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

Note: I think I'm gonna go with updating every other week from now on, just to give myself time for potential other stories but also so that it mixes better with my beta's schedule. Though I might not make it for the next chapter, I'll try and keep to this schedule afterward. I have a couple of things coming up that I can't avoid, so writing isn't my first priority for the next two weeks, but hopefully, I can manage it but I'm not gonna promise anything.

I just hope I'll be able to keep it up and not repeat what happened to TSE, since I made the same promise there but then I went on like an eight-month break lol.

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

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改行

-Chapter 12-

Family Matters.

改行

The rays of the morning sun shone upon the dark-haired boy's eyelids, as he groaned out in mild annoyance. Twisting his body slightly, still partially numb from his slumber, he buried his face in something soft to shield his eyes and return to sleep.

Despite the desire to fall asleep again, he couldn't quite understand his current situation. His body felt more horizontal than it should be, and he didn't quite remember his pillow having such a nice feel to it… or scent for that matter.

He gave a small groan as he opened his eyes to inspect his situation, his vision slowly blurring in to focus on the black mob of hair that he was resting his cheek against. Blinking, he slowly raised his head and recognized the feeling of something leaning against his shoulder.

As he sat straight, he leaned a bit forward to get a look around the room. Then remembered that he had no memory of leaving the living room, so he wasn't super surprised when he saw the TV still turned on.

Yawning softly, he turned his head down to the source of weight leaning in against him and looked on with surprise as he saw the sleeping face of Kuroka nuzzled against his shoulder.

'I guess we fell asleep, no surprise there. We did play the game all night, so I guess it's still a tie.' He chuckled to himself, as he raised a hand to move a strand of her away from her face.

He watched as she scrunched her nose and moved a bit around in her sleep to get comfortable again, resulting in her nuzzling her head deeper into the crook of his neck than it had before, so her raven locks tickled against his skin.

With a quiet chuckle at the ticklish feeling, that he muffled by covering his mouth, he felt her hand move up to slightly claw against his chest in her slumber.

As he smiled slightly at the cat-like behavior, he wondered if he should wake her up or not.

They were still seated on the couch, so his neck did feel a bit stiff from the awkward sleeping position, but he ignored it for the time being as he didn't want to interrupt her sleep when she seemed to be quite comfortable.

Though he also felt oddly relaxed at the same time. So perhaps the pervy sage had been right when he had said there was nothing equivalent to sleeping with a cute woman. He had waved him off back then, but now that he was finally in the situation, despite the circumstances, he'd have to admit defeat.

The old man had been right after all.

It didn't take long after he woke up before she started to move in her sleep. Her back stretched much like a cat would as she rose up to rub against his cheek with the top of her head, a slight moment of disorientation before her head turned in his direction.

Naruto gave a small smile as his red eyes came in contact with her amber ones, "Good morning, did you sleep well?" He asked with a glint in his eye.

It took a second for Kuroka to understand the situation, before the corner of her lip quirked upward and her blurry vision tuned in on him smiling at her, "G'Morning… Yeah, your shoulder was surprisingly comfortable to sleep on compared to what I'd have imagined. I have no complaints, you?" She asked and laid her head back down sleepily.

"That so? Well then I'll gladly offer my shoulder another time, and yeah I slept quite nicely. Though my neck is a bit stiff," He chuckled back and stretched his back, and rolled his neck to try and get some of the stiffness away.

The raven-haired woman yawned slightly as she rose to her feet, following the Sitri's lead and doing a small stretch, "While it wasn't intended, it was definitely nice. It's been a while since I had fun for the sake of it, beating your ass in Street Fighter just made it better."

Naruto raised a brow as he stood up beside her, "I think you're delusional, it was clearly a draw."

She snorted and jabbed an elbow in his side, "Come on, just admit it. I beat you! And I could easily do it again."

With a quick shake of his head, Naruto chuckled and walked into the kitchen with her in tow, "Please, if you want to win that badly I'll give you another chance. Unless you're scared." He sing-sang and got to work on some tea.

Kuroka folded her arms on the kitchen counter from the opposite side, her brow rising upon her forehead as she gave him a teeth-filled grin, "Oh my, asking me out on a second date already? We haven't even had our first one yet."

The red-eyed boy gave her a surprised look, the grin on her face quite inviting as he shrugged his shoulders playfully, "Am I to assume that you don't want to then?"

