I do not own Naruto or the Persona Series.
"Persona!" normal speech
"Persona!" thought/mind speak
"Persona!" Demon/Shadow speak
Chapter V
*Gekkoukan High*
Naruto was in the library as exams were coming up and he knew some of the topics…but he still struggles with a few topics like science.
"Wish Fuuka-chan was around," the blond whispered to himself as he looked over some of notes he had taken during history class, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind having a study partner."
Thinking about the young girl, Naruto had noticed that she wasn't around as much. It had brought concern to him as the blond had heard many rumors about bullying and it really burned him.
…and unfortunately a few of his fan girls were also bullies.
How can they call themselves my 'fans' if they do one of the things that I despise? Naruto asked himself as he began to tap the eraser end of his pencil on the table, I never asked for fan girls, but Kami could they at least be more…I don't know…civil or nicer maybe?
Seeing how he wasn't getting much focus on his studies due to his new chain of thought, Naruto closed his textbook and said, "Screw it, I can't study like this…maybe some ramen after school might help."
Gathering his things, something had alerted Naruto and the blond turned around to try and catch whatever had caught his attention, but he only saw some of the other students who were either studying or just looking for what they needed or wanted.
"Damn paranoia…" Naruto growled out as he left the library, unaware of a group of eyes that were watching him.
"He's so dreamy…" said one of the girls with a love struck smile on her face.
"I know…" said another girl as her mouth began to drool, "I really wish to see him shirtless, but no one has ever seen him without his shirt."
"I heard that Natsuki and a couple other girls have been taking care of that one girl!" another girl whispered excitedly, "Now we have a straight shot with Naruto-kun with that little brat out of the way!"
The trio giggled to themselves before deciding to meet up with the other members of the Namikaze Fan Club and try to get a picture of their idol shirtless.
*Dorm*
After school had ended, Naruto had just entered the dorm when Mitsuru had approached him as Kichi was nowhere to be seen.
"Sup Cuz?" the blond asked as he rolled the shoulder where his duffle bag was hanging from.
"Some of the equipment in the meeting room seems to be malfunctioning," Mitsuru said with her usual professional tone in her voice, "I was going to ask Arisato-san to take a look, but he told me that he was busy tonight."
"I guess I could take a look at it," Naruto said nonchalantly, "I needed a break from studying anyway. By the way, where's Kichi?"
"Shione-san took her to her room." Mitsuru answered with an odd look on her face, "She said something about having a fashion show with Kichi."
Naruto had to suppress a chuckle as images of the fox in different dresses and embarrassing outfits popped into his mind and all he could think of at the moment was that he had to get pictures.
"I'll go ahead and go check on the equipment," Naruto said with a stoic tone, "I'm sure Kichi and Kotone will be alright."
The Kirijo woman watch as her cousin traveled up the stairs in a slight hurry before lightly shaking her head at Naruto's odd behavior.
Once Naruto made it to the girl's floor, the door to Kotone's room opened as a blur of red and pink sped out to reveal Kichi wearing…a frilly, pink princess dress with sparkling fairy wings.
"Get me outta this DAMN, DISGUSTING DRESS!" Kichi shouted as tried to shake the dress off, causing glitter to dance in the air, "I'm getting glitter in my fur and I am not supposed to glitter like an overly sexualized vampire!"
"Kichi stop!" Kotone cried out as the vixen was now trying to rub the dress off through the floor, "You can't be the good witch from my favorite movie without your pretty dress!"
"I'm sorry Kotone-chan, hehehe!" Naruto said as he laughed at the vixen's misfortune, "but Kichi...heeheehee...Kichi isn't much of a fan of dress-up! HAHAHA!"
"NOT FUNNY KIT!" Kichi roared out as she got to her paws and glared at the laughing blond before trying to shake the dress and glitter off, "NOW GET ME OUT OF THIS!"
"Alright, alright, I'll get you out." Naruto said as he calmed his laughter, "Come here…Glinda, hehe!"
The blond kneeled down as Kichi rushed towards him and sat down on her haunches. After feeling around on the back of the dress, Naruto found the zipper and carefully unzipped the dress before moving the dress around so that Kichi could jump out and shake some of the glitter out of her fur.
"Naru-kun…" Kotone whined as she held up a few small costumes and dresses, "I still have cute little outfits for her to try out."
