So it's kind of been a while hasn't it? Life has been crazy this past year and I've experienced a lot of different changes in my life. Some of them have been very good for me and others… well others haven't been. But I think that I've finally re-found my muse. Let's just hope I can still live up to the hype that this story once had. After months of reediting and going over what I've wanted to do with this story I finally came up with a clear vision that I'm going to follow. Thanks for staying with it if your still here and if you're not well I can't exactly blame you.

I would go over and re-read at least chapters 3 and 4 because there have been some edits there mostly to combat but some tweaks in the dialogue as well. Most of it is to the fight sequences and showy stuff due to the change of the poll I took… many months ago. This chapter was also supposed to be a lot longer too but I decided I wanted to get myself out there again so I would save the ending of this arc for next chapter. With all that said DarkNaruto101 is back baby and it's time to roll on with Dragon of a Different Kind!

Life 5: Awareness

He was used to waiting calmly when he had to. His parents in fact thought that it was one of the many good things about the child they had raised; that he could be patient, polite, and rather calm when it came to many different areas. He was good a good student and while not the fastest learner after a bit of practice in a subject he could still come out on top of the rest of his class. If he had actually done sports he could have been one of those supposed perfect guys that girls read about in those shoujo manga he had seen some of his female classmates read.

Naruto snorted to himself lightly. No if anyone fit that bill of perfect guy it would have been the "Prince of Kuoh Academy" Yuuto Kiba. While his grades weren't Naruto's he still managed to score very high usually. He also did not participate in sports but he still did exceptionally well in gym class and proved he could have easily done them if he had tried. Not even the fact that he had been in a club that essentially studied the supernatural was considered off putting by anyone… though that might have more to do with the rest of the people in it then what they did if anything.

No. To most of the girls at school none of that had mattered. Apparently he could do no wrong as the teenage heartthrob or something. Apparently girls were suckers for guys with boyish good looks and very polite attitudes. Who knew?

Naruto could have not done what Yuuto did, especially when he was younger. When he was young he was constantly full of energy and no one could get him to calm down whatsoever. He, Issei, and Irina used to have so much fun to the point the two could barely keep up with him he was so jumpy. He was so hyper that his parents even had trouble getting him to sit still at times. He had always needed to be doing something and a lot of it was not the studying his parents had wanted. Not at first.

That all changed after he had been diagnosed with an acute form of Schizophrenia and started taking medication prescribed for it. From there he had begun to slow down a bit and lost most of that excess energy he had been keeping inside. Eventually after a while he was almost what most would qualify as a normal kid… though his mother did mention he was always a little too stubborn and a little moody. The moodiness had been a side effect of the medication but it had eventually gone away.

It sucked to him at first. He remembered being annoyed as a kid because his once boundless amount of energy had gone away and his parents had made him sit and study. It had never been his forte as a kid but instead of just telling him to do it his parents had taken time out of their schedules and helped him. They helped him come up with creative ways to do it and even attempted to make it fun for him though it never really worked as planned.

With two of his major problems as a kid he felt like he could handle anything. He was calm and was learning easier. He learned that he could manage his problems and could handle them easily…

Until tonight it seemed.

For the first time in a while he was antsy. Normally he would have just accounted it toward his whole nervousness over the talk he is supposed to be having the voices in his head tonight. That might have sounded weird to anyone else but it was the truth. Of course he would be nervous. He was, after all, about to meet a group that had caused him a major amount of stress in his life. Suffice to say he just wanted to get to the bottom of what had been going on to meet anyone like that would probably make someone antsy too.

Another reason for his level of anxiousness could also happen to be that his friend had died the day before and now the rest of the world fundamentally knew about it. As soon as he had gotten home from the park he had found both his mother and father at waiting for him. His mother had tears in her eyes while his father had just looked at him with a saddened expression.

It was only after his mother had come up and hugged him that he realized that his mother was crying in worry for him while his father had just come and pat him on the back. Apparently they had to hear about what happened from Issei's parents. Issei had only lived about a block away from him so it wasn't that far a stretch that they had found out.

His parents had also apparently received word from the school about what occurred at the ceremony. Apparently hitting a girl in the face and then cutting the rest of the school day while walking out in the middle of a school assembly was call for about a month's suspension with school work being set home every week for him to complete… not that he could really blame them for doing that though he did think that the punishment was a little excessive himself. And despite the fact that these things would drive any normal parent crazy they were not mad at him for doing what he did. They didn't care wither it was right or wrong; they just wanted to make sure he was okay.

But even the death of his friend, something that had been at the forefront of his mind since it had happened last night was not the reason for his discomfort. His problems were not an issue of sadness at the moment as much as it was just feeling like he had so much energy flowing through him at the moment… he felt like he was a kid again, like he would be bouncing off the walls at any second if he could get away with it. The previous levels of energy he had as a child had returned to him and he did not know what to do about it nor how to handle it.

A side effect of his medication was to literally make him more lethargic. To the average person it would typically make them more tired. For him, however, it only returned made him have the same amount of vigor someone his age had. There had been nothing wrong with that either. Issei could finally keep up with him when they had hung out then and they got tired together too. If anything it had been a somewhat welcome change.

But now, to a mind who had not been used to it in such a while, it was almost agonizing. He instinctively began to tap his foot against the ground in annoyance. He needed something to do while he was waiting. Something to help calm him down…

He needed something to focus on and he decided to make that focus the card in his hand. It was a simple business card and unlike how others tried to dress their cards in bright, eye-catching colors this one was just a plain white with only two different sets of information on it. The first piece was the name of the teen he had meet today. Hayate Fujihara's name was written in plain bold letters running across the white strip. Below it was his personal phone number. A phone number he was supposed to call when he had made a choice.

Choice. It was a rather simple concept to a fault. It stood as one's ability to pick their own path, follow their own story like one of those choose your own adventure books. It was supposed to be the options you could pick in any given situation and live your life the way you wanted. His parents had brought him up on the idea that he always had a choice too.

What everyone seemed to forget about choices though is that there was always a positive and negative reaction to the action taken. The choices a person made not only affected their own path but the paths of other people as well wither they knew it or not. It was like if one man decided not to do his work at the office one day. He made his own choice in how to spend his time and that was fine. However he had forced a new set of choices and possibilities onto another group of people, those who relied on him to get his work done, and now they were not exactly favorable choices for any party involved.

The choice he would be forced to make was no different. On one hand he could strike out on his own. He could try and figure out his new abilities by himself. He would not be bound to the rules of others and he could make his own story as he went along. It might be hard to find allies or people to assist him in his ideals but he would still be able to maintain a semblance of autonomy.

On the other hand he could go with the other option. He could become…

"… An agent of your organization," Naruto questioned as he sat back against the bench. Today had just been one blow after another for him. Of course he had wanted to know what kind of world he had found himself in but this… this was just bad news on so many different levels he could barely count them. Apparently he had found himself in a new world where everyone in the supernatural was freaking nuts.

"Yes," replied the glasses wearing teen in stride, staring blankly into his notebook and jotting things down rather neatly with his pen. "I believe that someone like you would make a very good agent."

"We just met not even thirty minutes ago," cried the exasperated blonde. "How would you know I would fit in with this super-secret occult super sentai type club?"

Hayate stopped writing in his notebook and turned his head to look at his whiskered companion, a thin eyebrow raised. His stare made Naruto feel like he was being looked at as if he was stupid. "Did you just compare an organization of trained agent's to a children's TV show?" Seeing the blond suddenly scratch his cheek in embarrassment the agent sighed. "You do realize that I've read your file right? It has grades, personality profile, general habits, physical body proportions including height, weight, genital siz…"

"OKAY," Naruto shouted while slapping his hand quickly over Hayate's mouth. "Have you guys ever heard of privacy? How do you know all of this stuff? If you guys are a government group then doesn't that mean you guys have limits to what you can do or something."

The brown haired boy removed Naruto's hand from his face. "I said we were formed by the United Nations," he said with a frown marring his features. "As for how we got the information… well that's classified unless you join."

Naruto wrapped his arms around himself and began to grumble. "Of course it's classified," he grit out in annoyance before continuing. "Besides even if you know that you still even answered why you believe I could join up. What makes you think your organization will even accept me? I'm just some guy who just found out he can use magic and has gauntlet that is pretty rare."

Hayate reached down to a pocket in his coat and pulled out a white cloth. "You're really underestimating the ability of [Boosted Gear]," remarked the brown haired boy candidly as he took off his glasses and proceeded to clean them, eyes lidded during the process. "Imagine if you will it being in the hands of someone who, much like yourself, is determined. That gauntlet has the ability to, as I'm sure you're already aware, square the magical power and physical ability a wielder every ten seconds. It does this until the user is left with little to no stamina to continue boosting."

The brown haired boy finished cleaning lenses and placed the cloth back in his pocket and proceeded to return his glasses toward their proper position. "Now imagine," he began again, "that a person with incredible physical endurance comes along and manages to receive the ability of the Red Dragon Emperor; they gain the ability to square their own power. What do you think happens Tachibana?"

"They get a lot stronger," replied the blonde instantly, failing to see where his fellow teen was going.

The short haired boy shook his head. "Yes but your underestimating the value it seems." He turned his gaze straight toward Naruto, his yellow orbs staring directly into his own blue. "When the organization was first looking at you we found you to be a very good prospect to join up. However, now that the legendary abilities of the Red Dragon Emperor are in your possession your potential strength has shot through the roof and in all honesty I myself am not sure where it falls now. The only thing I can surely say is that with enough training and practice you have the potential to be one of the strongest humans in recorded history. That in itself is not something anyone can say."

The blonde was stunned and looked at his hands. He had the potential to be that strong? It seemed too good to be true…

The blonde paused for a moment and looked at his contact. "Wait a second, you said that Ddraig and [Boosted Gear] gave their users the ability to kill god's right? Then how many have the previous users of this thing killed?"

"… to date no user of the [Boosted Gear] has killed a god," Hayate finally answered flatly.

The whiskered teen looked at him with growing annoyance. "Then how do you know this thing has the potential to kill a damned god?"

"Because Longinus gears are special even amongst sacred gears. Outside the fact that only one of each of them exists they do the impossible: they combine aspects of abilities that should for all intents and purposes be impossible to perform. As a result each gear of the Longinus class have theoretically enough power and bizarreness to their abilities that the slaying of a deity should be possible. The only reasons most Longinus class gear users have never killed gods before though is mostly due to…"

"Wait," the blonde stopped Hayate from continuing, his gaze deadpanned. "Don't tell me. The others got arrogant and or power drunk because some moron told them their gear had the ability to kill a god thus they decided to forgo training and got themselves killed by gods and other beings for even trying without forethought."

