The Supreme Ruler

by The Slumbering Dragon

The legend of Campione, Godslayers, was something that was considered to be a myth. Nothing more than a mere fantasy of a human able to best a God. But, what if one of the most unpredictable individual, with a penchant to make impossible possible, breaks this Myth. Naruto/Harem.

3. Chapter 3

Hey there guys. Sorry for the long wait, but I have made it up with the length of this chapter.

So, without any further wait (or any Disclaimer), let us start with the story.

---

Chapter 3: What it means to be a Campione.

Naruto stood in front of the large gates that made for the entrance of the Kirigakure no Sato. Flanking both his sides were his ever faithful Knight, Erica and the Hime-Miko, Yuri. At the edge of the gate stood almost half the population of the village, consisting mostly of the former Rebellion faction. And, to lead this huge crowd was none other than the newly appointed Mizukage, Mei Terumi.

In the aftermath of the pretty much one sided battle that had ensued between Naruto and the Mizukage, Yagura was unable to sustain the injuries that he gained from the fight. In his last moments of breathing, Yagura looked as if he had gained his consciousness for the first time in a long while. And, it was in those last moments of the dying Mizukage that Naruto learned a secret; pretty much to his horror and guilt.

Yagura had never been in control of his own actions. He was just a puppet, whose strings were controlled by someone else. That someone else had been the mastermind of the entire Kiri civil war from behind the scenes. Someone, who was capable of controlling biju and Jinchuriki, and using them like mere puppets. It was something that raised the ire of Naruto to no end.

Yagura, after successfully proving his innocence in his last moments, had breathed his last with a smile on his face.

The guiltiness that constantly bugged Naruto's mind after that was astronomical. Even with the power to slay gods, he was still unable to save an innocent. What was more haunting for him was that he was directly responsible for the death of someone who was blameless for all the deeds that were done.

Which was why, Naruto vowed to find the perpetrator that was behind the entire Kiri civil war.

"I guess it's time to go." Naruto declared, as he looked all the crowd that stood before him and the two woman by his side.

Mei, who was in lead of the crowd, had a slight frown on her features, indicating that she was disappointed at the early departure of the Devil King. And she decided to voice this disappointment to the blonde. "We would have loved to have you here for some more time, to show our gratitude to you; Your Majesty."

She had thought of using her charms on him if given a few days of free time with him. Obviously, that was not possible now with his departure.

Naruto smiled comfortingly at her. "A King has many duties, Mei." He said to one of the few people here with whom he had struck up a friendship. "Especially for a God-slaying King."

Mei knew this. She was all too familiar with the phrase of 'With power comes responsibility'. For someone like Naruto, who possessed godly powers, the amount of responsibility must also be that much enormous.

It still didn't mean that she liked his departure.

"We thank you for your hospitality and courtesy, Mei-san." Erica said with air of aristocracy and elegance. There was a reason why this woman was known to be undisputed when it came to negotiations. "It's rather unfortunate that this early departure is required, but my King has some important schedule ahead of him. So please pardon our withdrawal."

When the gathering people merely nodded dumbly at her words, while being enamored by her nobility, Erica nodded to herself with a satisfactory smile.

Naruto shook his with a smile at Erica's antics, before giving a glance to his other side, where Yuri stood. "You ready to go Yuri-san?"

Yuri smiled back at him in response to his question, as she nodded. "Hai."

Naruto smiled faintly again, as he turned towards the gathered crowd. "Then I bid my farewell to all of you. I expect this place to only prosper from here on, and hope that another war won't break out."

With that, a strong gust of wind washed over the whole area, and within the blink of an eye, Naruto, Erica and Yuri were no longer at the scene.

'Gone with the wind, huh.' Mei thought to herself with a smile, as a faint blush dusted her cheeks. 'Naruto-sama really knows style.'

"Mei-sama, wasn't it our fortune that he came to us, even if he was a bit late?" Ao suddenly sprung up his question, as he crossed his arms with a small smirk. "I had my own doubts of never catching Naruto-sama's attention in our matters."

Unfortunately for Ao, Mei went stock still, as what her disjointed hearing heard was as following:

'Mei-sama…a bit late…never catching Naruto-sama's attention…'

A deathly and terrifying smile dawned upon Mei's face, as she turned towards her one eyed subordinate.

"Ao…"

The said man casually glanced at his leader, only to pale at the sight of her dangerous smile. Mei continued with her smile, as if ignoring his discomfort.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you."

"Wh-What did I do this time?!"

Unfortunately for Ao, he would never get the answer to that for his whole life.

---

Contrary to the rumored belief that elemental subcontinent was technologically a bit backwards; it in fact had its own bout of vast technological resources. The evidence of this fact was a vast majority of towns actually looking like cities, comparable to that of New York and Los Angelis; what with all the skyscraper buildings and automobiles for civilians.

Only hidden villages were an exception to such a technological advancement, as they neither had the towering buildings with their limited population, nor had they the need of any automobile and other such technologies; as they prided in their chakra users overcoming any need for technology.

And, in Naruto's opinion, it was kind of stupid, considering the fact that these five hidden villages were what represented the entire elemental subcontinent to the entire world. As such, nobody could even fault them for carrying such notions and belief of Shinobi nations being technologically deficient.

At present, Naruto, along with Erica and Yuri, stood outside the large gate of a massive Japanese mansion located in Nikkō Shukuba. The mansion was surrounded with huge walls, covering all the sides of the structure and blocking almost the entirety of the mansion from the view. Inside of this mansion were the members and associates of a secret organization, which went by the name of History Compilation Committee.

"To think an organization so big and vast hid right under my nose, since I became a Campione." Naruto sighed to himself, as he looked at the large classical Japanese mansion in front of him. "I don't know whether to commend them for this, or lament myself for my inattentiveness."

The organization, lately, had been a matter of gossip among the folk, as it gained a reputation due to recent developments in the elemental subcontinent. Before Naruto's ascension as a Campione, people used to dismiss the organization as a subsidiary group, who chased after non existing factors and myths about Campiones, magic and Heretic Gods; all of which were considered to be delusions. It was the reason why this group didn't have much of an influence before in the elemental nation.

The only plus point this group had was that it possessed all the history and knowledge of the Shinobi world.

But all that changed the moment Naruto's status as a Campione was revealed to the general populace, as it broke the long standing tradition of dismissing the myth of Campiones. From there, the organization only continued to flourish, both economically and politically, as now people were more convinced that this organization held all the secrets of the world, if they had been privy to the secrets about Campione and Heretic Gods.

And in no time, this organization became one of the most influential and powerful establishment across the elemental subcontinent; as the general populace started to take more interest in knowing about Campiones and Heretic Gods.

Up until now, Naruto had never thought much about the organization. Yes, he knew about the History Compilation Committee, and he also knew that this organization focused on finding out more about Campione and Heretic Gods. But, he had always dismissed them as nothing more than common historians wanting to find out more about something that was wildly beyond their comprehension.

Quite the epic rookie mistake, now that Naruto looked at it.

"It's your own fault, Naruto." Erica chastised her King. "I used to tell you to look into the matter of History Compilation Committee, when we first heard about it." She then shook her head in resignation. "But you always dismissed them as common historians."

Naruto's face flushed in slight embarrassment, not being able to deny her remark as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. He then turned his attention towards Yuri, whose cheeks also colored at the sudden attention from the Campione.

"Why did you insist on me meeting these people, Yuri-san?" Naruto asked the Hime-Miko, while addressing her. His face also took a serious turn in expression. "Is there a particular reason for it?"

Yuri nodded her head in response. "There is actually a reason." She replied, as she adopted a calm expression on her visage in front of the Campione. A feat, that described just how much comfortable she was in his presence in comparison to other Devil Kings. "Because they are the ones with whom I am affiliated."

That bit of information took both Naruto and Erica by surprise.

"You are part of History Compilation Committee!" Erica exclaimed, as she momentarily faltered in her composure at the sudden new piece of information.

"Yes," Yuri confirmed it for Erica in reply, as she looked at both the people with her. "And to tell you the truth, History Compilation Committee is actually the Mage Association of the elemental continent."

"…Well, shit." Naruto muttered to himself, as he realized just how big of a blunder he had committed by ignoring this organization. He had the option of vast magical resources right under his nose all this time, and he chose to ignore it.

"Language, Naruto-san." Yuri reprimanded him in a gentle manner. And in response to this, Naruto merely grinned at her in a sheepish yet mischievous manner.

The sort of interaction that just took place between Naruto and Yuri was a far outcry from the one the once terrified Yuri used to have with a Devil King. If someone were to tell her just few weeks ago that she could casually hold a friendly conversation like this with a Devil King, then she might have thought that person to be crazy.

But, here she was, having forged an unusual bond with the blonde Campione under unusual circumstances.

Life was sometimes really puzzling like that.

"It doesn't matter anymore that we didn't notice this organization." Erica interjected their byplay, with a clear twitch in her eyebrow. It was obvious that she was starting to get a bit territorial; what with this new girl occasionally stealing tender moments with her King. "Right now, the important thing to do is declare your authority to the Mage Association of your land."

Naruto nodded in agreement to the blonde girl's words. He then turned towards Yuri with a question in his mind. "Yuri-san, can you tell me if they are reliable and trustable?"

His question itself to the Hime Miko showed the amount of faith and trust he had in their newly formed bond of friendship and companionship. Had it been any other person, then Naruto might have found a hard time to be this much trustable. But, in the end, if nothing else then Naruto was a good judge of character.

And if a person like Yuri Mariya couldn't be trusted for being honest, then he didn't know who else could be in this world.

"I know them to be quite honest, Naruto-san." Yuri responded with a gentle smile on her face, which was befitting of her Hime Miko status. "After all, they are the ones who gave me shelter and resources to hide myself away from Marquis Voban, knowing how much cruel he is."

Naruto nodded in understanding to Yuri's words. If anyone were willing to help the needy, even when it is not needed, then it certainly generates an aura of being trustable around them.

"Then let's go." Naruto voiced his thoughts, to which both Yuri and Erica readily agreed, and started to walk inside the base of the Mage Association, while following the trail of the blonde Devil King.

---

The next few moments were, in Naruto's opinion, totally embroiled in chaos. The moment he stepped into the territory of the Mage Association, he, along with his group of two girls, bore witness to the sight of people running and huddling around in panic at the presence of the Devil King entering their base.

An extremely wide berth of space was given to the path Naruto and the two girls were treading, as they headed towards the mansion. The open field that separated the mansion from the boundary walls was large. As such, many people huddled around and whispered to themselves, as they stood in the sidelines. They were all casting fearful, yet awed looks at the walking Godslayer.

More than that, many of the males in the sideline audience were throwing looks of admiration at Naruto. And many were quietly voicing this out.

"Amazing…for him to have two women on both his sides."

"Even Mariya-san got into his clutches."

"To have a harem…as expected of Campione-sama."

