A Different Beginning

I

Elemental Academy

2nd Month

“I am Rias Gremory, heiress of the pillar Gremory family and sister of Sirzechs Lucifer. I can and will be the next Super Devil.”

Rias chanted this a few times in her head. A routine that she had been doing since that fateful day. One of the small things that helped her to focus, help her to remember. With her mind cleared, she took a deep breath, and then, she went inside the classroom.

It had been five weeks since the Elemental academy had officially been opened, and four weeks since the classes had started.

If things did not turn out as they had, maybe she and Sona, along with their peerages, would have started their journey in Kuoh town… journey to be independent and to grow. Unfortunately, it was not the case, not when the devils lost all the cities and towns they owned in Japan, Kuoh town being one of them. At least, few months after the confrontation, the devils were allowed to visit those towns to retrieve their belonging. An opening that both she and Sona were able to utilize.

“Good morning, Rias.”

Rias turned to face her childhood friend and smiled, “Good morning, Sona.” She looked at other occupants in the large classroom, well it was more like a class hall because of how big and wide it was, and waved, “Good morning, everyone.”

Even though the events which transpired between the Avalon Kingdom and the Devil faction were nothing short of bloody and humiliating, the competition to be chosen as their faction’s representative students to join the Elemental academy was, on the other hand, vicious.

It was surprising, but at the same time, expected. After all, the Elemental academy was the perfect place to make a name for oneself. Their fame would not be limited to their own faction, but it would be known throughout the entire supernatural world.

So, everyone in the Devil faction was throwing their weights for their own heir or heiress to be selected. It got to the point where they actually had to hold an all-out rating competition for the younger generation, to make it fair for everyone.

The idea was that only the top four teams would be chosen. But Zekram Bael, as usual, thrown a curveball at it. He pointed out that since it was considered as an all-out competition, why not they went till the end… to find out the strongest rating champion of their generation. Rias had to grudgingly admit, he had a point.

So the rating competition was held, to find out the best of the best amongst the younger generation. And when the dust settled, the four teams that remained were hers, Sona’s, Sairaorg’s, and Riser’s. And the one who became the champion was Sairaorg. She knew she and her team were nowhere near strong enough, but to be beaten so badly… that made her feel powerless. And she hated that feeling.

The only comforting outcome was that she was not the only one. Sairaorg crushed everyone.

But to be fair, her defeat at Sairaorg’s hands made her think.

Just from the families’ sides, Rias had the ‘Power of Destruction’, Sona had the ‘Water Manipulation’, and Riser had the infamous ‘Immortality’. But Sairaorg had nothing. And yet, he came on top.

It was the same for the peerages as well.

Sona tended to recruit well-mannered and disciplined, and mostly females, individuals. Riser recruited his members solely based on the need of his lower head. Rias was more toward uniqueness. She wanted her peerages to stand out by their own unique characteristics, abilities, and origins.

In a way, all of their peerages were diverse and, according to many higher-up devils, were considered quite strong.

Even in this aspect, Sairaorg was different. Other than his queen, he did not actively go out to recruit members. He lent out his hands to those that wanted help, needed help. Even his Longinus came to him rather than him going for the beast.

His peerages, his team which was created, mostly, by Sairaorg’s tendency to lend out a helping hand, were able to overpower all of their teams. She heard the whispers. After the display of his and his peerages strength, many devils thought that he was the second coming of Diehauser Belial.

This made Rias to think that the possibility of her becoming the next Super Devil was not farfetched. She just had to work harder, grow faster, and learn more.

“Rias?”

Hearing the concerned voice of Akeno, Rias looked at her best friend and smiled. Yes, she would be pushing herself and her team harder, but not to the breaking point… not to the point where it might damage their bonds. She was glad that her brother taught her this before she made any unrepairable mistake.

Sitting on her usual spot, Rias looked around.

The Elemental academy had four years, Junior year one and two, Senior year one and two. The students were divided based on their knowledge, skills, and age, meaning not everyone started from the very first year.

She, Sona, and many of their peerages were in Senior year one. Rias thought it was going to be more than four years, but the principal Khaoss, in his opening speech, was very transparent about this point. As of now, they did not have the resources to add more years to the academy. He pointed out that the academy, along with some factions, were working on an opportunity called ‘Apprenticeship’. This would give the willing students a chance to study further. After all, it was unfortunate for those who had started from the senior years right from the start. They would be able to attend the academy only for two years or less.

