My Misadventures as a Hotel Owner
Chapter 3: All Over the Place
A taxi slowed down to a stop at a crossroads as someone stepped out, revealing to be Naruto who was dressed casually as usual. He turned to the driver and spoke to him.
"Thanks for the lift," said Naruto gratefully.
"No problem, I hope to see you again one day. You strike up an interesting conversation after all," said the driver before leaving.
Seeing the taxi leaving, Naruto turned towards a dirt path which led up the hill and proceeded to walk along it until he reached the end where he came upon a building which seemed weathered but Naruto knew it was made to look that way as he glanced at the sign placed on top of it which was written Crimson Fang's Shootout. He went inside to the reception room which had various replicas of firearms out on display in glass cases, but there was no one around.
"He's not here, which means…," Naruto started hearing the sound of gunfire "…he's out in the back,"
He went down the hallway and going through a door leading to a Shooting range where he saw an elderly man with greying hair which was tied into a short ponytail, wearing an old militant fatigue. The man was shooting at the targets with a handgun and was intensely focused. Naruto waited patiently until he had emptied his clip and was about to reload before calling out to him.
"Hey jiji, tearing those targets to shreds, looks like you haven't lost your touch," said Naruto fondly.
The man turned around to reveal that he had a goatee and a few scars on his face. The man saw who it was and smiled "Hey there gaki, been a while since you showed your bratty face last!"
Naruto smirked in response "Look who's talking, I see new wrinkles on your face compared to last time,"
"Same goes for your attitude, you're more disrespectful than usual,"
Naruto did a faux salute like a soldier "This pathetic Private requests for forgiveness from the great marine Fuji Kazuma!"
Said person scoffed "Request denied…," then he chuckled in amusement "Good to see you again boy, how joining me? I want make sure that you haven't lost your edge,"
"Sure thing old man, give me a minute,"
Naruto went to the weapon vault, punching in the password to unlock the vault and pick a weapon which is a handgun similar to the one the old man is using. He rejoined the man and started shooting at the targets along with him. After several rounds of firing at the target, old man Fuji took a look at Naruto's targets and noticed something.
"It appears that you haven't lost your edge but rather sharpened it, a far cry from when you first joined the Airsoft Club back in the university,"
"Yeah I remember, the club members and I were your favorite targets back then," said Naruto jokingly.
The old man chuckled at that memory "Seeing you kids flounder like that reminded me of when I was training the recruits back when I was in the corps,"
The reborn ninja nodded in remembrance "I remember your words back then; 'You're the hunter, find your target and if you don't have one…then you are the target',"
"A rather accurate saying, given how the life of a shinobi was back in our old world," Kurama pointed out.
"You're the only one who took those words seriously and ended up becoming the captain of the club. One of the reasons why I hired you as my assistant for this shooting range of mine," Fuji explained.
After Fuji retired from the marine corps, he had used his pension to purchase a large portion of land to set up a shooting range and a place for airsoft sports, the clubs involved in airsoft would rent his place which was where he met Naruto and noticed that he was different compared to the rest…possessing the slumbering aura of a soldier which made him want to it up. Upon seeing the potential, Fuji offered Naruto a parttime job as an assistant that the spiky haired blonde accepted and learnt how to handle various firearms albeit being nonlethal replicas. But then something happened that Naruto played a vital role in it.
**Flashback**
Naruto was doing a practice run through an obstacle course specially constructed by Fuji himself which involved him climbing walls, crossing wobbly beams over pools of mud, crawling under fences, all the while shooting at targets with an airsoft version of an assault rifle until reaching the finishing point as he slammed a palm on a button to stop a timer.
"Looks like I went through the course faster than last time, goes to show that I'm getting better," Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead whilst holstering the rifle to his back "Time to take a shower and head back to my apartment,"
Naruto headed over to the shower room and got himself cleaned up before going to meet with Fuji who received him with a smile.
"I see you're done with your usual run, how was it?" asked Fuji.
"I broke my previous record, I'll see if I can break it again next time," Naruto responded.
"That's good to hear, to bad your other club members lack your zeal,"
Their conversation was suddenly disrupted by the sound of a car engine, they didn't wait long that the doors were opened and several men dressed in black suits and wearing black sunglasses came inside and made way for a man with short black hair, long scar on his left cheek and a black eyepatch on his left eye, he also wore a black and grey hakama.
Naruto looked around the men with narrowed eyes "These guys, the way they're dressed…," then he caught sight of a gun sticking out from a jacket of one of the men "They're Yakuza!"
Fuji appears to know this man as he approaches the man "Hello old friend, what seems to bring you here?"
The man looked at Fuji with utmost seriousness which made him feel rather concerned as he spoke "I need your help, it's very dire…,"
"I see…," Fuji turned to Naruto "You can go home now, we'll talk later,"
"Sure thing," Naruto picked up his backpack and started leaving "Never would have thought that old man Fuji is friends with a Yakuza," Then his ears picked up the sound of muttering amongst the men.
"Are you sure that he can help us find the boss's daughter?" asked one of the men.
"He has to, I want to get my hands on the bastards that had the guts to kidnap the young lady. To think they had the nerve to talk to the boss on the phone like that," said the other with teeth gritted in anger.
"Excuse me," the men were snapped out of their conversation to look at Naruto who was staring at them intently "You said that a girl was kidnapped, then I should be able to help find,"
One of the men scoffed "Look kid, this is a serious matter and we have no time to fool around with you,"
"I'm not talking out of my ass right now, I can track the girl down because I'm a hacker…a red hat hacker," said Naruto.
Eyes widened in shock upon hearing Naruto's declaration, such a title isn't something one can toss around without consequences as Red Hat Hackers are also known as vigilante hackers. Red Hat Hackers are motivated by a desire to fight back against Black Hat Hackers which are also known to be criminal hackers by infiltrating their communities on the dark web and launching hacking attacks against their networks and devices.
"Are you sure you can help find our young lady?" asked one of the men hopefully.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yes I can, just give me a minute…," he brought out his laptop from the backup which he immediately turned on "Okay then, do any of you guys know the phone number of the person who called for the ransom?"