She rested her cheek in the palm of her hand as she followed his gaze, "Did you hear me say no?"

"I didn't," He responded and put a cup down in front of her.

Kuroka gave a small laugh before she took a sip from the cup, "Then you have your answer, hm?"

He gave a small smile and leaned in against the counter, "I guess I do, so when do you think we should get to work on that senjutsu thing?"

She gave him a look of disbelief as she rotated to content in her cup around by moving her hand in circular motions, "Do you always think about training as soon as you wake up?"

"...No, not usually at least. I just thought it was going to be fun, and I don't have much else planned for today. Well, aside from perhaps contacting Rias about you having a talk with her." Naruto mused.

Kuroka tilted her as she remembered the informative talk around the table yesterday, "Yeah, you mentioned that yesterday. If you can arrange it, then I'll do it. As much as I had hoped it wasn't necessary, but I'm glad that she's looking out for Shirone's well-being."

He smiled and put down his cup on the counter, "She cares deeply for her. To the Gremory, their peerage is akin to family. So I can assure you that she only wants what's best for everyone."

The Nekoshou's gaze softened a bit as she nodded her head down in a slow manner, "Make the call and we'll go, I'll do what I can to make her believe me…"

With a slight chuckle, he turned to look at her again, "Don't worry too much. Rias trusts me, and I trust you, that says a lot already. So unless you directly punch her in the face, I doubt it could go wrong."

Thrown off by the comment, Kuroka giggled slightly behind her hand, "That's a unique way to put it… but I got it, no right hooks from my side. Promise."

Naruto was equally surprised as he heard the sound of her giggling. Sure, he had heard her laugh before but the sound of the sweet tune got to him, making his lips quirk upward, as he made a mental reminder to hear it again as soon as possible.

"What's with that look?" She suddenly asked curiously.

He blinked at her question, and just settled for a smirk in return, "Oh nothing, just happy that my effort at making jokes didn't go unnoticed."

Before their conversation could continue, a soft sound of footsteps met their ears. Turning their heads down the hallway, they both raised a hand in a small as the slightly messy mob of Saeko's purple hair came into sight.

"Morning, sleep well?" The raven-haired woman asked.

Saeko blinked in surprise and nodded her head, "I did, thank you. I wasn't aware that you were going to spend the night, I thought you said you were going back home."

Kuroka grinned, "Well, I didn't plan on it, but he invited me to a sleepover and I just couldn't say no."

The purple-haired girl raised a brow out of amusement, and helped herself to a cup of tea, "That's nice, it looked like you were having fun. So who won?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "She'll say she did, but it was a tie. We're having a rematch as soon as possible."

Her curiosity got the better of her, as Saeko leaned her side against the fridge, "Hmm, sounds interesting. You should make it a small tournament, it could be fun to see who's the best."

The dark-haired boy tilted his head, equally curious now, "So like the three of us, and then Veldora and Kurama?"

"If they'd like to, I think it could be fun. Unless we have something better to do, it could perhaps be a fun little competition."

Kuroka's ears twitched as an idea came to her mind, "That's actually a great idea, we should put something on the line too… Like, the one that goes last place has to pay for food or drinks!"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, I'm not exactly of age to drink alcohol." Saeko mused.

Naruto waved her off, "We're devils, the rules don't exactly apply to us. If anything we can just hypnotize them a bit to leave us alone. I'm technically not of age either, but I still find myself enjoying sake from time to time."

The dark-haired woman nodded her head quickly, "Exactly, come on… It'll be fun!"

Saeko sighed in defeat, but smiled nonetheless, "Fine, but my dad won't appreciate that. So as much as I'm against lying to him, I think I'll have to do it this one time."

"That's the spirit, don't worry, I'm sure the lord of time here could make you sober with his magic even if something goes wrong," Kuroka snickered.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Ah yes, the Lord of Time. That's what I am…"

Safe to say his annoyance was humoring them.

改行

It didn't take long before the rest of Naruto's peerage was up and about. A light breakfast was served and the table was once again filled with small talk. After the dishes had been done, Naruto was pulled to the side by Saeko who wanted to talk to him one on one for a second.

Agreeing to meet her request, they had gone outside and started walking down the street side by side.

"So what did you want to talk about?" He asked curiously.

