The Legacy of the Most Unpredictable Ninja

by RekkingPride

After checking up on a strange rift in space and time, Naruto ended up in a foreign land where new allies and enemies await. However, his wish to bring peace to his home still resonated...so he will do everything he can to return home, no matter what! 3 Crossovers mixed right, with a 4th on the way. A new narrative with believable characters! Strong!Naruto and mostly in-character!

37. Chapter 37

Alright, before you begin, I have an ost suggestion for those who wish to give it a shot. Ignore this if you're not interested, but I'd like for everyone to try at least once before you decide. :)

Of course, since you can't copy and paste, just type "naruto shippuden ost fierce all instruments", and go to the first one by 94lolface. Don't start it yet, just keep it on standby until I give the signal.

Hopefully, with this system, no one will be forced to type out the ost in the middle of reading, and disrupt the flow of the story.

The signal to begin the ost will be this;

-0-

You guys got it? It's small enough to be ignored by those who don't care and will serve as the signal to start the ost.

With that ready, let the story begin!

---

A time that has long past...

...

...

"Wake up."

...

...

"Hey, come on. Wake up."

...

...

"Hey! I said wake up already!"

The small European child was jerked from his rest by the incessant prodding of an annoying little girl, making him groan in protest as he tried to roll away to dodge her next 'attack'.

This time however, instead of just a simple poke, his friend decided to just grab the blanket that was keeping him warm and yank it.

The blond boy was sent tumbling from his bed by the action, crashing onto the floor with his head, much to his chagrin.

It took all of about three seconds for him to recover.

"Geez! I told you to wake up!" the small girl complained audibly, huffing as she crossed her arms. "You keep oversleeping you know? Keep this up and you'll get the priests upset again."

Meanwhile, the small boy on the floor slowly pushed himself back up, his bleary grey eyes trying to blink away the sleepiness that remained in them. "...You couldn't have done that like a civilized person?"

The young girl shook her head. "Not really. I do try to wake you up normally, but you never budge."

Grey eyes, now clearer as their owner properly forced himself awake, were dry as they regarded his friend, but he knew that it was useless trying to argue with her.

It would take him all day to convince her of any wrongdoing on her part.

So he just stretched his limbs a bit as he walked past her, moving towards the mess hall where the rest of their friends were. "Right, right. Sorry for troubling you, now let's get something to eat."

Despite the fact that he wasn't facing her, he knew that her face split in a grin as she jogged to catch up to him. Hearing it in her voice as she spoke up again.

"Now you're talking!" she cheered, all energy and enthusiasm. "Let's go get some grub, 'Clouds'!"

The boy designated as 'Clouds' smiled, fondly remembering the nicknames that all of the children gave one another to remember each other with.

Both of them; the boy and the girl, were orphans that didn't originally have names, nothing to label themselves as.

And they still didn't, but they did have their nicknames, which was good enough until they truly got their names.

The names that they would receive after they achieved their purpose for living.

Becoming the children that were chosen by God.

They all promised one another that once they were chosen, once they were something, they would celebrate their ascension into becoming holy warriors by giving themselves proper names.

'Clouds' couldn't wait, already feeling his excitement shoot through the roof at the thought of it.

"...Ah, look at you. Your head stuck in the clouds again. That's exactly why you've got that silly nickname in the first place, 'Clouds'." the young girl beside him teased, nudging him slightly.

The young boy turned to his companion, his excitement practically blinding to anyone that had eyeballs. "Hey, do you think we're finally gonna accomplish it today? Do you think that we'll finally become God's chosen, 'Choco'?"

The girl, 'Choco', blushed a little at the not-so-subtle reminder of her nickname. "I-I don't know...and quit calling me that!"

'Clouds' just laughed heartily, his mirth echoing across the sizable room that the two children just entered, gaining the attention of those that were occupying it already.

"Hey! What's the with the ruckus 'Clouds'!? Are you daydreaming out loud again!?" a slightly older boy called out, getting up from his seat in order to get a better look at the duo that was entering the mess hall.

'Clouds' scratched his cheek bashfully at the charge, turning his head away slightly to refuse anyone eye contact with him. "...No, not this time at least, 'Blister'."

"Hah!? You lot are calling me that stupid name again-!?" the loud-mouth boy started, before wincing, grabbing his cheek. "Ah...my cheek..."

A series of groans echoed across the mess hall at this predictable occurrence.

At first, his name was supposed to be 'Bluster' for his constant loud-mouth tendencies, but he was renamed 'Blister' due to the fact that he'd always bite his cheek while yelling about something or another.

It was about as normal as anyone could possibly expect.

As the older boy began moaning about biting his cheek again, 'Choco' shuffled closer to 'Clouds'. "...Do you think he'll ever stop doing that?"

The blond boy swiftly concluded that the older boy would not.

"...Man, predictable as always, isn't he?" a girlish voice drawled behind the 'Clouds' and 'Choco', catching both of them by surprise.

As his head twisted backwards, grey eyes locked onto the familiar visage of an extraordinarily pale girl with pure white hair, with her red eyes focused onto the the duo with a speculative glint in them.

"Crap...it's 'Ghost'..." 'Choco' muttered to herself, but was just loud enough for all three children to hear clearly. "What is it now? You found something interesting to share? Or is it more random gossip again?"

The albino girl known as 'Ghost', who was called as such for her pale complexion and her penchant for getting info that she really shouldn't, just grinned cryptically.

"Look, just because the last info that I got for you ungrateful lot, about getting chocolate for dinner, happened to be a little...exaggerated, that doesn't mean that you gotta hold it against me." 'Ghost retorted smartly, that cryptic grin of hers widening slightly as she continued. "Besides, not everyone is as crazy for chocolate as you...'Choco'."

'Clouds' watched 'Choco' twitch, her obsession for the delicious candy called out, much to her irritation.

But it wasn't like it was some sort of secret or anything...it was actually public knowledge by this point, despite her attempts to hide it.

The fact that her name was 'Choco' proved that, though she believed that she got the name because of her chocolate-colored hair and eyes, not because of the fact that she always began to drool whenever chocolate was involved.

"Alright, alright, look, I'm sorry about that incident last time, ok?" 'Ghost' eased her fellow female, her excitement about giving out this latest piece of information obvious. "But I promise that this one is accurate! Pinky promise! And this is a big one!"

'Choco', mollified by the apology, was more receptive than before. "Ok then...whatcha got?"

'Clouds', also interested, leaned forward a bit, his innocent grey eyes curious.

'Ghost' just smiled ever wider. "...I heard that the priests are gonna give us our final experiment! This is it you two! We're actually gonna become God's chosen!"

Both children, while interested in what the albino had to say, was knocked completely speechless at the revelation that was given to them.

If anything, the white-haired girl looked pleased with herself after seeing their reactions. "I know right!? Isn't this exciting!? Now, I didn't want to announce this to everyone at the same time because of the noise they'd all make, so can you help me spread the word? If the priests find out that we know, they'll inevitably figure out that I spied on them again, so please-"

"Hah!? We're gonna go through our final experiment!? We're gonna become God's chosen!?"

All three of the childrens' expressions went blank as a thunderous voice roared behind them, silencing everyone in the room by the sheer volume.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the trio turned to see 'Blister', who's eyes and smile were wide and true.

...

...

"...I knew we should've kept him as 'Bluster'..." 'Choco' groaned, shaking her head, sending a sympathetic look at 'Ghost'. "Well...it was nice knowing you I guess."

'Ghost' didn't respond, her eyebrows just kept twitching sporadically, wondering how much laps she'd be forced to do as punishment.

She also wondered when the inevitable outburst was gonna-

"Wait, so we're finally gonna be-!?"

"No way...!"

"Yes! Yes! YES!"

"Hey! I'm not sure what's going on, but whatever it is, we need to party!"

These were the series of exclamations that immediately followed after their loud friend's outburst, loudly starting the joyous uproar that echoed across the mess hall after hearing the news.

...All except that last comment, 'Party Pooper' always wanted to start a party, so it was pretty typical of him.

'Ghost', for her part, turned to give 'Blister' the stink eye. "Great. Now I'm pretty much screwed today, thanks."

'Blister, who was definitely in a good mood, turned to her with his excited dark brown eyes. "What are you talking about!? This is a good thing! Now we can all celebrate all of our hard work properly!"

"...Yeah, I'd just appreciate it if I didn't have to suffer for it, is that so much to ask for?" the albino returned, her voice full of snark.

"Oh come on! Surely that's a small price to pay in order to-" 'Blister' started, before wincing and cupping his cheek. "Ah...did it again."

"Quit yelling all the time if you're just gonna keep biting your cheek!"

'Clouds' watched the loud and happy chatter unfold across the mess hall, as well as the round of insults that 'Ghost' was levying onto the loudest child among them, smiling.

"...Heh, they're all a bunch of idiots, aren't they?" 'Choco' noted softly, right by his side as she gazed upon the crowd of children. "But...this isn't bad, right?"

The blond boy with grey eyes turned to look at the girl beside him, seeing the massive smile that she was displaying to him.

"After all..." she began, her chocolate-colored eyes shining brightly. "They are our idiots, right?"

'Clouds' could only smile in return, fully embracing that sentiment without regret.

All of the children there were picked up from orphanages, without family and support, brought to this church to become something.

Many of them, with nothing in the way of goals or aspirations, were nothing prior to this.

But now, under God's grace, they would be more.

For they would all become the wielders of one of the most powerful weapons in recorded history, and with it, they would aid their Lord, and join something greater than any of them could even fathom.

That was why they went through the innumerable and back-breaking drills, the consistent exercises, the exhausting hours of training.

The hundreds of experiments, which battered them in body and spirit. Leaving countless scars on some of their bodies.

It was all for this moment.

And despite the pain that they were pushed to endure, through it, they gained something that allowed them to weather through the storm.

A family of orphans, which stuck together through their shared experiences, and their unity in their need to be a part of something greater.

The young blond boy couldn't have been prouder of this family of orphans.

...Still, they should probably stop yelling so much, as they were definitely gonna get the priests to come running-

*RIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG*

The bell that signified that the children had to report in were echoing across the mess hall, shutting down the excited chatter with it's impromptu calling.

"...Huh? We're gonna start the experiments this early?" 'Ghost' wondered aloud, staring at the nearest bell by her, her voice confused. "That's never happened before..."

'Clouds' was also confused, as the priests that were taking care of them have always gave them quite a bit of time to wake up in the morning before they had to go to work.

So why the sudden change?

"Duh! Isn't it obvious!?" 'Blister' questioned rhetorically, crossing his arms confidently. "It's because the priests want us to start our new lives early! This is their show of trust!"

This explanation was heard by everyone in the room, as usual when it came to 'Blister', and definitely broke everyone out of their stupor from the change in their regimented lives.

So, following standard operating procedure, they began to get up from their seats, throw their leftovers away, and make their way to the main test room, their excited chatter obvious to anyone with ears.

'Clouds' watched them all go, seeing them all pile into the tiny hallway that led into the testing chamber, wondering if this was really the day for them.

It kinda seemed surreal now that it just might be happening.

"...Damn, the priests probably know that we know, I'm totally gonna get punished..." 'Ghost' lamented, shooting 'Clouds' and 'Choco' a quick look, before winking. "Well, time to face the music I guess! Come on! I don't want to miss all of the fun!"

The albino girl turned around and quickly ran after the tightly-knit group, squeezing into the horde of excitable children.

As soon as she left, 'Blister' also began to move, giving the duo a thumbs up, flashing his teeth in a smile. "Keep up you two! It's time that we fulfill our destiny!"

And with that, he ran after the group, more than ready to join everyone in what would possibly be their big break.

'Clouds' felt a sweat-drop fall down his forehead, but took a step forward to follow anyway.

At least until he felt a small feminine hand grab his, feeling it intertwine with his fingers, holding tightly.

The blond boy's cheeks warmed a little as he turned to face 'Choco', who was the one responsible, registering the slightly shy smile that she had on her face. "Come on...let's do this, together."

'Clouds' couldn't have agreed more.

So he tightened his own hold on her hand as he took a step forward, prepared for his destiny-

'Kiba-kun...'

'Clouds' jerked, glancing around, confused.

What was-?

'Kiba-kun...!'

W-What...?

---

Present...

"Kiba-kun!"

Kiba Yuuto jerked up, his eyes wild as they snapped to and fro in order to ascertain what was going on, before being steadied by a teenaged girl that he has grown to know.

"...Akeno-san?" he asked hesitantly, focusing on her worried features as his mind was dragging itself out of his dream, bringing him back to reality.

He felt a crushing depression hit him as that word was bandied around his head.

Dream.

It was all just a dream, it wasn't real, and it would never be real ever again.

The friends that he had made back then...they were all...

"Kiba-kun? Are you alright? You were tumbling and turning in your sleep, did you have a nightmare?" Akeno asked gently, being careful in her prodding, wary of upsetting him after they finally managed to get him back again.

A tired smile was her only response. "No...it really was just a dream."

The knight then turned away from her, his smile turning wistful. "Yeah...a dream of a long time ago."

Violet eyes took in the young man's features, silent, with a sliver of understanding in her own orbs, before she drew herself to her full height. "Kiba-kun, I'm sorry for waking you, but I figured that you'd want to know that Buchou and Sona-kaichou has arrived."

Yuuto's eyes snapped to the queen of the Gremory group, quickly remembering the series of events that led them here after her statement.

After the ragtag group had escaped the trap that the rogue werewolf had set up for them, they quickly retreated and left the two kings of the Gremory and Sitri group, much to his confusion.

But Koneko-chan assured him that they would be alright, claiming that Rias had a trump card up her sleeve.

Apparently she was correct.

Anyway, afterwards the group aimed for the closest safe area to regroup, but accidentally stumbled upon a barrier that was erected by an unknown party before they reached their destination.

Thankfully, shortly after they found it, the barrier shattered without them having to do a thing on the outside.

And within that very barrier were three of their friends, and the criminal that was apparently the cause of all of this.

As well as the man that had given him the sparse information about...those swords.

Much to his shame, it became very likely that the former Astaroth heir was manipulating him in order to harm his fam- former family.

The blond shook his head, forcing those thoughts away, lest he delve too deeply into them.

Anyway, as soon as the group collected the trio, who were strangely quiet, they managed to hole up in Mio-san's house, which apparently had the ability to muffle energy signals thanks to Naruto's strange powers.

So, as soon as Yuuto was able to sit down in a chair, he lost consciousness due to his mental exhaustion, wanting some rest about as much as he wanted to ignore the wounds that he had gained from his battle with that werewolf.

The handsome blond paused, glancing downwards at his body as he realized something.

He didn't feel anymore pain...! Despite the fact that it couldn't have been more than an hour since he fell asleep...

And, indeed, his sight did nothing but reinforce the growing suspicion that the knight held.

There were no traces of the wounds that he once held.

Seeing his confusion, Akeno spoke up again. "Asia-chan healed you up while you were asleep. She was quite insistent on it."

The knight didn't respond, he kept prodding his finger onto the patch of skin that was formerly ripped apart by the werewolf, marveling at the fact that it was there.

"Where is she now?" he eventually asked, turning to the young woman beside him.

The queen inadvertently turned her gaze to her right, looking across the room.

Yuuto followed her eyes, blinking as he saw the young nun resting on her seat, leaning on Issei with her eyes closed, while the pawn was speaking to someone in hushed tones.

And that someone was...

"...I see, so that's what happened, huh...?"

None other than the Gremory heiress, who has just finished listening to his story about, presumably, what had happened while inside the barrier.

He locked up a little bit at the sight of his king, brain racing about how he should react to her presence.

Rias pat Issei on his shoulder, a proud smile on her face, which was compromised slightly when she winced right afterwards for some reason, quickly retracting her hand.

Nevertheless, she quickly drifted away from the slightly confused perverted boy, turning around towards him.

As she saw his eyes trained on her, she paused mid-walking, hesitating, then firmly moved towards him with purpose.

Yuuto felt his mouth dry up, unable to speak despite the fact that he could've sworn that he was trying to.

As she neared, she raised her arm, her hand outstretched, reaching for him.

Reflexively, he clenched his eyes shut, waiting for the hit that was undoubtedly about to come.

At least, that was what he thought was going to happen.

What he didn't expect was to feel Buchou's arms wrap around his body, pulling him into a tight hug.

Yuuto felt his arms tense up for a split-second, but only briefly, as his entire body just as quickly relaxed into the embrace, taking comfort in it.

But then, like a child deprived of it's favorite toy, the hug was suddenly retracted, much to his confusion.

That confusion only multiplied after the knight's face was snapped to the side, the loud sound of skin clapping against skin echoing in the house.

The blond teen was nearly sent off of his seat, feeling the sting on his cheek as it grew red from the slap that the red-head had just inflicted on him.

A question was on the tip of his tongue, about to question Rias' strange behavior.

Yet he couldn't, as once more, much to his rising concern, she wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug, placing her head on top of his as she breathed out steadily.

By this point, Yuuto was practically afraid to ask.

Thankfully, he didn't have to.

"...Sorry about that." Rias apologized, a wry smile on her face as she kept her hug going. "I just needed to let out that last bit of anger that I still had over your actions."

The knight raised a hand to scratch his cheek, a nervous chuckle emerging from him inadvertently, his attitude reverting back to what it was before this entire incident. Falling back onto it thanks to his uncertainty on how he should respond.

Partially recognizing this, the Gremory heiress leaned back a little, just enough so that she could look at her wayward Peerage member face-to-face. "Yuuto...I understand that you're...confused about how you should respond to us after everything that has happened. I really do, but you don't have to try and force yourself."

By this point, Rias let go of Yuuto, a tentative smile pulling at her lips, newly cautious. "Honestly though, if you just promise me that you're done with this...foolish plan to avenge-"

The red-head cut herself off as she saw her knight's expression go blank, virtually seeing a 'wall' put into place between herself and the young man.

Naturally, she began to backpedal, fearing that she said too much too fast.

Much to her relief however, another voice spoke up at just that moment, saving her from the fight that she may have sparked.

"Rias!" Sona called out as she entered the room, a light blue magic circle right next to her ear as she focused her gaze on her fellow high-class devil. "Apologies if I'm interrupting anything, but I figured that you'd want to know that my Peerage has erased the memories of all of the humans in the abandoned church. Their knowledge of the supernatural has been completely erased."

