Naruto, Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. Chapter 1

**Sword Art Online: Eyes Of Hatred**

**Part One: To Be Drawn**

Authors note-

Yo, well I love the Sword Art Online light novels and I think so far the anime has been pretty damned badass too so I figure why the hell not make a crossover. Our little story starts on level two of Aincrad a month after the defeat of the fist boss, Naruto takes the stage of our main character and will run into Kirito and Asuna on occasion but most of his story will be with other Naruto characters with the occasional Sword Art Online Characters dropping in and out.

Also whoever he falls in love with is up to the readers to a degree, as you all may have noticed I am a massive Kushina fan boy, I make no apologies for that either. Because if Naruto and Kushina were not related then they would be made for each other. But I digress, readers can make suggestions on the pairing but if I don't like your reason/argument for why I should write that girl as Naruto's love interest then it will go to Kushina by default. Hell I might even give the place to Kushina even if I like your argument, do not say that I didn't warn you.

Also before anyone wants to get on my back about me having enough stories on the go already I did take some of them down pending rewrite or permanent deletion, I haven't decided which yet. Not including Mugetsu in that, that's only having two chapters rewritten I am talking about different stories.

At any rate thank Zimbolical for the beta job, now on with the show!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

**'Sword Arts when being used not talked about'**

**Story Start-**

A huge castle made of stone and steel floating in an endless sky.

That was all this world was.

It took a varied group of craftsmen one month to survey the place; the diameter of the base floor was about 10 kilometres—large enough that the entirety of Setagaya-ku would fit on it. Above, there were 100 floors stacked directly on top of each other; its sheer size was unbelievable. It was impossible to even guess how much data it consisted of.

Inside, there were a couple of large cities and countless small towns and villages, forests and plains, even lakes. Only one stairway linked each floor to another, and the stairways were in dungeons where large numbers of monsters roamed, so discovering and getting through was no easy matter. However, once someone broke through and arrived at a city in the higher floor, the «Teleport Gates» there and in every city in the lower floors would connect, making it possible for anyone to move freely through these levels.

Under these conditions, the huge castle has only just begun to be conquered over the last seven months. The current front line is the 2nd floor.

The name of the castle was Aincrad, a world of battles with swords that continued floating and had engulfed approximately ten thousand people. Otherwise known as...

Sword Art Online

**XXX**

"SHIT!"The word was torn from the lips of the blond who had just ducked the attack of the lizard man in front of him. He saw his health go down, almost completely, depleted by the attack, he watched the opponent in front of him and raised the one handed sword gripped in his right hand, he charged forward, a sky blue light enveloping the blade the low level one handed sword charge skill **' Rush'**. The sky blue blade cut straight through the soft belly of his opponent and the lizard man gave one last forlorn cry before being destroyed, breaking apart into countless small pixels. This is the death of this world. It is instantaneous and short, a perfect destruction, not leaving even a single trace.

The blond fell to his knees and breathed in deeply, not that he actually needed to breath he was just data after all, he looked at the green bar in the corner of his vision and it was only about twenty percent full. No that wasn't quite true. It would be more accurate to say that right now the blond was about eighty percent closer to death. "Deactivate Sharingan" he muttered, the red iris and one tome inside both his eyes disappeared. The blond let out another shuddering breath that had been way to close for comfort. The blond put his right index finger and thumb together and pulled down, bringing up the main menu window and quickly hitting the item tab and clicking on his potion, the item dropped into his waiting hand with a ding. He wasted no time in popping the top and drinking deeply, it tasted a little like green tea, thirty seconds and he would be back to full health. The blond stood up and walked to a tree before gratefully allowing himself to lay against it and sink down. The seasons in Aincrad were modelled after the real world and it was warm today, a spring breeze rushing through the air. The blond almost felt like he could fall asleep, almost, he knew very well that he was still in monster territory and needed to be careful otherwise he would likely indulge his urge. Namikaze Naruto, know inside Aincrad as Basara forced himself to his feet.

Seven months, it had been seven months and they had only just made it to the second floor of Aincrad. It made the blond wonder how long it would take to get out, if they could even get out. Naruto, if he was honest with himself, was disgusted with himself, the clearing party that went after the boss, he could have been part of it and yet he just decided to wave it off, he was scared, scared of dying. Not that it was an irrational fear, everyone on some level or another is scared of dying, it didn't change the fact that Naruto was ashamed of his actions or lack thereof. If he had been part of the party he probably could have stopped people from dying, but he hadn't and he didn't, Naruto had resolved to change that when the next boss fight came around. It was why he was out here now training his ass off after all. Naruto had yet to find a weapon that fit him, as it were, the blond had narrowed it down to a few different choices, one-handed swords, two-handed swords, short swords and curved swords. All of them felt at home in the blonds hand but in the end Naruto knew he was going to have to make a choice sooner or later. Or else his level would out strip his skill and that could be deadly.

The blond shrugged his somewhat morbid thinking off and walked in the direction of the town, constantly keeping his scan skill going. He would almost be willing to kill for Ichiraku ramen but he would never find it in this world, Naruto knew that, the two Ichiraku were the only people that really cared for Naruto. His father had dumped him in an orphanage and he had no idea who his mother was, he liked to think that she cared about him though. Still, Naruto shook the train of thought off again and headed back to the second level town, he would have a big day ahead of him once more tomorrow and he could spend his time on better pursuits than thinking about why his father was a jackass or who his mother was, neither of which helped him right now.

**XXX**

In another part of the MMO world, a man named Heathcliff looked at his menu window and his eyes widened, the first of the twenty unique skills had been obtained. The wielder of the Sharingan had awoken.

And the legend of the cursed eyes of hatred had begun.

**Chapter one End.**

If anyone wondered where the name Basara came from it is from a manga called Yureka, Basara is universally regarded as the strongest character in that manga. Or at least he should be if you ever actually saw one of his fights. It should be noted that Yureka is a lot like SAO in that most of the setting is within a virtual world, also though we never get to see Basara fight that often when he does it tends to be a curb stomp battle in his favour. Hell at one point they are fighting the final boss who has thus far destroyed everyone he has fought and the guy remarks that Basara has more health and has done more damage to him ALONE than the rest of party put together.

To put that in perspective, this is the final boss of the final dungeon. A team of nine not including Basara was sent in, almost all of them were max level or close to it. And this guy does more damage ALONE than the rest of them put together.

Also I can't really choose what kind of weapon I wanted Naruto to use so I gave a few different options. I will let the readers decide what weapon Naruto will use in the end, that will be decided by the end of the first arc, that's around three chapters away.

Now originally I was going to make him a two-handed sword user. Because when you actually stop and think about it being able to freely wield a sword the size of a fucking park bench should be a really badass feat. But considering every generic action guy and their dog seems to have one in anime fighting with a giant sword has become less of a skill of masculinity and more of a compensator for something they lack. Like ego or strength or intelligence or more likely a penis, but I digress, I leave the weapon choice to the readers.

See you all next time!


	2. Chapter 2

**Sword Art Online: Eyes Of Hatred**

**Part One: To Be Drawn**

Authors note-

Nothing really to say here except that the weapon count is currently at-

Ninjato- 1 vote

Trench Knives- 1 vote

Tachi- 1 vote

Spear- 1 vote

Chokuto- 2 votes

Curved Swords- 1 vote

I think it was Cloves who said a Scythe, sorry but that is one weapon I wont do. If you actually look at it's functionality as a weapon it's pretty damn low. It's slow, it's clumsy, top heavy, the list goes on. There is a reason it was not used as a weapon on ancient battlefields.

At any rate that is where the weapon votes stand currently, than Zimbolical for his Beta job and now lets get to it!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Sword Arts when being used not just talked about" **

**Story Start-**

The blond sighed as he walked back towards the small town, Sharingan, it really was an amazing ability. Though like anyone who had a brain would tell you, if it helps you then it probably is going to cost you something. That could not be more true when it came to the Sharingan, the ability type was a supplementary one, it didn't grant him any more power in battle or some kind of cool move, no, the only thing the Sharingan did was make him able to view the world more slowly than others. At level one he could see everything twice as slowly as normal, at level two three times as slowly and finally at level three he would be able to view events four times slower than normal. Naturally something like that came at a cost, at level one it cost Naruto 25 points of health per ten seconds to keep it active, to Naruto who was level twelve and only had 632 health that became a real drain if he kept it up for to long. Thankfully there was a way to make that drain go down. It was just hard as hell to actually get. In order to advance the Sharingan to the next level, e.g. level two, Naruto had to kill two hundred monsters with the Sharingan active, more over they had to be within five levels of him. That was a mighty tall order, still Naruto had stated on it, so far the blond had 83 Sharingan active kills under his belt. However when the Sharingan advanced to level two the drain on his health would go down as well. From 25 to 15 points per ten seconds, third level would take away the health cost completely but in exchange Naruto had to kill 600 enemies within five levels of him with level two active that was a mighty tall order.

The blond tramped into the small town and headed to the nearest inn, dear Kami he was tired. Naruto pushed open the door, it was a rather small establishment, but that was fine with him, Naruto disliked crowed places. It was a rather rustic building, small, quaint, cosy, kind of reminded him of his apartment. Naruto lived alone after all, he wasn't one of the lucky ones who had been adopted and still he liked his apartment. The blond gave a quick nod to the inn keeper and walked up the stairs, he knew the inn keeper was an NPC but he didn't really care about it, it was more a cause of habit than anything else. The blond pulled the door open and almost collapsed on the bed, sighing in contentment, he just wanted to sleep, it was almost seven at night and he had been grinding his level since six that morning. Still he was approaching the level cap for the area, if he had to guess Naruto would say he would stop advancing in level at 15, still even when that happened he could still work on his skill mastery.

Naruto's ten skill slots were filled with a variety of different skills.

