Progress, the one thing Naruto lacked this entire time. In the case of the demon summoner, Naruto had no clue even where to start. He had tried to research the name Amagasaki Chigusa, but it came with nothing. He had a feeling that if he wanted to learn more, he would have to go to the Kansai faction and do research on magic there. All he really knew was that the girl used an odd form of magic called onmyōdō charms, which taught him nothing, besides how the woman could control elements. But even that was on the backburner for a while.

The biggest problem Naruto faced was the mystery behind the rock, which he decided to call a star shard, if anything not to get confused with another rock. It seemed like it could hold a lot of magical energy, and yet at the same time, any magic he tried to push into the shard was immediately dispersed into the air. It was frustrating, and Naruto had no clue where to go from there without any resources or connections to a magical library.

Deciding to give up for the day, Naruto put the shard back in his bag as he prepared to say goodbye to his roommates, at least for the week.

"Naruto-sensei, you should really stop looking at that rock," Konoka said worriedly with a slight pout, "It's taking up a lot of your free time and you won't even tell us why. You should tell us what's wrong and maybe we can help you."

"Yeah Naruto! You haven't cooked for us since my party!" Asuna chimed in.

Naruto chuckled at this, "Sorry, I don't think you two can really help me with this, but I'll try not to let it distract me anymore."

Naruto wasn't too worried about the news of the rock affecting his class, since most of his students were gone to visit their parents during the break, and Konoka said she would stay with Asuna since her dad told her to stay with her grandfather, the Dean, anyway.

"You two stay out of trouble while I'm gone, okay?" Naruto said with a light tease, "Especially you Asuna."

Just as Asuna was about to yell out, Konoka covered Asuna's mouth and said, "Don't worry Naruto-sensei, we'll see you when you get back."

As Naruto headed towards the airport, he could've sworn he had already heard the explosions coming from the academy, the source being their dorm.

Getting off the plane, Naruto was immediately accosted by Anya and Negi.

"Yay!" Negi yelled, "Naruto nii-san is back!"

Even Anya couldn't keep the smile off her face as she glomped her pseudo nii-san. The two had grown a little older and taller, although still, they were only 9 years old, and their immaturity still shone in spades. Nekane had obviously grown used to her legs, and when the two younger children let go of their older brother, Nekane came over and hugged Naruto.

"Hehe, hi Nekane nee-chan," Naruto said, blushing slightly at the contact, "Man, I haven't had a hug from you in ages."

"Glad to see you've missed us too Naruto," Nekane said with an evil smile, "We were worried you forgot about us when you forgot to send any letters for the past month and decided to be weeks late for visiting us. If it weren't for your last letter, we would've given up on you visiting over the LONG summer break."

Naruto felt his life flash before his eyes.

"I'm sorry Nekane nee-chan, but it's been very busy teaching the class, among other things," Naruto said.

"What other things?" Nekane asked sweetly with a glint in her eyes.

"Umm, ano… I'll tell you when we get back to the house," Naruto chuckled out weakly.

While this exchange was happening, Negi looked on in confusion, "Anya-chan, what's wrong with Naruto nii-san and Nekane nee-san?"

Anya looked on in pity, "Negi, consider yourself lucky. That is what people call 'being whipped'."

As they were walking back to the house, all Negi could think about was Nekane holding onto some invisible magical whip and attack Naruto with it without Negi being able to see it.

"Hmm, so that's what it is," Nekane mused thoughtfully, "You might have a way back?"

"Honestly, I don't know nee-chan, it could go either way. I've tried everything I could, and I still haven't found a solution to this or the demon summoner I dealt with."

Nekane narrowed her eyes a little at the mention of the demon summoner, but gave no other indication of hate. Anya and Negi were outside, saying the two of them had to stay inside because they were hiding a surprise from them that they weren't allowed to see.

"Can I see this shard?" Nekane asked.

Naruto reached in his bag and pulled the lifeless rock out. Moving it around in her hand, Nekane inspected every nook and cranny as if she were examining one of the patients at the hospital. However, she discovered nothing that could be of use. She tried powering it with magic like other artifacts, but it remained lifeless, and the magic disappeared from the rock. Sighing lightly, she handed it back to Naruto.

She said, "I have no clue where you can start with the demon summoner, since the magic you described sounds something more of the Kansai Magic Association and Eastern style magic instead of our style. However, as with the star shard, while we can't do anything, I'm sure you can talk to the Headmaster about it. You said you were going to visit him anyway right?"

"You're right, I'll talk to the old man later," Naruto nodded, "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

With that, Nekane and Naruto talked like old times, Naruto detailing his adventures at Mahora, ranging from the battles he fought…

"Wow Naruto, you're probably going to magic swordsman once your magic develops fully," Nekane quipped.

To the interesting confrontation with his past…

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm sure you'll figure this all out sooner or later. Besides, we're your real home anyway."

