A/N: Sorry for the delay, I was unable to focus much time in writing. Also I'm basically using the Naruto map on the wiki, because it's the easiest way to do it. (Though I think I may have doubled or tripled Wave's size, meh, I like it.) Oh and Zekros and Krueger don't always think the honorifics for most people (though Zekros' insticts are affecting him in regards to Yasaka) because they are obviously Euro and not fully used to it, even with the Devil translation power. Which I still find op and entirely necessary at the same time, like the Sharingan. I also pushed back the debut of an age altered friend for a couple chapters, for flow reasons.

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

Chapter IV: Preparations and Destinations

(Zekros Gremory POV)

Mei-chan and Yasaka-hime seemed to get along perfectly. To be honest, once the conversation turned to talking about kimonos I tuned them out. And then the kitsune woman informed me that she was serious that she'd be observing me for a long while yet, and I'd better get used to her presence. I had a feeling this was going to require me to sacrifice a few ideas for my travels. A shame, truly, but at least it would not stop me.

Mei also took to summoning like a fish out of water. And she kept shooting me looks which made me feel that I'd need to start my trip sooner rather than later. First though I'd have to adjust to having Yasaka along with me, and I had a date with Tsunade to plan. Though that wasn't actually all that hard, I'd found the perfect cliff over the sea to picnic on. A walk along the beach would be nice as well.

"So what will be our first destination, Zekros-san?" It seemed Mei had told her of my plans yesterday.

I groaned in the privacy of my mind, before I realized I was just being an idiot. A beautiful woman hanging around is just about the most commonly accepted desire for men.

"I was thinking Kumogakure seems like an interesting first stop," I replied without looking up from the papers I was reading. "It would also allow me to look into acquiring proper weaponry as well, since that land is rather known for their kenjutsu. I'll also be trying to take the odd job while I travel."

"Oh that sounds interesting, what kind of jobs?" Yasaka was eyeing me with amusement, her tails shiftly idly.

My lower back was still feeling weird, but I gave it no attention. "I have no idea, actually. I'll decide what to accept when they come my way." I winced slightly as a shot of pain went up my spine.

"You're feeling it already," Yasaka muttered softly.

"Feeling what exactly?" I asked, as another shiver of pain went through me.

Yasaka shrugged slightly, doing marvelous things to her figure. "Grandfather was extremely powerful. Three tails worth of his power is about equal to another kyuubi, it is why he is known as 'The Kyuubi' among people." She gave me a small smile as she licked her lips. "Depending on just how much chakra you absorbed from Grandfather, and your own power, you could potentially become a new kyuubi."

I blinked once, then twice. "What do you mean by 'become a new kyuubi', exactly?"

"You're going to manifest another tail soon darling," she giggled at the shock on my face. "Oh don't worry, you just need to sleep well at night. I'm sure you'll notice a loss of balance one morning but it shouldn't be too bad. Though, I was born with nine tails so I don't know how off you'll feel."

I gave a slight grumble as I pulsed my magic through the Evil Pieces of my combat capable servants, focusing on tuning out Tazuna, Tsunade, and Tsunami during the call. As everyone gathered together I realized it was likely I'd need a rather large office in our residence, so I jotted that down on a notepad beside me. Kushina was the last to arrive, likely having been with Naruto or attending to her own new investments.

"We have an escort request," I informed my people. "I don't particularly have any preferences over who takes this, it's a rather simple trip from Konoha to here while protecting the clients. I'll be teleporting myself, Yasaka-hime, and whoever decides to go halfway to Konoha. After that you can make the trip yourself."

"I'll go Zekros-sama," Shizune volunteered. "I can take the time to buy some more medical supplies and check on a few things."

"I'd go myself, but I don't want to leave little Naru-chan that long just yet." Honestly, I hadn't expected a different answer from Kushina. "Though if someone could deliver letters to Mikoto-chan and Kashi-kun for me, I'd be grateful."

That also didn't surprise me, seeing as two of the people who'd summoned her after we sent those flyers were Mikoto Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake. She'd returned one night with the best bowl of ramen I'd ever experienced. Mmm, beef.

"I can deliver the letters Kushina-san," Mei offered. "I think I'll enjoy seeing the village."

