Mar's Maelstrom

By The Obsidian Blade

Chapter sixteen-start of the War Games

Naruto was in bed with his two vixens. They were sleeping soundly on his chest with their bushy tails swishing in contentment as the snuggled deeper into his bare chest. They were able to spend the night in Vestry as they needed rest. His mind was on what happened earlier in the day.

After he destroyed the wall with the help of Bahamut he passed out after getting the scolding of how a gentleman should know how to conserve energy from Babbo. What he got from Babbo was nothing compared to what he got from Dorothy. The end result was having to do her biding for the next few hours. The ghosts did what they said however. The Arm they said they were going to give to him was something similar to a dual prong key. What he also got was a magic stone that he needed to think about. What was he going to make this into? He had no idea.

What happened afterwards greatly worried him. The moon turned something like a mirror with the face of some weird man that was identified as Peta. He wore some sort of black robes with a pointed black hat. His long blonde hair only accentuated his psychotic look. His eyes were crazed and he had this weird necklace.

The man said the War Games would begin anew. He gave them an image of the map and circled the place. He did not tell them the name of it however and Naruto was forced to look at a map, signifying it as Reginlief Castle. From what he heard the man say, it was a castle under their control. He dared the world to try and fight and specifically dared him and his team as well. It seemed they wanted Babbo back. Naruto sighed as he looked at the roof of the tent. This would be something he would have to look into in the morning.

Dorothy cracked open one eye and looked up at Naruto. "Still not a sleep yet, Hun?"

Naruto sighed and looked down. "Not yet foxy-hime, I was just thinking of a few things."

She sighed as she lightly bopped him on the head and re-snuggled back into his chest. "Just go back to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." The woman quickly fell asleep again with a gentle purr. Naruto smiled as he closed his eyes. Tomorrow was the start of the War Games.

Team Demon Shadow walked inside the castle courtyard. There were a lot of faces that he has never even seen before here, all aiming for a piece of the Chess Pieces. One was an old man with graying spiky hair and large eyebrows. It wasn't the large block eyebrows like Rock Lee's, but they were still huge. He also wore this strange, many blue, outfit that was closed together by a series of white straps. The person he did recognize was there.

Alvis was wearing something different from last time. The pants were the same, but the shirt was completely different. It was mainly white like last time, but the sleeves were longer, and the blue outline was thicker. Naruto made his way over to Alvis and greeted him. "So you're here too, eh?"

Alvis looked at him and nodded his head. "Looks like it." he inspected the blonde even further. Nothing had dramatically changed except his clothes, but that was only physical. In power, the blonde teen had changed tremendously. It was as if he was a completely different person. It was not just him but the rest of the team as well. Each and every last one of them looked as if they gained some sort of new power. What did they go through to get this kind of sense around them? He then looked towards Gaira, the old man, and smiled. "Looks like Alan's here, Gaira."

The aged man stared at the tam and cocked his head tot eh side. All they had were two kids, two women, a thief, and a dog. None of them struck out as Alan in the least bit. Was this some kind of joke? Before he could voice out his opinion some kind of bell rang out. Everyone in the courtyard turned their attention to the balcony of the bell tower and saw a woman in a simple white dress. Most of the people started to bow and get on their knees in her presence. There was something off about the way she carried herself though. It almost seemed as if she was sad and depressed, almost as if she was not happy about any of this.

"All of you who have assembled here at Reginlief, I welcome you from the bottom of my heart." The blonde kitsune looked around as everyone shouted princess. Just why was a princess hosting these kinds of game? Some things just didn't add up here. "The War Games will now commence. But first, we must test you to see if you are worthy to compete in these games. Those of you who wish to participate, step to the pedestal and take one magic stone."

Naruto looked at the pedestal and walked forward. There were multiple magic stones on it. He took notice to the amount of people walking with him. He knew his team (sans Ed) would all participate in it. He also took notice to the amount of Cross Guards stepping to the pedestal and reaching out for a stone. The blonde ex-nin looked at the thing carefully as he threw it up and down. There was something off about the stone that he could not place his finger on. He looked back at the princess as she spoke. "The test now begins!"

