Chapter 7
The Distance Between Them
The bright light in the open barren desert filled his vision as he looked around himself. Howling winds and clouds of dust blow at him. In the distance he could make out monolithic black gears leisurely gyrating in the distance.
As he turned his head all he could see was an endless expanse of dirt and rubble littered with countless swords anchored in the ground like grave markers in a wasteland.
Crack.
It sounded like a sheet of ice being slowly broken. The high pitch noise drew his attention to his right arm.
He marveled at his unblemished arm for a moment.
The Holy Shroud of Martin wasn't covering his arm for some reason.
His head tilted in curiosity at it being naked and unmarred.
CR-ack! Pop!
This time it sounded as if glass was being shattered. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he looked back his face morphed into utter horror and dread.
"Ha…ha….haa-"
The entire arm starting from the wrist to his shoulder had countless blades sprouting out of it. The sound of the blades creaking and groaning like ice cracking was terrifying to his ears.
A pause took place as he couldn't tear his eyes away to his now mutilated arm that had swords growing out of it.
CRACK! POP! CRACK!
His left arm followed in suit of his right arm.
"AGGGHHHH!" he yelled in pain.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! POP!
Blades everywhere began popping and growing in his body. They stuck out of him in a gruesome appearance.
His body was made out of swords.
"GUUUAGGHHHH!" he couldn't help but cry out in pain.
It was enough that he was sent sprawling to the ground on his knees as the blades continued their uncontrolled growth.
CRACK-POP-CRACK! CRACK! POP!
There wasn't anything that he could do except endure the pain and hope that it ended quickly.
Looking up from the ground he could make out a girl that wasn't too far from him. It was a petite girl with beautiful blonde hair and the most stunning green eyes he had ever seen.
She looked so sad.
Her hand went out to him.
Salvation.
It was out of control by this point and he could barely move an inch. The boy struggled as much as possible to move to her outreached hand but it was all for naught.
The steel that invaded his body was shutting his mind down. Everything was so painful, a mind of steel slowly encroached him.
He could almost touch her hand.
"S…Sa…SABER!"
I woke up slowly. The sunshine of the morning had made its way into the room bathing me in its warmth.
Moving the heavy cover off of me, I sat up and pulled back on my right sleeve exposing the tightly wrapped red shroud. I gave it a couple once overs, moving it around and clenching my hand a couple of times.
Beads of sweat rolled down my face. "A dream... Right?"
I wasn't sure who I was speaking to when I said that out loud in my empty bedroom. A glance at the clock near my bedside told me it was six in the morning.
The house was eerily quiet and for some reason Sasuke hadn't arrived yet. My shoulders shrugged, "Oh well… it's not like I'm ready or anything." That girls lucky that I'm giving her some extra time to be here.
Walking into the bathroom I turned on the showerhead to heat up the water. "A nice hot shower should do me some good… hopefully."
Stripping in front of the mirror I couldn't help but stare at a patch of hair at my bangs that was white. I couldn't help but sigh at the sight while shifting around the hair to see if I could hide it. Standing there messing with my hair I noticed another thing that made me pause.
A deep dark tan was encroaching outwards from my arm. It was in a similar shade to that of Archer's skin tone from his extensive use of projection magecraft that caused a rebound effect. "At least it's not spreading towards my neck first," I mumbled trying to make myself feel a little better.
There was a good reason why I wore gloves most of the time. It wasn't to look cool or anything like that, but mostly to hide the fact that my right hand was a completely different color compared to the rest of my body. So to draw suspicion away from it I started wearing a pair of gloves to conceal the rebound effect from projection magecraft.
I gave it a good long look at myself before I jumped into the rather warm shower. I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to hide it from everyone. It was only going to get worse from here on out.
I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
The shower provided some great relief to alleviate some stress and before long after cleaning up I was standing in front of my stove preparing a simple breakfast of rice porridge, salmon and assorted fruits. With my soon to be meal slowly cooking in front of me I looked at the time and it was a quarter until seven. "Sasuke's still not here huh?" I said to myself.
I found it odd that the girl that I've been helping with for the past couple of days was late. Ever since then she's been dutifully showing up right on time if not early. Hell she even offered to make me breakfast time to time when she was early.
My hand scratched the back of my head as I clicked my tongue. "Geez – why am I all of a sudden getting worried about her?" I guess you could say she sort of starting to grow on me with how diligent she was at her training. At first I thought her as some typical haughty bitchy teenager that was a general annoyance and pain to talk to. But with how hard she trained and well… for lack of better words, how respectful towards me, my opinion of her was changing.
I viewed her in a better light than when we first met but there was still something that I greatly disliked about her. There's probably only a small amount of people that I don't like and for one reason or another the person she was dating somehow wormed his way up my list. At just the thought of him my face is set in one of disgust.
Daisuke reminded me too much of a rotten purpled haired womanizing bastard named Shinji. They shared too many attributes and morals that were antithesis to my own. They were vain about themselves, gossiped about things they had no knowledge of, a pretentious and otherwise smug aura, and were all around detestable when you talked to them.
The metal handle groaned as I unconsciously began to squeeze at the thought of him. "Tch – that rat bastard still gets me riled up to this day even if he's pushing up daisies…" I grumbled under my breath.
Moving the food onto the plate I carried it over to the dining table and muttered a silent prayer before digging in. The table was still a mess with various books, journals, folders, and papers strewn about from my research. It was more of a controlled mess to be fair as I had everything placed to my liking and sectioned off pertinent information from the useless junk.
"Guuwahhh~!" Which was promptly ruined by a small white rat waking up causing the stacks of paper to fall down. "Ahh ~ a glorious sleep! Oh! Good morning Emiya-kun!"
"Merem… why were you sleeping in my research?"
It stretched about some more even rolling around in the paper.
My eye twitched.
"I can't help it! I just love sleeping in a good mess and this is the finest of messes that I've slept in! So you should be proud that a king deigned it proper for him to sleep in!" he spoke in a grand matter even throwing his tiny little arms up.
Hmm… I wonder if the real Merem Solomon would notice if I decided to cook his left arm for lunch.
"So where's that girly of yours that you've been training? Usually she's here already with those cheesy snacks that you're too stingy to buy for me."
Did I ever mention that this rat was as much of a freeloader like Kakashi and Anko?
Pointing my chopsticks at him I stabbed it into the air threateningly. "I don't know, must be running late or something. Or even slept for all I know. And how many times do I have to tell you to stop free loading off of people. If you're such a king then a king should be able to buy his own snacks no?"
"Ah but a king should be showered in gifts and treated like royalty! That girl certainly knows how to treat me accordingly to my status! Same with that pink haired girl, Sakura!" it crossed its arm before taking a whiff from my food. "You know you could learn a few things from them."
"I'm going to stuff you into the oven if you don't stop poking at my food with your grubby little paws. Did you even wash them?"
The thing scoffed at me. "Of course! What do you take me for? A lowly peasant? A groveling mongrel?"
I look the other way over my shoulder rolling my eyes. "Yeah you act like a peasant alright begging me for snacks constantly."
"I resent that statement very much!"
A snort escaped me, "I know that."
It shuffled around amidst the piles of folders and papers trying to find a comfortable spot to sit. "Ahh. There we go!" My jaw slowly grinded at the sight of him using my research papers as some sort of comforter. "So where's that black haired girl that usually comes by this time for training?"
Looking at the clock in the room it was a little past seven meaning she was a whole hour late now. I shrugged, "I don't know. I'm not her caretaker so it's not my problem." Even though I laid out some strict rules to her I didn't exactly mean them too much. Thinking back on it, I was fairly harsh to her in general about things, but can you blame me? The people she chose to hang out with weren't exactly the type that I'd converse with, much less be in the same area.
