Chapter 2: What Are You? (Revised)
My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World…
Naruto Uzumaki stared into the blue-green eyes of Rias Gremory. His expression was dead serious, almost like a psychopathic murderer. Most girls would have quivered and wilted at the sight of his glare.
Too bad Rias wasn't most girls. She merely smiled in the face of death.
"Who am I? What am I? Let's start with a different question red. Like who are you and what are you?" Naruto said before turning his vision on the revitalized Issei.
He could've sworn he had a hole in his chest. The only way it could've vanished was for it to heal at an accelerated rate. Putting two and two together was easy at that point. This red head appears emitting a dark energy that is akin to the one his hime described to him. There was also the fact that he could now sense that energy in excess inside of Issei. That and for some strange reason another thing he couldn't identify.
Still dead corpses don't usually look so life like. Almost as if he'd been resurrected.
"Could this really be a devil? Better tread carefully around her,"
Rias still smiled at Naruto, though she decided she had come off too strong earlier. She rectified this mistake by answering his first question.
"Well seeing as we go to the same school it's oddly strange to meet someone who doesn't know my name. Still since we've never technically met; my name is Rias Gremory," she said crossing her arms.
Rias… Gremory.
An odd first name combined with an ancient last name. Gremory, a Latin transposition of the word Grimoire. Reference to the two hundred forty edicts of Anglo-Demonic-Christian story cards. Her name easily told Naruto that he was indeed looking at a devil, though she wasn't ancient.
"She appears young yet I can tell she really is 17 from her essence. That still doesn't explain this presence I sense around her. It's like it's trying to evaporate me on contact,"
"Now your turn Uzumaki-san,"
Naruto for his part remained calm. He noticed her tone change as if she wanted control of the situation. But you didn't gain the title, king of assholes, without knowing a thing or two about short changing people.
"Well you know my name so that's a start. What I am though… we'll honestly I don't really know how to respond to that. What are you implying?" he goaded her trying to prod for information.
Rias slowly started to frown.
"You can't possibly be normal… I mean look at you. You survived with a hole in your chest stitching itself together. Then you show off abilities no normal person could have. Excuse me for being so curious?" she responded.
Now she was trying make the logical appeal to him, while also not forwardly stating what she was.
"Oh no… were not doing that yet red. You seem to already know my name and yet we've never actually met face to face. Still I have to wonder, how you got that info. Was it gathered from all the times you were observing me, or maybe it was Himejima who delivered it to you. Then again the Shitri girl also seems like you too." Naruto said in an effort to bait Rias.
The girl didn't disappoint.
"Oh so you know of what I am at least. But how did you find out about the others?" Rias spoke not noticing Naruto smirk from her side.
"Easy. You just told me… and judging from the essence I feel. I'm guessing that Yuuto is also like you. So I just really want to know, why you decided to turn Issei into what you are."
Rias shook her head. Two could play this game.
"Ah ah, not so fast Naruto. I still want to know what you are first. Clearly you've got knowledge on the supernatural world since you know about devils. That doesn't explain how you know it though, or what you could be. There's just no way someone with your skill and worth could possibly be human," Rias said almost inquisitively.
"Hmmm so she doesn't know as much about me as I thought. Still I don't need to go around the world with a target on my back. Better try and deflect this somehow,"
"Well what if I was to leave now. What would you do then hmmm?" Naruto said starting to fade away. Before he completely vanished Rias said one more thing.
"In that case, I'll send Kiba to get you tomorrow,"
"It's a date," Naruto's voice slowly faded out.
Rias rolled her eyes at his classy attitude. He really did seem to be just as Kiba described him.
The crimson haired girl sighed before turning to Issei's body. He was still incapacitated due to the severity of his previous injuries, but his condition had stabilized. Still with her energy inside him, she could detect internal bleeding… most likely a result of turning him into a devil after he was stabbed with light. This would require further healing, to completely heal his body. She would have offered it to Naruto as well had she turned him into a devil, but for some odd reason she felt that wouldn't have been a good idea in the long run.
Her point was immediately proven.
Rias felt a weird energy begin to form around her. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but she could definitely feel its presence. She idly saw several dark silhouettes glare at her from the thicket of bushes before vanishing. Along with them went the pressure causing her mind to kick into overdrive.
Was she about to be ambushed? She started thinking up multiple exit strategies and counters before the attack could come.
A sharp shick sound stopped her train of thought. Rias looked behind her to see a metal ninja star imbedded into the park fountain. On it a note was attached.
'Damn straight touching my property wouldn't be a good idea. Now make sure you know your place red head!'
Rias looked on at the note alarmed.
The note worried Rias a lot more than Naruto had. It was extremely personal and directed right at her thoughts, as if whomever wrote it could peer into her mind without any trouble. She turned frantically to locate the thrower of the projectile, before checking the sky to see if they were there.
Strange thing is, there was absolutely no one there.
"Oooook. So I'm just going to take my property and go now. Certainly not going to try and go after Naruto, no sir. Just going to teleport back to Issei's house now," Rias said in a now frightened tone.
She slowly backed up to Issei's body before carefully leaning down to pick him up. She checked behind her back multiple times to be sure there was no assailant, before grabbing Issei. Just as she was about to summon a teleport circle, another kunai shicked behind her. This one was lodged into Issei's shoe, but the incapacitated boy couldn't even feel it.
Rias carefully read the note.
'You better keep your word bitch. Naruto is mine. Now look pretty and leave quietly or else!'
Rias dropped the note there and started to run away with Issei in her arms. When she thought she got far away her teleport circle activated, sending her straight to Issei's house.
Had she looked back, she'd have seen a feminine silhouette glaring at her with red eyes.
Over with Naruto he had finally made it back to his apartment complex. As he was about to open his door a black cat with an ornately detailed headband appeared at his feet. Naruto paused as the cat rubbed against his legs before circling back around and sitting at his toes. Upon looking closely at the cat's tail, he saw what he was looking for.
This particular cat had a partial split down the tip of its tail, giving it the appearance of having two tails.
Naruto smirked before picking up the cat and nuzzling it into his face.
"Hey there Kuro-fluffles-chan. Sorry for leaving early this morning, but I had to go find tomato bread for my target," Naruto said while scratching the cat's ears.
The cat made some strangely erotic movements from being scratched in one of its erogenous zones. It looked as if it was panting when Naruto started to stroke its spine.
