The Hunter Chapter 6
The Leader
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Sword Art Online and Naruto belong to their respective creators and I am just using that, illegally, without explicit permission. Sue me. The only things that are mine are the ideas that I introduce in this fic.
Yes, this fic gets updated along with True Faith, Unwavering Sky and Caliburn Initiative as a New Year's present to our readers. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~
Soundtrack List
GreeeeN – Love Song
Becky – Emerald
Immediate Music – Catch the Falling Sky
****The Hunter****
11th Floor Taft
"We should get going." Lightning finally said after a long lengthy silence. She glanced around the empty Boss Chamber where only a few people were left, mostly because they were too mentally tired to move, "Everyone else already went ahead of us."
One crystalline blue eye slowy opened wearily, "Before we go..." he slowly pulled himself back up, yellow bangs obscured his eyes, "How many people did we lose?"
Argo hurriedly interrupted the rest before it could be answered, "Ju-just a few, we can worry about that tomorrow right guys?" though judging by the grateful looks, no one had wanted to answer his question either.
"I see..." Naruto smiled weakly, "We'll deal with it tomorrow then." That was usually the main reason why the day after ever floor was cleared was considered a holiday, everyone took some time off, resting mentally while others picked up whatever was left behind. He stood up and stretched with a moan, "Even if we don't have bones or flesh in here, stretching like that always feels so good for some reason," As they began walking towards the large open portal deep in the Chamber, Naruto stopped when he realized Kline and Egil wasn't following them, "Oooi, Kline, Egil you coming?"
Kline who was mourning at a certain spot in the wall for some reason turned around at the question.
"Gah! For the love of God, DON'T POINT THAT THING AT ME!"
He glanced downwards at his red skin suit, decidedly confused, "Huh? Point what at you?"
Naruto felt like pulling his eyes out, "It... doesn't matter, just put on some clothes will ya? I can literally feel your chances of getting a girlfriend in this game dwindling every second you stand there in that suit!"
"But it looks cool!"
The longer Kline stood there facing them, the stronger the chills running down his back were, "Whatever, just put on your armour!"
"Alright, alright. What in the world is wrong with you guys?" Kline grumbled to himself as he re-equipped his samurai styled heavy armour.
Naruto peeked out from between his fingers before heaving a relieved sigh, "Well, what are you two still standing there for? Let's get out of here eh?"
"It's alright. I... I wanna stay here a little longer." Kline murmured, his eyes going back to the spot on the wall. The tall giant who was sitting at the furthest away from them in some sort of slump only replied with a quiet grunt.
Naruto made a irritated grunt before moving towards where Kline was standing. He slung one hand around the slightly taller man's neck and pulled him down as he opened a trade window with the red haired man, "Here, I got something for you."
Back where the rest were standing, Lightning furrowed her eyebrows, "What are they whispering about over there?"
"Who knows." Argo murmured in return, leaning forward in a very obvious attempt to eavesdrop.
Kline grasped the triangular piece of cloth like it was the Holy Grail, "Th-th-th-this is? How?"
"When she kicked me I picked her pocket and grabbed whatever I could out of pure habit and reflexes." Naruto admitted with a whisper, "and don't shout so loud. I don't want anyone to know."
Back with Lightning and the rest, Argo cocked her head with a frown, "Why is Kline grovelling to Naruto and calling him Shishou?"
"I don't know... and I dont want to know... That aside, I suddenly have this strange urge to strangle someone. Does anyone else feel it?"
Every female there nodded.
Seeing that Kline was no longer down, the blonde moved towards the wall where Egil was still slumped down on, "Yo, big guy. I need a favour."
The big man slowly looked up, peering up at the blonde with blank eyes, "What is it?"
Naruto opened another trade window with the tall merchant, "I have quite a few items from the Bosses and I can't use any of them. You wanna help me sell them?"
"But... You want someone like-"
"You get a 40% commission on the items and the rest goes to everyone who helped in this Boss fight. It's not very fair that I got all three Last Hits isn't it?" Naruto cut him off with a half smile.
The half dead eyes of his disappeared and Egil practically shot up, full of life once more, "Why is everyone so slow?! Let's get to the next floor!"
Naruto only smiled wryly as he watched the big man spring up the stairs like a child.
"You might as well have given them away for free at that kind of rate." Argo commented.
Naruto chuckled and ruffled the shorter girl's curly hair with his palm, a palm which was viciously pushed away with a squawk from the offended girl, "Probably. But if I did, he would have seen it as me taking pity on him. Better to lose money, than to lose a friend eh?" Naruto remarked, "Well... now that those two idiots feel better now, let's go on shall we?"
They were almost up the stairs when Naruto suddenly stopped again, "Ah, I forgot I left something back there." He began running down the stairs agilely, "You guys go ahead, don't wait up for me!"
As the blonde hit the floor running, Argo couldn't help but sigh helplessly, "In the end he couldn't wait huh?"
The silent up till now Kirito shook his head, "I'll never understand him. He smiles and pushes himself to comfort others no matter how bad he himself feels, but he won't let others help him. At this rate, he's going to die before we get out and it won't be because of the monsters."
"Since you put it that way," the short girl smirked, "Why don't you go and try to make him feel better?"
"I'll pass, thank you very much." Kirito replied, looking vaguely squicked.
"Well... who wants to go then? We all know that he's going to sleep under the Monument again." Lightning muttered.
"Hey, guys! Wait up!" A lithe girl sprinted through the chamber, waving at them with a bright smile with her long brown hair fanning out behind her.
When Asuna finally reached them, she clasped her stomach and panted lightly, "Sorry I'm late, I just met a few new friends and..." she paused and made a cute scrunched up frown, staring at them warily, "Why exactly... is everyone looking at me like that?"
****The Hunter****
Play GreeeeN – Love Song
Booted feet crunched on gravel, the sound bouncing throughout the pitch darkness as a figure made his way through the dark streets. The moment he reached the archway that signalled the entrance of the large round field where the Monument of Life stood, torch fires came to life, emitting a fierce orange glow that threw dancing shadows all over the place.
The blonde slowly limped his way to the Monument and laid one hand on the cold granite with a blank face, counting the number of grooves on the face of the granite. He already knew those that passed away by memory and added 33 more names to the list with a quiet sigh.
