Chapter 17
It was morning.
Those who were sleeping inside the summer 'home' of the Gremory family were finally beginning to stir.
Many of them with aches.
But none of them were sleepy, rather...precisely because they were exhausted the other day...they actually had an excellent rest.
Most of them.
Naruse Mio managed to get a little more rest, since she fell asleep soon after she discovered what Naruto was up to last night.
But the blond himself...
"...Damn it...I hate the sun sooooo much right now..."
He wasn't doing so hot.
Mio gave Naruto a pointed look. "This is what happens when you stay up practically the entire night. Maybe you should take a shower? That might wake you up."
"I don't want to take a shower though...I'm too hungry..." the teenaged boy complained as he laid his face down on the table they were sitting on.
The half-devil merely rolled her eyes in exasperation. He could act like such a child at times.
They were both sitting down at the table where everyone had unofficially dictated was the 'eating table'.
Since it was about time for everyone to wake up and get something to eat anyways, they decided to wait here for everyone before they started eating.
Well...Mio decided to wait here for everyone. She thought that it was common courtesy to wait.
Naruto didn't give a shit about 'courtesy'...he was hungry and wanted to eat.
Problem was...he sucked at cooking and he didn't want to poison himself. So he was stuck until someone came in and cooked.
Man...how did he survive without Maria and Mio cooking meals for him again?
Naruto's eyes lit up.
He just remembered how!
The blond immediately stood up with a large grin on his face and sped off towards his room to get one of his bags.
Mio just watched him leave warily, unsure what to think of a suddenly energetic Naruto running around.
She decided to stay on standby until stuff started blowing up. Only then would she drag herself out of her chair to deal with it.
Luckily, her patience was rewarded when she didn't hear any explosions. But she did hear Naruto lumbering back with heavy footsteps.
The blond in question came lumbering back with a large luggage bag strapped around his arm. He had a smug expression on his face, as if he solved a question that has eluded everyone for the longest time.
This should be good.
"Naruto...I ignored it back when we were getting to Rias-sempai's summer home as one of your 'Narutoisms'...but what's with the bag?" Mio asked while staring at his bag suspiciously.
She had every right to, the bag was practically as big as Naruto was.
"Nothing much, just the bare essentials of traveling." Naruto said with a careless shrug.
The red-head glanced at the blond with a doubtful expression, a bag of this size did not classify this as the 'bare essentials'...
He placed the bag down and began taking out several objects and placing it onto the table.
Those objects happened to all revolve around one thing...
Ramen.
He literally brought a luggage bag...filled to the brim with ramen.
Just...what could be said here?
Before she could even make a comment about it, Naruto quickly cut her off.
"Hey, I know that you're about to say something about my sanity because of your expression...but before you do...consider something." the shinobi said with a serious expression on his face.
Mio, despite her knowledge to her psuedo-brother's antics, leaned forward due to the passion behind the blond's words...
"Should you truly question the food that even the God of the Bible claimed as his signature dish?"
...
"...He must assuredly did not say that Naruto." Mio replied with dull eyes.
"...Well I'm sure he would have if he knew about the majesty of ramen." the shinobi retorted with nary a doubt in his eyes.
The half-devil could only sigh, when ramen was involved, Naruto would always speak passionately about it. One gets the impression that he could have been a ramen preacher in another life.
As the whiskered teen began to pull ramen cups out of his bag to place into the microwave, Mio heard another pair of footsteps heading towards the room.
"...Good morning everyone." Yuki yawned out as she dragged her feet towards the table.
It wasn't too surprising to see Yuki up and about before anyone else, she was among the few who had received not much more than superficial wounds in their training session. If anything it was probably expected.
"Good morning Yuki. You seem sleepy, did you take a shower yet?" Mio asked as she glanced at the hero.
Showers were definitely Mio's go-to option when trying to wake herself up.
Sleepy yellow eyes regarded the red-head for a moment before responding. "It's currently in use. So unfortunately I didn't manage it yet."
The half-devil raised an eyebrow. "I thought there were like...three bathrooms?"
"There are. They are all in use." Yuki said with a sigh. Obviously annoyed that she lost her chance for a nice and early shower.
Mio could sympathize.
The hero turned her head to stare at Naruto, who was currently standing in front of the microwave, waiting impatiently for his ramen to finish.
"Should you really be eating something so unhealthy so early in the day Naruto? Let's wait for the others to wake up so that we can have a healthy meal." Yuki said reasonably, wishing to help her friend out in his eating habits.
Naruto looked at Yuki with a befuddled expression. "Huh? Ramen is a good choice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! All day and everyday. Stuff like whether it's healthy or not doesn't matter since ramen gives me it's blessing in return!"
His proclamation was met with nothing but silence by his audience.
This was the scene which Koneko walked into after she just finished taking her shower.
She looked around for a moment in confusion at the meaningful silence and glanced at the blond who just noticed her entrance.
"Hey Koneko-san! Would you like some morning ramen?" he called out to her.
The young devil frowned at the request. "...Ramen? In the morning?"
The shinobi merely rolled his eyes. "Not you too...I'm telling everyone that ramen is for everyone, any time, anywhere. This is the main piece of my plan to unite the world in peace...give everyone some ramen. Don't you diss that dream, damn it."
Koneko simply responded with a blank stare, somewhat understanding why it was so quiet when she entered the room now.
"...I think I'll just wait for someone else to make breakfast." the loli decided as she moved to find a seat.
"Eh? Do you distrust me Koneko-san?" Naruto asked with a teasing grin, it wasn't really a serious question.
Although, it's amazing how Koneko could express so much emotion with just a slight downturn of her lips.
"...You blew me up Naruto-sempai."
Ah...right.
"Ah come on. That was all for you and your team's sake right? Besides, what's a few explosions every now and then?" Naruto asked with a slightly nervous grin. Maybe he pushed them all a little too hard?
The teenaged girl said nothing. She didn't like being blown up, no one liked getting blown up. So what the hell was he talking about?
"...I'm not too sure what I walked in on. Perhaps I should get a little bit of context for blowing people up?" Kiba Yuuto said as he walked inside the room.
