 10 million yen.
"The contestant has requested for a 3 on 1 battle. Him alone against the three most beautiful and yet powerful girls of Mahora Academy. Naruto Namikaze, lone male student of 3-A, versus Asuna Kagurazaka, Setsuna Sakurazaki and Konoka Konoe, all three of them also off 3-A. And that's not all! He has also requested that any weapons and style of combat be allowed! Do you understand! Blades and even guns; eeeverything is allowed!"
Predictably the crowd went berserk with excitement and anticipation as well as some nervousness at live weapons being used.
All three girls felt their jaw drop as they turned as one to look at the arena.
Standing on one side of the arena awaiting them was a lone figure. Even from here they could see the blonde who was dressed in a white plaid shirt, slacks and steel toed boots leaning on a wooden post with a smile on his face as his blonde locks blew in the wind.
"This is the first time someone has been matched up against more than two opponents as well as the no weapon rule has been lifted in the 20 year history of this legendary Mahora Martial Arts Tournament! We're in for a treat!"
Kazumi's words flew right over the three girls' ears, so focused were they on their upcoming opponent, "Di-did I hear that right? We're fighting against Naruto-sensei? All three of us?" Setsuna demanded.
"Tch, what is that idiot thinking off!"
"Fufufufu, foursome?"
Smack.
"Uguu... Asuna meanie."
"Sigh... Let's go. The crowd's going wild and the Tournament starts in 5 minutes. If we just stay here we'll be disqualified..."
The three maid uniform wearing girls shared a look before squaring their shoulders and simultaneously striding into the arena.
"Woooo! And it looks like the girls are ready! The three battle maids of 3-A against the only male student, the mysterious Naruto Namikaze! Who will win!"
"Remind me to kick Kazumi's ass later, she sounds waaay too happy." Asuna mumbled under her breath.
"Noted, I reserve her left cheek, you can have the right one." Setsuna agreed with gritted teeth in embarrassment at being labelled 'battle maid'. She assumed the announcer had heard Ojou-sama's comment and went with it.
Konoka didn't say anything, her attention was focused solely on the blonde waiting for them; a mixture of excitement, apprehension and questioning in her eyes.
Naruto eyed her back for a few moments before nodding in response.
Konoka smiled in satisfaction; they would talk after this was over.
"What are you doing idiot?" Asuna yelled at the blonde as they all gathered on the stage.
The blonde smiled response, "You've all been training under me for at least 2 months at the shortest. I thought this was a good time to have a test of how far you have all come."
"Test, Naruto-sensei?" Setsuna questioned quietly.
"Yes, show me how strong you have all become. But let me warn you, this isn't like our normal training." His face went cold, "Come with me with the intent to kill."
Play Macross Frontier OST - Lion
Pulling out a card in one swift movement he held it out in front of him, all three girls tensed as the blonde called out the activation command.
When the light dissipated they were treated to a different pactio then they expected. Instead of his standard red trench coat with its many horizontal straps across his chest, he was now in a blue trench coat, the only noticeable difference from the red trench coat was its straps. In place of the many straps there was now only two across his chest in an X pattern, from shoulder to hip while his slacks and boots hadn't changed.
The familiar mask hadn't changed.
Floating behind him were 6 crystals in a circle formation.
Setsuna silently noted that it was the exact same trench coat the person that Kaede fought was wearing yesterday at the preliminaries, which meant N.U was either a clone or Naruto after going back in time with Negi.
"Oooh! After a few words that we couldn't hear, contestant Naruto has pulled out some special transformation move with 6 crystal like things! How will the girl's respond?"
Konoka's mind raced at the new development before drawing a conclusion. She quietly spoke, "That's the pactio my father made with you isn't it?"
She got no reply other than a small nod.
"START!"
All 6 crystals immediately zigzagged away from Naruto who hadn't made a move. All three girls tensed but hesitated in attacking as the crystals floated around them in nearly spastic movements, simply moving into defensive stances with their weapons pulled out since they didn't know what the crystals were capable of doing.
Naruto seeing them hesitate flashed forward with one fist already cocked back.
