The Formula Of Life
Chapter 5: More The Merrier
The morning sun pierced the blanket of clouds, shrouding the city of Kuoh in its warm embrace. With students performing their morning rituals and readying themselves for the school day ahead, Issei Hyoudou, one of the few males enrolled in Kuoh Academy - once an all female school that had turned co-ed two years ago - merely groaned. Laying on his bed, the young man laid there, little motivation to get off of the comfortable surface. Mornings like these always made one think. Running a hand through brown hair, Issei's mind wondered. A tired sigh escaped the young man's mouth as he laid there.
"Issei-kun, wake up! You're going to be late for school! Today is Sports Day, hurry up!"
The voice of his mother, had been enough to wake Issei from his morning drowsiness. The lack of motivation soon vanished as a new surge of energy pushed Issei right off of his comforting bed with a gleeful smile plastered onto his face. Unlike normal students who smiled at the prospect of competing with one another, Issei's smile only radiated his perverse intentions. It was not a secret Issei Hyoudou was a pervert. He was a pervert and he held no shame in expressing it. Though it did not help in his ultimate desire to become an Harem King, as his perverse tendencies and lack of shame drove girls away, opposite of what he wished for. Even so, he pursued his dream with an unbreakable will. It truly did make one wonder how.
Bolting out of his room with clothes in hand, Issei ran right into the bathroom in order to perform his morning rituals with much more energy than moments ago. The gleeful smile he wore, never left. Sports Day was a day filled with opportunities for the student body as a whole. Allowing athletes to compete with one and another in their preferred activity. As for people like Issei - the perverts - it was a event filled with pleasantries that made the punishing physical activities durable. Among the group of male perverts, Issei could honestly say the idea of satisfying his perverse mind was a major factor in his new found motivation
"Breakfast is ready, hurry, Issei-kun or it will get cold!"
Donning the male uniform of Kuoh Academy, Issei bounded to the kitchen with the gleeful smile wider than it had been moments ago. Stealing a glance at the clock located on the wall, a strike of fear found its way into Issei's heart as his eyes bugged and he froze. Already late, Issei had little time for breakfast. Grabbing two slices of freshly made toast, Issei ran as fast as he could out the door and into the busy streets.
Sprinting through the streets having already finished one of the two slices of toast, Issei had the remaining slice hanging in his mouth. Concentrating solely on running, Issei honestly paid no attention to his surroundings. Quite determined to reach Kuoh Academy before the events began, the lack of attention had its consequences. Crashing into an unsuspecting individual, Issei grunted in pain as he landed on the hard ground. Losing the his other portion of his breakfast, Issei shook off the numbing pain and shook off the stinging sensation that had formed in his head. Being raised by a mother who tolerated no form of disrespect, Issei immediately sprang into action. Opening his eyes and jumping onto his feet, Issei bowed deeply
"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, I'm sorry for running into you!" Issei said wearing a contrite expression.
"Don't worry bout' it."
Looking up, Issei glanced at the victim of his careless running and was surprised by what he saw. Garbed in a similar fashion as he was, Issei scanned the all too familiar Kuohs boy uniform with an albeit curious glance. The difference between the amount of boys and girls attending Kuoh Academy could easily be described as a 5:1 ratio. Having been recently turned into a co-ed school, males in the school was scarce and remembering them were quite easy. Being one of the first few boys to enroll, Issei could easily identify a number of other males, yet this one was completely foreign to him. The blonde hair clearly isolated him from the main pack of males, only Yuuto Kiba had blonde hair, and the stranger was definitely not him.
"I'm Naruto... Naruto Uzumaki!" the stranger greeted with his hand out.
"I'm Issei Hyoudou, Uzumaki-san." Issei replied as he accepted the handshake albeit hesitantly.
Just as the handshake finished, Issei's eyes bugged and realization dawned on him once again. Giving the blonde a frantic wave of his hand, Issei shot off like a bullet. Driven by his perverse mindset, Naruto watched on as the boy seemingly ran for his life.
'A powerful Sacred Gear huh...' Naruto thought.
