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Chapter 32

When xenovia saw naruto standing in front of her with his trademark foxy grin, she couldn't help but shed some tears of joy at seeing him in one piece.

Naruto, for his part, felt very relieved to see xenovia well and safe. He couldn't help but grin at seeing her surprised expression. But when he saw tears falling from her eyes, he mentally panicked and was about to ask her what was wrong, but in the next second he caught a blue blur which slammed right at his chest and caused both of them to fall on the ground with a thud.

Naruto groaned and slightly raised his head to see who slammed into him like a mad bull, but he suddenly felt two arms wrapped around his neck and a soft skin rubbing his cheek.

When he opened one of his eyes, he saw that it was xenovia who not only slammed into him but also hugged him while straddling him on the ground.

"Naruto-kun, you are back! I-i thought you're not coming back anymore." She said with a few sobs while tears falling from her eyes.

Feeling the tears on his cheek, he gave a soft smile and gently wrapped his arms around her back and rubbed it soothingly. "Don't worry xenovia-chan. look, i'm fine." He said in a reassuring tone, before xenovia slowly raised her head and looked at naruto with teary eyes.

Seeing her tears, he slowly brought his hand and gently wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her a warm smile. "Please don't cry xenovia-chan, tears don't suit your cute face." He said with a sincere tone which made her blush and she shyly looked away. "You really think i'm cute?" She asked with a shy tone.

Naruto grinned and gave her an enthusiastic nod. "Yep, you're very cute, and i really mean it." He said in a cheerful tone, which made her blush even harder. He then looked at the other kids and gave them a glare. "Oi, did any one of you bastards make her sad by calling her ugly!?" He asked with a stoic voice which intimidated a few of them. The rest of them are just sweating bullets and simply shook their heads.

Naruto stopped glaring when he heard a giggle. Xenovia is trying her best to not burst out into laughter at seeing their uncomfortable faces. Naruto always puts them in their places with a few harsh pranks which traumatize them for days.

When she noticed that naruto was looking at her in confusion, She quickly stopped her giggles and looked at naruto with a blush on her cheeks. "Thank you naruto-kun, for standing out for me, even though they haven't done anything yet." She said with a shy voice and smiled softly, while putting both of her hands at the top of her heart.

Naruto gave her his trademark foxy grin and a thumbs up. "No problem xenovia-chan. Tell me if they do something to you. I will go on a pranking spree, and prank them to death if necessary." With that proclamation, everyone from olson's church, who understood what he said immediately grew pale and started to shed crocodile tears from their eyes. "Noooooo!? Not another pranking spree!" Everyone yelled while pathetically dropping to the ground on their knees with a simultaneous thud.

They then heard some giggling coming towards the place where griselda and the other exorcists are standing. Looking towards the place, they saw that the men exorcists were very amused and the women exorcists were giggling while pointing fingers at naruto and a straddling xenovia, who's still sitting on naruto's stomach and not realizing what she is doing.

Griselda quickly calmed down and approached them with an amused smirk on her face. Naruto looked at griselda with a raised eye brow. When she came closer, she kneeled down and looked at naruto with amusement, before her gaze went to xenovia who was looking at her in confusion. "My, my... Aren't you going a little too fast, young lady? You desire to go on a relationship so quickly, huh?" Griselda asked with a teasing tone, which xenovia didn't understand at first, but when she looked down at naruto who was looking at griselda in obvious confusion, she realized their position and it looked pretty much intimate.

Even though she dosen't know about the birds and the bees, it's still very embarrassing to see and with a tomato coloured red face, she quickly got off of naruto and looked away to hide her burning cheeks.

All the exorcists who came with griselda couldn't hold any longer and burst out into laughter.

Naruto is just very confused. He is still not getting why the others are laughing so much, while he is still laying on the ground on his back. "Um.. Can someone explain to me why everyone is laughing so much?" Naruto asked with an innocent tone. The ones who are laughing are now laughing even harder at his obliviousness.

Griselda is silently giggling while xenovia released a sigh of relief.

