Fox of Many Masks

by HaretaSora

Naruto's life has never been easy, from being orphaned shortly after birth to being taken in for stopping a man from sexually assaulting a woman & sued for it is clear that things haven't been easy. After being put on probation, Naruto now finds himself in a new environment hoping to wait for the year to be over so he can return home only to get swept up in things - Naruto x Harem

5. Chapter 5

Fox of Many Masks

Chapter 5

-4/15 – Friday-

On his way to school his mind was focused on Shiho, worrying if she was okay and he should message her or not. Ultimately he felt that bothering her might be a bad choice, deciding to just sent her a 'I hope you are okay…see you at school?' message to her in hopes that was okay.

As his phone chimed he thought it was her, only to sigh as he saw it was Ryuji…not that he minded.

Ryuji: So whatddya think about what Morgana told us?

Ryuji: I dunno if I get all that stuff about stealing desires….

Ryuji: And I know you don't think it'll actually happen but Kamoshida turning like, brain dead if we mess up is intense…

Naruto: I really don't think he'll die or go brain dead.

Naruto: If we just steal the treasure then he'll become honest.

Naruto: I seriously think it's that simple, not as dangerous as Morgana claims it to be

Ryuji: Yeah I trust you but still can't help but be a bit nervous…

Ryuji: I'll try and think up something else we can do just in case

Putting his phone away he continued on towards school, keeping his ear out to listen to what the students around him were talking about.

"Did you hear how Kamoshida's office got vandalized? Apparently, someone put some weird smoke device in the vent of his office and set it off yesterday. He was talking with Suzui-senpai when it went off and they had to run out of his office" one of the two girls in front of him said in a worried tone. "Why was she even in his office? She was missing an important meeting" she added while the other one shook her head, Naruto able to tell she was rolling her eyes even from behind.

"I'd say it was Sakamoto but he's too stupid to make something like that…as for why Suzui-senpai was there its because Mr. Kamoshida asked to see her. I've heard rumors about how the two of them stay late together" the other said, leaving it in the air of what might have been happening.

"I heard she ran straight home after that…people say she looked terrified…"the first girl muttered, silence filling the rest of the walk to school while Naruto grew more and more worried for Shiho.

Before class started, he looked around for Shiho in the other second year classes only to not find her anywhere. This made him worry a bit and make him go and find Ann, subtly asking her to talk outside in the hall since she was the only person who might know where she was.

"Yeah Naruto? What is it?" Ann asked with a raised eyebrow, noticing how he looked a bit worried.

"Have you seen or talked to Shiho lately?" Naruto asked, making Ann frown as she shook her head.

"Normally we head to school together but she didn't show up so I had to go on ahead without her. I looked around for her in her class but I didn't see her either. She could just be too sore from practice or just not feeling well…are you looking for her because of that rumor about the smoke?" Ann asked, Naruto frowning and rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"That and also due to your call yesterday" he admitted, whispering the last part a bit since he didn't want anyone overhearing them.

"I'll text her and see if she responds and let you know" Ann told him before the bell started to ring, making them have to head back to the classroom as class was about to start.

Class was as boring as always with Mr. Ushimaru, the social studies teacher, droning on in his loud voice as always.

"Have you made up your mind?" a familiar voice asked out as Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as Morgana burst out from inside his desk. "No matter how much thinking you do, there's only one option. You'd better off just listening to me" he added before Naruto covered his mouth to quiet him up.

"Why are you in there!? Better off, don't talk!" Naruto hissed out in a whisper, pushing him a bit into his desk to hide him from everyone around him.

"Hm? Did I just hear a meow just now?" Ushimaru asked as he looked around. "Could that rumored cat be somewhere nearby?" he asked as well before glaring at them. "Settle down! We're in the middle of an important lecture!" he barked out, trying to get them to settle down before he went back to his teaching only for Naruto's phone to vibrate in his pocket.

Ryuji: It's no use…I can't think of any other way…

Naruto: Try and focus on class, we can work on that stuff after school

Ryuji: I can't deal with that shit right now. I mean, what're we gonna do about Kamoshida?

Ryuji: Do we just gotta go along with what that cat says?

Naruto was about to reply only for a student near the other side of the class burst up out of his seat.

"Hey…What's that…!?" the student asked in shock, his voice shaky as he stared out into the hallway and through the window across the way.

"Enough! This is a classroom!" Ushimaru yelled as he was never one for disruptions of any kind, at least, he utterly screamed that with his disposition and attitude.

"Wait…She's going to jump!" the girl behind the first guy yelled out, the class going into an uproar as Mishima was the next to stand up.

"Suzui…?" he asked in shock, Ann quickly bolting up and rushing out of the class with the class quickly starting to pour out behind her and Naruto right beside her – all of them ignoring Ushimaru's warning to not leave the classroom.

"Open up you stupid window!" Ann growled out as she struggled to open the window in the hallway before Naruto helped her open it. "What are you doing!? Shiho!" Ann yelled out to her, Shiho looking their way.

"Don't do this Shiho! I can't imagine what you've been through but this isn't the answer!" Naruto yelled out as he could see the look in Shiho's eyes was one of someone who gave up. "Fuck! Ann, grab my bag and meet me down there" Naruto quickly told her as he hopped up on the opened window frame, keeping his eyes on Shiho as he seemingly got ready.

"Uzumaki! Get down from there right now!" Ushimaru yelled out before Naruto quickly turned to look back at him, glaring so intently the grown man had to take a step back.

"And do what!? Just stand by and watch as she jumps!? No way! If I can save her then I'm going to do it!" he yelled back before instantly turning back to keep track of Shiho.

"Wait what!? What are you going to do!?" Ann asked in shock, taking a step back as Naruto could feel everyone's eyes on him while he refused to look away from Shiho before taking off his jacket and glasses which he then tossed both at her.

"I'm gonna catch her so someone call an ambulance" Naruto told her as he waited for the right moment, his eyes meeting Shiho's one more time before leaping just as Shiho stepped off the roof with him being thankful for being a sports guy and being pretty damn good at the long jump in gym.

His mind was a wild combination of erratic and hyper focused, his eyes darting from Shiho to everywhere around him to see where he might be falling. He knew there was no way he'd be able to make it to the other side of the building so he had to focus on catching her and slowing the descent.

'Catch her, don't grab a just a limb of hers, and support her head as best as I can while bracing for impact' his mind quickly raced as he collided with her and held her tight up against him.

He closed his eyes and braced for impact, trying to keep his back towards the ground so she wouldn't hit the ground.

The fall definitely hurt and the fact that they also crashed through some tree branches didn't make the impact with the ground any softer.

He quickly lost his breath the moment both his back and head hit the ground, barely able to open his eyes as he could vaguely hear people running up around them through the intense buzzing and ringing in his head.

"…to….ruto….Naruto! Come on Naruto!" Ann's voice yelled out, Naruto able to crack open his eyes as he took a deep and sharp breath after struggling to inhale.

"I-I'm fine…c-check Shiho" Naruto groaned out as he gently let go of Shiho and, with Ann's help, laid her down without moving her too much.

"N-Nothing looks broken but she's unconscious" Ann worried while Naruto nodded as he groaned in pain.

"The body will shut down when faced with something like this…as long as she's breathing she'll hopefully be fine if she gets treatment quickly…" Naruto told her, struggling a bit as he slowly moved his tense limbs around to check if he had broken anything.

"Her and you" Ann told him as the paramedics showed up and started taking care of Shiho before moving towards him only for him to wave them off.

"I'm fine, focus on her" Naruto growled out as he pushed himself up onto one knee, pushing past the pain that screamed through his entire body so that he could start to work to stand up.

"Are you serious! Go get treatment!" Ann hissed out to him only for him to look over at her with a serious look in his eyes.

"I'll be fine, you go with Shiho since she needs someone to go with her. If she has her phone on her then text me on it when you get updates on her status" Naruto told her, once again waving off the paramedics before someone helped him stand up, smiling to see it was Ryuji.

"You're so stupid! Fine!" Ann yelled out, handing his bag, jacket, and glasses to Ryuji before she rushed over to Shiho's side as she was put onto a stretcher.

Naruto kept his eyes on Shiho, watching as she woke up a bit and saw him before weakly turning to Ann and back to him. He couldn't hear what Shiho was saying to Ann but the shocked look on Ann's face just before Shiho passed back out made him decide to ask her about it later.

"Mishima just ran…something is up…he knows something" Naruto muttered, noticing how Mishima utterly booked it as if he was terrified of something before Ryuji turned and glared at him.

"Something is up with you as well! Denying treatment like that after you freaking jumped and caught someone before falling as well!" Ryuji scolded him, making him roll his eyes at his worried friend.

"Scold later, follow Mishima now" Naruto urged him as he walked through the crowd of people, everyone giving him a wide birth while Ryuji followed along.

"I'll corner him and text you where he is if you get lost" Ryuji told him before rushing off after Mishima with Naruto walking as fast as he could after them.

'Nothing is broken, muscles beyond tense from how hard I tensed up when I braced for impact…I can feel my head bleeding and I might have a concussion…that all comes later, figuring out about Shiho is the main task at hand' Naruto thought as slowly he was able to walk easier and easier as he kept going, finally catching up with Ryuji who had Mishima cornered near some lockers.

"That hurts!" Mishima groaned in pain as Ryuji stopped him from running.

"Then don't run like that! Also you don't get to talk about hurt when my friend jumped to catch Suzui!" Ryuji yelled out before Naruto put a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down, looking over to see Morgana atop the lockers before looking over at Mishima.

"I didn't run…" Mishima muttered before Naruto glared at him, that alone quickly shutting him up.

"She jumped and tried to kill herself. The way you ran screamed that you knew something so how about you speak up for once" Naruto told him, not caring if he was a bit harsh given he had just fallen from a second story window to catch a friend of his who just tried to kill herself due to something Mishima might know.

"We ain't tryin' to get you busted. We won't say you talked either!" Ryuji told him, playing a bit of a good cop with Mishima loosening up a bit and nodding.

"Suzui…She was called out by Mr. Kamoshida!" Mishima admitted while he stared down at the ground. "I was called by him a number of times too…to his office. It wasn't just me or Suzui either. He'd nominate someone when he was in a bad mood…and hit them" he told them, it going along exactly with what Shiho had told him.

"So the physical punishment thing was for real" Ryuji said, still surprised that it had been actually happening.

"But yesterday, he called Suzui out of the blue when she hadn't made any mistakes or anything…Mr. Kamoshida seemed really irritated that day so it must've been…worse than usual only that was also the day that smoke billowed out of his office so I don't know what happened" Mishima continued before Naruto sighed since he knew what had pissed Kamoshida off given his talk with Ann yesterday.

"I know what happened given I'm the one who set off the smoke" Naruto confessed, getting Mishima to look up at him in shock. "I had talked to Shiho like two days ago and she told me all about the physical punishment but she also told me something far scarier that he does to female students like her" he continued while leaving it open ended for them to pick up without him having to tell them.

"I told Shiho to message me if she needed help and when she did I set it off…let's just say if it wasn't for that something beyond normal levels of terrible might have happened" he growled out while clenching his fist and glaring down at the floor. "I might have saved her this one time but with everything that had happened to her and that incident that almost happened must've been too much and become the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back" he said since that was the only explanation he had for it, that being enough to make Ryuji snap.

"Son of a bitch!" Ryuji roared out before he quickly ran off.

'God dammit! I'm injured! This isn't the time to make me run after you!' Naruto groaned as he followed after Ryuji with Mishima following along behind him.

"He must be heading to Kamoshida's office on the second floor" Mishima figured while they kept on towards the stairs.

"We need to hurry or else Ryuji might snap" Naruto told him, them making it up to the second floor and turning the corner just as they saw Ryuji rush into Kamoshida's office with them entering right behind him.

"You bastard! The hell did you do to that girl!?" Ryuji yelled out in pure rage with Kamoshida lazily looking over their way.

"What are you talking about?" Kamoshida asked before Naruto put a hand on Ryuji's shoulder and stepped forwards to keep him calm.

"Shiho Suzui, you should remember her right?" Naruto told him, getting Kamoshida to widen his eyes a bit before glaring at them.

"What you did…wasn't coaching!" Mishima said, his voice steeling a bit despite him still looking down at the floor.

"What did you say?" Kamoshida growled out, that seemingly angering him more than anything.

"You…You ordered me to call Suzui here…I can only imagine what you did to her!" Mishima continued before Naruto cleared his throat.

"How about I make a guess of how things went down. You see, this washed up gold medalist has been going after one certain high school girl who honestly doesn't give him the time of day and makes up fake excuses to blow him off. This pisses off the man who peaked too soon in his life so he decides to blackmail her by using her friend's starting position while also blackmailing the friend with the first girl's safety. The main girl turned him down one too many times so he snapped and decided to try and rape the friend only I hear he got interrupted. Does that sound about right Mr. Washed-Up?" Naruto asked as he walked closer and closer to Kamoshida, the coach bursting up from his seat and standing right up against him with a fierce glare that Naruto just calmly met back with a smile.

"You see I just had to jump out of a window to catch and save her and do you want to know what her words were when she woke up a bit before she passed out? They were 'Kamoshida caused this'…doesn't spell out too well for you, especially with her condition not being that bad due to me saving her meaning she might wake up and confess everything" Naruto continued to poke and prod, it being what he did best against assholes like him.

He knew he was bluffing with Shiho's words but felt she would say something like that on her own once she fully woke up.

"You're just a gym teacher in a high school, you have no power outside of this school if someone decides to go to the cops so how about you make this easy and just turn yourself in" Naruto said before Kamoshida crossed his arms.

"I'd stop your idiotic chatter right now if I were you. You don't want to make an enemy out of me as I have all the power here and can make your life hell" Kamoshida whispered to him, anger seething in his voice while Naruto just smirked back at him.

"Bring it on asshole, you really do get your rocks off lording power over high school kids don't you? Makes you feel big and powerful doesn't it you little man?" Naruto asked him with a mocking frown, noticing how hard Kamoshida was clenching his fists to the point that the man's knuckles were incredibly white.

"Everyone present right now will be expelled. I'm reporting all of you at the next board meeting" Kamoshida announced before walking over to his desk, Naruto seeing the rage in his eyes and figuring he must have really had to hold himself back from attacking them given his past of beating students when he got angry.

"You can't do that!" Mishima yelled out before Kamoshida turned and glared at them all.

