"When the cards are down, who folds first, the weak or the strong?"

The Angel of the Sun

Italy was bustling with activity and filled streets as Griselda led the child to the Vatican, the home of all Christianity-not it's birthplace, but where it was held most precious. Naruto was looking around excitedly as the pretty lady led him inside what he knew as a church-his cross that mommy had given him was all over the big castle he was being brought to. Griselda was holding the boy's hand to make sure he didn't run off and cause trouble-Lord knew a child who could only speak fluent Japanese in an Italian city would be nothing but horrendous for the boy if he got lost or turned around and couldn't find his way back.

She entered and led him through the church-smiling as he looked around himself in wonder at the Vatican.

As she led him through the Vatican, she came across a young girl with blond locks as she tripped and fell, her little dress immediately flipping up over her head, causing little Naruto to rush off and help the poor young girl up, his mouth running a mile a minute in Japanese, causing Griselda to immediately deduce he was asking her name and if she were ok, "Naruto." she called to him, "This is young Asia Argento, she will be helping you with getting used to living in the Vatican." she explained, best she could, but the boy tilted his head.

"Asia, this is Naruto, Naruto this Asia." she said as she motioned to the girl and then back to the boy and then the other way around so as to introduce them.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" he grinned happily as he pounded on his chest with his marked fist and turned to little Asia as he helped her up, "Daijoubu?" he seemed to ask.

Asia looked confused as she looked between the boy and Griselda, "I think he is asking if you are ok dear." she told the young blond.

Asia lit up and nodded her head happily, "Yes, I am just fine, thank you." she said bowing to the boy before she scurried off.

Griselda smiled as he happily took her hand and rattled off a flurry of words, she recognized a couple-but she was also rusty in Japanese-so she wasn't to sure what he was saying to her, but he was eager that was for sure, "Ok, ok, let's go meet Lady Gabriel." she said smiling as he tried to pull ahead, ah the youth of childhood.

Getting an audience with an angel-not hard-but one such as a Archangel like Gabriel; very difficult.

As it stood, they had to wait for her to come to them in order to get the meeting. In the period of waiting, Griselda had requested a doctor to perform some blood work for her.

It was nothing more than simply drawing the necessary blood to check his health and such, but for the church it was to find out how he could call upon Gram with no issues.

The mere fact he possessed it was something of a shock in itself to the higher ups.

The sword had been sealed away in the deeper vaults only accessible by the higher ups-the ones working on the Siegfried project had failed each and every time to produce a decent viable clone from the man's DNA who could possess and wield the sword-and so the fact Naruto possessed it made it a bit of a quandary for them.

Add in his capacity for being able to use Holy weapons as well...and it raised the question as to how he could.

As it stood, the bloodwork would be in their hands in a couple days, the meeting Lady Gabriel was going to happen in a couple hours, so she continued to show Naruto around the church while they waited.

The tour was surprising as it was adorable. The small child would point and exclaim something in Japanese, smile and wave excitedly when he showed he recognized something he had been taught.

And soon they were in a secluded room away from the rest of the people who came into the cathedral. Inside the room was a single coffee table and some chairs to sit in. There was a window to gaze out of, and some other small things, but other than that the room was pretty barren.

Griselda led Naruto over to a seat and had him sit down before sitting in another. She poured him some tea to drink and he slowly sipped on it-some of his former eagerness having bled away to show just how worn down he was from the days events.

Seconds later, a knock on the door filled the air drawing their attention before beautiful woman poked her head in, "Griselda, you-ah, there you are." she said as she entered, a white halo sitting upon her head while twelve white wings were folded upon her back, "I'm glad we managed to meet so quickly despite everything that is happening." the now obvious angel said as she looked to the boy, "This is him, the miracle child?" she asked.

"Yes, my lady, this is Naruto Uzumaki." the exorcist answered.

"Tenshi..." Naruto whispered with wide eyes filled with awe, "Tenshi..." he uttered again.

