Irene panted.

Fifty-one percent of her power...she'd jumped right to the fifty-one percent mark right from the outset of a fight against a single, normal yoma.

She grit her teeth at that, but she couldn't help it...she wanted things over with so she could go looking for her boy again as soon as possible. Even if it meant doing something as reckless as that! Who knew what kind of trouble Naruto was in right now?!

"You're getting reckless, Irene." the black-clad handler said disapprovingly.

"Take it up with the leaders of the Organization, they gave me a job and I can't afford to waste time. Especially with small-class yoma." she snapped.

The handler nodded with a small shrug at that. True enough. She was supposed to be locating the being locals were referring to "The Seraph", and the fact that the three Creatures of the Abyss were joined together as a unified front to capture the same target Irene was looking for meant she had to be hasty.

"I understand that. The situation is a risky one. And if the Creatures of the Abyss win this little race..."

Irene growled. She'd never let them get ahold of Naruto! Not ever!

Taking her growl to mean she got it, the man stopped talking. They both understood failure wasn't an option. He'd let this slide just this once.

Irene, however, had other concerns than the Organization. Where was her boy?!

She'd had this nasty foreboding in her gut for days now, it wasn't the Abyss Trinity, that much she was sure of simply because the land was still intact...it was worse!

Somehow, she just knew that Naruto had gotten involved in something Irene was going to absolutely dread.

Teresa had to confess that watching Naruto and Clare spar with a set of sticks wasn't all that bad a way to pass the time. She already knew her adoptive daughter was mimicking her sword style, at least just enough to have the basics down and considering she was fully human and thus, unable to sense yoki. The girl was a hawk. But it brought up Roxanne of the Love and Hate, or as she was known to the warriors, Roxanne the Mimic Murder, to mind.

That warrior had been a menace. A scheming, manipulative BITCH who was easily mesmerized by other, usually higher-ranked, warriors' techniques, at times seemingly to the point of obsession. She would try to befriend a warrior she admired and then take advantage of that friendship so that she could fully emulate her chosen warrior's skills.

However, as she grew stronger, she would come to hate both the copied fighting styles and their inventors, deeming them as being "ugly". She has also demonstrated apathy towards her fellow warriors. She expresses no feelings for them, evident in how she appeared to be completely indifferent about the death of Cassandra's friend and even smiling about it. Coincidentally, each of her "friends" would mysteriously die in an Awakened Being hunt soon after their techniques were mastered by Roxanne, but Roxanne never showed any signs of sadness. It was implied (and later confirmed after Roxanne's death) that she was directly involved in each of their deaths, as evidenced by the timings, her displaying a lack of sadness for any of them, and the nature of Cassandra's demise.

Roxanne had quite a few sadistic and sociopathic tendencies. While on an Awakened Being hunt, she simply watched as the being tortured and eventually killed one of her teammates, who happened to be Claymore Number Thirty-Five, a warrior who was a close friend to Cassandra the Dusteater at the time. After discovering the circumstances surrounding her friend's death and the fact that the Awakened Being was a weak one, Cassandra, in her grief, attacked an amused Roxanne, who killed her with a twisted grin on her face. Her reputation and volatile feelings towards her peers was the reasons why she was nicknamed "Roxanne of Love and Hate."

Because of that, the Organization's warriors didn't like being copied.

Still, Irene's boy was proving he knew his way around a fight himself. She'd been teaching him, that was for sure.

Naruto had shown unwavering determination, courage beyond belief, creativity to use even the most unusual tactics in the heat of battle, and when it came to pure battle instincts or improvising on the battlefield, Naruto was nothing short of a genius. Even Teresa, a Number One of the Organization, had never seen anyone with a body that remembered so quickly. After trying a technique just once he could improve considerably. As for his fighting style, whatever it really was, it was overwhelmingly offensive, defense other than dodging and blocking be damned. There wasn't much finesse to it. He'd attempt to hit you, if it failed he'd try it in another way from another angle, and again, and again until he finally teed off on you. It was so spastic, with no rhyme or reason for some of the things he did, but it all flowed. It was as if he had painstakingly broken down exactly what random moves would work for him and stitched them together to comprise his fighting style. In short, winging it until he found something that worked was pretty much the calling card of Naruto's entire fighting style, so he had no problems with that.

