DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or Highschool DxD. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Highschool DxD is the property of Ichiei Ishibumi.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Seven
Boot Camp from Hell
"What?"
That was the nonplused reaction of one Rias Gremory at Naruto's words.
"I said I brought you two Fallen Angels as candidates for your Peerage, Rias. Pawns, to be exact." Naruto repeated in amusement.
"…Why don't you start from the beginning?" Rias sighed as she accepted a cup of tea from Akeno whose expression was quite a bit more hostile then hers.
Ten minutes later, Rias sighed once more.
"So, essentially, the reason they started killing rather than just keep monitoring, was because some internal issues in the Grigori for which they were set to take the fall for by one of the more rebellious Cadre." She concluded. "And since their only other options are death or imprisonment, they agreed to become servant devils."
"That pretty much sums it up." Naruto agreed.
"That does not explain why you're bringing these two to me." Rias pointed out. "I know for a fact that not only do you have some Evil Pieces left, but Hinata-san and Shikamaru-san only have one servant each and Sakura-san none. There is plenty of room in their Peerages."
"True." Naruto agreed. "But then again, they don't actually need more Peerage members right now. You do." He pointed out. "Specifically, Peerage members with abilities that can deal serious damage to devils, damage not even a Phenex can shrug off easily."
At this, Rias closed her eyes with a grimace, understanding very well what he was talking about. Her engagement to Riser Phenex was something she had opposed since she had first heard of it soon after she had acquired her Evil Pieces. And she knew that the only way she was really going to end it was through a Rating Game, which meant having a stronger Peerage then his. However not only was Riser experienced in Rating Games, being something of a rising star, but he also had a complete Peerage.
She, on the other hand, had only three reliable pieces, the fourth having been sealed away because of her shortcomings, and while she was certain any one of her pieces was better than their equivalent in Riser's ranks, the fact remained that they were outnumbered, Riser having five Peerage members for every usable one of hers. And while technically the actual marriage was supposed to take place once she had finished university in the human world, which was in around five to six years, the Phenex Clan had been making pressure to move up the date, especially now that she was eighteen, thus an adult.
"If you wanted me to increase me Peerage, why did you only bring two of the four Fallen Angels?" Rias asked, mostly to buy some time to consider it.
"Rias, just because I believe they were indeed tricked into this does not mean I instantly trust them." Naruto chided. "There's no way I'm putting all of them together. Plus, would you really like to have all four of them in you Peerage? That would mean you would have to be suspicions of half of your Peerage for the foreseeable future, until you and they can properly bond and trust each other. It'll be easier with just two of them, especially since these two are younger than the others."
"Oh?" Rias inquired. "Were they born from the union of two Fallen Angels?" she asked curiously.
"No, they were created by God." Naruto shook his head. "But from what I can sense, they were made only just before the end of the Great War, at which point they Fell. The other two were active at least a few centuries during the War so they're more dangerous, that's why I placed them under Hinata and Shikamaru. If they plan on betraying us, they'll nip it at the bud."
"I see." Rias nodded slowly. She was slightly irked that he admitted he had kept the stronger of the four Fallen out of her reach, but she understood his reasons. Even the two she might reincarnate had around five centuries worth of experience while the other two maybe twice as much. As much as it pained her to admit it, she was not certain she could see through the lies of Fallen Angels older than her brother even if they did not compare even to her in terms of actual power.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Akeno spoke up with a frown. "They're Fallen Angels."
"And after being reincarnated, they would be half-Fallen, half-Devil." Naruto gave her a pointed look, earning a grimace and making her look away. He had, after all, just described her.
"Let's say that I might agree to this…" Rias ignored Naruto's wry look. "Is there anything specific I need to know about them?"
"Well, their appearances are deceiving, for starters. The younger looking one, Mittelt, looks around Koneko's age, but is actually at least a decade or so older than the other one. She would like to attend Kuoh. Apparently, her aging is messed up and she's stuck in a child-like body, and she's hoping going through human stages of life will fix it." Naruto began.
"Will it?" Rias raised an eyebrow.
"I doubt it." Naruto admitted. "What you need to understand is that Angels were created to be ageless, to not age beyond their initial form. Fallen Angels do age a bit, but that's only because of their grace having been corrupted. I plan on speaking to Ajuka about it if turning her into a Devil does not change her body enough to allow her to age a bit."
"I see… but it won't affect her combat abilities, right?" Rias pressed.
"She survived for centuries. I'm sure she'll be fine from now on as well." Naruto shrugged. "Now, Kalawarner on the other hand looks like an adult and has stated in no uncertain terms that she doesn't want to play student. I noticed there was an opening for a History teacher since the last one was forced to retire due to an accident, so maybe you can place her in that position, to keep her close."
"One would expect she know history, having lived through a good chunk of it." Rias nodded slowly.
"So? What do you say?" Naruto pressed.
"…I want to meet them first and then I'll decide." Rias stated.
Akeno did not look pleased, at all, and left the room while Naruto fetched the two Fallen. Rias interrogated them a bit, asking for quite a bit of personal information in order to form a solid opinion of them. It was only reasonable; after all, she lacked Naruto's empathic abilities. In the end, though, the two were reincarnated as Rias's Pawns, consuming two Pieces each.