Meow.
Naruto smirked at the game being played with his friend before putting her down. Yes he said her. Naruto found the cat after about one week staying in the apartment complex. It was stalking some white haired child before it noticed Naruto sneak up on it. When Naruto caught the pouncing feline, he immediately noticed the lack of something important before making his deduction.
Ever since then he always greeted the cat and petted her, to make up for startling her that day. Also because he felt something different about the cat. For some reason though, he couldn't tell what it was.
"Well, I'm about to turn in for the night Kuro-fluffles-chan. Don't stay up all night again," Naruto said while putting the cat down.
The creature stared at Naruto with its golden eyes before starting to walk away. As it was about to round a corner a shuriken embedded into the ground right in front of her. There was also a note attached to the shuriken.
'He may have accepted you, but I haven't yet fur ball. Tread carefully, least you make an enemy of me,'
Apparently the cat could read because after looking at the note, it looked right at where it sensed the shuriken fly from. Seeing a dark black silhouette the cat winked before leaving the vicinity.
My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World…
The next day had come and gone, and Naruto was currently sitting in the occult research club's meeting room. He looked bored as he listened to the shower in the background. The only reason he was here was because he received an offer he just couldn't turn down.
And by offer, he meant threat.
See Rias didn't take well to the fact that Naruto skipped out on her yesterday night. He was found by Kiba at around 12:50 and given an ultimatum. Either he show up and stay during Rias's club meetings for the next week or he can go home. Forever. Yeah Rias actually went that far.
The worst thing was he had no choice but to come here. Uncle Al effectively threatened to cut him and his partner off if Naruto put his link with Gasper in jeopardy.
'Seriously that guy is always on about him. Doesn't he have like seven more great grandkids or something? This is so ridiculous,' Naruto moaned in his head.
He could've definitely survived on his own and braved the world without going to this school. Thing is, Uncle Al was a very good source of info and he seemed to have stakes to claim almost everywhere. Doing a few tasks for him, earns them access to better Intel. In short, it made his whole objective a heck of a lot easier by staying in line this once.
Especially since his partner wasn't having as much luck on their end either.
'This better not take long. I need to get back to work on my next seal. Maybe I can finally start on that matter transportation array?'
The door opened and in walked a white haired girl. She was pretty short, only being 4'6, but she had this aura around her. As Naruto observed her munching brownies from a plate in her hand, he idly wondered why she felt so familiar. Her energy also felt similar to Rias, but he felt something else.
Something he felt a while back when he first meet Kuro-Fluffles-chan. Strangely enough he also could've sworn he'd seen her somewhere before.
For the life of him he couldn't remember where though.
'Ah well, you know what they say. If you can't remember, it probably wasn't that important,' Naruto mused before starting a conversation with the girl. Feeling extra bold, Naruto decided to have some fun with this.
"Hey midget with the fudge brownies, what's your function," Naruto started up rudely.
The white haired girl for her part ignored Naruto, but as many would come to find out. That never worked. Naruto spoke again appearing next to her, this time trying to actually get a rise out of her.
"Mind if I take one of these," he said while literally swiping two brownies off the plate, "my hime-chan only lets me have chocolate five times a day… but I'm all for breaking the rules when she can't see me."
Naruto chewed them both slowly to savor the taste. He hummed in delight as he swallowed the treats.
And with that the girl just stared at Naruto as if he blasphemed her entire culture. Well considering the avid sweet tooth she had, you might as well say he did. For Naruto took not one, but two of her precious brownies. Limited edition brownies that were personally baked by Akeno to pay her back.
She cocked her fist back to punch Naruto's lights out, but some well-placed trickery saved his head. As the punch sailed at him, Naruto bent over to tie his shoe. Koneko still angry tried to axe swing at him with both her arms, and for a moment she made contact with something. She then felt a familiar energy to her before it faded away. It would take her about two seconds to finally find out it wasn't Naruto she hit.
She looked on the ground to see a stuffed dummy with Naruto's face on it. His expression was blowing a raspberry at her. Below that was a note personally written to her, with her name and everything being addressed.
'You gotta be quicker than that Shiro-chan. Maybe next time.'
Reading made Koneko angrier. She turned around looking in the room to try and find him, but the only thing she saw was this strange white smoke. Feeling her ire rise she was about to begin the hunt for Naruto but a knob turning got her attention.
Issei and Kiba entered the room with the former looking slightly nervous. As Issei approached the couch he saw an angry Koneko staring at him, before wondering what had gotten her so pissed off. In all the times he's seen her around school, never has he actually seen her visibly angry before.
"Koneko are you okay?" Kiba asked trying to defuse any potential hostilities.
Her glare turned over to him.
"No. Where is that blonde asshole? Did you see him leave before you came in?" Koneko started while cracking her knuckles. Kiba for his part looked unsurprised already feeling the oncoming headache. Even when he was in trouble it seemed Naruto still didn't care enough not to patronize others.
Still he would have to humor her until the blonde revealed himself.
"Was it the blonde kid I left in here? Got blue eyes and whisker marks?"
Koneko nodded still upset.
"Wait Naruto-sempai is here? Where and what for?" Issei asked while looking around for his idol.
"We don't know Issei, but I have a feeling where going to find out shortly," Kiba said before ushering them both to sit on the couch. This was mainly for Koneko's sake, to get her to calm down. Still even Kiba was put on edge so he needed a seat to. After all when you can't find Naruto then bad things usually happen.
Issei sitting on the far end of the couch was about to ask Koneko a question, but before what stupid crap he was going to say was said, the main door opened again. Strangely no one heard footsteps.
Akeno appeared in the room and next to her was Naruto.
"You!" Koneko said pointing at Naruto.
She was about to lunge at him to finish what was started earlier but Kiba and Akeno interfered. Kiba held Koneko's wrist so she couldn't jump at Naruto, while Akeno pushed Naruto behind her as if to shield him. A few moments of tense silence came after that, mostly with Akeno staring at Naruto.
She finally broke the silence seeing Naruto say nothing in his defense.
"So, what was that about?" she asked careful not to reignite the situation. Naruto looked almost unamused but he still had a confident expression on his face. His eyebrow did start twitching slightly and soon after his lips pressed together. He eventually before taking his book bag off and fumbling around in it.
