A/N: Another week another chapter! This was a fun chapter to write since I finally get to expand the world a little! Feels good to finally do some world building. I hope y'all had a good week, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 10: Blast From the Past

There exist a handful of phrases that could make Sera Uzumaki forgo all human rationale and just give in to her more basic, primal, side. Luckily, most people have something called a social etiquette and a common sense, so the world is spared from her wrath.

However, Kyubel is not most people… nor is he actually human.

"Puny."

Yup, that was one of them. Now, if it were a century ago, Sera would have shredded her familiar's body to the brink of death and chuck some Phoenix Tears at him for even saying that word near her general direction. Sera wasn't that kind of girl anymore. No, she was mature and sophisticated. Such mindless anger was beneath her.

"Um, excuuuuse me princess. These puppies are as perky and firm as they were centuries ago," Sera huffed as she groped her breasts tenderly and bouncing them up and down for added measure.

"That's… what the… WHAT? NO! Why in the world would I be talking about boobs? I was talking about your abysmal-," Kyubel yelled as he stretched his face out with his paws.

Perhaps it was all the time he had spent without interacting with his master. It may have been the sudden summoning that caught him off guard. Either way, Kyubel would deny that he ever got flustered that day. The mighty Kyubel, Emperor of Illusions, does not get "caught off guard", no, he is prepared for any and all surprises.

"Is it my tush?" Sera asked in concern as she twisted her body around to look at her rear bumper, "I feel like I've been neglecting my butt for a while. Sure, they're still bubbly and fills out my curves amazingly but I feel like I've been turning less than usual. You know what I mean?"

The creature of illusions pressed his paws into his eyes and prayed to the long-deceased Lucifer to take him now, "No, no I do not Serafall. Also, I wasn't talking about either of what you call 'assets'. I was talking about your magic core."

"Oh."

"Yes. OH."

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier?"

"That's it. Send me back now, I would rather face the hell hole that is the Familiar Forest than take this lewd behavior for another second. People change over time my ass. The past millennia hasn't changed you a single bit."

Now, THAT got Sera to finally stop fooling around as a serious look donned her face. Why would the Familiar Forest be a hell hole? Millennia? Kyubel was a creature of many things but jokes and exaggerations were not one of them. In the couple hundred years she had known her familiar, he had always been a strait laced and no nonsensical being who frowned upon telling anything but the truth.

Ironic, she knows. The master creature of illusions hate lying. Trust her, it doesn't get any less weird with time.

"Explain," Sera said flatly, "What's happened in my absence?"

She rarely took a flat tone with anyone and in most situations she tried to keep her mood light and upbeat. However, this was different. She was dealing with an unknown that concerned not only her livelihood but the lives of all her loved ones back in Hell.

Kyubel sighed, making Sera wince. Sighing was never a good sign.

"My knowledge is limited and speculations at best. All the information I received were through second, or even third, hand accounts from injured familiars who returned to the Forest on the brink of death. So forgive me if there seem to be holes in my account as even I do not know the full picture."

Sera's mind was already running at Mach speed. Combat familiars usually matched their summoner's power levels and in some cases, familiars such as dragons or emperor class familiars like Kyubel were so strong that their presence alone brought battles to a halt. Also, since Kyubel was such a high tier familiar, the creatures he would associate with were also around his level of power…

What could have brought giants of such magnitude to the brink of death?

"All of them informed me about the second coming of the Great War between all factions, and I mean ALL the factions. It wasn't just between the angels, devils, and the fallen this time. Other religious factions were involved, and Earth was the common battleground," Kyubel said solemnly.

"No…," Sera whispered as the blood drained from her face and her legs shook, threatening to fold in on itself but she managed to stand on her two feet, "What… what else?"

"That's all the concrete information I have," the emperor class familiar said with a defeated tone as he laid his head on his paws, "Everything else are speculations and rumors I heard centuries ago."

"Fuck that," Sera growled, forcefully keeping herself rooted on the ground with chakra to keep herself from strangling the beast to death for acting so, so… tired and nonchalant about this, "When I said tell me everything, I meant EVERYTHING."

