Well I'm glad a good amount of you liked the story so far. I notice that there doesn't seem to be many stories in this section, hopefully that can change in the near future. I'm also happy that the idea was well received, seeing as I don't think anyone has tackled a story from this angle before. Hopefully you guys continue to enjoy it as it progresses. Anyways let's get on with it.

Makoto's apartment later that night

The brown haired young woman sat alone at the dinner table. She had served two plates of food one for her and one for her older sister who would be coming home from work, undoubtedly hungry after a long day. Taking a bite of her food she glanced at her phone that sat next to her plate face down. Flipping it over she tapped the screen bringing it to life only to see no notifications.

Placing it back down she continued eating. Though she ate she wasn't exactly hungry, finding Naruto in the metaverse and him revealing that he knew who she was had made everyone anxious. Any hunger she'd had from a hard day of fighting dissipated the moment he'd said her name. She flipped the phone over again, maybe he'd texted. Nothing.

"Damn it what's taking him so long?" She thought to herself clearly frustrated. He said to get in contact with him after leaving and they'd done so, only to not hear back yet. She'd promised the others she'd let them know the moment he responded. All this waiting had everybody on edge and she didn't like it. Maybe he was doing this on purpose. He always liked to mess with her for amusement. Whether it was placing her plate of food on top of the fridge when she wasn't looking knowing she couldn't reach it, or telling her he had a big secret only for it to be stupid. To keep her waiting after something like this though was just cruel.

She frowned and picked up the phone ready to send another message when the sound of the front door opening caught her attention causing her to put the phone back down quickly. The sound of heels clicking against the floor resonated for a second before she heard two thumps. Her sister, dressed in her usual grey suit took a seat across from her. Makoto couldn't help but noticed she looked more tired than she used to.

"Hey sis." The younger sister greeted.

"Hey. How was school? Are you keeping up with your studies?" Sae replied while taking her chopsticks and beginning to eat.

"Good I got most of my homework done at school and even helped tutor some of the lower class-men. How'd your day go?"

Sae took a deep breath and shook her head. "Exhausting. These phantom thieves are gaining popularity quickly. They even managed to catch someone the police couldn't. It's giving me a headache just thinking about how they do it."

The younger sister perked up at that bit of information. She reigned herself in quickly as to not draw suspicion. "Any leads at all?" She asked inwardly hoping for a negative answer, as bad as that sounded.

"Unfortunately no." She felt a large weight come off her shoulders at the response. "We have no way of knowing how they force people to confess. I was placed in charge of investigating them, but I can't find a causality."

Makoto hummed, not having anything to say. She picked up her phone and frowned when there was still no messages. Damn that man.

"You expecting a call from someone?" Her sister asked staring at her.

Thinking quickly she answered. "No I just wanted to make sure my friends made it home safely. Just because Kaneshiro was arrested doesn't mean everything will just disappear immediately."

Sae stared at her for a few seconds as if trying to see through her before she closed her eyes and sighed, not bothering to question her. Makoto inwardly cheered knowing that if she had been called out she might have had a tougher time lying.

The table became silent after that, the only sounds being that of their cups being placed down after a drink or their chopsticks touching the plate. Every second that passed she worried that her sister would question her about who her friends were. Her sister was intelligent, frighteningly so. It wouldn't be hard for her to realize all her friends were either victims of those who had their hearts changed. From there it would only be a matter of time before she found out who the phantom thieves were.

"I have to say something." She thought as she discreetly looked at her phone. Wait, she had an idea. "Sis, can I ask you something?"

Her sister swallowed her food and gave her her attention. "What troubles you?"

"How come you decided to keep the name Namikaze instead of changing it back to Niijima?" It was both a question meant to throw her off and to satisfy her curiosity. Sae clearly wasn't expecting that to be the question as she went silent and continued eating. For the next five minutes the table was silent again before she got an answer.

"All of my legal documents now have me as Namikaze Sae. It's both a hassle and expensive to change it back so I kept it."

Makoto frowned at the explanation as she watched her sister take a drink. "But you have plenty of connections don't you? Surely it wouldn't be too hard to have someone take care of it for you…." She trailed off before jumping slightly in her seat in surprise as the silver haired woman slammed her cup on the table creating a loud bang noise.

"That's enough. I answered your question now drop it." She answered somewhat angrily before standing up. "I'm going to shower I have to work early tomorrow."

