Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DxD. This is a non-profit-based work.

Note: Yeah okay I made a typo in regards to Gasper's gear, sorry about that. It's not meant to be a Longinus yet, I was just a bit too quick about it. By the time I've released this, it should be fixed. So, eh, just forget that happened haha. Sorry 'bout that.

Anyhow, I don't know how often I'll update after this chapter. I've tried to stick to a schedule of weekly updates on Fridays, but I don't want to burn out again. I ended up with an eight-month-long break the last time. Though I will try my best to keep up with the weekly updates, if I start feeling drained I'll take a step back from writing for a few days.

If y'all are interested in joining a community of readers and several talented authors, consider joining AizenTheGoat's Discord server.

QBzbm58Dn4

改行

-Chapter 5-

Storm Dragon.

改行

Today was a day when he really started to question his existence in this world. He had been put on this job as a favor for Sirzechs, but the moment he had entered the school grounds he had realized something that Sirzechs had failed to mention to him beforehand.

Apparently, this place used to be an all-girls school… which meant that as far as he could see, there were only girls. He had only seen one guy so far, and that had been a teacher!

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. Today he had let Kurama stay at the mansion because he figured this was a job for himself. Boy, he regretted that now. Not once in his life did he think he'd feel sorry for Sasuke being popular, but it was different now.

Because as much as his appearance was ironic when compared to his old looks, so was his popularity. It creeped him out.

No matter where he went, he felt as if someone had put an infinite spotlight on him.

Especially once they looked at him and whispered. Hell, some of the looks he received were starting to freak him out.

"What is this, the hometown of the Uchiha Fangirl Association?" He thought out loud with a shudder.

Deciding there was no point in being outside and the center of attention, he carefully slipped inside the school building and made his way through the place. Not that it helped, on the contrary, it seemed like people were just getting closer.

Sighing for the thousandth time that day, he rushed toward the place he had been told the student council resided.

He had to admit he was proud of his younger sister. As one of the people that knew of her dream for the future, she was already making progress by becoming the head of the school.

Grateful that the room had a sign on the door, he quickly slipped inside the doorway and closed the door behind him, sliding down to the floor as he made a small apology for the number of times he had cursed Sasuke for his popularity with the girls. They seemed just as crazy here.

He opened his eyes and gazed around, and groaned at the sight of the empty room. 'They must be attending class right now, huh. Thank satan it isn't me.' He chuckled gleefully.

With a small jump, he got on top of one of the tables and sat down, raising a brow at the stack of documents at his side. He latched onto them and started to look through them, and noticed most of them were budget paperwork.

'Damn, Sona is just like old man Sandaime. Cursed by paperwork.' He thought with a loud laugh, once again thanking deities that it wasn't his problem to deal with stuff like that.

It did make him wonder if chasing the Hokage title had been a good idea, considering how much he hated papers and tests in general.

"What the hell do you think you're doing on the President of the Student Council's desk you bastard? State your name and give me your student ID card."

Naruto raised a brow as he heard a voice call out to him, with a hum he stared down at a blond boy that was slightly shorter than he was. His eyes were infuriated as he pointed an accusing finger at him.

Resting his head against his fist, Naruto hummed louder with a non-caring look in his eyes, "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

The boy faltered and took a step back with a tick mark throbbing on his forehead, "The name is Genshirou Saji, and as a member of the student council I demand that you get your ass off that desk and start answering my questions or you'll be in trouble!"

Naruto laughed loudly at that. The boy hadn't seemed to catch on just yet, but he had. Just at a glance he already knew this Saji person was a reincarnated devil. The question just remained whether or not he was part of Rias' peerage, or Sona's. He guessed the latter since he was a member of this council.

With an amused look, he slid down from the table and walked over, his red eyes staring down at the boy, and slammed his fist against the wall and stared down at him, "And what do you plan to do with that information devil boy?"

Saji's eyes widened as he backed off, his back hitting against the wall as he stared up into the red eyes that seemed more terrifying now than before.

"H-How do you know? What are you?" The boy asked with a mild stutter as sweat started to form on his forehead.

Naruto could barely contain the laughter that was threatening to explode at any moment. He had to give credit to Kurama at some point, intimidating people was really fun!

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't scare my pawn to death big brother."

With a small sigh, Naruto got away from the scared boy and turned his gaze toward the door where he came eye to eye with his younger sister. Her violet eyes stared into his own with a look of disapproval, but her lips curved upward into a smile.

As Saji found his ability to breathe again, his brow twitched, "Big… brother?" He mumbled and deflated to the floor like a balloon.

