Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon?
Kurama's apartment – that night
"So that's you're new alias" said Kurama proudly, it wasn't exactly what she or Naruto had hoped for, but she had made sure not to allow any bad aliases to pass even if the one that passed wasn't perfect either it was way better than some of the other suggestions. After the meeting she had started wondering if the other gods saw alias as a method of annoying each other.
Hanabi was at the side of the room, holding her stomach trying not to laugh but it was getting harder and harder by the second.
"I… is that really what was selected as my alias?" asked Naruto stuttering as he had not finished processing his alias.
"I fought really hard and that was the best I could get you" said Kurama looking somewhere else "But remember you get one every time you level up so this one will not be as cool as the next one."
Naruto looked up with a sudden realization and with determination in his eyes said "You're right, I'll get another one when I level up again" said Naruto as he turned to Hanabi "Let's work harder Hanabi, I need to level up faster."
With laughs escaping her mouth every two or three word Hanabi answer "Whatever you say … Naruto-sama or should I say 'Knucklehead adventurer'-sama"
With that Hanabi couldn't hold it down any longer and started laughing out loud falling to the ground in the process.
In her mind Kurama had to admit that a few days ago that would have been a perfect alias. Naruto headed into the dungeon head first with no knowledge almost getting killed several times, a definition of a Knucklehead. Thinking this made her let out a small laugh which only annoyed Naruto even more.
Both Kurama and Hanabi spent the rest of the night apologizing and making sure Naruto didn't go in a suicidal mission to the dungeon in search for a level he couldn't get at the moment.
Konoha's dungeon – the next day
The next day Naruto and Hanabi headed to the dungeon, they met up with Kabuto on the way, who definitely looked more prepared this time, wearing some light weighted armor and bringing some supplies.
Kabuto had honestly expected it to take several days to get Naruto to accept him coming with them into the dungeon so he had been legitimately not fully prepared the day before even if he could have easily made it all the way to the boss with little to no problems with his stats alone.
After a small talk they headed into the dungeon and they made quick pace of the first 12 floors they were now at the entrance of the 13th floor of the Konoha dungeon.
"At this point we should wear the protective cloaks that are handed at the guild" said Kabuto referring to the cloaks that had high fire resistance.
"Those cloaks are really handy, I'm glad they give them to you or else this would be even harder" said Naruto grabbing the cloak Hanabi was handing him "I wonder why they don't just hand them out from the beginning"
Kabuto had brought his own so he didn't need to borrow one.
"The guild does its best to help adventurers and supports" started explaining Hanabi "but they are realistic, many adventurers die at level one and many other retire or never level up. If they handed them over to everyone they would go out of business."
"Think of it like this: they need to know that an adventurer will be able to go further into the dungeon before they can invest more onto them" added Kabuto.
Understanding a little bit Naruto nodded and said "I think I understand what you're saying. They need to know that an adventurer will not just go and die with this before they give it to them or it would be a waste."
"Correct, it might sound harsh but that's how it's handled. It might not look it but these cloaks are rather expensive." added Kabuto "They do a lot by giving out at least two to every level 2 adventurer and they sometimes hand out more if they're in a group."
Naruto nodded understanding what Kabuto meant and then turn to the stairs of the next floor and started walking into the 13th floor.
Konoha dungeon 13th floor
It was just as Naruto and Hanabi remembered it the 13th floor with its even greater labyrinthine design and the holes that lead even deeper into the dungeon scatter through the place. It wasn't long until they saw some hellhounds from afar but the hellhounds seem to ignore them as they just continued on.
"It's been a while since we came here" said Naruto to Hanabi.
"Yeah last time we almost died" added Hanabi with a nervous laugh.
"Although with us that's the norm" said Naruto with a laugh.
"Of course when I travel with the 'knucklehead adventurer' what did I expected" said Hanabi sarcastically making fun of his alias once more.
"Knucklehead adventurer?" asked Kabuto with legitimate curiosity.
"It's nothing, you don't have to pay attention to that!" said Naruto as he jumped back and moved his arms frantically, trying to hide his alias from Kabuto.
With that they continue forward with Naruto frantically changing the topic several times and Hanabi barely containing her laughter.
But soon enough that came to a halt when some monsters interrupted them not long after that.
The monsters where ones Naruto had never seen before but he was pretty sure he knew what they were from a book he read. Even if he didn't remember the details correctly he was sure the creatures were Imps.
They were almost the same size as goblins but their red skin, pointy nose and snickering were not easily mistaken. Even if Naruto hadn't ever heard them laugh before the book had been pretty diligent in mentioning imps liked laughing and snickering a lot.
Naruto looked around and he could easily count half a docent imps maybe more they were pretty mischievous according to the book some might be hiding in ambush.
