"Naruto~ Come on! Wake up!"
"...Why...?"
Kunou huffed as the sleepy teen tried to stall for time, trying to get more rest. "Cause it's morning of course! Come on, let's go and play!"
Naruto groaned in agony. This child was going to be the death of him if she kept waking him up at obscene hours...
"Alright, alright...I'm up. Just give me a minute to change my clothes, I'll be out after that." he managed to say, words slurred as he moved to get up.
Immediately following her orders, the little kyuubi scrambled away from her fellow blond and ran out of the room. Beaming as she did so.
As soon as she ran out of the room however, the shinobi felt the strength leave his arms and tumbled back onto the bed that he was sleeping on. Moving the covers over himself in an attempt to fall back asleep.
He lied. There was no way that he'd sacrifice his beauty sleep, damn it.
With that determination in hand, the blond let himself slowly drift to blissful unconsciousness.
At least until he heard the pitter-patter of little feet approaching.
"...Son of a..."
"Naruto!"
Kunou jumped through the door-
"GAAAAAH!"
-and landed right on him.
Naruto's eyes were wide open, bulged, as the air was knocked out of his stomach by the sudden blow.
"You're not going back to sleep, I won't let you!" the little girl declared, crossing her arms as she glared petulantly at the groaning young man under her.
He didn't even respond, as he was too busy trying to trying not to strangle the brat that was sitting on his stomach.
"Kunou~ Where are you~?" Yasaka called out lightly as she entered the room, before looking taken aback when she saw her daughter laying on top of their powerful guest. "Oh my. You woke Naruto-sama already hm?"
This time the shinobi managed a groan in complaint, which was completely ignored by the little girl that had too much energy in the morning. "Yep! I was hoping that he could play with me before he came to eat with us though..."
Yasaka shook her head, motherly tone light but firm. "Sorry Kunou, eat first, play later. You know the rules."
Kunou pouted, getting up from the teen below her with reluctance. "Oh, but kaa-chan..."
"Don't 'oh, but kaa-chan' me young lady." the kyuubi mother reprimanded. "Breakfast first."
"...Fine." the small blond relented sadly, moving away from the still-prone teen and back out the hallway. Her shoulders hunched.
Yasaka watched her daughter go, making sure that she didn't try anything funny, then turned her attention back at the young man who was still laying in his bed.
He hasn't recovered from her daughter's surprise attack yet.
"Sorry about that Naruto-sama." the yokai faction leader apologized, smiling softly. "Kunou's just excited that you decided to stay behind and rest for a little bit. You know...I have never actually seen her act so familiar with someone before, besides myself of course."
A grunt was her only response, followed by a pathetic attempt to get up, before falling down on the bed under him.
Seeing this, the powerful yokai chuckled good-naturedly. "Well, I'm sure that you want a little bit more rest before you eat. Come join us whenever you find the energy."
With that last assurance, Yasaka closed the door and walked off, giving the blond the opportunity to go back to sleep.
Except that his blue eyes were a lot less bleary compared to when Kunou first came barging in.
To put it bluntly, Naruto was far too awake now to go back to sleep. Much to his simmering annoyance as he glared at the ceiling.
"...Naruto..."
The shinobi's ears predictably perked up when he heard his friend call his name beside him.
Yuki, who was laying on a bed of her own near his, looked at him with bleary yellow eyes and opened her mouth to ask...
"...Why do loud things always happen when I'm around you?"
Naruto felt like he could cry at his pitiful luck when she said that.
"To be honest...I want to figure that out too. It's annoying sometimes."
Yuki couldn't help but agree, even if she didn't verbalize it.
"Ara ara...you look much better in comparison to earlier, Naruto-sama. You just needed some time to wake up I assume?" the yokai matriarch asked rhetorically, smiling as the blond teen really began eating with gusto.
Naruto, who was finally fully awake, offered a sheepish grin in return. "Ehehe...yeah, sorry about that. Went to bed late last night, and I was so tired that I didn't want to get up. At all, really."
"Mhmm!" Maria heartily agreed, her cheeks bloated as she was stuffing rice balls into her mouth. "We stayed up until it was super late last night! Though...I'll leave the specifics of what we did to your imagination. Better for everyone that way!"
The shinobi turned his gaze to the silverette, giving her a withering stare. "Way to make it sound weird."
He got a thumbs up in response.
"It's what I do!"
Typical.
"I see." Yasaka muttered, interested. "So then...have you three decided upon how long you'll be staying here?"
Naruto nodded, leaning down to take another bite out of his food. "Mm...we're gonna stay for at least four more days or so. Mostly until the worst of Yuki's and Maria's wounds have recovered thanks to your healers."
Indeed, both young women would have to go through quite a bit of healing before they could truly exercise their strength at one-hundred percent again.
Speaking of which...
The table rumbled slightly as Maria banged her head against the table, moaning in pain as she felt her wounds sting her when she twisted her body to turn to the shinobi again.
Yuki on the other hand managed to eat peacefully and without much of a fuss. Carefully using her single hand to eat like a civilized human being compared to her compatriots, who were stuffing their faces in while eating.
Naruto sweat-dropped when he figured that out.
"Excellent!" Yasaka remarked, clapping her hands together. "Kunou will be so happy that you've all decided to stay behind for a little while longer. She was practically bouncing off of the walls when she first woke up, she really wanted to see you Naruto-sama...you as well, Maria-san."
The blond teen chuckled nervously, remembering that the little kyuubi was so excited that she'd jump on top of him to wake him up.
Maria managed to quirk an eyebrow in curiosity, but immediately began groaning again in pain.
Everyone ignored her.
Naruto in particular, since he was still a little sore that she listening in on the blond's and Yuki's conversation yesterday.
"Speaking of which." Naruto started, switching topics abruptly as he became more solemn. "Did...Kunou have any nightmares? You know...about what happened?"
The kyuubi's expression followed her fellow blond's at the question. "Actually...yes. She squirmed and wrestled a few times in the middle of the night, most likely against the people that tried to kidnap her. I actually woke her up once, since I stayed with her during the night and wanted to comfort her, but...do you know what she did?"
A soft smile tugged at the blond woman's lips as she gazed upon the young man that saved her daughter. "She went and comforted me. Telling me that I'd be alright, that I didn't need to worry about her...that she wanted to handle the nightmares herself."
Yasaka shrugged her shoulders, that soft smile growing. "She went back to sleep after that, and as far as I know, she didn't have any more nightmares."
Naruto grinned, heartened and proud that the young girl did what she did. "That's awesome to hear...your daughter is one tough cookie, ya know?"
The powerful woman flashed her own grin, one that only a parent with pride could flash. "Oh. I know."
The shinobi chuckled, getting a nice and fuzzy feeling in his chest after hearing that nice little tidbit.
Yeah...this was nice too.
"Ah...that reminds me." Yasaka piped up, expression shifting once more to a more serious tone as she gained the shinobi's attention. "I've received the first field reports from my people that I sent out to the forest. I assume that you want to hear their report as well?"
The young hero at the table perked up slightly, eyes meeting the whiskered teen's as he turned to her as well. Knowing that this was important for her to hear as much as it was for him.
Now both; Naruto and Yuki focused their full attention on the female yokai, deadly serious.
Though Maria was still groaning softly, far too annoyed to pay attention at the moment.
Seeing that she had their attention, Yasaka continued. "Well, first I have to mention that the yokai I sent out brought back the unconscious and...the recently departed humans that you fought against yesterday. The moment that they returned, I made sure to review over the captured warriors to find the leader that you mentioned, the one that confronted me...and we couldn't find him. More than that, we couldn't find his spear either."
Naruto straightened his back, eyes narrowing.
Yuki on the other hand actually stood up from the table, face contorting in outrage. "What do you mean!? That's impossible...!"
"No." the shinobi quickly cut off, stopping the tirade that the hero was no doubt about to start. "It's possible. One of the clones that were supposed to guard Yasaka and Kunou when they were both unconscious found Cao Cao's spear...but he was attacked before he could secure it. I was afraid that maybe Cao Cao's allies might have gone back to take it or something...but to think that the yokai couldn't even find the body either..."
"Wait." Maria spoke up, finally getting over the pain that her wound caused her. "Are you saying that there are more of those 'hero' guys out there?"
"Hero...?" Yasaka parroted, feeling that the term was familiar but forgot where she heard it.
Then her eyes widened when she remembered...
"That's what they called themselves. " Naruto said, helping the yokai connect the dots in her head before turning to the succubus. "And yeah, I think there are more of them. When the clone was attacked, I...well, to be honest the memory is a little fuzzy because of all of the excitement the other day. But I remember...what looked like a pair of red slit eyes staring at me. Trying to force it's will onto me. I don't know what that was, but it definitely ain't normal."
More than that, it felt kind of familiar too...
"Red slits?" the yokai faction leader parroted again, but definitely not confused this time.
All eyes turned to her.
The blond woman closed her eyes, remembering the sensation, the loss of control, the sheer lack of power she had over her own body...
"Yasaka?"
Golden eyes fluttered open, trying to refocus and get back to the point at hand. "Well...what you just said just...reminded me of what happened when I was under that man's control. I remember seeing red slits when I lost control of my body, when my actions weren't my own anymore. It was just looking at me, calculating and cold."