The red-head shifted her attention to her old friend, silently thanking her for the interruption before responding. "I see, that's good to hear. Wouldn't want the day to consist entirely of bad news."

Sona took the chance to scan the many faces in the room that the devils were hiding out in, noting the tension that lined Rias' and Kiba Yuuto's faces.

Not unreasonably, the Sitri heiress quickly decided to continue. "It is good news, however, we mustn't lose our focus on the big picture, Rias. Tsubaki has just informed me about who our mysterious attacker was..."

Blue-green eyes snapped to the solemn visage of the Sitri group's queen, who was standing guard near Issei and Asia, and inclined her head towards her in acknowledgement.

Tsubaki nodded stiffly, before focusing on her king again.

Regardless, Sona continued unabated. "...Rias, now that we're positive that the disgraced Astaroth heir; Diodora, was the one that instigated this entire mess, we should make sure to contact the Underworld government. They will want to know that their 'wanted' man is gone."

Violet eyes flickered to look at the Gremory group's wayward knight, before refocusing on the red-head again. "...And we can't do it here, not with Uzumaki-san's strange powers covering his home. It would mess with any signal that we made to reach the Underworld."

Rias frowned, unsure of that logic, and was just about to voice it.

At least until she saw Sona's pointed look.

...Oh.

She was giving her a way out of this awkward situation with Yuuto.

Nice.

Not only would this distraction get her out of this fix, it would also give her time to think about how she should approach her shaken Peerage member without setting him off.

Even better.

"...Right, we'll do that." the Gremory heiress responded with surety, drawing herself to her full height again. "But first..."

Rias trailed off, suddenly looking uncertain as she thinned her lips.

Sona knew why. "...Of course, we'll go when you're ready."

With a jerk of her head to her queen, the young black-haired devil backed up in order to leave the house, opting to wait for her friend outside, giving her some privacy.

Once more, Rias was thankful.

"Everyone." the high-class devil started, catching -almost- everyone's attention in the room. "You heard what Sona said, we're going back to the ORC club room to contact the Underworld government. And if necessary, we'll rest afterwards, so get ready, ok?"

It took a few sparse seconds for everyone to actually register her words, but eventually everyone that her words applied to began to get ready to leave.

Akeno slowly stood up from her seated position near Yuuto, carefully smoothing over her clothes as she moved to stand next to her king.

Yuuto, with some reluctance, listened and moved to stand beside her as well, silently falling back into his old routine thanks to his lack of knowledge on what to do next.

No one questioned it, unwilling to rock the boat after all of the time and energy they expended on finding the blond in the first place.

Issei for his part, was slowly trying to unhook Asia off of him as she used him as a pillow to rest on, blushing a little as the other teens began to stare at the scene.

He was trying to be careful for one simple reason; she was asleep.

After Asia finished healing everyone, she quickly fell asleep on Issei after claiming that she wanted a little rest, revealing how tired she actually was in restoring so many people to their full physical strength.

Unfortunately for the teenaged boy, his movements still managed to prematurely wake the resting nun, getting her to blearily open her emerald eyes to see what was happening.

"Ah...damn. Sorry Asia..." the young man apologized with a frown, wanting to curse at his clumsiness. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Hm...? Oh! Oh, I'm sorry Issei-san!" the human female cried out suddenly, her cheeks burning as she scampered off of him after taking a second to wake up properly. "I-I must have fallen asleep by accident!"

Seeing the innocent blond fluster over falling asleep brought a wry smile to the pawn's lips, before he nudged her a little to get her attention again. "Hey, no worries. It's all good. Anyway, seeing as you're awake, you should know that Buchou wants us to go back to the club room now. Do you want to come with?"

Asia blinked, staring at him for a moment or two, before smiling sadly. "...No, I don't think that's a good idea, Issei-san. There was a reason that I didn't want to fall asleep yet after all."

Slowly, steadily, the nun tilted her head to the side to look at the other side of the room, focusing on the people there.

Issei followed her gaze, understanding in his eyes as he looked at the two people that flat-out ignored Rias' words to leave earlier.

On the other side of the room, sitting close to the unconscious fallen angel from earlier that day, was Mio and Koneko.

Between the two, one of them was stone-silent and the other was trying to coax the other to talk.

Considering what Issei and Asia knew about what happened inside the barrier that Diodora made, it was obvious which one was retreating inwards.

"...So you want to stay with her then? Alright, that's fine." Issei said eventually, standing up from his seat. "Just make sure that you don't leave the house, alright? As long as Naruto's...uh...'magic' I guess, works properly, then you'll be safe. Basically, just make sure to stay with everyone, alright?"

The nun turned back to the brown-haired boy, nodding her head up and down fiercely. "Y-Yes! Of course!"

The pawn smiled, and quickly shuffled away to stand next to Buchou, ready to go.

Meanwhile, Rias was staring at her two kohai with concern, knowing that Mio-chan went through...something while inside the barrier that she fought in.

But she also knew that she was completely unwilling to talk about what happened. To anyone.

Which meant that they had to back off until she was willing to talk, pushing her too hard wouldn't help her or anyone else.

"Koneko-chan." the high-class devil called out, the tone in her voice evident enough of what she wanted.

Koneko flinched, her demeanor almost guilty as she faced her king, wary of leaving the recalcitrant red-head like this.

Especially after she left her to face that rogue devil in the first place.

Not that she could do much now though, as she was staying stubbornly silent, so she had no choice but to answer Buchou's call.

With a heavy heart, the rook stood up and moved to stand beside her king as well, at attention.

Just like that, in what felt like a month, Rias' entire Peerage was present and accounted for.

She just hoped that it would stay that way.

"Alright, let's go everyone." Rias announced clearly, turning on the spot to leave the house.

Her Peerage followed suit, with Akeno moving right next to her, whispering to her in hushed tones. "Buchou...is it a smart idea to leave Mio-chan and Asia-chan alone here...?"

The red-head raised her arm to open the door, responding briskly. "The one who was responsible for our troubles is gone, there is no other reason for any of us to retain a battle-ready status. We have nothing more to worry about. Besides, if there's anymore stray devils around, then they wouldn't be able to find everyone in this house thanks to Naruto's powers."

But as she was opening the door, she paused in her response, slowly regarding her queen carefully. "...But you're not talking about the stray devils, are you?"

Akeno twitched, but didn't respond.

The Gremory heiress continued to regard her, keeping the door wide open for them to leave through, searching for words. "...Akeno, that fallen angel isn't a threat as far as I can see. You don't have to treat her like one."

The queen lowered her gaze, demure in behavior. "...Not yet."

Rias chose to ignore that, walking ahead to group up with Sona and her Peerage, trying to hope that this shaky unity wouldn't break apart at the drop of a hat.

But, it should be fine now, right?

The threat of Diodora was gone, there was nothing more to worry about.

Yet...she still felt a tension in the air, like there was...something else.

Once more, silently, she couldn't help but hope that a certain blond was getting home soon.

---

Mio heard someone speaking at the edge of her awareness, almost like it was a far off event that didn't really concern her.

A part of her felt like she should be paying attention, but she wasn't, and she wouldn't.

Mostly because she didn't care.

...Or at least, that's what she wanted to say.

She wanted to say 'I don't care', both to the noise, and to...that disgusting son of a...!

The red-head quickly felt the righteous anger that she was building up peter out, a bitter smile unknowingly spreading across her lips.

Because she knew.

She did care.

Whether she admitted it or not was irrelevant, because deep down, she knew it was true.

She cared about the haunting words that the former Astaroth heir left her, despite knowing damn well that he meant her ill.

She cared about whether the entire incident regarding that evil man was her fault.

...And mostly, she cared about what Naruto would say about what has happened.

Or, specifically, whether Diodora's last words to her could possibly ring more true than she cared to admit.

...No, it wasn't true.

In her head, she knew that it wasn't true. But still...in her heart...the knowledge still kept her in a state of inaction.

In short, the threat continued to hang over her head, like an axe that threatened to lodge itself in her skull if she wasn't careful.

And that ever-present threat just continued to worsen her mood the longer that she stewed over it, meaning that she was essentially brooding in the corner.

So Mio stayed like that, in the dark corner of the house, waiting for the noises to drift away from the edge of her awareness, seeking peace and quiet, at least for a little bit.

She waited, until any and all noise began to drift away, almost like a distant memory.

It took a little bit, but finally, after a few more heavy seconds of silence, she steadily opened her eyes to look at the ceiling. A sigh on the tip of her lips.

Instead of the ceiling however, all she saw were wide green irises.

Mio jolted backwards, not at all expecting to see that anyone was still in the house with her. "A-Asia-san?"

Asia offered the red-head a small smile. "Hello."

It took the daughter of Lucifer a bit to calm herself down at the surprising sight, a heavy scowl growing on her face as she regarded the nun that was 'intruding'. "...I thought that you left."

The human female tilted her head to the side, genuinely puzzled. "I'm sorry, did you want me to?"

A low grumble was her only response, as the half-devil forced herself off of the couch that she was leaning on to get a proper seat. Choosing the one that was right next to the one that was still occupied by a certain fallen angel.

"I just don't feel like talking to anyone, or hearing anything from anyone right now. That's all." she claimed as she plopped herself onto a chair, a tone of finality present as she spoke.

Asia shuffled after her, quietly taking a seat in a chair nearby, but making sure to keep some distance. "...Are you still troubled by what that...bad person said before?"

The red-head felt her arm spasm, trying not to think about what that monster said.

"Mio-san?" the innocent girl questioned quietly, leaning closer to her. "Are you...?"

Mio bit her lip, eyes downcast as she tried to find her inner balance, idly noting that her foot was incessantly tapping onto the floor. Her restless energy obvious.

In frustration, she raised her foot and then slammed it into the ground, hoping that the excess energy was spent.

It wasn't.

A snarl made her bare her teeth as she was just about ready to-

"Mio-san."

The red-head froze up, forgetting that there were others in the same room with her, as the soft voice of the nun reminded her.

Asia placed her hand onto the half-devil's arm, steadying her slightly, despite the fact that the she wanted nothing more than to snatch her arm away.

"...If you're feeling troubled, you can talk to me, if you want?" the human girl hesitantly offered, her emerald eyes shining in worry.

Mio didn't respond, all at once wishing to hug the girl and to get up and run away from her.

She chose the middle option.

"...Thanks, but I think that I'll just go and rest in my room for a little bit." the daughter of Lucifer responded stiffly, getting up to go and do just that, wanting that isolation for a bit to think.

She wasn't given the chance, as another hand latched onto her arm, stopping her short.

It wasn't Asia's.

"...You...? You're Naruse Mio, right...?"

Mio snapped her eyes backwards, recognizing the voice that was referring to her.

Her pink eyes met the bleary -but quickly sharpening- violet gaze of the once-unconscious fallen angel.

"...I'm not sure what has happened since I lost consciousness..." Raynare said, her gaze snapping around to take in her surroundings as best she could, frowning. "But there's something else that I've got to know first."

Her violet gaze focused back onto the red-head's pink, serious, despite still being a little sleepy.

"Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri...you know them, right? Or at least, a little bit?"

Mio nodded slowly, already figuring where the fallen angel was going with this.

So, predictably, she asked the inevitable.

"...Can you take me to them? I need to speak with them, urgently." Raynare requested, trying to be polite as she slowly moved to get out of the couch she was laying on.

The two teens that were facing the newly-conscious individual glanced at one another, a silent exchange passing between through the two.

Then Mio turned to the fallen angel again, swallowing her...thoughts so that they could be dealt with in an other time.

This had to be dealt with, since she was sure that the black-haired woman's request to meet with the two devils was important, if she remembered properly anyway.

So she'd deal with...whatever this was, later.

...

No. She wouldn't deal with it 'later'.

She'd deal with it once this was over.

She wouldn't push this off, not this.

And there was only way one way for her to resolve this, truly.

"...I'll take you to them." Mio allowed, trying to sound firm, yet not quite managing it. "But don't do anything harmful to them or anything, alright? I'm trusting you."

Raynare steadily got onto her feet, wobbling for a moment, until she regained her balance again. "Yeah...no worries. This is all legit."

"Good." the half-devil approved, looking past her to look through a window, seeing the low light of the night. "...Because I don't want to deal with anymore drama right now, not until I get to talk to Naruto again."

The fallen angel perked up at the mention of the blond's name, and looked like she wanted to try and send a query.

Until she quickly took a second to rethink on it.

In the end, she stopped herself short and just nodded briskly, filing away the question for later. "...Please then, lead the way."

---

Yuki focused ahead, more than a little aware of the critical eyes that were focused on her profile, studying her.

The hero ignored it though, continuing on her path to Kuoh Academy, her lips thinning as her mind continued to run.

She, very simply, wasn't entirely sure what she should do about the two cloaked women beside her.

Now, it wasn't like they were threatening or anything like that, but the teenaged girl still couldn't help but feel wary about their presence.

Ignoring the fact that she was beings stared at, there were also other warning signs that gave her pause.

For one; the way that both of the relatively unknown teenagers carried themselves told her that they were, at the very least, familiar with combat to some extent.

Worse, that they were properly trained to fight.

Something like that would be extraordinarily rare in a small and sleepy town, and their presence here during a time when things were likely about to blow up...didn't seem like an accident.

More than that...

Yuki chanced a glance to her right, seeing her small companion sweat lightly as she chanced a few looks at their new 'friends'.

Maria was nervous, for a reason that the hero couldn't really figure out.

A reason that the hero was keenly interested in finding out, as while her wariness felt warranted, the loli's nervousness felt like a bit too much.

Unless she knew something that she didn't.

And, as if the succubus heard her, she turned to look Yuki, her eyes wide with tension.

"...Yuki-san, those two...they're both carrying powerful weapons. I can feel it. So much so that my skin is practically tingling just by being next to them." Maria whispered to the hero, as she shot a quick glance at the two women that they were taking to Kuoh Academy.

The young human female raised an interested eyebrow, her wariness of the newcomers growing by the second. "What kind of weapons?"

The succubus spared one more look at the two teenaged girls, nervous. "...Holy weapons. Powerful ones at that."

Yuki's yellow eyes narrowed, her focus sliding towards the two human girls, unable to see the weapon that the woman known as Shidou Irina was carrying.

But she could see that her friend; Quarta Xenovia, was carrying...something.

The girl with blue hair had a wrapped up item that almost looked like a cross on her back, completely hidden from view, but patently obvious.

She was almost embarrassed that she didn't focus on it before.

...But if Maria-san was right, that these people were holding holy weapons, and they wanted to go to Kuoh Academy where the devils just so happened to go to...

Well, that was quite the coincidence, wasn't it?

"What should we do, Yuki-san?" Maria hissed, snapping her focus from her ally to the mysteriously armed figures. "If we keep going, then we'll take them to the the devils in Kuoh Academy...! And I don't think those holy weapons are just for show!"

The hero was well aware of that possibility, and she was already working on a makeshift plan, silently cursing the fact that she had a broken arm holding her back.

Not to mention an unconscious childhood friend on the strong succubus' back...

Obviously, she was patently regretting the decision to rest a little at the yokai faction leader's home for a little while longer before departing.

If they had left immediately after Naruto had left, then they would have avoided this messy situation, and not have to worry about taking care of an unconscious friend if a fight broke out.

As it was now, with their handicaps, they were in no shape to fight.

So that only really left one option.

The succubus beside her continued to stare at the human female as she fell silent, her eyelids shut as she thought about the issue a little more...

Until she finally made her move.

"...Hey."

The two cloaked figures that were walking parallel to them on the other side of the road perked their heads, then turned to listen to the one who addressed them.

Yuki looked at them, her eyes flat, and her voice having that tone which implied that she was stating a fun fact.

"...Do you two believe in devils?" she asked bluntly.

Maria tripped over herself and slammed into the floor, cursing under her breath as the duo close to them just did a double-take.

She completely forgot how terrible Yuki-san was in social settings...!

That was a terrible way to gauge them for questions!

Meanwhile, the girl with blue hair with that strange green fringe on her hair; Xenovia, stood straighter with a frown...

"N-No! Of course not! We don't believe in devils at all! I mean, who would!? It's not like we're here to meet up with devils or anything like that-!"

Her partner on the other hand, the one with the twin-tails and chestnut-colored hair; Irina, just began babbling rapidly, shaking her head wildly in shock.

Before she was cut off completely by her partner, who covered her mouth with the palm of her hand.

"...What my partner meant to say was; there are no such things as devils." Xenovia rectified, glaring at her irresponsible comrade through the side of her eye. "But...just out of curiosity mind you, why did you bring that topic up so suddenly?"

Yuki pursed her lips in response, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable, staying silent.

The succubus felt her eyebrow twitch, watching the exchange, waiting for a response from the usually intelligent girl.

Yet she stayed silent, for long moments, so long that it made the quiet itself seem like a gaping chasm.

And then it hit Maria, nearly making her trip once more despite just getting herself up again.

...She didn't think about a good reason for why she'd ask such a question out of the blue, did she?

And, after checking up on the silent hero, who was sweating slightly as she focused on the ground, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world for her, she could tell that she was right.

Then, as if struck by lightning, the young teenaged girl's eyes lit up, ostensibly because she found a well-reasoned and thought out excuse-

"I read about it in a book!" she declared, a triumphant shine in her eye.

Maria, currently, was now suffering the effects of second-hand embarrassment. Feeling the shame that Yuki should have been feeling for such an unbelievably awkward conversation.

The jig was up now...there was no way that that serious warrior named Xenovia would fall for-

"Ah, I see." Xenovia replied, nodding her head with understanding.

The succubus felt her jaw just drop.

She fell for it!?

Could it be that, despite her serious demeanor, that she was an idiot too!?

Yuki smiled, inclining her head at the the blue-haired warrior, before turning to her silver-haired comrade in order to report her findings.

But all she saw was a silverette that seemed listless, muttering about how she seemed to be 'surrounded by idiots' or that she just 'didn't get it'.

How strange.

Regardless, they at least knew that the two warriors didn't seem to come here for a fight, so they shouldn't be too worried about leading them to Kuoh Academy.

More than that, it turned out that, despite her less-than-stellar amount of friends that she has had throughout her life, that her social skills weren't as bad as she had thought.