"I do, here it is…," the man said the number which Naruto noted and opened up several windows on the screen with one being a GPS map whilst rapidly typing and switching between windows "How are you going to find them?"
Naruto proceeded to explain "Nowadays, one is required to submit their phone numbers when registering online for anything ranging from social media to even setting up your login process for your email. Another factor which is often neglected by a majority of phone users is that they carelessly leave the location feature on their phones active which makes tracking all the easier for skilled hackers like myself," Naruto explained as he continued to type, comparing info between the windows on the screen before narrowing his eyes "Bingo, I found the guy…he's on a call right now,"
"Can we listen in?" asked the yakuza member.
"Hang on…," Naruto entered a few keys to access the phone call and listen in without them knowing before setting to loudspeaker.
{…we got the girl and hid her at the old glue factory where nobody would think to look}
{Excellent, keep her there until the old fool meets us at the designated place…then we'll blow them sky-high with a few 'gift packages', that will be the end of the Tohijo family and Kingoku will take over with no contest}
{Okay boss, we'll be on standby until then}
{You do that}
*Click*
"Grrr, those bastards…," a yakuza member growled angrily.
"According this, the call came from the abandoned glue factory just like we heard and it looks like they're setting up a trap for you guys," said Naruto.
"Too bad, they've just lost their element of surprise and got a target on their backs now that we know who kidnapped the young lady thanks to you kid,"
"No prob, I'll keep track of their positions through their phones,"
"You keep doing that, I'm going to tell the boss so we can mount a rescue," the man ran to the room where Fuji and the boss were having a conversation to tell them of the hopefully good news.
**Flashback End**
Thanks to Naruto's assistance with his hacking skills, the Tohijo were able to successfully rescue the boss's daughter whom he later learnt that her name is Fuyumi Tohijo. The boss was rather vindictive, making it a point to tear down the Kingoku family to shreds with no hopes of ever recovering from the damage. This put Naruto in the family's good graces and the boss's daughter becoming rather attached to him. Anyways back to the main story.
Naruto and Fuji went over to the latter's office "Anyways, we've done the paperwork and you're all set…," he reached into a drawer of his table and held out a brown folder which Naruto took and looked inside to see multiple papers "And the things you need are inside a duffle bag at the weapon vault so you can pick it up on the way out,"
"Thanks old man, I really appreciate it," said Naruto gratefully.
"Don't mention it, although Fuyumi wants to see you again. Seems to me like she really misses you,"
"I'll see about dropping by to say hello to her,"
"You know I still find it hard to believe that you won an inn of all things with that crazy luck of yours,"
"I know, been hearing that line every time that I told anyone how I got it," said Naruto with a shrug.
"Normally I'd tell you to stay out of trouble but we both know that trouble practically seeks you out for some reason," said old man Fuji, recalling how Naruto seemed to get involved in things without even trying.
"He has a point, trouble looks for you like a nagging wife," Kurama pointed out.
"I know, which is why I'm taking measures and lucky for me, I have friends in the right places," thought Naruto before speaking up "I'll need to be going now, got some things to do,"
Fuji nodded in understanding "Then don't let this old man delay you any longer, keep in touch like always,"
"Will do,"
Going inside the weapon vault to put away the handgun and finding the duffle bag which he looked inside and was satisfied with the contents before picking it up and leaving the place after saying goodbye to Fuji. Along the way, Naruto stored the duffle bag into his inventory which was very convenient since he was still relearning Fuinjutsu from his memories.
Whilst using his phone to order a taxi ride, Naruto took a look at the time and frowned "It will soon be noon, I'd better get to my next part time job,"
Eventually, the taxi arrived and began transporting to his requested destination which turned out to be some sort of restaurant called The Heavenly Cuisine which is well-known and has been attracting lots of customers. Naruto went through the backdoor and into the staff room where he changed into his chef uniform before making his way to the kitchen where he heard someone call out to him.
"It's good to see you Naruto!"
He turned to see a woman with chocolate brown hair which was held up in a hairnet, she wears a chef uniform which frames her plump figure but doesn't hide her sunny countenance.
Naruto smiled in response "It's good to see you to, Mrs Cho. I was a bit busy elsewhere before coming here,"
"And just in time too, we'll soon be entering the lunch rush and I want all hands on deck,"
"Roger that," Naruto went to his assigned cooking station and prepared to receive orders from the forthcoming customers.
"Let's see how many girls will ask you to be their bride," Kurama teased Naruto, he really missed doing this to the blonde.
"Now's not the time for this, furball," thought Naruto.
Sure enough, the lunch rush came in just like Mrs. Choi predicted but Naruto was able to keep up with the orders where in the past he would be a bit tuckered out afterwards. There were some embarrassing moments when the female customers would complement him and at times propose to him much to Kurama's amusement while the males would glare at him with jealousy, the blonde would wonder if Sasuke had to go through this back then.
Soon, the lunch rush came to an end and everyone could relax a bit, Naruto himself was cooking some food to take home with him, a benefit of being a chef which Mrs. Choi gave them permission so long as they don't use too much ingredients. He was just about done when Mrs. Choi approached him.
"Are you leaving for home?" she asked.
"Yeah, got some things to do," Naruto replied as he packaged the food into some containers.
"Okay, wanted to let you know that someone has requested our catering services for an event which will be coming up in a couple of weeks, so I wanted to find out if you would be free at that time?"
Naruto hummed in thought "I can't say for now, but I'll contact you when my schedule would be open at that time,"
"Hopefully you will be free at that time…,"
"Sure thing, I'll see you later,"
Mrs. Choi waved him off with a smile "Be sure to take good care of yourself,"
Once out, Naruto decided to make one more stop before going to the inn so he took the train to a more suburban section of the city. Walking along the sidewalk, Naruto came upon a long flight of stairs leading up a hill with torii gates which he began climbing.
"Where are you going to now?" asked Kurama curiously.
Naruto simply smiled "You'll find out once I reach the top…,"
Finally reaching the top of the stairs, Naruto was graced with the site of an temple with its preserved appearance dating back to a very long time ago. The blonde walked along the pathway with a nostalgic smile. Suddenly, several bushes nearby began to rustle as a skulk of foxes emerged and approach with tails wagging excitedly.