Naruto had no problems standing and trading back and forth in combat even when he'd take the worst of a fight (that was something Teresa would admit that didn't like). He wasn't afraid to try for something off the wall, like a kick that would not only allow him to get underneath a blow, but would also let him sit back on his hands and plant both of his feet with a kick that would throw his enemies off balance. And it worked because Naruto was so used to his own body mechanics and was so aware of how he tended to move that it didn't matter. Any mistake he made in his movements he could reflexively make up for if you tried to take the slight imperfection of his actions as an opening to attack. It wasn't being intentionally clumsy, because clumsy was far too harsh of a word to describe it. There was nothing inept or lumbering about anything that Naruto did. It just seemed that he moved with a pinch of calculated recklessness, constantly trying to stay loose and adaptable. This boy really believed that he could turn the tables on any foe in a heartbeat and was willing to put his body out there to do such. It caused him to be a tactical nightmare when you were fighting him. Naruto had proven to be notoriously durable. To so much as simply knock him out, you had to take that head of his out. No cumulative damage would do the job. There was no getting around that.

And most importantly beyond anything else though, she could tell from watching him: Naruto got it. He got that fighting just for the sake of getting into a fight and being the best wasn't enough. You would never be your best if that was your mindset. Your reason for improving and surviving harrowing battles had to go beyond the concept of just doing it because, otherwise your abilities would plateau.

You needed something beyond the desire to win for the sake of winning to truly be a powerful fighter. To have a reason to excel past simply being great, that was what separated the greats from the absolute best.

Teresa had forgotten that as some point. Then Clare had come along and given her a reason to remember.

"That's enough." she called and the two lowered their makeshift weapons, panting lightly and grinning at one another. Teresa fought down the urge to frown at how well Naruto and Clare seemed to be getting along. It was hard not to be disapproving, but at the same time, the two kids were just so much fun to tease.

Which one to do? Disapprove or heckle? It was starting to annoy her that she couldn't choose.

Clare drew his attention when she called him, "Naruto...I'm surprised that you were using that weird style you do like when you're utilizing every part of your daggers, the blade, the hilt and cross-guard, in attacking and defending the way you were this time."

Naruto looked at his female peer, "Why's that? The blade isn't the only part of a sword. Using every part of a weapon like that is a type of functional beauty. In the field, if a technique or tactic is beautiful, then its beautiful because it is useful and keeps the ones that are depending on them alive, right?" Naruto asked.

Teresa and Clare shared a glance, and nodded with a small shrug from each of them. Fair point.

Naruto looked to Teresa, whom rolled her eyes at him, "I know, I know...sheesh, would it kill you to wait? It isn't easy with traces of that massive yoki still lingering over the entire land, you know."

Naruto winced and smiled apologetically, "Sorry Teresa, but I want to get back to mom. Besides, you know what she's like, and I'm worried about her doing something crazy if she gets frantic looking for me." he said.

Teresa snickered. Good point, considering what Irene was like when the two of them were trainees. Boy was a smart kid...it was impossible to believe that Irene, who was so stoic and seemingly emotionless, was once as much of an overly-emotional hellon and Teresa's "partner in crime" back when they were still little kids and running off from training. And the pranks...God above, how could Teresa EVER forget the pranks...! Teresa and Irene used to joke that the Organizations superiors were actually glad they skipped training and ran off, that way they'd get eaten by yoma and the old prudes wouldn't have to deal with the utter mayhem the two raised daily like them doing so was the only way to ward off armageddon!

Clare tried to hide the way hearing that her friend wanted to go bothered her, she understood why he was so impatient to get back to this "Irene" woman, seeing as she'd be the same way if she were ever separated from Teresa (and truthfully, she was wondering what her surrogate mother's best friend growing up was like), but she had gotten used to the blond boy's presence quickly.

Seeing him go would be upsetting, but she didn't hold it against him.