The imps looked at them and immediately spread out from each other, suddenly 4 more imps jumped out of a hole behind them essentially trapping Naruto's group in the middle.
Kabuto reacted quickly and took out one of his small scalpel like knife as he turned around to face the four new imps.
"I'll handle these 4 Naruto-san you handle the other 6" said Kabuto quickly moving to engage.
This was the first time Naruto had actually seen Kabuto engage with his small knives, but he couldn't really take his time and look at Kabuto's fighting style, since he had his own problem.
"Hanabi stay between us and inform us if any more appear" said Naruto quickly taking out his sword. He hadn't fought an imp before but he had read the book so he had a basic idea of some of the things it could do. Still he wasn't completely sure of how this would go.
Naruto ran forward towards the nearest imp. The imp didn't even attempt to dodge instead it just snickered and two of the other imps threw some kind of small ball towards Naruto.
Naruto stopped running towards the imp and rolled to avoid the small ball like object which impacted in the ground breaking up and revealing that the ball was fill with some kind of liquid.
If Naruto remembered correctly it was a sort of sticky fluid that was highly flammable and also obscured vision if they managed to get it in your face.
The imps themselves didn't have a safe way of lighting the liquid on fire but if a hellhound were to appear and you were covered in the liquid it could spell your demise.
As the ball impacted in the ground Naruto continued forward, the imps seem kinda annoyed that the ball had not impacted Naruto and they screamed and snickered as they moved forward to surround Naruto.
Imps normally didn't have weapons like the goblins but they had pretty sharp claws and teeth which could easily kill someone with, mainly because you never fought one imp by itself, you always find them in groups.
Seeing the Imps trying to surround him Naruto quickly went on the offensive, he got close to an imp and before he could properly react he sliced it in half with his sword making it explode only leaving a crystal behind.
As Naruto did this, another of the imps tried taking advantage of the situation by jumping on Naruto's back, but he was knocked out of the air mid jump by a kunai Hanabi threw. Naruto didn't even notice an imp had tried jumping on him until he turned around.
Even with one of their own defeated the imps didn't stopped snickering and laughing as they continued moving a little bit erratically making it hard to follow them.
All five imps looked to each other and without saying anything attacked at the same time.
Naruto slashed one as he got close killing him, but two of the other imps took hold of his feet trying to drag him to the floor. The other two, seeing that he couldn't move right now, jumped towards his neck preparing to bite at him with their sharp teeth.
"Naruto-sama!" said Hanabi worried as she threw another kunai.
Once again one of the imps was impacted with a kunai this time he didn't just felt back to the ground, this time he died mid jump.
Naruto reacted as fast as he could, punching the other imp that had jumped at him with his free hand, this sent the imp back to the ground rolling from the impact. Naruto then felt a severe pain as the two imps in his feet bit him on his legs.
"Damn this hurts!" said Naruto doing his best to not fall to the floor but it was getting difficult.
"I'll get them off you Naruto-sama" said Hanabi as she prepared to throw some more kunai but she was beaten to the punch when a lighting jutsu flew past her and impacted both imps.
"I finished fighting my group" said Kabuto walking besides Hanabi.
She had been so concentrated on the fact that Naruto was having some problems that she didn't notice that Kabuto had defeated the other four imps.
As the imps were sent flying to the side by Kabuto's lighting jutsu Naruto did his best to ignore the pain in his legs as he moved towards them and quickly killed them both.
Even when it was the last remaining, the imp that was left didn't stop snickering. But as the imp looked around and found himself alone he stopped and took some steps back before fleeing from the scene.
"It's trying to get away!" Naruto said as he ran behind the imp but with his injured legs he couldn't catch him.
"Wait Naruto-san!" Kabuto said as he saw Naruto running behind the imp "don't follow it; he'll lead you to a trap."
Just then Hanabi had finished looking through her bag and took out a healing potion "Here Naruto-sama" said Hanabi handing Naruto the potion which he took immediately.
As he drank it he could feel the pain in his legs disappear maybe if he ran at full speed he could still catch the imp.
"Naruto-sama, you should follow Kabuto's advice and not follow It." said Hanabi almost as if reading his mind.
Naruto looked surprised at Hanabi "How did you know I was thinking about following it?"
"I saw it in your face" said Hanabi she had gotten used to Naruto by now, he sometimes had a look on his face that just said that he was going to do something stupid and she had seen that just now.
Naruto scratched his head and looked ahead "Let's keep going I want to see more of this floor before it gets too late."
They did just that, they continued into the dungeon carefully looking around them as the continued forward as to not fall in a trap laid by imps.
Soon enough they found themselves in an intersection with the corridor dividing into multiple pathways, one behind them, two to their sides, one going forward, a small ramp that went up into yet another set of three pathways and a small hole in the corner of the intersection going who knows how many floors down.