"They seem happy to see you," said Kurama.
"Well before I regained my memories, I've been coming here since high school to take a break from everything which was when I started meeting these foxes and they were very friendly towards me back then so I would play with them whenever I have free time," Naruto then frowned as he noticed something "That's weird…,"
"What is it?"
"There's this vixen that would always be the first to come running to me, she has orange fur with the tips of her ears being golden and the tip of her tail being white. She likes being around me and there's another one, she can't seem to stand being away from me and tends to be around me at all times," said Naruto thoughtfully.
"Naruto, there's something strange about this temple," said Kurama, frowning a bit.
"What do you mean by strange Kurama?"
"I'm sensing energy emanating from the temple and its grounds…divine energy. I suspect that deities have been coming here regularly to the point that their essence had latched on to this place,"
Naruto shivered at the thought of gods, recalling how Kaguya touched his cheeks with that creepy look in her eyes and all the while saying that all chakra belongs to her. He snapped back into focus and spoke to Kurama mentally while feeding the wild foxes some of the leftovers he took from the restaurant.
"Considering everything we've gone through, the existence of deities isn't as farfetched as a normal person would think. I bet that the things we've been shrugging off as made-up or simply myths could actually be real,"
"What does that mean for us being in this place?" asked Kurama.
"Trying to avoid jinxing us, nothing so long as we don't do anything offensive," Seeing that the foxes have eaten all of the leftovers he brought for them "Time to head home, I'll check through the things old man Fuji got for me,"
Naruto got up and began to leave with the wild foxes yipping sadly at his departure, the blonde had to cheer them up a bit. Unknown to him and Kurama, someone was watching and they were doing so from a different realm beyond the temple via a dimensional window.
The person appears to be a young-looking female with a voluptuous figure, she had plum-colored hair with one of the bangs long enough to cover her left eye, the hair is held back by four golden bird kanzashi along with a red flower ornament. She wears a red kimono with black linings and golden butterflies on the bottom of the sleeves, and the kimono is held up in an impossibly-low neckline with nearly reveals her breasts. An oddity of the female is that she has four big purple fox tails with light purple tips waving behind her and a pair of fox ears atop her head.
The female watched Naruto's interaction with the wild foxes "How interesting, I know full well that the foxes like Naruto-kun a lot since he's been coming to play with them ever since he was a young kit. But it seems to me that his countenance has changed, those beautiful blue eyes of his are shining even brighter than before…and what is this energy that I'm sensing from him?"
At that moment, a white ball of fire appeared before the kitsune which took on the shape of a kitsune with nine tails who she immediately recognized and quickly bowed her head in respect.
"Inari-sama…," said the vixen in reverence.
The aforementioned entity glanced at the dimensional window to see Naruto leave the temple grounds before turning to speak to the vixen "It would seem that you have noticed the change in young Naruto,"
The vixen nodded in affirmation "Indeed, he never had such energy before since his childhood. I wonder what happened to have caused this,"
"That would be because he has unlocked his memories and now become his true self in time for the trials ahead of him," Inari answered.
"True self? I do not understand, Inari-sama. You had assigned the task of watching over Naruto-kun to me and my kitsunes with two in particular being rather interested in him, but you hadn't told us why exactly,"
"He's someone special to us gods, especially Kami, Yami and Shinigami for he is the Child of Prophecy meant to bring peace to his former world. However, he died soon after fulfilling the prophecy which wasn't meant to happen. So instead, we granted him rebirth with his memories and power sealed until the right time which was when he came into ownership of the inn,"
The vixen's eyes widened in shock "You speak of that particular inn?"
Inari nodded in affirmation "Indeed, various gods selfishly attempt to take humans to their world to become their so-called heroes without even seeking our permission. To put a stop to this nonsense, the inn was constructed on one of the ley lines on the planet which enable it to cross dimensional walls which in turn acts as a powerful barrier to prevent humans from being summoned into other worlds. But the inn's worn-out state reduced the barrier's power so we had to take measures and had Naruto-kun become the owner as well as guardian,"
"So, Naruto is there to prevent anything evil from crossing into our world and help maintain the barrier?" the vixen inquired.
Inari nodded in affirmation "That is so with more to come which is why I'm assigning a new task of you to assist Naruto however you can for he is still in the process of regaining his old powers as well as gaining new ones,"
"It shall be done, Inari-sama,"
"Good, I'm counting on you Yozora," Inari disappeared with the fire dying out, leaving the aforementioned vixen to her thoughts.
"Hmmm, I wonder how those two would react to this news…," said Yozora thoughtfully.
**Two weeks Later**
It was the weekend at the Spiraling Leaf Inn, Naruto was preparing himself to go to the dungeon once more as he went before at the previous weekend to get a feel of things which included combat and trying out his signature jutsu which resulted in him leveling up before returning. Now, he's trained some more to relearn additional jutsu to expand his skill list. He had also sorted out the requested gears and weapons from the Tohijo Family and Fuji gave him a note to go to someone called Iwai who runs a model gun store for resupply.
Naruto stepped out of his room, dressed in new clothes which consists of a charcoal-black trench coat with red trim and the Uzumaki emblems adorning it, over a white zip turtle neck sweater emblazoned with dark gray Uzumaki emblem, a pair of grey jeans, black sneakers with red laces, a red cap, and a black foldable facemask with jagged red stripes (an Spider-Tank (clothing) from Watch Dogs). Naruto had put on his black military grade backpack which now has a long black bundle strapped to the side.
"Naruto-sama, are you going to the dungeon?" asked Felicia who was tidying the foyer with a feather duster.
The reborn ninja nodded in affirmation "Yeah I am, I want to get stronger before taking Hestia-chan back to the surface and help find the demon which tried to kill her,"
He went over to the door leading into the dungeon and prepared to go through when Hestia ran up to him "Naruto wait!"
"What is it, Hestia-chan?" asked Naruto curiously.
"When you come back from the dungeon, there's something very important I want to ask of you,"
"Well you can tell me now,"
Hestia shook her head at that "No, it will have to be after. The last thing I want to do is distract you with my question,"
Naruto hummed in thought before nodding in understanding "Okay, when I get back then I'll listen,"
"Thank you and please be careful,"
"I will,"
Naruto gave her a two-finger salute before entering the dungeon, seeing the darkness ahead of him no longer bothers the blonde who prepped himself up and called upon the status screen to see his stats.
