Here you go, Chapter 11 for you to enjoy.
Also some of you were quite vocal about my decisions in terms of the power ranking. Namely the thing about Yonbi Naruto and Riser.
First of all the term combat power was a kind of misnomer on my part. Something like combat intelligence would probably fit better but it's a kind of struggle to find a perfectly fitting term for everything that I included in that term. To make matters a bit more clear.
First of all it was not meant at a "This character wins every fight. This character is absolutely stronger." or anything similar in that regard as there are far too many variables that can decide the outcome of a battle. What I meant by that second stat was something that represents the persons experience in combat and their ability to make use of their abilities. While the Yonbi's raw stats dwarf Risers by a lot it carries the penalty of limiting Naruto's ability to reason in that form. Yes, to some extent he can still realize what his opponent is doing but he can not respond to it with conscious reason. It is the same as when you are attacking a wild animal. It will just as much understand that you are threatening it and that you are a danger it should either flee from or fight but not much more than that. Naruto without any way to control the Yonbi transformation and with no experience in using it in battle or in any way at all has, for that reason, a lower combat intelligence than that of Riser who, in theory, can respond to anything with a conscious effort. But above all else, since he has partook in at least eight Rating Games, his overall experience in live combat situations against enemies with a variety of skills is much higher as well.
A new day had begun for Naruto. He had come home rather late that day after he had talked to Sirzechs. Missing out on dinner with Asia. He had spent quite a bit more time training after the red haired devil had left him to his own devices.
While he was quite a bit stronger than when he had first unlocked his chakra he still felt like he was moving at quite a slow pace something which, Kurama assured him, wasn't the case.
But maybe having people to spar against, people that would be trying their very best to improve themselves would make him improve more than if he just trained on his own? He would never know how well he would be able to make use of his abilities in a fight if he constantly trained by himself.
For that very reason he couldn't wait to join Issei and the others on their ten day training camp Hopefully they would come out victorious in the end, in their upcoming fight against Riser.
Naruto walked the stairs down only to be met by darkness instead of light, by silence instead of noise, by the smell of air instead of food.
Asia should have been up and been preparing their breakfast by this time of the day.
"Asia-chan?" Naruto called out, hoping the blonde girl was still somewhere in the building
Naruto turned on the lights and walked up to the kitchen table. On top of the table was a small piece of paper. It was a note from Asia.
Asia had written on it, with perfectly neat penmenship 'I'm sorry I can't prepare breakfast for the both of us today but Buchou insisted that we meet up early so that we make the most of the ten days we have been given by Riser Phenex to prepare for our Rating game. If we win Buchou wont have to marry him. Isn't that great? That's why everyone is especially fired up and determined to give their best, especially Issei-san. Not just because he doesn't want Buchou to leave everyone behind but because of what Riser said about you as well.
After you left he dropped a few more very insulting comments and Issei snapped and attacked him but was defeated by one of Riser's pawns.
I hope you aren't too inconvenienced by the fact that I'll be gone ten days.
Love Asia'
"That reminds me." Naruto commented out loud "Sirzechs never told me where Rias and her peerage would be training."
'Damn that laid back sis-con.' Naruto cursed the devil with the Sentai fetish
Somewhere in the Underworld said Devil sneezed rather violently.
But Naruto didn't despair. Souna Shitori or rather Sona Sitri, the student council president, was a devil as well and since Rias and those belonging to her peerage would be gone for ten days who was better to cover for her than the fellow devil and student council president Sona?
'Well time to pay Kaichou-chan a visit.' the blonde thought with a grin.
During his time at Kuoh he already had visited the student council president a few times for various things.
Usually just because he had skipped class or had dozed off in class.
The bespectacled girl had more than once tried to persuade him to take his lessons seriously and respect his teachers but the result were rather evident. However he also had not been sent to her again since the last time which had been many months ago. He didn't know if it was just because the teachers had given up trying to force him to conform to their wishes or if it was something else.
Sona Sitri or as she was known at Kuoh by her alias Souna Shitori was a small bespectacled, black haired girl with violet eyes. She, like every girl, was wearing the school uniform. While certainly not as buxom as either Akeno or Rias she was the third most popular girl at school. She, like the two most popular girls, was a devil and everyone on the student council was part of her peerage. She had mirrored it the same way her friend and rival Rias had done it with the Occult Research Club.
