~Carry On My Wayward Son~

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD or Naruto, but that should be obvious.

"I'm normal!" People talking

'I enjoy being normal!' People thinking

"It's hard to be normal!" Monsters/Demons talking

'Am I normal?' Monsters/Demons thinking

[I cannot be normal…] Sacred Gears talking

[I can never be normal] Sacred Gear thinking

Prologue: A normal life

~Tic-Tok~ ~Tic-Tok~ ~Tic-Tok~

Seconds went by, each accompanied by a loud tick of the wall-mounted clock. And yet it felt like time stood still to him.

It was just so boring, so tedious and the loud ticking of the clock wasn't making this any easier.

On one hand he felt grateful that the clock was there so that he could stare at it, on the other hand he thought that the very same clock could be used as a device to torture people.

Lock them into a room with nothing but a clock. A loud, annoying, ticking clock. It wouldn't take more than a day for whomever that's locked up to spill whatever secrets they held.

Weird analysis but fitting considering that he was trapped here. Forced to sit here each and every day, staring at that clock hanging above the blackboard. Listening to the scraping of pens on paper as his classmates actually put some effort into whatever assignment they were given.

He could feel the disapproving gaze of the teacher linger on his person. He knew that his teacher knew that he didn't care for this-or any other-class. He knew that the teacher wanted to call him out for his slouching and lazing, but he also knew that the teacher knew that it would not matter in the slightest.

They had been there, they did that. Over and over again. And yet nothing ever changed. The first year of Highschool had consisted of nothing but his teachers scolding him for his attitude during class.

If you could call a complete and utter lack of interest and motivation an "attitude" that is.

Now he wasn't some no-good, troublemaking delinquent. Outside of this hellhole he was a fairly nice guy. Sure, he had his moments. Moments like that time he strung up a group of bullies by their underwear…

'Heh, gave those suckers the mother of all wedgies!'

…or that time he gave one of those three perverts-the bald one-the address to an apartment and told him that it would be used to film a scene for a porn.

'Bet'cha that perv didn't expect it to be gay porn.' He couldn't suppress the snicker that escaped his lips…

Ah, yes, he was a big 'ole prankster.

There was nothing like causing some "fairly harmless" mischief to get a rise out of people. To fight the otherwise boring monotony of school life. Or in some cases, to punish little twats that believed making fun of him for his appearance or lack of interest in things was a good idea.

Like he did with those bullies.

'For fucks sake, I have whisker's and couldn't give two shits about school…that must mean I'm the Devil!'

Boy, when he enrolled in this Academy last year the school's very own Rumor Mill went apocalyptic on his ass.

Yankee

Delinquent

Loser

Drop-Out

Were some of the names that his…haters(?) threw at him. There were more, many more names that were used over the year, most of them of the vulgar variety.

Not that he particularly cared. Nope, not a bit. Compared to the names he was called as a kid, everything these students could come up with paled in comparison.

Most of those insults were rather amusing to be honest.

There was just something cathartic about watching a bunch of rich kids wasting their time trying to figure out where he came from or how he managed to get a place at an Academy that was tailored towards the children of the rich and powerful.

A picture of three perverts sitting in a circle, giggling like loons flashed through his mind.

'Well, mostly targeted towards the rich and powerful. Why is it that so many students agonize over the fact that I AM here and yet no one ever questions why those three idiots don't get punished by the headmaster…'

One thing was certain, this was not what he had in mind when he wondered how it would be to start his life over again in a place where no one knew who he was or what he contained.

But then again, when was life ever fair to him?

As his mind got ready to delve down that particular rabbit hole of self-loathing and insecurities, the bell loudly declared the end of one torture and the beginning of another.

'Lunchbreak…yippee…'

Eyes of the clearest blue reluctantly opened as he lifted his head off the table he used as a pillow. He ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair and took a look around the classroom, he couldn't help the snort that escaped his lips as he saw a literal heard of students rush out the doors as if their lives depended on it.

'I think you call that a heard of 'Sheeple'.' But it was nice to know that he wasn't the only one to utterly despise school.

At least back when he was a kid the Academy taught him how to be a badass, ass kicking ninja. But this? This was ridiculous. Half the stuff they taught here wouldn't ever be useful to a normal man or woman, and most certainly not to someone like him.

Business, Foreign Languages, Math, Biology, Chemistry, Electronics, History, Social Science, Arts and Religion…when would any of that ever be of use to him?

