Reading Devil Ninja

by sandewrpally

Come and read about how Naruto influences the world of DXD! Reading of Devil Ninja done with permission form The Engulfing Silence.

7. Chapter 7

Reading Devil Ninja

By SandewrPally

Original work by TheEngulfingSilence

Chapter Seven

"I'm guessing you are in the same position that your counterpart is in?" Naruto asked. Rias nodded before taking a deep breath to tell the Shinobi her situation.

"Yes. My marriage to one Riser Phenex was decided before I was even born, as a way to strengthen ties between the Pillars. But he—he." Rias shook with both anger and desperation, before she exploded in both.

"He a damned egotistical degenerate who sees me not as Rias, but another trophy to add to his own harem!" Rias collapsed to her knees, fresh tears streaming down her face. "I was supposed to have more time to find a way out of this dammed contract, but the bastard somehow managed to convince everyone to move the date for the wedding to within the next few weeks."

A warm pair of arms encircled her, as she devolved into sobbing into the chest of the Uzumaki matriarch. Kushina tightened her hold on the young devil as Rias melted into the embrace. Kushina had to restrain the killing intent that she wanted to release as the despair came off Rias in waves, affecting everyone.

Minato had a severe frown on his face, angry at the gall of any parent that would condemn their child to such a bastard that would push a girl to consider losing her virginity as a last desperate action of a cornered girl. Memories of several escort missions for fiancés that, in all honesty, looked as if they hoped the Shinobi escorting them would fail caused a flash of anger to cross his features before he took a deep breath to rein in his own killing intent.

Tsunade had no reservations about restraining her killing intent. While she did hate perverts and perverted action, this Riser had gone the next step down into debauchery. While she couldn't ring the neck of the bastard that would drive this young devil to tears, she was confident Naruto's counterpart would more than make the bastard pay.

Koneko and Akeno had looked at their queen with worry, having had a good idea as to the level of despair from their king in regards to the marriage contract. They were more surprised than the rest of the group when Rias had arrived in Naruto's bedroom with the intention of breaking the marriage contract by losing her virginity. The rook and queen knew their king wanted to wait to give something as special as her first time to someone special, and preferably not a damned deviant that was Riser Phenex. Koneko had looked up at Naruto, before flinching at the expression on the blonde Uzumaki's face.

There are moments in every person's life that defined them. For one Uzumaki Naruto, this was one of them. This girl, the same age as him, was facing a situation that she was willing to sacrifice everything to get out of. From his lessons with Tsunade in politics marriages, like the one Rias was involved in, were more for the prosperity of a group or, as was in this case, to strength the power in a family. Before anyone could blink Naruto had approached the kneeling devil, bringing her into a standing hug as their eyes met, a crystal azure blue meeting confused aqua.

"Rias, I promise to find some way to help you, even if the only thing I can do is help train your peerage, to help you out of this marriage." Rias eyes widened before another wave of tears started to fall. "It's the promise of a lifetime."

"One that we are more than happy to facilitate." Came the voice of Margaret piecing through the situation like a hot knife through butter.

"What do you mean?" Kushina asked, retaking her seat next to Minato as Naruto led Rias to her seat, though the heiress refused to let him retake his own, leaving him to essentially cuddle with the beautiful redhead. Koneko had almost sent her King a withering glare, but knew that her king needed Naruto more than her at the moment.

She would always get petting later.

"By now my sister should be returning from negotiations with Sirzechs Lucifer. I believe Konoha has a particular Shinobi for the mission he is going to request. With adequate pay of course."

"You…could send me to their dimension?" Naruto asked as the devils were in rapt attention.

"For a short while, yes." Margaret explained "Due to your current power we would not be able to sustain your crossing for more than a day at our current strength, though we are gained more the longer we are at this."

"It'll only take one day!" Naruto exclaimed, before being whacked in the back of the head by Tsunade.

"Baka! Rias is the one who will need to do this." At the questioning look from a grumbling Naruto Tsunade rolled her eyes before explaining. "I'm guessing that you would be able to settle this contract through a battle of sorts?" Rias nodded as Tsunade continued "Therefore for Rias to make it absolutely certain it would need to be her winning, with you involving yourself if the need arises."

"So like a secret weapon?" Rias asked, new hope filling her eyes.

"Yep." Kushina chirped before adopting a wicked grin. "And we can do more for you and your peerage in this room by training them. Especially your pawn."

Rias and Koneko instantly widened their eyes, more than wanting the training for a fight against Riser and probably his peerage. A polite cough caught everyone's attention, making Margaret the center of attention.

"I believe the story would provide some more details for you." Margaret smiled before the book was snatched by a rather enthusiastic Kushina, who immediately began reading.

Chapter 7: I Just Want to be Me

The next morning Naruto did everything he would have normally done before Rias entered his life: he woke up, took a shower, made a basic breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, then left for school after locking up his apartment and rearming his traps.

Both Kushina and Minato chuckled at their child's penchant for booby-trapping his place, which devolved into laughs as Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose as if reliving memories she didn't want to.

He didn't actually know why he bothered placing all those traps on his home now. Really, what was the point of having a trap that caused his porch to explode and his windows to send several thousand volts of electricity through any would-be intruder when people could just teleport directly into his bedroom?

Naruto shrugged at the blank expressions from Rias and Koneko. Akeno was lustily imagining what would happen if a person tried to enter the residence through the window.

Cue sweat drops.

As soon as he reached Kuoh Academy, Naruto deviated from his usual course, which would have involved him going to class and then falling asleep until class ended. There were more important things to worry about than grades and lectures by stuffy old professors that he never bothered listening to anyway. Instead of heading towards his homeroom, he went straight to the Occult Research Clubroom.

Despite wanting to glare at him for skipping school Rias smiled as she realized what Naruto considered more important at the moment.

There, he found the situation to be about what he'd expected. Rias was sitting behind her desk. She had her hands laced together in front of her face, her eyes were closed and there was a grave frown on her lips. Standing beside her were both Akeno and Grayfia; one of whom looked decidedly unruffled and the other was clearly trying to put on a cheerful front, even though it was more than obvious that she was worried.

Rias gave her queen an appreciative smile, glad she had one of her best friends at her side.

"Rias, Akeno-chan, Grayfia...san," Naruto greeted, frowning at the end. He still wasn't used to using proper suffixes. No matter how many times Tsunade had insisted on the need to use proper suffixes, he had never really bothered.

"Ow!" Naruto held his head, a red bump appearing from the empty sake bottle his grandmother had thrown at him. Where she had gotten an empty sake bottle was anyone's guess.

A part of him wondered why he was doing so now. Was it this woman's presence? Her regal bearing? He couldn't say. There was nothing about her that screamed "speak properly to me" anymore than when he was in baa-chan's presence. All he knew was that not knowing why he was acting on lessons he never used before bothered him.

"You have to start somewhere son." Minato stated, earning a pleading look from his son. The father just shrugged, knowing his son had inherited the rather famous (or infamous depending on who you talked to) stubbornness of the Uzumaki. His own experiences with Kushina and authority were probably still told around the village.

"Ara, ara," Akeno's smiled a patently false smile as she greeted him. Naruto would never claim to be a master of reading body language, but if there was one thing he could do and do well, it was reading another person's smile. Her's was as fake as they came. "How are you doing today, Kitsune-kun?"

"I've been better," Naruto responded dryly. "I didn't sleep as well as I normally did last night." He locked eyes with Rias, whose eyes had snapped open at his entrance. She was staring at him with so many conflicting emotions on her face it was impossible to know what she was feeling. "How about you, Rias? Are you feeling any better?"

Rias dryly chuckled at the byplay of words, knowing that they were as false as her queens smile at the moment in the story.

"Yes," she lied and they both knew it. Still, for the sake of appearing strong, neither of them said anything that contradicted this. "Thank you for asking."

Naruto gave her a small half smile, "anything for my King."

"And my friend." Naruto added, warmth filling his tone. Rias merely laid her head against his chest, the beat of his heart giving her comfort for the moment.

Moving over to the couch, Naruto sat down, crossed one leg over his thigh and stretched his arms across the headrest.

No one decided to question him on why he was there and not in class. Rias knew him enough to know that he would not be able to focus on class with everything that had happened last night. Akeno likely didn't care, and she wouldn't say anything anyways, since she was also skipping class. Naruto had no clue what Grayfia thought, but he wasn't all that sure he cared what she thought so it worked out.

"She… would likely reprimand you if she knew you better." Rias commented, earning a grimace from Naruto. "But luckily for you she doesn't know you." 'At the moment' Rias thought, not bothering to finish the thought as Kushina continued.

The silence within the room was stifling as they waited for the others to arrive. Naruto was tempted to ask Rias to tell him what was going on, but he knew her well enough to know she would want to tell the rest of her peerage as well. Thus, he was reduced to waiting in tense silence like everyone else.

"Ugh, always hated those." Kushina said, earning a groan from both Minato and Tsunade. They had firsthand experience when it came to the Uzumaki matriarch 'entertaining herself' in those types of situations.

To pass the time, the spiky-haired Uzumaki amused himself by picturing Grayfia dressed in cosplay outfits. It was surprisingly easy to do thanks to her clothes. The images his mind conjured of the woman with the regal bearing wearing Neko ears and a tail saying "nya" as she held up pawed hands was definitely a funny one.

"You are extremely lucky she isn't here." Rias commented as Naruto snickered. Though she herself was having a hard time not chuckling at the image of her sister-in-law in such an outfit.

"Something you find amusing, Naruto-san?" asked Grayfia as Naruto started snickering.

"N-nothing, hehe, I just thought of something funny," Naruto coughed into his hands a few times, trying to calm down. He didn't think the woman would take it well if she knew he was conjuring images of her in naughty cosplay costumes. "Nothing to worry about."

"Hmm..." Grayfia looked at him suspiciously, but did not say anything else.

"Dodged a kunai there gaki." Tsunade chuckled, having a good idea that the woman they had met was powerful. People with those kinds of auras tended to be powerful after all.

A few seconds later the door opened and a person walked in. Naruto was not surprised that the first person to show up after him was Koneko. As a first year, her last period of the class was free, which was why she normally showed up earlier than him and the others.

As soon as she entered the room, her eyes locked onto Naruto. Without offering even a courtesy greeting to the others, she made a beeline for him and unhesitatingly crawled onto his lap before she gave him an expectant look. Naruto just smiled humorously as he began giving the adorable girl his customary treatment.

Instead of being irritated like her counterpart would probably be Rias smirked at her rook before making a showing of hugging the blonde's chest to her head. Koneko merely stared Naruto down until he promised more head petting.

Grayfia looked over at Rias after watching the white-haired first year purring against the male her husband's sister tried seducing last night, a single eyebrow raised.

"Don't ask," Rias sighed, her shoulders slumping a little bit. "Just... don't ask."

"Very well," Grayfia said emotionlessly as she went back to standing like a statue. "I won't ask."

Ok, maybe there was a little annoyance.

It wasn't long, relatively speaking, before the other members of Rias' peerage filed in. They all noticed the new addition, that of the gorgeous woman with silver hair and eyes in the maid outfit. Issei damn near died of blood loss when he first caught a glimpse of her. Not that Naruto blamed the boy. Grayfia, despite whatever thoughts he had on the woman, was definitely gorgeous, and she gave off that regal aura expected of a Queen despite her questionable choice in clothing.

"Maybe it's a source of fun for her?" Kushina commented, a sly smirk sent to everyone else. Rias and her peerage blanched, not wanting to believe the strongest woman of the underworld. Naruto just blushed as he noticed the look that passed between his parents.

Tsunade was just wishing she had some sake right about now.

"Good, you're all here," Rias stood up from her chair.

"Rias-Sama," Grayfia looked at her. "Would like me to explain the situation to them?"

"No," Rias closed her eyes. "It would be better if they heard this from me." Opening her eyes again, her bluish-green orbs locked on to each member of her peerage. Naruto couldn't be sure, but he thought they lingered on his a little longer than the others. "There is something I need to tell you all. It is difficult to explain, but I―"

The reason of the interruption came up on the screen before Kushina kept reading, earning a look of anger from Rias, the feeling shared by her peerage in support of their king.

Before Rias could speak any further, an orange glow began emitting from the floor, interrupting the red head from saying any more. There was just enough time to see the magic circle with an unfamiliar crest come to life on the carpet before the entire thing burst into flames. Whoever was teleporting into the room obviously had a flair for dramatics.

"That's an understatement." Rias muttered, remembering the times she had to meet with the womanizer.

Before the flames fully dispersed, a figure appeared inside of the fire. There was a gust of wind that put the blaze out, finally revealing the person who had so blatantly disrupted their meeting.

