Hello there!

I expected to upload this chapter quite late, but I managed. Also, just a heads up; I'll be making Caelus quite OP and giving him an actual reason to keep using that bat. Disclaimer is in the first chapter and I hope you enjoy!

There's seeing things, there are optical illusions, there's hallucination and there are delusions. Right now, Caelus wasn't sure which of these was at play when March 7th said that she had seen Mr Naruto breathe fire once. He was even more surprised when Dan Heng agreed with March and told him that it was true.

The group had returned from the Fragmentum around 2 hours before and Caelus and Naruto had separated from Bronya and Seele to train some more in the empty town. By the time they returned to the hotel, it was clear that Caelus was quite the fast learner. Naruto had taught him to harness the power of the Stellaron to do a lot of things including punching, kicking, jumping, empowering objects and even making a barrier (granted, they were still quite weak if he didn't focus). Now, Caelus could say with confidence that he was the coolest person onboard the Astral Express. That notion, however, was quickly shattered when good old March 7th told him that Naruto could breathe fire. That had left him questioning how that was possible and if he burned his mouth, but he managed put that thought into the back of his head in favour of sleeping for at least a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Naruto was making his way towards the clinic. He had trained with Caelus for almost three hours and the boy was already making good progress. The only problem was that he had forgotten to hand over the painkillers to Seele when they parted ways, which was why he was rushing there now. Once he got there, he saw the three women looking through all the supplies they had gathered. Awkwardly, he knocked on the door, drawing everyone's attention as he waved through the glass with an equally awkward smile. Natasha quickly opened the door and let him inside. The blond cleared his throat and spoke. "So… are you guys looking for the painkillers?"

Seele tilted her head. "How do you know?" All three women stared at him, making him cough into his hand again.

Naruto took a deep breath and looked at Seele. "You forgot to take them from me." He then shoved his entire forearm into his pocket and pulled out the painkillers before handing them to a stupefied Natasha who was staring at his pocket.

However, she quickly broke out of her stupor and checked the medicine, and was pleasantly surprised by its pristine condition. "Huh. I could've sworn there was more the last time I was there. Thay also look quite new."

"About that. When I found the painkillers, that little girl who was with Svarog was also there. She beat me to it and I asked her for half since she wanted it to treat some injured Vagrants. I figured you won't mind since you were a doctor." Natasha agreed with Naruto's choice without a second thought. As a doctor, she'd want nothing more than to help them, but now, there was another problem. Namely, there weren't enough painkillers for everyone. When she made her problem known, Naruto suddenly perked up, and dug his hand in his pocket. (A/N: In case anyone is wondering, yes, I did take inspiration from Doraemon). "I am kind of a medic myself, so I carry some supplies with me." He tried to pull something out but it kept getting stuck in his pocket making for a very comical scene. With a sigh, he let go and everyone cringed when they heard what sounded like something made of glass falling into a pile. Naruto stuck his hand into his Sage coat and finally pulled something out before handing it to Natasha. Looking at it, it was full crate of painkillers. "You can take those. I have no need for them. Come to think of it, I should've given some to Clara. Also, these ones are a bit stronger than the one you had, so be a bit careful with the dosage. I think I have some more stored up so let me check."

Before he could, Natasha stopped him. "I think that'll be enough. Why do you have this much anyway? And won't you need them in the future?"

Naruto put a hand on his chin in thought. "Well, I am the medic on the express. That and I can heal anyone quite quickly, so no. I won't need them anything soon, unless I'm healing a lot of people at once. But if that happens, a wide range healing jutsu will probably work. Anyway, I won't need those anytime soon, so don't worry about it. Consider it compensation for my prior… misunderstanding. Anyway, I need to meet up with the crew, so I'll take my leave now." With that, he left the clinic with a familiar warm fuzzy feeling in his chest like he always felt when he helped someone out. That was why he learned to be a medic. To him, the gratification from helping someone was immense and it was his cup of tea.

