Chapter 2

Surprises

Naruto had been walking through the forest for a while now. He always felt at peace here, away from all the troubles in the world. He always wondered why claymores were created to protect humans. He understood that most humans had little chance of killing a Yoma but in many regards, humans were even worse than Yoma. People knew where they actually stood with a Yoma. With humans, you never knew what they were gonna do. A Yoma would just want to eat you while a Human could kill, maim, rape, (depending on gender hopefully) steal and betray you.

Whenever Naruto killed a Yoma, it wasn't to protect the humans, but to just follow the orders of the organization. With Naruto's life only ever knowing to follow orders from the organization, he began to question his own existence. His entire childhood was spent alone from any contact apart from training. The other claymores could at least embrace each others company. They trained, ate, slept (not in the perverted way) and talked with each other. The female claymores created bonds with each other. Naruto didn't have the luxury of creating bonds with other people. The organization didn't let any of the females know of Naruto's existence. Naruto could only guess that it would distract the females as to seeing a male claymore.

Sighing to himself, Naruto noticed some ruins in a mountain up ahead. The organization had informed him that the abyssal of the west Riful had left her territory and attacked a nearby village recently and wanted him to kill her. Naruto could tell it was a lie. They just wanted an excuse to send Naruto and fight her, hoping to find out Naruto's full strength compared to Riful's. He didn't really care, even if they told him the truth he would wouldn't do anything different than he already was.

Walking into the ruins, Naruto could clearly sense the Yoki of Yoma living here. He noticed scattered remains of human corpses as he trekked further down the corridor. The deeper he went in, the stronger the Yoma energy inside was becoming. He noticed a few dozen rods scattered all over the corridor. "Each one of these rods have a Yoma aura of their own. Most likely to disrupt a persons Yoma senses."

When he finished his thoughts, two Yoma jumped from their hiding place and attacked him. Reacting quickly, he grabbed the first one by the head and rammed it against the wall, effectively crushing its head.

Thinking it could attack him from behind, the last one attempted to pierce Naruto through his back. Just when its claws were a centimetre away, its target suddenly vanished from sight and reappeared behind it. Before the Yoma could register what happened, its body erupted into pieces all over the corridor.

"Damn. I guess there goes my plans for element of surprise against Riful. I'd best head outside. Its too cramped to fight in this small corridor." Thought Naruto as he was making his way out of the ruins.

It wasn't long after Naruto came out that he could see two other figures slowly come from out the shadows. The first one was large man who was very muscular and had short blond hair while wearing some trousers. The second one was a little girl sitting on top off the man's shoulder. Naruto could only guess that she looked about eleven years old, had brown hair and was wearing a night gown. (I think?)

"So your the one who was causing all the trouble in my den. Its not very polite you know." Said the little girl in a chastising manner while wagging her left index finger.

If she was expecting a response she did receive one from Naruto who just stood there, staring at her stoically. Giving him a glance over, Riful studied the man that dared come and disturbed her rest. His scent was that of a claymore and strangely enough similar to Isley's, yet she couldn't detect a trace of Yoki inside of him and his eyes appeared to be blue.

"You intrigue me. Your scent is clearly that of a claymore but I can't sense any Yoki coming from you at all. To top it off, your actually a male. Could you please explain to me who and what you are?" asked Riful in a childish tone.

Naruto thought deeply if there was even a reason as to why he should tell her what she wanted to know, its not like the information was gonna help anyway. He finally decided to tell her. After all, he had all day to try and kill her.

"My name is Naruto. I am an unranked claymore of the organization"

"A claymore of the organization you say? I thought they didn't make male ones anymore?" Questioned a giddy Riful after finally seeing her first male claymore who hadn't awakened.

"They don't. I was just an experiment they wished to test out. I am the result of having Isley's flesh and blood implanted inside me." Naruto spoke plainly.

Dauf's and Riful's eyes widened. The person in front of them had Abyssal flesh inside of him, least of all Isley's. Who knew what the results of such a joining would do to a person. Riful also wondered if the organization had tried to add an awakened beings flesh to other people before. No doubt trying to create stronger weapons against her and the other abyssal's.

