Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 72: Sweeter than Honey
Two weeks after his return from the other dimension, we find Naruto in the training room of the Freedom Fighters HQ as he was currently training with Wendy and Milla concerning their powers. It was another form of apology for making them worry about him as he had stayed in the other dimension for too long. So, Naruto decided to do this in order to make it up to them.
"Remember Wendy, Air can not only be your strongest shield to protect but it can also become your most powerful sword to fend off anyone seeking to hurt you or anyone else," Naruto instructed "Before doing that, you need to form a connection with the very element which can be anywhere and everywhere,"
"O-Okay," Wendy responded with a stammer, she had been sitting cross-legged on the ground with her hands close together as air calmly swirled around her.
Naruto observed carefully and nodded in approval of her increasing proficiency in controlling the wind. He learnt from Wendy and Carla that the former has the ability to consume the air which energizes her which is eerily similar to Natsu's ability to consume flames and strengthen himself upon doing so. He recalled Wendy telling him that the person she and Carla is looking for is a dragon who gave her that power and bequeathed the title Dragon Slayer. Any normal person wouldn't believe it but Naruto has seen and experienced crazy things as well so he believed her, but the major question that comes to mind is where can a dragon be found?
Deciding to shelf such thoughts for later, Naruto turned back to Wendy "Keep your concentration up for the more minutes and then you can stop, I'm going to check on Milla,"
Wendy gave a small nod of affirmation "Okay, Naruto,"
"Be sure not to strain yourself," said Carla, being the mother hen she is around Wendy and seems to have started doing the same for Milla and Spicy.
Then he walked to the other side of the training room to find Milla standing with her eyes closed in concentration and her body calmly emitting a green aura before stopping when Naruto walked up to her.
"Oh hey, Naruto!" said Milla cheerfully.
"Hey there, Milla-chan. How goes the training so far?" asked the blonde fox.
"It's going greatly, I applied what you told me about using my powers in different ways and I've come up with a few good ones!" said Milla with her tail wagging happily.
"Really, can I see them?"
"Sure, watch this!"
Milla held her hands in front and formed her Reflection Shield, then she moved her hands to the sides which made the shield split into slightly smaller variations "I call it my Twin Reflections and I can also do this…," she flung one of the shields across the room to hit a wall and dissipate upon impact.
Naruto was impressed "Amazing Milla-chan, your Twins Reflections not only expands your defensive capabilities but can also serve as a long rang attack,"
"I have one for that, can I have a target?" Naruto took out a remote from his pocket and punched in a command to project a hard light form a target dummy a short distance away from where they stood. Milla formed a floating Phantom Cube in front of her and began firing min cubes from it at the target, effectively destroying it "And I call this one the Cube Blaster!"
"Whoa, that's pretty good. Maybe you could use your Phantom Cubes as footholds to jump off in midair in combination with your Puppy Float to reach higher places," Naruto suggested.
Milla's eyes glittered with excitement "Really? I'm going to try it out now!"
"I'll have my clones watch over you two, last thing I want is for me to end up being Carla's scratching post because you got hurt under my watch,"
After deploying the clones, Naruto made his way to the command center where he found Sally along with Bunnie and Rotor as they were currently on monitoring duty for whatever situation that would require their aid.
Sally noticed Naruto's approach and called out to him "Hey Naruto, how goes the training?"
"Pretty good actually, Milla and Wendy are making great progress and coming up with new ways to use their powers," Naruto replied.
"So, the missies aren't mad at you anymore?" asked Bunnie playfully, making Rotor chuckle in amusement.
Naruto let out a sigh while rubbing the back of his head "They weren't exactly mad at me, just wanted me to make up for the time I wasn't around, so they made it look like they were angry,"
"But not Carla, she was really angry with you," Kurama commented with a smirk.
"Shut it furball," thought Naruto in annoyance "So, is there anything going on?"
"None so far, everything's fine," said Sally "By the way, there's something I've been wanting to ask you about,"
Naruto quirked an eyebrow "What is it?"