"How can a teacher not care about the wellbeing of their student?"
"For the last time Merem she's not my student nor am I her teacher."
"And last time I remembered she was calling you Naruto-sensei," it said coyly. "I can just imagine it now! A teacher-student relationship is in the works! Even if the teacher is a dull, single-track minded human being with a pension for throwing himself into danger at every opportunity."
Well I couldn't really argue with him about being single-track minded with a habit of throwing myself in front of danger since it was true and I was mildly apprehensive at the thought of Sasuke having some crush on me. I wasn't feeling up for the mild banter that Merem was putting out and just shrugged in response.
It huffed a bit of air before a peaceful silence fell upon the room. I even got it a block of cheddar cheese from the fridge for him to nibble on. 'You know… when it's not being annoying, you kind of forget that this little thing can kill me and everyone in the village in the blink of an eye if it wanted to.' It was a dead apostle after all, except that he was supposed to be one of the good guys.
Ding~Dong~.
The sound of the doorbell being wrung alerted the both of us. "It's about time she showed up Jesus," I murmured while getting up to answer the door. A pensive look rested on my face as I opened the door ready to find out why she was late.
Upon opening the door it was the one person I least expected to have come around at this hour.
"Good morning Naruto-kun!" She greeted while bowing to me.
It was Sakura.
"Oh? Good morning Sakura-san," I replied back. "I thought you were at the hospital working a morning shift?"
The girl in front of me shook her head. "Not anymore. I got a call earlier this morning that my shift had been moved to an hour before noon so now I found myself with a couple hours of free time!" She smiled while tilting her head. "Hope you don't mind or anything! Didn't really know what else to do or where to go in the meantime."
"Oh no! I don't mind at all ha-ha. Would you like some breakfast? I just started so I wouldn't mind making some for you," I offered to her kindly. Sakura was good in my books. She reminded me of a purple haired girl that shared the same first names. They were both kind and caring, well-mannered, soft spoken, and just… all around good persons in general.
"O-Oh no! I couldn't possibly impose on you like that!"
I gave a soft laugh. "You're not imposing on me. I offered silly. Now come on! Lemme feed you at least before you have to head into work!"
"Thank you!" She bowed before following me into the house.
I fired up the kitchen again making the same thing I made this morning except I added in some pickled plums, Umezuke, since she had a pension for sour things in general. Bringing out the piping hot food I laid it out in front of her before going back to my own unfinished breakfast. "Hope you enjoy!"
"Again – thank you for the food!" Sakura muttered a small prayer before digging in and complimenting on my work which made me smile softly.
"Oh? Good to see you Sakura! Fancy meeting you here this morning!" greeted Merem from underneath a pile of papers.
"Good morning to you too Merem-san," respectfully returned Sakura. "How are you?"
"Whyyy thank you for asking! It's going great so far!" it turned towards me. "Why can't I get this level of respect from you huh Emiya-kun?"
"I don't know maybe its cause you keep making a mess around my house?"
"Hmph – I call it rearranging the scenery to make it livelier."
"Uhhh-huhhh… suuureeee," I drawled finishing up my breakfast.
In all honesty I'm surprised at how well some people were able to take in the dead apostle known as Merem Solomon. While he revealed himself to Kakashi and Anko, he made an identity as a familiar or summons to the rest of Team Seven. Sakura and Sasuke took him in well except for Daisuke but that was a given really.
Hmm – speaking of Sasuke… where is that girl anyways? It's been about an hour and a half now, and she still hasn't shown up yet.
"Umm Naruto-kun?"
Hmm? I look to her.
"Where's Sasuke? Isn't she supposed to be here for her usual training with you at this hour?" she asked.
Ahh yes. It was quite the experience when they both met each other at my house some time not too long ago. Ever since I started their training as a team, Sakura had been visiting me whenever she could. It was pleasant to have her company in the house when I wasn't doing my research and tying up some personal matters.
Anyways it was rather tense between those two for some reason. It was a rather terse description but there were no other words to describe it really. They were pleasant to each other but it was sickly sweet and a little bit awkward. There was an underlying friction between the two from what I could tell. The cause of it? I wasn't able to tell in all honesty.
I just chalked it up as usual female things and did my best to ignore it. As long as they didn't try to blow up my house or anything of that sort then it was all okay for me.
"Emiya-kun doesn't really know," answered the white rat. I guess it took my silence as me being unsure and spoke for me. "I myself don't know either as she's usually poignant about being on time."
"Pity," she said simply.
It almost sounded as if she were happy about the fact that Sasuke was late.
How odd is that? The pink haired girl sounded almost like a certain purpled haired girl for a moment.
"Yeah… I wonder what in the world is she doing."
Uchiha Sasuke was having what was quite possibly the worst morning in her life ever.
For starters she had woken up late after having to spend the entire night watching her boyfriend getting drunk and partying rambunctiously with his usual group of friends. The old Sasuke about half a year ago would've happily joined in the fun with the drinking and partying, but after the whole fiasco on the bridge she wasn't quite the same any longer.
Naruto had unknowingly flipped a switch in her head.
So she sat there as usual just watching the group of people lose themselves to the alcohol and music while sipping lightly on her drink to keep occupied. Over the couple of days training with her new teacher had started to peel away from Daisuke.
It was a gradual and slow progress but progress nonetheless.
In her rush to get ready had woken her hung over boyfriend. From there it simply devolved into him interrogating where she was heading out early on a Monday morning. Of course she lied saying something about having to help Sakura at the hospital but he saw through it easily and grilled into her about it.
After what was probably a half hours' worth of arguing back and forth she simply upped and left making sure to slam the door on her way out.
The raven haired girl's ensemble was in shambles but at that moment she couldn't really care too much.
"Shit… I'm gonna get it really good when I get back to the apartment," she smacked herself in the forehead lightly. "You stupid, stupid girl! All you had to do was just be quiet and sneak out and you couldn't even do that… Ughhh," groaned out Sasuke.
That wasn't the only thing she had to worry about too. As of now she was almost two hours late with her appointment with Naruto. "He's… he's not going to be happy…" her pace quickened before she hopped on the roof and kicked it up into overdrive. "Better late than never showing up right?"
Crossing half of Konoha in record time she arrived at the front of the house and straightened out her clothes as best as possible. "Alright here goes nothing," she took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell.
The person that opened the door was the least person Sasuke expected to greet her.
"Oh? Good morning Sasuke-san," greeted Sakura.
The female Uchiha blinked.
And blinked a couple more times.
"Sakura? I-uh… good morning. Um… what are you doing here?" she asked trying not to sound rude.
"I had some free time before I had to head into work so I thought I'd stop by to say hi and Naruto-kun graciously invited me in for breakfast. We were wondering where you've been by the way."
Sakura had been with Naruto all this time? That thought made her frown a bit before she quickly hid it.
"Ah… alright. May I come in?"
"By all means. He's in the kitchen washing up the dishes currently."
Quickly taking off her sandals and moving to the living room she apologized profusely as soon as possible once there.
"SENSEI! I'm sorry for being late I-"
"Hey! Geez no need to shout in the house!" admonished Naruto. "And what did I say about calling me sensei?! Jesus Christ! Just call me Naruto!"
"Yes sensei!"
He palmed his face.
"That flew over your head didn't it?"
Sasuke had the decency to blush in embarrassment and look away.
A soft giggle was heard coming from Sakura. "As much as I'd love to stay and watch this comedy shonen unfold before me I need to start making my way to work. There's a bit of paperwork I need to do before I clock in."
