Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mega Man Zero.
Ciel didn't see Naruto very much for the next two to three weeks. Every time they met, Naruto would find an excuse to disappear.
She found it rather puzzling.
She had given up trying to wait passively for Naruto to come and talk with her like he had the first five weeks he had been at the Resistance Base. Instead, she decided to go seek him out. But after many failed searches for the blond ninja, she turned to his students.
"How are you two doing?" Ciel asked with a bright smile. From the looks of it, the two had greatly improved. Naruto had claimed that they weren't quite ready for battle just yet, but Ciel was willing to bet that the two of them would wipe the floor with anyone else in the Resistance.
"Great!" Dande said cheerfully. "Naruto-shishou said that if we progress at the rate we are, he'll take us on a mission in a month or so."
"Naruto-shishou?" she asked incredulously. "Is Naruto starting some sort of doujou here?"
Faucon smirked. "Well, it annoys Naruto-shishou to no end when we call him that. He keeps telling us to call him Boss as if we're part of some sort of gang instead, but we don't really intend to listen to him. And considering he is teaching us how to fight, it's only fair that we call him our master."
Ciel giggled. "Is this some sort of revenge from all the torturous training I hear he makes you do?"
Dande groaned. "You have no idea, Ciel-san. We're incredibly lucky that Naruto-shishou's able to go out and hunt for energy crystals from the areas outside the Eden Dome. Otherwise, we'd probably spend years in hibernating mode just to recuperate."
Ciel frowned. Maybe that's why she had a hard time finding the blond ninja lately. Perhaps he just wasn't in the base. Ciel had already given him the green light to travel anywhere as he pleased so long as he reported back regularly. She didn't like it, but she wasn't really in a place to order him not to. And he proved that he could take care of himself multiple times.
"That reminds me. How busy is Naruto these days?" Ciel asked, getting to the real reason why she sought them out. "I haven't had the time to really speak with him at all lately. Is he always outside the base?"
"Um…" Dande paused from his training. The young Reploid had been working on some sort of agility exercise. "I'm not sure. He has clones around here and there so I wouldn't say he's always outside the base. If anything, I think he's constantly inside the base working on something or another."
"What do you mean?"
"Naruto-shishou has been reading several books on technology and talking with Rouge and Jaune about something or another."
"Rouge and Jaune?" Ciel frowned. Those two were the relatively new members of the Resistance who had been rescued a year before. They were both computer administrators and technicians who had been scheduled to be retired after they chanced upon classified files during a routine checkup of Neo Arcadia's networks.
"Yes," Faucon grunted as he practiced swinging around a metal rod with an energy blade at the tip. "He also mentioned something about an infiltration mission." Faucon gave her a curious look. "I thought Naruto-shishou would check up with you on that, Ciel-san."
She shook her head. "I haven't really spoken to him in the last two or three weeks besides daily greetings and scheduled reports. It's almost as if he's avoiding me…"
"Eh?" Dande exclaimed. "There's no way he'd avoid you. He thinks the world of you! And besides, he li—oof!" Dande sputtered as Faucon hit him with the rod. "Hey, what was that for?!"
Faucon ignored the helmet-wearing Reploid. "Ciel-san, we'll tell him that you were looking for him."
She nodded. "I'd appreciate that."
"Is there anything else you need?"
She shook her head and walked past them to go see Cerveau, pushing her fears that she somehow offended Naruto to the corner of her mind.
"Amazing! I still don't understand how you're learning all this in such a short period of time, Naruto-san."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I keep telling you that I have a way of learning stuff really quickly."
How was he to explain that he had a hundred shadow clones hidden throughout the base studying all this material and improving his learning speed nearly a hundredfold?
Naruto had spent the last several weeks studying computer science with Rouge and Jaune. Neither of them claimed to be professional hackers—although they were definitely capable of being ones—but both did know more than enough to manage the small network that the Resistance had set up and help Ciel and Cerveau ward off hacking attempts from Neo Arcadia.
"Really quickly is actually understating things, Naruto-san," Rouge muttered. "You learned two years' worth of programming and coding in a few weeks. At this rate, you'll be teaching us by in a month or two."
Naruto was working with them on maintaining the firewall at the moment. He had wanted to test his abilities in hacking, but there was really no real safe way to test it out beyond basic simulations they tried out.
Jaune giggled. "Actually, I think he'll be teaching us stuff by next week. Look," Jaune pointed, "he's already covering for your mistakes here."
Rouge got a tic mark on her head. "My mistakes? You're the careless one! If you want to talk about mistakes…what about yours? Just the other day, you forgot to set up the firewall on our network. If we had gone ahead and left things as is, Neo Arcadia would have found our location and razed this base to the ground!"
Naruto blinked. He hadn't known that Jaune had made a mistake that big when Rouge had first complained to him about it last week. She had initially made it out to be a small mistake that anyone could have made.
Clearly, there had been more to the story.
A sweat drop appeared on the back of Naruto's head as he watched the two female Reploids go at it. His two weeks with them had taught him that while the two were incredibly close friends, they fought whenever they had the chance. Rouge was the more meticulous and serious one while Jaune was the more flexible and carefree one. Trying to make them fit their approach to the other's was like trying to mix oil and water. But at the same time, it was why the two of them were very effective. They would see things that the other wouldn't.
"Um ladies!" Naruto shouted. He gave them both reproachful looks.
The two of them stopped arguing and looked down in shame.
"Sorry, Naruto-san," they both mumbled.
Looking to break the uncomfortable silence, Naruto looked around the small room they were in. "I never asked, but why does our base have so few computers? Can't Ciel-chan go and buy more?"
Jaune perked up. "Well, it's not really a matter of money. We can certainly afford to buy a few computers or even steal some in raids…"
"Then?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Ciel-san was of the opinion that the less we were connected, the better. We don't have our own cyberspace so we have to use into the one that Neo Arcadia has. More computers linked to Neo Arcadia's cyberspace puts us at risk of being discovered," Rouge explained. "We can hook up to Neo Arcadia's cyberspace anytime, but Ciel-san strictly forbids it."
Naruto frowned. "That doesn't explain why we don't have our own independent network here."
"We do," Rouge replied. "It's just very small with very few things in the base actually connected to it. Besides Ciel-san's and Cerveau-san's computers, which mainly have research files, the only other things connected are the surveillance cameras around the base and various communication devices around the base."
