Red String of Fate (NarutoxHighschool-DXD)
Disclaimer: This story is fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is Rias' Route. I generally don't change a character's personality because that would make them OOC, but I'm probably not good enough of an author to make them exactly the same as their cannon counterpart so don't be critical on that!
=[For Her Hands]=
Part 1
"This is Gremory's home?" the blond-haired boy asked while looking up at the mansion that was coming into view. It was massive and clearly visible from this far away. In addition, they had just passed through some sort of elaborated maze to get here.
"Yes it is, and put on your best behavior," an older blond answered, walking along side with his son along the winding path. They couldn't teleport directly into Gremory's House because that would be quite rude, and could also be construed as trespassing. There was a powerful magical barrier to prevent something like that around the mansion as well. Although, his son was sure that he could break through the barrier with sheer brute force, but that would set off plenty of alarms in place and gave a really bad impression of them.
Minato sighed a little. He had to accompany his son to prevent such thing from occurring. His son sometime very brash, and the word impossible wasn't in the boy's dictionary. The more difficult it was, the more eager his son became at accomplishing it.
"Why can't I just teleport directly there and cut out the travelling time?" Naruto asked with a frown. While he did enjoy taking the long detoured route, he was here on business so he shouldn't be loitering around and wasting precious time. Naruto eyed his father a little and saw the older man exhaled heavily.
"Naruto, you can't just teleport directly into people's home. They would assume you were a trespasser and probably attack you on sight… I really don't want to explain to Lord Gremory why my own son blows up his house with the lame excuse of self-defense, and there's something called first impression," Minato explained as their pace became slower. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the statement.
"That's not what I mean, dad. I mean why can't we just teleport to the front door? They wouldn't mind that, and I'm sure it's still acceptable if we did," Naruto pointed as Minato stopped dead in his track. He face palmed and then turned toward his son.
"I didn't think of that…" Minato swallowed his pride.
"Really? So every time you went out, you took the long path instead? No wonder mum keeps insulting you on taking too long on your errand. Haven't you ever thought of that at all?" Naruto deadpanned as Minato sweated.
"Ahahah!" Minato laughed crookedly and disappeared in a yellow flash.
Naruto immediately glanced toward the entrance of the mansion in the distance as his father waved, calling him. Naruto shook his head a little and disappeared in an orange flash. He appeared by his father's side afterward with an accusing look. Minato dismissed the glare and told his son not to mention it again… ever.
"See? Much easier," Naruto stated the obvious, rubbing it in while Minato ignored the statement. The older blond pulled the heavy metal ring, bounded to the massive wooden door's handle, up and let it fall back down. The impact rang throughout the area.
Naruto took this time to study the door for a little bit and found it was quite well made. It looked expensive, but then again, the House of Gremory was wealthy and had great influence in the underworld unlike his own Houses: Uzumaki and Namikaze.
Although his full name was Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki, he tended to go by Naruto Uzumaki since his mother was the dominant figure in his parents' relationship. Minato Namikaze, his father, didn't mind being dominated in such thing and thus Naruto didn't make a big deal out of it. This was simply because he had read much about his father's prowess in battle, and their daily sparring did give him such an impression. His father was not less of a man. Simply that the man was just like being submissive to his mother.
The heavy wooden door creaked inward slowly, and a servant invited them in when it was fully opened. Naruto was a bit in awe at the grandeur of the hall. It was adorned with various relics and painting from long ago. Many had caught his interest when he passed them by. He would have to stop at certain object to study it carefully, but now was not the time. He had another thing to do so he followed his father closely behind, who in turn followed the servant ahead. They passed through several rooms and into a large and well-furnished one.
Lord Gremory and his son were waiting for them in the living room. They weren't sitting at their comfortable sofa, but rather standing to one side, waiting for their guests.
"Lord Gremory and Lord Lucifer. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice," Minato greeted politely and outstretched his hand toward the younger blond by his side. "This is my son, Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced his son, who also repeated the introduction.
