"Oh! Naruto-kun, could you raise it up a little higher please?"

"Like this?"

"Perfect!"

Naruto grinned down at the smiling old woman, thumbing her up while simultaneously balancing himself on the very edge of the tipping ladder with one leg. An act that was impressive in itself considering just how high up he was.

"I'm coming down, granny!" he warned before promptly jumping off and landing in a quiet crouch. "You're all set! Just be careful when putting any plants up there, I don't want you to fall and break a bone."

The woman somehow ignored his feat and shook her head, her eyes crinkling up as she outright beamed his way. "You don't have to worry about me. Old I may be, but granny can take care of herself just fine! I used to be quite the lass back in my day you know!" she pointed to a small picture frame in the corner, where a much younger blond woman was smirking at the camera. "A real beauty too!" she cackled.

Naruto had to admit, she was pretty. He let out an appreciative whistle and winked.

"That you were, granny. You're still a looker though!"

The woman laughed happily and reached up to pinch one of Naruto's cheeks. Pulling on the skin and stretching the odd scars over them as he verbally protested. Her honey comb eyes lingered over those marks for a brief second before she let go.

"Oh aren't you the suave one." she cooed.

"Come on, I'm not a kid!" he frowned and rubbed his sore cheek, "Man, you've got one helluva a grip though."

"Hehehe, don't think I was just a pretty face either!"

"Wouldn't dream of it..." Naruto trailed off with a sour look.

The two walked side by side with Naruto towering over the little old lady like a giant as they made their way back inside the house.

"So, Naruto-kun, I can't help but notice..." she began, watching the blond dust off his shoulders of imaginary dust before taking a seat, a peculiar smile on her wrinkled face, "that there's this odd feeling coming from you. Something that was certainly not there the last time I saw you. I can't quite put my finger on it though... Hmm, very strange indeed. It almost feels like someone's marked you as a target!"

Naruto's eyes nearly bulged.

That's one hell of an intuition! Well, she wasn't wrong...there was the case of his newly acquired stalker. He grinned nonetheless. "What makes you think something weird like that, granny?"

In those nearly closed eyes, an odd twinkle spoke to him. Like she knew more than he did about his own situation.

"A woman of my age sees many things, my boy. Age is the only route to true clarity after all, and these old eyes of mine have seen much." Even as she spoke, the woman could see it looming over his shoulder.

An unseen evil. Wicked and black and churning about like a snake. Licking at his lobe and neck with barley contained glee. He could not see it, but she could.

"I've looked after you for some time now, Naruto-kun, you instantly caught my eye the very second I saw you after all. With your bright personality and willingness to help, you're rather hard to miss. In fact, I have grown very fond of you! So please, do be careful. This city has seen better times as of late. Why, just last night I was watching the news and..."

Naruto — to his credit — was doing his best to keep up his grin.

Here she goes again... he thought to himself as she went on and on about the dangers of the world.

This woman — who he met nearly a year ago, who's name he did not know but affectionately referred too as granny nonetheless — she was an odd one, to say the least. Not that he could judge of course. Their meeting was not a weird one. Not at all. He merely answered to her ad requesting an able hand for the more backbreaking labor she was too old to do now. From there, their relationship basically took off.

Naruto felt mildly comfortable around her and she helped keep him fed, among other things. Truthfully, this nameless granny and that park were about the only friends he had in this new world.

That woman is eccentric, I have to agree. Kurama spoke up, And she always seems to be one step ahead of the curb. Don't you think?

Yeah...but, we're the definition of odd and out-of-place ourselves.

Not what I meant, but whatever.

The fox went silent shortly after, leaving Naruto to gradually come back into the one-sided conversation he didn't even know he was having.

"—and that's why I can't help but worry. My husband and I never had kids, and you're like a son to me. I just don't want anything unfortunate to happen to you or that sunny smile of yours. It really helps brighten my day, I'll have you know!"

