Stray Devil Chapter 5, a Naruto + High School DxD/ハイスクールD×D Crossover fanfic

A/U: I've noticed that in general the people that review in the Naruto/HS DxD section are quite fanatic and not at all polite. I mean, any story that has Naruto paired with Rias is automatically flamed, any story tha thas Naruto being part of a peerage is flamed as well. The point is, if you can't stand the possibility of Naruto being on a peerage than what the hell are you even doing reading a crossover between Naruto and Highschool DxD?

People are just so intolerant and like to create internal rules that they think that other people should follow from out of nowhere.

I've decided to ignore the reviews saying things like "Turn him into a real stray", "change the title!" or "the title is misleading".

Really, what are the rules for him to be considered a "REAL" Stray?

A Stray is a devil that escaped his master or made some crime against him/her, Naruto did that when he left Rias, didn't he? Therefore he is a stray, the fact that he didn't kill Rias and may HAVE to come back to her in the future doesn't change the fact that for now he is a stray. The fact that Itachi was one of the greatest allies of Konoha didn't change his status as missing-nin up for any bounty hunter to try and hunt him did it? So why would Naruto having some connecting with Rias still suddenly spoil the story?

And where did either myself or even the CREATORS OF HIGHSXHOOL DXD ever said to anyone that by becoming a Stray, Naruto would become a terrorist hellbent on killing everyone and turn into and revenge-driven emo? The character name is Naruto isn't it? I don't remember saying that the story is about Sasuke, (heck I KILLED him in chapter one!) so why are people expecting Naruto to start acting like Sasuke from out of nowhere? If I do what people want and make Naruto act like Sasuke, then they will start complaining to me that Naruto is OOC and that I'm writing a blond Uchiha (I've seen this argument used for other stories before, I think it can be used to a certain degree but it would be major hypocrisy complaining about it after you asked the author to do things this way).

Also, people seem to forget that as a new devil, Naruto normally can't stay away from his master since they're the one that regulates his energy and that without the contact, he could end up like those grotesque stray devils that Rias' group group hunted in the beginning of the DxD story in cannon. And Kuroka may try to help him learn to control his energies, but at the end of the day he has an enormous amount and this would be too big of a risk. It's more than obvious for anyone with more than two brain cells that I would have to find a way to help him control his energies. I Mean I COULD could try some bulshit like "Ophis will do!" like a lot of stories that simply use Ophis and Great Red as hacks and Deus Ex Machina solutions to solve problems in the plot that they don't want to think about but I'm willing to actually think of a solution instead of instantly jumping to the most obvious cliche!

So do me a favor...if you want to hate me for NOT doing the cliches like that just to please you, would you kindly leave the story and not waste time flaming me?

Naruto panted. His chakra network ached, sending throbbing protests into his nervous system through the connection to his cells the energy had. This youjustsu stuff was pretty tricky for him to pin down, but the regiment was first that he'd figure out youjustsu, then senjutsu.

It had been a week since he'd started his studies under this Nekomata-turned-devil who was a surprisingly strict teacher.

As that thought crossed his mind, he felt his mind spin like a high-speed pinwheel. Sure, telling someone he had just met about the fox was pretty reckless, but with everything he'd found out from the fox about how from day one, his chance at a normal life had been sacrificed for the sake of the Uchiha Clan's delusions and obsession with hate, and the way the Uchiha had just stood back and watched as he had been the scapegoat for their family's wrong-doings...how their hubris mattered THAT much to them...well, that added onto his current turmoil over being turned into a devil and he'd needed to vent. Anyway it wasn't like he could be called crazy for what he had shared. He had told a two-tailed cat-woman that was turned into a devil about the Kyubbi. No way would Kuroka find the demon inside him strange or frightening. Why would it be an odd topic to talk about a demon when you're in the Underworld?

Besides, Naruto was already in a strange situation, he needed Kuroka's help.

