Hello, its... been a while, so to say. I haven't quite posted in a couple months, although that's not to say I haven't been busy. And I've tried my hardest to type out quite a few stories in my absence as a backlog, and I have a few things I've worked on that you might see in the future. I've also been catching up on a few new series, like JJBA and finishing Bleach up, which could be useful.

It doesn't help that FFN's website hasn't quite been the best of places when it comes to the quality of the website, but waiting for them to fix it is like waiting for paint to dry, only a lot more excruciatingly painful.

But the reason I'm posting now of all times is because today marks the end of summer and more importantly another day for which a new semester at the college I go to starts. Which, coupled with work at a park time job doesn't leave much room for hobbies like video games or writing. However, even still I intend to keep up with uploads semi-frequently, maybe I'll even keep up a streak where I won't go an entire month without a post.

This is all to say I'm not dead and will still be trying to upload new stories, updates, one-shots and the like.

So you all can look forward to that in the future, I also have another chapter of Mockingbird that I want to bring out, and few other stories that are almost done and in developement.

Thank you,

-RWV3N

AN: Please leave me lots and lots of Nice reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Highschool DxD, or any other anime I use in this story. They belong to their respective owners.

8/19/24

Rias Gremory

"Well, it's official, congratulations," an older woman with dark hair and eyes spoke, this was Lady Sitri, the mother of a good friend of hers, and an excellent medical practitioner in her own right. Now, at first, she did want to see the woman, but, as her sickness persisted– which mostly consisted of morning visits to the toilet to vomit out her dinner. She had talked to Sona about it, and her long-time friend had recommended if her ailment remained she should see her mother about it. And she did, the results surprising her.

"I suggest you think about what you want to do with this information," the woman said, leaving the room to retrieve some pamphlets and books on the aforementioned topic.

Rias didn't even look at her as she left, too immersed her thoughts and surprised to notice anything else. Honestly, when she had told the woman of her symptoms, and when she had responded with her hypothesis she had thought nothing of it. Her, being pregnant, surely it couldn't have been? But after she did a little test– a simple diagnostic spell– she had been utterly shocked by the results.

She was pregnant… at the young age of thirty, she was pregnant. As a devil, that news was almost laughable, especially considering her species's low fertility rate. Which usually meant that devils had to do hundreds of sessions to conceive a single child. But her? She had barely done it tens of times; it seemed she had defied those odds. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise her if she were one of the youngest devils to have given birth naturally.

That thought didn't bring her any joy, and she was too stunned to think about it any longer. No, her thoughts were more on one particular subject, one that had been on her mind ever since she had turned nineteen a little over ten years ago.

That thought was her 'husband', Riser Phenex.

As reluctant as she was to have been forced to marry him for the sake of her species. That feeling hadn't changed, it had only grown more immense. Even as she was forced to do her duty as his 'wife' she hated every second of it… and it seemed those sessions resulted in a child. Something she hadn't thought of conceiving in her wildest dreams. But then again, that had been what was in the contract, to conceive a single child born of both Phenex and Gremory blood, that was it. Of course, it might've been better to have a second heir, it even encouraged it, but it wasn't outright stated, and there was no cause for her to do so.

But… that brought upon a newer, much darker thought, the contract only said to 'conceive' a child and said nothing about her actually giving birth to them. Such a thought was utterly inconceivable, even for that of a devil, to kill one's own child, no one would have ever thought of such an action, and there had been nothing written against doing so. Gone would be the painful reminder of her union with the third child of Phenex.

Yes, and at that point her attempts at childmaking would have to go away since there was no reason to do so besides the contract. And although she still would be married to the guy, in devilhood that was nothing more than a binding of paper. You see, devils could have multiple partners and even harems should they choose so— she knew her husband did. That meant she could engage in relations with anyone she could choose.

It would be like this entire marriage ordeal had been one big bad dream. There were all sorts of medical devices around here… but could she really do it? Could she really kill her child for the sake of her own life?

Rias shook her head, no, she wouldn't do that. She couldn't abort her own child, no matter if it was 'his' child as well. She couldn't!

Bringing a hand up to her womb, imagining the child that lay within her stomach. She idly wondered what motherhood would be like. Would she be like her own mother? No… she didn't want to be a woman like Venelana Gremory. Although don't get her wrong, she loved both her parents and had grown up in a household of love befitting of the Gremory family— who were always known for their affection, even among their servants. But in some ways, their relationship had been strained ever since she had been forced to marry her 'husband'. Especially with the number of times she had begged the woman to convince her father to do otherwise, she never caved, which is why they were left in the situation they were in, barely speaking to each other and only doing it when she needed to.

She didn't want that, she wanted a loving situation where her child could go to her for anything. She would drown him in love and affection that she had not had in a long time, and most importantly, she would let him choose who he ended up with. No marriage contracts, no scandals, nothing.

But first, she had to go tell the father…

XXX

Phenex Mansion.

Arriving at the Phenex mansion was always a dry moment, one that always left a bitter taste in her mouth. Oh, how she loathed coming here, always being forced to do so in her youth to try and 'get to know her husband,' according to her father's words that was something she needed to do. She didn't need to get to know her husband at all, as from the very moment she had first laid eyes upon him she had known his character.

Riser Phenex, too many, was a decently powerful yet arrogant man who had risen up in prestige throughout a number of rating games he and his peerage won. The man was no doubt powerful, at least in comparison to most devils his age, and with the phenex heredity to boot, he would no doubt become even more so. The main strategy he had used was using his peerage as canon fodder to take out his opponent's weaker members. While he relied solely upon his Phenexs regeneration to take out his opponent's [King].

This strategy worked, at least most of the time. The man had only lost two matches within his career, both being favors for other High-class devils. He never challenged anyone he couldn't beat, and he never lost against anyone he couldn't heal from.

No doubt, Riser Phenex was a coward of a man. He was also the man she had been wed to.

Walking toward the section of the estate her husband had been allotted, she gave a small greeting to that of her mother-in-law. Layla Phenex, a beautiful yet shrewd woman who last she'd heard had just given birth to a young child of her own a few years prior. Rias had only been here once before…

Her wedding night.

A vile and cruel time that had resulted in one of the worst nights of her life. Unlike most devils, she hadn't enjoyed sex, not one bit, and the only time she had done it she had just lied along the bed like a dead fish. She doubted Rizer enjoyed it either, she didn't react, she didn't moan, she didn't do anything. It was like the Phenex was having intercourse with a corpse, it was truly the only revenge she could take on the man.

She felt powerless, she felt like she had been trapped in a cage, never to be let out, never to know the freedom of the sky. She had been pushed into a fate of her parent's own making, never to be allowed to choose for herself who she would marry, and who she would spend her life with.

But now she didn't care.

She could choose, she could defy her fate, or, at the very least… help her child defy their own.

As she walked through the halls of the phoenix manor this was the only thing upon her mind, she would defy fate, she would…

"Ahhhh~" The sound of a cry echoed around her, something that wasn't entirely unexpected. From the last she'd heard—not that she'd paid attention— Riser had just participated in his fifth rating game. He'd lost this one, a last minute surrender, she was sure he had made a show of it, and his peerage fought to the bitter end. But it had been all for naught, everyone within the underworld knew it, Riser had on more than one occasion thrown a match just to curry favors with other prestigious High-class devils. It was akin to the human version of professional wrestling, they had made a show of it, given the crowd a scare to question who would win, when the outcome had already been decided.

She was sure that Riser and his peerage would be having their little 'victory' afterparty— why else would this entire wing be empty of all workers.

Reaching the door to Riser's bedroom—the place she had been taken to 'that' night— she saw the familiar extravagant red door. Reaching her hand up to the golden door knob, she opened it, the sight that was before her was expected. From the moment she entered the dormant smell of sex and pleasure entered her nostrils, as well as seeing the limp and near-exhausted bodies of many of Riser's peerage members.

There was a set of twins, a pair of nekomata, a group of maids, a beautiful Chinese maiden, and so much more. Her 'husband' had always been all too fond of collecting all sorts of different 'types' of women for his peerage and personal harem, she'd never been all too big of a fan of that line of thinking. Many devils, especially the ones that were slaves to their more devilish desires, would use the rating game and peerage systems to build up their prestige and concubine list for themselves. In all honesty, she didn't see the appeal in that line of thinking and thought it was utterly foolish. Although that may be her Gremory blood talking— her clan was always known to be the most compassionate of devilkind.

Nevertheless, she didn't come here to talk about the ethics of the peerage system, especially with Riser Phenex of all people.

As she trekked further and further into the room the smell of bodily pleasure became almost overwhelming to her senses, not to mention, the screams of pleasure blotting her ears. "Ahhhh~ Ahhhh~ AHHH~ Riser-sama!"

Within Riser's bed she could see two figures, the first, was obviously Riser himself. With his wildly untamed long blonde hair, his blue eyes, and tanned skin— and who could forget the utterly detestable look across his face?

The second was sitting atop him as her long wavy purple hair fell down her back, matching her eyes, as it framed her beautiful heart-shaped face. To many she was seen as a prize, being the infamous [Bomb Queen] within rating games, she was also the "Main girl" within Riser's harem, Yubelluna if she recalled— not that she cared about the inner politics of whatever when on within this room. Neither seemed to be wearing any clothing, and it didn't take a genius to know what exactly had just happened. Thankfully, there was a blanket covering their waists so she didn't see anything that she didn't want to, that was always a plus.

Both Riser and Yubelluna panted from their resulting climaxes, as the purple-haired woman only seemed to nestle into his chest in comfort. Rias stepped up to their bedside, right in their field of view, not that they were looking at her, both were too enraptured by their previous activity to pay attention to their surroundings.

"Ahem," She coughed into her palm to gain their attention. It didn't work, "Ahem…" she coughed again, nothing. "Ahem!" she coughed a final time, much louder than before, frustrated. Before she settled her face to a more neutral expression, hoping that nobody noticed how un-lady-like she had been.

All eyes seemed to nestle onto her— at least the ones from those who were not in their catatonic states. Riser noticed her for the first time that evening, as an utterly infuriating smirk began to plaster across his face. "Ahh~ Rias, my darling, I take it you enjoyed the show." Yubelluna at his side frowned, not liking that this new girl was taking all of Riser's attention.

Rias looked at him, "No, Riser I did not, the entertainment was utterly unprofound and disappointing, just like my wedding night with you ," She told him emotionlessly.

Riser grew an angered look across his face, scoffing. Before he once again smirked, a new thought fluctuating within his mind. "You know Rias, that's not how a wife should talk to her husband. And its been a while since our wedding night, I think we are due for another session, it wouldn't do to keep the underworld waiting. After all, a union between our bloods will only prove to aid devil kind, don't you agree? Your parents surely do." So that was his game, he was wanting to have sex with her again, and if she didn't, he would tell her tell her parents, such childish and adolescent move.

But instead of witnessing a shocked or fearful expression like Riser had been expecting she only mirrored his confident smirk, he just knew she was up to something. "Oh, I don't think we'll be doing that anymore, Riser."

The blonde Phenex eyed her, "Oh, and why is that, do you not remember what you parents promised?"

"Oh I know exactly what my parents promised."

"Then why do you continue to be so defiant?" Riser queried.

"Because…" Rias spoke, a smirk across her face. "I have fulfilled the conditions, Riser," she said, as Riser's eyes instantly widened.

"But that means..."

Rias felt immense satisfaction at the Phenex's expression, happy to have the upper hand for the first time between them. "Yes, Riser, Im pregnant."

As she turned, her crimson-red hair swaying in her wake, as she left the room she could see Riser's surprise and gobsmacked expression across his face, burning the image into her mind. Yup, it felt good. Rias couldn't stop the smile from forming across her face, she was free.

"I'm… going to be a father…" Riser stated in shock.

"Welcome to devilhood… dear Naruto."

Sea-foam eyes opened, and soon, the whole supernatural world would feel this change.

Years later.

"Get her!" "Kill her" "Kill the half-breed!" "Kill the devil spawn!" "Dirty fallen-angel kin scum!"

Around all sides she could hear the cries being called out, each being directed towards her from different directions. She didn't know when things went wrong— so very wrong! At first, things had been normal within the Himejima clan, she had gone about her day, being instructed by her mother on some pointless thing she couldn't quite remember now. But then a knock came at her door, and this feeling of uneasiness settled over her whole body. From then on her mother went to answer the door, and what she heard was a statement of utter confusion, it was a group of practitioners from her clan. She heard what they wanted, 'give us your child', they all sounded, but, her mother refused to do so… and now she was dead.