One-handed Swords, mastery 106 points

Scan, mastery 102 points

Battle healing, mastery 47 points

Acrobatics, mastery 87 points

Two-handed swords, mastery 54 points

Curved swords, mastery 78 points

Short swords, mastery 83 points

Sharingan, level 1 117 kills remaining

Blade Throwing, mastery 54 points

Tracking, mastery 125 points

Naruto grimaced as he looked at the skill slots, he really needed to figure out what weapon to stick with and that way he could have some more space. The blond shook the idea off and opened his item menu, he had plenty of money, that much was for sure, but he did need some new equipment. Then again he was a solo player so that was kind of a given, Naruto grimaced, a solo player. It was something he hated and loved at the same time, on one hand he didn't have to rely on anyone, on the other it could be damned lonely at times. Still it was also the reason he had the Sharingan to start with, when he received the skill he was informed why. It was also noted that he was now part of the nemesis system. Sharingan was given to two individuals of differing ideals. E.g. his Sharingan was awarded to Naruto for being the non-beta tester player that had been a solo player for the longest at the end of six months. Another provision on it had been that he had also not killed a player unless in self-defence, as it stood Naruto had killed no one.

The other Sharingan was awarded to the player that had killed the most other players in the last six months and been in the most parties. The two differing wielders became part of the nemesis system, Naruto had no idea who the other wielder was but if he met them instead of a normal targeting reticule over them he would see a Sharingan eye. If the blond had to guess he would say that Kayaba Akihiko was deriving some kind of sick pleasure of imagining if the two differing people in the nemesis system would kill each other based on their differing ideals. Naruto shook the thought off, he could deal with the other Sharingan wielder if and when he found them, the blond quickly put his clothing back in his menu and slipped into his bed, it was going to be a long day tomorrow.

**XXX**

The blond yawned as he heard the sound of wind chimes, his alarm clock. Today was going to be a big day after all, The blond shrugged as his normal clothes appeared on his body, black boot and pants, a white shirt and a blue jacket, an iron piandao on his hip, the blond had decided to indulge himself and test his ability with a curved sword today. He really needed to make that decision and soon, the blond sighed and opened up his inventory and noted the five missing coll and his paper, since there was no T.V or internet in Aincrad the newspaper became the foremost way to gain information. Virtually every player in Aincrad had already subscribed to the publication, which really was quite the steal at only five coll every three days.

Unfortunately Naruto wasn't interested in the general goings on in Aincrad today, no today he was looking for a quick way to make a buck, he could use some new equipment after all. The blond tapped the seemingly innocent looking piece of parchment opening up half a dozen sub-windows, Naruto ignored the more intriguing sections and clicked on the personals, 'lets see here' the blond mused to himself. Guard a lumber merchant? 'boring' gain materials for potion making, 'boring', Search for the hero's water, 'bor- hello' Naruto grinned and clicked on the small piece of text. A small ding accompanied the enlargement of the text, Naruto quickly read over the quest parameters, he liked this already.

Quest Name: Search For The Heroes Water.

Recommended Party Size: Seven to Ten

Location: Mirror Forest, Floor Two

Recommended Level: Nine to Thirteen

Rewards: Bottle Of Heroes Water, permanent increase of strength, dexterity and speed by three when drunk. Item can only be used once per character. 1500 coll upon completion, loot on a need or greed basis.

Party forming Friday Seventh of September at nine am. At fountain inside Formantalil town, floor two. Party leader Shibuki, accepting all positions.

Naruto checked his clock, eight thirty am, he could still make it. The blond ran out of the room slamming the door behind him, not even bothering to nod to the NPC innkeeper on his way out, a first. The blond sprinted down the street blue jacket streaming out behind him, his acrobatics skill made itself apparent when he used it to vault off a wall and onto a roof before continuing his run, leaving more than a few people gawking at his actions. Not his fault that they didn't know that the roofs were a highway too, if you could reach them that was. The acrobatics skill was simple really. It was how high one could jump and how far one could fall without incurring damage. It also helped balance. Somehow, Naruto had no idea how that was even possible but decided not to question it. Sometimes it was better to just accept things rather than try to put some kind of sense to them that was just the way the world, both Aincrad and the real, worked at times.

The blond dropped back to street level as the fountain came into view. There were already around fifteen people waiting around for the meeting to begin, Naruto sighed, he really hoped there weren't going to be any disagreements, but in a group this size it was unavoidable. The blond sighed and kicked back against a wall, a cloaked figure coming to rest next to him "so how have you been Argo?" Naruto asked, the girl next to him shrugged. She was a rather small thing with whisker like marks on her cheeks. At a glance one wouldn't guess she was the best information broker in Aincrad. The two had met when Naruto had helped Argo against an overly large mob of monsters, the two had been on good terms since, though the blond still felt she overcharged him for information, though he doubted she did it as badly to him as she did to others.

"Fairly good Basara and yourself?" The small green haired girl asked, Naruto shrugged.

"Can't complain, I take it this isn't a social call" it was a statement on Naruto's part. The green haired girl shook her head.

"Nope sorry, I promise one day it will be" Naruto snorted at that, earning him a gentle slap on the arm from the information broker. "At any rate I take it you are here for the quest for the heroes water right?" she questioned, Naruto nodded, the green haired girl nodded in turn. "Good choice there's apparently a decent weapon drop from one of the NPC's you'll have to fight." The girl confided, Naruto's eyebrows rose.

"NPC's? Human shaped? Not monsters?" He confirmed, Argo nodded before pushing off the wall.

"That makes us square, next time you have to pay for the info" she told him, Naruto just nodded. "See you later then Basara" Argo finished before vanishing into an ally, Naruto didn't bother looking for her even knowing the ally was a dead end, by the time he got there she would have been long gone anyway.

The blond opened his menu to pass the time, ten skill slots were filled, ten was all you started with, apparently it could go up to twelve but you needed to find two special items for that, Naruto made a mental note to ask Argo about it later. There was a good chance she would know, even if she would likely overcharge him for the info, still the broker was Naruto's only real friend inside Aincrad so there weren't really a lot of people he could ask. Even if their 'friendship' was more of a mutually beneficial trade agreement.

He sighed and looked at the sky, ten minutes left. Hopefully the wait wouldn't be too boring. The blond spent the next ten minutes fiddling with the menu and not really paying attention until a voice called them over, he shut the window and walked to the fountain. The man looked about the same as Naruto's sixteen years, grey pants, black boots, green leather armour on his chest, sword and shield on his back. Some players that saw Naruto wondered why he didn't have a shield. After all he only needed one hand for his piandao, the truth of why he lacked one lay in his Sharingan. In order to make full use of the skill Naruto needed to be as fast as possible, a shield would slow him down too much. As well as obscure his vision on occasion, not something he needed as his Sharingan kind of relied on actually being able to see the enemy.

The blond looked somewhat bored as he watched the brown haired man bring them to order. "Okay I take it your all here for the quest then?" He asked, sounding somewhat unsure of himself, Naruto had to throttle the urge to reply 'no we're here for the 50% off shoe sale, what the fuck do you think we're here for?' The man, Shibuki, Naruto recalled, looked around and assessed the fifteen men and women standing around. Well woman would be more exact, as there was only one, Naruto couldn't see much of her but by the look of things she had red hair. The blond sighed, there was going to be trouble here he could just see it coming, the recommended group size was seven to ten, that probably meant that the max group size was ten as well, twelve if they were lucky. Then again the more people that came in the bigger the chance Naruto would have to split loot he wanted with someone else, that didn't sit well with the blond.

The fifteen including Naruto let out a resounding 'yes' and Shibuki sighed. Naruto could already tell what were coming, too many people and not enough spaces. They needed to cull the numbers. Shibuki confirmed his thoughts "well we have a small problem" the brown haired teen admitted, making the others in the group pay attention. "The max amount we can party with while doing the quest in dungeon is ten we need to cut down the numbers." The man admitted, causing a stir of discontent amongst the others. Naruto just loosened his piandao in its sheath, he got the feeling he was going to need it, and soon.

"How do you plan to do that?" Came a calm and collected voice from the back of the group, Naruto could already tell who it came from. The man was a giant standing and impressive 180cm his body fully muscled, his head was bald and the man was carrying a gigantic battleaxe on his back. Agil, the man was already quite a well known merchant. Add to that Argo had once told him that the man was unbiased towards Beta testers, which earned him some points in Naruto's book. After all Argo herself was a Beta tester and Naruto held no animosity towards her, anyone who hated someone because they had an advantage was just being petty.

That was especially true in a death game like this, the argument was that if the Beta testers made themselves known then more people would be alive today. Naruto didn't buy that for a second, there were exactly one thousand Beta testers in Sword Art Online. There were a grand total of ten thousand players. Even if they had stuck around to help the increase in survival would have been minuscule at best. That was doubly true when one considered that out of those one thousand BETA testers some were bound to get themselves and other people killed because of things like overconfidence.

Not only that but a teacher student ratio of one to ten is a pretty shitty ratio after all, or at least it is when the BETA tester would have to teach some people everything from the ground up and that being said what was in it for the BETA testers anyway? People seemed to want them to teach them one on one for nothing when it was entirely possible that their information may no longer be completely reliable in the complete version of SAO. Hell Naruto had actually heard of a few BETA testers who had actually stayed around and helped people, when their information was wrong they were almost lynched, and don't even get him started on those morons that wouldn't form party's with other people unless everyone wasn't a BETA tester. Or worse, would demand that any and all BETA testers come out in front of the group and apologise as well as give up their share of the loot, he had actually seen that happen once, no BETA tester came forward naturally but where the hell did people get off making demands like that anyway!? Naruto personally held no animosity towards the testers, after all they did compile a free help book for others and honestly that was probably the best help they could actually give.

The blond turned his attention back to Shibuki who looked rather unsure of himself. Naruto could already tell he was going to hate working with this guy. That being said the chance of a good weapon, heroes water and money, he wasn't about to pass that up. Naruto was a practical man after all, "well I was thinking we could have a few duels and who ever won I could take with me" Shibuki tried, Naruto held in a sigh, the guy was not what one would call leadership material, but he would do.