"Who would seriously consider what scum like you say? You threatened me too Mishima, so you're just as responsible" Kamoshida kept on, going on a power trip and loving it. "To think you didn't know why I kept someone as talentless as you on the team. You act like you're a victim but you leaked his criminal records all over the internet, didn't you? How terrible" he revealed, making Naruto slightly look back at Mishima before turning back to Kamoshida.

"Mishima…?" Ryuji said in shock, not expecting Mishima to have been the one to leak Naruto's record out.

"He told me to do it…I had no choice…" Mishima confessed as he fell to his knees.

"I don't care who did it since the man who ordered it is the real culprit. I mean come on, I knew it was Kamoshida from the start and I'm glad he finally admitted it as I swear continuing that whole 'good teacher trying to be buddy-buddy by inviting me on the team' was making me vomit in my mouth with how obvious it was" Naruto admitted with a gag and disgusted look on his face while staring the man in the eyes.

"Whatever, you aren't worth the trouble. Now are we finished here? You're all expelled! You're done for; your futures are mine to take. Now get out of my sight" Kamoshida barked back, waving them off with an annoying and cocky laugh.

"I can't believe this asshole's getting' away with this!" Ryuji growled out in anger before Naruto shook his head and turned towards him.

"He won't as I think it's time to accept Morgana's idea" Naruto told him, Ryuji widening his eyes as he remembered the Palace. "For now staying here won't do any good…plus the adrenaline is wearing off" he continued on before falling forward a bit to have Ryuji keep him from falling.

"Whoa dude! I knew you were an idiot for turning down treatment! Let's get you to the nurse's office!" Ryuji said before quickly dragging Naruto out of Kamoshida's office, Mishima leaving with them but not following them afterwards.

As Naruto sat on one of the nurse's beds he winced in pain while Ryuji, somewhat roughly, put some gauze on the bag of his head once he realized he was bleeding.

"Your red hair seriously makes it impossible to tell how much blood is left dude! Also where is the damn school nurse!" Ryuji complained, somewhat panicking before Naruto grabbed the gauze from him.

"I can handle it, just see if the nurse has a couple mirrors around and look for some bandages and any butterfly sutures" Naruto listed off, Ryuji looking at him unsure if that was a good idea. "Relax, my godmother is a doctor and as a kid I always got banged up. She taught me how to patch myself up just in case I got too banged up and there wasn't a nurse nearby. If you can't find any sutures I have some in my own little first-aid kid" he explained, getting Ryuji to start looking around.

"So, I take it you are accepting my offer?" Morgana asked, the 'not-cat' having followed them in and out of Kamoshida's office and heard everything.

"Yeah but not right now!" Ryuji yelled out as he looked around the nurse's office.

"Wait, why not right now?" Morgana asked confused since he thought with expulsion looming over them they would want to rush into it.

"We are so not doing it while Naruto is banged up like that! Give him like three days to heal up and then we'll head in" Ryuji explained before the door to the nurse's office opened up which caused Morgana to quickly hide.

"I figured you'd be here after I heard you turned down going to the hospital" Kawakami said as she walked in, eying both him and Ryuji.

"Sorry, I just wanted their focus on Shiho and I personally don't really like hospitals…I knew I wasn't seriously banged up as well" Naruto told her, getting a raised eyebrow from her to show she didn't believe him fully.

"So bleeding from the back of your head is not seriously banged up?" she asked which made Naruto grumble a bit before she walked over towards them. "Sakamoto head back to class, as his homeroom teacher I'll help him" Kawakami told him, Ryuji looking at Naruto due to being unsure of what to do before Naruto nodded to show it was okay.

"I'll come back after classes are done to keep talking so don't leave without me" Ryuji assured him before leaving, handing Kawakami the mirrors he had found.

"You really should at least go home" Kawakami told him with a tired sigh as she set down the mirrors, unsure of what he needed them for but decided she'd help him instead.

"Can't, my guardian runs a shop and I can't get in the way of his business" Naruto explained while Kawakami sat behind him and winced at the amount of blood on the gauze he was holding.

"Fine but I wrote you a note to give him to tell him to let you stay home so you better give it to him and rest" she told him in a tone that made it clear she wasn't messing around.

"Got it…" he grumbled before feeling her gently put a hand on his back.

"Other than that…you sure are either heroic or stupid for jumping out to save Suzui like that. You seriously scared everyone, even Ushimaru…and me" Kawakami said, her voice filled with worry which made him look down at the bed.

"Sorry…I couldn't just stand there and watch. I'm durable so I knew I'd be fine" he grumbled, getting a sigh from her.

"Kamoshida came to the teacher's lounge a bit ago and told all the teachers how he plans to expel you, Sakamoto, and Mishima…Safe to say it hit us by surprise, especially after you just saved a fellow student…what happened?" she asked before he pulled out his phone and opened the footage he recorded.

"I called him out on sexually abusing a fellow student and he decided to expel us for standing up to him" Naruto told her, turning a bit to watch her while handing her his phone.

Her expression as she watched went from confusion to disgust as she watched what Kamoshida was doing before the video ended.

"…Were you the one who set off the smoke in his office?" Kawakami asked with him nodding with a frown as he looked away.

"It was to save her from having something terrible happen to her…" Naruto told her in a somber tone, clenching his fist in anger as he still hated that she had to go through that even if it was stopped by him.

The mere fact that it almost happened definitely had an intense impact on Shiho given she jumped today because of it.

"I'll try my best to stand up for you but…I can't promise anything…Kamoshida is too much in the principal's ear due to the volleyball team…" Kawakami told him, Naruto turning to see her looking down and clenching her fists in anger, as if upset she couldn't do more.

"It's fine Kawakami, last thing I'd want is for you to get in danger due to standing up against him…I'm resourceful so I'm sure I'll be able to think of some way to get out of this" Naruto told her, putting a hand over hers and giving it a squeeze to assure her which in turn got her to smile at him a bit and nod.

"I'll be rooting for you so just be careful…" she told him softly as he nodded just before the world turned grey again around him.

"I am thou, thou art I….Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Temperance Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the ever same unknown female's voice spoke out again before the world turned back to normal.*1

"…Now what do you need me to do with these?" Kawakami asked as she picked up the mirrors and looked at him a bit confused.

Naruto couldn't help but smile and chuckle a bit, taking note of his new connection with Kawakami before he took one mirror from her.

"Right, just hold it up and I'll set up the other one" Naruto instructed her before, with some wincing from both of them – and squeezed shut eyes from Kawakami – he was able to suture up the cut on the back of his head that he had gotten from the fall.

He also tested for a concussion while he had the mirror in front of him, finding he had one but the delay in his eyes wasn't nearly to the level where it'd be dangerous if he slept, which was good as he was beyond tired.

"I have classes and even with the nurse out I'm sure no one will bother you in here…try to lay down and rest, please" Kawakami told him, putting a piece of paper on his bag while Naruto nodded as she left which finally allowed Morgana to come out from under the bed just as he faceplanted onto it.

"She seems nice" Morgana said, hopping up on the bed beside his.

"She's my homeroom teacher, she was a bit wary of me at the start but it's nice to see her warming up" Naruto explained to him before the exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him only for his phone to chime twice, him realizing one was from Haru and the other from an unknown number.

Unknown: Hey this is Ann, I got your number from Shiho's phone. Hope that's okay

Naruto: That's perfectly fine, how is Shiho?

Ann: She's fine but resting. She didn't have any broken bones but the doctors say the stress of everything and the fall itself tired her out mentally a lot.

Ann: They say she can go home in a few days once she rests and recovers…

Ann: She woke up for a moment and asked about you…how are you?

Naruto: Sore and tired but other than that I'm fine. Kawakami set it up so I can stay home for a few days

Naruto: Once the school day is done I'm gonna head home, right now I'm resting in the nurse's office

Ann: Wait for me, I'm about to be brought back to school. I want to talk with you

Naruto: Not like I can run away from anyone right now

The news of Shiho not being physically hurt was great news to him, Naruto silently hoping her mental exhaustion wasn't too bad and that she recovered quickly.

As he opened Haru's message he hoped she hadn't worried about him too much.

Haru: Are you okay?! Please respond as soon as you can

Naruto: I assure you I'm okay. I'm resting in the nurse's office and I'm going to be staying home for a few days to recover fully

Haru: Oh thank goodness. You seriously had me worrying when I saw you fall with Suzui-chan

Naruto: Sorry about that…

Haru: It's alright, you saved her life…just please rest up and recover. If you need anything, please let me know

Naruto: Will do, thanks :)

"Seems a lot of people are worried about you" Morgana noticed, Naruto shrugging his shoulders as best as he could while laying down. "Look, I know you need to rest and recover. I'll try and stay nearby the school and wait until you recover to start the plan" he told him before hopping up to the windowsill and walked out the slightly opened window.

Naruto yawned a bit, his eyes barely able to stay open before he passed out.

He must have slept through the whole day as the next thing he knew he was being gently stirred from his sleep by someone, Naruto waking up to see Ryuji as he stood beside the bed.

"Sorry, school is over and I didn't want you sleeping too long" Ryuji told him, Naruto groaning as he got up due to his entire body feeling in pain.

"That's fine, thanks for waking me" Naruto muttered as he got up off the bed, needing Ryuji's help to keep from falling over before feeling like he could stand on his own.

"No problem man, you ready to go?" he asked before Naruto shook his head.

"Have to wait for Ann" Naruto told him, confusing him before Naruto sighed. "I saved her friend, she wants to talk to me, it's fine and remember, don't get on her case as she isn't with Kamoshida like that" he quickly warned Ryuji which only made him sigh before he nodded to show he'd watch himself just as the door to the nurse's office burst open.

"Sorry! People kept bugging me about Shiho and you" Ann said as she gave him an apologetic smile before he waved her off.

"It's fine, Ryuji just woke me up so we weren't really waiting" Naruto told her, getting her to smile at him before looking over to Ryuji with a bit of a frown.

"Is it true though? You know, that you two are being expelled?" Ann asked with Ryuji being the one who nodded with a scoff.

"We stood up to Kamoshida about him sexually assaulting Suzui and he decided to have us expelled for it…though I am surprised at how many students seem to be against it" Ryuji explained, Naruto surprised that the students seemed to be supporting them.

"Well Naruto is seen as a hero and all, the students and teachers aren't really with Kamoshida but Kamoshida seems to have a lot of say with the principal…which brings me to ask if you guys are still planning to take him down and if so….let me in on it too" Ann asked with a determined and steely look in her eyes, causing Ryuji and Naruto to share a look.

"Ann, I know Shiho is your friend and you are just as pissed – if not more – about what happened but…what we have planned is a bit…unique to where only we can do it. If you don't have the…skills…it'll be dangerous" Naruto told her, trying to pick his words as best as he could while he walked over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eyes.

"I promise you, if we need help I will let you know right away since I have your number now" he assured her, making her frown but nod with a sigh.

"Fine but at least let me help walk you home like I figure he is doing so I can tell your parents what happened" Ann said, somewhat accepting what he said but not allowing him to go off without being thanked.

"I live with a guardian who isn't related to me but please, feel free to come along. It might help my situation. I live in Yongen-Jaya so if we are to catch the train on time with my slow speed we should get going" Naruto told her, walking out with Ryuji shrugging it off as while it might annoy him this was the best way to ensure she didn't get in their way.

"Here, let me carry your bag" Ann quickly offered, gently taking his bag from him while Naruto walked with his hand on Ryuji's shoulder for support since all of his muscles were screaming out in pain.

"Thanks Ann" Naruto said with a smile as they made their way through the school.

Instantly he could see and hear the change in things, everyone almost looking worriedly at him and wanting to say something but didn't seem able to get the words out.

Also, they seemed to be whispering about how his assault was to protect someone from being raped and how they were wrong about him which made him think that Kawakami was doing her part.

"Wow, only takes jumping from a second story window to change people's viewpoints about you" Ryuji said with a scoff as they walked out of the school.

"So what kind of place do you live?" Ann asked, finding herself a good bit curious about him.

"I live in the attic of a café, the guy who is watching me while I'm on probation is a friend of my godfather and runs the café. It's a nice place if you like really good coffee and curry" Naruto told them honestly, having no need to say anything other than the truth given they were about to see it for themselves.

The train ride was a little rough, as were climbing stairs, but eventually he was able to make it to Yongen-Jaya and to LeBlanc.

"Whoa, you really do live in a café" Ryuji said in shock while Naruto nodded and they went inside.

"Ah, what a nice smell" Ann said with a smile, the smell of coffee making it feel comforting.

"This place looks so outdated…I can't say I hate it though" Ryuji said as he looked around.

"It has a retro feel to it, makes it feel cozy" Naruto told them, watching as Sojiro walked out of the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Hm? Who're they?" Sojiro asked, curious about the two kids and why Naruto looked so exhausted to the point of needing to lean on the other guy like that.

"Hello!" Ann said with a smile while Naruto sat down on a chair at the bar, thankful no one else was here right now.

"A girl too?" Sojiro said as if shocked he knew one.

"Look, Naruto really hurt himself today so can you please let him stay home and rest for the next three days?" Ann asked with a deep bow, surprising Ryuji and Sojiro before the older man turned towards him.

"What does she mean 'really hurt yourself'? What happened?" Sojiro asked before Naruto pulled out Kawakami's letter from his bag and handed it to him.

"Read this, it's from my homeroom teacher. It should explain things" Naruto told him, Sojiro raising an eyebrow at it before nodding and accepting the letter.

"Okay, just sit down for now. I'd offer you all coffee but I feel this is important" Sojiro apologized, both Ann and Ryuji shaking their heads to show it was fine as they sat down at the bar on either side of him.

Naruto felt embarrassed for some reason as Sojiro read over the letter, his reaction growing from being unsure about it to confusion to shock.

"Is this serious?!" Sojiro asked in shock before Ann stood up from her seat.

"Please don't be angry at him" she quickly asked as she met Sojiro's eyes, showing him the shaky emotion in her. "H-He seriously saved my friend…i-if he hadn't…I-I don't even want to think what might have happened" she started to choke out, Naruto seeing tears build up in her eyes.

"H-He was a real hero. I-I know you run a shop but please, I don't want him hurting himself after saving my friend like that" she continued, Naruto watching as she started to cry before handing her a nearby napkin, her using it to wipe her tears.

"…Fine, not like I was going to deny it after him getting hurt. I'm just more shocked to hear he jumped out of a second story window to save someone…" Sojiro said in shock with a sigh, looking at Naruto before Ryuji nodded.

