The Underworld, a realm beneath the Earth's plane. It is a vast world, much like Earth but devoid of any large bodies of water. The sky in the Underworld is a deep shade of purple which has not changed since the world was created. The land of the Underworld comprises of expansive lush green forests, great mountain ranges that rise to the sky, empty fields that stretch beyond what the eye can see and densely populated cities which dot the landscape.

The residents of the Underworld are known as Devils. They are a race of supernatural beings capable of feats beyond what humans can do, who they resemble in appearance save for their bat-like wings which can be hidden and their extremely long life spans. They posses enhanced strength, durability, speed along with the ability to fly and control over various forms of magic.

The devils are a part of the Biblical Trinity; alongside Angels and Fallen Angels. Angels are beings of light created by God of the Bible. They resemble human beings in appearance, like their natural enemies - the devils - and posses white, feathered wings. They are masters at using light and holy energy and weapons. Angels spread God's blessings and protect humanity from other supernatural beings.

Fallen Angels, simply Fallen for short, are Angels who lost God's favor and as a result they were banished from Heaven. They are like Angels, only their light is tainted and their wings are jet black. Their moral compass is also looser than their white-winged counterparts.

The three Biblical factions waged a three way war against each other that lasted for hundreds of years and came to be known as the Great War. The Angels fought the Devils as they were natural enemies and fought the Fallen because they went against their creator. The Devils fought the angels for the same reason the Angels fought them and they fought the Fallen because they were encroaching their territory. The Fallen Angels fought their previous comrades for revenge and the Devils to take their lands for themselves.

The Devils were led by the four Maou - Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Asmodeus - and the 72 Pillars - the great devil families. The Angels were led by God and the Seraphim - high ranking Angels with six pairs of wings. The Fallen Angels were led by Grigori - an organization formed by the Fallen Angel leader Azazel.

The war was brutal. Legions of Angels descended from Heaven and rained light down upon their enemies. In response the Devil armies rose from the Underworld and intercepted the Angels' attacks with their powerful magic spells. In the midst of this the Fallen Angels used hit and run tactics and applied underhanded methods to strike at other two sides because of their lower numbers.

The bloody conflict went on for centuries until all three sides were exhausted. The three factions had all lost a bulk of their forces and weary of the fighting. The combatants began to withdraw from the battlefield and eventually hostilities were dropped and an uneasy ceasefire was formed.

This was the end of the Great War but not the end of the conflict for the Devils. Lucifer and the other Maou were warmongers. They wished to take advantage of the weakness of the other two factions and destroy them for good, despite being greatly weakened themselves. Many devils supported their leaders but a good portion also opposed them.

Devilkind was split into two. The Pillars had already lost most of their members and were further divided. 34 of the Pillar houses and their followers formed the Anti-Maou faction and opposed the Maou and the devils that supported them. Civil war erupted in the Underworld and the two sides fought for control over the realm.

The civil war, while not on then scale of the Great War, had a great impact on the devils and their way of life. The war tested loyalties and friendships. It tore old families and formed new ones. Their methods of fighting were also revamped as devils came up with new ways to kill their brethren.

The war came to an end when the Maou were slain and the reigning leadership collapsed. The Anti-Maou faction eliminated and drove off the remaining packets of opposition and brought an end to the fighting.

A new government was sworn in, led by the new Maou who were the heroes of the Great War and the civil war - having slew the original Maou. Sirzechs Gremory became Lucifer, Ajuka Astaroth became Beelzebub, Serafall Sitri became Leviathan and Falbium Glasya-Labolas became Asmodeus.

The four of them discarded their family names and took up their titles. They were the new leaders of the Underworld and together they ushered in a new era, one of rapid development and prosperity.

Ajuka, best friend of Sirzechs, was an inventor. His inventions had greatly strengthened the Anti-Maou faction during the war. The devil population was greatly reduced after fighting two wars. The Pillars were reduced to 34, the rest having sided with the Maou and were consequently killed or driven off to the far reaches of the Underworld, and rest of the population was a fraction of what it used to be.

To rectify this issue, Ajuka devised the Evil Piece system. Evil Pieces were items that could convert beings from other races and turn them into devils. They were produced in sets with each set being modeled after a chess set, pieces from the human game of chess. There were 8 Pawns, a pair of Knights, Bishops and Rooks worth 3 Pawns for the Knights and Bishops and 5 Pawns for the Rook. Then there was the Queen which was worth 9 Pawns and finally the King.

