Hyperdimension Naruto: Re Birth

by Redthefox

This is the completely rewritten story of Ultradimension Naruto: Scarlet Heart. Minato sacrified himself to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto. Treated as a demon instead of a hero, the CPUs decided to take Naruto far away in their homeland. But new threats will present themself to Naruto. Follow Naruto's adventure in Gamindustri. (Main pairing: Naruto x Noire) (Harem)

3. Chapter 3

Hello everyone it is me again. Here's another chapter ready to be read! I hope you're ready for the show.

Some elements of certains animes, or games may be added in this fanfiction.

In any case, i hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

I don't own Naruto and Hyperdimension Neptunia.

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Chapter 3: A risky situation

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Ah, the morning sun, the one cosmic entity that the continent of gamindustri could all collectively agree on was the most consistent thing in their lives aside from the moon. The sun shone brightly within the clear blue skies that the Land of Purple Progress had enjoyed for centuries, ever since the advent of the futuristic technology that reduced their carbon emissions to nigh 0%. People hadn't had to worry about environmental problems for ages now, to the point where they didn't even realise that they had been a thing unless a historian or someone who baely even remembered their history classes told them. For most people this would be the beginning of yet another ordinary day in their tranquil lives.

"Haaaaahh… finally made it…"

That would not be the case for a certain young boy who currently stood before one of Planeptune's armouries for adventurers, in which he had to spend a moment to catch his breath due to running all the way here from the Basilicom. His sun-kissed blonde hair remained damp with the sweat he'd gotten from the impromptu cardio session, although it wasn't that much to consider him a sweaty nerd, the sweat being wiped from his brow by his left hand.

Lifting his head up high once he got his breathing to a steady rhythm again, one Naruto of Lowee slicked back his damp hair for a bit before letting it shift back into its usual spikey blonde hairstyle, something that not even the best of Lowee hairdressers could have hoped to tame. It wasn't for a lack of trying as about 80% of them people would tell those who asked, it just seemed almost like fate that his hair would be as chaotic and spikey as the maelstrom he had been named after, and he had nothing but pride for that.

The now 12 year old male wore some clothing that'd make one think he was an edgy teen in his rebellious phase, sporting a black tunic with silver lines running down its zipper line, breaking out into a rhombus shape near the middle in which a silver cross adorned the tunic's center. These silver lines ran up to the collar and shaped its boarder, while down to the waist was a series of stitches forming a circle around the tunic's ends. Beneath the tunic was a pair of black matching pants with matching kneeguards sown into them, tucked into a pair of knee high brownies black leather boots, a single belt wrapping around his right thigh much like a certain CPU Candidate's thigh pouch. On top of the tunic was a black thigh length coat that had red stiching around the high collar's interior alongside the chest where the pecs were located and under the armpits. Its interior also composed of red stitching, with a fur trim. His left hand had a black gove that covered only the hand and thumb to expose the fingers to the elements, while the right had an armored gauntlet covering it. The coat remained in place thanks to the black leather belt with pouches adorning it, currently being filled with canisters filled with water and other fluids.

"Whew… that was some jog…" Naruto commented to himself, rubbing the back of his head as an awkward chuckle escaped him. Perhaps running from the Lowee Basilicom all the way to Planeptune like some cross country runner wasn't such a good idea, though in hindsight he hadn't been really thinking about the logic for that. He'd just been busy trying to distract himself from thoughts related to…. something he had been told recently that threw his whole world upside down.

Shaking his head to push those thoughts away before he could have another panic attack, Naruto looked to the blacksmith building he had found himself at with his lips curving into a wide grin. "Aw yea, just where I wanna be!" he cheered, throwing his arms upwards like he were trying to mimic a star or something.

The thing about Lowee was that it didn't do well in the weapons crafting department these days, it had been different in the past but something had happened to make Blanc crack down on all weapons development. She wouldn't ever talk about it no matter how many times he tried the puppy dog eyes on her, not even her oracle Mina would-nope, not thinking about that woman right now! Nope, no sir, he was NOT going down that route!

Anyways, Planeptune may not have looked it but it did quite well in this department, rivalled only by Lastation. Their weapons usully had a sci fi energy feel to them, which Naruto had found to be one of the most awesome things out there no matter what the haters that were his twin sisters Rom and Ram said about Melee. Natuto had chosen his religion and his religion aside from thee CPUs was glorious melee combat… though he didn't look down on magic or firearms either.

Uni and the twins had made sure that wouldn't happen.

Shuddering at those memories, the 12 year old grined in excitement as he made his way inside the armoury shop, a ell ringing the moment he entered to signal his presence.

---

Inside the Armoury

"Welcome-ah, Naruto my boy!"

"Howdy old timer! Business doing okay?"

The moment that he entered, the shopkeeper who resembled an old hunched over dwarf with his stature, wearing a white muscle shirt, some overalls and some black boots with brown gloves grinned toothily when he saw the blonde. Said blonde grimed back without a care in the world, offering a big wave in turn as he closed the door behind him.

"Ahhh, its the same old shit. Soldiers need weapons maintained, those friends of yours visiting every so often to buy new gear…" the shopkeeeper whom Naruto had affectionately called an old timer, cheerfully replied. Not like there was any complaint in the old man's tone though, if anything he looked as spry as someone half his age which he attributed to good genes.

Naruto chuckled as he took to looking through the weapon racks, examining the weapons inside to see what was available. The reason he had been here in the first place was to find a sword that could fit someone like him, since he'd been using practice swords his whole life up till this point. He had received his allowance from his sister Blanc, and had saved up as much as he could without going on any quests which kind of irked him inside since Rom and Ram got to go on them while he had to stay inside the Basilicom till he had been older. He knew his sister worried for him and even his twin sisters could only take on fetch quests unsupervised, but those were boring! He craved adventure and he craved it badly! This had been something that he had been dreaming of for years now, and now it's finally here!

It had reached the point where he had visited every armoury in all the four nations just to see what it was like to hold a weapon in his hands not made of wood and instead of cold steel. He had heard that Neptune one of his sister's friends (despite all the bickering they did) apparently wielded a wooden sword for an entire month slaying B to A ranked monsters, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. That had actually been how Naruto had met this guy and after some incidents involving him sneaking out of Planeptune during Blanc's visits to the Nation, of which he'd get scolded for, he'd managed to worm his way into the shopkeeper's good graces.

Now all Naruto wanted to do was find a weapon he wanted.

As time passed, it soon became apparent that Naruto couldn't choose a single weapon from the multitude of those in stock. There'd been many from Katanas, Scythes, Claws, Tonfas, Spars, Staffs and many more, which didn't help much, as eident by his tight and focused expression that became increasingly visible to those watching…

Which just so happened to only consist of the shopkeeper who had been minding his own business while the customer did his thing. But seeing as how he could see th blonde having some difficulty, the shopkeeper chose to leave the counter and walk up to him, wiping his gloved hands down with a towel for some reason. "You looking mighty flustered there, kid. Something up?"

"Hmmmm…. well, I'm not sure." Naruto replied thoughtfully as he eyed a lineup of futuristic Katanas/. "I spent my whole life dreaming of being an adventurer who'd explore the world and find stuff, and I always thought that the gear has to match the weapon. But I can't seem to find the weapon that'd go with my said gear." he explained, gesturing to his black and red outfit.

He had once seen the color orange and promptly had a nightmare about a glaringly obvious-looking orange jumpsuit the following night.

No way was he going out dressed like that, Blanc would whoop his ass for such atrocious fashion sense.

The Shopkeeper stroked his beard with a thoughtful hum as he pondered on the boy's dilemma. He could understand the reasoning, it had become apparent throughout most adventurers these days that the only thing better than beating up monsters was to look stylish while doing it, as if it were to add salt to the wounds they inflicted on their enemies. Additionally in all his years of knowing the boy who grew up under Blanc's care Naruto had never been one to do things half assed, there was this sense of focus he had whenever he put his mind to something… even if those were pranks he pulled on either the servants, Blanc or his twin sisters. Even after 12 years of living this didn't change about him, and its not like that CPU Candidate Ram helped with her competitive nature.

It was then that a figurative light bulb switched on in his mind as the shopkeeper eyed Naruto's gear up and down.

"Hmmmm, I may have something, something imported from Leanbox. Check over to the right of the entrance, there's a barrel filled with some second hand weapons." The shopkeeper explained, gesturing to the corner of his shop that he was verbally referring to.

