Disclaimer: I Don't own Fate/Stay Night or Naruto

'You finally awake, brat?'

Naruto languidly opened his eyes and simply stared at the ceiling for a few seconds,

'...Yeah.'

'Why the long face?'

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, 'Nothing… it's just that, while I had seen most of Saber's past, I had still hoped that she would at least find some happiness in the end...'

'And that wasn't the case?'

'I saw the rest last night… and all I saw was tragedy heaped on top of more tragedy.'

'…Honestly, you humans are so sensitive,' Kurama shook his head disdainfully, 'Enough moping; it's time to get back to business.'

Naruto nodded before firmly slapping his cheeks twice and leaping to his feet.

'I've got some news from you.'

'What's up?' He asked as he stretched.

'First thing's first: you got Avalon back.'

Naruto frowned, 'I thought Saber was going to wait for my call.'

'It wasn't Saber, it was that purple-haired chick… Snackura?'

Naruto's eye twitched, 'Oi.'

Kurama snickered, 'And the second thing… well, there is no second thing. Just get your lazy ass up, and go talk to the priest.'

'Yeah, yeah, I was about to do that anyway.'

After thanking Sakura and saying "good morning" to Saber and Rin (who was still half asleep), Naruto jogged out of the house in his usual orange hoodie, blue jeans, and grey sneakers.

It was quite late, and everyone was either at school or work, so the streets were relatively empty.

'You aren't going to take Saber with you?'

'She seemed like she was thinking about something pretty deep, so I didn't want to disturb her too much,' Naruto said as he took a turn, 'Besides, we're just going to ask the priest some questions—I doubt it'll get dangerous.'

Kurama gave a heaving shrug, 'Your call.'

A few more minutes of jogging and Naruto finally reached the church. The temperature was quite cool today, and the sun wasn't too overbearing, so the jog hadn't tired him out at all.

He entered the church and, to his surprise, found it completely empty.

"OI, PRIEST!" He called loudly, "YOU THERE!?"

His voice echoed throughout the hallowed halls, and, in a minute or two, Kotomine Kirei, with his built face, long hair, and strangely piercing eyes, appeared from a doorway in the back.

There was a dish in his hand—a dish that Naruto recognized very well.

Huh, Rin had been taught by this guy, hadn't she? Any doubts that he hadn't been fed that hellish dish by design was gone from his mind.

"How rude," the priest said, his rich baritone voice as impeccable as ever, "Entering this holy place, and then yelling like a hooligan."

The priest proceeded to shovel some of that accursed mapo tofu into his mouth.

"You, uh… like that?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

Kotomine took a moment to chew his food before answering, "It is not a dish that I can pass up if I see it in a menu, at the very least."

"I… see…" Naruto suppressed a disgusted grimace, "Are you even allowed to eat food here?"

"The bible says: 'If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home.'" Kirei said as after taking another bite of his mess of spices and oil disguised as food, "And this is my home, so I must make do."

Naruto shrugged, "Makes sense, I guess."

"Now, I'm sure you aren't here to simply banter and spoil my lunch," Kirei said, "Unless, of course, you are, in which case, I will have to commend you on the cavalier attitude you have taken towards the Holy Grail War."

Naruto's demeanor turned serious. The priest was right, he wasn't here to banter,

"Nah, I came here with a question."

"Which is?"

"That heart of yours," Naruto said, pointing a finger at the mentioned organ, "It has the same energy signature as the Shadow. What the hell is up with that?"

Kotomine Kirei paused in the midst of taking another bite. Then, he put his plate down on the altar.

"You do know what's been going on the past few days, right?" Naruto asked, "The stuff with the Shadow and everything?"

The priest took a moment to nod, "Yes, I am aware. Although I must confess, I am curious as to why you have come to me with this question."

"The Shadow was insanely dangerous," Naruto said seriously, "Not just to the participants of the Holy Grail War, but also to all the innocent people living here. If something like that still exists, then I can't let it just walk free."

Slowly, Kotomine Kirei took his place behind the altar, "I see. And are you aware of what the true cause of this… Shadow truly is?"

"The Grail's taint, right?" Naruto answered instantly.

Kotomine Kirei closed his eyes and sighed subtly, "So you have figured out the truth to this extent..."

Naruto blinked, "You… knew all along?"

"In a sense, yes."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "And you also knew that, because of this taint, any wish carried out from the grail would be granted super evilly?"

Kotomine Kirei nodded solemnly as the sound of a button being pressed echoed throughout the room,

"Yes, I did."

The sound of the main doors of the church locking shut rang out next, and Naruto's eyes merely flicked towards the source of the sound before training themselves on Kotomine again.

The tension in the room thickened to the point where even Orochimaru's Kusanagi would have some trouble cutting it.

"You're a priest, right? Why the hell would you want evil things to happen to the world?" Naruto asked.

"It is because I am a priest that I want the life inside the Holy Grail to be born," Kotomine said, "If a wish is made to the Holy Grail, the life inside the Holy Grail can finally be born."

Naruto's eyes narrowed further as the priest continued speaking, "Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto, if there is such a thing as a pure wish in this world, wouldn't it be the desire to be born? I, a priest, am merely facilitating that."

"Don't make laugh, priest," Naruto scowled, "Saber already told me that the taint inside the Holy Grail is a Servant. It's not that a life will be born if the Holy Grail is used, it's simply that a life will be reborn—and with its evil tendencies intact at that."

"Perhaps," Kotomine admitted with a shrug, "But that does not change the fact that, at the moment, it still only desires to be born. Will you stand in the way of that?"

