"Yo."
Uzumaki Naruto's body stood with a casual posture and an uncharacteristically menacing grin, his spiky blond locks fluttering across narrowed, slitted, red eyes, as the oversized arm of burning energy retracted and shrunk to more human-like proportions.
"The name's Kurama."
The thing that stood out to Akeno wasn't the change in eye color, the sharpened and extended canines shown in his grin, the sight of his whisker birthmarks just as thickened and wild-looking as he'd described the other day; it wasn't even the sight of Koneko's sixth tail seemingly piercing straight through his gut without coming out the other side.
It was the voice.
The words that came out of his mouth weren't in Naruto's usual energetic, high-pitched rasp, but instead a calmly-sinister, deep and gravely bass. It sounded like it came from right in front of her, despite being dozens of meters away. Not just that, but the sight of it speaking was offsomehow, seriously uncanny. The words spoken didn't quite line up with Naruto's mouth movements, as if the being piloting his body was just poorly lip syncing what it had actually said.
A thunderous, rumbling, drawn-out boom rolled over the area, followed by a wave of wind that made Akeno and Sona reflexively brace and hold their own hair out of their faces; the aftereffects of the distant explosion finally reached the school grounds.
Naruto's– Kurama's eyes settled on Koneko's berserk transformation, and the inhuman growl coming from within the skull mask was cut off as her whole body froze up with a jolt. With how deliberately she sat back on her haunches a moment later, "berserk" didn't quite seem to fit anymore.
"Hoh? You're resisting me taking my power back…?"Kurama's grin widened. "Feh! What a stubborn brat, just doing as you please! You sure know how to pick them, aibou!" Kurama's tone calmed as he lifted Naruto's hand with golden chakra glowing around it, and pressed the palm to the tail lodged in his stomach. "Too bad, fool girl. You're already beyond your limit-"
A blur of movement.
A golden spear was closing in on his face. Koneko was racing toward the cadre on the other end of it, fist first.
A giant hand of red chakra slammed Koneko into the ground by the head hard enough to leave a full-body imprint, while Naruto's fleshy hand flashed up towards the spear.
Sky blue energy twisted out of Naruto's palm, mixed with flecks of red.
Particles of Light sprayed into the air in front of Kurama's face, and Kokabiel landed lightly on his feet a dozen meters away, staring with narrowed eyes at the bright purple spinning orb that ground away the top half of his spear before he had jumped back.
"Oi." Red slitted eyes met red sclera with a glare as the Rasengan slowed and faded away. "I was in the middle of something."
"Any being that calls Uzumaki Naruto 'partner', and puppets his body at a level actually able to react to me, is not someone I wish to let power up even further," Kokabiel stated seriously, tossing away the broken spear to dissipate and forming two greatswords instead. "So forgive me if I choose not to sit and wait. This will not be a fair fight; I will kill you and that boy, and ensure you both stay dead by any means."
"MmrrRRA-!"
CRACK-THUMP!
Kurama shoved Koneko deeper into earth, shattering the bone helmet to grip her head between the ears and cutting off the beginning of a roar aimed at Kokabiel. She was crushed deep enough into the new pit that even her tails dropped out of sight, her sixth tail fully separating from Naruto's body to follow suit.
"Khehahahaha!" Kurama laughed. "How amusing, this misunderstanding of yours!" He exclaimed jovially. "It's usually the other way around for us, but Naruto's chakra is plenty enough for me to defeat you! Regaining my own power won't change the outcome of a clash between us, it will simply ease the brat's mind that his little girlfriend is back to normal, safe and sound."
Kurama bared his fangs. "Interfere again, and it won't just be your wings that I cut short when I end this farce, little bird. It will be your life."
"A counter offer;" Spears began forming in the sky above, behind, all around Kokabiel by the hundreds, by the thousands. He lifted one sword to point at Kurama. "You may not care for their lives, demon, but as you just said, that boy will. Walk forward and impale your heart upon my sword. Refuse, and I will prioritize slaughtering every one of his friends around us as collateral, even should it make putting you down more of a chore. Do so, and I will spare all but my two targets; the Gremory and Sitri heirs."
The chakra arm retracted from the still transformed Koneko, leaving her oddly silent in the pit hiding her form from view as Kurama chuckled darkly. "Heh, you bastard. You lie as easily as you breathe!"
Kokabiel smiled thinly. "It was worth an attempt."
"Besides, you're forgetting a few things-"
They both blurred into motion. Azure chakra blazed wastefully from all of Naruto's tenketsu like an aura of fire under Kurama's rusty control of his reinforcement, while Light spears fell like God's Judgement had arrived.
An underworld-forged straight sword slid out of the blond's belt to parry one of Kokabiel's swords, while the cadre's other weapon was busy deflecting Kurama's extending fist. Naruto's cane-sword shattered on contact, the forces applied proving too much for it to handle, but it did its job well enough for Kurama to drop the handle and lunge for Kokabiel's chest.
"First, what collateral?!" Kurama cackled as the Fallen twisted away from Naruto's knife-hand. Almost like a filter over the senses was lifted at his words, the moment the first of the falling spears impaled Akeno, the red haze that filled the world disappeared in a blink, along with all the visible devils, who all reappeared unharmed alongside the human sorcerers, all with Kuroka at the helm of a giant magical barrier– one that was handily weathering the storm. "The only target in your reach is right in front of you, khehehahahah!"
