BreakThrough

by NarutoPlug

Naruto Bael was born a low-class devil before the Great Devil War ever was a thing. Realizing how the devil-class system subjugated devils of lower class, Naruto will represent his origins as he rises and expose the corrupted system that he lives in, and he'll do it without the high-class devils even realizing it. Power of Destruction Naruto! Mass character crossover.

33. HerBirthday

Ayo, ayo, ayo, its ya boy, NarutoPlug, lazing my days away on the couch now that I'm on Thanksgiving break! While I do have a couple of assignments I have to do over the break, I don't have a lot compared to what is considered my usual workload in a week for school, so this break is like a blessing to me. Now I get to focus some time into BreakThrough for once.

Really liked the reception I got back from the last 'chapter', even if it did have a low review count. I knew that would happen though, since I hadn't posted in a long time, and review-count correlates with the time it takes to update in some way. I really don't care much about the number of reviews I get now, to be honest. I've hit milestones on this cite few have done before (humble flex, but still a flex) and I'm satisfied with that. I really do appreciate the core fanbase that stays solid, and those that read but don't review. While I wish you did review so I can learn more about what you think about the story because those really motivate me, the fact that you've made it this far in reading my work really proves that I'm doing something. Thank you.

Anyway, real world things happening with your boy! Whelp, I just got caught up reading this amazing manga/webtoon 'My Wife is a Demon Queen'. It's an Isekai series where the main protagonist isn't an dick or an asshole, like how they usually are. I'm a fan of Isekai, so if you have any recommendations, hit me up.

Also, I plan on buying me a Nintendo Switch for Black Friday as a way to congratulate myself for getting through the year. I play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on my friends' Switch's and beat their asses, so I decided I should get one for myself. I main Sonic….so that should tell you all you need to know about me *grins evilly as I spam neutral B*

Lol, but anyway, this chapter is like, the start of the final arc of BreakThrough. Remember that BIG surprise I told you guys about a couple of chapters before?

Yeah, it's happening in this chapter. Get ready because your about to pull out your fucking hair when you read it.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE LAST CHAPTER 'CANNON:FILLER2', PLEASE READ IT!

While it is a very long chapter (I think it's the second or third longest chapter with 25k words), please read it. There is a subliminal piece of information within that chapter that you'll need to know to fully understand what's going to happen in this chapter. To give you a hint as to what I'm gunning for, read Naruto's conversation with Run.

Also, the title of this chapter is kinda a reference to a chapter in my first story, The Corrupted Mind. I've been doing this Fanfiction shit for over four years now. Crazy how much I've changed and grown since then.

Thanks for the support. Ya boy, NarutoPlug, really appreciates it, ya diggg?

Enjoy the chapter.

Shits about to hit the fan.

BreakThrough

HerBirthday

A Week and a Half Later – A Day Before Rating Game Against Honest Bael

Bael Territory – Naruto's Peerage House

…

…

…

…..-"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love yo-"

"Mhrg…..Aaaaahhhhh..." yawned one Yoh Asakura as he stretched his hand to his blaring phone to cut off the alarm. Grabbing the device, he unlocked it with a touch as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Another day…" he grumbled as he lazily started to scroll through a Devil-social app to start his day off.

He made sure not to disturb the body his right arm was wrapped around as he began his scrolling, reading the news headlines with swiftness before liking a few cat videos he thoroughly enjoyed and checking to see if any albums had dropped while he was sleeping. "I'm starting to like that Lizzo girl…" he mumbled to himself as he swiped past a picture of said person, "She's nice…and her music's good…the Lakers are doing pretty good…" he said as he continued reading his timeline, "Not really into sports, but I know Kisame likes them…hmmm…I should go back to Los Angeles to go pick up that Popeye's sandwich I keep hea-"

"Yoh."

"EEP!"

Yoh's entire body jumped with a start at the sudden sound of the body laying next to him. "A-Anna! You were a-awake?" he questioned after he recovered from his shock.

The person laying next to him slowly rolled over to face him. He was greeted to the sight of the dull-blue eyes of Anna Kyoyama, soon to be Anna Asakura, as she stared at him with annoyance. Her usual red bandana she wore was off, showing off more of her lustrous blonde locks that circled around her cute face. However, all that attraction her physical appearance had was used to weakly glare at her fiancée, causing the dark-haired man to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Why do you still have that horrendous audio set as your alarm tone? And why are you talking to yourself?" she asked/demanded for an answer, "You do this every day and I keep telling you to stop."

"Uhhhh…" sweated Yoh as he made sure to hold his phone away from Anna, just in case she tried to snatch it away from him, "I like it. You rarely show emotion, so I had to keep it as an alarm, hehe?" he chuckled awkwardly with a head scratch, "And you know how I talk to myself a lot when I'm on social media…it's just so much interesting stuff online…"

The Asakura male heard a light-growl emit from his fiancée, causing him to tense in preparation of a scolding. However, he was surprised as Anna ditched her growl for a sigh, releasing a long, stress-filled breath of air, before leaning in and pressing her lips to his own for a quick morning kiss. "Good morning…" she whispered after pulling away before quickly rolling her back to him to hide her slightly red face.

"Uh..g-good morning…" he stuttered back, "Do you want some breakfast? I can make breakfast."

"….toast….with butter…" she answered after a few seconds of silence.

"Alright." he replied, pulling the covers back and sliding out of the bed, "I'll go get that for you."

"Wait…" said Anna, causing Yoh to stop what he was doing, "Did you set the alarm for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" he hummed in thought before realization hit him, "Oh yea…tomorrow…our fight against Honest Bael…"

"This is probably going to be the most important game we've ever had." said the bedridden girl, still curled up in her warm covers as if she were still sleeping, "Make an alarm for it so that we aren't late."

"Sure thing…" he said as he opened his phone again to do as ordered, "Let's see…what time do we have to be at the place again?"

"The Bael Coliseum is our meeting/deportation place to the dimension we'll be fighting Honest and his peerage…and the game starts at 3 in the afternoon." she explained.

"Then I'll set an alarm for 2:30 then." said the younger Asakura twin as he set the alarm for tomorrow, "Time to go make some breakfast…"

Both Anna and Yoh's attention was moved towards their bedroom door that made a light 'creeking' noise whenever it was opened. Peering into the duo's room through the small opening he made was Naruto Bael himself. "Hey." he said to the two with a smile.

'The same smile he has when he does something annoying…' thought Anna as she could already feel her patience for the day was already going to be tested. "What." she replied to her blonde master.

"I didn't knock 'cuz I heard you two talking…and I know that you two are to lazy to do anything naughty in the morning." Chuckling at their flushed faces for a moment, Naruto continued, "You two didn't forget what today was, right?"

"Today?" questioned Yoh as he slid his iconic orange headphones on, "Today….today, today…..Oh! I remember what today was…"

"I could care less about what today is." grumbled Anna as she pulled the covers over her head, "Go away."

"Anna, we talked about this…today is very important." pouted Naruto, "Don't make me come in there. Yoh, convince your fiancée-

"Wife." corrected the bedridden blonde from beneath her covers.

"Uh…your 'wife' to get up. We gotta go do the 'thing', ya know? The 'THING' I told everyone about at least a week ago?" said the blonde Bael, emphasizing the event he was referring to.

"Come on, Anna." said Yoh as he walked over to Anna's side of the bed and gently nudged her, "It won't last long. Just get this out of the way and you'll have time to sleep until tomorrow afternoon."

"I don't feel like it…Do it some other day." said the Devil-Shaman, believing her sleep to be more important than any 'event' Naruto mentioned.

"Alright, that's it!"

Yoh and Anna's bedroom door was suddenly kicked open as a certain blue-skinned Demon pushed past Naruto in a fit of anger. Kisame reached for Samehada's handle and pointed the tip at Anna's face-Samahada being long enough to stretch across the Asakura's bed and stopping only inches from Anna's half-lidded eyes. "Bitch, you ain't better than nobody else in this damn house! The idiot made everybody else get up for some shit half of us don't even care about, so you better get your ass up before I make you get up. Understand?!"

Naruto was helped up from the ground by Orochimaru after Kisame pushed him down. "Your disregard for Naruto-sama is angering, Kisame. And stop being so loud. You'll wake her up." said the snake summoner.

"Fuck I look like caring about that bullshit. Now get up!" yelled Kisame at the blonde Shaman.

After a few seconds of no response, Kisame was ready to bash Anna's head in with Samehada but didn't act upon his desire when Anna groaned as she opened her eyes-which were filled with annoyance. "Fine." she stated nonchalantly, not caring for the demonic sword that could absorb a large portion of her magic with ease.

Pushing the living sword away from her face, Anna slid out of bed, revealing she was wearing an oversized t-shirt of Soul Bob, Yoh's favorite music artist. Stuffing her feet into a pair of fluffy pink slippers, she stood next to Yoh with her usual blank stare, although she seemed to be slightly pissed with the light twitch her eyebrow did every few seconds. "Happy?" she said with a glance to Kisame.

"The only time I'm happy is when I'm sitting in my recliner with my orange juice while watching butt-naked hoes, so no, I'm not happy." said the [Knight] with a grunt as he reattached Samehada with a sigh, "Let's just get this day on over with."

The group stepped into the hallway, revealing Hao and Lee awaiting them. "Yosh! Good morning, Anna-sama and Yoh! Are you ready for the day?"

"No/Sure." replied the wife/husband duo.

"Aw, come on guys! You all should be as excited as Lee and I!" said Naruto, throwing an arm around the grinning [Rook]'s shoulder, "See how happy we are?"

"I would be happier if we could get this over with so I can get back to my reading." said Hao as he crossed his arms, although the motion was hidden by his poncho, "While this maybe important to you, Naruto-sama, this event doesn't really matter for me. I hardly celebrate birthdays as it is…and your [Queen] isn't that fond of me anyway…"

"Aw come on." Naruto said with a dismissive way, "That's water under the bridge. She'd be so happy that we remembered that today is her birthday!"

"I really didn't remember."

"I haven't known her for a year anyway…"

"My birthday was two weeks ago, but we didn't celebrate it."

"…who cares….."

"CAN I GO BACK TO FUCKING SLEEP?!"

"YOSH! I can't wait to celebrate our great [Queen]'s birthday!"

"That's the spirit, everyone!" said the optimistic Bael with a thumbs up as the group approached a particular door, "I'm glad I put silencing seals on her door before I woke everyone up. She'll be so excited! We've always celebrated her birthdays. It's her favorite day of the year."

"How interesting, Naruto-sama." said his advisor with fake interest. While he didn't really care that is was Kuroka's birthday as he didn't celebrate the annual day in the first place, he didn't want to kill his master's lively spirit. It had been a long time since he had seen his master happy ever since Naruto's breakup with Gabriel, so anything that could make the blonde Bael happy was good in the eyes of the [Pawn] of the group.

"Everybody ready?" said Naruto to his peerage in anticipation.

"I guess…"

"I just wanna listen to music."

"…who cares…"

"Whenever you're ready, Naruto-sama."

"Absolutely!"

"Can you just open the damn door!"

"Alright. Let's do this….and make sure to wear your happy face when she wakes up." whispered the Bael with a small, but effective, warning before he slowly opened the door.

Team Pickle Rick quietly followed their leader inside the room, not wanting to wake the sleep cat-girl resting in the middle of an oversized bed. The room itself was a mess with different types of clothing thrown everywhere, a countless number of milk glasses littering the nightstands on either side of the bed, and an open lab top displaying a playlist of Honest Bael's past Rating Game. A sticky note was on the top-right corner of the lab top; on it was a stick figure of what looked like Esdeath with a red 'X' crossing her face.

In the middle of the giant bed was Kuroka herself-hair splattered in every direction and her mouth wide open as she snored lightly. Her shoulders were exposed, showing that she wasn't wearing a shirt. Her cat ears twitched with every light sound within the room, but other than that, the Nekoshou slept silently with a line of dried up drool running down her attractive face.

Naruto made his way to the right side of Kuroka's bed while the rest of his peerage members stayed towards the foot of the bed. He rested his hand on the young girl's shoulder as he gently nudged her, wanting to pull the Nekoshou out of her deep slumber. "Kuroka….Kuroka, it's time to get up." said the Bael, excited for his [Queen]'s reaction.

"MMrm…" moaned Kuroka as she felt a light weight on her shoulder. Her golden eyes fluttered open as he senses took control for the first time of the day. She felt many magical presences nearby, but they were all familiar, so she didn't react. She was confused as to why everyone within the house was in her room, with Naruto sitting at the edge of her bed. The cat-girl never had guest in her room, so the fact that everyone was in her messy room was a first.

"N-nya?" she said in confusion as her rubbed her eyes with her hand, "What's going on?"

"We're here because today's your birthday." whispered Naruto with a soft smile, "Happy 20th, Kuroka."

The black cat's eyes widened in realization that today was, in fact, her birthday. A grin crept on her face as she turned towards her blonde crush, "It is my birthday, nya. I forgot all about it!"

"That's why we're all here to celebrate you…. right, guys?" said Naruto, his eyes flashing a dangerous red for a second, silently threatening them to say anything different.

"YOSH! We are all here to celebrate Kuroka-sama!" shouted Lee with enthusiasm, "Happy birthday, Kuroka-sama! I hope you have a great day with us today!"

"While I don't celebrate birthdays, since Naruto-sama finds relevance in yours, I shall indulge. Happy birthday, Kuroka." Orochimaru said with a respectful bow, "Don't expect me to sing you anything in celebration…I despise singing…" he finished with a low growl.

"Happy birthday…I guess…" said a very uninterested Hao. However, he did use his fire magic capabilities to create small sparks in the air that formed the kanji for 'Happy Birthday'.

"Happy birthday, Kuroka!" Yoh said with a happy grin and a wave, "I got you a present from Anna and myself. I hope you'll appreciate it." He said with Anna nodding in agreement.

"Erg…yea, happy whatever-ya-call it. Just get the fuck outta the bed so we can do whatever the blonde has planned." grumbled Kisame, awkwardly scratching his head.

The smile that was on Kuroka's face radiated with happiness. While the members of Team Pickle Rick were unique, she understood that everyone had their own way in expressing their appreciation and love for her. "Thanks everyone, nya~!" she sang eagerly.

"Since its your birthday, you know what happens in the morning?" questioned Naruto.

"Birthday breakfast!" the newly 20-year old clapped, peeking some of the other's interest.

"Wait, breakfast?" said Kisame, "Hey, it's my birthday too."

"Mine as well." stepped up Anna, wanting the toast she craved for.

"That's right! My [Queen] needs her fill to start the day off right!" Naruto said as he wrapped Kuroka up with her covers and scooped her into her arms, causing her to shriek in surprise and embarrassment.

"Na-naruto!? What are you doing?" she squealed, although, she did enjoy being held bridal style by the blonde.

"Carrying you downstairs, of course!" he said as he exited the room, Kisame and Anna hot on his trails as the group walked down the long hallway, "I already made breakfast, and since its your birthday, I thought you'd enjoy a nice day being treated like a queen to show my appreciation of you." said the blonde with a thousand-watt smile.

The cat girl blushed in a mixture of appreciation and embarrassment; before, something like this wouldn't even be possible. When she first met Naruto, he was still in his seal, so any physical touch was nonexistent. Every year, she would spend her birthday with him in his astral orb, so the fact that he was physically with her on her birthday for the first time meant the world to the young Nekoshou. 'Thank you, Naruto…' she thought as she rested her head on his chest, nuzzling into him for warmth.

Making their way downstairs and into the dinning room, everyone other than Naruto was greeted to the sight of a feast already prepared on the long dinner table. Kuroka and Kisame's eyes grew hearts as they looked at what could only be described as a buffet as their mouths watered. Anna herself had to hold back any expression, but she was truly surprised that somebody had already made breakfast for the peerage.

The Devil-Shaman glanced towards the grinning blonde, who gently sat the blushing-Kuroka down at the head of the table. "You did this, Naruto-sama?" she asked, "When?"

"Earlier this morning, before anyone was awake." he replied, "I placed some silencing seals around to make sure I didn't wake Kuroka, and a barrier that withheld the scent of the food escaping into the other parts of the house. I made food for everyone, so dig in!"

"I didn't know Naruto-sama could cook!" shouted Lee as he grabbed a plate while scooping out the table.

"Yup, yup, yup!" he grinned, "I would cook for Kuroka all the time when it was just me and her. Every year, I'd make her a 'birthday breakfast' since breakfast is Kuroka's favorite meal of the day."

"Absolutely, nya! Naruto's cooking is the best!" said the sheet-clad Nekoshou as she dived into a stack of pancakes.

"Eggs…" mumbled Orochimaru, taking a few hard-boiled eggs and eating them whole in quick-succession, "Eggcellent." he hissed in satisfaction.

"Aw, hell yea!" blurted out Kisame as he balanced the tower of pancakes on his plate while walking to his seat at the table, "This is how you celebrate a birthday!"

"And we have more events today to celebrate Kuroka." Naruto said with a clap, "I've got a movie picked out for all of us to watch, and a special surprise coming in later that I'm sure everyone will enjoy. Since tomorrow is a big day, I decided that we could mix in Kuroka's birthday celebration along with some relaxation."

"Sounds good, Naruto-sama." said Yoh, who was munching on some French toast sticks. "I gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to go all out today. When you said you had something planned, I would have thought you were gonna have us play 'Twister' or something."

"We can still do that to." the blonde said with a shrug, not really against the idea.