As he knelt down he spoke.
"That would be proof that even my clones like fucking around with me," Naruto said revealing his slight dissatisfaction.
Finding what he was looking for in his bag Naruto pulled out a booklet before turning the pages. Akeno noticed it was the exact same one from yesterday. Naruto stopped on seemingly a random page before making a strange hand sign the devils were all unfamiliar with.
Unseal
A poof of smoke from the book revealed four delectable looking brownies. Steam slowly wafted off them, showing that they were still piping hot.
Koneko and company stared at Naruto shocked for multiple reasons. The first was mainly due to him summoning sugary treats from seemingly now where without the slightest bit of magic. Akeno was dually shocked because she now had another piece of the puzzle called Naruto.
'And I didn't have to dig for this information. He just casually proves me right,'
Koneko wasn't doing much better. Sure Issei, Kiba, and Akeno were all amazed at his parlor trick delving into the sealing world. Koneko however sensed something from him. Something she denied at first but now wholly accepted.
'He can use chakra?'
She was about to call him on it, but he interrupted her before she could bring it into light.
"Just take the brownies!" he actually did make a new expression this time. Frustration.
Koneko blushed, forgetting she had been starring at him for all of seven seconds. She took the brownies without asking before taking a bite of them. They weren't quite as good as Akeno's but they were strangely more filling.
"When did you have the time to make those brownies? They still seemed fresh?" Kiba asked Naruto now of all times.
Naruto rolled eyes before answering, "Well pretty boy, if you kindly must know… I know a girl. Also yes they were indeed fresh,"
Issei watching Naruto try his hand at mocking Kiba sniggered in his mind. Not cause it was funny, but mostly because he disliked Kiba. Akeno on the other hand sighed to herself.
"You really don't like questions do you Uzumaki-san?" she asked feeling strange seeing this from the outside. After all it was just the other day he was doing the same thing to her. Still it seemed that Kiba took it in stride, more than likely due to all the spars he's had with him.
Koneko finally finished off the plate of brownies just as the sounds of the shower stopped. Everyone, including Issei who just noticed the shower, turned to see a silhouette appearing to dry their hair off. The person was as tall as Naruto was, standing 5'8, and their hair cascaded down below their butt.
After about fifteen seconds of drying the shower curtain opened to reveal Rias who was fastening her bra straps.
Issei's nose started bleeding at that and Kiba closed his eyes while putting on a stupid smirk. Naruto actually did frown now, not at his predicament but rather at the duo's antics. They were acting like they've never seen naked girls before. Well nothing Naruto's never seen, hell he once bathed in the spa with naked chicks before.
"Are you going to keep putting on a show Rias Gremory? Let's get this over with already" Naruto asked feeling his patience start to wane.
The red head looked to Naruto before giving him a smile and tilting her head while closing her eyes.
"Naruto Uzumaki… so good to see you here and accounted for. I see you took my proposition well," she said before walking over to the only desk in the room. The red head slowly sat at her desk before crossing her arms. Now it was her turn to deliver a cocky stare, directed right at Naruto.
Naruto looked unamused.
"Proposition? No no a better term for it would be ultimatum. I mean I just couldn't say no to it after all?" Naruto returned before sitting on the right side couch. Akeno who was also standing behind followed him to the couch, all the while standing right behind him.
Rias smirked at Naruto.
"Well I'm sure you'll prefer it this way. I just want some information, but let's hold off on that for now. I wish to entertain my newest servant," she then cordially looked at Issei. Naruto scoffed before looking at the idiot too.
The brunette was still looking between Rias and Naruto's exchange, growing slightly more confused as they went back and forth. By the time he noticed Rias looking his way, he had already shrunken in place.
"Issei Hyoudou welcome to the Occult Research Club. Here in this club we look into matters of the supernatural variety. So tell me Issei as a starter question… do you believe in devils?" she asked while staring directly at his eyes. Issei feeling nervous scratched his head while smiling.
'Hmm that's something I'd do when I was in my idiot persona. He's really mastered the art of goofiness hasn't he,' Naruto thought in his head.
Issei still looked at the group confused, nervous, and wondering where this was going.
"Uh I uh well…" Naruto's particularly disappointed glare got him to stop stuttering. "I don't know. Devils are those demons from Christianity right. Like Satan and Beelzebub... I've never personally believed in that no."
Rias's wings burst forth from her back as she stood. Issei looked at her shocked before hearing the same noise and looking over to see Akeno also with wings. Kiba who sat back trying to look cool also released his wings, though one slightly hit Issei in the lip. He heard the noise again to look at Koneko and see she also had a pair of bat wings.
He then turned to Naruto expectantly.
"What you're not one too?" Issei asked thinking for certain Naruto would surprise him.
"Nope. Sorry I don't do that," Naruto said before looking at the other members of the room. His eyes found Akeno who was giving him the most sheepish grin in the world. He then promptly rolled his eyes.
"So then you Rias, school mascot, pretty boy, and class rep are all angels?" he asked confused.
'Wait what?' Naruto thought.
"Wait what!?" Akeno said behind him.
Rias actually slapped her head at that one. Kiba looked at Issei weirdly. Koneko well… err its best to just summarize her face. It aptly had an expression that said said no comment.
"You've never seen pictures of angels before have you?" Naruto asked him as curious.
Issei to his own credit nodded at that, to confirm Naruto's suspicion.
'But how though. I've been here a little over three months and I've seen tons of pictorials depicting of them with my clones. Does he not get the same annoying exposure to them that I do?'
"Now now Naruto be fair. He does live in japan after all. Christianity isn't the main religion here so he deserves some slack," Rias said while sighing.
This coming from the girl that just smack herself.
"Well Issei were not angels. We are in fact devils. So are you see?" she said pointing at him. Issei looked at her confused and was about to stand up see what she was pointing at. Then he felt it. His muscles twitched under his skin as both his wings tried to come forth. It took longer than the others, but after a grueling three seconds they finally stopped growing.
Issei then looked in shock as his whole life flipped over before his eyes.
'If I'm a devil then that means I'm a demon now. My life is over now. What is my crazy neighbor going to do if he sees me? Oh gosh what are my parent's going to do?' Issei thought while trying to search for an escape from it all. He was about to run out the room denying everything but a kick to his leg from Naruto stopped him in place.
