The Demon's Heir
Chapter 1
In the Tokyo Empire there are many things to fear. But the one fear that most people fear more than anything is the sense of spontaneous combustion. People turning into monsters known as Infernals and are stuck burning and killing people until someone stops them or they burn out. The Sol Temple, the holy church, offers guidance for those that are stuck in this state with a prayer, some are given peace just by having their lives stopped after transforming. The sad thing is that there is a group that is designated to stopping these monsters but, they are not as united as one would hope in the ambition of stopping this problem.
The Fire Force; a group of both unpowered and powered individuals that seek the source of their current world and how to stop it from happening. So, they use their resources, allies, and even enemies to help further this ambition and pursue the cause no matter who they have to betray in the process.
At this time, there is a battle going on in the middle of the night between two of these companies.
Company 5 were struggling and fighting long and hard against their enemies.
"These two are monsters!"
"Run for it!"
"Screw the captain's orders, there is no way we can-," the man speaking is shot in the head by a bullet. He falls to the ground with a thud and is unconscious from the blow. For some reason, the bullet didn't kill him and no one would understand how this is possible. Well, everyone but the man that is shooting the gun.
The man in question is wearing a glowing blue strip, black jacket and pants while having glasses on his face. His eyes were glowing yellow showing that he was using his powers.
Next to him was a woman wearing a witch hat with the number 8 on it, she too is wearing the same bunker gear heading into the battle with a weapon in her hand. But one could see she was not as comfortable with using a firearm as her commander.
"Maki, is there anyone else?"
"No Lieutenant." She looked around more closely and noticed a building in front of them. "Sir I think that is the building that holds all their research information."
The man gave a stiff nod,
"Good let's head that way, we need to find that research data."
"Of course," the woman turned around and looked at the mansion in the background, "Do you think Shinra and Arthur are okay?"
"Of course, those rookies are powerful in their own right." He pushed his glasses up while he is loading a new magazine into one of his SMGs. After loading the magazine into the gun, he pushed the strap over his shoulder and left the gun hanging while he repeats the same process on the other SMG.
"Yeah but-,"
"Maki." The man looked at her, "They are fine, Arthur and Shinra are third generations and while it might seem like it, they are tougher than most third-generation fire soldiers." He had a small smirk that was hidden from view, "Shinra is most likely with the sister and dealing with the captain of the fifth, while Arthur well he is following behind as fast as he can. They'll meet up with us later, so focus."
He pushed open the doors but he froze,
"Guard up something is wrong." Hinawa stated with his guard on.
Maki sensed it too, something was wrong with the atmosphere of the place.
Both fire soldiers proceeded into the building; no light was on and the whole place was deathly quiet.
"Maki can you feel anything?"
"No, but then again I think most of their forces are dealing with Arthur and Shinra at this point so there is no reason we should expect people in here, right?"
The Lieutenant shook his head.
"No given the building we are in; I think there would be more security here than anywhere else considering they have to know what we are after."
Maki nodded her head, both proceeding through a pair of double doors and into an empty hallway. Slowly, they walked to the end of the hall which they saw another pair of double doors, opening it, the doors lead down to another floor, but Maki was feeling more and more tense and so was her Lieutenant.
After making it to the second floor they saw the reason for their fear.
"By Sol, it looks like a massacre."
"Yeah."
The Lieutenant was personally surprised; there must be over twenty bodies littering the hallway to what he can guess is their storage room for their important documents.
"Maki."
The woman walked up to the bodies and checked their pulses and breathed a sigh of relief,
"They are fine sir; most are just knocked out; most have minor injuries and by the looks of it the worst they got is probably a couple of broken bones."
"Alright then, stay sharp someone else is here and they are not friendly." Hinawa replied as he looked around.
Maki nodded her head and the two of them appeared at the sides of the door and with a quiet count, they pushed them open with the Lieutenant aiming his weapons straight ahead and Maki just aiming the rifle.
Standing there was a man from what they could gather from his back; clad in a dark black cloak, covered head to toe in protective plating gear, and wearing black boots. The man seemed to be covered in light armor as to not restrict their movement and from what Maki could gleam, they seem to be physically strong if what they did to the people in the hall is to consider. Most were thrown and slammed, but she saw one was punched into the wall and their chest almost caved in from the blow.
The figure froze and slowly turned around revealing a completely white bowl mask that covered the man's face and hair.
"Hm, it would seem Company 8 is here." The man rubbed the back of his head, his voice slightly muffled by his mask. "Man, what a drag I was hoping to be done before you got here. Either Company 8 is stronger than my employer told me, or Company 5 is weak as shit."
"Who are you?" Hinawa demanded as he prepared himself to shoot.
The man turned to the gun user, looking Hinawa over.
"I see you're the famous Lieutenant I heard about, Hinawa right?" he asked.
