Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mega Man Zero.

Dreams about the Past

"It is time, Naruto…"

Naruto nodded with watery eyes. The war had been finished and now that Naruto actually had a way to release Kurama without dying and without Kurama going on a Sharingan-induced rampage, it was time to let Kurama go free.

"Of course. Per our agreement, I'll let you go free. Just make sure not to get into any trouble."

"Trouble?" the towering fox snorted. "We bijuu do not cause any trouble. It is you humans who cause pain in this world with your evil desires. I wouldn't be surprised if you humans started another war in the next decade."

Again, Naruto nodded, acknowledging the fox's words. But he couldn't resist throwing in one last shot. "I know. I meant it more about you getting lonely. Don't do something stupid and try to detach your spirit from the Gedo Mazo."

The method they were going to use was to tie the Kyuubi's and the other bijuu's spirits to the Gedo Mazo while allowing them to exert the will in the world around them. This way, the bijuu couldn't be controlled, manipulated, or sealed into items or people for human use and abuse. The bijuu, while tethered to the Gedo Mazo—something only Naruto could now control—would be able to travel the world as they see fit in a form invisible to all humans, guiding the world to become a better place.

Kurama roared, although mostly in mock anger. "The great Kyuubi no Yokou does not get lonely! You think too much of yourself if you think I will miss you!"

Naruto laughed. "Yeah. Yeah. I get it, you stupid fox. Now go!"

Naruto watched as his body was slowly covered in red chakra. And soon, the chakra itself began to lift itself off his body and go into the statue.

The elders of Konoha had asked him not to do this, but Naruto never broke his promises and always tried to do what was right. What Naruto was now doing was merely reversing the injustice that had been done to the bijuu.

Yes, Naruto would no longer have the unworldly stamina he once had, but everyone who knew him said he was too energetic anyway.

With the death of Sasuke, there were no more Sharingan eyes that could evolve to the Rinnegan and manipulate the Gedo Mazo. Moreover, Naruto was the remaining only descendant of Akuma, the second son of the Sage of Six Paths, and the only person whose cells could allow the Sharingan, and possibly the Byakugan, to evolve to something greater and Naruto wasn't letting anyone get near his blood.

So, there was no more need for such fantastical power in this world.

And besides, his Uzumaki bloodline provided more than enough chakra for him to use. As for power, Naruto could defeat anyone out there with a combination Sage Mode and the elemental ninjutsu he had learned after the war.

And that wasn't counting the vast amounts of chakra Naruto's body had absorbed from the Kyuubi throughout his entire life.

As the last of the red chakra floated away, Naruto heard Kurama's voice echoing in his mind. Naruto saw the transparent outline of Kurama holding out his fist. "Brat…the sixteen…seventeen years I've been with you haven't been as bad as they could have been."

Naruto smiled and bumped his fist against the Kyuubi's transparent form. That was as best of a sentimental statement as he was going to get from the fox. Kurama wasn't one to admit his feelings out loud.

"Unfortunately, Naruto, I don't have anything that can help you with that. We have the capacity to make repairs to Reploids, but we don't have the supplies or the skill to heal human injuries."

Naruto nodded, having figured as much. "I wasn't expecting you to. Considering that Ciel-chan is the only human in the Resistance, and a non-combatant at that, it wouldn't make sense for you to take the effort in learning how to heal humans." Naruto flexed his wrapped hand. "I didn't even ask you about it anyway."

"I can still check to see if there is an infection or not, however." Cerveau made a motion to look at Naruto's hand before Naruto waved the Reploid scientist off.

"There's no need for you to worry about it."

"Ciel would have my head if she thought that I wasn't taking good care of you," Cerveau remarked with mild humor. "She has put all her hopes in you, you know. I don't really care about you, but I do care about Ciel's dreams."

Naruto laughed. He didn't mind the Reploid's joke at his expense. "I won't tell her anything to suggest that you're damaging her hopes and dreams, Cerveau-san. But seriously, it'll heal in a few hours on its own."

"In a few hours?" Cerveau asked in confusion. "Even advanced Reploids don't have auto-repair functions that work that quickly. I was under the impression that humans took weeks to heal completely from even minor injuries."

Naruto nodded again. "For normal humans, you'd be right. But for as long as I could remember, I only needed a day or two to heal from even major injuries. Minor injuries would heal in hours or even minutes at times." Naruto frowned. "I know there was an explanation for this…actually, I think there were several…but I don't exactly remember what those explanations actually were."

"Hm…if you were a Reploid, it would be fairly easy to extract and decode your memories," Cerveau said thoughtfully. "It sounds like you have the human equivalent of data and memory corruption."

Naruto blinked at the comparison. "Um…okay…?" He felt slightly uncomfortable at that thought of someone poking around inside his head. "In any case," Naruto said, changing the subject to…safer topics. "I'm here for another reason. I need some sort of weapon that will allow me to pierce the armor of combat Reploids."

"Weapons?" Cerveau said with a frown. "Didn't I make you those knives and shuriken out of solid energy? They were rather difficult to make, too. It's hard to get our hands on the supplies. Are they not effective?"

Naruto shook his head. "They are. In fact, in some cases, they're more effective at cutting than my wind chakra, but they don't have quite the penetrative force I'm looking for. Furthermore, most of my powerful techniques have widespread effect and may cause too much collateral damage." Naruto decided to explain further. "I need something that takes the best qualities of both: destructive yet precise."

"Ah yes, considering that you're now fighting heavily armored B-rank combat Reploids, I would imagine you would have trouble, even with the latest technology."

Naruto nodded grimly. "And it's only going to get worse from here. I'm sure you read the reports I swiped from the Reploid Disposal Center: Aztec Falcon was easily the weakest of the B-rank combat Reploids, at least in terms of health and durability. I'm going to need other ways to put Reploids down and out for good."