"And why would should we do that surely there was another way to decide this!" one of the men yelled out, Naruto sighed, that was it he had enough. The blond spun, the blade came clear of the sheath of his waist and slammed into the air before the speaker, being repelled in a flash of purple as the system kicked in and prevented Naruto from harming the man. The only thing the system didn't negate was the physical force behind the blow which still sent the man back, Naruto stepped in front of him, piandao still drawn and gleaming in the sunlight, a bored expression on his face. "What the hell did you do that for!?" The man demanded of him, Naruto looked him over once. Nothing special, around 162cm, blue hair, glasses, two-handed sword, grey eyes.

Naruto shrugged in response to the man's question. "Well since we're probably going to decide this by fighting anyway I figured I would just pick out my opponent now rather than listen to you bitch for the next few minutes." He admitted, causing most of the group to look at him like he was crazy, the man he had attacked included. "I take it we were going to decide this by duelling right Shibuki?" Naruto called back, getting a hesitant yes from the group leader. Naruto instantly brought up the menu window and went to the duel option and selected the man in front of him, setting the option to 50% health. The duels rules were quite simple the two would fight until one of them reached less than 50% health the winner would go on the quest and the loser would fuck off, it was simple, Naruto liked simple.

The man across from him accepted the duel and drew his sword, Naruto gave it a quick once over, it was a simple steel great sword, the same as the one in his inventory. The blond didn't activate the Sharingan, he wanted to keep his trump card a secret as long as possible. The counter appeared before them counting back from twenty. From the way the man was standing he would be going for the basic charge skill of the two handed sword, **Crushing Strike**, Naruto twisted his body slightly to produce less of a target and hid the blade of the piandao behind him, he would end this as fast as he could. The counter went down and Naruto felt the world contract to the point of his opponent's sword, the buzzer sounded and the two raced forward, he had been right. The two-handed sword glowed green, Naruto twisted allowing the blow to pass him by, his own sword covered in a blood red glow, the blade flashed forward, striking the man's neck and thigh in quick succession. The basic curved sword combo skill **'Twin Fang' **Naruto smiled as he watched the man's health drop to eighty percent, he landed in a crouch after the two attacks and the piandao glowed sky blue. The blade came straight up, cutting him from groin to shoulder, before flipping back over and cutting at his neck, stomach and kidney in short order. **'Rough Divide'** The man's health bar went from eighty to fifty in a second, Naruto stood and sheathed his sword, as the bell announcing him as the winner sounded, Naruto just walked over and sat next to Shibuki who looked decidedly uncomfortable, but Naruto didn't really care, he was in after all.

**XXX**

Most of the other matches were just as short as his own. Not that it was overly surprising to the blond, you could normally tell who the competent people were just by looking. Agil crushed his opponent with one attack using the pure power that his battleaxe brought to the table, many would consider that to be a little bit of a simplified use of a weapon but a battleaxe wasn't built for subtlety. Naruto almost covered his balls and groaned when the girl fought, she one in three moves, the first was a slash to the throat, the second a stab to the liver and the final was a stab straight to her opponents dangly bits. The girl was a virtuoso with a short sword. They were the competent ones, the others had fights ranging from one minute to five, so Naruto lumped them in the meat shield category in the back of his head. Still in the end they had reasonably competent party of ten. Including Naruto, Egil, the girl, Shibuki, two other sword and shield users, a spear user, a mace user and two dagger users.

Shibuki added them all to one party before looking around at the assembled group. "Okay then, before we start the quest we have to get to the mirror forest, once inside the tracker will point us in the right direction. Eventually we will arrive at a small hidden village called Takigakure, that's the main stage where the quest plays out. If anyone needs some potions or something I would suggest stocking up now, Takigakure apparently has no shops and is instead only used for this quest so be careful. We will meet by the north gate in an hour and a half to begin." Naruto re-evaluated the man's leadership ability, maybe he wasn't so bad. The blond called up his menu window and looked over his items, he could actually use some more potions, Naruto jumped onto a nearby roof top, again ignoring the shocked looks he received.

It didn't take the blond very long to gather everything he needed and arrive at the north gate. Naruto yawned, damn he wanted this just to be over already. It was twenty minutes later when the others started trickling in, first Egil then the girl and finally the cannon fodder. All of who Naruto paid very little attention to, Naurto almost wished Argo was there, almost. Shibuki walked out to the front of the group and looked them over, once he was sure everyone was there he called them over. "Okay then it should take us about an hour to reach the mirror forest and about thirty minutes after that to reach Takigakure. Is anyone missing or do you need to grab anything before we leave?" The brown haired teen asked, the others shook their heads and the group proceeded out the gates, Naruto sighed, why did this feel like the start of a very long day?

**Chapter Two- End**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sword Art Online: Eyes Of Hatred**

**Part One: To Be Drawn**

Authors note-

Not much to say here except to tell you the weapon count and to thank Zimbolical for his Beta work and on the note of the weapon count I will now be counting Katana and Taichi as the same thing. Yes I know they are technically different but in my defence a game would most likely not make that distinction. On top of that this is the last chapter to vote for a weapon as Naruto will receive the weapon next chapter.

Ninjato- 2 vote

Trench Knives- 1 vote

Spear- 1 vote

Chokuto- 2 votes

Curved Swords- 1 vote

Katana- 4

**Story Start-**

Naruto sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day, he was really beginning to hate the people he was partying with. The blond fought the urge to face palm hearing the argument between one of the sword and shield users and a dagger user flare up again, the two 'debating', and he used the term loosely, about which of their styles were better. Under normal circumstances Naruto would have actually enjoyed listening to that argument, but it had long since devolved into the two yelling at each other about which weapon was better. Dear sweet Kami this was starting to grate on him, he was starting to see more upsides to being a solo player, should have just stuck with what he knew. The blond threw a look back at their 'fearless' leader, who was doing nothing to shut the two the hell up, not that it was really his job to do that but come on, he was the leader shouldn't he at least make the effort?

The girl, Naruto still hadn't bothered to find out her name, looked over at Shibuki. "What rank does this quest class as again?" She asked sounding tired, she probably felt the same as Naruto did just then. That being barely able to restrain herself from killing the morons that were arguing.

Shibuki looked a little shocked at the question before he responded. "It's only a C rank but the rewards are at the level of a B rank" the brown haired man answered. The girl nodded, before turning her attention back to the trail, likely reminding herself of the reward in order to avoid doing first degree murder to the two arguing morons.

Quests in Aincrad could be divided into five categories.

D rank- low reward, low pay, but on the flip side they were quick to complete and had very little risk to the player.

C rank- moderate reward, moderate pay, medium risk to the player, the chance of death on these was quite real. They also took longer and normally were part of some kind of in game story, but the pay off was far better than a D rank. Which was almost always a non-combat item, C ranks normally had a decent reward of Coll and a decent item should the player be able to complete them.

B rank- moderate reward, moderate pay, risk slightly higher than a C rank, but by extension the pay was better as were the rewards.

A rank- high reward, high pay, very risky even in a party but the rewards and pay were far better than that of a B rank, the chance of an enemy dropping better gear was high.

S rank- Naruto had never even seen an S rank quest, hell he had only seen one A rank so far, but apparently the guide book listed those quests as, and he quoted, 'is the money really worth your life?' Yeah he was staying the hell away from an S rank.

That being said about the hierarchy of quests it should always be remembered that the rank a quest is given is based purely upon the level of the receiver. For example a quest given an A ranking to a level two, wouldn't even scrape a C rank to a level twelve, in fact that quest may not even show up on the map at all to a level twelve due to them being too powerful. Everything was graded on a sliding scale.

The blond loosened the blade at his hip, he had been doing that a lot, most likely because he was getting bored doing nothing. Naruto took the time to observe the area around them, the mirror forest. Well at least its title was accurate. If Shibuki didn't have a damned map Naruto was one hundred percent sure he would have had no idea where the hell he was going. Still they really should have let him scout ahead, Naruto filed that idea away for later, if he ever joined a guild or made one, something he didn't see happening, he would push for a scouting corps.

Forest, forest, forest, and more damned forest, hell that hadn't even been attacked by an enemy yet. That being said since the quest was so out of the way there was a fairly good chance that you wouldn't meet any enemies on the way there, probably to lull you into a false sense of security before its start. Though the blond was willing to bet that there would be monsters on the way back, just because it seemed like the kind of dick move he could see Kayaba Akihiko pulling. The blond ignored the slowly growing urge to kill the two arguing morons that still hadn't shut the hell up and kept his eyes focused on finding anything that could attack them from the shadows, Kami bless the scan skill.

Naruto sighed, he might have been data but damn that sun felt good. The blond saw and opening in the forest up ahead and called it back to the group, while loosening his blade again. The clearing opened up and the group was treated to the sight of a giant waterfall, Naruto sighed, waiting for the inevitable reaction.

"Look at the size of that waterfall!" one of the men behind him yelled, Naruto fought the urge to face palm he fought it most fiercely and yet still lost. It wasn't that the waterfall wasn't impressive, it most certainly was a good two hundred meters across and four hundred straight up. The water was coming off of a giant rock face. No the real problem Naruto had with the man's statement was the fact he acted like no one besides him could see the waterfall, moron.

"Okay we've seen the giant waterfall, now fucking what?" The girl asked, Naruto almost sighed, almost.

"Well the village is called Takigakure (The village hidden by the waterfall), I would wager it's behind that mother" Naruto replied pointing at the waterfall.

"Real question is how we get in" Agil added his own two cents, causing Naruto and the girl to nod.

Rustling sounded in the bushes nearby, Naruto had a throwing knife out and ready in less time than it took the others to blink. Aiming it carefully with his left hand as his right grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist. The blonds plan was a simple one. Whatever came out of those bushes would get a knife between the eyes, before he attempted to kill it with the sword. His plans to brutally murder whatever happened to be unlucky enough to come out of the bushes were put to immediate halt when a boy and a girl bust out of them. Both appearing around five years of age, seven maybe, it was so hard to tell with children. The girl was in a pink dress her brown hair up in a pony tail, while the boy was dressed in a green shirt with grey pants. The two NPC children ran up to the party, thankfully, due to being computer programs, they had no idea how close to death they had just come, Naruto shrugged and put the knife back in his belt, he got the feeling he was going to need that later.