"Ah – shame was hoping you'd stay for a bit longer. I guess we'll meet at the same time and place as usual before your team training then?"
"Yup!" She turned to Sasuke. "Have fun with your training session! See you later with the rest of the team!"
"Y-Yeah…" It was strange trying to adjust to a new Sakura. The entirety of Team 7's dynamics were changing with the inclusion of Naruto.
The pink haired girl that used to be so quiet and demure was gradually becoming the opposite. Her confidence had sprouted out of nowhere and a backbone to boot. Sakura began voicing her opinion on matters about the team and more often than not they conflicted with Daisuke's resulting in them butting heads against each other.
"So… you're rather uncharacteristically late today for some reason. Decide to take a page out Kakashi's book or something and get lost on the road of life?"
She sighed, "No. I was late cause of… well I slept in because of some stuff… and things that happened last night."
"Stuff and things? Well that's awfully descriptive," he replied sarcastically.
"Y-yeah… just… some private stuff."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "I won't pry into your business. Not like I cared much anyways." That last part was said in an almost offhand way that caused Sasuke to wince.
It must've been noticeable as the man in front of her scratched his head and apologized. "Ah – uh… sorry that was a bit of an asshole thing of me to say. Come on, I'll keep today's training a bit short so you can have time to rest before you train with the rest of your team."
Her head tilted, 'Did he just apologize to me?'
"Yes I did apologize. I tend to sound like an asshole if I don't put a filter between my head and my mouth."
At that the white rat on the table guffawed loudly. "Well isn't that the truth? I'm glad that girl of yours had some sense to install a filter for the filth that can come out of your mouth."
That new tidbit of information made her curious which was evident on her face with her furrowed eyebrows.
"Oh? He hasn't spoken of her yet I take it then. Well if he hasn't then he must have his own reasons then I'm sure of it."
"Merem… what did I say about opening that big mouth of yours again?" seethed Naruto.
It simply shrugged in return eliciting a sigh from him.
"Whatever. Let's get to training already." He turned to make way to the dojo outside but stopped and turned around. "And Merem? Don't go causing too much trouble for my sake if you go out please?"
The rat looked affronted at the accusation of being a troublemaker. "Me? Trouble? As if!"
"Yeah… suuure. Come on, Sasuke let's go." He waved for her to follow with haste.
Sasuke nodded but couldn't help but think of who Merem spoke about going into that day's training.
Across the town in the market district of Konohagakure there was a small dango shop nestled in the middle of the area. It was currently bustling with customers that were happily consuming their food during the peak of the hour for lunch breaks. Two in particular were seated in a corner of the restaurant casually eating their servings with one of them practically inhaling the food off the plates.
"Geez Anko… you mind letting me have one at least before it disappears in that bottomless stomach of yours?" said Kakashi.
"Kaka-kun," she swiped another stick of dango before he could, "it's not my fault you're being slow on the uptake as usual." The purple haired shinobi was looking cheeky as usual but the dry look and glare she received warranted concern from her. "Alright Kakashi – spill it. What's going on in that head of yours? Usually you'll be merrily reading your book but you haven't touched it in a while since we've been hanging out."
"Naruto," he said simply.
"What about Naruto?"
"You're kidding me right? Please tell me you're just being your just joking right now." The normally laidback man was looking uncharacteristically irritated and wound up as tight as a spring.
Anko took a swig of her hot tea before talking. "No I'm being serious. What about Naruto that's got you so worked up the past couple of days?"
"Hmm – how about the fact that the Naruto that I've known all these years is vastly different to the Naruto that is currently with us?"
The woman's shoulder slumped, "I thought you said that weren't mad anymore?"
"I'm not at all, this is just me being concerned that's all."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah you're sounding like some overly concerned parent alright."
"I'm serious Anko and I don't want to hear your usual snarky banter. When he first showed up out of nowhere you won't believe how glad I was to hear from him again. It's been maybe four years? Bordering on five perhaps since we last saw him. Didn't even bother to say goodbye except a note he had written to the Hokage."
Kakashi took a deep breath while Anko leaned back to him rant it all out. It was best to let the man fully list all of his grievances for once instead of pandering and skirting the issue about. The man in front of her was known for his patience and levelheadedness but it seemed when it came to personal issues that were close to his heart he showed his frustrations fully.
"It was nice hearing that he was doing well while gallivanting around the continent but then it all just stops. It got quiet and we don't hear a single thing about him for the next couple of years after the whole debacle in the Land of Snow. Then out of pure chance Pakkun somehow comes across him and next thing I know he's in the middle of the town in Wave causing a scene."
It was interesting to hear all of this for Anko as the mission report submitted by Kakashi was as usual short and to-the-point with its descriptions. Meaning that there was information redacted or left out intentionally.
"You know… when I saw him he was just so… so…"
"Grown up?" she finished for him.
"Yeah at the time it sort of caught me off guard really. That quiet little brat that I taught had grown up significantly. Everything seemed great and all but when the fighting broke out on the bridge and he showed up I… well I decided to take a step back to get a read on him… and it was just… just…"
"Wait-wait-wait hold up a second. Are you saying that it was Naruto that actually fought them and not you?" interrupted Anko.
"Yes it was Naruto that did most of the fighting while I waited and observed with the rest of my team to see how well he developed over the years and… it was just so different and overwhelming Anko. You need to understand that everything that we taught him was practically thrown out the window."
A delicate eyebrow went up in question. "What do you mean like swordplay? Or his Kyudo? Or maybe the taijutsu taught by Gai?"
"Everything," he stressed.
"You're kidding right?"
His head shook in denial, "I'm not at all. Actually come by later this evening and see for yourself."
"Huh maybe I will then. Haven't seen him in action so that'll be interesting. Anyways continue yeah?"
And so Kakashi detailed out the fight from how Naruto had almost seemingly breezed through Zabuza and Raiga with ease, his summoning of a flaming sword to counter rogue ninja's elemental technique to finally describing how Gato's men had been mowed down by a literal rain of swords that were materialized out of thin air.
"Wait – hold up. Let me get that right again. You said he 'rained down over a hundred swords that was summoned out of nowhere?' is that right?"
"Yes you heard me right and well it's just a small detail that I've noticed, but he tends to nurse or draw attention away from his right arm. He must've slipped because it caused him to grab at it as if it were in pain."
"I don't think… I've ever came across that in my life before. Any ideas who could've taught him that?"
"No clues really. Maybe Kiritsugu taught him something of this… magecraft and Naruto took it from there? Or he learned from someone else when he disappeared off the face of the earth for all those years." It was ironic how close Kakashi was hitting close to all his questions; if someone told him the answer to his second question he would've met it with utter disbelief at the incredibly absurdity of it.
Out there in the Throne of Heroes the original copy of Archer was laughing his ass off.
"Well then I guess that means I am definitely coming by this evening to watch, but this still makes me wonder why you are being so concerned."
"How come you aren't concerned about all of this huh?" he countered hotly.
Anko couldn't help but huff and cross her arms in return. "Because I know how to give him space and that he'll eventually come and talk to us when he feels like it. That's what you don't get Kakashi."
"G-Give him space?" he sputtered at the start. "I think I have the right to at least know what in the world he's gotten into."
"The right? Kakashi please you're being a bit thick here, but you don't have that right and neither do I. We all have our own secrets too you know. If you think that he should start spilling his secrets then should you start with yours with me then?"
The woman was met with silence in return.
