Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!
"... 19,000 Magic units."
"... Okay, so while I HAVE an absolute crap ton of mana, I can only use 19,000 units as an output at any given time." Naruto didn't feel any dip in his reserves, but he had channeled his maximum amount of mana that he could channel through his body. With Jing Ke and Gaara helping him train to see what his limits where. "... So Gaara, what about you?"
"... I have 9,000 Magical units and my max output is 700... and my specialty is this." Gaara stated as he held his hand over the ground.
The ground turned into sand, and followed his command.
"Ooooh... that is cool."
'So... he can manipulate the element of earth with great skill.' Atalanta stood back and watched Gaara with a critical eye. Gaara was apparently some kind of magical genius, but he specialized in manipulating the sand. She turned her attention to Jing Ke, who was still shocked by the sheer output Naruto was capable of. Atalanta nodded her head with a smug smirk when she made eye contact with Jing Ke for a brief moment. '... that is right, though untrained... my master can output more mana than most people can ever dream of using.' Atalanta felt a sense of pride in having a superior master.
It was smug pride.
"... The sand is my offense and my defense... and at max output, the speed of my attacks can exceed B+... and the strength is equal to a A-ranked magic attack." Gaara summarized how the offensive power of his attacks worked. "I am skilled with manipulating metals as well, mixing gold dust into my sand... and..." Gaara couldn't talk anymore.
He didn't know if he should say it.
"Master... we should prepare... alone."
"Alone sounds no fun, we're a team." Jing Ke waved hand her casually. "Unless you're scared of revealing your true identity... eh?" Jing Ke was just surprised when Archer grabbed Naruto and jumped off with him.
"EH!?
-Later-
"Hmmmm... Lets see..." Naruto placed chess pieces on the board... rather, he placed 6 pawns and a king on the board. On the other side of the board, he placed the same thing. To represent the servants of the two teams. "... this is you." Naruto pointed to the king piece, to which Atalanta nodded her head.
"Yes... what is the point of this though?" Atalanta didn't know what Naruto was doing.
"I'm trying to picture how this stuff plays out... you're an Archer... so it is best for you to stay at a distance... but they have an archer too... so... I'm just trying to think how we're going to tackle that issue." Naruto crossed his arms and moved the pieces around the chess board. "... S is Saber, L is Lancer, A for Assassin, R for Rider, B for Berserker, and C for Caster..." Naruto moved the pieces around.
A was next to King.
Assassin did seem like her master wanted to be close to Naruto, so she could always imagine that Jinge Ke would be somewhere close by her. Naruto moved Pawn B to the back of the board as well.
"... Why did you move Berserker back there?"
"Because, Berserker is Florence Nightingale... she's SUPER famous in history books. I didn't recognize her at first, but her clothes and the gun she carries gave it away... she's a medic, so I can see our side keeping her away from combat." Naruto moved the White Pawn B to the frontlines of the combat area of the board. "... and I doubt their Berserker is a medic..." Naruto put his hands over his eyes.
He tried to visualize the battlefield layout, but it was a challenge.
He had so little information, he knew Jing Ke was their side's Assassin, Florence the Berserker, Mandricardo was their Rider, and obviously he knew his Archer. He could look up the legends of those with names he knew.
"This puts us at a disadvantage, since our Berserker is not a front liner..."
"... but Berserkers need contant direction by their master usually... so if Berserker is on the front lines, his Master has to be nearby them... and I can imagine Saber servants are on the front line." Naruto moved 3 pieces to the front lines. He was scratching his head. He wasn't the leader for the Servants of Black team, but he wanted to see how battles would play out. "... we DO have a medic though, which DOES give us an advantage in long term battle." Naruto could see how the disadvantage was balanced out by the advantage as well.
Naruto finished putting the pieces everywhere.
"... So they have 4 front liners, a mid support, their assassin is on the side, and their archer as the distance... while we have 3 front liners, a mid support... our berserker is off the field, I'm in back... and Jing Ke is to the side... the front line is in their favor." Atalanta didn't see full out frontal force attacks working well.
Naruto picked up both archers and placed them off the board.
"Oh?"
"... I think... with 2 archers, you two will be distracted by trying to find the other archer... and then..." Naruto took their assassin with them. "... so it will be a 6 to 4 battle actually... they have 2 more servants that can fight without fear... and that is as far as I've gotten." Naruto didn't know what he could do to shift the tide of combat in their favor.
A bird came through the window.
It was carrying a letter, and Atalanta swiped it from the bird before she scanned the short note.
"... 13 servants have been summoned in total. The war is almost on us... Lancer's Master is asking us to do recon for the area... Master?" Atalanta asked Naruto, since she wanted to know if they would actually be doing it or not. Recon seemed like a good idea, all things considered. Atalanta hadn't been able to sense any servants, though as she looked at Naruto she quickly figured out why she couldn't sense any.
Naruto.
Naruto in Fuyuki was casting a mana field over the area that was making it impossible for mages and servants to use clairvoyance and sensing abilities, due to just how thick the mana in the air and soil was. All they could sense was Naruto, and all they could see if they looked was Naruto's mana if they tried to see the future or past in any area Naruto was.
