Broken Faith

by Kur0Kishi

Betrayed by Konoha at the end and sealed into oblivion. Given a second chance at a childhood in a different world can Naruto rebuild his faith in humanity. A somewhat darker Naruto than most i've read on site, not dark emo, just dark. -First Naruto/Negima fic to reach Mundus Magicus and be considered complete. Sequel in progress-

20. Because It's Interesting

Broken Faith 20

Because It's Interesting

Disclaimer : Don't own anything, Don't own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Don't own Negima, it belongs to Ken Akamatsu.

How many of you felt the urge to bang your laptops or hit something after the last chapter like Shirabaka Tenji? Lol.

Ailestrikehero : What in god's name gave you the idea that Naruto is fighting Rakan?

Oh and anybody else have a problem with logging onto the site? This was supposed to come out on the tenth of February, exactly two weeks after the previous chapter but I couldn't log on to post this for the longest time.

Soundtrack list

Yuki Kajiura – Hear our prayer

Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto OST – Kouya Ruten

AKINO – Go Tight

Macross Frontier OST – Northern Cross

****Broken Faith****

Evangeline looked up from the lump of flesh that used to be a competent jujutsu user. She had barely given him any attention while beating him up instead of the quick and clean win she had been planning to do; every other bit of her awareness was being used to sense when one of those who had gone to her cottage would come back.

Looking up at the contestant seats she saw the hooded figure waiting for her with nothing but a casual wave. Stomping on the lump of flesh one last time, she composed herself as much as possible, ignored the declarations of her overwhelming victory and hurried off the stage to talk the man, "What happened? Why are you here so fast?" she hissed under her breath.

"He is fine." Albiero shook his head in exasperation, "Before I could do anything for him, the idiot already regenerated his arm on his own shortly after he woke up. The reason he fell unconscious was because of the barrier. I mentioned before the power requirements were high didn't I? What I meant was that even I cannot hold that barrier up for longer than an hour. It's that high. The fact that it was up from the start of the match and that he used it to contain the blast, even though it wasn't meant to be used that way didn't help things either. The shock of having so much of his reserves drained in a split second caused him to faint for a while."

Evangeline looked the hooded man weirdly, "He regenerated his arm? The hell is he? A lizard?"

Albiero shrugged in amusement, "I don't know, the moment I got him in a secure room to heal him, he snapped up as if he was just having an afternoon snooze, a red aura surrounded his arm and poof. New arm. I didn't know he was part demon though..."

"He isn't. You'll have to ask him for specifics. Where is that idiot anyway?"

"Figuratively? Being ass raped by 4 girls and a fox. Literally? The red headed one tried to break his legs after they found out he was completely ok, the others didn't seem to disagree, in fact I think the one with the sword was helping while the other two were about to start a fire to see if he was fire proof as well."

"Good. They'll keep him warm until I can get my hands on him."

"Anyway, it's your match next.

"Ah... It's the quarterfinals already isn't it? I almost forgot in all the excitement."

Evangeline chewed lightly on her nails deep in thought, "Hmm... For Bracket B, you will have to fight with the wolf boy. The winner goes on to fight the one that's probably the idiot's clone. In my bracket... it's the bouya against the blonde girl. The winner goes against me. Tch, I was hoping I could fight against more worthy people before I forfeit but the match ups were bad."

"Oh? Forfeit? May I ask why?"

Evangeline snorted, "There's really no point. Despite the blonde girl being stronger than most mages, Negi is simply on whole other level but he can't beat me and this is not the right stage for our fight, not to mention I don't feel like letting uneducated people watch our fight. As for the idiot, since he doesn't want us to use any spells or flashy stuff there is no point in fighting him while both of us are handicapped. Plus I really doubt this place will survive even if only use our physical abilities." Evangeline stated candidly.

"I see..."

A bell started tolling breaking the silence between the two of them, "Ah, it's my turn. I'll try to prolong the match as much as I can so that I can hopefully fight against the real Naruto and buy time for Negi to get back here in time for his own match. You should take the time to go talk to him as well but try to come back in half an hour."

Evangeline watched the robed man sedately walk down the steps before picking up her doll and quietly fading away.

****Broken Faith***

A few minutes earlier

Albiero faded back into sight with 4 somewhat pale girls, a pale boy and a whimpering fox holding on to him while the blonde was floating in the air in front of him.

Together they all rushed into the house, all of the girls couldn't believe how surreal the situation was while Negi was simply worried for his brother. They were chasing after a man with a bleeding, floating body in front of him. Chachamaru ran ahead of them, unlocking the way for them into the resort without a word. Once inside Albiero hurried with the blonde into the nearest room and floated the body onto a bed while the others quietly trooped inside and silently stayed in a corner of the room so they didn't disturb the healing process. Rolling up his sleeves he prepared to start by regenerating Naruto's arm, he hoped the wound hadn't closed yet, otherwise there would be problems reconnecting the severed nerves. Just before he could start healing, the blonde stirred and yawned.

"A-Al? What happened? Ugh..."

"Stop moving and relax Naruto. You're hurt and you lost your arm. I'm going to regenerate it for you. It'll take a few days for you to get used to it again but at least you won't be crippled."

The blonde held up his one good hand to stop him, "Don't bother,"

Everyone in the room was about to yell at him in protest but stopped when with a grunt the blonde was surrounded in a familiar red aura. The aura slowly crawled from his entire body to centre around the stump on his shoulder. The blonde grimaced in slight pain before giving a muted roar when a wet cracking sound drew everyone's attention to what used to be his arm.

They all watched in fascination and slight horror as the red aura flowed out and seemed to form an ethereal arm before slowly transforming into bone and muscle. More than one gulp could be heard during the process as the entire arm slowly reformed out of nothing but his youki. Konoka slapped her hand to her mouth to stop herself from puking at the scene. The looks on the rest showed that they weren't far from that stage either.

With a final squelching sound, the red aura receded into his body and the blonde flexed his new arm and gave a strained grin as he watched his muscles' movements for any deficiencies, "No matter how many times that happens, I never really get used to the feeling I get when I regrow something."

Looking around he pulled the bed sheet off the mattress before using it to casually wipe off some remaining blood stains on his new arm, "So what happened to the match? I expected to get hurt in that match, but I didn't think I would've fainted though. That barrier of yours is pretty crazy." He asked the robed man casually, as if nothing had happened and he had just woke up from a nap.

"It's your own fault for using it to stop that explosion." The robed man answered evenly, "As for the match, why don't you ask these lovely ladies with us?"

"Lovely ladies?"

A menacing aura started to fill the room, causing Naruto to look around and see something he had missed earlier.

"Oh those lovely ladies... Crap..."

Crap was right as all four girls were watching him with various expressions of anger on their faces; even Akako seemed to be bristling, their hair shadowed their eyes as a dark aura started to spread out from their corner as Negi slowly edged away from them, "So nice of you to finally notice us... I mean just because you lost an arm and fainting because of us is nothing important right? Then we find out we got scared and were worried for nothing because you can regrow your arm just like that...? Let's see if you can regrow other body parts, right girls?" Konoka growled out as she cracked her knuckles.

Setsuna brought out a whetstone and started to sharpen her blade while Asuna's harisen suddenly morphed into a giant blade again, a loud clicking sound alerted Naruto to the fact that Chachamaru had a very big gun aimed at him.

