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

(AN): The last.


Valerie frowned at her image in the mirror, tying up her long blonde locks into a rough ponytail that left her bangs flying free. Did Naruto prefer the groomed look, or did he like it best when everything was purely natural? The dhampir hummed low in her throat, considering.

Eventually Valerie settled on leaving her hair up, spraying jasmine perfume on the hollow of her throat and the insides of her wrist. Maybe he'd like it better that way, or maybe he wouldn't. There was only one way to find out.

Combined with the dark blue jeans slung low on her hips and the loose purple chemise that showed off her cleavage, Valerie gave off a 'ready to be fucked' air.

Or at least she hoped. She didn't have a whole lot of experience, but she knew that Naruto was going to be her one and only. Her love was too kind and shy to pursue her, but Valerie knew she was ready, so the only thing left to do was pursue him.

Combing through her bangs one last time, Valerie turned away from the mirror and crossed over to the door. "Slow and steady. Don't try to rush him." She reminded herself shakily, taking a steadying breath before turning the handle and sliding the door open.

Standing on the other side and looking distinctly unimpressed was Ravel Phenex. "Hello." Naruto's only official fiancé said coolly. "Do you mind if I come in?" Then without bothering to wait for Valerie's reply she shoved on past, jamming an elbow into Valerie's ribs.

"Can I help you?" Valerie questioned acidly, shutting the door and spinning so she could watch the intruder with a frigid ruby glare. They'd always been distantly polite, but since the return from Konoha Valerie found the other blonde almost unbearable in her hostility.

A hostility Valerie returned.

"I have a busy day ahead, so I don't have a lot of time to socialize."

Ravel didn't speak, her shoulders clenched tight as she inspected Valerie's bedroom with the arrogance of a girl born to be queen. Those azure orbs traced here and there, memorizing and judging in a way that set Valerie's teeth on edge.

If they didn't both have to answer to Naruto, Valerie would expect violence and blood. But since they both loved the same man who loved them back, things were a little more complicated.

"I thought it best that we have a bit of a chat. Nothing dramatic. Just to clear the air." Ravel eventually responded, turning on her heel and folding her arms over her chest. Between the brand new pink dress and the carefully shaped drill twintails the girl was every inch a noble.

To another woman it would be intimidating. But for Valerie it was just another hurdle of pride that she had to jump over to prove she had just as much a right to be here as Ravel did.

Hooking her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans, Valerie clenched her jaw. She was confident, but she wasn't blind. Valerie knew that Naruto wanted her, but lust wasn't a concrete thing. Her love might decide to cut his losses if Valerie couldn't come to some kind of agreement with Ravel. The Phenex girl was younger, but Ravel was also much more politically valuable.

If someone was going to be thrown overboard, it would probably be her.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Valerie smiled, all false cheer and pretended naivety. "I know that Naruto has been needing an escort for a lot of state functions, but maybe between the two of us we could trade off? I hate for people to think he was less of a man, and we know how this country is."

Ravel laughed, sharp-edged and hateful. "Let's not beat around the bush. I'm sure we could play politics all day long with each other, but I think the end result would be unsatisfying and indecisive." She waved her hand dismissively, the long tips of her fingernails glinting. "No, brutal honesty is the best policy here, I think."

That was a bit different than the last time they'd spoken privately, when they'd both been so carefully polite, pretending like they wanted to be friends. Folding her arms over her chest, Valerie leaned her back against the door and measured Ravel with a considering scarlet stare. "I'm listening."

Rather than sneer again Ravel forced all the tension from her face, creating a façade of porcelain stillness.

It was that willingness to strive for civility that convinced Valerie to put away her own defensive barbs, meeting Ravel's gesture with a doll-like front of her own.

"Neither of us are stupid or blind, so I think we both know what the root of our conflict is." Ravel began lowly, letting Naruto's name float silently between them. They were both jealous of the other and exploring that envy would just lead to flared tempers and further enmity. "And that given nothing can really be done to change it without hurting him and making him choose, we should try to come to a real detente."