Naruto glanced over yonder, and saw the barrel himself. He winced at the sight of the barrel since it obviously didn't look like it belonged in a shop filled with sci fi weaponry. If anything it belonged on one of those old antique ships which ran on those sail things that had been rendered obsolete centuries ago. If anything the barrel even looked like it was about to fall apart at the seams at any second while containing an assortment of more leanbox style weapons. While futuristic in archetecture now, Leanbox used to have a much more arhaic architecture style one might see in those isekai novels that were popping off recently, their own cultural identity which got muddled thanks to Leanbox's dealings with the more prosperous planeptune.

He vaguely remembered hearing Vert complain about elements of this to his sisters once…

But that thought process immediately flew out of the window when he noticed something amongst the assorted weapons the barrels carried, a gling of black mixed within the steel grey. His eyes, drawn to that black like a magnet, soon picked it out from the others as he walked on over to reach down and pluck it by the hilt, pulling it free like it were a kingmaker embedded inside a rock. Once he had pulled it out, Naruto beheld the choice weapon he had selected, not really knowing what to expect from this strange 'pull' he had felt from it.

The weapon itself seemed to be an Aged-looking black sword, its blade as long as a human's leg almost with its hilt resembling a cross. Its predominantly black, but a metallic shine on the blades' flat surface betrayed a greyish secondary color.

"...holy…"

Naruto stared in transfixed awe at the blade, getting into a few stances and feeling out the blade through some practice swings. The weapon felt quite nice to wield he quickly realised, with the way it cut through the air itself seemingly almost supernatural in its nature. He felt like he could cut through a lot of things with this baby, even with its aged appearance… also…

Why did he feel this connection to the blade? Staring at its flat surface, Naruto couldn't help but see himself as a boy in its reflection…

Only it wasn't at the same time. Unlike his memories when he had been a laughing, grinning prankster when Blanc was nearby, this version of him had a look of sheer depression and about to erupt into tears for some reason… it clenched at his heart for a while and refused to leave his mind.

As scary as that should have been to him, Naruto still found himself being transfixed by it instead, like he had just barely dodged a projectile thrown by Ram for one of her failed pranks.

"Ahhhh, so THAT's one fine blade there." The shopkeeper mused, cupping his chin after walking up to the blonde and examining the weapon. "Its appearance may say otherwise but there's definitely a lot of life in this blade. In fact I heard that its survived some pretty tough scrapes against high ranking monsters where other weapons broke." Holding out his hand, the shopkeeper smiled gratefully when Naruto put the blade in it with his hand clasping around the hilt, the other had running along the blade's flat surface. "Yes… I feel that this is an enchanted blade."

"Enchanted blade?"

Nodding his head at Naruto's question, the old man proceeded to elaborate whilst still gazing into the blade that baffled even him, in all his years of selling and crafting weapons to adventurers this was the first time he'd beheld such a fine blade. "There's an enchantment on this sword, but its not one that I'm aware of. Nonetheless this is a weapon of high quality that, judging by its wear and tear seems to have seen many battles. You cannot ask for a finer companion, doesn't matter if its enchanted or not a good blade always serves its master well. You might have to find out from someone who does know the enchantment though, but there is something I can glean from this weapon: its name."

Naruto widened his eyes at this form of praise. He'd heard that the shopkeeper had a high set of standards for weapons, it was why so many prominent adventurers came to him for weapons in the first place. such as Neptune, various guild officials, even his sister had to heap praise onto him for designing such a good hammer for her. If THIS guy was saying this blade was special, then he'd believe it.

"And what's this guy's name?"

"...Greed."

---

Planeptune Guild Building

After deciding to buy the sword with a matching sheathe for it that would be strapped to his left hip, Naruto paid the shopkeeper and spend some time admiring the sword on his way to the guild building. He did nearly get stopped by some police officers who had seen him brandishing a weapon out in public, but things ended without incident when he'd explained the situation to them… all the while trying not to look at them funny thanks to their form fitting uniforms.

Nope, not touching that Naruto vowed at the time.

Finally the blonde stood before the Guild Building with Greed now sheathed inside his sheathe. Naruto dubbed the sword a 'he' instead of a she, and if anyone were to ask why he'd say that it just felt more appropriate.

"At last… I'm finally here…"

Naruto audibly gulped at the sight of the seemingly imposing building now looming over him. He'd seen it many times before when he'd been with Blanc during her business visits, and Histoire had sometimes shown him the place's interior as long as she was observing him, but seeing it with the intent he had now made the blonde feel a bit anxious. Various worries flooded his chest at what he could be told to do to register as an adventurer, something he had never thought to ask since he'd been focusing soly on weapon and hand to hand combat training.

"Blanc said that she had no trouble registering Rom and Ram as adventurers to solve any paperwork issues related to questing, so it shouldn't be too much of a biggie… yea…"

Taking a moment to compose himself, Naruto gripped his sword's sheathe in his left hand as if to ask it for the strength he needed to proceed before he started making his way towards the Guild Building's entrance…

"Oooh, lookie lookie! Hey there Naru kun!"

"Ah, hi Naruto!"

"Geh!"

Heart nearly leaping out of his chest, Naruto nearly jumped when he heard a pair of female voices from his left alongside some footsteps. He did find them familiar though, which helped him calm down enough to look to their sources and erupt into a wild grin. "Oh, hey there Nep Chan, Gear Chan!" he cheered, waving at the two girls.

Neptune and Nepgear, the Planeptune CPU and Candidate respectively. The two of them had massive smiles on their faces upon seeing the whiskered blonde and walked up to him with the casual movement one might expect of old friends. Even though technically they weren't family to begin with.

"Wassup, dude? How's it shakin'?" Neptune asked, holding her hand high for a high five which Naruto accepted, smacking his hand against hers with his signature grin. She then put her hands on her hips and leaned forwards, her features turning mischievous. "You doing that registering to the guild thing now? Did Blanc give the okay?"

Naruto smirked a bit to hide the awkwardness that question brought up. He truthfully hadn't seen his big sister or the twin candidates but she didn't need to know that. "You betcha, I'm old enough to register now! Going out on crazy adventures, fighting tough bosses, it gets me pumped the heck up!" He cheerfully declared, eagerness for discovery and adventure shining bright in his eyes. "Look, I even got myself a cool new sword to boot." he explained, gently tapping Greed in his sheathe.

This diverted Neptune's attention to the discrepancies in Naruto's voice and words, down towards the sword itself as she seemingly knelt next to him to get a better look so fast one might think she's a cartoon character. "Oooooh, a magic sword, huh? Must not have been a cheap one and it fits that edgy-looking gear your rocking." Neptune remarked, cupping her chin thoughtfully like an actual inspector.

"Wait, you know its enchanted? How?"

"Haven't you heard, I'm the amazing main character Neptune! I know all!"

"What she means to say is that Leanbox used to dabble in magic weapons a while back." Nepgear elaborated for her sister, finally stepping in much to said sister's dismay. "Neptune tried to play with a few, but they… didn't agree with hey."

"Hey! No snitching, Nep jr! Snitches get stitches!"

"Huh?! Really?! No, I don't like stitches, stitches are mean and evil and stuff!"

Naruto sweat dropped at the sight of the two sisters bickering, but the underlying amusement and the normality of such things won over in the end. That was something he dearly appreciated, cause it distracted him from something that had been haunting him like those horrors called ghosts. How do you even fight them? They're freaking intangible for goddess sake!

Unfortunately his problem once more reared its ugly head when Naruto's eyes unintentionally began to wander up and down the girls, Neptune and Nepgear alike. From the way their clothes clung to their forms, to the thighs that protruded out of their thigh wear, and the curves each of them had. Naruto fought back the urge to blush at the sight of them as words echoed in his mind that he refused to acknowledge.

'Grrr! Shut the F up, brain! Stop conjuring those images in my head!'

Ignoring how he wanted to stab his brain for being a traitor, as well as that doing so would likely kill him, Naruto decided to inquire as to the girls' situation. Last he heard his sister Blanc had been playing games with the other CPUs this morning, so he hadn't seen her before this whole… thing had happened. "So, um, what's your deal anyways? What are you doing out here?" he asked them, rubbing the back of his head with a quizzical eyebrow raised. He could never pull off the monotonous look Blanc had on 24/7.

