The Hunter Chapter 1

The Joker

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Sword Art Online and Naruto belong to their respective creators and I am just using that, illegally, without explicit permission. Sue me. The only things that are mine are the ideas that I introduce in this fic.

So here I am, as an avid fan of SAO for nearly 4 years, before it became as popular as it is now, finally making a combination fanfic of my two favorite fandoms thanks to a certain friend of mine egging me on. Then again, it was probably bound to happen, it just happened earlier than expected. Did you know that a category for Sword Art Online did not exist until early this year?

Soundtrack List

Two Steps from Hell - Strength of a Thousand Men

****The Hunter****

"KIRITO!"

"NARUTO!"

"DUCK! You retard!"

"Is that what you're supposed to say to someone that's about to die!?" A raven haired boy screamed back as he hit the floor.

A blood red light flashed right above, barely cutting off a few strands of black hair on its way to its target.

A blazing spear pierced the right eye of the Kobold Lord; last boss of the First Floor. It teetered for a moment before falling over backwards with a massive rumble.

****The Hunter****

Sword Art Online

The first, and most awaited game of the century, if only by virtue of being the first game to take fully take advantage of the Nerve Gear's Virtual capabilities, FullDive, unlike the many subpar and unsatisfying mini games and puzzles that had flooded the market for years before the Sword Art Online had been announced, where one could only walk for barely a few paces before encountering a solid wall and operate within the specified, tiny parameters.

Which was why a blue eyed blonde could only vibrate in place, as he placed the Nerve Gear, a helmet shaped contraption on his head, anxious to enter FullDive, after finally obtaining a copy, one of only 10000 released, by queuing three days outside his local game store before the official release date.

"Link Start!" He intoned with visible and audible excitement, and just like that, his brain was disconnected to the real world and redirected by the Nerve Gear into a Full Dive. The difference between the still, pale body and the flushed, excited boy moments earlier was unsettlingly startling.

If only he had known how bad the difference could been.

Blue eyes opened to a massive vortex of swirling colors and swiveled around excitedly as he heard whirring and sounds, tinkling and water flowing, signs that the Nerve Gear was checking the available resources and compatibility.

A chime signaled that the connection was perfect and a line of floating text, in bold black slowly faded into existence in front of the boy.

'Complete Upload, Green.'

'Checking complete.'

'Log in/Register?'

He lifted one hand, marveling at how natural it felt to move within the virtual world, and touched the Log In button.

'Langguage: Japanese'

'Account: ******

'Password: *******

Creation Character:

Beta test data still available.

Would you like to use it?

Yes

Enter Now?

He smiled and said the one word that would change the rest of his life, "Yes."

****The Hunter****

A tall, muscular man, with a long blonde pony tail and perfect facial features appeared out of a cloud of blue lights, landing softly on the earthy ground a few inches away.

Sharp blue eyes that gleamed like sapphire gems opened, gleaming with excitement, and he immediately took off towards to the nearest Japanese style restaurant. It was time to get back his partner, a partner that he had left back in the beta, and had carried his regrets ever since. There was no guarantee that it would still be here, since it was technically a bug after all, but there was no harm in trying.

"Yo, ba-chan." He cheerfully greeted the old woman manning the oden store. He knew of course that she was just an NPC, and that no amount of flattery or manners would help lower prices, but then again.

"Good afternoon, welcome to my store." She replied with a toothless grin and a polite bow, "What will you be having today?"

"One whole pack of fried tofu please." Naruto said with a grin as he checked his inventory to confirm that he still had the Cols that were carried over from the beta test.

"Hai. Here you go." The NPC grinned cheerfully as she handed him a pack wrapped in oil paper. Naruto promptly accepted it gratefully and stored it into his inventory with a burst of blue sparks.

Then he bought a simple carving knife, some potions and a beginner's spear from the nearest general store and immediately headed out into the field, towards the deepest part of the forest at the southern end of the floor, where he knew a secret dungeon was located. He gripped his spear and grinned as it glowed a bright blue, signaling the starting movement of the basic spear skill, Thrust, in preparation to run it through a skeleton boar, a level 3 mob.

Considering the fact that he had logged in directly when the server had officially started, and that the level of the mobs here were higher than the recommended ones for a beginner, he doubted that anyone had cleared this mini dungeon yet, so he was fairly confident that he could not only clear it, gain his partner back and gain some levels faster than most of the other players. One of the benefits of being a beta tester, he thought happily as he slaughtered his way through floor after floor.

"Faster, faster," he began muttering as he dodged another boar charge, about the only thing they could do here, and retaliated by running his spear into the boar's side,

The boar screeched a death rattle as it thrashed, stuck on the end of the spear that was continuously causing it more and more damage, before it froze and shattered into a shower of polygons, "Faster, faster, need to be faster…"

He barely even noticed that he had just reached level 2, preferring to jump through the next hole in a great hurry. Unlike the normal dungeons that linked floor to floor, which slowly ascended, these ones slowly moved downwards in spiral. Similarly, there really wasn't much point to mini dungeons like these ones, the only real reward they gave aside from experience were crafting materials for weapons and armors, which wasn't very useful at lower levels since there were no craftsmen, not to mention far more expensive than it was worth to craft a unique piece of equipment with the material.

When the blonde landed in a crouch at the bottom of the hole, he looked up and grinned.

A massive gate, black, intimidating and about twice the height of a full grown man, stood at the very end of an empty path.