Currently however she was mulling over stacks of papers that had nothing to do with Devil business. It was simple student council work.
Various clubs were requesting a readjustment of the club budgets in their favour, business as usual for the student council.
Motohama and Matsuda once again had handed in a request to make the girl uniforms even more revealing. Although they had long since been using different names for each new try since Sona had looked over the very first of their requests.
'Hoenstly Matohama and Motsuda...' the glasses wearing student council president sighed in exasperation as she adjusted her glasses 'They could at least try to come up with better aliases.'
Taking out a stamp she pressed the object rather harshly down on the paper until there was a red colored, big fat 'Denied' covering the piece of paper.
The next request was not better. A signed petition of all the female members of the kendo club requesting that Yuuto Kiba is to join their club.
Again Sona pressed the 'Denied' stamp down on the paper, placing it on the much smaller stack of papers that had been marked as 'out' compared to the large stack of 'in' going requests. While she could probably deny every single incoming request, Sona took her job as student council president far too serious to act so callous, thus she kept diligently reading every form, petition and request meticulously before deciding that it indeed should not be granted.
"Kaichou." Sona stopped her work after having been called by her Vice President and the Queen of her peerage, Shinra Tsubaki.
Tsubaki was slightly taller than Sona. The Vice President had long, straight, black hair with split bangs that went down to her knees. A pair of blue, semi rimmed glasses framed her face, but the most outstanding feature of hers were her heterochromic eyes. The left one violet and the right one a light brown.
"What is it, Tsubaki?" Sona asked of her Queen
She knew that Tsubaki would never interrupt her when she was working if it wasn't something that seriously required her attention.
"Uzumaki Naruto-san would like to speak to you, Kaichou." Tsubaki informed her King
Sona raised an eyebrow. Naruto had not been here for a long time and she had hoped it would stay that way.
"What is it this time? Did he skip class again?" the Sitri clan heiress inquired and Tsubaki shook her head in response.
"No, I'm afraid I am unable to tell you what the reason for his appearance here is." the black haired girl responded, her voice impassive "He insists that he wishes to talk to you."
Knowing the blonde haired boy he would refuse to leave unless he had talked to her about whatever it was that brought him here so it would be better to indulge him. It would be the most efficient way to be doing things. Her work wouldn't run away and it was unlikely that any more would pile up in the time that she would be giving Naruto.
"Bring Uzumaki-san to me Tsubaki." the Vice President nodded and accepted the order she had been given and in a mere minute she had returned with the blonde boy in tow.
"Excellent." the violet eyed devil praised her Queen "Would you mind taking care of some of the work that's been piled up while I chat with Uzumaki-san here?"
Tsubaki wordlessly took some of the requests that been handed in and left the two people on their own.
"Now what can I do for you, Uzumaki-san. I don't believe you are here merely for a cordial visit." Sona's inquisitive violet eyes bore into Naruto's blue ones
"Do you have to be so cold, Kaichou-chan?" Naruto mock pouted "You know that I don't like to be called 'Uzumaki-san', it makes me feel so old."
"Be that as it may Uzumaki-san." Naruto knew that she had called him that on purpose this time "I would prefer if you got to the point of your visit, there is still quite a bit of work for the student council to do before school is closing."
"I know that you are covering for Rias and the others while they are training. I want to know where they are and to allow me to join them for the same time frame." the blonde stated bluntly and Sona's cold and impassive demeanor didn't change in the slightest
"And why should I allow you to do that? You are not part of Rias' peerage, just a simple human, there should be no reason for you to be involving yourself in the affairs of us devils." the student council president retorted coldly, although it wasn't an agressive coldness but one of logic and facts
"Come on don't act like I am just a 'normal' human." Naruto rolled his eyes at her, knowing that she knew that, that wasn't quite the truth
"I will admit that you are quite strong for a human without a Sacred Gear but that still doesn't answer my question as to why I should let you meddle in an affair that pertains to Rias' peerage." Sona once again demanded to know Naruto's intentions
"They are my friends! Of course I want to help them. I wouldn't want them to lose against a slimeball like Riser." the blonde replied passionately as he spat the name of the Phenex Clan member with venom
"While your intentions might indeed be noble and selfless I doubt there would be anything you could do which would lead Rias to be more successful." Naruto had a hard time arguing against Sona's logical approach
"You don't know that!" Naruto argued getting frustrated by Sona's indifference "I might be able to do nothing or maybe I might be able to do something, at the very least one more person to help them improve might make all the difference."
