Fate/9th Destiny: Chapter 3

I do not own Naruto or Fate/Stay Night. Those belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for profit. If you don’t like the story, then I can’t help you. Those who do, please continue to enjoy and leave comments. They inspire me to keep writing.

Fate/9th Destiny

By Ten-Faced Paladin

Chapter 3: Beauty and the Beast

Saber walked back towards the academy, her mind heavy with concern. Her meeting with Rider had definitely not gone the way she had envisioned to. What should have been an epic clash between Heroic Spirits ended up being a conversation. She and Rider had found their bodies effectively pinned if they tried to attack one another. Neither of them had any kind of idea what it meant. Neither of them were any sort of expert in magic so they could only guess what had happened.

‘I couldn’t even get her to say who her Master might be,’ Saber frowned, recalling the conversation. ‘And she probably knows what Naruto looks like too. Damn!’

Reaching the gates of the academy, Saber simply leaned against the wall and waited. The grounds were quiet since the adoring parents were waiting for their children to come back out after meeting their teachers or meet at the school so to hear how their first days of being a ninja were. The sounds of the door opening caught her attention, making her look in that direction. The children who were just made into ninjas and met their teachers were coming out, meeting their excited parents about their new teachers.

Saber expected her Master to be among them, but he wasn’t. At first she was concerned that something was wrong, but she felt her bond to him was still strong and perfectly fine. If he was being held back for something, it apparently wasn’t because of danger of some sort. Still, Saber was nothing if not patient so she remained when she was.

And so Saber waited, and waited patiently. She waited until the children had all gone home with their parents. She kept her vigil as she waited for her Master. It was a wait which spanned hours, making her wonder what was possibly holding the blonde boy back.

Saber finally saw her Master approach the gate and when their eyes met, she could’ve sworn she saw tears in his eyes. They were not tears of sorrow, however, as he wore a smile as he approached her before giving her a hug.

At the sight of this, many of the villagers gave the two a look. Many of the villagers who simply ignored or mistreated Naruto out of spite for containing the Kyuubi were whispering about who the girl he was hugging was, and why she was allowing him to do so.

Naruto didn’t care about the whispers and harsh stares. Finally, he had someone waiting for him. He wouldn’t be alone.

Following Naruto out of the school were two other children. One was a girl with long pink hair and a red dress with shorts underneath, using her hitae-ate as a hairband. The boy wore a blue shirt with a red fan on the back and white shorts. His hair was pitch black and of the few people who would mention it, looked a little like a duck’s butt. Like Naruto, he wore a hitae-ate on his forehead. Both came out on the scene looking confused and surprised.

The girl’s name was Sakura Haruno, a classmate of Naruto’s and his not-so secret crush. She was the class’ top kunoichi but sometimes it was hard to tell that. She had an awful case of ‘fangirl-itis’ since she met Sasuke and became determined to become Mrs. Uchiha even though she was only twelve. She’d fawn over Sasuke constantly even though he had made it clear he didn’t like the attention, even if he didn’t outright say it.

The boy’s name was Sasuke Uchiha, the top of his class. He was the last member of the prestigious Uchiha clan after his older brother Itachi killed the rest of them for reasons unknown. Sasuke pushed himself to be the best and as far as the civilians and so many others believed, he was certainly the cream of the crop of the years’ graduates. He was silent, broody, and it served to make almost all the girls in his year go nuts over him, constantly praising him and trying to get on his good side while turning into absolute harpies whenever a girl got near him that wasn’t them.

Now, the both were seeing Naruto, the Dead Last, hugging a young woman/older teen they had never seen before, like she was family. As far as they knew, Naruto didn’t have any family and was an orphan.

“Naruto, who is this?” asked Sakura.

“H-huh? Oh,” Naruto tried to discreetly wipe his eyes and he turned to his team. “This is Sa-!”

“Seiba,” Saber smiled at the pair. “Seiba Uzumaki. I’m a distant relative of Naruto’s.”

“But...Naruto doesn’t have relatives,” argued Sakura.

“Is that what you believe then you must be misinformed,” Saber replied. “I lived near Tetsu no Kuni and one day the Lord Hokage sent a message to me, asking about relatives. That is how I found out I had a living relation here in Konoha, a cousin to be precise.”

“O-oh,” Sakura nodded while Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “So...are you visiting?”

“No, I intend to stay and help Naruto whenever I can,” Saber smiled again. “Since I had no familial ties in Tetsu no Kuni I decided to place down roots here. You may have seen me here sooner, but the paperwork I had to sign was unbelievable.”

“I guess that’s why you’ve only just shown up,” Sakura nodded, seeing the logic.

“Naruto was happy to see that he still had family that was still alive, as was I,” said Saber, smiling softly. All her life, she had to lie and deceive, so lying came naturally to her. Fortunately, this lie was not as damning as the ones she told in the past. “Now, I believe that I was introduced but I don’t believe I know who you two are.”

“Oh! These are my new teammates!” Naruto grinned. “Sakura-chan and Sasuke!”

“Nice to meet you,” Sakura bowed.

“Hn,” Sasuke shrugged.

“Charmed,” Saber frowned at the rude young Uchiha. “Well, I am sure that the both of you have your own affairs to get to. Since it is so late Naruto and I are going to have to get some dinner,” she glanced at the pair. “Unless you three were planning on going to have dinner together as a team?”

“A-Ah, no” Sakura waved her hands. “Don’t let us hold you back.” Sasuke didn’t even bother to reply as he left, walking right past Saber with his hands in his pockets. Sakura’s stuttering trailed off into a longing sigh while Naruto huffed, annoyed at seeing Sasuke being an ass again. Saber on the other hand scowled at him before she reached out and...

BONK!

“OW!” Sasuke clutched his head in pain. Rubbing the rising knot, he looked up at Saber with a frown.

“I suggest you remember your manners young man,” Saber frowned, lowering her fist. “That’s twice now you’ve been blatantly rude to me. If you wished to leave you should have simply excused yourself.”

Naruto began snickering at the sight, seeing someone actually talked down on Sasuke was priceless in his mind. Everyone practically walked on glass around him it seemed like. Sakura on the other hand seemed completely shocked that anyone would treat the Last Uchiha in such a rough manner or scold him since he was perfect in every way. To her and every one of his fangirls anyway.

“Excuse me then,” Sasuke frowned, walking away again. His walk was a little off since he had that bump on the top of his head.

“I’m shocked any self-respecting parent allows their child to be so blatantly rude to others,” Saber frowned as Sasuke was out of sight. “Is he not part of some noble clan? Naruto happily regaled me on everyone he knew in school.”

“Sasuke-kun doesn’t have any parents! They were killed in the Uchiha Massacre. He’s the last of his clan,” Sakura defended. Maybe she would have screeched that part as was the Fangirl Special Tactic, but Sakura didn’t want Sasuke to hear her and she also felt that shouting at the blonde woman was a bad idea.

“I see,” Saber frowned, but she didn’t seem to have much sympathy for the raven-haired boy. “Anyway, we have a meal to get to. Something else besides ramen I believe.”

