Oh joy, the fun of AP Exams, particularly studying for them after Spring Break. What's even better is the forty minute time sink in bubbling out an answer sheet. What now? I have to fill out it out every time I take another exam? Oh joy. Then ensue a three to four hour mind numbing test.

Give me a three for AP Calculus and AP Psychology, and I'll be along my merry way.

In the end, Naruto will still speak in a Kansai accent, but he won't be 'speaking' it per say. It's implied at all times he is speaking in such a manner. Though, I'll through little reminders here and there, nothing too bad. I'll go back and edit his lines in Chapter One sometime in the future.


The Springtime of Youth: Sprouting Buds

Grayfia's ire of the grey haired man grew with every passing moment she was subjected to the mere thought of his existence. In her just opinion, he was crude and lacked any form of manner. His lazy grin oozed, simply oozed, lethargy. She shivered, thinking about Naruto. Laconically put, he was uncivilized. Thankfully, she had him thrown off the premises earlier as to avoid her from freezing him in a block of ice for all eternity. She adjusted her hairband for the hundredth time in front of the mahogany door before she turned the handle.

She briskly opened the door and entered the VIP room. The room was spacious and equipped with a large screen to broadcast the Rating Game alongside an assortment of delicacies for the guests to dine on and furniture for them to rest upon.

Before the screen were three large couches, each able to seat a multitude of persons. On the couch in the middle sat her master, Sirzechs Lucifer, and Rias' mother and father to his right. To his left, an auburn haired woman rested her head on Sirzech's shoulder whilst her arms were wrapped around his. A small boy slept soundly in her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair. She wore a simple dress. Her hair was braided in side plaits and a pair of glasses sat on the ridge of her nose. Her demeanor was gentle and full of warmth.

Only the woman who was married to the Lucifer could enjoy such an intimacy with him. Matsu's, a former human, and Sirzechs' romantic story was well known throughout the Underworld.

Sirzechs before he became Maou fought in the Civil War, and was injured by the Old Satan Fraction. With him bleeding out from a wound in his stomach, Sirzechs formulated a teleportation array to escape his pursues. The drawback was that he wouldn't know where it would drop him. It could have thrown him into a volcano or ten fathoms under the sea, ending in his untimely demise, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

He appeared outside Matsu's small cottage in medieval France unconscious and deathly pale. The kindly girl tended to his wounds until Sirzechs recovered to return to the Underworld. By that time though, he had fallen in love with her and she with him. Alas! She was a human and he, a Devil. His Devil blood was not the reason they couldn't be together. It was that she would grow old while he outlived her, unaging.

A pair of two star crossed lovers.

It went without saying that they had their happy ending.

Occupying the space to the right were the Sitri clan, close friends with the Gremory clan. Deckland Sitri and his wife, Juliana Sitri, sat on the far edge of the seat close to the Gremory couple, Venelana and Adalard. They talked amiably amongst each other, gossiping about recent events such as the Rating Game, particularly, how young Rias will defeat her fiance, Rizer Phenex. The Sitri's youngest daughter, along with her peerage, consumed the rest of the space on the couch, leaving only Genji to stand, not that he minded too much. It built patience, a desirable quality, he reasoned.

Across from them were the Phenex heads, Rynart and Rosa.

"Yo," said a languid voice drawled behind her in that unbearable Kansai accent; she stiffened, "I would have wandered around aimlessly if I hadn't run into the magically cheerful and magically helpful, Maou Shoujo, Levia-tan."

There it was.

That dreadful voice.

His accent was heavy, thick and almost incomprehensible blending into a cacophony, a slur, of gibberish. It took effort and practice to speak in such a manner she deduced. His syntax and diction made Grayfia's skin crawl.

Noting Grayfia's aversion to him, Naruto chuckled mirthfully, "You'll be disappointed to learn Lucifuge-san, any attempts to 'sivilize' me won't work." Naruto gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder as he dawdled past her.

If Grayfia had anything to say, an outburst from Serafall forestalled her, "So-tan! Your beloved Onee-chan is here!" Garbed in her pink magical girl outfit, Serafall leapt towards Souna with her arms flown open in a welcoming embrace. She, promptly, fell flat on her face when Sona made no move to get up from the couch. Picking her self up, Serafall held her nose as comical tears flowed from her eyes. "Sona you baka," whined the childish Maou, "you are supposed to hug your Onee-chan!"