By this point, Naruto's eyebrows were twitching violently, while Yuri was blushing to her roots at all the assumptions that were going around on her being one of Naruto's women.

Erica, on the other hand, just took all this in strides, as she wore a superior smirk on her face. It was given, considering the fact that she took pride in being known as Naruto's lover all over the world. And, as if all that wasn't enough, she went on to wrap her hands around Naruto's right arm, squeezing it in her gifted assets.

'Erica,' Naruto thought with twitching eyebrows, as he clearly knew just what she was trying to accomplish. But sadly, he was not in a position to deny Erica anything. 'She definitely knows her game.'

By the time all this spectacle transpired, Naruto and his group of two women reached the gate of the mansion. And there, to receive him was an ordinary looking guy, who could pass off for a businessman.

"Greetings," Amakasu said in a casual tone, with a carefree smile on his face. "Your arrival here has been long overdue."

"No need to remind me." Naruto grumbled under his breath, as he was once again reminded of his ignorance.

But that aside, Naruto was honestly surprised by the lack of fear, awe and all other emotions he had been recipient to from many people due to his status as a Godslayer. It was, in his honest opinion, a fresh breath of air from the normally suffocating emotions of intense respect and fear he received from general populous.

Which was why, this guy was already in his good book.

"So," Naruto stated, as he looked at the person in front of him. "You are…"

"Amakasu Touma." He introduced himself with the same smile.

Naruto nodded in return, as he placed his hands in his pocket. "Then Amakasu-san, can you take us to the head of this organization."

"Why of course." He replied back, as turned around and started to walk inside the mansion. "That's why I'm here for."

Naruto and his group silently followed the man to the inside of the Japanese mansion.

---

As Naruto, along with Erica and Yuri behind him, stepped inside a room he was directed to by Amakasu, he was greeted to the sight of a handsome but also beautiful red haired bishounen, who was dressed in a black suit. The person looked like a male that had so overwhelming amount of femininity that it was ridiculous. But then again, females these days favored males with high femininity a lot.

Naruto withheld a grimace at that thought.

"Welcome, King Uzumaki." The bishounen greeted him with a smile. "We have been waiting your arrival for a long time."

"I heard it already." Naruto replied, as he glanced at Amakasu, before looking back at the bishounen. "And you might be?..."

"Ah, pardon me for not introducing myself." The handsome person apologized, before looking at the Devil King with a patented smile. "I'm Kaoru Sayanomiya, Chief of the Hi no Kuni's branch of History Compilation Committee."

"I see." Naruto replied, as he nodded at the information. He then gained a mischievous glint in his eyes, as he looked at Kaoru. "Not to sound rude or anything, but even your name is a bit feminine along with your looks." He remarked with a grin.

"That should not be surprising," Kaoru replied back with a carefree smile. "Considering the fact that I'm a female."

"Oh, so you are a fe-" Naruto's mind came to a screeching halt, as he processed the new information. And when it did, his eyes threatened to bug out of its socket. "YOU'RE A WHAT!"

"Naruto, please maintain your composure." Erica, who took this news more in strides, silently pleaded from her place, hoping that her King would not make a fool of himself.

"The hell! Then why are you wearing a man's dress! No matter how you look at it, you are a bishounen!"

…Unfortunately, Erica's pleas were ignored by the blonde Campione.

"No Bishoujo can look like a Bishounen! As a matter of fact, no Bishounen should look like a Bishoujo. That's even worse! It's against a man's law!"

And more unfortunately, Naruto suffered from his one of his first denials in his life.

---

The whole fiasco took some time to back down. After the situation settled down, Naruto suffered an intense bout of embarrassment as he recalled his outburst that entailed at the revelation of Kaoru's gender.

Of course, that embarrassment would remain on for a few days for Naruto. And a chastisement for creating such an embarrassing situation, if Erica had anything to say.

As it were, after things settled down, everyone moved quickly into the discussion they had been anticipating since the beginning. Around a square table, on one side sat Kaoru, along with Amakasu beside her; while on the opposite side sat Naruto, with Erica and Yuri on both his sides.

Naruto had wondered why she chose to sit beside him, even though she was affiliated with the people sitting opposite to him. But then again, he was not going to complain about this new development, as it was his policy; the more the merrier.

"Before we proceed into our discussion," Kaoru suddenly spoke out, as she looked at the blonde Campione. "We would like to apologize, if our organization might have committed some slight by staying hidden all this time from you."

Naruto waved off her concerns. "Nah. It's not a problem at all." He then got a wry grin on his face. "Considering some of the reputation Campiones have, I can understand your hesitation in approaching me all this time."

Hearing this, both Kaoru and Amakasu looked slightly relieved. Yuri looked at both of them with a smile, as if understanding how it feels to see an understanding Campione for the first time.

Smiling to herself, Kaoru looked at the Devil King. "Then I guess it's safe to assume that our organization is affiliated to you from now on."

That sudden declaration from Kaoru threw everyone except Amakasu in the room out of the loop. The

"W-What?" Naruto stammered in his words, as he stared at her in mild disbelief. While he did indeed came to this organization to declare his authority, he definitely had no intention to do so in a forceful manner. In fact, he was all too willing to first gain their cooperation, before moving onto gaining their loyalty and resources.

Kaoru's sudden declaration just threw him in disarray.

Erica, for her part, looked a bit stunned. But, she remarkably maintained her composure, as she looked at the red haired female. "That's a sudden move from you, Kaoru-san."

Kaoru nodded back at her statement, as she donned a smile on her lips. "I know. But you have to understand, Erica-san. Up until now, we, the History Compilation Committee, have been living in constant fear of a foreign Campione's invasion."

Understanding dawned upon Erica's face, as she realized just what the red head was talking about. She knew what the head of the History Compilation Committee was insinuating about, which was why she decided to sit at her place in silence.

"Our land was basically an open, unclaimed territory." Kaoru continued. "Our elemental subcontinent is filled with enormous amounts of chakra users, along with our Mage Association. The amount of resource and armed men that could be available in this land is phenomenal." She then let out a sigh, as if reminiscing something that brought her a lot of headaches in the past. "If you take into account all the resources that are available in this land, then the entire elemental subcontinent would be a desirable goldmine to any Campione across the world."

All the occupants of the room digested this fact, as they took in her words in strides.

Naruto, who by now had regained his calm, looked at Kaoru with a slight smile tugging his lips. "I understand your desperation." Naruto said, as he gave her a nod for emphasis. "Honestly, even though I came here to declare my authority as a Campione, it was never my intention to force anything upon you people. Truth be told, I was more of a cooperation from you guys in exchange for my protection and power. A relationship in which we can rely upon each other." Naruto then showed a true smile to ones sitting opposite to him. "Which is why, I will accept your vows loyalty, and do everything in my power to fulfill my duties as a Campione to you all."

His words left everyone, even Erica, into a stunned state. And why should they not show such a reaction; after all, this was the first time that anyone had ever seen a Campione being so humble and considerate, whereas most tended to take what they desired using their authority.

It was honestly a novel experience for many occupants of the room.

Yuri looked considerably proud at the Devil King's words, as she turned to looked at cross-dressing red head with a bright smile. "See Kaoru-san. Naruto-san is not like other Campione." Her smile, if possible, brightened a bit more. "He is the kindest man you could find among the Devil Kings."

Kaoru, after hearing this, stared at Yuri for few seconds, before she got a mischievous smile on her face, as if she had discovered a worthy secret. "I see…" She nodded to herself, before she turned to the Devil King with an almost Cheshire like smile. "Seeing that Yuri has such a positive outlook on your personality, we definitely can't say anything else. After all, she is your partner, right Uzumaki-sama?"

"P-P-Partner!" Yuri stumbled on her words in panic, as a furious blush sprung up on her face. "K-Kaoru-san, please don't say something misunderstanding!"

Naruto scratched his cheeks, with a slight grin on his face. "Well, she is my friend. And, since she now accompanies me, you would be right in saying that she is my companion."

Kaoru stared unblinkingly at the Devil King for few moments, before she turned towards Erica with a look that asked 'Is he serious?'. When all she got was a suffering sigh from the blonde woman, she nodded to herself, as if coming to a striking revelation. Yuri, on the other hand, looked oddly disappointed for unfathomable reasons.

Amidst all this, Naruto remained oblivious to the entire byplay.

Regaining her charming smile back on her face, Kaoru took out a file from her suit. She then looked at the blonde Devil King, while holding out the file in his direction. "Uzumaki-sama, since you have accepted our loyalty, we would like to present this to you as a show of trust from our part."

Naruto arched an eyebrow curiously at the file that was presented to him. He casually took it from Kaoru, and opened it to see its content. And when he did, he felt his eyes slowly widening at what he saw, as he looked back at the red head. "This is…"

"The origin of the Shinobi race." Kaoru finished his statement, as she adopted a calm look, which was in contrast to the topic of discussion at the moment. "Magi had existed long before Shinobi. Our Magi Association knew about the origin of the chakra users and has zealously guarded this secret for centuries. It's a secret that no one in Shinobi world is aware of…except, if our speculation is right, then maybe Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."

Naruto just numbly stared at the content of the file that was in his hands. The things that were stated in this file were something that, in Naruto's opinion, opened a whole new can of worms.

Erica looked curious at the new development, as she looked at Kaoru. That, and the fact that it was able to render Naruto into a shocked state was enough to warrant her interest. "May I ask what is so special about the origin of the Shinobi race?"

It was something that had been a hot topic of discussion among the Magi community across the whole globe. Just what made these Shinobi so different from the magic users? What enabled them the use of chakra instead of magic? Millions of questions like these had cropped up in the past, but remained unanswered. It was speculated that maybe the Magi Association of the elemental subcontinent knew the secrets of the origin of Shinobi race, but refused to disclose it to the outside world.

Turns out that the speculation was indeed true.

"A long time ago," Kaoru began her tale, as she relaxed in her sitting position. "A Heretic Goddess, who went by the name of Kaguya, descended to earth. Specifically, she descended to this elemental subcontinent. And she quickly became famous through the title of the Rabbit Goddess." Kaoru took the cup of tea that was on the table in front of her, and started to take sips from it. "She had quite an unusual and interesting authority, that allowed her to steal a part of another God's power. And she used this authority on one of the Top Tier God to steal a portion of his power, in effect successfully raising herself to the status of a powerful Goddess." She then narrowed her eyes, as she continued. "Enraged by this, that powerful God, who happened to be Shinju, the one eyed ten tailed God, also descended to the elemental nation to extract its revenge."

"A Heretic God in elemental subcontinent." Erica voiced out in a tight tone, as her features held an expression of shock. "But as far as I know, there had been no reported appearance of a Heretic God in the Shinobi nations in millenniums. Don't they usually avoid this area like a plague?"

This was a big news for Erica, since there were no records in any other Magi Association that a Heretic God, a top class one at that, had descended to the elemental subcontinent. And now, here she was hearing just the opposite of that belief.

