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Chess Tournament, Open Entry
Ages 11 to 22
Prize: 100,000 yen

"Oooooh... seems fun." A young man, grabbed a poster with a grin on his face.

Uzumaki Naruto, had a wide grin as he leaned up against his motorbike. He was a young man, not older than 13 or 14, with wild blond hair and clear blue eyes. He was on the shorter side, and after a year of blending in with humans... he had taken to wearing a white shirt and cargo shorts, though he kept his boots and the goggles he wore on his forehead.

Apparently, he looked more like his mother than his father... not that he had ever met either of them. He had just been told from the head of the village he had lived in, that he got his hair color and most of his colors from his mother. He only things he ever got from his father, were his whisker marks and blue eyes in his human form.

He was a Kyuubi, a Youkai.

Naruto sat back on his bike and revved the engine, before he shot off towards the city where they tournament was going to be held. He didn't know a ton about chess, but he was a tricky guy, so he wanted to see if he could meet any fun humans at the tournament to be friends with. The age range certainly played to his favor. He liked humans, and hated them just as much as he liked them... he was very confused about his own conflicting feelings towards them.

He DID love to prank them though.

-In Kuoh-

"Are you really searching for a husband?"

Rias Gremory asked her friend when she caught the girl walking towards where she knew a chess tournament would be held in a couple of hours. She had wanted to enter herself, but if Sona was going to enter then she was just going to sit back and watch.

"Of course not, since I won't lose to anyone there. I'm entering the tournament to scout for any entries with strategic minds and potential." Sona, a 17 year old petite-ish woman waved her hand at the thought that a human would be the one to beat her in chess. She glanced at the red haired woman walking next to her, who was taller than her, had wider hips than her, a bigger bust than her, and was overall more eye catching than she was in every way. She walked 2 steps faster in front of the woman, but at a pace that would not seem like she was competing with her either.

'I wanted to have fun, but chess against Sona isn't fun... well... maybe watching will be fun.' Rias figured that if she entered, she would get to the final round, and then she would lose against Sona. She might take a page from Sona's book and scout for humans with potential to be devils as well.

That was the thing.

Neither of them were humans, both of them were devils of the high class. High class enough that for them, getting married was an arranged affair. Rias was still in the process of getting out of her arranged issue, but Sona had managed to convince her parents of a different path.

She would marry whoever could prove themselves smarter than her.

AKA: She would never marry anyone, because as far as Rias was aware, there was no a single devil in their society that could straight up beat her in chess. That, or Sona would just allow herself to lose once she found a man that she was in love with, meaning that in the end she had secured herself a love filled partner in the future.

"Did you set up this tournament?" Rias asked, with a knowing look.

"Of course not, I wouldn't waste resources just for this. Chess tournaments happen all the time in Japan, it is a very common sport." Sona kept her brisk pace, keeping her hands firmly pressed to the front of her skirt.

"It is?"

"I'm more surprised you weren't aware of it." Sona had assumed that Rias would know more about the country they were in than she did.

"I like chess... but I'm not that overly fond of it like you are. You see, I'm not going to put my hand on the line for a game." Rias had always wondered why Sona chose chess as the game her suitor would need to beat her at.

A game she mastered... okay, it made sense.

The only way for somebody to beat Sona at chess was for their mind to be a brain that Sona couldn't understand, and that person to be able to make strategies that Sona's own brain couldn't defeat easily. In that aspect, then nobody ever had a chance at beating her, since she was too good at reading people.

-Hours Later-

'Hmmm... a good few non-humans are here... or maybe humans with naturally high energy levels... and I think I can sense a Sacred Gear or two.' Rias watched the multiple chess matches happening at the same time. She could sense quite a bit, and she giggled to herself when she saw children throwing fits when they were beaten at the game, and kicked from the tournament.

Sona was on her 9th opponent.

It was about halfway through the tournament, and it only took Sona minutes for her to defeat each opponent.

She wondered who Sona was beating this time.

'Who is this kid...' Sona furrowed her brow as she made her next move.

She couldn't get a read on him AT ALL, and he had a very strong magical energy to him. She was sweating very lightly, not from any amount of exhaustion, but sheer nervousness. She had never been push as hard as she was being pushed, and what was worse... Rias was watching now. Rias was a witness to what was happening.

Naruto hummed as he made his move.

