AN: Alright here is the first chapter to my new Naruto/SAO crossover fic. This is also the last new story I'll be posting and will now be returning to updating my other fics. This fic probably won't be taking much of my focus because I can't see much of what will happen yet, so it will probably take longer to write up and post. Anyway on with the fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Sword Art Online, or anything else that may or may not appear in this fic.

Chapter 1: Jinchuuriki

"Talking"
'Thinking'
(Author's Note)

When Naruto Uzumaki first opened his eyes his mind was foggy and his memory spotty. The last thing he had a clear recognition of was Madara Uchiha standing over him as Kurama was pulled out of him, as he tried to land one final blow to the revived Uchiha using his father's Hiraishin jutsu. After that it was all a blank for the blonde shinobi. What had happened to the war? Were his friends safe? Trying to contact Kurama within the seal proved impossible and the Uzumaki feared that Madara had succeeded in extracting the Bijuu.

Picking himself up from where he was laying Naruto noticed that he was lying in some alley. Walking out of the alley Naruto looked around hoping to see something or find someone who could tell him where he was and what happened to the Fourth Shinobi World War.

…

It wasn't long before Naruto lost track of time and realized that he was stuck in a world that he didn't understand. The people seemed to be stuck in some sort of genjutsu, always following the same path and giving him limited responses to anything he asked them. At first he feared that Madara had won and had accomplished his Moon Eye Plan trapping him in an eternal illusion, but quickly discarded that idea for a couple of reasons. First he couldn't sense any chakra from those people and secondly he couldn't draw in any Nature chakra.

When he exited the city which he learned was called the Town of Beginning, a city within the flying castle Aincard a little bit of information that he was able to obtain by looking around that he actually found useful, he was attacked by boars and wolfs that would burst into specks of light only to come back to life later. What really caught the blonde shinobi off guard was when a screen appeared right in front of him from nothing saying he obtained a wolf pelt and some col after defeating one of the wolves. From there Naruto learned little more of the world he found himself in. By swiping his right hand downward another screen appeared with many different options. After that he learned about the world he found himself in.

It was a world of swords, the world of Sword Art Online.

Then after nearly a month something finally changed, players started to appear within Aincard.

November 6, 2022: Town of Beginning

Since the first player logged in Naruto watched the players interact and immerse themselves within the game, completely out of sight from them. The blonde shinobi was happy about the players' appearance in the game as it meant that he would finally have human contact, or at least close to it, after nearly a month of being alone with the exception of NPCs. At first the players' excitement was almost contagious and Naruto found himself' more enthusiastic than he had been since before the war. That excitement was short lived when Naruto and the players' learned one horrifying fact about the game.

As the sun began to set on the first day of the game a bell started to ring that could be heard for miles as Naruto noticed all the players start to disappear in small pillars of blue light. It didn't take long for the shinobi to locate the missing players all gathered in the city's central plaza looking as confused as he felt from the sudden turn of events. Naruto decided to watch from the shadows to figure out what was happening; he didn't need to wait long. Above the plaza the sky turned red with panels that said "Warning" and "System Announcement." From between the panels large amounts of what looked like blood poured out, but instead of falling to the ground it came together. Naruto watched in horrifying fascination as from the blood a large red robbed figure with its face completely obscured by a hood appeared.

"Attention, players." The hooded figure said loudly and clearly for everyone to hear. "I welcome you to my world. My name is Akihiko Kayaba." The self-introduced Akihiko Kayaba revealed. "And as of this moment, I am in control of this world." He stated absolutely.

While some of the players seemed to be in awe of the gamer creator's entrance Naruto couldn't help the feeling of dread welling up inside of him that said something bad was about to happen. And after his childhood and his experience in the war it was an instinct that Naruto trusted completely. Naruto doubted it would take long before he found out what the cause of the feeling was.

Kayaba started speaking again after the players calmed down a little, making sure everyone's attention was on him. "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your Main Menus, the Log Out button." Kayaba said bringing up the screen in front of him, large enough for everyone to see, to show the spot where the button was supposed to be. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be." The robbed figure declared.

Naruto was honestly confused about what Kayaba was talking about. Of course since it was Naruto's actual body in the game and not a virtual one like everyone else he couldn't log in or out of the game like everyone else should have been able to. Which meant that even if the button had been there it wouldn't have worked for him. Briefly the last Uzumaki wondered what else differentiated between him and the others.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO," Kayaba continued, ignoring the whispers of disbelief from the players. "And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the 'NerveGear' from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life." The game designer said to the horror of everyone.

The horror the players felt at the news quickly turned to outrage, believing the game designer to be lying and quickly tried to leave the plaza only to find out that they couldn't. The blonde shinobi didn't know enough about NerveGears to know if Kayaba was being honest or not, but from the looks of utter fear on some of the avatars faces that seemed to be the case.

Next to Kayaba screens appeared depicting the news of what was happening in the real world. "Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began." Kayaba said, as Naruto's eyes drifted from one screen to another. One screen showed the profile of a player whose NerveGear was removed and died; another showed a family crying, another instructions by the government to not remove the NerveGear and contact proper authorities to transport the player to a hospital where they would be looked after until the situation was resolved. "They've been deleted from both Aincard and the real world." Kayaba said dramatically.

'213 dead in just a few hours,' Naruto thought as he had flashbacks to the war, causing his hand to clench to the point his knuckles turned white. While nowhere near as bad as the casualties suffered in the Fourth Shinobi war it was still 213 people whose lives were cut short because of one man.

