(New Leaf) Accretion 4 (Patreon)

Naruto
(Wednesday, May 2nd)

'Immortality, huh?'

I thought about what the Gremory had told me about her fiancé, and exactly why she wanted my help despite her and her senior members being stronger than me already. Because of the Phenex clan's regeneration-based immortality, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for her alone to defeat Riser himself even without his peerage there to support him. He was older and more experienced, and had about the same amount of demonic power as her, while her Power of Destruction used more energy than his regeneration did.

In a one versus one, Riser could stand perfectly still and simply outlast her.

That put his confidence in victory in a different, and actually understandable, light.

Because of this, Rias wasn't planning on training herself during the time she had. Instead, she was going to use every moment she had available to research his peerage's abilities and tactics, and try to plan a way for her own members to get a clean sweep before overwhelming Riser's stamina through sheer numbers and constant attacks. Because Himejima was more of a magician type, Kiba and Koneko were the only ones left who could realistically get Issei up to snuff physically, but both of them could also use the time to improve themselves if they had an instructor more skilled than them.

Regardless of how the training panned out for everyone, the result of the match would be a lot less sure of a thing than I assumed.

It all came down to that regeneration of Riser's, and whatever limits it might have.

I was lying back with my hands behind my head, watching the sunrise from the roof of my apartment building while I waited and thought everything over. I had a duffel bag with enough clothes to last me a week sitting packed beside me, a brand new laptop sat next to it in a computer bag, and all my shinobi gear already on my person.

One of the topics that Akeno and Red had wanted to talk to me about was the matter of payment; not just for if I accepted the offer to help train the others, but also to pay me for my help in capturing the three Fallen women. I wasn't the type of person to turn down money for a job well done, even if I would have done what I did without expecting payment, but the number of zeroes that appeared in my bank account last night would have made me spit out my tea if I'd been drinking it at the time.

I was expecting closer to maybe a few tens of thousands of yen at the most; something like a couple days' work at around minimum wage, given how short and relatively easy the 'job' was.

Instead, my bank account suddenly was a few million* yen fuller. For a single low-tier combat mission, one that I wasn't needed for, and wasn't even actually greenlit in the first place.

Even with the visits to their mansion, it didn't really sink in how rich Red was until I saw the number of zeroes in the transfer statement on my phone. The mansion was just an arbitrarily expensive thing that any rich person could get their hands on, something that was expected of a wealthy family. But the teenage daughter having the freedom and access to casually throw around payouts like that to her friends, that wasn't something I expected for some reason.

Either way, I'd made a beeline for downtown and used a decent chunk of the money to buy the high end laptop for keeping up with my class work remotely, since I'd be out of school for nearly two weeks. Rias had assured me I didn't need to worry about missing classes and that she would get the school to excuse my absences, but I didn't want to fall out of the habit of being a diligent student.

I'd sworn to myself I'd take my new-world education seriously, and I would stand by that promise.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, I figured it was about time to head out and meet up with the others at the mansion. One of the family's servants was going to show up to teleport everyone to a remote property in the mountains owned by the Gremory family.  I would probably be earlier than scheduled, but it should be fine.

After hopping my way down the five-story building, I decided in a moment of forgetfulness to poke my head into my apartment one last time, to double check that the window I usually left open for Kuro still was, in case the cat wanted to escape and roam the city.

'Huh,' I thought as I stuck my head into the guest room where I usually found her sleeping, no sign of said cat to be found. 'Guess she already left.'

As I left, closing and locking my front door, I said a mental goodbye to my home of the past year. Koneko had agreed to teleport over for a couple minutes every day to check in on and feed Kuro, but other than those two, the place would be empty until the 15th. It would be the longest length of time since I've arrived in this world that I would be spending away from the apartment. In a way, it felt similar to leaving my apartment back in Konoha to meet up with Team 7 for a mission.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and started moving, duffel over my shoulder and laptop bag in hand.

I probably looked goofy as hell, jogging through the neighborhoods with my luggage, but it was early enough in the morning that I didn't see any more than the occasional car passing and a single person walking their dog. I made it to the meeting place in about twenty minutes, jumping over the mansion's gate and letting myself in through the unlocked front door.