"Of course!" Naruto declared, "I won't let that thing come into this world, no matter what!"

And for the first time since Naruto had come to talk to him, Kotomine frowned deeply,

"...Were you aware, Uzumaki Naruto? I was the Master of Lancer."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise, "News to me."

"Yes, and through Lancer's eyes, I have seen a fraction of your abilities. Not only that, but I also have various familiars throughout the city that keep a watch on the affairs of the Holy Grail War."

Naruto fingered the kunai in his pocket, "...So?"

"It means that I have been able to keep a close eye on your struggles and battles," The priest put a hand in his cloak, "Had you been a weaker Master, or had a less refined sense of battle, I would have simply left you alone until the end of the war. However…"

Naruto's muscles tensed, ready to explode into action at a moment's notice,

"However…?"

"However, if you intend to destroy the Holy Grail, then I simply cannot leave you be."

In a flash, a blur of silver was launched at the Naruto. The blond shinobi grabbed hold of what his keen eyes instantly told him was a blade, spun to maintain momentum, and returned it to the priest with vigour.

The priest didn't dodge, and neither did he need to, for the blade had found itself lodged into the altar rather than anywhere close to his body or face.

Naruto, while adept at throwing weapons, had never used that particular type of weapon before, and had promptly missed. But, even this one test throw was enough to allow him to understand what kind of weapon this was.

He would not miss next time.

'"I doubt it'll get dangerous" my ass,' Kurama mocked.

'Ah, shut up.'

"Despite your obvious inexperience, your handling of my black key was impressive," the priest said, as if he was merely commenting on the weather, "It seems that my decision to begin training again was the right one."

"You really want to fight, Kotomine?"

A small, excited smirk graced the priest's face, "I must eliminate you here, Emiya…!"

The man said the name like it was simultaneously a dangerous disease, and yet, an old friend. Almost exactly the way Madara had said, "Hashirama!"

The priest had refrained from calling him "Emiya" because Naruto had told him to simply call him Uzumaki Naruto the first time they had met, but now it seemed the brakes had come off. Clearly, Kotomine only saw him as an Emiya.

The priest launched another black key at him, and Naruto suppressed the urge to sigh as he readied himself. Obviously, this same attack wouldn't work—

'Duck!'

Naruto fell to the floor without any hesitance, and the blade sailed over his head.

'What happened?' Naruto asked as he leaped back to gain some more distance.

'That sword of his, it had some kind of magic on it that extended its range,' Kurama explained, 'Kinda like that wind chakra that smoking beardy used.'

Naruto let out a frustrated groan on the inside,

'You can't be serious! I can't even sense magical energy! How am I supposed to fight him?'

While it was true that Kurama could sense magic, in the heat of battle, that advantage was useless. By the time Kurama would warn Naruto which swords had magic on them, Naruto would be skewered.

Thankfully, this time, the priest leaped after Naruto and launched a series of swift hand to hand attacks at him. Naruto smoothly deflected every single blow and landed a solid kick on his chest when he spotted an opening, sending him flying back.

'The magic on his swords only extend their effective range from the tip,' Kurama said, 'So just avoid the swords from having their points from facing you.'

Naruto grimaced as leapt after the priest, with a cocked punch in tow,

'Easier said than done...'

The priest sleekly regained his footing and diverted Naruto's punch. The two clashed again in a battle of pure martial arts, and once again, Kotomine Kirei found himself being sent flying back via a punch to his gut that he barely managed to block.

A lull fell onto the battle as Kotomine Kirei righted himself.

He was not an idiot; he could instantly tell—

'This boy… is stronger than me,'

Even with all his recently renewed training and considerable experience, Kotomine Kirei could tell that he did not possess the ability to defeat the Master of Saber.

The boy stood there, his cerulean eyes seemingly glowing in the tinted light of the church. His stance was unfamiliar to the priest, but the ease with which he fell into it instantly betrayed his mastery.

However, even if the boy was far more skilled in martial arts, that did not mean the end had been decided. Humanity had long since realized that some people were simply more skilled than others, whether it be due to training or natural aptitude.

Thus, the concept of "threat multiplication" was born. Tools of battle to even the field.

And Kotomine Kirei's had two such tools.

His Command Seals glowed as he took out his black keys.

However, he would not enhance his black keys with his Command Seals as he had a decade ago against Kiritsugu. Such an action would be a folly. If Kirei couldn't even keep up with the blond Master's speed, then more powerful blades would mean nothing.

No, he had a different purpose in mind for his Command Seals.

Naruto leapt to the side as Kotomine Kirei charged. Instantly, he knew that something had changed.

'His speed doubled!? No… it tripled?'

The black keys in between the priest's fingers whistled through the air as Naruto gracefully danced around the priest's attacks.

'He's got Command Seals,' Kurama warned, 'And he's using them to enhance his body's abilities.'

Naruto narrowed his eyes as a barrage of blows, slashes, and stabs were leveled at him. His form blurred as he deflected and dodged the barrage. His already aching arms told him that the priest's strength had tripled too.

Still, while he was able to handle this level of speed, skill, and strength well enough, there was no opportunity for a counterattack anymore.

This was not only because the Priest's speed and strength had tripled and was incorporating his blades into his attacks, but also because Naruto could not allow any of the tips of the blades to be pointed at him. He didn't know which blades had been enhanced by magic, and which ones hadn't, so he had to make sure to avoid all the blades' tips.