Naruto clenched his teeth, remembering faintly that the red slits he saw were indeed cold and calculating. Far more than Cao Cao's arrogant gaze, those eyes were filled with malicious intelligence.
"...It looks like there really is a remnant to Cao Cao's group, how many though is a different question. But if they have the man's body as well as his spear then..."
Yuki's eyes snapped to him, lips set into a thin line. "...Do you think that they'd try to secure his Sacred Gear?"
Maria gulped at the thought, remembering the feeling of danger that she got when in near proximity to that powerful spear that he wielded. "That sure isn't a nice thought...more than that, they probably have a grudge against us as well for taking down so many of them."
The shinobi sighed, scratching his head at the dilemma at hand. He suspected that maybe something like this would happen when he first recalled the clone's memory after Yasaka reminded him about the clean up outside of Kyoto. But the thought of handing that spear to someone else was...well, bad.
More than that, they didn't even know how many of those 'heroes' were left.
It wouldn't exactly be too much of a stretch to assume that they'd try to attack Yasaka and Kunou again if they retained Cao Cao's crazy ambition either.
"I hope that you can get some information out of those 'heroes' that you've captured, because as it stands, we don't really know anything about the remnant of Cao Cao's forces. Their ambition, their numbers, their leader...nothing." Naruto grumbled, scratching his head as he considered what to do.
Yuki nodded, agreeing silently. That information would not only be useful for the yokai, but it would be useful for the Hero Tribe as well. She had no doubt that the higher ups would want to either keep an eye on such a group...or just eliminate it in it's entirety.
Either or wasn't exactly a problem for her by this point, they were simply too dangerous and unstable as a faction.
Those thoughts about the psuedo-heroes eventually led her to...
"Ah, I think I'll be excused for now." the female hero began, getting up from the table lightly. "I'm going to check on Basara and his condition, then I suppose I'll let the nurses take care of me for a little bit. Thank you for the food."
The young woman bowed to Yasaka, offered a nod to Maria, and then turned to Naruto, her eyes suddenly unreadable.
"I'll see you later?" she eventually offered.
Naruto locked eyes with her before he shifted in his chair uncomfortably, somewhat taken aback at just how...'strong' her gaze was.
There was just no other words to describe it.
Best play it safe then.
"Yeah." he replied, offering a small grin once he regained his mental footing. "I'll see ya later."
Yuki cracked a smile at the response, then walked off to see her old friend.
Blue eyes trailed after her, his own face becoming indecipherable to anyone else that might have been watching.
"Well...that was a bit uncomfortable." Maria noted dryly, sending a sidelong look at the teen beside her.
Naruto coughed into his hand as he turned away from her.
The succubus eyed him for a few beats, then shrugged her shoulders and stood up, wincing in pain as she did so. "Oww...alright, I'm gonna go back to see these wounds looked at. Apparently I'm not as healed as I thought I was, so try not to flirt with too many girls while I'm getting better Naruto-sama!"
The half-devil ducked as Naruto flung a hastily-made paper ball at her in annoyance, managing to scoot out of the room before the blond could throw another object at her.
"...Damn." he cursed as Maria escaped.
"Ara ara...I already thought that you had interesting relationships with your friends, but I never thought that you all had such lively personalities too."
The shinobi turned back to the powerful yokai close to him, who was currently smirking at him.
"I suppose that's one way to call it." Naruto dryly retorted. "Actually...to be honest, you don't even know the half of it. They are all a handful."
"Ufufu...and I suppose you're any different?"
The young man opened his mouth to deny it, knowing that he was without a doubt a very respectable member of Kuoh-
'Gama-tan!'
Then he shut his mouth.
"...Most of the time."
Yasaka didn't look convinced. "Why don't I believe you?"
Instead of attempting to disprove her, Naruto instead chose to petulantly glare at the woman. She was being cheeky.
Seeing the look on his face, the yokai mother chuckled softly. "My...you lot are interesting. Especially you...Naruto-sama."
Naruto scratched the side of his face, somewhat embarrassed by her words. "Ah, well I'm not that interesting 'ttebayo..."
A sly smile grew across the kyuubi's face when she noticed his embarrassment, could it be that despite his confidence, he wasn't used to such overt flattery?
"Speaking of interesting things..." Yasaka stated suddenly, switching topics seemingly out of the blue. "Do you think that the way that some of your allies treat you is interesting? Like your friends here do?"
The shinobi's eyes squinted faintly at the question, not at all sure where the topic came from.
He replied anyways though. "Uh...well not really. Why?"
The yokai faction leader lowered her head onto the palm of her hand, her elbow on the table as she leaned closer to the teen. "Really...? Not interesting whatsoever?"
Blue eyes blinked. "Well, not really. I mean, yeah, sometimes some of my friends act weird, but it isn't something too strange ya know? For example; just yesterday Yuki accidentally tripped and her lips fell on my cheek. Yeah it was weird, and I got a little flustered...but it ain't a big deal, right? Also, Maria was talking about some weird shit too...but she's a prankster, so it ain't too big of a deal."
Even as he was speaking, a sweat-drop quickly began forming on Yasaka's forehead, only growing bigger as he continued.
...D-Did he really not notice...?
Her mind's eye traveled back to when the silver-haired girl -or woman?- cradled Naruto while he was unconscious. While she could tell that the blond's ally had a prankster streak, that was most assuredly not the actions that a normal friend would take.
More than that, the girl with the light-blue hair most assuredly didn't trip onto Naruto's cheek.
Either the teenager was living in an alternate reality, or he was well and truly dense.
One thing was for sure though, the only thing that would ever register to him was something extraordinarily blunt and obvious.
"Anyways." Naruto spoke up, cutting off Yasaka's thoughts. "Thanks for the meal, the hospitality, and the info. They were all very much appreciated. I think that I'm gonna go check out the battlefield just in case your people missed anything...mostly for my peace of mind."
The shinobi pushed himself off of the chair he was sitting on to get up, flashing a grin at the woman next to him. "Tell Kunou-chan that I'll play with her later if she asks for me, I'll see you later!"
Yasaka didn't even manage to get a word in, as the whiskered blond quickly opened a window and jumped out. Well on his way to check the forest.
She couldn't help but let an indulgent smile grow across her face. "...He really is too cute sometimes. A little bit like a puppy."
Naruto honestly wanted to take some time to tour the city of Kyoto, to relax in one of the most famous cultural centers in Japan.
But he had something to check out, and there was more to do than just simply checking the battlefield for Cao Cao's body.
No, much more than that.
Thankfully, Yasaka apparently hasn't brought down the barrier that covered the forest yet, meaning that the normal humans still have no idea about the damage in the area.
Perfect for privacy.
So the shinobi quickly sped across the city, moving fast enough to easily avoid detection from human and yokai alike.
It didn't take long for him to transition from city ceilings to forest tree branches, and from intact tree branches to shattered ones.
Blue eyes narrowed when they finally laid themselves onto the barren field where he clashed against the 'heroes'...
And the place where he lost control.
He didn't really notice it last time, but the area was thoroughly destroyed, with the trees knocked down like dominoes and the ground completely devoid of any soft soil and grass.
It was lifeless.
The blond teen shook his head. He had to focus on his objective here.
Naruto jumped from his spot atop a tree stump to land on the ruined ground, he already knew where to go thanks to the somewhat hazy memories from his clone.
The shinobi quickly reached the location of 'that' clone's unfortunate end...and where the powerful spear should have been.
Should have been.
As he feared, the weapon of the Hero Faction's leader...simply wasn't there.
Gone. As if it had never existed to begin with.
Naruto took a moment to check the area around him, making sure that maybe -just maybe- in the confusion, the weapon simply got hidden away in plain sight.
...
No such luck.
The young man cursed under his breath, annoyed that someone managed to secure not only the spear, but the body of it's wielder under their collective noses.
The faction that they fought yesterday wasn't finished, it was just severely weakened.
With his luck, he'd have to face them again one day...
But at least the yokai faction was fully aware of the danger, not only that...but Yuki no doubt would inform Jin about the new rival faction as well.
Would that be enough though...? Vigilance alone probably won't help them reach any conclusion anytime soon, it'll just keep them on their toes.
Actually, more than that, they'd just be reacting to an attack rather than proactively trying to take it out...
Naruto's eyes narrowed when a new thought emerged from his overworked head; the Hero Tribe and the yokai under Yasaka...their interests were aligned in this threat, right?
So...he had no doubt that the yokai could share valuable information to the heroes under Jin, whereas the heroes could give invaluable insight to the yokai about the Hero Faction. After all, this new 'hero' group was based off of the Hero Tribe, right?
An idea began to formulate based on this reality, realization began to make his already bright-blue eyes to brighten further as he continued this train of thought.
Maybe...this entire trip would prove to be very helpful after all...
Naruto stopped his train of thought there before he could go too far however, he would figure out the specifics later...preferably with Yuki, but first he had to do something else first.
After all, he didn't just come here to check up on Cao Cao's body.
The shinobi checked one last time whether he was alone, then once he figured that the coast was clear, he closed his eyes.
It took a few moments, but eventually all sound began to drift away to nothingness, and his consciousness focused inwards...
