Chapter 58

De Gozaru

Naruto ignored the heat washing over him as several explosions rang throughout the training room. All of his attention was focused on what he was doing. Sweat poured from his pores, stung his eyes, and dripped off his hair as he stood balanced on his hands, slowly lowered himself until his nose was touching the ground, then pushed himself back up.

"Nine-hundred-ninety-five…"

"Nine-hundred-ninety-six…"

"Nine-hundred-ninety-seven…"

All of Naruto's muscles were shaking as he did handstand pushups, which he'd been doing since early this morning. Naruto had gotten up long before everyone else and come down here to train his body. War would be coming to the world, Yami would be leading them, and Naruto knew that if he wanted to help everyone else win, he needed to train and regain the power Yami had taken from him.

The days after helping the Vampires deal with their problems had been filled with training and sex—specifically orgies. Naruto had learned awhile back that the key to regaining his original power was to enjoy life, and nothing brought more joy to his life than sleeping with the women he loved. Even this morning, when he had woken up, Naruto had been surrounded by a group of naked women.

It had almost been a shame to get out of bed.

"Nine-hundred-ninety-eight…"

Several more explosions rocked the ground, causing the earth to tremble, and Naruto bent his elbows to keep his balance as he glanced at Kiba and Issei.

His two good friends were currently training together with Irina and Xenovia in what could only be called a free-for-all-brawl. The four of them were attacking each other with incredible fervor.

Swords sprouted from the ground as Kiba created his Holy-Demonic Swords. Most of them were destroyed by Xenovia as she swung Durandal like it was lighter than a feather. Her single swing created a wave of powerful energy that swept over everything and destroyed it, though this didn't seem to deter Kiba, who created a wall made of swords and blocked her attack.

The wall was destroyed moments later, not by Xenovia, but by Irina as she swooped down and sliced through them with her holy sword. It had already been damaged by Xenovia's awe-inspiring attack, so breaking it wasn't very hard. Irina flapped her angel wings before ascending back into the sky as Issei plowed into the ground where she had been seconds earlier. Decked from head to toe in his scale mail, Issei looked like a red dragon with a humanoid form.

"You just barely escaped that ass-kicking, Irina," Issei gloated as a pair of canons appeared on either shoulder, both of which began glowing a vibrant red as energy gathered in their muzzles. "But you won't be able to avoid this!"

"Ha! You think I can't avoid those tiny balls of yours?" Irina asked with a laugh. "Go ahead and try to shoot your wad at me. See what happens."

"I will!"

Issei didn't bother charging a full-blast, which would have been dangerous and was also easy to dodge. Two energy spheres about the size of a human head shot from his canons. They sailed toward Irina, who flitted away to dodge them, but the attacks followed the angel, much to her shock.

"What the heck?! When did you learn to fire heat-seeking missiles?!"

"These aren't heating-seeking missiles, fool! These are my new breast-seeking missiles!"

"Don't sound so proud about that!"

While Issei's words sounded utterly asinine, it was true that his attacks appeared to be seeking Irina's breasts and nothing else. They went straight for the tatas. Irina shrieked as she ducked, dodged, and dove away from them. She even did a few barrel rolls. Truly, Fox McCloud would have been proud.

"You kids are all so lively first thing in the morning."

Naruto turned his head and, ignoring the blood rushing to his face, gazed at the smallish dragon woman kneeling beside him. Ophis' long black hair was hanging over one shoulder. She wore the same standard clothes as always, which meant the only thing covering her front was some tape crossed over her nipples in an X-pattern. He'd always wondered about that. Was this a fashion statement of some kind? It always just seemed kinda random to him.

"You think so? Well, given that war is coming, I believe it only makes sense that we train as hard as we can," Naruto said as he once more began doing his handstand pushups. "Nine-hundred-ninety-nine… one-thousand."

Breathing out through his nose, Naruto tilted his body until his feet met the floor, then stood up and began stretching. He pulled his arms behind his back, locking his fingers and thrusting out his chest. It burned. The muscles in his chest and shoulders had become so tight it felt like a bowstring drawn taught enough to snap.

Ophis tilted her head as she considered this before nodding slowly. "There is no telling when Yami will strike, I guess."

"I'm more worried about what he said during our last confrontation," Naruto admitted. "He said he was going to release Trihexa from its prison and seal it inside of himself to become its Jinchurikki. I heard Trihexa is exceedingly powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than anything else in this world."

Ophis clicked her tongue in distaste. "Trihexa isn't all that powerful. I could kill him at the height of my power, though that will be kinda hard for me to do now."

"I've heard that at its full power, Trihexa is on par with you and Great Red," Naruto stated carefully.

"Maybe in terms of sheer power, but it is also a beast with little in the way of intelligence," Ophis declared. "I understand how to use my power much better than it does, so even if we are of comparable strength, it would never be able to win a straight fight with me at my full power."

Naruto shrugged as he looked at the others in the training room with them. The four-way battle between Issei, Irina, Kiba, and Xenovia wasn't the only one taking place right now. Rossweisse and Koneko were currently sparring against each other, with one of them hurtling high-level spells while the other used senjutsu to throw powerful attacks that detonated upon contact.

Several dozen magic circles appeared around Rossweisse. Beams of condensed fire lanced down toward Koneko, who used her supernatural grace and reflexes to dodge each attack before she flung a counter. Rossweisse did not have Koneko's reflexes. When Koneko attacked, she would maneuver one of her magic circles in front of her to take the senjutsu attack. This would destroy her magic circle but leave her unharmed.

Since it looked like everyone was busy doing their own thing, Naruto decided to just leave them all to it. He traveled to the bathroom, took a quick shower, and got dressed in black slacks and an orange t-shirt with the silhouette of a nine-tailed fox on the front. He then traveled to Rias Gremry's office, opening the door and stepping inside.

There he found Rias, Ravel, and Akeno. His redheaded girlfriend and fiance was diligently reading through several reports when he arrived, though she stopped and looked up to smile at him when he entered.

"Naruto, training again?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"And the others?"

"Still training."

"I see. Well, considering recent events, I can understand the need to train. I wish I could go train myself, but…" She gave a wan smile as she looked at the several stacks of papers on her desk. "As you can see, I'm pretty busy."

Naruto nodded as he walked further into the room. Akeno was standing behind Rias as per the usual. The woman was back to acting in her capacity as Rias Gremory's maid/right hand woman. On the other hand, Ravel was sitting on the couch and scrolling through a tablet. He blinked at that.

"What are you doing, Ravel?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh. This is a new device jointly created by Azazel and Beelzebub. It's a tablet that allows me to access the Demon Net. With this, I can look up all the most recent information regarding the Underworld, Heaven, and anything related to the supernatural world." Ravel paused here to show me the screen, which currently featured an article about Chaos Brigade sightings. "I'm currently trying to determine where Yami and Riziviam disappeared to."

"Have you found anything?" Naruto asked.

Ravel shook her head. "No. While there have been several attacks in the past few days, neither Yami or Riziviem were leading them."

Naruto withheld a sigh, though he couldn't stop himself from rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Immediately following the events with the Vampires, Riziviem, Lilith, and Yami had vanished. No one had seen or heard from them since, though not for lack of trying. Azazel and Sirzechs had created several teams to scour the world for any sign of the two Chaos Brigade leaders. Their efforts had sadly come up blank. It was like the pair had vanished from this world.

Naruto wandered over to the couch and plopped down beside Ravel, who didn't look up as she continued scrolling through reports, articles, and forums. Akeno wandered over to him and presented Naruto with a teacup. She placed it on the coffee table and poured steaming hot tea into his cup. He thanked her before taking a slow sip of the bitter liquid.

"Yami said he was going to accelerate his plans," Naruto said at last. "I guess that means he'll release Trihexa soon. I think that means we should be focused on finding out where Trihexa was sealed. We can probably prevent them from breaking the seal if we find it first."