"It's about that fox spirit whom we met when you went to the other dimension, Tetsuo is his name. what kind of connection do you two share? I'm not trying to pry into anything, just wondering since he was really worried about you,"
The blonde fox wasn't too surprised since he had been waiting for this question to pop up sooner or later. Tetsuo had informed of what happened and had been contemplating on how to respond should they inquire and came upon a decision.
"Before I answer that question, I want you guys to promise to never reveal what I'm about to tell you to anyone else unless you have my permission to do so," said Naruto with a serious expression, letting them know how important this is to him.
"You have our word that whatever you tell will never leave this room unless you wish otherwise," said Sally in a no-nonsense tone, Naruto could easily sense their genuine intentions and smiled.
"Alright then, for starters Tetsuo-jiji is an ancestral spirit of the Yakan clan which is a ninja clan consisting of kitsunes who are masters of illusion and ninja tactics with the help of their unique flames called foxfire to take down their enemies and never go back on their promises until they fulfil them, and I'm the newest head of the clan," Naruto explained.
"That explains quite a lot to be honest, I couldn't help but notice that a majority of your techniques bore similar traits with that of Espio and Killua during the tournament," said Rotor thoughtfully.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders "I guess you say that,"
"So, what kind of things does your clan do?" asked Bunnie curiously.
"We're pretty much good guys that help the oppressed from the shadows but wouldn't hesitate to step out into the light to do so,"
"In a way, your clan is like the Freedom Fighters but as ninjas," said Sally.
"Pretty much yeah,"
"I've noticed that you haven't told that you're working on reviving the clan after it almost went extinct," said Kurama.
"Oh sure, tell them the reason the Yakan was almost because of a beast which would have destroyed the world and make them worry constantly. Yeah, imma pass on that one," thought Naruto, not wanting to put his friends in unnecessary paranoia.
However, their conversation was interrupted by a call which they answered with the large monitor screen lighting up to display Tails and Nicole with the former looking rather excited and the latter seemingly contemplating about something.
"Hey Tails, what's up?" asked Naruto curiously.
{You guys, you won't believe what we've just discovered!} said Tails excitedly.
Bunnie waved her hands to calm the excitable fox down "Whoa whoa, slow down there. Take a breather then tell us…slowly,"
{Okay okay…} Tails took a deep breath and exhaled, becoming much calmer now {Like I was saying, remember when you told us about what happened to Nicole at the other dimension?}
"Yeah, which was why I left her at the lab for you check for anything unusual," said Naruto.
{And you aren't wrong cause I did find something unusual}
"What is it?" asked Bunnie.
{You see, when I was scanning Nicole, I discovered strange signature and it didn't look fully digital. It was like it was half of data and half of something else which confused me to no end. In an attempt to find out what's going on, Nicole and I did something completely illogical}
"What did you guys do?" asked Sally.
Nicole held out a vial of blood for the group to see, confusing them before speaking {We came to discover that I could bleed}
"YOU CAN WHAT?!" everyone screamed.
"That was exactly how we reacted when we discovered this," said Tails "It's like she has somehow become a hybrid being of living flesh and data,"
"B-But how?!" asked Rotor, his mind frantically trying to come to terms with this. he has never heard of such a thing and even the term techno-organic was something fictional and yet to be proven true until now.
"Naruto, I may have a clue as to what caused this," said Kurama, who had been silent upon hearing Nicole's new biology.
"What is it?" asked Naruto frantically.
"I have reasons to believe that the cause of all this has to do with the Yang Seal in your right hand, remember that it has the ability to use physical energy to control vitality, even granting life to forms that have none, like when you saved Gai who had opened all of the eight Chakra Gates and should have died afterwards and when you restored your sensei's eye which he had lost many years ago. The restorative powers of the Yang Seal far surpass that of your pink-haired teammate and the Slug Sannin," said Kurama.
"You mean that the Yang Seal changed Nicole's digital body to become more of a living being? But she's an AI," thought Naruto confusedly.
"In case you've forgotten, Nicole started out as a basic AI but then began developing a sense of self…becoming sentient and your interactions with her along with being exposed to your chakra constantly increased that rate of development. The final stage occurred when you were attempting to save her from the Iron Queen's control, the Yang Seal must have mixed with your chakra and completely altered Nicole's physiology, making her a hybrid of sorts," the Bijuu explained further.