To his dorm and classroom filled with girls…

"Oh my Naruto, a whole class of girls, how do you deal with it… Wait, did you say you're living and sleeping in the same room with girls?" Nekane blushed, "Don't tell me you miss female contact, having slept with me all the time, albeit Negi was there too."

"Nekane nee-chaaaan," Naruto whined, "I'm doing it because I have to, not because I like it. Besides, I'm older now. I don't need to sleep with my older sister to feel safe."

"Aw, but I missed you Naruto-chan," Nekane cooed.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto tried to duck out of the conversation saying, "Let's go see what Anya and Negi have for us."

Nekane looked oddly at Naruto for a second before nodding. Knocking on the door leading outside, Naruto asked if they were ready.

"Yep! We're ready for you two!" both of them replied simultaneously.

Opening the door, Naruto was surprised to see a table set up outside of the room with Negi, Anya, and the headmaster sitting there. On the table were various dishes, ranging from freshly cooked rotisserie chickens, seafood cawl, loafs of bara brith (fruit bread/Welsh cakes), as well as some Welsh lamb. Naruto's eyes watered a little. Looking at Nekane questioningly, Naruto wondered exactly how two kids and an old man could do all of this.

"Okay, okay, the conversation was also to distract you. We've been cooking this all day and those two along with the headmaster help set everything up. Anya and Negi have been excellent helpers as well," Nekane admitted.

"What about me?" the headmaster asked with a pout unbecoming of his age.

"Of course the headmaster helped," Nekane said, but in a whisper added, "Not really."

Naruto felt overwhelmed by the feeling of love surrounding the table. It was a small family, of course, and while he may have little recollection of his past and what could have been in Konoha, he felt more at home than ever with this family. Laughing at the dinner table, Naruto could picture his life to simply be like this, spending time with the ones he loved, enjoying himself even though he had been gone for months already, and not letting anything ruin his day as well as his time with his true family, the makeshift one that Nagi had accidentally inserted Naruto into.

"So Naruto-kun, what else brings you to my office," the Headmaster said, "Surely you didn't just come for a courtesy visit."

"Ah Headmaster, you know me too well," Naruto smirked.

Pulling out the shard, "It's this Headmaster. Apparently this holds some method of transportation between dimensions, and… well…"

"You were hoping to see if you can use this to see what your homeland is like now?" the Headmaster finished.

"Kind of. This land, this world, this family will always be my home. But there will always be a part of me that will always be curious as to what could've happened; as to what I left behind when I came here."

"No I understand," the wizened old man said, "Unfortunately, it's not something I have much knowledge of, nor is this rock something I've seen before."

Pushing his magic into the rock, the Headmaster's magic met the same fate as the others had.

"This has potential, but that's all it is at the moment. It seems whatever magic was in here has long been used up, and this artifact is apparently a one-time use only, if what my magic indicates is true."

Naruto frowned at this but nodded in acceptance.

"However," the Headmaster continued, "You are free to use the resources at the Academy to find out what you need, and I'll send a message to the Dean at Mahora to see if he can give you some guidance. Their library is actually quite expansive as well, except the more… potent works are kept hidden from normal students so you'll need special permission."

"Thank you Headmaster," Naruto said.

"It's the least I can do for one of my favorite apprentices," the Headmaster chuckled.

Despite all these resources, Naruto found no progress in the Academy's library. Placing the Headmaster's note into his bag, Naruto said his final goodbyes to his family.

"Be good you two," Naruto told Anya and Negi as they were hugging him tightly, "Nekane better only be telling me good things, or else I won't show you all the cool spells when I visit next time."

"Just you watch nii-san," Negi said defiantly, "I'm going to be just as cool as you!"

"Me too!" Anya chimed in.

"Sure, sure," Naruto gloated, "I only have four years' worth of experience over you."

Going over to Nekane, Naruto hugged his older sister tightly, "I'll see you later nee-chan."

Nekane smiled and said, "And we'll be waiting Naruto-kun."

Nodding, Naruto walked into the airplane and began to head towards the new winter trimester.

"You've got to be kidding me," Naruto said to himself, "This is getting me nowhere."

Despite spending an hour at the Dean's office after dropping his things off in his dorm and giving a rushed explanation to his two roommates, the Dean had no idea as well, leaving Naruto with a pass into the more lucrative parts of library island while the Dean continued to pick at the shard.

Library island was literally a large island leading off from Mahora Academy. A long bridge with street lamps lighting the way led to the brick and mortar buildings. In middle was a large tower surrounded by smaller buildings, each one displaying a special form of architecture, ranging from the intricate Greek styles, while the tower was more reminiscent of Big Ben, albeit in a smaller scale.

Naruto walked into the main building of the library and exchanged his pass for a key. Going down two flights of stairs, Naruto found himself in front of two locked doors. He tried to insert the key he received, but try as he might, the key would not fit into the keyhole.

Sensing a magical aura coming from the door, Naruto realized his mistake. Facepalming, Naruto groaned at his mistake. Of course a magic library would be protected by magic. Naruto placed his hand on the door and muttered, "Dispuslo."

