I wanna thank the people who stick with this story so far. Seeing some of the reviews almost make me drop it altogether. But at least some people wanna see more.

Also, since I finally finished the "prologue arc" portion of sorts. I think I can finally begin to post shorter chapters.

Mostly as a way not to burn myself out too quickly.

Originally I wanted to cover more, but I think this should be enough.

Chapter 4

Kirche, The Ardent

"This is bad…"

He was running short of weapons.

It was bound to happen eventually - the leg holster barely carried more than four to five kunai at most and was mostly used for emergencies - following his duel with Guiche, he never recovered the weapons he had used against the Valkyries. Given how the battle escalated into a frenzy as a result of his (admittedly) stupid idea of dragging it out far longer than it should have, it wouldn't shock him if, amidst all the chaos, they ended up getting lost or even destroyed.

While Naruto himself didn't have much need for those as far as close combat was concerned (he much preferred an approach - a ninja handbook - he colloquially referred to as 'kicking the enemy's ass' via Shadow Clones), the truth is that having a decent supply of kunai and shuriken at hand was still a useful practice for any shinobi, regardless of rank or skill set.

So, on that sunny morning, as he poured the holster's contents onto the grass, he squatted down, and counted his remaining arsenal (a fool's errand, since he could easily do so on the fingers of his hand), he knew he was in over his head.

There he stood wearing nothing but a black t-shirt, and his green boxer shorts while waiting for his own clothes to dry. At least no one was around to make fun of the pink heart print on the latter. Though one should expect no noble was willing to get on the commoner's bad side, given the display of his physical prowess the other day.

"Hey, it wouldn't kill ya giving us a hand over here, you know?" The clone, currently mopping one of Louise's panties across the washboard, protested.

"Yeah, what he sai- I mean - what I said!" another one, as grumpy as the other was, replied with a sharp nod as he dumped the freshly washed clothes into the laundry basket.

"Hold on a sec, aren't we all technically the same?" A third clone interfered, as he handed the first clone another pair of underwear to wash. "Is it 'we' or 'me'?"

"What does it matter?" the first one snapped, as he stomped on the ground in a hissy fit. "Why am I the only one washing Louise's junk over here?"

The original one pinched the bridge of his nose, quietly grumbling under his breath. "Would you guys shut up? I got bigger things to worry about right now."

A fourth clone shook the wet clothes before hanging them to dry.

"Hey, since you're so worried about your lost weapons, why don't you ask Louise to buy you new ones?"

The second one nodded. "Yeah! Remember her room? She's got butt loads of money just lying around. Bet she could get you more kunai and shuriken than any shinobi that's ever lived!"

"That's assuming there's shuriken or kunai at all around here…" the first clone replied. "Oh, god dammit, the stupid frilly thing won't wash!"

"Have Louise spent money on me?" Naruto snorted, "Hah! It would be easier to convince the Nine-Tails not to flatten Konoha again."

Naturally, Naruto had hopes - however tenuous they might be - that, after the duel, his relationship with Louise would strengthen a little. Enough to have something like a comrade on this earth, anyway.

And it actually got a little better: for one thing, she was already addressing him by his first name instead of just 'familiar' or 'commoner'. Sometimes she'd slip the former or - more rarely - his surname due to how his name was arranged compared to how names were in Halkeginia, but it was a noteworthy improvement. She was also lenient enough to allow him to deploy shadow clones to speed up his errands as a familiar.

But other than that, little had changed. Louise remained a Paper Bomb: unpredictable and highly volatile.

She made it crystal clear to him that he was only going out to do his chores that day, but that was all. Once done, he was to go back to her room and think things over so as not to start any more stupid duels.

"Dammit… that girl…" Naruto grumbled, bringing his hand to his chin as he recalled that morning's scolding.

"What in the world were you thinking?!" She clasped him by the ear rim and tugged with all her might. "You fought a duel I specifically told you not to fight! And then you let yourself get beaten to a bloody pulp, sleep for three days, and make your mistress take care of you! Stupid commoner! Familiar! Dog!"

Naruto staggered dizzily out of Louise's bed and into the stack of hay, she had unceremoniously called 'the chicken's nest', one of his eardrums ringing loudly.

"Don't you think just because you have impressive powers, that means things have changed around!" She snorted loudly. "Think you're special?"

"So much for caring for your familiar, shrimp…" Naruto replied, rubbing his ear. "What's the matter? Sounds to me like you're jealous."

