LEGEND OF THE TRUE SAGE
Hey friends I have decided to start a new story this time a cross over story between high school dxd and Naruto. But I am not abandoning my protector's pride story it's simply a side project an idea that won't leave me alone.
Disclaimer: I own shit neither high school dxd nor Naruto.
summary: in the world where gods and devils walk the earth; where skies are dyed red by the flames of dragons; this is the story of a boy brought back to life after three thousand years to once more be given a chance at the redemption.
A NEW LIFE
Several days had passed since Naruto had made his decision and although still a human he was as much a part of the occult research club as others. He had carved a niche for himself in their hearts warming up to them. He still had the nightmares and still parts of the last war were a blank to him but all things considered he was happy.
Yawning slightly as the first ray of the sun hit him in the eyes, Uzumaki Naruto rolled down from the bed. Stretching the sore muscles and his regular ritual of morning exercise continued as his brain slowly rebooted. The girls had almost dragged him to the new home of his, actually it was that Issei kid's home but given that Rias's dad had almost turned a small house to a freaking mansion she probably did have a say about who will stay and who won't. And for his side Naruto loved the small family, in a way the life they led was something he would have loved to have but as far as he could see he couldn't have.
Now fully awake he made his way downstairs where in Ise's room Rias's peerage would gather and she had asked him to attend this particular meeting. Naruto didn't attend their meetings usually he felt it was not right given he actually didn't serve her. Standing in front of the sliding door that led to the unofficial meeting place for the last few days, Naruto focused a little bit allowing his senses to filter the presence of the persons present inside. Apart from the expected presence of Ise, Rias and Asia, he could also sense Akeno's presence inside the room.
Rias and Asia always slept with Ise so their presence was a given but the confusing presence was of Akeno. Unlike the first two who obviously liked the boy Akeno was someone Naruto could not read even after trying. One moment she would be acting like Anko trying to seduce both him and Ise and the next she would be a different person a calm presence of comfort and understanding. Shrugging off his mind from the disconcerting thoughts he opened the door wide.
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Rias had been glaring angrily at Akeno for what she considered was trespassing in her domain. When she heard the door opening, the unenthusiastic greeting that symbolized the arrival of the blonde enigma followed soon after. "Good morning Naruto-san, how's the shoulder?" she asked referring to the incident of last night when he had accompanied them to a hunting mission.
The rogue devil was strong far stronger than she had expected. Lured in to a false sense of security by its weak appearance she had taken it lightly. But this individual devil was far stronger still Naruto had smiled and asked them to stay back. He had dealt with that with relative ease. First drawing it close, allowing it to be overconfident by drawing the first blood before crushing its head off with a strong blow.
Naruto grinned the wound he picked up last night was nothing he had faced in his time. "Where are the others?" He asked dodging the question; he no longer showed much diplomacy with them. As was his norm for anyone he considered close.
"They will be coming soon Naruto nii-san" this time it was Asia who spoke. She had insisted on calling Naruto brother ever since he started living here and to be truthful Naruto liked the title. He grinned at her, "How are you Asia-chan, Ise-kun?" He spoke deliberately omitting Akeno's name. If the raven haired beauty believed only she could play with minds then she was in for a shock.
Akeno puffed her cheeks when Naruto outright ignored her. 'Why play hard to get Naruto-kun' she thought in her mind although she still liked Ise, she knew what she felt for Naruto was something much deeper. Their sorrows bound them together their masks bound them together.
Soon the door opened once more; allowing Koneko, Xenovia, Kiba and Gasper to enter. "Morning prez" they greeted before settling down in couches or in the bed itself only gasper entered the cardboard box he carried with him all time. Naruto was glad to see he was not the only one who was confused by the young vampire Ise also looked confused.
Once everyone had gathered around Rias took charge. "Yesterday elder brother had contacted me this summer vacation we will be spending it in my home in the underworld. I hope you all are fine with that its time you know about my home." Rias spoke. "This will be first time for many of you so I thought that I should inform you ahead of time" she had an almost regal aura around her.
"I get that the others are part of your peerage so certainly they will be coming but what about me?" Naruto spoke feeling bored already even when he was in leaf he was not much for the briefings. Rias handled the interruption with remarkable ease, "yes I was coming to that Naruto. Brother had asked specifically for you. I hope you don't mind"
Naruto grinned at the question, what really he had to do, 'Kurama remember when the civilians used to call me devil and now they are inviting me to hell' it was ironic but not bad. "I am ok with that not like I have anything other to do.
