So I am still alive and kicking folks and I just want to say welcome to chapter 3 of 'Archer of the Fifth'. That and I am so sorry for the delay in updating this chapter. Honestly, so many things went wrong over the last couple of months that you'd think someone/something was conspiring to keep me off the internet.

Anyway I also wanted to express how grateful I am for your patience and overwhelming support so far. Like seriously guys, 22,000 views, nearly a 1000 follows, 750 favs for two chapters. I mean wow! I am touched you guys, really you guys are so awesome.

Now the biggest problem I've had over the months I wasn't updating, health issues and a funeral aside, was my computer got all wonky and I lost the original streamlined plot the story was meant to follow. After I rewrote it and changed up a few things from the original plot, it just stopped flowing naturally and everything felt forced or stupid. I had rewrite a few drafts till something worked and that became the new plot. I've mostly figured out where I am taking the story and I haven't had to change that much of the events I originally planned for the Fifth Holy Grail War except for a few tweaks here and there. The major changes I have made affect the aftermath of the Holy Grail War, things like meeting Arcruied and Scathach for example or the Reaction of the Mages Association and the Church to the ending of the war.

As for Berserker vs Archer. Well, the whole fight was originally meant to be in this chapter but my instincts kept telling me to put the first part in chapter 2 to keep things interesting and I follow my instincts. That fight continues here and I am honestly very sorry if I got carried away in writing it. You can blame the horrible combination of watching Fate: Apocrypha, Boruto: Next Generations episode 65, God War 4 and listening DOOM 2016 ost Vega Core. Throw in some Redbull somewhere in there and things just spiraled. I still hope you like it, no matter how much of a Naruto fan you maybe.

Now to address to the two major points raised by everyone, thank you for the reviews by the way. First Nature's Retribution only being able to take one of Heracles' lives and secondly Naruto's power levels when compared canon. To answer the first point, yes I deliberately made it so the attack only took one life and the Raikiri before that didn't really do anything. The reason for this will be explained in the chapter below so I won't spoil it for you. It isn't Nasuverse canon or at least I don't think it is but it's something that just seemed like common sense to me. You guys make of it whatever you will.

As for Naruto not being up to his usual planet wide extinction level event power levels and by that I mean he could easily kick up enough dust to choke most lifeforms on the planet to death but not actually bust the planet (Yeah I am looking at you Spacebattlers). Well, the universe the story takes place in is an amalgamation of both the Nasuverse and the Narutoverse, with the Narutoverse stuff all occurring before mankind started recorded its own history. So Atlantis and ancient Babylon might've known about Naruto but they are no longer here. The rest of the world wouldn't have even heard of him and in the Nasuverse there is a price to be paid when your legend is forgotten by humanity.

Naruto is a fallen deity, that became a heroic spirit that the world has completely forgotten about. The end result is that yes, he is a hell of lot weaker than canon. Despite this his stats are still abnormally strong for Servant regardless of his irregular summoning, incompetent master and lack of a boost to his stats from not being summoned in his home land, yada yada yada. So yeah I nerfed him, though I hate that word. It sounds so permanent, hmm! Besides I don't want him to go around insta-killing everything that isn't classified as a Type, Archetype or True Magician. That aside, I don't remember even hinting at any point that Naruto would remain that way. Now enough of this lets get on to the story.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto and Kinoko Nasu own everything (Including the money). I just make this story look good (*Sigh* For free).

Chapter 3: When all isn't as it seems!

"I remember what I was like back then. Always thinking about myself and those I considered my family but no one else. I had been a hero by then long enough to become jaded to the very idea of heroism and their isn't a single man, beast or god on Gaia that could condemn me for that. That's why I had no wish for the grail at that time and perhaps it was thanks to this little quirk so many of us found our salvation. No one knew that Angra Mainyu was waiting in that corrupted grail to destroy the world. In their greed and lust for power, no one would have seen the bastard coming. Lucky for everyone that I fucked up that war way beyond any form of recognition."

— Naruto Uzumaki

oOo

"What?...what is this?" Illyasviel von Einzbern wondered aloud as she watched Berserker and the servant her adopted brother had summoned stand perfectly still across from each other, their gazes locked in a silent stare off. An eerie silence had fallen upon the tension filled battleground as the two titans waited for the other to make the first move.

A single glance at the surrounding left a shiver running up and down Illya's spine, she knew things would only get worse as the battle continued. Much much worse. The sheer destruction wrought by the two titans was as immense as it was utterly unnatural. It looked like a natural disaster had swept through the area, however it was the fact that said destruction was cause by people, albeit people long since dead, that drove home how terrifying Servants could be.

Illya knew quite well what kind of destruction an existence as unreasonable as a Heroic Spirit could bring down on any environment. Berserker himself was a servant that could be called the pinnacle of what it meant to be a Heroic Spirit or alternatively an embodiment of Chaos depending on who you asked. She'd been living with him for months now and not only had she seen what he could do but often commanded her servant to do it.

Even the amount of destruction already cause was trivial compared to what he could do when he really got going. She'd seen this first hand when the Einzbern clan had pitted him against a hundred battle homunculi in a fight to the death back in their forests in Germany. It was a 'test' of his abilities or so they'd said. A slaughter would have been a better albeit it kinder way of describe that event.

The massacre of not only her fellow homunculi but the environment itself had driven home how far beyond humans and homunculi her servant was. That Berserker could be matched even for a short time by her brother's Servant was quite frankly scary and Illya just knew that the environment around them would not survive the conflict.

This Naruto of the Uzumaki clan as he had named himself was truly an incredible Servant for a Japanese hero that no one had ever heard about. There was no mistaking the fact that Naruto was definitely a Japanese name, though how he was summoned when the grail favored western Heroic Spirits was a mystery. Still, with those looks he must have had western ancestry and as a Japanese hero he was probably also getting a major boost in stats from being summoned in his homeland. It was the only reason she could think of for Berserker having not already turned him to pulp.

Even so, a small part of Illya couldn't help but wonder that if Shirou could summon a Heroic Spirit of this caliber, then. 'Perhaps this is the reason why Kiritsugu never came back for me. Perhaps he found someone he believed...'

Shaking her insecurities and uncertain thoughts of her long dead father away, Illya simply admitted to herself that Naruto was a strong Servant and his magecraft was incredibly powerful. Her adoptive brother had done well to summon a Servant like him.

However, Naruto had made one mistake when he previously engaged and killed Berserker with his Noble Phantasm. It was something so obvious that anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense would have immediately taken note of. Something so intrinsic to Heracles' legend that she couldn't understand how Naruto and Shirou had possibly missed it.

Heracles was the son of Zeus, the King of the Greek gods and most importantly a god of the Sky. So it wasn't unreasonable for even an idiot to assume that perhaps Heracles had a bit more resistance to Lightning than most other demigods seeing as his father freely commanded the element.

It was for this reason and this reason only that Naruto's Nature's retribution had done so little damage to Berserker. While the horrifying finisher unleashed upon him by Naruto had indeed completely killed Berserker once. His natural resistance to lightning through being born the son of Zeus ensured it was only sufficient to kill him once rather than take several more lives.

Where four or five lives would have been lost only one life was consumed by Nature's Retribution as it tore through Godhand. Had Naruto used a different equally powerful technique against Heracles, he would have lost the full number of lives he was supposed to lose instantly and she might have even considered retreating. She had lucked out on that one.

That said, even a 'Caster' class servant like Naruto would have had to use a huge chunk of his prana reserves to pull of such a powerful attack. He probably wouldn't repeat it or anything on that scale so soon, with so little reward to show for it. And if he did, it would be his undoing. As such Illya only had two words for her servant.

"Berserker, Kill!"

