Normal Speech "Ophis innocence must be protected"
Character thoughts 'One time we were happy, but that time has passed'
Magic/Beast/Monster Speech "If my words won't reach you then maybe my fist will"
Magic/Beast/Monster thoughts 'You lied, you were weak and now I am being forced to act again'
Journal Entry: If I could predict the impact this town would have on the future, everything that would take place here then I might have done it differently, but the past is where it must remain - Naruto Uzumaki
"How much longer will you continue to stand there?" A normally bland and monotonous voice inquired, which held a dash of irritation. Her face was unreadable to most, but not to him, never him. He had known her for over a thousand years, and yet for the life of him, he couldn't comprehend why she had chosen this form. To hear her almost dead voice from a child-like appearance was a tad frightening to him.
They made sure to remain out of sight to everyone, even the supernatural. It wouldn't benefit them in the slightest if someone glanced to the sky and saw a man and a little girl floating in the sky without any kind of assistance. This world functioned better if people believed the supernatural was just myths and folklore, used to get children to behave and eat their veggies.
The owner of the monotone voice was a little girl with waist-long black hair, black eyes with reptilian slitted pupils and elven tipped ears. Her attire consisted of a black shirt with a blue X over her upper chest around, a matching coloured skirt and a bright pink jacket. She was wearing black knee-length socks with turquoise blue hearts climbing up the right side, on her skirt were two hallowed out hearts with a little golden ribbon design underneath.
"I thought you longed for silence, could you be becoming human like the rest of us Ophis?" A youthful voice teased out, sounding like he took some joy in asking that.
"Don't be foolish Naruto," Ophis countered back, her tone showed a bit more irritation, Naruto didn't let it get to him and just smiled softly ahead.
Naruto was not a being native to this world, but he had been here long enough to think of it as home. The much younger man had tried not to wear anything too flashy but failed apparently. He had picked out an orange dress shirt, a pair of form-fitting black jeans, a matching pair of dress shoes and finally a charcoal suit jacket.
The two were stationed above Kuoh, a small town in Japan that was soon going to become a hotspot for future supernatural activity.
Naruto's smile never faltered as he looked around at the people going about their day, them remaining oblivious to the fact that right above them were two superpowered beings capable of destroying Japan many times over. Well Ophis definitely, he hadn't thought about trying it himself.
The reason they were here or more so Naruto, Ophis had just tagged along because she was disinterested in being alone for the moment. The youthful-looking shapeshifter followed his gaze and found his target almost straight away.
The target of their interest was a building, it was especially large considering this city's small standards. The building itself looked rather plain in both style and shape, but it was the only club in this city, so it earned itself some points there. Ophis herself didn't care enough to provide any meaningful commentary, although her sole reason for existing was removing Great Red from the Gap, so her lack of opinion could be excused.
While lacklustre in appearance, it had something to help it stand out. A giant leaf with the symbol of Konoha, hallowed out in its centre, underneath it in big bold letters.
KONOHAGAKURE
The longer the pair stared, the more nervous Naruto felt. He took a risk and tilted his head in the direction of his companion, smiling sheepishly when he caught her deadpanned expression.
"Konoha? Really?" Her voice made him even more nervous.
"I'll admit I couldn't think of anything else alright." Naruto sighed softly to himself, his smile forgotten. "I just needed something to remind me of home, especially after all these centuries." That set her expression back to neutral, she could understand missing one's home. "Besides the only link to my home dimension is a comic or manga as they call it here, so it shouldn't be an issue." His smile returned after that.
"I suppose we should take a look considering you dragged me out here, I want a silencing barrier on it so I can't hear the outside," Ophis demanded, despite it was her initiative to tag along.
"So demanding~" Naruto sang, extending his senses and luckily enough finding the building empty. Clicking his fingers, their eyes picked up a very faint blue glow. "Let us go!" He cheered before vanishing in a flash of yellow, a purple one following directly after.
The very moment the two overpowered being reappeared, a different sort of mood had been set, mainly for Naruto. He had always been open about his mood, his expression giving it primarily away and even now was no different. He looked excited to see the fruits of his people's labour. A fine job had been done in his experience, he almost felt at home.
Ophis just looked around with a blank expression, except for the faintest of glimmers shining in her eyes.
If Naruto was being honest, he hadn't a clue with how to run a nightclub, then again how hard could it be? This was not a venture for profit, already having amassed enough to buy a country if need be, when you lived as long as he had then money didn't hold any value to him. So it didn't matter if the business made anything. Win or lose it still served its purpose as a front for their stay in Kuoh.
