It wasn't long that the duo arrived at the party venue, the Uzumaki garden. It was a beautiful place with lush grass, a small pond filled with fish and all around the place there were flowers.
When Rika and Naruto arrived, people thought that she might have taken his heart.
The family members were happy for Rika as she walked over to the girls while Naruto greeted the men. Rika's father was an American citizen called Steven and he had married into the family since he was just a businessman while Rumiko was from a big clan.
He was a tall athletic man with blonde hair and blue eyes. He stood taller than Naruto by 10 cm.
Looking at the man, Naruto was not subdued and greeted him normally.
Steven shook hands with him and pulled him into a hug, "That means you are my son from now on, aren't you."
There was a threat hidden behind those words and Naruto wasn't blind to it.
Mess with my daughter and I will shove poles of various sizes up your ass that you will never walk straight.
"No, I declined her confession. However, I don't have anyone that I like. So, I told her that she could win my heart if she so desired and had the patience." Naruto patted his back and answered calmly.
"I see. I expected as such from you. You are a traditional guy that won't accept love until a mature age. We expected as such and this just confirms it." Steven didn't get angry as it was an event that would help his little girl grow and mature. The family wasn't the type to baby their children as it would only weaken them and destroy their future.
"You are right, as I am waiting until I have grown older. Thank you for not getting angry, Uncle. Please enjoy yourself while I excuse myself." Naruto replied as they turned around to face the others.
Leaving Steven, Minato met up with him. His father looked the same even though he was forty years old.
Just like the other world, his father had the same personality and was a very kind person that was soft spoken most of the time but turned harsh when needed.
He was loyal and diligent. He was good father and husband.
He was a powerful man with great potential and his digimon partners Jazarichmon and Black-Rapidmon had high potential of evolving soon in to Mega.
His eyes held gentle rebuke as he hugged Naruto. He was happy about the potential of his child and he had looked forward to this day.
Menma was his eldest but his personality was harsh and prideful unlike Naruto. Both looked very similar but were opposites.
Minato loved both of them equally, though he favored Naruto because of his personality.
"Are you sure about this?" Minato asked about Rika. This wasn't some normal relationship and couldn't be treated as such.
Anything that went wrong could and would impact both families.
"I am sure. I talked with Rika and we agreed to it." Naruto understood that these questions would come once he took action so it wasn't a surprise.
He patted Minato's back and let him go.
"What about Hikari and Yurine?" Minato asked as Naruto was also close to the sister of the leader of Digi-Destined.
There was also his older cousin separated by generations. They weren't closely related.
She had also been close to Naruto and showed interest in him.
Minato would be fine with any of the girls so it was up to Naruto. He just didn't want Naruto to act like his grandfather Jiraiya.
The man had a tendency to sleep around and indulge in sex. He was always having one night stands where ever he went and wrote about those encounters for people to enjoy.
His wife Tsunade didn't mind because he was too much for her to handle.
He didn't have romantic relationship with others and just kept it physical.
Minato didn't like the antics of his father and hoped that his children weren't corrupted by him.
Minato was monogamous and didn't like people cheating on each other. He accepted polygamous relationships if the people were actually capable of it.
"I like both of them but maybe we will stay as friends. I still don't know where my heart will settle." Naruto replied honestly and held Minato's shoulders.
Both of them looked each other in the eye, "Don't disappoint me."
"I won't, I am very serious about bonds."
"Good! What about your partner? Will you join the Task Force for some time or move to the digital world?" Minato searched for the answer in his eyes and was satisfied for the moment. He knew what kind of person Naruto was so he had proper expectations from him.
"I will train with Asura personally and then move out to the digital world. I like people at the Task Force but I am not interested in doing this work."
"Heh, I don't mind so just enjoy." Minato smiled as he patted his shoulder and walked over to Steven.
Asura was sealed into the digivice as Naruto didn't want him to get influenced by people. He was a new digimon so things would affect easily.
He had the others do the same so all the digimon were taking a rest.
"Congratulations for getting such partners, you finally did it." An arm coiled around his neck and Naruto met his older brother.