I was busy doing math in my head and figuring out when would be the best time to depart. I had a date at the end of the week, so leaving after the weekend would be nice. Yes, I guess that will do.

"Ok, since you both are going I'm sending Krueger along." My loyal werewolf Knight stared at me in surprise. "You're Jonin level Krueger, they are both Chunin level. It's simply wiser to send you along until we can fill the Peerage a bit more."

He gave in with a sigh, nodding and then leaving the room, likely to begin gathering his gear. He should just be happy I needed him here to help run things or I'd drag him along with me. I still couldn't decide if Yasaka-hime accompanying me was a good thing.

"Zekros-sama," Shizune called, catching my attention. "Tsunade-sama wanted me to inform you that she had passed the message along to Jiraiya-sama along with Hokage-sama. Apparently they said they'd look into passing the missions that Konoha wouldn't accept for various reasons along to us."

"Well that's useful," I replied. "Sometimes for political reasons one group is unable to do a job and will pass on it. Us getting these missions would be beneficial in the long run, I'm sure."

When everyone finally cleared out of my office, I breathed a sigh of relief before I realized I wasn't truly alone. It seems my other Queen had been listening in, how amusing.

"Come on out Tsunade," I said, causing her to drop in through the window. "Remind me to place privacy seals around my office when it's completed, would you?"

Tsunade snickered softly. "I'm sure Kushina would be rather helpful. But that's not why I'm here."

"No doubt," I replied as I turned to smile at her. "What do you need?"

"Sensei has passed along a request, strictly off the records," she told me. "He wants you to enter Konoha discreetly and meet with him. He said something about an investigation needing to be done."

"Chance of battle?" I asked.

She nodded slightly, "There's potential for it, yes."

"Why did you have Shizune deliver that message and not give me it yourself? And why won't he just summon me with a flyer?"

A snicker came from the busty blonde, "Deniability of course."

Tsunade left a few minutes later, after confirming out date this Friday. I closed the open window with a sigh, thinking about how many different spells I was going to have to layer on myself to enter Konoha without people noticing me. Oh Maou, Yasaka-hime would likely need a bunch of illusions as well.

I was going to have to touch up on my illusion magic. Yasaka-hime might be able to help in that regard, but I had this disturbing feeling I would likely find myself regretting asking. The things I do for business.

(Krueger POV)

I'd been assigned another job. This was disappointing, as I had finally managed to get our accounts in order. Not to mention that work had finally been started on our new residence, though it was still in the land clearing phase. The trees that we cut were being sent to be turned into proper materials, and Tazuna had been going to the land and drawing plans for the bridges we would need. Well, at least it was all going smoothly at the moment.

At least I had a few days to get everything set up for my absence, even if it would be only a few days. Things tend to go wrong immediately after our eyes are taken off them, so Kushina or Tsunade would need to keep their attention towards the projects. Damn, I'd entirely forgot about sewage, we'd have to deal with that as well, better alert someone to that.

I wrote the note and then sought Kushina. I found the woman slowly rocking her son's crib, a soft smile on her face. I knocked politely on the open door, waiting for her to look up and wave me in. Nothing the rather large pile of paperwork she had on her table, I gave her an amused look as I passed her my note.

"I'll look into it Krueger," she told me after giving it a quick read. "How have you been?" I shrugged my shoulders slightly. "Does it get better?"

I shook my head as I held up my right hand, pulling my notepad out with my left. I scribbled a short note, It gets different, before turning it around to her. The woman had lost her people once before, including her parents, during the fall of her homeland. She'd then lost the last family member she knew not long after.

"I understand," Kushina muttered. "I still wish things were better though."

It took me a moment to write my response, as I was thinking it over. Yes. But you still have the chance to shape things, don't lose sight of that. When I'd paused in writing the message, I took a short look at Naruto sleeping in his crib. His whisker marks were amusing, but I was getting a strange feeling from him, almost like... well, that would be fitting. I think you should get Lady Yasaka and Lady Tsunade to take another look at Naruto, I finished, passing it over.

She raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded and said she'd do so. I didn't pry into what she meant by that, and quickly left the woman. Sometimes it was better to retreat than to stay, and this was definitely one of them. I was going to be amused by the reactions from the rest of the peerage, that was for sure.