"Tables shaped like leaves…" Ophis spoke out loud with a cute tilt of her head, floating over to one of them before lowering herself onto it. Giving it a gentle tap with her foot, minding her strength as to not break it in half.
"The name translates to 'Village Hidden in the Leaves,' so leaves are kind of a focal point of the establishment," Naruto explained with a shrug before walking over to Ophis. Picking her up by her jacket and setting her on his shoulder, before proceeding to give her a tour of the place.
He was lucky enough to check this place for signs of life before they flashed here. If someone had been present who was not aware of the supernatural and started to make a fuss, then there were two things to be done. A) would be a mind-wipe or B) would have been obliterated on the spot so Ophis could reclaim her 'silence.' Granted she doesn't do it that much, but you never know with her. Luckily enough she looked to be quite passive at the moment.
When you would walk through the entrance it would be as follow: The bar would be located on the right-hand side of the ground-floor with a VIP section situated above, accessible by a staircase, it was through the VIP section is how you would get to the manager station for whoever was in charge for the night, mainly himself. On the ground floor directly opposite the bar on the other side of the room were the booths with leaf-shaped tables. The booths were black leather with seals inscribed into them for self-cleaning at the end of the night. You could fit between six to eight people per booth, the entire left side looked to be filled with them.
In-between the bar and the booths, the dance floor, big enough to fit around fifty to a hundred people. The lights situated around appeared to angle more light towards the dance floor as that should be the busiest area for the night. In front, on a slightly elevated stage was a DJ booth. Bathrooms were located to the right of the DJ booth.
Naruto toyed with the idea of having two different sets of bouncers, one for humans and the other for supernatural. In the end, he decided to employ his people for both. Even though he didn't have any idea what he was doing, he still wanted this place to be a respectable establishment. He knew to keep a closer eye on the supernatural side, they were bound to be trickier.
If there was one area he needed, it was an area for adults to have a smoke. Most of them smoked especially when they had some alcohol in their system. If he couldn't provide that then no point in even opening. Speaking of the opening, he was going to have to find a way to advertise the debut for the joint. That was not something he was knowledgeable about, he had no shame in admitting that, but he knew people who were more experienced in that field than him.
He had an idea for some free publicity, but he would need to make sure the booze was kept far away, as the age to enter a bar in Japan was 20 or over. Most publicity is good, and it could serve to build a bridge with the devils, something he hadn't had for a long time.
He needed them close to see if they kept their end of the bargain, or if they played him for a fool. If they didn't fulfil their end of the deal then there was going to be hell to pay, no pun intended. He seriously hoped that hadn't played him for a fool, humanity had suffered enough under their guidance.
Curse his bleeding heart, sometimes wanting to see the best held you back!
By the time Naruto had shown Ophis around, the little dragon had not kept quiet, when she had a question or wanted to know something she would point and ask. It delighted him in truth, it was nice to see her take any form of interest in something other than Great Red. Mostly everything feared or was extremely wary of Ophis and her power, and whilst he had some reservations about engaging her in combat, one thing was clear. Ophis was naive, but it was that sort of innocence about her that made him want to protect her, cherish her and how she could remain so innocent in this sinful world.
Just as the tour was coming to its conclusion, another presence entered the premises. Scanning the signature for a second, Naruto quickly turned around with Ophis on his shoulder, offering a warm and welcoming smile, an action that was returned.
A rather youthful-looking young woman, with long vibrant brown hair, a high ponytail that extended down to her waist. Her build was fairly short and slim, but that didn't cut any corners regarding her beauty, nor did it make her look weak. At most, she looked very athletic. Her strikingly hazel coloured orbs locked onto his form almost instantly, her smile rose a touch. The black mock-neck solid tank top looked great on her as it highlighted her assets were looked to be a solid c-cup, a pair of matching coloured skinny jeans that drew enough attention to her thighs, and finally some boots to complete the outfit.
The mysterious woman looked to be unable to contain herself anymore, closing the distance faster than should have been possible. She leapt and easily encircled her arms around his neck with her legs wrapping around his waist as if he was a giant teddy bear. Whilst many would view this as an overly affectionate lover reuniting with their significant other, Serafall being a known person for being overly affectionate toward her sister. Naruto's relationship to the woman being more father in nature, she was just excitable.
In her bout of excitement, he had forgotten about Ophis. Glancing to his shoulder to see she had vacated her spot, looking up he saw her hovering a few inches about him. Her expression displaying an almost minuscule frown aimed at the girl.
