In My Dreams - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Summary- Naruto's life was filled with loneliness, trapped in his room he had no one. No connections or people he found precious. But what if one day he found someone, a certain red-haired devil girl whom he only saw within his dreamscape. What would happen then? And how would this affect his plans for the future. (Naruto/Rias)

Please leave me lots and lots of NICE reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, DXD, or any other anime I use in this story. They belong to their respective owners.

7/21/25

Chapter 1- Prologue

"Come, Naruto, this is where you will be staying from now on," the aged man told, leading him through a rustic white-painted wooden door. His skin was tanned, with several darkened black liver spots around his face and white hair atop his head, sporting a goatee around his chin and wrinkles around his dark eyes. His wardrobe was strange, as he only wore a set of white and red robes with a strange diamond-shaped hat of the same color, as the 'kanji' for fire read along the front of it, not that he knew.

This was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third and reigning Hokage of Konoha no Sato, or the village hidden in the leaves.

In contrast to the aged and veteran shinobi in front of him was his own body. He was a small, young, and partially malnourished child, especially for his age, with tanned skin, blonde spikey hair, and two sets of three black whisker-like marks across his cheeks. The blue orbs within his eye sockets were just that, blue, like the ocean. And just like the murky abyss, the eyes within his skull were heavy, and near bottomless, so much so that you wouldn't place them on that of a child.

To put it simply, he was lonely, so lonely that it pained him. Because he hadn't lived anything else, unlike what the boy should have been given, the life of a family that loved him, a home that would stand to be filled with contentment and comfort. He hadn't been gifted any of that or any other thing a child his age deserved in their small lives. No, Naruto Uzumaki was an orphan, one that was unloved and unwanted since the day of his birth, without any parents to call his own, or loved ones to care for him as they should.

He was alone.

The place Hiruzen had led him to was an odd one; it was a building, unlike the one that he had been used to being placed within. It was not large nor was it as small. Although don't get him wrong, the building was larger than most, especially from the perspective of a four-year-old with a rather short body. It was a two-story concrete building with a staircase leading up to the second floor, with about ten or so doors that led you inside the structure— the reason for which was as of yet lost to him.

But as the old man whom he had taken to calling his 'Jiji' had taken out a set of keys and unlocked the door, he was soon given privy to what lay within.

Despite the building's rather large size, what lay inside of the door was rather small in comparison, although it was still larger than the place he had been previously staying in. Inside was a single room, one fit with the basic accommodations a single occupant would need within their daily lives. It had a kitchen with an oven and stovetop, as well as a few cupboards and drawers to store basic cooking items. It had a desk for schoolwork and a couple of bookshelves for when Naruto decided to enter the academy in a few years, or if he wanted to get a head start now, if he felt inclined. It also had a decent-sized mattress, one that was a middle ground in quality and made so that it was not too soft and not too hard, a must-have for any shinobi because while a good night's rest was mandatory for their lifestyle too nice of a bed wouldn't get them used to sleeping outdoors when it was needed. Another thing the room had was a built-in bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. There was even a laundromat down the stairs that was free for the residents if they needed to clean their clothes as well.

So this is where I will be staying from now on?' Naruto questioned within his mind, he didn't understand what the old man was saying, or why he was saying it, staying here? What was this place? And what was so wrong with the orphanage he was staying at before?

The Third Hokage walked into the building, "There's enough food in the fridge to last you a month given you save it properly, ask my secretary for a few easy meals to prepare for yourself with good nutrition, you know how to make instant ramen, don't you?" he asked, to which the blonde boy nodded. "Good, now this right here is your monthly stipend. There are a few grocery stores down the street that you can use to buy more food when needed." He pulled out a brown manila envelope with several Ryo placed within, enough to last him another month should he need it.

"The key is placed on the tabletop over there, I suggest you don't lose it. I have to finish a few papers to finalize this place for you, if you'll excuse me, I will be off now," Hiruzen told him, as he made to leave.

But as he did, Naruto's voice stopped him, "Jiji, what is this place? Why can't I stay with Mary-kaa… I mean, Mary-san at the orphanage?" He asked, mentally correcting himself from calling the matron at the orphanage 'that' name, she usually got angry when he called her that. A thing he considered strange, considering the other kids he had seen her with called her the same. The Hokage froze, a frown marring his veteran face.