"You are well informed but that is irrelevant." Hinawa's eyes glowed, "Surrender the documents and tell us who you are working for, and we can promise your safety."
The man tilted his head.
"Really? You think I'm intimidated by two second generation fire users?" He shook his head before shrugging. "Look I'm only-,"
The bullets flew out of the gun and quickly dashed to the masked man. The man quickly stuffed some files into his coat and when the bullets started bouncing off all the surfaces around him, he quickly jumped away from the bullets.
"No way! He dodged all those bullets!" Maki shouted
"It would seem this one is much stronger than anticipated." Hinawa remarked as he looked at Maki, "Help me with this while I reload."
The masked man appeared next to the Lieutenant before kicking him in the side sending him flying into the wall.
"You really shouldn't have wasted all the bullets, I know it takes a while to reload a weapon and if you run out of loaded magazines unless I'm really lazy-," he quickly took a back step avoiding a punch from Maki as her eyes glowed purple while she rushed him.
He blocked a punch to his face, then a kick to his leg, redirected another punch aimed at his stomach, and quickly sidestepped her spinning back fist.
"RAH!" Maki shouted as she spun around, landing a kick on his forearm as he blocked.
Her serious face became one of embarrassment when his hand ran up her leg, feeling it as it reached her thigh.
"HYA!" Maki screamed in a panic, her face red as she pulled her leg away and punched him.
"Not bad; not only are you beautiful, but your strong too." The masked man caught her next punch and quickly closed the distance between them, "You know, I find women with muscle attractive. It shows real commitment to self-betterment. Honestly, it is a bit of a turn on."
Maki blinked in more confusion, becoming more red.
"Huh?"
She quickly found her arm being moved by his control of her wrist and without a chance to counter, she was flying, landing on her back, and knocking the wind out of her.
"Don't get distracted otherwise that can be an enemies' golden chance to kill you."
He quickly moved his head to the side to dodge another bullet turning to see Hinawa, who had loaded up a pistol, and was now aiming for his head.
"You know just because I'm wearing a mask that covers my face doesn't mean my mask is bullet-proof or even resistant you know?"
He dodged another bullet but saw it bounce off the wall, into a corner, and then launch out of the corner straight at his back. So, with one big step, he avoided being hit by the second bullet.
"I see, your second gen. powers are centered around controlling the friction from the bullet, this allows you to manipulate the bullet to go in a direction of your choice or even continue bouncing around a room as needed. Not bad, pretty impressive power if I'm being honest." He said with a happy sounding tone. "It's like that one guy from an old manga, Jojo something..."
The masked man saw Maki rushing him again and throwing a variety of punches at his face and aiming for his chest.
"Not bad." The masked man couldn't show it but Maki was sure he was grinning under his mask, "As much as I would love to continue playing with you two, I got what I came for so time for me to make my exit."
Maki reached for his wrist and caught him, but quickly found herself flying at Hinawa who is surprised.
"How did you-,"
He held his hand out and the masked man showed an orange and red orb.
"Hope we meet again ma'am after all I wasn't lying, your definitely more my type." He stated as he slammed the orb into the ground and kicked up the dust and rubble blinding both of his opponents.
When the dust cleared, they saw the masked man was gone and Hinawa sighed.
"Well, that was something." Hinawa stated in restrained irritation.
"Yeah." Maki frowned, "Whoever they were, they definitely were after something here like we are. Do you think-,"
"It is possible." The Lieutenant walked over to where the man was standing and saw the cabinet was missing some files and he knew by the labelling.
"Damn it is the research info we were looking for." Hinawa sighed, "It looks like we failed in getting the actual documents so hopefully Shinra has managed to deal with the captain, and we can proceed forward."
Maki nodded in agreement, though she couldn't help but wonder.
'Who was he and did he really mean that I was pretty?'
Hinawa would admonish her later for getting lost in her own dream land.
Time Skip, Company 8
In the room was a buff man with black hair and black eyes named Obi, he is wearing the traditional suspenders and black shirt and brown pants and boots of the Fire force. The man had a serious look on his face as he was looking at his forces. One was a blond hair teen with blue eyes carrying around a cross like handle, sporting a very bored look. Next to him was a black hair teen about the same age with red eyes and sharp teeth in the form of a nervous smile. Along with them is a blond hair, blue eye nun.
In short this is Arthur Bole, Shinra Kusakabe, and Iris. They had been busy throughout the attack on Company 5 by either being captured (Iris), fighting against the captain (Shinra) or just being lost after a fight (Arthur). Obi was not there due to making sure the plan was put into motion to hide what they were doing and honestly, he was not happy with how things went down.