The Maou Shoujo's actions drew a sweat drop from everybody present.

Grayfia wondered if anyone had noticed Naruto's presence in the room. Then again he gave none. A frightening ability to have as an assassin. Sneak in undetected, kill the target, and mold into the shadows. Though what assassin was foolish or dumb enough to walk into a room with two Maou? Naruto, for one, if he was an assassin.

Naruto knelt beside the self-proclaimed Maou Shoujo Levia-tan and began stroking her hair, "Everything will be fine; I will become your Onii-san to replace your meany little sister."

She peered up at him with teary eyes, "Really, is that true? Will you be my Onii-san?"

"Nope, I lied. It would be crass of me to steal Sona's older sister away."

"Mou," she turned her head to the side while pouting.

"Now, now will you forgive me if I gave you Pocky?"

He waved a red rectangular container imprinted with the image of chocolate dipped biscuit sticks.

"Pocky!" her eyes gleamed expectantly, but she withheld her excitement. She coughed into her hand, "Fine I'll forgive you if you give me the Pocky and you stroke my head."

That was an odd stipulation to tack onto an apology.

"Any reason you want me to pat your head, Levia-tan?"

She hummed before she explained, "It feels nice."

Naruto shrugged, "If you say so . . . though I can't think of a way to do so while your eating."

Fortunately, the answer for that problem was found quite quickly.

Serafall jumped into his lap and had him cross his legs. Her back was resting against his chest. She happily munched on the Pocky as Naruto stroked her head. She swung her short legs while she ate. Concurrently, her twin tails swished to the rhythm of her legs. Serafall gave the impression of a small animal.

Naruto, referring to the plain wooden chair brought in for him, said, "Sorry about this."

He said as he ignored the laser vision of smothering fatherly instinct from Deckland. The man probably wasn't too happy with how close Naruto was physically to his daughter. Juliana rested her chin in an open palm and smiled sweetly. She sent him a thumbs up gesture; although, Naruto had naught a clue why. The youngest daughter gave no visible reaction.

"It was a request from Leviathan-sama," Grayfia intoned.

Naruto, opting to divert the maid's attention elsewhere, directed everyone to the screen, "Oh look, the match is starting."

ナルト

"I'll head over to the sports yard with Koneko. Issei you'll confront them in the gymnasium. Remember that the plan is to stall them until Akeno is finished preparing, and our purpose is to stay alive," Yumi told them before tacking on, "It wouldn't hurt if we did take out a piece or two or four."

Receiving a nod from the brunette, Koneko and Yumi quitted the scene as Issei entered the gymnasium. "I can't tell the real gym from the fake one. They were spot on," Issei said to no one in particular. Taking notice of his opponents, Issei called upon his Sacred Gear.

[Boosted Gear: Standby]

He took a deep calming breath as he remembered the intimate moment with Rias on the veranda at night.

'That's right,' he reminded himself, 'Even is she is a Gremory or she is a genius, Buchou will be Buchou to me. That is a fact that will never change.'

For the first time, Issei took stock of his challengers. He counted four girls. Standing to the far left from his perspective were a duo of chainsaw wielding twins. The twins had turquoise green hair and blue eyes. They both wore gym uniforms striking resemblance to his schools outfit: white t-shirt with blue accents, black leggings, and blue sneakers over knee-high socks.

Before he could examine the remaining fighters, one of the fighters, a blue haired girl, kicked off the ground towards him. He idly noted that the girl was the same on who had jabbed him in the stomach with her staff during his first meeting with Riser. The red happi coat flapped behind her as she swung her wooden staff at his head.

Naruto's strict training kicked in automatically as Issei brought his arms up to guard the soft spots on his face and tucked his chin into his chest. Issei allocated his weight to his leading left leg and jumped back mere moments before the staff caved in his face. Instead, the staff struck the air and collided with the ground.

This gave Issei an opening he was about to gladly abuse. He stomped on the staff, snapping in half as though it were a twig, which had the affect of unbalancing Mira due to the sudden loss of weight in her hands. Sliding his leading leg forward, Issei slugged her in the temple with a paralyzing right hook. He crouched down and sprung up uncorking his left fist into the poor and dazed girl's stomach. It was noted that Issei's left fist was encased by a red gauntlet. Mira shot upwards from the blow and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

[Riser Phenex's Pawn has been retired.]