The next morning greeted me with an annoyed King, two amused Queens, and an enthusiastic Rook. Apparently Zekros-sama was grumbling because eventually he wouldn't be the only male kitsune around, since little Naruto was expected to manifest kitsune traits in a few months. Mei was giggling at Zekros-sama while Tsunade openly laughed at him.

"I'm no longer feeling the love," the red haired man complained.

"That's ok Zekros-san," Yasaka-hime said as she entered the room, "I like you just fine."

After we'd all gotten our laughs out of the way, well I snickered lightly, Kushina and I brought up the need for a sewer system. At least, Kushina did, and I nodded and shook my head depending on what I was asked. I still have no idea why people find talking to me so refreshing, but it gives me more headaches than I need.

My day wasn't actually all that exciting, mostly spent acquiring more explosive tags and sealing scrolls for Zekros-sama and his journey. I also had the realization that we should plan for other clans potentially moving here, and that we'd likely need to ensure our population was supported properly.

I retired late that evening, content with the fact that I had finished all of my paperwork. Truthfully that was normally something to celebrate over, but I made sure to keep up with it so I never let it pile up too bad. Zekros-sama was happily acquiring more servants to do more work for him, seeming to snicker away all the while, but he would eventually be the victim of massive paperwork piles. It was only a matter of time after all.

(Zekros Gremory)

When I'd read Krueger's memo Friday morning, I got an earful of clan history from some of my Peerage women when I asked Kushina for advice, since her people had known this island well. She'd then called in Tsunade, who was descended from an Uzumaki, and Mei, who was from the Terumi clan that had ties in the very distant 'd taken me to discuss it over lunch, for the simple reason that we were all from clans.

I gave them a basic rundown of the Gremory Clan, how we treated how servants, victories and defeats during wars, and whatnot. Tsunade and Kushina taught me more about Uzushio and Konoha, along with the Senju and Uzumaki Clans. Their relationship with the Uchiha Clan was interesting, along with the history of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, two of the most powerful ninja in history.

When Mei had talked about Kiri and the bloody history there I had to pause and think about all she'd said. The Academy practices alone cemented the place a brutal reputation, and their ninja reinforced the image. The Terumi Clan apparently had a lot of Lava Release and Boil Release bloodlines in it, and she was the product of two such members marriage. The sad part was that they were all the last of their clans, well the Uzumaki also had Naruto but he was a baby.

When it came to clans I knew far more after that discussion than I'd ever thought to expect. So yes, they advised, I'd likely to have to buy more land in my bid to become Daimyo and gather people to work for me. I'd also likely need more farms than I'd expect if I wanted to sustain my Peerage off of my land. Technically, the whole island would likely become one big village, but we weren't worried about that happening for a long time.

Those plans were put off for now though, on account of the fact that we wouldn't be in position to buy more land for a few years yet. Plus I had to get ready for my date with Tsunade, and there was no way I was going to half ass that. Just thinking about her reaction made me shiver slightly.

This time when she came down the stairs while I was waiting with a picnic basket, it took me more than a few seconds to drag my eyes off of her figure clad in a sundress. "You look amazing, as usual Tsunade," I complimented.

She smiled before she gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "I'm looking forward to whatever it is you have planned. Kushina was telling me I'd really enjoy it."

"Of course you will, I go to the girls for advice," I snorted while guiding her out of the villa. "I run my ideas past them if I'm having trouble deciding."

"So I can blame them if anything goes wrong?" She asks with a laugh.

I shrugged and shifted the basket I was carrying. "If you want to." Not that I'd allow a date to go that badly if I could help it. "Now c'mon, I want to get there before the sun gets too far down."

We were able to follow the beach up for a fair ways, so we took the chance to walk in the sand and laugh at water lapping at our ankles. Thankfully we'd carried our footwear, because I just knew my geta would get me stuck in the sand knowing my luck. Seeing Tsunade kick a crab that had tried to pinch her toe into the sky was hilarious, and she started to blush when I laughed at it.