Sona gave a small sigh "You fail to convince me like that, Naruto-san." she noted the agitated state the blonde was in "If that is everything there will be no need to continue this conversation."
Naruto gritted his teeth. There had to be some way to convince the bespectacled devil.
"How about a wager?" he grinned foxily at her and for the first time in a long while Sona was slightly caught off guard by the sudden proposal "If I win you tell me where Rias and the others are and allow me the ten days off."
"And should I be the one to win?" Souna inquired with curiosity "You should offer quite some incentive for me to accept this wager."
Naruto couldn't really come up with anything that Sona would value enough to accept so he decided to give her a carte blanche "How about I'll do whatever you ask of me?"
Perhaps this way Sona would be able to make the blonde take his studies more seriously.
"Very well. I'll accept your terms." Sona's eyes glinted "As the challanged party I believe it is customary for me to choose the medium for our contest, is it not?"
"Err... yes." Naruto cursed, he should have known that Sona would insist on something like that, he'd just have to hope it wasn't something impossible for him
The student council president procured a chess board.
"How about a game of chess?" she offered although Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to say no, so he nodded. Turning the board so that Naruto would be playing white she decided to at least give Naruto a slight advantage.
There were very few that were able to match her evenly in a game of chess, much less outright beat her. Currently the only one that was sort of able to match her was Rias, her friend and rival. They were currently tied at twenty wins both and fifty draws. Chess at its core was a zero sum game. Among all the combination of possible turns there was one that would always lead to victory which in turn would give the player going first, the one to have the initiative the advantage as the one going second would be pushed into a reactionary position.
Although Sona doubted there would be anyone who would be able to deduce the perfect series of turns required to win every time, maybe Ajuka Beelzebub could come close, but she doubted that she would need the initiative advantage to beat Naruto.
Chess was definitely not the kind of contest Naruto had imagined but he would deal with it. He knew the rules and he was a fairly average player although he doubted that Sona would have chosen the game if she were not confident in her ability to win against him and he doubted that he would be able to win against her but perhaps he wouldn't have to.
Sona observed her opponent as he made his first move. His first move was a simple bid for the central position with his Pawn moving from e2 to e4.
Nothing that was too unusual. A common opening for an open game. She decided not to take that offer and instead went for the pawn c5 move responding with a Sicillian Defence, turning the open game into a semi open one. Statistically this response was the most successful against whites e4 move and thus something Sona deemed the most appropriate turn to take.
The game went on like that for a while and Sona could not believe it but she wasn't winning, that is to say she wasn't losing either but she could definitely see the game ending in a draw soon.
She had always taken the turn that seemed to be the best one in any given situation but for some reason Naruto had managed to throw a wrench in her strategy. His moves had not been orderly, there wasn't any common opening strategy that he followed, in fact some moves seemed downright bizarre, only much too late had she realized that he had not tried to win the game but force her into a draw.
A draw was forced in certain situations. When there were no legal moves left for a person, for example when the only move one person could take was to put their King into check. If there was an insufficient amount of material on the board for either side to declare a checkmate. If the same position repeated itself three times in a row or if fifty moves have been made that did not result in a captured figure or contained a pawn.
Looking back at his moves they all were definitely geared towards the game ending in a draw. He had traded figures in positions that didn't seem to end in any immediate benefit beyond the trade itself. There was no advantage for him to be gained like that, except that at the same time that his pieces were reduced in number so were hers. And in the end she would not be able to prevent the game from ending in a situation where either of them had the right pieces to win.
It was a commendable effort from him and one she certainly had not expected. It seemed she had severely underestimated his unpredictability.
The blonde smirked confidently as he traded his last pawn into her last one, which she took with her King.