Riful narrowed her eyes at him. All former claymores (including herself) had been added regular Yoma flesh to their bodies, growing tremendous strength because of it. So if this man had been added Abyssal flesh, did that mean this man could be stronger than a number one ranked claymore? She started to grit her teeth. It would be more simple if this man wasn't so good at suppressing his Yoki.

That was another thing she realized. This man had such control over his Yoki that he could hide it to a point that his eyes didn't show the usual silver colour that of a claymores eyes. Even so far that SHE couldn't sense his Yoki!

Now she truly knew that this man was a threat. She couldn't allow a being to exist who's powers could soon or already surpass hers.

"Isley's flesh eh. Does that mean that I should be expecting two more claymores infused with mine and Luciela's flesh out there?" Asked Riful in a dark tone.

"Actually no. From what I was told as a young boy, it was only by chance that I didn't lose my sanity when they added the flesh to me. If they tried again with a different person, all they'd create is mindless beast, even worse than a Yoma." responded Naruto

"So what is a claymore like you doing in my territory. I didn't know any better, I'd say you came here looking for me."

"Apparently, the organization sent me here to kill you for attacking a village recently. We both know that you haven't, abyssal tend to keep themselves off the radar these days. So my only conclusion is that they wanted to test my capabilities against you." Said Naruto.

"If they're willing to cast you aside to die fighting me, why don't you awaken and join us. You fight for humans who don't even appreciate that you even exist or show you any gratitude. What is the purpose in that?" questioned Riful, as she hopped off Dauf's shoulder.

"I'll admit that what you said is very interesting and validated but... I'm just too stubborn to take the easy way out and give up." smirked Naruto.

"Such a pity. Kill him Dauf."

Said Yoma began to transform until his appearance took the form of a fourteen foot humanoid gorilla with armour plating covering all over his body. Naruto knew straight away that this Yoma was a single digit worrier when he was once a claymore, if his Yoki was anything to go by.

"Tell me... were you an offensive or defensive claymore before you awakened Dauf." Asked Naruto.

Not finding any trouble of telling the young boy before he killed him, Dauf actually replied. "I was defensive worrier. Why do you want to know?" Dauf said irritated.

"Then we have a couple of similarities."

Ending the conversation, Dauf then suddenly crashed his right fist down where Naruto stood. Waiting until the dust cleared, he could see that Naruto was no longer stood there. Looking around, he couldn't sense Naruto anywhere. A second later, an intense flash of pain could felt on his right shoulder. He then heard something hit against the ground next to him.

He didn't want to look at it, having a good idea to what it was but his mind compelled him to. On the floor was his right severed arm.

"YOU SON OF BITCH. It fucking hurts!" Shouted Dauf while clutching his right shoulder as blood leaked down to the floor.

"You more tougher than I thought. I actually had to put some effort into cutting through your armour." smirked Naruto as he stood right in front of him. Even though he was paying close attention on the Yoma in front of him, Naruto also kept a keen eye on Riful as well. There was no telling when she was going to strike.

"You'll pay for this you little SHIT!" Screamed Dauf. Opening his mouth wide, a large rod could be seen poking out of his mouth. The rod then rapidly fired out of his mouth at an alarming pace.

Naruto just stood there smiling as it came closer and closer. He then felt it smash against his chest and sent him flying twenty feet across the floor, creating a big dust cloud.

"Ha. Not cocky now are you, you bastard." said Dauf with grin across his face.

Riful wasn't so sure yet. She saw the smile on Naruto's face so she knew that he allowed it hit him. But the question was why? She knew those rods could do some major damage when fired at full power, and that man was in at a close range. So why wasn't the worrier concerned about the attack?

Cut out of her thoughts, she saw Dauf fall onto his chest screaming bloody murder. Looking for the cause of this, she found both of his legs had been sliced off and cut into chunks.

Standing in front of Dauf once again was Naruto without a scratch on him. The only indication that he had even been hit was the dirt on his cloves. Turning his head to face Dauf, Naruto could clearly see the fear in his eyes.