"Don't worry Kotone-chan," Naruto said as he got to his feet, "I don't mind ya dressing Kichi up…just don't put anything in her fur as she's very prideful of it."
"YA DAMN RIGHT I AM!" Kichi roared out before trying to shake more glitter off her fur, "AND I'M EXPECTING YOU TO BRUSH THIS CRAP OUT!"
"Okay, Kichi, okay," Naruto said as he pulled out a small brush out of his pocket that he had gotten from his room, "I'll brush ya while I'm checking on some of the equipment upstairs."
The vixen mumbled something under her breath before walking up to the command, still trying to shake some of the glitter that got on her paws.
"I better go ahead and go check on the equipment," Naruto said with an embarrassed chuckle, "Mitsuru did say that it was malfunctioning a bit and we couldn't have it messing up on key missions. You have a good evening, Kotone-chan."
"You too!" Kotone said as she walked downstairs, ignorant of some of the glitter on her hands and skirt.
Naruto chuckled at the amount of energy the girl had and couldn't help but see her as a bit of a sister. Kotone's good nature and high spirits were pretty infectious that could even cause the coldest of people would laugh if she was ever around.
Kotone-chan is really something, Naruto thought as he soon traveled up the stairs towards the command room, She really brings a smile to anyone's heart.
Once in the command room, Naruto was brushing some of the shining glitter that was still stuck in Kichi's fur as he looked over the console.
"Now let's see what's wrong with this thing." Naruto said as he placed the brush nearby and let Kichi jump down onto the floor.
A flashing light had alerted the blond to something on the system and Naruto pressed a few buttons to find that something had been recorded through the cameras.
"This is from a couple days ago…" Naruto said as he saw the date on one of the small screens.
The screen then revealed Ikutsuki inside the command room, looking over some papers that were presented to him.
The Chairman hummed a bit before he said, "A Shadow in the middle of town…It managed to take over public transportation. I should investigate whether this means it's finally begun…"
Ikutsuki leaned back in thought as he then said, "Monorail…Listen to the monorail in monaural."
Naruto and Kichi had deadpanned looks on their faces while the Chairman laughed at his own joke.
"I must make a note of that one!" Ikutsuki said before he cleared his throat and went back to looking at the papers, "Luck played an uncomfortably large part in the victory, especially towards the end. If they hadn't guessed at the right controls, thing could have been very bad."
"He could say that again…" Naruto commented as he had nearly flipped that night when Mitsuru had made him stay behind.
"Kichi had managed to sense the many Shadows in the area and for them to work in a group to overrun large machines is unprecedented." Ikutsuki said until a smirk formed on his face, "The engine…"
Don't tell me…Naruto thought as he had a gut feeling about that look on the Chairman's face.
"That was an engine-ous move!" Ikutsuki said as he began to laugh again, "Better write that one down too!"
"Oh gag me…" Kichi said as she licked her paw and went to grooming herself, "His horrible jokes should be illegal or used as a torture method."
"One should always wear bright clothing at night…" Ikutsuki then said with a smile on his face, "Otherwise, the Shadows could make it dangerous to walk near traffic!"
Naruto quickly sped through the rest of the recording as he couldn't take the lousy jokes anymore as he then said, "I think I would have given myself a concussion if I hear any more of the Chairman's crappy jokes."
The blond then decided to try and see what some of the other buttons do and saw that certain buttons were connected to other cameras that were installed throughout the dorm. Other buttons brought up the different functions of the equipment like records of the different Shadows that the team had faced and the information of each member and their respective Personas.
"Seems like you found everyone's records," Kichi noted after jumping onto the console and looking at the screen.
"But I'm not finding mine…" Naruto noted until he saw Kichi looking at some of the buttons, "K-Kichi, get off!"
"Sheesh!" the vixen said as she jumped down onto the floor, "Just trying to find something that could help."
Naruto thought for a moment before he pressed a few buttons to see what would happen. A small box appeared on the screen to let the blond know that whatever he had tried to do wasn't available at the time. Naruto hit the escape key to close the box before trying a different combination of buttons.
"GAH!" the blond cried out as the screen revealed the inside of Mitsuru's room with said person undressing.
Naruto quickly pressed the escape key once more before shutting the screen off, heart racing and face completely beat red.
"What's wrong!?" Kichi said as she got on her hind paws and placed her front paws on the blond's hip, "You found a virus!?"