Without hesitation, the blonde pushed off powerfully and began moving at a brisk run towards the portal. The closer he got to the giant iron gates, the larger the smile on his lips and the stronger his legs pumped, sending the stamina meter all over the place. He slapped one hand on the cold iron of the gate and burst through it in one move, eyes wildly looking around the familiar chamber, lit by rows of floating fire spirits, in keeping with the ghost theme of the dungeon, on each side of the wall.

At the end of the hall, something massive moved in the gloom, the sound of four feet or paws hitting the cold earthen floor as the monster lumbered out of shadows, gave him hope that the bug still existed, only to crash it moments later as a massive skeleton, a boar, with tusks as long as his legs were long. Pieces of rotting flesh clung to its ribs and a disgusting smell wafted from its body.

Golden hair obscured his blue eyes as he shook slightly in disappointment, they had changed the final boss of the dungeon. The boar roared, despite the fact that it lacked any vocal cords to do so with, snapping the blonde out of his catatonia, rolling away from a massive paw that smashed the spot he had been standing at with barely a second to spare. Showing far more intelligence and maneuverability than it should have, the boar jumped backwards and immediately charged at him again Hefting his spear with an iron grip, Naruto rolled underneath the boar's snapping jaw and thrust it upwards, shoving it straight into where the boar's brains should have been.

The wooden pole snapped, leaving the metal spike at the end embedded in the bone of its skull and nothing but a piece of shattered shaft in his hands.

Looking up, he took note that that single attack had managed to drain the skeleton boar of half of its single hp bar. Unfortunately, the boar took that moment of inattention to slam its sharp hooves on the blonde, smashing his arm and sending his hp into the yellow zone.

The blonde gritted his teeth and rolled away, a small icon appeared at the top right of his HUD, showing that he had lost a limb and consequently, a percentage of his core stats. Growling, the blonde got up and ran towards the boar, his face twisted with an expression of great focus, broken shaft held in one hand. His skeleton jaw seemed to grin before the boar lunged forward, massive jaw opened to snap him in half.

A small smile appeared, and he back flipped, narrowly avoiding his death, not that it would have mattered but it would have been a pain to make his way through the respawns, and landed right on top of the giant boar's skull in a crouch.

He smiled wryly and drove the butt of the broken shaft directly into the glinting point of the spearhead sticking out of yellow bone.

The boar immediately froze in place, and its structure seemed to phase unstably for a moment before it truly died with a shattering of blue crystals, sending Naruto tumbling to the ground now that he lost his support. The moment the boar died, the flickering orange light steadied, providing clear light and chasing ever y shadow away from the chamber.

Groaning slightly, the blonde stood up and made his way towards the big golden chest that sat atop a dais. Tapping it gently, a small menu appeared out of thin air and the blonde selected the Open option without a word.

A block of heavy black wood appeared, floating above the treasure chest, nearly as tall and thick as him, sighing, the blonde tapped the block of wood, Bone Wood, and sent into his inventory.

He gave a tired and disappointed sigh, "Guess I'll try again tomorrow." He muttered as he pulled up his menu and began looking for the Log Out button.

"Hmm… that's weird. It's not there…"

Just then a circle of blue light appeared around his feet and waist, adding even more to his confusion, "A teleport circle?"

Well, it wasn't too strange, Naruto figured as his vision was slowly obscured by bright blue lights, a forced teleport of every player in the field to the City of Beginnings wasn't really too unexpected if there was a massive bug, the only difference it made to him was that Argus would clearly get some bad rep over this mess.

****The Hunter****

One month into the game, two thousand people had lost their lives.

The hope that outside help would come was crushed mercilessly; not even a peep had gotten through. Or if there was, no one alerted anyone else to it.

He hadn't seen it himself, but they said that the panic and the madness that took hold of the players when they realized that they really couldn't get back was unbelievable. Fear, chaos, despair, madness reined. It was a common sight to see people crying and others wailing in the City of Beginnings, some even tried to dig up the ground of the city saying that they were going to destroy this world as a way of rebelling. Of course, all buildings were given statuses as non-destructible objects, so this attempt failed without any results to show for it.

They say that it took days for the players to accept the situation and think of what to do afterward.

To be absolutely honest, he had fared no better. He had secluded himself in an inn, using what remained of his Col, staring at the wall as day turned into night, again and again. Since there was no official method of keeping time, he lost count of how long he stayed in his room, using the small carving knife that he had bought in his first hour into the game to cut random shapes into the massive block of wood.

By pure accident, he had cut himself. Being in the city where the Safety Net operated, it was only natural but his hp would not reduce no matter what he might have been capable of doing. However, what really snapped him out of his shock was the fact that he could see into his hand, through the gash made by his knife.

It was supposed to be deep red, warm and wet; instead it was blue, with spinning codes and something resembling a wireframe made of lights.

His mortality. His Death.

And he heard the voice of his grandmother, a strong woman who owned a hunting range and taught her own brand of archery, who had taken care of him ever since he was a kid and his parents had died, talking to him in a soothing tone, the way she always did when he had nightmares.

He stabbed his hand another time and swore that he would live to meet her again, and say, "Okaeri, baa-chan."

With a renewed vigor, he continued to carve the block of wood into something usable.

The very next day, he obtained a new spear and began clearing the fields and gaining levels using his knowledge from the beta test.