We'd arrived at the seaside cliff I'd picked out after a bit, carefully settling down on a blanket I'd packed in the basket. Once I'd laid out the food I had had to beg Mei to help me make, I took a moment to admire the woman in front of me. Her pale green sundress went well with her coloring, coming down to her calves and showing off her figure fantastically. She caught me looking at her breasts after that, causing me to cough and look away while she laughed.

"This all looks wonderful," she commented as she eyed the mix of mix spread before her.

I still wasn't entirely sure how Kushina had managed to con that Jiraiya man into rigging up seals to keep the baskets contents at a constant level, but considering the brownies and the meat dishes were at the perfect temperatures I wasn't going to complain that she'd made me buy them. We had excellent steak, curry, my brownies, sake, and salads all laid out on the blanket.

"You'd better come back, you know," Tsunade warned me as she cut into her steak. "No dying on me."

Despite the light tone she said it in, I could hear the underlying tension in her voice. "Getting attached to me, Tsunade-chan?" My obvious teasing was treated with a mock glare. "No worries, I don't plan on dying any time soon. And besides, Yasaka-hime will be traveling with me and she can more than handle herself."

Tsunade sighed briefly. "I can't help but worry though," she muttered."I like the people here, and I wouldn't them all broken up."

"I'll be fine Tsunade," I reassured her. "And I can always send out a call for you guys to teleport to if I need to."

It was several more minutes of eating before she finally gave in to the urge for brownies, and I watched as the pile slowly disappeared along with the sake. This of course was followed by me teasing her about my brownies, and her grumbling about dumb foxes and annoying redheads. Our conversation ended when we turned to watch the sunset, neither of us really needing to say anything else.

Seeing the colors of the sky changing out over the sea was beautiful. It was a comfortable silence that accompanied us home that night, during another relaxing walk along the beach. She gave me another peck to the cheek before she went to her rooms, and I retired for the night with a smile on my face.

Yasaka-hime and forced me to spend the entire weekend practicing my illusions, and I suffered through many banged noses and toes when she decided to include training with detecting illusions. I'd managed to get to where she deemed me 'adequate' and thanked the Maou when she let me relax on the last night.

Honestly I had no clue how I had managed to pick up on illusions as swiftly as I had, but when I'd awakened this morning with my new third tail, I figured it had to do with being a kitsune. Yasaka-hime grinned rather smugly when she saw my new tail waving behind me, and I'd discovered the fox insticts were rather strong currently. It took all my willpower not to break down like a blushing fangirl, and I would never allow myself to stoop to such levels.

I checked my travel pack once again, sighing when I saw all of the storage scrolls I was being forced to carry. It was rather annoying, but Yasaka-hime had packed several of her own into my bag. When she'd done it though, she gave me a brief peck on my cheek and a giggle before walking away with her tails waving. It too me more than a few moments to realize the game she was playing at, and I smirked when I caught the light grin on Tsunade's face when she rolled her eyes.

The Evil Piece used to reincarnate Tsunade probably eased up some of her responses towards the difference between devil and human beliefs and habits. The fact that she currently wasn't tearing Yasaka-hime or myself apart lent credit to this theory. Though I had noticed the two of them conspiring with Mei, walking around in a small group and going quiet whenever I tried to draw near. Those three were definitely up to something.

Regardless, once we were all assembled and said our goodbyes, I had to focus on what I was doing. Teleporting someone who isn't in the Peerage, in this case Yasaka-hime, took more concentration that without. You could honestly end up in an area that is entirely unknown to you if you weren't careful. As the red light from my clans crest filled the area I gave one final wave to the others that were to remain behind, and that I likely wouldn't see soon.

(Zekros Gremory POV)

"Are you sure you can't come to Konoha with us, Zekros-sama?" Mei asked for probably the sixth time.

"I'm sure, Mei-chan," I replied with a smile. "Make sure to have a bit of fun though, ok?"

Mei gave me and Yasaka-hime each a hug, and Krueger and Shizune nodded to me, and then they teleported off. I led Yasaka-hime off towards the northeast, intent on coming in from a different direction and maybe a day later if we needed to. I was asked to be discreet, after all.

Traveling through the trees was always an interesting experience, and we listened to the sounds of nature as we jumped among the branches. The tree climbing exercises that I had been forced to practice came in use here, as I would grip the tree ever so slightly to prepare my jumps better. I was busy reinforcing the illusions that covered myself, and trying not to let them break suddenly.

