Hey everyone! Thunderito here and welcome to the tenth chapter of Naruto: The Shadow Blade! This chapter features what happened in the two months after Sao and before Naruto joins ALO. Note: Italics are narration, not flashbacks in this chapter. Flashback scenes will be noted. On with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Sword Art Online. They belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 10: Coping with Reality

Two months had passed since Naruto woke up in a hospital. Two months since he defeated Kayaba and cleared Sword Art Online. After he woke up, the Head Doctor came and informed him of his condition. He also informed him that his parents knew he woke up and would be coming soon. But the Head Doctor wasn't alone, he came with a man. He was tal, with black hair and black eyes. He wore glasses and a green business suit. His name… Kikuoka Seijirou, member of the Second Advanced Network Division, Technology Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, or Virtual Division.

Flashback

Naruto, wearing his pajamas again, was sitting in the hospital bed, looking at the man in front of him with a raised eyebrow, as the doctor excused himself. After a moment of staring, Naruto spoke "So, you're a member of a new Division in the government, the virtual Division, meant to deal with threats like the SAO incident, threats that spun in the Virtual World?" he asked, as the man nodded with a smile. "Funny, you're stance and sharp look make you look like an active or an ex-soldier. Let me guess, JSDF?" he asked, as the man stayed silent. Finally, he smirked "As expected of you to figure it out." he said, as Naruto laid down on the bed. "Why are you here?" he asked. Seijirou sat down on a chair next to him "I would like to know more about what happened inside SAO." he said. Naruto thought about it "Under two conditions. I know someone as important as me being trapped in SAO would be global news by now, so when I wake up, the media will come in. I want you to buy me a red-haired wig, that will look like my natural hair when I wear it. We will tell the media that my NerveGear was a special one and any changes I did in that world, somehow occurred in the Real World as well. And buy me two lenses to change my eye colour. I don't want to walk around and people noticing me. Have them be green." He said, as Seijirou nodded. "And second, you will give me the location of a specific player. I assume you have a catalog of all ten thousand SAO players right?" he asked. Seijirou nodded "Both terms are manageable. But I would like a request. If you join your father's military division, seeing as you're an adult now, I would like to request you help in the development of machines used for cyber-warfare, seeing as the new technology has unlimited possibilities." he said. Naruto stayed silent, then spoke "If I join the company and my father accepts it, I will." he said. Seijirou nodded, so Naruto told him everything he could need. Them, Seijirou told him he will send him the address through email, before thanking him and leaving.

Ten minutes later, the door opened again, as the Head doctor and his parents entered. The moment Kushina laid eyes on Naruto's icy blue eyes, which instead of the old boredom and willpower, held maturity, pain and awareness, she burst in tears, rushing and hugging Naruto, her head in his chest. Naruto's eyes widened, looking down at his mother, who kept muttering apologies. He looked at his father's eyes, who let the tears flow, before understanding. He raised her up, as her red eyes looked at his own, which now held love and acknowledgement. "I forgive you, both of you. For everything." He said, tears coming from his eyes, as he hugged his mother tightly, causing her to cry more. His father joined, hugging both of them. The doctor left, giving the reunited family some privacy.

Flashback End

After the family reunion, their relationship got better. They stayed with him much longer, even taking days off of work for him, so that they could be there during his rehab period. After a month of rehab, he was finally able to move freely and do strenuous activities. He wrote some tests to show he had the knowledge of the two school years he missed and after he passed, he did tests to get a driving license for cars and a driving license for bikes. Then, he asked his father to get him a position in the military company. His father accepted right away, as he would be with his son more often. As a gift, he wanted to buy him a house in a part of Tokyo, but Naruto told him if he truly wanted to give him a gift, then let him use the money in his own way, as he wanted a special house. His father complied, happy that his son was thinking every step he took. With the amount of money he gained, he could buy a small mansion. Instead, he bought a two-story house with a garage and a large basement, along with a nice big backyard, however, it was special. It was made by reinforced concrete and the windows were bulletproof. Also, he had bought it for the basement, to be used as his own space. But, he wouldn't be able to fit it completely without a few months of work. Luckily, he was in a high position, so he had a nice budget.