Ise seemed torn between happiness and confusion, "but Prez I have some plans for the holidays". He began and Naruto tuned him out like Jiraiya sensei this boy was perversion incarnated. He wondered how different will underworld be from the one he recognized so well, will it be full of fire lava exhaling lands or something more chaotic.
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Naruto had to admit he was impressed by the technology of this time, in his time only land of springs had trains but in this time the technology had outdone that by at least hundred times. The cell phones, cars everything was so strange all in all this was a world he couldn't even imagine in his fantasies but he still couldn't understand why this world was bereft of chakra.
"Still searching for traces of chakra Naruto" Azazel's voice broke Naruto out of his reverie. A shadow of pain flashed in his face, "no not really just thinking how far the world has come". Azazel could relate with Naruto's grief. "You know, there is something I have learned about being immortal, you can never change as fast as the mortal time change that's just the way the world is." He spoke his eyes fixed in the horizon watching the only thing that was eternal the setting sun. "How do you cope with the change?" Naruto whispered feeling the breeze play with his hair.
Azazel paused; this was a question that had no answer. How did he handled his immortality, the true answer was undoubtedly visible to his eyes but he didn't want to acknowledge the fact. With passing centuries the time he spent in research and designing increased. In a way if the vein continued then soon he would be consumed by the very same thing that kept him from being consumed by grief.
He did the only thing that was sensible, changing the topic, "you know kid the thing you search for is not extinct, chakra still exists in the world and maybe in time you will meet them. Tell you what. You do me one favor and in return I shall lead you to them".
Naruto froze, 'if chakra existed then maybe I can find some link to my past'. 'Don't be obsessed Naruto it doesn't matter anymore. It will not be what you hope for' Kurama's voice echoed in his head but this time Naruto avoided it. He wanted to find it, a closure that he needed. 'I don't know how the war ended I don't know if our dream succeeded if the chakra survives then so will the tales of the shinobi. No matter if only legend but still I want to know it' Naruto always was adamant when he felt strongly about something, and then nothing mattered, advices, orders it was all same for him. Kurama knew it better than anyone and he curled around. Waiting and supporting Naruto was all he had to live for.
"What is the favor?" Naruto spoke still looking at the horizon. "Teach them Rias, Akeno and the others. They are the future guide them let your dreams live on through them" the fallen angel governor's voice was full of passion and that impressed Naruto. In a way it was the perfect solution, this was his mission, this was his tribute to his godfather. "I will do it" he said at last.
Azazel felt a wide smile appear in his face, this boy exactly as he remembered him to be. "You're going to the underworld with us aren't you?" Naruto spoke after a while of silence. Azazel didn't bother replying for he was quite sure Naruto knew the answer even before asking the question.
However he hadn't expected the innocent question that followed. Deep bellyful of laughter escaped his throat as he understood the most important mistake they had been making all along. If someone took the years of life and death fights of Naruto then he was no different than any other teen not at all different from Ise or the many other boys who he taught in the Kuoh academy. He had seen the boy letting his mask of the confidence if slight arrogance drop in the seclusion of his home, he had seen the boy desperately fighting to hide the tears that threatened to drop as the message of his godfather's death was delivered to him. He had seen the boy become tongue-tied when he had met his lover for the first time and still he had mistaken. 'Why do we all keep confusing with the ageless yokai that he keeps inside' Azazel thought sadly but instead of answering Naruto he just used a teleportation circle of leave the place.
"Damn he still didn't tell me what was underworld actually like" Naruto muttered as the immortal being beside him vanished in the thin air.
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In the Scandinavian legends there is a tree called the world tree 'yggdrasil'. One of the creations of the sons of Bor, something that would live so long as the world lived. In the roots of this great magical tree sat three women, they were one of the ancient powers, as old as the creation and chaos. Fate they were called and fate they decided. But the interest was not in the ladies but in a person standing in front of them. Fiery red beard and hair covered his face but his figure was of a true hulk. A giant of a male bearing armor that any lesser being would have been crushed underfoot. This was Thor son of Odin, lord of thunder one of the strongest gods of the entire creation. By his side hanged his trusty war hammer Mjionir, he hammer that was forged in the heart of a dying sun.
"What is it you seek Odinson from fate…relief or absolution" the voice changed with every word like three distinct voices speaking at once. "Neither of those things Fate, I am Thor lord of thunder. What do I have to fear?" Thor's voice was proud and yet beautiful, like thunder clouds rumbling deep from afar.
