A/N: Revised as of 2/19/2024.

After chatting with Wiz for a little longer, Naruto followed Kazuma and Megumin onto the streets of Axel. They were going in a direction of town that Naruto hadn't explored much, but it was apparently where their new living quarters was located.

"What have you guys been up to while I was gone? Go on any good quests?"

Naruto asked while walking with his hands rested behind his head.

Kazuma snickered. To show off his great achievements to his kohai, that was one of the things he had been looking forward to since coming to this world.

"Fufu… Now that you mention it-"

"This is what I was trying to tell you earlier! Listen here, Naruto!"

Megumin completely cut Kazuma off by running in front of the two boys and striking a pose.

"I, Megumin, whose calling is that of an Arch Wizard, wielder of the ultimate magic that is Explosion, am the winner of our competition!"

"…Competition?"

Naruto asked while scratching his cheek awkwardly, causing the little girl to falter in her stance.

"Y-you forgot… No matter! Our competition was to see who could defeat a high bounty target first! To which I, with a little help from Kazuma and the rest, defeated a Demon King Army General!"

Megumin declared and flicked her cape, her crimson eyes flaring brightly.

"Oh yeah, I did agree to something like that… Wait… What?"

Naruto's eyes widened when his mind registered the significance of Megumin's words.

'Tch… Little brat stole my bragging card. Oh well, I still have that.'

Kazuma thought with a twitching eyebrow, but he shrugged it off as they approached a large fence. He then motioned to a large building on the other side.

"But that's not all! Our party just recently acquired-"

"Oh, and we got a mansion too."

Megumin casually said and opened the gate that led to the large manner, ushering for Naruto to walk in.

"You little…! I was going to let that lie of yours slide but wasn't it Aqua who-mmf!?"

Kazuma began to say, but he was quickly silenced by the mage.

As Kazuma and Megumin struggled against one another, Naruto shuffled up to the house. His mind was still trying to process what Megumin had just claimed not two seconds ago, and now he was standing in front of a beautiful mansion that they now apparently lived in.

Before he left, Kazuma's party didn't seem very capable. They had highly ranked classes, excluding Kazuma's adventurers job, but their personalities caused way too many problems. Naruto was very aware of this fact, as Kazuma had been complaining about his party's lack of team compatibility every day in the adventurer's guild.

But not only did they defeat a Demon King Army General, but they even managed to obtain a mansion. All before he could even acquire a full party.

Naruto's mind couldn't comprehend the fact that Kazuma and his party of troublesome girls had gotten so far ahead of him in such a short amount of time.

"EHHHHH!?"

So he screamed.

A series of footsteps could be heard from within the large house and the front door swung open to reveal a familiar mop of blue hair.

"I thought I recognized that voice! Oh my? What's this? Are you so marveled by my mansion that you can't muster a single word? It's quite fitting, isn't it? For a goddess such as myself to be living in such a luxurious mansion that is!"

Aqua, who was still wearing her blue pajamas in the afternoon, boasted in broad daylight.

"…"

Naruto looked past Aqua and saw Darkness sitting at a table reading a newspaper.

"Oh, is that Naruto? Welcome back."

Darkness greeted with a warm smile, and Naruto managed a crooked smile.

"Hah… Ha ha…"

"Are you still so surprised that you can't even move? I guess it can't be helped, I'll show you around!"

Aqua said and dragged Naruto into the house, and they were shortly followed by Megumin and Kazuma.

"Didn't Aqua say she didn't want to leave her spot on the couch all day?"

"Yeah, she even fought me for that spot…"

Half of the reason Kazuma remembered to consistently visit Wiz's shop was because Aqua always beat him to the best seat in the house. Their couch was located right in front of the firepit, and it was quite cold in the morning, so it felt good to curl up and feel the warmth of the flames.

Even this morning, Kazuma challenged Aqua for the special spot and ultimately lost when she revealed that he stole some of their laundry. This led to the boy running from a very angry Darkness.

"Well, I guess we'll head to the adventurer's guild since everyone is up."

Kazuma said as Aqua dragged Naruto up the stairs to show him around the second floor.

"Finally! Kazuma decided to hold off on his NEET ways and go on a quest! Not that it's entirely a bad thing, but I really wanted to go on another quest!"

Having overheard Kazuma's decision, Darkness rushed off to get her sword. Her armor had been totaled in the fight against the Dullahan, but she didn't need it. In fact, it was blessing!