VvV

Something wasn't right here Shirou determined as his Servant glared down the enemy Servant. Naruto was his only lifeline between salvation and death in the form of the two and half meter tall slab of gray muscles, bone, mismatched eyes and madness that his apparent adoptive sister called her Servant. Worse yet, said Heroic Spirit just so happened to be freaking Hercules, the greatest hero in ancient Greece and easily one of the most famous heroes in the world, if not the most famous. Yes, even he had heard of Hercules.

Even now Shirou was still trying to process all the revelations of the night. His apparent death at Lancer's hands earlier that night, a second one sided fight with Lancer when he got home. Learning about the Grail War and Servants in general from Naruto, Learning more about that from Father Kotomine, along with the truth about the Great Fuyuki Fires. And now learning he had a sister that Kiritsugu never told him existed. Correction, a sister that Kiritsugu never told him existed that now wanted him dead. That had been made all to clear before the fight even began.

The night had taken its toll on Shirou with all its revelations and he could barely handle it all. Honestly the only reason Shirou wasn't currently freaking out was because he was in shock and thus somewhat numbed to all the revelations he was experiencing. Unfortunately he wouldn't have the benefit of shock to hide behind tomorrow. Shirou was not looking forward to that. 'Perhaps some quality time preparing a good meal in my kitchen will make things easier.'

Still Naruto's straight back as he faced down the terrifying monstrosity that was Berserker was a shelter in the thunderstorm Shirou's life had so recently become. Just looking at his Servant, you wouldn't think Naruto could stand up to Berserker and put the demigod on the back foot. Yet mere minutes ago Naruto had done just that with relative ease.

Shirou had never even in his wildest dreams imagined that magecraft could be so terrifyingly powerful until Naruto had vaporized the very divine flesh off of Heracles and turned his bones to glowing embers. The very thought that a man of such overwhelming power was now his new teacher in magecraft. Well, it made Shirou shake in an unexpected mix of excitement and nervous anticipation. A certain part of Shirou couldn't help but wonder. 'Perhaps now I can begin to fulfill my promise to Kiritsugu and become a true hero of justice.'

Of course all thoughts of becoming a hero of justice had to be pushed aside for now. In the first place such a future depended on weather Naruto could defeat Berserker or more realistically out last the giant Servant in their current fight. Shirou wasn't an idiot and Archer had already explained his disadvantage in this war to not only him but Saber and Rin as well.

Unlike Berserker who had the unfair advantage of reviving over and over again every time he died and a master who could actually give him prana to supplement his natural prana reserves. Shirou on the other hand could not assist Naruto in any way. No matter how impressive his servant's prana reserves were, something they just to be if he could so casually throw around spells as powerful as the ones he'd witnessed so far, they simply were not infinite. Sure he could draw extra man from the environment but even Shirou with all his inexperience doubted that doing something like that in the middle of battle was smart, let alone worthwhile.

Another way of putting it would be to say that Naruto was on a timer and he needed to completely kill Heracles or force Illya to retreat with her Servant before the servant of Madness simply out lasted Naruto. At which point it would be a pathetically easy matter for Berserker to finish them both off.

Even so, Naruto did not look in the least bit worried about this fight. In fact he looked absolutely giddy at the prospect of meeting the son of Zeus in battle. His grin was positively toothy and the gleam in his eyes was quite frankly more than a little disturbing in Shirou's opinion.

Shirou would not get to make any of his observations so far known to his Servant or anyone else for that matter. For at that exact moment, on some unseen signal Berserker and Archer sped forward, crossing the measly distance separating them to engage in a bout of hand to hand combat that would sear itself forever in the minds of those watching.

VvV

The world exploded into madness as Naruto sped forward and slammed his fist into Heracles' own with sufficient force to generate a shockwave that set the very grass around them aflame. As the buffeting winds from their collision dissipated the two got into a steady albeit vicious rhythm of exchanging blows for a few seconds to feel each other out. Of course, this did not last long before the two Heroic Spirits truly delved into the pure skill honed over the courses of their entire lives that they were both famed for.

Heracles was bigger, physically stronger (for now) and a master of all forms of Greco-Roman wrestling, pammachon and pankration. So good in that last style was he that he had defeated the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and the Namean Lion empty handed. So ferocious, powerful and skilled in the art of pankration was he, that Heracles was often lauded as the originator of this ancient martial art alongside Theseus, despite having himself learned it from Chiron.

It was for this singular reason that despite being gripped thoroughly in an all consuming madness induced rage, Heracles hadn't already been flattened by Naruto and his combination of Konoha Basic, Hard Fist, Gentle Step and Frog Kata. If anything Heracles was keeping up with the legendary shinobi that was Emiya Shirou's servant...albeit just barely.

Uzumaki Naruto was a literal whirlwind of kicks, punches, elbows, knees and acrobatics as he danced in, out and around Heracles' guard. When attacked, he dodged the majority of attacks, deflected some and blocking the rest as he enthusiastically counterattacked the son of Zeus while radiating a disturbing amount of glee.

Even now, Naruto ducked under a cross to the face and then spun around a follow up knee meant to cave in his face as he ducked before he roundhouse kicked Heracles' hands aside when the demigod attempted to grapple him. Naruto's movements came so swift that to the untrained eye they would have appeared to have occurred almost simultaneously when he countered.

In retaliation Naruto punched hard in the direction of the demigod's face while corkscrewing his fist in the same the motion. Some instinct buried deep under Heracles' insanity flared to life and made the madman duck despite the fact that he was physically beyond the attack's reach. It saved him from a nasty surprise.

Beyond reach or not, the space Berserker's head once occupied was suddenly filled with a lance of pressurized and super-heated air. Naruto's nameless bastardization of Maito Gai's Daytime Tiger, Morning Peacock and Evening Elephant techniques was nothing compared to the real deal which could affect entire kilometers of land, but it served its purpose here.

Heracles had been forced to duck and in that moment Naruto blurred forward, little more than a streak to even the eyes of a Servant. Time slowed to a crawl from his perspective as he drove his knee into the crouched form of Berserker just like the son of Zeus had tried to do to him earlier.

With barely any time to cross his arms, it wasn't a surprise that Berserker found himself knocked head over heels backwards even if he successfully blocked the attack. A meaty sound filling the air as his attack was blocked before Sir Isaac Newtons laws laid claim to Berserker and he rocketed away from his shinobi opponent.

Naruto however had no intention of sparing even a second to let the demigod recover. Immediately jumping into the air, the ninja raised his right foot as high as he could over his head while yelling out. "Heavenly Foot of Pain!" Then he dropped it...

The ground literally shook in a minor seismic event as he brought his foot down on Heracles' head just as the demigod rose to a kneeling position from his tumble. Naruto's foot connected, smacking the kneeling son of Zeus's in the back of the head so hard Heracles' face smashed into the ground with enough force that he physically bounced right back off of it.

Most people would be utterly disoriented by such an attack if not rendered unconscious or worse killed on impact. In the case of Heracles, guided by some supernatural instinct, he merely grabbed a hold of Naruto's offending leg even as his face bounced off the ground hard enough a crater exploded into being where he impact it.

Not wasting a second the demigod known for his strength, using grace that would put an Olympic gymnast to shame whipped the ninja around in the air like a flail while perform the perfect butterfly twist before slamming him into ground. Once...Twice...Thrice...and then two more times for extra measure.

Each impact deepened the already deep crater created by the two warriors' conflict. Worse yet, the amount of seismic activity they were generating was not something that could easily be covered up. Or at least that would have been the case if not for Naruto's unique barrier.

Dropping him on his back Heracles' moved in to straddle the dazed Naruto and rain Hades down on the youthful looking ninja's head. Unfortunately Berserker was unpleasantly surprised when Naruto recovered faster than expected and kicked him in the groin and then sat up headbutting the giant hard enough to send him sprawling backwards. A quick kick-up and Naruto was on his feet again but so was Heracles.