Rias looked at Naruto appreciatively before turning back to Issei.
"Issei calm down. No need to panic. This is actually a better alternative then what would've happened the other day. After all, if I didn't turn you into a devil you'd be dead," Rias tried to calm the panicking brunette down. It didn't really achieve its first effect, but Issei did look confused.
'I get the oddest feeling there was a motive at play yesterday. Why the heck else would she revive Issei. He was a regular human; untrained in the ways of combat.' Naruto thought furrowing his eyebrows at Rias.
"What do you mean what happened the other day? That wasn't some horrific dream where I dated a woman and got skewered in the park?" Issei recounting a summary of what happened yesterday night.
"Yes. That woman Yuma Amano did in fact kill you yesterday. I revived you afterwards because I felt you didn't deserve that," she then turned to Naruto to see his vision trained on her every expression. Thankfully she didn't budge at his glare, though it did sort of put her off.
'I'm watching you Ms. Gremory. There's no way I'm buying that load of crock,'
Issei had an expression on his face. It looked as if the gears in his head were finally turning to bring out a productive reply.
"So then if all that was real. Then why where you there yesterday Naruto-sempai. Better yet, how did you appear from that bloody condom? Whe…where you watching us yesterday Issei asked wanting to know Naruto's answer. He never realized how odd his wording sounded.
Kiba looked at Naruto shocked. Koneko looked disgusted. Akeno looked… turned on? Huh, well Akeno looked turned on.
During it all Rias also looked at Naruto, interested in his answer.
'Huh only Issei could jump dick first into a tact battle. Now I've gotta freaking answer it or she'll try to pressure me,' Naruto thought with a roll of his eyes.
"Well Issei remember how I summoned those brownies for little white head over there," Naruto started with Issei nodding, "same thing but more or less in reverse. I used you as a beacon to enter that area."
'He can teleport?' Rias wondered.
"On another matter no I wasn't watching you in the park-"
Issei interjected midway through the sentence, "Oh thank god!"
Issei then dropped to the floor clutching his head in agony. Funny enough everyone else caught one too… at the same time, but to a lesser degree than Issei.
After a few moments of recuperation they all then glared at Issei.
'Hmm, interesting,' Naruto thought with a smirk. He then continued where he was interrupted.
"I was watching your entire date. I needed to watch, to make sure you didn't blow both it and my chances at meeting our little angel friend," Naruto continued.
Akeno interjected with a question before Rias could ask.
"But why did you need an angel specifically. Is it related to what you are?" she asked concerned mostly with his answer.
There was fear in her voice, of that Naruto could easily tell. He didn't quite know why she of all people was getting scared, considering that she seemed the most confident of the bunch. Still he decided to answer her question in kind. Not because he liked her or anything… well he did like her style. But no he answered her because he needed to keep Rias off his back longer.
He crossed his arms almost defiantly.
"I needed an angel, because she had something in her that was beneficial to my cause."
Rias wasn't accepting that answer. One look at her from Naruto told him that straight up. Her displeased frown was enough to make him sadly continue.
"Well I more specifically needed her light. That pure energy was the only energy with just the right wavelength, frequency, and energy resonance to fix my former problem." Naruto said before feeling Kiba from across from him shoot him a glance. He turned to see the blonde now with a curious expression.
"So was it that veil of power we all felt around midnight yesterday? I felt it despite living on the south side of the city," Kiba asked wondering if the blonde was really that powerful.
'Oh you haven't even felt a minuscule portion of my power yet Kiba,' Naruto thought while nodding at his question. He was then thoroughly surprised when Kiba asked another question.
"Then if that was you, why start showing off now? With energy like that you could've end our spars quicker by overpowering me."
Naruto's next reply was specifically addressed right to Rias. This was accented by the fact that his vision trained right on her. She meet his vision as if accepting some nonverbal challenge.
Neither relented.
"I wasn't trying to, that was just a consequence of jumpstarting my energy source. I also could've overpowered you, but then I'd have been having this exact conversation with you all minus Issei a lot sooner. What kind of idiot shows off all his tricks to the enemy, especially in unfamiliar territory?"
Rias smirked.
'Gotcha!'
"Yes Sona did mention that. Your file says you're a transfer student from London, yet apparently you were homeschooled up until now. Why come to school in japan and better yet… how did you even end up here?" Rias asked Naruto while deciding to retract he wings on a whim.
"I'd rather not say. It's not a fond personal memory of mine," Naruto answered not really caring what she thought of it.
"I'll can understand that but what really irks me is the problem with your tenure here. In short, you received a scholarship someone I've never even heard of before. One Vlad Daemon II. We did research and never found such a scholarship nor person matching that name?" the red head pressed forward.
Naruto sighed again.
'So troublesome.'
"You must clearly be referring to my Uncle Al. Sorry for the mix up, he's a bit of a wild card when it comes to decisions. He's the one who gave me the scholarship after all, and I think one part of his name is Vlad II. Never heard of this Daemon nonsense; that asshole usually gets called another D word though,"
Rias looked surprised for a moment before settling down seeing as she wasn't getting direct information anymore. She got what she wanted to hear after all. Still there was something else she clearly wanted, but didn't immediately voice.
"Now then if you don't mind red. I'll kindly take my leave then," Naruto said standing slowly. Akeno who was standing behind him was about to push him back down, but a hand from Rias stopped her. Issei also started to stand but a firm touch from Kiba told him not to leave just yet.
"Naruto before you go. I've got one more proposition for you,"
Naruto already had his back turned facing the door. Hearing her tone, which wasn't as pressing as before made him stop. He stood there waiting for her to speak before turning after getting no response.
"Join my club. If you do, I'll drop my earlier one right here right now… we'll make a new one."
Rias's face was overshadowed by the image of his first friend ever, Shikamaru. He looked at her shocked before closing his eyes and smirking. He then walked himself out without giving a verbal response.
Kiba looked to Rias with a serious expression.
"Should I go gather him again?"
"No," she shook her head, "I already know what his answer is."
"But buchou, why did you invite him to join our club? You never do things without a reason," Akeno asked soon after feeling she was missing something.
Rias turned to her head to Akeno.
"I feel like having him on our side, is better than him being against us. But also judging from his last two answers, he won't go against us as long as he has that scholarship,"
Akeno looked confused, but Koneko had a look on her face. It seemed as if she was on the same page as Rias.
