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

Ciel gave him a curious look. "A personal mission?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup. There's something I want to check out. It shouldn't take longer than a few hours."

Naruto hadn't managed to reactivate his Rinnegan, but Naruto still wanted to go check out the Gedo Mazo. Training his first dual-nature element—Hyouton—had gone well and Naruto wanted to take a bit of a break before training in earnest again. But at the same time, Naruto wanted to be productive so he figured that looking for information was the best way to go.

"I'd appreciate a bit more information than that, Naruto."

In a rather interesting way, Ciel had gotten more of a backbone after Naruto's unsanctioned mission to sack the hidden Neo Arcadia base. She seemed to be a lot more assertive and strict about official Resistance business. That and she seemed to be more loathe to letting him out of her sight.

Not that Naruto minded. Ciel was great company even when she was talking about something he didn't understand at all. Ciel didn't have the spunk that some of the kunoichi of his generation did, but she was sweet and earnest.

And she never threatened him with bodily harm.

"I'm looking for clues about my past," Naruto said honestly. "Remember that room with the strange statue? The room I was sealed in?"

"You want to go back?"

"I discovered…or it would be more accurate to say that I rediscovered something about that statue." Naruto activated his Sharingan and looked at her. "I remembered that a form of these eyes could activate that statue."

"Those eyes!" Ciel exclaimed. "You…you used those eyes to put me asleep that one time before you destroyed the hidden base! I thought it had been a dream because your eyes are naturally blue!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Guilty as charged. These eyes are called the Sharingan and have the ability of casting illusions." Naruto looked straight into Ciel eyes and cast an illusion to make it appear that they were back in the room with the Gedo Mazo. "See?"

Ciel gasped as she looked around. "This is a perfect replica of the room you were in." She walked over to the walls of the illusory room and touched the seals on the wall. "Even the patterns are all the same."

Naruto closed his eyes and released the genjutsu, revealing that Ciel had been touching nothing but air. "No, it's not a replica…it's still just an illusion…a trick of the mind. But that's not the issue here. There's someone inside the statue who could provide me with a lot of information."

"Inside the statue?"

"Remember that I told you that a chakra beast was sealed inside of me?"

Ciel nodded slowly. "Of course. How could I forget? The Kyuubi, right?"

Naruto grimaced at that. Of course…it wasn't anything anyone would forget. "The Kyuubi—his name is Kurama—is locked inside of that statue. I'm hoping that I could reactivate the statue and talk to the Kyuubi."

"It's been a thousand years at the very least. Will the Kyuubi even be alive?"

"One thousand years is nothing to Kurama. That annoying fox should still be in there," Naruto growled, although in a fond manner. "And he has a lot to answer for."

"Ah, that's right," Ciel replied. "You said you became his friend after a while."

Naruto nodded. "I remember tying his spirit to the statue itself so no one could abuse his power. But at the same time, Kyuubi's spirit should have been free to roam around the world and even affect the world as he and the other bijuu—there either others like Kurama—saw fit. I just don't understand why there were so many wars throughout history with the nine of them around. They were supposed to be the overseers of the world."

"So you want to go for information?" Ciel asked after a long silence after Naruto's statement. "You do know that Neo Arcadia might have squads waiting for you there…especially now that we know Neo Arcadia has taken an interest in you. And don't tell me that they assume you're dead. The intel we gathered shows that they're still on the lookout for you even if you haven't caused any trouble in the last month."

Naruto wanted to roll his eyes at that but did acknowledge Ciel's concern. "Oh please. I'm not an amateur. I know fully well that there will be some danger. But I doubt that Neo Arcadia will invest too much time and energy for simple guard duty on a place I haven't been to in over three months. As long as they don't have one of the Guardians posted there, it'll be safe."

"I'm not sure…" Ciel drifted off. She didn't look convinced at all.

Naruto sighed. "I understand that there might be a trap. I'm not just doing this on a whim. I can even explain my reasoning if you want."

"Go ahead then. Let's hear it."

"Well, at this point, Neo Arcadia knows I'm strong enough to fight one of their Guardians." Naruto grimaced as he remembered his battle with Leviathan. That battle was hardly something he would call a resounding victory even if the mission had been a success. "Well…at least strong enough to hold my ground. So any trap they have will either include a Guardian or multiple B-ranks combat Reploids. But given how the Guardians are busy carrying out other tasks within Neo Arcadia, I'm willing to bet that Neo Arcadia will do the latter if there is a trap."

"Isn't that as equally dangerous as a single Guardian?"

Naruto shook his head. "Even if there were four or five B-ranks there, I can handle them all without too much difficult. Not only am I remembering more of what I'm capable of, I'm getting stronger by training every day. Like I said, unless any of the Guardians are there, it should be fine. But that's not the main reason I'm unconcerned." He went on when Ciel gave him an expectant look. "The Guardians are difficult for me to handle because of how they fight rather than how strong they are."

"Ah, you're talking about how Leviathan fights best underwater," Ciel realized, remembering their conversation from before.

Naruto nodded. "Leviathan is actually the worst match up for me if the battle ends up being underwater. But that's a function of setting rather than power. None of the known B-rank Reploids fight like she does. In fact, it seems that most of the B-ranks are land-based, which is my specialty. I used to have more trouble in small confined areas, but I've added a couple of precision ninjutsu and weapons since I first rescued you when we first met. As long as the battle remains on land, there's no one short of X in Neo Arcadia who has a chance of beating me without giving me a chance to escape."

"Neo Arcadia could very well have made new Reploids," Ciel argued back with a frown, although Naruto could see her acknowledge his point. "They could try to exploit your weakness underwater."

"And if I sense even the slightest amount of water in the area, I'll pull out of there. I can also use my clones as diversions to keep the B-ranks company even if I spring the trap."

"Alright," Ciel finally said. "You can go on this mission on one condition."

Naruto gave her a curious look. "What is that?"

"I'm coming with you."

Naruto blinked. "What?" His eyes narrowed. "No!"

Ciel didn't budge. "You seem to be fine with gambling with your own life without taking into consideration how other people feel whenever you get hurt. If you're absolutely sure that this little excursion is safe, then you should be fine taking me along."