“What?-!” Naruto gasped, his amusement over Sasuke being scolded vanishing.

“You’re in need of a better diet,” Saber insisted. “Since you recently came into money, we can afford to eat something finer. While I was buying your new outfits I saw a number of restaurants which looked interesting and I would like to try them.”

“But-but-but-but-but!” Naruto tried to argue, but Saber had grabbed the back of his jacket and began dragging him away.

“Now now Naruto, it is for your own good,” Saber smirked. “You will never grow tall if you continue to eat only one food.”

“But-but-but-but!” Naruto sputtered all the way down the street. Sakura watched them go, but couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

(LINE BREAK)

Hi no Kuni - Unknown Location

The lights in the night were bright and the gambling was hot. People were chatting one another up and either having fun, gambling, drinking, or in the odd case having a brawl or two. It was the kind of nightlife the rough and tumble people were used to and they reveled in it any which way they liked.

Walking down the street was one such reveler. She was dressed in a white sleeveless kimono-like top which barely contained her massive bosom, held shut by an obi. She wore black pants and high-heel sandals. On her shoulders rested a green haori with the symbol for ‘kake’ or gamble on the back. Her face was absolutely stunning, being with bright pink lips, smooth and pale skin, chocolate brown eyes, long silky blonde hair tied in twin ponytails and framing her heart-shaped face. On her forehead was an odd blue marking which only accented her good looks.

Yes, Tsunade Senju looked good and the rest of the shinobi world agreed, considering her the most beautiful kunoichi ever.

Hard to believe she was in her fifties.

Tsunade was quite a famous figure. Hailing from Konoha, she was a member of the famous team of shinobi called the Sannin a legendary trio of ninjas. She was a genius medic-nin who had revolutionized medicine and established the rules and regulations that all medic-nins used in order to treat their fellows. The number of ways she could kill a man coupled with the monstrous strength she managed to develop made her a famous woman. Of course, being the granddaughter and grandniece of the first and second Hokages respectively, it was kind of expected that she make something great of herself. Countless people looked up to her and more tried to become her apprentice and learn her secrets under her, but only one ever succeeded and without even trying.

Not to say that Tsunade’s life was all smiles and roses. She had fought in the Third Shinobi World War and it left a brutal cost to herself. Her precious little brother Nawaki was killed on one of his first missions as a genin and it deeply wounded her. Later on, her lover, the man she so dearly wished to marry, died in her arms on a mission. He had been a bloody mess when it happened and Tsunade had tried everything to save him but failed anyway. The event left her with a severe case of hemophobia, the fear of blood. It was so severe she couldn’t even look at it without freezing up and trying to get away from it.

After the war ended, Tsunade fell into a deep depression. She drank and gambled regularly, finding it the only things that didn’t cause her pain in some way. She became cynical of Konoha and saw it as a cursed place that would kill the people she loved. She eventually couldn’t take it anymore and packing up her apprentice Shizune, her lover’s niece, they left Konoha for parts unknown.

Over the years Tsunade developed a new name for herself. While gambling was one of the things she loved the most, she wasn’t nearly as good as one might think for someone who gambled as much as she did for as long as she did. It wasn’t a lack of skill, but the matter of her luck just sucked. In fact, her luck was so bad her teammate Jiraiya once said that anytime she actually won something bad was due to happen later.

And so was the birth of the Legendary Sucker. The woman who never turned down a bet and whenever you played her, you were guaranteed to win.

*Hiccup!* the rather cute sound came from Tsunade’s lips as she stumbled down the street with a flushed face, drop-dead drunk.

Tsunade, Shizune, and their pet pig Tonton had wandered into town in their journeys. Unsurprisingly, Tsunade headed straight for the gambling dens, wasting every bit of money she could get her hands on in what she called ‘sure things’. Of course, she lost every time and ended up losing just about everything. With their gambling fund gone, the tight-fisted Shizune forbid her teacher from gambling anymore that night. So Tsunade took what cash they had left and decided to go drinking for the night. Thus Tsunade ended up blitzed and away from her usual means of finding their hotel, and wandering the streets.

Most would think a woman as beautiful and sexually desirable as Tsunade being drunk in a bad part of town would make her an easy target. Well, everyone knew who Tsunade was and knew that even blitzed as she was, one wrong move would get them smashed into paste with one fist. Anyone who was still dumb enough to try certainly deserved the beatdown they’d receive from the drunken woman.

“Okay,” Tsunade sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Which way was that damn hotel? I need to sleep off this buzz.”

Wandering through the streets, Tsunade tried to find some landmark that could tell her where her hotel was. Of course, she promptly forgot that she was heading in the opposite direction of where she entered the district from her hotel in the first place. Still Tsunade trudged onward looking for that elusive landmark which meant she could go to a comfortable bed to sleep for the night. Stumbling along a street, she almost tripped beside a shisa statue but drunkenly regained her balance.

“Hey! Watch where you’re walking!” the Sannin snapped at the stone lion-dog. Blinking, she looked past the statue and saw steps leading up to a shrine. In her inebriated state though, Tsunade saw it as something else entirely. “About fucking time. Shtupid hotel took forever ta find!”

Stumbling up the stairs, Tsunade entered the temple grounds. It was a fancy place, as most religious grounds were expected to be. Only a moron could mistake it as a hotel, but then again Tsunade was as previously mentioned, blitzed. For a woman like her who worked up her alcohol tolerance for years, being blitzed amounted to alcohol poisoning for just about anyone else.

“Ahhh, so nice!” Tsunade beamed. “I should do sumthin’ nice for Shizune for getting us such a good spot!”

Stumbling across the grounds, Tsunade peered at the buildings the temple had, trying to discern which one may have been her ‘room’. Finally spotting a building to the side, private-looking just the way she liked it, she stumbled over to it. Grabbing the door, she slid it open to reveal an open room with a shrine at the end and a jutsu circle painted on the floor, used for the ceremonies that the priests would use for festivals and special occasions. To Tsunade though, it didn’t look like that at all.

“Wow! We lucked out!” she grinned. “Maybe I should hit the casinos after I wake up tomorrow and see if this luck holds!” kicking off her sandals, she sauntered through the room, looking for that ever soft bed or futon. “Hey, where the fuck are all the essentials? Shizune! SHIZUNE!” Tsunade looked sourly around the room, but did not see her prize or her student anywhere. “Dammit, she must be lookin’ for me.” Sighing, she wobbled to the centre of the room where the middle of the circle was laid out. After attempting to bite her thumb twice and missing, she managed it a third time, drawing blood. “Guess I better get a slug to find her again.”

“Woo!” the busty woman wobbled, but regained her balance. Drunkenly moving through some hand seals, she slapped her hand onto the floor. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”

The seal of summoning spread across the floor, mingling with the one that was already there to accidentally form a new kind of seal. As any expert in the art of seals could tell you, it wasn’t as simple as scribbling a design and pumping chakra into it. Each portion had it’s own purpose and all of them together would define what the seal was supposed to do. The one the priests used was symbolic, not meant to do anything but make something showy for the practitioners of the temple. Having Tsunade’s summoning seal appear on top of it wouldn’t have done anything and under normal circumstances one of the slugs would have appeared like they normally should have. But the recent days had a change in the air, a shift in the logic of the world, a time where the odds went in the favour of the chosen and a miracle would occur. That night, Tsunade would have such an event happen to her.

