/AN/: First of all, I am terribly sorry for updating this late. It's been, like, ages since I last posted anything. High school sucks, but the homework they give me is the bane of all existence. No excuse, I know, but time-management isn't really my strong point.

Diverging from my self-related problems, I realize that my story might not be…much in the favor of the readers. The storyline sucks, perhaps, and the slow pace of my updates might be annoying as hell. And there's also the pairing issue. Some of you might disagree, others might agree. I take into account of whatever complaints and opinions you guys have, but I won't be making a huge (like, MAJOR huge) change in the storyline. I…want to write stories that I want to write, without the usual "I have to" phrase being my motivation. Otherwise, it's just a dull story.

So, in the end, the story might still progress in a way that some of you might disagree with. Criticism is always accepted; but on the off-chance that those constructive criticisms turn into flames, I'll do nothing but bull myself through it.

RIGHT! Now that all that depressive shit is said, it's DISCLAIMER TIIIIIME~
But this time, I'll be a good Samaritan and do it myself for a change!

Disclaimer: SpinLord, aka me, doesn't own Naruto and Angel Beats, and the characters in both franchises aren't his either. And the included elements which are the witches from Umineko no Naku Koro ni aren't mine either.

-xo-

-Chapter 3-

And Then There's a Neutral Party

One lengthy explanation later, which consisted of Naruto being told about this world and the whole fiasco between the Battlefront and Angel, the situation had calmed down a bit. Calmed down defines to the fact that at least none of them appeared to prepare themselves to jump on Naruto's throat and vice versa. Of course, the thought of one relatively short boy being a threat to them was quite laughable (admittedly, Naruto's height of 166 centimeters wasn't nearly as imposing as most of the males in the room).

Noda still remained as he was, but that's only because both him and the blond had unfinished business. That, and the painful reminder of a kick to the balls weren't exactly the best calming stimulus his brain could have.

Getting back to what Naruto heard… afterlife, Angel, God, lifeless model students called NPCs (acronym for "non-whatable whatchamacallits"… Hey, don't blame him for not remembering what it's really called! It's not actually a universal term of a word).

"Okay… So let me get something straight here." Naruto was still confused, but he could make heads and tails from Yuri's explanation. "So this world is called the…afterlife, right?"

"Yup." Yuri complied, nodding at him.

"Right. And you're all here because you died with a regret or two; something that God did to your lives that made you all rebel against Him by making this "Afterlife Battlefront". Unfortunately, as you say it, there's an entity that prevents you to outright fight Him, and that entity is the girl you call "Angel"." Naruto looked thoughtful at the mouthing of his own sentence. He tilted his head and turned his sights to the other people present in the room, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but she's just a normal girl, isn't she?"

It was Hideki who answered him, "Well, we can't blame you for not knowing, since you haven't seen what she can do. Actually, she can do much more than a normal girl can do. Not to mention she's a hell lot stronger, too."

"Really?" Naruto gave him a dubious look before shaking his head. "Ah, whatever, I'll see it when I do. In any case, I still think it's wrong to fight her, even after seeing it from your standpoint."

"So you'll continue fighting on her side?" Yuri asked cautiously. She didn't like the sound of that, at all. The reason why she even bothered explaining all of those things to the orange-clad ninja was because she believed that he'd join them afterwards. If he still refused to join, then the explanation has no purpose.

"I thought I made it clear when I said I don't take sides." Naruto pointed out, somewhat annoyed at being forced to repeat himself. "I just don't want any of you to go killing anyone. And, after what you kindly explained to me, I won't be able to stand by and see you guys kill each other for all the wrong reasons. Keh, hell, I won't be able to forgive myself if that happens."

At that, the people in the room had to make a double-take and exchange confused looks with each other. Even Yuri's eyes were widening at the blonde's choice of words; probably not expecting him to say anything like that. Meanwhile, Otonashi—who had remained silent since Naruto made his entrance—had to stop his urge to face-palm. 'Of course. We haven't told him about that little detail, haven't we? Reminds me of myself when I just got here in the afterlife…'

"Uh…I don't know if you haven't notice it, but we can't die in this world." Yuri finally said after a long bout of awkward silence. "Well, we can still die, but we'd still be revived later on." She quickly added after seeing Naruto's disbelieving face.

"We…we can't?" Naruto repeated questioningly.

"What do you expect? We are in the afterlife, after all. You can't die if you're already dead." Logically, that wouldn't be possible anyway. Even zombies had to be brought back to life to get re-killed. Of course, Naruto had no idea of this at all; but honestly, he should've known better.

Bearing the look of pure idiocy on his face, Naruto found himself being at the receiving end of multiple stares that only served to make him feel more like an idiot. Adding insult to the injury was Kurama, laughing his furry ass out in his cage despite actually being clueless about this fact as well. With the whole predicament he was facing, Naruto had to summon a tremendous amount of self-control not to do any face-palms, face-walls, or face-floors, even though his sense of embarrassment was already ceiling-high.

"A-Ah, so that's how it is…" He started pretty well, if he do say so himself- "DAMNIT! HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THAT! YOU REALLY JUST HAD TO WAIT FOR ME TO ACT LIKE AN IDIOT DON'TCHA?! DAMN BASTARDS, 'TTEBAYO!" Actually, belay that; he didn't cover his reaction that well. So, as any normal person would, he put the blame on the non-existent third party.

Most of the Battlefront members actually snickered at the blond, whose choice of reaction was more humor than any of them expected out of him. Otonashi didn't, though he sweat-dropped all the same. 'Well…not really how I would react back then, but at least he's more accepting than I was. I'm glad it doesn't take a stab to the heart to make him realize that.' Otonashi thought solemnly. Yeah, him being skeptical about the whole "not dying" thing in this world rewarded him with a painful (if not quick) stab to the heart from Angel, effectively "killing" him for the first time in the afterlife. Not a pretty way to die, but it was a lot cleaner than his second death (i.e. Noda's "Hundred Deaths" attack).

'Wait…if he didn't know about this before, then was he REALLY thinking of putting his life on the line just to save Angel?' That kind of thought crossed Otonashi's mind. Though it was just a passing thought, he couldn't argue that it made sense. That meant Uzumaki really was serious about protecting her. Then again, his apparent will to protect the silver-haired student council president didn't really make much sense. 'I mean, why risk his own life to save someone he barely even know?'

He thought the blond was strange. Frankly, Otonashi didn't think that it would change in the near future; but he admit that he now find the blond intriguing.

As for Naruto himself, he wished that a certain witch had told him this earlier. At the very least, she could save him from feeling like such an idiot. Sighing, he realized that nothing could change that now, so he cleared his throat and spoke up, "Sorry, that caught me off-guard for a bit. I never thought I can revive in the afterlife." Because seriously, Orochimaru would've died early if he knew about this. "But anyway, I still stand by my word. I won't let anyone hurt anybody, not when I have anything to say about it."

"Exactly who do you think you are?" Yuri suddenly shot a question, getting really close to snapping at Naruto's words. "What kind of authority do you think you have over us? Heck, over ANYONE in this world? You talk like you have some kind of power over all of us here; and while I'm sure you have something akin to that, you have no right to stop us from fighting."

Naruto chuckled, "You're right. Perhaps I'm nobody to you guys, and I clearly don't have any right to order you to do anything." He let his light tone drop just a bit, intending to sound serious. "But any kind of nobody wouldn't want to do what you guys are doing. What do you call it, again? Fight against God? Hah! Worst load of bull I've ever heard. You can't fight God; hell, at the ultra-miniscule chance you can, you just don't. And believe me when I say even humans are troublesome enough." Like, for instance, an Uchiha that can control the Ten-Tailed Beast of utter destruction.

For some reason, even when Naruto believed he made his reasoning clear enough, the purple-haired girl sitting ahead of him looked…ticked. He could see her glaring at him while gritting her teeth, bearing a visible tick mark on the side of her face. 'What's her problem?' he thought to himself.

Yuri pushed herself up from her seat, standing up. Somehow, her normal height began to look intimidating, even seeing it from the distance Naruto had between them. "Listen here…" She started, her voice dangerously bordering with a growl, "Just because you have that strange power…just because you're able to do anything you want with it…don't assume that God was so merciful towards us in our own lives!" Even her words – her menial, normal words – seemed to gain strength, backing it up and hammering at Naruto's conscience. As a result, he was taken aback by the purple-haired girl's words.