"That's a lot easier said than done," Rias told him with a small frown. "We don't even know where to begin looking. I heard Metatron is currently searching for where Trihexa is sealed along with his ninja and—"

"Wait. Metatron has ninja?"

"It's a recent thing. Haven't you noticed that he hasn't been here in awhile? Apparently, after returning from Heaven, Metatron went on to create his own ninja force. He's currently set up his own hidden village and is using it as his base of operations to search for Trihexa."

"Huh… I didn't even realize that."

Thinking on it now, it had been awhile since Metatron had bothered him, but he hadn't thought about what that meant because he had been so busy with his training and learning more bedroom arts.

Back when Metatron had first begun living with them, Naruto had told him many stories about the ninja from his old world. All of his stories had fascinated the ninja obsessed archangel. Perhaps that was why Metatron had gone on to create his own hidden village.

"I really hope he doesn't go overboard," Naruto said.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Anyway, I think that's enough work for today," Rias said, stretching her arms above her head. "We should get ready. We still have school, after all."

~Devil Ninja~

Being a Devil living in the human world wasn't easy. You trained your butt off during the morning, then went to school and spent hours listening to boring lectures, and then after all that was done, you went to the clubroom and performed your devil duties before going back home to have sex with your harem of beautiful women…

… Okay. So maybe that last problem was specifically a Naruto issue. It was still tiring.

"As you all know, graduation is coming up for us seniors. That means Akeno and I won't be around as much as we would like. I've been selected as the class representative for my class as well, so I'll be leaving school later than usual to work out the finer details with Sona. Fortunately, I'm not in charge of the ceremony itself. That is Sona's responsibility," Rias said, sitting behind her desk like always.

At present, their group was gathered inside of the Occult Research Clubroom. Rias had said she needed to speak to them about something important, so "club activities" were put on hold for the time being. What she had to talk about was how the seniors would be graduating soon.

Hard to believe so much time has passed.

"Graduation, huh?" Naruto leaned his head back and let it rest against the couch as he stared at the ceiling. The familiar weight of Koneko on his lap was comforting. "It completely slipped my mind, but March is coming up soon."

"I'm not surprised it slipped your mind. It slipped mine too," Issei said.

"Everything has been so hectic that we haven't had time to stop and consider how much time has really passed," Kiba added.

"What does a graduation ceremony entail?" asked Xenovia. "Forgive me if that's a stupid question, but I've never been to a normal school before."

"Xenovia and I were taught at the Church," Irina added.

While Rias sat behind her desk and Akeno stood next to her, everyone else was seated at the couches or leaning against the walls. Rossweisse wasn't there. As a teacher, she couldn't just drop her work and come here, but that was fine. Naruto planned on letting her know about this meeting once they were back home.

"The graduation ceremony will consist of several parts," Rias informed her. "The entry, the introduction, singing the national anthem, receiving our graduation certificates, introducing messages from our guests, sending a message from the graduating students, another message from the younger students to the graduating students, singing the school song, and the graduating students exiting. The seniors will be spending the majority of their time practicing. Since I was selected as class representative, it will also be my job to grab our certificates and hand them out to the rest of my class."

"Sounds like a lot of work," Xenovia grumbled.

"Will your parents be coming?" asked Irina.

Rias froze for a moment at the mention of her parents, and her face turned just a bit pale as the blood drained from it.

"I… well, they probably will." Her strained smile told Naruto she'd rather not have them attend, but she also knew she couldn't stop them from not attending. Even if she kept the graduation ceremony a secret from them, they would find out sooner or later, since her father and Sirzechs were both board members for the school.

"You don't sound pleased by that," Koneko said.

Rias shrugged. "You know how embarrassing my parents and brother can be."

No one disagreed with her words, not even Naruto who actually liked her folks and brother. Sirzechs had a massive sister complex and her parents were so doting they would no doubt tell anyone willing to listen embarrassing stories about her. It almost made Naruto glad his parents couldn't attend his graduation.

Almost.

I wonder if they would be proud of me…

"What should we do in the meantime?" asked Naruto.

"You'll be doing the same thing you always do," Rias said. "Continue doing your jobs as Devils, keep your eyes out for the Chaos Brigade, and keep training. That's really all we can do."

~Devil Ninja~

The moon hung in the sky as Naruto stepped into the magic circle that would transport him to his next job. A soft red glow briefly lit the floor before the transportation magic did its work, teleporting him from his estate to the place of his job.

"Heya! Your Devil for the day is here… huh? Hello?"

Naruto frowned when he realized there was no one present to greet him, which shouldn't have been possible because using those summoning seals required the presence of a human with strong desires. He looked around. The room he stood in was average for a middle-class citizen of Japan. It was a simple living room with wooden floorboards, a coffee table and couches placed in the center, and a TV situated against the wall.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" Naruto called out again. Once more, no one answered him. This place was emptier than a grave.

With furrowed brows, Naruto debated the merits of searching the rest of the house or just leaving. The situation was taken out of his hands, however, when several magic circles appeared on the walls around him. He only had enough time to widen his eyes before the entire house erupted in a gout of flames.

~Devil Ninja~

The explosion of the house rocked the buildings around it for miles. This home was placed within a small suburb of Kuoh City. That normally meant everything within the vicinity would have been caught in the blast, but a barrier had been placed around the building to prevent that from happening. This entire space had been isolated inside of its own dimension. Nothing happening inside of it would effect the outside world.

Two people stood on a building not far from where the explosion took place, their eyes not leaving the burning wreckage crashing to the ground. Both had their faces hidden behind curtains of black cloth. Their bodies were likewise hidden behind black clothing that was bulky enough to disguise their gender.

"Do you think we managed to get him?" asked the one on the left.

"Don't know. Sensei told us not to underestimate Ninja-sama under any circumstances, that he was super strong, but…" the one on the right trailed off.

"He's very gullible," the other added.

"Who is gullible now?" asked a voice behind them.

The two leaped away from the voice in shock and turned around, throwing a pair of shuriken that Naruto deflected with a simple swipe of his hand. Neither of the two were able to see more than his afterimage as he blurred forward. The first to fall was the person who had first spoken. Naruto appeared before them with unprecedented speed, grabbed them by the face, and slammed them down onto his knee. A loud cracking sound echoed around them as the cloaked figure dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Naruto turned to the second figure as they created a number of hand seals. He frowned as he recognized several of those hand seals since they were identical to the ones used. Did that mean these people were shinobi like him? He grimaced before slicing out his hand. A blade of wind tore from his swing, traveled in a straight line, and would have bisected the second attacker if they hadn't replaced themselves with a log.

After staring for a full half a second, Naruto turned around to look at where he had dropped the other one, but just as he expected, there was nobody there. He frowned for a moment before reaching out with his perceptions other than his eyes, but he couldn't find a trace of the two people who had attacked him.

A soft breeze blew over the roof. Naruto sweat a hand through his hair, then released a slow breath as the tension from the swift battle eased from his shoulders. Whoever had attacked him would probably not attack again, at least not for awhile. It was clear to him they had been hoping he would die in the explosions.

"Wily bastards," Naruto grumbled before looking at the sky. "I guess it was too much to ask for just a few more days off."

~Devil Ninja~

"You were attacked?! Are you okay?! What happened?! Who attacked you?!"

Small trails of sweat ran down Naruto's face as Rias invaded his personal bubble—not that he had one—and looked him over from head to toe, back to front, with an expression that somehow combined rage with worry. It was rather adorable.

"I'm fine, Rias. As you can plainly see. And I don't know who attacked me. They were wearing masks that covered their whole face." Naruto placed his hand on Rias' shoulder and eased her back so she wasn't practically burying her face in his chest. He grinned. "Relax. Deep breaths."

Rias took several deep breaths, then backed off, slowly, and sat back down on the couch opposite him.