The only class he could give some leeway was Physical Education, and even that class turned out to be a big fucking disappointment.

…okay, he had to admit that History and Foreign Languages came in kinda handy from time to time. History filled a lot of the blanks he had after dropping down here and the thought of knowing how to converse in different languages was reassuring if nothing else.

And he had to admit that some of the stories the history teacher told them were quite entertaining, like the one about that dude Icarus who flew a tad bit too high before gravity decided to ruin his gig.

'Hmm, I think most of us experience the one or other Icarus moment every now and then, I most certainly did.' Not literally of course.

The story of Icarus was mainly a warning about both complacency and hubris.

Or something along those lines, he wasn't quite sure.

"Uzumaki-san…?" Blue eyes snapped towards the person that spoke his name only to see his teacher's befuddled visage stare back at him. "Are you sick?"

The teacher-Mr. Shiro-was a plain middle-aged man. Black hair with greying sideburns, green eyes and round glasses sitting upon a long, pointy nose. His state of dress was just as boring as the classes he taught, a white button up shirt, plain grey trousers and black shoes.

"Ah…no? Why do you ask?"

"Class ended five minutes ago, and you are still here. That's never happened before." The teacher stated before he walked closer to his desk, "are you sure that you're alright? If you need someone to talk to-

"No!" He quickly cut his teacher off, "nope, I'm fine. I don't need no counseling, no heart to hearts with anyone, nothing of that sort. Just my peace and quiet."

The teacher looked skeptical for a moment which he really shouldn't be. By now it was well established throughout the teaching staff of the Academy that trying to get young Mr. Uzumaki to talk about anything beyond conventional matters was a fool's errand.

'Naruto Uzumaki…just…who are you?' That was a question that nearly every teacher and student alike wished to know the answer too. That lazy blonde troublemaker was the enigma of the school. He never, never, payed attention during classes and yet always passed his tests with a perfect score. Most believed that he cheated, but that could never be proven, no matter how thoroughly they watched him.

The only thing that the teacher knew for a fact was that the young man was attending school only because the authorities made him do it.

Other than that, and the boy's name there was nothing in the Academy records. And the teen himself never talked about his past and would ignore anyone that questioned him about it.

With that in mind the teacher dropped the matter, "alright, if that is what you want."

"It is." The young man nodded resolutely.

"Even still, I want you to know that if there is anything that you need, even if it seems inconsequential, my doors are always open."

The young man rose from his seat and rolled his shoulders, "I'm gonna have to pass on that offer teach, but thanks anyways."

With that said Naruto picked up his backpack, gave the teacher a wave of his hand and left the classroom.

~DxD~

Kuoh Academy.

It was a beautiful school, he had to admit at least that much. While he didn't know all that much about schools in general, he knew that the average school wasn't supposed to look this nice.

Kuoh Academy was built to look like one of those fancy Universities that he heard so much about. Now he couldn't honestly say if that was true or not, but the Academy had that rich and noble vibe down to a T.

The Academy was actually an exceptionally beautiful campus. It was large, almost gigantic. It consisted of several buildings with the main one being a long, rectangular building that was four stories tall with a slanted roof, reddish-brown tiles and built in the style of a traditional European Mansion.

The back of the Academy was a large courtyard where most students spent their breaks with several patches of fresh soft grass and a fancy marble fountain located in the middle of the courtyard. Cobbled paths led towards each of the additional buildings that belonged to the campus and further out back was a decent sized forest where one could actually get lost in if they weren't careful.

It was at the edge of the courtyard where Naruto made himself comfortable, sitting with his back against his favorite tree. A gentle spring breeze wafted through the air, ruffling his spiky blonde locks and causing the green leaves above him to rustle and dance.

From his backpack he pulled out a bento-box and then unveiled some chopsticks before he calmly began to dig into the lunch that he bought this morning. The meal was simple, some store-bought stir fry with a side of dumplings.

Far from a quality meal but better than the stuff they handed out in the cafeteria.

While he ate his blue eyes looked out over the courtyard, watching the other students move about in their little groups. Talking to each other about this and that, smiling, laughing, living without a care in the world.

'Lucky bastards…'

Why couldn't it have been that way for him and his friends? He gladly would have gone to school back home if it meant that he could spend more than a day in peace. If it meant that he could act like a kid, fooling around with his friends without the constant shadow of death, war and deceit looming over his head.