This was something Rias wholeheartedly agreed.

She wanted to make a mark here. She wanted, not just the devils, but other faction members to know her… her achievements. And this would be very difficult if she had only two years to achieve.

Her first goal was to be one of, if not, the most popular students in the academy. Yes, for many, this might not sound like a decent goal. But she had a reason behind this. For as long as she remembered, her brother was always in the center of attention… not only because of his powers but also because of his charisma. And it was not just the Devil Faction. Many individuals from other factions also respected him. And if she were to be like him, she also needed to build up her own charisma, her charms; not just her powers.

Her second goal was to be the champion of the upcoming tournament.

To many students, the Tournament was still a mystery. Principle Khaoss, at the opening speech, mentioned the Tournament, which was going to be held around the latter part of the year. The Tournament could be a class versus class or a team versus team battle. The details had not been finalized yet. When everything would be confirmed, the students would be informed.

Fortunately, Rias knew what the Tournament was going to be about since the Satans were a part of the committee. It would be similar to ‘The Rating Game’. What the academy committee was trying to figure out now was how to make artifacts similar to the ‘Evil Pieces’ for the non-devil students to make it fair for all.

If it was before, Rias would have stopped her brother from informing her about this. To the past her, this would be considered a sign of weakness since this had nothing to do with her own merit. But now, she knew better. She had an advantage, why would she not utilize it? Her enemies, her opponents would not be that generous. So why would she?

So this was her goal, to prove her worth by reaching the top in the Elemental academy.

So, now, there was a distinct possibility, that she would be facing Sairaorg again very soon.

But she also knew not to underestimate students from other factions. She could already tell who could potentially be more dangerous than Sairaorg.

The first one she had to watch out for was Arjuna, a descendant of the original son of Indra, and his team. She could tell, even by a glance, that all the members of his team were powerful, especially Vali. Something about that particular person just did not sit right with her. Unfortunately, they did not cross paths so often for her to evaluate them further, since most of them were in Senior year two.

The second team was more mysterious. They also had a lot of members, not as much as Riser’s though. Their leader was someone named George, who was a very powerful but human mage. She knew that there was more to it, but even her brother did not have any info about him. The only thing she learned was that most of this mysterious mage’s teammates were inheritors of the spirits of ancient mythical heroes. But she could tell that many, if not all of them possessed ‘Sacred Gear’ as well.

Both of these two teams, including their members, were strong, of that Rias had no doubt. But she also knew that her team, with proper training and guidance, would be strong enough to defeat them. But it was the third team which she was very wary of. Frankly speaking, something about this team, and each of their members, was quite alarming. It was just a gut feeling.

The leader of the third team, Menma Uzumaki, was a youkai. The way he interacted with others, the way he held himself, it was as if Rias was seeing her brother when he was younger.

He was handsome and charismatic, even her best friends, Sona and Akeno, admitted that… the former did so grudgingly. His pitch-black dark hair, with unique eastern style tattoos, and his crimson eyes gave him that cliché bad-boy vibe that Rias had read in countless novels and books. But it was his charming smile and his attitude that made all the difference. He just knew what to say to make people laugh, when to keep quiet, and listen to the other party. Needless to say, right now, he was one of the most popular students in the academy.

He was also strong, which did not surprise Rias, but it was Menma’s insane skills that did. And fortunately, she and many others had the opportunity to see it firsthand.

Riser challenged Menma on their second week. The reason? Riser wanted to have Menma’s girlfriend, Hinata Hyuuga. Considering Riser’s personality, this did not come as a surprise.

Rias had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that Hinata was more popular than her at the moment. In just one month, the indigo-haired fae earned the top spot as the most desired girl. Her friend, Scáthach, another fae who was named after a Celtic Goddess, took the second spot.

It was not the beauty that made Hinata stand out. Rias knew she was just as beautiful. Rias did not interact with her enough to pinpoint what made her so desirable. It could be, if Rias were to guess, the way Hinata carried herself as if she was a benevolent queen. It was not a façade, Rias could tell that much.