"Me?" She slumped down on her bed, her legs crossed, looming imposingly from where Naruto was lying. "Being jealous of an unruly commoner familiar?" She snorted scornfully. "Hmph! Don't make me laugh!"

"Whatever, I don't see why you're so frustrated!" Naruto replied. "I mean, since you're a noble that means you must have some pretty awesome spells too!"

That alone seemed to make her more upset than usual. She shot to her feet. "Mind your own business, you nosy commoner!"

She stomped her foot on his head and rubbed it hard.

Naruto was left rubbing the huge bump that pushed its way out of his hair.

Radiating fury, Louise made her way to the door.

"You won't be leaving this room outside your chores for the rest of the day!" she chided. "Ponder on what you did!"

"What, but I-"

"Ah, ah!" she thundered, cutting Naruto short. "No ifs or buts!"

"But I didn't do anything-"

He winced at the sound of the door slamming shut.

"Wonder what's gotten into her…" Naruto wondered.

Once his tracksuit, or at least his pants, dried properly, he put them back on.

He ordered his clones to put everything out to dry and went back to Louise's dorm room to rest.

"Where's Naruto? Is he okay?"

Louise turned her attention away from her glass of water, mildly irked by Kirche von Zerbst's voice, but she still didn't let it get to her. Partly because the redhead didn't seem to be approaching with any intentions of picking on her as per usual.

"Yes, he got up the other day," she nodded, her eyes closed, reassuringly. "But I decided that he deserved punishment for ignoring my orders. Besides doing his daily chores, he will not go out for the rest of the day. "

"What?!" Kirche frowned, sounding surprisingly outraged. "Punishment?! Uzumaki Naruto fought like a man! For himself and you!"

Louise's expression grew more troubled. Her lips tightened.

You need to stop underestimating me!

A moment of silence fell, as Louise reflected on her classmate's words.

It was immediately broken by a sound: the raucous voice of a certain person.

"C'mon! Hurry it up! Before she sees us!"

"Ah, shaddap! Why don't you better come help me up with this thing!"

"Hey, guys wait for me!"

Three Narutos were yelling at each other as they ran in a row. The middle one was carrying the laundry basket on top of his head.

"Hey, guys she's over there!"

They stopped, swearing in perfect unison. "SHIT!"

"You said the coast was clear!" The one in the middle berated the first one, horror-stricken.

"I swear it was!"

"Run for it!" the third one yelled.

Then they scrambled away from the scene.

Louise watched them go, with one of her eyebrows twitching with a deadpan expression. At least they were wearing pants and not those ridiculous undergarments, like the last time she'd seen him this morning.

She just sighed. She didn't expect to get used to the whole Shadow Clones business any time soon.

Kirche did the same and also watched the three copies although with a more amused expression. At least they were wearing pants and not boxers.

"See, he's harmless, Vallière!" Kirche said. "You should be more considerate to him."

Louise clicked her tongue.

"Mind your own business."

The redhead snorted. "Hmph! I'll go check on him later!"

The redhead and her friend left almost immediately, leaving Louise outraged.

"Damn that flirt…" she mumbled. "Ugh, acting like she knows him better than me…"

"Roses?"

Guiche had appeared and laid down a bouquet of red roses, sneaking behind her table and peering at her like a mole. That, she thought, explains his familiar spirit.

She held them up tentatively, taking in their aromatic scent: a lovely fruity smell. "They're beautiful, but what are they for?"

"Can you deliver them for me?" Guiche asked in a low voice.

She raised an eyebrow, looking at him accusingly.

"Didn't you learn from the other day?"

"N-No, it's not for a girl… it's…"

"Looks like someone's become a big fan of your familiar, Vallière," Montmorency pointed out, as she walked up to both of them.

"Y-You don't have to say it like that, Montmorency!" Guiche whined, embarrassed.

"A noble who wants to be friends with a commoner. Neither have any friends now, anyway. Great idea, don't you think?"

"M-Montmorency!"

Louise reflectively looked at the bouquet again. 'That's right… Naruto probably had friends who cared about him… I should take good care of him, at least a little… although, ever since he showed up his skills …' her fingers clasped her skirt, tightly, 'Why does it bother me so much, I asked for the strongest familiar there was and I got that, and yet …'

Icy river water fills his lungs and numbs his body almost completely.

The rushing currents pull up his motionless body to the surface. Drifting lethargically across the body of water, Uzumaki Naruto looks on in dismay. A murky, uniform shroud of clouds forms itself at the top of the walls of the Final Valley forecasting the looming storm with dull rumbles in the distance.