It was one month after that when news spread that the first floor's boss room had finally been found, and there would be a strategy meeting being held in the City of Beginnings. Which was some of the best news that he had ever heard. Despite having started out later than most of the front line fighters, the fact was that no progress could be made unless they cleared the first floor because of the slowly decreasing benefit margin from killing monsters, which basically meant there was a whole bunch of level 20 people sitting around with nothing to do unless they planned on killing thousands upon thousands of level 6 monsters to reach level 21, enabled him to catch up in terms of levels.

"Yo, Kirito." A blonde man dressed in a bulky cloak that Kirito assumed hid his heavy armor and a simple wooden spear strapped to his back nonchalantly greeted a raven haired boy in simple leather armor with a cheerful smile.

Black eyes glanced at the man before turning back to the entrance to the stadium, "…Joker." He replied with a nod, "You here for the meeting as well?"

"I keep telling you just call me Naruto." The blonde replied with a cheerful slap on the stoic boy's back, eliciting a wry smile at his cheerfulness. Unlike many of the other players that he knew, the friendly blonde man, whose avatar was, fittingly enough, named Joker, seemed to lack any sort of privacy, or sensitivity for that matter, at all and insisted on telling everybody, and anybody his real name. No matter how Kirito tried to ignore and distance himself from people, the blonde pretty much just ignored his efforts and treated the raven haired boy like a friend unlike everybody else.

Then again, he seemed to pretty much treat everyone like that anyway, constantly joking, friendly, cheerful and annoying.

Kirito didn't exactly know the blonde personally, the only reason they were even on speaking terms was because the blonde always seemed to know the best places to grind, and coincidentally bumped into Kirito on a semi regular basis outside said spots. That alone told him that the blonde was more than likely to be a beta tester, just like him.

Naruto hefted his spear and wrapped one arm around the black eyed boy's neck in an overly friendly gesture, "C'mon, can't let the party start without the main characters, eh?"

He rolled his eyes, and ducked out of the neck hold, walking away without another word as a comically crying blonde followed behind.

The two of them took a seat at the very back of the amphitheater, right in the middle at the lowest part of the stadium was a blue haired man dressed in light chainmail, the best kind of armor possible for the first floor, as he addressed the gathered players. Speaking of which….

As the knight who called himself Diabel began speaking, he listened to the speech with half a mind as he glanced at the bulky man beside him. Kirito had never seen him fight before despite bumping into him quite often.

The blonde obviously used a spear, a mid range weapon which had some of the highest damage per hit in Sword Art Online, offset by its slow attack animation and weight. Because of the weight, spear users were very slow in battle, necessitating heavy armor to improve survivability because they simply couldn't move fast enough avoid attacks. The problem here was that heavy armor would not be available until the fourth floor, so what was the blonde hiding under that heavy cloak?

Not to mention that simple, plain spear was a level 1 weapon, something that could be bought easily from any store, someone like him that apparently knew all the best spots could have gotten something way better by now.

He shook his head slightly, "It's not my problem. Focus on the problem in front of you."

"Is this seat taken?" a new voice joined them as a new player joined the duo at the back of the stadium.

Kirito and Naruto looked up to see a player, fully swathed in hooded robes that obscured all his or her defining features, "Everyone else here seemed to have groups already, and they said I couldn't join the boss battle without a group. And you two seemed to be the only ones left." He reluctantly muttered.

"We're a group?" Kirito commented blandly, "I must've missed that memo."

"We're a group; Mr. Sourpuss here is just having a bad day." Naruto cheerfully assured the newcomer, pulling down the menu and sending the two of them an invite, "Feel free to sit with us. I'm Naruto, and the wet towel is Kirito."

Reluctantly, the two accepted his invitation. Kirito glanced to the top left of his HUD, as did Naruto to see the name of their new friend.

Without further comment, the three of them decided to turn back to the meeting.

"Does everyone have a party already?" the blue haired knight asked the gathering, hearing a mumble of agreement, he smiled, "Well then…"

"Wait a moment! Before we continue, there's something that has to be said!" a new, low and gravelly voice that contrasted with Diabel's soothing tone, interrupted the session with a Kansai dialect.

A cactus headed man, wearing simple leather armor stood up near the bottom of the amphitheater, "I am Kibaou." He proclaimed boldly, "As I already mentioned, there has be something that needs to be said." His beady eyes swept around the arena, landing particularly at the very back where three people sat, away from the crowd, causing Kirito to shake a little as he realized what was happening.

"There are at least 10-15 people here that need to apologize to everybody else."

"Apology? To whom? From who?" was constantly being muttered all around the arena.

The knight that was still standing behind him on the fountain edge, Diabel, raised both hands in question. Without looking at him, Kibaou spit out in hatred.

"Ha, isn't it obvious. To the 2000 now dead people. Those guys had who had already played the game before, monopolized all the most important resources, selfishly advancing themselves while 2000 people died uselessly in the first month we were here! Isn't that right?!"

At that moment, the low buzzing in the forty people audience cut short; all went silent. What Kibaou wanted to say, everyone finally understood.

In the oppressive silence, only the evening BGM from the NPC orchestra played quietly. No one said anything. If anything was said, then at that moment you might be labeled as one of «those guys»—such a fear was probably there. No, not probably.

At the very least, Kirito was clearly caught by that fear until a large reassuring hand landed on his shoulder, unspoken reassurance from the older man, his eyes sharply piercing the cactus headed man. Calming down slightly, he nodded in thanks. Nothing needed to be said or explained. They both knew the other were beta testers, and that was enough.