"Woah, Yurippe, chill out. You're taking this too seriously." Hideki decided to play peacemaker, seeing the tension that was slowly building up in the room. "Maybe he's just not like the rest of us. That's possible, right? Calm down for a bit."

It might be surprising that Hideki had to step up himself and calm their leader down; something that he hasn't done again for quite some time since the making of the SSS. Although none of the newer members knew about this, they were at least surprised when Yuri actually calmed down like he suggested. The girl heaved a sigh, signing that she was already calm. Or, well, at least enough to not throw another temper tantrum.

"Whatever." Yuri said, dropping back to her seat. "We're done talking, for now. I guess we owe you some time to think about it, all things considered. Who knows? Maybe you'll see it our way once you get yourself on the same track as we are." She turned her head to the only silent redhead in the room, "Otonashi-kun, escort him out."

"Eh?" Otonashi let out, snapping out of whatever trance he was in. Once the full impact of Yuri's order got to him, he nodded at her while letting a near inaudible sigh. He walked towards Naruto, beckoning the blond to follow him. He knew he should've feel more surprised when the whisker-marked teen did so accordingly, but judging by the look on his face Naruto wasn't keen on staying for much longer.

As the two exited the principal room, Yuri sighed again. All at once, the attention of the whole Battlefront was averted towards their leader, each with different take on Yuri's impromptu reaction. Takamatsu commented, as he pushed his glasses up his nose again, "That was…unexpected. Quite honestly, it was sort of uncalled for as well."

"Goldilocks was asking for it." Fujimaki stated uncaringly, scoffing as he looked to the side, "He practically mocked our reason to fight, after all. If it wasn't for Yurippe, I would've already sliced him myself."

"GAH! That kid…for him to insult Yurippe like that…! I'll definitely put him in his place the next time we meet!" Noda was obviously annoyed after seeing Yuri upset like that. Truth to be told, if that leader of his (and secret crush) would let him, his halberd would already be sitting on the blonde's jugular.

"Just wiiild heaven, dude." More foreign nonsense from TK, but it was rather befitting for the situation.

"…huh. He's quite interesting, I'll give him that." Hisako, the lead guitarist of Girls Dead Monsters as well as Iwasawa's partner on stage, commented with a subtle smirk. "Where'd you bag him, Iwasawa? Not everyone would stand up to Yuri like that, and turn down our reason for fighting." In response, Iwasawa shrugged at her band's guitarist. She looked at the door curiously, "Actually, I didn't think that he would do something like that at all. He seemed…quite nice when I met him."

Meanwhile, the blue-haired Hinata Hideki busied himself with checking over Yuri, whose outburst concerned him greatly. "Yurippe…what was that back there?" He expected no outright explanation. Heck, he'd prepared himself if Yuri's reason was that she is having her period. He knew her well; at least well enough to know that when something upset her, she would be utterly stubborn not to talk about it. Going against the doctor's orders was her specialty.

"I don't know." Yuri simply said, crossing her arms in front of her with a fierce look on her face, "I don't know, but when I hear him talking like that…it really gets on my nerves."

Once they were out of the room, doors closed, Otonashi heard the blond heave a massive sigh himself. He quirked an eyebrow when Naruto wiped imaginary sweats off his cloth-covered forehead. "Damn, that girl is scary." Was what the blond said after that; which was unexpected since he looked so headstrong back in the room when he faced Yuri. Otonashi concluded that he was just good at hiding his fear.

"Sorry about that. Yuri wasn't always like that, usually." The redhead apologized on behalf of his female leader, knowing full well that the girl herself wouldn't actually want to apologize, judging by her expression before. Of course, while he wasn't anywhere close enough to say that he knew her well – or most of the other members, at that – he was tactful enough to understand Yuri's behavior. And honestly, this apology was probably more about him not being able to say or do anything in the blond's defense (since he was a newcomer like him) rather than it being about the purple-haired Battlefront leader's crude behavior.

Naruto waved his apology off, surprisingly without a trace of being offended on his face, "It's fine. I…guess I kinda deserved it. I admit, I was running my mouth without thinking when I said those things. Although…I still stand by my word; it's just that I think I might have crossed a line or two there."

"You have, probably. I can't say for sure; it's not really my place to agree or say otherwise." Otonashi said.

"Why's that?" Confused, and with curiosity peaked, Naruto asked.

"I'm relatively just a new member here. I just started about three or four days prior from today, or somewhere around those numbers." How much time has passed since he first arrived and met them? The memory truly escaped him, even though it hadn't been that long. And no, it had nothing to do with him being an amnesiac.

"Really? Huh…I guess that's why you seem friendlier than the lot of them." Naruto cocked his head to the side, cracking a tense muscle in his neck. "The guy with the halberd was a beast, literally, and the other guys aren't that deep into niceties with me, either. I guess your leader hates my guts, too. Either that, or she's in her period."

'Now that you mention it, maybe Yuri is in her period after all.' Otonashi's thought was probably right. Not that he knew about when Yuri's in her period and when she isn't; it's not something girls talk about.

"*sigh*... Anyway, I owe it to the guy with the blue hair for saving me. He's a lot braver than I gave him credit for, if you look at his appearance." Naruto said, sighing pathetically. He stared at Otonashi for a few more moments. It was discreet, but there was a visible contact between their eyes, though nothing else happened in that time. Eventually, Naruto shook his head before turning around and walked away, waving his hand to Otonashi as a polite farewell. "I'll leave you guys be for the moment. Say my thanks to that buddy of yours; he's a real life-saver."

Replying with an awkward grunt to the message, Otonashi raised his hand slightly to wave back at the leaving blond. He wanted to say something else, but considering he really had no idea what to say he left it at that. Once the blond completely disappears from his line of sight, the redheaded teen let himself sigh.

For the last couple of days, people have been sighing too much in Otonashi's opinion; himself included. Upon realization that most of those sighs were his own, he nearly chuckled at the irony. "Well, it's only fair. I haven't even got used with the Battlefront, and yet more weirdness began to spring up." He didn't know how much further his clear mind can be pushed, but with the extent of craziness thrown at him he was liable to lose it.

Good grief.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having his own thoughts about his earlier exchange with the so-called Afterlife Battlefront. It was true that the talk did clear some things up…though not really in the way he would've preferred. He still couldn't grasp the concept of "fighting God". Why, of all things, did that become that battlefront's motivation? Even he knew that fighting the divine is useless; not to mention pointless.

He remembered Yuri saying something about how they all got stuck in this world because of the underlying regret each of them had. Naruto frowned. He was no genius, but he could already connect the dots. Whatever "regret" they had, whatever happened in the living world, they blamed God for it. Ah…he remembered feeling the same way, it was nostalgic.

He couldn't say that he was any different from them, actually. There was once a time that he hated everyone that existed, back when he was a little kid. Most of them were the villagers, and that was because they bullied him to no end. As the villagers grew harsher in their attitudes towards him, he began to hate existence himself. As the pressure became unbearable from then on, he attempted to commit suicide; which he did, but failed as Kurama's healing abilities were so potent even at that time. And when he first woke up in the hospital – with the late Third Hokage sitting next to him – he realized one thing, among others.

He also hated God for giving him that kind of life.

"Heh…" Naruto coughed out a small chuckle, "Now that I think about it, I was being a hypocrite all along." Well, yeah, at least he admitted that he was once like that. But then again, if it weren't for God, he wouldn't be able to meet his friends and comrades. Afterwards, he began to believe that for every single hardships that he goes through, there's always something better in life waiting beyond it.

He wondered if those guys will realize that. 'But…I wonder what happened to them that they turn to hate God so much?'

With nothing else better to do, strolling around became the next thing on Naruto's to-do list. So he did. While carefully avoiding his NPC pseudo-friends (he'd hate to have another mental breakdown), the ninja opted to walk around some of the more secluded spots around the school. Well, yeah, it's technically scouting when he think about it, but there are some benefits of doing it!

For instance, he found some things infuriatingly interesting (and strange) when he ended up on top of the school's top-level floor. He could see everything from there; the wide field where he first fought the battlefront – currently occupied by several NPC students – was one of those things. He thought that he saw NPC-Shikamaru running a lap around the fields. That alone reinforced Frederica and Yuri's theory of them not being actual human beings. The real Shikamaru would be too lazy to run a lap; he wouldn't do it even if it keeps him alive.