"Absolutely not." Hao immediately shot the idea down, "For one, I hate that game and when you forced us to play it together a few weeks ago were some of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Secondly, Orochimaru has an unfair advantage since his body is…. very flexible…. A disturbing flexible…"

"I'd rather play that Monopoly game." Suggested Lee, "We never finish any game we start."

"That's because it's a stupid-fucking game that takes up too much time and I have to do math to win." Kisame growled, Samehada backing its master with a shriek of agreement.

"I would make fun of you….but I'm to happy to start an argument right now." said the ever-stoic Anna as she bit down on her bacon before dabbing the sides of her mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, no time for arguing today, guys. Today, I don't want any yelling or fights. Just relaxation and making Kuroka feel good about herself." the blonde Bael said as he leaned back into his seat, "Enjoying yourself, Kuroka?"

"MMMPh~!" was all Kuroka could manage to reply as she was stuffing her face with food.

"Hehe….I'll take that as a yes…"he grinned.

Halfway through their feast, Hao decided to start up conversation on a more serious topic, "Naruto-sama, if you don't mind me asking, but shouldn't we be preparing for our fight against Honest Bael and his peerage?" he asked, saying the same thing most of the others was thinking, "I know that today is Kuroka's birthday, but I feel like winning this fight is important as well. We're entering this game with limited knowledge on our foe, so we should be developing battle strategies for anything they throw at us."

"Not to mention that your crazy fiancée is gonna be coming at us with a vengeance." stated Lee, "I agree that celebrating Kuroka-sama's birth is important, but tomorrow is a decisive moment of our futures! Yours especially! I'd hate to see you with that terrible woman for the rest of your life because we underestimated them!"

"I understand where you two are coming from, but we've done all we can." began the blonde, "Hao is right: we have limited info about Honest and his peerage members. We've studied each of their past Rating Games, but Esdeath and that huge-giant dude are the only two that does anything in if their matches. The abilities of the remaining members of Honest's peerage are still unknown, so there's nothing we can do. There's no reason stressing about something we'll never figure out. Plus, I believe that taking care of our bodies and relaxation is a good way to prepare before such a huge event. We've done all we can to prepare, so for now, let's just enjoy for the next twenty-four hours, okay?"

"Don't gotta tell me twice when you've got food like this distracting me!" yelled Kisame.

The older Asakura twin released a stress-filled sigh, finding reason within Naruto's explanation. "If you say so, Master. I just wanted to make sure."

"Don't worry about it, Hao. If you're scared, I'll protect you, nya!" grinned Kuroka.

"I need not any protection." the fire-specialist said while rolling his eyes, "I can defend myself. Maybe I am just worrying too much. This match will probably be like the others, albeit with a little more difficulty."

"Now that Harusame's repaired, I'm looking forward to clashing with Honest's [Knight]s." said Yoh, referring to his newly refined sword that was destroy in their Rating Game against Tannin, "I usually don't care much for fights, but I've got a rare battle-itch in me for once in my life."

"Ohohoh! I bet you'll chop some heads off then!" Kisame said with flashing his shark-like teeth, "You going on a rampage is something I'd pay money to see!"

"Talking about money, that reminds me…" a magic circle hovered over Naruto's hand as he summoned a moderately-sized box with a decorative bow, piquing everyone's interest, "I've got your present, Kuroka!"

"Present, nya?" she said with a cute head tilt, "What is it?"

"Open it and find out!" the blonde [King] said with excitement as he set the gift in front of the birthday girl.

Everyone looked on at interest, wanting to know what Naruto bought for his [Queen]. As for the Nekoshou herself, her heart beat with anticipation as she pulled the delicate red bow on her gift. Undoing the cat-print wrapping (which she appreciated) she opened the box and pulled away the paper wrapping hiding her gift. "Oh….its….." Kuroka's eyes glistened as tears started to form in her eyes, thoroughly shocked at Naruto's gift.

"What? What is it!?" Kisame shouted as he jumped out of his seat to get a glimpse at Kuroka's gift. Yoh and Lee did the same, while Hao, Orochimaru, and Anna looked on with hidden interest.

"A kimono…" uttered Kuroka as she felt the sleek-material of what seemed to be very expensive gift. The kimono was a dark red with a simple design of orange flames dancing across the base. The sash was all black as it was wrapped around the middle, following a new set of purple obi attached to the ends of the long sash.

Kuroka stared at her new kimono in awe, taking in every detail of the delicate fabric. "This…is amazing…" she whispered.

"Hehe…I'm glad you like it. It took me forever to find something the day I went out to buy you a gift." The blonde haired Bael said with a head scratch, "The store workers helped me pick it out…but I think they suggested one of the most expensive kimonos they had in stock…tch..taking advantage of me not knowing how to buy expensive stuff like thi-"

Kuroka jumped at Naruto and wrapped her arms around his waist. If it wasn't for Naruto's reflexes, the duo would have tumbled to the ground, but he caught her just in time and readjusted his footing. "Woah, Kuroka!" he cried out, but the Bael took notice to the wet stream of tears flowing down her cheeks as she looked up to him with admiration.

"Thank you…" she said with a sniff.

"Here they go with the lovey-dovey shit…" Kisame said, rolling his eyes at the scene of Naruto and Kuroka hugging each other, "We didn't get to have a birthday breakfast for my birthday…"

"Your birthday hasn't come yet, Kisame." replied Orochimaru

"Oh yea? How would you know?"

"I don't."

After the [King] and [Queen] had their moment, Kuroka took the time to open the presents the others had gotten for her. Because they knew that she liked games, Yoh and Anna got the younger girl a Nintendo Switch, in which Kuroka instantly fawned over. Next, Lee had given her a large tub of protein powder for her to mix with her favorite drink: milk. Not wanting to be mean, Kuroka accepted the gift, hiding a disdain for powdery-nutrient. Finally, to the shock of everyone, Kisame had a gift prepared for the Nekoshou. That shock turned into confusion when she opened her gift and found a water squitter in the box, in which Kisame quickly filled with water and started spraying the newly 20-year old with- labeling the new tool 'pussy control'.

After finishing their breakfast and snatching Kisame's new Kuroka-torture tool, the group was interrupted by the sound of the door bell ringing. "Oh? They're here already!" Naruto clapped as he headed to the door.

"Who are you expecting, Naruto-sama?" asked Orochimaru, vocalizing everyone's curiosity.

"Well, since tomorrow's such a big day and today is Kuroka's birthday, I wanted to make sure that we're in tip top shape in the most pleasurable and satisfying way possible." The blonde replied, moving closer to the front door.

With his mind running rampant with ideas, Kisame instantly perked up, "Is it big booty bitches?"

"No." replied the Bael, totally unaffected by Kisame's vulgar suggestion as he opened the door, revealing a group of Devils dressed in teal-colored uniforms, "I hired a massage company to come deal with our aches and pains."

"Oh…well my dick is aching, so this still works." grinned the shark-man, his eyes gleaming with bad intentions.

"That's not what Naruto-sama means, Kisame…and you're scaring the masseuses." said Hao, referring to the female massagers that were backing away from the door entrance.

"We get massages for my birthday, nya? Yah!" screamed the birthday girl in delight, "Can we do it on the beach?"

"…that actually sounds nice…" stated the stoic Shaman of the group, supporting Kuroka's idea.

"Yes! Getting a massage while listening to the relaxing waves sounds like a great experience!" said Lee.

"You all wouldn't have a problem with that?" Naruto asked the group.

"No, Naruto-sama." replied a brunette woman that was with the group, "We'll set up on the beach now. Just give us ten minutes to prepare. We have some towels for you all to cover your privacy and we'll meet you outside."

"Great. Thanks." said Naruto, taking some of the towels given to him while Orochimaru collected the remainder, "All guys. Let's make today is filled with relaxation. We deserve it. Happy birthday again, Kuroka."

Kuroka grinned as she took a towel for herself, "Thanks, nya! You really outdid yourself this year!"

"So, wait…you're saying that they can't massage my dick?" Kisame asked Orochimaru as he reached for a towel.

"No, Kisame. They're not here for that." sighed the pale-skinned man, annoyed with Kisame's fixation with sex, "They'll probably work on your shoulders, legs, thighs and back-not your erogenous area."

"Tch…well that's stupid." he grumbled as he headed upstairs to his room to change.

"I'm actually looking forward to this." stated Hao with a small, hardly noticeable smile, "I need some kinks I've got loosened up anyway. This couldn't have come at a better time."

"Yup, yup, yup! I think of everything!" grinned Naruto, following his [Knight]'s lead and heading up the stairs to change, "Today's is gonna be a good day…"

30 minutes later…

"Aaahhh…" moaned Kuroka in satisfaction at the set of hands rubbing her back, "This is sssoooooooooooooooo good~…."

Team Pickle Rick were all outside, laying on top of their own massage tables with their backs exposed and towels covering their bottoms. They were twenty minutes into their massage session and were thoroughly enjoying every moment. 'This is be best birthday ever…happy twentieth, Kuroka…' she thought to herself as she succumbed to the working hands of the masseuse.

Laying to her right was Naruto, who also found his current predicament quite pleasing. He had switched sides, now laying on his back so that the two massagers could work on his front. "We should do this more often-erg….whew…" he blew out a long breath of air as a wave of contentment overcame him, "Yup…yup, yup…we're doing this again sometime soon."

"We should do this again as a celebration for defeating Honest Bael and his peerage, which would free you from your forced engagement with that monster of a woman." said Orochimaru, laying on his stomach as a masseur tended to his back.

Anna, Yoh and Hao were next to Orochimaru, with Anna fully under the powers of the duo working on her back and legs, while Yoh tuned out the world with his headphones. Out of the three, only Hao was paying attention to the conversation. "I just want this mess to be over with." he uttered, "We've gone through too much stress ever since coming to the Underworld….just one problem after the next…"

"Eh, it's for a good cause though. You'll see, Hao." replied the blonde Bael, "We've got…ergh…damn that feels good….we've got just a bit longer until everything works out."

"Tch…" Hao blew a strand of hair out of his face in annoyance to his master's words, "You sound like Yoh…"

"Hehe! Yoh tends to look at the positive side of things." the blonde said with a small grin, "We need some of that positivity right about now…but I've got a feeling that everything will work out in the end."

Naruto's focus moved to Kisame, who was foaming from the mouth as he had three masseuses tending to his body. "How we feelin' over there, Kisame?" he asked.

"GR..grreehhh…am..agha…amazing…"he managed to get out as he was totally under the spell of the professional hands of the masseuses, who couldn't hold back their giggles to the shark Demon's sensitivity. Next to him, Samehada had his own massage table with two masseurs rubbing the demonic sword through its bandages. Samehada's mouth was exposed, hanging its unnaturally massive tongue out of its mouth like a dog as it received its massage with happiness.

"Hehehe! I bet Kisame needed this more than anybody." laughed Naruto, "Oh!...damn..that felt good…" the blonde uttered as he felt one of his bones pop.

The group continued to discuss about meaningless things for some time undisturbed until their next-door neighbor, Misla Bael, walked over to the group with interest. "What's going on here?" she asked with a kind-hearted smile.

"It's my birthday, nya." answered Kuroka with a meow, "We're getting massages. Do yo-erg….you have a gift?" she asked, stuttering abet from her massage.

"Oh…forgive me, Kuroka," the beautiful brunette said with a frown, "but I didn't know that today was your birthday. I'll be sure to get you something when I'm in town today."

"Do you want to get a massage, Misla?" asked Naruto, "I can cover the cost."

The older Devil shook her head in denial, "While I do appreciate the opportunity, I have some business today that I need to handle. I'll probably be out for the rest of the day. I just stepped out to see what was going on when I saw everyone through my kitchen window." Glancing at Kisame, whose foam pool continued to grow, the former-Vapula couldn't help but laugh lightheartedly, "It seems like you all are enjoying yourselves."

"It is quite pleasing." Orochimaru said, "When will you be back, Misla-san? Naruto-sama did plan a movie night that you can attend if you'd like."

Misla hummed in thought, liking the sound of being with whom she considered to be her 'fun-neighbors'. "That actually sounds nice. While I may be back later in the night, I'll be sure to come over if you all are still up." she answered, "I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and happy birthday, Kuroka." she finished with a bow before leaving the peerage to themselves.

"She's so nice, nya~." mumbled the birthday girl, "-Can't believe we used to hate her."

"Eh, I still kinda do, but not as much." smirked Naruto, "Maybe she could make us some of that pie we smell from her house tonight? That'd instantly purge any hatred I have for her, hehehe!"

"Huh?" all eyes moved to Yoh, who momentarily took his headphones off, "Did you say something?"

"No. Shut up." Anna said with a glare, slightly annoyed that her fiancée screamed in her ear.

"Sure." the Asakura said and went back to listening to his music.

"Anna's such a meanie, nya." said Kuroka, "Are you mad that there are females massaging Yoh's body? Jealous much?"

"I understand that today's your birthday, but I will still kill you if you continue to talk." Threatened the Shaman with a cold-glare before turning the other way.

"Seems like messing with Anna isn't a good idea, Kuroka. Leave her alone for now." said the only [Pawn] of the group, "Just enjoy your birthday gift for now. I know I am."

"Oh-alright, nya~!" Kuroka said with a roll of her eyes, "I was just playing-Omph!...ohhohohooho….that's the spot…." She said sleepily as she fell under the spell of her amazing massage.

"Hehe…yeah..…" hummed the Naruto as he stared up at the dark red sky of the Underworld with a grin.

"Today's a good day."

Timeskip – Evening

After finishing up their massages, Team Pickle Rick went back into the house to sleep for a couple of hours-unable to move properly since their entire bodies felt like jelly. After a few hours of rejuvenation, they continued with the events for the day, starting with a game of Twister that Kisame was heavily against and Orochimaru was all for. Of course, the slippery snake of a man easily won, but he promised he didn't use his magic to make it easier for him to win.

Next, Kuroka wanted to test out the Nintendo Switch Anna and Yoh gifted her, so the group gathered around in the living room playing various games that Naruto didn't understand. Even though he had been out of his seal for some time, he still didn't quite understand all the new things that were invented during his absence. However, he got the hang of it and enjoyed a few rounds of Mario Cart.

It was now late in the night, and after having a group dinner, Team Pickle Rick was back in the living room for a movie night. Of course, since they were all fans of the movie series, the group decided on watching all the Purge movies because they were funny.

"How many bags of popcorn should I pop?!" shouted Lee from the kitchen, digging through the box of popcorn and grabbing a handful.

"Get about three of em', Rook!" Kisame shouted back from his recliner in the living room, "I been wanting to re-watch this shit! Humans are some dumb fuckers when there's a killer in a movie, haha!"

"I fine nothing funny about this movie-only pathetic." hissed Orochimaru, uninterested at their movie choice, "I can't believe I used to be a human…tch…such incompetence…"

"Being a human can't be all that bad." said Yoh, not even looking up as he was scrolling through his phone, "You live, and you die. Simple life. I don't even know when I'm gonna die."

"That's true! Ewwww, I might be wrinkly for a long time!" cried out Kuroka.

"Your Senjutsu will keep you more youthful than Devils using their magic to keep our youthful appearance, Kuroka." replied Anna after taking a sip of her soda, "You're lucky."

"I don't really mind being old. It actually sounds fun!" grinned Naruto with a head scratch, "Getting on people's nerves all the time sounds like a great hobby before getting in the grave."

"You all are weird." Said Hao, who was sitting in one of the couches with his arms crossed under his poncho, "Your talking about death as if it's the best thing ever. I, for one, wish to live out every moment of my life as memorable as possible."

"Yeah, but you think reading books is fun, so fuck you and your feelings." crackled Kisame.

Hao was going to retort, but the sound of the door bell ringing cut him off. All eyes moved to the door with everyone wondering who it could be.

"Maybe its Misla?" shrugged Yoh, "She did say she would come over later."

"I'll get it." Naruto jumped over the couch before Orochimaru even had the chance of sitting up, "You guys stay comfortable."

Opening the door, Naruto was expecting to be face to face with one Misla Bael, however, the person standing in front of his was the last person he would have thought would be there.

"R-Run?" stuttered Naruto, abet in shock at the sight of seeing one of Honest Bael's peerage members at his door, "What…" stepping outside and closing the door behind him, he continued, "…what are you doing here? If my peerage members see you here, they're gonna flip."

"I know, and I'm sorry for coming unannounced." started the handsome blonde, "I just wanted to see you before tomorrow..."

"Oh…" Naruto said while scratching his head awkwardly, "You're here to talk about that deal we made."

"Y-yes….well…somewhat…" he said, "I just came here to thank you for listening to me. I know that tomorrow may be my last day alive…I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate you for listening to me that day and caring out your promise."

"Hehe, yup, yup yup! It's not a problem!" laughed the Bael, "I made a promise and I plan to keep it! Even if it's a little weird."

Run nodded, however, Naruto could see the hesitation in his movements and the feeling of guilt emitting from the blonde. "Are you alright?" he questioned, resting a hand of support on Run's shoulder, "I know tomorrow is gonna be tough…even I don't know what the hell's gonna happen…but don't let it get to you."

By his hand being on his shoulder, Naruto could feel the small trembles as Run gritted his teeth. Run's face grew a small red tint as tears formed at the base of his eyes. He balled his left fist in order to suppress…whatever he was feeling, but it was clearly not working as the blonde slowly broke apart in front of the confused Bael.