"Yes, I am an angel." Gabriel nodded her head as she listened to the boy look at her, "You are a special child." she told the young boy, "We'll be taking care of you and helping you from now on." she told him.

A flurry of words flew from his lips, but his facial expressions told a thousand other stories as he seemed to barrage the archangel with a million questions.

"Well, I can't say for certain as to why you were brought all the way from your home, but I'm sure your mommy and daddy would be happy to see you so well taken care of. If they love you as much as they did, I'm certain you can find a reason to see that they gave their lives for you." she said softly to the young child before turning to Griselda, "Griselda, take him to the medics and have some blood drawn to see as to why Gram managed to form a pact with young Naruto." she instructed, "My brother seems to think he is of mixed heritage, and I want to see for myself just what makes him so special for the greatest unholy weapon to choose a master after all this time." she said.

"Also, test him for various other Holy Blades as well, we can't just go off of one sword and say he is compatible with it when he could just show a connection." she told her, "Also, compare his DNA to that of the Dragon Slayer to see if that might be a potential reason for the pact forming." she added, "I must depart, but for now, you have your tasks. When you finish, introduce him to some of the other children within the Vatican's ranks so that he can try and form some bonds among them." she added on.

~xxXXxx-Two Weeks Later-xxXXxx~

"Ciao Naruto!"

"Konnichiwa Xenovia!"

Two children, speaking different languages greeted each other as they got ready to play together while the adults nearby talked. They didn't even speak anything resembling the same language, but a language barrier didn't matter much to children.

"Those two… they don't each understand each other, and they've just bonded so well in the two weeks they've known each other." Griselda sighed to herself as she sat down. Her biggest headaches were becoming very fast friends. All the other children were older than Naruto and Xenovia were, several years older factually. Her little blue-haired rascal, and her new little golden rascal, really knew how to make her headaches much worse.

Sitting next to her was a taller man than herself.

Blond hair that was nearly as wild as Naruto's own, and bright green eyes, a young man in his later teen years. He was wearing priest robes, but he wore them in a rather messy and lazy way. He had a lollypop in his hand that he was licking.

"This is delicious."

"Dulio…" Griselda warned him with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, no need to rush me… the kid is remarkable, a miracle. We tested him with Gram, and the sword isn't draining his life away. He's completely immune to the sword's curse. He was able to hold all of the Excalibur swords, and he showed a uniquely strong bond with Galatine." Dulio explained with an amazed tone.

This was the first time that a child had ever been born with not only a natural affinity for Holy Swords, but also Demon Swords. Nobody doubted Griselda when she said that she tested him with Galatine, but they still had to test him themselves to make sure she didn't make a flaw in her judgement.

So, they had tested his ability to hold multiple Holy swords just to make sure that his Sun Mark wasn't just granting him the unique ability to hold swords that were connected to the sun. Her judgement wasn't based on a fluke though.

She had been 100% correct, there existed a child who could naturally wield strong Holy and strong Demon swords.

"How about his lineage?" Griselda asked him, since she couldn't exactly run a DNA test on him when she visited him in Japan.

Dulio shrugged.

"He's human, there is a little bit of something mixed in, but he is human. His parents were human too, and neither of them had an affinity for Holy or Demon swords… he's a very unique existence." Dulio didn't really care about any of that stuff.

The child having this power naturally was just a miracle by itself.

"The Demon Sword Gram?"

"It's been sealed away for now, it's been sealed where Galatine is now. The seal won't hold though, the further away from Naruto the sword gets, the more demonic power it releases. It wants to be with him." Dulio didn't know how a sword had feelings, but Gram was a sentient sword. It chose who wielded it, and it bonded to people. It was a sword that they had kept sealed away for a long time, and the day it vanished from their seals had been frightening to a lot of people.

They thought it had been stolen, until they learned it appeared in the hands of a child in Japan. The sword summoned itself to the child to protect him, or the child summoned the sword while he had been in danger. The fact was obvious, the sword was protective of the child, and wanted to be with him.