Sprinting forward Heracles swung a vicious right hook under which Naruto simply ducked and with a single motion circled around to Heracles' back before wrapping his arms around the demigod's waist hoisting him into the air. In a move that would stun all onlookers, particularly those born in the 21st century, Naruto executed a perfect German supplex, the impact of which kicked up quite a dust cloud. However before Naruto could capitalize on this a big meaty fist bitch smacked him right out of the crater they were fighting in, across fifty meters of open field and into a tree.

Momentarily disoriented Naruto got up just in time to get drop-kicked in the face through said tree by a fully recovered Heracles and crash through the tree behind it and finally coming to a stop upon impacting a third tree so hard it toppled over sideways, completely uprooted. More embarrassed than hurt by this Naruto sprung back to his feet as if nothing had happened but leveled a truly nasty glare at Berserker.

Heracles on the other hand immediately tried to close the distance to which Naruto responded by picking up the uprooted tree he'd just knocked over and swinging it by the trunk. Like an over-sized baseball bat, the impact of his impromptu weapon with the demigod utterly destroyed said weapon but also sent Berserker flying several hundred meters away in what would have been an amazing home-run had this been a baseball game and not a deathmatch.

Heracles was obviously completely unharmed by this but that didn't stop Naruto from wearing the smuggest smirk the world had ever seen as he tossed the ruined remnants of the tree aside and muttered to himself. "Nobody dropkicks me through a tree and gets away with it."

VvV

Saber watched in amazement as the two goliath's raged at each other and tore the environment around them apart. Had they not been within Naruto's barrier, she had no doubt the devastation would have spread significantly further than the single square kilometer Naruto had monopolized for their battleground. Instead it was all contained in this one massive area.

That Naruto Uzumaki could simultaneously fight off an enraged Heracles and maintain what had to be a prana taxing barrier without getting any extra prana from his master and on top of that be the one driving Heracles back, frightened Arturia on some level. She would never consciously acknowledge it, let alone admit such a feeling to even herself, as it had no place in the heart of a King. That didn't stop the feeling from being true.

However watching Naruto stand his ground against Berserker, watching him trade blow after blow that even she would have had a hard time taking. She'd be lying if she didn't confess that her respect for the man went up a couple of notches even if she still felt pretty pissed at him for manipulating her master and making her swear to not interfere in this dispute. Well there was that and the fact that she felt something additional towards him other than fear and respect.

Was it attraction, admiration, curiosity or excitement, Arturia herself wasn't sure, for none of these words seemed to correctly give voice to what she felt. And yet all of them seemed to embody an element of her feelings. It was probably nothing though.

Instead of her feeling Arturia decided to focus on the battle before her. From the knowledge that the grail provided, she knew of the various feats Heracles had achieved in life and had a decent idea of what he was capable of. To say he was a hero without peer was well beyond an understatement. Yet Naruto seemed utterly determined to prove that very statement wrong.

It was obvious to her that Naruto was as skilled in magic combat as he was in martial combat. The simple proof of this fact was that this was Naruto's third fight that night and he didn't even look like he was losing. He'd displayed magecraft on such levels that even with her limited tutelage under the legendary wizard Merlin, she could tell that it was rated high enough to called incredible. His unarmed combat skills were also above anything she had ever seen in person, to the point that it was more like watching a masterful artist at work than watching a conflict between two servants.

However, Arturia had also seen Naruto use both a strange form of teleportation and a black shape-shifting sphere capable of negating even a low ranked Noble Phantasm like Invisible Air. So regardless of how amazing his martial arts skills were and they were unquestionably amazing, Arturia could not accept the idea that their wasn't a better way to win this fight than engaging Heracles in hand to hand combat. Something else had to be going on here that she had yet to perceive.

VvV

The fight had devolved. It was now closer to a slug-fest in the purest and most primal sense of the word than anything else. The two heroes of legend bit by bit forsook defense as they continue to strike each other harder and harder. However it could also be said that this was a slug-fest taken to its highest form, as each blow was not lacking for skill and technique.

This would have been fine if not for the fact that the two Servants were both so powerful that merely throwing punches created sonic booms and their blows connecting with each other created thunderclaps. The ground beneath their feet began to shatter all around them from the strength of the two quasi-divine heroes. The shockwaves of every impact quickly kicked up gale force winds that were steadily getting stronger by the second and had forced the spectators move further back or get literally blown away. Yet neither opponent was willing to give an inch.

In all this chaos Naruto's mind was like the calm in the eye of storm, analyzing everything yet steadily growing more and more excited as he thought. 'This familiar feeling, its been far too long.'

Pushing slightly more chakra into his pathways, directing it to go to his muscles and assist them in simultaneously increasing his strength and releasing it more explosively. To his skeleton to reinforce it against the overwhelming power of Hercules' own strength. To his eyes to track the movements of incoming attacks faster and spot openings. To his skin and flesh so it became more durable and could endure the demigod's wrath while regenerating any damage that was taken, faster and more efficiently. He was using reinforcement in its most ancient form, yet it was at the same time different.

All of this was done subconsciously while Naruto's mind dwelt on what he felt at that moment. He remembered this feeling, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. Then it came to him. 'This is the feeling you get when fighting someone who could possibly kill you. The feeling of being alive in the midst of a death battle.' A nostalgic smile graced his face as he thought. 'I haven't felt this way in millennia.'

Naruto was more powerful than Heracles, he knew this on a fundamental level but to unlock that power would without a doubt kill his master and wipe Fuyuki city off the map if not all of Japan. Not that Naruto was entirely confident he could succeed in accessing something like Six Paths Sage mode so long as he was a Servant. No, the only way for his true powers to be awaken, was for him to first resurrect himself into a truly living body. Fortunately that wouldn't be too difficult for him.

Focusing back to the opponent in front of him. Even reduced to the form of a Servant and one that was a fallen deity at that, he could undoubtedly kill Heracles 11 more times. In fact Naruto should have already at the very least killed Berserker once more with only pure taijutsu by now. 'So why was the bastard fighting back so ferociously and not dying.'

It made no sense to Naruto even as he slapped one of Heracles' fists to the side with enough force for the shockwave to turn the rocks in the crater that had become their arena into finely ground sand. Heracles was sloppy by Naruto's standards, his hand to hand combat skills were effective and psychologically intimidating. However they lacked the beauty of refined technique and movements all taijutsu technique's of his time inherently had. It used to many unnecessary movements, left too many openings and looked far too inelegant for his tastes. And yet.

'Every punch and kick he throws has a grace to it that screams perfection even in its inelegance. It's like he is saying I am the greatest hero there is, look at me and you will see that none can compare.' Naruto visibly shivered as a pang of anger, bitterness and regret twisted in his heart. His thoughts darkening as recalled his past that the world itself had forgotten before coldly concluding. 'I take extreme issue with such statements, which is why I can't help but be drawn in.'

It was a simple analysis of self and the way he'd been going about this fight for the last few minutes. He had forsaken the various styles of taijutsu he had mastered over his long lifetime, all to match Heracles in the demigod's own style and technique. Most would say it was a foolish action.

No...Naruto himself knew better than anyone how foolish it was and normally would have avoided this at all cost. Yet his spirit told him that this was important, if he didn't match Heracles and surpass everything about the demigod right here then he would lose something more precious than this fight. Something deep down in Naruto's very soul would break. So snarling at Beserker as the two Servant's simultaneously attacked each other, Naruto mentally screamed. 'I will not let you win.'

In the loudest thunderclap yet heard, the two warriors fists collided. One meaty and massive, looking more like it was carved out of granite. The other more within the bounds of what could be called human and yet undoubtedly not human, for a human fist would have been outright vaporized had it connected with Heracles fists in such a manner. Even so, with the full force of both Heroic Spirits strength pressing down behind them neither blow gave way to the other.

Less than an instant later their bodies began to glow with a golden light as the two Heroic spirits remained in that exact pose as if held in place by giant invisible hands. The brilliant light had a divine feeling to it as it fully engulfed the two and flickered around them like flames. It was a result of their very divinity resonating with each other.