I checked the time on my phone as I plopped down onto one of the plush bench seats to the side of the massive entrance lobby, setting my bags down beside me while I waited.

'Fifteen minutes early, huh?'

I wrote up a text telling Koneko I was here.

A second or two after I hit 'send', I heard a sound come from nearby.

Ding

I looked over, just to see Koneko stepping out of one of the connecting hallways. I was about to call out, but stopped myself when I took in her appearance.

She was wearing a plain white nightgown that went down to her thighs, which her tail was hanging out of to the point of nearly touching the floor. Her ears were drooping forward and she took slow and plodding steps, with one hand holding a steaming mug close to her chest while the other was balled in a fist and rubbing at one of her eyes.

'...Cute.'

Her ear twitched in my direction and she froze, turning her head mechanically to look at me.

Ah, did I say that out loud?

"Yo." I waved with a sheepish grin. "I get that you're not really a morning person, but it looks like you're cutting it a bit close to the clock, huh?"

She darted back out of sight into the hallway she came from, a red flash signaling her teleporting away in the next second. I couldn't help it when the splashes of milk spilled out of the cup in her hurry, and began chuckling at her reaction.

-----

Ten minutes later, and the rest of the Occult Research Club had gathered. It was made easier by the fact that four of them currently lived here either full time or semi-full time. While we were waiting for the last couple of minutes before our ride got here, Kiba, Issei, and Asia were being loudly talkative near the center of the big room, and the two older girls stood off to the side speaking quietly, Red flipping through a stack of papers on a clipboard she was holding.

Koneko was sitting next to me, subtly sniffing the air a few times and glancing around suspiciously, though she did well hiding it.

I poked her shoulder.

"Hey."

She ignored me.

I poked her again. "Watcha doing?" Her ear twitched, but still, she ignored me again, her eyes finally landing on my duffel bag on the floor.

I went to poke at her cheek this time, but her head turned to face me right as I made my move.

I poked her nose by accident, getting her to flinch back reflexively with her eyes crossing to look at my finger.

"Pft."

She glared up at me in a deadpan as I tried to stifle my laughter.

"Stop being annoying," she ordered.

"Fine, fine…" I agreed with a groan, leaning onto the backrest. "I'm just getting bored of sitting here waiting."

I pulled out my phone and checked the time.

5:29 AM

'Just a minute left then, until-'

The number ticked over to 5:30, and the signature red glow of a Gremory magic circle filled the room. When the light died down, it left a skinny man wearing an intricate red robe standing in the center of the room. He had long and wavy hair that was a mixture of black and blond, and a creepy little shallow smile to match the sharply narrow eyes on his face.

"Good morning Oujo-sama, your brother sends his warm regards," the man spoke while giving a slight bow. "Due to the business of her schedule, I am to be your transport today, as Grayfia-sama has instructed."

"Mathers, it's good to see you again." Red nodded at the man as she walked over to greet him. Koneko and I both stood up and began to make our way over as well. "It's been quite a while, and I've gotten new members since we last saw each other, so I believe introductions are in order."

The man faced the rest of the peerage. "Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, master magician and [Bishop] of Sirzechs Lucifer, at your service." He gave a dramatic bow as he spoke. "But most simply call me MacGregor Mathers, or Mathers for short."

'Sirzechs Lucifer?' Wasn't that the name of one of the Maou, or whatever?

Introductions went quick after that, since the [Bishop] of maybe-the-Underworld's-ruler probably had a busy schedule himself, and with a quick teleport that left our group in a forest at the foot of a mountain, the magician parted ways with us after giving a few quiet words of advice to Red.

"Alright," Rias clapped her hands together when he was gone to get everyone's attention. "First thing's first: we're going to hike from here to where we'll be staying, in order to get a measure of Issei-kun and Asia-chan's stamina. After we finish unpacking, we can discuss everyone's training regimes while Akeno makes everyone a light breakfast. Any questions?"

"Nope." Koneko walked past Red, immediately heading up the trail. The sight was kinda hilarious, watching a tiny girl like her carrying a massive backpack twice her size on her shoulders.

The rest of us shook our heads, and Rias turned to Issei.

"Also, you will be carrying the rest of our luggage yourself, to begin your strength and endurance training."

