Hello everyone! Renegadeofficer89 here with a new chapter of The Kitsune Emperor and The Zero! Thanks to all those who followed both me and this story! You guys are awesome! Anyway, the title for this chap is a bit weird since I have totally no idea on what to name it. So, since I have nothing else to bitch about in this chap's AN, here's the new chapter!

EDIT 27/02/14: Edited the chap a bit to match the previous edit.

CHAPTER 5: CAUGHT, RUNES AND REWARD

-CHAPTER START-

"So guys, what's cracking?"

The sound of Louise facepalming shocked everyone out of their stupor at watching the sheer level of destruction that occurred during the short battle between Naruto and Fouquet just now. The sight of a robe covered Fouquet on Naruto's shoulder was also a cause of concern.

-FLASHBACK A COUPLE MOMENTS AGO-

Everyone was alarmed and had their wands out, ready to strike anyone who dares attack their princess within the academy. Meanwhile, Osmond and Colbert's minds are running a mile a minute, thinking of the attacker.

In Colbert's mind, "What was that?! It seems that someone attacked the academy during the familiar exhibition!" Looking around, he then realised that Louise, Siesta and Naruto was gone, and a thought sprang unbidden in his mind. "What if that half-demon attacked us?! This is a good time for him to attack us since the princess is here, and thus it is easy for him to throw the country into chaos and anarchy! But he already promised that he won't attack anyone! Then who did?! But he's a demon! Should I even trust him?"

Meanwhile, Osmond was thinking about the message sent by Count Mott before he left, his mind broken beyond repair. "Is that Fouquet? But the safe's protections are top notch! How did that explosion happen? No matter, the first priority is guarding the princess!"

Their thoughts were cut short by the sight of Louise and Siesta appearing from the door, and the most worrying sight about it was that both of them appeared from the direction of the explosion. Before anyone could call for them to hide themselves or go into the protective cordon that the teachers made around the students, Louise shouted. "Mr Colbert! My familiar is fighting Fouquet! We need to stop her!" even as she said that, she turned around and ran back towards the location of his familiar even as Colbert, Osmond, Henrietta and other teachers immediately ran following Louise's path, and was greeted by the sight of Naruto jumping down from the golem, some blood, presumably not his on his clothes with Fouquet on his shoulder.

The disappearance of both Tabitha, her familiar and Kirche and her familiar went unnoticed within the commotion caused by the attack.

-END FLASHBACK-

Osmond just stared at Naruto and the damage done towards the academy before Naruto let a sigh out. "Okay, you got me. This girl here," he said while smacking Fouquet's firm ass, causing a loud 'smack' sound before continuing. "Attacked the academy to steal the Staff of Destruction, and I managed to subdue her. If you're about to complain on the damage to the grounds, no worries. I'll fix that. Here." Naruto said, handing the unmoving Fouquet to Osmond, who used a Levitate magic to lift her up while the mages surround her.

Naruto then stomped on the ground, before using his elemental training to move back the pile of dirt back into the ground, filling all the holes that were made during their battles. He also used his water element to pull back all the water into the ground, though these acts caused some of the mages to think "How the hell did he do that?"

Naruto then looked at the damaged wall and sighed. "That's going to be a bitch to fix." He thought. "But first," Naruto said inwardly, while walking towards the location where the weird green tube fell down. While everyone else was busy looking at the great thief who managed to terrorize Tristain with Louise and Siesta beside all of them, Naruto's sight was fixed on the strange green tube about 2 feet long that was the target of Fouquet's theft. "There must be something about this staff that made her attack the academy" Naruto then bent down and picked the Staff of Destruction up to examine it before giving it back to the academy. But just as he grabbed the staff, something totally unexpected happened.

Naruto felt a twinge of pain in his head, a pain more intense than that time where he used 15,000 Shadow Clones to attack an entire rebel army and they all decided to dispel at once; a very sharp pain that was only manageable due to his own insane training amount and his Astartes constitution. The rune at the back of his hand glowed brightly, and all of a sudden, Naruto's mind was bombarded with information; everything there is to know about the weapon in his hand, it's history, the maker, the location where it was made, the ones who wield it, its construction, the most efficient and correct way to use it, its materials, it's schematics; no information was spared about the weapon in his hand that came from the magical runes on his hand.

After about half a second but that which felt like a year to Naruto, the glow on his hand dims, and he was left with an immense knowledge and complete understanding about the staff – no, the M72 LAW – in his hand. He then slowly stood, still looking at the staff, before looking back at the glow of his familiar runes. "What the hell was that?! I was just holding it when the runes glowed and all that info just got dumped into my mind! Wait a minute! This weapon isn't a staff, it's a... a, an, uh... a rocket launcher...? What the hell is that? It's like a high-speed flaming exploding note! In a tube! What..."

Naruto kept staring at the thing in wonder and confusion. He may be more than 300 years old, but this thing somehow confuses even him! The sheer level of technology that created the LAW must've been phenomenal! And they're all mechanical! Most technologies in his world was seal based while in Halkeginia, most of them was magic based, but this! THIS! It's like a modern weapon revolution! "And where in Father-in-law's (AN: The Sage of Six Paths is his father-in-law, in case no one read A Loving Heart, A Body of Steel) was America?! In my studies of this world with Colbert, I never even heard of an inkling of this country! Does that mean, just like me, this rocket launcher is also from another world...?"

While Naruto's face was scrunched up in thought and confusion, Colbert, Osmond and Henrietta was about to unhood the hooded thief only known as Fouquet. And as they removed her hood, the sight of the person beneath it shocked everyone completely.

The person beneath the hood, is none other than "Miss Loungeville!" said Colbert in uncovered surprise and shock. Even the wise Osmond was shocked at the fact that his secretary was the one who attacked the academy and tried to steal the Staff of Destruction. The strangest part was that she didn't even move a muscle no matter what everyone did to her, like she was encased in stone that everyone can push around but she can't move in it. Everyone then looked at Louise, demanding explanation.