Albiero turned and casually walked to the door, "Hmhmhmhm, I'll leave you to settle this lover's quarrel with them. Don't take too long and don't do anything I wouldn't. Oh and girls? Since we know he can regrow stuff easily, try not to kill him permanently. I'm pretty sure Evangeline wants to do that herself."

"Al? AL? C'mon man! You don't abandon a comrade like that! Negi! Why are you just saluting me? Do something! More importantly, SAVE ME! Gyah! Akako stop biting me!"

"Good girl, Akako. Now let's see if he can do that growing thingy with a leg..."

CCCRACCCCCK

"Gwoooh! My Kneee! MY KNEE! IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BEND THAT WAY!"

****Minutes later****

A heavily bandaged Naruto tenderly nursed a lump on his head with a pout on his face, "Ok, I get I was wrong, I shouldn't have pushed all of you so far but really, did you have to try and break my limbs to prove a point? I'm hurt even worse than I was after that match."

Chachamaru looked him blankly, "Do you want us to finish the job we started and just cut them off instead of breaking them? You can grow them back so there's nothing to be worried about right?" there was a hint of something in her monotone that clued Naruto into the fact that he was on very thin ice.

"No, no, no, that's alright dear, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Don't hurt me anymore. Please?"' he tried to placate her.

"Ahaha... Nii-san..."

Naruto discreetly glared at him and mouthed the word traitor at him and mimicked throttling something with his fingers.

Meanwhile Konoka huffed indignantly before Asuna smacked Naruto's lump again, "So? Why did you feel the need to push us that far and scare all of us?"

Naruto scratched his head and sighed, "Perhaps I went a little too far, but more or less I wanted to make you guys realise that these powers you have; magic, ki etc etc. All these things seem fantastical to all you at first, Setsuna probably already knows this since she was brought up in the magical world but I know you and Asuna felt that way at first and Negi probably hasn't been in serious enough battles where one's life is at risk but it doesn't change the fact that these powers are real. They can really hurt someone. Especially someone normal. Like say Konoka's last attack, because she didn't know how to put in the proper amount of magic in her attack or properly use spells of that level, the explosion was rather excessive, what would have happened if I hadn't had that barrier up? Someone in the audience would have been hurt."

Konoka looked down in shame, she had totally forgotten about that, too lost in the moment was she.

Naruto patted her head to comfort her, "It's alright; it was more or less my fault for pushing you guys that far anyway. Point was I wanted you guys to realize that the powers you have, all of you," He looked at Negi, Asuna and Setsuna, "They can hurt people. Especially if you can't control them and when you need more power than you usually do, so that match was a controlled example so to speak. Although, that blast was more powerful than expected." He winked conspiratorially at the blushing black haired girl.

The blonde gave a lopsided smile and shrugged, "In the end, it's a bit complicated; you have these abnormal powers, but that means you have to take responsibility for what you do with that power. On one hand, if you hold back, there won't be much of a chance of hurting somebody but once you get pushed into a situation where you can't hold back anymore, you might try to do something you're not used to and lose control and involve innocent bystanders. I don't want you guys to do something you will regret, especially if it was caused by an accident."

Asuna and Setsuna both nodded in agreement and slight embarrassment, they could see the point in his words. Asuna had never really thought it that way, but now that she did, she remembered talking to Naruto about her first fight with Kotarou and how scared she had been as a normal girl caught in an abnormal fight between mages. But now that she had joined the other side so to speak, she had completely forgotten how it felt to be on the receiving end. It was rather... sobering. Negi looked rather thoughtful, he never had issues with this primarily because he never felt the need to fight for his life before, he had never even thought about how a normal person would feel while watching him fight with awe inspiring blasts of elements and magic as well as the fear it could inspire in them.

"It's alright you guys, don't look so down. Now that you guys know how bad it feels like to hurt someone without meaning to because you didn't know how to properly use your abilities, you'll put more effort into practice and be more serious about it. You can learn how to really push yourselves to the limit and control the amount of energy you put into your attacks in a safe environment so you don't lose control on the battlefield or accidentally hurt passer bys the next time."

All of them nodded in agreement while Chachamaru stayed silent at his side.

Naruto grinned at them, "Anyways, now that there's nothing to be worried about, I did that because I was sure I could survive; all of you should get back to the Tournament and watch the battles."

All of them looked at each other, they had completely forgotten about the Tournament. Just as everyone got up to leave, Konoka perked up, she had forgotten something, "Naruto, you said that pactio in our battle was made with my father, can I see?"

Everyone looked at him hopefully and Naruto made a slight chuckle before passing them the card.

It looked like a regular pactio, in the middle was the image of Naruto in his by now trademark mask, wearing the blue trench coat while six crystals orbited around him. The top left contained the Roman numeral for eight while the top right had the word Rubor.

Under the image of Naruto were the words;

Namicaze Naruto,

Custodiet et Cadens Stella,

Virtue : Sincerus,

Directio : Oriens,

At the bottom left of the card were the words Astralitas : Caelum Sideralis.

Once everyone was satisfied and turned to leave the room, Naruto spoke again, "Ah, Konoka, do you mind waiting here a bit longer? I have something I need to speak to you. Chachamaru as well."

Play Yuki Kajiura – Hear Our Prayer

Everyone gave Konoka and Naruto a puzzled look but didn't argue. Konoka settled back into her chair and silently waited for the rest to quietly troop out of the room while Chachamaru sat sedately by Naruto's side.

Drawing a deep breath Naruto spoke, "First of all I want to apologize; I unfairly placed the burden of causing and watching me get hurt squarely on your shoulders. In all honesty, that match was actually solely meant for you, my clone was only meant to battle either of them and teach them the lesson that having that kind of power isn't a joke. But since luck matched everyone up so nicely, I thought I might as well include Asuna and Setsuna in our match and do everything in one go."

Konoka looked at Naruto inquisitively, "Ok... I can understand that but you implied there was more than one reason for me?"

Naruto simply nodded, "Neither of them have the massive reserves you do and most of their attacks aren't immediately lethal like the wide area simultaneous 6 layer spell you did earlier when you weren't holding back. During our training, I noticed that you are particularly hesitant in using your spells in combat despite the proficiency you seem to have with them. To be frank, I wasn't sure at the time, and simply assumed that the reason that you have only relied on your fans so far is probably because they limit the amount of damage you can do with your spells. So I hoped by pushing you into unleashing the full might of your spells in this battle it might have been able to get you around that stumbling block. After seeing your reaction during and after the match I realized my earlier assumptions were somewhat wrong. Am I right?"

Konoka looked at her twisting fingers in her lap with slight shame; she hadn't known that the blonde had noticed that particular quirk.

Konoka averted her eyes slightly, "You-you're not completely wrong... I-I don't want to hurt anybody, it doesn't feel right. Ever since Kyoto, a lot of people tell me that my magical reserves are far bigger than most people, even compared to Negi-sensei. Sometimes when I'm training alongside him I noticed that any spell that we both did; mine would always be bigger and more powerful."

Konoka drew a deep breath and shakily spoke, "Like you said, at first I didn't think about what kind of da-damage I could do you know. But that day, when Negi-sensei saw the power in my spells, he praised me for it but at the same time it struck me that I could hurt a lot of people. I was happy I could help, but seeing what I could do..."