He turned around and leaned on the stone, savouring the coldness as his knees slowly began to give away until the blonde was sitting on the ground with his eyes closed. He sat there unmoving until the lights slowly dimmed and ultimately burned out when the motion sensors didn't detect any movement after a certain amount of time until another shadow blurred through the gates and hurled itself at the still blonde, causing him to expel all the air in his diaphragm as she sobbed into his startled chest.
"Naruto-dono! Naruto-dono! Naruto-dono!"
The somewhat surprised blonde only dumbly stared at the pink haired girl, "Tamamo? Weren't you with Heathcliff?"
She shook her head violently with her nose still buried in his chest, "I came... soon as possible." Slowly she looked up at him with brimming eyes, "I was worried... you didn't come to new floor. I thought... lost you again." Tamamo still spoke haltingly, but she had gotten better at it. However, whenever she was stressed, old habits seemed to come back.
The taller blonde awkwardly made soothing noises to the crying girl, "Shhh... I'm sorry I made you worried." He flapped his arms around like a bird with a silly smile, "I'm fine see? and I'm here now."
"Unn..."
"And didn't I tell you stop calling me that? It's really awkward."
"Huuu..." She made a pinched expression and shook her head strongly, "Naruto-dono is Naruto-dono."
"I have tofu."
"Ah..." She looked adorably confused, "Then.. then, what should I call you?"
The blonde grinned faintly, "Just Naruto works."
"Muuu..." The pink haired girl suddenly smiled impishly, "So you don't want me to address you so stiffly?"
"Well.. yeah?" Naruto replied warily.
Tamamo abruptly sat up, "Alright. Can I have fried tofu now?"
Naruto smiled weakly and dug around in his inventory, pulling out a small bundle wrapped in oil paper. Tamamo's nose immediately twitched, tears and honorofics instantly forgotten in favour of the sweet smell emanating from the small package. Unwrapping the package, Naruto lifted a sheet of fried tofu and dangled it in front of Tamamo whose eyes slowly waved back and forth in time with the fluttering sheet of tofu.
The blonde chuckled lowly as Tamamo's restraints finally shattered and she pounced on the tofu and stuffed it into her mouth. One the tofu disappeared down her gullet; her eyes gleamed wildly before she snatched the whole package from him and began stuffing her face until not a single brown shred was left.
"Really, you got oil all over your face." Naruto chided the satisfied purring girl gently as he wiped her mouth with his cloak.
"Nuugh... promise me you won't go anywhere?"
"Yeah, I promise. Pinkie promise?" the shorter girl wrapped her pinkie around the offered finger and smiled as she slowly dozing off in his arms. The pink haired girl really calmed down whenever she had her fill of tofu. Ever so slowly, he tried to remove his arm from the girl's grip.
Failing that, the blonde sighed in resignation and shrugged off his cloak, revealing a deep blue sleeveless leather armour and draping it over the sleeping girl.
Tamamo's smile widened as she snuggled deeper into the blonde's white cloak, "Muuu... warm..."
Cricking his sore neck a little, the blonde settled himself onto the uncomfortable ground for the night. The lights had finally just about dimmed and Tamamo's breathing had finally quieted into a tiny snores when yet another shadow propelled itself onto his abdomen, driving all the air from him for the second time that night, "Gehoh!"
Given that he had been lying down on the floor, he was quite sure that his back was going to bruise beautifully in the morning.
"No! Naruto don't dieeeee!" The figure grabbed his lapels and began shaking him violently.
By that point, his back bruising was the last of his problems, "Sto-shake-p-shake-I'm-shake-awake-SLAP!"
"Waaah! Don't kill yourself!" She began slapping him, all the while shaking him. Tamamo, who had been dislodged from the blonde simply opened one bleary amber eye and watched the two of them sleepily before rolling over and falling asleep again.
Naruto's only thought mid slap was, 'Bastards set me up.' And he resigned himself to painfully deciphering whatever the brown haired girl was saying amidst her blubbering.
And shakes.
And slaps. Oh and punches too.
Pain was a strange element in Sword Art Online. Given the attempt to make the game as realistic as possible, pain was a necessary component of ensuring players maintained a sense of danger and alertness towards their surroundings. But as far as he could tell, how much pain was felt depended on a few things such as level, stats and the victim's own mental expectations. For example, someone who had just been stabbed through the abdomen by someone of far lower level would only feel barely a twinge but getting the same from a player who was roughly around or higher than him would bring about quite a lot more pain. Though, Naruto noted that there was a threshold that the system seemed unable to bypass, which was more than likely a safety precaution. Mental expectation seemed to play a role as well but throughout his experiments, he still failed to quantify the exact measure.
'If you crash into something you feel pain. If you get cut, you will feel pain.' Common sense. Naruto wondered if no one had told him that human's couldn't fly, would he have been able to?
Suffice to say, the equations got so complicated that the blonde finally gave it up as a bad job.
Coming back to the current situation, Naruto could safely say that being shaken like a ragdoll and then being slapped repeatedly by Asuna, who was a few levels above him, was certainly not a pleasant experience. His HP didn't drop since they were in a safe zone, but that sure as hell didn't stop it from stinging.
Shake-shake-shake-Slap!
"Noo! You idiot! Why did you have to do something like that! Everything will be fine if you don't give up!" Asuna half sobbed, half said, "Don't leave us here... Huh?" She stopped shaking Naruto and stared at the blonde who looked like someone had steamrolled him. His face had gone an interesting shade of blue and he had started frothing at the mouth.
He smiled weakly, "Yo."
She dropped him like a rock and leapt a few steps back, "I-I'm SO SORRY! I-I was so worried; they said that you looked so de-depressed and you went some-where to... to... urgh!" Asuna looked up pleadingly, "Anyway, I know it was a bad fight, but you shouldn't let it get you down, but I thought we did really well!"
Rather than looking depressed, the blonde was anything but, in fact, he started laughing loudly the moment he managed to breathe again as he rubbed the back of his head where it had bumped the floor. Mentally, he was making a reminder do something for his so called friends as payback.
Asuna stared at him weirdly, "Y-You're not depressed? Bu-But... they said you looked like you were crying, even Kirito."