Naruto turns his head hesitantly, the foreboding stillness shattered by the waterfall crashing behind the figure kneeling on the sidelines, standing a few feet away from the froth of the water. The grimmest realization dawns upon him at the sight of his best friend's face once his vision clears completely: there isn't a shadow of remorse on Uchiha Sasuke's face at all. It isn't even the face of a cold-blooded murderer who had surrendered to his due role. His face had contorted into an outraged sneer, his lips pursed and eyes alight.

Awkwardly, his limbs still prickling from the bitter cold of the river's depths, Naruto lurches to his feet atop the lolling body of water. Even though most of the liquid had drained from his face, his eyes were stinging regardless.

His diaphragm jerked up and down in sharp, painful spasms. Soon enough, he understands the reason why: he is sobbing forlornly.

'You really mean it,' Naruto thought. 'You're really trying to kill me, Sasuke…'

As if he can actually hear his thoughts, a malicious smirk creeps across Sasuke's lips - the curse of the Mark on his neck spreads through his body with a flame-like glow, infusing through his body with power to crush everything in his path.

"Did you know, Naruto…" Sasuke begins "When two shinobi are of high enough level, they can read each other's hearts - their thoughts - through no more than trading blows. They don't even need to say a thing."

Naruto bows his head, devastated. "Ah, Naruto… naive as always. So tell me…"

Sasuke promptly straightens up, his arms swaying upward. "Do you know my thoughts?" Suddenly, Sasuke changes: he becomes the one he later faced off on the Samurai Bridge. "Can you tell me what's on my mind?!"

His hands come together in a familiar seal: ring and pinky fingers entwined, while the middle and index fingers press together - the seal of the tiger.

"Fire Style!" he thunders. "Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Ah!"

Naruto didn't sit up as his eyes snapped open, even though he choked back a scream. He struggled to catch his breath as his forehead glistened with cold sweat. He wasn't in the Final Valley but in Louise's bedroom, his back flat against his floorboard while his head propped against the pile of hay.

The nightmare (it was a nightmare - one so vivid and harrowing that it felt like being dragged back to that grim moment) apparently made him move a lot from his usual posture with his elbows and knees bent, while he pressed his shoulder against the hard surface. As he lay down, he pressed his back against the wall and tried to drift off into the world of sleep. The nightmare had obviously been so dreadful that Naruto had been tossing and turning as he had done in the Final Valley all those years back.

He pulled himself upright, as he pressed a hand to his forehead, in an attempt to steady his breath. He was beginning to figure out why he undertook all the chores Louise gave him. "Dammit…"

The alarming news of Sasuke's criminal status, in addition to the sheer way everyone had deemed him a hopeless cause, and how they expected him to do what needed to be done: putting him out of his misery for the sake of the village, was too much of a burden on his shoulders in itself. Being thrust into a world separate from his own and ending up as Louise's servant, while he had no inkling of what was going on with his friends back home and being powerless to return as far as he was aware, only added to his turmoil.

Rubbing his face and wiping the remaining beads of sweat trickling down his face, Naruto stood up. 'Need to clear head a little bit.'

As he peered into the bedroom window, he noticed that the sun had long since set. Outside the sky was a soothing veil of violet velvet. Trees in the distance, looking like charcoal figures, rustled lightly in a faint evening breeze. Brief as the nightmare had been, outdoors it seemed to have been a long time. It was still sunny outside when he dozed off. Just how long did he sleep, anyway?

He made a shadow clone to take his place. Right now, he didn't need Louise nagging him for defying her orders for the umpteenth time.

Naruto opened the door and set out to walk. That was how he would ease his nerves whenever he had nothing else to do. When he was younger, he did so in the most unconventional ways, often involving fleeing with buckets of paint, all the while pissed off chûnin at his antics followed hot on his heels.

This time, though, he had no reason to hot-foot it, without a particular noblewoman giving chase. That way he could better rivet his eyes on the academy's framework.

Smooth, orange adobe lined the walls, with ornate, expensive-looking chandeliers illuminating the corridors. While the floors, like all the others he had seen so far, consisted of natural, irregular slabs. Everything in that place had the smell of an antique library: amber intermingled with vanilla.

Suddenly, Naruto clutched his stomach. He felt his belly gurgling. 'Man, I'm famished,' he thought, grimacing. 'Those bread slices and soup aren't going to keep me going for long. I need some real food.'

He whimpered longingly, thinking back to that roast chicken leg Louise had treated him to. It was some of the most exquisite stuff he'd ever tasted in that damn place.