Naruto grimaced as the barrage continued. It seemed that the Command Seals had not only enhanced the priest's speed and strength, but also his stamina. The priest didn't even look slightly winded as his form stayed in constant motion.

But Naruto, while possessing an abnormal amount of stamina, still didn't have enough to match Kotomine Kirei's. Once upon a time, his stamina far outstripped this priest's, but that was not the case anymore—not in this world.

Thus, he had to end this engagement quick.

Luckily he had just the tool.

Naruto sacrificed the first blood—a small non-vital nick on the arm—to the priest in order to grab hold of some of the kunai in his pocket and launch them at the priest. The priest barely managed to dodge by twisting his body a little, but even a small distraction like that was a large enough opening for Naruto.

It took a fairly greater amount of strength than before, but Naruto was able to send Kotomine Kirei flying back again with a vicious and rapid punch to the chest.

Naruto scowled as he breathed hard, his lungs desperately trying to pull in enough air to repay the oxygen debt that his burning muscles had incurred.

'His durability's increased too...'

Kotomine Kirei used his considerable will to suppress a displeased frown.

That last engagement had been his greatest chance to defeat the Emiya, but no longer was that the case. Now that his magically enhanced abilities had been revealed, the boy would not be caught off guard again.

He took a quick glance at the multiple kunai embedded on the wall behind. He had wanted to neutralize the boy before he could make use of his own threat multiplication…

But he had failed.

The boy had already taken out more of his kunai and shuriken, and was standing at the ready. The boy would not allow Kirei to corner him in close-range combat again.

Thus, they would now pit their ranged abilities against the other.

Kirei took the initiative. He threw his eight black keys all at once, but before he even had the chance to blink, multiple kunai and shuriken streaked towards him, having bounced off his thrown weapons like a fatal game of pong.

'So fast—!'

Thankfully, he had more black keys in store—ones that he used to block the steel projectiles. The black keys he had thrown all fell harmlessly around the two, having lost their precise aim due to the Emiya using them as ricochet springboards.

Kirei's finger twitched as his mind raced. The boy's ranged abilities were far greater than his; engaging the boy like this would only spell his defeat.

He needed to think. What did he have left in his arsenal that he could use to his advantage?

Victory was close—Naruto could feel it.

Kotomine Kirei had no more cards left to play, and thus, the battle would end in Naruto's victory. Perhaps Kotomine sensed the same, because he suddenly shot off through the church's back door.

Naruto grinned as he gave chase, "Running away!?"

Kotomine glanced at him out of the corner of his eye as the two found themselves emerging in a courtyard.

Then, for some inexplicable reason, Kotomine came to a stop.

Naruto too came to a stop about two meters away from Kotomine. The priest was clearly up to something.

They simply stood there, silently staring each other down, until Kurama spoke up,

'Oi, Naruto. There're a few humans beneath us to our left who're on the edge of death. It feels like their life force is being sucked out.'

Naruto's eyes flicked to the doorway that probably lead to the place that Kurama was talking about, and Kotomine used that opportunity to strike.

Obviously, the move would be useless. Naruto knew better than to stop focusing on his opponent, even with the revelation of such disturbing information as this.

Kotomine came in with a stab of his black key towards Naruto's leg, and Naruto simply stepped backward and prepared for a counterattack—

A blade that should not have struck found purchase in flesh.

"Guh—!"

Pain, like searing flame, burrowed inside Naruto's left calf muscle, and Naruto barely managed to avoid Kotomine's follow up attack by leaping back with the sole strength of his right leg. With no reliable left leg to help, Naruto fell on his behind and skidded back from the momentum of his leap.

'Brat! What the hell!?'

'Sh—shit! I messed up!'

Naruto winced and looked up. Kotomine Kirei stood over him, a victorious smirk stretched across his face.

The blade proper had not struck Uzumaki Naruto. The blood on the steel of his black key was simply there because the boy's blood had spurted out due to the stab, not because the metal had actually made contact with its target.

No, what had struck Uzumaki Naruto was the magic that Kotomine Kirei had cast on the blade to increase its range.

"Y-you asshole..." The blonde boy underneath Kirei growled, sounding more angry rather than in pain.

"You were better than me," Kirei said, "Speed, skill, strength, instincts… I could not surpass you in any of those aspects—even with my magic.

But… I noticed something.

The first time I threw my magically enhanced black key, you realized that it was magically enhanced a little late—your expression shifted drastically when the blade was two to three meters away from you, I realized.

Then, throughout our battle, you went out of your way to avoid the tips of my black keys from facing you.

Why? You could sense magic, could you not? You stated yourself that my heart had the same energy signature as the Shadow.

But what if you could not? What if, instead of sensing magic in the traditional sense, you instead sensed magic in a manner akin to sonar?

It would make sense then why you wished to avoid having the tips of my blades face you. It would also explain why you realized that some of my blades had been magically enhanced a little late.

Thus, as I stated, I formulated the theory that your ability to sense magic works in a manner akin to sonar, and you use it periodically. Useless in the heat of battle, but generally, it still allows you to sense magic.

Using that theory, I came up with this plan—" He gestured at the wound on Naruto's leg, "—To distract you with the presence of the people having their life force sucked out. If you were distracted for even only a fraction of a second, and I attacked at that moment, I still wouldn't be able to land a blow—your instincts were too good. But, as you cannot sense my blade's magic, your instincts would only account for the blade you could see, not the magically extended reach of the blade, which is invisible to the naked eye.

That is the moment I aimed for: a moment where you wouldn't have in mind that an invisible blade also existed."