"H-how can you be standing there without even a mark on you! No claymore could have taken the brunt of that attack and brush it off, no matter what rank they are!" Dauf didn't know what this feeling was. The closest he describe it was helplessness. He was completely at this man's mercy and there was nothing he could do. His strongest attack was treated as if it was nothing and the enemy cut through his armour like butter. Worst of all, he could feel the tip of Naruto's blade sit on top of his head. All it took was a little more force and the sword would go straight through his brain.

"Is that all you truly had?" Naruto questioned, figuring he'd be more powerful. "It doesn't matter anyway, I came here to fight Riful not you." As soon as he said that he was about to pierce Dauf's scull, only to be interrupted when a black strip lashed out at him, forcing him to jump away. Looking behind Dauf, Naruto could the strips leading all the way back to Riful's left arm.

"I can't go and let you kill my man now can I." Said a smiling Riful as her body immediately exploded into a huge mass of strips. Naruto was quite surprised at the size of her Yoma form. She was easily three times as bigger that what Dauf was. He could see in the centre the strips begin to come together to form the shape of a woman.

Naruto could now understand why the abyssal's stood out from rest of the Yoma. Riful's Yoki energy was monstrous to anything he ever sensed before. He wasn't sure if he could actually beat her now, but he'd damn sure give it a try.

Riful then picked Dauf up and moved him away from the area for his own safety. Because she was a Yoma, didn't mean that she wasn't capable of love.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. It has been many years since someone has beaten Dauf and and managed to face me. But now you'll have to forgive me for killing you, I hope the there won't be any hard feelings between us." Said Riful in a taunting voice.

"Ditto for you as well."

As is seeing some signal to begin, Riful launched herself at Naruto with blinding speed. Naruto barely managed to bring up his sword in time to block the black strip that was aiming to cut off his head.

Five more strips came behind Naruto, hoping to impale him. Acting fast, Naruto back flipped over the strips and brought down his sword in a sideways motion and sliced off the strips. Before Naruto's feet touched the ground however, a black strip wrapped around his left ankle and sent him crashing into a couple of boulders until launching him towards the forest trees.

Riful didn't plan on celebrating just yet. She knew the force of her attack was enough to turn a claymore's bones to mush, but this guy seemed to be more tougher than he let on. But she guessed there would be at least some damage to him.

Her eye widened however when she saw him walk out of the forest without so much as a scratch, smiling at her mockingly "Thi-this is impossible! No one can just stand right back up like that as if nothing happened! What is he!"

"Just what the hell are you? No one can just walk away from that and look unscathed!" Yelled Riful.

Naruto just smirked at her. "Your right. If I was anyone else, I wouldn't even be standing right now. There's a reason why the organization call me 'Naruto of the steel touch' and you got a front row view of what that name means."

Riful's memory started going into hyper speed and she began to remember what Naruto said earlier when he was speaking to Dauf. 'Then we have a couple of similarities.' She assumed he was talking about himself being a defensive worrier but now she realized it was something else entirely.

"He wasn't talking about the their defensive similarity, he was actually talking about their armour skin abilities. So even though it doesn't look like it, he's has even more tougher skin than Dauf." She thought, shocked to the core. She had never heard of a claymore having armour skin before, let alone one with more tougher than Dauf's. What she was more intrigued about was how Naruto was using this ability without her being able to sense his Yoma energy.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you've finally figured out my ability," Riful heard Naruto tell her. Turning her full attention towards him, she saw him walking towards her. "The truth is, I've had this ability ever since I became a warrior of the organization. I mastered this ability during the years to the point where my body uses it instinctively. I only need to use a small trace of Yoki to use this technique. Not even the best sensor worriers can track me while I'm using it."

Stopping two metres from her, Naruto positioned himself into a fighting stance. His feet were spread apart with his left foot pointing directly at Riful while his right foot was positioned behind him. His was in a crouch position, with his right hand holding the hilt of his sword while the blade rested on his shoulder.

Riful abruptly felt a great increase of Yoki coming from Naruto, noticing his eyes had become yellow with slits pupils in them. The only strange thing however was the red lining around the yellow iris, giving him a more deadly look.

She didn't have time to ponder this however when the ground under Naruto began to crack, seeing as Naruto suddenly appeared right in front of her and brought down his sword over his head. With quick reflexes, she dispersed her body into a mass of black strips and reformed a fair distance away from Naruto. She felt the ground beneath her shake for a couple of seconds until calming down. Looking to her previous location, she saw his sword sticking into the ground, surrounded by a ten foot deep crater.