The ground shook as the Light missiles struck empty earth and a barrier created by an Ultimate-class level magician.
Kokabiel snarled as he and the possessed teen clashed dozens of times across dozens of meters in a single second, having not noticed the extremely subtle illusion the nekoshou criminal had cast until it had just been broken. He had been played.
It was as he thought; regardless of the fact Kokabiel doubtlessly held the advantage in sheer energy, the nine-tails was dangerous even at a blatantly reduced level, missing six of its tails. The synergy between the demon and Uzumaki Naruto's body must have been monstrous, to be able to push him physically even now.
Every one of the creature's punches parried, every kick dodged, and every slash from the unnaturally extended nails on the human's fingertips blocked, and yet no matter that he hadn't been struck yet, nothing Kokabiel tried was getting through either.
He was the one being pressured by the constant aggression of his opponent dictating the pace.
Normally he would at least have the reach advantage with his natural height and his weapon against an unarmed enemy, but even that was mitigated by the crimson energy arm that could extend and retract at will, leaving the human with the advantage of his smaller size making him a smaller target.
That was the problem with judging combat strength by power levels; it was an amateur mistake made by people who'd never been punched in the face at mach five and beyond, and it was one that Kokabiel would not be caught dead making. Some warriors eschewed all types of mystical energy and simply hit harder.
Claw-like nails raked across the flat of one sword while his other stabbed forward in a guard counter that Kurama's energy arm positioned itself in front of. Kokabiel's Light stabbed into the dense energy like it was a solid object, and came to a stop halfway through, before the glowing arm extended to the side to grip his blocking sword by the blade.
'How in the world is it doing that!' Kokabiel seethed internally as he took a step back, dismissing both of the bound up weapons to create new ones, warding off another retaliatory swipe by redirecting a barrage of spears his way. 'It's a nine-tailed fox youkai! A demon of hatred even, while separated from most of its power to boot! I should have the elemental advantage here, so how am I not cutting it through!?'
It wasn't even that the demon was strong enough to resist the Holy energy like the four Maou could. Logic, experience, and every one of his current senses told him he should be handily dismantling the dark creature's most versatile and expendable limb with every swing, nullifying it with every block, and yet every time his blades made contact, it was as if his Light had no effect beyond the normal unnatural sharpness that applied against all beings, regardless of light-to-dark alignment. Even God's death wouldn't explain this seeming glitch in the system.
"And second-!"
Kurama weaved through the rain-like assault of spears with the ease of someone who had survived much more dense and dangerous attack spams in the past, appearing in front of the much taller man with a fist cocked back, right as two more swords formed in Kokabiel's hands.
Naruto's palm flew at Kokabiel fast enough to ignite the air, slamming a purple Rasengan uppercut into a hasty cross block and throwing the Fallen a football field away into the air before he stopped himself with his wings. It only bought a single second of time as Kokabiel flew back in like a streak of light himself, glowing with his Holy Power fully unleashed, but Kurama made that second count.
Despite almost all of Naruto's injuries being mostly healed, the missing arm was still a problem in both the short and long term. Naruto had never lost an arm before and had no experience moving that way, so his body's natural balance was thrown off enough to make Kurama's less-experienced control of it just a tad less responsive than he'd like.
"Who said I needed skin contact to take my chakra back?!"
So Kurama decided to fix it, and if Naruto wanted to complain later, the brat could chop it off and make one himself.
Kurama grinned as two whole tails worth of his chakra flowed through the space where Naruto's right arm used to be, gathering and condensing into a familiar shape like first nature, enhanced by the knowledge and experience gained working with brat to fight Kaguya. An arm rose, with lean, angular joints and covered in wild, red-orange fur. Kurama pointed his clawed finger at the rapidly approaching Kokabiel.
He watched Kokabiel's eyes widen as a dark purple sphere the size of a fist appeared at the tip of his claw inside that split second.
He watched Kokabiel realize his error, the fact that an attack that took a berserk Koneko entire seconds to create and fire for the first time ever… Kurama, the original source of her current power, could do it all in the blink of an eye while wasting less power.
Super Mini-Bijuudama!
He fired the tailed-beast bomb not as a ball, but as a beam.
There was no time to dodge, no chance to block, and no projectile to deflect.
Twenty meters in diameter, Kokabiel barely had time to twist away from the center of the approaching death, his expression one of panicked wrath as most of his body was engulfed in the destructive light that lanced into the sky, only his upper left wings sticking out unscathed. His scream of rage was downed out by the roar of rushing power.
The barrier surrounding Kuoh glowed brightly as the attack slammed into it, rapidly shifting technicolor hues spreading from impact as it dispersed the attack's energy across a vast invisible surface to safely siphon away.
Kokabiel breached the perimeter face-first, his broken and scorched body smoking as he shot limply out of the attack and slammed into the ground.
Kurama lowered his hand, watching in satisfaction as the man tried shakily pushing himself up with one arm.
Kokabiel's previously smooth skin was cracked and blistering where it wasn't stripped away wholesale, the flesh of his right cheek melted away to the point his scorched-black molars were exposed. His right arm was missing entirely up to the shoulder, while his right leg ended at the knee, never mind the exposed muscle tissue. The suit he'd worn had practically disintegrated, showing off the burnt and bloody skin of his torso. The only parts of his body that seemed to escape with minor damage or none at all were his twelve wings, the ones that didn't get clear in time being encased in extremely dense layers of protective Light, Light that only just began to shatter and fall away.