She took a breath, and looked him dead in the eye, "I just want to say that… I won't lie to my dad, I know that taking a role in your house was a big decision and I did so knowing that I'd potentially become something my dad wouldn't approve of. Regardless, I won't lie to him about what I am. My family's honor won't allow that."

Naruto listened quietly until she finished, and nodded his head in understanding, "That's fair, I got nothing against that. Why are you telling me that like this?"

She sighed, "I had hoped you'd come along since there are likely things that I can't explain, and things that only you can say that reassure him that you're not evil. Only then will he be able to accept my choice."

"I won't lie to you, there is a big chance that no matter what I say he won't accept it. However, he is your father, he'll come around eventually even if he deems me untrustable. I'll still help you though, so don't worry." He finished with a smile.

She gave a smile filled with gratitude, "Thank you, I truly appreciate it. Do you think we could go do it now? He'll likely be busy with the dojo as it gets closer to the afternoon, and I'd like for him to know as soon as possible so he doesn't believe I've been keeping secrets from him."

Naruto nodded, "Of course, just lead the way. Not that I don't know where it is, but I don't think it'd be the best first impression to just kick the door in."

Saeko shook her head and remained quiet for the rest of the walk. Sure they could fly, but she wanted to think the situation over in her head and figure out what she wanted to say.

It didn't take long for them to get there, as a few minutes later they were now standing in the household of the Busujima household.

"I'm home, father," Saeko called out, as she walked into the kitchen with Naruto in tow.

The gruff-looking man raised his head from the newspaper in his hands, his eyes first landing on his daughter but soon settling on the young man that was standing beside her.

Naruto raised a hand in a greeting, "Yo…"

Kage said nothing, before he turned back to his daughter, "Your room door stays open." He said with a tone of authority, leaving no room for arguments.

Saeko waved her hands dismissively, "We're actually here for you, father. We'd like to speak with you about something urgent and important."

The older man's eyes widened slightly, "If the next thing that comes out of your mouth is that you're pregnant, then I might actually die this time."

As those words left the older man's mouth, Naruto almost choked on his own spit from laughing. Clutching his stomach as he completely lost it when he saw the look on Saeko's face.

"N-No, I'm not. Father, I want you to keep an open mind about what you're about to hear, but first I'd like to introduce you to Naruto Sitri, the older brother of the student council president." Saeko finished and waved a hand toward him.

The kendo master hummed and folded his newspapers before putting them down on the table in front of him, "Pleasure to meet you then young man, I've heard great things about your sister. Please, have a seat. What is it you wish to discuss with me?"

"Likewise," Naruto responded and took a seat beside Saeko at the table, and looked at him, "I'll be blunt, I'm a devil and the reason you're healthy again. I have an affinity for time magic and was thus able to turn back the physical state of your body."

Kage blinked several times, before he turned his head to Saeko with a serious look on his face, "Daughter, I'm fairly certain that your boyfriend is either taking illegal substances or mistaking me for a fool."

"Father, please, while Naruto might've been able to… reveal it in a better way, it's nonetheless the truth. And we can prove it like he can fix something we break," Saeko finished, shooting Naruto a small glare.

The dark-haired boy shrugged his shoulders, "What was I supposed to say? I just told the truth without dancing around the issue. That should count for something."

The older Busujima snorted, "Just because you might be efficient with super glue, doesn't mean you control time."

Naruto rubbed his forehead and grabbed the man's coffee mug and stood up, ignoring the man's protest, and simply hurled the porcelain utensil into the wall. Obviously shattering it to pieces, and spilling the contents all over the floor.

"What do you think you're doing, boy?" Kage asked in a threatening tone as he stood up from his seat, "What kind of boy is it that you're bringing into our home Saeko?"

Saeko quickly stood up between Naruto and her father, "Just look father, I promise you I wouldn't do anything to humiliate you."

The man grunted and decided to humor the clearly disturbed boy, and watched with as much patience as he could.

Naruto sighed and muttered a small 'thanks' before he raised his palm toward the shattered cup on the floor, twisting his hand slightly to the left as it started to reassemble itself.

Not so much as a scratch was left as the contents flowed back into the cup, leaving not even a stain behind on the wall.

With a smug look, Naruto placed the mug back down on the table, "So what about it, you still think I'm crazy?"

