Chapter 8
Pink eyes stared out into the night sky, as their owner sighed and placed her face into her hands.
Her annoying blond savior and her guardian have just recently conspired together to prank her. As retribution, she had punished Maria accordingly for the ridiculous trick and was about to get Naruto as well...there was one problem with that however.
He got away.
As she dealt with her consistently misbehaving guardian, she temporarily left the blond to his own devices. But after she was through with her, Naruto immediately escaped through the solitary window in the bathroom. Her revenge has been unfulfilled.
The question was now, how would she properly get back against the blond for the steak thrown at her face? It took a long shower to get rid of the stench. What could she do to him that would without a doubt make him feel her pain?
Her thoughts drifted to his ramen stash, or as Naruto called it; his noodle treasures.
His obsession with ramen was borderline insane, but undeniably...a little cute.
Maybe.
So she quickly went to the kitchen in order to find her psuedo-brother's stash, he usually kept it all on top of the fridge...
"...Tch."
Mio couldn't help click her tongue, for some reason it seemed her silly savior had hidden his stash again. He sometimes did that whenever either herself or Maria had confiscated a little to make him cut down on the unhealthy noodles. So occasionally he would hide them for a few days. After doing a quick check, she determined that the missing ramen cups weren't hidden in the kitchen. That left really only one place...
His room.
Whenever Naruto ever wanted to hide something and wanted to make sure that it was never found until he deemed it safe, it would always disappear into his room.
She knew this only because the blond had boasted to her about it.
Technically, neither she or Maria were allowed into the room...but this was her revenge so the usual rules didn't apply. But at the moment she couldn't do that, not unless the seals on his door were opened. So she decided to hold on to her sweet vengeance until she had her chance. Besides, she was curious about what kind of magical items she held in that room of his. Also, another question that was bugging her.
How did Naruto feel about girls?
It was a question that first popped up in her head when she noticed that Naruto had a small following in school, a following that the blond seemed completely unaware of. Hell, the blond was almost painfully dense when it came to girls, so when other females started asking her about what the deal was...she got curious as well. For their sake of course, she was curious for their sake...she wasn't that curious at all.
So maybe she could get answers in his room. But it looked like she would have to sit on her revenge and her curiousity until later, but he could be stupid sometimes...so all she really had to do was wait.
When Naruto made a mistake...she would be ready!
"Ah come on 'Unknown'! What happened to all the energy you had back at Kuoh Town? Surely you can do better than that!"
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, he was tired and a little irritable. He could be home right now having a nice rest, but instead he was here with a slightly crazy old man...fishing.
They were fishing.
"...Why are we doing this again Azazel-san?" Naruto asked with a sigh, whatever he was dragged out here for...he'd appreciate it if they just did it so that he could go home and face the music with Mio.
"Ah! I'm glad you asked 'Unknown'! Well I thought this would be a good place to chat about the affairs of the world, specifically your place in it." the powerful fallen spoke cheerfully. The shinobi just frowned as he tried to use the stupid stick to catch a fish, how the hell did you use this thing?
"'Unknown', I think you actually have to use bait before you throw the hook into the water." Azazel said with a grin, Naruto just looked away from the fallen's face since he couldn't stand the mocking grin on it.
"Yeah...I knew that. Just give me a sec. Now whatcha want exactly Azazel-san?" Naruto asked irritably, he was still cautious around the man. If he decided to attack for whatever reason then he would need a second to gather nature energy since he hadn't had the good fortune to summon a clone. He wasn't entirely sure if he could take this guy without Sage Mode, so he would use it to fight this guy properly just in case.
That or Kyuubi's chakra.
But he wouldn't talk to or deal with the kyuubi until he had some way to use it's power safely. He lost control twice already so that idea was out of the question.
He wouldn't put any of his friends in jeopardy.
As Naruto mused silently for a moment, Azazel just studied the young blond next to him on the little boat. He only recently learned about him after a certain spy gave him information about the blond and his recent actions. He was actually legitimately surprised that the boy had managed to evade detection for so long, despite his penchant for finding and studying new and interesting things.