The stones flashed, blinding everyone in the courtyard. When the blonde kitsune could see again he was in a completely different realm. Everything was pitch black. It was not like when he fought his other self as he would feel a more sinister presence but this place was still unnerving none the less. He looked to his left to see Babbo was still there with him. He looked back to his right wrist to see that his Ten Dagger Bracelet was still there.

"This can't be good for my health," the blonde muttered as he put on his kitsune mask. His eyes narrowed as he heard someone run up behind him. "Weapon Arm, Ten Dagger Bracelet. One dagger mode." A single frozen dagger appeared in his right hand as he whirled his body around and blocked an incoming strike of a large jagged sword. He followed the wielder's arms to the body. The man wielding the large sword was a large Pawn.

Naruto pushed the word away and gripped the hammer part of Babbo before focusing chakra through his left arm and Babbo. "Demon's whip!" The blue eyed blonde swung Babbo in a whip like fashion with blue chakra focusing through the strange Arm. The Arm impacted the pawn, crushing his ribs and killing him in an instant.

Naruto sighed as he put away the dagger and put his mask to his belt. He started to feel this pull on his body and then he was in the real world. He looked around to see Jack. The blonde kitsune smiled at his antics of easy win. He looked at the others as they flashed into view. "Yo," he greeted his fiancés who ran up to him and hugged him. He smiled as he saw Alvis come into view but it dropped as he did not see a single Cross Guard. "Ah this can't be good," he muttered. "Not a single Cross Guard has made it back."

"Not even Gaira," Alvis muttered as he looked at the scene. Everyone's eyes widened as he saw them reappear. It was not as expected though. They were dead. Fresh cuts marked their bodies as well as a few discarded weapons such as a spear or a dagger.

"Hoohoohoo, just corpses!" they heard from beside them. Their attention turned to see some kind of imp like creature with a round head, horns on his forehead and a long lizard like tail. He had this kind of black robes and a pointed hat covering his body. "This latest crop of Cross Guards wasn't much was it? The good ones must've die in the last games. These were weaker than Pawns! Hoohoo!"

Alvis growled at the man. He was really starting to get on his nerves. "Where's Gaira?! He could never lose to a Pawn!"

The man laughed some more as he looked at Alvis. "Did I say it was a Pawn? There was one loser with a magic stone. One poor little human! That must've been him. Hoohoo!"

Naruto growled as he saw a woman come into view. He and his tow mates were the only ones to tell that it was a she due to the fact that the woman wore a skull like mask without a bottom jaw and that the fact they had stronger senses then anyone else. A series of three horns were on the forehead of the mask. Her hair was blonde and spiky. She wore a light purple trench coat with darker purple outlining held together by purple straps. It was something about her eyes that actually frightened him. Sadness, grief, sorry, hate, emotions that he knew all too well. He knew that people like her would be willing to do anything for anyone that would 'help' her.

Chimera looked at the people that survived. Each one seemed strong. The way they portrayed their selves was different from most humans. The blonde teen, however, really caught her eyes. His eyes shown battle experience and war with himself. Most of the emotions she saw in them were the pain of loss. And the feeling was reoccurring to the blonde if his eyes were any indication. If she could play it right, she could get the Chess Pieces a new ally just by playing on those emotions.

Alvis turned his attention to a familiar magic source. It seemed like Gaira wasn't taken down after all. His eyes widened with shock at his condition however. Blood was everywhere on the aged fighter's body. The man was holding his left arm as he crouched down and looked at the crowd. "I failed!" he muttered under his breath. "Inconceivable, I of all people, falling before the games even begin!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. Either the aged man got over confident or his opponent was someone really strong. Judging by his scars and wounds, it was the latter of the two. Naruto turned his attention to the woman wearing the skull like mask and narrowed his eyes even more. He knew the woman did something to the man. What exactly, he could not tell, but he sure as hell knew it was that woman. Naruto walked up to Gaira and started to inspect his body even further. There was nothing to serious besides the concussion he suffered to the head. The blonde started to focus some healing chakra to his hands and started to heal the man.