Much to his annoyance, Naruto had to deal with how his tease-happy new sensei enjoyed playing a song she'd heard once in the human world from a group called "Ylvis" that was titled "The Fox". She used her youjustsu seal him in a barrier, then made the air molecules in it vibrate to produce the music so he couldn't get away from it. And he had to endure it repeating endlessly unless he used his own lessons on youjutsu to either make a hole in the barrier and escape that way, or to stop the music by applying his youjutsu to halt the vibrations in the air.

He HATED the lesson!

...Which he was being made to go through right now!

Dog goes woof, cat goes meow.

Bird goes tweet, and mouse goes squeak.

Cow goes moo. Frog goes croak, and the elephant goes toot.

Ducks say quack and fish go blub, and the seal goes OW OW OW.

But there's one sound that no one knows...

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?

Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

Joff-tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

Big blue eyes, pointy nose, chasing mice, and digging holes.

Tiny paws, up the hill, suddenly you're standing still.

Your fur is red, so beautiful, like an angel in disguise.

But if you meet a friendly horse, will you communicate by mo-o-o-o-orse, mo-o-o-o-orse, mo-o-o-o-orse?

How will you speak to that h-o-o-orse, h-o-o-orse, h-o-o-orse?

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!

Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

A-hee-ahee ha-hee!

WHAT THE FOX SAY?

A-oo-oo-oo-ooo!

Woo-oo-oo-ooo!

WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!

The secret of the fox, ancient mystery.

Somewhere deep in the woods, I know you're hiding.

What is your sound? Will we ever know?

Will always be a mystery what do you say?

You're my guardian angel hiding in the woods.

What is your sound? (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum a-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)

Will we ever know? (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)

I want to, I want to, I want to know! (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)

(Bay-buh-day bum-bum bay-dum)

The phase about skinning a cat was REALLY tempting for him as the song about foxes pounded in his ears while his black cat teacher smirked at him from outside the barrier. She'd figured out quickly that he was a kinesthetic learner, the kind that needed to learn through trial and error, and through hands-on training. A long explanation would only confuse and bore him, making learning impossible. So she gave him hands-on lessons and reasons to want to get the lessons right, but for someone who had a fox demon wreck their life the moment it started, this was even less pleasant than having teeth drilled!

It made him have very grim fantasies about hogtying her with her own tails and leaving her dangling over a bonfire.

He never told his sensei that of course, but he could tell she was aware of the fact that he hated the damn song since he'd first heard it! That was the point. He had to make it stop using what she was teaching him.

"Giving up?" Kuroka said from outside.

"Screw you! I'm not quitting!" Naruto snapped back, panting. There was no guarantee she'd stop if he called it quits, and giving up was never his style anyways. Still...for all his tough talk, he was horrible at channeling demonic power!

He closed his eyes and tried to block out the song, and gather his energy. Trouble was, he had a hard time telling his demonic aura from the fox's now that he was a devil...ugh...!

He'd been told by his teacher that devils were creatures of desire. Devils have desires, grant desires, get desires, and hope for desires without obligation. Even though he wad a devil now, his will to desire hadn't been lost. The stronger his desire, the stronger his power would respond to his will.

Naruto's sole desire: He wanted to be human again! He hated that he was a devil!

As the idea filled him with disgust and how he wanted his humanity back, he didn't notice the aura of energy surrounding him or that it grew in intensity until it started to hurt.

As he cried out, demonic energy surged through him and actually manifested itself outside of his body, it slammed into the barrier and it exploded with the force of an atomic bomb and it shattered. Through the smoke of the explosion, Kuroka thought she saw something that looked like a long, red, two-tailed coat. that had zippers on the sleeves and a buckle around the waist, with black cuffs, and had a pronounced buckled collar and a black chest plate of sorts resembling a vampire hunter's coat with western and Italian accents, though the right sleeve was missing.

Then it faded in a single second later before she could determine if that was what she had actually seen and the smoke dissipated to show Naruto passed out, stone cold.

The fox winced as one of the Evil Pieces started glowing, the one that had been inert up until now: The mutated bishop.

If the PAWNS were painful, the demon didn't want to think what that higher-ranked Evil Piece would do to him!

Yet the pain never came, the fox opened one eye as the ground of Naruto's mindscape trembled and several red torii gates burst from the ground, all in a long row. Once they all had, the quake stopped.