"He seriously was amazing, jumping without any hesitation and grabbed her midair before shielding her as she fell. While I still think he's stupid for turning down medical service he seriously was like a hero…though he might need a bath with how he was bleeding a bit" Ryuji told him before Naruto sent him a bit of a glare for talking too much while Sojiro just sighed.

"There's a local bath nearby. I'll talk to the owner to let him know, I'm sure you can wash off with the showers before going into the baths….I can't promise I'll be able to focus on you too much with customers around but I'll do my best" he explained with a sigh as Naruto nodded.

"I figured and don't expect you to all that much since you do have a business to run" Naruto assured him before Ryuji started to look around out of curiosity.

"So like, where is your room?" Ryuji asked with Sojiro smirking a bit.

"Go on, show them to your room since customers might show up. Do try to be quiet though" Sojiro said, Naruto nodding as he understood before he got up and started to guide them towards his room. "Oh and sorry for the mess! His room was my storage room until recently and he hasn't had time nor have I allowed him to clean things up" he quickly apologized before they headed upstairs to his room.

"He's right, I really haven't been here long enough to clean up. I came here on the 9th of this month so that should tell you how little time I've had" Naruto warned them again before finally heading up to his room.

"Whoa, even with the mess this place is huge" Ann said in shock while Ryuji nodded.

"It's definitely insane, just imagine when he is able to clean up" Ryuji agreed with a nod, neither of them minding the mess since it made sense with him having just arrived six days ago.

"Thanks for helping me get home and explain things to Sojiro. I mean, he would have understood if it was just me but it would have taken a while longer" Naruto told them, hissing a bit in pain as he sat down on his bed.

"Dude don't worry about it, you've done enough so us coming with you is the last we can do" Ryuji waved him off with a smirk.

"He's right…you saved Shiho…I can't even come close to repaying you for it so I'll do everything I can to help" Ann told him, surprising him and stunning him by hugging him, him momentarily stuck with his hands frozen by his side before Ryuji urged him to hug back, which he did gently.

"You don't have to repay me for anything Ann, I never ask to be repaid for things I do to help people" he told her, getting her to hug him tighter and bury her face in his shoulder as the world turned grey for the second time today.

"I am thou, thou art I….Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Lovers Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the voice said again, the world returning to normal before Ryuji cleared his throat with a smirk getting Ann to pull away from the hug with a bit of a blush.

"What? You got something to say Ryuji?" Ann asked with a lighthearted glare that showed she wasn't actually angry.

"Nothing, just saying that was a long hug" Ryuji teased, unphased by Ann's glare while Naruto chuckled at the two of them.

"But seriously Ann, don't feel like you owe me anything" Naruto told her as he sat down on his bed with a groan.

"Still…I'm going to do what I can to help you, starting with bringing homework, handouts, and notes to you over the three days. I'll also keep you updated on Shiho so I hope you don't mind some messages here and there" Ann told him before he nodded with a smile.

"I'll also keep you updated on what Kamoshida is doing and saying around school as well as what everyone else is saying about you. You just focus on feeling better" Ryuji added, walking over and holding out a fist for a fist bump.

"Thanks, both of you. I'd walk you out but…you know" Naruto said with a frown, this time them being the ones to wave him off.

"Don't worry about it, like Ryuji said, focus on getting better" Ann reassured him before they waved to him and left, Naruto hearing Ann talk a bit to Sojiro most likely before they left, allowing him to fall back on his bed.

"Hey, I just remembered there is a clinic ran by a doctor around here" Sojiro told him as he walked up the stairs and into his room. "It's probably still open but by the time you get done with washing off it'll be closed so try and go there tomorrow" he added, Naruto nodding as he pushed himself back up having totally forgotten about taking a bath.

"Got it, I'll try not to be too much of a bother these next three days" Naruto promised him, Sojiro merely sighing and shaking his head.

"After all you just did I feel you've earned the right to be a bit of a bother. Just focus on getting better, if you get hungry during the day just come on down whenever and you can head back up here once your done since I can't have you starving" Sojiro said, showing he didn't need or want Naruto cooped up in here as if he was some sort of plague towards the customers.

"Thanks Sojiro" Naruto said with a smile as he stood up and started to head to his box for a change of clothes for when he got and bath stuff.

"Don't worry about it kid as I'll admit, even with Jiraiya's letter I was still a tiny bit unsure about you but…someone who leaps into danger to save someone else while worrying more about others then themselves can't be all that bad" Sojiro admitted with a soft smile, Naruto chuckling and smiling back.

"Thanks Sojiro, that really means a lot" Naruto thanked him before the world turned grey again.

"I am thou, thou art I….Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Hierophant Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the woman said once more before the world, as always, turned back to normal.

"Before you head to the baths I want you to head to the nearby clinic to get checked up. We're lucky enough to have a doctor really close nearby the movie theater…even if she is a bit shady. In the end it's better safe than sorry after jumping out of a two-story window" Sojiro said in a flat tone, getting Naruto to chuckle embarrassedly a bit before leaving back down to keep an eye on the shop.

Naruto, as he got his bath stuff ready for him for when he finished up, didn't mind going to a clinic doctor since his main gripe was with hospitals.

Growing up he always was a bit too rough which resulted in him having to visit them due to Tsunade. It wasn't like he was scared or anything, it just became an annoyance over the years due to his trips to them.

Slowly making his way down the stairs he gave a nod to Sojiro before he left in search of the clinic, remembering Sojiro mentioning it was near a movie theater.

He was able to find it easily enough, heading inside to find a nice little waiting room that didn't seem like other doctor's offices he had been to.

Walking up to the front desk he was met with a rather attractive young woman who, given there was no one else here and she was wearing a white lab coat, had to be the doctor who ran the clinic.

"Haven't seen you around here. So, what are you here for today?" she asked as Naruto before he nodded and frowned a bit.

"As crazy as it sounds I recently kind of jumped from a second story window to save someone from falling from the roof of my school…" Naruto told her, getting her to raise an eyebrow at him before sighing.

"Please come to the exam room" she instructed before motioning to the blue door on his right.

Once inside she walked out from behind a curtain, allowing him to see her fully.

The woman had dark blue hair styled in a messy bob-cut with blunt bangs and brown eyes. She wore several necklaces and a studded choker alongside a short black dress with a red belt under her lab coat and a pair of black platform heels to finish off her outfit.

All in all she definitely didn't scream 'normal doctor'

She snapped him a bit out of his daze as she looked up from a chart she had begun to fill out and pointed to the exam table to non-verbally tell him to sit down.

"Tell me what happened as you'll have to excuse me if I find this story to be odd" the doctor said before he nodded and started to tell her about how a friend of his had tried to commit suicide and he had leapt out of the second story window to catch her.

Thankfully, as messed up as it was, people had recorded it and posted various videos online. His red hair being obvious in the video helped prove that it was him.

"Why are you coming here? Didn't you get medical service from the paramedics?" she asked as he shook his head.

"I turned them down, not too fond of hospitals and I had something important to do" he told her before he pointed to the back of his head. "I have a bit of a gash on the back of my head from the fall, had a bit of a concussion, and no broken bones from what I can tell" he informed her, getting a bit of a smirk from her as she looked at him.

"Turning down treatment was rather stupid of you but its good to see you at least have enough medical knowledge to patch yourself up. Is one of your parents a doctor or nurse?" she asked, getting a 'sorta' gesture from him.

"Godmother is one and she taught me how to patch myself up" he explained as she walked up to him and turned his head to the side. He kept still as she inspected the sutures he put on.

"Not half bad but I'll need to take these off and disinfect and properly bandage them. For quick care you did a decent job but you did the right thing by coming here for actual care" she told him before removing his sutures.

"You don't need stitches so that's good for you" she confirmed before she began to clean his wound and put sutures back on it as well as bandage over them to protect them. "Other than that you're right, I don't see anything broken…I'll prescribe some painkillers to help you recover" she said as she went over to the computer in the room and started to write on her clipboard while asking for his standard info and insurance card. Once that all seemed done she walked over and through a larger curtain towards his right and returned after a bit with two bottles of medicine, a package of gauze pads, and some medical tape.

"Take these for the next week and remove and replace the gauze over the sutures before and after you bathe" she instructed him before writing the how many he needed to take per day on the blank label and handing him the bottles and gauze.

"Thanks Doctor…?" he thanked before trailing off to subtly ask for her name.

"I'm Tae Takemi. Just call me Tae" Tae briskly introduced herself, seemingly not being one for being called 'Dr. Takemi'.

"Well then, thank you Tae" Naruto thanked with a smile, getting an ever so slight smirk from her with a nod.

"You're welcome but next time, don't jump out of windows" she teased, making him softly rub the back of his head sheepishly while avoiding his injury.

"I'll try not to" he told her before he got up off patient table and left the room, pausing as a man in a suit was waiting outside the room.

"Oh, sorry" he apologized before stepping out of the man's way and allowing him to head on in.

He was just about to leave before he heard Tae speak up.

"What is the purpose of your visit? Do you have a cold? Stomachache? Athlete's foot? Whatever it is you'll need to take a number…" she started to explain to the man, Naruto also finding it odd that he just walked in like that before the man interrupted her.

"Enough of this! You're the only one who could have developed that type of medicine" he yelled rudely, Naruto frowning as he somewhat wanted to wait to make sure the man didn't potentially accost her too much.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about" Tae casually told the man, clearly not phased by the rude man.

"Don't play dumb with me. Rumor has it, it's a drug so potent it can give a person unlimited power" the man said, Naruto struggling to resist the urge to laugh at how utterly ridiculous that sounded.

It was like something someone believed if they were in their chunibyo phase.

"Really? That's news to me" Tae said, still as calm as ever since she undoubtedly thought his delusions were ridiculous as well.

"Developing experimental drugs, medicine, and herbal remedies violate all health regulations. Are you attempting to create a super-stimulant? A drug like that will only become a social issue" he continued, still stuck on the 'super drug' idea.

"You're really persistent you know that? I'm just a quack" she told him, brushing off his stupid and ridiculous claim.

"The police may not be taking action, but I imagine the media will soon pick up on it. You intend to ruin my reputation again, huh? You're a disgrace to the medical community" the man kept going, Naruto hearing Tae 'tsk' in annoyance.

"What's with the look? That was your mistake, was it not? I won't be responsible for your criminal actions. Dispose of that 'medicine' immediately and resign" he said, trying to really slam her down, making Naruto glare as he opened and closed the entrance to alert them.

"Hey Doctor? Did I leave my medical card in there?" Naruto said out loud, interrupting them and causing the man to leave the exam room in a huff and glaring at him a bit as he left.

"I don't see it but I know you weren't actually asking for it" Tae told him as she crossed her arms and leaned against the open doorway, staring him in the eyes with another barely visible smirk on her face.

"Sorry, I overheard his chunibyo delusion of a super-drug and nearly laughed only to kinda hear him start going after you and thought I could help a bit. I just really don't like assholes" he told her, grumbling a bit at the end before she shook her head with a smirk.

"And the part about me creating my own medicine?" she asked with a raised eyebrow only to get a shrug from him.

"Look, creating your own medicine isn't against the law. My godmother actually makes her own medicine like that and, due to my strong body, I'm often the test subject for them when I catch things they'd end up helping" Naruto joked with a smile before waving her off. "Also don't worry, I don't believe in this stupid 'unlimited power' drug" he added on with an eyeroll to show how ridiculous he thought it was, getting a nod from her as she listened.

"Your godmother seems like an interesting woman…and thanks for helping get rid of him. I really hate pushy men like that" she told him before walking back into the exam room only to stop and turn back towards him after a few steps. "Also, let me know how those meds treat you. If you need something better just let me know since I can probably give you some of my personal creations" she told him, Naruto merely nodding before taking her walking off as his cue to leave as well.*2

Once he got back to LeBlanc he was quick in and out as he noticed Sojiro had some customers. He made sure Sojiro noticed his medicine as he headed upstairs to grab what he had gotten ready for him to take to the baths as well as put the pills on his bed. With everything in hand he hurried back out as fast as his sore body would move him with it all and a single gauze pad along with the roll of medical tape to replace the one he'd have to remove in the bath.

Taking a bath was a bit rough as he stripped and put a towel around his waist and a spare one draped over his left shoulder. Removing the gauze was also a bit painful due to his hair but he was able to do it in the end after slowly working it.

As he washed off he felt a bit embarrassed with the blood that was getting washed out of his hair as well as the bruises on his body from the branches and the impact. Thankfully no one was really in the baths today.

Once fully washed off, ensuring that there was no more dried blood in his hair or dirt on his body he was able to make his way into the bath which got a long and content sigh from him. It was exactly what he needed for his sore muscles after an insanely long day.

Once he was done and changed into his lounge clothes he headed back to LeBlanc only to find a plate of curry and a cup of coffee waiting at the bar with Sojiro standing behind them.

"Go on and put your things upstairs then come back down for dinner" Sojiro told him with a bit of a smile, Naruto nodding as he went and put his things away before quickly replacing the gauze pad since now that he was out of the steamy bathhouse.

"So, how'd the bath feel?" Sojiro asked since he could tell just by watching him that his body was less stiff.

"Felt great, my body no longer feels like I have gunk in my joints" Naruto told him, getting a nod from his guardian as he sat down to eat his dinner.

"That's good to hear, especially after the stupid thing you did" Sojiro said, shaking his head still in disbelief at what he had done today without a second thought. "But can't say you didn't do the right thing saving her like that" he added with a smirk as he ate and eventually finished up his food.

"Thanks for the food as always" Naruto thanked him, going to wash the plates only for Sojiro to stop him and take the dishes from him.

"I've got those, you just go upstairs and relax. Take your meds and go to bed early" Sojiro advised before Naruto nodded and made his way upstairs since its not like actually had anything else to do.

Sitting on his bed he went right to opening his bag, fishing out the tarot card box and, just as he thought, he found three more cards in it.

'As the days go by I'm getting more and more of these cards…it's what Igor and those twin wardens wanted' he thought with a sigh before he used a bottle of water he kept nearby to take his meds.

Slept came incredibly fast as he laid down on his bed, today being insane and exhausting.

-4/16 (Saturday) through 4/18 (Monday)-

As bad as it sounded, getting injured on a Friday was the best choice since he only really would be missing school on Saturday and Monday. Plus none of them were given any work on Friday due to everything.