Unknown to Kotomine, his theory was completely wrong. Fortunately for him, he had still managed to guess the basic principles correctly, and thus his plan had worked out for him.

"So… that's why you had me chase you here…" Naruto grunted, "What the hell is going on here? Why're you doing this to the people down there?"

Kirei quirked an eyebrow, "You do not recognize them?" Then, a sadistic smirk spread across his face, "They… are your fellow survivors of the great fire."

Naruto blinked, "What…? You decided to just search for the survivors of the fire and drain only them of their life force? Why?"

Kotomine Kirei's smirk widened, "Ah yes, that would be the reasonable assumption, wouldn't it—that I tracked down the survivors of the fire and kidnapped them."

A pit of dread made started growing in Naruto's stomach, "...What do you mean?"

"It is not that I tracked down these people, it is simply that these people were all in one place, and therefore a convenient way to gather a large amount of life force to extract."

Naruto's eyes widened as the implications of that statement hit him like a speeding truck,

"Y-you mean—!?"

"Yes… these people have been suffering down there for the past ten years!" The priest seemed to feel a sense of perverse joy in revealing that.

Red blinded Naruto's vision as fire itself seemed to course through his veins. He forced his legs to launch himself at his enemy, yelling in rage as he did so,

"Y-YOU ASSHOLE!"

But reality could not be denied. One of his legs was punctured, so he simply ended up stumbling forward and falling on his front.

"Stay down," Kotomine Kirei said calmly, piercing Naruto's other leg with a black key.

"Gah—!"

Naruto clenched his fists as he felt the metal dig into muscle. The pain was blinding, but somehow, the sheer rage coursing through his veins kept him from screaming in pain.

Kotomine pulled out his black key and stored it away,

"You asked why I did this? Well, I could give you a number of answers; but the most truthful would be: because I wanted to. I am a human being who can only find pleasure in the suffering of others. Until the end of the last Holy Grail War, I did not know this facet of myself, but once I finally came to know, I simply indulged myself."

"You..."

"Yes, I am well aware that my actions are wrong by modern moral standards. But it is simply an unfortunate fact of life that I was born distorted. I feel no pleasure in anything other than human suffering, and so, I simply appease my nature through these horrendous acts."

Naruto felt the urge to punch the priest in the face climb higher and higher, but he held himself from making any rash moves.

There was only a single reason for that:

Avalon.

Saber's holy scabbard was working its magic, and Naruto didn't want to tip the Kotomine off. He simply had to keep the priest talking until his wounds were sufficiently healed. Meanwhile, Kurama was working on making sure that Avalon wouldn't produce any golden light while it was doing the healing.

He couldn't afford to lose just because Avalon couldn't keep its dramatics under control.

"Is that your justification?" Naruto bit out, "That it's in your nature, so you're justified to do this?"

Kotomine Kirei shook his head, "Not at all. I am well aware of the evil that I am, I have no justification. But just because I have no justification, does not mean that I cannot give in to my base desires."

The priest wasn't deluded like Zouken, nor was he trying to justify himself like Caster. He truly knew that he was evil, but he simply accepted it.

Naruto felt a shiver run down his spine. Kotomine Kirei wasn't an unreadable opponent like Kaguya, but at least Naruto could find it in him to empathize a little with her.

Kotomine Kirei was completely different. If there was a single person in his entire life that Naruto would never be able to understand, it was definitely Kotomine Kirei.

"So… you're going to kill me? Or are you going to keep me around to suck my life force out too?" Naruto asked.

"I will kill you," Kotomine answered promptly, "You are simply too unpredictable to keep alive."

'They're healed. Not fully, but enough to make them work for a single burst.'

"Kotomine Kirei..."

The priest reached for Naruto's neck, and, at that moment, Naruto leapt at the priest and punched him square in the jaw with a powerful 'THWACK!'

"You should have stuck to eating your stupid mapo tofu, you goddamned bastard!"

Kotomine Kirei had thought he had won, so naturally, he had stopped using the Command Seals to enhance his body's abilities.

That turned out to be a mistake.

Now, due to the blonde boy's punch, he was lying on the ground, his head swimming with pain, and his body paralyzed.

His body would regain mobility soon, but not quick enough to stop Uzumaki Naruto from achieving victory.

"Y-you… how…?" Kirei managed to mutter.

The Emiya managed to stumble towards him. Obviously, whatever had healed his legs hadn't been able to complete the job.

"Avalon." The boy answered.

Kirei felt a wry smirk spread across his stinging face.

Ah… so it had been King Arthur's holy scabbard all along. That was most likely how Emiya Kiritsugu had managed to regenerate his heart ten years ago, and that was how his son had healed his legs just now.

How ironic… both Emiyas had managed to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat because of the same holy artefact.

"I won't lecture you, Kotomine Kirei," the boy said, "Simply because I don't understand you. I'm just going to make sure that you're going to spend the rest of your life in jail!"

Kotomine Kirei closed his eyes calmly, "I see… so this is my end. How pathetic."

Naruto growled, "Go to sleep for now."

'Thwack!'

A sharp pain; then the unwanted darkness of unconsciousness.

In the peaceful wooden dojo of the Emiya household, Saber twitched as she felt her mana flow out towards Naruto at a slightly faster rate than usual. Had Saber not been meditating, she would not have noticed.

But she was meditating, so she did notice. Avalon was being used beyond what was necessary.

Which meant only one thing: Naruto had sustained an injury.

Saber leapt to her feet and took off into the sky. Within minutes of hopping over houses, she reached the location where she sensed Naruto was.

It was the church…

What was he doing there?