The blonde woman stiffened when she felt her arm suddenly stiffen and stick to the seal she made. he chakra she felt that should have been enough to summon a small slug to send her message suddenly became enough to summon Katsuyu twice...maybe three times over! “Wh-what?-!”

The two combined seals lit up with Tsunade’s energy and triggered by her blood. The legendary medic-nin attempted to pull her arm away, but her limb refused to move. The circle’s glow became brighter and reaching its climax, Tsunade felt control of her limb return. She leaped away from the circle, ready to punch whoever would be dumb enough to try something with her.

The circle became a pillar of light that nearly blinded the drunk woman, but fortunately her adrenaline was flushing out the alcohol damn fast, allowing her to get her wits back to an extent. Peering at the light, she tried to see what the circle was doing. Shielding her eyes from the worst of the light, she was sure that a figure of some sort was rising out of the ground.

As quickly as the seal lit up, it quickly died down again but Tsunade quickly discovered that she wasn’t alone. Standing in the middle of the circle was a man dressed in a green leather suit that was skintight and sleeveless. He also wore black protective leather boots with steel tips on the toes In his hands were a pair of spears, one short and yellow while the other was long and red, the both of them wrapped in purple cloth.

His face...Tsunade just wanted to drool at the sight of it. Impeccably handsome with windswept black hair loosely brushed back with a strand hanging over his forehead. His eyes were a melting amber colour that a woman could get lost in and the confidence and charm he exuded was wonderful. Even that mole on his cheek was adding to his sexy charm.

‘Kami I want to fuck him,’ Tsunade thought to herself, feeling randy as a horse in heat all of a sudden. Licking her lips, she began reaching for her obi so she could loosen it a little. One look at her massive melons and he’d be all over her in a second! He would...wait...

‘What the fuck am I thinking?-!’ Tsunade thought to herself heatedly, the on rush of emotion and lust crashing against her medical and shinobi knowledge caused her to think about the situation twice. ‘Fuck! A genjutsu!’

Slapping her hands together in the proper handsign, Tsunade uttered, “Kai!” before sending a pulse of chakra through her body. Instantly, she felt the lust and desire to fuck the handsome spearman to high heaven vanish. He was still a devilishly handsome bastard, but she no longer felt the desperate need to strip and bare all to him hoping for his favor.

“Master?” the handsome man asked suddenly, bringing Tsunade’s attention to him. He was looking at her in concern. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, I’m fine! You’re not going to be in a minute,” Tsunade scowled, standing up. “Thought you could dazzle me with a light show and then use a genjutsu to make me horny for you eh?” she cracked her knuckles. “Oh, you’re in for a big surprise pal!”

The man blinked, apparently considerably shocked at Tsunade’s hostility. After a moment, his eyes widened and placing his yellow spear with his red one, he raised his hand to touch the mark on his cheek, “You can...resist it?”

“Damn right I can!” Tsunade frowned. “Now are you gonna...” her eyes turned dazed for a moment before she shook her head and used the genjutsu release again. “Would you stop fucking using it already?-! It’s not going to get you into my pants!”

“As much as I would love to have this accursed mark stop it’s magic, I cannot,” the man replied, severe irritation and even sadness as he covered the marking. “Ever since that witch placed this mark on me, it hasn’t stopped. You’re the first woman in my memory that is capable of resisting it.”

“You expect me to believe that?” Tsunade frowned, no longer feeling the pressure to love the man in her mind while his finger covered the beauty mark.

“I can only tell the truth,” the spearman replied. “It was you who summoned me here was it not? I can see the Command Seals on the back of your hand from here, marking you as my Master, or rather my Mistress in your case.”

“My hand?” Tsunade blinked, looking to her hands. On the back of her right had was the symbol of her clan, the Senju, glowing bright right and slowly fading into a simple red marking. Gritting her teeth, she looked to the spearman. “What the hell is this?-!”

“You truly do not know?” asked the handsome man. “You were selected as a participant in the Holy Grail War.”

“Holy Grail War? What the hell is tha...” Tsunade froze her booze-ridden mind needing a few moments to recall that she had heard that title before. It had been years ago when her grandfather, Harashima Senju, one of the two founders of Konoha was still alive and she was a little girl. It had been after one of his gambling lessons which she lost all of her play-money again. Angry, she hopped onto her grandfather’s lap and demanded he tell her a story. Chuckling, he decided to do just that. He told her a story back before Konoha was founded, he had somehow gotten involved in something called the Holy Grail War. He explained how seven heroes picked him and six other members of the Senju clan to do battle against representatives of other clans and heroes that picked them as partners. He didn’t go into details about the fights themselves, but he did say that it was all for the Holy Grail which supposedly could grant any wish. Several clans were selected in taking part and it was only lucky that the cover of the First Ninja World War prevented any of the higher government from finding out about the Grail. Harashima explained it was down to him and one of the Uchiha faction, but when the battle looked like he might win, the Uchiha used his partner’s ultimate attack to destroy the Grail so no Senju would be able to get it.

Tsunade recalled the story and how her grandfather talked about the hero who partnered with him like an old friend. She remembered that all of the Servants were each given a different name. A title if she remembered right.

“Holy Grail War,” she muttered. “Okay, quiz time then. Which one are you?”

“Which one? You mean which Servant?” asked the spearman. “Well, if you know anything about the Grail War, you would know that I am Lancer.”

“Lancer,” Tsunade frowned. Her grandfather had called his partner Saber, but Lancer was one of the seven names Harashima mentioned. “Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, Berserker, and Assassin. Seven Servants to fight for the Holy Grail.”

“That is correct,” Lancer nodded.

Tsunade frowned before palming her forehead, trying to remember everything that her grandfather told her about the Holy Grail War. To be honest she thought it was just a story he made up to razzle and dazzle her without the gore of the other wars going on. One thing she did manage to recall struck her like a shuriken.

“The Holy Grail,” Tsunade spoke. “If I win it, what do I get?”

“A wish,” Lancer replied. “A wish for anything your heart could desire.”

Tsunade grit her teeth, trying not to let emotion show. Her grandfather’s stories were filled with fantastic tales of battles and abilities that ninjitsu couldn’t compare with. But at the end was something that according to her grandfather was beautiful like looking at the moon on a starry night. Still, a wish for anything she wanted...

‘Dan...Nawaki...’ She thought to herself, emotion flooding at the chance to see her lover or her little brother again.

“Master?” asked Lancer.

“What faction?” Tsunade asked, trying to keep her drunken thoughts straight. “What faction are you fighting for?”

“Faction?” asked Lancer.

“During the First Shinobi War, my grandfather fought in a Holy Grail War,” Tsunade explained, lowering her hand so to look at her Servant. “He said seven Servants were summoned for each of the major clans. So are you fighting for the Senju or...?” She couldn’t even bring herself to say Konoha’s name.

