Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Master?"

"I swear, I didn't know." Naruto replied to her question before she asked it. She had a towel wrapped around her body as she dipped her feet into the mixed bathing hot springs. Naruto was already sitting in the water, leaning up against a rock after having showered the trash smell off his body.

She sat at the edge.

She kept the towel covering the front of her body.

"... Very well, when in Rome." Atalanta was fine with sharing a hot springs if it was innocent and chaste. She planned on hiding behind a boulder if somebody came in on them. ".. no gut feelings about this place?" Atalanta asked Naruto.

They were exposed in an open air bath, that was alarming. If they weren't in danger, then she would use Naruto's gut to tell her if she could relax.

"... my gut feeling only protects me, but no... I don't have one right now."

"Okay then." Atalanta sank into the water and gave a sigh of deep relief. "This is a blessing." Atalanta had never experienced such a wonderful bath. Before, she had always bathed in cool springs and rivers, since she had joined the hunt, and she went an extended period of time without bathing when she travelled on the argo.

"I'm telling you! We've been looking ALL NIGHT, and I don't want to go home sweaty! So you stay out here and keep watch!"

"Heh... seems like we're not the only people who stink." Naruto laughed when he heard a woman shouting at somebody.

"Gut?"

"None, so that wasn't a master and servant." Naruto didn't feel like they were in danger. Atalanta moved through the water, and knowing that somebody was going to enter, she got behind Naruto. He moved forward, so the two of them were sitting back to back. Their heads were leaned up against each other, and his spiky hair did a decent job of hiding her cat ears... the fact both of them were blond helped.

Though, she was still visible when you looked from different angles.

"Eh... ah... somebody was here... don't stare at me... ah... you're here with somebody." Rin entered the hot springs with her towel wrapped around herself, and she instantly saw Naruto relaxing with his eyes closed. Naruto opened his eyes when somebody talked to him, and he looked towards Rin.

"Huh... oh... I'll try not to stare, I thought me at Ata-chan were the only ones here."

'Ata-chan... ah... not using my name properly, but also not calling me by my class. That girl though... Command Spells... and she used one of them already.' Atalanta glanced at Rin from behind Naruto.

Her hand, one of the strokes of the Command Spells were faded away, showing that despite the war having not begun, she used them. In a direct confrontation, that would put her at a disadvantage for sure.

"Ah... that feels amazing." Rin dipped her body in the water, and she covered her breasts with her arm under the towel. She took it off and placed it on the edge of the water. "... this just feels amazing." Rin was comfortable enough that nothing was visible to take her arms off her breasts, and stretch above her head.

She glanced towards Naruto, and she saw him with his eyes closed with his head in a relaxed pose. He was just enjoying the water.

"... Not going to peek?"

"Huh?" Naruto opened his eyes and looked towards Rin when she spoke to him. He blinked a few times, before he laughed and scratched his cheek. "... oh... I just didn't want to get yelled out. So, what brings you to a hot springs this late... me an Ata-chan worked up a stink." Naruto told her why they were here.

"... I didn't want to go home sweaty." Rin gave a soft laugh.

...

"Wow..." Naruto stated when he noticed something about Rin, and she covered her breasts. She glared at him, and opened her mouth. "... blue eyes! I don't meet a lot of people who share my eye color! I see so many browns and hazels, it is nice to see another pair of blues!" Naruto knew it was a rare trait, rarer still in Japan where most people had brown eyes or a REALLY dark brown.

Rin smiled.

"Oh, that is what... yeah... and..." Rin looked at Naruto scratching his cheek. She blinked and registered what she was looking at, before she smirked a little. "... so tell me a bit about Ata-chan behind you." Rin asked, her smirk slightly malicious for a brief moment, before she managed to hide it behind a normal conversation tone. "... what is your name too?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki..." Rin could have sworn she had heard that family name before. She shook her head, and she noticed that her command spells had been visible. '... he noticed them already too. He's a master, and he knows I'm one... that girl must be his servant.' Rin was trying to keep her cool.

If she called out to Archer, she would get killed.

She could use this as a chance to gather information on a future enemy.

"I can't tell you about her, that would be rude, but I can answer any question you want about me... tell me a bit about yourself too."

"Oh... well I'm from the Tohsaka family... and I consider myself a talented Magus... what about you, what do you specialize in?" Rin was a little surprised. Naruto was looking her in the eyes, and he didn't seem like he had any ulterior motives. '... right... he might not consider me an enemy. He could be a Master of White like me... and he might consider my servant an enemy, but not me... Masters don't have to kill each other to win.' Rin considered that.

She loosened her shoulders.

"I don't really specialize in anything right now. I never had a formal teacher, but I've made a friend recently who is helping me with some basic spells, and wind-elemental magic." Naruto pointed a finger at Rin, and a breeze picked up and blew her hair.

Rin was startled.