His facial features twitched when he felt the tell-tale signs of water flowing past his feet, as well as the consistent dripping noise that characterized the area he had just entered.
Blue eyes revealed themselves after he was thoroughly sure that he had finished the 'transition' so to speak.
"...It's been a while." he couldn't help but whisper, a faint sense of dread permeating his being as he stared at the massive gates that categorized his tenant's seal.
He was in his mindscape again, where the powerful kyuubi no yoko was sealed.
The shinobi firmly gazed upon the large gate that kept the legendary beast contained, lips set in a thin line as he waited for the inevitable.
...
Naruto's eyebrow twitched when he continued to wait for the inevitable, waiting for the great beast to speak as he usually did.
But for some reason that the blond couldn't fathom, the kyuubi stayed silent as well as out of eyesight. Remaining deep inside the cage instead of moving closer to speak or look at the young man.
"...Um...hello?" Naruto eventually called out, neck stretching forward as he attempted to look for the bijū in the darkness.
The ground under him rumbled faintly, the slightly flooded water that filled the sewer-like area rippled as it was disrupted.
The source of the disturbance soon revealed itself in the form of a massive fox-like creature with nine long flowing tails behind it, gazing at the puny human that called for it with it's large red slits from behind the massive gate.
"...Well, it's been quite a while since you've come here to visit, hasn't it?" the great beast rumbled, staring at the significantly smaller being. "Considering what has happened...I suppose you're here to-"
"Why did you help me?" Naruto interrupted without warning, cutting through the niceties and moving straight to the point. "Why did you go out of your way to help me yesterday...when I lost control?"
The kyuubi didn't respond immediately after the blond threw his questions at him, instead he chose to lower his body to the ground and lay down to reach a more comfortable position.
"...I suppose that your confusion is understandable, brat. We haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye or have been the best of friends before, to the contrary as a matter of fact. So you're no doubt a bit suspicious." the bijū stated bluntly, similarly refusing to beat around the bush.
The shinobi nodded slowly, listening intently to the kyuubi.
Red slits closed slowly for a moment, as if their owner needed to take a split-second to consider what to say next, then opened them up again to lock unerringly at a pair of oceanic-blue pupils. "To be completely honest, after taking a lot of time to think...I have 'reconsidered' some of my previously held assertions and beliefs. Mostly thanks to the fact that I've...never seen humans live in such harmony before. This land we're in; Japan, is extraordinarily peaceful in comparison to any land in the Elemental Nations. I thought that humans were deceitful beings by nature...yet a society such as this has been built by humans. So perhaps humans can be trusted...humans such as you...Naruto."
Both of Naruto's eyebrows rose up in surprise, this definitely wasn't what he expected to hear today.
"Surprised?" the kyuubi questioned, smirking slightly at the blond's confusion. "I guess since the last time we really talked to one another was when you were going berserk in that eight-tailed state against the Akatsuki leader, your response isn't that far-fetched. But I'm telling the truth here, brat. That being said, it's not like I want to be friends with you or anything, so don't get your hopes up."
Now the young jinchūriki was just flat out scratching his head, thoroughly befuddled. The damn fox wasn't making any sense here.
"So you've changed your opinions and helped me out against...whatever happened before, but...you don't want to maybe, oh I don't know...become closer allies or something? You know...in the name of camaraderie? Or maybe self-preservation?" the blond asked, fishing for something akin to a straight answer.
Vague answers sucked.
If the great beast could have made it work as intended, he would have shot the human a deadpanned look. "Quit trying to simplify the issue here, you damn brat."
This time it was Naruto's turn to become incredulous. "Huh!? You're the one making this so complicated! You changed your opinion of me, right!? So considering that your opinion of me was pretty damn bad before, that means that you see me in a better light, right? Especially when you helped me out, so that should be the proof! So shouldn't that mean that we should be closer now?"
Then the young man just threw his hands into the air. "But apparently not! Because life just wouldn't be right if things were easy for me, now wouldn't it!?"
With that small tirade out of his system, the blond sat down petulantly, ignoring the water as he grumbled to himself about annoying powerful beings of unlimited energy.
At least he did until he heard the sound of the powerful bijū snorting from behind his jail.
"Heh..." the orange fox coughed out, trying to stop the chuckling that wanted to come out of his throat. "Sorry about that, I forgot that you've been dealing with almost nothing except terrible luck when it comes to events that shape your life, right? Alright, alright...I'll give you a break with this."
Naruto frowned, but didn't bother trying to refute the powerful entity's words. He was absolutely right, and wasn't that just sad?
Seeing that he had the blond's attention, the kyuubi continued. "I wasn't really planning on expanding on my reasons...but I should first explain that throughout my long life, I have had a...rocky relationship with humans. A very rocky one. So much so that I've come to distrust and dislike them on principle, including you."
Red slits glazed over a little bit, remembering past events from what seemed like thousands of years ago. "But before I became so bitter against your kind...I was told by my 'jiji' that my fellow bijū and I would meet someone who would show us what true power is...and a part of me believes that you might be that person."
The shinobi opened his mouth, gaping openly at the confession, his body shaking in his complete and utter disbelief that he would be hearing this from the freaking kyuubi!
"...Who are you and what did you with the evil furry...?" he asked hesitantly.
Almost as soon as that last word left his throat, Naruto was knocked down to his feet when the ground under him shook violently.
Mostly because the kyuubi smashed his head against the bars that made up his jail and growled at him.
"I'm being SERIOUS you damn brat! Do you want to hear what I have to say or not!?"
"S-S-Sorry!" Naruto cried out, his eyes comically turning into white circles as he crawled backwards.
The powerful beast huffed, reigning in his anger as he forced himself to relax. "...Keh, whatever. As I was saying, a part of me believes that you could be the person that jiji was talking about...but the key phrase here is; a part of me. You have to understand that despite my shift in beliefs from watching this...peaceful land, it's still obvious that humans are killing one another in other lands in this world. So I suppose you can say that I want to believe that humans aren't as bad as I thought...but I've been burned so many times by your kind that I'm hesitant to trust. So I'd like to...make sure that I'm not making a mistake."
The shinobi glanced up from his downed position, shooting the skyscraper-sized entity a look at his last sentence. "Uh...and how are you gonna do that exactly?"
Red slits closed and a smirk stretched across the kyuubi's lips. "Why...by watching you of course."
"...Hah?" Naruto couldn't help but utter doubtfully. "What are you-?"
"You're conflicted, Naruto."
Naruto immediately shut his mouth, back tensing.
"...You don't even realize the scope, not really, but you're reaching a crossroads here, Naruto. The issues that you've ignored and pushed away for most of your life are coming back to haunt you...and unless you deal with it, it'll be those who are closest to you that will suffer." the great beast muttered softly, genuine. "The issues you face won't come to a head yet, but it willreach a breaking point inevitably. It's a matter of when, not if."
And from that conflict...the powerful beast would finally make a decision.
Silence followed the fox's solemn statement, stretching out to the point that the vacuum of any sound began to become deafening in of itself.
For some reason, the blond had to interrupt that silence. His discomfort becoming acute the longer that he had to contemplate the words that echoed across his brain.
So he began to chuckle, a soft rumbling in his throat that ended the loud silence, that gave him some sort of reprieve.
"...What are you talking about, you damn fox?" Naruto couldn't help but say, voice light, expression easy-going. "You're talking about some weird crap, you know? I ain't conflicted at all, your chakra just happens to be more toxic than usual, that's all. I'll just avoid using it, but the only thing that does worry me...is that other voice I heard before. Do you know about that, kyuubi?"
Red slits took in the young jinchūriki's words, his mannerisms, his dismissal.
And he sighed. It was as he feared...
Naruto wasn't ready.
He wasn't ready to hear about the twisted emotions that were swirling inside of him, that were getting enhanced by nature's twisted energy, that was becoming more obvious from the bijū's own chakra...
The young man would just dismiss it, as he always dismissed the darker emotions that were hidden deep inside. He wouldn't believe it unless he saw it himself.
Telling him would do nothing except push him to deny it even more.
The shinobi that stood in front of him lived a hard life, one that would have been far more difficult to survive in if he had acknowledged the simmering dark emotions within.
So he pushed it away, ignored it, repudiated it, and trickedhimself to believe that it no longer existed.
...And wasn't that ironic? The ultimate in shinobi trickery. He had no need to trick anyone about the hatred within, because he himself didn't believe he had any.
No need to trick anyone else, when he could just trick himself.
"Oi, do you hear me!? Kyuubi!"
The bijū finally snapped back to reality, gazing upon the irate blond in front of him.
...He could criticize the human for his foolishness, but really...while the shinobi refused to acknowledge that he had a problem, the kyuubi just flat out refused to face his own.
He had no right to lecture.
"What do you want?" he drawled out, tone dismissive.
Naruto glared at him, then jabbed a finger at him. "I was asking whether you knew about the other voice in my head. C'mon, pay attention!"
The kyuubi closed his eyes in response, as if contemplating.
Then he answered.
"No idea." the great beast answered.
Before the whiskered teen could complain, the bijū forced himself onto his feet and turned his body around, moving towards the back of his jail.
"Ah...hey! Wait! Where are you going!?" the teen called out, waving his hand frantically to try and grab the orange fox's attention.