The perverted boy clapped his hands twice sending a silent prayer to Naruto. The past few days were torturous, but Issei was glad that Naruto drilled the proper foundations in him. The ramen chef had eight days, one was allocated to rest and the first day was for evaluation, to whip everyone in Rias' peerage into fighting condition. As the weakest link yet being the dubbed 'Ace,' Issei had his work cut out for him. At the crack of dawn, he had to jump rope. In the afternoon, he had to swim. Jump rope and swimming were strenuous cardio workouts as Issei learned. When the sky turned dark, Naruto taught him how to box as it was the easiest form of fighting Issei could pick up a short amount of time. Naruto had only taught him four moves: jab, straight, uppercut and hook along with footwork. It worked wonders to say the least.

Seeing their fellow peer defeated so deftly, the remaining three charged at Issei with indignant fury, seeking revenge for the fallen Mira. Issei, on the other hand, reacted indifferently until his watch started beeping. That was the time limit assigned to the first part of the plan namely, pissing off Riser's peerage and getting them to chase after them into the forest where part two was lain and lurked.

Issei's primary objective was too high tail it out of here, but found it hard when his opponents, two pawns and a rook, were chasing him until they took him out. The pawns, who had promoted themselves to [Queen] just as he, rivaled him in speed. And even if he changed to [Knight] for the speed boost, the twins would copy him.

He gripped his armored left arm muttering.

[Explosion]

"If only," he sighed and lamented, "I had the chance to break out my Finisher, but this isn't the time to good around."

He wasn't the least worried as the twins and Xuelan were right upon him. However, to their surprise, the 'Issei' they struck vanished.

"Oy, girls you have to try harder than that to take me down," taunted Issei approximately five meters ahead of them. "Sorry, I have to make like a tree and leave." After he waved to them, Issei skipped into the forest as if adding insult and grating on their nerves even more especially after that lame attempt of a joke.

Issei soon regrouped with Yumi and Koneko, who had naught a scratch on them. Behind them, they heard the collective and indignant shouts of their pursuit force. With the boost he still had left, Issei activated the Boosted Gears: Second Liberation known as [Transfer]. The [Transfer] ability allowed him to transfer, as the name implied, power to his allies. In the grand scope of things, the term 'power' was vague. Did 'power' refer to physical strength? Perhaps 'power' was magical? What about agility or vitality? Didn't those fall under the term 'power' as well? Issei pondered this inquired proposed by Naruto, and had a sudden insight.

Bringing out his left arm, Issei activated his technique.

[Boosted Gear Gift: Transfer-Speed]

Immediately, Koneko and Yumi, to a lesser extent, bodies' felt lighter. They nodded to confirm the boost before they sprinted deeper into the forest leading Riser's peerage into their trap.

ナルト

"What is their plan?" Sona pondered as she watched the screen in front of her, "The only thing they've done effectively is inspire rage from their opponents before running away. Rias' peerage is far stronger than I believed them to be."

"Of course," Naruto chuckled, "Riser's folly was granting them a ten day reprieve to train. If he hadn't then the outcome would have been different." He stopped his hand to talk but deftly resumed when Serafall puffed her cheeks at him.

With the sole exceptions of Souna, Juliana, Serafall, Deckland and Grayfia, Naruto's presence was finally noticed. They were wary of the stranger.

"May I ask who you are, Mister?"

"Namesa Namaki Naruto. Pleasure to meet ya Sirzechs Lucifer."

Sirzechs had a small frown creasing the corners of his mouth, "The pleasure is also mine. I would like to know why a human is sitting in a room inhabited by Devils, and with Leviathan of all people sitting in your lap."

Naruto said nonchalantly, "Is there something wrong with a teacher not being here to watch the youthful activities of his cute students in their springtime of youth? That's quite unyouthful as the Green Beast would say."

Sirzechs had not recollect this mythical Green Beast, but his interest was peaked by Naruto's admittance of being their teacher, "It is safe to say that Rias' peerage and her power boost is thanks to you."

"That's about right."

"They've made remarkable progress, but surely everyone here doesn't think that she'll win by running away. Riser still has a majority of his peerage, including the Bomb Queen who will simply bomb the forest and Rias' group with it."