They were in the living room with everyone else. The whole gang was sitting or standing around—there were only two couches and a few chairs. On a side note, Ophis had been sitting on his lap this time, and she gave an annoyed click of her tongue at being forced off her "rightful place" by Rias' sudden actions.

"It's pretty bold of them to attack you," Rossweisse commented with her arms crossed. She sat on one of the chairs, left leg crossed over her right, expression furrowed. "I mean, this can't be a random attack, right? They must know who you are and what you've accomplished. I can't believe anyone would be stupid enough to attack you unless they have a good reason."

"Could it be those Chaos Brigade bastards?" asked Koneko.

"I doubt it." Ravel cupped her chin with her right hand and narrowed her eyes. "For starters, there's no way the Chaos Brigade could have infiltrated Kuoh Academy. We've set up a special barrier and placed our people on patrol ever since the Magician Faction tried to kidnap me."

While it wasn't necessarily true that the Chaos Brigade couldn't infiltrate Kuoh, the possibility of it happening at this point in time was practically nil. The Three Factions Alliance had upped their security and were constantly on the lookout for infiltration now. Several Angels, Devils, Fallen, and even a few Yokai from Kyoto were also living in the city now to prevent a repeat of what happened with the Magician Faction.

Naruto shifted a little as Ophis climbed back onto his lap. She wasn't in her smaller form, so she weighed a bit more than she did before. Once seated, the woman leaned back, pressing her lithe body against his chest. The warmth from her body radiated outward.

"I've always wondered: why is it that your weight doesn't remain constant when you transform?" he asked her.

"Did you think my weight would be constant?" Ophis asked, tilting her head. "As a human-shaped dragon, I am a true shapeshifter. I can take on any form and appearance, regardless of age, sex, and body type. Of course my weight would change based on my form."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense," he said with a nod.

While Naruto had become distracted by talking to Ophis, the others remained on topic. After all, an attack on one of them was not something they could take lightly no matter what. That was especially true when they didn't even know who their attacker was.

Rias cast Naruto a mildly annoyed glare, sighed, and said, "Does anyone have any ideas on what to do?"

"We could always have Naruto travel with one of us," Irina suggested. "Oh! We could have something like a buddy system!"

"I don't think we need to worry that much," Naruto said before anyone else could. "I mean, yeah, I was surprised by their sudden attack, but honestly? Those dudes were wimps. I doubt they could take me on even if there were a thousand of them."

"Don't underestimate them just because you made them retreat once," Ravel warned Naruto. "You don't know who they are, so you don't know what kind of power they can bring to bear. This could have just been a probe to see how you responded to a dangerous situation. Next time, they might attack you with their full might."

Naruto shrugged. "So long as I'm not facing a pantheon of gods, I think I'll be fine."

"Speaking of gods, I received a message from Sirzechs. The Hindu gods will be coming to Kuoh before my graduation to discuss an alliance with us," Rias smoothly changed the subject. "As residents of Kuoh, we will be expected to meet with them."

"By Hindu gods, you mean like Shiva and Indra, right?" asked Issei.

"Those aren't the only gods in the Hindu pantheon, silly," Akeno said. "There's also Mahabali, Brahma, Vishnu, Varuna, Hanuman, Ganesha, Virochana, and Prahlada… I've heard there are thirty-three million Hindu gods."

The Hindu pantheon was one of the more interesting and oldest from what Naruto understood. There were quite a few very powerful deities within the pantheon, but while all these deities had complex personalities, they were often viewed as aspects of the same Ultimate Reality called Brahman. Naruto didn't understand much about them. He only knew they were a large pantheon who was fervently worshipped by the people in India and was the third-largest religion in the entire world.

"The Hindu pantheon is also the current strongest pantheon in existence," Rias continued where Akeno left off. "Indra, Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu are all among the top 10 Strongest Beings in the World."

Naruto perked up a little. He believed he remembered them talking about this before, but now that it was brought up again, he found himself interested in these Hindu gods. They sounded like they would be a good fight. Naruto was no Vali. But even he enjoyed pushing his limits by fighting strong opponents, especially now that he was training to increase his strength.

He wondered if maybe one of them would like to spar with him.

"They'll be arriving in the next few days. I want you all to be on your best behavior when they arrive. Is that understood?" asked Rias, looking at everyone in her peerage and those few who weren't, like Ravel and Irina.

"Yes, ma'am," they all said in unison.

~Devil Ninja~

While Rias was preparing for her graduation, she left Naruto in charge of preparing to receive the Hindu gods, which meant he was doubling down and working harder than ever to make sure the meeting went smoothly. This meant he was mostly focusing on security. It would leave a bad impression if the Hindu Gods arrived for peace talks, only to be attacked.

The meeting was not going to take place at Kuoh Academy like the last big meeting between powerful factions. It had been decided that doing so would be dangerous. There was also the graduation ceremony to consider. Because the meeting was not taking place at Kuoh Academy, Naruto did not discuss this matter with the Student Council, something he would have usually done. Instead, he worked with the Angels, Devils, and Fallen living in the city to select a place that would suit the purpose of this meeting.

All that was left to do was meet with the Hindu gods.

"Haaa… finally done. Sirzechs should be stopping by soon, right?" asked Naruto as he stretched his arms above his head. He brought his hands down several satisfying pops later.

Rosseweisse winced at the sound his back made, but she dutifully looked at her clipboard before nodding and said, "yes. He should be here any minute now."

"Guess that means there's not enough time for a quickie."

"J-just what is it you're asking for—eep!"

Rossweisse's question turned into a squeak as Naruto pushed back his chair, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into his lap. Her soft bottom pressed against his thighs and crotch as she came to rest on him. It was an electric feeling.

"N-Naruto! This is… highly inappropriate!"

"Is not. You're mine. Aren't you, Rossweisse?"

"Well… yes, but—"

"Then there's nothing inappropriate about this. We haven't been intimate for awhile now because of everything that's happened. Give me some time with you."

"That… mmm… haaa… aaahn… Naru… to…"

While Rossweisse said what they were doing was inappropriate, she did nothing to get herself out of Naruto's lap. Her butt squirmed against his crotch as he slipped his hand inside of her suit and began rubbing her smooth stomach. There was an undeniable softness there that turned him on. She moaned as he swirled his fingers around her belly button, though that sound was soon cut off when he pressed his lips to hers.

Rossweisse had come a long way since they first started going out. The proof was in her actions. She grabbed the back of Naruto's head and pulled him closer as they kissed. Her warm, wet tongue slipped into his mouth and entangled with his, sending electric arcs of bliss shooting through him.

Naruto would have liked nothing more than to slip a hand down her panties and stimulate her to an orgasm, but he knew they didn't have time for that, so he contented himself with her lips and breasts. He'd already pushed up her bra. It was riding high just below her collar bone, exposing her large pink nipples.

"Mmmph… mmm… mmmrrrrph!"

The muffled moans Rossweisse made as he stroked her nipples with gentle movements caused the pitch tent in his pants to strain. She had such a beautiful voice. He wished he could hear more. He wanted to hear her crying out his name as he brought her to the height of pleasure. Hmmm. Now that he was thinking about it, maybe fooling around like this just before he was supposed to meet with Sirzechs was a bad idea.

"Oho ho ho. Look at that passion. I never expected you to be so bold, Rossweisse," a cackling voice said.

Rossweisse's eyes widened in shock. She tried to leap out of Naruto's lap, but he had a firm hold on the woman. As the chair shook with her struggles, Naruto sighed and turned a minor glare on the old lady who had arrived. She was dressed in her usual deep blue robe and had the same fearless look he remembered.

"Gondul, I didn't know you'd be coming here," he said.

"I came with Sirzechs." Gondul shrugged. "Ever since the remainder of the Norse Gods settled here, I have been doing what I can to help. Sirzechs came to me and asked if I could act as his bodyguard—not that the man needs it."