"They do." Kaoru replied to Erica's question. "But, considering what Kaguya did, it's not that much of a surprise that the one eyed God came down to this part of the earth." She then withheld a grimace, as she thought on the aftermath that took place. "After that, it was total apocalypse in the elemental subcontinent. The level of destruction that the enraged Ten Tails brought with itself was insurmountable. It was in this time span that Kaguya gave birth to two of her sons, who were full blooded Gods." She then held a wry smile on her face, as she looked at all her present company. "And one of them had become quite legendary in this land. His name was Hogoromo Ootsutsuki, but he was more famously known by the title of the Sage of Six Paths."

It was like dropping a nuclear bomb upon all the occupants of the room, as everyone, except Amakasu, stared at Kaoru with stunned expressions and sheer disbelief.

Naruto took the credit of being the first one to break out of the shock induced trance, as he donned a wry grin on his face. "Damn…So not only is the legend of Rikudou Sennin true, but he was also a Heretic God."

The news, if it were to be leaked out to the general populous of the Shinobi world, was enough to create riots and outrages of disbelief. Even Yuri, who was in association with this committee, was not privy to such a scandalous discovery. Hence forth, it was understandable as to why she adorned a shocked look, that mirrored on the faces of Naruto and Erica.

"Wait," Erica interjected with her word, as she faced Kaoru with an intense look. "If all the myths and legend about the Sage is true, then that also means that the entire Shinobi race in this land…"

"-are the descendents of the Heretic Gods Hogoromo and his brother Hamura." Kaoru finished the blonde woman's deduction with a smile. "Although there has been several myths about the Sage turning people not of his blood into chakra users, our Magi Association has indeed confirmed the fact that the entire Shinobi race has the blood of those Heretic Gods."

It was a credit to not only Naruto, but also Erica and Yuri, as they maintained their composure at the face of this earth shattering revelation; even though they were barely holding themselves by a thin thread.

"It would not be wrong to say that the Shinobi as a whole are a race of pseudo-demigods." Kaoru continued, as she continued to take her sips from the almost empty cup of tea. "It's the major reason why there has been no Campione ever in the elemental subcontinent. Because, in technicality, Shinobi are incapable of becoming Campione, due to them carrying the blood of a God. One needs to be a full human in order to become a Campione. Which is why," She set down her now empty cup of tea. As she looked at the group in front of her, she narrowed her eyes. "I find it quite disbelieving that Uzumaki-sama became a Campione, even with his Shinobi lineage."

When the full implication of Kaoru's words dawned on the occupants of the room, at once all the gazes turned towards the blonde Devil King in question, whose eyes were shadowed by his bangs. All of them had a myriad of questions that were clearly visible in their eyes, as they stared at him with perplexity and confusion.

Erica looked at Naruto as if she was seeing him for the first time. All of a sudden, Naruto was starting to become something akin to a stranger to her, as mysteries after mysteries shrouded his entire existence. And all of this was starting to pain her. It was not his origin or the mystery that surrounded him that stung her so much. It was his need to keep such a secret from her that pained her so much.

But she was determined. She needed to show him that he could trust her with anything. That she was willing to sacrifice her life to keep her word to him. She was willing to do anything, just to let Naruto know that she loved him.

"This talk has gone on for long enough." Naruto's cold voice cut through the air of the room like a hot knife through butter. Both Erica and Yuri stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, as they had never heard him using such a tone. It was totally unlike his character and personality. Naruto, unheeding to this, continued. "I am done with this matter. This will not be a topic of discussion anymore."

It took Kaoru all her willpower to not flinch at the tone that was used on her by the blonde Campione. If she survived through this, then she was definitely going to count this as a milestone for surviving a Campione's wrath, no matter how much subsidized it was.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." Kaoru spoke up in a much more subservient tone, as she tried to curb the restrained anger that came out of nowhere from the Devil King. "I apologize for saying anything that might have offended you." She finished her words with a bow of her head.

Naruto took few deep breaths, before he calmed himself fully. He then looked at the committee chief with a soft expression. "Sorry. This is not how our conversation should have turned out to be."

Kaoru smiled at him in a reassuring manner. "It's alright, Uzumaki-sama. I'm to be blamed here for bringing up something that might have brought discomfort to you."

Naruto grinned at Kaoru, as he started to regain his bright personality. "It's alright. This doesn't change much between us. I would definitely need the help and resources of you guys. Are you willing to lend all that to me?"

"Of course, Uzumaki-sama." Kaoru looked positively satisfied at the bright turn this meeting was taking after the earlier mishap. "We have sworn our loyalty to you, Uzumaki-sama. Our resources and help would always be there your use."

Erica sighed in slight relief, as she saw things taking a good turn in this conversation. For a moment, she had been concerned that the situation would take an ugly turn with Naruto's surprise, yet cold outburst. That didn't mean that she still wanted to know about Naruto's secret. In fact, she disliked the fact that she didn't know much about the man she loved. But, she was willing to wait, as she could clearly see that the subject brought discomfort to the blonde Devil King.

Naruto stood up from seat, as he looked at Kaoru. "I guess our business for today is done. I'm looking forward to doing business with you guys in the future." He finished his remark with a smile.

Kaoru gave him a respectful bow. "And it would be our pleasure to provide you with any service we could, Uzumaki-sama."

Naruto gave a nod in return, before he turned to both Erica and Yuri. "Our work here is done. Let's get going, shall we?"

Both the women nodded in agreement, as they also stood up to accompany him.

Erica quickly got into her role as Naruto's Knight, as she stood beside him and bowed politely at the two members of the History Compilation Committee. "Thank you for your hospitality, Kaoru-san. I'm sure my lord appreciates your time and efforts."

Kaoru just nodded in reply, as both of them exchanged courtesy.

With the final courtesy done, Naruto, along with Erica and Yuri, went outside the room and started to walk away from the mansion they had been in.

As Kaoru watched Naruto and his group walk away from their mansion, she felt a myriad of thoughts invading her mind, all of which pertained to the Devil King in question walking away from them.

"We have got a strange person as our Campione." Amakasu's voice snapped her out of her stupor. When she turned towards him, she saw him wearing an amused smirk. "Isn't that right, Kaoru-san?"

She stayed still for few moments, before she felt a smirk of her own tugging her lips. "You might be right, Amakasu." She then turned to window, from which she could see Naruto, along with the two women with him, reaching the outer gate of their establishment. Her eyes lingered on the blonde Devil King. "A person shrouded with many mysteries, and is unwilling to reveal the secrets of his origin…

…We really got a strange Campione."

---

As they walked out of the outer gate, Erica turned towards her king. "Naruto, I need to go back to Italy to report back to my organization."

Naruto nodded back at her. "I understand. Came back safely." He said with a smile.

Erica's cheek dusted with a slight blush, as she smiled delightfully at his concern for her. She then puckered her lips at him, while closing her eyes in anticipation.

"…What?"

Erica opened her eyes to be greeted with a deadpan expression courtesy of Naruto. That, along with an expression of pure confusion which was etched on his face. Immediately seeing this, Erica wore an expression of utter defeat on her visage.

Naruto was the one of a kind dense man, who would never know what to expect from a woman, even if someone were to scream it on his face.

"You are hopeless, Naruto."

"Hey! What does that even mean?!"

Yuri looked at the byplay with a conflicted expression on her face. On one hand, she didn't feel the need to intrude into the moment between Naruto and Erica, as it was not her place to do so. On the other hand, she just couldn't help but feel conflicted, as she wanted to be as close to Naruto as Erica was. If possible, even more.

She was totally torn on this situation.

"I guess I should be taking my leave from here now, if I have to catch up to the airport in this land in time." Erica stated, as she looked at both Naruto and Yuri. She showed a serious expression on her face, as she continued. "Due to the critical situation here considering Marquis Voban, I think I would come back by night-time." Here she paused, as a thought crossed her mind, before she continued. "And Naruto," She turned towards the blonde King, as a frightening smile started to dawn on her lips that sent shivers down his spine. "If you cheat on me in my absence, then I will show you just how sharp Cuore di Leone is." If possible, her dangerous smile widened even more. "You understand that, don't you Naruto?"

Naruto didn't dare to show just how much he was frightened by her feminine fury. Having Godslaying powers was definitely not enough for a man to stand up against a woman's wrath. "Uh…Yeah." He replied in a slight meek tone, while showing an awkward smile.

Erica nodded in a satisfied manner, before she turned towards the Hime Miko, who had been accompanying them for some time. "Then I'm leaving him in your hands, Yuri-san. I hope you would keep him out of any trouble he could cause."

At this, Yuri threw a short glance at Naruto, before adorning a slight blush on her cheeks. "I don't know if I have right to do such a thing, but," She gained a small smile on her visage. "I will do everything I can to manage him."

Erica looked at her for few seconds, before she gained a smirk. "You know, you should consider yourself lucky. I usually don't allow any other women to look after him."

Yuri also gained a calm smile of her own. "Of course." She replied with a nod.

As both of looked at each other with their respective smiles, Naruto felt like he was out of the loop in this situation.

'Why do I feel like I'm missing something here?'

---

"Come on Yuri-san! I bet you never had a good quality of this in Mizu no Kuni!"

"I'm coming Naruto-san."

Naruto, who adorned a slight cheerful expression on his face, lead a smiling Yuri towards a ramen shop.

After Erica had departed from the group, the remaining two individuals had decided (more like Naruto decided) that they should go to the Shukuba town, which was quite famous for being the focus of all the entertainment in the Land of Fire. The town had nothing that couldn't satisfy a person looking to relax themselves in this town. From movie theatres and amusement parks to Casinos and shopping complexes, the town had everything in spades.

After stepping into this town, the first thing Naruto did was to drag Yuri to a more famous ramen shop, which as of late had become quite famous across the Shinobi world, due to everyone knowing about the resident Godslayer's obsession over it. It was no miracle that people started to favour his likes, so that they could imitate his habits.

After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived in front of the ramen shop. Naruto stared at the ramen shop in front of him with a smile, while Yuri looked at him with curious expression on her face.

It was reasonable for her to do so, since she had never seen the blonde Campione being so carefree. She had seen him being calm and composed at meetings; she had seen him being serious and calculative in battlefield, and she had also seen him being kind and understanding when a friend of his needed his support. Which was why she was curious to see this new side of his.

It was like she learned something new about him every other moment.

"You know…you could come out now, since you have been following us for quite some time."

After Naruto uttered these words, there was silence for few moments, before a figure jumped out from a dark alleyway that was behind them. The figure landed in front of them in kneeling position, and remained in that position, as her head bowed respectfully to the blonde Devil King.

The person kneeling in front of them was definitely a female. Her appearance had an indescribable quality to it, as her features enhanced the feminine charm that she had. One of the most eye catching features of her was the waist length silver hair that was tied in a pony tail. It almost looked like they had a certain glow to them. With blue eyes, and a slender figure that had its own charm, if one were to summarize her beauty, then they would describe her appearance as similar to a fairy.