"That's why I took it all in stride and I thought you did too after that night. I can only accept what's happened and try my best to support him even if that means just being in the background. I know him better than anyone else Kakashi and you know that." It started off sound harsh but tapered off to being soft and tender. "I know him almost better than anyone else here even if he's been gone for ages. I was there when he lost Kiritsugu. I was there to help pick up the pieces and get him to move on."
She was right. Anko knew it, so did Kakashi.
After the passing of the man known as Emiya Kiritsugu, the adoptive father of one Uzumaki nee Emiya Naruto, Mitarashi Anko was the one that took the time off to nurse the child back to stability. Like a big sister if not a mother, she learned how to give him his needed space and not incessantly bug him about any issues that he had. It would only cause annoyance at the very least along with stunted growth and healing at most.
Kakashi let out a tired groan and rubbed his face with his hands. "I just can't help it Anko. I just…"
"I know Kakashi… I know. Just have a little faith in me and more importantly him okay?" It was a rare sight to see as she held his hands and looked him in his eye. "Just promise me this time alright Kaka-kun?"
Underneath his mask he smiled a bit as his hand was being held almost lovingly by Anko. He took her hands with both of his and promised her that he would at least try to back off and settle down a bit.
For a moment the two of them holding each other's hands was touching. As if it were a hallmark moment with a couple finally reaching a common ground with one another. It was sweet and beautiful with how everything looked.
"Ahem."
Which was promptly ruined by a newcomer.
"As interesting as it is to see human interactions and love blooming in the air I'm going to have to sadly cut it short."
Utterly ruined.
The King of Rats was rather amused with the topic of discussion and situation but felt that it was dragging on for far too long. It had business to conduct on a very short schedule.
"You," they both said in annoyance.
"Yes me," it smiled in return. "It's quite touching that you two care very much for Emiya-kun even though he's been gone for years. Commendable really, then again for me a handful of years is relatively short."
"To… what do we owe the honor of you being here?" dryly spoke Kakashi.
"As amusing as it was that night to mess with Emiya-kun by sharing with you all tidbits of information. I'm only here to really clarify a couple things and maybe assist you," it pointed to him, "out of a certain hole you dug yourself in."
Kakashi pointed a finger to himself. "Me? And what do you mean a hole I dug myself in?"
"You remember the bridge fight correct? That's rhetorical by the way of course you do. While it was smart on your part to sit back and observe Naruto to discern his skills and abilities. It has inadvertently made him see you as a person to be protected at all costs even if it meant keeping secrets from you. In a way he's right yet at the same time wrong."
"So you're saying he thinks I'm weak?"
"Yes," it bluntly answered. "I chalk it up to his whole Hero of Justice mentality. Why else do you think he took over all the fighting and ushered you and your team to sit in the back. Did you think he was showing off? Not in a million years. He was doing all of the work because he perceives that you all can't take care of yourselves so he'll do it for you."
A sudden realization came upon Kakashi. The royally clad rat had been following them since the mission in Wave. "You've been-"
"Yes I've been watching since that whole ordeal on the bridge in this backwater of a place. And no I'm not doing it for the sake of trying to spy on you or anything. I'm here to make sure that idiot doesn't accidentally kill himself or anything like that. You don't know how much that boy tends to cause trouble."
The way it spoke the last sentence sounded as if it were exasperated and annoyed.
"Alright how do-"
"You fix it?" interjected the rat.
Kakashi's exposed eye twitched in annoyance at how people were finishing what he was saying before he could. That was his job to annoy people with and get under their skin, not the other way around.
"Fight him."
"Fight him?"
"Indeed."
Kakashi looked to Anko as if he were unsure if it were that easy. "Surely it couldn't be that easy."
"With Emiya-kun? It is. Oh and don't call me Shirley," it joked at the end.
Sadly it was lost upon the two shinobi as they never heard of the joke before causing the rat to sigh and mutter something about backwater ignorance.
"But I urge you to come into the fight with the intent to kill." And suddenly its normally jovial tone was gone, replaced with a far more serious, deeper baritone voice that didn't fit with its current body. "Not only that but when you do, I stress this as much as possible, to take the utmost of caution. Under that peaceful and easy-going guise is an absolutely terrifying monster that even I take measured steps with to handle."
Anko came to Kakashi's defense.
"I'm certain that Kakashi will do fine against Naru-kun. While he may be tough, Kakashi has probably over a decade's worth of experience and skill over him."
The King of Rats couldn't contain its giggles before it transformed into a full blown laughter.
"Little girl let me put it in ways that you'll comprehend the distance between them. To put it simply he is the ultimate expression of overwhelming force when it comes to fighting. In all my years of living I have never came across a being such as Emiya Naruto." (1)
Indeed even for a being made of mysteries such as the King of Rats the other being that was known as Emiya Naruto was an anomaly. It was such an anomaly that it managed to garner the attention of several other high-ranked and powerful beings within his organization of Dead Apostle Ancestors.
Never before has there been a being that was born with both their origin and elemental affinity aligned to "Sword". The one true specialization of magecraft that Emiya Naruto held as a human being bordered on classification of a True Magic. Reality Marble users were by far the rarest specimens that walked the earth, in fact there were probably only a handful of recorded individuals who could actualize it and all of them were Dead Apostle Ancestors.
Silence ensued the table as the information was slowly being taken in by the two of them.
"Alright… I'll have to pick up a few things then before this evening's team practice then. I might as well have my team take notes under the cover as an observation exercise." Kakashi sounded anxious. From his observation of how Naruto tended to fight, it was going to be pushing his body to the ultimate limit. "So let me ask just for clarification – if I prove my worth by fighting him I gain his confidence in my ability to protect myself, ergo his trust."
"Emiya-kun hasn't exactly been a trusting person ever since he lost his arm but yeah that's how it should go."
They both froze.
"Hold up! Can you run that by us again?"
"Hmm? Which part?"
"He lost his arm?" Anko looked as if she was about to gut someone.
The Left Arm of Solomon took it all in stride and spoke of it in a casual way. "Oh yes indeed, it happened not too long ago if I remember correctly. A simply horrible travesty occurred that Emiya-kun was tied up in that resulted in him losing his right arm. Shame really."
"But I've seen him use his right arm."
"Oh that? Well it's not my place to say as it's a rather personal and touchy subject that he doesn't like to talk about but in a way you can say that it is both his arm and not his arm. And to be honest his new arm is… well it's definitely something else that's for sure."
Kakashi and Anko sank back into their seats. It was a lot to take in for sure. There was just so much that they didn't know about this new Naruto that it was almost impossible to find out where to begin. A similar thought crossed their minds asking what the hell he got himself into all these years.
As if sensing its time is up with the two veteran shinobi it excused itself away but not before leaving a few parting words.
"All I have to say is good luck then and that whatever you pick up helps you because well…" it chuckled ominously. "You're going to need it to fight a monster like Emiya-kun." The way it smiled unnerved the two at the table. "Well I'll be off then. I bid you two a good day."
Just like how it came out of nowhere it disappeared from there sight off to wherever it fancied.
"Huh… I guess it's a date then Kaka-kun." Anko rebounded fairly quickly.
"What?"
"You're usually at training ground near the memorial monument right? I'll be there to cheer you on then," she winked at him.
"What?"
"Hmm – well ya look at the time Kaka-kun! I gotta get back to work if I want to get off earlier in time to watch! You got the bill right? Thanks as usual!" Anko kissed him on his cheek before she left. "What a gentleman!"
Kakashi blinked trying to process what just happened at the last couple of moments.
"What?"