Timeskip – two weeks later
Things had settled into a routine after the debacle involving the Fallen Angels had been solved. Sure, there had been a few hick-ups such as Kuroka meeting Koneko who still refused to forgive her older sister, but that was something that would take time to solve.
Surprisingly enough, Kiba and Jeanne had hit it off quite well, both of them having been part of the Church only to part on less then pleasant terms, though in Jeanne's case it was a voluntary choice rather than a forced one. Of course, at Naruto's request, Jeanne had refrained from using her Blade Blacksmith Sacred Gear and Blade Birth Devil Arm around the Gremory Knight due to his hatred for Holy Swords. Instead, he gave her one of the three Sword Birth Sacred Gears they had in storage at the lab, which she found just as easy to use as the other two.
Kuroka and Akeno bonded quite well too, what with both of them being completely shameless teases, taking great pleasure in flustering Rias, Asia and Hinata, a times even Naruto when they got a bit too daring.
Surprisingly enough, Kalawarner and Koneko got along without issue, both of them having a mostly cool personality even though the former Fallen's seductive personality came at the front occasionally.
The two female blonds, Asia and Mittelt, also got incredible well considering how different their personalities were and the fact that only a few weeks back the former Fallen was perfectly willing to sacrifice the exiled nun's life. Mittelt also had the time of her life as a second-year student and was doing the best to corrupt her innocent classmate Asia.
During that time, the newly reincarnated devils were brought up to speed on their duties and while the three former Fallen were not at all pleased by the idea of delivering flyers and even less about fulfilling the desires of the humans that summoned them, they grudgingly agreed to do so once their respective Kings told them in no uncertain terms that if they found what they were asked to do offensive or if they received indecent requests, they could simply refuse and leave after hypnotizing the customer to forget the encounter.
Asia however found her niche after Sakura revealed to her that so far, she was only delivering flyers at or around hospitals and clinics, allowing them to be summoned by humans suffering from injuries or illnesses that would take too long or were incurable by human means. Sure, she had to drill Asia to ask for appropriate payment for her services as the kind-hearted girl was all too willing to heal others for free, but she got through to her in the end even if the former nun still gave large discounts to her poorer customers.
In the end, though, the peaceful days ended when one afternoon after classes Rias summoned her entire Peerage to their clubroom and asked Naruto to come as well. There, they found one Grayfia Lucifuge, Head Maid of the Gremory Clan and Queen of Lucifer, waiting patiently by Rias' desk.
"Yo, Grayfia-chan!" Naruto greeted cheerfully.
"Hello Naruto." Grayfia treated him to a rare smile. "I see you're enjoying your time off."
"Damn right I am." Naruto grinned. "I've been working almost non-stop since Ajuka reincarnated me. Even I need a break every once in a while."
Left unsaid that he still sent a dozen of Kage Bunshin or so back to the lab in the Underworld to do less straining work and to go through paperwork.
"Looks like everyone is here. Before we start the club, there's something I need to tell all of you." Rias began.
"Ojou-sama, do you want me to explain the situation?" Grayfia offered only to receive a negative gesture from the redhead.
"The truth is…" Rias began only to pause as an orange teleportation circle lit up on the floor.
It was lighter in color then Naruto's, thought, and it bore a different crest. One of the remaining Pillars of the Underworld.
"Phenex." Kiba said in a low voice that nonetheless carried.
A moment later a twister of flame erupted from the circle before a blond man in his early twenties stepped from within. He casually wore a red suit with his shirt unbuttoned at the top, giving off a bad body vibe.
"Fuu, it's been a while since I came to the human's world." He stated.
"I'll give you a seven for the entrance, Riser." Naruto spoke up in amusement. "The flame twister was a nice touch, but your opening line was not dramatic enough."
"U-Uzumaki-dono!" the man stiffened and eyed him nervously. "I did not expect to see you here."
"Well, I don't advertise my vacation spots." Naruto shrugged.
"Vacation?" Riser blinked. "Well, I suppose that after hunting down the most dangerous Strays out there, it's to be expected to take a break… but the human world?" he scoffed.
"Do you have something against the human world?" Naruto asked pleasantly.
"N-No, it just took me by surprise." Riser stuttered.
"Well, I'm sure you had a reason to come here…" Naruto motioned towards Rias.
"Yes! My lovely Rias. I came to see you." Riser declared grandly.
Rias merely gave him a half-lidded glare.
"Now then, Rias. Let's go and take a look at the ceremony hall. The date of the ceremony is decided so we need to check it before then." Riser ignored her attitude as he grabbed her arm.
"… Let go of me, Riser." Rias demanded in a low and serious tone while shaking his grip off.
"…Who the hell is this guy?" Mittelt could no longer contain her curiosity.
"Oh? Rias, you haven't mentioned me to your servants? I mean, are there devils who don't know me? A reincarnated Devil? Even so." Riser smirked.
"I didn't tell them because there was no need." Rias huffed.
"Oh my, harsh like always. Hahaha…" Riser began laughing.
