Semi-important author's note at the end of the chapter!
"...It reeked of death."
"It? You couldn't tell if it was a male or female."
"It .. was a skeleton."
"Ahhh." Naruto hummed gently to himself while writing into a small notebook. Across from him sat Ophis who had a half-eaten slice of cake in front of her. The duo was sat at one of the many tables within the blond's shop. The store itself was bustling, considering the early hours of the day.
"So we have a skeleton god that reeks of death that worked with a dragon that has the ability to steal your powers?" Naruto read from the notebook. When Ophis nodded in response, he sighed. He could already tell that this wasn't going to be as simple as he had hoped.
"Okay. I'll start asking around to see if I can find anyone that matches that description." Ophis nodded once again but said nothing as she instead focused her attention on to the rest of her cake. Naruto watched the dragon for several seconds as she steadily consumed the slice of red velvet before turning his attention to the main counter of his store.
"Naru-kun!" The shinobi shook his head at Kuroka's excited greeting. The girl was behind the counter of the store, dressed in her usual outfit but with one of the blond's trademark smocks covering her front. Even with the smock providing her a lot more decency than she usually had, the mass of male customers flocked around the counter made it clear that the garment didn't completely hide the devil's sexual appeal.
"Look what I made!" The woman shouted before holding up a cupcake. From his position behind the writhing mass of male customers, Naruto managed to get a good look at the creation.
"That actually looks really good." The shinobi thought to himself as he ran his eyes over the treat. The tiny desert was approximately 4 inches tall. Two inches of the cupcake was a golden, flaky dough that was shaped perfectly into a star. Tiny dots of red littered its surface. The other two inches of the treat was made up of a snow-white cream in the shape of a spiral. Countless sprinkles sat on top of the cream, giving the treat a very colorful appearance.
"Looks good, Kuroka!" Naruto shouted while giving the girl two thumbs up. She seemed to blush at his gesture before ducking her head back underneath the counter. When the mass of males saw that the object of their affection was no longer paying attention to them, they turned around aggressively to confront the cause. When they spotted the six-foot, lean, muscular, blond, smock covered form of one Naruto Uzumaki, they quickly turned back towards Kuroka. The blond shook his head at their behavior before beginning to towards the counter's entrance.
"Naruto-san!" The shinobi stopped in his track when a noticeable female voice made itself known over the stream of male voices. The teen turned towards the sound of the voice and was surprised to see Artemis striding her way towards him.
"I apologize for not scheduling an appointment," Naruto found himself chuckling at woman's attempt at a joke. Despite her reputation, he was quickly learning that she could be rather funny when she wanted.
"But I figured this occasion would not exactly require one." The woman said. Naruto cocked his head to the side out of curiosity before opening his mouth to speak.
"You're welcome here anytime. So, what do yo-"
"Ma'am, do you mind If I buy you a treat? You look like you could eat one. A slice of cake? Some cookies, maybe?" The blond was interrupted by one of the male customers that had been crowding around his counter only moments ago. It seemed that the guy had caught sight of Artemis and switched his libido-fueled attention onto the god.
Artemis gave the man a look over with a unhidden amount of disgust in her eyes. Instead of reacting verbally, the god raised her hand in front of the man's face, much to his curiosity. His curiosity came to a quick end when a flurry of golden powder erupted from the goddess' hand and slammed into his face.
Naruto watched as the man attempted to blink away the golden powder. With each blink the man took, his movements became slower and slower. It took almost a full minute of blinking but eventually Artemis' magic took effect as the man dropped to the floor, completely unconscious.
"Disgusting. That's no way to approach a woman." Artemis said as she looked down at the immobile. Naruto poked the man with the side of his foot, eliciting a rather snore from the male. After confirming that the man was still alive, Naruto moved his attention back onto Artemis.
"I don't think you'll mind if I move the conversation to the back of the shop, right?" Naruto asked her. At her nodded response, Naruto sent a quick glance over to one of his disguised clones, signaling for it to deal with the unconscious man before guiding the woman to the back room of the shop.