Makoto watched her disappear into the bathroom wondering why she'd gotten so upset. "I guess it's still a sore spot for her" She couldn't think about it any longer as the sound of her phone buzzing caught her attention. In the blink of an eye she snatched it up and her heart sped up as she saw it was from Naruto.

Sorry I took so long to get back to you. I promised Hajime I'd play with him at the park today and kind of forgot about you guys hehehe sorry.

Any anger she had towards him disappeared as she read his reasoning. Some could claim that the man was childish at times and went through life with a laid back attitude, and they wouldn't be wrong. But no one could say that he didn't do everything he could to be a good father.

Anyways come by place tomorrow at 4 with your friends.

The message ended there. Typing up a quick reply agreeing she put her phone back down and collected the plates. After rinsing them she shut the water off and began to soap them up. She stopped when she heard the sound water running from the bathroom and her thoughts went back to her sister. Her reaction to her question bothered her. There was no reason a harmless question like that should get that kind of response.

Apart from that she noticed that the older woman still wears her wedding ring on her finger despite being divorced. She'd been wanting to ask about that but after being yelled at she'd rather not find out what would happen if she asked.

Next day

It was nearing 4 o'clock and the blond was just getting home. He'd asked Tsunade is she could look after his boy for the night while he had an important meeting as he didn't wanna bug Kawakami again so soon. The woman probably had a life. Luckily she and Jiraiya were more than happy to have him for a while and were most likely spoiling him with sweets or anything else he asked for.

He'd made it just in time, as the clock hit 4 there was a light knock on his door. He chuckled knowing that Makoto probably made sure they arrived on the dot. Opening the door he was greeted to the sight of five teenagers and a cat sticking its head out of a boys bag.

"Hello Makoto and friends nice to see you again." He greeted. "Please come in."

"Likewise." Makoto bowed in thanks before entering and taking her shoes off, the rest following her example.

"Damn this is a nice house." He heard one the guys whisper loudly. It was most likely the blond one.

He smiled before turning around towards them. "We'll talk over here." He motioned them to follow with his hand as he led them towards his second living room. As they walked down the halls of his home into the living room the group stopped when they heard a gasp from their tallest member.

"What's wrong Yusuke?" The blond with pigtails asked.

Turning around Naruto noticed the dark blue haired young man staring at a framed drawing on the wall.

"Is this the real Vitruvian Man by Leonardo DaVinci?" The group wasn't sure exactly what he was asking and turned their attention to the home owner.

"Indeed it is. I see you have an eye for art. Though seeing as you're an artist it's to be expected." The blond replied much to the awe of the artist.

"Pardon my inquiry but how much did it cost?" Every artist worth his salt knew that a DaVinci piece would auction in the billions of yen. To see one in person only a few feet away from him was surreal.

"More money than most people ever see in their life." Naruto answered. "While I have no artistic talent of my own I can appreciate good art when I see it. I even have this." He said pointing to the other side of the room where a colorful painting was hanging on the wall.

"That's one of mine." Yusuke said surprising everyone. "I made it when I was still under Madarame's care. He had told me it lacked life, though I suspect he just believed it wouldn't make him any money. Hearing that, I put it in storage and never saw it again. How did you come in possession of it?"

The blond sat down on a single love seat and had them sit on the couches across from him. "The police raided Madarame's home after he confessed. They found all sorts of paintings in there and everything was auctioned off. I went on a whim when I heard about it and when this piece came up, it spoke to me. I had to have it so I bought it. There was no name on it so none of the art collectors there were interested, I got it very cheap. Now that I know it's yours I think it's only fair I pay you for the piece."

He began to stand to fish out his wallet but was stopped by the young man. "It will not be necessary. I don't paint for money or fame, anything of the sort. Hearing you say that my art spoke to you enough to make you want to buy and even put it in the same room as a legendary piece from DaVinci is enough for me."

"I see. Very well."

"Excuse me." The boy with the glasses said. "If it's not too much trouble can we get down to business?" He asked politely.

He glanced at all of them briefly. "Would any of you like a drink before we start?" No one took the offer. "Alright. So you're the phantom thieves? I'll admit I was expecting you to be a little older. Why don't we start with introductions? Makoto must have told you about me already so, care to introduce yourselves? I don't need much just names are fine."