The person in question was a man around his early twenties with short yellow hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a burgundy blazer with gold embroidery on the right, matching pants and black dress shoes. Underneath was a white dress shirt that was not fully buttoned, giving a view of his muscular chest.

"He looks like you described him." Naruto commented, his tone laced with disdain for the haughty young man on the screen. The older shinobi could easily see the scumbag that this person was, though he really didn't try to hide his superiority complex.

Naruto did not like him. Just from a single glance, the blond had already determined what kind of person this guy was, having seen his type plenty of times before. He was the handsome playboy type who had everything handed to him since birth and whose head was so large he could probably power a city the size of Tokyo for years if they learned how to harness all the hot air he had bloating his over inflated ego. In Naruto terms, this guy was a certified Douchebag.

Rias had to bite her lip to restrain her utter joy at the way Naruto described him. Luckily, Kushina and Tsunade had no such qualms about laughing about the description. Akeno followed the two older women, though she was just giggling into her hand instead of laughing out loud.

"Hmm, it's been a long time since I came to the human world," the man said, his eyes looking around the room before landing on Rias. When Naruto saw the delight spring into those eyes, he had to quell the sudden urge to punch the man's face in. The way Rias shuddered in disgust did not help impede this emotion any. "My darling, Rias, I'm so happy to see you."

"Are we sure I can't just sick Kurama on him?"

"Who's Kurama?" Rias asked, eyes lit up with curiosity. Before he could explain Tsunade had whacked him with another object, this time a cookie. While it didn't hurt, it did get his attention. Naruto just rolled his eyes before responding to Rias.

"The story will talk about it." The look on Rias' face told him she knew there was more to that than what she got in response.

"Riser Phenex," the way Rias said his name did not invoke pleasant thoughts. It was a name spoken with disgust and enough disdain to fill the building.

She obviously didn't like him.

Rias snorted at the Naruto counterparts thoughts. That was just the tip of the iceberg in her opinion.

"I just came here to inform you that the date has been set," Riser walked over to the desk Rias was using a shield to keep them apart. "Now, while I know it's a little sudden, I thought we could go visit the location the ceremony is taking place in."

"That bastard!" Rias shouted, rising from her position on Naruto as streams of destruction came off her. "He purposely move the date so I wouldn't have a chance!"

"Rias." The commanding tone from Kushina reminded Tsunade why the Uzumaki Kunoichi could have been the Hokage just as much as Minato had it come to it. "Clam down. I know it's going to be hard but cuddle with Naruto for now."

Just as sudden as the anger ahd arrived it vanished, a bluish on her face she she sat next to Naruto, leaning on his shoulder as Kushina continued. Though the glare she sent er rook was filled with annoyance as the neko girl reclaimed her place on Naruto's lap and dragged his unoccupied hand to his head.

"I've already told you, Riser, I have no intention of marrying you!"

"M-m-married!" Issei cried out in shock. "What the hell is going on!? Buchou, who the hell is this guy!?"

"Ara ara. Seems Kitsune-kun isn't the only one who needs to learn manners." Naruto grumbled about sadistic women in his life before Kushina continued.

All eyes turned to Issei. Riser looked at him like one might look at a bug. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hyodou Issei, Rias Gremory-Sama's Pawn!" Wow, that actually sounded pretty formal. Naruto wondered if the boy had been practicing that line.

"Well, he gets points for at least introducing himself properly." Tsunade commented, though she had a feeling those words would be taken back any minute now.

"Ah," Riser deadpanned in an uncaring manner. "I see."

"And you didn't answer my question! Who are you!?"

"His hearts in the right place." Naruto commented, though the delivery could have possibly used more confidence. Rias sighed before remembering that her pawn already had spanking incoming for today.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell your servants about me," Riser said to Rias. "Though I'm even more surprised he doesn't know me. But then, he does smell like a human. That would make him a reincarnated Devil, so I guess it would make sense."

"I didn't say anything because there was no need to tell them about you," she jabbed at him, her words making him sound like he was nothing more than a pest, something so insignificant he was beneath her notice.

Kushina gave the heiress a thumbs up, before being smacked herself by Tsunade.

Riser gave her a fixed smile. "You're as harsh as usual, I see."

"This is Riser Phenex-Sama," Grayfia informed Issei and everyone else. "He is a pureblood, high class Devil, and is the third son from the legendary Phenex family. He is also Rias-Sama's fiance."

"Not for long if we have anything to say about it." Naruto said, getting Rias to stare into his eyes once again. The conviction in them made her truly believe that she would be rescued from this loveless marriage by the blonde that she had started to feel for, even if he was a dimension away.

"F-f-fiance!?" Issei gawked, his mind unable to comprehend the words coming out of Grayfia's mouth. When she gave him a serious nod, completely unfrazzled, unlike the perverted second year, Issei did what all teenagers do when overwhelmed with too much information.

He fainted.

How embarrassing.

Rias groaned, knowing that Issei had not given the best impression to a potential enemy. Though she glared at Naruto as he snickered at the fainted Issei on the screen.

"What?" Naruto asked after she had pinched his arm. "You have to admit it was funny? Right Koneko?"

The neko girl merely nodded, blissed out at the moment. Naruto shot Rias a smug grin in victory. The devil herself merely huffed as she leaned back on his side.

~KatCHRP~

"Enough, Riser!" Rias slammed her hands onto the desk as she glared at the blond man standing before her. If looks could kill, Riser would have been dead before he even had a chance to utter his last name. "I've already told you, I'm not going to marry you!"

Rias nodded in agreement with her counterpart, though had more confidence than her counterpart at the moment.

"You say that like you have a choice," Riser sounded amused, but there was also a hint of steel in his voice. "We both know there isn't much you can do. Both our families have already decided on this and the contract's been written up. Don't forget that your family has been just as hasty to unite our two houses as mine."

"Seems the boy isn't the only one in need of a beat down." Kushina muttered, earning startled looks from the devils as her hair stared to wave around as if it had a life as its own. How oculd a parent continue allowing their child to be in such despair?

."Don't speak so presumptuously," Rias narrowed her eyes. "As the heir to the Gremory family, I am the one who will decide who gets to be my partner. And regardless of that, I was already promised that I would be allowed to do as I pleased until after I graduated from a university in the human world."

"Though it seems even that wasn't to last." Rias growled in frustration. That explained why her counterpart was even more desperate than her at the moment.

"I fear you don't quite understand the situation, Rias my dear," Riser said snidely. "Your parents and Sirzechs-Sama fear your household may go extinct. In the previous war between Gods, Fallen Angels and Devils, many pure-blooded Devils lost their lives in the conflict. And that's not even mentioning the number of households that went extinct. It's only natural that our parents would struggle to protect our pure-blood and household by joining together. The offspring of two high ranking, pure-blooded Devils is invaluable. Even you should know that."

Rias continued to glare at the image of Riser with barely restrained fury. It was the same, no matter how much she tried to not just be a bargaining chip for underworld politics. She noticed that the Shinobi had angry looks on their own faces.

Sitting on the couch, carefully caressing Koneko's ears, Naruto kept his ears open to everything that was being said. He didn't like what he was hearing. Tsunade had taught him a lot about Konoha, including everything she knew about the clans within its walls. This included the Hyūga clan.

What this man, this Riser, was talking about sounded far too much like what the Hyūga did by forcing bird caged seals on their members and putting them in arranged marriages with cousins to keep the blood pure.

Minato frowned, knowing that had he been alive he and Hiashi would have eventually undid the seal that separated the two halves of the clan.

This wasn't quite as bad as that, there was no incest involved, but forcing someone into an arranged marriage because of superficial fears rankled on his nerves. It was almost, but not quite as bad as someone insulting his ramen...or the color orange.

Despite her anger at the present situation, Rias had a deadpan look at the mentioned knucklehead sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with his free arm.

"Now you know my pain." Tsunade commented, more than happy that someone else knew her struggles with the blonde when it came to ramen and orange.

"Recently, newly reincarnated Devils like your servants have been gaining greater influence. Pretty soon, pure-blood Devils like us are going to lose all of our power until we have no standing left. Your brother, Sirzechs-Sama, has left the household, which means the only one who can succeed and become the Gremory Clan Head is you. With many of the seventy-two pillars collapsing on themselves, the future of all pureblood devils is hanging on this marriage proposal."

"Oh that is bullshit!" Naruto exclaimed, anger radiating off him. "Just because you can't adapt to the changing times is no reason to condemn someone to a loveless, and probably insufferable, marriage."

Rias' eyes teared up, moved by the blonde's proclamation. Kushina and minato looked at their son with proud smiles on their faces, while Tsunade rolled her eyes at Naruto, with a smile of her own in place.

Naruto ignored Issei asking Kiba to explain the seventy-two pillars to him. He already knew about them thanks to Akeno and Rias. Instead, he focused on what Riser and Rias were talking was the more important information in his mind.

Akeno made a note to 'educate' her fellow pawn on the underworld when they returned.

In some ways, what the prick was saying made sense. Pure-blood Devils were apparently becoming a rare commodity these days. They were sort of like the bloodline clans that were so famous in his world. And just like those clans, they were more concerned about keeping their blood pure and untainted by outsiders than they were about the individuals in their clan. At least, that was what he was getting out of all this.

"Ugh, the times that Mikoto talked about suitors was almost nauseating. It didn't help that there were some that came after me." Kushina moaned, before being brought into a loving embrace by Minato.

"She's not the only one to have dealt with suitors." Tsunade commented. "Though I had my own choice due to…circumstances."

"You beat every suitor except Dan to a bloody pulp." Naruto commented, remembering the story from his training trip with Jiriaya. The Senju decided not to respond to the snickering form the group as Kushina continued to read.

"I won't destroy my household," Rias crossed her arms over her chest. "I plan on siring an heir when I'm ready." Her eyes sharpened like blades as she glared at Riser. "But I won't marry you. I'll marry someone of my own choosing. Even the heirs of old households have that much of a right."

Rias nodded in agreement with her counterpart, glancing at the blonde sitting next to her. Ideas flashed through her mind about crimson-haired children with crystal blue eyes, before she promptly shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, re-focusing on the story.

Riser gave a long suffering sigh. His fingers twitched in agitation, a sure sign that he was beginning to lose his patience. "You know, Rias, like you, I am a pure-blood Devil of an old household. I bear the powerful name of Phenex. I can't let that name get tarnished. I came all the way out here to the human world just to get you, but I don't like the human world much."

"Good Kami he's worse than most of the court people we had to escort." Kushina muttered, getting a nod from the rest of the shinobi. Some clients could be…well let's just say they were more trouble than the people who may want them gone half the time.

Flames erupted from Risers back, taking the form of wings and showing just why his clan name was Phenex. The fires from his back spread, the sweltering heat had the members of Rias' peerage sweating profusely, their bodies becoming drenched in salty water and their clothes caking to their skin.

"Ruiner of clothes he is." Kushina said in a faux sagely voice. Naruto laughed, getting everyone else to let out a few chuckles. Rias had to remember that one for later.

Strangely enough, none of them were burned from the incredible heat. Naruto knew what this was; a show of skill. Riser was showing off. And it was beginning to piss him off.

"The flames of this world are filthy. For a Devil who holds governance over wind and fire it's unbearable." His eyes narrowed. "I will take you back to the underworld with me." He looked over at her servants; Akeno, Asia, Issei and Kiba. Naruto and Koneko were on the other side. "Even if I have to incinerate your servants to do it."

Rias didn't have to get angry, as Naruto and Kushina more than made up for it. Naruto snarled as the insignificant bird threatened Rias' peerage, and if he was being perfectly honest, his new precious people at the moment. Kushina hair had once again begun to wave around as if it were Kurama's tails, before Minato tentatively took the book from her hands and continued to read.

"You lay one hand on my servants and I'll put those flames of yours out!" Rias clenched her teeth. How dare this man threaten the lives of her servants! There was no way she could let such a threat go unpunished!

"Riser-Sama," Grayfia said, "I suggest you calm down, or you may find those flames of yours getting doused."

"Oh, well, if the one who was given the title of Strongest Queen is getting involved, then I guess there's no helping it. I wouldn't want to have to face Sirzechs-Sama's peerage. It has always been said that the Red Satan's peerage is full of indestructible monsters."

"Actually, I am not the one you should be worrying about," Grayfia corrected.

Rais, Akeno and Koneko's eyes widened when it popped up with the next scene. It showed Naruto holding a kunai, no doubt coated in chakra as he held it to Risers throat. The shocked look on Riser's face was one she hoped to replicate when she beat him at the rating game she was sure would happen, though with her peerage prepared to win, with the Shinobi, and more importantly Naruto's, help.

That was when Riser and everyone else noticed it. One of the members of Rias' peerage had moved.