This teenager was very much in those categories.
"First off I'd like to thank you for your performance the other day. The rather large explosion that made human news was rather eye-catching and useful for me." Azazel started dryly, but this finally grabbed Naruto's attention. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the fallen's thanks, why would he thank him for blowing up a factory?
Actually...how would he even know that he was involved in the factory incident anyways? He was 'Sai' in that little battle...
"Thanks to that, I was able to find out about the little plan that Vretiel was cooking up. Helped me a lot! Man, being leader of Grigori can be a real tough gig you know? But with idiots like you around I can manage!" the elder fallen said with a thumbs up for dramatic effect.
...
"You didn't know!? Also did you just call me an idiot...?"
"Lets not change the subject 'Unknown'! For now we gotta figure out how to solve the situation with Vretiel and her followers."
The blond gave the older man a dull stare as he couldn't help but note that he wasn't the one that changed the subject. Also why the hell did he have to help him with his problem!? "Oi! You're the leader of your faction right? So why the hell don't you just order them to disband or something?" Naruto asked, much more simpler than any hair-brained scheme he could cook up anyways.
Finally Azazel's features turned serious as he answered Naruto's question.
"Unless I want to start a civil war within my own faction and maybe even invite other factions to attack...then I can't intervene directly." Azazel stated matter-of-factly. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, he would start a civil war just by intervening in his own faction's business? How did that make any sense?
"I see you don't understand...well suffice it to say that there are many among the fallen angels who are not at all adverse to the idea of starting war again. Vretiel's actions could very well do just that, so many could actually join her plan in order to purposely incite the devils to fight. If I boldly try and stop this plan then it would alert many who were unaware of it in the first place to try and incite a war. It would be catalyst for warmongers." Azazel explained.
Hell, he didn't even mention that a few fallen angels were now unaccounted for. Well now he knew where they disappeared to.
The blond widened his eyes at this information, he wasn't really aware that there were many among the fallen angels that legitimately wanted war again. All he knew was that the relatively recent war among the biblical factions was stopped with a cease-fire. But if many among them would try and incite war behind their leader's back then the hate for their former enemies must have ran deep.
"To top it all off, if I move in and possibly start a civil war with my own people...then other factions who hate fallen angels could take that chance to destroy us. As you can see, my hands are tied. Which is why I am talking to you." Azazel finished with a smirk.
"...You want me to solve your problem for you?" Naruto asked tiredly, he probably could have guessed that he was after that. "But why choose me of all people? Why not get someone more reputable that isn't aligned with your faction?"
The fallen grinned as he straightened his back and waved his arm dramatically with a flourish. "That's because there is no one like that who is close enough to Kuoh Town!" Azazel said without a hint of shame at his predicament.
This just caused Naruto to face-fault.
"How...how did you become a leader of a faction exactly...?" Naruto asked with incredulity, was it really okay for someone to be so lax when they are a leader? But it seemed that Azazel just found his question hilarious since he busted out laughing. In response the blond's eyebrow just regained it's sporadic twitch as he tried to concentrate on fishing again since his face-fault interrupted it...he wouldn't lose to a damn fish.
"Ha...you are an interesting one 'Unknown'!" the fallen leader said with humor, but Naruto had enough of his pet nickname.
"Enough with the 'Unknown' thing already...my name is Naruto. Calling me an 'unknown' constantly is seriously getting to me." Naruto spoke with annoyance lacing his tone. How would anyone like getting called an 'unknown' constantly? Is that how people knew him as?
"Eh? Why did your parents name you after a ramen topping? Kinda strange eh 'fishcake'?"
"IT'S MAELSTROM! Now lets focus on staying on the subject! I can accept that I am the only one who can do this but why should I even help in the first place?" Naruto retorted, slightly incensed by the older man's words.