Naruto frowned suddenly at something hidden from view, "You can come out any time now, by the way." he called in annoyance.

Teresa and Clare rolled their eyes. That damn bandit that had his hand cut off? Why wouldn't that guy learn?

"Ignore him..." Teresa said simply. But still...how could he sense presences like that? It was absolutely bizarre, especially since it wasn't just yoma he was able to pick up on. So what was it?

Just another odd thing about the boy.

He was a curiosity, she'd admit that. Small wonder why Irene would want this kid around, if only to figure him out. But Teresa had her suspicions, what she lacked was proof. Especially since that "Seraph shroud" as some of her comrades had taken to calling that veil of energy that had suddenly changed the rules of Warriors, Yoma, and Awakened Beings was starting to wain again and she was starting to get back her ability to sense yoki.

This whole "Seraph" business was going to make everyone insane, Teresa thought. What was more, it brought on a question: With one being that had so much power, it would be all too easy to do something big...something loud...something too public to ever be ignored. Why hadn't this Seraph done so before? If they were a Yoma, Awakened Being, or Abysmal One, there'd be no question he would do something along those lines, yet the one known as the six-winged angel had not.

Trying to figure these things out gave her a headache.

Naruto suddenly pulled out one of his dirk and looked a way past her into the direction that he seemed to have know where the presence was, "If you want, I could take care of it." he offered.

Teresa looked at him, shocked. "Do you...do you know what you're offering with that?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not all monsters feed off entrails, I've seen at least enough to know that much about the world. And those kinds of monsters are the ones you're forbidden to do anything about. But I can."

Ok...so he did know. That was less than reassuring.

Teresa had to wonder what his life was like before Irene had come across this kid if he was so aware of the grimmer side of the world. Just thinking about it made her feel sick. Still, she supposed that was part of why the boy was so impatient to get back to Irene...feeling safe in a world that would snuff out any life without pity or care. Teresa understood that well enough.

She sighed and stood, the two children looking at her a moment before they started to do the same until she waved them to stay where they were. With that, Teresa made her way in the direction Naruto had been staring. As soon as she was out of sight of the camp the trio had made, she reached up and gripped the hilt of her sword.

"Come on out, I don't have all day." she said, annoyed.

In response someone did come out of the woods around her, but what she found wasn't the one-handed bandit, but instead was a short man, the same height as Clare, who was covered by long, black, hooded cloak which he had up to cover a large portion of his head.

Orsay, her handler.

Teresa released her grip on her sword. "Heh...been a while since I've seen you." she grinned. "Thought you were something or someone else."

"Were you going to cut me down if I was? I'm still human, and you know the cardinal rule: that Warriors are forbidden to kill humans. Even on accident."

Teresa scoffed at that, "Well with the Seraph's energy still blocking the ability to sense yoki, I have to rely on which presences feel hostal. So given human nature, honest mistake if I do without knowing it. Not my fault that blasted Nephilim turned the system of how things work upside down when they showed up."

"Nephilim?"

Teresa shrugged. "According to the followers of the Good Book, Nephilim were an ancient and extinct race derived from both Angels and Demons. They were hunted by both forces of the afterlife, divine and damned alike, because heaven considered them to be devils that could draw power from Heaven, and the reverse was true for the underworld: angles that could drain the power from Hell. Because of that, the two polar opposite realms actually joined forces to try erasing them for one simple fact: They rewrote the rules by simply being there, much like this Seraph's arrival had shifted everything between the Organization's Warriors and the Yoma. Makes me feel that the name "Nephilim" fits better than the current title. Of course, I haven't MET the Seraph yet, so I can't be sure."

Orsay chuckled, "I see. Valid point." he looked in the direction of the clearing Naruto and Clare were at, "Picked up another one, I see."

Teresa snickered, "To be fair, the second one's looking for my best friend and asked for my help finding her."

Teresa could have imagined it, but she swore she saw her handler pale. Damn! Just the IDEA of Teresa and Irene meeting scared the Organization?! Ha! That was a laugh!