"Well, I can't say I have any special ideas, but conventional methods for defeating Reploids involve busters," Cerveau said in a thoughtful tone.

"Busters?" Naruto asked. "Those are devices that shoot out those energy bullets, right? The ones that everyone but me seems to use?"

"Yes, although…to be more specific, those energy bullets aren't really bullets. They are actually high-energy beams that increase the kinetic energy of whatever they hit, causing a miniature explosion in whatever they hit."

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. "But they don't work on stronger Reploids."

"Yes and no. Unfortunately, with someone like Aztec Falcon who was a B-ranked combat Reploid, one shot from a buster won't do much damage. That doesn't mean that such powerful combat Reploids are completely immune from buster fire, however. With enough hits, the increased energy leads to decrease stability in the Reploid's body and core."

"So basically, I just keep pelting my enemies with these things until they explode?" Naruto groaned. He wasn't really looking forward to battles of attrition that lasted hours. It was completely antithetical to what being a ninja was all about. Ninjas swooped in, ninjas killed, and ninjas escaped. Naruto, with his flashy attacks, wasn't the conventional shinobi by any means, but even he had his red lines when it came to battling. "That's totally not cool."

Cerveau laughed at his words. "It's certainly effective though. X, arguably the strongest Reploid in history, fights using buster-centered tactics."

Naruto shook his head and decided to explain. He wasn't questioning the effectiveness at all; just the style. "Effective, but excruciatingly slow. I'm a ninja and I was taught to end battles as quickly as I can. Battles between powerful ninjas did end up going for a long time at times, but that was mainly due to ninjas dodging attacks. If anyone suffered a direct hit, they almost always died."

Naruto conveniently left out the fact that ninjas were also supposed to fight in a stealthy manner, which Naruto certainly did not do.

The engineer hummed and hawed as he mulled over the options that were available. "I suppose Ciel and I could make a mega buster for you, similar to what X-reportedly has."

"Ciel can make weapons?" Naruto asked. Naruto had a hard time seeing Ciel make anything that could hurt others.

"Of course," Cerveau responded immediately. "After all, she was the one who made…oops, forget I just said that."

"Made what?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Cerveau shook his head. "That's not for me to say. She may tell you herself some day." Naruto wasn't happy about that but nodded. He knew that everyone had his or her own secrets. "Anyway, a mega buster allows for amplified attacks and drastically increases the damage a Reploid would take. A charged shot could potentially even pierce through multiple enemies. The only problem, however, is energy requirement. Mega busters are generally charged by the user's core. You, being a human and not a Reploid, don't have a core."

"Hm…" Naruto mused. "Well, I do have chakra," Naruto held up his uninjured hand to form a Rasengan. "Is it possible to have a mega buster or any other use chakra as its power source?"

Cerveau looked appraisingly at the chakra sphere and started analyzing it with various devices. "Ciel told me that you manipulated this chakra of yours into electricity and that the electricity you produced activated a Trans Server. In that case, theoretically, this chakra of yours could be used as a power source for anything. A mega buster is incredibly complex and will take a lot of time to refit one to use this chakra of yours."

Technically, that would solve some of Naruto's problems, but Naruto wasn't sure if he liked the idea of using a buster. He was much more of a close- to mid-range ninjutsu-taijutsu combination fighter. Using something like a gun didn't appeal to him much.

"Hm…" Naruto mused. "Well, how about this?" Naruto held up one of the energy kunai given to him by Cerveau. "Can you make it so that these things can channel chakra instead? If I can combine wind chakra with the solid energy of these weapons, it might give me what I need. At the very least, it'll be an effective stopgap for a while."

The solid energy seemed to cut on par with wind chakra and wind-amplified metal weapons. If he could amplify the solid energy weapons with wind chakra, there probably wasn't anything he couldn't cut.

"I should be able to refit them as well, but it might even take longer than refitting a buster," Cerveau said with crossed arms. "It's hard to tell. There's just not all that much we know about this chakra of yours."

Naruto grumbled. "It's not just mine! I'm telling you. All living things had chakra in my time."

Cerveau shrugged. "Medical technology and robotics really started taking off around four hundred fifty years ago. If people and living organisms truly did have this chakra, then there would be records of it."

A tic mark appeared on Naruto's head. "Maybe your technology isn't all that impressive. I'm telling you that every living thing has it. Trees, animals, humans…" Naruto growled. "Look, even Ciel-chan has it! She doesn't have that much, but I can sense it coming from her. I'm sure other humans do, too."

"Naruto, I'm not saying that you're lying," Cerveau placated as he continued to analyze the readings he got from Naruto's Rasengan. "I'm suggesting that people lost the ability to use chakra over the years. Ciel is rather unique among humans. It's probably likely that the genetic modifications done to her 'reawakened' this chakra you speak of in her body. You've never seen any other humans or even any other organic life form since you awoke. For all we know, Ciel could be the first one in centuries to have chakra again."

Naruto paused. He wasn't going to tell Cerveau that he had actually seen organic life by using the Trans Server to teleport himself to Area Zero that morning.

Nevertheless, Naruto supposed that Cerveau's hypothesis could be possible. Chakra wasn't strictly necessary for life. Chakra was technically the combination of physical and spiritual energy in a person's body. Humans may simply have lost the ability to mix the two together in some sort of reverse bloodline limit fashion that made people weaker instead of stronger. But as long as humans had both physical energy and spiritual energy, they would be able to live.

It still wouldn't completely explain the hypothetical absence of chakra in trees and living animals, but nature chakra was incredibly hard to measure and quantify even in Naruto's time as well.

Wait…nature chakra… Naruto thought. For some reason, that seems very important. I'm missing something here…nature chakra…

Cerveau's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "In any case, I can't give you an accurate timeline of when all of this will get done. It may be finished in the next week or two or it might take a full year. And throughout the entire process, I'll need you to make regular visits so I can take samples of your chakra and run some more tests."