"After all… my bishops Great Grandfather is at play here,"
Akeno's look did change slightly however Issei was still looking confused. Kiba's expression still didn't change from being serious.
"And speaking of rooks. Issei now that that is over, let me teach you about the world of devils. Everyone looked at him with their eyes closed. Well everyone but Koneko… still it made for an odd scene.
Issei felt himself him gulp. He seriously hoped this didn't hurt.
My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World… My New World…
Issei panted slowly trying to reclaim his lost breath. For the last four hours of the night he had been working, and this was the first moderate break he had. First he spent an hour of his time learning all of the ranks and traits of devils. He was even taught about what they did and the upcoming future.
That was interesting.
Then the annoying part began. Upon finishing the first task he was then given three armfuls of flyers, similar to the one Rias's associate had given to him the day before. He regretted asking what they were for, because from the last two hours Issei would come to find one thing. He really hated paper.
He passed them out to all that would take them, and even snuck some onto the ones verbosely against it. Then upon finishing that, he reconvened at the clubroom as he was instructed. He hoped this would be a good break but nope, this was just him being recalled to learn how to accept the requests.
That was when Issei learned another useful piece of information.
He absolutely hated magic. He had zero talent for it, and his reserves were currently crappy. Even worse, his buchou had told him he had some kind of magical gear inside of him; one that should respond to his emotions. He tried bringing it out to no avail, and after straining for a long period of time he called it quits.
That led him to the climax of his previous predicament.
He had to bike all the way out here, twenty miles into the boonies of Kuoh Town to meet his first contract. Keep in mind he just passed out a majority of those sheets not even three and a half hours ago.
By the time he got there he could honestly say with utter conviction that, he was not ready for this. There was some super pale super skinny super ridiculous looking nerd who wouldn't let him in at first. And then to make this whole altercation stranger, when he was let in he was given an ultimatum. Dress up in a school girl uniform and parade him around the town, or LARP with him for Dragon Boy Z.
Issei chose the latter option to save his dignity.
He sighed through the pants just remembering that.
The worst part was when Naruto showed up and decided to follow him. And by follow, Issei really meant mock.
Yup, after failing his first contract on his own Issei had to deal with a Naruto. It was slightly perturbing at first, but slowly overtime he got used to it and just accepted this part of their dynamic relationship. Mostly because he had nothing else better to do, as he biked back home.
Speaking of that how exactly was Naruto keeping up with him right now. He felt stronger and faster as a devil, and he felt he was going almost fifty miles an hour right now. Yet Naruto was not only running beside him while texting; he also appeared to not decline in stamina. Almost as if this was casually beneath him.
"Naruto-sempai, why aren't you totally out of breath right now?" Issei asked feeling the blonde was done mocking him for the day.
Naruto's answer made him feel as if they were slightly making progress in their relationship.
"Well perv, where I come from… traveling at this speed was normal for children. By the time I had reached my teens, we moved much faster than this, and for much longer. As a result I've got plenty of stamina to spare," Naruto said not mentioning the other plethora of reasons he had near limitless stamina.
'Thank you angel bitch for helping me too. If it wasn't for you, I might have been in the same condition as the pervert over there,'
Three pings went off causing Naruto to open his phone and look at his chat. This one was from Uncle Al. Idly looking at the time he noticed it was indeed midnight before deciding to read the message. Thinking nothing of it he swiped left to bring out the full chat.
You never told me if Gasper liked the tomato bread.
Naruto sighed during his run, before returning the message. After a particularly sharp left turn he made with Issei, he formatted the reply.
I couldn't stay long enough to see him eat it, but I'm sure he liked it. From what I felt when I spied on him today, he seemed to want something else though.
Naruto did a flip before landing upright on Issei's seat and balancing his weight on it. Issei looked up at the blonde almost interested before looking back at the road. He's seen stranger things before, but this still was pretty weird. He idly heard three quick vibrations before watching Naruto swipe on his phone again.
That kid. Humph, well I guess it can't be helped. Did you at least get him to go outside?
Naruto sweat dropped at that before responding back honestly.
Umm about that. He sort of locked himself in his coffin when I brought it up. I could only get him to come out upon promising to leave him with the candy. Also apparently he's taking rather well to YOUR sexual preference. I don't know who he's smitten with, but I did notice him mumbling their name while in the coffin. Hopefully he won't end up like that grandson of yours you told me about.
Naruto looked back up to see Issei heading back into the city limits. He smirked to himself before feeling his phone vibrate three more times.
He looked down to see a blank faced emoji, which he interpreted as his uncle being both proud and concerned. Speaking of concern, Naruto started feeling it the moment Issei started biking towards the park. He looked all around before seeing the air start to hum with light, a sign that they've been separated from regular reality.
Naruto decided to stop the bike manually by jamming his foot into the ground. This had the slightly immediate effect of causing the bike to stop, while flinging Issei forward. Naruto caught the boy with his right hand before setting him on the ground, and hopping off the bike.
"Naruto-sempai what was that for?" Issei complained while starting to feel something wrong.
Naruto didn't address him though. He simply glared at the sky, watching it rain black feathers.
"Why don't you two come on out. You've been stalking us all night so enough with the theatrics," Naruto said while bringing out a bit of his chakra.
A generously moderate up current of energy forced itself into the air. Issei nearly fell to the ground from the sheer weight of it, but otherwise tried to stand strong. Naruto being the generator of such power didn't move in the slightest, what with him being in his serious mode. For a moment Issei could've sworn his eyes were red and slit.
From the air two beings descended; black wings making it easy to identify what they were. Fallen angels. The one on the right wore a grey over coat with a strange fedora, while the one on the left wore a red shirt and skirt combo with her blue hair swaying in the wind. Both seemed trained on Issei, but they also kept their eyes on Naruto.
"You… blonde one. Get lost, lest we decide to pay you back for what you did to Raynare," the one with the fedora spoke up.
And here comes Naruto's other persona in full stride.
"Oh she's still on about that. You must be the boyfriend?" Naruto mused causing the woman to giggle and the man to fume. Seeing this he amended his statement.
"Though judging from your response and your face, you must either be the side piece or the friend zoned one. Oh or maybe your just the guy that watches from afar?" Naruto joked while smirking at the man. Almost daring him to fly at him. Sadly the man wouldn't fall for the bait.