"Then why is your heart restless, why do you come to the roots of Yggdrasil" the voices were flat even in tenor, and yet Thor could sense the mocking hidden in the words. For any other being in the nine realms this would have spelled doom but not to these. Fates were something beyond gods. He reined in his temper and swallowed his pride before he spoke at last. "Ragnarok is approaching closer" he said not a question but enough to get the fates response.
"Oh it should have been god of thunder but it doesn't." Thor was confused at the response; omnipotence was not really his forte the all-father was more suited to that. "Speak plainly or hold your breath I don't beg for riddles" Thor's voice echoed in the root chamber. "The course of destiny has been diverted, but be aware of this Odinson a new Ragnarok will come and the palaces of Asgard will shatter." The voices almost were laughing and Thor did the only thing he could do returned back to the palace where Sif his bride awaited him.
Odin sat in his golden throne, the ancient armor that protected his body during the countless wars covering him still like a second skin but a thick robe hid the warrior king from the view leaving the only illusion of an old man with a taste for finer things in life or immortality as it was. It was with this face the angelic emissaries were greeted.
Their golden armor was dimmed in the presence of the grandeur that adorned the great palace of Valhalla. Here the brave and mighty found their peace in the afterlife, brought from the battle fields by the valkyries; the bravery and might marked the warriors different from the common men brought here for the end war when the enemies of nine realm would ride upon the bifrost. But that fate has changed Odin could sense it, with the eye he gained from Mimir he could see through the threads of fate witness the time changing but never before had the fate changed. Past, present and future had been as if set on stone he knew about the arrival of Nephilim even before it happened, he knew and he restrained his sons from joining the war against the vile creatures, rather concentrating themselves for the time when the inevitable attacks from the children of Ymir would rain upon Asgard. But now his eye only saw faded images of the future, as if the future kept on changing endlessly and that was not supposed to happen for some things were supposed to be set in stones. Out of the murky cloud and images only one word came out to greet him a name that even he didn't recognize, "Uzumaki Naruto" the name rolled on the tongue of the father of the Aesir.
And that name interrupted the speech the angelic emissaries were making. "My lord Odin how came you by this name" the leader of the angelic emissaries asked curious at the sudden mention of a name that by all accounts wasn't important enough to know. However the all-father didn't bother replying his silence urging the winged messenger of Gabriel speak on.
He knew the angel believed the Uzumaki person to be of relatively little importance however omnipotence was the gift of their god not of the mere foot soldiers of a dead god. His curiosity piqued however when the angel described Naruto to be from the elemental countries; this was a land Odin knew well for a lot of his heroes in the Valhalla came from that land. It was a land of warriors of heroes and if Uzumaki truly hailed from there then he could know why the man had such a power to alter even the course of fate itself. His visible eye locked with the fair haired Valkyrie standing to his left, the signal had been given and the battle maiden left to bring the first soul she found that once hailed from the cursed land.
Kakashi Hatake stared ahead in the distance for eons he had been in this golden hall of Odin, brought here as the reward of his bravery. 'What bravery was there in killing without resorting to reason? With so much blood on our hands how did we come to heaven?' he still wondered to this day and like every time he knew this time as well he will be answered in the same old answer that in Valhalla the reasons didn't matter only your valor did. May be that's why he had his friends and enemies here for company. Almost all the shinobis he knew personally was here but surprisingly the person who was supposed to be here above everyone else.
Often he thought of Naruto, the boy had saved them all sacrificed his own self to do so but did it and did it with pride and honor. He remembered it all and how he could not for even eons had not been enough to erase the memory of the war. Here he could have every single luxury he could dream of; the only thing to do was to defend the palace when the numerous trolls and monsters marched upon this world. He sensed the arrival of one of the beautiful women that guarded and served the residents of this paradise. He turned back to face her, a thing of utmost beauty body more beautiful than the wildest dreams of men can conjure, her pale golden locks hung by her sides. She bowed before Kakashi, who also bowed lazily "My lord Odin requests your presence; I was told to fetch you" her voice was melodious and seductive able to tempt even a hermit.
