A/N:

Naruto + Highschool DXD

I do not own anything from Naruto or Highschool DXD

Chapter 2 of The Crown of Thorn's is here! More to come soon.

Warning! This chapter includes scenes of blood and gore.

Thank you.

Chapter 2: Stray Devil Slaughter

*Osaka - Japan - Sakara Bloom Orphanage*

The Sakara Bloom Orphanage sat on the outskirts of Osaka city. Fortunately, unlike orphanages that sat within the city center, the land that the Sakura Bloom Orphanage sat upon was lucky to be adjacent to a small forest where the children could play and experience nature at its finest.

In a small clearing positioned in the middle of the forest a diverse group of wild animals relaxed, eating, napping, and playing. Leaning up against the side of a large tree a young boy sat next to a deer. On his shoulder perched a couple of small birds, in his lap rested a tabby cat, and snuggling in his arms was a small fox kit.

Seeing a young twelve-year-old boy relaxing with so many various animals surrounding him in such a calm manner would normally be an odd if not impossible sight to see, however for Naruto it was quite a normal experience.

His relationship with the creatures of the forest began when he was seven. He had been playing with some of the other children when he had broken his ankle as he slipped and fell off of an old dead tree that he and the others had been climbing on.

Crying in pain, Naruto lay curled up on the ground as the other children panicked and scrambled back out of the forest in a run leaving the blonde boy behind in hopes that they would not get in trouble for trying to climb trees, something the matron had prohibited.

Naruto lay on the ground for quite some time before the rustling of some branches sounded the arrival of a large deer. The bawling boy did not notice the creature until it stood over him. Scared, the boy flinched as the deer lowered its head toward his injured ankle. His fear and tears gave way to surprise as the woodland animal began licking his broken and scraped-up lower leg. The deer lay by his side until he was found by the matron who had come looking for him.

After recovering from his injury Naruto spent more and more time in the forest. It took a little bit of time for the various animals of the forest to warm up to him but eventually, he liked to believe he had become friends with them all. He played with the younger animals, relaxed and napped with the older creatures, and even tried to sing along with the various birds.

Naruto had tried to bring some of the other children and even his mother to see the wild animals of the forest but when he did the animals never showed up. Only when he was by himself would they come out of their hiding spots. Naruto was often confused about why they would not come out for others but soon accepted that they seemed to like him way more than anyone else and that he would most likely never be able to show them to the others at the orphanage.

Now at the age of twelve Naruto spent quite a bit of his free time with his friends from the forest, especially as the other children grew increasingly unruly and rebellious as they entered their teen years. There was only so much that one woman could do to reign in the behavior of the older children who increasingly saw the younger and "mama's boy" Naruto as a weaker target to pick on and bully.

Sitting under the branches of the tree as the afternoon began to turn to night, Naruto snuggled up with his animal friends.

"Naruto! Come on sweetie! It's time to get ready for bed!" The loud shout of his mother brought him out of his thoughts.

A small smile appeared on his still slightly round face as the voice of the orphanage matron echoed through the near-silent forest clearing. To Naruto, the brightest shining star in his world was his mother. No matter how much he was teased and picked on by the elder orphans Naruto would never feel down about the love that he had for her. She had raised him and the other children of the orphanage with love and care without any reservations or expectations. The young blonde would not change his life for anything.

"Coming in a minute!" Petting the young fox kit one last time and nudging the cat that was sitting in his lap Naruto responded letting his mother know that he was coming. Setting the fox down on the grass next to its mother, Naruto took a look around him at all of his friends with love shining in his eyes. "Ok, guys I have to go back home now. I'll see you guys again tomorrow ok? Be safe!"

Dusting the grass and animal hairs off of his shorts Naruto took a moment to pet and say goodbye to each of his animal friends, receiving rubs and noises of happiness back from the various animals that began to get up to head out into the forest for the night.