Jaune shrugged. "Not many people here care too much about using computers. Before Rouge and I got here, Ciel-san and Cerveau-san were the only ones who had one and that was only for research purposes. For the most part, people in the Resistance just live simple lives."
"If you're curious about our network, we can get your personal computer connected," Rouge offered, before making a snide comment about Jaune, "and maybe you could see how careless Jaune is for yourself, Naruto-san."
Naruto ignored Jaune's indignant retort and nodded as he resumed working on his computer, trying to figure out a way to improve his hacking abilities. Right now, to him, Neo Arcadia was a black box of information. He had a growing sense that his future enemies would be stronger and Naruto wasn't in the mood to wait until they attacked. He wanted to be the one making the first move.
His eyes caught several things once he got onto the network for the first time.
"Top secret files?" Naruto asked out loud. "Does the Resistance even have anything that's not known to any of its members?"
"Eh?" Jaune asked. "Oh, we noticed that, too! It popped up around a month and half ago."
Two months? Naruto thought. That sounds suspicious. I've been here for about two months now…so around a month and half ago would be just after I arrived…what is Ciel-chan hiding?
"We can't access it at all," Rouge said, almost reading his mind. "Jaune and I were curious, so we tried."
Naruto looked at them. "Isn't that kind of behavior what got you kicked out of Neo Arcadia in the first place?" Naruto asked wryly.
They both shrugged.
They had told him their story about how they had accidentally access top-secret files on the Four Guardians while in Neo Arcadia. The files they obtained had information detailing the initial purpose of the Four Guardians. Apparently, before Neo Arcadia became militarized, the Four Guardians had been specialized Reploids, each designed after a specific function that X was able to carry out, charged with cleaning the planet and making it habitable again. The specific files showed the modifications done on the Guardians to make them into heavy-hitting combat Reploids.
Most of it was harmless information, but the two were accused of being Resistance spies and sentenced to retirement.
"I'm sure Ciel-san knew that we would try," Jaune said cheerfully. "And she also knows that she's so much better than we are that we'll never be able to access her files. She's on a completely different level, even compared to the top Neo Arcadian scientists."
"Apparently…" Naruto agreed, "Wow…she even went as far as to list it as top secret. If she wanted to keep things hidden, it might have been better to name them something far less eye-catching. She's pretty much daring us to try." Naruto got a mischievous look in his eyes. "Well…do you want to try breaking in again…this time with me?"
Copy X looked down haughtily at the civilian Reploid from his throne in Area X. If his memory served him correctly, the Reploid's serial number was DR-31. It was usually beneath him to learn the serial numbers of mass production Reploids, but this particular one had caused him a great deal of trouble.
"So, you're telling me that you lost Shelter?"
"With all due respect, the Cyber-Elf was stolen," the pitiful Reploid sniffed.
"Master, we confirmed his story by scanning his memory banks. DR-31 is not telling a lie." Copy X nodded at Harpuia, his right-hand Reploid. He was annoyed at Harpuia's little interruption, but Copy X knew that the green Reploid was only trying to be helpful. While Harpuia was annoying, Copy X couldn't deny that Harpuia was both competent and loyal.
"I know. I've read your report on the matter. It's quite detailed. Good work." Copy X, however, didn't lose any of his scorn for the pathetic fool groveling beneath him. Copy X pointed his X-buster and began to charge up a mega buster shot. "DR-31, you have thirty seconds to give me a reason why I shouldn't blow you to pieces. Shelter was an incredibly important asset of war that we could have used against the Resistance."
"X-sama, spare me!" DR-31 cried out. "The Resistance soldier was incredibly powerful! He even took down the Pantheon Core in the engine room! I assure you, X-sama, that there was little I could do! I'm just a civilian Reploid…my specifications don't allow me to fight!"
Copy X lowered his buster but kept it charged. "That is true," he growled before smirking in a predatory way. "However, what I don't quite understand is how the Resistance found out about Shelter. This was supposed to be a top-secret mission. We took great care not to have any leaks. Even the train that you operated hadn't even been decided until the very moment you received the Cyber-Elf." Copy X's red eyes glinted malevolently. "It makes me wonder if the enemy overheard a conversation you might have had with CS-58."
The Reploid turned pale.
"Oh?" Copy X asked with a smirk. "I see that my guess is right." Copy X raised his buster and fired. "Die, fool."
Harpuia released a stream of wind to clear the debris and smoke in Area X. "X-sama, was that really necessary? He was only a civilian Reploid. And strictly speaking, it was CS-58's fault to release the classified information."
Copy X rolled his eyes. "There was no need to spare the fool. Reploids like that are just a waste of energy and space. Besides, we have all the information we need from his memory banks regarding this human from the Resistance."
"A human, sir?" Harpuia did his best to hide his surprise but Copy X wasn't fooled.
"Yes," Copy X replied. "In your report, DR-31's memory banks had been slightly altered but not corrupted. Based on the original unaltered memory that you were able to extract, you reported that the enemy had initially thought that Shelter wasn't in the package that he stole. Only a human wouldn't be able to see a Cyber-Elf."
"But sir!" Harpuia exclaimed. "Humans don't have the fighting capabilities that we saw from DR-31's memories! Wouldn't it be more likely that Ciel of the Resistance created a new Reploid that wasn't able to see Cyber-Elves?"
Copy X snorted. "What would be the point of that, Harpuia? Reploids, in their default state, are able to see Cyber-Elves. Why would Ciel go out of her way to take that ability away? The simpler explanation would be that our new enemy is a human Maverick who has terrifying combat abilities."
"That's…that's…"
Copy X ignored his servant's blabbering. "There were reports about two months ago that Ciel and her Resistance cronies visited some abandoned ruins, correct?"
"Ah…yes," Harpuia reported. "We were even able to get a visual of Ciel and her subordinates. There were about over twenty members of the Resistance present. All the bodies except Ciel's were accounted for, however."
"And yet the damage we incurred was tremendous. Dozens of Pantheon deaths and hundreds more injured and damaged." X furrowed his brow. That kind of power didn't just lie around everywhere. "It appears that Ciel found something special in the ruins. It would explain how the Reploid Disposal Center was destroyed so quickly before we could send any reinforcements as well."
"We figured it was a bomb. The Resistance members have used them in the past before. They have a talented engineer they call Cerveau who is able to create such weapons."