Naruto wanted to slam his head against the wall. "I never said it was safe. I said that I could escape from a trap if there is a trap set up. With you there, it becomes exponentially harder to escape unscathed."

Ciel only smiled lightly. "Then I guess you can't go on the mission."

Naruto's eyes widened when he realized just what Ciel was trying to do. He growled. "You're trying to appear as if you agreed with my proposal while actually preventing me from going somehow."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Naruto," Ciel replied although her eyes twinkled in amusement.

Naruto groaned. The girl was trying to manipulate him using his desire to keep her safe from harm. And in the case he agreed, she would end up finding out more about his past. It was a win-win situation for Ciel.

He was sorely tempted to cast a genjutsu on her, but he wasn't going to be a coldhearted bastard like Sasuke had been to girlsß in the past. And besides, at this point, Naruto was confident that he could bulldoze through any Reploid weaker than a Guardian. It wouldn't be too much of a problem having Ciel come along.

In fact, it would be excellent having someone pretty to look at as he carried out his personal mission.

Naruto nodded. "Fine, okay."

Ciel looked around nervously as they reappeared in the underground laboratory near where she first found Naruto. She winced at the remnants of the room where she had been held hostage by the Golem.

"Wow, you really did a number on this place, Naruto-shishou," Faucon said in awe.

Naruto had agreed to bring her along but had brought along his students as well.

Naruto had said that it was for Faucon and Dande to gain more experience, but Ciel suspected it was for her protection in case something went wrong on the mission.

As she suspected, Naruto was expecting a trap.

She would have stay on guard. It had been a while since she had gone on any sort of mission—her last mission in the field had actually been to bring Zero to the base. That had been another reason why she had been adamant about going on this mission; she couldn't let her other skills—espionage and combat—completely deteriorate. She wanted to be much more than just a pretty face.

"The explosions actually did more damage than I did," Naruto said with a light chuckle.

"Really? Reploids do explode upon termination, but not to this extent," Faucon replied with a frown.

"The Golem here was an old model," Ciel answered as she stepped over rubble to get to a nearby computer. "Technology has improved since then to minimize the explosions when Reploids die. It wouldn't do for people nearby to get hurt when Reploids die."

"It's been almost four months since then, huh?" Naruto said with some nostalgia.

"What exactly happened anyway?" Dande asked. "We know Ciel-san found you here and that you saved her from a Golem, but why were you sealed here in the first place?"

"Didn't I tell you already?" Naruto said with a frown. "I was too powerful and had to seal myself away to ensure peace in my land. I was considered a human weapon."

Dande shook his head. "No. Not that. I mean…why were you sealed in an area that clearly has a lot of technology protecting it?" He gestured around them. "It's clear that this is an underground laboratory and from your story, you were sealed in a blocked room. Someone must have found you before Ciel-san did, right?"

Ciel's eyes widened.

Some genius she was. She hadn't thought about that. The technology of Naruto's day was nothing compared to modern technology. His people wouldn't have been able to make anything like this laboratory or the passageways within the ruins where he had been sealed.

"That's what we're here to find out. I was sealed and wasn't aware of anything going around me, so I can't really answer that. But I'm hoping that there will be clues lying around." Naruto looked in her direction. "Did you find anything?"

Ciel looked at the cracked monitor in front of her. "It's too damaged, Naruto. Not only is the power out, but there is also too much damage for anything to work properly. It's enough of a miracle that the lights and the Trans Server here are still active."

It was a shame. It would have been nice to gather some data about the person or persons who had owned this laboratory.

"Oh well," Naruto sighed. "We still have a lot to explore."

Something came to her mind as they left the laboratory and started walking down a long tunnel. "Naruto?"

Naruto turned to her. "Huh?"

"I know you intended to go to that room you were sealed in, but how exactly are you going to get there?" Ciel asked. "We…umm…" she felt her face heat up as she remembered the encounter, "we fell from the ground floor to this basement area and it was a rather long fall."

"How is that a problem?" Naruto said in confusion. "We just need to run up the…oh…"

"Yes…oh…" Ciel repeated as a sweat drop appeared next to her head. She loved the boy, she really did, but sometimes he was too absentminded about certain things.

"Well, I can carry you up," Naruto shrugged. "Faucon and Dande can use my chakra kunai as anchors and climb their way up as training."

"That's not really fair, Naruto-shishou," Faucon grumbled. "You could always just make your clones and have them carry us up, too."

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not going to be there all the time. You need to learn how to do these sorts of things. Don't most high rank combat Reploids know how to climb walls?"

"But they're fitted with systems and tools that allow them to attach themselves to vertical surfaces," Faucon protested, although there wasn't much energy it in. Ciel figured the boy was just resigned at this point.

Dande, however, was anything but. "Oh, come on, Naruto-shishou! Isn't today supposed to be a day off from training?"

"It is…" Naruto acknowledged, "but it's also supposed to be a day off for me as well."

Dande groaned. "I bet…" Ciel blinked as Naruto slammed his fist into Dande's face. "Hey! What was that for?!" Dande shouted as he hit the wall of the tunnel.

"I already know what you were about to say. You bring up some variation of the topic every time you want to complain about something. So you know you deserved that hit."

Ciel merely turned to Naruto's…calmer apprentice for an explanation.

Faucon snickered as Dande mouthed off again only to have his head slammed into the wall again. "You don't have to worry, Ciel-san. This is a rather common occurrence. Dande just figured out a…um…a weak spot for Naruto and tends to try and exploit it every chance he gets."

"A weak spot?" Ciel asked curiously.

Faucon snickered more. "Something like that. It's just a topic that Naruto-shishou doesn't really like to talk about. Although…" the young Reploid paused, "it's not like Dande has anything to talk about."

"Eh? Why not?"

Faucon shrugged. "Dande's even worse than Naruto-shishou when his weak spots get needled. After all, he gets pretty annoyed when people bring up Paon all the time."

Ciel felt like she was missing something but nodded anyway. "Paon? Ah…that's right. The two of them were childhood friends, right?"