Finally opening the door, Naruto descended the spiraling staircases and started his search.

An hour into his research, he had turned up almost completely empty. The only reference he noticed was an old text on ancient artifacts detailing the discovery of a shard like what Naruto had about seven hundred years ago by a person named McDowell.

"Figures," Naruto said, "It all goes back to Eva's family. I wonder if she has some old records about this McDowell person. I think I should take this out to ask about it."

Looking intently at the informational book, Naruto hardly noticed as he bumped into another person. A loud thump echoed in the library as both Naruto and the mysterious person fell.

Shaking his head, Naruto tried to stand up, only to find himself being weighed down by another person… with curves and a feminine…

"I'm sorry!" a flustered, yet clearly female voice yelled from on top of him.

Naruto, on the other hand, could barely tell who was on top of him because his face was covered by the girl's back.

"As much as I would love to accept your apology," came Naruto's muffled voice, "I'd like it if you could get off me."

"Ahh!" the girl shrieked.

Both of them standing up, Naruto realized just who he had bumped into. Honestly, he should've known from the smell of nikuman. Looking at the girl, he could see the telltale signs of the two buns of hair with ponytails along with light, innocent sounding voice.

"Chao Linghsen," Naruto began, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Naruto-sensei?" Chao said nervously, "Haha, well, I'm here to do research yo."

"Really now. Research for what? This part of the library is restricted to all students, so I'll ask again, what the heck are you doing here?"

"Well… I have a pass ne!" Chao said lamely, "So I decided to use it!"

"And why would you have this pass?" Naruto interrogated.

When Chao couldn't come up with an answer, Naruto sighed, "You know what? I really don't want to know. I trust my students to do the right thing, so I'll believe your research excuse, but whatever you do, be careful. Magic isn't to be tampered with."

Chao looked at Naruto in surprise. Truthfully, Naruto-sensei was an enigma to her. No matter how much she would try, she could find nothing about him. Even with her extensive database, for all records, Naruto was not supposed to exist in this world, let alone be a part of the world of magic.

"Sensei," Chao said nervously, "How do you know about this ne?"

"Chao-san," Naruto said seriously, "Don't play dumb with me. Even though I may seem like a laid back teacher and am your age, I can put two and two together. The only way to enter into this room is to be able to access or have some form of magic. The only way you can be down here would be that you know something about all of this around us."

She had no clue what to say to this, because in truth, she was caught red-handed.

"Again," Naruto continued, "I'll leave you to your devices because I trust you. I hope you don't break that trust."

'But I need to know exactly how much HE knows,' Chao thought to herself.

"Arigatou sensei," Chao said, bowing, "But I have to ask you, how much do you know? You seem like a normal teacher aside from your fancy smoke shows when you enter class. In fact, you seem almost like a prankster."

Naruto looked oddly at the girl. In class, while she may have been one of the top students within the school, she was also a person who was very happy-go-lucky. Always keeping busy, Chao was always involved in one club or another, ranging from robotics to martial arts, as well as running her school-wide famous kart, Chao Bao Zi, known for their delicious nikuman dumplings. She was always smiling, and yet at this moment, her bubbly, oblivious self was extremely serious.

'Just what exactly are you trying to do Chao?' Naruto wondered to himself.

Speaking aloud, Naruto said curtly, "I know enough to need this library and its information."

Chao frowned at this lack of information. Seeing no way to go but up, Chao took a risk.

"You're not from here, are you sensei?" Chao asked quietly.

Naruto flinched at this question. It seemed so innocent, and yet it held so much heavy baggage.

"Of course I'm from here," Naruto recovered somewhat smoothly, "How else would I know all this stuff about magic and be here."

"No you aren't," Chao said, taking the opportunity.

This was the first time Chao ever had a one-on-one talk with Naruto, and she was going to have her questions answered, because Naruto was a dangerous unknown variable.

"That's not true," Naruto said, slightly panicky but schooling his features to show otherwise.

"It is true," Chao said accusingly, "Because if you were from here, I would know."

"Well, you're not omnipotent. How would you know what goes on in my life, let alone other people's lives?"

"Naruto-san?" the librarian's voice came from the door, "Are you okay down there? The Dean said he would like to see you in his office."

"I'll be there in a sec!" Naruto yelled out.

Looking at Chao, he said, "Look Chao, I'm in a rush. I'm only going to say this once. Please don't pry where you aren't supposed to and please don't betray my trust in you. I want to be able to trust my students."

Walking away, Chao could only wonder what she was going to get herself into before heading off. She had a meeting to go to as well.

"Did you need me for something Konoe-san?" Naruto asked, considering he had only been here a few hours ago.

"Yes Naruto, I was wondering if you would let some other take a look at the shard," the Dean said, "There's a chance that they may be able to do something that we can't with technology."

"At this point, I don't think I can do anything with the shard," Naruto conceded, "Sure, what can it hurt."