Sona Sitri - heiress of the Sitri clan - sat patiently behind her desk with her fingers laced and a neutral expression in place. Standing ever so loyally beside her was Sona's Queen and friend, Tsubaki Shinra. The events of Sports Day were about to begin, with less than half an hour before the first event, Sona waited patiently without an ounce of emotion in her blank mask. Even her usual calculative gaze found no place on her visage. The other members of the Student Council were out either helping place the final touches in the preparations or were out patrolling for any students misbehaving. In Kuoh, two clubs had been created in order to accommodate the two residing Devils and their Peerages. The Occult Research Club, and the Student Council. While Sona had her Peerage as members of the Student Council, Rias Gremory - her friend - used the Occult Research Club as her own disguise. Normally, Sona would have gone out to help out her Peerage, but, an issue had come up. It was more of an unexpected arrival more than a problem.
"Kaichou, could Naruto-sama be running late?" Tsubaki asked with a glance at her King.
Pondering on her words, Sona thought carefully on the words. While Naruto upheld his promises, the matter of timing was questionable. Naruto's inability to turn a blind eye from immoral actions was a probability in his lack of attendance. Playing a major in his life, Sona easily concluded the trait was an obvious weakness in Naruto's character as a whole. The selflessness was a potential danger for him in the future.
"I believe so, Tsubaki. If he does not show in the next hour, then you shall begin Sports Day without me." Sona said.
Nodding her head in response, Tsubaki returned to her previous stance. Minutes ticked away without much activity between the King and Queen, nearing the climax of the hour, a green magic circle bearing the Astaroth clan emblem shimmered into existence. Followed by a flash of light, Naruto appeared before them with the two other members of his Peerage standing beside him. The apologetic smile was all Sona needed to answer her question revolving around his tardiness.
"You're late." Sona said as she sent Naruto a cool glance.
"Sorry about that, Sona-chan. I had the pleasure of meeting Rias' candidate on the way here." Naruto replied.
"Is that so... Tell me, Naruto, what do you think of Issei Hyoudou.."
Placing himself on one of the comfortable seats facing Sona, Naruto pondered on the words with a thoughtful expression.
"Hyoudou is quite the interesting character... Though he may not show anything special like other possible candidates, underestimating us underdogs won't end well." Naruto said with a smile.
Sona's eyes narrowed as she stared at Naruto carefully, "Us?"
Maintaining his smile, Naruto mentally berated himself for classifying himself with Issei. Though he had been considered a failure in his previous life, in this life, he was what one would consider Sasuke. One filled with large amounts of potential. Generalizing himself and Issei was obviously strange in Sona's eyes. Telling people about his reincarnation was still a topic he wished to avoid, for now at least.
"Yes, us," Naruto said before he scratched his cheek in an embarrassed manner and laughed lightly, "Ya' know, some of the nobles are calling me an underdog compared to Sairarog and Riser."
Accepting his answer with a hesitant nod, Sona studied Naruto once again. His words were true to some degree. While many nobles considered Naruto a underdog due to his lack of experience in the Rating Games, Sona highly doubted Naruto was as weak as they had made out. Then again, this issue did not matter at the moment. Shaking away her thoughts, Sona shifted back into business mode and spoke.
"Naruto, as you may know, Lord Gremory has placed you and your Peerage into the is an requirement for all students to join a club. In order for your Peerage to operate during your stay here, Lord Gremory has asked me to help you need to establish a club for only members of your Peerage to join."
Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto thought about the possible clubs he could create. Though the club's name and activities did not matter, Naruto still gave thought into this matter. Thinking of all the hobbies he had enjoyed participating in, a fond smile spread across his visage as his memories of his past life played through his mind. Occupied by his job as Hokage, Naruto enjoyed taking care of a Bonsai tree whenever he had the chance. Working on the plant had been enough to draw his mind from the stressful tasks as a Hokage, something the former Uzumaki valued greatly.
"The Gardening Club," Naruto declared with another smile, "My Peerage is going to be known as the Gardening Club."
Raising a few eyebrows with his declaration, Sona merely accepted the answers and quickly jotted down the name and other necessary forms of information in order to create the club before signing her name on the very bottom. Joining clubs were mandatory for students, creating one was a process that required the approval of both teacher and Student Council President in order to make room for the club in the budget. But, with the wealth of three High-Class Devils, funding high school clubs was like throwing away pocket change. Other than the need for formal papers to be signed, Sona really saw no need to remain in the Student Council room any longer.