If such a thing occured, a nightmare of problems would then follow. I disliked the kinds of issues which would likely come about in that scenario, they were bad for business and money. As I was busy thinking over the horror of such a thing, I didn't notice Yasaka-hime trying to get my attention until she pinched my ear.

"We should go further east, build some distance for us to be seen traveling towards Konoha," she demanded with a pout.

I was still busy rubbing the pain out of my earlobe, but I agreed with her idea. "It's rather odd to jump through trees with a wakizashi," I told her as I followed. "I haven't worn a sword for extended periods of time except for when I trained in my younger days."

Yasaka laughed at that, "Be grateful Kushina-chan had a spare for you to use. And it fits your role of 'Yusuke-san' very well."

"Why yes 'Lady Akiko' I believe it does." I had put extra emphasis on her name as she had mine.

She giggled at my grumbling, and we settled into silence for a time as I practiced a leaf sticking exercise as we moved. It would be several hours before either of us heard a sound that didn't come from the forest, and as expected Yasaka-hime heard it first.

Being dragged by my ankle to the road we were about to jump over, I was forced to bite my tongue at questioning the blonde when cries of 'Youth!' finally registered to my ears. I went still in shock as a green blur flew past me, only to stop in a great cloud of dust slightly up the road.

"Youth!" 'Dear Maou, what in the Underworld was that?' I didn't get a chance to react as in another burst of speed a teenager in green spandex appeared before us. "Greetings Youthful travelers, I am Konoha's Sublime Green Beast, Maito Gai!" The teen gave a typical 'nice guy' pose, complete with the ping of his teeth.

Considering I had used an illusion to look my actual age of thirty, and that I had to play as Yasaka's common faced 'guard' retainer, I stepped forward. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Gai-san," I put on my most friendly smile. Time to establish the disguise. "My name is Yusuke. Would you by chance be returning to Konohagakure?"

"Indeed I am, my Fires of Youth are burning brightly in excitement of seeing my Youthful home!" I was left blinking for several moments by his statement, before I just deemed him 'insane' and moved on with it.

"Might I enquire as to the road conditions, I would rather Lady Akiko not be harassed by anyone." The blonde beauty, who had muted her hair color and softened her features, waved from a few feet behind me. "She has expressed her desire to see your village, and as her retainer it is my duty to protect her on her travels."

I'm not sure what exactly set the teenager off, but he somehow managed to convince himself that his 'Springtime of Youth' demanded he escort the beautiful maiden to his 'Village of Youth' and Yasaka-hime and I just smiled politely and thanked him. To be entirely honest, the man had far too much energy for me to be comfortable around him, but he was a nice enough gentleman at least. As we were following the man, at an annoyingly slow civilian pace so that our act was safe, I let Yasaka-hime ask him questions about his home.

The woman had the innocent act down to a form of art, which fit perfectly with her dismissing my paranoia and nerves as protectiveness. We'd gone so far as to hire a messenger during the weekend to deliver notice of a visting minor noblewoman, though Tsunade had inserted a code that she said only the Hokage would understand to announce ourselves. I didn't particularly like this type of intrigue, but I was patient and smart enough to see the benefits.

Gai was a cheerful individual, happy and carefree on the surface, but I could sense the shinobi behind the mask. A few more years of experience and he might just be able to see behind masks as well as I could, seeing as he already picked up a vibe from me. This was offset by Yasaka supplying him with the story that I was a distant relative of hers that was still recovering mentally from a civil war.

Our exuberant traveling companion easily took the chance to ask me if I was a shinobi, but I laughed his question off and explained that I only knew a few chakra control exercises. My skills in kenjutsu weren't very extensive, as I'd never put the same amount of effort into a blade as my Knight had, no matter how many times I'd fought him, so my humble explanation of being assigned to guard 'Lady Akiko' because I was very good at spotting the untrustworthy folks.

It hurt my pride to compare myself to the average bandit leader in skill level, but if I bragged about my true strength it would obviously give me away. The man seemed more than happy with what little I'd been willing to share, and I realized that Yasaka had used a little magic to make the man accept us easier. She smirked at my raised eyebrow when I'd caught her eye, and then asked Gai about flowers and animals that could be found around his village. I misjudged just how sneaky that woman was, I need to keep an eye on her.