"Liliana-san!" Yuri exclaimed in shock at the sudden appearance of a figure from her past. Naruto looked surprised that his companion was in acquaintance with the one who had been spying on them.

"Yes, Mariya Yuri." The now revealed Liliana said for the first time since her appearance. She then turned towards the blonde Devil King, as she kept her head bowed in a respectful manner. "I apologize for causing any slight against you, Your Highness. I am Liliana Kranjcar, the Knight of Balkan's King, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban."

Realization lit up in the eyes of Naruto, as he looked at her. "I see…so you were sent by him to spy on us." He said, as he revealed the motive behind her presence in his land.

Yuri, even though looking concerned about this latest development, also looked a slight bit concerned for the Knight kneeling in front of them, when she heard that she was serving the Balkan's King.

Naruto must have noticed this, which is why he decided on his next course of action. "That's good and all, but I'm currently starving. Liliana Kranjcar, you are invited for the meal we are going to have."

Not only the said girl in question, but Yuri also looked stunned at the casual invitation that Naruto threw at the one who was spying at him and the priestess mere moments ago.

"Your Highness! That would be quite disrespectful to you!" Liliana cried out in shock and disbelief at what transpired just now. "For someone like me to be-"

"Oh! You said yes! Good, good." Naruto nodded to himself, as he all but ignored Liliana's voice. He then turned around and started to walk into the ramen shop. "Then let's go. My hungry stomach is unable to wait anymore!"

Liliana gaped in disbelief at the figure of the blonde Campione that walked away from her. She was unable comprehend and digest the fact that not only was she pardoned for spying on the Devil King, but was also invited for a free meal, courtesy of the King of elemental nations.

"Let's go Liliana-san." Liliana broke out of her stupor at the voice of the Hime Miko. When she turned towards her, she saw a smile on the face of Yuri. "I have learned from experience that once Naruto-san has set his mind on something, then nobody can deter him from it. He is one of the most stubborn people you could come across."

Liliana just continued to kneel in her position, as she still tried to comprehend at what transpired mere moments ago. It all swirled in her head like a vortex of raging water, but was unable to be computed by her brain.

What on earth happened right now?

---

"Ah, that was good." Naruto sighed delightfully, as he put down his chopsticks on the table. "This stuff may not be on par with Teuchi-oji-san's ramen, but it has its own quality."

As Naruto remarked on the quality of the ramen, Yuri continued to wear a smile on her face, as she more often than not glanced at Naruto every other second. She had an unseen aura of happiness surrounding her at just being to spend her time with him.

It was Liliana's reaction to all this that was interesting. She had been stiff still since the beginning of this entire event. Unable to comprehend the perplexity of a Campione, of all the other persons, being kind and compassionate.

All the while, her ramen bowl in front of her laid forgotten in the midst of her thoughts.

"You know," A teasing tone, which Liliana was unable to recognize, came from the direction of Naruto, causing her to turn towards him. "I should consider it rude that you are rejecting my offer of meal."

She gasped in shock, as she realized that she had been rudely ignoring the meal that Naruto had offered to her. With a swift movement, she hastily bowed to the Devil King in an earnest manner. "Forgive me, Your Highness! I insulted you with my misconduct!"

Naruto let out a chuckle, as he saw her unneeded panic. Ever since the beginning, he had noticed that all her expressions looked forced, with her posture stiff beyond imaginable. And that was something he wished to rectify.

Bringing his hand in front of him, he gave a finger flick to the forehead of the fairy knight, resulting in her yelping out in shock and surprise.

Liliana stammered back a bit from her position, as she stared at the blonde in shock at unexpected move that was initiated by him.

"Geez, you really need to relax, Liliana-san." Naruto said with a carefree smile on his face. He the gestured his hand towards her ramen bowl. " And you really need to eat it, before it becomes cold."

Liliana sported a blush that suddenly appeared on her visage, as she tried to shake off her embarrassment at this whole situation. She then silently focused her attention back on the bowl in front of her, as she tried to regain all the composure she had lost for the past few moments. As she eat her bowl of ramen, she silently contemplated on the blonde Campione's action for the past few minutes.

"You know," Naruto's soft voice drew Liliana's attention back to him, as she looked at him with curious eyes that were masked by her respectful look. Naruto's smile had a hint of genuineness, as he continued. "Don't you think it's sometimes better to be yourself, then to be suffocated in the shell you create around yourself."

Liliana felt her eyes slowly widening, as her breath hitched at the Campione's words. She felt a bit vulnerable, as she realized that her whole character and personality was analysed so quickly by him. But, as much as she wanted to be wary of the Campione in front of her, she couldn't help but feel a trickle of calm and peacefulness seeping into her at the sight of his genuine smile.

Naruto must have sensed her inner turmoil at his words, which is why he turned back towards his empty bowl of ramen. Trying not to feel disappointed at the lack of his favorite food, he gave a sideway glance to the fairy knight, with his genuine smile still on his visage to be visible to her. "I can't say that you should trust me so quickly after mere moments of meeting you. But, after knowing what kind of person you are, I hope that one day you would allow me to see your true self." His smile broadened a bit here. "I would be waiting for that to happen."

Throughout all this, Liliana went through many emotions. Shock, surprise, disbelief, confusion and finally elation. Even though she felt the first three at Naruto's odd behaviour that was so out of character from rest of the Campiones; she also felt an odd sense of happiness settling into her that there was at least someone out there who understood her, even without knowing her problems. But with that, she also felt confusion, as she received all this from a Campione of all beings.

Finally, she settled for a furious blush that seemed to be etched permanently on her visage at Naruto's words. Even though she was equally confused and content at this odd situation, she didn't dare to say anything else to disrupt the moment. That, along with her wish to not disturb the flow of the situation which in any way could mar her new-found respect for the King before her.

Yuri, seeing all this, developed a complicated expression on her visage. Being confused at how she should feel at Liliana slowly, but steadily falling for Naruto's charms, one stray thought crossed her mind at that moment.

'I think I can understand Erica-san a little bit now.'

Quickly finishing her bowl of ramen, Liliana decided that she had enough surprises for one day from the blonde Campione. After standing up from her seat, she gave a respectful bow to him. "Your Highness, I'm deeply honored by your generosity towards me. It's now time for me to take my leave."

Naruto gave her a nod along with his smile. "It's okay." He gave her a grin, as he continued. "I hope I didn't bore you."

Liliana shook her head in response, as she, for the first time in that day, smiled at him. "No, Your Highness." Her expression of contentment at what transpired the whole day was clearly visible to Naruto. "I deeply appreciate your consideration for me."

Without saying anything more, Liliana started to walk towards the exit of the ramen shop. She would have walked out, if it weren't for Naruto's voice suddenly halting her stride.

"And one more thing Liliana-san," Naruto's words halted Liliana in her steps. Seeing that she had stopped to hear him, he continued without even looking at her. "It's sometimes better to carve out your own destiny, then listening to someone else deciding how your whole life should be." Naruto's eyes narrowed, as he continued his back to back talk with the silver haired Knight. "I truly meant it before, Liliana-san. Be true to your own self and follow what you believe."

His words remained hanging in the air for few seconds, but Liliana said nothing else in response. She silently resumed her walk to the exit, as she walked out of the shop without any words.

Yuri remained in her seat the whole time the entire event transpired. After it was all over, she turned towards Naruto with a barely hidden curious look on her face. "Naruto-san…why did you invite her, even though you knew she spied on us?"

Hearing this, Naruto gave out a sigh, as a small smile appeared on his lips. "I guess you could say that something in me compelled me to do so." His expression then softened, as he looked back at the exit from which Liliana went away. "I guess it would be because I recognized the look in her eyes."

"And that would be?" Yuri asked curiously.

"The look that one has," Naruto began, as he turned fully towards her. "When there is no freedom over the life he or she lives. It's a look that describes a person's inability to control one's own life."

Yuri let a mild frown mar her face, as she already realized how the silver haired Knight's life must be faring under the Balkan's King. But still, she looked a bit curious at his deduction over this fact. "And how do you know that, Naruto-san?"

"It's because…years ago, I had that same look too."

---

Liliana sighed, as she stepped inside the hotel room she had rented. She quickly made her way towards the couch that was in her near vicinity, before plopping herself down on it, as her whole body sagged in relief from the tense posture it had the entire day.

"Well well, you had quite the interesting day, didn't you Kranjcar?"

Her heart leapt to her throat, as an all too familiar and terrifying voice came from her backside. With cautious and practiced movement, she turned around and came face to face with her King, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban.

The Balkan King had the appearance of a man who was in his later years, yet still looked extremely healthy. The proof of his age was the white silvery hair, that was combed to the back. But, the most defining characteristic of his was not his appearance. Rather, it was the aura of a predator that surrounded him all the time.

"Marquis…" She whispered with a frozen expression, as she couldn't believe that her King was here in the elemental nations. It was then that a realization struck her.

Otherworld's Dragon. It was one of Voban's Authority that allowed him to transform into a Dragon spirit. With it, not only was he able to travel to the Netherworld, but he was also able to shorten the distance of travel around the world, by using Netherworld as the medium.

And now, he was standing in front of her.

Voban looked unaffected by the frozen expression on Liliana's face, as he looked at her with a predatory glint. "So my property is with the seventh Campione, isn't it Kranjcar?"

Liliana took a nervous gulp, as she bowed her head to him. "Yes, Marquis. Mariya Yuri has been confirmed to be with His Majesty, Uzumaki Naruto."

Hearing this, a small chuckle escaped Voban's lips, before he went into a fit of mad laughter.

"Hahahaha! Perfect!" Voban hollered, as he continued to laugh to himself. "Not only did I find the Miko, but I also get to test the sharpness of my fellow King!" His eyes then gained a dangerous gleam, as his lips stretched into a predatory grin. "After all, I did hear that the seventh Campione is the first Godslayer among Shinobi, with many mysterious powers."

He then turned towards his silver haired Knight, with his grin still remaining. "Get ready Kranjcar, you are going to Konoha."

Masking her inner nervousness and terror, she looked at the King questionably. "Why are we going there, Marquis?"

"Because," His ever-present maniacal grin never left his face, as he continued. "Seeing as he has encroached into my property, I'm going to do the same…starting with his home village."

---

The events after Liliana's departure that transpired over the whole day, in Yuri's opinion, were something that she would cherish for years to come.

After the food treat, Naruto had made it his personal mission to have Yuri experience many things that she didn't had chance to enjoy before. When he learned that she never had the chance to watch a movie before, he had been horrified. And from there, the situation only spiraled out, as Naruto made sure that she watched the best of the movies, especially the Princess Gale movie, which even she had to admit was very much enjoyable to watch. And, throughout all this, Naruto also made sure to provide her with everything to complete the experience, even meager things like popcorns and coke, so that she could fully enjoy the experience of watching a movie. She had been honestly endeared by all his actions throughout the entire day.