"I am not entirely sure to be honest. But I have a hunch that you don't want any conflict between the devils and the fallen, that is the only possible reason that you didn't kill any of the fallen angels at the abandoned factory. Especially when you add the fact that you hid your identity, a strange move unless you consider that you didn't want the fallen to blame the devils of Kuoh Academy! Which means that helping me would be in your interest as well." Azazel spoke casually, but the blond was still annoyed by the fact that he still didn't know how his cover was blown.
"How did you know that I was in the factory Azazel-san? I never told anyone that and I doubt that you were actually there at the time, especially since the factory was what tipped you off in the first place." Naruto said with a frown, he was sure that no one was watching him at the time and he was discreet while taking the fallen girl. So how could he know?
"Now now, we just met haven't we? It wouldn't be good if I gave up all of my secrets to an 'unknown variable' now would it?" the fallen leader said, though Naruto had to wonder how he knew. "By the way, you have nothing to worry about if you think that I am going to spread my knowledge of you to other factions. It was obvious that you were hiding for a reason and I need you to help me out...so I definitely can't alienate you."
Naruto just huffed at his words, but he could accept his reasoning and see that he wasn't lying. He was pretty good at detecting liars.
"Fine fine, I admit that I do want to help. But it doesn't mean that I will do what you want, after all I just want to make sure that war doesn't start...not help you with whatever your ambitions are." Naruto stated seriously, he had no idea what Azazel wanted after all. He didn't want to help a guy who had some dark plan to rule the world or something.
He dealt with one of those types already.
Azazel just waved his hands in the air in the universal sign of surrender before speaking. "Don't worry, this is relatively simple and straightforward. You may not believe me but I actually want peace rather than war myself, mostly because war-making interrupts my more interesting pursuits. All I want you to do Naruto...is to defeat Vretiel." the leader of the fallen spoke with a smirk.
The shinobi tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at the fallen before speaking.
"...That's it? That's all you want from me Azazel-san?" Naruto asked with a dubious tone in his voice. In response to the blond's disbelief, Azazel merely shrugged.
"There might be something else I want along with it, something that will make the mission more difficult for you I'm sure. Although you don't really seem like the killing type, I want to make sure that as many of my wayward subordinates are captured so that I may deal with them personally. Especially those who are close to Vretiel in blood or association...like her daughter for example." the elder fallen said casually, almost like he was commenting on the weather rather than giving details to a mission.
Naruto placed his chin on the palm of his hand as he turned back towards the exciting prospect of catching a fish. "Depends on what you're planning on doing to them once they're captured. I don't like the idea of people being captured and then tortured for information you know?" Naruto said with little emotion on his face. The thought sort of made him feel a little sick to be honest, one thing to kill someone...another thing to torture them.
"Do you think of me that badly? I only wish to make sure that they won't betray me later on by placing them under house arrest. Despite how I may seem like to you...I actually do care about what happens to my people." the fallen retorted smartly, although admittedly he wasn't being fully honest about what he was going to do with Vretiel's close 'associates'.
But the blond didn't need to know that yet. Telling half-lies were among the best ways to lie to someone.
"Also, you won't be doing this for free. Since this is something actually pretty important...I am willing to owe you a favor. Eh? How does owning a favor from the great Azazel-sama sound? Not bad eh?" Azazel boasted towards the still unknown variable.
Naruto didn't look too impressed.
"It would be one thing if that favor came from a reliable source...another thing if it came from a weird guy who likes to fish too much." Naruto replied smartly, honestly he could probably accept the fallen's proposal. He probably was gonna go over to that abandoned church and beat the crap out of everyone anyways, Azazel's request was more like a side-mission more than anything else. But getting a favor from a leader of a faction could help him with his little side-project...
While Naruto wanted to get back to the Elemental Nations as soon as possible. He figured that while he was here, he could at least help in trying to secure peace in this world. So he decided to specifically aim at paving the way to peace so that others could finish the job. At least then, he wouldn't just go through his days waiting for a chance to get home. So Azazel's offer was actually a good deal, especially when he was planning to do it anyways.