The atmosphere of the church was as disturbing as ever, but she would not hesitate to enter now. Naruto had sustained an injury inside, and that was reason enough to throw away her hesitation.

She tried calmly opening the door, only to find it locked.

Forgoing the door, she jumped up and entered the church's courtyard from above. There was no roof above the courtyard after all.

And there he was, his blonde hair as wild as ever. He was standing over a person she recognized well:

Kotomine Kirei.

Kiritsugu had claimed that this man was the most dangerous Master of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Only… this "most dangerous Master" was lying on the ground unconscious, blood trailing from his nose.

"Naruto!" She called as landed beside her Master.

Naruto turned and greeted her with a grimace,

"Hey, Saber."

Then, his legs gave out under him. Fortunately, Saber was there to soften his rough descent and set him down gently.

'What happened here?" Saber asked, taking note of the dense residual mana in the air, indicating that a significant amount of magic had been used.

"Turns out that this dickbag has been hiding a lot of secrets from us," Naruto answered, "He revealed a lot before we began our fight, but I don't know if he told me everything."

Saber nodded, "Then sit and rest, Naruto. We shall interrogate the priest once he awakens."

Matou Shinji felt the whisper for consciousness for barely a single blissful second before the usual, heart-crushing sense of panic came flooding back in.

His eyes flew open as he leaped to his feet. He looked around wildly, and comprehension came to him right after.

'This is… Emiya's home?'

Slowly, his racing heart slowed a bit.

Then it sped up again when his mind suddenly decided to remind him of his last battle against Tohsaka.

And, right at that moment, Tohsaka herself came walking in.

"Huh, I definitely put in enough power in that sleeping spell to keep you knocked out for around five days," she observed curiously, "I guess you did inherit some aspect of the moonlit world from your Makiri genes—however insignificant they may be. Still, I was going to wake you anyway, so I'm glad that you saved me the trouble."

"T-Tohsaka!" Shinji yelled, "Why the hell am I here!? What did you do to me!?"

Tohsaka shook her head as if she was annoyed or something,

"You don't get to ask any questions. After all, you were never a magus, and so the only reason you were worth our attention was because you were a Master." Tohsaka smirked coldly, "However, that is no longer the case either."

Shinji paled, "M-my book! WHAT DID YOU DO—"

Suddenly, his vision turned red, courtesy of the crimson Gandr shot aimed at his head right in front of his eyes.

"Shut up," Tohsaka's aqua eyes were as hard as steel now.

No… they had always been as hard as steel, now there was a cold fury in them that she was making no attempts to hide.

"I'll be the one asking questions now."

Shinji's pride roiled at her words, but he was not an idiot. He knew that he had no power here. Still, he was a mage of the Makiri lineage, so obviously she Tohsaka wouldn't kill him—

"Those worms inside Sakura, how did they function? What was their purpose?" Rin asked, her voice laden with an inhuman chill, "Tell me everything, kelp-head."

Kelp-head?

Just how far was Tohsaka planning to demean him?

"Oi, Tohsaka," Shinji growled, "I'm a Makiri mage, you know? Show me the respect I deserve, and I'll consider sharing our knowledge."

Tohsaka tilted her head curiously, "Are you delusional or something? How many times do I have to say it? You're not a mage. Matou Shinji, you aren't anything special at all. You're just an ordinary guy who has deluded himself into thinking that he's as special as his ancestors."

Shinji felt like a fuse was going to blow inside him.

Aren't anything special?

Just an ordinary guy who has deluded himself into thinking that he's as special as his ancestors?

What right did this bitch have to say all that? Especially considering the fact that her very sister was nothing but a common whore in front of him!

Good, you finally get it, you fake magus.

A harsh laughed escaped Shinji's lips, and the dam burst.

"You think you're so special Tohsaka!?" He asked, the last vestiges of his rationality burned away by his rage and pride, "Well you're wrong! I may not have magic, but I'm still better than you! Sakura already knows this, that's why she never struggled whenever I used her! You'll end up just the same!"

Tohsaka's eyes narrowed, "Used her…?"

But Shinji wasn't listening, he was still too immersed in his raving, "I'm just as special as you! You hear me!? I'M JUST AS SPECIAL—"

Shinji's nose exploded in blinding pain and he crumpled to the floor, his hands instinctively applying tight pressure on his now bleeding nose. It took his brain a few seconds to process what had happened.

Tohsaka, trembling in rage, had abandoned all forms of magic and inelegantly punched him straight on the nose. The offending knuckles were red, and they looked like they too had sustained some damage from making contact with bone with such force, but Tohsaka didn't seem the least bit regretful for her actions.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Tohsaka commanded, slowly and deliberately.

Shinji, having been freed from his small fit of lunacy by Tohsaka's actions, finally realized the situation he had trapped himself in.

"I—I—"

"I repeat, tell me exactly what happened," Tohsaka said, Gandr shot ready in her hand again, and far too uncomfortably close to Shinji's face.

"Sh-she needed it! Whenever grandfather activated the worms she needed my sperm! It was necessary for her, trust me!"

"Trust a slimy rapist like you? You must be joking! And I'm sure none of this had anything to with your stupid complexes!"

"N-no—"

Tohsaka muttered something, and suddenly, Shinji was being chocked by some sort of invisible pressure. It was as if a noose that he couldn't see nor feel was slowly being tightened around his neck. Shinji clawed at the offending restraint, but he could only feel his neck with his fingers, and not the object slowly closing off his windpipe.

'T-Tohsaka… please..." He barely managed to gasp out, his vision swimming now.