Inside the subconscious

Shinten gaped. He never understood why naruto is the way he is. First, he says something that will make the young ladies swoon for him and acts like the ladies man, and in the next second, he acts like an innocent and oblivious child, like he didn't even know what he said or what he did in the first place.

Shinten's gaped expression slowly turned into a deadpan expression. But if you look carefully, you can see his left eye is twitching violently, and he is wringing his fingers like he wanted to grab something and crush it with bare hands. Then, a tick mark appeared at the top of his forehead and he started to clinch is fist. Then, a devilish smile creeped up on to his face. "Alright, once we get out of here, i'm gonna teach this brat some lessons." He thought to himself with a devilish smirk before he crossed his arms and dropped his ass on the ground with a thud.

Outside the subconscious

Naruto felt a shiver running down from his spine. He felt like someone was gonna whip his ass for not understanding something very obvious. "Man, i hope whatever i have felt was just a cold wind." Naruto thought with another shiver running down from his spine.

He then quickly ignored the sensation and slowly got up from the ground. Dusting his shorts, he looked at griselda who quickly calmed down her silent giggles and looked at him back. "So, what's now? I mean the church is almost destroyed and we all have nowhere to go."

Everyone from this church looked down in sadness at realizing that they now have no purpose nor do they have anywhere to go.

Blinking at his question, griselda gave him a warm smile. "Well, then why not join us? Our church welcomes everyone who wishes to become a member. While there are some exceptions, we are generally open to all."

Hearing the open invitation, all the children and the older exorcists in training looked at griselda with disbelief. "But how can you accept us, we have done so many sins against our god." One of the older exorcists in training exclaimed.

A kid, who's the same age as naruto and xenovia, slowly stood up and bowed in front of everyone with tears falling from his eyes. "I-i have done, so many sins of my own, and they are very bad ones. How can god forgive someone like me." The kid said with a few sobs, before he looked up with overly dramatic tears falling from his eyes.

Before griselda could answer, someone from her group quickly flashed in front of the kid and hugged him tightly with overly dramatic manly tears falling from his eyes. Sniffing a huge snot that was threatening to fall from his nostril, which obviously made all the girls cringe in disgust, he gently spoke up. "Oh Young one, god's love and forgiveness are boundless. No sin is too great for his mercy. We all make mistakes, but it is our willingness to seek forgiveness and change our ways that matters most. Remember, it is said that god is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. You are not alone, and you are certainly not beyond redemption." He then broke the hug and looked at the kid with those same overly dramatic tears from his eyes. "Oh my young one, trust in His grace and allow yourself to be healed." He said with so much passion that made all the kids cry with overly dramatic tears from their eyes.

In a flash, all the kids stood right behind the kid and looked at the exorcist with the most dangerous look in all existence, the infamous puppy dog eye barrage. "Will god also forgive our sins?" All the kids asked in unison. With so much overwhelming puppy dog eyes, the poor exorcist couldn't hold any longer and once more burst out into overly dramatic tears. "Oh yes! Trust me he will! Never doubt his mercy, alright!" He said with his fist raised upwards.

The kids did the same and shouted loudly. "We won't!" They all said in unison before all looked at the exorcist, and the exorcist looked at them back. Slowly, they started to shed their overly dramatic tears once more before suddenly, the scenery has changed. The background is now replaced by a beach where they are now standing in front of the sea. Sounds of waves hitting each other while a flock of seagulls are flying in the sky. The sun is setting, while Illuminating the whole sky in red. The exorcist sniffed once, before raising his hands in a hugging gesture. The kids also raised their hands and shouted. "Father!" The exorcist started to cry even more overly dramatic tears and shouted. "Kids!" The kids shouted once more. "Father!" The exorcist shouted once again. "Kids!" The kids shouted for the last time. "Father!" The exorcist shouted for the last time as well. "Kids!" Without any warning, the kids jumped and started to dog pile the exorcist while covering each other with their snots. The scenery is now changed and everything has faded back to normal.