"Oh nothing major." Like they were scripted characters or something, both sisters immediately faced Naruto like they hadn't been sharing one braincell for a moment there. "Just Histy being all Pisty as usual, no biggie." Neptune claimed like she were talking about the weather, waving off the look that the blonde gave her.

Again, Nepgear wasn't going to let Neptune slide like that and clarified things with the male. "Histoire's been pretty mad at Neptune for slacking off again, especially since she's been slipping into her old habits recently. She told us to do some work for the day and she won't let us back inside the Basilicom till she does." Nepgear explained, rather sheepishly.

"And lemme guess, you've been her servant right?"

"...Ehe."

Naruto stared dryly at the shifting CPU Candiate, having known her for years at this point so he knew how she ticked as more of a servant than a sister to the Planeptune CPU. According to Blanc she was actually doing better than what she had been like in the past, which Naruto couldn't even begin to imagine. Apparently all of the CPUs in the past were much worse than current times, including herself, but things started changing when they got the CPU Candidates into their lives.

If that's the truth then he didn't want to think about how things had once been.

"Aaaanyways…" in an attempt to shift the scenario off their backs, the CPU decided to shift topics to a more fun one as she took Naruto's hand in hers. "Since we're both here, allow us to take you on your first adventure! You'll be graduating from training school into full on adventurer with us in tow." she proclaimed before dragging Naruto into the Guild Building, unaware of the way he tensed up when she took his hand.

But not Nepgear though who followed silently.

---

Inside the Guild Building

"Sooooo… when they say work and stuff, they mean things like questing, right? Even though we're CPUs, guess we gotta look for work like Naru kun and the common folk, huh?"

So says the professional slacker herself, used to a life of leisure whilst the common folk have to work to sate their daily needs or die on a sidewalk homeless and alone.

Dark jokes aside, Neptune and Nepgear alongside their new blonde companion strolled inside the guild building, the purplette having freed Naruto's hand from her prisoner-esque grip. The blonde currently rubbed his and to get blood running through it again, mentally noting that for her size Neptune had quite the strength to her…

Made him understand why she's called a Goddess.

Didn't mean that he didn't hear what she said though, but before he could respond Nepgear beat him to it. "Neptune…" she commented, frowning in concern at those admittingly kind of rude words.

"Don't sweat it lil sis o' mine. You wanna take Naru Kun to get all juiced up and ready for action?"

Both sisters knew this to be one of the CPU's random moments, but nonetheless they still agreed to push everything forward and what way to do that best than to get their blonde companion his registry?

"Right. I'll do that and pick a quest for us." Nepgear proclaimed, gently grasping Naruto's hand and guiding him away from her sister.

Naruto tried to ignore how soft Nepgear's hand was, despite it having the same strength as her sister's but in a more controlled manner. Again he had to frown to himself at both what happened this morning and the act of leaving Neptune unsupervised. "You don't think Nep Chan will try to run, right? She hates working." he questioned, remembering how Histoire had to bribe her with seeing him to make sure she ran her nation effectively. She had mentioned it a few times to Blanc whenever he accompanied her.

"I'm sure she won't, don't worry. She'd much rather spend time with you Naruto." Nepgear responded, condifent in that her sister would want to spend time with Naruto rather than not. If anything his presence would ensure things go more smoothly. "Anyways, here we are." she declared, cutting the blonde off when he'd made to say something thanks to them having moved to the reception desk located at the back end of the building's ground floor.

Behind the desk stood a series of female receptionists, all clad in the same uniform hard at work issuing, managing and reporting various quests. Their uniforms consisted of a yellow jabot atop a white dress shirt and a blue navy vest on top of that one, long black pencil skirts with matching dark pantyhoses and high heels. The one they had approached, one with light brown hair woven into braids, noticed their approach and her yellow-gold eyes brightened. "Welcome, how may I help you today?" she asked with a smile.

One which Naruto immediately realised was the same kind of smile he had seen Noire make a few times when she had to deal with officials in her Nation before she could see to him. A business smile she had called it, apparently it was something that was needed to be learned for any receptionist to keep the guild functional. He didn't know about that, it seemed so artificial…

He liked honest smiles.

'Though that uniform looks really-shit, not again!'

"Hi, I wanna register my friend to be an adventurer." Nepgear politely greeted, pulling something out of her sailor dress's chest area which nearly made Naruto go bug eyed. It looked like a card of sorts with a picture of her and some details, but the most prominent one was the big A in bold purple writing.

The receptionist took one look at the boy next to Nepgear and seemingly sized him up, paying specific attention to the sword strapped to his hip. Then, she aimed another business smile their way and nodded her head. "Sure, if you would please follow me."

---

A few moments later

"Yes! I'm an adventurer now, whoo hoo!"

Cheerfully holding his Adventurer ID Card in his hand like a holy treasure, Naruto looked like he'd ascended to celestia or something with a figurative light shining down on him. Both Nepgear and the receptionist exchanged chuckles at the sight, real ones for both women. The ID Card in question had his photo which thankfully wasn't hard to find, a section with his details and a big purple E next to his portrait, not the A that Nepgear had.

"Congratulations sir." The receptionist stated while Nepgear gave the boy a big hug, before pulling away pretending not to notice the way that he reacted. Nonetheless, she cleared her throat to get the blonde's attention which she got, and then began speaking. "Since you have just registered you shall be starting at E rank, the more quests you complete the more likelihood you'll ascend to a higher rank yourself. E ranks can only take quests designated the same rank or one above, in this case D, unless they are with a higher ranked party."

Nodding his head in understanding, Naruto buried the jealousy that swelled in him when he'd seen the big A on Nepgear's ID Card which served as a reminder of her seniority over him. "Got it, Lady." he stated, giving a thumbs up with a toothy grin. "Just you watch, I'll be S rank in no time ya know!" he declared, grinning that wide dopey grin.

Another pleasant giggle got drawn from the woman's lips while Nepgear finally broke back into the conversation. "By the way, he's with me so are there any quests available?" she questioned, as happy as she had been for Naruto he hadn't been completely wrong about worrying about leaving behind her sister. She may be a goddess, but she was prone to getting herself into trouble if left alone for too long. She didn't want to think about the times this happened leading to national disasters like when Neptune once activated an ancient robot that Nepgear had been working on.

The whole 'gya' face she was known for originated from that incident.

"Yes there is, though for now there was only one E rank quest that recently got posted if you would see to the quest terminal in the center of the reception room." The receptionist replied, getting a happy nod from the CPU Candidate. An E rank quests sounded perfect for them right now, something both simple yet easier for Naruto to get some experience in. He may have been training a lot for this, but this was still going to be his first quest after all.

"Great! Lets go Naruto, we'll pick up my sister and get to this quest of ours!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

With an excited that did NOT scream like he had been hiding anything, Naruto beamed happily at the thought of finally going on his first quest. All the while Nepgear herself eagerly turned to grab Naruto's hand and lead him out to find her sister, watched over by the receptionist who smiled sweetly at the sight.

"Those two… seem like quite the cute couple…" she mumbled to herself, watching the duo leave after finding their third member who had been sitting on a bench kicking the air out of boredom.

---

Virtua Forest - Safe Zone

Once they had left the guild building, Nepgear had read over the fine print which had mentioned that the dogoo presence in this Dungeon in particular needed culling due to their numbers getting a bit too much. Dogoos on their own were so weak that they could be dealt with by a small stick, but in big enough groups they could pose more of a problem.

She would know, she and some of her friends had been the… victims of sorts of such an instance.

Nevertheless, unlike back then she had her friend Naruto and sister Neptune with her right now, so she felt happy. So happy in fact that she started humming a small tune while they made their way inside the forest, hands behind her head as she bobbed to the sound she replayed inside her brain. She even started skipping and doing some light tap dancing due to the energy she felt inside of her, like it were a drug that made her want to laugh everything that bothered her away.

The sheer amount of joy amongst other positive emotions radiating from the girl practically lit up the entire surrounding area, causing the two behind her to cover their faces.

"Whoa… so bright…!"

"Nep Jr's turned into a sun, just like Naru Kun's hair!"

Of course, Nepgear heard none of their comments.

Upon arriving at the entrance, she cheerfully spun around to address the others tagging along with her. "Alright! Work, work, work! Lets do our best Neptune, Naruto!" she chirped like a kid on a sugar rush.