"I thought as… where did they go?" Griselda had taken her eyes off of Naruto and Xenovia for a few seconds, and now neither of them were in the park. Her eyes scanned all of her children that were in the park, and she jerked into a standing motion. "I'm going to give that girl such a paddling for this, I told her not to wonder. Dulio, you speak Japanese, you lecture Naruto." Griselda told her junior with a harsher tone.

Dulio shrank a little.

'But... I don't want to lecture him.'

-With Naruto and Xenovia-

"Albero." Xenovia told Naruto as she put her hand on a tree. She grabbed the tree with two hands, and she started to climb up it. "Scalata." Xenovia told him with a wide smile on her chubby face. She smiled down at him from above as he tapped the tree.

"Ki… Noboru." Naruto responded to her as he gave his word for the tree, and his word for climbing as he started to climb up after her. He didn't know the language that she was speaking, but he was willing to try and learn it. He was in a new country, with the new people he would be living with now that his parents were gone.

Naruto's face became sad when he remembered that, and Xenovia pushed her foot into the top of his head gently as she grabbed onto a tree branch and got onto it.

"Contento." Xenovia pushed her lips into a smile.

"Happi." Naruto shook his head, and smiled at her in return. Xenovia grabbed his hand when he offered it, and helped him up onto the tree branch. The two of them sat together and stood up, grabbing onto a higher tree branch and climbing up it together. Naruto pointed at the sun, and he grinned at her. "Taiyo." Naruto told her, and she covered her eyes a little as she looked at the sun, before she pointed at it too.

"Sole… Mano." Xenovia told him as she grabbed his hand and held it up.

"Hando." Naruto told her back. They let go of each other hand's, and looked back to the next tree that had a branch close to them. Naruto grabbed it, and climbed into the next tree. Naruto helped Xenovia up after him. He liked her, she was nice to him, the other kids kind of ignored him since he couldn't speak the same language as them. She didn't though, she talked to him even though he didn't understand her, and he talked back to her even though she didn't understand him.

A hissing sound could be heard.

Glowing red eyes showed up in front of him.

-With Griselda-

"A Stray Devil is in the area!?" Griselda nearly shouted as she looked at her phone, and saw a message sent to her. She almost cursed under her breath when she realized a stray devil in the area would naturally be attracted to a Holy/Demon sword user. Considering the fact that Xenovia herself had been tested, and had a natural ability to Holy Swords, meant there were two beacons standing next to each other.

"I'm going to go protect the children in the park." Dulio stated as he turned and started to run back to the park full of children who could get caught up in the coming mess. Those children needed to be protected too, and Griselda was strong. She could handle a stray alone, but she wasn't strong enough to fight and protect an entire park of children at the same time, without knowing the abilities of the stray devil.

They both felt a shiver go through their spines when a powerful demon aura filled the area.

It was the aura of a Stray Devil who had attained an inhuman form, meaning there was a Stray Devil who was nearby, who had at some point eaten a human. Dulio was off to the park at full speed, since those children would be targets next. Griselda reached into her speed, and pulled out half of her bow, before she reached into her other sleave and pulled out the other half. She only had 5 arrows on her, and her mass-produced holy sword.

She had not expected to get into a fight in a children's park.

Where were the children!?

Griselda heard the sound of a tree falling to the ground, and a shout of pain from a child, and she turned to where the sound came from and started to run. She pulled out an arrow as she ran, and prepared herself to aim at a second's notice.

"Yesssss, children… run… your fear makessss you more delicioussss."

"Kids! Kids, I'm over here, Griselda is over here!" Griselda shouted out at the top of her lungs. She had to make sure to include her name, so that Naruto would know that she was the one talking. Xenovia knew enough English to understand what she was saying, but the fact the voice said children meant both of the children were alive.

She saw the two children, bleeding, running slowly through the bushes. Naruto was bleeding from the head, and his arm was twisted the wrong direction, his left arm. He also had a gash on his back, and Xenovia was in no better condition. Her leg was banged up, she looked like she landed on it wrong, and the left side of her face was bruised and bleeding. She looked like she had fallen from a tree, landed on her leg, broke it, and fell onto her face. She was leaning on Naruto, not letting her leg touch the ground.