Heracles was the pinnacle of heroism, a template that all gods and mortals could look to for inspirations if they ever chose to walk the path of the hero. However he wasn't the first the template. Before there was a Heracles, before there was even a Gilgamesh, there had been Naruto and he was the first to be called 'the perfect hero'.

However that was the Naruto of old, the one from before he became a god and then a Heroic Spirit. Which was why both the current Naruto and Heracles were resonating. Heracles had sensed the original template with each blow that connected against Naruto and his very divinity attempted to replicated that template inside of him. Attempted to make him into that which was once considered perfect.

Naruto on the other hand had sensed what Heracles was doing and his divinity remembered what it used to be, what he was supposed to be and how far he'd fallen. It had also desperately tried to recreate that which was lost. Unfortunately, while Naruto's recreation of his past divinity was superior to Heracles imitation, it was a far-cry from what he used to be and ultimately a failure.

Just as suddenly as they had began glowing, they stopped and Naruto leaped backwards to give himself some space. All the while he had truly disturbing grin on his face. He had not lost and he would never let himself lose to an opponent born on Gaia in the last 7000 years. 'That would just be truly embarrassing.'

VvV

"Are you okay with this Shirou."

It was the first time Rin had spoken in more than five minutes, as just like every other spectator here, she had found herself captivated by the fight in front of her. The battle had been just that unbelievable to watch and yet none of them could willfully turn their gazes away from it.

"Hmm?" He asked for clarification without turning from the battle.

Normally Rin would have gotten upset about this but even she couldn't fault Shirou for not looking at her as she talked. Instead she simply said. "Your Servant is quite powerful but he himself admitted that he wasn't getting any Prana from you and it must be taking up a humongous amount of prana just to keep up with Berserker, much less fight him at a superior level. The Einzbern master on the other hand is freely supplying her Servant with all the prana he needs on top of the simple fact that Beserker has 11 more lives. We also cannot harm her in anyway due to our promise to your Servant. So are you okay with the way he is currently fighting."

Shirou frowned not quite understanding what Rin meant. Sure he knew of the risk of Beserker outlasting Archer, he himself had concluded as much earlier. However what could he realistically do about it. It wasn't like Naruto was doing badly against his opponent and any attempt by Shirou to jump into that fight was the same as trying to commit suicide. Well, it would probably be a bit more painful for him but the end result would definitely be the same. "Is their something wrong with the way he is fighting? He isn't losing."

Rin was silent for a moment as she continued to observe the battle but eventually responded. "No he is not, but if he doesn't start fighting seriously like he was before, he will inevitably run out of prana and when that happens Beserker will kill him and then kill you."

"He's not fighting seriously." Shirou said incredulously. Sure Naruto had yet to kill Beserker again but the level of hand to hand combat the two were using was so high that it couldn't be used without being serious in some way.

"Both of their hand to hand combat skills are unquestionably amazing, Naruto's being a little bit more so, and such skill would almost immediately kill anyone else. However, Naruto's thaumaturgy is unquestionably far better suited to killing Beserker and winning this battle. What Rin is trying to point out is that Naruto is not trying to kill his opponent but instead, simply beat him, judging by the silly grin on his face." Saber chipped in, finally electing to join the conversation.

This time Shirou did look away from the fight to gaze on the beautiful face of the Servant Rin had summoned and asked "You believe this too Saber-san?" All he got in reply was a firm nod.

Rin then said. "While I can't order Saber to do anything after Naruto sealed away my access to my Command Seals. He did not however seal away your access to your Command Seals. So you could order him to win this fight as efficiently as possible and in so doing save both your lives." Whether Rin knew it or not those words would ring in Shirou's very soul and nearly get every one of them killed.

VvV

"I applaud you Heracles. For reminding me of the hero I used to be and for giving me something to strive for. However, I got so caught up in your magnificence that I was beginning to emulate your modern fighting style. From this point on that will no longer be the case. Still you reminded me of something important and for that you have my gratitude. You reminded me that I am the Hero and this...this is my story." Naruto confidently spoke.

"ROOOAAAAAAAARRRR!" A bestial roar tore from Beserker's throat as sped forward ready to engage in another bout of vicious close quarters combat but Naruto was having none of that anymore and clapped his hands together.

"Water Release: Severing Wave!" Naruto muttered the name of the famous and rather fearsome technique of the 2nd Hokage Senju Tobirama as his chest expanded to almost comical size and his cheeks bulged. A needle thin stream of pressurized water shot from his lips with such speed and force it seemed more like a beam of light. A beam of light that with a diagonal jerk of his head Naruto swung like a giant blade from the sky to the ground, severing the earth in twain.

Heracles did not even have enough time to begin dodging, let alone think of doing so, had he even been capable of such thoughts. The A rank technique caught the demigod across the chest, slicing across his divine skin in a shower of sparks that looked more the clashing and grind of two blades against each. The end result of which was that it caused merely a shallow cut that wouldn't even impede Heracles but a cut nonetheless. All in all, the technique merely stopped Berserker's charged cold. Still only Saber noted that Berserker wasn't the actual target of the technique.

The ground looked like it had been split in two by a giant blade wielded by the hands of a god-like being. A deep trench had been carved into the earth all the way till the barrier that was the border of the extra-dimensional arena. Slowly from the bedrock water sprung forth to fill the fissure even as Naruto blurred through hand-seals for another technique. One better suited to evening the odds between him and Beserker, specifically the only odds he cared about in this fight. A means to defeat Illyasviel von Einzbern.

Naruto smirked as he thought. 'With this I win!' before finishing the last seal and uttering. "Secret technique: Mist Rain!"

It was the infamous Kiri technique that created chakra laced rain that drained an enemy ninja's chakra if it fell on them. Naruto had cast it only over the area he and Beserker were fighting in and so the only person it would affect was Beserker. And one way or the other the mad demigod would be forced to expend much more prana than was needed, faster than his master could supply.

Naruto hadn't missed the fact that his 'Wind Release: Rasengan's' had damaged Berserker and yet a normal 'Rasengan' even slamming into the demigod at hyper-sonic velocities had done absolutely nothing (See previous chapter fight for reference). Somehow Heracles was immune to all technique's below a certain rank and unfortunately for Naruto the 'Secret technique: Mist Rain' was below what would be considered an A rank techinique in the modern era. As a result Heracles' immunity should have negated its effects, the key word there being 'should' have.

Mist Rain was ancient technique and older things in this world were always stronger due to have more metaphysical weight to their existence. But even that wouldn't have been enough to overcome Godhand or all of Naruto's technique's would have worked against Berserker including normal Rasengan. No what set the Mist Rain technique apart was in fact its purpose. The ability to force the body to expend more chakra/prana than necessary rather than directly trying harm the body. An effect that was laced into every single rain drop the comprised the technique so that even if it was dispelled the next raindrop would simply reapply the technique.

The thing was that the even though it lacked the power to overcome Godhand's nullifying effect, it was perfect for keeping Godhand active against and forcing Illya to burn through her reserves so that Heracle's could keep his Noble Phantasm active. In other words, by continually activating to nullify each and every raindrop, Godhand expended prana and did exactly what the Secret Technique: Mist Rain was meant to accomplish regardless of the fact that it was being nullified.

All in all this tactic made Beserker draw on more power than Illya wanted to give and thus it was really an attack against Illyasviel von Einzbern. An attack that would force her to surrender or be drained dry by her own servant. The others could not do anything against Illya for largely because Naruto had personally stopped them from doing but he had made no such promises about himself.

As for Berserker, he was completely unharmed and could freely attack Naruto but then Naruto was also strong enough to easily defend against Berserker and the Mist Rain did not affect the caster of the jutsu. What was even worse was the fact that, just attacking him would force Beserker to use more prana than he already was and simply drain his master faster. By casting the jutsu over a very localized area, no one would even know about the effects that a single drop of rain forced on any living being it touch.