"I thank you for this audience, Gremory-sama and Lucifer-sama," Naruto said courteously afterward as both crimson-haired men had a cheerful expression on. They approved the boy's current and polite behavior. Lord Gremory turned toward Minato after the introductions.
"We are friends aren't we?" Lord Gremory said as Minato confirmed while Naruto stood to the side and waited patiently.
"Then enough with the formality, come sit down and let us discuss like old friends," Lord Gremory ordered and shown them their respective, and conformable, seats.
"Unfortunately, my wife, Venelana, won't be joining us for this evening. She's currently visiting her brother, Lord Bael. As for my daughter, Rias… she's busy with something else and could not attend this," Lord Gremory apologized to the two blonds.
Naruto frowned a little.
"Pardon me, Gremory-sama, is it because of her engagement to Riser of House Phenex that she hesitated to see me?" Naruto asked, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice. Even if Rias was engaged to Riser, that was not a good enough reason for her not to see him.
Naruto remembered back to the metal plate that he placed on his desk with her name on it. He wouldn't want to steal some one fiancée, but after his father explained that the engagement were arranged by their parents, Naruto changed his mind and wanted to see Rias. He felt that the whole marriage arrangement without the either party's opinion, and consents, was wrong.
Lord Gremory and his son looked at each other for a few seconds, and they laughed quite loudly after that. Minato was chuckling leaving his son, Naruto, dumbfounded.
"Naruto-kun, you must have misunderstood. If you knew my sister personally, she wouldn't care less about such an engagement, in fact she actually despised that arrangement and is currently training her peerage for an upcoming rating game against Riser-kun with the contract on the line. That is why my cute little sister isn't here right now. That said, I must apologize on her behalf," Sirzechs pointed out with a smile. Naruto nodded, taking in the information. He knew that the rating game could be used for anything to the point of absurdity. You can practically make someone your slave with such game.
"Do you think Rias has a chance?" Minato asked, but Gremory and Sirzechs shook their head a little.
"Riser Phenex current score in the rating game is 8 wins and 2 losses. The losses were due to the fact that Riser threw the match, wanting to pay respect for one of the households his family had close tie to," Lord Gremory answered. Minato nodded in understand as refreshment was brought in by a silver hair, with matching eyes, maid.
"Thank you, Lady Lucifuge," Minato said and took a sip from the cup that was handed to him.
Naruto blinked a little at the statement. He was in confusion. He cocked his head to the side and towards Lady Lucifuge's direction, but his attention was returned back to the discussion at hand when another person spoke up.
"There's a slim chance my sister can win, but her peerage is still incomplete, making it difficult for her to win the game, also there the nagging problem with Phenex's immortality on the battlefield. It makes them very difficult to defeat," Sirzechs added and explained further about Phenex family's ability. Most of the information Naruto already knew, but he listened attentively anyway.
"What would happen if she loses? I mean, they were already engaged, so if Rias wanted to break the engagement if she won, she had to offer something in return if she lost," Minato asked, seeing how his son had a thoughtful expression on at the moment. The young blond was thinking about something else, but still listening in on the conversation.
"Rias and Riser would marry immediately… that was the condition if my little sister were to lose," Sirzechs answered with slight annoyance. Lord Gremory averted his eyes as well. A short silence reign the room before Naruto spoke up.
"I'm sorry, but there something I don't understand. From what you had told me, it felt like Rias-chan didn't want to be in such an engagement from the start, also I started to dislike Riser if what Gremory-sama said before was true," Naruto said flatly. There was some confusion about why the blond dislike Riser without meeting him before, but Lord Gremory explained why Rias and Riser were engaged nonetheless. It was always a contract and they couldn't break the contract even if they changed their mind now. Contracts were sacred or unholy, depending on which faction's point of view.
Naruto sighed, and leered at his father a little. Minato was enjoying his drink, allowing his son to speak instead.