Maybe poison? Something that couldn't be remedied so easily with an antidote would be perfect.
He held up his hands in surrender and quirked a half smile, "I'm fine, a little upset, but fine."
Asuna looked distinctly embarrassed and flustered, "Oh."
"Yes, oh." Naruto leaned forward with a teasing smile.
"I'm going to kill Argo. She made it sound like you were going to commit suicide or something." The brown haired girl mumbled to herself as she furiously wiped away her tears with the back of her hands before turning her ire on the blonde, "What are you doing here anyway!? It's already 2 AM in the morning!"
Naruto shrugged and answered carelessly, "I just felt like it. By the time I was done, I was too tired to go home."
The exasperated girl looked like she had a few things to say about that. A few rather impolite things in fact, if the way her cheeks were puffing up and turning red was any indication, in the end she forcibly swallowed whatever she wanted to say and huffed, "You should have told me, do you know how worried I was when you weren't with the rest?"
Asuna shifted until she was sitting beside the blonde with her back to the Monument, "Now what are we going to do? The celebration on the twelfth floor probably ended already and we missed all of it." She complained with a vindictive elbow dig.
"Yeah." Naruto agreed with a wince as his stomach instantly reawakened at the mere mention of food, "I haven't had anything to eat the entire day either." It wasn't that he really needed the nutrition. Given enough will power, one could ignore the hunger for days on an end, but he really disliked the niggling of hunger at the back of his mind that only got stronger with each passing minute.
Under the blonde's confused stare, Asuna began rustling around in her inventory with a small blush before violently thrusting it into his stomach, "Here. I had some leftover."
"Nuh? What is it?" Naruto asked as he undid the wrappings warily to find... a half eaten something.
"Just eat it."
"Is this a sandwich?"
"Yes." She replied curtly.
"Why is it blue?"
Asuna began poking his side with her head lowered in embarrassment, "Look, you want it or not!?"
She tried to grab it back from him but the chuckling blonde fended her off, "Alright, alright." The blonde hesitantly put it in his mouth and began to chew under the brown haired girl's expectant stare, "Well? How was it? I mean, I just felt like learning how to cook." She mumbled indistinctly.
"Mmhmm. It's good."
"You don't have to lie. I just started the skill w-when I got a new slot... it's sstill just level 10." Her mumbles got quieter and quieter due to extreme embarrassment, "I tried it myself; it was so bad that I couldn't finish it."
"Yeah. Tastes like crap." Naruto declared with a wide smile. The finger in his side dug into his flesh until it was almost painful.
"Argh! Give it back!" Asuna lunged at him, but the blonde turned around, shielding his food from the flustered girl.
"Meh, you made it with your own hand, that's good enough for me." Despite the awkward combination... soft... sour... fishy... and chewy sandwich, the blonde continued to devour every last bit of sandwich with a grin.
"Hauu..." Asuna buried her face in her hands, refusing to look him in the eye as heat suffused her cheeks.
"Ah... that was good." The blonde leaned back onto the Monument with a satisfied smile as he patted his tummy, the buzzing at the back of his was finally gone, "Now what should we do?" he muttered thoughtfully.
"Huh? About what?"
"The celebration. You wanted to go didn't you?" Naruto commented easily, "There's usually some sort of bon odori styled dance right?"
Asuna almost collapsed with laughter, "Mo-more like a group of idiots gathering around a fire and," She stalled again, giggling madly, "Shaking their bodies, there are a few musicians though, so it isn't that... bad."
"I see... I've never actually been to one, since I usually go straight to bed..." He jumped up with a puff and offered a hand to her with his usual silly grin. Without his usual white long coat, the blonde looked noticeably different in the torch light, "Come on."
Sharper and fiercer if she had to say. The skin tight midnight blue surcoat only served to emphasize that notion as his lean muscles rippled lithely with every swing of his arm.
Asuna's warm brown eyes shifted from staring at the hand warily and him, even if she didn't say it, the way she was looking at him made it very clear exactly what was going on in her head, "Come on... what exactly?"
"We'll dance." Naruto said simply, as if it was a foregone conclusion.
Asuna got up with a worried look and slowly backed away from the blonde, ignoring his hand, "When that boss kicked your face in, she must've kicked really hard. It'll be alright, I'm sure there's a doctor somewhere in this game."
The blonde clearer rolled his eyes and darted forwards grasping her hand and waist. She tried to push him away, but he didn't let that stop him as he started whirling the squawking girl round and round.
"Wha-What are you doing idiot!? A vibrant and upbeat rhythm started playing somewhere outside her ears, rendering her so shocked that she forgot to keep hitting the blonde, "... Is that MUSIC?!"
"Yeah," The blonde paused, "You didn't know?"
"Know what? How do I get it?" Asuna asked, nearly hungrily.
"Sword Art Online lets you upload music from your PC to your NerveGear so you can listen to music while you play, but you can only do it before starting up the game." Naruto remarked easily.
Asuna drooped slightly, "I didn't know about that... so I can't do it anymore?"
"I guess not... I can't transfer it to you either. I mean, I might be able do it but I'd need an admin password to your NerveGear and an external interface."
"Oh... Then I guess I can't. I don't have the password since the NerveGear I'm using actually belongs to my brother." the disappointment on her face was almost painful although the blonde wasn't entirely sure if she was thinking about the music or her family, "But how come I can hear it?"
The palm that was holding hers slowly lifted until it was in front of their faces, "As long as we're in physical contact, I can share it with you." The girl simply sighed in resignation and leaned in closer, determined to enjoy this little bit of music, a little bit of modern life that she had almost forgotten in between the pain and the fighting. The blonde's infectious smile as he swirled her around without any regard for decorum just made it harder to resist.
She had no doubt that if someone were to stumble upon the two or rather three of them here, that person would immediately think they were crazy, however as the music seemed to switch into something a lot slower and emotional, she couldn't bring herself to give a damn about that person's opinion anymore.
"I think..." Naruto drew a deep breath as the two of them fell into a haphazard but soothing rhythm that most certainly wouldn't qualify for a dance, "I think I'm going to join Heathcliff."
"Hmmm? Why this all of a sudden?" Asuna leaned in even closer.