The ones who didn't join them in their unique group hug simply looked at them in disgust. The exorcists with griselda are looking at them with a huge sweat drop on their faces. Griselda and xenovia are looking at them with an awkward smile, while naruto simply gagged at seeing them being so huggy muggy, in a very disgusting way.

"Yuck! I don't know which one is the worst! Seeing bushy brow and bushier brow sensei hugging each other? Or... watching this!" He then saw a huge amount of snot flew towards a guy who was looking away from the scene, but for his unfortunate luck, the guy got covered by the snot, making him very smelly and very sticky.

Naruto felt very sick. His face got green in disgust while he almost puked at seeing the state of the guy. While naruto was trying his best to hold his vomit down to his throat, the others simply grimaced at seeing the poor unfortunate exorcist whose face got as pale as snow.

Slowly taking a huge gulp, naruto took some deep breath before dropping his ass on the ground with a thud.

"Yuck, that's gross! Why the hell did i even come here!" Naruto blinked his eyes in surprise when he heard a voice coming from behind him. He tried to look behind through his shoulder and saw a teenager with a striking presence. He has short, spiky blond hair that frames his face, complementing his fair complexion. His eyes are a vivid blue which usually would spark with a mix of mischief and determination, but this time his eyes are furrowed and his face formed a grimaced expression. He was about to walk away from the scene, but he noticed that a small kid with the same blond hair was looking at him through his shoulder.

Sapphire blue eyes met vivid blue

The two blonds stared at each other in silence before both waved their hands in a lazy manner. "Yo, what's up?" They both said in unison. Naruto and the teen blinked their eyes in surprise, before they looked at each other and shared a small laugh.

"I'm naruto, naruto uzumaki. what's yours?" The teen gave him a sideways grin and introduced himself as well. "I'm dulio, dulio gesualdo." He introduced himself with a lazy tone, before he looked at the sticky exorcist with grimaced expression.

Naruto noticed where he was looking and also made a grimaced expression. "Uh, should we go somewhere else, because i don't think i can handle this anymore." The teen named dulio asked in an almost pleading tone.

Naruto immediately agreed and was about to stand up, but he saw another huge snot flew towards xenovia who didn't even notice at first, but when she saw griselda hugging her in a protective manner, she saw the huge snot and immediately got pale at seeing the approaching substance. She closed her eyes and quickly covered her face with her hands to at least not let the substance touch her face.

Quickly reacting on instinct, naruto appeared right in front of xenovia and griselda, and clapped both of his hands together. Facing the huge disgusting snot with a grimaced expression, naruto quickly pulsed wind chakra towards both of his palms and separated them a little, before he thrust his left palm sideways and shouted in his mind. "Wind style: gale palm!"

Suddenly, a gale of wind was released from his left palm and blew away the huge snot into another place. And unfortunately, that place was that same exorcist who got covered by the huge snot in the first place. The poor exorcist's face got even more paler if it was possible. If anyone pays more attention, they could see the poor guy's soul leaving his disgusting body from his mouth.

Naruto felt a little guilty but he didn't care that much, since he managed to save his best friend from getting covered by the disgusting substance.

Naruto gave himself a pad on the head for a good job well done, but he soon noticed that there were many eyes gazing at him with amazement and slight disbelief, and dulio was one of them.

Xenovia didn't see what happened since she closed her eyes to avoid looking at the substance, but soon she felt a gust of wind pass through. So with curiosity, she took a peak through one of the holes between her hands and saw naruto standing in front of her with both of his arms crossed in front of his chest.

She also saw others and the new guy looking at naruto with disbelief and amazement. She looked around with a confused expression before her gaze fell on naruto.

Naruto started to sweat and grew nervous at being the center of attention. Well years ago he would have been ecstatic to be the center of attention. But now, he knew better and the war taught him that being the center of attention is not as great as he thought.

Naruto looked at griselda and saw her looking at him with curiosity and slight suspicion. He took a nervous gulp before he started to come up with an explanation for his wind style ability. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind and he mentally thanked olson for the information he gave about the other exorcists using magics, even though he was a sadistic bastard.

