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

6. Chapter 6

Fox of Many Masks

Chapter 6

"Now remember, when we get inside, do not talk. We have to wait for closing time for me to bring you up to Sojiro" Naruto told Morgana, the 'not-cat' nodding before Naruto zipped up the bag and walked inside.

As usual, Naruto gave a nod to Sojiro so he didn't disrupt any customers with the man nodding back. Though, as he tried to head up to his room he stopped a bit at the sight of a familiar face.

"Oh, fancy meeting you here. You frequent this café as well?" Tae asked as she looked over at him from her seat in one of the booths.

He almost didn't recognize her at first given the contrast of her clothes from the last time he saw her. She was very 'punk rock' as she wore a short black jacket, a blue dress that had a white spiderweb design on it, black ripped leggings, and black ankle boots. The only things that stayed the same between her professional outfit and her clothes now was her choker and necklace.

"Sort of, I kind of live here in the attic" Naruto told her with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head and getting her to tilt her head as if to try and look at his head.

"How are things going for you in terms of recovery?" Tae asked, motioning for him to sit down in her booth, Naruto looking to Sojiro who shrugged his shoulders as if to say it wasn't his place to tell him no.

"I've always been one to heal quickly but your meds helped a lot" Naruto complimented her, getting her to smirk a bit and nod.

"Well aren't we a smooth talker," Tae teased a bit as she drank her coffee "though I would like to check up on you and make sure. Come by the clinic when you get the chance as there is something else I wish to talk to you about other than how you are doing" she added before finishing her coffee, putting the money for it on the table, and leaving.

"So, you two close?" Sojiro teased with a smirk, getting Naruto to roll his eyes and shake his head at which only made the man chuckle at. "Well with her gone I'm gonna close up, behave as usual" he went on, lazily waving his hand as if to say 'you know the deal'.

"Wait, there is kind of something I want to run by you first, can we talk up in my room?" Naruto asked, clearly confusing Sojiro as he rose an eyebrow at him.

"Suuure? Just give me a second to turn off the stove and I'll be right up" Sojiro said before Naruto sighed.

"It's nothing weird. I just have something to run by you since this is your place" Naruto assured him as he headed upstairs and took Morgana out of his bag. "Just sit here and look normal, okay?" Naruto asked the 'not-cat' as Morgana nodded before shaking a bit to get the 'cramped' feeling of having been stuffed in a bag off of him.

"So, what is it that you nee…ded" Sojiro asked out while coming up the stairs only to drag on the last syllable of his word once he saw the cat on Naruto's bed. "Why is there a cat here?" he asked, a bit perturbed before Naruto held his hands out in a placating manner.

"Now, before you say anything, I was asked to look after him. It wasn't exactly my idea" Naruto said, trying to make it seem like he wasn't doing whatever the hell he wanted.

"Yo do know this is a café, right?" Sojiro asked in a dry tone, looking at Naruto as if to ask if he was serious about this.

"Look, Shiho, the girl I saved, found him and took care of him while she was recovering at home. Her parents are allergic to cats and asked if I could, there was really no way I could tell her no" Naruto told Sojiro, looking over at Morgana as the 'not-cat' sat on his bed looked at them only for Sojiro to give a sigh of defeat since he knew with that excuse there was no way he could deny the cat.

"Fine…but keep it quiet when we're open for business and don't let it roam downstairs or I will toss it out. It should go without saying but I'm not taking care of it, that's on you since you brought it here" Sojiro explained as Naruto nodded along.

"I figured that would be how it goes and I promise that you don't have to worry about it. Shiho told me he's well behaved and actually listens insanely well" Naruto assured him, getting Sojiro to look him over until he finally nodded to show he trusted his words before he walked off back downstairs.

"Is he the ruler of this place?" Morgana asked before Naruto nodded. "He seemed pretty understanding for someone who keeps you cramped up in this dump" he added which made Naruto sigh a bit.

"He owns the café, he's a friend of my godfather…also this isn't a dump, its just an attic that was used for storage not that long ago" Naruto explained only to turn his head to see Sojiro walking back with a plate with some food on it.

"Seriously…It just had to keep calling out in that cute little voice…" Sojiro said with a sigh, setting the plate on his bed for Morgana. "Make sure you wash that dish, okay?" he asked, getting another nod from Naruto to show he understood.

"Oh…by the way…did you decide on a name for it?" Sojiro asked which made Naruto feel a bit bad for the man since it was rather obvious that he wanted to name him.

"Sorry, Shiho already named him Morgana" Naruto told him with a bit of a frown, Sojiro frowning a bit as well before he nodded and it disappeared.

"Makes sense she'd name it, got my hopes up a bit but Morgana is a nice name for the little guy" Sojiro admitted only to look at his watch and hum a bit. "I still gotta close up so I'll do that and head home, don't forget that plate" he reminded him, Naruto giving a little salute before the man headed off once again.

"Seems like he's an understanding guy and to be honest, this place is heaven compared to Kamoshida's cells" Morgana admitted as he looked around more and more before turning towards him, ears drooped a bit.

"Remember how you guys asked me before about what I am? To be honest, I don't remember anything about my birth…I think the Metaverse's distortions made me lose both my memories and my true form" he revealed, opening up a bit before Naruto sat on the bed beside him.

"So you're thinking that if we erase Kamoshida's Palace your memories might return?" Naruto asked with Morgana's worried silence answering the question for him. "I know I can't really know how it feels but try not to worry too much, let's take Kamoshida down and see where it goes from there" he told the 'not-cat', getting a nod from him before he looked over to the food only for his stomach to growl.

"Come to think of it…I didn't get hungry over in that world…" Morgana muttered with Naruto chuckling a bit.

"Well, eat up then. I'll make sure you get some decent food to eat while your crashing with me" Naruto told him before Morgana started to eat up and the plate quickly being cleaned off.

"Let me make myself clear: you taking care of me won't be for nothing. It'll be give and take" Morgana explained as he cleaned one of his paws. "Due to my knowledgeable and dexterous nature, I have a lot of intel on infiltration tools" he continued, making Naruto raise an eyebrow at.

"I have a feeling I know what those are but with this whole 'Meta-verse' stuff they might be a bit different than what I'm thinking of so how about you tell me what they are" Naruto said which got a smirk on the cat's face.

"Whoa, I learned my lesson last time so I can't tell you more unless we settle on a deal. In exchange for you keeping me here, I'll teach you about these tools. How does that sound?" Morgana asked, Naruto impressed he learnt from his past mistake so quickly.

"Sounds like a deal to me" Naruto told him, holding out a hand to shake only for Morgana to put his paw on it for a makeshift handshake between the two with the world going grey once more.

"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 Magician Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the voice said to him, explaining the new bond between him and Morgana before everything reverted to normal.

"I'll lecture you about infiltration tools over time but I really have to say that the power you used in the Palace was seriously amazing. The stronger that power gets the more reliable it'll be as a ace in the hole" Morgana said with a determined look on his face.

"I'll do my best to get more masks then" Naruto told him as he heard Pixie's giggle in his head.

"And I'll help by telling you which ones you can handle ahead of time" she said with confidence in her tone as he thanked her in his head, the giggle showing she heard him.

It did surprise him a bit that he could hear them in the real world but with the craziness of it all it really didn't surprise him all that much.

"All right, I'm gonna stick with you wherever you go from today on…though getting around in cat form sounds pretty inconvenient…I guess I'll just have to deal with being carried in that bag of yours" Morgana grumbled out before Naruto picked up the plate.

"I don't really ever carry around much so it'll be fine" Naruto assured him as he quickly went downstairs to wash the plate.

As he headed back up Naruto stopped and sat on the table besides the stairs as hos phone chimed, showing he had gotten two messages, one from Ryuji and another being a little group chat with Ann and Shiho.

Ann: Thanks for everything today, I just left Shiho's

Shiho: I want to say thanks as well…you really saved us both today…me for the third time…

Ann: We just wanted to thank you properly again for it a bit privately

Naruto: Honestly, don't worry about it

Naruto: Also I'm not keeping score so neither should you Shiho

Ann: I told her the same thing but not much I could do to get it out of her mind

Shiho: I'll repay you for everything you've done for me…I promise

Naruto: I'm sure you will but don't push yourself

Ann: We just wanted to let you know how thankful we are for everything you've done

Ann: See you tomorrow

Shiho: And I'll see you next time we head to the castle and maybe message you sooner…

Naruto: Sounds great

'Gotta try and get her out of the mindset that she owes me for all of this…maybe I can get Ann to help' Naruto thought with a frown, knowing that just outright denying it over and over might hurt her a bit, before he opened the other message.

Ryuji: How'd it go with the cat?

Naruto: Went well, seems Sojiro has a soft spot for cats

Ryuji: Good, one trouble down but another we need to tackle

Ryuji: Right now you are the only one with a gun, we need ones as well

Naruto: I was thinking the same thing, especially since you have shotgun shells on your outfit

Ryuji: Right!?

Ryuji: So I was thinking, I know we don't have many days til Kamoshida expels us but after school how about we go get some for everyone else?

Naruto: You know a place?

Ryuji: Yeah, the same place I got yours. We can ask Ann and message Shiho about their preferences tomorrow but it'll be a good use of a day

Ryuji: Don't worry about the cash, I have a bit and we can use what we got from fighting Shadows in the Palace

Naruto: Sounds like a plan

Ryuji: Great! See ya tomorrow!

"You guys send messages to each other with that thing, right? I want in too so I'm gonna have to ask you to type for me" Morgana asked while he leapt off the bed and walked over to him as Naruto nodded to him with a thumbs up.

"You are a part of this as well so makes sense you'd want a part in things" Naruto assured him as he pulled out hos box of things that Jiraiya had sent here once again.

"What are you looking for?" Morgana asked, not only curious about what was in the box but what the interesting teen was looking for.

"I'm hoping my godfather sent my bank card and info here as well as some pocket change since if we are buying stuff we'll need money" Naruto explained before smiling as he found a medium sized lock box with a key already inserted into it, that alone screaming like it was what he was looking for and indeed it was.

When his parents had passed away they had left behind everything to him, from their sizeable savings to their house. Of course both were managed by his godparents but they always ensured he was given a bit of money each month into the main 'use' part of his savings account.

It was their way of giving him an 'allowance' and since he didn't use it up every month he definitely had a decent chunk of spending money. Plus the 50,000 yen that Jiraiya had put in the lockbox, alongside all his other bank info, would come in handy.

"And with that, we are set. Now come on, it's getting late" Naruto said with a yawn, grabbing the card and spending money before locking up the lockbox and putting his box of things away.

He also made sure to put everything into his wallet before finally getting ready for bed.

-4/20 – Wednesday-

School, both on the way to and during, was odd with a cat in his bag and inside his desk. He was more or less on edge throughout the entire day, trying to make sure Morgana couldn't be seen from inside his desk by the people behind him.

Thankfully Morgana seemed to understand this as well and often laid as far back into his desk that he could.

A vibration from his phone helped to get his mind off the worry of being caught with a cat.

Ryuji: So Ann, Shiho, any preferences on the model guns that Naruto gets for you?

Ann: We're in class, focus

Ryuji: Class is boring and this is important. For me I'm definitely going for a shotgun

Ryuji: Makes sense since I have shotgun shells on my outfit

Ann: I really don't know anything about guns so I have no idea

Shiho: Neither do I so maybe Naruto can pick what he thinks works best?

Naruto: If you are both okay with it then sure, I'll try to pick something with you both in mind

Ann: Great! Though…how are you going to carry all of those around?

Naruto:…Good point

Naruto: I'll figure something out

The rest of class, and school, was boring and tedious. He annoyingly got called on for an answer, but it seemed that Morgana was a nice little helper when it came to stuff like that.

With school ending Naruto headed out to the hallway, Morgana having quickly hopped into his bag so they could immediately head to the hallway for Ryuji.

"You ready to go? The shop is on Central Street nearby where we went for food that one time so we should get going" Ryuji said as Naruto nodded and started down the stairs.

"Got it, the sooner we get this done the better since my doctor wants me to go have a checkup" Naruto told him, Ryuji nodding along while he followed after him.

"Are you okay? We can do this another time if we need to" Ryuji said with Naruto waving him off.

"It's just a checkup, its nothing to worry about" he reassured Ryuji before the two of them made their way to the subway station.

-Shibuya-

Once they got out from underground Naruto started to follow Ryuji as he led them to the store given he was the one who knew where it was. Making their way to Central Street Naruto still found himself wanting to explore but, given his situation, he wasn't really given free reign yet since Sojiro had to wait for him to get home before closing up.

"Come on, the shop can be pretty confusin' to find sometimes" Ryuji instructed, leading him down the street before turning left near a purple sign that read 'Underground' with a neon arrow pointing down.

It was essentially an alleyway before they arrived at a store just behind a building called 'Untouchable'.

"This is it. Pretty legit right?" Ryuji asked with a proud smile on his face while Naruto looked the place over a bit.