"I'm…..I-I'm sorry…..Naruto-sama…" Run covered the hand on his shoulder with his own as he continued to look down at the wooden deck, "I…Even if we do have….th-this understanding….between us…."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he felt a build up of magic within Run. His danger sense rang off in his head as he tried to pull his hand away from Run, but the platinum-blonde had a firm grip on it. "Run. What are you doing?" the blonde asked dangerously, his eyes flashing red in response to his growing anger.

At a haunting leisurely pace, Run shifted his head upwards, his red, puffy eyes now zooned onto Naruto's mixture of red and blue. He tried to form words as his mouth moved, but nothing was coming out, as if what he was about to say was physically hurting him. He gulped, feeling the pressure of the atmosphere on his shoulders, but pushed forward anyway. "I'm sorry…Naruto-sama…."

A green aura emitted from Run. Quicker than Naruto could react, a red magic seal appeared beneath both himself and Run and his body froze. 'What is this?' he thought to himself as he felt a magical presences within himself-one that wasn't his own.

Glancing away from the seal and back at Run, he tried to shout at him, but his mouth wasn't reacting to his mental commands to move. Run continued to stare at Naruto with guilt-ridden eyes, knowing what he was about to do was wrong, but…"

"…but my loyalty to my peerage comes first…" he whispered as a green light emitted from both Naruto and Run.

"Nari…Narfi…Curse Activation…"

Naruto's entire perspective became blurry and distorted as the same foreign energy within him forcefully ejected itself out of his body from his stomach. Drowsiness greeted him as he lost his footing and fell to the ground. The side of his head hit the hard wood without any protection, and the last sight he saw before darkness greeted him.

Same time

"Yosh! I have the popcorn!" shouted Lee as he entered the living room with multiple bowls of popcorn in his arms, "I am ready to enjoy watching movies with everyone!"

"I would too, but we're still waiting on Naruto-sama." Said Yoh, leaning back to glance at the front door, "He's been out there for some time…."

"He has…" muttered Orochimaru with suspicion, "I don't like this."

Suddenly, a foreign magic presence made itself present near where Naruto was, putting everyone on edge. All of Naruto's peerage members jumped out of their seats, preparing to run outside to find out what was going on, but were suddenly paralyzed as a magic presence within them interfered with their mobility.

'What is this!?' thought a frantic Orochimaru as he tried, and failed, to take control of his body, 'Are we under attack?'

Looking around the room, the snake man saw that everyone was in a similar state: frozen against their will. 'This has to deal with that foreign magic outside…and in me…' he thought as he could feel said magic fluctuate violently within his body, 'But this magic…it feels weird…like it is isn't Devil magic…'

He couldn't think any further as his world turned black once the foreign magic within him expelled outside of his body. His body, along with the other members of Team Pickle Rick, dropped to the floor.

…

…

…

…

Outside

Naruto's eyes burst open as he gasped for breath.

"Run!" he screamed as he jumped to his feet and summoned his Power of Destruction, wanting to eradicate Run from existence. However, the platinum blonde couldn't be found anywhere.

"What in the hell is going on here?" the blonde growled as he examined his surroundings. Nothing about the front porch seemed different, nor did the front yard. The front door was still closed, like he remembered.

His eyes then moved to the sky, which was blocked off by a transparent, green barrier. The barrier itself encompassed a massive amount of land, probably a few miles worth based on a rough estimation. The beach, a small portion of the river, and nearby forest were under the giant barrier that reached to the sky, trapping Naruto and everything in it.

'But for what reason though?' he thought to himself as his mind tired to find a reasoning for the barrier, 'The magic the barrier is made from….it isn't the same as Run's…it's more like the magic that I felt inside of my body…' he examined.

"None of this makes sense. Why make a barrier? And who did it?" he questioned to himself. However, he didn't dwell upon it any more as panic erupted within him as he thought back to his peerage members.

Breaking through the front door, the blonde Bael ran into the living room where he last left his peerage, hoping that they were alright. "EVERYONE!" he shouted as he slid into the room.

Instead of his worst nightmare of seeing everyone dead and blood everywhere, the Bael was greeted to the sight of everyone in his peerage sitting on the various couches as they watched the movie Naruto picked out together. Everyone seemed to be content. Even Anna and Orochimaru had smiles on their faces. It was if they hadn't even noticed that he was gone.

The eyes of his peerage members all focused on the frantic Bael-first, confusion marking their faces, but then, to the surprise of Naruto, they all began to glare at him…as if he was an enemy.

The energy in the room shifted from lighthearted to unsettling as the glaring peerage members began to release their KI, saturating the area with a heavy presence of death. Their death glares really put the Bael off, not understanding their reaction to him.

Naruto's mind went into overdrive as he analyzed the room, taking notice to the eaten popcorn, everyone's laid back postures, and the movie that was playing. 'A lot of the popcorn has been eaten, and even though I'm not all too familiar with this movie, it seems as if its been playing for a while already….did they start without me?...something's not right….'

Keeping up a neutral façade in order to find answers for his internal questions-his analytic, detective side taking priority. "H-hey, everyone…" he stuttered with an awkward grin, "Why are you all looking at me like that?...is there something on my face?"

"Why did you revive me?"

The person that spoke up first was Lee. The youngest member of the peerage had a solid frown planted on his face-uncharacteristic of the usual youthful [Rook].

The question itself almost shattered through Naruto's façade, but he kept up face and adopted a look of confusion. "W-what? Lee, what type of question is that?" 'Alright, something is absolutely wrong, and I need to find out.'

"It's true, Lee." Hao was next to speak, "What 'he' told us was the truth. All that man wanted from you was your strength. He took advantage of your ultimate moment of weakness and revived you. It's just that simple."

"Woah-" the situation at hand had developed to something Naruto hadn't suspected, "What in the hell-where is this coming from? That's far from the reason why I revived Lee." Naruto all but shouted, "And who is this 'he' person you're talking about?!"

"This faker's rage is only proof of his lies." Naruto's eyes shifted to the speaking Orochimaru, sitting on the far-right side of the room, "He claims that he cares for us, but it is only lies used to manipulate us into doing what he wants. That shall stop today."

Long gone was Naruto's façade as he sensed the tension double in a matter of seconds. "Alright, what is going on here?" he all but ordered, "Everyone single one of you know that I consider you all my world. Who in the hell voiced these lies to you, and why in the hell would you even believe them!?" he yelled, his growing anger starting to show.

"Lies? Why lie when it was right in front of us all this time!" shouted Yoh as he stood from his seat, Anna following his lead, "You…You were this close to killing my brother…" he said through gritted teeth, bring up the time when Naruto fought Hao a few days after his revival, "I saw the way you looked at him!"

"Yoh…" Naruto muttered, wanting to console his [Knight].

"SHUT UP!" the younger Asakura shouted as he slammed his favorite headphones to the ground, silencing Naruto, "You were gonna kill him! I saw it in your eyes! If it wasn't for him…if he hadn't stopped you, my brother's body wouldn't even exist because you would have destroyed him with that cursed power of yours!"

Naruto's physique faltered for a moment as it felt like a needle had pierced his heart. He had never seen Yoh this emotional before, but this wasn't the situation where Naruto wanted Yoh to express himself. 'What is…..what is going on….'

It was Kisame who spoke next, "This bitch has been an itch in my ass since I first saw him!" he growled, gripping Samehada's handle, "I still dream of cutting you to ribbons and feeding your flesh to Samehada…draining you dry of your magic until your nothing but a raisin! I should've finished you off back in the war, but now…" the shark Demon laughed menacingly as he unstrapped his partner from his back, "…I may just finish what we started."

"I want first." said the ever-stoic Anna, but instead of her usual blank face, an evil grin as a purple aura phased to life around her palms, "All this hatred and resentment I have in my heart….I want to release it all…and destroy something that has had me chained long enough…"

"Chained? What are you all talking about!?" the blonde said as his body trembled, not having words to describe how he was feeling, "I've never used you! Any of you! You're my family! My go-….I can't…I-I've never wished bad or ill about any of you! We're going to succeed together! To-tomorrow, we'll be one step closer to taking control of the Underworld! I'll be Great King and the-

"You think that we'll let that happen?" questioned Orochimaru, cutting off the distressed Bael with a dark chuckle, "This plan of yours to become Great King? It was doomed to fail the moment you thought about it. Plus, what could somebody like you, who was thrown away like trash by his own clan, hold arguably the highest position in the Underworld? You are unfit. Pathetic. Unintelligent. Psychotic. Uncontrollable. Useless." he stated, battering Naruto with an onslaught of assaults, "The Underworld wouldn't survive with you as Great King. The Underworld would be a better place WITHOUT you in it."

The pain in Naruto's heart only amplified as Orochimaru's speech hit him like a truck. His mind tried to find a solution as to why his peerage was acting so strange, but his emotions was interfering with his decision-making process. He couldn't believe what was happening but finding the source of his peerage members' change of heart was long gone from the blonde's priorities as he continued at his attempts in defending himself.

"You….you don't mean that…" whispered Naruto, pain evident in his voice, "You don't mean that…none of you do…i-its…something's wrong, but I can fix it! Please, just listen to me!"

"We're through listening to you." stated the older Asakura twin, "You've used us enough for this idiotic plan of yours. Hundreds of years of planning just to turn on the people that supported you the most. Today, we'll be getting our freedom back by ending you."

"Shut up! Stop talking like that, Hao!" Naruto screamed, getting more desperate with every moment, "I don't know what's gotten into you all…b-but it needs to stop now! This shit isn't funny anymore! It never was!"

However, it was like his pleas fell of deaf ears as his family continued to emit their KI, causing the blonde Bael's knees to weaken. Even with his peerage ripping out his heart, he remained strong as he turned to his last resort.

"Kuroka." He said to the closest member to him. The cat girl was seated on the couch in front of him, shooting the blonde a heavy glare. It reminded him of the time when she left him alone for Ginta. "Everything they're saying…tell them that they're crazy. You know me…please, just tell them that they're wrong!"

Just by how the newly 20-year old was looking at him, Naruto's hope was declining rapidly. Following by what felt like Kuroka gathering her magic, he felt as if he needed to prepare for a fight. 'But I can't fight her…I can't bring myself to fight any of them!'

After a few moments of tense silence, Kuroka spoke, "I can't believe…..that I used to love you."

"…wh-wha….wait…Kuroka…"

"All that time, you were grooming a little girl to become your slave." She started, "Your effort in 'saving me' from my hunters? It was all of ploy just to lure me to you. At first, it wasn't working because I had no intention of joining your peerage, but I succumbed to the pressure of being alone and feeling 'comforted' by you. You convinced me that I needed you and tricked me into loving you…and when I realized my 'feelings' for you, you know what you did?"

She stood up with a light, transparent veil of purple chakra emitting from her body. Her golden eyes dilated as her rage slowly increased with each passing second. "You brought that bitch, Gabriel, into the picture. Every moment I was with you, it was 'Gabriel this, Gabriel that,' not caring for how I felt! Whenever I tried to get closer to you-you'd ignore for that stupid Angel that could never give you an ounce of the love I had for you! And when she left, I would have thought you would have noticed me, but again! Again, and again and again, I tried to show my devotion to you, but it didn't matter!"

"I got you out of that fucking seal! I helped with your recovery process! I stopped my pursuit for my sister for you! And what do I get!? That bitch comes back and swoops all your attention away! Do you know how hurt I was!? Do you know what its like to watch as the person you love basically ignore you in favor of someone else!?"

Suddenly, Kuroka's aura grew wild, knocking over her couch as it fluctuated around her body. Naruto had to guard his face with his arms as the force Kuroka exuded created a strong gust in the large living room. "After waiting for an opportunity, you and that idiot finally called it off. And I was so happy! I thought that maybe you'd notice the person you need that was right in front of your face this entire time! But, once again! I was disappointed as the only thing you could do was cry about Gabriel and this new bitch that wants you! WELL SHE CAN HAVE YOU!"

With warning, Kuroka teleported in front of the Bael and grabbed his throat. Even for her shorter stature and small hands, her grip was deadly as all air flow in his throat was cut off. He tried to pry her off him, but her Senjutsu-enhanced strength overpowered his own. "Now, I realize that you weren't worth the wait. My love for you? It has transformed for an undeniable, raging hatred for you. I want to watch when everyone destroys and laugh while doing it. I don't need you anymore. I'm free!"

"Ki...ku…kuro….oka…." the blonde managed to get out as he continued to claw at the Nekoshou's small hand.

Kuroka had enough with the blonde, and with a loud 'Nya!', she turned around and threw Naruto into the TV plastered on the wall, causing glass to fly everywhere and the TV to drop to the floor along with Naruto's body. He entered a fierce coughing fit, gripping at his throat as he tried to fill his lungs with air. Pieces of the sharp glass pierced his skin once he impacted against the TV, causing an immense pain to wash through him.

Kuroka, along with the others, stared at Naruto with disgust in their eyes. The cat girl's aura quelled as she took in the sight of the pain-ridden Naruto with a dark glee. "This is just the start, 'Naru-kun'…" she mocked, "I can't wait to kill you so that I can finally be with the man I deserve."

It was at that moment when another magical presence made itself known. The presence itself stood out so much to Naruto because it felt so similar. Even though his coughing fit and the raging pain in his back, his danger senses wouldn't leave him alone, practically yelling at him to look up.

And so, he did, tilting his head upwards at a slow pace, not wanting to move to quickly to aggravate his back injuries even more. Locking onto the new magic signal, he couldn't hold back the shock present on his face as a set of identical blue eyes stared back at him.

Whisker marks. Blonde, spikey hair. Fox-like grin. Orange shirt with a purple Bael Clan insignia printed on the front. Black gym shorts. Orange house shoes.

An absolute, perfect clone of Naruto Bael….looking down on him with the sickest grin…

'It's me…' the real Naruto thought in astonishment as he watched the fake blonde walk down the steps. Once he was in the living room, Kuroka jumped in his arms and snuggled into his chest-a heavy blush on her cheeks. The new Naruto didn't mind Kuroka and continued to stare down at the real Naruto with a grin even Lucifer would be proud of.

He was so focused on the appearance of his shadow that he didn't even notice Anna stomp in front of him until the last second. She planted her right foot down into his stomach, pushing his back and, more importantly, the glass stuck in him into the floor.

"AAAHHH! Ergh-aaahAAHAHH!" he screeched as the glass pierced deeper into his back. He could feel the blood pool beneath him grow little by little as the precious liquid escaped his body. His breathing became ragged and a noticeable headache began to eat away at his mental. The shock and pain he was experiencing was so great, he didn't even feel the foreign magic he felt earlier appear on his forehead. Slowly, a green 'L' glowed from his forehead as whatever caused his current predicament was continuing to take control.

"Pick him up." Anna ordered as her two Shikigami, Zenki and Goki, fizzled to life at Naruto's sides. The two grabbed an arm of Naruto's and forcefully pulled him to his feet.

"Pathetic." spat Orochimaru, "This is who we called master? I'm disgusted at the fact that I let you revive me."

"He's so small right now…so weak…" said Hao, "Can he even be considered an Ultimate-Class Devil? From where I'm standing, he's weaker than a Low-Class Devil."

"Let's test it….come here, Lee." ordered Lee as she sent a mental command to her Shikigami to release Naruto's arms.

The Green Beast stood in front of the weakened and emotionally battered Bael, waiting for Anna's order. "Let's see if you really are this 'all-powerful' Devil." said the Shaman as she pointed at Lee, "Punch him."

Naruto coughed, still recovering from Kuroka's death grip from his throat, "N-no…stop this…" he muttered as his heart continued to break.

"So unyouthful. You're supposed to be the Great King, but you can't hit one of your subjects?" mocked Lee, "Hit me if you as powerful as you say you are!"

"No." Naruto stated more adamantly this time, "I'm not going to hit you, Lee. Wake up. This isn't yo-

He was cut off mid-sentence as a devastating punch to the stomach forced Naruto over. Lee's bandaged- fist was planted deep into his stomach, causing spit to fly out of the Bael's mouth before entering another coughing again.

"Will you show your spirit now and fight!?" shouted the aggressive Lee.

Naruto was inhaling deep breaths of air, gasping as now his front and back was filled with pain. However, it was nothing to the continuation of his heart breaking into pieces as his peerage laughed at him. "Stop thi…this….please…this isn't the pe-people..who I call family….my precious people…"

Lee took notice to the tears welling up in the real Naruto's eyes, "Are you crying? Are you that weak? I said hit me!"

"..n-no….."

A right hook to the face made the blonde see stars for a moment. He didn't fall to floor as Zenki and Goki held him up. "Hit me!"

"….no."

A left hook this time, but he was still held up by Anna's servants.

"Do it."

"No."

"I said do it!"

"….n…no"

"Hit me, Naruto Bael!"

"* cough*..n…n-no"

"Why won't you do it!? Retaliate!"

"…n-*cough cough*….no.."

Each time he refused, he was punished by Lee's fist. Back and forth, his body jerked with each strike, but he wouldn't allow himself to steep so low to strike his youngest peerage member. Blood started to leak from his mouth and nose as the [Rook]'s assault continued without stop. The others watched looked on with glee as the pain brought upon Naruto filled them with a twisted joy.

A pint of blood from Naruto's mouth splattered on the ground as another strike sent him tumbling to the ground-Zenki and Goki decided not to save him as he faceplanted with the hardwood.