Louise then looked at the weird glow at her neckline before saying. "I have no idea. Maybe Na- I mean, my familiar can explain about it." She then turned towards Naruto, before shouting, "Na- I mean, Familiar!" hey, she still had a reputation to keep as a Vallière. Calling out his familiar's name like that, a symbol of being equals in front of everyone here will damage her hard earned rep (which wasn't much from the start, anyway).

Hearing Louise calling him, Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and his examination of the weapon before answering. "Oh! What?" he then looked at the gaggle of administration staff surrounding Fouquet before saying out loud. "Oh that? I placed a movement restriction seal on her, completely blocking her movements, making her unable to do anything, not even saying a thing." Naruto then went back towards his thoughts about the so-called Staff of Destruction, an action that didn't went unnoticed by both Louise and Siesta, though the others forgot about Naruto already in their thoughts of Fouquet.

Watching Naruto's face in confusion and thought, something that she never thought would appear on Naruto's face, she discreetly signalled Siesta to follow her, which Siesta responded by nodding, before both of them walked towards where Naruto was currently standing, his face still in confusion. Naruto, hearing the sounds of both Louise and Siesta's footsteps coming his way, immediately turned towards them before asking, "Hey girls. How are you?"

Louise hesitantly answered. "We're fine. But what's wrong with you?"

Naruto answered, confused. "What's wrong with me? Nothing's wrong. I'm all fine. Why?"

Before Louise could say anything, Siesta butts in. "Lady Louise saw that your face looks confused, and thought that there must be something wrong with you, Master Naruto. That's why we came here to ask you about what happened."

Naruto then smiled and said, "Don't worry about me. I think I have a theory on what these familiar runes," He said while lifting his hand to show the two girls his familiar runes, still glowing lightly. "Can be used for. The ones who you should worry about is you, Louise."

Before she could ask, the air around him warped. A menacing feeling, like a dragon about to eat its prey suddenly appeared from Naruto, causing her to shiver, while Naruto's eyes glowed with anger unlike any other. He then stood up before walking closer to the two, making his hulking physique look like a mountain while making Louise felt like she was nothing but an ant, easily squashed without him even feeling it.

Naruto then slowly spoke. "Louise."

Louise then snapped to attention even though she was shivering and felt like she was being taken to her execution block. "Y-y-yes!" She stammered out.

"I thought I told you to run. What did you do?"

"I-i-i-"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"I-i-I l-launched a-a-a F-f-fireball spell!"

"And why?"

Louise then screamed out, calling the attention of everyone there if not for the fact that Naruto had discreetly placed a silencing seal around them. "Because I can't let you fight alone! I want to show you the effects of my training! I just wanted to show you that I am not a failure anymore..." Louise finished, her voice becoming slower by the end, and tears are about to flow from her eyes.

Naruto then bent down on one knee before petting her head, the Staff of Destruction still in his hand, and the oppressive aura disappeared immediately. "Louise, have I ever called you a failure?"

"*sniff* N-no..."

"Then, why do you think that you have something to prove?" Naruto then stood up, before going towards Siesta, who was also rigid, thinking that she was about to be punished. What Naruto said made Louise think. Sure, all her peers kept jeering her, even when she showed that she was improving, albeit with a different method than what they knew of. He never said that she's a failure nor did he ever insulted her. In fact, now that she thought back about it, it seems that she was the one insulting him, belittling his fighting skill by disobeying his orders in a battle magnitudes higher than what she was capable of. Wiping her eyes, she walked towards Naruto's location.

Naruto didn't admonish Siesta or anything. Rather, he praised Siesta's action on trying to make Louise pull out of the battle, albeit a failed attempt, but at the very least she still followed his orders. He then felt the chakra signature of Louise closing towards his location, so he turned around and saw Louise, whose face was red from her tears. Louise then slowly said, "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I-" whatever she was about to say was cut short by the huge palm of Naruto, once again petting her long, pink hair.

"It's alright," Naruto began. "As long as you're safe and you've learned your lesson." Louise then let a sigh of relief out. "But." And just like that, Louise once again wanted to run from him, looking at his sickly sweet smile; a smile, sweet, yet promising a huge disaster for her. "I'll need to punish you for disobeying me. Your resistance seal will be tripled. Prepare to be in much more pain!" Naruto finished with a very happy smile and tone while Louise's face paled in fear.

Henrietta who was together with the academy's staff then looked towards her friend's back, before walking towards their location. Standing up, she walked towards Naruto, before saying. "Naruto," Naruto then looked at her, silently gesturing for her to go ahead. "Why is Louise's face that pale?" "Are you the one who defeated and caught Fouquet? And why are you not surprised? From what I can tell, you have interacted and saw Miss Loungeville before. Does her appearing as Fouquet does not surprise you?"

"Actually, that is exactly why I am not surprised. A person's chakra had a certain signature that never changes. I always document mentally the chakra signatures of everyone that I met in case I'll need to recognize them. So, I already knew from the start that both Fouquet and Longueville is the same person. The only thing that confuses me is why. But I'll leave that to all of you. My methods of interrogation tend to be a bit... bloody, and leaves the victim with a serious case of dead."

Understanding dawned on Henrietta's face even as she said goodbye to Naruto before going back to where the staffs are gathering in front of Fouquet. Unnoticed by Henrietta, every member of the staff and some of the students are all trying to stop her from coming towards Naruto's location after what he did just now. Even Henrietta herself had fear in her heart, though she knows that Naruto won't do anything to touch her. But before she reached the gathering, she turned around before quickly walking towards Naruto and the rest. "Louise, is it possible for you three to leave the academy for a few days and come to the palace sometime later, maybe early next week, after Void Day? I will need to give you a reward for catching Fouquet, the thief who has terrorized the people of Tristain. I'm sure I can write down a royal command for you to be excused for about a week or so. Is that fine?"

Louise was still frozen in terror which piled with shock, so Naruto replied. "Certainly, princess. But why, if I may ask?"

