Frigga raised an eyebrow at the much calmer Loki who returned just in time for the coronation ceremony which was tomorrow.
"Well?" she asked.
"It's not perfect, but he'll get better so long as he doesn't have any more major hits to his personality. So if there are any life-changing facts, it would be best to keep quiet about them for now," advised Naruko.
"What exactly did you do to him?" asked Frigga.
"I made him face the truth he didn't want to admit to himself. And I showed him I wasn't going to let him face it alone," said Naruko, before she added "It's called the Shattered Mask effect, and it's rather well documented back where I come from."
"Shattered Mask is the perfect description for it," said Loki.
"Still want me to take your place at the stupid coronation?" asked Naruko.
"Considering my mental state there's no way in Helheim I am dealing with Thor and his idiocy. And there is no chance I am going to that stupid ceremony where I have to watch Thor being a bigger idiot than usual," said Loki flatly.
"Loki," said Frigga softly.
"Considering Thor is the second most likely to pick up that something happened to his brother, it's probably a better idea if he avoids it," agreed Naruko.
Thor was more perceptive than Loki liked sometimes, and if he saw how much Naruko had broken Loki's mask, he would definitely react badly. And that was the last thing they needed this close to him being crowned the king.
"On an unrelated note, if anything happens to Thor I would be more likely to hand over the thrown to Baldur," said Loki.
Frigga looked at Naruko sharply.
"I forced Loki to confront the real reason he wanted the throne, and now that he realizes the truth he wants nothing to do with it. Which is why I'm planning to drag his sorry ass to Midgard for a vacation so he can properly recover without people trying to bother him."
"We will be having a very long and detailed discussion later, and I will want a proper explanation," said Frigga.
"Fine by me, but don't bring Thor."
Loki would have left Naruko to deal with his mother all alone, but then he ran into Thor. His brother wanted to take him on a pre-celebratory round of drinking...and faced with dealing with a drunk Thor or his concerned mother, Loki chose to accompany Naruko instead.
He very nearly walked out the door when he saw Odin present as well.
Naruko dragged him to the couch next to her.
"If you think for one second I am facing your parents alone, you have another thing coming!" she hissed.
For a few awkward moments, no one said anything. Finally Frigga asked for the girl's name, since the only thing they knew about her was that she had red hair, was insanely strong, and worked as a bar maid.
The girl smiled.
"My name is Naruko Uzumaki-Namikaze, current head of the Uzumaki clan," she said.
Tsunade had all but handed over the mantel of clan head to Naruko in an effort to make her more palatable to the older shinobi.
Not that it had helped when they tried to force her into a marriage she didn't want.
"Clan head?" said Odin sharply.
"Where I come from, families tend to live in large clans in houses very close to each other. My clan had a village unto itself, at least before it was wiped out because we were so feared. My mother happened to be in an allied village at the time," explained Naruko.
While Asgard might accept a world where the warriors lived in tightly-knit villages, she didn't want to have to explain she was a trained assassin who specialized in infiltration and conversion of enemy units, with a heavy emphasis on energy-intensive attacks and solid clones.
Loki knew, he had seen that much in her memories, but there were a few things even he had yet to see that she would very much like to keep close to her chest for the moment.
Fortunately she knew how to play this, considering she was one of the best infiltrators to have be trained by Anko herself.
"Care to explain why you refuse to take Thor up on his offer?" asked Odin. From what he saw she would fit right in.
Naruko made a disgusted face.
"Fandral can't keep his hands to himself, Sif is condescending towards women who can't fight, Volstagg is little more than a hill barbarian who has never heard of table manners, and Thor is an arrogant loud mouth idiot who's first solution to everything is to use his hammer on it until it stops moving," said Naruko flatly.
"They are our realms greatest warriors," said Odin.
"Then you have some seriously low standards when it comes to warriors. Back home they wouldn't last five minutes with someone who knew what they were doing and wasn't injured," said Naruko.
"I've fought her full out and she still beat me," said Loki.
"Why were you fighting?" asked Frigga confused.
"Partially to see exactly how magic works, but mostly so I could use the full force of a technique I've developed to force people into facing cold hard reality," said Naruko shrugging, before she added "And by my standards it was more of a light spar."
Loki stared at her incredulous. That was a light spar by her standards? He'd hate to see what it would be like when she went all out...on him that is.
"I understand that you are going to switch with Loki during the ceremony?" asked Odin.
"Loki is in no shape to deal with Thor, and frankly he needs a break from being around Asgardians all day."
"What is wrong with Asgard?" asked Odin sharply.
"You mean aside from the fact that it is full of warriors and fighters and Loki is a scholarly mage?" Naruko shot back, "People already think of him as a woman in a man's body because he prefers to think things through instead of charging in like a boar."
"What?" said Frigga sharply.
"You have no idea what people really think of you outside the palace do you? They might show respect, but in reality they are sick and tired of Thor's arrogance. The only reason they follow him is because he happens to be the royal Asgardian poster boy and they know full well that to speak against him might be construed as treason. And Loki? He's tolerated more but he's considered quite cruel by the maids," said Naruko flatly.
It was like she had slapped them in the face with a fish.
Loki suddenly snorted in amusement.
"There's a reason I found her fascinating. Her bluntness and the fact she's entirely unimpressed with Asgard was refreshing...not to mention she had no issue with speaking her mind," said Loki.
"What exactly did you do to Loki?" asked Odin. His son was far too calm and quiet, even for him.
"I beat him up and slapped him in the face with a truth he didn't want to admit," said Naruko simply.
She basically wore his ass out in a fight, getting his aggression out all at once while forcing him to confront several things he was reluctant to admit even to himself. And once the truth sank in to Loki's head that yes, she did understand why he was so desperate to be king and didn't think less of him for it, he broke.