As the fox watched, someone walked through them towards the cave that now made up the seal and stopped in front of it — A young-looking man that had short, spiky brown hair — two locks of which were wrapped in bandages framing either side of his stern-looking face. He wore what seemed to be a blank forehead protector and bandages around his forehead. He wore a light-colored kimono which was adorned with magatama around the collar. The kimono was held closed by a dark-colored sash. Underneath all of this he wore a black full-body suit.

"Hello, Kurama-ototo. Been a long time." he said with a smirk.

The fox's eyes widened, utterly shocked.

"YOU...!?"

Kuroka knelt down by her student, frowning.

"What was that?" she muttered. Then seeing how Naruto was unconscious, she sighed and held up a summoning flier with the Gremory crest on it. "Yo, Red...he's out of it for now."

With that, she tossed the slip onto the ground and the red magic circle that composed the summoning array appeared on the ground and in moments, Rias Gremory stood in the center of it and it faded away. The redhead immediately went over to the blond boy, held him against her and siphoned off the excess demonic power that had been building up in him into her own body.

Nodding at that, Kuroka pulled an envelope out of her kimono and handed it to the redhead.

"You're brother sent hunters?" the cat asked.

Rias shook her head "No, he thinks Naruto's the one gathering his information. Can't send hunters after him without cutting off something valuable. Politically, it's tied my brother's hands, getting these details on the Khaos Brigade."

"It's obvious he hates you, and yet you go through all this trouble for his sake." Kuroka chin-pointed to Naruto and shook her head. "He seems pretty wrapped up in feeling bitter. What'd you do to him?"

Rias sighed, "He was unconscious,, injured and dying when I came across him. Only way to save him was to make him one of my peerage. He...didn't take his new-found devilhood all that well." she said, thinking of how Naruto had tried to slit his own throat.

Kuroka raised a brow. "Interesting. I'll see if I can talk to him about that when he's up. Anyways...you better go, kid never stays down long, and he's a bit of a rough sleeper, he uses his weapons and combat techniques when he's out."

Rias nodded, then spared one last pained look at the out-cold blond before Kuroka caught her attention again.

"Oh, and Red...I'm also trying to pinpoint his reality, any volunteers to head to his dimension and find out what's-what are gonna be welcome. Figure that showing him that it's not always like it is in the books would help, maybe find something that could help him. He keeps going on how he no longer has a place to return to now that he's a reincarnated devil. Might help change his mind about that. I'll let you know when it's ready."

Rias stared, then nodded and smiled before vanishing in a magic array, feeling a bit more upbeat. If she could help him like that, then he might accept being part of her family.

More importantly, she was out to mend things with her reluctant peerage member. He was her responsibility, as was this mess he was in. She hadn't meant any harm by changing him into a Reincarnated Devil, after all, was it wrong to do something to save a person's life rather than just standing by and watching, even if you only had a single option to do so? Still...she realized that, unlike with her other members, she hadn't asked—she'd just taken. Even if there was no point in asking him if he had wanted it or not, the fact was that she'd made Naruto into a devil without his consent.

While she didn't know what was wrong or why he opposed his state as a devil so strongly, seeing as she barely knew him as it was and he was so tight-lipped about his past, she owed him to try and help after how her well-intended impetuousness had apparently cost him everything. The fact that she was too abrupt with informing him that he had been changed into a devil couldn't have helped. Looking back on how she had broke the news to him, she realized, with distaste, that she had told him while under the assumption he'd simply accept that life as a devil was better than no life at all.

Rias wanted to fix things as much as she could with Naruto, make things, if not right, than at least better. It was her responsibility and she refused to turn away from it.

No sooner had she vanished and the glow from her transportation magic faded than Naruto groaned as he awoke. Dammit! What the hell was this pain?! He couldn't move, couldn't think...why did he hurt so damn bad?! It wasn't chakra exhaustion or even the burning strain that he'd felt in his Rasengan training, it was worse...way worse! He couldn't even describe it at the moment.