"Seems interesting, definitely hidden away from the rest of the street but that could be useful for making sure no one from school potentially sees us" Naruto told him before he started to head inside with Ryuji following along behind him.

The inside, more or less, fit the outside appearance. It seemingly not caring for appearances and looking exactly like a model gun store back in an alley would look like if you asked someone to imagine it.

He had to admit though that the music playing in there was pretty nice.

As they walked up to the front counter Naruto looked over the man behind it who was resting his feet up on it while reading a magazine.

The man had very short grey hair and grey eyes with stubble on his face along with a gecko tattoo on his neck, some earrings in his ear, and what seemed to be a lollipop in his mouth. For clothes he wore a grey hat, a pair of yellow ear defenders that were pushed up and around the hat, a black turtleneck, jeans, a long grey coat, and a pair of black boots.

All in all he had a naturally intense aura like someone you really didn't want to piss off or annoy.

"You lookin' for recommendations?" he asked, looking up from his magazine before shrugging. "I dunno, just buy whatever looks interstin' to you" he lazily added before Ryuji scoffed a bit.

"Some customer service" Ryuji grumbled, getting the man to look over at Ryuji and sigh.

"Fine, whaddya want? An automatic? A revolver?" he asked which only seemed to confuse Ryuji.

"Uh, automatic…? Dude, why're you talkin' about cars now!?" Ryuji yelled out in confusion, making both Naruto and the man behind the desk sigh and groan at.

"Listen, this here's an enthusiast shop. My regulars'll be mad if I let a casual like you hang around" the man explained which only annoyed Ryuji more.

"I'm not a freakin' casual! I bought shit from here like, last week!" Ryuji yelled again, taking a stomping step forward like he seemed to do when really annoyed.

"Huh? Can't remember you" the man said dismissively, continuing to ignore Ryuji as he grumbled before the man looked towards Naruto. "And you? Lookin' for somethin'?" he asked with Naruto nodding.

"Need some things to start a collection. I had a collection back home before I moved here and I met up with some friends who enjoy collecting as well so they sent me here to pick for them" Naruto explained, getting a raised eyebrow and a slight smirk from the man.

"Oh? You a collector? You're way more interestin' than blondie over there" the man said with a chuckle, once again ignoring Ryuji as he grumbled out. "Anyways…you shoulda said before you two're enthusiasts. I'm always up for helpin' fresh faces" he told them before actually getting his feet off the counter, sitting up, and closing his magazine.

"Some precautions first though," he started off with his tone getting serious "don't go 'round pointing 'em at other people. Keep 'em in a bag or somethin' if you're outside. Oh and don't let the fuzz catch wind of you having 'em. I don't need them comin' around here" he listed off, Naruto nodding along as he listened to the man's 'rules'.

"I definitely understand, last thing we need is to get in trouble due to them thinking we have the real thing or something" Naruto assured him since, as he did a quick look around, the majority of these guns and weapons looked incredibly realistic.

"Good, nice to see you have a head on your shoulders" the man said with a smirk before clearing his throat and pulling out a model gun from the display case. "Now, if you look close at this model, you'll be able to tell it really is a model. Real guns feel…different" he explained before setting the handgun model on the counter. "Maybe someday I'll show you the real good stuff, if you got the guts for it of course" he added as he stood up and groaned while stretching a bit.

"But, for now, you get the beginner selection so sit tight and I'll bring 'em out" the man said, walking off as Ryuji pumped his fist.

"We did it dude! We totally gotta go for some fancy shit right? I want 'em to shine!" Ryuji said excitedly while Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he smirked at his friend. "Oh and here's the cash for mine! Pick me out something good!" he added as he handed over 5,000 yen.

With that, alongside the 3,000 they had from attacking Shadows, essentially they had 58,000…though he'd rather not spend all of it.

'Just gotta get guns for everyone. I can come back later for weapons if we need them…though I probably should get Ryuji something better than a pipe…' Naruto thought as he rubbed his chin just before the man came back with what seemed to be a catalog.

"You tell me which ones you want and I'll bring them out. Easier than me lugging all of them out here" the man said, handing Naruto the catalog for him to look through which he quickly noticed was laminated. "Use this marker to mark the ones you want if you are doing bulk orders" he added on, fishing out a black dry erase marker for him to use.

Naruto nodded as he put the catalog down and started to look through it. 'Let's see…a mace for Ryuji for 2,800 and a Levinson M31 for 1,400….a Sterlidge for Ann since I did want to get her an SMG which will end up being 3,000…but what do I get for Shiho?…' he thought with a grumble before the man looked up from his magazine.

"Having trouble picking?" the man asked as Naruto nodded.

"I know what to get one of my friends but the other is tricky as I don't entirely know what will work for her" Naruto muttered as he rubbed his chin a bit in thought. "I'm thinking something rifle-ish but need more fire rate" he added on, getting the man to nod along with a smirk as if enjoying that he was actually speaking the language of a gun aficionado.

"Then I suggest a carbine, more specifically an M1 Carbine since carbines are close to a rifle and semi-automatic" the man suggested with Naruto taking his advice and marking it down for 3,000 yen. *1

Thinking things over he remembered how Ann just had a flimsy leather whip and, once looking it over, saw there was a 'Heat Whip' for 3,800 he could buy…which he did since Ann and Ryuji really crapped out with initial weapons.

"There you go, that's everything" Naruto told the man, handing back the catalog for him to look through to see what he needed to grab.

"Nice choices, the total will end up being 14,000 so get it ready" the man said with a smirk before walking off.

"Dude! 14,000!? We don't have enough!" Ryuji hissed out before Naruto waved him off.

"Your 5,000 plus 3,000 from Shadows leaves only 6,000 needed from my own pocket. This is important so I don't mind spending cash" Naruto assured him while Ryuji still could only frown and nod a bit, pulling out a rolled-up duffle bag from his school back.

"Well, good thing I brought this then I guess" Ryuji said with a smile as the man came back.

"Oh good, you have something to carry in cause trust me, I don't bag shit like at a grocery store" the man told them, giving them both a dry look before at least putting the models in the duffle bag that Ryuji was holding open for him just as Naruto set down the yen on the counter.

"Pleasure doing business with you" the man said while counting the bills and sitting back down. "Oh yeah, one more thing I should let you guys know. I don't buy model guns from other people like I do with model weapons so keep that in mind. I don't wanna deal with any problems buyin' somethin' that's already been modified. That's all I gotta say" he explained to them before briskly ending the conversation, allowing them both to leave the store.

"Sweet! We totally scored!" Ryuji cheered a bit before Naruto set down the bag and looked at him.

"Okay, now how do we bring all of this to school, let along on the train" Naruto asked him with a flat look, getting an 'oh…right…' look from him before Naruto's phone chimed in a way that definitely wasn't familiar.

"The Nav has been updated…please enjoy the Transfer App and may it serve you well" the female voice that usually sounded out when they went to Kamoshida's palace said, prompting Naruto to open the app and see up top there was a tab that read 'transfer'. *2

"Whoa…should we click it?" Ryuji asked, a bit unsure since the last time they pressed anything on the app it took them to Kamoshida's Castle.

"There should be no harm in trying since if we do end up somewhere weird we have a bunch of guns" Naruto reassured his friend, silently knowing this was Igor's doing as he clicked on the tab which started to load the tab.

Once loaded they both noticed the page had all of their names in one column with 'Ranged', 'Melee', and 'Accessory' labeling the columns beside them. Next to Naruto read 'Handgun – Tkachev' and 'Dagger – Silver Dagger' with nothing under Accessory, showing it accurately listed everything he, and the others, had equipped.

Unsure what to do a pop up showed up on the screen that read 'Please allow access to your camera so we may transfer items to your Meta-verse inventory. Please input the ranged weapons for 'Ann' 'Shiho' and 'Ryuji' so we may proceed'.

"Whoa…this thing will let us send stuff to the Meta-verse?" Morgana asked, now finally poking his head out of Naruto's bag as he had been stuffed in there for too long.

"Seems like it…just gotta label everyone" Naruto told them, quickly labeling Ann as 'SMG', Shiho as 'Carbine' and Ryuji as 'Shotgun' before allowing the app access.

'Please capture all the items in one frame and take the photo' another on screen pop-up read, Ryuji quickly doing that for him as he aimed the camera and took the picture. It was nearly instant, the weird pulse in the air that often happened when they went into Kamoshida's Palace rippling out and taking away the model guns.

'Transfer complete! Please note you can sent other items back and forth between the Metaverse from the Real World this way as well' another message read, Naruto deciding to test that later before looking to see everything was equipped except for the new melee weapons.

'Maybe if I click on them I can change things?' Naruto thought as he tapped on Ann's 'Leather Whip', revealing a drop-down menu for him to choose between it and the Heat Whip they had just sent over.

"This this is like one of those menu equip screens in video games. This will make managing our gear so much easier!" Naruto explained to them, in turn making Ryuji pump his fist in excitement.

"Awesome! We are so ready for Kamoshida next time we head in! I'll let the girls know since you probably need to hurry to your check-up" Ryuji reminded him, Naruto nodding as he put his phone away.

"Yeah I total forgot! Thanks!" Naruto said before hurrying off, leaving a waving Ryuji to pick up the now empty duffle bag and most likely head home as well.

-Yongen-Jaya-

As he stepped out of the train and made it back to Yongen-Jaya he quickly made his way over to Tae's clinic. Once inside he saw her behind the front desk like last time, catching her attention as he walked up to the front desk.

"Wasn't expecting you to come see me so soon but I do agree, the sooner the better. Come on back" she said before motioning for him to head into the exam room.

"Yeah, I figured the same thing and I made sure to finish what I had planned for today as quick as I could so I could drop by" he told her as he sat down on the exam table, his bag on the ground beside it.

"Well don't you know how to make a lady feel important" Tae teased him a bit while she walked over to look over the back of his head to check on how his healing was coming along before she widened her eyes a bit in surprise.

"Seems like you were true to your word about being quick to recover as I can't see any real signs of the injury" Tae said, a good bit amazed given she expected there to be more. "I guess I can see why your godmother has you help with her medicine" she added while heading over to her desk to write out the info on his chart.

"She also enjoys making me help on testing other meds of hers. My strong constitution apparently helps get good readings" he told her with a bit of a dry chuckle and flat look, getting a bit of a smirk from her as she jotted down some notes.

"If only I could get someone to help. I've put ads in the paper for help but haven't got a single bite" Tae complained, an annoyed look on her face as she continued writing.

"I'll help you" Naruto blurted out, noticing something in her eyes that he felt was desperation. He wasn't sure why but something told him that getting someone to help was something she desperately needed.

"Wait, what? What did you just say?" Tae asked as if not believing what she had heard.

"If you need someone for your clinical trial then I'll help you. I've been in these before so I know how they go for the most part" he told her, resisting the urge to smirk as the normally straight faced doctor had a look of shock on her face.

"Really? Personally, I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth but don't you think you should run it by your family member who is a doctor?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him before he waved her off.

"It's fine, she may be my main doctor but in the end I make my own choices and I want to help you out" he told her with a smile, getting her to chuckle a bit and shake her head at him.

"You're such an odd kid…but can't say that doesn't make you interesting" she said before rotating on her chair so that she was fully facing him. "I'll take you up on your offer but, to make it fair, I'll offer you something in return" she told him while pulling out a small notepad from her jacket that he knew definitely wasn't a prescription pad.

"You're a student, a second year by the looks those arrows on your collar, so you are probably going to have a lot of exams and other exhaustions that come with being a student. To help with that I'll let you buy some of my natural medicine, they aren't anything dangerous I assure you" Tae told him, Naruto rubbing his chin as he thought it over a bit before quickly holding out his hand to her.

"Sounds like a fair deal. I look forward to helping you" Naruto told her, quickly deciding that her medicines could help them in Kamoshida's palace to recover and keep going.

"And I look forward to your help from now on" she replied, shaking his hand before Naruto watched the world turn 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 Death Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…" the voice once again recited before the world turned normal again.

"I'll give you a few on the house but everything else after this you'll have to pay for" she said, pulling out three small boxes of medicine and handing them to him only to pull them back before he could grab them "Only stipulation I have is that you can't tell anyone about what goes on in our clinical trials. I don't want the general public to know about my original medicines since you overheard what happens when they do" she warned him, Naruto nodding along as he definitely understood which got her to actually give him the medicines.

It made sense to him that she'd want it to stay secret since the last thing she needed was more weirdos showing up and asking for some 'medicine of unlimited power' or whatever it was that man harassed her about last time.

"I'll have our first clinical trial set up soon so here, lets exchange numbers and I'll let you know when it's ready so you can come by when it best suits you" Tae told him as she pulled out her phone with him pulling his out as well and with a quick chime their numbers were exchanged.

"Sure thing, I'll do my best not to keep you waiting. My godmother taught me never to keep a woman waiting after all" he teased, a bit in retaliation for her teasing earlier which got a smirk from her that showed she didn't mind.