"Grandmother, you came here with Sirzechs?" Rossweisse said, eyes widening in shock. She seemed to have forgotten that she was on Naruto's lap.

Gondul nodded. "Correct. He's waiting in the living room. That cute blonde girl, Ravel, is entertaining him."

"Guess that means we're out of time," Naruto sighed. "How unfortunate. Now I won't get to fool around with Rossweisse anymore."

"Naruto! Don't say things like that in front of my grandma!"

"What? Your grandmother is clearly pleased to see how close we are. Isn't that right?"

While Rossweisse looked like she might explode like an overinflated balloon, Naruto looked calmly at Gondul, who was wearing a wide grin and looked like she might start cackling. He was actually expecting her to go "Kee hee hee" or something to that effect. That was how most witches in anime laughed.

"That's right. I'm very pleased to see how close you two have become," she confirmed.

"Granny!" Rossweisse covered her face with her hands. Her ears were a vibrant red.

Deciding not to tease her anymore, Naruto let Rossweisse get off his lap and rearranged his pants before standing up himself. He was still aroused. It wasn't a big deal, however. Naruto had learned how to deal with this issue.

He led Gondul and Rossweisse back into the living room, where Sirzechs was sitting on the couch with a broad smile as a somewhat nervous Ravel brought him tea and sweets. It looked like she had baked muffins this time. The mild scent of almonds filled the air, letting him know what kind of muffins they were.

"Aniki," Naruto said.

"Otouto," Sirzechs said as he set his teacup down, stood up, and opened his arms.

Naruto was about to hug his brother-in-law, but Rossweisse and Ravel both blocked him. He looked down at the two with a frown. They, however, merely gave him a stern glare.

"Oh, no. There is no way I'm letting myself be subjected to that… that nightmare again," Rossweisse said.

"Once is enough," Ravel added.

Naruto's cheeks swelled like a chipmunk's as he took in air. "You two would stop a man from hugging his brother?"

"Of course we would," they said at the same time.

"Yeah. Well, you're too late."

"WHAT?!"

Ravel and Rossweisse grew wide eyed when the Naruto in front of them disappeared in a puff of smoke. When did Naruto replace himself with a Shadow Clone? How had they not noticed?!

Feeling a sense of foreboding, the two spun around in an attempt to stop Naruto and Sirzechs from completing their hug… but it was too late. Fire and brimstone spewed from cracks that appeared in the ground. Volcanoes were erupting as they rose from the earth like Titans rising from the depths of Tartarus. The roof had disappeared from the house and now revealed a blood red sky with smoke instead of clouds wafting in the air. In the middle of this hellish landscape were Naruto and Sirzechs.

They were hugging.

"It is good to see you, otouto."

"You too, aniki. I'm glad to see you are doing well."

"Oh, God! My eyes! My eyes!" Rossweisse screamed.

"I want to look away, but I can't," Ravel said in a horrified whisper.

"This is… interesting." While Gondul didn't look like she was as affected as the other two, she was still in a state of shock, her eyes bulging from their sockets.

Let it be known that the only one who can stop these two from doing… this was the one and only King of the Gremory Peerage.

Unfortunately, she was busy preparing for graduation and couldn't be there to stop this from happening.

Poor Rossweisse and Ravel.

~Devil Ninja~

Immediately after Naruto's and Sirzechs' horrifying display of brotherly love, the group now consisting of Naruto, Sirzechs, Ravel, Rossweisse, Gondul, and Kiba left and met up with Michael and Azazel at Kuoh Academy before taking a limousine into the city proper.

The limo was one of the nicer ones. A long bench stretched across one end and curved around the back. This allowed all eight of them to sit together and still have room left over. There was also a cooler filled with refreshments for anyone who wanted them, and though Naruto was still a minor and therefore not technically allowed to drink, he had a glass of sake anyway.

Old enough to kill. Old enough to drink.

"Which Hindu gods are coming?" asked Naruto.

"We will be meeting with the Trimurti," Sirzechs explained.

Naruto pushed his tongue into his cheek. "Those are… the three main gods, right?"

"That's right, young Naruto," Michael said with a soft smile. "The Trimurti is the triple deity of supreme divinity in Hinduism. Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. They are the three most powerful gods within the Hindu pantheon, which is why they are coming to meet with us."

At that moment, Michael didn't look like an archangel so much as a supremely pretty businessman. His pure white suit contained gold accents that complemented his long blond hair. His clean and crisp appearance made a clear contrast with Azazel's messier one. The former Governor-General of the Fallen wore a black suit, but it lacked the clean creases of Michael's.

On that note, Sirzechs was wearing a dark red suit that suited him quite well.

Naruto thought these three looked like mobsters. They would have been perfect for the role of The Good, The Bad, and The Sloppy.

"We should remain on our guard during this meet and greet," Azazel said as the limo took a turn down one of many streets. A lot of people were pointing at them as they passed, but no one could see past the tinted windows.

"Do you suspect they will try to take advantage of us, Lord Azazel?" asked Rossweisse with a frown.

Azazel looked out the window and said nothing for a moment, though he did eventually speak. "I'm not too worried about Brahma or Shiva. Brahma has always been a good and wise god, and while Shiva certainly scares the crap out of me, he's not really the type to start something without a good reason. He generally focuses on other pursuits."

"So the one we have to watch out for is Indra?" Ravel murmured. "I heard he is a very arrogant god and someone very few people trust."

"Indra is an incredibly sarcastic individual," Sirzechs informed them. "And yes, he is arrogant. We have reason to suspect he was supporting Cao Cao and his Hero Faction from behind the scenes, though we have no real proof."

"That jerk claims he was being manipulated by the Hero Faction, but I don't believe it," Azazel said with a snort. "A god being manipulated by a human? It's inconceivable, and Indra would never admit it if he had actually been manipulated. I can't help but feel like he has something sinister up his sleeves."

"I guess that means we should keep our ears to the ground," Kiba said.

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," Azazel replied.

It sounded like this Indra guy would be the one Naruto needed to watch out for. As he resolved himself to keep an eye on Indra, they arrived at the airport.

Kuoh City's airport was quite quaint. The main building was not very large, but it was built in a semblance of the Tokyo International Airport. It had a very asymmetrical aesthetic and was surrounded on one side by a large fence where people could watch the airplanes come and go. Quite a few kids were standing there with their parents and pointing at the airplanes as they came in.

Naruto walked alongside Sirzechs, who was in the lead. Behind them was Michael and Azazel, and even further behind was Kiba, Ravel, Rossweisse, and Gondul.

Their group drew quite a bit of attention. A few people stopped and turned to watch them. In most cases, Naruto would have assumed it was because of all the beauties he was surrounded by, but that was not the case this time. It was likely because of how eclectic their group looked and the fact that none of them were of Japanese descent.

Foreigners were not always welcome in Japan.

They arrived at the station where the airplane containing the Hindu gods was located and found that people were already being disgorged from the plane. Among them were two individuals who immediately caught Naruto's attention.

The first was a man with a buzz-cut. He had greenish brown hair, wore circular sunglasses, an aloha t-shirt, and had a jewel around his neck. While his clothing made him look very much like a tourist arriving from Hawaii, there was something inherently masculine and powerful about him. It was more than the way he was built. Yeah, the guy had broad shoulders, powerful arms, and a thick chest, but it was the way he carried himself that really struck Naruto. The dude practically oozed arrogance out of every pore.

This must be Indra…

"He is quite powerful. You can feel it, can't you?"

Naruto nodded. He's even stronger than aniki.

"Well, well, well. Look it is," the man said with an arrogant grin as he and the other man walked over to their group. "Little Azazel, Little Michael, and Sirzechs. I didn't expect the three leaders of the Three Factions Alliance to come all this way to greet us."

Even the way he spoke was arrogant. It contained a condescension that couldn't be masked. The tone of his voice made it clear he was looking down on everyone and everything.