The man's eyes were wide open for a while. Seemingly trying to logically explain the occurrence in front of him, but could find none. Quickly lashing out, he grabbed onto Saeko's arm and pulled her behind him.

"I'm not sure what exactly you want, or how my daughter managed to drag Satan into our home, but I suggest you leave…" While Kage's tone had probably intended to be threatening, it was the fear that shined through.

Naruto raised a brow out of amusement and waved his hands, "Oh no, I'm flattered but I'm nowhere near strong enough to be one of the Satans… yet."

"You… You're saying there is more than one? Did my daughter sell her soul to you in exchange for healing me? Because if she did then you better give it back to her! I don't care what you do with me afterward, but I will not allow you to take advantage of her!" He roared out, finally showing some actual ferocity once it came to his daughter's safety.

The Sitri sighed and took a step back and kept his hands up, "Okay, I get that you probably think you know how we devils operate, but you don't. We don't take souls as payment, I promise you that on my sister's life."

Kage remained still for a while, his gaze changing between the pleading look of his daughter and the seemingly calm expression of the… creature, in front of him. Finally lowering his arm, he narrowed his eyes, "If not her soul, then what did you take?"

"Simple. I took nothing. Saeko is a friend of my sister's, and she was having a hard time because you were sick. It was my brotherly duty to ease my sister's mind, and that just happened to be this way." Naruto explained slowly.

The older man sighed tiredly and slumped down in his seat, "Then what do you want here? If not to collect some kind of payment."

Saeko finally moved back to stand beside Naruto, pressing down on his shoulder so they could take a seat again and talk without the intention of hurting each other, "As you now know, Naruto is a devil. And, he is going to help me… because they're not the only supernatural thing in existence."

"Speak your mind, daughter, because I can't read what is going on anymore. You've always been honest with me, and that's the only reason I'm not cleaving his head off." Kage mumbled.

"Please don't," Naruto gulped and idly touched his neck. Sure, there was no chance that it could happen, but the gesture still wasn't exactly nice to hear.

The purple-haired girl idly grabbed onto the fabric of her uniform and started to explain in detail what had happened. Everything she could remember, even going as far back as the night she was attacked.

When Naruto heard of that, he frowned. Much to the surprise of Kage. As much as he didn't want to trust the boy, he had a keen eye for body language. And he seemed genuine, but it could all be fake.

She finished off by explaining how she had met Naruto, and what he had offered in regards to helping her control what she had. The powers of her sacred gear. And that she had accepted his invitation, and become a knight in his service.

When she finished, both she and Naruto expected Kage to lash out violently for doing something so extreme without telling him.

But to their surprise, the man stood up and looked Naruto dead in the eye, "I want to speak with you, alone. Is that possible?"

Naruto blinked, but nodded his head and joined the older man in the private dojo on the property. The man didn't say anything for a while, as he walked around and inspected the various family pictures and heirlooms inside the training space.

"For a long time, I was confident in my ability to protect my daughter. Just like our ancestors had protected their kin, but I realize now that she has moved into a territory where my power is probably not able to do the trick anymore. Or am I mistaken?"

The young man crossed his arms over his chest, "I wouldn't say that you're powerless, but supernatural beings likely aren't a good idea to try and fight."

"I see…" Kage started with a small sigh, "I'm probably in no position to ask anything of you, but despite how I'm still hesitant to trust you. I want to ask something of you regardless."

Naruto nodded, "Ask away."

Kage returned the gesture, "I want you to protect my daughter. I get that she has accepted this deal to understand herself and become more in tune with the gift she has been given, but I'm still a father. One that worries about his daughter, since she is all I have left."

"I understand, and you have my word. As king of my peerage, I promise to help and guide her, as well as protect her. Just like I would with any other member of my peerage." He finished and did a small bow.

A small chuckle came from the man's lips as he extended a hand toward him, "As it's out of my power, I'll accept the image of the proper young man in front of me. I, however, won't apologize for my actions."

"That's fair, I did go about it in a bad way. I guess I still need to work on my sales pitch," He snickered and accepted the hand extended toward him.

"You don't say," Kage huffed and took back his hand, "So if not taking our souls, then what will you do?" He asked as they started to walk back inside the main house.

Saeko watched them as they reentered the room, relieved that the atmosphere was still calm.