The King piece was given to a devil who would then be the literal king of their peerage. It formed a link with the other pieces and gave a King control over their peerage members, should they wish to exert it. The Knight piece raised its holder's speed, the Bishop raised their magical ability and the Rook raised their strength and durability. The Queen piece raised all of these and was therefore classified as the strongest. The Pawn piece gave a very minute boost to its holder's parameters but it's main strength lay in Promotion, an ability of a pawn. Promotion allowed a Pawn to emulate any of the other pieces as long as their body could handle it.

The Evil Pieces system also came with a new form of combat known as Rating Games. In Rating Games, Devils could compete along with their peerages to settle disputes as well as provide a source of entertainment for the residents of the Underworld.

Ajuka's system was met with favorable approval by his fellow devils and it became an instant hit. As a means of regulating their distribution, Evil Pieces were only given to High-class devils and above. Soon devils began forming their peerages and their population began to rise. He was made Chief Adviser of the Technology Department due to his intelligence.

Serafall was in charge of foreign affairs. Before the civil war, the Underworld was closed off from the rest of the world and the devils were an isolated race. In fact, the first time they left the Underworld was during the Great War. Serafall went on numerous dignitary visits and worked hard to secure alliances and trade agreements with various factions and races. As a result many new, modern cultures were introduced to and adopted by the devils along with new goods and technology. Her cheerful deposition also raised her popularity and helped in negotiations because people found it hard to say no to her.

Falbium was in charge of the military. It was a post that suited his lazy nature perfectly. After the civil war the devils lived in relative peace so all Falbium had to do was devise training exercises and a criteria for the appointment of new troops and let his generals do the rest.

Sirzechs was leader of all the devils. He was the strongest with the only one coming close to him being Ajuka who had yet to defeat him. He was in charge of taking care of every devil and managing the Underworld, a task he took very seriously lest he anger his wife. He was laid back most of the time but could become serious when the situation called for it.

His marriage to Grayfia Lucifuge was also an important event in Devil History. She was previously a member of House Lucifuge, one of the Pillars that sided with the original Maou, who had defected to the Anti-Maou faction during the war. She had fought side-by-side with Sirzechs through most of it and the two had become romantically involved at some point. They got married soon after the war and became the greatest 'power couple' in the Underworld.

Collectively the Maou also served another purposes. With two large scale conflicts which led to an untold number of deaths and financial loss, the Devils had become one of the weakest factions in not only the Biblical trinity but also the world. Any major power could have easily invaded and taken over the Underworld. The Maou acted as deterrents for would-be invaders. Having slew the original Maou, they were regarded as more powerful than them and made the other factions weary of them.

The Four Maou were the pride of their families and together they drove the Underworld to an age where there was peace and prosperity and everyone was happy.

All except the heir of Clan Gremory, Naruto Gremory. He was born during the civil war, a time when conflict was rampant among Devilkind. His family was happy at his birth but that happiness soon turned to despair over a single fact.

Naruto was weak.

All Devils gave off an aura of Demonic Power at birth which allowed their parents to measure their potential. Naruto, heir to one of the Pillars, was born with the lowest potential in history. He was born without any Demonic Power. No one could detect a smidgen of it on his person to the point that one would think he was a human except he wasn't. Naruto Gremory was a pure blood Devil without any Demonic Power.

His parents and older brother had returned to the front lines soon after his birth, leaving him in the care of the family's servants. Devils were, at their core, beings who respected those with power and spat upon the weak. Naruto's upbringing was harsh as his caretakers saw no need to care for someone who wouldn't amount to anything in their society. They were disappointed and disgusted with the younger brother of Sirzechs and more-often-than-not thought about ending his life, to remove the stain on the Gremory family's history but stayed their hand because they were ordered to raise him.

And raise him they did. They taught him household chores and made him work along with everyone else. Many often delegated their tasks to him and increased his, already immense, workload. He was punished when he made a mistake and was constantly berated at every turn. But he bore through it. He took every chore, insult and punishment with a smile on his face, hoping to one day gain his family's approval. He had seen them around the manor but none of them spared him a glance. He believed that by working harder, his family would one day notice him - a belief the other servants encouraged in order to dump more of their work on him.

Even after the war none of his family gave him the time of the day. Sirzechs was busy with his duties as Lucifer and Lord and Lady Gremory were busy managing the needs and finances of their House. Even when they were free and together along with Sirzechs' wife Grayfia, they overlooked him and thought of him nothing more than a servant, not a son and member of their family.

With each day the mistreatment from the servants and neglect by his family kept adding up until he couldn't take it anymore and left.

Naruto Gremory ran away from home without being spoken to even once by any member of his family.

"Mother, Father, I'm home!" Sirzechs Lucifer exclaimed jovially as he entered his childhood home. He was a tall, handsome man with shoulder-length crimson hair which also framed his face and bright blue-green eyes.