At first, Menma did not accept the duel. The reason was that, to him, Hinata was not an object that could be traded. Needless to say, his popularity with the girls skyrocketed after that declaration. But Riser was just as stubborn. So Menma accepted, on the condition that in the end, it would be Hinata’s choice. Even Rias was charmed after hearing this.

Menma defeated Riser in a one-on-one duel. It was quite a one-sided duel, not because of how powerful Menma was but how clever and unorthodox his fighting style was. He literally beat Riser by creating nude clones of Riser’s peerages and striking hard where it hurt the most when Riser was distracted. Was it honorable? No. But nobody cared. Because the way Menma had pulled it off was quite entertaining.

Other than Riser of course.

Rias heard, from her brother, that all of Menma’s male friends, later took a turn at beating Riser when the situation was going out of hand. When did that happen? How did it come to that? Even Sirzechs did not know. But Rias saw the result.

Riser was quite subdued at the end of the week.

That alone was enough to tell Rias that if there was one team she did not want to fight, it would be Menma’s team. If they were able to subdue Riser, covertly at that, that meant they were not only insanely powerful but dangerously smart.

.

.

X

.

.

With Naruto

It was times like these that reminded Naruto that even he could make some really dumb decisions.

In Naruto’s mind, his masterplan sounded foolproof. He and his friends would get into the academy in disguise. All of them actually had a blast choosing their new identity. Yasaka had the easiest time, she just chose her previous name and appearance. And the hardest one was Thor. The only issue with him was that he wanted to keep his beard, something about him not looking manly without it. The problem was that teenage students, even from supernatural origins, would not have a beard, at least not that big. It took a lot of coaxing for him to relent on it.

The next part of the plan was that they would help their own faction’s children, covertly, and would keep an eye out for troubles. The reason they did not mind this was because all of them knew, for the first few weeks, the young ones from their factions would appreciate some guidance. Since Khaoss knew about all of these, he also gave a helping hand.

The final and the most important part of the plan was that Naruto and the rest would discuss and explore certain matters with the free time they would have. And technically, they should have a lot of free time.

It should have been a fun time and would have created opportunities to get closer with each other.

They did get the second part alright. Everyone bonded by complaining about Naruto, and how spectacularly his plan was failing.

So how exactly did he screw up?

Naruto forgot about one fundamental issue. Children, from the supernatural world, were attracted to strength and beauty. They would always admire or envy those who were at the top. Unfortunately, Naruto and the rest became that target, unwillingly of course.

And how did that happen?

Well, it seemed when Naruto and the rest were helping out the children from their fellow factions, they left a deep impression on them. And the fact that Naruto, Yasaka, Shiva, and Thor always hung around with each other; their popularity spread amongst the children from other factions. In other cases, it would have been a positive outcome. But this time, it was not. They wanted to relax, to have free time to dive into the topics they like.

Even Amun-Ra and Scáthach, who did not have any children from their factions attending the academy, were forced to help out whenever they could.

But because of their popularity, the students would actively seek them out. The students saw them as role models, which put some pressure that none of them wanted. Since it meant that they could not just brush these children off without proper reason. And needless to say, some of his friends were not happy about it.

Fortunately, Naruto came up with a counter-measure. And he knew it would work.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto teleported to their dorm, more specifically, to where everyone gathered.

One thing to point out, it was not possible to teleport inside the academy. All methods of teleportation were blocked for the students. And for the professors, their teleportation methods were always strictly monitored. But it was not the case for him. Like the security team from his Kingdom, Khaoss gave him a free pass after one week of his shenanigans. As Khaoss pointed out, “I cannot deal with your shit.”

The moment Naruto teleported to the room, all eyes were on him. He immediately raised the folder he was carrying, “I have the solution!”

None of them were truly angry with him, to be honest. After all, it was their own behavior toward the children that got the attention. But since they got into this predicament because of Naruto’s idea, they had a valid reason to point their fingers at him. It was more of a humorous gesture than an angry one… at least, he hoped so.

“Well, this, I will like to hear,” Shiva was the first to speak up.

“One word,” Naruto smiled, “Apprenticeship.”

Seeing the confused gazes, he decided to elaborate, “The main problem we are having right now is that the kids are following us everywhere. We are not safe even in our designated clubroom. The easiest solution for this is just to skip the classes and stop interacting with them. But, as we all know, that will damage the reputation we have. I know this is not the situation we wanted to be in. But, let’s be honest, none of us had foreseen this.”