"I care not for the names of trash," Copy X growled. "Nor do I care for pathetic tools like bombs. No, I was thinking about Zero. Under most circumstances, I would imagine this was the work of Zero."
"We know that she was seeking out Zero," Harpuia began. "That's why we sent our troops after her when she began to move towards those ruins. Based on the energy readings of the area, we had cause to believe that she had finally found Zero. The residual energy in the area once whatever seal present was broken didn't appear to resemble Zero's energy signature so we thought nothing of it. X-sama, are you saying that this new Resistance fighter is the legendary Reploid Zero?"
"Idiot," Copy X said in derision. "I said under most circumstances. But this is different. Zero would have been able to see the Cyber-Elf. And as you yourself mentioned, the energy signature didn't resemble Zero's. No, this new fighter is definitely human." Copy X paused before barking out an order. "Hm…I want you to send Maha Ganeshariff to guard the area in case they come back. Send troops of Pantheons to see if there are any other clues in the area. I have to admit…I am very intrigued."
Copy X shook with excitement. He didn't know how a human had managed to become so strong, but none of that mattered. Copy X only hoped that this human, whoever he was, was strong enough to let him test his mighty strength. After all, every hero needed a foil.
Harpuia bowed. "Your wish is my command, X-sama."
In the end, none of them were able to bypass the security that Ciel had set up.
Naruto, much to Jaune's and Rouge's surprise, had gotten the closest, figuring out that Ciel blanket-marked all files involving X and Copy X as classified, but even he couldn't discover anything beyond that.
Still, despite his curiosity, Naruto was happy at his progress. Ciel was reputedly the smartest mind in the entire world at the time and if Naruto could circumvent some of her guards, then he could probably run circles around Neo Arcadia's.
Hopefully, anyway.
He whistled a jaunty tune as headed downstairs to the training room where his two minions were training.
As soon as he entered, he felt the tip of an energy blade pointed at his neck as well as the barrel of a buster on the side of his head.
"Not bad," Naruto said in a singsong voice as blood dripped from the slight cut on his neck.
"We finally got you?" Dande sounded almost disbelieving.
Naruto chuckled. "Nope. Of course not," he said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a log behind.
Naruto reappeared on the other side of the room without a wound. "You two are way too reliant on your eyes. I had already replaced myself before the two of you even noticed me enter."
Faucon grumbled. "It's not fair to trick us with illusions like that, Naruto-shishou."
Naruto groaned. He hated formalities and ranks and the two idiots insisted on calling him a master. He was sure that it was intentional now because the two would say it more often when they were annoyed.
"Forget the illusions!" Dande growled, "I want to know where he gets all these damn logs! There's barely any life on the planet and Naruto-shishou's dumping logs on us like it's free candy."
"And the log sayeth: 'come to me, all those who art fearful and in danger, and I will give thee protection'," Naruto said piously with closed eyes and clasped hands.
"You know that it's really creepy when you act like that, Naruto-shishou," Faucon said dryly.
Naruto opened his eyes and shrugged. "It's still Naruto 72 and the two of you 0. You've tried everything from surprise attacks, distractions, direct attacks…and still you haven't managed to land a hit on me…all thanks to the holy log."
Faucon sighed. "Well, at least we know we won't ever freeze to death if Naruto-shishou has an infinite number of logs we can burn."
Naruto laughed. Despite their failure to land a blow, Naruto was pleasantly surprised at their improvement…in both fighting and humor. "Anyway, jokes aside, how is your training going?" He looked specifically at Faucon. "I wasn't sure about letting you use the Triple Rod. It's much stronger than uncharged buster shots, but it forces you to be much closer to your enemy."
Cerveau had designed the weapon based on Naruto's plans for his two students. The blade wasn't nowhere near as powerful as Zero's beam saber, the weapon the Triple Rod was loosely based on, but it still was capable of a fair amount of damage. As for the styles of fighting…Naruto didn't want both of his students to fight in the same way. He wanted them to be able to cover for each other and use versatility to overcome stronger enemies. Dande already had much better accuracy and talent for shooting with greater agility allowing him to quickly escape and hide behind corners. His skills were much more suited for buster-based combat. Faucon, on the other hand, seemed to be naturally stronger and durable. He was fast and could cover quite a bit of distance, but couldn't change directions as quickly as Dande could. It was better for him to stay locked in one spot and try to fend off enemies instead. The Triple Rod was ideal for that; the metal portion could repel buster shots while the bladed portion could cut through through the toughest of Reploid armor. And the rod itself could extend quite a bit if Faucon needed to keep enemies at bay.
"Well," Faucon said with a frown, "I've lost every sparring match against Dande with this thing. I just can't move fast enough with it and Dande's already much more agile than I am to begin with."
Naruto crossed his arms. "If I do take you to fight with me, you'll probably be starting off with a buster, so don't get too attached to the weapon just yet. It's really unfortunate that your natural build and style seems to be much more suited to close combat." Naruto sighed. "But the combat Reploids will eat you alive in close combat though."
"So should I go back to practicing exclusively with a buster, then?" Faucon asked.
"Maybe we should get you a sword instead," Naruto muttered, more to himself before he nodded. "Keep the Triple Rod with you, but work only with busters for now. Until we have a way of improving your defense and durability beyond what it already is, you'll have to work at a distance. I have some ideas of how to change your body's specifications, but I want to check with Cerveau and Ciel-chan first."
"Ah! That reminds me," Dande interjected. "Ciel-san was here just a while ago. She wanted to speak with you."
"Ciel-chan did?" Naruto asked curiously as he noted Faucon groaned and giving Dande a dirty look. "Did she say why?"
Naruto frowned. Did something happen? A new mission, maybe?
Dande shook his head. "No, but she looked a bit distraught. She seemed to be under the impression that you were avoiding her." Dande paused. "You're not, right?"
Oh…so that's what this was about.
Naruto didn't answer. If he had to be completely honest, he had been avoiding Ciel. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he hadn't been seeking her out every single day like he had in the past. What Cerveau had said to him still weighed heavily upon his heart and he didn't want to lead the girl on in case she really was developing feelings for him.
"You're kidding," Dande's jaw dropped. "You're actually avoiding her? You had a lovers' quarrel?!"
"Dande," Faucon hissed loudly. "Shut up. You're being tactless as always."
"Wait," Dande said in disbelief. "I thought that Faucon was pulling my leg when he said that you and Ciel-san had a fight? I should have known!" Dande slammed his fist into his palm. "I just knew there was something strange about the way Ciel-san looked."