Ann still came by after school both days, giving him notes and fill him in on info about Shiho.

Turned out she was able to go home on Sunday but stayed home Monday. It seemed like she had shut herself up in her room to recharge a bit on her own while he and Ann could only respect her wishes and give her space.

He did get one single text from her that read 'Thank you' and he of course told her not to worry about thanking him and that he hoped she was doing well.

Haru texted him as well, wanting to check up on him and make sure he was doing okay, which he appreciated and let her know that he did.

Ryuji had also kept him up to date on what was going on at school when he came to visit along with Ann. Apparently, the students and some teachers in private were supporting him. Though even then both of them knew with Kamoshida's strangle hold over the school it wouldn't have much effect on things.

They didn't mind since they knew the Palace was the best shot to take him down and as Naruto sat on his bed, feeling immensely better, he was ready to go at it.

-4/19 – Tuesday-

-Principal's Office-

"I know he angered you Kamoshida but expelling Uzumaki-san after his heroic deed will anger the student body and some teachers. Plus with the video of the scene spreading out over social media the public might look negatively at the school if they learn we expelled a hero….Can't you let it slide this one time?" Kobayakawa asked with a frown, wiping sweat from his forehead as Kamoshida stood in front of his desk with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face.

"He challenged me Principal Kobayakawa! He came into my office with that damn Sakamoto and even Mishima and spoke down to me! I can't let that stand!" Kamoshida growled out in anger, slamming a hand down on the Principal's desk and making the man jump a bit. "And who cares about the public or the students! My volleyball team going to nationals will make up for any of that. Plus he is a criminal who has an assault record. I could easily lie and say he attacked me since if he hangs out with Sakamoto it wouldn't be that far of a stretch" he continued to explain, making the Principal nod slightly at.

"But if that's the case why not just expel him now? I can do it right now if you want" Kobayakawa told him only for Kamoshida to smirk and shake his head.

"I want those brats to stew in fear of the inevitable. Plus it'll teach everyone else not to stand up against me ever again" Kamoshida explained with a smirk before leaning forward towards the Principal.

"You just keep things as they are with me doing what I decide I need to and I promise you I will make this school known through all of Japan" Kamoshida assured him, patting the Principal on the cheek as the man nervously nodded before Kamoshida left.

As the gym teacher left Kobayakawa could only sigh and wipe his sweat again.

'I hope you're right Kamoshida or else things might get messy…for me…' Kobayakawa thought as he could only bury his face in his hands.

-Naruto-

While he made his way to school it was blatantly obvious that things were a lot different. Even without turning his head he had felt eyes on him from all the other students around him.

The whispers were also in full force only now seemingly about if he was alright and if Kamoshida was really going to expel him.

Once he arrived at school he found Ann and Ryuji waiting for him, Ann quick to run over to hug him with a smile.

"Nice to see you back at school finally" Ann said before she pulled away, still smiling as Ryuji patted him on the shoulder.

"Been hectic while you were gone but we can talk about that later" Ryuji told him, hinting about the palace while Naruto nodded.

"Also…I'm going to go to Shiho's house later today to see if I can talk with her…her parents want to meet you as well…" Ann said, silently asking him to come along with her before he patted her on the shoulder with a smile.

"Sure thing Ann since I also have been worried about Shiho and would really like to check up on her as well" he told her, getting her to smile and nod.

"Awesome! I'll text her mother real quick and let them know you're coming along" Ann said excitedly as she walked away a bit to start her text.

"Dude, what about the Palace?" Ryuji asked him in a whisper, Naruto waving him off and shaking his head.

"Time doesn't move all the much when we are in the Palace. I figure we can get what we need to get done in there and when it's done I can head over to check on Shiho" Naruto assured him which got an unsure nod from Ryuji who decided to trust his judgement.

"Sweet, they say they are looking forward to meeting you" Ann said with a smile as she rejoined them just as the bell rang.

"Well, don't wanna be late on my first day back" Naruto told Ryuji, his friend bumping fists with him before nodding.

"See ya after class" Ryuji said before they all hurried off to their class.

As he walked into the classroom it instantly grew silent, as if the air had been taken from the room in that moment. Naruto paid it no mind as he and Ann walked to their seats but he could feel, and see, Mishima staring at him a lot from his peripheral vision.

"Okay everyone class is starting!" Kawakami told everyone before looking over and smiling at him. "Good to see you're back with us Naruto, I hope you recovered nicely from your fall over the last few days" she said with a smile, Naruto nodding with a smile of his own before class began.

Things were bout the same as usual only no longer were people constantly whispering about how shocked that he knew answers to questions he was asked or about how dangerous they thought he was.

It was nice but at the same time all the staring was a bit much to the point when lunch rolled around he bought some bread from the school store and slipped away up to the roof.

He was honestly surprised it was still unlocked after everything but, then again, Shujin didn't scream 'worry about our students' in the slightest.

Eating his lunch he was again surprised when the door opened only to find Haru the one behind the door.

"I hoped you'd be up here" she said with a soft smile as she walked over, closing the door behind her. "Came here for some peace and quiet?" she asked, getting him to nod while she sat down on one of the spare desk chairs that were nearby.

"Yeah…I don't mind the change in attitude towards me but I'd rather not have all the staring at me" Naruto told her with a shiver and a bit of a frown, getting a bit of a giggle from her.

"Well what do you expect when you jump from a window to catch and save someone? Everyone is treating you like a hero which I feel you deserve" she praised with a genuine smile that made him honestly blush a bit and look away which in turn only got another giggle from Haru.

"Still don't know how to take all that since I didn't do it for praise, I did it to save Shiho…" he muttered before Haru put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it to comfort him a bit with a smile.

"Then that shows you deserve the praise even more since heroes never do it for the praise of others but because it is the right thing to do" Haru told him, puffing out her chest like a hero before blushing and pulling her hand away. "Sorry if that was weird…" she muttered before he put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"It wasn't weird Haru, if anything I should be saying thank you" he said with a smile, getting her embarrassment to go away and her smile to return before they began eating and enjoying their lunch together.

As lunch finished the rest of the day went relatively the same with people staring, Naruto sighing as school finally ended, Ann turning around with a smile once they were finally dismissed.

"You're still coming to see Shiho with me, right?" Ann asked while Naruto nodded and grabbed his bag.

"Yeah, I just gotta talk with Ryuji about something real quick. Meet me out front of the school and we can head over" Naruto assured her, Ann nodding before letting him hurry out of the classroom only to instantly bump into Ryuji once he got a bit out of the door.

"Whoa! Seems I'm not the only one who thought to come right away so we can get things done" Ryuji said before Naruto nodded.

"We need to go quickly since Ann wants me to go check on Shiho. Where's Morgana?" Naruto asked since he hadn't seen the 'not-cat' the whole day.

"Morgana has been waiting around that little alleyway we walked through on that first day we arrived at the Palace. He should be here since I told him today was the day to finally get that bastard Kamoshida" Ryuji declared with a massive smirk before Naruto shushed him.

"Be careful with your volume dude, last thing we need is eyes on us. Now let's go" Naruto told him as he started down the stairs, Ryuji following him with an unknown third person a bit behind him.

"Bout time you got here!" Morgana yelled out as they arrived.

"Hey! We got here as fast as we could without getting yelled out so lay off you cat!" Ryuji hissed out, stomping his foot in annoyance as he and Morgana glared at one another.

"Enough of the comedy routine, are we good to go?" Naruto asked impatiently before the two of them stopped and nodded.

"Yeah we've been ready. Just keep in mind the moment we cross over we'll treat each other like phantom thieves so I hope you're ready" Morgana explained, getting confused looks from them both.

"Phantom thieves?" Ryuji asked still unsure what Morgana's deal with phantom thieves was.

"Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal Treasure – that is what we will become!" Morgana declared, Naruto unsure but shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.

"Not bad, I mean our outfits help us fit the bill" Naruto accepted with Ryuji nodding along.

"Yeah, that sounds kinda cool" Ryuji admitted before pulling out his phone, showing he was raring to go. "So we just gotta open this app, say the school, Kamoshida's name, and….'castle'? Then we end up in bizarro world, right?" he asked to make sure, still not being too certain how all this worked.

"Pretty much, the same as last time so if everyone's ready lets get going" Naruto assured him while he opened up the app.

"Yeah! Let's take this effin' Kamoshida down!" Ryuji declared as the person who had been following them hid around the corner near the entrance to the alleyway.

"I knew it, Naruto really is going to do something against Kamoshida…" Ann muttered softly to herself, having followed them after hearing Ryuji mention going after Kamoshida when Naruto left the classroom. She mainly grew curious of how they could do it quickly before he went with her to check on Shiho though as she watched she grew confused.

"They're doing something on their phone? A name…School?" she asked with a confused frown, looking back at the school before a weird pulse of red and purple happened through the air and the school changed before her eyes.

-Kamoshida's Palace-

"All right! Time to bust on through!" Ryuji declared with a massive smirk as they made their way towards the front gate of the school.

"What is this!?" a familiar voice that should not be here asked out in shock, them turning to see Ann walking towards them.

"A-Ann!? What are you doing here!?" Naruto asked in shock, utterly confused about how Ann wound up here.

"That voice…Naruto!? And are you Sakamoto!?" Ann asked, looking at the two of them before Ryuji shook his head.

"Wh-Wh-Why are you here!?" Ryuji stuttered out showing he was just as shocked by it as Naruto was.

"How should I know!? I followed you guys to the alleyway after I heard you talking outside the classroom and then I wound up here!" Ann yelled at before looking around at the castle in front of her. "But seriously what is going on!? Where are we!? Isn't this the school!?" she asked before Naruto walked towards her with his hands up to show he didn't mean her any harm.

"It's okay Ann, just take a deep breath and calm down" Naruto tried to assure her, putting his hands on her shoulders to try and calm her down which was slowly working from how the tenseness in her was disappearing.

"Perhaps she was dragged in because of that app thing. If multiple people can enter with the person who uses it then it stands to reason it'll pull anyone nearby" Morgana explained behind him, Naruto silently cursing the 'not-cat' for talking right now as he hoped Ann didn't overhear him and freak out more.

"Wait, so THIS is related to Kamoshida!? You guys mentioned him before coming here after all" Ann said with Naruto gingerly nodding.

"Yes but you seriously have to leave" Naruto told her softly, getting a bit of a glare from her.

"No! I want to take him down as well!" Ann told them which only made Naruto sigh a bit.

"The Shadows are going to find us if you make a scene" Morgana told her which only made Naruto let out a groan once it was clear Ann had noticed the 'elephant' in the room.

"No way! It talked!? Oh my god, it's a monster cat!" she yelled out, pointing to Morgana and trying to get Naruto to look and see only for Naruto to nod while to get her attention off of him.

"I know he's shocking but it is dangerous here Ann and if you don't have the skills that Ryuji and I have then you'll seriously be in danger" Naruto said, trying his best to explain things without actually explaining them to her since that'd be too much.

"Monster?..." Morgana asked as if injured by the comment, him talking making Ann flair back up again.

"You better explain what's going on! I won't leave until you do!" Ann told him before Naruto turned back to glare at Morgana who had the decency to look a bit sorry.

"Ryuji, there's no choice, we have to force her out of here…come help me" Naruto said before Ryuji nodded and walked up towards them. "Ann, I'll explain all of this later when we go to see Shiho but for now, trust me and let us get you out of here" he told her, both him and Ryuji grabbing an arm of hers.

"Wait…how do we do that?" Ryuji asked as Ann fussed and tried to get out of their grip.

"Take her back to where we came in. That's how it worked the first time" Morgana reminded them, both Naruto and Ryuji nodding and starting to gradually pull her back towards the alleyway.

"I'm sorry but I'd rather have you angry at me a bit than have you hurt. I'll be back in a matter of minutes" Naruto told Ann before they gently pushed her into the alleyway, that being enough to send her back to the real world.

"We better be careful from now on when we use that app" Ryuji says with a sigh before Morgana crossed his arms at them.

"You should've checked the tools you used! Why do I – the one who was just watching – know more about it than you two!?" Morgana chided which only made Naruto roll his eyes.

"Yes, check the tools we literally just got and haven't had a chance to check. Also dude, Relax Morgana, this is a onetime mistake" Naruto grumbled with a sigh before he cracked his neck. "We need to get going, if we were found out by Ann then the sooner we get this done the better" he told them, getting nods from them before Morgana looked towards the castle with a frown, his ears moving around before he sighed.

"The Shadows have noticed us, we'd better brace ourselves, got it? We're counting on you Joker" Morgana alerted them before looking over to Naruto.

"Joker? That a nickname?" Ryuji asked with a raised eyebrow with Morgana nodding with a bit of an annoyed glare.

"Don't refer to it in such a lame way! It's a code name. what kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I'm not down for that!" Morgana said, making one of his conditions very clear. "Plus there's no telling what kind of effect yelling our real names will have on the Palace. It's just a precaution" he hypothesized, being 'rather safe than sorry' given the world they were in.

"Yeah, that actually might be best incase saying our names out loud makes Kamoshida think more about us or something" Naruto agreed since this world was crazy and hard to really figure out how it worked overall.

"So, uh, why's he Joker?" Ryuji asked, personally figuring a more 'fox' name given Naruto's birthmarks.

"Because he's our trump card when it comes to fighting strength" Morgana explained, unsure why he felt that way exactly but could definitely feel that Naruto had intense potential in both himself and his Persona.

"Not bad, easily could be worse" Naruto admitted with a shrug and a smirk.

"Next up is you Ryuji. You'll be…Let's see…'Thug'" Morgana said before Naruto shook his head and put his hand on Ryuji's chest to keep him from going after Morgana.

"Enough of that. Be serious" Naruto scolded him with a flat look before Ryuji grit his teeth but let out a deep breath to stay calm.

"I'll choose it myself" Ryuji said as he worked to keep himself calm. "When it comes to me it's gotta be this mask and honestly I actually kinda like it. What if we named me after this?" he asked as he still wanted their opinions a bit.

"Sounds good, how about 'Skull' then?" Naruto suggested, getting a big smile from Ryuji which made it clear he liked it.

"That sounds awesome! I'm Skull!" Ryuji said, clearly loving the name before turning towards Morgana. "What do we do about this one's code name?" he asked while Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, trying to think something up for Morgana that wasn't cat related before he remembered what Ryuji called him during their second visit.

"How about Mona?" Naruto said with a shrug, getting a nod from Morgana to show he didn't mind.

