Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Highschool DXD if I did this story would not be here

Quick authors note: After looking at the reviews from the last chapter, you guys do bring up a good point about nerfing Naruto so I won't nerf him to the beginning of shippuden but I am cutting his power in half for now and I will have a good reason as to why. As I said before, pain arc Naruto is still folding most of early dxd. I don't want him bulldozing through early dxd because I want the other characters to grow from the battles early in the series and they can't do that if Naruto is taking care of everything for them. As for Naruto not sensing yokai chakra or him not training, I explained early on that Naruto already used sage mode to sense the energies of the people around him and although he was in Kuoh for a year he was nowhere near the main cast of dxd so I doubt he would sense Koneko.

As for Naruto not becoming a devil, no he's joining Rias's peerage. The story wouldn't be called 'Vermilion Devil' if he stayed human.

Vermilion Devil

Chapter 5:Me a devil? No way

Rias was sitting at her desk in the clubroom going over some documents that had recently come in when a hot cup of tea was placed by her side. She put the papers down to take a sip of the tea. "Thank you Akeno."

Akeno bowed her head then put the tea tray to the side. She looked back at her best friend and saw that she had this far off look. A teasing smile came across her face when she saw this. "Ara Ara can't keep Naruto-san off your mind Buchou?"

Her words had the desired effect as Rias's mind came back to earth as she sent her a mock glare. Akeno just giggled at this "Ara Ara Buchou, does his refusal to join bother you that much?"

"It's not his refusal that's bothering me….that much." While she didn't expect him to refuse her, it was his lack of reaction to everything he was being told that threw her off. It was the same thing with the chimera. It was clear that he also knew nothing of devils, angels, or fallen angels. Not only that, the feat of strength he displayed when he freed them should be impossible for a human, even those aware of the supernatural. Rias put a hand on her head and sighed "He didn't even join yet and he's already troublesome." Akeno's head perked up at this before Rias gave her a smile "You didn't think I was gonna take no for an answer did you? I'm just going to try harder to convince him "

"I guess it isn't like you to give up so easily. But you also seem quite committed to Naruto-san joining.I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Rias you- "

"While it's not a bad thing to have my best friend worry over me, but this is my own problem. Also, in the club room, it's "Buchou", right?"

After a second or two Akeno nodded her head "Yes, Buchou." Akeno then bowed her head "Well then, I'll be off." Akeno walked out of the room leaving her king to her thoughts.

Naruto was relaxing by his favorite tree enjoying the quiet atmosphere. While he should be in class right now, well he is technically.

He has said it once and he'll say it a thousand times more. God he loves shadow clones.

His mind then drifted off to what he had been told yesterday. His meeting with Rias and her peerage did help him confirm his theory that he was not in his home world. As much as he hated it he had to accept it.

Flashback

"Devils have been fighting their biblical counterparts; The angels and fallen angels for quite some time now. This conflict is known as 'The 'Great War'. The conflict has only recently been called off in a ceasefire, the devil's population has decreased due to the many years of fighting. This problem has only recently been solved by the introduction of the Evil Piece system" Rias told him, eyeing Naruto for any signs of interest.

Naruto raised his eyebrow as he soaked in this information. Confirming that Naruto wasn't going to say anything Rias continued her explanation

"The evil piece system is what created the concept known as a peerage. A Peerage is a term used to describe those who are made a subordinate to a King" Naruto tensed when he heard this. He didn't particularly like the idea of servitude.

'A subordinate? Peerage? Why is she telling me all of this? Wait, is she?' He thought

"As you can see the people around you are devils as well as members of my peerage." When Naruto looked around, each of the members sprouted their wings. "Unlike other masters however I see my peerage as my family and friends and I treasure them no matter what."

'So that's what she's trying to do.' Naruto thought before he stood up and headed for the door. This caught everyone's attention. "I appreciate the offer but no I'm not interested." When he got to the door he turned around to meet the eyes of the crimson haired beauty. "I'll tell you like I told Kiba, I'm not looking for friends or comrades. I just want to be left alone. I won't tell anyone about what I've been told here, you have my word." Rias tried to stop him but Naruto already walked out the door.

Flashback end

'Me a devil? No way, I still have to get home, there's no way I'm gonna serve someone I don't even know. But what if I don't ever get home? What if I'm stuck here forever? What if I-?' Naruto stopped his mind from going any deeper. With his mood ruined as well as the quiet atmosphere with the students coming out of class, Naruto got up to leave the school campus, leaving his shadow clone to finish the rest of the day.

The sun was beginning to set as Koneko was walking through the town to her favorite sweet shop when she caught the scent of something good, too good to be ignored. She has been smelling this scent a lot lately, the scent of ramen. Taking a guess to who this scent could most likely belong to, she followed her nose. After a few minutes of walking she found what she was looking for when she came across a shop that says 'Naruto's Ramen'. She noticed that it just closed. Naruto came walking out of the shop looking lost in thought.