"Smart boy taking her words to heart. Now you should probably head home but do come by if you feel any residual pain in your head, last thing you need is for there to be damage from the fall that can't be detected by the eye" Tae warned him, Naruto nodding along as he stood up and grabbed his bag.

"Don't worry, I'll come by if anything like that happens so thanks for see me and I'll see you later" he told her which got a nod from her as she watched him walk out of the exam room with him continuing on out of the clinic.

"Wow! You just got yourself a real powerful ally there. Those medicines will come in handy for us for sure" Morgana praised as he stuck his head out of the bag, them both noticing how late it was getting.

"Yeah, it was a nice little bonus that came with helping her" Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders as getting stuff for helping was never his way of doing things.

Sure he didn't mind getting stuff in return but he honestly didn't ask for it or expect it.

"Let's just head home for now, today's been a busy one" he added, Morgana nodding along before slipping back in the bag as they reached LeBlanc.

He had to step to the side to let a somewhat annoyed customer walk past him, giving Sojiro a raised eyebrow which only got a sigh from the man.

"Don't worry about it, just a snooty customer. Glad you're back early cause I'm gonna close up. Try not to stay up too late" Sojiro told him with a tired tone while Naruto merely nodded and headed upstairs to let Morgana finally out of his bag.

"From stocking up on weapons to ensuring meds to help us fight we got a lot done today. We should be ready to head into the Palace tomorrow but before that we need to assemble some infiltration tools" Morgana told him as he hopped up onto the table beside the stairs.

"Ah so its finally time to show me what you have to bring to the table?" Naruto asked with a smirk, getting a nod from the 'not-cat'

"Clean off that desk back there so we can build them there" Morgana instructed with Naruto carefully getting to work on it. He made sure to be careful with Sojiro's things and, after a while of moving things back and forth, he was finally able to clear it off while leaving some tools and scrap that he found on the desk.

"I'll start by teaching you how to build a lockpick" Morgana started off as he hopped up onto the desk only to watch as Naruto took out a lockpick of his own from his wallet.

"Sorry, already got you covered there. I saved up for a while and bought this in the past and I've had it for years so it's definitely sturdy" Naruto informed him, getting a bit of a grumbling from the 'not-cat' before he shook it off.

"Well I can still teach you how to make other Infiltration Tools! Like these smoke bombs that help us recover and make the Shadows settle down momentarily!" Morgana declared, as if determined to show that he still had things to teach him.

"Okay then, tell me how to make them" Naruto said while he sat down at the desk, pocketing his lockpick before Morgana went through the steps to make the 'Goho-M' and 'Calming Aroma' as he called them.

The items were interesting, like smoke bombs but the insides had different 'ingredients' inside them. He was curious how they actually worked but figured it'd have to wait until they went into the Palace.

"I'm going to message everyone, asking if they are ready to go into the Palace" Naruto told Morgana as he quickly used the 'Meta-Transfer' to move the items over to the Metaverse, getting a nod from Morgana to show he agreed.

Naruto: With us being stocked up with new guns and weapons, how does everyone feel about going to the Palace tomorrow?

Ryuji: I was hoping you'd suggest that!

Ryuji: I am sooooo ready to bust in there and take that bastard down!

Ann: I'm ready too. The sooner we take him down and ensure the safety of you and Ryuji the better

Shiho: I want to get this done with as well. I refuse to just weakly accept things anymore

Shiho: I can tell my parents I'm meeting up with you guys at a train station, they don't have to know I'm heading to the school

Naruto: Good, that means after school we are heading straight to the alleyway

Ryuji: Sweet!

Ann: Sounds good

Shiho: Okay, I'll be waiting

"Best to get some sleep to prepare for it" Morgana advised, Naruto nodding along as he got ready for bed and finally laid down for bed.

'Tomorrow is the day when this officially begins…let's get to it' he thought with a bit of a smirk before he relaxed and started to try and sleep.

-4/21 – Thursday-

As he walked towards the school he had to resist smirking as he found Kamoshida standing out front ushering people to hurry on to class. It took a while but, as Naruto slowed his walk to a stop, the man finally noticed him.

"Good morning" Kamoshida said as he looked down at him with his hands on his hips.

"Morning there teach" Naruto replied with a bit of a smirk and a nod before he started to walk on past him.

"That admirable behavior won't do you any good once you're expelled" Kamoshida told him, getting Naruto to stop and look over at him.

"We'll see, you'd be surprised" Naruto quickly said before continuing his way into school, noticing everyone's eyes on him like usual. The whispers, as of late, were still showing the students were on his side.

In fact, most of them seemed worried that Kamoshida might try something against him. He had to admit, it was nice to have the school on his side after the shitty way things started.

As class started off and the homeroom period ended things were going pretty well before Kawakami cleared her throat a bit.

"Uzumaki-kun? May I have a word with you please?" she asked, Naruto confused why she was using his last name and why she needed to talk to him.

"Whoa, is Kawakami going to try and help him?"

"I hope she does, there's no way Kamoshida can expel him like this after saving Suzui-san like that" a few students whispered while Naruto got up and followed Kawakami out of the room and towards the counseling room.

"There's something I'd like to ask you, it won't take long, just wait a moment as I think the room is being used" Kawakami muttered with a frown before the doors opened and the last person either of them wanted to see walked out.

Though it seemed he wasn't alone as a man in a suit and a familiar red haired girl walked out after him.

"Ah, I see you're already getting on top of the problem I'd mentioned this morning Ms. Kawakami! I appreciate the support" Kamoshida thanked which only got Kawakami to narrow her eyes at.

"I'm not doing anything about that faux problem of yours. I'm checking on my student to see if he's recovered after saving Suzui-san" Kawakami briskly and bluntly told him, making the man's smile falter for a second before forcing it to stay on since he probably couldn't lose his cool around the girl from before.

"Oh! It's you! Thank you again for helping me back then. I do hope you're feeling better after that fall" the girl thanked, getting a bit worried for him since she also apparently saw his fall only for Naruto smile as he waved her off.

"It's really fine, always happy to help and I assure you I'm fine. Thanks for the worry though" Naruto told her, getting a confused look from Kamoshida.

"You know this guy Yoshizawa?" Kamoshida asked, revealing the girl's last name was most likely Yoshizawa.

"Yes, he lent me a helping hand earlier in the week I believe. He was quite kind in doing so" Yoshizawa told him, getting Kamoshida to shake his head in disappointment.

"I'd recommend you steer clear of the likes of him if you have any consideration for your future. Remember the discussion we just had? There are a number of students in this school that you shouldn't get involved with…this one's at the top of the list" Kamoshida told her, getting a confused look on Yoshizawa's face.

"But from what I hear around school his record was due to stopping a woman from being assaulted. Plus there is that event with saving that girl" Yoshizawa said, defending him and confused why Kamoshida was saying such things before the man stomped his foot hard, creating a loud bang that made her stop talking.

"Just listen to me on this" Kamoshida said, a strained smile on his face with his tone also strained as if he was really struggling from losing it. "Now let's go" he essentially ordered, walking off with the man in the suit following right behind him.

"…Please excuse us…" Yoshizawa muttered, giving them a small bow before walking off.

"Well that was something…I've never seen Kamoshida lose his cool like that" Kawakami muttered, watching them as they left before she seemingly remembered why there were here and motioned for him to head into the room.

"Look, I did call you here cause I was worried about your health after everything but I also called you in here to warn you" Kawakami revealed as she sat down across from Naruto. "Kamoshida has talked to the principal and somehow gotten him on board with your expulsion, even with the press you've garnered for the school with your saving of Suzui-san" she told him, making Naruto frown as he nodded along.

'Makes sense given how Kamoshida sees the man in his Palace…' Naruto thought before shaking off his thoughts. "Doesn't really surprise me honestly" he told her, making her frown as she nodded.

"Even the support of the students isn't enough to stop the principal…I'm trying everything I can but I can't protect you...I'm sorry" Kawakami admitted, her voice breaking as she hung her head and clenched her fists, obviously frustrated at the scenario.

"Kawakami…it's fine" he told her as he put a hand on her clenched fist, getting it to loosen up and getting her to look up at him. "The fact that you revealed the cause of my record that I told you and that you are seriously wanting to help me means a lot" he reassured her, getting her to crack a light smile, wiping away the tears that had built up in the corner of her eye and held onto his hand a bit.

"And don't worry about me, I always believe it'll work out in the end. Just gotta have hope" he added, squeezing her hand with a smile as she squeezed it back before he let it go due to not wanting to be potentially creepy.

"I'll try to have hope…and to keep trying to rally all the teachers. Most of them support you but are nervous about speaking out due to Kamoshida…" she told him before he stood up and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's fine, with the stupid amount of power he has I understand. Focus on staying safe while trying to help and I'll try and think of a way to get myself out of this" Naruto told her with a soft smile that she mirrored before standing up as well.

"I'll do my best…" she muttered, clearly nervous for the both of them but the way she looked at him made it clear she was more nervous for him.

Once back in class things continued on before his phone vibrated and he pulled out his phone under his desk with Ann doing the same in front of him.

Ryuji: So I saw Kamoshida at the school gate this morning

Ryuji: He was just standing there looking at me with this shit-eating grin on his face

Naruto: He talked to me, warned me my 'admirable behavior' wasn't going to do me any good

Naruto: Plus a bit ago when Kawakami pulled me aside he actually snapped a bit and raised his voice

Naruto: He definitely didn't like this one first year standing up for me

Ann: Good thing Kawakami was with you or who knows what he might have tried

Shiho: He wouldn't have done anything with others around…he only seriously snaps and gets violent if no one is around

Shiho: I'm surprised he snapped at all

Ryuji: That has to show that Naruto is getting to him with all the support he's getting

Ryuji: The sooner we get this done the better. The meeting that he plans to expel us at is on May 2nd

Ann: We're heading in after school so let's try and get through it as quick as we can without tiring ourselves out

Shiho: We can do it, I don't know how big it is but I want to get as much as we possibly can today

Naruto: I understand and I have some stuff to help us so we'll head in after school and see how it goes

Thankfully, the rest of school went by relatively quick and as the bell rang a nod to Ann was all he needed to show they were still intent on heading in.

They figured, and hoped, that Ryuji was waiting for them in the alleyway since they couldn't find him in the hallways and thankfully their assumption was correct since they found him leaning a wall with Shiho standing nearby.

"Oh good, you guys rushed here too. I thought I'd have to message you guys" Ryuji said as he slipped away his phone.

"The plan didn't change from what we set up earlier in the day so we came straight over" Naruto told him, opening his bag so Morgana could pop out of his bag.

"Don't forget! Our deadline is May 2nd" Morgana reminded them with Ann nodding along.

"Yeah, we basically just have to go to that castle and steal the treasure from Kamoshida, right?" she asked, wanting to get things all summarized as best she could so she could truly understand it.

"But wait, what even is a Treasure? I wanna know that before we do anything" Ryuji asked out since to him the whole thing was really confusing.

"A Treasure is the physical form of the Palace ruler's distorted desires. In other words it's the core of the Palace. Once we steal it the Palace will crumble…I think" Morgana said only to falter a bit at the end. "Having said all that, even I don't know what Kamoshida's Treasure is going to be" he added before Shiho tentatively rose her hand a bit.

"And where do we find it?" Shiho asked, Ann giving her a squeeze on the shoulder to reassure her it was fine to speak up.

"There's no way of knowing that until we go in and find out but if I had to guess I'd say he has it locked up somewhere in the depths of the Palace" the 'not-cat' explained, which made sense given the weirdness of the castle set up of his Palace.

"Basically, think of it as us raiding the castle and going for all the king's gold deep in the castle walls" Naruto summarized, using the castle to help with the metaphor.

"Okay, I definitely got it now" Ryuji nodded along with a smile.

"We have to be careful as there's just a whole lot we won't know until we go in. Our object is to find the Treasure's location inside the Palace and remember the time limit we are running on" Morgana reminded again.

"With five people we'll be able to do it in time" Naruto reassured the cat before pulling out his phone, looking to everyone to see each of them nodding to show they were onboard with going in.

It was always odd but, with a press of a button and a wave of purple tint they were able to head back to the castle.

As they walked castle Naruto watched as the outfits for Ann and Shiho changed again, Ryuji also staring but moreso at Ann and with a much more….perverted tone to his looking.

"But daaamn…" Ryuji groaned out as he continued to inspect Ann, Shiho frowning at this as she personally hid behind Naruto.

"Hm? What's up?" Ann asked, not really catching the meaning behind Ryuji's words.

"N-Nothing, I-I was just thinkin' we should choose a code name for you and Suzui too" Ryuji stuttered a bit, Naruto just shaking his head at his friend with a sigh before Shiho stepped out from behind him now that Ryuji wasn't ogling anymore.

"A code name?" Ann asked, looking to Shiho and then over to Naruto since he was the one that helped explain things most of the time.