"Well if Joker thinks it's easier to call me that then I'll go with it" Morgana said before crossing his arms and looking at the two of them. "From here on out we're Joker, Skull, and Mona. We need to be absolutely thorough about using those code names from now on!" he wrapped up, getting nods from them to show they understood.

"All right! Time to go steal this Treasure thing!" Ryuji said before Naruto started them off towards the Palace and their infiltration route.

Once inside Naruto looked both ways out of the hallway only to notice a massive grouping of knights out in the main hall.

"Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the intruders!" they chanted as Naruto snuck closer to them to see if he could overhear anything.

"Hey, look! Ain't that Kamoshida?" Ryuji pointed out as he literally pointed out towards a bit in front of the group of knights at the Kamoshida who ruled the Palace.

"Those intruders the other day were quite entertaining. However, I can't allow that trash to ransack my castle!" Kamoshida yelled out to his men. "Strengthen the security! Kill them on sight! I'll reward whoever brings me their heads!" he ordered before his men cheered.

"Praise be to King Kamoshida! Death to the intruders!" the knights chanted out again before Naruto looked to Ryuji and Morgana with a bit of a frown.

"Hey Mona, can't we just beat the crap outta him and call it a day?" Ryuji asked only to get Morgana to groan and shake his head.

"Look at all those soldiers idiot! It'd be suicide and I'm sure you don't want a repeat of last time!" Morgana warned him with a glare. "Besides, don't you want him to confess his sins? There's no point beating him up. We need to steal his materialized desires…the Treasure" he reminded him before Ryuji groaned.

"Fiiiiine. So, where is it?" Ryuji asked with Naruto shrugging.

"If we are going by castles in fairy tales a part of me wants to say in the tallest tower of the place since it can't be in the dungeon" Naruto suggested while Morgana nodded along.

"Truly in the depths of the castle so let's infiltrate further in while he's out here!" Morgana declared before they turned away from the army of Shadows and towards the only other door available to go through.

-Real World: Ann-

"Dang it! Those guys are so going to hear it! Especially Naruto!" Ann grumbled out loud as she lightly fell on her butt from being pushed. She continued to grumble as her phone chimed and she pulled it out.

"What? When did I get this weird app?" Ann wondered out loud before widening her eyes and quickly standing up. "Wait, Ryuji said something about school, Kamoshida, and castle…is this how I get there?" she continued before opening the app only to notice there was a location bookmarked.

'Well…might as well try?' she thought a bit unsure before pressing it.

"Kamoshida…Shujin Academy…Pervert…Castle. Beginning Navigation" her phone spoke out before a pulse went out again, bringing her and an unknown tag-along back to the castle she was at moments before.

-Kamoshida's Palace: Naruto-

As they opened the door they quickly had to jump back to hide behind the edges of the doorframe after nearly walking right into a knight that was randomly standing there.

"Things are never simple, are they?" Naruto grumbled as he saw the guard turn around moments later and look around in confusion.

"Whaddya wanna do? Should we kick its ass?" Ryuji asked before Morgana held up a paw to stop him.

"Hold on…This might be a good opportunity to teach you something…" Morgana told them while seemingly thinking things over. "All right Joker! Are you ready to take it down?" he asked before Naruto nodded and rushed forward towards the Shadow to get the first strike.

This Shadow only dissolved into one enemy, a tiny fairy looking creature.

"Remember how I taught you 'Hold Ups' and 'All-Out Attacks'? I'll teach you their practical use now as there's another use for 'Hold Ups' besides simply defeating enemies" Morgana started to explain to them. "Shadows are beings born from people's hearts so naturally they can talk too. If you talk to them when they're cornered, they might offer money or items since they don't want to die. In fact talking has a better chance of scoring something great as opposed to just offing them" he continued on, Naruto watching the Shadow as it was still seemingly dazed from their ambush.

"So let's knock it down and see what it gives up" Naruto said with a smirk, showing he understood what Morgana was getting at before he pulled out his gun and shot at it since he remembered they were weak to gunshots.

Once it was down the three of them were quick to surround it, Morgana and him having their guns pointed at it while Ryuji brandished his weapon ready to strike since he didn't have a gun yet.

"Seriously!? YOU guys are the intruders that King Kamoshida was talking about!?" the fairy shadow asked with a groan. "It can't get worse than this…What're you going to do with me!?" she asked worried and afraid.

"Relax, just give us some money and you can be on your way" he told her, getting her to perk up in surprise.

"Huh? So you'll let me live if I just give you some money?" she asked with Naruto nodding. "B-But this happened so suddenly…I actually don't have any on me…I-I usually do though, you know!?" she prattled on, worried and scared as she fussed a bit as she sat defenseless on the ground.

"W-Wait, what? Oh…this isn't how I was planning this to go…" Morgana muttered, a bit embarrassed his 'lesson' was failing like this. "But if that's the case…I guess it's time for you to go to hell" he told her, seeing as if she couldn't cough up the goods then she was as good as dead.

"W-Wait! Can't we work something out? Don't kill me please! Won't you let me go?" she asked, looking at Naruto with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Fine…just if you personally come across us again try and look the other way. Can't say we'll be so forgiving the next time" he told her, knowing there were other creatures that looked like her but hoped she'd do it if they found this exact one again.

"Oh, thank you! Seems I lucked out finding someone who can't say no. I totally know how you feel though, I'm the same way" she giggled out before widening her eyes with a mix of confusion of shock in her eyes. "Whoa! I feel different! Something's happening!" she said as she looked around as if trying to figure it out.

"What the!? What's going on!?" Morgana asked out in shock since nothing like this has ever happened before.

"I remember now! I don't belong just to King Kamoshida!" the fairy said as she burst up, flying but non-hostile. "I'm an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity's souls…My real name is 'Pixie'!" she revealed as if the fog had lifted and she remembered who she was.

"I'm Pixie and from now on I'll live on inside your heart!" she declared before she started to glow blue and turn into pure light which then turned into a copy of his mask which then flew into his mask.

"I'll do my best to help fight you Master~" he heard Pixie's voice speak out in his mind, surprising him but at the same time not really being that surprising due to everything of this world and Personas in general.

"What was that just now? What happened!?" Morgana asked with wide eyes, not understanding or believing what just happened.

"Wh-What the hell was that about? The enemy got sucked into Joker's mask!" Ryuji yelled in shock before turning to Morgana.

"I-I have no idea! I wasn't expecting that either…" Morgana muttered, the sound of clanking metal surprising them as another Shadow quickly appeared at the doorway of the hallway they had just come from.

"Intruders! Halt!" it yelled out as it stared them down.

"Crap, they noticed us!" Ryuji cursed a bit before the knight dissolved into two of those two horned horses from when Ryuji had awakened his Persona.

"Then we'll just take it down! Come on!" Naruto told him before the Shadow charged at them, only unlike last time, they were able to dodge the two horses and really start the battle.

"Use me Master~ I am also a mask for you to summon and call on in battle" Pixie told him, Naruto nodding as he grabbed his mask.

"Pixie! Go now! Zio!" Naruto ordered out, his mask dissolving as Pixie appeared behind him instead of Arséne and shot out a bolt of lightning from her hands.

"I-Is that the Shadow from earlier!? Don't tell me…Did you take the Shadow's appearance and powers as a Persona!?" Morgana asked as Naruto nodded, Pixie smiling as she sat on top of his head.

"She's a new mask of mine now let's finish them off!" Naruto said with a smirk as he looked up to Pixie, her nodding as she got off his head and was ready to attack again. "Knock them down as well! Zio!" he ordered out again, knocking the second one down and allowing them to surround them.

'Those two are a bit too strong for you to tame right now Master~, for now lets just finish them off' Pixie advised him in his mind as she disappeared before he nodded and started off an All-Out Attack to finish the two horses off.

"Holy…Does that mean you can wield multiple Persona?" Morgana asked, still clearly trying to wrap his head around all of this.

"H-Hey Mona! What was that about!? What did Joker do?" Ryuji asked as he was also incredibly confused.

"He sealed the enemy's appearance and powers into his mask and made it his new Persona…Is such a feat even possible? Even I've never seen anyone pull that off!" Morgana explained a bit, showing just how unfounded this was.

"I think it's called…the Wild Card?" Naruto said a bit unsure, that just being the name that came to mind for it as if he somehow knew about it deep down. "Guess that really does make me a Joker" he added with a smirk, referencing back to the actually 'Joker' card.

"Only one heard exists per person so normally a person can only have one Persona…This ability will give us a huge advantage in battle! Try and get as many masks as you can! You better help as well Skull!" Morgana encouraged with Ryuji pumping his fist in excitement.

"Hell yeah! We'll hold every last one of 'em up!" Ryuji said with a massive and excited smile.

"I can only get the ones I'm strong enough to tame…Pixie told me about it, otherwise I would have tried to get one of those horses" Naruto told them with Morgana nodding as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Makes sense, you can only capture Shadows that your heart is strong enough to handle. Let's keep going before more show up though" Morgana said, them nodding along with him before Naruto started to lead them again.

Once through the door on the left side of the room Naruto noticed a hallway lined with suits of armor leading to a room at the end. Though seeing that it was blocked he decided to just continue on to the door at the end of the room.

The next room seemed to be an armory of sorts, the room filled with axes, swords, and halberds though it was also full of Shadows on patrol, Naruto noticing at least three in the room.

He was just thankful none of them noticed him.

"There's a treasure chest, if we can, how about we crack it open?" Morgana asked quietly with a smirk as Naruto also noticed the glowing gold treasure chest on the far side of the room.

"Let's try and clear things out first and then go from there" Naruto told him since with three Shadows he was certain at least one would see them if they made their way over to it.

Deciding to target the closest Shadow it ended up being easy, three Pixie that they knocked down with their guns and finished them off with an All-Out Attack. The second after that was just as easy, also being a group of Pixie that they finished off the same as the first.

With the numbers thinned out Naruto was able to open up the chest, finding a Silver Dagger inside it.

"Whoa! That weapon seems better than the one you currently have. Why don't you use it instead?" Morgana suggested Naruto pulling out his current dagger and shrugging his shoulders as he put his old one in the inside pocket that he pulled items out of while putting the new one in the holster he had on his hip.

"Interesting to find weapons we can use in here but lets keep moving, we can easily squeeze by the last one" Naruto told them, the others nodding as they followed him while he made a dash for the door to the next room to avoid any unnecessary fights.

"Hey look! It's another hazy-lookin' door! This is that thing! Uhhh, what is it called?" Ryuji asked before Naruto chuckled a bit at him.

"It's a safe room, lets head on in rest for a bit so we can figure out what to do next" Naruto suggested, the others agreeing with him as they headed into the room to figure things out.

-Kamoshida's Palace: Ann & ?-

"What is up with this app? It brought me here again, but I don't remember installing it…" Ann muttered, looking around as she walked over the draw bridge leading to the castle.

"Ann…What is this place…?" another, very familiar voice, asked out behind her, getting Ann to quickly turn around in shock as she saw Shiho walking up to her.

"S-Shiho!? W-What are you doing here!?" Ann asked in shock, running up to her friend and putting her hands on her shoulders, utterly surprised to find her friend here of all places.

"I snuck out and came to see Naruto after school, I…didn't want him to have my parents embarrass me by thanking him like crazy…" Shiho muttered, clearly embarrassed about the whole situation. "I went through the side alley since no one takes it and I didn't want to be noticed only to find you suddenly appear out of nowhere…but seriously, where are we?" she asked, the two of them looking around at the odd sight.

"I don't know, I just followed Naruto and Sakamoto in here…they're going after you-know-who…" Ann told her, not really wanting to mention Kamoshida by name.

"Naruto's here?! Is he okay?" Shiho asked as this castle screamed dangerous and was worried for the man who had saved her life.

"He told me it was dangerous for others but…after what happened to you…I can't just sit still" Ann told her with conviction in her eyes before the sound of clanking metal interrupted them.

"Princess!? What are you doing out here!?" a voice called out, getting both of them to turn around and widen their eyes in shock as three large knights in full armor started running towards them.

"It's dangerous here Princess! You need to return to your room!" one of the knights said, two of them grabbing an arm of hers before the third grabbed Shiho's arm.

"And what are you doing fraternizing with a slave, especially this one" the knight said with clear disgust in his voice. "You especially know not to leave your room, King Kamoshida will be very displeased with your disobedience" it scolded while Ann struggled in the grasp of the two knights.

"Let her go you bastards! Don't you dare touch her!" Ann yelled out, kicking her legs out, trying to hit the one who was holding onto Shiho.

"Quick, take them to their rooms before King Kamoshida notices and gets angry!" the first knight ordered out before the two of them were pulled along and into the castle.

-Kamoshida's Palace: Naruto-

"Aren't there even more Shadows than before? What is up with that?" Ryuji complained with a groan before Morgana stood up from where he was sitting on the table in the room and hopped down.

"It's all because you guys provoked Kamoshida, it's made him angrier and more on guard…a bit too on guard" Morgana explained, it making a good deal of sense since this place was connected to Kamoshida.

"So, we just how to keep going and find the Treasure, right?" Ryuji asked with Morgana nodding.

"We secure a route to the Treasure, once we find that we can steal it…but honestly, I think we'll need a little more manpower in order to accomplish it" Morgana admitted with a frown, showing even with the three of them combined he wasn't too sure about their odds.

"We'll figure it out, we have to make do with what we have" Naruto told him since there was really no way to fix that kind of situation.

"Still, why was the princess in such an odd place, and with that slave no less?" a Shadow asked as it passed by outside the safe room.

"Princess…?" Ryuji asked, confused who they were talking about while Morgana walked forward and put his ear against the door.

"I could have sword we were pursuing the readings of an intruder…" another Shadow said, clearly confused.

"It doesn't matter now. We must take her back to King Kamoshida above all else" the first Shadow said before the footsteps left the hallway.

"Who's this princess they're talkin' about?" Ryuji asked, looking to Naruto as seemingly he thought it over.

"Only one 'princess' comes to mind but the 'intruder' part of it makes me worry" Naruto said as he frowned before Morgana opened the door.

"I should probably look into this!" Morgana told them, quickly slipping out of the room before anyone could say anything.

"Think Morgana be okay?" Ryuji asked with Naruto shrugging before sitting down on the table in the room.

"Mona, remember, code names" Naruto reminded Ryuji, getting a nod from him before he sighed. "Mona's small and quick, he should be able to move around undetected. We just have to wait and see…I just hope its not what I feel it is" Naruto told him only for Morgana to bust back into the room.

