The Maelstrom and the Heiress
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own Highschool DxD. They belong to their respective owners and I am not making any profit off of this.
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Jutsu/Technique"
"Summon Boss/Demon/Other Speech"
A/N: This chapter will contain mostly a flashback, detailing just how Naruto came to know most of the individuals that he does from the Highschool DxD portion. This is meant to give some background and a brief understanding to those who want it.
Chapter 1: Getting Back to Normal (?)
"They should be back soon."
Almost as if those words were some unexpected signal, a familiar red circle appearing on the ground was the first sign that someone was dropping in, and when the flash of light cleared enough to see, Ajuka Beelzebub and Falbium Asmodeus were able to see the same three that had left a short time ago, along with a fourth person they both readily recognized. However, before either Ajuka or Falbium could say a word to their blonde-haired friend, said blonde once again found himself on the receiving end of a tackle/hug from Serafall.
"Sera-chan." Naruto managed to get out, though his words were rather muffled, thanks mostly to the girls surprisingly well-endowed chest almost smothering him.
"I can't help it. I missed you so terribly, Naru-chan." She said, while pulling back enough to let the blonde get a much needed breath, before he saw her giving him a puppy-eyed pout. Luckily enough, Naruto was saved from cracking under her cute pout, thanks to Sirzechs pulling Serafall off of the blonde, giving him the chance to regain his feet.
"Beelzebub-dono, Asmodeus-dono." Naruto spoke, after seeing the other two figures in the room, and giving a slight bow towards them.
"Naruto, what have I told you about the formalities?" Sirzechs chimed in from his spot, an amused smile on his face, which caused the blonde in question to laugh lightly at his words, while rubbing the back of his head in true Naruto fashion.
"Gomen, but I am standing in the presence of the Yondai-Maou (Four Great Satan's)." Naruto replied, while feeling a real smile overcome his face at the sight of the five individuals before him. 'It seems like only yesterday that I just met them for the first time.' At this thought, Naruto felt his mind drifting back to the event that had allowed him to meet the ones who would become his real friends, and in some ways, his new family.
(Flashback)
"There it is gaki…Japan." The words of a significantly taller man spoke, his most noticeable features being his spiky white hair, which reached down to the back of his knees, his form devoid of his usual sage-style clothes in favor of more 'mundane' clothing. Namely wearing an olive-green shirt, loose fitting gray pants, his usual shinobi sandals replaced with more conventional sandals, and his custom-made hitai-ate stowed in his traveling pack.
"WOW! That's so cool!" Were the words of his travelling companion, a shorter blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, who had also forgone wearing his customary clothes for newer, less obnoxious clothes that the older man had picked out for him. Blue shorts that reached down to about knee level, a simple white t-shirt covering his torso, and similar styled sandals on his feet as well. At first the blonde had been rather vocal about having to wear something with no orange on it, as well as having to remove his treasured hitai-ate, but after some explaining and more than a little bribery, he had given in. "Thanks for bringing me, Ero-Sennin."
"Naruto, I've told you to tone down on that nickname, haven't I?" The older man, admonished with a slight thump to the now-named blonde's head.
"Gomen, Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto quickly corrected, his mind drifting back to the explanation Jiraiya had given about their sudden trip away from Konoha and into the wider world. At first hesitant about agreeing to leave the village for so long, Naruto had finally caved with enough pushing from Jiraiya, and when they were finally a fair distance away, the white-haired man had explained his reasons to Naruto. "So, this is where we start out?" The blonde questioned.
"Hai, we'll spend a few weeks getting you adjusted to life in the big city," At this, Jiraiya pointed to the now visible harbor of Tokyo, which had only become discernible a few moments ago. "And once that is done, we'll take some time to explore this country before zipping around a bit."
"Arigatou, sensei." Naruto said, while glancing back to the approaching shore of the nearest country to his home continent. Jiraiya had explained to Naruto that since he had been approved to take the young blonde on a training trip to extend for two and a half years, Jiraiya had forgone the initial idea of remaining in the Elemental Nations and changed his plans. He had given Naruto the excuse that he wanted the blonde to see the wider world outside of what Konoha, and the few places he had been to could offer, and in his somewhat scared state (from the idea of being away from where he had spent most of his life for so long), Naruto had failed to catch onto something else that Jiraiya had held back on adding.