"Thirty three people died today... that's why I was here. And out of the four groups, there were a total of nine archers. Only one survived."
"Who?"
"Me." Naruto answered shortly, "I kept thinking... if only I took Heathcliff's offer seriously and trained them, they might have died either way, but at least they would have stood a better chance of going to that celebration." The blonde replied bitterly.
"Your palm is so big." Asuna murmured softly, staring at the large hand that almost covered hers as they swayed together causing the blonde to stare at her, a little perplexed and confused at the sudden change in topic. She gripped it a little tighter, "It's rough too."
"Yeah, I guess it is." Naruto replied with some amusement, the two of them finally settled into a steady pattern, "Is that a bad thing?"
"I guess not," Asuna mumbled, feeling strangely mellow, "Everyone in my family has soft hands. Delicate and manicured, even my brother." She lifted the hand and touched her forehead to it gently, "But it's nice. This roughness, its proof..."
Naruto stared at her strangely, "What does that mean? Proof of what?"
Asuna smiled softly, "Nothing."
They quietly danced silently for a bit longer when Asuna spoke again, "If you want to join Heathcliff, then do as you wish. Nothing I can say right now is going to convince you that it wasn't your fault. If helping to train new archers will let you sleep at night, then I'll stand behind you whenever you need it."
Naruto pulled her a little closer, "Thanks."
"You're welcome... Naruto?"
the blonde had abruptly frozen and began to drastically pale as he literally vibrated in place.
"Na-naruto? What's wrong? GYAAAH! Why are you puking blood?!"
****The Hunter****
15th Floor Tauban
Deep breath in… and exhale. One crystal blue eye sighted down the shaft of a spear at an advancing bear, his thumb functioning as a notch on the improvised bow, before letting go, "Original Skill: Lunar Fang."
The floating blue bar above the bear's head flickered a moment before sharply decreasing with each spear that pierced its abdomen until it finally emptied out shortly before the bear managed to even get near the blonde standing atop a cliff.
The blonde in question flicked his left hand and pulled down a menu to check the status of his quest, "Oi, you done? I already got all of mine. Two hundred bear asses." He called out to the last member of their party below him.
"Stop being so crude." The only female of the trio grunted in an unfeminine manner as she carefully climbed the rocky incline.
"What do you expect me to call them?" Naruto replied with a smirk, "Butts? Behinds? Posteriors?"
Asuna rolled her eyes as she finally reached the top. Sitting under a tree at the thickest part of the ledge was a snoozing Kirito, having been the first to complete their quest. One black eye lazily opened and the young boy yawned as his two companions approached him, "We done?"
Naruto Uzumaki, the oldest of the trio simply sighed as his bow disintegrated into dust, the last of its durability vanishing like mist. Unlike normal equipment whose durability vanished with each use; his bows were classified as furniture, their durability vanishing consistently as time passed or faster if it took a beating, much like food type items, "Yeah. Just in time too. Let's go get our reward."
Silently, the three tired companions trudged back to a small village located on the 15th floor, Tauban. It had been a long careful day spent on quests and while Asuna and Naruto assisted each other to cover the other's weaknesses, Kirito had been quite happy to do it on his own as usual.
As the three of them separately handed in the quests, Naruto glanced at the menu and blinked, "Crap. I have to go, I promised to show up at Headquarters in 30 minutes." Hurriedly selecting a block of wood from the list, the blonde quickly left without another word.
"I'll go with you." Asuna put in as she picked out a new rapier from the list of reward choices to replace her own ragged one, "Tama-chan is waiting for me as well."
As Kirito watched his two friends hurry off, he sighed and laid back down on the grass outside the elder's home. Unlike the other two, he had chosen to reject Heathcliff's invitation from joining their guild, the newly erected Knights of the Blood. Ever since then, the time they spent together gradually got less and less every day, though the two of them still made a point to spend at least some time with him, which made him feel all the more guilty.
The guild itself had been created shortly after the clearers cleared the 11th floor but Naruto and Tamamo hadn't joined until the 12th and Asuna shortly after.
Although the three of them had yet to encounter anything that they had been unable to handle with their wits, the 11TH Floor Boss had been something of a wakeup call, the twelfth, even more so.
Emboldened by their previous success on the eleventh floor, the exact same tactic had been run by someone else, a Tank player character that he was not familiar with had taken charge of the Clearers against the grotesque Super Slime that was the twelfth floor's Boss.
It had almost been a complete massacre. Pure damage wise, the boss was incredibly weak and had low base HP. It was so easy that the man had gotten over confident and impatient, thinking the strategy too time consuming, which it admittedly was, so he choose to launch a full strike only after three or four switches, committing their entire force into a dead charge. Only the fact that everyone carried teleport crystals by necessity saved them all after the Slime began counter attacking them by intermittently emitting a noxious gas that blinded and poisoned everyone within a 30 metre radius when it only had one last health bar left.
As a consequence, morale fell so low that the blonde housemate of his had stepped up once more, persuading, cajoling and shouting at the Clearers to grow some balls and try again.
The entire challenge had lasted a grand total of 11 hours from first blood to death cry. 11 gruelling hours, in which he had watched the blonde get more and more haggard with each push into the Boss room, persistently putting himself in the lead with each charge.
That victory had ultimately sent a grand total of 58 people to their graves and increasing the number of gouges on the Life Monument by the same number.
He was so stupid, taking on so many responsibilities and burdens for no other reason than to help them, strangers, people who showed him no gratitude like the proverbial white knight. Kirito understood the meaning of role play, he had done it often enough. Putting one's self in an environment without noticeable consequences allowed them to be someone different, someone... more than the person they had left behind, but this wasn't the same. SAO had consequences, deadly ones, yet the older blonde seemed to be taking it to an extreme anyway, with no noticeable benefit, unless you counted the rather numerous admiring fans he had unintentionally gathered for himself.
Naruto didn't strike him as the type though.