"Great!" the Dean said brightly, "Please come in you two."

The door opened and in came, much to Naruto's surprise, Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase. These two were in the top of his class, but with his prior conflict with Chao along with a lack of much contact with Satomi put Naruto a little on edge.

"Konoe-san," Naruto asked tentatively, "What are my two students doing here?"

"Well Naruto-san," the Dean said, "These two are not only among the top students of the school, but they have extensive knowledge on magic and technology. When you had left, I called these two to see if they had any idea what to do about it."

"And that's why I was in the library sensei yo," Chao continued.

'Among other things,' she thought to herself.

"These two were the ones who created to Chachamaru and allowed her to run on the limited power Eva-san has," the Dean said.

"Wait, Eva-chan's on limited power? So you mean she hasn't been at a 100% all this time?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Of course not. She's at least ten times more powerful than she is now," the Dean replied simply, "The Thousand Master's spell binds her power and her own self to the school."

Naruto wondered exactly what Eva was capable of if with one-tenth of her power, she almost equaled Naruto's strength, if not was greater, aside from her physical restrictions. Yet this revelation only motivated Naruto to become even better, even though he knew with the seven hundred year advantage, he would be hard-pressed to meet the same level.

"Anyway, Naruto will you show them the shard?" the Dean asked.

"Of course, of course… except you have it Konoe-san," Naruto said smartly.

"Do I?" the Dean wondered to himself.

He poked around his desk, looking in various drawers, shuffling papers, and yet to no avail.

Finally, Naruto spoke up, "Konoe-san… it's next to the lamp… Weighing down your pile of records."

"Ah, yes, you're correct. I believe I left it there after Shizuka-chan came in here for a question. It makes such a good paperweight," the Dean said, smiling lightly.

Each person in the room let out a long sigh of disbelief, besides the Dean. Chao took one look at the shard in question and immediately realized what it was.

"Ah, I know what it is," Chao said, "A star shard, specifically one powered by a combination of magic and space rocks. Haha, I didn't realize it at first because the Dean just said a star-shaped rock ne. It's pretty rare to see one at this time and place, since it's been rumored to be an inaccessible item attainable only in space. I'm surprised you found one at all. It's supposed to be a very volatile artifact that can transfer people through dimensions, ripping apart at the very fabric of time and space, without any warning yo."

Naruto looked questioningly at her.

"Notice the lightning bolt and the dull green color in the center? It utilizes magic just like normal artifacts. The only problem is that it requires a conduit for the energy to transfer in. Unfortunately, this rock was created using a less than potent material ne. This means that to get it work, it needs a proper conduit to reenergize its reserves, specifically orichalcum, one of the more conductive, yet rarer materials yo," Chao explained.

"Do you think you can do it?" Naruto asked.

Satomi butted in with the answer, "I believe it's quite possible with the technology we have. If what Chao has just said is true, I think we can take apart the rock to its base components and, with enough orichalcum, stabilize it a little bit more. I don't know exactly how successful the endeavor would be, but it's quite within our parameters to attempt, if Chao's up to the challenge of course."

Chao merely glared at Satomi.

"Thank you for helping me," Naruto said, bowing to the two.

The girls lightly blushed at the praise from their sensei but took it in stride.

Satomi said, "Think nothing of it, but don't complain if something goes wrong with it. We could very well ruin whatever chance you had to use it… Which reminds me, why do you need it anyway?"

Before Naruto could butt in with a proper response, the Dean snuck in with, "Ah, that is my fault. You see, Naruto's family hails from Europe, and since I dragged him this far away, I was hoping for a way to let him visit them more often. I came across this, and so I told Naruto about it, but we haven't gotten very far as you can tell."

Naruto looked questioningly at the Dean but nodded his thanks. Chao seemed suspicious however, but said nothing about it.

Satomi said, "Simple traveling? I believe we can do much better than that. It may take a year or two for the research to be completed, but I'm sure we can do it."

"Then I leave it in your capable hands, Satomi-chan, Chao-chan," Naruto said with a bright smile.

The Dean then said, "Thank you very much. Can you two please leave though? I have a few more things to discuss with Naruto."

Nodding, Chao took the rock with her, and along with Satomi, walked back to their dorm.

Naruto turned to the Dean, "Thank you for covering for me. I had no clue how to respond to that."

"Think nothing of it Naruto-kun," the Dean said, "I'm sure if you want to tell your students, you'll tell them on your own time. However, I suggest you do open to more people than just us old people. In fact, if the Headmaster had not told me your story, I would've been just as clueless. You need to learn to trust people more intimately. You can't always hide behind your secrets."

Naruto nodded, "I will Konoe-san. It'll take some time though. For one thing, I don't even know who knows about magic and who doesn't, if today was any indication. I mean everyone's so secretive about it, it's confusing."

"Indeed, but I'm sure you'll eventually learn about each person as more time goes by."

