Arc of Time

by Skairipa1337

As he was called to the task of saving his world, he both succeeded and failed. In their moment of triumph, he let his guard down to the danger that had been there all along. As he died at the hands of his best friend, Naruto cheated death and was reborn as a Devil, as well as the son of the House of Sitri. Time Magic Naruto. Naruto x Kuroka.

6. Black and White

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DxD. This is a non-profit-based work.

Note: Safe to say inspiration for this didn't age well. Black Clover readers will know what I mean.

Also, one quick thing I'd really like to mention. The reason why Naruto being half Agares was used to justify him not being an heir was simple. It's to emphasize that he is known as a half-Agares. Specifically, that his mother isn't a Sitri. Which, in this case, isn't referring to her being born as a Sitri, but rather married. Naruto wasn't born to the wife, but rather a Mistress, thus making Sona, who was born to the wife, the heir apparent.

A lot of people have asked whether or not Naruto will also be paired with Akeno, Xenovia, Rias, or anyone else for that matter. My vague answer is at the moment no, mostly because the theme of the story mixes better with a single pairing.

The few people I'm willing to consider are Akeno or Rias, so depending on the feedback on that and mostly my own personal opinions; I'm willing to think about it.

If y'all are interested in joining a community of readers and several talented authors, consider joining AizenTheGoat's Discord server.

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改行

-Chapter 6-

Black and White.

改行

The duo now turned trio returned later that day to Kuoh. It was now nighttime in the town, meaning that the school in which the supposed headquarters of Rias Gremory looked like something out of a horror movie.

A bit ironic considering they were devils, and they were often associated with evil and chaos, but whatever.

Naruto had been here earlier that day to meet his sister, but this time was the first visit from both Kurama, but also Veldora.

The latter of the two sniffed the air as he walked with his hands tucked inside his pockets. He was now wearing a white button-up shirt and brown pants so that he wouldn't stick out as much as he would in his usual clothes.

Though he had made loud claims that he'd return to wearing them whenever he'd fight, since he wouldn't feel comfortable wearing this type of attire should he battle. Which was fair, they were willing to accept that.

Veldora gave a grim look as his yellow eyes glanced over the deserted school grounds, "This place smells depressed, any reason for that?"

The Youkai had to give a nod of agreement, "No kidding, the atmosphere here screams broken dreams and oddly enough pervertedness."

Veldora nodded his head, agreeing to be confused about the situation, "So what are we really doing? Reading manga while walking is hard."

Naruto raised a brow, "You can read manga when we get back, it won't take that long," He started, questioning why the manga was relevant in this situation but decided to ignore it, "And we're here to meet the reason we got that mansion in the first place."

The storm dragon pouted, "Fine, fine, but you better believe that I'll catch up on it when we get back even if it means skipping sleep."

'Why did that sound so oddly familiar?' Naruto thought to himself with a sweatdrop.

Kurama snickered. "So we meet more people? Look at us being social and all that crap."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we're about to meet Sirzechs' little sister. She's apparently having a school club as a… masquerade for her peerage in this haunted house. I mean… old school building."

Veldora looked up at the large building with his hand raised to shield his eyes from the moonlight, "That's a school building? I could've sworn it looked like the cover image of one of those horror manga you lent me."

The Youkai sighed, 'Seems like he is more otaku than dragon.' He mentally snickered as the trio walked inside the building.

"Well, it's in the middle of the night and it's the old school building. So yeah, it probably looks haunted." Naruto mused out loud as they walked through the corridors, aiming toward the place they'd been told Rias usually were during the night.

With a slow nod of his head, Veldora let his hand down, "So what are these people like?"

Naruto cupped his chin in thought, "Well, it may be better to meet them first to get an idea. Long story short, I've only met Rias and her queen, so I can't really speak for the rest of her peerage."

The former Bijuu crossed his arms over his chest, "What's the princess like then?"

"Princess?" Naruto asked with mild amusement.

Kurama snorted, "She's the devil king's little sister, I thought it'd be fitting."

Naruto chuckled, "Well as long as you don't call her that to her face. She's well… alright, I think. We're on friendly terms, though it's been a bit since I saw her."

"Isn't she a good friend of your sister? You talked about them coming back to the Underworld during the summer." Kurama asked curiously.

He nodded in response, "Yeah, that's the few times I've met her. Though since Rias started getting her peerage members, they haven't come over as much. So I've only had the pleasure of meeting one of them." Naruto finished as he opened a door, which met the description of their targeted area.