The kyuubi didn't respond and kept moving.
"Hey! Come on, is it something I said!? The least you could do is tell me your name dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out, head poking through the massive bars.
Finally, the powerful being stopped it's movements deeper into the jail cell, staying silent as it stayed still.
Seeing that he managed to grab the fox's attention, the shinobi continued. "I mean...I can't just keep calling you 'kyuubi' now that there are kyuubi yokai around me, right? So surely you've got something that I can call you..."
The kyuubi didn't respond to his words.
Until suddenly, he did, and turned it's head to the side, throwing a small grin at the surprised shinobi.
"Ask me that question again when we both have the balls to stop being cowards."
Blue eyes snapped open, followed by a gasp as Naruto fell to his knees, sweating slightly as he quickly managed to gain some semblance of balance in his real body again.
He groaned, swiping his forehead in annoyance. "Back to square one..."
Damn it.
The human male stretched his limbs to try and regain his bearings, scanning around the area to make sure that he was still alone.
He was, although he had no idea how much time has passed since he has gone into his mindscape.
Since talking to the fox in his belly was a bust in terms of figuring out his actual problems...he might as well try something else while he was alone.
At least he was going to until he froze in mid-thought, remembering something.
"...Kyuubi has a jii-chan?" Naruto couldn't help but mutter out loud, incredulity taking over his features.
Seriously? There was a grandpa kyuubi running around in the Elemental Nations!?
The inevitable image that popped in Naruto's mind after seriously thinking about it was one of a giant kyuubi; one that was full of wrinkles, standing with a walking stick, hunched over, and a massive white beard that framed it's face.
...
...Well that was a disturbing thought, and the shinobi was seriously annoyed that he didn't ask the kyuubi about it now.
Oh well, he would ask the fox later. First things first.
Naruto carefully brought his right hand up to his face, eyes narrowed as he considered how much chakra he should utilize for this jutsu...
It's been a while since he's done this, hopefully his theory from before held true and the jutsu's effectiveness has improved.
Nevertheless, the young man finally brought his finger to his mouth and bit onto it, drawing some blood at the small wound that he inflicted on himself.
Then, and only then, did the blond flash through the seals that he needed to activate the jutsu and slam his hand onto the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
An explosion of smoke emerged from his hand, covering up his body as he lifted his hand up from the ground. Hoping that he got a decent toad with fifty percent of his chakra.
He squinted to see through the smoke, seeing the familiar form of a toad...
"...That's it?" he couldn't help but breathe out in disappointment, downcast at his 'progress'.
Out from the smoke emerged a small toad, one that was almost as big as Gamakichi was when Naruto first met him, just staring at him blankly.
The shinobi could have cried at the injustice of it all. The toad was barely larger than the last summoning he made!
Of course, the blond was referring to the summoning he made ages ago now. It was his attempt at reestablishing contact with the Elemental Nations again through Mount Myōboku.
But apparently all he could summon were children and toddlers...beautiful.
Sighing, the young man leaned down and eyed the little toad critically. "...Can you understand me?"
The horizontal bars that made up the amphibian's eyes stared at the shinobi, unresponsive.
Then, to Naruto's complete surprise, the little guy actually nodded.
Blue eyes widened to the size of saucers at the same time as the blond's jaw hit the ground. "Are...are you serious? Please, don't pull my leg here, do you actually understand me?"
The little toad rolled it's eyes as if it was annoyed and nodded again, moving onto it's hind legs and crossing it's arms.
Two arms suddenly wrapped themselves around the toad, catching it by surprise as it was carried to the whiskered teen's face as his entire face lit up, practically beaming as a matter of fact.
"R-Really!? Oh...oh...! This is great! Oh, I have sooo much to tell you! I mean I've been stuck here for a really long time, so hopefully I didn't miss anything important back at home...but more importantly, how's everyone back at Mount Myōboku? Are they still recovering from Pain's attack? Tell me everything so that I can-!"
Naruto stopped speaking all of a sudden, body becoming rigid as his senses blared out in warning.
The barrier was gone, broken, destroyed.
And someone was coming.
Someone powerful.
And they were heading straight for him.
"Never mind everything I said." the shinobi ordered crisply, eyes sharpening as he became serious. "Just tell everyone that I'm safe and that I'm still thinking about them. More importantly, tell them not to worry about me...I'll contact them soon."
Naruto didn't even wait for a response, instead opting to release the jutsu that was keeping the toad here and bringing a hidden kunai out, just in case whoever was coming was hostile.
They were powerful, that was for sure.
So the shinobi gazed to the sky, grimly thankful that he kept the policy of only using fifty percent of his chakra to try the kuchiyose no jutsu, as he would have been in pretty bad shape if he used more than that.
Actually, to be blunt, he was already in pretty bad shape as he was. He figured that out almost as soon as he released the summon, as the shinobi felt the fatigue immediately set in after the initial excitement of getting a good toad ran it's course.
Basically, as usual, he had shit luck.
Just the core of the matter.
Naruto snapped his head to the side as he saw a blur soar to him, a black dot that was moving at incredible speed to him.
Blue eyes narrowed...that dot looked familiar...
Then they snapped open, his expression falling apart in disbelief.
This was...ridiculous.
"What the hell are you doing here!?"
"It looks like that the storm that was moving eastward throughout Japan has subsided, thankfully, I was sure getting worried that it would hit Yokohama...that'd be annoying, wouldn't it?"
"That it would! But it seems that the storm has petered out right before it hit the Kanto region, so all of the folks living there can also breathe a sigh of relief. On other news..."
If one were to enter the living room at right that moment, they would notice that the only occupant in the house was currently staring at the television screen blankly.
Frankly, it was obvious that the occupant wasn't really watching it as much as she was staring through it.
Pink eyes were hazy as they coolly regarded the news outlet, not really paying attention to what was being said. Instead, the occupant was tapping her finger onto the wooden table she was leaning on, trying to calm herself down to some semblance of ease.
Why? Because neither of her family members had called her back yet.
Mio's breath was steadily coming out in short bursts, her heart beating at a rate that was slightly faster than normal, all while trying not to pick up the phone that she laid on the table.
...What was taking them so long?
After Rias-sempai had temporarily stopped the search for Kiba-san, the half-devil quickly returned to the safety of her home and called Naruto's new cellphone. More than a little excited at the fact that she'd hear her brother's voice again.
She never realized how much she became accustomed to his presence until he was gone for...what? About two days?
Though she would never admit it to him, or admit to Maria that she missed her as well.
Anyways, the current incarnation of her worries emerged as soon as her call was sent to voicemail, without bothering to ring once to indicate that the call actually connected.
Her initial response to the voicemail was concern, but the red-head quickly comforted herself by believing that her occasionally dense family member probably just forgot to charge his phone.
That initial concern then bled into complete uneasiness when she called Maria'a phone however.
Similarly to Naruto's phone, Mio couldn't connect to Maria's phone and was quickly sent to voicemail, for whatever reason she couldn't fathom.
As expected, the female teen began to seriously fret over the disappearance of her family, but she remembered what happened the last time she attempted to find out where Naruto disappeared to...
She didn't want to make that mistake a second time, so she resolved to have faith in the two people that she considered to be her kin in all but blood. If they were in trouble, then they'd be able to handle it.
At least that's what she tried to convince herself with.
Then of course, the morning came. Without a peep from her phone.
Her current mood? Bordering on distress to be perfectly honest with herself.
Mio sighed, smoothly getting up from her seat to go get ready to meet with the Gremory heiress, all in order to continue the search for her Peerage member. Hoping that she could keep the issue she was having out of her mind.
They were alright.
They were alright.
"Breaking news! Breaking news!"
The red-head didn't stop to look at what was no doubt an interesting piece of news, she was too busy getting ready and much too distracted to worry about it.
At least that's what she thought until she heard the next piece of news reach her ears.
"We are live in Kuoh Town, where we recently received reports about the thorough destruction of a local run-down church in the area. Apparently there was an incident about three weeks ago that afflicted the long-forgotten church, where it was vandalized horrendously by mysterious perpetrators. Initially, it was treated by local law enforcement as a mean prank pulled by some delinquents, but now the structural oddity has been completely leveled. According to residents nearby, there were sounds of a large-scale scuffle coming from the church, following the building's collapse. Is there a new gang war plaguing Kuoh Town? Unfortunately, we have not been able to check out the damage ourselves as local law enforcement has blocked off civilian access for investigation-"
Mio was silent as she stopped moving, mostly so that she could listen in to the report that has been given out, jaw clenching as a memory tickled the back of her head...
...She would have to trust that Naruto and Maria could take care of themselves in Kyoto, she couldn't worry herself to death while helping the devils find their missing comrade.
Because she was more than a little sure that she may have just found a clue to Kiba-san's location.
So she quickly ventured to grab her things and leave, internally hoping that her family was alright, and promising that everyone would be safe and sound by the time that they got home.
She would make sure of it.
"How is he?"
The yokai nurse that was tending to her lifted her head, smiling pleasantly. "He's fine, simply resting now. That young man used up quite a lot of energy when fighting it seems, so it will take him a while to make a full recovery. So expect him to sleep a little bit longer at the very least."
