UNITED WORLDS

CHAPTER 1

Sword Art Online Universe – Kirigaya Residence – With Kazuta Kirigaya – In His Room

In 2022, humanity has finally created a complete virtual environment. The launch of Sword Art Online, a full dive VRMMORPG game had begun today. To play the game, one had to wear a full dive virtual reality headwear called the NerveGear, which allowed users and players to play VR games that were full dive in nature.

Currently, sitting on his chair in front of his desktop, Kazuta, a young teenager, was reading a magazine about Sword Art Online and its creator, Kayaba Akihiko. As he was reading, he accidentally got a paper cut on his finger, which caused a bit of blood to seep from the front of his thumb. That's when he heard a voice from outside his room say, "Onii-chan, I'm off to practice."

Kazuto had black hair, black eyes, and wore a gray hoodie, along with casual sweatpants. He stood up from his chair. There was currently a radio show about SAO being played through his computer. However, after glancing at his room's window for a bit, he then shifted his attention back to his computer, before turning it off. He then connected his own NerveGear which he had purchased before. He had basically connected it by plugging the cord in a nearby wall socket near his bed. And with that, he wore the headwear, before gently laying on his bed. And with that, the lights on the headwear turned around as it began to make a whirring sound. Kazuto couldn't help but smile.

And with that, Kazuto closed his eyes before saying, "Link start!"

And with that, his vision turned white. A bunch of fluorescent virtual cylinders of different colors zoomed past him. And five blue circular interfaces appeared before him. Each saying the following:

Sight: Ok

Touch: Ok

Smell: Ok

Hearing: Ok

Taste: Ok

Another interface popped up, revealing a prompt for entering his username and password. After entering his credentials through his mind itself, he was able to proceed further. That's when another prompt arrived, saying the following, "Beta Test Character is available. Would you like to use that data?"

Yes

No

Kazuto chose to keep his beta test character. Before the official launch of SAO, Kazuto was able to get the opportunity to be part of the beta testing group. This in a way gave him a slight advantage as he already had experience beforehand. His in-game username was Kirito.

Kirito was about to log in when something strange happened. Unbeknownst to him, in the real world, his NerveGear began emitting sparks of electricity for some reason. While Kirito was about to log in to the SAO world, he noticed something weird going on.

"Wait a minute… What's happening?" Kirito thought to himself. The virtual world around him began to glitch. "Is this… normal?" He didn't recollect seeing this kind of glitch happening to him during the beta test. What had possibly gone wrong? As Kirito was wondering what the hell was going on, there was a tear in the virtual world, revealing a glitched portal. Kirito ended up falling through the glitched portal.

Naruto Universe – THE VALLEY OF THE END - NARUTO VS SASUKE

"It's too late now…!" Sasuke shouted. He had Naruto by his collar with both his hands, before chucking him into the air ahead. "...Naruto!" The Uchiha then jumped ahead, before latching onto Naruto who was currently falling downwards with his body upside down. Positioning his opponent into a piledriver, Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto's stomach, while cross locking his legs around the Uzumaki's neck, and let gravity take care of the rest, driving Naruto's head far below them on the ground.

Naruto had yellow-blond, spiky hair and blue eyes. He had three whisker markings on his cheeks. He wore an orange and blue jacket with a white collar, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, and a red Uzumaki crest on the back. He also wore orange pants with a shuriken holster on his right knee, blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector. However, right now he had Kyuubi eyes, red fox-like eyes.

Whereas Sasuke has black eyes, and spiky hair with a blue tint. His clothing consisted of a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar, white shorts. He also wore a blue-clothed forehead protector. However, during this battle, Sasuke currently had his Sharingan activated, which consisted of three tomoes in it, and a red pupil.

The ground ended up breaking a bit, causing debris of rocks to scatter away from the point of contact. Naruto's head was driven straight onto the ground, right near the edge of a lake present in the battlefield. The sheer impact itself caused ripples of water to form from the edge of the lake, spreading far ahead into the water body.