"Says the person who theorized that the problem was that Naruto-shishou lacked endurance…" Faucon retorted in annoyance.
Naruto twitched. He didn't even want to ask about how Reploids knew about such things. This whole situation was getting out of hand if people were saying that he and Ciel were sleeping together. Neither of them were legal…well…at least by the standards of Naruto's time…although Naruto was getting closer to that age.
"I'm going to kill both of you if you don't shut up," Naruto growled out in irritation. "Where did she say she was going to be? I should go talk to her."
"We're not sure, but it looked like she was heading towards Cerveau-san's lab," Faucon answered.
Naruto nodded. "Both of you can take the rest of the day off. I'll see you later."
He walked towards Cerveau's room, before realizing he didn't know exactly what to say to Ciel.
He turned around and walked away to gather himself. He wasn't really ready for this.
Naruto mentally cursed. It was Cerveau's fault, damn it. Why did that meddling Reploid have to make the situation more than it was? Now Naruto couldn't even be himself around Ciel without feeling like he was doing something wrong.
"I'm sure it doesn't have to do with that at all," Cerveau said while he patted Ciel on the shoulder. The girl had come in earlier to discuss a multitude of topics. But given Ciel's reaction to this particular topic, Cerveau figured that it had been the real reason why she had come down to see him. "Naruto just has been busy. That's all."
Ciel shook her head. "It just makes no sense whatsoever. He used to spend hours with me everyday. There's just no other explanation why his behavior towards me would suddenly change."
"Ciel, look, the truth about Copy X is classified information even within Neo Arcadia. A handful of people in the Resistance even know about it. There's no way Naruto could have found out."
She gave him an accusing look. "You let it slip a few weeks ago that X was a copy to begin with. He's been avoiding me since then…"
Cerveau winced. He wasn't the best at keeping his mouth shut and he had forgotten that Naruto didn't know that previously. It's just that Ciel and Naruto appeared to be so close and comfortable with each other that Cerveau simply talked to them as if they were one and the same.
"Are you even sure he's avoiding you?" Cerveau sighed. He had his own suspicions on why Naruto would be avoiding Ciel, but he didn't exactly know how to tell the poor girl.
Ciel nodded and wiped her tears with a tissue. "He just sees me to give me reports and then leaves immediately after. Even when I try to extend the conversation, he somehow gives me an excuse to slip out."
Cerveau mentally groaned. Naruto, you idiot…I didn't tell you everything I did just so that you could completely break off ties with Ciel.
He was sorely tempted to tell Ciel to flat out come to term with her own feelings, but that approach hadn't worked well with Naruto. Cerveau sorely regretted having that chat with Naruto a few weeks ago. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed Naruto too hard. The boy clearly had mental scars from his life and Cerveau had underestimated how severely the boy would react.
So Cerveau decided to take another approach with his first human friend. "Ciel, what's so wrong with that?"
The girl looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean?"
"What are you so afraid of?" Cerveau asked rhetorically. "You're afraid that Naruto would leave us if he found out that you created Copy X after X disappeared right?" Cerveau and Ciel both turned their heads when an electronic pen dropped from his desk and cracked. Cerveau briefly wondered if that was a bad omen or something that signaled Naruto would abandon them if he truly did find out, but shook his head at that ridiculous thought. The Reploid engineer was a believer in science; he shouldn't waste his energy thinking about old wives' tales. "Well, let's assume that Naruto did find out and that's the reason he's been avoiding you. He hasn't left us yet, right? So there's no harm."
Ciel sniffed and wiped her eyes again. "I…that's right…" she said slowly.
Cerveau smirked as she fell into his trap and nodded. "So…then…you have nothing to be sad about. So what if he avoids you? He's still willing to fight for us. You told me that that's all you care about, right?"
Ciel looked shell-shocked at that. He could almost hear the gears turning in Ciel's head. It wasn't that Ciel feared Naruto leaving the Resistance; she feared that Naruto would leave her.
Having been her friend for the longest period of time, he knew her better than anyone else. She was selfless to a fault, but even she had her own insecurities. After seeing the terrible things that Copy X did, she felt guilty for everything Copy X did and consequently, thought herself as a horrible person. She rationalized that her attachment towards Naruto was her desire to save her Reploid friends because she was convinced that she was too "evil" to be liked and treasured by anyone. But it was just a disguise for how she really felt about the blond boy from the past. The true source of Ciel's deathly fear of Naruto finding out the truth was that her worry that Naruto would judge her once he found out that she was the creator of Copy X.
"I…I…" she stammered.
"Of course…things change if you're saying there's a different personal reason why you're so distraught…"
Cerveau mentally did a jig in his mind. He could see the comprehension dawning on her face. Ciel was incredibly smart and self-reflective. Once presented with the truth, she wouldn't blatantly deny that it was there.
Ciel suddenly stood up and wiped her eyes one last time. "Thank you, Cerveau." Ciel gave him a bright but obviously fake smile. "I hadn't thought of it like that. It was my mistake to be so down for no good reason whatsoever. I feel much better now."
With that, the girl abruptly left his laboratory.
He groaned and slapped his palm to his head. So Ciel wasn't going to admit to the very end. "Ugh, humans…"
Naruto frowned as he looked down at the computer screen with Jaune and Rouge. "So you're saying that this is a hidden base relatively near our base."
"Pretty much. We stumbled on this by accident," Jaune said with a sheepish smile. "We were applying some of the tactics you used to try and enter Ciel-san's sealed files in our approach in hacking Neo Arcadian servers and we found this."
"On the first try, too," Rouge said seriously, although Naruto could tell she was fighting off a satisfied smirk. "I can only imagine what else we can find if we dig deeper."
"Ciel-chan's going to be angry when she finds out. Didn't you say that she strictly forbids people hooking up computers to Neo Arcadia's cyberspace?" Naruto asked in a flat tone.
"Well, neither of us are quite good at listening to orders," Jaune giggled.
Rouge snorted. "Speak for yourself. You were the one who recklessly hooked your computer up to their network. I almost had a heart attack when you first told me you were fooling around inside Neo Arcadia's cyberspace. I had to make sure you wouldn't cause too much trouble."
Naruto laughed. It definitely sounded like the two of them. It was the same way they had gotten kicked out of Neo Arcadia. It was probably why they were showing him everything they found instead of Ciel. The two of them knew that Naruto really didn't play by or care for the rules himself.