"They worked in the same department from what they've told me," Faucon explained.

She sighed. "Stories like that are rather common in the Resistance. Once a Reploid is deemed a Maverick, every Reploid close to him or her is placed on watch. Unfortunately, we're only able to save a few of them."

Faucon didn't get a chance to respond.

"Cheeky bastard," Naruto muttered as he finished cracking the wall with Dande's helmet. Naruto tossed his students a couple chakra kunai to each of his students. "Here, I'm giving you the tools. You should have enough strength in your body for such a task. As for a more permanent solution, we'll talk to Cerveau later about giving you retractable hooks or something."

"Yeah, yeah," Faucon said as he caught the kunai.

Ciel let out a small yelp as Naruto swept her up in his arms. "N…Naruto! There's still some ways to go before we get to the place where we fell down!"

"Don't mind him, Ciel-san," Dande said dryly, "he's doing that because he now has an excuse to hold you."

"Hah. Hah. Very funny," Naruto remarked sarcastically as Ciel felt her face flush. She was extremely grateful that the tunnel was dark and no one else could see her red face. "Someone clearly didn't learn his lesson just now," Naruto added threateningly before gesturing up ahead. "I'm going up ahead as you climb up. Ciel and I will investigate the stuff right above where we fell to kill time as you climb up. It's best to use time efficiently after all."

Ciel was a bit disappointed after seeing Naruto's relatively calm and almost dismissive response to Dande's suggestive joke. She had been hoping for a nervous chuckle or perhaps vehement denial—anything that would suggest that he returned her feelings. Did Naruto simply see her as no more than a friend and colleague?

She mentally sighed. She knew absolutely nothing about romance and even less about how to get a boy to fall for her. And not knowing how greatly irritated her.

Ciel clung to Naruto's chest tightly—possibly tighter than necessary—as Naruto shot forward with her in his arms. She could hear Faucon and Dande muttering curses as they tried to race after them but Naruto was far too fast for the young Reploids.

Before she even knew it, Ciel felt herself soaring through the air as Naruto effortlessly leapt from side to side to climb up the pit.

And much to her disappointment, Naruto let her down as soon as they were at the top. The trip hadn't last more than a few minutes with Naruto's speed.

Ciel was snapped out of her thoughts when Naruto called out to her.

"Ciel-chan, there's something I want to show you. There wasn't much I could do at the time, but I noticed these weird symbols on the wall." Naruto walked to one of the doors and brushed off the dust. The room was dark so Naruto used the glow of his chakra to light up where he pointed. "See?"

Ciel frowned as she saw what looked like italicized versions of the Roman characters O-W. Strangely enough, the characters were written vertically rather than horizontally. And the characters were incredibly faded. She was surprised that Naruto had even managed to catch that when they were first here.

"Those are Roman characters, Naruto. It's possible that those characters will give us a hint as to who built this place."

Despite her words, Ciel didn't really have a clue. O.W.? I don't recall there being an organization with those letters at all and I know of every major organization in the last hundred years. Ciel looked around to see the design of the still intact interior of the ruins. And a minor organization probably wouldn't have had the funding to pull off building such a large shrine and laboratory.

"It'd be nice if there was lighting here like there was in the underground lab. It seems like all the energy in this place died out after we left."

"It's just possible that the disturbance we made caused the energy in this place to run out," Ciel theorized.

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so. I used several techniques that were potentially destructive, but they weren't powered to the point that they would have knocked out any sort of power generator. This all seems rather strange." Naruto tapped the door lightly. "Think about it. Why would this door even be closed when it had been opened when we were here?"

That thought chilled her. "So you're saying that someone came here and deliberately shut off the power?" Wait…that makes no sense either. If they wanted to set a serious trap, they would have left no trace of their presence.

"Who knows?" Naruto said with a frown. "You did say that Neo Arcadia was short on energy. Maybe they took the power generator or something."

"The energy crisis is hardly that bad that Neo Arcadia has to scavenge for energy sources," Ciel responded dully. "It's mainly because Neo Arcadians are gluttons for energy and it far more convenient to kill off people considered lower class than change lifestyles."

"I still find it hard to believe people are willing to kill for so little," Naruto muttered. "And believe me, I've seen a lot in my life."

Ciel shook her head lightly. Naruto came from a time where people still appreciated nature so he probably didn't fully understand how valuable energy was. "Modern history is filled with stories of people doing incredibly foolish things to preserve their wasteful lifestyles." She winced as a particularly unpleasant example came up to mind. "You wouldn't believe what humans tried to do in the twenty-first century. We used to have things called fossil fuels."

"Fossils?" Naruto inquired. "You burn bones and stuff?"

"Close," Ciel said with a light smile at Naruto's interpretation. It was rather refreshing to get an…alien…perspective on ideas and concepts they took for granted. "We used to burn coal, oil, and gas for energy. It was highly efficient form of energy, but incredibly limited and worst of all, toxic to the environment in high amounts."

"And people still didn't want to stop," Naruto guessed.

She nodded. "The pollutants causes the average temperature of the planet to go up a few degrees and started to cause massive climate change."

"A few degrees? That's it?" Naruto asked. Ciel couldn't see his face clearly, but she knew he probably had a skeptical look on his face.

"Yes. Those few degrees made the ice caps at the planet's poles melt, causing an increased level of water. Most people didn't notice it for a while because the changes were so gradual and people can't even feel the difference of few degrees in the air, but the rising water levels led to increased frequency of storms and started wrecking havoc on people's homes. And that's not even considering the massive floods that start happening afterwards." She smiled bitterly. "And their solution?" She paused. "Solar radiation management."

"Um…that's not good, right?" She chuckled lightly as Naruto just stood there blankly. He probably didn't understand a thing she said.

Ciel still gave him credit for listening intently. She didn't often get a chance to rant about something she was so passionate about.

"Basically, instead of cutting down on energy, people tried to block off the heat coming from the sun to cool the planet off. It actually was the precursor to the climate management technology we have that governs the weather within the Eden Dome. It was incredibly senseless and expensive, far more than it would have been if people just stopped using so much energy. And it took far too long to make. We did manage to develop new technology in the end, but it was purchased with the blood of countless poor people who died to subsidize the lavish lifestyles of the privileged."