A surge of chakra and magic pulsed out from Sera's body, shaking the room and causing many of the bookshelves to topple over from the energy shockwave.

Kyubel raised an eyebrow at his master's use of the Shinto faction's energy source but chose not to pursue that topic until after she calmed down, filing away the information for later.

"Then do not take the things I tell you from now as the truth. I take no responsibility on its truth," Kyubel responded, "From what I've gathered, there was a group of perpetrators who caused this whole ordeal. Much more organized, cunning, and powerful than the likes of the Devil's Old Faction or even Lilith's little hero group. They converted several high-ranking profiles in each religious faction and carried out assassinations of key figures in each faction."

"The accusations and blaming followed soon after. It didn't take long for the whole thing to boil to a critical state and then suddenly, the supernatural world is at war. The Familiar Forest was emptied of any and all creatures who knew how to fight. You had claws? You can slash. You have teeth? You can bite. It was a disaster."

Kyubel took a deep breath at that point, looking more worn down and more his age as the seconds passed by. Sera could tell that this conversation was wearing him down, but she would not tell him to stop. She needed to know what happened to her home, her people.

"Then… everything just stopped. No one came into the Familiar Forest; no sign of Devils and the missing familiars never came home. Just… silence, for hundreds of years."

"So… that's it?" Sera whispered, afraid that saying it out loud would make it those a reality.

"Well… yes and no," her familiar responded quietly, "While the story of the Devils end there, it would continue for us familiars."

Her head whipped up as she peered into his empty eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Well, let me put it in a way you would understand," Kyubel smirked darkly, "The magic in the Familiar Forest started to get sucked away by some unknown source like one of those terribly shot porno flicks."

"Millions of creatures who couldn't sustain themselves died of magic depletion and those that managed to survive the initial shock went mad, devouring everything in their vicinity to consume even a drop of magic. Even then, that wasn't enough and eventually even the mighty fell to something so simple, lack of magic."

"Then how did you…?" Sera trailed off but the question was clear.

Kyubel chuckled, "Ironically enough, its thanks to you and the infernal form you always made me take. By transforming into such a tiny body and condensing my magic tightly, I was able to live until now by using the bare minimum amount of magic to breath and forage for food."

Sera nodded and plopped down on the ground, finally giving her legs a rest. Kyubel had just told her so many things, answering a couple of her questions but raising several more in its stead. Was Earth ok? Was her family and friends alive? Was… was Sona one of the key figures that were assassinated? As the sister of a Maou, Sona's had a target on her back the second she was born.

"Ok," Sera said as she breathed deeply, clearing her mind and calming her nerves. Getting worried now would only harm her, "Let's get out of here. You and I have a lot of catching up to do and honestly, you look like you need a good meal right about now."

"You couldn't be more right," Kyubel scoffed, jumping onto his master's shoulder.

Sera just smirked as she unsealed a large scroll of sealing from the various storage seals she had hidden all over her body.

"Hold on tight," Sera told her friend as she unrolled the scroll and ran through a familiar set of hand seals, "Seal!"

In a burst of chakra, the room seemed to warp into a spiral before all the bookshelves and scattered books disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Soon after, several lines of marking appeared on the sealing scroll.

"Shinto magic?" Kyubel asked curiously.

"Yup!" Sera laughed at his confusion, "I've picked up some neat tricks here and there."

Sure, if one could call dying and reincarnating into a world only filled with chakra a "neat trick" then Sera definitely did that. She hoped that Kyubel wouldn't get too freaked out by the lack of magic in this world but seeing as his home was pretty much deprived of magic, he would be fine… probably.

"So… what's your magic pool looking like now?" Sera asked as she made her way back up the stairs.

"I currently have just under a quarter of my original magic left in storage, "Do… do you mind if I…?"

Sera chuckled lightly, the solemn mood from earlier lifting somewhat from her shoulders, "Go for it. It's been a while so be gentle, ok?"

For good measure, she shot a wink at her familiar and forced a blush onto her face. She would have poked her index fingers together like Hinata used to do before the girl went through her personality shift but Kyubel wasn't feeling very patient apparently.