Orsay chewed his lower lip. He knew about how the Warriors were supposed to use covert operation tactics and have them all be as human as possible in behavior, so he couldn't say 'no' to that, but at the same time...

"...You do realize that will draw their attention, the top two warriors meeting like that." he said, trying to avoid the storm that would most likely happen if Teresa and Irene met and decided to relive the "good old days" when they were trainees.

Teresa frowned. Good point, even if he was just dodging a scenario the Organization never wanted to deal with again and have Teresa and Irene run amok at their expense.

Still, Teresa wanted to get Naruto back to his mother-figure. Wouldn't be right just to leave him, and then there was what would happen if the this Abyss Trinity she heard about got their hands on the kid, assuming her suspicions were correct. Speaking of...

Teresa scowled, "Are you suggesting that between Irene and me, we could lose in anything other than numbers? And mind telling me WHY the kid that was with Irene had to be the one to tell me about the Creatures of the Abyss making an alliance?"

The visible porting of Orsay's face bent and scrunched in a gimmance. Crap! He didn't expect having to answer that! So he did the next best thing...passed the buck. "Rimuto felt you would notice on your own."

Teresa scoffed. Then turned and spun on her heel and walked away. "Tell Irene I'll be seeing her as soon as I can." she called over her shoulder.

Orsay blinked. Did the warrior he was in charge of controlling and giving missions to just...brush him off? And it seemed that he'd gotten the current Number One upset with the highest-ranked man in the Organization.

Yeah...he was in trouble.

Turning away from her terror-frozen handler, Teresa went back to where Naruto and Clare were and found her trying to coax the blond boy into talking about where he was from. It was making him increasingly uncomfortable if his expression was anything to go by.

Why was that so difficult for him? Wait...stupid question, there was too much that could have happened: yoma, bandits, disease, famine...it could have been anything that he didn't want to remember.

Teresa shook her head. Things like that were why her job was necessary, thankless as it was.

The woman cleared her throat loudly, catching the kids' attention and they stood up. Time to go.

As they walked, Naruto and Clare kept stealing glances at one another until Teresa, grinning, decided to step in between them. The action caused Clare to pout and Teresa fought down an amused snicker. No way was she making it easy on these two!

She wasn't sure if she approved or not of this little crush they seemed to be developing, but the reactions she got for playing the "overprotective mama" role were fun either way. Teresa gave Naruto a glance, since she couldn't sense yoki until the Seraph's energy stopped clogging the ability to detect the energy signatures of anything relating to Yoma, Awakened Beings, her comrades-in-arms, and most importantly, the Abyss Trinity, she'd had to have him serve as a kind of yoma-bloodhound...she could sense it to a small degree, and as the supposed divine-being's energy started fading, it was getting better to do so, but it wasn't at the level Teresa liked, so the two had come to an understanding: Naruto would ferret out Yoma, and Teresa would focus on locating Irene's energy signature for him.

Naruto nodded and lead the way to a town in the mountains that Teresa recognized as Rokut, one of the most isolated places there was...isolated mountain town that no one ever went to, with only one way in or out, which meant that the villagers had no way of escape...a good spot for a hungry yoma. An ugly thought.

Teresa sighed and headed into it with the kids following.

After that, it was a quick matter of finding the Yoma, Teresa killing it, and moving on their way.

What surprised Naruto was that Teresa asked one of the couples in town to take Clare in. Then again, she wanted Clare to have a human life.

Naruto wanted to say goodbye to his friend, so he stayed, Teresa telling him she'd be waiting on the road.

As Teresa was walking away, trying to ignore the pain in her chest at the idea of leaving the girl who had come to mean so much to her, Teresa heard the sound of hoofbeats, a lot of them. And they were in a hurry.

Looking down at the low road, Teresa spotted a dust cloud heading for Rokut. With her senses being better than that of an ordinary human's, Teresa could easily see the riders, and her blood ran cold.

"Ho, no!"

It was those bandits that had one of their members lose a hand to Teresa, the ones that they'd met before Naruto had joined them!

Forsaking the path, Teresa ran directly down the side of the mountain. Going as fast as she could, the sheer transfer of kinetic energy made an impact crater from how fast she was going once she hit the ground running.