"Considering that you will have knowledge of this little incident...I think that it is in my own best interest to make sure that you are satisfied with this arrangement. Besides that as a guarantee...I got nothing. You're just going to have to trust me, like I am going to have to trust you." Azazel finished with a small smile.
Naruto just smirked at that, he supposed he could do that. After this discussion, he felt that the fallen leader was at least someone he could trust.
Well...mostly...kinda?
"Alright alright. You got yourself a deal Azazel-san, now take me back to Kuoh Town...I have no idea how to get home." Naruto said blandly while trying to reel in what he thought was a fish.
Turned out that it was seaweed. Damn it he hated fishing.
"Oh fine, I suppose you got school anyways right? Man...teenagers in this day and age get no fun eh? Give me a sec and don't flinch." Azazel said while standing up and flexing his wings. Before Naruto could question the strange statement, Azazel wrapped his wings around Naruto.
They disappeared from the face of the lake.
If one were to look at the Uzumaki residence around two in the morning, they would think that it was being invaded by a thief. But their assumption would be incorrect since the 'thief' in question was just trying to get back into his own home. The blond shinobi was slowly climbing up into the window of the bathroom again, it seemed that Mio had locked the door as revenge for escaping her wrath.
Naruto was honestly fine with that, he just hoped that she calmed down a little since then. Dealing with her when the fallen angel issue seemed to be becoming more dangerous wasn't too smart. So the second he entered the house, he moved to get to his super-comfy bed and go to sleep. He had a feeling he had a long day tomorrow, best not face it when he was exhausted.
But before he went to bed, he had to deal with something that he had been putting off for a little bit.
When he reached his room, he went towards his old ninja gear in order to get some old and familiar clothes that have been pretty much destroyed over time. His trusty and stylish clothes while he was a shinobi in the Elemental Nations.
His old orange tracksuit and forehead protector.
The tracksuit was pretty much ruined beyond repair due to his constant usage of the sturdy clothes. He also doubted anyone would help him fix it while he was in this world, so the best he could hope for was to create something in its likeness. He seriously hoped that he could get those new clothes made by the time he got back to the Elemental Nations. As a stylish guy, he just couldn't stand walking around with anything but his usual threads!
Admittedly, this world had some pretty cool stuff too. So he had wanted to modify it a little bit to fit, only problem was he needed someone to help him make such an outfit.
Naruto decided to focus on his clothing problem for later, for now he wanted to get his weapons pouch prepped. He had no idea what to expect from these fallen angel rebels as a group, so he wanted to have it ready in case he needed to run back here and grab them in short notice. He tended to never actually take it with him since a pouch filled with dangerous weapons would be pretty eye-catching if anyone managed to grab it while he wasn't looking.
Happened once, he didn't fancy knocking out random people for something like that.
After making sure all was prepped for an emergency snatch-and-grab, he finally decided to hit the hay. Hopefully tomorrow would be a safe day where he can scout the fallen before planning any kind of assault.
Raynare was looking down on the ceremony which her mother had prepped, she decided that it was fitting all things considered.
She was sitting on a ledge near the ceiling of the large underground 'room'. She was watching as her mother gave orders left and right to exiled priests as well as other fallen angels. The amount of fallen angels here was actually kind of surprising for the young woman.
When her mother first started this operation, she only had a handful of fallen join her. But as time went on, it seemed that numerous other fallen angels have joined in for their own reasons and motivations. Some wanted to see if such a 'transplant' could be accomplished on a pure fallen angel, others were thrill seekers who were riding high on staying in devil territory...but some...
She couldn't help but notice that some fallen angels were here to intentionally start a war with the devils that control this territory.
She wasn't one of those peace advocates among the fallen angels, but she certainly wasn't one that would intentionally start a war. At the moment, Raynare couldn't help but silently hope that her mother knew what she was doing by having these fallen join her ranks.
Her musings ended when she noticed a blue-haired fallen angel descend the stairs with a certain blond nun in tow, she ignored how downtrodden the nun appeared in favor of greeting her friend.