Naruto blushed at the praise. "Don't worry! I can take care of myself. I've had plenty of unfortunate things happen," if only she knew the half of it, " and I'm still kicking! Besides, I'm a regular guy just trying to make it in life! No one's gonna pay any attention to me!"

The granny smiled, and Naruto felt those normally carefully concealed emotions stir for the briefest second.

"Aye, my boy. An average person you may be, but you shine impossibly bright for someone so dull, Naruto-kun. In the end it's bound to get you noticed by someone..." she trailed off, her smile suddenly looking a little forced.

She stared hard at him for a long second and Naruto idly realized that this was the weirdest she had ever acted. The second he walked through the doors today, she instantly froze up upon seeing him. Like she had seen a monster or a ghost in his place. And then she just kept staring at him — and, for whatever reason, it felt as if she was staring at something else entirely.

"Just..." she paused, as if searching for the words "just be safe. If anything happens you come to me and we'll work it out, okay?"

At his nod, her gaze hardened.

"Promise me, Naruto-kun."

Naruto found that this conversation was already crossing the line between awkward and downright peculiar, more so than normal. In fact this was probably the most serious he had ever seen this granny.

With a soft nod, he did just that. "I promise. If I get into any trouble I'll come straight to you."

The smile on her face was real again — almost relived — and the wrinkles and the age that was suddenly accented by her serious expression disappeared entirely. The kind, if not a bit senile old woman he was more used too was back again like she never left.

"Good. Very good, now that's all for today. I left another plate for you on the counter along with your pay. Remember to call me if you need anything!" she glared in an effort to enforce her point.

Naruto nodded his head and smiled. "I will. Thank you for everything, granny. I'll never be able to pay you back." he chuckled whilst rubbing the back of his head.

"Silly boy, I'm paying you for your work. You don't owe me anything. Now go on, I'm feeling sleepy again, and when I get sleepy...I get cranky! That is of course unless you would like to stay and help give me a sponge-bath?" she finished with a impish grin.

"Okay, sure, I'll help you if you need it!" was the blond's immediate response. A wide smile on his face.

The woman could only laugh out loud at his eagerness to clean an old ladies body. Most people would have immediately turned her down for obvious reasons, but Naruto was different, and even she managed to forget it sometimes. A boy who lived by himself, with a heart so big and a soul so innocent and pure it almost blinded her.

But, a soul so pure could be easily manipulated by those with vile intentions.

"I'm just messing with you child, I'm not that old yet! Now get going, it's getting dark out and the unsavory types always come out at night!"

Naruto bowed and said his thank you's before making his exit.

All the while, the old woman watched his retreating form with narrowed eyes. Her gaze never once leaving the dark creature coiled around his neck, its blood red eyes looking back at her own as if challenging her.

What power is that? It's unfamiliar, even to me. This is worrisome. Very much so. I suppose I can't keep quiet much longer...


Naruto walked along the beaten path home, the same one he took every day. Mainly because he loved the view. His legs acting on autopilot as his thoughts wandered.

It had been a week. An entire week. Seven days to be exact, and not once — not even for a minute — had that weird feeling in his gut settled down. Ever since meeting that girl, Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was watching him every step of the way. Like a pair unseen, invisible of eyes following him around.

It was...unsettling, to say the least.

And now that granny had spoken up about it, the feeling persisted all the more.

I don't get it... he mused to himself, I haven't felt like this since back home.

The hairs on the back of his neck would randomly stand at attention and he would find his hand unconsciously lingering over the spot where his kunai holster used to be.

I shouldn't feel this uneasy, I have no reason too. So why can't I shake it?

This world is void of anything close to you and I, but, it is not void of chakra. Kurama's deep voice echoed in his thoughts. Perhaps there are things here neither you or I are aware of yet?

Naruto shook his head.

I don't know, it seems too far fetched don't you think? I stretched my senses in Sage Mode as far as I could, hell, I blanketed the whole city — and still nothing!

