A/N: I have this odd desire for blue to go with my red. Also, think of the Sins as a sort of racial instinct for those with stronger connections to their Sin. I also feel I should point out, do to the reviews which don't seem to think about how difficult it is to truly set up something like this and get the ages and details right (at least the ones I'm not messing with) that A: Zekros doesn't call Minato an 'idiot blonde' in front of Kushina, it was a description in his mind. To claims of being OP, the average ninja is actually compared to low and mid class devils, the ones that stand out tend to get 'known' and obviously would be 'canon' characters at upper mid to high class. I'd rate adult Kakashi as an upper high class to be honest. Maybe low ultimate. Zekros is ultimate class through a portion of power (basically, slightly above average high class skill with much higher reserves), prestige from his family name, business deals, and sheer connections. Lightning falling from the sky, and fire erupting from nowhere is awesome in Naruto, but the actual elements themselves are much harder for anyone to control, hence it being more impressive to BRING A BOLT down on something. It's not like he suddenly knows a bunch of jutsu or anything, besides summoning and shadow clones, but tbh shadow clones seem super easy for anyone with a magical understanding to learn. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool DxD so, you know, whatever.


Chapter III: Business, Pleasure, Paperwork

(Zekros Gremory POV)

I spent the sunday morning after my date practicing summoning with Bane, avoiding the gossiping women with all my might. I'd somehow managed to mix my still growing chakra with enough magic to summon a rather scholarly grey three-tailed fox who sat and chatted with us over a nice cup of tea, Krueger had been gracious enough to retrieve it for us, seeing as I wished to avoid the females. That probably wasn't the best idea because he came back with a smirk on his face, but it was necessary.

The fox, Alphus, had been around for quite a while, and was quite well learned. He suggested I learn how to walk on water and trees before attempting to mix any more of my magic and chakra, an exercise that had completely escaped Kushina's mind it seems. That was amusingly like her, and we shared a laugh about it.

After the foxes had left, I settled into my office to look over a list of the meetings I was required during. There was a meeting scheduled with the two brothers who were potential captains for my future ships, so that was interesting. Another meeting sometime after that was with a bridge builder to discuss work on the bridges we'd need to cross the rivers. I wonder if he does other work on the side, he could have some potential.

I was running the bridge builder over in my mind, thinking about the uses we could get out of one when I came upon a brilliant idea. A bridge to the mainland would be most useful, especially for overland trading. When I tried to be installed as the Daimyo, I would need exceptional plans to get this country even more money than it was currently making. Funding a portion of a bridge project to the mainland against the towns contribution could see the project come to fruition, because it was simply insane to try to fund that on my own, no matter how much Kushina contributed.

Though, I could probably get her to fund a portion of it as well, maybe name the bridge after her. The Uzumaki Bridge could serve as a name, I suppose. I was rather bad at naming things, I usually left that to others. I was yanked from my thoughts by a knocking on the office door.

"The candidates are here to see you, Zekros-sama," I heard Mei call through the door.

"Send them in Mei-chan," I replied, straightening the files on my desk.

In walked the two men that obviously wanted the jobs, if the stiff stance and slight tension of their shoulders told me anything. At a glance you could barely tell these brothers apart, only upon closer inspection would you notice one had a scar across his left cheek and was a few inches shorter. The taller man had a tanto strapped to his side, and the obvious build of a close fighter. They were both obviously in their thirties.

"Greetings gentlemen, I am Zekros Gremory," I nodded to them, my face blank.

The scarred man nodded in return, "I'm Hanbe, this is my brother Hidaka. We were told you were looking for ship captains."

"Indeed," I confirm. "I am in the process of having two galleys built for trading purposes. I find the need to recruit able men to crew these ships, and am willing to send escorts along with them to negate the need to hire ninja from the other nations to guard it when necessary."

"Merchant galleys eh?" The tall man, Hidaka, spoke. "Haven't been on one of those since we started. Crewing it is annoying though."

"So I've been told. I'm willing to leave the crews to you men if you want the jobs, as long as they are the right sort. Wouldn't want one of your men trying something against one of our females and leaving you without an able crewman, would we?" I let a slight smirk show at the thought.

