Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor Highschool DxD and I make no profit writing fanfics about them.

(AN): tfw you get like 30 new people in your server in two days


It was three hours to midnight when Ravel finally managed to say her goodbyes to her brother, smiling like nothing at all was wrong before warping herself through the wards and into the lightless foyer of Starling Hall.

The blonde discreetly wiped her palms on the skirt of her blue sundress, trying to steady her rattling nerves and slow the frantic beating of her heart. Naruto had finally come back, and it was only a cautious suggestion from Rias over the communication spell that convinced her to play it safe and act like nothing was wrong while visiting her brother.

Riser was a friend of their group, but he wasn't part of their inner circle, and so he wasn't allowed to know Naruto's secret other life. It hurt her to think she couldn't truly rely on her favourite brother anymore, but Ravel knew that Naruto's secrets weren't hers to share.

Squaring her shoulders, Ravel took one last steadying inhale, and then climbed the winding stairs up to the third floor.

As the scattered members of the two Gremory peerages trickled back into the manor, Rias had shifted the gathering to the long gallery and fired off a short message to Ravel about it twenty minutes ago. The Bishop would be the last to arrive, a fact that kind of irked her. But there wasn't anything to be done. It was just bad luck that brought her fiancé back on the weekly Thursday evening visit she paid to her brother.

The soft chatter of voices broke the silence as Ravel crossed the house, growing louder with every step she took into the bowels of the manor.

"Look, I'm not trying to run your show or anything, I'm just telling you what I think."

Ravel paused as Naruto's exasperated sputter passed through the door, smiling at the sound and feeling a bone-deep satisfaction. It had been too long since she'd heard him speak.

Knocking loudly to announce herself, Ravel stepped into the lavish den. "Good evening, degenerate rabble-rousers. What's on the menu this time? Crowning my eventual aunt-in-law Queen of the Winter Court?"

The sharp bark of laughter Naruto made didn't seem to surprise anyone else there, but to the newcomer it seemed off somehow. A little too hard and cynical, perhaps, and Ravel reluctantly shifted her gaze towards Valerie.

Lounging in a cozy green armchair with one leg thrown over the side, the dhampir woman clutched a clear goblet of blood in one hand. The ruby shade of her eyes seemed deeper somehow, and when she raised the glass in wordless salute to her fellow Bishop there was a contentment in her face that made Ravel's blood boil.

What exactly had her fiancé and her dear fellow Bishop gotten up to while they were ranging the plains of the shinobi world?

Ravel took hold of that jealousy with an iron grip, folding it up and stuffing it in the back of her mind to simmer. She wouldn't forget it, but she let sleeping dogs lie for now. There were more important matters to deal with.

"Hello Naruto." Ravel smirked instead, crossing the room in three long strides so she could throw herself into his arms for a bone-crushing hug. "Did you miss me, you big baby?" she prodded cockily once he reciprocated, hating the tiny note of vulnerability that rang through the sarcasm.

Rough gravel rasped over Naruto's tone as he murmured a soft yes, unashamedly embracing his fiancé with the thirst for affection that had worked its way into his bones. Sweating and bleeding for Konoha again had left its mark, and the redhead just wanted something purely good for once.

Quirking an eyebrow as the hug went on and on despite the awkward silence that hung in the air, the rest of the devils pretending to be anywhere else, Akeno sent an incredulous look over at Sasuke. "Do you think they'll start rutting right here on the floor?" she mouthed at him, earning a deadpan expression in return.

The pair separated after a final squeeze, Naruto knuckled at one eye while he ruffled Ravel's sunshine strands with his other hand. "Don't be like that." He snorted when she scowled and pulled away, a brittle smile on his face.

Glowering as she tried to return her messed hair to some measure of order, Ravel just threw herself onto the couch between Koneko and Yuuto. "Is anyone going to fill me in, or am I just going to have to guess?"

"Well." Rias began, eyes flicking to Naruto when her nephew leaned back against the wall next to Sasuke. "As you can see Naruto and Sasuke have returned, so we're in the process of trying to decide how to proceed from here."