"… That's actually the basic gist of what we've actually managed to get on record from various sources. Were the reports wrong in suggesting you had no previous involvement with the supernatural?"

"Just a lucky guess," Naruto replied whist rolling his eyes. "So in other words it doesn't give someone the ability to kill a god right away and you got to work for your strength still lest someone end up like previous idiots going into battle. Got it. You still haven't answered why you think I would be good despite all of this stuff. Just having the gauntlet and magical ability can't make you a good candidate can it?"

Hayate regarded him with his cool gaze. "While these things are useful and your personality profile fits closely with what we look for in an agent that isn't what makes me think you'd be a good match." The agent leaned even further back against the bench in a more relaxed position and, for the first time since Naruto had met him, almost could make out a look of melancholy under his still stern visage. "An important person to me once told me something that he believed made a great agent. I think if he ever met you he would see that description fit you perfectly."

"What did he say?"

"'A good agent doesn't need to be incredibly skilled or the smartest person in the world. A good agent is just someone who has…'"

"'… the desire to protect those closest to them… and those people that they'll never meet,'" repeated the blonde as he remembered the words of his fellow human.

Looking at it now Hayate gave him a choice about what he could do but in the end he still felt trapped in a way. He told him what he had today because the brown hair boy was deliberately gambling on this value that he believed had defined his being. He decided he didn't like his fellow teen at that moment but in all honesty was the brown hair agent right?

When he had thought about it at first he couldn't see what the brown hair boy meant. Sure he wanted to protect his family and friends but would he really try to martyr himself to protect strangers, people whom he's never met and never will? If he were to ask himself seriously he would probably not know himself.

"It is almost surprising for me to hear you say that," rang out the voice he identified as harsh and cruel sounding, guttural almost if he was really trying to define it. "In all honesty if I didn't know any better I would have said that this was all one big trick. Then again I guess you are different a different person." The voice paused for a moment almost in thought. "… Definitely smarter than before that is for sure."

At that moment Naruto was unsure if he should feel insulted or just plain annoyed. This thing was calling him dumb? Okay as a kid he could maybe have admitted to being dumb but he worked hard to get where he was and to get his grades. He was certainly note some genius that was just born and absorbed information! He studied like every day when he was younger because his mom made him and after a while it just felt natural, that was all.

"Oh yeah well go fuck yourself," Naruto shouted within his thoughts before groaning lightly. If his mother heard his mouth now she would have washed it out with soap. He had learned that lesson as a kid and was not keen on learning it again.

The voice just chuckled. "Well don't I stand corrected," the voice mused. "It seems that maybe you still do have a chance at having that spark."Before Naruto could ask he felt his eyes grow heavy and his mind slow down slightly. "Relax," the voice soothed in a whisper. "You'll be able to ask your questions soon enough."

Naruto would have responded but his body seemed to relax on its own, sliding along the bed as his back ran against the head board of his bed. He could minutely hear the long soft screech of his downward shift on the bed and his head felt dizzy. The room begin to spin almost as his head finally hit his pillow. The colors seemed to swirl before everything went black.

And then new colors, new feelings began to enter his vision. The surface above him was pure white, like he was staring at something that he was unsure about how it ended. It was like he was staring into a void… but it was white, the polar opposite of what a void is supposed to be. Voids were the absent of light period because light was sucked in and unable to escape in a void. Here though…

"Are you done staring at the white ceiling and pondering the meaning of life or whatever it is you humans do," asked a voice from the side snootily.

It was in that moment when Naruto looked at the side that he almost flinched in shock. He was staring at a giant orange paw… hand… whatever it was. It was covered in deep orange fur that went all along its arm going up. What was scary though was that the paw was big enough to crush him and then some if it wanted to. In all honesty it made him dread looking upwards, knowing that the creature that was sitting in the upright position probably would tower over him. He ended up looking upwards anyway.

Looking down at him was the face of a giant fox with deep red silted eyes the size of an average person. Its face, like the rest of its body, was covered in dark orange fur. Around its eyes and going into its ears were black fur giving the features and interesting contrast. Over all he would look incredibly menacing if he didn't have…

"…Bunny ears," Naruto absent mindedly commented aloud.

The room was completely silent for a minute but the young blonde was sure he saw a twitch enter the eyes of the giant creature. Suddenly it brought its paw up and smashed it into the ground, sending Naruto flying into the air. Naruto would have screamed had he not been captured within the creature's free paw almost painfully and lifted him until his entire face was level with the pupil of its bloodshot right eye.

"Did you just say my ears were those of an infernal rabbit's," shouted the creature, with Naruto recognizing it as the deep guttural and harsh sounding voice… though this time it seemed to be taking a more comedic approach to dealing with him instead.

In that moment, instead of feeling the fear most rational people would have told him too he felt rather emboldened and instead continued to run his mouth. "You heard me or are those giant ears of your just for show," Naruto shouted in return while staring the beast in the eye. "I mean I would hope with those giant floppy things would actually be able to hear something but apparently that was an assumption on my part. My bad. Let me speak up for you." Naruto took as deep a breath as he could in beast's grip before yelling "YOUR EARS LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG ON A RABBIT!"

Before the fox could retort laughter of all kinds echoed throughout the room as the fox glared at something from the corner of its eye. Naruto though was able to recognize them as the voices that had been speaking to him over the many years. He could also actually make out the laughter of Ddraig in mixed in as well, signifying that the dragon was here as well.

One obvious laugh stood out though as the voice of the one who had taken the form of the spear. "Ha, he's got your number now doesn't he you damned fox," shouted the voice of Shukaku rich with mirth. He could almost feel a pair of eyes set on him. "Nice one Naruto!"

"Well if you like it why don't you hold Naruto then," the fox beast shouted as it reared the arm that held Naruto back and caused said boy to groan in realization about what he was going to be happening to him. He was right as he was sent forward in a throwing motion and sent toward the rapidly approaching face of what looked to be a sand covered raccoon head with golden eyes with a crossed pupil, much like what his eyes had looked like when he used the being's powers. When he was smacked into its forehead, unfortunately, it was nowhere near as soft as sand.

He impacted with a quick and painful groan while apparently the sandy raccoon creature was sent reeling backwards slightly in pain. He was about to slide downward but luckily one of the creatures paws caught him beforehand and held him up to towards its face. The creature had a mischievous look in its golden stared eyes as a grin worked its way onto his maw.

"Heya Naruto," the raccoon-no that wasn't the right word to describe Shukaku's form-said happily. "Ignore the fox, he's just a pain in the ass anyway." The raccoon… Tanuki maybe… brought him closer to its mouth and tried to whisper. "It think he's just jealous that we kicked ass last night and he didn't. He's a sore loser like that."

"I can hear you, you blasted Tanuki," shouted back the orange furred fox with a roar, causing Naruto to turn slightly and see it sending a heavy glare toward the person currently holding him. "Besides of course he would need the weakest of us. If he had used someone like me it would have ended up being too easy a fight."

N aruto felt Shukaku's palm tremble in rage as he roared. "You want to go Kurama," returned the Tanuki before gaining a slightly more playful tone. "I mean could someone with rabbit ears really put up that much of a fight?"

The newly named Kurama roared at Shukaku as it began to march toward them. Naruto honestly thought the two creatures were going to actually go to blows. Just watching this minor interaction between the two of them told him that they fought a lot in of itself. He could see it clear as day too with the way the insulted one another though he could not tell if it was just playful infighting or actual hatred.

He would continue to be unable to decide wither or not that was the case as a powerful stream of orange fire passed through the open space, stopping Kurama from even coming close to Shukaku. It was so powerful that Naruto could feel the intense heat and thought he would break out in a sweat as a result of it.

[Enough,] boomed the familiar voice of the Ddraig from the side, causing Naruto to look back and see something he had only seen in story books as a kid. He had been informed that Ddraig was an ancient dragon but seeing it was really believing. He was around the same size as Kurama and Shukaku, but his towering scaled form was a touch more menacing than that of the monster fox and Tanuki. If anything he could liken the two to giant plush toys in comparison. His most predominate feature had to be the almost crimson red scales covering his body in the two glowing green orbs he called eyes. For a lesser being it would have been an intimidating site.

"You want a go too you big old pile of scales," returned the Tanuki, turning his body, as well as Naruto, from his previous target. "You think you're so high and mighty right because you got the power to double your strength? Please, you wouldn't stand a chance where we come from! The humans there would have laughed at you… or sealed your scaled ass like they did the rest of us!"

Naruto saw the dragon glower at him. [Says the Tanuki with barely any strength of his own right now!] The blonde could not help but sweat drop at the sight of three towering beings arguing with each other like children. It was kind of pathetic when he thought about it.

He could not help but frown to himself. Most people would be scared of any similar situation to him right now. Instead, he was treating it as if it were a normal occurrence to him. It could not have been because he was just used to their voices in his head. He was most certainly used to that but he had no idea what they had looked like before now. It should have shocked him or even scared him, even if they were acting kind of silly.

Something just was not right about this at all. If he had to put a feeling to it then he would describe it as familiar, nostalgic even.

"Hey guys stop fighting," cried a timid voice from behind them. "I thought we agreed that you would stay calm when we revealed ourselves to Naruto!"

Naruto turned himself on Shukaku's hand to notice the other six creatures within the room he had apparently missed. They themselves were oddities much like the three he had just been acquainted with.

To right side of Shukaku was a cat like creature. What strange about it was that it was covered in blue fire. With its Heterochromia eyes, one being yellow and the other being green, it stared at him with a form of amusement if it's almost fanged smile meant anything. Swinging behind it were two long blue tails, thick with a roaring flame.

Next to the flaming cat was a large turtle like creature. It was turtle like because it was actually an amalgam of different creatures. It resembled a large turtle, but with a crab-like shell, spikes all over its body, and three shrimp-like tails. Under its shell and around its red colored eye, it also had red, muscle-like tissue visibly seen. It has a pair of human-like arms and hands, but no hind-legs. Its lower jaw is rather big and has teeth-like horns, together with its big forehead, which also has horns, it somewhat resembles a mouth with big teeth, making it look like the rest of the face is inside the mouth. Its crimson eyes stared at him with nearly hidden nervousness.