Name: Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze
Age: 18
Race: Human (Reincarnated)
Job: ?
Title: Child of Prophecy, Sage of Peace, ?, ?
Level: 8
Strength: 54
Magic/Chakra: 62
Attack: 41
Defense: 45 (+20) (Fuinjutsu Boost)
MAG Attack: 43
MAG Defense: 34
Agility: 61
Luck: ?
Weapon: Tsumetogi [ATK:30 MAG:0]
Sub-Weapon: Stinger (Combat Knife) [ATK:15 MAG:0]
Armor: None
Accessory: None
Skills: Chakra Manipulation LV4, Shadow Clone, Substitution, Rasengan, Wind Manipulation LV3, Fuinjutsu LV5
Naruto nodded at the current stats, glancing at his clothes which he had inscribed seals to increase its durability and had applied the same to his tactical vest which he couldn't wear since it would reduce his flexibility.
"Alright then, let's get going," Naruto strode forward to a step direction.
"So, what's our target destination for today?" asked Kurama curiously.
"To the lower floors, the rate at which we've been gaining EXP has reduced so we'll need to face stronger monsters,"
"Thinking of facing a Floor Boss or something like that? Could give you a lot of EXP,"
"It's a maybe for that one, let's see what the lower floors have in store for us,"
Soon enough, Naruto faced goblins and the other monsters from before along the way as he descended to a floor. He maintained his exploration, keeping an eye out for anything unusual all the while gathering magic crystals from their remains. Naruto was cautiously walking through the dark halls of the dungeon when he began hearing sounds of growling heading in his direction.
"What's that?" Naruto angled the tactical flashlight mounted on his left shoulder to illuminate the area ahead to see a group of humanoids resembling bipedal dogs wearing tattered clothing and wielding axes "I think those are kobolds if my memory of video games serve me well, I was wondering when I would encounter them,"
"Grrrrrr…," the kobolds growled at Naruto as they prepared to attack him.
Naruto pulled up the facemask to cover up then reached into his trench coat to pull out a pair of combat knives into his hands "Alright doggies, I'm gonna teach you how to play dead…literally!" he dashed forward to engage the monsters in close combat.
The reborn ninja weaved in and out of the Kobold's attacks, avoiding the swings from their axes then retaliating with his own slashes at certain parts of their bodies to reduce their mobility. A kobold tried to attack Naruto from behind who somersaulted into the air and descended to land on the monster's shoulders and drive his knife into its skull, killing it instantly before jumping off to land on the ground.
Catching movement from the corner of his eye, Naruto saw a trio of kobolds rushing towards him in an attempt to overwhelm him with numbers but he wasn't deterred as he channeled wind chakra into the combat knife and threw it at the monsters. Two of the Kobolds barely jumped out of the way albeit the third got its chest pierced through and died soon after, the remaining two Kobolds lunged at Naruto with axes raised above their heads to cut him to pieces.
Naruto quickly crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands together then channeled his chakra "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke as two copies of Naruto appeared and immediately moved to intercept, blocking the Kobold's attacks with their combat knives which left the monsters open for Naruto to attack as he took out two more combat knives "Wind Style: Wind Cutter!" after channeling chakra into the combat knives, Naruto swung them to launch two blades of wind which sliced their heads right off.
"Phew, glad to see that I'm really getting back in shape compared to the first time when I hadn't truly awoken," Naruto muttered, sensing his Auto-gather ability acquire the magic crystals and went on to pick up his knives and wipe the blood off them then return to his trench coat.
"Still far from your peak condition in the past but you're getting there," Kurama commented.
"I'm well aware of that and…huh?" Naruto's ears picked up a strange sound "That sounds like…wings flapping?" he turned towards the sounds and saw that it was giant bats with blood leaking out of their mouths flew around him all the while screeching loudly much to his discomfort.
"That's so lo-Whoa!" Naruto darted out of the way as a bat tried to swoop in fangs wide open to bite him "So, they're like monster version of vampire bats since they're trying to take a bite out of me, in that case," he reached into his trench coat right as a vampire bat swoop to atta-
*BANG*
The bat flopped to the ground with a hole through its body and blood gushing out of it, Naruto stood before it with a handgun as smoke seeped out of its muzzle which is a Taurus PT92. Smirking, Naruto darted off to rebound from the closest wall to flip into the air to position himself above the bats and wasted no time in gunning them down then landing on the ground afterwards.
"Phew, finally got to break in this baby," Naruto grinned as he twirled the handgun before putting it back into his trench coat.
"And here I thought you were going to use your jutsu to deal with them," said Kurama.
"Maybe so, but the thing is that I want to restore my true self but at the same time I don't want to neglect this life of mine either. So, I decided to combined both for something new, and besides…,"
"Besides?" Kurama quirked an eyebrow.
Naruto grinned impishly "I was looking for an excuse to use a gun, a combo of modern combat and ninja training will definitely make me way stronger!"
The Bijuu rolled his eyes in amusement, he recalled when Naruto attained true training after reporting Jiraiya to the toads for his neglect which led to the pervert Sannin getting beaten up and made to take Naruto's training more seriously. Later on, Jiraiya trained Naruto in element training which Naruto discovered that he had an affinity for Wind and Fire. But when Jiraiya tried to ditch Naruto by making him learn Fuinjutsu, he failed to see that he created a monster as Naruto to it like fish to water.
Kurama remembered how Naruto got back at Jiraiya by applying a seal which activates by releasing a bad smell every time the Sannin starts having lustful tendencies towards women. Jiraiya couldn't remove the seal despite being a seal expert and Naruto refused to do so until he paid back all the money which he had 'borrowed' from him and to not ditch him again.
Naruto continued to explore the current with help from the minimap which he had unlocked when he reached LV 7, it maps out the current dungeon floor as he explores which makes backtracking much easier for him. He was suddenly heard footsteps approaching him which made him bring out his handgun and a combat knife for a fight when the source of the footsteps appeared before him.