She felt her chest puff out in a bit of pride, knowing that she could enter in a conversation with some skill if she truly wanted to.

So, in a good mood and with a listless succubus in tow, the group continued on their way to the only institution of learning in Kuoh Town.

---

The club room of the Occult Research Club definitely played with and used the popular imagination of a 'devil' in it's motif and atmosphere.

The low lighting thanks to the use of candles instead of the modern light bulbs.

The extravagant furniture.

The theme of red and the darker colors.

It was one that the devils that were in the Gremory group knew all too well.

For them, it wouldn't be a stretch to call it their 'home away from home'.

And that was a sentiment that Rias wholeheartedly agreed with.

The high-class devil smoothly stepped out of the transportation magic circle that the collection of devils used to quickly return back to her and her Peerage's area of operation. Taking ease in the fact that they were out of the public eye and in familiar territory again.

"You know, it feels like it's been ages since we've last been here." Rias voiced out, smiling as she looked at the area around her. "It's...nice."

Sona lightly tapped on her friend's shoulder, lightly telling her without words to focus, before moving to take a seat on a couch. "Alright, it's time."

The Gremory heiress inclined her head, raising the palm of her hand to create a magic circle to contact the Underworld.

Until she saw her fellow high-class devil raise her hand, stopping her.

"Let me do it." was all Sona said, eyeing the red-head's hand with a frown.

Blue-green eyes followed her gaze, seeing the bandages around her usually pristine hand, remembering why her hand was in such a condition.

"...Very well." Rias allowed, stepping back. "But make sure to call Maou Leviathan please."

Sona twitched at the mention of the title. "...Wouldn't it be more prudent to contact Maou Lucifer? He is acknowledged as the leader of the Yondai Maou after all."

Rias' eyes narrowed in response. "Well...perhaps the Maou Lucifer is quite busy, after all, he is considered to be the leader of the Yondai Maou. So I think it would be smarter to contact your onee-sama."

Both devils began to glare at one another, both silently hoping that they didn't have to be the one to contact their respective older siblings. Knowing full well that their overprotective siblings would just make a big fuss out of it.

So the two just stayed like that, locked in deadlock with one another, unwilling to back down.

Their respective Peerages just watched, silent, unwilling to jump into the disagreement, lest they face their respective king's wrath.

This would continue until Sona blew out some air in frustration, raising her hand to push her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "Rias...can't you let this slide for once? I really don't want to deal with my onee-sama right now. Besides, there's another reason that I want to contact the Underworld. And it's important."

Rias raised a brow, unimpressed. "Hoh? What exactly is this secondary reason?"

The Sitri heiress didn't answer, instead she tilted her head to look past the other pure-blood devil. "Tsubaki?"

As instructed, the Sitri group's queen took a step forward, at attention. "Kaichou."

Everyone focused their attention onto the girl with heterochromic eyes, the curiosity in the air heavy.

Seeing as she had received everybody's attention, she began to speak. "...Prior to when our king ordered us to assist you in your efforts to find your knight, we have been becoming increasingly...concerned, about what's been happening in the Underworld, Rias-sama."

Soft murmurs began to emanate from the two mixed Peerages, with worried and confused looks passed around, uncertainty rising.

Rias didn't humor those concerns, far more focused on what Sona's queen had to say. "...Concerns? About the Underworld?"

The bespectacled girl nodded, serious as always. "Yes, you see, the kaichou has always retained contact with the Underworld due to how close she was to the administration of this academy, and the fact that this institution is closely tied to the Gremory family. But recently, we've been..."

Tsubaki paused, sliding her gaze to her king, uncertain of how much she should say.

Sona just nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"...We've been having difficulties in contacting the higher ups that help us run this school, and overall. At first it was small, a few unanswered calls, but the trend has been getting more noticeable as of late." the teenaged girl continued where she left off, locking eyes with the king of the Gremory group.

Said leader looked quizzical rather than anything else. "Is that really grounds to be worried though? It sounds more like a possible failure in whoever is managing the magical communications between the human world and the Underworld."

"That's possible." Sona allowed, before she pinned Rias with a look. "But what about you? Have you heard anything from the Underworld in a while?"

The red-head nodded. "Yeah, it happened only when Akeno was here, but Grayfia contacted me about the fact that Diodora Astaroth was declared to be a criminal by the Underworld's government. It was quick and concise, but I didn't think anything of it back then."

Yes, it was a rather sudden call to the young seventeen-year old, but through that call, she received the information about the insane former Astaroth heir, which obviously warranted her full attention.

It wasn't a social call, it was a warning, so she didn't even think about how her sister-in-law was acting then.

She was always a serious woman anyway.

But now that she thought about it...

"Rias-sama, I have called to inform you about the recent decision regarding the now-former heir of the illustrious Astaroth Clan. Listen carefully, as I'll only say this once..."

The woman's words echoed across the Gremory heiress' head, her clipped tone obvious, as well as the tension in her voice.

"...Perhaps we should contact my onii-sama." Rias concluded quietly, turning to face the other high-class devil.

Sona agreed. "Yes, just to make sure."

And with both devils in agreement, Sona raised her hands to create a magic circle that was as big as her ear, using it as a medium to contact the Underworld.

---

Naruto was gritting his teeth together as he raced across the rooftops of the random town that he has entered, trying to remain inconspicuous as he steadily made his way back to Kuoh Town.

It was really, really, annoying to focus so much on how fast he was moving for an extended period, he could acknowledge that now.

The problem was that, if he ran as fast as he could, he could make quite a disturbance in the air by his speed alone.

And being so close to regular human settlements, he would obviously alert them to his presence.

Mind you, they wouldn't 'hear' him until after he's passed through, but they would definitely hear him afterwards.

They would hear the scream of someone viciously pushing against the air above their homes, and he really didn't want to give the common people so much trouble.

So, to be blunt, after destroying a rundown church, destroying several forests, and taking part in the freezing over of a piece of the Pacific Ocean, he kinda wanted to lay low for a little bit.

That didn't mean that he wasn't rushing home, just that he was trying to not make a fuss about getting back.

Besides, it wouldn't be much longer until he made it back.

It took him a bit to find a map though, because he actually forgot which direction was Kuoh Town again, but he managed to find one in the airport thankfully.

Now he was almost at the halfway point, watching the civilization of humanity give way to the wilderness as he made it to his designated 'halfway' point.

Blue eyes glanced ahead, a smirk stretching his lips as he saw the series of mountains ahead, glad to see nature's behemoths made of rock and gravel.

If he remembered the map that he got properly, they were called the Akaishi Mountains, or something like that.

Quite the mountain range, really.

But he wasn't here to sight-see, he was here to take a shortcut.

And that shortcut was through those mountains.

Honestly though, despite the fact that he would be back to Kuoh Town in a short little bit, he still felt the need to rush a little, for whatever reason.

It was instinctual, a feeling in the back of his mind that he should get back, on the double.

He wasn't too sure why he felt that way though, it wasn't like he was getting back to rush to some kind of battle or anything like that.

He knew the score; a rogue member of the fallen angel's 'government'; Grigori, was last suspected to be located in Kuoh Town. As well as the stolen fragments of some kind of legendary sword called...

...Uh, he forgot what they were called, but he was sure that they were important.

Regardless, he was sure that everyone was alright, as long as they stuck together and fought as a group.

He had nothing to worry about.

Yet his legs continued to move as fast as he could reasonably move without drawing attention to himself, moving a little faster now that he was traveling in a sparsely populated area.

They were fine.

So he told himself at least.

---

In a dark place, where the laws of physics and reason were thrown out of the window, the golden slits of a powerful young senjutsu-user were glazed over.

The young woman in question was focusing heavily on the energy signal of a certain blond, using her enhanced sensing abilities to keep him in her radar, looking for an opportunity to jump.

"...Are you done yet?" a certain impossibly powerful being asked her, her impatience obvious despite her lackluster tone of voice.

Though it definitely was far more appropriate to call her an 'it' rather than a 'she'.

Kuroka didn't respond, spreading her awareness away from the fast-moving blond to the area around him.

...

Her gaze flashed back into focus, lighting up in glee.

"It's perfect." she purred, her lips twitching upwards. "He's moving to an area where there's barely any humans milling around."

With that statement uttered, she opened the palm of her hand, focusing her senjutsu energy onto the palm of her hand.

Without much effort, she created a small ring of energy, one that opened a portal that cut through the space of the 'gap' in order to get to the human world.

The second that this portal appeared, the second most powerful being in existence floated towards it, focused on her goal, and nothing else. Not even bothering to thank the pouting woman.

But still, the woman with two tails sticking out of her lower back looked excited, eager to see what the mysterious blond that caught the attention of the Ouroboros Dragon could do.

---

Naruto was blitzing through the wilderness, instinctively knowing how to avoid all of the myriad annoyances that sometimes infuriated normal people when they passed through the wild.

It was a good thing too, since he didn't have to focus on how to keep moving.

Rather, because of this, he was able to think about other things while he steadily closed the gap between himself and Kuoh Town.

Specifically, he was able to focus on what he should do once he actually reunited with everyone else, seeing as he probably only had so much time to prepare for the one known as 'Kokabiel'.

Well, at least everyone didn't have to deal with the drama that a church agent could have brought to the table.

Still, they had to be prepared, at least mentally.

Blue eyes narrowed, not at all seeing the speeding wildlife that was passing him by as his focus remained on the distant future.

He figured that he could technically just tell everyone what was going on, and then deal with what was gonna happen himself afterwards. It wasn't like he had to drag others into this or anything.

After all, a fallen angel with five pairs of wings wasn't something to sniff at, especially one that actually had experience with that kind of power.

...He probably had to prep some kind of strategy, since using senjutsu or the kyuubi's chakra against this ancient man was out of the question...

Looks like he'd just go with old-fashioned trickery and misdirection then!

Besides that, after this whole mess was over with, he wanted to immediately restart his training on his knowledge of fuinjutsu.

It's become important now, very important.

Naruto suddenly stopped his movement forward without warning, hopping from a stray rock that was jutting out and landing on the flat ground.

He stopped so that he could slowly move his hand to his pouch, being as delicate as he could so that he wouldn't damage his work, frail as it was.

The hand slipped into his old ninja pouch which he had kept since that incident in the train that was supposed to take him to Kyoto, keeping all of his ninja tools on hand, despite their dwindling amount.

And from there, he pulled a slip of paper out in order to inspect it, feeling a slight twinge of nostalgia just by looking at it.

It was relatively small, and had the kanji for 'suppress' right at the center of it.

It was a seal that was meant to seal chakra.

More specifically, it was a copy of the seal that his master had made so that the kyuubi's chakra could be sealed away if he ever went berserk.

"...To think that I'd ever need this thing again..." Naruto couldn't help but murmur softly, a bitter smile making it's way to his face, as it felt like history was repeating itself for him.

Though it didn't change the fact that he felt some comfort in having the slip of paper.

...That being said, it was a prototype, and it could, at best, seal a portion of the kyuubi's chakra away. Absolutely nothing in comparison to ero-sennin's creation.

Roughly, he'd say that it could seal a single tail, and that was kinda optimistic.

That would normally be enough but...well, he wanted to make absolutely sure that this seal would be enough to stop him if he ever lost control.

Naruto's grip on the flimsy piece of paper tightened, his eyes narrowing into slits, feeling sick that he could actually hurt someone he cared about if he wasn't careful.

"...This is for you guys." the blond promised, raising the seal to the descending moon. "For all of you."

He wouldn't fail them.

And with that, the shinobi carefully slipped the piece of paper into his pouch again, lowering himself to restart his sprint.

Until something caught his attention

Naruto suddenly locked up, feeling his body naturally react to what it perceived to be a threat, his instincts taking over before his head could truly grasp the situation.

The shinobi jumped into the air, backing up as someone appeared in front of him, cutting him off from his trek back home.

At first, it just a ripple in the air in front of him, barely visible, but still there.

But then that ripple opened into some kind of portal, one that made his eyes widen to the size of saucers.

It looked just like-!

"...Found you."

A monotone voice echoed in the rocky area that he has stopped at, coming from the small figure that was -without a doubt- making his sense of danger go haywire.

To be specific, it originated from a small girl, with soulless eyes, which just so happened to be trained on him, and nothing else.

Naruto licked his dry lips, keeping his legs bent in order to accommodate for quick action lest this get ugly. "So...nice portal ya got there."

Damn, that was a stupid way to start a conversation, even for him.

And it seemed that the little girl agreed with him, since she completely ignored that forced greeting.

Instead, she just voiced out what her intent was.

"...Naruto..." the small girl started, her voice droning. "I've come to take you."

It wasn't a query.

It wasn't a suggestion.

Rather, it was framed as a matter of fact.

Needless to say, Naruto didn't like that one bit.

But there was something more important to him at the moment, something that had almost all of his attention.

"...Were you the one who made that portal?" the blond asked quietly, forcing himself to stare down the being that was making his trustworthy instincts go all over the place.

The little girl opened her mouth to respond.

But someone else beat her to it.

"No~ It wasn't her at all, nya~"

Naruto jerked his head towards the sky, his eyes widening fractionally as he saw a woman sitting down in the air.

Rather, she was sitting down on a magic circle that was being used as a floor, which in turn, just so happened to be suspended in the middle of the sky.

That woman's golden slits was focused on him, a sly smile on her face as she waved at him, fishing for his attention.

The shinobi's eyes narrowed, focusing on the woman's eyes, despite how high in the sky she was. "...I feel like I've seen you before."

The woman in the sky lazily laid herself down on her magical construct, looking down at him with an enigmatic smile. "We have. I'm hurt that you don't remember me, does the name 'Kuroka' not ring a bell to you? That's just cruel nya~"

Naruto stared at the woman in the sky, trying to think on it, before snapping his gaze back at the quiet little girl, making sure that she wasn't making any sudden movements.

She wasn't, if anything, she seemed content enough to wait a little bit longer.

So he used that chance to continue to question the girl in the sky.

"I don't remember if we met or not. Sorry." Naruto began honestly, his voice a little loud so that she could hear him properly, looking up again. "But if we have, do you mind answering a question for me?"

Kuroka tilted her head, pouting. "Hm? You want me to answer questions after you don't even remember meeting me? My, my, you're gonna break my heart at this rate."

"I'm sorry." the shinobi retorted, almost single-mindedly gunning for an answer despite his apology. "But please, this is important."

The woman in the sky continued to look down at him, humming quietly in consideration. "Well...since you were so insistent..."

Naruto didn't even wait for her to finish her sentence. "Can you travel between dimensions?"

The words that emerged from his mouth, despite how mundane they sounded, carried significant weight and emotion within them.

They carried that weight for a specific reason.

Because that ripple that carried the two unknown people to his location, the one that the woman with golden slits created...

It looked eerily like the one that dragged him into this world to begin with.

It wasn't the same now that he had a chance to calm himself down, rather, the one that pulled him in was far more unstable than the one that this woman seemed to be able to create.

But despite the differences, it didn't change the fact that it was something, as well as a new lead to getting back home.

So it was obvious that he wanted to know whether her powers allowed her to travel between dimensions.

And at first, Kuroka, despite being surprised at the intensity that his words carried, seemed to be willing to answer.

But that ended as soon as it began.

"...I've waited long enough."

Naruto's eyes snapped back to the little girl, his instincts screaming for him to-

Several blurs quickly shot past him, spinning around him to wrap him up without warning, seeking to lock his movements into place.

The blond didn't even try and fight it, instead choosing to jump over whatever was trying to capture him, not at all bothering with holding back.

As soon as he escaped from that however, more blurs shot after him, racing to catch him in the air.

Seeing this, the shinobi acted fast, digging his hand into his pouch of tools in order to grab a kunai and a slip of paper.

With practiced ease, he wrapped the slip of paper around the metallic weapon and then swiftly threw it at the attacks that were aimed at him, prepping himself for the inevitable explosion.

And as soon as the kunai reached those blurs...

*BOOM*

It did.

The explosion quickly pushed him back and ostensibly destroyed the attacks that were aimed at him, giving him time to touch the ground again, safe and sound.

Safe and sound, but still wary.

As well as a little frustrated, as he was cut off from hearing what Kuroka had to say about her abilities.

More than that, he was running out of ninja tools by this point, it wasn't a good idea to blow up kunai anymore.

And lastly, he did not have the time to be fighting here.

As the blond continued to stew over his predicament, a certain little girl came floating towards him from the area that he had just left, her dress rustling softly in the light breeze.

More importantly than that though, were the long and thin appendages that were poking from out of her sleeves, dark in color and making a constant hissing sound that reminded Naruto of...

The shinobi straightened his back. "Snakes."

"Ohhh~ It looks like Ophis-sama has lost her patience~" a voice from above him noted with excitement.

The whiskered teen didn't even have to look up to know that Kuroka had followed him, watching from above with the excitement of a child watching their first wrestling match.

He was far too focused on the being that was slowly drifting towards him.

"...Naruto..." the one known as Ophis said out loud, as if testing the name, just to be sure. "...You're coming with me."

Sapphire irises were burning bright as their owner thinned his lips, considering. "Now...why would you want me to do that?"

Ophis ceased her seemingly inevitable movement forward, her face retaining it's blank features. "...I want you to help me...to destroy Great Red."

At first, Naruto was stunned into silence at the girl's request, remembering just what 'Great Red' was. "...And what makes you think that you're strong enough to try?"

As soon as he posited the question to the strange and somewhat threatening little girl, he immediately regretted it.

Because she answered with a smile.

Except, it wasn't, not really.

It was a facsimile of one, nearly identical for all intents and purposes.

Yet...it was also hollow.

Meaningless.

"Because I am the strongest...next to Great Red." she claimed with conviction, her blank eyes keeping him as the focal point of her regard.

The shinobi breathed, a vivid memory flashing before his eyes.

Of when he first officially met Rias, when she told him all about the supernatural world after declining her offer to become a devil.

One of the things that she mentioned to him, was the rankings of the most powerful beings in known existence.

Great Red was number one.

And number two was...

"The Ouroboros Dragon..." the shinobi muttered hesitantly, his tone indicating that it was a question as much as it was a statement.

"You got it nya~"

So said a helpful, yet annoying, woman in the sky.