Kakashi didn't ask any question for indeed he was familiar with the requests of the world, in spite of being a god in many ways Odin had been just as the Kages in his world had been. He entered the main throne room guarded by Aesir soldiers in golden armors. The first thing Kakashi witnessed inside the large hall was the three beings standing in front of all-father. They all looked incredibly beautiful worthy enough to make any sculptor jealous but the most interesting perhaps was the large feathered wings that came out of their backs. However he had no time to dwell on the creatures for as the custom suggested he bowed his head to the old king sitting in his throne. "You sent for me my lord" his voice was completely calm, sometimes he missed his old facemask but in the soul what use did he have for hiding as the Valhalla proved the dead don't bear grudges.
Odin looked at the man bowing before him, he didn't know the man personally but his armor bore the medals of bravery he had displayed in the defense of the golden realm. "Tell me warrior do you know of Uzumaki Naruto?" the question startled Kakashi whatever he had expected from the lord of Asgard this was not certainly included. He nodded still startled.
"Look me in the eye" Odin commanded the eye he got from Mimir glowed in his empty eye socket. The father of the Aesir didn't need the spoken words of a deceased soul to know about the past, his eye was enough as he maintained his eye contact with the shinobi of ancient days for the first time the name found a clear image.
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Naruto wondered how they were going to the underworld; Rias had led them to the rail station nearby. Although these trains were much advanced than the ones he had witnessed in the land of snow so long ago he didn't think they could take train to hell. 'May be it is a train for the dead' he wondered technically the members of the Rias's peerage were reincarnated at least Ise was and so his theory made sense. He followed Rias and the new members of her peerage to a small cubicle like thing that by his estimation could hold about five people, "what is that thing?" Naruto asked he had not yet seen lift in his short stay in the twenty-first century and his confusion was evident "it is a lift Naruto-san, haven't you seen one yet" Ise was excited as he always was when Rias was with him and his enthusiasm brought a smile to Naruto's lips.
"Naruto-san, you will come with us. Kiba bring the others with Azazel we will meet by the train" Rias ordered, before she led Asia, Ise and Xenovia in the metal cubicle. "Prez wont the space will be too small with the entire heavy luggage" Ise asked watching all the heavy bags they carried with them for the journey all except for Naruto who only carried a large scroll tied to his back.
That question only made Naruto grin wider, he pulled the scroll from his back and furled it open, in the center of the scroll was a lone seal like symbol. The members of the Rias's peerage was astonished, "did you just manipulate the space itself. That's unbelievable…that's…that's so cool".
Naruto smirked, Rias always attempted to be regal in front of others but for someone who was trained for infiltration trained by the best there was she was an open book. He felt the same warmth grow in his chest as he felt when he taught his legacy to Konohamaru. When he woke up in this time he had only the memories his only refuge was the silence of night but now he wanted once more to enjoy, the occult research club has become precious to him. 'Isn't this what you wanted from me Yugito-chan' the thoughts went unspoken but the small pang of pain accompanying him proved true.
The nostalgia of the friends he had in life held their sway until he felt the barrier of reality snapping away, once he had used Kakashi's Kamui on himself and this sensation was pretty much close to that and yet different at the same time. And it prolonged for a while, "what's happening?" his question was mirrored by Ise and other new comers. They looked positively frightened but Naruto didn't suppose there was anything to worry about after all he couldn't sense any negative emotion around but he still stayed mum.
Soon enough Akeno explained the reason and the functioning of the veil that separated the dimensions and as usual Naruto didn't pay any mind and once more concentrated on watching the change of scenery. Travelling in high speed was nothing new to him and yet never before had he a chance to enjoy the change of nature like this. The calmness of the trees and grasslands was feeling him with tranquility but his concentration was broken almost immediately for a warm body sided with him. "Enjoying yourself, Naruto-kun" she whispered in his ear sending shivers running through his body.
Naruto didn't understand why Akeno had to be such a tease but still what had he to complain the shivers were very much pleasurable. "You certainly are, aren't you?" he retorted still keeping his eyes fixed determinedly to the scenery. "You know everything that you are watching is but an upper surface of the underworld" Akeno suddenly spoke. Watching the confusion on Naruto's face she continued on, "underworld is same size as the surface world just without the oceans so you can think yourself how vast it is".
"I tend not to think Akeno, everything this time has shown me is beyond my brain to cope" Naruto replied back after a while, he was feeling odd even without conscious command he could feel nature's chakra siphoning in his veins. But this chakra was different from the one he had ever used, it was darker more potent and more alluring. 'This is going to be interesting' he thought playing with the new chakra.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: hi guys this is the next chapter of my story, I was thinking would you guys like Kuroka to join Rias's group. Do let me know and as always read and review. Till next time.