The teen paled, before letting out a big sigh.

"Hai hai, Buchou…"

-----

I set my duffle bag down on the bed of the room I'd be staying in for the near future, and walked over to the side of the room where a large desk was to place my new laptop on. I realized with a start that I'd distractedly left the door open when I came in, busy thinking up a training plan for Koneko-chan since she was the only one I knew the full abilities of.

The room itself was as big as my apartment's entire ground floor, and even had its own walk-in bathroom, but I didn't pay much mind to it. Seeing the outside of the building on the approach from the trail and a single glance at the entrance foyer were all I needed to know exactly what to expect the rest of the rooms to look like.

I have practically become numb to the material wealth of devils at this point.

I shrugged.

'Guess I'll just change in the bathroom when I unpack my morning hygiene stuff.'

I ignored the gold-trimmed full-body mirror next to the desk and walked back to the king-sized bed, to start taking out clothes to get changed into.

I reached for the zipper and pulled it to the side–

I blinked.

The abyss blinked back

...

…

"... Huh."

I reached into the pitch black of my bag and grabbed the dark object, lifting it up with both hands until it was eye-level with me.

"-Uzumaki-kun? Akeno-senpai says food's done in a few–" Koneko's approaching voice cut off as she peeked her head around the corner and saw what was up.

Kuro's limp form dangled in my grasp as I held her up by the armpits, both of us turning our heads and blinking at the white-haired girl.

She stared blankly at me. "I thought you were leaving her in Kuoh."

It was more of a statement than a question.

"So did I. Apparently no one told her that."

Koneko deadpanned at my response.

"... Food's almost done," she finally said, immediately turning and walking away.

Kuro and I turned back to each other.

"...Want some food?"

"Nya~"

-----

Koneko

An omelette with a side of white rice was placed in front of me by Akeno-senpai before she moved on, while Kiba was bringing everyone drinks, mostly glasses of orange juice or milk. When everyone was served, they both sat down to join us at the dining room table. Kuro sat on the floor between Uzumaki-kun and I, eating from a bowl of scrambled eggs.

I had to smack the idiot's hand away when he kept trying to sneak some sausage from his plate to her, since the spices and preservatives weren't healthy for cats.

I looked up and noticed Hyoudou still looking around the room in a bit of awe, almost an hour after we'd arrived. Asia just seemed mostly curious, probably having seen her own share of great shows of wealth from her time in the Vatican.

Despite the building being noticeably smaller than our Kuoh mansion, this vacation home in the mountains got a bigger reaction from the two newest members in the peerage when they saw it.

Unlike our home-base in Kuoh which was built with more modern styles being kept in mind and could be mistaken as some sort of event venue, this place had all of the old-school luxury and style of a noble devil's family home in both architecture and decorations, making it look and feel a lot more impressive.

Personally, I didn't like it nearly as much. Too many pieces of decorative furniture that looked impressive, but were just 'meh' to actually sit on, like the real-lion mane lined couch in the other room.

I'd take Uzumaki-kun's worn leather couch over whatever the hell that furry thing was, any day.

"So, what are your thoughts on them, Uzumaki-san?" Buchou asked the blond.

He looked up from his food, fork in hand and whiskered cheeks bulging from the amount of food he'd stuffed in his mouth.

"Esh rery guh! (It's really good!)" He tried saying enthusiastically.

"Swallow first, idiot." I said, sending him a look of disgust, before continuing with my own meal. The Language ability of devils meant we could understand him fine, but it was still gross.

Buchou chuckled in amusement, setting her own fork down without having touched her own food yet. "I'm sure it is, Akeno is very good at cooking. But I meant 'what are your thoughts on Issei and Asia', what do you think would be the best way to train them with the time we have?"

He swallowed his food, nearly choking for a moment, before exhaling in a satisfied sigh.

"Honestly? I'd say pure stat training and sparring for Issei, and speed and evasion training for Asia," he stated with confidence. "Forget any of the technical stuff like spells or technique, those things can be learned later. What they need most right now is to get used to moving and doing in a combat scenario."

He folded his arms and leaned back as he elaborated.