It turned out to be a girl with golden-yellow and having a cat's tail and ears with a yellow hair clip on the right ear. She wears a short cream-colored jacket with gold open sleeves over a green leotard which leaves her midriff open. The girl also wears a golden-brown baggy shorts with gray rims, a brown belt with a golden belt buckle and two brown catlike paw pouches on both side. She was equipped with a pair of brown cat gloves with golden claws and black cuffs whilst adorned with feathers, a feathery choker around her neck, and a pair of brown boots also adorned with feathers on the top edges.
The cat girl tilted her head at Naruto before waving at him with a happy smile "Hello there, it's nice to meet a fellow adventurer, my name's Hiyori Harusaki and I'm the leader of Twinkle Wish!"
Naruto responded rather awkwardly, given how she approached "Uh, my name's Naruto Uzumaki and I don't have a party. But it's nice to meet you too,"
"Me too! So what are you doing here anyway?" asked Hiyori curiously.
Naruto used his Negative Emotion Sensor and detected no ill intent from her "I'm doing some training so I can get stronger an-," he suddenly and looked behind Hiyori with the cat girl tilting her head in confusion.
"What's the matter?"
"There are monsters approaching us," Naruto explained and sure enough, a group of goblins appeared and were glaring at them.
Hiyori frowned at this and took a stance with golden claws protracting from her gloves "Then let's beat them up together!"
Naruto took a stance with his handgun and combat knife with a nod of agreement "Alright then, let's get em!"
Music Start: Kingdom Hearts 2 OST; Working Together
Naruto rushed forward and made the first move with a flying kick to a Goblin's face, knocking it down and finishing it off with a headshot as he spun round to block a Goblin's swing of its wooden club with his combat knife before pushing it back and performing a low sweep kick to knock it down to the ground then stabbed it in the chest to finish the monster off. Sensing something approaching, Naruto took aim over his shoulder without looking and pulled the trigger to fire a shot then there was a thump on the ground which he glanced to see a goblin on the ground with a hole in its chest.
Meanwhile, Hiyori was taking on her own share of goblins with a barrage of punches and kicks which surprisingly contains a lot of power for someone as unassuming as her. Hiyori dashed towards a goblin to slam into it with a shoulder charge and followed up with several punches to the face and chest before ending with a powerful uppercut to send it smashing into the ceiling and hanging there. She heard something whizzing through the air towards her and spun round with her arms crossed in time to block what appears to be a rock. She looked to see a goblin with a bag full of rocks on its back and identified it to be a Goblin Thrower.
Seeing that it could cause problems if left alone, Hiyori dashed towards the goblin thrower which started to return in order to keep its distance whilst the other goblins attempted to intercept her. However, she simply leapt over the goblins to lunge at the goblin thrower with a fist reared back whilst radiating a fiery golden energy "Kitty Kapow!" she unleashed a punch which scorched the ground with the goblin thrower down and out, then the cat girl faced the approaching goblins and attacked with a spinning roundhouse kick to knock them all away from her.
Back with Naruto, he was firing at the goblins and killing them quickly one by one when his handgun started clicking which meant that he ran out of ammo. Clicking his tongue, Naruto returned the handgun to his trench coat then he detached the long bundle attached to the side of his backpack and was unraveling it when a goblin attacked him which he blocked with the bundle in his hand. The black cloth fell off to reveal a sheathed katana with a gold hilt, he swiftly unsheathed it to reveal its ebony black blade as he swung to bisect them monster before channeling wind chakra into the katana to enhance its sharpness before dashing forward and attack the monsters. The goblins attempted to defend themselves but Naruto easily sliced through their wood clubs like knife through butter before killing them.
"Hiyori, please get close to me! I'm planning on taking them all out in one go!" Naruto called out.
"Okay, I'm coming over!" Hiyori kicked a goblin away before running over to the mysterious adventurer, she saw him sheathe his sword and started putting his hands together in strange shapes before speaking up.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He took in a deep breath as he brought a hand up to his mouth then blow a large gust of wind which sent all of the remaining goblins flying then crashing into the dungeon walls with their broken bodies crumpling to the ground and there were none left standing to fight the duo
Music End
"Well, that takes care of them," Naruto strapped the katana to his waist for easier access when he noticed that Hiyori was right in front of his face with sparkling eyes, making him stumble backwards in shock "W-What?"
"That was so cool, I've never seen anyone fight like that! What kind of weapon were you using? It's smaller than any crossbow I know. Is doing shapes with your hands how you do spells? And what's underneath your mask?" Hiyori asked questions rapidly in succession.
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down please! I can't exactly answer you if you're asking questions back-to-back!" Naruto pointed out to Hiyori who smiled sheepishly at the fact "For starters, the weapon I used is something from my home which isn't common here. Second, yeah it's how I perform certain techniques but not all. Thirdly, I wear my mask to hide my identity from people whom might try to be too nosy or untrustworthy about my business,"
"Can I see it, pleeeaaasssee? I promise not to tell anyone else and it will be our little secret," Hiyori insisted with pleading kitten eyes.
"Might as well show her, she's as innocent as you were back when you were a kid…twice," said Kurama nonchalantly, sensing no negativity from the cat girl.
Naruto sighed at this "Fine, I'll show you…," he pulled down his facemask and took off his hat to reveal his face.
Hiyori gasped at the sight of him "Those whiskermarks…are you a beastfolk like me?"
"Beastfolk?"
"Yeah you know, hybrids possessing combined traits of both humans and animals like me for example, I'm a cat girl as I possess certain looks and habits of a cat," Hiyori explained.
"Is that so? But the truth is that, I'm actually a human but I was born with these birthmarks which make me look like a fox,"
Hiyori tilted her head, looking at Naruto's face "You kinda look like a fox boy…,"
"Let's gather the magic crystals first, it might not be a good idea to stick around in case more monsters show up," Naruto pointed out.
"Oh, you're right,"
The duo collected the magic stones and left the area with Hiyori sticking with Naruto who was confused at first but figured that he could collect information about the Isekai world while he can.
"So, you said you're the leader of a party?" asked Naruto.
"That's right, I'm a proud leader of Twinkle Wish with our creed being about helping people. Our greatest dream is to reach the top of Sol Tower!" said Hiyori proudly.