Naruto waved in greeting and then waved off his concerns. "She's just being prissy because I blew her up yesterday."
"Ah...I see..." Yuuto said with slight amazement. So he didn't get the worst of it huh?
"Don't worry Kiba-san. You'll get used to his 'Narutoisms' soon enough, though for the sake of your sanity...I suggest sooner rather than later." Mio said blandly while laying her head down on the table.
Naruto gave her an affronted look. He did not cause people to lose their sanity!
...He just happened to be around of a lot of people that already lost their sanity.
All you had to do was look at his teachers.
Before he could retort to her comment...two more people entered the room and also commented on the situation.
"...Is that what his quirks are called now? 'Narutoisms'? I didn't know that you had an '-ism' named after you Naruto." Rias said with a slight grin. Feeling much better after her shower.
"Ara ara, Buchou! Foxy-kun's quirks deserve nothing less don't you think?" Akeno agreed with a smirk.
The shinobi gave them annoyed looks. They were acting as if he didn't just beat them up yesterday, trying to forget about it maybe?
He was about to try and rectify that by reminding them, until something more important grabbed his attention.
The microwave went off.
His ramen was done.
Ignoring the presences of the 'Two Great Ladies' for a moment, he grabbed his ramen from the microwave and began inhaling it's contents as if he was starved.
The whole group stared in fascination as he downed the entire ramen cup in about 3 seconds flat without choking.
While he was doing this, a certain hero went up to Rias and Akeno to ask them a question.
Once he was finished, he wiped his mouth and sighed in satisfaction.
"Yep. Ramen is definitely one of the essentials dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed with a massive grin. Now that's what he called a good breakfast!
Then he felt someone tug on his shirt, trying to get his attention.
"Naruto. You're not hungry anymore, right?" Yuki asked while giving him a weird stare.
He didn't know why it was 'weird'...just that it wasn't exactly a normal stare.
"Well...although I'd like another ramen cup...yeah. I'm not hungry anymore." the shinobi replied.
The hero nodded. "You're also still quite sleepy, right?"
He couldn't help but notice that her stare was getting weirder. But now he could confidently say that her stare was...heated.
Almost as if she wanted him to follow along with what she was suggesting.
Now if only he could figure out what exactly she wanted...?
"Hmm...well I am still pretty sleepy...so yeah. Maybe I should go take a nap?" Naruto wondered aloud, trying to ignore the stare that was trying to bore into his head.
The hero nodded, her eyes seemingly sparkling.
"I see!" Yuki said with a slight smile on her face. "Then we should go take that bath, now that Rias-san and Akeno-san have finished their showers."
Naruto thought about that, while he didn't really want to take a shower...now that he had some food in his stomach...
Then he blinked.
Wait...'we'?
"Woah...wait. 'We'? What the hell are you talking about Yuki!?" Naruto asked incredulously, shocked that she could have said that with a straight face.
She merely tilted her head in genuine confusion. "What's wrong? I simply want to wash your back. I was told that taking a bath with a friend would help strengthen that friendship, especially if they washed each other's backs."
The blond took a deep breath, trying to calm his temporarily raised heartbeat. Where the hell did she get these crazy ideas from...?
"Whoever told you that...I'm pretty sure that they meant that for friends of the same gender." Naruto reasoned, making a logical assumption to try and clear up what he hoped was a misunderstanding.
Yuki didn't look convinced.
Looks like the shinobi had to try a different tact...
He turned towards his captive audience, which has once more stayed silent throughout the course of their conversation.
He couldn't really blame them.
"Hey everyone, help me clear this up with Yuki would ya? This is a little embarrassing dattebayo." the blond claimed while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
Mio was currently speechless, too stunned to respond to the events happening in front of her.
But the Gremory group wasn't, they began glancing at one another after hearing the whiskered blond's request.
They all nodded towards one another, seemingly in agreement with what needed to be done.
But...why did they all seem to have dark glints in their eyes...?
"It seems that Naruto is a bit confused Nonaka-san...from what I understand about it...taking baths together is often a good way to improve relationships between people." Rias said casually while twirling her long crimson hair.
"...Eh?" Naruto asked with widened eyes.
What were they...?
"Yep! I have also heard that doing it multiple times have bonded people for many many years!" Akeno chirped happily with a sly smile.
They wouldn't...
"...Skinship has been stated to forge lifelong companionships between friends." Koneko said quietly while giving Naruto a dark stare.
No...wait please...
"Um...how do I say this? Please take care of Naruto-san from here on out, Nonaka-san." Yuuto said while bowing towards her.
...Traitors. The whole lot of them.
Naruto cautiously glanced towards the silent hero, she has been strangely quiet...
Her eyes were shadowed under her bangs and she was shaking slightly.
"...I see...my thinking was far too childish...! I should have been more ambitious from the start...!" Yuki berated herself as she turned towards the blond.
Her eyes were practically on fire.
Naruto took a step back as he couldn't help but feel the overwhelming conviction behind that look.
"Naruto...in order to improve our relationship further...please! Let's go and-"
"Wa-wait!" Mio cried out, suddenly intensely aware of just what exactly was happening.
Her cry temporarily brought Yuki's attention away from the beleaguered blond and towards the distressed red-head. The hero was interested in what Mio had to add into her growing knowledge of skinship.
When she got the hero's attention, Mio immediately tried to scramble for a way to stop the impending disaster that was about to happen.
Then her eyes lit up.
"Yuki! What everyone said was absolutely correct...but if the other person is uncomfortable with it...then that could damage your relationship with them! Only when two people are happy to take baths together...can they grow closer!" Mio proclaimed with as much vigor as she could muster. Hoping to convince her friend to at the very least delay her request.
Maybe by that time, Naruto could find a better excuse?
Yuki was silent for a moment, contemplating that logic. Before she turned to Naruto in order discern his reaction to that information.
He was nodding frantically at her.
He really didn't want to deal with the possible problems that bathing with Yuki could bring...not to mention how unbearably awkward it would be...