"And now something similar is happening as well," Naruto concluded.

"More or less," Ciel admitted. "The energy we're using isn't quite as dangerous or toxic, but there's a greater shortage of it. So once again, people have turned to killing the less privileged."

"Well that's why you're working on your project, right? To protect those who aren't as fortunate?"

"Yes, but…" she fell silent. No matter how smart she was, coming up with an alternative source of energy completely from scratch was a tall order. Even just thinking about it made her confidence waver.

"I believe in you," Naruto said simply.

"Eh?" she stammered although she felt a warm spark in her heart.

She could see Naruto shrugging his shoulders under the light glow of his chakra-coated hand. "What other choice do I…well…all of us have?" Naruto chuckled. "I can say fancy words and say that I'm heroically protecting you and the other Resistance members, but ultimately, the most I can do is to destroy things. It's simply a matter of destroying things before they destroy us. That's a rather barbaric solution, don't you agree?"

Ciel had to giggle at that. "I…I suppose."

"So people like you and Cerveau who build and who heal…you're the ones who are really doing what really matters: figuring out a true solution that doesn't require any sort of bloodshed." She heard Naruto let out a deep sigh. "My master told me to find a way to end the cycle of hatred, but in the end, by fighting, I just keep it alive."

"That's not true!" Ciel protested. "You…"

"…made all of you a bigger target of Neo Arcadia," Naruto said tiredly. "As you said earlier, now even the Guardians are on the move after I killed several of their elites. Even if I were to take care of them, X will step up to try and match me. Let's say I beat X…who's to say that Neo Arcadia won't create another stronger combat Reploid or weapon."

Ciel recoiled at Naruto's words as guilt struck her. She knew that Naruto wasn't trying to blame her—quite the opposite, in fact—but the fact that she created such a bloodthirsty and evil Reploid still remained.

Her sins weren't something that easily forgiven. Why did evil even have to exist in the first place? Life would be so much easier if everyone just worked together and understood one another. Instead, as Naruto said, it was just constant fighting.

"Naruto-shishou!"

As Naruto turned to greet his students, Ciel mentally sighed to herself. Cycle of hatred, huh?

It turned out that Neo Arcadia had been there. In fact, Neo Arcadian forces were still there; they just happened to be in the central room where Naruto had been sleeping. And they had removed the Gedo Mazo as well.

So much for finding clues, Naruto grumbled in his mind. Now he was left with the not-so-enticing option of storming Neo Arcadia itself to find the Gedo Mazo. But thank goodness that nothing can open the Gedo Mazo without the Rinnegan…otherwise, I'd probably be fighting the Juubi all over again.

As for the Neo Arcadians forces…it wasn't a particularly well-laid trap, but sheer numbers were overwhelming.

One second, Naruto was casually chatting with Ciel; the next, Naruto was covered head-to-toe in Reploid digital interface fluid, or Reploid blood.

"I really need to get better at sensing Reploid energy," Naruto muttered as he hurled ten shuriken into the cores of the Pantheons around them. "I can't keep my guard up every second of my life." And the Reploids he had come with only had sensors that detected powerful combat Reploids, not swarms of weaker ones. "Hey! You two are slow! I've already had to deflect a hundred buster shots and kill fifteen Pantheons myself."

It was implicitly decided early on in the battle that Naruto would act as the final defensive line to protect Ciel with his chakra shield while Faucon and Dande tested out their skills in battle.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he observed their movements. Considering that this was their first major battle, the two of them were doing rather well. Neither had been hit at all and two of them had killed over fifty Pantheons.

Dande, of course, showed his typical attitude. "You try fighting over a hundred Pantheons by yourself!"

"Already did," Naruto fired back. "I would have beaten them all ten minutes ago."

"Screw you," Dande grumbled as he rolled behind a large piece of rubble to dodge a buster shot. "And this was supposed to be a vacation day, too!"

Naruto snorted in derision. "Yeah right. You should know that any mission you take has the possibility of going south. And any mission with Uzumaki Naruto will go wrong. I did warn you." Naruto mockingly gave Ciel a light glare. "And this was why I didn't want you to come. If I were alone, then I'd probably be on my way back home already."

She glared back at him, clearly annoyed at his joking attempt to shift the blame onto her. "You could help them, Naruto," Ciel snapped at him.

Naruto stared at her for a second. Was it something he said? Ciel seemed to be on edge ever since Dande and Faucon rejoined them.

Ciel almost seemed embarrassed at Naruto's look because she took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Sorry…I've just been a bit…stressed…"

Naruto nodded. "No worries," he said graciously before shuddering. "Just as long as you don't smash my face with chakra-enhanced punches…" The girl just tilted her head to the side and looked at him curiously. "Never mind," he muttered.

He wasn't in the mood to talk about Sakura. Hell, he wasn't ever in the mood to talk about his dead pink-haired teammate.

"At the very least, we should move around instead of just standing in one position. We're just sitting ducks here," Ciel suggested, in a much softer tone this time.

"Nah," Naruto said with a shrug as his water-coated chakra shield bounced yet another buster shot back. "Those two knuckleheads need the experience." Naruto hurled another shuriken from behind his shield to destroy a Reploid that had snuck into Faucon's blind spot. "And what better time to do it when I'm here to cover for their mistakes?"

"Thanks, Naruto-shishou," Faucon called out.

Ciel's eyes widened in understanding. "I see," she murmured. "Well, in that regard, Faucon-kun seems to be having a bit more trouble," Ciel noted as Faucon pierced through a Pantheon's head with his Triple Rod.

Naruto nodded. "It's because he's trying to use a melee weapon. He's forced into a position where he has to allow his enemies to come closer. Against this many enemies pressing in from all sides, he's at a severe disadvantage." Naruto blinked and turned to Ciel. "You seem rather calm for someone completely covered in blood." He scratched his head with his free hand. "That's right…even when you first found me here, you didn't seem shaken at all."

