Hello everyone and welcome to the first chapter of the rewrite for The First Onikage you have probably taken the time to check my prior notice, you should know that this will start out the same and get more and more different from the original as the story progresses. Thankfully for both me and you, the story wasn't insanely long when I chose to do this rewrite. That being said, the last three chapters are pretty much scrapped since so much has to be adjusted…
But heading away from my pitiful woes, I've corrected most of what I found wrong in this story… I hope. But if there are any name and such I'm still getting wrong, please alert me to the fact. I'd like the rewrite to be as crisp as possible.
As for how this will be posted, each chapter will be posted as if this were stacking on top of the original story, just in case there are those who like the first version enough to keep or re-read it. However once I am completely done with the rewrite I will delete the first part. (if someone wants to continue the first part in their own version of the fanific it's fine with me, but ask first.)
Anyway, I hope to get a lot of good reviews from all of you telling me how you like the differences in the new chapters from the old. Remember I love criticism… as long as it isn't a straight up flame. You can take those and shove them where the sun don't shine.
(still don't own Naruto or DxD)
Prologue …. 2.0
Naruto Uzumaki hated… No. That wasn't quite right. He despised snakes. He hated the word, people who used them, people who liked them. He couldn't remember a single person with any relation to snakes who had ever been a positive influence on his life. From that bastard Orochimaru, Kami damn him to hell, Kabuto, who practically turned into one, to even Sasuke.
And right at this moment he was not feeling any more "well inclined" towards serpents of any kind. Why you may ask. Why would the sixth Hokage. The savior of the world and the child of prophecy hold on to such a petty grudge... against a reptilian animal?
There was actually a good reason. One of this miserable species was responsible for his current situation. And...any way you looked at it, "this situation" was ranking in his top ten of Worst days of his life!
Naruto groaned in pain and sat up from where he'd been unceremoniously dumped. It hurt very very much... It felt like a tailed beast had decided to use him as a football, or maybe like Killer B and Lord A had pulled a double lariat on him, still.. he would have preferred either of those options to where he was right now. Mainly because he had no freaking clue, where here was. Except that he was sitting in the middle of a crater. A large one to be sure.
Naruto didn't know what a "Soul Bomb" was, but whatever the hell it was, it had landed him here. And well, yeah, he wasn't happy about it in the least.
'Yeah, where ever the hell here is. Jeez, and I was in such a good mood. There was even a party planned. Now I'm in the middle of somewhere? And I don't know where that is. Even worse since that thing I was fighting is free now… Arg… things just keep getting more annoying every second!'
Standing up he observed his surroundings. He was in a depression in the ground, not a crater exactly, but in a cellar. The ceiling had collapsed with the rest of the building.. not that there was much building left. To call the shredded remains of the structure of a building was being just a tad bit too generous. Naruto noted idly that the entire place was burned to a cinder as well. Not a thing was left unburned. Ash was all that remained.
'Well, so much for my new jutsu. Looks like it works, but it sure isn't perfect.' He thought.
A deep rumbling, but amused voice interrupted him, coming from deep inside his mind. "Well, did you think that it would be quite so easy? You might be Hokage but you can't invent an ultimate defensive jutsu mid battle and expect it to be perfect. Personally I'm amazed that it didn't kill you outright."
Naruto spoke out loud to his demon. It was just easier that way. "I guess your right Kurama, but you have to admit, it saved my ass big time." He chucked despite the pain that lanced up his legs and arms. At least he was still in one piece. That was something right?
"Stupid as always."
"Hey what is that supposed to mean fox?!" He'd be damned if that hypocrite of a demon gave him shit about surviving a blast like that!
"You do realized that if you hadn't been in sage mode AND nine-tails chakra mode, you would be missing most of your skin. I'm not even going to mention how utterly dim witted it was to engage in a battle with an Archetype beast. We had no idea what we were getting into. That damned legless lizard was in par with a Biju and you know it."
"Um you just did sound worried about me..."
"Silence! I will not be undermined! Use your head already or I'll leave your body again and take up residence in a more intelligent vessel!"
Naruto shut up. He really didn't want that to happen again. Shortly after he defeated Madara and Kaguya thus saving the world, he'd offered the fox a chance to leave his body. Basically freedom. Kurama accepted hesitantly. Neither liked to talk about it after. Suffice to say, he'd come off with the short end of the bargain. "Ok, got it, but right now that isn't important! I don't even know where I am."
Kurama's tone changed to disbelief. "Neither do I..."
"WHAT?!
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-Kuoh Academy ORC (occult research club)-
President Rias Gremory watched Issei Hyodou with his two perverted friends. They were relaxing on their lunch break. She sighed. It was beginning to vex her. She knew he was special, but why did he insist on acting so plain. If only he would show a bit of promise. Then she could drop the pretences and add him in her peerage. She was at least 123% sure that he would jump at the opportunity, simply to be around attractive females. 'Honestly he's more predictable than gravity….'