"It might be potentially dangerous to throw our names around in some weird mental world so we use code names. I'm Joker, Ryuji is Skull, and Morgana is Mona" he explained a bit before Morgana rubbed his chin in thought.

"Judging by your costume first Lady Ann…" Morgana muttered before Ryuji nodded along.

"I mean she's got that tail and stuff so…Hmmm, what do you think Joker?" Ryuji asked, making Naruto look her and Shiho over, Shiho content with it since Naruto wasn't being a pervert about it.

"Something cat related but I'm not sure. The mask screams something like a big cat…what do you think Ann?" Naruto said before asking her since, if it was her codename it only made sense she'd have a say in it.

"Maybe Panther then? It sounds pretty cool, right?" Ann asked Shiho, getting a nod and smile from her while Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

"Sounds ferocious, very nice" Naruto complimented before Morgana started to sway in a daze.

"She's a cougar~" he purred out before Ann stomped her foot on the ground.

"Don't call me that!" she quickly yelled out before looking over to Shiho. "Now what about her?" she asked Naruto again, getting him to rub his chin in thought as he ran through a few names in his head.

"How about…Spartan? Or would you want something better?" he asked her, wanting to get it right before she shook her head and smiled.

"No, I like it…plus you picked it out as well so it's great" Shiho told him, muttering the last part with a bit of a blush, Ann being the only one to overhear it which made her smile and give her a one armed hug.

"Okay! With that settled lets head on to Kamoshida!" Naruto declared with a smile as they made their way across the drawbridge towards the castle.

He though paused in his tracks as a flash of blue burst out, turning over to see a blue glowing jail cell door that was open, inviting him into a blue void with Justine standing beside it.

"My master would like a word with you" she calmly told him, Naruto unsure as the others had kept walking towards the castle.

Given everything, Naruto figured going there might be in his best interest.

-Velvet Room-

Once inside his attire changed from his rebel outfit to his prison clothes.

'Seems like the world just wants to make me change my outfit as much as possible' Naruto thought with a sigh as he walked up to the bars of his cell.

"The prisoner Naruto Uzumaki as returned" Caroline declared, Justine already appearing on outside his jail cell despite walking in behind him.

Then again, it was better he not question stuff that happens here…

"Well done, it seems you have remembered my words. You truly make it worth rehabilitating you" Igor praised with his ever present massive smile on his face.

"If you are talking about my bonds then yeah, they just keep popping up but then again, your vagueness makes things really confusing" Naruto said in a flat tone to show how annoyed he was at it all, it seemingly getting a chuckle from them man.

"I am not attempting to withhold information from you. The essence of the rehabilitation that you must complete will be explained in due time once you encounter allies who share your ideals and discover your place in reality, only then will I explain it all. Such a day should not be far off" Igor revealed, it further frustrating Naruto before he sighed.

"Fine 'be patient young padawan' it is then" Naruto muttered as he nodded along.

"I brought you here as I wish to introduce you to the aid we are providing" Igor announced with Naruto raising an eyebrow at the word 'aid'. "Due to your potential in wielding the power of the wild card you can handle more than one Persona. That power holds infinite possibilities and we will assist you in nurturing that potential and to do that we must awaken the Persona of the bonds you made" Igor explained before nine orbs flew out of Naruto's chest before they took the shape of cards.

"For each bond you will gain access to the starting Persona that belongs to the Arcana, such as how Pixie is the starting of the Lovers Arcana. Know you may obtain Persona of Arcana that you do not have a bond with and when you awaken their Arcana the one you have will grow to fit your newfound bond" Igor explained before Naruto watched as five of the nine cards stopped glowing. (*3)

"Seems you are not strong enough to handle the Persona of the Fool, Empress, Hierophant, Strength, and Temperance Arcanas. Do not fret, they will awaken inside you and show themselves once you strengthen your body and heart enough to do so" Igor explained as before he clapped his hands, making the cards that were still lit up grow even brighter.

Naruto had to shield his eyes from the light before it died down and he looked back to see five new Persona floating in the air in front of the cards.

The first one he could see on the far left side was a familiar face, a Jack O'Lantern, the same kind he had fought in the past.

After that he could see Pixie who winked playfully at him and giggled, showing she was representing the Lovers Arcana like Igor said before.

After her seemed to be a blue little red eyed creature poking its head out of a golden jar with a six-point star on the front of it.

The last one was a weird pink plant creature with a red flower on its head, the same that he had seen once before in Kamoshida's palace. Only now that he could see it up close, and that it wasn't trying to kill him, he was able to see that it was actually female if the odd chest that was covered by the leaves around its neck were anything to go by.

"Meet your new Persona. Jack O'Lantern of the Magician Arcana, Agathion of the Chariot Arcana, and Mandrake of the Death Arcana" Igor introduced before they, and Pixie, along with the non-glowing cards went back into his chest.

"Do your best to attain more bonds with likeminded others and strengthen your body to handle the power of their bonds. In anticipation. I have prepared a gift for you. I hope that you shall accept it" Igor told him, Naruto watching as the Fool card floated back out of him with the 'Rank 1' changing to 'Rank 2'.

As the card returned to him Naruto widened his eyes as he instantly knew what the 'gift' Igor was as well as how to use it.

"That is a thief's skill, allowing one to tap into their sixth sense and see what is hidden in the dark. I believe you can handle it now. May you continue devoting yourself to further rehabilitation" Igor announced before Justine fixed her hat to get his attention.

"Now then, if you have any requests, we will heed them" she told him as he nodded and took a step back from the bars.

"Seems you are amassing quite the army Master~" Pixie teased with a giggle before he noticed a see-through version of Pixie, entirely made out of blue energy, appear floating above his shoulder. "Not many of them are talkers so you'll just have to wait for them to speak up. I think it's best to get back to the real world" she advised, Naruto nodding as he looked back to the Twin Wardens.

"I think I'm ready to go back" he told them, getting them both to nod at him.

"Go back and enjoy your break! But no slacking off!" Caroline warned him before a door appeared at the back of his cell and he walked through it.

-Kamoshida's Palace-

Once back in the real world he was glad everything seemed the same, the others still walking on ahead with him jogging a bit to catch up. 'Glad they were paused or something…last I need is to weirdly be standing around like a space cadet' Naruto thought with a frown and a bit of a chuckle as they reached the infiltration point.

"So, where do we start?" Ryuji asked, excited and pumped to get started.

"Let's head to the safe room we found last time. It's in the first floor of the west building. It's pretty close to our usual entrance so it should be a decent starting point" Morgana explained while Naruto rose an eyebrow at it.

"How do we 'start' from there when we'd have to walk all the way there?" Naruto asked, not seeing that as a good 'start' only for Morgana to smirk a bit.

"You see, given how saferooms are, I can guide you guys there instantly by going through our access point first. It's odd but that's how I've stayed safe for so long here….until they caught me" Morgana explained, grumbling a bit at the end before Naruto shrugged his shoulders since things didn't make much sense here anyways.(*4)

"Fine, lead the way" Naruto said as he motioned for the 'not-cat' to go on first with Ann driving Shiho to be right behind Morgana.

"Sorry but given her skirt I gotta make sure no one peeks!" Ann said, raising her voice a bit when she said 'no one' while glaring at Ryuji – Shiho having alerted her to Ryuji's previous leers – and getting a nervous look on Ryuji's face a bit.

As Morgana headed on in first Naruto looked away for a second, allowing Shiho to head on without any eyes on her, then Ann, then him, and Ryuji at the end. He was just as surprised as Ann and Shiho as they somehow appeared inside the safe room.

"Huh? What's up with this place?" Ann asked since the whole 'fading back and forth from a fancy room to a classroom was weirding her out and making her a bit dizzy.

"It's a gap in cognition. A safe room if you will" Morgana tried to explain only for her and Shiho to still look confused.

"Yeah it's still confusing" Shiho said with a frown while Ryuji nodded along.

"I know right? Joker, you explain it" Ryuji urged with a playful elbow jabbing to his side.

"Try and think of this as a room Kamoshida has little to no power over – hence why it's a classroom. It's somewhere that we can rest at without worrying about Shadows bursting in" Naruto simplified, getting instant looks of understanding from the two girls.

"I'm glad somewhere like this exists in a place like this" Shiho said, smiling at the fact that even somewhere scary like this they could still be safe while Naruto nodded.

"So what do we do in a safe room?" Ann asked, noticing the chairs and tables around the room.

"We take a break, duh. Oh, and we talk about stuff like if we are still good to fight or if we need patching up" Ryuji explained, the topic of fighting making Morgana perk up.

"That's another thing I wanted to talk about! With five of us it might get cluttered in battles. Should we limit it to four and have the fifth follow a bit behind us?" Morgana asked before Naruto quickly shook his head.

"No, that really isn't a good idea since they could get jumped. Everyone will travel together; it won't be hard to do. In fights we can still fight easily enough since the Shadows aren't going to play nice so why should we limit ourselves for now?" Naruto started to explain as he sat down on top of the table in the middle of the room and looked at everyone. "In battle I'm the apparent command giver but honestly, other than a few things of 'hey they are weak to this' or 'hey, buff this person' I feel people can know what to do, right?" he asked, getting nods from everyone which got a smile from him.

"Great! Then lets get moving, if that's alright with everyone" Naruto asked everyone since the last thing he wanted as to not get their say in things.

"Yeah! I'm ready to get going!" Shiho declared, Naruto seeing a fire in her eyes that showed she was ready for a fight.

"Okay then, lets get started" Naruto told them as he opened the door to the saferoom and went immediately left to the next room.

The room was apparently some kind of small dining hall room or maybe even a kitchen if the brick stove was anything to go by. Holding up a hand he got them to stop, Naruto holding up two fingers to show he could see two shadows in the room.

Going after the first was easy, it being three Pixies that they all took down with their guns and deciding not to waste an All-Out Attack on it.

"That was much easier than Kobayakawa" Shiho muttered as she looked around getting a look of shock from Ryuji and Ann.

"Wait you fought Principal Kobayakawa!?" Ryuji asked in shock before Naruto nodded.

"Yeah it was the fake version of him, he was dressed as this ridiculous jester but transformed into a monstrous version of himself that Spartan helped me defeat" Naruto explained, making sure to use Shiho's codename as she nodded.

"Also yeah, not everything will be at Kobayakawa's level of strength. For now let's focus on using our weapons and guns unless we need to use a certain element to know a Shadow down for an All-Out Attack" he told them, the term 'All-Out Attack' getting a confused look from Shiho but he gave her a look that said it'd be explained later.

"I agree though, best to conserve summoning our Personas until we need them" Ann agreed since they all knew how exhausting it could be repeatedly summoning their Persona.

"Let's take the last Shadow out and then move on" Morgana suggested since they could still hear it clanking around in the room.

This one happened to just be a group of three Jack O'Lanterns that they were able to take care of with some attacks and gunshots.

"Sweet! Another one down! Onto the next room!" Ryuji cheered, pumped that they were able to take care of Shadows this easily.

"Wait, I think there is some stuff in this room we can loot" Naruto told them, looking around as he activated the 'gift' Igor had given him.

It was definitely odd as the whole room was grey except for a few things that were glowing gold. The others, while confused, followed him and watched as he hopped up onto a nearby bookshelf, shattering a vase atop it only to hop back down with a pearl that was a bit smaller than a baseball.

"Holy cow! That thing is massive!" Ann said in shock as she snatched it from Naruto and looked it all over.

"How did you know it was there dude?" Ryuji asked with Naruto giving a shrug.

"I just noticed something different about it and felt there might be something good in it" Naruto explained, not wanting to get into the actual reason since that'd sound rather insane.

"Well that's awesome! You can probably sell it at that airsoft shop for some money once we are done" Morgana said getting a pout from Ann.

"Do you really have to sell it? Can't I maybe keep it?" Ann asked, calling on her best puppy dog eyes paired with eyelash fluttering before Naruto chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I really don't mind as I'm sure we'll find more stuff to sell but you can't take every pretty gem" he told her before she squealed and hugged him tightly, causing him to quickly blush as he could feel her breasts against his arm.

"Okay enough of that, just give it back to Naruto and he'll take it out for you once we get to the real world since he has the app that works to move items back and forth between this world and the real world" Ryuji said with a groan, pulling Ann off Naruto and allowing him to compose himself before Ann happily handed it back to him to put away.

"Well, lets keep moving, can't be wasting time" Morgana urged, his eye twitching a bit in annoyance as Naruto nodded and headed over to the other glowing vase he had seen to snatch an odd looking lantern.

As they made it to the door, opening it to find it led to a hallway, they stopped a bit as there was a Shadow halfway down the hall with its back towards them.

"There's one here too….Actually, this is perfect. We can try that thing now that we've expanded our roster" Morgana declared with a smirk as if he had something up his sleeve.

"What are you scheming this time cat?" Ryuji asked from behind, getting Morgana to glare back at him.