Naruto nodded. "Of course. I'll drop by in between the missions that Ciel-chan gives me. It probably won't be on a regular schedule, but we should be able to make it work," Naruto took out a scroll and unsealed a few items. "Also, Ciel told me to hand these over to you. She said this one here," Naruto held up a small metal object, "is a flame chip—I got it after killing Guard Orotic—and this one here is a thunder chip—I got it after killing Aztec Falcon."

Cerveau took them and looked at them carefully. "Incredible! These are rare finds! These chips will definitely help in the process of making your mega buster."

"Huh? How so?" Naruto asked.

"We can charge your amplified buster shot with elemental energy!" Cerveau said excitedly. "I'm sure you've noticed that certain combat Reploids are weak to certain elements."

"Oh yeah," Naruto slammed his fist into his palm. "I wanted to ask about that!"

"Huh?" Cerveau stopped studying the chips.

"In my time, we had five basic elemental chakra: fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water. The strengths and weaknesses are circular with one element having an advantage over the next and a weakness to the previous. Is that the same with Reploid attacks?"

"Not really. Well, I wouldn't know," Cerveau added. "I do know about Reploid bodies, however. Most Reploid cores are powered by something called nuclear energy. It's simply a matter of converting that energy into the elements. We've been able to harness the power of three of the elements when building Reploid bodies: fire, ice, and lighting."

"Ice?" Naruto asked in confusion. "That's a sub-element…"

"Like I said," Cerveau said mildly, "I don't know too much about the elements themselves or charged attacks. But I do know how we harnessed those elements. Lightning was obviously the easiest to manipulate and incorporate into the bodies of combat Reploids because most power supplies run on electricity. All that was needed was to speed up electrons using heat and have them move in one direct—"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the esoteric explanation that he just interrupted. "Get to the point, Cerveau. I don't have all day."

"I keep forgetting that I'm not talking to another scientist," Cerveau groaned while slapping himself on the forehead. "My apologies, Naruto. I tend to ramble when it comes to things like these. Anyway. The nature of the Reploids bodies and the way elemental power is generated inside Reploid bodies make it so that lightning-based Reploids are immune against fire and weak to cold, or ice-based attacks."

"But not water?"

"You'd have to crack open a Reploid and force water into his or her body for that to work."

Naruto nodded, having done just that to Aztec Falcon. "What about the other elements?"

"As you can imagine, ice-based Reploids have bodies that are weak to fire as fire damages the cold reactors placed in their bodies. Fire-based Reploids have bodies weak to lightning attacks as electrical energy interferes with the plasma—ionized gas, in case you were wondering—used to power fire Reploids."

At this point, Naruto pretty much had swirls in his eyes. "I don't think I understood half your explanation, even after you dumbed it down, but I think I got the important parts. Fire against ice. Ice against lightning. Lightning against fire. But only when it comes to Reploid armor or bodies since the elements themselves have different strengths and weaknesses. That sounds simple enough."

"I don't see how Ciel puts up with people who aren't scientists," Cerveau muttered under his breath. Naruto smirked, having heard the Reploid. It was too fun annoying the crap out of people who fancied themselves as intelligent. "In any case," Cerveau said in a louder voice, "I'm going to repeat it again for your benefit, but it's going to take me a while to create your new weapons."

"Take your time. I don't think I'll be running into a huge fight any time soon." Naruto took out another scroll and this time, piles of crystals fell out. "One more thing. Ciel tells me that these here are sorely needed energy crystals. She said you'd be happy to take these."

Happy was an understatement because Cerveau seemed to have lost the ability to speak for an entire minute as his jaw fell to the floor.

"Naruto! You brought enough energy crystals to last everyone in this base for an entire month. Research was going incredibly slowly because we had to ration out the energy crystals initially allocated for research to all the people in the base. You're a life saver!"

"Well, glad to help." Naruto smirked. "Cerveau-san. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership. The weapons I use are expensive energy shuriken and kunai. I recovered all of them this time, but eventually I'll end up using and losing them, costing you a fortune. So here's my proposal. You continue to provide me with these energy weapons and I'll provide you with the goods." Naruto scooped a handful of energy crystals to make his point.

"Naruto," Cerveau shook his head in near mock exasperation, but smiled nonetheless, "you make it sound like we're in the human drug business."

The only response Naruto gave the Reploid scientist was loud, boisterous laughter.

A week later, Naruto sat in his room, meditating. Naruto had spent a better part of the week after his mission trying to meditate his way into remembering. Fortunately, while more details began to surface in his mind, Naruto still couldn't remember names, faces, places, or numbers too well.

It was a miracle that he still somehow knew all of his techniques and how to fight. Although, Naruto thought grimly, I could just be thinking I know how to fight. I remember that I was stronger than any kage, so it's possible that much of my strength is still locked away. The power I have now is great, but it doesn't seem to be the power that I was sealed away for.

He did recall several things, however.

He was the Toad Sage. Myoubokuzan had been their home. And also…the Toad Clan was extinct. No matter how many times Naruto had tried to summon, not a single toad would show up. Naruto found himself subconsciously shed a tear for the loss of his dear friends, even if he couldn't remember many of their names and faces. But at the same time, Naruto realized that they had probably lived long and happy lives. For Naruto, it didn't feel long at all, but for the world, it had been a thousand years.

He also recalled that he had once been the vessel of the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox. Naruto remembered that he was mistreated by the villagers in his hometown, but eventually overcame that and even became friends with the Kyuubi and wielded the Kyuubi's great power. As with all his other friends, however, he couldn't remember the Kyuubi's name or figure out if he still had remnants of the Kyuubi's power. Naruto did, however, know that he was no longer the vessel of the Kyuubi and that the fox was sealed inside a statue called the Gedo Mazo.

