Hey guys. So I got a huge spike of follows and favorites in just day one! That's is surprising. I know that kinda makes me sound like an author that whores myself for things like that, but it's a motivating sight to see people like my work.
For those asking which Archer it is, it's Shirou, not EMIYA.
Now let's start the chapter!
Disclaimer: first chapter
Chapter 2: The Beginning of the Eiyu no kage
"Are you our Master?" The swordsman repeated.
"Yes...?" Naruto slowly answered, testing how his response sounded to the feminine swordsman. Looking closely, the blonde ninja finally thought that the warrior before him is actually female. He had doubts about it all, but Naruto figured that there's no possible way a man could be THAT girly without actually being a girl. Almost immediately, Naruto was bombarded with the memory of Haku, a dead ninja from Naruto's first C-rank mission that was honest-to-goodness a man. Before this event, Haku made Naruto's judgement skills on a person's gender destroyed; he had no confidence to figure out if a feminine boy or a masculine girl were their proper genders.
The now-realized swordsWOMAN stood up from her knelt position, "Then the pact is forged, Master. I am Saber." She introduced herself, bowing slightly to the underage Master. The others followed her example and some of them, mainly the men bowed in respect, while the women curtsied (it looked strange to see a pirate woman and a floating girl curtsie).
The man in red spoke next, "I'm Archer. You look like a respectable Master, so I shall aid you in any way I can." Naruto looked at the giant; he seemed respectable as well. The blonde Master would note that the man before him looked quite formidable as an enemy and might be an excellent teacher…
Then, seemingly in order, the strangers introduced themselves in the same order as Naruto's gaze fell on them. The spearman smirked, "It's an honor meeting you, Master. I'm Lancer. I do hope we get along." Lancer stabbed his spear into the ground and leaned on it.
The Pirate woman introduced herself, "Master, I am Rider. My only hope is that we get to plunder an insurmountable number of treasure troves, and that you shall pay me a monetary reward for my services!" The woman's Master cringed at the declaration. Monetary reward? Blasphemy! Naruto's wallet, Gama-chan is already starving! Naruto decided that Rider would be a Servant he'd rarely use due to her already greedy personality.
The Kitsune Hanyou jumped for joy, cheering, "Nice to meet you, Master I am Tama- erm I mean I'm Caster. I can tell you have a very pure heart and have the purest of intentions, so we'll get along just fine..." Her smile became plastered onto her face, and it threatened to split her face in half. Naruto didn't need to pay attention to the floating mirror; it was flying wildly around Caster with no exact destination.
The hooded woman was next. She called herself, "Assassin, Master. I'm called Assassin." Naruto looked closer into Assassin's hood. Nothing hid her flawless face except the shadows that shrouded Assassin's hidden visage. She didn't speak anymore than that and waited for Naruto to move on to the next Servant.
The armor-clad black swordsman gurgled a jumbled sentence. Naruto assumed that the man was trying to restrain himself. Is it because he can't control his anger? Naruto didn't know for sure, but what he did know was that the swordsman was trying to maintain his sanity. The swordsman growled out, "Ber...serkER! Mast...er." The ninja Master slightly flinched at the hint of Berserker's true rage, but quickly recovered to nod in respect at the warrior for trying to not cut his Master in half.
The floating exhibitionist (what else could Naruto call her?) said, "I'm Alter Ego. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Master." She chuckled lightly, and it was absolutely harmless; though Naruto felt his spine tingle fearfully. Something was just off about her. Maybe its because she has that predatory grin like the Proctor in the exam…what was her name? Anko? Naruto dismissed the thought and moved on to the last stranger.
"It is an honor to be thy Servant, Master," Said the swordswoman. She like the blue swordswoman had an aura of superiority, gracefulness, and power, "I am Ruler." She bowed to her Master eloquently. What is it with these armored swordsmen acting so regal and polite? Naruto bowed back, albeit nervously.
"Um…nice to meet you all."
"Aw don't be scared, brat. These are you teachers!" Kyuubi sounded happy…yet the beast's face hadn't changed at all, nor did it move from its position of its head crossed over its arms. Naruto was conflicted about how to react to that.
"Yeah…I'm getting mixed signals from you, fuzzball. These are my teachers! Says the fox that didn't change facial expressions at least a tiny bit!" Naruto waved his arms outward to emphasize his point. Never mind, the ninja had a snarky remark to recite after all.
"Hey! I wouldn't be doing this if you had been a better ninja!" Kyuubi roared from his cage.
"You've seen my childhood right?"
"Yes."
"Then you should know the reason why I'm such a terrible ninja! No proper teachers, no proper guidance, and no way to get stronger because of that!" The volume of Naruto's voice elevated to a yell.