“I fight for you Master,” Lancer frowned, confused. “I am not aware of any factions aside from our partnership.”

“Hnn,” Tsunade frowned. So she wasn’t getting the answers she wanted and it was pissing her off. That damn genjutsu coming from Lancer’s face wasn’t helping her mood either. The rising lust in her loins and the emotional extremes was making her...cranky. “Dammit, I need another drink.”

“Master,” Lancer frowned in concern. “Forgive me for saying this, but to me it seems you have drunk enough already.”

“Well you land something like this in my lap you damn well bet I’m going to need something to drink!” Tsunade snapped, turning to leave the room. “Now come on. I know a good place and you can have some too if you want.”

“Yes Master,” Lancer sighed, following after the woman.

(LINE BREAK)

Konoha

Saber and Naruto were sitting at a dango shop, one of the delicacies which she and her Master could agree on. It was something she wanted to try and it was a dish which didn’t have something Naruto didn’t like in it (I.E. Vegetables). The meal was all the more pleasant since the vendor didn’t seem to mind Naruto’s presence in the least.

“This isn’t bad,” Naruto muttered through a mouthful. “Not as good as ramen though.”

“There is nothing wrong with some variety in your diet,” Saber replied, munching on her own share. Swallowing what she had in her mouth, she looked to her young charge. “I am curious though Master, why were you there so long while everyone else had left ages ago?”

“Ah, Kakashi-sensei was way late!” Naruto huffed. “I mean, the meeting wasn’t even that long before he gave us an assignment for some survival test that we have to pass or we won’t become ninjas!”

Saber scoffed at the apparent tardiness of the supposed teacher, but she decided to keep an opinion of the man mostly unbiased until she met him herself, “And the assignment?”

“He wants us to meet at a training ground for the test tomorrow morning,” Naruto explained. “We’re not supposed to have breakfast either! Then he says that 66% of everyone who takes the test fail! I’ve gotta cram as much training in tonight as I can!”

“I...see,” Saber frowned. While not a ninja, she was a knight and a warrior who could understand trickery, strategy, and tactics. Her mind was already trying to suss out the meaning behind the test, which she could obviously tell had begun already. Obviously the tests for the graduating class weren’t as difficult as this Kakashi said they were or else Konoha’s military force would be much smaller than it already was. Arriving late was possibly to force the three students to try and prepare themselves in a short timeframe, as military personnel were forced to do sometimes during dangerous situations. Likewise she knew from personal experience that soldiers had to go without supplies and thus had to go hungry for a while. “Master, if I may offer my opinion?”

“Huh? Oh, sure,” Naruto nodded, wanting to hear what his Servant had to say. At this point, Naruto was willing to take advice or any kind of instruction he could get in order to get an advantage in passing the test.

“I was once a warrior myself so I know patterns of battle and war, even if not the kinds your shinobi forces would face, many of the facets are still the same,” Saber explained before looking to Naruto. “One of the basic lessons I learned was that never turn down the chance to make use of what supplies you have around or whatever resources are at hand.”

“Uh...okay,” Naruto nodded, seeing the value of the words but not quite connecting it to his situation.

Seeing his confusion, Saber elaborated, “What I mean is that you shouldn’t go into any kind of battle situation purposefully at a disadvantage. So come tomorrow morning, you eat breakfast before you leave.”

“What?-! But Kakashi-sensei said-!” Naruto blanched.

“I know what he said, but in this case going hungry into a survival exercise lowers your chances of success. You said this test has a failure rate of 66% did you not?” Saber interrupted. “Although you are a soldier now and are expected to follow orders, do not follow them mindlessly and if they seem to be suspicious or you do not understand, then question them, find out why. Enemies would no doubt try to impersonate your fellow soldiers and commanders would they not?”

“Oh,” Naruto blinked. Now that he could understand. He had pretended to be other people in the past to throw pursuers off of his trail after he pulled off one of his better pranks. With how Saber explained it, going to a test administered by a Jounin hungry would be a pretty stupid move. Kakashi may ding him for not following orders, but he’d take a ding or two rather than a surefire fail any day!

Finding himself getting excited at hearing such useful advice, Naruto began to pepper Saber with questions. She was a Heroic Spirit so she had to have fought all sorts of battles and had a ton of experience to fall back on that he could use! She said use any resources he had, right? So he’d pick her brain for stuff he could try!

(LINE BREAK)

Hi no Kuni - Borders

The night was young, the sun having just dipped under the horizon over one of the many border villages of Hi no Kuni. While the country itself was prosperous and peaceful for the most part, the borders sometimes were not so fortunate. Nuke-nin would often hide in border areas as a first stage part for their various plots or ninjas from opposing villages would sneak jabs at the country through the border villages to test defenses of the country. It could make some of the smaller villages into a place like the wild west. Usually Konoha was dilligent in keeping up their patrols, but they weren’t perfect so some places could slip between the cracks even for them. As such, sometimes ninjas had to be called in for duties when things became a little too wild in those forgotten spaces.

Then things would get really wild.

The border village in question looked like a rather decent place to live, but hardly the most extravagent. It mainly supported its own economy through blacksmithing and carpentry. A local mine for iron ore and the abundant forest kept the village stocked. There were no truly masterful workers in the village which kept it from becoming a point of interest for about anybody. They dealt in average wares and skills so the village itself was average. It was so average, the border patrols would usually just spare the place a passing glance before going on their way.

This night, an explosion ripped through the nearby forests, felling several trees in the process.

The forest was alive with fighting as several men wearing shabby clothes but with skillfully-made protective armour wielding various weapons were busy attacking a ninja cell hailing from Konoha. It was a more even fight than expected, but still the armed men were not on the winning side. Combating them were three teenagers and their teacher, all of them using a unique skillset. The first young man was wearing a green bodysuit with his hitae-ate as a belt with bandages on his hands and orange legwarmers. His hair was cut into a bowlcut of all styles and he had rather pronounced eyebrows. He was bouncing around the group and striking them with powrful taijutsu techniques which dented and cracked the armour the men wore, sending them sprawling over the forest floor.

He was Rock Lee, the self-proclaimed Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha.

Second of the group was another young man wearing a short-sleeved jacker marked with the Hyuuga Clan’s crest on the shoulders. He had long black hair and wore the Konoha Hitae-ate on his forehead. His eyes were of course the pale white which all of the Hyuuga Clan had, indicating that he too had the Byakugan. Like Lee, he was darting between several of the combatants, but was using the softer style of the Jyuken which despite striking armor, the blows would flow through the steel and into their bodies, dealing damage to them regardless of their protections.

He was Neji Hyuga, cousin to Hinata and a member of the Hyuga Branch Family.

The third teenager was the lone female of the team. She wore the usual shinobi pants with a pink sleeveless Chinese-style top. She was also sporting a Konoha hitae-ate on her forehead which was just underneath the fringe of her hair. The rest of her hair was styled into a pair of buns for functionality, but also for a flair of style. She was also fighting a group of the bandits, but rather than using taijutsu she was instead using a host of shinobi weapons like kunai, shuriken, and other weapons to a great degree of effectiveness, showing her training was superior to the bandits that were trying to take her down.