(Several hours later)
"Alright gaki, first things first: we'll find a suitable living place for the time being, and after we settle in a bit, we'll start with sight-seeing." Jiraiya spoke up, after disembarking the ship. Some of the crew had raised a few questions about both Jiraiya travelling with Naruto, as well as the few possessions they seemed to have. The older, white-haired man had easily shifted the questions by explaining that Naruto was his nephew, who had a falling out with his family, and that their lack of possessions was attributed to having to leave their previous home in a hurry. They had seemed to buy it, and after making it a distance, Jiraiya had breathed a sigh of relief, since he didn't feel like trying to explain where their clothing and such really was at.
"Ah, but I want to explore for a little bit first." Naruto pouted, his more excitable side bubbling to the surface, as he took in the many sights and sounds of the city, from the thousands of people traversing the streets, to the different shops and stores that littered the area.
"You can have some fun after we settle in, so we don't have to worry about anything being lost or stolen here." Jiraiya replied, while giving a small smile at the blonde shifting from his hesitant stance back to the excitable loud-mouth that he had come to know. "I've been to this area before, and I'll be the first to tell you that pickpockets will jump at the chance of trying to rip off a new face for their money."
"Fine." Naruto caved in, while giving a slight huff of annoyance of his fun time being cut down.
Happy that Naruto had finally seen the truth of his words, for the time being anyway, Jiraiya directed them towards one of the real estate buildings in the area, one that the white-haired sage had done dealings with before, and proceeded inside. Less than an hour later, Jiraiya held the keys to their new living area in his hands, one key that he gave to Naruto, while keeping the others for himself.
"Alright, can I go explore now?" Naruto chimed in happily, while practically bouncing on the balls of his feet." Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?" He practically begged his sensei.
"Okay!" Jiraiya said loudly, his words not meant to sound angry, but more or less meant to quiet the young blonde down. "Since we have a living area ready to go, I guess you can go exploring. But none of your ninja tricks: no wall climbing, no roof jumping, and absolutely NO jutsu." Jiraiya added the last part in a quiet tone, since there were many people still in the surrounding area.
"Why?" Naruto questioned, honest curiosity marring his face. Seeing his confusion, Jiraiya directed the blonde to walk with him for a short time, which Naruto did rather quickly.
"Because in the past few centuries, most humans outside the Elemental Countries have forgotten about the existence of Chakra, let alone how to tap into it. As such, if people saw you walking up the buildings with no hands and no tools, or if they saw you suddenly spawn dozens of shadow clones, they would panic. And right now, with us being new and unfamiliar to this area, we would have a difficult time dealing with any kind of fall-out." Jiraiya explained
"Oh!" Naruto said, while thumping his open left hand with his right fist, a look of realization on his face.
"Right, so as such, unleash in dire straits, no jutsu." Jiraiya said.
"Gotcha." With this word, Naruto turned to run off and do some exploring, but he was stopped in his tracks by a firm hand from Jiraiya placed on his shoulder.
"One last thing." At this, Jiraiya removed his hand from the blonde's shoulder and placed a single finger on the boy's head. Naruto felt the briefest flare of Chakra spike from the older male, before his finger was removed and Naruto rubbed the spot on his forehead. "I applied a tracking seal, just in the off chance that you wander off somewhere and get lost."
"Can't I just summon…oh, right." Naruto started to say, only for Jiraiya's words from earlier to return to him, reminding the blonde that for the time being, use of their Chakra was out of the question.
"Right, so I'll find you in a few hours. Until then…don't cause any trouble." Jiraiya warned, while hoping that the blonde's pranking side would remain under wraps for the time being. The last thing they needed right now was somebody annoying Naruto, and the person showed up sometime later, hanging by a lamppost by their underwear, covered in paint and chicken feathers. 'I can't for life of me understand how an Academy Student managed to do that to an ANBU Captain and not get caught.' Jiraiya thought, while noticing Naruto turn and bolt away, waving over his shoulder as he did.