"I don't understand why you dislike Riser from what I have told you about him. Did I say something wrong, Naruto?" Gremory asked as Naruto shook his head a little.
"No, you didn't say anything wrong, Gremory-sama. But I dislike Riser because he threw the two matches just because his opponents were someone he knew. Let me asked you a question, Gremory-sama, what is the simple purpose of a rating game?" Naruto asked. Gremory had a thoughtful look. Lucifer eyed his wife a little and smirked. He had already understood the meaning behind the boy's words.
"The rating game is used to measure a Devil's strength, which will reflect on their social standing…" Gremory muttered, and his eyes widened a little as his mind clicked.
"I see, Naruto. I didn't realize it was that bad from throwing a game away," Gremory said apologetically. Naruto nodded, but Gremory still sighed and looked at his son, who also nodded. He then turned to face Minato, who was smirking while sipping more drink.
"May I have another cup, Lady Lucifuge," Minato requested after he finished his current one.
"Yes, here you are, Lord Namikaze, would you like some Naruto-sama?" Lucifuge asked as Naruto blinked again. He froze up for a second, but then decided to speak his mind.
"I'm sorry… but I'm a little confused, my father wouldn't call anyone Lady or Lord unless they actually have a title… from that, I understood that Lady Lucifuge must have a title, but why is she your maid? Did you win her from the rating game?" Naruto asked, hinting that it was wrong to enslave high ranking devils, and it was strange for a Gremory to hire someone like that. It was as if there weren't enough low-devils around.
Sirzechs sprayed his drink outward at the boy on reflex from the comment. He laughed a little after wiping his face away with Lucifuge's help. Naruto sighed and took a towel that was handed to him to clean his face. He didn't make a big deal out of it as his father constantly did that whenever he pointed out the man's fault, or made some bizarre and logical comments.
"I apologized for my misconduct, Naruto. She, Grayfia Lucifuge, is my wife…"
"No I'm not," Grayfia denied immediately. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the interruption by the 'maid', but a smirk formed on his face. The blond had noticed how she did her job with great passion. Sirzechs had no reason to lie, thus currently she was not his wife, but rather his maid.
"It's rude to interrupt a high ranking devil when he's speaking. It's a crime when interrupting one of the Four Satans, and a leader at that, Grayfia-sama," Naruto pointed out with a devilish smile. Grayfia and Sirzechs both blinked before they turned towards each other.
"I apologized for interrupting you," Grayfia said sincerely and understood what she did was wrong. She just interrupted on reflex whenever her husband declared their relation since she was so used to it, and he'd never corrected her. Because of that, she was forgetting whose presence she was in front of. Sirzechs about to say something, but Naruto called out first.
"I demand she should be punished! Just fire her so she couldn't be a maid anymore, and then she will have no choice but be your wife full time. That would solve your little problem," Naruto suggested with a smile.
'This boy…' Lord Gremory thought, watching how he just tricked Sirzechs on a technicality. He saw that there was no way out of this, and his son must punish Grayfia for interrupting because it was the right thing to do. He turned to look at his old time friend, who was chuckling and having a blast at their little dilemma.
"Lord Lucifer… do you really want to let me go?" Grayfia asked hesitatingly as Sirzechs blinked. He couldn't do that to his wife, but the prospect of her being his full time wife was very appealing. However, she would be depressed all the time and he couldn't allow that. Sirzechs turned to face Naruto and literally begged the boy to let it go.
"Is there no way you could let this go?" the leader of the Four Satan asked. Naruto thought for a bit and put a serious face on.
"Nope, but then again… I did interrupt you when you were trying to speak to your wife, and Gremory-sama did say we should forget all about formality before we started so Grayfia-sama weren't at fault at all," Naruto pointed out.
"…"
Sirzechs burst out laughing while Lord Gremory had a full smile. "I like you Naruto-kun," Sirzechs announced when he once again regained his composure. Grayfia let out a breath of relief and served refreshment to the boy.