Yuuto huffed a sigh, leaning ahead on his knees and drilling into the floor with a tired blue-grey stare. "It's not exactly going smoothly."

Which didn't exactly match what she'd expected from the group, if Ravel were honest. One of her fiancé's greatest strengths in her experience had been his ability to generate compromises and direct the collective energy of their disparate group. They'd never exactly done anything to go in the history books, but they've never wasted hours arguing either.

Furrowing her brows in thought, Ravel trailed her focus from one devil to the next, scrutinizing their faces in an instant. Sasuke had a wintery mien, while Rias hovered between contentment and concern. Valerie seemed satisfied where Koneko appeared merely bored. Yuuto was quietly irritated and Gasper just peeked over the lid of his box in innocent confusion. Her fiancé himself seemed frustrated and fatigued.

Too many closed expressions and not enough communication, which was just out and bizarre for a reunion after months apart. It was like they were all standing around not sure what was actually going on.

Ah.

Ravel slapped her forehead, giving a truly mighty roll of her dark blue orbs. "I really and honestly am surrounded by complete and total morons. I'm starting to wonder if the collective IQ in here is stuck in the double digits. Did it ever occur to you that maybe someone should provide a clear summary of where we've been and where we're going?"

Silence reigned as Naruto stared at his fiancé in shock, sheepish contrition creeping its way onto his features until he coughed awkwardly and rubbed at the back of his head. "Fuck, yeah, I guess that would be just the place to start, wouldn't it?" he muttered.

Really, he should have started by actually telling the members of their little extended family what he had planned for Gehenna. Everyone was to a degree aware of his goals, but most of them had only heard about them second or third hand. Not to mention Rias and Akeno were on an entirely different page trying to needle information about the shinobi world out of him.

Everyone had probably walked into the room with different expectations about what would happen, and Naruto hadn't whipped them into shape, which was probably why they'd pissed away a couple of hours talking in circles.

It was just that it was hard for Naruto to string thoughts together, much less reinvent himself into a general at the drop of a hat. He was utterly exhausted. Two months of betrayal, blood, war and torture had compounded. Coming back and finding himself in his new-old body was just the disorienting cherry on the top of the cake.

Maybe such a bald-faced admonishment was the wake-up slap that he needed. So Naruto dug deep, locking up all the desolation for another day and lay hands on the deep black core of iron in his soul.

When he squared his shoulders and met Ravel's stare again, there was nothing left of visible weakness in him. He would become a sword that had passed through the fire and been tempered by it, rather than one that had broken under the pressure.

"One way or another, I'm going to become the King of Hell."

Naruto declared his treason with a steady finality, an electric blaze glittering in his eyes as he looked from one friend's face to the next. Yuuto and Akeno seemed to practically vibrate with vindication, while Ravel and Rias frowned with visible confusion.

Which was just about what he'd expected. Everything Yuuto knew was something the blond knight had heard through the grapevine, but Rias by comparison was actually part of the conspiracy he and Sairaorg had started. His aunt was directly familiar with his former plans to create some kind of democracy in the end.

Cutting off Rias when she went to speak, Naruto threaded his fingers together and tried to project nothing but confidence. "Some of us were born as devils, so they don't know anything different. But those of us who were once human – or at least close to it, know that things can be better than they are."

"Gehenna is rotten." Sasuke sighed, unfolding his arms and hooking his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. The Pawn gave Rias a particular look, silently convincing her to subside without protest. He would answer all of her questions later, when it wasn't interrupting Naruto's appeal to the group.

Nodding at the show of support, Naruto gave Sasuke a sharp-edged grin before turning back to face the rest of the room. "Exactly! It's rotten. And I don't mean from a sort of 'fuck the purebloods' sort of perspective. I mean it's just a fucking sick society. Everyone just gets ahead by stepping on everyone else rather than helping each other. It's all competition and no cooperation."

Naruto seemed to move into his stride then, something like real passion finally unfurling in his breast for the first time in months. "Like come on! Just because the purebloods have most of the magical strength doesn't mean we should be treating the commoners like they're literal serfs. All reincarnated people are by law slaves, what the fuck is that supposed to be?"