"Things I'd give for some food," he mused aloud.

"Naruto-san?"

He whirled around to find Siesta gazing quizzically at him.

Once again, Naruto thanked his absurd luck as he popped another grilled rib into his mouth and devoured it unabashedly. He glanced down at his plate impatiently: there were still plenty more ribs coated in barbecue sauce, along with several grilled chicken legs and mashed potatoes with dressing. It wasn't as if the cooks minded much, they even seemed complimentary about the way he enjoyed the food.

It wasn't miso ramen with tonkotsu from Ichiraku, but when the food was finger-lickin' delicious, who was he to complain?

Bless Siesta. She was the one who brought him into the kitchen and, at a table that apparently they had prepared for him, they presented him with this helluva banquet fit for a king.

This was what Louise and the others ate on a daily basis? He couldn't help but feel a little jealous; other than Ichiraku and the premium instant noodles he kept buying with his savings to save for a special occasion, nothing else in Konoha would taste this amazing.

At least the cooks didn't seem aggrieved when Naruto said he would skip the veggies. Seeing as neither Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei nor Captain Yamato were there to pressure him into eating them, he openly told them that he disliked those green things.

Marteau, the head chef, a stocky man in his forties with bushy eyebrows and a scruffy chin curtain, stood smiling with his arms folded.

"Sorry for the leftovers. But you're free to eat as much as you want, Our Fist," he said.

Naruto blinked, looking at him puzzled. They had given him nicknames before. These ranged from boyish things like Sasuke addressing him as 'Loser', Kakashi's 'Number One Knucklehead Ninja' to more significant things like 'Child of Prophecy' or 'The Nine-Tails'; but this was a new one.

"'Our Fist'?" he repeated, one of his eyebrows raised.

"That's right! You're a commoner like us, but you showed that snobby boy a lesson the other day! You're the pride of the commoners, Our Fists!" he finished with a fist-pumping pose.

"Well… I just did the same thing I always do in fights," Naruto said with a shrug. "Can't really divulge a lot about my jutsu. Many of them are secrets from Konoha. Shinobi principles," he elaborated nonchalantly.

"Did ya hear that? A true master is like this, never boasting!" Marteau chuckled. "This is where he's different from all those stupid nobles! I expected nothing less"

"I expected nothing else!" The other cooks chimed in at the same time.

Naruto smiled sheepishly, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Konoha?" Siesta said, curiously.

"Mm-hmm!" Naruto nodded, smiling broadly with nostalgia. "It's the village I'm from! The Hidden Leaf Village - Konohagakure!"

Siesta, sat down next to him. "You're from a village too, huh? I'm from Tarbes. It's a small village in the forest."

"Ehh!" Naruto exclaimed. "That's curious! Konoha's also surrounded by lots of forest, you know! I guess that's where it's got its name from!"

"Sounds like an interesting place," Siesta commented, propping her head on her hands as she heard Naruto talk. "Where is it?"

"The Land of Fire."

Siesta blinked, "Never heard from that country before."

Naruto chuckled, awkwardly, "It's a long story. But the summary: it's very, very far from here," he looked on longingly, reminiscing of the good ol' days back at home with Team Seven when things were a lot simpler, "It's a nice place, especially during the spring."

His smile fell somewhat, "There was this one time when Sasuke, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei and I went on a picnic."

"Naruto-san… you miss your home?" Siesta asked, somewhat concerned.

His gaze fell steadily to the floor in thoughtful silence for a moment. Of course he was homesick. Just the thought of the turmoil his disappearance might have caused around his teammates, most of all the remaining members of Team Seven, haunted him the more he thought about it. And from there, the train of thought drifted accordingly to Sasuke again and what might happen if he wasn't able to step in.

And the runes glowed again unbeknownst to anyone. Any sense of longing left Naruto on the spot.

"A bit…" Then the runes glowed again unbeknownst to anyone. Any sense of longing left Naruto on the spot. Blinking in bewilderment, he shook his head. "Oh, well! Soon I should get to go home, I just have to find the way, I ain't giving up."

Siesta gave an admiring smile. "You're a very resolute and optimistic person, Naruto-san."

Naruto laughed exuberantly while rubbing his index finger against the bottom of his nose. "Hehe! Yeah, that's my ninja way!"

The two continued to laugh for a while as he continued to tell her anecdotes from Team Seven, the most pleasant ones he could remember. Though Naruto never noticed how Siesta's smile wavered slightly.