The hero just sighed at his frantic approval of his sister's words.
Friendship was tough.
After the whole ridiculousness of the morning, Naruto decided to just take the damn shower and wake himself up for the rest of the day.
As he was busy scrubbing himself down, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something...
The shinobi shrugged his shoulders as he continued to wash himself.
He was glad that Mio managed to convince Yuki to back off of her idea for them to wash together, he had a perverted streak...but he saw Yuki as a friend, not someone to perv on.
He chuckled, he only perved on those that he at least had an interest in, he was weird like that.
Except for the sexy jutsu, but that was art and art was meant to be admired!
He finally finished washing himself and he slid the shower stall door open a little bit to grab a towel.
Naruto frowned.
He couldn't find the towel, did he forget it?
The shinobi shrugged and instead stretched to reach for his clothes, it should've been right on the basket near the shower stall...
It wasn't there.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, he could accept that he forgot a towel...but no way in hell did he forget his clothes...that only meant...
"...Kukuku..."
Son of a...
Naruto cursed internally, berating himself for forgetting one of the most important rules has learned over the past few weeks...
Never let Maria near his clothes!
"...No wonder you weren't at the breakfast table...were you preparing for this exact moment...? Maria!?" Naruto growled at the chuckling succubus.
"My my, Naruto-sama. The simple fact that you let your guard down when I've already warned you...I'm starting to think that you wanted me to steal your clothes!" Maria claimed with a sly grin, while standing in front of the bathroom door.
Naruto pointed at the grinning silverette in outrage. "Bullshit! Who the hell wants their clothes stolen by somebody after a shower!? Give it back before I hit you with my soap bar!"
Maria grinned and wagged her finger. "Threats won't work Naruto-sama! Not when my revenge of the pranks that you've pulled on me must still be avenged! Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to get back at you for that steak? Well...now that I have my chance...be prepared to lose your dignity!"
"You...! What the hell is your plan here...!?" Naruto demanded.
The half-devil gave him an enigmatic smile for a moment.
"Naruto-sama...the entire time I have known you...I have never seen you embarrassed...did you know that?" Maria asked with that same smile adorning her face.
The shinobi stared at her warily, unsure of where she was taking this.
She then pointed at his face. "So I've decided Naruto-sama...that I really really want to see that face! Even if I have to make you so embarrassed...that you won't be able to show your face in public ever again!"
Naruto was now gaping at her. Evil...she was pure evil right now.
"To that end...for my revenge and for my desire...I have stolen your clothes and hid it somewhere in the mansion! Unless you want to stay in there forever...you have to leave in order to get some clothes! Ample opportunity in order for someone to catch you in your birthday suit!" Maria cackled with glee.
Evil was an understatement...!
"Now Naruto-sama...! As a succubus...I can't let this opportunity slip by! Let me see your cute flushed face filled with shame!" Maria exclaimed while whipping out her videocam.
He knew he should have destroyed that thing when he had the chance...
"...This was a very well-thought out and evil plan Maria..." Naruto admitted grudgingly, unwilling to give her any praise.
The succubus beamed at the compliment and puffed her chest out in pride. "I know right!? Not even you can get out of this one Naruto-sama!"
Naruto said nothing for a moment, just staring at her.
Then he grinned.
"Now...I didn't say that."
"...Eh?" Maria asked, sounding unsure for a moment. There was no way he could manage to find a way out of this right?
"...Henge." Naruto said quietly while making a hand seal out of her sight.
The blond erupted into a small plume of smoke, covering his features.
Maria widened her eyes, was he trying to use that smoke to cover himself as he searched for his clothes?
But before she could do anything meaningful, the smoke cleared up and revealed...
...Naruto.
Except he was wearing clothes.
"What!? But...but...!" Maria protested in shock.
Naruto merely shrugged, better men and women have tried to get revenge on him for his pranks...
None of them succeeded.
He leisurely patted the succubus on her head in sympathy, it was a good shot. But it simply wasn't enough.
"...My...my future montage..." the succubus muttered losing the strength of her legs.
Naruto almost felt bad for her, she was seemingly devastated.
Almost, like hell he would be subjected to something so bad that he'd be embarrassed to show his face in public.
By this point, almost everyone was awake and accounted for.
Everyone has already eaten breakfast while he was out and Yuki has finally taken her shower, so it was about time for everyone to get back to work.
...At least Naruto thought so.
"No way." Rias said bluntly. She was concentrating on reading her book at the moment.
"Huh? But the entire point of this trip was to make yourselves stronger Rias-san! So why dodge training?" Naruto asked with a confused look on his face.
Rias gave the blond an annoyed stare. Did he really have to ask?
"Naruto...I think you may have temporarily broken their spirits." Yuki said quietly while waiting patiently on the table.
The shinobi blinked, did he really?
Rias didn't say anything, unwilling to accept her overwhelming loss.
She was known as the 'Crimson-haired Ruin Princess' in the Underworld...her queen was known as the 'Priestess of Thunder'...
They had such titles and yet they lost to a boy that was younger than them...hell...they lost to his clone.
Maybe it was because they were so used to being on top of the food chain to most people...but the loss stung most of them, deep inside.
It wasn't just her and Akeno; Yuuto and Koneko were both brainstorming for ways to improve.
They were all trying to think of new ways to compensate for their failings. Mostly because their pride demanded it...but partially because just like her...her Peerage wouldn't accept such a beat-down so easily.
So it wasn't a loss...it was a temporary setback so that they could re-align their priorities for dire situations in the future.
Yeah...it wasn't a loss at all.
But until they were ready to train like that again, they decided to rest a bit.
Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance, he couldn't really fault that logic. Better that they take time to think about their weaknesses in their fighting styles rather than ignore his words.
"...Fine. But now that I've helped you out, can you help out Mio with her magic? You don't have to work your body or anything too stressful with just that right?" the shinobi asked, curious to see if Mio could advance her skills.
Rias thought about that while tapping the spine of her book, it was true...magic didn't require too much physical exertion. It only required an understanding of it's functions as well as the imagination to utilize it to it's fullest effects.
