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!

40. Chapter 40

"Hey...brat."

Naruto opened up a single eye lazily, it's cerulean color making itself known to those that were watching, somewhat droopy thanks to being dragged out of the confines of sleep.

"What do you want..." the young shinobi drawled, his single eye swiveling to the older man behind him as he moved his head a bit. "...Ero-sennin?"

Jiraiya growled from behind the young man, offended, as he always was when the blond used his nickname. "Listen here you...do you have any idea how lucky you are to be the student of the great Jiraiya-sama!? I can assure you that many ladies would be more than willing to take your place if you're too disrespectful!"

The blond paid no heed to his tirade, choosing instead to go back to bed rather than listen to his master's gloating, too tired to have his typical argument with him right at that second.

And he thought he was gonna stay that way, until he heard his master speak again, in sharp contrast to his earlier hysterics.

"Naruto."

From behind the tree that both males were leaning on, back-to-back, Naruto's eyelids snapped open, turning his head to look at the wild mane that was his master's white hair.

Not only did the Toad Sage use his serious voice, he also used his actual name rather than 'brat', as he normally did.

Whatever he wanted to talk about was pretty damn serious if this was how he started out.

So the younger man waited, eyeing his master's ridiculously long hair until he finally turned around to meet his gaze, ebony with cerulean.

They stayed like that for a moment, gauging each other almost.

Until the damned pervert finally continued.

"You're still gonna do it...aren't ya?" he asked, eyeing his student with a critical focus, studying his reactions.

Naruto knew what he was talking about immediately.

"...I can't not do it." the whiskered teen responded, his tone implying that his answer was obvious. "That bastard was...no...is family, so it's only natural that I go and save family, right?"

The older male frowned. "And if that so-called family member of yours doesn't recognize you to be family?"

Naruto laughed airily, waving away the possibility. "Ah, come on Ero-sennin! Even that bastard admitted that we were practically like family. And it's a family's duty to protect their own from making stupid decisions, of course."

Jiraiya sighed, turning away from his student to study the treeline above, watching as leaves as numerous as the stars slowly floated down from the towering branches above. "Well, considering who the Uchiha is training under, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much...your friend may be too far gone when you two meet each other again."

"Even if that's the case, I would always be there to help that bastard whenever. I refuse to abandon my family just because they made shitty decisions in their lives." the blond maintained, ever firm with his stance on his friend lost to the shadows.

The Toad Sage said nothing for a moment, seemingly done with the conversation for now.

Unsure of this, Naruto twisted back forward, laying his head back against the solitary tree in the middle of the meadow that they managed to find, comforted by the sounds of rustling leaves as they drifted to the ground.

"Hey...Naruto."

Said young man perked up almost infintismally at his name being called, but didn't turn to face the older shinobi this time, choosing to listen.

"...Don't lose."

Though, what Naruto heard only served to confuse him.

Yet he still didn't turn around.

"What the hell are you talking about now, old man?" the shinobi snarked, though his voice held no rancor.

Jiraiya paused, as if trying to put his next thought into words, but only for a fraction of a moment. "Do you remember that conversation that we had almost two years ago? About the shinobi world?"

How could Naruto forget?

The talk that they had early on his training, where his teacher first told him about what he felt about the current state of the Elemental Nations as a whole, and the shinobi in particular.

How hatred and conflict fed into more hatred and conflict.

"...Yeah." the blond murmured, eyes hazy, seeing something far off.

Although he couldn't see it, he knew that his master nodded. "And you...?"

"I will." Naruto interrupted, tone confident. "I will help you find a way to stop this cycle...I've seen this cycle play out in front of me myself. I can't let something like that continue dattebayo."

He felt more than heard the older man chuckle behind him, the vibrations to the bark supporting his head clueing him in. "And that's why I don't want you to lose."

Before Naruto could irritably try and retort, the Toad Sage continued, finally choosing to explain himself.

"When you get back to the village." his teacher began. "You will have to face the trials that we have been training you for these past two years, possibly without my help."

Naruto nodded, eyes narrowing at the thought of those powerful ninja draped in black with blood-tinted clouds.

"And...throughout my life, I have seen plenty of shinobi break and bend because of the trials that life threw at them, changing them for the worst. Even those with willpower to spare." Jiraiya noted, shifting against the cool wood that he was resting on. "I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

"Hey, hey now...what's the matter Ero-sennin?" Naruto replied easily, not worried at all. "What brought this up?"

"Thinking about the future, it's something that geezers like myself do a lot." Jiraiya retorted blithely.

"Well, you're worried for nothing, cause I'm not gonna change. The Akatsuki isn't gonna change me, neither will-"

"I'm not just talking about the Akatsuki or the Uchiha, brat. I'm talking about everything else after them as well."

Naruto frowned, stubborn. "I'm still not going to change."

His stubborn determination managed to make the powerful sage chuckle, shaking his head. "Calm down, Naruto, I never said that all change was bad, did I?"

This time the blond blew out air explosively, exasperated by his master's vagueness. "Then what the hell are you spouting right now?"

"Just listen for a bit, would you?" Jiraiya scolded lightly, his voice light before growing serious. "People change Naruto, that much is inevitable as they grow, for better or worse. No, I'm not asking you not to change..."

This time, the older man turned his head just a bit to look at his apprentice, who he knew was listening despite the fact that he was laying his head on the tree that they were sharing.

"...Don't lose yourself."

Naruto straightened, just a bit. "Don't...lose myself?"

"Yes." the Toad Sage confirmed, every bit the wise man that sometimes emerged from his perverted exterior. "People change, Naruto, but sometimes...instead of simply change, they lose what made them that individual in the first place. Crushed by some kind of pressure that shattered them to their core. What made them...'them', simply was lost."

The young shinobi licked his lips, uncomfortable with the thought of Uzumaki Naruto no longer being Uzumaki Naruto. "And...you think that could happen to me?"

"We don't know what the future has in store for us, Naruto." the older man explained. "Even someone like Tsunade, who had an indomitable will, lost herself when she lost two of her closest loved ones. It can happen to anyone, in our line of work."

Blue eyes took in the peaceful sight of the meadow around them, a scenery that very much conflicted with the seriousness of their conversation, letting his teacher continue speaking, knowing that he wasn't finished.

"Naruto..." Jiraiya murmured, so quiet that his student almost didn't hear him. "No matter what happens in the future, no matter how dim and hopeless, I want you to retain who you are; your core. To remember all of the people that have placed their faith in you; their hope."

Although he couldn't see it, Naruto somehow knew that the wise old man was smiling faintly now, a bit of pride leaking into his voice.

"Their legacy."

The younger shinobi slowly raised his arm from his side as he listened, bringing his hand to his chest, which was open thanks to the fact that his orange and black jacket was unzipped, gripping the small emerald gem that was hanging from his necklace tightly, somehow warming his palm at it's touch.

"Don't lose yourself and stay strong, Naruto..."

The wind brushed past both men, the floating leaves comforting both as Naruto began to drift off to sleep, aware of his teacher's smile as he fell to blissful rest.

"Stay strong..."

---

Light peeked through the slightly opened curtains, lighting up the dimly lit room where a certain blond was stirring.

Twisting a bit, the young man groaned as he opened an eyelid, pupils droopy as they regained focus.

It took a bit, but Uzumaki Naruto was waking up, pushing himself to sit up, dragging himself from the confines of his sleep.

However, despite how tired his body was, his mind wasn't in any such state.

To the contrary, his mind was very much going over the dream he had just awoken from.

Staring at the beam of light that illuminated his features, Naruto was silent for several moments, mulling over and making sense of what he had just experienced.

Then, inexplicably, a grin formed, genuine as it ever could be.

"You were right old man...it didn't just end with the Akatsuki at all." he admitted, raising his head towards the ceiling, as if the person he was speaking to was hanging right there. "But I swear...that I won't lose my core. Not without one hell of a fight."

As soon as he made his vow, the blond's features softened, hoping that his words would reach the great beyond somehow.

"...Ero-sennin..." the shinobi couldn't help but whisper, eyes unseeing, before a ghost of a smile graced his lips. "...Thanks, you damn perverted old man."

His words, spoken to no one, meant for a man that wasn't there, still held the teenaged boy's thorough gratitude.

Somehow, the blond couldn't help but believe that his teacher managed to reach him and give him some encouragement at just the right moment, considering all that has happened recently.

That, or Naruto simply recalled that memory from the deep recesses of his mind due to everything that has happened.

Either or, he was grateful.

He needed to hear that, then and there.

Taking a moment to bask in the warm feelings that his dreams elicited, Naruto took a second to grasp his surroundings, trying to remember the previous night's events.

He blinked, recognising where he was as soon as he saw the familiar outlines of furniture thanks to the light.

He was in his living room, for a reason that the blond couldn't recall then and there.

Not only that, but it turned out that he was sleeping on his -kinda- comfy couch.

The teenaged boy sighed as he shifted his body, idly wondering why he was on his couch in the living room and not in his-

He paused his thinking right there, registering that his hand had just touched something while he was shifting around on the couch, getting him to turn and look down.

After seeing what he had accidentally touched, the young man couldn't help but smile, unable to do otherwise when he saw the peacefully sleeping face of his practically adopted imouto.

Though why they were sharing the same couch was still a minor mystery for him.

Looking around, it seemed that they weren't the only ones in the living room either.

Scrunching his eyebrows together at the particular situation he found himself in, Naruto carefully got out of the couch without waking the slumbering red-head, intent on getting to the bottom of this.

Before he could reach the curtains and do anything to solve this mystery however, he was forced to stop all bodily movements, freezing in place.

Mio was stirring, and in the faint light, the blond could clearly see her features twist in worry as her hands stretched out, grasping for something in front of her.

And the longer that he watched, the more distressed the half-devil's features became.

At first, the shinobi was thoroughly confused as to what was going on, not sure what she was grasping for.

Then, in a click, it hit him.

She was searching for him.

Guilt awashed the young man, knowing damn well that despite her assurances, that she was clearly more affected by her trials than she let on.

With a sigh, Naruto made a familiar hand sign, whispering something under his breath as he did so.

Without uttering a sound, a copy of the blond appeared besides him, shuffling forward to crawl back onto the couch.

As soon as the clone managed to occupy the space left by the original, he felt Mio quickly settle down as she instinctively felt his body heat, her distress washing away in her contentment.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, before finally reaching the curtains to pull them back, letting the sunlight do it's job.

What he saw was both; expected and surprising, if that made any sense.

And it also managed to trigger the memories that led to this...situation.

---

A few hours ago...

"...Wow, you lot really did go through the ringer today huh?"

Sona nodded, tone dry. "I'd say so."

The sun was slowly peeking out from over the horizon, indicating that the day has arrived over Kuoh Town, and that the night was done.

And boy, what a night it was.

Following immediately after Naruto reunited with everyone in Kuoh Town, the group huddled together in order to share their experiences with one another, curious to see what has happened with them.

For now, Rias and Sona were giving the blond a summary of everything that has transpired since he was away.

And he was not happy.

"Diodora...so that's the bastard's name, huh?" Naruto growled, crossing his arms in agitation. "To think that that masked guy from before was a noble. And to think that he had the balls to come back after I ripped apart his face..."

"You're telling me..." Mio agreed with a sigh, shaking her head. "He was relentless, and probably insane to boot. I barely managed to beat him back when we fought, though if it wasn't for Issei, I would have been done for."

A snort, coming from the perverted boy himself made his opinion known to all in regards to that situation, but didn't deign to comment as the nun focused on wrapping some bandages on the crown of his head, basking in her familiar fretting.