"Tch…what a waste." Kisame said as he looked down at the beaten blonde, "The 'Great Naruto-sama'…..you're nothing more than sum shit….shit that has no reason living."

The Shark Demon would have continued if the fake Naruto hadn't silenced him by holding up his hand. With Kuroka latched around his waist, the fake Naruto walked over to the downed blonde and grabbed him by his locks.

The real Naruto grunted in pain as his body was dragged from the living room to the hallway, leaving a blood trail behind him. Everyone followed the fake Naruto out towards the destroyed front door, where the fake Naruto stopped. Reaching down, he grabbed the hem of Naruto's shirt and pulled his face towards its own.

Naruto shivered as he looked into the fake's identical eyes, seeing the corruption within them. 'This…..can't be me…..' he thought as he saw the massive, cold darkness within the copy's eyes. His body shivered as fear crept throughout his body, generally scared as to what the fake him had planned.

A memory of what of his date with Gabriel appeared in his mind. It was the night the two made it official. "I sense a lot of darkness within you as well,' Gabriel's heavenly voice rang out in his head, 'It's something that you try to hide from everyone but it's blatantly obvious to me…"

Giving it one last shot, he looked towards his peerage members, "…Please….th-this is me…he's…he's fake…..listen to me….i-*cough! Cough*…I…I love each one of you so much…" he muttered as his tears trailed down his whiskered cheeks, "Please… stop this…"

"Right here…in the center of your heart…it's like a cold…cold dark hole…."

"Hehehe….." laughed the fake Naruto. His voiced sounded so hallow to the Bael-nothing like how his actual voiced sounded, "Guess what?"

Bringing Naruto's face closer to the point that their foreheads were touching. Its cold breath landed on Naruto's bloody lips, causing the blonde to shiver uncomfortably.

Slowly…. quietly….the fake whispered, "They don't need you anymore. They're mine now."

Even though the real Naruto was severely injured on the outside, none of those injuries could compare to his heart breaking into a million pieces. It felt as if the organ had erupted in a volcano of pain and burned his insides. His mind went blank as he could hardly register what was reality anymore now that the only reason why he wanted to live life was ripped away from him and corrupted to the point where they hated him now.

"I…when I kissed you in order to heal your injuries…I shivered at the coldness of that evil…it's not the evil tat every Devil is born with…it's something different…and far scarier…."

His body slouched-no longer responsive as the mental overload was too much for the real Naruto. Without hesitation and a display of strength, the fake Naruto threw Naruto through the door frame and high into the air. "Dear, if you would?"

Understanding what her new master wanted, a magic seal appeared over Kuroka's outstretched palm as she released a burst of chakra at the falling blonde before exploding on contact with him. Fire erupted within the sky for some time, Naruto's body lost within the explosion until it fell out of the smoke cloud. Noticeable burns riddled his body as his smoking body fell from the air and down to the sand shores of the beach.

The fake Naruto turned to its peerage with robotic-like movements. The evil-grin it previously had was gone for a neutral stare. It snapped its fingers and uttered…

"Nari…Narfi…Curse Activation…"

Timeskip

….

…..

….

….

"Erm….eerggh…..o-ouch…oowww!"

Yoh Asakura winced as he felt something sharp poke at his arm. Opening his eyes, he looked down to see that a piece of glass was poking at his skin.

"What the…" he muttered before yawning, "Where…am I?"

He sat up, realizing he was resting on one of the couches in the living room. "Oh…yea…movie night…" he said with a lazy head scratch, "…what….what did we watch agai-"

The younger Asakura twin's eyes went wide when he felt the lack of headphones on his head. "What the?" Noticing that his headphones was gone lead him to realizing the state of the living room next.

The bodies of every member of Team Pickle Rick, excluding one Naruto Bael, were either laid out on the couches or the disturbingly bloody floor. The TV Kisame was so proud of had fallen to the ground, shattered to a million tiny pieces that littered the floor. One of the couches was flipped over for some odd reason, and a heavy feeling of guilt washed through Yoh's body as, suddenly, a wave of memories hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Hey….hey! Hey! GET UP!" he shouted frantically, "GET UP NOW!"

The Asakura's loud screeching scared Kuroka out her sleep as she jumped from the floor and to the ceiling, before landing on her feet. "What!?" she screamed back.

Orochimaru and Hao were next to awaken from their slumber with a gruesome headache. "Ugh…what happened…" muttered Hao.

"And why is the living room…oh shit…" Orochimaru's snake eyes widened as the memories of their confrontation with Naruto replayed in his head, "This isn't good."

"Anna! Anna! Wake up!" Yoh yelled, shaking his wife's body until she woke up. While Yoh did get punched in the face for waking her up in such a manner, at least the female Shaman was awake.

"This isn't good…" Anna said as she regained her memories as well, "Where is Naruto-sama? And what in the hell was in control of us?"

"I have a hunch." Said Orochimaru as a snake slithered out of his long sleeve and bit the snoring Kisame's arm, the pain forcing him out of his sleep as he shouted curses at the snake man, "but we need to regroup first and find Naruto-sama."

"What…..what did I do?" said the newly awakened Lee, staring at his blood fist in shame and fear, "It was like….like I couldn't control myself. I-I…saw myself…but I couldn't stop myself from saying those mean things…" The young [Rook] couldn't hold back the floodgates of tears as he continued to beat himself up, "I hurt Naruto-sama…"

"It wasn't your fault, Lee. We were all acting unnaturally." said Anna in an effort to comfort the crying boy, "Blame it on whatever took control of us."

"No! It's my fault!" he cried out, slapping Anna's hand away, "I…I always hid my doubt…at the bottom of my heart…I always questioned myself if Naruto-sama waited for that accident to happen! I just never told anybody! I wondered….if he planned for me to become cripple...and Guy-sensei….oh…oh, what have I done…"

Not to far from him was Kuroka, who was clutching at her hair in distress. Tears were pouring out of her eyes as she replayed the memories of her tearing into Naruto. "I…I did that…" she whispered. Her body was shaking violently as her breath intake increased, "I…I said all of that to him. Everything…I broke his heart-his mind! His mind is still weak from the seal! Wha-what did I do!? Why did I do it!? Why? Why? Why!? WHY!? Why-why-why-why-"

"Kuroka! Relax!" yelled Hao, grabbing the cat girl's arms, "We need to focus in order to find Naruto-sama! What happened-happened! We need to go out and find Naruto-sama before he bleeds to death!"

"Get away from me!" she yelled as her body jerked, trying to force herself out of Hao's grip, "Get off me! I did it! I broke him! Did you see how he looked at me!? I killed him! You don't understand!"

'Shit…' thought Orochimaru, 'They're going through a panic attack. We don't need this right now!' Turning to the oldest person in the room, the snake man judged Kisame's mental state based of his current appearance. Said man seemed to be in a state of shock, staring off into space as he tried to piece together what had happened. The grip he had on his recliner's arm rest was so strong that Kisame was crushing it, seemingly not caring that he was damaging his favorite chair.

"Kisame." Orochimaru calling out the Shark Demon's name pulled him out of his funk, "Are you alright?"

"…uh…y-yea…." He said, though it didn't sound like he believed himself, "I just….just needed to think for a second…we need to go find him…."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement, 'At least he's okay. Now for the other two…' Turning back to Lee, his world slowed down as he saw Lee grab for a sharp piece of broken glass and held it to his throat. As quick as he could move, Orochimaru shot a python at Lee and wrapped it around his body, effectively immobilizing any movement in his arms.

"Lee…." Orochimaru muttered dangerously. His snake eyes gleamed with magic as he exuded his KI at the green-clad boy, "Killing yourself isn't the answer."

"But! B-but I don't deserve to live!" he shouted through his tears, "I beat him! Pummeled him! All because of my distrust! I'm dirty! No longer fit to call Naruto-sama my master!"

"Lee, it wasn't your fault." Orochimaru said with a leveled voice, his golden eyes slowly putting Lee in a trance, "We were all taken advantage of. The thing that took control of us…I realize now that it was a Norse magical curse. We haven't run into any being apart of the Norse Faction other than Loki at the end of the Devil Exams. He cursed us. This is his doing."

"That…makes sense…" mumbled Hao as he rubbed his chin in thought, "Those final words that he said…that's when he did it."

"A plague…a plague of those associated with Naruto Bael…" recited Anna, mimicking the final words of the Norse God, "May your truths reveal themselves….resulting in your eternal suffering…"

"Exactly." Replied Orochimaru, "He used the negative emotions in our hearts against us….for me, it was my doubt of Naruto-sama's plan of becoming Great King actually working. I never told anybody about my fears, but they are real. The only thing we can do now is accept it for what it is and move on."

"He used my hatred…and fear of myself…" muttered Anna, showing a bit of emotion as she hugged herself, "It's stills something I haven't gotten over yet…"

Yoh hugged Anna to his chest, resting his chin on her head, "My self-doubt and my hidden fear of Naruto-sama…..I could feel it taking over me….it's something I never want to experience again…"

"I-I….I guess Loki used my fear of Naruto-sama as well…." Stated Hao, looking down at the bloody ground in guilt, "When he defeated back then, I honestly thought I was going to die. Ever since then, I've been afraid him…"

"…..my primal instinct for battle…" whispered Kisame, running a hand through his hair in stress, "…shit….what the fuck is wrong with me….."

"See, Lee? We've all been manipulated." said Orochimaru, placing a comforting hand on the [Rook]'s shoulder, "Killing yourself isn't the answer. We need to go out and find Naruto-sama. Now. Alright?"

"Huff…..huff…huff…." Slowly, the jagged glass slipped out of Lee's hands, crashing to the ground, "Al…alright…." said the Green Beast. He rubbed his face with his sleeve to wipe away his tears, "Alright….I'm fine now…."

"Good." 'Now to deal with her.' He said as he turned to the crying Kuroka. She had curled up into a ball while muttering incoherent words to herself, clearly traumatized by the event. "Kuroka, we need to find Naruto-sama now. I know it's tough, but his health is a priority right now."

"No." she shook her head frantically, "He hates me. I-I hate myself. I can never see him again! What I said was unforgiveable…but it's what I've been hiding! He doesn't deserve trash like me! It's all my fault! It's all my fault…"

"Kuroka…" it was Kisame who bent down to Kuroka's level and placed a comforting hand on her head, "That idiot could never hate you. Don't let this take over you. We need to find him and say sorry. He needs our help."

The cat girl's cries slowly decreased into sniffles over time. She looked up to the blue-skinned Demon with tear-filled eyes, lost of all hope. "Are you sure? He…..he won't hate me?"

"He's too obsessed with us to hate us." answered Kisame, "That's why we need to go find him. He's injured. The blood on the floor is his own. We need to find and heal him."

That snapped the birthday girl out of her panic attack. The last she remembered was Naruto's battered body laying on the beach. They needed to act fast.

"O-okay." She said with a light nod, "He-he should be on the beach! I need to heal him!"

"Then let's go!" shouted Yoh.

The peerage ran out of the house and summoned their wings once they were outside. Based off their past memory, they went to the same spot where Naruto's body was supposed to be, but they were greeted to nothing but a small, blood-filled lump in the sand. Naruto had disappeared.

"Where is he!? We need to find him!" shouted Kuroka, feeling another panic attack arising.

"What the hell is going on…" mumbled Hao as he looked at the green-barrier blocking them from the outside world, "This is definitely Norse magic now that I'm looking at it. If this barrier is as strong as it looks, than Naruto-sama must still be somewhere within its parameters."

"I can't even sense his magical presence…" muttered Anna, visibly frustrated with the unfortunate turn of events, "It's like he's not even here."

"Hopefully, its just the barrier interfering with your sensing abilities…" replied the snake man with a twitch of annoyance, "We need to split up and find him. Once you locate him, alert everyone else."

With their orders, everyone took flight, taking certain sections within the mysterious barrier in the search for their master. Kisame had taken up the role of searching the waters and beach area, while Anna took it upon herself to check the peerage house and Misla's own home-just to make sure. The others spread out to search the forest area, not sparing any hiding spots in order to find their long-lost master.

10 minutes into their search, Hao, who was searching a large section of the forest area, had reached the end of the barrier on the northern side. Recalling his Devil wings, he landed on the ground to analyze the barrier. "This is absolutely confusing…" he muttered, "If Loki really did curse us, then why did it activate now? Could it had been that 'visitor' that came to our door? And if so, how in the world could they cast such a high-level Norse barrier?"

The older Asakura twin was brought out of his pondering when he heard his name called by a familiar voice. "Asakura-san! Asakura-san!" Peering the transparent barrier, he searched for the owner of said voice and found it when he saw Misla Bael trying to get his attention. "Misla?"

"Yes! Do you know what's going on?" she questioned as she approached the barrier, Hao doing the same, "I tried to teleport back home after I finished my business for the day but appeared outside of this meddling barrier." She said as he slammed her fist into it, effectively doing nothing to it, "Every attempt at breaking through it results in nothing."

"The situation at hand is still very confusing, and since we're on a man hunt right now I can't explain everything right now. May I ask how long you've been outside this barrier for?" he questioned.

"I'd say….around half an hour…"

'Half an hour!? That isn't good at all…' he growled, knowing that the injuries Naruto had been unattended for at least 30 minutes, "Second question: have you seen Naruto-sama? We're looking for him."

"That's the thing…" she started worriedly, "I saw him not too long after I came here….he was floating in the sky…with a look-alike of him…they then flew down in the forest over in that area." she said, pointing at the forest.

"Thank you, Misla-san. I'm sure you have many questions, but for time's sake, please just wait for us to handle the situation." he ordered, receiving a nod from the former Vapula, "Also, don't go out for help. We don't need anybody knowing what's going on. Just wait on us."

After leaving Misla, Hao was running through the forest in pursuit of his blonde-haired leader. Creating a communication seal, he quickly informed his peerage members of the new information. "I just met up with Misla, who was outside the barrier on the northern side…she says she's been outside waiting for about 30 minutes and that she saw two Naruto-sama's in the air before flying back down in my general area."

With a flare of his magic, everyone immediately teleported to Hao's location and began their search.

It was long as Lee, swinging through the trees, spotted an odd shaped object down below. Jumping down to the ground to get a better look, his eyes widened in both shock when he saw Naruto standing in front of a dark purple sphere. Just the sight of his master brought tears to his eyes as he cried out, "Naruto-sama! You're okay!"

He was about to run up and begin begging for forgiveness for his actions but stopped halfway once he noticed something strange about the quiet 'Naruto-sama'. 'Wait….' he thought, 'He's supposed to be injured…but he seems perfectly fine to me…his clothes aren't tattered…and he's uncharacteristically silent…'

Taking a peak at the large object behind 'Naruto', he squinted his eyes when he noticed that he could see something trapped inside…or a certain someone.

Still injured from the beating Lee had gave him, was the real Naruto, trapped inside a dark purple cocoon of magic. The horror of the scene quickly made the young [Rook] see red, but he knew that losing his cool in this situation wouldn't solve anything.

"I've found Naruto-sama!" Lee said into the communication spell he casted, "He's trapped in some sort of…cocoon-and still injured! The fake Naruto-sama is here too!"

In a matter of seconds, the remaining members of Team Pickle Rick gathered where Lee and the two Naruto's were located. The two groups were at a standoff, with Team Pickle Rick washing the area with such a potent collection of KI, that any nearby wildlife ran from the deadly feeling invading the air.

"Release him now…." growled Kuroka, flashing her cat fangs at the fake Naruto.

"I don't care if you are a look alike of the idiot! I'll cut you to ribbons, you little shit!" yelled Kisame, slamming Samehada into the ground.

Behind Hao, the gigantic form of Spirit of Fire erupted out of flaming magic seal. It's figure towered over the trees and released a monstrous, ear-piercing screech-it's demonic green eyes dead set on the copy Naruto. Yoh withdrew Harusame while Anna summoned both Goki and Zenki, equipped with their battle axe and shield respectively. Orochimaru released a swarm of snakes, all threatening the fake Naruto with dangerous fangs drenched in venom.

However, the look-alike Naruto's devious smirk remained, not affected by any of their threats. He just stood there in silence, not even producing a magic circle to defend himself.

"He's not doing anything…" mumbled Yoh, "Is that supposed to happen? Usually, the enemy is talking about their master plan by now."

"This situation is different…" replied Yoh's older brother, "We're dealing with a fake Naruto-sama. Even if we do attack, I'm not sure if it will harm the real Naruto-sama in any w-"

"He doesn't need you anymore." The copy Naruto interrupted, putting the rest of Team Pickle Rick on edge, "He's mine now."

"Tch…that's how I know your just a fucking fake…" snarled Kisame, "The real idiot ain't gay!"

"This isn't the time for jokes, Kisame." said Orochimaru, "We need to find a way to break Naruto-sama out of that contraption and heal him."

"He doesn't need you anymore. He's mine now." repeated the copy.

"Shut up, nya!" shouted the furious Kuroka, "You release him now or else, you fucking moron!"

"Hmmm-hehehe!" the copy's chilling laugh caused some of them to shiver at its coldness, "Nari…Narfi…Curse Activation…"

The group tensed, waiting for some type of spell or illusion to target them. However, what they weren't expecting was for the fake Naruto's body to slowly dissipate into purple mist until it was completely gone, leaving the group alone with their trapped [King].

"Uhh….I guess he got the message?" said Yoh with a shrug.