Hanbe snickered lightly. "If they tried they'd find Hidaka and I to be just as violent, if not worse. Wouldn't be able to look our wives and kids in the eyes otherwise."

"Oh, you have children?" This wasn't in the file Mei provided me, though it had stated the wives lived in Konoha.

"I have four year old boys, twins, and Hanbe has a two year old daughter," Hidaka supplied.

"Any thoughts towards moving your family to Wave?" I asked.

They both shrugged, but Hidaka gave a small smile. "Wasn't enough work out here, or any places we could buy. Maybe in the future though."

I laughed lightly. "Gentlemen, did you not perhaps here of me purchasing land outside of the town?" At the nods I gave another short laugh. "We'll be building plenty of houses, I see no reason why employees families can't live on my land."

Needless to say, they promised to think about my offer. I knew it was only a matter of time before they accepted, steady work and a stable home appeals to many. Heh, maybe in the distant future when kids are running around the place the two of them can teach a few tricks to the next generation. It was a thought, at least.

Just a short time after they left Mei sent in the bridge builder, a man in his forties he looked like he enjoyed his drink. I twitched slightly at this, but smiled minutely. He had seemed normal on paper, but of course nobody ever notes down anything about the eccentric master craftsmen, no.

"I'm Tazuna, they said you had work for me?" The man looked totally uninterested in my desires. Wow.

"Yes," I drew out slowly. "I have recently purchased a rather river crossed area of land, and I'll need at least five bridges. I have an idea for another project larger than all five, but that will need to be discussed with whoever I hire."

"Heh, quit your joking," he laughed. "I'm the only master bridge builder in these parts." He puffed his chest out proudly as he said that.

"Oh?" I ask. "And what are your dreams for the future?"

"W-well," he stumbled at the unexpected question, "I think I'd like my daughter to live a long life. Maybe get a grandkid or two to pass the skills on. Course, not just any man is good enough for my girl."

My smile grew slightly. "Your daughter, does she work?"

His eyes narrowed slightly, honing in on me with a calculating look. "She mostly stays at home, buys the food, takes care of me."

"We really need someone who can cook around here, you see. And I'm feeling an amusing mood today, so let me explain in." I paused for a moment thinking about how best to introduce him to my kind. "Come, sit, sit. Now tell me, have you ever heard of Devils?"


(Tazuna POV)

I sat there listening to this young man explain an entire fantasy race, only to be shocked when he revealed he was almost a decade older than he looked, and then bat wings sprung from his back. I could seriously use some sake right about now, but Tsunami made me leave it at home. Oh boy I could feel the migrain this was going to give me.

"So in essence, what I really need to ask is if you'd consider joining my Peerage." Zekros Gremory spoke.

Hold on, that word. That was what he called those other devils right, the ones that served under another high ranking devil. Now wait just a minute...

"You want to turn me into a devil?" I ask, entirely confused.

"Yes," he nodded. "I would also like to extend the offer to your daughter. Think about it, thousands more years added to your lifespan together."

That was certainly tempting, but still. "I'll have to think about it, can I come back tomorrow?"

"Of course, of course. Either job offer is open without the requirement of the other, though taking both would certainly help me, personally." The man joked.

I said the goodbyes, did the handshake, and left as quickly as I could without seeming to. I was going to need to have a discussion with my daughter. And sake, yeah, better get the sake first.

My daughter found me when she got home a few hours later, idly sipping sake at the table and staring at the walls. She watched me curiously for a minute or two, putting away the groceries she'd brought home. I think the silence is what finally made her cave, as she made herself some tea.

"Father, what has you so worried?" Tsunami finally asked me while frowning.

"Devils," I croaked. "Devils are real Tsunami." I supposed the hours alone with sake got me a little worried about the devil idea.

"What are you talking about?"

"That Gremory man, Tsunami." She blushed for some reason. "He and his whole group are Devils, living among us as calmly as anyone else."

"Now Father, if he didn't give you the job there's no reason to insult the man," she scolded me.