Naruto shrugged at the question, "I'll just borrow your daughter every now and then."

As the words left his mouth, he realized how they had sounded. His eyes shot to Saeko as her cheeks started to get a bit red, and was about to explain that he meant for rating games and training when Kage gave him a dark stare that both left him silent but also curious.

"Devil or not, you won't touch my daughter if you're not married to her." The man said firmly.

Safe to say Saeko was further embarrassed, and Naruto cursed his existence tiredly.

"That… That wasn't what I meant."

改行

Naruto returned back to his mansion later that day and sighed as he kicked off his shoes, and slumped down on the couch with his face first down on the pillows. The talk with Saeko's dad was exhausting, though it has at least ended up alright. But he still couldn't quite shake the feeling that the man didn't fully trust him yet.

It was fair enough, and thus he had extended an invite to see their little unofficial rating game against Seekvaira, just so he could get a first-hand impression of what exactly they were doing.

"You seem exhausted, what were you out doing anyway?" A voice asked from above.

Naruto turned his head slightly to gaze up at the familiar face of the amber-eyed woman, and gave a small sigh, "You try explaining to a girl's dad that you're a devil that has recruited her when he is literally from a family line of sword users."

"Hmm, no thanks, I'll leave that to you," Kuroka chuckled at his misery.

The dark-haired boy sighed and slowly sat up again, "You're still here, I thought you'd have left by now since I practically just wandered off without saying anything."

She shrugged her shoulders and slumped down in the seat next to him, "It's fine, I took a dip in the hot spring to pass the time. Plus, we were supposed to talk senjutsu today, and I'm a woman of my word."

"Right, sorry about that. I forgot for a second," He apologized with a small frown.

Kuroka tilted her head with a non-caring smile, "The day is still just starting, we have plenty of time. I don't have anything else to do for the time being, and it's surprisingly comfortable here!"

"Does that mean I'll see you swinging by more often?" Naruto asked hopefully.

She hummed for a bit, "And if you did?"

Naruto chuckled, "Well then I'd just have to remove the guest sign on the spare bedroom, and hand it over to you."

With a thoughtful glance, she cupped her chin, "Is it close to the hot spring?"

He nodded, "It's right beside it, it's the room beside mine. the door leads out to the garden, so the hot spring is to the left when you walk out."

She gave him a bright grin and twirled up on her feet, "Well if you manage to keep challenging me in the game, then I might have to take you up on that offer."

"Oh? And if I suddenly wasn't a challenge anymore?" He continued.

Kuroka snickered and poked a finger at his chest, "Then you'd probably have to figure out another reason for me to stick around, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I could hire you as my senjutsu teacher. With the contract requiring it," He joked and stood up.

"Look at you being all clever, now come on, there is a lot about senjutsu. So I think we should start with the basics, and for that, we need to be outside," She instructed, making him do a mock salute as he followed her outside.

Shielding his eyes from the sun, he watched her take a seat in the shade of one of the few trees in the backyard, patting the grass in front of her.

He tilted his head quizzingly, but nonetheless gave in and sat down cross-legged in front of her, his hands resting in his lap.

"Ready?" She asked with a slight smile, her hands intertwined in her lap as she straightened her back.

Naruto gave a small nod of his head, "Sure am, sensei." He added with a small snicker.

Kuroka blinked a bit at the title, but didn't comment on it aside from the minor smirk on her lips, "First of all, my belief is that to properly learn senjutsu, then you need to be in tune with yourself."

"Like… Understanding myself?" He questioned.

She gave a brief nod, "Yes, properly understanding both yourself, and others, but also the ki of nature. Whilst completely concentrating, a senjutsu user should release their own ki, and thus sensing the ki of nature in return."

Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "So it's like drawing in the power of nature?" He asked, trying to find similarities between his old world and this one.

Kuroka hummed softly as the shadows of the leaves danced over her skin, "Both yes and no, by utilizing your own ki you can sense and affect the ki of others. Also natural things, like plants and trees."

"That's how you sense the emotions of others, isn't it?" He continued after a small snap of his fingers in realization.

Her lips flew upward as she nodded her head, "Yes, by becoming aware of the ki of others, you become aware of their aura. Senjutsu allows you to feel the aura, and from there, how it feels, whether it be sad, happy, angry, or even a mixture of the three"

Naruto chuckled, "What do you sense from me now?"