Deciding to let him do his own thing, the shinobi turned to Mio, a toothy smirk in place. "But from what everyone's been telling me, you only lost that battle thanks to the stray devils that that bastard had under his control. Which means you've just trashed a high-class devil by yourself, doesn't it?"

The half-devil continued to shake her head, ignoring the warm effects of his not-so-subtle praise. "I only won because I managed to drop two buildings on him, I didn't win with my power..."

"Wait...you dropped two buildings on him!?" Rias exclaimed, her eyes wide.

She just finished giving their neighborhood troublemaker a rundown of everything that has happened while he was gone, yet she had no idea that her kohai literally smashed that horrible man with at least six floors of concrete...

Naruto, far from shocked, just bent his head back and barked a laugh. "Ha! That. Is. Badass!"

"Great..." Yuki couldn't help but sigh. "She's becoming as destructive as her brother..."

Mio gasped, horrified. "I'm nowhere near as bad!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, amused as the red-head continued to deny their similar effects on the area around them.

He couldn't help but be proud of her destruction of public property, especially since it hurt no one in the real world and was used as a way to let her get close to her enemy.

Apparently, Yuki very much noticed his pride, as she poked him in the stomach in faint irritation, her eyes dull.

"Stop encouraging her increasingly bad habits, Naruto." she complained, blaming him.

The shinobi gaped at her, rebelling against the accusation. "Hey! I had absolutely nothing to do with that!"

In response, a certain succubus piped up, at precisely the moment where Naruto really didn't need her input.

"Eh...Mio-sama was never quite this destructive until she met you, Naruto-sama." Maria pointed out.

"...Bad influence." Koneko couldn't help but mutter under her breath, believing that to be the case.

Unfortunately, both lolis got dark looks from the pair of siblings, stopping their little comments cold.

"My...what a carefree bunch."

A sarcastic comment managed to cut through both of their glares though.

Naruto swerved his head to the side to find the source of the voice, feeling like he's heard it before...

And, sure enough, the young man's eyes lit up when their focus went to the air, seeing a certain fallen float above everyone.

"Raynare!" the shinobi exclaimed, flashing a toothy grin without reserve. "Holy cow, it's been a long time! I'll admit, I almost didn't recognize you without that...'outfit' of yours, but that permanent scowl on your face did a great job at rejogging my memory."

The raven-haired female's scowl, still present after thinking about some rather unpleasant things following the blond's little speech, softened just a bit at his bright grin.

Something that did not go unnoticed by someone.

"It really has been a while...Naruto." Raynare replied, the edges of her lips twisting upwards just a bit. "And I see that you still manage to drag yourself into the most...'interesting' of situations."

Scratching the back of his head, the teen chuckled. "Yeah, somehow. If anything though, it's gotten worse since we last met dattebayo."

"I figured that when I heard about what you did at that devil party back in the Underworld."

Naruto blinked owlishly at that, surprised to hear that she knew about what happened in that party following Rias' dissolved engagement with Riser. "You...knew about that?"

Raynare snorted. "Knew about it? How could I not? The entire Underworld probably knows about it by now, since the news wouldn't stop talking about you after your little stunt."

Seeing his wide-eyed look, the young woman then jabbed a finger at the two devil kings on the ground. "If you don't believe me, go ahead and ask them about it. I'm sure that they've heard about it too."

Sona, who was just casually listening in, gave the fallen woman a blank stare. "...Actually, this is the first time that I've heard about that event getting such coverage. Same for Rias as well, I'm sure."

The red-head jerked at hearing her name being used, caught unawares as she continued to needle her kohai with similar colored hair about dropping buildings on people. "Eh? Ah...yes."

Raynare snorted again as Sona twitched, taking some satisfaction in knowing something that the devils didn't.

Petty? Yes. But she didn't really care.

Better than outright hostility in her book.

Clearing her throat, the Gremory heiress refocused back on the task at hand, much to Mio's relief no doubt. "Anyway, Naruto, going on a tangent for a moment; how exactly do you know Raynare-san?"

"How'd I meet her you ask?" he reiterated, tilting his head up to make a thinking pose, looking for details. "Well...I accidentally knocked her out while I was in a ramen-induced rage, then her mother tried to kill me, then I helped Issei over there try and keep Asia alive...then Raynare and I became friends."

He nodded, sure of this chain of events.

Things tended to go like that.

Apparently he wasn't the only one who thought so either.

"...I knew about that last bit, as a matter of fact, I half expect for something like that to happen again in the near future." Yuki stated, nary a doubt in her voice. "But I had no idea that that entire debacle started because of you, Naruto."

Mio couldn't help but concur. "...What the hell, you totally seem like the bad guy in this situation..."

The blond shrugged. "Things just sorta...happened. I guess."

"Wait."

Everyone's eyes panned to the shaking figure of a certain fallen angel, taking in her outraged expression.

"You mean to tell me..." Raynare started lowly, body shaking with repressed rage. "That you knocked me unconscious, let me get interrogated by that weird pale guy, and started a literal war with your damn copies...all because you wanted some ramen!?"

...

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds pretty messed up."

The fallen's mouth hung open, anger petering out at the massive balls that the shinobi must have had to act so nonchalant with the situation.

It was something that even said shinobi had noticed eventually, given the looks he was being given.

Naruto coughed, doing his best to ignore the pointed stares by everyone around him, as well as the hanging mouth of the fallen angel. "So...uh...how've you been since then, Raynare?"

While anyone with a brain was able to see through the blond's lame attempt at changing the subject, they were not able to figure out that he was also trying to stop them from figuring out who exactly that 'pale boy' was.

Maybe he was too good of an actor sometimes...

"Geez...there you go, acting as if this was just a casual afternoon day." Mio noted with a 'hmph'. "But do you realize how worried we all were about you? No one was able to contact you at all when you went to Kyoto, and we had no idea where you went after that either. It was..troubling."

She made no mention of the fact that the blond's uncanny ability to ease the frayed nerves of his allies was helping to nurture this 'casual' atmosphere, allowing everyone present to simply speak their minds for the most part.

For the most part.

Oblivious to his effect on others though, the young man frowned. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to cheapen your recent struggles. I just thought that focusing on the shitty stuff could wait for a bit, you know? Seeing each other again shouldn't be a doom and gloom fest 'ttebayo."

Pink eyes fluttered, their owner unable to truly try and get upset at her beloved sibling.

Truth was, a part of her couldn't help but be somewhat upset at how easily the whiskered teen was able to bounce back from his distressed state when she last saw him about to face that woman with purple hair.

It was mind boggling, yet here he was; a shoulder to lean on when things got rough, a solid rock to help and weather whatever storm came by.

Again.

A part of her was envious, she knew, and she had to lightly reproach him, lest her zigzagging emotional state lead her to say something she would regret.

"No. You shouldn't have to apologize..." the red-head admitted eventually, sighing as she nudged a little closer to what she was leaning on, letting the comfortable position calm her down. "I was the one in the wrong. You're trying to make everyone ease up again, and here I am playing sabotage."

She turned away from him, downcast. "...Sorry."

It took all of about three seconds to feel the blond place his hand on her shoulder, grasping it in order to comfort her.

"Hey now, don't worry so much about it. We're all a little tense after all." he soothed, before scratching his cheek, looking a little nervous. "Uh...that being said, can I ask you something?"

The half-devil turned back to him, pink eyes curious. "What?"

Now he was just flat out giving her a strange look. "...How long are you gonna keep my arm hostage for?"

Mio inclined her head a bit to look at their crossed limbs, her arm hugging his tightly like a vice so that he could scarcely move without moving her.

I'm reality, ever since the blond had finished raising everyone's spirits, his imouto had pretty much latched onto his arm and stayed there, refusing to be dislodged.

So much so that the teen had slowly lost all feeling in it.

In response to the shinobi's question, the half-devil's features scrunched up, finding the question to be weird. "Can't I hold onto my 'nii-chan's' arm anymore? What's the problem."

Taken aback, both by her refusal to acquiesce his arm and her usage of her sibling status to justify her actions when she's never been so outright affectionate before, the blond could only stare.

"Hey...are you alright, Mio?" he questioned hesitantly, meeting her gaze.

Squirming just a bit while under those blue -too blue- orbs, she replied. "I...just let me stay like this, alright? I'm fine, but let me stay like this."

Naruto, who was in the middle of opening his mouth to protest, didn't get the opportunity to actually speak.

"Indulge her."

So Rias requested anyway, with her arms crossed and a serious expression donned. "She's had it the worst today, just let her do as she wishes for now."

Moving his focus in-between both red-heads, the blond hesitated for only a brief moment before nodding firmly.

So, ignoring the young woman holding onto him for a moment, he also shifted into his serious frame of mind. "So, just to be clear, why did you all split into different groups?"

Sona shot Rias an interested look as her friend went rimrod straight, caught in a dilemma.

The two devils gave the blond an abridged version of the events that transpired in Kuoh Town while he was away, omitting a few things for the sake of brevity.

Except for one detail, that just so happened to be about a certain knight.

The Sitri heiress followed along for her friend's sake, but she was aware that the omission was a rather gaping one, and hard to hide.

To be fair to the crimson haired princess, if they divulged what happened, then Kiba Yuuto's general bodily functions might be seriously in danger.

Which was probably why Rias was so desperately trying to grasp at a cover story.

Fortunately for her, someone intervened.

"It was my fault."

Naruto frowned, following the source of the voice to look at a pair of hazel eyes, burning with a quiet determination.

"Your fault?" the shinobi repeated, seeking clarification.

The rook nodded. "Yes...I-I wanted to get stronger, so I ran away from Buchou so that I could fight stray devils on my own...but she came after me eventually...and-"

Koneko continued to ramble on about what she has done, laying the blame on herself for getting Mio into the terrible position that she was left in, as well as for placing everyone's lives in danger.

And it was one of the easiest lies that the blond had seen through.

Not only was the white haired teen creating a story that was obviously being made on the fly, the reactions of everyone else around her gave her away.

They ranged from disbelief, to consternation.

And for one, outright guilt.

He knew that someone would break and spill the beans, and that it would probably come from Rias, who was looking particularly perturbed.

But the one who was carrying the heavy guilt would reach that point before she even could.

"Please...stop, Koneko-chan."

That soft voice, despite how it barely reached above a whisper, somehow managed to kill the rook's desperate explanation, leaving her deflated.

Naruto didn't need to be a genius to figure out just who the young devil was trying to cover for.

"...So...this is because of your actions, huh...Kiba-san?" he asked the handsome blond that just emerged from the alleyway of two buildings.

Yuuto Kiba had arrived, much to the shock of his fellow Peerage members, clasping Koneko's shoulders with both of his hands, refusing to let her take the fall.

Something which earned him about thirty seconds in the shinobi's head before he began to break some bones.

"Why?" was all Naruto questioned, direct and to the point.

"For revenge against the Excalibur swords." was his fellow blond's response, following his lead.

At this, the youth's countenance darkened, recalling a moment a few days ago where both blondes had a discussion which he hoped wouldn't cause any trouble later.

Sadly, he might just be disappointed.

"...Is this your so-called 'goal'?" Naruto spat, making the word sound almost like a curse with the amount of venom in his voice.

Yuuto didn't make any excuses or justifications.

"It was."

"Was?"

The knight nodded. "I...placed everyone in danger today, foolishly thinking that I could just make everyone forget everything that we had done together. Thinking that if I acted coldly, then they wouldn't try and help me. That they'd just leave me alone."

Rias moved up to him, nervous about how the stoic whiskered teen was taking this since she didn't want her precious family to get hurt.