Point in fact, he was so busy helping others, running the guild or finding loopholes to exploit that his own levels and stats fell far short compared to his and Asuna's. Because most of them had more than a month with nothing to do but train during the first floor while they looked for the boss room, most of the clearers were already in the level thirty to forty range despite it only being the fifteenth floor, but as a result, EXP gain rate had slowed down to a crawl even now. Where Asuna was already at a respectable level forty one despite her own responsibilities, the blonde was nearly ten levels lower than her at thirty three. It was almost a miracle that the blonde man was still on the front lines and racking up a kill count with his human sized block of wood in a day that matched and exceeded what most did in a week.
There were times though, when something happened, something that was serious enough to push the blonde enough for the white knight facade to slip. Those were the rare moments when a starkly different Naruto to how he usually appeared would peep out from behind the mask.
A cranky, easily annoyed, stupidly blunt and crafty young man with an inability to keep his fingers out of other people's pockets and a penchant of nibbling stuff whenever he was irritated.
Which was actually quite often now that he thought about it.
The raven haired boy sighed and got up, tussling his hair back as he prepared to throw himself back into solo training once more, there was no time to think about others when he had to worry about himself.
****The Hunter****
Play Becky – Emerald
"Naruto, wait up! This isn't the way to Headquarters!" Even if they called it Headquarters, the current members of the KoB were simply using the 10th floor's main town as a meeting point until they could save enough money to acquire a suitable building.
The blonde running through the trees halted momentarily and looked back, "It's alright; you can go there first." He glanced at the block of wood he was still carrying with some exasperation, "I just have to get back and get a new set of bows and ammo first. I only have one last set left."
The brown haired girl leapt over a rock and landed agilely beside the blonde, easily keeping up with him through her higher Agility stats, "It's alright. I'll go with you. You know, I remember seeing some metal on that list, why don't you make a bow out of those? They should be more durable isn't it?"
Naruto half smiled and answered as he continued at a decent pace, "Good idea, I had that same thought myself so I tried it out but there were a few problems. For one, my wood crafting skill is designed to carve wood into furniture, but it won't work on metal ores, my carving knife broke before the ore lost even a single durability point. So I asked Egil to help me find the best blacksmith he could for my experiments."
Asuna noted that his blue eyes began to light up the way they always did whenever he was talking about Sword Art Online and she had to smile at his almost childish enthusiasm, "The blacksmith managed change its shape with a hammer and his skill, but even then what came out was completely random and most certainly didn't look like a bow, so we tried another way, namely trying to shape it manually by using a sword. Safe to say, it was a complete waste of time. We couldn't even manually interact or carve it into a rod or something to use as a makeshift club. We tried a few other ideas, like splintering rocks to see if we could use the larger shards as shields or armour to take advantage of the fact that it's considered an immortal environmental item and wouldn't take direct damage." He grimaced, "It didn't work. The piece of rock definitely blocked most anything we could throw at it but it was too heavy to move properly and it also disappeared after a count of ten." Naruto seemed to shake himself sheepishly as he realized he had gone on another one of his 'SAO is wonderful' rants, "Ultimately, Sword Art emphasizes realism but there ARE limits, but I'm confident that I can find more loopholes given time."
Asuna nodded slowly as they passed through the teleport gates onto the 7th floor.
****The Hunter****
As the two of them approached the meeting place, they found someone with bright pink hair bouncing up to them, a bag in hand, "Naruto-sama! Asuna-chan!"
Asuna smiled brightly and gathered the slightly smaller girl into a hug, "Tamamo! Sorry I'm late."
"It's alright, I just got here too." She held up the bag as the two of them entered the archway with a smiling Naruto in tow, "Look, it's done!"
Asuna pouted, "You should have waited for me, I promised to help you with it!"
"Whoa, wait a second, finish what?" the blonde inquired with a curious look at the bag.
"You get to wait and see like everyone else." Asuna cheerfully rebutted and pulled a smirking Tamamo along with her.
Sighing, the man shifted his white long coat into a more comfortable position followed the two bouncing girls at a slightly more sedate pace until they came to a courtyard where about the thirty or so members of KoB were waiting for them, "Morning Joker-sama! Asuna-sama! Tmamo-sama!"
The blonde waved casually and looked around with a frown, "Heathcliff isn't here?"
All of them shared a doubtful look and shook their heads, causing the blonde to sigh and step up to start the day's training while his two friends looked on. Asuna who was standing with Tamamo and rummaging through the bag took the time to glance at the blonde's tall profile authoritatively matching up teams for training; all of them would be separated into their specialties for practice. That was the way their days usually went, first they had practice for a three hours of for mock battles and duels or simple archery practice.
Many considered that the mock battles and duels redundant since they could gain experience on the field anyway, but the blonde was adamant about them learning how to efficiently use their skills under pressure, especially when against another player. After that, they would disperse, taking a rest for lunch. Once their stamina was replenished, Naruto would once more separate the twenty four members into roaming squads of three to be sent into the field to train and search for the Boss Room at the same time.
When the guild had first been established, the leadership ranks had been determined through a simple duel styled tournament with Asuna emerging victorious amongst the Sweepers.
The blonde... depending on your perspective... had won in his own inimical style. To be precise, on the day before the match, he pretty much poisoned every single one of his competitors, only instead of using actual poison; he had thrown together a cocktail of the most disgusting things he could get his hands on. Suffice to say, trying to focus on dodging flying spears was a rather interesting experience when your brain was trying to tell you that you desperately needed to find a toilet.
The lack of toilets in Sword Art Online, and the required anatomy to make use of aforementioned toilets could not have been more obvious that day.
Directly after he had beaten every single one of his opponents into the ground with a polite smile, he turned around and declared himself forfeit because he cheated for no discernible reason.
So technically, Naruto was but a simple member of KoB, he held no rank unlike Asuna or Tamamo and there really wasn't a real legitimate reason to obey his orders, yet every single one of their members looked up and deferred to him whenever Heathcliff was not available. Which was almost all the time
At first he had resisted the idea, but inevitably, he was unable to bear watching everybody mill around like lost children and took charge with a confidence that inspired everybody.
In a way, the blonde was the true Leader of the Knights of the Blood.
"Asuna-chan?" the sound of her name being called caused her to look back down at the pink haired girl who was staring at her inquisitively. She laughed awkwardly, "Sorry, I must have been spacing out."
The smaller girl's pseudo ears wriggled a little but she shrugged it off before pointing at the bag, "We're ready. We should change before we give them their presents."