"...Alright. That's fair. Although I have no idea what energy your sister utilizes in order to power her magic..." the high-devil trailed off, wondering what supernatural being she was.
Maybe that might give her a clue in finding out what Naruto actually was.
Naruto glanced at Mio, who was sitting down next to Yuki on the table. She returned his glance with a steady nod, sure that the little sister of the current Lucifer could be trusted by now.
This permission in hand, Naruto feigned ignorance and widened his eyes at Rias. "Eh? You don't know? I thought that you'd know a devil if you saw one Rias-san!"
The Gremory snapped her neck towards her fellow red-head, shocked at this revelation.
"...I am the product of a devil and a human Rias-sempai. Is it really so shocking that I hid my identity?" Mio asked dryly, partially telling the truth.
Although part of her motivation was because she didn't want to spread around such dangerous information...like being that mans's daughter. She also liked to think that Rias-sempai could be trusted with such information and that she was helping her out by not involving her with her own problems.
Mio could hope.
Rias thought about that, it made a type of sense...from what she understood of her kouhai, she didn't like making trouble. Rather, she preferred to live a peaceful existence and got upset whenever her brother did anything too crazy or involved her in something without her knowledge.
She should know, Mio has been very specific whenever they talked to one another about their...'brother' issues.
The high-class devil then frowned, that wouldn't explain why Naruto would involve her with this then...why train Mio in using magic?
Naruto was involved in the fallen angel incident...so maybe this was an extra precaution against any retaliation?
Either way, she liked Mio. So helping her out was definitely something that she wasn't opposed to.
"I see. Well that makes things easier then." Rias claimed as she closed her book and stood up from her seat. She then motioned for her fellow red-head to follow her as she turned to leave the table.
Mio blinked, she guessed that it was time to focus on magic huh? So she quickly moved up from the table and followed Rias to begin her training.
The shinobi nodded in satisfaction, now...what to do now that almost everyone was taking a break?
He turned to face Yuki, who was sitting down and relaxing herself and gave her a questioning glance.
She understood immediately.
"As much as I'd like to spar with you Naruto, I have to contact my father. He wanted to know if you would accept his apology, so I have to tell him about the fact that you forgave him." the hero said with a small smile.
"...That I 'forgave' him is a bit too strong I think. He just isn't on my shit-list...for now. Make sure to tell him that." Naruto replied with a huff.
Yuki didn't respond, she just continued to offer him her smile. That would be something her friend would say.
How cute.
So she got up and walked away to her room in order to call her father.
Naruto pouted and turned to see if there was something else he could do. He saw that Maria still hasn't recovered from her failed attempt at getting back at him...so she was out.
The Gremory team as a whole was busy as well...
Issei was probably still knocked out and Asia was probably with him...
...
Fuck it. He was gonna go and train a little. Maybe when he got back...there'd be something to do.
So he left the room so that he could gather some supplies and leave the mansion.
Once he was back inside the forest, he laid out his fuinjutsu scrolls onto the floor.
It was a little too much to train like last night...way too eye-catching. So something like practicing his fuinjutsu was probably best for now.
He stared at the assorted mess on the floor, fuinjutsu...according to ero-sennin it was probably one of...if not the most flexible things to learn.
As well as the most difficult.
But it wasn't that hard as he got into it, it was pretty easy to make explosive notes as well as silencing seals. But while those kinds of things were useful...it wasn't anything like the truly crazy shit that he wanted to do.
One of the things he wanted to learn? It was one of the first things that he has ever seen done with fuinjutsu...
Trapping an element into a seal.
He saw it done back when he was a kid and the Akatsuki attacked him for the first time, when Itachi and his partner escaped...they left behind black flames.
Amaterasu.
Ero-sennin used that type of fuinjutsu to trap the flames inside a scroll since they were so dangerous...but that got Naruto thinking.
What if he could use that for fighting purposes?
He knew how to seal things inside scrolls already...so he just needed to test that formula out and tinker with it, eventually he'd get it right.
He just hoped he didn't blow himself up in the process...
So he took out his brush with ink and began spreading out a small scroll, he began writing the kanji necessary for a Fūnyū no Jutsu. (Enclosing Jutsu)
After a moment of concentration, he finished the small seal and allowed for the ink to settle for a moment before continuing. It's been a while...but he remembered that there was a space left open for where the fire went with ero-sennin's seal...
The ordinary Fūnyū no Jutsu had that as well...but the problem was...how was he going to allow for an element to enter the seal instead of something solid, like a kunai, or shuriken?
It was times like these...that he wished that he payed more attention to ero-sennin in his fuinjutsu lessons...
He shrugged his shoulders, what are you gonna do sometimes? Best just give it a shot and hope for the best!
Mio was staring at her sempai's hand, it was holding her signature type of magic...
The Power of Destruction.
"This Mio-chan...is the Power of Destruction. A powerful ability that has been passed on through my family which allows me to destroy almost anything...as long as the power behind it is superior to whatever it's touching anyways." Rias stated dryly, annoyed at how she's been questioning everything about her own abilities ever since yesterday's debacle.
Mio nodded, interested in such a potentially powerful ability.
Rias continued. "Now...considering that Naruto took you and your friend Maria for training as well...I can assume that you have a basic idea of how magic works?"
"Yeah...you have to use your imagination and make it take form right?" Mio asked with slight uncertainty, she wasn't entirely sure that she got it right.
The Gremory nodded in approval. "Good. So you know the basics. But did you know...while practicing makes it easier for you...that there is another way to help you with making magic?"
Mio's eyes trained themselves on her senior with intensity, eager to learn if there really was some secret way to utilize magic. It would be really helpful for her down the road.
Seeing how eager that Mio was to learn, Rias decided not to keep her waiting. "Alright Mio-chan...a better way to help form magic is to-"
*BOOOM*
An explosion rocked the mansion which shocked both red-heads from their current topic at hand.
Rias quickly got up from her chair and rushed towards the window, where she saw a decent-sized trail of smoke that was coming from the forest.