He was being trailed dutifully by his wife and Queen Grayfia Lucifuge, a beautiful woman with silver hair and eyes. She was a powerful woman and had earned the title of 'Strongest Queen'.

"Sirzechs, Grayfia, it's good to see the two of you. How are you?" Venelana Gremory said by way of greeting. She was a beautiful, light brown haired woman with violet eyes. Her birth family was the House Bael, one of the remaining Pillars, who were known for being able to use the Power of Destruction,an ability she and her son had inherited. She was the wife of Zeoticus Gremory and was known as the Brunette Madame of Extinction, Brunette Ruin Princess in her younger days, due to her habit of completely annihilating her enemies till not a trace of them was left using her abilities.

"Mother!" Sirzechs bound over to the woman who gave birth to him and gave her a big hug which she happily returned. He had been away from the Underworld for few years on a handful of diplomacy missions that he personally undertook to raise the Underworld's overall standing. It was an important task that was vital for regaining their former power. As a result he had been out of touch with his parents for a quite a few years and had become quite homesick.

Venelana too was very glad to see her son again. The past few years had been the longest he had been away from her and she had become quite depressed as years without a single message from her son had passed by. She only got by with the love and support of her husband, who was also feeling the effects of their son's absence but held off his own sorrow to take care of his wife.

"I missed you so much," she muttered while embracing her son.

"Me too," Sirzechs said quietly.

Grayfia watched the heartwarming exchange between mother and son with a smile on her face. To her it was a testament to the strong bond between her husband and mother-in-law, a bond she too wished to have one day when she had children of her own. In her eyes Venelana was the perfect example of good parenting. She had raised her son to become the man he is today - Lucifer, the leader of all the Devils.

After parting from her son, the Gremory matriarch turned to her daughter-in-law and embraced her as well, much to the younger woman's surprise. "Thank you for taking care of my son," she whispered into Grayfia's ear who in return said, "No thanks are needed for something I enjoy doing."

Venelana beamed at her and led her and Sirzechs to the family lounge where her husband Zeoticus was going over some of the new laws that were passed by the Parliament. Zeoticus Gremory was a handsome middle-aged man with crimson hair that framed his face and was tied in a lose ponytail. He had a pair of light blue eyes and finishing off his appearance was a small stubble. He looked up to see his wife enter the room and smiled widely when he saw who was following her.

"Sirzechs!" He exclaimed happily as he got up to greet his son. The two men met in a brief hug and sat down but not before the head of the House Gremory greeted Grayfia with the same vigor while greeting Sirzechs.

The Gremory family were seated around a coffee table talking about various subjects ranging from Sirzechs' mission to the new bakery that had opened in Lilith's Diamond Avenue. Venelana smiled at the scene. The conflict with the Angels and Fallen Angels had come to a halt, the militaristic rule of the original Maou was over, Devilkind was slowly regaining it's strength and would reach greater heights than before and her family was safe and together.

Everything was perfect but she couldn't help but feel something was amiss. There was something wrong with the picture before her and her heart, for some reason, ached at the thought. She could feel it. Her instincts screamed that she had forgotten something. Her motherly instincts reared their head as they thrashed about with her trying to remember what she had forgotten. The other three in the room had stopped speaking once they noticed her silence and the conflicted expression on her face and were by her side in an instant, looking at her worriedly and trying to snap her out of the trance she had fallen into - not that she noticed.

She was so lost in thought that her mind failed to register anything around her, focusing all of its energies on finding the missing piece. Her frustration was increasing at the lack of results and she internally cursed herself for getting caught in such an emotional and mental turmoil on the day her son returned, something which she, as a mother, had been looking forward to more than anything else so that their family could be together once more.

Son...

Mother...

Family...

It hit her like a ton of bricks and she let out a despaired cry, alarming the others, when she finally remembered. Memories of long ago assaulted her mind as various images of a beautiful newborn baby with crimson hair and bright blue eyes rushed to the forefront. She was inside her room, her family and trusted servants around her as she gently cradled the baby in her arms. Her husband and son were cooing at it and she was beaming at the way it latched onto their fingers with its tiny hands, its eyes looking at the three of them with curiosity, its face set in a toothless smile. It was her son! Her second child...

"N-Naruto...," she choked out in an inaudible tone.

"What is it, dear?" Zeoticus asked softly as he held his wife's shaking body, carefully wiping away the tears that were freely falling down her face. He had seen her lips move to say something but could not hear what was said.

"Naruto...where's Naruto?" Venelana asked while breathing heavily.