Asuna smiled and wound her arm around Tamamo's, "Alright, let's go and dazzle the boys." She said cheerfully.
Meanwhile, at the make shift shooting range that Naruto had built by himself, the blonde was currently instructing a three new archer recruits.
He stared at the three young boys, "You are here because you want to learn how to use a bow and I am here because I agreed to help you learn. But before we start, there's one thing I want you to memorize until you can recite it in your sleep." He drew a deep breath and allowed a fierce expression onto his face as he gestured at the pile of practice bows beside him, "These bows and the skills you get from me are only used to protect something important to you. If I find out that you used it for something else, mark my words. I. Will. Hunt. You. Down. Myself. Do I make myself clear?"
The three shaken and pale boys nodded frantically.
"Naruto nodded in satisfaction, "Very well, everyone pick a bow that feels right."
As the three of them hurried to grab a bow while avoiding the penetrating blue stare as much as possible, Naruto began pacing behind them, "I don't care WHAT you've heard about archery or guns before but you will not be good about this off the bat unless you have had prior experience. There's no system assist for this function either, so don't worry about hitting your targets yet. Just get a feel for the spear's trajectory. This might be Sword Art Online, but wind resistance and gravity still play a major role. Your arm and shoulder strength here does not matter like it would in real life, only your Strength stat and unlike modern day bows, we don't have a nocking point, we do not have a wedge, we do not have a arrow rest and we do not have sights. What we DO have is ourselves. Here, a proper pose will be the difference between you shooting a target and you shooting your foot off."
He paused and adjusted a young boy's grip on his bow, straightening the boy's shoulders as he did so, "Aim a little higher and adjust accordingly. When you can hit at least 6 out of 10 of your marks here consistently, we'll move to the sixth floor where the wind is stronger for you to get a feel. Once you get a feel for that, we might even be able to start shooting while moving by the end of this week." He winked at the seven youths, all of them male, "It looks really cool ya know. Good for those of you with girlfriends to show off to eh?"
All of them snickered and elbowed each other before saluting him with beaming grins.
"Naruto!"
The blonde threw a side long glance over his shoulder, "Is something wrong with the Sweepers?"
Asuna smiled faintly, "No, but I doubt their going to like me anytime soon."
"Asuna-chan turned them into target practice for the other Archers." Tamamo bluntly explained.
She puffed up her cheeks in defiance, "It'll help them increase their reflexes."
Naruto chuckled heartily, "What did they do this time?"
"They peeped on her while she was changing."
Naruto sighed, "I don't mind if they have fun while training, in fact, I encourage it, but some things aren't meant to be played with. Write a list of their names and pass them to me later so that I can reprimand them." He turned to the group of distinctly overwhelmed boys, more than one of them were drooling at the pink haired Tamamo who was dressed in an elaborate, white and red custom kimono and Asuna who was in a sharp looking red and white costume, "Boys, these two beautiful ladies are Tamamo-san and Asuna-san. Asuna-san is in command of the Sweepers. Tamamo-san on the other hand is in charge of Supplies and Support, she's also Heathcliff's secretary. If you need new armour or weapons, you can put in a request with her, and she'll see if there's anything we can give you from the drops that our guild gathers."
Then again, he had noticed that Tamamo spent far more time with him than with Heathcliff. He assumed it was mostly because he always had a bag of her favourite fried tofu with him.
The three of them surged forward with shining eyes, crowding around a noticeably uncomfortable looking Tamamo and Asuna, "Uwoooh! I can believe we get to talk to Tamamo-sama and Asuna-sama so soon!"
Asuna shot the amused looking blonde a pleading look that he ignored completely in favour of chortling into his hand. A somewhat more composed Tamamo on the other hand brushed them off and stepped back with a gentle but firm glare, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I already belong to Naruto-sama." The pink haired girl said with a completely straight face.
Naruto pursed his lip and face palmed while his students' jaws collectively dropped, "Tamamo?"
"Hai, Goshujin-sama?"
"Would you mind not introducing yourself to everybody in such a way that will instantly cause unfortunate misunderstandings?"
"I do not understand, Goshujin-sama." She smirked, and leaned into his side, "You asked me to not be so formal with you. I was simply doing what you asked me to do." For some reason, Naruto got the impression that his standing in the eyes of his students had fallen significantly if the way they were looking at him with jealousy was any indication.
He didn't pull his arm out of her grasp, knowing full well that the over affectionate girl would simply grab it again without any embarrassment whatsoever, "Unfortunate misunderstandings aside, is there something we can do for you?"
"Let's go meet up with the rest first, it's almost time for lunch anyway." Tamamo suggested with a bright cheerful grin.
Shrugging, the blonde decided to simply allow Tamamo to drag him with the two mischievously grinning girls.
Once everyone was gathered in the courtyard again, panting and refreshing themselves; Naruto stood up with a flourish, "I do believe Asuna and Tamamo have something to say." He bowed gracefully; fully aware that he was making it a lot more dramatic than necessary. Mostly as a way to get back at the two girls since they obviously gearing up for something big.
Tamamo glanced at Asuna and the two of them nodded before pulling out a few pieces of cloth with wide grins, "Voila! We made new uniforms for everybody!"
While the thirty or so members began to gather around them with loud excited chattering, the blonde contented himself with leaning against the castle wall, under the shade with a bottle of water in hand, observing the excited group with a small smile until the two perpetrators detached themselves from the group and head to him with wide grins.
Naruto leaned forward to inspect Asuna's dress, unaware of her fidgeting at his closeness; they were of pretty high quality material and consisted of a white coat with stylized crimson pieces that accentuated the uniform, "I didn't know we had a uniform. Was this what you and Tamamo were working on? They're very well made." Naruto commented with an approving nod that caused the two girls to flush brightly.
"Yeah, the Knights of the Blood has been around for a while now, so we thought we should all have something to distinguish our members apart from the other clearers." Asuna explained with feigned casualness while Tamamo leaned forward with bright hopeful eyes, "Asuna-chan was the ones to design these, because I wasn't very good at designs, but I sewed most of them with Asuna-chan's help. Did I do well Goshujin-sama?"