"Oh cry me a river." Kyuubi replied, not caring
"Hey-"
Saber interrupted, placing a hand on Naruto's left shoulder, "Master, I would not suggest angering an entity of raw power…"
"Saber's right you know," The Sage stated, still floating, "My child is quite…eh what's the word…difficult when angered."
"You got that right." Naruto muttered.
"What was that, brat?" Kyuubi growled, "Care to run by that me again?"
The jinchuuriki stiffened, "N-nothing!" Kyuubi may be behind bars, but even a beast can instill fear while inside its cage. The Fox snorted in satisfaction; its job of scaring its warden in even the slightest bit was successful.
"That's what I thought. Now, let's talk about your teachers/ servants. I've given you the liberty to master my Chakra if you can master each servant's greatest weapon in the order given. You start with Saber, then Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berserker, Alter Ego, and finally Ruler. Once you've mastered their respective ultimate weapons, you will gain control over a tail of power."
Naruto restated Kyuubi's statement to clarify the beast's words, "So I master Saber, I get full mastery of one tail? I master Archer, I get full mastery of two tails?"
"That's exactly what it means, young one." The Sage answered, "Kyuubi here has graciously given you the tools to be mastered; it's your choice whether to gain full control of Kyuubi or not."
Naruto looked down to the ground. He was trying to comprehend what was happening. So he now has Servants, who he has to 'master' to not go berserk when going into any tailed mode. However, there was something bugging the blonde that he had to ask, "Why? Why allow me to master you when all you've wanted was to take over my body? What's with the sudden gesture of kindness -which is nice by the way- of throwing away your pride to give me your power on a silver platter?"
"D-don't get the wrong idea here, brat! You are such a disgrace as a shinobi that I'm giving you the opportunity to be a warrior worthy to be in the history books!"
"What, like a hero? Don't be absurd, fuzzball. I'm planning to be Hokage; nothing more, nothing less. I'm not planning on being a ninja with the destiny to save the world! That's just stupid!" Naruto never caught the Sage's imperceptible frown. The old man knew the boy was lying.
Kyuubi was furious, and because of that, he didn't see the lie. It slammed its paws on the ground, showing its rage over Naruto's opinion, "You'll waste my generous gift to be just a Hokage that won't be famous for anything?!"
The Sage interrupted once more, "Young man, the Fourth Hokage is someone you idolize, correct?"
"Yeah…"
"I've looked into your memories, not the extremely personal ones, the relevant ones. The Fourth Hokage was a hero in the Third Ninja War and a hero for saving the village. You wanted to be a hero…a Hokage because of the Fourth Hokage… what changed, young man?" Naruto stiffened on the spot. Saber noted her Master's sudden rigid form. Then that rigid torso of her Master started shivering; whether out of terror or anger, she'd find out shortly.
"How can I be called Hokage or a Hero for that matter if I can't even save a friend?!" Naruto yelled at the Sage.
"You mean that lost cause?" Kyuubi asked in anger.
"Shut up, fuzzball! He's a friend I deeply care about!"
"He's an abomination! A monster that doesn't deserve to live anymore!"
"You take that back!" Naruto demanded. The beast ignored the order, snorting at the boy's attempt to assert control over it. The Fox was about to retort when-
"SILENCE!" Naruto and Kyuubi looked at the Sage, who looked bewildered by the source of the sound. It clicked to the arguing two that the voice was feminine in origin. They decided to look at the one who might have been able to produce a shout like that: Saber. Though the woman the arguing duo suspected looked shocked as well. Somehow the men in the room stiffened. Even Berserker wasn't fidgeting a tiny bit!
"Master… you're being very difficult!" Caster stepped in front of Naruto, "Kyuubi has given you the greatest of gifts it could offer, and you look for fault within the gift you received. Are you telling me you don't want us?" All the Servants stiffened at Caster's accusation. The young Master saw tears well up in Caster's eyes and felt terrible for making the Hanyou (almost) cry.
Naruto sighed deeply. "Caster… That's not it. I just feel like I don't deserve you all or Kyuubi's generosity. Kyuubi's right, I'm a sorry excuse of a shinobi."
"No you're not!" Caster said, trying to cheer her Master, "You just haven't been taught correctly. That's why we're here!"
Saber remembered something after hearing Caster's statement, "How are we here anyway? The Holy Grail was destroyed." She turned to the floating Sage for answers.
"It's quite simple really, Saber." The Sage replied, "I'm a sort of 'God' in this era. The Magi of the past died out with the previous era. The era of Shinobi rose with the discovery of Chakra and ninshuu, the nonviolent version of ninjutsu people would have used had they not corrupted it!" The Sage's rage didn't need to be expressed with words; his rage physically cracked the walls of the sewer mindscape, "But that's another story for another time. Being one of the first users of Chakra gave me power to bend reality… and when I read about the Holy Grail wars of your era; how heroes of old were summoned to fight, I tested it and it worked. The main difference was that Prana was replaced with Chakra. Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berserker, Alter Ego, Ruler, you all are running simply on the massive supply of Chakra your Master is providing."