Naruto was completely exhausted as he headed back to his dorm. While not physically damaging, the day was draining on him mentally, and all that science mumbo jumbo didn't help at all. He looked at the clock and noticed it was already eleven at night, which meant the girls would be sleeping. Settling down on the couch, he sighed as he took stock of the day's events. Quietly, he could hear a door open. Turning around, he saw Asuna rubbing her eyes wearily as she adjusted to the light.

"Naruto-sensei," Asuna said groggily, "It's late. Why are you still up?"

"Ah, I just came back from a meeting with the Dean," Naruto replied.

Settling down on the couch next to Naruto, Asuna made herself comfortable on the cushion.

"You know Naruto-sensei, you should really talk to us," Asuna said.

Remembering the Dean's words, Naruto asked, "Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Naruto no baka," Asuna said, finally fully awake, "You know what we mean. You're hiding way too much stuff from us. It's worrying Konoka a lot."

'And it's worrying me too,' she thought silently.

"Well, don't wo-," Naruto began.

"Nope," Asuna said, a little angrily, "Don't even start with that stuff. You may be our sensei, but you're also our friend. You may say we don't understand, but how will you know until you try us?"

Naruto could only stare at Asuna in silence. Since when was Asuna wise and giving good advice?

"Honestly," Asuna said, a little more tenderly, "You said it yourself. We're your family now too, and we'll always be there for you. Even if you are a baka."

"Thanks Asuna-chan. I never knew you could be so caring," Naruto said.

Immediately, Asuna changed attitudes, "Ha…ha… don't get me wrong. I'm doing this for Konoka's sake. She's worried sick about you Naruto no baka. Just hurry up and be more open so I can stop all this wise crap."

With that, Asuna turned around and went back inside the room, leaving the door open for Naruto to come in later on to sleep. Remembering about the piece of information he had read, Naruto decided to call Eva before sleeping to tell her about the latest developments.

Going over the wall phone, Naruto dialed the cabin's number.

"Hello Naruto-sensei," Chachamaru's lifeless voice emanated from the phone, "Master will be with you in a second."

"Yes chi… Naruto?" Eva said through the phone.

"Hey Eva, I was just thinking you should hear about how far I've gotten with the rock you gave me."

Naruto detailed each of his discoveries or lack of at first. When it came to the library excursion, Naruto left out talking about Chao, but explained what he had found out.

"Hm, those humans do have something right. That McDowell was my father. I remember him bringing it home one day. He said that one of the new English cannons, yes they were new during the Hundred Years' War when I lived, had left a gigantic hole in our castle's garden. My father said that while he was working to fix said hole, he found the star shard deep within the crater. It was narrowly crushed by the cannonball actually, but it had barely stopped before hitting it. When I came back, no one could tell I was even gone, but the light in the rock was gone. My father said that I could have it a few days later when he could discover nothing of use coming from it."

"Ah, I see. By the way, I hope you don't mind, but I let Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase work on it for a while."

"Oh… YOU WHAT?" Eva yelled.

"Ah, calm down Eva-chan. They said they can do something with it."

"They'll do something alright. Ugh, well, it's too late to do anything now. Just remember, with every action, there's a consequence."

"Of course. Hey Eva, is it true that you're only at a percentage of your power?"

"Well, of course it's true, child. All this talk isn't for nothing. If I was at full power, I could probably crush you in an instant."

"Ah, I see."

"Is that all you're going to say about that?"

"Well," Naruto began, "What exactly can I say to that? I mean I can't exactly argue without knowing your full power, and chances are, you probably know quite a bit more than me, considering your age."

"Haha, good, know your pla-, wait a minute, was that an insult?" Eva asked.

"Well now, look at the time. I'll see you at the beginning of the new winter term!" Naruto said hurriedly before hanging up and sneaking into the room. It was going to be a very long term.

And a long term it was.

The wait seemed forever for Naruto. His class had certainly grew more interesting as he got to know some of them a little better, but for the most part, he felt at a stasis. There was nothing he could do with the star shard, and the demon sightings had suddenly stopped. He really wanted to do more, to discover more about the star shard and deal with the trouble with that Chigusa lady, but he had no clue what he could do.

And of course, there was his class…

"Argh! Seriously you guys! Focus!" Naruto yelled out, temper getting to him.

The class sat speechless at his outburst. Naruto-sensei rarely raised his voice to the class unless it was out of petty annoyances, but he was all serious right now.

"The end of the winter term is almost here, and we've gotten absolutely nowhere!" Naruto said.

Even though the class had resolved to work harder, the results had not shown it much at all. While they had raised up their overall percentage by a little bit, they were still lying in the bottom of the pit as usual.

'Am I just a bad teacher or something?' Naruto wondered glumly to himself.

Seeing the worried and scared looks on his students faces, Naruto frowned to himself, "I'm sorry you guys. I know it must be hard having someone your age teaching you, especially when I'm not the best at academics. You all have been trying really hard and we have improved, even if a little. It's just hard for me to do this stuff sometimes, you know?"