But while she feared for her knight's safety, she also genuinely didn't want to force Naruto's hand, getting him to hurt an ally to drive home a point that, perhaps, needed to be made, but that she was unwilling to follow through.

Like a mother that didn't want to discipline her unruly child, she didn't want the 'father' in this situation to force himself to do what had to be done.

"Yuuto..."

He shook his head with a shallow smile, regret dripping from his voice, refusing to be curtailed. "I...forgot, no, ignored the fact that a true family wouldn't let one of their own push them away without a fight. And that made my actions disgustingly selfish. Truth be told, I don't think that I could apologize enough for the pain I've put everyone through."

The shinobi narrowed his eyes faintly, cold pools of freezing ice locked onto the other male.

He hadn't fully fallen to the trap.

Initially, as soon as the psuedo-avenger claimed that he wanted to destroy the legendary blades of the Church, he had half a mind to simply knock him out and wrap him in a strait jacket somewhere.

But he gave him the benefit of the doubt, and was glad that he did, since he seemed to have stepped back from the edge of the abyss that he was precariously standing on.

He grasped that those that truly gave a shit rarely just let sleeping dogs lie when their loved ones start to push others away.

Still...the blond was stuck in indecision, simultaneously proud and outraged at what the teen in from of him had done within a single day.

So, stuck in this rut, Koneko intervened.

"Naruto-sempai."

He didn't need to be a mind reader to guess what the rook was about to ask of him.

"Please don't punish him, Naruto-sempai. He's learned his lesson...he won't do something like this again, I promise." she pleaded quietly, hazel irises wavering a bit as she met his cold blue.

Yet she never turned away, choosing to stand fast instead.

Seeing the dark bags under her fierce eyes, her paler than usual skintone, and numerous scratchas across her body, he had to ask, just to be sure. "Why are you going so far for him?"

He knew the answer of course, but he still needed to hear it regardless, from her mouth.

Koneko didn't dissapoint.

"Because he's family." she stated, her small body quivering, with fear or determination, or a mix I both, she had no idea.

Still, when she lowered her head, he wasn't sure what he expected.

What he did not expect to see though, was the nigh-beforeseen emotion that nearly overflowed from her hazel eyes, sticking him in place.

"But more than that..." she started, fists clenching. "I...don't want to lose another precious family member...! Not again!"

The raw emotion in her words were shocking enough, considering her stoic nature, as was the glassy complexion of her orbs.

But nothing compared to what her eyes shifted into during her emotional state.

Right before his eyes, the young girl's relatively normal pupils stretched out horizontally, thinning as it did so, creating a slit that gave her a cat-like appearance.

More jarring than that was the simple disturbing fact that dominated his mind when he saw those eyes.

He's seen those eyes before.

But where did he...?

Then, in a flash, those hazel pools filled with heavy emotion and framed by her girlish features and snow-white hair was momentarily replaced.

For a breathe of a moment, those hazel slits were filled with a teasing glint, far more sensual, framed by the facial features of a young woman in her prime as well as her raven hair.

Opposites almost, yet...so similar...

'Nya~'

Naruto jolted, physically taking a step back as something clicked into place, making far too much sense for comfort in the limited timeframe he was given.

That young woman that was with Ophis back when they trapped him...the one that wanted to jump his bones was...

"Naruto-sempai?"

The shinobi was forced to hastily collect himself as the rook in front of him gave him a concerned look, seeing him step back without warning.

He managed nicely. "...I'm beginning to think that maybe we should continue this talk later, a lot of people are going to start waking up to go to work soon, and plus...I don't think that anyone here had gotten a rest recently, right?"

Yuki, curiously chancing a quick peek around, easily saw what the blond saw. "I agree, everyone here looks like they need some rest, lest they make foolish decisions while sleep deprived."

"There's just one problem with this idea." Sona quickly interjected, idly pushing her glasses onto the bridge of her nose as it slid down. "We have class in a few hours, so if we go get some rest now then we will miss most of school."

Rias winced, forgetting for a second how much her fellow high-class devil was a stickler for going to school.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you asked, Naruto didn't particularly give a shit then and there.

"So? Let's just skip school today then." he declared bluntly, preferring to sleep on a bed rather than on a desk.

He was gonna sleep regardless anyway, so may as well choose the comfier option.

Of course, as any could have guessed, the Sitri heiress was balking at the idea.

"S-Skip class?" she repeated, such was the young woman's complete shock at the mere suggestion that they all skip school. "Don't be foolish! We are students! We can't simply just-!"

The shinobi groaned, knowing what was about to come. "Oh please don't start the lecture...I have enough of a headache today. Besides, we all need to be decently rested so that we could go over some important stuff...which could put people's lives in danger. Isn't that a bigger priority?"

Sona felt her jaw unhinge, just realizing that she was put into a position where she had to compromise one of the things that she valued most to make sure innocents were kept safe.

It was a frustrating thing to come to terms with, especially considering who was giving this suggestion.

Thay feeling was only dampened a bit when Tsubaki, her queen, patted her on the back in a soothing manner.

Thank you, Tsubaki.

Seeing the most troublesome of his obstacles back down from his plan to skip school, the blond fist pumped in triumph.

A decent night's rest, here he came!

---

Now...

Well, he got his rest, and now it seemed that it was time to get back to work.

Though apparently some people didn't get the memo.

When the shinobi opened the curtains to let light filter in the living room, he saw at least three people resting peacefully in various positions.

First, obviously, was the sleeping red-head that used his clone like a teddy bear, hugging it for all of it's worth.

But besides her, Maria was also resting in the same room, using his leather coffee table like a mattress as her head hanged over the edge, letting her long silver hair cascade to the floor.

She was...technically sleeping peacefully, if you ignored the occassional perverted giggle that she let loose, as well as the heavy blush.

Yeah, he wasn't gonna look into that.

And then...that left the newest addition to his little band of freeloaders.

Leaning back onto his soft reclining chair, with her feet propped up, was the fallen angel; Raynare.

Before the group split up ridiculously early in the morning, Raynare requested, no, practically demanded that she stay over his home for the night.

Still smarting over how her life was flipped upside down because of a certain blond's addiction for ramen, she refused to pay for a place to sleep and instead wanted to crash with him for her remaining stay in Kuoh Town.

And...well, yeah. Looking back, even if it was for the better, his actions still essentially took the fallen woman off of the driver's seat of her own life for a bit.

...Where the blond essentially then took the wheel of the car that was her life up until that point and promptly slammed it into a brick wall.

If she was an enemy, then he would have a bit of sympathy, but as an acquaintance or friend?

He kinda felt bad.

So he flopped to her 'request', not at all seeing the mixed reactions he had elicited from the people around them.

So here she was, resting with her arms crossed, her lips parted just enough to breathe in and out.

Well...at least that 'outfit' that she wore back around a month ago was replaced by something more tolerable.

Better than black straps that barely covered the essentials anyway.

Now she donned a dark grey, nearly black corselet that framed her upper body, as well as a long skirt that stretched to her ankles with a long slit up the side that allowed anyone to sneak a peek at the band of her lacy black underwear.

It would still attract the attention of literally everyone that wasn't a supernatural being, making her the focus of attention as soon as she walked out that door.

Not exactly something that he wanted, but he doubted that he could change her mind, so he just shrugged helplessly.

Checking to make sure that they were all still deep within the confines of their own rest, the shinobi carefully turned back to the curtain to open the window, making a gaping hole for someone to crawl out of.

Someone like himself.

Naruto crawled out of the window, knowing that his clone would keep watch to make sure no unsavory characters would interrupt anyone's sleep.

As to where he was going? Well...he had to meet with someone before everyone involved in Kuoh Town would converge again in the Rias' club room.

All he had to do was find her now.

---

It didn't take too long to find Yuki's home.

There were multiple occassions where the shinobi and hero traveled together in Kuoh Town, whether it be for small talk or...

...Or when she dragged him off to teach him something, as a tutor.

Shivering in spite of himself, the blond gazed at the small house that he knew was probably his friend's residence from his spot on the sidewalk.

This was it, he had no doubts about it.

Many times, whenever they stuck around for a bit, Yuki would head to this area in order to get back home, leading him to this small cul-de-sack area at the edge of Kuoh Town's limits as a settlement.

And the house he was looking at just so happened to have a residue of the young woman's energy signal, kinda like how Kuoh Academy felt thanks to the devils that were taught there.

This was much more faint, I course, but a combination of...uh...'triangulating' her home's general area and a little bit of luck made it possible for him to find it.

Good thing too, since on the outside, it looked like another cardboard copy of every other house next to it.

Walking up to the front porch of the seemingly innocent home of yet another citizen of Kuoh Town, the blond lacksadaisacally knocked on the door, thankful that there was literally no one around to see him since everyone was still at work or school.

Waiting for about a minute in the entryway with no response, Naruto then figured that he was patient enough to completely throw away his conventional way inside out of the metaphoric window in favor of...his way.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, the shinobi once more was thankful that no one was around as he leaped up a story to reach the window attic, touching down on the windowsill to open it up.

With ease, the window was opened from the outside, letting Naruto slither right on in with minimal trouble.

As soon as he stood back up to survey his surroundings, he was forced to duck right back down as something literally came flying towards his head, crashing through the window that he entered in.

Without a moment's hesitation, a young woman came barreling towards the home invader with sharp eyes and an even sharper steel, prepared to-

"Heya there, Yuki!" Naruto chirped, waving to the hostile hero.

Yuki paused in her charge, eyes fluttering rapidly as she actually took in the features of her intruder.

As soon as she did so, she had to refrain from loosening her grip on her katana completely, some part of her training managing to hold fast when frozen stiff.

"...Naruto?" she sputtered out rather uncharacteristically, such was her surprise. "Is that you?"

"Yeah." the shinobi confirmed sheepishly. "Sorry for scaring you, I...kinda don't have a way to contact you. And I knocked on the door earlier too."

The hero swiftly allowed Sakuya to dematerialize, releasing a sigh as she did so. "You couldn't have possibly found a better way?"

"I got impatient."

Having no way to truly respond to that line of reasoning, the swordswoman turned on her heel to return to whatever she was doing. "So, what brings you here, Naruto?"

Pleased by the fact that she didn't even bother to try and question how he found her home, the young man answered. "I was hoping that we could talk before we met with everyone else...about some stuff that I know you're not comfortable with them hearing."

Placing her hand onto the smooth wooden surface of a stool in the middle of the attic, she bit her bottom lip. "I was hoping that you have forgotten about that."

"Sorry, but I haven't." the blond retorted, crossing his arms. "But seeing as we're a little strapped for time, I'll let the...other thing go for now, ok? I know that you had it pretty rough recently too."

Twisting her head, the teenager sent her blond friend a thankful look, too tired to deal with that terrifying idea that he was trying to convince her of.

Back while they were in Kyoto, Naruto had concocted an idea in order to deal with the remnants of a faction that they had severely weakened during their fight in Kyoto.

The remnants of the so-called 'Hero' faction, where her former sensei; Cao Cao, was it's faction leader.

At least he was, until Naruto dealt with him.

The young hero narrowed her eyes, uncomfortable with the idea that there was another faction of heroes out there, still following her former sensei's perverted ideals of what the word 'hero' represented.

For all intents and purposes, the faction that he has built was what remained of him, still haunting her and those she cared about beyond the grave.

If it still presented a threat, and she did nothing to stop it...

"Oi, Yuki, are you listening to me!?"

Yellow met with pools of blue, marvelling at how bright and beautiful they seemed to her, full of life, despite how they were tinged with annoyance.