"This is bad!" Morgana panted out, frantically looking at the two of them

"Whoa! That was fast" Ryuji said before Morgana shook his head.

"Your friend…Lady Ann! She's been taken by Shadows!" Morgana yelled in a panic.

"Wait, what? We sent her home earlier" Ryuji said with Naruto groaning.

"If you can somehow get the app on your phone, the idea of Ann getting it after tagging along with us isn't too crazy an idea" Naruto groaned out with a sigh. "Enough talking though, we are going to save her" he somewhat ordered out, both Morgana and Ryuji nodding along since they whole-heartedly agreed and quickly followed him out of the room.

"She was just past that armory looking place! Let's go!" Morgana urged, Naruto running ahead without giving a reply since right now Ann was in danger.

"Let me go! Where did you take her!" Ann's voice reverberated through the armory as they ran through, able to avoid the one Shadow they had left behind in there.

As they ran through the hallway Naruto stopped as he noticed the bars blocking the hallway that was lined with suits of armor were gone, hearing Ann's gasp as they reached it.

"This way!" Morgana instructed, Naruto not needing to be told as he was already running down it.

"Let me and her go right now and I promise I won't come back here with any cops!" Ann yelled out, Naruto continuing on and busting through the doors at the end of the hall without any second thoughts.

-Before they arrive-

"So this is the intruder?" Kamoshida asked he walked up behind one of the three Shadows that had Ann shacked to the 'X' in the back of the room, getting Ann to widen her eyes in shock at him and widen them even more as the fake version of herself walked up beside him.

"Kamoshida? And who is that!?" Ann asked before shaking it off and glaring at him. "What is this place!? Why is it a castle!?" she yelled out, struggling in her restraints in hopes to break free.

"I can't believe you mistook my Ann for someone like her" Kamoshida said with a scoff once he looked the real Ann over before creepily chuckling. "Are you afraid?" he asked as Ann looked at him, obviously disgusted by him.

"What is that outfit? Have you lost your mind?" she asked, finding the cape and briefs to be beyond disgusting.

"I do as I please here, after all, this is my castle…The world of my desires" Kamoshida explained, making Ann furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "I will say you are such a lively slave" he added on with a perverted smirk.

"This isn't funny! Enough of the bullshit Kamoshida!" Ann yelled out, watching as Kamoshida turned to the weird version of her.

"The girl's decided to tell me off. What do you think of that?" he asked the fake version of herself, Ann feeling disgusted from seeing herself in something skimpy like that around Kamoshida.

"Talking back is, like…totally unforgivable…" the fake version said, her tone airy as if she was an idiot or something.

"In that case…she should be executed" Kamoshida announced, turning back towards Ann with a glare while the golden armored knight took a few steps towards her, getting a gasp of shock from Ann.

"Now then, how should I play with you? Shall I tear you into little pieces?" Kamoshida asked out before the doors burst open and Ann watched as Naruto, Ryuji, and that weird monster-cat came running in.

Ryuji, as they paused to get a grip on the room they had burst into, was grossed out by the weird entirely pink female figures. Wasn't just cause they were pink and faceless but also due to being naked save for bloomers they wore.

"This is effed up…is that what he thinks of the girls on the volleyball team!?" Ryuji asked, Naruto nodding as he looked around and met eyes with Ann, his rage growing as he found her strapped to an 'X' with three Shadows in front of her.

"Beyond disgusting…" Naruto growled out as he ran towards Ann, noticing Kamoshida and the fake Ann were also there.

"Ugh, just when I was about to start enjoying myself" Kamoshida groaned out in annoyance at being interrupted.

"What is the deal with this guy!?" Ann yelled out, still struggling while Naruto glared at Kamoshida before looking over at her.

"He's the reason we made you leave, he's even more of an asshole and a lot more dangerous in this world" Naruto told her as Kamoshida glared back at them.

"How many times are you gonna come back?" Kamoshida asked them before turning back to Ann. "I bet you're just like those thieves. You came because you're pissed at me, huh? But, ah…I forget that chick's name but, it's your fault she jumped you know?" Kamoshida revealed, instantly enraging Naruto as he clenched his fists.

"Shut the fuck up about Shiho! You're the reason she jumped you fucking bastard!" Naruto yelled as his mask started to flicker with blue flames to represent his desire to fight. "You tried to fucking sexually assault her so don't you DARE push the blame onto someone else!" he yelled, stomping his foot and cracking the ground under him which got Kamoshida to take a step back out of fear with a terrified look on his face before he shook it off and grew a cocky smirk.

"I wouldn't have had to go after whats-her-name if she wasn't so reluctant to throw herself onto me. Because of that her friend had to take her place" Kamoshida said as Ann violently pulled at her shackles to the point Naruto was worried Ann would start bleeding.

"You bastard!" Ann yelled out in pure anger before the golden knight stepped closer to her.

"Get the hell away from her!" Naruto yelled as he took a step towards Ann to intervene.

"Take one more step and I'll kill her on the spot" Kamoshida threatened, causing Naruto to stop as he furiously glared at Kamoshida for holding Ann hostage with the swords of all three Shadows against her neck.

"Just sit back and enjoy the dismantlement show" Kamoshida said with a smirk as Ann cried out for them to stop. "Maybe I'll start with her clothes…" he added with the most perverted and gross look that Naruto had ever seen while the fake Ann just dumbly giggled.

"H-Hey! What are we gonna do!?" Ryuji asked, looking over to Morgana who only shook his head as he didn't see any way to save her. "Takamaki!" he yelled out helplessly, unable to do anything to help her and hating every second of it.

"Is this…my punishment for what almost happened to Shiho?" Ann asked, hanging her head, seemingly in defeat which made Kamoshida chuckle at.

"That's more like it. You should've looked like this from the start" he told her with a smirk before Naruto grit his teeth and stomped his foot again, making the cracks in the ground grow even larger.

"Are you seriously just going to listen Ann? Do you seriously think Shiho blames you for this!? No! She blames that asshole and you know it!" Naruto yelled at her, getting her to raise her head and look at him, realization sparking in her eyes as she stopped letting herself being affected by Kamoshida's words.

"You're right…Letting this piece of shit toy with me…What was I thinking!?" Ann asked out, chuckling a bit to herself as if chiding herself for allowing him to get to her.

"It's like I always say. Slaves should just behave and–Shut up!" Kamoshida started to say before Ann yelled and interrupted him.

"I've had enough of this…You've pissed me off you son of a bitch!" Ann yelled out before she widened her eyes in shock, Naruto noticing her eyes turning gold just like Ryuji's had before.

"My…It's taken far too long" Ann heard a woman's voice say in her head, a powerful and painful headache pulse in her head as the voice spoke. "Tell me…Who is going to avenge her alongside your friend if you don't? Forgiving him was never the option, such is the scream of the other you that dwells within…" the voice continued, Ann writhing in pain and sweating as it spoke to her.

"I am thou, thou art I…we can finally forge a contract…" the voice told her, Ann dropping her head before it finally clicked for her and she knew who this was.

"I hear you…Carmen" Ann said before she quickly rose her head up with a red cat mask appearing in a quick flash of blue flames. "You're right…No more holding back!" she declared, glaring at Kamoshida and silently reveling in the fact that he looked terrified of her.

"There you go…Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself" Carmen told her, blue fire flashing over her hands and wrists for a second, allowing Ann to free herself of her restraints. "Do you understand? Then I'll gladly lend you my strength" Carmen continued while Ann grabbed her mask and, without a second thought, ripped it off and summoned a powerful pillar of blue fire that Naruto had seen Ryuji do before.

Ann's Persona Carmen was a beauty with spiraled black hair, wearing an elegant almost flamenco dress that left her rather sizeable chest on full display – although there were no features on them - with roses around the waist of it.

She also had an aura of intensity to her as she stood there, smoking a cigar stepping on the back of a man with a heart shaped head and pulled along another man, both of them attached to her waist by a leash made of a rose vine.

Ann also had a quite intense change with her outfit, gone was her school uniform and in its place was a skin-tight red latex catsuit with a cleavage cutout and zippers, pink gloves, dark red thigh-high boots, and what seemed to be a tail clipped onto the back of her catsuit with a red whip coiled up and hanging from her waist.

The Shadows around her here were stunned as they stared at her Persona, allowing Ann to rush one of them, kicking up their sword into the air only to leap up to grab it and swing it down to kill the fake version of her.

Kamoshida, clearly terrified, whimpered as he stepped back, hiding behind the golden armored Shadow stepping forward to protect him.

"You know what? I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with you scumbag" Ann growled out at him, still holding the large sword in her hand as she glared him down.

"Bitch!" Kamoshida barked out as if he hadn't been utterly terrified moments before.

"You stole everything from Shiho…You nearly destroyed her…Now it's your turn! I will rob you of everything!" Ann declared as the others stood beside her, ready to fight alongside her while Carmen still blazed behind them.

"How dare you! Enough of your insolence!" the golden armored Shadow yelled before it and two other Shadows burst open and merged together to create a massive two horned demon sitting on a toilet.

"No, I've had enough of you. No one's gonna stop me now! Let's go Carmen!" Ann declared as Carmen moved to show she was ready to fight.

"How dare you deny King Kamoshida's love, you selfish lass!? Pay for this insolence with your life!" the demon yelled out before Ann scoffed with a glare.

"That dirtbag just sees women as sexual outlets! Don't make me laugh with that 'love' bullshit!" Ann yelled at him before she got ready to attack. "C'mon Carmen! Let's give 'em hell! Agi!" she commanded before Carmen swung her arm out and launched a fireball at the demon, knocking it down and dazing it.

"Good job Ann! Now for this next part just follow your instincts!" Naruto told her, Ann nodding along and going with his advice before she initiated an All-Out Attack on the demon.

While it wasn't enough to kill it, obviously given it seemed a lot tougher than the standard shadows, it definitely hurt it.

"It's weak to fire! Everyone try out other elements to see what sticks with Ann focusing on fire!" Naruto told them as he shot his gun at the Shadow, emptying the clip into it since with eight bullets he should be able to hurt it a good bit.

"Got it! Come on Zorro! Garu!" Morgana yelled out and blasted the Shadow with wind only to see it didn't have much of an effect on it.

"My turn! Zio!" Ryuji said as he fired off a bolt of lightning at the Shadow only for it to be the same reaction that Morgana's wind had on it.

They braced themselves for the demon's attack, it seemingly clenching up before bursts of wind struck all of them, only Ann being able to avoid it.

"Ann! You're the pitch-hitter so lay into him and let's take him down!" Naruto said to her as her fire being the only thing that had an effect on it, getting a nod from her as she clenched her fist.

"Then let's hit him again Carmen! Agi!" Ann yelled out, unleashing another fireball at the Shadow to knock it down again and once again following her instincts as she led them into an All-Out Attack.

Again, it didn't kill the Shadow but it was clearly on death's door as now became slumped over on its toilet.

"Now Arséne, lets take this bastard down! Eiha!" Naruto ordered, switching back to Arséne and blasting the demon with red and black energy which was easily enough to take it out.

"To think…there would be a woman who could stand up to King Kamoshida…" the Shadow groaned out in pain as it barely held on only to get a scoff from Ann.

"Outside of school that guy's nothing but a pathetic loser!" Ann revealed to the Shadow just as it finally died.

"Oh shit…!" Kamoshida muttered in fear, one of his top knights taken out and no back up being around him. It wasn't long before he ran off like a coward with Ann trying to go after him only to nearly fall from exhaustion with Naruto catching her before she did.

"Wait…!" Ann called out after him, even her voice sounding weak from the 'recoil' of awakening her Persona for the first time.

"Why'd you come here!? And more importantly, how!?" Ryuji yelled out at her before Morgana walked over to them.

"Hey! Is that any way to speak to a woman!?" Morgana scolded Ryuji before turning to Ann. "Are you all right Lady Ann!?" he asked, Ann looking at him still confused what he was.

"Lady Ann? I have so many questions about what this thing is, if its alive, how can it talk, or where in the world are we but not right now! We have to go!" Ann said, trying to walk forward out of Naruto's grasp only to almost fall and be caught by him again.

"Yeah, come on, we're leaving the Castle right now" Ryuji said only for Ann to shake her head.

"No! We are going to save Shiho!" Ann barked out, getting confused looks from Morgana and Ryuji while Naruto widened his eyes in shock and worry.

"Please don't tell me you came with her!?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Ann with an ashamed look in her eyes. "How!? Isn't she supposed to be at home!?" he asked again before Ann shook her head.

"She snuck out to visit you and got pulled along into here with me. We have to save her!" Ann told him, weakly struggling to get out of his grasp to go but unable to do anything due to how exhausted she was.

'Ann is weak and can't wait out at the front gate on her own, can't leave her with just Morgana due to how weird she is with him and Ryuji can't protect her on his own…damn it…what can we do?' Naruto thought to himself with a grumble.

'Go on your own…I can help you take care of anyone in your way easily enough' Arséne told him, getting Naruto to perk up a bit at hearing his Persona's voice.

"I'll go alone, you two take and guard Ann at the front gate" Naruto told them, handing Ann over to Ryuji, getting confused looks from everyone.

"What!? You can't go on alone!" Ryuji yelled before Naruto put a hand on his shoulder.

"Arséne has me covered, he says he has something to take care of anyone in my way and I trust him" Naruto told them, Ryuji furrowing his brows before rustling his hair and letting out a loud groan.

"Fine but you better be god damn careful man!" Ryuji warned him, Naruto nodding before turning to Ann.

"I promise to get her back safely, if I've done it once I can do it again" he assured her, getting a weak nod from her. "Now did you see where they took her?" he asked with Ann giving a much stronger nod.

"In the main hall area before the stairs there is this gold picture-framey looking thing, not that actual picture in the far back of the room. It spins like a hidden door, I saw them start to lead her there before we were separated….please…save her" Ann begged, Naruto nodding he gave her a serious look to hopefully ease her worries.

"I never break a promise, that's my way of life so when I say I promise to get her back safely you can be sure as shit I'll get it done" he told her before looking down at Morgana.

"Get her to the front gate right away. I'm going on ahead so do not slack to wait for me, got it" Naruto warned him, Morgana nodding to show he understood before Naruto hurried off on his own.

'I'm not saying I don't trust you Arséne but I sure hope whatever you have is enough to handle all the countless Shadows in the main hall…' Naruto thought with a bit of a frown while Arséne merely chuckled.