On the right of the turtle happened to be a red-furred and green-skinned monkey, with a body-build of a gorilla. It has eyes with yellow irises and white pupils, spike-like protrusions along the length of its tails, elongated blunt fangs, and two long horns curving upwards on its forehead like a crown with both being tipped black. Looking at the creature the blonde honestly thought it looked bored almost.

To the great ape's right was another strange beast. It primarily resembled a white horse with the head of a dolphin. It had two pointed long horns and three shorter horns in front. The ends of its horns, hooves, and five large tails were light brown. It also had red markings under its dark blue-green eyes. The beast was rather still, staring right at him as though it was judging him.

Next the dolphin-horse was a large white slug with a slightly blue tint to it. It had stubby little arms and stubby little legs as well. It also had two prominent optical tentacles for eyes and hole-like openings as a mouth. Its entire body seemed to be covered in a slimy substance. It was currently using its six long tails as something to lean back on while sitting down.

Close by was a blue, armored rhinoceros beetle with the shell around its wings currently enclosing them and a green tail protruding from its thorax. Its eyes seem to be covered by a helmet-like skull with a two sectioned horn. An orange light shone through the visor where its eyes were. Around the open part of the helmet it had two pincers on its face, usually covering a mouth full of sharp teeth. It also has spike protrusions on its shoulders and a row of slits on each shoulder with three blue armored legs on each side.

And finally at the giant fox's left seemed to be a creature that should have been impossible to miss. It was a giant Ushi-Oni, creatures typically with depicted with bovine heads. This one was rather interesting considering that it was essentially a combination between what looked like a bull and an octopus. It had eight cephalopod like tentacles for legs connected to a hunched over muscular body. It had long muscular arms with large hands as well. Its head had were four horns, with all of the horns being broken in various areas. It was looking at him with a grin on its face.

The giant ape burst out into a fit of laughter, his gruff sounding voice echoing throughout the chamber. "I don't think those two know how not to fight in the first place," he commented. "Add that prideful dragon to the mix and they make quite the threesome!"

"Oh shut up you good for nothing ape," returned the fox monster as it turned its attention away from Ddraig and turned away from looking at everyone else. "If I remember as such pride seems to be one of your major flaws as well so you have no right to talk!" Said ape growled and looked like it too was about to jump into the argument.

"Can everyone just chill please," chirped the giant beetle from his portion of the room, its voice seemingly airily and friendly toned. It managed to stop everyone from going at it again so that was a plus in Naruto's book. "It's the first time we've actually seen Naruto in a while and it wouldn't be lucky if he began to think of us as troublesome, you know."

"I must agree," commented the flaming cat currently sitting on its haunches, voice echoing throughout the chamber and reminding of the blonde of the sensuous voice that spoke to him on occasion. "Surely we do not wish to make Naruto think less of us and you're in fighting isn't going to help." She turned her head to the side and looked the young blonde. "I apologize for the squabbles of my siblings. It has just been some time since we've actually had company with us. Outside of the dragon that forced himself on you it has been some time since we've had guests in here. I'm sure you understand."

[Oi, who forced himself on who,] snarled the red welsh as it glared heatedly at the flaming cat. [Listen you! I'm the Red Dragon Emperor and one of the stronger beings in existence! The blonde is lucky to have someone as awesome as me!]

Naruto would have commented had the monster fox not snorted. "Oh really," it commented dryly, a hint of sarcasm in its voice and a grin working its way onto the beasts maw. "If you're so strong then how did you get sealed huh?"

The Ushi-Oni next to the fox slapped it on the back of the head with one of its huge muscular arms. "Oh don't start with him," it commented while glaring down at its nine tailed counterpart. "The rest of us were as strong as he was raw power wise at one point and look what happened to us. We've not only been sealed but we've been weakened as well now." It sighed to itself. "It seems to me like we keep hitting low after low at this point."

The blonde had no idea what they were talking about but he wasn't about to ask either. Instead he decided to try and change the subject. "Hey everyone," he began, catching the attention of everyone in the room as they stared at him. He shifted his foot slightly nervously within Shukaku's palm. "Look, don't mind me but I'm kind of clueless over here… like about everything. If one of you could start helping me make sense of this stuff that would really help."

The nine beasts with varying tail amounts and one dragon looked at each other before looking back at him. The dragon then seemingly decided to voice his thoughts. [I must apologize for this partner,] he said somewhat sincerely. [I am not used to having to share a host with… well anything else. Dealing with other beings on the level of a partnership outside of dealing with my regular sacred gear users is new to me.]

Naruto mused over the dragon's words to himself. If he really was that isolated could he honestly blame the dragon for having a little more trouble with this? Probably not… though that did not mean he couldn't have tried to be a little more mature about it but who was he to judge.

Nodding to himself he waved off the dragon's apology. "Its fine Ddraig," Naruto assured him with a small placating notion. "Don't worry about it. I understand." He then looked at the other occupants in the room and with the sudden seriousness of it all he remembered why he was really here. "Before we get to anything else I would like the rest of you to introduce yourselves to me so we can talk on a better level. Right now I only know the name of Shukaku, the one whose hand I happen to be sitting on. I would like to know the rest of your names if at all possible." The other beasts looked at each other slightly, almost as though they were having a silent conversation between one another.

It was finally the flaming feline who came forth first. "Greetings," she said rather politely. "I am called Matatabi. I also hold the title of the Two-Tails."

After her the turtle creature came next. He seemed rather nervous if his one open eye searching around the room from side to side meant anything. His lone eye finally fell on Naruto again and the beast jaw raised slightly in what the blonde guessed was its attempt at a smile. "Hi Naruto," he greeted childishly, telling Naruto that he was the one who had pleaded with him kindly several times before. "My name is Isobu and they call me the Three Tails."

Unlike his comrades, when the ape spoke next he was anything but kind. "Listen up kid cause I'm only going to repeat my name once so pay attention," the giant ape began bombastically as it did a little pose with its arms. He began throwing his arms around into varying levels of ridiculous positions in an attempt to look cool. "I am the Handsome Monkey King of the Water Screen Cave; the King of the Sage Monkeys, bestowed with the Dharma name of Son by the Sage of the Six Paths himself. I am Son Gokū, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven hoohoohooooo!"

The blonde could not help but sweat drop as the monkey began laughing to itself cheerfully while the dolphin horse next to it palmed its hoof to its face and looked at Naruto in the eyes. "Please ignore this idiot next to me," he said politely while ignoring the sounds of its sibling's indignation. "My name is Kokuō and, as you can see with my appearance, I am a dolphin horse with five tails. It is a pleasure I'm sure."

The slug like creature came next, his ocular tubes suddenly gaining an excited glint. "Nice to see you again," the best spoke, the holes where its mouth should be moving slightly. "The name is Saiken and I am the Six Tails! Let's get along okay?"

The giant beetle, when its turn arrived, also seemed to be in an excellent mood. It opened up its back shell in which six wings spread out as they began to quickly flap in the air. It began to hover a bit before moving up in the air with twists and turns galore. Trails of yellow dust flew behind its green wings as it flew over Naruto's head and further up toward the ceiling.

Naruto could not help but be confused. "Since when does introducing yourself involve flying up into the air and doing tricks?"

He saw the golden eye next to him regard him for a moment before taking on what looked like an almost amused look. "Just wait for it," the taunki commented almost happily.

Finally the beetle seemed to dance in the air while spelling out something with its dust. Naruto read it aloud as the beast wrote in the air. "Introducing the super fantastic beetle who holds the title of 'Lucky Number Seven', Chōmei!'" After finishing reading it, he looked to see the newly named Chomei hovering above him and Shukaku, as though he was waiting for his approval. The blonde could not help but chuckle and shake his head in the situation. "It's nice to meet you too Chomei," he said finally as the beast with seven tails accepted it as praise and happily moved back to its original spot on the ground. Naruto then turned to the Ushi-Oni and looked at him with a raised brow. "So that's two who have given me a real show stopper. Are you going to break out into some song and dance or something?"

The beast just stared at him before sighing. "If B had actually rubbed off on me as much as he thought then maybe but no, just no," it denied. "Quite frankly I don't even know how Son and Chōmei got so eccentric in the first place. Personally I blame him," he said while point to the fox next to him, earning a glare from the beast.

"How is it my fault that those two nitwits are so inane," he growled in annoyance from his spot.

"Because of you and your superiority complex of course," shot back the octopus like creature.

"Please they were like that when we were but babes as well," it returned with equal intensity. "They were always asinine. I refuse to take the blame for this!"

"Whatever," the Ushi-Oni snorted before returning its gaze to the blonde and forming a small smile on its giant lips. "I'm Gyūki and I go by the eight tails formally." He then nudged the fox next to him lightly. "Your next." The fox did not move and this apparently irritated him greatly. "Listen here you massive sack of fur. Get your butt up now and introduce yourself to him."

The fox glared right back at its eight tailed colleague before sighing, resigning itself to its fate as it stared at the whiskered teen. To Naruto he felt as though there was something in the fox's eyes. At first, staring into the baleful looking red orbs it looked almost as though it was meant to be there. When he looked closer there he saw sadness, maybe even a hint of regret for something that had happened.

Why was it sad when it looked at him? Did it regret not telling him the truth; did it regret making him think he was crazy? Thinking about it he was unsure really nor did he not know how to address the fox's sadness. Whatever happened, though, he would probably find out sooner or later.

Suddenly the sorrow that had been there quickly disappeared behind eyes that gained mirth to them rather quickly. A grin quickly worked its way to the beings face and quite frankly, if it weren't for a small buzzing in the back of his mind telling him otherwise, he would have thought that it was pure evil or something. It looked like the grin you would see on like a sentient evil creature you would see on one of those kids anime.

"Brat," it began. "My name is Kurama and I'm the Nine-Tailed Fox. You better remember my name kid."

"…Are you a tsundere," Naruto asked without thought before clapping his hand over his mouth. He heard laughter all over the room and saw the fox's brow twitch in annoyance.

"First takes a jab at the ears and now he takes a jab at my personality," the fox mumbled, the disbelief clear in his voice. If it were an anime Naruto was sure Kurama would have been that character that drew lines on the ground in the corner when they were upset.

Naruto gave Shukaku a look and the tanuki read it rather easily. While laughing to himself the beast through Naruto at Kurama's back, allowing the whiskered blonde to land on the fox's soft fur. Standing up and walking up the fox's back carefully, Naruto finally reached his head and began scratching Kurama behind the ears. "Cheer up buddy," he said, feeling the urge to laugh as the fox started to let out a low rumble to signify he was enjoying having his ear scratched.