It might have annoyed her. It might have pissed her off big time. But it didn't. She was a devil. The fact that she acted so normally was rare among devils of all castes. Issei's perverted nature was less of an issue than his apparent mediocrity.
Rias looked around her Occult Research Club room. It was dark and gothic in appearance, just like you would expect. But none suspected it was a front. Not that anyone who didn't have direct knowledge of the club ever came in anyway. So in reality it didn't need to be disguised... Thing was it kinda fit the whole devil household thing.
Rias nearly jumped out of her skin as a tremendous boom crashed down on her sensitive ears. The sound was titanic, like god himself had crashed two city size cymbals together in the sky. Her head whipped around to look out the window. There was a brilliant flash of red and purple to the west. The immense light making the sun's illumination seem dull for a moment. Then a second colossal boom echoed.
'What the hell?'
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"What exactly do you mean by- I can't sense any chakra signatures nearby?!" Naruto screamed at Kurama as he was slowly getting up and leaving from the crater he had made.
"Don't be dense. What I said is what I meant." The fox went silent for several seconds as he did a quick double check of the entire surrounding area. "There are NO chakra signatures that I'm able to sense...period. Not even one, besides us that is." Kurama was serious. The fox was always serious. He rarely made jokes, and even then they had something to do with what was currently happening. Well... they were usually morbid as hell too, but that was a different story.
"Kurama would you release the block on my senses? I've got a feeling I'm gonna need them."
"Sure, just don't go sticking your nose into anything unpleasant again. If you forget, your...puny human mind can't cope with powerful scents."
"Oh! OH! Did you hear that? My demon has a sense of humor! Can you believe it?"
"Believe it..."
Well that was golden...if Naruto imagined strangling a much smaller version of the fox, it made him feel only slightly better. After all he had no clue where he was. He was damn sure he wasn't in the Elemental Nations anymore. For one thing...
"Whoa..."
"Indeed."
A massive village was laid out before them now. Having distanced themselves from the initial impact area he'd headed south. Analyzing the structure of the town he commented.
"No...that is NOT a village. Not even the hidden villages compare to this. I have no... I can't imagine so many buildings. There's no end to them. And even there are no guards and even no preventive measures in case of invasion."
"We should be smart about this. Infiltrate and gather information. Make Clones...lots of them. We don't know what is going on here and getting information would be the best shot in surviving now."
"Got it." Naruto brought his hands together in his single most favorite jutsu.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
Almost fifty clones appeared in a large plume of smoke. Naruto had done something like this once before. The results had been...interesting. He said to his clones as they watched him expectantly, "We don't know where we are or how to get back. Go in to full cram mode. Try everything, do everything, but make sure no one sees it and if they do, make sure that you don't look like me!"
The assembled clones nodded. Some breaking off alone, and some in small groups. Naruto waited till they were all gone then he made one additional clone. It poofed into existence next to him. "Make sure no one does anything too... you know... me." The clone nodded with a big shit eating grin and poofed out of reality again.
Naruto thought to Kurama, 'I'm going into chakra mode and Sage mode so I can monitor everything. Please hide our presence Kurama.'
"What would you do without me?"
"Besides have a normal life?"
"grrrrrr"
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-two weeks later-
Naruto let himself relax in his new apartment. It was medium size with a main living room and a branching off bathroom and two bedrooms. It also had a connected kitchen. He used the first bedroom as his storage room and took the second as his own.
How lucky was he? Damn lucky it turned out. His seals still worked and for the moment he wasn't in trouble, but that might not last. He was taking his first nap in this new room. He applauded himself for his ability to fit in here. It was, of course, useful that every single person he had met so far was a blissfully ignorant civilian. And when he said ignorant… he meant ignorant. As in he could walk up a wall and everyone thought it was some sort of magic trick… 'I mean honestly? A magic trick? How many magic tricks in this world work like that? I sure haven't seen any.'
At this point he was starting to worry about his sanity. When he'd first sent his clones out he had to lie down because of the sensory overload that occurred every time one clone popped. Now it just made him dizzy. It had required three days of constantly sending clones out to gather enough info to fit in at all.
There were a few realizations he'd had right away.
#1. Everyone was oblivious
#2. Everyone was pitifully weak
#3. Everyone had it so freaking easy
#4. Not everything was as it seemed
He'd taken extreme precautions to stay hidden after his less than secretive arrival here. It was frankly insane how easily people here communicated. In ten minutes everyone in the city could be alerted that there was an accident and take a different street. Strange stuff got reported FAST. 'Kinda funny that my walking up that wall wasn't, but I shouldn't sweat the small stuff.' It was easy to deal with...at first." But now that he had involved himself in person it got more complicated.
However. One thing was the same between here and home. If you had enough money you could bypass all the security to get what you wanted. And two weeks and a few hundred clones could make some dough. He was VERY thankful to that. If he didn't have money to grease the wheels as it were, he would have been arrested a while ago. Not that there was a jail in this world or the next that could hold him, but... having a record with his real face on it wouldn't be good.