"Tory please give a warning next time, Ophis is giving you 'the look' again," Naruto tried not to be too bothered by it, and he was thankful that Tory had mellowed out, but she made it a habit to annoy Ophis when she got the opportunity.
Tory just smiled at Ophis with a twinkle in her eye. "Aww you're not being salty are ya?" Not bothered in the least about antagonising someone who could turn her into a bloody paste with just a wave of her hand.
Naruto wondered if it was a secret ability for her to hang off him like a sloth, he didn't bother listening to their banter whilst he thought about one of the main reasons he opened this club here in Kuoh.
This place would be an important strategic location in the future. He held no doubt that Sirzechs and Serafall would take precautions once they discovered his presence here, especially close to their sisters. The question he asked himself now though was how long does he choose to remain hidden. He didn't have anything to fear here especially from their peerages, he was a whole different fish for them.
They would grow in time and prepare for some of the harder challenges, but if they would reach the capability to take him on was questionable, let alone his group. One problem was that he didn't want to involve his little brother, but that might not be an option anymore.
It was almost like fate, two decades ago when he first passed through this town he felt their anguish. From his time when he was a healer, this pain felt particularly strong and so he wished to help them. He found them at the cemetery burying what he found to be their second child, both were stillborn. Naruto would admit that he wasn't proud of what he did next, manipulating their mind a little to go and adopt, only to make sure a clone of his was the child they took home.
He left his clone there to grow with them and make sure their next child would be born, healing magic from his dimension cured almost anything here provided you knew what you were looking for. Then a short time later, Miki got pregnant again and this time she delivered a baby boy, but that wasn't the most interesting thing. He had Ddraig attached to his soul. It was all too much of a coincidence, but he stayed after they had their son. Letting them keep their memories, he grew attached to them and enjoyed the feeling of having a family, even if he felt a bit guilty.
Naruto felt guilty for manipulating them, but he hoped that helping them have Issei relieved a little of his burden. He did like having a family. It didn't make him any less grateful for what Kushina and Minato sacrificed for him to be allowed to live.
Naruto thoughts were broken by an animal-like snarl, he watched Tory jump off him and get right into Ophis face, who looked Monotonous as normal. It was to be expected Tory was more of a confrontational girl, and Ophis was as cool as a cucumber. He placed his hand on Tory's shoulders and drew her back before she annoyed Ophis enough to take action.
"Cut it out," he reprimanded her. Focusing all his attention on Tory now. "Where is Nishiki?"
"He stepped out this morning," she responded with a pout.
"Shit," Naruto cursed. "Well if you see him tell him to give me a call." Turning his attention to Ophis who looked like she had enough being here, no doubt because of Tory. "Ophis you can leave if you want and we will speak later." The Ouroboros dragon disappeared the moment he said she could leave, Naruto sighed at that.
Letting go of her, he walked over to the bar. "I wish you wouldn't annoy her too much." He walked around the bar, Tory coming to a stop and taking a seat. Knowing she would want a drink now, he took two glasses and filled them with ice. "Pick your poison?"
"JD double and coke," putting the glasses down, he fished out the measuring cups before picking up a bottle, pouring it into the cup before filling her glass. Doing the same to his one, lastly, he grabbed the coke gun and filled up both glasses. When the drink was made, he put a straw in it and handed it to her. Tory took it with a grateful look.
Naruto left out the straw, raising it to his lips and feeling the cold beverage flow down his throat. The two soon descended into silence, that was until Tory decided to answer his earlier statement.
"It's not on purpose, I only do it to lighten her up," Tory answered, twirling the ice with her straw.
"I know but even after a thousand years, it still ain't worked. She ain't like us, we were born human, we have emotions it is not that simple. So why do you keep trying?" He was genuinely curious, Tory was by far the one who interacted with Ophis the most except for himself.
"You have already done it once, a creature you thought to be mindless. You helped it grow so why can't we do the same for Ophis." Naruto didn't have a response for that so he left it there.
Downing the rest of his drink, he left the glass on the bar. "Going to go and check on the folks," leaning over, he gave her a chaste kiss on the side of her head. "I am proud of how far you have come never forget that." Naruto walked away after that, missing the smile on her face as she resumed her drink in silence.
When Naruto stepped out of the club, the sun was shining. Giving off a stretch to limber himself up, not noticing his shirt rose a little giving off a free show to some of the women who were close by. He smiled and waved at them as they blushed a little. The ones that had partners blushed while their male counterparts glared at him, he paid them no mind and started walking toward the Hyoudou's.