His father placed Naruto in charge of a newly created research team. Their task was to try and find a way to connect the NerveGear, or the now popular Amusphere, which was designed to have harmless microwaves, so that the SAO incident of in-game deaths couldn't work on the device. The purpose behind it, which was gonna be the next tasks they would have, was to send a human's mind, equipped with hacking-class hardware and software knowledge and some hacking devices, inside that network and attempt to destroy it from within. To do that, they would have to create a program which showed the entire security network, along with its strengths and weaknesses. Then, they would have to make another program which masked the location of the NerveGear or Amusphere user. The results would be the first steps to creating an undetectable infiltrator, capable of entering any network and shattering. But that was stage one. The true aim was to use the VR machines for a man to be able to enter any machine and control it within. Naruto understood the implications his research created, but he had no choice, as it helped his own personal goal.

After he entered the job and accessed military-grade equipment, he also acquired the information of Asuna's location. As it turned out, she was still asleep, having not escaped the world of the Nervegear. That's why he complied with the project, to find a way to reach Asuna. He visited her as frequently as possible, always wearing his new disguise and sat down next to her. For her safety, he actually hacked the hospital system and gained access to the cameras, connecting to the one in Asuna's room from his home during non-visitor times, just to make sure she was fine. He even met her father, a kind man. He was glad he couldn't see who he was, until one fateful day.

Flashback

Naruto sat in his house, reading a book of advanced mechatronics, while his new laptop had some designs of the NerveGear. He was trying to find a way to change the NerveGear's ability to connect to one NerveGear network, to being able to connect to all of Earth's networks. However, he heard the alarm indicating someone entered Asuna's room. Out of sheer curiosity, knowing her father was already inside to change flowers and sit down next to her, he saw an unknown man entered. He was tall, with slicked back black hair and dark eyes. He wore a businessman suit with a red tie and black glasses. He had a friendly expression on his face, but with a look in his eyes Naruto could see the twisted nature the man had. During the first part of the conversation, he learned the man's name was Sugou Nobuyuki and he was the Chief of the research institute of RECT Inc, the company Asuna's father had. As he kept hearing, his anger and desperation grew. It seemed this Sugou would marry Asuna, if her father said yes since she is in a coma. And as it appeared, the chances of saying no were very few. But his sorrow turned into rage, as he saw Sugou sniff her hair, touch her lips and lick his own lips with his tongue in a perverted and lunatic manner. He growled, as he was inches away from using his M9A3 beretta on him. However, knowing Asuna would say he was better than that, he reluctantly stopped himself. He rose and called Kirito, asking if he and Suguha wanted to see him fight using Kendo in an hour. They accepted, as he told them where to go.

Kirito and Suguha found themselves in the biggest Kendo School in Tokyo. There Suguha saw Naruto for the first time, wearing Kendo protection gear. To their shock, he fought single-handedly the four master students of Kendo at once. And what a fight it was. Even as masters of the style, they simply couldn't touch Naruto, who dodged or blocked all of their strikes. After a minute of this, in an impressive display of skill, Naruto took down all four of them with one strike each. After doing it again four times, they stopped, succumbing to Naruto's impressive strength. Suguha was so hyped she asked to fight him and he agreed, after promising Kirito he would use only the necessary force to defeat her. To see her skill, for the first minute he tested her offensive, dodging easily every attack. After that, he turned to a slow offensive, hitting her with strikes that favoured power over speed, but for her it was still fast. The finale was when she tried to block an attack on her stomach, only for Naruto to raise the blade, hitting her heart. Suguha's expression was priceless, as when she took off her helmet her eyes were wide as saucers, her mouth hanging. He patted her head and told her she had potential and she just needed to work on her reactions. After that, they went out for drinks. As Suguha used the restroom, Naruto explained the situation to Kirito, who understood and told him not to give up. Naruto agreed and they hanged out for the rest of the day.

Flashback End / Present Day

Naruto yawned, closing the alarm clock, looking at the fact it was 5 AM in the morning and he would need to go to work at 10. Shrugging, he rose from the bed, did his morning activities on the bathroom and did a two hour morning jog. He returned home at 7:10 AM, did a bath and put on some light clothes, as he opened his PC to do some work. Luckily, as the Head of the Research, all he had to do was stay until 2 PM, then he could leave. He mostly did work at home, while he implemented the results of his work there, along with assisting the team on whatever it needed. His group loved him and trusted him, as he never acted arrogant or bossy and made them work effortlessly to the maximum of their abilities. As he returned from the kitchen, making a juice out of orange, grapefruit, sanguine and lemon, he noticed that his Computer showed an email notification. Opening it, he raised an eyebrow as it was an emergency Mail from Agil. Shrugging, he opened it and let it load while taking a sip of juice. However, once he saw what it was, he spat it out, before wiping his mouth and looking at it intently with wide eyes. It was a blurry photo of a girl. "Asuna?" said outloud Naruto. Quickly, he used his computer to increase the quality of the picture, before becoming even more shocked. He saw a girl identical to Asuna, but with elf ears. Frowning, he changed to his Army Research Uniform, which was a red version of the standard Army uniform, along with having the Triangle Insignia on it. Grabbing his backpack, he hopped on his Harley bike, which was a gift from his mother and made his way to Agil's bar.