Oh, and another thing that Naruto figured out when he was up there was the seemingly unending boundaries of this world. Nothing much of a discovery, compared to Shikamaru running a lap. Nevertheless, it was still intriguing. It looked like the world was limitless, with the unmeasured space that covered by the clouds like that, but if he think of that "unending boundary" as this world's actual limit… Ugh, he's hurting his head like this, but what he was trying to say is that this world is actually pretty small. Compared to the real world, of course.

Next, he found this strange machine that was at least a head taller than him. The transparent glass covering it revealed that there were some cans drinks and several other snacks inside it. The one that immediately caught his eyes – no, his FULL attention – was the cup ramen with the words "Key Ramen" on it, set atop a small platform with the number 8 on it. Next thing he knew he felt his mouth water in excitement. Hunger as well, since he skipped a meal before.

"*Gulp* Ra-Ramen…" he muttered, "I wonder if I have to buy a coupon or something, like in the cafeteria." He saw a small hole and a few numeric buttons under it, next to the transparent glass. There was a small writing that said "insert coin here". What, so if he put a coin in it, he would be able to ride it like a mechanical pony similar to the ones in Spring Country? Pfft, yeah right. Maybe it was so that he could get whatever's in the machine? If that's the case, then the ramen was totally off-limits for him. He got no cash on him.

Or a wallet, for that matter.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll have to live with not eating ramen from now on…" The optimistic blond turned around and started to walk. He didn't get far before he started freezing in his steps; and if one were to look closely he was actually holding in some tears. "Must…resist…urge…to eat…cup ramen!"

Poor guy. And all he wanted was cup ramen from a vending machine. If only someone was around, perhaps he could convince them to lend him some money, no? Fortunately, someone just happened to be in the vicinity. That someone was silent enough to sneak behind the blond and stand there staring at the trembling teen who was not-quite crying.

"What are you doing?" Was what the person asked, using a flat tone yet sounding sincerely confused. And it was a girl, Naruto presumed, judging by the voice.

"Geh!" The presence of a girl suddenly appearing behind him was shocking enough to make his seizure stop. Really, does everyone have to sneak up on him like that? They didn't know that they remind him of ghosts…which he wasn't afraid of, at all! Yeah, he's not afraid of ghosts! Just a little…disgusted...and wary of…

Putting the denial of his personal fears aside, Naruto turned around to face whoever dared to give him a scare. He didn't care if it was a girl (a soft-spoken one, at that), she still deserve a good hit on the head for having little to zero common sense. It's just that when he finally saw that the girl that scared him was clad in a cream-colored blazer, was at least a head shorter than him, and had a curtain of white silvery hair hanging from her head, Naruto's urge to noogie the girl vanished.

He laughed quietly, "What, it's just you? Damn, don't scare me like that. At least state your presence when you're behind someone before asking them something out of the blue."

The girl tilted her head cutely, "Is my presence really that thin?" The blank, dumbfounded look on her face emphasized her cuteness so much that Naruto was sure he'd get diabetes. Or at least broken teeth, like when people ate too much candy.

"You kidding? You're practically a ghost." Naruto stated with no hesitation. His comment on the matter was effective enough to make the short girl look up at him with a speck of realization in her golden eyes. "I see…" she said to herself, "That is very troubling."

It was then the spiky-haired blond had the very first urge to facepalm out of pure disbelief. Who would've thought that the Angel was someone like this? She looked pretty harmless up close, and yet most of the people he met so far were so scared of her. Some people just need to have a Jinchûriki complex, huh? Oh, by the way, a Jinchûriki complex defines to someone whose standing was equal to that of a Jinchûriki and was feared for that reason. To put it in layman terms, it's when people fear you for no apparent reason.

It was pretty popular in his world. Priestess Shion had that complex, and so did several other people. But he was getting out of topic with his thoughts, so back to the matter at hand…

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"I'm intending to go back to the girls' dorm, but I was thirsty so I decided to stop by the vending machine." The girl answered monotonously.

Fair enough. Going back to the cafeteria would be too bothersome if she had already gotten out of the school building. Still, what's a vending machine? When Naruto asked her this, she simply asked back, "Why are you asking that? It's that one." Pointing a delicate finger to a spot, Naruto realized that she was referring to the machine that held his sinful desire that is ramen captive.

"THAT'S a vending machine?" Naruto said disbelievingly. He might not be a scholar, but he knew vocabulary for crying out loud. The term "vending" is a verb, which refers to someone – or in this case, something – selling something in exchange for payment. This…this "vending machine" is holding his beloved ramen captive for ransom! It's just plain kidnapping!

"It is." The girl nodded. "It is a vending machine, I mean, not a kidnapper."

"Hmph! Could've fooled me. I can't even take anything from it, so it can't be a vending machine!" Sulking and being childishly denial might not what Naruto usually does, but in this case he was being kept from ramen and it made him cranky. Kinda like a chain smoker being held off from his cigarettes. Kinda like an angry village leader being held off from her saké.

Angel looked stupefied for the shortest moment, looking up at the whiskered blond as if he was an alien. She breathed out something akin to a sigh, but it held little to no annoyance that it looked like she was simply exhaling. "Of course, you can't take anything from it without paying first." Her right hand went into her right blazer pocket, fishing out what appeared to be a coin. She proceeded to insert the coin to the small hole that Naruto had inspected before, metallic noises chiming from inside the machine. "We have to insert the coin here before pushing the numeric buttons here to pick your choice of-"

"CHAAAAANCE!" Brimming with the excitement and spirit of a preschooler, Naruto lunged towards the machine and practically stabbed his index finger to the number 8 on the numeric pad. Angel kept an emotionless face. The cup ramen immediately went down and through a shaft, coming out from a square hole from which Naruto quickly snatched the cup ramen from. "VICTORY! I'VE SAVED RAMEN-HIME, 'TTEBAYO!"

It was obvious that Naruto was that hungry, given the way he reacted.

"Ahem." Angel cleared her throat, but it was too soft to be an actual throat-clearing. Nevertheless, Naruto heard her and immediately froze up. 'Uh oh, my ramen addiction has prompted me to steal her food.' Was his first thought. Then the more cynical part of his mind came up, and filled his head with false logic, 'Then again, this isn't her food. There's no way she would actually buy cup ramen, so this isn't her food by choice.' Research on females showed that they tend to have higher resistance to the temptation of ramen, so they don't buy it frequently.

'Maybe so… But I still used her money to get this cup ramen, rather than letting her get what she wants.'

'Oh come on, if you want to be a douche about it, then go ahead and starve to death!'

'That leader-girl said that we can't die, though, so is death even viable?'

With the battle of personal rationality going on, it's going to be hard not to notice the contradicting facial reactions that Naruto was making. It amused Angel enough that she stared at him, unmoving. Eventually, Naruto sighed, wearing a look of defeat on his face. "Uh…I'm sorry about that. I mean, about this." He said, holding up the cup ramen, "It's just that I was very hungry, and I haven't got to eat anything since yesterday. I, uh…kinda got out of control. Anyway, please forgive me! Here," he handed the cup ramen to her, "take it. It's yours."

However, the short girl didn't move her hands up to receive the instant food. Heck, she didn't even make a gesture of any kind, for that matter. She just stared at the taller blond with wide, confused eyes. Moments later, she sighed and closed her eyes, looking like a teacher that caught her student bringing an X-rated DVD to school.

That's not too far off the point. Ramen IS Naruto's sinful desire.

"No, it's okay. You can have it."

"What? Seriously?"

Angel nodded, "It's the least I can do."

'The least you can do? You practically saved my life here. And what for?' Naruto thought. Then, the moments of his heroic act came to his mind, where he went toe-to-toe with a cannonball to protect this girl. "Ah…you mean…"

Again, the girl nodded. Naruto, upon realizing this, had a stupid big smile on his face. Now he got it; she was trying to say "thank you" in her own extremely-subtle way. That…kind of made him glad, even though the lack of other kinds of response made the show of gratitude a little awkward, but still!

"To be honest, it was unnecessary. I was able to react to it even without your help, but since you jumped in anyway, I'll have to thank you."

"Naw, you don't have to thank me. But I guess you're right. Back then, I didn't know that we can't die here, even if we are technically killed. You could say it was just me panicking after seeing that a girl is getting blasted by a cannon right after waking up."

"Ano…it's not like that. It's true that we can't die in this world," the girl paused, wondering why the blond knew that in the first place, "but I have my own ways to react to the attack."