"Kalawarner-nee, I see you have accomplished your mission. No troubles I presume?" Raynare asked on her elevated position, Kalawarner looked up in order to respond to her former charge's question.
"I wouldn't say no trouble at all...but very little, it seemed that our nun here had managed to get a friend in her short time here. Isn't that right little Asia?" Kalawarner asked without much sympathy. The nun said nothing in response, which caused Kalawarner to just sigh and turn back to the younger fallen angel.
"Apologies for her attitude Raynare-sama...she's just upset that I recently hurt her friend. A human boy was trying to stop me from extracting her, but he was just a normal human. So you had nothing to worry about." the blue-haired fallen stated. She was a little tempted to kill the boy actually, but she refrained on the grounds that a random human death at this time could draw attention to Vretiel-sama's ritual...especially since she didn't want to attract the attention of the second powerful human. Besides, just because one human happened to be strong enough to beat her, it didn't mean that she should kill every human in sight from now on.
The incident was an aberration, a strange occurrence when compared to her life-time's worth of interacting with humans. Likely not to happen again.
"Ha ha ha! Looks like you've gotten a bit more paranoid Kalawarner-chan!" a feminine voice called out to the faux business woman. Kalawarner sighed while Raynare groaned as Mittelt joined the conversation. Raynare glanced to the side to see a blonde girl wearing a gothic lolita dress glide down on her single pair of wings. She gave Kalawarner a toothy grin, much to the physically older woman's annoyance.
"Just because there was one human that beat the crap out of you, doesn't mean that all of them can now you know?" Mittelt said with a mocking smile, which only caused a sporadic twitch to appear on Kalawarner's face much to Raynare's amusement. Kalawarner-nee and Mittelt-chan have always been like this, trying to one-up one another with Dohnaseek-sensei being the one who broke them up.
How long could something like this last she wondered? The ceremony was going to begin tomorrow at mid-day, but this felt like one of those 'important' moments that she read about in her history classes. Would there be a before and after that points to this day as something special? She didn't know. All she knew was that she couldn't...no...wouldn't fail her mother.
Raynare opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by a voice that she didn't recognize.
"...Why?"
All speaking between the small fallen group ceased when the human spoke when no one expected her to.
"...How can all of you know what it's like to have such happiness with your friends...how can you cherish those bonds...when you don't care that you destroy the bonds of others...?" the nun asked softly, she didn't understand these people. They were cruel to their enemies yet they were friendly with one another...how could they have such double-standards? Didn't the Bible say to 'do unto others what as you would have them do unto you'? Yet these people...
The group was silent as they stared at the distraught blond. What could they say to that? What could anyone say to that when considering the circumstances?
"You wouldn't like it if someone took someone you cared about right...? You wouldn't like it if your friends were hurt in front of you right? So why?..." the nun asked again with tears pouring down her eyes. "How could you hurt Issei-san...and still face you're loved ones...?"
"Stop."
A masculine voice emerged from the shadows of the stairs leading to the underground room, Dohnaseek has arrived.
"There is no honor or justice in any of this little nun, this is simply for the sake of power...nothing else. That is the cruel reality of the world, you could either live with it or fall...and unfortunately you are going to fall. So bringing in moral and theological arguments or attempting to understand this is fruitless...accept your fate." Dohnaseek spoke without remorse.
The young nun just turned away from the fallen and turned her gaze to the ground.
Raynare just stared at the nun before turning her gaze towards her mother who was ordering around her subordinates. After a moment she turned around to leave the building. She ignored the calls of her former teachers and current friends as she left.
She needed some air. Badly.
When Naruto woke up the next day, he figured that Mio would try to ignore him and be somewhat aggressive for the rest of the day. But strangely enough, she seemed to be far more passive than he expected. He couldn't help but hope that she had calmed down a little since then, as a psuedo-older brother he was actually very proud of her!
Maria on the other hand...he couldn't help but notice the dark glint in her eyes as he went about his day, he better watch for any suspicious happenings. No way was he about to be caught in one of her traps!
