Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Highschool DXD if I did this story would not be here
A/N: Da besta orc: to answer your question, no she will not because at this point in time Naruto wouldn't allow it because he doesn't trust her fully.
Vermilion Devil
Chapter 11: New problems arise
"You both understand your mission, correct?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, the fragments of the excalibur must be returned at all costs. If the swords cannot be recovered, destroy them and return the cores."
"Yes sir."
"The last known location of the fragments were located in Kuoh. We cannot allow Kokabiel to do as he pleases. Now go and may the will of God be with you."
"Do it."
"No."
"Do it."
"No."
"Come on Naruto, just one itty bitty clone."
"And I'm gonna tell you like I told you five times ago Rias, No."
"Ok then, how many can you make?"
"Did you come to my apartment just to interrogate me?" Naruto and Rias were currently walking towards the school. Rias had shown up at his apartment claiming that she wanted to 'spend more time with her cute servant.' seeing how he had nowhere else to hide from the girl, he had decided to humor her. He was now regretting that decision.
"Well you're the only one in my peerage who doesn't really show up at the clubhouse much so I decided to come to you instead of waiting for you to come to us." Rias said. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"It's only been a couple of weeks since I joined."
"And I promised you I would make this transition easier for you and that means getting to know you better."
"Mhmm sure. Cause if I recall correctly the very first thing you asked me was for me to make a clone, not my hobbies." Rias pouted.
"You wouldn't have told me your hobbies anyway." Rias muttered. Unfortunately for her Naruto heard her and he sighed. Naruto stopped walking and turned to face her and Rias stopped as well.
"Rias, look I'm not like the others. I'm not gonna tell you everything there is to know about me just because you asked." Rias just nodded her head at him. "You're not gonna know all about me right now. I'm sorry but these things take time."
"Ok Naruto." Rias said. Naruto could hear the disappointed tone in her voice even though she tried to hide it. Naruto appreciated the fact that she was respecting his wishes. He didn't mean to make her sad, guess she really wanted to know about his clones. Naruto looked at Rias's slightly pouting face and felt himself wanting to change that. Naruto dragged his hands down his face and let out a breath.
"But…I guess I can show you my clones tomorrow at training." Naruto saw Rias perk up at his words and then her face shifted into one of confusion.
"Training?"
"Yeah, training. Since it looks like I'm going to be here for a while, I might as well continue to help you guys when it comes to combat. Face it Rias the way you are now, you guys won't survive future battles like that." Rias inwardly admitted that Naruto was right. If it wasn't for Issei's new transfer technique she wasn't sure if they would have beaten Riser. But one thing was nagging her. It was the way Naruto spoke. It sounded like he was talking from experience.
Maybe that was why he was able to beat Yubelluna when Akeno could not. When they resumed walking Rias looked at him from the corner of her eye. Could it be possible that the rating game with Riser wasn't his first battle? 'Baby steps Rias, Baby steps.'
"Sirzechs-Sama." Grayfia walked through the doors to Sirzechs's office. Sirzechs perked up at seeing his wife enter the room and tried to get out of his chair to go hug her but Grayfia held her hand up.
"Aw, you're mean, Grayfia-Chan." Sirzechs said as he slumped back into his chair.
"Please Sirzechs-Sama, act like a man of your status should act." Grayfia reprimanded him.
"Ugh, fine. So, what brings you here today, Grayfia-Chan?"
"We have finished our investigation on Rias-Sama's new member." Now Sirzechs's attention was peaked as he now sat up straight, looking like the Devil King that he is.
"What did you find?" Sirzechs asked. During the meeting he had with the elders, they demanded that a search be done on Naruto due to his contribution to his little sister's win. On top of that he was technically an illegal participant and it was only due to Lord Phoenix's interference that Rias wasn't punished. However, they wouldn't budge on Naruto's investigation.
"Nothing."
"Huh? Come again, Grayfia-Chan?"
"Besides the forged documents that Uzumaki-san used to get into the academy, there was nothing your dispatched team could find on him other than that he owns a Ramen shop." Grayfia said. Sirzechs pondered the information he was given.
'Why would he need to forge documents?' Sirzechs thought. "So, no official government documents? What about his family or its history?"
"He has no guardian and as far as surnames are concerned, Sirzechs-Sama. There are no records of anyone named Uzumaki…in the world." Sirzechs's face took on a very serious look.
"So in other words, besides the forged papers on his school information."
"Naruto Uzumaki does not exist anywhere on this earth." Grayfia said and Sirzechs's eyes narrowed.
Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
"Squad 2 and 4, you're up!" A gym teacher called out. Naruto and Kiba were currently in gym class running basketball drills. Naruto didn't have a clue what basketball was or why they were doing this so Kiba had to explain the basics to him. All in all the sport was pretty entertaining to him. So here he was, with Kiba taking a rest and bouncing the ball between his legs.