"I've been in my fair share of battles." Ciel fired her buster and destroyed a Pantheon as if to prove her point.

The pained grimace on Ciel's face each time she fired her buster said otherwise, however. She was experienced enough to not freeze up, but not enough to the point where she could say she was a warrior. Her personality wasn't suited for battle either; she was far too gentle for war.

Naruto put his hand on her hand and forced her to lower her buster when she lifted it to fire again. "Don't force yourself," Naruto advised. "Staying back in war isn't shameful. I told you earlier, right? Fighting just makes things worse. Fighting only when you absolutely have to isn't a bad thing."

Ciel looked like she wanted to protest, but the huge surge of energy that rose up around them stopped her from saying anything.

Naruto eyes widened. Even without an innate ability to sense Reploids, he could feel the sheer malice heading towards them.

He immediately opened his mouth to warn his students to get back, but Ciel beat him to the punch. "Dande-kun! Faucon-kun! Get back! I'm getting a high-energy reading from above! Rank B!"

Luckily, the two were already moving when Ciel shouted. They, being Resistance Reploids, had the same sensors that Ciel had and had known the instant Ciel had known. Still, the two of them only barely managed to jump back as a huge metal ball broke through the ceiling and fell into the room. Dozens of Pantheons were instantly crushed and destroyed. The rest were sliced apart from what appeared to be boomerangs that shot forth from the metal ball.

"What the heck is that thing?" Dande muttered as he dodged a boomerang that flew towards him. "Is that really a Reploid?"

"It has to be," Faucon responded. "Our sensors are telling us it's at least a B-rank Reploid. It's probably just curled up into a ball. You can see the arm, leg, and head holes on the side."

Naruto took Ciel into his arms and jumped to the side as the ball suddenly rolled towards them. Oh geez, I met the Reploid version of Chouji. Naruto turned his head to see the ball crash into the wall before it shot up and retuned to where it previously was.

The ball sprouted a head, arms, and feet to reveal an elephant-like Reploid.

"My name is Maha Ganeshariff. I'm in charge of data processing and handling information. The physical structure located in this room has been moved to Sub-Arcadia. And all of the information in this room has been converted to digital data and has been stored in server in my body. It is being processed as we speak."

Naruto looked around the room. The seals were still glowing on the walls. Maha Ganeshariff must have meant that he made a digital copy of all the information.

"Well," Naruto replied with a careless shrug, "you're wasting your time. I doubt you could interpret any of the seals." Naruto looked at his students. "Why don't the two of you take a crack at him?"

"Naruto!" Ciel admonished. "You can't be serious!"

"But I am," he told the girl in his arms. "The two of them should be able to handle him…well…at least for a while."

"That response makes me feel so reassured," Ciel groaned as she hid her head in his chest. "At this rate, I'm going to die of a heart attack before I'm twenty."

Naruto chuckled. "Well?" He gestured to the elephant-like Reploid. "Maha Ganeshariff-san is patiently waiting for us to decide."

The gigantic elephant laughed. "Ho! It doesn't matter to me! I can allow you the luxury of choosing the manner and order of your death! You can come at me one-at-a-time, all at once, it makes no difference!"

"You sure, Naruto-shishou?" Faucon said dubiously as he sized up the Reploid. "We've gotten stronger, but he is an elite."

"Then consider it training to make you elites as well," Naruto replied with a shrug.

"Trial by fire?" Faucon groaned. "We're going to die, aren't we, Dande?"

Dande pointed his buster at Maha Ganeshariff. "Nah, we've been training for months and besides…look, he's just a metal fat-ass."

Naruto grimaced when Maha Ganeshariff turned red at that and began slowly marching towards the helmeted Resistance Reploid. His response to comments about his size is rather Chouji-like as well…

"Dande…I think you're going to learn a valuable lesson today to not insult others without being ready to suffer the consequences."

"Don't you think this is a bit much?" Ciel asked. She knew this was guided training, but Naruto was essentially sending civilian Reploids against a B-rank combat Reploid. Ciel had taken out her portable tablet computer to pull up files they had on Maha Ganeshariff.

Overall, he was relatively low on the ladder among B-ranks, but his sheer destructive power was among the strongest of the B-ranks. Even taking into account their training, no matter how many simulations she ran, Ciel figured that Dande and Faucon had no chance with their specifications.

Still, she thought, I never thought that they'd last even this long. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Faucon and Dande were somehow chipping away at Maha Ganeshariff's health with their busters from a distance while dodging the Reploid's boomerangs and his strange but powerful rolling attack.

Ciel gasped when Naruto turned to her. His eyes were red.

"It is, but I'm helping them out. Maha Ganeshariff isn't a complete idiot. He knows that I could enter the battle at any time, so he occasionally looks over this way to make sure I'm not making any moves."

"And…during that time, you're casting illusions on him," she finished. No wonder Dande and Faucon were doing much better than expected. "That's…that's…rather underhanded, Naruto," she breathed out.

Ciel wasn't happy that her crush was a dirty fighter. Such tactics made it harder to achieve any sort of lasting peace and goodwill between the two sides after the war was done; it was already bad enough that there were massive amounts of casualties on both sides. And here, Maha Ganeshariff wasn't making any moves to attack them after agreeing to a two-on-one fight against Naruto's students and Naruto was returning that favor with underhanded tactics.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm a ninja, not a saint."

"B…but…" she tried to protest.

Naruto let out a sigh. "Look, I understand how you feel. I was considered worthless as a ninja, even after I became the most powerful fighter on the entire continent becauseI didn't like the way ninjas lived and fought." Naruto started ticking off his fingers. "Ninjas aren't supposed to have emotions. Ninjas are supposed to be tools. Ninjas are supposed to backstab whenever possible. Ninjas are supposed to abandon comrades if it means completing the mission." Naruto gestured towards Maha Ganeshariff. "But as far as I'm concerned, that elephant was already a dead Reploid the moment it stepped into this room and threatened us. I'm not using these deceitful tricks to gain any sort of advantage. If I fought 'honorably,' the battle wouldn't last more than a few minutes. This way though…I'm allowing Dande and Faucon to gain invaluable combat experience."