"Your previous caretaker at the orphanage was deemed ill suitable for raising you after some… details came to light. We found it better for you if you were able to live on your own in an apartment like this, especially considering your previous treatment at the orphanage you were originally placed in," he explained. Naruto didn't understand exactly what he was saying.

The details he hadn't elaborated on were rather simple. Naruto's life within the orphanage he had been placed in was not a pleasant one. The room he had previously thought Naruto to stay within was only a ruse, as he had been moved there each time he visited to not tip him off

It hurt Hiruzen that he was forced to do something like this to a child, especially one as young as Naruto. But sometimes being Hokage required one to make hard decisions, something he knew all too well, as to how he had been treated there. Naruto's actual living condition was abysmal, to say the least. The quaint and spacious room filled with other kids he was supposed to be residing with was anything but. No, 'demons' didn't deserve such, as the matrons had stated. They had placed Naruto into a messy boiler room they had turned into a makeshift prison. With rats and mold resting within the walls, harsh sounds playing in the cold hours of the night, not to mention the few bits of cloth Naruto called a bed. It was obvious Naruto needed a change, and if a certain white-haired ANBU agent hadn't checked up on him, he would still believe Naruto was getting the attention he deserved as a growing boy and curious child.

He hated acting as cold as this to Naruto, but even now, the thought of how Naruto was treated made his blood boil. And so, he needed to deal with the other matrons who had been in on it, as well as the one who had 'taken care of' Naruto the most. A pity, since Naruto still believed her to be a mother figure, hopefully, Ibuki at the T and I department could make her see the error in his ways.

As Naruto saw his Grandfather figure's back retreat, he took another look at the small 13 by 20-foot room he would now call his home.

It was strange, before when he had seen the room it looked so small. But now? It looked so big… so empty.

XXX

"Go away, I hate you!" a young girl shouted from within the confines of her room, as she violently slammed the door, not letting anyone enter through the same way. She was small, the same age as Naruto although her condition was considerably better.

Her hair was crimson and ran in strands down her back, her skin was pale and smooth, so much so that it seemed she would even give most skin models a run for their money. Her eyes were a greenish and blueish hue, like the foam of the sea, and currently, they were filled with tears of sadness, anguished by the truth she had been laid privy to this evening.

"Oh come now, Rias, it's not that bad," A voice from the other end, but she wouldn't listen.

"Not that bad? Not that bad! You practically sold my life away!" she shouted angrily, her cheeks flushed from frustration.

"No, we didn't, Rias, we just… Look, the deal with the Phenex clan was made even before you were born, your brother even approved of it himself," her father told her, his muffled words still breaking through into the room.

"Really? Nii-san did this?" She had thought it was only her parents who were involved, but to think Sirzechs, her beloved older brother, would approve of this as well…

"Yes, it's been something we've been planning for a long while. And look, Riser isn't a bad boy, just give him a few years and I'm sure he'll turn into a respectable lad," her father tried to plead.

"No! Father, I hate him! I hate Riser! And I hate that Queen of his!" Rias shoute, she hated Riser Phenex with every fiber of her being.

Why was she angry, you might ask? Well, the reason was rather simple: at the ripe age of four, she had already been slated for marriage. She was to be wed, and not someone of her choosing or the man of her dreams she had imagined. No, she was to be wed to the Third son of House Phenex to create the next generation of pure-blooded devils in hopes that their race would grow stronger, maybe even stronger than her brother.

That was all she was, that was all she was supposed to do.

It didn't matter that she was the clan heir to the house of Gremory; it didn't matter if she was talented— hell, it didn't matter if she wasn't talented. All that mattered to people was that she collected a man's sperm and produced a few livestock in hopes of eugenics being the saving grace for their failing race. They feared the other factions, and it was because of that fear that her life had been given up in hopes of quelling that fear.