"I don't get it Kiba, he teaches a gym class but the man looks like he can barely run 10 feet." Naruto said. Their gym teacher looked to be in their mid 30s and his belly was as big as a pregnant woman. Kiba let out a small chuckle.
"Honestly, I stopped questioning that a long time ago." Kiba responded. Surprisingly, out of all of them, Naruto found it easiest to talk to Kiba. He reminded him of Sasuke, if Sasuke wasn't an asshole. It didn't help that they were in the same class so they were constantly around each other.
"Say, Naruto?"
"Yeah?"
"How are things going with your 'transition'?"
"Transition?" It took Naruto a few seconds before he realized that Kiba was talking in code. "Oh! Uhhh it's fine I guess, it's just that Rias keeps showing up at my apartment everyday." Naruto said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"It's not that it's bad per say, it's just a little annoying, ya know?" Kiba just shrugged his shoulders as an answer. "I mean, it's not like Rias is annoying or anything like that, I'm just not used to it."
"I guess I can understand that. Anyway, are you coming to the meeting at Issei-kun's house?" Naruto looked at Kiba in confusion.
"Meeting?"
"Buchou didn't tell you?"
"No, she spent most of our walk to school trying to interrogate me."
"Well, since the old school building is undergoing maintenance, Buchou decided to have the meeting at Issei-kun's house."
"Kiba."
"Yeah?"
"I can't go."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't know where that idiot lives." Naruto deadpanned.
"...Oh."
After school Kiba and Naruto met up with the other club members besides Issei and Asia and headed towards Issei's house. Rias knocked on the door. A muffled "One minute!" came from the other side of the door. After a few seconds the door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with long brown hair that was tied down into a ponytail.
"Hello ." Rias said.
"Oh! You're that girl from my son's club, Rias wasn't it? What are you guys doing here?"
"We are here for the club meeting since the one we usually use is going through maintenance right now."
"Hm? Oh yes I do remember Issei mentioning something about that earlier." Issei's mother then opened the door with a huge smile on her face "Come on in!" Everyone walked into the room and looked around the house except for Naruto. Unlike the others, he was staring at Issei's mother as he walked in. She noticed him staring at her and threw a gentle smile his way.
"Hello."
"...Hello." Naruto responded with a confused look on his face. He could've sworn he had seen her face before but he couldn't put his finger on it. Deciding that he wasn't gonna figure it out by staring at her, Naruto shook his head and walked into the house. Issei's mother sat them down in the living room and she left to go make them some tea.
A few minutes later Issei came and greeted them and joined them in drinking tea. After that, they had moved the club meeting to Issei's room where they talked about school events, club events and a bunch of other things. But most importantly…
'I AM BORED OUT OF MY MIND!' Naruto yelled within his head. He was leaning against the wall trying not to fall asleep as Rias went over things concerning devils, things that Naruto couldn't make sense of. Naruto looked around Issei's room to keep himself entertained. He spotted a poster on Issei's wall of a naked girl in a cooking apron. The girl was a redhead with blue eyes.
'That looks like…' Naruto looked between the poster and Rias who was sitting on the bed, noticing the resemblance between the two of them. 'Ok that's just weird' As if the ramen gods themselves decided to answer his plea, Issei's mother showed up to cure him of his boredom.
"Oh no…" Issei whispered to himself in horror. Naruto watched the color drain from Issei's face and Naruto followed Issei's eyes to the book in his mother's hand. It was a photo book. Naruto raised his eyebrow in confusion. A few minutes later Issei's mother was going through all of Issei's embarrassing childhood moments.
"And this was Issei when he was taking his bath." Miki said. Issei palmed himself and dragged his hand down his face.
"Someone kill me now…" As funny as the whole situation was, Naruto found himself struggling to laugh. Unlike the girls who were huddled in a circle looking at the photos, Naruto and Kiba were looking at separate books. Naruto was looking at a photo of Issei and his father going fishing when he was younger. Naruto's mind replaced Issei and his dad with a younger version of himself and his father. It had him thinking.
If his dad was still alive, would he have taken him fishing like this or would he be too busy being the Hokage? Naruto felt his chest tighten. He thought he had gotten over these feelings a long time ago.
Apparently not.
Issei let out a huff of air. "Do your parents embarrass you like this too, Naruto?" The only answer Issei received was silence as Naruto didn't hear him. Issei looked over at Naruto. He didn't know Naruto that well but over the weeks they had known each other, Issei had never seen his face so melancholic, almost sad even. "Naruto?"
This time Naruto did hear him and looked up from the photo album. "Huh? Did you say something?" Any hint that he was disturbed was gone on his face. Issei was about to ask if he was ok but Kiba interrupted him
"Issei-kun?" Issei turned around to give Kiba his attention. Kiba pointed to a photo in the book and Issei walked towards him to see what he was talking about.