While he was walking out of the clinic, he heard a voice speaking loudly. "Equilibrium." It was deep and echoed around everything, but everyone else around continued going about as normal. "The Universe, should be in Equilibrium. Yes. Equilibrium." Looking around, Naruto spotted an empty alleyway and took refuge inside before looking up. 'From what he told me, this should be HooH, the Equilibrium. But why would he be talking to me directly? No, these are probably his little Arbitrators.' Before he could continue his train of thought, the voice continued. "The Arbiters of Equilibrium are giving you a trial. For the Equilibrium of all worlds, you must demonstrate your strength. The strong will be given greater opportunities, and the weak, a chance to breathe. Passing this trial will prove to them that your power has shaken the scales of power. The worlds will change, and thus… Equilibrium. You will reap greater rewards but your enemies will be stronger and puzzles will be harder- How about no?" That silenced the voice. "Look buddy, I get that you want to serve your Aeon, and I wouldn't have minded, but putting everyone here in danger with stronger enemies just because I passed a Trial isn't right." It looked like the voices were stunned into silence from his words, and indeed, no one had dared to speak back to them in this manner before. "But, if you really want, I can agree to your little trial, on the condition that the enemies will not be changed, or that everyone will get stronger. I doubt that I alone can shake the scales of power. I have also lived in this universe long time, yet nothing of this manner has ever happened before. If you wish to test me, then I will comply, but if it winds up hurting my companions, then I won't. So please come up with a better deal." With that, Naruto left the alley way, leaving the voices shell shocked. 'I doubt anyone's talked to them like that before.'

*Timeskip*

After his little "chat" with the Arbiters of Equilibrium, Naruto decided to locate the rest of the crew and found them planning the mission to Svarog's Robot Settlement. When he had arrived there, March had been on her phone, trying to contact him. After talking with Oleg, the Express Crew, along with Seele and Bronya, they had left to find the guide that the old leader had told them about. When they arrived in the designated area, they had met up with Hook and March was quite surprised about the kid being their guide. Eventually, it turned out that they were mistaken and that Sampo was their actual guide. The Masked Fool ended up guiding them to a large house in a place that looked similar to the snow plains outside of Belobog. How there was snow in the Underworld, was anyone's guess. There were also a lot of tents on the outskirts where Vagrants had made their homes. 'Heh. Looks like the heartless robot really is prioritising the survival of humanity with his calculations. But if that's the case, then why not go after the Stellaron? *sigh* No point in thinking about it now. Let's just hope that he has some information.' A tap on his shoulder drew Naruto from his stupor and he turned to meet the eyes of a very nervous looking March 7th. To try and ease her tension, he ruffled her hair, causing her to give him a pout as she tried to correct it again. Thanks to Clara, they had managed to get an audience with Svarog and were going to let her introduce them and try some peaceful reasoning. On the way however, Sampo had somehow managed to disappear, leaving them one member short. In the end, they'll still have to confront Svarog, and that was something the crew could do even without that Masked Fool. Seele even went as far as calling him dead weight. After Clara convinced Svarog to hear them out, Naruto held out his staff, closed his eyes and turned his staff into its vambrace form, which surprised everyone, before walking inside with the others to face the robot.

Once they were inside, they saw Clara sitting on the stairs of the mansion and watching them with a worried expression. In the center of the courtyard, the machine that could either be the key to solving this mystery or be their undoing, stood menacingly, watching and mapping their every move closely. The robot registered their lack of weapons and made no move to arm himself. The group walked up to the robot in a vague formation with Dan Heng taking point and Naruto behind him. They stopped about a meter from Svarog and began their negotiations. "Outsider. State your intentions."

Dan Heng stepped forward. "We are not here to stoke conflict. We are merely here to put an end to this Eternal Freeze and to safeguard the future of the Underground."

"An inadequate pretext. You are not from the Underground, therefore, you have no right to represent the people of the Underground. Proceed with your central point. Do not waste this world's limited time." Svarog didn't even hesitate for a moment before replying.

March made a noise of protest but Dan Heng didn't back down. "Yes, that is true. But, in that same context, we are also a variable in your calculations. Tell me, do you know what a Stellaron is?"

Svarog stayed silent for a second before speaking in what sounded like a much more forced voice. "Stellaron. Searching database. Access denied. Discussing 'Stellaron' with unauthorised targets; prohibited. Reassessing targets. Target threat index; raised. You are encroaching on a secret that lies in the very heart of this world that must remain unknown to humanity. I demand that you reveal your true intentions at once."

The second part got them on edge, but Dan Heng persisted and decided to go all in. "We just want to help this world. We are followers of the Trailblaze that travel through the universe and we are here because the Stellaron is causing interference that makes it unsafe for us to continue travelling. We intend to find and seal the Stellaron to continue our journey safely."