'What was I thinking?!' she mentally demanded of herself, 'I should have know when I ran into bandits so deep in the wood! They've been after that town from the start! A town tucked away in the middle of the mountains that no one ever goes to and where the villagers have no way to to escape! No one would ever know they were under attack But they knew there was a Yoma in the city, so they didn't lay their hands on it! But with that Yoma dead...!'

Teresa was honestly horrified at that. She had done this! Without that yoma, the town was defenseless!

A sudden surge of yoki all but exploded from the town. Teresa winced as the deluge of energy-the very same energy that had changed everything-struck her, yet she didn't slow down. She wasn't sure who the hell the Seraph was, nor did she truly give a damn, but it looked like she might have an ally.

By the time she got to the village, it was already in flames. Screams mixing in with the harsh roaring crackle as Rokut was enveloped in them and sent smoke bellowing into the sky.

"Damnit! I'm too late! Clare..." Teresa said, her mind turning to the worst, "Clare!" She ran through the town to the square, her hand on her sword's hilt, but she didn't-couldn't-turn it on normal humans. No matter how much she wanted to. No matter how much she knew it was within her power to aid the innocent people here, the Organization had tied her hands! DAMN THEM!

Stopping in the square, the bandit's leader taunted her a bit before Teresa spotted something that made her blood freeze: the one-handed bandit she'd had to deal with before came out of an alley, dragging an unconscious young girl behind him by her long, light brown hair.

CLARE!

The bandit looked at Teresa with insanity gleaming in his eyes.

"Hey, so nice to see you. Did you forget something the last time you were here? Finders-keepers! But don't worry...I promise to take real good care of her. I mean, we're already such good friends, aren't we? My new pet...I love watching the veins in her neck when she screams and cries, she kept calling out 'Teresa, 'Teresa'..."

That was it! As she moved, the FORMER Number one, she decided, recalled Naruto's words: Not all monsters feed off entrails, I've seen at least enough to know that much about the world. And those kinds of monsters are the ones you're forbidden to do anything about.

This was the result of that...so much death and suffering. And she was expected to just let it happen! To HELL with that damned useless taboo! She'd never really trusted the Organization or it's motives anyway! She'd enjoyed intimidating the townsfolk and made it sound as if the Organization was responsible for sending Yoma to the towns, because it was most likely true.

The now-completely handless thief looked at his new stump. "You hurt me, Witch. Now how am I supposed to cress your filthy body...?" he said before he fell into two pieces in a shower of blood as Teresa cradled Clare in one arm, her sword drawn with the other.

"Damn you, you rotten bastards. You are worse than any Yoma and you all deserve to die for what you've done! There will be no survivors, each of you dies tonight!" she said, but before she could move again, the bandit leader's throat exploded outward in a starburst of blood and Teresa just barely moved in time to avoid her head being implied by a very familiar weapon, before the owner of the dagger was suddenly standing back-to-back with her, gripping both his weapons.

Naruto!

What was shocking were that his dirk were glowing dangerously with malevolent rel aura, as if the blades of the daggers were on fire. The demonically-enhanced edge of the two blades sheared through armor, flesh and bone as easily as wet clay, and his already-shaggy blond hair was standing even more spikier than normal, he now sported what looked like claws on both his hands, his lips had turned jet black and his canines had lengthened and turned into fangs while his whisker-marks had grew to be more pronounced, widening and darkening until they resembled abysmal scars. His eyes had been the greatest change as, not only had his eye shape become more vulpine and, but his once soulful cerulean blue eyes had changed, becoming blood red with an animalistic black slit for the pupil.

As if that alone were not enough to make her jaw drop...glowing, spiked, golden chains made out of energy erupted from his body and seemed to seek out the objects of his wrath. Those who weren't implied were either strangled or had the flesh shredded off their bones by the chain's spikes.

So...he was able to create, summon, shape, manipulate and use any kind of chains and chain-like weapons, from nothing...or, more likely, by shaping the energy in his body and use them for binding or attacking as well as shaping and combining them as needed? From the looks of it, those chains could posses a variety of abilities and were very effective in both offensive and defensive purposes in combat.