"Wow...you really have hardly any control at all over your own power, eh? Then again, you did say that being made a Devil had thrown your control out the window. Nya." Kuroka said.

Naruto looked to see his sensei looking down at him with interest.

"Dammit...what the hell happened?" he groaned.

"That's what I wanna know. I told you to focus on the strongest desire you have, what was it?"

Naruto looked up at the sky, "...I just want to be human again, that's all. I don't care what I have to do, I can't stand being a demonic entity." he sighed.

Kuroka narrowed her eyes. Well, that was an issue. His demonic aura was trying to react accordingly to his strongest desire. But that caused his aura as a devil to utterly reject itself, weakening it and trying to force it into a human's energy. "Well...I guess we could reverse the order of your studies. I hoped to have you get used to controlling your demonic energies through learning youjustsu, but I guess we'll need to focus on chakra. But we'll HAVE to sort out these issues and psychological scars those idiots who hated you for saving their lives just by being born in the first place left you with. Only way to make this training work."

Naruto grunted. That was not going to be pleasant. Seeing as how the reason why Gaara used to be had terrified him because, if it weren't for Iruka, he was how Naruto would have turned out, just as much of a sociopath. The fact that the people around him hated him so much that, in order to justify how they treated him with such loathing that they wanted to turn him into a self-fulfilling prophecy as far as him being a deranged psychotic that felt that all life was meaningless and that nothing nor anyone matters, and saw killing as the sole point to existence hadn't helped when he'd realized that about his sand-using, enemy-turned-friend.

So yeah...dealing with those issues head-on wasn't something he'd be looking forward to in the slightest.

Kuroka sighed. This guy seemed to love making things difficult. Not that she could blame Naruto, the idea of coming to grips with how he was now a demonic being when his past tormentors tried to beat the idea he was something unholy back when he was just a little kid and fully human into him wouldn't sound that great to HER either if she were in his position with this. But unless he let go of his issues, he wouldn't last too long.

He needed this to work. But the question was how to do that without everything blowing up in her face or his? Damn it all! Why couldn't this be simple?

"Naruto, can I ask you something?" the feline female asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What is it?" he asked.

"About that Tengu-teme, what was he like? Other than broody and a slave to his past, I mean. You said he was practically deified by the people where you're from, but what made him so important?"

Naruto smirked. He loved hearing that...Tengu-bastard. That was Kuroka's nickname for his ex-teammate. According to Kuroka, among yokai, the tengu were often conceived of as the arrogant, and as a result the creatures have become strongly associated with vanity and pride. There was even an expression: tengu ni naru. Which literally meant, "becoming a tengu", that was used to describe a conceited person. That was very fitting way to describe Sasuke, especially given how the second state of the Ten no Juin made Sasuke seem to become some sort of half-tengu creature.

"His family was butchered and he was the only survivor, because of that, he was always seen as the tragic figure. Him being a prodigy always caused him to be seen as a genius and the best of the best as well."

"Sound's like a charming guy... psychotic, egocentric, obsessed with killing, thinks he's God, revenge-obsessed, and overly serious to top it all off. I pity seeing how he tried showing a girl a good time...unless he played for the same team."

Naruto snorted. He liked hearing that.

"Well...which way he swung, I don't know. As for showing a good time, there was this one thing he did, but you're not gonna like it: He chased down and beat the crap out of cats to force them to add to this encyclopedia of cat paw prints he had. It was his idea of a game." Naruto shrugged.

"...Paw...pri..." the neko said faintly, her face turning red, "I'M GONNA KILL HIM! THE FILTHY HENTAI!"

Naruto sneered and snickered sourly at his mentor's utterly scandalized proclamation, remembering what that one talking ninja cat, Hina said that for a cat, getting your paw print taken was as embarrassing as a human being photographed naked.

"Too late!"

"Eh?! What do you mean by that?!" Kuroka demanded.

Using his index and ring finger on one hand, the blond devil pointed to his black-and-red, tomoe-marked eyes. "Like I told you, I killed him myself! Tore out his eyes and his still-beating heart! Because of that, I can't go home!" he spat.