March crossed her fingers, hoping for the best. Caelus balled his fist and drew on the Stellaron, ready to summon a barrier. Seele twiddled the hem of her coat, concealing her hand in case she had to summon her weapon. Bronya moved behind Seele, ready to support her new friend at a moment's notice. Naruto, however, looked around. 'Hmm. No robots. No clear assault points or artillery.' His eyes briefly flashed white before returning to their normal colour. 'Missile bays. So he is armed with long range weapons. So far, we aren't properly matched up. If it comes down to a fight, I'll have to take the lead.'

For a whole, nerve-racking minute, Svarog was silent. "Records indicate that humanity has already attempted to research and engage with the Stellaron. Without exception, those attempts were all made due to human greed and with ulterior motives based on selfish gains. As instructed by the Architects, anyone who attempts to engage with the Stellaron is a threat. Reassessing. Target threat index; critical."

Seeing things turning, March moved forward. "Wait! We aren't like the others!"

Despite her valiant efforts, Svarog shut her down. "Despite your claims, you have no evidence to prove otherwise. Peacekeeping protocol temporarily disengaged. Requesting extermination protocol launch." Everyone took a step back and summoned their weapons to fight, but Naruto stayed still with narrowed eyes. Svarog's eye (or whatever that is) turned even redder. Clara tried to stop him from afar, but he just told her to go inside. "Prototype number 3, monitoring automaton Svarog, extermination protocol launch; successful. Annihilation permitted!"

The robot started off with a barrage of missiles, which everyone dodged. However, much to their shock, the missiles changed direction and started following them. Caelus dropped his bat and quickly moved his hands to put up a barrier (surprising almost everyone again) and succeeded in defending against a full wave. However, the first few missiles from the second wave managed to break through his defence and the rest kept moving towards them at full speed. Just before they hit, a black shield appeared in front of everyone and tanked the attack. "Leave Svarog to me!" From the smoke, Naruto's voice sounded out, loud and clear. "March and Bronya, try to cover me! Caelus, defend them from the stragglers! Seele and Dan Heng… do whatever!" When the smoke cleared, the shields turned to five black orbs that moved behind Naruto and disappeared. He flicked his wrist to bring out his staff and held it behind his back with his other hand stretched out. Despite his words, no one wanted him to fight the robot on his own and everyone got ready to move in and join the fight. "Hey Svarog! How about you do yourself a favour and raise my threat level? Also, feel free to go all out. It's been a while since I stretched my legs."

"Is he… taunting it?" Bronya's confusion was matched by her friends, especially by March and Dan Heng who had never seen Naruto act this way. Their attention was drawn back to the battle when Svarog actually raised the older man's threat index. The robot unleashed another volley of missiles, which got everyone on edge. Bronya held her gun and called on her power and aimed it at Seele, who felt her body get lighter and her muscles get stronger. She looked at Bronya with a confused expression. "It's a support technique. I normally use it with Gepard to help him fight better with that guitar case of his, but this should let you move faster." Seele nodded and prepared to dash forward but froze in awe when she saw Naruto casually spun around and swing his staff, sending a few slashes of wind towards the missiles. The slashes met the explosive projectiles halfway and caused them to explode prematurely, creating a smokescreen which he dispersed with another wave of his staff. Looking around, Seele saw that everyone, even the express crew, looked as shocked as her, which made the girl believe that they had never seen this side of their senior. And she was absolutely correct.

Naruto smiled and twirled his staff and bought the down head on the ground, making it bounce out of his hand and do a spin before he caught it. "Now then, shall we begin?" Without a word, Svarog fired off another volley of missiles which Naruto directly blocked with his staff before blurring forward. Surprisingly, the robot managed to dodge the kick aimed for its torso and retaliated with a punch to his attacker's head. Naruto jumped back and Svarog followed with a high energy beam which was also swiftly dodged. A second one followed and Naruto batted it away with his staff, before jumping forward and going for a horizontal spinning kick to Svarog's torso. Svarog dodged him again, but Naruto kept spinning and the handle of his shakujou split apart into many small sections and changed its shape to resemble a chain. He used the new weapon and his momentum to throw its head around Svarog's torso and wrap his weapon around the robot. With a wide smirk on his face, and a sharp tug on his chain, Naruto dragged in the robot like a helpless fish stuck on a fishing line. As the robot came in close, Naruto firmly uttered a very familiar word. "Rasengan." In the palm of his left hand, a glowing ball of spiralling blue formed out of thin air and Naruto slammed it into the robot's chest with that smirk growing even wider. He had missed this jutsu. He had missed it, very much. The ball expanded and Naruto let go of the chain, throwing the robot to the far end of the courtyard towards the house.