'Go, run very far away, find your father, he'll protect you,' those were her last words as they killed her. Her mother buying her just enough time to for her to sneak out of the house through the backdoor. The practitioners of her clan not even surrounding her house as they had thought that Shuri would hand over her daughter peacefully. She listened to her mother, running as far as her small legs could take her, out of her village into the neighboring woods.

Why was this happening? That single question ran through her mind, although she knew the reason, it was because she was of tainted blood, that was the reason. Born of the union of both human and fallen angel she was allowed into neither society, now her mother paid the price for it.

Vaguely, she heard the distant voices of the shrine practitioners that only seemed to get closer and closer, her breath becoming ragged as she was at her limit. She had lost count of how many different trees she had passed by, one hundred? Two hundred? Three, maybe more? Truthfully all of this was a blur, she could not recall all that was happening at the moment.

Where was her father? Didn't her mother say he would help her in her final moments? Well, he certainly wasn't here, and he wasn't there to protect her mother, so where was he?

As her legs tired, her muscles screaming out, she used the fair few moments she had to catch a little bit of her breath. Using the tall cypress trees she'd once played in as a crutch. Now, they only stemmed to become her prison, and her wardens were out for blood. She couldn't rest for too long, no matter how much her body wanted it, she needed to get out here. Her once ghostly smooth pale skin now covered in both sweat and dirt, she couldn't bring herself to remove her weary arms from the stem of the trunk in front of her, not willing to walk alone.

"Hey! I think she went this way!"

Akeno's blood went still, cold, and frozen over. That last call had been close, far closer than all the others, and from the direction it had come from she knew it would only be coming closer. Using her tired arms to push herself from her resting position, it would seem her body disagreed with her, her foot catching itself upon one of the roots of her tree, she felt herself plummeting towards the ground. From then on she knew what would happen, she was tired, so very tired, and she was hungry, she knew her body wouldn't be able to pick itself back up again. From then on she would be stuck on the ground, which meant she would be caught by her 'family's' shrine practitioners and then…

"Hey, are you alright?" a voice called out, and from then on she felt her body being enveloped in a set of small, yet comforting arms. She opened her eyes in surprise, even as the person who had caught her struggled to hold herself upright. "Woah there, you're kind of heavy, especially for this young body," he voiced out, she didn't quite get what he meant, but she didn't care. She could only find relief in another face, one that wasn't out to kill her, and his kind smile.

Naruto Uzumaki— err, Gremory, as he was now supposed to call himself— his new life was, how should he put this? A little strange. From the point in which he woke up in this new world he had been forced to grow accustomed to a number of things. For starters, there was the new name—- he was still getting used to that— which came with a whole bunch of other changes.

Having a mother was, well, different than what he was used to before, not to mention his new 'father'. But on top of that he had come to find out he was a noble. He didn't know what he did within his previous life to deserve this? Maybe saving the entire elemental nations had something to do with it? Well, that, or it was the fact he had lived on the streets for most of his previous life and this was karma's way of throwing him a bone. He didn't really know.

It had taken a while for his body to acclimate to his past memories, and he had only really done so at the young age of two. The human— err, devil—body was a powerful yet very fragile thing. And overloading a baby's brain with about 17 years of information would surely spell the end of his second existence faster than tsunade could down fifteen bottles of her favorite sake.

That was another thing he had been forced to get used to. And that was— as surprised he was to find this out—- devils were real, and he had been turned into one. Well, that wasn't exactly true, it was more accurate to say he'd been born into becoming a devil—- unlike those others who had been turned into half-devils using those strange Evil Pieces he'd heard about.

Him? A devil? At first he's thought the idea preposterous, thought his new mother was as delusional as he thought she was. Yeah, it had taken a full five minutes for his brain to process what he had been seeing the first time he had seen his mother's devilish bat-like wings for the first time.

It had been a lot to take it, the revelation of which was only topped by the fact that he died. Him, the boy who had strived and offered up his very life for the goal of becoming Hokage had died before he had been able to accomplish it. Life had a funny way of doing things, and if whatever fate Neji had talked about during his younger phase was laughing at him he wouldn't be surprised.

The last thing he had remembered about his precious life was right after the defeat of Kaguya. The rabbit goddess, and the one who had started it all; chakra, the sage of six paths, and the cycle of hatred zetsu had started when he tore Indra and Ashura apart. The Fourth Great Shinobi War was her fault as well, the evil manifestation of her will, black zetsu had manipulated everyone. He had told Madara about the moon's plan, who from then had orchestrated Obito to be crushed by the rock in his battle at Kanabi bridge. From then he had manipiled Nagato into becoming Pain, who then formed the Akatsuki. The root of all evil and the origin of the cycle of hatred had been Kaguya, and with her defeat he had actually believed things would get better and Jiraiya's dream would be achieved. Perhaps at the time he had been naive, but he did didn't care.

That's why he had been surprised by Sasuke's betrayal. He, his brother in all but blood, was trying to upend the shinobi world and start a whole new cycle of hatred for the world to suffer through, something he couldn't allow. They fought, with Sasuke trying to kill him and he trying to save his friend from his own darkness.

The last thing he remembered was him and his brother Rasengan and Chidori clashing, and then… black.

That's how he ended up in this new world and—- what was he talking about again? Ah, right, his problems—- his biggest problem and change had had to acclimate to in the new world was—-

"What? A child," the surprisingly heavy girl in front of him sounded, as he struggled to keep the almost one foot taller girl upright.

That's right, he was within the body of a child again… this really sucked

The young Akeno Himejima looked at the even younger boy infront of her, he looked only five or six, or maybe a little younger. His hair was blonde, as bright as the sun, and was so wild that it seemed to spike out in all directions like it as well. As his near-glowing sea-foam green eyes only looked at her with nothing but concern, a far cry from the scorn and hatred she had been used to seeing that day, she was a bit relieved. But the strangest thing about the boy was his fine outfit; it was a strange thing to be seeing. As he was adorned it a small, likely fitted, three piece button-up suit, with a blood-red coat over a gray vest, and a white shirt with a orange bow tie at his neck— he wanted more orange, but his mother wouldn't let him! He wore equally red pants, as well as black shining shoes— how they kept their nice liking appearance she didn't know, especially considering the great amount of both dirt and mud within the forest she was sure he would have gotten them dirtied by now.

Nevertheless she couldn't help but wonder why such a wealthy looking boy was out in the middle of the woods— perhaps she was hallucinating from the sheer exhaustion? Yes, that must be it, surely she was seeing things before she died, why would such an obviously noble-looking be here in a time like this?

Truthfully such a question could only be answered by one person, and that was Naruto himself. Although the answer was really just a complicated one, in simplest terms, it was because he had snuck out. Ever since receiving this younger body, he had been looking for numerous ways to get stronger and enhance himself, not that he really had any need to. But at the moment he was searching for new ways to enhance his body's natural durability. Sage mode had seemed like the most viable option— it had worked for him in his world after all.

So following that logic he needed to find great deposits of natural engery, like the land of the toads Mt. Myoboku he had visited in his past. He needed a place that was absolutely brimming with natural energy. Everywhere within the underworld was out, that place had too much vile and artificial energy for there to be any actual nature for him to harness the energy off of, at least when he was still trying to get the hang of it agss again. And he knew that any other pocket dimension from the other pantheons were out for obvious reasons. That only left the human world— earth as they called it— the middle point for all of humanity to reside within, as well as a point in which all pantheons naturally convened. But this world's natural energy was different from his own, with the human's overdependence of its natural resources resulting in a much higher amount of pollution it proved difficult for natural reposits of the world's energy to occur. So he kept looking, searching for a place untouched by humanity so he could practice senjutsu and hopefully fix whatever problems that were caused, such was his duty as a sage.

That's why he was within this forest, and in doing so he had unexpected come across a lone girl, fearfully running within the woods. And from the constant voices he had heard of anger he could tell why. In all honesty, they sort of reminded him of the voices he used to get within his own village, although not to this extent of course. The third Hokage would punish just about any person who had tried to go after him, thankfully. But even so he knew this was something he couldn't ignore, both within his previous and current life Naruto Uzumaki was not one to let such an injustice stand.

But first, he knew he had to do something, wrapping his arms around the much older girl— or was he older? He didn't really know. He patted the back of her head as an adult would a child. "There, there, I promise it's going to be alright." And he still wasn't one to break his promises. Such a sight would probably have looked werid, be but he didn't care, he knew he needed to comfort the startled girl for her own well being.

Instantly the dark-haired girl's violet eyes widened, as her body grew still, frozen. Somehow, she managed to snap herself out of her stupor and found the strength to push him away, knocking him off balance, if only a little. "Stop!" She yelled in a panic, even Naruto was surprised by the strength within her voice.

But that was where her strength depleted, as she fell to her knees, clutching onto herself. "You need to get out of here, they'll… they'll kill you, just like—" she stopped herself from speaking.

Naruto looked down in sympathy, seeing the young ten-year old girl in front of him. Her hair was dark, the color of midnight, in a way that reminded him of Sasuke's own— not that he wanted to be reminded of such a person— but that was where the similarities ended. Her eyes were the color of violet, a color that idly reminded him of his first mother's, he always did like Kushina Uzumaki's violet colored eyes. The girl's skin was pale, soft, and her clothes were so ragged and covered in dirt it was hard to imagine how they had started off that morning.

"But why?" He couldn't help but ask, why was this girl so afraid for him? To warn a stranger after all. He could tell she was a kind person, going so far as to warn a stranger that their life was in danger. Surely such a good person didn't deserve to die like this?

Yet the girl, Akeno, only lowered her head, "It's because I'm a monster, it's because of this foul blood running through my veins…" Instantly, a single pure-black bird wing manifests around her back. She clutched onto it as well, using whatever she could to suppress the massive amounts of trepidation she felt within her heart.

Naruto's suspicions were confirmed, as he now knew what was going on "Oh, is that it?" He questioned. "If it is I don't really see a problem with it."

Instantly Akeno's head snapped upward, "You have to go! If you stay here, you'll be killed, it's because I'm tainted!" She told him, that's what the practitioners said, and that was why her mother had been killed.

But Naruto disagreed, cocking his head to the side, "If it's because you're half fallen Angel I can't really say you're a monster, after all…" The girl began to witness a pair of dark bar-like wings manifest across his back. "I'm a devil, if you're a monster, what does that make me?" He spoke, his voice filled with certainty.

Before he changed back to his usual happy persona as his wings dissipated, "Besides, I'm not too worried about being killed, after all, I'm strong," he said with absolute certainty.

"You're strong…" Akeno replied in disbelief. But then she snapped back to her senses, no, the practitioners were strong, her father was strong, but he wasn't here. There was no way a child, one that was even younger and smaller looking than her, would be able to match up to them, the thought was utterly preposterous.

"You know, you worry too much," Naruto sighed, breaking her out of her thoughts. "After all… nothing within this word can take me down, so there's no need to worry." A lie, at least the last part of it. From the moment he'd entered this world, he'd known one thing:

He was strong.

It wasn't arrogance or even the usual Uchiha pompous attitude he'd grown used to seeing, the fact was just undeniable. Within this new world, he'd been labeled as a prodigy, as powerful. Although don't get him wrong, he knew he wasn't able to match up with any of the Satans, and definitely not any of the gods or goddesses in the world just yet. But when it came to the normal potential of most beings, he stood out on top and was expected to be a real turning force for devil-kind in the future.

Although don't get him wrong, he knew that were he in his world, with his level of power, all it would take would be a single flick of Kaguya's wrist for her to defeat him. And he still knew he had a long way to go, and a lot of things to learn about this new world. Who knows, maybe it was just his line of thinking, or the fact he had proven numerous amounts of so-called 'invincible prodigies' wrong in his time, but he tried to not let the people's words get to him

He never got the whole 'worshiping people's potential' thing, so what if a person was born a little stronger than someone? That wasn't a little hard work and effort couldn't fix.

Nevertheless, this girl in front of him was distraught, and he was sure he could take on any human as long as they didn't wield any sort of sacred gear or powerful magic to speak of. So, he put up a bit of a front, he needed to be strong, he needed to show that these men weren't anything special. The girlwould have time to mourn later, but if he didn't do this now he could tell this event would have intense emotional scarring on the girl's psyche.