"Job? He gave me more than one offer Tsunami. He's a real Devil, wings and all. He showed me," I protested, taking another drink of my sake.

She raised an eyebrow at me and folded her arms. "And?"

"He said he could turn us into Devils as well," My statement cause the second eyebrow to join the first. "Longer lifespan, better physical fitness, and wings. The whole thing. Even has a bunch of work for me, even if I don't take the offer."

"He wants me as well?" She asked.

"You too," I confirmed with a nod. "Says he needs someone to cook up there. He's even building a huge compound, complete with living. Would probably want us to move up there once it's done, come to think about it." I stroked my chin as I thought about it, though I really did like my house.

She sat down at the table with her tea. "And what did you tell him?"

"That I'd have to think about it. I'm supposed to go back tomorrow." The offer was interesting, at least.

"So you came back and drank after a job interview?" Narrowed eyes caught mine in challenge.

"Er, yes?"

"So what are we going to do?" I cautiously put down the sake at the glare my daughter was giving me.

"Let's sleep on it," I replied. "Now, what's for dinner?"

If there was one thing I knew, it was that it was likely to take all damn night to make this choice. At least I didn't have to be anywhere in the morning, the hangover was going to be awful.


(Zekros Gremory POV)

I used my morning for tree climbing exercises, on the advice of Alphus. I also spent an unfortunate amount of time exploding off the trees and landing on my ass. Bane and Mei, who were helping me with the exercise, also laughed every time it happened.

"It takes a steady output, Zekros-sama," Mei supplied with a giggle.

I gave a huff as I tried again, however this time I didn't manage to stick properly. Just my luck. 'This is going to suck,' I thought, going back to the tree. Once again I was blasted from the poor tree, ripping the bark off in the process.

Several hours later, after lunch, I was nursing a bruised rear and tails in my office, going over my paperwork. The land purchase was going to be finalized soon, and my peerage members had finally located a source of chakra metal, though it was from Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning. Apparently Kushina had bad experiences with Kumo ninja, so she was definitely out when it came to first meetings, I wouldn't want to have to go on a rampage for some reason. That reminded me, I need to practice my devil magic some more later.

I'd also have to hire transport there since my ships, obviously, weren't ready. Those would take several long months to finish, even with the apparent skill the natives had at the job. I'd definitely have to take Krueger, going somewhere that heavily influenced by swords and not taking him with earn me a silent mutiny until I apologized properly. That man took pride in his skills, even if he couldn't brag about it.

Tsunade might be able to go, those travel rights she had were impressive. And I would get to travel and find all those new interesting places I can later teleport to. Devil magic was such a cheat, heh. I wrote a quick note down for later as I heard someone approaching the door.

"Come in," I called after a knock.

Tazuna entered my office, followed shortly after by the girl that had led me to that brilliant restaurant. Tsunami, was it? Well that was amusing in a way.

"Are those job offers still open," Tazuna asked gruffly.

I blinked for a moment. "Yes, which ones?"

"All of 'em. I figure I might find the time to teach a few apprentices with that kind of life span." The elder man replied.

"Do you intend to teach them about the aspects of carpentry and mason work that goes into bridge building?" I asked.

"Of course, what kind of fool do you take me for?" He asked, eyes wide.

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. A short conversation followed about general reincarnation things, and I summoned two Pawns to reincarnate them. I invited them to join everyone for dinner tonight, so that we could introduce them properly, and they shortly after excused themselves.

I was near to pulling my hair out as I tried to make sense of all the numbers that had been reported, estimates figured, and what our remaining balance was. As far as I could tell, even with Kushina gifting us with a large portion of money that came from Uzushio before it met the forces of the three nations attacking it, we were actually rather low on funds, most of it already invested into property, building, and funding other projects. I desperately needed to start actually making cash and not simply investing, and so it was with great reluctance I called for Krueger and Tsunade.

Their reactions to my estimates were different, Tsunade twitched and looked like she wanted to strangle me, and Krueger leaned over my desk and started organizing all the papers he could to get a proper look. He didn't like the situation either, and it was obviousy he was running through a couple schemes in his head, but the man was more warrior than trader.