Naruto was in a daze from his head wound, so Xenovia was leading him while he was doing the running for them.

"Mostro, serpente mostro!" Xenovia, though painful tear stained eyes, adrenaline from fear might be helping her right now, as she pointed behind herself and Naruto. Griselda ran towards them, and she took aim.

A long purple snake came from behind a tree, and she shot it in between the eyes with one of her arrows, instantly loading another when the snake continued to move towards her. She shot it directly in the eye this time, and she grabbed the children and jumped backwards as a figure emerged from the bushes and went towards her.

"A three course meal, a snack, dinner, and desert, lucky day."

Ugly.

Covered from head to tail in purple scales, it was a woman with the upper body of a humanoid, and the lower body of a large snake. She had long black hair, and glowing red eyes, but she had no hands, instead she had two long snakes for arms, devil wings coming out of her back. She pulled the arrows out of her left snake, and with quick reflexes, dodged an arrow than was aimed at her forehead. Griselda didn't exchange witty banter with the snake-like rogue devil, instead she loaded her 4th arrow and took careful aim as she weaved through the snakes trying to bite her.

Her agility, even carrying children on her back, was immense as she got her target and let loose and arrow. Her aim was true, and she struck the stray devil right in the throat, silencing her for the moment as she collapsed forward. She loaded up her 5th and final arrow anyway, and stayed alert.

The stray devil was motionless.

Griselda let loose her final arrow, aiming at the stray devil's skull. She tossed her bow into the air and held onto the children, shifting them from her back to her arm. Her other hand grabbed the handle of her sword, and a beam of light in the shape of a blade came out of it. The stray devil stopped pretending to be dead and dodged her arrow by a hair, and a snake burst out of the ground behind her.

'Her tail is also a snake, and it burrowed underground.' Griselda cut the head off the tail-snake behind her, and flipped as she dodged a snake aimed for her. She put her sword in her mouth, grabbing a tree branch with her hand. She kicked the stray devil in the face, dropping out of the tree with her sword now in her hand again, she landed on her feet and surged forward spinning her sword into a reverse grip. She positioned the children so they were facing away from the stray devil.

"Sugoi…"

The stray devil was cut in half at the waist, shouting in pain as Griselda passed by her as her two body halves hit the ground. She sighed in relief, since that was a death blow for pretty much any supernatural being. She gently sat the two children on the ground, with Xenovia sitting and Naruto standing up.

"You two… don't wander off on your own… don't do it again, I can't always protect you if-" Griselda took her sword and threw it, stabbing the stray devil in the head when it started to move. Before it could attack them again, she finished it off, since her killing blow didn't seem to have done the job. The stray's body went slack, and it's dying gasp could be heard, letting her know that it was finally and truly dead. "-you wonder off like that." Griselda finished her statement.

Xenovia started to cry as the pain finally hit her.

"Akuma, Akuma!" Naruto pointed at her and shouted, his eyes filled with tears again.

No, he didn't point at her, he pointed behind her.

"Shiiii-" Griselda quickly turned around and saw the lower half of the body jumping at her, the inside of the body showing another snake head. She grabbed onto Naruto and Xenovia, crushing them together in her arms when the snake spat out a large volume of liquid from it's mouth. She took the entirety of the liquid to her, and she gasped in pain. 'Damnit… the lower half of it's body was a different devil, they were two devils working together. When it realized that it's partner died, it swallowed the part of her body I cut off, and attacked…' Griselda only thought there was a single devil, but there were two.

The acid burned through the back of her clothes, and ate at her skin as she gasped in agony as she let the children out of her arms.

"Time to die nun!"

"Children, leave me and run, now!" Griselda pushed Xenovia into Naruto, and the two of them grabbed onto her.

She saw one of her arrows on the ground, and grabbed it as she turned around. She jammed the arrow into the eye of the large snake, and it recoiled back and hissed at her.