Henrietta then said, "Fouquet was a thief who has stolen from a number of nobles, and has caused the people to become scared that they will be the next target. After years of hunting, we managed to catch him here, thanks to you. And since a familiar's action equals the master's own, doesn't that mean that Louise needs to be rewarded in a way?"

Naruto nodded in understanding before saying. "Alright then, princess. I'll make sure that she reached the palace safely, though I myself am not sure in what condition she'll reach there."

Henrietta just giggled before looking back towards Fouquet and said. "Naruto, I need to go back to the palace and take a couple mages as escort for me to bring Fouquet to the dungeons. She will be tried and sentenced fairly, no worries."

Naruto crossed his arms and nodded, and the princess then left, ready to go back to the palace with her escorts and lock Fouquet up in the dungeons before placing him on trial. Naruto then looked back towards Louise before saying. "Well, you'll be in a world of pain, but it's nothing too bad, I hope." And he creates a half-Tiger handseal in his right hand.

Louise snapped out of her funk and was about to stop Naruto when her seals glowed, and she felt so heavy that she fell on her fours on the ground immediately. Groaning due to pain and the stress placed on her while Siesta rushed forward to help her, Naruto said. "Remember Louise, you are not good enough yet to enter any battle. The best you can do is to sit at the back and watch, for now. You have not reached the recommended levels that I can teach you some more powerful jutsus. As you are now, the best thing you can do is to sit back and let the best people do their jobs. Also, this punishment won't be for too long; just for 2 days. At the meantime, your body will be forced further than ever thought possible. You'll thank me for this later." Naruto then went to Osmond, intending to fix the wall and maybe paint some strengthening seals on the walls to prevent any other theft attempt from succeeding again.

Meanwhile, Siesta was rushing towards Louise, intending on helping her up. She bent down and placed Louise's arms over her neck and said "Lady Louise! I'll help you up!" She then stood, bringing Louise with her, who, upon standing up at her full height, still felt like she had the world on her back and almost fell again if not for Siesta's support. Siesta then said, "Lady Louise! I think you should channel chakra into your legs and body! That'll help support you!"

Nodding wordlessly, Louise used all her concentration to channel her chakra into her legs and body to help her stand up, and after a while, she managed to have enough chakra flowing within her to help her just stand in one spot, Siesta still supporting her. Huffing due to tiredness with sweat pouring from her body, she heard Siesta said. "Master Naruto shouldn't have done that! You only tried to help!"

Breathlessly, Louise pants out. "He's... right. Cannot... fight. Too... weak. Need to... train more."

Siesta just looked at the panting figure of Louise while thinking of her statement. It's true that she tried to help, but even in the short while that she saw the battle, she realised that what Louise said was true; they are still too weak, and trying to get involved in a battle of that magnitude will only cause them to die in between the two combatants, showing just how weak they are. "I will not let that happen! As someone who had saved me, I will protect Lady Louise with my life, while serving her with everything that I have! That is my only way of thanking her!" Looking back at Louise, Siesta reaffirmed her resolve, and will ask for additional training from Naruto later, no matter how heavy.

Unknown to her, Louise was having the same line of thinking. "I am so weak! Just now, my botched Fireball caused the wall to break, helping the thief instead of assisting Naruto! Why am I such a failure? But Naruto believes in me! I cannot, no, WILL NOT fail him again! I will train my best from now on! I need to ask for more training, so that I will not be so useless next time!"

But then, both of them suddenly had the same thing on their mind. "Next time? Will there be a next time? Will we be caught in battles upon battles from now on?" No matter how hard they tried to think otherwise, a small voice within their hearts spoke to them, saying that yes, this is just the beginning.

-BREAK-

High above them, the figure of Kirche and Tabitha was seen riding Sylphid, Tabitha's dragon familiar. Looking downwards, Kirche said. "Wow. That guy's powerful! He beat the golem by going straight to the mage! And what's that skill anyway? He just disappeared! And he performed fire and water magic too! And also managed to fix the ground and walls without using a wand! Not to mention that he transformed into a demon just now! All the familiars are scared! Even Flame was afraid, so afraid that he sweats! He didn't even have sweat glands!"

Tabitha then replied, no longer reading her book. "Not magic. But not demonic."

Kirche looked towards Tabitha incredulously. "What?! Not magic?! Then what's that? And not demonic arts?"

Tabitha shook her head before continuing her reading. "Unknown. But not magic. Demon but also a human. But skill not demonic in origin. Mysterious."

Trusting her friend's assessment, Kirche wordlessly nodded, her mind still spinning at the fact that the familiar of Zero is a demon, or a half demon. They kept on observing the three from above, not wanting their presence to be discovered.

A sudden idea popped into Kirche's head. "Tabitha, the ball tonight starts at 9, right?" She nodded wordlessly. "I have an idea then. What if we are to visit their new house? Maybe we can ask him about it, and with Sylphid, we can be back before the ball starts. How's that?"

Silently, Tabitha thought. His presence and skills are very confusing, yet he managed to train Louise in a very short time since his appearance and managed to improve her rapidly. Also, from what she knew, he didn't actually felt like a demon, yet he morphed into one, complete with terrifying roar and an oppressing aura. Going to question him directly would be dangerous if he dislikes people prying around him, but that will be the only way to know for sure. After considering all factors, she gave her a reply, in the form of a short nod, accompanied by "But careful. Unsure of stance."

Kirche grinned at this, and said. "Of course! Won't want him getting angry at us then." They then both discussed about what should and should not be asked towards the mysterious (to them) hanyou only known by his name, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto and his handsome, whisker marked face.

-BREAK-

Once the issue of Fouquet attacking the academy was dealt with, all of the staff went back to the familiar exhibition site and sat at their respective positions. The higher ups are still mystified at the skills that the so-called Zero's familiar showed while the rest was just shocked at the fact that they are attacked. After a while, Colbert once again stepped onto the stage, ready to begin speaking again.