"Alright everyone listens up; thanks to our actions the higher ups are pleased that we are starting to dismantle the companies and finding all their research information. With the Fifth now at her side, we can at least hope that this will give us some breathing room to start doing more investigations with the other companies." But he glared, "However you all were too rash, thanks to what happened the other companies know we are up to something and that is the last thing we need." But he smiled, "Luckily for us, we are still covered thanks to princess Hibana agreeing not to push the issue and go with the cover story tomorrow."
Shinra and Iris smiled but Shinra saw the look on Maki and Hinawa's faces.
"Sir did something else happen though. I mean we did write the reports about the incident in detail."
Obi nodded his head and sat down in his chair,
"Honestly, there is more." Turning to the Lieutenant. "Hinawa tell them what happened."
"Right." The Lieutenant walked up and looked at the group, "While we were clearing out the other members of the Fifth, we encountered a masked man in the research building. Apparently during the commotion, we were making he took it upon himself to take down the one's in the building and try to steal the documents we were looking for. Hibana confirmed this theory."
Maki nodded her head,
"Yeah, and from our fight with him, he is definitely strong."
Shinra raised an eyebrow, while he is aware in terms of firepower, he was probably better than the Lieutenant and Maki, he knew firsthand Maki is powerful enough to defeat third generations with ease and even has the hand-to-hand experience to defeat most opponents.
"How so?" Arthur was more curious about the strength of this unknown Rogue that dared to challenge his fellow knights.
Roll with it.
"Simply put he figured out the Lieutenant's second gen skill, dodged bullets as if they were in slow motion, and even managed to beat me in hand-to-hand combat without getting a scratch on him."
This surprised the room; that meant this guy was stronger than most members of the Fire Force if his technique was to be believed.
Obi coughed,
"Right," Attention was back on him, "As you all can guess, this is a unique position we are all in. More so, we don't know who the masked man is and what his employer wanted but I have a sneaking suspicion this is all meant to throw us off his trail." He narrowed his eyes, "But be careful, if he really does have his own motives for wanting the research he might come after us if we start poking around in his interests again."
Obi stood up and smiled,
"But until then get some rest guys you all earned it."
The group smiled and wondered off, but Shinra had a frown on his face,
"That masked man who does he work for?"
Holy Sol Temple
A white beard man with an eyepatch and long white hair was sitting in his office filling out paperwork. He sighed, wanting something if not anything to break up the boring tandem of just writing constant reports and complaints about one of his recruit's lucky lecher issues.
A knock was made,
"Yes?" Burns called out as he looked up toward his door.
"Captain Burns HE is here."
Hearing the stressing of He, Burns knew who it was.
"Alright send him in."
The person nodded opening the door and allowing someone to walk pass them. The nun could subtly glare in annoyance at the person in question before closing the door.
Burns sighed as he looked at his underling.
He was tall for a sixteen-year-old, with light tan skin and hair so blonde it was if the sun blessed it to be so bright, which had a black headband with orange flame outlines on it keeping his bangs from his eyes.
Currently, he was wearing his off-duty uniform, with the top part around his waist with the sleeves tying it in place. He wore a bright blue T-shirt with a giant '1' on the back.
He had a sling bag over his left shoulder, which had various paperwork.
Around his neck was a gold chain that held a gold flame at the end with the word 'God' written in a dead language long forgotten after the Great Cataclysm.
But the thing that stood out the most about Naruto's appearance were his cheeks.
Six whisker like markings were burned into his flesh, giving him a disturbing appearance.
"Greetings, how was your job?"
"Easy breaking into the Fifth turned out to be easier than expected. For all that high and mighty talk, they sure were weak. Not to mention the Eighth was keeping them busy so that helped."
"I'm guessing though there was SOME complications given you are not talking higher about your success."
The blond teen in question smiled,
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I ran into two members of their group; Maki Oze and one Hinawa, Lieutenant to Company Eight. Got to say for second gens, they really show they are leagues above even third generations."
Burns nodded his head,
"I'm guess you were disguised."
"Yeah, don't worry captain, they can't pin this on us, and I left no evidence of who I was really with." Putting his hand into his bag and he threw the file plus his report onto Burns' desk. "The research data you asked for."
"Hm." He looked at the file, before nodding his head, "Good job, Second class, Fire soldier Naruto."
The blond teen smiled and saluted,
"Of course, I wouldn't be the Demon's Heir if I couldn't defy Sol in the process by stealing from one of the companies."
Burns shook his head,
"Your dismissed."
Naruto nodded his head and walked out of the room while subtly scratching at his cheeks,
'Still feel the burn from all those years ago.' He smiled and walked out of the room ignoring the nuns and their whispers,
"There he is again."
"I can't belief the Fire Force agreed to take in a Proto-Nationalist. It is absurd."
Naruto rolled his eyes,
'Can't whisper worth a damn and even worse, they have to bring that shit up again.' Naruto turned his head slightly making the nuns gasp and scatter hoping to avoid his sight.