Keeping his lackadaisical expression, Naruto said, "I will start by saying beforehand, excuse my tangent. In World War II, Hitler's infamous tactic was Blitzkrieg or Lightning War. Riser's distribution of troops resembles Hitler's strategy. It has been tweaked, of course, to preserve his designer clothing. He sends his peerage en mass to overrun and to bog down his enemy before he appears and sweeps everything with his firepower. The facts don't lie, the Germanic forces conquered and occupied all of Europe."

Naruto paused casting his gaze at Sona's hand, "You have a question Sitri-san?"

Her glasses gleamed when she pushed them up, "That is wrong Namaki-san, there was one country that resisted Germany and forced them out. That country was Russia."

"Ah, yes, Russia, I was about to get to that," he said with a lopsided smile, "Russia's Scorched Earth policy baited Germany deeper and deeper into Mother Russia's cold and unforgiving tundra. The Germans found themselves frozen during the Russian winter. By their sacrificing land, the Russians played Hilter's army right into their hands. Rias giving up her field, and allowing the pawns to promote mirrors that tactic."

"Russia had ample time to stall out Germany, but Rias doesn't have that privilege. Her Rating Game is meant to end within a day not last over several months." asserted Sona.

"Oh I know," Naruto, smiling deviously, said, "That's why Akeno is going to add a small explosive twist."

"Surely you jest," said Rynart Phenex as an air of superiority saturated his words, "We from the Clan of Phenex do not only have immortality, but we are also masters of flame and wind. A little amount of fire is nothing to us."

It was confidence, well placed confidence unlike Riser's arrogance. There was a difference.

"That's great for your daughter and your son notwithstanding the rest of Riser's peerage. The flames of the explosion won't hurt young Ravel. Instead, she'll have to be cautious of the concussive force." Naruto explained without pause, "The danger of a bomb, explosion, comes not from the flames. The real danger is the energy being converted into physical and concussive force. Yes, your daughter will survive the flames. Now, what you should be asking yourself is if she'll survive the blast. If she does, she'll have to deal with the remainder of Rias' peerage; an important tidbit is that Rias has yet to have a single piece retire."

True to his words, a loud, thundering clap nearly deafened their eyes concurrently as a surging wall of fire towered and rolled over the unsuspecting Devils. There was no time for them to react to it. In an instant the blast pummeled them before they could even register their inevitable doom.

[Two bishops, two knights, two rooks and seven pawns under the authority of Riser Phenex have retired.]

As one, they stared at the screen with blank expressions, and snapped out of it turning their sights to the sole human in the room. Serafall stopped gorging herself to peer up with wide eyes.

"What?" He scratched his cheek idly, "I may have underplayed the sheer amount of explosives I instructed Himejima-san to set up."

Grayfia began questioning whether or not she needed to re-evaluate the deadbeat, and how she should precede.

"I'd say this is the end for Riser," he noted, ending Grayfia's thoughts as the maid enunciated the following message.

[Riser's Queen has retired.]

Backtracking to the events that took place afterwords.

Akeno directed her undivided attention in maintaining the barrier as the blast struck it head on. It shook violently, and spider-web cracks spread across the glowing surface threatening the integrity of the bastion. They saw it held, and released a long sigh. Wiping the sweat off her brow with elegance befitting her status of Queen, Akeno snapped her fingers. The smoke whirled around the small sphere, covering it and blotting out all light. They heard a vacuum like sound. The barrier shattered after all the smoke was stored into a magical dimension.

Issei took in the charred scene, "What did Aniki teach you Akeno-senpai?"

Akeno hid her smile behind the long sleeves of her shrine maiden outfit, "Nothing, really, a small introduction into the branch of Shinto Onmyoudou."

Yumi stared disbelievingly, "A few?"

The priestess nodded, "Yes, all Namaki-san taught me was how to draw the seal for an explosive tag and a counter seal to absorb the energy along with a small seal to clear the smoke. Fufu, the possibilities with seals are endless. If I beg Namaki-san, I wonder if he'll teach me seals that pertain to my hobby. Yumi, do you happen to know if Namaki-san is an S or an M?"

Yumi broke out in a blush and sputtered, "Wh-Why would I have that sort of information? There's no way Naruto is a pervert like you Akeno."