The Nekoshou's ears did a small twitch of curiosity as she looked him in the eye, "Curiosity, interest, and a hint of… happiness?"

The dark-haired boy snickered, "You're good, you noticed all of that by just looking at me?"

"Not your physical appearance, but your ki, why are you happy?" She asked next, the interest in her eyes clearly showing.

He shrugged, "Why not? I mean, this is fun. I'm learning something new from a really good friend whose using the time of her day to help me out."

As the words settled in, she couldn't stop the slight bit of happiness from growing inside her. Aside from Bikou and a few others, a lot of people had grown to be quite scared of senjutsu, probably due to the rumors around her. but Naruto was genuinely interested in what she had to say. And was even happy about it.

She coughed into her hand to get them back on track, "To visualize it, I imagine feeling the air around me and connecting myself to it. Instead of my ki, I'd see it like breathing, slowly bring the air in and feel it, then slowly exhale. Just like you would with ki." She explained whilst closing her eyes, slowly breathing in through her nose, and exhaling it through her mouth.

Naruto watched her intensely, as the usefully energetic woman explained herself in the most relaxed manner he had ever seen her, "So by doing this, you could affect the… ki, of the grass?"

A slight grin formed on Kuroka's lips as she opened her eyes and looked down at the grass in front of her, and in a split second, they were caught on what appeared to be a small blue fire.

Cheerfully, she nodded, "You learn quickly! Using a senjutsu technique with the ki I was connected to, I used the grass' own ki to destroy it."

Mentally noting how enthusiastic she seemed about her specialty, he thought to himself, 'I guess that'd mean if I became aware of the magic of the world around me, I could tap into it like how senjutsu worked where I came from? If I'm not able to learn senjutsu, perhaps I should give that a try,' Naruto mused.

Seeing the thoughtful look on the boy across from her, Kuroka tilted her head down to look up at him, "Getting good ideas?"

He lifted his head to meet her eyes, "Maybe, do you think I could try it?" He asked hopefully.

A slight frown fell on her lips as she hesitantly nodded, "Are you sure? There is no guarantee that you could do it. No ordinary devil has ever used it without Youkai heritage to my knowledge, it could go wrong."

Naruto chuckled a bit as he gave a sheepish grin, "Well then it's a good thing I have you to save me, huh?"

Caught off guard by the comment, her cheeks flushed a small amount of pink before a smirk of pride settled on her face, "Sure, I'll gladly take the excuse to kick your ass in case you go berserk from something you don't understand."

Feeling like he should return a remark, he decided against it, "Given that it'd be my own fault, it'd be your right. You did warn me afterall."

Nodding with a satisfied glance, she reached over and gathered his hands in her own and placed them together so he sat in a zazen posture, "Like this, you need to focus. As I said before, try visualizing it like breathing, reach out to what you want to connect with, and then draw on it."

As he was instructed, he closed his eyes and started slowly getting into the rhythm of steady yet slow breathing. Inhaling through his nose, and exhaling it through his mouth. Staring at the back of his eyelids, he tried focusing on what he felt around him.

The wind rushing through his clothes, the grass, the earth beneath him, and the sounds going into his ears.

Kuroka watched him closely as he did so, there was no visible change for a while. To make sure he wouldn't spiral out of control, in case he did connect to something, she reached out with her ki and kept a keen eye on the state of his aura.

It took another ten or twenty minutes, in which she gradually became more and more impressed with his resolve. Even when she first was learning, her patience didn't tolerate it.

To her, it almost seemed like he had tried it before.

Little did she know he had, and on top of a stone pillar on a mountain at that.

As they passed the ten-minute mark, he was sitting completely still. And her eyes started to show keen interest when she felt the tiniest spike in his energy, though it didn't feel like senjutsu.

Naruto felt like he had sat there forever without noticing anything. At least until twenty to thirty minutes had passed.

Aside from the sound of the rustling leaves, he started to feel something new. If he had to visualize it as instructed, it looked like a water tap idly dripping into an ocean beneath it.

And if he had to make an educated guess, the tap symbolized the magic of the world. And the ocean, his own magical power.

As quick as the image came, it was gone. And Naruto opened his eyes and met the curious gaze of Kuroka, who was now seated even closer to him than before, "Uhm… what is it?"