"No…" Naruto said as his red face was soon pale, "I just brought up the camera for Mitsuru's room and saw something that I shouldn't see."
"What is it?" Kichi asked with slight fear on her face, "A huge rat? An intruder? A dead body?"
"…my cousin…" Naruto said as he wish there was some bleach for his eyes nearby, "…half-naked…wearing satin red underwear…"
Seriously Kit? Kichi thought as she sat down on her haunches with a deadpanned look, Just for a slip up like that?
"I…" Naruto said as he tried to get the image of what he had saw out of his mind, "I think that we've done enough for now…"
Kichi watched as Naruto stood up and began to walk out of the command room before rolling her eyes.
This is the same guy who made a jutsu that turns him into a naked girl? the vixen thought to herself with a slight chuckle in her tone as she then followed the blond out the room. She wasn't going to let the blond live that down for a while…
*Gekkoukan High*
Time had passed as Naruto stood up from his desk and stretched as the exams were over for now.
How I managed to go through the exams after those nights at Tartarus, the blond thought as he stretched his back as a few, slightly audible cracks were heard, Now all that's left is to wait and see how my activities have affected my grades.
Naruto knew that the average high school student that was involve in at least one afterschool activity, especially any form of sports, would have difficulties balancing academics, school activities, and teenage life. It was always different when it comes to the members of SEES considering some of the serious injuries that healing skills take care of. While Akihiko's injury was able to be covered with a training accident, but that could never cover ALL of the injuries taken such as burns, electrical shock, or signs of exposure of extreme cold.
Then there's the underlying injuries that not even Dia or Diarama could heal as some of those Shadows can not only deliver a hit, but toss one around like a sack of laundry. It was those kinds of fights that really made the blond wonder if there isn't a way to build equipment those who have conditioned their bodies for their entire lives and were experienced to combat along with the possibility of losing their comrades on top of already existing scars.
SEES needed the power similar to the military, not a bunch of high schoolers…
"Yo, Naruto!" said a familiar voice as said blond slightly jumped out of his thoughts, "Bet your excited!"
"'bout what?" Naruto asked as he saw Junpei with a smile on his face with the other SEES Rookies next to him.
"About Akihiko-senpai coming back in the fight!" the hat wearing teen said with an excited smirk on his face, "Now we can really take Tartarus down!"
Naruto gave Junpei a deadpanned look as he then said, "You bombed the exams didn't you?"
The teen in question stayed silent until he hung his head in defeat, signaling that Naruto was indeed right.
"You really need to focus on your studies…" the blond said as he planted his face into his palm, "The number of Lost had gone down since that night and it's not EVERY night that Shadows would wander outside of Tartarus. If I know my cousin, she would fillet you like a salmon for slacking off on your studies."
"But if we weren't fighting them, then this whole place goes to chaos!" Yukari said with an uneasy tone before she lightly shook her head, "But that's beside the point, Akihiko-senpai's all better and he'll be a great addition."
Naruto shrugged his shoulder as that was good news considering the skills that Akihiko's Persona, Polydueces, has. Electricity skills, healing, and status lowering skills to boot, Akihiko was the best combat-supporter on the team as he can treat some wounds while dishing out some of his own.
That is if he doesn't get himself killed or maimed again, Naruto thought as he wonders just what drives Akihiko to jump head first into a battle while he and the rookies were heading off towards the dorm for tonight's possible plans.
*Dorm*
The rookies and Naruto were sitting around the table in the dining area with Akihiko sitting in the center.
"Senpai's back!" Yukari cheered with a smile on her face.
Akihiko confidently smirked as he said, "That's right and I'm raring for battle!"
"That is if you don't reopen the scar…" Naruto mumbled to himself at the boxer's enthusiasm.
"I've been slacking off for a whole month," Akihiko said as he sent a sharp glare towards the blond, "so I need to get back into fighting shape."
"And tonight's the night!" Junpei said with excitement in his voice.
"Too bad that we may not be able to recruit another Persona user." Akihiko said as everyone's attention was all on him.
"What do you mean, Senpai?" Minato asked with slight wonder in his voice at a possible new member in SEES.
"I met her at the hospital during one of my checkups," Akihiko explained as he crossed his arms in thought, "that's how we also discovered how she has the potential."
"She?" Naruto asked as it wouldn't hurt to have another girl on the team.
"You might know her, Naruto," Akihiko said as he looked at said blond, "Fuuka Yamagishi."