That certainly was a shock for the Servants. The thirteen-year-old shinobi was fueling them? Granted they were summoned with a beast of pure power and a so-called 'God' of the era.
The Sage started to fade away, and Kyuubi panicked, "Old man!"
"Now, now my child. You already know I'm dead. Why act surprised?" The Sage was very nonchalant about the event. Naruto guessed that being dead doesn't surprise anyone anymore, "Naruto…Kyuubi thought you deserved to master all its tails, when the previous jinchuurikis weren't adequate enough to be given such an honor."
"What?!"
"I'd love to tell you more, but I've overstayed my welcome. Farewell, young one." The Sage ended on the high note before fading into the sewage background.
"I know what you're going to ask, kid. You're not going to know about my previous hosts until later. You've already been bombarded with too many things already."
"Who were your previous hosts?" Naruto asked, not caring about the other events that transpired literally minutes ago, "What's so special about me? What distinguishes me from your other hosts? What did I do to deserve your trust?"
"…"
"You wouldn't even give me the light of day when I first stumbled into this place, but now you want me to fully master your power?! What gives?"
"…I've had enough of your ramblings for today, brat. Just get out of here." Kyuubi's left paw reached out to the blonde warden. Naruto took a cautious step back, which proved to be useless when he was flicked by the gargantuan index finger of the beast. The blonde Master faded away into golden sparkles.
Caster turned to the Fox demon, "That wasn't very nice."
"Hmph…he was pissing me off."
"That doesn't mean you could just flick him back into consciousness!" Caster retorted in annoyance. The other Servants were watching the conversation with slight awe and terror that the Hanyou looked very nonchalant conversing with the colossal beast.
In the real world…
"Gah!" Naruto's eyes went wide open. He gasped for air, "Damn fuzzball and its stupid wakeup calls!" He sat upright from his bed and inspected himself, "Hm…I'm like a mummy…" Naruto ripped them off and tossed them on the ground; he was already healed of skin-deep injuries. The boy went and got off his bed and inspected the night sky from the window.
Then the familiar scent of his favorite food entered the blonde's nostrils. He snapped to the general direction of the scent and saw the bowl at the nightstand. He grabbed the bowl and a card beside it.
Wake up already… - from the guys
"Thanks…guys?" Naruto wasn't sure who these guys were, but he had an idea that it must be Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, and Chouji, "Time to eat!" Naruto snapped the chopsticks that sat next to the bowl and took his first taste, "Ugh…it's cold… But cold ramen is better than waiting for three minutes to heat this ramen of the North Pole!" Naruto quickly devoured the bowl of sweet nectar of the gods and plopped the bowl back on the nightstand.
"Ahh…that hits the spot." The blonde patted his stomach. It was quite satisfying despite the cold, bland flavor it gave. He guessed that he was just really hungry.
Naruto sat on his bed as he looked at the bright, full moon. There, he wondered about what happened in his head.
Nine Servants who'd teach him combat. There were possibly three or four swordsmen there, one spearman, one gunner, one combat seal master possibly, one taijutsu specialist, and one stealth master. Naruto shivered at the thought; if he'd master Kyuubi by that time, then only the strongest of the strong could force Naruto's hand to use Kyuubi's power! He looked at his mark, What is this anyway?
"That is a command spell. It's a mark that shows you're our Master. It will only disappear when you've used an order one of us has to obey; though since you summoned nine Servants than the usual one, I wonder if it sticks with the usual three orders before disappearing?"
"Saber?"
"Yes, Master?"
"Huh… so this is that thing with the…whatchamacallit…telepathy?"
"No, Master."
"Then what is it?"
"Simply put, we can communicate with you, and your mind receives the message."
"Oh…" Naruto wonderfully croaked out. That conversation died out quickly…
"Oh I doubt that, Master!" A man's elated voice echoed inside Naruto's head.
"Lancer?"
"The one and only!" He answered gleefully, "Say, Master… are there any cute girls in this era?" Before Naruto could answer the question, another voice interrupts him.
"Lancer! Stop wagging your tail." Another man's voice entered the conversation; he was the source of the interruption. The voice was gruff and deep, yet not like Berserker's struggling voice; Naruto deduced that it must be Archer.
"Hey! Did you just imply that I am a dog?!" Lancer's rage boiled instantly.
"Archer, don't insult Lancer."
"Ehh? Saber, why not?"