Asuna eyes widened as the fist came down and blocked it with her harisen while Konoka and Setsuna leapt back, she grunted under the force of the attack but managed to push him back. A bead of sweat ran down her temple, Naruto wasn't holding back at all. Behind her Konoka pulled out her fans and prepared to attack from far when Setsuna moved in front of her, blocking her view of Naruto, "Konoka-ojou sama, stay behind me," Setsuna urged her princess.
As soon as she said that the crystals around them leapt into action, flying all around them and periodically flying forward to hit them physically from their blind spots.
Setsuna dodged under one crystal before batting another away, Konoka grumbled under her breath, with Setsuna sticking so close she couldn't attack with her fans.
Asuna ran forward after pushing Naruto back and swung her harisen down as hard as possible, intending on flattening Naruto, in response the blonde pulled out a small knife and parried her attack before launching a snap kick that Asuna dodged.
While Asuna was engaging Naruto physically, the crystals stopped attacking them and started floating in a zigzag pattern again; Setsuna decided to take the offensive against the crystals before they could attack again. She ran at the closest one but before she could reach it a bolt of lightning suddenly shot towards Konoka from behind her, skidding to a stop she turned, jumped into the attack's path and blocked the attack. "Setsuna! That crystal that attacked us broke, there's only 5 left." Konoka whispered at Setsuna.
"What is this? Contestant Naruto has some sort of Gundam type bits that can attack without him visually commanding them! Is this some sort of engineering miracle like Tanaka?"
The swords girl nodded before sheathing her nodachi, aiming to get rid of the rest of the crystals randomly attacking them without moving too far from her Princess, "Ougi : Zankuushou, san!" the attack unleashed a vacuum slash at a few crystals, hitting only one while the rest simply moved out of the way while a different crystal shot fire balls at them from behind. Konoka tackled Setsuna who was still in the Zankuushou, san position to dodge the fireballs before gasping; the fireballs were headed right for Asuna from behind.
Naruto pivoted under a side swipe before following the momentum from his pivot to crouch and sweep Asuna's legs out from under her before kicking her right towards the fireballs.
Asuna closed her eyes and expanded her presence slightly, she was still singed but it was enough to lessen the damage, gasping as she fell to her knees and panted slightly, matching Naruto blow for blow was incredibly draining plus she still couldn't use her anti magic abilities through reflex, requiring a moment of concentration for it to move beyond her skin. As she stayed there panting for awhile a voice spoke in her head, 'Remember Asuna. Emptiness.'
"Geh! Dont speak to me in my head like that? And who ar- wait that voice, you're that hooded guy!"
Before she could say anything more, the blonde had charged past her towards where Setsuna was defending Konoka from elemental blasts from multiple angles.
'If you don't follow my directions, Naruto will hurt your friends you know?'
She immediately looked at where Konoka was being attacked furiously, "Grrr! Whatever! I'll do it later." She ran at Naruto to stop the blonde from focusing on their long range support.
**** With Negi ****
"Whoa! Negi, did you know that Kinpatsuu had something like this?"
The boy shook his head in reply, "I've never seen him using anything like this before. He never even told me he had a second Pactio."
"Hmph, it's that stupid ninja habit of his again. He doesn't like showing his trump cards unless necessary or when he's sure there won't be any adverse side effects." A voice joined their conversation.
"Evangeline-sensei!"
The vampire glanced at him briefly before looking back at the stage, "What is it bouya?"
"You know what those things are?"
The vampire shrugged, "Simply put they are independent remote extensions capable of using any long range elemental offensive attack. As far as I can tell, the attacks are limited to those in his arsenal that are below B-rank but the crystals themselves don't require any chants or delay whatsoever to cast the spells. But they're only one use. Each time one crystal attacks with a spell, it breaks. That's all I know. I never managed to see more than that... or more accurately I never got past the sixth crystal before he trapped me in something stupid, I mean, who the hell uses ketchup in a fight?" she mumbled the last part so Negi, Kotarou and Chisame didn't hear. Chachamaru suppressed the urge to grin at her Master quietly. That was one picture she would always treasure.
**** With Naruto *****
Setsuna slashed the last crystal into pieces before glancing around to see Naruto bearing down on Konoka who was evading his attacks as best as possible, but it was obvious she was slowly being cornered since Naruto didn't seem to be holding back judging by the fact that every time he missed Konoka, his fists would leave great craters in the floor with a resounding crash.