The imp of a man chuckled at the group. If these were the only ones left then they did not even stand a chance in the first round. "Just as expected of Gaira, third in command. You lost, but you survived against Chimera. That's not bad at all. Okay, the winners are these six. So few, so few. There were thirty Cross Guards in the last games. Now it's women and children, tsk. Not even enough to entertain Phantom." The little imp's eyes widened as he felt the cold steel edge of a throwing knife along his cheek. His hand traced the small cut and brought it up to his face. On his hand was the scarlet liquid that his body held so dear. He traced the path of the kunai and saw that the blonde kitsune's hand was in the throwing position.

"If you keep talking I'm going to kill you," the blonde ex-nin said in a menacing voice that struck fear into the little midget's heart. The imp nodded before saying that the games started tomorrow and disappearing in a flash.

Jack looked around and started to shake up. They were the only ones that survived the preliminaries. This was just insane. How the hell were they supposed to make it if people who actually went through this kind of hell did not even make as far as they were this time around? "Just six people? Naruto, I gotta be honest, I am scared."

Naruto looked back at him and smiled. "Don't worry about it, I am a ninja," the blonde said in a reassuring voice. "I'm used to things like this, and besides, we got Alvis and Dorothy and if we have to, all we need to do is knock out Ed three times and you get Alan.

It was late at night and the princess led them to their rooms. The room that they were led to was co-ed for some reason or another. The place did have two separate bathrooms for changing and stuff, but didn't places like this usually have different rooms for the girls and different rooms for the boys. This did not make sense at all.

Nanashi looked at the princess with a skeptical eye. She was hosting the War Games. For all they knew she could be working with the Chess Pieces and trying to cheat for them. "If you are the princess of this castle, then why were you doing the introductions to the War Games?"

The princess sighed as she answered Nanashi's question. "It's for the sake of my people. If I did not comply, the lives of those outside would be jeopardized. In order to protect them, I will do what I must. Many lives rest on my shoulders."

Alvis looked at the blonde kitsune as he looked out the window. The dark haired teen's mind started to replay the images of his conversation with Alan. Alvis said the teen was too unstable for the sake of Marchen. His power was immense, that much was for certain, but he had little control over his actions and rage. The black haired man laughed at what Alvis said. The dark haired man said that the kid's been through too much and that was all. He also said that it was not by accident that he was pulled here and that he would be Marchen's greatest hero. "Naruto!" The ex-nin looked at Alvis with a questioning look. "Will you be able to win my trust? Prove yourself to me through your battles. I'll be watching you."

Naruto looked at him with a blank face before cracking a wide grin. "Don't worry man, we will win this for sure." He turned his focus to the rest of the team and smiled towards them. "For now let's get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow." They nodded and went off into the changing rooms.

Phantom looked at Peta with a smile. "I see, only six," he muttered. "And among them is Kitsune, who turns out to be Naruto, right?" Phantom was a tall man. He had short silver hair and wore a half mask that ended above his lips and had two horn like things coming off the side. His right hand was completely normal while his left was bandaged up, making it look like some sort of hammer. He wore a navy blue outfit with a white sash that came over the left shoulder and wrapped around his waist.

"Yes," Peta answered.

Then there shouldn't be a problem," the undead man said as he rested his right hand onto his bandaged left arm. "I'm sure that they'll provide more than enough entertainment and I am sure that there are more than enough who eagerly wait to fight him." The man started to cackle loudly as he looked outside is window. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.

A/N Well I'm done. (Looks back at chapter sixteen) I am barely on the fifth volume. I have that much left! Fuck! Any who the official pairing is now Naruto/Dorothy/Snow/Fem Kyuubi/and Chimera Jack/Pano, and Nanashi/Aqua. I have plans on keeping Aqua alive because the way she dies is utter bull. Well for now Review or I will pulverize you with this rolling pin. BYE!