The little girl and boy stopped in front of the group, "hey who are you guys?" the boy asked.

"Do you want to go to Takigakure?" the girl inquired. Naruto's jaw almost dropped, and here he thought they were going to have to find some kind of secret entrance or something.

As things turned out it wasn't quite that simple, not the kids had a task they wanted done before they would show them the entrance to Takigakure. Said task being to help collect the rubbish that was collecting in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, and so heavily armed men and a single woman spent some time cleaning, while Naruto swore to himself that he would never work for Shibuki again. Something that was unknowingly mirrored by the girl.

The waterfall behind them exploded, Naruto smiled, now this was what he was talking about! Six enemies, swords only, the blond flicked a throwing knife into each hand before launching them at two of the enemies faster than the others could react. The blond charged forward, he could feel his breathing speed up, this was a rush. He saw the targeting reticule appear in his vision, bandit A and bandit B, excellent he hadn't guessed wrong. The curved blade on his waist jumped out of its scabbard and deflected the first bandits blow high, Naruto twisted, allowing the second blow to sail past him, he closed again, the curved sword glowed a vibrant orange **'Stinger'** he felt his body be pulled forward by the charge skill, the blade ripped though the first man like a hot knife through butter. Naruto twisted to avoid his counter strike, before jumping back to avoid his partners follow up, he could see the others finishing up in his peripheral vision. Naruto charged forward, the first bandit charged his sword glowed blue **'Rush' **Naruto smiled, his own sword glowing blue. The **'Rough Divide' **met the other sword skill with enough force to divert the bandits strike high before following up and cutting his neck, stomach and kidney. Naruto jumped back again, bandit B was down to twenty percent health and bandit A was on ninety.

The blond rushed forward, his blade glowing as his sword skill activated, only to be met with one of the bandits own. The three clashed back and forth each collision causing a multitude if sparks to fly through the air. A blade came at Naruto's groin. Most people would have dodged backwards, Naruto jumped, flying five meters straight up. The blade missing him, Naruto grabbed two more throwing knives from his belt and pelted them at his assailants, the fist buried itself in bandit B's throat, the NPC screamed and broke apart into pixels. Naruto landed lightly on the ground before throwing himself into a backwards roll, narrowly avoiding the blade that tried to take his head from his shoulder. The blond rolled back to his feet just in time to see the bandits head split open by Agil's battleaxe, Naruto sheathed his piandao as he watched the enemies' health drop to zero and smiled. "We lose anyone?" Naruto asked to which Agil shook his massive head.

"No, no casualties, we got lucky" the man stated, Naruto nodded in agreement, they did get lucky that much was for sure. The ten gathered around Shibuki waiting to be told there next move. The girl and boy NPC's ran back to the party.

"Taki must be in trouble!" the girl yelled, Naruto sighed, really? Couldn't who ever the hell wrote this quest at least make some original dialogue, was that really too much to ask?

"Would you help us, PLEASE!?" The boy yelled, a ding sounded and Naruto found himself starring at a message. It was quick and to the point,

_Do you wish to begin Quest __save__ Taki?_

_YES/NO_

Naruto clicked the yes option and smiled as he watched the search for the heroes water quest update. The others must have finished with their choices as the boy brightened up "That's great, please stop the people doing this to Taki" he pleaded, Naruto almost whistled, colour him impressed. Bad dialogue or not who ever voiced the kid did a damned good job, just the right amounts of desperation, fear and hope in the tone. "But you'll all have to go in different entrances. Each of them can only fit four people so I'll wait for you to decide who goes with whom." Another window opened explaining what was happening.

_For the best chance to save Taki you'll have to split up._

_Right now speed is your key, don't wor__ry though._

_The reward for the quest will still be deposited to the entire party._

_Time to choose who you're working with and bid goodbye to your other friends._

_This maybe the last time you see them._

Naruto looked over the message once before walking over to Agil "mind partying with me?" The blond asked, the large man smiled, it was almost childlike in its exuberance.

"I would love to" Agil replied before adding Naruto to his mini party. The large man looked him over quickly after seeing his name. "So you're Basara, you saved Argo awhile back, she's a good kid and a friend of mine too, looks like I'll have to work well with you she would kill me if I let you die." The man said smiling at Naruto, who cracked a slight grin in return.

The cloaked girl stepped up beside the two, Naruto gave her a quick once over. "Don't want to be stuck with the fodder?" He asked as the blond smiled a little wider when he saw a small grin on the girls face.

"Indeed, well would you mind adding me to Agil" the girl asked, she was definitely not an elegant lady that was for sure. He also noted that she was actually a little younger than he was. The axe wielder smiled at the girl and added her to the group.

Before stretching his hand out and taking hers in his and shaking firmly. "Nice to meet you Shurai" the man greeted in his deep baritone.

The three turned as one and saw the other two groups had been made, one with three like themselves and one with four, that particular group included Shibuki. Another ding, Naruto looked down at the message.

_All party's have been gathered, are you ready to begin._

_The fate of both Taki and the heroes water now rests firmly on your shoulders._

_Start the battle for Taki?_

_Yes/No_

Naruto, Agil and Shurai looked at each other before pressing yes, the boy walked over to them.

"Great you decided to help us so I'll show you you're way in first." He said cheerfully before pointing to a small pool of water, Naruto sighed, he knew what was about to come. "That's an underwater tunnel that leads into Taki, go through there it's about thirty meters to the exit." The boy told them, Shibuki looked at the group and Naruto dove head first into the pool, he was not in the mood to listen right now.

The blond was surprised find he could actually see in the tunnel as if it was daylight. Considering the tunnel should have been pitch black he had a right to be surprised. The kid was right to, exactly thirty meters later he came across the exit and quickly headed up breaking the surface and dragging himself out onto dry land, he was in another cave, what was with secret entrances and exits always being in caves, surely someone could have thought of something more original. The surface of the water broke again as the girl, Shurai, Naruto corrected himself, pulled herself up. It was the first time Naruto had seen her without her seemingly trade mark cloak. Red hair, some hanging near her eyes and a little hanging over her left shoulder, the rest hung freely down her back. Blue-violet eyes, okay now he understood the cloak, she probably had people asking her out left right and centre when she didn't wear it.

The water's surface broke again as Agil pushed himself up, lacking his battleaxe, Naruto gave the man a quick questioning look. One that Agil caught "wasn't sure if the axe would get me stuck" he explained. Naruto and Shurei nodded, Agil re-equipped his axe.

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked, straight to business. Shurai looked over at Agil waiting to hear what he had planned. The large man just looked at them for a second.

"Who died and made me leader?" he asked, the two shrugged.

"I couldn't be bothered listening to Shibuki and I imagine you did and I make the assumption he gave you some kind of plan to follow." Naruto admitted, Shurai nodded.

"Ditto" the red haired woman added, Agil just rubbed his fingers together sheepishly.

"You didn't listen either, did you?" Naruto asked Agil shook his head, and Shurai laughed.

"How about we improvise?" the red head suggested.

"What are you thinking?"

"Go out there swords drawn and see what happens" The red head admitted, Naruto shrugged.

"Better than nothing, let's go" the blond declared walking forward to what he hoped would be an exit from the cave, drawing his piandao as he walked.

"Does this even count as a plan?" Agil asked, both Naruto and Shurai chose not to answer, though their collective silence did the answering for then, said answer being a resounding NO. Agil sighed, how did he get into this this mess?

The three got through the small cave without incident, "Wow" Agil said slightly awed. A giant tree rose before them, easily half a kilometre across and probably three times that in hight, Naruto couldn't help but agree. The only person unimpressed was Shurai.

"It's a giant fucking tree" the red head stated before turning to walk off, "in case you both forgot we have a job to do." She said, shaking both Naruto and Agil out of their momentary awe.

The three looked around. The town was actually quite breath taking. A mixture of traditional Japanese architecture and what Naruto could only describe as Viennese. With all its criss-crossing channels and motes, then again the entire place was built on a lake, a giant lake but a lake none the less, made the Venusian influence more believable. But there was no one moving in the town, Naruto wasn't going to say it, which was just asking for trouble.

"It's quiet" Shurai stated, Naruto sighed as they made their way through the deserted streets of the town, "too quiet." As if the system was waiting for that cue throwing knives were launched at the three, all of which promptly dodged them and joined up back to back.

"You had to say it didn't you" Naruto deadpanned to the girl, who shrugged in response. The blond settled for observing their opponents, thankfully there were only three of them, each like the bandits from earlier. Naruto tightened his grip on his piandao, good timing he had been itching for a fight since they left the town and now he was finally getting them. A small ding got his attention and Naruto felt his heart stop, he looked at the message.

_Party member Doinus killed, Party members remaining 9_

The blond turned his attention back to the three bandits, "Sharingan" he muttered making sure the other two wouldn't hear him. "We each take one?" he asked, Shurai answered his question by attacking the one closest to her. At the same time Agil slammed his battleaxe into the bandit that was dumb enough to challenge him in close quarters. Naruto just stood still waiting for his enemy to close, single handed sword skill **'Rush' **to most it would have been fast, thanks to the Sharingan the bandit looked as if he was moving in slow motion. Naruto pivoted on the ball of his left foot allowing the blade to slide by him, a hairs breadth away from connecting. His own blade came up, covered in an orange glow, the first cut slashed across the bandits abdomen, the second his kidney, the third his spinal column and the final was the spine at the back of the skull where it connected to the brain. Coming to rest in front of the bandit Naruto had made a complete circuit around him in the shape of a circle, hence the name of the attack **'Fated Circle', **the bandit shattered into polygons and Naruto turned to his next opponent the bandit fighting Shurai. Agil was literally crushing his opponent so he obviously didn't need help. Naruto's hand came to his belt and snagged a throwing knife with a seasoned gesture, the blond pulled back and the knife was covered with a green glow. He pitched it forward and the blade buried itself in the back of the bandits head at the base of the skull, right before Shurai's short sword pierced his heart. The bandit shattered like glass at the same time Agil finished off his opponent, "Deactivate Sharingan" Naruto muttered and the blood red irises and single tome faded. A message popped up in the corner of his vision and he couldn't help but break out in a small smile, 116 kills remaining.