Naruto looked down at his right hand which bears the Sun Mark "I never thought that it could do something like this…,"
"Considering the fact that it could sync with the Chaos Emeralds to bring Sonic back to life, there's a lot that we have yet to learn about the Yang Seal,"
Exiting from his mindscape, Naruto explained to them what had happened and they were surprised to hear of it.
Rotor hummed thoughtfully "I'm not exactly knowledgeable in things relating to the supernatural since I'm more likened to science but I'll have to take your word for it since the results is right across the screen,"
{Plus, I recall Milla sniffing me a few times before, saying that I now have a scent which confused her since data doesn't have scents} said Nicole thoughtfully.
"We'll need to be careful about this information, no doubt someone like Eggman would do everything they can to get Nicole so that they could replicate her new biology," said Sally with a small frown.
Naruto scowled at that "I'd like to see him try, he'd be running out of robots to even construct more for him," then he recalled something "By the way, are you almost done with what I requested, Tails?"
Tails nodded in affirmation {Just a few more installations and adjustments then it will be good to go!}
"Good to know, I'll be sending the girls home with a shadow clone and I'll come by later on, Nicole-chan,"
{Okay Naruto, no doubt Lilac and Carol will be surprised to learn of my new changes} said Nicole.
"That's putting it lightly, see you later," said Naruto before ending the call.
"So, you're heading for home, Sugah fox?" asked Bunnie.
"Yeah, pretty sure that Wendy and Milla are tired by now with all that training, and there are some places that I want to check first before heading home,"
"Be sure to stop by the auto shop whenever you can, got some new shipments of vehicle which I'm sure will catch your eye," said Rotor.
"Sure, I'll do that,"
"And don't forget to come over too, the kids have been asking about you," Sally added, receiving a nod of affirmation from the fox.
Soon afterwards, Naruto had a shadow clone takes the girls and Carla back home to Emerald Town via the Hiraishin and he went by himself along with the Chao on Dragoon towards his destination.
"So, where are you heading off to?" asked Kurama.
"I'm going to visit Cream and her mother, I did promise to visit them after all," Naruto replied.
Eventually, he arrived at his destination and landed in front of the picket fence before Dragoon flew off through a black hole await his call. The blonde fox walked over to the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting for about a minute before it was opened to reveal Vanilla who smiled upon seeing him.
"Oh Naruto, it's nice to see you!" said Vanilla happily.
Naruto smiled in response "It's great to see you too, thought I'd drop by and see how you and Cream are doing as it's been a while,"
"That's very nice of you, do come in and have a seat while I prepare some tea for us," Vanilla gently brought the blonde fox into her home and had him seated in the living room before calling out "Cream, Naruto's here!"
Cream came downstairs from her room with Cheese and brightened up the moment she saw Naruto "Naruto, you're here!"
"Hi there, Cream-chan. it's been a while," said Naruto as Kou and Yoru flew over to happily interact with Cheese with the latter surprised yet amazed to see that the two Chao have ascended into their highest forms.
Cream sat next to Naruto on the couch and spoke to him "Wendy, Milla and Spicy had told me that you had gone to another dimension and met counterparts of Mr. Sonic and the others. What was it like? Was there another me and Cheese there?"
"Yeah there is and she's just as nice and polite as you are. I would often her playing with the Chao in the Chao Garden," said Naruto with fondness.
Vanilla returned from the kitchen with the tea and snacks as they all sat down and enjoyed themselves whilst having a lighthearted conversation about what they had been doing the past few days and Naruto recounting what he had gone through in the other dimension albeit excluding the more serious parts to avoid killing the mood.
"So, how are Wendy, Milla and Spicy?" asked Vanilla curiously.
"They're doing great, Spicy was at home with Lilac and Carol while I took the girls out for training today, Milla was able to create more techniques and Wendy's connection to the wind has gotten much stronger too," Naruto replied.
Cream was quite interested to hear that "Wow, maybe they can show me!"
"I'm sure they won't mind," Naruto glanced outside and saw that the sun was setting "I'll have to get going, thanks for the tea by the way,"
"Oh, then I hope to see you again. Be sure to give my regards to everyone," said Vanilla with a gentle smile.