"—Kibaou-san. The people you are referring to… are the original beta testers, right?" Diabel with his arms crossed, showed the most stern look up till now as he asked for confirmation.

"Obviously." With the thick metal pieces of his scale mail clinking over the leather he wore, Kibaou took a glance at the knight behind him and continued boldly.

"Those beta testers, on the day this shitty game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who didn't know left from right. They monopolized good hunting grounds and profitable quests, got stronger without a care for those behind. ...There should be some in this group, hiding their beta status, some sly people thinking of joining the boss fight. I want them to kneel down once, to the party members their lives depend on. That's what I want to say!"

Like his name, FangKing, he cut off his condemnation with a bite of his teeth. Still, no one said anything, except one.

"May I speak?"

At that time, a rich and forceful baritone resounded in the evening plaza. From the left side of the crowd, a silhouette moved forward.

Huge. His height was easily over 180cm, probably. An avatar's size, or even the player's natural abilities in real life was not supposed to have any effect on his stats, but in this case, the two-handed battle-axe slung over his back actually seemed light weight to him.

His appearance, too, was impressive and did not lose to his weapon. A fully bald head, and chocolate-colored skin. However, the chiseled face was so fitting you might think it was customized. Not Japanese... instead of saying that, maybe he was not even human.

The muscular giant moved forward to the fountain, lightly bowed to the other players, and then turned to the dramatically different in height Kibaou.

"My name is Egil. Kibaou-san, what you wanted to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and you want them to accept that responsibility and apologize, isn't that right?"

"Th...That's right."

Kibaou, momentarily overwhelmed, took a step back, but then soon moved back forward. With his shiny, small eyes glaring at the axe user called Egil, he shouted.

"If they did not leave us behind, 2000 people would not have died! However, they are not just any 2000 people, most of them were other MMO top ranks or veterans! If those shitty testers properly shared information, items and money, then there would have been 10 times the people here... no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!"

"Out of that 2000 deaths, 300 of them were known beta testers." A calm, strangely firm voice from beside Kirito spoke up, saying what the swordsman already had in mind, "Some of them were people I knew, some I was even close with."

He slowly stood up, his height just as imposing as the dark skinned man at the bottom, the bulky cloak on his back only made it more obvious as he slowly stepped down to the base, "Almost all of us stand at the fore front, testing the game with our wits, skills and bodies with outdated knowledge from the beta then passing down that knowledge to the new players. Even then, our knowledge barely stretches pass the tenth floor, what then?"

He stood face to chest with the Kibaou and lowered his face until they were nose to nose, "While what you said is true for a lot of self serving beta testers, do you EXPECT the rest of us to hold the hands of ten thousand players and lead you through the Aincrad? Is thanklessly giving our time, knowledge and lives NOT ENOUGH? YOU THINK WE WEREN'T SCARED TOO?!" he roared in the clearly frightened man's face. He spun around to face the rest of the crowd and roared boldly, "You want someone to scream at, SCREAM AT ME!"

Kirito had to admit, this was the first time he had seen the blonde so riled up, but in doing so, he could not bring himself to agree.

The blonde had literally painted a massive red target on his broad back. Sacrificing himself for the rest of the beta testers.

Naruto spat on the floor and glanced at Kibaou's chain mail armor which clearly of high quality, something he pointed out with a disdainful tap, unlike his own, "If a hypocrite like you wants to be complain and rail against the unfairness of this world while you are safe and pampered, join The Army boy, while the rest of us beat a path for you to climb with our blood and sweat."

He turned back and swiftly climbed back towards where Kirito and Asuna sat, apologizing quietly to his party members, "Sorry. I lost control for a moment there."

"Brave. Stupidly, pointlessly so." Kirito commented casually.

"That's what my grandmother said." Naruto said with a small grin as they continued to watch the discussion continue.

"What's a beta player?" the third member of their party lowly asked as they left the amphitheater.

The two shared a glance and Kirito gave Naruto a mocking bow, causing the blonde to wryly roll his eyes as he turned to the new member, "Basically, before the official server started, Argus rolled out a test server for 1000 randomly selected applicants to test and root out any problems in the encoding so that there wouldn't be, or at least there would be fewer problems when the real thing came out for the public."

Asuna nodded slowly, "So as a result, assuming all of the selected 1000 players reentered the official server, they would have prior information and experience with the game. Something like having some inside information before an important exam? Like in that guidebook Egil-san had." she postulated.

"Something like that." Naruto agreed with a nod, "Technical information, how to use skills, how to scavenge for food and Col, best places to rest and level. That being said, the amount of resources available is limited, just like real life, so there is no choice but to limit that to people that can get the best out of it. Imagine 10000 players just trying to kill a bunch of mobs or hunt for the same material. I might sound ruthlessly elitist, but in Aincrad, it's the only way we can clear this place within the next century." Naruto explained tonelessly.

Tiredly he looked up at the synthetic sky with as much resolve as he could muster, "This might sound like an excuse, but we can't help everybody directly. The only way I can think of to do that is to clear this game as fast as possible. Of course, I don't have all the answers, feel free to come up with a better idea."

Kirito came back bearing three pieces of bread that he handed to the two of them, saving one for himself as they found a secluded place to eat, away from the crowd.