Sirzechs was the one who stepped forward, smiling slightly without a hint of being offended by the man's arrogance.

"Lord Indra. Lord Vishnu. It is good to see that you are both hearty and hale, though I would expect nothing less. I hope the trip here was pleasant."

"Ha ha! It was good. Say what you will about humans, they know how to make transportation comfortable," Indra said.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Sirzechs. I'm looking forward to our meeting," the other man said.

Unlike Indra, who acted extremely boisterous and arrogant, this man appeared calm and wise, though he also didn't have much of a presence. He had tanned skin, a mark on his forehead, and tan robes to complement his skin tone. A full beard sat on his face. Naruto thought it made him look like a kind uncle or grandfather.

And this one must be Brahma.

"He is also strong, though I believe Indra is stronger."

Naruto nodded as he quietly watched the proceedings. He knew this was not his place to speak.

"Brahma, it is good to see you," Michael said with a smile. "We have been greatly anticipating your arrival."

"And we have been looking forward to meeting with you all," Brahma admitted. "The state of the world is in chaos. It is more than just the Chaos Brigade causing troubles now. We've heard rumor that several pantheons have been destroyed and a number of gods have rebelled against their own. The situation has become such that we can no longer ignore it."

"I agree," Azazel said. "That's why we proposed this meeting, after all."

"Indeed."

As the two groups spoke, Naruto realized something that must have occurred to the others as well. Sirzechs, Michael, and Azazel looked around for a moment, frowned, and turned their attention to the two Hindu gods.

"Did Lord Shiva not come with you?" asked Sirzechs.

"Ha! That guy left before we even got on the plane," Indra said, his eyes tightening even as he feigned civility. "I suspect he's been in Kuoh for some time now. Don't know where he is though. That guy is always doing his own thing."

A sense of tension ran through Azazel, Michael, and Sirzechs. The way their backs suddenly tightened was a dead giveaway. However, they remained outwardly calm.

"So I see. In that case, I suppose we should look for him." Sirzechs turned to Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto, but could I ask you to find Lord Shiva. Your ability to sense the power of others makes you uniquely suited to finding him."

"Oho? So this little brat is Naruto Uzumaki, huh?" Indra turned to Naruto before he could answer Sirzechs, cupped a hand to his chin, and nodded several times. "I can see now why you have been the talk of the godly world. You're packing quite a bit of power inside of you, though… that's not really your power, is it? Something is sealed in you. How interesting. You've gained my interest, brat."

"Another god is interested in me, huh? Well, you wouldn't be the first, and you won't be the last." Naruto didn't bother paying Indra anymore attention as he turned to Sirzechs. "Anyway, you just want me to find Shiva, right? I'll head out and meet up with you at the hotel they'll be staying at once I've found him."

"I'll come with you," Ravel offered, walking up to him.

Rossweisse looked like she was also going to offer to come with him, but Gondul held her back, shaking her head when her granddaughter turned to give her a petulant glare. The commander was clear. She needed to remain with them and provide an escort for the group.

"Sure," Naruto agreed to let her come. He reached out and grabbed her hand, then turned and led her back the way they had come.

~Devil Ninja~

Indra watched Naruto and his little blonde girlfriend leave with great interest. He'd heard a lot about Naruto Uzumaki, a man with so much power he could fight an entire pantheon of gods to a standstill. Those rumors might have been exaggerated, but the reports he had received on what the brat had accomplished were not. That was the kind of power he wanted in his camp.

The question is how do I get it…

"I've gotta admit, Sirzechs, you have an interesting brat in your group. I don't know if I should attempt to recruit him or kill him before he becomes a threat," Indra said with a laugh.

While Azazel grimaced and looked angry, Sirzechs merely smiled like he wasn't bothered by the threatening words. He said, "I would have to warn you against trying something with Naruto. Not only is he going to become my brother-in-law eventually, he is also dating Ophis."

Indra blinked. Then hummed. "So the Orouboros Dragon is sleeping with that brat? I didn't realize a genderless dragon could take an interest in sex."

Sirzechs shrugged. "She probably didn't care until Naruto came along."

"Hmmm…"

Indra already knew most of the details concerning Naruto since he had taken an interest in the kid ever since his battle against the Greek Pantheon, but his knowledge on the brat's relationship with Ophis had only been threadbare at best. He knew Ophis was living with Naruto. He just hadn't known the extent of their relationship.

This new information was very interesting.

"Well, whatever. Why don't you show us to our accommodations now. We can discuss what to do about the Chaos Brigade and everything else later."

Indra decided not to focus on Naruto right now. He wanted that power in his camp when the time came, but he was patient. He could wait until the right opportunity presented itself.

~Devil Ninja~

While Kuoh was not a large city that didn't mean it would be easy finding one person amongst the population. There were still several hundred thousand people living there.

"How are we going to find Lord Shiva?" asked Ravel.

The two of them were walking hand in hand down one of the many streets, looking just like any other couple. Of course, because they were both blond-haired and blue-eyed, they drew a lot of attention. A few people were whispering behind their backs. He heard words like "yankee" being bandied about and made sure to memorize those faces.

They would so be getting pranked when he got the chance.

"Don't worry about that. I can find him," Naruto assured her.

"You mean I can find him. You can't do squat right now."

You. Me. It's all the same. Your victories are also my victories.

"What a sophist answer."

So have you found him?

"Haaaa. Yeah, I found him. That Shiva is suppressing a great deal of his power, but that's like trying to condense a star into a lightbulb. He's radiating power like an out of control bonfire."

Naruto nodded and listened as Kurama began giving him instructions. He tugged on Ravel's hand to get her to follow him.

"Come on. I know where he is," he said.

"Already?" Ravel asked, stunned.

"Yep."

He grinned at Ravel's shocked expression and led her further into the city, away from the airport. As they left the airport and stepped on one of several main thoroughfares, Naruto hailed down a passing taxi, opened the door for Ravel, and then climbed in himself.

"Where to?" asked the driver.

"Take us to this address please," Naruto said as he wrote something in a sheet of paper and handed it to the man.

The driver looked at the paper, nodded, and placed it on the dashboard before typing it into his phone, which currently had a GPS map activated.

As the taxi began moving, slowly picking up speed, Ravel cinched her seatbelt and looked at Naruto, who was staring out the window. He turned when he felt her gaze on him. She shifted her attention away, but he just chuckled and placed a hand over hers.

"How did you find Lord Shiva so fast?" asked Ravel, unable to hide her curiosity and eager to ignore her embarrassment.

"Kurama," Naruto said simply.

"Oh." Ravel's eyes widened.

As an entity of pure power, Kurama was very sensitive to the power of others. Of course, he was better at sensing negative emotions than raw energy, but his sensing ability had expanded after becoming a ten-tailed fox. Naruto didn't know if this was a power he gained from Ootsutsuki Kaguya or something brought forth naturally by his increased power. Either way, it was proving incredibly useful right now.

Naruto could also sense life using Sage Mode, but at the moment, he was trying not to use it. Almost 40% of his power had returned to him since he learned the secret to Yami's increased power. The last thing he wanted to do was risk losing what he gained by being stupid.

The area where the taxi dropped them off at was one of the busiest sections of the city—the shopping district. Home to dozens of stores, there was something for everyone in this section of the city, including those of the so-called otaku community.

Naruto had spent quite a bit of time here. Rias Gremory was a huge nerd and Japanophile, so she had introduced Naruto to her favorite stores, which contained either Japanese paraphernalia or otaku goods like anime, manga, figures, and light novels.

The store Naruto directed Ravel to was, in fact, that same otaku store that Rias had taken him to several times in the past. It was called Solaris Japan. Flashy signs signified what the shop sold, including several posters and cardboard figures near the front. Because of recent complaints from the Japanese government, all the lewd posters had been taken down, and now there were only posters from some of the more popular anime like Evangelion, Fate/Stay Night, and My Hero Academia.