"I'm not a cat!" he hissed out in a whisper. "And if you must know I'll show you now go at that Shadow!" Morgana declared, Naruto shrugging his shoulders as he ran up behind the Shadow, leaping onto it and ripping its mask off.

This one was quite a lot, a total of five creatures: two Mandrakes, a Jack O'Lantern, one of those curved horn horses, and a Pixie.

"Okay I'll show you an example first so you better watch closely!" Morgana told them as he quickly summoned his Persona. "Zorro! Show your might! Garu!" he yelled out, blasting and killing the Jack O'Lantern with a gust of green wind.

"We can use the opportunity given to us by hitting an enemy's weak spot to Baton Pass. It's a way to chain attacks and make them even stronger. Keep the Baton Pass going so we can take them down in a clean sweep" Morgana explained before he leapt up and high fived Naruto, Naruto a bit surprised as a red aura burst went off around him for a second.

"Mandrakes are weak to fire, the horses – which are called Bicorns by the way – are weak to Electricity, and the cute other Pixie is weak to curse and gunfire but if you really wanna take the cute doppelganger of myself down then I suggest curse" Pixie recounted for him in his head before Naruto quickly pulled off his mask.

"Arséne, let's go! Eiha!" Naruto commanded, pointing at the Pixie and having Arséne blast it with a burst of black and red energy that quickly killed it. Naruto, and the others, were easily able to see just how much stronger his attack compared to how it normally was. "Onto the next! You're up Skull! Go for the horse, the Bicorn" Naruto said as he high fived Ryuji, getting a burst of yellow for him.

"Got it, I know what those things are weak to. Come on Captain Kidd! Get wrecked! Zio!" Ryuji yelled out, mercilessly blasting the Bicorn with a blast of lightning and killing it, the blast of lightning being way stronger than before.

"Whoa, this is sick! You're up next Panther!" Ryuji said, high fiving Ann next which got a blue aura burst around her.

"I got it now, dance Carmen! Agi!" Ann ordered, the fire from Carmen being at least three times the size that it normally was. "Finish this off for us Spartan!" Ann said with a smile, giving Shiho a double high five before watching excitedly, wanting to see what kind of Persona her friend had.

"Right, I got this. Chilonis! Let's go! Agi!" Shiho declared, ripping off her mask as Chilonis rose up beside her and her sword burst into flames with a swing of it sending a powerful fireball into the remaining Mandrake, leaving nothing but scorched tile.

"And that is how teamwork can help us out a lot" Morgana said, puffing out his chest as he was confident this would impress Lady Ann, only to falter as he heard a happy squeal and Ann bounce excitedly as she hugged Shiho.

"Your Persona is so pretty and looks so powerful! That is so awesome Shi-I mean, Spartan" Ann said with a happy hug, getting Shiho to smile softly as she hugged her friend back.

"I don't know An-Panther, yours is much more gorgeous looking and screams strength" Shiho said, giving the others an apologetic look for Ann's behavior only for Naruto to shake his head and wave her off with a smile to show he didn't mind.

They let the hug go on for a bit before Ann pulled away and looked like she was about to apologize before Naruto stopped her.

"It's fine Ann, I understand the excitement so don't worry. We can get going now so its fine" he assured her before Ann nodded and followed them as they continued on down the hallway but not before Naruto looted some rusted handcuffs from a volleyball on the bookshelf at the end of the hallway.(*5)

Once through the door they found themselves in a spiral staircase with some of the stairs destroyed a bit but they were still able to walk up them a bit before there was a massive gap stopping their progress at the next floor above them.

"There's another down the hall. Should we just rush it like before?" Ryuji asked only for Morgana to shake his head.

"I'll teach you guys another thing. Given our wills of rebellion and our thief natures we can hide in cover and quickly dash between cover. Due to how things work the Shadows seriously won't notice you as long as they aren't chasing you when you try to go into cover" Morgana explained, getting unsure looks from the girls only for Naruto to shrug his shoulders.

"This world is weird, I honestly wouldn't be surprised so let's give it a try" Naruto said as he dashed over to a couch and hid beside it, surprised a bit to see himself blend into the shadow of the sofa a bit while the others hid around the doorframe, the shocked looks showing that even they had trouble seeing him.

Smirking he decided to give moving from one sofa to another a try and found he was able to move between them incredibly quick. 'Oh yeah, this works' he thought with a massive smirk before he went to the couch right beside the Shadow and quickly leapt onto the Shadow to rip its mask off.

This one was a group of three: a Pixie, a Jack O'Lantern, and a Bicorn.

"We're gonna Baton Pass again so get ready" Naruto warned them as he shot and killed the Pixie with two pistol shots before passing the baton to Morgana.

"Got it! Zorro, Garu!" Morgana ordered, hitting and killing the Jack O'Lantern with a blast of wind and passing it onto Ryuji who wasted no time in readying his attack.

"Captain Kidd, lets go! Zio!" he yelled out and blasted the Bicorn with lightning and killing it.

"I still can't believe that actually works. Like how?" Ann asked in confusion as she wasn't sure how hiding like that actually made them be that hard to see.

"These worlds are weird, hiding behind corners also works weirdly enough" Morgana admitted which got a sigh from Ann before she just shrugged it off and accepted it.

"Best not to dwell on things too much, easier this way" he told her with a chuckle before continuing on as they followed, Naruto deciding to put the corner to the test once he noticed a Shadow around the corner.

Once again, by using the cover technique, he was able to sneak right up beside it and rip its mask off.

This one went by easy, a Pixie that he killed with his gun before passing the baton to Ann to kill a Mandrake and her passing it to Shiho to kill the other Mandrake.

Naruto froze a bit though as he felt something pulse inside him and he saw what looked to be a 'Puss in Boots' style purple cat in red boots and a matching red hat appear in front of him.

"Nice to meet you! Your heart grew stronger and allowed me to form from your bond with the Magician Arcana and replace Jack O'Lantern! I am Cait Sith! Allow me to fight alongside you and show you my strength!" the Persona said with a smile before it faded away and he turned his attention back towards Shiho who was walking towards him.

"I'm glad we're getting the hang of fighting. Naruto really does a good job of setting things up" Shiho praised with a smile, getting Naruto to rub the back of his head in embarrassment as he kept walking forward.

"I'm really not doing all that much, everyone does their part" he assured them, getting Ryuji to drape his arm over his shoulder and putting him in a bit of a headlock with big smile on his face.

"Nice to see our leader isn't the type to let things go to his head" he teased, getting an eyeroll from Naruto and a chuckle from Ann and Shiho.

"Come on, enough teasing, we gotta keep moving" Naruto told them as he opened the door leading to the next area, discovering a room with spiked bars poking down to block access to a table that seemed to have a map on it.

"Oh, that looks interesting….but how do we get it?" Shiho asked as she looked around and saw these stone ram heads with chains coming out of their mouths.

"Must be some kind of puzzle, how about you give it a try Joker. I mean, you are somehow able to notice the difference in things that have loot and things that don't" Morgana suggested with Naruto a step ahead of him with his 'Third Eye' active and quickly noticing foot prints circling around the bars that led to one of the ram heads on each side.

Pulling down the first had no effect until he pulled down another on the other side, that seemingly deactivating things and raising all the bars.

"Whoa! Nice job Joker!" Ann praised with a smile as he walked over to the table, once again rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment which made the girls giggle at since they seemingly found out his quirk before he grabbed the map to keep from grumbling.

"Seems like the map is only half done. The rest of it might be elsewhere so we gotta keep an eye out for it" Naruto told them before he pocketed it, slipping it into his surprisingly deep inside jacket pocket for now.

"While the treasure isn't on it but this'll make things easier for us for sure" Morgana reassured them before Naruto led them into the next room that led into another hallway.

The hallway contained two shadows, the first easily able to go down with another series of well-planned baton passes. The second though he held off on wiping all them out as he could feel something different as he looked at the Bicorn that stood between two Jack O'Lanterns.

"You're strong enough to tame the beast so let's add it to your collection" Arséne told him, Naruto nodding along as he shot one of the Jack O'Lanterns down.

"Don't kill the Bicorn, I'm gonna make it my mask" Naruto told the others, confusing the girls but Ryuji and Morgana nodding along.

"Just watch, this is seriously crazy" Ryuji said with a smirk, watching as Morgana killed the Jack O'Lantern but didn't pass the baton, allowing Ryuji to just safely knock the Bicorn down with a blast of Zio which let them surround the Shadow.

"What is it! What do you guys want from me you hooligans!" the Bicorn yelled out as it stared up at them, Naruto making his mask disappear as he held out a hand towards the Bicorn.

"Lend me your power as my mask" Naruto requested, staring into the eyes of it before it widened its eyes in realization.

"I remember now…I'm not some mindless shadow! I am born from the collection of human souls! I am a Bicorn!" the shadow declared, it glowing brighter and brighter before it turned into a mask and flew into Naruto's face, becoming the mask he wore.

"Wh-What was that!?" Ann asked in shock before Naruto tapped his mask with his gun.

"I have the power of the Wild Card, if I am strong enough to handle them I can ask Shadows to become my mask. Comes in handy for sure" Naruto told them with a chuckle, finding their shock to be interesting before he continued on with them following behind him.

"How many do you have?" Shiho asked before he held up six fingers.

"Counting Arséne I have six. I got a few randomly when we came around this time. Maybe it's a 'strong enough to draw them in without needing to fight' or something" Naruto said while quickly thinking up an excuse for the sudden boost in numbers without, you know, mentioning the Velvet Room and seeming like a crazy person.

The next room, according to the map, led to the main hall and as the peered over the railing the sight of a Shadow glowing red definitely instilled some worry in them.

"Okay we are so not messing with them….right?" Ryuji asked with Naruto nodding along.

"That thing is too strong for us right now I feel. For now let's just find a way to continue on as with bars blocking us from moving we need to find a path" Naruto said before Shiho cleared her throat to get their attention.

"What about here? Can't we climb up and walk along the things hanging from the ceiling?" Shiho asked, quickly noticing a path up above them.

"Jumping from chandelier to chandelier…definitely screams Phantom Thief, don't you think?" Naruto asked with a smirk as he leapt up with the others following him along.

Thankfully, as they got to the chandeliers, they didn't sway nearly as much as expected and they were able to make it to the other side.

"The cognition here is weak, I can sense it. A safe room is nearby" Morgana revealed, Naruto nodding before noticing a locked chest.

"Well, what have we here?" Naruto asked as he pulled out his lock pick.

"Wait, you can pick a lock?" Ann asked while Naruto nodded and got to work.

"I'm a prankster, gotta be able to get into the places you plan to set things up in after all" Naruto told them before he opened it up and found a fancy looking sword inside.

"That definitely looks stronger than what you have right now Spartan, wanna trade up?" Naruto asked, holding the sheathed sword out towards her handle first before she smiled and accepted it. "Here, I'll take the old one and sell it" he told her only for her to frown.

"Actually…can I keep it? It's a nice memento of things I feel…" Shiho muttered before Naruto rubbed her back with a soft smile.

"Of course, I'll hold onto it and give it to you when we get out, okay?" he asked her, getting a smile back from her as she handed it to him.

"Thanks" she said before he patted her on the back softly.

"Don't worry about it, now lets go into the safe room. We need to rest a bit before we continue" he told her and everyone else as they all filed into the room, Ann and Shiho collapsing onto the couch in the room while Ryuji and Morgana sat down around the table.

Naruto hummed in thought as he walked over to the table and unrolled the map. From what he could see all they had to do was walk through a large room connected to the door they saw outside the saferoom and walk down a hall to get to the next set of stairs.

"What you thinking about there Joker?" Ryuji asked, getting up to stand beside him and look at the map alongside him.

"Thinking about how this place is huge and I just hope there aren't too many annoying puzzles…" Naruto grumbled a bit before Morgana shrugged his shoulders.

"If there are we'll deal with them as they come. For now our goal is reaching that stairwell" Morgana declared, pointing to the stairwell before Naruto flipped to the 'next page' on the map, showing the floor above it.

"Once we get up there it seems like there is some big open area waiting for us…might want to be careful when we get there" Naruto warned them, that place screaming something different which might mean something strong could be waiting for them.

"Nice to see you're cautious, we'll be sure to stay on our toes once we get there" Ann assured him with Shiho nodding alongside her as the two came over to the table.

"You two ready to go?" Naruto asked, having noticed their exhaustion a bit before the two of them nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, that little rest was a nice recharge" Shiho assured him before with a crack of his neck to limber up they headed towards the door and made their way onwards.

The door they needed to go through apparently led to a larger dining hall that they were able to head through without any issue. They did decide to stay hidden, moving from cover to cover until they were finally able to reach the staircase….only to find it broken….

"Umm…I don't think we're goin' any further this way…" Ryuji muttered, seeing how destroyed the stairs were.

"Should we check somewhere else?" Shiho asked, looking around a bit with a frown, unsure where they'd go since there was no other route they had really seen on the map.

"Wait – look up there" Morgana pointed out, directing their attention up to a ram head that hat a ornate handle in its mouth.