"Coming in a minute!" Hearing the yelled response from her youngest child the matron made her way toward the orphanage's back entrance. While walking the now older woman had to sigh and close her eyes in sadness. Naruto and all of the other children were growing up so fast. It seemed like just yesterday the blonde babe was babbling in his little blanket as she brought him into the orphanage for the first time.

She had to suppress a wince as she thought about the past couple of years. With the older children of the orphanage growing more rebellious and going through their teenage years she had less and less time to spend with each child. The one impacted the most by her increasingly busy caring duties was without a doubt Naruto. Between his schooling and the time she had to spend disciplining and supervising the more disobedient children, she had significantly reduced time to spend with him.

The young boy used to spend nearly all of his time with her, following her and helping her to the best of his abilities, but now she rarely had time to spend with him other than during meals or bedtime. No matter how much she wanted to spend more of her time with her little angel she had to share her focus and attention with all of the children and right now the others required more time and reprimand. Fortunately, it seemed like he understood that she was overworked, she would make it up to him.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" A loud scream and a crashing noise brought her out of her thoughts and made her run towards the home. Having raised quite a few children she knew many of the noises that a child could make and knew that this scream was one of pain. She needed to get inside and find out what happened and make sure everyone was ok. Her worry increased when she noticed that the house lights were no longer on.

"Children? What happened, is everyone ok? What was that…." Bursting through the doorway and running into the main hallway the matron froze mid-step as terror flooded her body.

Blood coated the floor and a crunch resounded through the room. Shaking with tears falling from her eyes the orphanage matron couldn't look away from what she saw.

A large figure stood in the hallway, its body disfigured and unnatural and barely covered by rags. It stood with a slouch having to bend its body to avoid hitting the ceiling. An abomination. A monster. Its body was blackish grey with crimson streaks running throughout its flesh. Large lumps grew out of its flesh leaking sick yellow pus that sizzled on its flesh like acid. Its lower body consisted of four chubby oversized baby legs, one set facing its front and the other backward. Its torso grew exponentially wide near its chest with a large oversized head sitting atop its boulder shoulders. Crooked and bulbous black bat wings grew out of its back. A lipless mouth dripped blood and spit and a single large derpy yellow eye swiveled around randomly inside its socket.

Tearing her eyes away from the creature for a second the matron had to stifle a scream as she saw multiple of her children torn apart and butchered on the ground. What was left of their faces showed pure terror and agony.

"Hehehe oum yummy yummy. The young ones always taste the best, wouldn't you say so big brother!" To the matron's horror, the large creature spoke before picking an eyeball from its dull crooked teeth. She was completely frozen in terror as the beast's eye swiveled to look towards the staircase.

With a sickening splat, a body was thrown down the staircase landing in a broken pile on the ground at the monster's feet. "Oh, I don't know little brother. I always liked them to be older. More age to make the meat nice, flavorful, and dry. I found the brat with the sacred gear. It's just a shitty twice critical, kid didn't even know he had it. You can have him and the other little brats. I'm more interested in the sweet old bag that I can smell. Aged meat is my favorite."

Coming down the stairs was a different creature altogether. The second was small, barely four feet tall. It was extremely lithe with sharp angular body features. Its tiny beady eyes glowed with malevolent crimson. If the first could be compared to a large baby the second looked like a walking skeleton with a torso and limbs as thin as bone. Its coloring matched the first albeit with an even paler tint.

Trying to get her limbs to move the matron tried to back out of the hall only to slip and fall onto her backside, alerting the creatures to her presence. Both of the monsters turned their attention to her as the thin creature's mouth split into a savage pointy grin.

"Ah, there she is! I knew I smelled something good. Your aged flesh will taste heavenly!" Sobbing, the matron tried to crawl backward as the beast began to run toward her. "You're mine!" In a second the creature leaped at the matron with clawed fingers bared.

"AAAAHHHH!" A scream echoed through the orphanage halls as a shadow of darkness and death loomed over the small building.

Saying goodnight to all of his animal friends took a couple of minutes. The fox kit did not want to leave and Naruto had to give it a few reassuring head and ear rubs and reassure the kit that he would be back soon.