"As you can see," Kayaba said gesturing to the screens. "International media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best." The game creator explained, relieving the players slightly with the knowledge none of them would suddenly be dropping dead at any moment. "I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following. There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." Kayaba said with finality to his words. "And the NerveGear will destroy your brain." He added, causing the players to grow fearful once more. "There is only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game." The robbed figure continued, as an outline of Aincard appeared beside him, the lowest part highlighted. "Right now, you're gathered on Floor 1, the lowest level of Aincard. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game." Kayaba explained, the image of Aincard showing a highlighted bar going upward until reaching the very top.

Some of the players were confused, most likely first time gamers, while the ones who knew what Kayaba was talking about were outraged by how impossible the goal seemed.

Once more ignoring the players' protests Kayaba continued as if nothing was happening. "Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look." Kayaba urged them.

Out of sheer curiosity Naruto checked his own item storage and was honestly surprised to find something there. Bringing it out the blonde shinobi was confused when it turned out to be just a mirror, seeing his confused face reflected off its surface. Naruto's eyes were quickly torn away from his reflection when he heard multiple shouts from the players ahead of him. Looking up Naruto saw a bright light engulf the players before disappearing; the problem was they all looked different from what they did a second ago before the light overcame them. Most noticeable, and the one that made Naruto want to vomit the most, was a female character that was dressed provocatively was now an overly muscular guy in the same clothing.

'That is seriously messed up.' Naruto thought his face actually a little green. 'What the hell is wrong with that guy?! Why the hell would he dress like that?!' Putting the disturbing image out of his mind Naruto focused chakra into his ears to enhance his hearing hoping that one of the players knew what happened and would explain what was going on.

"-how?" Naruto caught the end of a question asked by a male player.

"The scan," Another male player, this one sounding younger than the first, answered. "There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like." The younger player realized. "But how does it know my height and body type?" He wondered.

"When you first put the NerveGear on," The older sounding player began. "It had to do this… calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?" He finished.

'So,' Naruto thought, as he stopped channeling chakra into his ears. 'This is what they all really look like? Then it's a good thing I didn't sneak into the plaza.' He decided, if he had somebody might have realized that Naruto's appearance hadn't changed at all. Not to mention his clothes didn't exactly fit in with everyone else's.

Naruto's attention was focused back on Kayaba when he began speaking again. "Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.

'Kayaba,' Naruto thought angrily, Kayaba's wish to act like some sort of god in a fake world reminding Naruto to much of Madara Uchiha and his Moon Eye Plan. The difference between them being that Madara reason also involved bringing peace to the world, as fake as it might be, while Kayaba didn't appear to have such a wish was just acting selfishly. When only considering that Kayaba seemed the worse of the two. Then you consider everything else and Madara trumps Kayaba in a landslide.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal." Kayaba stated, "This marks the end of the tutorial and official launch of Sword Art Online."

In that moment Naruto was seriously struggling to restrain himself from throwing a Rasenshuriken at Kayaba's robbed figure. But if he did that he would end up revealing his presence inside the game and then he would lose the element of sur-

"Rasenshuriken!"

-He was Uzumaki fucking Naruto, because Naruto fucking Uzumaki didn't sound as awesome, he didn't care if he enemy knew he was there. To him it just meant that they would know who was responsible for kicking their ass.

"I wish you the best of-" Kayaba was cut off before he could finish by the appearance of a blue white sphere with four curved blades coming out of it that was creating a screeching sound. The Rasenshuriken was blocked by a barrier that Kayaba had erected around his robbed avatar. Though the Rasenshuriken was blocked the winds generated by the jutsu were enough to force everyone to instinctively close their eyes and hold up their arms to block the wind.

From behind his barrier Kayaba was astounded by the force of the attack as even though it should be impossible, something happened that wasn't supposed to be possible within Sword Art Online. Not only did that sphere look like some sort of magic, but he could tell that the barrier was straining to hold it back. As it stood he could see small tears were appearing in his robe. A part of the Sword Art Online creator wanted to stay back and investigate what the cause of the strange anomaly was, but ultimately decided to leave and investigate the matter later.

The robbed figure started to collapse in on itself, as if nothing was holding it up anymore, as it disappeared into red colored smoke and the sky returned to normal, Kayaba leaving behind confused, scared, and angry players and a lone shinobi.

After Kayaba disappeared Naruto didn't bother to stick around. If the man was serious about the only way to free everyone was to clear the game then Naruto needed to hurry and figure out how this game was played. So that he could clear it, so that he could keep as many people from dying as possible.

1 Month Later

An entire month had passed since the beginning of SAO and in that time 2,000 people had ended up falling victim to Akihiko Kayaba's death game. Though after a month of searching for the Floor 1 Boss's lair the room had been rumored to be found and a meeting was to be held to plan out how to beat the boss and finally clear the first floor.

Arriving at the amphitheater where the meeting was being held, Naruto sat down near the back just as it was starting in a different set of clothes then his normal outfit that he arrived in. He had on a Anbu style vest on over a long-sleeved orange shirt, black fingerless gloves, black pants, boots, and his Konoha headband tied around his waist acting like a belt buckle. Around his neck was the necklace that Tsunade gave him. Most of his clothes he had sealed away in a storage seal on his right arm, which now contained his normal clothes along with other items, with the exception of the shirt and boots.

Naruto had a simple sword he obtained within the game strapped on his back, along with his kunai and shuriken pouch.

In the month since the Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) started Naruto had managed to figure out how to play the game, mostly. There were still some things he needed to learn or things that still confused him. But at the very least it seemed like he was just a new player playing his first online game and not completely new to technology.

Naruto focused back on the meeting when the person holding it began to speak.

"Okay, people! Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started." The person that spoke was a male player with blue eyes and blue hair, with a couple of long bangs that framed the each side of his face.

Naruto had to suppress a snicker as the man's bangs reminded Naruto of Sasuke's hair style with the exception that the back of the man's head didn't look like a duck's ass. But with a bit of work it probably could.