"Mittelt-san." Grayfia spoke up. "This person is Raiser Phoenix-sama. He's a pureblood High-class Devil, and the third son of the House of Phenex."
"I realized that much." Mittelt frowned.
"And he is to be the husband of the next heiress of the House of Gremory." Grayfia added.
This earned raised eyebrows from the two Pawns, but nothing beyond that. It did not really concern them what Rias did with her personal life.
Soon after, Akeno served them tea which received praise from Riser which the Queen thanked him for. She was lacking her usual playful attitude, though, which told those that knew her better how much she disliked the Phenex despite being able to act civilly around him.
On her part, Rias was mentally thanking Naruto who had discretely gestured to her to sit at her desk rather than join Riser on the couch, as this while slightly rude allowed her to maintain a superior position by overlooking the entire room from her desk.
That and escape Riser's wandering hands.
"Raiser. I told you before. I will not marry you." Rias stated firmly as she finished her tea.
"Yeah, I heard that before. But Rias, that won't do, you know? I think the situation of your household is quite serious." Riser pointed out with as smirk.
"That's none of your concern! If I'm the next heiress for the House of Gremory, then I will choose who will become my husband! My father, brother, and everyone in the clan are rushing it! Also, it was a promise that I will be free until I graduate from university of the human world!" Rias exclaimed in annoyance.
"That's right. You will basically be free. You can go to college and you can do whatever you like with your servants. But your Otou-sama and Sirzechs-sama are worried. They are afraid that your household will become extinct. We lost a great number of pure-blood Devils in the last war. Even if the war has ended, our rivalry with the Fallen Angels and God hasn't ended yet. It's not rare for the successors of pure-blood Devil to get killed in the worthless battle against them, which leads to the household becoming extinct. So for a pure-blood Devil that are also happens to be a High-class Devil, getting together would be the obvious solution for the forces of Devils. A pure-blood High-class Devil. Even you know that these children will be important from now on, right?" Riser preached. "The newly produced Devils—. The ones like your servants, the reincarnated Devils, are expanding in terms of strength but that would make us, the High-class Devils with old history background, lose our place. There are old nobles who gets close to the reincarnated Devils because they are very powerful. Well, that might be alright. The newly produced Devils are also important for our future. But we can't allow the pure-blood Devils to go extinct, right? You and I were chosen in order to prevent the pure-bloods from going extinct. My house is safe because I have my older brothers. But there are only two siblings in your house. And your brother is someone who left the house. Then there would only be you, Rias, who can inherit the House of Gremory. If you don't take a husband, the House of Gremory will go extinct in your generation. Are you trying to crush the household that has been continuing for a very long time? Because of the past war, there is not even half the number of Devils who were referred as "72 pillars". This marriage has the future of the Devils on the line."
Naruto silently scoffed at the drivel. While it was true that many of the Pillars of the Underworld went extinct in the aftermath of the Great War, it was actually more due to them committing mass suicide, having lost their will to live once news to the death of God and the Four Mao reached them. Another handful were lost during the Civil War, but considering they had sided with the Old Mao Faction, it was to be expected.
In truth, this marriage was unnecessary. Even if Rias died childless, the Gremory had another potential Heir in Millicas Gremory, Sirzechs' and Grayfia's son. As the name of Lucifer was now merely a position rather than a hereditary title, Millicas was still a member of the House of Gremory and as he was a pureblood, he was prime candidate for being Heir in case something prevented Rias from becoming the next Gremory Head.
Frankly, Rias's father, Zeoticus Gremory, has simply let his greed get the better of him after Millicas was born. It had taking him and Venelana centuries to conceive Rias and with Millicas coming into the picture so soon after, he thought that maybe another potential Heir could not hurt so he engaged Rias to one of the sons of the Phenex Head as it was known the Phenex Clan was quite fertile, what with the latest lady Phenex producing four children in just as many centuries… though Zeoticus obviously overlooked the fact that Phenex females were fertile.
In truth, the only actual gain for the Gremory Clan was the Immortality of the Phenex being passed down and becoming part of the Gremory Bloodline just like the Power of Destruction of the Bael had. Indeed, looking at it objectively, the idea of a devil possessing both those abilities alongside the very large demonic power of the Gremory Bloodline was awe inspiring.
However, Naruto knew well enough it was bound to fail. It had happened in the Elemental Nations and it had happed in the Underworld. Mixing bloodline abilities led to the child having weaker versions of both at best and neither at worst, though most often one of them was inherited in the favor of the other, usually the mother's.
In the Elemental Nations, it had been tried to mix the Hyuga and Uchiha bloodlines, resulting in children that had one Sharingan and one Byakugan at best. In the Underworld, the heir of the Bael Clan was infamous for having failed to inherit his clan's signature Power of Destruction, instead getting his mother's Lion Taming ability.
So, realistically, it was actually a bad idea to get Rias to have children with a Phenex as there was a chance they might not inherit the Power of Destruction that had given the Gremory such close ties to the Bael, the Great King. Sirzechs knew this. The other Mao also knew this.
But they could not act openly despite this being such a bad idea. Zeoticus was stubborn and had insisted that Rias herself put an end to the engagement through her own power if she disliked Riser so much.