A blast of cold air hit Naruto as he walked in with Ravel, though it was easy to ignore. They were greeted by several isles worth of otaku goods. There were isles dedicated almost entirely to figures, others for anime, or video games, and there were other large sections for light novels, posters, and so on. Naruto would usually spend his time in the anime section. This time, he did not. He traveled over to the light novel section, where he found someone browsing through the selection.

The person browsing through the light novels looked like a young boy in middle school. He was an oddly handsome boy with aristocratic features, greenish black hair that contained a bluish tint, and sharp eyes. His eyes were probably his strongest feature. They appeared bottomless, like someone could fall into them and never get back out.

He wore the simple clothing of a school boy. The navy blue gakuran and tsume-eri fit him surprisingly well, though Naruto wondered what a god was doing wearing a school uniform. Fashion statement? Taste?

Anyone else would have shivered in fear after catching a glimpse of his unfathomable eyes. Ravel did shiver in fear. Naruto? He just walked up to the boy.

"Yo. You Shiva?" he asked.

The boy looked up from his book and gazed at Naruto, who held his gaze without faltering. A strange pressure emanated from this boy. It was easy for Naruto to ignore, however. The strength of this boy was far greater than any opponent he had ever faced, but Naruto had never been the type to falter in the face of overwhelming power.

"I am," the boy said at last, smiling. He seemed pleased by something, or perhaps amused. "And you must be Naruto Uzumaki. It is a pleasure to meet you."

~Devil Ninja~

Naruto and Ravel sat across from the boy proclaiming himself to be Shiva. He looked nothing like what Naruto would have expected from a god. Then again, Ophis was considered a god and she had been a loli when they first met, so his expectations of what a god looked like were heavily skewed to begin with. Even he recognized that much. In either event, the power Shiva emitted even when not doing anything was undeniable.

"Can I ask what you were doing, Lord Shiva?" asked Ravel. "I thought we were supposed to pick up you, Lord Brahma, and Lord Indra at the airport, but Lord Indra claimed you were already in Kuoh."

Ravel had been quite nervous when they first ran across Shiva, but his appearance and calm demeanor helped her settle down. It helped that she couldn't feel his power like Naruto could. She might have become a nervous wreck if she could.

"Ah. Well, Lord Indra doesn't seem to like me very much, so I decided it would be best to avoid him until the meeting," Shiva replied with casual nonchalance. He shrugged, then smiled mischievously as he added, "The last thing we need to do is begin fighting inside a city that isn't ours."

While the words were polite and mild, the meaning behind them was clear. He was basically saying he didn't want to accidentally destroy this city by quarreling with Indra.

"Aren't you more powerful than Indra, though?" asked Naruto. "I feel like you could destroy him if you wanted to."

Shiva's eyes glimmered as Naruto said this, but his reply was still mild. "Of course I could. Indra doesn't have much strength on his own. However, we have a lot of followers, and so we cannot fight between each other, or we might begin to lose those followers."

"So it's a matter of keeping your believers from splintering," Ravel said.

"Quite so."

Shiva scooped some ice cream onto his spoon, slipped it inside his mouth, and hummed in delight.

For whatever reason, after discovering Shiva at the otaku store, Naruto had found himself and Ravel taking the boy out to get ice cream. The shop they had chosen was actually a maid cafe called Cafe Cos. It was the kind of cafe where women cosplayed as various anime characters. Their waitress had been a young woman dressed as Asuka Langley Soryu from a certain mecha anime that Naruto would never watch again. Not only had she been decked in the traditional plugsuit, but she had acted very much like the proud and arrogant character she was dressed as.

While Shiva had gotten himself an ice cream that looked large enough to feed four people, Naruto had bought himself a simple coffee. It was not black. Filling the coffee was a light amount of cream, two cubes of sugar, and some kind of vanilla sweetener. There was also a depiction of a certain Pirate King wannabe floating on the foam.

Ravel was eating a danish.

"Mind if I ask what you were doing at an otaku store?" asked Naruto.

"What anyone else would be doing at an otaku store, of course," replied the nonchalant Shiva.

"So you're a fan of anime?"

"I suppose you could say that." Shiva paused, took a bite of his ice cream, and smiled as he continued. "It is more that I am interested in learning more about other cultures. Japan is a very… interesting place. I'm not sure if you know this, but they are mass hated by other Asian countries due to the war crimes they committed during World War II. However, ever since the end of the war, Japan has completely rewritten themselves into a peace loving country with a love for cute things. Otaku culture is merely an extension of that."

"And so you wanted to learn more by learning about otaku culture," Naruto said with a nod.

"You can learn a lot by looking at what a country considers low-brow culture," Shiva said, shrugging.

"This is a fascinating discussion, but I think we should escort you to your hotel, Lord Shiva," Ravel said.

"Yes, I suppose you are right. Very well. Let me finish my ice cream first," Shiva replied with an easy smile.

Despite having barely gotten a third finished, Shiva somehow managed to eat the rest in less time than it took to blink. Ravel actually rubbed her eyes and looked again like she couldn't believe it. Naruto would have been in the same boat, but he knew there were a lot of strange things in this world and didn't let it bother him.

After that, Naruto and Ravel escorted Shiva to his hotel.

~Devil Ninja~

The night was late and Naruto was once again coming home from a job. He had finished it easily enough, though in truth he didn't really need to do these jobs anymore.

A chilly breeze blew through the streets as he walked home instead of teleporting like normal. If anyone had asked, he would have said it was because tonight was a nice night and he wanted to enjoy the cool weather, but the truth was he wanted to present himself as an irresistible target for whoever had attacked him last time. Naruto didn't think those people who tried to blow him up would give up just because they failed once.

"We're being followed."

Naruto looked down at the tiny fox walking by his side. The fox looked like a very small Kurama. His torso looked almost human, though it was covered in bright orange fur. His front paws were likewise humanoid in shape, with five fingers that could form hand seals just as well as human hands. Blood red eyes gazed up at him, surrounded by black rings. He only had one tail sprouting from his tailbone.

"I'm not surprised you sensed them first," Naruto said. "I don't know who these people are, but they are very good at concealing their presence. Even their energy emissions are minimal. It's almost like they've had ninja training."

"Hmph. I suspect they have had something similar to ninja training." Kurama snorted as he walked along, tail swaying from side to side. "Their movements remind me of those ANBU guys you used to give the runaround when you were a brat."

"Is that so…" Naruto muttered with some agitation in his voice. He stopped walking, scratched his head, and sighed. "Well, I guess there's nothing to do but get this over with." In a much louder voice, he said, "I already know you're following me. Come on out so I can get this over with already."

Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then nearly a dozen people leapt at him from every conceivable angle. One pair leapt from a tree on his left, another came down from the roofs to his right, two had concealed themselves inside of an illusion and leapt at him from behind, and another two appeared underneath his very feet.

Naruto leapt into the air and flexed his fingers. The two who had tried to grab him from below suddenly found themselves completely tangled within ninja wires, their bodies wrapped up in twisted bondage. Silver threads gleamed in the moonlight as the two black-clad figures struggled against the wires, which only made them tighten more, making it even harder for them to escape.

There were still half a dozen others coming at him, so Naruto found himself with little time to pay those two anymore attention. He let them drop to the road like a sack of bricks. Spinning around, he extended his foot in a kick that caught the lead figure coming from the left in the face. The figure spun around as he slammed into his friend. Then a cloud of smoke exploded from the two, engulfing the road in a smokescreen.

Kawarimi? No, this is different.

Naruto leapt on the roof of a house and found himself engaged in hand-to-hand combat with three of the assassins attacking him. He blocked a strike from one with his forearm, then used the resulting momentum to push himself further away and gain distance. Another figure came up behind him. Naruto heard the swishing sound of something being swung, ducked low, planted his hands on the tiles, and struck out with a foot. A loud grunt followed by the dull sound of impact precluded Naruto's opponent being sent hurtling through the air.