The man had bronze colored armor on his chest, shoulders, arms, and shins with blue colored clothes under his armor, white pants, and fingerless gloves. A sword was at his waist and a shield on his back. "So anyway," The man continued. "I want to thank everyone for coming, good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game, the job I rolled is knight!" He loudly proclaimed, though his claim caused some of the other players to start laughing.

"Dude, there's no job system in this game!" Another player pointed out among the many chuckles.

"You guys want to hear this or not?" Diabel asked them sounding annoyed. When the laughter died down Diabel continued, "Right, anyway here's the deal. Our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today." Diabel declared, capturing everyone's attention completely as he confirmed the rumors. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor 2. The next step is we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginning that it is possible to beat this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players here! Do you agree or not?" The blue haired player questioned them.

Naruto would honestly admit that he was slightly impressed by Diabel's speech as it seemed to raise everyone else's spirits, as they started to cheer Diabel, and made them more confident about taking on the boss.

"Okay," Diabel said with a pleased smile on his face, happy to hear such a positive reaction from everyone. "Glad to hear you're all with me on this; now let's figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of six. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need a raid group made up of multiple parties."

A mixed look of surprise and nervousness appeared on Naruto's face at the fact that he would have to join a party to be part of the raid group. For the last month Naruto had refrained from interacting with the trapped players as much as possible essentially becoming what he came to recognize as a solo player, as he learned to play the game. Of course with his jutsu and training he didn't really need to rely on others to survive here as much as everyone else would.

But if the boss really was stronger than normal monsters then one of Kakashi's first lessons, to work as a team against stronger opponents, only made sense. Besides Naruto was tired of being alone, being stuck in a virtual world in a dimension different from his own, without his friends or the knowledge if they were safe, without Kurama his oldest companion, who he was starting to form a true bond with, reminded him to much of his childhood and he wanted to have some real, figuratively speaking with them only being virtual versions of themselves, friends again.

Looking around Naruto noticed that nearly everyone had already formed into their own parties; the only exceptions were a couple of other players besides himself who were near the back of the amphitheater and didn't seem to be with anyone. Naruto approached the closest one, a player that wore a dark red hooded cloak that hid most of their appearance from view. "Uh, you're not partying with anyone?" Naruto asked a bit awkwardly.

"No," The person answered, in what Naruto thought was a feminine sounding voice. "Everyone already seemed to know each other so I stayed out of it." She explained.

Briefly Naruto wondered if she was a solo player like himself. "So, do you want to form a party with me?" The blonde shinobi asked her. "Since we can't be part of the raid group if we are on our own." He went on to explain when she seemed to turn to look at him. After a moment where she just looked at him the cloaked player nodded her head the slightest bit.

"Um," A uncertain voice said from beside them. Looking toward the source they saw slightly messy black haired teen male with black eyes. He wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt under a white vest, black pants and boots, and black fingerless gloves. He had a sword slung over his shoulder that fell down instead of across his back. "Can I join your party?" He asked uncertainly.

Glancing to his right to make sure it was alright Naruto saw the cloaked girl nod her head slightly again to show she was okay with it. Turning back to face the boy Naruto gave him one of his fox like grins. "Sure, the more the merrier," Naruto said, getting the boy to sigh in relief and give them a small smile in return before he blinked a couple of times in confusion.

"Have we met somewhere before?" He asked, "You sound kind of familiar."

His own look of confusion appeared on Naruto's face at the black haired teen's question. "I don't think so," Naruto answered.

"Is that so," The dark eyed boy mumbled, swearing that the blonde haired teen's voice sounded familiar, before the boy sent Naruto and the cloaked girl an invite, which they both accepted. At the top left corner of his vision Naruto saw two bars appear under a bar that had his name beside it, which he learned was what represented his HP. The new bars that appeared had two names beside them.

Kirito

Asuna

Those were the names of his two new teammates.

"Alright," Diabel said at that moment drawing everyone's attention back to him. "It looks like everyone's teamed up. Now then-"

"Hold up a sec!" A new voice shouted, cutting Diabel off mid-sentence. From the very back of the amphitheater a man appeared, who made his way down to the stage by jumping on the stone seats. The man had sienna colored hair, which reminded Naruto of a cactus for some reason, goatee with brown colored eyes. His clothes didn't stand out much with the exception of his grey scale armor plated vest. On his back was a one-handed sword. "My name's Kibaou, got that?" Kibaou said rudely as he introduced himself, turning his attention from Diabel to the gathered players. "Before we take on the boss, I want to get something off my chest! Some of you here need to apologize to the 2,000 who have died so far!" He finished pointing towards the crowd.

"Kibaou," Diabel said, drawing the man's attention to him. "Are you perhaps referring to the Beta-Testers?" He asked.

"Of course I mean them!" Kibaou answered angrily. "The day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners and all disappeared." The cactus head accused. "They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so they alone could get stronger, and ignored the rest of us." Kibaou said, looking back at the gathered players. "Hell, I bet there are some of them here!" He shouted, pointing at the crowd once more. "They should get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money that they've hoarded for themselves!" Kibaou demanded, "Otherwise, how can they expect the party to trust them to protect their lives when they don't trust us, and if they don't why should we?!" The sienna haired man declared arms crossed over his chest.

Naruto looked at the man with a frown on his face. To the blonde shinobi the man just sounded like he was giving excuses so he didn't have to work hard himself, if the Beta-Testers really did take the good hunting spots and quests then it should have been up to Kibaou to work harder to become stronger. Instead he reminded Naruto of the type of person who felt like the world owed them everything, and blamed others for their own shortcomings and failures. Some movement from his right caught the whiskered shinobi's attention, glancing at the cause Naruto saw Kirito shaking a bit, as if he was struggling with himself, obviously for some reason affected by Kibaou's words.