"Naruto?" Zeoticus wasn't sure why his wife said that. Naruto was a word he picked up when he was in the human world - a nation called Japan - which meant maelstrom but why would his wife say that? Sure he liked the word - he even wanted to use it as a name should he have another son...

He paled and immediately understood why his wife was so distressed. He did not want to name his second son Naruto, he had already named his second son Naruto - a turbulent whirlpool that would either attract or destroy all those caught within it. He remembered taking a small bundle from Venelana's arms and gazing at the small face that was peering out of it. Devils had a low birth rate - some couples couldn't conceive even after centuries of trying - so children were a precious gift. So why was it that despite being one of the few lucky ones to have more than a single child, he couldn't recall anything about his second son beyond the time of his birth?

"I don't know..." He muttered while looking off into the distance, reliving the memory of his second son's birth over and over again.

Venelana sobbed harder as she felt her heart get torn into pieces. She was a terrible mother, after all what kind of mother forgot she had another child? Ignored his existence to the point that she had no memories of him growing up?

Grayfia looked on in confusion and worry. They were having a nice, relaxing evening when suddenly her mother-in-law gradually broke down and started crying with her father-in-law following suit soon after. It was alarming to see the ever prim and proper Lord and Lady Gremory in this state which progressively got worse. On top of that they kept saying 'Naruto'. What was 'Naruto'? Was it a person? If so then who were they? They were obviously someone important, enough to make the elder Gremorys have an emotional breakdown at their absence but what exactly was their relation to the Gremory family and where were they now?

She looked towards her King and husband for an explanation but froze upon seeing the expression on his face. In all her years of knowing Sirzechs she had come to see him as a carefree person who had many bouts of idiocy but could also become frightening when angered. But the hollow expression filled with anguish was a first even for her. She had never seen him this down and to see him as broken as he was now was unnerving.

"Sirzechs...!"

"Follow me."

That was all the Maou Lucifer said as he got up and left the room. Grayfia hastily followed after one last look at the Gremory couple. She quickly caught up with her husband and noticed his previous expression was replaced by a blank one. No emotion was shown on his face and that worried her beyond anything else she had seen today. She had only seen that look once, when he faced off against the original Lucifer and at that time the entirety of Lucifer castle and the surrounding lands had been obliterated by the Power of Destruction. She and the rest of their allies barely escaped from the carnage with their lives intact. To see the exact same look once more sent cold shivers down her spine - ironic considering her powers.

She felt him flare a little of his energy in a certain pattern. It was a signal used by the Gremory family to gather all of their servants in the courtyard of the manor for important announcements and the like. She was curious as to why he used it but said nothing and instead followed dutifully behind him. Right now she was not his wife but rather Grayfia Lucifuge, Queen of Maou Sirzechs Lucifer. She could ponder over what was going through his head later but right now her only task was the follow his lead.

Sirzechs' mind was a mess as he walked towards the courtyard. He had just finished summoning all of the servants that worked at the manor and the grounds that surrounded it. The day started off great. He had returned to the Underworld with his beautiful wife Grayfia after spending many years away on a series of diplomatic missions. They had come straight to Gremory Manor to visit his parents and the four of them were having a wonderful time just sitting down and talking about anything that came to mind. It was a perfect picture - one shattered by the mention of the name 'Naruto'.

He had seen his mother get progressively distressed but was clueless as to what was making her like that. The whole family had converged around her and his father was trying to get her to speak up, to tell them what was wrong. He didn't think there was anything in the world that could make his mother become so pale and worried and a small part of him wondered whether she was needlessly inflating a minor problem into something much, much bigger than it actually was. She had done so a few times before and his father had jokingly said she should become a stage actress whose role was to be a drama queen. His mother had slept alone for a year and barred his father entry to their room.

When his mother mentioned the name Naruto did he truly understand the gravity of the issue and blanched when he realized the implications of it. He felt killing himself then and there as soon as he remembered what the name Naruto meant for him and his family.

Naruto was his parents' second son and child, a rarity in the Underworld for a single couple. More than that Naruto was his baby brother. Being an only child for many centuries made him long for a younger sibling; someone he could play, tease, mess around and share secrets with to his hearts content. When his parents had told him they were expecting another child, he was overjoyed and had begun writing up a list of all the things he would do with his sibling - with two categories, for a brother and sister each. His happiness was infectious and even the servants had begun planning for the arrival of a new young master - the old one having long since grown up.

The day of his brother's birth was one of the happiest ones in his life. He could now clearly remember beaming down at crimson haired baby wrapped in a bundle. He had reached out with his hand to touch the baby and laughed heartily when a tiny hand latched onto his. He had briefly wondered how his brother was able to do something like that - babies were not so aware of their surroundings at birth - but chocked it up to his new brother being special.