He decidedly ignored the fact that the bathroom had a stink bug when he went to take a shower.
For now though, Naruto actually decided to do something more productive today and get to school earlier than usual. The only reason he was doing this was to make sure he at least had a record at showing up to school, no doubt his continuous skipping would do damage to Mio's and Yuki's reputation since they pretty much hanged out with each other. He really didn't care for the curriculum, he lived without a proper education before so he could do it again!
But he could do without his friends' and acquaintances' constant attempts of getting him to do schoolwork diligently.
Speaking of which...
Naruto stared ahead at the Kuoh Academy gates, more specifically at the young woman who was greeting the returning students. The shinobi just groaned at the upcoming lecture he would no doubt hear if he got caught. If he could just silently sneak across without the student council president knowing then maybe he could-
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Aaaaaahhhhhhh...
Naruto glanced at Shitori Sona as she gazed at him with a small frown, he wanted to make a break for it but that could make the lecture much worse if he actually got caught later.
"I hear you are still acting out against your teachers? Why must you continuously dodge your responsibilities as a student?" Sona asked with a disapproving glare, which caused Naruto to scratch the back of his head uncomfortably. It'd be one thing if Sona was actually a jerk to him, but Sona genuinely cared about all of the students of Kuoh Academy. So her honest beliefs actually made him somewhat uncomfortable, since he honestly didn't need schooling. He couldn't exactly explain himself to her either, in short no matter what he does, he would probably have to face Sona again.
That left one option.
*POOF*
The student council president blinked as a small smoke cloud enveloped the blond troublemaker suddenly and without warning. She quickly glanced around to see that no normal humans saw the strange application of the strange blond's power before turning back to the cloud. Did he really think that he could get away from his duties? Did he really think he could escape her lecture by using a smokescreen to get away? It was her duty as the student council president of Kuoh Academy to-!
Her internal monologue stopped as she gaped at what she saw.
She expected to see a blond either sprint out of the smoke or attempting to hide. But she didn't see any of that.
A log.
There was a log where the blond once stood.
"...How?"
When did he escape? How did he escape? She was right there! It wasn't logically possible for him to escape when he never left the smoke!
Where did the log even come from!?
Sona did her best to calm herself down as she pushed her glasses back into place. She was quickly coming to understand what her best friend meant when she last spoke to her about the blond mystery.
Logic didn't apply to him.
What a terrifying prospect.
But not an unexpected one.
Shinobi were supposed to be masters of stealth and intrigue.
Naruto sucked at intrigue.
So he would have to deal with stealth, which was being tested by his new designated number one enemy, he never knew they would take it this far...
They wanted two things from him, both were completely and utterly unacceptable! He could swallow his pride for the greater good sometimes, but this...this was not one of those times!
How could they even ask such a thing from him!?
"Where is that blond bastard!?"
"Don't worry Gen-chan! He won't be able to keep this up forever, kaichou and fuku-kaichou won't let him escape easily!"
"Split up for now and notify everyone if you found him! We will cut him off if necessary."
Damn the student council! Stop trying to give me detention! Stop trying to make me go to class for the rest of the year! This is tyrannical damn it!
Naruto quickly turned around from where he was headed, he heard those voices coming from that hallway so he had to find another way out. When he turned around however, he was face-to-face with his new mortal enemy.
"...Sona-kaichou."
"...Uzumaki Naruto."
The student council president of Kuoh Academy stared down the blond menace of the school before speaking.
"Surrender, you are now surrounded and if you come quietly then your sentence to detention will be lessened. I assure you." Sona said while crossing her arms, the blond was indeed surrounded by both sides. Tsubaki and herself covered this side while Saji, Momo, and Tsubasa were cutting him off on the other side of the hallway.
They were on the third floor of the building so it wasn't like he could escape through the windows unless he could fly.
*POOF*
She was beginning to hate smoke.