"Heh, you bet Gear Chan, lets beat those Dogoos ya know!"

"Naru Kun I get but your really pumped Nep jr, I can sense the happiness in your voice.

Both Neptune and Naruto grinned at the excited CPU Candidate, her mood proving quite infectious since it put big grins on their faces too. Not even his prior excitement at finally being allowed to quest could hold a candle to the attitude Nepgear was sporting right now.

"Ehehehe, yup! This is the first time we've all gone out together in a while!" Nepgear explained, being in the company of her sister had been the initial goal, as she and her hadn't had the chance to hang out together in a long while, but being with Naruto as well became a pleasant bonus.

"Oh….really?"

Naruto glanced at Neptune's surprised yet somewhat baffled features, his mind picking up on the residue guilt festering inside of her at the thought of neglecting her sister. Thinking about what he should say wasn't his strong suit, but he still gave it a bit of a go and went with the following. "Yeah its been a while since we last hang out… I think its been up to a year…." Naruto mumbled, soon falling into a similar hole that Neptune did. He'd been so busy preparing to become an adventurer that he'd neglected to hang out with the girls. Even his sisters.

"Naruto was usually busy in Lowee with his training… and you spent your time playing games with Nore, Vert and Blanc like before… without me."

Hearing this alongside the fact that none of Nepgear's former cheer could be seen inside the girl's now gloomy eyes, a literal cloud of depression hanging like a cloak over her head, shattered their hearts as well as figuratively punched them in the gut. Neptune and Naruto had known her for years now, and while the latter didn't see her as much Neptune saw her all the time, so they knew how she got lonely easily and had an inferiority complex that didn't help. Even though she'd done just as good a job as her sister in many areas, she still liked to be reliant on her older sister who practically left her for her fellow CPUs.

Damn, they felt guilty alright.

"Ugh… sorry bout that Gear chan… shoulda noticed you were feeling left out…" Naruto whispered, and this came from someone who sensed negative emotions easily which made this mistake all the worse in his eyes.

Neptune looked down as well, just as guilty as the whiskered blonde felt inside if not worse considering she's the primary culprit. Neither offered any kind of excuse here, that'd only make the situation worse. "Hmmm… yea… I guess I'm guilty, then. Sorry-dorry. I've failed as your big sister, making you feel lonely." At least she tried to apologise for her selfishness, but that felt like a silly justification even to her.

"No, you two haven't failed at all… I've waited patiently. Now, I finally have the two of you to myself today!" As if her prior mood were naught but an illusion, Nepgear's cheerful upbeat mood returned quicker than a lightning flash.

Nepgear wasn't lying either, this whole trip where she'd spend the entire day with people who were important to her felt like a dream come true for the girl. It was a bit sad she couldn't spend it with just Neptune, but Naruto had a special place in her heart too since he usually knew what to do or say to make her smile. It made her cherish him a lot… while she also secretly wished he had been around sooner like during the ASIC days when she'd been at her lowest points several times in just one year.

She internally shuddered at the thoughts that had plagued her mind back then, thoughts that sometimes crept up on her when she'd be as lonely as she'd described to the duo. She couldn't ever imagine succeeding her sister as a CPU, no way, she probably would break without her around to constantly cheer her up. Not even when that stranger offered her a way to solve everything easily, with that stranger often coming up to her in her nightmares she'd have weeks after everything…

Nightmares which Naruto's presence in her life debuffed till they hardly occurred these days.

It thus inspired her drive to enjoy this rare moment in time with her two special people, her 'precious people' as Naruto had once called them when she'd asked him once during a visit to Planeptune Blanc took him on. It said a lot about him when he was the one Blanc took more than her own twin sisters, something both of them had indeed noticed and complained about to Mina a few times.

This change threw both of her companions for a loop, not quite sure how to take the CPU Candidate's mood swings so easily. Its like she's the personification of the emotional spectrum, one moment she's super depressed like an emo dude, the next she's all sunshine and rainbows like nothing could get her down.

Nonetheless, they just looked at one another and wordlessly decided to just go with the flow. If they had made such an error back then, then now they can rectify it by moving on with spending the day with the perky girl.

So to that end, the group advanced further into the Virtua Forest, blades eager to taste Dogoo slime.

Its not even 5 minutes into their journeying into Virtua Forest beyond its safe zone, before Naruto quickly shouted out to the rest of the group. "Guys stop, we got incoming and they're not friendly!" he bellowed, quickly pulling Greed out of his Sheathe and holding it in a combat stance. The girls quickly picked up on the danger too and hurriedly deploy their weapons as well with Neptune and Nepgear entering their own combat stances.

Playing OST: Neptunia Mk2: Solid Park

Nepgear's combat stance consisted of her standing straight with her hands slightly perpendicular to her sides, one of them holding her primary weapon of choice: a Beam Sabre of Planeptune make. This became an obvious thing due to the weapon being a futuristic looking hilt of varying purple shades with a wrench-shaped end of which a single glowing pink blade protruded out from, the blade's shape being that of a claymore. The Beam Sabre pointed itself diagonally downwards away from her, while the girl constantly shuffled on the spot.

Neptune's combat stance involved her standing with her legs wide apart for a solid foundation, the right leg in front of her left, and her holding a katana in a two handed posture. The katana itself looked like a traditional katana that used to be made in ancient Lowee, when it followed ways akin to the samurai of the elemental nations not like Blanc would ever admit that with the way the girl hated that place with a fashion. None of them would be surprised if she stopped the practice of Katana forging in Lowee back then just because of her hate for that continent. Still, Neptune preferred to use weapons made from cold steel compared to energy ones, which showed her age as the older sister to Nepgear.

As for Naruto's combat stance, he'd decided to adopt the basic 'Tail stance' where his left side faced forward with his sword being positioned behind him like a Tail. He'd chosen this stance as it offered the best in terms of versatility in his striking and defending options, something he believed vital to how to win in a real fight. Different stances were needed for different situations though, hence why he had to learn to memorise them all if he wanted to wield a sword effectively.

Not a moment after they adopted their stances did their enemies emerge from a nearby rock formation, a whole WAVE of various blue and black creatures that crashed into the ground and quickly surrounded the two of them. Soon enough they got a better look at the creatures when they stopped rolling like balls, finding them to being creatures made from thie gelatenous blue slime material with faces akin to dogs, permanently smiling. Black dog ears and matching tails confirmed themselves as Doggoos, the monsters they needed to cull their numbers.

"Whoa there's a bunch of em! The questers weren't kidding, this is not like how it was in the game!" Neptune exclaimed in a 'oh my gawd!' kinda manner. One of them soon leapt at her when it thought she wouldn't notice, but Neptune did and quickly performed a horizontal slash, cutting it in half with both halves vanishing in a bright light that disintegrated into pixels. Several more tried to avenge their comrade by leaping on top of her back, but Neptune began moving throughout the space cutting and stabbing as she went.

Nepgear hurriedly tried to correct her sister as she took the opposite side of the Doggoo horde. "The questers said that they multiplied into enough numbers to be called a horde, Neptune!" she bellowed, gripping her Sabre tightly before swinging it upwards and launching a wave of share energy across the ground. Any Doggoo that got hit by this wave erupted into light and pixels, the energy being too much for their small bodies to handle. Nonetheless, more Dogoos soon filled up the gap in the horde to wipe out the progress she had made, to the CPU Candidate's frustration and dismay. She then glanced over to Naruto's side of things, wondering how he was faring since this was to be his first battle. "How you doing over there, Naruto?"

"Yea, ya getting cold feet there, kiddo?!"

"Aw hell no!" Naruto shouted back as he dashed forwards and cut through the doggoos like a hot knife through butter, Greed easily tearing through their flesh like it wasn't even there. Some of the slimy fuckers tried to dogpile onto him from above, but the blonde did not let that happen and instead leapt to the side, always staying on the move to keep himself from being overrun. It was a tactic that he had learned from his sisters who wanted to help him out in case he ever found himself outnumbered in a freeforall style of a real fight. "Not letting these slimy beasties get the better of me, ya know!"

So far so good, his first battle seemed to be going along well as he constantly recited his teachings and training inside his mind. He kept his legs moving, never sticking to one side of the battlefield lest the Dogoos try to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. He vaguely remember this to be a strategy of theirs they used for something, but right now Naruto didn't bother to remember what that reason was since he remained busy providing them one way tickets to the afterlife. Not only that but Greed was proving his worth to the boy with how it easily dispatched the monsters without any signs of breaking, which seemed even more impressive given the way it looked so old and rusted.