If Valerie was honest, she could sympathize with Ravel. She herself could taste the acid burn of possessive envy on the back of her tongue. The other blonde probably felt the exact same way.

In an ideal world Valerie would be the only woman that Naruto loved. The only one that brought him joy. The one who would make sure that her savior was cared for as he deserved to be.

But she didn't live in an ideal world, she lived in the real one. And in the real world Naruto would have to take several wives, for political benefits and safety if nothing else. That was the way of Gehenna. So perhaps she ought to bite the bullet and accept that maximizing Naruto's happiness demanded harmony between the various women in his life.

Her King mattered more than her desires did.

"I won't lie and say I'm perfectly alright with sharing. You wouldn't believe me if I did." Valerie eventually sighed, letting her arms drop to a less guarded position. "But if Naruto is happy that's the only thing I care about. As long as he wants you around, I won't get in your way or try to sabotage you."

Ravel pursed her lips like she was sucking on a lemon, looking angry and resigned in equal measure. As much as she wanted to be instinctively selfish and demand monogamy, Ravel was even more aware of the nature of the country they lived in. She had been prepared for it in a way that Valerie hadn't been.

So instead of tearing a strip off someone she still felt was an interloper, she wordlessly held out her hand to shake on it.

In the end they didn't have to like each other, they just had to tolerate one another.


"Hey coz." Naruto greeted breezily as he stepped through the teleportation circle, shaking the dirt off his boots with carefree grace and grinning at Kuisha's scandalized expression. Under the mask of cheer he was knotted up with anxiety, but he had a role to play.

Sona had always been a bit ambivalent about truly egalitarian government, but Sairaorg was the real deal. If he wanted to bring the man over to his side he needed to be slow, personable, and very careful. The Bael heir would never tattle on Naruto because of mutually assured destruction, but he could be a pretty deadly enemy if he decided to be.

Sairaorg waved a greeting, not looking up from the boxing match he had blaring on the TV. "Just give me a minute. They're in the last round."

Shrugging at his cousin's obsession with the world of professional sports, Naruto plodded around the luxurious den, poking curiously at the collection of signed merchandise and posters that clung to the walls. He could feel Kuisha's eyes on his back, and he hoped she'd take off so he could talk to Sairaorg in private.

He had nothing against the leggy blonde, but the Queen worshipped the ground Sairaorg walked on. If Naruto brought up taking formal control over their conspiracy with her in the room, she'd probably flip out and do everything she could to convince Sairaorg to cling to power. He could admire that kind of loyalty, but damn if it didn't make his life more difficult.

"Woo!" Sairaorg howled in victory, startling the redhead and making him glare at the older devil's back. "Get knocked on your ass, boy."

A few more minutes passed, during which Naruto waited irritably as Sairaorg crowed in victory. "Go ahead, make my ears bleed." He muttered lowly, perking up when he saw Kuisha roll her eyes at the display and flee the room.

Once Sairaorg began to do a little victory dance, Naruto decided enough was enough. The Gremory heir lunged across the room, jamming his thumb into the power button and cutting off the live feed.

"Hey, I was watching that!"

"It wasn't even a championship round! And if you want to see the post-match commentary so badly just watch the rerun after I leave. Blood and ashes."

Sighing explosively, Sairaorg ran a hand through his thick dark locks, mussing up his spike strands even more. "Fine, fine. What do you want, killjoy?" he demanded, sinking back into the couch with a squeak of leather, throwing his arms up over the backrest.

Naruto smirked, sitting his ass down on the coffee table so his cousin couldn't prop his feet up. It put them almost knee to knee, but it was worth it to needle at the other devil. He'd missed being able to take the piss out of Sairaorg, what with the man's descent into alcoholic depression during the Mictlan war.

But it'd been months and months since he'd last actually seen Sairaorg. Months during which the Bael heir had managed to climb back up in the saddle. Naruto was glad to see it, even if this revitalized cousin of his would be less willing to cede power than the depressed drunk would have been.