"D-don't call me a NEET! It's cold! It's just because it was cold, and I wanted to stay warm!"

Kazuma shouted after the fleeting Darkness, and he turned to see Megumin snickering.

"Gah! I'm going back to bed!"

"Oh no you don't! I want you to be the one to judge our Explosions!"

"Didn't Naruto already say he didn't want to do that today? H-hey! Let me go!"

Just as Kazuma and Megumin started fighting again, Naruto came running down the stairs while shouting.

"Damn it all! I'll catch up to you guys and get a mansion twice as big!"

SLAM!

Kazuma and Megumin stared at the front door that had just been slammed shut. They then looked back up the stairs to see Aqua walking down with a smug look on her face.

"…What did you say to him?"

"I only offered my help because he seemed so pitiful, but then he suddenly ran away. How rude to ignore the offer of a goddess. Oh well, I'll let it slide if he treats me to a drink."

Aqua said with a shrug before she returned to the couch.

'This girl really hasn't learned a thing…'

Kazuma thought with a twitching eyebrow, then his eyes suddenly widened.

"AH! I forgot to ask for Naruto that! You stupid goddess!"

"Hah!? Who are you calling a 'stupid goddess', you hiki-NEET!"

Adventurer's Guild…

Naruto grumbled to himself as he entered the guild hall and walked straight to the receptionist desks.

"First I'll show Kazuma what a real ninja is…"

"U-um…"

"Then I'll show Megumin what true power is…"

"Naruto-san…"

"Then I'll show Aqua-"

"Naruto-san!"

Naruto blinked when someone yelled at him, and he realized he was already standing in front of Luna. He must have unconsciously walked to the receptionist desk while rambling to himself. Luna seemed to be troubled by something, but he fully aware of the reason.

"Luna-chan! Give me a quest that's been giving people trouble!"

"I don't know what's got you so fired up, but you have to wait in line first Naruto-san!"

Luna said sternly and pointed to the back of the line that Naruto finally noticed he'd skipped, the male adventurers that were patiently waiting for the turn to talk with the pretty receptionist all glaring at him.

"Ah… Sorry…"

Naruto mumbled and walked to the back of the line.

After a couple minutes of waiting, it was finally Naruto's turn.

"Now then, welcome back Naruto-san. How can I help you?"

"Okay, first of all, when did Kazuma and them defeat a Demon King General!? Also, how in the world did they get a mansion!? I was only gone for a week!"

Naruto shouted and slammed on the desk to emphasize his frustration.

Having dealt with rowdy adventurers on a daily basis, Luna retained a calm and professional demeaner despite having an angry teenager yelling in her face.

"About that…"

—Apparently, a Dullahan from the Demon King's Army had appeared at the main gates of the town the day Naruto had left. Megumin had picked a fight with the General which resulted in Darkness getting cursed.

A week passed and the Dullahan came back furious when he learned that Aqua had broken the curse right after he left, which infuriated the undead knight and they ended up fighting. The battle ended with the adventurers winning, but mostly because of the efforts of Kazuma and his party.

As for the damages-

"So Aqua was the one that caused the flood…"

Naruto said while palming his face. Maybe Aqua really was a goddess after all.

After learning of the events that had transpired in the past week, he was still jealous that Kazuma's party defeated a Demon King Army General before him. But Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy...

Not only did Kazuma lose the reward for defeating the Dullahan, but he was also left with a huge debt. All because of Aqua and her flood level water magic. The girl even had the gall to brag to him about her "achievements".

It seemed that goddess still hadn't learned her lesson.

"Oh, Naruto-san? Is that person an acquaintance of yours by chance? They've been staring at you for a while now…"

Luna asked and pointed towards the back of the guild, and Naruto followed her gaze and saw Yunyun sitting in the corner of the hall staring in their direction intensely.

When she saw Luna point in her direction, Yunyun frantically looked away and tried to act as though she were busy. But she failed miserably by knocking down the house of cards she had been building.

"AH! All my hard work!"

Yunyun shouted as she cleaned her mess with a miserable expression, but she blushed when she realized the attention she had drawn onto herself.

'What the-Yunyun was here!? I didn't notice her at all…'

Naruto thought while scratching his head. He hoped she hadn't been waiting here the whole time… No, she probably went to the inn to rent a room, so she most likely didn't wait for too long.