His happiness was short-lived however, when they discovered they couldn't detect any demonic energy coming from Naruto. It wasn't the case of there being so little energy that it couldn't be sensed - his father was a renown wizard-type Devil so demonic energy, no matter how small, would never get unnoticed by him - rather he had no demonic energy at all. Zero. And that was a huge problem for him.

All devils, when born, gave off demonic energy. This was a commonly known fact. One's potential could be gauged by the quantity and potency of the energy. The fact that Naruto had no energy could mean many things but chief among them was that he had no potential as a Devil and would, at best, be slightly stronger than the average human.

This was unacceptable.

Another commonly known act about Devils was that they respected power. Even those who didn't show it respected powerful beings instinctively. Naruto, at the time of his birth, was the heir apparent of House Gremory and a pureblood Devil, one of few they had left. Someone like him, who was born in the upper echelons of Devil society, would be treated lower than dirt by most Devils because of his lack of Demonic energy. He would barred from every tradition a Devil took part in as he grew, blocked at many turns in the future as an adult and constantly berated wherever he went. Their parents and he would never do something like that but there was no way for them to control the masses.

Another downside of not having any demonic energy was that he could not fight. This was a major issue, especially during the Civil War. The Maou faction would see Naruto as an easy target and attempt to kill his brother to hurt him, one of the leaders of the rebels. Even the Anti-Maou faction, his allies and comrades, wouldn't take kindly to Naruto's birth. They would see him as a liability during a time where every able bodied person was needed to fight, having someone guarding Naruto would have been an inconvenience for them.

It was because of this they told no one about Naruto's birth, his mother had even hidden her pregnancy as to not alert the Maou faction about her weakness, and left him in the care of the servants of the House of Gremory. While they weren't fighters, the servants would be enough to hold off any threat and buy enough time for someone from the Anti-Maou faction to reach the manor in case of an attack by the Maou faction. There was also the fact that members of the Gremory family had treated their servants with great respect and kindness for centuries so they were certain they would take good care of Naruto when they left the manor a few hours after his birth to rejoin the fighting which had escalated in intensity.

The war continued on for a few years and during that time neither he nor his parents had time for anything but the war. They hadn't visited the Gremory manor and instead spent most of their time fighting on the battlefield or recovering at various base camps. When the war was over he was made Lucifer and was sworn in as the new leader of the Underworld. His workload was dramatically increased and his schedule did not allow time for any breaks. Thankfully he had Grayfia by his side to ease his burdens or else he would have snapped under the pressure of fixing the damage done by the war, taking care of the populace and dealing with external threats who sought to take advantage of their weakened state.

His parents too become caught up in managing the various properties under them which had been neglected for so long. All of them got so involved and caught up in their duties that any thoughts they might have had regarding the youngest Gremory simply slipped from their minds. It was this act that caused him to feel and endless amount of shame and self-loathing. How could he forget about Naruto? Sure he was busy but couldn't he spare a bit of his time for him. What about when he took time off from his duties and visited his parents? He didn't so much as ask about, much less see, his younger sibling. And why was that? Because he fucking forgot he had one!

He was scum - no worse than scum. They called him Lucifer, the strongest Devil in the Underworld, one of the top 10 beings in the world, savior and pride of Devilkind and the one Devil everyone in the Underworld looked up to. He felt bile rise up in his throat while thinking about his numerous titles. He was undeserving of them. He was a great Leader - anyone who knew him could say so with confidence - but was he a great person? Apparently not, if the way he simply forgot about his kin was any indication.

He wanted to be angry at his parents - their reactions to Naruto's name was more than enough proof that they too forgot about him - but he'd be a hypocrite for doing so. His mind may be a mess but it was dead set on one goal: To see Naruto. He wanted to see his brother, to take in his appearance and hear his voice. He couldn't fathom Naruto's reaction upon seeing him. Would he be happy to see him? He didn't think so. If anything, his brother would be angry at him and their parents, an anger well justified. He would make it up to him though. Even if it took centuries he would earn his brothers forgiveness and start anew but none of that could happen until he met him.

If Naruto had demonic energy he could have simply spread his senses and search for it but he couldn't do that because his brother possessed none of the energy that Devils used. Which meant he had to physically look for him but the manor was large and his brother could be anywhere in it so it would take a long time to find him - something he didn't have the patience for. Which is why he was gathering the family's servants to ask them the whereabouts of his brother. They were the ones who were tasked with raising him so they would know where he was.

The courtyard of the Gremory manor was a large open area with a stone path running through the center and beautiful gardens on either side of it. There was a circular platform directly in the middle and it was here that the servants of the Gremory family were gathered.