Gremory also nodded afterward, approving the boy. It would be great if Naruto were to marry his daughter and rejoined the Uzumaki and Gremory house once more. The boy was smart, insightful and from what Lord Namikaze said about his son, was also powerful. Minato had never gloated before, and had no reason to sugar coated the boy's ability as the inheritor, and perfect mastery, of both lightning and flames.
"I don't understand why Naruto-sama didn't like Riser-sama," Grayfia asked after understanding that she could join in the discussion. She didn't hate the boy from the little ordeal from before. It was all within his right to do so, and he did point out her fault. She would have to fix that and not speak out of turn when her husband was with people of high social standing.
Naruto faced Grayfia for a bit before sipping a little from his cup. He approved the drink as it was very good just like his father did moment before, and then tilted his head toward Lucifer. "I think, Sirzechs-sama could explain it better," Naruto said with a smile. Sirzechs returned the expression but refused the offer.
"I think you should explain your thought process, Naruto-kun. I'm sure it was spot on," Sirzechs said as Naruto nodded.
"If you say so… okay, Grayfia-sama, I'm assumed you know about the rating game, which was created after the introduction of the Evil Pieces by Ajuka Beelzebub, right?"
Grayfia nodded for confirmation as Naruto ruffled his golden hair a little, gathering his thoughts.
"Well, long ago, before the game's creation, in which I'm sure you still remember those time, the devil hierarchy was a complete mess. Devils lacking in ability led armies to ruin simply because they were well connected because of their parentage. They gained their position because of that. Many battles could have been won easily were lost since they had no clue what they were doing at the time. What Riser did with his two losses were the same, by raising someone above their post and social standing, beyond their capability, which would messed up the hierarchy and social standing once everyone followed suit," Naruto explained as Grayfia understood the reason.
"It's not that simple is it?" Grayfia asked some thought as Naruto shook his head a little.
"No, it's not that simple. Sure, we might hide their ability in the rating game, but they should try to win and not allowed other to beat them simply because they were family. In doing so, that just digging a fatal trap for them in the future as they would come to overestimate their own abilities and become arrogance in the face of real and actual danger," Naruto answered as Sirzechs nodded. Namikaze and Gremory were listening attentively. They were both veterans from the Great War, and had seen firsthand how it could go terribly wrong.
"Secondly, the rating game is all about trying your hardest… what Riser did was an insult to all those that played the game because he didn't care if he lose or win. He could throw the game away at will because he might have believed that the social standing does not matter and his family is above all? I don't know if its arrogance or not, but from that, he just made a mockery out of a whole system. Furthermore, in battle, one shouldn't show mercy to their enemy like that. Everyone trained hard and wants to fight to their fullest so that they could achieve victory without any guilt, but Riser simply gave it away? He might believe he did a good thing, but his opponent wouldn't think so. They would feel insulted. We devils may have lack many things, but one thing for certain, we do not lack pride! Being spared on the battlefield simply because we were not worth killing is a fate worse than anything they could have ever done to us. Those are just my opinion anyway," Naruto said thoughtfully. Naruto wondered if he should explain further, there were several problems with throwing away such a match in an official rating game, but he refrained from doing so since Grayfia understood his reason already.
Gremory couldn't believe what he had just heard. Now he realized why those families, who won against Riser, didn't bother to challenge Riser again and even tried to avoid the boy all together. Riser Phenex never understood what he had done due to his own short coming, but Naruto, who only heard about such things just moment ago couldn't have possible deduced that much. Gremory thoughts for a bit and had a glance at Minato, who simply shrugged when their eyes connected as if it was normal for him.
'If only I had made a contract with Namikaze instead…' Gremory regretted his actions from long ago. He felt that the boy before him was worthy of becoming his son-in-law, and his son also felt the same.
"Naruto, can you do me a favor?" Gremory asked as the boy nodded.