Naruto's head twitched several times, before his body fell into the lake, his back floating on the surface. His body began to slowly drift away backwards. Sasuke got up to his feet, turned around, and took a few steps forward, before collapsing on his knees and hands. He began to cough roughly a bit, before gasping for air.

The two fierce ninjas were currently fighting in the Valley of the End; a place with two large statues across each other, a waterfall, and a lake. The two ninjas had been at it for a while now. Sasuke had decided to cut ties with the Leaf Village and go to Orochimaru in order to receive power and get stronger. Thanks to the Legendary Sannin, Sasuke had obtained the curse mark, which had increased his strength and power. Whereas Naruto was trying his level best to retrieve his best friend back. However, things were currently not looking good for the blond ninja, as his body continued to slowly drift away, before eventually coming to a stop. Upon his body floating in a singular place in the lake, a few more ripples spread around him.

INSIDE NARUTO'S SUBCONSCIOUS - KYUUBI'S CHAMBER

Naruto was now floating in a large basement. He was still floating on the water, but the water wasn't the same lake from before. The basement's floor was filled with water, causing Naruto to float on the surface even in his subconsciousness. His legs were sunk in the water a bit, and his hands were above his head with some distance in between them. His upper limbs were also a bit deep in the water. His eyes were slightly open, his pupils rolled back a bit near the back of his skull.. It looked like Naruto had passed out. To his right, was a ginormous jail cell that looked large enough to contain a monster the size of a tall building. Behind the jail, was the Nine Tailed Demon Fox, staring at Naruto with fury in his eyes. "You're weak, aren't you, kid?" the demon fox chuckled menacingly. "You better be grateful to me… and to the fourth Hokage who contained me within the likes of you!

BACK IN REALITY - VALLEY OF THE END - NARUTO VS SASUKE

Once Sasuke caught his breath, he stood up, and contemplated for a moment on his actions. He felt slightly bad for what he did to Naruto. However, in order to get power and revenge on his brother, Itachi Uchiha, he had to cut ties with the Leaf. The Uchiha turned around and saw Naruto's body floating on the lake. However, something was different this time. A red chakra bubble cloak began to form around Naruto's body, starting from his back, and spreading around before reaching the front of his body as well. Sasuke decided to walk towards Naruto to find out what the hell was going on. Using his Chakra, he was able to walk on the water surface easily. Once he got close to Naruto, his jaw fell down a bit. "What's going on?"

Once the shroud of red Chakra bubbles completely surrounded Naruto, with the exception of his head, the powerful Chakra, which seemingly had a mind of its own, lifted upwards, pulling Naruto along with it, and made the Uzumaki stand on the water. Sasuke widened his eyes in shock, as he watched Naruto's body getting lifted to an upright position. However, Naruto's neck was still bent backwards, like the red Chakra didn't bother to straighten his head.

Suddenly, Naruto's head snapped forward, and he delivered a ferocious and swift punch onto Sasuke's face, sending the Uchiha flying backwards into multiple summersaults, before falling near the edge of the river. Naruto's eyes were red and foxlike, his nails were sharp, his teeth had sharpened as well. Sasuke held his face and wriggled around on the edge of the river in agony, groaning in excruciating pain while lying down on the right side of his body.

Naruto groaned in pain as well, as the Demon Fox's chakra cloak surrounded his head, thus covering his entire body. The Uzumaki roared for a moment, before dropping on his hands and feet on the surface of the lake. Using his chakra, he was able to stand on the surface of the lake on all fours. His battle stance was now like a fox. Naruto's hands upon making contact on the surface, caused it to heavily steam up. There was also a chakra fox tail behind Naruto, along with two Chakra horns on top of his head that were pretty long. Naruto glared at Sasuke, who had managed to get up on his knees on the surface of the water. Using his Chakra, Sasuke was able to stand on the water surface using his knees.