"Now, Asuna! All his crystals are gone! Attack him together!"
Konoka shakily leapt back, avoiding another punch that slammed into the floor with enough force to rival the canon blasts that Takahata-sensei had made earlier, looking up she saw Asuna and Setsuna leaping up behind Naruto; nodachi and harisen poised to deliver a blow. Taking the initiative she summoned her own fans and simultaneously blew the strongest attack she could muster at Naruto.
A split second before all the attacks hit, Naruto spun around and another 6 crystals reappeared out of nowhere before aligning around him in a defensive circle in a split second and firing powerful blasts of fire in all 6 directions, the one facing Konoka fired a blast of water to overwhelm her fire one.
All three of them were thrown away by the attacks, "Gyahh!"
All three landed roughly on their backs on a different corner.
Play Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann OST – Gattai Nante Kuso Kurae
6 crystals shattered before being reformed again, circling behind Naruto in a manner reminiscent of a peacock's feathers.
'That was a good move. Waiting for the crystals to finish, but I didn't say I couldn't replenish them.' The blonde's voice echoed in each of their heads. A quick glance between all them told them that they all heard the same thing. 'Don't worry; I'm using an item Chamo gave me to broadcast my thoughts to you similar to mages' telepathy. It isn't very secure since anybody in the item's range with magic can listen in but I don't plan on revealing state secrets anyway. I simply don't want those without magic to hear what we're talking about.'
Asuna groaned as she struggled to her knees, she could see Konoka and Setsuna do the same in another two corners of the arena.
'Do you see your mistakes yet?'
When no reply was forthcoming he continued, 'Your teamwork is good. Make no mistake about it, but like glass, when pressure is added; your teamwork breaks. Setsuna is too focused on protecting Konoka, leaving Asuna alone to battle on the front lines. As strong as she maybe, she cannot fight alone against a superior opponent without support. Konoka, shielded by Setsuna has a hard time using her fan because they require space to move in, effectively rendering her a mere observer. It's not necessarily a bad thing to protect your princess, but do you have so little faith in her, Setsuna? Even after how hard she trained just so she could fight beside you?'
Setsuna grunted and gazed at Konoka.
Konoka gazed back with determined eyes.
Setsuna lowered her eyes, whether in shame or thought, they never knew but when she looked up again, her face was set in a grimace, "Grrr... I don't like it! I don't like it at all! But I'll do it! Asuna!"
Asuna grunted in reply and looked at her palms. She needed more strength...
Alright let's see if what that guy said was true, the red headed girl breathed deeply and focused Negi's magic in her left palm before circulating Ki in her right, breathing out, she pushed both palms together and was immediately surrounded by a glowing aura with a thunderclap.
"A-asuna! You did it!"
"Alright! Get ready Setsuna! Konoka! We're going to beat this idiot into the ground."
Asuna leapt high up into the sky, boosted by her Kanka while Setsuna charged in from a low position while Konoka immediately started to support them, blowing gale speed winds and intense fire to occupy the crystals and generally distracting Naruto from effectively countering Setsuna who had dashed in and out of Naruto's range, swinging her nodachi and a tanto in a blazing combo to stop him from attacking the airborne Asuna.
"Orryaaa! Setsuna get clear! Ougi : Zanganken!"
Setsuna leapt back and threw her tanto at Naruto so that he wouldn't dodge Asuna's attack.
The red haired girl slammed her harisen straight onto Naruto, his knives shattering completely under the force of the blow before he was slammed so hard into the boards that they shattered and Naruto plummeted into the water below the stage.
Asuna leapt back from the hole.
"Ah! Contestant Naruto fell into the water after receiving a direct, devastating blow! IS HE OK?"
A dripping wet Naruto that jumped back out of the hole after a few tense moments answered that questions.
All three girls got the feeling he was smiling proudly at them from behind the mask.
"Tch, Takahata-sensei was right. His head is damned hard; I think my harisen got dented.
"Fufufufu, it doesn't matter. We're not giving up right, Se-chan? Asuna-chan?"
"Damn right, let's beat him down until he can't get back up."
"A-asuna... you're getting violent again..."
All three girls charged the silent blonde again.