Just as Buchou wanted him to join for her reasons, Koneko had her own. When he came to the clubroom she saw the dull look in his eyes. He did such a good job at hiding it that she almost didn't see it but she saw the hidden pain. The loneliness. So she decided to follow him.

Naruto opened the door to his apartment "I'm home." Once again there was no response. Naruto closed his door and threw his keys on his counter before slumping down on his couch. Naruto sighed as he put his face in his hands 'What do I do now?' Before his mind could come up with an answer someone knocked on his door. Weird, no one's actually visited him before, he wasn't sure if he had any neighbors so who the hell could be visiting him?

When he opened his door he didn't know what to expect but it definitely wasn't Koneko standing at his door. "Okay how, and did she send you?"

"No, Found your shop, followed you." Koneko said

Naruto sweatdropped at the way she said that with a straight face. Naruto sighed before opening the door some more to let her in. "Care to tell me why you're here?"

Koneko took a second to look around his apartment. It was small, very small. There was nothing but the standard stuff you'd find in a house.

"I want you to stay with-" She started but never got to finish as Naruto cut her off. "No, I already told you guys I'm not becoming a devil."

"Then join the club at least, I'm sure there's something that we have that can change your mind." Koneko retorted.

Naruto's eyes narrowed "What part of 'leave me alone' didn't you guys understand? I said no and that's that." Truth be told he hated being mean to people, especially when they're only trying to be nice but he couldn't afford having attachments in this world, they would only hinder him from his end goal. Man, his younger self would be so disappointed. "Besides, I'm not someone you wanna hang around." Even if they weren't normal, well at least not this world's definition of normal he was still a Jinchuriki and people from his world hated them, there's no telling how people would react here. "I'll tell you one more time, I'm not looking for friends, I just wanna be alone."

Seeing as she wasn't getting through to him Koneko decided she overstayed her welcome as she headed for the door. When she was about to grab the doorknob Naruto's voice stopped her. "Wait." Koneko turned around to face him. To her confusion Naruto started looking around his apartment before grabbing a blank card to write something on it. He walked up to her and handed her the card.

'Naruto's free ramen pass for life' is what the card said on it. Koneko looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"A deal, If you don't tell Rias where I live you can have that." Koneko looked at him with a blank look. Naruto sighed "Fiiine and I'll consider joining your club. Happy?" She still had that blank look on her face but nodded her acceptance of the deal. "Good night Naruto-senpai." Koneko said before walking out of his apartment.

Why had he made that deal with the cute girl? It was simple really, he had no doubt that if he had let her walk out that door that she would definitely tell Rias where he lived and bam, there goes his safe haven. On top of that he still upholds his end of the bargain about the club, he'll think about it and still say no. With this deal he shuts down any opportunity Rias may latch onto. It was a good idea in his opinion.

It would not occur to him until later that he had just made a deal with a devil, a very cute devil but a devil nonetheless.

The next day Naruto was making his way to his shop to get some work done. Today was friday so he thought he could take the day off from school. And by that he meant sending a shadow clone in his place. He walked into his shop and passed by the sitting Rias and Akeno as he put on his apron to open up…open up

What the hell?

Passed by Rias and Akeno? Naruto's mind and body did a double take as he turned around to face the two beauties, confusion clear on his face.

"Ara Ara, surprised to see us Naruto-san?" Akeno said with a smile.

"Good morning Naruto." Rias said. Though it was obvious Naruto was not pleased to see them judging by his eyebrow twitching constantly.

"How did you two find me?" Naruto said through gritted teeth. No way Koneko just ratted him out immediately like that, he even gave her a free ramen pass.

Akeno just gave him a teasing smile "Well your name was on the sign Fishcake-san." Her words did as intended and irritated Naruto even further as a vein started showing on his forehead. Naruto took a breath to compose himself before asking again.

"Okay, how did you find my shop?" Naruto asked. Rias watched the interaction with amusement before answering his question. "Why, my precious servant was walking around town and stumbled upon your shop and came back and told me all about your deal." Rias then gave him a smug smirk "Tell me Naruto, have you ever heard the phrase 'Never make a deal with the devil'?"

Naruto lifted an eyebrow in confusion at her words, after a few seconds passed by before the realization finally hit him. Naruto really wanted to smack himself right now. He wasn't specific enough about the deal of course she would exploit the loophole in it, she is a devil after all.

Damn

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the two girls "Shouldn't you girls be at school right now?"

"Class doesn't start until a few minutes, so we have some time. " Rias retorted. Great, now that these two are here there's no way he'd be able to skip school, what a drag. Naruto just sighed as he sat down in the seat across from them. He's been doing that a lot lately now that he thought about it. "Look I already said I'm not joining your peerage so why are you here."