Mio didn't bother to get up, she knew exactly who caused that...she just wished that he was able to refrain from blowing anything up for a little longer.
The older red-head turned around and gave her kouhai a sly grin. Ready to tease her about the incident.
But before she was able to, Mio cut her off.
"...Please Rias-sempai...just don't. I'm already suffering from this as it is." the half-devil claimed as she placed her head onto the palm of her hand.
Rias pouted, she wasn't able to have some fun poking fun at little Mio-chan? That's a shame.
But at the very least, she could poke fun at a certain blond once he got back...a bit of ammunition in case he ever decided to use that...incident yesterday as a joke in her presence.
She returned to her seat next to Mio and decided to restart the lesson now that she was sure that they weren't under attack.
"Alright Mio-chan...while imagining how your magic will look like is the basic thing to do...an easier solution would be to have some sort of inspiration." Rias explained with a patient tone.
The half-devil wasn't entirely sure what Rias meant, an 'inspiration' could be many things.
"...Ok. Look at it like this. Instead of trying so hard to form something in your mind...try using something that you've already seen and use that as the base for your spells. The important part is forming it in your mind...sometimes having a pre-existing image is better than making a new one." the high-class devil said as she expanded her explanation.
Mio stared at her sempai in fascination. Using something else as a base huh...?
Her thoughts drifted briefly towards the beautiful little ball that she watched Naruto practice with last night...
Throughout the rest of the day, several more explosions would rock the mansion as something...or someone was blowing up repeatedly.
Eventually, almost everyone at the very expensive summer home of the Gremory became used to it.
Except one specific individual.
"...Damn it! Why can't I get this damn seal right!?" Naruto howled as he was blown up once more by the faulty seal.
The shinobi was working on this seal for almost the entire day, practically taking up all of his time with this one complicated use of fuinjutsu.
He thought he had it all figured out! Make a couple of extra kanji to allow for flames to be sucked into the seal...allow for a space inside the scroll for where the flames would enter...make sure that the scroll itself was protected by making sure that the function would allow for a suction...
But for some reason...it all led to him getting blown up multiple times!
Seriously! Did he make some sort of strange new exploding note or something!?
He looked around with a sour face, just to see how badly he messed up the forest...
The area around him was nothing but a charred wasteland by this point...explosive notes were no joke after all. Even Koneko-san didn't really face the full brunt of them, he just used them to clip her with the explosions, max.
These poor bunch of trees didn't stand a chance.
His ears twitched when he heard a slight ruffling, someone was coming.
Naruto looked back to see that a certain nun has found him, wonder what she wanted?
"Ah! I found you at last! Naruto-san!" Asia said brightly as she panted a little. Out of breath maybe?
The whiskered blond sent her a calm smile in return. "Yep, it's me. What do you need Asia-san?"
Now that he thought about it...he has never really talked to Asia-san personally before now hasn't he? At least not without it being about her healing abilities.
Maybe it was about time that he actually found out more about the nun?
Asia nodded and then proceeded to bow towards Naruto. "I thought that you might be hurt from all of your training...so I wanted to thank you for all you've done by healing you."
Naruto gave his fellow blond a weird look. "...For what exactly?"
"...For saving me. For saving Issei-san. For training him. For...many things really. I know that this isn't much but...this is the best I can do." Asia replied earnestly. Truly grateful of the whiskered boy's actions, despite not being aware of it at all until recently.
The shinobi just gave her a cheesy grin. "Heh. No need to thank me ya know? That's what a true badass would do after all. Besides...to take all of the credit would be kinda stupid."
It was true that his actions was what saved the young girl in front of him, but the perverted boy was the one who brought those actions into motion. If he hadn't told Naruto about what was going on...then he might have waited another day before attacking the fallen angel stronghold.
Too late to save an innocent girl from a cruel death.
Asia nodded, she knew about that. "I know, and I've thanked Issei-san so many times because of it...but i never thanked you until now. So...thank you."
Naruto felt slightly embarrassed at her earnest response, it was weird to be thanked so many times at once. He was almost not too sure what to do.
Man...Issei was seriously lucky to have this little saint by his side huh? He was lucky to have such a bond.
The shinobi's expression darkened a little...
"...Hey Asia-san." the shinobi muttered, gaining the nun's attention while doing so. "Did you know that Issei wants to protect you? With everything he has?"
Asia looked confused, she had a feeling that her savior was doing something like that...but why bring it up?
The whiskered blond noticed her confusion and pushed on. "It's just that...that kid will definitely face trouble in the future. Whether it's from a super powerful threat that we don't know about yet or something else...he will definitely need to have people who can back him when those times come."
The nun was staring up at her fellow blond in fascination, seemingly clinging on to his words as he continued.
"To be blunt, I won't always be here to help him get stronger. Eventually, I won't be able to help him like when we saved you...while I'm not as worried about Rias and her group...or any of the others since they are already at least somewhat trained...Issei isn't."
Naruto stopped to look up into the sky. He had to go back home one day...maybe not exactly soon...but he definitely had to go back. He would try to prep these people as much as he could before he left, but there was no guarantee that he wouldn't find another way to go back home in the meanwhile.
Someone like Issei reminded him of his past self...except much worse. He had much less to back up to if cornered, much less to aspire to, much less power, and much less creativity.
If someone decently strong came up and they were powerful enough to at the very least hold off Rias-san and her Peerage...then the kid was a sitting duck.
But he had one advantage that Naruto didn't have back then...
He had a true comrade to call his own.
Naruto didn't really form bonds with the rest of his age group until after his closest friend left the village.
Sakura-chan didn't really become a truly valuable teammate until after he returned to the village.
Kakashi-sensei was rarely there for the critical battles in his early shinobi career.
Issei had the Gremory group, but they were similar to his original team 7 by this point.
But...he definitely had Asia.
Asia would definitely come running if he was in trouble. While it may not be much since all she could do was heal for now...the fact that she would come at all was something major to the blond shinobi.
He knew how much someone's belief in another person could spur that person on...after all...his father believed in him. Ero-sennin believed in him.
He had to go back and complete their goals.