It was so strange that her thoughts so easily switched from the seriousness of dealing with the other faction based on her own, to marvelling at her friend's sapphire eyes, but her friend sometimes had that effect on her.

It was disconcerting, yet she didn't necessarily feel worried about it.

So when she opened her mouth to make a comment, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to do in his presence.

She didn't even think about what was coming out of her mouth. "You have beautiful eyes."

Naruto, who was about to call her name again after getting no response was taken aback by her out-of-left-field comment.

He could do nothing except look at her, seeking some kind of explanation.

Yet she couldn't really provide one, as she genuinely had no clue why she did what she did.

So both parties were forced to stay quiet as they suffered together under the oppressive awkward silence.

It literally took all of about a minute, which seemed to last about an hour to them, for someone to break the silence.

"...What were you talking to me about, Naruto?"

The shinobi saw the question as a clumsy attempt to kill the silence, so it should come as no surprise that he eagerly jumped at the opportunity.

"R-Right." the blond coughed. "As I was saying before; what should we do about our story in Kyoto? I don't really want to hide what happened, but if we give everyone the full story, then we'd have to mention Cao Cao's origins in the Hero Tribe ya know?"

Plopping herself onto the sole stool in the attic, the hero considered her options, recognising her dilemma.

No matter how she looked at it, her former sensei's actions were in direct response to what he perceived as an organization that created intrinsically flawed heroes, which spurred him on to build his so-called Hero faction.

His motivations; to test the absolute limit of a human's prowress and triumph against beings that were well and truly beyond them, no matter how insane, that was one of his key beliefs of what a 'hero' was.

A being that overcame the beings that used humans in the past, completely disregarding the idea that not all supernatural beings were like that.

To put it mildly, his entire reason for trying to take control of the yokai faction leader was to take on the most powerful and prevail over them; Great Red.

So she had to make a request of her friend, aware that the anonymity of the Hero Tribe was paramount for it's continued existence and future success.

"...If you can, please skip over the motivations behind his attack, Naruto." she solicited softly.

The shinobi nodded, accepting her decision without rancor.

The existence of the Hero Tribe was not his story to tell, it was her's, so he'd respect his choice to keep it a secret.

As he would with his other friends and their secrets.

"Is that all you needed?" Yuki questioned, peering at him in curiosity.

"One more thing...well, actually, more like two, though that last one isn't really much of a question." Naruto claimed dryly, before switching gears. "I wanted to know if you knew anyone else that might have left the Hero Tribe besides Cao Cao dattebayo."

"Anyone else?" she repeated, wondering why the blond wanted to know something like that. "Well...I know that there are people who leave the Hero Tribe amicably compared to Cao Cao's betrayal, in order to live out their days as regular citizens, though they make a vow to never divulge any information about our faction. Outside of them, I can't think of any..."

She stopped, brows scrunching together in thought. "Well...there was one incident before I even began my training that I heard about. It was about some sort of seer that left his duty post quite a few years ago...it was a big deal at the time because apparently he was pretty important to the higher up's decision making process. Allowing them to coordinate where and when heroes should intervene, or something along those lines."

The shinobi bobbed his head up and down, expression thoughtful. "...I see. Thanks, I wanted to confirm something."

Then, without another word, the young man twisted about and trudged back to the broken window.

As soon as he reached it and began to step out of the attic, he faced the curious hero with a good-natured smile.

"Hey..." he started softly. "...That friend of yours; Basara, was it? I can already tell that he'll fit right in with everyone else around here, he's gone through an entire journey unconscious after all."

This brought out a small smile out of Yuki as well, marvelling at how the blond could see through her worries. "Yes...I hope so too."

Naruto's earnest expression shifted into a sly grin as he pointed at something out the window. "By the way, before I go, do you want me to go and grab your cellphone?"

The hero felt her cheeks heat up a bit as she nodded.

She didn't have anything to throw at the intruder when they came in, so her reflexes kicked in and conspired to get her to throw her own phone as a distraction so that she may close in on her enemy.

It was somewhat embarrassing.

Offering her a thumbs up as he slipped out of her attic, he leapt out of the window and ran straight to her phone. "Make sure to tell your pops that I said hi, ok? And that his son better be a good guy when he wakes up, unless he wants a foot rammed where the sun doesn't shine!"

Yuki's cheeks grew a little bit warmer, but in return, her smile bloomed a tad brighter than before.

Leave it to her friend to make a positive spin to her less-than-stellar attempt at contacting her adopted father.

Did he know about her difficulties? Her fear of Toujou Jin's reaction to his blood son?

Her trepidation as she wondered if his two adopted children would be supplanted by his suddenly-living son?

Clenching her fists, she resolved to do it today, to stop agonizing over this call in a dark attic where she could feel pity for herself.

She would do this, no question.

As her determination was solidified, something came flying through the sole window of her attic, sailing over her head as it broke through the wall in the other side of the room.

Her deadpanned expression said it all.

She'd contact her father...after she retrieved her phone.

---

Naruto knocked on the door of the ORC's base of operations, cautiously checking his surroundings as he did so.

It was roughly around the afternoon when everyone had decided to meet up again to continue their serious discussion, centered around what has happened to everyone throughout the last three days or so.

And it was one that needed to happen, considering how seriously they were all attacked by various groups.

Everyone needed to be on the same page here, including the shinobi himself.

So he was definitely taking this seriously.

...That being said, did they have to be so close to Kuoh Academy? He didn't want any teachers to find him out here...

Still wary about his surroundings, the door eventually opened up, a pair of violet eyes lighting up as they locked onto him.

"Foxy-kun!" Akeno chirped, all smiles as she swung the door open in order to let him in. "You're looking much better than earlier this morning, had a good night's rest I hope?"

Naruto smiled in return, falling into a familiar sense of camraderie. "Yeah, I feel energized and ready to get this show on the road. I hope everyone else is also feeling better after yesterday's chaos too."

The young woman's lips lifted up a little higher. "Everyone seems to be doing much better, thanks to you."

"Eh...? Do you really think so?" the shinobi inquired, scratching the back of his head bashfully. "I don't really think so, I'm pretty sure that you're all much stronger than you all think."

And he was being honest too, as the young man felt that for the most part, everyone who had remained in Kuoh Town had handled the situation to the best of their abilities.

They just needed a little bit of time to rebound, that's all.

A tiny shake of her head, almost unnoticeable if not for the accompanying movement of her long ponytail was the response that he received. "Maybe, but if we're underestimating our strength, then you're underestimating your influence to it."

Naruto frowned, he didn't want his friends to think that their accomplishments were all thanks to him, how would they become badasses if they kept doing that?

Maybe she saw this displeased expression, because Akeno swiftly changed the subject. "You may come in if you want you know? No need to stay outside like a stranger."

The shinobi coughed into his hand, just now realizing how stupid he must look as he stayed outside. "Yeah, right. I knew that."

But before he even took his first step inside, the young man halted, stricken by a stray thought that stayed stuck in his head for a bit following his brief reunion with everyone.

It first struck him as he quietly dragged his curiously clingy imouto while he was going over his brief meeting with everyone.

There was one person in the entire group that stayed strangely quiet throughout the entire conversation.

And he meant strangely quiet.

Issei and Asia were mostly quiet, but that was because the nun was focused on tending to him initially, and then they had a moment where they just sorta stared into each other's eyes, as if they were caught in a trance.

While they were acting...well...weird, they still had a decent reason to be ignoring anything and everything around them.

However, there was one person that stayed quiet almost the entire time, disincluding that one time after he finished his little speech.

And that person was...

"...Say, Akeno?"

Akeno tilted her head to the side in curiosity, her violet gaze pushing him to confess to what he was thinking.

Naruto peered through his golden locks, wondering, yet serious. "...Do you hate Raynare?"

He never saw someone's good mood wiped away so quickly before.

The queen shifted her gaze away from his, unable to meet his. "...Why would you ask me that?"

Raising his chin, the blond answered. "...You were acting normally when we all met up again after all of this chaos, you even teased me as you always did. But...afterwards, after we all began to talk, you suddenly clamped up."

His eyes narrowed just an iota. "...And I think I have an idea why."

His blue eyes, sometimes as warm as the ocean waves under a tropical summer day, were now more like a landlocked lake.

Steady and calm, yet carrying a great depth that could surprise the casual observer.

Akeno saw this, all of it, and a shiver shot through her body, partly from her growing apprehensive feelings that was emerging as the blond continued to probe her.

The other part on the other hand...

She shivered again, the intensity that his pools of cerulean were giving out conspiring to force her to remain rooted on the spot.

Despite the fact that this was the first time that she has truly saw this part of the young man that has so thoroughly disrupted daily life in Kuoh Town, she knew that this part of him existed for a while.

How could she not? His display of power and dominance against Riser in both of their confrontations more than proved that there was an experienced warrior underneath his happy-go-lucky persona.

But nothing really prepared her for the young man's transformation when it was aimed soley at her.

Her legs grew weak when her kohai leaned forward just a bit, observing her, seeing through her.

"You clamped up the second that Raynare spoke up and grabbed my attention." Naruto stated matter-of-factly, searching for anything in her facial features that gave away her true feelings.

Akeno took a deep breathe, collecting herself as she felt her cheeks grow a little red, how could she concentrate on a response when he was looking at her like that?

Nevertheless, she -somehow- managed to recall that moment which the blond was referring to within the depths of her mind.

It was that moment when the fallen angel received Naruto's cheeky greeting as she descended towards the ruined streets.

That moment, where she saw the ravenette's features soften from her dark scowl into something resembling an exasperated, yet...fond version of that very same expression.

It was something that validated the fallen's claim that she, indeed, was their blond troublemaker's ally.

Yet, instead of feeling secure that their mysterious new acquantice was genuinely not an enemy, all it managed to do was bring out a question from the very core of her being.

'She's not leaving yet?'

The queen clamped down on that thought, lest her kohai -could she still call him that with how her knees shook?- notice.

Naruto noticed something amiss anyway.

He took a step forward, making her heart hammer just a bit harder against her chest.

"Akeno..." he murmured, moving to take another step. "You..."

*Briiiiiiiing*

An annoyingly loud sound echoed across the Academy grounds, signalling the end of the school day for highschoolers.

Something that had an immediate effect on the blond.

Suddenly, the warrior in front of her grew pale, horror replacing determination and confidence.

"Shit!" the shinobi cursed vehemently under his breath, before shooting her a wild-eyed look. "Quick, hide me before anyone from school sees me!"

Akeno didn't even manage to get a word in before the teenaged boy scooted past her to rush inside, leaving her at the door's entrance.

Where she stayed.

At least until her wobbly legs finally gave out from under her, forcing her to use the frame as a support.

The young woman's breathing was just a little ragged as she tried to stand back up, a weak chuckle accompanying it.

She did not expect such a start to her rather late day.

But after regaining control over herself again, a part of her wondered about the fallen woman that should have been staying in her kohai's home temporarily.

Did she hate her?

She frowned, growing contemplative as she bandied that question over in her mind.

As she did so, she completely forgot about a certain fact that she neglected to give to the blond that had rushed inside.

---

Naruto barged inside the main room of the ORC building, not paying attention to anything else besides the outraged screams of his teachers that likely would want his blood by this point.

He slammed the door the second that he caught his balance, before pressing his ear against the decorated wood to listen for blood-curdling screams.

None came.

The shinobi let go of the breath he was holding, happy that he wouldn't be saddled with the exorbitant amount of work that those monsters gave their hapless students for the last few days.

He knew their ways, he wasn't stupid.

"...N-Naruto...?"