"Now, students and visitors of the Tristain Academy of Magic! Just now, a robbery attempt occurred at this academy by the thief called Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt, who tried to steal the artefact called the Staff of Destruction, stored here by the order of the royal family, from our most secured vault, using the familiar exhibition as cover for her dastardly deeds!"

Everyone gasped in surprise at this. Fouquet attempting a theft in broad daylight in the academy? Impossible! Everyone started muttering about the thief and his attempt, but before an uproar can happen, a cry of "Silence!" from Colbert shut the mouth of everyone there, and he cleared his throat before continuing. "Ehem. However, his attempt was stopped by the presence of one of our students there and her familiar, Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière and Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, who was at the wrong place at the right time, and managed to stop the thief and capture her!"

And then, Fouquet, still having the restriction seal placed on her was brought forward, albeit having her hood on, covering her face so that no one could see her face; not wanting the students and the rest of the staffs to be shocked at the fact that Old Osmond's secretary herself, a person known to be kind and gentle but also a pervert hater, to be Fouquet. Chattering was heard among the people present; the fact that the most notorious thief in entire Halkeginia was captured, the fact that she was a woman, and others.

Colbert then continued. "As such, she will be brought to the royal palace, where she will be tried for her crimes, and will be executed accordingly!" She was then taken away; the crowds' jeers and boos following her departure. Once again, when the sounds have quieted down, Colbert continued. "As such, we are able to continue the ceremony as usual, thanks to the valiant effort of Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, the familiar of our Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière in stopping Fouquet and subduing her! As such, he had more than proven his capabilities as a splendid familiar, and is the winner of this year's familiar exhibition crown, which will be given by Her Highness Princess Henrietta herself!"

Louise who was walking shakily step by painful step was escorted by the imposing figure of Naruto, who wore his royal garbs instead of his gleaming golden armour, and they both walked towards the figure of Henrietta who was understandably confused at the fact that her friend was walking extremely slowly and was shaking and panting like she just ran the entire wall of the academy (which she hoped she'd do rather than the restriction seals). Upon reaching her, Louise bowed – or more likely fell – on one knee, and received the familiar exhibition crown, though no one clapped for her as she slowly and shakily rose to her full height, considering her recent reputation and Naruto's display of sheer, overwhelming power just now.

Suddenly, a slow clap was heard, and looking at the source, Louise realised that Henrietta was the one clapping, which was then followed by Siesta within the preparation tent close by, before both Osmond and Colbert followed, and in a couple of seconds, the entire crowd was clapping and cheering as well for Louise for winning the crown.

Looking at the crowd, she saw that everyone was cheering at her, instead of insulting her, the jubilant cries, the happy clapping, and the sight of everyone smiling at her second victory during her time at the academy causes tears to gather at the corner of her eyes, but being a Vallière, she had a reputation to uphold, and thus held back the tears of joy threatening to pour out of her eyes with an iron will and strong spirit. Waving at everyone, she slowly wobbled back towards the preparation camp as Henrietta went back to her seat and Colbert continued the ceremony.

"And so, our exhibition today ends with the award giving ceremony. And also, due to their successful capture of Fouquet, tonight's grand ball's guest of honour will be Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière together with her familiar, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto! So ends our ceremony today!"

As everyone was shuffling out of their seats due to the end of the ceremony, Henrietta walked straight to the preparation tent to see her old friend before she left; time constraints forcing her to leave as fast as she can. There, she saw that Louise was sitting on a chair while huffing madly with Siesta and Naruto beside her, one fussing over her while one just stood there with his arms crossed.

Though this peculiar sight caught her eye, she decides not to voice them, knowing full well that it must've been something that Naruto did. She then spoke to Louise. "Louise, you have an extremely good familiar here. Treat him well, and remember to follow everything that he says." Wordlessly, Louise nodded, and Henrietta went to Naruto. "Sir Naruto-"

Her words were cut short by Naruto lifting his hand up to stop her before Naruto said. "Wait. Why 'Sir'? If I understood well, I am just a familiar here; a nobody."

"Sir Naruto, you are a strong emperor, your words and advices you gave last night, coupled by your actions today has proven to me that you are a man of your word, and I know now that you are a wise and strong emperor. And thus, I decided to call you 'Sir' but be assured that I won't do so where everyone was watching. I have my own reputation to keep, and if people were to see me greeting a familiar with 'Sir', they might lose confidence in me."

Naruto nodded, completely understanding what Henrietta meant. He then said, "So I take it you're leaving now?"

She nodded. "Yes. Time is in short supply for me, and even this short visit has strained my schedule to its breaking point. I am unable to stay for long, thus I'll have to miss the ball tonight, but rest assured that Louise will have my prayers accompanying her along her journeys. Goodbye for now. Don't forget to come to the palace next week!" and with those words, she left.

Naruto breathes a sigh. "She's one hell of a princess there."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Louise and Siesta both said, "Naruto! Train me harder!" they both looked at each other before saying "That's my line! Stop copying me!"

Their quarrel was stopped by Naruto's giggles, and he then said. "I understand. In fact, I totally expected this. Your first impression of a high level combat was a strong one; I can see that in your eyes." They both nodded. "In fact, your fears are totally understandable; high level combat such as the one that just occurred will either leave a huge impression, or dead bodies. Most probably both. And make no mistakes; a harder training regime will kill anyone else who didn't attempt it with my seals which also acts as lifesavers for all of you. Are you ready to do this? To put your entire body, mind and spirit into my training from hell, a hell that WILL get harder due to your request?" both of them nodded, absorbing everything that Naruto said. He then sighed.

"Well, then I'll make sure that before you reach the palace next week, both of you will be able to perform the basic 3; Henge, Substitution and Clone, though you might not need that last one with Shadow Clones, and shunshin before that, without handsigns. But the training will be harsh, harsher, harder and more painful then what you have went through. Will that be fine for you two?" they nodded, their hearts rock solid at this chance to become stronger and not be useless like they just did. "Very well. The training will start tonight." He then looked at Louise. "Louise, we will go to the ball, but you'll leave more clones than ever to study and train. So will you, Siesta. Prepare yourselves, speak your last rites and write your will, for, as the saying in my world goes, shit just got real bad. Starting tonight."