Naruto shook his head and heard running, turning his head he saw a black hair girl with pigtails running at him in a nun's daily outfit that only had a white skirt and black top with a small white hat.
"Naruto there you are!"
"Tamaki." Naruto looked at her in boredom while putting both of his hands behind his head, "What is it?"
"Where were you? You missed quite a few assemblies!" Tamaki admonished.
Naruto rolled his eyes and walked past the girl,
"One you know I don't take part in the rituals to begin with so why you bother reminding me. Two, I was out of the temple for a while doing something for the captain, so I was excused. Three, the nuns were probably happier I wasn't there, so I don't really care."
The girl pouted, her cheeks puffing out.
"I still don't get you!" Tamaki mumbled as she started slamming her fists into his back while he is walking away in boredom.
"Tamaki we all have our ways of worshipping and mine just doesn't align with the church that is all." Naruto droned out as she kept hitting his back. "Can you hit that spot again, it might actually help my back?"
The girl shook her head and stopped following him and marched off in another direction.
"One of these days you are going to get into trouble for your ideals and Sol will not be forgiving!" Tamaki huffed out as she took off quickly before dashing away.
Naruto didn't take two steps before he heard a scream, 'Why!' and he just groaned.
"Lucky lecher strikes again." Naruto walked out of the temple and smiled, "Then again it is funny my luck is the one thing other than Rekka's reflexes that prevents most of those episodes."
Naruto sighed and went outside the temple and found a nice spot on a hill and laid down.
Reaching into his bag, Naruto pulled out some headphones, and started playing music.
He looked up at the sky, his left hand under his head as he took the gold flame pendant in his right hand, clenching it tightly.
'Another day in this shitty world, praise the Goddess Amaterasu, may your pure flames continue to guide me.' Naruto thought with conviction as he prayed.
Holy Sol Temple, Three Days Later
Boredom.
It was a regular occurrence while he was stuck at the temple. Especially during the morning assembly and being stuck in the church while everyone started tenting their hands and doing prayers to their god.
Naruto was wearing the same clothes as the day before, though he wore a burnt red shirt that had a white circular skull on the front while he wore his black Company One jacket out of respect for his company than respect for the church.
"Naruto," whispered an annoyed Tamaki. She had been watching him through the entire proceedings and was annoyed. "Tent your hands."
Naruto just stared forward and sighed,
"No thanks."
Tamaki sighed, before they were allowed to stop praying and everyone took their seats. Most were sitting in the front rows or sitting among the other troops in the force.
Naruto and Tamaki were isolated in the back of the church for two very specific reasons.
One: No one wanted to deal with Tamaki if her lucky Lecher happened, thus making the church more nervous.
Two: No one wanted to sit with Naruto period.
"Alright everyone," Captain Burns standing at the front of the hall smiled at everyone, "We will be continuing our proceedings unchanged but for those in the Fire Force, please note that we are having new guests arrive at this time. So please be on your best behavior and try to get along with your fellow rookies."
Naruto raised an eyebrow and turned to Tamaki.
"Rookies from other units are coming today?" He asked in genuine curiosity.
The girl deadpanned, before she kicked his leg.
"Really don't you listen or read any of the reports?" She asked in anger.
"Hey in my defense I was writing up a report for Burns the last few days, so I didn't have the luxury of keeping track of everything going on. I mean we did have four Infernals pop out of nowhere and I had to explain why I didn't wait." Naruto replied with a wince, trying not to shed tears as Tamaki's kick hurt.
Tamaki rolled her eyes; this is one of the major problems she warned him would get him in trouble with the church down the line.
"Yeah, why didn't you wait?"
Naruto stared as everyone was passing by them and some are sending scathing looks or just distrustful looks given who he is.
"Because those people were screaming in pain." Naruto answered as he grasped his pendant. "I don't care about the ritual that the church wants to perform as I don't have time to wait while I hear them hollering in pain. So, I put them to rest and allowed them to find safe embrace in the arms of Amaterasu."
Tamaki frowned.
"You know, eventually our beliefs might get you kicked out of here."
"Tough shit." The nuns gasped at him swearing, "I don't care if the Holy Sol Temple hates me for my ideals and beliefs as I am who I am and I'm proud of it." Standing up he turned from Tamaki, "If people worship Sol or the Goddess what does it matter? Our job is the same and that is to put the infernal to rest."
Tamaki watched him walk away with some of the nuns walking away from him and she could only sigh at the sight. It was an all too familiar one and one that she knew that he brought on himself because of how stubborn he is. Especially true since he had gotten in fights with the nuns and priests before, especially true when he just blatantly disregarded their teachings and beliefs when he first arrived and continued to do things on his own terms.
Lieutenant Rekka had warned her staying close to him would lead her away from Sol's embrace but given he was one of the few rookies here that she got along with, she was reluctant to tell him that, and one of the few that was able to avoid her bad habit, she found solace in his presence.