"I'll end you here and now," Rin said, her voice frigid, "You don't deserve to keep on living, and I'm a magus; I'll have no problems in killing you right now and then hiding the evidence."

"N-no..."

The edges of his sight were fading to black now, thought was escaping him, and feeling was fading away. Soon, he would be going down… down… down… into the inky, solitary sea of blackness—

"Nee-san, no!"

And suddenly, the pressure lifted, and due to the most unexpected source at that.

Sakura.

Shinji took a delicious gasp of breath as his vision focused on his timid little sister, her face set in worry, and her arms helping him recuperate.

Yes… that was right. Sakura was his property, so of course she would defend him!

As soon as Shinji had recovered enough of his breath, he chuckled, Tohsaka's shocked expression only adding to his amusement. She didn't get it at all, did she?

"Tohsaka, you're such an idiot. Sakura is mine—she belongs to me, so what I did definitely wasn't wrong!"

""Definitely wasn't"—what!?" Tohsaka choked out before turning to Sakura, "Why're you protecting him, Sakura!? All he's done is be horrible to you!"

"I-it wasn't his fault!" Sakura protested, "It was because of his family, and—and it was because of me too—"

"Why?" Rin said, "Because you existed? Because you could do magic when he couldn't!?"

Her question echoed throughout the house, and no answer came forthwith, for the answer was already obvious.

"…Yes," Sakura finally said, her voice quiet yet firm, "Nii-san… he's been hurt so many times by his family—of course he would become this."

Rin grit her teeth, but tempered her anger into a sharp, steady voice, "That's not an excuse. Yes, his family hurt him, but that doesn't give him a right to do the same to others. What's wrong is wrong, no matter the reason."

The two sisters stared into each other's eyes, locked in a battle of wills. Then, in a move that surprised both Shinji and Rin, Sakura gave in.

"Yes… maybe Nii-san was… wrong," The words seemed excruciatingly hard for her to verbalize, but as she did, she seemed to gain a sort of confidence that neither Shinji nor Rin had ever seen in her.

Shinji felt his brain blank out for a second. Sakura, his ever-obedient plaything had defied him? She had condemned his actions?

"S-Sakura!" He yelled, "How dare—!"

"E-enough, Nii-san!" Sakura screamed, and Shinji went silent for she had never raised her voice at him, "Nee-san, I know that Nii-san was… w-wrong," she once again struggled to say, but managed far better this time, "but please, don't kill him. Please, give him one last chance."

Rin almost flinched, the desperation in Sakura's voice dousing her flames of rage. Her blood cooled, and she quickly made her decision while she still had some of her previous ire left, "Get out of here. Just—go! If I ever see you again, I'll kill you in an instant."

Shinji's eyes widened in terror, "Y-you can't—"

Rin's aqua eyes flashed and a Gandr shot reappeared in her hand,

"Go!"

Shinji made a strange strangling sound, and, after an incredibly tiny second of hesitation, took off from the room as if he'd seen the face of death itself.

Rin powered down her Gandr shot and felt her rapid, angry breathing slowly calm in pace. Then, she noticed Sakura trembling.

"Sakura…?"

As if that were the breaking point, Sakura collapsed and burst into tears; Rin instinctively caught her before she could hit the floor. Sakura clumsily clung to Rin, as if she wasn't sure what she was doing, and her face flushed as her bawling got worse.

Rin felt her own eyes burn at the corners, but clamped down on it before it could get anywhere. Instead, she held her sister, and hoped it would be enough.

Before Kotomine Kirei even opened his eyes, he felt his jaw throb in pain. Ignoring it with the ruthless efficiency he had developed through the years as an inquisitor, he kept his eyes closed and reached out with his senses to discreetly check—

"I know you have awakened, priest," Saber's cold voice reached his ears.

Deeming any attempts of passing him off as still unconscious as useless now, Kirei opened his eyes and took a brief glance at where he was.

The location was unchanged, he was still in the courtyard of the church, where he had been knocked out. Only now, he was also tied up to a pillar.

Uzumaki Emiya Naruto and Saber were standing above him, their faces as hard as stone.

"So, this is how I meet my end," Kirei said with a wry smirk, "How pathetic."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at him, "We're not going to kill you, priest."

"No, of course not. I am already aware of your hopeless idealism," Kirei said, "But that does not mean that you will stop me from enacting my plans, which in itself, is a form of "end" for me."

"Sure, whatever," Naruto said, "I'm gonna get to the point, priest. What the hell is your plan? You can't have just gotten a bunch of kids and tortured them for years just because you thought it was fun."

"Can't I have?" Kirei said, "Do you not play games to entertain yourself? Do you not engage in your hobbies to dispel your boredom? This is ultimately the same for me."

"So that's it? This is all just a game for you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes."

Kirei could almost feel Naruto suppress the urge to physically recoil at his answer, and smiled.

"Tell me, Uzumaki Emiya Naruto," he said, "Why have you not already gone to rescue those children who have continuously suffered at my hand? You are a man of action, are you not?"

Naruto stared back, looking unsure of himself.

"I suspect it is because you are afraid," Kirei said, "Afraid of the depths of evil that humans can go to. I can see it in your eyes right now, you have met selfish people, and you have met people who have committed atrocities in the name of what they believed was right, but you have never met evil such as mine. You have never met anyone who finds pleasure in the simple suffering of others.

You are unbearably repulsed by me, but if you go in that cellar and see those children, then it becomes real. They are proof that a person like me truly exists, and I suspect that you never once wanted to believe that humanity could ever sink so low."