With most warriors she fought against, she never had to do that before. Her usual strategy was to align her strips into a specific position where her enemies would strike her with their swords and think they've damaged her, when in fact their swords was just between her strips, giving her the element of surprise. This boy had done something completely different though. Instead of bringing his sword down with the intent to slice her, Naruto, surprisingly had moved his sword to its flat side and intended to use it as a hammer.

She was beginning to sweat now. The young warrior had analysed her powers extremely quickly and was already beginning to come up with ways to counteract her abilities.

"I must finish this now. If this boy was to be left alone and live, he'd may even surpass me and the other abyssal's!" Panicked Riful. This boy had hardly done anything and already she was keeping her distance from him.

Acting quickly, Riful once again dispersed body and headed straight for Naruto. Meanwhile, Naruto was cursing himself right now. He had put too much force into that last attack, causing the momentum of his sword to increase when Riful dodged it. Which in turn, caused the hilt to fly out of his grip. "I can't 'believe' I made such a rookie mistake! I believed myself into thinking I had measured her top speed and thought I'd be able to get a hit on her. What a fool I was!"

Before he could contemplate any further, a huge mass of black strips surrounded him and closed in. A few seconds later, Naruto found himself being bound by the strips from neck to toe. No matter what he tried, the strips only became tighter when he struggled.

"Isn't this a sight to see," Said a voice Naruto was beginning to hate. "It seems your not as indestructible you claimed to be." Said Riful in a childish tone. In front of him, Naruto could see some of the strips come together to form Riful's human body with her hair being kept as black strips to bind Naruto.

Naruto knew she was right too. While it was true that his skin acted as an armour. It didn't mean there wasn't ways around it. One of the ways 'Riful' was using right now. Bit by bit, he could feel the strips become tighter by every second. He already felt one of his ribs crack under the strain.

"Did you really think I hadn't faced another Yoma who had armour skin before. Granted, yours is probably the most toughest I've ever seen but, I had still learned how defeat them and your no different." Said Riful in an arrogant tone.

Unexpectedly, a smirk could be seen coming across Naruto's face. Looking Naruto directly in the eyes, she could see determination and a hint of deviousness in them.

"Then I guess I'll just have to take a page out of your/Yoma book then won't I." Before She could question him on what he meant, she felt an intense pain coming from her strips that constricted Naruto, which caused her to release him.

When looking at Naruto, she found out what he meant when he said 'a page out of your book.' His mouth was covered in purple blood and she could see his jaw moving about. Indicating he was chewing on something. Naruto had actually ripped a chunk out of Riful's strips with his teeth and swallowed it right in front of her. Naruto wasn't sure exactly why he swallowed it but right now wasn't the time to stop and think about it. All that mattered to him was how to defeat Riful.

A few seconds of silence surrounded the area as Riful and Naruto starred at each other, thinking of possible ways to kill each other. They both knew that the other was holding back in their fight but it was just a question of how much. So far, they had been underestimating each others abilities and suffered for it.

Naruto was running low on options. With him fighting Riful alone, he had a 50/50 chance of wining. But with the amount of time that had past, it was only a matter of time before Dauf fully regenerated and joined in the fight, tipping the scales into Riful's favour.

Just as he was about to make a dash for his sword, he saw Riful abruptly halt her movements towards him and look at the nearby mountains in the distance.

"So that's what the organization was doing!" Said a shocked Riful, having never thought of such a thing happen to her. "Have one of their strong warriors fight against me while another warrior uses her Yoki to sense out my capabilities and have the organization use it against me at a future date. It seams that the Organization is more cunning than I remember."

Moving quickly, she appeared before Dauf, who had regenerated his right arm and right leg and wrapped him up in her strips. As she was about to move, she heard a voice yell behind her.

"Where are you going. This fight is not over yet!" Shouted Naruto. Confused as to why she was going to leave.