"Fuuka-chan!?" Naruto said with pure shock in his voice at just who this candidate was.
"Oh yeah, I heard about her," Yukari said with realization in her voice, "I heard that she gets sick a lot."
Naruto didn't hear the rest as his attention was more towards the possibility of a girl like Fuuka having to deal with Shadows; she looked too delicate and fragile to handle combat.
"However," Akihiko said with a slight cringe on his face, "I don't think that she would be suited for battle."
Everyone was disheartened about not having a new member…everyone but Naruto that is.
While we could have used another member on the team, Naruto thought as a part of him was disheartened about not getting a new Persona user, but thank Kami someone as fragile as Fuuka wouldn't be involved with what SEES really does.
"Well…" Akihiko said as he stood up from his seat with a confident look on his face, "…time for some training!"
11:59.57
11:59.58
11:59.59
12:00.00
[Dark Hour]
*Tartarus; Entrance*
Everyone stood near the stairs as Mitsuru and Akihiko stood professionally with the others surrounding them.
"As you have found out," Mitsuru began as she looked at everyone, "Akihiko has made a full recovery since the attack on the dorm a couple months back. Now that he is back, I believe that Arisato-san and Shiome-san should remain as leaders as I will allow them to choose whom they take with them due to our numbers. I will also allow them to choose which of them leads which team they form, but you must still exercise and watch your health."
"So are we still doing teams of five?" Junpei asked as he looked at the numbers.
"Not exactly." Naruto said as everyone turned their attention onto him, "Each team will be constructed by how Minato or Kotone see fit, and I will always act as the backup so that if anyone needs to jump out, I will jump in where needed. I have a few tricks up my sleeves that should help if things get dicey."
You'd have more tricks if your chakra wasn't sealed, Kichi thought to herself as Kotone had built his team consisting of Akihiko and Naruto before she followed the blond to the warp device, but sometimes life's not that generous.
*Tartarus; Arqa*
Kotone's team had entered the new block after the barrier on the previous floor had vanished.
This reminds me of something out of that old sci-fi video game I once played, Naruto thought to himself as he looked around the new area they were in.
The previous area just looked like a set from a horror movie set right in their school with odd twists and turns here and there. This area however was different as the walls almost looked like flesh with the floors looking like something out of a stone walkway or hospital. The occasional giant human face protruding out of the wall along with blood on the wall and floors didn't help ease the sense of dread in the air.
Look at all of this purple, Kichi noted as she followed the team through the place while glancing at the creepy décor, talk about nightmare material.
"Back on the field," Akihiko said with an excited smirk on his face as he tightened his fists underneath the spiked gloves he wore over his hands.
"Don't forget that we've never been this far inside Tartarus before the Rookies arrived," Naruto said as he glanced over towards the boxer, "who knows what awaits us."
"Like those guys?" Kotone asked as two Shadows in the form of slender humanoids that wore raggedy cloaks and had lanterns in the center of their bodies were just ahead of them.
Without hesitation, Akihiko dashed forward as one of the Shadows brought its hands up and whispered something under its breath. The boxer saw a purplish-black circle form under him and added an extra boost to his dash, just barely avoiding the attack, before giving the Shadow a jaw shattering left hook and jumping back. Akihiko then jumped to the side to avoid a fireball from the other Shadow before pulling out his Evoker and pointed the barrel at his face.
"Polydeuces!" the boxer roared out as he pulled the trigger.
*BANG! shatter!*
Kotone watched in amazement as a tall man with long, shining blond hair wearing a blue bodysuit with what looked like padded armor appeared out of thin air. This Persona had a large, syringe-like weapon where his right forearm should have been while the lower half of his face was covered by the bodysuit.
"Sonic Punch!" Akihiko roared out as Polydeuces swiftly dashed towards one of the Shadows and punched it with its syringe arm, effectively knocking the creature down from the amount of force behind the attack.
"Way to go, Aki-senpai!" Kotone cheered as she jumped in glee with Siren clapping for the Persona before her.
"Fight now, admire Pretty Boy later!" Naruto said as he had summoned Jinn who then blasted the other Shadow with a gust of ice.
The girl snapped out of her thoughts as she tightened her grip on the naginata while Siren brought a hand to her headset, both ready to battle.
"Siren!/Jinn!" both Naruto and Kotone called out, "Bufu!/Mabufu!"