'You are such a nice person, Naruto-san… if only I could stay longer to talk to you. '

After finishing his dinner, his stomach full and morale lifted, Naruto headed back to Louise's bedroom. He would slip back in when she wasn't looking, assume his clone's place, and pretend nothing had happened. In the meantime, he would let the latter vanish in an explosion along the corridors so that no one would notice.

Having folks to support him around this place had been more soothing than he bargained for. Siesta most of all for sincerely wanting to learn more about him. Little wonder the kindest people in these parts were 'commoners' like him.

"She's such a nice person!" Naruto remarked out loud.

But as he opened his eyes, he jerked to a dead stop, pulling a poker face.

"Oh, hey, it's Kirche's big fire lizard," he uttered with a casually nonchalant look, a sentence he never expected to say in his life.

The thing slithered toward him with hasty steps, flicking its tongue lolling to and fro, as it croaked.

"Nope," Naruto said flatly, on his way to turn around, setting out to run for his life. "Nope! Nope!"

The salamander slammed him down on his back with its full weight as if he were a speeding cannonball. Then it scooped him up by the back of his jacket with its mouth and proceeded to drag him off in an unknown direction.

"Sure, why not?" Naruto pouted, his arms folded in his chest.

After several minutes of aimlessly wandering the corridors - he could swear the thing was just doing it purely for the piss of it - it finally moved into a chamber in pitch-black darkness. The salamander unceremoniously dropped him, or more likely, tossed him against the hardwood floor, making him bump on his own butt.

Rubbing his sore rear, Naruto rested on one knee, shooting the salamander an incensed glare. "Why you little-"

The gathering darkness was tenuously punctuated by the two moons' ethereal brightness on the evening horizon as well as several candles placed around the room, with most of them being laid over the luxurious furniture. Naruto scanned his surroundings at length, as he readied himself for anything that could come his way. A good shinobi has to always look beyond the normal, after all.

The suite looked lavish, much like Louise's bedroom. He spotted a king-sized bed to his left, with an ornate bedspread and scarlet veil wrapping around it, and a chest of drawers to his right, both of which appeared to be worth a man's fortune.

"Oh, neat, where the hell am I now?" Naruto asked himself.

"Welcome…"

A figure stepped out of the shadows.

Naruto stiffened for a few moments, before freezing in place, and gaping like a fish.

"K-Kirche?!"

Indeed, it was Kirche, and she was wearing a purple nightgown that was far too revealing than it had any right to be. A slit ran down below her bust to her waist. She was at least wearing underwear or else Naruto would have suffered a projectile nosebleed that would've put both Ebisu-sensei and Iruka-sensei to shame.

She stood there, looming over him with her arms folded under her bust, emphasizing them and, conveniently, blocking out the moonlight and backlighting her somewhat spiky, long scarlet hair.

She gave a smile, slightly tilting her head to one side.

"Welcome to my suite, Uzumakina Ruto," she said, "Oh, or was it Uzuma Kinaruto?"

His face burning, Naruto looked away. "I-I told you already. Just call me Naruto, alright?"

"Understood, Naruto…" she shifted her stance, resting a hand behind her head. "I know that it's something that shouldn't be, but my runic name is 'The Ardent'. That means I tend to burn like a torch."

"Uh-huh," Naruto said, forcing out a smile.

"You still don't get it?" she asked, striking different spicy poses, "I'm in love with you!"

Naruto blinked. "Come again?"

She cupped both hands to her cheeks.

"Love always comes so suddenly!"

"Maybe a bit too sudden," Naruto retorted.

The girl went on all fours, standing on top of his legs. Naruto winced.

"You looked so handsome and strong when you defeated Guiche! All those wounds made you look just like a brave knight!" Kirche purred. "Seeing such a display of courage from a mere commoner, Kirche the Ardent became Kirche the Passion."

She held his hand and lifted it.

"A-Ah, c'mon it wasn't that big of a deal!" Naruto hand-waved.

"You're such a humble man!"

The redhead pressed her lips together, moving in to steal a kiss from him. His hand runes flared again, and Naruto instinctively jerked his head back.

"Kirche!"

Both peered at the window, where the voice came from.

It was a guy, at least a year older than Naruto, with a rugged appearance and sideburns.

Also, he was flying. In literal terms. It was the only explanation Naruto could come up with for him being able to be standing at the window at that height.

He decided to just roll with it and not ask any further questions.

"Oh! Styx!" Kirche said nonchalantly.

"I came by because you didn't show up at our promised time," the guy sounded quite angry at her.