While Naruto couldn't see her, Naruto could hear Sayo floating next to him and saying he wasn't such a bad teacher. Sayo spent most of her time floating around in the classroom, and while Naruto would sometime spend a few nights talking to her by the lake, she always floated next to him while he was teaching class. It was a bit disconcerting, but it was a comfort for Sayo to know that someone else acknowledged her, and so Naruto let it slide.

Chizuru Naba spoke up, "Naruto-sensei! Don't worry about it, I think I can speak for all of us and say that we love having you as a teacher."

Chizuru was an odd character, at least Naruto thought. She was the most motherly of the students and seemed to always know the right thing to say. During those wise moments, Naruto could swear she was an adult already. If he remembered right, Chizuru had actually started working at the Mahora Day Care center as a volunteer. However, Chizuru was also a bit weird, saying just as many weird comments as well as wise ones. Naruto could also swear he heard Ayaka complaining in the hallways about Chizuru being a little bit more perverted than most people. Still, he appreciated Chizuru greatly at the moment.

"Thank you Chizuru-san," Naruto said, "But we still have to find a way to improve."

It was then Ayaka raised her hand.

"Naruto-sensei, since we all dorm here, I was wondering if you think we should hold a study session over the weekend before the end of term test?" she offered.

Inwardly, Naruto groaned a little at the extra work but knew it had to be done.

"Great idea Ayaka!" Naruto said a little forcibly, "Let's have a vote as to see whether this has the class's support."

Aside from Ayaka's excited hand in the air, no one else seemed to share the same sentiments. Naruto sighed at his students lack of enthusiasm, even though he really didn't want to do any of it either.

"Fine let's make a new idea," Naruto mused, "What about this. If you girls raise your rankings from the bottom of the school to anywhere higher by the end of the school year, I'll take you on a trip for a week in the summer, my treat."

"Where exactly?" Kazami Asakura asked questioningly.

"Hmm, I'll get back to you on that," Naruto said.

The girls all audibly grumbled. Even Yue looked at Naruto oddly in disappointment.

And for that reason, the topic was closed. With the end of the winter term, the scores had risen, but Class 1-A had yet to rise from their bottom position. They had gained a few more points, very close to overtaking the next class, 1-B, but it was still futile.

Naruto was worried about his class. The girls were more than just his students, they were his friends now, and their education was important as Naruto had learned himself. While things like the star shard were bothering his mind constantly, he learned to let it go a little bit more. It was out of his hands, so he decided to place his trust, ironically, in the very students in his care. As for the demon sightings, the onmyōdō charm user disappeared overnight.

He had some form of interaction with his students, one way or another, and learned to appreciate their individual personalities, no matter how odd or disturbing. Chisame Hasegawa was a cynical student of his that seemed to be hiding student and also, for some reason, had reserves about having a teacher the same age as her. Ku Fei had an odd habit of saying aru at the end of her sentences, but she was an energetic, lively person that, while was terrible at school, made up for it in spirit. The twins Fumika and Fuka were the pranksters of the class, and they were an oddball duo. Sometimes, they were the opposite sides of the same coin, complimenting each other, like when Fumika would be the one calming Fuka from doing too many pranks, and at times they would be the same coin with their love for ninja techniques.

Mana Tatsumiya, on the other hand, somewhat threw Naruto off. She never initiated any conversation, but whenever Naruto talked to her, she was polite and curt. However, Naruto learned from her dealings with her classmates, she was also quite frugal with money, as if using it quite a lot of the time. And finally, there was the twin's roommate, the source of their odd ninja obsession, Kaede Nagase, who had accosted him during the term about his techniques.

"Ne, Naruto-sensei," the narrow-eyed girl approached Naruto, "Where did you learn how to use that smoke technique?"

"Ah," Naruto said, unsure of how to approach the question, "Well, it was from my hometown."

"That's odd, according to Konoka-san,you were from Europe," Kaede said, "What would ninjas be doing in Europe de gozaru?"

"Good question. Would you believe me if I picked it up from a passerby?" Naruto asked with a sigh.

"Of course… not."

Naruto didn't want to lie, but he couldn't very well tell the truth, even if Kaede seemed like a ninja herself.

"Wait a minute, what about you?" Naruto asked, "Where are you from then?"

"First answer my question de gozaru," Kaede said, eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Fine. I can tell you this much, I learned all I did from scrolls that my… guardian left for me before he left on a very big trip," Naruto said truthfully, "Unfortunately, I don't know much about where it came from, since I haven't heard from it in almost a decade."

Kaede's eyes narrowed more, if it was even possible, but nodded her acceptance for the moment.

"As for me," Kaede said, "I am a chūnin from the Koga clan. We specialize in weapons, deception, among other things de gozaru."

'Hm, so it seems ninjas in this world are quite different from the ones in Konoha,' Naruto thought to himself, 'Another difference between worlds.'

"Thank you for telling me what I wanted to know," Kaede said, bowing, "I wish you the best in your own career as a ninja."