"Oh! I haven't seen that photo in a long time. This was my childhood friend. His name was…uhhh, well I can't remember. Anyway, I used to play with this kid all the time, well until he moved away." At this point Naruto put his book down and walked over to Issei and Kiba.
"That's a weird looking sword." Naruto pointed out. Issei and Kiba looked at the sword and unknown to Naruto and Issei, Kiba's face got a little darker.
"Hm, I don't really recall that sword being there. Though that could be because I wasn't paying attention to it."
"That's a holy sword." Kiba said, his voice oddly serious. The tone of his voice caused Naruto to look at him.
"What's a holy sword?" Issei asked.
"I'm sure Buchou will explain it to you both later." Kiba then closed the book and handed it to Issei. "Well, it looks like you had quite the childhood, Issei-kun." Kiba's switch in demeanor made Naruto and Issei raise their eyebrows but both decided not to comment on it. A few minutes later Naruto needed to use the bathroom and left the room.
After Naruto was finished in the bathroom he walked into the living room where he saw Issei's parents talking. The whole time he was here, the fact that Issei's mother looked familiar was in the back of his mind just silently nagging him. Miki spotted him and smiled at him and that's when Naruto's memory was jogged.
The woman just gave him a small smile along with a nod. "You're welcome, next time if you're lost don't do something crazy like jumping in front of a car, go to a police station they can help you." The lady that almost hit him when he first came here came to the forefront of his mind.
"I-I remember you." Naruto said as he pointed at Miki. "You're the lady that almost ran me over with her car a year ago."
"What is he talking about?" Issei's father questioned.
"I don't know…" Miki said while taking a closer look at Naruto. "But now that you mention it, you do look familiar." Naruto watched as recognition slowly came across the woman's face.
"Ah! Yes, you're the boy that jumped in front of my car!" Miki took one more good look at Naruto. "Although, you look different than I remember."
Issei's father was now thoroughly confused. "Can someone please explain what's going on here?" Miki chuckled a bit.
"Sorry sweetie, remember when I needed to run that errand about a year ago?" Gorou Hyoudou put a hand on his chin to think.
"Hmmm, I remember you saying something about it, yeah."
"This is the kid that jumped in front of my car that day."
"Well what do you know, I guess the universe works in mysterious ways."
"Yes…yes it does." Naruto said.
"Well why don't you boys talk while I get us some more tea." Miki said before leaving the living room. Naruto took a seat and let out a sigh before wiping his face down with his hands. Gorou looked at Naruto in curiosity.
"You ok, son?" He asked. Naruto looked at him in confusion.
"Come again?"
"Are you ok?" Naruto shifted in his seat a bit before sitting up straight.
"Um, yeah, why?"
"You look exhausted." Naruto looked at him in surprise. "I've had that look quite a few times before."
"Was it obvious?" The older man shook his head.
"Only to someone who can recognize it. You're too young to look so tired, what's wrong?" Naruto just shrugged his shoulders.
"Just a few tough days that's all."
"Well then, just make sure you take care of yourself."
"Will do Mr…"
"Gorou, Hyoudou Gorou." Issei's mother eventually came back with tea and the three of them drank it in silence. Afterwards the meeting at Issei's house came to an end and Naruto left the house after thanking his parents for their hospitality.
The next day after school, Naruto took the group out to one of the forests he used whenever he trained. "First things first, I want to say that you guys did a good job holding your own considering it was your first battle." The group smiled to themselves at Naruto's praise. "However, there are things that still need to be worked on." Naruto paused to make sure everyone was paying attention. Everyone was except for…
"Kiba." Naruto said, catching Kiba's attention. "Are you with me?" Kiba nodded his head. "Good. As I was saying, you guys are still very much lacking in some areas, and because of someone's persistent nagging, I will be showing you guys something." Naruto not so discreetly looked at Rias which caused her to pout at him and Naruto smirked. Naruto stood up straight and brought his hands into a cross sign.
"Shadow clone jutsu!" In a puff of smoke five exact copies of Naruto appeared by his side, each one standing in front of a member of the peerage. "These are my clones, as the definition suggests they are my exact replicas. Which means you won't be able to tell the difference between the clone and I. However…" Naruto proceeded to back hand one of the clones, popping it. "One good hit will pop it." Seeing them all nod their heads, Naruto continued.
"Each of these clones will take each of you into a different part of the forest so you won't get in each other's way while training. Today will be combat training for you all and Asia you will be on standby when they come back with injuries."
"Don't you mean if we come back with injuries?" Rias asked. Naruto's eyes slightly narrowed at her.
"No." The next thing Rias felt was pain in the side of her stomach because that's where Naruto just hit her. Rias groaned as she kneeled down holding her side.