She was Tenten, the rising weapons mistress of Konoha.

The last of the group was the trio’s teacher. He was a man who was dressed exactly like Lee was with bandages, the bodysuit, and legwarmers. He even had the same bowlcut and bushy eyebrows. He was also wearing a jounin vest which marked out his rank as a shinobi. One may have mistaken him as a relative of Lee’s, but in truth Lee saw the man as a mentor and took after his image to try and be more like him. Like Lee, he was destroying his opponents with his taijutsu but where Lee’s strikes would dent and crack the armour, his would destroy it.

He was Maito Gai, the greatest taijutsu master Konoha had ever seen.

Team Gai, as they were known on the books, was hired to do a C-Rank escort mission by a trader who had come to collect wares to sell from the village. He was worried about bandits and thus decided to hire some ninjas to help him out. The trip to the small village was pleasant enough, save for Lee trying to make any kind of training exercise he could think of out of anything around him. Neji was critical of Lee’s attitudes as usual and Tenten was left to play peacekeeper since Gai was busy praising the trio for their ‘youthful’ exuberance.

Arriving at the village, the team had decided to spend the night before heading back to Konoha so they could report a successful mission. Unfortunately, that night was also the night that the bandits who were supposedly harassing the area decided to stage an attack. They didn’t go for the valuable areas such as where completed wares or anything most thieves would look for something valuable. Instead, they struck the communal warehouses where the iron ore and raw lumber were kept for the tradespeople to use when they needed it. More worrisome than strange, the thieves had sealed several crates of the raw material into sealing scrolls, the likes which shinobi were often seen using.

Naturally Team Gai moved to stop the thieves, but they were quickly waylaid by the bandits who they were now dealing with. While their weapons were quality and their armour decent, their training was subpar at best or nonexistent so soon they were all dealt with and laying on the ground in groaning heaps.

“Jeez,” Tenten wiped the sweat from her brow. “I know they were bandits, but these guys had some decent weapons to work with.”

“Yosh! Our youthful vigour and training saw us through! We are victorious!” Lee cheered.

“Well said Lee!” Gai nodded, “But do not become too excited or else you will miss small details. We must still chase after those thieves which stole the resources from this village!”

“Right!” Lee nodded rapidly. “Let us be off! With the power of YOUTH!”

“One moment,” Neji interrupted his excitable teammate. He pointed to the men. “They all have hitae-ate on them. I’ll admit that I don’t recognize the symbol.” He gestured to the headband each of the men were wearing which had some kind of box-like symbol which had a kanji of some sort on it.

“Hm,” Lee looked at the symbol. “It looks like the kanji for artisan, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Gai admited. “But I know no village which sports such a symbol.”

“I do,” Tenten replied. “It’s the symbol for Takumi no Sato, the Village of Artisans.”

As the rising weapons mistress, Tenten studied not only modern weapons and their use, but also where the best of them came from as well as the history of weapons. Takumi no Sato was a name which came up a lot. In the early days of shinobi, the village was founded by a group of artisans who made fantastic weapons and sold them to all of the ninja villages, gaining a respected neutrality. Lots of incredible weapons came out of that village and were held by respected shinobi. Unfortunately, as shinobi began to develop more and more jutsus the need for such fantastic weapons began to dwindle and in the modern age, only shuriken, kunai, simple katanas and other weapons were in demand by the villages. It left Takumi no Sato in something of dire straits as they struggled to keep customers and promote their skills.

“How can you tell it is from there?” asked Neji.

“Because I own some weapons which came from that place and they all have the symbol marked on them somewhere,” Tenten explained. “My question is what are they doing here?”

“What do you think?” the previously thought unconscious bandit groaned. The ninjas turned their gazes to the man in question. A smirk was on his lips despite the blood dribbling from his mouth. “We’re gathering supplies. When one intends to start a campaign, they need resources don’t they?”

“You’re awfully chatty,” Neji frowned. “Why are you spilling your secrets to us?”

“Why? Because you can’t stop us,” the man grinned. “We were just getting supplies, but our greatest asset is already in our grasp. Our leader is going to use a jutsu we’ve discovered to revive the greatest weapon master the world has ever known. No ninja will be able to stand against him!”

“I find that hard to believe,” Neji scoffed, crossing his arms.

“I did too, until we did our research,” the bandit laughed. “This man...he’s accomplished feats that only the most powerful jutsus could compare to. He’s crushed dragons with only a sword, he’s defeated contingents of warriors with only his weapon, and he defeated a rival for his skill with only a tree branch! Don’t you get it, everything is his weapon! No ninja can compete!”

Gai frowned before chopping the bandit on the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious, “My youthful students, it seems we have stumbled onto something most unyouthful. We must pursue the other bandits and discover what they intend to do with this jutsu they supposedly have.”

“Then we had better hurry,” Neji nodded. “From the way this man spoke, it seemed they are already preparing to use it and intend to go on a campaign against the ninja villages if they can complete it.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Tenten, drawing more of her weapon scrolls. “Let’s move already!”

“Onward!” Lee called out.

The Konoha team followed the trail of the fleeing bandits who stole the raw material of the village. It was easily done since despite having some ninja training, the bandits weren’t very experienced or well-trained in hiding their tracks. Against civilians it would be sufficient but against one like Neji then it was completely useless. It wasn’t long before they found the bandits’ base of operations. It was a small fort which was made to defend from attack with a log fence with pointed tips. As expected from those who came from Takumi no Sato it was well-constructed and if it had ninjas manning it instead of wannabes, it would have been more difficult for the group to approach. Not many guards were around either, which made the group fear that they were waiting for the jutsu to be completed and they wanted to watch.

“Unprofessional,” Neji frowned.

“But works in our favour,” Tenten replied.

“Yes. So let us search!” whispered Gai.

The group split apart and moved towards the base. They quickly reached the wall, dodging the gazes of the guards by using the blind spots their lack of numbers revealed. Once there, each of the group began using chakra to ascend the walls, save for Lee who just used his speed to run up and over the top before hiding behind some supply crates. The rest of the team slowly reached the wall and dove behind the guards’ backs, finding hiding places among the crates inside the base.

There were many such crates to be had, all of them stacked around the base and looking like they were ready to be moved. Neji used his Byakugan to peer inside of the crates, finding them all to be filled with numerous kinds of weapons. Many of the weapons were marked with Takumi no Sato symbols, showing where they were crafted. It hinted at the fact that many in the Village of Artisans were pushing for the attack and were even supplying the upstarts with weapons they’d need to do the job.

‘Weapons cannot make up for training though,’ Neji thought to himself already seeing destiny ready to foil their little plot. ‘If this jutu works, destiny will have a harder time foiling that particular plot though.’