"Archer, it's not good to insult a fellow Servant. It's bad enough he's the punching bag in Carnival Phantasm!" Caster scolded the giant red-clad man.
"Hmm? How do you know about that?" Archer asked the furry Servant.
"Other potential Servants get to watch the War. Lancer always seemed the be the casualty though…" Caster seemed downcast as she said that.
"Hah! That was the best part, Caster!" A Female voice, Rider, entered the fray.
"It was quite entertaining seeing the dog you are squirm in that barrel." The condescending voice of Alter Ego ironically pierced Lancer's ego.
"Gil..gaMESH! …Not! HONOR…able!" Berserker chipped in as he remembered one tragic event for Lancer within that particular War.
"Gilgamesh enacted a crude way in eliminating you, Lancer." The second-to-last last voice, Assassin, commented.
"DON'T REMIND ME!" Lancer screamed, "Damn you, GILGAMESH!"
Naruto laughed a bit at the casual conversation/argument going on inside his head. He wondered who Gilgamesh was, though it quickly went away like a breeze. The Servants seemed to be fairly likeable people. Maybe he could give them a shot. He was given the opportunity to fully master Kyuubi's power; he should take the chance.
"Master…"
"Yes…Ruler, is it?"
"Yes, Master." She answered, "About thy doubts, I can only say that if thou art to become a leader, thou must expect betrayal, loss, and insubordination. Losing a friend that has been blinded by revenge and a lust of power is a friend thou cannot hope to save. It is best to-"
"No, Ruler. I won't give up just yet. Sasuke is still redeemable. He can change. He needs just one push to see that he's done wrong."
"Then if thou doth succeed, Master, what doth thou think will happen to Sasuke, the traitor of thy Village?"
"…"
"What can thou say for thy friend when thou doth bring him back from thy battle?"
"…"
"I agree that he is redeemable for now, but he must die if he refuses to return."
"No! I can't agree to that!" Naruto yelled at Ruler, "Sasuke's still my friend. I can convince him to come back!" The Servants did not say anything for minutes, "Just to prove you wrong, I'm going to get stronger! I'll get stronger to be on par with Sasuke. I'll get stronger so we can see eye to eye. I'll get stronger so I can convince him to come home."
"Why doth thou wish to see him come back?" Ruler asked curiously.
"Because I made a promise! And Naruto Uzumaki doesn't break promises!" Naruto confidently answered, "Saber! Let's start with my lessons now!"
"Master, you should rest first. You just woke up from your injuries."
"Injures that healed," Naruto corrected. His gaze went down to the small message his friends wrote. 'Wake up already' sounds like he's been unconscious for quite a while. "Saber…please…I need to do this."
"…Understood, Master. Please provide us with a battleground then."
"A battleground, you say?"
Naruto sneaked out of the hospital perfectly. With the aid of Assassin, Naruto's escape became flawless. Even with the easy-to-spot Orange jumpsuit Naruto wore, no shinobi could spot him because he was slightly out of the shinobi's range of sight or sensory field. Naruto hid in alleyways, sprinted through the plaza, sneaked past the Hokage mansion, and reached his destination: Team seven's training ground.
"Is this a good place to learn, Saber-sensei?"
"Yes. This is adequate enough, Master." Saber replied as she materialized from thin air. Saber handed her Master a wooded sword, "Archer requested I go easy on you by using wooden swords. A shame really, I'd like to see you wield a proper blade rather than a toy." Naruto sweatdropped at Saber's remorseless statement, "But fundamentals are important… Master!"
Naruto stood straight in alert, his wooden sword positioned in front of him and poised to attack, "Yes?"
"Show me what you're capable of."
"Yes, Sensei!" Naruto complied, rushing forward to close the gap between him and her. Saber brought out a wooden sword as well and positioned herself to test her young Master.
Meanwhile, inside Naruto's head, Kyuubi was looking through Naruto's memories of pain, suffering, and loneliness...
'The reason I gave you my power…is because you survived. You persevered through the malice and hate, whereas I perished under the same conditions. Naruto…when you realize the truth, what would you think of me?"
And that's the end of this chapter. I hope you like it.
I've struggled giving Naruto a motive to accept his Servants. I can't just have him say, "SURE! I'M YOUR MASTER!" so easily. As you can see I have Naruto doubting the Kyuubi's generosity, but his conversation with Ruler does steer Naruto in the right direction somewhat.
Naruto is still naïve as you can see, but as time passes on, I will make him more serious when it comes to business. As in, if Sasuke doesn't change his ways, Naruto will kill him.
So once again, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Follow, favorite, review, I don't care. If you have problems, worries, or questions, review or PM, and I'll try to lessen your worries by trying to answer them without spoiling anything.
This is Azure with a second chapter, signing off.