"Not if, when." Naruto said as he returned to the spot he was standing in. Everyone stared at him, surprised that he would hit Rias like that.
'To think someone would have the balls to hit Buchou.' Issei thought as he swallowed nervously.
"What was that for!?" Rias exclaimed.
"That was for expecting me to go easy on you guys. Always expect the unexpected." Naruto said sternly. "Any questions? No? Good now let's get started with combat training."
For the most part training went relatively well, Koneko was getting faster in combat, Issei was getting better bit by bit and Naruto got to hit him with another one thousand years of death in front of everyone, much to Issei's embarrassment. It was near the evening and training had been going on for quite a while. Sounds of fighting were heard in different parts of the forest.
"Ugh!" Rias groaned as she rolled across the ground.
"That was a little sloppy, you can do better than that." Naruto said. Rias let out a breath before getting up off the ground and charging at Naruto. Rias threw a right hook which Naruto dodged, Rias then tried to sweep his leg but Naruto did a backflip to avoid it. Not wanting to give him time to set his feet, Rias ran to Naruto and tried to kick him but she was too slow. By the time she got there, Naruto had already landed and he caught her foot and threw it away, knocking her off balance. Rias then tried to hit him with an uppercut but Naruto bent backwards a little bit to dodge it and countered by grabbing her arm and bending it behind her back. Rias tried to break out of it but Naruto had an iron grip on her.
"Ok, I think that's enough." Naruto said as he let her go. Rias rolled her arm around to relieve the tension in it and she let out a breath. "Here, catch." Naruto tossed Rias a water bottle. Rias took a few sips of her water before looking at him.
"Don't you ever get tired? I mean, we've been at this for hours." Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
"Little spars like this really don't affect me like that."
"Still, all these hours and I couldn't evenland a hit on you." Rias said, a little disappointed in herself.
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself, you did better than most at least." Naruto saw that his words didn't have the effect of cheering her up that he wanted so he tried a different approach. "Well, you're more of a long distance fighter, correct?" Rias nodded her head. "So of course you're not gonna be as good at close range as you are long range, but that's why I'm here, to make sure you get better."
"Yeah…" Rias said. There was a few seconds of silence between them before Rias decided to speak again. "Naruto?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't mean to pry but, whenever I came to your apartment, I couldn't help but notice that your parents weren't there. Where are they?" This question has been on her mind since the day she showed up at his apartment the first time. He didn't have a guardian listed in his school information.
"My parents…" Naruto said with a bit of a solemn tone that Rias didn't catch. Naruto debated on either avoiding the conversation or telling her a little bit. Seeing how she was a bit down after their sparring and for some reason he didn't wanna add to it. So he decided to go with the later option and just tell her without revealing too much. Naruto sat down and let out a sigh. "My parents are…how should I say this…away currently."
"Away?"
"Yeah, they're away." Rias didn't like the sound of his words. Rias guessed that Naruto didn't have a lot of money based on the area he lived in and the fact that he owned a ramen shop. The more she thought about it, the more she started to feel both sad and angry for Naruto and she couldn't stop her mind from reaching this conclusion.
"Naruto…Did they-"
"No. They didn't abandon me. Some things happened and we got separated, that's all." Rias was looking at Naruto with an emotion he couldn't put a name to. Pity? Sadness? Concern? It could be either one he supposed. Wanting to dismiss the conversation, Naruto stood up and stretched his muscles. "Well, let's go see what the boss is doing with Kiba." The clone started to walk away.
"Naruto." Rias said. The clone stopped moving. "I don't know if it's like a hive mind with your clones so I'm not sure if the real one can hear me but, we're friends or at least I consider you a friend, so if you ever need any help, all you have to do is ask." The clone stood silent for a few seconds, contemplating on what to say to those warm words. After what felt like hours, the clone Naruto responded.
"Thanks for the offer but, I've been fine on my own. I don't need your help." The clone started to walk away, promptly ending the conversation. Rias frowned as she watched the clone walk away. As per usual, he was still being very vague about his past. The more pieces she got, the sadder the picture seemed to be. Was his past so bad that he refused to share it with anyone?
'Naruto…What will it take to understand you?' Rias thought as she followed the clone towards where Kiba and the real Naruto were currently training. When the two of them got there, the clone dispelled himself, seeing no reason to stay any longer. Rias cringed as she watched the training unfold. Safe to say, it wasn't going well for Kiba.
Naruto and Kiba clashed with their respective blades. "Kiba focus!" Naruto broke their clash suddenly, leaving Kiba wide open. Taking advantage of the opening, Naruto landed a kick to Kiba's side, launching him away. Naruto frowned inwardly, ever since that meeting at Issei's house, Kiba has been distracted and it showed during their sparring. His movements were slower and his swings were sloppy. Kiba shook his head as ran back at Naruto and threw a horizontal slash which Naruto parried with his kunai. Naruto then switched the kunai over to his left hand and took a stab at Kiba. Kiba however, blocked it and with the swing of his sword, he successfully disarmed the blond ninja.