Even so, it would seem this girl in front of him was stubborn and wanted to protest even more. "No! They'll kill you—"

He highly doubted that. "You know, there's no need to cry," he interrupted, changing the subject.

As Akeno's eyes widened, what was he talking about? 'There wasn't any need to cry?' She wasn't crying she wasn't— idly, she forced a single shaking hand up to her face, feeling the cold iridescent teardrops falling down her face.

She was… crying. Why was she crying? Was it because she had been chased out of her home? Was it because her father was nowhere to be found? Or, was it because of her mother…

Unable to finish with that thought, she only found more teardrops running down her face. She shouldn't be crying right now, she needed to get out here, needed to listen to her mother's final words. But even still she couldn't find it in her to stop, why wasn't her body moving? If she didn't, she would die, if she stayed here, they would die… just like her mother.

"You know, you shouldn't really cry," a voice called out to her, she could barely hear it. But, she did, however, feel the tiny hands reaching up to clutch at her hair. It was the young boy, what was he doing? It seemed he was… tying it. In a ponytail, looking forward, she could see the young boy in front of her— his previously orange bow tied around his neck nowhere to be found.

"It'll keep the hair from getting in your eyes." Naruto reached up, sipping the previously spilling tears from the taller girl's face. "There, now your pretty face won't be hidden from the world, so you shouldn't shed any more tears, it'll mess it up," he told her, reaching up and playing with a little bit of her dark tresses atop her head. It was strange, but he always did like long hair, it had been why he'd spread all those rumors that Sasuke liked long-haired girls back in the academy all those years back. But now, his new mother always told him that he shouldn't let a girl cry, and he knew his old master Jiraya and new father would beat him if he saw a girl in tears like this and did nothing. How would he be able to let that stand?

But with a face covered by such dark and silky hair, she wouldn't be able to see anything but her own shadows, never able to move on. He flashed her the most illuminating and hopeful smile, one that actually seemed to quell the pain within her chest and soul. "Now, doesn't that seem better, it'll keep your hair out of your eyes, so—"

Squelch.

He was interrupted in his speaking, as a single arrow shot came flying towards them. It was too fast for Akeno to react, and as such she was only left horrified as a spray of red blood came flying into the air, one that didn't even seem to hit her at all.

No, the arrow it hit… Naruto, the young boy at her side.

"Ah," he said looking at his wound.

"Ha! Ha! We got the little-bitch!" an adult male shouted, lowering his crossbow. Before examining the scene, "Huh? A child?" he questioned out in surprise, as a few more practitioners came running towards the two.

"It doesn't matter! We'll still kill her!" One shouted, as soon as the others followed up. Akeno felt the fear within her start to rise, as she looked for any possible way to escape, but soon she found none. There were about 10— No, 20 practitioners from her home village, each ready to kill her for the foul blood in her system.

But that wasn't it, they were also going to kill this young, kind boy right next to her. She could see it within their eyes, and she had seen it with her mother, these people were willing to kill just about anyone when it came to doing what they thought was right, even if it meant killing a child. She watched the young boy at her side, as he stared down at his palm, an arrow running clean through, as blood fell down his fingers. They would kill him, she knew they would, but maybe… just maybe, if she offered herself up, they would let this young boy go. Sure, she would die, but that just meant someone as cursed as she was wouldn't be alive to hurt anyone anymore. It was why her mother died, it was probably why her father left her, surely, if she were to die things would be okay. Surely—

"Damnit, this body is still too slow, I tried to catch it!" he muttered, interrupting her train of thought. All the while, Naruto stood there, an arrow lodged deep through his right palm. That was why he needed to work on his body's durability more because it was times like these when he wished his body's ability to move lined up with his speed to react to things. Eh, not really something he needed to cry over, it wasn't like he hadn't been through worse, it was like the time he stabbed himself to be the poison out of his arm on their first mission to wave. Or the time Sasuke had nearly pierced his lung with his Chidori, that didn't make this wound not hurt like a bitch though.

Nevertheless, he needed the girl to see this, she needed to see whatever these humans could do to him had no effect on him, just so he could alleviate any and all fear within her mind.

"Hey Nee-chan…" He stated, grabbing Akeno's attention, as previously she had been fixating on the 'small' bleeding hole within his hand. "Remember how I told you to keep your hair out of your eyes?" He stated as he raised his other uninjured arm. Instantly the temperature around the forest began to increase, as a small ball of fire began to manifest within his palm.

"Because you're going to want to see this, but do be careful…" But something was strange about this ball of fire, it wasn't the usual orange and yellow fire of the Phenex clan— Hell, it wasn't even a royal blue, the hottest kind of fire a kitsune could produce. No, what was different about this fire's color was the absence of it. Bright bruning flames as dark as the night sky began to form within Naruto's palm; its fire was a pure black. And they kept growing, larger and larger, to the point the heat was almost overwhelming.

As the orb kept growing and growing it floated further and further within the sky, to the point it resembled that of a miniature sun. No— it wasn't like a miniature sun— it was a miniature sun, and Akeno Himejima was about to witness its destruction.

"It might get a little hot in here…Majestic Flames of Destruction: Amerterasu - Rising Sun" Were the only words Naruto spoke, scum like these didn't deserve to live.

As the sun collided around them, the world began to witness the destructive potential of Naruto Uzumaki

XXX

A Few Minutes Later.

"Well… that was boring" Naruto couldn't help but remark. All around him stood a very sizable crater, not a single piece of life to be seen–sans the small, slightly charred tree he and the young girl at his side had been standing near. "They just rolled over and died, didn't even fight at all," he stated, kicking the ground. He supposed things were better this way, after all, if scum like those people were walking around the world would be a much worse-off place.

As Akeno was wide-eyed at the mass untold destruction. Boring? That was boring. A fireball was even hotter and larger than the largest fires she had ever seen. Sweat trickled down her forehead, if that was boring, she didn't want to know how this boy spent her free time. Was this the power of a devil, was every devil like this?

Naruto observed his surroundings, the attack was still a little off and needed work. Sure, the destructive potential was good, but he still needed to fine-tune the control, if Sasuke were using this move he would be able to kill every one of those guys without even raising the temperature around him. That was the fine level of control a uchiha had over their flames, that's what he aspired to attain.

'The majestic flames of destruction,' or in laments terms, the flames of Amaterasu that the Mangekyou Sharingan was capable of. The unique magic he had been born within this world— a sort of… kekkei genkai he had been gifted with in this life. 'A union between Gremory and Phenex was sure to bring forth untold potential', at least that was what those old cronies had been talking about when they forced his parents into a marriage, he still didn't know how to feel about that. The power was cool, and he supposed fighting with Sasuke so much he'd acquired a unique first-hand knowledge on how to wield the flames— he still had the burn scars to prove it! Or at least he would have, had he not been sent through the devil's crazy train.

This was what the underworld was so proud of? A mixture of the Bael clan's Power of Destruction with the Phenex's Hellfire flames. He didn't see the appeal, it was basically what Sasuke had with his Kagutsuchi technique, flames that could burn for as long as he willed them, and that could reduce anything to dust in its wake. They were powerful, but as he had shown in his previous life, beatable, if one had the right power set. He wasn't invincible, even with his immense magical energy to boot— he still had the arrow wound on his hand to prove it, he should really patch that up sooner or later. Sakura would have a field day in the afterlife if she knew he was letting a wound like this sit for this long.

Casting a glance at the dark-haired girl at his side, she seemed a little disorientated with his latest move, and he could understand why. Even with his lack of proficiency with the Flames of Amaterasu, he was pretty sure he made himself look pretty cool.

"Say, Name's Naruto, Naruto Gremory?" the young boy smiled, flashing her his signature toothy grin, not that she was able to respond. She didn't.

He tended to have that effect on people, he probably overloaded her mind with his coolness, yeah, he was the bomb.

She was completely and utterly silent. "Well, if you won't give me your name I will." And it was then that he looked at her, and he meant really looked at her. Before he snapped his fingers, it came to him, "Alright, big-boobs Onee-chan," he stated

She blinked, what? She was ten, only only just then starting the beginning of the early stages of puberty. To come up with that name… well, she didn't know what to make of it.

"It's not like you gave me any other name, Big-boobs Onee-chan, now did you."

"I have a name, it's Akeno… Himejima…" she told him, still in a bit of a catatonic state.

"Alright, Big-boobs Onee-chan." She gave him a light glare. Yeah, she'd be just fine. "Aww~ crap!" He shouted, realizing something.

As the now-named 'Akeno's' head snapped towards him. What was it? Something worse than those practitioners, like what? Another devil? A dragon? Something even worse?

"My mom's gonna know I snuck out!"

What?

"A rating game school for low-class devils? Huh, Sona?"

"Yes, that is my dream. But of course, this would also require us to attend a school in the next few years, one within the human world should suffice. This would also give us the perfect opportunity to scout out possible candidates for our peerages. So, do we have a deal, Rias…?"

"Interesting…"

One teleportation later

The trek back into the Gremory manor was a short one most of the time it took for them to get back was because it had taken a little while for Akeno to be convinced to join him. Although, not because she had been opposed to it, but because she had been in such a disorientated state she hadn't been able to make proper decisions about her now-changed lifetime. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to go, and so he offered her a place with him, it had been an easy decision, all things considered, and he'd been glad to have made it.

All he now had to do was go into his grandmother's wing, she would be able to cover for him and give at least some time to come up with a possible origin of this girl. But as he appeared within his room— where his summoning circle had been held— something happened that momentarily gave him pause.

The lights turned on, revealing the room within.

His room was a small one, at least compared to the other rooms within the Gremory mansion. But even still with its smaller size it was at least twice the size of his old apartment. And the lack of personal objects or decorations was evident, he didn't even have a pile of instant ramen to make the room seem smaller— the maids took care of it every time he had a pile built up. However, there were a few things left to spice up the room, like a couple of shelves of the shows his mother liked watching, and even a few posters his mother had hung up for him. Speaking of his mother…

"Ahem." His heart stopped, and his skin went pale as a voice called out to him. Instantly his head snapped toward the light switch, as he saw the aforementioned woman standing in the room. And she didn't look too happy.

"Uhhh… Hi, mom" He greeted with a wave. Seeing his mother's hands were already on her hips, a nasty-looking glare plastered across her face. "Ummm, you look great, really adept with your magical transformation, makes you young and beautiful and—"

"Naruto," Rias interrupted, and he wisely shut up, it was better to not talk back to his mother when she got like this

"Yes, mother?" Naruto asked, straightening himself, as the woman's similar sea foam steeled towards him.

"Naruto?"

"Yes, mom?"

"Who is this?"

"Who?"

"The girl… right next to you"

"Oh, right, the girl. She is…ummm, my… therapist?"

"Uh huh, Naruto, you're five, you don't need a therapist."

"You don't know that, I could be a deeply scarred and secretive individual."

"Naruto?"

"Yes, mother?"

"She looks ten, therapists can't be ten years old."

"Oh, right…"

As Rias observed the girl right next to him, she seemed young, yet still older than Naruto by quite a large margin. She appeared to be human— No, she wasn't a full human, she was too beautiful, at least for her age, to be that of ordinary human blood, a half-breed perhaps?

But the thing that her most concerned was that of her expressions, and the state she was in that caused her such dismay. Her clothes were torn and muddied— and there was a little bit of a smoky aroma to her, but she assumed that was her son's doing. And yet, the look the girl had worried her more so, as, to put it in better terms, she would say she had never seen anyone in such a worse-off state. The only thing that reminded her of such was the times she would ask her brother or father about the times before the Civil War or during the reign of the original Lucifer. She could tell this girl had seen her fair share of trials recently, especially since it would seem the girl would not leave her son's side, she was clinging to his hand after all. An impressive image, especially considering the dark-haired girl's much taller frame, in a way it was kind of cute, like how a child would hide behind the legs of their parent— not that Naruto had ever done that to her. He had always been far too mature for his age, it worried her sometimes.

Nevertheless, she realized that this girl was distraught, especially considering her rather intimidating demeanor at the moment— she was self-aware enough to realize such. She walked forward, which only seemed to set Naruto even more on edge, much to her silent amusement. Whoever said parenting wasn't fun?

"Hello," She stated, leaning down towards the girl, doing her best to give the kindest smile that she could muster. "Today must have been a long day for you I'm sure. I know, why don't go into the hallway? I'll send a maid for you, she can take you to a room where you can have a nice shower, bring you something nice to eat, and take you to a nice warm bed so you can get some rest. Does that sound nice?" Rias stated in a motherly tone.