"I guess this is it," Veldora thought as he leaped down into one of the couches that matched what you'd expect from an occult research club, "This thing looks like it was brought out of Dracula."

"Dracula?" Kurama asked with a confused look.

Veldora nodded, "I've read other things than manga, but nothing compares in entertainment. I always get lost in ordinary novels… not enough pictures." He grumbled.

Kurama was unable to hold back a smirk as he looked around, "That so? Don't worry, I'll get you a picture book for your birthday."

Naruto watched the interactions with interest, glad that his two friends were getting along even if Kurama could tone down the teasing a bit. The young devil gave a small sigh as he sat down in a large chair behind a desk, which he figured was Rias'.

"As long as it's a manga I don't mind, though I bet you'll find it difficult to find a good one with your lack of taste." Veldora laughed and put up his feet on the armrest, pulling out one of his prized books to start reading.

The king of the peerage was about to scold his pawn for the lack of manners but decided against it, 'Getting serious Kakashi-sensei vibes here.'

Kurama shook his head whilst mumbling a quiet, "Whatever," As he grabbed onto a curtain and pulled it open to reveal another part of the club room.

With a twitching eyebrow, he stepped aside and pointed inside, and shot a beyond confused expression at Naruto, "Okay, you say this girl is alright, but why the hell does she have a shower in the middle of her club room?"

Veldora who was distracted by the commotion let down his manga and gazed in with a raised brow, "Is she some kind of closet pervert?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't go through my stuff. Not only that, but you're trespassing on Gremory territory." A feminine voice suddenly called out.

Naruto raised a brow at the claim and rested his cheek on his fist, as the doors leading into the clubroom opened again. The first person to enter was a girl with long, beautiful crimson hair and deep blue eyes. Not to speak of her figure, there were surely appreciative things to look at.

She had a stern look on her face as she crossed her arms beneath her chest, and three additional figures started to stand beside her.

Veldora hummed and leaned his head back over the armrest to stare upside down at Naruto, "You didn't tell her we were coming in advance?"

The dark-haired boy shrugged his shoulders, "It's not like I have her phone number."

"My, my, Rias, is that how we're supposed to greet old friends?" Another girl's voice asked with a tone filled with teasing.

Naruto kept silent as the red-haired girl looked to her right, and got eye contact with a girl with just as great of a figure. This girl had very long black hair and violet eyes, but the thing he noted was that the smile on her face reminded him a bit of Sai before they got to know him better.

Rias turned her gaze back, and her eyes widened in surprise as she now noticed the boy that was sitting in her chair. Pushing aside the urge to tell him to get the hell out of her seat, she mouthed a confused, "Naruto?"

"The one and only. I'm surprised Rias, I never thought you disliked me enough to get hostile with me, and here I thought we were friends," He teased with a mock hurt look on his face.

The girl fought the urge to stutter out and coughed into her hand before collecting herself, "Well excuse me for not recognizing you right away, I never thought I'd see you here of all places. Let alone the human world, to begin with."

As the conversation went on, Kurama walked over and kicked at Veldora's feet with a glance that told him to get off his ass if he didn't want to get hurt.

Naruto watched the interaction with a sweatdrop as he turned back to Rias, but before he could answer he was interrupted by a monotone voice and what felt like a death stare, "Buchou, who is this boy?"

With a tilt of his head, Naruto lowered his gaze and immediately his eyes widened. The girl he came face to face with was almost an exact carbon copy of the picture Sirzechs had shown him, the only difference being the clothes and that she looked a bit older.

A young petite girl, with white hair and amber eyes. Just like the rest of the arriving group, she wore the Kuoh academy's uniform, and he had no doubt about it when the thought crossed his mind. This was Kuroka's sister.

The Gremory heiress put a hand on her hip and looked down at her, and back up to him, "Well, I think introductions are in order. Don't you think, Naruto?"

"Certainly," He nodded and stood up from Rias' chair. Much to her delight. The two groups lined up on their respective side of the coffee table between the couches Veldora had earlier sprawled out on, "Ladies first."

"Why thank you," She smiled with a small nod of her head and extended her hand to the first person on her right, "As you know, this is my queen Akeno Himejima. Besides her, we have my knight, Yuuto Kiba, and last but not least we have my rook Koneko Toujou."

The group bowed in unison, along with a polite, "Pleased to meet you."