"You don't need to say it Gremory-sama, I know what you're going to ask incase Rias did lose. I will challenge Riser anyway even if Rias rejected me, I just want to break that unfair contract and give her a different path. Since I don't want her to feel indebted to me, I have to figure out a good way to do so," Naruto said as his father smirked.
"If that were the case, you should come and watch the upcoming rating game, so you can see Riser's peerage with your own eyes. I also heard you are very talented from my father so shall we have a spar first for me to see what your current chances are?" Sirzechs suggested and offered.
Naruto thought for a moment after asking for his father's permission, who gave it. He was sure he would be able to defeat Riser, the Phenex bloodline, without much difficult, but he don't want to be arrogance so he will check out Rias and Riser rating game later on just in case. He was conflicted with Sirzechs' offer, but decided to accept it.
"Just sparring, Sirzechs-sama?" Naruto asked as Sirzechs reassured the boy that he would go easy on him. Naruto wondered if he should be amused or grateful at that. He never fought against one of the Satans before, and this generation boasted to be more powerful than the old. Naruto and Sirzechs left the room to go to a training ground together after excusing themselves, leaving Gremory, Namikaze and Grayfia behind.
"Shouldn't we follow and spectate, Gremory-sama, Namikaze-sama?" Grayfia asked.
"I rather sit here and enjoyed this refreshment, Lady Lucifuge, if you don't mind," Minato answered with a smile. Gremory eyed the blond for a little.
"Don't you think you are overestimating your own son's ability?" Gremory said. Minato shook his head a little at the statement.
"Naruto inherited both my and his mother's power. You knew how deadly my powers are during the war, and you knew how powerful your family original powers were. My son has complete mastery of both simply because he was that much of a genius. Not only that, he has ascended them to the next level that even shocked and left me and my wife baffled," Minato explained as he finished his cup.
Grayfia was slight anxious at the statement and wondered if she should go check on her husband's wellbeing.
"But my son, Sirzechs Lucifer, is the leader of the Satans and one of the super devils. I don't think a mere boy of 16 years old could have that much experience to be a challenge to Sirzechs," Gremory said as Minato chuckled a bit. Super devils are devils with abnormal demonic power, and Naruto's powers were anything but normal in Minato's opinion.
"Super devil and experience huh… I and my wife have trained Naruto when he could walk, and fought him when he could run," Minato said with a smile.
"How many times did you think I won against him?" Minato asked.
Gremory was thinking up a number but Minato answered his own question, "I actually record it… it was 2228 in almost seven years, we fought every day as it one of our daily routine since there isn't much thing to do around the house. Overall, they were good exercises."
Grayfia blinked, didn't see the deeper meaning, but Gremory's eyes widened at the realization.
"Isn't that expected?" Grayfia asked as the two Lords looked at her while the building started to vibrate, and increased its intensity. The cups were sliding on the table and almost fell off the edge but they picked theirs up before it could.
"Grayfia, go and stop them," Gremory ordered but Grayfia was hesitated. She didn't want to interfere with her husband's fight.
"Did you not understand what Lord Namikaze implied? Seven years has around 2555 days. I doubt that my old friend would lose to his son on purpose, so Naruto must have won at least 300 of them, and all of them must be recently," Gremory said and sweated a little.
"Yes, all of them at the end… I haven't won against him for almost a whole year, and recently, my wife joined in the fight to give Naruto a challenge, but he still won against both of us, only barely… We are SUPER DEVILS in a sense, so what does that make my son then?" Minato asked and didn't expect an answer. Grayfia quickly ran out of the room to the battleground.
"He wouldn't able to beat two super devils would he? I mean your son and your powers are mutual inclusive, so he wouldn't able to harm you effectively," Gremory asked after Grayfia'd left the room.
"The same could be said for me as well, but Naruto still manage to beat me up. His power is still in growing phrase as it had not reached its full potential yet unlike mine. I couldn't see the upper limit of his ability, but that was a given due to his heritage," Minato hinted as Gremory could not believe the revelation. The whole room shook heavily as books start falling out of their shelves.