Naruto stood behind Riser, two blades in his hand, one pressing against Riser's back, the other being held so lightly against his throat that Riser did not even realize it was there until he looked down. These blades were much different from standard weapons. They were not solid. They were liquid.

Water, to be precise.

Naruto was surprised, evident by the widening of his eyes and the pause in his petting of Koneko. While Naruto was powerful, he had not delved into the other branches of elemental jutsu until after the fourth Shinobi War, mainly due to focusing on his primary element wind. He figured with his diminished chakra of his counterpart training in other elements was made easier, and less destructive.

One thing everyone noticed about the blades was that despite their elemental composition being water, they were not dissipating from the heat of Raiser's flames. There wasn't even a bit of steam coming off them.

"It takes a lot of fire to disperse proper water infused chakra." Tsunade stated, getting a nod of agreement from Kushina "Though I don't know how elemental chakra will react with the powers and magic of your dimension."

As everyone was trying to figure out when Naruto had moved and Koneko was blinking as she realized her head was no longer being pet, Naruto spoke up in a voice that was very casual, but had an underlying hint of steel in it. "I would suggest that in the future, you refrain from threatening Rias' peerage. I don't take threats on my family lightly." The blade near Riser's throat came close enough to graze skin, hissing slightly as water met fire. "Understand?"

Rias would never admit it, but the sight of Naruto threatening the pompous bird, while holding him at knifepoint was hot. Hot enough for her to lick her suspiciously dry lips.

Riser eyed the blade near his throat, frowning. For a second, he upped the power of his clans fire, but all that did was cause Naruto to pump more chakra into his blade.

Very soon, the heat within the room became overbearing as Riser did his best to dissolve the water blade. In return, Naruto narrowed his eyes and began pumping even more chakra into the blade to keep it's form and consistency.

Minato narrowed his eyes at the output of energy, making note that his son's counterpart was having a difficult time keeping up with the escalating confrontation. Due to his diminished chakra reserves no doubt.

His teeth were grit and several beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he was forced to put more chakra than he had originally intended into his water blade. The heat Riser was producing only compounded to his problems. It was getting harder to breath, and sweat was starting to get into his eyes. He was also beginning to run out of chakra.

If this kept up, Naruto knew he was going to be the first one to give in. Riser had more power than he did...for the moment.

The blonde Uzumaki frowned, wondering just what the hell had taken so much of his counterparts chakra and, apparently, had done something with Kurama.

Thankfully, before Riser could decide to up the ante anymore, Grayfia stepped in.

"Enough," she spoke in a calm, but cold voice that had many of those in the room shivering despite the heat. "Riser-Sama, I believe I told you to calm down."

"Naruto, that's enough," Rias added. No sense in adding fuel to this already intense fire.

"I guess you did," Riser let his flames dissolve while Naruto's water blades dispersed.

"Tch." With a small "tsk" of disappointment, the blond Uzumaki walked back over to Koneko, sat down, and pulled her back into his lap. Pretty soon, the cute first year was purring in delight as Naruto worked her ears over good and acted as if nothing had happened.

Needless to say, the sweat drops were in abundance.

Said sweat drops, along with a certain red-headed heiress' annoyed glare, were replicated by the group.

"Sirzechs-Sama suspected the situation would become like this. If neither of you can settle this with words, then we will have to resolve this issue with means of a last resort."

"Last resort?" Rias looked at Grayfia in bland confusion, which soon turned to shock upon the beautiful woman's next words.

"Rias-Sama, if you're going to be so insistent with your wish to not marry Riser-Sama, then you will have to settle this with a Rating Game."

"So basically a fight for your freedom eh?" Kushina asked, getting a nod in response form Rias. "Well, we are just going to have to make sure you can defeat that pompous ass into the dirt." The bloodthirsty smirk on the Uzumaki matriarch face was unnerving to say the least. It didn't help when the same smirk made its way onto Naruto's face was well.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Naruto decided to interrupt. "But from my understanding only adult Devils can compete in a Rating Game. Rias has not yet risen to the status of an adult, so how could she compete in one?" Naruto narrowed his eyes as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Or is this going to be an unofficially sanctioned game?"

"It is as you say," Grayfia bowed her head towards Naruto in acknowledgment. "While Rias-Sama cannot participate in an official match, it's perfectly legal for a non-adult Devil to participate in unofficial matches."

"Most of the time those that do participate in rating game before they come of age are preparing themselves for their official battles." Rias stated matter of fact.

"That you are even suggesting this option means that father and the others have already thought of the possibility of my refusal and have made all the necessary preparations for the game to take place." Rias' eyes closed tightly. "Tell me, how long are they going to keep interfering with my life until they are satisfied?"

"Does that mean you refuse to participate?"

"Of course not," Rias straightened up. No longer was she projecting the image of someone who was lost and unsure of what she should do. Instead she was giving off the aura of someone who had made a decision and was going to see it through to the end. "There's no way I'm going to pass up an opportunity like this." She turned to the man who claimed to be her fiance, eyes narrowed in a tight glare. "Riser Phenex, I challenge you to a Rating Game in order to settle this dispute."

"I have a feeling that my own rating game will be one for the records." Rias said with her smirk one of surety, having bene infected by Naruto's attitude.

~KatCHRP~

With the Challenge thrown down, Riser had no choice but to accept the Rating Game. Not that he had any reason not to. It was clear to everyone that he was favored to win, not just because he was a fully-matured Devil, but also because he had far more experience in Rating Games than Rias. He accepted the challenge with glee, and even went so far as to give Rias and her peerage a ten day grace period they could use to prepare themselves with.

"Oh the pleasure of wiping that glee out of his system will be entertaining." Kushina muttered, thinking of various seals that could counter the innate fire ability that Rider apparently had.

Naruto knew why the asshat had given them those ten days. It wasn't a magnanimous offer or anything of the sort, but a jab at Rias and the strength of her peerage. He was basically telling her it didn't matter how much they trained; she would still lose.

"Not with us around." Naruto stated, pulling Rias in for a reassuring hug. Though spontaneous the heiress melted into the embrace with a small smile on her face.

This did not concern Naruto. If anything, it just pumped him up even more. He was not going to let some douchebag who thought he was the biggest thing since Uchiha Madara get away with insulting his King or his friends! When the time came for the Rating Games, he had every intention of kicking that guys sorry ass from here to the Elemental Nations or his name wasn't Uzumaki Naruto!

Kushina and Naruto snickered at his counterparts thoughts, while Minato and Tsunade gave small smiles at the similarities between mother and son. The devils themselves were amused and happy that their counterparts had someone like Naruto with them.

"Come on, Issei! Hurry it up!"

A snicker managed to escape his lips as he heard his King calling for the perverted second year student and currently the weakest member among their peerage. The day after Rias issued Riser a challenge to a Rating Game, the red-haired heiress to the house of Gremory had decided to take them up to a secluded villa in the mountains so they could train without people getting suspicious. Apparently, her family owned the area they would be staying at.

"Hope they have a good groundskeeper." Tsunade stated, earning a groan form Naruto and a questioning look from Rias. "The gaki's training tends to destroy the area he is in."

Rias robotically tuned her head to face a blushing Naruto, before the two's eyes met.

"You are filling any holes I find."

"Yes Ma'am."

Just how rich did someone have to be to own a mountain anyways? Seriously, Rias' family must be loaded.

Naruto was actually pretty pleased with this turn out. Having been forced to stay within the city limits, he had not been able to practice his more powerful and destructive jutsu. He had been wanting to see what he could and could not do without worrying about the collateral damage his attacks might cause.

Naruto made a point of not looking at Rias' direction, though he could fell the irritation from Rias and the amusement from his grandmother and parents. It wasn't his fault that every technique he had been taught was destructive!

Some he knew were still out of reach due to chakra requirements. For example, Naruto did not have enough chakra to use the Rasengan yet―just getting the damn thing to form took most of his reserves. Pumping a constant amount of chakra into the jutsu to let it keep its form was damn near impossible―but with some more intensive training, that would change.

Naruto frowned at the point that he wasn't able to use the rasengan, his fathers and later his signature jutsu. It was one of his favorite tools to use, and had been incorporated into much of his battle style.

He did not believe he would be able to get up to the level he had been at the height of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, but Naruto at least wanted to be at the level of a Jonin. That was his goal for the next ten days. Train his ass off and become at least as strong as the average level Jonin.

"Just like your father." Kushina commented, snickering at the look of indignation on her husband's face. Though Minato sighed as Naruto and Tsunade joined in for their own amusement.

"Shouldn't we help him?" asked a worried Asia. The young blond girl looked back and forth between Rias and the nearly dead on his feet Issei. Said boy was currently trying to hike up the mountain they were on. Trying being the keyword in this instance. The poor boy looked like he was about to drop right then and there. "I mean, he's carrying all my luggage as well, so it would only be right for me to help out too, right?"

"Don't worry about it," Rias waved Asia's concerns away. "If Issei can't even handle that much, then he'll never get any stronger. And speaking of handling a lot of weight..." the red head's eyes turned to Naruto, "just where is all of your stuff?"

The image of Naruto on the screen showed him without any luggage, though he did have someone on his back. Akeno giggled into her hand as Rias Grumbled about disobedient servants.

Kushina cooed at the image of Naruto carrying the neko girl up the mountain, while Minato and Tsunade gave the blonde Uzumaki teasing smiles.

"Sealing scrolls," Naruto absently patted the kunai pouch attached to his left hip. "One of my specialties is called sealing. With it, I can seal things like items and various objects inside of scrolls. Some people who are really good at sealing can even seal energy, elements and people within a seal, though I'm not that good yet." He had been getting there though. He could seal energy at least, though the seals were unstable and would break at the slightest miscalculation.

Minato and Kushina sent their son sympathetic smiles, having one through the same thing on their way to becoming seal masters themselves.

It was a very good thing he used clones to practice sealing and not himself. The explosion that had literally blew his clone apart when it had first started practicing making energy seals had been no joke. It still gave him nightmares.

"Ara, ara, I've never heard of sealing before," Akeno actually looked very interested in his abilities. "What type of magic is that?"

"It's not magic," Naruto corrected. "It's jutsu. Fuinjutsu, to be exact. It's a ninja art that some humans can learn."

"Chakra ability," Koneko added.

Everyone looked at Koneko, who blushed a little at the embarrassment form being the center of attention. "Yokai have something similar."

"Huh, wonder if my counterpart will ever meet one."

"That's right," Naruto tilted his head back so he could nuzzle his cheek affectionately against Koneko's. The girl purred in repressed pleasure as she rubbed back. "I knew there was a reason I loved you!" Rias twitched while Koneko blushed. Akeno did her "ara, ara" and Naruto...well, he wasn't even paying attention to the reaction the others were giving. He was a little too busy lavishing praise and...erm, affection on Koneko. "I'm surprised you knew about that. I didn't think anyone here would know about chakra."

The neko girl dared not look at the screen, more than a little embarrassed with her counterpart's actions. Though she did secretly wish to be in said counterpart's position.

"I see," Rias clenched her fist into a tight ball as she tried to resist the urge to grab Koneko, toss her into a deep pit and then pinch Naruto's cheek hard enough that it became red and swollen. You'd think she'd get used to it after watching it happen so often, but nope, it still bothered her like nothing else. She made a mental note to keep those two as far away from each other as possible during this trip. "I take it you did the same thing to the items Koneko was carrying?"

"Yep."

"I see, I see," Rias repeated. "Just one more question. Why are you carrying Koneko on your back?"

Naruto and Kushina could only laugh at the pout that was on the heiress' face at the moment. Which got even louder as Koneko gave a victory sign while purring from another pet.

"Because I felt like it," Naruto answered with a beaming smile that made Rias grit her teeth in irritation. Naruto was her servant! Not Koneko's! He should be carrying her like that! No, wait, he should be carrying her in his arms!

Rias was mortified at her counterpart's thoughts, and grew more embarrassed as Ksuhina gave her another appraising look.

Like a lioness and a piece of meat.

Rias blinked, then shook her head. Where did those thoughts come from?

"Oh, that reminds me," his finger's gently squeezed the powerful thigh muscles he was holding to keep the girl from falling off, "are you comfortable, Koneko-chan?"

"Fine," Koneko purred as she pressed her face against the back of his neck. "Warm."

Rias grit her teeth. Neither Naruto nor Koneko noticed, but Akeno did, and she was nothing if not amused.

"Ara, ara."

Akeno shared her counterpart's amusement, even more so since Kushina kept looked between Rias and Naruto with a calculating gaze.

"I think I've been told that before," Naruto looked thoughtful. "Baa-chan once told me that my body is always running at 130 degrees all the time. It's actually the reason I've never been sick before."