Figuring it was his turn, Naruto gave a small smile, "Well since I appear to be the odd one out, my name is Naruto Sitri. Don't let his gender fool you, on my right here we have Kurama. He is my queen, despite how ironic that may sound."

A large throbbing tick mark appeared on the Youkai's forehead but decided to keep his trap shut about it in the midst of introductions despite how much he wanted to punch his supposed king back to the elemental nations.

"And on my left, we have my pawn consisting of all eight of my pieces, his name is Veldora. He's a storm dragon, and one of the sons of Tannin." Naruto finished, and they replicated the gesture Rias' peerage had done earlier with a small bow.

The blond-haired boy of Rias' peerage stepped forward with a look toward his king, which Rias returned with a small nod.

Kiba cleared his throat and looked up to the boy that seemed around his age, "Excuse me I can't help but ask, but are you a sibling of Sona Sitri?"

"None taken, and yeah, that's my little sister. We probably haven't met before since I wasn't exactly a social butterfly," Naruto chuckled grimly.

With a small laugh the other boy nodded his head, "Well I'm pleased to make your acquaintance now, I hope we can all get along."

"So what're you doing here? Sona isn't here during these hours." Koneko asked with the same tone lacking emotion.

Naruto frowned a bit with a small tilt of his head. This girl certainly seemed a lot different than Kuroka, "Well, I'm here to meet all of you. I thought that was a given considering how much we made ourselves at home," He chuckled with an apologetic smile.

Rias gave a small smile and sat down on the couch behind her, the rest of her peerage following up as she motioned for Naruto's group to take a seat as well, which they did.

"Regardless of the awkward first interaction, I'm happy to see you, Naruto. It's been a while since we could talk, though I have to share Koneko's curiosity. Why are you here at these hours?" She asked.

Naruto nodded, "Well, I recently got here from the Underworld. I'll be blunt, I'm the new club advisor for this place."

Silence filled the room.

"Really?"

"Really."

Akeno giggled behind her hand as she shot a look at Rias, "Seems like things have gotten interesting."

With a soft sigh, Rias shook her head, "Can you elaborate a bit?"

"Certainly," Naruto chuckled, "Sirzechs and my sister placed me here, but before you get mad at your brother I'm not here to be a babysitter at all."

Rias, who was just about to throw a fit about Sirzechs, took a breath, "Continue."

He nodded, "Well, in simple terms they want me to stop being a recluse. They figured that being around people near my age would be good, and Sirzechs had an idea. That I could possibly help your bishop."

"How are you able to help Gaspy?" Koneko intervened with a sense of curiosity.

Naruto tilted his head, "Well, I happen to know that Gasper possesses a sacred gear with time powers."

As Rias made the connection she leaned back into her seat and crossed her legs, "Of course. Since you're a time user yourself, they thought you'd be able to help him."

A fit of giggles filled the room, which made Rias turn to her queen, "What is it Akeno?"

"Nothing, I'm just humored. You like him so much you went ahead and got a mini version all for yourself." The dark-haired girl answered with a small smirk.

The ruin-princess' cheeks turned a bit pink as she raised a brow, "Who said I liked him?"

Akeno tilted her head with a teasing smile, "Why not? He's both broody and handsome, chicks dig that."

Kurama couldn't contain himself anymore and threw his head back as he bellowed with laughter, and punched Naruto's shoulder, "She did not just do you like that!"

Naruto himself had his head lowered with a small rain cloud forming over his head, never in a million years did he imagine that he'd be compared to the likes of Sasuke soon after leaving home.

The last member of Naruto's peerage sweatdropped and shook his head, not quite understanding the reference of reason, "Why is your aura suddenly depressed?"

"Because he was compared to the one person he shouldn't be." Kurama snickered.

Deciding to try and ease up the situation, Rias cleared her throat, "...That aside, I'd like to have a word with Naruto in private."

"You're not making my suspicions disappear when you go ahead and do that Rias," Akeno chuckled and stood up with the two others, and started moving toward the door.

The red-haired girl sighed as Naruto gave a small smile and shot a look at both Kurama and Veldora, "You two can go ahead and head home, I'll come back when I'm done here."

They gave a small nod as Kurama elbowed him in the side again, before he leaned over to whisper, "I need a word when you get back… That Yuuto guy, he gives me Uchiha vibes if you catch my drift."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. That wasn't something he had expected, Kiba seemed genuinely polite and like a good guy, but then again… he wasn't the senjutsu user among the group, "Understood."