(Several hours later)
'And…I'm lost.' Naruto thought, while glancing around to try and figure out where he was. Even though the area he was in right now was scarce with other people, the words of his sensei were still pretty clear in his mind, and it was that reason alone that kept the young blonde from scaling a nearby building to try and find his way. "Guess I'll just stay put until Ero-Sennin finds me." Naruto mumbled out loud, before taking a seat on one of the nearby benches in the small park he was currently in, even as the sun began to slowly set in the distance.
'But I'm so bored.' It had only been a few minutes, and even now, Naruto could feel his boundless amounts of energy urging him to get up and keep moving, if only just to hold back the boredom of sitting around.
"Oh, and what do we have here?" A new voice, male in sound, though there was a strange distortion to the voice, as though it was being spoken from under water, suddenly sounded out, causing the blonde to whip his head around to try and find the source. "Something that smells rather tasty."
With those words, Naruto finally managed to find the source of the voice, namely a man with short gray hair and black eyes, which were rather distinct thanks to the glowing red iris surrounding them. His form showcased a ripped physique, which was easily visible through his tattered shirt, while his face was curled into a smirk.
"W-who are you?!" Naruto managed to get out, while standing to his feet and taking a few steps back from the new, and rather imposing individual, who in turn took several steps towards the blonde.
"I guess I can honor you with my name, since you'll dead in a few minutes. You may call me Helbron, and I'll call you…my meal." The now named Helbron said, while suddenly lunging at Naruto, his hands out in a grabbing motion, while his mouth opened to show long fangs jutting out from his canines.
Reacting quickly, Naruto managed to barely duck under the incoming charge and quickly moved past the attacker, but was completely unprepared for the sudden back fist to catch him in the face, sending him careening into one of the trees nearby. Feeling his face stinging from the hit, and his head throbbing from the impact to the tree trunk, Naruto opened his eyes, trying to clear his vision. Any attempt to move from his spot, however, was stopped by Helbron reaching his hand out and grabbing the blonde by the throat, before hoisting him up to face level with his attacker.
'Dammit, he's so strong…' Naruto thought, while feeling the hand on his throat tighten as he was brought closer to Helbron's face.
"I'm surprised you dodged that first attack." Helbron admitted, while his gleaming eyes locked in on the exposed side of Naruto's neck. "But all you did was help me work up my appetite a bit."
With those words, Helbron moved his head forward and drove his fangs into the disoriented blonde's neck, and began sucking on the blood that was soon flowing from the opening. Naruto, for his part, gave a pained yelp at the initial bite, but as he felt his blood slowly being drawn out through the bite point, he felt his energy slowly leaving him, while also hearing an angered roar from inside his mind, which was obviously from the Kyuubi no Yoko.
"Ah, so delicious." Helbron crowed, after pulling his head back from his victim's neck, his mouth and lower face covered in blood which was also dripping down from his chin. "And with just a hint of Youki, it's a splendid meal." He added as an afterthought.
"How…how do you know…about that…?" Naruto managed to gasp out, while seeing the cruel smirk on Helbron's face widen, the blood coating his mouth giving it an even more imposing look than before.
"Now, now, now; that would be telling." Helbron admonished, while lowering his head back down towards the blonde's neck, intending to continue with his 'meal'.
His attempt was thwarted, however, thanks to a sudden fist smashing into the side of his face, sending the gray-haired man flying away, though he managed to right himself in mid-air. Landing on his feet and lifting his gaze, Helbron narrowed his eyes at the individual who had the 'audacity' to interrupt his meal.
"Can't leave you alone without you pissing someone off, can I gaki?" Jiraiya questioned, before he turned to face the blonde and felt his eyes widen in panic at the blood that was caked on the blonde's shoulder and shirt. "What the hell did you do?" Jiraiya questioned, while helping Naruto place a hand over the open wound, slight wisps of red Chakra streaming from the wound to show that Kyuubi was trying to help it close up, even though it was going at a considerably slower pace than normal.