The small creature sunk its teeth into Sera's shoulder, inciting a moan from the girl as she struggled to stay standing. If she hadn't leaned into the wall next to her, she probably would have collapsed from the sensation.

The feeling of having her magic drained from her body was always a… rush, to say the least.

Honestly, she would have done this more often back in the day if the side effects weren't so bleh. A few seconds of pure pleasure wasn't worth the hours of headaches and soreness her body felt afterwards.

"Ah…," Sera gasped she felt the fangs exit her body and her magic settled back into her core, "Give… a girl, huff, a break. Will ya?"

"I'm sorry, but I've been very hungry," Kyubel responded with a satisfied grin, "I would have taken more as I said when we first met, your magic pool seems to be a lot smaller than before."

Sera tilted her head back at forth at the comment, "More like its weaker than smaller. I'll explain everything once we got some solid food in our bellies."

She heard her little friend hum from besides her head as she stepped into the blinding light that was the outside. Sera gulped at the fresh air, trying to expel the dank and sour air from below as she looked out at the vast water in front of her.

Normally, she would have teleported back to the mainland where she had left a teleportation anchor behind some rocks but a certain someone had pretty much drained most of her magic dry. Luckily, she still had boat loads of chakra to spare.

"So," Sera said as she stepped onto the surface of the water casually. She could tell that Kyubel was freaked out by the motion, but she spoke before he could comment on the absurdity of the Water Walking Technique, "You got a penis with that form? I always wondered if Kyubei had a dick."

"What…" her familiar said incredulously as a variety of emotions flashed across his face, "the FUCK?!"

If Sera were any less of a shinobi, she would have fallen into the water from laughing too much.

"So… Sera, what are we doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is this not a brothel?"

"Um, excuse you. These are respectable and hardworking women."

That got her a stink eye from him.

"I am not demoralizing the workers nor its customers. My question is, why are we eating here of all places?"

Sera would have answered but she was preoccupied with a mouth full of noodles, so all she could do was stare at him with wide eyes and puffed up cheeks. Slowing slurping up the single strand of noodle hanging from her lips.

"Never mind, why do I question you anymore? Of course, you would attend a brothel for their food of all things," Kyubel shook his head as he munched on another piece of pork.

"What?" Sera asked once she swallowed, "The food is great, and the girls are usually really nice. Sure, they're surprised when they find out that I'm not here for their saucier menu, but they get over it pretty quickly. 'Money is money' is what one of them said."

Kyubel just grunted and devoured the tasty morsels in front of him. He hadn't tasted the deliciousness goodness that was human cooking for so long that if he were an any lesser being, he would have shed a tear. No matter what Sera said about that day, he did not cry. No, he did NOT cry.

"Though, sometimes they look disappointed when I tell them I'm only here for food," Sera pondered out loud and rubbed her chin, "Wonder why?"

The familiar choked on the piece of meat he was swallowing at the time and coughed it up quickly before turning to give Sera his dirtiest, meanest glare only to be met with a giant smirk resting on her stupid face.

"I hate you," Kyubel said as he swiped the hacked-up meat to the side, "I hate you so much."

"Aw, you LOVE me," Sera squealed and cuddled the tiny white creature, smooshing him against her chest where he tried his best to bite off her chest but sucks for him, she reinforced all of her clothes with seals.

"I will EAT you alive woman!" Kyubel roared, but in his current state it sounded more like a squeak.

"Oh honey, I can pay one of these fine girls to do that for you," Sera said with a smirk as she gestured towards the various… staff members who were sitting around the room.

That was one of the things Sera loved about brothels in or near Hidden Villages. The girls there did not give a single fuck about shinobi and their weird antics. They had seen it already from talking animals to severe wounds to some of the kinkiest kinks a person could have. So, to the girls around Sera and Kyubel, the familiar talking and eating was just another one of those "shinobi quirks".

"Anyways, what do you wanna do?" Sera asked after letting go of her adorable familiar.

"I don't really care," Kyubel shrugged, or whatever a white fox/cat looking hybrid considered a shrug, "Sure, I have some long-term goals but that can be done over time."