"Don't you dare try to patronize me Naruto," growled the orange fox under Naruto's menstruations, his attempts to try and fight off the scratching being shown and failing miserably as his brethren and Ddraig watched on in amusement.

The blonde held a smile on the outside but on the inside could not figure out for the life of him how this had happened. He had come in here ready to be guns blazing if need be to get answers but as the beginning conversation had gone on he had felt his anger dissipate. He still had questions that he wanted answered but he felt as though he was caught up in a situation that was extremely familiar for him. Even after everything he had gone through in the past day being with them at this moment and smiling with them felt familiar to him. It made him happy.

The blonde moved up further long the fox beasts head toward the very edge near his face, his hand still reaching out and scratching the beings very large ear. He looked at all the beings in the room as they were him. Some of them were wearing smiles or what he believed to be smiles. Others, like Shukaku and Ddraig were outright grinning at the fact they probably had leverage to use against the fox now in what seemed to be their newly formed rivalry. Naruto heard Kurama groan happily under him and had to hold back a laugh as he sat down on top Kurama's furred head.

The whiskered teen cleared his throat, allowing everyone's attention to turn to him. "Well now that we got introductions out of the way and Kurama seems to be enjoying himself," the blonde began as he saw said beast bring up one of his massive paw-hands and flip him the middle finger, "I think it's time we begin. I was hoping you guys would be willing to talk to me about how you all are here. How are you here? I know how Ddraig is here because I put his gauntlet on but the rest of you I have no idea why you're here or why you've been making me feel crazy when I was a kid."

"What are you talking about when you said we were making you feel crazy," asked Son Goku in confusion. "We were just trying to talk to you kid. We weren't trying to make you feel crazy. We were just trying to get you to acknowledge our existence instead of just calling us voices in your head."

"Really," the blonde asked defiantly. "Well then what about the other day when you were talking about some 'dream' I used to have or something? What was that about?"

"Oh that," Matatabi clarified and then proceeded to glare a Shukaku with the rest of her brethren, causing Naruto to look in his direction as well. Said taunki was looking away from the main group, attempting to whistle from the looks of things. "Well someone, and I'm not naming names, decided that it would be a good idea to pull a prank that day. And that someone proceeded to sound like a malicious madman while the rest of us were attempting to tell you that you had a dream. If it makes you feel any better that someone, that is to say the one who did it, got the sand beaten out of him after the fact and will get something much worse should he ever do it again." Shukaku looked like he wanted to say something but was silenced with Matatabi's clawed paw slapping against the back of his head, causing him to groan in pain.

"Besides kid we never tried to say anything mean to you," commented Gyūki from the side. "If you remember every time we've talked to you we have never said anything cruel have we?"

The blonde haired teen wanted to object but he thought about what the ushi-oni had said and looked back to the instance he could remember. Before the other day they had never said anything none sensible or meant to hurt him. If anything, from what he could remember, the most they had ever done was provide commentary about what he had been seeing or doing at the time. Another thing they had done was try to steer him from doing or being near dangerous things. They had never done or said anything to harm him at all and maybe, had he listened to them the other day, Issei would still be…

No, he couldn't have known. The doctors and his parents as a kid had told him not to listen to the voices in his head. They were supposed to be figments of his imagination and while he might have believed that before after what he'd seen fabrications of one's own mind were not supposed to be able to kill you or provide you with the magical ability to fight one of the biblical god's rebellious children. That's just not how the illusions worked damn it!

The blonde felt himself get upset and attempted to stop the line of thinking before he began to cry or the like. He needed to be strong now. He needed stability and the questions he had needed answers. Before even realizing it he had felt something rub against his cheek and noticed the tip of one of Kurama's giant clawed digits wiping away a trail of tears from his cheek very carefully. He could see one of Kurama's giant red orbs looking up at him with an almost said look.

"Kid, I'm sorry about what happened," the fox said calmly, a hint of sorrow taking hidden among his deep baritone. "He was your friend and, even for a pervert, deserved better than what he got. Unfortunately this is what happened and you have to live with it. But just know that no matter what happens we're here for you because even if you may think otherwise we are in this together."

The teen could not help but be touched by Kurama's words. "Thanks I guess," Naruto mumbled as he calmed down some. He understood what the fox was saying or at least he thought he did. He wasn't alone in this and he had others he could lean on in support. He further composed himself as the big question came to mind. "Just what are you guys?"

[I myself am quite curious as well,] interjected the heavenly dragon from the other side of Kurama, choosing to finally speak up since their serious conversation began. [I have heard and seen many things in my long existence but this situation is not one I've encountered before. Beasts like yourselves sealed into a human instead of sacred gears? The biblical god, with each of your levels of strength, would have attempted to put at least each one of you into a gear with how useful your individual abilities probably are.] The dragon paused as he continued to look around the room at the tailed beasts. [There is also the fact that I can tell that none of you are anything like animal yōkai I've met or seen before. Your forms are too different and your souls, despite differing ability sets, to similar to one another. Not even siblings like you all claim to be have souls like this. The fact remains that you are all anomalies to me and you could have plans for my partner that I will not stand.]

"No," cried Isobu piteously, something that sounded weird coming from a being of his size. "We would never use Naruto for anything like that. He's our friend. We would never try to hurt him."

"The fact that you would even suggest such a thing offends me," said Kokuō, his normally polite tone taking a hard edge to it.

"Yeah," shouted Chōmei angrily, wings buzzing behind him in a threating manner. "If anything we should be asking what your plans are for Naruto! You're the new guy here and you could be unlucky, you know?"

The dragon roared at them in annoyance. [You believe me to be a threat,] he asked in rage. [I couldn't do anything to partner even if I wanted too and why would I even. He essentially acts as my avatar in the world now. Besides even if I wanted to my container is filled with so many failsafe's created by the biblical god that I would probably end up being deleted from existence completely. It's not worth it. I'll have you know…]

"ENOUGH," shouted Naruto at the top of his lungs, abruptly bringing to conversation to a halt. "Look it's like Kurama said we are all in this together." The blonde turned his head toward the dragon. "Ddraig thank you for your concern. I know you're trying to protect me but I don't think they'll try to do anything to me."

[And what makes you so sure,] remarked the new addition to an already large cast of voices. [If this is blind trust I would like to point out where that got you last time.]

Naruto visibly cringed but responded in kind. "Your right but at the same time I…" he paused in thought. "I… I just have a feeling that they're good guy's you know. They don't seem like they would do anything to me. Also take into account that they could have if they'd tried. They've been talking to me for years so they could have done something by now. So please just give them a chance to explain Ddraig."

Said dragon stared at his new partner in silence before sighing loudly. [Fine.]

Naruto nodded at him before looking at the rest of the group again. "So now that has been dealt with I'll ask again: just what are you and how the heck did you guys get inside me."

"It's not exactly that simple to answer Naruto," answered Saiken hesitantly, little bubbles flying from his opened mouth as he spoke. "I mean if we told you then you probably wouldn't believe us."

Naruto just stared at the slug with legs. "You're telling me that your existence is less believable than the fallen angels because if that's what you're getting at I call bullshit," the blonde deadpanned, a hint of frustration seeping into his tone. "At this point I'll believe anything you guy's throw at me. So come on lay it on me."

"Would you believe we're aliens sent here to destroy the world by a powerful overlord and that you shall be the avatar of earth's final destruction," asked Shukaku gleefully as he clapped his two front paws together. His answer received a wide variety of annoyed stares from everyone in the room and began to sweat a bit under their harsh gazes. "I… um… well he said he would believe anything at this point so I just wanted to see if it was true." Their glowers continued to pierce through him. "Please don't hurt me."

"Matatabi," stated Kurama simply as said cat nodded and slapped her paw across the back of Shukaku's head so hard he fell front first into the white floor space, cursing in pain. "Please ignore Shukaku. He was dropped on his head off the side of a mountain as a child. I'm sure you understand." Kurama continued to ignore his brother's shouts of indignation as he continued. "As I'm sure you're already aware my brother's statement is false and completely asinine so let's get to the crux of the matter. Naruto the truth is we are afraid to tell you what we are because it is connected to what you are."

The blonde adopted a look of confusion, his mouth forming a thin line. "You're afraid to tell me what you are because it's connected to what I am?" His mind tried to process the sentence he said and tried to figure it out but was unable. "What do I have to do with you besides the obvious? What am I that you're so afraid to tell me?" The tailed beasts looked away from him, even Shukaku from his place still on the floor. The blonde looked down at Kurama's face only to see his expression too becoming slightly downcast. "Why can't you tell me? What am I too you and you too me?"

"Our friend," softly replied Kurama for himself and the others, causing the blonde's growing anger to dissipate and his eyes to soften somewhat. "You were our friend and it's because you were our friend that were afraid if we tell you the truth that you will be hurt over it… over what happened."

[Why would he be hurt,] asked Ddraig, his voice marred with confusion. [What does your origins have to do with my partner?]

Before Naruto could say anything, Matatabi interjected. "Naruto," she called, bringing his attention to her. "Do you remember what happened to you when you went to try and fight Raynare? Do you remember what you saw?"

Naruto, not seeing where the question led, nodded. "Yeah," he replied in an unsure tone. "Some girl and I, as a preteen mind you, were talking about something weird. We were talking about my reasons for wanting to be strong and stuff, about me wanting to be top dog in my village or something. I really don't see what she meant when she asked the question to be honest. She said I was a ninja or something I think. What does that delusion have to do with anything?"

Matatabi just shook her head. "Naruto… what if I told you that was not aberration but a memory?"

Naruto just looked at the two tailed cat beast in confusion. "I would say you're crazy," the blonde replied quickly. "From the sound of things I would have been twelve, maybe thirteen in that supposed 'memory' but how could it be true. I can't remember something like that happening and I certainly don't remember being a ninja." He smiled to himself lightly, finding it to be slightly funny in light of the situation. "Me, a ninja, can you believe that I would really be a ninja…"

The whiskered blonde, while chuckling to himself, looked around the room to see all the tailed beasts still looking at him, expressions sad. Naruto felt a little sick. "Oh come on guys," he said to them openly. "Now you're just joking right? How can I be a ninja and why wouldn't I remember any of it? None of you are making any sense!" Looking down at Kurama's head he scratched it soothingly, suddenly thinking the fox needed to be relax. "Come on Kurama, tell them to cut out the joke because it isn't funny you know."