The two kings remained in their places as the last two disappeared from the school grounds, "So how have you been? I'm happy to see that you finally went ahead and got some family members of your own." Rias asked as she stood up and walked over to the windows, and looked up toward the moon.

Naruto remained quiet for a bit as he joined her, "I've been well. I went on a trip to Kyoto recently, that's where I met Kurama. Veldora, I met a while back, we've been friends for a while."

Rias' eyes widened at the mention of Kyoto. She wasn't unaware of what had happened with the Youkai after the actions of the sister of her rook, "Kyoto? Wait… you don't mean to tell me…"

With a small smirk, Naruto leaned up against the wall, "I sure do. Kurama is a Youkai, he's a fox to be precise."

The red-haired girl remained quiet for a bit as she looked out the window. She idly clenched her fingers around the fabric of her school uniform, "I have a question, but you need to promise me this conversation will stay between us."

Trying to lighten up the mood a bit, he gave a big cheerful grin, "Why so serious? Are you about to give me a love confession or something?"

Her eyes widened as she turned to him with an outraged expression on her face, "I know that Sona calls you a recluse with a lack of situational awareness, but could you just-" She paused in the midst of her verbal slaughter as she noticed the calm expression on his face.

"Sorry, you looked a bit tense there. I just wanted to help you relax a bit, you don't have to be nervous around me. We're friends, after all, you can say what's on your mind without reservation, you can trust me," He smiled.

With her cheeks heating up again out of embarrassment, she lowered her head, "I apologize about that, I went a bit overboard. Well, she doesn't exactly call you that, but regardless... I need to know, is Kurama a senjutsu user?"

"So you want to know if he is a timebomb?"

She gave a silent nod of her head as she frowned, "I don't know if you're aware of… another Youkai, that turned out to be not so sane."

"I am, but don't worry. Kurama is a good guy, and I'll be here. I can guarantee nothing like that will happen, he's a master of that stuff so nothing will happen." Naruto reassured. As much as he wanted to say he had run into Kuroka, and that something with that story was off, he couldn't just yet.

There were a lot of things he needed to take into consideration first, and he needed the story from her side too. After that, he should probably have a conversation with Rias and Sona to explain the situation that may unfold.

He hadn't told her about Ophis and the Khaos Brigade either just yet, that was an unnecessary thing for the time being.

"Can you be sure though? Without revealing too much, Koneko is the sister of the one that killed her old master. So I'm sure you can imagine why I'm uneasy about the situation."

Naruto stuck his hands inside his pockets and gave a nod of his head, "I promise. Kurama is trustworthy, and even if it turns out to be false I have Veldora on my side too."

"Should a situation emerge where your pawn of eight pieces isn't at your side, can you without a doubt say that you'll be able to stop him?" Rias continued.

As much as he didn't like the idea of how she was talking about Kurama, he couldn't blame her. After all, she only had the public truth to go by, and in her eyes, senjutsu was the thing most feared after the incident with Kuroka.

Until the truth was properly revealed and his sister and Sirzechs had given him the green light, he'd have to play along.

"As I said, yes. I can stop him, don't worry Rias. After all, I'm the strongest." He smirked a bit at that.

Feeling the vibe, Rias raised a brow and imitated the smirk, "Is that so? Very well then. I'll trust you on this, but you might be mistaken about who here is the strongest."

"You can't possibly mean you?" He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.

She raised a brow and took a step back from the window, "Don't come here and say you don't see me as a threat in my own club room, that's just mean of you."

As much as he wanted to say he didn't, he also didn't want to underestimate her. He hadn't exactly seen her fight, but considering his biggest rival at the time was Sairaorg, he had not met many that were able to match him.

And if it was a peerage fight, he was also confident in both Kurama and Veldora's ability to fight.

Kurama was definitely the biggest ace in the hole in regards to area damage, while he knew Veldora was able to beat most people in one on one battles.

So if they fought, it was quite a simple game plan they had so far. He'd stop them in time, Kurama would use a spell to do area of effect damage, and then Veldora would knock them over like chess pieces.

Unless they were pro at using Touki, which he doubted, with the exception of maybe Koneko but considering how the situation with her sister was, he doubted she used her inherited power at all.

