Chapter 3

Naruto sat at his computer looking over some of the weapons on the Kyuubi, adjusting the strength and rate of fire on a few. It has been several weeks since he had entered IS Academy and it had been fairly normal school wise overall. As for the situations of fighting not much had happened on that front. He hadn't had a fight since his initial fight with Yamada-sensei, which frustrated him slightly. Firstly because he wanted to show the power of the shinobi line but also because he was getting bored of the IS specific lessons.

He let out a tired sigh and turned away from his computer, his eyes resting upon Kyuubi. It was in standby mode with several different wires and cables attached to it gathering data, helping Naruto to try and improve the machine. He slowly stood up and rested his hand against its metal chest.

"Soon we will show them," he said in a confident tone, "Soon."

He shut down his computer and left the lab area, locking it behind him as he left. The sun slowly set at the edge of the sea, casting red and orange around the sky and trees. Naruto just smiled, as he walked toward the dorms at a level pace. He let out a content sigh as he felt the last warmth of the sun against his skin.

He turned another corner and suddenly felt someone crash straight into him. He didn't stumble and he looked down to see who he ran into. All he saw was the blue hair; soon a face looked up at him. She had dark red eyes that were framed by a pair of red glasses.

"I'm sorry," he said as he stepped back, getting a better view of the girl. She was the same girl who watched him during battle practice. "I didn't see you there."

She just nodded, "it is fine," she replied in an uncaring tone, straightening her glasses.

Naruto watched as she continued on her way as if the event hadn't even happened. He let out another sigh and continued on his way, wondering once again who that girl was. He entered the dorm building and made his way to his room that he shared with Ichika. Ichika was happy to be roommates since he didn't have to worry about getting in trouble for doing something with one of the girls.

Naruto walked quickly down the hallway, hoping to avoid meeting any of the girls who lived on their floor. The first day he had lived in the dorms he was bombarded by all the girls, wanting to know more about him. Thankfully he had made it inside the room before they could get anything or do anything to him.

He opened the door and entered the room, happy to be in his temporary home. He quickly undressed and entered the shower, letting the hot water hit his skin.

While this was going on, the door to his room opened. Instead of Ichika who was entering the room it was Houki. She walked inside and looked around.

"Ichika," she said quietly as she looked around. She didn't see him but decided to take a better look around the room. It was very clean, not a mess like she expected. She saw that Ichika's side of the room was very plain, not much out of the ordinary. Naruto's side was a bit livelier. There were stacks of papers on his desk, and pictures as well.

She looked at his pictures and saw a glimpse of Naruto's life. One she did focus on was of him when he was about 5 years old with his parents. They were at the park during Sakura season.

As she was caught up in looking at his pictures, she didn't hear the shower turn off. Naruto opened the bathroom door and stepped out. He was wearing a pair of basketball shorts with nothing else, using his towel to dry his hair.

He saw Houki and smiled, "what can I do for you Shinonono." Naruto stated making Houki jump in surprise.

She quickly turned and looked at him, a large blush appearing on her face. She never expected to see him, especially not shirtless.

"Umm..." She tried to say but nothing came to mind, her brain taking metal pictures of the sight in front of her.

She finally got to her senses. "I'm here to see Ichika." She stammered quickly.

Naruto nodded, "he said he wouldn't be back, he has training with Cecilia." He reached into his dresser and pulled out a burnt orange shirt.

Houki nodded, looking at the ground. "Thank you" she replied with a slight stutter and headed for the door.

Naruto watched her leave and chuckled. "Girls can be weird sometimes" he said as he took a seat at his desk. He spent the next couple of hours working on a few things from the company. Ichika soon joined him, tired from his training with Cecilia and the other girls.

Naruto turned from his computer and looked at Ichika, "You look like death." he stated as he looked over at his friend. "They work you too hard again?"

Ichika just sighed and took a seat next to Naruto. "You have no idea," he replied. "They can be scary at times."

Naruto just chuckled, and nodding in understanding, "Yeah they can."

The pair settled into a comfortable silence as Ichika showered and changed. He took a seat at his bed and Naruto turned to look at him. "So you up for another butt whopping?" he said with a sarcastic smirk, throwing a game controller to Ichika.

Ichika smiled. "Not this time, I will be the one giving you the whopping." he stated and started the game. The game started and the trash talk and laughing began.

They got pretty loud and some of the girls had jumped a bit when they heard a shout or name calling come from their room. Cecilia walked past towards her room when she heard Naruto's voice come from their room. "SUCK IT!" and she jumped back in slight fright.

Naruto walked down the hall towards the teacher's room. He had gotten a message from Orimura-sensei to come and see her. This made him wonder what she wanted and a bit apprehensive about the meeting. This would be the first time he would have talked with her outside of class.

The door to the teacher's room came into view and Naruto entered, quickly looking around the room. There were several lines of large desk in the middle of the room, each filled with papers and different items. Many of the other teachers moved about the room. They all stopped and looked at him as he stood by the door. Some gave him cold stares and others were indifferent to his presence. Orimura-sensei was the last desk at the end of the room and Naruto walked towards her at a steady pace.