"I think they went too far…" Gremory sighed as he felt the demonic aura flooded the area.
XxXxX
"I wish you didn't take that with you," Minato told his son who was dragging a giant sculpture out of Gremory's front door.
"Why? Lucifer-sama made a bet during the fight and I won it fair and square. I'm not giving up my spoil," Naruto said as Minato sighed. Naruto was sometime like this. Whatever belong to him, he would defend with his last breath and never let it go. Minato understood that, but the problem was the sculpture itself. Minato watched his son slightly tattered clothing for a bit before turning to face Lord Gremory.
"I hope Lord Lucifer is okay?" Minato asked, but Gremory dismissed his concern.
"My son will be fine. His wife is taking care of him, although I didn't expect Naruto to break both of his arms in the fight, but they will heal soon," Gremory said with a chuckle. He also asked his son whether he used 'that', but Sirzechs stated 'no' since that would force his opponent to retaliate and the whole region would turn to ash and super-heated plasmas, killing everyone. Gremory wondered what his son meant.
"I didn't want to at first, but Lucifer-sama was getting agitated at me teleporting around, and I didn't want to dodge those pesky ball of destructions all over the place," Naruto retorted after hearing the comments.
"Hahaha, I must gotten carried away. It was not every day that I could go full out and I apologized for that, Naruto-kun," Sirzechs apologized with a cheerful expression when emerging from room and approached the entrance. It was sparring match at first but became a full blown battle once they show each other their powers, albeit they didn't transform. His arms were bandaged and placed in a cast while Grayfia helped him toward the door by giving him support.
"But I must thank you for pointing out the weakness of my powers, Naruto-kun," Sirzechs said as Gremory nodded since he got the story of the fight from his son.
"Weakness?" Minato asked skeptically.
"Power of Destruction and Gremory Magic have to use both of their hands… so I just break them, after that, the battle became super easy since Sirzechs-sama couldn't cast or throw those balls around anymore," Naruto explained as he placed his hand on the sculpture to the likeness of Rias Gremory.
Minato and Gremory nodded. That was a big weakness compared to Namikaze and Uzumaki's power, which didn't need hands to cast at all. Minato asked Gremory about some other things as they moved further away from the group while Naruto looked at Grayfia and Sirzechs for a bit.
"So what is Grayfia-sama now? Wife or maid? I doubt any maid was that much concern about your wellbeing to the point of jumping in between us without any regard for her own safety," Naruto asked as Grayfia let go of her husband. Sirzechs almost fell over without his support pillar. She quickly grabbed hold of him with red blushes on her face immediately.
"Don't say that, I almost got another injury… right here," Sirzechs pointed at his chest as he was pinched by his wife.
"Owowowow… Not the face," Sirzechs pledged as one of his cheeks was stretched. Naruto chuckled a bit at the romantic comedy of the couple. He wondered if he ever going have something similar eventually.
"Yes, Grayfia-sama. But you know what? You should break his arms further, but then you will have to take care of him longer. I'm sure Sirzechs-sama wouldn't mind being in bed with his loving wife by his side for the rest of his days," Naruto smirked as the duo tried to stop being awkward in front of the boy.
"What about you? Taking the life size sculpture of my sister to your home, isn't that a little creepy?"
"Not at all, she will be my wife soon, hopefully, so it's not creepy having a sculpture of the person I will eventually love by my side. Besides, what creepier was that her brother had a sculpture of her made instead of his wife in his room? I wondered what she would say about that when she finds out," Naruto deadpanned.
"Please don't tell her… and who said I don't have any sculpture of my wife!?"
Naruto snapped his finger and pointed at Grayfia. Sirzechs sweat dropped as he blurted out sensitive information.
"OWOWOWOWOW…"
Author Note:
This story is also introduction to other route, but Naruto would have to let Rias go then since their relationship might not have developed strongly.