"Naruto…" he tried. "Naruto there's a reason you don't remember…"

"Just stop lying to me you damned bastard," The blonde suddenly shouted, water droplets hitting the red fur he was rubbing. "You know the reason I don't remember is because it never happened. That has to be right, you know so don't go lying to me…"

"Naruto," the fox beast growled. "Just stop. Just freaking stop. We're telling you why we can't tell you, why were afraid to tell you." The beast felt a bit of water hit his fur but continued on anyway. "Telling you this is hard enough as it is and you… you need to accept that it's true."

"Then why can't I remember it," the blonde cried before it hit him like a train wreck. It became so obvious that in context it sounded preposterous. It was an absurdity that one only heard in novels and bad manga. "Are you telling me it's a case of amnesia? Are you stupid! I remember almost everything but the baby years in my life and you're telling me I for some reason don't remember being a supposed ninja?"

"That's because it's not your first life," stated Shukaku from his place on the floor. "It's your second, not the first."

[That's impossible,] remarked Ddraig, staring at the still downed tanuki. [Reincarnation of Souls is a theory that was debunked long ago. Souls are the commodity of the various factions of this world. Only gods of who have a partial domain control of the afterlife are capable of controlling the flow of the dead. For that matter only the user of the Longinus [Sephiroth Graal] is capable of communing with the souls of the dead and truly understanding the soul itself. I can only name a few gods numbering on one of my claws that would have the ability to even give a soul a new vessel and none of them are anywhere near benevolent enough to do it that much I can tell you.]

"Trust me if you knew you would say differently but your correct when you say it wasn't a reincarnation scenario," Gyūki retorted calmly. "The point is we are afraid that telling Naruto would make him relive his all his previous memories. Remembering them slowly over time is one thing but re-experiencing them in one go could be damaging. The mind would have trouble separating which memories are more up to date and which ones are from his past. We are deeply connected with his existence so finding out about us means finding out about him."

"Naruto I know that this must upset you and we're sorry but it's to protect you," apologized Isobu quietly as he watched the blonde's head fall, his hair shadowing his eyes.

Naruto had trouble believing what he was hearing. The blonde had heard many things in the past day that had upset him. His friend had died in a horrible manner. He got attacked by a fallen angel in a freaking fedora and overcoat only to end up with the guy dead at the end of the battle. He had gotten suspended from school for a while after slapping a girl that made fun of Issei and had learned that from his teary eyed parents, learned that supernatural beings from the many different religions of the world existed, and finally got offered a freaking job as an agent for them. To top all of this off he had now learned that apparently that everything he had thought he knew about himself was not as true as it seemed…

"Fucking damn it," the blonde shouted, smacking his hand against Kurama's back in rage. If the beast had felt it he didn't say anything. Instead of taking it into account though the blonde just kept pounding away, his rage not lessoning. "Fucking damn it!"

After what felt like minutes to the blonde he felt his energy all but gone and just completely collapsed, sounds of his cries echoing throughout the room. All the other occupants just watched the scene in sadness, listening as his cries transformed into small sobs being drowned out by his face being thrown against Kurama's back. In a way it had been heart wrenching to them to see their friend in such a state. Even Ddraig, who would normally find such behavior to be unbecoming, did not have the heart to say so.

And then it just abruptly stopped. After about a minute it just stopped and silence permeated the chamber. At first they thought he might have fallen asleep or the like but that theory ended up being squashed when the blonde silently stood. His spiked locks still shadowed his face as the fresh tears still stained his cheeks. His hands were balled into tight fists.

"Naruto…" Chōmei tried only to be cut off.

"… Just not right now Chōmei," the teen said softly. "Just not right now. Can I just… can I just get out of here right now. I… I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"Yes," replied Kurama, his tone equally soft. "You can go for now. Just close your eyes tight and you'll be able to feel yourself wake up. We'll talk again when you're feeling better."

Naruto did not respond and instead did as Kurama instructed. He closed his eyes tightly and relaxed his mind, letting his feelings fall to the back of his mind for now. In his relaxed state he concentrated a little bit and felt the world around him shift. Gone was the light feeling of being in the blank white room. Instead he felt slightly cold now and as he shifted slightly felt the leather of his desk chair scrunch up under the motion. Opening his eyes he looked around and saw that he had returned to his room, absentmindedly checking the time and finding that only a minute had passed since he had gone to talk to them.

He quickly got up and hurriedly went to his closet and grabbed his orange colored jacket, the only majorly orange thing his parents would let him have, and put it on over his school shirt and tie. He the proceeded to hurriedly walk out the door of his room and quickly down the stairs into the house corridor.

He could see his parents from the living room sitting and talking when they saw him come down the stairs in his jacket. His mother noticed his presence and quickly got up. "Naruto are you okay," she asked quickly before noticing his jacket. "Naruto where are you going at this time of night."

The blonde stopped in front of the entrance to the family room but could not directly look at her, his mind working a mile a minute. "I'm sorry mom but I just need some fresh air," he replied quickly before walking to the door and hurriedly opening and closing it before she could respond. He made his way out the front gate and down the street, walking at a steady pace and ignoring the lights above the street as he passed.

(Hours Later)

"It's a little cool out tonight," Naruto noted softly as he walked down the same street he had walked on previously that night. He had no idea how long he had been out and he honestly didn't care either. He just needed to be out doing something, to get his mind off things that he'd heard and seen. He need just a break from it all.

Could anyone blame him though? If they had known everything he had found out in the past day most of them would have been a sobbing mess on the floor… though he liked to ignore the fact that he had finally broken down in the mindscape when talking with the others. It had all just been too much after all; to essentially be told that "you don't know as much about yourself as you think" would basically be enough to make almost anyone upset. He was still upset by the situation if he wanted to be honest about it.

And in the end what did all of it mean if it was true? It meant little in context of things. Did the logical leap that he was adopted bother him? No because he had already known that little tidbit. His parents had sat him down years ago and told him that he had been adopted. His mother and father had been unable to conceive do to various health problems so they choose to adopt and picked him. The fact had upset him at first but he had grown to accept that he was adopted and even if he was it didn't mean they had loved him any less.

No what bothered him was simply the principle that despite all he thought he had known in reality he knew so very little and that part infuriated him to no end. Who was he then f he couldn't remember anything? Was he just some sort of cosmic joke?

He laughed to himself harshly. No he wasn't a joke. He was just a guy who had extremely bad luck it seemed. Then again if he had bad luck then maybe, now that he thought about it, a godly being whose domain involved luck could have cursed him. It would have made some sense then now that he thought about it with gods being real and all. Maybe that's why the tailed beasts were afraid to tell him the truth.

His breath hit the cold air and he could see the little bits of frozen condensation leave his mouth and he noticed his surroundings finally. He had probably walked around half of town by now. At first he had taken a path toward the park and walked around there for a bit. Found his and Issei's favorite spot and just sat there staring into the darkened woods for a while. Then after he had enough of that moved on to just walking the streets, playing kick the can or rock with the occasional ones he would find on the ground. Now though, now he had no idea where he was.

Looking for a street sign, he sighted one to find that he was about a ten minutes away from the market area and about fifty minutes on foot from his house. He was a bit away from his house that was for sure. His mother and father were probably worried about him now that he thought about it. He kind of had left a bit abruptly from his house and really did not say all that much to them on his way out.

He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. It was almost eleven o'clock at night. "Geez," he thought to himself, surprised at the time. "I should probably get home. Mom is probably worried and may send Dad out to look for me." He pulled a lollypop out he had bought at a corner store out of his pocket and unwrapped it, quickly plopping it into his mouth. He sighed at the taste. "Mmmm, miso ramen flavored. The things that technology and flavoring machines can do never cease to amaze me anymore."

As he walked toward the next corner the blonde thought about trying to talk to Ddraig, Kurama, and the other tailed beasts again when he got home. He kind of owed them an apology for acting the way he was when he was trying to get answers out of them. In the end he essentially just broke down toward then end and acted like a brat toward them… it wasn't something they deserved even if they were keeping things from him. It was to protect him after all.

Now that he thought about it he hadn't eaten anything either… actually he hadn't eaten anything since this morning. He should also rectify that little problem when he got home too. He kind of needed to eat something or else he'd have to hear crap about how he hadn't eaten anything from his mother. She had nagged him about it one too many times when he was just a kid so he would prefer to avoid hearing the speech if he could. Maybe he should pick up some ramen while he was…

A blood curdling scream rang out through the air, causing him too suddenly stop and turning his head toward the street going right. "The scream came from that direction," he said absently as he glared down the street as a foreboding feeling washed over him. It felt natural, much like his own magic felt but much darker. He dare say that the feeling made the juices of his stomach sour slightly. "This feeling feels the same as when I fought Dohnaseek yesterday. I guess this is what it feels like when someone is using magic?"

[Your right when you say that it feels like magic partner] chimed Ddraig suddenly, alerting Naruto to the glowing green circle that appeared on his hand suddenly. The blonde lifted his arm closer to his face as he stared at the glowing circle. [But as I'm sure you guessed that magic isn't human or like that of the fallen angel's last night. It feels more… wrong, doesn't it?]

"Yeah," the teen replied while still staring down the street. "It feels unnatural…"

[It's the magic of a devil] Ddraig replied quickly only to cut himself off quickly again. [Let me rephrase that. It's the magic of a devil but it feels almost like the older devils used to and not like the current ones.]

"Old devils?" There were different kinds of devils? That's a first if he ever heard of one.

[Allow me to explain something] Ddraig began in the tone of someone who was about to try and explain something like a student would to a teacher. [There are two types of devils these days. Pure born sons and daughters or those reborn through the Evil Piece System into servant devils.]

"Evil Piece System," he asked quietly as he looked around in his pocket for the card Hayate gave him. He silently cursed, not finding the card in his pocket and remembering he had left it on his desk at home. Looking back down the street again he began to run to where he believed the noise came from. "You mentioned that last night as something that might have been able to revive Issei, right?"

[Yes I did though that would only happen if a higher ranked devil found them worthy enough to join their race for whatever reason. It was a system I found out about around 200 years ago from an adventure with one of my previous partners. It was a system created to help increase the population of devils due to ones lost during the previous Great War.]

"Great War," the blonde asked hastily, his feet clapping against the ground in succession. "What the heck is this Great War thing you're talking about?"