With more than half of the people in the room being beings reincarnated through the Evil Piece system, Naruto knew he'd hit the nail on the head. But he needed more. "Or what about the fact that crazy little bastard Diodora can run around raping nuns until their minds break and get away with it just because of his family name?"

"No government is perfect. I learned that the hard way in the other world." The Gremory heir admitted, looking directly at Ravel. With Rias wordlessly agreeing to not derail Naruto, his fiancé was the only one that might object to his new ideas now.

"Sometimes you have to be hard. Sometimes you have to do things that you'll find unethical. Sometimes reality had to come before ideals. But that should be the exception rather than the rule. We can do better than this. I know we can."

Yuuto lurched to his feet, a snarl on his handsome face as he glared at Naruto. "So, are you going to tell me then that everything my friends and I suffered for the sake of those damn Holy Swords was acceptable? All that blood and pain was just for the greater good, wasn't it? Or do the ends not justify the means when it's people you care about going under the knife?"

Tension thick enough to cut hung in the air, choking the momentum of Naruto's speech, and he knew it was the moment of truth. Yuuto had so directly challenged him that he couldn't brush it off without appearing to be a callous shithead. If he failed to win over the Knight now the pillar of support he'd been trying to build would split down the middle.

"There is a difference between necessary and pointless cruelty." Naruto murmured, remembering how he'd burnt those criminals and traitors alive in order to try and stabilize the new regime he'd built for Konoha. "You might have to do monstrous things to build a better world, but you can't forget cruelty is a tool, not a trait. If you forget that then you become reduced, you become a monster, and in the end you'll be hated and destroyed."

The Gremory heir could try to beat around the bush or outright lie to Yuuto, but they'd both know that he was avoiding the issue. And trying to do that would only lose him Yuuto's respect and alienate the young swordsman.

"So yes." Naruto stated firmly, his heart in his mouth. "It wasn't wrong for the Church to try to build a safer world on your blood. You even agreed to that sacrifice. But it became wrong when Galilei began tormenting and throwing you away just to satisfy his own sadism."

Naruto wasn't sure he even believed the words falling from his mouth, but this was the path he'd chosen, and it was the one he had to see to the end now.

The muscles of Yuuto's face spasmed into a rictus of hatred, heated and ugly, before smoothing out and leaving cold composure behind.

A composure that was the direct opposite of the boiling venom in Yuuto's voice. "I'll follow you." Then he was in Naruto's face, fisting a hand in the redhead's collar. "But if you ever forget the difference between necessary and pointless cruelty I'll put my sword in your back."

"If I ever forget that, I hope you don't even hesitate."

Maybe it was the utter sincerity that Naruto agreed to Yuuto's threat with, but it was enough for the Knight to quiet down into mutinous silence, letting go of his chokehold and stepping back.

Resisting the urge to reflexively rub at his throat, Naruto let his gaze trail over the remaining members of his and Rias' peerages. Sasuke and Valerie would follow him to the end, he already knew, and he'd gotten Yuuto's reluctant agreement. But that wasn't enough. "And what about the rest of you? Will you follow me?"

It shocked everybody when it wasn't Rias or Ravel, but Gasper that spoke up with uncharacteristic fierceness. "The way our fathers treated Valerie and me – that was wrong. So if you won't let that happen to anyone else, I'll fight with you." The tiny dhampir declared, clutching at the rim of his cardboard box with white-knuckled fingers and a red flush to his cheeks.

Valerie beamed at her adopted brother with approval. "Exactly."

"Well, who am I to disagree after that display of manly courage?" Akeno chuckled, a rough note in her laugh that only Rias heard. The Thunder Priestess sauntered right up to her King, looping their arms together with deceptive cheer. "What's life without a little bit of excitement?"

Patting her best friend's arm with hidden sympathy, Rias met Naruto's questioning look head-on. Unlike Naruto she was perfectly aware of Akeno's inner distress. Her Queen was worried they would all end up tortured and dead like Himejima Shuri had been but wasn't willing to rock the boat when everyone else seemed to be getting on board.