Yuki nodded slowly, staring at a set of curtains that kept Basara from her view. "That's good to know, thank you."
If the yokai responded, the hero didn't hear it, as her mind was very much focused on the young man that was resting from his ordeal with their 'sensei'.
Or rather, she was focused on how to break the news to her adoptive father. As well as the rest of the Hero Tribe.
No doubt there would be plenty of explaining to do, considering all that has happened, but she was also genuinely concerned about how the other higher ups in the Hero Tribe would take Basara's actions.
She seriously doubted that others would be so forgiving of a traitorous hero...especially considering how divided many of the heroes were.
More than that, she had no idea about the young man's frame of mind...how would he react when he woke up?
Yuki honestly wasn't sure.
Thankfully, she had time to spare when it came to finding out what to do. Hopefully she would find a way to solve this problem before they returned home.
At least...that's what she thought until she heard the sounds of shouting echoing from somewhere relatively close by.
The young human's ear twitched as she began to strain her ears to listen more intently, frowning at the thought that something had happened...
As soon as she began to focus her hearing, the very ground below her began to shake lightly as if a small earthquake rocked the room, much to everyone's collective surprise. Especially as the shouting outside grew louder in alarm.
Yuki grabbed the covers that were over her body and jumped out of the bed that she was resting on, materialized her katana; Sakuya, just in case.
"...Why does it feel like the world hates us...?"
Yellow eyes were drawn onto the groaning form of the silver-haired half-devil, who was also resting and being tended by the nurse.
Maria turned to her, looking more than a little disgruntled with the interruption.
"...Can't we all just get a few more days of rest before the world tries to make us it's chew toy again?"
Yuki could only shrug her shoulders lightly.
Apparently not.
With that, the hero turned around and ran out the door, moving to find the disturbance and face it alongside the yokai.
By following the sounds of the shouts, it didn't take her long to deduce that the sounds were coming from the front of the large building...
"Hey! Wait up!"
A small grin began to grow on the female human's face following Maria's cry, obviously she was planning on helping out despite her complaints.
So the two continued racing down the hallways, maneuvering past the yokai that they began to run past on the way there. All of them milling about, nervous about the shouts that were becoming louder in frequency the closer they moved.
So it came as something of a surprise when the shouting suddenly ceased by the time that the duo reached the door that would lead them to the front.
Yuki placed her hand onto the handle of the sliding door, prepared to rush in and fight in case she heard the familiar sound of fighting inside...
But she didn't hear anything, just total silence.
"Come on already...open the door, Yuki-san! I wanna see what's going on!" Maria impatiently told her, hopping up and down to see what was going on.
The hero shot her an annoyed look before acquiescing and slowly opening the door, allowing their eyes access to what was going on...
Yellow and purple eyes blinked slowly, seeing the mass of yokai that were standing in front of them, and according to the tension in the room...obviously very wary of something.
Yuki raised her katana a little higher, unsure of what was going on, but she wanted to make sure that if anything bad happened...she'd be ready.
Now...in such a situation, they needed to be smart. They needed to stay low and stay quiet in order to gather information, all to create at least a decent response to-
"Ah, excuse me..."
Maria walked past her and began pushing her relatively small body through the horde of yokai, too curious to wait.
The hero's eye twitched as she watched the succubus wiggle her way through the yokai, throwing all caution into the wind in her haste to see what was going on.
"...So much for the safe approach..." Yuki grumbled, getting up from her lowered position to chase after the loli.
She copied Maria's movements and forced her way through the crowd, apologizing softly to every yokai that she pushed along the way.
After a few more seconds of struggle, the teen managed to catch up to Maria, who was standing just outside the front door and staring at the sky with wide eyes.
Frowning, the hero approached her, the creases on her forehead growing as she realized that a certain kyuubi mother-and-daughter duo were also staring at the sky. The former with wariness and the latter with wonder.
As Yuki was about to check what exactly everyone was looking at, her eye caught a flash of spiky gold that could only be from one person...
Naruto was facing the building and the group, tapping his foot and looking decidedly annoyed by the situation if his expression was anything to go by.
Now really curious, yellow eyes drifted upwards to see what exactly happened-
All thoughts ceased the moment that Yuki's eyes locked onto the fallen angel that was floating in the sky while waving at everyone awkwardly, with all six pairs of his wings out and his poor attempt at a comforting smile present on his face.
"...Uh...mind if I come in?" Azazel asked with a thumbs up, flashing his best easy-going grin at everyone down below.
No one even bothered to respond.
Instead, all eyes fell down back to earth and aimed at the blond that could possibly hold the answers to the questions that were plaguing their minds.
For his part, Naruto shrugged, then moved his right arm to scratch the back of his head awkwardly, features apologetic.
"...I...really can't explain what happened. So the best I can do is say..."
The shinobi inclined his head down, bending down his body a little in a slight bow.
"I'm so sorry for the trouble."
Sighs rang out from the assorted group.
"Wait, is this true Mio-chan?"
Mio nodded, straight-faced. "Yeah, it was on the news...and I definitely think that Kiba-san is involved."
Rias bit her lip, eyebrows scrunching as she was reminded about the incident with the fallen angels. It felt like months ago...
The abandoned church...huh?
"Well, this is the best lead we've ever gotten, I say we go and check it out. Besides, considering it's history, it seems pretty likely that the supernatural was involved in the building's destruction. We should investigate it regardless and maybe even erase some memories." Sona stated bluntly, crossing her arms beside her fellow high-class devil.
Rias simply hummed in agreement.
Both high-class devils and their Peerages were inside the ORC clubroom, gathered in order to move out and search for the missing reincarnated devil; Kiba Yuuto.
They were supposed to divvy out places to search, but the information that Mio obtained while watching the news had obviously derailed that plan.
"Buchou, I also think that we should investigate the church. And soon. If Kiba-kun was there, then I don't want to lose our lead on him." Akeno advised, standing beside her friend.
The Gremory heiress didn't respond at first, but after a beat she pushed herself up from her desk in order to give every occupant in the room a look.
"...As was pointed out by others, the recent destruction of the abandoned church is the best chance we have to find Yuuto. So before we go, I want everyone to be on the same page. So is there any questions that anyone would like to ask me before we move forward?"
Sona snapped her gaze to her friend and rival, understanding what she was doing but believing that this wasn't the time or place for that.
Keeping everyone focused was important, but they were on a time table here. If there were questions, it could wait until after.
The Sitri heiress could only sigh, another thing that they disagreed about no doubt...
Meanwhile, Rias' blue-green eyes panned from one end of the room ro the other, counting down in her head how much longer she'd wait.
"Um...I have a question."
All eyes shifted to the white-haired young girl that lifted her hand up shyly.
The redhead's own eyes narrowed, if she recalled...this girl's name was...
"...Momo-san, right?"
Momo smiled faintly and nodded, pleased that the pure-blood devil remembered.
Rias smiled in return, easing the teen in. "Alright then Momo-san...what's your question?"
The devil from Sona's Peerage stopped smiling, turning serious. "W-Well, I was just curious about your Peerage member; Kiba. Do you have any idea why he disappeared...? Maybe we should keep in mind that he might not be willing to come with us willingly..."
Rise and Akeno glanced at one another, both of their lips thinning at the bitter possibility that the reincarnated devil reminded them of.
"Well..." The high-class devil began, closing her eyes. "I can't really go into any specific details, but suffice it to say that Yuuto has had a...difficult life. So I think his actions are connected to that. But as for why he's doing this now? No clue. He only started acting this way when Naruto left."
"Wait, Uzumaki is gone!?"
Blue-green eyes focused onto the form of the only male member of the Sitri group, her pawn to be exact.
"That's right Saji-san." the red-head replied evenly. "He left about two days ago to go to Kyoto for personal reasons. Sona didn't inform you?"
Sona's slightly embarrassed cough echoed across the small room.
Ignoring that, Genshirou Saji clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. "So that's why everything has been so quiet...so do you think that he may have something to do with this?"
Before Rias could even say anything, the other red-head in the room took an aggressive step forward, glowering at the pawn. "...Are you implying that Naruto pushed Kiba-san to leave?"
Saji turned around to regard Naruse Mio, who wasn't exactly looking friendly at the moment. "...I just want to get all the facts straight, that's all."
"Well I'll tell you right now, Naruto would never encourage Kiba-san to disappear like this." Mio ground out, voice venomous. "And don't you dare make that assumption again."
The blond haired teen splayed his hands up in an attempt to placate the younger female, flashing a weak smile. "Hey, hey...it's not like I was saying that, just that I wanted the whole story. Though in question to what you've said...how do you know that Uzumaki didn't do something like that? I mean, it might be a coincidence, but it's a pretty interesting one that Kiba would act weird right when Uzumaki left."
"How do I know...?" the half-devil echoed disbelievingly. "Why the hell does that matter...? It's a fact. Naruto wouldn't do it, end of story. Coincidences are just that; coincidences."
"But how do you know?" Saji reiterated, frowning. "I'll let this go if you could prove it, then we can look elsewhere for the reason of Kiba's actions."
"Saji."
The pawn tensed as soon as his king's words reached his ears, full of authority and voice tinged in disapproval.