The Uchiha stood up and rubbed his stinging nose to soothe out the pain, before finally letting his hands down. He had a good look at what Naruto had just become. Before he could react, Naruto crossed his arms together, before lashing them out sideways. The mere action of that caused a curved shaped shockwave that directed itself towards the Uchiha. As the shockwave zoomed towards Sasuke, water waves began to form below it. Sasuke crossed his arms to block the incoming shockwave. However, the waves below the shockwave grew in height, washing over the Uchiha and temporarily blinding him in the process. The young avenger could feel the effects of the shockwave. However, by the time he opened his eyes, Naruto had suddenly appeared in front of him with remarkable speed.

The Uzumaki slashed his hand towards Sasuke, wacking him away in the process and sending his body flying like a ragdoll. Sasuke was tumbling multiple times backwards in the air and water. However, he quickly tried to regain his momentum by shooting out his leg behind him on the water, causing water to erupt a bit from the point of contact, and thus slowing his fall. The young avenger's foot touched something wooden, and quickly stood upright on top of a wooden log facing vertically. As the wooden log bobbed up and down vertically into the raging wave of water current due to Naruto's shockwave from earlier, Sasuke stared at Naruto with caution and thought to himself, "What was that just now? Even if I'm able to read Naruto's moves completely, his chakra makes a separate move on its own. It seems like the Chakra is moving in accordance with its own will. Even with my 'eyes', I'm unable to read it completely. That red Chakra… that's not any ordinary chakra!" that's when Sasuke suddenly began to remember something Jiraiya, another legendary sannin, had said in the past.

FLASHBACK BEGINS

"Your target is Naruto, after all…" Jiraiya said with a serious look on his face, eyeing a certain man in front of him.

Itachi stared at Jiraiya with his sharingan. "To abduct Naruto is our number one priority placed by our organization, the Akatsuki."

FLASHBACK ENDS

"I see…" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "It appears that you have some sort of special power…"

"Now I understand!" Sasuke jumped from the top of the log he was standing on, and hopped from rock to rock. There were a few large rocks present in the river, and the Uchiha used his acrobatics to hop off the rocks easily. Meanwhile, Naruto charged towards Sasuke whilst running on all fours on the surface of the water with incredible speed.

Sasuke performed a couple of hand signs, whilst doing parkour on the rocks, before firing multiple medium sized fireballs towards Naruto. However, it was of no use, as Naruto managed to dodge every single attack, and he turned to his left before charging towards Sasuke.

Sasuke performed another series of hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he puffed his chest and mouth, and bent his body backwards a bit. He then bent forwards and blew a giant fireball out of his mouth. The giant fireball headed straight towards Naruto, who was still running on all fours. It was not long before the fireball hit Naruto dead-on, causing a large cloud of steam to spread around rise up into the air from the point of contact.

Sasuke thought he had gotten his opponent. However, once the steam cleared off few seconds after the impact, he saw Naruto standing on two legs, completely unharmed. "That Chakra of his is protecting him?!"

Sasuke regained his composure and thought to himself. "Calm down… I won't be caught as long as I fight from a distance…"

Naruto slowly raised his left arm upwards, before lashing it forward. Suddenly, a giant red chakra hand protruded out from his left hand, extending and reaching towards Sasuke.

"W-What?!" Sasuke was shocked. He quickly jumped upwards, dodging the incoming attack. However, it did not end there, as the hand followed him even in mid-air! Sasuke moved and dodged Naruto's chakra hand in mid-air, before landing back on the water surface below him. Suddenly, circles of water waves formed around him with a distance of roughly ten feet away from the center, causing some sort of semi water tornado to surround the Uchiha. Naruto's chakra hand burst through the water walls surrounding Sasuke.