As Naruko had shown him, she was both the master of breaking through to people and the one who usually ended up fixing them in a way that made them thank her for it. Loki had held the mirror Naruko had made to demonstrate her ability and it had shattered into a thousand pieces without him doing a thing.
Now she had to work on repairing the damage one piece at a time.
Naruko just barely refrained from rolling her eyes seeing Thor grandstand like an idiot. Loki was currently in his room packing for their vacation away from Asgard, though he would congratulate his brother later if only to keep Thor from trying to find him.
Their destination? Midgard, so Naruko could introduce Loki to others who had been 'hit' with her Shattered Mask. Specifically Gaara. He had been complaining of a certain idiot who insisted on using some weird armor to fight his enemies and the annoyance that was Nick Fury.
At least the Tony's assistant Pepper was grateful for his help. Gaara had hit himself in the head repeatedly for not thinking of shadow clones to do paperwork when Naruko just happened to mention it to him.
As such he was pretty much considered Pepper's "assist" slash bodyguard. Mostly because he was even more efficient at keeping idiots like Tony under control than Pepper was. She was just happy for the help. Even if it did come from someone who looked like a humanoid raccoon. (It was the eyes, she would swear.)
As Thor paraded (and she meant paraded) up to where the throne was, Odin began the speech that his father Bor had given him when he took over the throne.
About halfway through, he suddenly stopped without warning. Something was very wrong.
The palace alarms went off, and from the sound alone it was clear something had broken into the palace vault where only the most precious (or dangerous) treasures were stored.
By the time they got there, the Destroyer had taken care of the problem. There was one small problem though.
Thor was pissed.
At least Loki wouldn't be considered a suspect, since he had no interest in taking the throne any time soon...not to mention he had no reason to send Jotuns into the vault when he was more interested in a break from Asgard.
It was highly counterproductive to release Frost Giants in the vault if he wanted to make a quiet escape.
"Wait, what do you mean someone brought Frost Giants to Asgard?" said Loki. He had been sorting through his books when the alarms went off.
"I mean some dumbass literally gave them the path to the vault and they tried to steal some box," said Naruko rolling her eyes.
"The Casket of Ancient Winters," said Loki. It was the only thing that the Jotuns would be willing to risk their lives for that he knew of.
"Is that what the box is called? A little heavy but not very interesting. The fact it cut me like a blood-based seal was a little weird though."
"You picked it up and didn't set off the alarms?" said Loki looking at her.
Naruko rolled her eyes.
"It took me five minutes to figure out the alarms and release mechanism for the Destroyer. And a day to memorize the guard's schedule. Asgard is seriously lax when it comes to security. Being at the top is no excuse for slacking in training and diligence!" chastised Naruko, before she added "Besides, that thing was intent based anyway. I knocked it off with something appropriately heavy and only looked at it before putting it back."
Loki snorted.
"On the plus side, my affinity for ice chakra has apparently gone up, which is weird considering I have only a minor affinity towards water style and a decent amount of fire."
Naruko had three elemental affinities. Wind was her primary, with a mediocre amount of fire and a minor in water. She had only glanced at water to see if she could duplicate Haku's old jutsu. Unfortunately her ability to mix them was slipshod at best, because she kept overdoing it with her wind chakra.
So the fact she had been able to freeze small amounts of beer before Volstagg could drink it was rather surprising.
She could only assume the box that she had somehow cut herself on had something to do with it, but no idea what.
"It's far more likely your unusual energy somehow morphed into Ice magic. The Casket of Ancient Winters has been noted to be slightly sentient and it might have taken a liking to you since you're not Asgardian and really don't care about using it," said Loki.
Naruko blinked, before she muttered "That would explain so much... like why I saw someone who shouldn't be there..."
"Hmm?"
"It's nothing. Anyway you ready to go?"
"Absolutely," said Loki.
Normally they would slip away, but Odin was firm about the conditions of them leaving.
If they wanted to go on vacation on Midgard, they had to deal with the Bifrost. The fact Naruko knew the old paths almost as well as Loki did was something Odin had yet to be informed of.
They also had to deal with Thor seeing them off, otherwise he would be a nuisance.
"I do not see why you are leaving brother," said Thor. He was clearly confused.
"I need a break. And that means I have to leave the worlds where people recognize me on sight, or know of me."
And in what he hoped was out of earshot, Loki quietly added "Besides, this will give me a chance to court her properly without her job getting in the way."
Thor suddenly grinned. Now he got it. Loki was definitely interested in the woman who had beaten him, and wanted a chance to know her better on her own terms. It was about time.
Still...
"Why Midgard?"
"Two of my brothers and one of my sisters is currently living there. When we took the old paths out of our homeworld, we split up at random. So far the others are enjoying their new place," said Naruko.
B, Gaara and Tsuki were all on Midgard, or what the locals called Earth.
B had chosen Earth because it looked the most interesting and the Gaara had gone to keep him from going overboard. At the moment however that seemed to be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headache. Tsuki only went because most of the planet was made of water, which was where her demon reigned supreme.
It was also the reason why Gaara had been in Afghanistan roughly the same time one Tony Stark had broken free from captivity and had been able to save him from dehydration thanks to the storage seals Naruko had made for Gaara when he asked.
Naruko didn't tell Loki she had heard that bit about courting her. No need to ruin that surprise just yet.
Before they walked through, Loki did pause by Heimdall to warn him that if Thor was stupid enough to leave Asgard to call the guards immediately.
He knew his brother. Thor would likely go directly to Jotunheim just to demand answers and start an all out war.
Heimdall looked amused but took it under advisement.