"That's my new party member. As you probably noticed, she's from the Crimson Magic Clan. You wouldn't happen to know where Dust is, do you? I still haven't introduced them."

"Dust-san? No… He hasn't shown up at the guild for a couple days."

Luna said while adverting her gaze awkwardly.

'Don't tell me… Even Luna-chan doesn't care about Dust?'

Naruto was beginning to feel really bad for the guy.

Dust may have… issues with his personality, but that didn't mean he was irredeemable. The guy just needed to be pointed in the right direction, and Naruto planned on doing just that.

Well, that and Naruto needed people crazy enough to go on insanely hard quests despite being low leveled adventures to quench his thirst for a challenge. Because Naruto Uzumaki was tired of hunting for packs of wolves!

"Hey, are you looking for Dust? Does he owe you money?"

Naruto turned around to see a girl looking at him with sharp green eyes. He vaguely remembered seeing her around the guild hall, and from the looks of it she seemed to be a mage.

"He doesn't owe me money… I think. I did treat him to a couple beers for agreeing to join my party though."

Naruto said while rubbing his chin when a memory resurfaced.

"Ah, that's right! I only treated him to one drink and he said he would pay me back! That little…!"

"Blue eyes, blonde hair, and a short fuse that rivals the Explosion girl… Now I know why you seemed familiar. You're Naruto Uzumaki, the delinquent boss adventurer and one of the Panty and Bra Thief Brothers. That's you, right?"

The girl asked while making an obvious step backwards.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the mentioning of the "nicknames" he was hoping to forget about.

"I resent those names. Also, they're all false rumors so please stop backing up."

The girl seemed surprised, and Naruto assumed she must have had some wild expectations.

"As a girl, I can't let my guard down around someone who has been dubbed an underwear thief. But you don't seem as bad as the rumors suggest, so I guess I can relax a little."

As bad?

"Like I said. False rumors."

Naruto repeated through clenched teeth and a crooked smile. He really needed to find the person spreading these stupid rumors and give them a little taste of the One-Thousand Years of Death technique.

"Who are you anyway? A friend of Dust's?"

"Adventuring companion. My name is Lynn, a mage of this guild. Besides Dust, those two are my other adventuring companions, Ketih and Tailor."

The now named Lynn said and pointed towards a table where two men, an archer and a crusader, sat.

"Lynn-san is more or less Dust-san's guardian."

Luna whispered into Naruto's ear while Lynn was looking away.

"So that's how it is…"

So she was like Kazuma, who Naruto thought of as the caretaker of a certain loud-mouthed Arch Priest.

"Hm?"

"Ah, n-nothing!"

Lynn sent the ninja a strange look as he laughed awkwardly.

"Anyways, I just wanted to warn you. Nothing good will come from involving yourself with that man."

Naruto stopped laughing and frowned.

"H-hey… Dust may be a little rough around the edges, but he isn't that bad."

"Trust me. That thing is a deviant that won't hesitate to try and 'borrow' money from you. He'll try and think of any way possible to get onto your good side, use devilish tricks to convince you, and he even peeps at the woman's bathhouse if left unchecked. That thing will even spend a night in jail just to avoid paying for a room at the inn."

…Did Naruto really let such a man into his party?

No, he knew what he was getting himself into the moment he offered Dust the invitation. All the guy needed was a little guidance. But hearing this girl talk so poorly about her party member rubbed Naruto the wrong way.

"How could you say that about your own party member? I get that Dust is a bit of a troublemaker, but I used to be like that too. It was because of my friends that I managed to stay on the right path. Aren't you, his party members, supposed to be his friends?"

Naruto suddenly said, and Lynn seemed to be taken aback by his change in attitude.

"I heard you guys were avoiding him just before I left. Is that all an adventuring party is to you people? You work together during quests and then ignore each other's problems when you come home if their personalities are a little hard to handle? Well, that's not the kind of party I want to make! If my party members are in trouble, then I'll do my best to help them no matter what! That includes Dust!"

Naruto shouted and stalked out of the guild to go and search for Dust.

"…Well that was unexpected."

Lynn said before turning to the busty receptionist.

"I think you might be right about that guy. He may be the only one foolish enough to try and straighten Dust out."

"Who knows?"

Luna said in a cryptic tone, earning a strange look from the younger girl.

Naruto may seem like the foolish type on the outside, but Luna had been noticing that the whiskered teen had a strange way of bringing out the best of people.