"Asia-san. I want you to protect him as much as he protects you." Naruto said finally.
All was silent after he made his declaration, nothing was said as the young girl's little fists clenched the charred grass on the former forest floor.
"...I'll do my best. Naruto-san."
That was all he could really ask for.
The shinobi then snapped his head towards the forest and stood up to guard the now confused nun.
Someone was there.
It was a split-second...and very very faint...but it felt like someone was there.
"Asia! Where are you Asia!?" a certain perverted boy cried out from the forestry.
Naruto's shoulders drooped with excess energy, what the fuck? It was just Issei?
Then the blond frowned, no...whatever that was before the perverted boy arrived...it didn't feel like Issei. But he didn't know what it felt like either. It felt like...something.
It was the annoying feeling you get when you know that someone or something was there...but you couldn't find it.
Like a fly just out of sight.
...But maybe he was just too paranoid. He'd better stop before he got everyone else around him paranoid as well.
So he placed a grin on his face and awaited the arrival of his newest pseudo-punching bag.
For his sake of course.
As expected, Issei came out of the shadows of the forest and spotted his target.
Then he saw who she was with and paled.
"S-shit!"
"Yo Issei! Ready to get back to work?" Naruto asked with a grin, enjoying the look of horror on his face.
He sometimes wondered if he had a slight sadistic streak...or whether it was just his pranking side getting rejuvenated in these non-stressful times.
Issei for his part, was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. He probably had to take Asia off her feet in order to get away...but he needed a distraction...
He found one.
"Hey look! It's a UFO!"
"WHERE!?" Naruto cried out as he turned around to find the illusive aliens. He watched a documentary on them once in class! He wouldn't let them get away this time!
As he was distracted, Issei scooped up the thoroughly confused Asia and booked it out of there. Thank you for being an idiot Naruto!
Suddenly feeling like he's been duped, Naruto turned to find his two companions gone.
"...Son of a bitch." the blond muttered as he glared towards where Issei ran off, how dare he trick him into thinking that aliens were back? He'd pay for it!
Naruto jogged after him, allowing for the perverted boy to wear himself out in the chase...he'd have his shits-and-giggles by exhausting him in some pseudo-training...running from the shinobi.
Who said that he wasn't a good teacher?
By the time that he got back, it was pretty much night time again. Geez...maybe he took his training too seriously?
Either way, Yuki was still preoccupied and most of Rias-san's Peerage were still doing...whatever they were doing.
He had no idea what Maria was up to, much to his discomfort.
But at the very least he knew that Mio and Rias-san had finished their training session.
When the group returned to the mansion, the high-class devil turned to greet them...
Then she paused.
"...While I know that you have his best intentions at heart...shouldn't you treat Issei a bit more carefully, Naruto?" Rias asked with dull eyes. She was referring to the exhausted pawn who was barely keeping himself from falling over.
Naruto bashfully scratched the back of his head, he had too much fun. He was moving slowly enough to give the kid hope that he could get away...but was moving fast enough that he had to move at his max speed to keep himself at a good distance away.
Boom! He's just been trained without him knowing about it!
Mio glanced at the perverted boy and then turned towards Naruto in amusement. It was funnier to see the results of his antics when she wasn't caught up in them.
Asia was poking at the nearly unresponsive Issei, seeing that her tactic wasn't working, she turned to the whiskered blond with teary eyes.
Naruto felt like he was looking at an abandoned puppy.
"Can you please help me take Issei-san to his room?" Asia asked politely, but her eyes were practically begging him to do so.
He'd feel like such an asshole if he said no...
The shinobi sighed, accepting his fate.
After he was done with this, he'd probably go and start his real training deep in the forest again. A good way to unwind anyways.
"Who knew you had such a soft spot...eh Naruto?" Rias asked rhetorically, smirking at the blond. Before standing up from her chair, ignoring the scowl from the male blond.
"I think that I'm done for today, hopefully Mio-chan can utilize her abilities better from now on. We practiced a little bit before you arrived, so don't go to bed too late ok?" the red-head finished as she yawned a little, she then turned to leave the room and head to bed.
"Ah. Wait, before you go Rias-san. I need to ask you something." Naruto said seriously after getting over what she was teasing him over.
She stopped and turned back towards Naruto, a questioning look on her face.
"...Is it possible for someone unwanted to get inside this area around the summer home?" the shinobi asked, needing to find out if he was going insane or not.
The high-class devil frowned, a very odd question.
"It's impossible for anyone to enter the area owned by the Gremory...unless they have permission. If not, then I would have been notified immediately due to the massive barrier in place." Rias responded, curious as to why the teenaged boy would ask such a question.
He didn't elaborate.
"Ah! Thank goodness! Just making sure! Have a good night." Naruto said with a smile, before grabbing Issei's limp body and helping the teen to his room.
Rias stared after him for a while, before deciding to accept Mio-chan's words of advice.
'...Just accept it. It's better for your sanity.'
The moon was out.
Blue eyes was staring at the pretty orb floating in the sky, giving him the light to see properly in the darkness.
But he wasn't here to stare at the moon, he was here to work.
Now if only a certain someone didn't come along with...
Mio was with him...again. For some reason, feeling the need to stay with him while he was training.
He's already sent a bunch of clones to concentrate on their wind chakra exercises as well as their fuinjutsu training.
"Hey Naruto! What's with the clones and those exercises with their feet?" Mio asked, tone laced with curiosity as she watched several batches of clones continue their work.
"...They're learning how to emit wind ch-...uh...energyoutside of the soles of their feet." Naruto clumsily admitted, almost revealing something he didn't mean to.
The red-head noticed but didn't question it.
"Why would they need to do that?" his 'sister' asked, seemingly acting like a student in class.
"So that I could learn how to fly, of course!" the shinobi exclaimed without shame. He didn't need to fly to be a badass!
Mio stared at him for a moment, before something emerged out of her back.
Bat wings.
"...You mean like this?" Mio asked innocently.
"...Are you making fun of me?" Naruto asked with a dull expression on his face.