Tamaki could only hope, that one day he would find understanding in Sol's religion.
Naruto
He was wondering the halls bored out of his mind now, the assembly was short and he guessed it was to make time for the new recruits that were coming. He had a feeling he knew who was coming but didn't want to jinx himself so he kept it to himself.
Walking outside and away from the temple, Naruto sat down on the grass and started staring up at the sky and closed his eyes, taking his pendant in hand, holding it up before his face.
"Praise be to you, Lady Amaterasu, may you continue to guide me through these dark times and welcome all into your warm embrace." Naruto prayed in solemn earnest. "May all find comfort with you and your siblings as time passes."
"Interesting way of doing a prayer, Rookie Naruto."
Tilting his head back he frowned, it was one of the priests. One that was a frequent bother to him.
Naruto stood up, a sense of dread washing over him.
'Here we go again.' Naruto thought as he cleared his throat. "Yeah well, I don't feel there needs to be a grand ceremony or anything fancy like hands in a tent form. Especially since it all amounts to nothing but a pretty show, just say the prayer before going into a fight and hope they find love in their warm embrace, be it Sol or Amaterasu."
"You worship a false idol?" The man frowned and pointed to him, "You worship our power plant, not the one true god Sol?"
Naruto frowned, his eyes letting the priest know he has his attention,
"Really? You guys are ignorant of Japan's history. I'm talking about the actual goddess of the sun that once protected Japan." Naruto informed calmly, knowing this was the usual baiting technique many priests and nuns had used in the past.
"Yet she failed to protect our lands from the Great Cataclysm."
Naruto's fist tightened,
"Yeah, and where was Sol in all of this? He failed to prevent the great tragedy as well so you can't say your god is all great."
The priest narrowed his eyes,
"Blasphemer!"
"Takes one to know one."
"You dare insult the great god Sol! How dare you!"
Naruto rolled his eyes at the priest,
"If you have a big problem with my beliefs then come on then, show me what the great god can give you." Naruto demanded, posturing toward the priest to bring forth Sol's judgement.
The priest hesitated and took a small step backwards making Naruto smirk,
"Y-you wouldn't dare! The church would never allow a filthy proto-nationalist like you to exist if you dared to lay a finger on me! I'm of the highest order and-,"
Naruto glared,
"Shut up." The man saw the fury in Naruto's eyes and could feel the pressure building up, "Just shut up you bastard."
"Enough!"
Naruto turned his head to the right and saw a blond hair man with a hat on his head and his eyes closed wearing a white robe and black clergy outfit. He walked in between Naruto and the feuding priest.
It was Huo Yan Li, one of the Lieutenants of Company One.
"Lieutenant Li?" Naruto growled as his eyes started to flicker.
"Naruto that is enough, I understand this man has rubbed you the wrong way but you can't just lash out at him." Huo Yan stated.
Naruto raised an eyebrow,
"Even though he is the one that came at me and provoked me without a solid reason?"
"A filthy degenerate like you shouldn't even be here." The Priest snorted, "You should have been thrown. Out there with the rest of your filth. After all Sol punished your family for your beliefs didn't, they?" He smirked darkly,
He found Naruto in front of him and his eyes are now red,
"Die."
The priest is thrown back and Naruto's punch is blocked by Huo Yan.
"Naruto calm down this instant!"
"Fuck that," Naruto glared at the Lieutenant, "He wants to talk shit about me and my beliefs, I'll take that any day of the week. If he wants to make an enemy and call me all the insults in the book, I can take that several times over! However, the moment he disrespects the dead regardless of his station, that is where he crosses the line and one, I won't allow to stand!"
"Naruto, I understand but you can't kill the man," Huo Yan held his hand out, "I promise you his actions will be reprimanded."
Naruto rolled his eyes,
"Like all the others?" Naruto snapped as he pulled his hand away from Huo Yan.
The priest smiled smugly, knowing Naruto was speaking the truth. When the church finds out about what he said and to who, they'll give him a small slap on the wrist and then let him go on with his day. While Naruto would most likely face sanctions for his actions today since he tried to attack someone of the clergy.
"No, he won't stand I promise."
Everyone turned and saw Captain Burns walking with a glare,
"Naruto stand down."
Naruto growled and dropped his hands and stood up straight while saluting the man with his right hand. This is all he would be willing to do for the company as he refused to tent hands.
Burns walked up to the priest and frowned at him,
"You think you'll get away with this? I heard what you said and trust me, I'm not about to turn a blind eye to this. As of today," He ripped off the man's pendant, "You are out."
"What you can't do this the church won't allow it!"