Naruto smiled at that "That's a nice dream to have, but why are you here alone?"
"About that, I traveled to the city of Orario to try out the dungeon to test myself against monsters and get stronger. Things were okay at first when I went down the floors but I ended up getting lost even though I bought a mystic map for the dungeon. It got worse with me getting ambushed by monsters up until I met you,"
"Yikes…,"
"Yeah…which is why I came up with the great idea of sticking with you!" said Hiyori brightly.
"Wait what!?" Naruto couldn't believe what he just heard "You want to stick with me?"
"That's right, you're here to get stronger and I'm here for the same reason so we can get stronger together, it's that simple plus you seem like a nice guy to me!"
The reborn ninja blushed a bit from how the cat girl said those things so honestly, he doesn't exactly have any strong reason to refuse her company "Alright then, we can team up until we leave the dungeon,"
Hiyori jumped up and down happily "Yay, this will be so much fun!"
Naruto smiled at this and was about to speak when a screen popped up in front of his face
[Party formed, loading information…please wait]
Party Members
Naruto Uzumaki: ? LV 8
Hiyori Harusaki: Fighter LV 20
Number of Part Members: 2
"Considering that I'm retraining my ninja skills, I don't see why my role is still unidentified," thought Naruto, but he shrugged it off for now.
The duo proceeded with their exploration of the current dungeon floor, fighting off the monsters with lesser difficulty compared to when they fought alone. Hiyori was using her mystic map for direction which revealed that they were on the seventh floor, Naruto's eyes narrowed that and calculated together with Kurama that the entrance leading into the dungeon from the inn was on the fourth floor.
Along the way, Naruto decided on a small lunch break as he reached into his backpack and took out a Ziploc bag containing sandwiches. He learnt that perishable consumables stored in the inventory are basically frozen in time. Naruto opened up the bag then he heard sniffing and turned to see Hiyori looking at the bag curiously.
"I've never seen food like that before…," said Hiyori then her stomach growled loudly much to her embarrassment.
Naruto chuckled lightly "It's an Egg Sandwich, I made it myself. You can have one, I've lots to spare," and he wasn't stating that lightly either.
"Oh okay, thanks!" Hiyori took the sandwich, sniffing a bit before taking a bite. Her eyes suddenly snapped open with her ears and tail shooting up "Delish! It's so delicious!"
Naruto smiled as he ate his own sandwich "I'm glad you approve,"
"Of course, my friends will be so jealous that I got to eat something as nice as this and they weren't around to try,"
"I could give you something to pass along to them, provided you could fight off the temptation to eat them before then,"
Hiyori stuck her tongue out playfully "I'm not sure I can do that,"
After eating to the sandwiches, Naruto took out a thermos containing iced tea which the cat girl found to be just as tasty. Naruto noticed that the food and drink somehow restored their stamina by a decent amount which had him wondering what kind of effects that the food from his world would have on the Isekai world. The two descended to the 8th floor of the dungeon all the while taking down monsters when Hiyori noticed something and called out to Naruto.
"Hey Naruto, come over here!" said Hiyori excitedly.
"What is it?" asked Naruto.
"There's a hidden passage over here," the cat girl tapped the wall a few times before hearing a hollow sound and pushed it to rotate, revealing the aforementioned passage "Let's go, we could find treasure inside!" she ran inside before Naruto could say anything.
"Hiyori wait, you can't just run in there without being careful!" he ran in after her, eventually catching up as they entered a slightly dark room and saw a red chest with golden accents at the other end.
"See, I knew there would be a treasure chest!"
"Maybe so but we need to be careful here, no doubt treasures like this one would have traps,"
No sooner did Naruto say those words that the passage behind them slammed shut and a metal cage descended upon the chest to prevent anyone from reaching it. Things got even worse as undead skeletons rose from the ground as they brandished their swords and shields, then giant rats creeped out from holes in the walls and approached them.
"Just like I thought," said Naruto with a frown, unsheathing the Tsumetogi.
Hiyori hummed in thought "I remember Rei telling me something about this, they call this trap a monster house where monsters will appear in a locked room. The only way out will be to defeat all of the monsters,"
"Then all we have to do is fight hard and stay alive,"
"Kitty Kapow!" Hiyori made the first move by attacking a skeleton with one of her special techniques, the undead monster tried to block with its shield but the force of the attack sent it flying into a wall with the impact breaking it into many pieces. She heard a loud squeak and looked to the side to see a giant rat pouncing at her with teeth bared and knocked it away with a backhanded strike before facing another skeleton that was rushing to attack her.
Naruto was also busy dealing with his own share of enemies, deciding to forgo the use of his handgun in the slight chance that a bullet might ricochet off one of the skeletons' metal shields should he shoot at them. But he easily remedied that issue by using his speed to make himself a difficult target to keep a lock-on whilst attacking swiftly before they could react.
He attacked with a diagonal slash which a skeleton blocked with its shield but Naruto knocked it aside with a mid kick before jumping into the air and performing a spinning kick which knocked its skull off from the body. He looked around to see that more monsters are appearing and decided to even things out "Shadow Clone jutsu!" there were puffs of smoke as he conjured copies of himself that immediately attacked the monsters, quickly taking them down no matter how many more were summoned. Naruto jumped back and called to some of the clones "Let's finish this!"
"Roger!" two of the clones rushed over to Naruto and started waving their hands over both of his as two spiraling spheres of blue energy took form before he dashed towards the monsters ahead of him
"Take this, Rasengan Barrage!" he rammed the two spheres into the monsters which then rapidly expanded in size before blasting them all away.
"Kitty Rush!" Naruto turned to see Hiyori attacking the monsters with a barrage of punches like a machine gun until they were all defeated.
Seeing the monsters fade away while leaving behind their magic crystals, the duo could allow themselves to let out a sigh of relief before noticing that the metal cage lifted from the chest for them to access.