Konoka trailed off before steeling her nerves again, "After that, I didn't want to use that power, because it's really scary. Then I noticed that no matter how much magic I put into my fans when I used them, their attacks had a limit and they didn't seem so dangerous, so I preferred to use them. I thought it would get better after that, but when I see what Asuna, Negi-sensei or even Setsuna can do, I feel like their leaving me behind. I wanted to help them fight, but I'm too scared of my power and I don't want to hurt anybody... "

She silently admitted that the reason she tried to be so outgoing and brazen was partly to compensate for her inadequacy on the battlefield.

A soft hand on her shoulder broke her from her musings and she looked up to see Naruto smiling apologetically at her, "I knew you didn't like hurting people Konoka, you're too sweet and nice but I'm sorry I didn't notice that earlier and tried to put you in an even more uncomfortable position by pushing you. If nothing else, I respect your choice and I won't force you to do otherwise. Worst case scenario you would simply have the option of defending yourself if, not when, the time comes and not make a mistake that you might regret when you do."

He gave her a thumbs up and a smile, "Not wanting to hurt anybody is nothing to be ashamed of, if you want we'll only focus on evading and endurance from now on so you can heal or attack as you wish. In some ways, you are a far better person than me, killing and hurting is easy, but it takes real ability to heal. If you're worried about what the others may think just talk to them. I think they'll support you no matter what. Even if they don't, and that's a very big if, I'll still accept you no matter what."

Konoka started trembling in her seat.

"Konoka? Are you ok?"

A few tear drops splashed onto her fists that were clutching her skirt tightly. She could still see some blood stains on them through her blurry eyes.

Naruto frowned slightly and sighed before looking at Chachamaru who had been silent so far, for permission, which was granted with a slight nod.

The blonde gave her a silent apology before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around the girl, "Shh... it's nothing to cry or be sad about. Be proud that you are a better person than most people. Be proud that you can heal better than others. I'm proud of you."

Konoka cried silently into his shirt and spoke haltingly, her voice muffled by his shirt, "I-I'm not sad. I'm happy. For years everyone treated me like a princess, but I was just a princess in a gilded cage, never knowing anything, just living but not alive. I didn't even know what my parents did for a living until the Kyoto trip 3 months ago."

She hiccupped slightly, "I didn't want to go back to being treated like a pampered princess, I felt the only way I could do that was prove that I could fight alongside you and Negi-sensei. But when I realized it was so hard to fight, to hurt people, I tried to act differently so people didn't automatically push me back into that gilded cage. After you said that I was royalty, that you couldn't love me like that, especially when you compared me to that pink haired bitch you called a crush with a fetish for tall dark and handsome, I was really hurt. Was nothing I did enough? That after everything I did, I would never be more than that princess in a gilded cage. Even though I pushed myself, did I really have to use that power before you or Negi-sensei would acknowledge me as someone other than that airheaded princess? I wanted to fight you so badly today because I had something to prove even if I didn't like it. But now you said you accepted me even if I couldn't fight, you would accept me, even as a healer as your support. I felt so happy."

The blonde's heart fell, how could he have messed up so badly by assuming things?

Oh wait... so that's what those klaxons meant...

Shii...

Even if the situations were different, he felt no better than the villagers of Konoha. After his speech about chances to Mana, he had neglected to give one to Konoka herself, especially after she tried so hard to win both his affections and in training. Clarity of vision my ass when he couldn't even help a teenage girl.

He held her tighter, mumbling apologies as sincerely as he could, while another set of arms circled the two of them.

"Don't say 'even as a healer'. As the healer. No matter what you do, I will accept you Konoka. I'm so sorry for not giving you a chance, for hurting you like that. Oh Kami, I'm so sorry, I know it's too late, but I shouldn't have turned you down like that that night without even giving you a chance."

Konoka disengaged from him and smiled a watery smile that immediately went sly.

Alarm bells started ringing again.

"Good. Chachamaru you heard him."

"Noted. Will you be joining us in bed from now on?"

"Maybe but I don't want anybody else to know yet."

"Wait... whut?" Naruto's head swung bewilderedly between the suddenly chatting girls.

"Nothing, dear."

"No, no, no, that wasn't nothing, forgetting to feed the cats is nothing, Evangeline falling into a pit of ketchup is nothing, joining us in bed is something. And I swear in the name of God's underwear I heard something."

Konoka smirked at him, "You didn't hear wrong."

Chachamaru nodded slightly, "I'll leave you two to hash out the details, I have to get back to the arena. I hope to see you in bed soon Konoka."

Konoka leaned over and kissed her cheek before whispering a quiet thanks to the gynoid. Chachamaru smiled at her and left quietly after plopping a sniggering Akako on Naruto's lap.

Naruto who seemed to be suffering whiplash from rapidly turning his head looked at her with wide confused eyes, "Wha-what was that?" Naruto rubbed his temples, "Wait don't answer that, I think I need to sleep, regenerating my arm must've have tired me out more than I expected because I think I just saw you kiss Chachamaru on the cheek."

The princess stifled the urge to pet his cheeks and coo at him; he was so adorable when he looked confused (read : stuck in denial).

Dawww... Like a kicked puppy. A very big and blonde and wide blue eyed, kicked puppy.

She quivered her bottom lip at him, "You were lying when you said you would give me a chance?"

Naruto took one look at the trembling lip and the about-to-water-eyes and immediately backpedalled, shaking his hands frantically, "No, no, nuu, I didn't say that, I mean... I uh...*deep sigh*... I just wanted to know how we got to that conclusion, like how did we go from princess to bed?" he was nearly pleading with her so that he could end his confused suffering.

"Simple, everything you said was stopping you from dating me that day is solved." She started counting her fingers off one by one, "Acknowledging me as someone that could stand by your side, you said you accepted me as the healer albeit I had something different in mind, namely beating your ass in the Tournament, but in the end it worked out well enough, so tick one, we agreed that I don't have pink hair nor am I a shallow bitch with a tall, dark and handsome fetish, tick two, I don't want to be considered royalty so 'deserving' a better life married to someone that can love me in an ivory tower is a moot point, tick three, another 2 or 3 years and I'll be of legal age, it's not like I was asking you to marry me on the spot, tick four, the only problem was you being loyal to Chachamaru. So I asked her to share. She agreed and was even happy I asked her. Tick five and problem solved." The girl finished with a very casual tone as she counted the last finger.

Naruto's jaw dropped.

Then his eyes rolled back into his head as he fainted.

Akako sniggered again before leaping onto Konoka's lap and making herself comfortable in a curled up ball of fur.

Konoka grinned at the small fox, it seemed like Akako had accepted her without a problem. The princess smiled and ran her fingers through his soft hair. He was so innocent sometimes. And that could only be a good thing... hehehe...

She leaned back into her chair, her romance novel back in her hands as she noted that the two of them were ironically in the same position as when Naruto presumptuously turned her down a few days ago as she absently stroked the sunshine yellow hair, waiting for Naruto to resume normal operations again and ask her the questions she knew he would have. It didn't take long before Naruto groaned slightly and his blue eyes peeked out at her from behind his blonde bangs. He rubbed his temples in slight exasperation before speaking, "That... was a dream right? I mean, Chachamaru agreeing to share and all that?"

Konoka quirked one eyebrow at him, "Most males I know would be very happy at the prospect of being fawned over by multiple women. I'm surprised you're so against it."