Burns glared,
"I can and have, the clergy will be made aware you did this whole incident to insight a riot and have Recruit Naruto thrown out like the others. While the church holds sway over us, it doesn't mean I have to allow you in this temple at all. In fact, you can consider this resignation from your position and if you want to reapply you better know, I will be watching for you attempting to sign back up." He pointed to the exit, "Now get out."
The priest growled and ran to the gate,
"Sol will bring his wrath down upon all of you!" With this final threat he was gone, walking out of the gate in a fury.
Burns sighed and looked at Naruto,
"Naruto are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Naruto whispered, "I wished I could have hit that asshole once."
Burns smiled a bit and Huo Yan smiled,
"We understand but it is a good thing you didn't while the church leaders are okay with you the last thing, we need is you attacking the holy people on these grounds. Try to keep it reigned in more."
"Yes Lieutenant." Naruto replied before he turned from the two of them, grabbing his headphones from his bag.
"Anyway, in an hour or so, our temporary rookies will be showing up, so be sure to come back by then." Huo Yan told Naruto.
Naruto rolled his eyes as he put his headphones on
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going to blow off some steam so if I fight them, I won't accidently kill them." Naruto replied as he started to walk away.
"Very well." Burns watched the young man walk off and he could only sigh, the clergy is really not making this easy.
Especially since the proto-nationalist would be up in arms about his treatment and given his father he was sure the military would be even furious.
"Well sir shall we report to the chapel to greet the recruits?"
"Yes lets."
Naruto had walked into an empty area far from the temple surrounded by trees and sighed.
"Kaa-San, Tou-San I hope you are watching me because I'm going to make you proud no matter what the temple says." He as he touched his pendant with a smile, "Time to get some practice in let's see if I can level up."
Hour Later, Training Fields
Burns had to admit he was impressed with these rookies; each one was impressive with their own strength and weakness.
The second's Takeru 'Juggernaut' Noto, he is powerful and imposing but the issue is that the guy had no confidence in himself which prevents him from really harnessing his power to the fullest level possible. The Fifth's guy admitted his own lack of variety and since his Lieutenant refused to fight unless there is a reason, he admitted what he could do and that he was not ready to fight someone in a straight up fight like this.
Knowing your weakness and strengths is just as important as fighting hard.
Now there was only the two from the Eighth left. He really wanted to see about the boy with the fire feet, because he was sure that he was stronger than he was as a child but he felt,
'No now is not the time to dwell on it. But it is good to see him so determined.'
"Hey Captain!"
Turning his head, Burns saw Naruto walking up to the fence where the Lieutenants and Tamaki were standing. Naruto had a small grin on his face,
"Rookie Naruto, I see your back from your training?"
"Yeah." He turned to the group, "So these are the rookies that came to the First huh?"
"Yes." He then tilted his head to Maki who was in her uniform, "That is their superior Maki Oze."
Naruto turned his head to the woman and without warning and to the shock of everyone, he gained a massive blush on his face and turned away from her.
"N-nice to meet you, Miss Oze."
Maki tilted her head in confusion,
"Nice to meet you Rookie Naruto."
The teen was shaking and Burns could only smile,
"Nice to know where your sights are set."
Naruto turned around and the group saw his face was hot red,
"Shut up!"
The Lieutenants laughed while Tamaki pouted,
"My Stars! It would seem that Naruto is a warm-blooded male after all!" Lieutenant Rekka shouted.
"Yes, his attraction has attracted him to the attraction of his interest." Arthur was confused what was being said and Shinra managed to piece together what he said.
"Nice to see you have good taste Naruto."
Naruto turned to the Lieutenants and shouted, "Shut up! I'm not flustered!"
Maki smiled with pink dusting her cheeks.
'So, there is males out there that like me. I wonder?' Maki couldn't shake it but for some reason he was giving her a familiar feeling. Not sure from where but she was sure that she had heard his voice from somewhere before.
Tamaki was annoyed, showing her annoyance as she grabbed Naruto's cheek and pinched it, much to his displeasure, but he grabbed her cheek in response.
'He never gives me a second look and yet he gets all flustered about her? How annoying.' Tamaki thought in a hurt tone before they were forced to release each other by the third Lieutenant, Karim Flam.
"Okay, that's enough, Naruto, Tamaki." Flam stated as he stood between them.
Naruto coughed and soon the blush started receding from his face,
"Anyway Captain, I see your testing out the rookies want some help with this?"
Burns rubbed his chin,
"Sure, why not? Why don't you take the blond? I'll take the boy with the flamed feet."
Naruto nodded his head and took off his company jacket and threw it to the side without regard making Maki raise an eyebrow as he carefully placed his bag on the jacket instead of just dropping it.
"He seems pretty flagrant about the rules of the church." Maki mentioned in slight surprise.
"Not a surprise." Turning she saw Burns standing with her now observing the two teens preparing to fight. "Naruto is a proto-nationalist and has countering views to the church so the clergy work is not something he indulges in."