We would have, after all the construction of the compound and the ships, just over a million and a half Ryo. This could sustain us briefly, but if we didn't bring in more it would disappear rather rapidly. And so I turned to our most experienced ninja, Tsunade, for advice.

"Do you think you can put the word out about A and B-rank missions being able to be done by us?" I asked, causing her to look at me in surprise.

"Yeah, I could, but really the only mission fit people are you, Krueger, and Mei. I'm not entirely sure just how highly ranked you both are, but Mei probably couldn't handle a B-rank on her own." Her analysis was accurate, to a degree.

"Krueger is likely able to handle a high B or low A on his own, or with Mei-chan accompanying him." I responded, idly checking over Krueger's bookkeeping efforts. Poor chap. "I should be about that myself, if not in pure combat ability like him, then in my much more vast energy reserves."

"Well if you're sure about that," she mumbled while looking disbelieving.

"I feel the need to travel," I explain. "Avoiding Kiri, which has those pesky internal problems cropping up, I'd like to explore more of the land we reside in. During this time, I could easily do missions on the side while out there. Though, I do need someone to sign the fox contract if we want to pass messages properly."

"Jiraiya could probably be asked to send a message about potential work appearing if we want," Tsunade said. She tapped her chin briefly in thought. "What about having Mei sign it? If Kushina already made indications she doesn't feel like signing it, and really who in her situation would, then because of Krueger's lack of chakra you best bet is Mei." She shrugged as she continued, "Shizune and I already signed the slug contract, so we're out."

I nodded with a smile. "That could work, but it'll have to wait until after I get proper control so I can summon the contract holder and introduce myself. Having another person sign it, according to Bane, would be highly insulting to the rest of the foxes, even if the contract seems to stay in our realm just fine."

A sigh broke our discussion, and we turned slightly to see Krueger pointing a finger between the two of us. I was completely confused until he passed a note with a simple response, 'Medic-nin', on it.

"Oh," Tsunade said slowly. "I suppose I would be the best person to teach you control, yeah." Oh crap, why did I feel like this was a bad thing. "Ok Krueger, you're on administrative duties while I train our King!"

She dragged me from the room to my immense shock, Krueger's smirk, and her own amused chuckles. She finally dropped me in front of the biggest tree in the yard, pointed at it, and then cracked her knuckles. Having seen what her fists could do, I quickly started trying to climb. And so followed an hour of trying to control my growing chakra reserves, until she got frustrated and dragged Shizune and Mei out of the villa and into the yard.

"Use senbon girls, it'll teach him how to dodge and how to climb while under stress." I paled at her evil laughter. Note that avoiding women when they want to tease you can lead to disastrous results.

"I'm sorry Zekros-sama," the girls chirped. "But it is for your own good."

Sweet Maou they were serious! I had to jump to avoid a couple of low aimed senbon needles, and unfortunately pushed too much chakra out when I landed, making me go flying again. I rolled to a stop and had to push myself up to avoid more senbon, yikes.

"What'd I do to you girls?" I asked as I raced back for the tree.

"You took Tsunade-sama to a gambling hall," they replied with far too much sweetness.

Wait, what? "She seemed to like it," I protested while Tsunade nodded her agreement.

"That is still not proper dating, Zekros-sama," Mei replied, an innocent expression on her face.

I didn't get to protest much more over the next few hours, and when I'd finally managed to stick to the tree as the sun was coming down they started giggling as if they were mad. I will never again claim to understand women, especially the younger ones. When Kushina came out to call us for dinner, she saw me hiding while sticking to the far side of the tree, the side facing the others covered in senbon.

A solitary snicker told me I'd likely hear more about it later, but first, I had Peerage members to introduce. Excellent! I went through a rushed shower, got dressed, and made my way to the front doors. As I waited I idly wondered about the wisdom of bringing two true non-combatants into a Peerage, but decided that I'd need their skills eventually, even if it wasn't for combat.