Then again, if he was anybody, he was the blond sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf. If he got a record, he would erase it! Not that things like that were easy here, but... he WAS HOKAGE! The first thing he did after getting established here, was to send approximately thirty clones to do studies in every subject. The local library was a great source of info. Also he was starting to like fiction novels... 'Damn clones.'
He never quite understood the detrimental effects that his "cram mode" could have until he let fifteen clones binge read the entire fiction section of the local library. But… it gave him some great ideas for some new jutsu… if he could just find a place to train without being instantly found out. 'Like that is going to happen here.'
At that moment he received a new condensed burst of information.
INSTANT MIGRANE.
Math, he hated math. And apparently so did his clones...well he'd known that already. His clones were clones after all. But slowly comprehension filtered in around the headache. Algebra... 1... 2... Geometry... trigonometry... Apparently quite a few of his clones had doubled down on his worst subject. It was branded into the back of his head. 'I hate Math... I really hate Math'.
Naruto waited for over an hour as the many tables and graphs flying through his head finally slowed. In retrospect he shouldn't have put a clone in charge of the group at the library. He could be a stern task master for himself sometimes. He didn't know why but when he made copies of himself he became more outgoing.
"Strange..." Kurama sounded curious and very confused.
"What is it Kurama?"
"Those diminished presences I told you about earlier... I'm sure now. They're demonic in nature. I'm vexed that I didn't realize it earlier. I believe that I was confused by the number and power. It's strange. They don't feel like the demons from our world. They are weak in comparison, but greater in number." The fox sounded amused now. "I could easily overwhelm most of them with my mere presence."
Naruto grinned in utter relief as the math flow stopped. "So what level and how many do you sense nearby?" He was curious about how strong these... Demons... actually were.
"The weakest you would have thrashed when you were in the academy. The strongest that is close to us... Difficult to say. High Chunin level at most. However their skill level is impossible to determine. I'm only sensing their base power. Which…" Kurama added rather snidely "…is pathetic"
"I got that, but how many guys am I working with?"
"Twenty demonic presences roughly. Some of them are so weak, I can hardly believe they are demons at all. Humph! To think there are demons so weak that I can't even sense them. It's Pathetic!"
Naruto closed his eyes as another clone dispersed somewhere in the great city. A split second later he bolted upright. He breathed out as the clone's memories flashed through his mind.
It was so not fair. Not fair at all. He was dozing on the bed in the apartment and one of his clones decides to "investigate" a strip club. Naruto rubbed his eyes. This was what happened when you let free thinking copies of yourself live apart from you too long. They started developing minds of their own. It wasn't really a problem since he'd ordered them to Henge into other people so he wouldn't get in trouble for their shenanigans. But still… it just wasn't fair.
A humorous voice came from his mind. "Jealous of your clones Naruto?"
"Well, not really since I get all their memories anyway. But it's tiring for me to just sit here while my clones go around doing fun stuff. And not to mention some of the clones have been out there for days. If one of them pops then I get an overload of information and I can't even move."
"Don't be so lax. You are fortunate. Remember that you will retain information that your clones send you much better than normal studying. At least you won't forget everything you learn...Truly an underrated jutsu."
"Yeah, yeah thanks for the reminder fox. I was thinking. When I was drawing on nature energy trying to sense the chakra signatures nearby it felt almost like the energy itself was changed. Almost like it changed to match the most dominant power in the area. And that rarely happens back home."
"Yes...I sensed that too. Interesting phenomenon. But we both know that this is an entirely different world, apart from our own. I suppose we should be glad that our chakra based abilities still function... Even though that hasn't helped us get home."
Naruto felt himself nodding in agreement. That much was very true. He didn't like the idea of not being able to use any jutsu. That would be a nightmare. A question occurred to him. "Hey Kurama, How are your chakra reserves recovering?"
"You have to use at least some of my chakra before I can tell you how fast it's refilling."
"Yeah, I know that! I'm asking so I'll know if I need to conserve."
"Let me put it this way. As a Shinobi who has been using high chakra jutsu since you exited the academy, your human reserves have always been giant. Currently, without my aid, you have as much chakra as Matatabi. If, and I do mean if, you somehow managed to find someone on this world with comparable power to you... It wouldn't end well. Your chakra is recouping at its usual rate. Mine is running at half speed. Remember that it's hard for me to integrate foreign chakra. The natural energies of this world are weak to boot."
"Wait, you're saying that it's hard to absorb chakra from nature here...because there is so little energy in this world around us?"
"Unfortunately...yes. This world has a pathetic amount of natural energy... On a similar note, entering sage mode...It will become more difficult."
"Why's that?"
"Don't you sense it? Even as we speak the Nature energy is becoming darker. You will find it hard to concentrate on and gather such tainted power. Also you may have problems with training Sage mode further here. As the natural energy continues to fluctuate, I predict that the magnitude of energy may be quite different from place to place. In some areas it might be almost impossible to enter sage mode."