And from there, their adventure for the whole day continued, as Naruto took her to places that she hadn't even imagined before. From amusement park to museum, there was not a place that Naruto had not taken her to. He had been adamant in her knowing the simple joys of life, and making every effort to make that happen, knowing how secluded and oppressed her life was in the past. And she couldn't have been more grateful for someone caring for her like this.

But, through all the moments that she shared with Naruto, Yuri felt as if a bond was slowly forging between them. That through the entire ordeal, she had somehow grown closer to him.

And now, using his Authority of [Gale], Naruto took her to the top of the Hokage Monument, as they stood on top of Yondaime's head. It was already nighttime; as such a beautiful sight of an illuminated Konoha was presented in front of their eyes.

"And this is the place where I was born." Naruto declared, as he dramatically gestured to the Konoha town in front of him.

Yuri, who stood beside him, smiled serenely, as her face held a content smile, which was no doubt due to everything she experienced the entire day. "It's beautiful." She voiced out, as her smile broadened at the beautiful sight of the town that brightened up the darkness of the night with its botches of colorful light.

"Yeah, it is." Naruto smiled to himself, as he proceeded to sit down at the place he was standing. Looking up at the still standing Miko, he gestured to her on doing the same, as patted the place beside him. "Sit down, Yuri-san."

Yuri complied with his request, as sat down on the ground beside him. As they settled in their places, they both looked in forward direction, as they took in the scenery in front of them.

They remained silent, as they got comfortable in the warm presence of each other. Yuri closed her eyes, as she her mind started to replay the memories of the entire day. From the meeting with the History Compilation Committee to the viewing of the beautiful scenery of Konoha, every single memory flashed through her mind as if it was in a reel play.

But the memory that stood out amongst all the other was that the time with Liliana during the day. Her presence here confirmed the fact that Marquis Voban's search for her had turned from being passive to active. He was once again trying to keep her in his captive, all so that she could be used as a sacrificial lamb for the summoning of a Heretic God.

Above all, she was piling up the trouble and dilemma for the Devil King beside her with just her presence alone. With the Balkan King's active interest in her, it would become inevitable for the two Devil Kings to face each other. And that was something that worried her to no end. After all the moments she had shared the Campione beside her, the very thought of him getting injured in his face off against the experienced Campione stung her heart.

"Yuri-san," Naruto's voice broke Yuri out of her train of thoughts. When she turned towards him, she saw him looking at her with a concerned, yet serious face. "You are thinking about Marquis Voban, aren't you?"

Yuri looked down at the ground when she heard this. With a slight melancholic look, she spoke out. "I was…And I was also thinking about the problems my continued presence would bring you." She missed the surprised expression followed by a frown that appeared on Naruto's face. "Marquis Voban would not hesitate to even invade your land to capture me. And then…"

"You think I would let him snatch you away from me?"

At Naruto's remark, Yuri looked up at him with a surprised expression. But in response, she got a reassuring smile from his face.

"I said it already, didn't I?" Naruto continued with his smile, as he looked at her. "I consider you to be one my precious people now, Yuri-san. We created a lot of memories together. We shared moments that I have come to cherish now." His eyes softened a bit, as he looked into Yuri's eyes. "These memories mean a lot to me, Yuri-san. Do you mean to tell me that you don't feel the same?"

His words prompted the tears that Yuri had been restraining for some time to escape her eyes. She then looked at Naruto with her tearful face. "Of course I do!" She cried out. "I cherish the moments that I shared with you. I cherish the memories that we created together!" She lowered her face slightly, as her tears continued to escape from eyes, rolling down her cheeks. "They are one of the few good things that happened to me in years."

Immediately after she said her part, Yuri suddenly felt a jolt pass through her whole body, as she felt a hand touching her cheek. She raised her head once again, to see Naruto smiling at him, as he wiped the tears that were staining her face.

"Then I promise, Yuri-san." Naruto stated with a determined smile, as fully wiped the tears from her face. "We will create more memories that we could cherish. Because I'm not going to let some overambitious old man take away the chance to do so." He then laid his hands on her shoulders. "Because I promise, I will never let go of you."

Despite Naruto's efforts to wipe her tears away, fresh tears escaped from Yuri's eyes. But this time, the emotion that felt was that of joy and exultation, as she heard his words with a tearful smile blooming on her face. And then, without any warning, she quickly leapt into his arms, as she wrapped her arms around him, while resting her head on his chest. Naruto seemed surprised at her action for a split second, before he regained his smile, as he too wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you," Yuri muttered into his chest, as her smile now seemed positively radiant after the whole event. "Thank you…Naruto-kun."

It may have been because her voice was muffled into his chest, or he was too immersed into the moment, but he never noticed the change in the way she addressed him.

The moment had been going good for both Naruto and Yuri. Throughout the entire ordeal, both felt as though they had grown even closer to each other. At least Naruto thought in such a manner. Yuri definitely knew how much Naruto meant to her now. Which was why, she was cherishing this moment even more.

But it was suddenly disrupted by sudden lightning that came down from the sky and struck in the heart of Konoha village. Commotion, chaos and panic all of a sudden broke out across the whole Konoha village, as people panicked at this unnatural phenomenon. Another two lightning strikes came down upon the village, and the panic was now pretty much irrepressible.

"Where is your Campione, people of Konoha?!" A voice boomed across the whole village. "Where is that King of yours?!"

Yuri instantly recognized the loud voice that reverberated across the village, as she tightly latched onto Naruto's arms, feeling frightened by the voice.

Naruto seeing her discomfort, decided to ease up her nervousness. "Don't worry." He reassured her. "I won't let anything happen to you."

His words succeeded in relieving Yuri slightly from her nervousness. She glanced at Naruto, to see her smiling at her. Seeing this, she faintly smiled back at him.

Seeing that Yuri was alright for now, Naruto turned his gaze back to the village, as his eyes narrowed seriously at the other Devil King's audacity to launch an attack on his home town.

This was unforgivable. And Voban would pay for it.

---

A chuckle escaped through the lips of Voban, as he stood just inside the Konoha gate. He watched gleefully, as the lightning struck down on the hometown of the seventh Campione. By his side stood Liliana, who impassively watched the terror her King was trying to create in the village.

Voban's smile took a dark turn, as he looked ahead at the top of a building, where a figure was standing. "And who might you be?" He asked curiously with his predatory smile. "Because you must be extremely courageous to come so close to me."

The figure jumped from the top of the building and landed a few feet away from the Campione. And this person, who stood before the Balkan King, turned out to be none other than the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I'm the Hokage of this village, Hiruzen Sarutobi." The Sandaime introduced himself to the Campione in a calm tone. "I would say it was my pleasure to meet you, if you weren't attacking my village, Duke Voban."

"Hoh." Voban looked more amused by the calmness that Hiruzen had the moment. "So you are the famous God of Shinobi." He uttered the word God in a mocking tone, but Hiruzen remained unperturbed by his insult. "I wonder," His smile barely concealed its cruel nature, as he raised his hand forward in the direction of the third Hokage. "If I would get any Authority by slaying you, God of Shinobi."

As soon as he said those words, a violent gust of wind washed over the whole area, kicking up dust and debris high into the air. The people present there, which included Hiruzen and Liliana covered their faces, as they tried to endure the sudden powerful gust of wind. Voban looked unperturbed by the latest development, as he watched this with amused eyes.

When the wind finally died, in front of the Sandaime stood Naruto, with Yuri standing to the side of the third Hokage.

"Naruto." Hiruzen said with relief present in his voice at the presence of the blonde Devil King to defend their village.

"You will not be touching Hokage-jiji, you senile old bastard." Naruto growled out his words with barely restrained venom in his tone. The Balkan's King had obviously gone almost to the top in his shit list, as the amount of things he had pissed the blonde Campione at was astronomical by now; among the top of which included trying to enslave Yuri again and attacking his home town.

Definitely unforgivable.

"Heh," Voban snorted in amusement, as eyed the blonde Devil King. "So you are the seventh Campione. Well brat, I will give you chance to return my property, and I might spare you for the transgression of stealing it in the first place."

This time, Naruto snorted back in amusement at the opposing Campione. He was already at the end of wits with this guy, and now, the old Campione's words lead Naruto to snap back at him. "How about this, you senile old coot. You take your putrid frizzled ass back to where you were previously rotting, or I shove my leg so far up that said ass that even Kingdom come would look far away for you!"

The whole area remained quiet for few tense seconds, before Voban let out an amused snort at the mouthful response he got from his fellow Campione. Beside him, Liliana was blushing at the rather colorful answer to Voban's question.

Hiruzen adopted an awkward expression on his face, as he looked at the blonde. "I wonder from where he learned to be so mouthful?" He mumbled to himself.

"Naruto-kun!" Yuri looked positively scandalized by his mouthful response to Balkan's King, as she frowned disapprovingly at him. "You should not use such a language!"

Naruto stared back dryly at her, as he couldn't believe that she was worried more about his language in such a situation. "Is this even the time to be concerned about such a thing?"

"Whatever," Voban dismissed the awkward moment with his words, as he stared at Naruto with a smirk. "I had enough of your rambling. Kranjcar!" He called out to the Knight beside him, instantly alerting her to his voice. "Go get the Miko, while I amuse myself with this King."

With a resigned expression, Liliana walked ahead to do just as she was commanded. She looked ahead to see the serious expression on Naruto's face, and a worried expression on Yuri's face. She sighed once more, knowing that Voban would keep Naruto, along with Hiruzen, busy, giving her the chance to capture Yuri.

"Sorry," She voiced out in an apologetic tone, as she shot forward from her place towards the Hime Miko, with her sword drawn out.

Only to clash midway with another sword.

The owner of the sword, that clashed with friction against Liliana's sword, was none other the blonde woman known by the name of Erica Blandelli, who had jumped directly into the Fairy Knight's path.

"Erica-san!" Yuri cried out in joy, as she saw the blonde Knight stopping Liliana in her path. She had honestly never been so happy at the sight of the blonde woman, as she was now.

"You sure took your time to come back, Erica." Naruto said with a smirk, as his eyes never left the figure of Voban.

Erica also smirked in response, as her sword continued to grind against that of Liliana. "I would have come at a casual rate, if it weren't for the gravity of the situation." After releasing herself from the sword lock with the silver haired Knight, she gave out a mock sigh. "Honestly Naruto, ever since I accompanied you, I'm having a lot of headaches."

Naruto's smirk widened in amusement, as he heard her teasing. "And you regret it?" He asked in his own mocking tone, along with his amused smirk.

"Never." Erica replied with a smile, before she shot off towards Liliana, who had the same idea of attacking her opponent. Both of them disappeared into the village, while being too focused in their clash against each other.