However, thanks to his advanced, three tomoe Sharingan, he was able to continue to dodge his attacks by sidestepping, dodging, jumping away, and so on. Since the top of the water tornado had an empty gap, Sasuke quickly jumped up into the air, escaping from the vertical vortex, before landing away from it on the water surface.

However, Naruto wasn't done yet. The Jinchuriki jumped backwards, and latched his Chakra tail onto a steep rock attached to a rocky wall behind him. He then used his tail to pull his body up towards the wall.

Naruto stood on the surface of the wall on all fours while still eyeing his opponent in the yonder, before using his tail to chuck himself towards the Uchiha. Once he was fast approaching his best friend while in mid-air, he shot his arm forward, creating a Chakra arm that protruded and shot forward around ten feet in front of Sasuke.

At first, Sasuke thought Naruto had missed, but then the Chakra hand had merely lunged underwater ten feet ahead of him. The hand directed itself below where Sasuke was standing on, before successfully grabbing and shooting him high into the air, smashing him into the opposite rocky hill behind him.

The sheer impact caused giant rocks and boulders to separate, break, and fall into the water, causing large splashes of water to erupt into the air.. The hand had driven Sasuke a bit through the rocky wall, damaging him in the process. The lake's water current continued to spread aggressively due to the intensity of the current battle.

Sasuke's body ended up falling into the lake from the broken rocky wall, before being washed away onto the other edge of the lake. His body was face first on the ground.

A huge earthquake-like pressure was felt behind Sasuke. The Uchiha slowly turned around and got up on his butt, and saw a dome of water rise high into the air, followed by an even more ginormous Chakra hand shooting out and towering Sasuke.

The Uchiha decided to turn around and run away, and the Chakra hand struck down. Fortunately for Sasuke, he managed to dodge the attack. Sasuke stopped running when he saw a rocky hill wall in front of him and turned around, leaning his back towards it. His hands were near his hip level, and were currently touching the wall. The Uchiha couldn't believe what he was witnessing, as he collapsed on his butt in shock. "Damn it…! This is ridiculous!" he began to activate his curse mark. A glowing orange mark began to spread across his face and body, the starting point being his left neck where the curse mark originated.. "All I can do is dodge…"

The cloud of dust that had formed from the ginormous hand's attack began to slowly dissipate, revealing Naruto standing on all fours with his Chakra cloak at the edge of the river.

Sasuke was about to get back on his feet, when the ground suddenly rumbled. The Nine Tailed Fox's chakra hand broke through the ground below the Uchiha and caught him in its grasp. Apparently Naruto had dug his Chakra hand underground, and ripped through till it was below Sasuke. Cracks began to form all the way from Naruto's position to Sasuke, and the chakra hand emerged in the air, tearing through the ground. Naruto yanked his hand backwards, reeling Sasuke towards him, before a ferocious right hook that sent the Uchiha flying and crashing back towards the rocky wall, breaking it even further and causing more debris of large rocks to fall down onto the ground. The Uchiha's body was tossed over like a ragdoll!

Once the cloud of dust that had formed earlier due to the impact, Sasuke was shown sitting on his butt with the side of his left elbow on a broken rock beside him. However, there was something different about him now. The curse mark from earlier had surrounded Sasuke, this time being black in color. The young avenger chuckled menacingly and slowly shifted forward on his knees and hands. "I guess it can't be helped…" he then looked up at Naruto with gritted teeth. "If I get tainted by this power, I wouldn't know what would happen to me in the end." he then stood up to his feet while saying, "But it can't be helped, can it, Naruto?" the curse mark began to glow orange once again. This time, it began to spread even further, turning his skin dark-gray, and his hair grew and turned dark blue. His eyes also turned dark grey with his sharingan still intact. "It is certainly true that you were special… However, I'm even more special than you." with his transformation complete, Sasuke chuckled sinisterly.

Naruto gritted his teeth, his eyes seething with rage. "By special… You meant that?!"