Kuroka relaxed at that, a profound feeling of comeuppance making her fight down a smirk, she doubted her pupil would enjoy seeing that expression on her face at the moment, thinking that rather than pride at punishing the jerk, she was amused at her student's plight. "Naruto...has it ever crossed your mind that maybe that Tengu-teme wasn't as beloved, idolized, and revered as you THINK he was?"

"Right..." Naruto drawled sardonically, his tone delicately inflected to suggest his disbelief. "He was so secretly loathed that if I went back home, I'd be put to death for doing my job because killing him was the only way to stop him from getting to that twisted, body-snatching megalomaniac! Heck, I kill him and after that I get transported to Hell and turn into a devil. Tell me, does that seem like a coincidence?"

Fair point, looking too much into it, but still... "You're looking at this in a very religious context when you put it that way, you know that, right?" Kuroka said, causing Naruto to make a face of disgust at that.

"Do I look like the type to just sit on my ass and mindlessly mutter into the air for help that will never come until the answer to all life's problems just falls out of a cloud and into my lap, sensei?" the stray devil spat.

"True, I'll give you that." the SS-class criminal confessed.

"Why are you so interested in helping me anyways?" Naruto asked. That question had bothered him for days now.

"Simple, really. I know what it feels like to have someone else ruin your life." Kuroka gained a distant look in her eyes, clearly lost in happier times, "Back before I was changed into a devil, life was good. I lived with my mother, father, and younger sister, Shirone-chan. After our parent's deaths, Shirone-chan and I went around trying to find another way of living, eventually we ran into a devil and were accepted into their peerage, I myself was worth two b pieces, and being a Nekomata, I was, and still am, pretty powerful. In fact, I grew stronger than my peerage's King."

"The point of this and how it ties into my question being...?" Naruto asked.

"Getting to that. Well, as you can image, my old boss didn't like that much. People fear those stronger than them. So in his paranoia, the bastard came up with a scheme to leech my imoto's life force from her to add her power onto his and by doing so, at least in his mind, gain the ability to use senjutsu and youjustsu himself, thus making him stronger than me."

Naruto chuckled, "And let me guess...he was stupid enough?"

His teacher nodded. "He was stupid enough. Told me right to my face what he planned to do and thought I'd just go along with helping him, that he was untouchable because of the laws against stray devils and he thought I'd care about that more than the last family I had left."

"...I can see where this is going. Let me guess: you literally taught him he was dead wrong, emphasis on the 'dead' part, am I right." It wasn't a question.

Kuroka hissed and her ears pressed back against her head the way normal cats did when they were ad, like they wanted to fight. "Bingo...my sister means EVERYTHING to me, I built the focus of my existence on my feelings for her. So when I heard that...I corrected my old boss on my priorities. After I committed regicide against that bastard, the survivors of my former peerage twisted the story around so that I was seen as a power-drunk murderess. I was forced to run. I didn't have any choice."

"No other right choice...but I can't say you made the wrong choice, either." Naruto said. "You had something you cared about put at risk, and the only way to protect it was to do something unforgivable and horrible. Still, it would have been worse if you hadn't crossed that line. Circumstances and situation have a way of forcing a person's hand, bring out that kind of 'what would you do', you made your choice and gave your answer. I respect that."

Kuroka smiled. "That's why I wanted to help you and took you as my student. You're having to deal with the same situation. Like you said, no other right choice, and you got into this mess because of someone else's arrogance and stupidity."

Naruto pushed himself to his feet, nodding grimly. He understood what she was saying. "Fine."

Kuroka sighed, she hated having to bring that up. Heck knew if he ever found out how badly he'd take it if he actually thought that she made that up to get him to trust her. He'd bared his past to her and if he was ever lead to think that she was just playing off his empathy for those who had to endure unjustified persecution.

Trust was a notoriously fragile thing, especially for something that was slow and hard to build.

"Sensei...I'm wondering since I'm new to this whole Devil thing, what do you mean by Stray?" Naruto asked.

Kuroka sighed, expecting the question. "Stray Devils are Devils who diverted away from their masters, either by simply escaping them, or by killing them."

"...Like us, you mean." Naruto said, stating the unsaid part of the explanation.