"Is so much easier to get lost in this floor" Hanabi said looking around at all the different directions they could head in.
"If we continue on that path we'll make it to the stairs to the next floor" said Kabuto pointing to one of the paths above them.
"Let's go then" said Naruto walking to the path Kabuto pointed at.
Soon after, they found themselves on the stairs to the next floor.
Floor 14 wasn't any different from floor 13, mostly the same with even more labyrinthine paths.
While exploring the 14 floor they found themselves on the wrong side of a pack of hellhounds.
"Watch out Naruto-san!" said Kabuto as he shot a water bullet from his mouth towards a hellhound that was jumping Naruto.
As the hellhound hit the ground it was impacted by three kunai on the side and it exploded into smoke leaving a crystal behind.
"Well done Hanabi-san" Kabuto said.
"Thank you, Hanabi, Kabuto!" Naruto said as he dodged to the side as one of the hellhounds let out its fiery breath.
When they started fighting this pack of hellhounds there were 6 hell hounds, not long after there were 10 of them, as other hellhounds heard the ruckus and came to attack them.
They had managed to kill half of them thanks to Naruto's new sword and the help from Kabuto.
Naruto quickly recovered his balance after dodging the flame and closed in on the hellhound as fast as he could and slashed downwards with his sword but his blade only found the ground, as the hellhound had moved to the side to evade Naruto's attack.
"Damn these dogs are fast." Naruto said annoyed as he continued fighting them.
Kabuto quickly casted another jutsu as a lightning bolt impacted several hellhounds, killing two of them.
Not wanting to stay behind Hanabi threw several kunai at a hellhound that moved to evade them but as it did Naruto came from the side and managed to cut it in half.
The last two remaining hellhounds finding themselves cornered let out their fire breath towards Naruto who was the closest target.
Naruto dodged to the side barely avoiding the breath, his cloak caught part of the flames but its fire resistance capabilities prevented any damage.
Seeing his opportunity, Kabuto took out two of his scalpel like knife and charged the hellhounds catching them by surprise as Kabuto, almost surgically, removed the hellhounds heads from their bodies making them explode into smoke.
"Wow those things are sharp for their size!" Naruto said as Kabuto moved to store his scalpel like knife back in his pouch.
"It's mostly about how you use them and not necessarily their edge." Kabuto said as he moved to help pick up the crystals that Hanabi was already picking up.
"I definitely wouldn't want to fight you" Naruto said as he moved to help as well "Why were you so scared of the floor boss, you are so strong that I think you might be able to kill it."
Kabuto's smile disappeared for a moment as he figured he had showed too much of his strength to Naruto.
"The floor boss is on a whole different level Naruto-san. I might look strong against these monsters but the boss would make me look weak" Kabuto said as his smile returned to his face.
"I see. I wonder just how strong the floor boss is" Naruto said as he looked down a hole on the corridor they were in.
"Pretty strong" said Kabuto as he looked around "Should we keep going?"
"Nah, that's enough for today. I want to go back and update my stats so that we can head deeper next time" Naruto said.
"Ok then, but we should still be careful on our way back. We don't know if there are imps ready to ambush us." Said Kabuto as they started heading back.
Later that day – outside the Konoha dungeon
"That was great, with your help we had little trouble this time Kabuto" said Naruto looking at Kabuto.
"I didn't help that much, seeing you and Hanabi I'm sure you would have been fine without me" said Kabuto.
"No we would have been in serious trouble, multiple times, thanks Kabuto" said Naruto "So same time tomorrow?"
"I'm truly sorry but I can't accompany you tomorrow I have some things I need to do" said Kabuto apologetically "but if you want to we could explore together again the day after tomorrow."
Naruto looked a little disappointed he really liked exploring along sides Kabuto and Hanabi, it was easier and more fun with more people.
"Ok then, I'll see you the day after tomorrow then" said Naruto.
"If you excuse me then I have to go" said Kabuto going away.
Finding themselves alone Naruto and Hanabi started walking back towards the Ichiraku pub it was kinda late to go and change the crystals at the guild and they could always do that in the morning so they decided to go and have some dinner at the pub before heading back.
Ichiraku pub
As Naruto and Hanabi approached they could hear the cheers and laughs from the adventuring groups that had come to relax at the Ichiraku pub after a successful day of adventuring.
As he entered he could see many adventuring groups seating at tables with big mugs and plates of food, laughing and telling stories about the day. Many of those stories probably exaggerated to make themselves look more heroic or courageous.
As Naruto looked across the pub he found someone he didn't expected to see here. It was Haku who was sitting with Zabuza at a table in the back of the pub.
"Hey isn't that the guy that saved us the other day? Haku I think you said his name was" said Hanabi as she also saw Haku and Zabuza in the back of the pub.