Confirming the state of the battlefield with his senses, Kurama turned and began walking over to the timeout pit he'd left the brat's girlfriend in.
"w-whait… y-you bashtard…"
Kurama didn't, crouching at the lip of the crater and looking down
The moment he did, the transformed face of Koneko snapped up to meet his gaze from where she sat, patiently waiting still until she perked up just now.
Her four tails began swaying. Kurama smirked
"I sshhaid whait, damn you! Don' tchurn your back on mhe!"
It was amusing to see the cat girl so influenced by his own canine nature that her tails wagged when she saw her mate's face. Not that he did such a thing when he was happy, of course. He was Kurama, the strongest of the nine. Such a base act was beneath him.
What was slightly less amusing was the jackass still thinking it wasn't already over.
He glanced at the Fallen over Naruto's shoulder with a single eye, before turning back to his current priority as the girl jumped out of her hole to land beside him.
"Don't push it, little bird. It's over." Kurama grunted. "I really will clip those wings if you do. I don't care if I cause an incident, that'll be Naruto's problem to deal with."
The man was hovering above the ground, his wings carrying the burden his shredded body couldn't, and a cracked and dull silvery arm attached to his ruined shoulder with a fresh Light sword in hand.
Kokabiel glared with a mixture of hatred and burning determination. "Itsh not over untchil I whin or die!"
Kurama rolled his eyes, completely unconcerned as Kokabiel flew at his back. "Tell that to these guys."
As he reached down to Koneko, Kokabiel's eyes rolled into the back of his skull and he fell out of flight, straight into the waiting clutches of a suddenly appearing Kuroka. A short distance away from her, a stylishly dressed teen male with silver hair lowered into a hover on a pair of armored blue and white wings. A pair of well maintained dress shoes tapped on the packed earth as they approached Kurama from the front.
Koneko tensed and growled at the three new arrivals, but with a single touch of his hand to her shoulder, Kurama unraveled her deathgrip on his chakra and stole most of it back. Almost instantly the tails and crimson chakra-flesh slid away from her suddenly unconscious form and absorbed into his own, while it was the work of seconds for him to regrow fresh layers of skin over her exposed muscle tissue with some of the chakra he left within her.
He smirked in amusement as he cradled her nude body to Naruto's chest.
His idiot partner was going to make such a fool of himself when he resurfaced…
"So you're the guy everyone's been running around like headless chickens for all these months." The third newcomer stopped a few paces away. "Or not just you, I suppose. It's two of you in there, am I right?"
Kurama glanced at the person as he stood up, taking the visual measure of the being he'd sensed observing the spectacle.
About as tall as Kokabiel, with short brown hair that was dyed blond at the fringe, and a short brown goatee. One of his hands sat casually in the pocket of a high-collared, burgundy trench coat that had a deep v-neck showing off part of his chest, belted at the waist in a way that left the bottom to flair out around his slacks like a cape.
"Thanks for the assistance, by the way."
The man had narrow-set eyes and the kind of sleazy-looking lazy grin that just pissed him off for some reason, making him want to punch the smug sounding bastard in the face.
"The name's Azazel, Governor-General of the- phteh!?"
So he did.
Kurama woke up from his nap early to save everyone's asses, now it was Naruto's turn to deal with the fallout.
Chapter 64
Naruto
Her cheeks wet with tears and features extra-blank in glassy-eyed despair, I could only think that such a depressing face didn't belong on Koneko; her shutting down her ability to emote should be made a crime. Even the tiniest little reactions that tended to slip through the cracks in her usual mask were like night and day in comparison, not even mentioning the more open expressions of her inner self that she occasionally let loose when we were alone together.
"I believe in you."
I felt my eyelids drooping in blood loss-induced exhaustion while I mouthed those words. As my vision blurred, the last thing I saw before consciousness completely left me was Koneko's face.
So when her eyes widened, and her face shifted into an expression of utter determination a moment later, I allowed myself to drift into the darkness with a smile.
'Good, she's way cuter this way.'
I blinked awake.
Then, I threw my hands up to pull at my hair and yell.
"Gaaaaahh!" One hand accidentally smacked my nose in the process, but I rolled with it, pressing that palm to my face. "What the hell kinda thought is that at a time like this?! Not 'she's got this', not 'she'll be fine', but 'she's cute'?! It's life and death right now, dumbass!"
As my rant ended, the sound of movement caught my attention.
Gurgle gurgle, slosh slosh.
I lifted my hand from my eyes to glance down.
Ankle-height water churned and rushed by me in a dimly lit sewer tunnel.
"Huh?" I blinked again and awkwardly pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming at the sudden transition.
'Nope, still here.'
I grinned, my previous outburst forgotten with the new information. "Heh, this sure is nostalgic."
I almost stumbled as I took my first step. I looked further down towards my submerged feet.
"Uh?" The floor was further away than I expected. "... I'm taller?" I realized it was because my limbs were suddenly much longer than I'd been used to for the past year and more, explaining the early smack to the face.
'I guess I'm back to my old appearance in here?' I thought curiously, holding up my arms for inspection. It honestly felt weirder than I expected. I would have guessed I'd enjoy being back at my old height, no longer being a shorty, but nope; I just felt awkward and gangly. Kinda like a mirror of how it was when I first woke up in this world, feeling awkward and stubby.