"Can you tell Wendy and the others that I'll be coming to visit them later?" Cream requested.
Naruto nodded in affirmation as they escorted out of the house "Goodbye, I'll come by whenever I can. Dragoon!" he leapt into the air as the glider swooped by for him to land onto of before flying away with Vanilla and Cream waving at him.
While riding on the glider with a relaxed expression, Naruto was suddenly snapped out of his idle thoughts when he received a call, prompting him to put on his headphones and answer it.
"Naruto here," said the blonde kitsune.
{Hey Naruto, it's me!} a female voice spoke on the other line cheerfully.
"Oh hey, Honey-chan! What's up?"
Honey the Cat was relaxing on the couch of her loft apartment with her phone held to her ear while watching TV {I'm doing great, been busy for quite a while and I realized that we haven't been in contact so I thought to call. What about you?}
Naruto shrugged his shoulders "Been busy on my side too, had to deal with a few things here and there,"
{Then by any chance, would you be free? There's an upcoming fashion show and I was hoping to invite you to watch with me} asked Honey, trying to conceal her nervousness.
Naruto hummed in thought, having never gone to a fashion show before and had only seen them on television or read from fashion magazines, then he came to a decision "Sure, I can come. Sounds like fun,'
{Great, I'll send you the date and address later! Hope to see you there!} said Honey happily before ending the phone call. The Mobian cat began bouncing up and down on her sofa, happy at inviting Naruto over and started making plans for that day.
Meanwhile, Naruto has arrived at home and went inside to find Carol who's eating chips seated in the living room as Milla, Wendy accompanied by Carla as always and Spicy with the Chao watching a comedy show on TV. It was Nicole emerging from the kitchen with a plate of cookies along with Lilac who saw Naruto and greeted him.
"Oh Naruto, welcome back!" said Nicole happily, this got the attention of the others and turned to the blonde kitsune.
"Hey there, Naruto. Where have you been?" asked Carol curiously.
"I dropped by to visit Cream and Vanilla at their home, they say hi by the way and Cream will be visiting later on," Naruto replied.
"Awww, you should have taken us with you," Wendy whined a bit.
"You two were tuckered out from training, it wouldn't be right," Naruto pointed out to them "Anyways, she's excited to see the new moves which I told her about. Make sure to do it at the beachside, okay?"
"Okay, we will!" said Milla cheerfully.
Then Naruto turned to Nicole "By the way, what were you doing in the kitchen?"
"Nicole wanted to try a hand at cooking now that she's a hybrid and she did everything right, all that's left is the taste testing," Lilac explained.
Nicole presented the cookies albeit nervously "Um, would you like to try it?"
"Sure!" Naruto took one of the cookies and bit into it, chewing a few times before swallowing with Nicole feeling nervous about the incoming verdict "…it tastes great, Nicole-chan! I can't believe that it's your first time,"
"No doubt about that," said Kurama, having linked to Naruto's senses and shared the same thoughts.
Nicole brightened at his positive response "Thank you!"
"Hey, let me try one!" said Carol curiously.
Lilac scolded her "You could at least say please, Carol,"
"Oops…,"
Nicole smiled 'It's alright, you can all try one,"
Sure enough, the rest ate the cookies and found it to be delicious to eat even wanting to eat more but Carla was quick to put a stop to that. Naruto went upstairs to his room and sat on the bed to think about the upcoming event.
"What do you think I should wear to the fashion show, Kurama?" asked Naruto thoughtfully.
Kurama quirked an eyebrow "You're asking a Bijuu about fashion?"
"Come on, Kurama. I'm asking for your opinion here, just like I did when I hung out with Bunnie-chan,"
"It was a date, don't beat around the bush," Kurama retorted in a deadpanned tone, making Naruto blush upon recalling the kiss by the Mobian rabbit.
"Darn it furball, now's not the time for that!"
"Sure, we can always do it later,"
Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance "Why you…,"
"Anyways, let's take a look through your wardrobe and see what you can wear,"
Swearing to get back at the fox, Naruto went to the wardrobe to select the best suited attire for the upcoming event.