Naruto clenched his fist, glaring at the little girl that made such a bold assertion, unsure whether she was what she was what she claimed to be.

But he did know one thing at least.

He didn't have the time to mess around.

So, with that belief firmly entrenched in his mind, he moved.

Without even hinting at what he was about to do, the shinobi suddenly jumped high into the air, away from Ophis and towards Kuroka.

His blue eyes registered Kuroka's surprise at this movement, getting up from her lackadaisical position just in case he was about to attack.

But, unbeknownst to her, he was building up wind chakra onto the soles of his feet.

Which was why she was caught off-guard when he suddenly stopped in the middle of the air and jumped sideways, rocketing away from both of his unwelcome 'friends'.

Getting away from the two of them, continuing on his original trajectory.

Kuroka narrowed her eyes when she realized this, quickly getting up to try and cut him off before he left the mountainous area.

But she didn't need to, as her 'leader' was way ahead of her.

Through Naruto's eyes, he was well on his way past his obstacles, fuming at the missed opportunity to get more info about dimensional travel.

That assumption turned out to be untrue however.

One second, to him, the area around him was normal.

The next, the sky turned into a dark shade of purple, with his body feeling like someone had just replaced him with a log in a kawarimi no jutsu.

That is to say, that he was moved, suddenly and inexplicably.

A barrier...!

"Shit!" Naruto cursed as he was forced to stop himself in the air, and jump down to the ground, knowing that he was caught.

There was no choice left to him, except to fight.

"...You're not getting away." Ophis' voice echoed to him, speaking to him despite the distance he had created between the two. "...Not until you stand by my side..."

Her statement didn't just seem to echo, it also felt like the very words themselves were alive with intent, moving to envelop him, trying to wrap around him and capture him with the dark promise that they held in their very depths.

Without even thinking about it, a defiant glint entered the shinobi's eye. "...So what will happen if I say; no thank you?"

The words that were uttered were more clear than before, since the being that was considered to be the second strongest had emerged from the darkness and faced him once more.

And there was no mistaking what was filled in those words this time.

"...I'm not asking." was all she said, as snakes made of dark energy emerged from her sleeves, prepping to attack.

Naruto sighed as got into a fighting stance, idly wondering why this shit only happened to him.

---

"So, what exactly are you going tell Rias-sempai anyway? Like, how are you going to broach the subject?"

Raynare turned her head just enough to look at Mio through the side of her eye. "Nothing complicated, I'm just going to tell her that Azazel-sama isn't involved in Kokabiel's...delusions."

The red-head that was helping her limp along frowned. "Kokabiel? I feel like I've heard that name before..."

"I think I have too." Asia piped up, her green eyes lighting up at the familiar name. "During my religious studies!"

"Well, you would." the fallen angel retorted, firmly keeping her gaze ahead. "He was an important angel...prior to his fall anyway, though not many people are aware of how or when he 'fell'. Let alone any of his past."

Raynare paused in her explanation, slowly turning to look at Asia, who was walking beside her.

It took a few seconds for her to register who exactly she was walking besides.

"...It's you." she breathed, her violet eyes widening.

A sad smile stretched across Asia's lips. "Yes...it's me. It's been a while."

Mio shifted her attention between the two, confused by this strange and sudden reaction. "Hm? Do you two know each other?"

The tired woman turned away from the human female, a grim expression replacing her shock. "...You can say that. I suppose that you could say that...I tried to kill her."

Now that made the red-head do a double-take. "Uhhhhhh...?"

"Long story."

Mio accepted that without comment.

Asia shifted uncomfortably at the memory that this talk was eliciting, trying not to flinch. "Ah...well, to be honest, it feels weird that I'm walking alongside you right now. And...well, I'm also a little scared too. But, I heard that you had a change of heart since then, right?"

Raynare didn't turn to look at her. "And where did you hear that exactly?"

Although she couldn't see the nun's expression, she could still practically hear the cheerful smile through her tone of voice.

"From Naruto-san!" she chirped. "He mentioned it in passing I think, but he said that you were gonna be involved in something important to you...I think."

Mio was watching the exchange between the two females closely, trying to work out more of what has happened between them.

So she was clearly able to see the fallen angel's expression, which was firm and defensive, immediately soften up as soon as she heard what the teenaged blond had to say.

"...Naruto...huh?" she heard her mumble under her breathe, as if the name itself held power and influence beyond it's conventional use as an identifier.

Mio didn't particularly feel like letting this conversation continue though, so she neatly decided to cut in from there. "Hey, you never finished explaining who Kokabiel was, remember?"

Raynare jerked, knocked from her thoughts. "R-Right."

The young woman cleared her throat loudly, getting back onto the original topic. "Well, I don't know much, and hopefully, you won't have to learn more about him either. But from what I do know, is that he's a man that truly embodies the word; 'arrogance'."

The red-head's eyes crinkled up at the vague answer. "Is that all you know?"

Raynare didn't answer immediately, remaining silent for a bit to actually think about the topic at hand.

She wasn't lying when she claimed that that was all she really knew about Kokabiel, as the man was already far removed from the public's eye by the time she was taken under Azazel-sama's wing.

...However, she did have a few...suspicions about the powerful man.

Regardless, her hunch was something that she definitely wasn't going to share with the teenagers beside her, due to the fact that it utilized sensitive information.

"...Yeah, that's pretty much all I know." Raynare finally answered, solemn. "Sorry. But, then again, maybe that's for the best."

Mio regarded her for a little bit, her pink irises trying to figure out whether the other woman was telling the truth. "...I see, well, I also hope that we don't have to learn more about the guy."

The red-head turned away from the fallen angel in order to look ahead, her lips set in a firm line. "Then again, we're almost at Kuoh Academy anyway. So we wouldn't have had much time to hear about much else."

The fallen angel followed the teen's gaze, seeing the sprawling buildings that made up the prestigious academy of Kuoh Town as she slowly separated from her, able to walk on her own now.

"Come on, we just gotta enter the gate, then we should be almost there." Mio urged, swiftly moving her legs a little faster now that they were in the home stretch.

Both of her companions followed, essentially jogging now, quickly getting past the gates in order to reach their destination.

The ORC club room.

Though, as they approached the seemingly abandoned building, a quiet tension began to take hold of the small group as they approached, all three of them aware that the conversation that was about to happen could get...messy.

Everyone was still recovering from the fights that they were forced to endure mere hours ago, so the prospect of a fallen angel going into the devil's base of operations, by itself, could spark outrage.

But whatever the black-haired woman had to say was definitely important, at least that's what Mio believed.

So she went ahead and stood in front of the door to Rias-sempai's base, firm in her resolve.

"Ready?" she made sure to ask the fallen woman beside her, giving her one last chance to back up from this idea.

"...As I'll ever be, I suppose." Raynare retorted with an air of acceptance, taking a step forward to open the door.

"Wait."

Raynare's hand froze mere inches away from the doorknob, stopped mid-action by her surprise rather than her respect of the request that was levied at her.

Asia quickly walked up to the fallen angel after speaking up, lightly tapping on her arm as soon as she got close. "...Can I ask you for a favor?"

Violet eyes flickered to her, a quizzical quality in their depths.

Seeing this, the human female continued. "...Look, I'm not really sure if you mean us well or not, but many things have happened since you were unconscious. So...if you really have to do this...can you please try and be as courteous as possible? I don't want anyone to deal with anymore drama today."

A small frown marred the fallen angel's features, her focus snapping from the nun to the red-head next to her, realizing something.

Both of the teens close to her seemed tired.

Whether it be mental or physical, they only just seemed to be recovering from...something.

More than that, it was obvious that Naruto's imouto had taken her in after she fell unconscious, as that was the only explanation for why she woke up in her home to begin with.

Add to that that the one making this request; Asia, was nearly killed by her around roughly a month ago, and her choice became crystal clear.

"...Got it." Raynare agreed readily, turning to the door and prepping herself for the inevitable devil blow-back. "Now let's get this over with."

---

All of the devils in the room stared at Sona, who's scowl managed to give everyone the impression that she was not happy.

She was holding a small magic circle near her ear in order to communicate to the Underworld, but she obviously failed if her expression was anything to go by.

"...So we can't reach the Underworld then?" Akeno asked the obvious, just to be sure.

"It seems so." Rias affirmed lowly, sober. "But what does it mean exactly?"

"Nothing good, I can assure you." Sona responded, shutting down the demonic-made communication medium. "But...Rias was correct in believing that we shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly."

Although the Sitri heiress indirectly cautioned everyone to not reach the worst possible assumptions about what was going on, their thoughts still swirled in their heads regardless.

"...After we get some rest, enough to fully recuperate, we should go to the Underworld to check on what's going on. Just to be sure." Rias concluded firmly, her blue-green eyes narrowed.

"I believe that that's the best course of action as well." Sona concurred sliding her gaze across the room to glance at everyone in the room. "And I think that everyone else here is in agreement."

Even as she was speaking, the many devils that comprised of the Sitri and Gremory groups were conversing quietly amongst themselves, worried about what was going on in the home of the devils as well.

Though, there was one that was staying extraordinarily quiet, despite the commotion.

Kiba Yuuto was doing nothing more than following the crowd, mindlessly allowing himself to be carried along with everyone and everything else, including his king's desire to go to the Underworld.

He didn't have any objections to it, not really, but he didn't necessarily want to go either.

Truth be told, the young man simply felt numb.

A part of him was worried for what was happening in the Underworld, yes, but that emotion was entirely trumped by his complete loss of direction.

The blond man was stuck in limbo to put it simply, torn between returning to what he was before he chose to listen to the treacherous words of Diodora, and his need to pursue justice.

So the young man stayed silent, absent-mindedly seeing Issei next to him alternate between sighing at the concept of more to deal with, and impatience.

Yuuto suspected that a certain nun had something to do with the perverted boy's restlessness.

Meanwhile, Akeno was dutifully staying near Rias, paying close attention to the proceedings, even if she looked kind of distracted occasionally.

And Koneko, for her part, seemingly decided to permanently keep her lips twisting downwards to express her displeasure at the current state of affairs.

Not like he could blame her though.

As soon as he noticed that, through the side of his eye, he managed to see his king turn towards him, determination lining her features.

The knight felt himself straighten in response, having a hunch of what was about to happen.

She was going to try and talk to him again, broaching the subject that was left since their talk in Naruto's home.

Though that was what he thought was going to happen, his suspicions were never confirmed, as right at that moment-

"Buchou, someone is here." Akeno stated seriously, speaking up so that everyone in the room could hear her, alerting them.

Rias was forced to cut her planned talk with Yuuto short as she registered what her queen had just said, clicking her tongue, not missing the relieved expression that overtook the blond's face.

He obviously wasn't looking forward to such a talk.

Newly annoyed, the Gremory heiress snapped her eyes to the entrance of the club room in order to meet this rude intruder.

Literally a second before the intruder appeared, she noticed that there was definitely more than one 'guest' that was coming in.

More than that, at least one of them was familiar to her.

And, indeed, the one that emerged from the doorway to enter the room that they were all occupied in was none other than the kohai that she left to rest.

"M-Mio-chan?" Rias questioned dumbly, so surprised that she had to say it out loud just to fully grasp that she was here.

In her defense, the last time that she saw her, she was completely withdrawn from...well...everything.

So it was a little jarring to see her up and about so quickly after that.

"...Rias-sempai." Mio spoke up in greeting, her tone indecipherable.

The Gremory heiress frowned, unsure of how to take the younger girl's appearance, but that concern was very soon forgotten.

Because right after fifteen-year old girl, another woman made herself known, coming into view.

That woman's violet eyes shifted across the room, wary, despite the fact that her body continued to move past the half-devil without missing a beat. "...I believe introductions are in order."

"...No, introductions won't be necessary." Sona disagreed slowly, newly cautious herself. "I believe that Mio-san has told us a little bit about you already...Raynare-san."

Raynare's lips thinned, freshly aware that she had the full attention of every devil in the room, already seeing many of them prepare themselves for a fight.

But there were two among them that stood out to her.

The first was the black-haired woman next to the Gremory heiress, the one with the orange ribbon, who was all but flaying her with her eyes.

Truly, if she wasn't so positive that she had never met her before, Raynare might have thought that she killed someone close to the devil.

Besides that woman though, there was another that caught her eye.

But this devil was definitely one that she had no desire to see.

"...You..." the fallen angel growled, the look that she was sending the handsome blond teen so venomous that it probably could have killed a lesser man.

Although, Yuuto was still affected by it, if his body going rigid and his stammering was any indication. "A-Ah..."

Raynare only felt her brows crease slightly at the weak response, wondering where the aggressive man that attacked her the last time they met went.

His overall attitude seemed far more conciliatory in comparison to when she first met the possibly deranged teen, and she wasn't entirely sure how to take it.

Did something happen since they last met...?

"Raynare-san." a soft voice suddenly piped up, chiding in tone. "You promised, remember?"

The fallen angel twitched, blowing out some air in frustration, but quickly turned away from the knight in order to properly center herself.

And the one that lightly chastised her was-

"Asia!" Issei called out, getting out of the Peerage's formation so that he could rush in to meet her after she moved past both Raynare and Mio, giving the fallen angel a wary glare in the process. "Why are you with-!?"

Asia was practically scooped off of her feet, making an 'eep' as she left the ground. "I-I-Issei-san! It's ok! I'm fine! And Raynare-san is..."

"Raynare-san isn't our enemy." Mio intervened without prompting, guessing that the brown-haired boy was mostly worried about the fact that the woman who had nearly gotten the nun killed was standing right next to her. "She's not here to fight."

Issei chanced a look at her, uncertain, but quietly acquiesced to her assertion.

For now at least.

As for the fallen angel, she was currently taking a few moments to properly parse through her thoughts and keep her head cool, for what would obviously be an...'interesting' discussion.

Once she felt she was ready, her violet eyes were revealed as she opened her eyelids, focusing her attention on the two heiresses of two of the most prestigious devil clans.

"Greetings, Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, I am a representative of the illustrious leader of Grigori; Azazel-sama." Raynare began, keeping to what she knew as 'respectable behavior', despite the fact that it was almost completely foreign to her. "I'm here to inform you about a certain incident that Azazel-sama has recently become aware of, and to ensure that no...misunderstandings arise from it."

Rias, falling back on her education about just such situations, inclined her head and got serious. "It's a pleasure, representative of Azazel."

That was as far as she went however, as Sona lightly tapped her friend on the shoulder, almost like she was 'tapping her out' in order to take her place. "It truly is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Raynare-san. However, I was not aware of any such...'incident', as you put it, that could give us cause to misunderstand anything. Could you please enlighten us about the situation?"

The Gremory heiress next to her scowled at being sidelined, but understood why she took charge.

Between the two, Sona was undoubtedly the better diplomat.

That, and she supposed that the wounds on her hands could make her more irritable in the long run in these kinds of talks. These things were delicate.

...It didn't stop her from scowling though.

Raynare wasn't paying attention to that though, keeping herself focused on her limited objective. "Yes, of course. You see, Azazel-sama has discovered that one of his old comrades; Kokabiel, has been involved in some unsavory things in the past month or so. And one of those things just so happen to involve a recent...theft in the Church."

Sona narrowed her eyes, straightening her back. "Explain, please."

The fallen angel acceded to the devil's request, even if she was a little annoyed by the way she presented her demand. "...Right. Now, what I'm about to tell you will likely shock some of you, but I swear that this information is factual. But first; is everyone here aware of what Excalibur is?"

As soon as the young woman made mention of the legendary sword, she received quite the variety of different reactions by her listeners.

The kings and queens in the room obviously knew what the Excalibur was, since their eyes widened to the size of saucers.

But almost everyone else, with a few exceptions, was bewildered. Both; by the change in topic and the topic matter itself.

Specifically, Yuuto made an audible gasp at the mention of the powerful weapon, but quickly shut himself up before anyone really took notice. Not wanting to draw attention to himself.

Regardless, Raynare continued after concluding that some people there were lost. "Those of you who don't know anything about Excalibur; don't worry. You just need to know that the blade that was said to have been used by the legendary hero; King Arthur, is now possessed by the modern day Church. More than that, know that the original Excalibur has been recreated into seven different swords after it was shattered in battle long ago. And now...know that Azazel-sama suspects that Kokabiel is responsible for stealing several of those swords for an unknown reason."

The entire room fell into deathly stillness, the gravity of the situation just hitting home after several of the devils pieced together what this actually entailed.

"...So basically, the Excalibur blades, which are powerful tools that the Church had kept for, presumably, a few hundred years, were stolen by one of the leading members of Grigori." Sona practically drawled, voicing out the obvious conclusions that most would make about the situation. "It does sound like a misunderstanding waiting to happen, I suppose."

It was by that point that the fallen woman was beginning to lose her patience. "Look, I get it, you don't trust my people, it's understandable if you consider how long our two groups have been at war with one another. But I'm being straight with you lot here! Kokabiel is acting out on his own volition, seeking to spark a new clash between the three Christian factions. Azazel-sama has not authorized his actions or encouraged them in any shape or form. Besides, Azazel-sama has no interest in war..."

From there, the representative of Azazel paused, a flash of frustration lining the crinkles around her eyes as she squinted, looking at the Sitri heiress dead in the eye.

"And...neither do I." the fallen angel admitted after a few more tense moments.

Sona didn't reply, remaining mute as she listened to the words that the 'ambassador' gave her.

Everyone else was quiet too, surprised to hear what amounted to an admission of her stance on the situation. Something that definitely wasn't what a real diplomat would do.

It was genuine.

Although Sona was remaining silent, likely to consider whether Raynare was being honest or not, Rias took a step forward, sure now that-

"Why should we believe you?"

The fallen angel snapped her gaze to the black-haired girl with the orange ribbon, the one that stayed right next to the red-head, and the one that was giving her that glare before.

By the look that she was receiving, she could only reach one conclusion to explain why the devil was acting the way she was.

"You..." Raynare began, a bitter smile making it's way onto her lips. "...Really don't like me, do you?"

Akeno, raised her chin, completely in opposition to the other woman. "You're right. I don't."

Both black-haired women began to openly glare at one another, with the reincarnated devil remaining hostile, yet cold, and the fallen angel growing more and more angry the longer that their clash dragged on.