Turning round, she starred at Naruto in total silence before speaking. "Its pretty simple actually. The organization didn't send you here just to try and kill me. They wanted to know the full capabilities of an abyssal one. And I 'hate' having my power measured. You should feel honoured though, your probably the first one to face an abyssal and live to talk about it. It'll be interesting to face you again next time warrior. Who knows, you might be an abyssal yourself by then."

Naruto's eyes became wide when he could barely follow her movements as she disappeared out of sight. Clenching his fist, Naruto swore to himself that he would become stronger. Today's fight had proved to him how much he needed to train. All the previous battles he had won, had gone to his head and made him underestimate Riful's true power.

"I will become stronger Riful and the next time we meet, I will win!" Thought Naruto, with confidence shining in his eyes.

(One year later)

"Its a little late, but can I ask you some-thing?" said an unknown warrior as she sliced through a Yoma

"Sure," replied another voice whilst hacking through her opponents.

"What is this town exactly?" She asked, as both of them were being surrounded by more Yoma.

Slashing another Yoma in half, the other warrior replied. "I guess you could say its a nest of Yoma. It used to be an ordinary town until it was wiped out by Yoma. The Yoma then disguised themselves as towns-people and devoured on any people that passed by."

With a smile on her face, the warrior faced her comrade and spoke. "So how many did you get... Sophia?"

Without taking her eyes off the enemies, the introduced 'Sophia' replied. "Lets see... That makes about seven, so far... Noel.

The now named Noel fully turned to her comrade and glared at her. "Huh? Don't lie to me. There are thirteen Yoma dead on the floor. I killed seven, that leaves you only six."

"Oh, you must have miscounted then. I've been keeping count from the start." Giving her comrade a look of arrogance, Sophia continued speaking. "Maths was never your strong suit Noel. That's why you'll always be number four."

"Wha?" A tick mark could be seen on Noel's right temple. "What are you talking about? You're number four and I'm number three."

Before they could continue their argument any further, the Yoma surrounding them ran towards the two warriors with the intent to mutilate them. Before one of the Yoma could even blink, Sophia and Noel already cut it to shreds.

Moving quickly, Noel cartwheeled behind three of the approaching Yoma and stood perfectly still afterwards. A second later, blood burst from the three Yoma's wounds and they soon fell on the ground with no life in their eyes.

Two more Yoma came behind Sophia, hoping to catch her off guard at her blind spot. Sophia just looked to her left and gave the Yoma a bored look. In a flash, both Yoma were slashed vertically in half leaving a spay of blood all over the floor. Sophia suddenly sensed a Yoma standing behind a stone pillar, waiting for its chance to strike. Acting quickly, she gripped her sword tightly with her right hand and did a sideways slash through the pillar. When the pillar crumbled to the floor, the Yoma behind it looked perfectly fine until the top half of its body began to slowly slide off the bottom half. A huge spurt of blood came from the two halves when they fell to the ground.

Noel looked towards Sophia and gave her an arrogant sneer. "Ha! Brute strength as usual. Just like a gorilla."

Sophia smirked at Noel and replied, "acrobatics as usual. Just like a monkey."

"What? You want a piece of this!." Noel shouted, fully turning towards Sophia.

"You're the one who started it."

Giving Sophia a deadly smirk, Noel gripped her sword tightly. "Fine. Lets settle who's number three right now!"

Sophia's expression mimicked Noel's own look and replied. "That's ok by me. I was getting sick of arguing with you anyway."

"Knock it off, both of you." Said an unknown person as she walked up to the two warriors. Before anything could be said, two more Yoma jumped towards the new arrival, on each side of her. In an instant, both Yoma became nothing more than chunks of flesh and blood, while the unknown woman carried on walking as if nothing happened.

"Why are you two fighting one-another?" She spoke, as squirts of blood flew past her. "Your orders were to eliminate the Yoma in this town... were they not?"

"Its been a while hasn't it... Irene." Spoke Sophia with a smile on her face.

"I see why the call you 'quick sword Irene.' We didn't even see you draw your sword." Said Noel, as she was gritting her teeth at the sight of Irene's power.

"Plus, there isn't a single drop of blood on you from killing two Yoma at point blank range. Impressive," complimented Sophia. "No one doubts that your number two." Just as she finished talking, Irene came to a halt, standing in front of them.