Note to self, brag like hell about his new sword to his big sister Blanc when he got back.

Neptune grinned on her side of the battlefield, cutting down two Doggoos at once with a pair of slashes layered atop one another to resemble an X. "That's our little bro for ya! Chasing after big sis!" she cooed playfully, pausing her movements to make kissey faces to the blonde male. "Oh, I could just eat you up like a stack of pudding after this!"

"?!"

It was because of those words that Naruto froze in place eyes widening as he turned slack jawed, memories of what he had learned coming back to his minds' forefront as his cheeks turned to flame. He didn't say anything back to the teasing Planeptune CPU, how could he? The boy wanted to say something but over his brain and mouth had stopped working and needed time to reboot.

Time… that the girls didn't have.

"Eh? You alright there Naruto?" Upon hearing no response to her sister's teasing, Nepgear turned a worried look over to where she thought the blonde had been the last she'd checked during their fighting. This turned out to be a horrendous mistake however, for the woman soon found herself getting focused on a lot more by the surrounding Doggoos who sensed the moment of weakness she had unknowingly displayed. "Kya!" she squealed when one of them managed to leap atop her shoulderblade and start burying its face into her said area, rubbing its face against it.

This soon got noticed by her sister, who just finished dispatching some more Dogoos of her own. "Hey, whats the holdup Nep Jr? You-oof!" she tried to get an update on what had happened to Nepgear and Naruto, only to get blindsided when one of the Dogoos slammed into her gut and knocked her flat on her backside. "Oooh, ah, you numpties! Get off-ahahahaha!" Initially indignant of what had happened to her, Neptune made to grab onto the Dogoos on her chest to throw them off only for them to start licking her all over, soon finding her ticklish spots and making her putty in their hands. Neptune tried to shake them off but the Dogoos clung to her persistently, like glue.

"Neptune!"

Naruto, hearing her laughter snapped out of his prior embarrassment and looked over to see her getting ganged up on by the Dogoos. His features turned pink at the sight, his mouth dropping in stunned disbelief as another fact about the Dogoo race popped into his mind, that they tended to like violating young maidens by rubbing against them all over. Blanc had told him once that the CPU Candidates once went through this experience in the past during some time of immense tribulation, though he didn't know more thanks to Blanc not being in the mood to discuss such 'perverse assholes'.

"Oi, get the fuck off them you asshats!"

Eventually Naruto snapped back to reality and started stomping his way over to the Dogoos like an angry father about to whip his son's ass with the belt for disobeying him. He had Greed at the ready to try and slaughter the monsters pinning the Planeptune CPU down and would have done just that when he got a few steps away from her… if it hadn't been for him sensing something wrong to his right flank. Glancing over there, Naruto saw a bunch of Dogoos staring up at him, making him glower at them as he raised his sword to strike them down.

Unfortunately for him, they proved much faster than he could have expected and leapt on him, catching the boy off guard and knocking the wind out of his lungs as he stumbled back from the force behind their collision. "Ugh, the fuck?! Hey, get off me what the fuck are you demented assholes doing?!" Naruto shrieked, his cheeks growing redder than a tomato when he saw that some of the Dogoos had started trying to slide down his underwear through his pants. Some were even trying to go slide through his shirt while licking him all over as he tried to forcefully shove them out of those sensitive areas… only for more to take their place. It was all he could do to remain standing upright and not fall to the ground like the rest of the girls. "Oi, hands off the drip!"

"Whoa look, Naru Kun's getting tongued just like the rest of us! A guy getting dogooed, that's never happened before! Ehehehe, you perverted mutts, you really like this don't you?!"

"Stop sounding like your enjoying this Neptune!" Nepgear cried, having fallen to her knees dropping her Beam Sabre with Dogoos now surrounding her too, having sniffed out the moment of weakness she had presented unwillingly. One Dogoo stood behind her trying to get to her undied by goint through her sailor dress, which she tried to stop by smoothing down the bottom portion of her outfit while trying to cover the chest part to prevent other Dogoos from sliding through there. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes.

Neptune meanwhile looked like she were having the time of her life, laughing her backside off as the dogoos licked her all over her ticklish spots. She tried tapping the ground as if to signal her defeat, but it wasn't like the Dogoos would understand such a gesture so they continued their tickle hell to the laughing CPUs dismay, though it didn't look like she was dismayed all that much. "Hehehehehe, ufufu ahahahaha stop it you pervy doggies, i'mma die laughing, ahahahahahahaha!" she bellowed into the air.

'Th-this is bad…!' Naruto thought to himself, one eye closed as a sense of weakness hung over his shoulders. The blonde stabbed Greed into the ground in front of him and used him as an anchor to support himself, his strength fading fast under the assaulting tongues on his flesh. He could not have thought this would be how his quest would have started off as, the first battle he partook in and he was getting molested by a bunch of pervy mutts like he were some anime girl or something, what wasn't this supposed to be a girl only thing? Since when did the series get progressive enough for something like this? Great he was now talking more like Neptune did when she did her gag thing or whatever!

At this point he realised something about Dogoos, them attacking young maidens like this was some kind of strategy for them to weaken their opponents, and considering maidens were usually more vulnerable to such torment it proved more than effective. He hadn't heard of any guys falling victim to it, but even that should not have meant they wouldn't do it. Note to self, dogoos go for anyone whether it be male or female.

He had to do something about this, or else who knows what these Dogoos would do to them!

"I'm not… letting them HAVE THEIR WAY WITH ME!" Finally unable to handle it anymore, Naruto used what remained of his strength to grasp Greed's hilt and perform a 360 degree slash, knocking off all the Dogoos trying to turn him into an anime girl whenever she's being tentacled. Their lack of presence soon had some effects on him as his strength came rushing back to him, prompting a downright SAVAGE grin to spread across his face as he glowered at the Dogoos surrounding him. "YOU ASSES, THAT'S ENOUGH! TIME FOR YOU TO MEET YOUR MAKER, AHAHAHAHA!" He bellowed, laughing like a madman as he leapt at the Dogoos and started to butcher them without mercy or remorse. He became like a blur, ripping and tearing away at the Dogoos like they were tissue paper, ignoring whatever sounds or attacks they made to futilely defend themselves.

Nepgear soon became the first to be freed from the Dogoos grasp thanks to Naruto's rampage, the mad male cackling like a demon which made her shudder at the sight. "I'm free!" she claimed before noticing what the blonde was doing and shuddering. "Uh oh… looks like Naruto's turned into IF when she's in her chuuni mode…" she commented dryly, a sweat drop forming over her head all anime style. While Naruto hadn't really spent that much time with the said brunette they did come across one another a few times whenever Naruto visited Planeptune with Blanc, leading to IF becoming one of his many babysitters. Though unlike the twins IF didn't mind caring for Naruto since he was much easier to handle than those two. Nepgear quickly shook her head to banish those thoughts, knowing they weren't going to be needed as she got up after retrieving her Beam Sabre. "Anyways, come on Neptune!" she bellowed, quickly slicing apart the Dogoos around her sister and freeing her from their clutches. "We gotta help Naruto out!"

"Fine, dine! Let's go, Nep Jr!"

OST end

---

Before long, the rest of the Dogoos died a miserable death for violating the wrong people, their screams fading futilely into the cold, uncaring void. After having committed the cardinal sin of trying to act beyond their set programming and lay their tongues on one not on the fanservice list, they just got their just deserts.

The last one fell under Neptune's blade, erupting into light and pixels that dispersed into nothingness seconds later. "Phew…" the killer mused, wiping off imaginary sweat from her brow. "All that's over and done with. But since it was some overdue fanservice, I guess the scene wasn't too bad for an author who doesn't do such scenes normally." Neptune mused thoughtfully, heaving her Katana onto her shoulder like she were carrying a baseball bat. "I guess for an author who usually does a lot of edgy stuff Its… hold the phone!"

"Huh? What is it, Neptune?"

"Never again… never wanna see another Dogoo again…"

Turning to her sister who strolled up to her alongside a disgruntled Naruto whose locked in his own anti Dogoo mantra, Neptune briefly sweat dropped at the sight before she remembered her problem and panicked as she pointed at her chest while flailing her free arm up and down like a panicking chicken. "My levels! They're gone! I'm back at level one! Why, why, why?!" she shrieked and true enough when one looked to her chest right where the girl's heart would have been if she were human, there was a big white '1' floating there like a cloud in the sky.