"Huh...I draw on yours all the time. I don't really see what's so hard."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Whatever fox."
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Sona Sitri, the Student Council president of Kuoh Academy, sat across from Rias. They were the two ranking devils within the Academy. Both were heiress to their respective 72 pillars of devil households. Rias to the house of Gremory and Sona to the house of Sitri. They were also rivals in every sense of the word... and yet, they were also best of friends. Although an observer would never have been able to tell you that.
Currently a look of upmost concentration creased Sona's face, while Rias frowned down on the chessboard between them. Sona made her move and leaned back, Rias's second rook firmly in hand. Sona smiled and asked offhandedly, "Is something wrong today Rias. It seems to me as though you're lacking focus."
Rias sighed and nodded in agreement as she examined the chess board. "I've been attempting to discover the cause of the incident two weeks ago. But as you can probably tell I'm no closer to finding a cause." Rias made her move and waited for Sona to act.
Sona smirked, but didn't let her friend see it. Regardless of what happened two weeks ago, Rias rarely handed her an easy victory. "Well, perhaps it's one of those things you never unveil the truth about. Have to attempted to ask your brother about the matter?" She made it sound as though this was an option, even though Rias would never bother her brother with such an unimportant occurrence.
The president of the ORC blinked, surprised by her statement and watched as Sona captured her sixth pawn of the game. Rias questioned, "Do you think I would trouble Sirzechs over such a thing. If I had any knowledge of what happened I might be able to make that call, but as it is now I don't know what happened really."
Sona nodded. "The old church just collapsed...?"
"Exploded would be a better description." Rias folded her arms and thought what move to make next. Then she saw it. Sona was wide open. It was rare that the Sitri heir made a mistake like that. Rias seized on it. She moved her queen up four spaces. "Check." She spoke with finality, knowing this was her win now.
It was Sona's turn to be surprised but she immediately caught where she had made a mistake. She'd developed tunnel vision and didn't notice that by taking Rias's rook, she'd left her king undefended save for a bishop. Sona carefully examined the board for a good defensive move. There wasn't one. She inwardly cursed herself for being careless and moved her king out of the way.
Rias saw her next move but didn't make it. "I watched it happen from the window. It was like someone detonated a bomb and the sky turned violet for a moment."
Sona let her lips thin. She saw what move Rias would make next. It wouldn't be something she could effectively counter. She would just have to take as many pieces as she could to thin out her opponent's power. "Have you sent out any of your peerage to search for answers?"
Rias nodded and made her move. "Check... As a matter of fact I have. Koneko is out there right now but it isn't easy to approach. The media and police have swarmed the area and unfortunately she didn't get there in time to dissuade them. Under normal circumstances we would have set up a barrier and did a thorough investigation, but that isn't possible at the moment. Since then she's gone out a few times. All she could say was that it smelled like Fallen had been there recently."
Both devils regarded each other for a moment. Rias raised an eyebrow at Sona. "I believe this is the end of our game Student Council President."
Sona sighed regretfully. A single move had lost her the game despite being a superior chess player.
They stood and shook hands. Behind Rias, Akeno and Kiba watched. Both of them knew that Rias was secretly frustrated with her inability to find out what had happened to the old church. Massive explosions didn't just happen. There was someone responsible. They just had to find out who.
The problem was that Rias had her duties to the school and to the town. She was, essentially, the devil in charge of the entire town. It wasn't that she ruled it. Simply that she watched over it from the supernatural standpoint. When something strange and unusual happened, she was the one who was put on high alert.
High alert was exactly the term to describe how Rias felt at the moment. As she shook hands with Sona and watched her fellow president and devil leave, she let her outer visage crack a little. She dropped back into her chair and let out a groan of exasperation. She asked the room, "Why do I feel like I should have seen what was wrong from the start. I have this idea like I missed something obvious. "
From the doorway there came a quiet voice. "Because we did."
Rias looked back to the door. Koneko was standing there. She was holding something in her small hands. "What is it Koneko?"
The silver haired first year walked over to the large desk where Rias normally sat. As she spread her discovery over the table, the others crowded around. Kiba moved to examine the many sheets of paper that were arranged on the desk. His brow furrowed in confusion. "What is all this, looks like records of some kind?"
Koneko explained. "These are traffic charts for the number of visitors to certain areas around the town. And this..." She pulled out another pamphlet and laid it on the desk, "is a list from several information centers."
The three devils tried to make sense of Koneko's discovery, but it didn't seem to fit together. Akeno and Rias shared a puzzled look. Akeno inquired, "What exactly are we looking for here?"
The white haired first year took a step forward. "This list here is from the local library. It is a record of all the books that possess valid information on the supernatural. Devil, fallen, angels, etc... It shows how many of these books have been checked out at a time, for how long, and how quickly. A few years ago one of Sirzechs-sama's associates went through all the local and private libraries in town. he wanted to do a study on just how much information is readily available to humans whether they know it's true or not."