"Then I won't say that. Though considering I'm here to help you, we might have to find a day for a friendly fight. I know I'm here to help Gasper most of all if you of course allow it and want my help, but if you want me to help on other fronts I wouldn't mind." He smiled politely.

Rias gave a small giggle, "I'm actually somewhat happy that my brother did something uncalled for, for once. I've been a bit at a loss for what to do with Gasper, I just couldn't quite understand what to do with helping him learn."

"That's understandable, time powers are quite delicate to learn. There's a lot of aspects, but considering the Balor View is focused on stopping time, it gives me a good idea of where to begin."

She gave a smile of gratitude and bowed her head, "Then I'll trust you here as well, though if it had been anyone but you, I probably wouldn't have accepted that easily."

"What do you mean?"

Rias stretched a bit and walked over to take a seat in her chair. It had been a long night so far and she was starting to feel a bit tired, "We've known each other since we were kids, you've always helped me whenever I've needed it. So that's why I trust you."

Naruto chuckled a bit and retook his seat on the couch, "You mean like that one time when we were kids when you got lost in the Sitri domain?"

Her cheeks flared up a bit as she grabbed her forehead with an embarrassed laugh, "Yeah, like that one time I got lost in the Sitri domain. I don't know what Sona and I were thinking, deciding to play hide and seek in a place I wasn't familiar with."

The dark-haired boy stopped chuckling, "All I can remember is that the one day I'm out of the house to get some air, I find you crying in the woods. You wouldn't let my hand go the entire way back, and Sona practically forbid me to ever do it again."

With a soft smile reminiscing over the past, Rias gave a small sigh, "As much as I'd love to talk about the past the whole night, I think I might have to call it a night for now."

"Understandable, I also have a few things I need to attend to back at the house." Naruto nodded.

She gave a curious look, "You moved into Kuoh?"

Naruto nodded his head again, "Yeah, your brother was kind enough to sponsor a mansion, heh." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sounds like Sechz, oh well. I'll see you around then," She said and stood up, and started showing him out of the club building.

Naruto gave a small wave as they got out into the chill night air, "Sure will, I'll pop in every once in a while. As a club advisor I only have to be here every now and then, thank Satan."

"So you won't be attending school with the rest of us? I'm sure the official papers could be changed a bit so you could transfer in as a third year." Rias wondered.

With a shrug, Naruto started walking beside her, "Nah, not really my style. I'd rather not go through school again, though I'll be around. Oh, and this is my address. I have yet to get a phone, so if you need me for anything just drop in." He smiled and handed her a slip of paper.

"That's too bad, but oh well. I'll respect your decision, however, I'd imagine Akeno and Kiba would also like to persuade you once you start becoming friends."

He grimaced a bit and gave her the last wave, "I'll see you around Rias, just not at school… I hate that stuff."

改行

As he returned to the mansion that evening, the first thing he did was go in and check on Veldora and Kurama. The former was as usual just sprawled out on the living room couch with a mountain of manga at his side that he was casually reading through.

The latter was playing some games on the tv, probably also enjoying the fact that this world was much more technologically evolved than their old one.

He was glad that they enjoyed themselves, and he figured he'd let them do it for now. They weren't gonna fight an unofficial rating game anytime soon, perhaps within the month but they had some time since they hadn't officially challenged anyone yet.

Despite Kuama mentioning he wanted a talk with him, the Youkai had waved him off and said it could wait after the game was over. He had sweatdropped at the reaction and afterward insisted that the fox continued with an explanation.

He had just sighed and said that there wasn't much to say, just that Kiba might have something he's holding back since he gave off a similar vibe to Sasuke. Not on the same level, because that would be insane, but it would be something to look out for.

With all of that being said, he had gone out to relax in the private hot spring. How Sirzechs had managed to install one of these was beyond him, but who was he to question it when he got to enjoy this experience whenever he wanted to?

He sighed as he slipped into the warm water and placed his towel on a nearby rock, each inch of the hot water rising up against his skin instantly made him feel relaxed as if all the stress was relieved from his muscles.

Though in the midst of his relaxation, he felt that something was off.

He mentally cursed his luck that someone might attack him while he was naked, and was going to throw a fit if it was Azazel messing with him again.

With his hand outstretched, he charged up an infinite sphere and opened his eyes, glancing around the backyard that was outside the little hot spring area.

He couldn't see anyone in the dark, so it was someone adept at hiding. And he knew he wasn't going crazy because he could feel the presence. He wasn't able to use senjutsu, or rather, he didn't know if it was impossible just yet but under normal circumstances it would be.