"Koneko said you'd consider joining our club. I'd just thought I'd give you reasons to stay, Kiba and Koneko want you to join." Rias told him

"Issei doesn't seem to like you too much though." Akeno chimed in

"I've noticed." Naruto said. "I'm not sure why you guys are so dead set on getting me to join you, I'm not exactly the best person to hang around."

"That's not what the students think. You have built up a reputation you know." Rias said

"The only reason I have a reputation is because Kiba doesn't leave me alone, much like you guys."

Rias shrugged off his comment before her and Akeno got up and started walking out of his shop she stopped to look back at Naruto "You coming?"

"What, to school? No."

"Ok. But you will have to explain to Souna why you weren't at school today." Rias said

"Souna? The student council girl?"

"Yep and she takes her job quite seriously." Akeno said

Naruto groaned before getting out of his seat to follow the two girls. These two girls were irritatingly stubborn. Was this how his classmates felt about him back then? Cause if so, he was starting to understand how they felt.

It took a couple of minutes but the trio finally made it to their school. While he really wanted to ditch them on the way here, there was no doubt that one of the two girls would see his clone and then there would be questions from the redhead. A lot of the students saw the trio walking together and of course there was gossip much to Naruto's growing irritation.

"Naruto-senpai knows big sister Rias!?"

"Kiba-kun must've introduced them to each other, they are the golden boys after all."

"Rias-senpai always gets the cute boys first Kiba-kun now Naruto-senpai, it's not fair."

Akeno giggled at the rumors. "Ara Ara these students sure do love to gossip."

Rias stopped walking to look at Naruto "You remember where the club is correct?" When Naruto nodded at her words she smiled "Then I guess we'll see you later Naruto." She walked away from him with Akeno in tow, Akeno waved at him while walking "Bye Fishcake-san."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Akeno-senpai already has a nickname for him!"

Naruto groaned before walking to find his clone to unfortunately swap places with him.

He just had to make a deal with the cute girl.

Naruto was seen at the Occult Research building glaring at the door as if it offended him somehow. Naruto then grabbed the door handle and walked into the school building. The first one to greet him was Kiba. "Naruto? I thought you said no about joining us."

"I did, I wouldn't be here if Rias and Akeno didn't show up at my shop." Naruto said while staring at Koneko. His pointed stare had zero effect as Koneko kept munching on chocolate.

"You made the deal." was all she said. He was really starting to regret striking that deal with her.

"It's good to see you actually came, Naruto." Rias said.

"Don't get your hopes up yet, I still haven't made a decision."

"Even so I think it's best you learn a little bit about devil hood should you change your mind." She was pleased that Naruto didn't make a statement about him not changing his mind. Maybe she was getting through to him. "The others are out doing requests right now so they won't be back till later. So for now follow me Naruto" Rias said as she walked away.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked

"To give you a tour of the place of course." Rias said while continuing to walk while Naruto followed behind her. It was quiet for a few seconds before Kiba spoke.

"So how did you find Naruto?"

"He has a ramen shop. He smells like ramen, a fox and a toad. It's weird. We talked and made a deal."

Kiba let out a chuckle. "Shouldn't have done that. Though it makes me wonder why he doesn't want friends so badly."

"Me too Kiba-senpai."

Kiba nodded at her words. Naruto sure is a complicated dude but he was sure they would understand him in time.

Rias and Naruto were walking through one of the hallways of the building in silence. Naruto was looking out of the window when Rias suddenly spoke.

"Can I ask you something, Naruto?" Rias asked

"Depends on your question but go ahead."

"Why exactly did you refuse my offer? You didn't even let me finish what I had to say." Did she say something wrong in her speech to him? She tried her best to ease him into what she was offering. Or was nothing about her offer pleasing to him?

"I guess I can answer that. I'm not too fond of the idea of serving someone, and while you did say that you weren't like other people, I can't trust what you say. To give up my freedom to someone I don't know, that's something I can't do." That was half true. The other half was that he's from another world and has to get home but she didn't need to know that.

He did bring up some good points but still "Then stay with us, let us get to know you and I'm sure we can become friends. When people join me they become a part of my family and I want you to be a part of that family."

"And like I told you before I'm not looking for friends or family, I just want to be left alone."

"Everyone could use someone, Naruto." Rias told him.

It was silent for a few minutes before Naruto spoke again "Why me?"

Rias tilted her head at the question "Out of all the people you could've chosen, why me?"

Rias took a few seconds to think about her answer. "Well when you came into the school you basically went undetected so we thought you were a threat, you didn't even take the entrance exam for the school. But when I saw you in the hallway, I saw something in your eyes. You seem like you've been through a lot."