"Long-term goals?"

"You know, try to save the forest and see what's up with our contractors."

"I'm sure we can take care of that pretty quickly," Sera frowned.

"We have zero knowledge of our competitors. If we're going to do this then let's be more informed, yes?" Kyubel said, taking a small glance at the prostitutes around them to see if they looked suspicious but to his amazement, none of them looked like they gave a single fuck about what they were talking about.

"You know what? This place isn't that bad," he commented, giving a nod. It was rare to come across a place where humans were so nonchalant about, well… everything.

"See?" Sera laughed, "I told you brothels are great… and don't you go telling that to my dad Pervy Sage."

A girlish giggle came from the ceiling of the room as one of the panels moved to the side, freaking out everyone in the room except for Sera and her companion. All the works moved around the room to grab whatever they would wield as a weapon even though they knew that civilians were no match against a shinobi.

"Girls, girls. Please, relax. I'm not here to pick a fight nor am I a threat. I'm here with the young lady here," the man said, gesturing towards Sera, "So please, continue with what you were doing before."

"Seriously?" Sera asked, "You come in here freaking out the ladies I paid for and now you're ordering them around? God, men are trash."

"Is that really how you're going to greet your Godfather?" the man with a wild white mane of a hair said with a frown.

Sera broke out into a chuckle and chucked a spoon at the man, forcing him to drop down from the ceiling and onto the ground, across the table from her, "Oh please, Godfather my ass. You spend more time outside the Village researching for your book then showering me with gifts."

"Hey! I bought you your first set of kunai!" the man exclaimed, munching on a piece of meat.

"Jiraiya, they were made out of rubber," Sera deadpanned.

"And you were five, what of it?" he shot back.

"I became a Genin at six."

"Which I still think was a terrible idea."

"You're just mad I can kick butt more than you and I haven't even hit my twenties yet."

"You wish brat, you're lucky Minato and Kushina would have my hide if they heard I touched even a single hair on your head."

"Sounds like what a loser would say."

"Such a typical childish response."

"Grandpa."

"Little girl."

"Tiny dick!"

"Washboard!"

"You what?!"

"What?!"

By now, the two were leaning over the table and their faces were inches apart from each other. Despite the verbal tension in the room, neither of them had leaked any amount of killing aura, confusing the female workers in the room. Kyubel was paying them no attention as he continued to stuff his face with food.

Suddenly, the two burst out laughing and fell back to their respective seats.

"I missed you Pervy Sage," Sera said.

"You too, brat," Jiraiya smirked.

"Still galivanting around the Elemental Nations?" she asked.

The man nodded with a huff and crossed his arms, "Nothing can stop the Gallant Jiraiya from embarking on his manly adventures."

"Nothing manly about peeping on women," she pointed out.

"Shut it, brat," Jiraiya shot back, before settling into a more relaxed position, "So, what's this big Namikaze argument scandal I've been hearing about?"

Sera let out a sigh and gave a light smile. She knew her godfather meant well, and he was asking out of genuine concern. No matter how much time he spent away from the Hidden Leaf and how little she got to see him, she still respected the man for all he's done to help their village from the shadows.

"It's a long story," Sera said, poring a cup of sake for herself and her godfather.

"Oh?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as he received the cup from his goddaughter. He made a subtle gesture to the girls around them to leave the room, which they promptly did, "We got time."

"Well…" Sera started slowly, looking at the ceiling as she mindless ran her hand across Kyubel's back which Jiraiya noted but didn't question the action or the origins of the summon, deciding it was a topic for another time, "When a man and a woman love each other very much."

"Seriously? You cannot be giving me the talk right now."

"Now, hold on. I promise it'll all make sense."

Jiraiya squinted his eyes at the girl sitting across the table before downing the sake in one go, "Alright then."

"So, as I was saying, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they decide to have children by having sex… Ok, fine. I'm pulling your chain. It's actually not that complicated. It all started six years ago…"

A/N: I just noticed that the chapter numbers out fucked up... and I am too lazy to fix them. I'll try to remember to start from the correct chapter number in the next one, haha. Have a good day!