Rias blinked. She never knew her brother had done that, but it was a wise move. "And what did he find?"
"That in this town there are four libraries. Two public, two private. And between the four, there are roughly twenty volumes that have accurate information on the supernatural. These are mostly nonfiction works written by devils that have fallen into human hands. They are a curiosity to most humans... However, the chart here shows that every one of the publicly available books have been check out within the last week. All at nearly the same time."
Koneko paused then pointed to a second chart. "But that isn't the most interesting thing I found. If you look here, these are all books that almost never get checked out. Books that even professors would find boring. I found it very strange that so many historical books have been checked out at once. And when I went into the local book store there were whole shelves in the nonfiction isle... empty. All this happened within the last week."
Kiba ventured a guess. "You are saying that someone we don't know is doing a massive in depth study of our culture?"
Koneko nodded, her white eyebrows coming together in a V over her gild eyes. "Yes... but that isn't everything. I also found this. I was just luck really, but it went along with all the books that have been checked out lately." She held up a receipt for them to examine.
It was a long receipt. It had literally dozens of items on it. They read down the list. It had at least forty titles. Almost all of them were self help books on various topics.
"How to Drive A Car", "Locksmith's Reader", "Beginners Algebra", "A Modern History of Japan"
Rias gaped slightly. "Whoever bought these seems to be studying 24/7. I'm not sure I could read this many books in a month. Assuming that each book is at least two hundred pages, probably much more. And considering the need to eat, sleep, and rest to retain knowledge. I can't imagine studying this many different subjects at the same time."
"That is also assuming that this receipt is connected to the other purchases and the mass checkout of books." Akeno put her chin on her palm as she examined the other reports. "And assuming that it is also connected to the incident two weeks ago. I don't think there is anywhere near enough evidence to link them. All we have is weak circumstantial evidence thus far."
Koneko shook her head and gestured to another list. It was a graph with an overlay of a map of the town. "This shows all reported minor crimes in the past month. Starting two weeks ago, there was a jump in the number of reported, but unprosecuted crimes. Meaning whoever is doing it is never caught."
She riffled through the pamphlet till she came to a small bundle of eyewitness accounts. She showed them to Rias. "These are written eye witness accounts of some of the crimes. I had to do more searching than I thought, but I found six accounts that tell of strange abilities or powers."
Rias took the paper and read them though. It seemed to her that they were all unbelievable from the human point of view. One account said that there was an older man with a goatee and a cigarette walking up the side of a building like level ground. Another was by a woman who reported she thought she heard a break in, but when she hit her attacker with her bottle of pepper spray he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
All but one account involved some kind of trespassing. The last one really caught her eye. It was the account of a business man who lived near the school. She recognized his name. "Koneko hand me the list of books in privately owned libraries." Koneko gave it to her. Rias scanned it. She quickly connected the dots. "You're right Koneko. This here shows that someone broke into one of these private libraries and stole several books."
All eyes turned to her as she finished reading the account. She stopped and re-read the last few sentences. Then she looked up. She didn't know what to think of it. "It says here that the books that were stolen were later returned... without anyone being the wiser."
Kiba made a wry face, "But that doesn't make any sense. Why steal the books in the first place. If they knew what books he or she wanted, why not just ask?
Rias said dryly, "Mr. Kamoto isn't the kind of business man who smiles and shakes your hand to show he doesn't bite. He is as sinister as humans come. He wouldn't let just anyone read those books. He knows about the existence of devils. In fact we've made deals with him in the past to cover up certain... er... events. You know, like massive explosions, disappearing buildings, nosy Angels..." Rias handed the accounts to Kiba who started to read them.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose in irritation. "Ok Koneko, What else have you found?" She wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery before it had the chance to come back and bite her in the butt. She would be damned if she went to her brother for help... again. Her peerage would handle this, whatever it was.
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-two days later-
Naruto walked slowly down the street. At the moment he was dressed in a dark orange long sleeve shirt. He had a multi use belt and baggy black pants, the pockets of which were crammed with various scrolls. Most of which had storage seals worked into them. He had traded in his sandals for a custom pair of shoes. They were comfortable, but made it harder to concentrate because of the weird feeling it gave him. He also had fingerless gloves in black. Last of all he'd tied his headband on his arm.
He felt... strange, like he was standing out, but he knew he wasn't. Over two weeks here, most of which was spent in full absorb mode, had made him an expert in blending in. Hell he was already a ninja. He already knew how to sneak. So now, as he made his way through the crowded streets of downtown, he made himself invisible to the mundane people around him. He passed by but they didn't notice him. A ghost... a ninja! Really, he was starting to feel like a walking cliché.
Naruto felt a strong urge to sneeze come over him. He stopped. The expulsion of air made him rock forward enough that he had to use chakra to keep from falling over. He stood strait again and scanned the crowd.