"Promised time?" Naruto blinked, perplexed.

"Then change the appointment to two hours from now, I'm quite busy right now."

The guy, Styx, looked riled up by that, "That's not the deal we ha-"

Kirche waved her wand and a literal snake of fire shot from her wand. It pounced right into Styx's face and threw him out of the window as he choked a scream.

Naruto just stared, looking completely bewildered. Disregarding the weird Fire Style technique - he'd seen fire taking shapes like dragons or even small fire beads of the size of shuriken, but the snake was a new one.

"Sooo…" Naruto eyed Kirche.

"Just a friend!" she replied.

"Uh-huh," he retorted with narrowed eyes.

"B-but right now you are the one I love the most is-"

"Kirche!"

Again, both peered at the window.

There was another guy, this time with neck-length blonde hair.

He was also floating.

Naruto decided to keep his mouth shut.

"Who is that man?!" he snapped. "Tonight, I wanted you to burn up with me-"

She did the same movements with her wand from a moment ago and the poor sap fell from the window in pretty much the exact same fashion.

"Well, that's two," Naruto said flatly. "Another friend?"

Kirche nodded, nervously. "Y-Yeah! Another friend!"

She chuckled. And there was a moment of awkward silence.

"Anyway, kiss?" she scrambled for words.

"Kirche!"

The two looked. Again.

This time there was a baffling total of three people wrestling with each other as they tried to peer into the room.

"What are you doing?!" they shouted at the same time. "You said you didn't have a boyfriend!"

"Manica… Ajax… Gimly!" she trailed off at the unimpressed look Naruto gave her. "Well, then in six hours!"

"THAT'S MORNING ALREADY!"

She shrank back.

"Flame!" she turned towards the salamander.

On command, it leaned closer toward the three uninvited guests and opened its mouth. Like Sasuke's Dragon Flame Jutsu, it opened his mouth and a massive stream of fire blasted the three folks out of the window and into the courtyard.

"That takes care of that!" Kirche said satisfied.

Naruto blinked, somewhat terrified. He looked at her, then back at the window, then back at her again.

"T-They're still alive, are they?"

"Eh, they'll live," Kirche shrugged. "Probably."

It just occurred to him, they were still holding hands in that compromising position. After a few moments, they spent looking at each other, Kirche somehow pinned him to the ground, holding him by the hands. Clearly, without any particular moral intentions behind it.

"I love you, Naruto," she looked at him with longing.

"Erm, yeah, sure," Naruto said with a strained grin, "I just remembered I have something else to do, and I don't want Louise to kill me. Believe it!"

'This is bad, I don't know how long I'll be able to maintain the Shadow Clone Jutsu from here.'

"Ah, don't worry too much about that!" she purred. "As you can see, I'm much more than Louise the Zero."

She shifted a bit, while her sizeable assets also moved as well. Kirche smiled with the same kind of pride Granny Tsunade would do at times.

'Well… she certainly isn't a zero in that regard,' Naruto thought as he looked at them in understanding, swallowing sharply.

And then, she kissed him.

It was strange. Though Kirche was undeniably attractive, he didn't feel the same kind of spark as when Louise kissed him, even though both had been mostly against his will.

And then a rush of memories hit him. In them, she saw Louise's eyes widening, as outrage and panic built up on her face before a cloud of smoke appeared.

Suddenly he realized, "M-My Shadow Clone!" Naruto shouted, startling Kirche as she straightened up in confusion.

Some footsteps approached remarkably fast, and the door flung open.

"It disappeared," Louise de La Vallière instinctively finished her voice low and growly. "Like a frightened and pathetic dog."

"Oh! Hey, Vallière."

"Louise!" Naruto exclaimed, his face turning blue at a record time. Soon enough he stood up, tucking both his hands in his pants' pockets as if trying to look innocent. It failed spectacularly at convincing the tiny mage.

"Hey, Zerbst," it was amazing how much hostility was seeping from Louise's voice, "Whose familiar are you trying to seduce?"

Kirche shrugged, smugly. "It can't be helped! Love and fire are the destinies of the von Zerbst family! I only wish to burn in flames of love."

Louise glared at Naruto, piercing right into his soul.

"You," she said in a whisper, the word carrying enough poison to finish off at least an army of well-trained ninjas, "Come here."

Naruto's shoulders slumped.

Just as he started to walk towards her, Kirche grabbed him by the hand. "Wait!" she exclaimed. "He may be your familiar, but he's a proper human too!"