"Never mind that." Orochimaru, followed by the others, quickly approached the sphere which Naruto was held in. Summoning a few snakes from his sleeves, he wrapped them around Naruto's body and gently pulled him free. "Kuroka. Anna."

The duo quickly went to work, healing the tortured blonde of his injuries. Kuroka had to hold back the tears she could feel forming to focus on her healing spell. "Oh, Naruto…what did we do to you…." she sniffed.

"He's alive…just unconscious…" mumbled Anna, hiding the regret and guilt she was feeling under a neutral façade, "…he still has the glass in his back that needs to be taken out before we do any healing there."

Kuroka nodded, "I can handle that, nya…" Using her mastery of Senjutsu, she coated her nails with her chakra, making them longer and thin like tweezers.

Rolling the unconscious blonde over, Kuroka sliced off his tattered shirt, revealing the blood mess that was his back. She cringed at the sight, knowing that it was her that caused the injury. An layer of her chakra blanketed his back, allowing her to sense how many pieces was stuck inside of his back and wear. "This may take some time, nya….but I can clear everything out soon."

"Good. Just take your time." replied Orochimaru, "We're out of the danger zone now."

Suddenly, the group's danger senses went off in their head as they felt a fluctuation of magic within the surrounding area. Looking up, they watched as the barrier morphed from a natural green to a menacing purple with no warning.

"…Ooookaayyyy?" stretched out Yoh, "Is something….about to happen?"

"The hell if I know…" grumbled Kisame as he threw Samehada on his shoulder, "This shit is weird as fuck. So the bitch idiot is just gonna disappear and not fight? What type of punk move is that?! I was ready to peel some flesh back!"

As if it were to spite the oversized [Knight], an weak earthquake shook the area, before calming as if nothing happened. The barrier illuminated purple light, shedding it down on everything below. Once the light hit the group, they all gasped as they fell to the ground. Their magic was sporadic within their bodies before eventually dying out.

Orochimaru gasped as he clutched at his heart, feeling a large portion of his magic disappear. "My magic…" he uttered, thoroughly shocked, "It's…. it's decreased massively…"

"Cut in half…." Yoh finished, "My magic reserves were just cut in half."

The Spirit of Fire's gigantic form was cut in half, now closer to the treeline than before. Hao himself was on one knee as he recovered from half of his magic disappearing into nothingness. "Gahh…this barrier just stole our magic."

"Woah…what the fuck…" Kisame said as he looked down at his hands, "I….I usually don't run out of magic…so this shit feels weird when I'm at 50%...I haven't lost this much magic juice in a long ass time…"

Lee, who was the weakest out of the bunch and didn't have that much magic compared to others, was taking the magic decrease harder than the others. He felt drowsy, as if he had fought for days. "Guys…" he said between deep breaths, "I don't…feel too good."

"It's just half, nya…" said the birthday girl, "We can still live off that. I'm almost through with Naruto's bac-"

Everyone froze when they saw Naruto's hand twitch….and then it moved again…..

….before balling into a fist…

"Na-naruto…" stuttered Kuroka as the Bael slowly pushed himself back on his feet robotically.

"Naruto-sama…you're awake…" 'But something doesn't feel right…' thought Orochimaru as he tried to get a good look of the blonde's expression, but his eyes were shaded over by his hair as he stood quietly. Orochimaru gulped, the feeling of dread filling his body, expecting something bad to happen soon.

Kisame narrowed his eyes at the unmoving, silent blonde. This wasn't like him at all. He saw a green light emitting from the Bael's forehead, but he couldn't make out what it was. "Hey…idiot…" he started, "You okay?"

Again, nothing but silence, as if their [King] hadn't even heard them. Kisame's grip on Samehada's handle slightly tightened in responds. 'I'm not liking this feeling I've got.'

"Naruto-sama!" Lee quickly bowed at his feet, the tears he had holding now free to flow like a river, "Please, forgive me for what I did to you! I was under the control of something unexplainable, but I do still take responsibility in doubting your purpose of resurrecting me! Please, Naruto-sama, forgive me! Kill me if you want that to be my punishment, but as long as you forgive me then I shall die happy!"

The group watched on as Naruto, who still hadn't moved since he awoken, crept his hand to Lee's head…

"…..Lee…." mumbled Anna, feeling the build up of magic within her silent [King].

A red magic seal appeared over Naruto's hand-the same seal used to call forth his Power of Destruction.

"Lee." Anna said more adamantly this time, knowing that things were about to take turn for the worst.

Tilting his head upwards, Naruto revealed the green 'L' insignia imprinted on his forehead. Following that, a green, distorted magic circle phased over Naruto's head, acting as if a halo, as his Power of Destruction activated…

"Lee!"

Yoh moved at the last second, appearing next to Lee, pick him up, and disappearing. The rest of the group jumped away as Naruto's chaotic Power of Destruction terminated the spot Lee once was. His blue eyes, loss of their usual life, followed the group as they flew in the air to avoid being hit by one-hit kill shot.

"Wha-" Lee opened his eyes, noticing that he was in the air with the others, "What's going on!?"

"He tried to kill you…" Kuroka said with narrowed eyes, staring at her blonde crush, who was a few dozen meters across from the group in the air, in distrust and skepticism "He….something's not right…"

"It's as if he's being controlled like we were." summed up Anna as Naruto hovered up to their level, "And that mark on his forehead…"

"The mark of Loki, for sure." Orochimaru finished with a glare, "He's controlling Naruto-sama."

"Co-Control!?" shouted Lee, "Then….then we must free him! How can we free Naruto-sama!?"

"That….I'm not sure of…" sighed Hao, "Looking at Naruto-sama now…there isn't any outward resistance…"

"You're assuming that Naruto-sama isn't fighting back against Loki's control?" asked Orochimaru with a raised eyebrow, surprising everyone with the revelation.

"Precisely." nodded the older Asakura, "We all know that our master is strong…stronger than this curse. But it's like he's lost the will to fight back."

"Probably because we fucking crushed his will." countered Kisame to the shock of everyone listening, "Think about it. You saw how he looked when we couldn't control ourselves. He looked like a little kid getting kicked out of his shitty parent's house cuz' he drank all of the orange juice."

"And out of all of us, Naruto-sama's mental state is the weakest." added on Orochimaru, ignoring Kisame's way of explaining their dire situation, "While he has recovered in leaps and bounds compared to his mental state when we revived him from his seal, the feeling of your only pillar keeping you stable suddenly turning its back on you…he must have lost all hope in that one moment …"

Kuroka's form weakened as she realized what Orochimaru said was true. 'He always said that his peerage was everything to him!' she thought as a deep feeling of guilt weighted itself on her heart, 'We were his last pillar of sanity…and us hurting him…and choose a look-alike for him…' Another round of tears started to form in her golden orbs as the regret she felt started to take over. "Oh Naruto…what did we do to you?..." she said with a sniffle.

"Probably more damage than we realize." replied the other female of the group, "Naruto-sama believes that we detest him now. The curse planted on us focused on our doubts of ourselves or Naruto-sama, while Naruto-sama's curse took advantage of his love and dependence of us…and destroyed it..."

Naruto's magic spiking caught everyone's attention. Since Kuroka tore his shirt of earlier, they were able to see deep, black lines develop on his chiseled chest in a jagged design, reaching around his chest and to his back where the group felt a monstrous amount of magic stored.

"What the fuck?" Kisame said in confusion, "This is new. I've never seen this shit before. What's he doing?"

"He's…..about to use those seals….." muttered Kuroka, whipping away the trail of tears on her face as a heavy pressure coming from the controlled [King]. "The Uzumaki seals, nya…"

"Uzumaki seals?" questioned Yoh, turning to the cat girl, "What is that?"

On each corner of Naruto's back appeared four red swirls. The black lines that was on the rest of his body connected to the outside of seals, 'unlocking' them as swirls started to circulate…

Kuroka gulped as the heavy pressure saturating the air even started to get to her. She bit her lip in order to focus at the task at hand. If what she thought was about to happen does occur, then the others needed to be informed in order to combat against it. "N-Naruto wanted a trump card…a way to pull through in any fight he was in, nya…" she started with a noticeable stutter, symbolizing her developing fear of their [King], "I helped him with the process…basically, he wanted a seal where he could store all of his magic in it…l-like having an extra set of batteries, nya."

"…..Oh no…" Everyone other than Kuroka looked at the only [Pawn] of the group. Orochimaru himself had a look of distraught on his face as he realized the severity of their current predicament. "This isn't good."

"What isn't good, Orochimaru-sama!?" asked Lee, shacking as Naruto's growing magic began to pulsate.

"It's still a prototype, but in each one of those seals is 100% of his overall magic. He calls them 'Uzumaki' seals, meaning 'maelstrom'…..as in a maelstrom of magic…" She explained as green magic expelled from the seals, cloaking Naruto in a protective sphere, "And it looks like he's using them all at the same time…"

"But what does that mean!?" yelled the sporadic Lee. Even though he had a good idea of what was about to happen, he was still in denial of the inevitable. "Why is he activating them now?!"

"To use against us…" muttered Yoh, summoning a magic circle from which his signature sword, Harusame, grew from, "He's going to kill us."

"Kill us! N-no! Naruto-sama would never!" Lee said while shaking his head, "He wouldn't! He loves us too much!"

"It's not his fault, Lee." replied the stoic Anna, "He's being controlled by Loki. You see that 'L' on his forehead along with the halo over his head. That was the purpose of Loki's curse: to kill one another." She finished, causing Lee's heart to stop in utter astonishment and fear.

"So your telling me that we've gotta fight at shitty 50%, while he's at 400% fucking percent?" questioned Kisame, bringing up the fact that their magic reserves was cut in half when Naruto reawakened, "That shit sounds like a trump card for a Rating Game, not to fucking kill your own damn peerage! What type of shit is this?"

"No." Kuroka cut off, confusing her listeners. Her Senjutsu gave her an outlook on how much magic a person had, so she could sense a malfunction with one of the Uzumaki seals, "It seems like one of the seals hasn't activated yet. I can sense it with my Senjutsu…out of the four tattooed on his back, only three has activated. Seem like one seal is a faulty, nya."

"I can sense it too." backed Anna, "There's magic coming from his upper right, upper left, and low left corners of his back. The other seal should be on his lower right."

Kuroka suddenly perked up, before creating a barrier to protect everyone as an explosion of red and green magic burst from Naruto. The blast blocked out all vision, and the force of the blow cracked Kuroka's shield, to her own surprise. If it had not been for Kisame amping it with his own magic, the group would have been blown away.

"He's seriously not control of his actions, is he?" mumbled the massive man.

"Seems not." Replied Hao, taking off his poncho and throwing it away, "We're already nerfed with only 50% of our power…but with Naruto-sama's power almost tripled than its usual…"

"Duba Duba…"

The explosion settled, revealing the unresponsive Naruto inside his signature Golem of Destruction. The Power of Destruction crafted armor stood tall at 8 feet tall (2.4 meters) with 'GoD' imprinted on its stomach in a darker red, standing out from the rest of its red body. Its head was a red, transparent dome, giving a glimpse of Naruto within it. However, a new edition to its body were the two green, narrow, eye-like markings on its dome. Power of Destruction was literally pouring out of the golem in waves, along with the outpour of Naruto's regular magic coming from the Uzumaki seals imprinted on the armor's back.

"…this fight will probably be the hardest challenge we've had…" finished the all-serious Hao, equipping himself with his Over Soul Armor Style: Black Fowl, "Go all out from the beginning. Don't hold back."

"Make sure to watch each other's back." ordered Orochimaru, "The objective is to snap Naruto-sama out of this spell he's under. Do. Not. Kill."

"Wait! W-Wait!" yelled Lee, halting any preparation for battle, "We're seriously about to fight Naruto-sama!? The man that saved us from our past lives?! How can you even say something like that!?"

"We don't have a choice, Lee…" Kuroka whispered through gritted teeth, not liking the idea of fighting the man that saved her from a life as a stray, "This maybe the only way to save him."

"When we we're controlled, he didn't even hit me even when I did!" the Green Beast shouted as tears flowed from his eyes like a raging stream, "But you're telling me we actually have to fight him as if he were the enemy!? I cannot do this! It goes against my loyalty for the person that saved my life!"

"Lee, if we don't do this, we'll be killed instead." mumbled Yoh as his own armor, Spirit of Sword: White Swan, phased to life around him, "Then, Naruto-sama will have to live with the fact that he killed his own peerage members. Do you really want to leave him with such guilt? Do you wonder what he would do to himself if that happened?"

"If you don't want to fight than stay out of the way, Lee." Anna said with a glare as Zenki and Goki phased to life, "I'm going to save Naruto-sama…no matter the cost."

'Attacking Naruto-sama….i-its…its insane…' thought Lee, his eyes shaded over by his hair. However, after a few moments to collect himself, a burning fire appeared in his eyes as he regained his drive, "We need to save Naruto-sama! If this is what it takes…then I'm all in!"

"Good job, Lee, nya." Stated Kuroka with a smile, "We'll need you."

Kisame grinned with anticipation as Samehada squealed, "So we save the idiot by beating his ass? Hehehe, this is interesting, eh, Samehada?"

"Maybe if we try to reach out to Naruto-sama's emotional side….maybe then he will snap out of this funk." Orochimaru thought out loud, "However, I'm not the best when it comes with emotions…only manipulating them."

"We'll find a way, nya." said Kuroka, all her previous tears gone as she donned a serious demeanor-ready to fight and save the man that made her his [Queen]. "We can save him. Count it as my birthday present from you. Are you guys ready, nya?"

Corrupted Naruto Bael, Full-Blooded High-Class Devil, [King]

vs.

Kuroka [Queen], Kisame [Knight], Yoh Asakura [Knight], Rock Lee [Rook], Anna Kyoyama [Bishop], Hao Asakura [Bishop], Orochimaru [Pawn]

"Let's go!" shouted Yoh as he disappeared in a burst of speed. Reappearing behind Naruto's back, he gave the armor and powerful swipe with his enhanced sword. However, his sword slash was blocked by a barrier, shocking the fastest member of Team Pickle Rick's. 'He can react fast enough to block me?'

The younger Asakura twin couldn't linger over the fact for long as he was surrounded by red magic circles. Quickly crafting one of his earthen terrain seals under his feet, he pushed off it while slicing his way through the trap, avoiding being erased from existence as the spot he was in previously was enveloped by Naruto's Power of Destruction.

Even though he had gotten away, he was safe as Naruto set his sights on the headphone-less Yoh, activating his Golem of Destruction's turbos from its feet and back as it flew after Yoh with bad intentions.

"Not on my watch." Said Hao as he flew in front of Naruto's path with his jet armor. Both energy cannons on Hao's back danced with red electricity as they prepared to fire. "Onibi!" shouted Hao, calling his attack as he released the closed range blast.

A massive cloud of fire and smoke filled the air, lowering all visibility to zero as the force of the monstrous explosion alone ripped trees from the earth below. The explosion even managed to reach the barrier above, but it withheld its form, hardly effected by what could only be described as mini-nuke going off.

Hao waited for some type of response, losing Naruto because of the major smoke cloud that took up most of the sky. Quicker than he could move, a red armed grabbled around his body, catching him mid-air. It was the stubby, but strong arms of Naruto's GoD, not even harmed by Hao's Onibi as he gripped him with an insane amount of force.

"ERrghh…" growled Hao, feeling his ribs groan at the force exerted on them, "Naruto-sama! Snap out of it!" he yelled at the blonde, who was looking back at Hao with a blank stare before throwing him into the ground below.

Hao's body broke through the surface of the ground, creating his own personal crater as he crashed through it. Even before his could free himself, Naruto appeared in front of him with his mechanized right-arm cocked back and coated with Power of Destruction-ready to deal the finishing blow.

"Dynamic Entry!" Lee appeared, kicking Naruto in his back-or would have if he hadn't produced another barrier to block the strong blow. That didn't stop the martial artist one bit, stealing from Yoh's style and pushed off the barrier, landing on the ground, and jumping back up to deliver a devastating punch to the armor's underbelly, knocking it back and saving Hao from being crushed and turned into nothingness.

The attack only proved to throw the controlled Bael off for a second before he swiveled back around and released a geyser of Power of Destruction at his [Rook] and [Bishop]. The attacked was countered by Kisame, swooping in with three giant water sharks following him and crashing into the demonic energy. Kisame's grin couldn't get any large as he jumped through the attacks, eating back the energy from his water sharks and the Power of Destruction as he reached the other side with an underhanded swipe at the golem.

A small gash appeared on the golem's surface as Samehada ate through its magic, but that was all Kisame could get off as he was pelted with a dozen torpedoes of magic, all centered at his chest and shooting him towards Lee and the recovering Hao. Before Kisame's body could crash into Lee, Naruto teleported at Kisame's side and kicked him through the earth with his enhanced power.

"Shit!" he growled as he quickly reconnected his arm, which had disconnected from the hit, with his magic. 'That strength he has now is able to injury me this quickly?' He grinned as he felt a streak of blood leak from the corner of his mouth. "Hehehe…this shit is interesting!"

Zenki and Goki were next at attacking Naruto, with Zenki bashing into Naruto's side with his shield, right into Goki prepared to slice Naruto in-half with a swipe of his battle axe. In response, Naruto's golem caught the staff of Goki's battle axe while revolting back against Zenki, pushing against the shikigami's shield with its arm before destroying both with an oversized beam of destruction before flying up in the air after their summoner.