Rias did not dislike Riser. She was actually just a few steps short of loathing his very existence. The man was an infamous womanizer, had gathered an entire Peerage of beautiful young women to be his harem. He had even recruited his own younger sister in it, though Naruto knew for sure it was so that she would gain more experience before forming her own Peerage and so that he would have a 'little sister figure' in his Peerage to complete his list of fetishes, despite not seeing her as a potential lover.
Naruto knew for a fact that Ravel had roasted her perverted older brother's balls for a whole hour before he managed to explain to her his intentions fully.
"I'm not going to crush my house. And I am willing to take a husband." Rias insisted.
"Oh, to be expected from Rias! Then let's…" Riser smiled widely.
"But I won't marry you, Raiser. I will marry the one I acknowledge. Even the Devils from the old noble house have the right to choose." Rias cut him off.
At her words, Riser's visage darkened.
"You know, Rias. I'm also a Devil who carries the name of House of Phoenix behind me. I can't let that name get tarnished. I didn't even want to come to a small old building like this in the human world. Rather, I don't like the human world that much. The fire and wind of this world is filthy. For a Devil like me who rules fire and wind, I can't stand it!" he spat, flames erupting from him. "I will take you back to the underworld, even if I have to burn all of your servants!" he exclaimed as the flames intensified.
"Riser Phenex." Naruto uttered, preventing Rias from responding to the threat and making the other blond go stiff and turn slowly towards him, his expression filled with apprehension. "Remember your place." He whispered as he closed his eyes…
And unleashed a healthy amount of killing intent into the room. Not all of it, mind you, as that would make all but Grayfia pass out, but a decent amount. He also focused most of it on the target of his ire.
What those present noticed the most, once they accustomed to some extent to the feeling of impeding death… was that Naruto was barely using any of his energy in projecting his intent. Usually, a supernatural being had to flare their magical aura in order to saturate their surroundings with their intent. The fact that Naruto could do so with so little power made them, even Grayfia, dread what he could do when he was putting an effort into it.
Had they known he could also saturate his killing intent with the world's malice by drawing on it with Senjutsu, they would be even more terrified.
As it was, with the small amount he was using on the room at large, he merely put them on guard… and made Akeno, Kalawarner and Mittelt horny. Clearly, masochism was quite common amongst Fallen Angels.
"I… I apologize." Riser stuttered. "I let my emotions the better of me."
"Apology accepted." Naruto gestured for him to sit down and the Phenex quickly did so to relieve the burden of his shaky legs. "Personally, I've always believed that this marriage is a mistake." Naruto began. "Past experience has proven that trying to mix the blood of devils possessing potent abilities only ends badly. Recent events with the Bael Clan should be proof enough." He said calmly making the others uncomfortable as it had been quite the scandal. "However, common sense and my personal opinion matters little in the dealings between two Pillars of the Underworld." Naruto shrugged before turning his attention to the silver-haired maid. "Grayfia, I doubt you came here today merely to observe and look pretty. Have the Phenex and Gremory Clans reached any decision?" he inquired.
"Indeed." The Queen of Lucifer confirmed. "Master, Sirzechs-sama, and those from the House of Phoenix knew it would turn out like this. To tell you the truth this was to be the last discussion meeting. Everyone knew that it wouldn't be solved, so they decided to make a last resort."
"Last resort? What do you mean, Grayfia?" Rias asked warily.
"Ojou-sama, if you wish to push your opinion forward, then how about you settle it by having a Rating Game against Raiser-sama?" Grayfia pointed out. "Just as you know, Ojou-sama, only mature aged Devils can participate in official Rating Game. But if it's an unofficial match between pure-blood Devils, even immature Devils can participate. However, in this case…"
"When it involves the family and household problems." Rias continues to talk while making a sigh. "In other words, Otou-sama and the others decided to have a game as a last resort if I was to decline, right? …Just how far are they intending to interfere with my life to feel satisfied...!" she grumbled angrily.
"Then Ojou-sama, you are saying you would also decline to participate in the game?" Grayfia pressed.
"No, I won't, since this is a chance. Alright then. Let's settle this with a game, Raiser." Rias declared.
"Heh, so you're accepting it." Raiser smirks after Rias's provocative words. "I don't mind. But I'm already a matured Devil and I have already participated in the official game. Right now, I have won most of the games. Even so, you still want to play, Rias?" he taunted.
"I will. I will blow you away, Raiser!" Rias shot back fearlessly.
"Fine. If you win, do whatever you like. But if I win, you will marry me immediately." Riser said.
"Understood. I, Grayfia, have confirmed both sides opinion. I will be in charge of the game between the two household. Is that okay?" the Lucifer's Queen asked, receiving the approval of both. "Understood. I will inform the two households then." Grayfia-san bows her head after confirming.
"Hey, Rias. Would the ones here be your servants?" Riser asked as he looked around.
"So what?" Rias twitched.