The group looked apprehensive about revealing themselves but with reassurance from Makoto, they complied. One by one the teenagers introduce themselves first with their real names followed by their codenames. It went Amamiya Ren, codename Joker. The leader. Sakamoto Ryuji known as Skull. Takamaki Ann, Panther. Kitagawa Yusuke, Fox. Niijima Makoto, Queen. Finally there was Morgana the cat, Mona.

"You guys know the police are gonna start looking into you right?" He asked.

Makoto sat a little straighter. "Yes. Last night my sister told me that she's been placed in charge of the investigation."

Naruto leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "Yet I know for certain you're still going to continue. Why? What's your goal? What motivates you to continue doing this?"

This time it was the blond, Ann, that spoke. "We're helping people. Changing the hearts of the scum of the earth to give the weak courage. Why are you going into the metaverse?" She shot back.

Naruto smiled at the answer before giving his own. "Similar to you guys I go into the palaces of the corrupt. However, unlike you I don't change their hearts. Mostly because I never bothered to learn how."

Ren nodded before asking a question of his own. "So what are you doing? If you're not changing their hearts are you killing them?" Both Madarame and Kaneshiro had mentioned someone else running around palaces doing as they pleased. He hoped it wasn't the man in front of them.

"No. I heard that fat bastard Kaneshiro mention something about it and I'm going to look into it soon. Anyway I go in and have them tell me their dirty laundry and where to look to expose it. A couple anonymous letters to their home and some money my way and they turn over a new leaf.

"So it's for personal gain?" Yusuke asked now having an idea of how the man was able to afford such an expensive piece of art.

Naruto rubbed his chin and shook his head negative. "In part. It started out that way back when I was about your age. After my parents deaths I was left with a large sum of money. I invested most of it wisely but after discovering the metaverse more quickly started rolling in. I was young at the time so I had to be careful since the amount I was planning on spending was big. I bought some businesses and invested in large successful companies with the money left from my parents in order to hide the money trail.

You kids probably haven't made enough to draw suspicion but soon money from the enemies and mementos will start piling up. You'll have money no ordinary teenager with normal backgrounds would be capable of making. You might wanna look into that." He explained.

"Wait so if you started off doing this for yourself what changed?" Ann asked. "Why bother going now? It looks like you have plenty of money."

"The money is just an added bonus at this point. A couple years after discovering the metaverse things changed. With all my investments and businesses I had clean money coming in quickly. I married my high school sweetheart and two years after that she gave birth to our son. That's when my priorities changed.

Rather than going to make money and get stronger I targeted criminals, corrupt politicians you name it. Everything I do now is to help create a better world for my son."

The phantom thieves stayed quiet as they took in all the information. Ryuji was the next to speak.

"Makoto told us her sister is a prosecutor and is the one looking into us. Do you think you can help get the heat off of us?" The group looked at the blond with varied reactions from surprise to confusion. "What? He's the best chance we have to get the heat to die down." He explained after seeing the looks.

Naruto sighed "Unfortunately my ex wife and I aren't exactly on the best of terms. We're civil but not close enough for me to interfere with her investigation without drawing suspicion."

"So you're not going to report us?" Ren asked, getting the main concern out in the open.

The blond shook his head. "No. I think you guys are doing something good. You have good reasons, good teamwork and decent strength. You just have to work on your control a little." He critiqued.

"Can you elaborate on that?" Yusuke asked.

"I watched you battle against Kaneshiro. You waste too much energy on your attacks and you're prone to missing attacks which could cost you dearly."

Makoto coughed into her fist to clear her throat. "So what would you suggest?"

"Go into mementos and train." Was the answer they received.

Morgana, who'd been silent up until now finally spoke up. "The shadows are relatively weak in mementos."

"The normal ones yes, but there's more powerful ones that come to you if you wait long enough." They stayed silent wondering what he was referring to and their eyes widened in realization.

"You're talking about the reapers." Morgana stated thinking back to their encounter with one. They'd tried fighting it and barely made it out since they found an opening and managed to escape. After that incident they made sure never to stay in one place for too long. Morgana knew about them but didn't know how long was considered too long and they almost paid for it.

"That's right. They're powerful and the best chance you have to get stronger quickly." Naruto answered.

Ren closed his eyes thinking something over before shaking his head. "As much as I hate to admit it, it would be too much of a risk to fight them at our current level."