Heading out of the forest Naruto had a smile on his face thinking about his furry friends and his family at the orphanage. Bedtime was one of his favorite parts of the day as the children finally calmed down and he had a chance to spend a little bit of time with his mother.

Coming in sight of the orphanage building Naruto paused for a moment as he noticed the back door partially open and the lights off. The lights were always left on in the communal section of the building until all of the children were put to bed and the back door was always closed for safety reasons.

"AAAAHHHH!" A shrill scream that sounded like it came from his mother caused panic to spring into the young boy's mind as he began to run towards the home.

Naruto quickly reached the doorway and pushed his way through before heading down the hallway, his heart beating with worry. His worry gave way to soul-crushing horror as he saw his mother's body laying on the floor surrounded by blood with her mouth open in a silent scream and her throat torn out. Crouched over the woman's body was a sickeningly skinny and abominable creature that had its head buried in the matron's stomach audibly chewing through flesh.

The twelve-year-old released a noise in between a gasp and a sob as he took in the sight before him. All of the other orphaned children, his mother, they were all dead and thrown around the room in pieces. The hall was covered in blood and body parts as two creatures straight out of nightmares chowed down on the flesh of his family.

His vision tunneled onto the terrified face of the woman who raised him and loved him. He brought his hand to his mouth as an expulsion of vomit splattered his hand. Large tears rained from his eyes and his whole body shook with fear.

With a sickening squelch, the monster that had been chowing down on the orphanage matron looked up and a cruel blood-stained smirk formed in its mouth as it saw the boy and sent its killing intent toward him. "Ah, why would you look at that little brother? There just so happens to be another treat for you right here and he looks even younger than the others. I know you like their meat to be tender. He's drenched in fear just the way you like them." After speaking the creature went straight back to devouring the elder woman's flesh without a care in the world.

"OOH, another tasty treat for me to fill my tummy with! Shame it just dirtied itself, the meat doesn't taste as good when they soil themselves. It's okay little meat you'll be in my belly soon enough no need to be scared hehehehe." The larger of the two monsters began to shuffle its way over toward the frozen blond who had lost control of his bladder as he was hit by the sickening killing intent of the smaller creature. The four-legged monster reached out his arms with a goofy expression on his face as he neared the small boy.

Time slowed in Naruto's mind as his vision stayed locked onto the corpse of the woman that he was raised by and loved. Images from his past flew through his vision. The happy times, the sad times he saw it all, and every time his mother was there with him smiling with him or comforting him. The pure feelings of love that he held in his heart were constricting. He felt like his heart would rip itself apart.

Unknown to Naruto himself with a burst of shimmering light a thorned crown manifested on top of his head. Thorns surrounded the crown as its golden appearance shifted. From the ring of the crown, crimson rivulets traveled across the circumference of the circlet making the thorns appear to be dripping in blood.

Unconsciously a burst of power pulsed off of the thorny crown. Appearing floating above Naruto's head was a golden halo brimming with light. Popping out of his back two pure white feathered wings flourished behind him.

For the first time, the Crown of Thorns was activated by its wielder in full. A feeling of power rushed through his veins and it wanted to be released.

Time began to move at a normal speed and the two creatures who had turned to look at the child in mounting shock and horror were given no chance to blink as the twelve-year-old raised his head. With an anguished cry, the boy's eyes glowed with pure ethereal light which quickly grew and flashed across the house casting a ray of brightness that shone brighter than the sun.

"What! A Sacred Gear!" The monsters screeched in terror as the light quickly overtook them.

When the light died down, Naruto slumped down to his knees as he witnessed the creatures vanishing into black dust. Looking around he tried to see if there were any other monsters around him when his eyes caught on the hallway mirror. His reflection stood out to him.

Seeing the thorny crown, a halo of light, and feathery white wings shocked and confused him. They looked like angel wings. How? Was this the "Sacred Gear" the monster mentioned?