"Tsubaki, deliver this to the teachers."
"Of course, Kaichou."
Leaving with the paper in hand, Tsubaki bowed to both her King and Naruto before she closed the door behind her. Shifting her gaze to Naruto, Sona released a very rare smile. A smile usually reserved for close friends and family, a smile that had been locked away for far too long. In return, Naruto too gave her a kind smile.
"It's good to see you again, Naruto."
"You too, Sona-chan."
"Come, I shall give you a tour of the school. Rias is most likely in the old school building, I will take you there later."
Arriving at Kuoh Academy with a minute to spare, Issei attempted to regain his breath. Panting heavily, Issei trudged into the school grounds and slowly made his way inside. Though the amount of students left were limited to only a few, the majority still were girls. From the hushed whispers, Issei could still make out the common phrase being through around from each conversation. "Perverted Trio" a name graced upon himself and his two friends, Matsuda and Motohama by the female students. Ignoring them, Issei bolted through the doors with whatever energy he had recovered and his eyes went wide with surprise and awe. Strolling through the halls were the two most popular girls in all of Kuoh. Rias Gremory and her friend Akeno Himejima. Issei was not the only one who had been staring, other occupants of the school halls were staring at the girls with a mixture of emotions. From admiration to lust and everything in between was easily visible through the eyes of the students.
But, what really surprised Issei the most was when he saw the Naruto Uzumaki, the stranger he had met not too long ago walk through the halls accompanied by the Sona Shitori, the Student Council President and third most popular girl in school. It had seemed Rias and Akeno had caught sight of the two as well. Meeting half way, both groups exchanged a few words hidden from the others as smiles were shared just before the four left. Watching in awe, a number of students began whispering and soon enough, a wave of hushed whispers enveloped the halls as rumors and theories were exchanged. Shaking away his surprise, Issei felt a hints of envy and anger towards the blonde student. While the negative emotions were illogical and unnecessary, it mattered little to Issei.
Walking into his first class period, Issei was immediately brought into a conversation by his two best friends.
"Issei, did you see that new pretty boy! He might be worse than Kiba!" Matsuda growled.
"Yeah! That bastard! He's stealing Akeno and Rias-onee-sama away from us!" Motohama snarled as he shook Issei furiously.
While he agreed with everything his friends were saying, Issei was too busy attempting to free himself from the nauseating position rather than replying with a comment of his own. Finally, Motohama stopped his shaking and allowed Issei to escape the torturous hold.
"Those damned pretty boys! They're multiplying!" Matsuda cried, "Now our quest for oppai will forever be in vain! Oooh how cruel this world is to us, the worshipers of oppai!"
Sharing cries of their own, Issei and Motohama both enveloped Matsuda in a hug. As the group of perverts stood there crying over the obstacle that had now presented itself in their goals, other occupants of the room had unhealthy glares directed at them. All in all, this was simply another day for the Perverted Trio.
Rias Gremory was a simple girl. Having been influenced by the romantic plots of the Anime and Manga she enjoyed as a child, her desire to find true love had been heightened by the upcoming marriage with Riser. The entire arranged marriage had been out of her hand. When she was a child, marriage did not seem like such a horrible idea. Riser was not as arrogant and distasteful as he was now, and in all honestly, Rias felt if Riser had remained like he was during their childhood, she wuld have been fine with the marriage. Though that desire had been left empty and unfulfilled. After experiencing the joys of the Rating Games, Riser was keen on enjoying the prestige of his rise to fame in the Rating Games. With his arrogance growing, his perverse tendencies that Naruto had found amusing had took a sharp turn. With almost ten years going by, and each year the relationship between Riser and his two closest friends growing more and more strained by the day, Riser had decided to isolate himself further from his two friends.
"Buchou, Sona-sama and Naruto-sama are here to see you." Akeno said.
Shaking away her negative thoughts, Rias smiled and beckoned for Akeno to allow the two in. Her smile had only widened when she saw Naruto. Happy to see a friendly face, Rias stood up from her seat and enveloped the blonde in a hug. The hug had been one between friends, the lack of contact and her stress revolving around the upcoming marriage had been quite tiresome. Seeing Naruto was a way to relieve Rias of that stress. A hug from a friend was just what Rias had needed.