'No incantation, catalyst, or anything... for somebody just practicing the basics he is advanced.' Rin didn't let her brief jealousy over his apparent natural talent bother her. "... so how long have you been studying magic?" Rin asked him, pure curiousity this time.

"... About a little under a year honestly."

"Then wow... and you were selected as a Master too." Rin covered her mouth when she mentioned it out loud that she knew what he was. She stood up and prepared for a fight, but she looked at Naruto as he tilted his head. "OH!" Rin sat back down, and she glared at Naruto for seeing her naked.

He was slightly averting his gaze.

"I mean... we're both naked... so lets not fight..."

"Yeah... I... don't think I can beat a servant naked." Rin didn't have her gems or any tools at all. Her chances of beating a servant in her current condition were slim to none, since a servant could summon their weapon at any given time. If she so much as shouted for her servant, then she would be dead before he took one step towards her. '... I could use a Command Spell to summon him... but that would leave me with one left... and 12 more servants to face.' Rin looked at her hand.

Using Command Spells this early in the game against a single enemy would put her at too much of a disadvantage.

"Well, that's good, because I don't want to fight right now either. Just because we're both Masters, doesn't mean we have to be enemies. Even if our servants will be enemies one day." Naruto waved his hand.

"That is naive..."

"No, I'm not being naive... I'm making a choice. Masters didn't chose to be chosen, so I'm not going to kill other Masters if I can help it. At most, I'll fight to subdue to them and have my Ata-chan finish their servant... once the servant is dead... the fight is over." Naruto knew that he was making things harder for himself with his mindset.

He didn't care.

He wasn't going to kill innocent people, end of story, no discussion on it. Atalanta leaned against him, and he could feel her satisfaction with his words to some degree.

"Foolish Master."

"... Are you being honest with that... because... that's kind of stupid."

"Yeah, it's stupid, but I'm living my life the way I want to. I don't want innocent blood on my hands, and I don't want the blood of people I could make friends with on my hands either."

"What about a murderer... a serial killer... what if you were forced to make a choice to kill."

"Well... then I'll kill them, because at that point they aren't innocent. If they honestly wanted to redeem themselves though... I would try and help them find redemption... but only if they honestly wanted it." Naruto had an answer to.

Rin looked at him like he was dumb.

".. Heheh... Living your life the way you want to... I guess I understand that. Okay, I'll take it back... you're not naive... but you're still an idiot."

"So... what is wrong with being an idiot?"

"Absolutely nothing, I like idiots like you. So... what is your wish for the grail?"

"I don't want anyone to suffer a childhood like I had. I'm an orphan, so I don't want any child to live in a world where they are isolated, bullied... lose their parents like me. I want to make a world where people can grow up happy." Naruto felt no shame in admitting his wish. "With or without the grail, I will make it happen." Naruto reinforced his point and made strong eye contact with Rin.

She saw that.

'His eyes are fierce. Not only is he not lying, for some reason... I believe that he can actually make it happen. His eyes are 100% full of self-confidence... his wish is stupid though.' Rin smiled after she thought it over. "... My wish... I have no real wish for the grail. I just want to win the cup for family reasons... and by the way... I'm an orphan too. So I understand your wish... even if your wish is utterly foolish." Rin couldn't stop herself from making the dig.

Naruto seemed to take no offense to it.

"Well, that is what the grail is for... it would be great if I could just wish for it."

"... Just curious, why haven't you asked me about my servant?" Rin asked, since Naruto hadn't asked her a single question that would help him in the future against her. He wasn't even trying to subtly gain info on her.

Naruto hummed in thought.

"Well... I trust my servant's judgement, so when she wants to do recon and stuff... I go along with it, but honestly... the war hasn't started yet... and we're only allowed to fight at night. I'm not an experienced master, and I've never done anything like this before... so I'm just going to do my best in this war, win or lose... I'm going to play this game the way I want to play it. I have a super powerful and awesome servant, and I have confidence in her." Naruto grinned at Rin as he spoke.

Rin laughed.

"Wow, you know, I like that... you're a simple kind of guy. Living your life the way you want to live if, even if people think it's foolish... I can get behind that." Rin couldn't see it.

Atalanta pressed up against Naruto, and smiled from his honest praise of her.

"Don't trust Caster of White... her true name is Medea." Atalanta spoke up. '... There... I did my part.' Atalanta wanted to weaken Medea's hold over her side.

"Medea?"

Naruto jumped towards Rin.

"Eh!?"

Naruto grabbed Rin and knocked both of them out of the water. Atalanta watched it happen, before she looked up. She fully dressed herself with mana, and she had her bow drawn and pointed to the enemy that had shown up.

"Eh?" Rin looked to where he head had been leaning up against the rocks.

5 kunai had pierced where her head had been, and she looked towards the ripples in the water where kunai had pierced where Naruto had been sitting as well.