[A story for another time] replied the dragon just as quickly. [The Great War is not a concern with what I'm going to tell you. While devils not given subservience to a devil of higher class don't have to worry about this devils who have been reborn do. A reborn devil needs to be near his or her master to for them to keep their powers in check until they are released from a devil's service. If they don't then their powers go haywire and they start eating humans for nourishment due to the hunger it creates. That is probably what we're dealing with… especially considering the feeling of the person's magic as well. For someone who had just awoken to their abilities I'm surprised you were able to tell.]

"So am I." There was still no sign of anything from what he could tell. It was a fact that was infuriating him to no end.

[So are you sure that this is a good idea for you to be running toward the source of that scream?]

"Probably not."

[Then why are you doing it again] inquired the dragon in curiously. [Shouldn't you be running in the opposite direction? Do I once again have to remind you that you just awoke your abilities yesterday for reference? Most new magic users are not stupid enough to pick a fight with something within the first day of using their magic.]

"Well in case you forgot I'm a bit of an oddity already," the blonde shouted back over gale of wind blowing against him. "Why did it have to be so fucking windy tonight?"

[Your just going to ignore what logic dictates aren't you] asked the red welsh dryly, seemingly already knowing the answer to his question. Instead of being annoyed however he let out an encouraging laugh. [Alright you survived last night! Let's see what you can do when it's you who picks the fight. I hope to see the same courage and daring that I did last night when you fight this beast!]

Any other conversation however came to an abrupt halt when the blonde has stopped under a street light and found and stared at a small spot under the street light. "Blood," the teen whispered to himself. Sitting directly under the light was a large splatter of blood. The person who had lost it was apparently losing a lot of it too if its appearance said anything about it. He had only saw that amount once and that had been yesterday when his hands had been pierced by those light spears.

He looked around the area for any other clues. There were defiantly no signs of struggle anywhere and nothing of note was left behind from what he could tell. His mind worked a mile a minute as it thought of a scenario for what happened. If there was no struggle then that means the victim was cut off guard and or taken from behind. Either that or he was dealing with a devil that had was big enough or strong enough to keep the person they had attacked from touching the ground, handling them like they were just something light weight for them to throw around. If that were the case then where…

It was when he heard another scream and snapped his head to look down the street again that he found something that would help him find the devil who assaulted the target as well as the target itself. He had found small blood drops leading away from the large blood spot. A trail of blood would be how he would find them.

The concerned teen broke into a run, sprinting forward like fire was brushing his heels. "Ddraig," he shouted urgently, bringing his right arm forward. Green light covered his arm and the familiar visage of Welsh dragon's prison clamped down on his arm. "I need a boost!"

[You got it partner] the dragon's voice rang out, the green gem beginning to shine. The sound of the word [Boost] rang throughout the air. The blonde felt his magical reserves double as blue light surrounded his body and his body felt lighter. The world blurred slightly as his speed picked up and almost missed the quick left he had to hang to continue following the blood.

After a few minutes of following the trail he had come to a stop, finding that the trail of blood had disappeared finally. He growled to himself in annoyance and silently cursed his luck. It seems that it would be harder for him to find them now unless… He groaned silently to himself. Looks like his apology was going to have to come sooner then later.

"Hey guys," Naruto called out to the companions within him, hoping that they were listening. "Look, I'm… I'm sorry okay. I know that I reacted badly to what you said. I… I was just upset when you told me all of that. So please I need your help. I need to know if one of you has the ability to track this devil. They took someone and now that person's life is on the line so if one of you has the ability to track this thing please help me!"

There was no response for a second before the blonde heard a snort in his head. "You've always got to try and help someone, don't you," rang the voice of Kurama in his head. The blonde could hear a bit of amusement within his tone as well as another feeling he could not quite place. "Alright I've got your back Naruto. It will be just like old times. Reach out and bond with me. We'll track this thing down and kick its ass."

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the statement as he closed his eyes and felt a power reaching out to him. The blonde couldn't help but smirk to himself as he opened his eyes again, a feeling that felt almost familiar to him washing over his being as he and Kurama formed their bond. Once again the magic that poured from his being has adopted a crimson color and it certainly fit his mood right about now. But as he was getting used to the feeling something suddenly hit him like a sudden migraine.

A major thing that had occurred for one was the fact that his vision was now tinted red. Everywhere he looked that had previously had no red coloring now had been colored that way ever so lightly. Another major thing that had alarmed him was that everywhere he looked around he could see little black wisps rising out of the ground. Some were rather small while others were large enough to be scene from a few blocks away. These things were all over the place. It was like he was looking at a completely different world, something that only he could see.

"That's partially correct," stated Kurama over their link, allowing the blonde to hear a tiny bit of smugness within his tone. "It's one of my many amazing one of a kind abilities! When you and I bond you gain the ability to sense, or see in this case, negative emotions. Do you see those little black wisps?" The blond nodded absently. "Those little black wisps you see are a result of people in position of negative emotions passing through. The larger ones you see signify that area is probably where a person with those emotions reside."

"They're all over the place," the blonde stated allowed.

"Of course they are," the beast replied snappily. "All beings have negative emotions. No one living thing does not have them and that's why you can see them all over the place. What allows us to differentiate our targets from other people though is the ability to also get a feel of what these negative emotions are. Are they on the less harmful of the scale or are they the truly evil thoughts about killing or having killed someone? This is what allows us to tell the difference."

"Of course you could also mention that the ability used to be instinctive before," chimed in the voice of Shukaku. "You forgot to tell him the part where in the abilities translation over to magic it became less awesome because now you see the negative emotions instead of just being able to just tell!"

"Fuck you Shukaku," shouted back Kurama, his loud rumbling creating a migraine in Naruto's head. The blonde ignored them as they continued their little spat, looking searching for a place with strong negative emotions.

[I see that fox gave you a useful ability to use] commented Ddraig from Naruto's right arm. [They truly are the weirdest bunch of creatures I've met that's for sure.]

"Yeah, they kind of are aren't they," the whiskered teen replied as he finally saw a large plume of black rising in the distance behind a line of trees. Just staring at it made him feel like a lump had formed and dropped to the pit of his stomach. Whatever resided there was not normal and had a rather large dose of evil to top it off. If he had to guess that was where the victim had been carried off too as a meal for a stray devil.

The blonde quickly blurred his way down the street, moving slightly faster that if a normal person were to look they would probably barely notice something had been there. It was then that he noticed that if he were to continue at the pace he was going it would be a bit before he even made it to the forest.

Deciding to experiment a bit he jumped mid run to see how high he could go and found that he could jump almost as high as a second story house in combination of his abilities with a boost and Kurama's. Deciding to take a more scenic route the blonde quickly put the brakes on his run and abruptly stopped in front of a house and preforming a crouching jump, managing to launch himself onto the roof of the house as his feet slammed on the tiles.

Going into a run again the proclaimed Yakuza boy ran to the edge of the house before jumping onto the next roof over. He easily preformed the feat several more times on different homes before finally reaching the forested area, easily jumping down from the final house to the forest entrance. He knew he was going in the right direction because as he got closer to the black plume he felt the sense of foreboding increase.

"Well it seems you decided jumping roofs again would be a good idea," joked Gyūki slightly. "I swear it's like it's almost instinctual for you to do it, isn't it?"

"Is now really the time for you to be making jokes about things Naruto can't remember," reprimanded the stern voice of Kokuō. "We're walking right into another dangerous situation right after yesterday and you're making jokes?"

"Ah don't get you tails in a twist Hooves," crackled Shukaku happily. "The kid is just going to pick a fight. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Hooves, really," returned the dolphin horse wryly. "I had been lead to believe that jokes and nicknames were your specialty Shukaku. Instead I find something like that one falling rather flat instead. Are you having an off night?"

The blonde felt the urge to face palm as ran into the forest and straight toward where he saw the large black plume rising. As he ran he noticed the lack of wildlife in the area. This far out he would at least see some squirrels or the occasional raccoon dog but to him it appeared they had all been cleared out almost. Like they were just gone.

"It's possible that this stray could have hunted back here for a while in order to keep her existence here a secret," offered Kurama thoughtfully.

[Indeed that would probably make the most amount of sense in this situation] agreed the dragon within the gauntlet. [I'm afraid I'm unaware of what devil family is in charge of this territory but it does not matter. From what little I know they're usually not very lenient with strays no matter what family it is. The stray trying to keep itself hidden would certainly work better.]

"My question is why hide in this area," the blonde added to the conversation, reaching the end of the provided path and coming to the source of the large cloudof evil intent he had felt. The residence the stray had apparently held itself up in was an old styled looking four story building. It looked rundown and like no one had been there for years with all of the cracked and broken windows on the upper floors. The front space was in a similar amount of disrepair, old trees that had fallen down near them all broken down.

"That perhaps is the question of the century," the fox added to the conversation. "You would think they would be able to feed better in the city. More people, killings and disappearances not completely uncommon; is this devil stupid or something for coming here?"

[Whatever the case it does not matter. A stray is here and that is all that matters in the end of all of this. My question is are you sure you still want to go through with this partner?]

The blonde did not answer and instead choose to stare at a bloody hand print that had been left on left double door into the mansion. He could tell the person that had been taken had tried to grab the door with his hand because the bloody print trailed off to the doors edge going inward. He could almost imagine what the devil was doing to the person, various scenarios running through his mind like clockwork but it always fell back to one singular thought at the back of his mind.

"Can you save this one?"

It was a thought that had stayed in his mind like constantly since he had heard the scream. It weighed down on his mind, the idea always at its forefront. The simple fact of yesterday had been that he had lived and Issei had died. No matter how much time he had to process the fact it never felt like he had completely walked away from that church yesterday; a part of him had died. Maybe that part was the connection he had always felt with his friend? He was unsure but the fact remained: could he actually do anything for this person or would it be another failure on his part like with Issei?

He clenched his metal covered fist and walked to the front door. Then he did something he never thought he would ever do in his life.

He thrust his leg forward and kicked both sides of the double door of its hinges.

The doors flew to the back of the room before crashing into the concrete wall. Instead of being amazed by his own strength in that moment though the blonde took survey of the room. It looked like a room out of any old horror movie that he'd seen come from America on occasion. Wooden floors as far as the eye could see with old bland looking walls that looked like they had water damage. Then there was also the fact that the blonde couldn't see the ceiling due it being covered by the inky darkness that provided a feeling that made him wary.