There were around 40 servants of various ages ranging from teenagers to adults. Despite looking around the same age, many of them had served the family for centuries and none of them was relatively new; all of them had been hired or taken in before the Civil War so they had the family's confidence due to years of loyal service.

The servants were currently standing on the platform in confusion. They had been summoned by their master. While this was nothing out of the ordinary, the fact that Sirzechs was the one who put forth the summons came as a surprise to them. Sirzechs never summoned them like this - not even when he was still the Gremory heir. Their confusion turned into trepidation and fear when they saw Sirzechs walking down the path to the platform with a blank expression on his face.

It was not the expression itself which made them afraid but rather the crushing weight of his presence when he wore it. It was like having an entire mountain placed on your head while being held up, knees unable to buckle to bring it down to flatten you and end the pain. The were rooted in their places and no matter how much they wished to get away from the Maou they were unable to do so for their minds could not focus on anything but the Maou.

Sirzechs saw the effect of his power over the servants and reeled it in, causing the servants to breathe in a sigh of relief but still be on guard when they saw him frowning. He had not only reeled in his power but also put a tighter lid on his emotions, turning his blank face to a frowning one. He wanted to know where his brother was so having the servants to afraid to make a single movement would be counterproductive.

Wanting to know his brother's location fast and let the servants return to their duties he said, "I have called you all today to ask a single question, one that I want answered. Where is my brother?"

He felt Grayfia stiffen behind and stare at him intensely. He inwardly sighed at having to explain everything to his wife later and was slightly hesitant over her reaction. She would no doubt be angry with him and might even punish him like she does when he would try to slack off from his duties as a Maou. It was a scary thought but he could focus on that matter later, after having seen his brother.

The servants took a few moments to comprehend his question but when they did his frown grew and a hint of worry seeped into his eyes. Many of the younger servants had become pale and the older ones were sweating slightly. The only one who remained fully composed was the Head Butler Irvaan but he could see the apprehension in the man's eyes. All of them were reactions that spoke of something being wrong.

"Well," he pressed on, "where is he?"

"What do you mean, Sirzechs-sama?" Irvaan asked.

"You know very well what I mean. Where is Naruto?"

"I'm afraid I do not know who you are speaking of, Sir. I do not know anyone named Naruto." The old butler was lying through his teeth, he could tell. He sounded very convincing and Sirzechs would have bought it when he was younger but having fought in two major wars and dealt with various politicians during his reign as Maou allowed him to see through all sorts of deceit. That and the fact that he clearly remembered having a brother named Naruto and Irvaan being there when he was born made it obvious that the Head Butler was lying.

"Do not lie to me, Irvaan. Where is Naruto?"

"Like I said, Sir, I do not know anyone named Naruto. Though there was a useless piece of trash here a few years ago that was a shame upon the Gremory name. We called him Failure."

The Head Butler's face took on an ugly look and he met Sirzechs furious gaze with one of his own.

"Explain yourself!" Sirzechs said through gritted teeth. A dangerous aura began to envelop him which sent most of the servants scampering backwards. They would have run away as well had Grayfia not frozen their feet when the reached the edge of the platform. Irvaan, though, stayed where he was and was undeterred by Sirzechs' intimidation.

"Honestly, Sir, what will you gain by inquiring about that which besmirched the Gremory name? The boy was an ungrateful waste of breathing room. Failure-"

"Don't call my brother that!"

"Blood he may have been but a failure is a failure nonetheless. Nothing will change that. He should have been happy to serve his betters but that wasn't enough for him was it? He bit the hand that fed him, disregarded everything we did for him and ran away. For that I apologize - I should have trained him better."

Sirzechs was seeing red at this point and it took every bit of willpower he could muster to not destroy Irvaan where he stood. He needed information and Irvaan was his best source. He'd stay his hand...for now. Idly he noticed his parents approach but paid them no mind. He was too busy dealing with the vermin in front of him.

"What did you do to him?" He whispered in a deadly tone that sent shivers down the spines of all those who heard it.

"I'm afraid that has nothing to do with the current discussion. Your inquiry was 'Where is the Failure?' not 'The kindness we showered upon him'."

Sirzechs had to hand it to the man for not backing down in face of his oppressive aura and still having the gall to talk to him that way. It spoke of some serious courage, not that it would help him here of course. Irvaan was a dead man. All that was left was to squeeze as much information out of him as possible before ending him.

His eyes flashed red and his voice became laced with demonic energy as he said, "Speak!"