"Can I say something?" A deep male voice asked. The source of the voice was a tall dark skinned male with a bald head and brown goatee, his clothes were a mix of white and brown with a white vest, and two silver earrings on his left ear. On his back was a Two-handed Battle Axe. "My name is Agil," The man said walking up to Kibaou, intimidating the cactus haired man slightly.

"Whoa," Naruto said out loud whistling lowly. "That guy is nearly as tall as Uncle A." The blonde shinobi said in amazement. "Nowhere near as buff though." He finished getting incredulous looks from his two new party members, though you could only really see that look coming from Kirito, neither had seen a man Agil's size so they found it hard to believe that the blonde had seen someone taller and more muscular. "What, what's with those looks?" Naruto asked seeing his teammates staring at him and the looks they were giving him.

"Kibaou tell me if I got this right?" Agil said, drawing the teens' attention back to him. "You're saying that because the Beta-Testers didn't stick around to take care of the beginners, that they are the ones responsible for all their deaths. And because of that they should take responsibility by apologizing and give up their winnings, is that right?"

"Y-Yeah, that's right." Kibaou replied nervously.

Agil nodded his head as he pulled out a small plain brown book from his back pocket and showed it to Kibaou. "You got one of these guide books, didn't you? They were handed out for free at the item store."

"Sure I got one." Kibaou said defensively "So, what about it?"

"It was compiled from information given by the Beta-Testers." Agil informed him, surprising some of the other players with the info, before turning to face everyone else. "Listen up! Everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died." The axe user said, "I thought the topic of discussion here was what we could learn from their deaths, and how that can help us defeat the boss." Agil said reminding everyone about the whole reason they decided to hold a meeting in the first place, finishing by staring at Kibaou evenly.

Kibaou didn't look at all pleased, but was too intimated by Agil to fight the man instead choosing to sit down with his arms crossed and sulking a bit.

"Okay, can we get back to the meeting now?" Diabel asked, after Agil took his seat, and proceeded to tell everyone that the guide book had on the first floor boss Illfang the Kobold Lord. "Illfang carries an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a curved sword type weapon called a Talwar." After he was done speaking the meeting was drawn to an end with the agreement that they would head out for the Boss' room at ten in the morning.

Not even a second after the meeting was called to an end Naruto heard Asuna's cloak rustle as she stood up, looking to his left he was just in time to see her walk out of the amphitheater without saying anything to either him or Kirito.

Later that night those that would be part of the raid group were holding a small celebration. To celebrate them finding the Boss' room, new friendships being made, and the possibility that they might not all make it through tomorrow, though no one really wanted to consider that last possibility.

Away from the celebration in a back road Asuna sat by herself on a bench, eating a stale looking piece of bread a grimace appearing on what could be seen of her face at the taste but eating it anyway.

"Is that any good?" Naruto asked walking up to her and taking a seat beside her, the girl automatically scooting away and putting a bit of space between them. "I'm asking because I haven't tried it for myself yet." He explained a slightly amused look in his eyes at the girl's actions.

"I don't think they're that bad." Kirito spoke up, having seen one of his party members making their way towards the other and decided to follow him. Naruto scooted to make room for the black haired swordsman to sit down, Asuna instantly moving again to ensure Naruto wasn't to close this time causing the blonde shinobi to chuckle slightly. "I've been eating one at least daily since coming to this town." Kirito explained giving the hooded girl a strange look. "Of course, I got a trick to make it taste better." He finished.

"Oh," Naruto said interested.

Kirito brought out a jar from his storage box and held it out for the other two to see. "It's the reward for a quest called "The Heifer Strikes Back," from the village before you get to this one." He explained, as Naruto took the jar from him and took off the lid to reveal a yellow cream.

"Cream?" Asuna asked, leaning closer to Naruto to get a clear view. When Naruto glanced at her the girl instantly leaned back.

"…Yeah," Kirito replied after staring at Naruto for a moment, as the cerulean eyed shinobi replaced the lid and handed it back to him.

"Well I think I got something better." Naruto said pulling out a scroll from his back pouch. Opening the scroll he unsealed a bowl of ramen with chopsticks. Kirito was about to say something about the strange way the bowl of ramen appeared, in a puff of smoke from a scroll, when the smell of the food hit his senses and almost made his mouth water. "Ramen," Naruto declared happily.

"That smells delicious," Asuna said looking at the bowl of ramen just as intently as Kirito.

"Sure does." Kirito agreed absentmindedly.

"It's from my own private stash." Naruto told them with a fox like grin. "But since you guys are my teammates I can part with couple of bowls." The whisker marked teen decided handing the first bowl of ramen to Asuna before unsealing one for himself and Kirito.

"Is it really okay for us to take these?" Asuna asked quietly, though her gaze was transfixed on the bowl of ramen in her hands and seemed reluctant to actually give the food back, as she tossed away the piece of bread in favor of the bowl of ramen.

"Sure," Naruto replied easily enough, "I have about 20 bowls of ramen a day, so I make sure to have more than enough stored up."

Kirito took a bite of the food and his eyes widened at how tasty it was. "This is great!" The black haired teen said, taking another bite of food. "How did you get it?" He asked looking at Naruto.

"Secret," Naruto replied boldly after slurping up some noodles into his mouth.

"Come on, I'll show you the trick for "The Heifer Strikes Back," quest." Kirito offered. He would have normally offered to show them the trick for free, but the ramen was too good to pass up on.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you suggested that some cream for stale bread is just as good as ramen." Naruto told him in a deadpan. The sound of slurping from his right drew the blonde's attention, looking towards the source revealed Asuna with the bowl to her lips as she drank down the last of the broth.

"So good~," Asuna said happily with a blissful sigh.