Six ornate looking pillars lined the room three on each side and equally space. The one or two paintings present were crooked and broken photo frames littered the room's floor. There were no major light sources in the room and the only thing stopping it from being completely dark was the fact that the light of the moon shone through two old windows in the back.

He could see the stray. The source of all that evil he had been seeing.

"Now Naruto we have to be careful with how we do this…" began Gyūki only to be cut off by said blonde.

"Hey you fucking stray," Naruto shouted across the room at the being he just make out hiding behind the darkness of the corner. "Give me back that guy you took right now!"

"…Or we could throw any pretenses of subtly out the window because fuck subtly," replied a laughing Son Goku.

The blonde ignored that however as he watched something shift in the back slightly before throwing something at him. He had to dodge to the right as he watched the desecrated top half of a corpse land right where he had been standing. The corpse was that of a younger gentleman, probably in his twenties, his face forever frozen in one of agony. Any clothing he had worn had been stripped off and chunks of flesh were missing from the chest and arm areas.

The blonde felt lucky at the moment that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast lest he throw it up at the scene. He could feel the bile from his unfed stomach trying to rise up and out his throat but he managed to hold it down. This… this was just sick. It was completely mangled and the person was almost unrecognizable. And then he realized something else that had made the feeling all the more worse.

"You failed again."

The words rang throughout his head to the point where he felt like screaming. Another person was dead! Another person he couldn't save. If he hadn't taken so long then maybe he would have still been alive. Maybe…

"Oh I'm sorry," a sultry feminine voice rang throughout the room, causing the blonde's currently crimson orbs to turn toward the corner where he knew the devil hid. "Were you looking for me to give you all of him? I'm sorry dear but you're going to have to wait a few weeks to get the rest of him back. Though if you want I could show you where the rest of him is. I'll even give you the privilege of joining him if you'd like."

The blonde growled as he saw the being slowly appear from behind the pillar, her lower half covered in shadow. Had the blonde not been so angry he might have noted how beautiful she looked top half wise. Pale creamy skin covered her toned flesh and large pert breasts. Her face was thin and to the normal eye would look magnificent, especially with her grey eyes and long flowing black hair running down her back. Set upon her face was a grin that managed a combination between seductive and borderline insanity.

The teen however did not care what she looked like. To him she was still one ugly bitch even if on the inside.

"You think this is funny," he snarled while pointing at the corpse lying on the ground next to him, the blonde unable to fully express what he was feeling. "You just killed an innocent person and you're cracking jokes?"

She waved scoffed lightly and waved her finely manicured hand in dismissal. "Please I wouldn't call him innocent," she said chidingly. "After I picked him up the young man kept trying to pray for help from some being above and promised he would never cheat on his girlfriend again if he was allowed to live. Personally I think both myself and the young woman should be satisfied that this person is no longer among us. She no longer has a boyfriend who cheats on her and me…" It was at this point that she smiled widely. "Well I get a free meal out of it. If you ask me it's a win-win for both of us."

The blond could only growl in response. "Ddraig, I'm going to need some more juice," he said testily. Instead of responding his gauntlet glowed and the word [Boost] reverberated throughout the building, allowing the blonde to feel his magic level once again skyrocket and cover his form. He knew this would be tough but he was going to fight anyway. Even if the guy was a scumbag like she had said that still didn't mean he had to die.

"Oh I see," the devil woman cooed. "You're going to try and fight me aren't you? I have to say though you have an enormous reserve of magic for a human. I wonder how it and you will taste." Two magic circles appeared in the air and she pushed her hands through them before pulling out two long yellow spears. "Since you are my next meal allow me to introduce myself as the chef who will be filleting you. My name is Viser and I am a stray devil formerly in service of house Vassago. May I know the name of the one who is about to become my next dish?"

"Go fuck yourself," was the blonde's elegant response.

"Humph, a little bit of exercise before a meal can be nice too," she replied in full, her body lurching forward as she began to bum rush him spears first. Naruto rolled out of the way and pushed off the ground when a spear tried to stab him. It was then that Naruto had managed to get a full look at the rest of her body and he had to say now that he had he was happy he hadn't fallen for any of her tricks.

The women's lower body was like that of a mutated centaur of some kind. Her main body was gigantic with four brown beastly looking legs, with each having sharp claws. To make the package look even weirder Viser had a snake-like scaly tail to top it all off. Combined with her top half it had looked like she had been on the receiving end of someone's chainsaw only to be stitched back together with what they had closest lying around.

Instead of commenting about her appearance he ducked under another spear strike before rushing under her body in a quick burst of speed. Jumping upward the blonde threw a right uppercut with his fist, managing to launch the beastly looking devil into the air slightly. While in the air she swatted at him with her clawed paw and smashed him into the wall, causing cracks to appear behind Naruto upon impact.

As soon as Viser hit the ground she threw one of her elongated spears at him. His eyes widened and pushed himself out of the law, narrowly avoiding the spear that had gotten stuck there. He dodged again as the other one was thrown where he had been standing. Viser roared and rushed him again, raising her left paw and bringing it down full force on him. Seeing this as his chance the blonde stood his ground and crouched with his hands up, braced for the impact.

When her paw finally got caught in his hands the blonde ignored the strain suddenly put on his muscles and pushed it up, knocking her off balance and making her fall over with her upper body lying down on its side. Quickly getting behind her the blonde wrapped his hands around her smooth tail and gripped tightly, earning a groan of pain from his opponent. He pulled and while at first he got traction he was not getting enough to lift her off the ground.

"Switch out Kurama's bond with mine then,"shouted Son Gokū proudly. "I think I've got just the thing that can help us out!"

"If you think so," the blonde responded quickly with a little struggle. "Kurama, tag out."

"Humph, got it," replied the fox as Naruto felt their connection end abruptly and felt the power increases as a result of their bond disappear making it a struggle to get a grip on the now struggling tail. The slight haze of red also left his vision but instead of saying anything he felt a new bond attach itself to him. In this bond he felt an immense sense of pride in strength. Suddenly he felt his muscles mass grow slightly and his began having an easier time pulling on the tail.

"Each tailed beast has something their better at then all the others outside the magic skills we provide," began the one who shared the name with the monkey sage of legend. As he talked the blonde slowly began to rotate using his strength, managing to pull a struggling Viser along the ground. "While Kurama is definitely strong in every major area he is not the best. I, for example, have immense physical strength and when combined with your already boosted strength… well I'm pretty sure you can figure that out."

The blonde nodded and began to spin in place faster, finally begin able to use the momentum to lift the stray from the ground. Finally letting go the blonde sent her crashing right through one of the walls in the back of the building, the rubbing flying out of the way as she managed to catch herself midair and land with her paws scraping across the ground.

Naruto gave her chase and jumped through the now open wall space, rushing Viser and dodging to the left before giving her a strong haymaker to the side of her body, sending her skidding across the ground. He jumped into the air and got ready to smack into her again only to hit from the side by her tail and sending him flying back toward the tree line. Using the reflexes and strength of Son Gokū the blonde gripped a large tree branch and swung himself down to the ground.

As his legs hit the soft patch of grass he noticed Viser's spears fly from within the building and into her open palms, causing her to send him a nasty grin. However instead of throwing them at him again she opted to try something different. She stuck her spears in the ground and brought her hands to her breasts while beginning to massage them, much to the blonds shock at the blatant display of public self-fondling. Before he could say anything however red circles began to spin around her breasts as her nipples hardened.

A light green putrid looking liquid spewed from her chest toward him, the teen ducked to the side as it flew passed him. Naruto heard a few cracks and looking back saw that whatever she had shot out of her breasts was acidic because half of the trunk was melted and now falling toward him. Bracing himself again he threw his hands up and caught trunk, unconsciously surprising himself even with his ability to do so and gave it a boost forward, sending it in Viser's direction as a distraction.

Viser merely knocked the tree out with one of her front paws before lunging at him, spears in hand. The blonde crouched and jumped over Viser onto the beastly back of her body, ramming his right foot down on her back and forcing her to the ground. She twisted the top half of her body slightly and stabbed one of the spears at him only for Naruto to twirl around it and get within range of her face, delivering a swift strike after strike to her jaw. He was only stopped when he felt something slimy wrap around his waist and fling him backwards into another tree.

Naruto pulled himself off the tree as Viser turned toward him rubbing her now bruised jaw with her left hand. "You little bastard," she screamed, her mouth contorting in anger. He noticed her teeth began to grow pointy and her eyes narrowed into angry filled slits. "You think that just because your eyes and magic change color that you can beat me? News flash for you brat: you're dead!" She rushed toward him once again full force, making the blonde wonder if she had learned that rushing him was not a good plan.

He ran to meet her half way, this time avoiding another set of spear strikes and sliding under her overly large body to get behind her. He avoided a strike from her tail and delivered a bone breaking kick to the back of her back left leg, a loud crack and even louder cry of pain echoing through the area. The blonde forced his leg in further into the back of her leg until he heard it snap under pressure. Viser fell forward to the ground without the functionality of her leg, moaning in pain.

While Viser licked her wounds however Naruto continued his assault, jumping onto her beast like back and rushing toward the top of her body. Grabbing her body before she could turn around Naruto gripped her left arm from behind and pulled on it tightly before driving his knee into her arm and breaking it in the process and forcing her spear to fall to the ground. Before he could do the other arm though Viser's tail once again made its existence known and forced him away as the stray screamed out in rage.

The youth landed on the ground and pulled the spear Viser had dropped from its spot on the earth, throwing it straight into the devil's right arm. The arm was sliced off in a giant shower of crimson blood drained out of the now detached arm and the stump where it had once been. The former Vassago devil let out another blood curdling scream as due to the loss of another limb. Her dying arm flailed around a bit but the blonde ignored that as he again got up close and delivered several shots to her chest cavity and abdomen, hearing a crack each and every blow signifying the breakage of bone.

He was about to deliver what he believed would have been the final blow when he suddenly felt a searing stabbing pain in his side. He grit his teeth and looked only to find that Viser's removed arm stabbing him nails first in the side, blood seeping from the wound onto his jacket and down to the ground below. He tried pulling it out only to find it stuck there as it sank further into his side, the pain forcing audible groans from him. He could feel the female devil's fingers wiggle around in his side, her nails trying to find some organs to cut.

"Fuck," he cursed as he continued to pull to no avail, watching as Viser began to regain coherence and slowly make attempts at getting up. "Shit how do I get this thing to fucking let go?"