"Issei should do a bunch of weight training for strength and endurance while manipulating his demonic power on the side, broken up by sparring with Kiba, Koneko-chan, and I. Stuff that his Sacred Gear and [Promotion] ability can benefit from. Asia as the healer should be doing things like sprints, obstacle course drills, and practicing her flying, also broken up by sparring, but with a focus on dodging and escaping us instead of fighting back. The most important thing a healer can do on the battlefield is to stay on the battlefield to get the injured front-liners back up and fighting."

I glanced at the two in question to see their reactions. Hyoudou seemed determined to give it his all, despite the small disappointment to hear he wouldn't be learning any magic yet. Asia was much the same, except instead of disappointment, she seemed relieved to hear she wouldn't have to do any actual fighting.

Which wasn't surprising, for a nun that got kicked out of the church for being too nice.

"I can keep helping Koneko-chan like usual... but I don't really know what Kiba's full strength is like, and I have literally no clue what Himejima can do. They should probably focus on figuring out something to immobilize Riser." Uzumaki-kun made a gesture, clasping his hands together with interlocking fingers for emphasis, and Rias looked at him curiously. "Immortals are tough to put down, but in my experience, the first and second steps are usually getting enough intel on them to predict, and then hinder, their movement. Once you get that done, it becomes way easier to finish the job."

This got the attention of everyone, though Asia seemed to not really get the implications.

"Dude, did you just say you've fought someone who was immortal before? More than one, even?" Hyoudou asked incredulously. "What the hell, man?"

I was already at least somewhat aware of the scale of craziness he'd dealt with in the past, like the Bijuu, but Kiba and Buchou only knew the barebones, and Akeno-senpai knew even less.

"Yep!" Uzumaki-kun grinned. "At least three of them. This one guy wouldn't die even when he was decapitated, and could transfer his injuries to anyone he ingested the blood of. One of my best friends led the bastard into a trap and blew his body to pieces, burying the guy alive in a pit he prepared ahead of time." His voice became hard. "The guy was a psycho who went around murdering people by stabbing himself, sacrificing them to some evil god he worshipped," Uzumaki-kun said, his grin turning surprisingly vicious. "Couldn't have happened to a worse piece of shit."

Asia looked vaguely horrified at what she'd heard.

"... Again, what the hell, man? Aren't you younger than me?" Hyoudou looked at him weirdly. "Who the fuck is sending fresh teenagers against immortals?"

Buchou coughed into her fist.

"As… enlightening as that is," she said with a slightly disturbed look, "let's get back on topic. Kiba, why don't you explain your Sacred Gear to Uzumaki-kun? That way we can finish planning everyone's physical training, and get to working on a strategy after that's all set up.

Kiba nodded and put down his utensils, wiping his mouth with a napkin before looking at Uzumaki-kun.

"My Sacred Gear, [Sword Birth], lets me create demonic-aligned swords with different attributes and abilities, such as…"

-----

After breakfast was over everyone changed into exercise clothes to train in. Buchou and Akeno-senpai also changed, despite them not being involved in any of the physical exercises.

Buchou was wearing a tracksuit and matching pants, both a slightly darker red than her hair and trimmed with white. Akeno-senpai went with the standard academy girl's gym uniform, a white t-shirt and form fitting bright blue bloomers. They were sitting off to the side watching, Kuro lying lazily between them and getting her fur stroked by the girls.

"All right!" Uzumaki-kun called out energetically with his hands on his hips. He was wearing a black t-shirt and bright orange track pants that were bound at the ankles with a white cloth wrapping. Unlike everyone else, who was wearing sneakers, he wore a pair of blue open-toed shoes that were almost more like sandals. They looked pretty well-worn, but well taken care of, so I assumed they were footwear from his ninja village.

"First thing's first! Issei, you're going to fight me in pure hand-to-hand, no [Boosted Gear] or [Promotion]. This is so you can get an idea of what it's like fighting an unwinnable battle against a more skilled opponent."

"Right!" Hyoudou exclaimed with a similar energy, a fist held out. "I'll be in your care!" He gave a quick bow from the waist.