He reached her and gave her a simple smile. "You wanted to see me Orimura-sensei?" he asked.

Chifuyu turned in her desk and looked at Naruto, a serious look on her face. "Naruto," she said simply, "I was looking over the basic schematics of your machine and noticed that you do not have any personal shielding on the unit."

Naruto nodded, "Yes that is true." he replied with a confused look on his face. "Is that a problem?"

Chifuyu nodded, "Personal shielding is required for all units for the pilots' safety and allow us to track the winner of the battles." she stated, as she rested her hand on the armrest of her chair. "Unless you install shielding to your unit I cannot allow you to participate in any of the upcoming battles."

Naruto stood there shaking, trying to rein in his anger. "So I cannot fight until I get the shielding." Chifuyu just nodded and watched as Naruto clenched his right fist. "I understand, but as you see in the Kyuubi's schematics when it gets to a certain point in damage the pilot is ejected from the unit in an escape frame that has the shielding you desire. Does that not meet your requirements?"

Chifuyu eyes slowly narrowed as she looked at the young man before her. "The school board has discussed this in detail, and wants you to extend the shield to the entirety of the unit. With the shielding it will provide more protection for you and also allow us to track the damage you take."

Naruto was silent as he processed the information, it wouldn't take much to extend the shield, but it would lessen the power of his attacks. What angered him was the fact he felt they were using this as an excuse to lower the power of his machine. "I will do as you have asked," the self-restraint evident in his voice. "I will bring the Kyuubi up to your shielding standards. Is there anything else?"

Chifuyu nodded, and Naruto quickly turned and left the room, the door closed harshly as he left. She had watched him leave and let out a sigh. She expected him to be angered by this. Yet he had to bring his machine to their standards and it provided the peace of mind that he would be protected. She let the thought drop and went back to grading papers.

It had been a week since Naruto had seen Chifuyu and he had spent most of the week extending the shield around his machine. He had to do a bit more research on the amount of shielding he was going to need and things. He saw that the shield needed up to 500 units of power to be in battle regulation. It had taken him some time but he had gotten the shield extended and approved by the school.

Due to extending the shield he lost the ability to use all of his tail bits in a fight. He could have four active at a time as he fought. The plasma was a bit weaker but not by much, the loss of his bits had hurt him greatly but he was working on ways to regain the use of them.

So now he was battle approved and happily waiting to be part of the fights. He sat on the bleachers watching some of the other fights. The current combatants fought with vigor, their weapons clashing again and again. Naruto smiled as he watched the fights, analyzing their style of fighting so if he came against them he would be able to properly counter them.

"Naruto," he heard a familiar voice call and he turned to see Ichika and the girls coming towards him. Ichika took a seat next to him and the girls sat around him. On his open side was Charlotte and next to her was Laura. Behind him sat Cecilia and Rin.

Naruto looked the group and noticed the Houki wasn't there. "Where is Shinonono?" he asked.

"Houki will be fighting next." Ichika replied as he let out a tired yawn.

Naruto nodded, "Ok." The group was once again silent as they watched the fights. Soon the battle came to the end and the opponents cleared the field. After a few moments Houki and another student flew out, both using the school provided IS, swords drawn.

He watched Houki intently as the battle began. Her opponent shot forward and slashed at her side. Houki blocked it quickly and pushed her attacker back.

"Here I come." She said with conviction and shot forward bringing her blade down on her opponent. They soon were a clash of blades, and everyone could see that Houki had the better skill with the blade.

"So she is a mid to close range fighter." Naruto commented to himself as he watched. None of her movements were wasted and each slash had power and surety behind it. So her opponent couldn't keep up with her skill. Houki brought her blade down on her opponent and finished off her shields, signaling the end of the battle. The crowd cheered for her, and Naruto just clapped in respect.

He saw his name come up on the board and stood up. "Guess it's my turn." he said excitedly and stood up. He saw Laura stand as well and they both headed down to the launch area.

Naruto boarded Kyuubi and started all the systems, getting the all green he flew into the field. Laura was there in her is IS which was completely black with a large cannon on her shoulder. She glared intently at him, her face not showing any emotions. He just smiled behind his helmet his body shaking in anticipation.

The starting sound was heard and Laura quickly aimed her cannon at Naruto and fired. He dodged to the side and threw a ball of plasma at her in response. Laura dodged the attack, and fired at him once again. He flew over the attack and charged Laura at high speeds.

Naruto held one of his swords in his hand and brought it down toward Laura's head. He noticed the large smile on her face. "Got you." she said and held up her hand, stopping Naruto in his tracks.

"What the heck is this?" Naruto stated in surprise as he was held in place by Laura's power. He pushed his thrusters but he couldn't move at all.

She pointed her cannon at him her smile only growing wider. "Take this!" she stated and fired at him. The attack hit and Naruto was sent flying back, his machine bouncing off the ground twice. His shields had drop from 500 to 360 in that one attack.