Both of them were the same height and looked the same except that he had black hair and red eyes.
"Thanks, what about you?" Naruto asked as he gave him a hug. His older brother was also someone very powerful.
He had three champion digimon and his starter was already reaching for the Ultimate transformation soon because of Menma's aggressive approach.
"Heh, your older brother is doing fine. I will soon get engaged to Elsa and get married. My life is simple and I am walking straight. Don't move hither thither or you will end up with too much on your plate." Menma advised him since he could see that Naruto hadn't settled down yet and he had many girls around him.
Menma had been in his position but he found love in Elsa very quickly and got together. She was Russian and they had met in the Frozen Lands of the Digital World.
"Don't worry, as I know what I am doing."
"Hmm, I am just giving advice. So, do you want to join us in the digital world from now on?" Menma once again asked Naruto to see if he had changed his mind or not.
"Not now, but later for sure." Naruto replied as they walked together to greet the guests.
"Don't act like a stranger and join us soon, okay." Menma bumped his shoulder into him and walked away with a smile on his face.
He wasn't threatened by his brother getting Royal Knight. His partner's final evolution was Heavy Leomon, it was one of the strongest mega level digimon power wise.
With that digimon, he would be one of the strongest members of the family and he would work with his other digimon to get them to a mega level to make him the strongest clan head of the Uzumaki family.
Leaving his brother, Naruto met up with Taichi and Hikari as they arrived.
Tai had spiky brown hair and brown eyes. He was tall for most people but he was still shorter than Naruto by 10 cm.
Tai wore a dark blue shirt with long sleeves under a blue button-up short-sleeved shirt with yellow stars on the sleeves and a pocket on the left breast, as well as black pants and shoes.
He was 25 years old now and was the leader of the Digi-Destined, one of the strongest tamer groups as all members had potential for powerful mega level digimon.
He was a kind and brave person that would give up everything for the safety of his loved ones. As a leader, he treated everyone under him as family and was rarely harsh.
His partner was Agumon that had reached its final stage as Wargreymon but there had been rumors that Tai's digimon had more potential than that.
Rumors of a higher evolution or matrix evolution, making it enter the Super Ultimate range. Some digimon could enter the matrix evolution with their tamers and combine to form a powerful digimon.
This was done some high rank tamers for a new form or just a power-up.
There was also the Hyper Spirit evolution or the fusion evolution. The Fusion evolution was different from DNA Digivolution as it used the same digimon. The digimon that had two types of form on the same level could combine both forms for a new evolution.
Hyper Spirit utilized many digimon on different ranks with the tamer as the core to form a new powerful digimon. This was how Emperor Greymon was formed and the secret to its ultimate power.
On his side was his sister, Hikari. She was a beautiful girl with long brown hair and brown eyes. She was a bro-con and loved her brother a lot.
Hikari was Tai's biggest fan and cheered him on all the time.
She wore a pink top with black pants. She had star earrings and carried a whistle just like Tai carried his goggles on his neck.
Both those items were special to them.
Kari was a kind and soft girl that was opposite of Rika in most ways. Nonetheless, she was fearless most of the time and when she was not, Tai was always there for her.
Just like Naruto, she was a new tamer but got her partner last week. Her partner was Salamon and it showed the potential to reach Ophanimon.
It was one of the reasons for Rika's outburst. Both girls were rivals as they lived in the same neighborhood and knew each other from a young age.
She was born was powerful abilities and could tell what the digimon was thinking and their emotions. She gave a peaceful aura that charmed wild digimon and other digimon that weren't even connected to her.
She had the power to heal.
Just like expected, she had joined her brother's group and was the leading figure along with Takeru who had Seraphimon.
With these two and other additions this month, the Digi-destined had gotten a boost and were highly expected to become the strongest group in Asia.
"Hey, I heard and came right away. Congratulations for getting such a powerful partner, I am jealous." Tai was a chill guy and didn't act formal unlike his right hand Yamato.
Shaking hands and giving on handed hug, Naruto separated from him.