Naruto perked up, recognizing that voice, getting him to turn on the spot. "Uh...sorry about that, Rias. I had to avoid the teachers that were about to flood out of the school-"

He stopped speaking the second that he met the Gremory heiress' eyes.

Or rather, the second that his eyes registered her.

In the middle of the room, installed to the side, was a small shower that the blond genuinely never noticed before now.

Well, he most assuredly couldn't miss it now, thanks in due part to the young woman that was currently bathing in it, staring at him with wide eyes.

And she had good reason to, as she was as naked as the day she was born.

Everything about her was practically visible to him, with only a curtain to give her some modicum of protection from his roaming gaze.

Yet it still left nothing to the imagination, as the silhouette of her bare body behind the shower curtain gave him more than enough of an idea of what she looked like under her clothes.

The supple curves of her hips, her smooth porcelain legs, as well as her hypnotically large breasts were practically in full display to the blond.

And yet, as the red-head's cheeks flared to the same shade as her hair, the young man could only really say one thing.

"...You had a shower in the middle of your living room the entire time?" Naruto asked, his exasperation clear. "And you actually use it...?"

That comment may have just been the last push that the young devil needed to actually react to the blond's presence.

And as Rias gulped in quite a bit of air, Naruto already knew that this would be a doozy.

"Get out!"

---

"...So...what exactly happened?"

Rias glanced away, cheeks puffy.

Naruto just grunted from behind the table that he overturned as a shield, peeking out to glare at the newcomers, daring them to try and dislodge him.

Mio sighed, looking resigned if anything.

Raynare quickly decided that she was among the last sane individuals in Kuoh Town as of this moment.

The girls that were sleeping in the blond's house woke up about a half an hour ago, egged to move by the eternally energetic ball of energy that was Naruto.

Or, at least his clone.

Even now, thinking about it, the idea of a perfect copy of another person didn't really sit perfectly in the fallen's mind.

If they were a copy, then they weren't the original, right?

So could you treat a copy just like the original, or would that be kind of weird considering that the copy was literally just a vessel that held the memories and skills of the original without experiencing it themselves?

Could a friend be a friend to a copy?

Could a lover kiss a copy without it being considered 'cheating'?

The fallen angel immediately stopped her questions there, annoyed that she had adopted something of Azazel-sama's endless curiosity as her own.

Well...at least Naruse Mio had far less qualms with treating the clone just like it's creator, since she has refused to stay less than six feet away from him the entire damn time.

Even when she went to the bathroom, where she demanded that the clone stay by the door.

Did she always act like this while around the blond? If so, then the fallen had to question her sanity too.

Much like her older sibling.

...As well as her guardian for that matter.

Still, even she couldn't quite believe that everyone's sanity was so out of whack that they just casually shrugged their shoulders at the chaos that was the Gremory devil's headquarters.

Yet the succubus did just that, literally, while everyone followed her lead figuratively.

So, obviously, it was up to her to bring some much needed logic into this upcoming conversation.

Besides, Naruto's behavior needed to be...tempered, just a bit.

She remembered how the blond intervened on her behalf with Azazel-sama, and how he paved the way for a new path for her to take, away from the self-destructive one she was willingly walking into.

For the sake of a woman whom she craved affection for, she blindly followed her ambitions until that fateful day around a month ago.

And now she has learned that it all started because of the whiskered teen's reckless behavior, which was no doubt partially responsible for the mess she was currently standing on.

So her next move became obvious; help him as he helped her by tempering the flaw that was plaguing him as he once did for her.

After all, the people around him was, if anything, encouraging his behavior despite the dangers that it could lead him into.

This was her way of expressing her gratitude, even if the massive shift in her life was initially because of the crazy blond's lack of ramen.

...However, to initiate that kind of change, she would have to stay close to him for a little bit to provide an example for hik to look to.

A prospect that, if she were being honest, was nowhere near as unpleasant as she made it out to seem at times.

Actually...it was...kind of nice.

Besides, she could kill two birds with one stone this way anyway.

"Hey..." the shinobi mumbled out crossly, taking the fallen's silence as a chance to defend himself. "I have never heard of someone taking a shower in the middle of their living room before, mostly because it's a stupid idea. I'm the victim here dattebayo..."

Predictably, the red-head bristled, but surprisingly didn't retort.

Mostly because she herself was shocked by her own explosive reaction to the young man walking in on her.

Normally, the young woman would simply brush off such an accident without much rancor, as she didn't have much qualms with people seeing her body.

She was proud of her beauty, and she had no reason to hide it in her mind.

Yet...when he saw her...

White-hot embarrassment seized her, preventing her from doing anything except gawk at the one who saw her birthday suit.

At least until he spoke, which knocked her from her reverie.

Then, just like that, her embarrassment transformed right into anger.

It was, simply, so foreign for her to be so embarrassed that she literally couldn't think of anything better to do than chase the source of it out.

But why him? Why was he an exception?

She had no idea.

...Except, she probably did.

She just ignored it.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get a response from the high-class devil, Raynare turned to the one person that she didn't want to turn to for a fair explanation of what happened.

Akeno was standing just inside the room, right beside the doorway as she surveyed the battered area with barely contained amusement.

The group that traveled from Naruto's place found her in a daze right at the entrance, introspective.

Right up until the moment that they reached the building, when a brief burst of the Power of Destruction suddenly shattered the windows above them.

Which led to seeing this mess, of course.

So maybe the other woman knew about the circumstances that led to this situation?

Raynare was about to give it a shot when the devil turned and accidentally met her gaze, violet with violet.

For about a milisecond, the queen looked somewhat perturbed by her stare.

Then the faint bit of distaste settled back in, with their momentary connection cut off when she jerked her head to the side, shunning her.

There went that idea...

"Raynare-san..." Mio started, letting go of the clone that they traveled with just long enough to speak to her. "Just let it go. Everyone else will be here shortly to talk, so don't waste your energy on this."

The raven-haired woman opened her mouth to protest, cut herself off, then slammed her mouth shut.

"Whatever." the young woman grumbled, crossing her arms.

As Maria skipped over to the blond that was still using the large coffee table as a shield, poking fun at his reluctance to leave his shelter, the psuedo-apprentice of Azazel couldn't help but note that dealing with these people would probably give her more stress than anything else she has experienced so far.

---

It took a little bit for both; everyone else to arrive, and for Naruto to get coaxed out of hIs happy place.

When Sona arrived, with her Peerage in tow, she merely raised a brow at the chaos of the Gremory group's headquarters, abstaining from commenting.

That didn't mean that her Peerage members stayed quiet though.

"What the hell...? Why is literally everything getting destroyed these past few days?" Sona's pawn grumbled, vividly recalling the destruction that had plagued Kuoh Town recently.

As well as the hundreds of minds that they literally had to wipe clean in order to protect the anonymity of the supernatural.

Before any of his fellow devils could reassure him though, a hand clasped against his shoulder, putting an immense amount of pressure.

Saji gulped.

"Oh shi-"

"Mornin' Saji!" Naruto exclaimed, interrupting the curse that was no doubt about to leave his fellow blond's throat with a sickly sweet smile. "Nice to see you again, old friend! Hope you're doing well and...ya know...not saying weird shit about people behind their backs."

Just yesterday, there was a certain conversation where the devils of Kuoh Academy were trying to figure out why Kiba Yuuto disappeared.

During this conversation, Saji mentioned that Naruto could have been a suspect considering how the handsome blond disappeared shortly after the troublemaker left.

His suspicion was dismissed easily enough, but apparently the whiskered teen heard of his supposition.

The student council member licked his lips, nervous. "I-I didn't actually accuse you of anything, Uzumaki. I only claimed that you might have had something to do with Kiba's disappearance."

The shinobi regarded him for a bit, making him squirm.

"Oh? Is that all? Well then, that's alright." the shinobi allowed, taking a step back to give Saji some much needed breathing space. "Suggestions are alright, I just thought that you accused me of driving him away without proof. Now that would've pissed me off."

Sona shook her head as her Peerage member was allowed to breathe again, figuring that that was bound to happen.

Saji wasn't trying to implicate the blond in the knight's disappearance, he was just making a possible theory as to why he left.

And if Saji's suggestion just so happened to be true, she was more than positive that he would have considered it to be an accident rather than any kind of intentional cruelty.

...That being said, her pawn had that coming, soley for the ridiculous amount of holes in his theory.

Musing over her servant's somewhat dangerous misstep however, almost left the young devil completely unaware of another individual coming up behind her.

Almost.

"Sona-kaichou." Yuki greeted cordially, walking past her to enter the main room.

She didn't even pause when she noticed the condition of said room, brushing it off as a normal occurance.

The Sitri heiress silently watched the hero pass her by, surprisingly at ease with her presence despite their groups' natural animosity.

At first, hearing of a human that claimed the name of 'hero' within Kuoh Town, Kuoh Academy no less, filled her with uneasiness.

Yet, seeing her now after all they've been collectively fighting against external forces...

Well, she wasn't so bad anymore, was she?

She supposed the phrase: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' applied here.

Shortly after the hero's entrance, the infamous pervert of Kuoh Academy rushed in with a nun in tow, sputtering an apology about being late.

Grinning, the blond prankster of Kuoh Academy returned the greeting gamely, trading pleasantries with the pair.

Until he noticed something peculiar.

"Why do you two look so...ruffled?" he wondered, leaning back against a wall in a lacksadaisacal manner.

Saji, who was still nearby, turned to check the duo, and he immediately reached a conclusion in regards to what happened to give them such a disheveled appearance.

And he obviously did not like it.

"...No...that's impossible. You couldn't have..." the newest member of the Sitri group began with barely a whisper, his state of denial quickly morphing into rage.

Which Issei was obviously basking in at the moment if his shit-eating grin was to be believed. "...Maybe I did though."

Saji could only see red after hearing his fellow pawn's response. "Hyoudou...! I refuse to believe it! I refuse to believe that you managed to do...that before me!"

Yet, despite his fierce unwillingness to believe, the evil cackling of the wielder of the Boosted Gear all but crushed his resistance.

He could only fall to his knees while crying bitter tears.

Naruto, who was giving the scene the barest bit of his attention, gave the rest of it to the blond nun who had walked up to him looking decidedly nervous.

"Um...Naruto-san? May I ask you a question?" Asia requested, staring at her feet with a troubled expression.

The other blond shrugged, figuring that something like this was going to happen eventually.

Just like Mio, he knew that someone as innocent as the nun needed to learn about the 'birds and the bees' eventually.

So it was only fitting that the shinobi, the reliable source of information that he was, give her his worldly knowledge so that she could-

"Is it wrong to sleep with somebody?" she asked innocently, tipping her head just a bit.

...

Wow, ok, they skipped level one and skipped right onto the last boss, huh?

"Issei-san's parents seemed to be very distraught when they found me in his bed..."

Those poor, poor parents of his...

"...And while Issei-san says that it was ok, I can't help but wonder whether we did something bad." she finished, her face scrunched a bit with worry. "I even had on those pyjamas that they said I looked cute in, but they were still mad at him..."

Naruto blinked, opened his mouth to answer, then thought better of it when he went over what she had said in his head.

"You were wearing pyjamas?" he requested for confirmation.

"Yeah." came the reply.

Which left the shinobi a little stumped at first, as he wasn't sure how someone could do that with clothes on.

Unless...

"Hey, did either of you take off your clothes while you were sleeping together?" the shinobi tried to clarify, needing it to understand-

"...Why would we do that?" the nun inquired, her innocence shining through his doubts.

They literally just slept together, that was it.

Nothing explicit or raunchy happened, as his parents no doubt feared and Saji no doubt hated to think about.