"Why do you have to ruin my fun, Sona? I was just having a bit of fun with him." Naruto chuckled and jogged over to meet the girl halfway just to engulf her in a hug.

Sona smiled a bit, ignoring the urge to tell him that she'd prefer he didn't do stuff like this on the school grounds, and settled for returning his quick embrace, "If word got out that a member of the student council pissed himself in fear, everyone would lose respect for us."

Naruto sweatdropped and stepped with a sheepish grin, "Yeah, I guess so. Sorry about that… eh, Saji right?"

The boy who had started to recover from the shock got back to his feet and waved his hand around, "All good… I'm completely fine."

"Sure…" Naruto trailed off, "So, where's the rest of your group hiding?"

Sona adjusted her glasses, "Attending classes, I just went to see what the hell was taking Saji so long. All I did was send him to get some papers."

Naruto gave an understanding nod as he reached over and clapped the blond boy on his shoulder, "Very well, sorry for interrupting your work. I'm Naruto Sitri by the way."

Saji rubbed his forehead and stared at him with a puzzled look, "The recluse?"

As if an arrow had pierced his chest, Naruto grabbed the front of his jacket and looked at Sona with a hurt look, "That's what you tell people about me?"

She just gave him a deadpan expression in return, "Is it wrong?"

"I guess not. Well, technically it is wrong now, but whatever."

With a calculative look, Sona pushed her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose, "Not that I don't appreciate your visit, even if it's unannounced, I have to ask what you're doing here. I'd imagine you'd have better things to do. Like getting a peerage."

With a hurtful expression Naruto turned back to her, "For your information, I have already started on that. And as for why I'm here, I'm a new club advisor. Shocking right?"

Sona's eyes visibly darkened, "I refuse, I do not need you watching over my shoulder."

He waved his hand, "Don't worry, I figured you wouldn't want me sticking my nose in your business. I'm the club advisor for the… Occult Research Club, I think it was called."

She raised a brow at him, "Rias' club? I wonder why."

"As you so rudely pointed out earlier, I'm a recluse. People thought it'd be a good idea for me to get out more and… well, I knew you wouldn't want me here." He smiled.

Sona frowned and crossed her arms under her chest, "It's not that I don't want you here, but I'd prefer doing this on my own. Being the leader of a peerage and head of a student council is training for the future."

"I know, I know, and that is why I'm hired to help out Rias. Plus, there are some more reasons. Like, we both know she has a certain bishop she has trouble with."

With a look of realization, Sona smirked, "I see, our sister and Sirzechs-sama must've placed you here to partially help with Gasper as well as force you to socialize."

"Yup, that's pretty much it." It was only half the truth, but he figured that telling them that they were in potential danger wouldn't help anyone at this time.

Sona tilted her head, "So why did you come here? The O.R.C building is in the old school building, if you go out through the back you can't miss it."

Naruto sat down on a nearby chair and crossed his legs at his ankles, "Well, I figured that they'd be in class. And I couldn't help but want to pay my adorable little sister a visit first."

Saji watched the interactions with a nervous look on his face. He had never seen anyone speak like that with Sona before, he knew that if he ever tried something like that then his sadistic king would totally whoop his ass.

Sona's cheeks heated up a bit out of embarrassment and coughed into her hand, "Well I happen to know that they won't be meeting until at least the evening or after classes are over, you're here way too early big brother."

"Yeah, I figured that'd be the case. I wasn't planning on staying until then, I need to make a quick detour to the Underworld, then I'll return during the night. I assume she is still out getting contracts and the like?"

She nodded her head, but looked confused after, "Didn't you just come from the Underworld?"

"Technically yeah, we've been here for a few days to get settled in."

She raised a brow, "We?"

Naruto smirked, "As I said, I've started on my peerage. That's also why I'm going back to the Underworld for a quick detour, I'm going to fetch a member."

With another nod of understanding, she looked up at the clock to see how long she had left before her next class started, "So how many members are up to now?"

He shrugged with a small smile, "Only two so far, but they're… well, unique."

"Well, we all start somewhere. You'll have to excuse me for now, I need to go to my next class. Saji! You should get your ass moving too unless you want to be late, I'll not tolerate the council getting a reputation of being late."

Naruto sweatdropped at how her tone shifted in an instant, and just waved as she walked through the door, "I'll see you soon."

Before she could go any further, Sona stuck her head inside the doorway again, "If you got time after speaking with Rias, you should come by. It's been a while since we talked. You should bring your peerage."

"Sure thing, it's been a while since I talked with Tsubaki and the others." Naruto smiled.