"What about it? Do you have some sort of rope to throw to it so we can climb up there? Cause I gotta say even if you did it'd be tricky to snag it" Naruto muttered with a frown, looking up while rubbing his chin as he thought over how exactly to go about trying.

"Phantom Thieves do things a bit more stylishly than that and I know just what will do the trick! Quick! Joker, give me your dominant hand!" Morgana hurriedly ordered, getting a confused look from Naruto only for him to do what the 'not-cat' asked.

"Good! Seems like it fits properly!" Morgana said as if proud of his work while Naruto, who had watched while he had attached something to his wrist.

"Okay, glad it fits but what exactly is it?" Naruto asked while looking the device over a bit.

"It's just a little something I've been working on in secret. The grappling hook lets you zip to hard-to-reach locations in a flash" Morgana said before frowning a bit. "Though I only have one right now so you might have to carry us over" he added, getting Naruto to nod as he looked up to the ram head.

"You and Skull will go first then I'll come back for the girls, that sound okay?" Naruto asked which got a nod from everyone.

"Just hold on as I feel we'll have to grab the ledge and pull ourselves up" Naruto told Ryuji as his friend draped an arm over his shoulder, not sure what was gonna happen but was prepared nonetheless while Morgana hopped up on Naruto's shoulder.

"Ready? Here we go!" Naruto said, a bit excited before he launched the grappling hook, it pulling him the instant it connected and wrapped around the handle.

Flying through the air was as intense and exhilarating as he thought it'd be and as they pulled themselves over the railing Ryuji couldn't help but let out a cheer of excitement while Morgana hopped off.

"That was crazy and so awesome! Just wait you guys he'll be right down, right?" Ryuji said, unsure how to get back down only to see Naruto sliding down the railing down the stairs until he got to the destroyed portion and hopped back down to them.

"Are you sure you two will be all right? I can always make another trip" Naruto asked as taking Ryuji was one thing but two people at once felt like a bit more.

"We'll be fine. Spartan can hold onto you while I do the same that Skull did but…maybe hold onto me a bit so I don't fall?" Ann asked as she looked looking to Shiho to see if that was okay before she nodded with a smile.

"Okay, then you guys better hold on" Naruto said, trying not to blush or be weird as Shiho hugged him around his chest from the side and Ann draped her arms around his neck from the other side. He had to really work to keep his concentration as he wrapped one arm around Ann's waist, giving both girls a quick look to ensure they were ready before he launched the grappling hook.

This time, due to not really having a free arm, as they flew through the air he had to really focus so they could get over the railing. Thinking quickly, as they flew towards the ram head, he quickly pulled himself a bit up more, allowing him to plant a foot on it and use that as a stepping stone to leap over the railing and onto the steps.

"Everyone okay?" Naruto asked, wanting to make sure they were fine given the oddness of everything.

"Yeah, we're all good. Right Spartan?" Ann asked with a bit of a giggle as Naruto let her go so she could take a step back, smirking at her friend as she still clung to Naruto only to blush and quickly take a step back.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" Shiho stuttered out before Ann hugged her which only got her to blush more and bury her hands in her face out of embarrassment before Ann let go and they started to follow him down the steps.

As they walked through the doorway pointed to cover, everyone getting the idea and moving to a nearby cover just as a Shadow with a red aura walked into sight.

"Whoa…that guy looks like bad news…" Ryuji told them, looking over to the corner the others were hiding behind while he and Morgana hid behind a nearby sofa.

"Let's stick to moving between cover for now, that guy is way above our paygrade, I can feel it" Naruto told them with a frown, the others nodding along before it started to walk off.

He was careful as he moved up along cover, not wanting the powerful looking Shadow to notice them, before – once sure it was out of sight – went to check the barred door, noticing the bars on it were gold unlike regular iron.

"Seems like we are missing something to ensure we can move forward…" Morgana muttered as he inspected the circular slot near the bottom.

"Guess we'll have to look around for the key…let's start searching the nearby rooms" Naruto told them, going for the small room closest to them and finding a large bookshelf along the back wall.

As he looked around, using his 'Third Eye' he walked over and picked up a book sitting on the shelf with the cover facing outwards instead of it being between two books. "The Slave Book? That sounds disgusting but out of place here" Naruto muttered out loud while looking it over.

"Sounds important, if you think we might need it then grab it and lets keep searching" Morgana said, Naruto nodding along before he pocketed it.

"Let's keep searching the other rooms, might be other books like this around" Ann suggested with them leaving the room and continuing along the hallway behind cover until they got to the next room.

He frowned a bit as he saw a Shadow in this room but, with its back turned to them, allowed them to rush it and attack.

The group consisted of two Pixies and two of those flying red demons with the weird 'strap-on' like things. Honestly it was an easy fight as all of them shared a weakness to guns.

As the battle ended Naruto felt another pulse inside him, watching as what seemed to be the front half of a green horse appeared in front of him alongside a yellow magatama with a peaceful look on its face.

"Master! Me Kelpie! Me belong to Strength! You strong enough for me! I your Persona now!" the horse bluntly before the magatama floated over to him.

"Hello Master I am Saki Mitama. Love and sympathy are all you need in life. I shall become your mask and guide you to intense passion. I am the next stage in the Lovers Arcana for you" she said with a soft tone, revealing that she was replacing Pixie before a set of six cards appeared in front of him with the names of the Persona he had currently, from Arséne to Bicorn although Arséne had a lock next to him.

"Seems you can't handle more than six masks. You won't be getting rid of any but merely having them be inactive inside of you" Arsene told him, Naruto unsure which one to make inactive before he felt drawn to Agathion with Kelpie now replacing him.

"And don't worry Master, I will still be here with you" Pixie assured him with a giggle before he felt her somewhat disappear inside of his heart.

"Think there's another book in here?" Ryuji asked, snapping Naruto out of his daze as things turned back to normal before Naruto nodded as a look with his 'Third Eye' already showed him there was.

"This one is called 'The King Book', that just screams narcissism…" Naruto muttered with a tired sigh, pocketing it and rolling his eyes at the odd name.

"Doesn't surprise me given how he is…" Shiho muttered, Naruto patting her back softly which got a smile from her before they left the room to continue their search.

While annoying they knew they had to continue moving through cover due to the dangerous Shadow that was still nearby. They were able to move out of cover for a while, moving to the other part of the 'sideways analog 8' shaped hallway.

As they entered the nearby room they quickly found a shadow in it just like the last where his time they had to use the cover of the desks that were in the room to get the jump on it.

This group consisted of two Cait Siths and a Shadow he had never seen before, she looked like a sweet woman with green tint skin, long darker green hair, and an elegant red dress.

"I'm gonna grab that one in the middle so let's try and knock it down but first knock down the cats with wind" Naruto said, hearing the Cait Sith within him whisper about wind.

"Got it! Zorro, show you might! Garu!" Morgana yelled out, blasting and knocking over the Cait Sith with a blast of wind.

"Baton Pass to me! I have a wind skill" Naruto told Morgana, the 'not-cat' going along with it and giving him the 'baton'.

"Kelpie! Garu!" Naruto called out, summoning his new Persona to have it blast and kill the other Cait Sith.

"Try and hit it with either Fire or Electricity to see if it's weak" Naruto told the others, getting a nod from Shiho who quickly called upon her Persona.

"Chilonis! Let's take it down! Agi!" Shiho ordered, her Persona firing a ball of fire with a swing of her sword only to find that it was the Shadow's weakness.

"Great job Shiho!" Ann praised while Naruto gave her a quick pat on the back as they surrounded the Shadow.

"W-What do you want from me!" the woman asked, a bit of fear in her tone before Naruto put away his gun and held a hand out towards her.

"Nothing more than for you to lend me your power. Remember who you are" he urged, getting a frown from her before her expression softened and she stood back up, gaining a blue glow to her.

"Yes…I remember now…I am not a mindless creature and I won't be subjugated by this disgusting beast! I am Silky and I shall serve by your side as your mask now Master!" Silky exclaimed before she turned to light and flew into his mask while the remaining Cait Sith quickly fled.

Like before he seemingly had to get rid of one of the five Persona he could – given he couldn't and wouldn't dare try to get rid of Arséne before he chose and made Mandrake inactive.

"Nice new mask! You just seem to be getting more and more of these guys" Ann said with a smile, Naruto nodding with a smirk before he started to look around.

"You see another book?" Morgana asked before he walked over and grabbed what he noticed.

"'The Queen Book' seems like there is a theme going on" Naruto told them, giving the cover a quick look over before pocketing it like the others.

"I really don't even want to know what is in these books…" Ann said with a shudder with Shiho nodding along.

"Don't worry, I think we'll be getting rid of these stupid books soon. Let's keep going" Naruto said as they left the room.

As he paused to take a quick look at the map he knew there was only one room left to check out and it was a rather dangerous one given it was situated between the patrol paths of two red glowing Shadows. "We'll have to be careful and quick when we head into the room so none of the Shadows notice us" he warned them, getting a nod from everyone as they moved into cover.

Getting to the room thankfully wasn't as tricky as they thought, quickly shutting the doors behind them as they realized this was easily the 'library' of the castle.

"Okay we definitely need to inspect this room. With all the books we found and this castle having weird puzzles there is no doubt in my mind the books we grabbed are pieces to some mechanism puzzle" Naruto told them as he looked around, using his 'Third Eye' to notice there were three open slots in the room.

"Seems like there are three open slots around, what a coincidence" Morgana said in a flat tone at how obvious it was before Naruto walked over to the one on the same wall as the door.

"All the books on this shelf seem familiar…wait! They are the names of the volleyball team members!" Ryuji said as he examined the books on the wall. "He even has my name here!? 'Ryuji Sakamoto: The Vulgar Ape'!? Screw this bastard!" Ryuji yelled out, kicking the bookshelf a bit before Ann put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Well I know the 'Slave Book' goes here given he sees the volleyball team members as his personal slaves…lets look for the others" Naruto said as he put the book in the space on the shelf, pushing it back until he heard a click.

"There are all sorts of books over here…The titles don't have any rhyme or reason to them from what I can see…wait…this book has Shiho's name in the title!" Ann yelled out as she checked out the books near the opening on the opposite wall of the door in the back of the room. "And it's not just this one! All the books here are about female students!" Ann growled out, instantly walking over to Shiho to check on her and getting a weak smile from her showing she was keeping strong…a bit.

"'Ann Takamaki: The Charming Doll'. Holy shit, this bastard is really messed up" Ryuji said before Naruto walked forward and silently slid in the 'Queen Book'.

"Let's just move on, we knew he was messed up, this just continues to further prove it. We'll make him pay in the end so don't worry" Naruto assured Ann and Shiho, giving Shiho's shoulder a squeeze which got a nod from her to show she was okay now before they went towards the last slot was on the wall that was to the left of the door.

"'History of Kamoshida', 'Tracing Kamoshida's Steps', 'Kamoshida's Heroisms', and 'Kamoshida's Law'? What the hell!? These are all books about him!" Ryuji yelled out while Naruto rolled his eyes.

"The man is clearly narcissistic to an insane degree if the paintings of himself and whatnot are anything to go by. The 'King Book' should feel at home on this shelf" Naruto told him, putting in the book until he heard a click just like the others.

They were a bit startled by the rumbling before the middle bookshelf on the only wall that didn't have an open slot moved back and slid to the side, revealing another 'X' like the one Ann had been cuffed to as well as candles and – as they were far away – small polaroids stuck to the wall.

"Seems you were right about the puzzle" Morgana said as Naruto led them to the room before Naruto widened his eyes and quickly turned around to cover Ryuji's eyes and stop Morgana from walking any further.

"Excuse the lack of codenames but Ann, I think you and maybe Shiho should be the only ones to step foot in that room…" Naruto muttered to her, inching the guys back while giving them a look that told them to trust him once he was far enough away to uncover the confused looking Ryuji's face. "As much as it hurts to say, but you gotta search the room. It was hidden by a puzzle so there is something worth hiding in there" Naruto added, Ann gasping once she realized the reason for his weirdness while Shiho just took a step back.

"E-Even here…even here he's torturing me!" Shiho choked out, collapsing to her knees before Ann kneeled down to hug her, Shiho weakly clinging to her.

"Naruto, come help Shiho. Guys, stay back" Ann warned them with a serious tone before Naruto sat down beside Shiho and Ann gently made Shiho lean over towards Naruto for him to gently hold her.

"I'm sorry Shiho…I can't imagine how this hurts but we will make him pay for it…I promise you" Naruto assured her, getting Shiho to nod as she buried her face in his chest while she hugged him tightly.

Naruto focused on rubbing her back as Ann searched the room, not lingering too long before she came back with a map and what looked like to be a medal. Though he had to thank her for quickly going over and pulling out the 'Queen Book' as well as all the books with girls names out from the shelf to close the room again.

"There were the only things in there that didn't make me want to barf or violently murder Kamoshida" Ann said, holding them out towards him as the guys walked over now that it was safe to do so.