"I…didn't do anything…" Naruto managed to get out, while feeling his vision begin to swim from the blood loss. "This guy…just attacked me…"
"Oh, another course for my meal." Helbron chimed out, while grinning happily at this new addition, though he wasn't confident that this new arrival would taste as good as the one he really wanted.
"Naruto, when you get some energy back, try and get away from here." Jiraiya spoke, while standing straight and turning to face the maniacal individual who had attacked his student.
"Careful…sensei…" Naruto gasped out.
Trying to avoid taking any chances, Jiraiya moved with a speed that a man his age wouldn't have, and engaged Helbron in close-combat, hoping that would be enough of an advantage. A right punch was deflected to the side, which was then followed by an elbow strike from the left arm, only for the strike to be blocked. Shifting his feet, Jiraiya launched a right spin kick at the gray-haired man, only for his target to duck under the attack, and using the minor opening, lashed out with a palm strike that hit the white-haired man's stomach and launched him back.
Regaining his footing, Jiraiya quickly snapped his eyes back to his target, only to find that he was no longer there. Spreading his senses and darting his eyes rapidly around the surrounding area, Jiraiya couldn't seem to find a trace of the attacker.
"I'm impressed. For you to move the quickly, I guess I can use a little more power." Helbron's voice seemed to call from multiple directions, and at the end of his sentence, multiple glowing red eyes suddenly lit up from the surrounding trees. Mentally cursing at the situation, Jiraiya was shocked by the glowing red eyes showing their forms to be dozens, if not hundreds of bats, flying from their hiding spots and surrounding the sage. As soon as they were within striking distance, Jiraiya lashed out in hopes of keeping them at bay, but even his skills couldn't stop all of them, and he soon felt their fangs biting into his body at random points.
After several minutes of this, the bats swept away from Jiraiya's form, revealing a tattered Sannin with multiple bite marks littering his body. The bats flew around a single point, before congesting into a solid form, which turned out to be none other than Helbron himself.
"And now I'll finish you myself." Helbron spoke, while moving at rapid speed and going for a direct attack into the battered Jiraiya, who was drained from both the attempts to swat the bats away, as well as the amount of blood that they had stolen. Launching the man back, with his hand around the white-haired man's throat, he bared his fangs and prepared for a short snack before returning to his main course.
"Let go of him!" Naruto's voiced yelled out, though the last part of it had become distorted as well, which cause Helbron to turn and see what had caused this. The answer being that Naruto had regained his footing, while his entire form was now covered in a glowing red aura, which had begun to take the form of a fox, if the ears and tails of the aura were any indication.
"Oh, so you have some fight left in you." Helbron questioned, while releasing his hold on Jiraiya's neck, and turning to face the blonde pre-teen.
Rushing forward with a new speed, Naruto closed the distance between himself and the gray-haired blood sucker, smashing a full-force fist into the latter's face and causing him to reel back. Taking the initiative, Naruto managed to land a solid punch with his left hand into Helbron's stomach, which doubled the man in question over, before Naruto finished his chain. Charging up a ball of swirling energy, his now signature attack, the Rasengan, which was primarily blue, with a few hints of red shifting into it, Naruto drove the spinning attack directly into Helbron's face, effectively launching the man in question backwards and laying him out.
Panting in exhaustion, both from the sheer amount of demonic energy that had been flowing through his body, as well as from the blood-loss that was still plaguing him, Naruto felt the chakra cloak dissipate from his body, causing him to drop to his knees. Panting to try and quell the pain that wracked his body, Naruto was suddenly stopped from his actions by a new and unexpected sound, which was originating from the downed form of Helbron, loud bouts of laughter being the sound in question.
"Most impressive." He said, his body rising up from the ground to stand on his feet, almost in the form of a puppet rising up since he seemed to just lift up from his downed position, the damage from the Rasengan not even showing on his body, while giving the panting blonde his continuous smirk. "But it's not enough."