Sona took a step forward, eyes unerringly on the male teen. "While I appreciate that you're trying to get to the bottom of Kiba's actions, and that you and Uzumaki-san don't exactly see eye-to-eye...this isn't-"
"I just know!" Mio shouted out, cutting off the devil with her raised voice, her expression thoroughly aggravated.
Just the sheer thought that someone thought or might believe that her brother could do something like that reallypissed her off. It simply wasn't true, she knew it wasn't.
Naruto was...
"Horrible...just horrible! Of course you can come with me dattebayo!"
Saji, himself now incensed that the red-head would cut off his king so blatantly, turned back to her and glared at her. "That isn't proof! You can't just say something isn't so because you don't want it to be so! I'm not really pointing the finger here anyways, I'm just saying that it's a possibility."
"It isn't! Not even a remote one!"
"Heh. I know right? I can be so awesome sometimes that I surprise myself at times."
"Again, how the hell are you so sure!?"
Mio, with her breath short and her eyes dilated, stomped her foot to the ground and screamed.
"Because he's...!"
"...You know what! I'm not even jealous! You know why!? Because wings are sooooo old-fashioned!"
"He's...!"
"...Precious people...like you Mio."
Tears began to pool from her eyes as random memories began to pop up in her head, reinforcing what she already knew about the one she considered to be a part of her 'family'.
...And she wouldn't allow other people to demean their character...!
"Because he's my...!"
Especially not her older sibling!
Especially not her...!
"Because he's my onii-chan!" Mio yelled out, jerking her head forward hard enough to send her long red hair flare out like a halo around her, while her face was sheer inchesaway from Saji's.
Saji took a step back, eyes as wide as saucers as he watched the young girl's eyes flare, her words harsh and even more venomous.
All the while the room fell into silence, shock reverberating at the younger red-head's words.
Mio, who was only now coming down from her tirade, blinked as her own words actually registered in her brain.
She blinked one more time for good measure.
Then her face lit up, turning as red as her own hair in embarrassment at her own words. Realizing what she just admitted out loud.
So she did the only thing she could.
"...Uuuu..."
Rias stared as her kohai suddenly ducked down to the ground, hands covering her face as it went bright red. Trying to seem as small as possible.
The high-class devil took a second to try and imagine herself in the younger red-head's position in order to understand her embarrassment; defending her onii-sama hotly while declaring him as 'her' onii-chan..."
...
...
Rias' already pale face went as white as a sheet, taken aback in horror as she could almost feel the shame that she would have gained from such an action.
"...Take your time Mio-chan." she couldn't help but mutter in support, thoroughly sympathetic now.
The blond pawn also watched the mortified teen, bemused if anything, but he took a step forward to restart the argument-
"Hey, wait."
Saji shifted his gaze from the red-head to the approaching form of the only other male in the room.
Issei walked up to him, shooting Mio a curious look before he reached him, and clasped his hand onto his shoulder. "Look, I get what you're trying to do here. Honestly, I do. But..."
The perverted boy jabbed a finger at the still-embarrassed teen on the floor, eyes dull.
"...You have to realize that you're dealing with a bro-con, right?"
"I'M NOT!" Mio roared out, her face contorted in rage as she snapped her head up from the ground to glower at the other pawn.
Issei snorted faintly at her defense. "See? How can anyone think differently after that? Seriously...she tried to hide it, but the entire school has figured out that she's a closet bro-con. Basically Saji, you're not gonna get anywhere here. Best just to drop it."
"Damn it Issei-san...! Quit making weird rumors about me!" the red-head retorted hotly, before turning around to look at everyone in the room. "...I mean, that's not true right? There's no way that the entire school could think that I'm a bro-con...right?"
Practically everyone in the room glanced away, their eyes going shifty as they refused to respond to her.
"...No way..." Mio whispered in horror, losing the strength of her legs as she fell back to the floor, a depressive energy swirling around her. "That...can't be."
Sweat-drops abounded when the half-devil began mumbling to herself darkly as a dark cloud began to form over her head, her depression reaching new heights.
Saji watched, genuinely unsure if she'd be alright...
At least before Issei interrupted his train of thought. "Seriously though, while I get what you're doing, Naruto definitely didn't push Kiba to do stupid shit. If he did however, it would have been an accident or something like that."
"...Eh...you too Hyoudou?" the pawn questioned, genuinely surprised.
The brown-haired boy scratched his cheek nervously. "Ah well...I owe Naruto a lot, he was the one to really make me think about some important crap. The least I could do is speak for him when he can't speak for himself...he's just a good guy man."
As his fellow reincarnated devil expressed his opinion, Saji felt someone place another hand onto his other shoulder.
"Saji, that's enough." Sona reprimanded, eyes sharp. "I myself am not particularly happy with Uzumaki-san at the moment ever since his little...'stunt' last week, but he isn't the type of man to do such a thing. As far as I can tell anyways."
The wielder of the Absorption Line was definitely thrown off his guard when his king, the infamously stoic kaichou, actually went out of her way to defend the teen that gave them so much trouble.
"...If even my strict kaichou is vouching for him, then I really can't say much anymore can I?" Saji admitted with a sigh. "Right, let's take off Uzumaki in our list of suspects..."
"Excellent." Rias stated with approval, smiling as that little spat was solved. "Is there anything else?"
No one answered, which meant that the only sound that the red-head heard was the pitiful sounds coming out of her kohai, who was still lamenting over the destruction of her social standing among her peers.
"I think that's everyone Buchou." Akeno noted, her standard pleasant smile plastered on her face. "Despite the drama, it seems that everyone is on more steadier ground now that they have more information, as little as it is. I suppose that was your aim?"
The high-class devil smirked at her queen. "Precisely. With this, everyone will be less distracted over questions that they might have had. Now everyone will be able to focus on their objectives. Hopefully."
With that small explanation on hand, the Gremory heiress scanned all of the assorted devils present, prepared to give out the order along with her friend to go to the abandoned church and...
Then she paused.
"Akeno?"
"Hm?"
"Where's Koneko-chan?"
Akeno's pleasant demeanor vanished the moment that she heard the unsure undertones of the question, turning to carefully scan the room in order to find the suspiciously quiet rook.
...
"...She isn't here." the black-haired teen whispered with alarm, eyes widening.
But she was just here moments ago...!
"...Rias? Akeno? Is something wrong? You two look awfully pale..." Sona asked, a tinge of concern in her voice.
Mio also looked up from her crouched position, breaking through her depression once she sensed the total shift in atmosphere.
Instead of answering, Rias moved away from her desk in order to leave the room, eyes flaring violently with her power as she made the order.
"We are going to the abandoned church, now."
Considering that her eyes were literally blazing with what looked like miasma to the naked eye, no one thought it prudent to question her.
So when the high-class devil suddenly snapped her gaze to her only pawn, Issei was more than a little worried that she would take out her frustrations on him.
"Except for you Issei." Rias ordered, eyes sharp. "You need to do something else for me, considering your...abilities."
The perverted boy blinked.
He wasn't sure how he should feel about this...
The group that would set out to find Yuuto and Koneko would leave when the sun was still high in the sky.
"Ah...nothing quite like a relaxing bath to let the stress of the day just...slide off, eh brat?"
Naruto didn't respond, he just kept staring at the water that he was sitting in, like a statue.
"But geez! This place has changed a lot since I've last been here! I mean how long has it been, really? At least a few centuries or so, but how long specifically? I couldn't tell ya. Time just seems to swim on by when you're having fun. But why was I not allowed to come by here last time...? Did it have something to do with that one lover I took and what we did to that shrine...?"
"Ok! Ok! I don't need to hear anymore!" Naruto cried out, covering his ears. Knowing instinctively that the damn old man was about to spill things he really didn't want to hear.
Azazel smirked at him, pleased that he broke his silence. "Thought that I had to go into detail to break ya. You're a pretty innocent kid, aren't you?"
The shinobi didn't even bother to respond to his charge, instead choosing to sink into the water to avoid looking at his smug face.
"Hoh...? So does that mean that you're a virgin?" the dirty old man pressed, that smirk growing ever wider.
The blond wanted to punch it right off his face.
"...Fuck you."
"Hah!" the fallen angel roared out, amused. "Well don't feel too bad brat, I didn't lose my first time until after I was a few hundred years old! So you're good."
An exasperated sigh escaped Naruto's mouth, wanting to be somewhere else besides here.
Currently, after the leader of the fallen angel somehowmanaged to track him down, the two men were in the middle of a hot spring. Ostensibly to relax and speak privately with one another.
There was a big hullabaloo earlier when the powerful faction leader first showed his face, scaring quite a bit of the yokai in Kyoto, as well as alerting Yasaka and his allies.
So right after his initial arrival, Azazel and Yasaka went to a private room to speak with one another -albeit with great reluctance on her part-, then she essentially kicked him out of their impromptu meeting in order to calm down her people.
Meaning that Naruto had the displeasure of seeing a half-naked Azazel waltz in on his relaxation time, an annoying development since he was thinking deeply on more important stuff.
But seeing as he's got no choice in the matter anymore, he figured he may as well find out why the hell he was here.
"Why the hell are you here?" the shinobi asked bluntly, not bothering to phrase it more politely. He really didn't have the patience for it.
"Well...I thought that you'd never ask!" the older man exclaimed, jubilant. "I'm actually here for..."