Both of them nodded rapidly, agreeing to train even harder than before to become stronger, so that they won't be a burden in battles like they were in the battle just now. But then, Naruto said. "But first, I'll need to explain something to you two. Remember that during the battle, I appeared instantly in front of Fouquet and punched her? Or any other times where I disappeared suddenly without a trace?" Both of them nodded. "That is the shunshin jutsu, a short range rapid transport jutsu that looks like a teleportation jutsu but is not. I know that all of your clones are learning the basic 3 right?" they nodded again. "Shunshin is a bit more advanced, but it will help you much since you haven't had any medium or long range jutsus. By using it, you can appear right in an enemies' face, before punching said face with chakra assisted strength or stab his kill points with a kunai, giving a quick, non-messy win and a short fight. Remember, that against weaker enemies, efficiency is much better than flashy stuff. Understand?" both of them nodded, their minds alight with the possibilities that such a skill would give them. "Right. We'll go back to the house, where Louise and I will prepare ourselves for the ball, while Siesta will be trained in some wilderness cooking skills. Now that the ceremony's over, let's go." And with that, Naruto left, a Siesta carrying a Louise in tow behind him.

-BREAK-

Upon reaching their house, Naruto immediately instructed them to create as many clones as they can with their seals off and their chakra flowing completely back into their body, and hopefully reach a hundred fifty clones or more each girl, where the hundred will be divided into 4 groups of 25, each training in the basic 3 while one trained chakra control. The remaining fifty will be trained in the use of shunshin jutsu, with Naruto's target of making them master it, like the old Shunshin no Shisui who can use multiple rapid shunshins, enabling him to either attack multiple targets in a short time or a single target many times from blind angles. As usual, their chakra will be replenished by Naruto to create more and more clones.

But even to Naruto's surprise, his students wanted to create more. He was already proud of them; being able to make 30 fully powered, training capable Shadow Clones using their own chakra at one time is a feat that can only be boasted by Naruto's students; all of his students have massive amount of chakras even when they are only with him for a short while thanks to him forcing their chakra pathways to enlarge and further condensing their chakra, making each of his students chakra monsters by virtue of having massive amounts of extremely dense chakra, making control exercises difficult, but enabling them to fight for longer than even some Elite Jounins and throw high powered jutsus around like they cost nothing. Yet these two wanted to create more. When asked about it, Louise answered "Having more clones can speed up training right? Then, we want to have more!" Siesta nodded at this, completely agreeing to her master's idea. Hey, they have the perfect skill and the perfect teacher to speed up their training by thousands of times. They saw no reason to not abuse the shit out of it, as long as they got stronger faster, not wanting to get into any more situations like that just now.

Unfortunately for them, Naruto did. Rubbing his head, he said. "Look, having more clones will definitely equal faster training. That is true. Even I did that; training with thousands upon thousands of clones at one time. But the thing is, you are just regular humans, while I am not. My bloodline allows me to adapt to any situation and heal any damage that I receive near instantly. Add to the fact that as a half demon, my resilience is increased by another couple tens of times, which makes me virtually unkillable. Almost. I've once lost half of my torso, and I still survive, about a hundred years ago, I think. Though I'd have to say that that was the closest that I've been to my death. You two are but regular humans, and mental stress is something that can be hard to heal. That is the reason why I have your clones dispel in groups slowly instead of all at once. Doing that will kill you due to the mental feedback. True that I have my seals on you to limit the damage and to help you adapt to the feedback, but there are limits to what you can perform, and I'd have to say that for now, 200 clones are your absolute limits. Any higher, and I'm not even sure if I can save you when you're on the edge of mental breakdown."

Having being terrified enough by Naruto's explanation, both of them went forward and created only 200 clones, where the extra 50 will start learning elemental composition of their respective elements, something that can increase their chakra, better their chakra control and easing their future jutsu education at the same time. With that done, Naruto and Louise were about to go upstairs to ready themselves for the ball when both Louise and Siesta perked up, a twinge felt in their heads, signifying that someone entered the perimeter of their house. Once again, both of them prepared to ambush the attacker when Naruto said. "Relax. I recognize these chakra signatures. I really need to teach all of you how to detect chakra signatures. Go ahead, let me greet them." The two stayed there though, and Naruto just shrugged before opening the door, only to come chin-to-face with the figure of Kirche and Tabitha, the sight of who makes Louise's blood boil.

Louise immediately said, crossing his arms while showing that she loathed being in the presence of the Zerbst. "What do you want here, Zerbst? Just want to bother us? Why are you not preparing for the ball?"

Kirche dismissed Louise's annoyed comment with a giggle and a wave of his hand. "Oh please. I have better things to do then bother a Vallière. What I am interested in is this guy." She said while jabbing a finger into Naruto's chest.

Naruto inwardly laughed watching the interaction between the two, even as Louise threw insults upon insults on the Zerbst with Kirche shrugging them off like so much rainwater on an umbrella. Before the quarrel can turn into a fight, Naruto stopped Louise, saying, "Relax Louise. I'll indulge their curiosity for a while. Why don't you go up and prepare?" with a huff, Louise went to her room, intent on readying herself to go to the grand ball tonight.

As Louise went upstairs, her mouth grumbling nonstop about the presence of 'the slutty Zerbst in her house', Naruto sat on his customary oversized chair with both Kirche and Tabitha sitting in the wooden sofa for two on the right of his position. Naruto then said "Now, how can I help you two ladies in this wonderful evening?"

Kirche crosses her arms beneath her boobs, accentuating them while crossing her legs, showing toned, soft hips towards Naruto. To her inward disappointment, he didn't even look phased. Sighing in her mind, she then started. "If I may, I wanted to know about you. Where you came from, your powers, that demonic side that got all familiars spooked, and what are those strange skills you used."