Growling in anger, both from the words of the gray-haired male, and also from the fact that his attack had seemingly done nothing, Naruto grit his teeth in pain and managed to regain his footing as well, while feeling more of the potent Youki rise up inside him to attempt to form the cloak again. His attempts were stopped when Helbron flew forwards at speed that Naruto couldn't track, grabbing Naruto by the neck once again and driving him back to slam into a nearby light post. Gasping in pain from the impact, Naruto, out of sheer instinct, lashed out with a right hook, but his hand was caught before it made contact with the intended target. Grinning maniacally, Helbron gave a quick twist, snapping the blonde's wrist, which caused a pained cry to erupt from Naruto, which was then quickly silenced by Helbron increasing his grip on his victim's neck, cutting the sound off instantly.
"Since you've worked up my appetite, I guess I'll be needing some more sustenance." Helbron spoke, while leaning in to give Naruto the same amused smirk that had been practically plastered on his face this whole time. "But I don't think I'll kill you…No, you're blood is too tasty to simply drain you dry and be done with it. I think I'll keep you around, if only to have a constant meal until I get bored of you."
With those words, Helbron dropped his head back down, intent of taking more of the blonde's blood, but for the third time that night, something blocked him from his meal. Quickly pulling away from his downed target, Helbron saw a glowing crimson sphere slash through the air where his head had just been, before the attack seemed to curve in mid-air and attempt to strike again. Releasing his grip on the blonde, Helbron dodged the second attack, before having to try and dodge several more spheres that were sent his way, effectively forcing him a distance away from the downed blonde.
"This attack…it can't be!" Helbron shouted out, before one of the spheres smashed into his shoulder, blasting the limb off of him, before another one crashed into his lower back and blew a hole through his lower torso. "GAH!"
"I finally found you, Helbron-kun." A new voice spoke out, its tone giving an aristocratic feel to it, before the source of it revealed itself to be a man appearing to be around early to mid-twenties in age, the most noticeable feature of him being the long crimson hair, while his form was garbed in an elaborate silver and gray robe, with a large and elaborate golden shoulder-dress armor that looked like a set of eight wings, four on each shoulder. "I must admit, you've been able to mask your presence rather well, to the point where even I had some difficulty finding you. But, your little rebellion ends here."
"Sirzechs…" Helbron gasped, while gritting his teeth in anger at the newest arrival.
"Ajuka-kun was rather angered when you fled from his peerage, and even killed two of your fellow peerage members as you did." Sirzechs commented, while a dozen crimson energy spheres ignited to life around his body. "But since we didn't want to risk another confrontation with Heaven, I offered to find you myself instead of Ajuka tearing apart the human world to find and kill you."
"Am I supposed to feel honored, that the leader of the Yondai-Maou would track me down personally?" Helbron snarled out, while regaining his feet and trying to slowly inch away from the battle area without being blatantly obvious about it. "Why do you even care? One stray devil shouldn't merit this kind of attention in the first place."
"You might be right about that." Sirzechs replied, before two of the spheres lashed out, one taking off Helbron's left leg from the knee down, while the other blasted off his left hand, effectively stopping the magic that he had been trying to cast. "But the fact remains; you stand a significant chance of revealing not only us, but the entirety of the supernatural world, to the mundane world as a whole. And since we can't afford to divert the resources to erasing that right now, it is a smarter strategy to simply wipe you out before you cause too much damage. Besides, one devil killing another is something that will be ignored by the other two factions, even if it is me that did the act."
"KUSO!" Helbron screamed out, as his damaged areas seemed to bulge and expand outwards, before soon shifting to repair the damage that Sirzechs had done, but the effect still left him panting in his kneeling position.
"It never ceases to amaze me, the regenerative abilities of Vampires." Sirzechs comments, as he walked towards his downed target, the remaining ten red spheres surrounding his body seeming to double in size during the movement. "But even still, this ends here."
"NO IT DO-" Helbron began, only for one sphere to crash into his face, essentially erasing his head from existence, while the other spheres slammed into the rest of his body, effectively destroying the deranged gray-haired vampire.