Surprisingly, although I was back in my older mental body, I was still dressed in the Kuoh Academy boys uniform instead of one of my old orange jumpsuits– though I didhave my trusty forehead protector on at least.
I also realized as I looked down, that the water which used to be a murky brown, was now almost crystal-clear, bringing to attention the cracked and chipped stonework of the floor below. Glancing around, I noticed the entire tunnel was the same, broken and chipped in many places, though visibly filling in and mending in all of the places with the worst of the damage. The pipes running along the ceiling and walls were audibly groaning as something rushed through them, the air around the metal distorting with heat.
"Welp, time to go say hi!" I got to walking, a warm feeling of hope in my chest.
I followed a familiar path, ignoring other branching hallways as their own pipes began converging and gathering in this main path, before reaching the central seal within a minute; an enormous room without a visible ceiling, capable of containing a being that could destroy mountains with a swing of his tails.
Standing in front of the familiarly massive open gate and looking up and out into the depths, I felt a moment of confusion, before my stomach dropped in surprisingly crushing disappointment.
It was empty.
"What was I even expecting…" I muttered with an explosive sigh. "I knew I left him with the other me, but even so, I…!"
I clenched my fists and closed my eyes as I felt a familiar sting in them.
"Whatever you're muttering about, keep it down, Naruto. I'm trying to concentrate."
"Huh?!" My eyes flew open as I heard an oddly familiar yet unfamiliar voice speak up, and looked around frantically. "Kurama?! Is that you?! Where are you?!"
"What the hell did I just say?! I'm trying to make sure we don't explode! Do you want us to explode?!"
I looked down, where the high-pitched, squeaky-voiced shouting came from.
An orange-furred fox, as small as a normal baby kit and with a single adorable tail, glared up at me with bared teeth and narrowed red eyes.
"Pfft-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" I fell on my ass crying tears of laughter, pointing. "The big-bad Kurama, destroyer of worlds, reduced to a housecat victim!"
"Oi, shut the hell up!"
"GAAHH?!"
Chibi-Kurama attacked me.
"Who's the housecat victim now, huh you brat?!"
My mental face gained a dozen extra 'whisker' marks, angry-red and stinging. My arms, too.
… I spent an embarrassing amount of time just flailing around my unfamiliar limbs, trying and failing to remove him.
"Naruto…"
"Kurama…"
Eventually though he let up and we sat across from each other, both grinning, practically having an entire conversation with just our eyes while enjoying each other's company after so long.
"Dumbass says what?"
"Wha-? Huh?! What kinda greeting is that, ya bastard!? And who are you calling dumbass, dumbass!? I'm in the top ten percent in my class, you-"
"-dumbass!"
I blinked, staring up at the tall dude standing in front of me, clutching his bleeding nose as he stared back down at me in bewilderment.
'Looks like I'm back to my normal height, I guess.'
Wait…
'... That furry bastard kicked me out of my own mindscape!'
Akeno and Sona were nearby in the corner of my vision, while a cluster of people were over by the old school building ruins, the strongest two of that bunch feeling like different flavors of "pure darkness".
'Rias and… Gasper, I think?'
It was weird. I'm not a natural sensor, and the first time I ever got an ability for it was with Senjutsu, something I have to go out of my way to activate. Then came Kurama's negative emotion sensing, a completely different ability that relied on him. It was only in the final hours of the war, when Super Gramps gave me and Sasuke his power, that I became an actual sensor-nin myself. It was only after experiencing Ninshu that I was able to easily sense the world around me without leaning on Kurama or the teachings of Senjutsu.
Only a couple hours over a year ago, and yet regaining the ability already felt completely natural, to the point I almost didn't even notice the change.
I felt refreshed, clear headed in a way I hadn't felt in a while, and filled with energy in both a physical and mental sense. Because I was filled with energy, I could feel it running hot through my chakra coils, almost painfully so to the point of feeling a phantom soreness.
'Oh, wait,' I suppressed a wince. 'It really is just kinda painful, actually.'
Impossibly far off in the distance, in a direction that had nothing to do with the space around me, I even felt that cold bastard, and felt the year-old weight of not knowing lift from my soul.
We had won.
A memory was shoved into my head suddenly, of Kurama piloting my body and punching this Azazel guy in the face with a furry fist. Given the amount of power carefully buried within him, and the fact that I vaguely recognized his name from somewhere, probably while learning about the factions of the world from Koneko or someone else, I'm pretty sure he's one of the bigshot Fallen Angels from the Grigori.
And I just accidentally called him a dumbass, too.
"Uhh…"
Well, nothing to it I guess. I'm innocent here.
"That wasn't me."
"Nya-hahaha~!"
I turned towards the giggling lady a bit behind me, so familiar-feeling despite it being my first time sensing things in this world.
Dark in nature, but not evil, with a bright light somehow shimmering throughout that darkness. Relaxed in familiar company, with her two strongest bonds being with Koneko and me, even though I've never seen the lady before in my life.
I had a strange feeling that I knew why, as I turned my gaze down to the cat-girl in my arms. Those cat ears and golden eyes were kinda a dead-giveawa–
"Bwuh?!" My jaw dropped, and heat rushed to my face.
My grip around soft flesh tightened in my shock, receiving a light moan from the unconscious white-haired cat-woman,whose head rested on my shoulder.