"It's nice to see you again, Rias-chan." Naruto said with a bright smile.
Nodding her head in agreement, Rias ushered her two friends onto the Victorian styled couches and beckoned Akeno to prepare tea. The unwelcome thoughts of her marriage to Riser had left, leaving Rias with only the fond memories of her time spent with the two friends she had surrounded herself with. That was how the three had spent their time. Reminiscing of the joyful moments of their beloved childhood.
The Perverted Trio could be found again, seated on one of the small hills located in the academy with perverse smiles shining brightly across their features. Down bellow, in a field set up for track and field, the young athletes prepared for their yearly competition. Training with great vigor, the young woman were dressed in proper running attire, which was exactly what the Perverted Trio wished to see. The momentary hatred towards Naruto had ended without much action done on their part, but, it did allow them to vent out the frustration of their unchanged status among the female students. A great way to deal with negative emotions, was to enjoy the beauty of the female body, as the trio would say. Occupying themselves with what they considered an yearly treat, the three perverts never noticed others approaching their location.
"Ah, Issei-san, we meet again."
Issei completely froze when he heard that all too familiar voice. Taking a sharp glance at the origins of the voice, Issei immediately found himself staring at the smiling Naruto Uzumaki. The surprise from seeing Naruto had only escalated when he caught sight of two complete strangers standing behind him. In Japan, red and blonde hair was unique, with only a select amount possessing the hair color, Issei could easily deduce the other two strangers as foreigners. The handsome red-haired male did not help in his confidence one bit, though the pretty blonde woman who wore a cold mask of indifference had caused his heart to exploded with the wild fantasies of any pervert. Issei was not the only one who had gone through the stages of emotions either, Matsuda and Motohama both were slightly annoyed at both Naruto and Reinhard before they focused solely on Hilda.
"Uzumaki-san, it's ah- nice to see you again, haha..." Issei replied with a nervous smile, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just picking a new member for the Gardening Club!" Naruto replied albeit cheerfully. Acknowledging the annoyance on Hilda's visage, Naruto pursued the end of this conversation, having Hilda attack the perverts was not going to be an issue Sona or himself wished to deal with, "Well, we should go now! See ya' around!"
Watching them go with a odd expression worn on his features, Issei paid no attention to the love struck gazes Matsuda and Motohama gave the beautiful blonde woman following behind Naruto. Having encountered Naruto twice already, the hot-blooded pervert could distinguish an odd feeling the blonde seemed to possess. Such a foreign feeling Issei could not put into words. The new transfer students were weird alright, how they were able to create a new club in less than an hour was a question Issei did not wish to find the answers for.
"Maybe it's cause' the two pretty boys... Or her..." Issei thought before a perverse smile took its place onto his features and eliminated his confused look he had worn seconds ago.
A perverts ability to brush away troubles in favor of thoughts revolving around the bodies of the opposite was truly impressive.
"Lord Naruto, was that the young man Lady Rias wished to have join her Peerage?" Reinhard asked as the trio made great distance between themselves and the humans that were now a good distance away.
"Yes, Issei Hyoudou... Rias says he might have a powerful Sacred Gear, or even a Longinus if she's luck enough." Naruto replied
"If he joins Lady Rias, that is..."
Surprisingly enough, the response did not come from Naruto, but Hilda herself.
"Hmph, that pervert will of course join the spoiled princess..." she snorted in a rather unladylike fashion.
Naruto had to agree with Hilda's words. From what little information he knew of Issei so far, it seemed the young man was willing to go a great lengths to achieve his goal. To become a Harem King, Naruto really doubted Issei would deny the offer of joining Rias and her Peerage. In all honestly, Naruto did not even know if Issei could say no to Rias considering how he seemed to have developed some form of infatuation towards the Gremory heiress.
"Let's just see the club room before doing anything else I wanna see what room Sona-chan got for us." Naruto said as he took the lead on their short trip towards the school's less populated wing.