It was an ability he developed while interrogating members of the Maou faction during the Civil War. It by concentrating his demonic energy in his mouth, he could place a compulsion spell on his words which would make whomever the compulsion was directed to obey his order without question. It had it's weaknesses though, the foremost being that those with a large amount of demonic energy and a strong will could resist. He hadn't used the ability on anyone from another faction yet but he was sure the same applied to them as well.

Fortunately Irvaan had a below average amount of demonic energy and while his will was strong, it was not enough to help him resist the effects of the compulsion causing him to speak. And speak he did.

Irvaan told him all about how he and the other servants despised Naruto. They were angry that someone weaker than them was at a higher position on the social ladder and did everything they could to make his life miserable. They made him into a servant and gave him more duties and task than any other servant in the history of the Gremory family. They constantly insulted him and deliberately sabotaged him while he worked to berate him some more. Whenever Naruto made a mistake he was punished severely. It was mostly nightmares through magic and weeks without food but they would sometimes become very torturous and give him lashes.

When asked why neither he nor his parents noticed any of this he responded by saying he camouflaged Naruto's appearance using illusions and used a spell that would make him unnoticeable to the Gremory family unless they were actively seeking him out. Sirzechs' flashed with pain upon hearing with this but before his self loathing could return with a vengeance Irvaan said something that sent all self-deprecating thoughts out of his head and replaced them with a raging inferno of hatred.

Irvaan revealed that Naruto was made aware of his relation to the Gremory family from the start to make his life even more miserable. He was told his family abandoned him because he was a failure and that he could earn his family's approval by working hard, making him happily take up the excessive task they gave him and suffer through his punishments while thinking his family threw him away and cursed him with his current life. He finished by saying that Naruto originally bore through the work and punishments with a smile but he was broken soon enough and he eventually had enough and ran away. This was ten years ago.

When Irvaan finished speaking Sirzechs couldn't take it any more and sent a blast of his Power of Destruction at the man who was hit simultaneously by not one but two blasts of the same type. He whirled around to see his mother, hand outstretched and more fury than he had ever seen etched on her face. Before he, or anyone for that matter, could say anything to her she directed her hand at the group of servants frozen at their legs and sent of volley of her destructive energy at them, destroying them and leaving no traces of them ever being there. After that she collapsed in her husband's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Hiss father had also reached the end of his restrained and let his own tears falls as well. He himself sat down on the ground, contemplating everything he had learned while Grayfia wrapped her arms around him and comforted him with her close proximity. He would have thanked her had he not been too busy holding back his wails of sorrow while twin rivers of tears flowed down his face.

On that day, for the residents of the Underworld, all of the servants at Gremory manor had mysteriously disappeared. An investigation, headed by Maou Lucifer, was carried out but it quickly ran into a dead end and was subsequently called off. Grayfia Lucifuge, at her own behest, was sworn in as the new Head Maid of House Gremory and was in charge of taking care of the manor and finding and training new servants with the blessings of her husband and in-laws. The Gremory's became more closed off and their love for their servants, sans Grayfia, that they were famous for had diminished greatly.

10 YEARS AGO - FOREST AT THE OUTSKIRTS OF GREMORY TERRITORY

He had done it. He was finally away from that wretched place!

For years he had suffered at hands of those people while being shunned by his family. He hated them, all of them. He wanted nothing more than to punish them like they punished him. But he couldn't do that. He was weak, that much was sure.

Sure he might be able to take on the other servants with the unique skills he had developed but his family was full of monsters, one of the other servants had told him. They could destroy mountains and someone like him would even last a second against them.

Which is why he was content with simply getting as far away from that place as possible and living his life the way he wanted to. He was finally free and could go wherever he wanted but...

"Where do I go?"

He knew nothing of the world beyond the manor grounds and the snippets he had heard from the other servants. He was effectively lost and he couldn't help but run his hands through his crimson hair - he wasn't sure why but it constantly shifted from red to brown to red again and so on but thankfully it had stayed red since leaving the manor.

He heard footsteps behind him and he hastily whirled around to see what it was. He was afraid it might be one of the servants who had come to take him back but his fear was unfounded when he saw what, or rather who was standing behind him.

It was a little girl with black hair and pointed ears. She was wearing what seemed to be black dress shirt without the front part and white trousers. There were straps of cloth covering her front body but despite that it was still mostly bare. Her eyes were grey and they were currently dull, showing no emotion like the rest of her face.

He didn't who she was but could tell she was powerful. He could feel it. But even then she didn't seem or feel threatening.

"Hello," he said while waving at her. He didn't know her but maybe she could tell him where he was and where should he go.

She tilted her head slightly as she looked at him, dull grey eyes staring into bright blue. His eyes had dulled over the years and had just recently regained their former shine.