As he started to walk he realised his adopted kids would be coming home tonight! He would need to make sure they wouldn't be detected or that could pose an issue that he wished to avoid until later on. Sona would be cautious and message her sister whilst Rias would most likely try to get one of them into her peerage especially with her upcoming engagement.
He hoped Sirzechs and Serafall had kept their promise to get their race to treat humanity better, it had been the one thing he asked of them. Humanity needed someone to guide it and if they couldn't then he would. War would follow and whilst the old version of him wouldn't be able to stomach it, the current him of today knew it was needed. Change without conflict was impossible and if they wanted a show of force then they would get one.
The Hyoudou residence was small, but it gave off the feeling of a proper family home. That was how Naruto felt as he stood outside the gate staring at it. He briefly wondered if Kushina and Minato would have provided a home with this feeling, had they lived?
No point in spending any more time dallying, opening the gate he felt a smile creep on his features. Walking down the small pathway, when he got to the door he gave it a solid knock and luckily enough he didn't have to wait long.
The door swung open, standing there was a typical middle-aged woman. Naruto hoped she would remember him, it was a silly thought, but he had been gone for a few years. The main thing that he had changed was his clothes, everything else pretty much looked the same… he might have grown a bit as well.
"Can I help y…" Trailing off, her eyes widened. A good sign, he prayed it was. "Naruto-kun?" Yeah, she remembered him, her voice was shaky. Naruto smiled at her, giving her the confirmation she needed. Like with Tory, Miki surged forward and hugged him in a more subdued manner. Easily catching her, wrapping her in a warm hug, their height difference was apparent now. Resting his cheek on her head, Naruto gave her a squeeze as both their eyes grew watery.
The guilt he felt earlier on his journey over him returned with vengeance, he compared this reunion to the one he could have had with Kushina after his training trip with Jiraiya. The love of a mother was truly a powerful thing, and he wished he could have had time to experience it with his parents from his former dimension. But he wasn't afforded that option, hence why he basked in a mothers' love now. Squeezing her again to show he missed her as well.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Hearing the voice of his adopted father. Raising my head I shot him a smile. He still looked the same as he did before I left, same office attire, same glasses and a paper underneath his arm. The moment he spotted me, he dropped the paper and repeated Miki's action.
"Hi dad," I smiled, the elder man flashed a grin at his adopted son. I saw his eyes growing misty but reframed from pointing it out. Male pride and shit. The moment was perfect, except for where was little bro?
"Where's Issei?" I inquired.
"He should be on his way home from school, you should have seen him when he got his acceptance letter to Kuoh Academy," Mom said with a proud look. We all knew Issei was perverted so that must have been like early Christmas for him. Well, a pervert wasn't as bad as to what he could have become.
"Enough of that though let us go inside," Miki quickly intervened, practically dragging Naruto into the house.
Crossing through the threshold, Naruto instantly felt his years of absence wash away. The house still looked mostly the same, there were a few more pictures scattered around though, taking off his shoes he put them down by the door. Walking through the house as his clone had done a thousand times, he plopped down on the sofa. Okay now would come the what were you doing? How have you been? Luckily enough he had a plan for all that.
"I hope, tea is alright?" Miki called out from the kitchen.
"That sounds perfect," Naruto answered. Smiling again when he saw how chipper she was, an extra spring in her step. Remaining silent when she poured some of the tea and put it in front of him. Adding a little bit of sugar, and giving it a quick stir. Naruto brought the piping hot cup to his lips, giving it a blow before having a sip.
Now he might be biased, but that was heavenly, and he had tea in heaven before.
"Delicious, thank you."
"So how was it? Did you eat properly? Were you safe? Did you keep everything clean?" Miki instantly fired out, Naruto chuckled as that was how it was when Kushina was explaining the man in the mask or later turned out to be Obito. He knew that Miki and Kushina would have been fast friends if they had the chance to meet.
Naruto noticed Gorou had returned as well, having changed from his work clothes into something more casual and comfortable.
"To answer everything, yes I have been fairly well. I was lucky enough to win the lottery when I was moving around, so money was no issue." That was the fabricated story, easy enough to believe as some people don't like advertising their winnings, it makes them an easy target for criminals. "I opened a club here now," he through that out there as well.
"Like a nightclub?" Miki inquired.
"Yeah mainly, I might have it open as a normal bar during the day. Not too sure yet, I did invest a pretty penny into it. Gives me something to do as I stick around for a little bit." Naruto informed much to the joy of his parents.
"That is good to hear, anything else happened?" Miki asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"This might be interesting, but I met some people around the world and adopted a few." Miki almost dropped her cup, and Gorou looked baffled. Naruto smiled, both at their reaction and some of his little one's antics.