Dicey Cafe

The Dicey Cafe was a bar run by Andrew, Agil's real name. The floor was made of wood, it had four tables and a counter with several stools. Many bottles could be seen on shelves behind the counter, while various posters were hanged around. A jukebox was on one corner. The place had a relaxed atmosphere. As Naruto entered, he saw Agil behind the counter, clearing glasses. He smiled "Hey Andrew. Still empty?" he joked, as Andrew sent him a mock glare "Just come at nighttime. See if you find an empty seat." he replied. Naruto removed his backpack, standing on a stool, as Andrew served him a cup of coffee. He thanked him and took a sip. Sighing, he looked at him seriously "What was that photo?" he asked.

Agil passed him a game "Can you tell me what that is?" he first asked. Naruto looked at it "Yes. Alfheim Online. The newest VRMMORPG hit, for the Amusphere. I heard of it. What about it?" he asked. "Well, it supposedly means 'Land of Fairies'. It uses an extreme-skill system, which means there are no levels and to become better you must grind your skills and rely on your physical capabilities." He said "It also gives you the ability to fly, as it has a flight engine. I hear it's very popular now?" he said. Naruto shrugged "I am only interested in the Asuna part." he said.

"The photo was taken in the World Tree, Yggdrasil, inside ALO. There's a legendary castle on top of it. In ALO, nine races battle for who will first reach it. But they can't fly forever, so five players flew in piggyback, using each other as jet boosters." he said, as Naruto nodded, understanding their idea. "Still, they couldn't reach the lowest branch, but they managed to take a few pictures. One of them showed a birdcage and if you zoomed in as much as possible, this was shown." he said. Naruto looked at the game, before noticing it was made of RCT. Clenching his teeth, he took out his wallet and gave Agil some yen "For the coffee and the game." he said, taking it. "Will you go there?" he asked, as Naruto nodded.

He chuckled for a second, placing it on his backpack "A game where you can't die, is a piece of cake for me. I will need to buy an Amusphere." he said, putting on his backpack. "No need to, it works fine with NerveGear." he said, as Naruto nodded "Alright then." he said. "Bring Asuna back Naruto. The fight isn't over until both of you are here." Agil said, raising his fist. Naruto fistbumped him "Indeed. Let's meet here one day all together." he said, before exiting.

Home

After returning home, Naruto sat down and took his NerveGear. Looking at it, he whispered "Let us fight once again, old friend." he said to himself, putting the game inside and putting it on. He sat down, before saying again " Link Start! " He activated all the parameters in the old array of colours, before he found himself in a Black room, with blue panels and orange lines, as a voice said " Welcome to Alfheim Online! Please type your gender and name. " with a blue keyboard appearing. 'If RECT owns this game and took control of Argus, then that Sugou bastard knows it was Maelstrom who defeated Heathcliff and was with Asuna.' he thought. Nodding to himself, he typed in 'Naruto.' and confirmed it, while choosing the Male icon. " Please choose one of the nine races. " it said again, as the races appeared. He looked over each, before seeing one that looked like his real self, just with black hair. "Spriggan huh? Specializes in Illusion Magic and Treasure handing. Well, if physical abilities are passed on the game and just increase through grinding, I guess I am good on strength and speed. Well, I choose you! Spriggan!" he said. " You chose Spriggan. Is that correct? Appearance will be random? Is that fine?" the voice asked, as Naruto pressed the Yes button. " Thank you. You will be transported to the Spriggan capital. Good luck on your journey ." the voice said, as Naruto's eyes gained a spark "Here we go again!" he said, before being enveloped in light.

WOOOOO! LET'S GO! Hope you guys liked this Chapter. So, we found out what happened to Naruto in real life after he stopped SAO and we saw him prepare for ALO. I chose the Spriggan, which was the most requested. And if you expected Naruto to immediately not only reveal his status to Asuna's parents but to the world as well, my answer is this: Now where is the fun in that? Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to send them. Until next time, Thunderito out!