So he couldn't sense the presence to be precise, but he could definitely feel it.

Given that Kurama and Veldora hadn't rushed out here yet due to sensing that something was off, he was convinced a veil or barrier had been put up.

And so far, he only knew one person that was able to do that without being caught.

"You know, you need to make up your mind about me. Do you want to fight, or hear my story?"

With that sentence, he visibly relaxed more and let his guard down a bit. Not completely, since that would be foolish to do in a situation with someone he couldn't be sure wouldn't be hostile.

Turning his head around to look in the direction he heard the voice coming from, he watched the dark-haired beauty leaning up against the house wall with her arms crossed under her chest.

Her cat ears did a small twist as she looked at him with amusement, "Smart play to come chat when I'm naked, making sure I won't attack… Kuroka," He snickered and let the orb fade from his hand, before lifting both to show he didn't want any smoke.

She smirked a bit, "Glad to see you acknowledge my genius. I have to admit I'm surprised though, one moment I hear you're this antisocial guy that never leaves his hut, and now you're living the dream in Kuoh."

Naruto had to admit she seemed more friendly now compared to the last time, probably because Kurama wasn't here. As much as he cared for his friend, the guy had quite a temper and didn't exactly trust many outside him.

The only people the fox probably trusted outside him and maybe Veldora at this rate was Yasaka and her daughter as well as other people in the Youkai faction. Not that he'd blame him, he did have a tough time back in the elemental nations in regards to trust, so he'd let it slide until he knew more about his new… cat friend.

"Glad to hear that everyone speaks so positively about me, only the second time today I've been called a recluse," He chuckled.

He could hear her snicker as she stared at him, "Mind if I join you? Been a while since I relaxed at a hot spring, no peeking though. Anyone that has tried that is dead."

Naruto blinked as she shrugged his shoulders and turned his head away, "Sure, I guess. Why, though? You lose your advantage if you get naked too." He joked idly.

Kuroka raised a brow as she let her robe fall to the ground, if he were to turn around at this moment he'd get an eye full for sure, "Considering we're about to have a deep talk and all that, I figured I might as well get comfortable. I hope you don't mind."

As he heard the sound of the fabric hitting the ground, his face heated up a bit. He wasn't exactly unfamiliar with the opposite gender considering how much trouble Jiraiya had gone through to try and turn him to the dark side in terms of pervertedness, but he had to admit that the Nekoshou was a very beautiful woman.

He'd likely also lie if he said he didn't want to turn around at this moment, but he figured that he'd rather stay alive for now.

"Y'know, if we're gonna do this here you could at least wash my back," He chuckled and leaned back against the hot spring.

There was a moment of silence until he felt something soft start pressing against his back, a pair of arms that wrapped around his neck loosely, and the soft strands of her hair tickled against his bare skin.

He could feel the heat of his body rising, and it was not because of the water.

He glanced out of the corner of his eyes, to watch the playful glance in her amber ones right beside his face, "I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Part of him was beyond confused about the situation, but another part of him had to appreciate the gesture. He was a man, what could he do? And up close, she looked even prettier than he was willing to audibly admit.

"And if I said yes?" He countered.

Much to his amusement, her cheeks flared a bit pink as she removed herself from his back and slapped a hand over his eyes.

His brow twitched in slight annoyance as he heard the sound of her entering the water, and opened his eyes next to see her visibly relaxing in the hot water, "You're lucky I like you, if someone like Bikou had tried to be smart like that I'd have murdered him."

"You like me? And for what reason do I get that honor?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

Kuroka opened her eyes again and looked at him with a small grin, "Don't ask, because I don't know. There's something about you that I can't explain, you're a devil yet you seem genuinely interested in hearing what I have to say."

"You say that like it's rare."

She nodded her head, "Well, yeah. With senjutsu it's not hard to tell when people are being either horny creeps or trying to use you for their advantage, I don't get that vibe off of you. And, no offense, since you're a recluse I doubt you'd have that social ability to try and hide it even if you were."

While that was partially true, he decided to take the compliment, "Well, alright then. Since we're being friends so far, why don't you tell me your story? I assume with this barrier in place, we won't be interrupted for a while."

"So you noticed? You're good. Well, alright. I assume you know the general story since you were kind enough to fill your fox friend in on it." She started.

He gave a small nod, "Yeah, but he was the one that called bullshit on it. I trust him, which gives me hope that you're… well, the person I think you are."