"Oh, my, father experience already~!" Miki sang before a mischievous glint entered her eyes. "Is there a woman on the scene?"
Naruto smiled, showing his hand. He counted off each of them. "There were four boys and a girl, I offered to adopt her, but she turned me down so I think she might have a crush on me. The boys wanted me to adopt them, they can all be a bit of a handful, but I love them as if they are my children." He didn't answer about any woman on the scene yet, but he knew a few had their eyes on him.
"Very hands-on? Did they travel with you?" Gorou asked, intervening for the first time in the conversation, excited at the prospect of grandchildren.
"Yeah they saw quite a bit of the world, they are all very close to one another and help each other so there isn't much more I could ask of them." An idea sprung to mind. "You both should come over and meet them soon! I got to enrol them in Kuoh Academy in the next few days, I decided it was time for them to put down roots and no time like the present."
Miki and Gorou looked delighted at his other, Naruto knew how much they wanted grandchildren and whilst his children might be grown-up, there was still no reason they couldn't experience that joy.
"Where is Issei, I thought he would have been home by now." Glancing up at the clock, Naruto was surprised to find it was nearly 5 o'clock.
"Time flies," Miki pointed out absent-mindedly. "Issei has been busy with this new club he joined." That instantly drew Naruto's interest.
"Club?"
"Yeah, the occult research club as he called it," that froze the blood in his veins. Rias owned that! He would need to see Issei very soon, tomorrow at the earliest. "Sorry we know how happy he would have been to see you," Miki apologised with a grim look, waving it off Naruto smiled reassuringly, even if he didn't feel it.
"It's fine I'll stop by his school tomorrow. I want to organise something for my club, so I was going to pop around there and see if I could get any volunteers." Naruto spoke out. "It's fine honestly, but we will need to have dinner all of us, I know my children are dying to meet their grandparents!"
Naruto got to his feet, his parents stood up with him and walked him to the door. Embracing them both one more time, he hugged his mother for a moment longer. "I love you both," Naruto said with a smile targeted at them.
"We both love you too," they warmly returned. Naruto gave one last smile followed by a wave before leaving, walking down the pavement. When he was out of sight, his smile instantly vanished and his eyes narrowed.
Issei being a part of the ORC was troubling, then that must mean he is a devil. If that was true, then there must be a reason he was reincarnated and Ddraig could not be entirely the reason. The lack of a draconic aura surrounding the house gave that impression. He would need to question him tomorrow, and then explain how he knew of the supernatural… oh joy he wasn't going to explain everything. That would be too much pressure especially when he was questioned by Rias. Best to give enough, but only that.
He would put some protection on the house, make sure Miki and Gorou were safe.
Only back a few hours and things were already getting spicy. He hoped things didn't go out of control too quickly, or else the Khaos Brigade would become known sooner than he wanted.
Ophis might be naive enough to believe her power would keep them compliant, but he knew otherwise. They would lie to her and she would believe them, only his group and the hero faction were loyal, and that was too mainly himself. Ophis truly only had him, he dreaded to imagine what it would be like without his intervention.
His group worked tirelessly, setting up for the worst-case scenario and Naruto appreciated everything they gave because it came from them.
Naruto stopped for a moment when he thought about the hero faction, he wasn't blind even they had their darkness that couldn't be expunged. He tried and for the moment he had failed, but he guided it away from innocents, for the time being. A shiver ran down his spine when he thought about the chaos gods treasures could inflict. Naruto was truly lucky to have met them first.
He didn't want to kill his children, and he would fight to keep them from falling too much into the darkness, but if it was a last resort then he would do what he must.
With enough of those self-deprecating thoughts out the way, he disappeared in a flash of gold, briefly illuminating the dark pathway.
We're back with another story idea, ya know it is easy to think of these things than it is to finish them :(
I know it should be made a crime, same routine R&R if you want to see more as that does actually help when it comes to sitting down and going over this sort of thing. I got a few ideas for a few original arcs, I want to do, but we will have to wait and see if we get there fingers crossed we do as I got Naruto's own group in the Khaos Bridage sorted, we had a few people hinted and identified, so yeah hehe~
I know it might not be as good as I hoped, but I am trying to work on making everything perfect in my eyes or it never sees the light of day, another harsh reality. I got no idea when I will be posting chapter two as I want to plan it out more and make it flow like water, hopefully, but yeah big big things in store, I know this A.N will be jumbled as I am writing straight from my mind.
Anyway hope some of you did like this Saint out!