****With Negi****
"Wha-what? How can she do that? Even Takahata took years to achieve control of Kanka to that lev-!" Evangeline yelled.
"Fufufu, why indeed. Takahata worked very hard to reach a level where he could activate and use Kanka with just a thought, even most normal mages have to train for at least 3 years to do it but Asuna-san is a rather special case." A voice interrupted her.
"Albi-"
"Call me KuNel Sanders here please,"
"Whatever! What do you mean by 'special case'?"
"Hmhmhm, if you want to know so badly... why don't we make a bet? Or would you rather just watch and never find out?"
"Grrrrr..." her fingers itched to kill the hooded man, "Fine! What bet?"
A glint appeared in his eyes under the hood before Albiero pulled a swimsuit out of nowhere, "If Asuna-san looses this match; against the other two girls and Naruto, I'll tell you. If she wins instead, you'll wear this traditional swimsuit. Hehehe..."
Evangeline blanched, "Wha-what? You can't make me do that!"
Albiero shrugged, "Up to you. I'm completely fine with taking this information with me to the grave."
"Grrrr! I'll take it." The vampire growled out.
"Fufufufu, very brave of you, as expected of the Great Mage Queen."
The both of them silently watched the three girls and Naruto dance around each other, exchanging powerful blow after blows. The stage started resembling the surface of the moon with the amount of craters on it.
After a moment Albiero spoke again, "What say we make this a little more interesting?"
Evangeline glanced at the hooded man warily, "What is it?"
The glint in his eyes grew even more pronounced as he pulled even more stuff out of hammerspace, "Same conditions but let's take it a little further. If I win, you wear this swimsuit, sailor uniform, glasses and cat ears during your next match. If I win I'll share some information about the Thousand Master with you."
"Woots! Go hooded stranger! Mizugi! Sailor Fuku! Megane! Neko mimi and Loli fetish all rolled into one! You've got style!"
Evangeline's automatically shot out and grabbed the ermine, froze him completely and threw him straight into the water, "Ku... Thousand Master... Nagi..." Albiero quirked an eyebrow at the almost unnoticed reflex, he hadn't known that she had gotten some of her power back.
"I see... if you are unsure let's remain on the original bet. I'm sure you don't care about Nagi anyway."
"N-no! I'll take the bet!"
"Very well." Albiero smiled eerily.
Sudden a large flare of power distracted both of them.
****Broken Faith****
Naruto threw Asuna straight at a charging Setsuna before he was hit from behind by a large fireball. It failed to burn his trench coat but he was slightly singed from the powerful attack. Turning his attention to Konoka he ran towards the princess and tried to hit her, only for Konoka to switch fans, elegantly evade his punch and draw the edge of her fans along his arm, leaving a bloody furrow.
"Ojou-sama!" Setsuna attacked Naruto from behind but before Naruto could deflect her attacks, Asuna slammed her fan into the ground with earth shaking force, destabilizing him enough for Setsuna to land a two handed blow that cut he barely blocked with another knife before the strongest of the three grabbed his leg and slammed him repeatedly into the ground while Konoka danced around his body, cutting him again and again.
"Gwah! Enough! Shinra Tensei!"
All three girls were blown back roughly and slammed into the ground from the force of Naruto's attack before his crystals let loose a barrage of lightning strikes that hit all of them, "Kyaaah!"
Naruto panted for a moment and deactivated his Rinnegan before charging at Konoka again, out of the three, her attacks did the least damage but they were also the most distracting
Konoka's hand trembled from the lightning but she forced herself to roll away as Naruto landed punch after punch on the abused floor, two clones split from his body to deal with Asuna and Setsuna. This time they hit really hard.
'This is not enough. The three of you managed to overcome the problems in your teamwork but you are still lacking.'
"Lacking what!" Asuna yelled as she dodged a blow.
'So far the three of you have done very well, but you still hesitate. You do not put your full power into your attacks. What will you do if you hesitate? What will you do if that hesitation causes someone to die? Will you hesitate when you are fighting someone more powerful than you, someone who you can only defeat with your most powerful and lethal attacks? Someone who won't stop until he has hurt everything and everyone you care for? Put everything into your attacks, don't hold back, don't retreat, don't hesitate, STOP HOLDING BACK and DEFEAT ME!'