Frozen staring at his own reflection, tears began to fall down his face anew as his thoughts turned back to the horror that sat around him. Suddenly voices fluttered through his head.

"Damn you Uzumaki!"

"Kushina what have you done?"

"I'm sorry Minato. I couldn't let you do it….. be safe. Goodbye. I love you, my little Naru-chan."

"Hmm, something has changed. Kurama and Ashura are gone."

"He will be the one. The savior or destroyer."

"Oh well hello, there little guy. How did you end up here? You are just a little cutie, aren't you? Oh, your blanket. So your name is Naruto is it? Well, welcome to the Sakura Bloom Orphanage Naru-chan."

"So you are the one…. the fourteenth Longinus Sacred Gear"

"Good night Naruto-chan. My sweet little angel."

Naruto only recognized one of the voices that resounded in his mind. His mother! Gathering what energy he had left Naruto quickly crawled over to his mother's body clinging to any hope that she was still alive. "Momma! NO! Wake up! You can't be dead, you just can't! No…."

Feeling not even the slightest response from the person that he loved the most anguish gripped his heart. Tears and snot fell to the ground as he stared at the matron's body.

A shimmer of movement in his peripherals and a growing feeling in his body drew his attention away from the corpse. From the dispersing ash of the two monsters, black energy moved toward him.

He flinched but yet nothing happened as the mote of darkness sunk into his body. Suddenly the power that he felt inside him changed and looking in the mirror once more his body did as well.

The thorny crown atop his head dropped fizzling rivulets of bloody crimson light around him as if it was crying tears in a waterfall of evaporating blood.

The golden crown of light hovering above him was no longer the same. One-third of the halo appeared to melt before solidifying like a stalactite hanging from a cave ceiling. The drooping portion of the golden ring was quickly invaded by deep ebony black that covered the entire third of the halo.

Out of his back black bat-shaped wings burst forth taking up residence directly below the white feather pair. He recognized them from the back of the monsters that had killed his family. Seeing such an odd and supernatural visage looking back at him from the mirror awed him but yet at the same time, a growing amount of anger and disgust grew inside him. With the black wings, somehow he was now connected to the monsters that had butchered everyone he loved and destroyed the happy and peaceful life that he had. He hated it, hated that he was now similar in a way to the beings that took everything from him, he hated looking at the obsidian wings.

As if understanding his desires a pulse of energy radiated from the crown atop his head and the otherworldly features disappeared. The halo dispersed into vanishing particles of golden and black light, both sets of wings upon his back seemed to retract into his body and the spiky crown blinked out of existence.

Naruto looked away from the mirror and back down towards the body of the woman that he called mother and sobbed into her hair.

Bright sunlight bathed the Sakura Bloom orphanage illuminating a young boy lying on the ground surrounded by blood and gore. Blinking from the rays of light shining on his form Naruto rubbed the heavy crust that had built up from the tears in his eyes. With a start, he realized that he must have fallen asleep crying against his mother's body. Looking down the blonde was brought to tears once again as the pailing face of the woman who raised him stared lifelessly across the room.

Why did this happen? What were those creatures? Why did they kill his family? What was he going to do now? Questions ran through his mind as he began to realize that none of what happened was a dream. He was alone, they were all gone, and it hurt. Alongside the pain, another unnoticed emotion began to grow, anger.

After spending more time holding and grieving by the side of his mother Naruto closed her and the other children's eye's before going to his room and grabbing his backpack. Naruto dug through the house grabbing clothes, food, supplies, and anything that he could think of, and threw it into his pack.

He couldn't stay here, not after what had happened, and he did not want to be put into another orphanage. He would have to leave and find the truth behind the horrible monsters, sacred gears, and his abilities. Eating a quick breakfast the young boy once more kneeled down next to his mother and said a final goodbye. Placing a kiss on her forehead the blonde left the orphanage building and headed out to the forest.

Walking in a near zombiesque manner Naruto arrived at the forest grove. Slumping down against his usual tree the boy sat in silence waiting for his friends to come to see him like usual. He needed their comfort right now.