"Am I correct when I say that I spotted the Infinite Dragon God sat outside, eating cake?" Artemis as she stepped into the backroom. Naruto nodded his head in reply as he pulled out two chairs for them to sit on.
"Fascinating. Such a docile act from a creature of such power. It would be as if I managed to get Typhon to sit and have tea with me." Artemis said as she took the offered seat. Naruto didn't even bother correcting the woman's illusion of his 'control' over the dragon as he sat in his own seat. The two settled so that they were face to face with one another.
"Despite your control over the dragon, I came here to actually warn you." Artemis stated. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this while leaning slightly forward in his seat.
"Warn me about what?" The blond asked, his voice filled with curiosity.
"Hades."
"Hades? Your god of death?"
"Yes. My unfortunate uncle." Artemis sighed as she leaned back into her chair.
"Why are you warning me about him? Did he say he wanted to harm me?" Naruto asked out of curiosity. When Artemis gave a negative shake of her head, the blond grew more confused.
"He hasn't outright said he wanted to harm you…" The goddess paused momentarily.
"If he hasn't said that he wanted to harm me, how do you know?" Naruto questioned. As the goddess of the wild sighed again, the shinobi knew he probably wouldn't like the answer.
"My brother, Apollo … on top of being the god of the sun and a bunch of other things that I won't state because I know it fuels his ego, is the god of prophecies. This title grants him brief glances into the future. Yesterday, he came to me with a new one. One that involved Hades specifically plotting against you." The goddess finished, sending the room into silence. The silence hung in the air for several long seconds as Naruto contemplated the woman's words.
"Are your brother's visions always true?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence in the room.
"As much as it pains me to admit, yes. They're always correct in one form or another. I don't quite understand how it all works. I like to stick to the more practical things in life." Naruto let out a small huff before a chuckle left his lips. It was amusing to him to see a sibling rivalry play out on a godlike scale.
"Why would he want to hurt me? I haven't exactly done much to hurt him … I think." Naruto added the last statement as an afterthought. He still had a pretty large lacking of how gods operated, so for all he knew, something as simple as selling candy could've irritated the death god.
"Its … complicated." Artemis seemed to grow weary at this. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the woman released yet another sigh.
"My uncle is a prideful man. He has pride in himself. He has pride in his domain in the underworld. And, surprisingly, despite the treatment he receives from the others, he has pride in our pantheon. He believes the Greeks to be superior to all the other pantheons. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if he also did not believe that the existence of other pantheons is completely unnecessary and can only be a hindrance to the Greeks."
"Are you saying that because people think I'm a new god, your uncle wants to destroy me?" Artemis nodded slowly at his words, causing Naruto to groan loudly.
"He most likely sees you as an upstart that can be easily snuffed out. Unlike the other pantheons, he won't have to worry about the mass of followers or support from fellow gods within the same pantheon." The goddess explained.
"Just how strong exactly is your uncle?"
"He is considered as one of the ten strongest beings in existence."
"Of course he is." Naruto thought to himself. At this point within his life, he wasn't even surprised by the woman's answer. The presence of an ultra-powerful god wanting his death only seemed fitting.
"Well thank you, Artemis. Can't say I don't appreciate it." The blond said as he rose up from his seat. The goddess followed suit while offering the shinobi her hand.
"No problem at all. Your presence within this area has greatly benefited the health of the wild. I would hate for your influence to be snuffed out because of my wayward family." The woman spoke as Naruto shook her hand. The contact lasted only for a brief second before the two let go. With a small smile, the shinobi guided the woman out of the back room and back into the shop.
"Naru-kun!" The shinobi's attention was immediately drawn towards Kuroka as she shouted his name. The woman ran up to him and stopped only inches away from him with a worried look on her face.
"I don't think Vali…" Naruto had already begun to drown out the Nekoshou's words while his eyes drifted over to Ophis. A frown seized his lips when he noticed two people he had specifically told to stay away from the dragon were around her.
"Ophis-sama, please. We need you to come with us. You are in mortal danger."
"...No."