"Cream?" the black haired boy quietly offered as he pulled out a small jar.

"I've got better, meat. Kukukuku." Naruto chuckled as he pulled out a small packet of delicious smelling meat, "Roasted Boar Meat, took me three days to make this baby."

"Isn't that the one from the Secret Dungeon? From the last boss?" Kirito looked distinctly disgusted despite the really appealing smell, "Wasn't he rotting?"

"Well yeah, that's why it takes three days to cook this stuff."

Then the two of heard something dripping. Simultaneously their heads swung around to see a visible line of drool dripping from the last member of their team.

"Uh… you want some?" Naruto and Kirito offered with amused grins.

Asuna hesitantly took the pack of meat and jar of cream, tapping it before tapping the piece of bread, spreading a thick layer of cream on it, hesitantly she lifted the bread to her lips and glanced uncertainly at her… acquaintances.

Naruto mimed eating the bread then the meat.

Asuna closed her eyes, as if she was about to take a dive into some deep, bottomless chasm and stuffed the bread and meat into her mouth at the same time.

At that moment, the texture of the normally dry and rough bread changed substantially. The taste of a certain rustic cake spread throughout her mouth; the cream was sweet and slippery, with a refreshingly sour yogurt taste. The inside of her cheeks were hit with jolts of electrifying fulfillment.

On the other hand, the juicy, salty taste of meat filled her mouth with its aroma, something she had been dying to taste for months, creating a harmony with the sour and doughy taste of the creamy bread.

Within seconds, meat and bread disappeared into her gullet, while her companions watched in amusement.

The hooded person sighed with satisfaction and slumped down into a corner, allowing the hood to fall off, revealing glossy brown hair and a fulfilled smile, "Now if I can just get a bath, I can die happy." She unconsciously muttered her thoughts outloud for the amused Kirito to hear, Naruto on the other hand...

"You're a girl?!" Naruto's jaw dropped incredulously.

The two of them looked at him like he was an idiot, "What? It was a VALID question, I honestly didn't notice!"

Kirito rolled his eyes and went back to eating, "That aside, getting a bath is easy if you know how. You just have to find a proper place. I have one where I stay." He said nonchalantly, more focused on stuffing his cheeks with his dinner.

He comically froze, jaw wide open mid-bite, when Asuna literally teleported herself directly in his face, brown hair lightly waving in the wind, "Where?"

His eyes moved to the side, silently begging for help from the amused blonde who just shrugged, "Don't look at me. I live in a tree. The closest public bathhouse is on the second floor though."

Asuna slowly stood up, towering over them with eyes burning with female righteousness, "Bath. Now."

The two strong and brave fighters that have faced many monsters and demons gulped and nodded frantically.

As the hooded player stomped ahead of the two shivering men, Naruto leaned over and whispered into Kirito's ear, "I think I felt my balls shrivel up in real life."

The raven haired swordsman nodded silently.

****The Hunter****

The next morning found Naruto waiting for Kirito and Asuna on the very edges of the city, where DIabel had appointed as the meeting spot.

As the familiar looking black haired swordsman appeared out of the morning fog alongside the girl, dressed in her customary brown cloak, Naruto waved at them cheerfully.

"You're here early." The hooded girl greeted with a nod.

Naruto just grinned and gestured back over his shoulder at a massive oak tree that marked the border between the City and the fields, "That's where I live. Doesn't really give me much of a choice."

"You were serious about living in a tree?" Kirito asked incredulously, "Are you even trying to stay alive?"

The blonde dramatically hugged the tree and crooned to it, "Hey… don't diss the tree. It's alright Mr. Tree, he doesn't mean it. He's just upset his stupid inn isn't as comfy as you."

"Is something wrong with him?" Asuna questioned lowly with a finger pointing at the blonde who was still crooning at the tree.

"Don't worry, stick around and that'll be you in three weeks." Kirito replied drily.

"Stick with him, and that'll be you in three days." Naruto called back from his tree.

Asuna simply rolled her eyes as she listened to them volley insults back and forth, the three of them followed the 48 person strong group at the very back. She understood though, things were already tense enough on the way to the first official Boss fight and it appeared to be their way of lightening things up for her, a complete beginner.

Their entourage made it all the way to the highest part of the maze on the twentieth floor without any major problems. Most mobs were completely overwhelmed by the united strength of 49 very upset people wielding pointy things.

"Are you ready?" Diabel shouted, standing at the fore of the group with a massive gate of cold, black iron behind him.

Seeing no disagreements, he nodded and continued with a flick of his hair, "Alright, let me repeat the plan, Two heavy armor Tank parties, A and B. Three high movement and high attack Attacker parties, C, D and E. Two long weapon equipped Support parties, F and G. Tanks will take turns to absorb damage, rotating Pots and Switch while keeping hate, while C, D and G will focus on taking out the boss. G and E will concentrate on keeping the Kobold Sentinels busy." He turned to the last three members that belonged to no group in particular, "Can you three provide support for groups G and E?"

Naruto stepped forward confidently, "Understood. Rest easy and focus on taking that bastard down."

Kibaou growled and elbowed Naruto out of the way, "Don't worry about that. We'll take care of that for you. Someone who is still using a level 1 spear should just stay back instead of getting in the way after all."

The blonde simply readjusted the massive bulk and spear on his back and stepped back in line without comment.

"Why did you just let him walk over you like that?" Asuna whispered from under the hood, "Their obviously looking down on us."