Naruto's smirk now seemed to be intended at Voban. "What now, old man? Your ploy of using Liliana-san to capture Yuri, while distracting me is next to useless now." His smirk widened a bit more, as he felt a smug sense of satisfaction while looking at his fellow Campione. "Your only option now is fight or flight."

Voban looked extremely annoyed that he was upstaged in such a manner, but that look quickly went away, as he grew a smirk on his visage. "I guess that means we would have to fight." He gave a nonchalant shrug, even though his smirk was still etched on his face. "Besides, I get to test just how sharp your fangs are, King of the Elemental Nations."

'This guy seriously has some issues.' Naruto thought to himself with a barely concealed sardonic smile, as he eyed the enemy Campione in front of him. "Alright then," He declared, as he turned towards the Hokage, beside whom stood Yuri with a worried expression. "Jiji, I'm leaving the safety of Yuri in your hands."

Hiruzen gave the blonde a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. The girl's safety is now my responsibility."

"Naruto-kun." Yuri whispered in a concerned tone, as she looked at Naruto. Hearing this, the said Campione turned towards her with a smile.

"Don't worry, Yuri." Naruto reassured her with his smile. He then pointed a thumb to his chest with a dramatic flair. "Have some faith in me. I'm not going let that old guy take you away." His face then adopted a confident grin. "I'm gonna win this for you, Yuri. I promise."

At this, Yuri developed a mild blush on her face, as Hiruzen chuckled to himself, when he saw Naruto unintentionally charming the Hime Miko with his words. The old Hokage then shook his head mirthfully. 'You truly are your father's legacy, Naruto.' Hiruzen thought to himself with a smile, as his mind brought up the image of another older blonde, who used to make women swoon left and right with just his smile.

Yuri gave a small smile in response to Naruto's declaration. "Naruto-kun," She called out to him, prompting Naruto's focus on her. She gained a shy expression on her face, as she continued. "Please come back safely."

Naruto just smirked back at her, as he turned his back towards her. "I will." He replied with a concealed smile.

The blonde Campione then returned his attention back to the older Campione, who had been watching the whole drama with amused eyes. "Let's go, old man." He announced to his opponent. "I will not fight you here, with the possibility of my home town getting destroyed in our skirmish."

Voban shrugged to himself without a care. "Fine by me."

Naruto then started to walk outside the village gate, as Voban followed the footsteps of the younger Campione. It was when they both disappeared into the forest outside the village, that many other Shinobi also landed around the Hokage. The prominent of all these Shinobi were Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi, Maito Gai and many other Jounin.

"You all came." Hiruzen idly noted with a calm expression, as he eyed all the Shinobi around him. "Good. Let's follow those two Devil Kings."

His order came as a sudden surprise for many Shinobi present there and Yuri herself, as they all stared at the Hokage with stunned and confused looks.

"I know." Hiruzen defensively replied to their incredulous gazes. "It's dangerous to go near a clash between two Campiones, but we also have to defend our village from any backlash that could occur from their fight." His expression turned serious, as he stared at all the Shinobi under his command. "That's why; I need you all to help me in erecting a barrier between the village and the two Campiones."

Understanding dawned on everyone, as they nodded back in response to the order from their Hokage. "Hai Hokage-sama!" They all chorused in unison.

The Sandaime smiled in response to their affirmatives, as he turned towards the Miko beside him. "Let's go, shall we Yuri-san?" He suggested to her with his kind smile.

Yuri responded with her own demure smile, as she nodded to him. "Hai Hokage-sama."

Before going on to trace the track of the two Campiones, Hiruzen felt the need to put his smoke pipe into his mouth, as he took deep breathes of smoke. The inhalation of the smoke always relieved him from the stress that accompanied with the duties of a Hokage. And the current circumstance certainly warranted the use of his smoke pipe. As he released the smoke into the air, his shoulders sagged in slight relief.

His trustworthy smoke pipe was always there for him in such situations.

---

After a long tense walk, both Naruto and Voban came to a huge clearing, which was surrounded by mountains. The open field was quite a few distance away from the village, so that it would not suffer from Godly attacks that both the Campiones would be throwing at each other. Though, Naruto had no doubt in his mind that the village could suffer from the backlash of their attacks.

Which was why, he was quite relieved when he saw Hiruzen, along with Yuri and many Shinobi, standing quite a distance away from them, erecting a barrier that separated the battleground between the two Campiones from the Konoha village.

With any threat of innocents getting caught in the crossfire put on hold, Naruto set his gaze on his opponent with his narrowed eyes. "Before we start this battle," He voiced out loud for Voban to hear. "I would like to ask why you are so dead set on summoning Heretic Gods one after the other, and adding more than enough Authorities to your repertoire." Naruto looked at the older Campione, while masking his anger at him with his curious look. "Why are you doing this; when you are already unmatched among mortals, and even some Campiones."

Voban remained silent for few seconds, as he gazed at Naruto with his raised eyebrows at blonde's question. He then decided to give a response to the younger Campione's query. "Isn't it obvious, seventh Campione. I wish to not only remain powerful for as long as I live, but to also ascend to new heights of power that were previously unimaginable." He then developed a smirk on his lips, as he looked back at Naruto's serious face. "Above all, I want to know what the pinnacle of power is."

"Pinnacle of power?" Naruto parroted his words in confusion, as he raised his eyebrow at the elder Campione.

"Yes," Voban nodded to Naruto, he folded his arms with a smile. "That is the very reason why I constantly search for new Heretics Gods. I want to create a scale, using which I could measure my power against each and every new challenge I come across. That is what I wish for." His words rang throughout the whole landscape, as every person present there hung on to his words attentively. "That is why I thirst for challenges so much. I aim for the zenith, yet never wishing to reach it, because I don't want a limit to be there to my quest."

The area remained silent for few tense seconds, after which Naruto released a sigh, as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked at the older Campione with a resigned smile. "So, in a nutshell, being a Campione for you means being a hunter, and constantly striving for new powers. Right?"

Voban smirked back at the blonde Devil King. "You catch on quickly, young King."

"Right." Naruto nodded to himself, as he dropped his hand back to his side. His smile then disappeared, as a serious expression came over his visage. "But for me, being a Campione means something else." He declared in a resolute tone, resulting in Voban raising an eyebrow curiously. "For me, being a Campione means to be the one with powers that no one else has."

"Of course." Voban nodded in agreement with a smirk. "That is true. Seventh Campione, I already know-"

"And to use those powers to protect the ones who don't have it."

Naruto's words brought every person's thought process to a sudden halt, as they all stared at him with wide eyes. Hiruzen, though, gained a faint smile on his lips, as he realized what ideology Naruto possessed.

'Jiraiya…he really is the Child of Prophecy.'

Naruto gazed down softly at his hands, as he continued. "For me, this power is meant to protect others. Using these insurmountable powers that I have can only lead to two possibilities. One which leaves only destruction and hatred of its victim in its path, and the other which can bring out happiness and smiles of the people that I protect with this power." Naruto's voice carried over the whole area with a hint of passion, as a determined expression was set upon his face. "And on any given day, I would choose those smiles and happiness over the destruction and hatred this power could bring. I strive for power, but to protect others with it. This is what being a Campione means to me."

Every Shinobi present in the vicinity were staring at Naruto with a newfound respect for him, as they digested all the passionate words he had uttered. While Hiruzen, and Kakashi to a lesser degree, were smiling proudly at the way the son of the Fourth Hokage turned out to be, Yuri was gazing at Naruto with emotions that brought her even more closer to him.

"I see," Voban rasped out, while staring intensely at Naruto, as if seeing him in a new light. "So, being a Campione for you means to be a Protector and a Guardian." When Naruto remained silent at his words, he started to let out a chuckle, which soon turned into a full blown laughter. "Hahahaha! Amusing! Our ideology so similar, yet so vastly different!" He looked at all the assembled people with an amused smirk. "We both strive for power, but the difference lies in me being a hunter and you being protector."

Naruto remained silent in response to Voban's words, as he continued to stare at the older Campione with his determined eye.

Voban let out a few more chuckles, before reigning control over himself, as he gazed at the blonde. "I admit; that was quite enlightening. Though, this is not what I'm here for."

"I agree with that." Naruto replied with a smirk, as his body tensed in anticipation and excitement. "Our mouths have done enough talking. It is now time for our power to do the talk."

With that being said, both the Devil Kings stared at each other in an intense standoff, as they gazed at each other with their own set of narrowed eyes. The whole situation was in a standstill, as both the Campiones looked for an opening.

And then, without any warning, enormous bolts of lightning emerged from the hands of both the Campione, to meet in a head on collision with each other in exactly the middle of the field. Huge screeching sounds reverberated across the whole landscape, as the lightning from each Campione for dominance.

"What a surprise!" Voban shouted through the sounds generated by the collision of lightning. "You could control lightning too!"

"You have seen nothing, old man!" Naruto yelled back, as his lightning arcs increased more in potency and power in response to his strong will.

The power in lightning created by each Campione was so great that several bolts escaped from the point of collision, and arched uncontrollably in various directions. Several of these bolts hit the mountains, in result bringing down the whole mountain range and leveling them entirely by the sheer potency and strength of these lightning.

"Holy shit…" Asuma whispered in awe, as he saw, for the first time in his life, the powers of Godslayer.

"It's to be expected." Kakashi added in, as he seemed equally in awe of the powers being displayed before him. More so, he had a hard believing that such powers were wielded by his sensei's son, who was decades younger than him. "These are the powers they have usurped from a God. It would be natural for their powers to be so…godly."

Suddenly, the onslaught of lightning from both sides stopped, as both the Campiones stared intensely at each other. Then, Voban suddenly took the initiative, as he raised his arm to the sky. And, in an instant, the whole sky turned from black to orange, as the temperature of the whole area started to increase by leap and bounds.

"Red Punishment."

At Voban's words, an enormous fire was summoned from the sky, as it descended towards Naruto with frightening speed. But Naruto remained undeterred by this, as he had the perfect counter for this. He imitated Voban's action and raised his hand to the sky, as he shouted out.

"Come forth, White Stallion!"

At his command, an impossible phenomenon occurred, as the sun rose up from the horizon in the middle of the dead night. A bright flaming horse then came out of it with a sea of flames in its trail, as it dashed from the sky towards Naruto, in order to protect him from raging fire that was descending from the other side of the sky.

All the spectators, excluding Voban, gaped at the sight of the Sun rising out of nowhere in the nighttime.

Kurenai looked in disbelief at the phenomenon that transpired in front of her eyes. "Tell me I'm hallucinating." She slightly pleaded to the others.

Yuri shook her head at the Genjutsu Mistress. "Your shock is quite understandable. Campiones are capable of achieving feats that should be considered as miracles."

As this conversation happened, the White Stallion had reached its destination, as it collided head on with Voban's raging fire that had almost reached its target. With a mighty neigh, the flaming horse started to grind itself against the onslaught of inferno, while fighting for dominance. And, much to Voban's disbelief, the White Stallion started to cut through the elder Campione's fire.