"I'm really happy, those other guys weren't any fun." Naruto stated as he complimented Sona on her skills.

Chess was so easy for him.

Once he learned all of the rules, he just enjoyed himself in how much he could fuck with people. He was enjoying leading them on with fake strategies while keeping his real ones hidden behind a second layer of prank strategy. He was enjoying pranking his current opponent the most, since she was seeing through at least his first level of prank.

'... I see... he's going to move his Rook once I take this Queen... so... he's baiting me into taking the Queen, but there is a Pawn ready to promote.' Sona saw that if he got his pawn to a promotion, she would have a Queen in her weakened base. He was giving her a chance to take out his queen, a very promising lure.

She moved her Bishop back and took down his pawn.

"Check."

Naruto stated with as he switched his King and Rook, placing his Rook perfectly in line with her own King. Her bishop had been the only piece that had been blocking their Kings facing each other.

'He tricked me... he set up obvious bait, and he moved his pawn so that if I saw the obvious bait and thought it was clear, I would look... I see... he went this entire game without moving either that Rook, or his King... I completely forgot about castling since the game had lasted for awhile.' Sona moved her knight in-between his Rook and her King. Blocking the check, and she sighed in relief as she started to plan out her comeback strategy.

Naruto moved his Queen across the board, and took out her Knight.

"Check."

'No... the Queen was in line with where I would have to move my Knight... but he was using his Queen as bait... why would he put such an important piece of his strategy on the... wait...' Sona looked around the board. She saw 3 different ways that if she moved, he would just need to move 1 piece to put her into checkmate.

Naruto was barely holding back his laughter.

'She totally fell for it... I got her, she fell for the prank.' Naruto had his cheeks puffed up, barely managing to not laugh as Sona seemed to be stressing herself out. He could see that she was finally seeing why both his Queen and Pawn were being made such clear targets for capture. She seemed super serious and smart, so he just made a lot of moves that looked like a dumb strategy in order to throw her off of the scent of his joke.

His Rook, Knight, Bishop, Queen... and in a second his 3rd Rook, would be lined up to form an L on the board. Once she moved her King out of the way and into the perfect spot, he would give her the best prank.

A big, fat L.

Sona could only move her King one space with a frown on her face.

"Hey... lady... Do you know what letter this is?" Naruto asked as he gestured to his pawn as he moved it forward a single space.

"... It is..."

"A Big L... because checkmate!" Naruto replaced his pawn with a Rook. A Rook or Queen would have been fine either way. He had already lined up a big L for her, and he traced his finger above the board to show it off. "You've been tricked."

Sona sucked her breath through her teeth.

'... He was messing with me... this entire game he was trying to spell out the letter L... just so that he could give me... he just outplayed me for the sole purpose of gifting me an L. He crafted an elaborate plan, with 4 layers to it... all for the PURE SAKE of me not noticing he wanted to line up an L?' Sona had no words at all as she stared at the boy, her glasses slipping down her nose. "Okay... so you beat me this time, but these are 2 out of 3 matches." Sona hadn't been beaten just yet.

5 minutes.

10 minutes.

W.

"Last time I gave you an L, but this time... W... because I'm taking the W for this round." Naruto spelled out a W against Sona. She stared at the board, leaned forward and placed her hands together. Her glasses had slipped off of her face completely and into her lap, since she just looked on in a stunned silence.

She expected to beat him once she knew his tricks.

He changed them... during their second match he didn't use any underhanded strategies at all. She planned and played against him, trying to make herself believe that she was defeating his strategy... but she was just playing herself. All in the end, what happened was that the strategy he used in their second game was... straight forward.

"How..."

"Well, I screwed with you a lot last game, so I figured I would play super straightforward... when you prank people once, they are ALWAYS trying not to get pranked... and they prank themselves. I won that match because you were really trying not to give me the W... so I took it." Naruto explained to her with a grin.

Sona stood up and extended her hand to him.

"Very well, I concede... you have bested me." Sona watched him bring his hand closer.

No prank.

"I wanted to draw in the second round and spell out a D... but I couldn't figure out how to get the curve right... you know, Lose, Draw, Win... I wanted you to Lose, us to Draw, and me to Win... but this board is too small to make a D." Naruto apologized for not playing 3 rounds with her. He just couldn't figure out how to make the D look convincing.