"That was fast." Kirito commented astonished. Looking down at the bowl in his hands he noted that it wasn't small in any sense of the imagination for someone to be able to finish a bowl so quickly was mindboggling.

"Heh, a girl after my own heart," Naruto said with his fox like grin back in place. 'Or would that be stomach?' He wondered to himself before shrugging off the question. Looking at Asuna he said, "That's Ichiraku ramen for you, the best ramen in the world. Would you like another one?" He asked her at the end.

Asuna set the bowl to the side before answering after a moment of silence. "Uh-uh. I appreciate the offer, but I didn't come to this town to eat good food."

"Then why did you?" Kirito asked, Naruto just as curious.

"So I don't lose sight of who I am." The girl answered quietly. "I'd rather stay myself until the very end than sit and rot away at an inn, back in the first town. I'd rather stay the way I am till the last moment," She continued, clenching her hands together. "Even if I get killed by a monster, I don't want to lose to this game… to this world." Asuna finished.

Naruto finished his ramen before standing up and taking a couple steps forward. "Well you won't be dying tomorrow." The blonde shinobi declared before looking at them both from over his shoulder. "I won't let one of my comrades' die, not again." Naruto continued, saying the last part so quietly that Kirito and Asuna barely were able to hear, as the cerulean eyed teen remembered all those who died during the Forth Shinobi war. Those who he swore to protect and failed too. "Besides," Naruto said coming out of his morbid thoughts. "Not everything about this world is so bad." He stated.

"How do you figure?" Kirito asked skeptically. Asuna giving the blonde a disbelieving look from under her hood.

"What Kayaba did, trapping everyone here, forcing them to survive this game or die, for the sake of his own entertainment is absolutely unforgivable." Naruto said strongly, before turning around to face them, but his gaze was focused beyond Kirito and Asuna on the celebrating players. "But look at them, even if this world is a virtual one death isn't the only thing that is real here. The bonds and memories that they are making with one another are just as real, and it will our desire to protect these bonds that will make us all fight that much harder tomorrow. Right now they are all laughing and having fun, if SAO manages to do that and these bonds continue to exist even after the game is cleared then it is not so bad." The blonde shinobi decided.

Kirito and Asuna were looking at him in slight astonishment neither thinking the death game in such a manner, neither of their opinions' about the game changed all that much, but both would admit that Naruto's way at looking at things was rather nice.

"And another thing," He continued his eyes shifting from the celebrating players to his teammates. "I want you two to know something, it's something my sensei taught me and my teammates when we first became a team. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends and comrades are worse than trash.' So no matter what happens tomorrow know that you can count on me to stand and fight with you." Naruto finished.

Next Day: December 3, 2022 Floor 1 Forest Field

The next day the players that made up the raid group were walking through the Forest Field on their way to the boss room. At the very back of the group, walking a few steps behind everyone, was the party made up of Naruto, Asuna, and Kirito.

"Let's go over it again." Kirito began explaining the plan one last time, "We're the backup. So, our target's going to be the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels." The black haired swordsman stated.

"I know." Asuna replied.

"Uh-huh," Naruto said only half listening to what Kirito was saying.

Kirito held back a sigh at Naruto's nonchalance with the situation before continuing. "I'll use a sword skill to knock their pole axes up and out of the way. The second I do, switch in." He instructed.

"Switch?" Asuna asked, Naruto staring at Kirito with an obvious look of confusion on his face as well.

Kirito looked at his two party members and suddenly a feeling of dread washed over him, as he swallowed hard. "Okay, you two need to level with me. Is this the first time you two have ever been in a party?" He asked them, both Naruto and Asuna gave an affirmative reply, which in turned caused Kirito to let out a big sigh and his shoulders to drop dramatically, 'Why me?' Kirito thought.

…

Just outside the boss room everyone gathered to hear some final words from Diabel, who was standing in front of the door that led to the boss room. "Listen up, everyone." He spoke drawing everyone's attention. "I've only got one thing to say to you. Let's win!" The blue haired knight said before turning around and opening the door. "Let's go!"

The room was dark with little to no light in the room and pillars going all the way to the other side of the room. At the very far end of the room, sitting on a throne with an axe next to it, was a large red furred monster with a shield on its arm and menacing red eyes. It was Illfang the Kobold Lord, the boss of the First Floor. As soon as the players started stepping into the room lit up and Illfang jumped from his throne to land in front of the players before unleashing a terrifying roar that summoned three armored monsters, which made them look like knights, who carried maces. The cursors that appeared above them identified the three monsters as Ruin Kobold Sentinels.

"Commence attack!" Diabel shouted, thrusting his sword forward, as the raid group and the enemy rushed at each other at the same time. As the two opposing forces met Diabel was shouting out orders to everyone keeping the enemy at bay and proving himself' a capable leader, "Squads A and C, switch! Here it comes! Squad B, block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch, now! Everyone else switch, draw, and prepare to attack from the side! Squads D, E and F, keep the sentinels off us!" He finished.

"Yeah, you got it!" Kirito replied dashing at the approaching Sentinel, swinging his sword and knocking it back. As soon as he did he signaled his two party members to attack, "Switch!" He called.

"Right," Naruto said rushing past Kirito.

"I'm on it!" Asuna said as well, right behind Naruto.

The two rushed the Sentinel at incredible speeds, though the blonde shinobi was holding back to not draw suspicion onto himself, Naruto bringing out his sword from its sheath on his back, slashed the monster across the chest, and jumped up into the air, before Asuna delivered the finishing strike with her rapier. The Sentinel was thrown back from the force of the attacks before shattering into light before disappearing.

'Amazing,' Kirito thought watching as Naruto landed beside Asuna, the girls cloak settling down around her after running so fast. 'I thought that they were both beginners, but there skills and speed are astonishing. I could barely keep up with them.' He continued awed. "Good job you two." The black haired swordsman murmured with a small smile on his face.