On the day of the event, a taxi cab slowed to a stop at the entryway to a fancy high-class hotel called Hotel Fleur-De-Lis then someone stepped out, revealing to be Naruto wearing a black tuxedo with a red undershirt, an orange tie, and a pair of black oxford shoes. He tried to apply hair gel but his spiky hair proved to be just as stubborn as he is and gave up on it.
"Ugh, the things I do for my friends…," Naruto grumbled as he readjusted his tie, fighting back the urge to simply rip the tux off and just wear his usual clothes, formality has never been his strong suit…ugh a pun. He approached the revolving doors which was being barred by a security guard who is a Mobian bulldog was holding a tablet in hand.
"May I see your invitation, please?" the security guard requested gruffly. Naruto brought out his phone and presented the digital invitation which has a QR code attached, the guard used his tablet to scan the QR code and confirmed its validity "Okay, you're clear to enter,"
"Thanks," returning the phone to his pocket, Naruto made his way inside and was immediately taken in by the décor of the hotel's lobby "Man, I wonder how much rings one will have to pay just to rent a room of this place for one night,"
"Probably enough to question why you'd want to rent the room in the first place," Kurama commented.
"True that," thought Naruto, then he was snapped out of it upon hearing someone calling out to him.
"There you are, Naruto! I was wondering when you'd arrive!" the blonde kitsune looked to see Honey approached and was dazzled by what she is wearing which is an ebony black off-shoulder long mermaid evening dress with evening gloves, a pair of black scarpin shoes, adorned with gem studded golden bracelets and earrings, and holding a vintage hand purse.
"W-Whoa, so beautiful…," Naruto was mesmerized by her beauty and had to be snapped back into focus with a small jolt of Kurama's chakra by the Bijuu himself "O-Oh, I just arrived!"
Honey beamed happily "Thanks for the earlier compliment, and I must say that your natural looks combined with the tux certainly make for a deadly combination. You already attracting feminine eyes by just standing around,"
Glancing around, Naruto saw what Honey meant as many females can't seem to stop looking at him but the males on the other hand were glaring "I see…,"
"You can thank me later," said Kurama smugly, making Naruto's eye twitch in annoyance.
Honey gently grabbed one of Naruto's hands and started to pull him along "Let me take you to the VIP room where we'll be watching the exhibition from there!" they were approaching the elevator when someone called out to them.
"Madam! Madam, please wait!" they turned to see a female Mobian sheep wearing a khaki-colored business suit, a pair of reading and holding a clipboard as she quickly walked towards them "We have a serious problem!"
"What's the matter?" asked Honey confusedly.
"There was a mishap at the backstage and our male model was caught up in it, he won't be able to take part in the exhibition!"
Honey was shocked to hear that "What?! But the show is about to start in less than an hour and we won't able to get another male model in time!"
"Man, that doesn't sound good. Huh?" Naruto was frowning at the situation when he noticed that Honey was looking at him from head to toe "What is it, Honey-chan,"
The next thing he knew was that his hands were grasped by Honey as she looked at him with utmost seriousness "Naruto…be my model!"
"W-W-What!?" Naruto couldn't believe what he has just heard from the CEO of her own company.
"Please Naruto, many are looking forward to this exhibition and I don't want to disappoint them,"
"B-But I've never done anything like this before!" Naruto protested.
"I'm sure you can do it; it won't be any different from the tournament. You just need to display the clothes you wear for everyone to see, plus your physique is perfect for it," Honey insisted.
The secretary joined in "Please sir, you're the only one we can rely on,"
Seeing the pleading look in Honey's eyes, Naruto finally gave in "Alright, I'll be your model,"
"Not like you were going to refuse, you're incapable of saying no to those close to you," said Kurama with a quirked eyebrow.
"Shut it, furball," Naruto grumbled.
Honey and the secretary smiled happily as the former spoke "That's great, my assistant will take you to the backstage and prepare you for the event. She'll also tell you want you need to know and do for it, I'll be cheering you on!"