Jaune gave a bright smile. "Glad to know you care," she said cheekily before frowning. "But still, this is pretty serious stuff."
Rouge pointed at a large screen in their room. "Here, we'll get it up on the larger monitor so we can all see it at once."
They spend the next few minutes reading parts of the reports that Jaune and Rouge swiped. The three of them paled when they read just what the purpose of the hidden Neo Arcadian base was.
Naruto swore. "I can't say I fully understand, but that's why there have been so many attacks on our limited servers."
Rouge looked grim as well. "It also makes sense why most of the attacks were rather easy to repel as well. The problem is the sheer volume along with the few advanced attacks the specialists manage to try and sneak in. Ciel-san was wondering about this very same thing. It would make very little sense for Neo Arcadia to waste valuable energy and resources coming after us with these half-baked attacks."
"With automated computers, they could have all the volume they want and with this base being outside of the Eden Dome," Naruto muttered, "and with this Anubis Necromancess gathering energy crystals out in the wild, they'll never run out of energy. It's a brilliant idea…to have a self-reliant military base out in the middle of nowhere."
It really was. Without even knowing it, Naruto had been doing the same thing the Neo Arcadia was doing: gathering the near infinite energy crystals outside the Eden Dome. Killing the seemingly endless waves Mavericks that swarmed him each time he left the safety of the Eden Dome was annoying, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. And the reward was definitely worth the cost.
Clearly, Neo Arcadia felt the same way and took that idea to the extreme.
"And the base itself is underwater and underground, preventing it from both Maverick and enemy attacks," Rouge added. "The coordinates of the base are provided here," she pointed to a spot on the large monitor, "but we don't have the means to take over the base."
"What are we going to do?" Jaune said in a grave tone, serious for once. "It's not necessarily an essential to destroy this base and the effort in doing so would be incredibly costly. Ciel-san would never approve of such a mission." Naruto felt the looks of both of the Reploid women on him. They probably knew that he was planning to sack the base.
Naruto nodded. "Ciel-chan would probably prefer staving off the attacks herself than sending people over." He gave the two annoyed looks. "What? I'm not going to run off at any second so calm down."
Jaune looked at him dubiously. "You're pretty reckless, Naruto-san."
Naruto rolled his eyes. Jaune had no right to lecture anyone about recklessness. "Pot meet kettle." Naruto gestured towards the screen. "I'd call this reckless, just in a nonviolent way. Anyway, let's gather more information first."
Rouge groaned. "That's all but confirming that you're going to go, Naruto-san. You do know that there are thousands of Pantheons guarding this place. You also have the potential to meet two B-ranks in Anubis Necromancess and Blizzack Staggroff as well as an A-rank in Fairy Leviathan, right? The Guardians are on a whole new level. It's said that the Guardians could each handle multiple B-ranks on their own."
"Rushing into a battle with one of them is suicide," Jaune added helpfully. "I hear that Leviathan is particularly playful with those she kills." Jaune shuddered. "Dismembering, puncturing…and she'd make you stay alive and functional for the entire process."
Naruto rolled his eyes again. "Try not to speak as if I'm marching to my own funeral. And it hasn't even been decided that I'm going."
Naruto would have snorted if it were someone else saying that. Of course, he was going to go. Thousands of Pantheons? Naruto was a walking one-man army with his ability to spam shadow clones. Powerful B-rank combat Reploids? Naruto had been able to take them down with almost no injuries. And the few he did have didn't even last two hours. A Guardian of Copy X could solo multiple B-ranks? Well, it wasn't like Naruto had used any of his trump cards either; he was sure he could do the same.
He was definitely going to sack that base. It was now just a matter of finding a convenient excuse.
Ciel's mind was racing. She had quickly stumbled to her own room and collapsed on her bed to think.
What Cerveau had implied was absurd. She didn't have any romantic feelings towards Naruto. Her body might be attracted to Naruto, but that was to be expected. She was a human girl and he was a human boy in a base with no other humans. Humans were designed to be attracted to those physical near them and those they were familiar with.
Given how much they saw each other, it would be strange if there weren't any physical attraction and even infatuation between her and Naruto.
And given the constant danger they were in, it wouldn't surprise her if she misattributed those adrenaline rushes for feelings of attraction.
But some sort of special emotional attachment? Preposterous!
Love? Impossible!
And yet, she couldn't deny that she felt different around Naruto. She constantly felt emotionally confused around the boy. It wasn't just her face flushing or feeling her heart race. She felt connected to him somehow.
She wasn't an expert on romance, but the little she did know told her that yes, she was indeed in love with Naruto. She was simply trying to deny it all this time.
It wasn't supposed to be this way though. She couldn't afford to get distracted from her mission. She was about to scream in frustration, probably for the first time in her life, when she heard a knock on her door.
"Yes?" she sat up on her bed.
"Ciel-chan?" Naruto walked in.
She was both pleased and irritated when her bad mood lifted. Pleased that she didn't feel so crummy anymore. Irritated that it just proved that Cerveau more or less right.
"I see that you got the message I left for you from Dande-kun and Faucon-kun," she said flatly. She mentally cringed at her own tone. Her displeasure was clearly evident in her voice.
"Heh," Naruto rubbed that back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, I heard that you told them that you thought I was avoiding you. I didn't mean to make you feel worried. You didn't do anything to make me upset or anything."
She nodded, but felt her face flush in embarrassment. "A…ah yes."
Was Naruto visiting her out of pity now? Anger surged in her heart. This wasn't what she wanted.
"Can I sit down?" Naruto gestured towards her chair.
She shook her head. "I'm a little busy now, Naruto. Can this wait?"
Ciel knew it was rather petty of her to kick Naruto out like that, but she wasn't really listening to her rational side. Right now, she was upset and confused and she wanted to make Naruto feel the same way.
Although she didn't have any reason to think that kicking him out of her room would make him feel upset.
Naruto ignored her and sat down on her chair.
"Working this hard can't be good for your health," he said lightly as he tapped all the papers on her desk. They were her notes for creating an alternative energy source. She didn't get to work on it too much because she was busy with Resistance work, but with Naruto taking a bulk of those responsibilities and streamlining the process, she found that she had a bit more time. She had initially thought to sleep with the extra time, but remembered that she had other work to do. "I recall that I was told that I trained far too much for my own good, but you work harder than I ever did…or at least I think I ever did."