"If it were any other time, I'd be doubtful as hell. But with things going on as it is, skepticism isn't going to get me anywhere." Naruto admitted, sighing disbelievingly at how he had come to just accept things to be illogical as it is. "And how were you going to react to that? That was a freaking cannonball, you know."

"Well…" Angel started hesitantly. She raised her arms halfway up, bending her elbows, and raised her fists in front of her as if she was a boxing champion. "I'm strong."

"Uh huh, and I'm Rokudaime Hokage." So, okay, he said that skepticism isn't going to get him anywhere, but sarcasm is on a whole different level. Naruto is originally a non-sarcasm person; proven when he was dense to people's sarcasms at times. However, with a girl saying that she was strong while in appearance she was frailer than Ino on her diet program, he unconsciously developed the ability to be sarcastic.

Kakashi-sensei would've been proud.

'Then again, the Battlefront guys were very wary of her. Maybe she's stronger than she looks? I don't doubt that.' There were many people with weak looks being strong as hell, back in his world of course. Shikamaru was…well, he didn't look weak, just unmotivated, but he was strong enough to fend for himself. Even Genin like Konohamaru is strong. Apparently, he took out one of the Six Paths of Pain by himself.

While Naruto was quietly reminiscing, Angel had already gone off walking away. He didn't notice that until he snapped out of his trance, after which he turned around and waved cheerfully at the short, delicate-looking girl. "Hey, thanks for the ramen! I promise I'll find a way to make it up to you next time!" he yelled out enthusiastically.

The girl merely turned slightly and nodded at him before continuing her walk.

Naruto grinned happily for himself. "She's a pretty nice girl. Strangely silent, but nice." After that comment that no one heard, the blond turned away in search for hot water dispensers. After that… well, he guessed he's still up for another walk.

But for now, HOT WATER!

Cup ramen was delicious as always. And Key ramen had a different taste than Ichiraku's, not that he was complaining.

After a while, he got bored of wandering around aimlessly. Yet, he wasn't tired enough to stop under a tree and sleep. With his entire pent up dilemma in his mind, he finally made a decision that he'd never thought of making. He went back to the room where the musical instruments Iwasawa and her friends played was kept, and challenged his old enemy, Stringy the electric guitar, to a rematch.

"I'm back, Stringy." Naruto said coolly as he entered the room, letting his features being outlined by the lights like a complete badass.

"…" Stringy said.

"I know, you didn't expect me to come back. But here I am! After a grueling match against a scary girl and the urge for cup ramen (in which I lost in the latter), Uzumaki Naruto has come to play you, dattebayo!"

"…" Stringy replied.

"No witty comebacks, huh? FINE! I'll start playing you right now! BE PREPARED!" Naruto grabbed the neck of the guitar, fumbling with the strap before successfully hauling it to his left shoulder. "Eehm…let's see. How did Iwasawa did it again? Wire to the amplifier…turn on the button…hey, that rhymed! And, uh…little switch over here?" After completing the final preparations, Naruto grinned and glared down at the guitar in his arms with a mad grin. "Lo and behold, Uzumaki Naruto the guitar player!"

He might have more impact as a dragon slayer, but…yeah.

"Ready…" Naruto raised his hand high in the air, "Set…" His muscles tensed, ready to bring his pinched finger down to strum the strings, "GO!" Like a guillotine, he brought down his hand, strumming with all his might. Only…Stringy proved to be more stubborn than he thought, refusing to make any sound.

"W-What…" Eyes widening in disbelief, Naruto gaped at the guitar. "After all this time…you…you're still this strong?!" Absolute resilience to attacks and will; Stringy is definitely the strongest opponent Naruto had faced since the Juubi.

"Damn it! I'm still not strong enough!" Naruto exclaimed, feeling upset that even with the power of cup ramen he still couldn't play the electric guitar. But exactly, what did he do wrong? He was sure he'd gotten through every step that Iwasawa took in order to play the electric guitar. Where did he go wrong? Is the amplifier broken or something? Nope, he just forgot to connect the power cable to the electric socket.

*cue audience screaming "NOOB!"*

"Aha! So this is what's going on! Hah, smart move Stringy, but it'll take a lot more than that to prevent me from playing you!" To make it clear, it was obvious that an electric guitar can't do a damn thing by itself. The man-child that is Naruto refused to accept that. But never mind that; at least now he knew the problem. So, after he connected the power cable to the socket, he strapped the guitar back to him. "Where was I? Oh yeah! World, prepare to get rocked!"

Once again, Naruto brought down his hand and strummed all the strings in one quick sweep. The result was satisfying; a loud mixture of both high and low frequency sounds resounded in the room. By coincidence, Naruto had been holding the strings in an A chord by the neck of the guitar with his left hand.

"Hell yeah! This is easier than I thought!" Naruto exclaimed, excited. "But this is still far off from actual music… Well, I guess I can't instantly get it all. I wonder if Iwasawa would teach me…" Honestly, though, he wouldn't be so surprised if she couldn't. Iwasawa is a nice girl, but being in the opposite side of the faction (so to speak) also meant that they couldn't be as casual as normal people.

"Meh…even if she doesn't teach me, I'm sure I'll find a way to make some music." Naruto shrugged, "Now, if I'm not mistaken, different string-hold makes different kind of noises…" he muttered to himself. Originally, he thought of going elsewhere to cure his boredom, and probably find someplace to stay. But now that he started to get a hang of playing the guitar, he found himself wanting to experiment.

And experiment he did, for a couple of hours. To be frank, his "experimentation" was…just wrong. He had started off with some simple forms of string-holding – and occasionally hitting the chords just right – but he was clearly inexperienced. Some of the chords he used were made up, holding them in ways that he just came up with on the spot. Not to say that he knew what he was using chords, because guitars themselves were foreign to him and his world.

With the strident noises he was creating, it would be hard for anyone near not to notice. That was probably what applied to Iwasawa, who happened to be in the vicinity and heard noises from her music room. She stumbled upon a riffing blond as she came into the room, and to say that she was perplexed was an understatement.

"Figures that I find you here again, Uzumaki." She quipped.

Naruto lifted his head from gazing the guitar in his hands to Iwasawa who stood at the room's entrance. "Iwasawa! Fancy meeting you here!" The girl was carrying some kind of bag on her shoulder, which had a long protrusion going upwards higher than her head. Strange bag, but Naruto wasn't interested enough by the bag as much as Iwasawa's sudden appearance.

The lead vocalist chuckled. She was surprised that Naruto, despite what happened between him and Yuri, was still brimming with exuberance like he is now. Should've expected that, perhaps, seeing how he was the first time she met him. "As fancy as it is, I'll have to ask you, what are you doing in this place again?"

"What else? I'm playing guitar."

"I can see that."

"Then why ask?"

"No reason. Just wanted to see if you're really playing guitar or you're making strange noises on purpose."

"…it's that bad, huh?" Naruto looked downcast, "Shock."

"No, not really. It was pretty good for someone who never touched a guitar before." Iwasawa said, chuckling again. Naruto looked at her skeptically, wondering whether she was telling him the truth or just being sarcastic. Anyway, if that was what she thought, then perhaps he should be grateful…he suppose.

"If you really wanna know, I was just trying to find something to do out of boredom. Then I remembered that I had 'unfinished business' with our little friend over here, who was real stubborn on being silent."

"You mean that electric guitar you tried to use before?"

"Who else? This thing is real tough to play, but when I did it like you showed me it really gives off a nice sound." Naruto suddenly snorted, rolling his eyes, "If this guitar was a girl, I'd already call her a tsundere."

Considering the fact that all Naruto had forgotten to do was to connect the wires, Iwasawa tried to contain her laughter; an effort that was not in vain. "Hmph… That's one way to put it, though it's not always the guitar at fault." She told him. She let out a smiling sigh as she set her bag down to the side and picked up an electric guitar of her own, starting it up like she usually does. "Sometimes it'll sound as good as you want it, other times you never get it right even when you practice until sundown. That's because you're playing it, not with it. But when you two play together," she began strumming a few set of chords, creating a metallic screech that was surprisingly melodic. She stopped softly on one chord, letting the sound hang in the air for a bit, "then you'll create a miracle."

"Miracle?" Naruto repeated, not understanding what kind of miracle Iwasawa was speaking of. "I…don't really get it, but isn't this guitar meant to make music?"

"Precisely." Iwasawa said, smiling at the blond. "It creates miracles called music."