Unfortunately for Kiba, Naruto didn't need his kunai to fight, Naruto did a backhand spring to avoid the slash Kiba threw at him. Naruto dodged a few more slashes. Naruto did a flip that allowed him to jump in the air and punch Kiba in the stomach, making him slide back, Naruto then used the tree to propel him into the air as jumped towards Kiba. Naruto did a spin mid air and kicked Kiba's sword out of his hand and then kicked him in the chest, sending into a nearby tree.
Kiba groaned as he hit the ground. When he opened his eyes he saw Naruto's open hand offering to help him up. Kiba denied the help as he lightly pushed Naruto's hand aside and got up on his own.
"Kiba, what happened back there? You were faster when we were training for that Phoenix punk." Naruto asked. Kiba just shrugged his shoulders.
"It's nothing, just something on my mind."
"Well it must've been really bothering you if it affected you this much."
"Sorry Naruto…Do you mind if I leave early? I think I need some alone time." Seeing as how Kiba looked pretty out of it, Naruto concluded that more training isn't gonna do anything to help and nodded his head. Kiba bowed in apology and started walking away from the training field. As he was walking he noticed Rias watching him with concern in her eyes. Kiba looked away and kept on walking. Naruto watched him leave and suddenly the afterimage of Sasuke appeared next to him and it made Naruto's eyes widened slightly.
Naruto shook his head. Why was he thinking about that now? He hasn't thought about Sasuke leaving in a while, he normally kept himself busy so he didn't have to think about it as much. Before his mood could go down, Naruto willed the afterimage away.
After Kiba was far enough away, Rias walked towards Naruto with a questioning gaze on her face. Naruto just shrugged his shoulders. "He's been like this ever since he saw that sword in Issei's photo book." Rias turned to him in confusion.
"Sword?"
"Yeah, sword. Any idea why?" Naruto asked. As he asked that, Naruto's brain just processed the memories of the clones training with the other ORC members and suppressed a laugh.
"Hm, I might have an idea but I'm gonna have to ask Issei about that photo you guys saw."
"Ok, you go do that." Naruto put his hands in his pocket and started to walk away from the forest.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to my apartment, Training's over."
"Well, I still need to teach you about contracts and requests, so come by tomorrow!" Rias called out to him. Naruto just waved back to her. Then Naruto stopped suddenly.
"Oh yeah, I hope you know how to untie tight knots." Rias could've sworn she heard Naruto actually laugh as he walked away. Also, untie knots? She wondered what he was talking about.
"BUCHOUUUU!" Rias turned her head in the direction of Issei's scream and Rias started to feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.
'Oh Naruto what did you do?'
"Get me down from here!" Rias whipped her head again when she heard Akeno nearby. He got Akeno too!? Rias started to rub her temples, something she seemed to be doing often with Naruto around.
"Hey, Buchou." Rias jumped a little when she heard the voice. She relaxed a bit when she realized that it was just Koneko.
"Oh, hey Koneko, He didn't tie you up?" She asked. Koneko shook her head as she took a big swig of her water bottle.
"He beat the crap out of me though."She replied. Koneko looked Rias up and down. "You too apparently." Rias let out a tired breath.
"Yeah, he really wasn't lying when he said no special treatment." Rias said. Although, if she had to be honest, she really didn't mind Naruto not treating her differently. It was a breath of fresh air for her. Her thoughts were interrupted hearing Issei call for her again. Rias let out a sigh.
"Come on, let's get them down." Rias said.
"Right, Buchou." The two of them walked over to free their friends. In the back of Rias's mind however, she was worried about Kiba's odd behavior today.
And she also couldn't shake this bad feeling in her chest.
"Ok Naruto, establishing contracts through requests is how new devils like yourself move up in the world." Rias explained. It was the next day and she was sitting on the couch across from Naruto. Naruto nodded his head to let her know that he was listening. "The more contracts you earn the higher your chances are to achieve a higher rank. Of course there are other factors that go into ranking up."
Naruto compared it to the mission system back home so he wouldn't have to think too hard about it.
'Requests=missions and more missions/Requests=good. Got it'
Before Rias could continue, the clubroom door opened and the rest of the ORC members walked in except Kiba. Well, three out of the four walked in, Issei was being dragged in by Koneko while complaining how sore his body was.
"Hey everyone." Rias said. Naruto opted to raise a lazy hand. Rias looked around and noticed that once again one of her members was missing. If everything was as usual it would be Naruto that was missing, the fact that it was Kiba that was missing only fueled the bad feeling that Rias had, further increasing her worry over Kiba. "Naruto, have you seen Yuuto at all today?" Naruto shook his head.