So, with this fact in hand, he gave his answer. "Nah, you're good. Sleeping together is totally alright. Hell, I sleep with Mio sometimes too dattebayo!"

Said half-devil, who only heard the last bit of his sentence due to his emphasis of them, blushed furiously.

Much to the clone's horror, as her grip on him grew vicious thanks to her embarrassment.

Which, in turn, led to the inevitable-

*Poof*

Naruto blinked, an influx of memories entering his head unbidden to his whims.

With those memories, came the cherry-faced Mio that lost the blond copy, looking like she wanted nothing more than to hide her head underground somewhere.

Yet she still moved close to him, pulling at his ear with a pout.

It hurts a little, but he figured that he would let her have her way for a bit.

He was gracious like that.

"Perverted bully." he heard her say under her breathe.

A comment he took offense to. "Hey! I'm many things; a badass, a ramen-worshipper, a fighter, a decent writer of calligraphy...but I ain't a perverted bully!"

Seeing the unimpressed look he was being given only spurred him on to try and prove his point.

He turned to the entrance of the main room to face the pretty boy of Rias' Peerage. "Isn't that right, Kiba?"

Jerking just a bit at getting called out, Yuuto Kiba smiled hesitantly as he entered the room, wondering how his fellow blond knew that he had arrived without looking. "Er...I definitely wouldn't call you a pervert at the very least."

The shinobi beamed, both; at getting his backup, and because the knight was genuinely trying to normalize his behavior with everyone.

He was just a bit proud.

At least until he realized what he left out. "Wait, you think I'm a bully!?"

The handsome blond turned away from him uneasily, the ends of his lips twitching, barely. "...You have your moments, sometimes."

Naruto took a step back, betrayed. "I-I would never-!"

"Naruto-sempai...can't be called a pervert." a monotone voice interjected. "...But he can sometimes be called a bully."

Koneko threw in her own opinion as she emerged from Kiba Yuuto's back, sure that she was correct.

Yuuto shot the younger girl a wry smile, as she pretty much had traveled with him to make sure that he didn't run off again.

Not that he could blame her, he had to re-earn everyone's trust again.

"So you think he can't be called a pervert?" Mio asked from behind her brother.

"...Only one person can really be called a pervert." the rook claimed, pointing at a certain someone as she continued. "...And that's him."

Issei stopped lording over Saji to gape at the loli.

He hadn't even done anything yet!

Meanwhile, the shinobi was grumbling under his breath, annoyed.

She was only saying that because he blew her up that one time at Rias' summer retreat.

It happened once damn it!

"Really?" the half-devil wondered, raising a hand to check her nails casually. "Because I recently just heard that he had just peeped on your king while she was taking a shower."

Completely at ease with the verbal bomb she had just lobbed, Naruto now wondered why his imouto seemed to be in such a sour mood.

He had no idea that she was still nursing her embarrassment from before and thoroughly unsettled with the idea that he had saw Rias-sempai naked.

It brought forth an ugly feeling, so she was letting a lot of steam out in something relatively harmless.

But the blond himself didn't feel that way when Koneko turned to him to stare.

"...Pervert."

He may just cry.

Hearing Issei's triumphant 'woop!' at not being the only one on the recieving end of the white-haired devil's frosty stare only gave him the motivation to glare at him.

Koneko thankfully shut him down quickly.

"Shut up, Pervert the Second."

"I've been given a title!?"

Hearing Issei's indignant squawk had never felt so justified.

---

It took a little bit for everyone to calm down after seeing each other again, but eventually everyone was gathered around to begin their little meeting.

Their game faces were officially on.

"Ok, everyone's here now." Rias affirmed as she commenced the much-needed talk. "I'm sure everyone is aware, but multiple events have taken place ever since Naruto went off to Kyoto, so it'd be prudent if we all help one another get caught back up to speed."

A series of nods were her collective answer, with the sole fallen angel of the group giving Naruto an inquisitive look.

"You went to Kyoto?"

The blond smiled and tipped his head. "Yep! With Maria and Yuki too!"

"That's right." Sona intervened, sensing that the conversation was about to be derailed. "So we were hoping that you could enlighten us on what has happened during your trip, as your two comrades came back with a cast and a series of bandages. Something obviously happened."

Chancing a glance at the hero, the shinobi acceded to her request. "Well...while we were on our way to Kyoto on the train, our ride was kinda...hijacked."

"Hijacked?" the bespectacled high-class devil repeated. "By whom exactly?"

Sparing one more look at Yuki, Naruto surged forward. "...By a group that called itself the 'Hero Faction'."

Inevitably, all eyes turned to the sole hero in the room.

Thankfully, none of them seemed to be hostile, just curious and interested.

"I know what you're all thinking." Yuki admitted without hesitation, expecting this. "But those...'heroes' are not aligned with me. As a matter of fact, I've never heard of them prior to this...incident."

Accepting this answer, Rias took over. A faction of...'heroes' is a dangerous prospect to think about. What could they have possibly been after?"

No one noticed the very faint wince that the teenaged girl with light blue hair exhibited following the red-head's words, hitting far too close to home to her liking. "I'm...not entirely sure what they sought in the long run. But from my limited contact with them, they seemed to have aimed their efforts on kidnapping the daughter of the yokai faction leader...in order to lure out her mother."

Those who knew of the power and importance of the yokai faction leader; Yasaka, reacted with understandable surprise and disbelief at what this new faction was aiming for.

While those such as Issei and Saji were left confused, not seeing how big of a deal it was.

"But...since you guys are here, that means you guys beat them, right?" Issei pointed out. "So what's everyone getting so worked up for?"

Raynare, recognising the importance of the yokai faction leader thanks to her studies, snorted.

Ignoring her, Rias elaborated with a new tension to her frame. "...Issei, if what Yuki-san said was true, then a head of a powerful group in Japan has been attacked by a new faction...then this will very likely affect their interactions with other factions...probably for the worse in this case."

The perverted boy scowled, grasping the basics of what his king was trying to explain, but not much more than that. "Ok...but you make that sound like it's gonna be a bad thing, Buchou."

"It may not be." the Gremory heiress allowed. "But during a time when we're in the middle of something akin to a Cold War with the two other Biblical factions, something like this can very well be the spark necessary to fire up the powder keg that we've metaphorically made."

If anything, the young man's scowl deepened.

This time, it was Saji who spoke up though. "How the hell could this start a war...?"

"Because the yokai are probably gonna be very wary of outsiders now that their leader was attacked, all while searching for new allies that they could...somewhat trust. Something that could tip the delicate balance of power between the numerous supernatural factions in this country." Sona elaborated, concise as ever.

"To be blunt." Raynare decided to cut in. "If the yokai start making alliances all of a sudden, then other factions will grow paranoid that their people could be targeted by more than one group at the same time, spurring them to create an alliance themselves. Eventually leading to a bunch of alliances in a small country with tension that you could physically see between them. Does that simplify it for you?"

Issei gulped. "Y-Yeah."

Rias, newly solemn at the possible consequences of this event being bandied around, turned to face her whiskered friend. "Naruto...after, I assume, you met the leader of the yokai...how likely do you think that-"

"Time out."

The red-head blinked, seeing the blond raise both hands to make the signal of 'time out'. "...What?"

Naruto, who was staying silent throughout the exchange, looked at everyone with half-lidded eyes. "Everything...and I mean everything you were just talking about is moot."

"And why, pray tell, is that?"

"Because..." Yuki stated dryly, covering for the blond. "The head and arms of the Hero Faction has been effectively cut by Naruto during our fight. They have lost their most powerful members and are now leaderless. They are currently not a major threat as far as I'm aware. Not anymore."

Rias felt her jaw slacken a bit, unable to do much else except stare at Naruto in order to get a confirmation from him.

The shinobi felt a bitter smile make it's way to his lips. "Yeah...I did do something like that."

Koneko squinted, noticing the decline of the blond's good mood as they broached the destruction of this 'Hero Faction's' elite.

Did something else happen out there?

Still, the news that an escalation of tension was now unlikely seemed to have eased both devil heiresses enough to miss this fact.

Enough at least that they forgot to ask something that the shinobi hoped they would forget.

Why he needed to speak with the yokai to begin with.

"Thank goodness..." Rias breathed out in relief, muscles relaxing. "Ok...is there anything else?"

"Found my old friend; Basara." Yuki noted, purposefully skipping over the circumstances by rolling onto the next big discussion. "And Naruto disappeared to help Azazel-san with a request."

Raynare somehow managed to choke on spit. "Wait...what the hell!?"

Sona, after taking a moment to recover from her surprise, raised an eyebrow at the fallen's response. "Judging by your reaction, you were not aware of this, I assume?"

"Like hell I knew!" she bit out. "What the hell goes through that man's mind for him to-"

"The Church sent an exorcist to Japan, a really strong one, in the hopes that he could retrieve the fragments of...that sword." Naruto elaborated, making sure not to say the blade's name. "That bastard told me that he sent you to represent him, and that any meeting between the devils and fallen angels could lead the Church to believe that this was a team effort to weaken them. So...I had to convince him to turn back, that's all."

The shinobi paused, eyeing everyone in the room for a moment.

"You're all welcome by the way. I saved you lot from having to deal with exorcists dattebayo." he added as an afterthought.

Strangely enough though, the young man didn't get the accolades from his friends like he thought he would.

No, instead he got owlish stares.

"Naruto..." Rias started slowly, careful with her words. "I don't know how to tell you this, but..."

"Azazel-sama wasted your time." the sole fallen groused, irritated. "Because we, in fact, were visited by the Church's representatives in the form of exorcists...and they probably think that fallen angels and devils are in cahoots now too."

Predictably, the blond teen's eyes bulged. "Wait, wait, wait! Hold the phone. What do you...? Oh...come on! Please tell me you're all just joking around here..."

Yuki shook her head, her short locks following her movements. "Sorry to say this...but they are correct. Maria and I escorted these exorcists ourselves."

Naruto went silent after that, stewing at the fact that his hard work might've literally been for nothing.

That old bastard never mentioned anything about the Church sending multiple exorcists, just Dulio!

So then what the hell was this!?

Obviously someone, somewhere, fucked up in their information gathering.

Seeing that the blond wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, Yuki decided to ask some questions herself. "Rias-san, Sona-san."

Earning both of their attention, the hero continued. "When you were telling us about that twisted man...Diodora I believe his name was, you never told us why he attacked Mio in the first place. I thought that his aim was for Asia-san...?"

Asia herself shivered at the thought of being targeted by such a person, but willed her body to stop lest she worry anyone.

Meanwhile, beford either of the high-class devils could try and respond...

"I know why."

All focus was turned to Mio, sitting beside the shinobi, her cloudy pink eyes focused on her tightly knit hands placed on her lap.

She was recalling what that man had said during their clash yesterday, delving into something she'd prefer to forget.

She could still hear his taunting words...

"I have to say...your abilities, while diverse, are pretty pathetic considering that you're the daughter of the Original Lucifer!"

She swallowed the anger that threatened to overtake her, focusing on what was important.

He let it slip then, his knowledge of her true heritage.

So caught up in the fight was she that it didn't even occur to her to think about what he was saying.

Until now.

A fact which she interconnected with a conversation that she had with Naruto about a little more than a week ago now.

A conversation following the day where she, quite literally, openly berated the nobles of devil society that attended that stupid party after Naruto finished taking down a phoenix.

After that party, she recalled falling asleep in her brother's arms, succumbing to her mental exhaustion.

Then, when she woke up, she heard of the conversation that took place between Yuki's father and her friends.

Where she first heard about the organization that Yuki was a part of, in detail.