No response, she still only clung to Naruto's side, likely disorientated by whatever she had experienced that day. Naruto realized she was right, he nudged her, "Go on, my mom is right, today has been a long day for you, you need some rest."

It was only then that Akeno nodded, wordlessly walking towards the door, as she silently went out of the room. Rias manifested a communication circle next to her ear, stating "Hello, this is Rias, I have a girl around the west wing that I'd like you to take care of, send her to one of the guest rooms with a fresh meal and a change of clothes. About the size of a normal ten year old. Yes… this is Naruto's doing." A bead of sweat pooled at the back of Naruto's head at the last remark. Come on, he wasn't that bad, was he?

"Now, about you…" Rias stated, her greenish-blue eyes fixed entirely on him, she began stalking him like a predator would its prey.

Naruto gulped and tried to argue, "Hey, Mom, I know you're mad that I snuck out but I—" he stopped his sentence, as the woman neared him, enrapturing him in a warm hug, so much so that it surprised him. He never got hugs all too often in his previous life, but the ones he did get only made them all too special. He was glad that he could get hugs like this, and that he was given such a kind and caring mother this time around— not that Kushina Uzumaki wasn't kind or caring, but having a hug from a mother who was actually alive was a whole lot different than a chakra aberration. Don't get him wrong, he still loved his first mother, that wouldn't change, but he was slowly getting used to having Rias Gremory as a parent this time around.

"I'm so glad you're okay…" she whispered into his ear, as he tightened his hold on her even more. Her meeting with Sona had gone shorter than expected, and she had attempted to partake in her favorite pastime, watching anime with her son in his room. Only for her to come to find her son was nowhere to be found, none of the maids knew where he was either. After nearly an hour of searching she had actually contemplated contacting the Satans— her brother— for the job of finding him, but she had inevitably decided on just waiting for her son to appear. She knew he would, it wasn't like there had been any damage within Naruto's room, so that left out any sort of kidnapping scandal— she knew her son wasn't the type to let himself get captured without a fight. And given her son's unusual nature she could only come to the conclusion that he ran off on his own.

"I'm sorry I worried you, kaa-san…" he let his hands fall at his sides, he always wanted to say something like that.

Rias pulled back, placing one of her firm hands across his shoulders so there was no room to escape, as she then grabbed his own—seeing the slightly bloodied and makeshift cloth he used as a bandage along his palm. It was only then that Naruto realized he was screwed. "You're damn right you are, do you have any idea how worried I was. Naruto Zeoticus Gremory, if you think just you being 'strong' will get you away from the one-thousand spankings I'm going to give you then so help me, even heaven won't stop me! So help me to G—"

"Oh, come now Rias, darling, don't you think you're being a little too harsh on the child?" A certain 'familiar' voice began to echo throughout the room.

Rias couldn't help but keeping her eye from twitching at the figure. "Riser, did I not tell you that you can't keep dropping by unannounced."

The blonde-haired male revealed himself, immediately one could see the resemblance between him and his child. "Oh? But my dear Rias, you and I both know you wouldn't let me see my child otherwise," he said mockingly.

"Father," Naruto nodded to his father,

"Son." Riser looked at him appraisingly, nodding in satisfaction at what he saw. Before he turned back to his 'wife' "Now, Rias-dear, don't you think you're being a little too harsh on him?" he reasoned.

Rias only sent him an even firmer glare in return. "No, I don't think I am, Riser," she spat, not a hint of compassion in her voice. Nobody told Rias Gremory how to parent her child.

Nevertheless, it would seem Riser was equally as stubborn, walking up to his son and placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "Oh but you are, after all, Naruto is young, it is only natural that he would try to sneak off to get away from things when he wants to."

But his response only seemed to further Rias's own anger. "Yes, but he's only a child." Naruto was only five after all, and no matter how strong you were no five-year-old should be sneaking out of their manor alone to the human world, there was no telling what sort of dangers he could face out there.

"A child with the weight of the Underworld on his shoulders, it is obvious that Naruto needs to get out and get a change of things from time to time. Hell, when I was younger…" Riser mused. Before he snapped out of that train of thought, giving a sly smirk towards his 'son' "But even still, I never thought Naruto would come back with a girl, one who's older no less, I wasn't aware you preferred older women. I can tell, she'll be a real looker in the future. Perhaps you and I are more alike than I first perceived, you might even have your first harem member for when you take my title as the Harem king." his father flashed him a thumbs up as well.

Naruto merely looked at him apathetically, it wasn't like that. And besides, he was nearly 22 goddamit— well, he was five, but mentally he was about twenty-two! That had to count for something!- he wasn't going to have any feelings for what was essentially a child to him.

Rias growled at the thought, she empathized with the girl, but that was where it ended. She wouldn't be letting some hussy end up with her child. No! If a girl were to want to get with her child they would have to wait until he was at least 300— no! 400! Until then he was still a baby. Rias neglected to think about that she— was in fact— not even past her fifties, let alone her first hundred years of living. So by her own logic, she would still be a child within her eyes.

"Even still, your mother is right." Both Rias and Naruto blinked, head looking at Riser in surprise. "You are a phenex, and you might be strong, but at the moment you aren't invincible, not yet."

At that Naruto held his head slightly low, he knew what his father was referring to and it was actually something that he held as one of his greatest shame in his new life.

"You're five, and yet you are unable to even conjure a single flame for regeneration. While it is true that your flames are hotter than most, if you aren't able to heal yourself, you will not be able to become the invincible Phenex I know you to be." Most Phenex children gained their regeneration at birth, the ones who weren't as talented gained them by they were two. Such flames of regeneration for a Phenex should be instinctual. Naruto was nearly five, and without him showing a lick of immortality, needless to say, Riser and some of the other Phenex members who knew were a little anxious.

Riser stepped in front of him, showing him his palm. "The Phenex regeneration is something each and every Phenex is born with the potential of achieving, it's what makes us superior to other devils." Rias huffed, she was so used to the Phenex arrogance it was almost maddening. "It is innate, the ability to both conjure and weave our flames together through the power of our own imagination to heal any wound one can receive. Just as long as one's willpower and magical levels remain intact a Phenex remains invincible. Rias-darling, if you wouldn't mind?" He requested, holding out his hand.

Blast.

Without a word, a ray of both red and black energy was blasted toward Riser faster than he could speak. Instantly, Riser's left arm was vaporized, down to his bones, down to the very cells within his body. There was nothing left, such was the power of the Bael clan's Power of Destruction.

However, as the blast dissipated, flames engulfed Riser's body, instantly knitting together both muscles and veins back from alliteration. Naruto couldn't help but marvel, such regeneration was unheard of within the Elemental Nations. Even his own in his previous life with Kurama's chakra didn't seem to hold a candle.

It was the main reason he was seeking out sage mode; he had already given up the possibility of learning such a technique. And as such, he needed something else to boost his defense, increasing his durability would do much the same, after all, what good was regeneration if he never got hurt in the first place? That was his logic anyway.

He just couldn't get the hang of it, no matter how much he tried. His flames were just too destructive, just too hot for any being to handle. It was impossible.

"Until you master this technique it is only natural that you would worry your mother," Riser spoke, and Rias was actually surprised at his level of insight.

Naruto thought about it, "I… you're right…mom… " he admitted, he guessed he was too used to being alone, having been born into a life with no family, no parents there to scold him when he did something wrong. Or pick him up when he was crying after he fell down, truth be told, this was a new experience for him. One that he was still getting used to.

"Of course she is, now, why don't you go apologize to your mother," his father told him.

Naruto nodded, looking towards the red-haired woman in the room. "I'm sorry, Mother…" he looked down, how could he be so foolish as to disregard his mother's own feelings, he might be strong, but he still had people precious to him. People who would look after him and worry when he may be too in over his head. It was times like these when he often wondered if this was how Sakura felt within his previous life, how she would constantly worry about him and Sasuke, and then he…

Naruto's fist tightened with resolve, he was strong, but he needed to get stronger, much stronger. So strong, that he never worried anyone again. He wanted to inspire an aura of hope within people so that they would never have to feel that way about him again.

If there was one thing within this world he would do that.

"Good. Now why don't you check on your little lady friend in the other room while your mother and I have a little chat?"

Naruto nodded and did as he was told, he had much to think about.

He stopped right before he reached the door. Wait, should he be telling his parents about all those practitioners he killed? Casting a glance towards his parents, seeing the satisfied looks across their faces. Yeah, he probably shouldn't be telling anything that would get them back into their sour moods.

XXX

A Few minutes later.

Rias couldn't help but stare at the man in front of her in surprise. Truth be told, Riser had changed within the last few years, sure, his provocations were the same, and he still had that same blasted infuriating arrogant look upon his face. But his humility had grown in leaps and bounds, sure, he still thought himself invincible, but he saw the flaws within himself, something she had thought Riser would never be able to do.

He had also become less brazen over the past few years, and even though he still called her 'dear' or 'darling' he had never tried to initiate anything. Which, for the underworld's resident 'playboy', was surprising.

"That boy, he will be stronger than us both one day, in some ways he already is," Riser spoke, and Rias couldn't help but compare him to the old Riser, it was like night and day.

A smile broke out on Rias's soft lips at her words, he was right. Naruto Gremory was stronger than each of them, he just didn't know it yet. Before he was alive, before he gave her purpose, she was alone.

Don't get her wrong, she still had family like her father, mother, and brother, but at that point, she still felt alone. The only purpose within her life was to become breeding stock for what the underworld thought would boon a powerful child.

Who would have thought that what she despised to be her purpose would give her life so much meaning? She didn't care if Naruto was strong, and she didn't care if Naruto would inherit the Bael's Power of Destruction or the Phenex's Flames of immortality. She would have loved him all the same, and that's all that really mattered.

"But, unfortunately, I haven't come for pleasure, only business." Riser's words broke out adopting a serious expression, Rias did the same.

"What is it, Riser?" The woman eyed him with suspicion.

"The bounty has risen to 100 million," was all riser spoke, and she knew what he was referring to. "I wanted to tell you before Sirzechs did."

Instantly Rias's eyes widened in surprise, 100 million?! But that was too much, what had her child done to warrant such a response? "100? But why?!"

"I don't know what happened, the bounty just went up recently. Apparently, the Shinto faction is to blame, I'm not sure what he did, but I would warrant something with the girl is to blame."

Rias nodded at his words, but she couldn't help her fist tightening at her side. She was sure whatever Naruto did he had his reasons for doing so— Satan knew the look in the girl's eyes was unnatural, to say the least.

"So, what are we going to do?" Riser questioned. Bounty hunters will be sure not to let such a reward go unnoticed, especially for such an 'easy prize' as they would see him. Especially given the fact that Naruto still held the appearance of a child, one that would only draw more attention from those who were looking to score a quick buck. They needed to find some way to alleviate such a bounty, and fast.

Rias thought about it, pacing throughout the room before she finally found her answer.

"Well… it seems I'm going to Kyoto."

"As you can see, the devil faction is offering both trade and travel routes for the number of yokai within your people, as well as a considerable sum of money to sweaten the deak. All we ask is that you give us a small portion of your territory to act as a midpoint between our two faction's trade so as to more smoothly integrate and improve relations between both of our species…" Rias proposed, but of course, that wasn't the main goal. She wanted Kuoh because of the deal she made with Sona about exploring and gaining research on the life of a high school student. The fact their factions would also benefit was just a secondary bonus.

Not to mention, the very act of being here only stemmed to improve relations between the Gremory and the Kyoto faction, and by extension, the Shinto gods. Hopefully, and with a bit of luck, the Shinto faction would alleviate the bounty upon her son's head, which would also reign in a bit of the fear she felt for him.

Yasaka was a tall, young-looking woman with long golden blonde hair, reaching nearly down to the ground as it spiraled near the end, and eyes of a similar color. She had delicate features, and eyebrows cut thin, short, and round as a symbol of nobility. She wore the attire of a typical shrine maiden, it was low cut— enough to the point where it showed off her very generous cleavage that would even give Tsunade Senju a run for her money— and it was gold in color.

With nine swooshing fox-tails furrowing at her back.

She looked over at the two in front of her, Rias Gremory, heir to the Gremory family of the 72 pillars, and the famous little sister of Lucifer. Upon receiving the woman's message she was a bit surprised, seriously? The Gremory Heiress as a diplomatic envoy? Really, she had been expecting someone like the Leviathan or Sirzechs himself to come on over, not his little sister. Honestly, what piqued her interest the most about this meeting wasn't the Gremory, however, it was her child she had noted on seeing.