"Ah, well." Naruto let his smile turn sheepish, wondering darkly if his entire life was going to be like this from now on. Just lying and manipulating people he'd once promised to be honest to. "I was just… Sona and I got to talking and we're a bit worried about you."

"Worried." That one word was said so blandly that Naruto winced. He'd expected Sairaorg to be a bit offended over the implied judgement. Sona had even predicted it, when he'd gone to speak to her about his worries that Sairaorg would be less than receptive to the change in their little movement's end goals.

Still, Naruto had to push on through. It would be the work of months to bring Sairaorg around to his way of thinking, and even then he probably couldn't be as candid as he'd like to be about his new pragmatic viewpoint.

But if Sairaorg would be willing to give up the helm without a fuss then Naruto would count it as a victory for today. Everything else could come later.

Visibly steeling himself, Naruto thinned his lips and set his elbows on his knees, blue eyes piercing as he stared down his cousin's violet gaze. "Yeah, we were worried about you. You're doing better now, but you weren't doing so hot a few months back. Doing what you had to do; we saw you took it pretty hard. Harder than I did even."

"I didn't think that having a sense of morality was such a bad thing." Sairaorg shot back, a touch of accusation in his voice as his eyebrows lowered into a tight glower. "In fact, I'd say that it's what sets us apart from them."

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, Naruto pulled back a bit. "You're not wrong. It's important to have those feelings. And we're not trying to close you out. But Sona and I are worried – what if something happens later on and brings you out of commission again? It's not a big deal to take some time now, but what if shit's hitting the fan? We'd all be running around with our heads cut off."

"So because you think that I might have a breakdown in a crisis that I should let someone else run the show."

"I wouldn't put it quite like that…"

"Yeah, sure. If that's what you guys think is best then fine, whatever."

"I – what?" Naruto blinked in complete shock, his eyebrows practically climbing to his forehead as Sairaorg just shrugged and tugged at the collar of his black t-shirt.

"What did you think I was going to say?" The older devil questioned wryly, smirking a bit. "'No fuck you there's no breaks on this train'? I didn't ask you to help me because I had some obsessive need for control and personal power. I just want a better Gehenna. It's not really about me. So if everyone else thinks maybe we need a new leader, I have no problem stepping aside."

Poking at the inside of his cheek with the tip of his tongue, Naruto shook his head and then chuckled. "You're really something else, you know that?"

Maybe he'd underestimated Sairaorg's pride, or maybe he'd just been assuming the other man was just like him. Naruto would have hated to give up power. He'd wanted to protect people, but he'd also wanted to lead them. It was a vanity that had held onto him since his first childhood, and he'd thought Sairaorg would be the same way.

Maybe he didn't understand Sairaorg at all, which was convenient - this time. Naruto doubted it always would be.

Maybe he should start keeping an eye on his favorite cousin.

Just in case.


"She's kind of got me by the balls, you know? So if Sona wants to go to Kuoh next spring, we're just gonna have to make it happen."

"I hardly think she's that unreasonable."

Koneko slowly chewed on a stick of pocky, distantly registering the sweet taste of chocolate that hit her tongue while she idly watched Naruto and Rias haggle things out. She'd never really wanted to spend three years getting the so-called 'high school experience' in the first place, so it made no difference to her whether she had to attend next year or in a couple of years.

As far as the nekomata was concerned, Sona Sitri had spoken. A bribe for a favour. They would all enroll as first year students together at Kuoh Academy next April and suffer through three years playing human. In exchange the Sitri heiress would take a hands-off approach to Sairaorg Bael and the problem of leadership in the conspiracy.

"And you didn't try to convince her otherwise? You know it'll look suspicious if we keep changing our minds about when we're attending the academy."

"Lucifer's saggy nuts woman, it's not that big of a deal! My dad will just think we're kids being kids about it. Everyone knows that teenagers are impulsive as fuck. Puberty is a bitch. They're not going to look twice at us over it."