Naruto sat up and sighed again before his fingers played with his bedspread nervously, "It's not that I'm against it per say, I just don't know how to react. True I would prefer just one person to love and I don't know how to handle taking care of more than one partner but men with multiple wives aren't that uncommon where I come from and I knew that had I not been betrayed, I would most likely have ended up with more than one wife." He admitted sheepishly before giving her a pained look, "Besides, it seems like getting you to give up isn't an option even if I say I'm a monster so I won't try, but I'm not sure I can show the same level of commitment to you that I have for Chachamaru. That's the biggest problem I have, among others, I wouldn't mind if things were equal, and I have equal affection for the two of you. You deserve that much Konoka, but as things stand, my feelings for Chachamaru are stronger than those I have for you. I'm not so sure that you deserve getting the short end of the stick, so to speak, in this relationship, nor would my conscience allow it."

Konoka licked her lips slightly; his nobility in this kind of situations was so... delicious, plus it was obvious he was nervous. How endearing... If Setsuna were here, there would be so many fun things she could tease the swordsgirl about, knowing her slight fetish for men with principles.

Naruto stared weirdly at Konoka's spaced out expression and waved his hand in front of her face, "Konoka? You alright?"

"Hmm? What? Oh yeah, sorry I was thinking about... something."

Naruto didn't dare to ask what she meant by something. It generally involved whipped cream and whips. And he wasn't the one wielding them either.

"What were you saying again? Equal affection? No problem then. We'll date until either you feel that you can love us both equally or I give up before anything becomes official, I don't particularly care about rank so not being the first wife or whatever has no bearing." Konoka simply stated as she folded her hands sedately on her lap while she gently petted Akako.

Naruto developed a slight tick in his jaw, she had explained her plan in this really matter of fact tone that said there wasn't any other option and their dating was a foregone thing.

"Sigh... before I agree to anything there are two things I want to deal with." He eyed the princess who was scratching a purring Akako between the ears nervously, "Don't get offended, but was what you said about being insecure earlier true or were you just looking for sympathy."

Konoka gave him a slightly miffed look before lowering her eyes, understanding the need for him to clear it up, "They were all true." She said a soft tone, "I really don't like using my power. And I don't want to go back to being the ditzy princess everyone saw me as. I was really hurt at what you said because it seemed like even you thought I was just the ditzy one in the group no matter what I did."

Naruto scratched his head furiously; great he had made her all melancholy again. Reaching over he grasped her free hand, absently he noted her hand was really small and soft, and squeezed it gently, "I get it. I just wanted to be sure. Especially since you perked up so suddenly. I didn't want to go into this without knowing whether you were sincere or not."

Konoka wearily smiled a bit, "I'm not most girls. I got angry, I got sad and then I cried. Once that was done I saw no point in continuing to wallow in my angst. Plus you owed me; I wasn't going to miss the chance to collect."

Naruto grinned before giving her a mock hurt look, "Very well, as my princess orders. I suppose I do owe you a proper date since you won the match."

Konoka's smile widened a little now that Naruto didn't seem so opposed to the idea and even bantered with her, she returned his mock look of hurt, "Won? I thought we agreed I'm not ditzy? Asuna may have forgotten and Setsuna was probably too polite to mention it but we certainly didn't win."

"Eh? Naruto gave her a confused look, causing Konoka to laugh quietly, "I knew you weren't holding back in the match. As in you fought as hard as you could at what? 30%, 40% of your full power? That's not all; you restricted that 30-40% to purely hand to hand combat and only your pactio. You didn't use any of your other forms, like that fire demon one and I heard that hooded man say you were maintaining a powerful barrier at the same time." Konoka snorted and shot a look of mock disdain at him, "Under those conditions, at best we were fighting a 'you' that wasn't holding back at 20%. Give or take. In other words, you lost on purpose. When I saw that you lose your arm, I was more afraid there was something else wrong with you other than the arm because you certainly wouldn't have lost so easily under any other circumstances." She gave him a pointed look as she finished. "Unlike Asuna, I wasn't asleep during the analytical lessons."

Naruto laughed loudly and pulled Konoka onto his bed beside him, the girl and the fox on her lap gave a quiet squawk at the sudden move, "I think you deserve a present for being so observant." He pecked her on the cheek lightly and the girl blushed. Then he proceeded to rub Akako's tummy, she started to purr even louder, his past transgressions completely forgiven as the blonde cooed at his daughter.

Konoka ignored the blush as best she could and gave him a piercing look, "So why did you lose like that? Didn't you have faith in us?"

Naruto shrugged, "Of course I had faith in all of you but why win? After pushing all three of you so hard, losing would have given the three of you more confidence in your own abilities in the long run. If I still won even after making the three of you try so hard, it would have been pointless and demoralizing. I already made my point and it was enough, besides if the sight of me missing an arm didn't hammer home the fact that Magic isn't all fun and games, nothing else will."

Konoka eyed him for a while before accepting his reasons with a nod.

Then she leaned into his side with a contented sigh, causing Naruto to look at her in amusement, "What now?"

Naruto scratched his chin in thought, "If you're talking about the competition, I have a clone in place. It doesn't really matter but like I said, I wanted to fight either Setsuna or you so I was going to tamper with the match selections so that I could at least fight two out of three but since the arrangements were good enough I didn't bother and just left him there to scout what the 'hooded man' as you called him can do in a fight before I replace the clone and fight him myself during our scheduled match, so we should probably be heading back, plus I want to see Eva-chan and Negi's fight. On the other hand if you're talking about us, I want to talk to Chachamaru about something before I confirm anything more than casual dating." He looked at her, "Is that good enough for you?"

Konoka nodded before slipping off the bed so that they could both head back to the arena, she looked back at the blonde who hadn't moved, "Aren't you coming?"

"No you go ahead. I have something I want to do."

Konoka looked at him strangely before leaving with a napping Akako in her arms.

"Wait."

Konoka looked back at him again.

"Why me?"

Instinctively she knew what Naruto was asking and flicked a folding fan open to hide her amused smile.

"Because it's interesting."

She could feel the blonde's confused gaze on her back as she left, the change in her demeanour and posture was obvious, she was more self assured and confident compared to earlier after having accepted her flaws and advantages. Sighing at the completely vague answer he switched his attention to a corner of the room he sighed, "Go ahead, the rest already beat me up pretty badly and I can guess what you want to do Eva-chan."

The small vampire faded into view before striding over to the bed, never losing eye contact for a moment. Once she had reached the bedside she gave him a resounding slap.

Naruto rubbed his red cheek slightly and gave her a sad grin, "Ok I guess I deserve that."

"I expected something stupid from you but that went beyond the pale."

Naruto cocked his head at her in confusion, "What? Why?"

She gave him a steely look with a sneer that curled her lips, "Was it really necessary to let yourself lose an arm? Those of us that knew what you could do were terrified that something was wrong with you because even if that girl's attack was very powerful it shouldn't have been able to push you that far."

Naruto ruffled her hair and the vampire lips thinned even further before batting his hand away roughly, "You heard m-"

Evangeline snorted and casually seated herself in the chair Konoka had vacated, "I heard what you said to that girl, but that wasn't what I saw. What I did see was you using your own body as an object lesson and a meat shield; I know you could have ended that match with the same results without unnecessary damage to yourself. In other words you allowed that hit to land and do damage. Don't you care about your own body at all?"

Naruto waved her words away, "Don't worry, I don't plan on dying anytime soon. That wasn't the first time I had to regrow a major limb."