This was a blind war, and recon would serve them well.
"... Lets not right away."
"So we will be doing recon?" Atalanta asked, and Naruto stood up.
"... I'm hungry, and I still don't have a plan. Now that the war has almost started... I don't think going and looking for people... is a good move." Naruto was a lot more care free before because he figured they had a lot of time.
3 weeks.
It had been a total of 3 weeks since Naruto moved to Fuyuki for the war, and he had a decent layout of things. Naruto had spent over 3 weeks with Atalanta, and she had been taking him on near-daily hunting trips so that they could practice his skills in hunting. It was also just fun for him to hang out with her.
"We can't hide."
"We're not hiding... but I think an assassin might be better at recon on the ground. If we do recon... maybe the top of the buildings?" Naruto looked up at the TALL buildings that towered over parts of the city. An assassin would fit the shadows much better than an archer would, though it wasn't like Atalanta wasn't good for some shadow work.
The city wasn't the best place for an archer to fight in an unexpected battle.
So they took a walk.
-Later-
"Do you see anything?"
"Nothing but regular people scattered around... none that stand out as strange." Atalanta looked at the city below with narrowed eyes. With her eyes, she could scan most of the visible city from the tallest building in Fuyuki. She had her bow out, and was in her summoned clothes, ready for a possible fight. "Wait... 4.3 kilometers, North North-East... I can see a servant."
"You do?" Naruto asked as he looked through his binoculars in the direction where she was looking.
She did.
There was a man holding a girl, maybe 17 years old... the two of them wore somewhat matching colors of red and black, but the man wore clothes that would make more sense if he was a servant. The way he was smoothly jumping from building to building did make it clear that he was a servant, and he had no noticed them.
"... I have a clear shot." Atalanta had her bow ready, and an arrow aimed at him.
She had confidence that she would hit the girl or the servant, either one would be more than good enough for her to take them out of the war.
"I... think that would be a bad idea." Naruto had a gut feeling that something horrible would happen to them, he and Atalanta, if she took the shot. Naruto rubbed the front of his neck, because that felt uncomfortable for some reason.
Atalanta blinked.
'Naruto's mana reserves almost doubled in size just now... how?' Atalanta looked at Naruto, and through their connection she could feel his reserves grow nearly twice the size they were before. Naruto was rubbing his gut, and she stared at him for a moment. "... a gut feeling... yes, I understand." Atalanta lowered her boy and allowed it to vanish, but she kept her eye on the servant as he went with his master.
"Ah... the gut feeling is gone now."
'... Yeah... last time it happened to, his reserves got bigger the last time he had a gut feeling... it's related to his magic crest.' Atalanta realized this wasn't the first time she had noticed it, just the first time she felt alarmed by it. His reserves growing twice as large didn't matter to her nearly as much as the premonitions he was having. "... Naruto... are you a Seer?" Atalanta had that random thought.
"A what?"
"A soothsayer... somebody who can read and predict the future... somebody with knowledge of events yet to come." Atalanta could see that it was a word he had yet to hear, so she adjusted her wording. Naruto thought about it, but in the end shook his head since he didn't really get any visions of the future.
He just knew that for some reason, his gut feelings ended up helping him when he followed them, and his stomach felt weird whenever he got a gut feeling.
"... I would say this is a successful recon, we know the faces of one Master/Servant pair... white hair, tan skin, red clothes... and a pretty girl with black hair, blue eyes, and twin tails for a hairstyle... and... Atalanta... over there." Naruto looked, and he pointed to a building a distance away.
Atalanta looked.
"... 6 kilometers... ah... that is..." Atalanta couldn't believe it, but she recognized a summoned servant even from a distance. "... she's Caster... Medea... Master, like it or not, we need to take her out now!" Atalanta got her bow ready for a shot. She pulled her bow back as far as she could, putting her entire body into the shot.
Medea was bad news!
Recon didn't matter anymore, not when they knew one of the threats was that woman.
"Can you take her out with one shot."
"I can." Atalanta let her arrow loose.
Her arrow sailed faster than the speed of sound, before she grit her teeth.
"Your arrow..." Naruto noticed it happen when she did. The arrow veered off course when it hit some kind of barrier. Atalanta grabbed Naruto, before her arrow went right by Medea instead of hitting her. The barrier had veered her arrow off course just enough that Medea had been alerted to the fact she had been attacked. "... we're getting company!" Naruto saw that arrow hadn't JUST alerted Medea to what they were doing.
The Servant/Master duo were heading towards them.
"We have to get out of here then." Atalanta felt Naruto on her back, with his binoculars trained on the servant and master heading their way. She jumped off of the building. "... can you check the enemy servant's stats?" Atalanta asked Naruto.
As a Master, he should be able to do that.
"Strength: D, Agility: C, Luck: E, Endurance: C, and Mana: B... he's got you beat in Endurance, but you're way faster than he is with an A rank... can you outlast him long enough for us to escape?" Naruto read Atalanta's stats as well, not needing the binolulars to do that one.