"While we're doing that; Kiba, Koneko-chan-"

Naruto-sensei turned to look at us. Kiba, like Buchou, was wearing a tracksuit and track pants, but in all green. Hyoudou, Asia, and I all went the same route as Akeno-senpai, and wore our respective Kuoh Academy gym uniforms. There was a brief moment when we all gathered that the pervert made his usual perverted-monkey noises and faces, but I was starting to get better at ignoring it as just him being himself, and had given a light (for me) smack to the back of his head to get the perv back on track.

If it ended up knocking him to the ground, well… tough.

"-You two will be sparring with each other for the first day, but with a couple extra objectives."

Naruto-sensei held up a finger. "Koneko's first and most important objective is simple; don't get hit." He looked at me knowingly. "You've been a bit better about it in some ways than when I first started teaching you, but you still default to taking certain attacks head-on just because you know you can take them, and the better control of your chakra you've gotten, the more you keep doing it reflexively. It's fine to know the limits of your durability and take advantage of it in a fight, but it's a terrible habit to have, especially when things like magic are involved."

I frowned, but nodded.

There was an unpleasant tightening in my chest, similar to the few times Grayfia had scolded me for something as a kid. I'd made mistakes in training and spars before, and Naruto-sensei was quick to point them out and correct me, but I never felt like it was a personal failing on my part; just a natural process of learning.

This time felt different, like I should have known better.

He must have noticed my discomfort, probably a twitch or something from my traitorous tail, because he smiled reassuringly at me. "Don't worry too much about it. I originally wanted to help you naturally get out of the habit yourself by mixing it up with stuff like the spray bottle, but then this came up. Like I said, it's not a bad thing to do in a real fight, it's just best used only when it's needed." He shrugged. "Red's strategy for the rating game needs as many of you guys to make it to the end as possible, so taking hits you could have dodged is a no-go right now."

I nodded again, my sudden anxiety slowly dying down.

Seeing I was ready to continue, he held up a second finger.

"Your second objective is more just a general goal. You've gotten very good with the chakra sticking technique, so make sure to mix it into your fighting; not just to stick to the ground, but also for grabs and grappling. Stuff like stopping someone from moving with the force of your punches to make distance. Try to work it naturally into your style."

"Mm." I gave one final nod, and Naruto-sensei mirrored the motion, before moving on to Kiba.

"Kiba, your objective will be similar to Koneko's, but in a more strategic way. As a [Knight], you're built for speed, and your Gear is pretty well suited for trap-making. Your goal is to avoid direct head-on confrontations as much as possible, using your Gear to manipulate the environment to your advantage. Sudden tripping hazards, using sword throwing techniques, setting up traps ahead of the fight," He started ticking off fingers again as he listed the possibilities. "Things like that. Make heavy use of the facts that your swords are disposable and you can mess with the battlefield around you on a whim to keep your opponent off of you."

"Hai!" Kiba nodded swiftly, his determination to improve shining through.

Naruto-sensei looked at both of us. "The two of you should take turns; alternate between one of you fighting the way you normally do, and the other fighting under these restrictions. For an extra challenge later on in the day, you can switch up how you're fighting between spars to keep each other on your toes."

He waved us off, turning to the final person in our group of trainees as Kiba and I began walking to a less crowded area of the property to start.

"Lastly, Asia…"

-----

I kept an ear on everything as we reached a secluded area where we wouldn't disturb the others, listening in to everyone's conversations out of habit. Akeno-senpai and Buchou had been talking quietly while observing Naruto-sensei, talking about what sorts of things they would need to get ready for later in the week. Meanwhile, Naruto-sensei described his plan to alternate between fighting Hyoudou and teaching Asia how to move, once he got their individual self-workout routines set up.

"He's surprisingly good at taking charge of things, isn't he?"

My ear flicked forward a little, leaving the others behind as my attention was drawn to Kiba. The [Knight] stepped away, turning to face me with a smile as he backed up to put a gap between us.

"Despite his usual carefree personality, and how quick he's been to jump head first into things since I've met him… somehow, I found myself getting pulled along by his direction just now. Not because I felt like it was expected of me, but because it felt natural to listen to him," Kiba admitted sheepishly. "It's a bit unexpected."

"Nn, not really." I shook my head. Maybe it was just because I spent more time with the other blond and had a better grasp of his character, or the fact that I was already used to following his directions from our lessons. Either way, I disagreed with Kiba's assessment. "Naruto-sensei wanted to become the leader of his village since before he became a ninja."