'Besides,' I thought as I finally heard a knock on the door, 'I'm not likely to need a combat dedicated Peerage, what with the second set of Evil Pieces I have.' I carefully schooled the smirk off my face, opening the doors for my guests and giving polite greetings. I'd normally get someone else to bring the guests to dinner, but I felt since I was introducing two new members that I might as well do it personally.

"Everyone," I called, gathering the attention of my Peerage as I entered the dining room, "I would like to introduce you to Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami, my new Pawns."

Tazuna was wide eyed at the attention, and Tsunami was blushing heavily. The blue haired girl managed to wave weakly, before she looked down in embarrassment. Aw, that was adorable.

"And this is my Peerage, my Queens, Tsunade and Mei-chan," They both waved slightly. "My Rook Kushina, Bishop Shizune, and my Knight Krueger." They all gave nods, but Kushina was distracted feeding Naruto, the little guy. "And the kid with the whisker marks is Naruto Uzumaki, Kushina's son."

"Ah, hello," Tazuna said. "Didn't expect so many of ya."

"I work fast," I said with a grin.

"I can see that." The man looked like he needed some sake, heh.

I guided them to a couple seats even as Mei and Shizune exited the room to retrieve dinner. This was going to be entertaining, and I made sure to retrieve enough sake to see Tsunade and Tazuna happy. Maou save me from heavy drinkers and bad gamblers.

The dinner was excellent at least, and Kushina didn't make too much fun of me, mostly because I took it with grace and didn't get flustered about it. She left dinner first, taking Naruto to bed and saying goodnight to us. Shizune was next, citing more work to set up the clinic properly. Tazuna and Tsunami finally left in order to get home before too late, and Krueger patiently escorted them back for me. As for me? I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm sure I made an ass out of myself somehow. Damage control was a necessary skill as a Devil.


(Krueger POV)

It's been one week since my King decided he needed to travel the land, and the paperwork the man had piled up in his everlasting quest to learn his chakra control was a nightmare for me to deal with. Thankfully Mei had the authority to sign for Zekros-sama, so anything that was out of my hands could be passed onto her. I spent most of the time balancing the books, and our situation was actually slightly better than first glance.

Zekros-sama had sent off a package of summoning flyers to Konoha upon request of the Hokage. Several of them were specifically for Tsunade herself, in case of medical emergency requiring her. A few were even from Zekros-sama, though they could someone anyone if enough desire was put into the summoning. Kushina had apparently be summoned by the Kakashi boy, much to her amusement. She reported the boy still hadn't recovered from all the deaths in his life, but he was slowly making his way.

It was important for one to accept death is unavoidable, no matter how long you delay it. At least, once your own grieving process was over. The thought helped me far more than I gave it credit for, but I was stubborn about that. And I still had a few things to get past myself before I'd consider it.

A small trickle of money was flowing in, from the residents of town summoning us, or from Konoha summons. When you factored in the costs we were going to save on cutting the lumber for building from our own lands, a small cushion appeared in the budgets. This was further added to by a small percentage coming from what Kushina had invested in, as the 'parent group' we got a cut. That woman I rarely saw outside of meal times, scheduled meetings, or being dragged around by the other women, though we managed to communicate well. They were practically dog piling in order to help her with Naruto, so she had more than enough time to start investing her inheritances.

Tsunade had been supposed to invest into the hospital in Konoha, but she pushed that project on Shizune almost immediately. A quick piece of advice, in the form of a note, had her investing in some of the medicinal plant growers in their former village as well. And I do mean actual plants used in medicine, and not the herbs I was forced to smell on the Hokage during our travels.

My King was actually extremely difficult at accepting any gifts from friends, though he'd practically accept all of a business partners money. He would however, provide free advice about things to invest on, and how to look at market interest, and recieves a cut of the profits anyways so it's not like he really refused for no reason.

We were actually closer to twice what we hadly earlier thought of, but Zekros-sama was still intending to travel as soon as he got the summoning jutsu down properly. I was glad my training was simpler than what he had to do, though I will admit sticking to the walls and walking on water were interesting, but we had wings. With a combination of wings and teleportation our travel potential was vastly superior to most others, even if we had to usually have been somewhere to do it.