"Then this match will be a laugh." Riser chuckled. "Only your Queen, the "Priestess of Thunder" can fight on par with my adorable servants." Saying that, Raiser clicks his fingers, and the magic-circle on the floor glows and from it emerged fifteen female devils, most of them in their teens while only the Queen looked to be around Riser's age. "Well, these are my cute servants." He waved grandly at them. "The way you are now, I will utterly crush you in the Rating Game. So, Rias, how about we have a match in 10 days? We could do it now, but that wouldn't be interesting."
"…Are you giving me a handicap." Rias's eyes narrowed.
"Are you against it? Is it humiliating? Rating Game isn't something simple that you can win with only your feelings. If you can't use your servant's power to the fullest, then you will lose immediately. So, it's not weird for you to train with your servants for your first Rating Game. I have seen Devils who lost without using their power to the fullest countless of times, no matter how great their potential and power was." Riser taunted.
"In that case, let's make it a full month from now." Naruto spoke up, once more drawing everyone's attention. "After all, everyone already thinks that the reason you're pushing the wedding six years ahead of schedule is because you're scared of how far Rias and her Peerage might grow in that time. If you give her a month, people would say it's a fair handicap considering her Peerage is far from complete and one of her servants will be unavailable for the Rating Game." He smoothly reasoned.
"Agreed." Riser said instantly, not wanting to taint his image. "Rias, the next time we meet will be at the game." He spoke before teleporting himself and his Peerage away.
"Nicely done." Grayfia gave Naruto a short round of claps. "And to think only a year ago, your first reaction was to blow up the person who annoyed you."
"That hasn't changed." Naruto said dryly. "I just learnt to refrain from acting on it." he paused for a second. "Immediately, anyway." He added sheepishly.
"Really?" Kalawarner asked sarcastically.
"My first idea of dealing with your group was to blow up the whole church with you lot inside it and said it was due a broken gas pipe." Naruto told her pleasantly, earning grimaces from the two Pawns.
"I appreciate your help, Naruto, but I could have handled it." Rias said with irritation.
"Tell me, Rias." Naruto gave her a flat look "What's more important to you? A temporary hurt pride or essentially being Riser's plaything for the rest of your life? Because that's what's at stake here." this shut her up quite well. "If you don't care about yourself, think about your Peerage at least. After all, as your husband Riser would have a decent amount of control over them as well." That took all the wind out of the redhead's sails.
"You're right. Thank you." Rias sighed.
Soon after that, the group broke up for their regular duties.
Next Day – Gremory Villa
"Now, I get it that we're going to be training until the Rating Game. And I get that we had to leave Kuoh to do so." a twitching Mittelt was saying.
"Good." Rias smiled.
"What I don't get… is why the hell we had to carry these huge backpacks all the way here when we could have just teleported over just like they did!" the irate Pawn pointed accusingly at the group consisting of Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Hanabi, Asia, Kuroka, Jeanne, Raynare and a red-haired woman that beat even Rias and Akeno in the bust department.
"It's because since you'll be the ones fighting in the Rating Game, you need all the exercise you can get." Naruto shrugged. "Now stop whining and go get changed into workout clothes. You're burning daylight."
"Why are you here, then?" Kalawarner frowned.
"Rias asked me to train you lot. And I figured we can get Raynare and Asia into shape as well in the process. Everyone else will be helping with one aspect or another of training… or putting you back together at the end of the day, in the case of Sakura and Asia." The whiskered blond added.
"That's… just a figure of speech, right? Right?" Rias looked at Naruto nervously.
"It depends." Naruto smiled pleasantly.
"On what?" she asked, feeling dread.
"On your ability to properly dodge attacks that would dismember you." Naruto grinned.
"…"
"Why are you still here? Move it!" he called out, making almost everyone run into the villa.
"You're sure excited about this." Sakura remarked.
"I never had the chance to be a Jonin-sensei. This is probably the best I'm going to get." Naruto explained.
"For a good reason, I might add." Sakura rolled her eyed.
"What? I'm great teacher material! You should have asked Konohamaru!" Naruto protested.
"You taught an eight-year-old how to turn into a naked woman." Sakura deadpanned.
"I taught him the Rasengan after I returned from my training trip with Jiraiya!" Naruto pointed out. "He took out one of the Paths of Pain with it, you know!"
"Whatever. Just don't kill them. That's the only thing I can't reverse." Sakura warned him as she went to change.
Ten minutes later, Rias and her Peerage were standing in line alongside Raynare and Asia.
"Now then, I am a firm believer of understanding what you're doing wrong so that you can fix it." Naruto began, being flanked by Hinata, Hanabi and Sakura on the left and Kurama, Kuroka and Jeanne on the right. "Once you know why you suck so badly, you can only get better."
"And you lot suck a lot." Kurama commented, earning twitches of irritation from trainees.
"Hey, stop stealing my lines! I was getting to that." Naruto pouted.
"Sorry." Kurama smiled unapologetically.
"Let's start from the left with Asia." Naruto continued. "You have very large reserves for a recently reincarnated Bishop, likely due to using your magic to fuel your Sacred Gear for such a long portion of your life." He paused and Asia smiled slightly. "On the other hand, your physical condition is just above average which admittedly surprised me. We'll work on improving that since the healthier and stronger your body is, the larger your reserves can get. On the magic side, I will be teaching you how to create barriers and Sakura will be further refining your skills with the Twilight Healing. I also want you to learn some offensive magic, maybe some ice or earth magic so you can immobilize your opponents if you don't want to harm them."