The two Personas nodded and launched their own ice storms, with Siren's storm having music notes made of ice flying towards one of the Shadows while Jinn snapped his fingers as icicles were sent flying towards both Shadows. The arctic blasts had hit their marks as one of the Shadows was evaporated into black mist while the other one was badly injured. Before the injured Shadow could counter, Akihiko surprised it with a powerful uppercut just under its mask, obliterating it as the creature vanished into black mist.
"And that's how you do it!" Akihiko said with a confident smirk as he lightly shook the slight discomfort in one of his fists.
"Just don't overdo it…again." Naruto said, getting an annoyed look from the boxer.
Akihiko scoffed at the remark before he and the rest of Kotone's team charged through the floor they were on while fighting through any of the Shadows that had gotten in their way.
*Tartarus; Entrance*
Mitsuru and the other Rookies were lounging around with Minato staring off into space somewhere on the left side of the floor.
"Wonder what's wrong with him…" Yukari said with an uneasy look on her face as she stared at the bluenette.
"Who knows…" Junpei said as he had tried to get Minato's attention a few time when said person was spacing off in that area, "Kotone-chan does the same thing sometimes, even with Minato. But they do seem to get stronger afterwards, so why worry?"
"There is reason to worry, Iori." Mitsuru said as she crossed her arms and stared as said person, "While you are right about Arisato's and Shiome's powers becoming stronger, this kind of ailment can become troubling if it happens during battle; Namikaze had told me about how those two also seem to go into a trance right after certain battles with the Shadows here. While brief, we cannot allow this ailment to become a problem in the long run. As such, I will schedule a trip to the hospital for regular checkups while also having some of the specialized doctors take a look at their psyche in the near future."
A call from the radio had alerted Mitsuru to something going on with Kotone's team and drew her attention onto her supportive abilities, leaving Junpei and Yukari to ponder about their leader.
"Say Yuka-tan…" Junpei asked as he looked at said girl.
"What…" Yukari said with slight annoyance at the nickname the hat wearing teen had given her long ago.
"Is there something going on between you and Naruto?" the young boy asked as he kept his eyes on Minato.
"What do you mean?" the girl asked in confusion, "Naruto and I get along just fine."
"Well…" Junpei said as he tried to find the right words, "I've seen him look at you, or more correctly at your jacket, angrily…I mean if looks could kill, that jacket of your would have been burnt to a crisp a few times."
"Really?" Yukari asked with slight surprised at what was revealed to her, "This is news to me. Why would he hate my jacket? It's not like he plans on wearing it."
"That's because I don't." said a familiar voice, startling both Junpei and Yukari as Naruto suddenly appeared behind them, "It's just that I hate the color pink…just brings bad memories."
"B…Bad memories?" Junpei asked as how could a simple color of a jacket could cause such a reaction, "You mean of a girl?"
"That's for me to know, and you to butt out!" the blond said with a slightly harsh tone in his voice before turning around and walking towards the teleportation device.
"Had to have been a girl," Junpei said as he scowled a bit from Naruto's tone, "No one could ever be that grumpy because of something else."
"He'll tell us when he wants to," Yukari said as Kotone skipped by her and Junpei while Minato, now out of his trance, was walking towards them, "Naruto's always been like that."
She didn't want to reveal it, but ever since she joined SEES, Yukari had kept a close eye on both Mitsuru and Naruto. At first it was because they were in the same family, despite Naruto being the red-haired woman's cousin, but then it was because of their behavior. Those two were hiding something and the two cousins had completely different reactions.
Mitsuru was always secretive and seem to dodge certain questions about SEES, Shadows, and even how the Dark Hour came to be. That woman knew information that could lead Yukari to what she WANTED to know.
Naruto, however, was a different story…
The blond would be in a cheery mood, but then there times when Yukari had seen the same blond turn a whole 180 on his personality. Kotone had revealed that Naruto had told her about some of his past, but the girl wouldn't say anything if Yukari had asked about Naruto's mysterious past.
Whatever it is you two are hiding…Yukari thought with narrowed eyes as she followed Minato, Junpei, Akihiko, and Naruto through the teleportation device, I will get to the bottom of this…I swear on my father's grave.
What are the secrets that Yukari is trying to find out? The mystery behind both the Dark Hour and Naruto continue to grow as new evidence come into light. Don't forget to rate and review!
Ja ne.