Honestly the summoning flyers were a way to teleport somewhere you had never been, but while they had protections against someone with malicious intent summoning us that didn't mean that a person couldn't be tricked, so we kept those to places we deemed friendly once we started making them.

I sighed softly as I could hear the cry of 'Summoning Jutsu' drift up through the open window. I glanced out the window and saw a black five-tailed fox appear that seemed to send Bane into a panic. It was odd seeing that confident little fox bowing down before another, maybe it was his father? Oh well he was a young fox, he'd grow into his tails.

I couldn't quite here what they were saying, the silencing spell I had placed upon the window kept out all but the loudest noises. Which implied that my King was being especially loud today, oh well Tsunade shall sort him out quickly enough. She had actually gone up to him and demanded another date before he left, or she would chase him down and haul him to the nearest clinic to neuter him. It was a rather terrifying threat in general, and much worse coming from someone like Tsunade, who could easily do it in the field if she was feeling really viscious.

Once again affirming my belief in avoiding the ire of the females in the Peerage, I returned back to the paperwork in front of me. The current paper was an request for escort from Konoha to Wave, from the captains we had hired. Huh, that was interesting. Maybe Shizune and Mei would like to take it. They could drop our King off with a halfway teleport before they completed the trip to Konoha. I'd better write that down somewhere.

Better yet, I should take this to Zekros-sama now. I'm sure he could use the break. 'Though it is likely Lady Tsunade will work him twice as hard because of the break,' I thought with a snicker, as I gathered the relevant papers.

As I was exiting the house and my King entered my vision, he used another summoning jutsu. This time however, even I could feel the magic and chakra heavy in the air, feeling the great amount effort he had put into it. The heavy smoke from the summoning blew out around us, restricting vision at whoever he had summoned.

"Who could have possibly summoned me to this realm?" I hear a delicate and refined voice ask.

"And who are you?" Zekros replied as the smoke started to clear.

Standing elegantly in front of us, nine golden tails waving idly in the air, was a blonde woman of great beauty. From what my King has told me, there was only one lady like that. "I am Yasaka of the Yokai, may I ask who you are?"

Oh just what kind of stupidity has been brought upon me now. Sweet merciful Maou.


(Zekros Gremory POV)

I may have just suddenly developed a thing for blondes. The vision before was a perfect ten in my eyes. Or maybe that was my fox instincts now, because I was having to fight the urge to kneel before her like Bane was doing. So this was the Princess of the Kitsune. What a gem before me, no wonder the fox summons spoke about her every chance they got.

Forcing myself to meet her eyes and not let my eyes drop to the cleavage her kimono was showing, I bowed slightly. "I am Zekros Gremory, Yasaka-hime."

An elegant eyebrow rose slightly. "Well you have some manners, for a criminal." She smiled slightly as I winced. "You wouldn't happen to be the reason one of my cute little relatives came back with a ridiculous tale about my grandfather, would you?"

Well there was no reason to deny it, I didn't actually mean for this to occur. "Ah, yes, that would be me." My tails waved slightly behind me, though I was feeling an odd thrum along my spine. "Would you happen to be aware of my crime, and perhaps any news since then? We've been here for several weeks now."

"Hmm, well they said you stole a second set of those Evil Pieces, with an incomplete Peerage to begin with." I smiled slightly at her, nodding along. "You then used a stolen book of spells and transported yourself away. You managed to land yourself here, a place we refuse to admit the existance of to outsiders."

I blinked at the slightly hostile last part of that. "Yes well when I performed the spell, my Knight and I were pulled slightly off course during the teleportation. I managed to land smack dab in the middle of a ritual, my Knight not far away."

Her eyes narrowed at me. "What kind of ritual?"

"A sealing ritual Lady Yasaka," Bane spoke up. "It seems they were... sealing Lord Kurama, apparently not for the first time."

"Is that where he's been all these years?" The beautiful woman became visibly angered. "Who dared to try to seal my grandfather away! The Kitsune will not stand for this," she hissed.