"Does it matter? Will inciting an argument here help defeat the boss?" Naruto commented lowly.

"Understood." The rapier user with the slight profile nodded and prepared herself by drawing a rapier.

"Is everyone ready?"

The rousing roar that answered him caused him to smile brilliantly and slam his shield onto the massive iron gate, throwing it upon with an equally massive clang, a bristling wall of weapons behind him, pointing towards the sky. As one, 49 people charged bravely into the room with a resounding cry that combined with the sound of their stampeding feet.

A surge ran up their spines, strengthening their will as they ran up and faced the massive Boss Monster, Illfang, The Kobold Lord who was sitting on a throne, Egil, the tallest of the clearing group barely managed to come up to its armrests. The Kobold Lord himself was no slouch, showing his true height as he stood up, large enough to throw a shadow on everybody at his feet. . Its bloodthirsty eyes flashed a golden red at the sight of intruders. Its right hand wielded an axe made of bone, while its left had a Leather Buckler equipped. Behind its waist, a meter and half long Talwar stood out. Four Hp gauges made themselves apparent, floating beside its snout.

He roared a ferocious battle cry, spittle flying from his jaw as the cry summoned 3 Ruin Kobold Sentinels at his feet.

Everything went still for a while as the each side watched the other, when the truce was broken by the sounds of the Kobol Sentinels banging on their shields and charging forwards. Mirroring their actions, G, E and Naruto's team charged forward to intercept the Sentinels while everyone else went directly at the Kobold Lord.

Asuna's rapier, flashing out like a meteor to slide in between the gap of a Sentinel's helmet signaled the start of the battle. Further in front, the first group, armed with axes and huge shields caught the first swing of the axe while their support team stabbed, hacked and cut on the Kobold Lord's unguarded side.

The battle was met.

Two hours later, a blonde slammed the end of his pike into the ground and flipped into the air somersaulting before bringing his spear down like a hammer, crushing the Sentinel into fine paste that dissolved into blue dust. As if on cue, another Sentinel spawned behind the throne and rejoined the battle. Suddenly someone shoved Naruto and Kirito aside, "You're just the support party, stop being so cocky." A familiar Kansai dialect grated in their ears.

"Is it our fault that 3 of us kill faster than the six of you? Even with a level 1 spear?" Naruto shot back with a grin.

Even Kirito chuckled a little as he and the blonde rejoined the battle.

The blonde pursed his lips as he glanced at the Kobold Lord's remaining HP bars, 1 and a half remaining, "This is bad. We took longer than I thought."

"Oh, you mean nearly running out of potions before the boss has even started to properly attack is a bad thing?" Kirito sarcastically replied as he crossed blades with a Sentinel with extra strength, stunning it momentarily, "Switch."

"That and I'm out of peanuts."

"Will you two STOP joking?! Men!" Asuna yelled in exasperation at her team mates as she initiated a Linear, running the point straight through the unprotected neck of the Sentinel Kirito had just stunned.

Just then the third gauged shattered and the boss stopped moving, breathing raggedly king as it threw down the bone axe in its right hand and the leather shield in its left simultaneously. It gave another defiant roar and brought its hand to the back of its waist, grasped the rag bound handle and slowly pulled out the «Talwar» that would signal the change in tactics. From here on, it would only use the sword skills from the curved blade category, going into the berserk condition, becoming terribly wild, but dealing with it now is easier than before. It used a long-ranged longitudinal cut. As long as you grasped the timing of the skill when it was launched, even if you're near the boss you could avoid the edge of the weapon.

That was when things went downhill with interest.

Under Diabel's command, the six people that formed Group C surrounded the boss. This was a formation that was not used while the boss still wielded the bone axe. As long as the six could avoid the wild swings of the Talwar until the boss exhausted itself for a few seconds...

"Something's wrong." Naruto muttered, "That's not a Talwar. It's a Katana."

"What do we do?"

"Can I go home?"

Asuna slapped the back of his head, "We are NOT going to go home and let everyone die. What's the difference between that Talwar thing and a Katana?"

"Different skill sets, a Talwar is a low class, curved blade type of weapon that can only attack in one direction. Katanas are high level type weapons that are far faster and have far more versatile skills, including an AOE skill."

Kirito jumped forward, ignoring Naruto's words, forcefully sucked air into his lungs, and bellowed loudly.

"Thi... this won't do, fall back! Retreat quickly!"

Unfortunately, his voice was drowned out by the sound effects of Illfang's sword skill.

The Kobold king's huge body shook the floor, as it jumped up high. It turned its body in mid-air, while accumulating power to its weapon. As it fell down, it used the accumulated power, releasing a crimson beam of light that slashed everyone surrounding the Boss with a blood red effect that remained in the air momentarily.

"Like that one?" Asuna timidly asked.

"Like that one." The blonde replied with a grim nod.

Six bright red light effects appeared, like pillars of blood.

The HP gauge that appeared at the left corner showing Group C's average HP on the left immediately dropped below fifty percent and into the yellow zone. Although you could expand the gauge with your fingertips in order to see the six individual HP gauges of each player, at the moment there was no point in doing it. Everyone in Group C obviously received equal amounts of damage.

It was a ranged attack with tremendous power enough to take out more than half of their full HP, and that was not all. Yellow lights shaped like stars rotated around the heads of six people that had collapsed on the floor, indicating that they were unable to move for a period time; proof that they had all been stunned.