"Nah, I haven't seen him since training yesterday."
"Have any of you guys seen Yuuto?" The rest of the ORC shook their heads which only served to increase her concern further.
"Although, he has been a little weird ever since he saw the sword in my picture book." Issei noted. Issei remembered Buchou coming back to his house and asked to see that photo.
"Naruto told me the same thing. I think the sword in that photo was a holy sword." Rias said
"Yeah I remember Kiba saying something like that. What are they?" Issei asked.
"Holy swords are one of the most dangerous weapons to use against devils. Just being near one will cause our bodies to react accordingly. Being cut by one can nearly kill you, even if the cut is small. However, the amount of holy sword users that exist in this world are very limited. To make up for that weakness, the church tried to artificially make holy sword users and thus the Holy Sword Project was born." Rias explained.
"I don't remember hearing anything like that during my time at the church." Asia said.
"Well it was a long time ago. I also heard that the project completely failed." Rias said.
"But what does all of that have to do with Kiba?" Issei asked
"I guess we'll just have to ask Kiba that when he comes back." Naruto said before he got up and stretched a bit before walking towards the door.
Rias smirked as she watched Naruto walk towards the door 'Aw, he's trying to escape learning how to be a devil. Cute.' If he thought that she forgot about what she originally called him here for he was dead wrong. "Naruto." Naruto stopped immediately, confirming her suspicions about his intentions. "Would you come back here, I don't believe we finished our earlier conversation."
Naruto slowly turned around and looked Rias in the face and saw the smug smirk and knew she figured out his plan. Naruto huffed and sat down on the couch. He then heard Akeno chuckle and Naruto glared at her. "Something funny to you?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. His question just made Akeno chuckle a little bit harder.
"Absolutely." A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead. Naruto let out a breath before muttering.
"Dumbass priestess." A tick mark now appeared on Akeno's forehead.
"Care to repeat that, Fishcake-san?" At this point you could see the lightning sparks flying between the two of them, although you could argue that Akeno is the reason for the lightning.
"Enough you two." Rias let out a sigh. She didn't understand why these two went at each other's throats. Especially coming from Akeno's side, no one in their age group had been able to get on Akeno's nerves like this, not even her and she's known her for years. But yet, these two have been at it since they met a couple of weeks ago. "Now, Naruto, before you're able to establish contracts you're going to need these." Rias turned around and grabbed what Naruto could only describe as a tower of papers and dropped them in front of him.
Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. Rias proceeded to grab a small slip of paper and explain its purpose. "Akeno, can you grab the other stack for me please?" Rias said. Akeno bowed her head.
"Second stack!?" Naruto exclaimed. Akeno soon came back and dropped it right next to the first stack. Naruto eyes the stacks with a dead face. "I hate both of you."
"Pass out enough of those and you'll be able to start taking requests like us." Rias said Naruto groaned and grabbed the stacks and walked to the door.
"Good luck, Fishcake-san!" Akeno called out, satisfied at getting the last shot in. Naruto's response to her was a middle finger as he made sure to slam the door on his way out. Issei could only sweat drop at the whole thing.
"Uh, Buchou? That was more fliers than you gave me or Asia…combined I think."
"I know, It's only because of his clone ability. I figured he could do a little more than usual." Issei seemed to agree as he nodded his head a few times.
"Yeah I guess that makes sense." Rias wasn't gonna tell him that she was being a little petty because of the training session yesterday, She can still feel her body ache a little bit. Although, by the sly smile Akeno sent her way indicated that she already knew her true intentions. Akeno chuckled when Rias turned her head away from her.
Naruto thought he was done with simple stuff like finding someone's cat or planting someone's garden when he got older but noooo here he was 17 years old, hours later, in the pouring rain…
And he's still passing out these goddamn fliers!
Naruto handed out another flier to another person as thunder sounded off into the atmosphere. When the door closed Naruto grumbled. "Why did I agree to this? oH yOu sHouLd lEarN hOw tO bE a dEviL, stupid Rias." Naruto mocked.
A few minutes later Naruto had finished passing out the fliers and was dead set on going home and changing but as he was walking down the street, he heard something faint and he stopped. Naruto strained his ears on the sound. It was faint but he could hear it.
The sounds of blades clashing against one another.
Now on full alert, Naruto focused on the direction the clashing was coming from. Once he pinpointed that Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop making sure to be as silent as possible so as to not alert the ones fighting. As he got closer Naruto could hear a conversation going on amongst the fighting.
"You've gotten better, pretty boy devil scum, but it won't be enough for my sexy excalibur~" A voice that Naruto didn't recognize said.