Kuroka gave him an interesting look at the mention of being the person he thought she was but decided to ignore it to continue on, "Well, the story is only partially false. As you've guessed, hooray, I'm not crazy. I did kill my former king though."

"Makes me wonder why,"

She gave a sad smile and took a deep breath. She looked at him for a while, wondering if she should truly say this to him.

There was just something she could sense, that she couldn't explain.

And he already knew from his friend that the story around her was false, so he'd probably continue to press the issue whenever they'd run into each other.

With Ophis having an interest in him, they'd likely be doing that a lot in the future.

Getting ahead of the situation and figuring out his reaction seemed like the best outcome to satisfy both their curiosities.

"Long ago, my sister and I only had each other. Her name is Shirone, apparently in the service of Lucifer's little sister," Kuroka mumbled.

Naruto gave a small smile, much to her confusement, "Yeah I know, I just met her actually. Though she goes by the name of Koneko these days it seems."

Her eyes opened a bit in surprise as she almost jumped enough in the water to let him see more than he should, "How is my Shirone doing?"

A bit surprised by the sudden outburst, he almost made his decision right there. The reaction could've been acting, but it matched with everything he and Sirzechs had theorized, "Yeah she is alright, though she isn't much of a talker."

Kuroka let out a sigh of relief as she dropped back down into the water, "...Thank you, I needed to hear that. It's been a long time since I've seen her, I can only imagine what she thinks of me."

With a slow hand, Naruto reached up to place a hand on her bare shoulder as a comforting gesture. It startled her a bit, but when she saw that he was looking away out of respect she relaxed more, "Sorry, I'll get back to it. We didn't have much, and when a devil came along to take us in I accepted."

"Let me guess, he turned out to be a shithead beyond compare." Naruto interrupted and took his hand back.

She giggled a bit at the comment, "Yeah, he did experiments on his peerage. I could endure since he proclaimed it was to make us stronger. However, one day he wanted to do it to Shirone. And I couldn't allow that, I wouldn't allow his slimy hands anywhere near my sister."

Naruto frowned as a mental image of Orochimaru appeared in his head. As much as the guy had somewhat turned around to their side during the war, he had been the type of person to do stuff like this. Appeal to people's weaknesses to let him do what he wanted and experiment on them.

"So you killed him to protect your sister?" He asked carefully.

She remained silent for a while, before she gave a slow nod of her head, "He was a real piece of trash. I don't regret it, I'm not sure she'd even have survived it."

He looked on for a bit, "Do you know what he wanted to achieve with these experiments?"

Kuroka glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, "He wanted to create a Super Devil."

This time it was Naruto's turn to look surprised. The only times he'd ever heard the term Super Devil was when someone either spoke of either Sirzechs or Ajuka.

"Everything is starting to make sense now…"

She lifted her head with a raised brow, "What makes sense?"

"Everything. Your master, from what I could gather, spoke a lot with the Bael and the Old Satan faction, safe to say the latter has always been displeased with the current system. I think he may have tried to create one to restore power to the Old Satan Faction." Naruto theorized.

Kuroka looked a bit surprised, mentally acknowledging Naruto to be smarter than what she had given him credit for. She wasn't sure if that was the real deal that had been going on, but it was a good guess.

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this, I wonder why that is."

Naruto leaned back in the warm water, "Call me a fool if you want, I always had a problem with sticking my nose in things that weren't really about me. I just never could help myself."

She smirked, "Well you are a fool then, now then… You've heard my story."

He nodded and thought for a bit, before a determined grin formed on his lips, "I think I might be able to help you."

改行

Bit of a cliffhanger I suppose. It's not really intentional, I just realized that if I decided to keep the entirety of this Kuroka conversation then the chapter would be like 10-11k words, and I'd rather use that extra amount of words to make sure I got another chapter out as fast as possible.

Anyhow, I hope you liked it! Please leave a review if you got any feedback, I try to answer as many reviews as I can. Unless it's direct hate, then I just look the other way.

Did you like the Kuroka bit? I tried to get her playful personality to show, but without making her appear easy if that makes sense.

That brings me to the Rias bit, I hope you liked that as well. I tried keeping the vibe of them being childhood friends, while also leaving open the possibility of her being part of the pairing should that appear. I'm not saying she will, still looking for some feedback on that front.

Anyhow, hope you have an amazing Friday!