"Thanks, I hope I can have strong bond with my partner as you have with Ryu." Naruto smiled and said his words with honesty. Ryu was Tai's partner and they were like brothers.
"Haha, Just treat them like family and they will treat you like family. Now you kids chill while I meet the others." Tai gave him a wink and patted his shoulder, leaving them together.
Tai liked Naruto a lot because of his personality and skills. He was interested in taking him in and knew that his sister liked him.
Both siblings liked him and wanted him to join them.
They were unaware of what happened since they hadn't met Rika yet.
"I am happy for you and I wish that things will only get better for you." Hikari spoke in a gentle tone as she gave him a hug. Her body lingered longer than usual and he could tell she was giving him a sign.
She was attractive girl so most people wouldn't resist her charms easily especially with her special aura that charmed people.
"Thanks, I wish the same for you. Come, let's get something to drink and eat." Naruto guided her towards the food tables.
"You look different today, feels like you let off some weight from your shoulder." Kari was also very perceptive. She could feel emotions and such just like Naruto, meaning she could tell something changed.
Naruto understood that she sensed his release. He had been acting restrained by habit.
"Of course, he carried me around gently today so all the trouble melted away." Rika had been watching Naruto while talking with the women that surrounded her and decided to walk in to the conversation when she noticed Kari.
Hearing those words, Hikari was surprised and she looked at Naruto. She thought too much into and thought that they had gone further into the relationship, making it physical. Rika knew that her words were suggestive and she wanted Hikari to sweat. Hikari had known both of them from a younger age, 5 years old.
From the time she could remember, Naruto had always been the same. He had been strong and intelligent.
He had been warm and patient.
Hikari loved her brother a lot for being the best brother ever but she loved Naruto more than anyone else.
He was similar to her brother in a way and he had the other qualities that she liked. Most people weren't so gentle like him.
He made her feel like a little child and he did the same with others. She was a conservative person so Hikari had never been too direct about her interest.
She was beautiful and strong according to everyone else but Hikari felt that Rika looked better. She was sometime jealous of Rika's approach to things.
Rika was always close to Naruto and she made things difficult.
Just like Rika considered her a rival, Hikari also saw the same way.
Hikari was talented as a tamer but in combat she had never won against Rika. Even now her digimon's rookie form was not suited for combat against a combat species like Renamon.
Nonetheless, she decided to move forward and wanted to invite all of them to become part the Digi-Destined because the world out there was cold and unforgiving.
It was better for them to work together and increase the pace of improvement. She thought this even though she believed that Naruto was exceptional.
Hikari didn't see the point of rejecting the invitation. He wanted to roam freely and he could do that with them.
He wanted to lead his own team and he could so that with them.
He didn't want anyone above him and it was Naruto's actual reason to decline. Hikari couldn't believe those words, as he was acting prideful and vain.
She had always seen him act humble.
That was a shocker but this was one was even beyond that. Naruto had showed zero interest in sexual activities.
She could feel lust from others but he had never seen anyone with that gaze. His eyes were always pure.
He didn't even mention it.
She thought he wouldn't sleep with anyone and was someone that was looking for true love, something that he was sure about and would get married soon after.
Those were her thoughts and she wanted to be that person.
She had seen Rika try and fail, and honestly she felt happy about it.
She was a kind person but when it came to such things, it was hard to have positive emotions.
Regardless, she also saw Rika as a friend and would be happy if Naruto was happy with the relationship.
But this was too unexpected.
Naruto looked at Rika with that smug smile on her face, screaming to her face that she had won.
He could feel Hikari go through various emotions within a moment and pinched Rika's arm before giving her a hug.
"Don't think too much about it, Hikari. I literally carried her around, nothing more."
Naruto responded to Hikari before turning his gaze back to Rika, "It is a good tactic, but don't use it. I don't want others to think that I sleep around. And, I don't want others to see you as a person that shares such delicate details."
Seeing his serious expression, Rika nodded. Thinking about it, it made her look like a bitch, "I won't do it."
"Good" Naruto pinched her cheek
Hikari looked at them both and could see the change. Their emotions seemed to have deepened and Rika was acting so girly in front of other people.