Evangeline didn't back down and stared at him quietly with a focused gaze, "You were punishing yourself weren't you? I thought you were done with that part since you stopped killing people?"

Naruto glared at her, "That's a bit rich coming from you, you can't forgive yourself either, and that's what you would have done even if you deny it."

"At least I know and already accepted that part of me, but why are you still punishing yourself?"

Naruto climbed out of bed and started to dress. Evangeline fumed and yelled at his back, "Don't ignore me! You still regret killing people in your past don't you? That's why you don't care if you get hurt at all."

Naruto stilled and turned back to gaze at her before giving her a twisted smile, "Who said I regret anything? What I do regret is not making their deaths even more painful."

He snorted and gave her a grin filled with irony, "If anything that just proves we're really siblings. Two monsters that can't forgive themselves."

The vampire pointed at him with a steady finger, "This isn't about forgiving ourselves. I could care less if you took a long walk off a short cliff, but I want to ask you this. If you hurt yourself badly or passed away, what do you think Akako and Chachamaru would do? What happened to the promise that you wouldn't hurt either of them?"

The blonde froze at the truth in her words and sighed before walking over the vampire and enveloping her in his arms, "Ok, Ok I get it. My life is worth something, I'll try not to think that I'm expendable ok? But you have to try as well."

Evangeline struggled for a moment before she sighed and grudgingly agreed.

****Broken Faith****

"Kotarou-kun, you did well. I didn't expect you to be that good. I was really shocked," Chizuru said as she fixed the blankets on him. "Come on, lie down for now and get some rest..." Chizuru's effort in soothing him was only having a minimal effect at best and she was surprised at how Kotarou flinched and pulled away from her. The look she saw on his face, the look of utter sadness and disappointment, made her heart ache for the boy. Grabbing his jacket, Kotarou bolted out of the room. "Kota-chan!" Chizuru said getting up from here chair. She was about to run after him when a hand on her shoulder stopped her and Kaede.

Spinning around she was surprised to see the man in a blue cloak, none of them even noticed that he was in the room, her surprise was magnified even further when the hand moved to pull off the white blank mask with a soft click to show a whiskered face.

"Naruto!"

The blonde smiled slightly, "Why don't you go back and watch the rest of the Tournament. I'll take care of Kotarou." He nodded at Kaede to show that she was included in that statement.

Both of them hesitated but while Kaede moved to the door Chizuru took a moment to feel his arm. Once she was satisfied it was all there she gave him a steely glare, "We'll be talking about you and your arm. I don't know you're perfectly fine but I don't believe for a second that you didn't lose your arm."

The blonde returned her glare with a lop sided smile, "I still owe you a chat about everything else. Will tomorrow be ok?"

The busty pseudo mother of 3-A gave a satisfied nod before following Kaede's footsteps out of the infirmary.

****With Kotarou****

Play Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto OST – Kouya Ruten

The wolf boy sat on top of the roof, watching the arena below him with unseeing eyes.

"Sucks doesn't it? To be beaten so easily."

Kotarou growled at the voice, "What do you want? Another not enough brains lecture?"

Instead of a reply the cloak blonde took a seat beside the wolf boy uninvited and stretched his arms before sighing in content, "Not really. Whether you win or lose doesn't matter to me. I just happened to want some fresh air and you were already here."

Kotarou growled again, "But it does matter to me! Someone like me with nothing going for me, someone who only knows how to fight, someone who grew up alone and only depended on myself, I have no goals other than that, yet I lost today. What meaning does my existence have if I can't achieve one goal? If I can't even keep up with Negi he won't be interested in someone like me!" he yelled at the relaxed blonde while desperately holding back tears.

Naruto smiled at the boy's demand and laid on the roof, his eyes glazed over, "Puppy, you remember that time in class when I asked you what would you do if you fought me? Whether you would put everything on the line and die with those precious to you or retreat with them and fight another day?"

"Don't call me puppy!" Kotarou bit out, it grated on his already fragile ego, "But I remember, what does that have to do with me?"

Naruto looked at him with a serious mien, "Everything. It hurts doesn't it? Fighting alone, everyday you only fight, sometimes you even have to fight just so you have the right to live. Growing up that way, you can't even find meaning in anything but to fight because you know no other way, you have no one to depend on but yourself. It gets lonely doesn't it?"

Kotarou gulped at the blonde, there was something in his voice, something in those sapphire clear eyes that said the blonde knew what he was saying.

"Wha-what are you talking about you senile old bastard! Winning is good, it's the only proof of my existence!"

Naruto didn't let the reply stop him, "Tell me. If you won today what would you do? If you keep winning until you were an adult, until there was no one else left to fight, what would you do? If there's no one else left to fight you to prove that you are alive does that mean you win until you are dead?"

"Huh... I..." Kotarou looked at his feet in thought, what would he do? When there was no one else to fight then what? Die? Alone?

"Did it feel nice? Being with Murakami-san and Chizuru? Eating dinner with them and joking with them. Playing with Ayaka and competing with Negi. It was fun wasn't it?" Naruto smiled at him, "It feels good doesn't it? Knowing even when you fall you have someone who cares for you like they do?"

Kotarou's head spun at the sudden change in conversation topics, "Gu-guh, what are you suddenly talking about? Of course it was fun! Wait! How did you know?"

Naruto looked back at the arena where Negi was fighting the blonde girl and a small smile curled his lips as he ignored the outburst.

"Did you feel alive when they looked at you?"

"Hu-huh?" Kotarou thought about it. It was... fun. It felt like he was somebody worth acknowledging.

That focused gaze turned back to him, "I don't presume to lecture you about your ideals; you think fighting is everything, you feel alive when you fight, if that's what floats your boat then go ahead. If you want to fight until you die alone in a gutter at the age of 100 that's up to you."

"This is something I will never say to Negi because he won't understand what it's like. Despite his less than stellar childhood he has people who has supported him and encouraged him. People that you and I never grew up with. People like you and I know what true loneliness is. We are people that fought just so we could be acknowledged, just so we could survive with the same rights that anybody else does."

That gaze was starting to hurt. It wasn't the same kind of power from that day in class, this was a different kind of power altogether.

"Years ago, before I succumbed to my anger, I lived by the words that someone told me once,that 'You are only truly strong when you have someone to protect. Someone precious to you'. I no longer consider myself worthy of that ideal but you haven't passed that threshold yet despite your life so far. I ask of you now, compare the match between the one where you fought just because you wanted to fight to the one where that person who defeated you in the Tournament threatened Ayaka, Negi, Chizuru and Murakami-san before you fought. What is the difference? You don't have to tell me. Ask yourself, don't hide from your insecurities or feel the need to bluster because the answer to that question is for you and you alone."

Kotarou set his jaw, he didn't understand a lot of what the blonde had just said, but he knew what he didn't want to hide the answer, "I would fight him so I could protect them. I don't care if I lose. I would still keep fighting."

Naruto gave him a small approving smile, "Then you are strong even if you are weak. You grew up without bonds, without anybody to care for you."

"You were empty, that's why fighting made you feel alive. Then you came here you found people like that, people that supported you and cared for you no matter what and you don't ever want to lose those bonds."

The blonde got up and walked away, "Now that you know the difference between the you who fought for fun, who fought to survive from Kyoto and the you that is here now that will fight for something more profound than just surviving, I'll leave it to you to interpret what I meant when I said that you are strong when you have something to protect. I cannot make you believe. Only you can do that."

