Maelstrom Blade Dancer - Chapter 4 - Preview (Patreon)

Ignoring the embarrassed, beautiful girl sitting on the floor before him – Naruto cast his sapphire blue gaze towards the white haired, bespectacled woman sitting behind the large desk at the far end of the room in front of the windows.

“Yo Witch!” he greeted with a two fingered salute, “I rushed on over when I got your message.”

Sighing, the white haired Dusk Witch began to massage her temples, “This is not what I wanted to happen,” she lamented, tired resignation in her voice, “I was hoping the other lad would get here before you – you're far too much trouble on your own.”

Naruto grinned toothily, “I've grown far beyond the Ren Ashbell of three years ago,” He stated nonchalantly with a shrug, as if his claiming to be stronger than the current strongest Blade Dancer wasn't a big deal, “If he hasn't left her in the dust like I have, Kamito has no chance of reigning me in, let alone beating me.”

Greyworth pursed her lips slightly. She had yet to even hear of his growth as a fighter yet, but even just talking to him like this; she could feel the overwhelmingly large amount of divine power resonating from his form – and this was just his resting level, who knew how much he had when he called it all up for battle?

He had so much he could quite simply crush the average Elementalist under the weight of his energy – to grow his energy so much in simply three years, this boy truly was a demon. Even in her prime, she wasn't sure she could defeat him now, and that was without seeing how truly strong he was now. The fact of the matter was, the him of three years ago with this crazy amount of energy behind him would have been a tough opponent alone.

Suddenly, Naruto swayed to the side avoiding the fist sent towards his jaw ever so slightly. The blonde cocked an eyebrow at the blue haired girl once again on her feet, glaring at him vehemently, “Oh?” He wondered what set her off? Was it her just now getting her embarrassment under control from him seeing her underwear? He wouldn't be surprised, these maiden types were so easily flustered when it came to anything regarding sex.

“You!” She growled, red eyes practically vibrating with fury, “Did you just claim to be stronger than Ren Ashbell!?”

Oh right, he forgot that cross dresser was held in high regard by the population. “No,” Naruto answered simply – when he saw the girl's frame relax slightly, no doubt thinking she'd misheard, he continued, “I said I'm far stronger than the Ren Ashbell of three years ago, whether I could defeat the Ren Ashbell of today, I don't know.”

Somehow, Naruto doubted that Ren Ashbell could measure up to him. Fact of the matter was, Kamito obviously hadn't gotten Restia back, he'd seen her yesterday with the faker after all, and Kamtio had stagnated for an entire year after losing her before he himself kicked his pretty boy ass into gear again.

Then again, Naruto had never been able to draw out the full power of Falchion and Gladius – Kamito with both of them, combined with the assassination techniques they learned as children and the Absolute Blade Arts might be a tough opponent.

Kamito's knock out power had always been Restia and her Vorpal Blast, without her he'd have to find some new powerful finisher – Naruto himself had created his Howling Fang technique to compensate for the low knock out power his spirits had when he was younger – transforming his power into a howling fang of energy that devoured all in its path.

His strongest spirit until he'd come across Est, had been Thanatos. To compensate back then for being young, Thanatos had put most of his effort into mimicking the other elements, the same way Restia had mimicked lightning with her Vorpal Blast. Because he was young, Naruto had always combined his own energy with Thanatos when they mimicked elements, after all Thanatos had only risen to C-rank status a little after they escaped the Instructional School.

Either way, Kamito had been with Restia quite a while before she left, so Naruto assumed Kamito had gotten an affinity for the darkness element, especially since Restia was one of the strongest darkness spirits. So, either way Naruto was expecting Kamito to still have his trademark Vorpal Blast finisher.

“How...brazen!” the girl snarled, snapping him from his thoughts, “To be so arrogant to think you can defeat the esteemed Ren Ashbell-sama!”

Thinking on Kamito and Ren Ashebll – he should probably think of a cover story for that, if Kamito was throwing around Vorpal Blast like he did back then, people were bound to recognize the technique and start asking questions.  

And the blonde didn't want Kamito to hold back even slightly in their fated rematch just because he was afraid he'd be found out as a cross dresser.

So, quickly thinking on the fly Naruto plastered a smirk onto his face as he stepped right into the girls space, noting how he towered over her, “I may be arrogant princess,” he began replying, “But I know quite well how strong ol' Ren was back then, after all we grew up together.”

The girls eyes widened, “You know Ren Ashbell-sama?” she whispered in shock.

Naruto nodded, “Yup, and three years ago we were pretty evenly matched,” he continued, “She was a bit stronger than me thanks to her training under Greyworth back then, but as things are now I've far surpassed the level we were at back then.”

Eyes still wide in shock, the blue haired girl turned to the white haired headmistress behind her, “Is this true headmistress?” she asked.

Looking up from massaging her temples, Greyworth sent the blue haired girl a hard stare, “Ellis Fahrengart, I will only say this once,” she replied, “The man standing beside you is a monster, even back then Ren Ashbell with my training under her belt would have been hard pressed to defeat him in a true battle.”