Naruto had never looked so thoughtful (for all the brain power he was granted with, he'd short-circuit his mind first before he started thinking so hard), but Iwasawa's words had him thinking. He had never thought of miracles that way before. Originally, he thought that miracles were just events that occur after trying very hard to realize it. The theory coming from Iwasawa is…a nice point of view.

Maybe creating miracles is possible in this world?

"Huh… I guess that's right." Naruto grinned at Iwasawa. "And if miracles can be created like that, I'm sure everyone's gonna be happy!"

"Yeah…"

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked when Iwasawa's weak response caught his attention.

"No, it's just…" Iwasawa started, her eyes narrowing. She looked angry, but sad at the same time. It was as if she has something to say – preferably hurtful, judging by the look in her eyes – but lacks the needed urge to say it. She sighed momentarily, holding up her forehead in her right palm. "Damn… I'm acting strange, aren't I?"

"Uh…yeah, if you ask me." Naruto agreed hesitantly. "But you look more troubled rather than strange."

"It's that obvious, huh?" she asked, smiling weakly at the blond ninja. The boy in mention frowned slightly, getting confused by Iwasawa's behavior. It's not that it was strange or anything…but perhaps he had gotten used to seeing her in her energetic self rather than this downcast version of her. Frankly, she looks better as her former self. He closed his eyes and sigh, "Look, if you have something you need to say, you better say it. It's not healthy to keep it bottled inside."

"I'm not… I mean, I don't have anything to—"

"Deny it all you want, but you can't hide it from me." Naruto cut her sentence off, silencing her effectively. "I've seen things happen because one guy decided to keep all of his problems to himself." And the things that happened…weren't pretty at all. Who knew one Uchiha bastard of a teammate can cause so much trouble? Shaking the thought of Sasuke out of his head, Naruto continued, "It might make you feel strong for not caving in, but honestly, once you keep yourself shut from others you are weaker than anybody else. Besides, we're friends, aren't we? The least I can do is hear you out."

"But you're the Battlefront's enemy." Iwasawa pointed out, trying her best to give a reason for the blond not to be so concerned about her.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I never said that I wanted to fight you guys. Regardless, you've never looked at me as one, so I'm not all that convinced."

With how persistent the blond was being, their conversation would last through the day. Iwasawa didn't want that; not only that would interfere with her band practice, but she didn't want the other parts of the band to give the wrong impression to Naruto when they get here. Contributing to that was the fact that Iwasawa does feel uneasy, and she didn't want this feeling to last the whole day as well.

'Perhaps telling him wouldn't be so bad…' she thought. After pondering on it for a little while, Iwasawa closed her eyes and nodded to herself. She opened them and looked right at Naruto, "All right, I'll tell you. But please, don't get worked up about it, I'm just trying to clear these thoughts away."

"Oh, don't mind me. Just think of me as a rebounding punching bag." Naruto said, earning him a strange look from Iwasawa. In response, he gave her a cheesy thumbs-up. "Trust me, it works."

"Hm…I guess." Iwasawa sat down on the floor; her bright purple hair waving as her balance shifted. "My other band members are going to come soon, so I think I'll just make it brief."

-Flashback-

"Why is the new song a ballad?" Imposing as ever behind the desk (and still looking pissed after her encounter with Naruto), Yuri inquired. Her mouth was set into a frown behind her interlacing fingers propped in front of her face.

Blinking in surprise, Iwasawa then asked, "Is it bad?"

"For a diversion, yes." And if anything, the sole purpose of the Girls Dead Monster is to divert attentions; particularly the NPCs'. The band is so popular among the model students that the mere mention of their name was enough to bring about an uproar, and it was for that reason that GirlDeMo became so important to the Battlefront.

Newly-recruited Otonashi had no idea whatsoever about the band's purpose, so he raised his hand and voiced his lack of knowledge, "Ano…what do you mean by diversion?"

Yuri proceeded to brief the red-haired amnesiac about the GirlDeMo in general point of view. As stated before, popularity wise, Girls Dead Monster is impossible to ignore; thus why they are crucial to keep the attention of numerous NPCs to themselves while the rest of the Afterlife Battlefront initiate an operation.

So far, the only individual who is impervious to the band's charm is Angel, but considering that she was always emotionless it's hard to tell whether she was affected or not.

"So, no good?" Iwasawa asked Yuri.

"Hmm…" Yuri closed her eyes in thought. While it's true that the new song was great – as are all the other songs Iwasawa created – but the main problem here is it was a ballad. "A ballad is kind of…" No, she doesn't have a deep, underlying hatred towards that one music genre, it's just… "We won't be able to carry out flashy operations if it's that kind of calming sound, right?"

"I see." Half-sighing, Iwasawa said as she sat upon the coffee table between the two sofas. "It's rejected, then."

-Flashback Ends-

"She rejected your song?" Naruto asked disbelievingly. While he tried to maintain a collected composure, he was failing to contain the rise in his voice. He snorted, "Talk about stupidity."

"No, she's right." Iwasawa disagreed, shaking her head slowly. "Yuri always think the best for the Battlefront and that includes what makes their operations successful or not. A ballad won't catch the audience's attention that much compared to the usual rock music. All it'll ever be is a hindrance to the operations."

Naruto sighed. Why do all people have to follow what that purple-haired blockhead wanted to do? He didn't mean to be rude, but wasting Iwasawa's song is plain idiocy; especially because it's Iwasawa! Even he could tell; her songs weren't something to glance witheringly at. "I don't get why you had to…well, not use the song. I think it's going to be great, putting aside its apparent uselessness in your 'operations'."

"You think?" the lead vocalist inquired.

"Well, I haven't heard it for myself, so I'll assume it's just as good as your other songs."

"Huh…good to know you're rooting for my songs."

"Meh, it's hard not to when it's nice on the ears." Naruto admitted, shrugging nonchalantly. "To be honest, even if we don't know each other, I'd still think you're a great singer. That's why it's a bit crazy for your song to be rejected."

Iwasawa chuckled good-naturedly at the blonde's statement. She was glad that she had at least someone that accepted her song without hearing it himself. Naruto must've had a lot of faith in her for him to say things like that. And she was thankful; Yuri's rejection hurt (to an extent, but she ignored it for the sake of the Battlefront) even though Iwasawa knew she didn't mean it, and talking to Naruto about it had actually made her feel better.

"You know…" she started, "I think we've misunderstood you for a while now. I don't know why you don't see us as your enemy when we clearly attacked you, but somehow…I'm glad you don't."

"That makes both of us." Naruto responded, grinning slyly at her. "I've said it then, I'll say it again. I don't want to fight any of you guys; not the Battlefront nor Angel. I…I just want to pass on peacefully to the real world." His grin dropped immediately as he began to turn somber. "I had enough of my share of fighting already."

Iwasawa stared silently at the blond ninja. She heard him; or more precisely, she heard his voice. It was somewhat reminiscent to hers, in a way, with how he sounded tired of something. Naruto was mysterious alright, but now she began to wonder about his mysterious past as well. Judging by how he put it, there was a chance that he might have a past similar to hers.

Or worse, similar to Yuri's.

"You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Not all of us get the action time and have the time to generally kick ass." Iwasawa gestured to herself, "I mean, look at me for instance. My band members and I don't do fights, nor are we forced to do it. Sometimes it's just a matter of specialty in the Battlefront."

"You're sounding as if you're trying to pull me back to the Battlefront." Naruto said, rolling his eyes and looking mildly annoyed. 'Then again, I haven't even joined yet.'

"I'm not." Iwasawa denied, shaking her head. It's fine by her if Naruto didn't want to join; after all, Yuri was the one in charge of recruitment. Even without joining the Battlefront, as long as Naruto isn't hostile to them he's actually safe; both in regards of himself and to the SSS. And he seemed strong; at least enough to hold his own ground should Angel decide to eradicate him or something.

Maybe that was the reason why Yuri was so eager to recruit him, other than the fact that he is also another human. Naruto is strong, yet he held no ill intent towards the Battlefront. The only reason he threatened to fight them was because he had his mind set to protect Angel, who probably was a harmless girl in his eyes. Knowing this, Yuri might have thought that he would be a great ally.

Actually… Iwasawa blinked, momentarily silent in contemplation. "Actually, I don't think I even have to ask you to join."

"What was that?" Naruto asked, eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you know, just by being neutral, you've already become an ally."

"And how is that suppose to make any sense?" Naruto asked again, this time with narrowed eyes. "I said I'm neutral, so doesn't that mean I'm nobody's ally?"