"Understood!" Asia tried to give a serious salute and only ended up looking more adorable.
"Raynare." Naruto moved on. "You have some decent hand-to-hand skills, but you're really out of shape. So we'll be getting you in tip-top physical condition. You'll also be working on strengthening your control over your Light element, increase the number, size and quality of your spears, and later on maybe add another element to them for greater damage. We'll have to check your affinities. And depending on your affinities you'll also learn a few jutsu for them."
"Jutsu?" Raynare frowned.
"Think of them as a sort of spells that use chakra instead of just magic." Naruto shrugged, not in the mood for a proper explanation. "Since you're Hinata's Pawn, you can now use chakra like she can. Asia too, but her chakra is mostly healing orientated."
"Right." Raynare decided to ask him how that worked later.
"Kalawarner. The same as Raynare minus the jutsu since you don't have chakra. Instead, you will be learning spells for your elemental affinities." Naruto moved on. "Mittelt, the same as Kalawarner only you'll also be spending some time with Sakura so we can see if we can't induce a growth spurt for you."
"Great!" the loli blonde grinned while her blue haired taller companion simply nodded.
"Kiba." Naruto paused as he looked at the Knight. "Within you, there is a second Sacred Gear called Blade Blacksmith. It allows the user to create Holy Swords. Jeanne will be teaching you how to use it in addition to the intense physical training you will be doing."
"That's… impossible." Kiba was shocked still. "I can't wield Holy Swords… I…"
"You can." Naruto cut him off. "Every child chosen in the Holy Sword Project could to some extent. That was the criteria you were recruited by."
"Then… Why? Why did they have us killed?" Kiba lost his composure and screamed.
"Because you were loose ends." Naruto sighed. "The man in charge, Valper Galilei, was a cruel man who saw people as lab rats. The experiment was not sanctioned by the Church as a whole, despite a few higherups knowing about it and turning a blind eye as long as Galilei got results. And he did. He identified what part of you allowed you to wield a Holy Sword and managed to replicate it… and then got rid of the evidence. Tried to, anyway."
"I… see." Kiba seemed lost.
"I know a bit about that goal of yours…" Naruto continued drawing a sharp look from the other blond "And while I can't say I agree with it, learning how to use your Sacred Gear and about Holy Swords as a whole will only help you achieving it. Know your enemy and all that."
"…Very well." Kiba bowed his head after almost a minute of silence.
"Good." Naruto nodded. "Next up is Koneko. Since you're primarily a hand-to-hand fighter, you'll be doing more intensive physical training then all the others." He said earning a nod of understanding. "We'll work on you getting used to your Nekoshou flexibility as well since you have been suppressing your nature for years. That stops now."
"I…" Koneko began with a frown.
"That is not negotiable." Naruto cut her off in a dark tone. "Just by holding back your nature, you're limiting your base power by more than two thirds. You're practical handicapping yourself, and I will not allow it to go any further. If I have to beat you to an inch of your life daily to get it through your skull that holding back like that is a bad idea, I will do so. Am I understood?"
"…Yes." She bowed her head in shame. She had known repressing her feline side affected her development negatively, but more than two thirds? This was a nightmare.
"We'll also get you to try Senjutsu, both Kuroka's style and my own, to see which you're more comfortable with. You'll see the differences when we start." Naruto said before moving on, not giving her the chance to try to refuse. "Akeno." He paused for a few seconds.
"Yes?" the seductive Queen teased.
"I will get straight to the point. Your mother loved you. He also loved your father, regardless of him being a Fallen Angel Cadre." He spoke drawing the attention of the three former Fallen. "And, quite frankly, repressing your Fallen side and actually hating yourself is an insult to your mother's memory."
At his words, Akeno took a step back, as if struck.
"Naruto…!" Rias began angrily.
"I'm not finished. Wait your turn, Rias." Naruto silenced her with a look before returning his focus to Akeno. "You will no longer be denying that part of you. You will be learning how to harness your Light element and even mix it with your lightning if you can. If you want to hate your father for not being there when your mother was killed, fine. I can sympathize with that."
"Can you?" Akeno demanded.
"See that red-head over there?" Naruto pointe over his shoulder with his thumb at Kurama. "She's a nine-tailed fox. The night I was born, she was brainwashed into attacking the village my parents lived in leading to the death of thousands, my parents included. My father stopped he by sealing her in me, not too different from a Sacred Gear. How do you think the people of my village reacted to the news that that monster that killed their families was inside me?" he asked rhetorically. "I spent all my childhood as a pariah, only the potential value of the Kyubi's power keeping the more hateful members of the military from having me killed, and even than there were several attempts nonetheless. I found out about it only when I was twelve and it took me until I was around your age to get over it and forgive her for her part she played in me becoming an orphan since birth. But you know what? Even before I forgave her, I still used her power when my life and the wellbeing of my friends was in danger. Will you? Or will you like to wallow in your self-hate some more?"