Another message popped up in Naruto's vision.

_Party members, Pheni, Lobos, Loz, Kadaj, Nonoi and party leader Shibuki k__illed._

_Party remaining 3_

_New Party Leader Agil_

Naruto grit his teeth and summed up there situation as eloquently as he could. "Well fuck" a sentiment that seemed to be shared by both Agil and Shurai.

"What do we do now? Abort the mission?" Shurai asked, Agil nodded.

"That would be the best idea we have no idea what killed them and right now we are at a disadvantage, it's time to leave" Naruto nodded agreeing with the man's logic.

"Oh you can't leave now"

"Yeah we were having so much fun"

"You can't leave yet"

"After all they asked you to save this pathetic place right?"

The four voices came from around the three, Naruto looked up and gulped.

The first of them had on an bandanna and face mask, wearing all grey and carrying a dagger. But what made Naruto's worried was his name, Sub-boss Kirisame.

The second was the only woman of the group, sporting an open light blue shirt and green pants with a spear, the name again worried Naruto, Sub-boss Hisame.

Third a man with black pants, a light tan muscle shirt and arm warmers with a tattoo of a line beneath each eye, Sub-boss Murasame.

Finally the one that really worried Naruto, wearing a bandanna with a short goatee black shirt and green pants and holding a piandao like Naruto was the boss, Suien.

They could not escape they were going to have to fight all four at once, Naruto stated his thoughts in the most eloquent fashion he could once again."Fuck"

**Chapter 3- End **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sword Art Online: Eyes Of Hatred**

**Part One: To Be Drawn**

Author's note-

And this chapter signals the end of part one and the beginning of part two, for changes this chapter I have changed speed to agility. So that's all you really need to know, than Zimbolical for his BETA job please.

Also for what weapon won, it was close in fact two of them ended up with the same number of votes so I flipped a coin, no I'm not kidding I did actually flip a coin. As for who won well read and find out.

Also while I'm here I would like to point out the difference between Extra Skills, Unique Skills and Normal Skills.

Okay to start with there are exactly 10 skill slots that a character has at the beginning of the game. This can be increased but it requires a special item to do so. In order to raise a normal skill or a unique skill they must first be put into a skill slot to make them active otherwise no matter how much they are used they will NOT improve.

Extra Skills are different, they DO NOT take up skill slots and are considered to be permanently active, the problem lies in gaining them. As they must either be gained from a side quest, from a random condition or by completing a certain event.

That is why characters can have all of their skill slots full and still be using their extra skills, hope that explains it for everyone.

**Story Start-**

Naruto chose not to waste time, the blond leaped piandao slashing out. Looking to take the dagger wielding sub-boss Kirisame's head. This battle could not, and indeed would not, be won by following conventional means. They were facing three sub-bosses and the main boss of the quest. Fortunately none of them looked to be at full health, which would work in their favour in this fight. Kirisame was down to about half and from what he had seen before he charged the others should be about the same, minus Suien who looked to be at about seventy percent. Kirisame's dagger came up and blocked the slashing piandao, Naruto didn't activate his Sharingan he needed all the health he could get right now and it was a last resort. The blond knew he had two healing crystals in his inventory and he intended to use one of them before activating his trump card.

His slash was met by a blue glowing dagger, the first strike knocked his piandao off course and the second aimed to tear out his throat. The blond twisted in mid air and kicked out, his left leg connecting firmly with Kirisame's jaw and sending him flying back. Naruto grimaced he should have done that martial arts side quest it counted as an extra skill and didn't take up any slots he just hadn't got around to it yet. Not only that but it would have let him deal more damage to Kirisame with that kick. The blond landed lightly on the roof Kirisame had just been standing on. He took off immediately, back flipping off the roof and back onto the ground before sprinting forward. Back towards Agil who was holding off the other two sub-bosses by himself, while Shurai fought Suien there blades causing constant sparks around the two. Naruto's hand reached to his belt and flicked two throwing knives into his left hand, his last two, he needed to make this count. The blond brought both of them up behind his head they glowed yellow and Naruto let the system guide him, throwing knife skill, **'Dual Striking Snakes'**, the blades whipped forward burying themselves into Hisame's upper right thigh. Naruto couldn't help but smile to himself as he watched the female sub-bosses health reduce from around fifty percent to forty five. The avatar twisted to face him. Agil took advantage of its lapse in concentration and landed a crippling strike to her back using a battleaxe skill. Her health dropped from forty five to thirty, Naruto's piandao glowed green and the blade slashed out, '**Reaver'** and it was just a single strike attack, not even very powerful. But Naruto needed to keep moving and it had almost no cool down time before he could use it again. But it did its job Hisame's health droped another few notches, leaving her at twenty five percent. Naruto leaped, he loved acrobatics they made for such an unpredictable fighting style. "AGIL!" the blond roared, the man spun battleaxe leading only for his mouth to open in fear as he saw it's razor sharp edge heading for Naruto in mid air.

The giant twisted the haft of the axe so that only the blunt side would hit the blond, which was exactly what Naruto wanted. The blunt side of the axe impacted with the blond's feet and he used it as a platform to launch himself at Suien and Shurai who was slowly losing both health and ground against him. The blond missile smashed into the red heads side and forced her out of the way before a sword skill impaled her in the side, one that would have taken all her remaining health. "SWICH, HEAL YOURSELF!" Naruto yelled before engaging Suien in a bout of sword skills. The red head nodded and opened her inventory looking for the healing crystal. The blades clashed again and again, each time Naruto lost a little more health. He knew he should have taken the Weapon Guard skill. But he always put it aside for later when he had figured out what weapon to use, he was paying for that now. The player and bosses swords connected again, Naruto watched his health decrease again, he had about thirty percent left and it was dropping fast, he heard a thump from behind him before he was smacked forward violently. His health dropping to five percent, he threw a look behind him, Kirisame, he had forgotten about that bastard, dammit. He looked forward again and Suien's sword came down, a green glow about the blade, he was going to die it was that simple. Then in a parody of what he had done moments before Naruto was shoved out of the way of the attack by Shurai, who's own sword skill met Suien's, Naruto didn't waste any time "healing one" the blond growled out. The green crystal dropped into his waiting hand and he crushed it without a second thought. Naruto was glad he had the foresight to put that in a quick slot. "Sharingan" Naruto muttered meeting Kirisame in a sword lock, the world slowed down as the sub-boss pulled back. Naruto twisted, avoiding the incoming blow and striking with one of his own into the bosses side, reducing his health from forty percent to thirty, Naruto jumped off the side of the roof and landed next to Agil, and conveniently behind Hisame the blonds blade glowed sky blue and the blade cut out, the four hit combo completed in the blink of an eye and Hisame screamed before breaking apart into pixels. **"Rough Divide"** Naruto stated before jumping forward and taking a hit for Agil, his opponents sword cut through his left arm like it wasn't even there and Naruto found himself not only with his own health in the red but without his left arm. Only red light was pouring out of the wound where blood should be, Naruto's right arm came back, his piandao covered in a sickly red glow, the charged forward, the single handed charging curved sword skill, **'Breakthrough'**. Murasame's own one handed sword came down, the two blades clashed and Naruto's sword broke, leaving him holding nothing, the blond jumped back dammit. Murasame followed him, blade flickering like a tongue. Naruto ducked and dodged for all he was worth, but his health was still falling, ten percent left, an axe entered his vision and pushed Murasame back.

"HEAL YOURSELF!" Agil roared and Naruto obliged.

"Heal two" a green crystal dropped into his only sill attached hand, the blond crushed it. His left arm reappeared and Naruto almost sighed in relief when his health went back to one hundred percent. He flicked open the menu and quickly equipped a new weapon, a single handed steel sword dropping into his waiting grip. The blond took back to the roof top and smiled, the blade came out in front of him glowing sky blue **'Rush'** the single handed charge skill of the one handed sword Naruto smiled as his target still had his back turned. The blade carved its way through Kirisame's armour and went straight through his heart, the back stab and area wounded multiplied the damage Naruto had dealt by ten. Naruto knew that Kirisame was only data but still wished he could see the look on his face right now.

The blond jumped landing in front of Suien and smacking his sword skill off on an angle, "you okay?" Naruto asked, not taking his eyes off the boss. He had about thirty percent health left, Naruto saw his own steadily decreasing, he needed to end this fast.

"Fine just buy me some time to heal." Shurai replied, Naruto nodded and charged. The sword cut, up down left and right in short order. Sparks flew from every impact point, Naruto watched his own health and Suien's deplete quickly, the two broke off, Naruto's eyes flicked up, thirty percent health on his part, fifteen on Suien's, the blond brought the single handed blade over his head, it thrummed and glowed a sea green. Suien's own piandao was held in front of him glowing yellow. What would happen next would be simple, the two would charge, their swords would clash and one of them, would die.

The Naruto took a deep breath. His Sharingan would be the deciding factor of this fight. So long as he could see it there was a chance he could dodge whatever Suien threw at him, the real problem would be if his body could move fast enough to take advantage of his eye sight. The two stood still as statues waiting for some kind of signal, Shurai's boot scraped across the ground. The two moved, closing the gap between them almost instantly, Naruto could see it. The blade was aimed to take his throat, his body moved. Tilting slightly to the right, Suien's sword scraped across the side of his neck, taking him into the red, his own blade punctured through Suien's armour before piercing his heart. "Deactivate Sharingan" Naruto murmured, his eyes returning to their normal ocean blue. The boss looked down at him and smiled.