"It's just her usual trick!" Louise said, her hands on her hips, "Like a succubus enticing a gullible fool into her cubbyhole."

"How could you possibly suggest such a thing, Vallière!" Kirche exclaimed, sounding outraged. "Can't you see how heartfelt my love for Uzumakina Ruto is?!"

"It's Uzumaki Naruto," the latter chimed in.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Kirche corrected herself.

Louise folded her arms, frowning.

"Really, now?" she asked.

"Yes!"

"So," she raised her hand to her chin inquisitively. "Tell me something about him, will you? I want to hear it."

"Well…" Kirche trailed off. "How strong he is and the brave way in which he took on Guiche, proving he's more than a commoner!"

"What about what he likes?"

Kirche didn't know how to respond to the question.

Louise snorted. "Thought so, let's go."

She grabbed Naruto by his hand and both headed for the door.

"Wait up!" Kirche exclaimed. "Don't get so sanctimonious, Vallière! The same could be said of you, just what the blazes do you know about your own familiar? Have you ever asked him such things?"

It was Louise's turn to fall silent. The shadow of her bangs obscured her eyes.

She stood quiet and still for a moment. "Let's go," she directed a spiteful glare at Kirche. "Naruto."

As the two left in silence, Kirche knelt alone in her room.

"I haven't given up yet," she snorted.

Louise learned from her mistakes, at least more often than not. This mistake she had learned very well, so she locked the door and made sure the windows remained sealed tightly shut. Given that Naruto had proven on more than one occasion to be as scurrying as a terrified dog, she had to estimate and think like a dimwitted and volatile commoner herself.

This way she would guarantee that there would be no possible escape routes available.

Once she was done with the last lock, she stepped around to confront her familiar. Throughout the whole walk, Naruto never got a good look at her eyes because they were covered by her hairlocks, but when he finally could, he felt a dread on par with the kind he used to feel when Iruka-sensei would snap at him in the academy.

Which is to say a lot.

Louise simply blew her top.

"YOU'RE JUST LIKE A DOG IN HEAT, ARE YOU?!" She roared, Naruto could swear her long, curly hair spiked and swayed like the tails of the Demon Fox held prisoner inside him.

Instinctively, Naruto shrank back. "Wait!" he shouted. "I can explain!"

But Louise walked right past him, heading for her dresser with agitated footsteps.

"What the hell is that?"

"This?" She held up something that Naruto was fairly certain was definitely not a wand. It appeared to be made of leather and glowed ominously in the light of her desk. "It's just a crop that I use for horseback riding."

She punctuated her words with a tap against her open palm. It made a cracking sound that caused Naruto to shudder only slightly. "In other words, a whip."

"You said you were a shinobi or whatever, right? That means you can take this and more," she began in a whisper, her voice shaking with rage. "I treated you like a fellow human being; clearly that was a wrong move on my behalf."

Naruto pointed an accusing finger at her. "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

She was suddenly trembling. Clearly, her attempt to maintain her composure had finally reached its breaking point. "Of all the girls, you wag your stupid tail towards that wench Zerbst…"

She raised her hand holding the whip, shrieking at the top of her lungs. "DOOOOOOOG!"

The tip left a sharp, dark scuff mark on the floor. Chunks of wood came flying off by the whip-cracking force.

"Hey! Hey! Just hear me out, relax!" Naruto raised his arms as if attempting to calm a rampaging tiger.

"I-I was too kind, apparently!" she said, stepping towards him. "Like my older sister once said: they act like dogs, treat them like dogs."

"No offense, but I don't think your sister is very level-headed, eh?" Naruto stepped back until he was standing in the doorway.

"A bit," Louise nodded.

"So, we can just talk about this like reasonable people we are, right?" Naruto lifted his shoulders in hope.

Louise hummed thoughtfully for a second.

"We could…" she nodded, "But where's the fun in that?" She finished with an unhinged grin.

"Fair enough," Naruto said in a faint voice.

As the first lash swung diagonally, directed at his head, Naruto sidestepped it.

One of Louise's eyes twitched.

The two circled each other slowly. Louise continued to tap the tip of the whip on her palm as she waited for another opening to strike. Her face scrunched up in a pout.

Then came another whiplash, sideways now, where she thought Naruto's blind spot was. Such a failure it was. Naruto simply moved back so that it would hook against the door rather than his face.

"Stop moving," she said, growing increasingly frustrated.

"You're literally trying to whip me in the face," Naruto retorted.

"Well, I call it 'disciplining an unruly familiar'."