It was the woman that once again spoke up.
"As funny as you are cutie, get lost. We have business with the brown haired one," she said brandishing a yellow spear, "and believe me we're gonna have some interesting dialogue hashing out our issues."
The man copied his accomplice by bringing out a short blue spear. It seemed to Naruto that they were really going to go that route.
"Well Issei bye. Make sure you work out this issue before I get home. If you need me I'll be places," Naruto said while slipping Issei a note. Issei with his devil vision, read it and didn't like it… but he would do it because he really didn't have much of a choice.
Keep them busy. I'm going to go get the other two I detected. These two are fodder so you should be fine. Just remember what I told you. Power comes from your will, not your thought.
"Whelp… deuces!" Naruto said before popping out of existence, telling Issei he was a clone the entire time.
The two angels looked confused before shrugging and charging Issei. They both then threw the spears at Issei upon getting within five feet of him. Issei had already taken off running though and by the time they noticed, he was several yards away trying to move faster than Usain Bolt.
"Dohnaseek don't let him get away!" the woman yelled while flying at Issei with her top speed.
"Shut up Kalawarner!" Dohnaseek yelled back while summoning another blue spear. He charged after Issei again and reached him within four seconds.
As Issei looked up and saw the rain of black feathers above him, he successfully entered fight or flight mode. He didn't want to die here, not like this. There were so many boobs he hasn't fondled yet. So much sex he hasn't had yet. Closing his eyes while running, Issei reached out to anyone… anything that could possibly help him in his greatest time of need.
'Come on something, anything. Please I'm begging. Don't let it end this way. Not this way!' he yelled in his mind.
The blue spear was hairs away from his face. As it inched closer and closer Issei's mind gradually became more frantic. And then in literally the last moment a powerful calmness took over his emotions.
"A power worth having, can only be worth it if the cost is worth paying."
Issei heard the ancient voice in his mind, as it echoed over and over. His left arm burned like the solstice sunlight at its pinnacle moment. He swiped his arm away from his body feeling something. Something. Something deep inside of him awaken. Funny thing is, it felt like it was both his and not his at the same time.
His wings popped out and started to glow red.
Energy poured out of every recess of his arm. Its power was nowhere near where Naruto's was earlier, but it was enough to make the trees leaves sway without completely blasting them all over the ground. A green light formed on top of his hand and red metal came out from the sphere. It formed a metallic circlet around his hand and a small portion of his wrist. Yellow spikes soon followed the mini gauntlet that formed over his arm and hand.
As a yell of anger was caught in his throat Issei kept pulling his power out from the depths within him. Everyone there watched impressed as his energy surged to it zenith before being directed at both fallen angels.
Then with a flare of green light he blasted the duo out of the sky and almost partially destroyed some of their wings.
When everything died down, Kalawarner and Dohnaseek both slapped the pavement… out cold.
Issei panted from utter exhaustion before grabbing his arm and falling. He'd have hit the ground but someone else caught him.
"Now now brat, you can't just pass out. I kind of need you dead so sorry bout this," a guy with a strange gangster voice said. Issei tiredly looked up to see the next guy in line to the kick Issei's shit in party. He was dressed pretty strange though.
He wore a purple jacket with his entire right arm being muscled with purple light all over it. Under the shirt he wore a white t-shirt with a circular pendant hanging around his neck. The right side of his jeans were slightly ripped showing portions of his leg which was also glowing purple. He had an extremely chiseled Japanese face, with the classic mobster slicked back hairstyle and a pair of light blue shades. Attached to his hips was a dual pair of golden sub machine guns, and on his left pants leg was a pink sawed off shotgun. The last most noteworthy thing about him was the glowing red flame sword on his back.
The guy still holding Issei pulled out one of the sub machine guns with his right hand before holding it to Issei's neck. He started to pull the trigger, but stopped when a hand caught his wrist.
"Johnny Gat from the 3rd Volition Sector of Organization Saint R IV. Tell me what are you doing here tonight?" Naruto said while gripping his wrist tighter.
"Hmm… we're not well acquainted blondie. Though I've felt energy like this before. Know any raven haired women?" Johnny Gat said jumping out of Naruto's grip. He had to release Issei to do so, but he achieved what he wanted.
"As a matter of fact go fuck yourself. And while you're at it, tell your friend I'm done playing peekaboo with you two!" Naruto said preparing for a fight.
'The fact that he brought hime-chan up just means he's involved with THAT man. I better take him somewhat seriously, if she left him alive and unharmed.' Naruto thought.
Johnny glared at Naruto before bringing out a large well of energy. The surge caused him to glow light purple and it automatically brought out his wings. And an impressive set they were. Gat unlike the angels before had two sets of wings, giving him a total of four. He was significantly more powerful than them as well, showing his wings weren't just for show. As Naruto looked closely, he could see that the blackened lower tips of his feathers appeared to be drenched in lava.
The strangest thing was that the top most portion of his wings looked white like actual angel wings. And he also gained a dim black halo over his head.
"You don't look like the typical fallen angels I've seen. In fact you look more like a regular angel is depicted than anything," Naruto said while pulling out two kunai. He got into his ready stance where he crouched by bending his knees and slightly hunching forward. His kunai were held in reverse grip with the right one being positioned near his face. The left one was parallel-diagonal to his other kunai and it was also lower.
"Yeah you're right. Let's just say I saw a chance to reunite with the woman I love and I took it. If this power can get me there, then so be it. I'll even dance with the devil in the pale moon light if I've got to," Gat said before flying at Naruto with subsonic speeds.
He was quick, Naruto would give him that. But after yesterday's events, Naruto started to feel his old self returning to him slowly. While nowhere near his old light speed self, he could still keep up with the subsonic speeds Gat flew at him with. When Johnny appeared in front of Naruto, the blond struck out with his kunai clashing the golden sub machinegun. Gat brought the other gun out pulling the trigger as fast as possible, and out came dozens of golden rounds per minute.
Naruto jumped back in an effort to dodge the first few, before being forced to deflect more. Naruto was able to deflect half of them and dodge the rest before he jumped at Johnny. The angel hybrid smirked in gusto before flying at Naruto to collide with him.
The resulting smack was loud and both were sent decent distances away. Naruto ended up in an oddly placed dairy queen, destroying the glass viewing area and entrance. Gat flew into a burger king and hit a grease trap that caught on fire. The two groaning from their stupendously stupid idea rushed back at each other with just as much fire.