Tuning out the bickering of the two redheads, Koneko drew her knees up to her chest and rolled to the side to rest her head on the arm of the coach. Her bare feet were plopped in Sasuke's lap, daring him to complain or try to tickle them.

Sasuke did neither, cracking open one of his eyelids to give her a side glance before retreating into his light doze, his head lolling on the couch's backrest. It was such a lazy gesture that the Rook nearly jumped in shock when Sasuke suddenly grabbed both her feet in one warm hand.

"Stay still." He muttered, holding her feet in place.

Koneko briefly considered kicking at him just for laughs but thought better of it. She was too warm and comfortable to want to rock the boat. So instead she slid one arm under her head as padding and returned to watching aunt and nephew argue like five-year olds.

"It seems plain to me that someone here has all the intellect of an autistic child!"

"You shouldn't talk about yourself that way, Auntie."

"I hope you realize that you've chosen to marry into this family." The white-haired girl nettled dryly, her amber eyes narrowed to relaxed slits. "Nine-thousand nine-hundred and seventy-some years of this to go."

Sasuke barked a quiet laugh, prodding at the sole of Koneko's foot with a warning thumb. "I think choice is a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it? You know Naruto – I never had a snowball's chance in hell. If Rias hadn't snatched me up he would have torn Gehenna apart looking for me."

"Seeing as how we both know from personal experience that a snowball can actually last indefinitely in hell, I think you'd be better off picking another metaphor."

"I suppose." Sasuke allowed, falling silent once more. He probably could have spoken up at any time to play peacemaker between Naruto and Rias, but he seemed happy to just bask in the byplay. It was a calm eddy of pure normality after the storm of war and violence that Konoha had been.

Koneko didn't blame him, because even if the crabby clash was giving her a headache she preferred it too. Konoha had cast long shadows over all of them, Naruto the most and Koneko the least. To see Naruto finding a bit of his old self made it seem like everything was going to be alright.

At some point Sasuke's thumb stopped poking and switched to slow massaging circles, sending faint sparks of pleasure tingling up her calves. Koneko supposed that she should do something about it, before Naruto looked over and got one of his stupid ideas.

But it felt too nice to complain about.

Snuggling into the sun-basked warmth of the couch cushions, Koneko let her eyelids flutter shut. With the familiar note of Rias' voice cracking through the air and the steady presence of Sasuke's hands on her feet, she was exactly where she wanted to be.


(AN): The last 3000 for this arc. Wew. The final AN.

Why is Sasuke Naruto's bitch – Irregular Metronome suffered from the problem of being too Sasuke-centric. I hoped to correct that in Paradox Aeternum. Further, Konoha is worth dramatically less to Sasuke. So it seemed appropriate to focus on Naruto. Now that I'm moving into the next part, I hope to strike a balance between the two.

Paradox Aeternum – There is an eternal paradox in human nature. Madara once said: "Man seeks peace, yet at the same time yearns for war…" We have those conflicting instincts. In the long run, I doubt that one instinct (peace) can triumph over the other (war) for all time. Which is just how it happened in the world of shinobi.

What happened to the time skip – I shortened it to almost a year (Paradox Aeternum ends in August) rather than a time skip of two years before Crucible; Conquest. The original timeskip was to keep people comfortable with underage smut, but since it's all being posted on Ao3 rather than here anyway. *shrug* Don't like, don't read I guess?

Why no Chakra/Sage of Six Paths/BIJUU GODMODE – It's so they can't steamroll everything. Kicking out Kurama/ect is a Drama-Preserving Handicap. Naruto would just kick the door in and kill the Senate the first day with his old powers. Having to start over means that there's actually a journey of having to train, amass allies, play the long game, and so forth before reaching the goal.

REVIEW YOU SPOILED FUCKS I ALMOST DIDN'T POST THIS BECAUSE I DIDN'T GET MUH FIX