"I think it is, let's go see" said Naruto walking towards Haku and Zabuza.
As they approached Haku also noticed them and when they got close enough he said "I didn't thought I would find you here of all places Naruto-san"
"I should say that, I would have thought you would have headed back to kiri by now." said Naruto.
Zabuza just sat silently as Naruto and Haku started talking.
"We were heading back but then we got news about something that was going on here in Konoha and decided to stay a bit longer." explained Haku.
"Something going on in Konoha?" asked Naruto not knowing what he was talking about.
"Oh right! How could I have forgotten!" said Hanabi a little bit louder that what she intended to "The Enma familia is going to have an expedition into the dungeon soon."
"An expedition?" asked Naruto "So they are going to explore pass the known floor of the dungeon?"
"This time the Enma familia is trying to explore pass floor 20 and record some new books for the guild, since there's not much information pass those floors apparently" answered Haku "It's a joined collaboration between the Enma familia and the Konoha guild."
"So you two are going to help in the expedition?" asked Hanabi.
"Correct" said Haku with a smile.
"But you guys must have not updated your stats in a long time now, shouldn't you two do that first?" asked Naruto.
"Also I don't remember the Enma familia asking for volunteers, how did you two got into the expedition?" asked Hanabi.
Haku looked as Zabuza, how just shrugged and said "It's not really a secret; if they ask around at the guild they'll find out, you can tell them if you want."
"The Enma Familia does not specialize on researching the dungeon they are more of a fighting oriented familia, so they asked other familias for help. And one of those familias they asked for help was the Isobu familia which accepted to help in the expedition" said Haku "So even if we wanted to go back to Kiri to update our stats Isobu-sama is heading to Konoha as we speak, so we decided to stay and help in the expedition."
"I see" said Hanabi understanding what Haku was saying.
"An expedition eh, I really want to participate in one" said Naruto excited.
"Sorry Naruto-san but as your support said, neither the Enma nor the Isobu familia are accepting volunteers. And if they did they would need them to be at least level 3." said Haku.
"Damn, I was thinking about seeing if I could get in this one" said Naruto bumped out.
"The expedition is in 5 days. If you want to head to the dungeon that day, should do it early since the expedition team will probably clear out any monsters they find making it harder to find them." said Haku.
"I'll think about it, thanks for telling me all of this" said Naruto "I hope to see you again while you are here."
"I would like to see you again as well if possible Naruto-san" said Haku.
"We'll leave you two alone then, we got to get our food as well." said Naruto.
Naruto said goodbye to Haku and Zabuza and then moved to find an open table with Hanabi. It didn't take long for them to find one, the pub was more crowded than normal but it was still not as full as it could get.
After a little while Hinata appeared to take their orders and since she already knew what they would order she didn't take long taking their orders and a little bit later she was back with their food.
"Here you two go" said Hinata putting the food in the table "Do you mind if I sit for a little bit?"
"Go ahead, but aren't you busy the place looks almost full" said Hanabi looking around.
"Most of the orders are already delivered and Ayame-san is taking care of the remaining ones so I can take a quick break" said Hinata taking the sit besides Hanabi which was empty "So what did you guy do today?"
"The same as always, we went into the dungeon and fought some monsters but today we went to the 13th floor again" said Hanabi.
"You two went there again after what happened last time!?" asked Hinata worried as she looked at Hanabi.
"We didn't have as many problems as last time, we have Naruto-sama's new sword and our stats have been going up" said Hanabi.
"An adventurer I met in Suna named Kabuto also accompanied us so we were pretty safe in going into the 13th floor" said Naruto.
"I guess you two came back safe and sound and that's what matters" said Hinata with a relieved sigh and then turned to Hanabi "Also Hanabi I wanted to ask if you had told Naruto about tomorrow already?"
"I was waiting until we were back with Kurama-sama" said Hanabi annoyed.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Hinata said with a small laugh.
"What's happening tomorrow?" Naruto asked curious about what Hinata meant.
"Well I guess I should just tell you now. I can't accompany you tomorrow in the dungeon, Hinata and I have to go somewhere." Hanabi said looking distant.
"That's fine; I don't mind, you could have told me earlier about that." Naruto said.
"I was going to tell you yesterday but your alias made me forget about It." said Hanabi holding a laugh as she remembered Naruto's alias.
"You got your first alias already Naruto-san?" Hinata asked "Could you tell me it?"
"Oh Naruto-sama's alias is perfect for him" Hanabi started "It's…"
"You don't have to tell her about it now!" Naruto interrupted Hanabi from revealing his alias.
Hinata looked confused between Hanabi and Naruto. Hanabi seem to be holding laughter in and Naruto looked really flustered for some reason.
"Fine, I'll tell you later Hinata." Hanabi said.
Decided to end the chapter there, tell me what you thought.