"You say that, but you've come here twice already, and even befriended me." Iwasawa shrugged, "I don't know about you, but you're being too friendly to be just a neutral party. It's unavoidable. You're on our side whether you like it or not."

Rendered speechless, Naruto turned away and grumbled about how it was all untrue. Then again, having a nine-tailed fox inside him telling him otherwise would shake his resolve sooner or later. He couldn't say no to Iwasawa's logic, though. No matter how much he denies it, the fact that he'd come to think of Iwasawa as his friend clearly proves that he thought of her as an ally.

It was only a matter of time before that function applies to the other members as well.

Naruto sighed. All of this ally-enemy stuff was putting his mind under a heavy weight. Seriously… But he could sympathize, he suppose. A world with only a single educational facility and no other facilities would bore the hell out of a person. Perhaps this war against God was something that came out of boredom, then? Nah, it couldn't be. The torrential emotion that girl Yuri held in her eyes when she snapped was equivalent to a Tailed-Beast Bomb. Something like that can't be based on simple boredom.

Ah, great, now he's curious about their pasts again.

Sighing again, Naruto put down the electric guitar he was holding and set it to a nearby guitar stand. "It doesn't matter…" he muttered. "In the end, I won't fight in the name of either of the two battling factions. I'm smart enough to tell that things won't end up nicely once I pick sides."

"I understand." Iwasawa concurred, nodding slightly. "But you know…boys are always like that."

"…is that sexism I hear?" Naruto asked, pouting at the end of his sentence. His sulking tone made Iwasawa laugh out; probably she found it amusing to hear him like that. "No, nothing like that. I mean, when boys say that they won't do something, they'll usually do it anyway."

"Doesn't that law apply to girls only?"

"Not in my book."

"You're impossible." Naruto grumbled, sighing. Iwasawa laughed again, though this time she tried to hold in her laughter. Of course, it epically failed. And laughter is infectious, so eventually Naruto ended up laughing as well. After a while, their laughter both died down, slowing to mere chuckles. Tired, but somehow relieved to release all the pent up stress with that laugh, Naruto stood up and smiled. "Well, I'll be off then. I don't want to disturb you or anything. You…have something to do here, don't you?"

Iwasawa nodded, once again letting her elongated bangs bob up and down in process. "Yeah, band practice. The others are coming here, though now I'm wondering what's taking them so long."

"Really? Well, good luck in your practice, I guess. Not that I think you'll need it…" Naruto walked off towards the only doorway in the room, but stopped and perked up as he remembered one thing. "Ah! I almost forgot. Ne, Iwasawa, you should let me hear that new song of yours sometime!"

Hearing the request – or rather, the reminder – made Iwasawa blink momentarily, surprised by its sudden upbringing. She recovered quickly and shot him a smirk, "You're right, I should. Oh, I wanted to let you know that we're holding a concert tomorrow night. You're welcome to come if you want, so don't be a stranger."

"You bet, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned (the one and only Uzumaki-patented 1000 watts Naruto grin). "See ya, Iwasawa!" he said in farewell.

"Masami." Her voice stopped him from going further out; instead, making him turn back around and look at her questioningly. "Huh?" the oblivious blond let out.

"Iwasawa Masami." She said, smiling. "That's my full name." What prompted her to give her full-name introduction now of all times, she didn't know; but there was the underlying feeling of owing since Naruto already gave her his full name.

"Ah, I see." Naruto let out in realization, before once again grinning at the red-eyed vocalist. "Well then, see ya, Masami-chan!" Bad habit dies hard; and in Naruto's case, it's the habit of giving the affectionate "-chan" suffix to every cute girls (according to him) he met.

The way he called her almost made her trip on one of the microphone cables. When she got her stance right back up, he was already gone from the doorway. No more figure blocked the afternoon sunlight coming in through the door, creating human-shaped shadows; just its soothing ray shining through. Yet, the lack of exuberant presence left such a hole in the music room's atmosphere. It was so noticeable that Iwasawa let out a long, drawn out breath.

"Geez…guess who's playing the longing princess role now?" She dropped her eyesight to the floor and chuckled. That was a rhetorical question; she didn't to get an answer. Yet, she did.

"That would be very obvious." Said the female voice, once again coming from the doorway. Iwasawa raised her head, coming eye to eye with her band's lead guitarist. "Hisako?" Iwasawa called inquiringly, though it was already pretty obvious who was standing there. She didn't really need to ask it. "Wow, you're here early. Didn't expect you to come here this quick…" As she said this, she saw Sekine and Irie standing behind Hisako's back. "…along with the others, too?"

"Well, we didn't have anything else to do. We weren't even hungry, so the cafeteria wasn't that preferable." Hisako said, shrugging. "So I decided that we should mimic you and be dedicated band members ourselves."

"I'm no different than you guys, you know." Which was a false fact, of course. In truth, every time GirlDeMo scheduled a practice, it was nigh impossible to not see the face of Iwasawa Masami as the first one to show up in the music room. Hisako sighed; her best friend is really focused sometimes, but she needed to let go of her anti-social traits and slack off once in a while.

"Well, whatever. We're here, so let's start practicing." Hisako might not be the best motivators around, but she was respected enough to have others comply with her demands; this one being one of them. "Oh, by the way, I think it's a right decision to come right away."

"And why's that?"

"Well, we got a glimpse of Uzumaki going out from this room, for one. Second interesting thing is that he walked on air when he did."

"…come again?" Iwasawa asked politely.

Sekine beat Hisako to the punch, answering with the excitement of a ten-year old that'd seen Gundam firsthand, "You should've seen it, Iwasawa-san! He was like, jumping off from the railing and looked so bored despite jumping from third story. And then he…well, to put it simply, air-walked away! It was so coooool!"

'Great, Naruto's got a fan now and he doesn't even realize it.' Iwasawa thought. 'But...air-walking? He surely has more tricks than his looks let on.'

Hisako turned to Iwasawa, looking at her seriously, "What was he doing here?"

"He tried to play the guitars, apparently. He must've been here for a while." Iwasawa answered, closing her eyes and exhaling. "He wasn't half bad. His chord grip was messy, but his strokes were strong."

"Are you seriously reviewing his guitar play?" Hisako asked. Iwasawa's indifferent look that she had while giving her comment about Naruto's guitar play was enough to make the ponytailed guitarist sweat-drop. Giving her head a slight shake, Hisako threw the useless curiosity aside and focused to the matter at hand. "Well, whatever. We're all here now, so let's start the band practice, shall we?"

"You're right." Iwasawa picked up her electric guitar, slinging its strap across her shoulder. "Well, get your instruments heated girls. If my guts are right, Yuri's upcoming operation is going to need a good show."

Sekine and Irie, both being adolescents of the younger age, hurriedly scrambled to their designated positions. While the blonde Sekine grabbed hold of the bass guitar, Irie made herself comfortable on her seat behind her drum set. Meanwhile, Hisako trudged calmly to Iwasawa's left flank, taking an electric guitar into her possession. As the lead guitarist, she was almost always reserved and focused.

Iwasawa didn't have to do anything as she already had her guitar slung around her. However, as she adjusted the microphone in front of her, she couldn't help but let her mind wander off. She thought about many things, actually. For instance, she was getting anxious about the concert that is going to be held tomorrow night. It was part of Yuri's operation, known as 'Angel Area Invasion Plan'.

With the contents of the plan being plainly obvious thanks to the name, Iwasawa knew that the Girls Dead Monster had an important part in this operation. It was all up to them to create a large enough commotion to distract as much NPCs as they can and deviate attention from Yuri and the select few that she will take along with her in her infiltration group. Though, at the same time, Iwasawa was determined to make not only a good distraction, but a good concert as well.

No… She wanted it to be great.

And to top it all off, Naruto promised to be there as well. She didn't know if that meant anything – both to her and to him – but she felt that she needed to give it her all just because the happy blond was going to be there. Unneeded worry then came over her, and she became doubtful of herself. 'Can I really do it?' she thought, tuning out the sounds of her band mates checking over their equipments. Mentally, she gave herself a slap on the back to wake herself up. 'No. There won't be anything good coming from thinking about it too much. I don't have to think whether I can or cannot; I'll just do it.'

"Ready?" the lead vocalist asked to the rest, gaining approving nods and hums from them. She smiled, "Hit it!"

The next day…

It was evening. The time was 18.00.