"Alright, time to claim our prize!" said Hiyori eagerly, Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Hang on, let's be careful about this," Naruto pointed out, having played lots of RPG games to know that there could be a trap on the chest "Let me send a shadow clone to make sure,"
"Okay,"
Upon creating the shadow clone, it went to examine the chest; looking around it and tapping a few times before deciding to open it which he did and luckily there weren't any traps. They went to see the contents which were gold coins, jewels and magic items which was shared between them. Naruto got a decent portion of gold coins and jewels along with a few items which his Isekai System identified for him
Atlas Canto – A book with a map inside. Updates itself every morning.
Casanova Stitch – A ribbon that makes an attuned person immune to seduction attempts.
Jewelled Mask – A glittering mask that looks it's made out of uncut crystals.
Bodacious Ink – Ink that changes color with every letter written, cycling through the rainbow.
Chalice of Sobriety – Turns any alcoholic drinks poured into it into water.
Clay Cat – A cat sculpture which makes a purring sound when placed in the sun.
It appears that the battle had also helped him gain a Level Up according to the new stats:
Name: Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze
Age: 18
Race: Human (Reincarnated)
Job: ?
Title: Child of Prophecy, Sage of Peace, ?, ?
Level: 9
Strength: 59
Magic/Chakra: 65
Attack: 44
Defense: 48 (+20) (Fuinjutsu Boost)
MAG Attack: 46
MAG Defense: 37
Agility: 66
Luck: ?
Weapon: Tsumetogi [ATK:30 MAG:0]
Sub-Weapon: Taurus PT92 (Semi-Auto Pistol) [ATK:25 MAG:0]
Armor: None
Accessory: None
Skills: Chakra Manipulation LV4, Shadow Clone, Substitution, Rasengan, Wind Manipulation LV3, Fuinjutsu LV5
"Wow, I never saw a spell where one can make copies of themselves and that energy ball thingy looked so cool!" said Hiyori in awe.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Yeah well, I worked hard to learn it. The Rasengan was created by my dad which my godfather taught me as an obligation. Anyways, let's keep moving,"
"Sure thing,"
Now at the 9th floor, the duo continued to explore whilst taking down monsters being the same ones from the previous floors albeit stronger. Suddenly, Hiyori and Naruto heard sounds of battle ahead with the former's sharp hearing locating the source and the latter sensing the magical energy. Without looking at each other for affirmation, the two ran towards the fight and arriving the place to come upon someone engaging the monster by themselves.
The person is a female with short purple hair and a petite figure. She wears a light purple long-sleeved shirtdress with a white collar and red tie, a black belt with golden buckle hanging loosely around her waist, white thigh-high stockings, and a pair of brown boots. The duo took note of the purple staff which was glowing with energy.
"Oh, she's a magician!" said Hiyori.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yeah, but I wonder why she's alone out here?"
"She must have a high level to be able to come to the dungeon alone,"
"I see…,"
The purple-haired girl looked at the monsters with a scoff "Stupid monsters should stop wasting my time, I have things to do!" some of the kobolds charged to attack with their axes but she dodged to the side, gliding slightly across the dungeon floor before pointing her staff and launching three consecutive fireballs which burned them alive.
Several Vampire Bats swooped down to attack "Protection!" She stabbed one end of her staff to the ground, creating a flaming barrier around her which knocked them back then retaliated "Lightning Bolt!" electricity arced around the staff before she fired a charged bolt of lightning which electrified them from the inside out. Turning towards the remaining monsters, the girl pointed her staff at them whilst conjuring a red magic circle in front of her "Chain Fireball!" she launched a barrage of small fireballs before finishing with a large fireball which exploded upon impact, leaving none alive.
The girl looked down at her staff and nodded in approval "Yes, it looks like my powers are coming back bit by bit!" she then noticed two adventurers make their presence known "I guess you two were enjoying the show,"
"I could see that you were able to handle the fight and didn't want to get in the way. Anyways, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and she's Hiyori Harusaki,"
The cat girl waved a hand cheerfully in greeting "Hello!"
"Well, I am Aisha…," The girl placed a hand on her chest as she introduced herself rather smugly "Aisha Landar the genius magician!"
"Oh uh, nice to meet you," said Naruto with a sweatdrop "She seems a bit arrogant,"
"You can't talk, you used to be that way even as a kid," Kurama pointed out to his partner.
"I was being confident, not arrogant. There's a difference!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
They were about to argue when Hiyori spoke up "So, what are you doing here by yourself?"
Aisha scoffed "Not that I need to tell you but I'm here to improve my already powerful spells and searching for hidden grimoires to add to my repertoire,"
"That's why we're here too! To become stronger!" said Hiyori.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah and Naruto has been doing a lot of cool stuff, like using a small crossbow that shoots bolts tinier than any bolts I've ever seen, he does these weird handshapes to d-," Hiyori's mouth was suddenly covered by Naruto's hand, producing muffling sounds.
"Hiyori-chan, please do go giving out private information without my permission," said Naruto with a twitching eye.
"Shorry," Hiyori muffled an apology.
"Hmmmm…," Aisha took a proper look at Naruto and noticed his strange attire and equipment that she had never seen before in her travels, with that cat girl's offhanded commentary "…how curious,"
Naruto noticed how Aisha was staring at him and started to feel nervous, like he was being viewed as a new species which must be researched upon. He won't compare her to Orochimaru's madness but the feeling is there.
"If I heard right, the two of you are training in this dungeon," Aisha inquired.
"Yeah we are…," Naruto affirmed "What's her angle?"
"I've come to a decision, as much as it stings my pride as a genius in all things magic…I shall accompany you as a member of your party,"
"This pattern again?" Naruto blinked in confusion "Um, can I ask why you want to join us? I mean we just met,"
"Same could be said for the cat girl," Kurama pointed out.
"I know but still…,"
"You're not good at saying no to girls anyway, unless you're seriously against it,"
"…,"
"Your lack of response is so convincing,"
Aisha let out a huff before explaining "I may be a genius but even I could tell that the monsters are becoming more powerful with each floor and I prefer to remain alive in order to achieve my goal, hence an alliance is in order,"
"Let her join us, Naruto! It'll be great to have a strong magician like her join the party!" Hiyori insisted, having removed Naruto's hand from her mouth.
Naruto weighed the pros and cons of allowing the magician to join the group with the former being more than the latter before letting out a sigh "Alright, you can join us,"
"Yay!" Hiyori cheered happily.