Quickly taking a calm breath, he looked at everyone with a nervous smile. "Uh, that was my wind magic. I used my magical energy to use the wind element and deflected that thing. He then pointed his finger at the exorcist, who was still traumatized at being covered by the snot.

Everyone quickly dropped their curiosity and suspicion at hearing that it was just magic, but they are still amazed to hear that a child used elemental magic with no effort.

While naruto was showered by the praises of the other exorcists, griselda is looking at him with narrowed eyes. "This child not only has incredible battle prowess, but he also possesses mastery over three elemental magics, a feat completely unheard of at his age. Moreover, he also utilizes these elements in a way i have never seen before. Child... just who are you?" Griselda muttered the last part to herself with suspicion.

"Wow, you can use wind magic?! That's incredible!" Xenovia said in awe and amazement.

"Yeah, i never heard of someone using magic at your age. You're like a prodigy." Dulio said with an approving smile.

Naruto felt a little embarrassed at being called a prodigy, but he still appreciated the praises that he got from the others. Before others could ask him more questions, griselda approached them with a small smile. "Now now, we all witnessed how hard he fought against the fallen angels. Let's not trouble him further and give him some space." She said, before everyone gave her a respectful bow and moved a little to give naruto some space.

Griselda stood in front of him and looked at him for a moment, before she bent down and looked directly at his eyes. "Now child, you didn't tell me your name, did you." She asked with a soft tone.

Naruto blushed in embarrassment and started to scratch the back of his head with a nervous laugh. "Ha ha, uh sorry about that. Thanks to these fallen angles or whatever they are, i kinda forgot to introduce myself." He then coughed into his hand and stood straight, before he pointed a thumb at his chess while closing one of his eyes and gave her a cheeky grin. "I'm naruto uzumaki and that's my name, remember it, dattebayo!" He loudly exclaimed, before his cheeky grin immediately dropped and his cheeks got red in embarrassment, when his verbal tic got slipped, and he heard many squeals from the female which made all the men cringe and temporarily made them deaf.

For naruto's further embarrassment, the group of females started to touch his whisker cheeks to see if he could actually purr like a cat.

The affection and the soft touches from the females were too good to resist. So without thinking, he released a soft purr which made the group of females squeal even more.

At this point, all the males are now glaring at naruto for not only getting all the affection from the girls, but also making them squeal like fan girls causing them to make everyone deaf.

Griselda is trying her best to not giggle like those girls, but the scene is too cute for her to resist.

Xenovia on the other hand, is now glaring at the females with growing anger. "How dare those bitches, touching my naruto-kun like that. In the name of god, i will slice all of them into pieces for even looking at my naruto-kun." Xenovia thought with a new found determination and fire on her eyes. But soon those determinations and fire quickly died down when she realized what she said in her mind. "M-m-my naruto-kun?" She thought to herself with a huge blush and a dreamy look on her face.

Griselda quickly stopped her giggling and loudly coughed into her hand to gain everyone's attention. "Now, i believe we should make a camp to take some rest, and soon head out tomorrow to your new church." She said, before she got a yell of "Okay sister griselda" from the ones who are associated with her. And the ones who are not, simply nodded their heads in agreement, although a little hesitantly since they were a little worried for being deceived once more by a church and turned them into slaves or something, but seeing griselda's kind nature, they all agreed no less.

Naruto simply shrugged and gave xenovia an excited smile which she happily returned, but from inside he's very suspicious. So for now, he will stick with xenovia and see where it goes. If he sees the place safe for xenovia to grow up, he will leave her to their care and soon starts to explore the new world while finding places to train.

He felt a small pang on his heart at thinking to leave xenovia alone to their care, but he knew from observation that griselda will take care of her like a mother would do. Besides, he needs to get strong to one day face the otsutsukis. Something he cannot do while staying at the church.

So for now, he put all those thoughts at the back of his head and decided to talk to dulio and maybe spend some time with xenovia.

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