'Let's just say we're gonna but on a show' Arséne told him as they quickly ran down the hallway and through the room he had first gotten Pixie in.

As he waited by the doorway leading to the main room he could hear the others running by behind him but kept his focus on the Shadows in the main room. "Well Arséne? Showtime" Naruto spoke to himself as he ripped off his mask and ran into the room.

"You're right! It is Showtime! Phantom Show!" Arséne yelled out as they ran through the Shadows, Naruto weaving through them as a massive red and gold cloth appeared over all of them. Arséne's laughter was loud as he pulled the cloth away and Naruto watched as one by one they all started to collapse, seemingly having fallen asleep.

Naruto didn't have time to revel in the amazing skill Arséne had shown off as he quickly pushed and opened the golden frame that Ann had told him about, revealing a hidden staircase down that he moved down as quick as he could without tripping.

At the end of the stairs he continued running down the corridor, ignoring the pink fake females that were laying around and beckoning for him and – with Arséne's help – pushed open the massive doors at the end of the room.

He was even more disgusted as he found Shiho chained up on a massive bed, a limb attached to each corner of the bed as she struggled with more of the fake pink females around her. The more he looked around the more disgusted he was, seeing risqué posters of what he could only imagine to be volleyball team members with their tops almost pulled up with only panties on.

"Shiho! Don't worry I'm coming to get you out of here!" Naruto told her before two Shadows burst up in his way, causing him to leap back.

"Naruto! Is that you!? Please help me!" Shiho cried out, hyperventilating as she struggled to try and get free.

"Not so fast you little brat! I won't allow you to get in King Kamoshida's way any longer!" a familiar voice barked out, Naruto turning to see Principal Kobayakawa blocking the way out with the massive doors closing behind him.

The weird thing about this version of Kobayakawa was that his beige suit was now a two-tone striped beige jester outfit with a hat and little scepter as well.

"Makes sense you'd be a jester in Kamoshida's mind with how much of a pawn you are him" Naruto muttered, keeping his eyes on the two Shadows mostly while Kobayakawa walked around him to join the two Shadows.

"I humbly serve Kamoshida! It is because of him that Shujin gets such praise! You are endangering that with your foolish rescue of that slave! Do you know the trouble I had to pressure and threaten this slave to keep everything a secret from her parents!" Kobayakawa yelled out in anger, stomping his foot like a toddler as he glared at him. "Daughter of a cop and a famous Inn owner…what an annoying situation!…" he added on with a grumble.

"How about just not letting Kamoshida be a sexually and physically abusive asshole! I swear I could tell something was up with you the first day I met you and this goes to prove you are as disgusting as you look" Naruto said in disgust, that being the Principal's breaking point as he, and the Shadows merged.

Naruto was on guard but utterly blindsided as a massive fist burst up from the pool of black, the arm attached to it being insanely long and far to fast for him to react to, resulting in it slamming into him and sending him flying back into the massive doors.

"Naruto!" Shiho cried out in fear as she saw him hit the door with a loud thud.

"I-I'm fine" Naruto groaned out, quickly catching his breath as he watched the full figure rise from the black pool.

Somehow Kobayakawa himself had turned into a monster, still dressed in the jester outfit but now his arms were insanely long, reminding Naruto of an orangutan but much longer with massive fists that seemed the size of a large van.

His body was now perfectly round and much larger with his feet being barely visible at the bottom of it. He was basically using his arms to keep himself up as he swayed from side to side with a furious glare on his face.

Somehow, his toe-like head had become even more like a toe, some more chins on his neck from how fat he was and the largest mouth Naruto had seen which disgusted him. The drool leaking out in a steady flow wasn't helping either.

"You little brat! Ever since I accepted you into my prestigious school you became such a bother! I'll take you out for King Kamoshida and afterwards maybe I can finally have fun with one of his slaves" Kobayakawa growled out, licking his lips in perversion while even his demonic voice sounding fat to Naruto as he took a 'step' forward towards him which created a massive crater from the force and weight of his fist.

"You touch her and I'll kill you, you living toe" Naruto groaned out, this time summoning Arséne in time for an attempt to block Kobayakawa's fist as he slammed it down on him. The weight and force was difficult as now he was stuck under the fist as it tried to move down to squish him, Arséne barely able to keep it away to the point Naruto had to kneel to be safe.

"I'd like to see you try! You're all alone and you are going to die! All because of that stupid girl!" he yelled out, Naruto gritting his teeth as slowly he was losing ground with the fist moving closer and closer.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto…J-Just leave…I don't want you to get hurt…I can take it so you don't have to wor–Shut up!" Shiho started to say before Naruto interrupted her.

"I'm not leaving without you and if that means I get a bit beaten up then so be it! I don't regret saving you so don't you dare regret being saved!" Naruto yelled out to her, growling as he fought to 'hold the line'. "You are a strong girl so hold onto that strength!" he encouraged her while his mind raced to find a way out of this.

Shiho silently cried as she could see Naruto struggling before clenching her fists and started to pull harder at her restraints. 'No, I refuse to just sit back and watch him fight for me! I'll get free and escape with him!' Shiho thought to herself before gasping as she heard a voice chuckle in her head.

"About time you pushed back, I've been waiting for the moment at which you bear your fangs" the voice told her, it merely speaking causing her head to hurt in ways she didn't know. "For so long you've sat and taken the abuse and assault for the sake of protecting what is dear to you but now your protector needs saving so what shall you do!?" it asked before Shiho grit her teeth.

"I want to save him…repay the debt and protect him like he did me even if it brings pain!" Shiho said through clenched teeth, pulling even harder on the restraints.

"Finally! You have shown the desire to fight for what you believe in even if danger is in your path! We can finally forge a contract!" the voice said, getting more and more excited as it spoke.

"I am thou, thou art I! Go into battle with a noose around you your neck! Fight with conviction and no more fear henceforth!" the voice declared as blue fire flickered over Shiho's wrists and ankles to allow her to break free and run towards Naruto on the bed just as Kobayakawa rose his other fist to slam down on Naruto, her eyes golden as an ornate white and gold mask appeared on her face.

"Get that bastard away from him! Chilonis!" Shiho growled out with fury in her voice as she ripped off her mask, ignoring the pain as blood gushed from her face before a pillar of fire erupted from her.

This time Kobayakawa was blindsided as a shield bashed the side of his face from behind, sending him flying and crashing into the side of the wall.

Naruto was in awe as he saw Shiho and her Persona.

Shiho was intense as she wore what seemed to be Greco-Roman armor, the skirt somewhat short, the silver chest piece exposing her shoulders and a bit of her breasts and cleavage, a red short sleeved cloak helping cover her up a bit, and a pair of leather open toed shoes. Around her forearms were two silver vambraces while she wore pink gloves like Ann and a Roman sword in her hand.

Her Persona was just as intense, a female warrior standing strong behind her with a noose hanging loosely around her neck and pitch-black hair billowing out. The warrior was clearly Spartan if the red plume on her bronze helmet was anything to go off as she wielded a matching sword to Shiho and held a large bronze shield in her other arm with two javelins on her back.

Her armor's chest piece was the same as Shiho's but instead of a cloak she had a long cape that billowed behind her, her skirt longer and wore knee high metal and leather sandals.*3

"Thanks for the save" Naruto told her with a smile, getting a smile back from her which broke her serious look.

"Anytime…you saved me from so much already, least I can do" Shiho said before Naruto widened his eyes as Kobayakawa attacked.

"Watch out!" he tried to warn her only for Shiho's Persona to blow and swat away the attack like it was nothing and in turn get her to glare over at Kobayakawa.

"No longer will allow myself to be physically abused by the likes of you! Chilonis won't let your attacks connect and I refuse to let myself be touched by anyone I don't allow!" Shiho declared as she clenched her sword tight in hand before looking over at Naruto with a smile. "You ready to take this bastard down?" she asked, getting a nod and a smile from Naruto.

"Of course!" he told her as Shiho waved her hand out towards Kobayakawa.

"Chilonis! Giant Slice!" Shiho yelled out, her Persona's sword glowing red before she swung it at Kobayakawa, making him recoil in pain and grit his teeth.

"Let's show him what we got! Arséne, Phantom Show!" Naruto commanded, Arséne once again laughing as the cloth appeared and was pulled away before even Kobayakawa fell asleep despite trying to resist it. "Now hit him hard while he can't hit back!" he urged Shiho, getting a nod from her as they both readied their attacks.

"Chilonis, Agi!/Arséne, Eiha!" they said at the same time as they fired off their attacks in unison, the combination hitting Kobayakawa hard and dazing him after Naruto's skill struck him.

"Follow my lead Shiho!" he instructed, Shiho nodding and following him along as they went in for an All-Out Attack.

"You brats! I'll kill you both!" Kobayakawa roared out as he threw a punch directed for Naruto.

"Protect him Chilonis! Rakukaja!" Shiho quickly yelled out before a sheen of blue surrounded Naruto and, as the attack hit, Naruto quickly realized it didn't hit nearly as hard as it did before.

'Did Shiho boost my defense?' Naruto thought as he looked over to Shiho, giving her a nod and a smile to show he was okay which got her to turn back to a slumped over Kobayakawa with anger in her eyes.

"I'm done staying silent, you threatened me to stay quiet about everything by endangering myself and Ann with fake crimes on our record. You say you can make fake stories to ruin my parents…I say try it since they are stronger and better than you think!" Shiho declared as she ran forward and up one of his arms before leaping in the air with her sword drawn to plunge down as she fell, piecing Kobayakawa in between the eyes.

That was the killing blow, his body starting to dissolve as he thrashed to shake her off, succeeding just as he faded away.

As Shiho fell from high in the air this was much different than before. She felt almost at peace as she fell only to smile when Naruto leapt up in the air to grab her in a princess carry, Naruto's Persona holding onto him to allow them to stay in the air safely and slowly descend.

"You okay there Shiho?" Naruto asked as she stared up at him before she nodded, a soft smile still on her face.

"I'm perfect…thank you for saving me again" Shiho told him as they finally landed.

"I should be thanking you, if you hadn't awakened your Persona like that I would've been in a really tight spot" he told her, going to set her down only for her to legs to nearly give in which caused him to grab her again. "You okay?" he asked, worried how the exhaustion from her awakening was possibly stacking on top of her exhaustion from everything that had happened a few days ago.

"I-I'm fine" she said, trying to stand up only to have her legs fail her again.

"Don't worry, I'll carry you" Naruto told her with a smile, picking her up in a princess carry again while not noticing her blush behind her mask. "Now come on, Ann is probably beyond worried that it's taking this long to save you" he told her, getting her eyes to widen and look up at him.

"Ann's okay!?" Shiho asked since she was just about to ask about her.

"Yeah, we found her first before it was revealed that you also snuck in. Ann was too exhausted to come get you due to awakening her own Persona but I promised to come so she relented" Naruto told her as Arséne opened the massive doors for them and they made their way up the stairs.

"What is this place…?" Shiho asked with a frown, not liking all the mentions of Kamoshida or those gross posters in that room they had just left.

"I guess you can consider it how Kamoshida views the school but I'll explain it better later, for now let's just get out of here" Naruto told her, getting a nod from her as he opened the hidden door, thankfully to find the Shadows all still asleep.

'Can't really go out the infiltration route with Shiho like this so I guess front door it is then' he thought to himself as he carefully walked through the Shadows to ensure he didn't wake them.

Once out he was quick to run across the drawbridge and the second Ann saw them – exhaustion be damned – she ran towards them.

"Shiho!" Ann cried out, tears rolling down her cheeks as Naruto set Shiho down.

"Ann! I'm so glad you're safe!" Shiho told her friend as the two of them hugged.

"I should be the one saying that since you got taken away like that!" Ann chided her before she noticed Shiho's outfit. "Shiho! What are you dressed in!?" she asked before Shiho looked herself and Ann over.

"What about you!? You're also dressed all weirdly!" Shiho told her, blushing at how much skin they both were showing off, them both going to cover their chests to try and cover up.

"I'd offer my coat but I can't really take it off…" Naruto muttered as he rubbed the back of his head while making it clear he wasn't looking. "But…if I can say without seeming perverted…both of your outfits look nice?" he added a bit unsure, not wanting to be a creep which in turn got some chuckles from the girls before they started laughing.

Although Naruto could tell it was more due to them being relieved that they both were safe rather than at him.

"Not to break up the happy reunion but we really do have to go, a search party might come soon" Morgana told them, getting Shiho to widen her eyes in shock at the sight of the 'not-cat', going to look at Naruto to ask if he was seeing it but the nod and hand on her shoulder told her it was okay.

"Right, lets get out of here, come on everyone" Ryuji said with a motion for them to follow as he started walking towards the exit.

"Can you two walk?" Naruto asked both Ann and Shiho, Ann nodding before Shiho tried but nearly fell as she took a step, resulting Naruto and Ann grabbing an arm each.

"Don't worry, we got you" Ann said with a smile before they made their way down towards the exit.

-Real World-

As they returned the two girls let out a sigh of exhaustion over everything that had just happened, everyone unaware that people were walking out of school and someone possibly saw their re-entry into the real world.

"Looks like we made it back, you both okay?" Naruto asked them both, getting a weak nod from them both as they looked to one another.

"Pretty much," Ann said before sighing "though I'm pretty sure we are both still confused about all of this" she added with Shiho nodding along.

"I don't even know where to start…"Shiho muttered with a frown before Naruto waved them off.

"Don't worry, we'll explain but for now lets head somewhere else. Last thing we want is to have someone overhear us" Naruto told them with Morgana nodding along.

"He's right, let's relocate to a safer spot" Morgana agreed, everyone nodding despite Ann and Shiho's shock and confusion at the sight of a talking cat before they headed off.

The place they wound up was the train station, Morgana in Naruto's bag while Ryuji got drinks for them all from a nearby vending machine.

"Hey! What about me!" Morgana yelled out, making Ryuji raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"But you're a cat?" Ryuji said as getting a cat a soda didn't make sense to him though that did make Shiho and Ann chuckle a bit.

"So…have you calmed down Shiho and Lady Ann?" Morgana asked, sticking out of Naruto's bag and putting his paws on his shoulder.

"Um…Morgana, right? I really am talking to a cat…this feels so strange" Ann muttered in shock, looking to Shiho to see if she was seeing and hearing it as well.