"I didn't think it was possible for a human to have a temperature that high," Rias frowned. "Wouldn't you die long before your body reached that temperature?"

"Probably," Naruto replied cheerfully. He was completely oblivious to the large drops of sweat running down Kiba's, Akeno's and Asia's head. "But I've always been different from other people. Even back when I was a human people thought I was weird. This is just one of those things I sort of accepted that was different about me."

"To be fair it's not the weirdest thing I've seen or heard of in the Shinobi world. Some of the shinobi from Kiri, a place infamous for its swordsman, have peculiar features such as shark-like teeth and even gills. I think one of my teammates allies could turn into water at will." Naruto commented, earning some peculiar looks from the devils.

"Okay so maybe not that weird." Rias responded.

"I see," Rias said softly. She guessed this was just one of those mysteries that let her know she still didn't know Naruto as well as she wanted to.

At least they had a whole ten days in which she could get to know him better.

"Come along, Koneko-chan! Our training awaits!"

If she could separate him and Koneko, that is.

"Aah, but their so cute together." Kushina whined, amused at the heiress' reaction. Naruto had to have gotten his pranking side from somewhere after all.

~KatCHRP~

The place Rias had them staying at was just as extravagant as Naruto suspected it would be; a beautiful looking, several story Western style mansion with dozens of windows and cream colored walls. Naruto could not judge how large it was, but it was definitely bigger than the old school building their clubroom was located in.

"Impressive." Tsunade commented, having traveled enough to have seen extravagant palaces of several lords and ladies. Kushina nodded, memories of the impressive Uzuzmaki clan building coming to the forefront of her mind as the video went over the mansion.

It was surrounded by a just as gorgeous garden that looked like someone had spent their entire life cultivating and pruning it. From where they were standing, Naruto could see a Greek Gazebo next to a pond filled with crystal-clear blue water. Behind the estate itself was a large copse of trees that led into a deep forest of viridian colors, presenting a pleasant background to the majestic looking mansion.

Naruto smiled at the natural beauty of it, his inner gardener in awe at the care that had gone into creating such an image of serenity.

According to Rias, this place was a summer home that her family rarely ever used. It was just another reminder of how wealthy her family was that they could afford their own summer estate and never live there.

Almost as soon as they arrived at the estate and put all their stuff away, Rias had them get started with training. She had Kiba work with Issei to teach him how to wield a sword. In her words, giving Issei experience with weaponry would not only help him learn how to fight a weapons user, but also add another means of fighting to his arsenal.

"Not to burst your bubble but Issei is more like me, a front line brawler." Naruto stated. "Trying to teach him how to use a sword is like-"

"Teaching Naruto how to be a proper gentleman when meeting foreign diplomats." Tsunade finished for Naruto, earning a grumble of 'it's boring' form the blonde himself.

Unfortunately, it wasn't going as well as she had probably hoped. Issei was hopeless as a swordsman. He had no coordination, his grip was too soft, his swings too slow and he completely lacked the grace, power, and speed required of someone wielding a blade. The only thing the young man had going for him was sheer determination, and that could only take a person so far.

Naruto had learned that the hard way.

He still had the scars to prove it.

Said blonde resisted the urge to rub at the scar on his chest, one of the few that still had phantom pain whenever he thought about it.

While Rias' Pawn was unsuccessfully trying to learn his way around a blade, Naruto had decided to ask Koneko for a spar.

Koneko had turned her complete attention to the screen as the two fighter appeared on it.

Which was how the two of them found themselves in a forested section several dozen meters away from everyone else. It was here that Naruto realized Koneko was quite the little fighter. He had seen her in action before, when she was fighting that giant rogue devil, but it hadn't quite sunken in just how powerful she was until now.

Naruto jumped back as the white-haired first year landed on the ground he had just been standing on, the heel of her left foot smashing into the earth with great force. Large chunks of rock and gravel were up-heaved and the ground shook like it had been struck by a mini-cataclysm. The surrounding area from the center of impact cratered and several large cracks spread out from where Koneko's foot had struck, lifting up even more of the earth to create what almost looked like miniature cliff faces.

Tsunade looked at the teenager that was sitting in her grandson's lap, impressed by the power her strikes held, though she did notice a fatal flaw in the neko girls fighting.

A whistle escaped Naruto's lips as he saw the damage done. Had that attack hit, it would have surely done some fierce damage to him. It definitely would've rattled his bones and organs, and might have even been enough to kill him provided it hit him somewhere his body was weak, like his ribs or his neck.

It seemed his thoughts on Koneko's physical prowess were correct. The girl had all the strength of Tsunade.

Tsunade smirked, having a good idea of where Naruto's counterpart was going with this. Koneko glanced at Tsunade before going back to watching the spar between her and Naruto, while his thoughts were read out loud.

Of course, saying she had Tsunade's strength was a bit of a misnomer. Physically speaking, Naruto would say that Koneko was just as strong as Tsunade physically. With a single punch, Koneko could cause the ground to crater, the earth to split, she could destroy boulders like they were made of onigiri and was capable of lifting and throwing objects that were fifteen times her weight and several times her mass. In a perfectly physical sense, they were probably about the same.

Koneko sent Naruto a questioning look at his counterpart's thoughts. Naruto merely shrugged and looked back to the screen, unknowingly sharing Tsunade's thoughts at the moment.

At the same time, Tsunade would have kicked the cute little girl's small, shapely ass six ways to Sunday. While there was no clear difference in their physical prowess, their fighting styles were another matter entirely.

As strong as Koneko was, she was also predictable. Too predictable. Her punches were entirely linear, coming in projected arcs that even a genin could see them coming from a mile away. They were also very slow, allowing Naruto plenty of time to weave his way between her strikes and get a few shots of his own in.

"That will be one of the things we will work on as we train you." Naruto said, having a good idea of how to get the rook up to par with said genins. Koneko merely nodded, content with the knowledge that Naruto would make her stronger for her king and fellow peerage members.

To put things simply, she lacked the battle experience that made fighting against the woman who would go on to become Godaime Hokage such a nightmare.

Tsunade merely smirked, more than happy that her strength still impressed the gaki.

A second after the dust that had been kicked up by Koneko's latest attack began to settle, the girl in question jumped out from the crater she had caused, hopping over the uplifted pieces of earth and landing on the ground close to his position. Almost as soon as her feet touched the ground, the girl with amber eyes charged him.

Naruto watched Koneko throw a punch the moment she was close enough to do so. Her execution was perfect. She brought her fist in tightly against her torso, hand clenched into a fist, palm pointed towards the sky. When she released, the fist corkscrewed as her arm extended towards him. It was a textbook Chamber Punch, executed so perfectly Maito Gai would have cried manly tears and shouted about how Koneko was in the springtime of her youth.

The four shinobi shuddered, more than happy that they had Kakashi as a scapegoat half the time when it came to interacting with the 'youthful' jonin.

It was also far. Too. Slow.

Like water as it flowed around the rock in its path, Naruto dodged the attack. His right foot moved as he pivoted ever so slightly to the right. At the same time his left hand came up and redirected Koneko's hand, pushing it wide. The move not only served to redirect her strength, but with her forward momentum being as great as it was, it also did a splendid job of knocking the girl off balance.

"It's alright Koneko-chan! That's what training is for." Naruto said as he playfully poked the girl in the forehead. The girl herself was amused as she turned her attention back to the spar, hoping ot gain some more insight as to how the shinobi would provide training for her.

She stumbled forward while Naruto slid into her guard, his fingers poking her in the underarm, clavicle and her neck at the base of her spine in quick succession. Then he was past her, his stance relaxed as the girl halted her forward momentum, fist still extended, eyes blinking as she realized her opponent was no longer in front of her.

She turned around to see Naruto standing there, watching her with eyes that were much sharper than the kind and slightly goofy ones she was so used to.

What had just happened?

"A very one-sided spar at the moment. Minato supplied, earning some snickers from Kushina and Naruto. Avoiding the rather adorable pout he was expecting Naruto brought both hands to massage her scalp, earning a fresh wave of rather louder than necessary purrs.

Shaking her head, Koneko came at him again, this time unleashing a barrage of punches, none of which hit Naruto. The last member of the Uzumaki clan was like the wind. He never stayed in one place. Constantly, the young man with the spiky blond hair moved, weaving and dodging each attack like he knew they were coming long before the attack was even executed.

Rias and Akeno watched with rapt attention, in slight awe at the speed and grace that Naruto's counterpart moved. If this was him at low strength what would he be like at his maximum?

The thought was rather enticing for both devils, though Rias restrained herself from showing anything that would lead to her thoughts. Something that her queen did not share if the licking of her lips was any indication.

Sometimes his hands would move as well, flashing up and knocking Koneko's strikes away from his body, thereby redirecting and disrupting the flow of kinetic energy and making the girl stumble. When this happened, he would poke her in the areas that would be considered 'kill points' on a person if he were to stab them with a kunai, then move passed her. It was only after six minutes of this happening over and over again that Koneko stopped attacking and stared at her sparring partner with surprised eyes.

"How do you keep dodging me?" It was her longest sentence to date.

Naruto just gave the neko girl an amused grin in response.

"That's not the question you should be asking," Naruto told her. "You should really be asking how come you can't hit me." He took a look around at the numerous craters and cracks in the ground from her misses. A good deal of her attacks had left craters that were at least two or three feet wide, some that were even a meter wide, and the cracks looked like miniature trenches that were caused by earthquakes splitting the earth open. "All of your attacks were perfectly executed, textbook attacks. The problem is they're far too predictable to hit someone who is much faster than you."

"Seems Kitsune-kun isn't the only one to worry about eh Buchou?"

Rias had closed her eyes at some point, a noticeable twitch in her eyebrow as she took a deep breath. She wasn't annoyed that her rook and the blonde had torn up a portion of her families land. She wasn't annoyed. She was above such petty feeling as annoyance.

Several purrs made the twitch in the heiress' eyebrow even more noticeable. It didn't help that her queen was giggling into her hand at Rias' attitude at the moment.

Rather than wonder why he seemed to know so much about fighting, Koneko merely accepted it and asked the obvious question. "What should I do?"

"The first thing we need to do is work on getting your speed up." Naruto rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "I have a few ways to do this, but I think the best one is to use weights on your arms and legs to increase your speed. I normally wouldn't suggest this, but as you're a Rook and their power is absolute defense and incredible strength, it will work the best for you. You won't ever be at Kiba's speed, but you don't really need to be either. This is just to give you that added 'oomph' so you can surprise your opponents."

Koneko nodded.

"It's a good start." Minato commented, proud that his son could come up with an effective method of training the girl to enhance her ability in battle. Naruto smiled at the praise from his father, warmth suffusing him at the words coming from him. It had always been a dream of his to hear praise from his parents, a dream that had seemed out of reach for so long until the Pain incident and the Fourth Shinobi War.

It made the story even better by having his parents here.

"The second thing we need to do is work on finding you a style that fits your body type and abilities." Looking her up and down for a moment, Naruto nodded to himself. "You're very cute."

Naruto tensed up, not believing that his counterpart would be so…no. No, he could easily believe that he would say something like that. Noticing his mother sending him an amused look he decided to glance down the girl her had just bluntly complimented, though he quickly had to look away before he did something he considered unmanly.

The blush on the neko girl's face made an already adorable look several times cuter. So cute that Naruto had almost squealed in delight at the image that would forever remain with him.

Koneko blushed at the very blunt compliment to her looks. Not that Naruto noticed, busy as he was in his sensei mode, which was, ironically enough, reminiscent of how Jiraiya acted when he taught Naruto. "Most people would either be taken in by your cuteness, or underestimate you because of it. You could easily use that to lure people into a trap. Let them attack you first and use your absolute defense to withstand their first blow. Once you do, you can grab onto their offending limb and from there you have a whole slew of attacks available for you to capitalize on."

"Ah, I see were you're going." Kushina stated, looking to her son. "With her already impressive strength adding some grappling and counters would allow her to control her fights even better." Naruto nodded, having come to the same conclusion as his counterpart. It would be an effective style for the strength focused rook.

Having been part of the war against Uchiha Madara, Naruto had seen a number of different fighting styles in play. He remembered one of the smaller shinobi he had rescued from the Zetsu clone army fought like that.

"Trap them?"

"Yes, for example, throw a punch at me in slow motion."

Koneko did as asked, once more punching at him, but it moved so slowly that even to a normal human it would look like her fist was going in slow motion. The attack connected as Naruto did nothing to stop it. But as soon as it did hit, he grabbed onto her forearm and stuck his hand to her limb with chakra.