"Yes…the Gedo Mazo…" Naruto rolled the words around in his mouth. "The Gedo Mazo, controlled by…something…I can't remember. But I know that this piece of information is incredibly important…something to do with eyes."

Naruto held his hands over his eyes and pressed his palms on his head. "Ugh! This is just so frustrating. I don't have any answers!"

Grabbing his bag, he left his room to go do something more productive.

Go bother someone else.

"Naruto-san…" Dande whined. "We need a break…"

Naruto looked up from the book he was reading but disregarded the request. The idiots were the ones who asked for the training. If they were going to complain this much, they shouldn't have asked for it.

It wasn't Naruto's fault at all that he was in a bad mood and was taking it out on the two poor trainees.

"We're Reploids, but even we can't continue to train like this," Faucon said in an exhausted voice. Naruto noted that even the normally levelheaded and relatively quiet Reploid appeared irritated.

Naruto yawned, making sure to make it as loud as possible to annoy his two minions…err…students. "I thought the two of you wanted to become stronger. These things just don't happen; you've got to put in the necessary work."

"But all you're having us do is moving exercises!" Dande complained as he moved between several poles that Naruto had set up inside the training room. "Just what exactly about moving side to side and back and forth over and over again will make us strong?"

"We haven't done a single battle simulation since we started learning under you," Faucon added.

Naruto slapped his book shut and glared at the two young trainees. "I thought you were going to listen to my every command…if you don't like it, you can go back and fight under Colbor."

The two young Reploids fell silent at that for a moment but spoke up again.

"Ugh…" Dande muttered. "At least tell us this, Naruto-san…is this really going to make us powerful enough fight against combat Reploids?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Weren't you two the ones going around bragging to everyone that you're receiving some amazing training from me? I don't think I ever saw Colbor so angry before and that's saying a lot, considering how he hates my guts. And now you're saying that you don't trust me?"

Naruto mentally sighed, however, as he himself had asked similar questions of his teachers in the past when he was young. Naruto had assumed that the Reploids were more mature than the average genin. The two Reploids looked young, around their mid-teens, but they, especially Dande, were acting like preteens who had just graduated from the Academy.

Maybe a bit of explanation and demonstration would quell his students' doubts. It always had worked when he was younger. Naruto bit his lower lip lightly as he thought about what he could do.

"That's because we trusted you! We didn't want you to lose face!" Dande protested. "You should be rewarding your disciples for saying only good stuff about you. If Ciel-san knew that you were torturing us, she won't like you any—" Dande jumped back as Naruto flicked an energy shuriken at the trainee's feet.

Naruto almost let a growl out. Ever since the moment on Ciel's birthday where Naruto and Ciel embraced, everyone in the Resistance kept giving the two of them a hard time. Naruto couldn't walk down the hall with Ciel without hearing someone giggling or snickering. Naruto tossed one towards Faucon as well.

"Naruto-san! What was that for?!" Faucon asked angrily. "I didn't say anything! It was only Dande!"

"You dodged," Naruto drawled out in a lazy manner. "I wasn't intending to miss with that." That wasn't quite true, but he would exaggerate things a bit for their sake. Dande and Faucon fell silent again at the implications. "It's only been…what…maybe two weeks since you started training under me," Naruto said casually as he continued to read the computer science book. "But your bodies are already beginning to adjust."

"So you're saying that we're stronger already?" Dande said dubiously. "I don't feel any different though."

Naruto was tempted to throw his book at the helmeted Reploid. "What?" Naruto said in an annoyed tone. "Did you expect to feel like some kind of supercharged monster or something? You're going to feel the same no matter how strong you get."

Faucon, on the other hand, understood immediately. "All these exercises were battle simulations. You're just getting us to move in ways that we would move in battle."

"That's correct." Naruto nodded in approval and waved his book at them. It was a book on computer science that he was reading so he could help Ciel with her work. Cerveau had laughed when Naruto requested the book, but the Reploid engineer was soon undoubtedly going to have his lift his jaw off the ground once he found out that Naruto had learned years' worth of material in a few weeks via shadow clone learning express. "I suppose the technical way to say that is that your processors are getting used to integrating and executing data commands at high speeds."

"But what about these weights?" Dande argued gesturing at the weighted bracelets—marked with seals—that Naruto had placed on them. Fuinjutsu definitely had its benefits. Why no one bothered to learn the sealing arts back in the day, Naruto would never know. "We don't have muscles that grow and become stronger like humans do. What's the point of having weights that just slow us down?"

Naruto shifted around in his seat as he thought about what to say. He supposed it was a fair question. In fact, he had to check with Cerveau to make sure that there actually was a point to the two Reploids to wear weights.

"For humans, our bodies are what primarily adapts," Naruto explained, detailing what he had learned from Cerveau and his own reading on Reploid physiology. He had to stop himself from gagging at all the technical terms. Sounding smart just wasn't his style. There was nothing he could do to avoid that here, however. "However, for you Reploids, your brain is what primarily adapts. Because of what your bodies are made of, your bodies are naturally far more suited for combat human bodies. But like humans, your brain limits what your body can do. Through training, you can facilitate the release of more power similar to what happens when the first of the Eight Inner Gates is opened for humans."

"Eight Inner Gates?" Faucon repeated hesitantly.

Naruto groaned. He had momentarily forgotten that no one knew anything about chakra. "Never mind. It's something only chakra-aware humans can do." Naruto went on. "In any case, your specifications are based on three things: the design of your physical bodies, the power output of your core, and your brain's clock frequency and programming. There's nothing I can do for your bodies; they are what they are. Cerveau thinks we might be able to modify them later, but that's a long way into the future. And your bodies are the last thing we need to worry about anyway; your bodies are even more durable than mine and I was one of the strongest humans alive."

"Then?" Dande asked.