She could see that this wasn't some play. Something had happened and it caused such a massive change. Rika already liked him but Naruto didn't, so how did she convince him.
"Do you love each other? Is this your answer?" Hikari asked while keeping down her negative feelings. She obviously felt frustrated and wanted to scream.
"I love him and he will love me with time. So, you did confess. I thought you didn't have the courage to act. Are you going to try stealing him now, or will you step down like you always do?" Rika smiled victoriously. She loved it. She loved looking down from above.
Seeing her rival act so subdued made her really happy.
She walked closer and stood in front of Hikari, looking at her with a challenging gaze. Rika respected Hikari, so in a way she wanted her to speak up.
Hikari's gaze shifted around and she bit her lip. Those words definitely stung but she smiled.
"I don't know what you mean as I have never been a coward. As for you, what you are doing is definitely cowardly." Hikari stepped forward and looked straight in to Rika's eyes.
Their chest touched each other and sparks flew.
Naruto expected such an outcome and slapped Rika's bum lightly before pulling her away by the waist.
Rika cried out in a sweet tone but quiet down as she was held by Naruto. She didn't forget to give Hikari a smug look.
"Kari, Rika hasn't done anything. I gave her the same answer that I gave you. I am open to anyone trying to win my heart. Though, do you have the patience and desire to continue on such a path? Maybe you will regret pursuing me, as there is no guarantee I will ever answer your affections. I want you girls to think about it carefully." Naruto spoke up before Rika and Hikari ended up causing a scene.
The adults would blame him for not stopping it and it cause bad impact on their reputation. Things spread too easily.
Naruto had already used his ability so none could hear them. His powers had increased by a level since he became a tamer as the association finally fully unsealed his powers.
Plus his bond with Asura gave him another increase. Asura had fire affinity as the primary elements but he also had yin-yang so those affinities increased inside Naruto.
Rika stared at him with an intense gaze.
Are you really doing this?
Really, asking her while I am still here?
You got guts Naruto, guts I tell you.
Who knows maybe someone might stab you in your sleep.
She spoke through her eyes and Naruto patted her head to calm his little hellion.
Hikari was silent as she watched the interaction. It was something that she had been jealous about as she couldn't do it.
Hikari looked at him and blinked. She smiled after hearing the answer and realized that her thoughts were clouded. It was unexpected that she was acting pessimistic because it involved Rika and Naruto.
"Thank you for the clarification and the warning, but I have chosen to pursue this path. If I wanted to tread the easy path, I wouldn't be Tachi's sister nor would I join him on this journey to the unknown. From a young age, I have fought and faced the dangers present in our world. Do you think I will step back because of some risk of a heart break? Don't look down on me, just because I am soft spoken. My heart can handle everything and nothing can break my spirit. You just have to wait and see, my affections will break that ice. You and me, we are meant to be." Hikari was happy at his words and answered in kind, showing her declaration of love and war.
Turning to Rika, she gave a small smile, "Fortunately, I am an empath just like you. Our emotions will reach a crescendo once we connect."
"You are such a showoff, can't you speak normal. We will reach a crescendo, what a corny line." Rika joked, making Hikari embarrassed.
The girls glared at each other and it looked like a fight was about to start.
"I know the feeling. Your offer is attractive, but we will have to wait and see. I am not sure of you are ready for it. You girls may need to wait for another 2 years or so before my interest develops." Naruto caught both girls into a hug and whispered to them the truth that they wouldn't realize without knowing about his past life.
"It isn't a long time. I am willing to spend years to develop this bond and continue our path together." Kari didn't think of Naruto as her ultimate goal. He was the love goal while she had a purpose in life that she strove for.
"I will take that as a challenge and make you confess before two years are finished." Rika's answer was different as expected.
"I look forward to this surprise. Now act like good girls and stop making trouble for others."
Leaving the girls to talk to each other, Naruto met up with Steve Rogers. He was the head of the Digimon Task Force in USA and one of the strongest Tamers alive.
He looked young but he was in sixties.