"Well, that takes care of that part." Sirzechs comments, before glancing over to the downed forms of white-haired man, and blonde-haired boy. "But what to do with these two…"
Walking closer to the younger of the two individuals, Sirzechs was able to see small wisps of red energy drifting of the youth's body, centered primarily on the now closing wounds on his neck and around the damage to the young blonde's wrist. Feeling his eyes narrow in confusion, he reached out to take hold of the blonde's chin, lifting his head upwards to gaze into his eyes, which he was shocked to see were a crimson red with slit pupils instead of round ones.
"Kurama…" Sirzechs whispered, as Naruto's eyes shifted back to their sky blue color, before his exhaustion caught him finally, causing his eyes to close and his head to sag.
(Flashback End)
'It wasn't that long after that I was given yet ANOTHER revelation to swallow.' The blonde thought, while seeing the Grayfia had begun scolding Serafall for her impromptu tackle/hug, while Sirzechs had begun speaking to Ajuka and Falbium.
(Flashback)
After his bout of unconsciousness, when Naruto managed to awaken again, he was surprised to find himself in a rather lavish room, several cables running from beeping equipment, which Naruto barely recalled belonged in a hospital, down to his body, two attached to his right arm, and two more to his chest area. Regaining enough of his mental facilities to remember what had happened, Naruto sat up in panic at the memory of the deranged gray-haired being that had attacked him and Jiraiya. However, a hand reached out and placed itself onto Naruto's shoulder, causing him to whip around in fear of seeing the same being again.
He was relieved, slightly, when he saw that it wasn't the gray-haired male that had attacked him before, but another person, this one female. The first thing he noticed was her beauty, which caused him to blush, since she had almost shining silver hair and matching eyes, the former of which was mostly flowing down her back, while two portions were fashioned into braids in the front and held by blue ribbons.
"It would seem that you're feeling well." It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement, which caused Naruto to break out of his staring and turn away, his blush seeming to magnify at the way her voice sounded.
"H-Hai!" Naruto managed to sputter out, his tone a few octaves higher than it normally was.
"That's good." She spoke, while pushing the young blonde back into the bed, before reaching to the table nearby and picking up a cloth that had been setting in a basin of water. Taking the cloth in hand, the woman proceeded to wring it slightly, removing the excess moisture from it, before speaking again. "You had a slight fever from the attack earlier, but it broke just last night."
"Were…were you here…" Naruto began, only to trail off at the end when she turned her gaze back to him.
"All night, since my master and husband asked me to monitor your condition." She finished, and then decided to elaborate on.
Her words caused a new blush to rise over Naruto's face, while he glanced away towards the wall, while his hands had suddenly found a new hobby of twisting the sheets, which gave Naruto a split-second note that they felt extremely smooth and comfortable.
"A…arigatou." Naruto managed to speak, while maintaining his eye contact with the wall, until he felt the woman turn his head back towards her, before placing her forehead to his. She held it for a moment, before pulling away, leaving the blonde with a cheery red face from her action.
"Well, your temperature seems to have returned to normal." The woman spoke out, causing Naruto to return to reality, since her actions before had pushed him off into a slight fantasy world, mostly because someone was actually tending to his health. "Your older companion is still recovering in the other room, so I think you should take some more time to rest as well; I'll return with your meal in a short time."
"Ah, matte." Naruto spoke quickly, after seeing the silver-haired beauty turn to leave. "I didn't ever get your name." The blonde added, only to suddenly stop and blush again, since his words ha come out at a slightly higher tone again.
Turning back towards the young blonde, a small smile graced her face, seeing his actions and mannerisms reminding her quite a bit of her own child.
"My name is Grayfia Lucifuge."
(Flashback End)
"Naruto-kun…" Sirzechs spoke, while waving his hand in front of the blonde's face, trying to snap him back to reality. "Naruto-kun." He repeated, while snapping his fingers, this time managing to bring the blonde's attention back to them.
"Ah, gomen, just remembering the past." Naruto commented, while realizing that the five other occupants of the room had stopped their own conversations or scolding, and returned their attention to the single blonde in the room. "Just got a feeling of nostalgia, since the last time all six of us were gathered, it was almost two years ago."
"Time sure has flown, at least for us, Naruto-kun." Ajuka commented, while finally getting a chance to shake the young blonde's hand, which had been prevented earlier thanks to Serafall.