Naruto glared. "I was getting to that." Naruto put his hand on his chin in a thinking pose. "We most likely will be able to increase the power output of your cores with enough energy crystals, energy crystal that I will be wasting my time to hunt for…I might add. But where we can really do some work is with the final part, clock frequency and programming. Combat Reploids don't exactly have more powerful brains than civilian Reploids. The difference lies in with blocks they set in your brains to prevent you from expending too much energy."

"Like moving at high speeds or fighting," Faucon concluded. "You're pretty much saying that our brains aren't functioning to their fullest potential."

"Underclocked and programmed to execute only commands involving civilian functions," Dande added. "We can't fight because our brains have programs telling them that we aren't supposed to use that much energy."

"Yup," Naruto nodded. It was analogous to having the first Inner Gate closed. "Like you said Dande, your brains, however, dounderstand that you're supposed to be able to perform basic functions, like walking. So with added resistance, your brain will be forced into overdrive to compensate. Furthermore, with enough practice in doing movements that you'd be doing on the battlefield, you're pretty much writing in new programs into your brain that counteract the programs already put in place. It's not guaranteed, but I'm betting that the limits set in your brains eventually be forcibly removed, allowing you to do things that you couldn't do before. Your brains are like adaptable and upgradeable computers, which is amazing and a great stroke of luck for us in terms of training."

"Isn't there a maximum?" Dande asked.

Naruto nodded. "Of course. There always is. Even with humans, there's a maximum." Naruto pointed at himself. "For example, I'm at peak condition and there's nothing I can do to make my body more durable. I suppose I can get a little bit stronger and faster physically by strengthening my muscles, but I'm already very close to the limit of what human muscles and a human body can do. Similarly, there's only so much upgrading you can do to your brains. And ultimately, you'll be limited by the energy output of your cores."

"So just how do you exceed what humans normally can do? There are humans who train day and night and never get to where you are," Faucon pointed out.

"Because I use chakra to augment my physical abilities. I can use chakra to force my muscles to work harder. I can use chakra to shield by body when I'm moving to protect it against the pressure," Naruto explained. "What we can do with chakra is only limited by our imaginations."

"But we don't have chakra. Ugh," Dande groaned. "So it just movement exercises and buster firing practice."

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything more Naruto could do for the two of them. Their bodies were much stronger and durable than the average human's, even a ninja's body. However, their bodies were still relatively weak compared to combat Reploids and the two trainees had no intrinsic way of improving their defenses like Naruto did with chakra. Their best bet of fighting and surviving was to be as mobile as possible while using a buster to whittle down enemy life. They were even lucky that busters even worked against high-class Reploids. Otherwise, they'd be stuck with dodging indefinitely and that was an impossible game to win. Naruto supposed that they could eventually move on to using energy weapons, but without either speed or durability, it was suicide to fight close combat with high-powered combat Reploids.

"Unfortunately, yes," Naruto admitted. "Although even if you did have chakra, it would take you decades to get to where I am. Chakra manipulation isn't easy at all."

"Decades?" Faucon asked inquisitively. "But you're hardly decades old!"

"I have decades worth of training through my shadow clones." Naruto reopened his book again. "Anyway, I think I gave you two a good explanation of why you're doing the stuff that you're doing. So quit complaining." Naruto tapped his book. "I hate studying and you see me doing it right here. And I have over two hundred clones upstairs learning how to hack. If I can study, then you can jump around with two hundred pounds each. Geez, I thought Reploids were supposed to be stronger than humans. I've seen human kids play around with this kind of weight."

The two Reploids groaned and continued to do the exercises that Naruto had shown them.

"Must be nice to have something like love motivating you," Dande grumbled after a few minutes.

Naruto eye twitched as he hurled his book at the young Reploid. The book bounced off the Reploid's helmet with a loud clank. "Shut it. Next person who cracks a joke about my friendship with Ciel-san is going to have his weights doubled."

Frankly, Naruto thought that the young leader of the Resistance was rather pretty, but he had too much on his plate right now with his memory loss and fighting against Neo Arcadia to even consider a relationship with anyone. Naruto was fairly certain the girl felt the same way as well.

The Reploids in the Resistance apparently thought it would be "cute" if the only two humans in the base somehow got together.

Naruto rolled his eyes. It seemed that machines somehow had the capacity to be just as immature as preteen humans. He mentally snorted. It seemed that people couldn't live without introducing some sort of drama in their lives.

"Naruto-san," Faucon said in a thoughtful tone as he shot down a moving target while jumping out from behind cover. "All this forceful denying is only going to come back and haunt you when you and Ciel-san finally announce your—"

Crash!

Naruto stood over the groaning Reploid with his hands in a hand seal. He noticed with no small bit of smugness that other Reploid suddenly decided that his training wasn't too hard, after all. Naruto turned back to look at Faucon, who was rolling on the ground. "I warned you. Next time, I'm kicking your ass. Now shut up and get to work, minions."

"So this is how you gathered food and supplies over the last few years," Naruto whispered to Ciel.

"In the past, there wasn't much we could buy aside from food. Much of the equipment we need is highly sophisticated military machinery and that isn't something we can just ask for in a local store. However, thanks to you, we now have a factory and we can make many of those for ourselves."

"I appreciate the thanks, but how are we going to get the raw materials?" Naruto asked. "It's not like you can carry it all and even if you could, you'll raise suspicion if you buy that much."

"We can just rent a transport truck for ourselves and drive it over to the factory."

"I never thought it'd be that straightforward," Naruto admitted. "You would think that Neo Arcadia would have greater security. Even now, we're just waltzing into enemy territory without any fear."

Their mode of travel was in part because cities in Neo Arcadia didn't have any known warp points that they could have teleported to using the Trans Server. Not that it mattered. While Trans Servers had been around for a long time, they were still considered military technology and barred from civilian use. Using a Trans Server to appear in any Neo Arcadian town was akin to painting a target on your back.