I didn't actually know how to answer that, as Kushina hadn't explained much more than that to me either. Though I had been slightly avoiding being alone with her, I didn't really deal well with emotions and didn't want to bring something up and upset her. Thankfully Bane seemed to have the answers she needed.

"He was sealed a long time ago my Lady. A man had controlled him and forced him to attack his rival, and that man sealed him into his wife." Wait, what? That was interesting. "Following this, as she aged she transferred Lord Kurama to a younger relative."

"That would be me," I heard Kushina call from behind me. "I was the second host."

"And where is my grandfather now?" Lady Yasaka asked. "What ritual did this devil interrupt, and why is this known Pureblood Devil now a Kitsune?"

Kushina gave a slight grimace at the memory. "I had given birth, after gaining the cooperation of the Kyuubi so that he wouldn't try any mischief. When my son came along, a masked man appeared and... well the fox eventually got unsealed." She took a shallow breath, appearing shaken.

Krueger stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a smile. She returned a soft look back before glancing at the kyuubi in front of her. I could see a slightly firmer look come to rest on her face as she gathered herself.

"This man also had a Sharingan capable of controlling the Kyuubi, and he turned him on Konoha once more. My husband offered up his soul to the Shinigami to summon him and seal the demon into my newborn son, since I was too weak to have it resealed into me after the birth and unsealing." She took a deeper breath this time, the firm mask staying in place. "At the end of the battle, as my husband Minato and I were dying from our injuries, the Kyuubi was about to be sealed. And then in the middle of the sealing, a sarcastic redhead appeared."

"And that would be me of course," I said dryly. "Whatever pulled my teleport in is unknown to me, but I do know whatever sealing they were attempting failed. That fox wasn't sealed into me, I absorbed it. Or at least most of it, a portion seemed to vanish partway through, followed by another small amount. Of course, I'm blaming my adaptive Gremory blood, but I wouldn't put it past outside influence. Or even my spell somehow going wrong." I shrugged before bowing more deeply to Yasaka. "Greetings fair maiden, I am the Kitsune/Devil hybrid known as Zekros Gremory. I'm also a fair businessman."

The young kyuubi raised her sleeve and giggled behind it, causing me to blush slightly. I was having odd reactions and impulses around her. I actually wouldn't put it past Bane to have intentionally not told me about this if he could have, sneaky fox.

"Well have no fear Zekros-san, I have no interest in the Underworld's criminals. And I also have no doubt my grandfather will eventually reform from his... adventures." She smiled lightly at me now, mischief sparking in her gaze. "And you're our new Fox Summoner are you? I could work with this, I suppose. Of course it just wouldn't be proper for me not to stay around and observe you, now would it?"

"Lady Yasaka!" Bane gasped.

"Oh hush Bane, do you know how rare it is I get summoned here?" The little fox backed down when she glanced at him. "You wouldn't mind me too much, would you Zekros-san?" Holy hell, I've never actually seen a woman bat her eyes like that.

"Of course not," I replied, shifting slightly. That feeling in my spine was slowly growing, and just being within a few feet of this woman was sending my hormones nuts. "There's a potential summoner I'd like to introduce to you, of course. I was informed you wouldn't like it if another signed before the scroll was returned."

"That's great." She paused to frown in thought, tapping her chin with a single slender finger. "Just... how much of Grandfather's chakra did you absorb?"

"I'd say about five tails worth of it," Kushina informed her.

Yasaka blinked briefly, being eyeing me over once again. "Oh yes, you'll do."

"Uh, do what, exactly?" I asked, concerned with the look in her eyes.

"No worries, just talking to myself," she smiled.

I decided my best course of action was to drop it, and after accepting whatever file of papers it was that Krueger handed me, I led Yasaka-hime on a search for Mei. I also retrieved the contract and returned it to the Fox Princess like I was supposed to, though the smile I was given was more predatory than anything. My Avarice was practically quivering and I had no clue why.

End.


A/N: I could have probably made this chapter longer, but it would have been a bunch of pointless small talk and writing that drives me nuts. Probably because most of my interactions are with long time friends and 'small talk' tends to involve video games or jokes.