Gai stood up slightly, spotting all of his students hiding. He quickly made hand signals and pointed to the far back of the fort where a small wooden house was situated. The students nodded to their teacher before quickly making their way through the crates and boxes towards the apparent commander’s quarters. No guards were posted, showing either the arrogance of the leader or just how sloppily trained the group of wanna-be ninjas were. Reaching the door, Gai getured to Neji qho activated his Byakugan to see inside the hut.

Neji blinked, shutting down his bloodline limit and began gesturing with handsigns as to what he saw, ‘Empty house. Signs of life in the basement. Many signatures.’

Gai nodded before he pushed open the door and the four ninjas charged inside. They didn’t bother searching the room, Neji’s eyes having cleared the way for them. Instead, they reached for a door at the far side of the room at Neji’s gesture and found a staircase descending into candlelit darkness. Silently, they progressed down the stairs, not making a sound as they went. The stairs were lengthy, meaning that the Takumi-nins must have been planning their moves for some time if they could build such a fortress without the people of Hi no Kuni and any nearby villages noticing.

‘Perhaps they are not as ill-prepared as we thought,” Gai thought to himself.

The Genin team came to the bottom of the stairs. Fortunately, there wasn’t a door blocking the way and the entire team could see what was in the next room. The net room was large, lit only by ten torches which were in the hands of ten Takumi-nins and in the centre was some kind of glowing circle which looked...similar to a summoning circle or some kind of ritualistic jutsu. At the centre of the circle seemed to be a dented, rusted, and absolutely ancient helmet which looked so old it was hard to tell if there was anything unique about it. At the edge of the circle a man in bulky battle armor, covering his entire body save for his head. His face looked like that of an older man, his hair white and face weathered with age and time working. His hands were on the circle, channeling his chakra as he spoke in a language that none of the team knew.

"Silver and Iron to the Origin. Gem and the Archduke of Contracts to the Cornerstone. The Ancestor is my Great Master Schweinorg.

The Alighted Wind becomes a Wall. The Gates in the Four Directions close, coming from the Crown, the Three-Forked Road that leads to the Kingdom Circulate.

Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill).

Repeat every Five Times."

“What is he saying?” whispered Tenten.

“I’ve never heard the language before,” Neji shook his head.

“Yosh! It must be needed to complete the jutsu! We must stop it!” Lee insisted, his eyes bright with righteous fury

“SHHHHH!” Neji and Tenten both hissed at Lee, causing the boy to wince as he realized he had been too loud once again.

It was unfortunately just loud enough for one of the ten torchbearers nearby to turn his head. The four Konoha-nins quickly pressed against the walls, silently praying that they had moved quickly enough not to be noticed. They breathed only qith slow breaths and tried not to make any movements which would get them caught. The torch bearer continued to watch the doorway, obviously suspicious about what he had heard.

“INTRUDERS!!”

The yell came from behind the ninjas, prompting them to look back up the stairs that had travelled. At the top was one of the Takumi-nin who apparently had come inside to report. He was already in the midst of drawing his weapon, a sword, and charging for the four. Back in the room, the torch bearers snapped to attention and the man at the circle halted his chant.

“Kill them quickly! I need to finish this!” he snapped.

The torchbearers obeyed and set down their torches in slots meant to hold them up before they each pressed their hands onto their armguards, showing a glowing seal which erupted into smoke, arming them with their own sets of weapons. Each one looked more impressive than the previous men had wielded, making the group believe that the torchbearers were of a higher rank than the raiders.

“Onward! We must not let them complete the jutsu!” Gai quickly called to his students.

Neji and Lee took the charged first, striking at the first of the men who attacked them. Unlike the raiders from before, these men seemed to have a better sense of fighting and were able to dodge and strike back, forcing Lee and Neji to think defensively. Gai and Tenten were likewise quick to charge, the latter unsealing her own collection of weapons while the former merely began lashing out with his advanced taijutsu techniques.

The ten former torchbearers quickly provd that they were indeed a cut above the rest, revealing that they had been expecting to fight ninjas and trained appropriately. They fought with experience and they were equipped with much better armor and weapons than the raiders. The weapons and the armor were made from a metal which easily allowed chakra to travel through it, permitting the weapons to be razor sharp and have a wider range while the armor was even more dense and difficult to break through. Gai and Lee were both having difficulties fighting, the new range of the weapons having caught them off guard mixed with the ten’s battle styles. Neji attempted to ue his Byakugan, but with so much chakra running through the armor and the weapons, it was disrupting his ability to see where the tenketsu points of his opponents were. Tenten was also finding it hard to fight, her use of weapons working slightly against her since the Takumi-nins were all weapon users as well and knew the strengths and weaknesses of her usual tools.

All the while, the leader of the group continued working his jutsu.

"Simply, shatter once filled.

I announce.

Your Self is under Me, my Fate(doom) is in Your Sword.

In accordance with the Resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this Feeling, this Reason, then Answer.”

Tenten grit her teeth, looking past the man she was fighting to see the circle beginning to glow brighter. He was almost finished the jutsu! Realizing that she had to do something before the Takumi-nins got their vaunted secret weapon, Tenten decided to move into action. Parrying the strike of her opponent to put him off balance, she charged ahead and leaped onto his shoulder before using him like a platform to keep moving. She used several more of the torchbearers as platforms, giving her teammates and teacher the opportunity to strike at them. Hoping onto the lat one, she put some chakra into her legs to leap into the air, almost hitting the ceiling as she came over the man who was casting the jutsu. She pulled out one of her weapon scrolls, preparing to unleash a rain of kunai down on him. One of them would have to hit a vital area and-!

TWANG!

Tenten’s thought processes hit a wall when something hit her shoulder. Her focus and her coordination was lost as she dropped into a well of pain. Gravity soon took hold before she crashed onto the floor in a heap, just touching the circle on the opposite side of where the Takumi-nin leader was conduction his ritual. Grimacing, Tenten looked to her shoulder where a kunai was now embedded, stuck up to the hilt in her flesh. She could feel it scraping against her bones and she was sure maybe a tendon or two had been cut since she wasn’t feeling things right in that arm.

Looking at the man with her teeth clenched, she saw him smirking at her and something strapped to his arm. It looked like a crossbow, but it wasn’t loaded and at the back of the device was a summoning scroll which was opened with some of the paper unrolled. Even as she noticed it, she saw an unseen mechanism draw the string of the bow section back and at the same time unroll more of the scroll to reveal a kanji seal for ‘kunai’ which made a puff of smoke and unseal a kunai, ready to be shot.

“TENTEN!” she heard Lee, or was it Gai, shout aloud from the opposite end of the room.

The man smirked and brought his hands down to rest on the circle again, preparing to finish off his jutsu. Tenten growled, her mind still slightly foggy with pain. Looking down, she saw that her blood was beginning to pool and was sinking into the grooves in the stone that the Takumi-nins had gouged into the basement floor, turning the previous white circle into a crimson red.