What a life that would've been.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" The painfully shrill shrieks of several girls drew Naruto's attention away from his melancholic thoughts and his head snapped into the direction of the girls locker rooms.

"PERVERTS! CREEPS! TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE MEN!"

"And here we go again."

The blonde could only shake his head in disbelief as he watched three boys being chased by a mob of enraged girls hell bent on beating the snot out of them. Normally he would've found a scene like this to be quite funny, but it happened each and every day.

Sometimes even twice.

He watched those three clowns being chased around like this so many times that he actually lost count.

By now it has gotten old and boring, doubly so because like his Sensei-may his soul rest in peace-those three pervs seemed to have the universal healing ability only gifted to the most hardcore of perverts.

Every time he watched this scene play out in front of him, he was reminded of his own days of stupidity when he would ask Sakura out on a date only to get pummeled over the head…but this here…this was so much worst.

It was like Jiraiya all over again. No, it was like watching three Jiraiya's going absolutely ape shit without a Tsunade being there to hammer some sense into their heads.

'Great…I'm never going to get that image of thrice the Jiraiya out of my head now.' He shuddered at the mere thought.

He loved that man like a second father, but the thought of his antics and perversions made Naruto pity every woman of the Elemental Nations, none more so than Tsunade. That poor, poor woman had to take the brunt of it all.

In hindsight maybe he should've treated her a bit nicer, calling her Granny truly wasn't flattering, especially when he saw her as more of a mother figure than anything else.

"They'll never change, right Uzumaki-san?"

"Probably not." Naruto answered before looking at the figure of the Academy's heartthrob walking towards him. "And I see that you've gotten rid of your fan club for a while, how'd ya manage that?"

Kiba Yuuto nudged his chin towards the mob of girls chasing the perverts, "they felt like joining in on the hunt."

Naruto chuckled, "figures."

Yuuto Kiba, also known as Kuoh Academy's "Prince" was a handsome young man with short blonde hair a few shades lighter than Naruto's own, bluish-grey eyes and a mole underneath his left eye. He had a lithe and athletic frame and was dressed in the standard male Academy Uniform that he wore perfectly to the schools regulations.

"How have you been Uzumaki-san?" Kiba asked in a friendly, conversational tone of voice.

"Pretty good actually, how 'bout yourself?"

"Busy as always, with the exam week coming up and the club meetings after school I doubt that I will have much free time in the foreseeable future." Kiba explained, "you wouldn't mind telling me how you manage to ace every single test without ever studying for them? Would be pretty useful to know."

Naruto shook his head and smirked at the younger blond, "who ever said that I don't study? Just because I don't pay attention during class doesn't mean that I don't study after school."

Kiba gave Naruto a dry look, "do you?"

"No but it's the principle that matters." Naruto responded dryly. "As for how I do it? I'm just that good, nothing more to it."

"Right…I totally believe that." Kiba muttered.

"Believe what you will Yuuto-san." Naruto said dismissively.

KIba glanced at Naruto, "I do, and I believe that there is much more to you than meets the eye."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and went back to his lunch, "as I said, believe what you will. Now If you would excuse me, break's ending soon and I want to finish my lunch."

"Right, I'll see you around." Kiba said and with a wave of his hand he turned around and walked off.

Naruto looked after Kiba and narrowed his eyes while absentmindedly popping some food into his mouth.

~DxD~

"Freedom, oh how I've missed thee…" Naruto muttered as he stood outside the gates of Kuoh Academy.

´He leaned his head back and took a deep breath of fresh air before a smile bloomed on his lips.

He hated school with a passion, but there was nothing quite like the feeling he got once he walked out the gates of that horrid place. It felt good and he doubted that he would get sick of that feeling anytime soon.

He took another deep breath before he began to walk down the sidewalk with a jolly spring to his step. Once more ignoring the whispers of any passersby, be they students or simple pedestrians of the city.

He was in a good mood.

And why shouldn't he be? School was over. The weather was nice, not too warm, not too cold. And did he mention that school was over?

Yep, life was good.

Despite the rough patches he had endured over the last year, he couldn't honestly say that he hated the new lease on life that he had been given. And it surprised him too!

He had always cherished the bonds he made in the Elemental Nations, he cherished them more than anything else in his life. And for a while, he was sure that he would've gladly died to protect each and every one of those bonds.