"…fine. I got it. I'll learn how to use it." Akeno sighed.
"Good. And if you really want to, I'll hold Baraqiel down so you can kick him in the balls if we get the opportunity." He offered. "He has no excuse of not being around since your mother died, your feelings for him none withstanding."
"Hold on, did you say Baraqiel?" Raynare gaped.
"Yes, one of the leaders of the Grigori is her father. What of it?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"You're his daughter?!" Raynare ignored him and continued to stare at Akeno. "I was there when he heard about your mother's death. He went on a killing spree on his way there, he killed everyone who so much as said an ill of your mother and then tried to wipe out a clan of human Shinto priests your mother must have been part of. Azazel managed to stop him after he had killed those directly involved and then imprisoned him for a while, until he cooled his head."
"…" Akeno was speechless at this. But it certainly explained why it had taken so long for Baraqiel to show up and why she had not seen certain more unpleasant members of the Himejima Clan around during that time…
"Right… I'll let you mull over that." Naruto gave Akeno's shoulder an encouraging squeeze before moving on to her King. "Rias. I will be frank. You're in the worst state out of all of them. Your physical condition is barely average, you have no hand-to-hand or weapon skills, and your magical combat skill is limited to throwing chunks of Power of Destruction at your opponents which only works if they're really close, otherwise they dodge because your attacks move like snails." He listed, making her more and more depressed. "Sigh, you've got your work cut out for you. Don't worry, though, I'll get you into shape even if it's the last thing you do."
"Don't you mean the last thing you do?" Rias blinked.
"No." Naruto gave her a pleasant smile.
She was not reassured.
"Now then, before we begin, any questions?" Naruto asked as he walked back to the other group.
"Yeah! Who is she? You mentioned she's a Kyubi but…" Mittelt pointed out.
"Her name is Kurama, and she is my Queen." Naruto explained. "Like me, she's Ultimate-Class in terms of power."
"Oh." The blonde palled at the evil grin the Kyubi gave her.
"Now then, let's begin." Naruto decided. "Strip all your clothes and follow Hinata, Hanabi, Kurama and Sakura. Kiba, you're with me."
An awkward paused followed as Asia, Raynare and the Gremory group stared at him in shock and embarrassment.
"He meant follow us inside and then undress." Sakura corrected.
"Yeah, but I wanted to see if any of them was daring enough to do it right here." Naruto admitted. "Come along now, move it."
"What are we stripping for?" Raynare asked.
"We'll be placing seals in you to act as weights for your training. They need to be applied on bare skin." Hinata explained as she led them off.
Half hour later, they were once again gathered outside the villa. In truth, those were not Weight Seals, but rather Gravity Seals and Resistance Seals. The former made the bearer feel like gravity was tougher on them while the later made them feel like they were moving under water, inhibiting all their movements. Of course, there were other seals as well…
"Now let's start you off easy." Naruto gave them a friendly smile. "Do a hundred laps around this clearing."
The trainees slowly looked around and took in the size of the cleaning before paling.
"Move." Naruto whispered in a demonic voice and like that they were off.
Timeskip – one week later
If someone walked up to them and told them that they were in Hell, they would have whole-heartedly believed it. After all, the suffering and the damned – themselves – were present, as was the devil – Naruto – torturing them. All the was missing was the hellfire, and everything would have been set.
Naruto and the others were slave drivers. They pushed them to their breaking point and beyond, then fixed them via Sakura, Asia and even Naruto himself – who was a surprisingly good healer – and then forced them to continue training until they collapsed once more, at which point the process would repeat itself.
Their only relief came at night as they slept, since from the moment they awoke to when they went to bed, they trained essentially non-stop. Even their meals were changed to fit the training regimen to nutritional shakes and protein bars prepared by Sakura – which were far from the tastiest things around. The fact that Naruto was praising her on how far she had gotten in improving the taste made them shudder at that disgusting concoctions she had made in the past. The only upside to this was the actual encouragement to eat sweets for extra energy and they took advantage of this whenever they took a breather.
The only thing that prevented them from outsight rebelling was the fact that their trainers, Jeanne, Kuroka and Hanabi in particular, were training alongside them. Even Kurama was doing it though she focused on Senjutsu exclusively.
However, despite this, there was one thing that was eroding at their mind, something Rias eventually brought up one morning, exactly a week after they had started.
"We aren't improving." The blue-eyed redhead said bluntly as they gathered to begin training for the day. "We've been at it for a week and there has barely been any improvement despite all the training that we did."
"That so." Naruto tilted his head curiously. "Come over here." he called her to the edge of the forest and once she was next to him he tapped her forehead causing the sealing array inked on her that was otherwise hidden to appear. "I've turned off your seals. Now clench your fist and punch this boulder with all your strength."
Rias stared at him incredulously. She was a Wizard-type. Her combat style was to hit her opponent with spells from a safe distance. Yes, she had gone through his training since she understood that the more in shape her body was, the more power it could contain and in a fight, being faster would allow her to dodge blows she did not have time to block with a magical shield… but she was no Rook. She was a pureblood devil and while she possessed strength a few times above that of an average human, hitting a boulder with her bare hand would break her hand… which would be fixed within a minute given the healers present.