With a strong build and good heart, he led the team to keep peace in his region. USA had the strongest tamers and people with violent tendencies so the region was hard to manage. It had survived the initial invasion of Digimon and rebuilt itself from the ground. China was on a similar scale of power as well but it seems USA got lucky with their tamers as it was ground zero of the most dangerous battles in the world that ended up causing powerful mutations. They also had the most perverted people in the world so New Types appeared in that region before anywhere else.
It was surprising to see him present. He had been present in the city, meeting the commander of the local Task force and decided to accompany him to this celebration.
Steve already knew about Naruto and they had fought once, he had been invited personally to join them in the USA.
"Congratulations Naruto, I knew you had a great future ahead of you. This was an unexpected event so I didn't really prepare proper gift, hope this will do." Steve was the friendly type of person and wise. He shook hands and gave Naruto a hug.
Among the people Naruto knew in this world, he hit off with older people the most since they were his age. He liked Steve and was even friends with Minato's boss.
Steve brought out his red and blue digivice with the star on the back. Naruto took out his digivice and Steve sent something to him.
Naruto was hard to shock but what Steve sent him was the most precious thing he had received in both lives.
"Steve, I can't have this. It is too precious, so use it on your partner." Naruto wished to have it but the thing was too good. The Uzumaki clan didn't even have it and people would kill for it.
It was a piece of gold chrome Digizoid.
It was the strongest metal in the digital world and was almost invincible. It was derived from the Huanglong ore.
Huanglong Ore was an incredibly scarce virtual ore that could only be found underground. It could only be scratched by other Huanglong Ore, and so it couldn't be compared with other minerals and metals, and its absolute hardness was impossible to measure. Despite this, it also had profound weight, so it was not suitable for things like weapons or armor. Although living things could unify with Huanglong Ore, it took even more years than those since the age of myth, and so Huanglongmon was the only Digimon that had currently been discovered to have unified with it. However, Groundramon, which prefers to inhabit veins of the rare ore, had been found to have elements of Huanglong Ore comprising the scales covering its body.
Chrondigizoit Metal resolved these weaknesses, and was said to be a more excellent rare metal. The formal name of the Chrondigizoit Metal used by Metal-species Digimon was "Chrondigizoit Hybrid Organism alloy", and is abbreviated as "CHO-alloy". Chrondigizoit alloy was an intermediate material between Chrondigizoit Metal and living tissue, so it was able to integrate with living tissue, and it possessed both the super-hard firmness of Chrondigizoit, as well as the smoothness of living tissue; armor made from Chrondigizoit would deflect any attack.
The virtual super-metal Chrome Digizoid refined from Chrondigizoit was the strongest metal in the Digital World, and was vulnerable only to the strongest of attacks and other objects made from Chrome Digizoid. As such, it was frequently used as a base of comparison for hardness, with lower-purity Chrome Digizoid being slightly softer. Chrome Digizoid mines were rare and few as the metal formed through unknown means and was comprised of high class data.
In the vast Digital Multiverse, the metal was in low supply and caused massive battles. Powerful groups and kingdoms protected the region where they found it, and independent adventurers would get themselves killed if they entered such territories.
Many Digimon, especially Metal-species Digimon, incorporated Chrome Digizoid into their weapons or armor, and it could even be grafted directly to the user's body. The Digi-Egg of Miracles was also made of Chrome Digizoid. Despite being a metal, it was flexible enough to be used for constructing wings. Certain beings also attained sentience due to their Chrome Digizoid composition. While the basic form of Chrome Digizoid was quite strong on its own, it was possible to refine it into five chromatic variations with unique abilities. These refined alloys can then be hybridized into even more powerful forms.
Among these forms, the strongest was the Gold variant.
It was a small piece, the size of a tennis ball, but the value was phenomenal.
Steve smiled as he expected such a reaction. Unlike other little kids, Naruto had always been very humble and devoid of greed.
Such a thing would tempt any mortal soul to have it, though they would say the same words as Naruto to show fake humbleness calculating that the gift will still be passed to them.