Ciel didn't like it, but she understood the rationale and nodded. In the end, we're all just trying our best to survive. She tightened her fists. If only…if only I had time to complete my research, we wouldn't have to do anything of this.

Like Naruto had said, no matter how good their intentions were, by fighting, they only escalated the situation and made it worse. But at this point, there was nothing the Resistance could do except fight, fight, and fight.

She looked at Naruto with a sad expression. No wonder Naruto had finally decided to seal himself away. He must have been mentally exhausted…

Another surge of guilt rose from within her. Was it really okay for her to be taking advantage of Naruto like this? Once his memories fully return, he would only become wearier of war.

"You annoying pests! Stay still!"

"Who would actually stay still just because you told them to?!" Dande taunted as he avoided what appeared to a palm thrust from the gigantic Reploid.

That only seemed to anger the Neo Arcadian Reploid even more. Maha Ganeshariff jumped up, used his nose to grab onto holes in the ceiling, and then started swinging his body around the room.

Ciel closed her eyes tightly as Naruto slipped in between the falling rubble with her in his arms. Naruto eventually seemed to get tired of jumping around and simply created a half-dome of hardened earth to protect them.

"Naruto-shishou, a bit of help here?" Faucon panted as he joined them under the dome. "We haven't taken any damage, but Maha Ganeshariff is far from being out of the fight as well."

Dande surprisingly agreed as Maha Ganeshariff continued to blindly swing around the room like a tetherball. "We don't have any attacks with knockout power. It'll take forever to take him out this way."

"Here," Ciel watched as Naruto threw them the modified mega buster that Cerveau had been working on. "It's charged for three shots. Unfortunately, this is still a prototype and the functional range is only about two meters. So you'll have to figure out how to get close."

"Two meters?!" Dande gawked as he caught the weapon. "I'm a long distance fighter! There's no way I'd survive in close combat like that!"

"I'm a close distance fighter, but as you constantly remind me, I'll get destroyed in a direct confrontation with any powerful combat Reploid. And we don't even know what that guy is weak against," Faucon protested. "You can't be serious about us fighting him like that!"

Ciel was about to open her mouth to tell them when Naruto put his hand to her mouth to stop her.

"Figure that out on your own. You have two choices. You can try to use three element-neutral charged shots and hope that they're enough to bring Maha Ganeshariff down. The downside is that you'll have to get close to him three times. Or you can figure out what his weakness is and try to take him down with one shot. I promise that I'll step in if I think you two are going to die, but you aren't going to get any help from me before then."

That last sentence must have reassured the two Reploids because they immediately calmed down. Ciel was rather shocked in the absolute trust the two had in Naruto.

Faucon closed his eyes to think. "He hasn't used any sort of elemental attack."

"Those boomerangs…" Dande muttered. "They're kind of similar to Naruto-shishou's wind attacks. Maybe he's a wind-type? They're usually wind-lightning hybrids though since wind isn't a realistic energy source for Reploids. And we know that lightning cores are generally the most common among combat Reploids anyway."

"Let's go. It looks like he stopped rampaging. We'll go with ice for now," Faucon decided as he opened his eyes and shot out of the dome. "We still have to figure out how to get close to him without getting smashed."

Ciel's eyes widened. That wasn't right at all. It was true that lightning cores were the most common, but that was only among elemental cores. There was no solid proof here that Maha Ganeshariff had an elemental core to begin with. There was some circumstantial evidence that Maha Ganeshariff had a fire core, however. Many Reploids with fire cores, especially the earlier models, had huge, thick, armored bodies to to prevent the heat generated by those fire cores from escaping. Moreover, the destruction of fire cores was particularly violent and huge, armored bodies were to mitigate the effects of a fire core explosion.

Obviously, there were many exceptions—there were some light and small fire Reploids that used state of the art system to keep the heat in and huge Reploids with ice or lightning cores designed for slow but heavy combat—so it wasn't ever wise to assume anything about a Reploid that didn't use any sort of elemental attack.

But Ciel already had intel that showed that Maha Ganeshariff had a fire core.

She squirmed in Naruto's arms. She quickly did a cost-benefit analysis of licking Naruto's hand in order to get him to remove his hand from her mouth.

In the end, she decided not to. Both of them were covered in Reploid blood and she wasn't keen on getting any of that in her mouth. Instead, she started thrashing harder in his arms.

"Ciel-chan," Naruto said in an annoyed tone as he looked down, "stop moving around so much."

"Mmmphmmphh!" She gave him an irritated look.

"Oops, sorry," Naruto said sheepishly. "I forgot about that." He removed his hand.

Ciel immediately took the chance to yell out a warning. "Lightning! Dande-kun, Faucon-kun, use mmmphh!"

Naruto quickly covered her mouth again. "I also forgot why I covered your mouth in the first place."

"Message received," Dande called out cheerfully. "Thanks Ciel-san."

Naruto groaned out loud. "Ciel-chan, they were supposed to figure that out on their own."

Faucon must have heard as he jumped around the room looking for a way around the surprisingly quick hand thrusts that the elephant-like Reploid was firing off.

"We did," Faucon said triumphantly. "I figured that if I said we were definitely going to use a particular element, Ciel-san would remain silent if we were completely wrong or find a way to warn us if we were wrong. Ciel-san may favor you, Naruto-shishou, but we've known her for a longer time."

"Mmph! Mmmmph!" Ciel just gave Naruto a defiant look when he gave her a deadpan stare.

She could understand his rationale of wanting to use this as a training opportunity for the two young Reploids, but she'd much rather have them safe and sound.

The large Neo Arcadian Reploid chuckled. "Ho ho! It's true that I am weak to lightning, but even lightning attacks won't get past my Ultra Sumo Thrust Attack! My hands have the property of discharging any sort of electrical attacks!"

The palm thrusts began to speed up rapidly. They were so fast that it looked like the large Reploid had dozens of hands flying all over the place. Even buster shots were being repelled by the attacks.

"I guess he really took to heart the saying: the best defense is a good offense," Naruto muttered as he removed his hand from her mouth again. "Although…that attack seems to have a very obvious fatal flaw."