Nepgear sweat dropped at Neptune this time, ignoring the chatter that the blonde boy next to her continued spouting as she thought about this development. Its not long before she comes up with a prevailing theory however. "Um…Well… you DID start slipping into that lazy streak of yours in the last few years, so… maybe that's it?" she questioned with a quick head tilt, an awkward smile on her face as she watched her sister prance around like a schoolgirl waiting for her date to show up.

It didn't serve to calm Neptune's jets or anything however, especially not when she got the chance to gaze at Nepgear's torso. The number that condensed itself into existence above her heart caused Neptune's jealousy meter to skyrocket as she pointed an exaggerated shaking index finger at her. "But-but-but! Your totally not level one! This has turned from rad to a total bummer…" the more she ranted the more wind got taken from her sails, as Neptune deflated onto the floor like a popped air balloon.

"I've dropped a few levels too!" Nepgear countered, thinking back to the levels she had been at in the last few years. She may not have been at the top which had been 100… though she remembered there being DLC which let one raise the level cap to 999, but she'd been quite high in levels until she slacked off while caring for Neptune's needs. But there was only one possible reason for her to be stronger than Neptune was currently. "But I remember taking some odd jobs while caring for you Neptune, so…"

At this point one can just SEE the depression cloud forming over Neptune's forehead at the loss of dignity she had as the big sister. The little sister being stronger than the big sister, such a humiliation was hard for her to take. "I feel like I've been hacked…" she whined while burying her face into the dirt beneath their feet. "I used to be level 99… even more if you count the DLC!" She wailed, before starting to fist the ground and kick it like a child on a temper tantrum. "I can't believe I'm weaker than you! I feel like my 'big sister's dignity' o meter's been dig dugged down to-"

"Hey come on now Neptune!" Naruto, at this point, finally snapped out of his genocidal intentions for the whole Dogoo race for daring to crease his beloved drip, to hear Neptune's lamenting of her levels. The whole thing about levels didn't really make sense to someone like him who wasn't a gamindustri resident, cause he didn't really work that way. He'd once asked Blanc about it and she'd explained that thanks to him being from the elemental nations he didn't function the same way they did. If she were to make a comparison, he operated on a different set of rules compared to Gamindustri folk which was why he could never tell everyones' levels. "Stiff upper lip, didn't you tell me that the best climbers know how to fall so they can get up once again? Well I'll use those words against you right now!" he chided, offering a hand to the downtrodden CPU. "Sure you've been weakened by your laziness, it happens to the best of us. Doesn't mean you can't regain what you lost, Neppo."

Nepgear nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, that's right!" She cheerfully added, or tried to anyways. "I like the strong Neptune, but the weak one is still my big sister, so…"

"Great… now my little sister and little bro Naruto's trying to give me pep talks…" Neptune bemoaned in her depression. That is, until her expression hardened and some determined flames lit up inside Neptune's eyes. "Fine, fine…" she muttered, getting up from the ground and slapping her cheeks to psyche herself up. "I guess I'll get my gear rearing! Let's go you two, we got some slaying to do and some levels to gain!" she bellowed, taking her sword and pointing it to the skies like she were challenging the enemy itself.

Both Naruto and Nepgear gave their own affirmatives, beaming happily at the sight of the rejuvenated CPU before they drew their weapons too, anticipating the upcoming fights that they would be getting into.

"Its strange though…" Naruto mused, all of a sudden.

Neptune glanced over at him with a mildly annoyed look on her face. "What is? Don't leave me hanging after making all that pep talk and making me all fired up, Naru kun." she whined.

Naruto shook his head at the girl's antics, but nonetheless elaborated. "I mean, Dogoos multiply quickly I know, but isn't this too soon? The next culling wasn't for a few months in the future last I checked the forecast." By checking the forecast he meant asking Blanc who had the most knowledge of the monster sizes in Lowee, its how she decides which dungeons to cull their monster population throughout the year.

Soon enough Nepgear got what the blonde was trying to say, her own eyes darkening a little as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Huh, I see what your getting at, Naruto… Dogoos do breed rather quickly but there have been cases where they've outperformed our predictions in the past…" she mused to herself, narrowing her eyes further. "Usually in those cases…" her eyes then widened when the answer popped into her mind like a lightbulb switching on. "Its because they felt threatened and thus went to breed like crazy as a form of defence in numbers!"

Hearing this raised Naruto's alert meter to the '80' mark like a certain game about cyborgs using stealth to infiltrate military facilitities. That would make sense and validify why these Dogoos went so crazy and off the beaten path, it wasn't often that their forecasts for culling were wrong since it was a profession key to maintaining public security, thus had strict requirements for the position. "If that's the truth then what the hell could have caused the whole thing with them going crazy with their population in the first place? Monsters can smash Dogoos like bugs so they should be used to being on the bottom of the food chain…" he muttered, a hand on his hip as he joined Nepgear in putting on his thinking cap.

"Uhhhhh, guys? Methinks I know whats up…"

Naruto and Nepgear shift their gazes over to Neptune who sounded… uncharacteristically nervous. Her skin had turned pale, her eyes nothing but white circles as she pointed to a nearby tall rock formation with a trembling index finger.

The two blinked in confusion before following the girl's gaze… and freezing in place as well.

All before the beady flaming red eyes currently bearing down on them belonging to a shadowy silhouette watching them from atop the formation.

Playing OST: Dark Souls: Taurus Demon

"Holly Neppers… what is THAT?!"

A startled shriek left the now uncharacteristically unnerved Neptune's lips as she and the others quickly assumed their respective stances. This happened right when the monster in question leapt off the rock and landed on the ground behind them, cutting off their sole means of escape. Thunder boomed in the air as a single lightning strike hit sa nearby tree, setting it alight and toppling it over the entrance.

The light itself finally illuminated the creature itself, revealing its form to the trio. Immediately it showed itself to be something nothing like any Gamindustri monster they had ever seen before, being like an oversized muscular canine with superficially lupine features on its quadrupedal body. Alongside the sharp fangs and claws, the beast looked to have highly developed front limbs that looked like they could sever entire limbs with ease. One could see its back being aligned with a long line of golden coloured spikes with the rest of its body being a turquoise color and consisting of a mix between fur and scales.

Nepgear gulped at the sight as the beast slowly advanced towards them, a distant booming thunder echoing in the skies above. "This… I've never seen a monster like this before… is this a new one?" she questioned, glancing over to her sister for answers… as well as hope since she was the eldest of the group. She found no such composure from Neptune however, since she looked to be shaking like a leaf just like her, which didn't bode well for their chances.

"No Idea Nep Jr…EMERGENCY EVADE!"

Despite the fear flowing through her Neptune made to reply further to her sister, but then she saw the beast already leaping into the air with its right arm raised to the skies for an overhead strike, its movement being surprisingly high specs for something of its size. Naruto leapt back to avoid the blow whilst Neptune and Nepgear took to the sides, with the beast focusing in on the blonde himself as if it knew him to be the weakest link so it chained together a second lunge with its opposite arm raised for a second overhead strike.

Naruto meanwhile raised Greed and tried blocking the strike, only to get knocked flying backwards when the monster's strike hit the ground in front of him and knocked him back through the shockwave it generated. As for the monster, it gave a low growl as the spikes on its back started trembling, faint blue lights starting to make their way into its body through those spikes. 'Huh? What the fuck is that… electricity?' the blonde wondered when he noticed a few blue sparks emitting themselves across the beast's body. Was this thing building up electricity for some kind of attack or something? The male didn't know the answer, but he swore not to let this thing finish whatever it was intending to do.

"Nep Chan, Gear Chan, lets beat this thing before it finishes charging for any big attacks!"

"Right on, Naru Kun!"

"Yes!"

All three of them nod in unison before leaping at the beast from different directions, which stopped its charge to address the threat. The beast did so with a furious growl escaping its snout, rearing back its tail before performing a wide spin on the ground and flicking its tail upwards, ending up leaping into the air after the swing by using the momentum. That swing also managed to hit the three of them due to them not expecting the attack, thus getting knocked down once more.

"Ugh!"

"Neptune!"