Naruto's words were genuine and he didn't hold the desire to have it.
"Are you sure? My partner already has upgrades, so he doesn't need this tiny thing. I was thinking that you could make some gauntlets for your partners with it." Steve asked as he shared his plan for the item.
It was part of goodwill and increasing the bond between them. Steve definitely wanted Naruto to come join them in Washington but even without that, Naruto was the future so it was best to arm him.
There were other kids with potential but none of them were close to him like Naruto, which is why he gave the gift. He believed Gallantmon was a better digimon than Gankoomon, as it was quite obvious since Gankoomon had to struggle to get there while Gallantmon was the right hand of Omnimon.
Omnimon was the new leader of the Royal Knights while the old leader Imperialdramon-Paladin mode seemed to have disappeared without a trace decades ago.
The old leader was the strongest digimon that humanity knew about while the new leader was a grade below the old.
Regardless, even the new one was too powerful for anyone to fight except the top two of humanity.
Hearing his words, Naruto thought about it.
"I am sure." Naruto promptly sent it back. This thing was a bomb and would cause massive trouble for him at this stage.
He didn't even need it now.
His digimon wouldn't be able to handle the integration at this stage and it was like putting up a big sign.
Come and kill me in bold.
"Good choice, but I will set it aside for you. When you feel you are ready, give me a call and I will send it to you." Steve was happy since even the smart kids would falter at this moment and forget about the dangers.
To build upon that, Naruto didn't even say to set it aside for later. It meant he didn't care about getting the metal.
"You are giving me too much favor with this action. I will look for something to give before that day or you could call on me in time of emergency and I will come." Naruto could see that Steve was going to be persistent. The gift had his name written on it and he wasn't going to stop throwing it at him.
Naruto had planned to explore and find such things personally but he already got a piece.
It didn't change the plan since he would still need more of it.
These metals were the best method of giving your partner a permanent power-up. Digimon with evolutions that had this metal as part of their traits required the most amount of data.
Tai had to cause genocide in the Dark Area and find a lot of other ores to turn his Metal-Greymon into Wargreymon.
The same went for Yamato and his Metal-Garurumon.
Some digimon evolved easily while some were impossible tasks alone, it was the reason why there weren't so many of them.
There was also the fact that strong Ultimate digimon were strong enough to break the barrier between worlds and all Mega were capable of it.
This was in the past and now the barrier had been strengthened so it was rare for digimon to slip through unless a crisis took place.
"Fine, I will give you a call when you have grown some and send you on a hard mission. No more complaining or I am getting Wanda to brain-wash you." Steve patted his shoulder and warned him.
Wanda also known as the Scarlet Witch was a powerful member of the team. She was a New Type with power over chaos and mind control also fell under it.
She was actually stronger than Steve, just like some other members like Thor, Sentry and Hulk but Steve was the head because of his skills as a leader.
"No need, I am happy with that arrangement." Naruto agreed and avoided getting his mind touched by the Witch.
Steve was happy with that and talked to Naruto about his problem with the Brotherhood. The Hell-Fire club had also been making trouble in his territory along with White Tiger Gang from China, SUC from Korea and even Ouroboros from Japan.
The XMen helped out but the fact that so many criminal organizations had a hand in their country was alarming.
They were worried something big might happen that they were unaware off.
It wasn't something Steve would have shared with anyone else but it was his trust in Naruto that led him to talk about it.
Naruto could see why he would be worried and mentioned some reasons.
There was some treasure appearing in the Digital world section connected to USA.
There was a unique digimon that would appear in the USA.
Final but the worst, they were trying to topple the government and intending to destroy balance in the world so they don't have to hide like rodents.
Steve had thought about the first two but the last one never even registered in his mind and the same went for others.
He was so shocked that he ended up excusing himself and took away all the important personnel from the Task Force.
Kushina and Minato had to leave to join the meeting as they started a new round of discussion with Naruto's last suggestion as the central point.
Naruto took it in stride as he knew life could never be absolutely peaceful for him. He just had to walk his path and make sure that he didn't fall of the cliff this time.