As he was speaking, he stood up puffed his chest out, leaving him in nothing but the towel that was wrapped around his waist to cover up his decency. "You of course!"
Naruto blinked slowly, staring up at him with a blank expression.
Only one word even bothered to pop up in his spiky-haired head.
"No."
The fallen leader faltered at the immediate dismissal. "Ah...wait, this is actually legitimately important, so hear me out before-"
"I'm not listening."
"Hey! This isn't a joke! Something big is about to happen and I need-!"
Naruto slowly stood up from the heated water, making sure the towel he had wrapped around his waist was stayed that way, and made to leave the hot springs.
"WAAAAAAAIIIITTTT!"
Two strong arms wrapped themselves around the blond's stomach, stopping him in his tracks.
"Oiiiii! What the hell are you doing!? Do you realize how wrong this looks!? How do you think most people would react when hearing that a grown man went ahead and hugged another man from behind!? Let go of me!"
"No way!" Azazel protested, holding on tightly. "Not until you hear me out! I need you!"
"Don't say that when you're holding onto me so tightly damn it! Alright, alright! Fine! I'll listen! Just let go of me already..." the blond said with grit teeth, shaking at the implications and praying that no one saw them.
After a quick couple of awkward seconds, the two males eventually made their way back into the spring, both pretending that everything that happened in the last minute or so just didn't happen.
"Ok, now that all of the pleasantries are out of the way, it's time to get to the real reason I came-"
"Wait." Naruto interrupted, raising a hand arbitrarily. "I got a question."
Azazel twitched, but any unpleasantness in his features was quickly smoothed out into a pleasant smile. "Yes~?"
The blond noticed the complete one-eighty in the older man's demeanor, but ignored it. "How did you find me? Like seriously, are you a stalker or something? Do I have to get a restraining order? Because if I have to, I totally will, this is just next level stalking dattebayo..."
"I'll fucking kill you, you damn brat." the fallen angel threatened darkly.
Well. That escalated quickly.
Naruto watched as the faction leader of the fallen angel faction took a moment to calm down, muttering darkly under his breath about dangerous things like; strangling, beating, and flat out blowing up a certain blond teen.
He wanted to point out that he was literally right there, so he could hear him, but the older man cut him off.
"Your cellphone."
Blue eyes locked onto violet ones, a hint of confusion in their orbs.
Seeing this, the thousand-years old man decided to explain in more detail.
"I had some of my people search for your name and phone number by hacking into certain organizations and businesses, eventually we found them and we were able to pinpoint your location to 'somewhere around Kyoto'. But we weren't sure where, so I was actually heading to speak to Yasaka-san to see what she might know...I didn't expect to run into you specifically."
Naruto tilted his head, still befuddled rather than anything else. "...But how did you know I was in Kyoto?"
This time a crafty smirk grew on the man's face, one that had way too much smugness in it. "Why...I do believe that you made a call to a certain someone while in that forest, didn't you?"
The shinobi tilted his head even further, mind focusing on anytime that he might have called anyone-
Oh.
Yuki. Back at the cave.
"...So? Considering how indebted all of the yokai here seemed, you'd think that you did something of extreme importance. So it must have been quite the emergency for you to contact someone during your little adventure. Or...maybe it was simply an important person?" the Grigori leader pushed, fishing for an answer.
Naruto looked at him warily, unsure of where he was going with that line of thought.
A massive shit-eating grin split the man's face, the glint in his eye growing brighter, all to the blond's growing wariness.
What was he-?
"I bet it's a girl, right? A girl that you're...'interested' in?"
The shinobi slammed his head into the water, splashing it hard enough to send a column of water into the air. His face burning.
Fuckin' burning.
What was this guy...? A reincarnation of ero-sennin? Seriously...only he was so interested in his personal life.
"W-!? What the hell are you talking about old man!? That isn't the case! Besides, I needed to contact Yuki..." the blond started hotly, before ending lamely when he realized that he mentioned his female friend's name.
Considering the cheesy grin that the fallen angel was sporting, he could see that he made a mistake in mentioning her name...
"Hoh? So it is a girl then. Is it that 'hero' girl that I met during that incident in the church? I bet it is! If so then you have good tastes brat, she'll grow up into one hell of a beauty, I have no doubt of that. That form-fitting uniform she wore helps too..."
"Alright. Alright." the shinobi interrupted irritably, rubbing his temples. "You're a stalker and a pervert, I get it."
Azazel just chuckled in good humor, unaffected by the charges. "Heh, I suppose I can seem that way sometimes. But at least most of your tension is gone now. So that's a win in my book."
The blond raised an eyebrow, frowning visibly as he tried to figure out what the fallen was saying through his cryptic wording.
Then blue eyes widened imperceptibly, realization lighting up those pools of cerulean. "Wait..."
Now that he thought about it, initially, the young man was very much confused, concerned, and cautious about the fallen angel's sudden arrival.
But now...thanks to his ridiculous shenanigans, the blond completely forgot about that.
Was this his way at clumsily helping him out? Or was it more cynical or practical than that?
Naruto had no idea.
Azazel gazed upon the younger man, his mirthful expression sliding away to a more somber one as the blond kept contemplating upon his words. "Though to be fair...checking up on your love life is pretty important for her too...as much as she hates to admit it..."
The shinobi snapped away from his internal questions to look at the centuries years old man, blinking. "Uh...sorry, I was distracted. Did you say something?"
Like a switch, the old man's expression slid back to a mirthful one. "Ah, nothing brat. I was just about to tell you about my reasons for being here is all."
Azazel rubbed his shoulders absentmindedly, rolling his neck as he continued. "You see...there has been a certain...'incident' among my people, where one of the leading members of Grigori started some trouble by stealing some of the Church's powerful weapons; the Excalibur fragments. For what reason? I'm not entirely sure...but I have my suspicions."
Naruto didn't reply, choosing to wait for the the man to continue.
"...Anyways that man; Kokabiel, has gathered up a substantial following of fallen angels under his banner, and the last time there has been any sighting of his followers were...in Kuoh Town."
Now the blond was fully immersed into the conversation, eyes sharpening at the implications. "Are you saying that...?"
The fallen leader nodded grimly. "Anyone that is in any way related to the little sisters of the current Maou Lucifer and Maou Leviathan are likely going to get dragged into this mess of a situation."
Naruto leaned away from the other man, his right hand cupping his mouth as his mind raced on what to do. This was big.
And if a member of Grigori was leading this one...then that meant that everyone back at Kuoh Town was probably facing nothing less then a fallen angel with five pairs of wings.
Bad. This was bad...
"While I'm sure you find this information distressing, this isn't what I sought you out for. We have a bigger problem than that." the Governor General pointed out, tone apologetic. "You see...in order to prevent any misunderstandings with the devils there, I sent a representative to Kuoh Town to explain the situation. As a matter of fact...it's someone you should know."
"Someone I know...?" the blond echoed, frowning. Who did he know from the past that could be a part of the fallen angel faction...?
"Ah! Is it that fallen angel that you took under your wing? Uh...'Raynare'?"
An enigmatic smile split the fallen leader's face, pleasantly surprised that he remembered her name. "Yep, exactly that. She feels indebted to you, you know? Very much looks up to you for what you did for her back then."
Naruto scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Does she really? Well...I'm kinda flattered, I hope she's doing alright."
The older man's smile only grew at the question. "She is doing quite well, it turns out that she's a pretty good student when it comes to subjects that she's interested in. But for other subjects? Well...she isn't pretty good at those. She can barely remember the names of important figures, let alone geography!"
It was genuinely impressive how much she flat-out didn't care about the powerful people in the world, or about the layout of the land that everyone inhabited. It was all about research for her.
Yeah...he remembered how she responded to his criticism about that...
"Hah? You want me to waste time focusing on some irrelevant crap like geography? Why the hell would I do that?" Raynare complained loudly, disgruntled.
Azazel pinched the bridge of his nose in ire, trying to make her see why skipping out on something like geography wasn't a good idea. "I understand that you want to focus all your energy on helping me find a cure for the 'Seven Deadly Sins'...but keeping yourself safe with some basic layout of the land is a smart investment in case of future conflicts. You do want to live long enough to reach your goal don't you?"
The younger fallen paused on her reading, violet eyes flicking to her 'teacher' and away from the many descriptions of general anesthesia that she was studying. "Yes...I suppose that would be important to learn about...but since I'm doing combat training, it doesn't matter that much-"
A slap to the back of the head knocked her head forward, much to her irritation.
"Hey. Idiot. These small tidbits of knowledge can make the difference between life and death in a battle. Don't be lazy and spread your knowledge out a little bit. For your sake." the fallen leader reprimanded, tone firm.
Raynare peered up from her lower position, eyes dry, with a large lump on the back of her head. "Ugh...yeah, yeah...but what's even the likelihood that I'll even go out and fight...? More likely I'll just stay in a Grigori compound and try and work on some experiments with some diseased fallen angels..."
Azazel snorted. "Like hell you could predict what will happen with 'likelihoods'...you're just being painfully single-minded is all."
A ghost of a smile stretched across the younger fallen's lips, a knowing glint in her eye. "You're absolutely right Azazel-sama. But...who do you think I got this attitude from in the first place? Mister Sacred Gear?"