It was a very versatile skill if applied properly, and from the level of proficiency he was displaying, he was good enough with them to where he could have them act as naturally as his limbs, if not easier.

The sight of the two "monsters" sent the rest of the bandits running.

As Naruto further lost himself to his power, his skin peeled away, and he seemed to explode from the inside out, his yoki a bloody obelisk that seemed as though it were thrust from the bowels of Hell like the tip of a bloody spear or sword blade, declaring war upon heaven.

What she locked eyes on, Teresa almost mistook at first. A small body covered in bloody red, pulsing energy. This was not a human being any longer, but it was all Naruto.

It was the most beautifully frightening thing she had ever seen. A being that clearly only had one purpose to exist: to destroy whatever stood in the path that required its presence in the first place.

It growled and it seemed that, even when he'd completely lost himself, Naruto knew enough about what he wanted to aim his new form in all its fury at. Rearing back on it's hind legs, the beast roared, the cry echoing off the mountains in a ghastly chorus of longing for the kill as Teresa raised her blade, both radiating death as the bandits ran, knowing they couldn't get far.

Between the two of them, in a matter of seconds, the cutthroats were nothing but red coloration on the stones beneath their feet.

Once they were dead, and she was cradling Clare's unconscious form again, Teresa nodded in approval.

The fox-like creature walked over and sniffed at Clare, before letting out a sound like it was pinning, then looked at Teresa with it's head tilted as if in question.

Teresa looked at the thing Naruto had become and instinctively reached for her blade. The feeling of the yoki he was giving off didn't feel any better close-up than it did at a distance when he first showed up and threw the Organization, Yoma, Awakened Beings and Abysmal Ones into chaos, but as she watched, the power retracted. She watched as his skin re-grew over his exposed muscle and his eyes focused on Teresa and Clare.

She stared. "So you really are the Seraph after all...Seems I'm not the only one who doesn't trust the Organization...not bad, Irene. See that Six-Wings here's pretty nasty when he wants to be. Nice skill with those chains he'd created. " Teresa said.

He locked eyes with the Number One and, when their eyes met, she had to stifle a gasp. Teresa didn't believe in psychic things, but as she looked at Naruto, his face seemed like it was like a mask, unnatural and lit up from behind by some power so that it was as if the veil of time was lifted. It was like seeing his future self gleaming out from behind his current face and made his current one seem false. The kind of man he was meant to become: a kind and courageous man who would put his life on the line to protect the people he cared about.

"Seraph...Naruto...why did you...you exposed...?" Teresa asked, but he held up a hand, panting as he did, forestalling her question.

"We all have things we not only refuse, but REJECT allowing to happen. For me, its letting anything happen to those I care for and those that need help, the power I have...the things I can do...I have them all for just that very reason. And if I become a demon, so be it. I will endure the persecution and exile. As long as those who matter to me are safe, the rest of the world can see me however it so chooses. The darkness can freely consume my flesh, my mind, my heart, my very soul if it so desires, but the one thing it cannot lay claim to is those I love, and for their sake, I'll become anything or face anything. Demon, Human, Angel, or God, I don't really care. Nor do I concern myself with if I must fight as a human or face my enemies as a beast." he murmured.

With his peace said, Naruto gasped as a final golden energy chain that had a blade on the end shot from his back and zoomed up towards a building and a piercing scream echoed over the town, mixing in with the roar of the flames.

"Orsay...!" Teresa said, horrified.

Her handler...! He'd seen...?!

The young boy pitched forward, and the now-to-be-labeled-rouge caught him so that she held Clare closer and Naruto rested as he leaned against the woman as well.

Looking around her, at the surviving townspeople of the raid, she knew she was in trouble. But looking at them, she saw gratitude rather than terror.

Teresa looked down at the one she owed her humanity to, the child in her lap.

She'd deal with the consequences when they came...until then...

Clare groaned and her eyes fluttered open to behold the sight of the silver-eyed woman. "Teresa..." the girl smiled, feeling the comfort of those who loved her.