The very naked unconscious woman, held with her significant chest squishing tightly against mine.
"Koneko-chan?!"
(Some time later)
"If I'd known it was gonna turn into such a mess, I'd have intervened myself much sooner… or probably just planned it out differently, save everyone the hassle," Azazel spoke with an annoyed sigh. "As it is, there were enough unknown variables-" He shot a glance across the room to where I sat on a couch with Koneko's sleeping head in my lap. "-to throw all of my predictions off just a smidge. By the time I realized the scope of things, I felt it was just better to let things play out naturally while leaving some safety nets in place."
"Pardon me if I find that explanation difficult to swallow,"Sona retorted with a fierce tone despite her polite wording. "If the Governor-General Azazel of the Grigori himself is claiming that he did not have better options to handle his own subordinates, then I question your ability to govern anything at all." Okay, maybe not-so polite. "I would love to hear you explain that to my sister when she arrives shortly."
"And my brother, as well," Rias added.
The man just chuckled. "Yeah, that's gonna seriously suck for me, but it is what it is. They're both leaders themselves, they'll understand my reasoning even if they don't personally like it."
We were currently squeezing everyone into the teachers main meeting room in the main school building, the Student Council office just not big enough to comfortably hold everyone unless we cut down attendance to the
absolute minimum necessary members. Something that no one present was willing to risk when one side technically consisted of the Governor-General, Issei's 'fated rival', and Koneko's supposedly uber-dangerous-and-insane criminal sister.
Even though said Black Cat seemed more concerned with constantly glancing at her sister and me with feelings of warmth, than she was with showing solidarity with her side. I got the feeling that if a fight actually broke out, she wouldn't exactly prioritize her previous loyalties.
In the room with us were members of every other faction involved in the fight against Kokabiel's forces; The Grigori, who apparently came with backup to capture any of Kokabiel's fleeing forces to punish for going rogue, the Five Principal Clans, who both were responsible for the final barrier that suppressed and absorbed Kurama's unpurified chakra during and after its release, as well as working with me, sending a team to help Rias and the others survive, and a bunch of other much smaller skirmishes around town. Next were the church exorcist girls, then the Youkai, who were split into eastern and western factions and directly battled Kokabiel's main forces across town, and finally, the Japanese government.
Representing the Grigori were the obvious three at one end of the main table. The Five Principal Clans, due to the meeting's short notice, were represented by the team that had been on site; half a dozen robed young men and women, led by the silver-haired Flower Guy I worked with a couple days ago, Kuchihashi something or other. They sat to one side of the table. Apparently the other guy we'd worked with who should have been in charge, Nakiri Ken, had to go help with an issue with the barrier trying to suck up Kurama's leftover energy.
Next to them was the West Youkai faction which was led by… Bird-dude and his sister, in their human forms.
Bird-dude looked my way and, with a serious expression that completely hid the laid-back cheer he felt, met my extended chakra with his own in a metaphorical fist-bump as a greeting.
On the other side of the table were the eastern youkai, led by an armored Tengu who was backed by two oni, and the Japanese government, represented by Special Agent Tarou and Shinra Himitsu.
For the Devils, there were Rias, Sona, Tsubaki, and Akeno. Irina and Xenovia seemed comfortable enough sitting between the tengu twins and Tsubaki, which made sense since they'd just gotten done fighting side-by-side with the student council vice-president.
Koneko was only present because I was still helping her recover internally while she rested, clothed in one of her sister's spare robes because none of her own clothes fit her current form. Meanwhile, Asia was healing Kiba and Issei, and Gasper was… well, terrified of being around all these new people, so they were all at the nurses office together.
"Ahem." Special Agent Tarou stood, grabbing the others' attention while he adjusted his suit and tie, looking oddly out of place despite being the most formally dressed for a professional setting.
… It was probably because of the sunglasses, indoors and at night.
"While I am sure the greater political fallout of this debacle and the Governor-General's own part in the events that transpired will be discussed at length in due time-" the salaryman-looking agent spoke to the group at large, "-that is a discussion to be had amongst him and our respective leaders when they gather to decide the future." His head turned around the room, looking out at the various representatives. "We should use this gathering instead to share what we are aware of between us all, so as to have a full picture of events to present to our respective superiors before said discussion."
Irina, Tsubaki, and several of the clan delegates nodded, while the samurai tengu grunted in approval.
"Most of our available combat personnel were routed towards the largest concentration of Kokabiel's forces near the edge of the Fallen's own barrier, where the secondary battle against one of his captains was fought." The flower guy with the combover and unnecessarily long name was the first to speak. "As for us personally, Ken-san gathered some of our available combat-barrier specialists and I, and formed a team to lend support and protection to the devils in the main battle." He glanced my way, his eyes flicking to my new and inhuman arm.
"Oh yeah, how did that go? The first thing?" I asked, suddenly getting the attention of everyone. I knew about the second part, because I was the one who set that up in a roundabout way. I'd had Himitsu pass on a message to Tarou when he re-entered the city, and part of that message was about getting me in contact with the guys who'd worked with us to track the Excaliburs. "Those three-" I gestured at Tsubaki, Irina, and Xenovia with my other hand, "-made it back mostly fine, and no one I know died, but that doesn't really say much about the fight."