"Protect them! I'll kill him!" a blue haired knight, his hair flowing in the wind declared bravely as he surged forward to take on the boss alone. Team C, Egil and his subordinates moved forward, axe or shield held upwards to ward off a cleave from the massive Katana while the knight, barely even reaching Illfang's knees darted forward alone and began to stab at the unprotected belly.

"What are you doing fool?! Retreat and regroup! You don't know what you're up against!" Kirito yelled involuntarily as he ran forward, watching in slow motion as the boss seemed to smile and lift the Katana, high up into the sky and brought the glowing blue blade mercilessly.

DIabel jumped sideways, a momentary triumphant grin on his face that was wiped off instantly when the ground underneath him exploded, launching him into the sky violently.

Ukifune didn't do much damage, but it was cleaving type attack whose special ability was to send everything in front of the attacker tumbling into the sky, it was nothing but the starting point of a deadly combo.

By then, they already knew that Diabel couldn't be saved as the Kobold Lord withdrew the blade into a ready position, Hiogi, a three hit air combo that juggled everything in front of the user. It was not possible to avoid this attack once one was already caught by Ukifune, only helplessly accept his malice.

Everybody stared helplessly, rooted to the spot in shock and horror as their leader was hit violently.

"Asuna."

"Hu-huh?" the female rapier user asked shakily as she looked down at where a kneeling blonde was pulling out spear after spear and laying them on the floor until he was surrounded by them.

"Can you help Kirito? Keep him alive until I'm done." He replied urgently, focused entirely on getting ready.

"Su-sure."

Firming her resolve, she dashed forward in a burst of speed that far surpassed anything either Kirito or Naruto were capable off, eliciting an admiring smile from the blonde as he threw off his heavy cloak with a heavy breath to help him focus.

He shifted the massive object on his back and slammed its end down onto the ground with a grunt, its heaviness cracking the paved floor with a loud thud.

It was a massive block of wood that had been carved into a crude crescent moon that was thinnest around the middle. A piece of elastic rope connected the two curved points.

****The Hunter****

Play Two Steps from Hell - Strength of a Thousand Men

Kirito skidded beside the fallen knight on his knees and gripped DIabel's shoulder tightly, the structure under his fingers slowly crumbling with a sad feeling. The knight gave one last smile, "I-I'm sorry for being so selfish… I was too focused on getting the Last Attack instead of you… "

"Enough, don't talk." Kirito frantically fumbled in his jersey to pull out a potion.

"Sa-save your potions." His eyes weakly glanced at the HP gauge above his head that was slowly declining, and he knew that nothing would save him at this point save a HP crystal which were only available after the fifth floor, "It's already too late. Kir-Kirito-kun, please… de-defeat the Boss in my place."

The serene look on his face as he finally left Aincrad was heart rending.

A fiery feeling flowed through Kirito's veins as he slowly stood up, the hand gripping his sword trembling with a burning anger.

He heard someone step up beside him, "Joker asked me help you. He needs some time to get ready."

Jet black eyes, burning with anger looked at the hooded girl standing steadily beside him, "Understood. I'll be relying on you."

The two of them shared a look and leapt forward without any hesitation, yelling their anger and defiance at the grinning Illfang. Asuna, running by his side, violently grasped her hood and cape that were in the way, and flung it off her body.

The light from countless torches that were the side walls seemed to gather together and shine brightly. Her glossy, long chestnut colored hair now emitted a deep golden shine, scattering the dim light in the boss's room.

"This battle will be similar to the ones with the Sentinels, Switch and keep up the attacks," he raised his voice and bellowed, "Everyone that needs to heal, back ten steps towards the exit! As long as the boss is not surrounded, it will not use its ranged attacks. Anyone that can help, do so in pairs, but make sure you don't surround the boss!"

"Understood!"

The boss, lowered his stance as he realized that two players were getting ready to attack him again and gripped his Nodachi, causing it to glow a deep green, slashing at a speed which could not be seen. Straight long ranged move, Whirlwind «Tsujikaze». Because it was an Iai type move, it would be impossible to keep up with it after seeing it launched, unless…

Kirito held his breath and moved his right hand to his left hip as well, leaning forward as if to fall. The moment his body reached a certain angle, he stomped his right foot to take off. Without any hesitation, his body was wrapped in a thin blue light as he blew through the remaining ten meters between him and the boss with incredible speed.

Basic sword rush technique, «Rage Spike», intercepting the Tsujikaze before it was launched and stunning the boss momentarily, "Switch!"

Asuna, grabbing the opportunity with remarkable grace, leapt up into the air with a cry, her rapier poised perfectly as it emitted a brilliant red light, launching rapid thrusts again and again straight at the Kobold Lord's face in the time that Kirito had bought her. Gracefully she spun the rapier around and dug it into the boss' torso on her way down, cutting a long red line that bled sparks.

Without hesitation, Kirito resettled his pose and slashed, catching the Nodachi by the hilt, gritting his jaw to stop his teeth from rattling due to the force from the collision. A quick glance told him that even though the attack had been blocked, the sheer power behind it had managed to take a sliver of his HP, "Switch!"

"Hai!"

Taking the advantage to gulp down a potion, Kirito took the time to take stock of the situation, widening his eyes in panic as more and more people gathered their confidence and began to attack the boss in droves.

"I said STAY BACK!"