Just before Svarog could hit the stairs where Clara was, Naruto appeared again and raised his leg. 'Spiralling kick.' His leg glowed blue and waves of energy spiralled around it before he thrust it forward, catching Svarog in the back and throwing him back across the courtyard. Seeing the robot land in a heap, he raised his hand while slowly walking forward like a predator stalking its injured prey. The chain unwrapped itself from Svarog and flew back into his hand in its shakujou form while he continued to walk towards the prone robot with an uncommon glint darkening his ocean blue eyes.

Meanwhile, everyone watching from the sidelines, was frozen in place for many different reasons. Caelus was just awed at Naruto's strength. On the other hand, March and Dan Heng were shocked. They had never seen this side of Naruto before and had always assumed him to be a bit less… brutal in a frontal battle. Bronya felt afraid, but also relived that she had at least tried to make up for trying to arrest him. That relief turned to a high level of dread when she realised that she had also stabbed him, but went back down when she remembered that she was still alive. On the other hand, Seele was mortified. She had fought the man before, and, despite dodging all her attacks, he had just looked like a lucky guy. That view didn't change, even after he had defeated an automaton Model: Grizzly with ease; something she could also do. Now, watching him fight Svarog, she couldn't help but imagine herself in Svarog's position; lying on the ground, beaten and bloody while he stalked towards her with the intent to kill.

While Seele was having a crisis, Naruto walked over to Svarog and crouched down next to him. "So, Svarog? You ready to talk?" The robot didn't respond, so Naruto moved a bit further up. "Svarog? Hello? Prototype number three, monitoring automaton Svarog? Huh. Was I too rough?"

The second he finished his train of thought, Svarog's hand came at his head, throwing him towards a rock. "Calculations complete! Power amplification! Power amplification! Power amplification! Power amplification!" The robot quickly stood up and fired volley after volley of missiles before snapping his fingers and summoning what looked like a hand and directing it towards the smoke cloud where Naruto landed. "Target neutralised."

The empowered automaton then turned to face the others who looked quite shocked at the turn of events. After seeing what happened, the group assumed the worst and got ready to deal with the robot. March cast shields on everyone and Dan Heng drew on it to empower himself, causing dark smoke to cover the tip of Cloud Piercer. Caelus summoned his bat and pushed some Destructive energy into it, causing it to crackle slightly and the lines on it to glow blue. Bronya cast her support technique on everyone and Seele bent down, ready to dash at a moment's notice. "Hah. How can you put up your best fight without a doctor on the field?" Natasha's voice behind them caused the group to look behind them. The Underworld doctor walked up behind them with a fully loaded grenade launcher in her hand. "All of you, stay focused! I'm right behind you!"

"Nat! how did you-" Seele cut herself off when she noticed Sampo Koski standing behind Natasha.

The criminal bowed with a wide smile that was certainly fit for a fool. "I see that your talks didn't go as you expected huh? Luckily or you, Sampo Koski has your back! ~"

Natasha quickly looked over the group and instantly noticed the glaring absence of Naruto. "Where's the other one?" Seeing how everyone's eyes dulled, she got the memo. "Oh."

Before they could talk any further, Svarog's voice made them turn towards the robot once more. "Base breached. Armed Wildfire personnel detected. Assessing… All subjects are high risk individuals. Commencing complete annihilation!"

Just he was about to attack, as everyone got into a familiar position and fell into sync. Seele moved first, dashing forward and flanking Svarog, causing him to move to a defensive position to try and counter the speedy girl. However, this left him open to a shot to the head by one of Bronya's wind bullets and a shot to the feet by March. The shots blinded and immobilised him while also leaving him open for two more attacks by Dan Heng and Caelus respectively. Caelus' Stellaron enhanced strike stunned the robot, making him go down, and Natasha prepared to finish him off by charging up a high-powered grenade. With a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and fired the shot. "Mr Svarog!" Clara's cry made them see the little girl running towards the kneeling robot with tears in her eyes. Everyone shouted for her to move away, but it was too late.