"In my case, it was one grueling battle after another, with no end to the tyrannical actions of the Akatsuki in sight." Naruto replied, while a small scowl crossed his face at the memory of the same organization that had tried to forcibly rule the world, killing countless people to do so. "But that's over now." He added on, while trying to bring his mood back from the edge that he had been living on for so many months now.
"I'm surprised Jiraiya didn't decide to tag along with you." Falbium spoke, while the four males noticed slight grimaces appear on the face of Serafall and Grayfia at the mention of that man. They would admit that he had his own kind of strength, and he might have been slightly eccentric, but at the same time, they would have to give some credence to his training methods bearing fruit. But the man's constant perversion was a driving force behind several attacks on his person, both by the two women in this room, as well as several other's over the two and a half years he had been there. Only at the sight of the solemn expression on Naruto's face did the five Devils realize that they might have touched off on a tender subject.
"Jiraiya-sensei was killed about 6 months ago, by the puppet leader of the Akatsuki." Naruto said softly, his eyes watering slightly at the memory of how he had learned of his teacher's death: from Fukasaku, who had informed Naruto that Tsunade had ordered the information to be withheld from him, but the elderly toad had decided to ignore her words on the matter. "He had new information about the, at the time supposed, leader of the organization, and went to follow up on the lead. I was denied the chance to accompany him, since Tsunade didn't want to risk 'their greatest asset against the Akatsuki on just a wild goose chase'." Naruto spoke the last few words with such venom, it was impossible to miss.
"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." Grayfia said after a few moments of silence, before pulling the blonde into a hug of her own. Feeling her warm embrace, Naruto's resolve finally caved, and he sobbed out, letting out both the sadness at his teacher's death, and the anger at Tsunade for trying to withholding the news from him like she had attempted.
For several minutes, not one word was spoken, a calm silence permeating the air, as the four Devil rulers allowed their young friend to grieve properly. Finally, after several moments, Naruto seemed to finally calm down enough to pull back from the hug, quickly wiping the remaining tears on his face, not wanting the others to keep worrying about him.
"Arigatou, Grayfia-san." Naruto managed to say. Feeling a hand fall onto his shoulder, Naruto turned to see the source of it being Sirzechs.
"Do you know what happened to his body after the battle?" Sirzechs questioned, his tone oddly serious, given that in the few years that Naruto had knew him, he was one of the most laid-back individuals he had known.
"I don't know, Fukasaku told me that he was in Ame when he passed, but he was more than a little rushed to try and get me to the Toad's homeland for training." Naruto replied, while seeing Sirzechs frown in disappointment. Realizing what Sirzechs was getting at, Naruto's hand flew through five hand seals, before biting his left thumb and quickly smearing the blood that was flowing onto his right palm. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." The blonde intoned, while slamming his hand down onto the ground, a spider-web design of kanji spreading out about a foot from the blonde's hand, before a puff of smoke spewed out. Now in front of the blonde was an individual the other five had only seen once or twice, a small green toad, only about a foot tall, with a Mohawk-style for his white hair, thick eyebrows and a small goatee.
"Naruto-chan, I was wondering when you would summon me." The small toad spoke.
"Fukasaku…I'm guessing you know what I've done?" Naruto questioned, while seeing the small toad had a serious expression his face, before it morphed into a knowing smile that helped put the blonde at ease.
"Hai, the Ogama Sennin foresaw your desires to leave Konoha, and it was then that he presented an ultimatum for myself and Shiima. We could either assist you in leaving the village, assist Konoha in recapturing you," At those words, the five others in the room tensed slightly, read to intervene if the elderly toad made any wrong moves, only for a slight hand gesture from Naruto to stop them. "or we could stand back and do nothing."
"You chose the last one." Ajuka spoke. It wasn't a question, it was a statement, which caused the elderly toad to turn and give the aristocratic Devil a hard look at his words.
"Actually, we had gone with a combination of the first and last options, since Shiima and I agreed to intervene in the off-chance that Konoha got the upper hand against Naruto-chan." Fukasaku responded, while smirking at the sheer level of surprise that was radiating from the six others in the room. "What, did you expect me to say that the Toads, who value honor and trust above all else, would agree with the Leaf village's actions as of the past few months?"