So they had left the base and traveled along empty road near a small town on a small vehicle. When they were still some ways away, they had gotten off to complete the rest of the trip on foot. They could have used the vehicle to get closer, but they still wanted to minimize the risk of alerting the government of their presence after the destruction of the Reploid Disposal Center. People in vehicles were subject to routine check-ups far more than travelers by foot.

Still, from where they stopped driving, it was a rather long walk and to pass the time, Ciel found herself explaining the geography of Neo Arcadia to the blond ninja.

"Strictly speaking, the Resistance Base is inside Neo Arcadia. Like any other inhabitable structure, our base inside the energy sphere known as the Eden Dome, which protects inhabitants from the harsh weather conditions outside and the Mavericks roaming in the surrounding areas."

"Mavericks?" Naruto asked in a surprised tone. "Real Mavericks?"

"Remnants of the Elf Wars," Ciel explained. "I'm not sure how many are out there, but they almost never will run out of energy because of all the countless energy crystals left in the ruins of the numerable cities on the planet. Part of the energy shortage has to do with the fact that most of the available energy on the planet is outside of the Eden Dome."

While Reploids weren't being added to the number of true Mavericks, the number of Mavericks left over from the Elf Wars was still huge. Estimates ranged in the hundreds of millions. The number probably would have been in the billions had it not been for the harsh conditions—heat, cold, radiation, and storms—outside the Eden Dome. The ones left behind were all either specialized Reploids designed to withstand those conditions and modify themselves over time or Reploids smart enough to figure out how to avoid being exposed to the unforgiving weather outside.

"What?" Naruto suddenly stopped and grabbed her wrist. She felt him turn her around. "Ciel-chan, you're telling me that you've been running away from the Resistance Base into Maverick-infested territory? When we were in Area Zero, you didn't tell me there were Mavericks around."

Ciel winced. Maybe that hadn't been the best thing to tell the blond ninja. He was reckless, but only when it came to his own safety. He was surprisingly meticulous and careful about everyone else's wellbeing.

And if she hadn't gotten to know him so well, she might have shrunk back at his rebuke. But she knew it was Naruto's way of showing his concern.

"That's a bit hypocritical, Naruto," Ciel wryly replied, "especially when you're fighting powerful combat Reploids and then pretending that you didn't." She hadn't forgotten the incident in the factory where he took on a C-rank with no support and without permission.

"T…t…that's different," Naruto insisted.

"How so?"

Seeing the nervous look on Naruto's face made Ciel smile lightly. Things were…interesting…to say the least when she wasn't the one flustered.

Naruto pouted. "Well, first of all, I'm awesome. Secondly, I know I'm awesome." Ciel blinked at him in surprise. Naruto was lively most of the time, but he wasn't this blatantly arrogant even as a joke. "So I knew I could take anything that got in my way."

"Um…" Ciel didn't know what to say to counter that. She certainly wasn't going to make an asinine statement like Naruto just had. But at the same time, Naruto looked rather expectant for a response and she felt compelled to say something. "I…I had a buster," she finished lamely. "Most of the real Mavericks aren't particularly strong since they are old models. And Area Zero isn't really a hub of Maverick activity since Neo Arcadia regularly sends combat Reploids to clear out the area whenever the Maverick infestations becomes severe."

Naruto groaned. "Ciel-chan, you really need to have some swagger when you talk about dangerous things. You can't give a rational answer like that."

Ciel smiled again as she turned around and began walking again, happy that she more or less came out on top for a change. "It's either that or silence."

The boy followed and sighed. "Well, a silent walk would be unbearable so I'll have to manage. In any case though, thankfully, you haven't gotten hurt. All's well that ends well, I suppose. In the future, however, I'm going to tag along just to be safe." His tone turned gleeful. "It'll be like a date! I've never actually been on a date with anyone before so this is great!"

Ciel tripped on a stone and almost fell. "W…what?" she turned around to look at him with a bright face. "D…date?"

Ever since she hugged him about a week ago, Ciel felt even shyer around the boy. It didn't help that the whispers of them being an item were growing even louder in the Resistance Base. Ciel couldn't say that she felt absolute nothing towards Naruto, but there was little time for trivialities like relationships. Moreover, she wasn't even sure if her feelings were romantic in nature at all. For all she knew, she could be misattributing gratitude, attachment, or companionship for something more.

Naruto didn't answer her question, but pointed at a building coming up. "Look. We're here…I think. This must be the outskirts of town. From here, it should be a ten-minute walk to the first place."

Ciel nodded. They were beginning to see people around them as well. It was a convenient way for her to avoid the topic that Naruto had brought up and pretend that she hadn't heard what Naruto had just said.

"We should hurry, so we can make it back to the base by night."

She put her pink hood on to remain discreet.

Naruto looked at her curiously. "You know…you didn't answer my first question. I thought they'd put out wanted posters of you or something. It really seems strange that we can just waltz in like this and get whatever we want. Yes the Resistance Base is at the edge of Neo Arcadia, but this is an actual town. There should be more security here, right?"

"We're both humans, so there's a lot less suspicion surrounding us," Ciel explained patiently. She had to remind herself that Naruto barely knew anything about her world. "There's no reason for Neo Arcadia to waste resources on a manhunt for humans when they consider Reploids to be the main problem in the Resistance. As long as we don't enter a restricted area, we'll be fine. No one recognizes you and my identity is only known to the higher-ups of Neo Arcadia."

The boy frowned and put his hood up as well. "How can they tell you're human? From what you've told me, civilian Reploids might as well be human. There are barely any external differences. Shouldn't Reploids be able to come here and pretend that they're human?""

She furrowed her brow. "It's possible, I suppose," she admitted. "But it's incredibly dangerous. Many key government buildings have entrances that are lined with scanners that can detect energy readings from Reploids. Each Reploid has a digital serial number and if the serial number matches any of the numbers on the Maverick list, then the authorities will act. Humans obviously don't have that same issue."