That was why she hated Riser Phenex… well, that wasn't the only reason. And believe her, she had plenty, but the main reason was because she knew his type from the moment she had met him, and she knew he was the type who would never change. No, he would only grow worse and worse in his delusions of grandeur and greed to the point that somebody would have to stop him. That was just how devils were, they lusted after things they wanted and gained things they didn't need. She was just like that, but even at the ripe young age that she was, she realized that the ideologies of the underworld didn't work. After all, it had been ingrained into her from an even younger age that the new Devil faction was supposed to be better than they were under the original Lucifer's control. Yet here they were, every devil as selfish and corrupt as they were before; nothing had changed.

And it was at this moment she realized, even if she didn't fully comprehend the idea until much later. These same ideologies had reigned over her life and everyone's viewpoint within the underworld. She had thought her Father, Mother, and even brother would be better, but even now she could see that they had given up her future as well.

And within the confines of her room, she realized… she was alone.

XXX

Four Years later.

(With Rias)

"That's her, that's Princess Rias-sama." "Wow, it's been a while since I've seen her; she usually never comes around to this side of the mansion." "Even at the young age of eight, I can still see that she will become as beautiful as Venelana-sama is when she's older." "I can't believe she is going to marry Riser-sama." "I know, isn't she lucky?"

She heard the maids and servants whisper, yet Rias's face remained neutral, the perfect picture of how a princess should be. With her head high, her posture straightened, not a single hair on her head was out of place, she was the personification of poise and beauty, or at least, as close as one could get at such a young age as hers. This was what they desired of her after all, and not just the servants, but the rest of the devils, and everyone else, for that matter.

They viewed her as the perfect daughter, the perfect pureblooded devil heir, the perfect everything…

Walking through the lustrous halls of her own home, she could see that not even here she could not be dissuaded from the eyes of the masses as everyone looked at her when she walked past. The words would not stop, even as she reached her door she realized that even as she closed it the whispers would remain, she hated the way people talked of her, the way they viewed her. To them, she was the perfect image within their minds.

She hated it.

She hated being the person everyone desired to be something she wasn't.

They always saw her as the perfect heir, the perfect devil; they saw her as Rias Gremory, they never saw her as what she wanted.

They never saw her as Rias, just Rias.

Opening the door, she realized this even more so, as she stepped into her room, her gaze was filled with a multitude of items. From manga to figures to posters and DVD sets of the shows she liked. From the pushes of the anime and characters, she desired. The room was caved and cluttered with an assortment of all sorts of items ranging from expensive jewels to even more expensive materials; nothing was out of her reach.

She always hated this room.

She realized this was a means to appease her, and she let them believe it worked. They wanted to believe that she was alright with being married off to someone she despised, and she let them.

Why? You might ask? Well… there was nothing she could do.

Alone, within the room that felt more like a prison, she did the only thing she could.

She cried.

XXX

(With Naruto)

"That's him, is it?" "That's the demon child they talk about?" "He looks just like an ordinary boy." "He does, but they say he's a monster." "He doesn't deserve to live after what he did to my child." "Quiet! We don't want Lord-third hearing, you know what he'll do to you." "He should just leave."

He heard the people around him at the edge of the pathway say as he walked through, clutching onto the small porcelain mask that he had eyed, and still nursing his slight bruise along his skull from when the store owner had thrown the object at him.

"Why don't you just go away!" "Go away, you freak!" "He's a monster." "Why don't you just die?"

That was what they told him, that was what they had always told him. From the moment he had been placed out of the orphanage, those same remarks hadn't been quelled like the Third Hokage had hoped. No, those same whispers and gossip he had heard since the day of his birth had only increased. They didn't enjoy the fact that he was able to walk around on the same streets as them, they disliked the fact that he could play at the same playground as their children.

They hated him.

The worst part about it was… he didn't know why.

It was always like this ever since he could remember. The people of Konoha had ostracized him, cast him out, or just plain ignored him whenever they could. The number of people he could safely say that didn't he could count on a single hand—and still have two fingers left, mind you. People he considered precious, whom he could only meet every so often.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the Hokage of the entire village, who was always busy and couldn't always make time for a single child in a village of thousands. He had met other people who accepted him, too. Ayame and Teuchi Ichiraku, a set of father and daughter who ran a small ramen stand a few blocks down the street from his apartment, sometimes gave him a few meals whenever he was low on money. He didn't like visiting them, after all, he didn't want to be a burden, and even when they tried to hide it, he could tell their business was taking a serious hit each time he visited. Although don't get him wrong, he did like them, and so he tried to arrive at their stand once every week or so when others weren't looking .