Sasuke cackled, raising his fists near his chest level and clenched them. He glanced at his clenched fists and smirked. "I don't feel like I'm going to lose."

Naruto charged towards Sasuke while scraping and breaking the ground with his claw, leaving trails of marks behind him. "Haaaa!"

Sasuke saw the attack incoming and simply smirked, as Naruto punched Sasuke, and both shot forward towards a nearby wall, breaking it in the process. The blond ninja then delivered a right hook, that sent Sasuke crashing towards the foot of the Madara statue which was present in the battlefield they were currently in.

However, as soon as the cloud of dust cleared, Naruto saw that his punch was blocked by…

A large… mutated… wing like hand?

Apparently, Sasuke grew webbed-claw-shaped wings from his back, which he could use to fly and glide.

The webbed claw shaped wing twitched a bit as Naruto widened his eyes and crossed his arms. The claw spread out and hit the Jinchūriki, sending him to the opposite side. He landed on the foot of Hashirama Senju and crashed, which ended up causing damage to the foot of the statue a bit.

Naruto staggered upwards and sat on his butt and saw what was ahead of him in shock.

Sasuke was squatting on the ground, with this claw-like wing moving to the side. The Uchiha groaned and twitched a bit before another claw-like hand protruded from his other shoulder, tearing and making holes in his upper clothing.

The newly emerged claw-like hand spread to the side. His new look almost looked like Jin Kazama Devil Mode…

Sasuke placed his hands on the ground while squatting whilst Naruto stared at his friend in shock. "Sasuke… you…"

The Uchiha opened his eyes, revealing the sharingan. The look Sasuke gave Naruto reminded the latter about Orochimaru.

Suddenly, Sasuke widened his eyes and groaned in pain. He gritted his teeth and remembered how one of the sound four members had informed him that overuse of the curse mark would eat his chakra away, and ultimately, he would lose himself forever…

"This body… It looks like there's no time to waste," Sasuke thought to himself while narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

The Jinchūriki got up to his feet and stared at his left arm. "I don't feel my left arm…"

"That power you have…" Sasuke began, as Naruto now turned his attention towards his rival.

Sasuke continued with a smirk, "…seems to involve some risks too, huh?" he closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them and looking at the statue behind Naruto. "Did you know… that this place… is called the Final Valley. I think this is the perfect battle stage, don't you think, Naruto?" and looked at his opponent once again.

Naruto remained silent while gritting his teeth, and the Uchiha smiled with confidence. "Ah yes, I did say there would be no more talking. Then how about we bring this battle to an end? All our battles up to now!"

Sasuke made a series of hand seals and placed his hand downwards while holding his wrist with his other hand. Gathering lighting in his hand, the high concentration of electricity produced a sound reminiscent of many birds chirping. The Chidori!

Meanwhile Naruto placed his right arm to the side, and began to create his Rasengan.

The Rasengan is a spinning ball of chakra formed and held in the palm of the user's hand.

Naruto, as a Jinchūriki, can use the Kyuubi's chakra to assist in using the Rasengan. He made a Rasengan without the aid of a shadow clone, using the cloak itself to contain it. Due to the Kyuubi's influence, this Rasengan was darker in colour and much stronger.

Sasuke placed his Chidori forward and then sideways, as the attack turned into a dark-ish color due to the influence of the curse mark.

Naruto and Sasuke jumped from their respective places and charged towards each other.

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted.

Both ninja charge at each other with their ultimate techniques. They collide in an explosion of blue and red chakra that forms a swirling black sphere of energy. At the last moment, Sasuke chooses to punch Naruto in the chest rather than impale him with the Chidori. Likewise, Naruto only scratches Sasuke's forehead protector, disproving the Uchiha's earlier taunt about scratching his headband, minimizing the effects of the Rasengan.