Sona gave a small smile in return, "I'll make preparations then." She finished and shot Saji a dark look before she left.

Saji sighed with a crestfallen look as he gazed down at the sitting devil, "How do you deal with her?"

"Hm?" Naruto hummed thoughtfully.

The younger boy scratched the back of his head, "You know, she is so demanding at times."

"She is? Well, I'm her brother so I guess it's a bit different for me. Just don't get on her bad side, that place is… scary." Naruto chuckled nervously.

Saji, who had thought he had experienced that, almost choked on his own spit out of surprise, and just nodded his head. "I guess I'll leave too, it was a… pleasure meeting you."

Naruto grinned and waved his hand at him, "Likewise, don't worry I won't scare you the next time we meet. Well, maybe, no promises."

The last thing Naruto managed to hear was a stuttered mumble of defeat about how every Sitri was sadistic.

They couldn't be that bad, could they?

改行

"What exactly are we doing back here so soon?" A certain fox grumbled as he walked behind the king of the peerage.

Naruto looked over his shoulder as they made their way to the outskirts of the Gremory territory, and toward the border that'd be the place the Dragon Apples grew. Also known as Tannin's territory.

With a small chuckle he dug his hands inside his pockets, he hadn't exactly expected to be back here so soon, but with the new mansion in place, he saw no reason to not gather the other member of their peerage.

"Well, we're here to get Veldora. I hadn't expected to be placed in Kuoh and get a mansion out of it, but I guess there is no real reason to stay apart anymore. Plus, Veldora is… unique. He loves manga, so being in a place where I don't have to supply him anymore is beneficial." Naruto sweatdropped.

Kurama snorted with laughter, "Let me guess, the Dragon loves to read that stuff called Drag So-Ball."

Taking a moment to think, Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, pretty much."

Almost slipping over his own feet, Kurama regained his footing with a deadpan expression, "For real?"

"For real," Naruto repeated.

Kurama's face morphed into a blank expression, "That's way too ironic."

"I guess it is. Just, bear with him, he's… well, what I used to be."

The Youkai gave a small frown as he stepped up beside Naruto, as they walked into rows of trees with very… special-looking apples growing on them, "What do you mean?"

Naruto chuckled a bit as he reminisced about the past, "Veldora is… how to put it… like I was when I was a kid. He lacked a lot of social skills when I first met him, hell the only way he thought he could entertain himself was by fighting."

"Let me guess, the Dragon picked a fight with you the first time you met," Kurama stated with a small smirk.

He nodded at that, "Pretty much. You can probably call him a bit of a recluse too, I was the first friend he ever had. The other dragons were growing a bit tired of it, so Tannin and my older sister pushed us together to meet."

"You're not going to tell me that you shifted his lust for fighting onto manga instead, are you?"

This time it was Naruto's turn to almost fall over his own feet, "M-Maybe… I mean, I thought it'd help him. By giving him something else to focus on, I figured he'd have an easier time."

Kurama nodded in understanding, "So how did it develop to him being part of your peerage? I did a bit of reading when I was… enjoying the hot springs at the house. Supposedly it's quite a big deal if someone takes up all eight pawn pieces."

"Veldora is strong, really strong. Hell, he was stronger than me the first few times we fought, but then again… It was Veldora that made me strive to be as powerful as I am now. I guess I'll always be a sore loser, so we made a deal about having a fight whenever we met." Naruto chuckled sheepishly.

With a groan, Kurama's brow twitched slightly, "I swear if he starts throwing hands the moment we run into him I'm not responsible for what happens."

"Oh? You think you can take on Veldora?" Naruto teased with a smirk, which just gave him a punch to the shoulder in return.

Kurama snorted, "Heh, as if some overgrown lizard could take me on."

Naruto turned back to watch the surroundings after that. He truly didn't know who'd win in that fight. He could sense Kurama was strong, but he knew Veldora was no joke. Both Kurama and Veldora were fighting maniacs whether they admitted it or not.

Plus, it had been a while since Naruto had met his childhood friend. There was no telling how strong he could've gotten in the past few years.

The thought excited him, it had been a while since he had had a good brawl.

"You never really answered how it came to be that he joined the peerage."

Naruto blinked and face palmed. Right, he had forgotten about that. "Well, as I said I was practically his first friend. We spent a lot of time together fighting, and when I figured out what I wanted to do he practically asked me to take him in."

"But why?"

With a smile, Naruto looked up at the sky, "He wants to fight strong opponents just like us. I also think he has something he wants to prove. And I think fighting for a cause he believes in will help with that."