"... I might be able to take him out." Atalanta was jumping across the roof. She looked and saw an arrow coming at her from a distance. She shot the arrow out of the sky with one of her own, and three more arrows followed it. She shot those three arrows down as well, while adding 6 arrows of her own to shoot at the enemy firing at them. "... he's got reach, but he isn't fast enough to catch me." Atalanta turned and put a large building between her and the target.
"Medea incoming."
"... but I can't beat an Archer and Caster at the same time." Atalanta changed her tune when Naruto saw Medea coming at them from a different direction. She knew when she needed to make a retreat, and now was her time to make that retreat. Medea wasn't fast enoyugh to catch up to her, and she was MUCH faster than the enemy archer was. "... we've got enough information for now. We know what the enemy archer looks like, and we know Medea is the summoned Caster."
"Yeah, but he knows your face now too... and he knows your an archer." Naruto didn't know how critical that was.
"... we just need to hope he doesn't have enough clues to guess my identity... but if Medea sees my face, she will know me." Atalanta wasn't within sight range of Medea. Naruto took his coat off and put it over her head and ears, with her eyes just peeking out. "Master, can you make a mist, or some kind of way to block sight of us?" Atalanta asked Naruto.
"I got nothing!"
"That is unfortunate."
...
"I have an idea though."
-20 Minutes Later-
"I'm sure I saw them head this way."
"You sure you weren't just imagining things?" Rin Tohsaka asked as she looked around the streets.
"I heard the sound of an arrow breaking the sound barrier, and then when I fired my own arrows at the source... it shot them down. I didn't get a clear look, but only a servant of the archer class could have done it." Archer stated as he frowned. "... but I can't sense any other servants. I haven't been able to sense anything for days." Archer couldn't believe the unfortunate luck he had been having.
Rin nodded.
"... Me too, I can't sense anything... I feel blind."
"Are you the one who shot that arrow at me... are you a Servant of Black or White?" Medea asked as she hovered down in front of Archer and Rin.
"Who are you?"
"Caster of White."
"Then we're on the same side for now... I don't know who shot that arrow at you, but it seems they managed to escape. Archer of White, I don't remember my name though." Archer introduced himself more casually as he kept looking around. "... are you able to sense any servants?" Archer asked the Caster.
She frowned.
"... No, I haven't been able to... I can't sense you right now." Medea was staring at the Master and Servant duo, but she couldn't sense either of them. "... not only that, but the mana over the town doubled in thickness... whatever is causing this had it's mana doubled." Medea didn't like that one bit either.
"Archer, can we trust her?" Rin asked as she kept an eye on Medea.
"For now, we aren't enemies at least... and she's a Caster, not much of a threat by herself. We have larger threats to worry about... unless Miss Caster wants to start something?" Archer asked Medea, who smirked.
"... Well aren't you a rude man, but you didn't shoot an arrow at me, so I'll look for my target elsewhere." Medea left with that, having no need to waste her time talking with an Archer and his young master.
Archer picked up Rin.
"They must have taken to the streets and escaped... there is no use pursuing when we lost track of them."
-10 Minutes Later-
A nearby dumpster opened up.
"... This... is disgusting Master." Atalanta got out of the dumpster with trash all over here. "... I should have known Medea would have a barrier around where she lives." Atalanta couldn't believe her oversight. She had alerted the enemy Archer to her general location with her shot.
Naruto was covered in trash too.
"... Yes it is... but you said it yourself, you can't do a two on one... and that was 3 on 2, and I still need to learn more combat stuff against mages. I would rather survive, covered in trash... than die." Naruto picked trash off of himself.
Atalanta calmed herself.
"... I memorized Archer's scent though, and his Master as well. Still... I don't recognize any traits of his... I think we should call our recon done. Now two of the enemies are on high alert... and one of them is Medea." Atalanta couldn't believe their horrible luck.
Somebody that knew her personally.
Somebody that didn't just know her personally, but had knowledge of her weaknesses and could use them against her.
"Good thing you didn't shoot at Archer... then he would have known where we were right away, and Medea wouldn't have distracted him for us." Naruto couldn't believe their great luck. His gut feeling had paid off, otherwise he could imagine them being put at a horrible disadvantage in that fight.
"... Luck... even though it was your gut feeling that stopped me from doing it." Atalanta whispered to herself.
Something was strange about that.
Then there was the huge increase to his mana that happened out of nowhere when he got the gut feeling, as if his mana doubling was in response to something she couldn't make out.
"You have some..."
"... DISGUSTING!" Atalanta jumped when she noticed uneaten noodles were wrapped around the base of her tail. She clawed them off and threw them to the side. "Bath, I need to bathe myself and now!" Atalanta couldn't believe how much disgusting garbage was on her body.
She was thankful, but she wished with all of her heart that the plan that saved them did not involve diving into a dumpster.
"Hot springs nearby... want to go?"
"Yes please." Atalanta sighed.
She had never been more happy to here those words in her life.
Chapter End!
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