That figure tried to flip around and land on his feet, but Naruto once more used ninja wire to entangle him. His opponent fell to the ground and began flopping like a fish out of water.

That was three down, which meant he had five more to go.

One of the assassins landed on the ground and went through three hand seals. Naruto once again narrowed his eyes as one became three. Two of them were simple clones, however.

"Are you… really trying to fool me with clones?! Idiot! Don't underestimate me! LARIAT!"

Using a skill he picked up from a certain Killer Bee, Naruto extended his arm and slammed it into the real assailant's chest. The figure's eyes bulged as they gasped. Then they were blown away, flying off the roof and striking the ground hard. Naruto paid no more attention to them as he turned and adopted an open fighting stance.

A wall of shuriken and kunai came soaring at him. Naruto clapped his hands together. Chakra burst in front of him as a powerful wall of wind solidified. The projectile weapons struck the shield but were unable to penetrate. With another clap, the wind wall turned into a tornado that slammed into two of the remaining ninja, blowing them clean off their feet and making them strike a tree with enough force to tear it right out of the ground.

"It seems you are the only two left," Naruto said as he turned to the last two assailants. "How about you both just quietly give up?"

The two looked at each other, and Naruto decided not to rush them, buffing his nails on his pants before blowing on them. He had time.

Naruto assumed the two would try to escape. He was a little surprised when, after nodding to each other, they tossed several projectiles at him, then used a variation of the Shadow Clone Jutsu to multiply the number of projectiles. A wind wall once more appeared to block the attack, but then both assailants spewed fire from their mouths, which struck the wall and ignited it.

Clicking his tongue, Naruto dismissed the wind wall, summoned a pair of kunai to his hands, and began blocking the projectiles as they came. Clang clang clang clang clang! The sound of steel striking steel rang out around the neighborhood, though not a soul came out to see what was causing such a ruckus. Naruto frowned as he moved his hands so fast they blurred. Streaks of silver flashed through the night before him. Not a single projectile made it through his defense. However, he noticed the pair were now trying to grab their comrades and slip away.

"Hmph. As if I would let that happen."

Before they could leave, a single tail extended to incredible lengths and wrapped around them. The pair struggled against the tail. One of them even tried jabbing a kunai into the seemingly soft fur, but they became surprised when the weapon merely bounced off what felt like hardened steel.

"Thanks, Kurama," Naruto said as he dropped to the street.

"You're getting sloppy, Naruto. You'd have never let such weaklings escape before."

Naruto shrugged. "Guess I'm out of practice." He walked up to Kurama and looked at the people he laid flat. "Now what to do with these guys? I suppose I could just kill them. It might be better than letting a potential threat live."

"Ah! Wait, ninja-sama! Do not kill them, de gozaru!"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Naruto turned to find an angel dressed in the all-black clothing of a ninja.

Ninja in this world were a lot different than the ninja in Naruto's world. The basic color of their uniform was dark blue. Black was never used among ninja because it would have stood out in the dim light of the moon. Dark blue blended better at night. Hidden underneath their traditional long-sleeved uniform was chain hemp. Their leggings were baggy because they had several weapons hidden inside like kunai, shuriken, and a traditional short-sword. A thick pair of tabis were worn on their feet to dull the sound of footsteps.

This archangel was wearing clothes just like that… which Naruto thought looked absolutely ridiculous Who had ever heard of an archangel ninja?

"Metatron." Naruto wore a bright smile that was so wide his eyes were forced closed. "Are these ninja yours?"

"T-that is correct, Ninja-sama. I received special permission from Michael-sama to train my own ninja squad, de-gozaru. These are all ninja I am training currently."

Naruto nodded as Metatron puffed out his chest in pride. He seemed rather pleased with his accomplishment.

"So I see. And I am assuming these ninja of yours attacked me as part of their training?"

"That is correct, de-gozaru," Metatron confirmed. "My ninja currently are not very strong or well-versed in the ninja arts. I'm training them right now to mask themselves and learn how to set traps. I thought having you as their opponent would accelerate their training, though they were not supposed to attack this time and instead just observe you."

Naruto didn't tighten his hands into fists or give any outward indication of what he felt. He kept his smile plastered firmly on his face as he walked over to Metatron, who seemed oblivious to his predicament.

"I see. I see. And how is their training coming along?"

"Oh, it is coming along quite well now, de-gozaru. It was very slow going at first, but ever since I decided to pit them against you, they have been improving dramatically. I suspect they will be ready to deploy within the next few weeks."

"That's good to hear. Good to hear indeed. But, hmmm, how do I put this… I'm not too pleased about being used as a training dummy without my knowledge."

"Er. Well, that is just… you know, we couldn't let you know what was happening or it would have defeated the purpose. I needed you to think they were actual enemies and come at them with the intent to kill so they could grow. You understand, right?"

"Understand my ass! NARUTO BARRAGE!"

"Gyaaa! I'm sorry, de-gozaru!"

~Devil Ninja~

Naruto woke up with a groan the next morning as the feeling of something wet and rough trailed down his stomach. His head felt fuzzy because of last night—damn that Metatron. He blinked several times after coming to. Then he groaned again when that electric feeling shot pleasure from his groin to his brain.

He looked down. He couldn't see much more than a lump hidden under the covers, but he pulled it aside to reveal Koneko rubbing herself against him as she licked his chest and stomach. One of her hands was buried between her legs. Juice leaked down her thighs as she furiously rubbed herself. It was such an erotic sight that Naruto became hard within an instant.

Rias and Irina were currently sleeping in his bed, one on his left and the other on his right. While Rias was completely and totally nude, Irina wore a cute nightgown that went all the way down to her bare feet. It was a pink gown with white accents and emphasized her large chest. She currently had a hold of his left arm. Rias had his right.

"Koneko… if you keep doing that… I'll—"

"I know what you'll do," Koneko interrupted him. "Why do you think I'm doing it?"

"Good point."

Naruto would have said more, but Koneko had reached his crotch. He sucked in a breath as she grabbed him with her free hand and began rubbing her face against his length. A shiver of ecstasy went through him as the girl seemed to inhale his scent.

"Such a thick, strong scent," she murmured with half-lidded golden eyes. "I can't get enough of it."

"Has Kuroka been teaching you more bedroom arts? That sounds like something she would say—nngg!"

"Don't talk about my sister right now, or I will crush your nutsack like a grape," Koneko threatened, squeezing him for emphasis.

He didn't think she would actually do that since she loved his man meat too much. Sometimes he actually thought she liked his dick more than she liked him. Still, he agreed not to say anything about her sister since it was just easier.

Koneko smiled like she was pleased before leaning down and trailing her tongue across his length. The slightly rough feeling of her cat-like tongue was pleasant on his burning heat. She went from the base to the tip, then sucked on his head before continuing her experimental licking. Naruto's breathing grew increasingly heavy as he struggled to contain his moans.

"Just what are you two doing?"

Of course, with all the panting, moaning, and squirming he was doing, Naruto supposed it was only natural the two on either side of him would wake up.

Naruto glanced at Rias as she shifted to lift herself slightly onto her side. Her greenish blue eyes were narrowed in consternation as she glared at him and Koneko.

"I'm sucking him off. What's it look like I'm doing?" asked Koneko, her tone sarcastic.

"T-t-that—why are you two doing that while I was sleeping here?!" asked Irina before Rias could respond.

Naruto turned to find the reincarnated angel staring at Koneko—and more specifically the thing in her hand—with a face so red it might catch fire. Steam was pouring from her ears. Beyond that, however, Naruto saw how her halo and angel wings were both visible and shifting between gold and black. He recognized the signs of her coming close to falling.

This was not good.

"Why? I decided to suck him off while you were with him because it's kinky, obviously," Koneko replied, trailing her tongue across his burning hot flesh. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief. "Do you wanna join?"