I gently ran my new claws through Koneko's hair, absentmindedly scratching behind her ears as most of the non-devils stared warily at me. The meeting had been going on for a bit, but this was the first time I really interjected, and to most of the people here, I was either completely unknown to them, or they previously knew of me as a relatively low powered human. Right up until I suddenly wasn't, and now even the leader of the Fallen Angels as a whole was left sizing me up with his calculating stare.
I wanted to pout, but Uzumaki Naruto does not pout. I had just regained my power, and people I didn't know were already acting weird about it and treating it like some massive deal, when all I wanted to do was hang out with and protect my friends.
"While our original mission ended up being unnecessary by the time we achieved it-" Tsubaki took over, being the most informed person from the second battlefield, "-as well as a couple casualties among the Clans forces, it would have been much more difficult battle– and almost certainly with significantly more losses than there were– had we not had help arrive in a timely fashion." She gave a wry smile, eyes glancing at Yoru and Akatsuki. "The captain who faced us was likely the least of the bunch encountered thus yet, but was the type of dangerous enemy who doesn't fight head-on in a battle of strength."
(Flashback, edge of Kuoh)
"I am Aludra, soon to be Furud."
A Fallen with three pairs of wings floated above them, dressed in a concealing all-black robe with multiple belts criss-crossing his waist, red eyes peering out of his hood with a half-mask covering his mouth. He wasn't far away in the slightest, yet Tsubaki couldn't sense him at all.
"I'll be taking those Holy Swords off your hands. Don't worry, you won't be missing them much. In fact, you won't even notice they're gone."
Absorption Line shot at him from below, a valiant attempt, but the man faded like mist as it wrapped around his leg, as if he wasn't even there in the first place.
Dozens of copies of the man appeared surrounding them; some lunging out from behind trees, some dropping down from the sky, and some even forming from pure shadow.
All were charging with a wide variety of mundane weapons from, spears to daggers to axes to swords, and she couldn't sense a thing from any of them.
Swords and spells were swung and flung by her peerage and the exorcist girls in a chaotic rush under the sudden assault.
'They aren't real!' Tsubaki the others quickly realized, as several of the clones flickered when struck by or striking the outnumbered defenders.
Unlike some of the devils present, who had been 'nicked' one or more times by the confusing onslaught, Xenovia and Irina had seemingly no issue perfectly fending off the waves of illusions without taking any 'hits', their superlative skills proving more useful in prediction and avoidance than the devils' greater natural strengths.
She quickly used a water spell to throw up a thin mist all around her group in between swings of her naginata, dense enough to be disturbed by physical movement, but not enough to hinder the two church girls' eyesights.
As expected, none of the clones disturbed the floating water vapor.
"These illusions, he wields Excalibur Nightmare!" Xenovia yelled out in warning, not having relaxed in the slightest. "Don't trust the mist!"
Tsubaki had barely registered it, and the danger that even one of these clones presented if they were in fact the real thing, when she sensed just the slightest amount of killing intent aimed at the blue-haired exorcist.
"[Mirror Alice]!"
Luckily, her Sacred Gear's cooldown was greatly reduced if her previous activation didn't use its ability to reflect an attack.
In an instant, her mirror appeared at Xenovia's side, and the corkscrew blade that thrust up at her from an inky shadow struck the mirror instead of flesh… and shimmered as it passed right through.
Tsubaki blinked in shock, heart hammering in her chest, as a pale and dainty hand gripped the twisted Holy Sword whose tip was inches from her own eyes and not Xenovia's side.
The clones all disappeared in an instant as the ominously elegant forms of Akatsuki and Yoru rose out of the shadows before her themselves, a poised miko and stern cultivator looking like royalty personified, all while ripping the sword and its cloaked wielder from said shadow like a badly misbehaving kitten.
Too bad Yoru had to immediately break the illusion of regality.
"Dude… You're an Angel. Shadow travel is our shtick, idiot, get your own!" He punched the struggling man on the top of the skull, instantly knocking him out and letting him crumple to the ground in a heap.
Akatsuki glanced off to the side, where the tide of lower-ranked Fallen had begun battling what looked like a force of clan sorcerers. With a harumph and wave of one of her hands, tendrils of living shadow shot up from the forests and began dragging down entire groups of flyers.
"Umu," Yoru hummed after Tsubaki finished explaining the event. "He really should have known better than to steal our thing."
"I know, right?" Akatsuki nodded. "He wasn't even that good at it."
"He was good enough to catch me entirely unaware with his misdirection," Tsubaki countered with quirked lips. "Perhaps you two are simply amazing in comparison?"
The twins turned to glance at each other, before both nodded.
"Works for me."
"Sounds about right."
I snorted, and then definitely-didn't-pout in exasperation when several sets of eyes glanced my way warily.
"And you, Tarou-san?" Combover guy asked, keeping the discussion going. "Last I heard, you were the one who made it out and got Kyoto to send reinforcements. Not being a combat specialist yourself, I would have assumed you'd have remained in safety, rather than come back."
"You'd have been right, normally. However…" The agent lifted a splayed palm as he tilted his head, his sunglasses somehow doing the anime reflection thing. "Just before I had escaped, my junior had contacted me with a plan concocted between her and Uzumaki Naruto, intended to assassinate Kokabiel with the help of my ability." He paused. "It failed, obviously, but from what Himitsu-kun has told me, it came exceedingly close to succeeding, before the situation rapidly got out of hand."