"Stop fucking with me!" Naruto recognized that voice. It was Kiba! What was he doing here? And who is he fighting? Naruto hopped over to a closer rooftop to assess the situation. Kiba was struggling a little bit. This new guy's speed is throwing off Kiba's timing. Kiba ducked a slice at his head and swept his enemy's foot, knocking him down to the floor. Kiba then tried to stab him while he was on the ground but the man rolled away. He barely had enough time to get to his feet before Kiba pressed him again. Swing after swing after swing, Kiba's assault didn't stop.
Kiba managed to break through the man's guard and slice his chest before landing a hard kick to his stomach. The man slid back and looked at his wound before glaring at Kiba.
"Disgusting devil punk!" Kiba paid no attention to the insult as he charged in once more, the silver haired man's sword glowed before he dodged Kiba's swing.
'That was faster than before.' Although Naruto could still track him with ease, he had to admit that the man was moving faster than Kiba right now. That man was laughing as he weaved through each and every one of Kiba's slice attempts. It was here that Naruto noticed that Kiba was swinging wildly. Naruto took a closer look at Kiba's face. He was angry and losing ground quickly.
"You really want to strip me huh, Devil scum? Sorry to disappoint buut I don't roll that way." Kiba ran in angrily, falling for the man's goading. "I guess I can give you a flash~" The man quickly fished in his pocket and pulled out a flashbang and threw it down to the ground, surrounding the area in a bright white light. Naruto covered his eyes but since Kiba was right in front of the man, he took the full force of the flashbang.
Kiba dropped his sword and covered his eyes as he walked around blindly. "Arghh! My eyes! I can't see!"
The man smiled evilly before gripping his sword. The man laughed with his tongue out. "Awww did that hurt?" The strange sword glowed as the man gained an insane look in his eyes. "I can't wait to cut your dirty little head off!" That man ran at great speeds and it only took him a few seconds to close the distance between him and Kiba. He raised his excalibur to deliver the final blow. But before he could go all the way, Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him and landed a hard kick to the man's jaw, sending him flying.
The man started rolling on the ground, unable to stop his momentum forcibly. After he eventually came to a stop, the man groaned. 'What the hell hit me?' He sat up and shook his head. As his vision focused, he finally noticed Naruto. "Who the hell are you!?" Naruto refused to answer him.
"Kiba, are you alright?"
"Naruto? Is that you? Where are you?"
"I'm in front of you man."
"Oi, Devil scum, this your brother or something?" The man said. Naruto deadpanned.
"We don't even look alike, dumbass." The man waved off the insult.
"It doesn't matter in the end anyways! I'm still gonna chop you up into tiny little pieces with my beautiful holy excalibur!" The insane man practically screamed. Naruto wanted to sweat drop right about now. It was clear to him that this guy's screws were knocked loose. Naruto looked back at Kiba. He was still struggling with his eyesight as he leaned onto the nearest wall.
'I gotta keep this guy away from Kiba. He's in no condition to defend himself right now'
The man laughed and tried to super speed over to Kiba again but to his surprise, Naruto was right there in his face blocking his path. "You're not getting past me."
"Tch, we'll see about that!" The man said. Naruto took out a Kunai and the two of them clashed. After a few seconds, Naruto's Kunai began to crack under the pressure of the sword and it soon broke. Trying to take advantage, the man tried to slice him open across his chest but Naruto was quick to react and jumped away. The man let out an insane laugh as he jumped after Naruto.
Naruto inwardly cringed. He hasn't fought someone this insane since Orochimaru. Well, If he really thought about it, Orochimaru was really a controlled creepy type of insane, this guy is more textbook insane, the type you think of when you hear the word insane. When the man came down with a vertical slash, Naruto dodged and did a high kick while he was still suspended in the air. The kick landed and the man fell to the ground. While he was on the ground, Naruto kicked him again, sending him rolling back a bit.
The man got back to his feet and pointed his sword. "I guess you really are quick on your feet, you cat faced punk."
Naruto didn't know whether to feel offended by the whisker insult or annoyed that he got the animal wrong. So he just decided to ignore the insult and subtly check on Kiba. Naruto noticed that Kiba was gone. Apparently the man noticed his absence too. Kiba suddenly appeared behind the man with his sword in a horizontal slash. Kiba's eyes were squinted so his eyesight isn't back to normal yet. The man's eyes widened and he barely ducked the slash with only a few strands of hair cut off.
The man jumped away from Kiba but he was now sandwiched between Naruto and Kiba. The man made an exaggerated whining sound. "Hey! That's cheating. Two scums versus one man? Awww now that's just not fair~"
'Seriously, what is up with this dude?' Naruto thought.