Naruto grinned. "Straight to the point eh? I like that. Now this will take a while. It's like this..." and as usual, Naruto told the two girls everything about him; the fact that he was an emperor from another world, his names, chakra, their uses, some demonstration, among others. Even Tabitha didn't stop looking at Naruto though she didn't spoke a word, her book long since forgotten.

After a while, Naruto's explanation stopped; an awestruck look was on Kirche and even Tabitha's face. Kirche then said "No wonder the Zero became so strong in a short time. You must've trained a lot of people as well."

Naruto nodded. "Yep. And she advanced rapidly, making me confused at why her practical skills in magic were so poor. But I'll make sure that she becomes a strong girl, by hook or by crook."

Kirche nodded. "Well, I think that's enough for now. Can I come again to ask something else, if I want to?"

"Of course. I have no problems with that, as long as I am here. Now go back to the dorms, we both have a ball to go to."

Kirche and Tabitha stood up before leaving the house with Kirche disappointed that her seduction tactics didn't even faze the self-proclaimed emperor. She was about to playfully cry on Tabitha's shoulder while glomping her like she usually did when she heard Tabitha said "Strong. Powerful. Dangerous."

Kirche replied. "Well, I can feel his powers. He definitely is not normal. But as he said, he meant no one harm, and he even demonstrated it at the exhibition." What he did was amazing and terrifying, but she sensed no danger from them. It's as if he's just flexing his powers. "I think I would like to be closer to him, you know. Looks like fun, travelling around with a half-demon." Kirche then laughed, making Tabitha shook her head while mounting her familiar, the rhyme dragon Sylphid with Kirche following shortly behind.

-BREAK-

The ball was a grand affair, as its name the grand ball suggests, and is made to commemorate the success of all the second year students with the summoning of their respective familiars, though all of them are absent. The ball was filled with students wearing a variety of ball gowns and expensive looking cloths, with all of them mingling with each other, with Kirche being the centre of attention from many of the boys while Tabitha just sampled the food; her eyes not leaving her book.

Suddenly, a cry from the ball's announcer was heard announcing the guest of honour. "Announcing the arrival of the third daughter of the Vallière family, Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière, together with her familiar, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto as today's guest of honour!" This made everyone's eyes head straight towards the stairs of the ball's entrance. And from it, the untameable spiky blonde hair of Naruto was seen first due to his immense height, before revealing his clothing, a black tuxedo with an orange bow tie with a white shirt underneath it that he kept in a seal on him at all times. Having some spare clothes like that really saved him a lot of times, he mused. A while later, after everyone stopped shivering in fear with Kirche felt like going to rape him right then and there if not for the fact that he knew Naruto could kill her without breaking a sweat, the petite, yet beautiful figure of Louise appeared, making the boys all look at her in awe.

She wore a headband over her hair, making her long, pink hair styled in a neck length ponytail while wearing a white dress gown with pink frills and wrist length body fit sleeves that showed off her arms, which had some muscle to them now thanks to her training with a golden choker with an oval gem on it on her neck. The dress also had an oval brooch at chest level and a pink ribbon at her waist with a green earring completing the assemble. Her hands were lifting her skirt to allow her to walk freely while Naruto was beside her, a toothy smile on his face, showing off some fang to the people.

Everyone watched in absolute silence as both of them walked together to the middle of the floor, the eyes of everyone watching them. As soon as they reached the middle of the floor, the music played, a soft, slow waltz meant to be danced to the tune. Louise then gave her hand to Naruto, who bows down on one knee, receives it and kissed it before they danced. Some of the girls are surprised at this display of gentlemanly behaviour from one whom their familiars called a demon. And as they started to dance, the other couples danced as well, all following the song.

Louise and Naruto's extremely different stature makes for a sight during the dance, with Louise only reaching his chest; he needed to place his hands lower to waltz together with her. But with experience gained from being an emperor for hundreds of years, Naruto managed to dance together with Louise, not performing any mistakes.

Louise was shocked at this, and chalked it to her familiar's skills. "I admit, I am shocked when you are able to dance so well with me. For something that could terrify the entire academy, you're surprisingly capable in a variety of other stuff."

Naruto laughed a small laugh. "Well, I've been an emperor for years, and I've been to countless dances and the fact that I am much, much taller than everyone makes my first couple dance dates a disaster. But later on, I managed to compensate that height, enabling me to dance perfectly with anyone I wanted. So? How am I?"

Naruto then twirled Louise around during a change in melody before continuing their slow dance. Louse then remarked, "You are a great person. Strong, wise, brilliant yet also humble, and knows how to act well in nearly any situation. A good dancer too."

"Thank you for the praise," Naruto said, before saying "But, just know that this will probably be your last rest time. So you better enjoy it to its limit." Louise wordlessly nodded, knowing that this was due to her own request to grow stronger.

From afar, Kirche watched Naruto dance with Louise, a feeling of jealousy crept within her heart at the sight of Louise dancing with the absolutely gorgeous emperor (or so he said) named Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, a feeling that she embraced, even as the two danced like a height mismatched couple, albeit extremely well in silence, nothing else needs to be said between the two.

-BREAK-

Back at the house, Siesta was skinning a freshly caught rabbit using a kunai with instructions from a clone of Naruto beside her. No matter how terrible at skinning the cute, brown and black furred rabbit, she understood that she might need to do so later on someday. And besides, the thing's dead too.

She suddenly spun around to face the Naruclone, tears almost flowing from her eyes. "Why must we kill the cute little rabbit?! She's harmless and cute!"

Sighing, the Naruclone replied. "For the last time, it's so that you can learn how to skin animals properly, so that at a later date, you'll be able to do it without assistance."

"But why a rabbit?! She's soooo cute!" Siesta cried out, her heart almost breaking at the thought of skinning a cute animal like that.

"Well, that's the thing that fell into your pit trap, so that's the thing we're going to skin and eat."