Just as she shielded the robot with a hug and closed her eyes, a large hunk of metal met the charged-up bullet head on, causing it to explode prematurely. Everyone covered their eyes from the blast and once the heat disappeared, they all looked at Natasha for a second before their attention was drawn towards where that piece of metal came from, causing them to jaw drop. Right there, in front of a large rock with his impression still on it, was Naruto with a hole burnt in his shirt but looking otherwise unscathed. His right hand was extended in a throwing position and his eyes were looking over everyone. "Now, now doc, we still need his information about the Stellaron. Besides, he's more or less this girl's family and I don't feel like leaving her alone."

He walked towards the robot and the girl, but stopped when he saw Clara holding onto Svarog tighter on seeing him approach. To his surprise, Svarog also had a hand over Clara, trying to protect her from the blast. He also saw that Svarog's "eye" had gone out, signifying his death. 'So, he protected the girl with the last of his strength. That last hit from Caelus sure did a number on him. I guess talking to him isn't a lost cause after all.' By now, Clara had noticed the lack of heat from Svarog's generator and noticed what had happened, causing her to cry. While she was crying her eyes out, Naruto moved behind her and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey." Clara shook his hand off and hugged Svarog tighter. "Hey Clara, I can try to fix Mr Svarog, but I need you to move away because this can be dangerous." The girl still held onto the robot, so he tried again.

After around fifteen minutes, he finally made the crying girl let go. He knelt down in front of her and patted her head. "Hey now. Don't cry, ok Clara? I'll fix Mr Svarog right up." Clara nodded and Naruto stood up and moved towards the kneeling robot.

"Wait" Before he could start however, Seele's voice interrupted him. "Are you really going to fix him? Can't you just take his memory bank to find information on this, Stellaron?"

Naruto sighed. "Seele, I'm not doing this just for that. I'm doing this for her. I get that you want to eliminate an enemy of Wildfire, but that robot is basically Clara's family. It would be like someone coming to that old orphanage and kidnapping Natasha right in front of you. So yes, I'll do this and no, you can't stop me. Besides, even if we did what you told us, this robot is 700 years old. I doubt the express can extract any data that is that old." Naruto's words left everyone speechless and he moved up to Svarog. He took a deep breath and activated his Byakugan. After assessing the downed robot's condition, Naruto placed his staff on its head. The rings glowed and the light condensed into a single orb in the center of the circle that was absorbed into Svarog.

The robot's body glowed bright and everyone averted their eyes, lest they blind themselves. When the light disappeared, they heard what sounded like gears and saw Svarog's body plates moving. "Assessment complete. Condition; optimal. Performance; optimal. Damage sustained; minimal. Energy levels; maximum. Memory; intact. Status; fully operational."

The second he said those words, Clara jumped into his arms. "Mr Svarog! You're ok!"

Svarog's hand moved towards her in what looked like a one armed hug. "Yes Clara. I am functioning correctly." The scene brought a smile to everyone's face.

After giving them a moment to collect themselves, Naruto knelt down in front of crouched Svarog. "Now that the reunion is done, how about we talk?"

Jutsu guide

· Spiralling kick; A variation of the Rasengan. The use rotates a stream of Chakra around their foot with more focus on power and rotation over containment. This is done over a sleeve of Chakra to prevent it from damaging the user. Unlike the original Rasengan, this variant needs to be continuously fed until it is used and is therefore, not self sustaining.

4100 words! Did this in two days! First Rasengan!

So, for starters, I gave Caelus those abilities to give him a reason to keep using his bat. This will make more sense later on, so stay tuned. I wrote this chapter with the idea of what would happen of Clara didn't intervene and Natasha fired that final shot. As for the ship poll, the results are now 14:6 in Acheron's favour. You guys really like the Raidens huh? As for Caelus's ship, I have decided that it will be Firefly! Those two are seen together at the end of her trailer and pairing her with Harmony TB makes for the perfect power couple. I also started and AO3 account, so feel free to check that out. That's all I have to say. Please leave a review, and I'll see you in the next one! What's that? *Scoots away*