Gat flew over the top of Naruto before landing and firing twenty rounds of golden ammunition at him. Naruto leaned back as the rounds flew over his head before leaving the ground and spinning in midair. The reason being Gat appearing under him with a swift kick that was dodged in that manner.
Naruto stopped spinning in midair to come back down with a kick that broke the ground beneath him. Seeing Gat fly backwards from dodging his kick, Naruto knew physical combat alone wouldn't be enough to best him. They seemed a little to even from the first few encounters he had.
'I'd rather like to not have the whole world on my back yet so I won't get that serious. Let's try something else then,' Naruto thought before pulling out the seal he worked on two days ago. The one Akeno watched him draw.
As Naruto brought out the sheet of chakra paper, the now completed Transparency Coil Seal MkII had the kanji for, 'translocate' on it. Using the seal will instantly send anyone it's attached to, into the Limbo Realm of this world. That would effectively take out the problem and make it so they couldn't interact with the world around them.
He leapt at Gat hiding the seal under his left kunai before reengaging in combat. He ducked under a particularly nasty horizontal swipe from his gun, before rolling on the ground away from the bullets. When the shower ended, Gat was forced to reload his clip giving Naruto enough time to get close enough to him.
Gat tried to kick him between the legs, but Naruto jumped onto Johnny's right leg and acted like he caught his balance with his left hand. Feeling the sticky side of the seal attach to Johnny, Naruto flipped backwards before bringing up the tiger seal. He applied chakra to it to activate the effect.
Seal
The seal went off like a paper bomb, releasing a minor chakra explosion from the condensed energy in the matrix not properly flowing. Naruto watched as Johnny was blasted into a car before looking confused at his 'handiwork.'
"Ok I could've sworn I drew that right, and I'm sure I didn't overload it with chakra. Why the heck did it explode then instead of fading him from reality?" Naruto asked before thinking things over. He strangely never remember Akeno's hair messing up the drying paint from the other day.
Gat flew from the car right before it blew up causing Naruto to sweat drop. He looked calm and there seemed to be a strange smile on his face.
"Good one blondie. You pack more of a wallop than the raven girl did. But she was faster. What's with you two holding back on me… what afraid of me that much?" Johnny taunted Naruto like he was a neophyte. Despite that, Naruto didn't jump at the man's goading. No he just stood there unimpressed before shaking his head.
"You know, I could use my full power but I can sense I'm not the only one not going all in here. What sort of tricks are you hiding Johnny boy?" Naruto retorted before putting his hands in the bird seal.
His chakra kicked up even more spreading across the majority of Kuoh Town. He kept it restrained enough to not blow away the entire park, but it did make its presence felt. Mostly to Issei who was having hard times existing in the presence of such overflowing energy. It almost felt like a crater was condensing downwards underneath his feet.
Naruto looked at Issei before scoffing.
'I better finish him for Issei's sake. I didn't think he was so weak,'
Johnny for his part put the two sub machine guns back and pulled out the sawed off from his left leg. He stood silently across from Naruto before infusing the gun with his energy.
Several dozen buckshot cartridges flew at Naruto slightly faster than sound, but when they got to him the wind shifted to the south and blew them all away. Gat looked confused before trying that again, this time being met with a slightly different result. The wind split some of the rounds in half while sending others back towards Gat.
He immediately knew what this was.
"Wind based powers huh. You're friend commanded fire and that was cool. Tell me blondie can you do that?" Johnny asked curiously.
"I have the potential to. I know techniques for all five elemental natures, but my bread and butter is wind manipulation," Naruto responded before swiping his hand down. A SUV sized arc of wind flew from his hand right at Johnny. The angel dodged, but his first right wing was slightly nicked on the end. This left it looking sharp and leaking lava, while black feathers floated around him.
Johnny smirked more.
"Sharper than it looks,"
"Come find out more you bastard!" Naruto said before pushing off the balls of his feet, right at Johnny. He appeared before him at sound speed and gave a quick aerial spin kick. An eddy of sharp wind came from his foot bisecting everything in its path, including lampposts, stone pillars, and large vehicles.
Johnny had ducked under the kick before trying to shoot Naruto in the back with the shotgun. A wall of wind came to his rescue, but one lone pellet made it through and almost hit Naruto. Luckily he fell quick enough to get out of the way before coming into another clash with Johnny. During the skirmish Johnny spoke to Naruto.
"So you can project wind with your energy for approximately ten seconds and once it falls you seem mostly defenseless. Did I get that right?" Naruto smirked before grabbing Johnny's hands with his hands. He interlocked Johnny's fingers with his before smirking.
"That jutsu might have ended but I've got more. Here let me borrow these!" Naruto said before forming multiple seals with his hands. By doing so Johnny's hands also formed the complimentary seals which allowed Naruto to actually complete the techniques activation successfully. He kneed Johnny in the chin before jumping back and forming the bird symbol again.
Wind Style: Giant Vacuum Bullet Barrage
Naruto inhaled sharply before spitting out about fifteen hand sized air bullets. As he exhaled each bullet he was pushed further and further back from Johnny. Johnny on the other hand took the brunt of most of them, since he was still disoriented. The first three tore the left side of his jacket. The following six obliterated his glasses and cut his face. The final barrage broke his right arm and gave the purple glowing appendage multiple lacerations.
Johnny hit a wall with back breaking force before sliding down uncomfortably. Naruto would've have walked up to finish the job but he decided Issei was more important at the moment. So with that he brought his chakra from 50% back down to a meager one percent, and exhaled slowly.
That was a pretty challenging battle, showing how out of shape he had gotten. Still he managed to beat Gat without showing even an eighth of his tricks so that was a plus. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, he moved back to Issei with his super human speed and checked on him.
"You all right perv?" Naruto asked not really caring what the answer was.
"Oh yeah I'm mostly fine. I feel like crap though?" he said looking at his still transformed arm. Idiot was draining unnecessary energy by keeping out that thing of his.
Seeing the neophyte's trouble, Naruto helped him out for once by bringing a small amount of chakra to his index finger. He tapped Issei's sacred gear, flooding Issei with energy and retracting the boy's sacred gear back into his subconscious. He then looked him over before holding up a glowing green hand to him.