Naruto Gremory, the Underworld's so-called 'miracle child' and 'superdevil' in the making.

She had heard about him, everyone who kept up with the dealings within the underworld had, with the amount of bragging from both the Phenex and Gremory families it was hard not to hear about the boy. The number of rumors going on about the politics of said boy was enough to make her head spin, but she had heard that all attempts at a political marriage were thoroughly stopped by Rias Gremory herself.

She was interested in seeing what the boy was capable of, everyone was, and after she had heard about a particular incident involving a massacre of almost 20 Shinto practitioners… Well, to say she was surprised was an understatement. But to be fair, most were, Naruto was only her daughter's age after all.

And she desired to see what changes Naruto could ignite in the world.

Kyoto is one of the human world's foremost prominent settlements of all things supernatural. Being built right on top of the earth's leylines, which gave it even more natural energy than most locations, it provided a great hotspot for life to flourish.

It was also home to the Kyoto faction of yokai, beings who— if he were being honest—- still baffled him to this day. Really? Yokai, he had really only heard about them in legends back from his old world. Imagine his shock when he found out they actually existed within this new one.

Now, imagine his surprise when he found out there were actually Kyuubi within this place.

He knew he had to visit them— for Kurama's sake— and after he found out his mother was going there he tried to persuade her to take him. She said no, but after some… convincing— which really just ended up him giving her the puppy-dog eyes jutsu he was able to talk him into coming along.

Akeno had been frustrated that she couldn't go, but he had promised he would make it up to her and she finally agreed. In all honesty, that girl had made heavy in the ways of progress in the past few months since her mother's death, even if there were times when she stuck to him like she was joined at his hip. She had also taken a liking to his mother as well, and she the same, last he'd heard, his mother had actually reincarnated her as her [Queen].

This brought them to where they were now, in a meeting with Yasaka, the reining kyuubi, and the leader of the yokai faction within the Kyoto region… and he was bored out of his mind.

After the initial shock at meeting another Kyubi, he hadn't been able to grill her on possible questions and guage the similarities between her and the kyuubi's of his world. All his mother and the woman seemed to be doing were negotiations about territories, money, clans, something he didn't really bother to care much about.

Honestly, this was more boring than the time he'd asked Sakura about the intricacies of medical jutsu. He needed something to amuse himself and… oh? He might have just found the thing to do it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something, a particular unusual swaying of the curtains, as a small fox tail began to peak out.

Walking up to it, which seemed to go unnoticed by Rias and Yasaka.

"Hey, chibi-chan, how's ot hanging?" He spoke, seeminglyn to no one, gaining the attention of those within the room.

Yasaka sighed, knowing just who exactly had snuck into the room. "Kunou, you can come out now," she told the figure, as they did just that.

Out of the curtains popped a young girl, about Naruto's age. She had a regal, if a bit wild appearance with similar golden blonde hair tied in a high ponytail just like her mother— although it appeared as though the tips of her hair were the color of autumn— and matching eyes. She also appeared to be wearing the traditional red and white outfit of a miko as well, with a set of golden fox ears peaking out the top of her head, and a set of nine swishing tails at her back.

So she was a Kyubi, another one, Naruto realized. As Kunou's mother spoke up to scold the eavesdropper, "Honestly, Kunou, how many times have I told you not to spy in on my meetings… Gremory-san, I'm so sorry for such an interruption…" she spoke, her head in her hands. Kunou had the decency to hold a sheepish expression, embarrassed at the fact that she had gotten caught.

"Um, Yasaka-sama…" Rias spoke, stepping forward. "I can see that your daughter—Kunou. was it?- Was only curious about seeing new envoys in Kyoto, especially devils, I'm sure your people are concerned as well. Perhaps we can see this as a bit of a blessing?"

"What are you suggesting?" Yasaka queried.

She could see the cogs in Rias's head turning. "Just a simple, meeting— a play date, of sorts, between our children. So they can get away while and we can let our meeting continue." If Naruto could make friends with Yasaka's child, that would provide a much greater incentive for Yasaka to put in a good word for him to the Shinto gods. Naruto always did have a way of getting into people's hearts, she was hoping that she could count on that quality to help ease her heart.

"Hmmm, well, I don't see why not," Yasaka conceited after thinking about it, she wanted to find out more about the Gremory child, and if her daughter gained a friend in the process all the better. She was getting rather lonely for her age.

"Kunou."

"Yes, mother?" the young child straightened.

"Go with the young boy, look after him for the next few hours."

"But, I—" Kunou wanted to protest, but a single look at her mother shut her up. "Yes, Mother…" she relented, dragging Naruto out.

XXX

"So, Chibi? What do you like to do for fun around here?" The young Gremory asked nonchalantly, holding his hands behind his neck.

The Kyuubi at his side glared at him lightly. She didn't see what interested her mother so much about this boy, she didn't see it at all! He was annoying, he was stupid-looking, and it wasn't the fact that he had ratted her out that had caused her dislike of him. No, not at all— okay it might've been it, but still, to be ordered by her mother of all things to take him out. She didn't like it, but she would follow through, though.

"I'm not a chibi."

"Yes, you are…"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, I am."

"Yeah, you're right, you are," Naruto smirked, happy at how their childish argument had turned out, tricking her in the process to admitting she was a chibi.

Kunou only pouted in reply.

"So, fun things to do? Chop chop."

Kunou seethed, frustrated with the boy in front of her before she took the time to think about what exactly they would be doing. "I don't know, sightseeing through Kyoto, talking with the other yokai, training in the forest…" She couldn't really think of anything that would come to mind. Perhaps she would give him a tour?

"Training?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What sort of training do you have in mind?"

Kunou smirked.

XXX

A few minutes later.

Boom!

A flurry of blue foxfire was blasted from her tails toward the overgrowth of the forest trees, and Kunou couldn't keep the smirk from forming across her face. Perhaps that would keep the devil boy quiet for the time being.

"Wow, you really are amazing," Naruto couldn't help but marvel. Sure, Kurama could produce fire so hot it would rival that of his own— like the time he battled pain and went full eight-tails to defeat him— but it was something else to see a kyuubi in action.

Kunou beamed at his praise, happy to see that the pewny devil finally knew his place. "Of course, I am, such is the power of a Kyuubi after all." Before she felt a firm hand place upon her head.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get ahead of yourself, Chibi-chan," Naruto patted her scalp, much to the girl's own frustrations.

"Prrrrr— err, stop it!" Kunou huffed, swatting Naruto's hand away. "Like you could do any better," she glared at him.

Naruto smirked, this girl was just so fun to tease. Perhaps he should show her a bit, just to mess with her a little? Stepping up to the treeline at the side of the clearing, he got ready."Watch and learn, chibi…" He conjured a small fireball, one barely the size of a mini-rasensuriken, as it soared to life, burning in the black fires he knew to be his flames.

And just like that, he sent it forward…

Boooooommm!

If one were to compare the two explosions, it was like night and day, literally. Kunou's blue fire was like that of the sun, brimming with heat and life as it exploded. His flames were like that of the void of space, dark, and without equal, as it engulfed anything destructively within its path. It was easy to tell which explosion was stronger, as Naruto simply shook the entirety of the forests outside of Kyoto in its wake.

Gusts of air were immediately sent flying in their directions, as both were forced to cover their eyes, in its wake, a nearly 50-foot wide casum could be seen.

Kunou held stars in her eyes, as she fully looked at him in surprise. Strange, Naruto fully expected her to be angry, if his past dealings with princesses were being put to use, such a response was unexpected, although not unwelcome.

"Teach me!" she requested, rushing towards him like that of a speeding bullet, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Naruto chuckled at the girl's exuberance. "Alright," he relented, happy at the way things were turning out.

What he didn't expect, was for the one hiding within the shadows to reveal themselves… and what a glorious fight that had taken place.

(AN: Insert one Jujutsu Kaisen-esk fight scene)

"Your Highness, it appears Princess Kunou and her companion were attacked!"

"What do you mean Naruto was stabbed?!"

Their little intruder had attacked, a 'bounty hunter' as he called himself, he had been strong, really strong. So much so that he had actually been caught off guard.

Naruto was stabbed in the neck, or he should say, he was stabbed through the neck, through his esphougous and windpipe as well. He should be dead, he should be lying on the ground in a ditch somewhere, any other person with such wounds would be. But Naruto Gremory? Well…

"HAHAHAHAhahaha!... You should have aimed for my head, you bastard! Ahahahhaha!" Naruto laughed as he jumped across his hospital bed, his face nearly entirely covered in his own blood, as several nurses rushed around trying to placate him. Sadly, none of their anesthetics seemed to work.

Wait? Was her son… high?

"You can't stop me! Toji Zenin! I'm the strongest!" It seemed they had been watching too much Jujustu Kaisen recently.

All the while Rias lay shocked at her child's mental state next to the room's doorway, "I don't understand… what's happened to him?" she stated baffled as her son fought off even more yokai and medical personnel that rushed in to stop him.

"I don't know what happened. But he's been like this ever since we found him," one of the nurses said, as he too rushed off to try and restrain Naruto. None were successful.

"Rias-darling, I came as soon as I heard," A familiar voice came rushing into the room. Rias mentally sighed, as if the day couldn't get any worse. Riser walked in, panting all the while before he looked toward the scene before him. "I can't believe it, he did it!"

"Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the Honored one!" Naruto said. He was floating, using his increased Phenex wind control her son was floating in the middle of the room, as several more medical personnel rushed to pull him back down. '

Rias's head snapped toward her 'husband', "Wait? Does that mean you know what's happening to him!"

Riser gulped, still panting as his arms were along his kneecaps. Before he straightens himself, "I do, yes…" Riser stated, fixing his tie and trying to regain his 'cool/confident image.' "Well, to put it simply, his Flames of Immortality have finally manifested," he chuckled a bit, his pride in his son finally breaking through a little.

Rias's eyes widened, wait? What?

"Yes, it's rather simple, and while there have been a few… late bloomers within our family, each one had a similar result." I.E. once a Phenex member's flames manifest for the first time they usually get overloaded with the new sensation and their minds need time to adjust. He knew why Rias and the Yokai who worked in the hospital didn't know about such a fact. Most of the Phenex's were too young to cause any damage like this, and the older ones were usually hidden away within select training grounds or the Phenex manor, away from prying eyes for anyone to realize.

"So will he… get back to normal?" she questioned.

"I'm the strongest shinobi alive!... hahahahhaha!"

"Most definitely," Riser confirmed, it would usually take a few hours for the average phenex… maybe a little bit more because of Naruto's unique unpredictability.

"I see…" Rias thought about it, and while she disliked Naruto getting attacked, even more so the fact he had been torn up in such a state. The fact he had been able to heal from such a fatal blow, well, it eased her mind a little that she didn't have to worry and… "Wait, Riser, how did you even get here?" They were still in Kyoto faction territory, and while she knew Riser had the poor habit of teleporting to places he didn't belong. Surely the man wouldn't be foolish enough to teleport into the heart of Yokai territory.

"I let him in," another voice called out, as they once again looked towards the hallway, seeing the familiar form of Yasaka walk their way, a startled and distraught kunou clutching at her side. "I noticed Naruto's… inebriated state and made the calculated decision to contact House Phenex for a few answers. I am however surprised their third son was able to make it here on such short notice."

"And I am eternally grateful Your Highness for letting me in." He bowed towards her, let it be known a lot had changed within Riser between the last few years, and he did know now was a time to be respectful. It wasn't every day that you met the leader of an entire faction after all. "And I—" he was interrupted.

"Amaterasu!" and now Naruto was wielding his black fire.

Yasaka raised a single blonde eyebrow, so those were the Flames of Destruction she had heard so much about.

"Hahahaha! I am the God of Destruction!"

"That's not good," Riser sighed, rushing towards his son as several other frantic yokai ran in a panic from his son.

"He certainly is an interesting child," Yasaka couldn't help but comment, seeing his fires up close was certainly a surprise. She nudged the frightened child at her side, "Well, go on then…" Kunou's eyes widened, as she nodded. Unleashing her hold on her mother, she walked into the room.

Rias was confused, about what was happening.