"You see this? Now that I have you in my grasp, you're options are very limited. You could attack with your other hand, of course, but if I were a Rook, the only way such an attack would work is if you were another rook; any other piece aside from maybe a queen would need room to create an attack strong enough to break your defense. And unlike you, I actually have several avenues open. I could hit you with a straight jab to the face, or attack with an open palm to the torso, and because you're already coming towards me, any attack I launch will strike with that much more force. I could also use my feet, kicking you in the stomach or stomping on your kneecaps. If I wanted to, I could even trip you up and attack while you're down."

By this point the rook was taking notes, having been given a pen and pad from Theodore. She saw the benefits of learning how to do this, even more so if she was going to help her king win against the burned chicken.

To give her an example of what he was talking about, Naruto's foot suddenly shot out. His toes hooked itself against the back of Koneko's knee. With little warning he yanked his foot back, forcing the knee to give out at the sudden and unexpected force.

Because the knee was a Synovial Joint that could only bend in the direction Naruto had forced it to without removing the kneecap and Koneko had no time to prepare for the attack, the silver-haired female's entire body was forced to bend backwards.

Not even a second later, Koneko found herself lying flat on her back, Naruto straddling her stomach as the knuckles of his right fist just barely touched her nose.

"Impressive demonstration gaki." Tsunade commented, knowing that while Naruto could be a bit childish at times he had a certain knack for strategy and training that not many Shinobi had. Though some credit had to go to his parents and teachers, the perverts they may have been.

Naruto just beamed, soaking up the praise as he helped Koneko make notes for further use.

For several seconds, the two simply lay there, Koneko blinking up at Naruto with lightly flushed cheeks as the blond boy grinned down at her. The seconds passed, Naruto waiting just long enough for his sparring partner to realize what had happened before he got off her and offered his hand, which Koneko accepted.

"You see what I mean?" asked Naruto. Koneko nodded.

"Take the first punch, grab on, and attack while they're too surprised to react."

"Simple and effective." Rias commented, happy that she had a good idea on how to train her rook. Now if only it would shift to a certain perverted pawn…

"Exactly," Naruto was grinning widely as he placed a hand on her hair and scratched her right ear. "You're a quick learner. It took me many beatings from my old sensei before I learned anything."

Koneko flushed from his praise...and the way his hand scratched her ear. It felt so~ good!

Koneko blushed, embarrassed that her thoughts had been laid out for everyone to hear. Especially her fellow Queen and king. The blondes chakra was just so addicting!

Naruto looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. "Anyway, it's getting late. Rias should be done training Ise by now. Let's go back."

The pair soon made their way back over to where Rias was watching Issei getting beaten by Kiba. Just looking at the boy getting slaughtered as he swung his sword like a half crazed maniac made Naruto shake his head.

Said head shake was replicated by Kushina, who had to hold in a growl at the non-existent swordsmanship. Being an accomplished kenjutsu practitioner it was painful to see something of this….it was painful. Let's leave it at that.

Swordsmanship was clearly not Issei's forte. Not that he could say it was his either. The last time he'd tried using a sword, Naruto almost ended up cutting his own head off as opposed to his enemies.

Kushina groaned as she remembered when Minato himself had tried to learn kenjutsu. Effective to say it went pretty much the same way that Naruto's apparently had gone.

"How's his training going?" asked Naruto as he walked up to Rias, Koneko trailing behind him.

"As well as can be expected," she sighed as Issei once again tried to hit Kiba to no avail. The blond pretty boy managed to glide around the swing launched his way with simplistic ease and attack Issei from behind, striking him lightly in the neck. Had this been a real battle and Kiba using a real sword, Issei would have been a head shorter.

Rias winced, worry for her newest peerage member and his non-existent battle skills coming to the forefront.

"I don't think this type of training is going to work for him," Naruto declared. "Issei's not a swordsman: he's a brawler. Trying to impose elegance on his movements is like putting Udon noodles in Miso soup and calling it ramen. Just because you mix noodles and soup together in the same bowl doesn't make it ramen. Without the proper ingredients and additives, Udon noodles and Miso soup are just that."

"Exactly." Simultaneous responses from three people sounded out. Everyone else gave the two parents and son perplexed looks, before deciding not to comment on it. The addiction was apparently genetic after all.

"That's...a really interesting analogy," Rias spoke with a large drop of sweat running down her face. She shook her head at the very Naruto comment and tried to get back on track. "So what would you suggest?"

"You have him and Asia training with Akeno after this, right?" asked Naruto. Rias nodded. "And I'm guessing Koneko is going to have a hand in training him during the afternoon?" Another nod. "I want to train him after dinner then, when the sun goes down."

Naruto had a smile appear on his face. One that Rias instantly assumed her pawn would have run away from at a moment's notice. It was even weirder when his counterpart had the same smile.

"I suppose I could let you do that," Rias said contemplatively, casting a side glance at him. "May I ask what you're going to train him in?"

Naruto smiled.

It was not a very nice smile.

"Survival Training."

Issei, who was trying to dodge Kiba's latest series of attacks, shivered...which led to him getting smacked in the face. As he rubbed his nose, the boy could not help but wonder: why did it suddenly feel like the Shinigami had come to claim him?

"Naruto," Rias said, looking at the boy with pleading eyes. "Please don't kill my cute servant."

"I won't kill him." Naruto said lazily before adding "Just nearly."

Elsewhere Issei unknowingly shared his counterparts shiver of fear, before heading to another contract.

~KatCHRP~

Issei grumbled as he walked through the sea of trees. He'd had a trying day so far; constantly losing to Kiba, conjuring only a tiny sphere of magic while Asia conjured a baseball sized one, getting his ass kicked by Koneko. There was no end to the tortures he had gone through this day, and that wasn't even the worst of it. No, while all that was humiliating, the worst training by far was what Buchou made him do.

She had him running up a mountain! With a boulder tied to his back! While she sat on it! And then she had him do three hundred push ups! And he had still been wearing that damn boulder! His back was killing him! It felt like his spine had been snapped in half!

"Ah, a whiner." Kushina stated, before a wicked grin appeared on her face. "It will be enjoyable to watch this."

Minato had to restrain the shiver of fear that ran down his spine, remembering when his own genin team had received the wrath of his wife in the form of 'Training from Hell 101'. After that particular training session, complete with him having to carry each genin to their homes, he had always made sure that those who received genins that could possible grate on his wife's nerves avoided her.

And now, after eating a large dinner, Rias had told him to go into the forest near the estate for his last lesson of the day. What more could they try to teach him? Hadn't he already been tortured enough?

Apparently not.

While walking through the dense foliage of trees, Issei failed to watch where he was stepping. Because of this, he didn't even realize he had stepped on something until a loud 'twang' alerted him to that fact.

Looking down, Issei could see something glinting in the moonlight. It looked like a...

"Steel wire?"

The wire snapped, and suddenly over a dozen kunai whizzed out from where they had been hidden deep within the foliage.

"Hiiiii!"

Issei dodged the attack by belly flopping onto the ground.

Rias' eyed widened, whipping her gaze around to Naruto. The blonde Uzumaki was restraining himself form laughing out loud at the image on the screen. She even noted that Koneko had an amused look. Already guessing her sadist queens reaction she growled at Naruto "I thought you said you wouldn't kill him."

"Counterpart." Was the blonde's cheeky response.

This proved to be a mistake as he suddenly felt several sharp, pointy somethings impaling his butt cheeks with incredible force.

"Gya!"

Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore, laughing at the absurd position the pawn had gotten himself in. His laughter was joined by his mother, with Akeno giggling at the image. Rias herself let out a few chuckles, but still worried about her pawns safety at the blonde's rather 'pointy' training.

Squealing like a little girl, Issei reached behind him and grabbed one of the sharp objects. A quick yank pulled it out. The pain made him wince, but he tried to ignore the sharp stinging in his ass and brought the object to his face.

The object was a very thin, steel needle. Senbon. Used for acupuncture. What the hell?

The crunch of booted feet alerted Issei to the presence of someone else coming towards him. He tried to stand up, but his butt was feeling strangely numb. In fact, he couldn't feel much at all around his hind area.

A fresh wave of laughter emitted from the two Uzumaki's, though Akeno had stated to blush heavily at the image of Issei and an apparently numb hindquarter.

Oh the jokes that could be made.

Spiky blond hair came into view, and a pair of amused blue eyes looked down at him. "Good evening, Ero-Debegame."

"You!" Issei roared. He tried to stand again, but once more only succeeded in landing flat on his face. "What the hell is going on, idiot-blond!?"

Rias had to hand it to her pawn. He certainly knew how to make a situation worse for himself.

"I've decided to help you get stronger," Naruto said, smiling a very eerie smile that instantly put Issei on edge. For some reason, that smile was making the hairs on the back of his neck raise. What was this strange fear he was feeling?

"Ara ara, could it be the fear of a certain kitsune?" Akeno commented, earning an amused smirk from said nicknamed blonde.

"Maybe." Was Naruto's oh so eloquent response.

"Eh? But you're a new Devil like me, right?" Issei asked, trying to get over the almost overwhelming sense of "holy shit, I have to get the hell out of here!" that seemed to have overcome him. "How could you help me get stronger? You should be just as strong as I am!"

"Wrong, unlike you, who grew up living a normal life with a normal family, I grew up being trained to fight since I was a child. I know combat, I know fighting, I know how to kick ass, take names and stick it to the man! And I am going to teach you what I know."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Through blood, sweat and tears." Naruto added. Rias had a good feeling that her pawn would come out better for this.

She really, really hoped.

Woah. Who knew that Naruto was actually some kind of child super solider? Maybe those rumors he had heard through the Kuoh Academy grape vine about the spiky-headed blond being a former assassin that used to be employed by an Italian Mob Boss had some truth to them.

"…..your guy's teenagers have some weird ideas." Naruto commented.

Rias deigned not to answer, having been the subject of rumors herself.

Despite himself, Issei actually began to feel a bit excited. Perhaps Naruto would be able to help him get stronger. At least he should be able to, if the blond was as strong as he claimed.

"What are we going to do?" asked Issei, wincing a bit as he finally managed to stand up now that he had pulled all the senbon from his ass. Feeling was beginning to return, and he was starting to wish it hadn't. "Sparring? Sword fighting? Magic battle? Exercise?"

"I suppose you could say this is an exercise of a sort," Naruto answered vaguely. "You see, I am going to try to kill you. All you have to do is not get killed."

The slowly morphing look of confusion to fear was extra enticing to Akeno, who wished that the video had stayed on the 'survival training' that Issei's counterpart was undergoing.

….

….

"...Eh?"

~KatCHRP~

Early the next morning, Naruto took Koneko out to the same forested clearing they had been sparring in the other day for some more training.

It looked much different now than it had yesterday. The previous day it had simply been full of craters, upturned rocks, and large cracks. Now it was also littered with sharp, pointy objects and blood splatters on the ground and trees.

"Well… at least he's still alive." Rias sighed, deciding that it was for the best. Issei had to start somewhere after all.

"What happened here?" asked Koneko.

"I was training Ise."

"Ah."

Since this was caused by Issei getting trained, Koneko decided to ignore the blood and weapons. They were simply signs that Issei was still weak, which she already knew.

Koneko nodded, agreeing with her counterpart. Naruto chuckled before thinking of the various scenes of hilarity from Issei's 'Survival training.

"I managed to get the weights for you."

Koneko looked at Naruto in surprise. "Already?"

"Yep," the blond grinned as he handed her a two pairs of bands, one pair that went on the wrists and another that went around the ankles.

Both Kushina and Minato smiled as they noticed the seals on the weights, more than happy that their son had taken on fuinjutsu like his parents.

"What are these?"

"Sealed bands," Naruto answered. "See those seals right there," he pointed out the strange kanji and symbols that went around the entirety of the bands. "These seals add weight, though it would be more accurate to say they seal away the speed you can attack at. They will make it feel as if your arms and legs are wading through jelly and will force your muscles to work harder in order to compensate, thereby increasing the speed you can attack with. Just by keeping these on you can increase your speed nearly two-fold in just under a week."

Noticing the awed expression on the devil's faces Minato continued. "Seals are commonly added to weights in the Elemental Nations. Those that adapt to the higher regular weights can't necessarily carry around blocks of metal, especially during missions. Seals became the solution really quickly, though it differs on what the person is trying to train."

Naruto had never told anyone this, but Jiraiya had used these seals when he had been refining the horrid mess the blond Uzumaki called taijutsu. They had only used this type of training for two months. The human body was not made to withstand that kind of abuse, but two months had been enough to bring his taijutsu up to par with most chunin and jonin. The rest of his hand-to-hand talent had come from experience.

The three older shinobi frowned at the fact that Naruto had received a less than satisfactory education and training before he had become a shinobi. Rias and Akeno frowned, wondering why it seemed that Naruto's childhood had been hard, to put it lightly.

"Useful," Koneko said as she slipped the bands on.