"*Sigh* when you say it like that, I see no reason not to give it my all,"
"Please sir, if you could follow me to the backstage," the secretary gestured for Naruto to follow her which the kitsune which they went to their marked destination where they saw the staff being in a state of panic until she called out to gain their attention "Alright everybody, listen up! This is Mr. Naruto Uzumaki, he's a friend of Miss Honey and is here to stand in as a replacement model,"
The staff began whispering among themselves;
"Did she just say that he's Naruto Uzumaki?"
"I heard that he won the tournament,"
"Of course he did, I was there at the stadium to watch the whole thing,"
"I heard he's super-fast just like Sonic,"
The secretary clapped her hands to regain their attention "Please focus, we have less than forty-five minutes to prepare so let's get moving now!" at her words, the staff began moving around at a more organized pace as the makeup artists guided him into a room to begin the process
Over at the ballroom of the hotel which serves as the venue for the fashion show, numerous spectators gathered around the runway which had been set up for the exhibition. Then a female presenter being a Mobian deer walked onstage with a microphone in hand.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Honey Clothing Fashion Show! Tonight, you will be feasting your eyes on the latest designs created by the company which had never been seen until now. So be ready to be dazzled by what is about to step into the runway for all to see," with a polite bow amidst the applause, the presenter left the stage and music was played in the background.
Female models began walking along the runway one by one while dressed in various clothes of differing styles and designs with the audiences watching on with awe and photographers taking pictures of the models for magazines whom they work for.
Naruto was watching all this on the tv screen in his room "It won't be long until it my turn, getting a little nervous,"
"You needn't worry, you're just going out there for them to look at you and take pictures. There's nothing complicated about that. You and I have watched a couple of fashion shows on tv, you could imitate some of their moves for this," Kurama pointed out.
"You've got a point there,"
"I always do,"
"No need to get a swelled head, furball,"
There was knock on the door and one of the staff members peered inside the room "Excuse me sir, you're soon to be called on stage,"
Naruto nodded in affirmation "Alright, I'll be there,"
Up in the VIP room, Honey was watching the ongoing event with approval as she saw that things were going quite smoothly so far. And it would seem that she's not alone as someone spoke to her.
"It looks to me that the event is progressing quite smoothly," said the person.
Honey smiled in response "Which I'm glad about, the last thing I want is to disappoint the expectations of others, Breezy,"
Turns out that Breezy was sitting with Honey, having received an invite to the fashion show along with other aristocrats.
Breezy smiled in a sultry manner as she casually stirred the drink in her glass "As admirable as it is, it will do you some to not be so nice all the time. Afterall, being nice can sometimes pull you down below your proper ranking, I've seen many such examples of others being subject to it,"
Honey frowned a bit in response to her statement "Is that so…?" she saw that several of the aristocrats were in complete agreement with Breezy's statement and felt conflicted about it. She was snapped out of her thought by the announcement of the presenter who has reappeared on stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm glad to see that you're enjoying the exhibition so far. Right now, we'll be moving on to the exhibition of clothing for men. I hope you enjoy this as well!" said the presenter.
"Oh boy, this is it. Better give it my all out there," Naruto was standing behind the curtain, waiting for the signal to step out "Alright then, let's do this!"
Music Start: Bruno Mars; 24K Magic
Naruto stepped out into the runaway and walked across it in a calm and confident, neither moving too fast or too slow to ensure that he could be seen from any angle. The crowd gasped upon seeing who he is and what he was currently wearing.
"Hey, isn't that the guy who won the tournament?"
"Yeah, he even beat Sonic,"
"I think his name is Naruto Uzumaki, but what's he doing here?"
"Who cares, look at what he's wearing!"
Naruto currently had on a white long-sleeved zip-up hoodie sweatshirt with black accents, a pair of faded blue jeans held up by a black belt with a silver buckle, and a pair of black converse shoes with white accents.
The blonde kitsune reached the end of the runway and struck a pose, letting the audience observe the clothes then he fluidly unzipped the sweatshirt to reveal a black t-shirt underneath it and stood there with indifference, allowing the photographers snap pictures like crazy for many reasons other than the new clothes until the blonde kitsune retreated from the runway to the backstage as the staff immediately gathered round to quickly change him into his next clothes.