"It's a lot to take in but…given everything else we experienced I think it isn't that weird" Shiho told her, the others having explained a good bit about this whole 'inner world of Kamoshida's heart' and 'Persona' business.

"Demanding that you understand all of this right after what you both went through is asking too much" Morgana assured them before Ann shook her head, still slowly accepting it.

"That power…my Persona…it's all so intense" Ann muttered before Naruto rubbed his head a bit.

"Your Persona are the wills of your rebellion and that is the 'skill' I mentioned before that you needed to be able to take down Kamo-I mean, you-know-who" Naruto said only to quickly correct himself, the gesture making Shiho smile before she shook her head.

"You don't have to tiptoe around me Naruto, thank you though" Shiho told him with a soft giggle, making him nod. "So with our Persona we can make Kamoshida have a change of heart, right?" Shiho asked before Ann nodded along.

"Yeah is that really possible? Can we really force him to confess his crimes?" Ann added on while Ryuji shifted a bit with a frown.

"The volleyball team's keepin' quiet about this while some teachers and basically all the parents turn a blind eye. If guys like us try and complain they're just gonna shoot us down. Goin' all in on this plan is the only choice we got" Ryuji grumbled with a frown, kicking his foot a bit since he was still annoyed that nothing before their 'punish the king plan' could work.

"Then let us help too. I want to make him pay for everything he's done to me and Ann" Shiho told them with a look of determination in her eyes.

"He just keeps going like nothing happened, even after everything that has happened and everything he's done…I'll never forgive him" Ann added, anger rich in her voice before Naruto nodded.

"I wouldn't dare even think about telling you both no. We have all been hurt by Kamoshida, you two more than any other, if we are gonna do it then we welcome your help" Naruto told them, looking each of them in the eye and smiling softly to them before Ann's phone chimed.

"Oh crap, Shiho! Your parents noticed that you're gone!" Ann told her, making Shiho widen her eyes as she just remembered she snuck out.

"U-Uh, tell them I'm with you and came to meet Naruto before he came over" Shiho told Ann, hoping she didn't worry them too much as she had planned to be quick about things.

"Do you still want me to come over even though you're here?" Naruto asked before Shiho nodded.

"At first I came to stop you from coming over but after everything…I'd really like it if you did…if that's okay" Shiho said softly, looking down at the floor a bit nervous before he smiled and softly put his hand on her shoulder to get her to look up at him.

"Relax, I already said I would so don't worry" Naruto assured her, taking his hand off her shoulder as Ann looked up from her phone.

"I told your parents we are heading there right now" Ann told them, Naruto looking to Ryuji who waved him off.

"Go on, we can talk more about this later. We should probably make a place to meet up to talk about this kinda stuff" Ryuji said before Morgana perked up.

"Yeah! A secret hideout! It's got to be somewhere that everyone can access" Morgana mentioned with Ryuji frowning as he scratched his head.

"I was going to suggest the school rooftop but Suzui can't really get there" Ryuji grumbled a bit only for Shiho to shake her head.

"It's fine, if that's easy it can work. Ann can call me when you guys have a meeting and I'll wait in the alleyway outside school and since that's our entry point you'll have to come to me when you guys go in" Shiho explained before looking over to Ann. "For the time being I'm not going to school but I should be able to leave and head over if I tell my parents I'm meeting up with you and Naruto" she added as everyone looked over to Naruto since he was their leader.

"If you're okay with that sure but just try not to get noticed okay?" he asked, getting a smile and a nod from Shiho before the PA announced the train would be arriving soon.

"We have to leave now, come on guys" Ann told them, starting to pull on both his and Shiho's sleeves while Ryuji gave a little two finger salute to show he was fine with them leaving.

"Message you guys later" Ryuji said out to them just as they boarded the train.

The ride to Shiho's house went by well, Naruto made sure to call Sojiro and explain how he was going to check up on the girl he saved with a friend which he was more than fine with.

And, while he wasn't sure how it turned out this way, but somehow Naruto had been offered as tribute to be the one to look after Morgana…he just hoped Sojiro would be okay with that…

Once they arrived Naruto felt a bit nervous about meeting Shiho's parents, especially with how much he's heard that they wanted to thank him for saving Shiho. He really was bad at accepting thanks for stuff he did as, at the end of the day, he does things to help and not for praise.

"We're home" Shiho called out nervously, them already taking off their shoes and Naruto quickly finding himself in the strong embrace of a woman that came out of nowhere when he had looked away for a second. "M-Mom! D-Don't just run up and hug him like that" Shiho whined out, her face dark red as she tried to pry her mom off him.

Her mom had an intense 'elegant beauty' aura to her with long silky and straight black hair that she kept neat with a red hairband and brown dark brown eyes. She seemed like the stay at home mom type with a pink and white apron over her blue jeans and red long-sleeved shirt.

The other person, who was also a woman, seemed to give off a tomboy feel to her while still having a womanly aura to her. She had short light brown hair that went down just to her chin and softer colored brown eyes. She was also had more of a business feel to her as she wore a pair of dark blue slacks and a white buttoned up shirt that hard the sleeves rolled up and a tie that was loosened.

"I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist hugging the boy who saved my daughter" Shiho's mom choked out, tears building up in her eyes as she did her best to wipe them. "I'm her mother, Yukiko Amagi. It is an honor to meet the boy who saved my daughter" Yukiko told him before the other woman walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder to gently get her to let him go.

"We're glad you're safe as well after catching and shielding her like that…I still couldn't believe it when I saw the video" the other woman said as she looked over to Naruto who nodded a bit to them. "I'm Chie Amagi, Shiho's…second mother" Chie introduced, not embarrassed but more unsure how to say it while Naruto nodded, finally understanding who she was and honestly not minding or caring.*4

Love was one of those things he didn't care how others did it and if the two of them were happy then who was he to judge them.

"It's nice to see Shiho has two mothers who care so much for her as well as someone like me but trust me, I'm more durable than I seem. I only got a bit of a cut on my head from the fall and that's already healing up. Shiho's safety was my main focus during it all so I'm glad to see her having recovered well" Naruto told them before Shiho buried her hands in her face out of embarrassment while Ann patted her friend on the back.

"Yes, I know you're thankful but please, just let us go to my room since they came to see me!" Shiho grumbled out, still blushing in embarrassment as she pushed Naruto through the house towards her room.

"I'll bring tea and snacks in a bit so you all have fun talking" Yukiko called out with a happy smile, waving them off while her other mother Chie was seemingly fine about him going up to Shiho's room.

But then again he had saved Shiho so they both probably thought he wasn't going to do anything – which was very true.

"I am so sorry about them, they are soooo embarrassing" Shiho groaned out as she closed her door once Naruto and Ann were safely in her room.

"Oh Shiho, stop being so weird. Your parents are fine, they reacted the same way I did when I walked Naruto home the day it happened, glad and thankful that he is safe and so are you" Ann told her in an attempt to settle her down despite finding her being all embarrassed to be cute and adorable as shown by her hugging Shiho and petting her head.

"Trust me Shiho, any normal parent would be like this, they're fine" he assured her with a smile before Shiho nodded and sat down on her bed as she stared down at the floor.

Naruto could tell she was struggling a bit to say something but, with a look from Ann, was reassured to just wait for it before Shiho took a deep breath and looked up at him.

"Naruto…I really want to thank you for everything you've done for me" Shiho started out as she clenched her fists. "F-From you talking to me like that out in the courtyard, to you messaging me, and especially for saving me in two ways. You saved me from having Kamoshida do that to me and you literally saved me by jumping out to catch me…I don't know what I can do to repay you but I promise you, even if everyone is against you, I will be there for you" Shiho declared, tears building up in her eyes despite the conviction in them as Ann rubbed her arm to help silently console her before the world turned grey again.

"I am thou, thou art I….Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Strength Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the voice spoke out like usual before the world went back to normal.*5

"Shiho, I won't tell you to not worry about it since doing so would be crushing your courage to speak out like that. So instead I will say how thankful I am to have a friend like you on my side like this and I'll do everything I can to be worthy of it" he told her with a smile, kneeling in front of her as he gently grabbed her hands to get them to unclench, making her smile before she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Oh yeah, you're probably wondering about how Shiho works out given two moms" Ann brought up, making Shiho perk up as if she had just remembered.

"Yeah, I meant to explain things beforehand but kinda forgot…you see, my real mother is Yukiko while my dad passed away a bit after I was born. My other mom Chie has been really close friends with my mother for years and after a year or two of mourning they ended up getting together. In the end I have two amazing parents. My last name was my father's, my mother has to keep hers due to her Inn so she decided to have me carry on my dad's last name which I honestly don't mind since I wouldn't be around if not for him." Shiho explained with a soft smile, showing she really did love her parents.

"My mother Yukiko runs a famous inn up in Inaba while my other mom Chie is a police officer, we moved here so that she could originally get her training before deciding to stay here although my mother travels down to her inn frequently" Shiho explained while Naruto picked up that she referred to Yukiko as 'mother' and Chie as 'mom' which made sense given how confusing it must be to have two people who were 'mom'.

The rest of the visit was much calmer and more relaxed, moving away from the serious topic of Kamoshida while Shiho's mother gave them snacks as they talked about various topics like Naruto's whisker birthmarks, what his prank device was, and his past as a prankster.

He couldn't stay over as long as Ann could but he reassured them it was fine as he did have someone waiting to close shop for him.

"I-I'll message you later, stay safe on your way home" Shiho told him as she walked him out before surprising him with a hug, Naruto a bit surprised but gently hugged her back. The hug didn't last too long – not that he expected it to – before she headed back inside and waved off to him as he walked to the train station.

"You really have a powerful ability to draw in allies, don't you?" Morgana asked while Naruto shrugged his shoulders since he was just being himself. "I will admit that with five people we seriously are set to take down Kamoshida" he added with Naruto nodding along.

"We'll figure out what to do about Kamoshida tomorrow but for now let's focus on the big task…getting the guy I live with to allow me to keep you" Naruto groaned out with a sigh, not looking forward to that headache.

But then again, he couldn't just ditch Morgana after everything.

Sojiro was an understanding guy so he should be fine but in the end he just had to wait and see but at the end of the day he was exhausted and wanted to relax since more happened today than he ever expected to.

To him everything was pointing to things potentially turning out great but they would just have to wait and see how their raid on the castle turned out in the end since this was new territory for them all.

-Chapter End-

Pairing: Naruto x Futaba, Ann, Shiho, Makoto, Haru, Kasumi, Kawakami, Tae, Caroline, Justine, Lavensa, Sae, and one more TBA (due to it being a massive spoiler to a change I have in mind)

Maybe: Hifumi, and Chihaya

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*1 = This showcases a big difference between Naruto and Akira/Ren. Akira/Ren, in the game, formed confidants with those who could give him something in return while Naruto, in true Naruto fashion, forms confidants with those he connects with – hence why he got so many in this chapter. He'll still get stuff out of them but it's a lesser thought that he doesn't require or ask for.

Now don't worry, Kawakami will still be a maid and whatnot since that is a massive thing to her character so until then her bond will be stuck at 1.

*2 = Some of you might be wondering why Tae's bond didn't start then given it was in the same feel as the others and that's because, personally, I felt even with everything it was on the cusp, so to speak. Their next meeting will be when it really begins

*3 = Shiho's Phantom Thief outfit is based off this picture: i . redd . it/xlpwdnd43l241 . jpg only remove the sash and change her cape into a cloak/jacket thing (sorry, there is no way to really link it…) and her Persona is based off of Chilonis – daughter of Leotychidas (or Cheledonis) a spartan princess who went into battle with a noose around her neck to show she would rather die than go back to her ex-husband who was invading.

I felt it was interesting and fitting given Shiho. Chilonis also is resistant to physical attacks

*4 = For Shiho's parents I decided on Chie and Yukiko from Persona 4. I know P4 is supposed to only be 4 years after P4 (due to Rise being mentioned to turn 20 in P5) I decided to make more time between P4 and P5. Essentially Chie and Yukiko are 34/35 (meaning Yukiko had Shiho at 18)

Their set up is that Yukiko and Chie are together now with Yukiko having had a child with someone else before he passed away and they moved to Tokyo so Chie could go to the police academy and be a police due to Dojima helping her along.

Yukiko still helps run the Inn so she often is in and out of the house to help out and work down there but she always makes time for her daughter, same with Chie.

*5 = Yes, Shiho is the Strength Arcana instead of the Twin Wardens. When I read about the Strength Arcana on the Persona Wiki I felt it clicked a good bit better for Shiho. The Twins will have a different Arcana for them so look forward to it

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Before I get to the story notes I would like to remind everyone I do have a pat reon which includes rewards like seeing progress updates, notifications to new stories I plan to do, voting polls, and early access to chapters before I post them on FF.

Simple go to pat reon and paste:

/user?u=4783680

At the end of pat reon's url and you'll find my page.

You don't get anything that everyone here won't get aka there will be no "pat reon exclusive stories" or things where I have to get a certain amount of money before I work on something as both of those are shitty practices.

It is solely "hey, you want to support me, a disabled unemployed writer who survives off my disability checks? Thanks, I appreciate it" and nothing more

So yeah, check it out if you want, now onto chapter notes!

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I know I've said this before but holy fuck this chapter is insanely long. 24k (not counting these notes) which I feel is a record for my longest chapter lol. The reason was that there was just no cut off point until now since if I did cut things off early it'd feel disjointed.

Though because of it these notes would be waaaaay too long if I went over everything so I'm going over the big things and if you guys have questions or anything, like always, leave them in your reviews and I'll get to them.

First of all Shiho still jumped in the end as everything had gotten too much for her only, unlike in Canon, she didn't succeed and Naruto caught her midair. Originally I had a different idea for how the scene would go but once I realized how far apart the buildings were I went with just catching mid air and shielding her from full impact, resulting in no broken bones or anything

This had a strong ripple of changes in things from Kawakami being on his side much earlier to the school starting to change how they see him.

And, as I said before, Naruto makes his bonds much differently than Akira/Ren so he started a few ahead of time

I chose to have Cognitive Kobayakawa as an enemy as I can see Kamoshida seeing him as a fool and someone to order around that obeys him plus it gave Naruto and Shiho and interesting opponent to fight

Maruki DID see them exit the Metaverse, I kept that in despite it being a few days past when it was supposed to happen.

Now, I am going to relax a bit before I work on chapter 6 lol

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I hope you all liked it

Until Next Time

Rate and Review

Buh-Bye!