"Ophis-sam-"
"She already said no." Le Fay stopped herself when she heard Naruto's voice. Both Fenrir and her turned to see the teen standing menacingly behind him. His arms were folded across his chest while a large frown graced his face.
"I thought I told you guys to go back to Vali." Naruto said as he looked at the duo. His eyes briefly met with Fenrir's as the wolf flashed him an intimidating glare. The look was easily shaken off as he instead focused on the blond magician.
"We did … Vali-sama told us to come back." Le Fay started. Naruto let loose a grumble at her words before interjecting his body between the duo and Ophis.
"That's fine but I'm going to have to ask for you to stop harassing my customers." The blond said
"What if we buy something? Then we can be customers too and we can just sit he-"
"No," Ophis spoke up once more, stopping the magician's train of thought. At the interruption, the trio turned to look at the girl.
"I don't want you near me." The dragon said while staring at the two. When they didn't reply after several seconds, Ophis turned her attention over to Naruto.
"May I have more cake?" The dragon gently asked to the shinobi. At her words, the frown on his face instantly disappeared as a small smile took its place.
"Sure! Same flavor?"
"Ah … no, actually. I … may I have vanilla?"
"Frosting or no frosting?"
"...Frosting please." The heroic duo watched, completely stupefied, at the exchange going on between the dragon god and the shinobi. Ophis was acting so docile, even saying please. She had never done that in their presence before. They had never even seen the girl ask for something. She usually just demanded it.
Naruto gestured towards one of his clones, sending the copy running towards the counter. With his clone doing his actual job, Naruto turned back towards the duo.
"Now, can you order something or get the hell…" The blond trailed off as something caught his eye. He turned his attention past Le Fay and Fenrir, and towards the entrance of his shop. He had barely noticed only moments ago that the street outside of his shop had grown strangely still. Not a single pedestrian had walked by for minutes. He was now realizing why.
A figure was standing outside the entrance of his shop. Naruto couldn't exactly tell its gender considering the fact that it was clothed in a long, flowing black cloak that covered the entirety of its body. The figure seemed to be floating several inches off the ground. A scythe that was as figure's body was clutched in its bony hand.
"Pluto…" Naruto heard Le Fay whisper out the name. He vaguely sensed Fenrir shifting behind him as he kept his eyes locked onto the figure. It hadn't moved since he laid his eyes on it, making it seem like a statue.
"My brother is already sending his intimidation squad, I see." Naruto briefly took his attention away from the cloaked figure to look back at Artemis. The goddess had managed to work her way from behind the counter and now stood slightly behind him with her hands on her hips.
"This is one of Hades' henchmen?" Naruto questioned while looking back at the figure. Even with the broken eye contact, it hadn't moved a single inch from its spot.
"Yes. My uncle, as the god of death, employs the use of grim reapers to do his bidding. You are staring at the most notorious one beneath his control, Pluto. That creature is a disgrace to nature." Artemis commented in disgust as she stared at the figure.
"You don't like it?" Naruto asked, sensing the woman's disgust.
"It carries around death everywhere it goes. Whole forests have been laid waste by the creature. A single touch from its scythe is said to be able to bring instant death while grievously wounding gods."
"He sounds tough, eh?" Naruto said out loud to no one in particular. The idea of a death causing weapon wasn't too much of a scary topic to him considering his fight with Kaguya. Having to dodge her all-killing ash bones had built up a sort of immunity to the stuff.
"He is. Hades more than likely sent it here to intimidate you." The goddess was upset as she spoke. Even her loyalty to her pantheon wouldn't allow her to overlook the blatant intimidation attempt. It disgusted her beyond belief.
"Well, too bad for him. He wasted his time." The shinobi promptly turned away from the grim reaper. Artemis watched in shock as the blond casually accepted a plate full of cake from one of his henged clones. The goddess' eyes remained locked on his figure as he set the plate down in front of the Ophis, earning him an appreciative nod from the dragon. He returned the nod with a smile before beginning to make his way back towards his counter.
"You're just going to leave that thing out in front of the store?" Le Fay shouted just as Naruto reached the entrance of the counter. The blond briefly turned back towards her before looking at Pluto. He kept his eyes locked on the creature for several seconds before letting out a loud sigh while letting his head dropped.