Without the usual ring of an alarm clock, Naruto could avoid waking up with a nasty migraine like he usually did, but that also messed up his body clock. Strange thing is, in his old world, he'd woken up early in the morning more often than not, even without alarm clocks blaring in his ears.

Oh, but before we talk about that, let's ask why Naruto was even in a room in the first place. Amidst his wandering around yesterday, he came upon the boys' dorm by accident. Now, I'm sure you know that Naruto is very much capable of sleeping in the woods for all he cared, as long as he has ramen with him. That was the underlying problem; he got no ramen with him. The one that Angel gave him was gone already, to his stomach.

Conveniently, he found out that the dorm actually had an inner cafeteria, and it sold ramen for free. Yes, FREE RAMEN! Finally, something good in this otherwise abnormal world. Initially, all he wanted was to come in and eat free ramen in the cafeteria, but his plan went down the drain when the front office manager came up to him and dragged him to a room.

Ah…no, not to do those kinds of things. The innuendo was unintended.

The manager, to his shock, was an NPC-Tsunade. She gave him a room key, telling him that this room was his. Suspecting that this was once again a case of misunderstanding like the one his homeroom teacher had, he rejected. That granted him a good jab to the forehead. And from the impact, the blond could surmise that NPC-Tsunade had equal strength to the real Tsunade. He didn't know how that was possible, but he shrugged the mystery off and begrudgingly accepted the room key.

And so, here he is.

Fortunately, he also got the ramen.

"Urgh…" he groaned, "Talk about hangover." Actually, it was more of exhaustion than a hangover. He hadn't rested properly ever since he arrived in this world; his preemptive coma didn't count. He got out of his bed, went to the bathroom and washed his face to clear his thoughts. When he walked out of the bathroom, he took a glance at his alarm clock.

18.15, it read. He grinned, 'Still enough time until Masami's concert, I suppose. I guess I'll get some ramen before going out.'

Minutes passed unknowingly, and time seemingly fast-forwarded to 18.43 in a blink of an eye. Next thing Naruto knew, he was lightly running out of the dormitories, with no concrete idea about where he was supposed to go. "Damn...I forgot to ask her where her concert is going to be held." Naruto muttered to himself as he ran about aimlessly. "Then again, she didn't tell me. I'm not completely at fault then." Well, that still won't solve his current problem.

"I probably should ask some of the students...hm?" His steady stride came to a halt when he saw something eye-catching plastered to a wall nearby him. A poster, it seemed, with the words "Girls Dead Monster" being written in pink on it, as well as a background theme of four female silhouettes. He suspected that the pink words were the band's logo, so he assumed that it was a poster of the band concert. As expected, he saw several names also printed in white near the band logo; Iwasawa, Hisako, Sekine and Irie. He didn't recognize the other three, but that must be the other members.

"19.00, tonight… Where the hell is the sports hall?" He wondered aloud. He would ask for directions, but once again there was no one around to ask. That is, until his sharp eyes caught the sight of a flicker of pink running about, disappearing behind a pillar of some sorts. He frowned, confused.

'That's…not Sakura-chan. I don't remember her hair being that long, nor was her NPC counterpart's.' He thought.

He chased after whoever that was. As he got closer to the pillar, he saw that the person was still behind it. Slowing down to a walk, Naruto's eyes widened when the girl came into view completely.

Now he was absolutely sure that she wasn't Sakura. To start with, she was a diminutive-looking girl who had the looks of a bratty kid; nowhere near Sakura's level of height. And her pink hair…damn, it was longer than he thought. It reached her lower back, and that was with little bits of it being bound into two small pigtails with red ribbons. Her clothing was the same uniform as the ones that the girls from SSS wore; and sure enough, there was an imprint of the SSS logo on her left sleeve. Only, the uniform she's wearing was probably downsized a couple of times, as it looked too small on her. Her stomach was showing under the top's end, which was too short. The skirt was…well, it was short on the other girls, so he wasn't that surprised. The devil tail accessory tied to the back of it did catch his eyes, though.

Her face was…unique. As said beforehand, her pink hair was very long; the fringes nearly covered her deep pink (near red, actually) eyes. She had a round face, and dare he say it she was kind of cute in a non-attracted point of view. She looked to be as young as – if not younger than – Konohamaru. Which made him wonder, what was a kid like her doing here?

The girl had her eyes widening in surprise, and her jump of fright was perhaps an overreaction but Naruto would've done the same had someone appeared at his side so suddenly. Oh wait, he already did (the meeting with Angel). "UWAAA! A stranger appeared!"

"I could've said the same to you." Naruto countered. "But, yeah, I guess I'm a stranger."

The girl stopped her frantic reaction a bit and peered curiously at him. For a while, it looked like she wasn't going to end her stare, until she spoke up again with a little lisp in her voice – probably caused by that little fang of hers jotting out from upper lip, "Ah…so it's just you."

'So…I'm not a stranger now? Make up your mind, kid!' Naruto thought, covering his annoyed expression with a friendlier one. "You know me?"

"Yeah! You see, my seniors have been talking about you a lot! My senpai who brought an axe with him all the time told me that you're a person that likes to kick peoples' balls for no apparent reason." The girl said, her hands making a motion in the air as if outlining a real axe for effect.

An axe-wielding bastard who spouts lies? Why does that sound so familiar? Naruto blinked when an annoying face with squinty eyes and messy purple hair resurfaced from his memory bank, and he scowled. "What? That bastard… Didn't he tell you that he was the one who kicked my balls first?"

"EEEH?! S-So he likes to kick balls too?!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'TOO'?!" Naruto responded angrily, not liking how the girl still looks at him as a walking testicle-kicker. He blamed Noda for that, planting false impression of him on an innocent-looking girl like her. Truthfully, that's just wrong. The taller teen sighed and closed his eyes. "Well, forget about that. Um…by the way, are you the one who placed all these posters?" Naruto asked, having noticed how crowded the walls around him were with the GirlDeMo concert posters filling them up.

"Ah, hai! I was told to give out the announcement about Iwasawa-san and the others' concert." The girl suddenly brought her hands together and squealed, "Kyaaa, I'm so excited! This is the first time the Girls Dead Monster ever played in an announced event!" Again, all of the sudden the girl made a sudden move; this time her eyes were wide open and her face was practically brimming with excitement. "Ah, do you know about Girls Dead Monster? Maybe you know them more by their acronym, GirlDeMo, since the model students usually calls them like that."

Let it be stated again; the girl was practically brimming with excitement. In fact, it was shining with so much delight Naruto could mistake her for a 200-watt light bulb. 'Talk about idolism…' he thought to himself. Even when he was thinking, the girl was still letting her mouth run endlessly, talking about her beloved band on and on. To stop her rant, Naruto cleared his throat. "Ahem! Well, yeah, I do know them. In fact, you could say that I'm on good terms with one of the members."

"Really? Who?" The pink-haired girl immediately asked.

Naruto pinched his chin and looked up in thought, "I guess, since it's her last name that's printed in the poster, you guys call her Iwasawa? I call her Masami-chan, though."

"EEEH?! Are you serious?!" The superbly-energetic girl suddenly leaped up in surprise. "You mean, that Iwasawa-senpai? The GirlDeMo's legendary lead vocalist?!"

"Eh? Legendary? Er, yeah, I guess." Her voice was amazing enough to let her be called "legendary", even he had to admit that.

"That's so COOL!" The girl's exclaimed. She looked up at him in wonder, her eyes sparkling with what Naruto could only depict as pure amazement. The blond chuckled at the young girl's behavior. This girl…she's something else. "Hey, you said that you're the one who placed the posters. So are you by any chance related to the band?"

The girl nodded happily, "Yes. I'm still an underling, compared to the others, but I'm still happy that I get to work with the Girls Dead Monster." There wasn't any trace of false expression in her words, which meant that she meant what she said. "Ah, by the way, I'm Yui!"

"Yu…i?" Naruto repeated slowly, his face scrunched up in confusion. The girl noticed this, and voiced her concern, "Is something wrong?"

Naruto didn't quite get it at first. Then he realized with a start that she was introducing herself. "A-Ah, you mean that's your name? Gomen, gomen, I just didn't expect you to give me your given name right away."

"Ah, is that so?"

"Don't get me wrong, I prefer it that way, so it's cool. I'm not into formalities anyway."

"Neither am I." Yui said, giving him a wide smile. "But, but, are you really friends with Iwasawa-senpai?"