"What's your problem exactly?" the fallen angel hissed, her demeanor losing any semblance of cool serenity. "You act as if I've personally done something to you, but I'm positive that I've never met you before-"

Violet eyes blinked, the young woman that was about to proceed with a verbal beat down went inexplicably silent as she studied the other woman's eyes.

Instead of the righteous anger, now there was uncertain recognition in her own violet-colored irises.

"...Have we met, actually?" Raynare asked hesitantly, careful. "At first I thought I didn't, but...I feel like I've seen your eyes somewhere before..."

If anything, Akeno's expression just darkened further.

At first, everyone around them was rooted to the floor, surprised to see the usually amicable queen of the Gremory group act so aggressively to someone she had just initially met.

Almost everyone.

Rias and Sona weren't exactly surprised, but they did severely underestimate her response.

And by that point, Rias saw fit to intervene, walking forward in order to place her hand on her old friend's shoulder. "Akeno."

If the reincarnated devil was going to continue to antagonize the ambassador of Grigori's leader, then she was unable to do so anymore.

Akeno couldn't, not after seeing the bandaged hand that her king used to place on her shoulder, reminding her that everyone there had just come out from a hard won fight.

"...Apologies, Buchou." she muttered quietly, only for her ears.

Roughly at the same time, Mio walked up and patted Raynare on the back, her voice low as she spoke. "Raynare-san...your mission."

The fallen angel grounded her teeth together, barely holding her fiery temper at bay.

But she managed it eventually, taking a deep breathe before she returned to her original goal in this discussion. "...Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri."

Both high-class devils perked up at hearing their names called.

Raynare continued unabated. "I've informed you both about the circumstances behind my visit, now it's up to you two; do you accept that Azazel-sama wishes to disavow Kokabiel and the actions that he has taken?"

Rias and Sona shared a look with one another, discussing with one another without words whether they should accept the fallen's words as fact.

They stayed like that for a little bit longer, before Rias turned to back to Raynare and addressed her.

"...Very well!" the red-head declared, the authority in her voice brooking no discussion. "In consideration of the fact that you've spent time alone with Mio-chan and Asia-chan without harming them, as well as my kohai's faith in your trustworthiness...we'll believe you."

Immediately, the tension in Raynare's shoulders dissipated after hearing that, her eyes softening. "I-I see...thank you for the trust that you've given me."

Behind her, Mio allowed herself to heave a sigh of relief, in a slightly better mood now that the fallen angel didn't unintentionally start a fight.

...That being said, while almost everyone there was, at the very least, somewhat glad that they didn't have to fight again, there were some that were...less than enthused.

Akeno for one, seemed to be doing her utmost best to avoid looking at the fallen angel for any stretch of time, whether out of anger or a wish to not cause anymore problems, the half-devil wasn't sure.

But, to be honest, while the teenager's actions was...off-putting, it paled in comparison to how Kiba Yuuto was reacting.

The blond teenager was staring at the ground, his grey eyes going through so many emotions so quickly that it was impossible to dissect them individually.

Throughout the entire discussion, the young man has stayed completely silent, so much so that he had pretty much become indistinguishable from the rest of the group.

But, after taking a quick scan around, Mio knew damn well that he was probably reacting the most negatively out of everyone there.

How'd she figure that?

Well, that was because his borderline apathetic front was one that the red-head herself used while she recovered back at home. Before Raynare-san woke up.

To be blunt, Yuuto has been acting strangely ever since Naruto left, and if Rias-sempai was hoping that her knight was going to calm down after he rejoined them, then she seemed to be sorely mistaken.

As if to illustrate her point, the young man that she was focusing on took a step forward amid the relieved atmosphere. Grabbing everyone's attention by breaking 'formation' so to speak. "...Buchou, may I request a temporary leave of absence?"

Rias' eyes widened at the sudden request, shocked, yet not, if that made sense.

Issei, who was focused more on making sure that the fallen angel didn't try anything funny, felt his jaw unhinge as he whirled around on the knight. "What!?"

Yuuto couldn't look at anyone in the eye as he continued, knowing that everyone in the room was giving him different variations of their own disbelief. "...I'm sorry, but I think that I need some fresh air. As I am now, I'll only continue to be a bother to everyone here...so maybe getting a chance to relax will help a little bit."

He looked up, managing to catch his king's eye, surprisingly vulnerable. "Please..."

The Gremory heiress faced her wayward Peerage member, her countenance void of any emotion, her thoughts hidden behind that veneer of calm.

But if anyone actually looked at her pools of blue-green, they would have seen the disturbed ripples that were just underneath the surface.

It took a little bit, but eventually, Rias gave her answer.

"Very well, but please be careful, ok?"

Yuuto bowed, genuinely grateful, before swiftly moving past Mio to leave the room without another word.

It took all of a few sparse moments for someone to ask the inevitable.

"...Buchou..." Issei started, his voice tight, as if he was barely struggling to hold his emotions from exploding. "Why did you just let him go? Without saying anything? Especially after...well...everything?"

The red-head pursed her lips together, looking about as conflicted as the young man felt deep inside. "...I didn't see any other way to get him to open up. And now, considering the subject matter that we have just gone through, I fear that nothing less than some time alone will give him time to heal."

Before everyone riled themselves up, as she knew that they would just out of principle, she continued hastily. "I'm sure that everyone here is more than a little...frustrated by what's going on, but please, there are extenuating circumstances behind Yuuto's actions."

Her blue-green eyes swiftly made the fallen angel their focal point, a looking more than a little displeased. "...And unfortunately, it seems that you've brought his trauma out with your discussion. Whether you meant it or not."

If anyone thought that Raynare was going to look crestfallen at her accidental faux pas, then they were sorely mistaken. "Wait, are you blaming me for this!?"

"No." Rias remarked coolly. "It's simply an unfortunate fact. The fault partially lies with me, for not taking this conversation away from the Excalibur swords as soon as it was brought up."

The admission helped cool the fallen woman's temper, but it also flared up her curiosity at the same time as she caught onto what the high-class devil was saying. "...The Excalibur swords? Is that what made that man so insane?"

"Raynare-san!" Mio reprimanded quickly, seeing her sempai scowl darkly at the young woman's blunt admission. "That was uncalled for!"

Raynare turned to her, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Am I wrong?"

"Enough." Sona called out, ending the conversation before it sparked the fight that it was inevitably going to start. "There is no point in arguing whether Rias' knight is stable or not, what's more important than that is understanding what's going on."

The Sitri heiress then twisted her head around to gaze at Rias, her eyes set in a firm stare. "...And only you can give us that information."

Blue-green eyes met with her friend's violet, a conversation going on between the two of them without words.

It took a little bit, but Rias eventually closed her eyes and let loose a sigh, caving in to her pressure. "You're right...you've all been more than patient with me, and Yuuto. I suppose that clarifying what's going on is only right by this point."

With that, the young woman tilted her head up, staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. "As Raynare-san explained, instead of a single Excalibur, there are now at least seven blades that embody the power of the original legendary weapon, and they are, no, were, under the Church's possession. But what she didn't mention was that not anyone could just wield them."

Mio leaned closer without even meaning to do so, her curiosity about the weapons increasing, knowing that everyone that didn't know much about them were doing the same as her.

Regardless, the Gremory heiress continued. "I don't have an extensive knowledge of what are the requirements for someone to be able to wield one of the Excalibur blades, but I do know that they seem to be naturally born, as well as exceedingly rare. So it should come as no surprise that the Church would eventually want to artificially create more wielders of the great swords...and Yuuto just so happens to have been involved in that attempt."

Blue-green eyes grew hazy, looking beyond the ceiling, peering into the memories of her youth. "...Years ago, the Church gave the green light to a project known as the 'Holy Sword Project', which was meant to create Excalibur users in case another war broke out between the Christian factions again. In order to experiment properly however, they needed test subjects, so they took in several orphans to help them...and Yuuto was one of them."

Issei crossed his arm, feeling a pit in the middle of his stomach, having a feeling where this was going.

Next to him, Koneko didn't say anything, remaining quiet throughout everything that has happened, internalizing all the information that was being passed out, already aware of pieces of it.

"The project was unsuccessful." Rias stated bluntly, her gaze refocusing on the here and now. "So, for whatever reason, the project leader ordered for all of the orphans under their care to be executed...with poison gas. Not leaving any evidence of the project's existence."

The red-head paused there as she began to work her jaw, obviously agitated, but soldiered on. "From what I've heard, all of the children were shepherded into a small room, where they were told that they were going to go through their 'final' test...and apparently, they were all excited that they were going to achieve a higher goal in their young lives. Not at all expecting that nearly all of them were going to get their lives snuffed out by those they trusted..."

A solemn silence followed after her words, many of the occupiers of the room unable to form words after hearing about such a tragedy.

"...I've heard about this 'project' before." Raynare remarked in the silence, her own tone of voice surprisingly respectful as well. "I've studied a bit about it during my studies with Azazel-sama, though it wasn't much. From what I remember, the Church excommunicated everyone that was involved with the project, as they were unaware of the...'experiments' that were done in their name. It might be of cold comfort, but I just thought that you all should know that almost none of the priests who were involved managed to escape from the Church afterwards."

The fallen angel then turned to Rias, locking eyes with her, frowning uncomfortably. "...And, for what it's worth, I apologize for bringing up such a traumatic past to that Peerage member of yours."

To the side of the Gremory heiress' eye, Akeno snapped to look at the ambassador of Azazel, shocked to actually hear her apologize.

But Rias ignored that. "Thank you; for the apology and for the information. Though, I couldn't help but notice that you said almost everyone involved with the project was captured by the Church?"

Raynare nodded grimly. "Yeah, from what I know, the lead organizer of the project managed to evade capture, though, I don't suggest that you mention this to that servant of yours."

The red-head set her lips in a thin line, passively accepting the other supernatural woman's advice, knowing that in his guilt for being the only one to survive that fateful day, he'd hunt for the leader purely on principle.

"...So, it's survivor's guilt then?" Sona muttered, just loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear.

Right when everyone began to turn to her, she went on, aware of their eyes trained on her. "Survivor's guilt; a mental disorder where a survivor from a traumatic event perceives that they are 'guilty' for abandoning everyone that didn't survive said event, evoking self-loathing and the overall feeling of inner turmoil. Does that sound familiar?"

Rias narrowed her eyes, grimacing. "While that sounds rather close, it doesn't fit, Yuuto doesn't have a sense of self-loathing from what I've seen, he simply has a hate for Excalibur."

Mio blinked, watching the back-and-forth, barely following along until she heard her red-head sempai's recent response, evoking a reaction out of her.

The teen quickly remembered how Kiba Yuuto looked after he heard about Excalibur again, thanks to the discussion between Raynare-san and the two high-class devils.

Then she compared that to what she had just heard; that the knight didn't have a sense of self-loathing.

She quickly concluded that, at the very least, there was a faint bit of self-loathing somewhere deep inside that blond. A feeling of inadequacy for 'not doing enough'.

"...Maybe you're looking at this incorrectly." Raynare intervened in the discussion, her tone introspective. "From what I've gathered, Rias Gremory's servant hates the Excalibur swords, correct? Yet, the blades are inanimate objects, they don't contain a will or anything along those lines. So hating upon such a thing would be borderline insanity in of itself...but what if there's a different explanation?"

Her violet irises slid across the room, drinking in the many faces around the room, many of which were lined in tension, until they focused on the two kings again.

"What if, hypothetically, Gremory's knight is actually affected by such a syndrome." the fallen angel wondered aloud. "But, in an effort to remove that self-loathing, he's moved that hatred onto the swords that the orphans were supposed to utilize? That could be an interpretation, wouldn't it? Moving his hatred onto an unachievable goal, so that he no longer has to bear with the guilt?"

Rias bit her bottom lip, mind seriously considering the idea. "...I-I'm not sure-"

"It's possible. Very much so."

The red-head was cut off by one of the last people that she thought that she'd here from agreeing with a fallen angel.

Akeno spoke up, her face stony, but her eyes sympathetic. "What the...fallen woman has claimed, it isn't unreasonable to believe that that's what's wrong with Kiba-kun. At least, I don't think so."

The Gremory heiress carefully refocused back on her queen, a sad smile stretching on her lips. "Yeah...I suppose it is possible...eh, Akeno?"

Akeno inclined her head, acknowledging what the red-head wasn't saying out loud, and thankful for it.

Meanwhile, Sona has crossed her arms by this point, tapping her foot onto the ground. "Well, this was quite the discussion, and it has revealed yet another issue that has to be dealt with, in due time. However, as far as I'm aware, nothing can be done today."

"Exactly!" Rias cut off without warning, much to Sona's irritation. "And that's why I let Yuuto go, because it's imperative that he becomes comfortable with all of us again, and for that to happen, he needs some time to himself. Basically, now that Diodora is dead, there is no one that could invoke his hatred of Excalibur, and he should eventually return to normal."

"Unless you consider that the rogue fallen angel; Kokabiel, has apparently stolen those very weapons, and was apparently last sighted around Kuoh Town..." Sona remarked dryly.

The Gremory heiress nodded, aware of that. "I know, but we are the imoutos of two Maou, unless the man is insane, I don't see him attempting to attack us or anything. More than likely, he's just here to lay low, and we'll never even see him. To add to that, that was the last sighting of him, it's entirely possible that the man has moved on to a different location. Which is why I don't think that Yuuto will even try and search for the swords, it would be a waste of time."

Sona didn't exactly look overjoyed by this logic, but even she had to admit that the idea had merit. "Alright then...what do you exactly have planned then?"

Rias smiled, glad that she asked. "We need to head to the Underworld, if only to make sure everything's alright. If possible, we'll rest there for a little bit and give Yuuto time to wind down, along with everyone else. Though, before we go, we should leave some kind of notification for Naruto, Yuki, and Maria of where we have gone. Just to be sure. In our time away, hopefully my knight will get over this, like last time."

"...Hoh? So you're planning on intentionally keeping that guy out of the loop so that he'll forget about Excalibur?" Raynare couldn't help but drawl in question, a lazy smile touching at her lips.

Frowning, the red-head stared down the fallen angel. "You don't approve?"

In response, she just shrugged. "Nah, manipulation is pretty much what I expected from you devils. That's all."

Knowing on some level that it was bait, Rias refused to answer that jibe. "...As I was saying, until then, we should get some rest. Yuuto should be in a better mood by tomorrow, and hopefully so will everyone else."

Acknowledging this as the signal to leave, the devils of both Peerages began to converse among themselves about all that has happened, many of them making their way to the exit.

Mio, for her part, felt her shoulders sag, mentally tired from the back-to-back problems that seemed to have come barreling in as soon as her Na- brother, left.

She felt like she could practically sleep on the floor at this rate.

But thankfully, now, she would finally be able to get some rest.

As she turned to follow along with everyone else that was leaving, she idly saw that the fallen angel was, surprisingly, staying behind to speak with the two high-class devils. For what reason, she wasn't exactly sure.

And while she was curious, her exhaustion easily won out over it.

She was officially done with serious discussions for a while.

So, when the young red-head managed to leave the club room, and then Kuoh Academy grounds, all without a hitch, she was fairly content.

That feeling was shattered when she felt someone place their hand on her shoulder while she was heading home.

Mio slowly turned around, seeing the determined look of a certain pervert gazing at her.

As well as the nervous, yet courageous emerald orbs of a certain nun.

And finally, the stoic, yet very emotional set of hazel irises of a certain rook.

Mio had only one thing to say to all of them.

"...Don't you people get tired?" she couldn't help but wonder, her left eyebrow twitching, knowing what they were going to suggest just by looking at the pleading expression on Hyoudou Issei's face.

Issei just smirked in response. "Not tonight, besides, I'm used to doing all-nighters."

"...Really? Doing what?" the half-devil almost dreaded to ask.

"Finding new ways to peep, of course." the perverted boy responded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Frankly, Mio wasn't surprised, since the more serious side of his personality only came out during life-and-death struggles.

"...Mio-san." Koneko piped up, dragging Issei away from her by pulling at his shirt, literally dragging him backwards as she took a step forward. "...Despite what Buchou said, I don't think...that letting a friend stew by himself is the smart thing to do."

"So you want to find him...again." Mio remarked, disbelief in her tone obvious. "And how exactly would you know that talking to him right now is the smart thing to do?"

Koneko just closed her eyes, a soft smile forcing her lips to twitch upwards. "Because...if I was in his position...I wouldn't want to be left alone."

The first-year of Kuoh Academy stared at her fellow first-year blankly, trying not to think sigh too explosively.

Mio quietly wondered whether she was too soft as she uttered her next words.

"...Fine. Then we'll go look for him." she allowed, despite her reluctance. "But I still-"

"Awesome!" Issei declared, all energy despite the fact that it was well past midnight by now. "Let's move then! We'll definitely talk sense into that bastard this time!"

Without warning, Mio felt someone grab her arm, and bodily drag her through the streets in search of a certain knight...again.

Not for the first time, Mio wanted to bemoan the fact that Naruto wasn't here yet.

Thankfully though, she stopped herself from doing so.

Instead of hoping for the whiskered teen to be here and solve...well...everything, she instead opted to silently hope that he was faring better than she was.

---

Naruto was not doing well right now.

That was what the shinobi figured out as soon as he realized that he was trapped inside Ophis' barrier, with no way out...except through her.

And, if that lady in the sky was telling the truth, then he would be forced to face an opponent that is considered to be way stronger than any opponent that he has fought so far in this world.

Truth be told, he was curious whether this being was as strong as Pain was back in his world.

...Actually, scratch that, he didn't want to know.

"Hey~ When are you gonna make a move down there~? You know that thinking of a way out of this won't work, right?" a certain black-haired woman claimed from the sky, laying on her suspended magic circle high above.

Naruto ignored her, focusing far more on the literal threat that was right in front of him.

That literal threat, in the form of a little girl, apparently lost whatever restraint that was holding her back while he was brainstorming, because the ethereal snakes that she has formed had decided to make their move.

Lunging forward, the energy-based reptilians opened their mouths wide and made to tear at the blond's skin as soon as they got close enough.

Instincts in full effect, the shinobi leapt backwards as his eyes took in all of the attacks that were advancing towards him, bringing his hands together to make a cross.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto declared, flaring his chakra a little and activating his technique, calling forth a plume of smoke as the snakes charged inside.

