A/N: Revised as of 2/18/2024.

It took a couple days for Naruto and Yunyun to walk back to Alcanretia due to the latter's inability to tree walk. But during their travels, Naruto was able to see what his newest member was capable of.

To say the least, he was quite impressed.

Yunyun was able to perform various types of spells, which she could use to guard both the front and the rear, and just had overall great judgement during their travels. The Crimson Magic Clan was well known for their high intelligence stat, and Yunyun was a prime example of this fact.

Another thing Naruto learned about Yunyun was that they were quite similar. She aspired to become the Crimson Magic Village's next chief, and always tried her best to train and become stronger. It was just like when he was younger and wanted to become the Hokage…

Shaking the nostalgic thoughts out of his head, Naruto leaned outside of the window of the carriage they were riding. The moment they reached Alcanretia, they hitched a ride with a caravan party that was heading to Axel. Naruto was happy to learn that Yunyun also wanted to avoid being near the oasis city for long.

As soon as they reached to the top of this next incline, he was expecting to see the great wall that separated the people of Axel from the wilderness…

Except that very wall was now in shambles.

"What the hell happened!?"

Naruto shouted as he took in the pitiful state of the front gates of the town of beginners.

The structure looked as though a huge force had slammed into it. Construction workers were littered all over the place, but it seemed like their work was only in the beginning stages. Did that mean it was damaged recently?

Yunyun poked her head out next to Naruto and stared at the shattered gates with wide eyes.

"Wow… I wonder what happened?"

"Let's go find out."

When the carriage reached the stopping point, Naruto and Yunyun hopped off and spotted a construction worker who seemed to be on break.

"Hey, what happened to the walls? Was it a monster attack?"

Naruto walked up to the man and asked.

"Hm? Ah, you must have missed it. No, this damage was actually caused by a flood."

The construction worker revealed.

A flood?

Naruto and Yunyun looked at each other, then back at the burly man incredulously. It didn't seem like he was lying, but what could have caused a flood? There wasn't an ocean anywhere near the town.

"Ah… I wish the little miss would come back to the team. With her skills, we could be done with this mess in a week. Even though I hear she was the one who caused it all…"

The construction worker mumbled to himself before throwing a towel over his shoulder and walking back towards the work site.

"Maybe Luna-chan will be able to tell us more… Oh shoot! First I need to feed Wiz! Sorry Yunyun, but I gotta go! Let's meet up at the adventurer's guild tonight!"

Naruto suddenly said and ran off in a panic.

"Ah…"

Yunyun reached out towards the fleeting boy. She wanted to ask if he wanted to walk to the inn together so she could rent a room, but it couldn't be helped if he already had plans.

"Oh well… I guess I'll go to the inn by myself."

She wondered who Wiz was. Naruto said something about feeding them, so maybe a pet?

After creating two clones and sending them to the apartment, one to make the ramen and the other to disperse to notify him when they were done, Naruto decided he'd try and find Kazuma at the stables. He had to wait for the ramen to be made anyway, might as well make use of his clones to kill two birds with one stone.

Stepping into the stables, Naruto walked all the way down to the stall where he remembered Kazuma and Aqua were staying at. But when he peeked inside, they were nowhere to be found.

In fact, the whole stall was cleaned out. All that was left was a pile of dirty hay.

"W-wait… Don't tell me Kazuma and Aqua died on a quest!"

Naruto screamed and fell to his hands and knees. How could this happen? He was only gone for a week…

"Shut up! Do you wanna die!?"

A loud voice shouted, which was followed by a loud thud that made Naruto flinch. At the same time, he felt small tug in the back of his mind that indicated his clone dispersing.

'Phew… At least Kazuma and them didn't die while I was gone…'

Naruto thought as he walked up to the steps to Wiz's store. It turned out Kazuma and Aqua had only moved out of the stables, but the angry man that had yelled at him didn't know where. Naruto decided he'd ask Luna at the adventurer's guild later.

After retrieving the three bowls of miso ramen that his clone made at his apartment, Naruto hustled over to Wiz's shop. He'd kept his fellow ramen lover waiting long enough.

Ramen withdrawal was no laughing matter, and he had already claimed to take responsibility. That had made Wiz smile for some reason. But Naruto didn't think it was funny, as it was only the right thing to do since he was the one that introduced the Lich to the food of the gods.

"I'm back Wiz!"

Naruto shouted upon opening the door. Just what kind of state was his friend going to be in?

"Oh! Welcome back, Naruto-san! I trust your trip went well?"

To Naruto's surprise, Wiz was standing behind the counter in the back of the shop with her usual cheery smile.