"You just want to get the Last Attack don't you!? Even sacrificing Diabel to get it, I won't let you! If you can do it, so can anyone!" a familiar Kansai dialect, caused the anger to burn deep inside him.

The kobold seemed to understand and a wide, fanged grin appeared as it made laughing noises. It drew back his nodachi, and leapt into the air far too agilely for anything of its size was meant to, leaving a circle of shocked players on the ground.

"Damn! RETREAT!"

His order came too late, as the massive Kobold landed in a whirlwind of blades, slashing everything nearby, including him, and sending them crashing into the walls and ground with pained screams.

A quick look told him that he had only managed to get away in time to take 1 third of the base damage, but Asuna's HP had already reached the red zone, "Asuna! Get away!" He yelled uselessly, as he realized that they were all stunned and completely unguarded. Asuna obviously struggling to move her limbs, and failing miserably between pants.

The Kobold Lord seemed to smile again as it lifted up the Nodachi, aiming for the person with the greatest hate, Asuna.

"Thrust!" a red streak burned through the air, its point meeting the Nodachi's blade with a massive explosion of sparks, its force successfully throwing the Kobold Lord backwards just as the stun effect wore off. Without pausing, he threw Asuna a red potion, and looked backwards to find his helper.

That was when he realized that the last member of his team, dressed in nothing but simple cloth armor, was holding some sort of wooden contraption crescent steady with one hand, as he fitted another spear into its middle.

Gripping the butt of the spear in one hand, Naruto sighted down the shaft as it began to glow red, signaling the start of a basic Sword Skill, the veins in his arm standing out as he pulled back, the rope and wooden crescent straining against his strength.

"What the fuck is that?" Kirito yelled just as the blonde released his grip on the spear, sending another red comet straight into the Kobold Lord's shoulder with another massive explosion, causing it to stagger again.

"Faster... faster.. .faster..." Naruto mumbled, a bead of sweat running down his temples unnoticed due to his concentration as he sent spear after spear into the Kobold Lord's abdomen, knocking the monster back, bit by bit.

Naruto gave a strained grin as he refitted another spear, "Isn't it obvious? It's a bow."

"Bow my ass, that thing is more like a frigging Ballista isn't it?"

"Details, details. By the way?"

"What?"

"DUCK, you retard!"

"Is that what you're supposed to say to someone that's about to die!?" A raven haired boy screamed back as he hit the floor.

A blood red light flashed right above, barely cutting off a few strands of black hair on its way to its target.

A blazing spear pierced the right eye of the Kobold Lord; last boss of the First Floor. It teetered for a moment before falling over backwards with a massive rumble, entering the Tumble state.

"It's down! EVERYONE get his ass before he gets up!"

"UUOHHH!" everybody who was still standing roared and began chopping the downed monster.

This was a gamble. If the Kobold king's HP was reduced to nothing before it got up, it would be our victory. If it gets out of the «Tumble» status first, we would be met with «Tsumujiguruma» again, and this time everyone would be cut down. Kirito glanced at his sword, «Sonic Leap» was in the middle of the «Cooling» period, so he would be unable to deal attacks in the air. Simultaneously, he realized that Naruto's bow was not capable of stopping attacks like normal Sword Skills despite the incredible damage he was apparently capable of.

Egil's group who had recovered from the delay of their techniques, began to get into the motions for the next skills. The Kobold king stopped struggling at the same time, and its body started to rise.

"...We are not going to make it?!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto hefted the bow onto his shoulder as he began jogging forwards, the strength parameter already hitting the red zone with just that, "Asuna! Kirito! One last one!"

"Osu!"

"Hai!"

Naruto up the the chocolate skinned man without pause, "Sorry bout this, Egil," and stepped on his bald head, jumping straight up into the air above the rising Illfang, acrobatically wedging his legs at both edges and pulling back a spear with both hands and all his strength as Kirito and Asuna carved their way up the Kobold Lord's body.

"God, let this HITTTT!"

The spear glowed a deep blue, signaling the start of the mid range spear skill that required two hands, Pierce, and Naruto released the spear, the backlash snapped his bow and sent him flying off into a corner violently, crashing in a crumpled heap.

The blue spear rocketed downwards, burying itself deep into the Kobold Lord's forehead, instead of stopping there, it began drilling its way all the way through, bursting through the other side with a spray of red blood just as his two teammates slashed their way across Illfang's eyes.

On his back, the blonde groaned with his eyes closed as the chamber shook and rumbled like a it had been hit by a minor earthquake, only releasing a relieved sigh when he heard the sound of something crumbling apart.

A floating screen appeared above his face, [Congratulations, You have obtained the last hit.]

"We did it Naruto!" The blonde endured the uncomfortable and weird sensation of every bone in his body being rattled violently due to the crash as he heard Kirito yelling.

Without getting up, he lifted one shaking hand and gave his partner a victory sign.

****The Hunter****

Author's Note: Yeah the plot so far resembles the anime more than the novel, though that's not necessarily a bad thing, Kinda cut through a lot of unnecessary stuff in my opinion.

Now I'm a great fan of Asuna and Kirito pairing but at the same time Naruto and Asuna sounds pretty good though that kind of messes up the story later. So I'll have to figure something out. In other words, complete AU.

In other words, I'm accepting votes whether the story will go on to become AsunaxNaruto or NarutoxOC, or some other character. All three paths are wildly different obviously.