"You're right. I'll deal with him." Naruto grumbled before trudging his way over to the entrance of his shop. Artemis, Fenrir and Le Fay watched anxiously as the blond placed his hand on the door before swiftly pushing it open.
"Hey!" The blond didn't bother to restrain the volume of the voice as he spoke. The grim reaper's presence had managed to scare away any would-be pedestrians from the scene.
"..." Pluto said nothing in response to the blond's shout. The grim reaper didn't even budge as the blond stepped from outside his shop and onto the sidewalk.
"You're bothering my customers and you're starting to irritate me, so I'll just say this once: leave and go tell your boss to leave me alone." Naruto's face was set in a stony mask as he spoke to the bringer of death. He attempted to peer past the creature's dark cowl but was only met with a dark expanse of nothingness. It was as if the creature had no face to begin with.
"..." Silence was Pluto's answer, causing Naruto to frown. The shinobi took a step towards it, eliciting the first response from the grim reaper. Pluto subtly strengthened his grip on his scythe as Naruto moved towards it.
With the taken step, Naruto was now only a foot away from the grim reaper. Even with his face set in his mask, the blond was struggling to hold in shivers. The creature in front of him literally radiated death. His empathetic abilities and his connection to nature weren't required to sense this. He could feel his skin slowly rotting away in the reaper's presence. Luckily for him, Kurama's chakra was doing a pretty good job in completely halting the decay.
"That's how it's going to be, eh?" Naruto asked, only to relieve more silence. The blond rolled his eyes at the expected response before reaching out with his right arm to push the reaper. It was then when Pluto struck.
The creature was completely silent as it moved. It glided its way out of Naruto's reach before sending it's scythe screaming towards the blond's midsection. The shinobi's other arm shot out and slammed against the weapon's shaft, stopping it in its tracks. Unknowingly, the blond's action earned him surprised gasps from the goddess inside of his shock. Due to him being outside the shop, Naruto remained ignorant to the noise as he hopped into the air in order to send a kick to Pluto's face. He ended up clicking his tongue in annoyance when the kick passed harmlessly through a cloud of black smoke.
"Another asshole with an overpowered ability to become intangible." Naruto couldn't help but mumble to himself as he watched the black smoke condense back into the form of Pluto several yards away down the street. The grim reaper didn't look the least bit bothered by the kick as it floated with its scythe in hand.
"Sage mode did the trick last time. Should work now." The blond thought to himself before briefly closing his eyes As he breathed, he began to draw in the natural energy of the world. What would've taken him half an hour at the beginning of his training now took seconds as his irises changed to the telltale bar shapes that indicated he was in sage mode.
The moment Naruto opened his eyes, he flashed towards the reaper. The creature didn't move an inch as the blond crossed the distance between the two within a flash. It was only when the shinobi was within striking distance that the reaper moved. He once again attempted to cut the blond in half with the scythe with a casual but swift swing of the weapon. Unlike before, Naruto opted to block the blade of the scythe with his arm. The weapon slammed against the skin as if it had hit steel, jarring Pluto's arm and earning him another round of shock from Artemis. Naruto continued his stint of ignorance to this as he instead focused on punching the reaper square in his cloak covered chest. Much to the shinobi's delight, his fist seemed to hit flesh as the reaper was sent flying backward from the force of the hit. Naruto watched as Pluto's figure tumbled down the street for dozens of yards before coming to a stop in a crumpled pile.
"I guess these reapers can't take a hit." Naruto couldn't help but think to himself as he stared at the downed form of the reaper. While his sage mode did provide him an exponential boost in terms of strength, he had thought that Hades' top man would've been able to take the hit.
"Spoke too soon." He thought to himself just as Pluto began to move once more. The reaper slowly rose back up to its floating position, using its scythe as leverage during the whole ordeal. Once it was back standing, Pluto raised an unsteady finger towards the blond while tapping the butt of his scythe against the ground.
"Infant god…" Naruto had to stop himself from flinching at the horribly raspy sound the reaper made as it spoke. The noise seemed to grind away at his brain as it floated through the air.