Kotarou watched the blonde walk away with one last wave over his shoulders before hunkering down on the roof and started to think. How did having someone precious to you make you strong? And why did the blonde speak as though those words were the reason he was what he is today. Arghhh! It was so confusing! But he knew.

He knew that he needed to get stronger so that he could stay with them.

Naruto stopped just short of the roof's opposite edge before quietly speaking, "You can say what you want to him now. Who knows? He might even bury that pride of his and accept your offer of help. Oh and I'm sorry for ending that match so fast. Next time we'll have a proper match."

"No, it was my own inexperience for allowing you to land an immediately decisive hit without any chance for a comeback, it was a good lesson, had you hit a fraction harder, that attack would have severed my spine. I look forward to our next fight."

The blonde grinned in thanks before fading into thin air.

Kaede stepped out of the shadows with a slight frown. The blonde's ability to detect her was highly unnerving sometimes, as was his ability to guess her thoughts, especially when he didn't even seem to be making much of an effort to do so. It was like he knew how a ninja operated.

She looked back at Kotarou and slowly approached him.

****Broken Faith****

"Hmm..." Chao stated while watching a holographic screen. "Nice Takane-san. The fancier you get the easier it is for me." Behind her stood Takahata and Chibi Setsuna in electrical restraints.

"Chao-san! What exactly are you planning? You're supposed to be our classmate!" Chibi Setsuna demanded.

"Ah sorry, Baka Setsuna-kun, I didn't plan to treat you two so harshly but there's simply no time. The tournament also opened in a hurry...originally this was supposed to take place next year..." Chao sighed.

"It's because the world tree had an unexpected speed up in its glow due to the odd circumstances?" Takahata half questioned half stated.

"Ah... as expected from Takahata-sensei!"

"Chao-kun what is your objective? Depending on your reply, I might not be able to let you get away with this, even if you were my student."

"What am I planning? Nothing big really. According to my research, the number of mages spread throughout the world is about twice the population of the area of Tokyo, which is more than all the Chinese immigrants in the world as well. That's quite a number ne? And even nowadays there is an 'underworld' that exists slightly out of our own world that has its own countries as well."

"...and then?"

"You don't have to worry about anything Takahata-sensei, it won't bring trouble to the normal people. My objective is simply to declare the existence of mages to the entire world."

****Broken Faith****

A blue cloaked figure stood with his back straight and his cloak flapping in the wind as he watched the match between Takane and Negi wind down before a meteor with pink hair crashed into him from behind.

"Naruto-sensei!"

Surprised, all the blonde could do was hold onto the sobbing girl and try to stabilize himself so that the both of them didn't fall into the water. Once that was done he smiled as he stroked her hair to calm her down, "Yeah, I'm alright. You didn't have to worry bout me."

Makie wiped her tears away on his shirt and sniffled after a few moments of taking comfort in his scent and presence, "I-I wasn't worried about you Evil Naruto-sensei, don't get ahead of yourself! I'm just worried an idiot like you wouldn't be able to teach me anything more if you got hurt!"

"What was that you brat? Don't look down on me!"

The two of them bickered back and forth with insults. Naruto would have been appalled if he had noticed that this was a familiar scene, one where Makie was replaced by a short blonde in an orange jumpsuit, and Naruto himself would have been replaced by an old man with long white hair and markings on his face.

****Broken Faith****

"Ah..." Asuna face palmed as the blonde girl Negi was fighting ran off the stage, dressed only in Negi's battered cloak, "What the hell is that idiot thinking? Doesn't he have any delicacy?"

"Ahaha... Negi-sensei stripped a girl again..." Setsuna quietly chuckled beside the red head. "This isn't funny Setsuna, if he keeps stripping every girl he meets he's going to grow up a pervert."

"Fufufu, wouldn't that be interesting? I'm sure a lot of our classmates would be happy if that were the case."

Both of them were startled by the now familiar dainty laugh and spun around to see the long haired brunette, "Konoka! Ojou-sama!" both of them exclaimed, "You're here! Is Naruto ok?"

Konoka just nodded, "I left him in the resort, he says there's something he needs to do, but I expect he will be here soon."

Asuna grumbled a little about idiotic blondes before Negi joined them and she started to scold the boy.

Konoka smiled at the red head's motherly attitude while Setsuna walked up beside her, "Did something go well Ojou-sama? You seem different; you didn't make any crude jokes about Negi becoming a pervert." The swordsgirl spoke quietly but honestly.

"My, my... aren't you blunt today..." Konoka laughed a little. "Don't worry about it Se-chan. A little side project of mine went well, that's all."

Setsuna looked at her weirdly but before she could ask what her princess meant, Evangeline joined them. Setsuna nodded at her before looking like she just realized something, "Ah, I forgot since we were all busy with Naruto-sensei, Kazumi declared that our match with Naruto-sensei was a draw. No one won. That means you'll be fighting Negi-sensei right after this Evangeline-sensei."

"Geeeh!" Negi who had heard Setsuna's words blanched. He could match Takahata-sensei but he knew that fighting Evangeline was a moot point, even if she didn't have any magic powers to augment her abilities. He had been beaten into the ground by Evangeline-sensei, with or without magic, enough times as proof during their training.

Evangeline waved the comment off, "I'm forfeiting the match. There is no reason for us to fight now, I'm already satisfied with what I've seen so far and it isn't the time for the two of us to have a real match yet. This stage isn't great enough for our grand finale."

"Eh!" this time everyone around them exclaimed in surprise as Evangeline smirked, "What? Do you want me to fight you now?"

Negi waved his hand frantically, "No, no, I know I can't win yet."

"Good. But don't get a big head just because you managed to get to the finals and lose your focus. No matter who your opponent is, even if you are fighting a normal human don't let your guard down, I'm pretty sure Naruto beat that into your bones after the first few times you hit the floor. If you still do so, keep in mind your training will be tripled."

Negi blanched at the threat before saluting proudly with a determined expression, "Hai Evangeline-sensei!"

The vampire averted her face, "Go-good."

"Ah. Master is blushing."

"Shut up Chachazero! What in the world is wrong with you and Chachamaru!"

"Ah... Does that mean I don't have to accompany you on the last day anymore?" Negi asked with a clueless look on his face.

****Broken Faith****

"Everyone! Its finally time for the second half of our semi finals after Contestant Evangeline McDowell mysteriously forfeited against Contestant Negi Springfield! The Mysterious N.U. against the equally mysterious KuNel Sanders! Let's give our two contestants a big cheer!"

Quietly Evangeline started casting the same barrier Naruto had used earlier. This promised to be a good fight, she'd let everybody enjoy it for now, but she would prefer that people didn't remember the specifics. The vampire gave a nod of acknowledgement at the silent thanks she received from both of the contestants on the arena.

Two figures silently walked up to the stage from opposite sides. The cloaked figure faced the robed one, both of them ignored the cheers and Kazumi's shouts and sized each other up silently, until the former gave a short bow of respect and spoke, "I didn't expect us to fight so soon, come to think of it I still don't know what you're capable of in a fight but I'm expecting a lot from a member of the infamous Ala Rubra, I hope I can learn a lot from you."

"Ohoho, you flatter me. I'm no one special, but to be honest I'm very curious about you as well, the Black Paladin, even as isolated as I am, rumours of you managed to reach my ears and the fact that you've only been active for 3 months made me even more interested."