"So this is my end?" Suien's figure broke apart into pixels, like countless fire flies falling through the air. Naruto collapsed onto his knees, dear sweet Kami he was spent. The sound of a thump behind him, the blond turned, his blade leading but it was already too late. Murasame's sword came down to fast for him to stop, maybe if he had left the Sharingan active he might have been able to predict the swords path and react accordingly but he hadn't. Naruto closed his eyes and prepared for death. The strike never came, Naruto opened his eyes to see Shurai's short sword sticking out of Murasame's chest before he burst into pixels. Naruto let out a deep breath before sighing and opening the menu, the health potion he selected dropped into his waiting hand and the blond wasted no time in popping its top and drinking. A small ding caught his attention, as a message appeared.

_Congratulations_

_You have completed quest The Battle For Taki_

_Thank you for saving Taki and it's people_

_Do you wish to hand the quest in?_

_Yes/No_

Naruto pushed himself off the ground and turned back to Shurai, "ready?" he asked, the red head nodded. "READY?" he yelled down to Agil.

"Whenever you are" the answer came up from below. Naruto clicked the yes option, and the three heard running, the little boy from earlier ran up to Agil as Naruto and Shurai dropped off the roof.

"Thanks for saving the village, you guys should come and meet the elder he wants to reward you" the boy said smiling. Naruto couldn't find it in himself to smile. "Sorry about your friends, they were really brave though they took down sixteen of the bandits and rescued the villagers before they went down." The boy added in a sombre tone, Naruto wasn't sure if that had actually happened or if it was just programmed in by the system, but he wanted to accept it as fact.

The group of four slowly made their way through the streets of Taki, it was a refreshing change of pace from before when it had been silent and deserted. People filled the streets fixing houses, playing with children or just relaxing. It really was a lively place, even if they were all just NPC's the small group kept moving until they came to the village elders house, the boy escorted them inside. They found the girl they had met earlier dressed in a shrine maiden's outfit with three small saucers of what looked like Sake in front of her. An old man dressed in the robes of a priest sat on her left and looked at the four solemnly. "Thank you for what you have done for my people" the priest stated and gestured for them to sit. He motioned again and the three saucers of Sake were deposited in front of the three party members. "This is the heroes water, it will make you stronger and is the oldest secret of our village, please drink it and then go in peace. The main exit to the village has been unsealed and you may leave that way now." The three looked at each other before taking the saucer in front of them and drinking deeply. A small ding sounded and the three looked down to see there a menu message pop up.

_Congratulations_

_Quest: Search For The Heroes Water Complete_

_Rewards:_

_Heroes Water drank: Strength, Dexterity and Agility increased by three. _

_1500 Coll_

_Extra Skill: Bonds Of The Fallen_

_Skill Description: With more than half of the party that went to search for the water dead the others now feel closer to each other, an increase of 10% to all parameters when fighting within half a kilometre of the players you made this bond with, you are the heroes of Taki, the last survivors of a group of brave men and women, keep your bond strong and may your flames burn ever brighter._

_Weapon: Byakushiki +7 to all, Type: Katana _

_4000 EXP_

Naruto smiled, slightly at the rewards, before another ding caught his attention.

_Level Up!_

_Basara Level 13_

_+3 Status points_

_1 handed curved sword increased 85_

_Extra Skill: Katana, random occurrence that may happen when raising the one-handed curved sword skill._

Naruto dropped the status points into dexterity and agility. As they were his main status, despite the lack of any real class system in Sword Art Online Naruto could be most reliably referred to as a rouge. As he wore only light to medium armour and mostly relied on his skill rather than his strength to deal damage out. Hitting the light and vulnerable points on his enemies with the help of his Sharingan, Naruto clicked the need option that appeared over Byakushiki, the item was immediately dropped into his inventory, as the other two had hit greed. The blond opened his own menu and equipped the blade, it shimmered into existence, the sheath was white as snow. As was the hilt and guard which was hexagonal in shape. The blond bared the blade a half foot from the sheath, a ripple like pattern adorned the bade as if it was made from flowing water, a light blue tint to the metal, this was his, Naruto's Byakushiki, his white expressions.

The blond looked up to Agil and Shurai "you guy's good to leave?" he asked, the two nodded and pulled out a teleport crystal each, "See you again sometime" Naruto added drawing out his own while securing Byakushiki blade down to his belt. The two nodded, Naruto crushed the crystal in his hand "Starting City" the blond declared and the world for him was engulfed in white. The day had been a tiring one, he just wanted to sleep and Starting City had the best beds at the lowest prices around.

**XXX**

It was a week later when Naruto found himself in a small town near the edge of floor two. It was a quiet place, out of the way, tiny, the place didn't really have a name, well it did but Naruto didn't know it. The blond had just finished up the martial arts sub quest he had been meaning to finish for the last month and was feeling quite good about himself. He had also re-evaluated his skill set and changed it accordingly, he had also been right about the level cap on floor two, he had topped at level fifteen, all the monsters on the floor now were too low to give him any exp, which included the ones in the labyrinth. Naruto opened up his menu with a quick and practised flick of his fingers, to view his new skill set.

One-handed curved sword, mastery 85 points

Scan, mastery 112 points

Battle healing, mastery 68 points

Acrobatics, mastery 94 points

Weapon Guard, mastery 85 points

Cooking, mastery 35 points

Hiding, mastery 45 points

Sharingan, level 1 98 kills remaining

Blade Throwing, mastery 73 points

Tracking, mastery 132 points

Extra Skills

Katana, mastery 102 points

Martial Arts, mastery 35 points

Thankfully he had gotten rid of the other swords, they were good but Naruto had needed to make a choice on what to focus on and his katana had basically fallen into his lap so he ran with it. In SAO specialisation was quite literally the key to victory. The blond laid back on the grass around him, he was on the towns out skirts the sun shining above while the wind was just gently whispering around him, perfect day for a nap.

He heard a slight rustling as someone laid down next to him, Naruto didn't bother to open his eyes he had already guessed who was next to him. "So how have you been Argo?" the blond asked, not even bothering to open his eyes.

The green haired girl who had laid down next to him shrugged. "Could be worse could be better" she admitted, "The better question would be how are you holding up?"

Naruto did his best impression of a shrug while he lay down. "No nightmare's any more, no sleepless nights, their deaths were not my fault and I know it, I have made my peace Argo." The blond replied opening his eyes to look at the sky above, or at least he would have seen the sky if not for the floor above and so he was treated to a giant expanse of grey.

"Glad to hear it, I didn't want you beating yourself up about it Basara." Naruto just nodded, and Argo took it as a cue to keep talking. "I need you for a job" there she said it, straight to the point, no fooling around.

"What kind of job" Naruto asked sitting up and looking at the green haired girl.

"Treasure and Item run"

Naruto mulled it over "where, when, who and how" he asked the four questions he needed answers too before he could seriously consider taking the job.

Argo looked up "Where is this floor, the cave system to the north you know 'Barrow Downs'" Naruto nodded, he had heard rumours of treasure there but never any proof.

"You have proof that the treasure is really there?" Naruto asked, Argo smiled.

"One better, I have a map that leads to it, as you most likely know most people head straight down when in Barrow Down's thinking the treasure would be down makes sense considering it is a cave system, their wrong. It is situated under a mountain after all. The treasure is on the peak. The problem most people have is that they don't know how to get there considering all the paths lead down into the caverns, luckily I know how." Argo told him sounding sure of herself, which peeked Naruto's interest, she wouldn't be doing this unless she was sure of a pay off. "As for when, three day's time in the town call Imsol at the mountains base. We will meet at the town square at eight am. It should take approximately seven hours to get the treasure and another four to get back down." Naruto nodded again.

"How big is the team your putting together and who's on it?" the blond asked, this was really starting to interest him.

"Team of five, we need to move fast. As for who, you, me, Agil if he's willing, he recommended a woman named Shurai and another woman called Yugao." Naruto nodded again, he had no problem with the people chosen. Then again Argo was a good information broker after all for a job she would chose the best she could get her hands on. "And the how is pretty easy, we fight our way through the dungeon to the peak take the treasure and then use the exit that apparently exists at the peek to get back down faster. Failing that we fight our way back down the mountain or use teleport crystals."

"This a personal party or are you doing this for someone?"

Argo shrugged "it's a payment gig. The item at the top of the mountain is a single handed sword +6, it's almost as good as your Byakushiki, but he either doesn't want to get it himself or he can't get it, I don't really care. All I know is that he gave me the map told me to keep what ever else is up there and is willing to pay us 15 000 coll to get it for him."

Naruto whistled, "What else is the chest where we find the sword?" he asked, Argo smiled.

"Another 10 000 coll to start with and a defencive item if what I know from the BETA is still right, add to that the money we stand to make from the monsters on the way up and..." She allowed herself to trail off, Naruto looked at the green haired girl, dollar signs in his eyes.

"At least 5000 coll a piece, more likely more and maybe a good defencive item, count me in." The blond declared, Argo smiled at him.

"That is what I thought you'd say" she replied with a grin. A ding sounded and Naruto looked down at the system message.

_Argo would like to add you to her friends list, would you like to add Argo?_

_Yes/No_

Naruto looked at the green haired girl who smiled at him. "In case there are changes and I'll send you the time and meeting place just so you don't forget." Naruto nodded and hit yes, the green haired girl stood up, "well that is our business concluded for one day. I'll see you in three day's Basara." Argo called out walking away, Naruto stood up and walked towards one of the more populated monster spawning grounds. Time to see if he could improve any of his skills before three days was up, he would need to be at his best after all.

Argo looked back at the teen who was slowly walking away and smiled, he was the first person she had recruited, she was sure Agil would say yes and she knew from rumours and her own information gathering that if she had them then Shurai would say yes. Finally Yugao, the swordswoman would say yes that was for sure, if the rumour mill was right, and Argo had no reason to believe it wasn't, then she was just as money hungry as Basara was.

Argo smiled as she walked away, thoughts a whirl, she did have a raid to plan after all.

**Chapter End**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sword Art Online: Eyes Of Hatred**

**Part Two: Mercenary**

**Authors Note-**

And we are back, nothing much to say here only that the next chapter is where Naruto will fight his first boss. Also someone asked if battle healing could heal Sharingan inflicted damage. I'm glad someone asked because I hadn't even thought of that. So for the purposes of the fanfic no battle healing will not restore damage done by the Sharingan only healing items will.