“You’re not winning this that easily,” Tenten muttered to herself. Ignoring the pain and the agony in her arm, she pressed her hands against the edge of the circle and began to pump her own chakra into it. She knew from experience that fuuinjutsu was a delicate art and anything could disrupt it. The amount of times she goofed her own storage seals because she drew them improperly couldn’t be counted. So with this knowledge, she was counting on the fact that pumping her own chakra into the seal with her blood mixing with whatever they had drawn the circle with would be enough to disrupt the seal array the Takumi-nins were counting on.

“Here is my Oath. I am the One who becomes all the Good of the World of the Dead, I am the One who lays out all the Evil of the World of the Dead.

You, Seven Heavens clad in Three Words of Power, arrive from the Ring of Deterrence, O Keeper of the Balance!"

The circle flared and suddenly turned red, Tenten’s blood flooding it quite suddenly. It then lit up with power, the force knocking Tenten back against the wall with a cry of pain. She became confident that one of her tendons had been injured since a burning sensation was coming from her hand. Daring to look at the pillar of light, she saw the form of a human rising up from the centre of it.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” the summoner cried in glee. “This is it! Our secret weapon to reclaiming Takumi no Sato’s glory!”

“No…” Tenten grimaced. Opposite of her, the others in the room had stopped fighting to see the spectacle, although the Takumi-nins were smirking in malicious glee.

As the figure fully manifested, the light died down to reveal him to the group. He was dressed from head to toe in black armor. Not one inch of the armor wasn’t ending in some jagged edge or sharp point which made the man look all the more intimidating. He had spiked manacles around his wrists and even his gauntlets ended in sharp claws rather than normal fingers. From his back several streamers hung with metal-tipped endings. Jagged armor pieces stuck from his elbows and even his greaves were jagged and pointed. His helmet contained little features, being smooth with only a slit with cross-shaped holes on either side could be counted as a facial feature. What was slightly disturbing was the azure light coming from the visor. Coming from the top of the helmet was a deep blue streamer which fell down his back, but seemed to jerk to some unseen wind.

“Now Ransurotto!” the leader of the Takumi-nins laughed. “Begin our revolution against the Hidden Villages by eliminating these Konoha-nins! Kill them all, starting with her!” He pointed at Tenten who stiffened.

The armored man twisted to peer at the kunoichi, causing her heart to clench in fear. Normally she’d be able to function still, but with the kunai stuck in so deeply sending jolts of pain coursing through her body mixed with chakra exhaustion she was finding it incredibly difficult to move. The black armored warrior pivoted and began walking towards her, his armor clanking remarkably softly for how much of it he was wearing.

“Tenten!” Lee shouted, kicking his opponent aside before charging towards the towering knight. Taking a leap, he aimed a kick which could shatter stone at the knight’s head. In a flurry of movement, despite all Lee’s speed even with his weights on, the black knight’s arm came up and blocked the blow with a resounding crash. Lee winced as he felt the pain suddenly recoil in his limbs along with the cracking of the weight seals he wore under his leg warmers. Looking at the knight, he saw that the armor didn’t even dent and showed absolutely no strain from taking the blow in the first place.

Gravity soon reasserted itself and the black knight carelessly tossed Lee aside, sending him sprawling into the far wall with a loud crash.

“Tsk!” Neji frowned, watching his teammate fail. He quickly activated his Byakugan and struck several key points in his opponent’s body which his armor did not protect, disabling him easily if not outright crippling him. That annoyance dealt with, he turned to face the knight threatening his team...only to flinch at the pure amount of chakra that composed the man’s body.

‘What is this?’ Neji thought to himself, pushing forward despite the pain in his eyes, similar to the one someone may have felt by looking directly into a bright light. Coming upon the knight’s back, he lashed out with a Jyuuken strike which when placed properly, could cripple an opponent or kill them with enough force. He felt the blow connect and he was sure he strike the right place…

...but nothing happened.

The black knight didn’t show a reaction and his chakra did not reveal any either. He noticed the attack though and simply backhanded Neji across the face, sending him stumbling backwards against another wall with a thunderous crash. Both young men were temporarily put out of the fight, the sheer force from the blows putting their minds in a whirl despite how careless they seemed.

Distractions dealt with, the knight finally approached Tenten, looking down at her. Tenten trembled, trying to will her body to move anywhere so long as it was away from the knight. Sadly, the pain and lack of chakra kept her where she was. For a long moment, Tenten’s eyes stared at the knight’s helmet and she was sure her death had come. The knight remained silent but then kneeled down, his armor clanking loudly against the stone ground. Reaching to her, he grasped the kunai that was stuck in her shoulder.

“Nk!” Tenten whimpered in pain.

“Bite down on something.”

Tenten blinked, hearing a deep and rich voice suddenly speak to her. Looking at the black knight’s armored face, she almost gave voice to her questioning. Did he just tell her to bite down on something? He was going to kill her wasn’t he? Why should he care if she needed to bite down on something to deal with the pain.

“Removing this weapon is going to hurt and having something to bite down on will help deal with the pain,” the voice spoke, this time coming from the black knight.

Tenten grunted, but used her good arm to untie her hitae-ate and clench the fabric in her mouth. Why she was trusting the word of the one supposed to kill her she wasn’t sure. She would later blame it on blood loss and chakra exhaustion. As soon as the fabric was in her mouth though, the knight gave a sharp tug and yanked the kunai out, causing Tenten to groan in muffled pain. The obstruction out, the knight took Tenten’s good hand and pressed it against the wound.

Tenten at least had the strength to try and stem the bleeding. At least the metal wasn’t scraping against her bones and she could still feel everything she was supposed to in her arm. Wincing, she spat out her hitae-ate and looked to the knight. She was about to ask something when she saw something happening to the kunai he had pulled out. The small blade was being covered in a black chakra of some sort with red veins spreading over it. Looking at it, Tenten could tell that it was no longer just a kunai. It didn’t look like a weapon that a ninja would wield anymore. It looked like a weapon that he would wield.

“Ransurotto! What it taking so long? Kill her!” the leader of the Takumi-nins snapped.

The man growled, his visor flashing red before he stood up, his back still turned. His shoulders were beginning to tremble slightly, “You, who would claim to be my Master...dare to order me to murder children?!”

The leader frowned, “I was the one who summoned you Ransurotto! You will do as I say!”

The knight’s visor shifted from a deep azure blue to crimson red, “You make one mistake in that claim. You were not the only one powering the ritual!”

The leader of the Takumi-nins looked on in confusion, “What are you saying? The seal showing I am the Master is right he-!” He raised his hand to show he was the Master of the summoning, but he cut himself off when he noticed that other than the scars one accumulates through life as a weapon-maker, there were no seals to show that his ritual had been successful.

Tenten frowned and looked down her pained arm at the back of her own hand. What she at first thought was pain burning down her nerves soon was revealed to have been something else. Marked on the back of her hand was a blood red seal which looked like a katana with twin ribbons wrapped around it.

“Looks like that’s me,” Tenten grinned, causing the leader of the rebel group to pale.

The Takumi-nins all began to pale, realizing that their secret weapon had been usurped and turned against them. He scrambled back towards his men as Gai used the distraction to reach his students and ensure their safety. None of the Takumi-nins took notice of him as they were still focused on the black knight, preparing for when he would know doubt attack.