Illya would soon be wondering why she was being drained so fast by Berserker and Naruto would soon be the victor of this battle. Naruto on the other hand had the massive reserves to last this entire fight. His Prana reserves were ungodly huge to the point that it could be considered foul play and even more terrifying than their size was the fact that he recovered from chakra exhaustion incredibly fast. Or rather he did when he was alive but the ability to quickly recover still had its uses as Servant. All in all, he had won and it was just a matter of waiting for Illya to surrender.

By this command seal I, Shirou Emiya order you Naruto Uzumaki to defeat your opponent as efficiently as possible.

'What the hell does that idiot think he's doing?' Naruto growled in thought as he turned to glare at his master. He'd been both enjoying the fight and winning it, his strategy also all but ensured victory. The fact that it had also been such a long time since he'd been able to cut loose like this also did not endear his master to him at the moment. Okay, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration cause if he really cut loose demigod or not Heracles would not be standing in front of him.

Still, he'd been having fun tossing Berserker around like a ragdoll, so Naruto really did not appreciate his fun being interrupted. Especially with such a useless and wasteful order, when he was already on the path to victory. He was fully capable of just ignoring the Command Seal – one of the benefits of A++(+) Independent Action – but simply doing so would have been so wasteful.

Unfortunately obeying this particular command also put everyone present in danger. Sighing in exasperation Naruto cancelled the Mist Rain technique as he thought. 'It seems I am going to need to have a long talk with my new student about where, when and what to use his command seals for after this. Now then, how to do this.'

VvV

Illya breathed a sigh of relief as the rapid drain of her Prana reserves suddenly cut off. She was getting extremely worried there for a second. Just moving Berserker used up an enormous amount of Prana and if not for the fact that she was homunculus specifically designed with enormous reserve to be able to control such a prana taxing servant, she wouldn't have even been able to move him let alone sustain him for months before the Holy Grail War even began. Hell until the Grail had kicked in and helped her support her Servant, anything Berserker did caused her incredible amounts of pain.

Thankfully when the war began it freed up a huge chunk of her enormous reserves and gave her access to what at the time she wholeheartedly believed was the strongest Servant in the war. Caster (Archer) however was making her rethink her opinion. And by the Root did Naruto have massive reserves of prana to draw from, for him to keep up with Berserker for so long. Her reserves were massive but very very very finite. Caster's reserves were apparently not so finite. How unreasonable.

Regardless she was grateful to whatever deity was watching over her that the drain on her reserves had subsided. Now she just needed to finish off Caster and for that Berserker needed his ax-sword. It took little more than a thought for the demigod to retrieve his long since abandoned weapon. At which point all Illya had to say to her servant was. "End him Berserk-, eh!"

She never got to finish that sentence...

VvV

The smoke bombs dropped like a well orchestrated carpet bombing, kicking up a bright red smoke from Naruto position all the way up to a few meters in front of Berserker. Within that smoke unseen by anyone six clones popped into existence around Naruto and of the six, four of them dashed off to engage Heracles.

They would last mere seconds now that Berserker had his giant stone ax-sword once more, but that was perfectly acceptable. Naruto only needed them to keep him busy for half the amount of time he anticipated it would take Heracles to eliminate them. Instead he merely stretched out his hand remained perfectly still.

Two swirling cyclones of leaves appeared on either side of him as his remaining two clones in turn disappeared. However their target was not Berserker but rather the spectators who'd been watching the fight between Naruto and Heracles unfold. Their only job was to keep everyone from dying, which was why Naruto had given them slightly more chakra than the clones engaging Berserker.

Speaking of which, Naruto's clones were doing an admirable job of dodging, ducking, bobbing and weaving over and under every swing from Berserker's weapon. However this would no longer be the continue. One of his shadow clones had arrived in front of Illya and Berserker was determined to go protect his master. Naruto couldn't have that.

One of the clones jumped into Berserker's way as the demigod tried to rush towards his master and got beheaded for its troubles. However the instant it died a pattern of seals crawled across Berserker's weapon and its weight multiplied a thousand fold.

In an instant Heracles was off balance as his ax-sword slammed into the ground as if under the influence of higher gravity. Before the son of Zeus could even react another clone materialized besides him and struck with a Magnet Release: Rasengan directly to the chest. Berserker didn't even stumble back from the attack, but then he couldn't even move as Shukaku's curse mark patterns scrawled their way across Berserker's lead colored skin. Even so Beserker strained his muscles against the seals holding him in place. Enough that the clone began to sweat just to keep him in check.

A third clone appeared on the other side of Heracles just as it finished a series of hand-seals. Its blond hair rapidly elongating, wrapped around around Berserker in a tight vice-like grip while expertly avoiding its fellow clone. "Wild Lions Mane Technique!"

Just then there was a rushing sound of water headed there way. A wave of water burst out from the bedrock where Naruto's 'Severing Wave' had split the Earth apart earlier and flowed around Berserker before enveloping him and then solidifying around him. The fourth and final clone appeared with his hand already inside the giant ball of water and muttered. "Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

Berserker was completely immobilized but a combination of Berserker's strength and Godhand were already working to make a way for Heracles to escape the three binding technique's. They would not hold him long but they did not have to.

Chains of golden energy sprung up from the backs of the the two clones that had appeared in front of the spectators and created barriers around them that were so powerful a Tailed Beast could not escape them. It was the only way the human Master's would have had a chance of surviving what came next.

"Imari/Menacing Ball!" Naruto whispered as the blue and red pure chakra he drawn from the battleground finished collecting into a basketball sized purple sphere and then shrinking to the size of a tennis ball. A pulse chakra sent it rocketing straight towards Heracles and the three grinning clones that had bound him at supersonic speeds and with that the world turned white.

VvV

BOOOOOOOOMMM!

The thunderous sound echoed around Fuyuki city waking up its citizens and sending its emergency services into overdrive. Unfortunately the lack of any destruction to accompany the glass shattering cacophony meant that, said emergency services could not pinpoint the origin of the noise, for all the racket it created. It would later be written off as one of those gas pipe explosion that were so common nowadays. A very good thing for a certain trio of Servants and their respective Masters.

The only reason anyone outside of the barrier had even heard the explosion was because the barrier had unraveled at the exact moment the Menacing Ball detonated. Luckily the vast majority of the explosion was contained due to the barrier itself being out of phase with reality. Gaea was thankfully not particularly interested in making an event that occurred in a pocket reality reflect itself in the real world. As a result their was literally no damage done Fuyuki city due to the fight between the two titans. Well, that is to say outside of all the shattered windows and busted eardrums thanks to the sound of the explosion. Still no real harm done.

Even so neither Archer nor Beserker were in any condition to fight. Red prana rich steam was converging at the point where Heracles once stood as the demigod slowly reformed himself from nothing. And to the utter disbelief and terror of one Illyasviel von Einzbern, Beserker had lost 7 lives in one go, meaning that he only had 4 left.

On the other hand Naruto was almost out of prana, to the point that his form was becoming transparent and his outline glowing a slight orange as he was barely able to cling to this world. He had used way too much power and it was biting him in the ass. Thankfully Naruto was a very forward thinking and lucky individual who had specifically prepared for such an eventuality.

Too exhausted to even stand straight Naruto staggered backward and began to fall over onto his back. However before his back could even tilt past a 70 degree angle he was stopped by the firm had of one of his clones that had suddenly body flickered into existence behind him. It was the same clone that had transformed into a literal fly on the wall to eavesdrop on Shirou, Rin and Kotomine Kirei as they met in the Church.

Its purpose had been to protect his and Saber's master's in case anything had happened to them in there but with that duty completed Naruto had charged it with gathering massive amounts of nature energy for just this sort of situation. Smirking at him the clone said. "You did good boss. Oh and the other mission is a go." With that it promptly dispelled itself and Naruto felt his reserves fully replenish themselves.