"Bu-but we can't hurt you!" Setsuna shouted, in response the clone she was fighting slipped through her guard and punched her in the gut hard enough for her to cough blood.
"Setsuna!"
'If you cannot bring yourself to hurt me, then all of you will get hurt instead!'
As if to punctuate, the blonde's speed immediately doubled and before they knew it he had already kicked Setsuna high into the sky where she was immediately surrounded by two of his six crystals which proceeded to electrify her. Naruto himself hadn't stopped, suddenly appearing in front of Asuna he swung his leg in a powerful side kick, even blocking it with her harisen proved useless as the force completely threw the red headed girl out of the arena.
Play Xenosaga 3 OST – Fatal Fight
Asuna growled as she climbed out of the water, if he wanted more powerful, he would get more powerful.
She started to pull even more power from her Kanka.
Time slowed as she felt her heart beating even faster the more she forced more power out.
Her brain pounded before something felt like it was stabbing her heart.
She ignored the pain, she needed more power!
Something snapped and images long forgotten flashed in her mind as her hand clutched her chest.
All three of the others stared at Asuna in shock as her aura skyrocketed and her harisen suddenly shifted forms into a blade as big as Naruto's, "Wha-what is this? Is she really going to do something lethal?"
"No... Something is wrong." Setsuna and Konoka glanced at the blonde, even though they couldn't see his face, they could practically hear the frown in his words.
"Wha-what is happening? Contestant Asuna is attacking her team mates!"
Naruto glanced at Kazumi and the audience; this wasn't going to be good.
"Argggh!" Asuna roared and charged at the nearest person, Setsuna, "Wha? Asuna! Snap out of it!"
Asuna flashed forward with incredible speed and slashed at Setsuna who barely blocked the attack with her nodachi, but the force of the attack still forced her to her knees and her muscles were still spasming from the lightning attack she had received earlier, "Kuu... Asuna! What are you doing?" Setsuna looked up into Asuna's face and saw that her eyes were blank and emotionless but despite that, tears were dripping from them.
Asuna kicked Setsuna away violently before moving on the next target, Konoka.
Konoka's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen, but it was too late as Asuna appeared in front of her with the great sword already mid slash. Konoka deflected the sword with her fans, if she tried to block it, she would've have broken something, but Asuna simply twirled the large sword with ease and flicked both Konoka's fans away from her. Konoka scrunched her eyes shut as the sword moved at her with extreme speeds, intent on cutting her in half.
A few silent moments passed yet she didn't feel any pain, the only sound she could hear was the sound of her blood rushing and heart pounding. Wondering what was happening she carefully opened one eye to see the masked blonde behind Asuna, one arm restraining Asuna around her waist and the other hand gripped Asuna's wrist, just barely holding the sword back from Konoka's neck, "Kuu...Konoka! Get away!"
Konoka gulped, she could see that Naruto was having a hard time stopping the blow if the muscles flexing his arm was any indication, staggering back she fell into Setsuna's arms, "Se-se-chan..."
"It-it's ok Ojou-sama, you're safe."
Meanwhile Naruto slammed Asuna into the ground before hurriedly straddling the struggling girl. Pinning her flailing arms to the ground he urgently whispered into Asuna's ear, "Asuna, come back to me; to us." He ignored a punch that cracked his mask and a knee that cracked his ribs, "This isn't you. Don't let this power control you, control it instead! Remember what I said! Power without will is just violence, but if you subdue that power with your will it will become your strength! Don't let it hurt your friends. Come back Asuna Kagurazaka!"
Asuna's body slackened in his arms, "Na-naruto? Wha-what am I doing? Wh-why are you so close to me?"
Giving a quick laugh of relief the blonde got off the red headed girl.
'Although unplanned that was a good example of what I wanted to show the three of you. Sometimes you will find someone, an enemy or someone with any number of reasons, has his own goals to achieve that you are blocking in one way or another and he won't give up. Someone that will take advantage of your hesitance to hurt him and use it to defeat you. Then he will go on to hurt that which is important to you.'
Struggling to his feet with the aid of his sword, Naruto continued to speak into their thoughts, 'There are two lessons here. I don't want you to kill anybody. But sometimes, against someone like that, where holding back equals defeat, you will need to use a powerful attack that will almost always be lethal to the target or you will draw more power than you can safely handle to fight back. More often than not, that usually results in the power going berserk and you will lose control like Asuna just did."