Ciel sighed and looked at Naruto. On one hand, she felt frustrated that Naruto was still here while she was upset…at…something or someone…but on the other hand, she decided that she wanted the boy she liked—yes, liked—close to her. As confused as she was, she didn't exactly want him to leave.
…that was the point of liking someone, right? To enjoy that person's very presence?
It was quite a conundrum that she couldn't fully explain herself. It was as if her heart was trying to go in two different directions. Dealing with love was rather baffling.
She still had to save face, however.
"I have to do this, Naruto." She pointed at the papers that Naruto was tapping. "If I continue my research, I might find a way to end this war without losing even more lives. I can't be dawdling when I have time." She remembered something else and sighed. "Not to mention…the hacking…if I don't continually make sure our small network is protected, then Neo Arcadia may be able to discover where we are and launch a full-scale attack. We won't be able to survive that."
"What about Jaune and Rouge?"
She shook her head. "They're capable, but we all know that Neo Arcadia has capable technicians as well. And they outnumber us, too. We need someone with skills beyond Jaune's and Rouge's to keep Neo Arcadia at bay." Ciel felt rather uncomfortable at implying that she was better than the two computer technicians, but it was the truth. While Jaune and Rouge were top-of-the-line experts, Neo Arcadia had plenty of Reploids on their level; after all, Neo Arcadia could simply mass-produce more of them. Ciel, on the other hand, was an unparalleled genius beyond what Neo Arcadia could simply make on short-notice and had the benefit of studying and making progress for her entire life as well whereas Neo Arcadia aimed more for stability and status quo.
Naruto shrugged. "Okay…but I could argue back and say that if you collapse, then Neo Arcadia will almost certainly take that opportunity to find out where we are. You need to take a break, Ciel-chan."
She felt her face flush at Naruto's familiarity with her. Yes, Naruto had been calling her that over the last two months, but it still made her feel awkward around him. It was worse now that she was sure she had romantic feelings towards him.
Ciel then remembered that she was going to ask him about that.
"You know, Naruto…I don't ever recall giving you permission to give me a pet-name."
Naruto laughed. "Oh come on, Ciel-chan." Naruto emphasized the diminutive term of endearment and she blushed again. Oh yes, it was definitely muchworse now that she was certain of her feelings. "Don't be such a spoilsport. I told you that I'm not good with keeping my distance with people, especially with people around my age."
That gave Ciel pause and she decided to give up on trying to get him to leave. It was a good opportunity to get more information on the mysterious boy. He had provided bits and pieces of his still recovering memory, but hadn't provided a comprehensive history of his life. It was Naruto's prerogative if he didn't want to share every aspect of his life, but if he was going to take residence in her room, then it was only right that he pay with information.
That was a justifiable reason to grill her crush, right?
"How old are you anyway? You mentioned that you were older than me, so I know that much, but nothing specific. I read quite a few historical texts mentioning young and powerful warriors, but you seem to have started fighting far younger than what those texts suggested for such a powerful fighter."
The blond boy shrugged. "I'm seventeen."
Ciel felt a wave of pity wash through her. That really was barely older than she was. Given how powerful Naruto was, he must have started training from an extremely young age. Such a thing was unheard of in modern history and would have been considered child abuse.
Naruto apparently couldn't read her thoughts, however, and was rambling on. "To be honest, my age isn't important though."
"Isn't important? Why not?" she inquired in a curious tone. "How could your age not matter? Even now, age is used as a means to determine if human have reached maturity and whether they can work or get married." Her cheeks turned red at that thought. "And you're the one who made a big deal about my birthday. I would have thought that something like this was important to you."
Naruto had an unreadable expression on his face. It was almost as if he was remembering something distasteful about one of his birthdays. Ciel winced when she suddenly remembered what Naruto had told her the previous week. Naruto's parents had died on his birthday and the Kyuubi had been sealed inside of him with his parents' birth. In her eagerness to find out more about Naruto, that little tidbit had slipped her mind.
She must have sounded tactless.
"It's not that at all. It has to do with longevity," Naruto furrowed his brow. "I know that I'm going to be extremely long-lived. My family was generally long-lived compared to other families. And even within my family, I was…special…different…from the others for various reasons. So there's no point in keeping track of my age and comparing it to age scale of others. I'll end up looking younger and outliving everyone I know."
Ah…he's similar to me, then, Ciel noted. She too was going to be incredibly long-lived and maintain youthful vigor for far longer than other humans. I wonder if people back then had forms of genetic modification. Based on the few things that Naruto has told me so far, it seems that people were willing to do anything for power and ambition.
Still, the fact that Naruto was unlike others and similar to her made her feel happy. Ciel wondered if this had been part of the reason she felt such an innate connection with the older boy, since she herself had been ostracized because of her differences. Because of her superior intellect, children hadn't understood her and adults had been wary about her.
"I'm not so sure about that," she said with a small smile. "I doubt you'd be outliving me. I'll live several hundred years at the very least."
Naruto looked at her dubiously. "Another one of your perks from being an Enlightened One?"
Ciel nodded. "When I said my genes were maximized to the fullest extent, I meant it in all aspects. That meant intelligence, physical energy, and even lifespan."
Naruto suddenly looked serious. "Ah yes…that reminds me…about the last few weeks…I had a lot of things on my mind."
"A…a lot of things…?" she asked slowly, holding her body to prevent herself from shivering. Ciel tilted her head lightly in acknowledgment, wondering what this could be about. A lot of things? He couldn't possibly mean…no…it's probably not that…What Cerveau had told her reassured her that Naruto didn't know anything about Copy X, but at the same time, the serious look on Naruto's face was unsettling.
Naruto smiled lightly at her. "It has nothing to do with you, Ciel-chan, so don't worry." Ciel wanted to smack her head in frustration. Her irrational fear must have been evident on her face. That or Naruto was able to read her too easily. "I think it's probably best if I'm upfront about certain things with you." She watched carefully as Naruto struggled to find the right words. "I…I had a really difficult past…" he managed out rather lamely before hitting himself. "Lately, a lot more of my memories have been coming back."
"I see…" What else could she say? She suddenly felt rather pathetic for thinking that Naruto had been upset with her when he was most likely sorting through his thoughts.