I yawned as I wrote in a couple of notes in my journal logging in some information from the books in front of me. Sakura wasn't able to hang out as there were some things that popped up at the last moment in the hospital leaving me stuck in my house.
God I'm getting sick and tired of doing this research.
Looking at the clock I noticed I had less than an hour before I had to meet with Kakashi's team to prep them for the Chunin Exams. Another thing I took note was that Merem's left arm was nowhere in sight meaning that he's been gone for almost the entire day now.
"Where the hell could that rat have gone? Actually better question what the hell is there even to do here?"
It was commonplace for that Rat nowadays ever since he showed himself up to disappear for great lengths of the day and reappear at the most oddest of hours. At the very least he could take me along with him so I wasn't stuck doing research hours on end. With how everything's been coming along I'll be finished up by the time the trials begin.
The training today went well without a hitch. Sasuke could now last a grand total of eight strikes before my practice sword would land a hit. Which is fairly impressive considering her initial foray into the art of wielding a sword was abysmal to my standards.
"Well… I might as well have a small snack before I head out."
I took a moment to somewhat organize the cluttered mess of papers that were strewn about before getting up and heading to the kitchen. Just as I was about to open the refrigerator a searing pain was sent coursing down my arm causing my left hand to grab at it in pain.
A hissing noise came from my mouth as I grit my teeth. "Oh for… the l-love of god why are you acting up all of a sudden!" And as fast it hit it quickly went away leaving me sweating in the kitchen.
"Ten years to live with this arm my ass… I'll be dead in the next five if this keeps going. I swear I'm better off being a one-armed magus than this," I grumbled as I reached for a bottle of water and some fruits.
At this point I might as well make my way to the field.
Walking onto the field I noticed a couple of things immediately.
One. Anko was here.
Two. Kakashi had a standard issue Black Ops sword holstered on his back.
What in the world is going today?
"Hello everyone," I waved to them all as I got closer.
"Ah – finally you're here Naruto-kun! We've all been waiting for you for some time now."
Wait they have? I was sure that I arrived here on time if not a little bit earlier than usual.
"Really huh? What's the occasion? And if you say it's a surprise I'm walking off the field." I don't really do surprises. Last time someone pulled a surprise on me it resulted in me losing my right arm in the most excruciating way possible ala having it ripped out of the socket.
"Nonono!" rushed Kakashi. "Nothing of that sort really. I'd like for me and you to fight so my team can observe some more high-level combat. They need a bit of a break don't you think? Besides I've been curious as to how well I'd stack up against you in a fight."
I looked at them all strangely with a raised eyebrow. This could go either very well or incredibly bad but it piqued my interest a bit. Kakashi was a pretty tough guy that could potentially go toe-to-toe with some of the top tier enforcers of the Mage's Association and executors of the Holy Church.
Shrugging my shoulders I agreed. Ah what the hell. What could go wrong?
"Great! Let's get to it shall we?"
There was a sneaking suspicion arising from the back of my head about this. Kakashi was awfully wired up and jittery. His form was taut as if ready to explode at any moment.
My eyes narrowed at him.
I don't handle surprises very well.
For this I was going to forgo using Saber's sword. It was overkill for a situation like this and totally uncalled for. It would be like trying to use a crate of C4 to blow up an ant hill.
No. Against Kakashi all I would need is two weapons.
Two reliable and trusted weapons that have stuck with me through thick and thin.
Two swords that represented me and my ideals.
"Trace On."
As I walked out into the middle of the fields a pair of twin swords were traced into existence. One sword was as black as charcoal while the other was white as snow.
Kanshou and Bakuya.
The married swords that represented the blacksmith Gan Jiang and his wife Mo Ye. The craftsmanship of the blades are extremely captivating and beautiful, and in a way they're best suited to my natural style of fighting even if her sword was leagues ahead of these.
These swords were created without vanity, and lack a sense of purpose found in other swords. They contain absolutely no fighting spirit to defeat its foes or the competitive spirit to challenge other weapons, and they do not have the desire to be famous nor the faith to accomplish tremendous feats.
A perfect set of weapons for the individual that reflected those beliefs known as Emiya Naruto.
Kanshou and Bakuya. These swords were the first Noble Phantasms I had ever traced in my life when before I could trace only paltry throwaway weapons that held no history to them.
It must've been an impressive sight with my back to them as I traced my weapons. The field had fallen quiet when I turned around. Only the wind and the rushing water from the river filled the area with its sounds.
If Kakashi wanted a fight, he would get one that would make him regret asking in the first place.
Slow the corner of my lips raised. I couldn't hide the excitement of fighting against someone I knew that used to beat the living hell out of me. It was only fair that I would return the sentiments back onto my old teacher.
Neither of us spoke a single word as we readied ourselves. There would be no need for words here.
Our blades will do the talking for us. From there we will communicate and convey our thoughts and emotions with each strike.
Off the corner of my eye I saw his team and Anko waiting with bated breath for the first move. Looking back Kakashi had moved his headband to reveal his swirling sharingan eye.
So that's how it was going to be huh?
I guess he's taking it very serious against me and not pull any punches. Well… that just means I have to return the favor.
Flooding my circuits with prana I reinforced my body to prepare for the onslaught. The thrill of the fight coursing through my veins as adrenaline began pumping.
One moment we were both standing apart from each other no more than 30 meters.
And suddenly the world became a blur as I vanished from my spot.
Our blades clash and I see Kakashi's iris's widen exponentially. His blade creaked and groaned under the pressure I was exerting from my twin swords. They were going to snap soon.
I grinned. It was those rare moments where I exuded confidence that bordered on being arrogant. He was trying to match me in a contest of swordsmanship.
It was only right that Emiya Naruto responded in kind.
Kakashi grunted as he was pushed back by a flurry of attacks sent by Naruto. 'Damn these dual swords of his,' he cursed. 'I was preparing myself for that invisible blade of his yet he decides to pull a fast one on me. Wonder what made him decide not to use it?'
SWOOMPH!
He ducked just in time to avoid getting his head sliced off. 'I know this is a spar, but this is ridiculous.' The little white rat was correct after all. Naruto was a monster in combat. Seeing it was one thing. Experiencing it was another.
Dropping low he swept his legs to catch his opponent off-guard but was met with air. Clicking his tongue in annoyance he bounded backwards to give himself some room which caused Naruto press on with his offensive.
'How annoyingly incessant.'
Since their fighting began Naruto had been pushing forward constantly. There was no such thing as retreating or going back, only forward.
If you asked Kakashi, he would say it was a boneheaded thing to do in a fight but for some reason it suited Naruto perfectly. The aggressive pushes and stances were causing him to backpedal more often than not.
There wasn't enough time to properly layout the next step to counter. Earlier he had tried placing an earthen wall between them to give him a second of breather. Naruto had decided to become a human wrecking ball and smashed through the middle surprising him.
'Who the hell is that suicidal to even attempt something like that?'
The son of Hatake Sakumo was not fully prepared to handle outlandish tactics that weren't used in conventional battles. Then again Emiya Naruto was far from conventional.
Kicking himself up into the air he quickly flowed through several hand seals and bellowed out his technique.
"Katon: Hosenka!"
A sizeable volley of small fireballs were spat out of his mouth in an unpredictable manner at almost supersonic speed towards his target. Some missed but a few hit their markers that stalled him just a bit. The way he was swatting the projectiles made him narrow his eyes.
'Those swords are truly something else. Completely unblemished even though one of those fireballs has enough power to gut an entire room.'
What kind of swords were they? Earlier before when they first clashed, it had easily snapped his standard issue sword easily and not a single scratch was made in return. He even tried applying his lightning chakra to reinforce the blade but it was for naught.