"…Yeah, it did."

The blonde said after a second and walked in, closing the door behind him with his foot. He was a little weirded out that Wiz seemed perfectly fine, but that was a good thing… Right?

Naruto placed the box that contained the bowls of noodles on the table.

"Sorry I was gone for so long, the place I went to was really far. But I found a mage for my party!"

"That's wonderful! I'm sorry I couldn't join your party…"

"That's okay, I know you really want to focus on your store. The mage I found is really strong, but she's a little shy and doesn't have many friends so I was wondering if I could maybe bring her here sometime?"

Naruto guessed that maybe it would be easier for Yunyun to talk to Wiz since they both shared something in common. Wiz was also a very friendly mage, and he could see her getting along with any type of person.

"Of course! I wouldn't mind at all!"

Wiz said in a chirpy voice, and the two stood in silence for a couple seconds.

'I knew it… There really is something wrong with Wiz.'

Naruto thought as he eyed his cheerful friend with narrowed eyes. Not only was Wiz acting more cheerful than usual, but she hadn't once looked at him in the eye since he walked into the room.

She hadn't taken her eyes off the box the entire time.

"How are you feeling Wiz? You weren't lonely while I was gone, were you? I also hope the ramen withdrawal wasn't too much to handle…"

"Of course not! Kazuma-san was kind enough to visit every day! He even brought me snacks!"

Wiz responded without missing a beat, but her eyes were still glued to the box on the table.

'Well, at least Kazuma held his end of the bargain.'

Naruto thought before placing a hand on the box.

"Oh yeah, I brought you some ramen. Have you eaten yet today?"

"How thoughtful of you, Naruto-san! But I just ate not too long ago-"

Grumble…

"…"

Seeing Wiz's face turn red, Naruto got a sudden urge to tease her.

"That's a shame. I just made three bowls, and even added some extra pork slices in them too."

"I-I'm sorry. Next time I'll-"

Gurgle…!

"…"

Wiz's face turned even darker and she hid her face behind her hands, prompting the cheeky shinobi to smirk. Now she only needed one more push.

Naruto opened the box that contained the ramen, and the room was immediately filled with the aroma of soup.

"This was always my favorite part about takeout ramen. When you open the box and the steam comes out-"

"Ah! I can't take it anymore!"

"Kazuma! Kazuma! I felt it again today! It really felt like I missed something very important! Perhaps this is the works of a hidden skill… Sense Explosion!"

Megumin said loudly as she followed Kazuma through town.

"There's no such skill."

Kazuma retorted without so much as a thought.

"Heh… Kazuma may be a good at appraising Explosion magic, but you are still but a fletching after all."

"Yeah yeah… Anyways, why are you following me? I'm just going to give Wiz her daily rations."

"Because afterwards, we're going on our daily scenic walk."

Megumin said and added slight skip to her step.

To any other guy, that sentence might have left them flustered. But Kazuma already knew what this girl who had recently earned the title "Explosion Girl" was referring to, as it had become a daily ritual of sorts when their party didn't go on a quest.

"Even after yesterday… Do you not feel any remorse? People died, you know?"

"Aqua revived everyone, so all's well that ends well. But more importantly, why is Kazuma bringing food to that shop so diligently when you don't even want to go on quests?"

This girl…

"I promised Naruto that I would look out for Wiz until he returned, and I'm not such a man that so easily breaks his promises."

Kazuma said while gesturing to himself, prompting the mage to eye him suspiciously.

"…Did Kazuma ask Naruto for something outrageous in return? After all, Naruto is earnest to a fault when it comes to Wiz, and Kazuma would definitely take advantage of this fact and-"

"Don't make me sound like some sort of villain! I'm just paying Naruto back for all the times Aqua forced him to treat her!"

*Stare*

Megumin continued to stare at Kazuma, and the boy adverted his gaze.

"H-hmph! A loli like you wouldn't understand a compromise between men! Hah hah hah!"

"L-loli…!? Say, if you want to fight instead going on a walk with a beautiful woman, then go ahead and keep talking."

Seeing as Megumin's short fuse was already gone, Kazuma decided to keep his mouth shut until they arrived at Wiz's magic shop.

But when they opened the door…

"Hey Wiz, I brought you some sobaaaaAAHH!? What are you doooing!?"

Kazuma nearly dropped the bowl when he saw the scene in front of him.

"Oh, hey Kazuma."

Naruto looked up from where he was sweeping and gave a mock solute.

"I'm sorry, Kazuma-san… *Slurp!* I tried to hold myself back, but… *Slurp!* Naruto-san's ramen is just too good!"