Almost brought to tears, Siesta kept on skinning the dead rabbit according to the instructions that the Naruclone said. But then, something unexpected happened. The clone said, "Not like that. Let me guide you." Before going to her back and grabs both her hands and showing her how to properly skin it. She blushed hard at this contact, with Naruto's – no, a Naruclone's, she affirmed in her head, though she was unable to feel the difference – tough, muscular body and making her hair tingle with the feeling of his hot breath on her head.

A bit slow on the uptake, the Naruclone then realised that Siesta was blushing madly at this point, and decides to say, "Oh? Liking what you felt there?" to Siesta with a grin on his face. The Naruclone then decides to play a little with her and lets his hands off from hers.

Silently lamenting the loss of those warm pair of hands, she continued her skinning until a small, warm touch hits her neck at her spinal cord and slowly moved downwards, creating a pleasurable tingle in her while making her body hair stand up on ends. She then felt Naruto's warm breath hitting her cold skin on her neckline, with him saying "Hmm... You like that...?"

The feeling of Naruto's breath on her neck and his gentle, slow touches caused pleasurable tingles to erupt from her body, with his hands flowing around her exposed back due to her plain clothing, creating imaginary shapes and making her blush even redder if at all possible. The feeling of his hot breath once again hits her neckline, closer this time, causing her to gasp in shock and pleasure, and caused her to release the kunai that she held, it clattering on the floor.

Shocked out of the Naruclone's sensual touches and acts due to the sound, she immediately bent down before saying "I'm sorry! I'll pick it up! I'll try again!" in a rush, the blush on her face still not fading. The Naruclone was smirking badly at this point and continued his ministrations of Siesta.

Siesta felt like she's in heaven! "Ooohh... what was that? That felt... great! That, that, ooohhh..." By this point, any manner of coherent thought was gone from her mind, only taking in all the feeling of the Naruclone's treatment of her. But he then stopped suddenly, causing Siesta to snap out of her pleasure induced high and turned around, only to meet the face of the Naruclone, grinning widely, causing Siesta to blush again.

That night, after all of them are back in the house, their clones training outside, Siesta was unable to sleep, the effects of the Naruclone's ministration still lingering in her mind and body. She tossed and turned, and was still unable to sleep after a few minutes. She then woke up before heading towards Naruto's room, where she expects him to be there.

She was about to lift her hand up to knock when Naruto's voice was heard from within. "Come in." And Siesta pushed the door open; the sight of Naruto sitting cross legged on the floor meditating met her eyes. Looking around, she realise that this is the first time she entered his room, and saw that there's nothing worth mentioning in it. No cloth drawers, only a bed and a coffee table with some chairs around it. The only light came from the moon through the open window opposite the door.

Naruto then stood while walking towards the chair close by before sitting in it and gesturing for Siesta to do the same. Hesitantly, she went towards the chair opposite of him before sitting down and looking at her knees, her blush still on her face, though she hoped that it is not visible thanks to the lighting within the room. Unfortunately, Naruto caught that blush, thanks to his Astartes senses.

He then said, "So, my clone decided to play with you eh?" she wordlessly nodded, her blush becoming redder. Naruto just sighed before standing up and crouched down directly in front of Siesta, making his face about the same level as Siesta, causing her to blush even harder at this, like her head's going to blow due to the redness of her face.

Naruto just sighed at this. "Siesta, I regret the actions of my clone. That's another lesson for you actually. Clones sometimes thought differently from their master, and they tend to do their own thing sometimes. And for that, I apologize for the actions of my clone."

Siesta rapidly shook her head while spouting words of denial. "No! No! There's nothing wrong with that! Absolutely nothing!"

"Still, that must've had some effect on you. You're here because of it, yes?"

"...Yes." Siesta timidly answered.

Naruto just sighed, before saying "Well, you have two choices now. You can have me... relieve it for you, or I could create a seal to help force you to sleep. You'll need that sleep, by the way. So? Which one will it be?"

Siesta had steam literally blowing out of her ears by this point. Either having him 'relieve the pressure', or creating a seal for her. A huge part of her brain was screaming for her to take the first choice, but they aren't even married! Nor was he in love with her! But before she could say anything, Naruto said.

"Or... I can teach you how to relieve that pressure yourself."

Without any qualms or any second thoughts, Siesta shot up and said. "I'll take that one mas-Naruto!"

Sighing due to the foolish actions of his clone, Naruto thought. "Can't believe I'm about to teach a girl how to fap. Must've been too bored or something." He then said, "Alright then. But you must do EVERYTHING as I told you to do, understand?"

Siesta just nodded while Naruto once again was lamenting his clone's stupid decision to do something like that. "Well, at least she didn't choose the first option..." He then continued. "Alright, now get on the bed..."

-BREAK-

The next morning, the sun hasn't even rose at the horizon, yet two girls just woke up with their guardian, teacher and familiar for one of them waking them up. After a quick bath, both of them are outside the house, ready to perform their exercises for the day. But curiously for Louise, she saw that Siesta had a calmer look on her face, like a huge burden was lifted from her back all of a sudden. Also, she saw that she was looking at Naruto with a small blush and fidgety body, somehow. She was about to ask when Naruto suddenly said. "Alright, both of you. We'll start by creating clones to replace the ones used during the night, as usual. Now, Louise'll go with my clone here," And a clone of Naruto poofed into existence beside him, "While Siesta will be with me. Now go." The clone took Louise to the other side of the house, while Louise kept looking at Naruto and Siesta all the while, thinking of what could've happened between them.

Naruto approached Siesta, whose blush just got harder before he pats her shoulder, making her jump with an 'eep'. Before Siesta could say a word, Naruto said to her first. "Siesta, what I taught you last night was probably the only option available if you don't want me repressing your sex drive using seals. I will not do so, though. I want both of you to grow up healthy and strong, and doing that will not just be wrong, but also might stunt your development. But having sex with you would just be wrong, but still, if that's what you wanted, then I'll have no problems with it, especially if it bothers your training. If you would like that. I won't force you, just stating it."