"Just watch," came Yasaka's only reply, before the woman elaborated, "When the bounty hunter attacked, and right after Naruto was incapacitated. Kunou thought he was dead, and while the bounty placed upon her wasn't as high as Naruto's, hers is still decently high, and enough to draw some interest, especially when she was left so vulnerable. Kunou believed she would die, and she would have, until…" the woman frowned. "Until your son came along." Once Naruto was stabbed in the neck it had taken a good while for his wounds to fully regenerate, and in that time, the one who had attacked him had switched targets to her daughter. Naruto could have run away, could have abandoned her and it would have been understandable for a boy his age.

But Naruto fearlessly took the bounty hunter on, even after he had been mutilated he still stepped in to save her daughter. Honestly, if Naruto hadn't killed the man she would have done it herself.

Yasaka bowed towards the woman, "And for that, I am eternally grateful."

Rias watched the young foxgirl walk up to Naruto amidst the chaos. Naruto stopped flying around the room, "Huh? Oh, Chibi-Kurama, how you doing?" the blonde questioned, flying down to her.

"N-Naruto, I…" Kunou stopped, staring at him before her walls broke down, and she cried. Naruto was engulfed in a warm hug, something that once again surprised him, even in his inebriated state. "I was so scared!" she wailed. "When that bad man came and I couldn't fight him off and… and… Thank you!" she cried into his chest.

Feeling a weight being placed upon her head, Kunou looked up to see his hand was patting it, "There, there, Chibi-Kurama…" Kunou cried even harder. "Don't worry, you and I will always be together…" he said deliriously, as Kunou blushed up a storm.

"Well, if you say that, you might…" the fox-girl burned red. "You might have to take responsibility!" She blurted out.

"Uhuh, uhuh, of course."

"Ufufufu~" Rias heard the fox-woman laugh at her side, "Who would have thought your son would be so audacious… I wouldn't mind such a trait in a son."

The red-haired woman's eyes widened in surprise, "Hold on… you can't possibly mean—"

"I'm not against the idea of a political marriage between the two of them, he did save my daughter's life after all, such a kind young boy will grow to be a fine man. Of course, it'll take some convincing to get the fools on my council to agree but I think they will after I inform them of the intensity of Naruto's flames. Surely you aren't against it after seeing how well the two get along?"

To say Rias was surprised was an understatement, sure she had gotten offers of numerous marriage contracts of many different designs. From people of different prestiges and age ranges— some of which were even from women older than her! But she hadn't expected this coming from the fox yokai. From what she knew, the Yokai were very stringent when it came to matters of their blood and protecting their species. The Kyuubi clans even more so, especially considering Kunou was the crown heir for the entire faction, and she was sure the girl had numerous possible suitors already. To receive an offer like this was surprising, that being said… She wasn't going to throw Naruto any marriage contracts that he didn't want to, not how she had been. So she was going to give a similar response as she had given to the many others, the answer was not only no, but Hell No! She wasn't gonna let just any girl take—

"Together forever…Together forever… Chibi-kurama." Naruto said, patting Kunou's tails, and if the girl had been red before, she was even more now. So much so that it put her crimson hair to shame.

"Okay… but you have to… to t-take responsibility," the fox-girl blushed at her own words.

"Of course." Naruto thought he was talking with Kurama, he was too loopy to disagree.

Rias Gremory only sighed, from the politics of meeting the Kyoto leader to negotiations, and then finding out her son had been mutilated. Finding him here in the hospital, dealing with an inebriated five-year-old, Riser, and marriage agreements… needless to say, Rias's brain had short-circuited a long time ago.

Speaking of Riser, he had been awfully quiet as of late. Where was he?... Lying on the floor, exhausted from chasing their flying son around.

Rias didn't know what to make of things.

"I am the strongest!"

Ever since Naruto unlocked his Phenex regeneration things had gotten even more hectic, his mother had been far more possessive of him, and so had Akeno. But things hadn't been so bad his mother and the Kyoto leader had made some sort of deal for territory and the like. The politics completely went over his head, but he found out that Kunou was leaning toward becoming an emissary between the two of their factions, and as such she had come to the Gremory household a lot more often. He liked Kunou, she reminded him a bit of his longtime friend Kurama, but there were a few times she would clam up and her face would redden a lot, something that reminded him a lot of Hinata back in the days, and he wondered why. Venelana-Obaa-san had warmed up to her, and Auntie-Grayfia did as well, but they always gave him knowing looks when he was around her, it kind of bothered him. Akeno didn't like her, though, he could see the looks they flashed each other from time to time, and sometimes he just needed a moment to himself.

Unlocking his flames of regeneration, he couldn't help but marvel at their complexity. Before, he had always imagined them as an extension of the user's will, as Kurama's chakra had once been. But in his moment of desperation, in the moment he had once again tangled within the lines between life and death he stopped thinking about offense entirely. In the moment his neck had been pierced he had poured all of his energy and concentration on defense, letting his flames go through his entire body. He didn't force it this time and had let them flow through every inch of his very being. It was like the flames had a mind of their own, instinctually trying to protect their user and regenerate them into a newer and improved self.

That was the part he didn't understand before, as one had to fully accept themselves and trust that the flames would protect them. And for someone who had only perceived his flames as a destructive force— being blasted by Sasuke's Amerterasu nearly on a daily did that to a person— it had been hard to do until one fully accepted that there was no other option.

Even still, he had been careless and had underestimated the forces of this world.

And while he doubted something as strong as Kaguya could exist within this world, the versatility the planet had to offer was something else. …What did the bounty hunter say he was again? The reincarnation of some hero that had slayed a red dragon named Fafnir or something, he didn't really understand it. But what he did get was the fact that the man's sword had been able to slice through his flames in their entirety, which had given him ample opportunity to attack. And given the fact that he was still within his growing— and very much slow— body he wasn't able to counter.

Being stabbed in the neck hurt almost as bad as getting stabbed in the lungs, go figure.

Nevertheless, it was at that moment he understood, there wasn't a difference between his flames and the supposed Phenex 'Flames of immortality', they were the same. It was hard to believe, but a Phenex's body was able to take in its flames, using their magic in a way never thought possible. But to do so, it required one to fully trust that the flames would help them recover, any sort of mental doubt would cause a fluctuation, something one could not afford in such a moment. That had been what he had been missing before, he had always been capable of using his flames in such a way, that it was like his body called out for it. But the problem had been his mental state, or should he say his mind.

He always doubted that his flames would heal him, and that wasn't just because they were different than the normal ones. He knew flame-based regeneration was possible, his 'father' had been all too clear on pointing it out. The problem had been him, deep within his subconscious he doubted that the flames would heal him. Just a thought, a fraction of what his mind had been thinking, but it was enough, and as such his regeneration always failed.

That had been why most Phenex were able to use their healing since birth, since they hadn't known anything else. It was as if they weren't born with the instinctual fear of fire or those that did quickly got over it.

He had been different, he had lived a total of 17 years where he thought that fire was very dangerous, of course, it would take time for him to literally re-wire his brain to think otherwise.

But he did, and he unlocked a new sweet power in the process— Man was he a badass.

Nevertheless, his regeneration still needed some work, and while he was good at taking pain, he wasn't sure he was quite ready to have his limbs torn off as a constant. As such he needed a good teacher, what better teacher than the one who had initially bragged about this being such an 'invincible' ability? His 'Father' had been his first choice, of course— it wasn't like he knew any other Phenex members.

And he agreed… but then he bailed on him, for a woman no less.

Seriously? It reminded him of all those times that Pervy-sage promised to train him only to sneak off to a hot spring or brothel or something.

Of course, he decided to prank the bastard, ever since reincarnating into this small body it had been a pastime of his. The problem was, the fact that his father was located within the Phenex manor, a place he had strangely never been to. But, he wasn't the number one badass ninja for nothing— anyone who said it was Madara or Kakashi-sensei was a liar— and finding out the approximate location from a few maids at the Gremory manor. Using his super-cool devil wings and wind control he was able to get there fast. And along with his shinobi stealth skills he was of course able to sneak inside. Overhearing a few conversations from the maids within the Phenex manor he was able to find out where exactly Riser's chambers were located. Side note: he did not need to know how often his father and harem ended up screwing each other; maids did like to gossip about everything, he supposed, no matter where they worked.

He was outside Riser's bedroom door, and from the sound of it they were asleep, that was good, 'strike where the enemy is most vulnerable' to quote the legendary Sun Tzu. Pranking was all the same as far as he was concerned, and when he had a target, he wasn't going to show any mercy. Now, all he had to do was pull the handle to what he assumed to be his father's room and—

"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here!" a voice yelled out, as Naruto's head stapped to his side.

It was a girl, several years older than his current body, with long sunny-golden hair done in drills and piercing blue eyes—almost like that of his original body. She wore frills, lots of frills, almost to the point that one had to wonder whether or not the girl knew that other clothes existed. Like seriously, did she think she was some sort of princess or something? Well, she might be, for all he knew, there was a boatload of them within this world, as he came to know.

She looked like the Ojou-sama type, a type he was all too familiar with during his time saving all those princesses during his missions. Kunou had been one too, if he were not mistaken, he knew how to deal with them.

Now, if this were any other sort of situation he would have commended the girl for being able to sneak up on him, even if he had been a little rusty over the last few years. Still, she was good, really good, and would likely grow up to be a fine shinobi or warrior or whatever this world had. But now? Now he let his shinobi senses kick in, it wouldn't do for his mission to get ruined because there was a single lookout after all.

So he did what came naturally— at least natural for a ninja, that is— he rushed towards the girl faster than she could blink, using one of his hands to bring her arms to her back, while using his other to bring it to her mouth, not even giving the girl a moment to scream.

From then on he would need to find a way for her to cooperate— sure he could knock her unconscious if he wanted, but he didn't want to cause any unnecessary damage if he had to.

Ravel Phenex's eyes widened as the young intruder held her in a firm hold, she wanted to scream, wanted to cry out, but her mouth was covered, the only thing releasing from her mouth being muffled gasps that were drowned out everywhere. How could she be so foolish? Sure she had seen someone walking through the manor, but she had assumed they were some sort of guest or something— the Phenex security was impenetrable, after all, just like everything else about her family. Who wouldn't? The boy could be no older than her, after all… come to find out she had been wrong, very wrong. Her immortal body would not be helping her now, as her enemy didn't seem intent on hurting her, but she still had her flame control, if she could just conjure up a fireball—

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Princess" her captor warned, Ravel didn't know why, but there was something about that voice that instilled absolute obedience. "If you comply, and just be patient, I promise nobody will get hurt," she heard him say, and for some reason, she believed him. She didn't know why, but for some reason his voice soothed her, to the point she actually believed he would keep his word.

"This room, belongs to Riser Phenex, isn't it?" Ravel nodded, not trusting her voice. She didn't know what was happening, nor what he was doing with her. "Good" Naruto affirmed. "Now, don't make any noise." As the blonde opened the room, the putrid scent of sex and bodily fluids instantly hit his ears—couldn't they open a window or something? Nevertheless, he looked around the room, seeing that every single person was asleep, that was good, he didn't want to have to disarm two people after all. One was enough, he really would have to explain this situation a bit better once he completed his mission, that would suck.

Nevertheless, he saw his target, a tall big shower in the middle of the room— seriously, what was the deal with nobility and washing in the oddest of places? He never knew. He neared it, taking out a small pink bottle from his pocket, and swapping it with the identical-looking bottle of normal shampoo. Still being careful to keep his grip on the girl, it wouldn't do to let her make any noise now while they were in the lion's den.

Ravel raised a single eyebrow, wondering just what sort of plans this yong child had. Was it some kind of poison, a curse of some kind, something even more reactive and violent— completely forgetting that her brother was, a Phenex, and wouldn't be hurt by poisons or the like even on an off day? Her mind went into even more frantic thoughts as the boy holding her hostage dragged them both into a nearby dresser. They waited for what felt like hours but were likely no more than a few minutes.

Until she heard the voice of her brother waking up, "Of course my dear, I'm just going to a quick shower, and then we can get back to our fun~" Riser stated. Oh no, the mysterious bottle that the boy put there! Ravel tried to squirm, tried to make noise, but it was no use, and…

"Ahhhhh! What the hell is this!" She heard her brother scream out, she feared the worst.

Until Naruto pushed them out of the dresser they were hiding within. The scene of acid melting through Riser's brain Ravel had been expecting disappeared, and in its place, stood her brother, jumped out of the shower, a very frantic look on his face.