Ciel didn't say anything but just watched when she saw that Naruto's body language had changed completely. He looked entirely ready to jump into the battle as Faucon and Dande kept dancing close to the Neo Arcadian Reploid.

"Dande!" Faucon suddenly shouted as he jumped closer to Dande. "Fire a lightning shot towards me."

Dande gaped. "Are you insane?"

"Forget it!" Faucon replied in an irritated tone as he moved to the other Reploid and swiped the mega buster out of Dande's hands. "I'll do it myself. Just make sure you do what Naruto-shishou does with his shuriken."

Dande didn't look like he understood but nodded anyway. On the other hand, Ciel's eyes widened in realization when Faucon fired a charged shot towards Maha Ganeshariff with his Triple Rod held out in front of him. The shot hit the rod and went past it towards the elephant-like Reploid.

"Useless!" Maha Ganeshariff shouted, but he didn't even need to. The charged shot dissipated before it even reached the large Reploid.

Faucon then hurled the now magnetized Triple Rod into the air while leaping forward to fire another charged shot, this time within striking distance of the Reploid.

The charged shot hit Maha Ganeshariff's hand and burst in a small explosion of electricity. Faucon retreated just as Maha Ganeshariff's hand extended a bit further than usual in an attempt to hit him.

Dande who now seemed to have caught onto the plan fired shots at the flying Triple Rod and redirected its path in the air.

Clang!

The Triple Rod landed directly on Maha Ganeshariff's head and sunk in about a good six inches. It was hardly enough to kill the Reploid, but it was enough for what Faucon was planning to do.

Naruto whistled. "Not bad."

Neither of his student responded, as they were taking full advantage of the small breathing room they just bought. Maha Ganeshariff stumbled back in pain and stopped his attack.

Faucon took that chance to jump up and fire a charge shot—almost blindly—towards the large Reploid's head.

The charged shot dissipated but the electricity released from the attack surged towards the magnetized Triple Rod and electrocuted the large elephant-like Reploid.

"Rawrrrggg!" Maha Ganeshariff cried out before exploding.

Ciel released her held breath.

The unnecessarily stressful battle was finally over.

"So you're telling me that hitting things with lightning makes them more likely to be hit with lightning again?" Naruto shrugged. "We had lightning rods in our time, but I didn't know you had to magnetize them first."

"It's called lightning-induced magnetism," Ciel explained although she made a note to see if there were records of lightning rods being in existence that long ago. She had been under the impression that lightning rods were first made in 19th century. "It was a bit of a gamble on Faucon's part to try that with electricity created with your chakra, but it turns out the magnetic effects were even stronger than expected." The girl looked dryly at the Triple Rod, which was now sticking firmly onto the surprisingly intact pieces of Maha Ganeshariff's armor. "I think you're going to have to leave it here, Faucon-kun. We can just make you a new one."

"Well, that explains the first shot that Faucon fired," Naruto said with a shrug. "I thought it was just as a pretty but redundant distraction, especially when Faucon fired another shot afterwards as a true distraction, but I guess it served another purpose. Anyway, good job…both of you," Naruto said to his students. He was really proud of them for coming out on top against a significantly stronger enemy. "Maybe next time, you'll be able to a B-rank enemy without help."

"Eh?" Dande blinked. "You're kidding right?"

Ciel chose that moment to speak up. "No," the girl said. "Naruto's right. At first, I had been rather…upset that Naruto seemed to be throwing the two of you in danger, but he was supporting you the entire time."

"Awww…really?" Dande complained. "And here I thought we were strong enough to take down an elite."

Naruto laughed as he reactivated his Sharingan. "Did you really think that Maha Ganeshariff was just that pathetically slow? Or that he didn't notice the Triple Rod soaring through the air right above his head?"

"But Faucon distracted with the two previous mega buster shots," Dande argued back.

Naruto shook his head. "I put the suggestion in his head that the mega buster shots were of bigger concern than the flying piece of bladed metal that you were guiding towards his head. Not even an idiot would ignore a threat like that."

"And I'm guessing that was also why he didn't immediately take the Triple Rod out of his body as well," Faucon noted.

Naruto smiled. "Of course, I didn't know a thing about the magnetism trick you did. Considering how strongly magnetic the Triple Rod became though, I'm not sure he could have removed it considering his hand was made of metal." Naruto tried in vain to remove the Triple Rod from Maha Ganeshariff's armor. "Maybe it really was unnecessary to put that last suggestion into his mind."

"Reploids have anti-magnetic systems in place. Otherwise, we'd be attracting every magnet in town," Faucon replied before sighing. "Well, it was a win with a handicap, but a win nonetheless."

"Yup," Naruto said, "especially considering the rather creative way you came out with the win." Naruto frowned. "That's the good news. The bad news is that I don't really know if it's possible for you to get strong enough. This particular opponent was a good matchup because of his relatively slow speed and I still had to slow him down for you to handle him."

That had been the true reason for this battle. Naruto wanted to see just how far below his students were against a powerful opponent. And the results weren't encouraging.

There was a long silence at that.

"Then perhaps I can help."

Naruto almost jumped and swerved around. An enemy?

"A blue Cyber-Elf?" Ciel gasped. "And Naruto, you can seehim?"

Naruto nodded. "I can't see…um…him." Naruto frowned and concentrated. He couldn't see Cyber-elves—not even with the Sharingan—but from his experience with the one they had back at the Resistance Base, he could sense them. "But I definitely can hear him."

Sure enough, he could feel a potent energy coming from next to Ciel.

"As I thought," Naruto heard, "you really aren't a normal human. It's natural that Dr. Ciel can see and hear me, but to think that another human could interact with me…even if it's just hearing. Cyber-Elves don't produce sounds in the traditional sense. We produce digital wavelengths that only Reploids and Dr. Ciel can understand."

Naruto frowned. That almost sounded like how he was detecting changes in the nature energy in the air. Perhaps there was something similar in play here.

"Who are you?" Faucon asked. "You don't seem like the typical Cyber-Elf. Your power output is incredible for a Cyber-Elf."