Said girl looked at her shoes in shame but Naruto just patted her back. She gave him a watery smile in return and he continued, "So what can you do? You slowly practice using that kind of power and bring it under your control. At the same time, I don't want you to kill anybody because you were using possibly lethal skills, killing may sometimes be inevitable, but if something forces you to that extreme, I wanted it to be under your own terms, not an accident. So I wanted to be your target today, as someone who is trying to hurt your friends, in an environment where you couldn't retreat, somewhere you had no choice but to take me seriously instead of at training. Practice using them, then when the time comes, you can let yourself go and attack but remain in control enough that you don't kill anybody by accident, be it a passerby or your target.'
'Now let us finish this match. This time don't hesitate. Attack me as I attack you with the intent to kill. STOP HOLDING BACK AND COME AT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!'
Naruto jumped up and swung the sword it downwards, slamming it right in between the three girls with a roar. All three of them scattered as the spot they were previously in buckled and shattered while his crystals repeatedly attacked them from their blind spots. They didn't like it, but he was right. Sometimes they couldn't hesitate but they would learn. They wouldn't hold back but they won't kill anybody either.
Asuna desperately dodged a fire dragon and leapt forward, swiping her fan furiously at the blonde to keep him off balance to cover for the rest of her team. Surprisingly her harisen held its own against his furious attacks as they clashed against his sword again and again, each clash bringing showers of sparks around them.
"Adeat!"
As soon as she heard that, Asuna twisted her harisen and flicked Naruto's sword away in the same manoeuvre she had used against Konoka before allowing herself to get kicked away.
Sixteen knives surrounded Setsuna before they all flew forwards, 6 of them skewering Naruto's crystals while the other 10 dashed around Naruto, cutting him slightly all over his body while another two stabbed into his arms so that he had no chance of fighting back, using Asuna's retreat as an opening, Setsuna dashed forward from Naruto's blind spot as her nodachi started to glow, "Ougi : Kyokudai RaimeiKen!"
The blonde deflected the slash with a small knife by the smallest margins but a great thunder strike still managed to hit him with enough force to violently throw his limp body into the air.
Asuna gripped her harisen tighter, it had changed back after Naruto brought her back from her berserker fury, leaping up into the air above Naruto's prone figure, she brought it up high and slammed it down onto Naruto with everything she could muster, "Ougi : Zanganken!"
Naruto fell like a comet and crashed into the water with a huge splash. Asuna landed beside Konoka who was chanting a long spell. Behind her six huge orbs glowed in a circle pattern.
When the water spray receded to show a Naruto that was clutching his ribs, Konoka didn't hesitate to let loose a barrage of 6 powerful spells that twisted around each other into one potent roaring beam.
In a last ditch effort Naruto summoned his crystals and like Konoka they fired at her attack simultaneously. The two powerful attacks clashed for scant seconds before Naruto's attack was completely overpowered. The three girls saw him flash them a thumbs up before the attack hit.
Play Gundam Seed Destiny OST - Kimi Wa Boku Niteiru
The beam slammed into Naruto and the subsequent explosion rocked the entire arena and everyone watching the match instinctively shut their eyes as a bright light exploded.
Miraculously no one was hurt except for a slight tremor, the majority of the explosion was contained within some sort of barrier. For a few tense seconds all of three them forgot to breathe, nervously waiting for the cloud of water, steam and dust to settle.
Soon the cloud settled enough for all them to see a silhouette that was still standing. All three of them tensed again and prepared their wand and weapon.
A gasp escaped Konoka's lips as she dropped her wand and ran forward.
Setsuna and Asuna both felt their breaths hitch as they finally saw Naruto, loud and similar gasps ran around the audience as Kazumi started shouting for an ambulance, but they didn't hear anything as all their attention was focused on their martial arts teacher.
It didn't take long before gasps turned into screams.
The blonde smiled at the three of them and mouthed something at them before toppling over backwards into the water but before he could be completely submerged Konoka landed beside him and pulled him out of the water with strength she didn't know she had.
'That's it for today's lessons. Good Job.'
"Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry." Konoka kept muttering under her breath as blood stained her maid uniform. Evangeline and Chachamaru landed beside her, "Is the idiot ok?" she asked worriedly while staring at deep wound while Chachamaru immediately started wrapping Naruto's wound with bandages.
Akako whimpered from Chachamaru's shoulder, "Pa...pa, papa... ok?" she quietly squeaked and rubbed her tears away on Chachamaru's coat.
The blonde's mask had shattered in half, leaving another half that was cracked badly on his face, his trench coat was in tatters, showing a burnt chest.
His entire left arm was missing.
Albiero and Negi landed beside them, "Nii-san!"
"Come on, we have to get him somewhere where we can heal him."
"Use my resort! The ambient magic should help!"
"Alright; Evangeline, you'll stay here, we need damage control and you have your match next." Albiero's voice was calm but there was a hint of panic in it.
"What! I can't think about my match now!"
"Don't worry, it's not life threatening. He'll be fine after a few days rest."
"Fine! He's missing his freaking arm just because the stubborn idiot wanted to make a point about too much power and responsibility!" Evangeline hotly yelled while a very pale Asuna and Setsuna unsteadily made their way towards them.
"Don't worry; we can regenerate it with magic. I sensed that Naruto erected a barrier before the match; it should have stopped everyone who doesn't know magic from remembering exactly what happened or magic being used since I taught it to him myself; they'll know something flashy happened but they won't remember the specifics. Nonetheless it failed after he was hit since its power requirement was too high and it wasn't meant to block an explosion of that level, so they'll have seen him loose his arm but not the events that led up to it. We need someone competent to do damage control and I don't think anyone else is up to it at the moment." He gestured at all the pale girls and the very pale Negi. "Can you do it Evangeline? For Naruto?"
"Grrr! Just get him healed so I can take him apart myself!"
All of them flashed away, including Asuna, Chachamaru and Setsuna as Albiero teleported them to Evangeline's cottage.
Evangeline turned around and looked around to see thousands of eyes focused on her, she flushed a little but squared her shoulders and discreetly casted a 'trust me' charm on everybody present, "I'm sorry for the disturbance but that was a special episode the engineering department prepared for your viewing. We wanted to see if we could simulate blood real enough with different fluids. Ketchup just doesn't cut it anymore nowadays." She gave a strained laugh as she heard murmurs of agreement, "Our actor was still hurt in the process but it was just a slight wound. Please enjoy the rest of the matches."
As laughs of relief started to spread around the stands and Kazumi wailed about there being no winner in this round, Evangeline breathed out a similar sigh of relief, her bet with Albiero completely forgotten.
"Well it looks like we panicked for nothing! But still, what an upset victory! Contestant Naruto seemed badly hurt when all three girls hit him once together! Some sort of secret technique that can only be used by three girls dressed in skimpy uniforms? Well at least now we know it was just a illusion and CG."
"It'll be ok Master..."
She smiled slightly at Chachazero. "Yeah, if anything Albiero is one of the best healers I know. He's the only reason everyone in Ala Rubra didn't die in the first ten minutes it was established."
"Alright! Even if there aren't any winners to that spectacularly flashy fight, everyone had fun right! Now we prepare for the next fight, we seem to be repairing the arena very often don't we? Well anyway, just as a reminder; for the next fight we have 3rd Dan Jujutsu User, Yamashita Keiichi against Evangeline Mc Dowell, gothic lolita of 3-A! And as a bonus, the winner of this round will automatically advance to the quarterfinals!"
Evangeline grunted, "Perfect. Hurry and fix the damn arena. I need to let some steam off before I dump the rest OF IT OFF ON THAT IDIOT." She was yelling by the end of her sentence as her aura burned around her. On the other side of the arena, also waiting for it to get fixed, a messy haired Keiichi felt shivers run down his back.
****Broken Faith****
"Chizuru-nee san? You alright? Why are you shaking like that?"
The tall girl in a elegant chinese cheongsam gave her roommate a shaky smile, "I'm alright Natsumi. I just don't feel well at the moment." She could hear the wood of the stand's rails crack under her grip, she fantasized it was a certain someone's neck in her fingers.
"Eh? You're worried about Naruto-san? But they said it was just a slight wound right? But the animation was sure good, it looked sooo real. I wonder if it's for a horror house or something."