Shinra was shocked,
"Proto-nationalist! I didn't think there were in other companies other than the Seventh." Maki gasped.
"Normally no but Naruto is exception to the rule, and he is someone that you don't underestimate considering he is one of the strongest rookies of this year." Flam mentioned with a hint of pride in his tone.
Shinra now focused on the teen and wondered if Arthur might get his face caved in?
In the field, Naruto did a few minor stretches with his shoulders and back, before smiling at Arthur,
"Alright let's get started." Naruto stated as he looked at Arthur.
"You shall fall to the King of Knights for Excalibur shall tear through!" Arthur declared as he posed in a knightly way.
"….." Naruto was not sure how to respond to that.
"So, you are what King of Camelot or something?"
"Of course, as the one true King, it is expected I would rule over Camelot." Arthur exclaimed proudly.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders,
"Okay whatever works for you." Naruto then put his hands in front of him and kept his hands open instead of in a fist.
Arthur quickly grabbed his handle and rushed Naruto, within a blur a blue flash appeared signaling his blade is coming for his neck. But it would not reach him,
Naruto already was in the air and slammed a knee into his face during the forward leap.
"Easy read buddy."
Maki on the sideline was shocked,
"Even I have a hard time reading Arthur's swing when he unsheathes his sword."
"Not a surprise," Burns had his arms crossed over his chest, "Naruto has fought with me on a regular and the other Lieutenants. He has gotten his timing and speed to a point that it would take a high-level fighter to really fluster him or something he has not seen or understands."
Naruto saw Arthur falling back but quickly swung his blade while he is in the air so he quickly cascades some flames on his right leg and met the blade in mid-swing. The kick quickly sent his blade away and allowed him to land on the ground in a crouch at his right side. Naruto soon rushed him again but Arthur had situated himself right side up, thrusting his sword,
"Now you are being foolish in underestimating the Knight King."
Naruto sidestepped the blade and slammed his right fist into his face sending him flying back.
"Dude, quit talking and actually fight I mean this is sad. I heard you and the other one is supposed to be high level Third Generations but so far, I can measure your skill to be at the same level as Tamaki if not there lower. She at least can make me work up a sweat."
Tamaki smiled at this compliment,
"True." Maki narrowed her eyes, "Arthur needs to focus otherwise this fight will end faster than he expects."
Naruto blocked his overhead sword strike letting it slam into his left arm making sparks fly. Naruto smiled and quickly pushed the blade up into the air making him lose his balance. Naruto rushed in with his right and slammed him with a powerful blow to his stomach. But this strike was followed by a powerful right kick to the face landing Arthur on his back.
"So, King of Knights, please fill me in on something, as a swordsmen shouldn't you be wearing armor, I mean logically that is how King Arthur fought right?"
Naruto knew about the classic tale as for some reason it and some other minor stuff survived the Great Cataclysm but he had never seen someone completely involved with something as delusional as this.
'To each is his own I guess.'
Arthur quickly shot back up to his feet and he gained a determined face in which now he rushes Naruto with another swiping sword strike but Naruto just blocked the strike,
"Not bad but honestly could use some refinement I mean if you can't cut through someone on the first strike and don't have a counter then your screwed dude."
Naruto quickly pushed the swiping strike away and when he tries to rebalance himself and thrust his blade forward Naruto quickly retaliated with a sharp point elbow strike to his nose sitting him down on his ass again.
"You know I'm really not even using my power at this point; this is just me block and striking. You think you could beat Captain Burns with this effort give me a break, you'll need more than this to even scratch him."
Maki who was watching from the side lines thought,
'This fighting style, it reminds me of how the masked guy beat us.' She remembered some of his movements and blocks and how fast he was acting, 'He didn't use any fire power either, but I thought maybe it was either an unpowered or Second Generation like me and the Lieutenant. But what if he is a Third Generation just wanting to hide his true power?'
Naruto blocked many of the blade strikes with a disappointed sighed.
'Really dude at least mix up your attacks or throw something I won't expect I mean this is just getting sad.' Naruto blocked one of Arthur's attacks by grabbing his wrist pulled it down, 'I mean at least use your feet or god forbid your head, at least then that gives me more that I have to worry about in a fight.'
Naruto slammed a punch in Arthur's face and without warning, pulled his wrist around and with his right foot swept him off his feet and sent him flying across the field. He rolled from the attack and grunts,
"A true knight never surrenders!" He rushes Naruto and with one mighty roar Naruto saw him swing his blade at his neck. Naruto held up the back of his right hand blocking the attack but then saw a smirk on his face. Naruto raised an eyebrow and felt him throw a punch into his gut.
'About fucking time, he figured this out.'
Naruto quickly back off after the punch and rubbed his stomach,
'Nothing serious just a minor bruise probably.'