He could sense all types of life, but nothing even remotely near them chakra-wise.

Do not be so quick to assume. There could be different powers at work. Kurama piped in. I suggest keeping an open mind. After all, here we are.

Kurama went silent after putting in its two cents, leaving Naruto to think on its advice.

The makings of a frown flickered over his pale features at the thought of it, but like a dying flower, it never bloomed. Instead Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and stared out into the slowly setting sky. At the sight of the sun and the admittedly captivating view, a smile worked its way in its stead. His mood already shifting.

From his spot over the hill, he could see it all.

A city with buildings taller than anything he was used too, with lights brighter and more colorful than anything he had ever seen before and filled with so many people he couldn't even begin to count them all.

"Yeah...here we are..." he whispered to himself.

He didn't think he would ever get used to this. His home — where he belonged — was smaller, much smaller by comparison. With the biggest building being the Hokage tower, and the rest small and modest. Bright and colorful. All painted red, orange, and blue — the colors of fire. They weren't all grey and made of steel and glass.

And the forest, it was both massive and beautiful. More than anything he missed the feeling of being one with nature. It helped to brighten his mood and felt almost like a natural high of sorts to him. Once he became a Sage, he could quite literally feel what nature and all of its creatures felt. They weren't abused or hunted for fun back home, only out of necessity, and never for show.

The forest was sacred.

Here?

Nature was destroyed — ravaged, even in its purest form.

It made him sick. Actually sick. So sick that Naruto was forced to cut off the entire link because of the influx of hatred and mistreatment that threatened to drive even him mad. He could barley sustain it for more than ten minutes at a time. Any longer and the negative emotions that were absorbed into his body alongside it began to run their course.

Going on a blood-rage was about the last thing he wanted to do.

That fact alone was but one of the many reasons why he loved that damn park so much. It was extremely well kept and flourished as a result. Only there could he properly relax and become in-tune with the life around him — without the imminent threat to his mental health.

Really though, as sad as it was to say, Naruto truly felt for this world. It was as if these very blocks of concrete he stood over and the dirt beneath them were all covered in blood, drenched in it. Innocent and guilty alike. Although unfortunately, it was most likely more of the former than the latter.

He let out a tired sigh and spared the bag of food resting against his leg a glance. I suppose I should get home before this gets cold.

Naruto leaned over to pick it up before sparing the view a final appreciative once over. When he felt he had his fill, the blond nodded to himself, and just as he was about to teleport back home — the feeling in his gut intensified.

Blue eyes quickly narrowed and he entered what he himself had dubbed as his 'Shinobi mode'. Naruto was no fool, contrary to popular belief, and he was absolutely sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. He had enough experience in these things to know the difference. No. Something or someone really was watching him, had been watching. What was worse was that he couldn't see them, or feel them out, but he could sense what they felt thanks to Kurama.

They couldn't hide their emotions. Namely...their malicious intent.

The question was, why?

Why him?

It was in that very moment that Naruto made a choice.

Although here isn't the best place.

With a light shrug, the blond opted to just walking home instead. Whistling a light tune all the while as he cooked up a plan. A tiny smirk turned the corners of his lips up when he felt the subtle spark of annoyance resonate.

Ten minutes of walking and he was about half-way home. And just as the sky had finally darkened, Naruto abruptly stopped. The familiar setting of his favorite park surrounding him.

I can't feel whatever energy this is, but, I can do this...

Naruto shut his eyes, and in seconds, a dark orange pigmentation surrounded them. When he next opened them, the blue was replaced by a dull yellow with bars for pupils that resembled a toads own eyes — the telltale signs of his entering Sage Mode. All at once, Naruto felt his senses sharpen tenfold. The influx of negativity was noticeably lessened too, thanks to the purity of the nature surrounding him, and with a smirk, Naruto couldn't help but add as an afterthought.

Damn it all, I love this place!

Almost instantly he picked up on the mass of life a few yards away.