Naruto's fist clenched and struck Kirei's face with the force of a boulder, knocking him back out without any preamble. However, this time, even unconscious, a ghost of a smile remained on the priest's face.

Saber could see now that Naruto was trembling. However, before she could say anything, her Master spoke,

"Let's go." His voice was hard, as if he had wrapped up all his emotions into a tight little box of cold steel, "We can't let those people down there suffer any longer."

They made their way down the stairs in stiff silence, and found themselves in a large cavernous basement. It was completely dark, with no sources of light whatsoever, but Saber had no trouble seeing, and the sight that greeted her was one of the worst she had ever seen.

Despite being the King of Knights who had seen many an atrocity in her time, Saber still felt disgust violently roil in her stomach.

"They're here, aren't they?" Naruto asked. The nine-tailed fox must have informed him as his human eyes probably couldn't see anything but pitch-black darkness.

"Yes."

"Describe it."

"Naruto..."

Naruto's voice wavered a bit, "Please… describe it."

"There are rows and rows of people shackled to the cave walls here," Saber hesitantly said, "I sense that their life force has been drained completely dry. Their limbs have all been cut off too. It seems to me that they are all nearing adulthood, but… it is hard to tell due to their current physical states."

There was only silence after her answer. And then, a sigh.

Then, without warning, Naruto punched the ground repeatedly and screamed,

"GODDAMNIT! YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU!? HOW DARE YOU!?"

His knuckles started to bleed, and Saber grabbed his arm before he could continue to harm himself any further.

"Naruto, enough!" She said as he resisted against her.

Naruto panted, the fury on his visage still clearly visible, but he stopped trying to dig a new hole with his bare hands at her words.

"We must now decide what to do with these children," Saber said.

Naruto glared at her, "We save them, obviously."

Saber grimly shook her head, "Naruto… they have been drained of all their life force. They can never be saved again."

"No..." Naruto said, "That's impossible. There has to be a way—I—I mean, they're alive now, aren't they?"

"Barely, yes. However, I can sense that their time is running out. In perhaps a day or two, they will die completely, even with the magic sustaining them."

Saber could see that Naruto's mind was now flying through all sorts of ideas and plans, but she stopped him before he could get his hopes up,

"Naruto, the Grail imparted all information about the magecraft in this age to me, and I assure you, there is no one in this world that can save these people. Magecraft was far stronger in my time, and I suspect even no one then would have been able to save these people."

"No!" Naruto said, "I can save them! If only I could access my Sage of Six Paths mode—"

"But you cannot," Saber said, a little coldly, "At least not in the next two days. The best we can do is bring them peace from this suffering."

"...By killing them?"

Saber closed her eyes, "Yes."

Naruto frustratedly ruffled his hair, but had no other options to respond with.

In this terribly sad and tumultuous situation, Saber, for some reason, still felt the urge to hand the job of killing these children over to Naruto. Just for once, she wanted him to sink to her level, to see the world from the perspective of one who had been forced to sacrifice their morality—

No! What was she thinking!? How could she have ever come up with such a terrible thought!?

"Naruto," she said tightly, "Go. This task does not suit you."

"No—"

"I said go!"

Please, she thought to herself, leave before cruelty guides my hand.

Perhaps sensing the distress in her voice, Naruto nodded without any further protest.

"Alright…" he said, "I'll go and check the rest of the church."

"Yes," Saber almost sighed in relief, "Thank you."

"No," Naruto said as he turned to leave, "That should be my line. Thank you, Saber."

Saber's lip trembled under the cover of darkness.

Twenty minutes later, Saber emerged from the underground room to find Naruto standing over Kotomine with worry clear on his face.

"Did you…?"

Saber nodded, "Yes. It is done. May their souls find peace."

"Aren't we going to give them a funeral or something?" Naruto asked.

"Perhaps," Saber said, "We must first present their corpses to Rin so that she may, as the highest authority in magical matters in this area, identify the priest as the true culprit. Only then can they be sent off with ceremony."

"Alright…" Naruto said, "Well, I combed the church and the only noteworthy thing I found was a secret room filled with wine. Just like the rest of the church, there was nothing really important there."

"Then let us go and conclude this distasteful matter."

The walk back home had been silent, for both Master and Servant had far too much on their minds to make conversation.

When they reached home, Saber immediately went to the dojo, while Naruto dazedly dropped Kirei right there on the entryway and instinctively stumbled into the living room. He found Rin there, with a vacant stare of her own on her face.

"Hey," he greeted weakly.

Rin turned to him, and offered him the most pathetic attempt of a smile he had ever seen.

Then, with nary a word, both enveloped each other in a tight hug. They stayed like that for a while, simply taking comfort in each others' warm presence.

Finally, after they had both gathered enough presence of mind, they both separated, ready to talk about the terrible events of today.

Archer narrowed his eyes as he watched Saber meditate in the serene dojo. This was suspicious. With Uzumaki Naruto in such a terrible state, Saber would have been right there by his side to support him.

So why wasn't she?

Why was she sitting here, distancing herself from her Master?

Why was she making that troubled face while hiding away from everyone else?

He blinked and then turned away. What did he care? This was none of his concern.

And yet, the thought remained in the back of his head, like an itch he refused to scratch.

Naruto and Rin were both sitting at the table now, Naruto having prepared a cup of ramen, and Rin having boiled herself a mug of chamomile tea.

"I knew that he was jealous about something, but I never expected that from Shinji," Naruto said subduedly, unsure on how to respond to Rin's tale of what Shinji had done to Sakura, "He got worse throughout the years, but when I first met him, he wasn't a bad person. Still, to do something like this..."