Anna quickly crafted a multi-layer barrier around her to block the incoming rocket, following the array of magic circles releasing powerful blast of magic. They all proved futile as Naruto ignored them all and destroyed all almost all of Anna's barriers with one punch, dazing her with the recoil. "Gah…" she hissed, as Naruto floated in front of her menacingly, the pressure exuding off him enough to make the Shaman freeze.

Black flames, produced by the nearby Kuroka, washed over Naruto's armored body as Orochimaru used his long tongue to pull Anna away. The Senjutsu-flames was the equivalent to a small flame against the superpowered golem, having no affect as its body destroyed anything in contact with it.

"Come at me, nya!" she yelled with conviction once Naruto's attention moved to her. Blitzing towards her with red magic circle dancing around his body, releasing a dozen of laser-like projectiles of destruction at the Nekoshou. She blocked them all with a Senjtsu/Youjutsu barrier all while activating Touki, boosting her physical strength, defense and speed. However, the barrier proved useless as the destruction beams tore through them, allowing Naruto to close in at his [Queen].

Kuroka's body would have suffered heavy damage if Naruto's fist didn't phase through her body-an illusion. A purple dome surrounded Naruto's body with seals layered on its exterior. Multiple Kuroka's appeared from magic seal, circling around the trapped Bael and producing golden chains. The chains entered the space-time sphere and wrapped around Naruto's body, thoroughly restraining him.

The real Kuroka grew from another magic seal as she flew over to the struggle Bael. "Naruto! I know you hear me! Please, wake up! This is all Loki's plan and fault!" she pleaded, "You've got to snap out of it. This isn't you, nya!"

Kuroka's chain melted away as Naruto's Power of Destruction served its purpose. "Duba Duba." said the golem's mantra and it destroyed Kuroka's clones and barrier by pulsating its PoD everywhere before flying at Kuroka.

However, Kuroka was able to parry the incoming punch, palming underneath the golem's arm and exposing its mid-section. With her strength enhanced by Touki and with the elements of a [Rook] apart of [Queen] piece, Kuroka surprisingly cracked the surface of Naruto's GoD as she sent him rocketing down into the ground. "Take that, nya!" she exclaimed before following suit with a barrage of black wheels of flames.

Landing on his feet, Naruto crafted a small barrier of Power of Destruction to cover himself as Kuroka's Kasha spell collided into it. The barrier blocked any attempts at harming the Bael, before quickly morphing into an army of needles and shooting in each direction.

Lee, who was approaching from the side with Yoh, was caught up by the barraged while Yoh defended by dispelling Naruto's magic with his Chou Senji Ryakuketsu – Mikazuki no Futsa, which effortless dispells any magic within a spell or attack. "Shit, Lee!" yelled the younger Asakura as he watched Lee's body fall to the ground, all his joints pierced and disconnected by the small needles.

He jumped, caught Lee's body, and moved out of the way just in time for Naruto's Power of Destruction to rip into the ground in a red flash. The golem flew over to Yoh and Lee with both its hands clasped together for a powerful overhead sledgehammer, but Kisame jumped in and caught its stubby arms with a grin as his feet caved into the ground from the force of the blow.

"Hehehe…" he laughed as he stared back at the blank faced Naruto, "This shit keeps getting better and better…" The red aura of destruction that coated Naruto's form was combated against Kisame's blue aura, but Samehada continually drained Naruto's own reserves to replenish the magic it shared with its master, "…every time we fight, it always something to remember…now look at ya, letting yourself get controlled by a guy named Loki. If that shit ain't the most pathetic shit I've heard of!" he yelled, ignoring the fact that he was also controlled by the Norse God, "Wake up you piece of shit!"

Suddenly, Naruto's body was caught by the incoming Hao-his Spirit of Fire: Black Fowl armor's claw-like hands capturing and shoving it to the ground-grinding against the surface of the hard earth as Hao kept flying. As he held Naruto in his grasp, his two energy cannons were pulsating with power and red electricity as Spirit of Fire powered the duo's next attack.

Reaching the end of the barrier, Hao released Naruto's golem body and watched as it hit the barrier with a loud crash. By this time, Hao's Black Fowl armor was steaming with heat energy as he aimed his cannons at the downed Bael. A ball of white flames with red electricity dancing along the surface appeared in front of the two cannons as Hao prepared to release the large scaled attack.

"Onibi: White Flower!" he shouted. His two cannons gleamed red before releasing Hao's spell-the ball of white flames morphing in an ocean of concentrated flames. The explosion of Hao's previous attack was nothing like the current one as the white flames completely burned through anything in its path, similar to the Power of Destruction's capabilities. The land encompassed within the barrier increased by several degrees as the unbearable flames Hao was producing were hot enough to dry out an entire ocean in a continuous beam of flames.

'This has to do something to that damn armor of his…' that the long-haired Asakura twin as he continued his outpour of white flames, 'Two Onibi's back to back, with the second one immensely more powerful than the first, isn't doing my weakened magic reserves any good. Hopefully, his armor is damaged to the point that we can break through and deal damage to his actual body, even though hurting Naruto-sama isn't the most favor-'

A red claw broke through the ground underneath Hao and wrapped itself around Hao, interfering with his concentration and redirecting the remainder of Onibi to the ceiling of the purple barrier. Fear could be seen in his eyes as the arms reeled him into the current explosion caused by his Onibi. Even with fire resilience given to him as the partner of Spirit of Fire, Hao hissed as his body was pulled through a lake of lava, receiving multiple burn marks from his own attack. The red arm released him, but he didn't see the red arm of Naruto's golem smash into his unprotected side.

Pain was the only feeling that Hao had as his body skyrocketed out of the lava and through the land encompassed by Loki's barrier. He couldn't catch himself as half of his Black Fowl was destroyed, along with his entire right side of his body. Soaring through the air, he was only able to stop was he reached the very other side of the barrier, crashing into it before falling into the ground.

"Ga..ga…." the older Asakura sputtered as half his jaw wasn't working correctly. The bones in his leg was broken in multiple places, and his right arm was bent at an awkward angle. 'He's…stronger than I th-thought….' He winced at the pain affecting him. Spirit of Fire was crying out for his partner, asking if he was alright.

The sound of feel landing caught his ear. It was Anna, who knelt over him and began whispering a long spell. Soon enough, a green aura washed over Hao's body as he was starting to heal at a fast pace.

"We don't need one of out strongest attacks going out so early in the fight." She muttered as he continued her spell, shooting a small glare at her fiancée's brother, "Stop being so reckless."

On the other side of the barrier, the rest kept up their attempts at stopping the ranging blonde, but anything they did was thwarted by the superpowered armor that was Golem of Destruction. Hardly any of their attacks worked-and if they did, Naruto's massive magic reserve would instantly repair any damage dealt to the exterior before hitting back with an attack three times than the Ultimate-Class level Devil would usually throw out.

Lee, who's previous injury was healed by Kuroka's quick-time healing spell, had to enter his fourth gate in order to keep up with the speed Naruto was going at, but he couldn't deal any significant damage as he weaved through multiple bolts of destruction. He flew to the air when Kisame summoned a massive tsunami that had multiple of his magic-absorbing water sharks in it as it crashed into the ground, submerging most of the area underwater.

Orochimaru, being the snake his is, swam through the water with his sights set on Naruto. 'There must be a way to break through that annoying armor…' he thought as approached the silent Bael. Swiveling around a bolt of destruction shot by Naruto, Orochimaru circled around him, looking for some way to break through the armor to deal some type of damage. None of Kisame's water sharks were helping with the situation as Naruto's Power of Destruction cleaned through them like nothing before crafting a multitude of yellow magic circles.

However, there was something that Orochimaru noticed. Narrowing his eyes at the golem's back, he saw all four of the Uzumaki seals, with the three active seals supplying magic into Naruto's body. 'Hmm…maybe…'

He was forced out of his thoughts as all of Naruto's seals released a devastating pulsation of lightning. Even Orochimaru, who was quick in the water thanks to his snake attributes, was caught by the lightning and received the shock of his life. Even with the multi-barriers he sent up, his body was turned into a lightning rod as his clothes and flesh crumpled under the effects of Naruto's overpowered lightning spell. His body remained in a sporadic-state, leaving him open for Naruto to charge forward with a ball of red energy in his right hand.

Being the fastest member of the team, Yoh sliced through the entire water bubble with one swing of his Harusame, splitting the entire mini-river in two, before moving through the gap he created at speeds even hard for the Naruto to react as he caught Orochimaru's body. Positioning himself to the defend against his approaching doom, Yoh slashed at Naruto's armor with all his strength while chanting a spell in his mind.

"Amida-Ryu: Mu-Mu-Myo-Yaku-Mu!"

The effect of Yoh's spell even surprised him as the tip of his sword poked Naruto's armor…and utterly dissolved it…

The ball of destruction that was in Naruto's right palm dissipated the moment finished his spell, saving Yoh from his head from being disintegrated as Naruto's empty palm landed on his shocked face.

"….It…..worked…" mumbled the headphone-less Yoh, staring face to face with his controlled master.

Suddenly, Orochimaru jumped to life, grabbing Naruto's outstretched arm and pulling himself forward. Time seemed to slow down as Orochimaru crept forward, his face passing by Naruto's neutral look. Purple flames that emitted a wicked aura appeared at the tips of Orochimaru's fingers as he looked down at the Uzumaki seals on the stunned Naruto's back. Deciding on a target, Orochimaru slammed his fingers into the top right Uzumaki seal on Naruto's back…

"Five-Pronged Seal!" he shouted, with the affects being immediate.

The outpour of magic coming from the top right seal on Naruto's back instantly closed, cutting off any more magic from leaking out. The snake man kicked Naruto away, used his tongue to grab Yoh and entered the top half of the water bubble as the two halves slammed back into each other as gravity took course.

The duo appeared at the top of the water bubble and used their wings to join the others in the air. "Good job, doing whatever the fuck you did!" shouted Kisame, holding an enlarged Samehada who was free of its bandages that hid its scaly form, "Now get the fuck out of the way!"

Listening to the [Knight]'s warning, Yoh and Orochimaru split up as a black missile ejected out of Samehada's massive body, passing through the small space between Yoh and Orochimaru and entered the water bubble.

Everything was silent for a moment before another explosion of pitch-black energy fully enveloped the water bubble. The gust caused by the explosion ripped trees out of the ground, shooting debris in every direction. The team of Lee, Kuroka, Orochimaru, and Yoh to erect a multitude of barrier just to keep from flying into the barrier ceiling.

"Heheheh!" laughed Kisame's, watching the mass destruction he caused with glee, "That's what the fuck I'm talking about! Let's seem em' get outta that one without one of his limbs gone! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"We're not trying to maim him, nya!" yelled Kuroka, reprimanding the laughing Demon, "We need to save him!"

"Yes, but we need to talk about more important things." Said Orochimaru as he glanced towards a slightly out of breath Yoh, "Yoh, that technique that you just used…what was it…"

After taking a few more deep breaths, Yoh answered while looking for any sign of Naruto as the massive explosion started to calm, "It's a very….taxing spell…" he started with slightly uneven breath, "'Amida-Ryu: Mu-Mu-Myo-Yaku-Mu' is a 100% spiritual move-no physical damage comes with its completion. With it, I can completely nullify any magic, whether it be used for offensive, defensive, illusions….anything…but, it takes a lot to dissemble that armor….It's literally PACKED with magic…" emphasized, "I used this spell before, but on a smaller scale. I've never used it on something so dense and co-compact…with magic…Power of Destruction, no less." He winced.

"But that spell completely dispersed Naruto-sama's armor!" said Lee with hope in his eyes, "Just maybe…maybe we can use that as an opening!"

"We could…if I had more magic to pull on…." he said with a disappointed sigh, "It takes a lot to break through such dense magic…and since we started this battle with half our strength, I could probably only pull off one more of those before I'm on my last leg."

"Shit…" cursed the other [Knight] of the peerage, "Just when I thought we found a way through"

"No." All eyes shifted to Orochimaru as he looked down at the dissipating black cloud caused by Kisame, "When I got behind him, I was able to forcefully close one of his Uzumaki seals with a seal of my own….and it can't be undone by conventional means."

Kuroka's eyes lit up at Orochimaru's revelation. "That's great, nya! Then, maybe I could use my Senjutsu to break Loki's control and repair Naruto's mind!"

"Seems we have a plan then." Said Kisame as they all saw Naruto's body once the smoke started to clear, revealing that his Golem of Destruction armor was gone. He wasn't physically hurt by Kisame's last attack, but the group had a clear visual of Naruto's back. Sure enough, the seal Orochimaru aimed for was shut with five, dark purple seals covering it.

"Seems it worked." muttered Orochimaru, taking a mental picture of Naruto's back before he turned up looked up to them with a scowl-Loki's distorted halo still over his head along with the 'L' on the Bael's forehead. "We have a strategy. We'll inform Anna and Hao when she's finished healing him…."

The group tensed when Naruto held up his hand-not at them-at the forest beneath them. They watched with both interest, confusion, and worry as a small, blue-tinted veil of magic coated his skin appeared-signaling the use of his telekinetic powers.

A pain shriek put them on edge, and Yoh's heart drop when he saw Anna's body forcefully pulled out from the tree line and rocketing towards Naruto. His other hand was submerged in his Power of Destruction as Anna flew towards him. "ANNA!" he shouted as he sped towards Naruto as fast as he could to save his wife.

"Shit!" shouted Kisame as he sensed something wrong with Anna's magic signal…or the lack of it. "Yoh! That ain't Anna!"

But it was too late as Yoh got to Anna before he could register what the shark Demon said as he reached to catch his wife. However, he was thoroughly shocked when his body fazed through Anna's body. "Wha-"

A barrage of Naruto's signature needles of destruction entered his body, specifically at his joints. The needles let out small explosions inside of the younger Asakura's body, destroying his joints and leaving him limp as he started to descend to the ground.

"Duba Duba." Said Naruto's Golem of Destruction as it enveloped his body once more before reaching towards Yoh's body to finish the job. However, Goki and Zenki appeared at Naruto's side, kicking at him to keep him away from Yoh's body. The trio began to trade blows as Anna and Hao flew into the fray to save Yoh.

"I've got you." Anna said, catching his body.

"Hehe…thanks…" he muttered with a cheeky grin.

"Lee! Brief Hao and Anna about the plan, nya!" ordered Kuroka as she prepared to fight.

"Let's go!" shouted Kisame as he created five massive water sharks and shot them towards Naruto.

Blocking Zenki's attempt at punching through his protective dome, Naruto blocked with his golem's large hands and pulled it forward, throwing him over his body and spinning out of the way of Goki's body slam with a thrust of his boosters. Zenki, recovering quickly, summoned his battle axe and threw it at Naruto's body, only for the Bael to duck underneath the dangerous tool. Goki caught the battle axe with his outstretched hand and swiped at Naruto's side, only for it to be blocked by a quick-summon barrier by the controlled blonde.

Moving quickly, Zenki grabbed the golem's legs and with a twister-like spin, threw Naruto into the air where five monstrous water sharks awaited him.

The sharks collided against each other, with Naruto in the middle of it all. Even through the torrent of water, Zenki and Goki didn't stop their assault-opening their mouths and releasing two dangerous laser beams at the middle of the storm.

"It hit him, nya!" shouted Kuroka, sensing Naruto stuck in the middle.

"Here we go!" shouted Kisame as he dropped down in the middle of the chaos with Samehada held over his head.

He brought it down with insane force, slamming it into the top of Naruto's golem and pulled back, Samehada's magic absorbent abilities ripping a hole through the dome and exposing Naruto's top. "Gotcha, idiot!" he yelled with a wicked smile as he used his demonic strength to pull Naruto from his armor. "Pussy!" he called out.

"I'm here!" Kuroka shouted, hating the fact that the water around them was getting her wet, but she had more important things to worry about as she produced a purple magic circle that emitted a purple dust.

Kisame's pushed his elbow into Naruto's stomach, forcing the blonde to gasp as the window was knocked out of him, inhaling Kuroka's dust in the process. "Come on, Naruto…" she whispered in his ear as Zenki and Goki appeared at his sides, restraining his arms, "Remember me…" Placing a hand on either side of his face, she made her crush look her in the eye as her calming aura entered his body, "Remember your peerage…"

Naruto's body froze as memories of his peerage members began to appear in his brain. Of when he first met Kuroka….Yoh and Anna's many failed attempts at marriage…Kisame running through the house in search of Lee after he drank all his orange juice…Reading together with Orochimaru on the beach…taste testing different protein shakes with Lee…

"…..Kuro…ka…." he whispered, filling the cat girl with joy with his response.

"Yes! Yes, its me! It's Kuroka, nya!" she yelled happily.

A small amount of color grew in Naruto's eyes as his body slowly relaxed. The curse mark on his forehead and magic seal over his seal fluctuated as a warm feeling stretched across his body. "Good…" whispered Kuroka, distracting him from Orochimaru sneaking behind him in preparation to close the remainder of Naruto's Uzuamki seal, "Everything's gonna be okay, nya…we'll get you out of here soon and sleep this off…"

"Don't listen to her."

Naruto's mouth moved, but it didn't sound like him at all. His voice sounded distorted and deeper-the coldness of it froze Kisame, Kuroka and Orochimaru as it continued talking, "They tried to kill you. They're just like Kushina. Serafall. Gabriel. They hate you. They'd rather see you dead than live happily. They aren't you family."