It never came to him that those bonds were also stifling. Ensnaring him, wrapping around his neck in an attempt to suffocate the life out of him.

It took him losing everything he ever knew to realize this. It took him loosing every bond he ever made to realize just why Sasuke longed for this…freedom.

When Naruto woke in this world-or dimension-, he was saddened, broken and felt like cursing everything that could hear his voice. But once the anger and sadness ebbed, once he could think more clearly, he realized just what opportunity he was given.

This was a new world. Undiscovered by Shinobi. Different from anything that he ever saw before. It didn't take away the longing that still lingered in the back of his mind, the longing to reunite with his friends and loved ones, but it did ignite his curiosity.

He wanted to see more, to discover everything this world had to offer.

And after the first few months, he began to enjoy the freedom this world offered him. No one judged him here. No one knew of his parents. No one knew of his tenant. No one looked down on him for something that he was not, and no one looked up to him as a hero either.

Here in this world, he was normal.

It was…nice.

'I never knew that I needed something so desperately until I found out just how good it feels to be normal.' Naruto thought while continuing his walk down the sidewalk, whistling a jaunty tune all the while.

~DxD~

"Did you discover anything new about him?" The stoic voice of a young woman echoed through the private office of the Student Council President.

"No sadly I didn't." The voice of another woman answered the first.

"Didn't you tell your [Knight] to befriend him?" The first woman asked, her deep amethyst eyes staring down at the chessboard sitting between them. She took hold of the elaborately carved figurine of a horse and moved it to strike down her opponents defenseless Bishop.

"I did but Yuuto-kun had no success thus far." The second woman answered, her ruby lips pursed into a frown as she too gazed down onto the board that sat on a low crystal table. "Uzumaki-kun is very skilled at keeping everyone at a distance."

"That we can agree on." The first woman stated, watching as her opponent moved to strike one of her Pawns in retaliation. "Which makes me wonder just why he acts the way he does…"

"Trauma maybe?" The second woman questioned thoughtfully. "Human minds are fickle things. Maybe he experienced some sort of trauma or betrayal in his youth, something along those lines could easily make a person reclusive and distrustful of forging new connections."

"Plausible but I doubt it's that simple."

The second woman laughed lightly, "you should know that sometimes the most difficult puzzle's have the most obvious solution."

"That might be true, still I can't shake the feeling that there is so much more to Uzumaki-san than we believe."

"You know Yuuto-kun keeps telling me the same thing." The first woman looked up, her amethyst eyes meeting glowing turquoise. "He told me that whenever he talked with Uzumaki-kun he could tell that there was something unnatural about him."

The first woman sighed and shook her head, sending her straight raven locks sprawling from side to side in accordance with her movements. "This isn't helping us at all…it has been over a year and we know nothing substantial about him."

"I know…" The second woman sighed while reaching up with her hand to roll a few tresses of her silky crimson tresses between dainty fingers. "But what do you want to do? We could try to pursue him with more aggression but then there is always the chance that we are wrong about him."

"No, I don't think that pursuing him is a good idea at this point in time." The raven-haired woman stated. "There are students that have a higher potential than Uzumaki-san, we should focus our attention on them."

That was something that the crimson haired woman could whole heartedly agree with. Uzumaki Naruto did not have any significant amount of magic flowing through his body, nor did he show signs of possessing a Sacred Gear. It was his enigmatic behavior that drew her attention on him, and while she wished to solve the mystery that was Uzumaki-kun, she couldn't afford to waste anymore of her precious time chasing something that might well turn out to be nothing but a bitter disappointment.

It was a luxury that she could not afford at the moment.

"I agree." The crimson haired woman stated, "then let's talk terms, shall we?"

The ravenette smirked at her old friend, "always so greedy Rias."

"You know me Sona."

~DxD~

Issei Hyoudou was speechless at the flag event happening in front of him. This pretty girl had walked up to him out of nowhere, called for him by name, and she even asked him…

"I-I'm sorry…w-what did you say?"

"G-geez, why are you making me say it again?" The beautiful young girl with long black hair whined as she tried to work up her courage again with a burning red face. "I-I've seen Hyoudou-kun walk around this way for a while now and…and every time I saw you I-I got nervous. My knees got weak and-and my heart started to race. And I've wanted to say this to you for some time now…"

She took a deep breath, "Hyoudou-kun! Will you go out with me?!"