"I'm sorry if I gave you that impression but I'm fine, you don't need to waste your resources on me."

"Maybe but what also intrigued me was your display of strength with the chimera."

"Chimera?"

"The plant monster. What you did when you freed me and Akeno should've been impossible for a human but you're clearly human, and one without a sacred gear at that."

Shit she got him there

"I won't press you for answers but I would like to become friends with you Naruto."

"I don't know if that's possible." When he saw the look of disappointment in Rias's eyes, he felt a little bad. They were just tryna help him. "If it makes you feel any better I appreciate that you asked me to join you instead of forcing or manipulating me."

His words seemed to cheer her up, if even a little bit. The rest of the walk was in a semi-comfortable silence.

Soon after the tour was over and Naruto was getting ready to leave, when he got to the door Rias's voice stopped him.

"Could you at least visit the clubroom from time to time?"

Instead of voicing his answer Naruto simply nodded and walked out the door. When he left Akeno spoke up.

"He is quite the stubborn one."

"Yes, yes he is, but that will make him joining all the more sweeter." Rias responded

She was determined to make Naruto a part of her family, she only hoped that she would be able to convince him before 'he' came. But for now she had two cute servants to tend to.

It was a couple of hours later when Naruto was walking through the town in the direction of his apartment when he bumped into someone. When he looked down he saw a head of blond hair and a female Kuoh academy outfit but with a black sweater vest. The girl got up to apologize when she recognized him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't-huh? Naruto-san?" Asia questioned

"Hey" He responded

"W-What are you doing here?" Asia asked shyly.

"I'm going back to my apartment, you?"

"W-Well I was going to the store for some food for Issei-san but-" At the mention of food Asia's stomach started to rumble a bit. She blushed and looked away in embarrassment.

Naruto didn't know whether how embarrassed she looked or how she reminded him of Hinata that compelled him to do this but he guessed he would never know. "Hungry?" when she nodded her head shyly Naruto turned around and walked into the direction of his shop. "Come on." Asia stood there for a few seconds following him.

After a few minutes of walking the duo made it to his shop. Naruto walked into his shop and turned on the stove before getting out the ingredients for his ramen to make two bowls while Asia sat down. After a few minutes Naruto placed the two bowls while he sat down across from her.

Asia clapped her hands together and started to pray "Dear lord I come to thank-OW!" She exclaimed as she grabbed her head in pain.

"You alright?" Naruto asked. He was getting confused, what just happened?

"I-I'm fine I-I forgot devils can't pray to god." Asia said while shaking her head.

"If it hurts you, why do you pray?"

"W-Well I used to be a nun before I became a devil."

"Oh"

Asia looked down at her food before talking. "W-While I'm a little sad I can't pray anymore, I'm satisfied with being a devil."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her words. "What about your freedom? Don't you care about that?"

"W-Without Issei-san and the others I wouldn't be here today, a-and they have shown me n-nothing but kindness." She said with a smile. "I-I was alone before I met Issei-san a-and he became my first friend. I-I know you said no earlier b-but please give us a chance Naruto-san."

Naruto didn't respond to her words as he started eating. "Eat up your food's getting cold." Asia nodded her head before eating her food. After they finished eating, Asia bowed her head "T-Thank you Naruto-san." Naruto waved off her thanks as he started to stack up the bowls and take them to the dishwasher. "Don't you have your friend to get back too? Don't wanna keep him waiting right?"

At his words Asia started to panic a little and she rushed to exit. Naruto smiled a little bit at this. Yeah she definitely reminded him of a young Hinata. His smile faltered when he thought about what Rias told him. Family? Friends? Lord only knew how good that sounded, but to him the leaf village was his home, he was born and raised there. On top of that he had put so much time and effort to try and change people's opinions on him there and he still wasn't sure what they thought of him now. He also couldn't abandon his friends, he had yet to fulfill his promise to Sakura. There's no way he could leave all that.

He was gonna keep up his end of the bargain while also refusing and then get back to searching for ways back home double time. He was getting home.

That's all there is to it

Chapter done

Ok I wanted to speed things up so we can get into the fun stuff aka the Riser arc. I know some of you might be a little disappointed that I'm nerfing Naruto but come on think about it, Rias is not going to be able to turn pain arc Naruto into a devil.

I also feel like the deal he made with Koneko would be a Naruto thing to do. You know, him trying to get himself out of a whole only to put himself in a bigger one. I also hope I'm doing good with Naruto's character so far, I wanna keep him basically Naruto but show how his trip to the DxD world has affected him.

Also, I promise that he won't be nerfed for long, it's only so Rias can reincarnate him. Also I ask that you guys come up with a name for Naruto's piece. I have no idea what I'm gonna call it right now. Leave your critics or suggestions in the reviews, and If I like your suggestion it might go into the story.

This is The Devious Duckling signing off.