It was why Ciel tried to limit any missions that involved Reploids entering towns. The benefits gained just were not worth the risks. They had a few spies, yes, but those spies were Resistance sympathizers among the Neo Arcadias rather than actual people blacklisted as Mavericks by Neo Arcadia.

"But won't they come after you if they catch your face on the security cameras?" Naruto asked. "Right now, we're under a genjutsu that makes us appear as different people to anyone who sees us, but before I got here, you never had a problem."

"Even if security cameras capture my image, I doubt the Neo Arcadian leaders would come after me in broad daylight in an area predominantly inhabited by humans. If people notice that a human is being arrested, there will be panic. Neo Arcadia takes great care even when arresting Reploids. They don't want to cause trouble."

"You know," Naruto said a bit dubiously, "there are obviously other things they can do once they recognize you…like follow you back to the Resistance Base…"

Ciel's breath hitched under her breath. It was moments like these when she realized that Naruto was far more experienced in warfare than even she was. She hadn't even thought of covert operations beyond the obvious hacking attempts Neo Arcadia made on the Resistance Base's networks. While she did keep her hood up at all times and took care never to be photographed, she hadn't thought of the possibility that Neo Arcadia was leaving her untouched so she could lead them back to the others.

Considering that the hacking attempts mainly revolved around finding their base, Ciel was fairly confident that their location hadn't been discovered just yet, but at the same time, that could be even more smokescreen to let them let their guards down. For now, she would have to hope that it was impossible for Neo Arcadia to constantly monitor the twenty-five million humans and many more Reploids living inside the Eden Dome.

"It's not really a problem now, though," Naruto continued in a cheerful tone, almost as if he read her thoughts. "I surrounded the entire base with seals."

"Seals? Like the ones protecting you and that statue when you were asleep?"

"Sort of," Naruto said in a sheepish tone. "I don't have the power I did when I made those particular protective seals. Those seals were slowly degrading for a thousand years and had lost much of their protective power." Naruto shrugged. "These seals aren't nearly as protective. A strong enough attack will still be able to pierce the barrier I set up, but no one will be able to enter and leave the base on foot without my knowledge and explicit permission."

It was brilliant. The Resistance soldiers almost always entered and left using the Trans Server; so it wouldn't affect them in the least. On the other hand, unless Neo Arcadia cracked the code for the Trans Server, they wouldn't be able to access the Resistance Base.

"Ah…thank you, Naruto," Ciel finally said after taking in everything he said. He was truly a godsend, walling up holes in their defense, providing badly needed firepower, and even making things livelier at the base.

"Of course," Naruto smiled. "I already promised I'd do my best to help you."

"Yes…but don't you ever have any doubts about helping us?" Ciel asked. "We're technically a criminal organization. And it's not like you've heard what Neo Arcadia has to say for themselves."

Naruto chuckled. "Are you deceiving me, Ciel-chan?"

She blushed as Naruto stared straight at her and shook her head. "No, of course not!"

Naruto nodded sagely. "Then that's good enough for me."

She would have face-palmed if she were anyone else. That was the most ridiculous argument ever. "You're pretty much accepting what I say at face value?"

This time Naruto laughed out loud. "I'm a ninja, Ciel-chan. I suppose I might have been naïve enough to trust the first person I met a long time ago, but I've been fought in wars. I've dealt with people who surrounded their lives with deception. And even then, I've always been a good judge of character even if I wasn't necessarily the best as seeing through deception. You're a good person and I trust you."

"…thank you for believing in me." Ciel shifted uncomfortably at that. Technically, she was breaking his trust by withholding information.

Naruto went on, almost as if he read her mind. "Of course, you might not be telling me everything, but I don't think that's a problem at all. We all have our own personal secrets. Oh and look," Naruto pointed ahead while waving his map, "we're here."

Naruto would have grumbled if it wouldn't have drawn attention to them. Ciel had been rather slow and methodical about what she selected and Naruto was getting bored. It would have been much simpler to just grab packs of instant ramen instead.

Now, with food packed away in the multiple storage scrolls that Naruto brought along, they were now in electronic shop to buy the raw materials and supplies necessary for Ciel's and Cerveau's research and operations that the Resistance carried out.

"You're surprisingly wealthy for someone who's supposed to be a fugitive," Naruto muttered softly.

He saw the edges of Ciel's lips tug at that. "Technical knowledge is just as important as combat ability in this world. Money is digitalized as well in this world and it isn't too difficult for me and Cerveau to cause funds to suddenly disappear from Neo Arcadia's accounts. We never take too much, however; otherwise, Neo Arcadia will have an extra incentive to come after us with more force."

Naruto almost snorted at that. "You're basically saying that you steal money from the government."

"From a moral standpoint, I would argue that misappropriating funds from a corrupt government is far more acceptable than killing for money."

Naruto crossed his arms. The girl had a fair point. "I suppose you're right, although I never really did kill simply for money. For the most part though, I was only sent on missions that involved killing evil people. It's a bonus that I got paid."

"For some reason, I have a feeling that it's supposed to be the other way around…your village killing for money and it being a bonus that the people your village killed were evil," Ciel shot back.

Naruto shrugged in a careless manner. "Same difference." He smirked when the girl looked mildly annoyed at his dismissal of her words.

After an hour of tailing Ciel, Naruto got bored and decided to head outside to see what human civilization was like a thousand years after the era of the ninjas. "I'm going to step outside to explore for a bit," Naruto whispered. "I can't make a shadow clone in here, but I'll do it as soon as I find a street corner and send a clone back to you."

Ciel looked rather upset at that, but nodded. She couldn't make a huge fuss here without raising suspicion.