“I see,” Amun-Ra started to rub his chin, “So this is your solution. You want us to use the apprenticeship as an excuse to, let’s say, go under the radar.”

“Really?” Thor straightened up, “That’s brilliant!”

“Yup,” Naruto gave a wide smile, “Starting from today until, let’s say, next couple of weeks, we can just skip everything related to the academy and focus on our primary subject.”

Everyone immediately became interested in this.

“Before we start the discussion, just one question, is Khaoss the one handling this?” Yasaka asked.

Naruto nodded, “Khaoss and Azazel. As I have mentioned before, even though Azazel cannot join our expedition, he, at least, wants to join our discussion whenever it is possible. And so, he felt like he should lend a helping hand to maintain this fiasco,” Naruto paused as he looked at everyone present, “I hope this is alright with everyone.”

“As long as he can do his part right, I do not have any issues with him,” Amun-Ra answered. The rest of them just nodded along.

Satisfied, Naruto threw the document which perfectly landed on the table in front of the couches where everyone was sitting, “Now with that out of the way, let’s discuss our next step which is,” Naruto paused and snapped his fingers. Immediately an illusionary image of the Dimensional Gap appeared on top of the table, “How do we infiltrate the Dimensional Gap?”

“Finally!” Thor slapped his knee, “I have been dying to start our adventure. So, Naruto, when can we depart?”

Naruto gave his trademark devilish grin, “If all works out, we can head out tonight.”

There was pin-drop silence. But only for few seconds. Thor burst out laughing as he got up and gave Naruto a bear-hug, “This is wonderful news! I can already picture it! Us, against the unknown adversaries of the Dimensional Gap. When we are done, there will be songs and stories about us and our feats!”

Amun-Ra coughed. Unfortunately, Thor did not get the cue. With a smile, Naruto patted the Norse Prince’s shoulder and looked at the Supreme Egyptian Deity, “Let me guess, you want to hear the ‘How’ part?”

Hearing that, Thor calmed down and took his seat, even though his smile was still there.

Naruto stretched his right arm, his palm facing upwards. A second later, a wooden box appeared on top of his outstretched palm, “So, how do we trick the Great Red? The guardian of the Dimensional Gap? The current strongest being in our universe?”

Naruto opened the box and took out a bracelet, “Simple, we make sure that the Great Red does not see us as a threat,” Naruto put the box down on the table and wore the bracelet. The design was simple, a silver chain with one small transparent gem attached to it, “I noticed that we were overthinking, making the situation more complicated than necessary. Our desire is to explore, our goal is to find the ruins. If so, then why not we do it subtly?”

“We have tried that approach before,” Amun-Ra stepped in, “But somehow, after a certain period of time, the big lizard out there always manages to catch our scent.” He then looked at the bracelet, “But I am guessing that you have found a countermeasure for it.”

“Honestly speaking, none of us here knows what the Great Red is capable of,” Naruto looked at Thor, “There are no stories, no songs about him. The only thing we know about him is his title ‘The Beast of Dreams’. This gives us a very little context about his powers, let alone his origin. We know that he is a dragon, but,” Naruto started to rub the back of his neck, “Is he an actual dragon? Or a being pretending to be one?”

“And you said that we were making things complicated,” Shiva chuckled.

Naruto smiled along with him. He knew that the Ancient God of Destruction was trying to lighten the mood. And he would be dumb not to use that opportunity, “You’re right, my bad for losing my focus there. We are not going for the lizard but how to avoid the said lizard. Let me get to the heart of the matter right away. You see, our Kingdom had conducted many expeditions, as I have said before. We had many findings, but one stood out the most; the behavior of the Dimensional Gap.”

“The behavior?” Amun-Ra frowned.

“Yes. Again, we could be wrong. But many clues pointed to this conclusion. Dragons are very territorial beings. They always mark their territories. It can be a physical mark or a magical one. But the mark is always there to let the dragons know if someone trespassed their territories. The Great Red is no exception.”

“This does, surprisingly, make sense,” Shiva said, “The Great Red must have marked the Dimensional Gap, the entirety of it… or at the very least the most of it, to look out for intruders,” He then faced Naruto, more specifically toward the bracelet, “So, I am guessing the bracelet will act as a shield of some sort?”