"Riser-sama, what's going… Hahaha~" Yubelluna, her brother's [Queen] laughed out, she could see why. Because instead of the usual golden blonde hair Ravel had thought to be expecting from her brother was gone, in its place stood a mop of pink, hot pink, so much so that one had to wonder how it had been dyed so quickly and under her brother's notice.

Ha! I got you!" Naruto yelled out.

"Naruto? Ravel? This was you?!" Riser yelled out indignantly.

"You bet it was, Yakatori-Tou-san! And I had an amazing partner in crime!" he chimed. "That'll teach you to skimp out on training." his father huffed in reply.

All the while Ravel stood stunned, wait, so there wasn't an assassin that was after her brother after all? It was just his son, the one she'd heard so much about— they had never met, oddly enough. It was just some sort of prank? To see her brother in such a state, it was, it was…

That's when Ravel truly did something unexpected… she laughed, at first it was subtle, then it grew a little louder, and finally, it grew so loud that it took up the whole room. "Ha… Haha… hahahhahaha!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh as well, it seemed it was contagious. "Hahahaha," He needed to take some pictures, his mother would have a field day with this.

It was only then that Ravel took notice of Naruto's hand still holding onto hers, as she blushed a bit.

"Hey Mom, do you want to watch some anime, I know the latest few episodes came out, and I know you're still rooting for Rukia. I mean, I'm still kind of a fan of Orihime myself but—oh?" He stated, hauling a few DVDs and other objects into his mother's room.

Before he paused, taking a moment to finally look around within the room. Inside the room, he saw the figure of his mother. She looked worried, pacing within the room, a thoughtful expression across her face.

"Uh, mom? Are you okay?" He questioned.

His mother blinked, finally taking the time to look at him. "Huh? Oh, Naruto, it's you," she stated, finally allowing herself to relax, even a little. "No, its nothing, sadly it seems we won't have time to watch anything today. Honestly, I'm just a little anxious because…" she cast a small glance to the corner of the room, right towards the foremost sofa where a figure sat, one that he questioned how he hadn't noticed before.

She was small, impressively so to the point it was hard to even spot her she was so small that—well, she was about his size. He was still growing damnit! Which was shocking, considering he could tell she was older than him by several years.

But, if he had to describe her in one word, he would say: she was cute, very cute, like a kitten, or a small cat that one would find on the corner of a street on a rainy day. She was a petite young girl with silvery-snow white hair that was short— she also had a set of small, but quite cute black hair pins–- with big, bright, golden eyes that only seemed to stare off into the distance. Something was unnerving within those eyes, or that is to say, her eyes appeared to be so bright, so full of life, and yet, they appeared hollow inside like he was staring into the golden orbs of a doll.

In all honesty, those eyes looked familiar, because they were the eyes of someone who had lost everything they once had. He'd had those eyes once, for the first couple of years at least. And it had been the worst time of his life, he knew he needed to do something, but what?

Rias Gremory had been having a frustrating day, to say the least. It had started when her brother, the Lucifer Sirzech's Gremory had come with an interesting individual, and new she had not quite been expecting. Kuroka, the Underworld's hell cat who had been rising in prestige under the house of Naberius had killed her master and become a rogue devil. Such news only stemmed to cause outrage within the underworld, word was, that Kuroka, given her nature as a Nekoushou, fell victim to the madness of senjustu. Which gave rise to her newest label of SS-ranked most wanted. The underworld was crying out for blood, and unfortunately, there was only one person that could satiate it.

Shirone, the sister of Kuroka had been found at the crime scene and had been charged for her sister's crimes in her place. The girl had been slated for death and would have been killed had it not been for Sirzechs stepping in, using his authority as a Maou to fake Shirone's death certificate to please the underworld's hunger.

Her brother leaving Shirone in her care— it wouldn't be wise to have her associating with Sirzechs after all, there would be too many questions. Reincarnating the nekoshou as her latest piece, her [Rook, but she still hadn't been able to get through to her at all. Shirone didn't speak, didn't eat— she also dismissed her yokai traits in their entirety— and ever since the devils had recovered her she had just been left in this catatonic state. In all honestly, it was like she had taken guardianship with a doll, she didn't know what to do.

"Hey, name's Naruto," she heard her son speak, as he approached Shirone. And as much as she loved her son she was afraid she knew what he tried wouldn't work, they had tried that already. And unfortunately, any attempt at communication had been thoroughly ignored.

Naruto offered a hand out to the girl, but she didn't respond, only looking off into the distance. But that's when Naruto did something unexpected. Pushing his hand forward, he patted her head and—

"Prrrrr~" She purred, she actually purred. Y'know, Naruto thought she looked like a cat, but he didn't expect her to act like one. But instead of her pushing him away he leaned into his touch, much like a kitten would. It was kinda cute.

"Say, Shiro-neko, what's your name," he asked, not expecting an answer.

"It's… I don't have a name…" she said solemnly, looking down. She didn't have a name, didn't want to associate herself with that woman.. As Rias's head snapped in their direction, not having expected Shirone to actually speak.

"Well that's too bad," Naruto frowned, as he continued to pat the girl's head. "Hey, why don't we come up with a new name for you? How would you like that, eh, Shiro-neko?" He questioned.

Shirone nodded, as Naruto thought long and hard at what sort of name they might give her. He didn't know much about her, so anything based on her personality was out. Honestly, the only real thing he knew about her was that she was small, and she resembled a cat.

Snapping his fingers together, he thoug

ht of something. "Oh, I know, why don't we go with Koneko, how does that sound?" He questioned,

"Koneko… I like It…" Her voice was low, but soft, something that Naruto could get used to it.

"Great? Now, Shiro-Neko, why don't we watch some anime together? I have some candy so that we—" The now-named 'Koneko' stole the chocolate right from his side, and she then climbed onto his lap. Getting an even better vantage point for Naruto to continue his ministrations.

And just like that, Naruto had made a friend.

And Rias was baffled at her son's ability to get through to people.

"Kuoh academy? Huh?"

Several years later.

Within the next few years, things had played out relatively the same. He did pranks, he hung out with his friends, he trained and things were looking good.

His mother even ended up getting a few more pieces as well, namely a [Bishop] and [Knight, Ghasper Vali, and Kiba Yuuto respectively. And while he didn't necessarily get along with them as well, as he did Koneko, or even Akeno to some extent, he wouldn't say he had a bad relationship with them.

Speaking of Koneko, she'd grown in the years since he'd met her. These days they usually took up watching anime together and eating sweets to their hearts' content as he patted her small little head. But she also had other hobbies as well, like rap, for example, which was always cool to practice and sing from time to time. Apart from that, she had made heavy progress in her trauma including her sister, sure she hadn't gone using senjutsu all of a sudden, but she had taken to releasing out her cat-like features from time to time. Especially when he called her cat ears and tail cute, he wondered why.

And once Ravel had gotten over her ojou-sama-like tendencies she was also good company to keep as well. He found out she was smart, like, really smart, and beat him in chess every time. And she was talented too— it had been that same talent that had caused her to sneak up on him during the first time they had met. So when he came over to the Phenex manor to train with his father Ravel decided to do the same, it had been fun.

Kunou had also been a good friend of his, and if he had to describe the girl in one word it would be… perfect. She was the perfect leader, the perfect shrine maiden, the perfect diplomat, it was like there was nothing that the girl couldn't do. Plus, she was a fox, which was just downright cool.

As for Akeno, well, she had grown to be… something, a far cry from the overly clingy broken girl he had found her to be when he first met her. If you were talking about purely appearances he would say that she was up there in beauty with people like Tsunade Senju or Hinata for that matter. But if you were talking about personality, let's just say she reminded him way too much like Anko. She scared him, she scared him a lot. But he cared for her in his own way, and the little banter they shared in between the little things he wouldn't trade for anything.

When his mother gave him the offer of attending Kuoh Junior High, well, to say he was hesitant was an understatement. Weren't Venelana-baa-chan's lessons enough? But he warmed up to it, after all, he saw his mother really wanted to go for some reason, and if she wanted to masquerade as a high-school student he wasn't going to stop her—even if he found it a little weird. His friends had come as well, with Kunou joining him in junior high whereas, Koneko and Ravel were first-years in high school and Akeno was a third year with his mother.

And it was that decision that led him into the very precarious situation he was in.

"Naruto? Is something on your mind?" the concerned words of his mother came out.

What sort of situation was he in you might ask? Well, it certainly was a strange one. For starters, he was naked, his mother was naked too, he noted idly. They were also in a bathtub, a large one that his mother had placed within the ORC building— how she was able to convince people to build a bath and shower within the middle of an abandoned school building he never knew. But that wasn't the strangest thing, the strangest part? It was that he was totally used to it.

And no, he wasn't used to seeing her naked, that part would never not be weird to him. What he was used to was the constant skinship and closeness his mother desired from him, and as such he wasn't surprised by his mother's strange behavior. It was often times like these he wondered if this was normal for devils to act like this—it really tore into the whole 'devils eat your soul' idea he once had within his head— or was it just Rias Gremory that acted like this? He realized it was probably the ladder, Gremory's were always known for their compassion within the underworld after all. And it wouldn't be his mother if she weren't overly clingy or friendly to skinship.

As a certain modern shonen mangaka would say, 'Was she Rias Gremory because she into skinship? Or was she into skinship because she was Rias Gremory,' he didn't know. It wasn't like he was against the idea, especially because in his first life he was very averse to parental or even familial touch. His only real experience was the few times Tsunade had kissed or hugged him those times she was drunk—unless you counted whenever Sakura would wail on his head.

The only time it became a problem was when he was younger, finding out Rias Gremory slept in the nude was a bit of a shock— what was worse was when he'd learned Akeno had taken up such a bad habit.

Nevertheless, he was self-aware enough to realize one simple thing: Rias Gremory was hot, he wasn't going to deny it. And he didn't mean that in the same way he would say Akeno or Ravel were hot, but objectively Rias Gremory was very beautiful, Kushina had been as well, and he knew that. He was mature enough to realize both of his mothers were badass and a great catch for anyone.

Did that mean he was sexually attracted to them? No… Hell no! He'd rather chop off his own dick than feel any of those feelings towards his mother, that was just weird.

And so, he was in a bath, naked as the day he was born, with one admittedly very hot adult female, and he felt no attraction or gratification… life was strange sometimes.

"Here, let me get your back for you," his mother voiced sitting behind him, as she did so Naruto just continued to dip his head under the water, basically just trying to ignore what was happening around him. "So, what seems to be bothering you?" she asked, soaping him.

Naruto looked off to the side, not bothering to speak at all.

"Come now, Naruto, if you don't speak we're going to be here all day."

The young blonde sighed, which really only just allowed a few bubbles to flow everywhere, but he got the point. Sitting up, putting his arm on the edge of the bathtub as he held his chin. "It's auntie-Ravel, or that is to say Ravel, Kunou, and Koneko…" he told her.

"Hmmm…" his mother hummed, already having an inkling as to where this was going.

"We were hanging out, pulling a few pranks on some of our upperclassmen— the idiot-trio who always peeps on others— when suddenly Koneko got a little too close when one of the traps misfired cause it kinda of scared her. Kunou started to act strangely after that, and Ravel started to act more like… well more like she used to, when she was a spoiled brat."

"I see, and you're… mad about this?"

Naruto shook his head, "It's not that I'm mad, this is the first time something like this happened, and I don't understand why," he said, lost in thought at the whole ordeal.

Rias inwardly sighed, of course, she knew the reason, as both a girl and someone with a brain she had known that the three girls had developed a crush on her son— even if he was a little younger, to devils, age had no real affect on one's attraction. Although that wasn't quite right either— it was more accurate to say the three were in love with Naruto, she could see it plain as day. For Kunou, Naruto had been her savior, the one to help her in her time of need and to become the pillar of strength that she desired in her lonely life. For Koneko, Naruto had been her first friend, the relationship to prove that she wasn't worth abandoning, and to her, that meant the world.