Issei looked at the girl called Yuuma Amano as time froze around him, just earlier today he had dreamed of getting a girlfriend so that he could finally grab her wonderful boobs. He had peeked on all the girls in the changing room so he could see their naked bodies. And he was beaten up because he was a vile and hated pervert.

And yet somehow, this beautiful, lovely girl wanted to be his girlfriend. What could he say? What was he thinking?

'Fuuuuuuuck Yeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!'

"Yes! I'd love to go out with you!"

"By the Holy Log…"

Naruto blinked owlishly after witnessing something wholly unbelievable.

'I guess miracles do exist, I just didn't think that I'd get to see one with my own eyes.'

Throughout his life he had witnessed fantastical things that ought too blow the mind of any 'normal' and sane person. He saw proof of an afterlife, of life after death with his very own eyes. He fought against monsters, against an army of animated stone statues, against apocalyptic demons and against human's that achieved a level of power that was somewhere in between God-Like and Almighty.

But to see Issei Hyoudou getting asked out on a date by an admittedly cute girl…

'Shit…I think this is the sign of the coming apocalypse!'

Throughout his life he had to deal with all manner of perverts, which made this entire scene even more mindboggling. Because if there was one thing that all the perverts that he ever dealt with had in common then it was the fact that they were single.

Utterly and completely single.

Now in case of Kakashi-sensei that may have been by choice, and who knows what would've happened had pervy-sage lived, but the both of them were Legends amongst Shinobi.

Issei on the other hand was just…Issei.

From what Naruto witnessed so far, the brown-haired boy was perversion incarnate and didn't possess any of the redeeming qualities that made Kakashi and Jiraiya so likable despite their less than stellar habits.

Naruto's blue eyes followed the figure of the blackette that had asked Issei out. Something felt oddly wrong about this whole situation…

"Hey!" Naruto's head snapped to the side where he saw Issei Hyoudou walking towards him. "Stop staring at my girlfriend asshole!"

"Say what now…?" Naruto asked in slight confusion turning to face the smaller boy who came to a stop in front of him.

"I told you to stop looking at my girlfriend's ass!" The brunette repeated himself.

Naruto snorted, "what made you think that I was ogling her ass?"

"What else is there to look at!?" Issei asked animatedly.

"Are you serious right now?" Naruto asked before quickly shaking his head, 'Of course he's serious.'

"Of course, I'm serious!" Issei shouted before roughly grabbing Naruto's collar. "Listen here you pretty bastard…" Issei moved his face closer to Naruto until they were almost nose to nose with each other. "Yuma-chan's my girlfriend! So, stay away from her, got it!?"

Blue eyes turned cold and he tilted his head forward to look at the perverts fists, the fabric of his uniforms blazer wrinkling around Issei's fingers.

He straightened himself up and locked eyes with Issei; "Get your hands off of me before I break them." To prove his point Naruto reached up with his right hand and grabbed one of the pervs wrists, giving it a light squeeze.

"Argh!" Issei howled in pain and quickly scrambled away from the blonde while gingerly holding his sore limb. "Hey what gives? You nearly broke my wrist!"

Naruto blinked, "I hardly did anything…it's not my fault that you have zero tolerance for pain."

"Why you…" The perv seethed in anger.

"Besides, it was your fault for grabbing me in the first place." Naruto stated as he straightened out his collar again and brushed some nonexistent dust from his clothes. "Maybe next time you think before you act."

Issei just about had it with the blonde. He would not allow some pretty boy to talk down on him like this.

"Oh, and another thing." Naruto began, "I didn't leer at your 'girlfriend'."

"Then why did you stare at her!?"

"Pity mostly." Naruto's grin was all teeth, "couldn't quite believe that any self-respecting girl would ask you out on a date."

"You BASTARD!"

~DxD~

A/N: Greeting everyone, hope that you and your families are safe in these uncertain times, and I hope that you enjoyed the prologue of my first story.

If you should have any questions then PM me, but most of those questions will be answered through the story anyways, so you may just want to wait :P

Now then, leave a review if you enjoyed it, or give me some real criticism if you didn't so that I can improve as a writer, and fav/follow if you want to see more.

I see you guys next time.

Stay safe and remember to follow the health and safety instructions of your Governments. If we all act responsibly then we can overcome this crisis, I'm sure of it.

SilverSurfer24