Naruto smirked,
"Well now that you landed a hit on me, I might as well show you what I can do, so pay close attention as I'm about to show you the difference in our strength."
Naruto closed his eyes and the Lieutenants and Captain stood straight,
"So, he is using it huh?"
"Been a while, not sense the last major combustion incident right Flam?"
"Yes, his power is powerful and his strength is incredibly strong."
Tamaki frowned,
"Hopefully he doesn't accidently kill him with his next attack."
Burns grunted with Maki,
"I'd brace myself, because Naruto is about to show how serious he is taking this fight."
Maki raised an eyebrow, while Shinra could feel it in his bones something was coming and it was not boating well for Arthur.
Arthur was confused with what was going on and quickly rushed in to try and attack. He swung his blade and right when it looks like it would cut through his neck, he saw a blur and there was nothing there.
"Huh where did he go?"
"Arthur behind you!"
The knight turned around and before he could register, a blur hit him and he felt his entire world spinning. He tried to get his bearings but soon found another blur smashing him into the ground and then darkness taking over.
On the outside most didn't see the movements very clearly but Captain Burns did and he saw something important,
'He has gotten faster, no doubt from all that training in learning to control the output of his transformation.'
Maki was shocked and so was Shinra who both saw Naruto disappear in a split second, appear behind Arthur and while the teen did turn in time, he was hit so fast that he went spinning through the air and then had the back of his head slammed into the ground with another punch.
Standing there Naruto, with his eyes glowing red, was covered in a red cloak of flame with a set of ears on top of the cloak and a single tail hanging out from behind him.
"Well, that was disappointing I was hoping it would take more than this but oh well." Naruto released his flames and walked over to his bag and jacket, putting the bag on first so he could dust his jacket off.
Tamaki quickly rushed over to him,
"Idiot you could have killed him!"
When she tripped on her shoe she flew through the air and she would have landed chest first into Naruto. Especially considering she got some massive height on the trip.
But Naruto threw the jacket into the air, caught Tamaki by the armpits, pulled her toward the ground, and caught his jacket by going through the bottom of it and having his arms pop through the sleeves and his head through the neck.
"What the hell?"
Shinra was not sure what just happened but it was amazing, his speed was something to be admired and he would honestly have to admit in terms of speed he is faster but Naruto's reflexes are faster than his own.
"What was that?"
"Simple kid," Burns smiled, "Naruto's fire ability as you can see is Third Generation but it has been dubbed the Kyubi."
"Kyubi?"
Burns nodded his head at Shinra's question while Maki filled in,
"I think that is supposed to be some kind of fox spirit from old Japan, right?" Maki guessed, remembering hearing an old story about foxes as a child from her dad.
"That's right," Burn smiled, "Naruto as a proto-nationalist grew up on stories of those kinds of creatures and his fire took the form of what you saw. However, the thing is that he can only summon tails pending on his control."
"I see." Maki rubbed her chin, "So his form we saw was just the cloak and one tail, right? I'm guessing the enhance his reflexes?"
Burns nodded, seeing no reason to share information,
"Naruto's reflexes are amazing as it is I say that only Rekka probably has better ones than him but with that first state he is in; everything is enhanced. His speed, power, agility, and reflexes are pushed to a higher height than before."
Shinra nodded his head,
"But Kyubi I think means nine tails and there was only-,"
"Very perceptive." He nodded his head, "Naruto only used one tail as more would possibly have killed your friend when he didn't mean to. Also," He frowned, "He can only use to about three tails right now with any semblance of control. Anymore and he loses himself to his flames and can accidently become consumed by their fury."
Maki nodded her head but frowned while watching him sigh at the nagging of the other girl,
'Power that easily recognizable, incredible physical ability, and supposedly a third generation that is above the norm? That is definitely suspicious I'll ask the captain and get his weigh in on this.'
Naruto looked over at Maki and smiled, making the woman smile back and wave at him and he returned it with a small blush.
Tamaki kicked him in the gut,
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Tamaki shouted as naruto doubled over, grabbing her foot and twisting it, making her spin and fall to the ground face first.
"Yeah, I know, and I'll try not to kill the next person that wants to spar." Naruto stated as he released her heel and put his hands behind his head and walked away from the group, "Enjoy your stay at the first and may Amaterasu guide all of you!"
"Amaterasu?"
Burns sighed,
"Yeah, you'll learn soon enough kid but for now let's see what you can do."
Shinra smiled excitedly and quickly got ready to try and beat this man for the answers he seeks.
Naruto walked into his room and quickly took off his jacket and bag before checking to make sure no one was around to hear him.
Walking to his desk, he opens the drawer and picks up a bottle in his hand. Inside of the bottle was a dead red bug, something that he had kept from even the captain.
"Now what do you have to do with Infernals my little friend."