Also someone else asked why Naruto wasn't at level two in using his Sharingan yet considering his level. One reason really Naruto does not like using the Sharingan due to its inherent dangers, those dangers not only being the health it takes to keep active but also the chance that he will begin to over rely on the ability.

Thanks my BETA Zimboloical, and now on with the show!

**Story Start-**

Naruto sighed as his katana cut out, cleanly bisecting a running orc. Okay this was getting ridiculous, where the hell was he Moria? The fucking green skinned bastards were coming out of the wood work like roaches. The blond flipped back and allowed Agil's battle axe to come over his head slamming into a slightly larger than normal orc and sending it flying. They had been inside Barrow Down's for four hours now and according to the map Argo had they were getting close to the main chamber of the underground caverns, where they could start taking the route to the peak, and their pay day, and speaking of Argo, she was kicking ass. The green haired girl hid behind a pillar, an orc ran past and quickly found her knife buried in its throat, it went down screaming. She ran forward, and jumped her dagger quickly slashing across two mores throats out. Argo landed behind the two and pivoted diving her dagger into the spine of one of the orc's before kicking the other one away and following up with a throwing knife to the throat. That was Argo's fighting style in a nut shell, keep moving and strike them where it hurts. It was damned effective Naruto was more than willing to admit that.

He could see Yugao to his left, an orc screaming as it broke down into pixels from where her ninjato had cut it. The purple haired woman pivoted, her blade flashed out, cutting an orc's head from it's shoulder's another came up from behind her. Naruto didn't even bother to shout a warning, Shurai's foot connected with the orc's head before it could do anything. The red head spun her long sword striking out and taking it's head, Naruto completed his back flip landing on an orc's shoulder's, the dumb creature looked up, Naruto's smiling face and Byakushiki's point slamming into it's brain, Naruto jumped again coming down next to Agil and calmly sheathing his blade. As the giant shouldered his axe and the group came back together, Naurto could already see why no one had made it to the main cavern. The place was a Kami damned maze. Add the consistent attacks from orc's and their kin and it wasn't exactly a surprise that no one had been to the main cavern before. Hell it if wasn't for the money Naruto wouldn't even be here, but he was being paid at a bare minimum 5000 coll, that was a nice commission no matter how you looked at it.

The blond was no fool. He had reached his level cap he couldn't increase his stats any further. The only things he could do now were improve his skills and to stockpile his resources and that was exactly what he was doing right now. Stockpiling resources, resources in an RPG and more specifically a MMORPG were vastly different from player to player. For blacksmiths it was metal's, for potion makers ingredient's, the list went on. For Naruto himself, well the blond was very combat oriented, he was better at finding these resources for other people rather than collecting them for himself. So for Naruto there was really only one kind of resource he was interested in and it was also the one thing in Aincrad that everyone would always have a use for, cold hard coll. Money, money, money, it would not be inaccurate to say that Namikaze Naruto was a money hungry player. He was, to the blond the currency was the one thing he could really rely on in this world, the language every player spoke as it were. He was actually planning on talking to Agil later, the man had an interest in starting a shop and Naruto was wondering in Agil would cut him a slice of the action. Something like he would invest in the store and find things when Agil needed them or people if he needed them and in exchange Agil would give him a cut of the profits. It wasn't a bad plan but it did rely on both of them being able to trust each other, and from what he had seen Naruto was willing to trust Agil.

The five party members regrouped, "anyone hurt?" Agil asked.

The other's shook their heads "didn't even scratch my armour" Yugao muttered childishly, Naruto held in a groan when he saw Shurai saying the same thing. Dear sweet Kami there were two of them now, what had he done to deserve this?

"How far are we from the cave?" Naruto asked, Argo popped the map.

"Bout twenty minutes, if we keep at a steady pace." The green haired girl answered, before walking off prompting the others to follow. She did have the damned map after all. It was exactly twelve minutes later when they reached the entrance to the main cavern. It was a large affair, over four hundred meters wide and at least twice that in hight. Argo went to walk inside and found Naruto's hand barring her path.

The blond gave the information broker a quick look, "it's a trap" he stated. Causing Argo to look at him sharply.

"You're sure?" the information broker inquired, Naruto nodded and Argo sighed before turning her attention back to the map. Before she shook her head "it's still our only choice" she admitted, Naruto took his arm away and drew Byakushiki.

"Wait a second, how are you so sure it's a trap?" Yugao asked, prompting Shurai to nod at her purple haired counterpart.

Agil just looked at them like they were morons. "Look out there, see that big cavern with nothing in it?" The large man asked, prompting the two to nod their heads.

"And what have we been running into like clockwork every ten minutes since we got down here?" Argo asked.

The purplette and red head didn't even need to think about it "Orc's" they both answered in perfectly synchronised manner.

"Do you see any of those said Orc's in that wonderful little cave out there where they really should be?" Naruto finished, looking at the two expectantly. Both Yugao and Shurai shook their head's.

Agil, Naruto and Argo all looked at each other and nodded "Trap" the three of them stated at the same time. Causing the two women to look at them before nodding, Naruto sheathed Byakushiki causing Agil to raise an eyebrow at his action. Naruto shrugged and cracked his knuckles. "Thought I might try it the old fashioned way for a change." The blond stated, the axe wielder gave a booming laugh as he drew he own weapon and Argo just smirked and put away her daggers.

"Feel like a little competition?" The green haired information broker asked and Naruto couldn't help the smile that came to his face.

"You're on" he replied, his grin turning bloodthirsty. At the same time as Argo's did, Agil turned to face both Yugao and Shurai.

"How about you two, up for a competition as well?" The axe wielder asked causing the two to smile in the same bloodthirsty way.

"We thought you'd never ask" They stated, Naruto shivered, dear sweet Kami two of them, TWO!, what the hell was wrong with the world!?

Naruto leapt into the cavern quickly making his way to it's centre. Landing lightly Argo coming down next to him, then they heard it, the rattling of steel and iron, his smile widened as the first orc came out of the surrounding tunnels. The blond put both his fists up next to his face and slipped into his ready stance as more orc's flooded the chamber. Naruto whistled, "How many of them can you count?" he asked Argo amusement in his tone, the dagger wielder shrugged.

"Bout thirty" she replied, stretching Naruto winced at her estimate.

"Damn that's unfair."

Argo nodded "I know, think we should let them go get some more?" the green haired girl asked.

"Yeah that would be a good idea this is totally unfair to them." Came the blond's flippant remark, to which Argo nodded sagely.

"I know what you mean, I can't see a single one above level nine and this is unfair." She replied, the orc's charged. Naruto just gave Argo an exasperated look.

"Can you believe that? They are so rude, couldn't they see we were talking" the blond asked sarcastically.

Argo nodded empathetically "I know, don't they know that it's rude to interrupt a conversation." She stated feigning anger, before pointing over Naruto's shoulder at the same time he did hers.

"Orc" they both stated, Naruto kicked out at Argo as the green haired girl leapt into the air and delivered a flying side kick to the orc that was in the middle of trying to disembowel him from behind. Naruto's own kick came up and broke the neck of an orc trying to take Argo's head from her shoulder's, Argo landed and the two stood back to back "one" they both stated before charging the oncoming orc's.

Then Naruto no longer had time to tell who was doing what. The blond ducked under a sword swing and nailed the attack with a vicious uppercut to the jaw, fighting the urge to yell Shoryuken! At the top of his lungs. The blond jumped back avoiding the attack at his side, his hands came up into his ready position and glowed yellow, his body moved far faster than should have been possible, the unarmed sword skill **Punch Rush**. His first hit connected with the orc's face, the second with it's gut, while the third and fourth nailed it's kidney and jaw respectively. The green skin screamed as it broke apart, the blond jumped an axe passing through where he had been standing harmlessly. He dropped back to the ground in a crouch his legs glowed white, the sword skill activated, his right leg rose kicking the orc in the chest then the left leg followed breaking its ribs and then neck in short order.

The blond couldn't help but grin, four already, ha take that Argo. The blond tore into the surrounding orc's like a man possessed, his fists and feet lashing out every time one of them was stupid enough to come inside his range, attacks rained at him from every angle, the blond deflected them with the bracer's on his forearms. Sparks coming from the point of each impact, the blond jumped and flipped landing on the shoulders of a surprised orc who quickly found his head split by a vicious axe kick. Naruto dropped off it's shoulder's and rushed the last remaining orc' his fists already alight with a green glow, before the glow turned purple a word flashed in his vision **Unison Raid**. Naruto's eyes flicked to his left, he saw Argo charging at exactly the same pace with a different attack ready.

Unison raid was in essence a combination attack. However it could only be used by two people on each other's friends list and more importantly the attacks had to be perfectly synchronised or else it wouldn't work. Being able to synchronise an attack like that meant one of two things, the first was that you had trained together for so long that you could naturally perform at your best with your partner, then there was the second which was happening now, when two people got very, very, lucky. One might ask what the pay off of a Unison Raid was with all problems that should happen when trying to achieve it, well that was simple. A Unison Raid not only doubled the damage that the sword skill of both members would do but also made the attack unblockable so the attack could only be dodged and that wasn't an easy thing to do. The end result was a powered up attack that was almost impossible to stop, Naruto jumped landing in front of the orc his fist connected hard with its stomach doubling it over, before his knee met it's head sending it back up, the blond jumped again and spun in mid air, his heel coming down on the creatures head, unarmed sword skill **Heel Drop**. Argo smiled as she landed in front of the orc, her fists lashed out her first punch connecting with it's face, her second it's gut, while the third and forth nailed it's kidney and jaw, unarmed sword skill **Punch Rush**. Both had their right foots glow purple as the system completed the Raid, Argo found her foot buried in the orc's face in a flying kick while Naruto found his own foot smashing into the back of it's head. The orc broke apart and the words Raid Complete ran across Naruto's vision. Naruto looked to the diminutive green haired girl. "Ten" he said, smiling Argo pouted.