"Sweet kami! I was running a little low there for a few seconds." He chuckled to himself even as he turned to his worried master. Berserker would take a few minutes before he recovered from his latest round of disintegration at Naruto's hands so the ninja felt confident he could ignore him and said. "Yo! Master are you alright. You look like you swallowed something particularly sour."

Shirou looked absolutely bewildered and sounded much the same as he replied. "Am I alright! Are you alright Naruto? You practically took the backlash of that explosion to the face while simultaneously defending all of us and maintaining the barrier around us."

"Oh that! That was just a Menacing Ball, a scaled down version of a Tailed Beast ball. The real thing can wipe out mountains with ease and I have taken even stronger attacks to the face with no damage. That said." In an instant Naruto blurred forward and appeared in front of Shirou before he could even realize what happening, then gave the rust haired boy a hard flick on the forehead. The result of the action sent Shirou sprawling backwards, head over heels from the sheer force. Leveling his student with a glare Naruto yelled. "Don't ever try and interfere in one of my fights again via Command Spell without my express permission unless you are either in immediate and very real danger of dying or desperately need to call me to your side in an emergency."

"But you clearly showed that if you were serious, you could have beaten Berserker right away. If you continued like the way you were fighting I was afraid you'd die." Shirou explained a little fearful of his master, especially with the way Naruto was glaring at him.

Sighing as he pinched the bridge of his nose Naruto responded. "At what point did I ever suggest beating Berserker was my goal. My only interest was in making sure that your sister didn't kill you and that you were safe. If I had added any more power to that attack due to being forced by that reckless command spell, everyone would have died right there. I asked you to trust me in this fight and expected you to do so no matter how bad things might look or get. You are lucky that at that exact moment you gave me that command, a weak Menacing Ball was the most powerful attack in my arsenal I could use or no one here would be alive right now."

"I didn't know."

Naruto scoffed at the excuse even if he could tell that Shirou was genuinely horrified that he'd almost got everyone killed, instead saying. "Of course you didn't. We haven't been a Master and Servant pair long enough for you to get a handle on my abilities. But that's not important right now, what's important is whether you have learned your lesson after making this mistake." Naruto's appearance suddenly took a very menacing look as he flared his killing intent and added. "Or do I need to brand it into your very soul my young disciple."

Paralyzing fear seemed to clamp down on Shirou's heart as his sensei looked at him with a possitively evil grin. A part of him wondered what the hell he'd gotten himself into when he asked Naruto to be his master while the rest somehow managed to respond. "N-no! I've learned my lesson. I...I am very very sorry for this sensei!"

"Good! Apology accepted. Honestly I find the fact that you were worried about me quite endearing kid but have faith in me next time, no matter how silly my actions might seem to you and I will place my faith in you. As for your sister, I believe she owes me a couple answers." Naruto said and in a swirl of leaves body flickered over to the near catatonic young girl.

VvV

'What the hell? What the actual hell? Seven! That smug bastard took seven of Berserker's lives as if it was nothing and he's already back to fighting form while Heracles has only finished regenerating 75 % of his body after being reduced to atoms. Are you fucking kidding me!' Illya was nearly hysterical as she went on mental rant about how bullshit Naruto's abilities were. 'What kind of monstrous servant did Shirou-nii summon.'

Much like the other spectators of that particular fight, Naruto's monstrous combat and magical abilities had shaken her to the core. What was even worse was the fact that her adopted brother had managed to summon a Servant of that caliber and supply him with enough Prana that he could fire of such mindbogglingly powerful spells one after another. It utterly terrified her.

So caught up in this line of thought was she that Illya was completely startled when Naruto appeared before her in a swirl of leaves. From that day forward, Illyasviel von Einzbern would swear up and down to anyone who asked that she did not squeak in surprise.

"Easy there Illyasviel. I am not here to harm you, I just want those answers I was promised when we made that little bet. That is of course assuming you concede my victory in this battle against Berserker." Naruto said confidently before adding with a tone that promised pain and misery for Heracles. "If not then I could simply just finish him off but I assume you still need him."

Sighing in resignation Illya reluctantly replied. "I'll concede that you are the victor here and answer your question." Before pausing in thought and adding. "Oh and just call me Illya, you make my full name sound like its a chore."

"Sorry about that." Naruto apologized with a sheepish look on his face before he became serious and asked. "So, why do you want my Master dead. Don't worry, none of the others can here this conversation."

Illya was silent for a moment as she looked into his eyes searchingly. It took a minute but once she was satisfied with what she found, she finally replied. "He took my father away from me."

"Huh?" This was obviously not a reply Naruto was expecting and it quite clearly caught him off guard. He knew something bad must have happened for her to want to kill Shirou so badly but he didn't think it had to do with their late father.

Preempting his demand for an explanation Illya simply said. "10 years ago my father and mother left the Einzbern Castle in Germany to participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War. My mother was the lesser grail in that war and my father was an outsider who had married into the clan for the sole sake of participating in that war and winning it on behalf of the Einzbern clan. His methods and understanding of the moonlit world gave him an edge against all other masters participating in that war and beyond even that Kiritsugu Emiya was said to have wielded the servant that could have been deemed as the strongest Saber within the bounds of that particular class of Servant."

Naruto snorted in amusement and said. "I know for a fact that if you had used a little common sense and summoned Heracles under the Saber class he would have taken Issue with that and simply proved you wrong. Or better yet, you could have summoned him in class he's best suited for, as an Archer class Servant and more than likely won the war. Seriously did you not read up on his legend before deciding to summon him cause you would have plainly been able to see that just about every other class save Caster worked better for him than Berserker."

Ignoring his rant about the merits of summoning Heracles under a different class something she both agreed with and had thought of considerably before she had summoned him. Illya simply explained. "I was forced to summon him as a Beserker by the Head of the Einzbern family."

Naruto's prompt reply was. "Well he's an idiot! Anyway you were talking about your father?"

Nodding in agreement with Atch being an idiot for forcing her to summon Heracles as a Berserker she finally got back on topic and said. "My father carried the hopes and dreams of the entire Einzbern clan. He was going to win the war and retrieve the 3rd True Magic for the clan. He should have won the war."

"But." Naruto helpfully supplied when Illya remained silent trying to choose her words next words carefully.

"Mother died and father at the last minute decided to betray the clan and instead destroy the Grail." Illya remembered the day she had received the news about the fate of her mother and the actions of Kiritsugu. She had been a child and it had taken time to fully comprehend everything that had happened. The Einzbern's painting the picture that her father was a pathetic traitor also hadn't helped at all. Yet some how she had resisted their indoctrination and formed her own conclusion. "The Einzbern Head and the other clan members have given me various reasons for why Kiritsugu did this but I don't trust them. My sole purpose for fighting in this war is so I can find out for myself what really happened."

Naruto nodded in understanding but replied. "Still, that doesn't explain why you're so ready to kill your own brother."

"With age comes broader insight into how the world works and the fact that I am a human/homuculus hybrid means that I have a very good memory. I have a perfect memory of all the events from back then but with none of the emotional stress and pressure from my family that I went through at the time. From that certain things can be deduced. Destroying the Holy Grail was one thing and in his grief over mother's death I can understand why Kiritsugu would do something like that. Its just proof of how much he loved her. What I can't ignore or forgive is him never coming back home to get me after he promised he would return. It's also not a secret that in that time he was away, he adopted Emiya Shirou and raised him as his own." She explained.

"..." Shirou remained silent as he let the girl speak to him truthfully about her reasoning and grievances with her brother. He'd always been good at getting people to be honest with and moving them with his words and actions. Time and his status as Heroic Spirit had not changed this in anyway.

"My father was many things to many different people but when it came to me one thing he was not, was a liar. He would never lie to me or forget a promise he made to me which means that that bastard you've been calling my brother is the reason he never came back home. Emiya Shirou is the reason I never got to see Papa's face again before he died far away from home and I cannot forgive Shirou-nii for that."