Ryuji nodded feeling the same way, his confidence had taken somewhat of a blow after his attacks did nothing to the damn shadow. "Don't they bother you? You're talking about them like they're typical shadows."

His fellow blond chuckled in response. "They're more of annoyances at this point but back when I was younger yeah they did. I used to be no match for them but as I grew stronger they became less dangerous."

The group looked skeptical at his declaration and their faces must have shown it as he stood up and snapped his fingers. "Maybe a demonstration is in order. Let's go." Before they could protest the world around them changed into the familiar subway system. Everyone was in uniform ready for battle and followed the now masked blond down the stairs.

"Take a seat, he'll be here soon." About five minutes later the atmosphere changed as the sound of rattling reached their ears.

The cat shook slightly. "He's coming. Get ready."

"Nah you guys stay put." Naruto said as he approached the hooded shadow. "Kurama"

The phantom's watched as a giant fox materialized behind him. The aura it gave off was beyond anything they'd felt before. They realized, if this was the type of power he had then he was far out of their league.

"Bijudama" He ordered. The fox's head raised slightly as red and blue particles of energy gathered at the mouth before forming a purple sphere. It flicked it's head and shot the attack. It was powerful enough to shake the floor and they were forced to cover their eyes from the dust it kicked up.

"It's shaking. Could it be afraid?" Morgana pointed out. The reaper was on the ground unresponsive, only twitching occasionally.

"Finish it." The blond ordered. This time the nine tails pointed at the shadow before forming smaler versions of the previous attack and fired at will. Once again debris was kicked into the air from the force of the attack and once gone there was no trace of the reaper. "Well, thats that."

The group wanted to say something but stopped as the world changed back into the mans living room. "Huh, we were here longer than I thought. It's almost six. I don't know about you kids but I'm going to LeBlanc for a cup of coffee. You're welcome to join me if you'd like." He offered.

In the end only Ren had taken him up on his offer, though it was only because he learned that he lived in the attic of the building. Seeing as his home was in Yongen-Jaya it didn't take long for them to get there.

"Oh you're back. Mind giving me a hand?" The owner of the cafe greeted the teen.

"Naruto. Haven't seen you in a while. How you been?" He then asked.

"You know meeting after meeting and all that. Can I get the usual?" To which the man nodded but not before giving Ren an apron.

Naruto turned his attention to the sole occupant of the counter. A familiar dark blue haired woman in a black coat and green dress sat eating curry. Taking the seat next to her he spoke. "Hey Takemi been a couple months how's it going?"

"Oh you know, saving lives and selling unregistered medicine to minors. How do you know my little guinea pig anyway?" She asked nodding her head to the black haired teen.

"You actually suckered someone into testing your medicine?" He asked but looked at Ren who looked away after handing him his coffee.

"He volunteered so I took the opportunity." She took a bite of the rice. "I'm surprised your little mini me isn't with you." She noted seeing the lack of Hajime.

He laughed at her name for his boy. "He's staying at his grandparents tonight. I had something to do and they had wanted to spend time with him for some time so I figured why not? Why haven't you headed home?"

She sighed and said "it was a long day and I needed to unwind a bit. I would've gotten a drink but drinking alone isn't fun. So I came to get a bite."

"You still wanna get a drink? I have an unopened bottle of sake laying somewhere around the house." He offered.

She turned her head to him and rested her palm on her cheek and smirked knowing where that would lead. "Is that so? They're not gonna drop little Hajime off early in the morning like last time are they? Telling a five year old that we had a sleepover wasn't your smartest idea. Especially after he asked what kind of games we played." She laughed at his embarrassed face.

"No I'm picking him up later in the day so you don't have to worry." He said taking a sip of his cup of joe.

She stood up and left a few bills on the counter. "Very well let's go. I expect breakfast in bed though." She told him.

"Thanks for the coffee Sojiro I'll see you soon. Money's on the counter." He yelled after leaving a bill and following after the older woman.

And cut. Hopefully you guys enjoyed the meeting between the phantom thieves and Naruto. You got an idea as to how powerful he is compared to them and the black masked man. Just to clarify he and Takemi aren't dating more like just seeing each other on occasion. Anyways let me know if there's anything you guys would like to see. Feel free to leave your ideas in a review or PM me.