"I think the medal, given its size and shape, is the key to that door with the bars on it. The map is also the other half that we've been looking for! Our map is complete now!" Morgana said with Naruto gently pulling out the map so they could keep the pieces together.

"So is it gonna tell us where the Treasure is?" Ryuji asked while Morgana started to look through it.

"Yeah, look. It has to be here" Morgana said, showing them a portion at the end of the map pieces.

"With it's weird shape it makes me think it's a tower or something" Naruto told them, eyeing it as best he could as Shiho was still hugging him a bit.

"With our current position I'd say we're about halfway there" he explained, getting Shiho to stand up and wipe her tears.

"Lets keep going. I don't want to stop until we find that Treasure. We can pace ourselves so we don't have to rush straight there but I want to get the path to it found to do this" Shiho said, clenching her fists tightly before Ann held her hand and made her loosen up.

"You heard her, let's get going" Naruto told the others with a smirk, getting confident nods from everyone before they left the room.

Things worked out rather well for them as the two red glowing Shadows were far enough away which allowed them to rush to the door the medal unlocked and quickly use it to unbar the door before going instantly through it.

As they walked down the stairs Naruto was quick to notice the elegant carpet that ran down it as well. The second they got to the bottom and turned the corner warning bells were ringing loud in his head.

"Guys, keep moving. There are stairs over there if we just keep going straight" Naruto told them, getting confused looks from Ryuji and Ann.

"What's up? Don't you wanna see what this place is?" Ryuji asked before Naruto shook his head.

"No because this wide open area with no guards screams trap. This place is fancier than normal, there is a giant statue of Kamoshida in the back, and pews. This is somewhere important and the guards are most likely waiting for us so lets go" Naruto urged, walking along with Shiho agreeing and following right behind until the others finally caught up.

Once they found their way up to the door leading out of this room, having to climb a stack of boxes, and got near the door out they all paused as they heard the sound that came with Shadows appearing out of nowhere.

"Where are the intruders!? I was told they'd be coming this way! Did we miss them!?" one Shadow yelled out, his voice gruffer than the others like the golden knights they had run into in the past.

"I-I don't know sir, I was busy setting up the ambush and gathering the number of troops you requested…" another Shadow murmured before a loud stop rang out.

"They dared to trespass in the Holy Church of Kamoshida and they were allowed to leave!? Find them! Now!" he yelled before they took that as a sign to get moving.

"See, that is why I wanted to rush past that place. It screamed trap and my gut was right in this instance" Naruto told them as he kept walking. They might have been confused at first but honestly Naruto always believed in trusting his gut.

After all, it had saved his skin more times than he could fully remember.

"That place was a church right? Where would that have been in the real world?" Ann wondered with a frown, still disgusted with how twisted this world was.

"Think of it, where does Kamoshida feel like he's god?" Naruto asked with a flat look before Shiho shivered with a frown.

"Simple…its the gym" Shiho muttered with a frown, the others frowning as it made sense to them as well. Kamoshida one hundred percent was someone who'd think of the gym as a place of worship for him, especially with a mind this twisted.

"Let's just keep going, the sooner we get to the treasure the better" Naruto told them as they continued on the path until they reached another spiral staircase that eventually – after going up them for a good bit of time – reached a door.

"Another staircase! Come on~!" Ryuji groaned out as they continued up them only to find they thankfully weren't as long as the last.

"Where are we now?" Morgana asked as he snuck ahead of them, leaving the staircase to take a peek since his small size he was hard to really spot for the most part.

"Seems like a rooftop" Naruto said as being outside again felt odd but nice after being stuck in a stifling castle for so long.

"Be careful, there are some really strong Shadows here" Morgana quickly warned, getting everyone to carefully look around the corner or over the wall to see three glowing red Shadows walking around.

"Where are we supposed to go now?!" Ann hissed out before Naruto looked around, noticing the gazebo in the center with a metal ring he could grapple to as well as the massive flag pole in the distance, both sparkling a bit with the same sparkle his grappling hook had.

'Can't use the grappling hook since I have to make two trips but…what about that?' he thought as he looked over the surroundings, noticing a pathway up and around to the same area of the flag that they'd have to do a bit of jumping and climbing to get to…but he wasn't quite sure where the start of it was.

"Follow me and stay in cover. Watch their movement as we're gonna have to make a break for it partway through" Naruto told them, getting a nod from them as – while nervous – they trusted him.

After a bit of watching Naruto saw an opening as one Shadow continued on past them while the other turned around to walk back which in turn gave them a path to run and quickly go back into cover without being seen.

"Two down, one to go" Naruto muttered, carefully moving from cover to cover to avoid the last one before finally finding – and reaching – the beginning of the path he had found back at the start of the room.

"Come on, hurry up here you guys" Naruto urged as he led the way for them up to on top of the nearby roofs.

"Whoa! Nice going finding the way up Joker!" Ryuji said, impressed at how he had found this path up here and how he had guided them through those strong looking shadows.

"Thanks, it was either this or annoying multiple trips with the grappling hook. Be careful jumping across, don't rush things" Naruto told them as he started to jump across the platforms that led towards a mini tower platform.

"Wait are we going to go all the way up that tower!?" Ann asked in shock, look up just to see just how massively tall it was.

"Well there is a window to go into but honestly…going through the insides sounds like more of a hassle don't you think?" Naruto asked as he looked them over.

"Oh! I get what you mean" Morgana agreed as he crossed his arms and nodded.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Shiho asked before Naruto pulled out the map and laid it out on top of the center of the mini tower they were standing on.

"You see how many more rooms there are to go? And do you remember that annoying book puzzle? Well, given everything, I can only imagine how annoying these rooms will be and how many Shadows will be waiting for us inside" he started to explain before turning back to point at the tower. "While climbing this tower might be a bit tiring, if we take it slow we can make it there quicker and with less fighting" he finished, looking around at the others before Ryuji nodded with a smirk as cracked his neck and limbered up his arm.

"I'm down for it plus it's a given there'd be a window up at the top for us to get through" Ryuji said with even Morgana agreeing with him.

"Plus this is so what a Phantom Thief would do! Scaling a tower to get to the top! It's perfect!" Morgana purred out, stars in his eyes before Ann sighed and shook her head.

"Fine but please can we take it slow?" Ann pleaded before Naruto nodded with a smile on his face.

"Of course, that was the plan after all. There's no way I'd have us rush up the tower given how potentially dangerous it could be. Just focus on being careful and we all have to stick together" Naruto assured them before he rolled up the map and they leapt over to the start of the main tower.

Scaling it was moderately easy but in some parts they had to use the grappling hook but not really as a hook, more as a rope to climb up. While a bit daunting due to the height they still continued on, Shiho staying close to the wall to ensure she didn't accidentally look down.

"It'll be okay Spartan, we're here to make sure you don't fall" Naruto assured her as he set up the grappling hook for the others to use, staying back a bit to help Shiho.

"I-I'm fine…it's just, ever since my….you know, I've been a bit scared of heights" she muttered to him, Naruto nodding as he definitely understood.

"Don't worry about it Spartan, you go at a pace you feel safe with" Naruto assured her as he walked alongside her.

"Guys! Look out!" Ryuji yelled out from the platform above them, getting them to look up at him only to see him pointing up in the air above them.

Naruto was the first to turn around, able to see the armored bird just as it was about to crash down on them. He acted as fast as he could, grabbing Shiho in a princess carry and leaping into the air.

"Arséne!" Naruto called out, summoning his Persona to help give him a boost up to the next platform, the gentleman thief grabbing under his arms and using his wings to help him up before quickly setting down Shiho and turning around.

"Bird Shadow Knights?! This place just gets weirder and weirder!" Naruto groaned out, looking over to Shiho before getting a nod to show she was okay.

"Be careful, its coming back around!" Morgana warned before Naruto reloaded his grappling hook.

"Yeah and I'll get it when it does" Naruto said, keeping an eye on the Shadow before he leapt up into the air just as it started to dive at them. He was quick, firing the grappling hook which wrapped around its mouth and allowed him to pull himself up towards it and onto its back.

"Now how about we get you down to the ground so we can fight?" Naruto told it with a smirk, pushing down on it, basically steering it before he made it fly past his friends deadest for crashing into the ground before Naruto ripped its mask off and leaped off while reeling in his grappling hook.

"Joker! That was awesome!" Ryuji cheered before Morgana pulled out his weapon.

"Praise later, the Shadow is forming" he chided, getting Ryuji to nod and get his weapon out just as the smoke revealed to show it was a group of those red demons with those disgusting strap-ons.

"I am still not getting one of those…ever…" Naruto groaned with a shudder before the two girls nodded and they were able to easily dispatch them using their guns only for another round of them to spawn.

"W-What!? Why did more show up!?" Ann asked, shuddering on her own since she also didn't like them.

"I have no idea, just finish them off! We should still have enough bullets" Naruto told her before they wiped out this second wave the same as the first. "So now we have to be careful about flying Shadows…that's just great" he groaned out once they were certain a third wave wasn't about to show up.

"Seems like you are the only one who can bring them down but do be careful. I had major flashbacks to when you leapt out the window and trust me, that wasn't fun to see" Ann muttered to him while he nodded with a bit of a frown, not wanting to make anyone worry only to pause as he felt something pulse in him yet again.

This time, what seemed to be a turtle with a long red dragon coming out from where its tail would be that appeared in front of him.

"I am Genbu. I shall become your mask for the Temperance Arcana, make use of my wisdom to create a profitable future for you" it told him before disappearing with Naruto removing Bicorn in exchange for his new mask.

'Wonder if there is a way to make things more organized? Maybe I can go back to the Velvet Room at the entrance to check things out…' he thought over while he rubbed his chin in thought before deciding to worry about it later and focus on scaling the tower with the occasion look around for flying Shadows.

"Damn it, we got another one" Naruto warned them, thankful that he hadn't fired off his grappling hook just yet.

"You know how you are going to take it down?" Ryuji asked before Naruto eyed it as it started to circle above them in the air.

"A bit, need it to get closer first. If it swoops down try and dodge it as best as you can" Naruto said right before it drove at them. Everyone thankfully was able to dodge in time and, just as it was about to fly off, Naruto grabbed it by the ankle and pulled hard to bring it back to them so Naruto could rip its mask off.

As the bird split into the two Shadows Naruto could only shake his head a bit at the ogling look on Ryuji's face as the two shadows were rather….provocative as they were easily the image of what a succubus might look like.

They had long dirty blonde hair with pointed ears, dark red lipstick and sapphire blue eyes with a pair of black and red wings alongside a black pointed tail. Their outfit was what mainly sold it as it was a black sleeveless leotard where the sides were incredibly open, revealing a good deal of the sides of her breasts, and a pair of black mid-thigh high stockings.

"Dude…you have to get that one!" Ryuji said with enough enthusiasm to get a flat disappointed look from the girls that made him shrink back.

"While collecting Shadows is good for the team I fear getting one of these might lower the respect the ladies have for me…" Naruto muttered, looking over at them only for Ann to sigh and shake her head.

"It's fine, collect it if you want since we at least know you aren't a pervert like a certain somebody" Ann said as she gave Ryuji another flat 'so done with you' look.

"If you say so…let's check out guns first then" Naruto decided as before Ann fired at them first, it apparently being their weakness before they surrounded the two succubi.

"Are you sure you're okay with me getting them as a mask…?" Naruto asked, still unsure if him getting them will put him in a potential doghouse with his teammates.

"It's fine Naruto, don't worry" Shiho assured him with a smile before Naruto shrugged his shoulders a bit and walked up to them.

"If you say so…" he murmured to himself before clearing his throat and holding his hand out towards one of them. "Please, lend me your power" he asked as he always did, the shadow accepting his hand with a smile and a giggle before she floated back up into the air a bit.

"Oh my, your kindness finally made me remember who I am. I do find it rather cute that you want to be with a little ol' Succubus like me so much you'd make me your mask. Though my kind always listens to our heart so please, continue to do what your heart desires" the Succubus said with a giggle as she turned into light and flew into his mask with him getting rid of Saki Mitama to make room for her.

"Okay, let's keep moving before more show up. I really don't like fighting on these narrow platforms" Naruto urged before firing off the grappling hook again and continuing their trek up the tower.

Thankfully they didn't run into any more Shadows and were able to make it to the highest window without any real troubles. After all, breaking a window open when you have Persona was easy business.

"There's a safe room right there! Let's go in and rest for a moment before continuing on" Morgana called out, getting nods from everyone as – while undoubtedly quicker – climbing up like this was a bit exhausting mentally due to the intense heights.

"That's more like it" Naruto said with a content sigh as he plopped down on one of the couches with Shiho smiling as she sat beside him.

"So, we should be right nearby the Treasure right?" Ryuji asked while he sat backwards in one of the chairs around the table so that he could look at him while relaxing.