The red-head just continued to give him an innocent expression, seemingly not understanding what he was talking about.
But the fact that her wings were flapping ever so slightly...helped him to realize that her innocent face was bullshit.
"...You know what! I'm not even jealous! You know why!? Because wings are sooooo old-fashioned!" Naruto called out with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
Mio's face, once the epitome of innocence...darkened immediately.
"Wh-! What do you mean old-fashioned!?"
Naruto chuckled darkly. "Everyone has wings Mio...you are a dime-a-dozen. But me...I'm unique! I will be able to fly on the winds alone! While you get to fly on your stupid wings, like people has been doing for thousands of years!"
The red-head said nothing, she just stuck her tongue out childishly at the blond.
Naruto retaliated.
"Blegh!"
"Bleeeegh!"
"Bleeeeeeegh!
""Bleeeeeeeeggghhh!""
Some could wonder if they were really young adults or not.
After a while, they both stopped after realizing how childish they were acting. The young half-devil sat back down while her 'brother' went back to work.
Like last time, he was focused on his signature technique.
His goal?
Learn to use the rasengan with one hand.
He could make an incomplete one with one hand, but not one at full power. It would make life so much easier if he could accomplish that.
His end goal for this wasn't just to make rasengans without a clone however...it was to help him in making larger and more powerful variants of the jutsu. So far, he could use up to the Ōdama Rasengan...but he once had a talk with ero-sennin about the rasengan...
"Hey ero-sennin! Come on! Teach me some more jutsus already! I need to get much stronger dattebayo!" a childish Naruto demanded of his teacher.
An older man glared at the obnoxious boy in orange. "Can it you brat! Why the hell would I teach you more jutsus...when you haven't even mastered the ones you got!?"
The younger Naruto blinked at this. "Whatcha mean ero-sennin? I've mastered all of the justsus that I have already, you crazy old fart!"
Jiraiya's eye twitched at the insult, but ignored it in favor of smacking the boy upside the head. "Maybe the other jutsus...but not the rasengan! You've barely scratched the surface of that! Hell...you can't even do it with one hand!"
"...I've barely scratched the surface of the rasengan? I don't get it. I thought the regular version was all that there was to it." Naruto asked while scratching his head.
"Well you're wrong brat. The rasengan uses shape manipulation in order to control dense chakra into a continuous maelstrom of energy...what happens when you add more power into it, Naruto?" the great toad sage asked with an inquisitive eyebrow.
Little Naruto closed his eyes in concentration, his face taking the characteristics of a fox.
Then his eyes snapped open.
"It would get a lot stronger right!?"
"WRONG!" Jiraiya shouted while bopping his apprentice upside the head.
The young boy petulantly glared at the older man as he soothed the bump on his head.
"Remember Naruto! The rasengan requires a balance of rotation and power! Too much of either and the jutsu would destabilize! The rasengan would probably just blow up with too much power into it...you are literally spinning extremely dense chakra into a small ball after all." Jiraiya explained while giving the boy a smug look, obviously seeking to be idolized for his deep explanation.
"Oh...ok I get it. Well then...what's the best that you can do, ero-sennin?" Naruto asked in curiousity.
The great toad sage just grinned. "With my full power...I can make the Chōōdama Rasengan! With the size of it...I can destroy average-sized mountains without a problem!"
He was neglecting to mention that he needed Sage Mode to do that, but he wanted some respect.
"Bullshit." Naruto replied bluntly while picking his nose in utter disrespect.
"...Why you damn brat!"
"Better than being a stupid pervert!"
Back in the present, Naruto smiled at the memories.
But he shouldn't dwell.
He now knew that the size of the rasengan...much more than anything else...helped define how powerful it was. From what he heard while at Mount Myōboku...ero-sennin needed Sage Mode to use that variant of the jutsu.
But Naruto? He had the sheer chakra to pull it off.
But he needed more practice with the regular rasengansfirst...to practice getting both steps of the jutsu for larger variants. He would have to start with it by himself, it was a personal thing.
Mio was staring at the blond as he was contemplating on what to do. Taking note on just how seriously...as well as how far he was taking his training.
But something was nagging at her, deep inside as she watched her 'brother' go through such lengths. Why would he...?
"Naruto." Mio said quietly, the statement broke the blond out of his trance in order to glance at her.
Before he could even ask what was wrong, she asked her question.
"Naruto...why do you try so hard for? What pushes you to keep going?" Mio asked, wondering...
What inspired him?
The shinobi blinked at the question, before giving her a grin. "Why? Well...it's for the sake of those who I consider precious of course."
"...Precious?" the half-devil asked in amazement. That was...such an incredibly nice thing to refer to someone. As someone precious...like some sort of diamond that one would guard with everything they have.
Naruto nodded. "Yep! I have people that I have to protect, no matter what. So I have to get strong enough to protect all of them with the strength that I have...but the strength that I have isn't enough yet. So I will continue to train until I'm positive that I can protect everyone that I care about."
Mio stared at him, wishing to ask more. Wishing to learn more about the enigma that was near her.
What he wanted wasn't too strange or interesting in of itself, it was more...how he said it and how he referred to phrases that most people used...like loved ones for example.
Most people wouldn't call their loved ones precious...
The total belief that the blond said his words was what really made them extraordinary.
"...Precious people...like you Mio." Naruto said quietly, a soft smile adorning his face. Warm eyes giving her a clue on just how honest his words were...
...Oh dear.
She felt her face flush, that was possibly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to her.
She couldn't bear looking at the blond's impossibly blue...so blue...eyes any longer. She turned away in a huff and stared off into the forest.
The shinobi was confused at this reaction, but shrugged his shoulders. He never really understood the other gender very well.
All was silent for a while as the whiskered teen focused on his training again and kept creating rasengans with one hand...or sometimes two hands.
All the while his 'sister' was staring at him again from the side of her eye.
...She wanted to say something. No...rather she needed to say something. Something she should have done far more often before.
Maybe that little tidbit about the blond inspired her to try and share a bit of herself to him, or maybe this was just long overdue.
Either way...