The chakra sphere they had created from the clash caused some sort of white linings to spread across it. Naruto and Sasuke are left hovering within the sphere, gazing sadly at each other. A vision of a younger Sasuke and Naruto shows the two form a seal as a symbol of friendship, and they smile at each other. The bright light then slowly dissipates and fades away.

However, due to the intense Chakra between Naruto and Sasuke's clash, a portal formed, sucking both Naruto and Sasuke in it. The portal was spherical in shape, emitting a purple glow. Once Naruto and Sasuke were sucked into the portal, it slowly faded away from existence, along with the large black chakra sphere from earlier.

Dragon Ball Universe – Near a field – Goku and Piccolo vs Raditz

Raditz was currently stomping on Goku's chest, who was currently on the ground, heavily battered and beaten. The Saiyan warrior applied more pressure on his younger brother's chest, causing him to scream in pain. Goku normally wore an orange Gi and a blue undershirt. However, his current top was torn away due to the intense battle. Goku and Piccolo had been trying to put a stop to Raditz. However, the task itself was proving to be quite difficult.

Raditz laughed menacingly as he applied pressure on Goku's chest, causing him to scream in pain. "Fools like you are quite uncommon! To think that you would actually fall for that! Just as I thought, there's no way you can be a warrior!"

"T-That was dirty!" Goku said while groaning in pain.

Raditz smirked at his younger brother and continued, "But I'm not like you. I'm a first-rate warrior! I have no hesitations about killing you, even if you are my brother!"

Raditz paused for a brief moment and turned around to face Piccolo while still keeping his foot on Goku's chest. He mocked, "What's the matter? Aren't you going to come at me? Try doing that thing you did earlier."

Piccolo gritted his teeth and muttered, "He'll dodge it again then…"

Raditz turned his attention back at Goku and smirked. "Well then, shall I finally put you out of your misery?" as he pressed Goku's chest some more with his foot, making him scream once again.

"Die, Kakarrot!" Raditz exclaimed and raised his free hand. He was about to strike down on his brother when his scouter suddenly beeped, making him stop mid-way. "What?"

Raditz was getting another reading of a new power level. He glanced around his surroundings to find the source. Piccolo was confused as well as he watched Raditz look around.

Something rustled in bushes. Raditz quickly turned to face the bushes. However, it was just two birds that flew out of it.

Suddenly, the spacepod Gohan was in got destroyed as the kid sprung high into the air and stared at Raditz with an angry look on his face.

Raditz turned towards the direction of where the spacepod was and said, "What?!"

"What?!" Piccolo said, shocked.

While Gohan was in mid-air he performed a series of acrobatics before landing nimbly on the ground.

"What's this?!" Raditz thought.

Piccolo took a step forward and stared at Gohan with a shocked expression on his face. "That's Goku's son!"

Raditz took his feet off Goku while still looking Gohan and muttered, "I-Impossible…"

Raditz and Piccolo were wondering how the hell Gohan managed to destroy the spacepod he was kept in and jump high into the air. According to Goku, Gohan had never been trained. Yet, how was he able to do all of this?

With his arms spread out, Gohan sniffed as he still had an angry look on his face. He was glaring at Raditz when Goku cried, "G-Gohan! R-Run!"

Goku always knew that his son had potential. However, he was still doubtful whether he was strong enough to take on Raditz.

Raditz's scouter began to analyse his power level before giving a reading. "Power level… 1,307?!"

Goku and Piccolo widened their eyes in shock after hearing what Raditz had just said. Piccolo couldn't believe that a small kid like Gohan had so much power in him.

A red aura began to glow around Gohan as he hunched forward a little. His irises were red, and his pupils were black. Was this some sort of beastly power Goha was showcasing? He then shouted, "Stop hurting… my daddy!" he suddenly charged towards Raditz.

Before the Saiyan Warrior could react, Gohan headbutted Raditz right on his mid-rif, cracking his armour slightly as Raditz felt the excruciating pain from the blow. However, due to Gohan's beastly power, it ended up creating a portal sucking both Raditz and Gohan in it.