The nekomata nodded. "Yeah. Like us, but you at least have the option open to have you status as a stray revoked."

Naruto made a face, "Rias." he said with distaste.

Kuroka held up her hands placatingly, "Look, hear me out: The problem with Strays is that without their masters to keep their powers in check, they become a threat if their powers go beyond their control ability to control. I at least know my limits. But you...have you ever tapped into a full one hundred-percent of your power? Before you were changed, I mean. And you're more than just human now. There's no way the Devils will let someone with your reserves just run wild."

Naruto scowled. "So my only choice is to go back to that Blood-Haired Bitch that changed me into the very type of creature I can't stand...or I get hunted down like an animal and killed for being too strong? Not much of a choice."

Kuroka nodded. "Preaching to the choir, kiddo. Don't need to tell me the life of a Stray Devil sucks." she sighed.

"Pity there's no way to make me harder to find by lowering my power then..." Naruto griped, looking at his hands as he clenched them into fists.

"No way to lo...ho!" Kuroka said, then went wide-eyed, the she grinned and grabbed Naruto by the wrist. "Come on, Fishcakes! Sensei's got an idea!" she cheered.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Naruto shouted as the cat formed a transportation circle and they vanished.

"Haven't graduated yet, so I can!" Kuroka said cheerfully.

"Hey, leader!" Kuroka said as the two reappeared.

Naruto blinked and stumbled a bit, feeling disoriented for a moment. He shook his head. He'd have to get used to that magic-that materializing/teleporting thing

Looking around, he took in that him and his sensei weren't alone. Four other people stood around them.

One was a young man with dark silver hair and ice blue eyes that are often shown as to be rimmed with a light ultramarine. He was wearing a dark green V-neck shirt with a high-collared black leather jacket over it. Along with burgundy jeans with a silver chain drooping down over them and black leather chaps with three bands encircling his right calf, and black shoes with black buckles.

Another was a bespectacled young man with blonde hair and dressed in a business suit, next to him was a cute girl with a slim body, shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes; appearing to be around the same age as a middle-schooler. Her attire consisted of a sorceress-like dress with a huge blue hat with a black bow and yellow stars and matching cape with pink flowers and a white interior.

And finally there was a young man with short black hair and was dressed in ancient Chinese armor, who was leaning against a staff, looking bored.

"Kuroka!" the witch-dressed girl shouted happily, drawing the rest of the group's attention on the newcomers.

"Hey everyone!" the cat greeted.

"Oh...before I forget, Everybody, this is Uzumaki Naruto, my new apprentice." At Kuroka's words, Naruto found everyone looking at him with interest.

"Naruto...this is Vali Lucifer, our group's leader, those two are Arthur Pendragon and Le Fay Pendragon, siblings who are the descendants of King Arthur and Morgan le Fay. And finally, that's Bikou, the descendant of the first Monkey King, Sun Wukong." Kuroka said, pointing each person out as they were introduced. Naruto looked at each of them, but his eyes widened at the hazy image he saw coming from the silver-haired guy's back. What looked like white metal-resembling extensions came from his shoulders that had four, glowing blue energy "feathers" that looked like sheets of colored glass coming off his back.

"Nice wings, pretty boy. What's with the high-tech theme, though?" Naruto said.

Vali's eyes widened and he rolled his shoulders, as if the wings were really there, "...You can see it, Even when I'm not using my Longinus?" Vali said, surprised.

Naruto shrugged, "Sort of a flickering, smokey afterimage of them, like a mirage, but yeah, I can see your wings. Eyes give me the ability to observe and differentiate the flow of energy coming off others, predict and mimic movements and techniques, and see through illusions, so I can see the wings because they have so much power."

Vali gawked, then grinned. "Impressive. Well...since you know they're there, no point in keeping them secret from you. These wings of mine are know as Divine Dividing. as you can guess from the name, it has the ability to divide the power of its opponents by half after coming into physical contact with them every ten seconds. The halved powers are then added to my own powers. If the added power exceeds the amount that the wielder can safely contain, the excess energy is then expelled out through the wings which allows the user to always be at their highest potential."