"I believe the game ended in a draw." Naruto commented and Sona could hear the smug satisfaction oozing from his voice
It galled her that she had not won this game despite being the obviously better player but she could not fault him for making the best of his situation.
"Yes, I can see that." Sona responded with slight irritation the bitter taste of this result on her tongue
"Since there was no specified result in the case for a draw I believe we should resort to a tiebreaker." Naruto suggested, his strategy having worked perfectly
Had he tried to face Sona outright with the intent to beat her, he would have lost but since he never tried to win in the first place the whole thing ended in his favour.
With the chance of having a different competition as a tiebreaker he would still have a chance.
"Well then what kind of contest would you suggest?" the bespectacled studen council president inquired, most of her irritation had subsided to be once again replaced by her cold rationality
"How about a test of strength, a fight?" Naruto grinned almost savagely, board games were not his forte but surely in a fight he could keep up
He didn't know how strong Sona exactly was but in the worst case he would ask Kurama for a slight boost. Even with as little chakra as Kurama could provide at the moment, the element of surprise such a sudden boost of power provided could make all the difference.
Sona internally scoffed. She granted Naruto that he was a good fighter and he was perhaps more than your average human, even without any Sacred Gear but she doubted he would be able to beat her in a fight.
But she was not going to keep standing in his way if he really wanted to join Rias. The Gremory heiress was still her childhood friend and rival, it would be quite vexing to lose her just because her preparations didn't prove enough.
The blonde had proven himself on an intellectual level to be able to keep up and make decisions that would end up benefiting him even if they didn't outright result in his victory. If he proved to be physically strong as well then she would allow him to help Rias.
Perhaps she could even get some information about him from this battle.
'And Saji would certainly benefit from some combat experience as well.' she mused
Genshirou Saji was her newest pawn, having cost four of them to be reincarnated. His Sacred Gear 'Absorption Line' was undoubtly quite useful and, under the right circumstances, could be strong but she didn't see how it warranted four pawns. If only he had cost one less she could have used her last knight...
"Alright we will have a little fight, however it wont be me that you will be facing in the fight."
That surprised Naruto a bit. He had expected to be fighting her considering she had chosen a game where she held the clear advantage in the first time around.
'But since she probably is the strongest here, I am not complaining about getting to face someone weaker.' It would make his chances to find out where Rias was considerably higher.
Sona called for her Vice President and Queen, Tsubaki.
"Could you fetch Genshirou-kun and bring him to meet us in front of the old school building, Tsubaki?" Sona requested of her second in command
Tsubaki was certainly intrigued by this request and wondered what had transpired between her King and Naruto but decided to ask her King later at a more prudent time.
"Of course, Kaichou." the black haired girl with the long hair left the two once more to fetch the newest member of the peerage and the secretary of the student council.
"We should be going as well, Naruto-san." Sona looked towards him and left the building with the blonde in tow. The pair walked in silence towards the old school building where nobody would be noticing the ensuing fight between Saji and Naruto not that the two could throw around anything that would catch attention anyway.
It didn't take long for Tsubaki to arrive with Genshirou Saji, the student council secretary and pawn of Sona's peerage.
He was a boy the same age as Issei and Naruto. He had blonde hair and grey eyes.
Saji was wearing the boys uniform but without the blazer and his sleeves were rolled up.
He seemed a bit confused as to why he had been brought to this place.
"What are we doing here, Kaichou?" Saji asked his King before he threw Naruto a pointed glare "And what is he doing here?"
If it was merely a new lesson he would be learning as a devil then there was no need for Naruto to be here.
"Naruto-san and I have agreed to a bet. Since he played me to a draw in a game of chess," something that at least shocked Saji quite a bit considering that he was gaping like a fish out of water "this second competition is something he should be more adept at." the young black haired devil explained "Genshirou-kun you will represent me in this fight against Naruto-san."
"You can't be seriously expecting me to fight him, Kaichou." it was almost laughable for him to be fighting a human without a Sacred Gear, he wouldn't stand a chance
Sona threw her pawn a stern gaze "You would best do not to underestimate, Naruto-san." she warned him and Saji could feel that he would receive another 'punishment' if he defied her "You have permission to promote and use your Sacred Gear." she then turned towards her trusted second in command Tsubaki "Please referee the match, Tsubaki."