"You're doing well, Mr. Uzumaki. Just keeping doing what you just did and everything will be fine," said the secretary with encouragement.
"I will, it's not as bad as I thought," Naruto replied.
Back in the VIP room, Breezy was rather surprised to see Naruto being a model "Oh my, I certainly wasn't expecting someone like him to be a model. How did it come to be?"
Honey smiled sheepishly "To be honest, I invited Naruto to come and watch the show with me but then my male model got hurt and I was in a tight spot. So, I asked Naruto to stand in and he was willing to do so,"
"How interesting…," said Breezy thoughtfully, she didn't know if Honey had planned for this considering that a popular person like Naruto would attract many if he were to be a model which could boost her business by a lot or all this was just a coincidence "He continues to interest me even more,"
Back at the runway, the audience waited in anticipation for the kitsune's reappearance and weren't disappointed as he did so whilst dressed in another style of clothing. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with plaid designs on one side while the other side is full-on black, a pair of black trousers, and a pair of sneakers with a plaid design on them.
Like before, Naruto took on several postures to enable the audience to see the clothes he's wearing from every angle, becoming more attuned to what he's doing. He could recall all those times back in the Elemental Nations when he would do victory poses whenever he had defeated a strong opponent, those were some good times.
"Looks like you're getting the hang of it," Kurama commented.
"Yeah I am, makes me wonder why I was so nervous before," thought Naruto, striking an original pose by putting hand into a pocket of the trouser then stretching out the other outward and forming a handsign while looking away with his eyes closing, triggering everyone's curiosity and taking more pictures before returning backstage.
Naruto continued to do so with every cloth he wore, ranging from casual all the way to formal and the crowd were going crazy considering who he is and how he was performing until the exhibition was finally drawn to a close as the presenter was on stage.
"I'd like to thank you all for coming to the Honey Clothing Fashion Show and staying till the very end, I'd like for you all to give a standing ovation for all our models!" said presenter.
Then all of the female models walked onto the runway amidst applause from the audience with the last ones emerging to be Naruto along with Honey as they bowed to everyone in gratitude for a successful event.
Music End
Later on that night, Naruto and Honey were seeing Breezy as she was about to enter her limousine but not before having a word with them.
"I must say, you're certainly openminded to many things. First a competitor in a tournament and now a model. What else is in store?" asked Breezy curiously.
Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly "Nothing really, I was just helping Honey-chan out since she's a very good friend of mine. I saw no reason not to help her,"
"Even if you won't benefit from it?"
The blonde kitsune frowned at the question "I don't help to benefit from anything, it's not who I am,"
"I see…I guess that's what makes you unique above the others," Breezy stepped into her limo and gazed at them through the window "I hope to see more of what you can do," then the window rolled as she left with the other looking on.
"She's an odd one," Naruto commented with his arms crossed.
"Breezy's that way, it takes a lot to catch her interest and it seems she's now interested in you," Honey explained.
"You always attract the weird ones," said Kurama as fi it was an obvious fact.
"Shut it," Naruto grumbled mentally.
"So, will you be going home after this?" asked Honey.
"Pretty much, gotta say that I had fun being a model today though,"
"If you don't mind, maybe we can hang out for a bit longer. There's this café that I know, they serve great coffee and dessert," Honey offered, she felt that she wasn't able to spend as much time with Naruto like she wanted if not for that mishap.
Naruto hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders "Sure, I don't mind,"
Honey cheered up at that, the valet soon arrived with her black-and-red sports car (Nissan GT-R R35) and parked in front before handing over the car keys "That's great! Hop it, it's not that far from here!"
"Sure,"
Getting into the car, Honey drove them to the café that she was talking about called Joey's Coffeehouse. They went inside and took a table near the window and a waiter went to take their orders which were Americano and glazed donut for Honey while it's Café Latte and Pancakes for Naruto.