As she feared, the smokescreen allowed for Uzumaki to escape again. Except this time there was no log to take his place, she was glad that all the students were in class at the very least.
"Don't let him get away!" Sona ordered, which made the rest of her Peerage continue their search for the illusive and annoying blond.
When they all left to search for him however, a locker door near to where the smoke was opened to reveal Uzumaki Naruto in the flesh. He figured that Sona would believe he escaped again by using simple smoke again, but in reality he just used a henge to create the smoke and then quickly hid inside the locker before the smoke cleared.
Now he was free! While looking like a random student anyways, he didn't want to get caught again so he just kept the henge of an unassuming student of Kuoh Academy.
So Naruto casually walked down the stairs so that he could leave the school again. Man, he needed a good reason to leave again otherwise he wouldn't hear the end of it from several people.
Huh, he kinda was acting like a delinquent these days...but his motives were pure. So it's all good.
He was almost at the home stretch to leave the school building when he collided with someone while making a turn towards the exit. The shock actually knocked him out of his henge and he couldn't help but hope that it wasn't anyone from student council, he didn't want to the whole chase thing again!
"Naruto-san!"
He has never been so glad to hear to voice of Hyoudou Issei until now.
"Uh, heya Issei-san. Look, I'm kinda busy right now so can we talk later? I am on the run from the law and I need to-" Naruto began but was shocked when Issei grabbed him on the shoulders and turned him around to face him.
"Naruto-san...thank god...I found you! Please! You have to help me! You're the only one I know that can help me! So please! I would do anything!" Issei shouted towards the blond with desperation, but this only confused the shinobi more.
"Woah woah woah! Slow down there! Take it easy...now tell me. What happened to make you so crazy?" Naruto asked genuinely curious, only to take a closer look at the perverted teen and frown.
He had bruises, a lot of bruises. Was someone hurting him?
Issei took a quick breath before exhaling it all out, then he turned back to the blond with desperate eyes. "Naruto-san. My friend has been abducted by one of those factions you told me about...fallen angels was it? Anyways, she has been abducted and I want to save her! I tried to do it myself...but I wasn't strong enough. So please...please help me save her!" Issei pleaded, practically groveling on the floor.
Naruto widened his eyes at Issei's words, fallen angels? They kidnapped someone? Why? Who?
What the hell were they up to exactly?
Then something clicked in Naruto's head.
"Issei-san...this girl you wanted to save...it wouldn't happen to be a nun would it?" Naruto asked hesitantly, he had no idea what to think if Issei answered in the positive. If he stayed a little longer than maybe he could have saved the young girl...he could have even kept a clone to watch them just to be sure.
"Eh? How did you know?" Issei asked in wonder. Naruto on the other hand just grimaced, if only he was smarter...! Before he could go any further on this route, he shook his head and turned back to Issei.
"Issei-san, don't worry. I'll help you with this." Naruto said with determination, the fallen were rebels and have abducted a human girl...they were fair game now. There was no way a supernatural could be a nun so she was definitely human and he had beef to settle, he would finish this now before anyone else suffered needlessly.
First things first though.
"Issei-san, go back to your house and stay there until tomorrow morning for school. Leave this to me, I promise that Asia will be safe and sound." Naruto said with a grin. But Issei shook his head and practically glared at Naruto.
"No! I need to help Asia in any way I can! I couldn't save her before...please let me come!" Issei begged, he couldn't stand the thought that Asia could be in danger while he was sitting at home safely.
Naruto frowned at Issei's request, in every sense of the word...Issei would be a liability. No, the smart thing to do was to make sure he stayed home.
"Issei-san, I don't think you understand how dangerous this is. This isn't a video game where if you die then you get another life...if you die then you're finished. These are powerful beings that can destroy you with a flick of their fingers...and you want to come? Why would you even want to come?" Naruto asked quietly, his answer would determine the shinobi's decision.
"...I always wanted to do ecchi things to beautiful women. I always wanted to become a harem king ever since I was young. But I...when I met Asia I just wanted to hold her and keep her safe no matter what. I don't know why her...but I want to keep her safe! I failed her once, I won't fail her again!"