As soon as the snakes cut into the smoke however, several blurs shot out of it, either dashing out of view or heading straight for the powerful entity in front of them.

Soulless grey eyes stared ahead blankly as the blurs closed the gap between them, recognizing those blurs as copies of her target.

She didn't move a muscle as they raised their fists to attack, thrusting them forward with the intent to smash her into the ground.

It turned out, that she didn't have to.

The clones soon crashed into the stoic 'child', slamming their fists into her with all of their might, feeling their fists connect...

Then feeling their fists crumble.

Pairs of blue eyes widened in horror as the fists that impacted against Ophis' cheeks spewed out blood, the bones inside their hands collapsing after hitting something that simply wouldn't give way to their strength.

Immediately after, the clones popped out of existence, without the powerful being having to do anything.

Right afterwards, another blur emerged from the plume of smoke that the original Naruto created, charging forward with a small ball of energy swirling in his hand.

"Rasengan!" Naruto exclaimed as he charged forward, throwing his left arm forward so that his attack would connect with his enemy's stomach, keeping his body low so that he'd be a more difficult target.

Fortunately, Ophis didn't even bother to try and move, only bothering to take a glimpse of him as she made eye contact with him.

When she did, the grinding attack was shoved into her stomach, the vicious whirling sound that accompanied it actually managing to drown out all other noises to their ears.

So the blond pushed, cerulean eyes fierce as his powerful attack ground in deeper, somewhat confident that he was doing decent damage.

At least, until he felt something wrap around his neck.

The shinobi's head was snapped upwards by a forceful pull, his neck caught in the grasp of the snakes that he dodged before, forcing him to look directly at the small girl from his lowered position.

"...You're...the real one?" she pondered, not at all concerned with the small orb that was still pressing into her stomach.

Naruto, or rather, his clone tried to put on a teasing smirk, which didn't quite succeed. "M-Maybe, why don't you let go for a sec and find out?"

She stayed silent, regarding the young man, before tilting her head. "You're not real."

The clone couldn't even get a word in edgewise before the snakes applied pressure to his neck, eliciting a sick *snap* from it.

Ophis has already moved her attention past the deceased clone, which disappeared from her grasp in a puff of smoke anyway, and stared at the plume of smoke that the original Naruto created with his technique.

She was focused onto that because of the loud sound of wind cutting through the air completely dominated her ears, as well as the fact that the smoke was being violently pushed away by something from within it.

The cause of this strange phenomenon was none other than the real Naruto, who was standing beside a clone with a shuriken-like attack raised over his head, buffeting everyone with gale-force winds.

"I don't care whether you're considered the world's strongest or not!" the shinobi declared, eyes flaring as his spiky hair shifted in the vicious winds that his rasenshuriken was making. "If you're made out of cells like every other living being...then you will be disintegrated by this next attack!"

If Ophis was concerned, she didn't express it as she retained her stoic demeanor.

Not that Naruto was looking for that anyway, he knew damn well that nothing less than this would take such a being down.

He simply couldn't afford to hold anything back, not here, not now.

So the shinobi blitzed forward, the spinning shuriken on his left hand tearing at the ground whenever one of it's blades made contact with it, making something of a cloud of dust form behind the young man.

The little girl really didn't do anything in response to his latest attempt to assault her.

But she did react to it, not with action, but through a simple expression.

Ophis smiled.

And why did that simple fact alone send a chill down his spine?

Maybe it was because that smile was one that spoke volumes, one that told the blond exactly one thing.

That he had passed a test.

Regardless, Naruto shoved his apprehensiveness away and focused on the here and now, making sure that he moved his left hand to his front so that he could ram the attack into the powerful being.

Like last time, that attack connected, without her even trying to get out of the way.

The rasenshuriken buffeted both combatants with it's power, as the wind blades dug into the ground once it expanded after connecting into Ophis. Very quickly pushing the child off of her feet.

From there, the jutsu sped forward like a missile, carrying her as the screeching shuriken began to destabilize.

The attack literally ripped apart everything that was in it's way across the rocky terrain, literally smashing her into a rock formation as the powerful ability finally detonated.

*BOOOOM*

Naruto could only raise his arm to protect his eyes as a massive wind dome enveloped several rocky formations near the one that he sent Ophis crashing into, trying to ignore the prickling pain on his left hand as he watched the devastation.

The wind dome continued to expand in width and depth, everything held within it's diameter getting ripped apart by the microscopic wind blades that were released, obliterating it all into nothing.

Of this, Naruto had no doubts.

So the shinobi was already getting ready to turn around and face that woman in the sky, figuring that she was either gonna make a break for it, or attack him while his back is turned.

When he completed his turn, to his slight surprise, he met the amused golden slits of a completely unconcerned Kuroka on her perch. "What...? Do you think that you've won, nya?"

Naruto frowned as her words echoed across the mountainous valley, registering the words but not really believing it.

The young man then spun on the spot eyes widening as his danger senses screamed, leading to one overarching word to dominate his mind in that very moment.

Move.

The shinobi did just that, backing up from the ferocious vortex that his rasenshuriken created just as a shadow began to emerge from it's confines, slowly making it's way out of the dome.

Soon enough, a pale hand emerged from the wind, and soon after, the rest of Ophis' intact body pushed through, with only superficial scratches across her form.

Naruto just stared at the 'child' with a gaping mouth, unable to believe that she just walked out of his jutsu with only minimal damage at best.

"Nyahaha~! I bet you're super surprised, right? That your powerful attack barely did anything? Well, don't worry, if it was almost anyone else, that attack would have destroyed them." Kuroka exclaimed with a toothy grin, her eyes drinking in the young man's form from above.

Blue eyes remained on the Ouroboros Dragon, now willing to admit that she could, in fact, not be bluffing about how status in this world, and he kept his focus even as the woman in the sky continued.

"Really though, if it wasn't for the fact that I had senjutsu, I wouldn't have realized how powerful that attack was. It was faint, but I felt the tiny wind blades inside that attack, so tiny that they could probably enter someone's skin without having to break through it...right?" the black-haired woman purred. "I bet you thought that those wind blades would destroy Ophis-sama from the inside, right? Well, you'd be right...if it wasn't for one thing."

Naruto's attention never wavered, but now he was making sure to listen carefully to his -optional- opponent above.

Kuroka shuffled her body closer to the edge, just enough that she was able to dangle her head over the edge as she flipped onto her back, her golden slits intensely focused on the blond. "Ophis-sama is a Dragon God, literally the highest tier of dragon in existence, which in turn, have among the hardest natural armor in existence. Despite Ophis-sama's appearance, her skin is very much protected by her powerful scales, her power to shapeshift simply doesn't affect her natural defense. So, I bet that those teeny-tiny wind blades that you were hoping for were mostly destroyed when they crashed into Ophis-sama's scales before they reached her skin. Too bad, so sad nya~"

The shinobi felt his teeth gnash together in annoyance, her words managing to get under his skin more than he'd like.

It was the simple concept that the rasenshuriken could be stopped that got under his skin.

Still, Naruto was grimly determined not to lose heart, and shifted his immediate goal to accommodate the situation.

With a plan in the works, Naruto opted to try and use a different jutsu, one that was more familiar yet new at the same time.

...Kind of.

From above, Kuroka hummed, curious about what the blond below had in mind, looking forward to his 'next trick'.

It wasn't like he could actually do anything to harm someone so powerful, so she was expressing something akin to a childlike curiosity of what a magician could pull out of his hat.

So when she saw the young man hold his left hand out far from his body, while his right hand began to make grabbing motions on it, she was very much eager to see what her -possible- future mate would do next.

At first, what appeared on the palm of his hand actually disappointed her, as she remembered that she saw that attack used against Ophis prior, with little-to-no damage done.

Was he running out of ideas?

But soon after that, her interest was piqued again thanks to the fact that the teen simply didn't stop pouring more power into the orb, making the attack grow larger.

At first, the sphere neatly fit into the palm of his hand, but as time passed, it continued to grow to the point that it became as large as a basketball.

It didn't stop there either, as a matter of fact, it grew more and more to the point that it was practically almost as big as the teen himself, forcing him to raise the sphere over his head.

For a split-second, the blond looked like he was about to lose control of the technique, as he scrunched his eyebrows together in deep concentration...

But he apparently got it under control, as his intense concentration left his face, allowing him to glance at the being that refused to let him go.

Kuroka just stared at the attack, acknowledging it as essentially a massive variant of the same attack he utilized against the Ouroboros Dragon mere moments ago.

So surely, despite it's size, it shouldn't do that much, right?

At least, that's what she felt, but that opinion would change a bit shortly.

Nothing changed when Naruto first jumped into the air, raising the attack over his head, preparing to crash it into Ophis with it's largess.

Her lack of concern basically stemmed from the 'little girl's' reaction, which, as always, was a blank.

So when Ophis was smashed into the ground by the massive sphere, literally digging her into the earth, the black-haired woman wasn't particularly concerned.

However, after a few moments of the two combatants going in deeper into one of the mountain's foundations, a certain whiskered teen hastily jumped out of the hole, making a break for it.

Kuroka just watched with a twinge of concern, literally seeing the young man run away from his own attack actually gave her pause.

What really made her reconsider her lackluster response to his ability, was when the very earth itself began to shake, violently.

So violently that she was able to see it, as she was high in the air, too far away to feel the rumble.

Before she could even think to question how it was possible for an earthquake to hit the area when they were in a barrier-

Kuroka was literally knocked off of her feet, sent sprawling away from her position near the edge of her foothold in the sky, nearly sent flying off of it as a matter off fact, such was the force that slammed into her.

At first, with her mind in a jumble, the black-haired woman could do nothing but mindlessly wonder what the hell had just happened to her, especially as she felt several small objects pelt her on top of her head.

It was only after she crawled back to her previous position that she managed to figure out what exactly had happened.

At first, she couldn't quite believe her eyes, but the simple fact that there was a veritable hail of pebbles that was consistently hitting her head persuaded her that she wasn't imagining things.

Before, Naruto smashed his enlarged attack onto the base of a mountain, taking her 'leader' deep underground.

That very mountain, the natural wonder that jut out high into the sky like a skyscraper, was gone.

Rather, it was completely obliterated, as there was only a crater left to indicate that it ever existed in the first place.

Golden slits could only stare at it, trying to grasp the knowledge that the blond actually did that.

She knew he was strong, but she didn't expect this!

...But instead of being frightened of this display of power, this display of power only served to spark a fire within her...and turn her on a little.

Not that she'd ever admit to that last part.

So when she saw the teenager warily peer into the crater he had just made, she couldn't help but smile in anticipation, eager to see what else he's got.

She even chuckled when she noticed Naruto look at his own handiwork with bewilderment, almost like he himself couldn't believe that he did so much damage.

How cute.

For his part, Naruto indeed couldn't believe that he did so much damage, as although ero-sennin told him that the Chō Ōdama Rasengan (Ultra Big Ball Rasengan) could destroy mountains...he never actually saw it for himself.

Well...he'd be damned.

From his position on the floor, the shinobi pushed himself onto his feet and slowly made his way to the crater, his caution obvious to anyone that saw him.

He was inching forward, senses on high alert...

Then he jumped.

Up and away from the crater, as if he was avoiding something.

Turned out that he was.

Almost immediately after the teen ascended to the air, several dark rope-like objects pierced through the ground and shot towards him from an unknown source.

The identity of those 'ropes' became obvious when they threateningly began to hiss at him as they closed the gap between them.

Normally, as Naruto saw the snakes get closer to him within each millisecond, he would grab a kunai from his tools pouch and defend himself swiftly.

But for some odd reason, he didn't bother trying to defend himself in any capacity, seemingly content with watching the snakes capture him.

Fortunately, several blurs emerged from several rock formations which were unharmed from the nearby detonation thanks to their distance away from the mountain, racing to cut off the snakes.

Those blurs would do just that, slicing off the heads of the energy-based reptiles before they reached Naruto, giving the blond shit-eating grins as they made their pass.

Naruto could only smile, his clones timed that perfectly.

When he first made the clones, there were a few that sped off immediately from the get-go, remaining on standby for emergency reinforcements.

...As well as to guard the clone that was gathering that.

Anyway, the shinobi quickly landed back on his feet after evading the enemy's snakes, coolly regarding the ground where the energy attacks came from, knowing intrinsically that their owner should be showing herself soon.

It took a few moments for her to finally reveal herself, but he noticed some movement through the side of his eye, pinpointing where his enemy was.

To his eyes, a small girl slowly floated up from the edge of the crater, staring at him without emotion, minor scratches all across her form following his attack.

More importantly, the slithering reptiles that she always utilized were coming out of her sleeves, pulsating and twitching erratically as they pulled themselves from the ground.

As he expected.

"I figured that that wouldn't kill you!" Naruto shouted out, not at all surprised to see the apparent 'Dragon God' relatively unharmed. "Too bad for you that I have a trump card, just for moments like these! You better be prepared for it, cause I don't think that even someone like you can get out of this without some serious damage!"

Behind him, his clones raised his arms in a cheer, fully confident in their leader, like cheerleaders almost.

Ophis regarded him silently, her dull grey eyes about as flat as one can possibly imagine. "...You can't win."

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch, annoyed in spite of himself. "Oi, brat, I don't care whether you're some super powerful god that's never lost to anyone before. Don't be so cocky."

"...No, you can't win. It's impossible." she insisted.

The shinobi frowned this time, stopping himself from reacting in a knee-jerk manner when he realized something.

She wasn't trying to insult him, she genuinely didn't understand him.

"Look, Ophis, right? Strength and power means a lot, don't get me wrong." the blond started, his frown becoming more emphasized. "But strength and power doesn't mean everything. The powerful can be defeated by those who are weaker."

"It's impossible." Ophis repeated, her voice betraying no uncertainties of this notion.

"It isn't." Naruto retorted. "I've done it myself throughout my entire life, it's possible, I'm living proof of it."

This time, the 'child' went silent for a moment, looking up at him, searching his eyes with her own.

Then she closed her eyes.

"...Not this time." replied quietly, no doubt in her voice whatsoever.

Naruto studied the being which was considered to be among the strongest in existence, considering.

Instead of replying to her words, he just smiled, knowing that his last, and best chance was about to arrive.

Right at that moment, hidden behind a rock formation which just so happened to be guarded by clones, a single clone popped.

And the energy that that clone had gathered immediately returned to it's creator.

From above, Kuroka snapped her gaze away from the stare down between Khaos Brigade's 'leader' and Naruto, smiling as she felt senjutsu chakra move from one of the copies towards the real blond.

It was inefficient and wasteful in her eyes, to spend so much time gathered natural energy, but perhaps they utilized different senjutsu powers altogether? Or maybe even chakra?

She wasn't entirely sure, but she was eager to find out when they finally became more...personal.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Kuroka refocused back onto clash, sensing the shift in the original Naruto.

And so did the whiskered teen himself, as new power strengthened his body to an extreme extent, with only his eyes being an indication of the transformation he has undergone.

His blue eyes turned yellow as a horizontal bar appeared in the middle of his pupils, giving him a toad-like appearance, especially as orange pigmentation materialized around his eyelids.

With this new power, Naruto felt ready to really push against his enemy.

"Hey, you lot." the shinobi murmured, speaking up to his clones. "You guys know what's gonna happen now, right?"

His clones, which previously had his back, nodded all around him as they dispelled themselves.

Yellow eyes drifted to Ophis, amusement slightly them up. "Well...this is it. My best and last chance to beat you. If if fail here, I'm pretty much screwed."

Maybe it was just him as he studied her features, but for a moment, he thought he saw a faint bit of emotion flit past her grey irises in response to his words.

Naruto could only smirk.

Then, without anything giving away his intentions, he jumped.

The blond teen skyrocketed into the air intensely focused on what he was planning to do as he reached the ceiling of Ophis' barrier.

As soon as he reached the top, the young man brought his hands together, forming a familiar seal with them. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

As expected, several plumes of smoke appeared around him, along with his newly created copies, splitting his chakra among them.

Which meant that his senjutsu chakra was also distributed among them, leaving his overall reserves to be somewhat diminished.

It was worth it though, to create roughly thirty clones.

"Hey, boss!" a clone beside him called out, a shit-eating grin splitting across his face. "We're gonna be doing this the old fashioned way, huh? No need for fancy techniques and all that stuff!?"

The real Naruto huffed. "You make it sound like I don't want to use my newer abilities and jutsus..."

His clone laughed airily, knowing exactly how frustrated the real blond was with how he was forced to skip on using his more recent skills.

But the fact was that he had no other choice.

So, becoming serious, the shinobi moved his left hand in front of him so that his right hand could form the beginning of the rasengan.

Chakra formed into a ball as it was spun around like a mini tornado, which at first neatly fit into the palm of his hand, but very quickly grew to larger proportions.

All around him, his copies followed his lead, raising their left hands as their rasengans grew in size, pouring more and more power into it.

None of them would stop until they formed rasengans larger than their own bodies, which, when achieved, they kept above their heads so that they could smash into the ground when ready.

Kuroka, who had a clear view of what was going on due to her elevated position in the air, could only let a shaky smile appear on her features. "T-That's a bit much nya~"

However, even as she felt her caution rise exponentially at the prospect of several of those mountain-destroying attacks being used in a relatively enclosed barrier, she hadn't reached the peak of it yet.

That changed almost immediately.

She felt more than saw her -very possible- future mate enhance the sphere in his hand with senjutsu, bringing extra power into the mix, as well as raising it's size to gargantuan proportions.

The young woman literally took a step back in rising fear as she saw his clones follow his lead, making the entire ceiling of the barrier become crowded in spheres that have become comparable in size to small skyscrapers.

Especially as they began to fall towards the earth.

By this point, only one realization kept replaying her mind, her survival instincts taking over as she raised a hand behind her to open a portal.

Get out!

And she would do just that, letting the magic circle under her feet fade away as she jumped into the portal, escaping the space inside the barrier so that she could get to the real world.

On the ground, the 'child' that stared at the sky didn't really care that the yokai escaped, as she was simply far too enamored by the spectacle that was quickly descending towards her position.

Seeing the bright blue orbs completely block her view of the sky did nothing except make a small smile reach her face, as it's power could not be denied as they neared.