"You did something, didn't you?" She asked with big eyes mere inches from his face, as she seemingly inspected him.

He chuckled a bit at how close she had gotten, and tried not to stare back, "I think so? I mean, I couldn't feel any ki or plants if that's what you mean. Though, there was something else."

She blinked and slumped back down to where she was sitting before, "What was it?"

Naruto cupped his chin, "Do you think it's possible to make the magic of the world around you, your own?"

"You'd have to be the first to do it, but theoretically, maybe?" She asked with an unsure tone.

He hummed thoughtfully, "I tried visualizing what I felt like you said, and I saw like a water tap dripping into like a puddle or something like that?"

Kuroka tapped her chin idly as she thought it over, "By chance, it could've been your subconsciousness trying to show you what you wanted to see, but I felt something too. Y'know, whilst I was making sure you weren't gonna explode or something."

"That sounds quite violent for something so simple," Naruto sweatdropped.

Ignoring him, the raven-haired woman continued, "There was a small spike of something, but it wasn't senjutsu. However, the amount was so small that I couldn't tell if it was your own magic or something else that acted out."

Naruto listened carefully to her words. If he had to be honest, all he did was exactly what she said whilst also keeping in mind what the geezer toad had told him to do when he was taught sage mode.

Drawing in the power and mixing it with his own to form a perfect balance… But this was simply his magic mixed with outside magic, so it didn't feel any different to him. Normally in sage mode, he'd start to sense things and feel his chakra get stronger.

But this time, it just felt like something was poking at his reserves. Like Kuroka, he couldn't tell if he was the one doing it or if he had caught on to something.

"Try it again!"

Blinking quickly, he lifted his head to look her in the eye again, "Huh?"

Excited all of a sudden she repeated herself, "Try it again, now!"

"Uhm, sure, but why so suddenly? Shouldn't you teach me more first?" He asked through a small laugh.

She shook her head as she grinned widely ear to ear, "That can wait, I promise I'll tell you more later, but this… don't you think it could be the breakthrough you're looking for?"

Naruto sweatdropped, "I think you lost me."

"No one has ever done this before, at least to my knowledge, but if you create something innovative that only you have the secret to… isn't that exactly what you need to make sure you win the top spot of the rating games?" She finished, her eyes almost sparkling at this rate.

Realization hit him like a ton of his bricks at that. It was just like it had been with Pain back when he had killed his mentor. Learning senjutsu was a figurative mountain he had climbed to reach a height to which he could beat the Rinnegan.

And whatever this was… could be the very same type of figurative mountain that he'd need to climb to achieve the top rank for himself and his peerage.

Senjutsu had been the key once, and it felt like the things the geezer toad Fukasaku had taught him were once again to be useful to him for achieving his goals of helping and saving others. If this new project was as strong as he hoped, of course.

Determination shone in his eyes as he clenched his fist with a smirk, "I think you might be right."

"Of course I'm right, I'm your teacher, remember?" She grinned proudly.

He chuckled at the view in front of him before he once again let focus take over, "Please teach me a bit more about how it's supposed to be done with senjutsu, and then I'll try again."

Even if it was a long shot, he'd try it as many times as he needed to. If the images he had seen weren't just his imagination, he was determined to replace the water tap with a waterfall instead.

And hopefully, with such a thing in his arsenal, no matter if it'd take weeks or months for him to achieve it, he'd have the biggest tool in his arsenal to achieve his goals.

改行

So that's another wrap, thank you for reading this. I've been a bit behind on updating for several reasons, mostly just being tired.

Some other news, I'm finally making some progress on my second DxD story. The only obstacle left is how to make that story different from this one.

Also making a bit of progress on the HoTD idea, but it's moving along pretty slowly because it's hard to think of an end. It's usually easier to work backward, and since the manga doesn't have an ending, it's really difficult to make a plan that makes sense.

I got two questions for y'all:

1) Who'd you like to see as a pairing for a DxD story, Kuroka is my favorite but it may be redundant to write that in two stories. I could easily though, but I'd love to hear ideas. It's gonna be a Lucifer story if that helps.

2) If I were to work on a pure Naruto story again, would you rather see me updating 'The Spiraling Empress' or work on either a genjutsu project or a sealing master project.

That's all, once again thanks for reading, and let me know your thoughts.