Waiting a few minutes he began to look around as none of the animals that he usually interacted with had arrived like they usually would. The rustling of some shrubbery brought his sight to one of the bushes at the edge of the clearing. Hiding in the bush was the mother fox and her young kit that had grown close to him but they weren't coming out to see him. Hearing more movement the young boy began to see more of the woodland creatures at the edge of the clearing.

"Guys, what's wrong?" Confused why the animals would not come out to see him like usual, Naruto stood up and began to walk toward them until he was stopped by a growl. "W-why are you growling at me?"

Turning to view the rest of the clearing Naruto was shocked and hurt to see all of his animal friends staying far away from him and growling, hissing, and cawing at him. For what felt like the millionth time tears began to run down his eyes as the visage of his appearance in the mirror and that of the monsters tormented his mind. They must know somehow. Did the animals dislike him now that he had these horrid black wings?

Reaching out with his hand one last time toward the young fox kit he slowly let it drop back down to his side as the small animal growled and bared its fangs at him. With his hair overshadowing his eyes, the blonde walked slowly back over to the tree where he had set his pack. Picking it up he made to leave the forest in a random direction.

Turning his head around to face the forest animals he said a quiet goodbye as a tear fell down his face. He was well and truly alone now.

*Sakura Bloom Orphanage - Street - Two days later*

Flashing police and ambulance lights reflected in the rain that was pelting the many observers. Yellow tape cordoned off the building as police and medical teams rushed in and out of the building. Standing outside of the taped-off area were a large number of civilians and media personnel, a large portion of the locals had turned up as word spread. Walking up to the crowd in a hurry the beautiful blonde Gabriel had concern written on her face.

It had been a few years since the angel of heaven checked in on the orphanage and one blond boy in particular. With her anti-detection blessing appearing to work flawlessly the female archangel had put less focus on the cute boy as duties in heaven continued to pile up. It was only after a long day that she realized that something had happened. The feelings of pure happiness and love that the blonde had harbored throughout his childhood had vanished, her empathic sensing of the orphanage revealed deep pain, sadness, and anger. As soon as she could the angel left heaven to check up on the orphanage and the young blue-eyed boy that she had favored. She was too late.

"Oh my. Have you heard? They say that someone tortured and murdered the poor orphans and their caretaker."

"What? How awful. I do hope the police stop whoever did it. To think someone could be so vile."

"I know right? I don't know if I will feel safe until they catch whatever sick freak did this. My husband will be happy though. He's been trying to force the old hag who owned the place to sell the land to him to build a new mall."

"Really? That's great! It's such a waste of space to have all this bare land and forest here. A new shopping center is just what the town needed. Ooh, I hope some luxury clothing shops open up."

Gabriel stopped listening to the gossip around her as the uncaring comments began to spread through the crowd. The beauty of heaven was distraught to hear how little the people around her actually cared about the poor children who were killed. She quickly said a prayer for the young orphans to find peace in the afterlife before using her abilities to make her way past the crowd and police.

Entering the home she knew instantly who or rather what had killed the children and matron. Stray Devils. She could feel the tainted evil permeating through the house and lingering in the blood splattered on the walls and floor. Stray devils were well known for committing massacres but they usually targeted sacred gear users or people who were by themselves not large groups. Her blessing should have hidden young Naruto from detection so what had happened?

Feeling the energies around her a slight tingle of supernatural power brought her attention to one of the mangled bodies that had yet to be removed. This poor child had a sacred gear. The strays must have come to the orphanage after detecting it inside of him and had slaughtered the rest of the defenseless children alongside him.

Her eyes were misted with tears as she thought about the suffering and pain that the children must have gone through. Something stood out to the angel though. Naruto's body was nowhere to be found, her blessing was still active, and the stray devils were definitely dead. The only possibility that came to her mind was that the blonde boy had managed to survive, awakened his sacred gear, and somehow killed the devils. What happened? Where was he?

She needed to find him. Before it was too late.

2-9-2023