"I see." Naruto simply replied sympathetically before sighing deeply and saying. "I've lived a long life, perhaps too long. In the past I would have automatically told you that revenge is not the answer but that would be pretty hypocritical coming from the current me. So what I will say for the moment is go home for now and recover. Heracles can't be an easy servant to supply with prana, especially when I was busy kicking his ass, I am pretty strong you know." Naruto grinned pretty smugly as he talked about kicking Berserker's ass.

"..." Illya said nothing but by the rapid eye twitching and strangling motions she was making with her hands it was obvious she was less than pleased with his bragging.

Getting serious Naruto continued. "More importantly that that however is the fact that now that we are no longer in my barrier it would be better if you headed home and laid low for a while. 4 lives is still enough to take on any other Servant in this war even if just barely but I don't doubt that if you remain exposed someone will attack you now that I have weakened Berserker. And if we meet again, I promise on my honor as a Leaf Ninja that I, Naruto of the Uzumaki clan will do what I can to help you dig up the truth about what happened to your father regardless of whether you are an enemy master in this war or not. Deal."

Illya scrutinized the blond ninja again as she weighed his words. He was so honest that she couldn't help but be drawn in by his words and so eventually replied. "Deal."

VvV

The walk home after Beserker and Illya had retreated was a rather quiet affair. The two Masters and Saber were still in no small amount of awe at the sheer power Naruto could bring to bare when he considered getting serious in a fight.

The very thought that the whole time Naruto had been fighting, he had not been taking things seriously at all, shook them up. Well that wasn't strictly speaking true. Naruto had fought seriously within the limits of the power he was willing to deploy without causing needless casualties. However he was far more powerful than that and as a result unwilling to use his full power for fear of killing his master, allies and any innocents nearby including the enemy Master. Something that was now very clear to everyone present.

That said, he was perfectly capable of killing Beserker when ever he wanted. Whether he did this using his strange thaumaturgy over and over again or with his equally strange Noble Phantasms mattered little. The fact remained that he could accomplish this while not even being – according to him – capable of drawing on 10% of the power he commanded in life.

It was that kind of revelation that simply shook up your very sense of worth. Before when Naruto had mentioned his various tittles and accolades they had meant very little to Rin, Shirou and Saber. Even now they had no idea of the true meaning behind those tittle. However, whether they were important or not was no longer even in question.

Whatever tittles you gave a man who could fist fight Heracles and walk away from that unscathed had to be worth some kind of significance. No one even wanted to address the simple fact that Naruto had effectively wiped out seven of Berserker lives in one shot, with what was the magical equivalent of a miniature tactical nuke minus the radiation. Lucky them Naruto's clones protected them in small barriers while the big barrier contained the damage and kept it out of phase with reality. After that as far as Rin was concerned magecraft from the Age of the Gods was just utter and complete bullshit.

That said, Naruto despite his battered state and second (third, in his mind he was winning against Saber ) victory that night was anything but happy with the silence and decided something needed to be done about it. Turning to Rin the whimsical blonde said. "Isn't it about time for you to propose that alliance with me and Shirou that you've been thinking so hard about for a while now. I mean if you ask real nice, I will definitely say yes."

Caught off guard at being confronted so directly Rin asked. "What makes you think I would want to do something like that?"

It wasn't that she wasn't interested. After what she'd seen, Rin would have happily named her firstborn child after Naruto if not outright sold the child into slavery to get the kind of knowledge and power the ninja possessed. Rin was a proper magus after all. No, what bothered her was the condescending way that Naruto put. As if he was fully aware that she lusted after his power and knowledge. As if he knew that their was no way she could possibly say no to such an offer short of it costing something super immoral like the genocide of half of Fuyuki city's population.

"Well, for starters my awesome display of thaumaturgy left you blatantly gawking in awe of my magnificence. That's not a surprise considering how pitiful the mana of this era feels. I can only guess that magecraft has equally weakened. Which means you will most certainly want access to my skills." Naruto pointed out and Rin found herself unable to refute the claim.

"Secondly, for some reason you care enough about Shirou that you don't want to harm him or see him harmed, thus better you be the one protecting him from other masters than someone else, right." Again their was a teasing lilt to Naruto's voice that implied...well she didn't like what it implied and Rin found herself contemplating methods to painfully torture the man, powerful Heroic Spirit be damned.

"Thirdly, before this fight you believed that with the King of Knights as your Saber-class servant, your victory was inevitable. Now, you are not so sure about that, so if you didn't have to worry about me until the very end of the war and could in fact count on my help all the better, right?" Naruto listed a bit more seriously this time but with a self-satisfied smirk on his face as Rin seemed to go from atomic red to incredibly pale and back in no time at all. "I'd bet good money that you are probably thinking something along those lines."

"C-can you read minds?" Rin stuttered in sudden fear. No doubt due to all the greedy thoughts she had been having off him the whole time they had been together, especially after seeing all the forms of magecraft he had performed during his battle against Berserker.

However her assumptions were incorrect, Naruto could sense emotion primarily negative ones and when combined with his training from ANBU black ops it made reading her quite easy. He didn't mind though, in life he had never been a Jounin which meant he had never had the opportunity to lead a team. His only promotion from the rank of genin had been to ANBU before he became a Kage. That said no one dared question the fact that their was no Jounin past or present that could equal him in ability.

"No, but I am the next best thing. I am an Empath, I can read emotions, primarily negative ones and I am skilled at reading body language, micro-expressions and tonal inflections amongst other things. I did know a couple of Telepath's though, hell their was a whole clan of them in my home village." Naruto admitted only bewildering Rin and Shirou more.

"What kind of village did you come from anyway." Shirou asked curious about his servant.

"Well to put it in modern terms, it was a village of about 25,000 or so Warrior-Mages that were known as Shinobi and before you ask no, we were only very loosely related to the Shinobi and Kunoichi of Japan. To be precise, its from my culture that the very concept of Shinobi originated from but my culture died out a very very long time ago. The tittle of Shinobi carried with it, a very different annotations but we can get into that when I begin your lessons." Naruto explained before turning to Rin and saying. "As for you, would you like to be one of my students Rin."

"W-what?!" she exclaimed at the rather casual offer.

"While it might have seemed like I was joking earlier, I was actually serious about an alliance. I also know that you are a far more capable magus than Shirou and due to my empathy I know just how much you want learn the secrets of my thaumaturgy." Naruto explained as he watched Rin blush heavily at the fact that he knew all along about how greedy she was for thaumaturgical knowledge. "I'm offering. Will you accept."

Trying to steer the conversation into a lane that made sense to her cause no magus in their right mind would ever just offer to teach the secrets of their magecraft without some ulterior motive. "So what you are saying is that if I ally with you and Shirou, you will teach me some of what you know alongside Shirou."

Naruto merely grinned at her and said. "From the minute I met you, I understood that you were proud of your skills at magecraft and quite intelligent. The very notion of wasting such talent is offensive to me. I fully intended to teach you alongside Shirou from the very beginning and part of the reason I fought Berserker the way I did was to open your eyes to just how much more there is to thaumaturgy than you already know."

Rin widened her eyes in shock at hearing that asked. "This was all an elaborate set up to reel me in?"

Nodding Naruto answered. "Yes! I believe I already said in front of both of you that I would use this war as my classroom if necessary, albeit I was mostly talking to Shirou. The reason for my actions is the fact that thaumaturgy from back then was different from what you know now. As result how much I can truly teach you is difficult to say and thus I may need help bridging the gap between the two styles. Specifically I need you to help me understand your modern way of thinking and approach to magecraft. Once I understand this I can better teach you both my way and help you overcome the subtle differences between the two systems. Of course I could definitely figure out something on my own even if you decline my offer but with you alongside Shirou, things will be more efficient. So do we have a deal."

"Yes." Rin replied calmly even though he could feel her bursting with joy inside.