"Heh!" I snorted, lifting my fox-like arm. "I get it! You know, because I lost a hand, hahahah…"
I trailed off as everyone, even my friends, looked at me like a weirdo.
Everyone but Azazel.
"Oh?" He suddenly hummed, dragging all attention to himself. "Kokabiel might not be the most careful, but he was easily the one with the most well developed battle instincts among the twenty of us." He leaned forward with interest. "And you almost managed to assassinate him mid-battle? Interesting. Vali?"
"When the blond appeared and got carved up." The teen glanced my way, before clicking his tongue. "Something happened right before. Kokabiel got distracted by something, but I never sensed anything."
"That would be me." Himitsu spoke up for the first time with a nod. "I attacked him with an invisible sword," she said simply.
"An invisible sword… that Vali couldn't sense, but Kokabiel could?" Azazel asked with narrowed eyes, looking like he was trying to figure something out while glancing between her, Tarou, and me.
"Excalibur Transparency, yes," Tarou confirmed, and gave a basic rundown of his paperwork-based ability to the interest of Azazel, before continuing. "Uzumaki-san provided two containers– identical guitar cases for himself and Himitsu– and put the invisible Holy sword in one of them. I did the equivalent of applying Schrodinger's cat paradox to them and Transparency. Until its blade was observed directly or it interacted with the world in some noticeable way, it existed in both of their possessions. Kokabiel likely sensed Agent Shinra's attack in some indirect manner, drawing his attention and leaving Uzumaki-san his own opening."
"A natural– I mean, another Holy Sword wielder?!" Irina asked, looking at Himitsu with excitement.
"Ah, no, that's not it," Tarou was quick to correct. "Like many of the Five Principal Clans' members, the Shinra especially, Himitsu-kun has an affinity for special spirit purification tools used against many of the dark beings they exorcise. In that sense, Shinto "holiness" or purification and the western understanding of holiness share the same base kanji. I merely "mixed them up," as it were." He adjusted his sunglasses. "An honest mistake."
Azazel guffawed. "What an absurd ability, hahahah!"
After that, each faction took turns elaborating on their side's actions and involvement, taking questions and offering answers when others interjected. One of the biggest concerns during the discussion was when Akeno brought up the weird amount of suspicious chimera-like stray devils that had been taken down around town, which the clan members and Vali confirmed they witnessed too.
It would be one thing if it was just another form of chaos Kokabiel's personal forces had set up, or caused by an entirely unrelated reason that would make itself known at some later point… but unknown to everyone but me, even the sage twins, Kuroka's chakra stilled with hidden concern for just a split second when the chimeras were described.
She probably had a guess at who or what might be behind the creatures, and if she was right about it and felt that way, it was probably gonna become a problem for all of us in the future.
When it was my turn, I described the events that led to me getting Transparency in the first place– which got frowns from Irina and Xenovia at how I'd had their faction's weapon for that long and not returned it to them– before moving on to the discovery of the underground compound and the Valper guy, this time getting even deeper frowns not just from them, but Azazel too.
At some point, Issei arrived with most of his relatively minor injuries healed up, and after a whole thing where he called out Azazel as one of his devil contracts that he sometimes played videogames and went fishing with, he and I took turns describing the fight against the super jacked Fallen I'd killed.
With a quick summary of how I tried and failed to assassinate Kokabiel, we reached the end of the discussion.
Having introduced himself earlier as Arashi, the grizzled samurai tengu thumped his fist lightly but firmly on the meeting table. "Enough dancing around the subject." He stared hard my way.
The others turned with him. I felt the telltale twitches of Koneko's ears beneath my palm as she began waking up.
… The end of the discussion, after one more thing.
"Kyoto and the human clans have worked together to create a barrier around this town to contain a potential Kishin… yet it is plain to see from the battle that you are the being it was meant to suppress," he said gruffly my way. "You appear a human child, but many a shapechanger exist even among the remaining dai-youkai present in Nihon, let alone the Middle Kingdom. Who are you truly, Uzumaki Naruto? What are your intentions in our lands?"
I thought about how to answer that for a moment, and glanced down to meet Koneko's half-lidded golden eyes, lazily looking back up at me from her comfy resting spot on my lap.
I grinned, getting a funny idea as multiple people leaned in.
'The reactions will be priceless!'
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm a shinobi from a differenmmfpgh-!?"
Unfortunately, I lost control of our arm as the furry bastard took control of it, shoving our furry palm grossly into my mouth.
Crimson chakra poured from our arm to take the shape of an ethereal red fox, which padded across midair to step onto the meeting table.
"I am the Kyuubi-no-Yoko Kurama, son of the God of Shinobi," Kurama declared in his usual deep and gravelly voice, the squeaky voice from earlier in my mindscape gone. "Uzumaki Naruto is my partner and my equal, and that's all you and your leaders need to know, ningen. They can play their petty power games with others, but do not dare bother those under our protection either."He deposited himself in front of the devils on the table, sitting regally on his transparent haunches.
"Mmpgmff." I rolled my eyes at Kurama's dramatic grandstanding, but Koneko had grabbed my other hand and brought it to her head to rub while she watched the show, so I couldn't just get up and put his furry butt in timeout with both hands occupied.
"What about me?"
I glanced at the interested smirk on Azazel's face as he rested his chin on his fist.