Unfortunately a small measure of Killing Intent started setting my senses off partway through the day, and I knew for sure that Gai sensed it from behind us as I could see him trying very hard to keep the happy mask up. A brief moment of eye contact made me realize that neither of us knew the source of it, so I slowed my step to fall behind Yasaka.

"Bandits," Yasaka whispered to me as I walked beside her briefly.. Her hearing was far more sensitive than mine, as she knew how to properly boost her senses with her powers. "Nasty fools, but while they might not deem you too dangerous Yusuke-san, they don't wish to fight Gai-san. They seem to be considering leaving."

"Can you tell me how many there are, Lady Akiko?" Gai's question was near silent, and I barely caught it. "I cannot allow deviants such as that to exist this close to Konoha."

"Only four Gai-san, but-" she didn't get to finish as he'd already vanished in a swirl of leaves.

I glanced back at the sounds of thuds, groaning, and pained swearing. Hanging upside down from a tree were four rather plain, if rather scruffy, bound men. Gai was standing on the branch above them in a nice guy pose, teeth gleeming while the wind brushed his hair. I have no desire to understand how he managed to get his teeth to ping every time he struck that pose, and from the looks of it even Yasaka-hime didn't wish to know.

"Are you just going to leave them there, Gai-san?" Yasaka asked as the teen jumped down and started along the road.

"I've left a shadow clone to watch over them, and I can have another run ahead to Konoha." Gai gave a wide smile, "It would be unyouthful of me to leave you travelers alone on these roads."

"Oh no Gai-san, I'm sure Yusuke-san could protect me." She put a finger to her chin, obviously in thought. "How far away are we anyway?"

"We should arrive there late tomorrow afternoon," Gai replied. "Your travels would likely have been faster if you were not afoot, my lady."

"But then I wouldn't get to see all this lovely countryside." The blonde then shrugged and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"I will never understand women," I muttered quietly under my breath.

Gai had indeed sent a shadow clone ahead of us, and then started to walk on his hands. Yasaka-hime and I exchanged looks but remained silent, again just brushing off his strange behavior. I'd firmly come to believe all ninja were insane after spending time with Kushina, Mei, and Tsunade while Yasaka-hime just seemed amused by it all. Honestly it seemed like everything amused her.

When we had settled down for the night, Gai was entirely too amused by me having to put up Yasaka's tent, though he was nice and assisted me. "So what do you do when you aren't escorting Lady Akiko around Yusuke-san?" Gai looked a little more amused as he tended to the campfire. "No offense, it just seems to me not to be your normal habit."

"That's correct," I grunted. "I'm a businessman by trade, fighter by need, explorer for fun, and apparently unlucky enough to interest the girl."

"Lady Akiko is interested in you?" Gai's eyes were wide, but I could see the smirk he was fighting off.

"Hmm. I wasn't planning on heading to Konoha on this trip, or having her along, hence my lack of transport or escort." I took the time to sip my tea, thankful that Gai at least had skill in the art of tea making. "When I had realized she was following me around it was too late to send her back, and there was no way I was delaying my trip just because of her."

"Are you going to hire an escort to return her home?" He put another branch into the fire before he returned Yasaka's wave as she disappeared into her tent.

I snorted softly in amusement. "She'd just follow me again. It seems I am stuck with her on this trip."

Gai just smiled before I finished my cup of tea and bid him a good night. I'd take a later watch of my own of course, but the green clad teenager might just stay awake during that or leave a clone up for it. As I covered myself in blankets, I put my sword a short distance away from my hand for an easier time drawing it. I've got to be careful outside of villages after all.

End.

A/N: I find myself forced to restrain Gai's Youthfulness so that I don't make him seem too insane :D I find myself spending more time coming up with and discarding lines than I'd like to admit sometimes though, but I wanted things to continue without getting bogged down and slowed while in Wave. The next time we see our island it will likely be more than amusing, though it will be a bit before Zekros himself returns. Poor Krueger is going to be stuck there with all those crazy women, haha.