"Oh, no reason," Akeno replied with ambiguity. Her violet eyes widened as her mouth arched in amusement, "Oho, Naruto? I didn't know that you were close to Namaki-san to use his first name and without an honorific to boot, fufu."

Yumi's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

As they were talking, a massive explosion enveloped their spot courtesy of a certain pair. Riser and Yubelluna stood next to one another, hands outstretched. The blond Phenex eagerly awaited the announcement of his victory only to have the chalice dashed from his lips as a black blur streaked from the forest edge. Yumi advanced on them gripping two thin blades akin to rapiers. The difference was that Yumi's rapiers lacked the fancy guard, and the blade was marginally wider than a traditional rapier. From the side a sphere of black and red energy hummed as it tore through the air, and encroached on the duo. Riser, clicking his teeth, deftly leapt back as did his Queen. The orb flew harmlessly past them and exploded violently in the forest.

Landing in the currently vacant spot, Yumi lunged towards Yubelluna with one rapier and impaling the sleazily dressed woman in the shoulder. She cried out in pain. Yumi withdrew her modified rapier and, within a span of a second, struck seven times. Her swings were blurred from the speed she used. After the seventh strike, Yumi held her rapiers pointing down and crossed her arms in front of her. Her rapiers were covered in a light blue light; wind swirled around the blade. Yubelluna's hand shot up to grab the vial of tears, but Yumi was faster; she sliced diagonally upwards drawing cross into Yubelluna and executing her.

[Riser's Queen has retired.]

Riser had more experience than Rias. He had an astounding record cataloging his wins and the scant few losses he had. He inherited the blood the Phenex family. It should have been easy. He should have won without any resistance for he was the superior Devil. Yet, Rias and her peerage showcased remarkable growth.

Only know he realized the folly of his arrogance. Ten days. He had given them ten whole days to train; his inflated ego convincing him of absolute certainty under any and all circumstance. A monster. They had to have been trained by a monster, that was the only explanation. Riser would live happily never encountering this monster.

Naruto fought down a powerful sneeze. 'Whose talking about me?'

Rias glanced at the entirety of Rias' peerage. They were all in peak fighting condition, and severely outnumbered him. He could fight, but his rationale told him it was a futile attempt. He had his regeneration, allowing to recovery from the brink of death itself, but dying and resurrecting continuously strained the mind. If anything he did only ended up with him being reborn in flames then what was the point when the outcome would stay constant?

The fight from hence onward rallied on complete attrition, and the bishop, the healer, was still alive to heal any injuries from his flames. He considered what other tricks they had up their sleeves. The Queen, previously, used weird white tags, and the Knight demonstrated a comprehension on wind magic.

He sighed. He done fucked up.

Raising his hand, Riser accepted his defeat, "I, Riser Phenex, forfeit."


Matsu is based on the same character from Sekirei.

Semi-long Note

I'm about to address pairings, which I usually never do. I'll make an exception this time.

It's going to be harem. Why a harem? The only type of fictional works I read nowadays are harems, so I'm biased towards it. And my beliefs are infallible, so I won't be changing them anytime soon. And before anyone utters the following lines, 'But Harems are unrealistic.'

One makes a contract of sorts whenever reading fictional works, especially pertaining to fantasy, that they have to suspend a certain notion of verisimilitude, or realism. In Naruto it's fine that ninjas walk on water, run at the speed of sound, defy death, spit fire, and destroy planets, and that's realistic? Throw in the harem characteristics, and, woah, that's defying reality mister author.

Let's look for confirmation bias! A harem isn't as unrealistic as one thinks when emperors from feudal China and Japan would have multiple wives. I'd say medieval kings in Europe probably did too. Hell, there are polygamists communities in Utah and Arizona, and they appear to make it work. Doesn't sound as farfetched as it did before . . .

I went way off tangent . . . What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah, the pairings.

Beforehand a key, bold means locked in the foreseeable future, italics mean I'm thinking about it and could go either way, and ? next to a name equates large consideration on my part.

Hyoudou Issei:

Rias / Asia / Xenovia / Irina / Le Fay / Akeno / Koneko / Ravel / Ophis ?

Namaki Naruto:

Yumi / Rossweisse / Serafall / Gabriel / Yasaka / Akeno / Koneko / Kuroka / Lapis / Ravel / Valerie Tepes ? / Grayfia ?

Hopefully, with AP Exams behind me, I'll have more time to write.