That's weird... he thought to himself, it's coming from...above?

Naruto inched his head up.

"Hey! It's not nice to stalk people ya know?! You should come down here an introduce yourself!" He hollered out.

Silence, and then it — whatever it was — vanished. Gone.

It did not retreat. He would have felt it if it did, his range extended far and wide when in Sage Mode. No, it quite literally vanished into thin air as if it were never there in the first place.

Seconds later and Naruto's instincts were screaming for him to dodge. The blond dived to the left, just barley missing being impaled by a golden staff that embedded itself in the very spot where he once stood.

"Holy crap! That was close!" he cried, watching as the staff hummed in the night.

Naruto was about to demand that whoever attacked him show themselves, when a cheerful laugh echoed in his ears. Idly, he noted that the one presence had now become two.

Although, these feel different from the first.

"Whoa! Nice dodge, blondie! I was actually trying to kill you right then!"

"Could you please refrain from using that word? I'm a blond as well, you brute."

From high up above, two figures stood over the very air itself as if it were solid ground. One with a bright grin and the other with a stoic expression. Both men who looked to be much older than him.

Naruto glared daggers at them both and crossed his arms, a scowl on his pale face."Oi! What's the big idea?! You stalk me, then you try and kill me?! Not cool!"

Well, would you look at that...

Shut it! I don't need any of that I told you so crap right now!

The one who admitted to throwing the fancy stick spoke up again. "Sorry sorry," he apologized while waving his hands, but it was clear he didn't mean a word of it, "I didn't mean to give you a spook. I actually meant to carve you in half—but! It all worked out! You dodged anyway, which is good news for both sides!" the man grinned down at him.

"Bikou, that's enough. We're only here to test him, nothing else."

"Ah come on! That's no fun, Arthur!"

Naruto, who was rather annoyed at the distance in-between the two, decided to give his two stalkers a 'spook' of their own. With a grin, the blond made a 'come hither' motion with his hand. As if gesturing for them to come down.

They looked down at him rather oddly, both wondering what he hoped to achieve with that, until a sudden ominous pressure made itself known from behind them both.

What happened next was a blur.

"What are you—" before Bikou could finish his sentence, a sudden blow struck him hard from behind. The man plummeting to the ground as a result with a noticeable weight strapped to his back.

Arthur managed a single blink before he too suffered the same fate.

When both of them crashed face-first, they landed at a grinning Naruto's feet.

"There! Now we're even! You make any sudden moves and my clones go boom! So...don't move!" he finished cheerfully.

"Man, that was too easy! For stalkers, you guys sure aren't too aware of your own surroundings. You should work on that." A second Naruto commented while absentmindedly sitting over a now unconscious Arthur, the clones weight keeping the man firmly set into the ground.

It seemed the feminine looking one had a bit of a weaker constitution in comparison to his more hulking friend.

"Agreed. Oh and by the way, that tiny little stick of yours would have probably broken if it touched me." The last Naruto clone added while picking at its ear, Bikou twitching underneath it.

Bikou seemed to be trying his best to say something, but because of his face currently being buried in rubble, it came out inaudible.

"Huh? What was that?" the original mocked.

The man lifted his head up and glared bloody murder at the leering blond, his dark eyes wide and bloodshot from the rage he felt. His mouth was set to speak, not doubt ready to rip Naruto a new one, when a sudden realization struck him.

It was faint, but it was there.

And it was enough to stop him in his tracks.

"You...you're using Senjutsu..." he mumbled breathless, eyes wide for a different reason now.

He could feel it! It was a minuscule flow — like water being filtered through a tiny straw — but Bikou could sense it nonetheless, his own training picking up on the subtle feeling of nature, of life itself, converging around Naruto's form like a warm blanket.

"You—you're a Sage!"

Naruto blinked down at his awed expression.

"You...know about Senjutsu?" the blond crouched down and leaned in close. Now full of questions.