"So you can lower the power I've got, make me harder to find?" he said, 'So that was Kuroka's idea...' he thought.

"Say Wha...?" Vali said, actually looking surprised.

"Kid's got too much power to keep himself hidden, Boss," Kuroka explained, shrugging.

"How strong is he?" Bikou asked.

Kuroka smirked. "You're a Senjutsu-user yourself, take a look, banana-butt."

Bikou growled at the name, then focused on Naruto. A Second later, Bikou fell to his knees and having a seizure. Arthur rushed forward and pulled out a long sword that glowed with a golden aura and skewered but rather than harming him, the blade sunk into him as if he were wet clay and the glowing aura spread to cover Bikou's whole body.

"Relax." he said like an order and the monkey in human form seemed to take it as such, opening his eyes.

"H...H-hu-hu...holy shit...! That's impossible! No one has chakra levels that high...!" he used his staff like a cane and pushed himself up, locking eyes with Naruto. "...What...ARE you?! A nephilim? A living Longinus?!" then he seemed to notice the sword stuck in his chest and gave Arthur a flat glare of annoyance, "Dude, the Excalibur Ruler, seriously?"

"My apologies." the bifocal-wearing young man said curtly, removing the blade, which left no injury.

"He's a Reincarnate...human originally," Kuroka said, ignoring the dirty look her student sent her way at her words, "but to be fair, he's from a different dimension, one that's full of chakra-users."

"Ah...alternate realities...infinite variations of worlds, some are very similar,while others are vastly different. Entire parallel universes existing separate from one another and all that other brain-frying scientific mumbo-jumbo jazz." The monkey king said, using his staff like a cane to push himself up and nodding as he spoke, then eyed Naruto critically. "Reincarnated devil, huh? Who made him one?"

"Rias Gremory." Naruto said sourly, shrugging as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

As soon as he said that, everything seemed to freeze and everyone looked at him in sheer shock. Then everything unfroze at once.

"SAY WHAT...?!" Bikou shouted.

"No way...that practically spits in the face of the unwritten cardinal rules of the Underworld! The Gremory family don't produce Stray Devils!" Le Fay cried.

"Take them in, perhaps, but not produce them..." Arthur said, his eyes narrowing.

Naruto rolled his transplanted eyes. So he didn't like Rias Gremory, big deal. Why did people have to always make such a commotion over things that affected someone else but not them? So annoying!

Vali, unlike the rest of his team, however, didn't seem to be reacting as badly as the others, but instead gave the newcomer a more appraising gaze. "Stray of the Gremorys...Interesting..." he said, then walked up to the younger devil and held out a hand.

Naruto looked at the offered limb. Realizing that Vali was offering him a chance with his group.

As much as he'd always hated it, Naruto had never been the biggest or the strongest kid. He'd survived in tough neighborhoods, tough schools, tough foster homes by using his wits. He was the class clown, the court jester, because he'd learned early that if you cracked jokes and pretended you and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up. Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs or find you so annoying that you weren't worth the effort of beating on. Plus, humor was a good way to hide the pain... made it so he didn't get bogged down thinking about the bad stuff. He smile and joked even when he didn't feel like it. Especially when he didn't feel like it.

If that didn't work...well...back-alley brawling and shanty town pit-fighting tactics may not be pretty, but they got the job done. He never could get the street fighter out of his system, even after getting admitted to the academy and receiving actual fighting lessons, but hey...if it works, why fix what isn't broken? He'd even incorporated his self-taught street fighting into his formal hand-to-hand combat lessons from the ninja academy.

Whether out of kindness or not, these people found he had things about him that made him useful to them and wanted him among their ranks, that was more than he could say for most people who knew him. Most only knew the joker, the fool...and he wasn't blind, he knew that Sakura saw him merely as a means to an end because of her own inability to be willing to learn how to live without being able to slobber over Sasuke's ass every waking moment of her life.

Useful...but that was all...still, that was enough.

He took Vali's hand and shook it firmly.

"Well, Naruto...Welcome to the Vali Team." Vali said, smirking.