He would have to continue to poke and prod for more information. Emiya Naruto was most certainly a strange anomaly that did not fight conventionally.
Falling down after the last fireball was sent out he immediately heard two objects slicing through the air and the post-throw form of Naruto crossing his arms. The former ANBU Captain's eyes widened as the black and white swords spinning towards him from his left and right respectively.
Digging into his pouch he flicked a handful of shuriken to each weapon to hopefully deflect them. Instead to his shock they were sliced in half cleanly and continued on their path uninterrupted. Being forced to duck again he felt several hairs on the back of his head being shaved off by a close call. Rolling backwards he observed as the two weapons actually curved back towards their owner who deftly caught them and glared.
'I'm getting real sick and tired of Naruto pulling one surprise after another on me. What's next is he going to pull out a sword that can blow up a mountain?' The momentary pause gave him some breathing room at least. He was going to have to be the first one to kick things up a notch. Higher level techniques were needed here.
The man who copied over a thousand techniques needed to find out the limits to the durability of his opponent's weapons. Conventional and low-rank elemental techniques weren't cutting it. 'Time to break out the S-Rank techniques now.'
Grasping his right forearm the man gathered copious amounts of chakra and formed his signature technique.
"Raikiri!"
One could say it was overkill for just a spar but he needed to find the ceiling in Naruto's abilities. This was merely going to be the tool to gauge the height.
Clapping his left hand to his right the technique was evenly distributed so he could dual wield the technique to counter the two swords. Pumping as much chakra as he could into his legs without exploding his circulatory system. It blasted him off towards the man in front of him almost instantly.
It caught his opponent off guard at the audacity of it but responded in kind with his own attack.
'Here goes nothing!'
Two hands met two swords.
Two hands shattered two swords.
'Success!'
Now all he had to win was just touch him and the battle would be over! The shock alone from the amount of lightning chakra held in either hands would paralyze him momentarily.
Time almost slowed down as his hands reached ever so closely. Kakashi could practically taste victory in this bout.
"Trace On."
The two alien words that came out of his mouth spelled danger. Those two alien words spawned the same two swords he had just shattered momentarily not too long ago. And those two swords deflected his hands upwards when he was barely inches away from giving Naruto a shock of a life time.
Before he could do anything else Kakashi immediately snapped a kick into his abdomen sending the blonde man backwards crashing into the ground and doubling over.
He had to shake his foot a bit. 'Damn what the hell is he made out of? It was like kicking a sheet of metal or something.' His sharingan eye was working overtime assessing the situation and environment around him.
Just before he could claim victory his left eye caught what he said just before the same black and white swords came out of nowhere.
"To…race… on…" he tested out the words.
What did those two words mean? Obviously it did something as those two swords immediately came into existence. Was he summoning them somehow? How many did he have in stock? Where was he summoning them from? Did he have a summoning seal tattoo somewhere on his arms?
So many questions and so little answers.
Hatake Kakashi went through the motions of activating his lightning blade once more. More information was needed and he would have it one way or another.
Damn that man seriously. I took a moment to rub my stomach that would've probably been blown out through my back if I hadn't been reinforcing my body.
I thought this is supposed to be a damn sparring match not a battle to the death. What the hell Kakashi?
A part of me was a bit peeved and the other impressed. I had forgotten how much of a monster Kakashi was or rather still is. The man in front of me was definitely leagues ahead of the two swordsmen on the bridge. In the back of my head I got the feeling back in Wave on the bridge, Kakashi was playing hokey and stayed back just to observe me because with this level of strength and speed I have no doubt he would've crushed the rogue ninjas.
Then again he had a team and client to watch over so that must've factored in a great deal but whatever.
All I'm getting from this was that it was going to be a hell of a hard fight and I really didn't want to accidentally kill him by pulling out some more serious noble phantasms. But god damn was he tempting me to do so with how close he's came to lopping my head off a couple of times.
Kanshou and Bakuya were doing a great job anyways. I missed using these two swords as they felt like they were a part of me. It just felt good to hold them in my hands.
They were reliable. They were steady. They were dependable.
But most of all they were beautiful.
In a way I understand why Archer favored these twin swords the most. Not because of their short tracing time or the dual-wielding style, but because of the beauty it represented.
And that beauty was being a nameless hero of justice that desired neither praise nor glory for his efforts. Perfect for someone like me and him.
From the distance I could see Kakashi charging in once more with a righteous fury. Both hands being coated with lightning chakra.
I was going to need a little boost.
Kanshou and Bakuya can provide me that boost.
I sped towards Kakashi to meet him in the middle of his charge. My arms crossed my chest as I ran. A calm breath escaped me as I concentrated.
The first line should do.
"Spirit and technique, flawless and firm."
The twin swords of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye thrummed to life. I felt them through my hands eager to test their mettle once more against my former teacher's technique.
I was ready. They were ready.
My swords met his hands.
Once more the world exploded around us as our attacks collided with each other.
Mitarashi Anko's jaw was lift unhinged and kept blinking while she took care of Kakashi.
"Naruto will you quit fidgeting please?" asked Sakura.
"Haha," I laugh and apologize, "Sorry, sorry it just really hurts." Seriously it did, Kakashi knew how to kick and he engraved the sole of his sandals into my gut. Plus it didn't help that he knew how to spam elemental techniques out the ass like I would with swords.
Sakura, bless her, smacked in a sore spot. "Ouch! Geez – didn't you take like a Hippocratic Oath to do no harm?"
"A what oath?" Oh that's right. Different type of doctors and rules over here on this continent.
"Never mind don't worry about it." I quickly dismissed.
"Well apart from very minor lacerations and bruising here and there. You should be fine after some bed rest. I did my best so don't go off doing anymore crazy stunts like this one you just did."
Damn she was good at her job. Healing and all that stuff. I was never really into the whole medical sciences but it did peek my interest at one point. So for me it was rather impressive for someone like her to do all of this for me.
I nodded and performed a sloppy salute. "Yes ma'am! No jumping into a fight against Kakashi for a long while for me!"
The girl giggled and rolled her eyes. "Silly, take it seriously geez! Doctor's orders alright?"
"Alright, alright doctor's orders. Gotcha." I gave a small smile in reassurance so she'd stop fretting over me.
"Naruto." I heard my name being called out by one of his students. "What… were those swords? And how did you summon them so quickly?" Ah – it was Sasuke actually.
I'm a bit surprised they haven't asked yet but then again I usually up and leave before anyone could ask. It was better than making up some half-assed lie really. I was a certain that I could at least impart a little bit of knowledge to satisfy their curiosity.
"Kanshou and Bakuya are their names. Noble Phantasms that I projected and reinforced from my mind into the real world."
"Noble Phantasms?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes… I guess the best way to explain what a noble phantasm are that they are crystallized mysteries, powerful armaments made using the imagination of humans as their core. The embodiment of the ultimate mysteries of a hero that symbolizes his or her existence through historical facts and anecdotes." Really that was the best way I could explain it. I'm fairly certain that Tohsaka would've been able to explain it better than me but she wasn't here currently.
"So… like a weapon of a hero?" summarized Anko.
I nodded. That was pretty much it in a nutshell I suppose.
"And what hero wielded those swords then? Cause I've never heard of them in my life so they must've been pretty insignificant." The voice was dripping with derisiveness. I looked and saw it was Daisuke with his usual smug mug.
My lips were pursed together as if I had swallowed something rather sour.
"Far from it actually," I said hotly as I shifted my seating on the ground. This guy really knew how to push my buttons insulting Kanshou and Bakuya like that. Time for a history lesson.