The girl, Ellis gulped audibly ruby eyes still wide with shock, “What about this other man that will be arriving?” she questioned.

Naruto cut back in there with a humm of interest, “Kamito eh?” he mused, “Kamito is actually Ren Ashbell's brother, he apprenticed under Greyworth as well and favours the Vorpal Blast just like Ren, although he uses a dual sword style.”

“Ren Ashbell's brother!?” Ellis yelped in surprise, “He must be very strong as well!”

Naruto nodded his head, “Back three years ago before we all split up, they were dead even.” he told her.

The news seemed to be so shocking that the blue haired girl swayed on her feet, using the door frame to keep herself steady, “To think such strong combatants will be joining the school this year.” Ellis muttered to herself. “As expected from the companions of Ren Ashbell-sama I suppose.”

Turning to Greyworth, Naruto voiced a question that was on his mind, “So, the blade dance this time is a team battle right?” he asked.

The white haired woman nodded, “Indeed lad,” she responded, “A five people team to be precise – I called you here for that very reason, even Ren Ashbell would be unable to overcome you and the other lad in a team.”

Naruto snorted, waving his hand dismissively, “Yeah right, I'm not teaming with Kamito – the blade dance this year will be the perfect opportunity for our fated rematch.” he replied, utterly dismissing her hopes.

Greyworth sighed, “Disappointing,” she replied, “A team consisting of you, Kamito, Ellis beside you and her sister would surely dominate the competition.”

That had Naruto raising an eyebrow, “Oh?” he hummed, turning his attention to the girl beside him who had perked up upon hearing her name, “How strong is this girl?” he asked. After all, he still had to build his own team.

“Currently?” Greyworth mused with a smirk blossoming on her face, “Overall, I'd rank her the second strongest student at this academy behind her sister.”

That was enough for Naruto, “Then sign her and her sister up for my team.” he replied without pause.

There was a gasp of outrage from his side, “How dare you!” Ellis snarled, stepping into his personal space this time, her hand on the hilt of her sword, “I already have a team thank you very much! If you dare take liberties with me again, companion of Ren Ashbell-sama or not I'll cut you into salmon fillets!”

In the face of this beautiful girls anger, Naruto merely quirked an eyebrow, “How many people do you have in your team?” he asked again, without pause.

“Three – myself and my two trusted friends and subordinates.” Ellis answered with a growl.

That was fine as well as far as Naruto was considered. It didn't really matter who was on his team, he'd defeat everyone regardless. “Fine,” he replied, turning his attention to the white haired headmistress once more, “Slot me into Ellis' here team then.”

He heard Ellis growl at his side again, but before she could say anything Greyworth cut in, “That factors in quite well actually,” she mused, “After all, you're going to be sharing a room with Ellis here – without the other lad, or her sister here at the moment she's the only one I can trust to keep an eye on you.”

“But headmistress!” Ellis protested, “I cannot room with this man! Who knows what kind of liberties he'd take with my body as I slept!”

A wicked grin spread across Naruto's face, “You don't need to worry princess, I won't do anything,” he said, “Although, I can't say the same for you – it's only natural for a curious girl like yourself to be drawn to a males body, let alone a body of raw animal magnetism like my own.” he continued with a chuckle.

A flush crept along the blue haired girls face, “I-i most certainly will not!” she stammered back, “A knight of the Fahrengart would never fall so low as to act upon a base desire like lust!”

Naruto was about to retort before a cough interrupted him, “Your flirting his pissing me off,” Greyworth said, annoyance in her voice, “Naruto Uzumaki, you'll be joining the same class as Ellis and I'll have your uniform sent to her room, now get out of my office.”

……

A few minutes later, after being dismissed by Greyworth – Naruto followed silently behind Ellis, the captain of the Sylphid Knights as he'd came to learn making sure to keep at least a total of two feet of distance between them.

It was rather amusing – but apparently the classes were already over for the day and Kamito wasn't due to arrive for at least another day. So amusement was quickly turning to boredom.

As they left the school building, Naruto decided to make some conversation, “So Ellis,” the blonde began, “Being ranked at number 2 of the school by the old witch, you must be pretty strong.” he commented.

“Hmph!” Ellis crossed her arms, casting a glance at him over her shoulder, “When not in class or attending my duties as the captain of the Sylphid Knights, I use whatever free time I have to further my training.” she answered.

Naruto nodded his head, she had it pretty rough now that he thought about it. But surprisingly, he'd heard no complaints about her duties so far – if it were him, he'd be griping non stop no doubt, it was such a troublesome position after all.

Reigning in the students, policing the academy and the nearby town. Dealing with spirit attacks and other situations that came about and more. And then having to be the leader of that group, coordinate all their efforts and have classes on top of that?

Well, Naruto sure didn't envy her.

“Since we're on the same team now, I'd like to see how you measure up,” he replied, “Is there a gate to Astral Zero around here or a place we can spar?” the blonde asked.