"Promotion: Rook!" Saji felt the strength and endurance enhancing power of the Rook piece flow through him. He would have went for the Queen promotion but he doubted his body was strong enough to be able to handle that one already.
"Absorption Line!" a small lizard with a deformed head appeared on his hand
"I will win this, fight!" he declared with confidence
For the sake of his beloved Kaichou he couldn't allow himself to lose against the troublemaker Uzumaki.
After his promotion Saji definitely was no pushover and to make things more difficult he had a Sacred Gear.
'Are all Sacred Gears named so straightforward?' Naruto asked himself, as he settled into his combat stance and called upon his chakra to boost his physical abilities 'Boosted Gear, Twilight Healing, Absorption Line...'
Alone from the name Naruto could somewhat infer what this Sacred Gear was capable of.
'It probably shoots lines that connect to certain things and absorbs something else.'
Of course that left quite a few variables open like, what was absorbed? How fast did the lines move? Did it require direct contact?
But it was probably for the best if Saji didn't absorb his power.
"Are you ready?" the girl with the kneelong black hair asked them and they both gave a short nod "Hajime!" she gave the signal for the fight to start
A bright blue line shot from Saji's hand towards Naruto.
'He certainly doesn't waste time.' the blonde thought before he dodged out of the straight path of the attack 'But it has to be fast enough to catch me.'
The line itself seemed to be traveling at a fixed pace and it certainly didn't look like it could twist and turn it's trajectory to tag Naruto.
The blonde smashed his left leg towards his fellow blonde's midsection only to have him barely manage to pull his arms in front of him for a block.
'He is pretty fast.' Saji realized and even through his enhanced toughness he had felt that kick 'And strong.'
Going from his block on the offense he tried to make a grab for the blonde and grapple him to the ground but Naruto once again eluded him with his speed.
Naruto had created enough distance between them to escape the attempted grapple before he once more went on the offense.
He ran circles around Saji, throwing the occasional punch inbetween his defense but the Rook promotion made him insanely tough and although he knew that his attacks did hurt Saji, they weren't quite as debilitating or dangerous to the devil boy as Naruto wanted them to be.
'Maybe if I were to use the Doton:Domu to finish this?' the blonde considered his options it still took him quite a bit to change his regular chakra to Doton chakra for the technique that would transform his skin to stone. It would rob him of quite a bit of speed but if he was close enough when he activated the technique he would be sure to land a devestating punch against Saji.
He created quite a bit of distance between him and his opponent and concentrated on the feeling of the cold and hard earth.
Saji cursed under his breath. He was simply not fast enough to catch Naruto and if he had used the Knight promotion he would have lacked the power to leave any lasting damage on his opponent. He really could need that Queen promotion right now or maybe if he could land the Absorption Line on Naruto he could gain the upper hand.
That was when he saw the other blonde back off and create space between them, he didn't seem to move and looked like he was concentrating on something, although the way he kept his blue eyes trained on him Saji was sure he was observing his every move.
It may have been quite far fetched but Saji thought that his opponent was gearing up for a finishing blow.
'I'll probably should stop him then.' Saji rushed at Naruto, hoping to stop his next attack, whatever it would be.
Sona had observed the fight with quite a bit of curiosity. Naruto had easily been able to match Saji in the terms of strength, even with the enhancement of the Rook promotion, and her pawn was grossly outmatched in terms of speed. However it seemed that neither could really land anything remotely to a finishing blow. The toughness of the Rook negated a lot of the potential damage Naruto's blows dealt and Saji had simply been unable to even touch Naruto. However she was happy with the information she gained. The blonde had revealed a glaring fault of the Absorption Line of her Pawn. She didn't know if with more experience and training he would be able to alter the trajectory of the line mid-flight but for now it wouldn't work if the target dodged out of the path of the attack.
And with the advantage of his Sacred Gear negated the two seemed evenly matched, although she would probably give the edge to Naruto since he had the advantage of speed on his side and Saji would not be able to hold the promotion indefinitely.
Suddenly however Naruto had backed off and she could sense a slight change in his energy, as if he was preparing for an attack.