The Governor General winced visibly, regretting that he mentioned how obsessive he was in seeking knowledge about Sacred Gears to the detriment of almost everything else.
That was totally part of the reason he wanted peace.
Seeing Raynare's triumphant look however, the powerful twelve-winged fallen angel quickly made to counter her argument. "Well I was a badass fallen angel with six pairs of wings, brat! Only the most powerful of foes can take me on! How many wings do you have again...?"
To be honest, he expected to rile her up with that last comment, or at least elicit a glare for reminding her of her present weakness.
Instead, she shrugged. "If push comes to shove, I'll just use 'that'. As long as I stay on the opposite side of morality, I should be fine against anyone that would willingly try and kill me."
Azazel straightened his back slightly, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
The young woman in front of him, whether by sheer luck or genetics, has access to a power that he suspected has only been rumored about. As it was very much an impossibility to obtain.
It was an impossibility because it was a polarity; a sharp contrast between two powers and energies.
Which was why he was very curious on how she managed to obtain it.
Honestly though, the fact that the God of the Bible has...permanently...left the world stage probably has contributed into such an oddity.
Into such a beautiful dichotomy...
"Azazel-sama? You're doing that thing again where you're freaking me out..."
The fallen leader snapped back into reality, coughing politely into his hand as he tried to regain the dignity he had temporarily lost.
But before he could, Raynare piped up to include one more tidbit.
"Azazel-sama...I understand that you want to help me by making me branch out a little more, but my intention to help find a cure for my okaa-sama is one that I want to focus all of my energy on. Besides, if I'm not that interested in it, then it makes the subject far more difficult to learn for me."
As she was speaking, a slow and crooked grin emerged from the woman's facial features, along with a certain glint sparkling in her eye.
"Though I should point out that even if I somehow get myself into a bad situation...then I will simply follow 'his' advice."
Azazel's eyes widened slightly, knowing exactly who the young woman was referring to.
'Nothing is over, until it's over'...huh? So she was saying that she'd fight with tooth and nail if necessary if she was in a bad fix? To utilize everything she had if the situation called for it? Not a bad philosophy to make sure that she would survive in big fights.
To think that she respected that boy so much that she'd take his words so deeply to heart...
"Oi, Azazel-san, you alright?"
The fallen angel's attention was brought back to earth when the blond teen spoke up. "Ah, sorry about that brat. Just remembered something that happened a while ago is all."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, seeing the older man slap the sides of his face with his hands, mumbling to himself to get back on topic after speaking.
He honestly didn't know what to say to that.
"Alright!" the powerful supernatural being exclaimed. "As I was saying before, I sent Raynare to Kuoh Town in order to explain the situation to the young Gremory and Sitri devils. Mostly so that we don't get implicated in any misunderstandings...but like I said before; there's a problem."
Finally getting to the crux of the issue, Naruto leaned in a little, paying attention.
Seeing this, Azazel continued. "Thanks to some information I've received from some spies in the Vatican...I've gotten word that the higher ups in the Church have sent a powerful exorcist to Japan, all in order to retrieve the powerful weapons that have been stolen. And it's a very likely possibility that the exorcist might run into young Raynare at this rate...and if you take into account the current climate of suspicion when regarding the fallen angels, then it isn't too unlikely that the exorcist could conclude that the devils and fallen angels are working together."
The shinobi's eyes sharpened, realizing just what the problem was. "More than that...it's the younger sisters of two Maous as well as your representative..."
"Exactly." the Governor General confirmed. "It will look like that the leaders of the fallen angels and the devils are at the very least using indirect means to weaken the Church. Meaning that war could very much spark from such an incident."
Naruto leaned back, only now appreciating the graveness of the situation.
"...So you want me to get involved I guess?" the blond eventually asked, knowing that that was the likely reason that the man sought him out.
Azazel nodded, serious. "Yeah, I was hoping that you could go to the Central Japan International Airport in order to...'stall' our friend from the Church. How you do so is irrelevant, I just want you to keep whoever it is at bay until at least tomorrow night...unfortunately this exorcist should be arriving at the airport by tonight."
Blue eyes widened to the size of saucers, this was in such short notice...!
Golden locks then shadowed over the young man's eyes, covering them up as he bit his lip. Seriously wondering if he could get involved in this.
...No.
He was gonna get involved, that wasn't a question. The question was...how far would he go for this mission and what would he get for doing this.
...
"Alright, I'll do it. Though I suspect that you knew that already." Naruto stated simply. "But I have a condition for taking this job...after all, it seems like you suck at getting good subordinates to do this kind of thing for you..."
Ignoring that last second jab, the fallen angel inclined his head, acknowledging his probable demand for a reward.
"...Seeing how you are the leader of Grigori, I'd like to get some measure of security clearance into your facilities; mostly so that I could see how Raynare is doing and to get the chance to talk to some of the fallen angel faction's higher ups." the blond suggested, a beatific smile on his face.
Azazel's understanding demeanor shattered about as quickly as it was made, completely thrown for a loop by the insane idea that was posited by blond.
"...Excuse me? You want clearance to my super-secret Grigori facilities? Where some of the most advanced research and hidden projects for my faction takes place? As well as sensitive information?" the fallen leader questioned quietly, genuinely in shock that the blond would even ask him.
Naruto just shrugged. "You've trusted me with information about Vretiel and her attempted rebellion, which if I remember correctly...could have sparked a larger reaction from the other supernatural factions that are looking to expand their power, right? And now you're trusting me with information about a spy in the Church and some insider information. After all of that, surely you can trust me with some access to Grigori?"
"No." Azazel rejected, not even hesitating.
The shinobi twitched, trying not to let his irritation at the blunt rebuttal get to him. "...Fine, then I'm sure you can find someone else to handle this for you."
And with that, the teen dragged himself away from the hot water that he was laying in, prepared to go and wipe himself off and get something to drink.
Even as he was moving out of the water, he could practically feel the older man's annoyed glare boring into the back of his head. Frustrated, yet too prideful to actually stop him and admit his mistake.
Naruto sighed. This guy was so childish sometimes...
So instead of finishing his move to leave the hot springs, his body shifted to the side towards the wall that kept the bath isolated from the outside and grabbed a stool. Sitting down onto it in order to use the faucet there to wash his body and hair more thoroughly.
Before he started his wash, he tilted his head and glanced back at the fallen angel, eyebrows wiggling up and down in a prompting fashion. Inviting him to say what he had to say.
Azazel groaned, knowing that he didn't have much of a choice to say no...his hands were simply metaphorically tied.
"I'll accept that groan as a 'yes' to my conditions. Tell me more about what I have to do later. For now, I'm just gonna finish washing myself I think." the blond finished easily, grabbing a bucket and using the faucet to fill it up to the brim.
"...Tch, fine brat. Have it your way." the fallen leader grumbled under his breath as he pushed himself out of the water himself. "It's not like you pushed me over a barrel or anything...and it's not like I needed your help or anything..."
The shinobi didn't bother to reply as he watched the grumbling man shuffle his way out of the springs and into the changing area. Obviously annoyed that he had no choice in the matter.
Blue eyes continued to watch, at least until the owner was fully convinced that Governor General had left the vicinity.
Once he was sure of that, Naruto quickly placed the filled bucket of water onto the ground and ran back into the steaming water.
He only left the soothing water in the first place so that he could act cool, he didn't really want to leave yet damn it.
It felt too nice, and he needed some relaxation time anyways!
So with that, the blond settled into the hot spring again. Breathing out in his content state.
Now he could finally just...relax...
Until he felt something furry rub against the back of his head.
Blue eyes snapped open as the shinobi whirled around, his guard up to face against-
A pair of yellow eyes -bordering on gold- with slits locked with his much larger oceanic ones, staring at him with something approaching curiosity.
"...A cat?" Naruto whispered disbelievingly, his jaw dropping slightly at the realization that he went into 'battle ready' mode by getting caught off guard by a cat.
A cat.
The young human blew out some air, internally berating himself for being so strung up. Before turning his attention back to the little cat.
It was a relatively small cat covered with black fur, staring up at him as if it was trying to understand a great puzzle.
He lowered himself so that he could meet the small animal face-to-face, musing about how cute the cat was. "Hey there little guy, what's up?"
As if it could understand his words, the feline brought out it's front paw and pat him on the face. Almost like it was reprimanding him.
The shinobi blinked once.
Twice.
Then he chuckled, dismissing the idea outright.
As he was chuckling, the cat quietly stalked closer to the teen, rubbing it's small head against his while purring softly.
Taking this as a sign of how much the small animal liked him, the blond took the chance to place his hand behind it's ears and scratch it. Grinning slightly as the feline began to rub it's head against his hand, trying to move closer.
"Ehehe...you lost little fellow? I can't quite believe someone would abandon you dattebayo." Naruto stated, confident in his claim. "Do you want to hang out with me?"
A content little meow emerged from the cat, ostensibly approving of the idea.
So some time passed just like that, with Naruto remaining inside the hot water and comfortably scratching the small feline. With the animal itself choosing to stay close to him.
It was a minor change, and a minor pleasure, but sometimes it was the small things that made certain actions more fun or pleasant.