Following this strategy the three players steadily dealt with the Sentinels as they re-spawned, while the other players depleted Illfang's HP bars from four to one. Once it lost most of its HP it tossed aside its axe and shield in favor of the Talwar it seemed to be carrying with a vicious roar.

"Looks like the guidebook was' right," Kibaou commented with a smirk, seeing Illfang acting just as the guidebook said it would.

"Stand back!" Diabel ordered moving to the frontlines. "I've got it."

Naruto had just knocked back a Sentinel for Asuna and Kirito to deal with, as he turned his attention towards what Diabel was doing. 'I thought the plan was for the entire group to surround it.' Naruto thought in confusion, remembering this part of the plan, as Diabel briefly looked their way.

Naruto wasn't the only one that was playing close attention to what was going on, as Kirito saw Illfang draw out the blade on its waist and his eyes widening in alarm. 'That isn't a Talwar! It's a Nodaichi' Kirito thought in a panic. 'It's not the same as the Beta Test!' He realized, as he knocked back a Sentinel. "Wait, stop!" He shouted out a warning to Diabel, drawing the attention of Kibaou to himself.

Diabel charged at Illfang with a sword skill activated, not heading Kirito's warning.

"Get out of there!" Kirito tried to warn him one last time before it was too late. Sadly his warning was once more ignored and everyone watched as Illfang jumped up into the air and off the surrounding pillars. Diabel head swiveled around trying to keep up with Illfang's fast movements, only able being able to see a blur, before landing beside him and delivering a devastating slash across Diabel's chest before following it up with another swing that sent Diabel flying away.

"Diabel!" Kibaou shouted in concern for the person that he quickly had come to respect, but he didn't have time to check on him as he had to immediately concentrate on Illfang, who appeared in front of him and his party members with a bloodcurdling roar.

Naruto and Kirito made their way to where Diabel lay, while everyone else focused on Illfang, arriving to see how his health bar was dropping rapidly and was already in the red.

"Diabel! What the hell were you thinking?" Kirito asked as he pulled out a health crystal to restore Diabel's HP, but the blue haired knight rejected it by pushing it away before Kirito could use it.

"You were a Beta-Tester, weren't you?" Diabel asked the black haired swordsman weakly. "You know what I was trying to do."

Kirito nodded his head gravely in confirmation. "You were after the last attack bonus rare item." He said, "You were a Beta-Tester too." Kirito stated knowingly.

Naruto looked down at the dying man conflicted. "You ignored the plan for a rare item?" Naruto asked finding it hard to believe the blue haired man could be so selfish. It was not only his life he put in danger by doing that but everyone else's as well.

"I know what it must look like, how greedy I must appear." Diabel said, his form becoming unfocused and transparent. "But please… defeat the boss… for everyone." He finished before shattering into light.

Naruto looked at where Diabel's form previously laid the first casualty of the raid group. And Naruto intended to make sure it was the only one. Daibel let his greed influence him at the end, but Naruto could tell that he wasn't a bad person. The blonde shinobi could tell that Daibel honestly wished to help the other players, he brought everyone together that day in order to give everyone hope in beating the game and proved himself a more than capable leader. Up to this point Naruto had been holding back from using his shinobi skills in order not to draw attention to himself and for the sake of improving his skills within the game. But that wasn't an option any longer, Naruto wasn't about to let another player die that day. Facing Illfang Naruto held his sword in his left hand.

"Let's finish this." Naruto said seriously.

"Right," Kirito agreed.

"I'll go too." Asuna said appearing beside them, staring down Illfang.

"Okay," Naruto said, nodding his head in thanks. "We'll do this exactly like the Sentinels, except I'll lead this time." The blonde shinobi decided.

"Got it/Understood," Asuna and Kirito replied.

"Let's go!" Naruto said, dashing at Illfang with Asuna and Kirito flanking him. Rushing past the other players Naruto formed a Rasengan in his free hand.

Kirito's eyes widened seeing the ball of chakra form in Naruto's hand and finally remembering why Naruto seemed familiar to him before. 'That's…' He thought.

With a burst of chakra enhanced speed Naruto appeared in front of Illfang, for a couple of seconds all the other players losing complete sight of him, just as the Kobold Lord was going to activate a sword skill. "Take this, Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, thrusting the Rasengan into Illfang's large gut. Everyone watched as ball of chakra twisted the monster's gut and the light and wind that came out of the point of contact before Illfang was thrown back a couple of steps, a good chunk of its remaining health bar disappearing, "Switch!"

Kirito put what he, and everyone else, saw in the back of his mind to ask Naruto about later. Activating his own' sword skill Kirito slashed at Illfang before stepping out of the way and let their third party member continue the assault.

Just as Asuna was about to land a hit with her rapier Illfang recovered, "Asuna!" Naruto shouted in warning. The female player just barely ducked under Illfang's swing because of Naruto's warning, her cloak getting destroyed in the process to reveal her slim figure before she landed a powerful strike on Illfang and knocked it back. Asuna had on a red vest, skirt, and boots combo. She also wore a white long-sleeved shirt and pants. A belt was on her waist that was normally used to hold her rapier. The girl had hazel colored eyes and long orange-brown hair. "Beautiful," Naruto muttered out loud, watching how the light remnants of the destroyed cloak and how Asuna's orange-brown hair settled around her enhanced her beauty even more. Naruto didn't have a problem admitting her hair color drew his attention the most.

"He's coming back!" Kirito shouted, drawing Naruto out of his thoughts of their third party member and focus back on the boss. Running forward Naruto blocked Illfang's attack giving Kirito an opening to land one of his own, Asuna coming in and thrusting her rapier at Illfang's large gut.