As expected, no one so much as glanced at him. He continued walking. He let his thoughts wander. He was trapped in this strange world. This very modern world. In his mind he tried not to describe it as backward. But it was hard. He couldn't get out. He'd already tried reverse summoning. And it had failed... miserably about sixty times. He'd used up every shred of his normal chakra in the attempt with no results. So much for that.
He'd tried to think of other ways to get back, but he had never been an expert in that sort of thing to begin with. Being in another world entirely compounded his lack of knowledge. That was why he had sent his clones out to learn. He was the CLONEMASTER! When it came to clones, there wasn't nothing he couldn't accomplish. His clones had read like every book they could get their hands on. A few hundred clones can do a TON of studying in two weeks.
It wasn't as though he couldn't have managed on his own, but he never would have found out about the "demonic presences" if he hadn't sent his clones to research it. Just the day before, one of his oldest clones. One that had been running around for twelve days popped. And in rushed all the knowledge he had gathered.
This particular clone had been curious about what the people here believed in. He had gone to the local library to double down on the trickiest of subjects. Religion. Two days later he found a book in the back of the history section. It was a nonfiction book on the occult. It talked about demons and devils. Namely, something called the seventy-something pillars. That book was in his apartment at the moment. He'd decided to go over it himself. The book was written in the standard language here, but it was almost infused with demonic energy. His clone had felt it the moment he touched the spine of the thick volume.
From then his clone had searched out other... tainted books. Eventually he wound up in the private collection of a grimy upper class business man. He'd taken the book, memorized its contents, and returned it. Of course he'd been caught during the initial "borrowing" but he'd never intended to keep it.
What he'd learned was invaluable. First, there were three main orders of beings that existed along with humans. They were Devils, Angels, and Fallen Angels. Each of them was deeply involved with the happening of the world, but because the vast majority of humans have no clue they exist... they operated secretly.
Devils were not demons after all. Demons as Naruto knew them were massive concentrations of chakra given form and personality, like the tailed beasts. Here however it was different. Devils were just like humans, except with special powers and their own society. All in all he found that hilarious. The culture of this world put them in such a fantastic light… and yet they were just like normal humans.
Angels weren't really covered in the books he'd read so far, but what he gathered was that they were the "good" version of Devils. They embodied all the pure intensions and had holy powers. Naruto didn't exactly know what the book meant by "holy" and such, but he would be cautious if he ever encountered an Angel. From what he'd read they were hard to miss. Giant white wings would give you away pretty fast.
Fallen Angels seemed to be the most dangerous of the three groups. They were described as being Angels who became power hungry and went against their own code. They had the destructive power of devils, but could still use holy power.
Naruto was still thinking to himself as he turned right and onto a sidewalk that bordered a large school. As he'd discovered, this school was called Kuoh Academy. It was a previously an all girl school, which recently started to accept male students. It was also huge. Four or five times the size of the Academy back in the Leaf village. A wall bordered the school on all sides and he saw that there was a large wrought iron gate. It was open and a couple girls and one boy were entering. Naruto glanced around. This street was empty for the moment. He grinned and spun to his left.
He leapt up and caught hold of the top of the wall, expertly flipping up to land on the ledge. He idly wondered what the wall was actually for. In his world even properly trained children could have easily toppled it. 'Must just be for privacy or something... Is this school really that fancy? And why would they put this much effort into a school anyway?' Naruto shook his head. He just didn't understand these people.
Students milled about in the courtyard and talked in pairs or groups. Naruto watched them. They all wore uniforms. 'Uck… uniforms. They actually make them wear those? This is way worse than the academy back home.' The Uniforms were mostly black. And as he expected the majority of the students were girls. Naruto thought smiling, 'Oh pervy sage...if only you could see me now. Then again, if you were here, you wouldn't be watching me... tsk.'
Naruto clicked his tongue. It made him feel strange, thinking about his friends when he was so far away. Sakura, Kakashi, Sasuke, Jiraiya... They were all so... distant. Jiraiya was dead, Sasuke missing. Sakura and Kakashi were still around, but he might never see them again. It felt... awful. He'd saved the world. He'd become Hokage. Everything he'd ever set out to do, had been accomplished. And now because of one lame mission. Something had pulled him away from it. From his life. And now, two weeks later, he was sitting on top of a wall...feeling pathetic.
"Don't give yourself such a hard time. It isn't truly your fault."
"Thanks for the update. Like it matters."
"Perhaps you should continue you search for a way home. This world may be different, but it is still possible to get home."
"Like I'm ever going to magically turn into a dimensional distortion expert. I don't get that stuff when I have everything laid out in front of me. How do I open a portal to my world if I don't even know the basics?!"
The fox sounded slightly put out. He wasn't used to Naruto sulking. He was accustomed to Naruto's typical "go get em" personality. "What is the matter Naruto...?"