"Naruto, don't listen!" cried out Kuroka, feeling the foreign magic within Naruto combat against her Senjutsu, "Naruto, it's me! Kuroka, nya! We-We've…We've done so much together!"

"She doesn't love you. Her words are lies. She told you that you were nothing. She left you before. What's stopping her from doing it again? You are alone. It's just how the world works. Nobody-

"Five-Pronged Seal!"

Naruto's body jerked forward as Orochimaru's fingers dug into the seal located at the top left corner of his back. His eyes lost color for a moment before closing completely as his body fell limp-unresponsive.

"Uh…..alright!" grinned Kisame, "I think this shit's gonna work! Do another one of those purple thingy's and we can finally sleep!"

From above, Lee was cheering, believing that the fight was over now that Naruto had fainted. "YOSH! We saved Naruto-sama!"

Anna and Hao watched from above as well, however, they weren't as celebratory as Lee. "This…was too easy…" mumbled Anna as she watched Orochimaru prepare another seal to finish off the controlled Bael while healing Yoh, "The curse mark is still there…"

"I…don't think we're finished here…" Hao said with narrowed eyes.

"Just do it, Snakey." Commanded Kuroka as she continued to ease Naruto's mental, holding back the tears she felt coming as she was reminded of her slip with Ginta a few years ago, "With less magic pooling in his body, I'll have more room to work with, nya."

"Alright." He said as the same purple flames grew around his fingertips. Taking aiming, Orochimaru slammed his hand into Naruto's last active seal located at the bottom left side of his back. "Five-Pronged Seal!"

Naruto's body lurched forward again before slumping over. Kuroka caught his body and held him close to his chest-her calming Senjutsu taking dominance over Loki's magic. She could feel the corruption weakening as she fought back the Norse God's influence. "Good job, nya…" she congratulated Orochimaru, "It's finally over…."

"It didn't work…."

"Eh?" Kisame heard Orochimaru whisper but didn't quite catch what he said, "What'cha say?"

"My seal….." muttered Orochimaru as he stared at Naruto's back in disbelief, "It….didn't work.."

"Really? What a second…" hovering beside Orochimaru to get a better look at the blonde's back, he inspected the seal Orochimaru intended to close with his seal. "MMMhhhmmmmm….yup, that bitch ain't work…" he said, using his highly-certified deduction abilities to point out such an obvious fact.

"The question is why it isn't working, Kisame." said Orochimaru with a growing frustration.

"Maybe…you didn't do it hard enough, nya?" shrugged Kuroka.

Orochimaru sighed before attempting to close Naruto's Uzumaki seals. "Five-Pronged Seal!"

The trio stared at Naruto's back in confusion as Orochimaru attempt failed again. "Something's going on here…" mumbled the snake man.

"What's the problem?" asked Anna as she, Hao, Yoh and Lee flew down to the trio.

"Orochimaru's seal thingy isn't working, nya." Replied Kuroka.

"So there's something interfering with it?" asked Hao, inspecting Naruto's seal with suspicion.

"Yes," answered Orochimaru, "but I don't know what-"

"He doesn't need you anymore. He's mine now."

It was the same, distorted voice that spoke through Naruto. Kuroka flinched as she felt the Senjutsu within Naruto but pushed out of his body as a raging coldness and feeling of death washed over her.

"Gu-guys…" she gasped out.

"What in the…" to the shock of everyone, Orochimaru's previous seals started to erode away as a dangerous red covered Naruto's back, "He's…he is using his Power of Destruction to eat through the previous seals!"

Naruto's arm moved to life as his hand wrapped around the pale man's neck and with a quick jerk of his hand, Orochimaru's neck snapped.

"Whoah!" shouted Kisame, "Holy-

The entire peerage, excluding Orochimaru, was knocked away as an angry aura of red surrounded Naruto's body. His Golem of Destruction reformed around his body as both of his seals opened, releasing a flood of magic within Naruto's body.

"I don't understand!" shouted Kuroka over the raging winds that grew in power, resembling a twister surrounding the blonde, "He was just calm! I was so close to breaking him out!"

"Shit! What about Orochimaru!" yelled Yoh over the violent winds as Orochimaru's hung limply in Naruto's grasp.

Anna was going to respond but was cut off when they saw Orochimaru's mouth open and another Orochimaru rush out of it, in an effort to get away from the enraged blonde. "Shit, he needs our help!" shouted Yoh as he flew towards the snake man, followed by Kisame and Hao.

Half of Orochimaru's body was out of his fake one as he called forth his wings, only for his arm to be caught by the menacing Golem of Destruction's arm. Pulling Orochimaru's body towards him, Naruto cocked back his armored fist back and slamming it into the snake man's head, shooting him down to the ground at insane speeds.

Orochimaru's uncontrollable body plummeted towards the ground with no means at stopping. However, before he could fall into the damaged earth, Naruto teleported next to Orochimaru and rammed his bone-shattering armored knee into his stomach. The force of the blow was so great that Orochimaru regurgitated his sword, Kusanagi, in which Naruto caught by the hilt and used to defend against Kisame's Samehada as Orochimaru's unconscious body broke through various trees.

"Holy shit! He just kicked a sword outta his mouth!" shouted Kisame as he started to go blow for blow with Naruto and his newly equipped sword. The speeds that Naruto was moving, even with his heavy armor, was starting to get to the shark Demon as a few slip ups cost him precious blood as he was gifted small slashes during their sword fight.

A red arm grew out of Naruto's golem and grabbed Kisame's leg as he tried to jump away. The arm swung the blue-skinned man to the ground and impaled Kusanagi through his stomach.

"Fuck that hurts!" shouted Kisame as he gripped the sword with his hands, "OOOoooohohoho! When I get outta this, I'm gonna-" Using his mastery of ice, Naruto froze Kisame and Samehada in a block of ice, effortlessly shutting him up and trapping the Demon.

"Oh…oh my god…" whispered Kuroka in astonishment as Naruto looked up to them with a fierce scowl, freezing them all in place.

"He…he just took out K-Kisame-sama and Orochimaru-sama…" muttered Lee in utter disbelief and fear.

Anna gritted her teeth as she felt their chances at getting out of this fight alive decrease drastically. 'We've….gotta do something….but what…'

They were all on edge as the controlled blonde created two dozen large, red magic circles that shot up in the sky, passing by them like they were nothing. "He's up to something…" warned Hao as he felt a tremendous amount of magic emitting from each seal.

Hao's worries about the seals were confirmed as each seal shot out a continuous laser beam of destruction from the sky to the earth below, shredding through the land like wet paper. To make things worse, the magic seals started to move, hovering just above the ceiling of the barrier, picking up speed and changing directions as they bounced off each other.

"RUN!" shouted Yoh as the lasers started to get close to the group, causing them to split up in order to save from themselves from guaranteed death if hit by the laser beams.

It became a chase through the skies as they all fled, dodging left and right in order avoid the powerful laser beams cutting through the sky and marking the earth. It was like a child scribbling in their favorite coloring book as the seals moved around wildly, all while Naruto hunted them down by shooting beams of destruction at his peerage members-making what was already a difficult task at staying alive even worse.

"Yosh!" shouted Lee as he swiveled to the right to avoid the geyser-like beam that treaded in front of him before ducking underneath another laser that past overhead. His eyes widened when he saw Naruto's hulking figure flying after him, his golem bypassing through any laser like it was water as he shot bolts of destruction at the [Rook]. "EEep!" he squealed as he flapped his wings to move to the right of a bolt before making a hard right to avoid another overhead laser beam.

Lee zoomed through the air as his heart raced-the fear of death empowered him. However, he was low on stamina as having his fourth gate open for so long was starting to take its toll. From the spins, sharp turns, close calls and over all stress of the situation, it wouldn't be long until the young [Rook] would crash.

Ducking under another bolt of destruction and swerving to the left in order to avoid the waterfall of destruction in front of him, he thought he had made it safe until he crashed right into Hao, who was running away from Naruto's overhead lasers himself. "Ha-Hao!" stuttered Lee in shock.

"Move!" Hao pushed Lee off of him, saving the Green Beast as an overhead laser beam sliced through the space they were just at. It cost Hao, however, as his left energy cannon and mechanical arm from his Black Fowl armor was turned into nothingness. "Shit…" he growled.

"Duba." Both Lee and Hao were caught off guard as Naruto appeared in front of them with both arms outstretched. Activating his boosters on his back and feet, Naruto shot forward and hit the duo with a devastating lariat to the chest, causing blood and gore to shoot everywhere as the two's eyes rolled to the back of their head-unconscious.

"NYA!" Kuroka shouted, rocketing in to save the knocked Lee and Kuroka as a dragon of purple lightning followed behind her. She grabbed the duo's bodies as the dragon released an ear-piercing before crashing into Naruto's body.

Purple light filled the limited space of the barrier as the blast of lightning was large and strong enough to destroy some of the seals producing the laser from above. Kuroka created a barrier to protect herself and the two bodies under her arms.

Once the strong lightning strike dissolved, Kuroka decided to rendezvous with Anna and Yoh, the only other to available members conscious.

"I've…got Lee and..Hoe….." she said between breaths. It took A LOT out of Kuroka to cast the lightning dragon to stall Naruto long enough to get Lee and Hao before they were killed. Right now, she was running low on magic along with her stamina being at the minimum. "Did you get…s-Snakey, nya?"

"I did…" the stoic Shaman said with a nod. Her body was covered with injuries after having close calls with Naruto's lasers that rained from the sky. "I hid him near the edge of the barrier. Once this is over, I'll retrieve him. The dumbass is still in his ice, so I left him there…"

"And Yoh?"

"Dealing with those seals." She said, pointing up to the skies. Sure enough, Yoh was using his sword to slice through all the seals that was raining Power of Destruction on the ground, dealing with one of their main problems.

"Good…nya…" sighed the Nekoshou as Naruto's armored body grew visible through the thick smoke, not hurt at the least.

Anna glanced at Kuroka's form, noticing the heavy breaths she was taking. She could sense that the [Queen] was starting to run low on magic as well as she began to do minor healing to Lee and Hao's chest to stop them from bleeding out. While Anna herself wasn't physical hurt and she still had more magic than the rest of the conscious members of the peerage, she knew it still wouldn't be enough to fight off their powerhouse of a [King]. She couldn't call forth Oh-Oni for help because it took to much stamina, something she didn't have to spare. 'If this continues…..'

"Kuroka…" Just by the tone of Anna's voice, the cat girl already knew what she was about to say, "If we continue to fight him, we're going to die…"

"…..I know…." Replied Kuroka, "But what are we supposed to do, nya? He's…he still like that…." she said, referring to Naruto still being controlled by Loki's curse, "We can't leave him like that…even if we tried…" she finished with a hallow laugh.

"True, but we still have plan…and one more attempt at it." said the Shaman, "If we can pierce through Naruto-sama's armor with Yoh's spell…than maybe you can reach out to him again using your Senjutsu."

"B-but what if I fail?" questioned Kuroka, self-doubt fueling her words, "What if his mind is broken beyond repair? Loki…he's using Naruto's love for us against him and its working…what if I'm not strong enough, nya?"

"Then we'll die." Anna answered plainly, "But, if you succeed, we live another day. As we are now, we'll be dead in the next five minutes, so there's no harm in trying. Just try harder this time. Reach out to him in a way you haven't before."

"Nya? Something I haven't done before?" she questioned as Yoh flew down to them, sheathing Harusame.

"I'm finished with the seals." He said as the group began a stare down with the silent Naruto floating across from them, "So what now?" he questioned.

"We're going to need you, Yoh…" started Anna, "…we need you to use Amida-Ryu: Mu-Mu-Myo-Yaku-Mu to break through Naruto-sama's golem…so Kuroka can use her Senjutsu to break him out of Loki's curse."

"I guess…" he sighed, "It's not move that should be used more than once a day….and the name is long, so it's annoying to say."

"It's either that or die." Anna said harshly with a glare, causing Yoh to flinch. Watching the two, Kuroka couldn't help but crack a smile. 'Even at the face of death…they still find time to joke with one another…' Looking at Naruto, the Nekoshou remember of the times he took care her, even when trapped inside of his seal. 'Back then, he made light of every situation in order to make me feel comfortable…even if I didn't appreciate it…'

"Do we have a plan to approach him?" asked Yoh, "I just don't wanna end up like the rest of the team." He said while peeking at Lee and Hao unconscious forms.

"We'll be fine, nya." Said Kuroka, creating a magic circle for Lee and Hao to rest on, "Let's just…look for an openi-"

"HAHAHAH!" Kisame shouted, who had apparently freed himself from his icy prison (and still had Kusanagi plunged through his stomach), flew out of the tree line with an insane grin as his bloodshot eyes locked onto Naruto's form, gaining the blonde's attention, "I've got ya' this time, idiot!" He pointed Samehada's open maw at Naruto's floating form, "EAT THIS YOU PIECE OF SHIT! BEAST BOMB!"

Another black missile shot out of Samehada's massive figure. Naruto called forth the magic from his Uzumaki seals, developing a red sun of destruction to counter Kisame's Beast Bomb as the two attacks collided. The explosion following was like none before as nothing could survive the hell storm of black and red magic enveloping half of the space within the barrier.

Kuroka, Anna, and Yoh moved safely outside of the blast rage, but were slightly affected by the strong winds interfering with their flight. "Does this count as an opening!" Yoh shouted over the destruction happening in front of them.

"Better this than anything, nya!" shouted Kuroka.

"Go Yoh!" ordered Anna.

Listening to his wife, Yoh's White Swan armor phased to life around him. Reeling back and flexing his wings, the younger Asakura twin created an earthen magic seal to use as a platform jump off, producing a sonic boom as the fastest member of Team Pickle Rick disappeared into the explosion.

"Kuroka…" The Nekoshou looked back at Anna who called for her, "You can do it…" she whispered, giving the younger girl a rare smile and a thumbs up.

"Thanks!" she said, taking Anna's support as she flew off after Yoh, "I can do this!" 'I'll save him! He needs me!'

Yoh had explosion with his armor somewhat protecting him from the heavy magic polluting the air. He had found his target towards the upper half of the blast zone. Using all the energy he had, Yoh began to move at speeds he never moved before to keep his position at random to the blonde who had just become of the Asakura's presence. Jumping off an earthen magic circle the moment he created it, Yoh circled around Naruto at a safe distance. He was moving so fast that his after image looked real to Naruto as he raided the air with a plethora of bolts of destruction.

'Here goes nothing!' thought Yoh as he jumped off another magic circle and phased out of existence as he reached his maximum speed. Naruto, safely protected within his armor, looked around for Yoh amidst the dying explosion he was still in. Flashes of red burst through the dark cloud as he tried to hit Yoh, but any attempt at hurting the speedy [Knight] failed.

Dashing to his left and then right to avoid another bolt, Yoh closed in at Naruto's exposed stomach. Gathering the remaining magic he had, he pierced Harusame forward with the tip touch Naruto's Golem of Destruction armor at one last attempt at ending it all.

"Amida-Ryu: Mu-Mu-Myo-Yaku-Mu!" He shouted, activating his spell.

Just like before, Naruto's armor was stripped away, leaving him fully exposed. The light faded from Yoh's eyes as he had used up all his stamina. 'It's up to you, Kuroka…' were his final thoughts as his body plunged down to the ground.

Kuroka appeared out of thin air as she dropped her invisibility spell. 'This time…' she thought with determination as she flew at Naruto, 'I'll save you for sure!'

There was no hesitation in her movements as he placed both hands on the sides of his face. Calling forth as much Senjutsu as possible, Kuroka leaned forward…

The Devil and Nekoshou's lips met for the first time. Kuroka packed every ounce of love she had into the kiss as her Senjutsu filled Naruto's body. Just as Gabriel used her magic to heal Naruto's body when he was freed from his seal, Kuroka used her chakra to heal his soul and mind of all the damage created by everyone-even herself- had created. She felt his body twitch as her Senjutsu combatted against Loki's curse. Her face twisted as she felt the Norse God's energy fight back, but she kept the connection between the duo strong as the thought of every memory she had with the blonde-using her Senjutsu to play those memories like a movie in the blonde's head.

A soothing aura filled his body, not caring at his growing want for oxygen increased by the second as the color in his eyes slowly returned. He had felt so distant and lost for what felt like the past few hours, surround by darkness as evil whispers that continually tortured him were silenced as a pink light filled his mental.

'What…is this feeling…' thought Naruto as his green halo and curse mark on his forehead faded away as Loki's influence dwindled away. A glimpse of familiar black hair and the smell of cinnamon filled his nostrils. The soft lips on his own was welcoming and needed, in a way, as he wrapped his arms around the warmth. 'Why do I feel…..'

'So at peace…'

Naruto blinked as whoever kissed him pulled away, allowing him to fill his lungs with oxygen. He couldn't hold back his surprise as he stared into the golden orbs of his [Queen], Kuroka the Cat, as she stared back him with a large smile and tears threatenthign to fall from her eyes.

"I love you, Naruto…" she said with as much emotion she could muster.

"K…Kuroka…" Free of Loki's curse, Naruto's body was embolized by shock caused by his protégé's confession. His mind went blank, but he still clung to her sides as she was the only nearby warmth he felt.

The barrier trapping them started to crack like glass, until it broke altogether, revealing the dark red night sky of the Underworld as the full moon shined bright. The light produced by the moon shined in Kuroka's eyes as she stared at him with nothing but love and adoration.