The Sitri Heiress was actually quite intrigued what this attack could be.
Saji was getting closer and closer to landing a clean hit on him, something he had to prevent at all cost until he had gathered the Doton chakra.
He ducked under the high swing and jumped away from the kick that had been aimed at his head and blocked the uppercut that Saji followed with.
'Just a bit more.' Naruto thought in anticipation and Saji continued his barrage of attacks and drove him further back until his back was against a tree and he realized with widened eyes that he could not back off any further
Seeing this window of opportunity Saji decided to try to use his Sacred Gear again "Absorption Line!" A blue line shot from the lizard on Saji's hand.
Naruto saw the blue line get closer and closer.
'Good thing I'm finished.' he grinned inwardly, this would definitely be a surprise for Saji
Naruto gathered some of his chakra for a different technique, which he exectued just before the line struck him.
Saji saw the line connect and grinned "I got you now!" he declared confidently "This fight is over." Once he would drain his opponent of his energy he would win.
However, suddenly, as he had tagged Naruto, the other blonde erupted into a cloud of smoke "What?!" he exclaimed and Saji noticed that he had tagged a wooden log 'Where did that even come from?' he asked himself in shock
"You are right, this fight is over!" Naruto declared from behind him "Doton:Domu!" he called out his technique
Saji tried turning around to defend himself in time but he was far too slow. The last thing he saw was a darkened fist impact with his face as he was sent flying with incredible force. Even with his increased toughness the blow with the hardened skin was enough to knock Saji out in a single hit.
Naruto let his technique fade and his skin returned to its normal pigmentation.
Some exhaustion had build up but that would be gone with a few minutes of rest for Naruto.
"Looks like I won the fight." Naruto declared a small grin spread across his face
"Shousha, Uzumaki Naruto!" Tsubaki declared in her position as referee of the match
"Now it's your turn to hold up your end of the bargain, Kaichou-chan." the blonde smirked towards the Sitri heiress
"Naturally." she definitely wasn't mad at the outcome of the match. It would definitely be a good lesson for Saji to see that even without a Sacred Gear a regular human could match him in a fight.
But beyond that this fight had gotten her a small glimps into what Naruto's power could do.
Rias had told her that he seemed to be using chakra, something Koneko had attested to.
It seemed that his way to use chakra resembled the abilities of demonic magic ontop of being able to be used in the way of Touki.
She couldn't say if he had struggled to use his technique merely because he lacked experience in the use of it or because it naturally took that much time but she guessed that it was the former.
'Rias can consider herself to be lucky that he considers her his friend.' Even if Sona had, after her first assessment, discounted Naruto for a spot in her peerage despite his obvious talent in fighting, she would now admit that it perhaps was a grave mistake to have her evaluation be so shallow 'I doubt there is any use in me even asking him, he'd much rather join Rias' peerage considering that Hyoudou-san and Argento-san are part of it as well.'
"You will be able to find Rias up in the mountains to the north of the city. You'll be travelling a few hours on foot. You'll certainly not be able to miss the mansion the Gremory's have set up there." Meanwhile Tsubaki was helping Saji up who was slowly regaining his consciousness "And you will be excused from school for the same ten day period the others are excused for as well."
"Thanks, Kaichou-chan." he gave a, somewhat, mocking salute "I'll see you in ten days."
Naruto was quickly making his way back home to pack clothing for the ten days of intensified training that would hopefully be enough to help Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, Issei and Asia win against Riser.
"Ughhh." Saji groaned as Tsubaki steadied him "Did someone get the sign of the truck that hit me?"
Saji still felt a bit dizzy after the clean hit to his head. Him being a devil had definitely helped him regain his consciousness faster than otherwise would be possible but the after effects were still a pain to deal with.
"Wait the fight?!" he exclaimed before the last moments of the fight came back to him "I lost, didn't I?" he hung his head in shame
"Indeed you did Genshirou-kun." Sona replied calmly her gaze turning to Saji "I hope this fight will help you improve further."
"I am sorry, Kaichou." he apologized bowing deeply while, inwardly, quivering in fear "Please don't punish me. I know I have disappointed you but please don't punish me."