A small smile lifted Kurama's face, "The lizard probably also just wanted to help his friend. It's only natural, you gave him something he hadn't before. It's only natural he'd support you."

"Oh, is that why you joined me?"

Kurama's forehead grew a tick mark, "Don't kid yourself brat, you're a thousand years too young to think I'd go soft like that."

Naruto smiled cheekily, "Oh my, and here I thought you had already gone soft on me Kurama-kun. Is it that hard to be honest with yourself? You hurt my feelings."

Kurama's face twitched as he flashed his fangs in a bloodthirsty manner, "Trust me that's not the only thing that'll hurt once I'm through with you."

He would've responded to the claim, but when he felt the surge of power steadily approaching he knew exactly what was going to happen. Seemed like a certain someone had finally felt his presence, and it was about time.

He had almost started to feel hurt. Veldora never took that long to notice him.

With a smirk, Naruto took a step back as a yellow blur flashed down from above and into the ground. The earth shook as Kurama jumped back with a puzzled look, "What in hell was that supposed to be?"

Naruto decided not to answer for now because his entire face paled as the cloud of dirt and debriefing revealed a man with blond hair, about two meters tall wearing just a brown cloak with red lining, matching brown pants, and white boots.

Though it wasn't the appearance that was scaring him. No, it was the giant yellow aura that seemed to burn around him as his bangs shadowed his eyes.

"Naruto…"

He gulped a bit, he didn't recall having pissed Veldora off in the past but it sure seemed like the case.

"V-Veldora?" He asked with a small nervous chuckle.

Kurama gazed between them and quickly figured this had nothing to do with him. A mischievous foxy grin settled on his face as he relaxed, and decided to see how this would play out.

Before either of them could react, the aura vanished as Veldora appeared right in Naruto's face, but the scared look on the devil's face turned into amusement when he saw the cover of a certain manga right before his eyes.

He was about to answer, but Veldora pulled the book back as he stuck his head forward in frantic yellow eyes as he waved his arms around in the air, "Where the hell have you been?! Do you know how long I waited, huh? I've been waiting for the next volume for forever!"

Naruto rubbed his ear as the dragon shouted out the last part, "What do you mean waited in ages, I supplied you like with a decade's worth of manga the last time I was here!"

Veldora pulled at his hair and waved the manga around in the air, "Exactly! I finished all of that within the month, and could do nothing but take out my frustration on my surroundings!"

Kurama's entire face fell down into a deadpan expression before he smacked his forehead, "You mean to tell me you were about to beat the brat up because you read a decade's worth of fictional books in a month?"

The blond raised a brow with a hum as he turned his head in the fox's direction, "Who are you supposed to be?"

Deciding now would be a fine time to intervene, Naruto stepped in between the two and coughed into his hand, "Veldora, this is the queen of my peerage, Kurama."

With his eyes widening in surprise, a wide smirk split Veldora's face, "Oh so that's it, you should've said so sooner! Very well then, I'm the Storm Dragon, Veldora! All who defy me… will be slaughtered!" He shouted and erupted with laughter.

'This guy is even more obnoxious than those bushy-browed freaks.' Kurama thought with a look of pure amusement.

Naruto on the other hand took the book out of Veldora's hand and promptly smacked it into the back of his head, "I know that you like manga, but could you not shout everything you read from it like it's normal?"

Veldora rubbed the back of his head as he stared at his friend with a heartbroken look, "We meet after so long and you're this cold. It's like I'm the only one that cares about our friendship, you didn't even bring me any new manga…"

The dark-haired devil rolled his eyes and clapped him on the back, "And for a very good reason. It's about time."

The blond's eyes widened with a knowing look, "Oh? You're planning to make your move soon I see, so who is the first that'll face us? I hope they're strong!"

"What are you talking about?" Kurama asked with a raised brow.

Veldora gave a smug look, "Oh, you mean to tell me you're the queen of the peerage, and you don't even know?"

Kurama's face morphed into a sadistic grin, "Could you not be so damn obnoxious and loud, I swear you're even worse than Naruto!"

'What do I have to do with this?' Naruto thought with a hurt look, before he stepped in between them, "Enough of that, what he means is what I told you earlier. I plan on becoming the strongest to prove my idea and for that… we'll be entering the rating games."

Veldora nodded and smacked his fist into his palm, "I can barely wait! You thought of this plan so long ago, I've been itching to beat them all!"

'Definitely, a fight freak like the brat said,' Kurama thought to himself, "I see. When will we enter? Do we know our first opponent?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, we aren't quite there yet. We're getting close, we're three now, and I think with a few more members we'll be well equipped to start fighting."