"Do you?" he asked sadly. "At first when you woke me up, it was easy to adjust because there wasn't much about my past I remembered. But slowly, memories of my home, my friends, the life I lived…came back to me." Naruto looked at her intently. "Remember when I told you that I was sealed away because I was too powerful?"
She nodded. How could she forget? The idea that there could be a human so powerful as to threaten the stability and balance of the world was still mind-boggling. "You also mentioned that even as powerful as you are now, you're nowhere near as powerful as you once were."
"Yup," Naruto confirmed. "But I never told you the reason I was so powerful. It wasn't an accident." Naruto exhaled loudly. "It's still a pain to explain, but I feel like it should be done since I feel that we're going to be spending a lot of time together in the future. I'm going to ask that you don't interrupt until I'm finished though."
Her heart leapt at that. Naruto wasn't leaving and was deciding to make the conscious choice to become even closer to her.
"O…okay…"
"The day I was born…October 10…an evil enemy released a huge chakra beast inside my village and controlled it to cause tremendous amount of destruction. There were only nine of these chakra beasts and they were so powerful, they could change the very landscape. The particular one that was released in my village was the Kyuubi, the strongest of the chakra beasts. My dad was the village leader at the time. It took his and my mom's sacrifice to seal the Kyuubi inside of me." Naruto paused as if he was remembering something particularly painful. "It…it…the sealing of the Kyuubi made me naturally more powerful than most of my peers as my body adapted to the Kyuubi's potent chakra. It's why I have so much energy to throw around."
She nodded. Things were beginning to make a bit more sense now. She had always been intrigued by Naruto's vitality. Naruto had been able to function on less sleep than even someone like her. Naruto healed far more quickly than any human she met.
And that must have been one of those "various reasons" he alluded to when he said that he would live longer than normal humans.
But the cost of all those benefits had been to have a massive beast sealed inside of him…
She couldn't help but shiver at that thought.
Naruto must have noticed. "Yeah, that's what the people of my village thought, too. If you're scared, you don't have to worry now. I don't have the Kyuubi inside of me anymore," Naruto said in a neutral tone. "But back then, chakra beasts were considered monsters and demons during that time and most of the villagers thought of me as the Kyuubi itself."
She gasped. It didn't take much to read in between the lines. "So…so…they…they abused you?"
"More or less," Naruto said bitterly. "No one had ever tried to kill me…which was what happened to one of my best friends who also had a chakra beast sealed in him…but I was pretty much an outcast within my own village and everyone turned a blind eye whenever someone did something bad to me."
She looked at him in a horrified manner. "B…but your dad was the leader!"
Naruto let out a dark laugh. Ciel trembled at the hardness in his voice. She hadn't known that Naruto could be that cold and distant. It seemed very uncharacteristic of him since he was always exuded brightness and warmth.
"No one knew that…or at least…no one was willing to admit that until much later. I eventually was able to strike an accord with the Kyuubi and use his powers to help my village survive multiple invasions and come out victorious in a world war. Only after that did people really accept me. But even after that, I was forced to seal myself away in order to maintain peace between the villages."
"You sealed yourself away?" Ciel asked in disbelief. That was news. She knew he had been sealed, but to think he did it himself. "Why?"
"It'll take too long to explain, but long story short, I was the only remaining 'demon' container, the only human superweapon, alive. I didn't want to fight in another war and see more of my friends killed," Naruto said softly.
She just looked at him in stunned silence. Naruto had willingly thrown his own life away for the sake of his friends and for his village. This after all the untold abuse he received from his village when he was young.
"Why…" she murmured. "Why are you telling me this?"
It made no sense for Naruto to come to her and just unload all of this on her. She appreciated the gesture, but didn't understand why.
Naruto gave her a soft smile, although Ciel briefly thought she could see something else in his expression as well…a more mischievous one.
"To build trust."
"Trust?" she asked in confusion.
He chuckled. "I used to worry a lot about what people would think about me. Any friends I made—the kids of my village weren't told about the demon sealed inside of me—I didn't want them to find out about the Kyuubi. I didn't want to be judged and further ostracized." Ciel looked at Naruto's blue eyes intently. It was almost as if he knew what she was worrying about and was trying to tell her that everything was still fine. "But eventually I realized that not telling my close friends meant that I wasn't fully trusting them. I wasn't trusting that they would look beyond my past and beyond what was out of my control. It meant that I didn't have enough faith that they would care about me and love me unconditionally."
His words hit very close to home. She felt happy that Naruto made a show of trust to her, but felt guilty that she wasn't doing the same for him. She wasn't quite ready to tell him, but understood that he was willing to look past all of that.
Judging by the gentle smile on his face, Ciel got the feeling that he understood how she felt. She felt a huge burden on her heart for being responsible for this entire war between the Resistance and Neo Arcadia.
"Thank you, Naruto," she replied. "Thank you for trusting me." And saying that you're willing to forgive me for anything I might have done in the past.
Ciel felt a surge of warm feelings rise in her chest, far stronger than ones in the past. Naruto…really was a good person. Looking at it objectively, she figured she really didn't have a chance…he was just too perfect. Kind, sincere, determined, strong…what more could a girl want?
It would be strange if she hadn't fallen for him.
The thought hit her like a lightning bolt. What if…what if Naruto had someone he loved in the past? With how Naruto was, surely some other girl would have liked him first, right?
Ciel had to bite her lower lip to prevent herself from asking the question on the tip of her tongue.
"Of course," Naruto replied before smirking. "Now I don't have to worry about you constantly struggling whether you want to ask me something about my past. I'm pretty much an open book to you now so don't worry about offending me or anything like that with questions."
Ciel flushed. So he had noticed. But there was no way she was going to ask about what she had been wondering about just now.
"That's not all, though," Naruto continued.
She gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
"I noticed that the energy readings from the Cyber-Elf vaguely resembles that of the chakra beasts. It's nothing too serious, but I still wanted to ask you about their origins."
Ciel frowned. "I don't know entirely myself. I know that Cyber-Elves can be created somehow, but that it requires years of exposure to certain energy sources. For example, the Eden Dome is powered by a power generator in sub-Arcadia and most Cyber-Elves spontaneously arise there."
"I see," Naruto mused. "What about the power generator itself? Where does it derives its power."
"Well," Ciel hesitated. She didn't know the answer herself and she didn't want to give him something inaccurate. These chakra beasts that Naruto was talking about seemed to be a crucial point for Naruto and Ciel didn't want to mislead him in any way.