"I know," Naruto grinned. "Anyway, I want you to wear these everywhere you go except when taking a bath. This way, you'll get stronger even when you're not training. At the end of the first five days, we'll take them off to see how far you've progressed and get you accustomed to your new speed, then put them back on the last five days."

"Too bad you didn't have more time." Kushina commented. She was interested in seeing the results of Koneko's training. She then quickly realized that she could easily see the same results when they trained the devils here.

No one questioned the sadistic smirk that appeared on Kushina's face as Minato kept reading

"Sounds good."

"Okay then, hold out your hands."

Koneko did as told and watched as Naruto channeled chakra into the bands. At first Koneko did not feel anything, but after several seconds her arms dropped to her side without warning. She tried to move them, but found that just making them move at all it was very difficult. It felt like they were stuck in a very thick, quick drying cement.

And then he did her legs. Just making them move after that became a task in and of itself. She could hardly even lift them.

The image of a struggling to move Koneko produced more than a few chuckles at her expense. The girl in question merely shrugged them off, far more invested in the story to worry about anything else.

Except the petting. It was just that damn good.

"There," Naruto stood back up and clapped his hands together once. "Once you're capable of moving around in those, we'll start sparring again."

"Okay, Naruto-senpai."

Koneko began to walk around, looking almost like a spaceman on the moon except without the near zero gravity to make her float. Each movement she made was incredibly slow, as if someone were watching a movie at a mere twentieth of it's normal speed.

The shinobi chuckled, remembering their own times with that training method. Minato and Kushina remembered when Obito had accidently made it so he couldn't raise himself from the ground, an event that would forever remain hilarious.

Naruto thought it was one of the funniest things he had seen in a while. Not quite as funny as watching Issei flounder about while he threw kunai at the boy, but definitely up there.

~KatCHRP~

Rias sighed as she sat up in her bed, unable to sleep. Ever since coming to this place she had been feeling restless. Despite how upbeat and optimistic she had been acting for the past few days, the truth was she had been very worried. Even though they had ten days to get ready, there was simply no way to know if that would be enough time to prepare her peerage to face off against Riser. She didn't even know if she would be ready to face Riser when the time came.

The same worry was still going through the heiress, despite the promise of help form the Shinobi and Naruto. She took a deep breath before refocusing on the story.

Deciding that if she couldn't get to sleep, she would at least try and do something productive, Rias slipped out of bed and put a sheer night gown over her naked form. Slipping on a pair of slippers and grabbing her glasses and a folder of documents that were sitting on her nightstand, she walked out of her room and made her way downstairs.

She found a surprise waiting for her there.

"Naruto?"

"You always were restless when it came to certain things." Tsunade said "Most of the times it was when you were hitting an obstacle with your training."

Naruto groaned "I get enough lecturing from Sakura don't I?"

Sitting on the couch with a calligraphy brush in one hand and several sheets of paper splayed out across the table was her most enigmatic servant. He had a serious expression on his face, not as grave as the one on the night she tried to make him take her virginity, but definitely stoney enough that she could not help but think it didn't belong there. She couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked like he was studying something.

"She is right." Kushina said, grabbing her son's attention. "That expression just doesn't belong on my son. Maybe a certain redheaded girl could get another expression out of him?"

Kushina giggled at the reactions from both Naruto and Rias. It was just so amusing to get them to blush the same shade as Rias' hair!

"Hmm?" Naruto looked up, a grin crawling onto his face when he saw her. "Good evening, Rias. Couldn't sleep?"

"Unfortunately not," Rias shook her head as she finished walking down the stairs and moved over to the couch he was sitting on. "I thought you were training Ise?"

"I am," Naruto told her, making her blink.

"How could you be training Ise if you're here? And just where is Ise anyway?

"Shadow clones and Survival training." Was Naruto's immediate response.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer―

"OH GOD! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE THE PAIN STOP!"

"BWAHAHAHAHA! RUN YOU SCURVY PERV! RUN! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

―When a shrill yell of imaginable horror and pain made itself known along with what sounded like the insane laughter of the damned accompanying it.

"You are having way too much fun 'training' my pawn."

"Hey, at least it's fun." Naruto cheeringly responded. Several more screams sounded through the screen before attention shifted back onto Rias and Naruto's counterparts. Personally Naruto wanted to see just what his counterparts clone was getting up to.

"Issei is currently training with my clone," Naruto informed the red-haired beauty, who was looking around for the source of the scream in worry. It was so loud she couldn't tell where it had come from!

Rias heard a certain queen's panting and decided rather quickly she shouldn't look at her best friend at the moment. She had already had enough images of 'Horny and sadistic' Akeno for a lifetime.

"Clone?" She shook her head and stepped behind him to see what he was doing. It looked like he was writing something. Hundreds of strange squiggles lined the paper in conjunction with a very old dialect of Kanji. The squiggles looked like they were forming some kind of pattern, a spiral perhaps?

Minato and Kushina recognized several of the kanji that Naruto was writing. It only took a few seconds to realize what he was trying to do, and the two seal masters could only grin as ideas for their own seals came to mind.

They had promised to help Rias, and they never said they couldn't take advantage of their skill in fuinjutsu.

"It's one of my abilities," he elaborated. Rias watched as he set the brush down and brought his hands into a seal that looked similar to a cross. He muttered a quick "Shadow Clone Jutsu" and Rias watched on in surprise when a burst of smoke appeared to her left. When the cloud dissipated it was to reveal a perfect replica of the blond sitting on the couch. The clone gave a cheeky grin, blew her a kiss, then dispelled.

"Stupid clones." Naruto muttered as he gained a fresh blush.

"It's a chakra based ability. Ninjutsu. What I do is split my chakra evenly. The half that was split is used to make a corporeal copy of myself."

What an incredible ability. Rias could only marvel at how useful such a thing was, especially if he could make more than one.

Both Naruto and Tsunade snorted. More than one? Shadow clones and Naruto were the definition of overkill.

"They're not very strong," Naruto added as an after thought. "One good hit will cause them to dispel, and right now I only have enough chakra to make five, so I have to use it sparingly. They're mainly used for reconnaissance and stealth operations."

Rias nodded as she listened to him, curious to learn more about his abilities. She had heard of chakra, of course, but generally it was a type of energy found in Yokai, not humans. How Naruto could use chakra was beyond her.

"Yokia?" Naruto asked as he turned towards Rias.

"Yokai are being like Koneko that are based in Japan. They are distinguished by their traits, from the crow-like tengu to their leader, who is a female nine-tailed Kitsune. Koneko-chan here is a nekoshou, a relative of the nekomata race."

Rias was too busy explaining to see the Shinobi tense up at the mention of a nine-tailed fox. Naruto was glad that Kurama was apparently asleep at the moment as he would never hear the end of a female version of Kurama.

That would be a good prank for later.

"So what's this?" asked Rias, gesturing towards the strange symbols he had drawn. She had to admit, Naruto had great calligraphy. Each stroke of the brush appeared to be masterfully done, reminding her of some of the greatest calligraphists she had read about in her history class.

"I asked Akeno about what she knew of the Phenex clan's power," he said. "She told me how they're able to regenerate near instantly from even fatal wounds. This," he gestured, "is my attempts at trying to create a seal that will take away that healing ability."

"Which we will be developing to give you an extra 'oomph' at you own ratings game." Kushina commented. Rias' eyes widened as she tried to wrap her head around an instance of being able to strip the damned degenerate of his clan's power. It would be a game changer, to put it lightly.

"Sealing can do that?" asked Rias, amazing.

"Sealing is nearly limitless in its application," Naruto told her, paraphrasing something Jiraiya once said to him many years ago. "A true master of sealing can seal away anything. Items, power, elements, you name it. With seals, one could even seal away certain aspects of the world, like time for instance, or alter the very reality upon which the world was built."

The three trained fuinjutsu users smirked at the looks of awe from the three evils. It was not every day that you received looks of awe from being involved in that branch of the Shinobi craft.

"I never knew such a powerful technique existed," Rias whispered in awe. "Can you do that? Seal away time?"

"Hahahaha! No," Naruto shook his head as he laughed a bit. "I'm just a novice in sealing. My godfather taught me what he could, but we had focused more on my fighting potential than seals."

"I see. Do you think you can do it, then? Seal away Riser's ability to regenerate?"

"Oh easily." Kushina said, a bloodthirsty smirk plastered on her face. If Rias had not hated Riser for being the pig he was she might have felt a little sorry for him.

"Maybe," Naruto bit his lip as he studied the sheets in front of him. "It's hard to say. Sealing is all about finding the right combination of kanji and combining them with various symbols and lines of power in order to seal something away. In some ways, sealing is almost like its own language. For example, if I wanted to seal a specific item, the kanji would have to be something like 'to seal a steel broadsword of 54 inches in length and weighing 5 kilograms' or something like that. In order to seal Riser's ability to regenerate, I have to come up with the right combination of kanji and combine them with the correct symbols of power and various lines that will direct the flow of that power into the seal."

"It sounds pretty complicated," Rias said honestly as she slid next to him on the couch, placing her own documents on the table.

"Good thing my son inherited the Uzumaki prowess when it comes to seals." Kushina stated. If this was what her son's counterpart could accomplish with minimal training in fuinjutsu, she had no doubt he could have become a master if he had received the proper training.

Something she was going to involve herself in to better her son's already massive potential.

"It is," Naruto agreed, "And unfortunately, the only thing I'm positive is correct about this seal are the symbols." He pointed to two very specific shapes that Rias would recognize anywhere, even if the kanji used was really old.

"Fire and wind?"

"Yes. Because Riser is from the Phenex Clan, he specializes in fire and wind. They are his elements. Thus, if I want to seal his regeneration, I need to seal his elements."

"A good start, but I would add a suppression seal in case he has impressive strength. I assume devils have increased attributes such as speed and strength?" Minato asked, having already taken out a notebook to form ideas for the seal they would need to write.

"Yes. The higher a devil the more his base attributes are. Riser might be a tad weaker since he relies on his clan's flame so much." Rias informed them, excitement at the prospect of being able to seal the pompous bastard.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something," Rias told him. He looked at her and she smiled. "I have faith in you."

"Thank you," Naruto offered a smile of his own before gesturing towards the folder. "So what's that?"

"This is Riser's official Rating Game record," Rias said, putting her glasses on before opening the folder and grabbing the sheets inside. She turned to Naruto to show him the records, only to blink as she found him snickering at her. "What?" she frowned. "What's so funny?"

An amused smile touched Naruto's lips. "What's with the glasses?"

Rias blushed. "I feel like wearing glasses helps me think better, okay?" she mumbled. Naruto chuckled, causing her face to heat up.

Rias whipped to glare at Naruto, who was holding in his chuckles. "Oh, that's so cute!" Kushina exclaimed, startling the heiress as Kushina brought the girl into a one-armed hug. The speed at which she had moved was fast. Faster than many of the knights she had seen in her time viewing rating game.

"I'm not making fun of you or anything. I think it's cute."

Her face heated up some more. "You do?"

"Oh yes," Naruto nodded sagely. "You're very attractive in glasses. You give off that sexy librarian vibe I remember reading about in this book once." Icha Icha Librarian. A classic. Why he didn't get into his godfather's literature until later on in life Naruto would never know.

Naruto's eyes widened, before feeling the waves of feminine fury coming from his grandmother.

"Other me!"

"I know Jiriaya! He could have made you a pervert without you ever realizing it!"

As the two bickered back and forth Kushina snickered at the fact her son had essentially mad the girl sitting next ot him shutdown in, what she assumed correctly, were rather risqué role-play situations. Minato continued after rolling his eyes at his son and wife.

"And here I thought you weren't a pervert," Rias muttered slyly.

"I'm not."

"Then what you?"

"A healthy and virile young male."

Rias' lip quirked upwards. "Isn't that the same thing?"

"Fortunately, no." Minato said, remembering when Jiriaya had inadvertently explained the differences.

"No," Naruto shook his head. "A pervert is someone who shamelessly peeks on women, whether that's looking up their skirts on the train ride or peeking on them when they're changing in the girls locker room. They have no respect for a woman's privacy in their quest to see a nice pair of tits."

"So, like Ise then?"

"Or Jiriaya." Tsunade muttered, her feminine fury appeased at the moment.

"Yes, like Ise," Naruto nodded. "I, on the other hand, would not peek on women while they're changing, bathing, or getting dressed."

"You stare at me when I'm getting dressed plenty."

"Kind of hard not too when you get dressed right in front of my counterpart. In the same room. With apparently little to no shame."

Rias didn't like the look she was getting from her rook at the moment. It was somewhere between the one she would give Issei for being a pervert and when she had inadvertently taken one of her sweets.