Afterwards Naruto and Illfang exchanged multiple strikes, sparks flying around them due to the exchanges, before Illfang's Nodaichi glowed a light red to indicate its use of a sword skill. 'Shit,' Naruto thought as he tried to block that attack with his sword only for it to shatter when it came in contact with the Nodaichi before continuing on its course. At the last second Naruto jumped back in a desperate attempt to avoid the attack the Nodaichi still cut into his lower abdomen, his Anbu vest offering a little protection, resulting in a shallow wound but Naruto was still thrown back into Asuna knocking them both over.

Sitting up Asuna looked down at Naruto, who was still lying on the ground, to see his HP bar from over his shoulder. What caught her off guard was how the health bar didn't drop like it was supposed when struck by a monster. "What's going on?" She asked out loud in confusion.

"Damn it," Naruto muttered with a wince holding the place he was cut with his hand. Seeing the pained expression on Naruto's face caused Asuna to move around him to face his front only to let out a startled gasp when she saw blood seeping from between his fingers.

The orange-brown haired girl blinked a couple of times, "Blood?" Asuna mumbled, not quiet believing what she was seeing. "You're bleeding? How is that possible?" She asked stupefied.

Naruto glanced at her, noticing how her attention was focused completely on the blood coming out of his wound, and was trying to figure out what he could say to explain. Before Naruto could even open his mouth to say something Kirito's voice called out to them.

"Watch out!" The black swordsman shouted.

Looking up, just as a shadow appeared around them, the two players saw Illfang standing above them his eyes and Nodaichi glowing' a menacing red, its weapon held above its head. Asuna held her rapier protectively, putting it between Illfang and them. Just as Illfang was about to bring his Nodaichi down a beam of green light slammed into the weapon and suddenly Agil was standing in front of them, his axe in mid swing, as the Kobold Lord slid backwards from the force of the blow before other players charged the boss.

The tall man turned his head to the two players, "We'll hold this bastard off until you recover." Agil assured them.

"Thanks," Naruto said with a smirk, Agil nodding his head in response before charging the monster with his other party members, Kirito moving in to help as well when he confirmed that Naruto was ok. Looking at Asuna, Naruto spoke lowly so none of the other players could hear them. "I'll explain later, but right now we got to focus on defeating Illfang." Naruto said seriously.

Asuna stared at him for a moment before replying. "You're bleeding we have to stop it." She said with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Don't worry," Naruto said reassuringly. "I heal quickly." He promised. His healing factor was luckily something that he still possessed as it was part of his Uzumaki heritage and not because of Kurama, though it was better when the old fox was sealed inside him.

Asuna didn't look all that convinced, but her attention was diverted when sound of multiple screams reached their ears. Looking toward the source they saw most of the players being thrown back, as Illfang jumped into the air.

Seeing Illfang about to use the same move he used on Daibel caused Naruto to quickly stand up and jump after him, channeling chakra into his legs for an extra boost in power and speed to reach the boss monster much sooner. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Naruto demanded, delivering a fist to Illfang's face causing it to flip over and finishing it with a kick that sent the red furred monster back to the ground. "Kirito, Asuna!" Naruto shouted while still in the air. "One last hit! Finish him!" The blonde shinobi instructed, pulling out six shuriken from his pouch holding three in each hand and throwing them at Illfang.

"Roger/You got it," The two said together rushing at Illfang their blades at the ready.

Kirito and Asuna dashed toward the First Floor Boss, Naruto behind them in the air, the shuriken swerving around them and heading straight Illfang, who was slowly picking itself up off the ground. The shuriken cut into the red furred boss before Kirito and Asuna reached it, the black haired swordsman making sure to knock the Nodaichi out of the way giving Asuna a chance to thrust her rapier at it with a piercing blow before Kirito finished it with a devastating slash across its entire body.

Naruto landed on the ground his eyes transfixed, along with everyone else's, on Illfang as it rose up into the air shining a blinding light blue before shattering. Everyone was quiet for a moment no one quiet being able to grasp the situation until a cheer broke the silence. Multiple cheers soon followed.

"We did it!" The raid group celebrated loudly.

Naruto walked up to his party members holding his wound, jumping around like that didn't do him any favors when it came to his wound healing. "Good job you two." The blonde shinobi said congratulating them both, getting nods of thanks from both.

Agil walked up to the small group looking impressed. "That was some fine swordsmanship, from the three of you." His gaze shifting from each player before resting on Kirito, who was catching his breath after that last attack, "Congratulations, today's victory is all thanks to you." The other players seemed to agree as they all started applauding. The celebratory mood though was cut short by Kibaou.

"Why the hell are all of you cheering?!" The cactus head challenged, sitting where Daibel's body lay with his party members. "Don't you all get it?! They let Daibel die!" He accused.

"Let him die?" Kirito repeated confused.

"That's what I said," Kibaou retorted with a few tears. "Admit it! You knew the technique the boss was gonna use. If you'd told us about that up front, he wouldn't have died! And what the hell was up with that light show?! Magic isn't supposed to be possible in SAO!" He finished angrily.

"They're Beta-Testers!" A member of Kibaou's party with brown hair accused. "They know secrets about the game and are keeping it to themselves! And I bet there are other Beta-Testers here! Come on, show yourselves!"

Soon whispers started to be muttered and suspicious looks sent at other players, as they each tried to determine who among them was a Beta-Tester. Suspicious looks soon evolved to accusatory ones, as the players started to accuse one another and tempers started to steadily rise. The words Beta-Tester and cheater being thrown around until they combined and became Beater.