"Why are we all here anyway?" Said Noel with a smirk on her face. " It definitely wasn't to get rid all these Yoma in this town."

"Yeah, any one of us could have done that by ourselves." Commented Sophia. "There has to be a reason to why we've been called here."

"Its to kill number one," finally spoke Irene. "We've been given orders to kill Teresa."

Noel and Sophia could only look a Irene with stunned looks on their faces, not able to comprehend what they just heard.

"Teresa? You mean 'Teresa the faint smile.' But why!" Spoke a shocked Noel.

"She killed a group of human bandits and left the organization after cutting down our fellow warriors who were sent to execute her." Replied Irene.

"I can't believe she'd do this. Its our duty to Submit to execution after breaking the rules." Said Noel.

"That's why the organization has summoned numbers two through five. We are to enforce the rules and use our combined strength to kill Teresa... I've also been told there will be an unknown warrior joining us as well." Spoke Irene without a single expression on her face.

"So they want out combined strength to fight number one... Interesting." Smirked Noel while stroking her chin. "But who's number five?"

"You really are an Idiot. Its Elda." Said Sophia in a chastising tone.

"Its not Elda," said Irene. "Its number two. I became number three just recently." Sophia and Noel gasped at what Irene had just said, not being able to say anything.

"Bu-but that means-"

"Correct" spoke Irene, interrupting what Sophia was about to say. "Your numbers are now four and five. Number two has only just been confirmed. She jumped through the ranks to number two in the last few months."

"A NOVICE? How does someone like that get to number two so quickly!" Demanded Noel.

"If you have a problem with it, take her position for yourself. One look was enough to satisfy me." Replied Noel.

Before either Noel or Sophia could question Irene, they heard someone fall to the ground behind them. At a closer view, they could see a small girl who was clearly in her early teens and wore the same armour as they did.

"Who's this idiot?" questioned Noel in an irritated tone.

"She's the one" was Irene's simple answer. "The one who became the new number two. Her name is Priscilla."

"WHAT! You must be joking. She's just a child! What was the organization thinking of, making her into the new number two?" Demanded Noel, with shocked looks on hers and Sophia's face.

"Like I said, if you have a problem with it, take the number two spot for your self."

Noel planned to do just that. Quickly grabbing the sword from her back, she began to walk toward Priscilla. "That's fine with me."

"Wait Noel!" shouted Sophia.

"I'll show this bitch what it takes to be number two." Spat Noel, her teeth grinding with hate at the sight of Priscilla. She was soon standing in front of Priscilla, looking down on her with untamed hate. "Get up! We'll settle this right here!"

Priscilla just quickly bowed and started yelling "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She pleaded. "Forgive me for being late. It took me a while to dispatch the Yoma."

"I said get up. A few Yoma shouldn't have slowed..." Noel's eyes wandered to ally Priscilla had come from and caught sight of at least two dozen corpses of Yoma, all chopped into bits. Soon, Sophia and Irene came to see what had made Noel freeze and they too caught sight of the pile of dead Yoma.

"W-what...the hell is this?" Asked a shocked Noel.

"A horde of Yoma chopped to bits. But the battle was just round the corner and I didn't even sense it." Claimed Sophia in disbelief.

After everyone had settled down, Sophia soon began talking again. "How long do we have to for this other warrior. Hey Irene, what do you know of this unknown person that's coming with us?"

Irene kept silent for a few second before eventually speaking. "Not much as I'd like to be honest. All I was told was that we would get a surprise when we see this warrior and that they'll only join in the fight if their assistance is necessary."

After ten more minutes, Noel eventually became fed up of waiting and started shouting. "Where the hell is this bitch! If she isn't here in the next thirty seconds, I'm gonna-" She didn't have time to finish her sentence because a male voice interrupted her.

"Actually, I've been here longer than all four of you. I was hoping for one of you to have an exceptional enough skill to sense me but, unfortunately you don't. Aside from that, I have been watching your fighting skills. They're pretty impressive."

All four warrior spun backwards to see a tall, male figure standing on top of the roof of a building. The sun was directly behind the unknown figure, making it impossible to see the man's features.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Unranked warrior of the organization."