"Naruto...can I confide in you for a moment?" Mio asked seriously, prepping herself for a very serious admission.
The shinobi stopped his training again, willing to listen to whatever she had to say. Especially when considering how serious she sounded.
"It's about...what happened with my parents. I'd just like to talk to you. You don't have to say anything...just listen...please." the teenaged girl asked quietly.
Naruto nodded solemnly, eyes urging her to continue.
"...When my parents were killed by devils, I was intent on hunting down those responsible and making them pay..." Mio began, referencing the fact that her parents were killed by devils.
"But I couldn't, the people who killed my parents weren't people who were a part of an evil group of villains that were plotting behind the scenes…they were mostly civilians..." she continued, trying to ignore the painful feeling welling up inside her heart.
"People who lived life normally as devils and just so happened to hate the last child of Lucifer as well...I just couldn't do it." she said, before stopping. The emotions were beginning to overwhelm her...the lumpy feeling in her throat was beginning to become overwhelming.
She felt someone place a comforting hand on her shoulder, pulling her into his embrace.
She found the strength to continue.
"So after a while...instead of living for some purpose...for some goal...I just began living for the sake of living. Staying alive for the sake of staying alive. No real purpose...I just kept living...for no reason. Afraid to connect with others...even Maria." Mio said quietly, gripping the blond's clothes tightly in her emotional state.
"...But then you came along Naruto..." she continued, the lump in her throat and the gripping feeling on her heart...lessening as she continued.
"You were...so weird. You were seemingly random, not a bad person by any means but...still strange. I couldn't really get a handle on you. But...you were just so easy to relax around. It was strange. I never met someone who by sheer presence...could make someone relax. After a while, I began to want to be around you, seeking that soothing presence in order to ease my own pains. But it wasn't just your presence...your personality...it was just so lively and happy that...I couldn't help but laugh along with your antics." Mio admitted, releasing all of her pent up thoughts and emotions from the past weeks.
"...But along with those happy feelings, you also invoked something in me that helped me realize...just why I didn't reconnect with anyone after my parents died. It was because I was...afraid that they would leave me too...like my parents were taken away from me. I was afraid that you would as well. It was because of you...that I was eventually even able to connect with Maria...now I'm afraid that something will happen to her someday as well...I'm just...scared...Naruto."
She felt his grip on her grow tighter the farther she continued. Encouraging her. Holding her tight as she went on a roller coaster of emotions throughout her explanation.
"But no matter what, you were never worried. You always face whatever comes by...I see that now. From the stories you told me about the fallen angels, to your training session with me, to your own right now. To be perfectly honest...I'm jealous that you could do something like that. But...I wanted to thank you for all you've done. For letting me live life rather than just drift on in an empty existence. I still don't really have a goal or meaning in life...but...at least I can smile again."
She looked up to face the blond with a smile. Teary, messy, and thoroughly crooked because of the tears...
But true.
"…So thank you…thank you for giving me the chance to smile again."
Naruto said nothing for a moment. He just started to rub her back in comfort, and then slowly began to turn towards her face.
He smiled. "Of course. We're family right? That's what family is supposed to do."
Mio looked up at him..family...
Yeah...that sounded about right.
Even if they weren't connected by blood like a real pair of siblings...they were still family.
"...Yeah. Family." Mio said quietly, pushing her head into the blond's clothes. Feeling relieved that she got that out of her chest.
Naruto looked up into the sky as she did so, wondering...
...What would he do...when he had to go back to the Elemental Nations?
He had to go back...but this girl...
His eyes hardened. He had to tell her eventually, the truth.
He had to make her understand why.
But more importantly...
He had to find a way back to this world once he returned to his original world.
He wouldn't be leaving her behind...that was a promise.
It was morning again.
Naruto hated the morning even more than last time.
He had even less sleep than before.
Once more though, Mio knocked out shortly after their heart-to-heart. He supposed that stressful admissions could do that to a person.
Now that he thought about it...he received a lot of thanks yesterday. That was a fun bit of trivia...
Ah...his mind was wandering. Too tired.
He was beginning to nod off while Mio was in the shower, before something happened.
The shinobi blinked, as a magic circle appeared on the ground. A silver color...
He shrugged and went back to his happy place...on the table with his head tucked in-between his arms. A comfortable position whenever he wanted to sleep in class.
Then he heard someone step out of the circle, not that he cared...way too tired.
He heard that person walk up to him and poke him.
He hated that feeling, especially when he was nodding off. It always brought him back to life for a second.
That and Yuki always did that to him.
He glared up at the very pretty maid. "...What do you want?"
Not at all nonplussed at the rude question, the stoic maid spoke. "I'm looking for a teenaged girl named Rias Gremory, do you know where she is?"
The blond said nothing, not at all worried about why a maid was looking for his comrade or about why she spoke her name in such a strange way. She did say that no one un-authorized could enter the area right?
So she must have been authorized.
"...She'll probably wake up shortly. Just wait with me for a second." Naruto mumbled as he placed his head back into the comfortable crevice of his two folded arms.
The maid said nothing as she walked around him and sat down on another chair, seemingly taking his advice.
All was silent for a moment, before Mio came walking out of the shower with her pajamas. Not seeing the need to wear something else when in the presence of people she was growing comfortable with.
She saw the blond and was about to greet him...
Until she saw the downright beautiful maid sitting in a chair, seemingly gauging her as well as Naruto.
...She missed something important again?
She decided to just let it slide as she sat down next to Naruto, who was busy trying to fall asleep.
She poked him. "Hey Naruto...what's with the-"
"...Why do people feel the need to poke me all of the damn time." Naruto mumbled incoherently, trying to ignore everything the red-head said.
She sighed, he wasn't much help.
Then her fellow red-head appeared from her room, yawning comfortably. She had a really nice rest, she's been super relaxed by the rest yesterday. She was ready to get back to training.
She noticed Naruto and Mio sitting near each other and was about to greet them cheerfully.
Then she saw who else was there...and her good mood suddenly evaporated.
The maid noticed her as well.
"Ojou-sama...we need to talk."