Naruto let his eyes close. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't.
"Get it off your chest now. I won't have you crying on me later."
Kurama didn't like it when his host was miserable. If Naruto was unbearable when he was happy. Naruto was worse when he was sad or downtrodden. The fox knew what Naruto was trying not to think about. A certain girl he'd been wanting to talk to. A certain girl who had professed her love for him.
He whispered out loud, "I didn't even get to talk to her before I left. Last time... It was just after they made me Hokage..."
"She'll be waiting for you kit. Don't worry yourself about it. You just need to find a way to get us home. Snap out of it!"
Naruto growled in his mind. "And how do you know that? HUH? Like you have some ability to see what's going on at the village. Can you tell me that everyone is safe? No! You're just as stuck as I am! For all we know Kaguya's step-something or other could be walking into the village right this second!"
There was silence between them. Kurama tried to think of something to break Naruto out of his bad mood. Naruto brooded on his continuing bad fortune.
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Sona paced across the lawn from her tennis match. A match that she had won...of course. She kept her true emotions carefully hidden as she walked towards the main entrance to the academy. It was then that Tsubaki, her vice president on the student council, tapped her on the shoulder. Sona stopped and turned. Tsubaki was pointing to a solitary figure. It was a boy in the distance sitting on the high wall near the corner of the academy's upper level.
Sona nodded to her and began to approach. Climbing walls was not allowed. She would have to instill this boy with the desire to follow rules. As Student Council President, it was her job and sworn duty.
A few minutes of walking later she was looking up at the boy. He was older than she had first thought. Seventeen or eighteen. In his third or fourth year by her reckoning. Behind her Tsubaki asked quietly, "I don't think I've seen him around before. Is he new?"
Sona ignored her queen's question. Both of them knew the answer. They hadn't seen this boy before, so he must not attend class very often. That most likely mean he was a delinquent. Someone who skipped out or didn't even show for school. As a third or fourth year he must have been absent more often than not for them to have missed seeing him.
As Sona decided how sever to make the boy's punishment, Saji came up behind her. "What you up to Tsubaki-sama?"
Tsubaki turned and shushed him. She whispered, "A miscreant..." and pointed upward.
Saji groaned, looking up at the boy on the wall. He asked out loud, "How'd he manage to get up there?"
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Naruto was broken out of his trance by a clear, yet harsh voice. It came from below him. He blinked and looked down over the edge of the wall. There were three figures there. Immediately he sensed them. All three were devils. He was sure of it. Inwardly he cursed himself for a fool. That was just the reason he had come here. To investigate the devils in the area. He didn't want them investigating him.
The girl in front demanded, "What do you think you're doing up there?!"
Naruto examined her for a moment. She was short...well most people were shorter than him. But she was particularly small. She wore...a slightly different uniform. It was strangely layered. With a white shirt underneath with black...he didn't really know how to describe it. He wasn't a fashion person after all. If he needed advice on style he swallowed his pride and went to Ino.
The other two were dressed in a similar fashion. He lamented the fact that none of his clones had studied the social workings of schools. He assumed that they were some kind of student officials within the school.
"Who's asking?"
The girl who had spoken blinked once. The two people behind her looked momentarily shocked, as though they had been slapped. Naruto thought that the stupefied looks on their faces were...just what he needed to get back into his normal good mood. He grinned at them, showing off his long canines.
"Well...? Who are ya?"
Sona Sitri had been shocked in her life before. But to be disrespected so by this boy... Did he not know who she was? No, that was impossible. Everyone knew the Student council. If this boy didn't recognize her then he must be daft.
"I am Sona Sitri." She said stiffly. "Student Council President. This is Tsubaki, my vice president. And this is Saji, my assistant."
Naruto raised his eyebrow. "That sounds awfully important, but I fail to see what that has to do with me."
Sona spoke calmly, attempting to get her emotions back under control. "It has everything to do with you. You see, as the Student Council's duty is to enforce school rules... and it is against school rules to climb the perimeter wall..." She left the rest unsaid. If this boy thought he could be smart with her, then she would be smart right back. Show him who was really in charge.
Her "smart" retort backfired as he asked almost lazily, "And how does that affect me?"
Beside her Saji snapped, "Because you're breaking school rules by climbing that wall! Now get down from there!"
Naruto heard someone chuckle. Then realized it was him. It was... just too funny. He was the Sixth Hokage and he was being ordered around by these people. He thought that it must be life throwing him another curve ball… for his amusement if nothing else. It wasn't as if he was old or anything. He wasn't even twenty yet. He still had plenty of time for life to mess with him. And he minds as well play along. Besides he might get a good laugh out of it.
He nodded to them and slipped of the ledge. Tsubaki cried out as he fell fifteen feet.
Then her eyes widened. He landed easily in a crouch without making the slightest sound. Naruto turned to Sona. He was more than a head taller than her. He made his voice as playful as possible. "Ok...but since I don't actually go to school here I'm not breaking the rules am I?"