"Girls!"

Being the first one to get to his feet, Naruto would have tried rushing over to see if the girls were alright if he hadn't spotted the beast about to attack him at the last fucking second, flipping backwards to avoid an overhead tail slam. The Beast, not willing to let them get their bearings leapt to the space behind the trio once more and rushed towards them, slamming into Nepgear just as she'd gotten to her feet electing a cry from her as she got sent flying across the battlefield from the impact.

Neptune, not being a fan of this, glowered at the beast. "Hey ugly! Your no first boss stop messing with my cute sis!" she bellowed, readying her Katana and rushing towards it. She soon saw the beast raise its right arm again for an overhead smash, but she quickly dipped to its opposite side and powerslid beneath it, running a couple slashes the very instant she went through its defences. The beast roared angrily at the slashes being laid upon it like layers of icing on a cake, but other than that it didn't seem very effected by the attacks one bit to the girl's dismay. "Nepwha?! Cheater, why is such a boss monster in such a basic dungeon! I never got the memo from the devs!"

"Less yapping more moving Nep Chan!" Naruto bellowed as he used a rock formation to leap into the air and into a sausage spin, coming out into a spinning slash that ran along the creature's back. However like Neptune's attacks, the monster shrugged off Naruto's slash and, while in the air, he couldn't avoid the shoulder tackle the creature launched in retaliation which resulted in Naruto grunting at the force behind the impact. His form soon got launched across the battlefield, crashing and tumbling across the ground leaving his skin burning in several areas.

"Nep Jr!"

"Right!"

Seeing that their individual attacks weren't working, Neptune and Nepgear decided to try a combination attack as they both started glowing brightly with their Share Energy, which manifested as a multi-coloured aura with the most dominant color being their signature liliac purple. The duo then darted forwards with the CPU Candidate performing an upward slash with the battle cry of "SLASH WAVE!" being released from her lips that the lupine monster easily dodged by leaping to the side…

Right into Neptune's following attack.

"CROSS COMBINATION!"

Darting forth, Neptune erupted into a series of slashes aimed at the beast's face, her katana like a blur moving so fast that it left afterimages of itself behind. After a good amount of slashes that cut through the monster, she kicked it into the air before leaping after it and bringing her Katana down on its head, leaving it howling… in anger as it suddenly stifferned on the ground. That is, seconds before it erupted into a bright flash of light followed by a wave of electrical energy that blew Neptune back.

"Nepu!"

"That monster, it…!"

"Tch, so it ended like this after all…!" Naruto cursed under his breath as he, Nepgear and Neptune regrouped once the said CPU regained her bearings. Before them, the monster had been bathed in this eerie blue light mixed with constant sparks of electrical energy. Most of it came from the spikes on its back, which he suspected was where the energy had been gathered during this whole exchange. The fact that it had been so difficult to injure it meant that they hadn't been able to stop it from reaching this point, so he got the feeling things were going to be much harder now.

Nepgear gulped at the monster as it howled towards the heavens, like it had been celebrating a victory it had achieved. "Neptune, we should transform! This thing feels real tough!" she called out to her sister, who looked a little annoyed at the thought.

"Aw man, come on Nep Jr, this is not even a true boss monster, I wanna beat this whole thing as me…" she whined, but the looks she got from the rest of the group told her what they thought about that. A resigned sigh soon left her lips as she gave the 'oh well' shrug. "Well, guess we got no-"

"GRAAAAH!"

Apparently aware they were going to do something, the lupine beast glowered at them before dashing forth and pouncing on them, swinging it's right claw down with the claw glowing brightly with electrical energy. The trio quickly dashed out the way, with the creature's attack creating an electrical blast upon impact. It didn't stop there, as like it could sense the presence of someone behind it the beast shifted it's position before leaping into a backflip, flinging its tail down in an overhead smash… one that smashed into the ground near Neptune and sent her flying when a sphere of electricity shot out the tail and slammed into her.

"NEPUUU!" She wailed in pain as she fell to the ground, spasming every few seconds with sparks igniting over her form each time it happened. The sounds of sizzling could be heard from her as she slowly tried to get to her feet which proved more difficult than it should have been, with her body protesting against such movement so soon after taking such a blow.

Nepgear made to call out to her sister in alarm, but the beast had already shown itself to be ready for another move as it performed a 360 degree tail swipe that both slammed into the girl's gut causing her to scream out as lighting arched through her body as she fell to the ground, as well as launched itself into the air.

From there the beast looked to where Naruto was, and its predatory eyes gained a manical gleam to it, with the creature angling itself before proceeding to do something that shocked the boy into inaction: it performed a double jump and shifted its body like it was going to do a body slam right on top of him.

'Oh, shit!'

Barely regaining his rationality in time, Naruto took a few steps forth before leaping like he were diving into a pool away from his former position on the ground. Seconds after he did, the beast slammed into the space he once occupied, back first and wiggled about like it were thrashing inside a sandbed. Rolling across the ground, Naruto used the momentum to get back to his feet and slide to a halt, using Greed as an anchor to halt is movement. Various scratches and burns now adorned his body where he wasn't covered like his face, as he glowered at the enemy which started getting back onto all fours. "Damnit… this thing's faster now than it was before…!" he muttered under his breath while reassuming his combat stance. He internally winced when sharp spikes of pain flooded his nerves, electrical sparks crackling alongside those spikes each time. It wasn't like he was paralyzed per say, but the way the electricity from its attacks ran through him made him wish he was, it'd be much less painful.

In that moment, Naruto raised his head to glower at the beast before them… only for that glare to freeze in place alongside his entire body. His brain slid to a halt while even his thoughts stopped in their tracks as he beheld the large snouth looming over him.

The beast was there…. it was right THERE, staring his ass down by glaring dead into his eyes with its own fiery ones. Their faces remained inches apart, close enough that Naruto could feel its breath on his skin causing chills to run down his spine, his mouth hanging open as his eyes shrunk to the size of dots out of sheer petrification. He couldn't move, he couldn't even lift a finger let alone strike at this foe or even make any moves to defend himself.

Once he saw into those eyes, Naruto knew it perfectly well: that if he even so much as TWITCHED, that he would most certainly die as a result, and it would not be an easy one.

'I can't… move… can I even… win? No, I don't… I don't think I can beat this guy…!'

Fear now dominated his mind, even as his brain cried out and he desperately fought to regain control over his faculties, all efforts got rendered null and void before those pits of unending malice called eyes. Eyes belonging to a predator so far above him on the food chain that he had to crane his head upwards just to see the outline of its silhouette. Naruto had never thought he'd feel this way in his entire life, growing up he felt like he could do anything he set his mind to like convincing Mr Badd that there was another way to get closure for his daughter's demise, or making sure that his sisters could be safe on the rear lines.

Now? Now none of those thoughts existed, he couldn't help but feel smaller than a snail right now. This enemy… for the first time ever Naruto realised he had faced a foe he cannot reason with, and one he lacked the means to properly fight.

He felt… helpless.

"Naru Kun!"

"Naruto!"

Two bright flashes erupted behind the massive monster which drew its gaze away from Naruto, something the male heaved a sigh at like he had just been freed from an invisible vice grip around his neck. He let out a breath he didn't realise he had even been holding, and would have done some more like maybe help the girls out in their renewed fight against the monster… if its tail hadn't smacked him upside the head knocking him down to the ground. A sharp scream left his mouth when the hit landed, scraping him up and knocking his brain around inside his skull, also known as giving him a concussion. Black spots danced across his vision as he lay there on the ground, growing in number by the second as his consciousness started shutting down.

The last thing he saw before unconsciousness claimed him was the furious glares of two angered CPUs who engaged the enemy….

…

…

… An enemy who had handed the blonde his first true defeat.

OST End

---

After having known darkness only for a short while, Naruto's consciousness slowly rebooted itself. A bright flash of white light briefly forced his opening eyes shut again as a pained groan left his lips, the blonde's body currently aching in several different places like a bunch of nagging grandmas having stomped on him with their flat ass shoes.

"Alrightie Nep Jr, cool your jets. Naru Kun's coming to."

"Huh? O-Oh, your right Neptune!"

However the familiar sounds of relieved voices from two overjoyed girls soon fuelled Naruto's desire to return to the land of the living. His eyes soon slowly opened once more, a hand being raised to cover them to shade them from the glaring sun in the skies above. "Ugh… Man, last time I drink soda before bed…" he mumbled as he slowly regained his wits, soon feeling a heat on the back of his head. "Huh? Why does the back of my head feel so soft…?" Naruto wondered, confusion laced in his tone.