She lifted up her hand and also waved at him and he smiled, thinking that meant he could talk to her, but before he could take a step towards her a purple glow appeared underneath him. He looked down see a dark opening and his eyes widened as he fell through it.

He landed on his back as soon as he fell through the weird opening and his eyes widened further when he saw his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the sky. It had been purple for as long he could remember but now it was suddenly blue. He then took note of the ground underneath him. It was soft and yellow. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before and when he touched it it felt like touching salt. Another major feature was the large pool of water nearby. It was full of water for as far as the his eyes could see.

He was standing in a forest before and now he was in some strange place after seeing that little girl. He had a hunch she had something to do with this. It was a gut feeling. Finding himself in a new location, still as lost and clueless as he was before all Naruto could say was:

"Where am I dattebayo!"

You have finished reading the first chapter of Whose Bright Idea Was It To Stick A Bunch Of Immortals Together?

Whose Bright Idea Was It To Stick A Bunch Of Immortals Together? is an adventure story served with humor, suspense, romance, bromance, drama and crack on the side.

Whose Bright Idea Was It To Stick A Bunch Of Immortals Together? is the child born when I thought of the following:

1. Why is Sirzechs such a sis-con? What if he adores her so much is because he's pouring the love for two siblings into one?

2. Why does almost every Naruto x High School DxD fanfiction with Naruto in it have:
A. Him coming from the Naruto-verse to the DxD-verse and attending Kuoh Academy?
B. Him coming from the Naruto-verse to the DxD-verse and becoming completely OOC?
C. Him born in the DxD-verse with no hint of Naruto from the Naruto-verse aside from the name and sometimes appearance?

3. How the hell did the Great War last for thousands of years? Devils have low birth rates so how did the maintain an army for thousands of years when God of the Bible could mass produce Angels? And how could it last for thousands of years without the other factions and pantheons interfering?

4. How were the current four Maou made Maou? Did they pass a test? Were only the strongest crowned Maou? If so then what about guys like Zekram Bael and Diehauser Belial and the other top rank Rating Game players? They are are also said to be Maou level so why not? What if they were the ones to actually kill the original Maou?

5. What if the original Maou hadn't died in the war and were instead weakened? This would make the Civil War far more intense and allow for the current Maou to kill them and rightfully take their places.

These thoughts led to countless others and soon Whose Bright Idea Was It To Stick A Bunch Of Immortals Together? was conceived.

Now I know what you're thinking, 'This guy makes some good points but he won't follow through with most of what he's thought of and make the story a soulless harem fic that the DxD section is full of!' right?

Well to answer that, you are correct. On the harem part that is. You can't have a DxD story without a harem. It just feels wrong for whatever reason. But the parts about not following through with my plot points and not giving the story an identity of its own are wrong. I will try to write the story to the best of my ability so that anyone who reads it will end up enjoying it.

This chapter was the exposition chapter so there wasn't much dialogue or humor but the coming chapters will change that.

The Great War is different from canon, having lasted only a few centuries instead of millenniums. One major thing to note is that the Church did not take part in it. God of the Bible did not want humans to take part in the war so the members of the Church were instead tasked with protecting the ordinary civilians from the other sides and taking care of the general welfare of the Christian population.

This won't be covered in the story till much later but God of the Bible disappeared after forming the Sacred Gears and sealing Trihexa AFTER the Great War. That's right God of the Bible is gone and know one aside from those residing in Heaven knows about it. Let's see how that affects canon shall we?

On the Devil side Sirzechs and Ajuka have been kicked off the top 10 ranking list. Instead the Maou, the Devils close to them in power, the Seraphim and the six-winged Fallen Angels are around the same level. This is to level the playing field because according to canon the Devils can walk over the other Biblical factions whenever they feel like it.

The Evil Pieces have also been altered. The King piece no longer functions like it does in canon. Instead it is purely there to link the pieces, allowing a King to better understand their peerage and exert control over them should they get out of hand. This was done to prevent rebellions within peerages but Kuroka and the other stray Devils obviously didn't get the memo and left anyway. The King's control over a peerage member isn't absolute. The bond between master and servant and the strength of the King play an important role in how effective the controlling aspect is.

Can I also take a moment to say how OP God of the Bible is? He single-handedly sealed away Trihexa and the two Heavenly Dragon Emperors. It takes a great deal of power to do that and God of the Bible has it in spades.

Seeing as I'm going on about Trihexa, you may be wondering if it'll play and important role in this story. It won't. I just like saying Trihexa. Trihexa.

With all of that said don't expect another chapter anytime soon and don't think I'll be adding another long ass AN like this one in it. If you have questions then send me a PM as I won't be answering reviews via AN.

shahzehan out.