"Of course! What, you think I'm lying or something?" Naruto asked, feeling slightly misjudged.

"No, no, nothing like that! It's just that…it's kind of hard to imagine, that's all."

"Huh…" Naruto eyed the pink-haired girl, wondering what's so hard to imagine. Befriending Masami was the easiest thing next to transformation jutsu; he knew that from experience. He shrugged the short girl's skepticism and let himself smile widely, "Oh well, you'll see later. By the way, name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"The ramen topping?" Yui asked innocently.

"N-NO!" He refused to be referred to as a fishcake for a ramen topping, no matter how heavenly tasty ramen is! But…he heard that Jiraiya came up with the name while he was eating ramen, so perhaps he should be referred as a fishcake?

"Well, never mind that! I'm nearly late to see the concert! And I still haven't figured out where the sports hall is…"

"Ara, the sports hall? It's that one." She said, pointing to a large – scratch that, humongous sounds more befitting – building that had a curved roof facing earthward. The blond wondered how he could miss a building that large, and came up with zero result upon reflection. He blamed his own idiocy.

"Ah, that one? Alright, thanks! I can't believe I missed that." He looked up at the building. "But, damn…it's pretty huge."

"Of course! It's where the Girls Dead Monster is supposed to hold the concert after all, so we have to think about how much audience there will be." Yui commented.

"Heh…damn right." Naruto smirked at the image of hundreds of people coming to see the Girls Dead Monster, waving their hands wildly at the show the band will make. He shook his head, "Thanks again, Yui! I'll see you at the show, then!" he said as he ran off towards the sports hall.

"You bet you will, bastard!"

Hearing the last call, Naruto skipped a beat in his step (well, he almost tripped in a literal sense), but resumed his running later on. 'Damn…spunk AND colorful language? This place is full of strange people…'

Later on…

It was minutes until the start of the concert. Using these precious time left, the members of the Afterlife Battlefront quickly checked over their equipments and went over their preparations to initiate 'Angel Area Invasion Plan'. Normally, they'd do the operation with maximum effort and go home empty-handed since they couldn't get through Angel's password no matter what they do. Yuri blamed their idiocy. But this time, it was going to be different. Yuri had reeled in the genius super-hacker, Takeyama, to help her crack the code for Angel's database. With a handle name like "Christ" (though nobody ever cared to call him as that), his hacking skills is second to none.

"Yurippe, we're good to go." Called out one Hinata Hideki as he loaded his gun.

"Same here." Noda piped up. The others just gave their leader a nod of approval, signing that they too had finished their preparations. Although, Otonashi did remain clueless about the whole operation, which was why he remained silent and just looked stoically at Yuri. He was still skeptic about what they were trying to do, invading Angel's place and all. Judging by the way the other members described it, his head already conjured up freaky, sci-fi sounding places as guesses of what this 'Angel Area' was supposed to look like. To be frank, they were too surreal.

'I guess I have no choice but to tag along and see how it will turn out.' Giving up on thinking about it altogether, Otonashi shrugged mentally and looked on as Yuri went over her own preparation. She was nearly finished reading on what seemed to be a blueprint; probably one considering 'Angel Area'. He saw her nod to herself before raising her head to give her members a confident smirk.

"All right! We're all set. Now we'll just have to wait until Iwasawa-san and the others start their concert. Once they've driven the NPCs away from us, we'll start moving." The girl's eyes stared at the ground as she began pacing back and forth. "Unfortunately, I don't know how much Angel is going to be affected by the concert. We'll have to count on the girls to put on a superb show."

"What are we going to do once we get to Angel's place? Or, more precisely, how?" Matsushita 5th Dan inquired.

"Like I said, we'll have to wait until all the NPCs are away from the girls' dorm before we mobilize our team. We'll invade like how we did last time, seeing as that method didn't fail us in the slightest."

"I understand. I guess I better pack light then." The big teen said as he put back the bazooka he was holding.

"You were thinking of bringing that bazooka, weren't you?!" Otonashi accused, baffled.

Unfazed by Otonashi's outburst, the other members turned to Yuri who had stopped her pacing and faced them with a steely resolve. "We can do this, people! Unlike last time, we'll dig out every bits of information there is regarding Angel's powers. We won't go back without that precious information!"

"And I'm being ignored here…" Otonashi muttered to himself.

All members present either nodded or grunted in approval, different expressions on their faces. One thing's for sure, though, they were ready to do what they do best; conducting a rebellion act against God. With the exception of Otonashi who had an unsure look on his face, and maybe Ooyama who looked scared and nervous.

"*bzzt* This is Yusa. The Girls Dead Monster is starting their concert in T minus 20 seconds." A girl's voice came through the earpiece Yuri wore in her ear. Pressing the earpiece, Yuri then replied, "Roger that. We'll be moving shortly. Keep an eye out for Angel over there."

"Acknowledged. Over and out." The girl's voice died out after the last message. Yuri smiled, taking in a deep breath and declared, "Operation…START!"

-End of Chapter 3-

-xo-

BOOOYAH! Another chapter down! *gets pelted with a banana peel* Ugh…alright, alright, I get it. I spent too much time working on it that I haven't updated for so long. Now that I mention it, I haven't updated my other stories as well. *sigh*

"You suck, SpinLord!"

Yeah, I- HEY! Who said that?!

Naruto: *pops out suddenly* I DID! You left the story for so long I thought you abandoned it! Damn it, and just when things were getting exciting, too!

Me: In my defense, my school is a bast—

Naruto: Man, screw that excuse! An author does not and WILL NOT bend to the will of school! Where's your will? Where's that 'author oath' you uphold so much?!

Me: But I didn't uphold anything!

Naruto: Bullshit! Now, get down and give me twenty!

So, yeah, I'll continue writing this AN while doing twenty push-ups. So you see, ugh, I've been in a field trip for the last five days. Ugh, three… Gah! Not exactly a field trip, though. It's more of a semi-military training trip. Ten—ooph!

Naruto: Is that the best you can do? I've seen Shikamaru do better!

Stupid whiskers… Anyway, I once again apologize for the late update once again. Writer's block has been conjuring up everywhere, and I've been relaxing my mind for quite some time to regain my imagination prowess. To my full displeasure, all I got was more rifle-carrying plot bunnies, threatening me to make other stories. Not to worry, though, I've rejected their order to finish this one first. I guess I'll be focusing on this story and "Unity of Two Worlds", assuming I can do both simultaneously. Grrrhh…TWENTY! Hah, hah, how's that, Goldilocks?

Naruto: Hmph…you better start this story quickly next time. And next time, there won't BE another next time!

Me: Sir, yes sir! Pfft…look at me, getting ordered around by a 2-dimensional character…

Trivia Time!

»Yuri sure is being aggressive towards Naruto. I myself can't tell the reason why I write her as so, but I surmise to the blond touching a nerve in Yuri's head unconsciously. I mean, he's a guy who got a second chance from God, so he's in the exact opposite position to Yuri who didn't even get a chance to…well, you know what, just watch the series if you don't know.

»Naruto can converse freely with Angel (Kanade) because he'd already look at her as a harmless person. And she's not all that bothered, either. He saved her life, she gave him ramen in exchange; to sum it all up, they're on good terms with each other. Of course, I deny making it a Naruto x Kanade for my own reasons.

»Iwasawa is another person that Naruto can talk easily with. She's a pretty open person originally, so Naruto had no problem befriending her. Not to mention Naruto's interest in guitars, which instantly linked him with the lead vocalist. Again, I deny making it a Naruto x Iwasawa.

»I haven't got the time or the skill to fully describe how the world of afterlife actually looked like. I can't describe it easily, probably because English isn't my first language. So, if there's anything wrong in my depiction, please forgive me.

»Writing Otonashi is quite hard. I had to picture his sarcasm, slight cynicism and well-timed humor trait to not make this story so heavyweight. I got a complaint saying that I'm putting too much weight on a lightweight story such as Angel Beats. *sigh* I sure hope I get a hang of it soon.

»No appearance of Umineko's witches for today! I'll be saving it for the next chapter since I'm so damn lazy, hehehe.

-Next Chapter-

"Let's do this."

"They're…really good!"

"This is just a normal girl's room!"

"What the hell is going on here?!"

"Back off. This is their concert!"

"Guard Skill: Hand Sonic."

"[Red] I won't let you ruin…THE MIRACLE SHE CREATED! [Red]"

"This is…her song."