"My master has warned you. You haven't heeded that warning. Death awaits you." The creature gasped out before lowering its arm. With what looked to be a pained movement, Pluto raised his scythe above his head before slamming it back down into the pavement. Naruto watched as a black portal formed beneath its feet. The reaper remained floating over the portal for a brief moment, keeping its vision locked on Naruto, before slowly sinking down into the rift. The blond did nothing as the portal closed behind Pluto, restoring the street back to its normal countenance.
"That's probably going to be troublesome." Naruto rehashed his old friend's catchphrase as he relaxed. Almost like water breaching a dam, people began to flood the empty street now that Pluto was gone. The shinobi paid their presence no mind as he walked back into his store.
"Infant god. Can't be a coincidence that the both Pluto and the message on the wall called me that. It looks like Hades may really be the guy behind all of this." The blond let out a huff at this. Ever since being introduced to gods, it seemed like they had been the source of all the trouble in his life ever since. And that trouble didn't look to be stopping anytime soon.
Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the shocked faces on the supernatural creatures as he passed them on his way to the counter. It was only when one his clones tapped him on the shoulder did the shinobi take notice of their expressions.
"You blocked Pluto's scythe with your forearm…" Naruto had to lean his head back as Artemis suddenly invaded his personal space. The goddess' face was full of wonder as she closely examined his unscathed arm.
"This is amazing. I've only seen my uncle do such a thing and that was only possible from affinity to death. It shouldn't be possible unless…" Artemis trailed off as she shifted her attention on to Naruto's face. The blond twitched uncomfortably under her gaze as she kept her grip tight on his arm.
"Unless what?" Naruto questioned after several moments of awkward silence. At his question, Artemis promptly released her hold on his arm and stood up straight with a blank expression on her face.
"I apologize. I hope my warning has proven effective. I must take my leave now." Before Naruto could question the woman's odd behavior, she turned her back on him and dashed out the store. He could only watch as she disappeared into thin air on the sidewalk, drawing shocked gasps and looks from the pedestrians.
"That was odd … and it will probably bite me in the ass later." Naruto thought to himself. He hadn't known the woman for very long but he had a pretty good sense of her to say that she probably didn't react like that very often. Especially in the presence of a male she just met.
"Naruto…" The blond turned his head towards the sound of the voice. He saw Ophis sat at her chair with a now empty plate in front of her.
"...Another please." The dragon requested. Naruto shook his head at her behavior before making his way over towards her. He had other issues to attend to that didn't involve death gods and weird behavior from nature gods. He had a shop to run.
"If you're not buying something, get the hell out of my shop! Stop bothering my customers."
It wasn't always an easy job.
AN: First, excuse me for the shortness of his chapter. I had absolutely zero plans on putting out a chapter before New Years but inspiration struck. I hope you all enjoyed it despite its briefness.
Second, there's a poll on my profile! Every single time I post a chapter, I get close to a 100+ reviews along with dozens of private messages. I tend to reply to most that actually require a reply within the first couple days of updating but then I usually don't even log into my account during the writing process due to me working on the chapters on an outside source. I've gotten a lot of PMs that I have to end up replying to almost a week after they were sent due to me not even looking at them until then.
It was because of this, along with the PMS that I've gotten that I have requested this exact thing, that I've decided to do something new. I want to introduce a new way for the people who actually want to interact with me or other people who have interests in my fics (or just fics in general) to do so. I figured the best two ways to do so would be either through skype or discord. Simply go to my profile and vote for which one you would like. I'll take down the poll once there is an obvious winner or whenever I post the next chapter.
UPDATE TO THIS: Discord is blowing out Skype in the polls so I just made the discord chat. Go to my profile to get to the discord chat!
Anyway, that's my spiel. I just want to thank you all once again. It is because of you all that this story is the #3 favorited Naruto/DxD crossover, #2 in terms of follows and #3 in terms of reviews. You guys have given me 1,350,000 views and over 3800 reviews. Thank you all so much for making this a great year for me. I hope you all have a great New Year!