The Devil and Nekoshou stared at one another for some time as the area had quitted, the explosion caused by Kisame and Naruto's final exchange finally dying out. Neither cared, however, as they continued to hold one another in silence.

From afar, Anna watched with a small smile on her face. Next to her Goki held Yoh in its arms, and Zenki had Lee and Hao's unconscious bodies. "Seems she finally grew some balls…." she whispered as she watched the scene.

"About god damn time…" grumbled Kisame, hovering next to the Shaman with Orochimaru's body hanging limp over his shoulder, "I say that I set this shit up! I made it possible for the pussy to stop being pussy and I gave that idiot a pep talk about women a couple of weeks ago. This is all my doing! The Great Kisame-sama's Grand Master Plan!" he huffed with arrogance coming off of him in waves.

"Shut up…" Anna said with a roll of her eyes. "By the way…when are you gonna take that sword out of your stomach?"

"Oh yea." Kisame said as he looked at Kusanagi, which was still lodged into his stomach, "Almost forgot about this…" He grabbed the hilt and pulled the sword out with no effort, "Ouchie…I wonder how the fuck the pale man keeps this shit in his body like he does…" he questioned, inspecting the sword for any special properties.

Back with Naruto and Kuroka, the blonde-haired Bael was finally able to break out of his shock. A small grin grew on his face as he used his thumb to whip Kuroka's tears away.

"Kuroka…" he uttered as drowsiness began to take over, "…..th-thank you….." he finished before his head landed on her shoulder, the stress of being controlled for so long finally taking its toll as he body tapped out.

She caught his limp body before it could descend to the ground. She couldn't help as her heart fluttered and a large blush grew on her face as she realized what she did. However, she shook her head, knowing now wasn't the best time to start fangirling.

She met back up with Kisame and Anna as the only conscious members of Team Pickle Rick flew over the absolutely totaled land and back to their house….which was destroyed as well. Only a third of the house stood as where the other two thirds of the house was a giant crater that continued in a twisted line through the earth-probably caused by Naruto's laser beams of destruction.

Landing on his recliner, which had survived their fight with Naruto, Kisame dropped both Orochimaru and Samehada down harshly, not caring if he hurt either one of them. "Shit…." He growned, "I'm exhausted…"

Anna laid Hao, Yoh, and Lee out on the couches that were still available. The moment she did, she felt extremely fatigued as she crawled on top of Yoh's body. "I…..am to….." she mumbled.

Kuroka laid Naruto down on the half-destroyed couch they usually shared together. She cleared the ground in front of it and sat there, resting her head back on the couch for support. "Nya….this….feels nice…"

"Oh my gosh!" cried the newly arrived Misla Bael, who was trapped outside of the barrier the entire time, "I saw most of what happened! Are you all alright!?"

"I will be when you shut the fuck up…" mumbled Kisame as his head bobbed up and down, fighting the sleep that was starting to take over.

"Misla…can you do me favor…" whispered the tired Anna.

"Yes! Yes-anything!" said the distraught Vapula, "Just say it and I'll handle it."

"Heal us…" was the last thing Anna said before succumbing to the darkness.

"O-of course…" she whispered, not wanting to disturb Anna or the others.

"Thanks, Misla…naaayyyaaaaaaaaaaaa…" yawned Kuroka as her eyes slowly closed, "You're…the best…zzzzzz…."

"While I'm sleep, can you beat my dick off in your ha-" the back of Kisame's recliner broke off, causing his head to fall back and hit the ground, effectively knocking him out.

Timeskip

…

…

…

….

…..-"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love you too."

"Yes…I love yo-"

"Shut up…." mumbled Yoh as he reached for his vibrating phone he felt in his pocket. After turning off the annoying alarm, the younger Asakura twin released a low yawn as he reached on his right for his sleeping wife, since he usually slept on the left side of the bed.

His face scrunched in confusion as, instead of his hand resting on the warm body of his wife, Anna Kyoyama (soon to be Anna Asakura), his hand landed on what felt like wood.

'What the…' he thought sleepily as he opened his eye with another yawn. Realizing that his hand was on the night stand next to the bed, he circled around to see Anna's petite frame. She wasn't wearing her usual sleepwear, which was any large T-shirt of his. Instead, the young Shaman was sleeping in a purple bath robe…one that he didn't recognize.

"Hmmm…" he hummed, not paying it much thought as he began his daily ritual of scrolling through his phone.

"….hmm..oh? Travis Scott dropped a new album last night? Gotta check that out…Zendaya's trending?...she's a nice person…hehehe…silly cat videos….Hmmm, it's 2:32 in the afternoon? Whew….haven't slept that late in a while…Anna would've said something….*yawn*….something by now…."

"…."

"….."

"….."

"….hm?"

"HOLY SHIT!" Yoh literally jumped out of bed, revealing that he was wearing a purple bathrobe as well, "THE FUCKING RATING GAME!"

Yoh's yelling woke Anna out of her sleep. A dark veil of purple magic surrounded her figure as she turned towards her fiancée with the angrest scowl he had ever seen on his wife, "Yoh…." She muttered darkly, "I'm going to kill you….slowly…brutally…"

"Anna! The rating game! It's in freaking….twenty seven mintues!"

The instant he said that, Anna's eyes widened in realization as she pushed the covers off of her, "Wha-where are we?" she said, looking around what was not their shared room.

"We gotta find the others!" Bursting through the door, Yoh looked around the long, unfamiliar hallway he was in. "Hello! Where is everybody!?"

"Bitch, if you don't shut the fuck up!" shouted the familiar voice of Kisame in a nearby room, "I'm tryin' sleep!"

Opening his door with no regards to his privacy, Yoh shouted, "Kisame! We have a Rating Game in 27 minutes!"

"And do I give a fuck!?" shouted the blue Demon as he pulled the covers over his head, "Go do that shit without me!"

"No! Kisame, it's with that woman that's trying to force Naruto-sama to marry him!"

That caught Kisame's attention as he got up from the bed, revealing that he had on a small pink bathrobe on with flowers. "…..what the fuck am I wearing?" he questioned as he snapped his fingers, his usual apparel a black raincoat with red clouds covered him.

Grabbing the sleeping Samehada, Kisame joined Yoh and Anna out in the hallway. By that time, two other doors had been opened, with a tired but frantic looking Kuroka and Hao, both dressed in black bathrobes. "We overslept." Hao stated with wide eyes, a rare look for the mature Asakura, "Oh my god…."

"WHERE'S NARUTO!" panicked Kuroka, pulling out her hair in worry.

The next door to open in the hallway surprised them all at who it was behind it. Misla Bael was who stepped out, wearing a set of silk, purple pajamas as she joined the peerage out in the hallway. "Go-good afternoon." Stuttered the woman, "Is something a matter?"

"Misla, where are we?" asked Hao in a calm matter, hiding his anxiety behind a blank façade.

"Oh…you're in my house at the moment." she explained, "A-after your fight with Naruto-san, you all slept in your house…wh-which is pretty much destroyed. I brought you here to heal your injuries-altough I'm not the best when it comes to healing spells-and put you all in your individual rooms."

"YOSH!" Another door swung open, revealing Lee wearing only tiddy-widdies, not caring about the noticeable bulge in his pants, "The rating game!" he shouted

"Ye-yes…" muttered Misla with an embarrassed blush. The others were used to Lee's morning attire, so it didn't too much affect them as it did their neighbor, "I tried to heal you all as much as I could, but I don't have as much magic…please, forgive me for my incompetence…" she bowed in shame.

"That isn't your fault, Bael-san." said Anna, "You've done enough for us as it is. What we need to do now is wake up Orochimaru and Naruto-sama so we can get ready."

"O-of course. Orochimaru-san and Naruto-san's room is right over there." she said, directing the group to another room.

Opening the door, the group was greeted to the sight of Naruto and Orochimaru in their own individual beds out cold. Kuroka ran up to Naruto's bed, followed by Lee and Hao, while Yoh, Kisame, and Anna made over to Orochimaru.

"He's…still unconscious…" muttered Anna after checking the snake man's pulse and temperature, "And his magic is weak….He's not waking up anytime soon…"

"Naruto…..he's in a similar state…" said Kuroka, using her Senjutsu to analyze the blonde's current condition, "The curse probably had a heavy mental strain for him…he not gonna wake up either, nya…"

"Well, what the fuck are we gonna do!?" shouted Kisame, "We need the idiot to even get in the fucking Rating Game. What's worse it that we're down a member, and I haven't even recovered all of my magic yet!"

"I'm in a similar predicament…" replied Yoh with a strained smile, the weight of the situation slowly increasing by the moment, "And my body…is real sore…"

Hao pulled back his cream-color bathrobe to reveal a large scar on his chest-most likely caused by the powerful lariat he received from Naruto. "I'm a little bit over…60% I'd say….and my body is nowhere near 100% percent. I need to be healed…and fast."

"But if were to do it, I'd just be wasting my magic too, nya…" said Kuroka, cursing under her breath as their situation was worse than she realized.

"The-then what are we going to do!?" asked a worried Lee, "If we don't fight….we'll lose by default, and Naruto-sama will have to marry that awful woman!"

Kuroka gritted her teeth, not having an answer for her friend. 'This….this can't be how it ends…after I finally told him how I feel…'

"I have an idea." All eyes looked towards to Anna Kyoyama as she stared down at Naruto's sleeping form. "As you all know, I am a Shaman," she started, "That means that I have the ability to control spirits…I could use this ability to control Naruto-sama's body."

"But can't Shaman's only call forth dead spirits?" questioned Hao, "How would you control Naruto-sama's body?"

"By possessing him with another spirit." She replied, dropping a bomb on all of her listeners, "I can have Goki control his body," she said as the red shikigami manifested next to his master, "While I still have a decent amount of magic left, it's not my maximum, and controlling bodies through possession takes a lot of energy, especially since we don't have a clear idea on how long this Rating Game will be. We can fake as if Naruto-sama is actually conscious with Goki controlling his body, so we'll at least be able to fight in the Rating Game, however, since Goki hasn't taken over Naruto-sama's body before, he won't be able to fight in it."

"Shit…." cursed Yoh, his hands forming into fist, "Why do we always end up in these situations…."

"If we can do that, we still have to worry about the fact that most of us are still injured and low on magic." said Kuroka, "That means we can't do the usually and run up to our enemies with no plan, nya. We'll have to make due with what we have…unless someone knows a way that can heal us to 100% in the next….twenty mintues, nya." said the Nekoshou as she glanced at the clock in the room.

Everybody was silent, not knowing any way to heal themselves, or their fallen leader and his advisor…that was until Lee perked up with the greatest idea in mind.

"Oh! Phenex Tears!" he shouted, "We can use Phenex Tears!

"Good thinking, Lee." said Kuroka in approval. Turning to the silent Misla, Kuroka asked, "Misla…do you have any Phenex Tears, nya?"

Sadly, the woman shook her head in denial. "I…I do not…Phenex Tears are too expensive for someone like me to have…and I really don't have a reason to use them in the first place…"

"So we just ask around until we get some so we can kick sum ass!" suggested Kisame.

"Negative." denied the [Queen] as she analyzed their situation with precision, "This is our most important Rating Game to date…heavily political as well, nya. We have given off the image of being an unbeatable team. We cannot go around asking other clans or royals for help. It will hurt our overall image as the peerage that's going to take down the Bael Council and the Great King…this is something that we have to keep close to home, nya." she explained in a rather professional manner, taking charge of the peerage now that Naruto and Orochimaru

Hao hummed as he thought over Kuroka's words. "'Close to home'…." He repeated before an idea struck him.

"Riser Phenex."

Phenex Mansion

The ever-arrogant Riser was checking himself in the mirror as he readied himself to leave for the big Rating Game that was going to happen in the next 15 minutes. His father, mother, brothers and younger sister had already left. He, however, was late after having some 'fun' with his [Queen] and a few other members of his peerage in the morning. He was now ready as he took in his handsome image in his oversized mirror with a smirk.

"You look handsome as ever, Riser-sama." Complimented his [Queen] Yubelluna, as she checked his clothes for any faults. Finding none, she was sure that her [King] was ready to leave after checking himself for five minutes.

"Hmmm…Riser does look good.." he smirked, "Alright…let us leave. I've kept my parents waiting long enough."

Before the duo could leave to meet up with the rest of the royal Phenex family, a familiar teleportation seal appeared in the middle of the room. Riser was going to strike down whoever it was as entering one's room via teleportation was highly rude and an invasion of privacy. However, once he saw Hao and his peerage members grow from the seal, he calmed his nerves as confusion was all that he felt.

"Hao?" he questioned, noticing that he looked a bit sporadic, highly unlike the Asakura, "What are you doing here? Riser demands an answer."

Ignoring his 'demand', Hao quickly got straight to the point, "Riser…do you have any available Phenex Tears right now?"

"Phenex Tears?" he said in confusion, "Why would you need them?"

"To make things short, we were attacked last night." Hao explained to his mentee, "Our magic reserves is shot, and we need a quick way of healing in order to fight in our Rating Game…which is in fifteen minutes."

"You're asking me for my Phenex Tears?" he all but yelled, "Phenex Tears is a very important product of the Phenex Clan! Riser can't just give them for free, especially my own personal tears! It's important to me and is personal!"

"Listen…" Hao stepped up to the slightly taller man, "I know that you Phenex's keep your Phenex Tears close to you…and you don't give them out to anybody because your Phenex Tears mean a lot to you…but understand that I….I have no other solution other than asking you for your own tears…"

Shock filled Riser, Yubelluna, and everyone else watching as Hao got down on one knee, bowing in respect to the Phenex. "Please, on the behalf of my master….please allow me to use your tears and I'll pay you back soon. Just this one time, Riser….."

"….." Riser was left speechless as he stared at the bowing Hao. Hao had constantly reminded the Phenex during their training sessions about humility and respect for others, but the blonde would have never thought that he would live to see the day of Hao Asakura, out of all people, bow to him in respect. If he was doing this, then Hao really meant what he said and his peerage really needed the tears in order to have a chance at winning their coming Rating Game.

Slowly….Riser stepped aside before walking to his drawer. Digging through it for a few seconds, he pulled out a small box and opened it, revealing two perfect Phenex Tears. Walking back over, he gave the tears to Hao and turned away. "I'm sure you'll talk to Riser about this later…." He whispered as he prepared a teleportation seal for him and his [Queen], "Good luck in your match….you're going to need it…" he finished before disappearing.

"…thank you…" Hao mouthed, not wanting the others to hear it as he turned back to his group and handed the tears to Kuroka, "So….the question now is who deserves the tears?"

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I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW!

"NarutoPlug? Where ya been at? Didn't you say you were gonna finish BreakThrough in December? December's almost over and you haven't even gotten to the Esdeath fight."

I KNOW THAT'S ALL THAT Y'ALL SAYING RIGHT NOW AND I HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD EXCUSE!

FUCKING COLLEGE!

I mean, was 45% of the reason why this chapter late a result of laziness? Absolutely.

Was I on Fanfiction this entire time reading Villain Izuku/Toga Fanfiction stories? Ya damn right.

Did I open my labtop with the intention on working on this chapter but, instead, decided that watching Super Smash Bros. Ultimate videos on YouTube a better idea? Yup. Yup. Yup.

HOWEVER! My finals for this semester was really bad. I mean REAALLLLLLY BAD! I mean, I did finish the semester with a 3.6 GPA (spray the champagne one time for ya boy, ya dig?), but it took a lot out of me. However, I'm glad I was able to finish this chapter before I head out to Chicago in the morning (it's literally 12 in the morning as I type this and I leave to drive to the airport at 3:00 pm.)

Anway, this chapter was a big one. Currently at 27.2k and ever word was worth it. Because it took me so long to update, I wanted this chapter be extra special, especially since I've been looking forward to making this chapter ever since the idea of BreakThrough popped up in my mind a good two years ago.

Everybody forgot about Loki! Like, I've looked through my reviews and nobody has said anything about Loki's character since the chapter he appeared! Like, y'all still ain't figure out that I do every little thing in BreakThrough for a reason? This chapter was packed with all the emotion I can type, and I have to say that I quite enjoyed the fight scene, although, I felt as if I could have done it a bit better.

Anyway, you KurokaxNaruto fans are one step closer to making it official! BUT! Ya still gotta think about Esdeath. You see the predicament Team Pickle Rick is in right now. Can they even beat Honest's peerage as they are?

And who is gonna be able to use the Phenex Tears?

While I have an idea as to who is gonna get the Tears, Ima leave this one to yall. Comment in the reviews who you think is more deserving of the Phenex Tears and explain why. This Rating Game is going to be different as Team Pickle Rick is actually gonna have to strategies on this one. I'm leaving this next chapter's start up on yall, and if I see a logical explanation to who should get the Phenex Tears, I'll take that route.

Really think about who you want to have the Phenex Tears. Think about each and every members abilites to see if theirs is worthy to be restored to 100%. Ya got two Tears to work with, so be creative.

BUT! Naruto is off limits! As stated in the chapter, Naruto's injuries are more on the mental side of things-not physical-something the tears can't heal. Orochimaru is still legal tho.

The next one is gonna be a big one. Whiel not as big as this chapter (knock on wood), it's gonna be hella epic.

Again, I'm sorry for the late review, but "life is a bitch and she wants my nut." – NarutoPlug 2019

Thank you all for supporting me as BreakThrough is going through its final phase. I love you all.

But yeah, that's it for me.

NarutoPlug, signing out.

Like a real nigga should…