.
"You are leaving?!" Elena exclaimed after spitting out the tea she was sipping.
Whitney, Beatrice and Rufus were just as surprised.
They were gathered round the dinning table filled with different dishes made by Beatrice and Elena. But surprisingly, they ignored the enticing foods as they all stared at the blonde haired man standing at the foot of the table wearing a serious expression with a briefcase in one hand.
"Naruto are you serious about this?" Whitney asked for confirmation. Naruto had really done a lot for his family. He could proudly say that they owed their very lives to him.
And although he had expected this day to come, he felt reluctant to let Naruto go, unfortunately, he couldn't say it.
However there was someone else who could.
"You can't leave!" Elena blurted out as she stood up from her seat. She had made plans today to show him around the rest of the city but here he was suddenly saying it out of the blue that he was leaving. There was no way she could accept it.
Naruto turned to face at Elena with a guilty expression on his face and said " Yes. I'm leaving. I just got a call this morning asking me to come back. They need my help"
"But you can't eave yet. I… I" Elena ransacked her brain for a reason or two to get him to stay but couldn't find one.
'Elena?' Beatrice smiled sadly as she looked at her daughter. She knew how hard it had been for Elena when the demon had been hunting them. She had seen her daughter change from a very outgoing person to someone afraid of even stepping outside of her room.
It broke her heart every time she saw her daughter like that.
However, that all changed when Naruto arrived. First he did something that they had thought impossible, he not only liberated them from the demon that hunted them, but also went on to change their lives. Elena also slowly but surely started to step out of her shell little by little, thanks to him.
Since his arrival he had done nothing but perform miracles after miracles. The number of demonic worshipers in the city had dwindled by a lot because to him.
Beatrice looked between Naruto and Elena then a mysterious smile tug at her lips. She wasn't certain about it but she had a feeling that the reason Elena didn't want Naruto to leave was not because she was afraid of being alone, rather it was something else. But who knows, she might be wrong.
"It's alright Elena." Naruto walked up to Elena and place a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "I have to return home to my family. You wouldn't like it if someone kept you from your family, would you? "
Elena bit her lower lips hard and she struggled with herself. After coming to the realization that there was no way for her to keep him from leaving she sighed dejectedly and with a heavy heart asked.
"Will I ever see you again?"
"Of course. I'm just a call away" Naruto joked which caused everyone to laugh including Elena.
"True" Elena giggled. She remembered just how one mysterious phone call had solved her family's biggest nightmare. The only reason they were still here right now was because of the man standing in front of her.
"I'll be seeing you around"
"Feel free to come visit anytime, Naruto" Whitney said after Naruto finished his goodbyes with his daughter. After all the kid had done for his family if he asked him to cut off his neck right now he would not hesitate to do so.
Beatrice and Rufus also exchanged a few pleasant words with Naruto before Whitney escorted him out the door.
After Naruto left the whole building feel into silence as everyone focused their attention on Elena who was still sitting in the same position at the dining table.
Elena was completely unaware of the looks that she was getting from her family. Her lips were slightly parted but no words came out of it. She didn't know when but tears were already flowing down her eyes. First the tears were silent but a few moments later her loud sobs could be heard echoing in the entire building.
Beatrice wanted to console her daughter but she was confused about what to do. She didn't even know why she was crying.
Whitney and Rufus were also the same as they could only stand by and watch sadly as Elena balled her eyes out for unknown reasons.
However what surprised them was that after crying for a few minutes Elena suddenly wiped her tears then with a look of determination and resolution she stood up and left the dining room under the surprise gaze of her family members.
…..
Meanwhile after leaving the whiney resident, Naruto made his way towards the train station taking the shortcuts that Elena had showed him during one of their many tours.
"They really seem attached to you. Wouldn't you consider staying for a few more days?" Kurama asked from inside Naruto's head without the usual mischief in his voice. He has seen how difficult it had been for them to let Naruto go. If they could they'd probably have asked him to stay forever.
'I might but Trish said that it was urgent. Apparently Dante got himself into one hell of a trouble' Naruto replied in his mind as he navigated through the crowd of people at the train station. He was afraid that if spoke out people may think that he has gone mad.