"Your fire is indeed strong and potent, old man." Naruto spoke out in a loud voice from his place, as he looked at the mildly stunned older Campione's face. "But my White Stallion is a creature of fire, who has borrowed the powers from the Primordial Sun itself. Against such power, even your powerful flames are not enough to match its potency."

The White Stallion raged through its path, as it finally dominated completely over the opposing inferno, and cut through it to make its way towards Voban. And, without giving Voban a chance to retaliate, the flaming horse slammed onto Voban with its full might, while the surrounding area got engulfed in an ocean of flames due to the effect of White Stallion.

"Finally," Naruto sighed out, as he relaxed to himself. His White Stallion was one of the, if not, the most potent attack in the entire world. There was just nothing it couldn't incinerate. The only reason anyone would have survived its attack would have been due to him willingly lowering the potency of the flames. But, as quickly as he relaxed, he witnessed a bewildering sight in front of him.

The fire was slowly dying down, as all the flames were starting to concentrate towards the point where Voban previously stood before the horse struck. It was as if…

The flames were getting absorbed.

Naruto, along with all the spectators beyond the barrier, looked on with dumbfounded expressions, as they saw Voban absorbing the White Stallion into his mouth, as if he was eating it. Voban was in the form of a Werewolf, an honest to earth Werewolf, as he had transformed into the form to eat the White Stallion.

Before the bewildered eyes of all who were watching this, Voban completely ate the flaming horse, as his werewolf face let out a bloodthirsty grin. "Quite the meal that was, brat." He taunted the younger Campione.

Suddenly, innumerable amount of wolves, dead Knights and dead magicians came out of the ground, and stood in front of Naruto like an army.

Naruto snorted out at the sight in front of him. "Really. You think this would stop me."

Voban smirked in response to Naruto's remark. "No," He replied. "But it will at least buy time for me."

"Buy time…" Naruto frowned at the response he got, before his eyes widened in realization, as his head snapped to the place where all the spectators to their battle were standing. And, to his horror, he saw many wolves, dead Knights and magicians beyond the barrier surrounding the group, with the intention to whisk Yuri away. And, to worsen the situation, Voban had somehow used his Balor evil eye on all the Shinobi, even Hokage including, slowly turning their body into salt.

"I have not forgotten my objective, young King." Voban explained with a deadly smirk on his face. "And even that barrier is useless to separate the Miko from me, because I can manifest my minions anywhere I want."

"You bastard," Naruto growled out, as he prepared to use more powerful of his Authorities, so he could go and save Yuri.

But it turned out to be unneeded, as at that exact same time, Erica and Liliana came out of nowhere, as they jumped down in front of Yuri, and slashed all of Voban's minions who got close to her.

"What?" Voban blinked in confusion, as he saw his own Knight slashing at his minions. "Kranjcar! What do you think you are doing?!"

"Forgive me Marquis." Liliana responded back in her stiff tone, as she once slashed at another dead Knight which got close to Yuri. "But I, Liliana Kranjcar, resign from my post as your Knight."

Voban looked stunned for a second at her declaration, before he started to chuckle in a menacing manner. "So you have chosen to stand up against the tyrannical King. How laughable!"

"It doesn't matter now." Erica declared, as she defended Yuri against Voban's minions. "What matters is that Liliana is on our side, and we both will be defending Yuri against anything, while Naruto does his work."

Liliana rounded on Erica, as she showed a flustered face, with tears in the corners of hers. "It's your fault! You made me go up against Marquis, and receive his wrath, you damn devi-"

"The drawer in your bedroom desk-"

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Liliana suddenly screamed out, as she looked like she was about to burst into crying any time soon. "Stop it! I already said I'm your side!"

Seeing Erica's acting innocently, and Liliana tearing up in her flustered state, it didn't take much time for Naruto to deduce what happened in the interlude during their disappearance.

'Erica blackmailed Liliana-san into joining our side.' Naruto thought with a deadpan expression, as he stared at his blonde Knight. Sometime, he didn't know whether he should be grateful that someone like her was on his side, or to be horrified that such a scary woman was always by his side.

"Tsk," Voban tsked to himself, as he took all this with a clearly visible annoyed face. It was clear to him that his every attempt on capturing the Miko would be interrupted, which is why he recalled all his minions who had appeared beyond barrier, resulting in all of them sinking back to the ground.

Naruto sighed slightly in relief at this, before he turned towards Voban with a cold enraged face. He then silently raised an arm in the direction of all the Shinobi who turned into salts, and proceeded to use magic his Youth Authority on all the Shinobi.

The indirect method of using this Authority was not as effective as it would have been if he had used directly on them. But, it was enough to negate the effects of Balor evil eye, resulting in all of them returning back to their previous human state.

Besides, he was never going to use the direct method on anyone other than the opposite gender, if he had anything to say. He was a healthy straight male. Thank you very much.

As all the Shinobi returned back to normal, many were gobsmacked at the experience they had moments ago.

"H-Holy shit! I was turned into salt, and returned back to normal!"

"Fuck! These Campiones are really scary!"

The more experienced Jounin and Hokage himself seemed to maintain some level of calm and composure, but it was very much clear that they were slightly unsettled by this latest experience.

Naruto, from his position, continued to stare intensely at Voban with an expression of cold fury. "Old man…you have really pissed me now." He then gained a smirk on his face, as he flexed his neck. "I guess I have no choice, but to kick this up a notch."

Voban also gained an excited smirk on his lips, as he stared at Naruto in anticipation. "So now we would be battling for real, heh."

Naruto said nothing, as he gazed silently at Voban for few seconds, before he suddenly vanished from his place and stood right in front of the older Campione, breaking through all his defense. Behind him, Voban's entire army of minions lay on the ground, defeated in the time span of nothing.

"What the-" Before he could even voice out his surprise at the usage of the God speed, Naruto grasped his arms in a lock, as he stared at him with a stone hard expression. And, without even giving the older Devil King a chance to respond, Naruto used his [Bull] Authority to use the God strength, and flung Voban all the way up to the clouds in the sky, while ignoring all the laws of gravity.

Swiftly, without even taking a break, Naruto raised his arms towards the clouds in which Voban had disappeared, and enclosed his fist in that direction. As soon as he completed this action, an unearthly amount of lightning arched from all the direction and converged to the point where Voban was last located, as they all clashed with each other at the designated focal point.

What happened next was regarded as an awe inspiring sight by all the mortals present there, as a gigantic dome of light exploded in the sky, brightening up the entire night sky and make it seem as if daytime has suddenly appeared. The dome of explosion was so enormous that it might have encompassed the whole Konoha village several times.

Suddenly, the dome started to shrink into itself, as lightning arched outwards in an uncontrollable manner. And then, without any warning, a huge beam of lightning originated from the dome, as it descended directly down on Naruto.

The whole area got blinded by white light, as the beam exploded on contact with the ground and Naruto.

"Naruto/Naruto-kun!" Both Erica and Yuri cried out in dismay, as they tried to look at the battlefield, even though their eyes were blinded by strong brightness of the light.

Slowly but steadily, the light started to die down, as everyone started to get their vision back into their eyes. When they were all finally able to see things without their eyes getting blinded again, they all witnessed a Goosebumps inducing sight in front of them.

The whole landscape was a giant crater, with its edges just scarily tittering mere inches away from the barrier that separated them the battle of the Campiones. But, what was more awe inspiring was that Naruto stood perfectly in the middle of the unearthly sized crater, looking unscathed by the unholy earth shattering attack.

A few distance away from Naruto, Voban appeared in a gust of wind, as he was grinning in manner as if he was experiencing something extremely satisfying. "Impressive! Truly marvelous! Your fangs are truly sharp, Naruto Uzumaki!" He roared to the younger Campione, as he cackled at his wish of a challenge getting fulfilled.

As Naruto stood to face against the Balkan's King, he suddenly felt a strong wave of wind wash over him.

"Wind." Naruto noticed with a frown as he eyed elder Campione, who raised his arm in his direction. And, as if a switch had been flipped, the wave of wind gained Hurricane like force, as it tore apart huge chunks of earth. More terrifying was that when it struck the mountains that were not destroyed, they were unbelievably uprooted from their place, and disintegrated in millions of earth particles.

Naruto, through this onslaught, stayed rooted to his position, as he raised an arm to his face, so as to block any rock projectiles that might land on his face. He growled in his slowly growing annoyance at the current situation.

"Don't fuck with me!" He shouted out to the raging wind, as he suddenly brought his hand forward. At this action, the waves of wind quickly twisted and swirled in front of him, as if it had been distorted by Naruto's movement.

And then, to gaping faces of all those were standing beyond the barrier, the distorted and swirling wind in between Naruto and Voban took the form of a typhoon, as the clouds up in the also swirled, as a rotating funnel descended to the earth, while merging with violently swirling wind. And, in a finishing touch, the rotating funnel of black cloud finally touched down on the ground, completing the image of a true tornado.

All in all, the scene looked like mother nature was showing its fury upon the land.

"What the hell! They can control weather and nature!"

"This is seriously overkill!"

"Amazing," Liliana whispered with dazed eyes, as she looked at sight in front of her. "So this is the power of seventh Campione, Uzumaki Naruto."

On the other hand, Erica, even though looking quite proud of Naruto's otherworldly prowess, was also staring at the scene with confusion in her eyes. She knew all about Verethragna's powers and Authorities. After all, she had been with Naruto for weeks, while knowing intimately about him and his powers. And, with all the information she had collected up until now, she was sure that even Verethragna didn't have such control and power over elements and powers the way Naruto was showcasing. As absurd as it sounded, Naruto had surpassed Verethragna in the usage of his Authorities. And it didn't make any sense.

A stray thought suddenly crossed Erica's mind. What if this was all because of the first God that Naruto slew? The identity of that God still eluded her and the rest of world.

What if the Authorities of the first God were responsible for various phenomenons that occurred in front of her eyes?

Erica sighed in defeat, as she gave up on that thought. Even after all this time, Naruto was still a mystery to her.

The raging typhoon tore apart the land, as it made its way towards Voban with an unstoppable force. Voban, for the first time since the battle started, was looking both impressed and amazed at the power that Naruto showcased.

He brought his hands in front of him, as he tried to use his Authority over wind to manipulate it and stop the typhoon. But, to his shock, it did nothing, as the massive typhoon raged towards him, while tearing apart the earth in its path. And finally, without being able to retaliate, the tornado engulfed his entire being.

The typhoon continued to rage at its place, as Naruto stared impassively at the enormous swirling mass of wind. He then gained a frown, when he saw few lightning and cutting winds escaping from the typhoon.

And then, in a massive explosion of sudden wind burst and lightning, the whole typhoon dispersed in outward direction, generating a massive shockwave as an aftereffect. Naruto remained unaffected as the shockwave passed through him, as he stared at a panting Voban, who stood at epicenter of the previously dispersed tornado.