'At this rate,' Naruto thought. 'At this rate no one will trust anyone. And if that happens' the chances of completing this game and freeing everyone will…' He left his thought unfinished, as he tried to think of something to solve this situation. He had to give them a common goal something he could unite them against, and by the look on Kirito's face he' seemed to have come to the same conclusion. Placing a hand on his shoulder stopped the black haired teen from doing or saying anything as Naruto gave him a reassuring look.

"Hey, come on…" Agil tried to reason to calm everyone down.

"Beater?" Naruto said in a voice that chilled everyone, as the shinobi released the barest hint of K.I., drawing their attention to him and making them jittery. "What a stupid thing to call someone." The blonde shinobi claimed. An arrogant smirk worthy of any Uchiha on his face, and he should know Naruto was given that look often enough. "Besides that would only be true if I was a Beta-Tester, but I'm not a Beta-Tester I'm something more." He stated, forming a Rasengan and holding it up in front of him for everyone to see.

"W-what?" A few players asked confused.

"This power is something only I possess, something the Beta-Testers, or Beaters, could ever discover." Naruto said his face shadowed a bit making him look all the more ominous. "This power makes me stronger and faster than anyone else could ever hope to be. The thing is with this power, and the other secrets that I know, I can easily clear every floor of Aincard while the rest of you risk your lives."

"W-what?" Kibaou stammered. "What kind of monster are you?!" He demanded in a bit of anger and fear.

Nobody but Asuna, Kirito, and Agil noticed how Naruto flinched lightly at being called monster before acting like it didn't affect him, dismissing his Rasengan and placing a single hand on his waist, "Monster?" Naruto murmured. "I haven't been called that in a while, but that isn't quite right." He decided, shifting through his weapons pouch for a scroll and pulling it out. He had this made back in the Elemental Nations when he and Kurama resolved their differences and started to work together near the end of the war, but never got a chance to wear it before coming here.

"I am Jinchuuriki, the Power of Human Sacrifice, the one who bares the hatred of the world." Naruto said, unsealing the item in the scroll to reveal a cloak that looked remarkably similar to his Sage Cloak. What set this one apart from his Sage Cloak was that it was a dark orange with long-sleeves and black flames on the bottom. Turning around, so his back was now facing the others, Naruto threw on his cloak revealing the kanji for Jinchuuriki written on the back in black. He had it placed there to show everyone back in the Elemental Nations that he had come to terms with what he was and wasn't ashamed of it. "Hate me all you want, but don't insult me by lumping me in with the Beta-Testers because I'm nothing like them." He finished with smirk before walking away from them and heading to the other end of the room, where some stairs had appeared after Illfang had been destroyed.

Naruto had only gotten a few steps up the stairs before the sound of footsteps and someone's voice stopped him.

"Wait," Asuna said stopping Naruto mid-step, Kirito beside her.

The blonde shinobi let out a chuckle as he turned to face them. "So much for a dramatic exit," Naruto said offhandedly, giving his party members a grin. "So what's up guys? It's probably not smart to be seen talking to me after that little show back there." He pointed out.

"Yeah about that," Kirito began shrugging his shoulders indifferently. "I remember this one guy telling me how 'those who break the rules are trash, but that those who abandon their friends and comrades are worse than trash.' And I didn't want to be considered worse than trash." The black haired swordsman said, bringing up his inventory screen. "Besides while everyone is distracted right now they will eventually remember accusing me of being a Beta-Tester, and unlike you I actually am a Beta-Tester." He continued equipping a long black coat, the last attack bonus rare item that Diabel was after, the Coat of Midnight. "And I actually like the name Beater." He finished with smile on his face.

Asuna looked at Kirito, surprised at the new bit of information, before turning her attention back to Naruto. "You called my name when we were fighting, how'd you know it?" She asked him looking at him seriously, "And you said you'd explain how you were bleeding earlier." Asuna reminded him.

Kirito's gaze shifted to Asuna before turning back to Naruto, now that he looked the blonde over more closely he could just make out some blood stains around where his vest was torn. 'How is that even possible? The game shouldn't allow for torn clothing. The clothes either look fine or they're destroyed, it's not possible for it to be damaged.' He thought in confusion. "Plus that Rasengan thing you used against the boss reminded me why you seemed so familiar before." Kirito continued out loud. "It looked a lot like the Rasenshuriken that was thrown at Kayaba on the first day of the game. That was you." The black swordsman finished factually, as Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly at being found out.

"Well," Naruto started his gaze shifting between his two party members before settling on Asuna. "You can see a couple of other HP bars bellow yours around here, right?" Naruto asked holding his hand up indicating where it should be. "There should be names written next to them."

Asuna focused her gaze where Naruto indicated and did see a couple of other HP gauge below hers, "Na-ru-to, Naruto." Asuna read, "Kirito, those are your names?" The orange-brown haired player asked, looking between the two.

"Yeah," Naruto replied.

Asuna giggled a bit. "Oh, it's been there all this time!"

"I guess with everything that happened we never introduced ourselves to each other." He said before scratching his cheek awkwardly, though with a small smile on his face enjoying the sound of Asuna's laughter. "As to the other stuff, that's going to take a while to explain and it's not the sort of thing I want others listening in on. So we need to find somewhere we can talk privately without being overheard."

"That's fine," Kirito said, walking up to the doors at the end of the stairs and opening them. "I'll lead us to a safe zone I know about. I want to hear this as soon as possible." He stated.

"Alright then, lead the way." Naruto said, Kirito nodding his head and moving through the doors, as the blonde shinobi and Asuna followed behind him.

AN: That's the end of this chapter. I've read a bunch of crossovers for these two where Naruto is part of SAO, but hardly any that lets him keep his chakra or where he is actually the Naruto from his verse and not born into the SAO one, though I'll admit that how this will all be written out is still a bit hazy. There are probably other fics like this one out there, but I just haven't read them. Anyway I hope that everyone enjoyed this chapter and please remember to review.