"That's too bad, I'd have loved to beat some of those smug face looking bastards," Kurama almost pouted.

Veldora nodded in agreement, "Yeah, complete disappointment."

Naruto chuckled, "It's not that easy. We'll first have to prove our worth by gathering a strong peerage, we won't be recognized as worthy participants before we make a name for ourselves. My plan is to fight some unofficial matches, gain some status, and then start challenging people for an official match."

Kurama gave him a curious look, "You're definitely smarter than you used to be. Who is our first target then?"

With a now intrigued look, Veldora looked intensely at Naruto, "Well, I do have someone in mind. Her name is Seekvaira Agares, we have a bit of a… rivalry."

"What is it with you and rivals, do you never learn?" Kurama asked.

Ignoring the disrespectful question, Naruto looked at his two peerage members, "Long story short is that the devil heirs are gonna have a tournament soon. I'm not an heir because I'm half Sitri and half Agares. Since I'm part Agares, I have their magic. Seekvaira and I have always joked about finding out who is best at using it."

"Is she the only one?" Veldora asked curiously.

Naruto shook his head with a serious look in his eyes, "No… there is someone else. If I have to be honest, he's probably my biggest rival of them all. I've sparred with him before, but I've never beaten him, though I haven't lost either. He knows how to use his touki even better than anyone I've ever met, so we often had to agree on a tie."

Kurama started to look serious now as well. He had already sensed that Naruto's level of strength was no joke, hell, he couldn't sense anyone in the town of Kuoh that was remotely close to his level, "Who is it?"

With his arms crossed over his chest, Naruto stared at the ground, "His name is Sairaorg Bael. He didn't inherit his families ability and instead, he ended up resorting to honing his body. He's just like someone Kurama and I knew."

Getting the hint, a mental image of Rock Lee appeared in Kurama's head. 'So that's how it is. So it's someone with a bad luck of the draw in innate abilities, but he is a fighting machine beyond belief.'

"Touki? What's that supposed to mean?" Veldora asked with a confused tone.

Naruto thought for a second, "Well, think of it like this. In essence, it's the external manipulation of one's life force, wrapped around them like an aura. It gives many things; strong offense, defense, and speed. On top of that, from what I can gather it has a passive effect that overpowers magic weaker than it."

After his explanation, he looked over to Kurama to see if he had explained it correctly.

Being quite a skilled senjutsu user, Kurama gave a brief nod of his head and turned to Veldora, "That's a rough part of it, but yes. He's essentially like a tank in all of those mangas. if Touki is all he can do then it's no surprise you haven't won yet."

With a frown, Veldora looked at Naruto, "So your magic has until now been too weak to reach him?"

"Hmm, partially. As you both know I use time magic, I've tried a few things, like capturing him with Chrono Stasis several times, but his abilities with Touki are so strong that he ends up breaking through it. It's been years since then, though, and I'm much stronger now."

Veldora gave a knowing smirk, "So you're gonna win."

Mimicking the smirk on his friend's face, Naruto cracked his knuckles, "Oh yeah I'm gonna win. Sairaorg and I fight for similar beliefs but there's no way in hell I'm gonna lose."

"Good, I don't want to serve a loser. So I guess that means we have our targets, what's the next move then?" Kurama chipped in.

"For now we'll go back to Kuoh, we still need to see if we can find a member or two more just in case. What do you say Veldora? You gonna come with us?"

The dragon grinned and wrapped an arm around his neck, "Definitely! So many strong fights are coming up, and I'll finally be able to get my hands on unlimited manga. It's a win-win situation." He spoke the last part seriously with a clenched fist.

Kurama snorted, "That's good and all, but you might need a different set of clothes. Not sure the cops will appreciate some monster tall guy running around like he's a male stripper with a cosplay cloak."

Veldora raised a brow, "What's a stripper?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "Oh boy…"

改行

Not even sure what to say here, I said I might take it easier - and then I took like a three-day break and wrote this entire chapter in a sitting. I guess I needed a bit of air, usually, I have a daily quota of 1000 words for this story, but I finished this chapter this Monday lol.

Oh well, for anyone wondering, Kuroka will appear again in the next chapter. My beta suggested some buffer time after the talk with Sirzechs so the chapter would be less information-heavy. So, yeah, Kuroka will appear again next chapter for those who have been curious.

So how did you like Veldora's entrance? I took the liberty to take a few lines from Tensura when he appeared again. Y'know, some of the things he said to Rimuru and the like, but mixing it up a bit to make it fit better here.