"Of course," Naruto said.

Inwardly, Naruto wondered if he would ever be a real ninja, or would he continue his happy life as a mage.

And yet now Naruto was going to the Dean's office to ask special permission for his class, halfway through the final term before the class moved on to be 2-A. He couldn't believe he was doing, but he kept good on his promises, no matter how outrageous they were. The Dean probably wouldn't approve of it, but he had promised his class a trip at the end of the year if they improved, and he would ask to the best of his ability. Taking a deep breath, Naruto raised his fist to knock on the door, only to hear the Dean call him to enter.

"Now Naruto-kun," the Dean said genially, "What would you like to request of me?"

'Shoot, he knows I want something. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought,' Naruto grumbled to himself.

"I would like to request to give my class a reward if they improve their standing from beyond the bottom of the school," Naruto said plainly.

"Naruto-kun, you are never one for discretion are you? You just say exactly what you want," the Dean mused with a smile.

Naruto felt himself sweat at hearing this. He couldn't tell if this judgment was simply an insight or if it was an indication of flat out rejection.

"Hmm," the Dean continued, "That is a good idea. However, I'm not sure if the school would be able to fund the entire trip. How long and where do you want to go?"

The nervous Naruto explained his plan to the Dean, showing his ability to think on the fly. Honestly, all Naruto had to go off on was a place the length of time, but somehow, Naruto managed to lie his way into having an elaborate plan of showing his students the sights and allowing them to enjoy themselves before returning home and then to the new school year.

"Ah Naruto, as much as I enjoy your… detailed planning… it has about as many holes as the sponge I use for my bath hoho."

Unbidden thoughts flew to Naruto's head as he held back a gag reflex.

"However, I digress," the Dean said, "Still, I believe your class has been working hard, considering who you have to deal with. I suppose…"

Just as that happened, the school counselor, Shizuna Minamoto walked in.

"Ah hello Naruto-sensei, how has your class been?" she asked with a smile.

"Shizuna-san! They've been good, if a little bit hectic. They remind me of… well… me," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now, I hope you're not letting your age be an excuse for their low grades," Shizuna said with a creepier smile.

"Of course not!"

"Shizuna-sensei, Naruto-kun has an interesting proposition," the Dean said.

As the Dean explained the entire situation, Naruto felt quite out of place among the adults. Even though he had been teaching for over two seasons, Naruto always felt slightly lower than the adults in their faculty discussions.

"Hmm, I like that idea," Shizuna said, "But I think we should demand some form of penalty if Naruto-kun can't make it."

"I see, like what?" the Dean asked.

When Shizuna detailed exactly what Naruto's penalty would be if he didn't improve his students grades, Naruto felt his brain shatter into a million pieces. Gulping, Naruto nodded in agreement to the arrangement, even though Naruto's logic continued to berate him. Oh the things he did for his class.

"Come on!" Naruto yelled out, "Study, study, study!"

The girls in the class were cramming frantically during the hour before the test was to be administered. While Naruto couldn't give out answers, he was driving them hard. For the past month, Naruto had been drilling every little bit of information he could into the class. They worked so hard, the students barely made it to the dorms in the afternoon when class ended.

Naruto's popularity had taken a nose dive at first, but when Naruto explained their prize, specifically instead of a simple promise of a trip, their eyes burned with intense passion. Unfortunately, Naruto had also volunteered himself to cook for his roommates every day as long as they were studying, which they utilized to the fullest extent. However, at this moment, everything was going to pay off.

Going over to Yue, Naruto leaned to see her working hard as well. Naruto remembered the begging he had to do get Yue to actually work, because his friend was a genius. The problem was that she refused to show it.

"Thank you Yue-chan," Naruto said quietly.

Yue simply nodded as she continued to peruse the various pages, albeit slightly lazily.

'Ugh, I hate studying,' she thought to herself, 'If Naruto hadn't bothered me so much about it, I wouldn't have done a thing. He's lucky we're friends… then again, I was lucky too, so I can't complain. Forget that, I'm complaining.'

"Naruto," Yue said as he began walking away.

Naruto paused and heard Yue mutter, "You owe me big for this. I mean very big. You better get me my book."

He felt himself sweat at this. Every other day, Naruto and Yue spent their lunch together. While Yue had learned to make a few other friends, Yue could never forget Naruto, and so they arranged to continue to hang out. During their latest discussion, Yue told Naruto about an amazing book she found. It was a slightly expensive book about explaining philosophy in terms of the possibility of magic. Naruto knew its information on magic was probably completely off, but seeing Yue so interested in it, Naruto couldn't help sharing a little enthusiasm. In fact, Yue had insinuated, ever so bluntly, that she would like it for her birthday.

'That girl,' Naruto thought to himself, 'For a supposed antisocial person, she sure knows how to push the right buttons to get what she wants.'