While we hadn't gotten together for another day of basically playing 'twenty-one questions', there were still plenty of moments while hanging out where we just ended up talking about things in general. It was just two nights ago, after he finished grilling me about the student council thing, that we'd ended up quietly sharing a little bit more about our lives in the darkness of his living room.

"He spent most of his childhood being looked down on by others, so he grew up wanting to prove them wrong," I explained at Kiba's curious look.

It was clear when hearing Uzumaki-kun talk about it, just how much of an impact his experiences had on him and his realization on the nature of his dream.

The TV's light reflected dimly off of his eyes as he gazed ahead, the soft smile on his lips shifting the markings on his cheek. I could tell with a glance that he was looking past the screen, at something I couldn't see. A memory. One of a significant event, person, or maybe both.

"Someone once told me, 'You don't become Hokage so that people will acknowledge you… you become Hokage because people acknowledge you.' That person used to be an enemy of mine, but… I really admire him."

"He's worked hard to become someone people want to listen to, even if he's an idiot the rest of the time," I finished.

Kiba's head dipped forward in a nod of acknowledgement. "I'll take your word for it, then," he said, looking at me consideringly. He smiled warmly a moment later.

"What?" I asked, suddenly on guard. Something about his smile set off alarm bells in my head.

"Nothing, nothing." Kiba waved it off with a chuckle. "I'm just happy for you. Befriending Naruto-kun seems to have been good for you."

'He's hiding something…' I narrowed my eyes.

He kept his smile up, though he seemed more amused than anything when I kept watching him suspiciously.

In the end, Kiba widened his stance, pulling one foot back and holding a hand out in preparation to grasp a sword. "Shall we begin?" He asked, forcing me to put my suspicion away for now.

"Mm." I nodded, lowering into my own stance with bent knees. "You won't get a hit on me."

My tail flicked and power surged through my body, flowing just under my skin like a raging river.

He grinned, a blackened, glowing longsword of burning obsidian appearing in his grip.

"Let's test that then, shall we?"

We stood in the grass, staring each other down tensely.

He suddenly blurred towards me, appearing at my side fast enough that I only had time to throw my arm up to block his swing with my [Rook] durability.

Or at least, that would have been the case, if I had been the me of two weeks ago.

I was able to track his approach with perfect clarity. I watched carefully, waiting until he was starting his swing to 'react'.

Sticking a foot to the ground with chakra, I pulled myself down into a duck faster than gravity would allow, and the heat coming off of the demonic blade passed over my head uncomfortably close to my ears. I lunged and thrust my palm forward in an attempt to gut-shot him, twisting my whole body into the motion.

Despite my recent increases in speed, I wasn't fast enough. Even with my chakra, Kiba was still a [Knight].

He pivoted to the side, twisting out of my path to get behind me and strike at my back.

While he was still mid-motion, I followed through with my momentum, kicking off the ground to throw myself forward and out of the way.

The ground beneath me exploded in Kiba's direction in a spray of dirt as I tumbled through the air in an uncontrolled flip, the second swing of his flaming sword missing my ankle by a few centimeters.

While upside down, I twisted myself mid-air and stabbed a hand into the ground to slow down, the contact point forcing my momentum to swing my lower body down.

I kept my head up and eyes peeled as my backwards slide through the dirt slowed, coming to a stop on all fours at the end of a trail of uprooted grass.

Kiba had lifted his off hand, arm held up horizontally to block the dirt spray from getting into his eyes. His sword was held lightly by his side, having reset his posture after the attempt on me.

My reaction times were noticeably faster than his, but he was still easily faster overall. Also, I wasn't used to moving at the speeds I was capable of now, and didn't know how to compensate. My first real attempt at going all out just now, while it had worked in the moment, had thrown me higher than I wanted and directed a lot of the force of my leap in ways I didn't want, sending me into an uncontrolled tumble I'd had to pull myself out of.

He lowered his arm and locked eyes with me, the little smirk on his lips enough to tell me he'd noticed the same things.

I kept my face blank, but my tail swished in agitation as we stared each other down, betraying me again.

'This is gonna be harder than I thought.'