Naruto's eyebrow twitched minutely at her proximity but he hid it with a wide smile, "Yeah, you did very well Tama-chan." He leaned forward to gently peck her forehead, "They look very nice, I'm proud of you."
She slowly flushed from tip to toe, her floppy ribbon somehow fluttering vigorously, before burying her face in her own red and white set before dashing off with a squeal that sounded remarkably like a kettle coming to a boil.
"You're doing it again." Asuna commented as she leaned on the wall beside him.
"Doing what?"
"You always get uncomfortable whenever she gets too close, but you force yourself to ignore it and make her as happy as possible." She pointed out conversationally. She didn't like to admit it, but she had more than enough experience observing people. Especially with how dry her school life had been with everybody avoiding the aloof and high class Asuna-san.
The blonde neither denied or agreed with her insinuation, simply giving her a smirk, leading her to believe that her guess had been more or less accurate, "So why red and white?"
She shrugged, "Why not?"
Asuna glanced at the blonde's near iconic white long coat with midnight blue undersides and thought off Heathcliff's blood red robe before flouncing off, leaving a nonplussed blonde behind. Shrugging, he decided to start doing some paperwork, supplies for the guild were running low and he doubted that Heathcliff would have noticed. Resigning himself to a wasted afternoon, the blonde began walking in the direction of the inn with a quiet little hum when he was accosted from the side.
"Jo-Joker-sama. Good afternoon." The lanky man bowed politely as the two men walked together.
"Kanno." Naruto smiled knowingly, causing the man to flush in embarrassment, "I hope you and Otome are well?"
The man chuckled with a incredibly wide grin, "I proposed to her last night."
Naruto winked, "Let me know when is the wedding yeah?"
His companion puffed up his chest, "Of course." then he came to a stop, playing with his cravat nervously, "If we ever get back to real life, would you mind being the best man? You were the one that advised and gave me the courage to propose."
Naruto slapped his back encouragingly, "Of course. Let's all go back together eh?"
****The Hunter****
Play Immediate Music – Catch the Falling Sky
The door slammed open as a pink haired woman stormed into the room he had taken as his office, jolting Naruto into looking up from his papers with a raised eyebrow, "Deep breaths, Lightning."
His assistant simply growled at his attempt at levity and slammed a piece of paper down onto the table with, "What is the meaning of this?"
The blonde peered down at the paper before speaking evenly, "Serah wanted to join the front lines. So I allowed her."
The agitated Lightning nearly growled at her superior, "Why wasn't I notified?"
"Because she knew that you would react exactly in this way," the blonde pointed out calmly, "Which was why she told me not to let you know until she was officially accepted."
Lightning slammed a fist down on the table as she glared at the blonde, "I refuse to accept this, she's still a child!" Naruto merely stared at the woman over his steepled fingers. He didn't like doing this to a friend, but he failed to see another option other than to be coldly logical, "By your definition of child, a little less than half of not just everybody on the frontlines but every single player in this death trap should be restricted to the City of Beginnings. In fact, she, Tamamo and Asuna are the same age. Do you consider either of them to be incapable of fighting on the front lines along with you and me?" Naruto's voice slowly lowered, "Even if that was not the case, what if we as the adults fail? With only those untrained and inexperienced children that were locked up in the CoB to carry on our banner."
Her voice hitched, "She's not mature enough know what she's getting into, Naruto... please don't let this happen."
"I'm completely willing to let her leave if you can persuade her to quit. Talk to her, listen to her words..."
The pink haired girl cut him off with another growl, "This is Serah we're talking about, you know how stubborn she is right? Nothing I say is going to change her mind."
Naruto smiled thinly, "Then I'd say that she resembles you in more ways than one."
When Lightning refused to be pacified, the blonde sighed and clasped his fingers tightly, "Tell you what; I'll put her under your command, you can watch over her then."
When Lightning was about to agree, the blonde cut in yet again, "But as a leader, I expect you treat her the same as you do everybody else. No easier tasks to stop her from working too hard, and no working her too hard to make her quit. Understood?"
Lightning shut her mouth reluctantly and nodded.
Spinning around, she walked over to the door before hesitating with one hand on the doorknob, "If something happens to her, I will hate you for the rest of my life." She quietly said over her shoulder.
Naruto quietly slumped into his chair as the woman slammed the door behind her, "I know." He whispered lowly to himself before looking up at the dark wood ceiling tiredly until someone knocked at the door, prompting Naruto to call out, "Come in."
A man decked in full crimson robes stepped in with a grace rarely seen, "I'm surprised you allowed her to question your decisions," The man gently spoke with a calm demeanour, "Even more so when you relented. Her sister is a very talented fighter that would have bloomed beautifully outside of Lightning's shadow."
"And I'm surprised that you finally showed up." The blonde retorted as he returned to his tedious work.
The other man smiled blandly, "Also, do forgive my absences; I've had much to do... recruitment and all that, it's my goal to make a guild that contains the people that have the best potential of achieving a level far beyond what one could call human." The man waved with a vague smile as he took the seat opposite of the blonde, "... Don't you find it interesting? Everybody in trapped in this game used to be nothing but simple modern people. Stuck into a rut of boring, daily, technologically assisted life, and yet you see some of these people rising up to the occasion, fighting on the front lines with such vigour and passion, unearthing a hidden talent to overcome and achieve a level of ability and focus that is otherwise impossible in reality."
"And what of those without talent? Will you punish them?"
Heathcliff smiled serenely, "Punish? I would never do something so crude although I'd have to ask you to stop using part of our budget to requisition food and clothes for those who are too scared of even stepping out of the City of Beginnings."
"I didn't choose to be a leader; however, I understand that sometimes I need to make hard decisions." He returned the man's stare with a glare, "That does not mean that I won't do everything in my power to ensure that I don't have to make those sacrifices in the first place and caring for those who look up to me for help rather than disregard the helpless." Naruto stated flatly.
The man in the red robe shrugged, "You misunderstand me. I already know they are incapable, so I simply do not have any expectations for them and in return they should not expect me to help. Besides, it's a general rule that those whose talents have blossomed under pressure and conflicts that would have otherwise been buried and wasted under a mundane life will survive Sword Art Online. And those that ultimately don't... are culled by circumstances. I only ask that you do not prolong the inevitable. You can understand what I'm saying don't you?"