She didn't particularly care about it that much at the time, as she has never had any problems with 'heroes' before, nor did it affect her view of Yuki herself.

But it did explain a few things, to the succubus and to herself.

Most importantly though, was what she had gleaned from the summarized conversation.

The terrorist organization that was dedicated to recreating the old devil government and overthrowing the current one.

The Old Maou Faction.

She had no doubt in her mind that the man that knew of her heritage; Diodora, was a part of that group.

Everyone that she knew or heard of had no love for the Original Lucifer, in fact, her life was in constant danger because of her heritage.

Yet...Diodora had claimed that she had an 'admirer'...

Only one that had respect for the old Maou could possibly know of her heritage and admire her, her friends in the room not withstanding.

But who led such a group?

Unfortunately no one would give her a straight answer on that, so she had no idea.

Regardless, her belief was just a suspicion at best, so maybe she should take back what she said.

Besides...admitting to her proof meant that she had to admit to everyone of her heritage...

Mio shivered, recoiling from the idea.

Don't think about it.

Just don't think about it.

"...Nevermind." Mio murmured, frowning. "I thought I knew, but I was wrong."

The silence following her statement was loud, far too loud.

A quiet that drowned out all noise.

Even worse was the look that her sibling was giving her with his shining and bright blue eyes.

He didn't need to say a word.

'I understand.'

"I see then..." Rias calmly said, letting her kohai go uncontested. "Then, for now, until we get more information, we should assume that Diodora was working alone, agreed?"

A chorus of nods and murmured agreements followed closely after her statement, settling the matter.

Which left one more important thing to talk about.

"I suppose...that everyone here is curious about the fight I ended up in the second I came back to Kuoh Town." Naruto dryly guessed, checking the facial expressions of everyone around him.

He was a hundred percent correct.

"That purple-haired girl." Issei remembered out loud, unable to forget. "She acted like she knew you, Naruto. What the hell is that about?"

The shinobi shrugged, genuinely not sure. "Dunno, all I know is that she has apparently been watching me for a long time and...that she wants to change me."

"Sounds kinda ominous to me, Naruto-sama." Maria claimed, getting some nods of agreement from others.

"Agreed." Yuki concurred. "But what does she want to change you into exactly? And for what purpose?"

"From what I gather..." the blond intoned through half-lidded eyes. "She essentially wants me to join her and become a bitter asshole, or something along those lines. As to the 'why'...no clue."

At least, nothing truly solid.

He only had a vague idea of what she had planned for him, he only really knew that she needed him for...something.

Until he knew what though, he wouldn't needlessly have them worry about it.

'Coward.'

A groan escaped Naruto's throat, feeling a headache throb all of a sudden, not hearing the whisper at the absolute edge of his awareness.

No one noticed, too focused on the discussion at hand.

"...Counter-productive." Koneko pointed out stoically, not seeing the logic in play.

"And delusional." Raynare shook her head, almost pitying the girl in her impossible goal. "How exactly can she make this ball of sunshine into a sadsack?"

Imperceptibly, the young man winced, hoping that the fallen's words were as irrefutable as she made it out to be.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you're also not sure whether she works alone or not." Rias predicted, disgruntled with just how in the dark they were in.

Naruto's helpless shrug was his only answer.

Sona turned from the group to face her queen, in the middle of taking notes as requested. "You got all of that, Tsubaki?"

Tsubaki raised her head from the notepad she was scribbling on. "Yes, kaichou. We so far have a heavily weakened 'Hero Faction', a traitorous former high-class devil that may or may not have connections with an unknown yet hostile group, a purple-haired woman that carries unknown intentions towards Uzumaki-san and has the strength to face him on an even playing field, and two exorcists that may or may not be hostile roaming in Kuoh Town."

...

"Quite the summary." Raynare stated with an amused expression, impressed in spite of herself.

"Thank you." the Sitri queen replied cooly.

"Yeah...it really was, wasn't it?" the Gremory heiress murmured, sagging onto the slightly table that they were using to have this discussion with. "There's just...so many enemies to contend with..."

"...Maybe. But then again, maybe not." Sona wondered, folding her hands onto her lap. "Remember, at least two groups; those so-called 'heroes' and the exorcists...they didn't want anything to do with us, and for the most part, I doubt that that has changed."

Saji shared a look with another member of his king's Peerage, realizing that this was very true.

At the very least, they were all not those group's targets, they just so happened to be in close proximity to those targets.

"Actually, now that you mention it..." the other high-class devil turned towards Naruto, aiming to get specifics. "You said that that purple-haired woman was aiming to change you, right? So what exactly does that mean for the rest of us?"

Naruto scratched his cheek, looking apologetic. "Ah, well, to be honest, I couldn't help but get the impression that she very much doesn't care about any of you."

On a normal day, that'd be pretty insulting, but in this case it was something of a godsend.

Ironic that a devil felt that way though.

Because if what the blond claimed was true, then that meant that his adversary was at least predictable in her target.

With that in mind, they could now formulate plans and contingencies based on the target placed on his back.

Which, in total, left three out of the four...leaving only one more...

"Diodora...and whoever he is probably involved with." Sona finished her friend's thought for her.

Whoever Diodora was aiding, if he was working for someone anyway, it was obvious that the objective in that case revolved around Naruse Mio for whatever reason.

But unlike Naruto's case, the devil wasn't laser-focused on Mio, instead he specifically focused on her comrades around her to leave her isolated when the time came to attack.

So they were all fair game, and thus, if the threat still existed, would be the most immediate threat.

But, as was proven frustratingly clear in the discussion, they weren't sure.

They weren't sure about a lot of things.

But...at least they had an idea, something that was infinitely better than nothing at all.

"My...we have quite the conundrum on our hands, huh?" Yuuto asked rhetorically, marvelling at the sheer scope of the many groups around them.

That wasn't even getting into their lack of contact to the Underworld and the prospect of the rogue Grigori member; Kokabiel, still having a presence in Kuoh Town.

But seeing the look on everyone's faces, he figured that that could be left for later.

Perhaps noticing this introspective atmosphere, Naruto raised his limbs high above his head to stretch them, yawning loudly all the while.

"Hey now..." he drawled, giving everyone around him a critical look. "Don't go and overthink about this problem, or you'll all get grey hair early."

Ignoring the slightly scandalized look that she got from bespectacled high-class devil, the blond continued on. "Don't get me wrong, having an eye on the future is important, but letting it dominate your head to the point where it messes you up now is a bad idea."

The shinobi felt himself ease up a little, his voice softening a bit without his input. "Relax, all of you, we'll deal with each of these groups when the time comes. So...just make sure to grow stronger and enjoy life, alright?"

Once more, the room fell silent, taking in the blond's words, letting the absence of noise stretch on.

"You're right." Yuki declared, certain of this. "We can't obsess over this, it won't help us any. We are all now aware of what has happened in the past few days, all that's left to do is live as we normally do and prepare for the next crisis."

"Yeah...that's probably for the best." Raynare backed up the hero, relaxed. "Getting worked up will do more harm than good, it will prove that you are all getting spooked. I mean, go ahead and let your enemies win if you want, not my problem anyway."

The human female's dull stare were trained onto the fallen angel, appreciating the support...without the abrasive words that accompanied it.

It seemed to have worked, as Rias' eyes flared with her innate competitiveness. "No. We won't allow our enemies to dictate how we feel or how we live our lives. We are better than that. Instead, we should all focus on improving ourselves in preparation...for whatever lies ahead."

Seeing determination flicker to life in those blue-green eyes of hers brought a assured smirk to Naruto's lips, pleased.

From Vretiel to Riser to Diodora, powerful enemies sprung up and posed a threat to her and those she cared for.

If she was convinced that they needed to get stronger before, she was now thoroughly won over by the idea.

Possibly seeing his positive expression, her eyes flicked to him.

Was there a light pink dusting her cheeks? Or was that just the light playing tricks on him?

"Can I- we look forward to your support in our growth?" she questioned, utilizing politically correct terms.

But there was no mistaking the easy smile that made it's way to her lips.

And, honestly, she needn't have asked anyway.

"You know you do."

She did too.

But hearing it verbally still lifted her heart regardless.

"Then it seems that we've gone over everything we possibly could have gone over in regards to these last few days." Rias declared unilaterally, though she doubted anyone would object. "And if that's the case, then I see no reason for us to continue this discussion, correct?"

Varying expressions were bandied about by the numerous occupants of the room.

Raynare's part mocking, part genuine smirk.

Issei's confident grin.

Yuki's rather indulgent smile.

Maria's excited beaming.

The blink-and-you'll-miss-it upward twitch at the corners of Koneko's mouth.

Akeno's...

...

Akeno's...?

Rias blinked, realizing she has stopped to stare, and quickly returned to finish what she was going to say.

Whatever that was, she'd deal with it as soon as this meeting was adjourned.

"Then, with all we have gone over, I say that it's time to return back to daily life and work together to raise our strengths and cover our weaknesses. Meeting adjourned!"

---

"Hey, Naruto, may I ask you a question?"

Naruto sideglanced to look at the other blond, interested. "What's up?"

Honestly speaking, he wasn't really doing anything at the moment, since everyone was talking to everyone else at the moment.

The moment that the discussion ended, Raynare opted to leave the building and go get some shut-eye.

Rias had dragged her queen off to parts unknown.

Sona was going over her own queen's notes.

The pervert was animatedly going over his recent fight with Asia, regaling her with his 'badass' maneuvers.

The rest of the Sitri group was conversing with each other, probably about student council work.

And Mio was...

Sending a spare glance ahead of him, he saw his imouto getting an in-depth rundown of what happened in Kyoto by Yuki and Maria.

Then, as if sensing him, she swiveled her head to sneak a peek at him.

He waved.

She beamed and waved back.

Then she returned to the conversation.

Worrying.

That was Naruto's dominant emotion right then and there.

As he knew that she didn't predict his looking over there.

No...actually, she had been turning to him to check if he was still there every ten minutes or so.

Her strange behavior was beginning to get to him now.

"Well, you see, Naruto." Yuuto continued, not noticing the blond's split attention. "I was wondering if you...noticed something that caught my attention last night. Something hard to miss."

The whiskered teen regained his bearings quickly. "Something hard to miss, eh? Interesting. But why are you bringing this up now? Why not during the meeting?"

A small frown was his response. "After all that's happened, I don't want to worry everyone with another issue that may be baseless."

Almost as an afterthought, he halted, his expression becoming pained.

"...I've given everyone enough stress I think."

Ah, so it was like that, huh?

"Ok then, so what's this...uh...'thing' that you felt last night?" the blond pressed, facial features backing up his open nature.

Soothed, Yuuto took the plunge. "Well...last night, before I even knew that anyone was in danger, I felt a dark energy emerge all of a sudden from another part of Kuoh Town. I...I'm not too sure how to explain it, but it felt...hateful. I thought that it might've been the enemy, but it eventually disappeared during your fight. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

The shinobi's open visage slammed shut in an instant.

Steel-grey watched the change with a feeling of dread, not understanding what he had done to warrant such an action.

But the shift, as quickly as it had come, was just as quickly undone, with the young man shrugging his shoulder with an air of ease.

The knight felt like he was imagining it almost...

"Don't remember feeling something like that." Naruto claimed, sounding honest.

Nodding, Yuuto believed him, not seeing the telltale signs of a lie in sight.

And he wasn't lying. He didn't feel that hatred.

He felt something far worse.

"...Naruto-sempai?"

A haze was cleared in the blond's head, giving him the ability to lock gazes with the snow-haired teen that was one year his junior.