"Well?"
She sighed. "You have to understand that much of this was before my time so I can't give you an entirely accurate answer. Neo Arcadia has plenty of dark secrets that aren't accessible even by the highest of officials."
Naruto nodded. "That's fine. Just tell me what you do know and I'll try to figure out the rest."
She took a deep breath. "Official Neo Arcadian documents say that the power generator is linked to the core of the planet and that the planet itself provides the energy." She paused to see Naruto's reaction.
To her surprise, he didn't look astonished at all. If anything, he seemed to expect that sort of answer. "Well, I suppose that might explain it," Naruto said with his arms crossed and a look of intense concentration on his face. "At its core, the energy from the chakra beasts come from the earth itself so I could be sensing that. Thanks for letting me know."
Ciel wasn't so sure herself. If the power generator were truly running on the planet's energy, then there wouldn't have such an energy crisis forcing Neo Arcadia to forcibly retire Reploids deemed useless. But at the same time, she could be overestimating the planet itself as well. The planet was mostly a barren wasteland and could be on its last legs so Neo Arcadia could very well be telling the truth.
"Of course," she replied quickly before shyly sitting on her bed and staring at Naruto.
After a long period of awkward silence, Naruto suddenly turned and gestured towards the papers on her desk. "What is all this junk by the way?"
"It's not junk!" Ciel protested indignantly. "It's research I've been working on for years!"
Naruto laughed heartily at that. "To each to his…or her…own. I don't think I would ever like all this academic stuff."
"Science can change the world!" She had to believe that. That was the point of the Resistance. They would fight to buy her time to solve this energy crisis.
Naruto raised his arms up defensively. "Wow there. I'm not devaluing anything that you're doing. I just don't like pouring through books and stuff."
"Like you've been doing with Jaune and Rouge?" Ciel snapped at him accusingly. Naruto blinked at that. Even Ciel was rather surprised at her own tone. Oh great…now I'm showing signs of jealousy. And for Reploid girls no less. This is ridiculous.
Naruto then adopted a sheepish look. "Ah…I figured that I had to learn something about this world. So much of this world is digitalized so I decided that I had to become familiar with computers and technology. Reading books is a small price to pay for that."
She shook her head. "Learning how to hack isn't what I would call simple learning…plenty of people in this world make do without learning how to bypass security measures on secret files."
Naruto grinned mischievously. "Perhaps, but 'plenty of people' don't get kicks out of pranking Neo Arcadia by replacing all their state news articles with articles about the great and sexy Naruto Uzumaki of the Resistance!"
"You did what?!" she almost screamed as she stood up from her bed. Ciel noted that Naruto managed to remember his family name. Normally, she would have commented on it, but the rest of Naruto's declaration was so alarming.
Naruto broke out into laughter. "Hahaha! You should look at your face Ciel-chan! You look like you just saw a ghost!"
She sat back down, fuming after she realizing that Naruto had just pranked her. "That wasn't funny, Naruto! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!" She shook her head in disbelief. "You should be more serious about these kinds of things. You're such an enigma, Naruto. You're two older than I am, fight as if you fought for decades, yet act at times as if you're a toddler."
"You wound me," Naruto said theatrically, holding his heart as if he had been shot, before looking at her seriously after he saw that he got her to smile. "I learned early on in my life that it's more difficult to live life with a serious attitude than a flippant one." Naruto put his hands to his mouth in mock surprise and outrage. "See! You're a bad influence on me! You're making me use big words that make me look a lot more serious now."
Ciel just giggled at the older boy's antics but didn't let her inner thoughts show on her face.
So Naruto was much smarter than he let on as well. She had thought that she was imagining the flashes of intelligence and wisdom that shone through his eyes when he spoke about different things. In a way, that was more difficult for Ciel to accept. It meant that Naruto had a deceptive nature to him and shouldn't be fully trusted.
But her heart immediately rebelled at and rejected that thought.
Naruto was nothing but kind and caring to her and the Resistance. There was no way he had any sort of ulterior motive. His happy mask, so to speak, was probably the result of his childhood trauma.
"Hello?" Ciel's eyes snapped back into focus when she saw Naruto waving his hand in front of her face.
"Yes?"
"You totally zoned out on me," Naruto said in displeasure.
"I did no such thing!" Ciel stammered back, face red from having been caught with her mind wandering. She had been doing that more in the last few months since Naruto joined the Resistance.
Naruto shook his head firmly. "I was right. This happened because you're too tired. You've only been getting two hours of sleep a night for the last month."
Ciel blinked in surprise. "How do you even know that? I work in my room late at night and lock the door…" And the walls were almost completely sound-proof. The sounds of pages flipping and pens scribbling would be snuffed out entirely.
Naruto ignored her question. "You will go to sleep or I will make you."
She shrunk back and squeaked when Naruto leaned forward ominously and looked straight into her eyes. He's…he's too…too close…I can't focus! Ciel almost began hyperventilating, especially when she felt an incredibly irrational yet very strong urge to tilt her head forward to have her lips meet his.
"I…I…I…"
Naruto finished for her, "…will go to sleep. Say that after me. 'I will go to sleep.'"
Ciel felt lightheaded for some strange reason. And why did Naruto's eyes look strange? Instead of their normal bright blue, they seemed dull, blurry, and…huh, were they deep red? That thought was dropped as Naruto's command reverberated in her mind.
"I will…go…to…to…sleep," she repeated, yawning at the end of the sentence.
And with that, everything went black.
Author's Note: I toyed with the idea of making Ciel question her feelings for a longer time...say maybe until the end of the first portion of the story (i.e. the defeat of Copy X)...but realized that Ciel would need time after being sure of her own feelings before finally confessing (as she almost did at the end of Mega Man Zero before Zero enters the Neo Arcadian Core). Having Ciel wrestle over her one-sided affections, at least...one-sided for now, works just as well. If anything, I suppose it would be progress in this Naruto x Ciel story that hasn't been Naruto x Ciel very much since it's still early in the story.
The more perceptive readers might note that I am planning on combining the Find Hidden Base, Find Shuttle, and Stop the Hacking missions. Of course, this is all for story-telling purposes. Unfortunately, if I make up mini-arcs for every single boss in the Mega Man Zero universe, then this story will never end. Moreover, the battles between Naruto and the bosses will become very boring to read as Naruto will wipe the floor with most of them.
As always, reviews will be appreciated.