The cloaked figure cocked his head in confusion, "Black Paladin? What's that?"

"Fufufufu, don't mind me. Shall we?" Hands slid out of the robe in a defensive stance.

"I suppose so. Do you mind telling me what you told Negi though?"

"If you impress me enough I might tell you."

"Fair enough." In one smooth motion Naruto flashed forward and drew back one chakra enhanced fist as Albireo did the same to his magic enhanced one. Naruto brought up his left fist to punch Al's face but the mage caught it in his palm. To retaliate, Albireo did an elbow strike with his free hand, but Naruto caught that with his own hand as well. Both let go of each other's fists and elbows and did another punch that connected with each other, leading into yet another shockwave. When they retracted this time, Naruto crouched down and did a sweep kick. His opponent however jumped up to avoid it. Spinning on his hands, Naruto lifted himself up and aimed a kick upward towards the mages chest.

Albireo made a barrier at the last moment, reducing the amount of damage the kick would have done and caught Naruto's foot. He then lifted up Naruto and was going to slam him down to the ground. The blond twisted in the person's grasp and aimed a chakra enhanced punch at the barrier. His right arm which was glowing a faint blue ripped forward and shattered the barrier allowing him to aim another kick with his free leg at the arm holding his other leg. Seeing this Albireo let go of the leg, and aimed a palm strike at the blond's chest. Knowing that he won't be able to block it, Naruto twisted his body at the last moment. This gave momentum to his leg and it acted like a whip forcing Albireo to move away as to not be hit on the head. When Naruto landed on the floor, he aimed on more punch at Albireo who attacked with yet another palm strike. The two caused a final shockwave when their attacks connected that forced them to jump apart.

Each to the opposite part of the stage.

Play AKINO – Go Tight

"The match has suddenly started! After saying something we couldn't hear, contestant N.U. has started the fight by taking the offensive with a lot of flashy moves! Wait... what's this? Contestant N.U.'s true identity is Naruto Namikaze of 3-A? Even more surprising is that he is completely... healthy! Does this mean his earlier injuries in that fight was really nothing but CG?"

Grunting slightly the two watched each other warily. Taking stock of his lightly bruising rib the blonde spoke with a slight frown, "That's really annoying you know."

"Hoh? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're talking about."

"You and that going with the blow thing, that's how you defeated Kotarou isn't it? Every attack I land on you barely has any damage because you shift your centre of gravity in the direction of the blow."

"Fufufufu."

Naruto snorted and decided to change his tactics, he needed to corner Albiero to a point where that method didn't work. Without any hesitation his cloak was ripped off and thrown at the robed man but before Albiero could do anything about it, a blast of lightning tore through the distraction. Swaying slightly on the spot Alibiero dodged the lightning and deflected a punch from behind before twisting his hand around his attacker's wrist and flipping Naruto, hoping to slam him into the ground, only for the blonde to twist mid air, land on his feet and throw him into the air instead before following it up with blasts of intense fire.

Up in her office Chao smiled slightly, although probably wasn't intentional, Naruto-jiji had inadvertently set her plans back a whole lot by showing up completely fine. She didn't mind though, the Chinese girl thought of it as punishment for profiting on his precious injuries.

The blonde on the stage didn't hear a word of what Kazumi was shouting, focusing on Albiero who had somehow started floating in mid air and avoided his fire balls.

Hmm... it seems like you're going all out with magic, Naruto," Albireo stated in a whimsical tone. "Why don't I turn it up a notch and match you?" Albireo then lifted up his hand and with a quick flick of his wrist the gravity over the area where Naruto was standing multiplied. There was a deafening boom causing people to cover their ears as well as the shockwave caused a dust cloud to rise up and cover the arena. When the smoke cleared everyone saw that the blond was still upright and watching the floating figure with a bored look on his face that contradicted his glowing and focused purple eyes. In contrast with the serene blond, the entire area around him looked like a meteor had hit.

Albiero almost stumbled despite being in mid air, this was the first time his gravity magic was completely ineffective. Though a closer look showed that the blonde's clothes were slightly mussed, which meant it had affected him before he found a way to counter it.

"That's new..." He mused quietly, "You seem to have some sort of control over gravity as well... Let's see if you can handle something stronger." Under his hood he gritted his jaw as he increased the amount of pressure, in response, Naruto grunted and threw up his hands and seemed to be trying to lift an invisible mountain.

Trembling slightly at the effort Albiero glared at the lone blonde who although winded didn't seem to be injured before a massive build up of energy from the opposite side of the arena below him caught his attention. When he saw another three blondes standing in a circle and they all seemed to be doing something with their hands, Albiero realized instantly that the one who had his attention was a decoy and flung up his strongest barrier.

"Jiongu : Saishu Shageki!" all three of them looked upwards, their throats bulged to jaw dropping proportions and they all roared at the same time. Each blonde simultaneously shot flame, wind and lightning at him, the elemental blast immediately twisted and melded into a blinding white elemental beam that Albiero didn't think would be very healthy for him if it hit.

Everyone was blinded by the bright explosion and desperately shielded themselves from the sheer pressure and intense heat of the attack as it roared out into the stratosphere.

A smoking Albiero barely managed to deflect the beam's trajectory with his gravity magic, even then a part of his robes had caught fire just from being too close to the attack, but before he could do anything other than snuff out the small fire on his robes someone tapped his shoulder in mid air. Startled by the contact behind him he spun around in mid air just in time to get a sucker punch to the face before his attacker flipped in mid air and landed an axe kick to his temple.

The older man rocketed downwards and crashed into the ground but the original Naruto who was still in the ground made no move and simply watched the new crater impassively while two of his clones ran towards where Albiero had landed. A slight stirring in the air behind him was all the warning he had before he crouched slightly to evade a submission hold from behind and jerked his head back to slam into Albiero's jaw, as the robed man staggered back, the ground shook as Naruto and his three clones were attacked from all directions by a wave of robed men that appeared out of nowhere. Sadly for Albiero, shortly before his clones overran the blondes, all four of them committed suicide and blew up violently before another Naruto exploded out of the ground and tried to uppercut the original Albiero, succeeding in jarring the man's chin slightly before being kicked away.

The blonde landed lightly on the other side of the arena and grinned slightly, "Using clones on me is a pretty stupid idea, Albiero. I've been using them since I was 12 and I can spot one from a mile away."

Rubbing his jaw slightly Albiero simply grunted in response, the blonde fought dirty and his bag of tricks was as large as it was dangerous. Very much like two certain people he knew. And regrettably enough it worked against someone like him that fought in more elegant formal ways. Squaring his shoulders, Albiero decided that he couldn't stay on the defensive and allow himself to be pulled into the blonde's rhythm, dashing forward the two of them started fighting furiously, exchanging lightning fast blows. To any outsiders it seemed like the blonde had turned into a blur, dashing in circles around a white blur whose styled seemed more defensive and localized, deflecting and parrying attacks from the black and yellow tornado that surrounded it before countering with ruthless efficiency.

A quick roar and a violent shockwave emanated from an annoyed Albiero, causing Naruto to crash into a wall with a crash. The robed man panted slightly at being pushed so far before straightening his back, "I'm out of practice," he muttered slightly before looking at the dust cloud from where Naruto had impacted the wall and leapt into the sky. Not missing a beat at all, the Ala Rubra member started conjuring multiple black spheres the size of beach balls out of nowhere, taking the initiative before the tricky blonde had a chance to magic up a defence, Albiero started flinging the spheres rapidly. The quick and swift movements of his hands were almost a blur.