They all perked up, especially Sasuke and Sakura.
The tale that I would tell will be of Heroic Spirit EMIYA's. Kanshou and Bakuya were his signature swords, so it can be said they are mine as well.
"The hero who wielded the twin swords was a nameless hero who believed in the concept of being a Hero of Justice. He desired neither glory nor prestige in his endeavors, while others may heap rewards onto him he would never ask for it."
I could feel Kakashi narrowing his eyes. Did I make the story too obvious already? It was too late, no going back now.
"You see he too only desired to save people, those swords he wielded represented that. They were created without vanity, without pride, and not a single desire to be famous… just like him." My eyes drifted off beyond them. His story mirrored my story. We were one in the same.
"And so he traveled the world with those two swords, saving people however he can. But then it came time when had to make a life changing decision." The right arm began shaking. I closed my hand to make a fist to quell it. "The nameless hero was faced with a calamity that had the possibility of killing over a hundred people before him. He had two choices: save as many as he could, which was only a handful, or save his own life. Which one do you think he made?" I asked them.
They were silent, it was a question directed to Tsubasa Daisuke really. His head turned away from as if he couldn't or rather wouldn't answer the question.
"…Neither. He made another choice instead."
"What was that choice?" earnestly replied Sasuke. Sounds like she was really getting into the story. Sadly for her, it was a tragic story.
"He called out to the world, asking for a miracle and the World answered back. He made a contract with it enabling him to produce a miracle that saved all those people's lives." The next line that I spoke just came out of my mouth. Something in me compelled me to speak it. "If doing that means no one will cry, then… so be it."
For the life of me I couldn't find the reason why I was trying so hard to defend Archer. Maybe because I felt like he was insulting EMIYA so in a way I was getting insulted as well? Or maybe it was the fact that I cherished Kanshou and Bakuya since we shared a sordid history.
"And what happened after that?"
"He died."
Everyone recoiled in shock at the abrupt end.
"He… died?"
I nodded.
"Yes. The people he saved betrayed him, thinking him to be the mastermind behind the calamity. So he was executed just like that."
"That's… terrible," said Sakura.
"Indeed, ironically he didn't felt betrayed at all. In the end he was glad being able to save all those people even at the cost of his life."
"Is that it? No happy ending?"
My head shook. There was no happy ending for Archer. His decision to make a contract with the World to become a Counter Guardian would forever seal his fate unless there was another Holy Grail that could grant a wish to free him. "Some heroes… don't get a happy ending. Most of the time it's the exact opposite of what they want."
"Then… what about you?" Sakura asked softly.
I… I really don't know how to answer that. Looking away from them, I rubbed my right arm feeling unsure about myself.
"I," I had to choose my words carefully. "I don't know I suppose… with what I've done over the years… with the decisions I've made… I doubt I'll get the ending that I want…"
It was impossible. It would require two miracles to simultaneously occur. One had to wait, the other continuously pursue endlessly.
The world was a cruel place to live in.
"Well… enough of that story. Anything else your curious minds would like to know?" I changed the subject. I didn't feel like talk about this anymore, plus everyone was starting to look a bit dour.
Kakashi looked to be deep in thought. He was a genius. A once in a generation type. The connections in that story about Archer and me were obvious to the naked eye. A person just had to be able to connect the dots.
Thankfully Kakashi decided to steer the subject to something else.
"What's this… thing that you said? To-race-on? What kind of jutsu is that?"
"Not jutsu. Thaumaturgy. And well I guess you can say it's an incantation for me to give form to what's in my mind," I explained.
My version of projecting was a mistake through and through. It was something that I had done wrong but kept doing over and over until I was given results. Tracing was a byproduct of me trying to project an object in its entirety rather than a hollow object that was usually associated with normal projection.
"Tracing allows me to… reproduce the shape and substance of an object or thing, but also the entirety of its history."
"Prove it. That has to be a joke you're pulling on us," challenged Daisuke.
Oh for the love of the Root. Was he going to just challenge me on everything?
An annoyed glare was sent his way as I huffed a bit of air. My pride was on the line here and I wasn't going to take shit from some haughty arrogant asshole.
What can I say? I'm a fairly petty person who likes to one-up people.
"Trace On."
I traced a sword from Unlimited Blade Works into the real world. It was Uchiha Sasuke's chokuto to be exact with its sheath to go along with it. Standing up I took a moment to pull the sword out and brandished it to them all.
"Uchiha Sasuke's sword. No name given to it. This blade was first forged over a year ago, 19 months, two weeks, five days, and nine hours to be exact. Made by the Higurashi family with the usage of tamahagane and chakra reactive 1095-steel, it took them exactly seven months to forge and complete. It currently has not killed anyone and has been held by at least five people in total. Six if you include me. This sword was a gift on Uchiha Sasuke's birthday on July 23rd by Tsubasa Daisuke and is only one of its kind in Konohagakure."
It was robotic. I could feel my eyes almost glaze over as I listed out everything of importance.
That was the mistake of me attempting to learn how to project on object into existence. I mentally divided the process of tracing into seven steps.
Judging the concept of an objects creation.
Hypothesizing its basic structure.
Duplicating the composition material.
Imitating the skill of its making.
Sympathizing the experience of its growth.
Reproducing the accumulated years.
And finally excelling every manufacturing process as much as possible.
Due to this I had inadvertently created something new in the world of thaumaturgy that hasn't happened in almost a millennia. It was considered impossible to recreate an item one for one but little old me was a stubborn little kid that tried wading his way into a world of magecraft and stumbled along the way.
Somehow with absolutely pure luck I stumbled the right way and made something that worked.
"No. Fucking. Way."
"Language Tsubasa," automatically chastised Kakashi.
"That's… amazing Naruto-kun," complimented the pink haired girl.
I stretched while rubbing my stomach where Kakashi kicked me. Damn my former teacher kicks like a mule.
"Would you believe me if I told you it was a mistake?"
"Really?" she said in disbelief.
"Mhm – I was trying to do something else and ended up doing it wrong for the past oh… maybe… eight years? Something like that before someone finally told me I was doing it wrong but by then I was already set in my ways."
That was a kick in the ass to see Tohsaka's gob smacked face when I told her that. I smiled fondly at those simpler times.
"Yeah… anyways. Anymore questions? Or would you all like for me to show you some more tricks? Maybe pulling a bunny out of a hat?" I couldn't help but tease them all a bit as I felt like I was putting on a magic show the entire time.
"Oh? Can you Naruto? That would be great entertainment actually!" jovially said Kakashi. His eyes were smiling in their usual way.
Of course that jackass would say that.
"Would you like dinner to go along with that show?" I replied sarcastically.
"If you insist Naruto-kun! I'm very happy that you so willing offered free food!"
I walked right into that.
"Alright. Whatever. Come by whenever I guess." I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. No point in fighting Kakashi when it came to a free meal.
"Ah ha! Thank you, thank you! I'll be sure to come by as soon as possible!"
A yawn escaped me that stretched my stomach causing me to wince. "Well if we're all done for today then I'll be heading back home. Hope your team was able to take whatever notes they could from our… spar."
There was no way you could call it a spar. It felt more like Kakashi trying to release some steam and find out the extent of my abilities. It was plain as day as to what he was trying to do but I didn't mind it at all. I had a whole lot more underneath my sleeve that I wasn't going to part with.
"Nope!" His voice was awfully cheery. Almost like he was happy for me to be going. Maybe it was the prospect of free food? "Everyone! Say thank you as usual for Naruto-kun helping us out today!"
"Thank you Naruto-kun!" As always it was sincere from Sakura.