...
A toothy grin appeared on the shinobi's face. There was hope for the guy yet.
"Keep up Issei."
As the pair ran off to aid a young girl in need, a pair of eyes noticed them leave the academy grounds. More specifically, the person noticed the determined expression that was on Naruto's face...an expression she only saw once.
"...Naruto?"
Naruto figured out pretty quickly that Issei couldn't keep up. So the shinobi was holding Issei by having his left arm around his shoulders so that they could move faster. Before they could get to the abandoned church though...they had to make a pit-stop.
He landed in front of his house and dropped Issei on the floor unceremoniously, the teen was kissing the ground since they were roof-hopping. Naruto ignored him and quickly entered his house in order to grab his weapons pouch...they might be useful. After grabbing them, he immediately left the house and locked the door before placing the pouch on his belt.
"Alright Issei, time to go. We got to save your princess like badass knights with orange armor." Naruto said with a completely serious face, Issei just wondered if he made a terrible mistake asking the blond for help. He couldn't stop to think on it since Naruto grabbed him again and started jumping on the roofs again, he just hoped he could hold his lunch.
Raynare was staring at Kuoh Town from the sky.
Ever since the incident with the nun yesterday, she has been staying away from the abandoned church like it was infested with plague. For some reason she couldn't stay in there without feeling a little sick. But more importantly...
She couldn't look at the nun in the eye anymore.
The ceremony would had already begun and would end in the evening. The sun was already disappearing.
The nun's life would go along with it.
She shook her head of the thought, she was letting the human get to her. Her mother would be ashamed that she was even thinking about this. This was reality, this was what she was prepared to do to earn her mother's care again. She told herself that she would do whatever was necessary...right?
So why was she hesitating now?
The young fallen sighed and moved to get back to the church.
Then paused.
This feeling...she remembered this feeling.
She felt it only twice in her short life, both times rather recently as a matter of fact.
The same feeling that she warned Kalawarner-nee about...!
It was heading this way.
"Oh...oh..."
It was getting closer.
"Ohhhhhh..."
...
"SHIT!" Raynare cursed as she scrambled to get back to the church and warn her mother about the impending danger.
If it was that human as she feared, then her mother needed to be notified immediately!
She sped off to the church while flaring her light energy so that she would alert her fellow fallen angels, the second she touched down in front of the church she was met face-to-face with her mother.
"What the hell do you think you're doing child!? This isn't the time for..."
"He's here! Another powerful human is here! The same as last time! Okaa-sama please believe me!" Raynare pleaded with her mother before bowing. Vretiel just frowned at this as she tried to make sense of her daughter's words.
Before she froze.
"Impossible...how can there be two...? Are you positive Raynare? No mistake? You will be punished if you are wasting my time." Vretiel growled, if this human was as powerful as the last one then she would need to see to this personally.
Now of all times too...!
"Yes okaa-sama! Absolutely positive!" Raynare said with certainty.
Vretiel just cursed before turning back to the church where a small group of fallen have approached to see what was going on.
"Fallen! We have an intruder heading here at any moment! Join with me so that we could give them a proper greeting!" Vretiel shouted. This caused an eruption of cheers to break out among her followers as many spread their wings to take flight. She spread her own wings and turned back to Raynare.
"Raynare, I need you to go back inside and finish the ceremony. I have managed to scale down the time needed for it's completion, now you and your former guardians just need to keep the energy consumption steady. It should only take two hours now, we will deal with the intruder...don't mess this up." Vretiel said seriously, she would be damned if her daughter screwed up at such a critical juncture.
"O-Of course okaa-sama!" Raynare said with only a minor stutter, before seeing all of the fallen present fly into the sky to prep for their intruder.
'...Be careful okaa-sama.' Raynare mentally hoped, as she went inside the church to help her friends finish the ritual. She had mixed feelings about all of this, but she would do as her mother commanded, she always did.