It's wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened. Since then he swore that he would only speak to Kurama in his head as long as other people were around.
After booking a ticket Naruto quickly made his way into the train to fortnight city just as it was about to leave.
The train took off almost as soon as he took his seat.
"That old man of yours is really something. I wonder what he is up to now" Kurama laughed as he thought about what kind of crazy situation Dante was in. Honestly he had nothing but respect for the legendary son of Sparda, the man is a monster in his own right. He had seen his many spar with Naruto. And even with his chakra cloak Naruto still couldn't beat him. The highest he had ever gotten was a draw.
'Speak for yourself. I'd rather not get dragged into his mess again' Naruto scoffed as he folded his arms and crossed his leg over each other. However, he quickly realized his mistake. He looked at the two people sitting opposite him and noticed that they were giving him weird looks which caused him to force a smile.
"Is he okay?"
"I don't know. I hope he is not mentally ill"
Naruto's expressed fell even deeper when he heard the hush whispers.
"Busted!" The kyubi's mocking laughter echoed in the back of his mind like thunder causing him to feel slightly annoyed inside.
'Shut up!' Naruto decided to ignore the giant fur ball and opted to stare at the scenery outside the train window. As he watched the scenery blurring by his mind unconsciously wandered back to the Elena and the others.
It hasn't even been a whole day and he was already missing them.
If he got back home and it wasn't something serious he was really gonna drop some bomb on Trish for making him worry.
The rest of the train ride was calm and quiet, apart from the few people having a conversation everyone else was either sleeping or busy on their phones. Naruto was part of the group that chose to use their free time to rest.
However, he was soon rudely awakened by a loud shriek.
"What the hell?!" Naruto jumped up from his seat and hurriedly reached for his gun. He glanced around looking for the source of the shriek only to see a woman on the ground looking terrified.
what the?
"Kit, the windows"
It was then that Naruto noticed the everyone was looking out the window. Every now and then there would be someone screaming, falling down in fear or straight out pass out.
Naruto frowned as he turned to look at the window by his seat only to see a dark cloud spiraling in the sky above a city in the distance. Every now and then red lightning could be seen flashing inside of it.
However, what left him speechless was the black dots that obscured the heavens and the earth. Moreover he got a familiar aura coming from those black dots in the sky.
"Demons/Demons" Naruto and Kurama exclaimed together. The both of them couldn't believe their own words even though it came out of their mouth it felt so unreal.
How could there be so many demons? What the hell was happening?
"Do you think that it has something to do with that black hole in the clouds?" Kurama asked causing Naruto to focus his gaze on the black hole in the middle of the sky. Now that he took a closer look at it he noticed that more demons were coming out of the hole.
His eyes shrunk to the size of a needle as he came to A shocking realization.
Was that a portal to the underworld?!
At that moment the people around also started to realize what those black dots flying in the sky above the city in the distant was.
"What are those things?! What are those monsters?!"
"They look like demons!"
"No. They are not real. I'm just hallucinating. Hahahah.
"No. Somebody save me. I don't want to die"
Just as the passengers were panicking and it seemed like the train was about to burst into chaos, the train speakers burst to live and the anxious voice of the conductor came out of it.
"Dear passengers, because of some unknown disaster that we cannot explain, the train won't be stopping at fortnight city, we will be passing through. I repeat we will just be passing through!"
As soon as the conductor voice fell the passengers visibly calmed down but they were still shakened up and stricken with fear started murmuring among themselves.
They quickly steered clear of window, afraid of drawing the demons attention.
Some were glad that they wouldn't have to get off the train after seeing those monsters outside. Others were worried about the safety of their loved ones that lived in the city where the demons were. Some ever opening cried while calling out the band of their loved ones.
They frantically tried to reach their families through their cellphone but the call would always drop through causing their fears and worries to deepen.
Naruto watched with a frown on his face as one half of the train heaved a sigh of relief while the other despair.
'I need to get to redgrave city and find out what the hell going on'