The pen in Naruto's hand snapped, yet his face remained as cold as stone, "I wouldn't know. I was never a talented person to begin with. Everything I have, I achieved through hard work, unlike my brother." He slowly stood up and walked to the window, looking out on to the courtyard where the rest of the Knights of the Blood was practicing, mostly to quell the urge to throw a spear into Heathcliff's disgustingly calm expression, internally he wondered how they managed to reach this topic, "I guess normal people like me simply can't understand things the way geniuses like you and him can, now... if there's nothing else?"
The brown haired man simply smiled and made to leave.
"Oh, and Heathcliff?"
"Yes, Joker?" Heathcliff responded without turning back.
The two men stood with their backs to each other, "I don't know why you are helping Akihiko, but when you meet him; do tell him that I look forward to killing him." Naruto continued coolly, "Also, you might as well stop trying to persuade me, I'm only going along with this insanity as long as Nee-san needs it."
The man's smile widened, "Ah yes. Your older sister. She was a victim of a hit and run that left her brain dead wasn't it?"
"Leave." He couldn't see Joker's expression, but the tone was ice cold.
When the door finally closed and he could hear the sound of Heathcliff's footsteps slowly receeding, he allowed his forehead to make contact with the cold glass, "What would you have done Nee-san?" he whispered quietly.
A head of brown hair poked in through the door, "You alright? I saw Lightning stomping off with this massive scowl."
Naruto barely managed to force a half hearted smile as he took his seat again, "Technically she's always scowling."
"You didn't answer my question." Asuna pointed out with a grin, already more than used to the blonde evading her questions.
Naruto waved it off nonchalantly, "She's fine. Just a little upset that I allowed Serah into the guild."
Asuna's mouth opened in the shape of an 'O' as she immediately understood the situation, knowing Lightning's overall attitude to Serah. The younger of the two sisters had taken to talking to Asuna regularly, secretly confiding in Asuna how stifled and useless she felt just sitting at home while her friends went out and fought for their freedom daily. In a way, this was probably her fault since she was the one to encourage Serah to at least try, giving her a few tips to handle a weapon.
Oops.
The brown haired girl gave the blonde man a slightly guilty look, "And you? Are you hurt?"
He tapped his chest, over the heart with one finger and mock sighed, "Right here. Make me better?"
"Yep, you're totally fine." Asuna commented dryly.
Naruto made a deliberately tragic look, "Ah, no one cares about poor old Naruto nowadays."
Asuna rolled her eyes and made to leave when someone ran in, bumping into her roughly and sending her to the ground with a yelp, "So-sorry Asuna-dono!"
"I-It's alright," Asuna shook her head a little to clear the fuzziness as the boy helped her up, what's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?"
The boy who couldn't seem to shut his mouth as he stared at Asuna, his idol and vibrated excitedly at being able to talk to her directly. Of the two KoB members in the room the blonde one only grinned in amusement, while his friend growled but otherwise stayed silent as the boy began to babble, chest puffed up with self importance, "My guild found the Sixteenth Floor's Boss room. My guild mates are already making the rounds and letting everyone else know."
A hush fell and Naruto glanced down at the paper he had been working on before Lightning had interrupted him. It was a list of supplies that he had wanted to buy from Egil's guild for the KoB. Rubbing the words out, he doubled the amounts listed and finished off the note with his signature before holding it out, "Asuna, can you take this order to the Merchant's Guild? We're going to need a lot more supplies."
Walking over to him, the girl grabbed the piece of paper and glanced at it.
Then she blinked and brought it up closer to her eyes before giving the innocently whistling blonde a dry look, "Mind explaining why you put ten bags of peanuts on the guild's account?"
****The Hunter****
Heathcliff could only stare, dumbfounded at two of the stronger members of the Clearers who were lugging a wagon filled with entire cartons filled with potions, antidotes and various medical crystals directly outside the Main door of the Boss Room. Closing his eyes as they began unloading, the older man approached the blonde who was watching them take stock of the items and coughed politely with something approaching disbelief, "Joker, do you have a moment?"
"Humm? What is it? I'm a little busy."
Heathcliff suppressed a sigh as he gazed at the rows of medical cartons. It was about as subtle as a hammer. Sadly enough, considering exactly who he was speaking too... it wasn't really all that unexpected, "Some people... might consider this cheating." He found it incredibly hard to keep his tone conversationally bland for some reason.
"Yeah well, some people can kiss my ass." Naruto smirked, not even bothering to grace the man with a glance, "Besides, no one said anything about only being able to use what is limited to our inventories." Naruto bowed with a mocking smile, "Now, if you'll excuse me."
As he pushed open the door with a massive 'clang!' with both hands, he felt his friends step up beside him. Together, they shared a glance and nodded as they simultaneously armed themselves with their preferred weapons.
"Those who cry, those who wait, those who watch," He murmured to himself, his words slowly getting louder and louder, "Those who fight, those who bleed and those who triumph." He lifted his spear in defiance and said softly, "Do not falter."
The responding roar was anything but soft.
****The Hunter****
I could hear the Naruto/Asuna shippers squealing all the way down in Adelaide. *Wink*
Speaking of shippers, I figured I'd visit the pure Naruto and Harry Potter fandoms out of nostalgia and boredom.
Ye gods above and below, save me for I've lost my faith in humanity.
I wish I got brain bleach as a Christmas present. That's what I get for not listening to Kur0. I have to give it to them though; yaoi shippers are definitely creative if nothing else. The myriad of ways they can play with just one hole astounds me. How else can one explain why the first five or so pages of those two fandoms are filled with almost nothing but sword fights.
Post edit note from Kur0: Ignore the above; Kishi always gets snippy when he's in a bad mood. When he's REALLY pissed off though, I seriously swear the guy's like a walking Therapy no Jutsu in reverse. Once, one of those tough rugby guys from school knocked his science project over and laughed at the skinny 5 foot tall Asian.
By the time Kishi was done with him, the dude started wearing pink flowers to school.
Oh and did I mention that he's completely smitten with Kana Hanazawa's voice acting? XDDDD *Cruel sisterly laugh*