Without warning, the staff that was previously lodged into the earth a few feet away tore itself free from its grave and launched itself, flying at blinding speeds toward the crouched Naruto...

...who reached out and plucked it mid-air as if it were a mere toy, never once taking his eyes away from the dumbfounded Bikou. He then tightened his grip, and the golden weapon shattered into two before Bikou's very eyes. A weapon that was supposed to be, by all accounts and purposes, indestructible.

And yet, with a dull metallic clank, the two half's fell to the ground, and simultaneously, Naruto's grin widened.

"See, I told you it would break!"

Bikou could only gape for a few short seconds before a hand roughly grabbed the back of his head and slammed it down onto the pavement.

Effectively knocking him out.


As soon as he got home, Naruto did two things; he put up the milk and warmed up his dinner.

He was in the middle of dicing a few carrots while considering his options, when he was forced to stop. Taking immediate notice of an oddly familiar presence that was now sitting in his living room, right next to his two guests.

When Naruto turned his head to see who or what was so casually sitting on his couch, he was mildly surprised to see that very same little girl staring back at him with that same thin smile on her face. The two men sprawled out next to her darkly dressed form, entirely unaware.

An awkward silence rested between the two for what felt like an eternity, in which Naruto took the time to try and make sense of the situation. Too bad he couldn't come up with jack.

"Uhh...hey?" he greeted after a moment, offering a tiny wave.

"Hello," she returned with a tiny nod while sparing a glance at the bruised forms of what Naruto could only deduce as her underlings, "what's for dinner?"

"Miso soup." he responded evenly.

This one feels different from all the rest... This 'nothingness'...it's coming from her? He stared at the girl for another second or so, in which she held his gaze, before speaking up again. "...Are you going to tell me how you got in here or...?"

"I can come and go as I please. Wherever, whenever."

Naruto nodded his head slowly in response.

"Uhm, okay..."

He would have said more, but he was fairly caught off guard by the entire situation, and as a result, was finding it rather difficult to think of something else to say.

Thankfully, she spoke up for him.

"Naruto...Uzumaki..." she whispered out loud. "Tell me, Naruto... do you have any dreams? A goal?"

Naruto blinked at her, a confused look plastered on his features. What was she on about?

Kurama?

I can't sense anything from this one. No hatred, no love, nothing. This is...a first. I'll admit.

That didn't help make him feel better in the slightest.

Naruto could already tell that compared to the two who attacked him earlier, this girl was on a whole different level. A fight against her would amount to nothing but massive amounts of property damage and his apartment being utterly destroyed as a direct result of their conflict.

"Uhh...no...not really." he mumbled.

To be honest, ever since arriving here, Naruto never really gave it all that much of a thought. He had dreams. He had a goal.

Now...not so much.

And the only thing he did want...well, that was impossible...

...or was it?

The smile on her face threatened to tear it in half as she uttered her next words.

"Would you like one? Would you like to have a purpose?"


Hope you liked it! Thank you for all the positive feedback, drop a review and tell me what you think!

Edit:

sighs

I've already gotten a few messages/reviews on Naruto's Sage Mode in regards to the Senjutsu in the DxD world. Yes. They're different. Naruto openly admits that there's nothing similar to Kurama and himself energy wise in this chapter, but that there is something that can be called 'chakra; along with other powers he can't quite feel yet. Chakra is universal in the same way that ki is. What Naruto knows as energy/life-force/whatever you wanna call it is 'chakra'.

Which is why the malice/hatred of the DxD world CAN affect him if he's in Sage Mode for TOO long, because it IS different and he isn't used to it yet. The Elemental Nations take care of nature, they respect it, where as modern day society does not. Yeesh, you guy's act like I had Naruto go all blood-rage-can't-go-Sage-Mode-at-all or something :(

Like I said at the very start, keep an open mind, and wait for the next chapter to hopefully explain any questions you might have. That's all. Hopefully I didn't come off as too condescending.