Neptune's voice came from off to the side, a chuckle leaving her lips as he glanced on over to her. "Hehehehehe, lucky you Naru Kun. To be able to experience the gloriousness that is little Nep's lap for a pillow. You should feel honored." she cooed playfully, his vision becoming clear enough that he could see the cheshire cat grin on her face.

"Neptune, please! You lost that rock paper scissors game fair and square!" The chiding voice of Nepgear resounded from above him, causing the petite girl to pout in annoyance as she looked to the side in a huff, going on about 'traitorous sisters' or something he couldn't completely tell. But a quick look upwards revealed to him the concerned face of the CPU Candidate who looked down at him. "Anyways you alright Naruto? You took a nasty fall back there." she questioned with worry.

Fall? What the hell was she…? All of a sudden Naruto's eyes widened when several facts became known to him, the first and arguably least important being that Nepgear's lap was being used to rest his head, he'd been layning down on it like it were some hugging pillow. Any normal guy would be thanking the heavens for their good fortune like Neptune had said, unironically, but right now the blonde remained occupied by the second fact. That fact being that he remembered the presence of that strange monster they'd been fighting. Shooting to an upright position, Naruto hurriedly glanced around ignoring the queasy feeling inside his gut, idly noticing that his sword Greed stood embedded into the ground next to them. "What happened? Is that monster gone now?" he hurriedly asked, searching for any sign of the beast only to find nothing. Part of him hoped that it had been beaten by the two CPUs, cause that'd lead to some following nights of easier sleeping.

Unfortunately such hopes got dashed when Nepgear, who had just been trying to calm the blonde down, paused those actions as soon as she heard that question. "Well…" she began to say, looking down while interlocking her hands together with a crestfallen expression adorning her face. "We fought it in HDD, but it then left partway into the battle. We tried tracking it down, but it soon escaped deeper into the forest…" she explained, trailing off into silence.

She didn't need to say more though, Naruto got the picture no matter how much he wished he didn't. "So… we lost?" he questioned, stunned into disbelief as he tried to process this information. The thought that Neptune and Nepgear, individuals whom for all his life he'd seen as the pinnacle of power in Gamindustri, had managed to lose against this new monster seemed downright alien to him. He wanted to refuse to believe it, much like when a religious person discovers the truth about their faith, but the way the girls now looked prevented such things from happening. Their body language reeked of this feeling of defeat, the very same defeat he felt inside.

Nepgear nodded, and even Neptune who tried to look cool still in front of him felt a bit 'fake' in her cheerfulness. Even now she rather awkwardly kicked some pebbles on the ground away from her feet like she were trying to distract herself. It was then that Naruto noticed that the two girls looked quite beaten up, various bruises and cuts adorning their bodies with some tears in their clothing. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough for him to tell that they had gone through the wringer recently. He'd heard that when activating their HDD the CPUs and their Candidates had their bodies heal up to ensure they're at peak fighting performance, but injuries sustained in HDD carry over when they transform back meaning that these girls went through the wringer even when transformed… and he couldn't do a damn thing to help them.

That revelation… shook Naruto to his core. This to him, felt almost like a manifestation of his worst nightmares, and the complete OPPOSITE to what he had thought his first adventure to be like.

"..."

His mouth hanging open, Naruto soon closed it before he gritted his teeth, clenching his trembling fists in both anger and sheer humiliation. Anger at the monster for doing this to people he cared about, but more importantly anger and sheer humiliation at himself for not being able to do anything about it, freezing in place like some damn freaking coward instead of the adventurer he should be. He got into the guild, didn't he? This was humiliating and pathetic!

Playing Naruto OST: Naruto Main theme

"...Grrr, what the hell?!"

In the end he couldn't take it anymore, reaching out and grabbing onto Greed's hilt. He then pulled the blade out the ground and grasped its blade with his other hand, gripping it so tight that the blade cut through the flesh that surrounded said bodypart hard enough to draw blood. Blood ran down the blade's edge towards its tip, a sight that positively ALARMED Neptune and Nepgear.

"Naruto!"

"Whoa dude what the hell?! I know we got our butts kicked but there's no need to rage quit this badly!"

Both Neptune and Nepgear made startled and horrified exclamations once they saw the blood on his blade, Neptune flailing her arms in a panic at the sight while Nepgear tried jogging over to take the blonde's sword away. However whether it was due to the blonde's emotion-fuelled strength or her lack thereof thanks to the recent beating she'd gone through, the CPU Candidate nevertheless remained unable to pry the blade from his grasp.

"What the hell is this… this bullshit?! Why the hell did this happen?!"

Meanwhile the said blonde asked himself that question out of the budding frustration pooling inside his chest. The sheer emotion behind it proved to be enough to silence the panicking girls, but the blonde wasn't done there. "I worked so hard to get here… threw myself into training so long that it hurt… even when big sis Blanc said not to…!" Naruto cursed, growling and quietly roaring in both pain and the burning fury in his chest as memories of his childhood training flowed through his chest. "Big sis Blanc… Rom and Ram… I gotta catch up to them, if I can't be a good enough adventurer then they'll never be proud of me! They'll never say 'we can leave it to Naruto, he'll take care of it'...All that training, all to reach my dream of being an adventurer… and for what? To wuss out at the sign of danger?"

Both girls blinked owlishly, their hearts slowing to a crawl as they processed the words Naruto had said. They didn't realise it before, or rather they did but they severely underestimate how hard Naruto would take his first loss. And that stuff he said about being relied on by his older sisters? Nepgear felt those words hit her harder than Neptune ever could understand… memories of her time fighting a certain organisation years before Naruto ever came into her life alongside the lives of the other CPUs and candidates, emerging inside her mind.

'Naruto…'

Unaware of the sympathetic thoughts flowing through Nepgear's mind, Naruto burned this feeling of pain and humiliation into his mind as he made the following vow to himself, an oath of pain one could call it. "I will NEVER freeze up or back down ever again, and let someone else rescue me. I will never run away, I will NOT lose to fear or despair ever again… I won't let myself fall behind Blanc, Rom and Ram… upon this wound, upon this pain, I make this oath. Believe it!"

"..."

Playing Neptunia OST: Neptune Segashite

Initially, neither Neptune nor Nepgear said anything, not a single word as they stared at the blonde preteen who had turned towards them with an expression on his face they had never seen before. His eyes burned with a fiery will that took their breath away, and although his hand currently bled they couldn't help but feel the strength behind that conviction, like a bonfire that stood the test of time and also the harsh weather conditions, refusing to go out even under the most trying of tribulations. They remembered something about Naruto staring at him like this, that he was not from Gamindustri but the village hidden in the leaves, the son of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze… they could even see a silhouette of him behind the blonde right now, staring at them with the same level of determination that he did.

All in all…

This had to be an eventful first quest for the trio.

---

The screen cuts with the screen showing Neptune, Noire, Vert, and Blanc dancing.

Sekaijū chirabaru mugen no Star…
Kyūkyoku no kami gē sagashi ni Start!

Megami ga giga tera

Maji ni natchi ~yattedoushitano

Muchū! Netchū! Get you! I do!
Koi kōsō-netsu bōsō

The screen then shows Nepgear, Uni, Rom & Ram, Naruto, and Asuna dancing

Here we go! Good to go! Nepute~yūnu
Watashi tsuyokute nyūgēmu
Here we go! Way to go! Nepute~yūnu
Kukei parusu hibiku rabusongu
Here we go! Good to go! Nepute~yūnu
Yūjō aijō bivurosuto
Dotabata datte kizuna koko ni aru yo

The screen shown all goddesses be bouncing on a pair of breasts except of Neptune who is stuck between the breasts along with Asuna being crushed by Vert's breasts, with Naruto trying to hold on Blanc crying for help, while Asuna was "crushed" under Vert's own breasts, while some characters were floated above them.
GJ my Sweet Heart

The screen shows all Neptunia characters spinning in a circle along with Naruto and Asuna dancing in the middle of it.
Mata raishū…
The screen is cut out for the black screen with a purple text "To be continued...?"

---

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Next stop: The Victory Arc!

Be ready for the next chapter. Have a nice day!