Sona inclined her head slightly "Don't worry, Saji-kun." she commented her voice without any sort of inflection "I won't punish you. I will merely be increasing your training."
Saji's face whitened. He couldn't say what was worse. One thousand spankings or getting run into the ground, even more than normal, by his slave driver of a King.
If he was being honest with himself he would probably prefer the spankings over the torture the student council president called training.
Naruto had rushed home as quick as he could and packed his backpack with fresh clothing.
He certainly would have loved to know some Fuinjutsu right now and seal everything into a few scrolls but unfortunately he didn't know any, not that the weight of his pack would slow him down substantially.
It had taken him a few hours until he had arrived at the place Sona had described. Night time had already fallen and had bathed the large building and the surroundings in darkness, although light was coming from the inside of the building.
The lights were turned on meaning that there obviously were people inside.
'I hope my arrival is not too much of a surprise.' Naruto thought to himself after all he had not been able to communicate his desire to help them with their training.
In the inside of the mansion the six devils were sitting at the dining table. In front of each person was a large bowl overflowing with potatoes.
"It's a bit much but it's best not to let get anything go to waste." Rias declared and heaped some of the potatoes on her plate
"I'm sorry." Issei mumbled in shame, after he had found a way for him to focus his demonic energies he had been a bit overzealous and used it to peel all the potatoes instead of just some of them.
"Ufufufu. Don't worry, Issei-kun." Akeno giggled in amusement at her cute kohai's plight "It's great that, in the end, you managed to learn how to use your demonic energies after all."
"Akeno is right, Issei." Rias interjected as she took a bite out of a cooked potato "We are here because we want to improve if it means we end up wasting some food then that is alright."
Their first day of training had so far been quite successful. In the morning she had Issei spar with Kiba so he would get an idea how to fight a weapon user and how to use one himself, should the need for that arise.
After that to cool down he, together with Asia, had been instructed in the use of his demonic energies by Akeno.
Asia as it turned out had quite a talent as she had drawn out some of her energy on the first try, although it was somewhat expected from a Bishop.
Issei had been less than successful and been unable to complete the exercise, until now that is.
His third lesson had been with Koneko to improve his ability in hand to hand combat.
In the following days Akeno would keep training Asia how to focus and control her energies and Issei would spar with either Kiba or Koneko.
Granted all of this wasn't much but the time they had was fairly limited. She would at least be able to teach Issei the fundamentals of combat and with his Boosted Gear it would amount to quite some improvement.
In that moment Rias sensed someone pass the barrier that had been errected around the building.
The barrier kept anyone that would stumble by chance on this place away.
Only someone with sufficient strength could have passed the barrier without Rias permission and she certainly wasn't expecting anyone else to join them.
Which could only mean that it was someone hostile that had entered the area.
Rias released a small sigh and placed her cutlery down on her plate.
As the red haired girl stood up so did Akeno and Koneko who must have noticed the intruder as well.
"Huh, what is going on?" Issei asked in confusion, staring at Rias, Akeno and Koneko who all were standing "Why did you stand up?"
"Intruder." Koneko commented softly, her response as short as ever. As the words left the white haired girls lips the blonde Knight raised himself from his seated position as well his usual black bladed sword appearing in his hand.
"Koneko is right." Rias affirmed the reincarnated nekoshou's assessment of the situation "Someone crossed the barrier that is surrounding the perimeter. It's designed to keep anyone out that's not supposed to be here but someone that is reasonably powerful will still be able to cross the barrier." Issei and Asia were standing now as well "There was only one disturbance but there could potentially be more than one person."
Issei had called forth his Boosted Gear and everyone was prepared for a fight.
"Ufufufu. Let's punish our little intruder-chan." the raven haired devil licked her lips in anticipation of the pain she would be able to inflict upon the trespasser. Her S-Mode had definitely been activated.
'This place is pretty dark at night.' Naruto thought to himself as he took in the surrounding forest area. The only light that filled the area came from the large building but even that could not illuminate everything. It served barely as a way for Naruto not to lose his way.
Suddenly his senses screamed at him to dodge and he barely jumped out of the way as a small form flew through the air. The person, who he assumed to be Koneko, smashed her fist into the ground and left a small fist sized crater behind.