Sona looked up into his eyes. They were a brilliant blue. He had spiky blond hair and tanned skin. He was very fit. His muscles looked like they were carved from stone. Her eyes scanned his clothes. Not for comfort, but for ease of mobility. His belt had various pouches and slots for any number of items. There was a slight but noticeable smell about him that her keen nose picked up easily. Musky, but pleasant.
Her eyes tracked back to his face. He was handsome, but three black lines on either cheek lent him an undeniable "cute factor" as her rook might have said. Over all... his body, his manner, even the way he held himself. It all screamed fighter. This boy was someone who had been in life and death situations before. Sona, very suddenly and disturbingly, felt outclassed.
She took an involuntary step back. The "boy" introduced himself.
"Name's Naruto Uzumaki! Nice to meet you." He held out his hand. Sona took it and shook lightly. There was something odd about his hand. It felt very...very strong. But he didn't crush the life out of her hand like she half expected. Instead he drew back.
Sona had to squash the urge to step forward and take his hand and examine it. She was sure it would be covered in miniscule scars. She didn't know why, but her devil's intuition was rarely wrong and there was another thing that her intuition was telling her. "This boy is powerful. I want him in my peerage. I must have him in my service!"
As Naruto stepped back. Silence descended, like a black hawk. No one spoke for a moment. Eventually Naruto brought his hand up to scratch at the back of his head. He glanced away. "Well this is kinda awkward."
Naruto felt like he was in a giant spotlight. He didn't know what to do or say. His mid was blank of ideas. If only he knew how to deal with in school situations...
Abruptly Sona asked, "If you don't go to this school, then where are you attending highschool?"
Wincing Naruto took another step back. He said quickly, "I'm not alright. I was up on the wall so I could think to myself alright. It's nothing special."
Saji asked, "And how did you get up there?"
Naruto resisted the urge to freeze at the question. Instead he deadpanned. "Am I suppose to believe that you couldn't get up there?"
Sona stepped forward, interrupting Saji's indignant reply. "If you aren't going to school do you have a job?"
Naruto shook his head.
"And do you live with your parents?"
Naruto shook his head again.
Sona asked one more question. "How old are you?"
"Uh...seventeen... why"
Sona smiled and snatched his hand. She proceeded to drag him away. Desperately he tried to extricate his hand from hers but he couldn't without hurting her. "Hey! Wait a minute! Where are you taking me?!"
Sona spoke over her shoulder. "To enroll you here. You need a decent education!"
Naruto thought there was endless hell in her words. She was dragging him to that building...dragging him back to school. His life was officially over...
"FUUUCCCKKKK!"
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Raynare stood fuming in front of the... church? It had once been an old church. Now it was a smoking hole in the ground. Well, maybe not smoking, but still it was in ruins. Whatever had hit it caused the entire structure to disintegrate. Even the basement was nothing but a crater. It was unbelievable. All he plans were foiled. And she had no clue how it happened.
Behind her three of her subordinates stood. She turned, her voice dripping scorn and anger. "What happened here? Where are the others?"
Her three followers tried their best not to look guilty. She looked to each of them in turn. First was Dohnaseek. He dressed in a long trench coat with black pants and a fedora. He had the brim of his hat pulled down to hid his eyes. He was looking down at the ground scuffing his shoe over the dirt and ash. She decided to get the answers from a more pliable source.
Her other two followers were Kalawarner and Mittelt. Both of whom looked extremely uncomfortable. Raynare turned her icy gaze on Mittelt. "Do explain to me... What Happened Here?" Her tone was icy and caused the younger girl to shiver.
Raynare was surprised to hear Dohnaseek speak up. He sounded tired and he probably was. "We were patrolling the area making sure there weren't any intruders when we heard the explosion. We came as fast as we were able. When we arrived the church was like this and there wasn't a soul in sight. Everyone inside died."
"And how many were inside?"
Mittelt coughed hesitantly. Her blue eyes tracked to the side nervously. "Well... you see, everyone was... We were the only ones outside at the time."
Dohnaseek muttered, "There was nothing but ashes and burnt feathers left. We stayed here hidden while the humans did their investigation. Then we waited for you."
There was a stabbing pain behind her eyes as Raynare asked, her tone nearly hysterical. "And what about the crucifix?" The large cross inside had been especially constructed to remove sacred gears. It was exceedingly difficult to remove sacred gears and for some reason it was even harder to remove them from humans. If the cross was damaged... and all her other followers were dead... and the church itself was destroyed...
Kalawarner coughed lightly. "It was um... half melted by the blast..."
Raynare clenched her fists. This would not be the end. She would find a way to make it work. She would have the Twilight Healing rings!
Yep so there you have it… Not much to say here except review… Come on! I want to see if we can reach 1000 reviews by the time I finish up to chapter 15. That would be the whole rewrite+ five chapters or so. So come one everyone…! I'm counting on ya!