The unimpressed gaze Hilda was directing at the student Naruto had been gunning for was quite nerve wrecking, for the student it was. Seated on a comfortable chair before the assumed president of the club, Tatsumi had a nervous smile in place as he looked at the three foreign looking students that had taken place around the room. While Naruto the one who held any actual possibility of being Japanese sat behind a rather large desk, Hilda, a blonde woman with an astonishing figure leaned back against a wall with her cold eyes boring down at Tatsumi. The last and final member, Reinhard had been occupying himself with preparing treats for the guest.
"Tatsumi-san, how would you like to join the Gardening Club?" Naruto asked.
"Uhh- Well, Uzumaki-san, I don't really want to join a club..." Tatsumi began, unsure as to how he was going to explain to another student of his current situation, "You see, I-"
"Need money for your village."
Sitting there with a stunned look plastered onto his visage, Tatsumi's wide eyes shakily moved to stare into Naruto's friendly blue orbs. While he found no malice in his eyes, Tatsumi had the right to be suspicious. That amount of information on his personal life was definitely creepy. How the foreigner knew so much was a mystery he wished to solve. The entire secret Tatsumi had erected in order to keep his part time job out of the school's sight was now on the edges of exposure.
"H-how the hell does he know that! Just what the hell is he planning?" Tatsumi thought with hints of fear piercing his nervous heart.
"Oh don't worry, Tatsumi! I'm not gonna black mail you or anything," Naruto said with a grin, "I just want to know if you want to join the Gardening Club."
"Y-you aren't going to tell anyone about my part time job if I say no, a-are you?"
Shaking his head, Naruto decided to take it a step further and ease the young man's worries, "I ain't gonna make you join if you don't want to."
The answer was obvious, Tatsumi saw no real benefit of joining the Gardening Club. Giving Naruto the benefit of the doubt, Tatsumi had decided to trust the blonde for now. He only hoped his trust would not cause him issues later in the future.
"I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san, I can't join the Gardening Club."
"Ah, not a problem!"
Deciding to take his leave, Tatsumi bowed his head in a goodbye before walking out of the room with swift steps. As the door closed behind him, Hilda's expression had said it all.
"You just let him leave like that?" Hilda asked.
"I'm not going to force him to join if he doesn't want to," Naruto replied, "Besides, revealing our identities of being Devils is not going to help us in the future either."
Snorting, Hilda found a spot on one of the couches set in place inside the moderately sized club room. The damned Astaroth had been acting odd lately. Coming to Japan was one thing, but, attending school was another. Using the name Uzumaki in place of Astaroth was another odd behavior Naruto had demonstrated thus far, it truly made both Hilda and Reinhard wonder where the name had came from.
"Oh, Reinhard, keep an eye on Tatsumi will ya'? With those Fallen-Angels running around, I don't want him killed for having a Sacred Gear... Or whatever it is locked insider of him..."
Chapter end
Sorry for the late update guys. I was working on school work for the most part so I had little time to update, this is a slow chapter and for the ones wondering why Naruto had decided to go to Kuoh, it will be revealed in the next chapter. As you can see, I added Tatsumi, from Akame ga Kill into the story. Incuriso is of course going to play a pivotal role in this story so his character is going to take some time before joining Naruto's Peerage, much like Invel is.
To answer the question revolving around Kushina, I honestly had been leaning towards having her being reincarnated. But, I am on the fence for this issue, I can have her be reincarnated or simply play it off as her possibility of existing in another world is a probability. I will decided when I get further into the plot.
As for Naruto's hair color, consider the color blonde as an recessive gene that both parents carried and he inherited it through the wonderful power of genetics.
That's all for this chapter and hope you enjoyed. This story is now starting Canon and it is a few years in the future so I will be slowly introducing Naruto's abilities as well as his Peerages later on. Hope you enjoyed and please leave a review. Members of the Peerage and/or Harem are still open. I have been considering Shalltear Bloodfallen a possibility for Naruto's Peerage. Not too sure yet, I might even make Heracles his Rook, again, not too sure. Give me suggestions and thanks for reading.
King: Naruto Astaroth (Uzumaki)
Queen: Hilda (Beelzebub)
Knight: Reinhard van Astrea
Bishop x2: ?
Rook x2: ?
Pawn x8: ?