"I wasn't sure how you would react to me abandoning Konoha." Naruto managed to speak, after regaining his voice from the revelation that had just been delivered.
"If it wasn't for the off-chance of Katsuyu would have found out, the Toads would have taken you from the village after the war was over. But sadly, relations between the Toads and Slugs have been rather strong for long enough that Katsuyu would have enough sway to find out about our actions and then assist Tsunade in finding you." Fukasaku replied. "But that matters little now, since you are here and Konoha will be recovering from the damages for a time. Now, I would assume that you summoned me for a reason?"
"Like you don't already know that?" Naruto replied, before losing the amused/annoyed smile, and turning serious. "I need to know exactly where Jiraiya-sensei fought against Nagato, or Pein as you call him, in Rain Country."
"Oh, I was wondering when you would ask that one." Fukasaku said, while giving Naruto a serious expression, which was matched by the young blonde. "Luckily, you don't have to go far, since Gamakichi was able to retrieve Jiraiya's body after his defeat. He's been laid to rest in Myōbokuzan (Mount Myōboku), sealed inside of a specialized tomb of my own creation and lined with seals your parents designed for their own burial sites."
"My parents are buried there too?" Naruto spoke, his tone filled with disbelief, since all of his searching under the radar back in Konoha had not been able to yield any information on where those two had been buried.
"It was your father's wish from when he signed the Toad contract, since being a shinobi, he knew that there was a chance he could be killed at any time." Fukasaku admitted, while crossing his arms and giving a reminiscent smile at his first meeting with the young blonde who would one day rise to be a SS-rank ninja and later Yondaime Hokage. "Your mother was a little more difficult to happen, namely for the fact that Tsunade argued with Jiraiya-chan and myself about her rights to choose Kushina's resting place, citing the Uzumaki and Senju families being connected. But Kushina had been adamant that she wanted to be laid to rest with her husband, and so Tsunade's hands were tied."
"I…had no idea…" Naruto spoke softly, while idly questioning on why Jiraiya would withhold that kind of information from him.
"Don't be angry with Jiraiya-chan for not telling you about this earlier; it was decided that until you learned the truth about Konoha's real methods, it was something that should be kept close to the chest." Fukasaku answered the unspoken question. "When you are ready, I'll personally take you to see all three of them."
"Arigatou, Fukasaku-sensei." Naruto said, while giving a respectful bow to the elderly toad, who waved off his thanks, before disappearing in another puff of smoke. Turning back to the others, Naruto saw they hadn't moved from their initial spots, more than likely as a way to let Naruto do what needed to be done.
"Naruto." Ajuka spoke, drawing the blonde's attention solely to him, the other four Devils all looking at the holder of the Beelzebub title as well. "What did Fukasaku-dono mean by 'when you are ready'?"
For a moment, Naruto didn't say or do anything, other than shift his eyes from Ajuka, to Sirzechs, Grayfia, Serafall, Falbium, and back to Ajuka, before releasing a sigh, which seemed be more of resignation than fatigue.
"About that…" Naruto began, while lifting his left hand to rub his face, trying to think of how to word this next part properly. "Sirzechs, I was hoping you could do me a small favor."
And cut.
Cliffhanger. I know, you must hate me.
Also, my apologies for taking so long on this, but as I've said time and time again, I'm a full-time worker at a difficult job and also a full-time student, so my time to work and plot is very limited.
One side note, some of you might have noticed, but as an official announcement, I'm altering the rating from T to M, because there will be some 'tasty' scenes coming up in the near future, so if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. You have been warned.
On another note, the character Helbron from the flashback was originally created by both gunman and ReisFriend, who have given me permission to use him for this story. That will probably be the last outside source I use for this story from other fanfics. I say 'probably' because I don't know if I might or might not find other pieces that can help, so I won't say definitely.
One last note, as some of you might have guessed, yes, Serafall Leviathan, or Levia-tan will be part of the harem.
So, until next time, read and review.