"Can we just talk about this?"

The whiplash coming vertically seeking to crack him on the chin said otherwise.

"Guess not."

"What's so good about that wench anyways?!" she screeched.

Suddenly, Naruto blurred from her view, and before she could so much as flinch, his hands shot out towards her upraised arms, rendering her completely powerless to continue her assault.

"When did you-"

"Will you calm down and listen to me?!" he snapped.

"Let me go, you idiot!"

"Don't tell me…"

Louise's frown deepened.

"Were you jealous that Kirche was twiddling with me instead of you?"

And Louise's knee shot straight into his groin.

Whimpering like a deflated balloon, Naruto clutched his privates and slumped to the ground straight on his face. "Low… blow…" he moaned. "Not fair…"

Then she stomped on his head with her foot.

"Me? Her? What was that?" she growled in outrage.

"Bad observation. Point noted," he rasped.

"To suggest that the daughter of the house Vallière would ever be interested in someone like that woman is an offense that should be punishable by death!" she grumbled.

"Mind to elaborate?"

"Kirche's family, the Zerbst, and my family, the Vallière have long been archrivals!" she raised a clenched fist, dramatically. "It is a disgrace to my family if one thread, one dog, gets taken by a Zerbst woman!"

She pressed down her foot to stomp on Naruto's head further as she finished. "Got that?!"

Before she could relish her victory, Naruto's body suddenly dissolved in a cloud of smoke, leaving a huge log behind. It rolled a little, nearly causing Louise to lose her balance, but she managed to catch her footing before falling down to the floor.

"Yeah, I get it," She looked up, feeling mortified, and spotted Naruto sitting on the chicken's nest as if nothing had happened. "So, you two are rivals, huh?" He finished with a mischievous smile.

She looked at Naruto, then at the stupid log still rolling, then at Naruto again.

"Substitution Jutsu," Naruto explained. "Very basic, but very handy."

Upset, she kicked the stupid piece of wood. Then she started jumping up and down while clutching her hurting foot.

Naruto laughed in amusement at that.

"I'll remember this, dog!" she said.

Naruto had won again.

When the pain finally subsided, Louise sighed in defeat. "Someday you have to tell me how you do all this."

"Oh, right, Louise," Naruto said.

Angrily, Louise glared at him. "What you want?"

Naruto emptied his weapon pouch before her. A single kunai fell.

"I need some weapons."

Naruto didn't have high hopes that he could sway her, especially after the misunderstanding that had ensued, but, he could at least try.

"Why would you even need that? When you fought Guiche you showed a lot of physical skill without the need for any weapons," Louise said.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto said, folding his arms. "But having some kunai and shuriken at hand would still be very convenient even for a ninja of my level, you know?" Then he glanced at his hand where the engraved runes were. "Besides, something weird happened when I used my remaining weapons in that fight."

"Something weird?"

"Yeah, it's like I became an ace at wielding weapons for a second," Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I never was that accurate with my aim. Nobody can be that sharp in such a short span of time and strike their target dead on. I swear, it's these marks!"

Louise looked at Naruto's runes for a moment.

"Do you have any idea what it says there?"

She shook her head. "It's a language far more archaic than ours."

"Well, that's just great," Naruto cursed.

"Some familiars can yield special powers once contracted: a black cat familiar could easily learn to speak."

Naruto grinned sarcastically. "Well, I'm not a cat," though he immediately grew stern again. "But still, a shinobi ain't a shinobi without a kunai and shuriken."

"Guess you're right," Louise said. "I was planning on showing you around town anyway. Guess we might as well make the most of it. Also, tomorrow, the day of the week is Void-day."

"What does that mean?"

Immediately, Louise put on her classic tsundere act. "Anyway, hurry up and go to sleep!" she barked. "We're getting up early tomorrow, so you better not oversleep or something!"

Naruto snorted.

"Look who's talkin'"

Naruto paused for a moment, flashing a teasing smile.

"What now?" Louise asked as she prepared to go to sleep.

"Little Louise-chan is jealous after all?" he chirped.

Right away, Louise jumped up and sat on her bed, hissing as her hand clasped the whip.

"Youuuu…" she growled. "CHEEKY DOOOOOOOOOOOG!"

"I'M JOKING! I'M JOKING! DON'T YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR?"

"DUMMY! DUMMYYYYYYYY!"

"YOWCH! NOT IN THE FACE!"

Naruto spent the next two hours dodging Louise's lashes.

CHAPTER 4 END.