"What's wrong, Koneko-san?"

Koneko stared at the blond, hesitant, her small face scrunching up.

"...Nothing, never mind."

She chickened out, much to her inner frustration.

After everything that's happened, she was hoping that maybe...just maybe she could-

"Hey, Koneko-san, wanna train with me?" Naruto asked, an encouraging smile on his face.

The rook nearly tripped over herself, how did he-?

"Ah...sorry about that, I did kinda just ask that completely out of the blue, didn't I?" the shinobi apologized, scratching his cheek. "Well...the thing is, I wanted to ask you whether we could train together after that little devil party we attended, cause I figured you'd want to after that. And...well...I think I may be able to teach you some stuff."

Koneko was silent, heart swelling at the idea that he was already planning on helping her growth, no, more than that, actually train with her.

Back in her king's summer home, he simply just fought them and pointed out some flaws in their fighting styles, he didn't actively train anyone, not really.

Yet he was willing to do it now, for her.

Taking the reincarnated devil's silence as hesitation however, the blond quickly backpedaled on the idea. "Well, of course, you don't have to do it if you don't want to..."

"Thank you."

It was clear and concise, true and emotive.

He understood.

After being spooked by the feeling of senjutsu at least a week ago, and after getting thrown into a fight that no one could have possibly imagined even could have happened...she was raring to go.

"We'll start tomorrow, alright?"

Her hazel eyes shined with determination.

"Yes!"

---

It was a little dark outside again.

A few hours have passed since they had their little meeting, where almost everyone was spending time just chatting, catching up with one another now that they've collectively caught their breath.

But, after a while, the blond decided to slip out of the festivities, needing some time to get ready for his first training session with Koneko and to make sure that Raynare was alright.

She was a guest after all.

So, aware that Mio was checking to make sure he was there every now and again, he made sure to leave a clone behind when he slipped out.

Now he was casually walking back home, checking out the empty streets, figuring that mostly everyone was back at their homes, preparing to eat dinner soon.

Just like him.

Which was why he was a bit surprised to see someone he recognized come out of a small market stall as he entered the commercial district.

Said person, as if sensing his presence, turned to meet his blue with their violet.

"...Akeno!" he breathed.

Akeno's eyes lit up in recognition as well, but before she could say anything...

"Akeno-san! Don't tell me that that's all you're getting!" a voice rang out from the stall.

An easy smile made it's way to her lips. "Ara, but if I doubt I could finish everything if I got anymore groceries."

From the stall emerged an eldery woman, her wrinkled face stretched into a smile as she walked up to the younger woman with aid from her cane.

"Nonesense!" she dismissed, her grey eyes critical despite the smile decorating her features. "You're a budding young lady! You need more protein in your diet!"

The queen of the Gremory group shook her head wryly, having had this discussion with the elderly woman. "Can we please not have this discussion in front of my friend here?"

"Your friend?" the old lady echoed, before turning and noticing the blond teen watching them.

She stared back at him for a few seconds, turning back to her young patron again.

Then looked at him once more.

Until finally landing on Akeno, a cheesy grin on her face. "Oh ho! Now I understand!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes when the elderly woman waved for him to come closer, wary.

When he reached her, he was able to see Akeno's apologetic features through the side of his eyes.

"Here, take this young man." The weird lady said, grabbing his arm so that she could bring his hand up to her, then place something into his palm.

Raising his hand to inspect what he had just received, his eyebrow twitched.

It was a small square plastic package with a slight bulge in the center, belonging to something circular within.

He knew exactly what he was holding.

"Stay 'safe' Akeno-san!" the woman chirped, chuckling as she backed up into the stall, probably to get back home.

Both teens stood there, watching her go.

Until Naruto swung his arm to the ground, flinging his 'gift' to the ground with a red face.

That perverted old bat...!

---

"Apologies, although she's...a bit eccentric, she does mean well."

Naruto grunted, but didn't really say anything else.

Both teens were roughly going in a similar direction, so they began walking together following that...'event'

He still had no idea what the hell happened there.

"She seemed awfully nosy, don'tcha think?" he commented, not really expecting an answer.

He got one anyway in the form of a chuckle.. "Ufufu...she's like that to everyone she's taken a liking to. Please forgive her."

Naruto kept walking as he tilted his head to peer at his companion through the side of his eye. "She's taken a liking to you?"

"Yep!" Akeno chirped. "As a matter of fact, I know most of the vendors in the commercial area since I act as the de-facto cook in Buchou's Peerage. Especially when it comes to making Koneko-chan's sweets and, of course, brewing tea."

"Seriously?"

"Ara ara, do you not believe me?"

The shinobi raised his hands up in surrender, marvelling at the idea that someone like Akeno would be friends with vendors from these local market stalls.

It was something so small and mundane that...well, it never crossed his mind as being in the realm of possibility.

A small snippet into a person that he really didn't know all that well yet.

...Maybe that should change.

Starting with something besides her weird aversion to Raynare, since she obviously wasn't willing to part with that information yet.

As the blond was reaching that conclusion, the voluptuous woman beside him was in her own little world herself.

Having only recently left from the small talk that her king had dragged her into, the young woman was initially looking forward to some time alone to her thoughts.

But then the blond showed up, and she suddenly felt more inclined to talk.

So the both of them were, unbeknownst to each other, ready and willing to have have heart-to-heart, maybe.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be, since the duo had continued to move forward, where they eventually wandered past an abandoned alleyway.

An alleyway that had an occupant.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

A hunched form deep in the shadows was vehemently screaming expletives without a care in the world, earning the attention of anyone within hearing distance.

Like the two supernatural-aware young adults passing by.

"That shitty geezer promised me blood if I gave his toys a few test runs...but there's been no blood!" the insane man clothed in priestly clothing roared, furiously slicing apart an innocent garbage can with a wicked-looking sword. "'Don't kill any normal humans' he said, 'it would cause too much of a commotion' he said!"

Viciously kicking a fallen can, the 'priest' bellowed. "Well, fuck you old man! I'm here for some blood! Whether it's shitty devil blood or heathen human blood doesn't matter anymore! I'm gonna get my decapitated teddy bear with fresh blood to help me get some sleep if it's the last thing I do!"

He paused there, an exaggerated scowl on his face, deeply considering...something.

"...Maybe two decapitated bodies, and any children or pets I come across will get some too. That will teach those shitty devils to hide from me!" he declared arbitrarily, haughty.

Decision reached, the psychotic turned on the spot, his red eyes gleaming with ill intent.

Which was wiped away as soon as he noticed the two figures who had witnessed everything.

"...Ara, this is rather awkward." Akeno noted playfully. "We have heard everything just now."

"Yeah, we did." Naruto agreed readily, rolling up his sleeves. "So, you wanna do this or should I?"

A considering hum was what he received as an initial response. "Hmmm...instead of doing this separately...why not do this together?"

The dark grin that emerged on both of their faces gave the 'priest' the shivers.

Made even worse when, out of nowhere, the blond produced a small knife and electricity began to dance around the ravenette's body.

Her dark giggling didn't help.

"Well, if it's any comfort, there is at least one thing that all three of us can all agree on." the blond claimed, twirling his kunai as his glare sharpened. "...And that's that you came to the wrong neighborhood."

The insane 'priest', even with his limited logical facilities, knew a lost battle when he saw one.

Which is why he; Freed Sellzen, only had one thing to say.

"...Fuck."

---

"You seem to be kind of anxious there, Yuki."

Yuki jerked a bit, a little dusting of pink lighting up her cheeks in embarrassment.

She didn't realize that she was so distracted that the succubus could sneak up on her.

"Do you think so, Maria?" the hero couldn't help but wonder.

Maria, playful to a fault, frowned. "Well...you were up here instead of inside, then I see you stare blankly at the sky. I even managed to sneak up on you. You kinda have a habit of internalizing everything to boot, so..."

The hero marked everything she said as factual in a mental checklist, but didn't reply immediately.

Maria was impatient though. "Did I guess right?"

That was a guess? "Maybe."

"I got it, didn't I?"

Yuki stayed silent.

The succubus watched her for a moment, then idly balanced herself on the balls of her feet, twirling around in place. "Is this about the guy that you had me lug when we were going back to everyone else?"

Basara.

While, yes, she was worried about his comatose state, she knew that he'd be alright in the end.

Especially since he was secure in one of the guest rooms within Rias' base of operations, monitored.

That wasn't what was occupying her mind.

"Heh, bet that you're anxious whether they'll fight for your love or something like that."

No, she wasn't.

"Oh! Maybe you want that though! Ohhhhh...if that's the case then you should have me as an advisor before it blows up in your face, you're too fresh to handle such delicious drama by yourself. Unless, you also want that to happen..."

"I finally did it." Yuki interrupted.

Maria tilted her head to the side once she stopped twirling. "You finally had your first time? Well I hoped that you recorded it at the very least..."

"No." the hero sighed, why was she even telling her this? "I...I finally contacted otou-sama."

It took a moment for her to receive a response, but when she did, it was in the form of a proud smile.

"And? How'd he take it?" the silverette prompted, curious.

"About as well as you'd expect a father to take it." was the hero's vague response. "It...will take him a while for him to sort through his emotions."

She pulled her legs closer to her chest in her seated position, daring to hope that she could say 'otou-sama' after all was said and done.

---

What was wrong with the Great Hero?

Ever since the surprise kidnapping of a key member of the Hero Tribe, the entire base was on lockdown, with the higher ups of the faction immediately convening in an emergency session to figure out what to do.

The base had been compromised by an unknown group, several heroes laid dead, and an important member was kidnapped.

This was precisly the time that leadership and focus was needed, as well as decisive action.

Yet when Takashi, the only witness to the identities of the perpetrators, identified the ringleader of the group, his response was lackluster at best.

Instead of immediate reprisals, he cautioned against it, unwilling to rush right into hostile action.

At first, even with the emotions of many heightened, they listened to their Great Leader, their respect for his achievements and power obvious.

Until another higher up angrily wondered whether his caution had far more to do with keeping his adopted daughter's 'friend', who matched Takashi's description of the attacker, safe, rather than wisdom.

The Hero Tribe leader was no doubt regretting giving the elders a description of his daughter's newest ally.

Still, the damage has been done, and many heroes couldn't help but question Toujou Jin' s motives now that the charge was out there.

The Hero Tribe quickly became split between those that advised caution and those that advised immediate action.

Then, to make matters worse, during another heated discussion with the Hero Tribe's elders, the Great Hero's phone rang.

It wasn't so much the fact that his phone rang that was the issue, it was his response to it when he irritably picked it up and listened.

It was a slow change, but Toujou Jin's features grew deathly pale, his cigarette falling out of limp lips, the whites of his eyes going red.

He was forced to excuse himself for a moment, but as he went, so did the elders' confidence in him.

Which has led to Takashi's curent situation, his newest mission, given to him behind their leader's back.

To retrieve Nonaka Yuki from Kuoh Town, whether she wants to or not.

A mission to gather intelligence on her erstwhile 'ally'.

But he doubted that he could do it alone, he was going to need some help.

And he knew exactly who to go to.

---

AN: Uh...hi.

Ok, first, I apologize for this taking so long, I ran into a big problem when I came back home for a little bit.

My computer wasn't working, so I wrote everything here with my phone.

I can't tell you how much that sucks, but I managed it.

Now, just so you know, the grammer might have suffered a bit as a consequence, sorry.

Also, the next few chapters will have more to do with character rather than fighting, a break from the chaos for a bit.

But that doesn't mean that I'm not preparing for chaos down the line of course. :P

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed yourselves, cya next time!

-RekkingPride