"Yeah, it must've been something like that; it's just a slight wound after all. Don't worry about me, I really just don't feel well."
****Broken Faith****
Chisame was sitting stock still, frozen like stone as she stared at the laptop in front of her. Something was seriously wrong. Even though her mind said different and she believed that blonde girl from their class, for some reason the screen on her laptop was showing her something else entirely.
Still images of the match were going online at an incredible rate. Negi's match with Takahata, the wolf boy's match with the shy red haired girl, Kaede's match with the guy in blue, Takane getting naked, her blonde classmate's match with three girls, which also included said blonde classmate having his arm blasted off. That wasn't engineering liquid or ketchup no matter what anyone said. She struggled to have the two parts of her reasoning meld together but didn't seem to be making any headway so her body continued to stare at the laptop in stony silence.
****Broken Faith****
Mana tapped her rifle impatiently as a tic played on her jaw. She wanted to shoot badly right now. She'd even settle for shooting civilians but she would prefer her target being something blonde and stupid. Especially the stupid part.
****Broken Faith****
Chao grunted in worry as she tapped a pattern in her desk hard enough to leave slight dents in the wood, Naruto-jiji never said anything like this happening. She knew he would be ok, but it didn't help soothe the burning in her chest knowing that her agreement to his stupid idea was what brought this about. Even worse, she knew the recordings of the matches were set to go online and were probably already circulating the internet, and she couldn't stop it since it was already pre-programmed. She was benefiting from her grandfather's injuries. Damn. Damn. Damn. This wasn't honourable.
****Broken Faith****
The entire class of 3-A watched the laptop silently. Scant minutes ago they had been cheering for Negi-sensei against Takahata-sensei. Then a still image of a smiling Naruto right before being hit by a huge beam of some sort, the next image didn't make it any better...
A shaky voice broke the silence, "Th-that's just a joke right?"
Everyone turned to see Ayaka trembling as she pointed on shaky finger at the monitor.
"No! Naruto-sensei isn't that easy to take down! Makie yelled before running out of the classroom with a slam.
"Naruto-sensei? Does Maki-chan know him or something?"
****Broken Faith****
"Hmm... I wonder if that blonde is alright. He was an interesting guy."
Decimo glanced at the man who had spoken, "I didn't know you spoke to him."
"I didn't, but he had an interesting aura to the EXTREME!"
Someone smacked the man with frizzy gray hair, "Stop yelling indoors lawn head!"
"Anata? Can we go visit him? He looks like he's hurt badly. And no one else wants to talk to me about ramen here..."
"I guess. He still owes me for that bottle of wine." Decimo glanced to the side where something could be heard snuffling, "And I 'm going to make him to get rid of that poodle... by force if I have to."
****Broken Faith****
AN
Kukukukuku =)
M enough for you? Dark enough? Not yet? If so feel free to check yourself into a mental hospital.
Hands up, how many of you thought the four way battle was just going to be a standard shounen fight where Naruto preached the virtues of teamwork?
Anyway, two really long fights this chapter. The next chapter isn't much better. Wait no, I was lying, it's a lot better. Hehehehe... Resolution to the Konoka problem plus Naruto vs Albiero. *Giggles madly*
Oh btw, some have questioned what I meant by the reference to Shinji in the last chapter. Google Shinji Matou, but you won't really get it unless you played Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Extra. Although I can't really blame some people I suppose, the sheer intricacy and overarching plot in the whole series / multiple dimensions, is rather intimidating and that puts some people off. The only advice I can give people when they plan on understanding Fate/Stay Night and the bucket loads of references from other canon works is to carry panadol with them while they surf the net.
A lot of panadol.
****Broken Faith****
Konoka's dress in battle – goggle Fubuki of Kamen no Maid Guy
Raika Houken – Crushing Fist of Majestic Lightning
Raika Houken : Nii-gata – Crushing Fists of Majestic Lightning : Second Opening
Ougi : Zankuushou, san – Hidden Move : Cleaving Air Palm, Scatter
Ougi : Zanganken - Hidden Move : Stone Cleaving Slash
Ougi : Kyokudai RaimeiKen - Hidden Move : Greatest Crying Thunder God Sword