Wiz said as she scarfed down the bowl of noodles, tears of pure joy streaming down her cheeks.

Naruto nodded with a look of pride in his face.

"Ramen!? That's why you were acting like you were having withdrawal symptoms!?"

—A couple minutes later and everyone was seated at the table as Wiz placed down a fresh pot of tea.

"All my hard work… Gone… Because of ramen…"

Kazuma wept crocodile tears with his forehead on the table.

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you about Wiz's ramen withdrawal…"

Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, and Kazuma shot straight up.

"Sorry my ass! That woman nearly froze me solid! Twice! Do you know how long it took to finally get her to calm down!? My heart may never heal from that experience…"

"I-I'm so sorry!"

Wiz stammered while bowing furiously.

"Calm down, Kazuma. You're overreacting. But what did Naruto feed Wiz to make her crave it so strongly? Mmm… This is really good."

Megumin said calmly before taking a sip of the tea she had been given, and her eyes widened slightly.

"Th-thank you… But the food that Naruto-san so kindly gives me is-"

"Only the food of the gods! Ramen!"

Naruto stated proudly, interrupting Wiz and standing up out of his chair.

Megumin looked to Kazuma for an explanation.

"Ramen is a cheap food from my home country…"

"Ch-cheap…!?"

Naruto balked and stared at his fellow adventurer in pure shock.

"But this further proves that you made up your backstory about being a ninja and that you're from Japan! You fake ninja! You ruined all my hard work to fix Wiz!"

"F-fake…!?"

The boy's rage-filled words were like a stab to Naruto's already fragile heart, causing the shinobi to fall to his hands and knees.

The odds of Naruto being from another world that had the same ninjas AND ramen that originated in Japan was highly unlikely. Aqua said that she was the goddess who watched over Japan, and Naruto said he met Eris who Aqua said had taken over her job when she was brought to this world. So Kazuma decided that Naruto had come up with his backstory to look cool in this new world or something.

Of course, Megumin didn't know about any of this and Kazuma didn't wanted to avoid that troublesome conversation, so he kept himself from blurting it all out.

Naruto's form began to tremble, his bangs shadowing his eyes in an eerie fashion.

"Hoho… You've done it now, Kazuma… I was excited that someone else knew about ramen, but it seems you are a disappointment with all this talk of nonsense. Let's take this outside so I can show you what this ramen loving ninja is capable of!"

Naruto challenged while cracking his knuckles.

"Isn't that something a street thug would say?"

"Wha-!? D-damn it…"

With Kazuma's quick retort, Naruto was left without a reason to beat him up because if he did just take things outside with the guy then he really would just be acting like a delinquent. Openly fighting in the streets wasn't the way of the ninja.

As Naruto pondered a way to prove that he was a ninja, Megumin placed the cup of tea onto the table.

"Anyways, now that Naruto is back… Isn't it finally time we settled things? Let us go on a scenic walk outside of town and-"

"No way, I just got back. Besides, I still have to introduce my new party member to Dust."

Naruto responded without even looking her way, opting to wave his hand dismissively instead.

As Megumin dealt with the idea of being denied so easily, Kazuma took the opportunity to question Naruto.

"You found a new party member?"

Kazuma asked, a curious eyebrow raised. Seeing as Naruto had previously recruited Dust, who was known as the "Delinquent Adventurer" throughout town, he half expected the self-proclaimed ninja to have recruited another strange individual.

"She's a mage, and a really strong one at that! On our way back, she showed me all the spells she could use. I couldn't keep track of all the awesome skills she has!"

Naruto said with proud grin on his face.

"Eh? That mage actually sounds competent!"

Kazuma balked with wide eyes.

"Implying you know of an incompetent mage? Tell me, who is this incompetent mage? I'd really like to meet them."

Megumin said in a dark tone while poking Kazuma's back with her staff.

"If you guys want to meet her, we're meeting at the adventurer's guild later. Although she is a little shy..."

Alarms went off in Kazuma and Megumin's heads at the same time, both for different reasons.

'Wait a minute… A female mage that can use more than one spell, and this is Naruto we're talking about... with his luck… Damn it! I'm probably going to be really jealous!'

Kazuma thought while glaring daggers at the oblivious blonde across the room.

'A shy mage… No, it can't be. There's no way that person with no social skills would be able to join a party. Although Naruto is a nice guy when it counts…'

Megumin thought while staring at Naruto intensely.

A bead of sweat rolled down Naruto's face as the two continued to stare at him so strongly. He looked at Wiz, only for her to shrug.

Did I he something wrong?