"That's—uh, no. I mean… it's not… it isn't…"

Irina's eyes were swirling around within their sockets as she swayed round and round like a drunken monkey. Naruto grew concerned when he saw this, but before he could reach out to her, the girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell off the bed, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Her feet were still resting on the bed. They twitched every so often.

"Well, that just happened," Koneko said as she stroked him with her hand. "Time to get back to work."

"Absolutely not," Naruto and Rias said at the same time.

~Devil Ninja~

Irina refused to look at Naruto after the debacle in the bedroom, which he understood was because she was embarrassed, though Naruto honestly thought she would have gotten over stuff like this happening. It wasn't like she was completely innocent either. They might not have had sex because doing so would make her fall, but the two of them had done plenty of other things together.

Saying that, the furthest they had gone was making out. The moment he tried to please her with his fingers or mouth, her wings and halo would blacken, so they decided not to do anything for the time being.

Today was another school day, so Naruto walked alongside everyone else to school and then separated from the group to attend classes with Kiba and the still-not-looking-at-him Irina. Naruto listened to Rossweisse as she taught her lesson. It made her feel good when he actually paid attention, so he decided to do his best for her. During lunch break, Kiba came over and sat down to eat lunch with him.

"I heard the meeting between the Three Factions Alliance and the Hindu pantheon has begun," Kiba said. "How do you think it's going?"

"Who knows," Naruto said with an airy wave of his hand. "I don't know the first thing about the Hindu pantheon beyond what I learned the other day."

"I guess that's true, but still, you must have an idea, right?" prodded Kiba.

Naruto and Kiba both had bento lunch boxes with nearly identical lunches. Rice, egg rolls, karagi, and hot dogs cut into the shape of octopus. The difference lay in the rice. Naruto's had a pink heart made from dye in the middle of his. Kiba's did not. That was because the person who made this lunch was none other than Ravel Phenex.

"Well… Indra is an arrogant ass, so I imagine he's going to make things difficult for aniki and the others," Naruto finally said after popping an octopus into his mouth. "Shiva and Brahma seem mild mannered, so I don't think they will give us any trouble. I hope they can keep Indra in line during the meeting."

"Do you think they will join the alliance?" asked Kiba.

"Don't know. I suppose that depends on whether or not they feel like joining our alliance is worth it," Naruto said. "Man, thinking about that meeting is a major boner killer."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing for you to worry about. Say, can you tell Irina to stop ignoring me? She's been avoiding me ever since this morning."

"I heard. Sorry, my friend, but you're on your own."

"Tch."

~Devil Ninja~

The meeting between Sirzechs, Azazel, Michael, and Brahma, Indra, and Shiva had commenced. Everyone sat around a long table headed by Sirzechs, who was playing host to the meeting. This room and the building it belonged to was one that his family owned. It wasn't ornate or ostentatious. Indeed, it was a very plain room with nothing more than a few windows on one side, a white board near the front, and a windowless door in a corner at the other side of the room.

"First off, I'd like to thank you three for agreeing to meet with us," Sirzechs said to the Trimurti.

"Yeah. No problem. Heh. This meeting seemed like something that would help kill my boredom, so I guess I should be thanking you. Ha ha ha." Indra leaned back in his chair and laughed.

While Azazel sighed in annoyance, Brahma and Shiva merely responded with smiles. They were well-accustomed to Indra's attitude it seemed.

"We are also grateful for a chance to meet with you like this," Brahma began, placing his hands on the table. "These are difficult times. The Chaos Brigade has begun causing problems everywhere, including India. We have been doing our best to put out the fires they cause, but recent events have made that exceedingly difficult."

"I don't much care about the Chaos Brigade or what they are doing. I would much rather spend my time focusing on other pursuits, but I do understand they are causing a lot of problems. That's why I agreed to attend this meeting," Shiva admitted.

"You never change, Shiva," Indra said. "Still as uncaring as you have always been."

Shiva shrugged and smiled. "That is just in my nature."

Sirzechs almost lost his composure when tension filled the air between Shiva and Indra. It caused his spine to tingle, though he did his best to brush aside his discontent.

"The reason we proposed this meeting is because we discovered what the Chaos Brigade wants to do," Sirzechs continued, trying to get back on track before these two began clawing at each other's throats.

"And what is it they want?" asked Brahma.

"Their goal is to find Trihexa and undo the seal," Azazel said. He leaned forward, placing his forearm against the table and looking at the three. "Their leader intends to unseal that monster and then seal it inside of himself."

"Is such a thing even possible?" asked Shiva, tilting his head. His expression remained calm, like what he'd heard didn't bother him in the slightest.

"We don't know, but we would not put it past them. The Chaos Brigade has many powerful individuals working for them. Who's to say one of them couldn't seal Trihexa inside of a person," Michael said.

"The Chaos Brigade is already very powerful," Sirzechs added. "Their leader has enough strength to fight against Naruto Uzumaki and win. If he does gain the powers of Trihexa, I shudder to think about what kind of trouble that will bring."

While Brahma did appear concerned, neither Shiva or Indra seemed to think this was all that interesting. Shiva still looked unconcerned. Indra, meanwhile, snorted.

"Fight against Naruto Uzumaki and win? Ha. I know what you are trying to do here, Sirzechs, but let's not deflect what you really mean." Indra grinned as he leaned forward and stared at Sirzechs through his sunglasses. "The leader of the Chaos Brigade isn't just someone who can fight that brat and win. He's actually that brat's other half. He is also the reason the Chaos Brigade was able to become so strong. Isn't that right?"

I'm finally back to writing some fanfics. It's been a while. I apologize for my long absence, but real life can be a tough mistress sometimes. I hope everyone has been well.

So, I'm getting ready to end this story, but I don't want to just make a chapter or two and be wam, bam, done. I want to give this a proper ending that will satisfy everyone who has stuck with this story since the beginning. It will probably take me 5-8 chapters to conclude. Considering my chapters are around 12,000-16,000 words, that will make my ending around the size of a traditional Japanese light novel (40,000-50,000 words) if not longer. It really depends on how this all goes.

Some of you may have noticed that I've incorporated a number of plots from the True High School DxD light novels, which is the sequel series to High School DxD. I do not plan on continuing this series after the "end" for the first High School DxD. The series will end after the confrontation with Trihexa and Yami. But I wanted to make the ending of my series more interesting.

I want to thank everyone for reading my story. I'll admit, this series has become a bit of a mess. I've probably forgotten half the things that happened in my earlier chapters, and it's been so long since I've read the Naruto manga that I really can't remember how Naruto's powers work, which leaves some inconsistencies in my story. I'm aware this story has problems, which is why I'm grateful everyone here is still willing to support and enjoy this story.

Before I head off, I'd also like to make one quick announcement. Many of you know by now that I am an author in real life. I actually make my living writing original English light novels, which are stories that blend anime premises and tropes with a more western aesthetic. I recently published my first ever gamelit harem series. You can read Man Made God 001 on Amazon. I hope anyone who wants to support me will grab a copy. A description of the story is below.

GAME ON!

Ever since the signing of the World War III Armistice, the virtual world has become even more important than the real world.

Adam does not care for the virtual world. His only concern is curing his terminally ill lover, but with Aris on the verge of death, he is running out of both time and hope.

When a woman called Fayte comes knocking on his door with a proposal, he's all too happy to accommodate her. She will cure Aris of her supposedly incurable disease with experimental technology that may have dark ties to Adam's past. In exchange, Adam will enter the newest VRMMORPG, Age of Gods, to help Fayte win a bet that will have dire consequences for her should she lose.

He enters the game, creates his character, and is ready to rock. But before he can even think of helping Fayte, he must first leave the Village of Beginnings by reaching level 10.

Can Adam prove his worth by being the first person to complete the dreaded tutorial stage?

Warning: This series features an alpha male protagonist, a slow-burn harem romance, and explicit content in future volumes.