"And you get dressed right in front of me," Naruto shot back. "I would also like to add that you're the one who sneaks into my room and night and snuggles into my bed naked."

"Would you rather I not?"

"I didn't say that."

Koneko transferred her gaze to Naruto, with a hint of betray for extra measure.

This light-hearted banter continued on for some time before Naruto decided to switch topics.

"So what are we looking at?"

"Nothing good," Rias sighed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Riser's been in 10 official games. Of those games he only has 2 losses to his 8 wins, and those losses were on purpose as favors towards certain clans for past services rendered. He's essentially won every single game he's played. Of course, the reason he won isn't due to the strength of his peerage, but rather his immortality." She narrowed her eyes. "Really, that's what it comes down to. He uses his servants to gauge the strength of the people facing him, then once all his members are defeated, he uses his immortality granted to him as a Phenex to overwhelm them."

"Ugh, I'm suddenly getting flashbacks of opponents like that." Naruto muttered, remembering Hidan and the various edo tensai that he had come across in the fourth shinobi war.

"I knew a guy kind of like that once," Naruto said thoughtfully. "He didn't have any regenerative powers or anything, but he was immortal."

"Really?"

"Oh yes, I remember how hard it was to beat him. You could chop his head off and he'd still come after you. Nothing we did seemed capable of bringing him down."

Naruto growled, remembering that the bastard was responsible for Asuma's death. While he had not known the jonin that well, it had affected his friends greatly, though revenge was theirs in the end.

"So how did you beat him?"

"Blow him up and bury his remains in a hole," Naruto said bluntly.

Rias sweat dropped.

"Unfortunately, while entertaining, it would not put Riser down for the count."

"Admit it, you do want to blow him up.

"…maybe a little." Rias said, rolling her eyes at the knowing grin on Naruto's face.

"I was wondering, Rias. I know you don't like that Riser guy much. Honestly, I just met him and I can already tell he's a grade A Douchebag in need of a good ass kicking. But your dislike of him seems so much more personal." Naruto looked at the girl who had given him a purpose again, his azure eyes meeting her bluish-green. "Is it because of the marriage contract?"

Rias leaned forward to watch the screen. She had a feeling the next scenes would get a lot of her chest.

Rias sighed. Her lips turned down and her eyes seemed to dim in sorrow as she remembered why she hated Riser. "It's because he only sees me as a Gremory." She brought her knees up to her chest and looked down at the table. "No matter where I go, the Gremory name always seems to follow me."

Kushina smiled sadly at the Gremory heir, her own experiences with only being recognized as "the last Uzumaki' painted a good picture of what the young devil was going through.

"I get it," Naruto said in sudden realization. "Even though you're proud to be the heir of the Gremory clan, you feel like your trapped by the clan name. Everywhere you go it's 'Gremory this' or 'Gremory that' or 'Heir to the Gremory Household.' Everyone only ever sees you as Rias Gremory, not just Rias. When Riser looks at you, he only sees the Gremory Clan Heiress." Naruto looked at Rias, grinning widely as she gave what she was sure was an expression of dumb amazement. "Am I right?"

Rias slowly looked up to Naruto, tears forming in her eyes. Koneko had vacated her spot on Naruto's lap as he scooted closer to Rias.

"While I personally don't have experience being a stuffy noble." Rias chuckled as tears started to fall "I know a few people that felt that way. You could say I experienced the opposite of that."

Naruto brought the girl into a warm and comforting hug as he continued. "I share your pain Rias. Wanting recognition not because of who you're related to or the circumstances around you. Like my counterpart no doubt does, I see you as Rias, a beautiful girl that's been shoved into a bad situation, and one that even with the short time we've met have created a bond with."

Acting on impulse the blonde Uzumaki placed a gentle kiss on top of Rias' head, earning a squeal of excitement from his mother as Rias melted into his embrace.

She didn't care what the story said at the moment. Staying in this knucklehead's arms was the best feeling in the world, complete with a pleasant tingling sensation from where he had kissed her hair. After so long she had finally found someone who didn't see her as Buchou, president, one of the great ladies of Kuoh and even the Gremory Heiress.

She, no doubt like her counterpart, was falling for Naruto.

"Yes..." Rias breathed, shocked. "How did you know?"

"I knew someone like you once," Naruto smiled with a hint of nostalgia. "He was a little boy by the name of Konohamaru. His grandfather had named him after the village we lived in, Konohagakure no Saito."

"The Village Hidden in the Leaves?" Rias raised an eyebrow. "You're village sure makes up some unusual names."

"Oi!" Naruto exclaimed, amusement in his tone.

"Oi, don't be dissing on my home village's name!" Naruto scowled in mock anger, causing Rias to giggle. The blond dropped his scowl and grinned before continuing. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Konohamaru. I bet you think it's an odd name, right? One that would be easily recognizable?" Rias nodded. "And it was, but no one ever remembered his name. Everyone always called him 'Honorable Grandson.' This is because Konohamaru was the grandson of the Third Hokage, one of our most celebrated village leaders, who ended up retaking the position after the Fourth died. So in spite of his name being something that people should remember out of principle, it being such a weird name and all, no one even knew it. All they saw was the grandson of the 'Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage.'"

Rias chuckled at the similarities to her situation. And that name!

"So what happened to this boy?"

"He wanted people to remember who he was, and decided the only way to do that was to step out from underneath his grandfather's shadow. He decided that he was going to become Hokage, and he worked tirelessly towards that goal. Day in and day out he trained for the sole purpose of becoming the village leader so people would stop looking at him as the Honorable Grandson and start seeing him as Konohamaru."

Naruto mumbled, though Rias was able to pick up something about a hat?

"Did he ever become Hokage?"

"I don't know," Naruto shrugged helplessly. "I left the village when he was just a brat. By now, he's probably only around fourteen or so."

"Oh..." Rias sighed.

"You seem disappointed with my story," Naruto observed.

"No, it was a good story. I was just hoping for something more."

"Like?"

"Yes Buchou. Like?"

Rias had the urge to blast her queen away, but decided the warmth of the embrace she was in was enough.

Rias gave a wistful smile. "Oh, you know, something like Konohamaru triumphing over all the odds by succeeding in becoming Hokage, or something to that affect." Her smile left and she sighed. "I guess I was hoping to hear something that would let me know that what I want isn't hopeless. That maybe, just maybe, I can get people to see me for who I am and not what House I come from."

In response to her words, Naruto reached out with a hand...and flicked her ear.

"Don't you dare." Rias warned Naruto, who slowly lowered his hand back on the small of her back.

"Ouch!" Rias rubbed her ear and cast him a mild glare. "What was that for?"

"For being stupid," Naruto told her. Rias gawked at him. "I feel like you've forgotten all about me."

"Huh?" It was not the most elegant statement she had ever made, but then, she was confused. Some slack must be given in this instance.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I don't care if your last name is Gremory. I wouldn't care if your last name as Phenex either. To me, you've always been Rias, the girl who found me when I was just going through the motions and gave me a new purpose in life." He gave her a smile that reached his eyes. "And let me tell you, that Rias is pretty damn awesome."

"She sure is." Naruto said, purposely looking into Rias' eyes as he said it. Apparently the blonde wasn't as dense as everyone made him out to believe.

We can all dream, I guess.

It was probably one of the only times Rias had ever felt herself become this speechless before. For the longest time she had searched for someone who would see her as just Rias; not Rias Gremory, or even Buchou, simply Rias, with no titles or last names attached. Even if it was just one person, she wanted to find someone who would see her for her. For who she was rather then what she was. She had almost given up hope.

Rias smiled as she leaned her head onto Naruto's shoulder, warmth suffusing her from the contact. She was happy her counterpart had found someone like Naruto and, devils be willing, that she would have him as well.

And here was a boy whom she had rescued from death, who told her that he saw her as Rias, that he saw her. That he didn't see the titles attached to her name, or the famous clan that came with being who she was. That he didn't care about what she was, but rather who she was. That he liked just Rias.

Thinking on it, Naruto had always called her by her name. He never called her Buchou like the others, never called her by her last name. Because in his eyes, the only thing that mattered was Rias the person, not the clan heir or the club president.

"Eh, too formal for my tastes." Naruto responded, getting a chuckle form everyone. Minato sighed as he sent a smirk to his wife, knowing very well who he had gotten that trait from

Rias felt her face warm up. A heat like never before spread across her cheeks. She was sure her face had reached a shade of red never before seen on her or any being be they devil or otherwise.

Her heart began beating faster. It felt like a war drum was pounding a frantic beat in her chest. Her breath hitched in her throat and her chest felt like it was about to burst.

Kushina sent a knowing smirk Rias' way. She had the same reaction when Minato had rescued her form the Kumo-nin, especially when he told her he had found her because of her pretty hair.

Rias had pretty much come to the same conclusion as her counterpart in regards to her feelings for Naruto.

And as these things happened, Rias began to wonder. It had not even been a month since Naruto joined her peerage. He was still such a mystery, perhaps even more so than ever before with all the new discoveries she was making about him. It shouldn't have been possible to feel this way for someone she had just met, someone she had only known for a grand total of three weeks. Yet the feelings in her heart were undeniable.

Rias was falling in love with Uzumaki Naruto.

Akeno smirked as she turned to her King, intending on teasing her best fiend for this particular moment. She stopped when the look on her kings face showed peace and happiness for the first time in several days.

It had nothing to do with the look of retribution on a certain Uzumaki matriarchs face, promising pain and sorrow for ruining this moment.

~KatCHRP~

The rest of the training period passed by in a blur. Naruto helped Koneko by sparring with her once she had gotten used to the sealed weights. They had decided not to take them off even though her training had come to an end, and instead have him teach her how to deactivate the seals so she would be able to catch her opponent off guard. As a Devil, Naruto figured she should be capable of withstanding the intense weight of the seals, and it worked out well since she was the only one aside from him who could use chakra.

"It would be interesting if those weights could be developed to be used by devil's." Rias mused, thinking it a possible idea for her pawn.

Issei's training was going as well as could be expected. He wasn't progressing by leaps and bounds, but that was okay. Everyone moved at their own pace. The important thing was that a late night talk Naruto had with the boy after one particularly violent beating had inspired Issei to do better. Rias did not know what was said, but the results from it were more than obvious.

Naruto had a wondering look on his face, as he had several ideas of what he could have said to the boy to get him inspired.

Naruto had no clue how Asia's or Akeno's training went. He wasn't as good of friends with them as he was with Koneko. Asia hung out with Issei most of the time and Akeno tended to do her own thing.

Kiba did as well, but Naruto wasn't sure he needed any training. At least, not in his Knight abilities. The few spars they had together showed that the boy knew how to play to his strengths well.

Rias nodded, knowing that Akeno and Kiba would improve upon their own strengths. Naruto's ability with chakra made him a shoe-in to help Koneko, though she wanted to make sure her pawn hadn't gone crazy with the apparent hell he had gone through under Naruto's care.

His late night talks with Rias continued. After their first heart to heart, they had taken to meeting in the living room, just sharing stories about their childhood. Naruto told her about the pranks he had played and how he had always been getting into trouble at the academy. Rias had a good laugh at some of his stories and shared some of the things she had done when she was younger.

The image of Naruto and Rias talking on opposite ends of one of the couches had a homely feel about it. The unrestrained happiness and joy at sharing stories was frozen on their faces, making everyone smile a little at the image.

Of course, Naruto did not neglect his own training either. He just trained farther away from the others.

Much, much farther away. He didn't want anyone getting caught in one of his techniques.

"You better not have destroyed more of the forest." Rias muttered. Naruto deigned not to respond, knowing that he probably did. He got very destructive when he went all out in training.

The knowing smile form his grandmother didn't help either.

Naruto felt like he had just finished running four hundred miles without stopping for food, water or rest. His body hurt in places he didn't even know could hurt. His legs felt like led and his arms were probably broken in several places. Not to mention his knuckles looked like they had been shattered by that last punch he did.

None of that mattered.

"Why are some of my shinobi so stubborn when it comes to injuring themselves?" Tsunade moaned. First it was Naruto, then Rock lee. She swore those two were in the hospital more than twice a month on purpose.

Grinning as he ignored the pain caused by raising his arm to keep the sweat gathering on his brow from falling into his eyes, Naruto looked at the gigantic crater in the ground before him. A crater that was over five meters across.

A crater that he had made with his own hands...hand.

Kushina snickered at the look on Rias' face, one she had seen when she had gotten up to something destructive from Mikoto. Naruto was sweating under the devil girl's gaze, which only made her snicker more. Minato shook his head with a smile on his face, thinking along the exact same lines as his wife.