–Dust opened his eyes to find himself in a small, worn out looking room. He was in a bed covered in old white sheets.

'Where… Ah, this must be the Eris Church. I was thrashed pretty hard back there.'

He thought before closing his eyes again and snuggling into the blanket. Hey, he was brought there against his will. Might as well make himself comfortable.

At that moment, the door to the room opened and Dust cracked an eye open to see a beautiful girl wearing a nun's attire enter.

'Right on time. Time to heal my heart with a beautiful Nee-san.'

Dust thought and repositioned himself to get a full view of the girl's voluptuous figure. He still wondered why they put him in such a run-down room, but with the events that happened yesterday it would only make sense if the Eris Church was short on rooms.

"I see you're awake. That's wonderful."

The priestess said and placed a chair next to the bed.

"Thank you for taking care of me, but I still feel a little sore. I was beat pretty bad, you see. All because of such a trivial thing too. Just thinking about it makes me angry."

Dust said with a sigh.

"Is that so? Maybe talking about it would make you feel better? I wouldn't mind lending an ear."

The woman offered and smiled pleasantly.

"I think you're right. Holding in negative emotions is bad for your health, you know?"

"Indeed. One of our doctrines states that one must not stiffly suppress oneself, and to relax and live without care."

Dust didn't recall the Eris Cult having such a carefree doctrine, but it didn't matter to him. He didn't bother memorizing any of them anyway.

"Just what was that guy's problem anyway? All I did was flirt with his two female companions. It was their fault for coming into the bar dressed in such cute outfits. Not flirting with them would be an insult. I'm a gentleman so I made sure to cope a good feel of their asses."

It was common sense for a guy to hit on a girl inside a bar. But no, they had to go make him look like a bad buy by screaming and calling him a pervert.

"As a priestess, I cannot encourage sexual harassment. But it definitely sounds like those sluts deserved it."

"Right? I was just going to scare them a little more, but then that guy with the magic sword appeared and threatened to beat me up. What an unreasonable bastard, threatening people with violence right off the bat."

Man, the Eris cultist taking care of him today was quite an understandable person. Not like the other ones who always acted like they had sticks up their butts. Normally they would have kicked him out by now.

"Luckily the next day, I happened find his sword for sale in a shop I frequent. What an idiot to have lost his sword like that. Anyways, I bought the sword and stashed it in an abandoned warehouse I borrowed for insurance. I talked Mitsurugi into buying the key to the warehouse for five million Eris."

"F-five million Eris!?"

"Yeah, but I spent it all on tomatoes which are worth a lot right now since they're not in season, and they were all lost by the flood… On top of that, that man found out that I ripped him off and so he beat me up."

"Oh, I see. What a shame. You were quite handsome for a second there."

The priestess said with a disappointed look on her face.

How rude to say something like that to someone's face. But Dust decided he would let it slide this time since he was in such a good mood.

"I've been facing nothing but trouble these past couple days. Switching parties with those girls with screws loose in their heads, losing all that hard-earned cash to a random flood, then getting beaten up by a prude who doesn't know a man's romance. But it's all good. I'm just glad I was found by such a cute Onee-san from the Eris Cult to heal my wounded heart."

Dust said and rested his arms behind his back. With how good things were going, maybe he could convince this cutie to give him a massage-

"Oh, you're not in an Eris church."

"…What?"

"After the battle, the beautiful priestess with blue hair healed everyone so the Eris church is void of patients."

No…

"But it seemed those evil cultists didn't want to take you in, so the kind and righteous me stepped in and did the right thing-"

NOOO!

Dust sprang out of the bed and aimed for the door, but a death like grip on his shoulder stopped him from even touching the handle.

"-and brought you to the Axis Church! Aren't you happy that such a beautiful Onee-chan nursed you back to health?"

"No! Let go! I don't want to sell my soul to the devil!"

Dust yelled and tried to break free of the Axis Priestess's hold, but her grip was surprisingly strong.

How could he have been so stupid? He wasn't expecting to be brought to the Axis Cult church because it was short on members in this town. Now that Dust thought of it, he didn't recognize this priestess. Her blue nun's outfit should have been a dead giveaway, but he was fairly aware of all the Axis Cultists to avoid them at all costs and he hadn't recognized her.

It seemed Dust's comment wasn't taken very well by the priestess, seeing as her smile faulted slightly.

"Now then, as payment for healing you and listening to your troubles…"

The girl said and pulled out of piece of paper seemingly out of nowhere.

"HELP ME!"

A/N: So I was looking at the site, and noticed that there is barely any Naruto/KonoSuba stories! Come on people, get writing! This crossover deserves more love! :(