"...It's beautiful." was all she claimed.

Those would be the last words that she would employ before the overwhelming assault touched earth and the world became covered in light.

But she did hear one more thing before the light overtook her.

"Senpō: Chō Ōdama Rasen Tarengan!" (Sage Art: Chō Ōdama Rasengan Barrage)

---

Kuroka blew out some air in an uneasy breath, relieved that she managed to get out of that situation with all of her limbs attached.

Golden slits took in the desolate area that was the Akaishi Mountains, seeing no trace of human life in the area.

Then again, it was really early in the morning by this point, maybe only about an hour until the sun will begin to peek out from the horizon.

Regardless, she was thankful that she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her cut through space like it was nobody's business.

As for what happened in there...

Well...how could she even explain it? It was simply mind-boggling how much power that boy had.

She was pretty sure that, at least in a contest of pure power, she'd lose against a guy like that.

...Then again, it wasn't like Ophis-sama did much to actually stop him from attacking or anything, she seemed to be letting him throw everything he had at her.

Was it to gauge his strength, she wasn't really sure. She had no idea what went on in that head of hers.

Kuroka continued to think on what exactly went on inside the barrier, until...something flashed before her eyes.

At first, the young woman thought she was hallucinating, but for a split-second, the very earth under her disappeared.

Literally, the rolling rocky area around her, the mountain range, all life surrounding her, simply vanished.

And below her, was absolutely nothing.

Nothing except a hole which encompassed the entire mountain range, which in turn, seemed to dig so deep that there was nothing except pitch darkness staring back at her.

There seemed to be no end to the hole...

No...not a hole...a void!?

As soon as the yokai attempted to grasp the situation, in a flash, the hole was suddenly covered up by the rocky area of the Akaishi Mountains, almost like the ditch never existed in the first place.

Like the vision she saw was either an illusion or a reality in some alternate dimension.

Then, like a freight train, it hit her.

That was a reality.

She came to this conclusion thanks to the simple fact that her senjutsu-enhanced senses felt something crumble just a moment ago.

That something was the barrier that once veiled the entire area in a space that mimicked this reality. Though, it was obvious that that reality was all but destroyed.

But then...if that was true, then it was quite possible that Ophis-sama was...

*CRASH*

Kuroka jumped as something crashed practically right behind her, smashing into the ground with such force that it blew her forward.

Whirling around, she was very much ready to fight if necessary against whoever thought it was a good idea to try and-

She paused, gazing at the battered form of a young man with blond spiky hair, who was wheezing for air as if his life depended on it, with his bleary toad-like eyes staring at the sky.

"...You..." she murmured in realization, taking note of the numerous gashes that were all over his body, and the blood that was pooling from his open wounds all over the ground.

Naruto barely registered the woman's words, too busy trying not to let his many wounds get to him.

The detonation...was too close to him.

"...Hey, after all of this, are you really gonna die?" Kuroka asked bluntly, genuine in her slight concern, not really wanting someone with such fine genes to actually die.

The shinobi tried to answer, but it only really came out as a groan instead.

"...He'll live." another voice answered for him, making his blood run cold through his veins.

Kuroka blinked, registering the words, as well as the power, then smiled in satisfaction when she looked up.

Descending from the sky like a god from classic mythology, was Ophis, who coolly regarded the downed teen without malice. "...It seems that his attack was unstable...because he didn't give himself enough time to get away..."

Naruto couldn't help but allow for a pained smirk to appear on his lips. "Yeah...I didn't actually practice that one before...does too much damage, ya see..."

Ophis nodded, seemingly agreeing with him. "You destroyed my barrier...even though it was strong enough to hold in an attack that could destroy this country...as well as some of the surrounding lands..."

Kuroka' golden slits snapped to the weary toad-like ones, surprised, and more than a little impressed.

"...Nice to know." was all that the shinobi could really manage.

And it really was a nice thing to know.

"Though...I think I'm more satisfied with the damage I've done to you." he admitted readily enough, his pained smirk growing larger as he looked at her side.

The Ouroboros Dragon followed his gaze, slight surprise lighting up her eyes as she noticed something.

Her sleeve was just flapping in the breeze, mostly because she didn't have an arm to occupy it.

She had lost an arm in that explosion, and she didn't even register it.

Ophis stared at the armless sleeve for a little while longer, before turning to the blond. "...You still lost. So now..."

The little girl took a step forward raising her hand, slowly moving it closer to grab the young man's face now that he was downed. "...You're mine."

Naruto's eyes widened in alarm as the hand inched closer, a primal fear shooting through his body, giving him the energy to ignore his wounds for a moment so that he could crawl backwards.

But Ophis just kept inching closer, her hand becoming overbearing as it began to block out his sight, leaving it in more and more darkness the closer she got.

It was that primal fear that slowly morphed his iris.

At first, his pupils slowly shifted in color, moving from yellow to a bleeding red.

As soon as that shift occurred, the horizontal bar that occupied the center of his pupils, was suddenly intersected right down the middle by an animalistic slit, making the design reminiscent of a cross.

If Ophis noticed this change, she didn't indicate that she cared, so focused she was on her prize.

Her soulless grey eyes were locked into those crosses, looking deeply into them as they dilated, drinking in their visage.

And in those eyes, she saw a reflection of herself, moving closer as she did.

Then, all at once, in a blink...

Everything changed.

Instead of the cross pupils that she was focusing on, she was instead focusing purely on a pair of massive red slits, which just so happened to be held back by, what looked like, a massive jail cell.

The sudden change made her blink, as she registered that she was no longer near her prize anymore.

Her grey eyes made eye contact with the monster behind the jail, faintly seeing nine orange tails swaying behind the large beast. "...Who are you...?"

The massive being with red slits began to narrow them faintly, then spoke without preamble. "...You can say that I am someone who's interested Naruto's welfare."

If Ophis cared, she didn't indicate it, instead choosing to check her surroundings. "...Where am I?"

"In Naruto's mindscape." the kyuubi explained, earning her attention again. "I brought you here, like I did Orochimaru before you, when he unintentionally brought forth a piece of my power..."

Once more, the 'child' didn't care who this 'Orochimaru' was, focusing more on the fact that the monster in front of her could possibly get her out of this...'mindscape'. "Let me out...before I destroy you."

The beast bared it's teeth as it pushed itself from the ground to reach it's full height. "You wouldn't be saying that if I was at full power... But never mind that, I'm not here to fight...even if that does sounds like an appealing option right now. To be perfectly honest, I'm here to let you in on a little secret about the one that you want to capture so badly."

Ophis tilted her head, interest slightly piqued.

Seeing this, the kyuubi continued. "I have inhabited Uzumaki Naruto for a long time, and if there was one thing that I have learned about that brat...it's that he's someone that grows more stronger the more adversity that he is forced to face. In time, he will grow even more powerful than he is now...but that will change if he doesn't believe in who or what he's fighting for."

Those massive set of red slits focused on her again, intense. "Let him go. Let him get stronger as he faces stronger opponents, and eventually he may become strong enough to face this 'Great Red' that you spoke about."

Grey eyes scanned the great fox-like monster's features, searching for lies.

Then, suddenly as it began, she wasn't in front of the massive beast with nine swinging tails.

No, she was once more in front of the boy that she wanted to fight by her side against Great Red, her fingers so close that she could feel his body heat.

As she locked into those cross shaped pupils, which emanated fear, yet also shone with grim determination, she quickly made her choice.

Her small hand retracted steadily, the little girl taking a step back as she turned away from him, feeling his confused eyes boring into her back.

"...Kuroka...we're leaving." was all she said, as she slowly floated into the air, meaning every word of it.

The black-haired woman in question gaped at the order, her head snapping between the two in her complete befuddlement. "W-What!? Why!? You have him! Isn't this what you wanted!?"

Ophis didn't answer, she just continued to drift off away from the two senjutsu users, leaving them both as confused as the other.

Kuroka had no idea what went on in that powerful entity's head, and she wasn't sure that she ever wanted to find out.

All she knew was that she was skimped out of a chance to the young man's genes before she even got a shot at them.

If one were so inclined, one could even say she was 'cock blocked'.

Crude, but that was how she felt then and there.

So, with a pained grunt, the young woman whirled around to glare at the teenaged boy, who was just staring at Ophis' back in shock. "...Looks like you lucked out, somehow."

Naruto turned to her, his breath normalizing again. "Y-Yeah...I guess so."

A very unhappy frown made it's way to her face, unable to believe her lost chance.

"...Tch! Well fine! I'll just spend my time looking for Shirone then!" Kuroka claimed in her disgruntlement, turning away from the young man so that she could rip through space and make a portal.

A few spare seconds later, and both of his enemies have disappeared, leaving to parts unknown without a trace.

Naruto could only gape at the location where the two beings vanished, in shock.

Yet his senses wouldn't lie to him, especially since they were still enhanced by senjutsu by this point, and he didn't sense either of those troublemakers anywhere.

He had truly lucked out.

Realizing this, the shinobi got onto his feet, feeling the aching of his muscles as he did so, yet noting that it wasn't as bad it was before.

He never realized that he drew on a little bit of the kyuubi's chakra, which was helping him to restore his body a little bit.

Mostly, he never noticed because, unlike last time, his personality didn't change thanks to it's influence.

If one was observant enough, someone would be able to tell the difference between last time and this time.

Yet Naruto wouldn't figure it out, because the kyuubi's chakra would disappear from his eyes, as well as the evidence that he ever used it to begin with.

Besides, the teen was focused on other things.

Now that he had senjutsu on, his abilities were well beyond his normal capabilities.

But, at the same time, he might get weakened after his senjutsu chakra is spent, like last time.

So the blond decided on the spot to forget the 'advisable' approach and just book it back to Kuoh Town, before his senjutsu ran out.

Plan in place, Naruto jumped high into the air, moving to get back home as quickly as possible, not liking all of the 'incidents' that have befell him so far.

---

Issei sighed, already feeling a pair of annoyed pink eyes bore into the back of his skull.

It's been quite a while since the small group recruited Mio into having a little private talk with a certain knight, and the length of time that they were spending looking for him was very much grinding on her.

At least, that's what he supposed.

Not that he could really blame her though, she was the one who took the brunt of Diodora's wrath, initially without anyone to back her up.

Still though, this was something that he felt was important.

Not just him either, Koneko has felt the same way; that the more people that showed up to meet with Kiba, the more he'll be convinced that there are people that give a shit.

At least, that was the general idea.

"We're not getting anywhere like this." Mio voiced out, not doubt in her voice. "We can't just keep going everywhere to look for him! This is practically a repeat of last time by this point!"

Koneko, who was trailing next to the red-head, turned to eye her. "...What would you suggest then, Mio?"

The half-devil faltered, frowning quite visibly as she thought about it, unsure.

They only found Kiba Yuuto last time because of the news, and it wasn't like they'd get a clue like that so easily again. Especially since this has far more to do with his internal conflicts than any external ones.

In short, it wasn't like he was gonna destroy a building or anything that could grab anyone's attention.

If they could just get a clue of some sort...or maybe even a hint of where he was last, then they could get somewhere.

"Maybe there's someone we can ask?" Asia piped up, placing her hand on her chin in thought. "It's possible someone saw him before, right?"

"At this hour?" Mio muttered doubtfully, not exactly open to the idea. "Who would be awake right now except us? Let alone if someone actually saw him-"

"Hey, there's someone awake." the perverted boy cut off the red-head abruptly, pointing ahead as he saw someone ahead of them.

The half-devil just clamped her mouth shut after that.

Indeed, ahead of them was a figure who had their back turned away from them, staring at the sky in the empty streets.

If Issei's perverted senses were correct, he'd guess that the figure in front of them was a female, which was roughly confirmed thanks to the person's long hair and...uh...rather generous figure.

Seeing no reason not to go ahead and ask if she's seen the blond that they were looking for, he jogged up to her.

The rest of the group followed, though among them, Koneko was beginning to frown imperceptibly.

She didn't know why, but there was something...about this person...

"Hey! You over there!" the pawn cried out, waving his hand to grab the woman's attention. "Boy, I can't begin to tell you how glad I am to see someone else awake at this hour! Do you mind if I ask you a question about-"

Issei cut himself off as soon as the woman turned around to look at him, eliciting a shiver from him at the...glint in her eye.

Her ruby eyes took stock of him, a hint of recognition flitting through them as she continued to study him, before shifting her gaze to take in everyone around him.

Swallowing the lump in his throat that chose that moment to appear, the brown-haired boy tried again. "H-Hey, look, I don't want to take anymore of your time, but I was wondering whether you could-"

"Why are you still talking to me?" the woman quietly wondered, a threat inherent in her voice as she glared at him, her disgust obvious.

Issei was almost a loss for words. "E-Excuse me?"

The woman tilted her head, her long purple hair slightly hiding her ruby gaze, which seemed to be regarding him as lowly as an insect. "I'm wondering why you think it's proper for someone as lowly as yourself to speak to me...Sekiryuutei."

Brown eyes blinked, frowning at the unfamiliar term. "Sekiryuutei...?"

Sekiryuutei was...Red Dragon Emperor?

Why the hell did she just call him-?

"Issei-sempai!" Koneko shouted at him from behind, grabbing his elbow in order to pull him back. "This woman...! She knows about your Sacred Gear...!"

The perverted boy's eyes widened at her claim, suddenly remembering that his red gauntlet was supposed to house some kind of dragon, which it drew it's power from...

Even as he was getting pulled back, his eyes were taking in the ruby-eyed woman's darkened features, as time felt like it slowed down to a crawl.

"...More than that...you dare retain your title as Sekiryuutei...an Emperor, in my presence..." the mysterious female whispered, so quiet that he barely heard it. "Unfortunately, I can't tolerate it when those who are of lower statures try and usurp my authority as a king..."

He had no idea what the hell this crazy lady was talking about, but he did feel the hair on the back of his neck rise up as time slowly crawled by.

That feeling was only compounded as her words echoed across the empty streets. "...There is only one way to rectify this insult, and that's to establish who's dominant..."

Through the side of Issei's eye, he saw Koneko finally drag him far enough for her to charge forward, as well as Mio raise her hands to create an elemental attack through the palm of her hands.

At precisely that moment, a whisper, no, an order became known to all who was present.

"Grovel before me."

The young man gasped as he felt his forehead smash against the pavement, his hair slightly sticking to it as a little bit of blood leaked out of the sudden wound.

But...why...?

Why was he face down on the floor, in a seiza position, inclining his head forward so far that it touched the ground, and keeping his hands cupped together in front of his head...?

...Why was he bowing to her in a reverent fashion!?

Issei tried to twist his head to the side to see if his companions were alright, barely managing to move his own head enough to get a glimpse to his side.

As he feared, he saw Koneko to his right in a similar position as him, bowing deeply in a seated position, her hazel eyes wide in confusion.

"...Ah...that's much better." the woman that was probably responsible for their strange behavior claimed, the threat in her voice gone. "It's good to know that others know about their place in the world, after all, there can only be one true king...or dictator, if you so prefer. I don't particularly mind."

As she spoke nonchalantly, the people who she was oppressing were trying, with great difficulty, to get back on their feet, but were unable to force their bodies to function properly.

It simply felt like their bodies were no longer their own.

Still, the 'king' continued to speak anyway. "...Though, even I must admit that I'm somewhat...disappointed. I was hoping that Naruto would have arrived by now..."

Ruby eyes snapped to the group as a certain red-head among them took in a loud and shallow breath at the mention of her brother, the dull look in those ruby pupils making everyone there feel disconcerted at best.

It only got worse when she narrowed those eyes. "But...I suppose I can deal with some appetizers until the main course arrives...and I hope he does arrive soon...for all of your sakes..."

The tyrant coldly shifted her attention across the people that she has subdued, individually inspecting them, sizing them up in order to ascertain who could entertain her the most.

Among them, she was only aware of the identity of one of them; the Sekiryuutei, and only then because she was extraordinarily knowledgeable about Sacred Gears.

As for everyone else...she supposed that they were simply beings that weren't as special as her.

So she almost didn't notice when the one in the back, the red-head, was slowly forcing her body to obey her commands without the king's input.

Almost.

"Y-You..." Mio coughed out, gritting her teeth. "H-How do you know about Naruto...? And what do you want with him?"

The tyrant barely acknowledged the teenaged girl's presence, sparing her, at best, a cursory glance.

But the half-devil refused to stop until she got an answer. "H-How do you know Naruto?"

This time, finally did get an answer.

"...What's it matter to you?" the woman questioned blandly, practically dismissing her with her voice alone.

The red-head barely managed to lift her head enough to glower at the purple-haired 'king', her bangs only slightly in the way. "...He's...my sibling, that's why!"

It was only after that little tidbit, that Mio's enemy actually turned to face her fully, walking forward to get closer. "Hoh...? As far as I was aware, Naruto didn't have any siblings...perhaps you mean to say that you two have a quasi-sibling relationship?"

Pink eyes quivered faintly as they locked onto ruby, visibly seeing the dull quality in them up close and personal. "...Yeah, that's exactly it."

Her answer elicited a strange response from the tyrant, one that served to make her tremble.

The first true instance of emotion flitted through those ruby irises; condescension and pity.

Mio didn't tremble in fear, she trembled in anger.

"...Tell me something, do you feel close to the one that you call your 'brother'? Do you, perhaps, believe that you two share a special bond?" the tyrant asked for some reason that the red-head couldn't fathom.

A snarl unintentionally emerged from the half-devil's throat, but she was cut off before she could really answer, as her enemy continued unimpeded.

"Because, I can assure you, that the bond you two share, whether it be familial or otherwise, is nothing in comparison to the one that connects me with him." she proclaimed without shame, raising her chin as she looked down on the teenager, literally and figuratively.

Mio growled lowly in response, finding some hidden reserves within her to force herself up a little further, trying desperately get to her feet. "W-What the hell are you talking about? Naruto's never mentioned you before...so quit talking nonsense!"

"You don't have to believe me." the oppressive woman assured easily. "I don't require your validation to know the truth. Besides, I'm willing to bet that you don't even know your 'onii-chan' that well anyway."

As the red-head slowly was getting onto her hands and knees, she was able to notice through the side of her eye that Koneko and Issei were also steadily making progress to get to their feet.