"Thank you se-, thank you!" Sasuke stumbled a bit but quickly caught herself. That girl I swear…
Daisuke sneered his nose at me and looked away. He gave a cursory glance at Sasuke, giving her a strange look.
Basically almost a typical way the training sessions usually end.
"Have a nice night everyone!" I waved my hand in the air as I walked off.
Home sounded awfully nice right about now.
The people that were left on the field watched as Naruto's back disappeared in the distance before Kakashi spoke up to address them.
"This was all incredibly informative tonight! So as much as my fight was more of a personal thing, there were several lessons that you can take away here."
"And what was that sensei?" asked Sakura.
"How to manage with an aggressive opponent that puts you on the back foot constantly," explained their teacher. "In here Naruto's style revolves in him putting pressure continuously to gain the upper hand. A… bold strategy that's not typically applied by shinobi but works in his regard. The first couple of times I tried creating space by placing obstacles in his way to stall for time to think ahead. As you saw he brazenly tanked it all and continued his charge. What did you all see me do when all other options failed?"
"You applied the same pressure back to stagger him," answered Sasuke. "With that lightning technique you were able to momentarily stun him to gain leverage. Although he was able to pull a fast counter by summoning those swords so you had to improvise with a kick albeit I feel like that wasn't what you were trying to do…"
Kakashi hummed nodding his head. "Correct. I tried stunning him to end the fight but when he knocked my hands away leaving me open for attack I had to kick him away to put some space between us. That created a lull in the fighting, allowing me to plan my next couple of moves to set the pace of the fight."
There was only so much that his team was able to gleam off from the fight. The objective wasn't to show his team high-level combat after all, more of an alibi to prove his worth to Naruto. Which was a partial success that Naruto had given some insight into the world of thaumaturgy.
Hatake Kakashi was more than satisfied with what he was given tonight. Hopefully it would lead from one thing to another with Naruto finally giving him a clearer picture of everything. The man wasn't a scholar by any means, his profession after all was a shinobi. It didn't mean he liked being ignorant about things though.
"Even if the fight was a stalemate since neither of us won, the match was surely informative. This gives you all a chance at observing and understanding high-level combat. By the time the Chunin Exam rolls around this should second-nature for you all."
The veteran shinobi was more than confident in his team to steamroll through their journeyman trials.
With that he ended that day's training, sending his team back home early.
"What? Not gonna have your team run a couple of drills maybe?" teased Anko. "Or under all that bravado of yours, you're just all tired out Kaka-kun?"
He let out a breath of air. "No. Not today… we got him to open up a little more. I think… besides that night, he's been the most open with us about his abilities so far."
"Yeah…" she followed up softly. "Did you see his face when he was telling that story? It looked so…"
"Contemplative? Sad? Reflective? Hurt?"
She shrugged as they walked back to the village side-by-side. "All of the above I suppose. There's just a myriad of emotions on his face when he was talking about I wasn't able to keep track."
"Neither was I," he agreed enjoying Anko's presence beside him. "But I feel like he left a couple things out… I can't quite put my finger on what it is though… never mind. We'll find out sooner or later right?"
"Right! Remember we just have to give him some time and space Kaka-kun!"
"Yeah… time and space…" repeated Kakashi.
The story about the nameless hero felt like a facsimile to the life of his former student. The parallels and similarities were glaring, he'd be a fool if he hadn't picked up on it. That story was spoken with such familiarity it sounded as if Naruto was recounting his own life.
'Seems as if one question gets answered, a dozen more takes its place. Geez when did it get so complicated with your son Minato-sensei?'
He would have to slowly take things one step at a time and unravel the mystery that was Emiya Naruto.
I flicked on the lights when I returned home.
"Merem?" I called out. "You in here?"
"I'm in the living room Emiya-kun!"
Well that's good to know he's back in the house. I made my way towards the kitchen to cook up a small dinner for myself.
"So what've you been up to all day?" I asked out of curiosity. Seriously what does it do around here to keep itself entertained?
"Waiting for you actually."
Huh?
I stopped my meal prepping and shot him a look. "What do you mean by that?"
"Emiya. There's something that I need to show you."
It only ever used that deep voice for when it was something serious. This didn't sound good at all.
"Follow me Emiya, bring a flashlight and keep up."
And just like that it made its way out the door with me tailing behind it.
A sneaking suspicion aroused from me that I wasn't going to like this.
Merem lead me to beyond the Hokage Mountain, into the deep forests that sat behind it. It was long before we were at a nondescript cave entrance nestled away near a small stream.
"Merem… what is this?"
The entrance zone of the cave was a tight fit at first before it opened up some more. "Follow closely Emiya else you'll be lost in this labyrinth." I ducked just in time to avoid getting smacked in the head by a low hanging stalactite, he doesn't have to tell me twice.
Venturing down deeper into the dark zone I felt a creepy chill being sent down my back. "Merem you better have a damn good reason for bringing me down here. You know I don't like being in tight spaces let alone caves," I groused.
"Concentrate on following me, I need you to focus," it chastised. "We're almost there."
My hands were starting to clam up, a feeling of nervousness was building up inside my chest.
I did not like this.
I did not like this at all.
"Emiya-kun… when we were back in Fuyuki City. Was the Holy Grail destroyed?"
What?
What kind of dumb question was that?
"Of course it was destroyed!" I sounded incredulous. "I was there when… when she destroyed it with Excalibur."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! My right arm would to think so as well!"
He didn't respond.
"I lost so much just trying to destroy that dumb stupid grail! So I think I can qualify to say that it was completely destroyed!"
"Completely destroyed?" it repeated.
"YES! I mean- what is this all about Merem?"
"We were wrong," it said with a grave voice.
We stopped at an antechamber of sorts that lead to a man-sized entrance to a greater area.
We were wrong? What was that supposed to mean? What the hell was he saying?
The King of Rats waved me forward, ushering me in to go first as if it would answer my question.
I gulped. My heart started beating faster.
I took a step forward, shining my light into the massive cavern.
Immediately I was blasted with a wave of malignant energy that almost made me drop my flashlight. "Im… impossible…"
All around me there was pools of the corrupted grail's black mud. Too many bad memories were starting to seep back in of that night.
"Something… came out of this Emiya." Its voice was chilling. This must've been the thing that had it preoccupied all the time. "When the grail was destroyed, it spat something out into the other side of the world."
I didn't want to hear that. I wanted to so badly ignore what the white rat was saying.
It meant that her sacrifice was all for nothing.
I stared into the abyss, the abyss stared back into me.
(1) Description used for Gate of Babylon
Author's Note: Last chapter before we finally get underway with the Chunin Exams. I apologize for the delay as I recently finished with university finals and getting sick at the end of it. Ended up being completely bedridden for a couple of days preventing me from typing.
First, thank you all for the kind words and support everyone sent me about last chapter. Really thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Secondly, wow I'm completely amazed that I have over 300 followers/favorites for this story. That completely blows my mind coupled with over 20k views along with breaking a hundred reviews. I never really expected my story to get that noticed, so this is a huge thank you to all who've read my story, favorite/followed and reviewed! I seriously appreciate it all and gives me a bit of boost to get better at crafting my story!
Goals for this chapter was to tie some things up that were left off in the last chapter, have Naruto discover what Merem found, and some more character interactions with each other. Chunin Exams starting next chapter has me pretty psyched!
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review on the chapter about any thoughts/critiques so that I may improve! Feel free to ask me anything, I try and send PMs as much as possible. So don't be afraid! Thank you all once more for reading my story!
Word count before A/N: 13,282