As Voban tried to regain his breath, he looked at the younger Campione with a fierce grin. "Naruto Uzumaki, you have certainly gained my respect." He stated in a loud voice with a wide grin. "You have one of the sharpest fangs I have ever come across."

Naruto released a short sigh, before looking at Voban with a small smirk. "Then what I'm going to do next would certainly not disappoint you." He remarked, as a confident expression came over his visage.

As he stated this, Naruto's mind immediately backtracked to the event that occurred right before he had appeared in front of Voban using [Gale].

---

As Naruto prepared to use the [Gale] Authority to transport both of them to Voban's location, he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. Blinking in confusion at this, he turned towards the source of the action, to see Yuri looking at him with extremely shy expression.

Naruto fought the sudden confusing urge to kiss the hell out of Yuri for showing such an enticing cute nature.

"What is it, Yuri-san?" He asked, as he remained confused at her sudden shift in behaviour.

"Naruto-kun, I know about your Warrior Authority." Yuri said in a demure voice.

Naruto blinked in surprise, before he looked at her with an expression of shock at knowing about one of his Authorities. He hadn't even told her about it.

Then how?

"I have spirit vision, Naruto-kun." Yuri continued, as if trying to explain his unasked question. "I have the power to see vision that predicts events and knowledge. I got a spirit vision on your abilities, giving me the knowledge about your Authorities."

After hearing the whole explanation, Naruto gaped at Yuri for few seconds, before he looked down at the ground with a stunned expression. "That's…damn." He muttered; unable to find anything else to say.

Yuri nodded at him, as she demurely looked down to the ground, while nervously biting her lower lip. The face she was making was too adorable, in Naruto's opinion. "And I also know about Voban's Authority, so if you want…"

Naruto blinked to himself, before he realized just where Yuri was going. "B-But Yuri-san, normal Instruction magic doesn't work on me." He tried to explain, as he felt a slight blush creeping up on his face. "For you to give me the knowledge on Voban's Authority, you have to-"

"I don't mind!" Yuri exclaimed quickly with furious blush on her face. She was looked extremely demure, as she refused to meet Naruto's eyes. "I-If its Naruto-kun, then I don't mind you stealing my lips."

Naruto took a nervous gulp, as he processed her words. "Yuri-san…"

Yuri suddenly looked up with mild frown on her face. "It's unfair." She started to gain a disappointed expression on her face, as she looked sad at something. Naruto immediately felt like a heel, as he instinctually knew that he was the cause of it. "If I'm going to share my lips with you, then I want to be the same as Erica, who gets to be called without any formalities." Her blush intensified a little more. "I want to be as close to you as possible."

Hearing this, Naruto once again gulped nervously, as a slight blush had by now permanently stained his cheeks. "Y-Yuri."

Yuri looked uncharacteristically delighted and happy at the way he addressed her, as her blush increased even more. "Naruto-kun." She breathed out in a demure, yet sensual tone, as her face got close to him.

Naruto didn't say anything else while his face also closed towards her, as he felt an unusual knot his stomach, that sometimes occurred to him when Erica kissed him with much passion.

And then, their lips finally touched each other.

---

Naruto stomped on the furious blush that suddenly tried to make its way to his face, as he recalled the events that occurred prior to face off with the Devil King standing opposite to him.

But, it was not just the kiss that he received from Yuri.

"All evil things fear me! Unjust beings of power cannot defeat me!-for I am the strongest, able to break all barriers!"

Inside him, he could feel the sword that had been forged through his knowledge on his enemy. It was ready for the use at a moment's notice on his demand. He slightly closed his eyes, before opening them with a fierce stare, as he gazed at Voban.

Suddenly, golden light engulfed the vision of every person present there.

"Once known as Phoebus—the god whose name had the meaning of light. However, he was also the god with the night-like epithet 'nukti eoikôs.' A bastard deity who possessed a massive contradiction between his appearance and his nature, that was the god you killed."

As Naruto yelled out his words, bright golden light started to surround him, as the land got dyed in golden color and started to spread out in all direction. The color of sky also changed, as it changed from the pitch black it previously was to midnight blue.

Immeasurable amounts of golden swords rose up from the ground; as they started engulf almost the entire sky with its numbers.

"That ancient epithet Smintheus. —It means rat. And then there is Lykaon, Lyeios... words containing the meaning of wolf. The god of light whose origins stemmed from rats and wolves—the beasts of the earth and darkness. This is the key to interpreting this god!"

Various swords raced towards Voban from all directions, they started to cut through the older Campione's body in a crisscross manner.

"W-What is this power?!" Voban shouted out, while trying to protect himself from being shredded apart by numerous swords.

"The wolf with the essence of a rat, and the god who possessed dual attributes of light and night—in other words, Apollo. The twin brother of the moon goddess Artemis, the sun god who locked away darkness but was born underground! This is the name of the first god you killed!"

Voban felt his eyes widen in slight disbelief, as he felt his connection to the Authorities of Apollo getting weaker and weaker. "Impossible…words that can cut through an Authority. This is your trump card!"

Facing Voban's shout with an unshakable confidence, Naruto felt a large, human sized golden sword manifesting fully in his hands.

The Golden Sword, granted by his Authority [Warrior] could be considered as the ultimate Godslaying weapon, as it had the power to remove the divinity of any God, as long as he had the knowledge on said God.

And now, he was using this power to finish this battle to deliver the fatal strike.

"Holy crap." Asuma remarked, as he gaped at the sight of reality being overturned with the change in landscape and sky. This was even beyond his comprehension on the powers of a God.

On the other hand, he should have expected such kind of thing. After all, this is the power of a God.

"I can understand your feeling, Asuma." Kakashi commented, as he also imitated Asuma's action in gaping at the sight in front of him. He had never been more grateful for his face mask, as it mostly hid his expression from others.

"This is it, old man." Naruto remarked, as he started to walk towards Voban with his golden sword held in his hands. His walk soon turned into a run, as he started to close the distance between them. "Here I come!"

"I won't allow it!" Voban roared out, as he sent a large number of wolves at the younger Campione. But it was all for naught, as they were quickly shredded by the uncountable amount of swords in the sky that rained down on them.

As all the wolves fell on the golden land, Naruto took a giant leap over them, as he jumped straight in the direction of Voban. With the sword held above his head, he descended upon the Marquis, as he slashed his sword at him. "Eat this!"

And the world got engulfed in golden light.

As the light died down, both Naruto and Voban were seen standing a few distances away from each other. But, the difference lay in their postures, as Naruto stood perfectly fine with mild panting breathes; whereas Voban was panting heavily, as he felt the Authorities he had usurped from Apollo being completely severed from him.

Suddenly, Voban let out a chuckle, as he looked at the Campione opposite to him. "Impressive." He praised the young Devil King that stood before him. "Truly impressive. But, I still have other Authorities. Can you still match up to my strength?" He asked the question in an amused tone.

"Of course I can." Naruto replied with a smirk, that only grew wider as he continued. "But I won't need to. After all, I severed the Authorities you gained from Apollo."

"And what has that got to do with-"

Voban's words were suddenly cut off from him, as he saw the White Stallion that he had eaten at the start appearing out of the ground in front of him. He was unable to comprehend this phenomenon.

"Your Authorities over the flame of sun has been cut off. Which is why, the White Stallion is now available to me once again."

The flaming horse stood in front of him, with its burning eyes glaring at him in rage for the audacity to eat him, and render him unavailable to his master. With a mighty neigh, it galloped from its place, leaving behind an enormous trail of fire, as slammed with full force of the heavenly flames upon the weakened Campione.

And Voban was unable to do anything, but take the full brunt of the horse's rage.

A massive explosion rang throughout the whole landscape, as the Voban was thrashed away from his place due to the force of explosion, and crashed at the nearest distance.

After a few seconds, Voban wobbly rose up from his place, as he looked at Naruto with his already patching up face. He then gave him grin, as he spoke up. "I guess I should gracefully accept this as my defeat." He then let out a short sigh, as he rolled his shoulder. He then look at the blonde Campione with a slight widening of his grin. "Or, do you want to continue even more?"

Naruto shook his head with an exasperated expression. "I think I'm done for today, old man. Just accept your damn defeat and get out of here."

Voban let out an amused bark of laughter, as he stared at the young Campione. "Naruto Uzumaki, you have truly earned my respect with your battle prowess today." He gave the blonde a nod along with his grin. "You are worthy of being a Devil King."

With those final words said, Voban disappeared from the battlefield in a gust of wind. Thus, marking the end of an earth shaking battle between two Godslayers.

The barrier that separated the spectators from the battle of Campiones disappeared. The whole area remained silent for few seconds, as nobody knew how to react to such a development. Then, finally, a voice broke the whole silence.

"Yosh!" Gai exclaimed out in an energetic and excited tone. "That was one of the most youthful battle I have ever seen!"

Kakashi let out a chuckle, as he looked at his Sensei's son, who was now a Godslayer. "I have to agree with you, Gai. That was one of the most epic battle I had ever seen."

Hiruzen just stared at this proceeding with a smile, as he proudly looked at Naruto for all that he had achieved in his life.

As excited conversation broke out among various Shinobi regarding the battle between two Devil Kings, Erica and Yuri made their way towards Naruto, each having their own set of smiles. Though, both of them had different meanings to them.

Naruto's face brightened up, as he saw Yuri come closer to him. "Hey Yuri! I told you, didn't I." His face adorned a massive grin. "I won this battle for you, just like I said."

Yuri blushed heavily at his words, though she also carried a fond smile on her lips, as she nodded at his words. "Yes, Naruto-kun. You did just as you told me."

Erica definitely noted the way they addressed each other, but didn't remark on it, as she had more pressing matters to address.

"Naruto," She called him out with a smile. At her voice, Naruto turned towards her, but froze instantly, as his skin grew pale at the face of her terrifying smile. Erica just continued on with her smile. "For you to use your Warrior Authority, you must have received the knowledge through Instruction Magic, isn't that right?"

Naruto could do nothing but silently nod to her in response, as he nervously gulped to himself.

Erica's smile grew even more terrifying, as her eyes got shadowed by her bangs. "And am I right to assume that Yuri-san used instruction magic directly on you."

"Um…" Naruto felt his lips go dry, as he looked nervously at her. His instincts as a Godslayer were telling him to run for his life. And the reason for it still eluded him. "E-Erica…"

"Cuore di Leone!"

---

This was the third chapter for you guys.

So, there is a new revelation in this chapter. A Shinobi cannot become Campione, because they are pseudo demigods. But, then how did Naruto become a Campione?

Mystery. Mystery.

Well, that all for now folks. So, how was it? What were your thoughts on this chapter? Please review and tell me.

Also, I have published a Challenge on Campione crossover. Go check it out.

Until next time.

Ja Ne.