The Cyber-Elf seemed to be in thought because he didn't answer for a long time.

"I'm someone who wants to help," the Cyber-Elf finally said. "I suppose you can consider me spirit from the past…"

"Impossible!" Ciel exclaimed. "The souls of Reploids only roam within cyberspace. It's impossible for Reploid souls to manifest in the real world as Cyber-Elves!"

"That's not important, Ciel-chan," Naruto gently interrupted. Naruto didn't have to see the Cyber-Elf to know that the Cyber-Elf was evading questions about his identity. A conversation about that was likely to go nowhere. "You said you had a way to help us?"

"Yes. I have been looking for Zero all this time just like you have been, Dr. Ciel. But I can't seem to trace his energy readings at all. Zero seems to have vanished from the planet entirely. So, I began to search for powerful energy signatures instead. In particular, I was interested in a huge surge of energy a few months ago."

"And that led you to here," Naruto concluded.

"I was a bit too late, however. Neo Arcadia had already overrun this place and was in the process of removing the large structure here by the time I arrived. I decided to infiltrate Neo Arcadia itself for more information. My investigations led me to discover the identity of a human named Uzumaki Naruto, a human powerful enough to take on one of the Guardians of X." The Cyber-Elf paused. "I figured you would eventually show up if I remained here."

"You're right. I currently have partial retrograde amnesia," Naruto explained. "I came back looking for clues about my past. The 'structure' in particular is a rather important hint of that past. It's called Gedo Mazo."

"I don't doubt that," the Cyber-Elf answered. "That's where I can help you."

"I'm listening."

"The Gedo Mazo, as you call it, appeared to be leaking a tremendous amount of energy. That in itself isn't the problem, however. The problem is that the energy felt very similar to an entity called the Dark Elf."

"The Dark Elf?" Ciel winced. "Naruto…"

Naruto sighed. Ciel was no doubt thinking along the same lines he was. The Dark Elf was one of the biggest weapons used in the Elf Wars and it was now clear that somehow had figured out how to harness the power of the bijuu.

"I know…I suspected something like this the first time I ran into a Cyber-Elf. The energy that Cyber-Elves emit seemed oddly familiar. It's not chakra, but it's something similar. Can you tell me a bit about Cyber-Elves and the Dark Elf? Ciel has told me a bit, but I think you might know a bit more…seeing that you're a Cyber-Elf."

Again…there was a feeling of hesitation in the air. "No one really knows how Cyber-Elves are created. What we do know is that Cyber-Elves are essentially digital information that literally come to life. There are certain technological tools to facilitate the creation of Cyber-Elves, but for all practical purposes, we really don't know how they are created."

Naruto closed his eyes. Come to life…that sounds rather familiar as well…

By administrating imagination and the spiritual energy, which forms the basis of "yin," the Sage created shape and form from nothingness. By administering vitality and the physical energy, which forms the basis of yang, the Sage then breathed life into that form.

His eyes snapped open when a memory hit him. "Banbutsu Souzou (The Creation of All Things)." Naruto gasped.

"Banbutsu Souzou?" Dande asked. "What the heck is that?"

Naruto wasn't listening. "That must be it," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. The seals I added to the Gedo Mazo prevent anyone from enslaving the bijuu by anchoring their wills, their spiritual energy, to the Gedo Mazo itself. Someone must have found a way to use the leaking physical energy and mix it with digital information to create Cyber-Elves!

No wonder he couldn't see Cyber-Elves, even with the Sharingan. The Sharingan was only able to detect chakra, not the components of chakra. But Cyber-Elves still felt familiar to Naruto because he had the yang portion of Kyuubi's chakra in his body most of his life.

And that explained why the bijuu weren't active either; they probably were in a constant state of rest to regenerate the physical energy they lost in the creation of the Dark Elf. As for the other Cyber-Elves, they must be popping up from the ambient energy left by the Dark Elf during the Elf Wars.

"Naruto?"

Naruto blinked as Ciel waved her hand in front his face.

"Ah, sorry, Ciel-chan," Naruto replied. "I was just deep in thought. I just remembered something."

"You said something about Banbutsu Souzou?" Ciel asked gently. "What is it?"

Naruto shook his head. "I'll tell you later. There are other things I want to talk about. Information clearly isn't the only thing you meant when you said you could help us…especially when you consider what we were discussing when you interrupted us."

He could almost feel the Cyber-Elf smiling. "I noticed that you have been helping falsely accused Reploids even when you have very little to gain. Helping you is the least I could do. Because I'm rather familiar with this energy, I managed to gather enough residual power lying around here and absorb it as my own. I had honestly wanted to transfer this power to Zero when I found him, but you seem to be doing everything I had hoped Zero would do. I can't transfer it to you, as you're human, but I can transfer it to your students."

Naruto made a mental note of that. Whoever this Cyber-Elf was, he was very familiar with Zero. That was a clue into who or what he was.

Maybe a long lost friend of Zero?

"But Cyber-Elves die when used," Ciel said with a frown. "Nor are the enhancements permanent."

"I won't die," the Cyber-Elf reassured her. "As you already know, I'm hardly a normal Cyber-Elf; I'm the soul of a combat Reploid. The enhancements will last as long as I am alive."

"Aren't you dead though if you're just a soul?" Dande asked.

"Ah…" the voice sounded amused, "Well who knows…there's more to being alive than having a body," the Cyber-Elf returned glibly. "Now then…will you accept?"

Author's Note: There you have it. Cyber-Elf X finally makes his appearance and reveals how Cyber-Elves, and especially the Dark Elf, were born.

I considered getting rid of Maha Ganeshariff from the story altogether or giving him the Anubis Necromancess treatment, but I figured I should give Naruto's students a bit of glory. It'll probably be the last time you'll see them in action (most of their battles—if they have battles—will be finished "off-panel").

I've gotten into the habit of listening to the Remastered Soundtracks for Mega Man Zero while writing this story. It's great inspiration. Haha.

Also, this story is rated T. It's T for a reason. As such, please do not request explicit scenes that push the rating up to MA.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to put this story on hold for a few months. Hopefully, I'll be back by October.