And Rias couldn't blame her. What Naruto was asking them to do was blatant treason. It was one thing to propose a conspiracy where they would legitimately acquire power within the bounds of the law and then use it to reform Gehenna. But it was entirely different to suggest seizing power implicitly by violence. If they failed they would all be executed without a shred of mercy.

In the end however, there was no choice at all. Even if she disagreed Rias wouldn't be able to convince Naruto and Sasuke to drop their crusade. She knew what kind of men they were - visionaries with hearts of iron. The only thing withholding support would accomplish would be to increase the risk of their failure. "Very well."

Which left only Ravel and Koneko, the latter of whom made a vague shooing gesture. "I'm doomed either way, so I might as well make the most of it." The nekomata sighed airily.

Lifting her chin, Ravel folded her arms across her chest, refusing to speak as she stared down her fiancé with an unreadable expression. There was neither approval nor rejection in her sapphire eyes, only patient expectation. She'd given him his moment to convince everyone else.

But she wasn't like them. Ravel wouldn't hold her support hostage, but she demanded at least honesty from him.

Naruto exhaled slowly, idly combing a thick strand of crimson hair away from his face. "That's it for tonight, I think. We can talk more about the specifics once we've had some shuteye. Ravel and I have a few things to talk about anyway."

The underlying request was received loud and clear by everyone, who filed out one by one. The last to go was Valerie, who threw a chilly look over her shoulder at the other Bishop before she left the room.

Pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, Naruto ruefully wondered how exactly his life had come to this. He was one man trying to go up against the might of an empire with nothing but his friends at his back, who also had to try and juggle the emotional demands of two very different women.

Human men might think managing a budding harem was all fun and games, but those assholes had no fucking clue.

"What happened."

Ravel's coldly flat question came out as a statement, making Naruto wince and want to shiver at the sheer frostiness of it. The suspicion and jealousy weren't unfounded, he had to admit, and they certainly weren't pleasant to deal with. But she had a right to those feelings. Gehenna might try to teach its women their job was to happily share a single man, but the heart wants what it wants.

Crossing over to his fiancé with long sure strides, Naruto stopped when there was barely more than a foot of space between them. "It was bad over there." He admitted lowly, remembered despair thinning his mouth. It wasn't exactly a justification, but at least it was an explanation. "I was… lost, I guess, and I needed support."

Not a single muscle in Ravel's face twitched, but something guttered out in her gaze, leaving only a mixture of worldly cynicism and reluctant satisfaction. In the end she knew she couldn't turn away from him – Ravel was tied too deeply to Naruto – and rationally it was exactly what she'd been raised to expect. To have the proof of her upbringing was vindicating in its own way. She had no room to complain.

But that didn't stop Ravel's heart from crumpling up in her chest.

"Thank you." The blonde forced out in a clear tone, crushing any stuttering with pure willpower. "For being honest." Then Ravel turned and stalked away, leaving Naruto alone with the dark storm of his thoughts.


(AN): 3100 moar. I didn't really plan to write another chapter after so many quick updates, meh. I'll try to address reviews without making a huge AN.

Naruto/Kuroka – Naruto's pairings are all 'princesses'. They were all arranged for him (Sirzechs/Zeoticus deliberately, Rias unknowingly) and confer political gain. I wanted to invert that, pairing him with someone politically toxic. In canon Kuroka gets "lmao" but in hyperrealism Gehenna she's a famous SS-rank criminal who slaughtered her pureblood masters.

Harem is bad plot/OOC - It's actually because of realism that I find myself feeling I should write larger harems. Gehenna is a society built around the harems that pureblood men have. Sperm is cheap and purebloods are on the verge of extinction while commoners are - with rare exceptions - cannon fodder.

In my mind, Naruto and Sasuke are men of ideals but also human weaknesses. They have been shoved into a society that treats their darkest urges as ethical and a matter of national security. How many real people could be handed a chance at a harem literally every single day and be able to resist temptation for thousands of years?