They sat there in silence for a few seconds, sipping from their respective dish and drink.

"Guess the situation for Sakura with the Matous was even worse than I thought. If I hadn't deluded myself into believing she was happy..."

Naruto sighed, "There's no point in thinking about what you could have done. You were a kid who had been told that letting Sakura be was the right thing to do. Very few people would have even kept an eye on her after being told that, but you did. You went beyond what was expected of you, feeling guilty about not doing more is stupid."

Rin looked down at the mug in her hands and hurriedly wiped a traitorous tear that had managed to leak out.

"Yeah… I guess."

"So? Where's Shinji now?" Naruto asked, "What did you do with him? You said Sakura didn't allow you to kill him."

"Yeah, she didn't," Rin said, "So I told him to run away, and that if I ever saw his face again, I would kill him."

"I see."

There was really nothing else Naruto could say at this point, for his thoughts were just as much of a jumbled mess as Rin's.

Shinji? He was just a kid, how could he have committed such despicable acts? More importantly, how could Sakura have even acted so pleasantly around someone who had forced himself on her?

Why did she never tell anyone?

"How's Sakura doing?" Naruto asked.

Rin seemed to visibly age a bit at the question, "She's sleeping right now, but she was crying for a long while you were away."

Naruto closed his eyes as he felt his heart twinge in pain at that,

"I see."

"What about you?" Rin asked, "You didn't look so great when you came in either."

"Yeah, something happened on my end too," Naruto said.

He proceeded to recount what had happened with Kotomine Kirei and the children today. On any other day, Rin would have looked horrified, or more likely, furious, but today she just looked incredibly tired.

"That damn fake priest… I won't let him go for this. As the Second owner of Fuyuki, I'll be sure to get him imprisoned for this."

Naruto gave a small smile, "Yeah, thanks."

Rin took a sip from her mug then leaned on the table, "Naruto, why don't you take tomorrow off?"

There was a dark look on her face that Naruto couldn't quite place. Still, either way, he found her proposal confusing.

"Why? We just had a break yesterday."

Rin gave an attempt at a smile, but it just came off as a kind of grimace, "No, yesterday we still had to deal with Zouken. I mean, why don't you just take the entire tomorrow off and relax a bit?"

"What?" Naruto asked incredulously, "We still have so much to do! We have to end this war as quickly as we can!"

Rin nodded, "And we will, but in our current states, we'll just be a burden to our Servants."

"I can put aside my feelings during battle, don't worry about that," Naruto said.

"Okay, but do you know where Caster or Berserker are then?"

Naruto took a deep sip from his cup ramen then spoke, "I don't know where Caster is, but Caster told me the Chibi's house's location, which is probably where we'll find Berserker."

Rin said, "Yes, but Berserker is a powerful foe, and we need Rider to help us defeat him. With Sakura in the state she's in, I say we give her more time to rest before we have her go to battle again. You know she'd never let us go alone, and Rider would never leave her alone to come with us—even if it is to defeat one of our enemies."

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, guess you're right..."

Rin looked satisfied, "Good. Go rest up then, you look like you really need it."

Naruto smiled wearily, "So do you."

Rin simply flashed him a tight smile as she deposited her mug in the sink and briskly walked out of the room.

Naruto finished the last of his cup noodles and fell on to the table. Rin was right, he really needed some rest.

But first, he had one last thing to do before went to bed.

He deposited his cup into the rubbish bin and made his way to Sakura's room.

In the darkness, with barely a sliver of moonlight to illuminate the room, Naruto could barely see Sakura. But even then, he could see that she had suffered an emotional day. Tear tracks on her face, puffed up red eyes, and an obviously uneasy sleep.

He knelt down and gently touched her face,

"I'm sorry that I never noticed what you were going through, Sakura. If only I hadn't been so busy feeling sorry for myself, I would have been able to help you."

His eyes moistened, and he instinctively shut his eyes tightly, "I promise, never again. I'll never let you be hurt this way ever again."

Sakura squirmed in her sleep a bit, and perhaps she recognized his voice, or perhaps she was having a dream about him, but either way, she smiled slightly, and gave a soft mutter,

"Senpai..."

Naruto felt his lips spread into a small smile at that, "Yeah, don't you worry. I'm here now."

He gave her a tender peck on the forehead, and left for bed.

"Archer."

Archer turned behind to look at his Master behind him. Well wasn't this strange? Why had she come on the roof of the Emiya household to personally speak to him instead of simply using their far more efficient mental link to do the same?

"Rin."

Rin stood there steadily, her hands wrapped around herself to keep her warm in the cold and windy night, and a grave look on her unblemished face, "Can you defeat her?"

"Defeat who?" Archer asked, quirking a single eyebrow.

Rin looked annoyed, "The only female enemy Servant in the war obviously: Caster. Can you defeat her?"

"With Saber and Rider's help? Of course."

Rin shook her head, "No, only you. Can you defeat Caster by yourself?"

"Why do you ask?"

Rin glared at him, "Just answer the question!"

Archer sighed, troublesome Masters and their troublesome emotional outbursts...

Still, the answer was obvious,

"Undoubtedly."

Rin nodded, "Good. Make sure you're ready by the morning."

With that, she left.

Archer sighed again.

Troublesome Masters and their troublesome emotional outbursts.

Author's Note: Happy belated New Years! Yes, it's been about a month and a half since the New Year actually arrive, but I wanted to say it anyway!