Sona squeezed his hand.

"I see... you must be very smart."

"Well... I did solve a huge murder mystery like a year ago, and sometimes the police ask me to help with their cases now." Naruto bragged about his achievement. He had been the one to solve a murder/theft mystery, so he liked to think he had his moments where he was very small. He could remember all of the little details that other people overlooked, and he had access to things that most people didn't.

"Your parents must be proud." Sona dug a little deeper.

"Don't have any parents, the closest thing I got is this bastard of an old man... though I think he died recently." Naruto just had a feeling the old man was dead, not that he cared if a human who made his childhood rough lived or died. Even more so since the old man was part of the reason why he had a spiral on his stomach that sealed away most of his power.

Sona found that very interesting.

"I see... then your school must be very good."

"School, I've never gone to a school before." Naruto laughed at her misunderstanding.

'I see... no wonder he seems stupid, but so intelligent.' Sona thought when she realized that he was weird.

Intelligence: The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.
Knowledge: Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.

His intelligence was extremely high, but while he was extremely intelligent, that got downplayed by his lack of knowledge. Once he learned something, he could apply it in ways other people could never imagine, because he had an insane amount of intelligence. His pure smarts were held back by his lack of knowledge and learning, which he didn't have due to lack of parents or school.

"I'm not that smart... I just-"

"Be silent, and don't insult yourself... I'll see you later, Uzumaki Naruto." Sona stared him down with a glare for THAT comment.

His brain worked differently, but he was in no way stupid. Once he learned chess, he applied his knowledge using his intelligence in a way that she herself couldn't compete with. In that aspect, he was smarter than her in every way. He predicted her reactions to everything using only the knowledge that she was a serious person, and with that information he outplayed her. Once he was aware of her being aware of his tricks, he used his awareness and applied it so that his second strategy would take her skills into account.

Smart: Having or showing quick-witted intelligence

'He's smarter and more intelligent than I am... if he had the knowledge to use his intelligence, I wouldn't even come close... I see...' Sona walked passed the dumbfounded Rias as the girl just looked at what the match had resulted in.

This was what it was like to meet her equal... her superior when it came to intelligence. Somebody that was smarter than she was, and could make use of acquired knowledge to beat her in somebody she claimed mastery of. From their brief interaction, she couldn't even begin to understand the inner workings of his mind.

"Sona... you lost... twice... and he humiliated you." Rias walked behind her quickly, having recovered from what happened.

"Yes, I was completely destroyed... He outsmarted me... Rias... my heart is pounding painfully in my chest... I think... I think this is what love feels like." Sona wanted to see the boy again. She wanted to challenge him again in another battle of wits. She wanted to push him, and have him push her in return.

His intelligence was damn sexy.

She thought over every move of the chest match, and hindsight was 20/20 because she was able to see how each move he made took her brain into account. He had started controlling her moves 4 moves into each game, through his own moves he had played purely offensive... and he played with her. He took control over the game, and she didn't even realize that he had been playing with her.

"Well... nobody but me saw you lose... so as long as you don't tell anyone-"

"What are you talking about, I fully plan on telling my parents right away. I found somebody who I want as a partner... do you know how sexy intelligence is... this is the first time in my life I've been aroused by a man." Sona had never found herself this turned on in her life.

"... Man... he's like... 11 or 13 at most. He's a boy, not a man."

"Well, I find him very sexy... and his intelligence is my most sought after trait in a man. So, I'm going to tell my parents I found the man I wish to be my groom... and yes... I plan on turning him from a boy into a man as soon as possible... so he is a man to me." Sona had found herself the perfect groom to join her family. She found a man who had a good brain, which was a trait that could be passed down.

He even had impressive magic power inside of him, so that was something that could be passed down. She cared more about his brain than his magic power or body, but she was damn sure that she found him very attractive thanks to that intelligence.

She found a gem.

He seemed dumb to the untrained eye, but only an idiot would think that a person who could make multi-layered plans like he did in the heat of a game was anything but extremely smart. People often judged intelligence by how much a person knew, and not the actual definition of what it was.

Some people, like Rias, believed the sexiest part of a man was his pecs.

She, Sona, believed her ideal mate would have the ability to apply what he has learned in ways many wouldn't imagine.

Why would she NOT tell her parents she found her ideal man!?

Chapter End!
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