"As an Angel created by God, I'm not like these ningen as you call them. Will you answer a few of my questions instead?"
Kurama turned towards the man.
"Quit it with your annoying tendencies, Azazel, at least for nyow." Kuroka beat him to it, leaning over the back of the couch I was on until I could practically feel the heat of her chest radiating out from just above my head. Koneko stiffened and shivered under my palm at the sound of her sister's voice. "Nyaruto-kun and Kurama-kun pulled your lazy ass out of the trouble you let fester, so at least wait until you're in private before trying to instigate something for your own fun."
"Fine, fine~," he waved off with a drawl, giving her a curious look. "Later then."
Kurama faded into wisps, his chakra flowing back into me and giving me control of our arm again..
The entire meeting, Kurama and I had been continuing to monitor and direct Koneko's recovery from the internal damage his unfiltered power did to her, and as people finally began to file out, either through the door or their own personal teleportation methods, we were just about finished with her. She'd be sensitive for a day or two with every layer of her skin having been entirely regrown just a bit ago, but otherwise she was physically fine.
Just… bigger.
Akeno was the last to leave the room, sending a complicated look our way, before teleporting away to leave us alone.
"Konek-"
I didn't even get to finish saying her name before I had to catch her in my arms. She had lunged up to clumsily throw herself on top of me, her own arms grabbing at my chest as she buried her face into my shoulder.
Her iron grip on the flood of her emotions gave out all at once, and her chakra swirled wildly as her control was shot along with her composure.
I shifted my grip around her warmth and reigned her chakra in with my own as she sniffled, one arm settling around her waist and holding her close while the other hand rubbed the back of her head.
"Y-you… you made i-it… y-you're uh- uh- alive…!"
She hiccuped and shuddered as she spoke, and I squeezed her soft body tighter to me.
"I'm here Koneko-chan… I'm here with you." I whispered into the white hair that brushed against my cheek as my shoulder slowly dampened from soaking up her tears of relief.
"Th-thank you…" she whispered. "Thank you… thank you… thank you…" She continued repeating it, like a prayer, like she was giving thanks for a miracle she couldn't believe was real.
"It was because of you," I denied her thanks in a murmur. "All of us made it through. Every single one of us, including me, and it's thanks to you that we did. You were amazing, Koneko-chan. You are amazing."
We sat like that for a while, just holding each other as she slowly calmed down.
Eventually, Koneko slowly pulled back to sit up next to me, carefully testing her longer limbs as she did.
This time, I was the one having to crane my neck to look up at her face for once. "..."
"..." Koneko was in the process of looking down at her cleavage, bringing her hands up to her chest curiously and cupping the hefty new weights.
she squeezed, and a flush spread across her once-again blank face, a tiny smirk cracking through her tear-stained expression. "... Heh."
'... Yep. Way bigger.'
I tore my eyes up and away from the tempting but strangely-innocent sight to focus back on her face.
"I see you're having fun," I teased with a grin "Are you feeling better now?"
She wiggled back and forth, and for the first time in her life, Koneko jiggled. "Mmhm."
I squeezed my eyes shut. 'Stay strong! Don't give in!'
The couch creaked as she shifted, and then–
"Nyaruto-kun~"
–her warm breath brushed across my lips as she whispered my name.
I opened my eyes, and my breath caught in my throat. Half-lidded pools of glowing molten gold stared down at me in the dark, Koneko's adult body straddling me with her hands planted behind my head and tail flicking behind her
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I felt my face heating up.
"K… Koneko-ch-"
For the second time that night, I didn't get to finish addressing Koneko.
Because she leaned down and pressed her lips into mine.
Now, I'd like to say I'm the type of cool guy who reacted instantly, sweeping the girl I like off her feet in the process… but it was my first kiss with a girl that wasn't some type of CPR or ninja technique. I didn't freeze, at least.
Instead, I just shuddered for a moment at the sensation of her tongue poking at my lips, before slowly wrapping my arms around Koneko's waist and hesitatingly pulling her firmly into my lap as I opened my mouth to meet her halfway.
"Mmmmm~..."
She seemed to really enjoy that, and while our tongues caressed each other's, she pressed her chest into mine so tightly it was like she wanted to merge our bodies into one–
Her hips ground into my lap, and my body reacted.
'Hahahahahah! The kitten really does want you two to become one!'
We both jolted as Kurama's booming laughter rang in my mind.
"Ow!"
"Ng!"
Our teeth clacked together painfully, and our heads jerked apart, leaving us panting for breath.
'Anyway, time's up girly. Have fun, don't do anything your sister would do.'
With a surge of crimson chakra, the last of Kurama's power left Koneko and returned to my body.
As it did so, Koneko's body glowed above me for a split second, and when it faded, I was left staring up at a corner of the ceiling.
A white-furred cat ear smacked my chin, and I looked down.
"Furry jerk…" Koneko muttered in a whine.
I blinked, taking in the regular small-sized Koneko who was sitting easily in my lap, her pouting face flushed red and her sister's spare robe barely hanging onto her thin shoulders like a particularly oversized t-shirt.
I swallowed.
'So fucking cute…'
She glanced shyly up at me, clutching her flat chest. "S-sorry I couldn't hold the transformation longer… we can… we can stop if you waAAH-MMMMPH!"
I couldn't resist, I pinned her down and shut her mouth with my lips.
"MMMmmmm~..."