One thought immediately shot through her head from that point.

Stall!

"What are you on about now...?" the half-devil ground out, intrigued, yet still making sure that she didn't lose focus. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Plenty actually." came the inevitably cool reply. "But, if you really must know, then let me give you an example."

The tyrant's hand shot out towards Mio, the action so sudden that she didn't have any time to react to it.

A hand clasped around the young red-head's chin, grasping it as she tilted her head upwards so that they could connect with each other face-to-face. "...Did you know, that the Uzumaki Naruto that you've come to known for all of this time...didn't exist once upon a time? That, despite existing for roughly sixteen years, this Naruto has only existed for about ten of those years?"

Pink eyes widened, trying to take in the information that she has just heard, even as two of her comrades get onto their knees, half way to their feet.

"Sixty percent." their enemy suddenly stated, an order as much as a statement.

Suddenly, Mio's head smashed into the pavement, her body involuntarily going back to a reverent bow without her input, shock interlacing her features.

And, if the gasps around her were of any indication, she'd say that this happened to her comrades as well.

"What? Did you think that I didn't notice?" the tyrant asked rhetorically, crossing her arms despite the fact that no one could possibly see it. "Don't take me for a fool, a ruler must always be aware of the possible ways that their subjects could become insubordinate."

"Damn you...!" Issei growled darkly, his gauntlet appearing on his left hand, preparing to strengthen himself.

She ignored the curse that was thrown at her as she perked up slightly, completely forgetting about the presence of the people on the ground as she turned away from them to look up at one of the nearby apartment buildings.

Specifically, at the roof of it.

What she saw apparently pleased her, as a small dark smirk graced her features once she locked eyes with a pair of azure irises.

"Well..." she started slowly, drinking in the features of the battered, yet strong form of a young man with spiky blond hair. "It took you long enough to arrive...Naruto."

---

"...I'll admit, that does actually sound pretty bad, though, sorry to say, I have no idea what may have caused this lack of communication." Raynare insisted, shrugging her shoulders in a casual fashion.

"I was afraid of that..." Rias said with a complicated expression, still considering what could have possibly happened.

In the ORC club room, the two high-class devils in Kuoh Town and their queens were speaking with the ambassador of the fallen angels; Azazel, and asking her a few questions.

The discussion took quite a bit of time, since Rias had to inform her of their issue before they could possibly get an answer, but it seemed to be for naught anyway.

Both heiresses were questioning the fallen angel about whether there was a loss of communication with herself and the fallen angel's section of the Underworld, and had received...less than stellar information.

Basically; Raynare didn't even have any possible way to communicate with the Underworld to begin with, so she had no clue.

Next, they asked her whether she had any idea why the devils couldn't communicate with their Underworld government, wondering if she's heard anything.

Once more, they received a less than informative answer.

So they could all be forgiven if they were a little frustrated.

"...Figures." Akeno couldn't help but mutter dryly, voicing out that frustration.

Unfortunately, she didn't make that comment quietly enough for the other black-haired woman not to hear her, seeing as Raynare had shot her a dark look for it.

"Is there really nothing that you could tell us? At all?" Sona inquired, grim-faced, getting back on topic.

The ambassador turned to the Sitri heiress, exasperated by this point. "I told you, I don't know anything! This is as much new to me as it is with you lot! And I can't contact Azazel-sama now, even if I wanted to, since I don't have the means to."

An uneasy sigh was all the response that anyone needed, courtesy of Sona. "...It seems we're back to square one, Rias."

The young Gremory would have to agree, even if she didn't voice it.

By this point, the room fell silent in order to accommodate the heavy thinking that this situation brought.

Which was why, seeing as there were no more questions, Raynare decided then and there to make her leave. "Look, I'm sorry that I wasn't much help to all of you, but I as I stated, I don't know anything. So I hope none of you mind if I take my leave for now?"

She didn't even wait for anyone's input before she turned around to leave the room, prepared to leave the building altogether.

What she neglected to mention however, was the fact that she was going to be staying behind Kuoh Town for a little bit before she returned to Grigori, for one reason and one reason only.

Not that any of them needed to know that.

Neither Rias or Sona bothered to stop the fallen angel, both of them accepting the fact that the woman had nothing for them, so they saw no reason to bother her further.

So, it stood to reason that there would be no more problems in regards to the fallen angel today.

Which would have been a solid bet, until Raynare opened the door to leave the building.

Because beyond that door, was a group of four people, with a teenaged girl with short blue hair that had a fringe of green leading them, carrying a large cross-like object on her back.

Seeing the unfamiliar faces, Raynare locked up, staring at the group with a questioning look.

But before anyone else could actually say anything, someone spoke up.

"Ah..." Yuki piped up, her yellow eyes lighting up in recognition. "Aren't you that fallen angel that Naruto helped back at the abandoned church?"

Almost as soon as the words left the hero's mouth, she regretted them, as both strange cloaked women suddenly tensed and sharpened their eyes in regards to the fallen angel.

As a commotion began to roar up following this faux pas, Yuki could only mutter one thing to herself.

"...Oops."

---

Naruto was breathing harshly as he reached the outskirts of Kuoh Town, his blue eyes staring firmly ahead, a massive lump in his throat that refused to go down.

He had to hurry.

He had to hurry!

His senjutsu chakra had finally run out as he neared Kuoh Town, and fatigue had really set in afterwards, just like that time that he faced the 'heroes' of Cao Cao, weakening him for some reason.

By this point, he may as well call it a sickness.

Hmm...senjutsu sickness...?

The shinobi viciously shook his head, forcing himself to focus, noting that he was seriously feeling on edge at the moment-

Focus!

Naruto finally took a deep breath, calming himself slightly so that he could think clearly.

...Before, back when he still had senjutsu, he sensed something as he neared Kuoh Town with incredible speed, becoming more apparent to him the closer he became.

What he sensed back there, was what was making him nearly panic.

This was no joke, what he felt back there was something that he had to make sure that his friends didn't meet.

The shinobi continued to soar through the air, hopping from building to building, almost reaching his home in the small town, mere seconds away...

Then he stopped, landing on top of a building, his facial features going cold.

Slowly, the young man turned his entire body to it's side to face the streets, clenching his fists as the sensation that he felt just then crawled up his spine.

Whatever...no, whoever he felt earlier, they were here.

And, just like that, he locked with a pair of ruby eyes, which decided to focus on the ceiling of the building that he was on right at that moment.

Naruto couldn't help but flinch slightly, a piece of him deep inside recognizing the dull gaze that was focused on him.

As he was shying away from the person's stare, a rather dark smirk made her lips twitch upwards, looking far too pleased to see him than he was comfortable.

"Well..." a very feminine, yet authoritative voice emerged from the the source of his uneasiness. "It took you long enough to arrive...Naruto."

She knew his name.

She knew his name.

The uneasiness that he was feeling earlier was quickly wiped away, his fear of the situation escalating to the point that his fears quickly turned to anger.

This girl, whoever the hell she was, could not be allowed near his friends-!

"...Naruto...?"

Naruto gasped, snapping his eyes to a spot near the authoritative woman, recognizing both; the face and voice.

Pink irises trembled as they latched onto the blond, unable to truly believe that he was actually here, practically right in front of her.

A part of her was fully expecting to see the shinobi break into a wide smile and to make a clever quip, but all she received by her sibling was a look of horror.

"M-Mio!" Naruto exclaimed, flabbergasted by her appearance, made even worse when she noticed that she wasn't alone. "Issei! Asia-san! Koneko-san! What the hell are all of you doing!? Get away from her! She's dangerous!"

Issei was just about ready to retort back that they weren't exactly down on the floor by choice or anything like that, but he didn't get the chance to when their enemy spoke up. "It would be wise for all of you to do what he says, while I'm still feeling merciful."

As soon as the woman with ruby eyes advised them on their next course of action, the intense weight on all of the group's body suddenly lifted, freeing them.

Seeing this as an opportunity, the half-devil among them turned to the building's roof, about to suggest that they take on this woman together; as a group.

Yet she was forced to pause once she actually got a good look of Naruto's face.

It wasn't the clenched fists, the gritted teeth, or the fact that the young man's form was shaking faintly that truly made her stop speaking.

No, it was the real and genuine fear in his eyes that stopped her, all focused on the woman that claimed that she was a 'king'.

...Just who was she...?

"Everyone!" Naruto roared out, making everyone jump involuntarily. "What the hell are you all still doing here!? Leave! This fight is mine, and mine alone!"

"B-But..." Mio tried to interject, her words not much more than whispers.

Blue eyes shifted to his imouto, the edge still there, but was now softening a little bit as he spoke to her again. "...Mio, look, I'm sorry that this reunion of ours is pretty shitty, but this is important. Please, for my sake as much as your own; leave. Our enemy is not ordinary."

The red-head opened her mouth, an argument right at the tip of her tongue, which was cut off as soon as she felt a certain pervert place their hand onto her shoulder.

"...We're going." Issei remarked, nodding to the whiskered teen with full confidence. "I doubt that this bastard can take Naruto down that easily, he'll be fine. I think it's more important that we tell Buchou what's going on actually."

The daughter of the Original Lucifer switched her focus between the two teenaged males, biting her bottom lip in frustration, before nodding slowly in acquiescence. "Just...be careful, Naruto."

Naruto gave her a thumbs up, which the red-head was unable to see once she was getting rushed away from the potential battlefield.

"...How cute." the tyrant observed, quirking an eyebrow as she kept her attention on the young man, ignoring all else. "As well as unbearably sentimental, all things considered. The fact is, you've made a tactical blunder; you could have utilized those four as bait for you to kill me while my back was turned, so why didn't you do so?"

Disgust flitted through the whiskered teen's features, appalled at the concept in of itself. "Comrades-in-arms aren't meant to be bait! They're there to fight alongside you, but this time, I didn't want or need that help to deal with you."

That pair of ruby eyes remained on the blond's face, returning to her original stoic demeanor, reining herself in a bit. "...But you didn't always believe that, am I correct?"

The shinobi narrowed his eyes into slits, feeling like he was getting cornered, getting him to bite out in response. "What the hell are you talking about? You don't know me, so what the hell are you-?"

"Uzumaki Naruto; born and raised in Konohagakure without parents, mistreated and abused by his fellow villagers due to their misdirected anger, someone who lived with the fact that he is a hated being in his own home..." the woman started without preamble, quiet.

Naruto felt his chest contract a little bit, air leaving his lungs as he took a step back, struck by the words that hit too close to home.

And his adversary was well aware of this. "...Uzumaki Naruto; the one that was betrayed by someone he considered a 'sibling', who had to live with the fact that his master was killed by an organization that was after him, that lived with the fact that the leader of that very organization would then destroy his home and kill his sensei...while looking for him..."

"Shut up."

The king stopped mid-speak, slowly closing her mouth as she cocked her head to the side, ruby eyes hooded. "...Did I hit too close to home?"

The shinobi didn't respond at first, keeping his head bowed instead as his blond hair shadowed his eyes.

More than that, his body was now trembling visibly, in what seemed to be a herculean attempt at keeping himself in check.

It took more than a few spare moments for the young man to finally speak again.

"...As I thought..." Naruto started quietly, his eyes still shadowed by his long locks. "What I sensed from you...means that you that you really do have a connection..."

His enemy stayed quiet as he continued to speak, his anger building the longer he continued, as his tightly clenched fist exemplified.

"...But I don't understand how you could possibly have that...or know what you know...so how...?"

The tyrant's eyes narrowed this time. "...You've noticed then."

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed, raising his head so that he could glower at her, red slits replacing his usual blue irises as his features grew more animalistic. "Don't you dare try and play games with me! What I want to know, right here, right now...!"

The feral ninja pointed his clawed finger at the young woman as his eyes dilated, a snarl emerging from his throat. "Is why I sensed the chakra of my world in your body!?"

An airy chuckle was his only response, as the mysterious woman gazed at the roof of the building, meeting ruby with ruby. "Ah...why indeed? That is a question that I can only answer if you do something for...my group, first."

The woman then spread her arms out in a gesture of welcome, a hint of excitement in her orbs as she regarded her opponent. "Uzumaki Naruto; a decrepit failure of a 'hero' wanted me to extend an invitation to a certain plan of his, so that you may advance the concept of a 'hero' with the abilities of the people of your world."

If anything, Naruto snarled became even more virulent at what he heard. "What the fuck kind of nonsense are you spouting!?"

Though, instead of looking disappointed, his opponent only looked more pleased at this obvious rejection. "...Good...I'd have been disappointed if you took the invitation, now we can get to the reason for what I'm here for."

Naruto faltered, unsure why she seemed satisfied with his answer, but she continued still.

"Naruto...I have watched you for almost as long as I've lived, seen what you were capable of, and have seen your explosive growth outpace almost everyone else in your generation." the king admitted readily, locked onto the blond unerringly. "But, I know that you could be capable of so much more."

She stretched a hand forward with her palm held open, offering it to him, as if beckoning him to her. "You are different from the useless sheep of our worlds, you are special, you have seen the truth, yet you fruitlessly try and deny what you once held as fact for a dream that could never come into fruition...and that's what's holding you back now. So I ask you, here and now, to return to what you once were, so that you may achieve greatness...as you should."

-0-

Her words were spoken like someone who truly believed in them, like a radical preacher that was pushing for someone to accept their 'truth'.

The young man peered through his blond locks, fierce and deadly eyes meeting dulled and nihilistic ones.

"...Fuck off and die." was all he said, meaning every word of it, not aware of how much he was being affected by the chakra that was swirling around him.

If the tyrant was displeased, then she didn't express it physically at all. "Well...I expected that you'd do that too. I see that the naivety that you've adopted from your master, as well as your home village has poisoned you from facing the truth. That's fine though...all I have to do is show you how...misplaced your faith in your 'comrades' are. That again; like your best friend, like your sensei, like your master, like your very home itself...you'll be abandoned. All. Over. Again."

As expected, the king felt herself get yanked into the air as the blond grabbed her collar, his eyes expressing nothing but unbridled fury as he brought his claws out, a genuine roar coming through rows of razor-sharp canines.

And the mysterious woman couldn't be more pleased, as the eyes that were boring into her's were becoming more and more jaded than when she last saw them in his world.

More and more fearful, that the beliefs and ideas that sustained this 'Naruto' up to this point...really were just ideals.

That he was truly correct back then, and that she was truly correct right now.

Little by little, bit by bit, the 'Naruto' of the past was returning, and she would see to that man's return.

"...How must have it felt..." she wondered quietly, as she stared at the slitted eyes of the man that she privately admired. "To know that all the work that you've placed in getting recognized, in receiving the love and care of a family, in being respected...was all for naught? To know that you're right back to where you started..."

The grip on her collar tightened, threatening her explicitly.

But instead of allowing the shinobi to continue, the tyrant smoothly brought her own hand onto his wrist, her other hand stretched forward to cup his cheek.

"It's ok though..." she whispered, her words like poisonous honey. "I'll relieve you of your suffering soon enough..."

Applying strength to the hand on Naruto's wrists, the tyrant heard a sick *snap* as her opponent let go of her, snarling.

Naruto took a step back, grabbing his broken wrist, already feeling his chakra mending the bones as his enemy continued to speak; her words filled with venom despite her wish to 'help him'.

"It'll be ok, Naruto...once you're like me, you won't need to hope anymore...and without hope, you'll never be crushed like that again..."

And that venom was slowly reaching his battered heart, whether he liked to admit it or not.

---

An elderly man was steepling his fingers together on his desk, considering what his greatest achievement was going to do to the boy that they needed to achieve their goals.

He knew that she had her own reasons for seeking him out, but he wasn't exactly sure what, but surely her aim didn't run counter to his own?

She owed him, whether she appreciated it or not.

Regardless, Uzumaki Naruto was necessary for the former hero to achieve his aims, as the boy had the one thing that would complete his help him complete all of his experiments...

Chakra.

As he claimed before, the elderly former hero had the ability to peer into the past, present, and future...though that last bit was more limited than he cared to admit.

Still, he have been able to see into another world, one filled with humans with incredible abilities; some of which couldn't be fought against unless you knew how to.

And that was the biggest difference with that world and the one that he resided in; many shinobi had control over abilities that were thoroughly broken in terms of what they could do.

Sacred Gears were powerful, and so were the many abilities in this world, but almost all of them could be countered with pure strength and power alone, which was precisely why this world was so focused on power in the first place.

Those that held the most power, would be victorious, barring a few miraculous circumstances.

But the most powerful of shinobi had abilities that could not be countered against so easily, and certainly not through power and strength.

So if he could harness those abilities into a new generation of powerful humans...

A grim smile made it's way to his face, satisfied with his plans, pleased with the work that he has accomplished so far.

He has already made copies of...certain jutsu that he has seen through his visions, and he knew that the world was not prepared for such abilities.

His heroes would be unstoppable, once they truly harnessed the power of chakra.

And once he was done with his experiments, this power would be given to as many people as possible, remaking the shinobi in this world.

All done, in the name of his plan.

The Flask Plan.

His dark smile didn't leave his face as he picked up a phone near his desk, putting in the numbers to make contact with his little strike team.

The strike team made up of an initial group of six, now eight, that he has sent to the Hero Tribe in Japan.

He only said one thing to the person on the other line once the call was picked up.

"Proceed with the attack."

---

AN: Wow, ok, plenty have happened again. But this is, without a doubt, gonna be the last very long chapter in a while. I don't have time to write something this big within my present time frame, and I'm determined to write it out before I leave.

Anyway, I hope those that tried the OST was satisfied with it, I mostly wanted to use it for moments I wanted to emphasize, not necessarily just for battles, so please give me some feedback if it was alright. :P

Also, in canon, Kurama really did meet Orochimaru just by making eye contact with Naruto in Shippuden, back when Naruto went three-tails, so I figured that I could use that for this instance, I hope it wasn't too jarring.

Lastly, the fourth crossover is indeed underway now, the 'tyrant' is a pivotal character in that crossover, as is the old man. I gave a major hint in this chapter for those that were still confused, but it seems that many have already come to believe what that crossover is. No worries, next chapter will expand more into what's going on in the 'tyrant's' head.

Welp, that's it, cya for one last chapter in a while. :D

-RekkingPride