He glared at Laura as he stood his ribs in slight pain. "Can't get close." he told himself as he gathered some plasma into his hand. He threw it at her quickly as he generated a new plan of attack. His time to think was cut short by a few cannon shots.

He dodged each shot and used the cloud of smoke to release his bits. Once he had released two of his four useable bits he began his counter attack. In each hand he generated three balls of plasma. He flew up high and threw his first three balls of plasma at Laura.

Laura dodged to the side and Naruto released his next wave of plasma. The first was dodged but the next two hit Laura directly on. She didn't let this damage phase her, her shields dropping. She fired her cannon rapidly at him, not giving him a chance to think.

After a few minutes of dodging, Naruto was hit by one of the cannon blasts. He fell down a few feet before reorienting himself. He did a quick shield check and saw he was down to 270. He looked at the field and saw that she hadn't noticed his bits as the maneuvered into position. One went behind her and the other was at her side, both hidden by rubble.

Naruto gathered a large ball of plasma in his hands, adding a slight spin to it. He brought his hands back, "Eat this!" he cried and let the ball fly. Laura watched as the ball descended rapidly at her, it was much larger than his previous attacks. She held up her hand and stopped the ball before it reached her.

This is what he wanted and had his bits come out of hiding. Laura saw the glint of the one at her side and soon she was hit by two blast of plasma. This caused her to lose her hold on the plasma ball, which exploded and sent her flying back.

She regained her bearings and glared at Naruto. She sent out whip like objects at his bits, destroying one and damaging the other. She began her rapid fire of her cannon once again and Naruto threw plasma back at her in between her shots. Each landed a hit every now and then both dropping their shields low.

Naruto landed on the ground, his leg thrusters damaged from the recent damage he had taken from Laura's cannon fire. "Got to end this." he told himself as he stood tall. He released the four bits and the floated in the air beside him.

Laura stood her ground, her cannon pointed at him, her whips out as well. Naruto sent his bits forward, having them all fire shots in rapid succession. She blocked the attacks, and used some of her whips to destroy two of the bits. While this was going on Naruto had ran to her left, generating a large ball of plasma.

He threw it at Laura, who blocked the attack, but Naruto had followed it up with another blast. Making the first ball of plasma blowup, causing splash damage to her. She stumbled back and was hit with a few blasts from his bits. Naruto charged another attack and threw it with all his might.

Laura saw the ball of plasma flying towards her and she dodged to the side, she was hit with a smaller ball of plasma that knocked her shields down to 100. She fired her cannon at Naruto in a quick three shot burst.

Naruto was hit by two of the three shots, his shields dropping to 60. He glared at Laura and gathered plasma. She had her cannon trained on him and ready to fire. He acted first, throwing two balls of plasma at her. She fired her cannon at him in another three round burst.

Each attack hit dead on, but Naruto barely hung on with only 10% left in his shields. Laura's machine had deactivated and she was resting on the field. Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he went through a quick damage check. He looked up and saw Laura had headed back to her launch area leaving him alone on the field.

He headed to his launch area and exited his machine; he looked it over and saw the scorch marks from Laura's attacks. A smile appeared on his face as he ran his hands on the metal. He had defeated another IS, but it seemed it was going to be tougher then he thought. He let the thought drop as he turned and headed back to the stands, more determined than ever to defeat all the IS.

In an unknown location a woman with dark red hair, mechanical bunny ears on her head, and a beautiful face sat at her desk. This was Tabane Shinonono, and she watched the battle footage of Naruto and Laura. She watched it at a fifth of the speed and zoomed in on the plasma generation of the Kyuubi, a curious look on her face.

"So it superheats the laser generation and turns it into plasma." she said as she typed her notes. As she watched her notes grew and grew, some on the way the machine works others on how to improve it.

The video ended and Tabane leaned back in her chair. She looked at the Kyuubi with interest, the schematics she had received from Chifuyu on another screen. "They do know how to build a good machine." she stated with respect, her attention turning to the power source. The Reasengan showed on her screen, the particles inside spinning rapidly. "Yet they have outdone themselves with this."

It had taken her several days to find the information on the Resengan, and she had spent a lot of time reviewing its power output. She had tried to find the manufacturing method but that was kept on a secure server not connected to the main network. The thing that surprised her the most was the ability to fuse the elements into the Rasengan, giving it a variety of different powers. Yet only a few had the elements infused in them, showing that took a lot of time and effort to do.

"You are one to watch out for Naruto Uzumaki," she stated as she turned and looked at a IS behind her, "But I am still going to win this fight."

Thank you everyone for reading this story, I want to make it the best I can be. I have it all planned out and I hope it will be amazing. As I look over this idea I feel it can be something truly great. Please continue to read and I will do all I can to make it the best. I will say one thing about IS Naruto Freedom, it is not done I just have no ideas where to take it right now so yeah. If you want to help with that story PM me. Please review this story in the review section. Thank you