With a resigned sigh, she clenched her right fist and hit that boulder channeling all her rage and frustration at having made no visible progress after a week of torture in the guise of training.
The boulder shattered, exploding around her fist.
"As you can see, you've come quite a long way in just a week." Naruto remarked in amusement.
"…How?" Rias eventually asked as she withdrew her hand, staring incredulously at her fist which did not have as much as a scratch from the stone shards it had been touched by.
"The seals on your body inhibit your movements and make you move slower. They also inhibit your control over your energies and your ability to draw on them fast and in large quantities. They even dull your senses to a certain extent, forcing you to rely on your instincts more then you normally do. In essence, they make you put a lot more effort in doing pretty much everything." Naruto explained.
"But…" Rias began.
"And." Naruto cut her off "They automatically adjust as soon as you've made progress to keep your outward performance at the same level, as long as the person they are keyed to is in the vicinity, which in this case is me, the one who activated your seals despite being applied by others."
All the trainees were rendered speechless by this and it took Rias a few minutes to formulate a sentence.
"Why… why wasn't I harmed? I mean, if just my strength was improved…" Rias trailed off.
"When supernatural species do something, they put their power behind every action." Naruto smirked. "When you punch, some of your demonic power coats your fist with the intent of not only increasing the power of your blow but to protect your hand. So what happens if that instinctual response of your power is refined and improved over a period of time?"
"Rook-like strength and defense." Rias whispered in shock.
"More like all the abilities of a Queen Piece. Your speed and control over your magic is increased as well, and due to the strain on it, your demonic power is forced to grow a well. It's similar to what the Evil Pieces do only they maintain this for you rather than your body doing so instinctively." Naruto pointed out. "However, the Evil Pieces only do so much on their own. Their main purpose is to turn a person into a devil, everything else is extra that was added later."
"Why haven't we heard of this kind of training before?" Akeno asked.
"Because it's something I came up with myself before I even became a devil, but was unable to take full advantage of or use on someone else." Naruto admitted. "It was meant to be a more difficult version of the training a good friend of mine was using, but I overdid it. No human could go through more than a day of it, even I only lasted a week. The strain was simply too much for a human body, and after a while it began shortening the lifespan. So, I put it away for when I have time to make it more bearable. But after becoming a devil, I realized that it was the perfect training for my Peerage and fellow servants of Ajuka since our bodies could handle the strain without lasting consequences."
"I see… will this kind of training become common in among devils?" Rias asked.
"Nope. You see, there is one thing that prevents it. It requires a person with very large chakra reserves like myself or Kurama to act as a power source for the seals and supervise the training. There is also a limit of how many we can each maintain at one time, so no army of super-strong devils for us." Naruto shrugged.
"Ah." Rias smiled, not at all disappointed. After all, she would not have an advantage if everyone else was doing it as well.
"Of course, even devils have limits to how much of this training they can take. You're only going to spend another two weeks on this. After that, the final week or so until the Rating Game will be spent partially getting you used to your new bodies. You didn't notice it yet since the most strenuous thing you did was punch that boulder, but if you started running right now, you're likely to lose control and either trip or run into something. You can have all the power in the world and it won't mean a thing if you're unable to use it properly." The whiskered blond nodded sagely.
"Which brings us to today's training." Sakura spoke up and Naruto backed down with a knowing smile. "You've graduated from the basics, so we're going to move on to instill some skill in you lot." He cheerfully informed them as she cheerfully tossed a volleyball covered in seal tags up and down. "I'm going to use the same training method my own teacher used when training me to become a good medic."
Through the mind of the trainees passed thoughts of fine control over their demonic power and they found themselves relaxing.
"That method is called DODGE!" the pink haired girl gleefully shouted as she threw the ball at them with significant strength.
Luckily for them, it was only Kiba who was in its direct path and thanks to his Knight enhancements he barely got out of the way, allowing the ball to pass by and impact the ground twenty feet away causing an explosion which left behind a small crater in which the ball remained undamaged.
"What the hell kind of medic training is that?!" Raynare screeched.
"Field medic, of course." Sakura replied in a tone that implied it was obvious. "On the battlefield, a medic that gets taken out quickly is a useless one. Thus, a medic needs to be able of blocking or dodging whatever gets sent his or her way." She explained. "Now then, Naruto please reactivate Rias-san's seals so I can get started. You're on healing duty today."
"Got it." the whiskered devil agreed while the redhaired King mentally cursed that they had remembered about her seals.
"So!" Rias spoke up quickly, trying to buy some time. "This is the second stage! Is there a third?"
"And a fourth." Naruto confirmed as he reactivated her seals, the sudden strain almost making her fall on her ass. "Hinata will be in charge of the third and the fourth will focus on individual talents."
"Thar's… nice." Rias mumbled as she looked at the evil-eyed Rook of Beelzebub with trepidation.
"Now let's start." Sakura grinned as the ball reappeared in her hand, revealing that it had been sealed to be summoned to her at will.
A.N.: Yeah, finally an update…