"Hey—" Naruto wanted to cry in indignation before a bolt of lightning streaked past him, barely missing him
"I will defeat you, intruder!" the familiar voice of Issei cried valiantly, his Boosted Gear gleaming in the night
"Will you cut it out?!" Naruto called in exasperation, he really didn't want to be randomly attacked right now or at any time really
"Naruto?!" Issei cried in confusion, just as he was about to attack his best friend who he had believed to be a hostile intruder "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I would like to know as well?" Rias inquired, her blue eyes trained on the new person. She was sure that Naruto didn't know they were here, so how had he managed to find them?
"Mouuu~." Akeno pouted in disappointment "So I won't get to inflict any pain?" she asked clearly saddened by this turn of events
'Scary.' the brown haired Boosted Gear bearer thought as a shiver went down his back
"I've come to help you train of course!" Naruto grinned and gave them a thumbs up "I can't leave you to prepare for the face-off against the scumlord all on your own."
"How did you even find us in the first place?" it seemed like Naruto had done something improbable once again
"Why, Kaichou-chan told me of course." Naruto responded as if it was the most logical thing in the world
It was true that Rias had informed Sona where she would be so she could cover for everyone but there was no way that she should have told anyone where to find them.
"How?" Rias could only stare in incredulity at the blonde, Sona didn't just give out information like that.
"I made a bet and won." he informed them
"Ara, ara. How shrewd dear foxy-kun is." a teasing smirk spread across Akeno's face
For some reason Rias couldn't help but frown as her Queen had called Naruto that.
She couldn't be jealous, could she? No, that was impossible. Despite the night they had shared it was purely out of necessity. Even if she had feelings for him she couldn't be his girlfriend after she had used him like that, it just wasn't fair to him.
"Foxy-kun?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at that nickname
"Your whiskers, Naruto-san." Kiba supplied politely "They sort of give you the appearance of a fox also back in the church when you...went beserk that cloak of yours resembled that of a fox."
"Naruto-kun!" Asia cried out happily as she hugged the taller blonde "I hope you aren't too angry that I left without saying anything."
The ex nun honestly had felt bad to leave him like that.
"Don't worry." he ruffled the blonde girl's hair affectionately to put her worries at ease "I am not angry."
"So what kind of bet did you make with Sona?" Rias asked with curiosity, there wasn't a lot you could entice Sona with
"Well I bet that I could beat her." he explained and elaborated "First we played a game of chess."
'He beat Sona in a game of chess?' Rias thought in shock
Sona was one of the best chess players she knew. Their games were always very tight and Sona had even canceled her own engagement to another devil by beating him in a game of chess.
'Too bad that Riser would never agree to that.' Rias thought with a small sigh, if it was a game of chess she was absolute confident that she could beat him.
But to beat Sona in chess was an incredible achievement by itself "You beat her in a game of chess?"
"No, in chess I just played her to a draw." Something which was nothing to sneeze at either and Rias had certainly expected something along the lines of a crushing defeat "So we decided on a second contest. A fight, although I didn't fight Sona but Genshirou Saji."
After the name had dropped Issei had finally worked out who Sona was "Wait, this Sona is Souna Shitori? The student council president? She is a devil as well?!"
Akeno giggled in amusement at the pawns confusion "Why yes. That is indeed the case, Issei-kun."
Rias had ignored Issei's outburst of confusion. She knew that Sona must have let Naruto win. Not to diminish his strength but she was certain that the blonde was not capable of fighting the heiress of the Sitri clan on even ground. At least not yet.
Sona had not even made him fight her Queen or any of her more experienced peerage members but instead the freshest member of her peerage.
'So either he impressed Sona or Sona really thinks that he can help us improve more than we would be able to on our own.' the Gremory heiress theorized
Whatever the case may be she would gladly accept his help now that he was here.
"Alright everyone let's get back in, we'll be able to better talk inside."
The fact that she wanted to take a hot bath was certainly a factor in that decision as well.
"Allright, with you here we'll definitely be able to beat that smug faced bastard by the end of the ten days!" Issei exclaimed with confidence at the inclusion of his best friend into their training group
The six devils plus one human walked inside the large building. Everyone took one last bath before they called it a day and went to bed.