"You fucking cunt, I'll eat you alive for that!"

Griselda stood back up, but she collapsed to her knees as she lost the ability to move her body well. The acid was laced with poison as well, and a lot of it was coursing through her blood after the acid ate through the skin on her back. The snake hissed, before turning it's face to look at her.

"Ie, ie, IE!" Naruto called with his legs trembling as he ran in front of Griselda, his arms held wide and body shaking in fear as it tried to become a human shield for her. Griselda tried to reach out and throw Naruto back behind her, but her arms didn't respond to her commands correctly.

The snake's tail lashed out, smacked Naruto, and he slammed into a nearby tree.

"You'll get your turn, the nun dies first."

"Naruto, Naruto!" Xenovia called out to him, and he started to rise to his feet, still shaking… no shaking even more than before. The snake ignored Naruto until he ran at the snake, and started to beat his small fists against it's side. His blows did nothing more than tickle the snake though, who actually hissed out a laughter.

"Idiot, RUN!"

"… Actually, the nun can watch as I eat the children first… starting with this shaking little leaf." The snake opened it's mouth wide, and turned it's head to face Naruto. Xenovia reached into her pocket, and she threw a glass bottle at the snake-devil. It shattered on it's face, and like acid, it burned the snake. "Holy water, the girl dies first!" The snake changed it's mind and started to slither back towards Griselda and Xenovia.

Of course children of the church would carry holy water.

Griselda forced her body to stand up, and without her arms, she slammed her shoulder into the snake and knocked it to the ground. She fell to the ground as well, and she grabbed an arrow from the dirt with her teeth. She forced her legs to stand once more, and she stood in front of Xenovia.

"Naruto, run, take her and run!" Spurned on by the fighting spirit of the children, Griselda resisted the screaming pains of her body, and prepared to fight with nothing but the arrow in her mouth.

Naruto ran.

He ran at the snake again with his eyes closed, and the snake turned to him, and lunged at him with mouth wide open.

He was eating this one now.

"Iku…" Naruto got the snake's attention as a bright glowing appeared from his right hand. Curious, it turned to Naruto as a sword came out of thin air. A large sword, bigger than Naruto in length and width, with a black blade, a glowing red aura to it, with a golden cross as it's core. A large, multi-hand sized handle, and a large cross-like guard to it. The sword appeared in front of Naruto, in his hands.

Just as the snake devil would have swallowed Naruto, the sword that appeared went into it's mouth and came out of the top of it's skull. The top half of the snake's body was blasted to smithereens.

'Gram? It just summoned itself to his side... or did he summon the sword?' Griselda watched as Naruto, not able to hold the sword up for longer than a second thanks to his childish body, dropped the sword and collapsed to the ground. The sword had been sealed away, Dulio stated that much, and once more it came to Naruto.

The red aura from the sword traveled from the sword, and into Naruto's body, and Griselda watched as the wound on his head started to steam and heal. The sword using it's aura to heal Naruto's wounds, though his left arm was still broken. The cuts and bruises on his body were taken care of in mere moments, before the sword stopped transferring it's aura into Naruto, and calmed down.

This was more than the sword simply choosing a wielder.

It was scarier than that.

Gram, the ultimate Demon Sword… it had truly bonded to a person. The sword was highly protective of Naruto, with this being the second time the sword came to his aid when he needed it. The sword that killed it's owners, was actively transferring it's power into it's new owner in order to heal.

With the monsters dead, both children broke down crying, fear finally overtaking them, along with the pain from what happened to their bodies.

"Griselda, I felt an extremely strong Demon aura, and I came to help after getting the children to safety… what happened!?" Dulio shouted in shock when he came to see a scene of two devil corpses, the demon sword Gram on the ground, two injured and crying children, and Griselda on the ground with a bad wounds.

What in God's name happened here!?

Not much of a change to the original stuff; I simply added on the beginning where Naruto arrives in Italy so it actually carries the plot beyond a small section.

LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW to show the story some love and please COMMENT/REVIEW to tell me what you think