"Nine" the girl admitted sounding miffed, the two looked over at Agil and the girls who had just finished up.

The axe wielder smiled at the two "Where to now?"

**XXX**

The group of five continued on their walk up the ever inclining hall's, Naruto was growing bored and a bored Naruto was a dangerous Naruto. The blond decided to make some small talk with Shurai to kill some time. He dropped back to the red head who gave him a quick quizzical look that the blond promptly shrugged off. "So you're using a long sword now, why the change?" The blond inquired, it was actually quite confusing for him after all the teen was a virtuoso with her short sword, so what had prompted the change?

Shurai shrugged "After that last quest we did I almost got myself killed by a monster with an exceptionally long reach. Thanks to the fact that my weapon was too short, so I decided to use something with a little bit more reach to it, the extra damage is nice too." The red head admitted smiling "anything new with you?" She asked, Naruto shook his head.

"Not really I hit the level cap for this floor awhile back and now I'm just looking to make some more coll and raise my skills, you?"

Shurai took on a thoughtful look "I was thinking about joining a guild but I haven't made up my mind yet, dattebane."

Naruto couldn't help the smirk that came to his face when he heard the word and Shurai's look of horror as she clapped her hands over her mouth. "Dattebane huh?" Naruto mused to himself, Shurai launched herself into the air and delivered a heavy slap to the back of his head making him stumble forward.

"SHUT UP DON'T MOCK ME DATTEBANE!" The red head roared at him, Naruto chuckled before making a placating gesture at the annoyed red head.

"Sorry, my bad, my bad" Naruto replied chuckling, before looking forward and seeing that Agil was barely holding in his laughter. While the other two weren't doing much better, he needed to change the subject and quickly, Naruto didn't feel like dying just yet.

"Argo how much longer till the top?" the blond yelled, praying that it would divert the still seriously pissed red head.

"About ten minutes" The green haired girl called back, Naruto called up his map and sighed yep just like they had thought.

"Argo I was right" the blond yelled up, gaining a curse from the green haired girl and confusion from the other three.

"How many" the green haired girl asked sounding anxious.

"By my count five" the blond replied walking back to the green haired girl who cursed again.

"Um not to but in but what the hell are you two talking about?" Yugao asked, Naruto and Argo sighed in tandem.

"This job is a trap" Argo stated looking at the three people around her, Naruto nodded empathetically.

Shurai went to yell but was silenced by Agil's large hand coming in front of her mouth. "Did you know it would be a trap" the giant asked calmly, both Naruto and Argo shook their heads.

"No originally both of us thought it was just a normal well paying job, no strings attached as it were. A high amount of pay, for a quite difficult to reach piece of equipment. It wasn't until Naruto sent me some mail that we began to think we might be walking into a trap but it was still unlikely so neither of us said anything." The green haired girl admitted, Agil nodded and turned his attention to Naruto.

"How did you figure out this might be a trap?" The giant asked, his deep baritone voice still quiet and under control.

"As much as I don't like to admit it I am a money hungry person and it was exactly the money that got me thinking." The blond started "at first I was in the same boat as Argo, it was just another job, a well paying job, but a job none the less. Then I started to think about the kind of money on offer 15 000 coll for a sword. I mean sure people are willing to pay that, but were on the second floor, the only way people should be able to pay that much is if a guild was willing to all pitch in to help buy it. But why would a guild pitch in to do something like that, a guild should have enough people to do this on their own. This left me with two theories, one it was actually a guild and they were out sourcing for some reason, not impossible, or two..." Naruto let himself trail off and Agil picked up his train of thought immediately.

"It was a trap, not only did we do all the heavy lifting to get to the sword and the other items but we have also used up a lot of healing items. They come in off us take our stuff and the sword, damn never thought this would happen, not so quickly at least." the giant stated. Naruto and Argio nodded grimly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yugao asked, Argo and Naruto shrugged.

"Honestly it was just a theory and a pretty far-fetched one at that, I mean yes there have been some player deaths before but nothing this organised." Argo responded drawing a nod from the purple haired swordswoman.

"So the question is what now?" Shurai stated, the other four nodded.

"Naruto cracked his neck "I don't know about you guys but I'm not about to leave my cut of that treasure for some scum bags to take like carrion." He stated, Argo sighed before nodding.

"But considering their team should we fight them?" Shurai asked, "it would be a five on five match right?" She questioned and Naruto nodded. Before activating his map and allowing the others to see the five now still glowing dots behind them, from the look of it they were about five minutes away.

Argo looked at the map for a second before smiling like a mad woman "hey you can teleport with a chest right?" The other four nodded, Argo smiled "okay here's the plan."

**XXX**

When the five members of illegal/orange guild Titan Hand burst into the chamber supposedly containing their prey they were surprised to find nothing. No chest, no players, no orc's, nothing, baring a small note stabbed into the far wall with a dagger, the team of five walked quickly to the note and the leaders face twisted in anger.

_Dear dumbasses_

_Greetings, we took your stuff and were on to you before we walked into the caves._

_Take that you moronic bastards, if you want your stuff back then read the directions on the next page._

The man swore and ripped off the first piece of paper and his face paled, the other four leaned in to see what had caused such a reaction from their leader before paling as well. The second piece of paper contained just one four letter word that chilled the four of them to the bone.

_**BOOM**_

The five gulped as over twenty explosive traps ignited around them, "OH SH-" was as far as they got before they exploded.

**XXX**

From the town of Imsol at the bottom of the mountain that stood over Barrow Down's stood five figures, one of which was smiling in a self satisfied manner as an explosion sounded from the mountains peak. Black smoke billowing into the air, Naruto smiled, what did that crazy senpai of his always used to say? Ah yes, art is a blast KATSU!

"That wasn't exactly subtle Basara" Argo admonished him, Naruto shrugged.

"Fuck subtle" was his reply, as Agil placed the chest on the ground. "Now shall we find out what we have here?" The blond asked, Agil smiled and popped the top of the chest a ding sounded as all five found two need or greed windows in front of them.

The first was for the one-handed sword +6 Naruto immediately hit greed, he was a katana user now, for better or for worse. The words Shurai won Solus +6 appeared in Naruto's vision not that it was a surprise. He was a katana wielder, Agil used battleaxes, Yugao used ninjato's and Argo used dagger's there was simply no one else that wanted the item, let alone could use it.

It was the second item that intrigued him, a pair of plate gauntlets, and yet they were only classed as a medium type armour. They apparently weighed almost nothing, Naruto opened a window so he appraise them. 'Guantlets Of The Mad Knight' he read to himself before his eye brows rose. They were items that grew with the player gaining strength as they did, not even his Byakushiki did that. Naruto looked at the others and all of them pressed the need button at the same time, he watched the numbers roll like his life depended upon there outcome. They stopped, he had rolled an 86 now he just had to hope no one rolled higher. Argo 63, Yugao 79, Shurai 41 finally Agil, Naruto turned his eyes to the giant 8 was the first number to come up, Naruto held his breath 85, he sighed as the item dropped into his inventory. Before a ding made him look down to see a system menu open.

_New Quest Added:_

_Resurrection Of The Black Knight_

_Details: Gather all of the Mad Knight's armour and open the way to find his weapon, good luck._

_Side Note: This quest will update as you progress through different floors and will automatically give you a quest should you be on the floor on which the next piece of armour can be found._

Naruto opened up the item tab and summoned the gauntlets,they were black as midnight. They felt ominous and powerful but also very warm. Naruto smiled as he handed the items to Argo who rose a delicate eyebrow. "Would you mind appraising these?" he asked, the green haired girl shrugged and looked at the gauntlets for a second before smiling like a mad woman.

"There a unique item" Argo said excitedly, "a random drop." She continued in a exited voice.

Shurai looked at the green haired girl quizzically "I'm not much of a gamer could you explain?" She asked and Argo nodded enthusiastically.

"To put it in a nut shell these are the only pair of these gauntlets inside Aincrad, and the only pair of them there ever will be." Argo said almost rushing to get her words out now she was on a roll. "Not only that but they're a random drop, that means they could have appeared anywhere in the world at any time, do you have any idea how lucky he is?" Argo asked flicking a finger in Naruto's direction, Shurai shook her head. "He could probably see these for a couple of hundred thousand coll and it would still be cheap" Argo clarified and Shurai looked at the gauntlets in a new light.

Naruto swiped the gauntlets and replaced them in his inventory before equipping them to his hands and marvelling at them again. Black as midnight, with a kind of sword like design on the back of them and when it caught the light just right it looked as if it was glowing red. The fingers resembled claws and each knuckle was tipped with a sharp metal spike. Another ding caught his attention as a new system message made it's appearance.

_Yugao would like to add you as a friend, would you like to add Yugao?_

_Yes/No_

_Shurai would like to add you as a friend, would you like to add Shurai?_

_Yes/No_

_Agil would like to add you as a friend, would you like to add Agil?_

_Yes/No_

Naruto shrugged as he hit yes for all three, never knew when he might need help after all, add that to the fact they had probably just pissed off an illigal guild and all of them could well need all the help they could get in the days to come. The five gave each other one last wave and walked off each of them now 2500 coll richer. Naruto smiled at that, it wasn't as much he would have liked but it was far better than nothing. In fact that coll was just from the chest if he included the orc's in that he would have made more like 6000 coll. Naruto smiled, it had been a good day, it had been a very good day.

**Chapter five: End**

Yes, Yes, Shurai is Kushina, no she does not have the same hair style as her Anime and Manga counterpart. In this Kushina's hair style is like Lightning's from final fantasy XII only, you know, red.

Also I was asked to give Naruto's stats every chapter, I have no problem doing that but first I would need to know what would be an acceptable level of health for him to have every 10 levels. If anyone is interested in telling me what an average MMO rouge would have health wise every ten levels from 1 to 100 then I can use that as a guide. So if anyone even has a rough ideas please tell me it would be most helpful.


End file.