"We should be really close by" Naruto assured him, unrolling the map while giving Shiho a quick sorry look as the map was partially on her lap as well. Though a quick shake of her head showed she didn't mind.

"Yeah, seems like its right next door" Ann said as she plopped down on the other side of him and peeked over at the map.

"Sweet! Once everyone's ready lets head on out and finish this!" Ryuji cheered as he burst up from his seat.

"This is merely us making a route to the Treasure, the stealing part comes a bit after but I'll explain once we find it" Morgana reminded them, getting a nod from Naruto as he rolled up the map and leaned back on the couch a bit to relax before getting up once Shiho and Ann did.

"The way to the treasure should be over there" Naruto pointed over towards the large ornate door….that was flanked by two massive statues of a female body wearing bloomers with their butts stuck out.

"Somehow…that doesn't surprise me…" Ann muttered with a disgusted shiver.

"Seems like we have to climb up one of them since we can't go through the front door" Naruto told them, getting sighs from both the girls before they followed after him and they finally entered the room through a large opening.

"Okay! We're in!" Ryuji cheered, pumping his fist before Morgana quickly hopped onto his shoulder and shushed him.

"Quiet down you idiot!" Morgana hissed out in a whisper, pointing to the side near the railing where – after crouching down and walking over – they were able to see Kamoshida standing in front of his throne with several golden knight Shadows standing in front of him.

"Oh shit, it's Kamoshida" Ryuji whispered out with a frown, glad that the pervert hadn't heard them

"Wait, he's actually here?" Shiho asked, a bit scared as she slowly moved towards the front to get a look only to go pale and step back to where Ann was ready to hug and console her a bit.

"It's okay, we won't let him hurt you ever again" Ann assured her while rubbing Shiho's back to make sure she knew she was safe.

"How have you not captured the intruders yet!?" Kamoshida yelled out, clearly frustrated and annoyed that they hadn't been caught yet.

"I apologize, my liege!" one Shadow apologized while it kneeled before him.

"I bet he'd never imagine we're in the same room as him. Come on, let's keep moving…" Morgana said with a bit of a chuckle before motioning them to keep going.

"It'll be okay Spartan, just keep moving and try not to look if you don't want to" Naruto told Shiho, rubbing her on the back before Ann let her go and she nodded. It was clear that she wasn't entirely okay but she was prepared to keep moving.

They were beyond careful as they walked, crouched down and trying not to make a sound to ensure Kamoshida didn't see or hear them before they silently went through the doors in the back of the room and down the stairs behind them which led to a pair of big and sturdy looking doors.

"This sturdy-lookin' door's pretty promisin'. Let's head inside!" Ryuji said, hyping himself up before he and Naruto pushed open the doors to reveal a large room that was utterly full of gold coins, gold trophies, and a weird murky thing floating a bit above it all.

"Whoa. Gotta say this is a treasure room if I've ever seen one" Naruto said as he let out an impressed whistle while he looked around the room.

"That Treasure thing's gotta be in here for sure!" Ryuji exclaimed before they all walked towards the thing that had drawn all of their attention: the weird murky thing floating in the center of the room.

"What is this thing anyways? It's just, floating in the air" Ann asked before Morgana hopped up on a toppled golden trophy to be closer to it only to chuckle a bit as he looked it over.

"That's the Treasure! We finally found it" Morgana announced with a proud look on his face, only getting confused looks from everyone as they weren't sure how that was a 'Treasure'.

"Are you sure? It's pretty murky and weird looking" Naruto asked, looking between Morgana and the murky thing as he wasn't quite sold on the idea of this being the Treasure.

But then again he had no knowledge about stuff like this.

"I was planning on telling you all more once we made it here, I just never expected for us to get here so quickly" Morgana said with a bit of a chuckle. "Simply finding the Treasure isn't enough, we need to make it materialize before we can steal it" he explained which still had everyone confused.

"What do you mean by materialize?" Shiho asked, unsure why they couldn't just take this weird floating thing and call it done.

"Desires have no physical form by nature. Hence we'll need to make the real person aware that their desires are in fact a Treasure. Once they are conscious that their desires might be stolen then the Treasure will finally show itself" Morgana continued on with his explanation before Ann rose her hand a bit.

"But, how exactly will we do that?" Ann asked since all of this was way too much for her to grasp while Naruto rubbed his chin in thought.

"Wait a second…we're Phantom Thieves right? Then I'm willing to guess the way we make the person aware is by sending a calling card, isn't it?" Naruto asked as he had seen thieves send warnings to the cops about future crimes to taunt them in a lot of animes he's watched.

"Exactly!" Morgana exclaimed, proud that someone had picked up on that. "We tell them 'We're going to steal your heart'! Once we do that the Treasure will appear for certain!…I think…" Morgana announced with a smile only to falter at the end a bit.

"That again?" Ryuji asked with a sigh before shaking off the cat's flakiness. "Either way, sounds like it's worth givin' it a shot!" he added, moving on from it since it sounded like this was the only way to do it.

"Then with that our infiltration route is secure! All that's left now is to pump out a calling card in reality and then come back to take the Treasure!" Morgana announced, proud they were finally at the end of their 'heist'.

"This is it…" Ann said with her tone showing that she almost couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, finally. With the call card we'll be able to make that bastard confess to everything. All the shitty things he's done and at last he'll be held accountable" Naruto said, looking to Ann and Shiho, getting a nod from both of them as they looked back with a serious and determined look in their eyes.

"Yeah…we can finally make him pay" Shiho whispered out a bit, also barely able to believe it before Ann gave her a squeeze on her shoulder, getting her to look up and smile a bit.

"Once we send out the calling card there will be no turning back. Just let me know when you're ready and I'll tell you everything you need to know about the calling card" Morgana told them only to hop off the trophy and walk back towards the door. "For now let's head out. I can ensure a fast way back to the entrance by doing the same thing I used to get in here so let's head back to the safe room outside the throne room" Morgana suggested, getting nods from everyone before they careful headed back out of the throne room and through the safe room doors after Morgana.

And once again were surprised to see themselves back outside the front entrance of the school.

"You know, if I wasn't so sure it'd make no sense to me I'd ask how he's able to do that…" Ryuji muttered with a shake of his head, Ann chuckling along as she definitely agreed.

Naruto paused though as he saw Justine motioning him over.

"This way inmate. Our master wants to talk to you once more" Justine said, everyone freezing in place before he walked over and once again entered the Velvet Room.

-Velvet Room-

"Ah, welcome back once more Trickster. I see you've amassed quite a nice number of Persona and you've evolved a few given to you through your bonds. How delightful" Igor said with his smirk just as massive as ever.

"Our master is rewarding you with another tool you can use so be grateful inmate!" Caroline barked out, bashing his cell door with her baton before an orb of light flew over from Igor and hovered in front of Naruto.

Holding out his hands the orb was able to transform, turning into a moderately thick black leather-bound book that had six blue ribbon bookmarks between a few pages.

"That is a miniature compendium. You may use it in whichever world to allow you to see the skills of each of your Persona that you have collected as well as the ability to shift around which ones you have stored in your mask" Igor explained as Naruto looked over the featureless book and opened it up, seeing Arséne on the first page with his skills, a good number of which he hadn't used yet.*7

'Sukunda, Dream Needle, and Ali Dance? I'll have to look at them later' he thought before closing the book.

"To move around your Persona merely move the bookmarks – save for Arséne's – and that will change the ones you have. Also note that you do not have to take the Persona gained from your evolved Arcana when you get them, please use whichever you desire" Igor continued with a wave of his hand before Naruto nodded.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to use it well" Naruto said which got his cell door bashed by Caroline again.

"You'd better inmate! You are at the first task of your rehabilitation so you'd better use it to prepare yourself!" Caroline yelled out again, a serious look in her eyes as he met them and nodded back.

"Trust me, I won't fail at this. We can't" Naruto told her, actually getting a smirk out of her before both Caroline and Justine nodded at him.

"Good now, I think you've worked enough for now. Go back to the Palace and leave. Can't do your job if you work yourself to the bone!" she yelled once more, getting a nod from him before Igor nodded to show he was free to go, allowing him to walk back out of the Velvet Room.

-Kamoshida's Palace-

"We've secured our route to the Treasure. Let's head on back" Naruto told the others once they started to move again, getting nods from everyone as they stopped at the beginning of the drawbridge that led out of the castle.

"All we gotta do now is steal the Treasure that shows up, yeah? It's finally time" Ryuji cheered with a fist pump as he was utterly excited to finally take that bastard Kamoshida down.

"Yeah, just gotta send the calling card first. When should we do it?" Ann asked, looking to Naruto since he was their leader and all.

"Would everyone be okay with the day after tomorrow? It allows us to rest and recover for a day which I feel is beyond needed after this long day" Naruto suggested with a sigh, already feeling a bit of soreness in his shoulders.

"Sounds perfect. The sooner the better" Shiho said, a determined look on her face to show she was ready and raring to go.

"For now lets get recharged and talk more about this tomorrow since there is more to it than you guys think" Morgana revealed to them before Naruto nodded.

"Sounds good, we got an absolute shit ton done today so lets finally head out and plan for the heist as I feel it's gonna be intense" Naruto said, once again getting nods from everyone as they left, all simultaneously wondering how the heist would go but all equally determined to get it done and make Kamoshida pay.

-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 = I know it isn't too important but for the appearance of the carbine think of how it looks in Bioshock Infinite Burial and Sea. For future models of all weapons I'm not going to ever really describe their appearances unless the appearance is interesting like Makoto's bear knuckles OR the strongest weapons (like Haru's axe you get from Itemizing Beelzebub)

*2 = Very early on I realized I had to think up a way to get around the issue of 'How do they bring the weapons/things to sell in and out of the Metaverse cause think about it when it comes to Haru. How the HELL would he just casually walk around with a grenade launcher/axe in his bag? The fix was simple with this 'addition' to the Meta-Nav that I like to call 'Meta-Transfer'

With a simple picture it transports items to the Metaverse where they will be equipped to the persons instantly. Everything else is in Naruto's deep inner pockets of his jacket lol

*3 = For this story the regular style of fusion was something I didn't feel could work too well, I might have a way to make it work a bit but I'm still tinkering with it. For now it's kind of like 'Evolution' where the stronger he gets the Persona he gets from each 'Confidant Bond' will go to the next in the Arcana line.

Aka the Jack O'Lantern (lv.2) he got from the Magician Arcana will awaken Cait Sith (lv.5) once he grows stronger.

Now, Naruto doesn't get rid of his Persona, all of them are a part of him. Some will pop up to chat with him as I plan for a good few of them to help him out by speaking to him at times

This naturally means that the Twin's confidant route will change, it turning to their 'outings' that you can take them on.

*4 = Hope that explains away how they are able to fast travel to the safe room. It's tricky thinking up ways to 'de-game' certain things you know? lol

*5 = Okay I'm so not going to write down him looting every little thing or that is going to be BEYOND tedious to write and read so how you guys just imagine he's looking every glowy thing along the way. Easier and less annoying for the both of us lol. For the most part I'm gonna ignore Treasure Chests unless they aren't out of the way to get.

*6 = As to ensure things are continuously drawn out in terms of progression through the Palace I will be removing certain parts of things since I'm sure everyone doesn't want to be reading the Palace events for several chapters. I'm also taking inspiration from the P5 Manga where they were able to go through the Palace quickly.

*7 = My idea for the mini compendium came out of the idea of wondering how to keep his team balanced when he just keeps getting new Persona. I feel its an interesting way and the best way to allow him to see which skills each ones have (as once again, had to think of a way to de-game 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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Woo! Another long chapter, ending up at 22k (not counting all the * notes and these notes).

A lot of stuff happened so I'll try and run through the main points I feel I need to talk about.

For guns I chose a carbine for Shiho mainly since rifles hadn't really been used in the line up and a carbine is one with a bit more rate of fire. Plus I felt it would suit her. It was either carbine or belted machine gun. Gotta say Shiho went through a lot of changes and revisions before she ended up with her current set up lol

The Meta-Transfer is one of the many additions meant to 'de-game' things and I gotta say I'm really happy and content with how I went about things.

I chose to go through the Palace in one go – as well as remove certain parts of it – due to wanting to make sure you guys didn't have to sit through several chapters of the process of things. Also writing out every fight and all the attacks would also get boring as well, hence why I tend to save that for when he plans to 'capture' one of the Shadows.

I personally feel that writing everything out and doing everything would have just gotten too Bleh after a while and a bit boring. But please, let me know how I did with it. If I need to tweak things later on with future Palaces

Oh yeah, one more thing before I wrap these notes up, when it comes to combat I'm taking influence from the Persona 5 Animation where its just kind of free for all. It'll be shown later on as, you gotta keep in mind, the first Palace is very 'tutorial strength/fights'

All in all I'm happy about how this chapter went and I'm excited for this Palace to end as that'll allow for the 'interesting change' I have in mind to be revealed

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I hope you all liked it

Until Next Time

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Buh-Bye!