"I came here to chop up pretty devil scum but now I get to kill two, it's just my lucky day-huh?" A small magic circle appeared on the man's ear "Yeah boss? Really? But I was just in the middle of cutting up people. Yes sir." The circle disappeared and the man fished in his pocket and pulled out another flashbang. "Sorry, looks like I won't be able to cut you two up after all. So! It's time to make my grand exit! Bye-bye!" The man threw the flashbang on the ground and once again engulfed the area in a bright white light. Learning his lesson from before, Kiba covered his eyes along with Naruto.
After the light dimmed, the man was long gone and Naruto and Kiba relaxed a bit. By this time, Kiba's eyesight had returned and he could see Naruto clearly. "What're you doing here?" It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he didn't appreciate Naruto's sudden appearance but Naruto couldn't care less about how he felt right now. He needed answers.
"Who the hell was that?"
"Freed Sellzen. He's a stray exorcist priest from the church."
"Why did he attack you?"
"I don't know." Naruto's patience was wearing thin with Kiba and Naruto started to tap his foot on the ground.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing." Naruto scoffed.
"Ok, so you half-assing training, acting weird at Issei's house and skipping school are all signs of nothing. Sure." Kiba glared at Naruto and he glared right back.
"Why do you care anyway? If I recall, you're not really close with any of us."
"Just because I'm not close with you guys doesn't mean I don't care." Kiba turned around.
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. It's just that I've been reminded of my reason." Naruto tilted his in recognition. He felt like he had heard something along these lines before. It didn't help that a knot started forming in his stomach.
"Your reason?"
"The reason why I lived as long as I did, the reason why I became a devil." Kiba looked back at Naruto. There was a hidden inferno in his eyes that Naruto recognized immediately. "Revenge." Naruto gritted his teeth. In Naruto's eyes, Kiba wasn't there and was now replaced by his best friend.
Sasuke Uchiha.
Naruto stood rooted to his spot as his mind did a deep dive into his memories of Sasuke and compared it to what's happening with Kiba now. By the time Naruto came back from his unwanted trip down memory lane, Kiba was already gone. Naruto clenched his fist. "Kiba…Not you too."
A few minutes later, Naruto was still walking in the pouring rain lost in thought. 'I knew Kiba reminded me of Sasuke, but I didn't think he would remind me of him that much.' Naruto's mind went to four years ago when Sasuke first left the village. Naruto dismissed the thought. Kiba wouldn't leave. He's not Sasuke. 'Whatever Kiba was going through. He wouldn't go that far.' Naruto tried convincing himself, but he knew that an emotion like revenge would blind even the nicest person. He should know.
Before Naruto could dive deeper into his thoughts he bumped into someone.
"Oof!" By the sound of the high pitched voice, Naruto assumed he ran into a girl. Sure enough when he looked down, his guess was spot on. The girl had violet eyes with chestnut-like hair color that was tied into twintails. She also has a white paper flower in her hair. She was wearing some type of robe and judging by the cross on her necklace, Naruto assumed that she was from the church. Regardless, Naruto held his hand down to help her up.
The girl looked up and accepted the help before patting herself down. "Sorry about that." She apologized. Naruto waved off her apology.
"Don't worry about it. I wasn't paying attention either."
"You gotta stop being so clumsy, Irina." Another girl said. The girl had her hood on but Naruto could see that she had blur hair that came down to her chin and a dyed green fringe on the right side. She also had something big that was wrapped up behind her back.
"I'm not clumsy, Xenovia!" The girl whined. The now named Irina kept patting herself down like she was looking for something. When it seemed that she couldn't find what she was looking for she seemed to panic and look around. "Where is it!? Where is it!?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion.
'These two girls were weird' Naruto thought. He looked on the ground and saw what looked to be some type of band and string. Naruto knelt down, picked it up and handed it to her. "Is this it?" Irina eagerly took the item from his hand and tied it on her arm.
"Yes! That's it. Thank you sir." The girl bowed her head to him and Naruto nodded his head. The two girls continued walking and Naruto stared at their backs. His hand felt a little weird when he touched that armband so he looked at it. He noticed there was a very faint blue glow to it. Naruto shook his hand and the glow went away.
'Ok, that was weird.' Naruto thought about the events leading up to this point in time. First, Kiba see's a holy sword. Next, he starts acting like Sasuke. Then a stray exorcist priest comes outta nowhere and attacks Kiba and Now two more people that are more than likely from the church are now here. The common denominator in all of this?
The church
Naruto narrowed his eyes. He did not have a good feeling about things that are happening recently.
Not at all.
Chapter end
I'm gonna be honest I did not expect this chapter to go on for as long as it did but hey, what can you do? I'm gonna be honest, I got sucked into JJK. I really like that show. Actually I have a question. Do you guys watch JJK and if so who are y'all favorite characters? My top 3 are Gojo, Sukuna and Toji. Welp I got nothing else to say so I guess I'll see you guys next chapter.
This is The Devious Duckling signing off.