But even with the few and far-between connections to people he did have, they didn't quell the pain he felt when he gazed upon the villagers' eyes.

Eyes, he hated the way they looked at him, the way they viewed him each time he encroached. He hated the way they saw him, their eyes filled with a deep hatred and dislike that would turn ice to vapor. It was like those eyes that gazed upon him now, as he walked on the streets after another failed attempt to form some kind of connection.

Just stop… stop looking at him like that. Please.

Eventually, the weight of their gaze was too much for him; overwhelmed, he did the only thing he could...

He ran, faster than he should, towards his apartment, and each civilian made way for him, stopping in the middle of the road to look at him with those same eyes. Eventually, he reached the building where he was located, now an empty shell that all residents besides him had departed from long ago.

As he opened the door, it wasn't locked, there was no point in locking it, it wasn't like there was anything he was worried about someone stealing.

Upon opening the entrance, he was met with a sight he had come to expect; it was the same sight he had gazed upon ever since he was four and had just moved into the apartment. Nothing had changed; it still had the same furniture, the same plain white painted walls. It was empty, sans a few stray cups of ramen he had lying around on the floor. The only food he could afford, given that each store owner jacked up the prices on everything else. It was cheap and easily obtainable on his stipend, even with the three times price increase. Plus, if he needed to, he would just go into a nearby river out on the edges of the village and catch a few fish there when he was hurting for funds.

He saw that the sun had gone down, which was understandable, and he had tried to find a few kids to play with the entire day. He hadn't had any luck, and it pained him as he was forced to sit alone on the nearby tree swing as all the other kids' parents went to pick them up, something that he had never had. It had been just sundown when he had left the park, and even with the extra time he made running home, he still had taken so long for the moon to be out.

With a sigh, he stripped off his jacket and shoes, haphazardly threw them both onto the floor, not bothering to place them anywhere else, as he put on his nightcap and then climbed into his bed, and off to sleep. But not before he looked out the nearby window, admiring the full moon and stars in the night sky. He reached his hand forward in an act of desperation, it was like he could just touch it within his palm, like he could be there— somewhere, where the people wouldn't treat him like he was less than dirt.

Why didn't he have any parents like all the others? Why was he alone? Was he abandoned? Was he given up? The old man Hokage had told him his parents died on the night of his kyuubi attack, and they were great ninjas. But was that a lie? He could tell the veteran shinobi was hiding something. Why else would he always dodge the question when he asked about them?

Well, he would show them, wouldn't he? And everyone else, too. He was going to become the greatest Hokage who would ever live. He was going to show everyone that all the looks they gave him, all the words they whispered, everything, it was all going to be proven wrong.

But still, as a shooting star passed in the corners of his vision.

He just wished… he wasn't always alone in this room anymore.

He always hated this apartment.

End Chapter.

Hey, this is something I've had in my backlog for a while.

Originally, this was supposed to be in the style of a One-shot, but I ended up splitting the chapters because it got so long.

And atm I don't really know how I feel about this because this was actually written months ago.

This was originally inspired by Shinmai's 'Saigo', which I'm sure most of you have read if you're reading this but if you haven't I suggest you all check it out. Shinmai's a really good author on this site, much better than I am. SO go check him out.

I got a few more chapters of this to roll out, so let me know how you all feel about this as it goes on. Most of these chapters will be kind of short, around 3-5k words, so watch out for that.

I'm going to try and roll out an finish some of the unfinished projects I got, because atm I got like… 60k-ish words of unpublished stuff.

I wanted to publish this last saturday but since I just got back from vacation (I went to Flordia) I decided to post it now.

The next update may end up benign for The Protector, so bleach fans look forward to that.

If any of you have a better idea for the name of this fic, I'll be open to it. I may end up renaming this in the future from 'In my dreams'

Please leave me some reviews. It really helps out.