The leader of the rogues quickly made a handseal and hidden seals on his shoulder pads activated before unleashing white plumes of smoke. When it cleared, he was wearing some kind of metal backpack while on his shoulders were a pair of rectangular boxes that had storage scrolls attached to a belt being fed into them.

“A shame we cannot keep Ransurotto, but we still have plenty to begin our campaign with! So its time for all of you to die!” He made another handseal and the twin boxes came to life, the belts pulling a storage scroll into each of them. Smoke exhaled from the back of the machines before both made loud noises…

*THOOM! THOOM!*

From his vantage point, Neji activated his Byakugan again as he tried to see what the strange machines the Takumi-nins were using were. With his ability to see through materials, he could see that the storage scrolls were loaded inside the machine and unrolled with special hooks which would catch as the machine was loaded. Then a small amount of chakra would unseal the first of the contained items, looking like a katana in one chamber and a spear in another, before another pulse of chakra launched the weapons with ferocious velocity at the black knight and Tenten.

With explosive tags on the both of them!

“Ten-!”

*BOOOM*

“TENTEN!” Lee shouted, horrified at the thought of his youthful teammate being killed by the enemy ninjas.

“Ha!” the leader of the Takumi-nins laughed, pleased with his swift victory. As the smoke began to lift, he expected to see a mangled body or two. When the smoke did clear though, his jaw promptly dropped when he saw that not only was Tenten still alive, but the knight was untouched and was even holding the katana launched at him in his free hand! The item was now a black sword with more red lines chaotically spreading across its surface, but it was the same sword.

“How...how did he survive?!” one of the Takumi-nins gasped in shock.

Neji was likewise in shock at what he had witnessed. Although his Byakugan didn’t offer the same ability to see things in slow motion like the Sharingan, it did offer the ability to see things in precise detail.  As the katana had come closer to Ransuotto, the man had actually ducked underneath the blade before twisting around and then catching the damn thing, spreading the black chakra through it. Still moving, he then swung at the approaching spear, shattering it and setting off the explosive tags without a single bit of debris touching Tenten.

‘It’s impossible! Those kinds of reflexes, the speed, and then to be able to use a weapon he likely never held to strike something as thin as a spear coming as fast as it was! He...he can’t be human!’ Neji thought furiously to himself, never having heard of any sort of human being able to achieve such skill before.

Ransurotto remained silent, although Tenten could hear harsh breathing coming inside of the suit. He was angry, no doubt about it and it wasn’t going to be assuaged by just swatting some weapons out of the air.

“All of you unseal your launchers! I want them turned into pincushions!” The leader of the men snapped, forcing all of them to unseal similar machines on their shoulders. Locking their storage scrolls into place, they began launching more weapons at the Mistress and her Servant.

Ransurotto moved into action. He threw the kunai he held and knocked a scythe out of the air before a swing of his katana smashed a pair of spears aside. A large cleaver-like axe came in close only to be caught by him and turned black before it was turned onto the other weapons, swatting them aside our just destroying them when he struck them out of the air. Several of them exploded, being adorned with exploding tags but the explosions were small, made to hurt people with a near miss. He then threw the katana, knocking a large sword out of the air before catching it a it came back down and knocking another spear away.

While Gai, Neji, and Lee kept to the sides, unable to muster up the speed to traverse the barrage thanks to their wounds or having to carry the injured, Tenten could only gape at the man who was defending her. Each weapon he held was just a junk weapon, low grade and meant to be cast off. But every time he grabbed one, he wielded it like a master, as if he had been using them his entire life. Watching him use each weapon without a flaw in his stance, even using two drastically different weapons at once was just a bigger inspiration to her, confirming she could be great if she stuck to her path. Watching him split a large sword down the middle with his cleaver axe was just plain awesome though.

The knight looked up at the next approaching weapon, identifying it as a ball of clay wrapped in explosive tags and with several kunai embedded in it. Snarling, he swiped at it with his cleaver, cutting it down the middle and causing it to explode. More smoke filled the room as kunai were launched in all directions, but the ninjas were able to avoid them or they missed altogether. A slight lull came from the other end, making the Takumi-nins stop shooting, thinking that they had managed to kill the knight and the kunoichi. Their guess was quickly proven wrong when the smoke seemed to explode and a pair of swords came spinning out of the darkness, actually curving through the air as a boomerang would before slicing into the Takumi-nins killing three apiece. With the ones the rest of Team Gai had taken down previously, only the leader and two others remained.

The three were frozen as the smoke dissipated once again, revealing Ransurotto with Tenten against the wall behind him, looking up at him in awe. Gripped in his hands were his axe and katana, clenched tightly as he stared at the three ninjas with his red visor.

“F-F-fire aga-!” the leader tried to order.

*SHUNK!*

The order never reached his lips as his men were impaled on his right or cleaved nearly in two on his left. Across from him, Ransurotto lowered his arms from where he threw the weapons and was already leaning down to scoop up a spear which he had swatted aside earlier. The item turned deadly black with the corrosive red veins passing through it. Standing up, he lifted the spear and jabbed the butt of it into the ground, prepared to fight once again.

“Ah...ah...ah…” the leader gulped, torn between trying to defend his pride and saving his own skin. The decision was quickly taken out of his hands when Gai landed behind him and chopping him at the back of the neck, knocking him out.

Seeing the battle was over, Ransurotto’s breath began to calm down and the red glow in his visor slowly turned back to the azure blue that it was before. Tossing the spear to the side, he kneeled down to Tenten once again, inspecting her wound.

“The wound is deep Master,” he reported. “Medical attention is going to be required.”

“I got some medical supplies with me,” Tenten winced, shifting in her spot. “Just let my team help treat me and we can get out of here.”

“Team?” Ransurotto questioned, prompting Tenten to point at the only living and conscious people in the room. “Ah, forgive my earlier attacks then. I did not know who was on my Master’s side and who was truly her enemy.”

“Yosh!” Lee grinned, finally getting up. “Think nothing of it my dark friend! It was utterly youthful of you to be so protective of our teammate!”

“But just who,” Neji grunted as he stood up, “are you Ransurotto?”

The black knight stiffened and glanced over his shoulder at the men, “Do not ever reveal that name to anybody. It is too dangerous. There are ears everywhere and it would be too easy for others to learn my name, bastardized as it is in the local dialect.”

“Will my student be in danger for enacting the summoning contract with you?” Gai frowned, looking unnervingly serious for a change. He didn’t like the sound of the knight’s explanation. Oddball he may have been, but Gai was fiercely protective of his students.

“Unfortunately, during the Holy Grail War, that is a certainty,” the knight nodded, turning back to his Master.

“Then...if you do not wish to be known by your name, what shall we call you?” asked Lee.

“By my Class name,” the knight replied, helping Tenten stand up.

“Class name?” asked Neji.

“Berserker.”

To Be Continued…

A/N: And two more players take the stage. Tsunade hints that there may be more going on than just the traditional Holy Grail War while another Servant seeking redemption appears to fight the secret fight.