Outside, Naruto looked around. Ciel had told him that Neo Arcadia was a giant city; Naruto figured it would be one gigantic mess of buildings. But the "city" of Neo Arcadia actually seemed to be more of a huge collection of small and spacious towns connected by nicely paved roads. There were even trees and bushes all around within the town, and even more in between the towns if the densely forested area just beyond the town was any indication.

"Hey," Naruto heard a voice, "DR-31. I need you to deliver this package to the Neo Arcadian Shrine. Be as careful and discreet as possible."

Naruto hid behind a tree to avoid detection from the two people speaking, one of which was already confirmed to be a Reploid. "Touton Jutsu (Transparent Escape Technique)!" he murmured softly as he faded from sight.

It was a precaution. Genjutsu only worked when Reploids weren't overly focused or aware. A transformation only worked if Reploids didn't have systems that requested digital fingerprints when other Reploids were sighted. These Reploids didn't seem to be combat Reploids that had sophisticated systems like the Pantheons did, but Naruto didn't want to take a chance.

This particular technique allowed Naruto to completely disappear from sight by letting light pass through him, making it harder for him to be detected, even by Reploid scanners. That was something he found out the hard way during his last major mission to destroy the Reploid Disposal Center. That being said, Naruto didn't want to test his luck and made sure to stay as quiet and discreet as possible even under the technique.

"What's this for?" The Reploid named DR-31 asked in a curious tone. "Usually, packages are sent to the lower government offices, not a central building like the Shrine."

Neo Arcadia Shrine? Naruto repeated in derision. What's next? Temple? Geez, the rulers of Neo Arcadia must have a god-complex or something. Reminds me of… Here, Naruto's mind went blank. Naruto knew it must have been one of the enemies he fought before, but he couldn't place his finger on the name. Whatever, I'll worry about that later.

"I…I shouldn't really say," the first person said.

"Oh come on, CS-58" DR-31 whined. "We were created on the same day! We've been friends for years. I won't tell!"

"Heh. Heh," the first Reploid, now revealed as CS-58, replied sheepishly. "Well, you know how I'm a computer scientist Reploid, right? I was commissioned by the Neo Arcadian officials to design a special Cyber-Elf for X-sama. It took several years working with my colleagues, but it's finally done."

"A rare Cyber-Elf?!" DR-31 exclaimed. "I didn't know that you were working on such an important project for the government!"

A Cyber-Elf? Naruto frowned. What were Cyber-Elves?

"Be quiet, you numbskull!" CS-58 hissed. "Someone might hear!" There was a tense silence between the two.

"Look, I'm asking you for this favor because you're the only one in the subway industry. You regularly transport supplies all over Neo Arcadia, right? I know you've done top-secret government work as well."

"Okay! Okay! I got it," DR-31 hastily replied. "I'll have to get special permission to enter the restricted areas, but it should be fine. You're lucky that there's a train leaving soon though. Otherwise, it might have taken some more time."

"Good. I'll send word to the government that you'll be delivering it within the next hour. Now scram!"

Ciel was just finishing up gathering several of the supplies that Cerveau had requested. From what she understood, Naruto had requested that Cerveau make a specialized buster in order to fight in a more precise way. Personally, she considered energy melee weapons to be more precise, but seeing how many of Naruto's techniques seemed to spread over a dozen meters, she supposed that a charged buster shot would be relatively more "precise."

"Ciel-chan," the clone next to her whispered urgently.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Boss—"

"Boss?" she interrupted. "Who's that? Your original?"

The clone nodded quickly. "Look, this is really important. Boss found out that Neo Arcadia commissioned several Reploid scientists in the area to create a Cyber-Elf for them."

"Cyber-Elf?" Ciel almost dropped her supplies. "What are you talking a—"

"Ciel-chan, quit interrupting me!" the clone said in exasperation. "Anyway, the Cyber-Elf is being delivered to the Neo Arcadian government right now. They said the Cyber-Elf was for X's personal use, so it can't be for any good. Moreover, they said it was a rare Cyber-Elf that had taken years to design, so it must be quite powerful."

"It definitely isn't good," Ciel agreed with a worried look. "Cyber-Elves are powerful entities of living data that can act to power a Reploid up. Only a triple-level Cyber-Elf—ah it's one that has three stages of evolution," Ciel added seeing that the clone didn't understand, "takes years to create. And if X is using one, then it must mean that he's preparing for war. He must have heard that the Resistance destroyed the Reploid Disposal Center and is looking to finish us off."

The clone nodded grimly. "Boss doesn't know what Cyber-Elves are at the moment, but based on what he was able to hear, he figured it wasn't going to be good for the Resistance. He followed the Reploid delivering the Cyber-Elf and is looking to prevent Neo Arcadia from getting their hands on it."

"Wait! He can't go without any sort of plan whatsoever!" Ciel cried as she grabbed the clone and left the store they were in. "Where is he?" she demanded.

The clone looked taken aback by her forceful words and actions, but then suddenly adopted a remorseful look on his face. "Um…"

"What is it?" Ciel said fearfully, knowing fully well what the clone was going to say.

"The train already left."

Author's Note: If you find it unbelievable that Ciel can just walk into a Neo Arcadian settlement without being arrested, the only explanation I can give is what Copy X said in Mega Man Zero 3:

"Is that... y-your answer? Fine. You have a monopoly on energy resources... And Zero, a Reploid with terrifying f-fighting skills... Y-you are nothing more than filthy extremists! Ciel... I was holding-ng back until now, because you were there, a human... Now, you can face the consequences, along with your Maverick friends!"

And remember, Copy X knows that Ciel is his creator. So it's entirely possible that Copy X is holding back. Well…so for this story…is Copy X "holding back"? Or is Neo Arcadia just that incompetent? It doesn't really matter and you can decide for yourselves. For the purposes of this story, either explanation is fine.

As always, reviews will be appreciated. Thanks!