Every swish of his hands sent one black sphere rocketing into the dust cloud and was followed up by an incredible explosion, the robed man flung his spheres so fast that the multiple explosions blurred into one great continuous sound that jarred everyone present.

After a few seconds of an unrelenting magical barrage Albiero lifted his palms and the awestruck crowd watched as another black orb formed, this one as big as the arena itself. With a quick downward shove of his arms that was nearly violent in its simplicity, the giant meteor made of nearly pure gravity moved to crush its creator's target, only to suddenly shudder to a stop as if the black sphere had run up against an invisible wall.

Spectators swung from one hovering figure to the clearing dust cloud which slowly cleared to reveal a bloody and slightly tattered Naruto with his palms facing the sphere, as if stopping it with will power alone.

Blood started to trickle from Naruto's eyes slightly as he stared determinedly at the giant hovering sphere that trembled in mid air, under pressure from two opposing directions, while muscles ticked in Albiero's arm as he tried to force the sphere down, nothing else moved and even the dust froze as two great forces pushed against each other.

Grunts turned into roars as both men shoved all their power at each other. The sphere which started out as large as a truck slowly compressed into an orb only about as large as a beach ball as forces from opposing directions crashed into it. Before either of them knew it, the orb imploded and the violent explosion crushed Naruto flat into the ground while Albiero struggled to balance himself in mid air as he was thrown about by gale force winds. The crowd could feel the tremors from the explosion even though the orb had exploded in mid air.

After a few tense seconds, Albiero carefully landed on the arena, which was starting to resemble the surface of the moon. His sharp eyes never left the other side of the stage the dust slowly cleared.

"Ouch." Was all the blonde said in a dry tone as he walked out casually. His clothes were now in tatters but ultimately he seemed completely unharmed despite the blood stains in comparison with the impeccable robes of KuNel Sanders.

Albiero chuckled slightly in response, "Are you having fun?"

"Somewhat. Even though I can barely match up with you with my tricks, the difference in basic strength and speed is just too great for now." Naruto gave him a wry grin, "Although I'm a bit hesitant about really using some of my more dangerous moves because of the spectators. So I had to tone things down a bit. We really have to do this again some other time where it's safer."

All over the place jaws were cracking floors.

Tone it down says the man that just fired an apocalyptic beam from his mouth to the man who made black exploding spheres the size of a house out of thin air.

Albiero's robes shifted a bit and he seemed to glance around, "I'm afraid so. We only have 11 minutes left. I'm sorry, I really didn't want to do this but you managed to push me this far despite your handicaps so at the very least I'll make this interesting for you."

"Oh?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. From his sleeve Albireo took out a pactio card. The image was of him being covered by books spiraling around him in a double helix reminiscent of DNA pattern.

"Ah, crap." Naruto charged, desperate not to let whatever Albiero had in mind happen.

Play Macross Frontier OST – Northern Cross

"Adeat..." Albireo whispered and there was a bright flash of light. Naruto covered his eyes to make sure he didn't get blinded and when it died down there was a hard cover book within Albireo's hand but didn't stop running. The title was just the name of a person, though the only thing he read on it was the first letter, which was a J. "I'm going to use this book to its full potential. So that's ten minutes. Let's see just how long you last okay...Naruto. By the way tell him to be serious when you see him but no deathblows ok?" Taking a bookmark the mage put it inside the book and pulled it. Just before Naruto's punch landed there was a large wall of wind exploded from it and a light covered the mage in front of him. Just as abruptly as the wind and light came, it went away and Naruto felt a punch to his gut with enough force that caused him to spit out some blood. Then Naruto was rocketed out of the stage and into a building and rubble crashed onto him.

The spectators couldn't decide where to look, where the blonde had crash landed violently and building fell on him or where a man, over six foot tall in height, with tanned skin and a giant mass of wild white hair with two long bangs in the front. He had on a short sleeved blue jacket with a high collar that was a wee bit too small for him judging by the way his body bulged from his top, white pants, a pair of black shoes and a magenta bandana on his forehead, casting a shadow over his eyes now stood instead of the slender robed form of KuNel Sanders.

"What? Where the heck am I?" the strange man spoke while scratching the back of his head in a confused manner. His voice was deep and gruff.

Kazumi nervously spoke, "A-ano... W-who are you? Where is Contestant KuNel Sanders?"

The tall man gazed at the girl for a while, confusion gleaming in his eyes, "KuNel Sanders? Oh... Oh! That dumbass always liked weird names... Girl!" Kazumi immediately snapped to attention at being hailed by the giant of a man, "Did the guy that was here before me say anything about time or limits?" he barked at her.

Kazumi hesitated for a while before speaking, "Errr... he said 10 minutes and to fight seriously but no deathblows if that's what you mean..?"

A loud explosion rang throughout the shrine and the tall man turned his attention back to where he had punched the person earlier. A topless blonde with weird square purple eyes and orange eye shadow, who was the person he assumed had been attacking Albiero, literally exploded from underneath a lot of rubble before landing on the edge of the arena with one leap.

Ho... this might be interesting after all, enough to force Albeiro to use his pactio card and not hold back at that, Albiero's pactio had two stages, the first one was where Albiero took on the person he was summoning appearance and ability. But that mode was limited to 30% of the original's power because it was being controlled, sort of like a puppet. The second stage however, allowed the personality that was summoned to take over completely and was totally autonomous like now but it enabled the personality to utilize its full power at 100%, conditions permitting. Well power at the time of recording anyway, he wasn't sure when this was; the original Rakan might even be dead for all he knew.

He released his aura to see if the boy was worth fighting only to be just as impressed when the blonde matched his aura, bit for bit.

"Hehehe, this might be fun after all. My name is Jack Rakan. What's yours gaki?"

The blonde grinned, "Naruto Namikaze."

Nothing else was said as fist met fist and the resulting shockwave blew anyone nearby clear off their feet.

****Broken Faith****

AN

Rubor - Red

Custodiet et Cadens Stella – He who watches the falling stars

Virtue : Sincerus – Virtue : Sincerity

Directio : Oriens – Direction : East

Astralitas : Caelum Sideralis – Astralitas : Starry Skies

Jiongu : Saishu Shageki – Earth Grudge Fear : Final Shot

I got a very amusing Pm that was thanking me about the way I chose to go about doing a harem despite not liking harems. The person thanked me for having some common sense. I.e.; Instead of the insta fall in love almost every other writer does outside of fics that actually focus on romance anyway, I took it in stages, made some effort to develop their characters and their relationship with Naruto and that people didn't start humping him by the fifth chapter like wild animals. He specifically described Asuna and Naruto's relationship as realistic; they were close but something drove them apart, she almost disappeared in the fic so that she could have her space and the clumsy, tentative moves after that to rebuild what they once had, the kind of drama that gives the fic a sense of realism. Since that was one of my biggest problems while thinking about this fic, I'd like to thank those of you who agree for your encouragement. Nonetheless, despite his praise for how I did Asuna/Naruto, I'm not very satisfied because I feel it could have been done better. (It's clumsy not because I did it on purpose. I really, honestly and sincerely had no idea what to do and how a girl would react. Bwahahaha.)

And I didn't intend on making Naruto come across as flirty. Caring and flirting are two very different things.