Naruto tried out the coffee and pancakes, finding them to be rather tasty "Wow, they make some good coffee and pancakes here,"
Honey smiled in response "I know, I came across this place a while back during one of my walkarounds. Been one of my favorite stops whenever I'm going anywhere and needed a pick-me-up along the way,"
"I see what you mean,"
They ate in silence for a while before Honey decided to speak up "Um, Naruto. I want to apologize for what happened today. I just wanted you to come and watch the fashion show with me but ended up having you help me save it instead,"
Naruto shook his head in disagreement "No need for an apology, true I wasn't expecting to be a model but it actually turned out to be fun for me. I mean, I never thought that I would do something like what I did tonight and I have you to thank. So, thanks for this, Honey-chan,"
Honey looked away shyly with her cheeks tinged pink "You're so nice…," then she frowned, recalling Breezy's words "By the way, I'll be sending compensation to you later for your help,"
"I don't really need the money, like I told Breezy; I was helping a friend without any want for benefits," Naruto refuted.
"But…,"
"It's okay, really. We're not keeping score for who owes who, okay?"
Honey wanted to insist but stopped upon seeing the firmness in Naruto's eyes "…alright, but keep in mind that you can always come to me for help, deal?" she held out a hand for him to shake.
Smiling at her wish to still repay him in some way "Deal," they smiled at each other and resumed drinking their coffee and eating their dessert. However, neither of them knew of the storm that was brewing the next day.
Barby was currently running through the hallways of the castle until she reached Sally's room and started banging on the door in a hurry.
"Sally, wake up! You need to see this!" said Barby hastily.
The door was unlocked and opened to reveal Sally in her nightwear "What is it, Barby?"
"Look at this, you won't believe who's on the front cover of Southern Fashion!" Barby pushed a magazine cover into Sally's face for the Mobian chipmunk princess to grab so she could get a better look for herself.
Sally was shocked upon seeing who it is "This is…," on the front cover of the magazine is Naruto wearing an Armani business suit as he posed by pushing up his eyeglasses which gave him a serious businessman vibe, and the title of the magazine read:
Champion of the World Fighting Tournament makes a big splash in the fashion world!
"I couldn't believe it either when I took it out of my mailbox, I didn't know Naruto is into modelling!" Barby exclaimed excitedly "That's why I ran all the way here to tell you!"
"I see…we can ask Naruto about this later when he comes to the HQ," said Sally, receiving a nod of agreement from the Mobian koala "In the meantime, I'll continue to examine this,"
Barby blinked in confusion "What? But it's mine and I haven't read it yet,"
"I'll be sure to have the guards get a copy for you, I'll see you later," Sally shut the door and locked the door.
Barby started banging her fists against the door again "Hey, give it back, Sally! It's not fair that you get to read it before me! Sally! Sallyyyyy!"
Meanwhile, Sally was sitting on her bed and looking through the pages of the magazine with earplugs to block out the noise and was blushing at the pictures of Naruto wearing different clothes, especially the one which had his shirt unbuttoned to expose his chest.
"Wow, I never would have imagined that he has such a robust physique…," she muttered to herself.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto is now back in the Gameverse and is helping Wendy and Milla develop their powers and skill through training with their progress being visibly satisfactory. He also learns from Tails that Nicole has somehow become a hybrid due to his Yang Seal and exposure to his chakra before he inquired about his side project is almost complete. He later goes to visit Cream and Vanilla to see how they're doing.
Later on, Naruto receives a call from Honey who invites him to watch a fashion show with her which he accepts. When that day came, he went to the venue to meet with the fashionista only to encounter an issue with the male model having been injured with the blonde kitsune having to stand in as the replacement. Turns out that his popularity from having won the World Fighting Tournament had a large effect when he began exhibiting the clothes given to him.
After Honey takes him to a café to spend some more time together, she was a bit affected by Breezy's words but was assured by the Naruto's natural kindness, strengthening their bond. However, neither of them knew that Naruto stepping in as a replacement for the male model had stirred up a storm with him as the very source of it all.
I'll be doing one more OC chapter before jumping into the next arc which I'm sure you're all anticipating so be sure to look forward to it. As for the project which Naruto has Tails doing for him, I'll keep in under wraps for the meantime as it will debut in the next arc so no need to worry about waiting too long for it. As for Nicole's Physiology, I basically made her a hybrid akin to that of a homunculus from the Fate Stay Night series so she could exist without the SAC but still access her Digital Powers. Needed to clarify this to avoid any confusion. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.