As for Ravel, in truth, most of the marriage proposals she received for naruto came from said girl's family. The Phenex clan was very prestigious and influential, and to top it off they valued the purity of their blood more than anything, finding out there was a Phenex with flames that burned hotter than even their own, and the fact he was similar in years to the Phenex's youngest daughter, it had likely been a godsend in their eyes. Marrying a clan member off to their cousin, aunt, or even sister in some cases—sisters wasn't outside the realm of the norm within the underworld— even still she had been averse to the idea. So she did what she did naturally, and negotiated with the Phenex to allow a brief respite in the two's lives to buy time, surprisingly they agreed. The Phenex couldn't have them developing a sisterly or even aunt-nephew-like relationship after all. But even still if her information from Riser was anything to go off of Ravel was still groomed to the idea of being married off to her son. However, meeting Naruto was a whole different story and in all actuality, it was a wake-up call for the young girl. The girl was likely nervous and afraid that she would be forced to spend her life with some monster— she knew she did when she was her age. Nevertheless, meeting Naruto had been something else for the girl, he was kind— in his own way— thoughtful, honest the person to give it to her straight on things no one else would, which ended up breaking through the girl's initial cold exterior. And it was those types of qualities in a person that were much appreciated in the world of nobles and lies that people such as them were trapped in.

It was obvious that all these girls would fall for Naruto.

"Naruto, are you aware you're around too many girls all the time?" Rias sighed, still washing his back.

"What? Is this your way of telling me that I should hang out with Kiba more? Because I don't like him, he's way too girly!"

Rias nearly chuckled, holding in at Naruto's not-so-silent jab at her [Knight, Kiba? Girly? Only Naruto would say something so blatantly. But even still she had to ask, if only for her own amusement, "Okay, and what about Ghasper?"

Naruto laughed, "Heh. I'm pretty sure he's scared of me."

"Okay, that aside… No, I'm not going to force you to hang out with more boys your age, although you should," Rias nipped this new conversation in the bud before it even began. "But, you have to realize that you are, in fact, hanging out with a group of three girls."

"Yeah, and?" Naruto blinked, he thought that was obvious.

Rias sighed, this was going to be hard to explain, especially to a guy. "Look, Naruto, girls are complicated creatures, more so than anything else on Earth. We speak things but mean the opposite, we think things yet feel entirely different. And while our words might mean one thing our actions are entirely different, with girls—especially budding women like you are dealing with— you have to be aware of that. Are you following?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, so I have to pay attention to what they are doing instead of what they're saying, got it."

"Yes," Rias nodded, and while Ravel, Koneko, and Kunou might be friends on the surface, they all were also competitors in this little game of theirs called love. It was times like these when she almost felt sorry for her son, almost. "... but that's not really what's bothering you, is it?" Rias pointed it out.

As Naruto's eyes widened, "How did you…"

Rias scoffed, "Oh please, Naruto, I've been your mother for 12 years, you'd think I'd at least figured out how you thought once in a while."

Naruto sighed, he should have known, his mother was a badass after all, as he once again leaned on the side of the tub. To take his mind off the things he'd rather not think about he thought long and hard about his situation regarding Kunou, Ravel and Koneko, thinking back to Hinata's actions he's always written off as strange. The way the girl would always turn red at his contact or yearn to hold his hand or talk to him. And of course, he couldn't forget about the girl's confession to him, right as she valiantly gave her life in his battle against Pein— he never got to respond to her, he recalled bitterly. Even so, in his time in this new life, and this information, he'd come to one singular conclusion…

"Three girls are in love with me," he voiced.

"Yes, quite." Rias was shocked at Naruto's self-awareness, but she could tell this wasn't entirely what was bothering him. "So what will you do?"

Naruto laughed, that was indeed the question.

And he wasn't talking about just the girls, what would he do? It had been the question racing throughout his mind ever since he was reborn, and it had been something he'd thought long and hard about.

Back in his old world— his old life— he'd always strived to become Hokage, that had been his main goal in life. He'd been born with nothing—less than that, actually— and everyone within the hidden leaf village despised him for being their jinchuriki. He strived to prove them wrong, and to attain that beingHokage was paramount.

But now? He had been born with everything he desired. A kind mother, an aloof, but somewhat reliable father, friends, and power, but even then he often was left to wonder… what did he want to do with his new life.

He had been reincarnated, that much had been obvious, and given a complete second chance to do anything. But that was just it, in a world of infinite possibilities he often wondered which one he should choose.

He never desired to become Gremory clan head, even if he was technically an heir— although not the first heir or the one in line— that dream always belonged to his mother. Something he would let her handle by herself.

Devil succession was something that had been drilled into him. Usually, devils took an extreme amount of time to produce, with most taking five hundred to even seven hundred years to just produce a single heir. Cases like Rias and Sirzechs were rare, but weren't exactly uncommon in the grand scheme of things, stuff like that did happen occasionally— Serafall and her sister Sona were in the same boat.

Even so, despite the odds his birth had been groundbreaking with Rias Gremory giving birth in just a few decades of life. In truth the clan didn't know what to make of it, usually, an heir would have already taken up status as clan head before giving birth to any children, desiring otherwise was like playing the lottery, the odds were always against you. But with his birth, it meant that a clan heir was giving birth to another heir before succession, and had been a really big mess. Nowadays he just decided giving his mother clan head status would be more beneficial for everyone, he didn't want to get saddled with all the politics that came with the job. He was content being a second heir, with his cousin Milicas rounding things off with being the third.

But that brought on a whole new load of questions, if he didn't want to become clan head what did he want to do?

Did he want to become Lucifer? Which was similar enough to his old dream of becoming Hokage. Did he want to follow in his old sensei's and Nagato's footsteps and strive to attain peace within this new world of his like his old world seemed to be attaining? There were a lot of pantheons within this world, so there was no shortage of peace needed. Did he want to reignite the shinobi system? Maybe start his own faction? There were just so many things he could be doing and… it bothered him not knowing what to do.

What good was all this power if he really didn't have a goal for using it?

"You know, Mother, I'm really not sure," he told her honestly.

Rias Gremory's eyes softened for merely a moment, "Well, whatever you're going to do, I'm sure it'll be perfect, after all… you're the strongest," she smiled, quoting back his saying.

Naruto smiled as well, before smirking, turning around, " You're damn right I am, I wouldn't be Naruto Gremory if I wasn't!"

"Yes, quite."

"Ara-ara~ What a touching sight we have here between mother and son, it almost makes me want to join in as well," a voice came from the other side of the room. It was Akeno, and not just any Akeno, but one who had grown in both curves and voluptuous proportions over the years.

Did he forget to mention one thing? Well, Akeno was naked, very naked, and looking to get into the strangely large bathtub as well.

He did anything a normal young hormonal teen on the cusp of entering puberty would do seeing an admittedly very beautiful and naked woman in front of him… he covered his junk.

XXX

"Alright, do you know why I've gathered each of you here today?" Naruto questioned. They were all within the ORC building, sitting on the chairs, waiting for this 'meeting' to begin.

"Umm, actually, no, we don't…" Kunou stated she was on the couch, sitting next to both Ravel and Koneko respectively.

"Yeah, Naruto, why did you call us out here?" His mother questioned, as she sat, right across from her was her 'husband,' Riser Phenex sitting in an ornately done chair much like her own. Akeno was behind her, as any good [Queen] would be, but even then you could tell she was curious as well. The look on Naruto's face told of full seriousness to be held.

"Well, Mother, I've called this family meeting to order because—"

"Wait a minute, if this is a household meeting, then why is the Yakatori or fake princess even here?" Koneko interrupted, sending a small jab at the resident Phenex and Kitsune next to her.

"Because I'm a part of his family, unlike you, furball, you're just a servant, " Ravel huffed, Kunou chose to keep quiet during this interaction, although her eyebrows were witching.

Kiba Yuuto, a blonde-haired kid with grey eyes slowly raised his hand, sitting at one of the seats along the edge of the room, "Well, if this is a family meeting, then why are Gasper-kun or I present?" referring to the cardboard-box within the room caring a blonde girlish-vampire boy with crimson eyes. This was Rias Gremory's [Knight] who held the unique ability to stop time, the only problem was that he couldn't control it, and usually would activate it accidentally during the worst times. Usually, he was sealed off, but now he wasn't, mainly because he was so scared of Naruto that each time he tried to activate it Naruto would throw a small fireball at him, which usually kept his abilities in check. It also didn't help that Ghasper's ability did not seem to affect Naruto, which only contributed to the boy's fear.

"Yeah, I'd just like to return to my room…" Gasper admitted from within his box.

"Shut up Girly-boy, pretty-boy," Naruto told them, which only caused them to grow confused, wondering which nickname was referring to them, it didn't matter. As the blonde once again continued. "Anyways, I've called all of you here because I've decided."

"You decided what, Naruto-kun?" Kunou asked as Ravel and Koneko perked up as well.

Naruto smiled, "A brilliant question, dear Chibi-chan, as for your answer… I've decided what I want to do with my life, I am the strongest after all—" he said with pride before he was interrupted.

"Hold on, I thought Great Red was the strongest?" Kiba spoke up.

"Or Ophis."

"What about Sirzechs-sama?"

"Or what about—"

"Look, I'm the strongest in this room, there." Naruto's eyebrows twitched. As they all looked at each other, he was right, even Riser shrugged, Naruto had surpassed him in strength a long time ago. "Now, as for what I've decided to do…"

"Do you want to be Lucifer?" Ravel inquired.

"Do you want to be Gremory clan head?" Koneko asked.

"Nonsense, do you want to be Leviathan? I'm sure you'd love visiting all those new different places," Kunou suggested.

"Do you finally want to confess your love for me as we run away together?"

Naruto sighed, "No, Akeno, I haven't decided to do that." As everyone else in the room looked at her, perplexed.

The young woman merely coughed into her sleeve, "What? I thought we were giving suggestions."

"Akeno's strange jokes aside, I for one think it's wonderful that you've decided on your goal," Rias commented. "What is it?" A Naruto once again tried to open his mouth to speak.

"Well, isn't it obvious? My son wants to be like his old man," Riser smirked.

Rias scoffed, "Oh please, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"And you presume our son wants to be like you, dear?" Riser shot back.

"Of course," Rias smirked.

"I always thought Naruto wanted to become the pirate king?" Ghasper whispered out.

Kiba only shook his head, "No, that's the wrong anime."

"Nonsense, bird-brain, Catnip, he's my betrothed."

"No, he's going to be my mate."

"Oh, please, Yakitori, like he likes big-breasted bimbos like you."

"Like he'd prefer flaties like you."

"Flatty? I—"

"Enough!" Naruto shouted, letting his immense magical pressure break through, as each of them felt the weight of the world along their shoulders. Silencing the whole room. "As for what I've decided…"

He wanted to choose something that would commemorate his masters, and not just Jiraya, but Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, and even his father Riser here in this world as well. Not only that, he wanted to choose something along the lines of this new world as well, something that would help him go far in this world. But most importantly, he wanted it to help him protect his friends, to gain the strength to not be stagnant, and protect the girls he held dear to him.

"I want to be…" Everyone was at the edge of their seats now, some people more than others. Ravel and Kunou most of all, if Naruto wanted to do something then it would have to be amazing, no other dream would cut it.

"... a harem king"

"Eh?" Rias and practically everyone shouted out.

"Hahahaha!" Riser laughed, he guessed his son was more like him than he thought.

"Yup, so if anyone would like to be a part of my harem, please raise your hand," Naruto nodded.

Rias held her face in her palm, stunned. As Kunou's, Ravel's, and even Koneko's hands shot upward, and someone's else did slowly as well.

"Akeno?"

"What? Rias? He asked," her Akeno defended.

The end.

An: I spent way too much time on this, in truth, I desired to have this story publish on mother's day, but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it in time given its length. If I'm being honest I don't even think this One-shot is all that good, but wow... 22k words, I'm not even sure why I completed it the way I did. There's a few JJK references, mainly because I was reading it at the time of writing this.

But if I think I wrote this concept as well as I could have, with a 'younger Naruto in the dxd-verse' that is. Who knows, maybe I'll do another one with Rias in the future, although not likely.

I think I kind of wrote myself into a corner with the whole 'succubus in scarlets' thing, it was supposed to be fun but it really just made it so I couldn't work on any other one-shot like this until I finished this one, which kind of dampened my mood. Safe thing is to say I won't be continuing that concept anytime soon.

Although I do actually have another one-shot for this series that has been decently typed out with a few thousand words. Its also another DXD female as well, so feel free to guess who it is.

This one I was trying to focus a bit more on the mother/son relationship they would have, which I got a few reviews I should've done last time. And some of these one-shots will do that, some won't it really depends on a case by case basis.

Anyway, if you liked it, leave a review, if you hated it, leave a review:

Please leave me lots and lots of Nice reviews.

If you have any ideas for more one-shots or mothers let me know.