Just before Naruto left, the adventurers seemed to have been working harder. There was a point where there was no longer any durian quest. But during the past week, especially after the event with the Dullahan, the adventurers slowly went back to their old ways.

Because why risk your life adventuring if you already have a hefty amount of reward money from defeating a Demon King General?

. . .

'…Did that speech apply to me too?'

Yunyun, who was still sitting in the corner of the guild hall, thought with teary eyes.

"I hope we're not too late. Knowing Naruto, he probably got impatient waiting for us and went on a quest."

"Did we even agree to meet at the adventurer's guild? He did run off without saying anything to us."

"…"

Kazuma rubbed his chin in thought when Megumin brought up an important detail. They were on their way to the adventurer's guild to hopefully meet up with Naruto and his new party member.

"Well anyways, if Naruto and his party member aren't there then it's Aqua's fault."

"Why!? If anything, it's Darkness's fault for taking so long to find her sword!"

Aqua screeched before pointing at Darkness accusingly, who opened her mouth in surprise at suddenly being thrown under the bus.

"What!? B-but what about Megumin and Kazuma? They didn't do anything to stop Naruto! They were too busy fighting with each other!"

Darkness shot back in an attempt to redirect the blame.

"Huh? What nonsense are you saying? Stop Naruto? Had we gotten in that guy's way, he would have plowed right through us."

"Exactly. Naruto's a higher level and even Aqua and I."

Kazuma and Megumin responded accordingly. Naruto was able to punch a giant toad, which was resistant to physical attacks, across a field. They could only imagine what would happen if they tried to get in the way of such a powerhouse.

"Y-you're right… Maybe I should have tried getting in his way…"

Darkness mumbled with a tad bit of red staining her cheeks.

"No, that would have been like running into a brick wall. Maybe something even harder."

Kazuma said while shaking his head.

"D-d-d-don't say it like that! I don't even have my armor"

Darkness stammered, now on the verge of tears. Ever since the incident with the succubus, Kazuma's harassment towards her had gotten even harsher. It wasn't even the good kind either!

"Wow. One sentence is all he needs to move a woman to tears."

"As expected of Scumzuma."

"Kazutrash."

"Shut up! Who's calling me those names!? I seriously want to punch them in the face!"

Kazuma shouted angrily, and the three of them turned away in unison.

'Th-these girls…!'

Just as Kazuma began to think about turning around to go back home, he spotted Naruto running across the street. They were fairly close to the guild, so was he looking for them?

"Naruto! Heeeeyyy! Over here!"

It seemed Aqua had the same idea, and she began to flail her arms around while calling out to the blonde.

Naruto took one look at the group before he immediately went back to his search.

"!"

Kazuma stifled a laugh at the sight of Aqua fuming. But if Naruto wasn't looking for them, then who was he looking for?

"Oh well, it has nothing to do with us. Let's go look for an easy quest."

"What happened to setting a good example for one's kohai?"

Megumin said, causing Kazuma to fault in his footsteps.

"Grrr… Fine! What's up with that guy anyway!?"

Kazuma barked after a couple seconds, and the party of four followed after Naruto.

A/N: And so, the hunt for Dust begins! But will they make it in time? What horrible things are the Axis Cultists doing to him? XD

Interlude: The pervy old man's name is…?

Darkness: Hey Naruto? What happened to that wonderful-I mean, perverted old man from that one time? Didn't you leave town with him?

Kazuma: You just said wonderful, didn't you?

Darkness: No I didn't.

Naruto: The pervy sage? I left him behind when I found my new party member. He'll probably show up again later. Why?

Darkness: I-is that so? Next time we meet, he'll probably ogle my voluptuous figure and think: "Boy that woman sure has a slutty body!"… I can't wait for that wonderful-I mean, horribly perverted old man!

Kazuma: You definitely said wonderful just now.

Darkness: You must be imagining things.

Kazuma: You little…! Naruto! Don't you see through this pervert's antics!?

Darkness: Nngh…! P-pervert…!?

Naruto: Kazuma, it's rude call a girl a pervert. You're lucky Darkness is nice, because every girl I knew back at home would have knocked you through a couple buildings for saying that.

Kazuma: You still don't believe me!? Look at that pig in heat squirming in her own skin!

Darkness: P-pig in heat!? Ahn~! As expected of the man I set my hopes on! Also, not being noticed at all is kind nice too…

Kazuma: You're the perverted old man!