'He appears mostly fine, so he must be talking about mentally. Well can't really help him there cause that's out of the realm of my power,' Naruto mused before ending the mystic palm diagnostic jutsu.
He'd learned that little nifty trick months before the war even began. He still remembered when Tsunade made it mandatory for all Jōnin level ninja to learn it, no exceptions. It saved many lives during the war, and helped Naruto more times than he could count. Hell he'd used it so much he could even use it on himself, from practically any body part. It did take long as crap to heal though, but that was the only drawback he knew about it.
"Woah, what were those techniques sempai. I didn't know you were so well versed in magic. Mind helping a rookie out?" Issei asked his idol.
Naruto looked at the kid slightly shocked at him focusing on something not perverted for the first time. Hell he even did it without any perverted reason behind it.
Naruto decided to humor his questions.
"In order. They're special techniques that you need a special type of energy for. It's not magic and I can't exactly teach you them because you don't have the energy source for them," Naruto said all at once, "and that also extends to any other techniques you've seen me use."
Issei looked a little bummed out about that before turning his attention to the slowly rising form of Johnny Gat.
"Well what are you going to do about him sempai?" Issei asked seeing the mutated fallen angel try to crawl towards them both. Naruto looked at this before weighing his options. Killing him wouldn't do anything of value and Johnny seemed more like a lost soul than anything else. Letting him go also wasn't preferable since people like him like getting even with those that beat them. If he captured him, where would he keep the body though?
"I'm going to seal him away," Naruto said pulling out a scroll from his book bag, "and unlike my last seal, I know this one will do what it's supposed to do."
Issei and Naruto walked to Johnny while charging the seal with his potent chakra. As the kanji blared red like magma, Naruto started to lean over and lay the scroll on the ground. Just as he was about to activate the technique a particularly foul energy flooded the area.
Naruto was relatively fine but he felt heavier than usual, almost like he was in dense water. Issei almost went into shock feeling the energy, and he fell over hyperventilating. He would have went unconscious but Naruto touching him with his chakra, was enough to prevent that.
The sky tinted dark ethereal green as a murder of ravens and crows cawed in the night. Naruto looked up to see a strange man with long white hair and seafoam green eyes descend from the sky. He wore a red lined jet black long coat with two coat tails at his legs swaying in the wind. Each coat tail had three V shaped incisions going halfway up the tail. On his shoulders were grey shoulder pads and further down his sleeves he wore silver rimmed gloves. At his hip he wore a dark belt with a strange emblem and attached to the belt was an extremely long sword. The blade was easily taller than the 6'1 man and its hilt cutting surface was curved like an extra-long odachi.
Strangely enough he had six wings on his back. Not three pairs of wings. Six… all coming from his right shoulder blade. Even stranger, he had two wings coming from his coat tails. One from the left and one from the right.
The display of power was enough to warn Naruto exactly of who this was. He damn near killed his hime, after all, while she was trying to gather Intel.
"You've got some nerve appearing before me Sephiroth, especially after the state you left my friend in," Naruto said while slowly bringing his energy out.
And emotionless tone met his bravado.
"Uzumaki Naruto, son of Minato Namikaze, descendant of Asura Ootsutsuki, and former carrier of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Our mutual stakeholder has told me a lot about you," Sephiroth spoke with an even tone. His voice carried the weight as if he was the highest peak of the pecking order, and rightfully so. After all it isn't everyday a man is known across dimensions as a planet buster.
Naruto actually started to get a bit angry.
"How is that fuck face doing now. You know last time he wouldn't share his name with me. Would you like to be so kind as to tell me it?" Naruto spoke standing in front of Issei now. The brunette felt slightly woozy from the conflicting energies, but he managed to stay mostly up right.
Sephiroth looked unamused at both Issei's failure to maintain spatial control, and Naruto's question.
"Sempai who or what is this guy?" Issei asked.
Sephiroth would have none of that.
"Silence child. I don't have the time nor the patience to humor fainting puppies like you," the winged man said before directing a massive amount of raw energy onto him. It was from that moment that Issei instantly passed out. His mind just not ready for even one one-thousandth of the man's power.
Naruto looked both worried and perturbed at that.
"Now why'd you go and do that huh? He wasn't your concern to discipline,"
"Stop with the bravado Naruto. If you and your little friend couldn't fight my partner while he was massively restricted, then what hope do you have against me especially in this form? Step away from Johnny and those other two now or I'll down you where you stand," the angel look alike said in earnest. He gripped his blade and slowly unsheathed it to further his point.
Naruto wisely backed up.
"Fine. You can have your little toys. Just tell your master I'm coming for him," Naruto taunted.
He then completely lost track of Sephiroth. Naruto who once could keep track of light speed movements, was now a recuperating shell of his former self. Sephiroth vanishing from his vision in this manner was certainly not a good thing, not to mention the guy was holding back as much as he implied.
Naruto turned thinking Sephiroth was at his back but he faced the direction to see absolutely nothing.
He was about to check above him but an extra-long blade ran him through, sending blood flying all over the pavement. He gripped it to stop it from penetrating him deeper, before shakily turning to face Sephiroth. The silver haired man still looked impassive but had the smallest of smirks on his expression. It almost looked sarcastic.
"I'm impressed you can even turn to face me in that state. Still an ant is no match for a god boy. Have you forgot the lesson HE taught you after all," Sephiroth taunted Naruto.
Naruto felt more and more of his energy drain at that, before crouching and trying to bring out as much chakra as possible. Feeling his reserves top out at twenty percent of his full power he slowly pulled the long blade out, before applying medical chakra directly from the wound source. As it continued to heal Sephiroth stood there waiting for Naruto to make a move.
Naruto didn't move. Instead he just glared while tightly gripping the sword in his hand.
"I quite literally don't care you callous motherfucker. Just take your toy and go. Oh and know this, when I get my power back I'll pay you back for what you did to hime-chan you bastard!" Naruto nearly yelled at the end.
A murder of crow calls and black feathers signaled the departure of the planet buster. With him went Johnny and the impressively long sword from Naruto's grip.
The blonde huffed in exhaustion before looking at Issei and shaking his head.
If Issei was to help him in the current and far future, he would need some serious training. But he would only be trained if he was both ready and willing.
"Hime, just what have we gotten into?" Naruto asked.
End