Still, Naruto was proud of his first friend at Mahora. She had grown from a person disillusioned of the world by her grandfather's death into a great friend, thinker, and imaginer. Yue had much more life in her, especially when they had talks about fantasy books or her friends in class. Even though she couldn't be called a social butterfly, she learned to treasure the people around her and make true friends. In the past few weeks, she was even an amazing student academically as well.

In fact every student, ranging from the excitable Asuna to the stoic Zazie had improved their grades at least a little in the past few weeks that made Naruto proud as a teacher, as arrogant as it sounded considering his age. Even Evangeline, the stubborn vampire, put more effort in her work, if only showing off her years of experience. As they began to take their final exam, Naruto could see many of his students being more confident than in the past term finals. He could only hope he could save himself the embarrassment and bring the class to success… he really didn't want to suffer.

As the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the last week of school, Naruto walked in with Shizuna-sensei. They seemed to be talking excitedly, with Naruto waving around a piece of paper animatedly. The class grew more and more rowdy as they all wondered about the results of their test. Of course they were excited. If they improved, they were going to the Chubu region to the area surrounding Mt. Fuji for a week of fun and relaxation during break. Shizuna-sensei said goodbye to Naruto as they walked in and turned to the class and gave a quick smile and wave before walking to her office.

Naruto took his place in front of his desk. After Ayaka stood up and told the class to give their greeting, Naruto smiled.

"Congratulations, Class 1-A! You guys beat both Class 1-B and 1-D. While we haven't beaten the other classes yet, I think we can with time. But you know what this means?" Naruto said excitedly.

"That we get to go on the trip?" Asuna asked with anticipation.

"Well that too, but I don't have to be punished," Naruto said cheerfully.

"What do you mean Naruto-sensei?" Evangeline asked innocently.

Of course Eva had known the whole deal, and was a little miffed that she couldn't go until the last day of the week. The curse Nagi left kept her from leaving the school grounds for too long, and so she had to wait until the last day of the trip to even think about attending.

"Why, I was going to have to wear a chicken suit and dance around the school clucking like an… idiot," Naruto finished lamely, seeing evil smirks in his students' faces.

"Naruto-sensei," Asuna said sweetly, "I think you should do that for us, considering how much we worked."

"Yeah," Ku Fei chimed in, "It's the least you could do aru."

"You don't have to do the whole school, you can just… strut… around the classroom a few times until we're satisfied de gozaru," Kaede said.

"Oh no, heck no, I already went through hell and back to let you go on this trip and plan it out. And I hate planning," Naruto grumbled.

"Come on Naruto-sensei, do it for us?" Misa Kakizaki said with a pout, using her charm as the leader of the cheerleaders of the class.

"I agree," Yue said tonelessly, yet with the slightest smirk on her face.

Suddenly, Naruto felt himself being tackled by Asuna, Konoka, along with a bunch of other students Naruto lost track of in the haze of the attack. He felt himself being pulled into a large, yellow, rubber, chicken suit.

'Just another normal day in the life,' Naruto groaned to himself, crying silently as he suffered his punishment.

A/N: This one was a struggle since it was a filler. This is going to lead into an original arc which will then take us to canon. I'll be skipping things a bit once I reach canon, specifically stuff like the library expedition, which while interesting, really doesn't apply anymore since the class is already improved… although I might do something else with the Baka Rangers come the new school year.

Hopefully, you didn't get too bored by the exposition development in this chapter, but I needed something to take me to the next part. I would call it an arc, but I think the trip will only be a chapter long, maybe two depending on the amount of development I want. Also, hopefully by then, we'll have a real bite at the heart of the conflict and the beginning of the real story. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

First of all, thanks so much for the reviews! I swear, I didn't expect the response to be this great on my return. I'm so glad you guys have been sticking with me even though I'm so fickle with my updates. I'm honored to be loved by this community, and hopefully I won't let you all down.

To address the concern of an anonymous reviewer concerning why Naruto wants to return to Konoha, at least in this story… Naruto only spent 5 years in Konoha and left without really knowing it as a kid, and so Naruto's curiosity is getting the best of him. The possibilities make Naruto want to just at least see what Konoha is like now in his absence. Still, in his mind, this new world is his home, but there will always be a part of him that wants to know this other world, this other part to his identity.

Also, I would like to thank my reviewers for pointing a small error in the ages among other things, which I have fixed. Eva is also actually 700 years old, which I just realized, so the "time difference" was more like 700 years, but you'll find out more about that later. I also realized the whole three term system of Japan, so I did some light editing to show that.

Now a few quick questions for you guys with your opinions…

For pactios, I know they're a representation of the person with the pactio (Ministra?), not the person who's the Magister, so should I keep Naruto's pactio with the girls the same if he's their first pactio (instead of Negi) or should I make my own?

Also, I would like to hear your opinions on OC villains for this story. A valuable reviewer has shown me the value of having them, especially to balance both sides, but I would like to hear the opinion of other people to solidify/counter my opinion. I just need some quick opinions so I can develop the story better.

Remember, any questions or comments or advice, please tell me in a review or message! See you next time!