Aisha smiled smugly "An obvious choice really, but do be careful so as not to be caught in the crossfire of my spells,"
"I'll keep that in mind," Naruto muttered lowly, having the feeling that she wasn't joking with that sentence. Then the screen popped up in front of his face
[Party updated, loading information…please wait]
Party Members
Naruto Uzumaki: ? LV 9
Hiyori Harusaki: Fighter LV 21
Aisha Landar: Mage LV 26
Number of Part Members: 3
"You know, I've noticed something. You could had had lots of girls along with Hinata if you weren't so fixated on bringing that Uchiha back to Konoha," said Kurama recalling how girls ranging from citizens all the way to royalty developed feelings for his partner but the dumb blonde didn't look their way in spite of how well he got along with them.
"Come on Kurama, I was trying to prevent Sasuke from going down the wrong path," Naruto protested.
"And if you had accomplished that, what then? That Haruno would run to the Uchiha without even thanking you, after everything you did for her. Don't forget that I also saw that moment when she hugged him after you brought that Senju woman to heal him…nearly dying in doing so might I add. Let's not forget how that Hyu-,"
"Kurama…ENOUGH," said Naruto very seriously, not wanting to go there at all "It's in the past now, let's not talk about that…please,"
"Hmph fine, at least there's no one here for you to spend almost all your life to retrieve for someone,"
Ignoring the fox's harsh comments, Naruto focused on the more current objective right now which is to traverse the dungeon floors. Past is just that…the past, all those things are now memories to be recalled and not to shackle him, this is his second chance and his alone.
"Well, here we are…," said Naruto as he and the others stared at the massive double door towering over them. It appears to be made of stone with demonic designs all over it to make it look rather menacing in order to discourage any from entering (an the boss gate from Sword Art Online Episode 9)
They had explored the 10th floor, facing off strong monsters and acquiring their magic crystals after defeating them. It took several fights for Naruto and Hiyori to be able to coordinate with Aisha's style of battling as most at times she would attack from a distance with magic spells but wouldn't hesitate to engage her enemies in close combat with her staff. Naruto figured that Aisha doesn't want to be viewed as a stereotypical magician with a glass jaw and respects that especially he always breaks the norm with most of the things he does.
"I'm sure that the monster inside will be very strong," said Hiyori, feeling a bit tense.
"After coming this far, we can't expect the boss monster beyond this gate to be any weaker than the monsters we've fought get here," Naruto pointed out to the cat girl.
"Indeed, expect no less and avoid rash actions. I'd rather not have to deal with problems created by your slipups," Aisha warned them.
Aisha glanced at Naruto and was deep in thought, she had been observing his actions and style of battling to be rather intriguing; she noted that his style of fighting bore characteristics from the Thief and Swordman Classes. Another oddity was the crossbow weapon he uses, noticing how it possesses a large capacity for ammunition in spite of its size and no magic was applied to it. Speaking of magic, she noted how he would form strange shapes with his hands before executing spells which seems to use a type of energy currently unknown to her as she wasn't sensing any mana every time he performs those spells of his.
"Just who is he and where did he originate from? It might give me clues on where to find it and reclaim what is rightfully mine," Aisha thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Naruto was having a conversation with Kurama "What do you think, Kurama? Should I take the boss on or hang back to level up some more before doing so?"
"You've always faced opponents far stronger than you and yet you're able to come out on top, so I say that you should go for it. Anything goes wrong and you have me to back you up," said Kurama.
"Thanks Kurama, glad to see that you got my back," thought Naruto happily.
"I may like taking naps but I dislike boredom,"
After a quick check on his equipment and inventory via the Status Screen, Naruto unsheathed his Tsumetogi and held it at his side "I'm ready to go if you guys are,"
Hiyori nodded as she tightened her gloves "I'm definitely ready!"
Aisha huffed "A genius is always ready, you needn't bother asking,"
"Alright then, let's go," Naruto declared, receiving nods of affirmation from the others.
As they approached the Boss Gate, it opened up by itself revealing a shadowy void within but the group fearlessly went inside before slamming itself shut with a thunderous boom.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto visits a Shooting Range owned by a retired Marine who had met him when he was in the airsoft club in school and was also hired. Naruto had gone to pick up the items which he had requested whilst revealing that he was friends with a well-known Yakuza after helping the boss rescue his kidnapped daughter. Later on, the blonde ninja goes to one of his parttime jobs which is at a popular restaurant before going to a temple where he used to play with the wild foxes there, Kurama would inform Naruto of the divine energy from the temple whilst unknown to them that they were being observed.
Apparently, the gods were the ones responsible for Naruto's reincarnation and his ownership of the inn. Turns out that the gods were displeased with how the gods from other worlds would summon humans to serve as their so-called heroes, so the inn was installed on a ley line to act as deterrent and had Naruto serve as the guardian and pseudo-ambassador since he would be having otherworldly tenants from time to time.
Naruto enters the dungeon once more for training and along the way befriends a cat girl and later a female magician, together they descend further down the dungeon floors to the boss gate which they enter to face the monster inside in order to advance further.
Characters in this chapter and their origins
Yozora – Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san
Hiyori Harusaki – Princess Connect Re:Dive
Aisha Landar – Elsword
Mrs Choi (OC)
Weapons in this chapter and their origins
Tsumetogi (Cyberpunk 2077)
Stinger (Cyberpunk 2077)
Taurus PT92
Explanation: To clarify certain things, yes Naruto will be using firearms in combination with his ninja training but it doesn't mean he'll be cruising through fights as there'll be some impervious to bullets like ghosts and certain dragons for example. I also made Naruto to be a hacker cause in a way it can be viewed as a digital version of Fuinjutsu which he could excel in, so a bit of Watch Dogs has been mixed in. As for the true purpose of the inn, the way I see it; the Shinto gods would be angry at how other gods would be 'shopping' in their world through the use of random summonings and 'Truck-kuns' . About Naruto's leveling, he's capable of facing higher level monsters due to his gear, jutsu and unpredictability to content with them and soon will be catching up, this is also a way of reflecting on him be able to defeat powerful enemies in spite of being ranked Genin in the past. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana
Signing out and staying alive.