"G-Gohan!" Goku cried out. That's when the portal suddenly began sucking him as well.

Goku tired to grab onto the ground, but to no avail, as the gravitational force from the portal was too powerful, bringing not only Goku, but Piccolo in it as well.

Sword Art Online Universe – SAO virtual world – With Kirito and Klein

Kirito was currently standing on a grassland whilst taking in the gorgeous view in front of him. He looked different than in real life since he had set his in-game avatar's appearance that way. Sitting next to him was Klien, a player he had met during the launch of SAO. Together, they had fought monsters, chatted, and leveled up. Kirito had already made his first friend in the virtual world. As both of them were staring at the distance ahead of them, Klien commented, "No matter how many times I see it, I till can't believe it's a game. Whoever made the game is a genius. It really is amazing. I'm glad I was born in this time."

Kirito smiled. "You make a big deal out of everything."

Klien chuckled. "It's my first full dive!"

"Then, this is the first time playing a game with the NerveGear?"

"I had rushed out and bought the hardware to buy sword art online. I was really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies. Well, you are ten times as lucky, getting into the beta test. Only a thousand people got to do it."

Kirito rubbed his back head. "I guess so."

"How far did you get into the beta?"

"In two months, I reached only floor 8. This time, it will only take a month."

Klein smiled. "You're really into this."

Kirito took out his sword out of his scabbard that was attached to his back and said, "To be honest, during the beta test, Sword Art Online was all I thought about, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. It's a virtual world, but I still feel more alive than I do in the real world."

He then placed his sword back in his scabbard before glancing at Klien and asking with a smile, "Now then, want to hunt some more?"

"Of course, I'd love to! But…" Klein's stomach grumbled a bit. "I'm really hungry… I'm logging out."

"Eating food here only makes you think you're not hungry."

Klein grinned. "I already ordered a hot pizza for 5:30."

"You're so prepared."

"Yup! Well, once I've eaten, I'll be back."

"I see."

Klien got up to his feet and asked, "Hey, after this, I'm meeting up with some people I know from another game. Want to friend them too?"

Kirito hesitated. Klein noticed this and waved his hand. "Of course, if you don't want to, that's okay. I'll introduce you another time."

"Yeah, sorry. And thank you." Kirito smiled.

"Hey, that's my line. I'll be sure to thank you properly sometime…" Klien said while walking towards Kirito. He then placed his hand on Kirito's shoulder. "…Mentally."

Kirito chuckled with his eyes closed. And with that, Klein said, "Thanks so much, man." He then offered a handshake. "I'll see you around."

Kirito shook hands with Klein. "If there's anything else you want to know, just let me know."

Klien shook Kirito's hand back with a firm grip. "Yeah! I'll do that."

As the friendship blossomed between Kirito and Klien. Something weird began to happen. The atmosphere around them thickened a bit, as a purple portal suddenly appeared above Kirito and Klien, dropping Naruto and Goku onto Kirito and Klien respectively, causing all of them to collapse to the ground like a pile of bricks.

"W-What the?!" Kirito was shocked. Was he suddenly being ambushed by another player? He could feel heavy weight on his body. Pushing the bodies away from them, Kirito and Klien quickly got up, and took out their swords in preparation for whatever had potentially just attacked them.

"W-Who's there?!" Klien gritted his teeth.

"Hold on…" Kirito noticed Goku and Naruto on the ground. Goku was heavily injured, while Naruto was unconscious. "P-Players?"

Klien looked alarmed. "Did they just suddenly try to attack us?"

Kirito shook his head. "No… I don't think that's what exactly happened…" he then noticed the injuries on Goku's body. "Blood? As far as I know, SAO doesn't have any blood in this game."

Klein was surprised. "The guy there looks heavily hurt!"

"J-Just what is going on here?" Kirito was alarmed.

To be continued…