"You don't brat," laughed the stray devil painfully with a dry chuckle as the devil's body began to glow lightly. "Those nails aren't just for show. They have a special kind of magic that make them hard to remove once they get dug into someone's flesh. You're not getting them out anytime soon." The blonde could hear snapping sounds coming from the beast portion of her legs and watched as they slowly began to straighten out. They were healing and the devil knew it was only a matter of time if the small sneer on her face was anything. She began to wiggle around her beastly legs and pushed off the ground, rising slowly as though she were an actress trying to make the mode more dramatic. She picked up the spear that remained at her side and limped toward him laughing the entire way. "It has been fun let's see if you can keep fighting when you have my hand still wounding you further constantly!"

He continued to futilely try to pull on the severed arm but found that the devil had not lied when she said he couldn't remove it. He growled to himself in anger and slight fear as she stalked toward him with her spear, the yellow rod being brushed against the ground back in forth playfully. "So any ideas on how he get this fucking thing off?"

[Unfortunately there is not enough time for me to get a look at the blasted thing] said the dragon of the gauntlet plainly, his voice showing almost no concern for the situation and annoying his blond partner.

"Are you even fucking concerned about this situation?"

[Not in the slightest. When I asked you to be my partner I saw a will to survive in you. I think you'll pull the same thing even now if you would like me to be honest.]

"…I would almost be touched by your belief in me if we were not about to be skewered." Honestly despite how dry his reply was the teen would be touched. It was not every day someone got complemented by a supposedly incredibly powerful being that had the possibility to take on gods… then again he was still getting used to the concept of these beings actually existing so it wasn't saying much. "Does anyone from the peanut gallery have any suggestions?"

"Shukaku's the only nut in here," offhandedly replied Kurama, ignoring the dire straits they were in. "And, as for the situation, why don't you ask your buddy the monkey king. You know, that insufferable ape bastard you're bonded with right now instead of I don't know… me!"

"Are you really that sore about this," asked an incredulous sounding Gyūki.

"I was his partner before all of you," snapped back the fox irritably. "We were on a bonding level before any of you even showed up and when we bonded a few minutes ago for the first time in years it felt like coming home again. It felt like we were right back in the saddle again, together against the world."

"You know for someone who wasn't so forthcoming with information before you kind of do it offhandedly you fuzzy eared bastard," muttered the human receiver of his ire lightly with a roll of the eyes, still prying on the arm stuck in him.

"A home you had only learned to like only a day before 'we showed up' as you put it," pointed out Matatabi in a calm purr and completely ignoring Naruto's statement as had the rest of them. "From what I remember you were still grouchy about being there in the first place or was that you just showing your… what do these Japanese people call it? Aw yes you were still showing off the tsun of your tsundere side now weren't you."

"What," sputtered the giant fox beast as the others within Naruto's mind began to laugh at the reference. "You dare insinuate that I am like one of those females from those harem anime Naruto was forced to sit through with Issei? The ones Isobu had a secret fetish for?"

The blond could feel the back of his mind suddenly become eerily silent could almost imagine the shy turtle like beast rear back his head and attempt to hide in his shell. "Well… um," he tried only for the words to seemingly fail him. "Well I liked them for the story for the most part."

The silence purveyed until he head Gyūki sigh in annoyance. "It's always the quite ones isn't it," the beast mumbled loudly.

"Look this conversation is great and all, really," Naruto interrupted before they could continue further on, "but I would like to remind everyone that we are about to be killed and eaten if we don't do something! So does anyone have a suggestion?"

"We could burn this thing off," the handsome monkey king offered easily.

"Yeah and how do we do that," he shot back quickly, trying to ignore the pain in his side as he got read for Viser to come around again.

"Lava magic of course," he replied quickly as the teen began channeling magical energy around his hands in a manner he had done in the previous night. A small orange circle wrapped around his left hand and he suddenly felt liquid heat begin to wrap around it until it covered his hand. It felt warm to him, like someone had suddenly put his hand in a warm bath and just left it there. As the circle disappeared he could see why: his hand was covered in burning lava that fluidly moved along with his fingers as he wiggled them around.

He grinned to himself. "I can work with this I think with this," he thought to himself before gripping the arm stuck in his side. He heard his opponent scream and gripped harder as he watched the arm pull itself out of his side and wiggle around trying to escape, its fingers still coated with his fresh blood. He squeezed it harder and the skin began to crack like charcoal before throwing it away and jumping back as a spear stabbed his previous position.

"You stupid human," the large she-devil screamed as she pulled the spear back and stuck the still airborne blond in the stomach the rounded portion. "How dare you do this to me? One of the most beautiful women in the underworld?"

The blond landed with his molten covered arm outstretched across the ground and slowed to a halt, leaving five small trails of fire in its wake. He looked up at her and grimaced, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Lady if your one of the most beautiful in the underworld then I have to make sure I never make it there cause if they all look like you then that isn't saying much now is it?" Instead of replying she just screamed at him rushed at him with murder in her eyes. "Son we have something that can finish this right?"

He could almost feel the beasts grin. "Oh we got something for her alright."

"Then let's do it Son!" Rearing his armor clad arm back in preparation as it glowed. "Hit it Ddraig!"

[Explosion!]

"Let her fall to the intense might of our magic," roared Son Gokū as Naruto channeled his magic and smacked his gauntleted hand and molten rock covered hand together, forming an orange magic circle under his feet. The ground began to rumble and quake, cracks appearing beneath as the blond haired teen's new spell began to effect the area. The ground beneath the circle rock ruptured as an enormous amount of lava rose and began floating into the air. Even the lava from Naruto's left hand had removed itself and joined the molten rock flying through the air. The liquid heat formed a thin stream and traveled from the air to Naruto's gauntlet clad arm, wrapping around it while continuously flowing around it.

Rearing his leg back and pushing off the blond sprinted forward to meet her, jumping off the ground as her spear stuck into it and flying toward her. "Alright you bitch, eat this," he shouted in defiance, watching as her eye's widened in shock. "Fist of the Monkey King!"

Thrusting his fist forward he drove it into her flesh, causing her to scream in anguish as the molten rock burst right through her back in an explosive shower and causing her to collapse on her beast like knees. The large shot of magma continued into the tree line and after exploding against a tree cause everything within the vicinity to begin to catch fire. Viser's head finally ceased her screaming as her vocals abruptly died and her head fell forward, hair shadowing her eyes. Her mouth hung open as the last bits of spit produced by her body drained from her mouth to the ground below. As the last of the lava right his armor clad fist it had begun to smoke slightly as the cold night air brushed up against it.

Jumping back from her fallen body he landed on the ground and gazed upon her form, watching as her body continued to twitch slightly before coming to an abrupt stop. She was just a corpse now as far as he had been concerned. And it may have just been the adrenalin talking, but for some reason he was alright with that.

He let his sacred gear disappear and smiled slightly as he fell to his knees and continued to stare at the prone form of his enemy, watching as the body began to burn from the lava that was still tucked away inside her body. It was his small saving grace he supposed. The police might be able to explain a fire and cracks on the ground but the body of a giant devil woman, not so much. After everything he had seen tonight he was pretty sure now that he did not want anyone normal to see something like this if he could avoid it.

"Unfortunately I don't think that will completely melt her," noted Saiken lightly from within. "Besides to this the humans will react very quickly. They are not stupid. A fire at a secluded church and now at a secluded part of the forest will not be seen as just mere coincidences. They will begin to put two and two together."

"What do the two numbers equaling fish have to do with anything," asked Shukaku almost in a clueless tone, causing the others to groan.

"Truly brother you are remarkably daft aren't you," Kokuō stated dryly causing the beast with one tail to scream at him in return. "Ignoring that however, Naruto, it would be best if you got out of here before the humans get here… or any of its friends for that matter."

"You think something that ugly had friends," jested Shukaku in return.

"So that's what happened is it," the blond heard a voice say aloud from behind him, causing him to freeze up slightly. He knew that voice and turned almost mechanically to see the owner.

"… Shukaku you are no longer allowed to speak when fighting or finishing up a fight," stated Kurama simply, ignoring his containers freeze up. "I'm starting to think you opening that gaping hole you call a mouth is bringing us bad luck of some kind or another."

"Souna," Naruto breathed out. Staring at him, in the forefront of a large group of people, was the student council president who happened to be looking back at him with a rather stern expression.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about, don't we Naruto?"

(Life End)

(Preview)

Removal from the illusion creates awareness. Awareness creates clarity. With clarity comes knowledge and with that knowledge we are brought to a crossroads. What do you do with the knowledge that you've attained because once you know there is no going back. Will you be tempted? Wild you stand firm? The choice is yours.

Next Life: Choice

What will path will you walk young dragon?

Author's Note:

So that was the long awaited chapter 5. You guys waited on it longer than you should have and for that I apologize profusely. All I ask is that you put down your pitch forks, torches, and stop sending those angry email… PM… things that I constantly get. Seriously I had someone threaten me… again. You know it's kind of flattering, funny, and a little disturbing at the same time to be threatened over this story but I guess that means I wrote something that people like. Kind of a shock to myself but I'll take what I can get. With that said here are just some notes on this chapter.

Naruto's Emotions: I'll admit trying to write the emotions in this chapter was really hard considering the fact I was having a problem trying to figure out the tone I wanted to take it with. I still feel like I missed the mark in that regard. Though my thought process was this: Naruto grew up with a family in this world. He grew up with people who loved him and took care of him. Unlike the Naruto who grew up by himself I could expect this one to be a little bratty as opposed to how he normally was. Let me know what you guys thought about hoe Naruto emoted here.

The Talk with the Tailed Beasts: Like Naruto's emotions this whole part was probably the hardest thing in this chapter to write. Naruto just realized he had other creatures living inside him that apparently know him in some manner outside just talking to him randomly at points in his life. It's a lot to take in for him and now they're apparently withholding information from him about himself; they're not telling him about something that he can't remember and are just waiting for him to experience it all again slowly through memories he'll experience. Expect to see a lot more like the Haku flashback in Chapter 2. Let me know your thoughts about how I handled the tailed beast situation.

The Fight Scene with Viser: So yes Naruto fought Viser instead of doing it with a peerage. Not that big a change but still a change none the less. Let me know what you think.

So I've already started on the next chapter and I hope to have it done as soon as possible… meaning not another year. A month at most and even I think that might be pushing it. Once again thanks for sticking with me and I hope to stop disappointing you so much.

DarkNaruto101