"You okay, you didn't get hurt?"

"I'm fine." Rin stated as she grabbed her towel and got out from under Naruto. She wrapped it around herself and stood up, the assassin that was after their lives landed on a rock, and drew several kunai that she threw at them.

They were all shot down.

"Assassin..." Atalanta growled as she fired off several arrows at the assassin, who jumped into the water.

"GET OUT OF THE WATER! It's getting poisoned!" Naruto noticed the slight change in the water as it gained a coating of something that spread towards Atalanta. Atalanta looked at the water, and she noticed the change in it. She jumped out and shot more arrows, but Assassin was quick enough to dodge them by using the terrain to her advantage. Female going by body, and one of the arrows managed to scratch her shoulder while ripping off part of the cloak she was using.

A skull mask covered most of her face.

"Poison... and kunai... Assassin class." Rin placed her hand over her left arm, and fired a shot of red glowing black magic at the Assassin, who jumped out of the water.

"Master, lets escape." Atalanta reached her hand out.

"Not without Rin, if we leave her Assassin will kill her before her servant can get here." Naruto spoke as a kunai came inches from his face, before it was destroyed by an arrow from Atalanta. Assassin rushed towards Naruto, dodging arrows from Atalanta as she outsped the assassin and moved between her and Naruto, arrow pointed right at her first.

Assassin dodged the arrow with a backflip that put her back in the water.

Assassin cut her hand open, before she flung her blood towards them.

"The war hasn't started yet!" Naruto shouted to the assassin, who disregarded his words. "... not that we're one to talk." Naruto remembered that Atalanta had tried to kill Medea as well. Naruto grabbed Rin by the wrist, and he pulled her towards Atalanta with him.

"Hey!"

"Go!" Naruto wrapped his arm over Atalanta's shoulders and torso, and he kept a tight grip on Rin. Atalanta nodded her head.

Atalanta jumped.

"Master, her blood."

"It's fine, I'm resistant to poison. I'm going to get sick later, but I'll be fine right now." Naruto stated to Atalanta when she noticed that the assassin's blood had gotten on his arm. "... if anything, it's a good thing... I'll become even more resistant to her poison for the next time we fight." Naruto had a decent resistance to even poisons that could kill, though they would make him sick.*

"ARCHER!"

"Got it!" Naruto called out to Rin when she shouted for her servant. Naruto tossed Rin out of the air, and her servant jumped up to catch her. Archer took Rin and went in a different direction, with Assassin continuing to chase down Naruto and Atalanta.

Without Rin's weight, Atalanta was much faster.

She flipped and show several arrows at assassin, who dodged while throwing kunai.

"Master!"

"It's fine, as long as it isn't fatal, I'll use my body for this." Naruto had used his arm to block a kunai that came from an odd angle. "Master and Servant, we fight together." Naruto saw Atalanta nod as she fired more arrows at Assassin.

Assassin slowed down and the arrows missed.

She landed on a tree branch and looked towards Naruto and Atalanta escaping.

"... He didn't die?"

-Later-

"Uuuuuuh... this sucks..." Naruto was laying on the couch of his apartment, pale and sweating from the poison. Atalanta placed a cool towel over his forehead, and she tended to the wound on his forearm that he had gotten. "... this..." Naruto rushed towards the bathroom, pushing his servant to the side.

He threw up.

"Master."

"I'm going to..." Naruto puked again.

"... be fine?" Atalanta finished for him as he walked out of the bathroom. She noticed some color go back into his skin. "... we have her weapon... one of them." Atalanta stated as she carefully held the weapon.

Naruto grabbed it, and he cut open his thumb.

"... Good... next time, I won't just resist her poison... I'll train myself to be immune to it. Now we know that Servants of White have an Assassin that uses poison." Naruto stated with a groan as more poison went through his body. Naruto used the side of the dagger to wipe the blood from his arm. "... whenever I get close to getting better, give me a little cut... we know what we're dealing with now." Naruto passed the dagger to Atalanta, who nodded her head.

"I understand... this is something we have to do... that assassin is too dangerous to not take precautions with." Atalanta was not a fan of poisoning her master. She would do it though regardless, because having an enemy that could poison them with just a touch was a terrifying thought.

One touch, and a dead master.

"... Why did she stop chasing us though... it doesn't make sense." Naruto didn't get it.

"Assassins are the weakest servants normally, they specialize in killing Masters... they usually can't compete with other classes. Once she lost the advantage, she abandoned the chase." Atalanta explained her view.

When it was a servant protecting 2 masters, assassin had a clear advantage... but when one of those masters escaped, and the other master was resistant to her poison, she was put at a clear disadvantage instead. It just made sense for her to abandon the chase, rather than keep putting herself at risk.

It only made sense.

Chapter End!
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*Reference: In canon, Naruto has a high enough resistance to poison, that Sakura's instant kill poison just knocked him out.