Nodding in satisfaction Naruto said. "Great. As I told Shirou, refer to me as Naruto or Sensei or Naruto-sensei if you prefer."

Nodding in agreement Rin analytical mind drove her to ask. "What do you think you will be able to teach us."

"I've seen you gathering magical energy from the environment, taking into yourself and then using it in your spells. My people called this Senjutsu and it was a skill that was considered to be incredibly difficult in my age." Naruto began but was interrupted.

"Every magus in this era barring a select few can replicate something like that. Its some incredibly basic." Rin declared feeling somewhat aghast at the idea of learning something so low level.

"I fully comprehend that. However the only reason you can do it now is because Mana as you call it has degraded. In my time, the sheer purity of the World's magical energy would have killed you on the spot if you tried to take into yourself unless you had massive internal reserves to counter that effect and the skill to carefully mix it into a well balanced concoction. Unfortunately in the modern era, not only is Mana weaker but so is Od." Naruto explained to his new students in what they would come to dub his full lecture mode. "In other words, because your internal energies are incredibly weak, you are by extension incredibly weak so we will start there. I will teach you how to make your Od stronger."

"Make my Od stronger." Rin mouthed unable to comprehend the idea. The number of circuits you had and the quality of your odd is something that is fixed from birth. This was a well established fact in modern Thaumaturgical Science. Naruto was basically declaring that this was not true. Such knowledge was invaluable.

With a confident smile Naruto replied. "Yep, then I will focus on teaching you how to properly manipulation the shape of your prana and transform its nature before we get to the hard stuff. Not that any of this will be easy for you. After that and hopefully by then you will have a decent understanding of the history of magical energy over the years, we will be ready to truly delve into the various arts." Naruto paused in thought before adding. "Oh and Taijutsu training as well as all its sub-divisions are mandatory."

"How long will this take. Cause the Holy Grail War must only go on for a limited time or the Church will get involved in it and cause a lot of trouble. Maybe even the Mages Association." Rin said knowing the Heaven Feel Ritual only ever lasted a couple of weeks.

"It will take as long as it needs to. And don't worry about anyone else trying to interrupt my lesson plan. I have plan and I am taking steps to prevent any such unwanted attention." Naruto replied with a dark smile that made both Shirou and Rin rather uncomfortable. Even Saber couldn't help but feel a bit of unease at how confident he sounded. She pitied the fool who would try to screw with Naruto and his students lessons while he was training them.

VvV

Illyasviel von Einzbern was still rolling from her defeat at the hands of her brother and his Servant even as she lay on her Queen-sized bed in Einzbern castle. Between the painful memories he'd brought up and his playful but extremely dangerous nature, Naruto had caught Illya off guard when he confronted her and made her concede to things she normally wouldn't. Things like telling him the truth about how she really felt and her reasoning for attacking Shirou.

She still had no idea why she'd done that. At the time she'd just felt like she could trust him cause he seemed so sincere in everything he did. Of course she had checked for mental intrusion any sort but detected nothing of the sort but then again, Naruto had proven just that night that he was a mage and warrior of the highest quality. Hell she'd seen him put the Tohsaka master under hypnosis with a mere snap of his fingers so it wasn't unreasonable to believe he might have influenced her ever so subtly. Paranoia? Maybe?

It was for this reason that when the blond ninja that had been on her thoughts over the last hour suddenly faded into existed next to her bed, she wasn't entirely surprised. Unfortunately she also took his sudden appearance entirely the wrong way and declared. "So you came to finish the job!"

"Huh?" It was all Naruto had time to mutter before he was forced to back flip away from Illya, barely avoiding getting bisected by a materializing Berserker and his stone ax-sword already mid-swing.

Hindsight was Fifty-Fifty and Naruto was rather intelligent when he put his mind to it so he quickly connected the dots on how his sudden appearance and the manner in which he appeared might be taken as an assassination attempt. He needed to end this fast and giving Heracles a chance to continue attacking was simply a bad idea.

Before the demigod could even hope to pursue Naruto, the blond ninja shot forward with his unbelievable speed while simultaneously activating one of his Noble Phantasms. It was another Noble Phantasm rooted in a tittle he'd earned during his long long life. Though he for his purposes he he modified it slightly. "Savior of the World: Headbutt!"

The sound of his forehead crashing into that of Heracles was less like two meaty objects colliding and more like the impact of two freighter trains crashing into each other at full speed. It was so powerful that even Heracles found himself knocked flat on his ass and utterly dazed, while Naruto gently landed on his feet and glared down at the son of Zeus.

How much of that was the Noble Phantasm at work and how much of that was the sheer impact of getting headbutted by the most stubborn ninja in all of history, no one was sure. What was known was that, this one move instantly ended the fight there and then. Not because the two servant's couldn't keep going but because their really wasn't any need to fight any more. Naruto had literally removed it, even if Illya had yet to realize this.

"Are you ready to listen now? Or am I wasting my time, in which case the original Naruto will simply blow up your entire castle with another massive prana bomb and this time we wont save you." Naruto growled threateningly.

Illya audibly gulped as she recalled just who it was she was talking to. Naruto Uzumaki, the Heroic Spirit that had defeated her madness enhanced Berserker in a straight fight. It should have been impossible but Naruto didn't seem to care very much for the word. He'd also saved her the last time he'd deployed his so called 'Prana Bomb' and so the threat had real merit. Warily she asked. "What do you want?"

In an instant Naruto irritated demeanor changed to something more pleasant as he warmly said. "To offer you a deal that you likely won't hesitate to accept."

He sounded so sure of himself that Illya instantly found herself curious about what kind of a deal he was offering and replied. "I'm listening."

"Stop trying to kill Shirou and stop gunning for Rin and Saber too." Naruto began calmly but with a confidence that only an entity as alien as a Heroic Spirit could ever bring to bare. "Do this and I will bring your father back to the world of the living in a week or two from now so that you may speak with him and get the answers you want. Hell if you are nice about it then I will even make it so you live passed the grail war."

"That's impossible." For many years to come Illya would remain unsure about what exactly she was calling impossible in that moment. Her fathers resurrection, her own life's extension or giving up her desire for vengeance against Shirou. Thankfully an even more unbelievable, yet welcome distraction came at that exact moment.

"Actually milady!" The most unexpected voice interrupted. "That man might be the only Heroic Spirit to ever descend for a Holy Grail War both willing and capable of doing such a thing. Isn't that right O Template of the western Gods!" Heracles deep gravely voice had a certain warmth to it, as his mismatched eyes bore into Naruto's own and smirk graced his mouth. Madness no longer gripped him and his intelligence was plainly visible on his face and in his eyes for all to see.

One of his many secrets had been uncovered and Naruto wasn't too happy about it but he was willing to play along, so he simply replied. "Damn! I was hoping to keep that secret, a little longer, my distant descendant."

TBC...

Surprise! Heracles isn't insane anymore, or at least he wont be for the next couple of hours. And before you say anything just think of the number of Villains in Naruto that got Headbutted by the blond ninja and reformed, two of which where Sasuke and Obito late in the Fourth Shinobi World War. Both of them at the time were considered madmen in one form or another. However this specific insanity reversing effect of 'Savior of the World' was styled after his fight with Gaara in part one. Yes, back when Gaara was a Psycho-killer ready to murder anyone who looked at him funny all to prove the worth of his own existence. As part of his legend in which Naruto saved innumerable people and the world at least twice, he can specifically alter the effects of Savior of the World for something like that.

Anyway, the next update will definitely be for 'An Unorthodox Hero' maybe even the one after that before I update Chp: 4 of AOTF. Don't worry the story will go one and the updates will come a lot quicker now that I figured out the main issue's with AOTF. Still please leave a review, or pm me if you got questions. Constructive criticism please. You're opinions are helping shape this story bit by bit, even if I can't act on every suggestion. Until next time ladies and gentlemen...ScareletAesir!