Siesta blushed again, harder than before. Last night was the first time she... touched herself, with him watching too! She felt really ashamed at having to do something like that with the man of her dreams watching, so she looked downwards, regret and worry heavy in her words. "I... I must've looked like a slut to you last night, did I?"

Naruto responded in a nonchalant tone. "Naah. I've been alive for more than 300 years now Siesta, and I'd have to say that it is regular for girls of your age, especially one who's in contact with a demon like me to act that way. It just can't be helped. Learning to 'relieve' yourself like that will help you immensely later on until you have a loving husband with you to help with it. Now, back to training."

That entire morning, despite her tiredness, Siesta kept thinking, "He is really a prime husband material! Caring, strong, and someone who definitely can take care of a family! But how can I make him fall in love with me...? And he already had a wife too... No! I mustn't think like that! Maybe his wife won't mind him taking more women in his family... I sure won't... Hehehe..."

All the while, Naruto felt like someone was targeting him, sending shivers down his spine. "Whatever that was, I hoped that it could resolve itself peacefully...don't want to go into battle just because of this crap..."

Even through all these feelings, they all trained and trained and trained the entire day, their resolve never wavering after what happened yesterday, combined with the events last night for both of them.

-BREAK-

After 7 days, the time where they are to travel to the palace came. And as Henrietta said, a royal command was issued from the palace by another messenger to the academy to tell them of Louise's need to appear at the palace. Both of them trained well, being able to perform shunshin with just one hand seal while also being capable of using substitution to replace themselves with anything that they can grab in range, though still a bit slow. Naruto plans to have them enter a dodging exercise once they're done with this so that their danger senses can inform themselves to substitute out of the way quickly.

Right now, all three of them are rapidly using multiple shunshins to get from the academy to the palace and forgoes the need of carriage with Naruto saying, "For training. Travelling like that will only slow us down, and this can also practice your shunshins." The one day travel time from the academy was filled with shunshin and tree hopping practices, something that can both exercise them when coupled with the seals on them and good practice for three dimensional shunshins, allowing them to go nearly anywhere; front, back, sides, even upwards and downwards to enable them to shunshin anywhere they liked. It also practices their chakra control with them using it to get a good hold on a tree before jumping and shunshining on air to another tree. These acts scared away a good number of animals and even travellers, after watching three people suddenly appearing out of nowhere right in their path before making a weird hand gesture before disappearing again.

They then reached the palace, huffing and puffing like nobody's business except for Naruto, as usual. There, they are treated like guests of honour, where maids came to help them to their rooms, help their clothing, among others. This confuses them a little, though they decided not to voice it. This also made Siesta felt a bit weird, considering that she's a maid as well, and being treated like a guest of honour by another maid was a little bit disconcerting for her. They are only told that they are to be at the throne room tomorrow morning to meet with the princess.

The next morning, after a quick Hiraishin back home to create more clones to continue their training, they appeared back at the royal palace, where they are ushered to the throne room and both Louise and Siesta immediately kneeled before the princess. The room itself wasn't much, a large, white room with gold coloured plaster decorations on the walls with a wide red carpet that leads to the throne, where Henrietta was sitting on with her usual clothes, the same white dress with purple cape that they saw when she came to visit them and the academy a couple of days ago, her two woman Musketeer Squadron guards beside her throne. She then stood before going towards the kneeling Louise before hugging her.

Walking back towards her throne, she then said something that shocked both Louise and Siesta out of their hairs. "As I promised, this is your reward for capturing Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt. As me and my advisors had agreed, the capture of such a great target, one who have eluded the army for years needs a similarly great reward. And as such, I hereby grant you, Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière, the title of Chevalier of Tristain." And she then walked towards Louise, who was still kneeling in shock. Louise managed to shake off her shock and stood up to face the princess, though her facial reaction said so much about what she was feeling right now.

Henrietta just smiled, before saying. "I'm sorry that the ceremony couldn't be grander, I am lacking manpower right now and everyone else was busy performing other tasks. Please, accept this honour I bestowed upon you. All my advisors had agreed to this a couple days ago, and was only waiting for your presence to grant you the title."

Louise, finally having all the shock out of her system, placed her right fist over her heart before bowing. "I, Chevalier Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière, will receive this title with honour, and will perform my utter best in any capability that was required of me in the service of Tristain. So my oath is set." She then stood straight before continuing, "Order me as you will, my princess, for I am your humble servant."

Henrietta just giggled at this before saying, "Congratulations, Louise Françoise on receiving the title. But I'm very sure that you didn't have to do something like that," Her tone turning much friendlier at the end. But suddenly, she gained a hard edge on her face. "This, Chevalier Louise, will be your first order under your new title."

Henrietta walked around the room, before continuing. "I have heard reports about nobles abusing commoners in a town about two days away. The reports stated that the nobles liked to extort and threaten the people he had control over with his powers. An enquiry by me was unable to catch the culprit, and every question asked was answered by the regular noble decorum, which means that they insisted that nothing was wrong and that they are supposed to be the example for the commoners."

Naruto then said, "So you want us to spy on the town?"

Henrietta nodded. "Yes. I will prepare a fake identity for you three to use to ease you in spying the town. Report to me in about a week. I believe that is enough time for you to gain enough information about it. Report it to me and the palace will detain the culprit."

Louise then bowed again before saying. "I humbly accept this mission from you, Your Highness."

Henrietta sighed. "I would not have you perform this mission if possible, but the lack of manpower that we are currently facing forces me to rely on you. Thank you, Chevalier Louise Françoise."

Louise stood up straight again before saying. "Have no fear, Your Highness. We will perform the mission with all our capabilities. We will catch the culprit for you!"

And with that, another part of their journey starts, at a small town two days' travel away...

-CHAPTER ENDS-

So how was it? This may seem a bit lacking in quality, so I apologize early on, in case someone felt so. Also, since we are not given too much detail on what the Gandalfr runes are supposed to do other than the fact that it enables a user to use any weapon to its maximum capability, I decided to take a page from Fate/Stay Night Shirou's Structural Analysis technique as its effect using my author creativity license. Anyway, read and review!