It was strange. Despite the amount of effort he put into learning the secret to Tsunade's and Sakura's super strength, he had been unable to get it right. No matter how hard he worked, he just couldn't get the proper amount of chakra necessary to use the strength technique. He always ended up causing the tenketsu on his knuckles to burst in a most painful manner. However, Naruto had always been an unconventional fellow, and from his many failed attempts, he'd managed to create something just as good.

Well, maybe not just as good, but pretty damn close.

"Leave it to you to develop something along the same lines as my technique." Tsunade said, more proud than anything at the tenacity of her adopted grandson.

It would not be ready in time for the fight with Riser, unfortunately, the technique was too unstable and did more damage to him than it was worth. That was okay though. He had other aces up his sleeves. One day he would master this new ability, and then he would use it to push his way onto the path of becoming the strongest Devil in the world, no, the entire universe!

"And leave it to you to set a goal so high it's in the clouds." Tsunade said, chuckling at incredulous look she was getting from Naruto.

"It's not in the clouds! I'm becoming Hokage, aren't I?"

"Kakashi beat you."

Naruto's response was to grumble about his 'perverted sensie'.

"Ha... ha... I did it. I finally did it." Grinning, the young man with spiky-blond hair and sky-blue eyes pointed a single finger up at the sky above. "Just you guys wait! With this technique, I'll become the strongest devil ever! Dattebayo! I'm gonna...gonna..."

His eyelids started to droop, along with his shoulders.

"...I'm gonna go to sleep now."

Exactly one second later, Naruto fell backwards. He didn't even stir as his head smacked against hard, tightly packed dirt. Not even a groan.

Minato and Kushina burst out laughing, the image of their son's peaceful and dirt caked expression just perfect at the moment. Tsunade shook her head, remembering several times he had fallen asleep at the training field, usually dragged back by….Anko.

She finally had an explanation as to why even after a peaceful night of sleep the blonde Uzumaki would arrive with bags under his eyes after Anko took him home. She would defiantly be bringing a certain snake mistress into her personal office for a certain discussion.

Meanwhile in Konoha said certain snake mistress shivered in cold fear as she was browsing the lingerie section of the store, having picked up a rather risqué orange bra and pantie for her favorite blond. She felt that getting a mission out of Konoha for a while would be in her best interest.

Uzumaki Naruto slept the day away in a large five meter crater.

Rias would be very displeased when he showed up ten hours later, looking like someone had buried him alive.

"And probably tracked dirt through the house."

"I think you mean mansion."

"….There better not be any dirt on those expensive carpets and furniture."

~KatCHRP~

Deep within a castle located in Hell, a meeting was being held between two individuals. These two people were beings of incredible power, ultimate class Devils who were considered the pinnacle of their kind. One stood in front of the other, who was seated on a large dais with a throne-like chair.

Grayfia stood before her master and husband, her hands clasped in front of her as she gave her report on the events that had transpired between Rias and Riser.

"I see," Sirzechs smiled as he sat on his chair, his head resting on the butt of his hand. "So it went down exactly as I thought it would."

"Yes."

Rias' eyes grew wide at the conversation taking place between her brother and sister in law. She had felt that both her brother and parents had abandoned her to this marriage. To discover that her brother had been planning for her to settle this with a ratings game….

She owed her brother and parents some apologies.

"Hmmm. I expected nothing less from my little sister. It's just like Rias-tan to act like that." Sirzechs was silent for a moment. "What do you think of her chances?"

"I don't think she has any chance of beating Riser," Grayfia answered immediately. "He has too much experience over her and his pieces are much more powerful. Only the Lightning Queen would be able to put up a true fight against Riser's peerage, but she's just one person."

Rias frowned, but it quickly turned to confusion at the bloodthirsty grins on both Naruto and Kushina.

"Not if we have any say in it dattebayo!" There was silence as the verbal tic seemed to echo before a snort of laughter erupted from Rias. With the tension broken Akeno continued to read.

"Do not be so sure that Rias will lose," Sirzechs told his wife, the smile on his face growing wider. "My sister has one ace up her sleeve that could prove to be the deciding factor in this Rating Game."

Grayfia frowned. "You are referring to Uzumaki Naruto, yes? What's so special about him that you would think he might actually be the key factor to Rias' victory? If anything, I would have said the wielder of the Red Dragon Emperor Gauntlet would be the deciding factor, were the one wielding it not so weak."

Rias groaned, knowing that relying on Issei was, at best, a shot in the dark. Had she more time get Issei up to par with some of the weaker pawns she had met, it would be a better chance at winning. It was time that, unfortunately, she did not have.

"Naruto is a rather unusual case. His name does not appear in any records within our archives, nor does he appear in any records in the human word. He is not an Angel or a Fallen Angel either. It's almost as if he just appeared out of thin air."

"I'm not sure I follow."

The confusion on everyone's face became apparent as Akeno had stopped to look at the scene in the video.

"What, where is your brother going with this?" Naruto asked.

"I…I might have an idea. But that would be absurd." Rias muttered at the end, not really sure if her thoughts were correct.

"He seemed to appear out of thin air because he did appear out of thin air," Sirzechs watched as realization began striking his wife's eyes. With a smile large enough to show teeth, the Lord Satan spoke again. "To be more specific, he tore a hole straight through the gap between dimensions and appeared in Hell almost four months ago to this day."

"No way…" Rias mumbled, shocked at the circumstances leading to Naruto arriving in her dimension.

"I take it this 'Dimension Gap' is not someplace that people come out of." Minato stated as Rias shook her head in shock.

Akeno eventually responded, though it was laced with a little bit of fear and awe. The Dimension gap is a space between worlds, a 'void zone' if you will. Without some sort of magical protection being cannot survive there for more than a few seconds. For your counterpart to have survived…"

As she paused she turned to Naruto, awe and wonder in her gaze "Just how powerful are you Uzumaki Naruto?"

"It's a long story." Was Naruto's quick response before he motioned for the book, noticing that the end of the chapter was in sight. Akeno narrowed her eyes before looking back to the book.

"So that's why you had me personally register him for school." Grayfia's eyes widened. "Does that mean...?"

"Yes." Sirzechs just barely managed to withhold a laugh as he looked at his wife. "He did, and anyone who can survive the dimensional gap with Great Red and come out intact is bound to hold a few surprises."

As Akeno finished the chapter the book floated back to Margaret, who had stood up as another velvet room attendant had appeared next to her.

"Ah Elizabeth. I take it negotiations are complete?"

"Hai sister."

Minato raised an eyebrow "I take it your talking about Naruto and us helping Rias and her peerage?"

"Indeed." Margaret nodded as she held out the paper, which appeared as a mission scroll from Konoha. Taking the croll Minato unrolled it as Tusnade and Kushina leaned in to read as well.

Mission: Aid and Training of Rias Gremory and peerage

Rank : S due to crossing of dimensions and training involved.

Mission details: Konoha shinobi Uzumaki Naruto is requested to help train one Rias Gremory's peerage for the purpose of a ratings game between Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex. Training is up to Requested shinobi to determine at time of mission. At the conclusion of training period Uzumaki Naruto will then aid Rias and her peerage if the need presents itself during the ratings game, which is to take place in 20 days. Pay is to be delivered on the completion of ratings game.

Contracter: Sirzechs Lucifer.

Passing the scroll to Naruto the blonde Uzumaki Naruto grin stretched to foxy proportions as he handed it off to Rias. After giving the scroll a cursory glance Rias raised her eyes to Naruto, a grin of her own in place. Everyone's attention was brought back to Margaret at her polite cough.

"Due to the next chapter detailing the ratings game I think it would be best to leave the chapter for the end of the training period." Everyone nodded in agreement, before Rias let out a yawn. Despite thinking how cute and rather sensual the yawn was Naruto himself felt tired, wondering how long they had been here.

"I believe it is around night time in your respective universes. The training room will be ready for you upon your return."

With everyone separating, Minato and Kushina staying in the velvet room, Rias grabbed onto Naruto's sleeve, getting him to pause.

"Do you….have a moment?"

"Of course." Naruto moved off to the side as Tsunade left, though Akeno and Koneko waited for their King.

"I was wondering if you would like to spend some time in my universe." Rias stated, a small blush on her cheeks. A little shocked at the request Naruto turned to Margaret. The blue velvet attendant smiled as she responded.

"You would be able to cross a few days over the twenty, but we'll have to make sure there is enough latent energy for you to participate in the Ratings game."

"So that's a yes." Naruto said as he turned back to Rias. "So amybye in a few days after we get the training schedule down?"

"Sure. I'll see you then Naruto-kun." Rias said as she almost skipped to the exit. Koneko had waves of jealousy coming off her before Naruto rubbed her head.

"I'll bring sweets for you as well Koneko-chan." The neko girl nodded before leaving, leaving Naruto to exit on his own.

Konoha Nighttime

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he looked over the training schedule he had written up for Koneko and Issei. While his counterpart had some good ideas, he had more resources to up their training to new heights. As he pushed himself away from his desk the seal on the front of the Uzumaki/Namikaze compound let him know that a person had used the seal combination to gain access. It was not a moment later that Anko had draped herself over Naruto, a saucy grin on her face.

"So I finally found you my favorite fox."

Naruto chuckled as he turned around and brought Anko into his warm embrace, arms going around her hips. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you so my sensual snake."

Anko groaned at the rather corny comeback, before smiling again. "So can I interest you in a little before mission sex?"

Naruto looked into her eyes, confusion awash through them. Anko furrowed her brow, the confusion in his eyes making her confused, and a little anxious.

"Anko." Naruto said after a moment of staring into each other's eyes "What exactly are we?"

"What-" Anko gulped as she continued "What do you mean?"

"There's some people that I might have feelings for." Naruto answered "And though I might want to explore my feelings with them but I wanted to know what we were."

Anko searched his eyes before sighing as she led him to his bed. Disentangling themselves to where only their hands were together Anko took a deep breath before answering.

"I-I don't know where to start. The first time I met you at the chunin exams you were this little orange abomination wearing brat. Then you came back and this whole business with Akatsuki started. Even so you didn't push me away when I dragged you to share dango with me. Then you saved me along with so many others during the war. I think the last thing that made me think of you as more than just a fellow Shinobi was removing my cursed seal. Well, the remnants anyways."

As she slid the trench coat that she always seemed to where she brought his hands up to where Orochimaru's curse mark had been, even after his subsequent revival through it. Tears were flowing from her eyes as she continued. "To be honest I don't know when I started to think of you as more than a good friend and, admittedly, a good partner.

Anko laid her head on Naruto's chest, his heartbeat creating a steady rhythm as she whispered the last words, knowing his enhanced hearing would pick it up. "I love you. Have for a while."

Anko raised her head before laying a gentle kiss on his lips, which he responded to immediately. As the kiss got more heated Anko pushed him down, their lips only leaving each other as they both ran out of breath. "And as for other girls interested in you." She leaned down to whisper in his ear, her hot breath tickling his ear. "I don't really mind."

The shocked look on Naruto's face quickly gave way to moans as Anko got to work on her favorite blond. Never had Naruto been so grateful for het silencing seals he had created when he and Anko had started their meetups.

The training schedule could wait as Naruto was doing his own form of stamina training.

---

So before i get any flak for not staying cannon this is my own version of Naruto. I'm trying to create a world out of a reading story, something which i honestly just kinda wrote into.

Not to say i'm having a blast writing it this way.

For the next chapter its either going to be a reaaaly long one, as the next chapter is the longest one by far. Its either a long chapter or an interlude before they read the chapter and have their own fight with Riser. I will defiantly be writing that as a separate chapter all by itself. If you Basically the inerlude would be the pre-writing before the chapter reading, so Im leaning towards just separating them.

In other news my other stories will, hopefully, have an update before the end of the year. Ive been gathering resources to be correct (I know its fan fiction but i still respect the work that went into each series)My other stories include:

Ninja among Thieves / Persona 5 X Naruto

A Prince and a Red Reaper / RWBY X Final Fantasy 15

Guardians of hte Effect / Destiny X Mass Effect

The Yondaime's Brother / Naruto

A Rider in Azeroth / Warcraft X Inheritance cycle

The Workshop Hunter / RWBY X Bloodbourne

If any interest you i hope that you favorite and review. In other news i'm hoping to hear fomr sevreal authors about hte possibility of doing reading stories for thier works. The few that i have in mind are

Shinobi of the High Seas by Kenchi618

The Tides Change once More by Engineer4Ever while discontinued is an excellent story

Remnant's Maelstrom Shinobi by MothBallz. While several reading stories exist, they have not updated in a while

A New World, The story of a lost Shinobi by Lanky Nathan. one of my personal favorites.

Any others that you all could think of please Pm, or if you just have questions or want to discuss. Please don't bug the authors about it. Also if anyone knows a good artist i could commission for story logos i would very much appreciate it.

Light preserve you

SandewrPally