“In a roundabout way, yes. What we figured out is that the Great Red will only be alerted when a strong individual enters the Dimensional Gap. So, we just have to make sure that our, let’s say, power-level remains under the radar,” Naruto answered. He then pointed at the circular-shaped gem on his bracelet, “This will give a visual indication when our powers are reaching an alarming level. Watch,” The transparent gem started to release a green light, “Green means we are good,” Then the color changed to yellow, “Yellow means that we have to be careful,” Finally the gem became red, “And red means we have to pack up and leave, asap.”

Thor straightened up again. He leaned toward the table and picked up another bracelet from the box, “Did you make one for everyone?”

“Plus some extra, in case of emergency,” Naruto answered.

Amun-Ra, Shiva, Yasaka, and Scáthach, everyone picked up a bracelet. Naruto subtly glanced at Scáthach. As usual, she was still quiet. He heard from Yasaka that when it was just the two of the ladies, she did speak her mind. But when all of them were together, she preferred to stay on the back. Of course, if she had any helpful comments or any personal questions, she would speak out. As much as Naruto wanted her to relax and join in their conversation as equals, he knew that he could not push her. All he could do was to create opportunities for her to speak and it was her who had to take the last step.

Fortunately, Yasaka would spend as much time as she could with Scáthach. The results were showing; he could see that she was very comfortable around his wife.

“One step at a time, I suppose.”

“Ingenious,” Amun-Ra’s comment made Naruto look at him, “The bracelet does not measure our inner power but rather how much power we are spending.”

“Yes,” Naruto tapped the bracelet, “Even though I do not know what kind of marking the Great Red placed around the Dimensional Gap, it can only measure our power if we release it in any form.”

Scáthach raised her arm slightly, and when Naruto nodded at her, she asked, “Will our special weapon skill have any effect?”

Naruto smiled, “If it is pure physical skills, then we should be fine. But if you imbue the skills or the weapons with your divine energy… well~, we may have a problem there.”

“In that case, how do defend ourselves?” Thor spoke up, “We know that we will be facing enemies out there, right?”

Naruto grinned at the Norse God, “With our sheer awesomeness!”

Thor blinked once, and then once again, he burst out laughing.

“Naruto,” Yasaka groaned as she started to rub her temple.

Naruto let out a hearty laugh, “With our sheer awesomeness which is basically our skills,” He then swiped his right hand to the side and immediately his katana ‘Kurama’ appeared, “I will be relying on my weapon and my skills to fight off any adversaries we meet. Mind you, I also made sure that my personal weapon does not emit too much Divine Energy, added some sealings to be on the safe side.”

“That makes sense since our personal weapons are also high on divine powers,” Shiva added.

“Yes,” Naruto nodded, “You can also create some powered-down version of your preferred weapons if you want or follow my route. It is up to you as long as they are not bursting with divine energy. Just for your reference, you can use any weapons as long as their power levels are on the same length as ‘Sacred Gears’. High-tiers of ‘Sacred Gear’ are also fine, but let’s not take too many of them since their collective energy may cause some issues.”

“Another of your findings,” Amun-Ra mused.

“Yup~,” With another wave of Naruto’s hand, his katana ‘Kurama’ disappeared, “This is why I said that we can start tonight.”

The smiles on everyone’s face were all the answer Naruto needed.

.

.

X

.

.

The Dimensional Gap

The Dimensional Gap was an endless void, where in every direction, there was a mix of iridescent colors. It was as if Naruto was looking at an abstract, moving painting. It had that mysterious yet deadly feel to it.

This scene made Naruto wonder, how big his old world truly was.

In the elemental nations, because of his deeds in the fourth shinobi war, he was given the opportunity to visit and explore all the five elemental nations, without many restrictions. He even visited all the smaller nations when he found time. And because of the fiasco with Toneri, he was later able to explore the moon as well. Many of his friends thought he had uncovered a majority of what his world had to offer… the secrets, the places.

Looking at where Naruto was now, he wondered, if it was truly the case.

This world, this universe was known as ‘Draconic Deity’, was insanely vast, with secrets that even the oldest Gods did not know about.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was times like these that made him to imagine how big this universe truly was.

The core of the ‘DxD’ universe was the ‘Mortal Realm’. Well, that was what the supernatural being called it, and in human terms, it was the solar system. Yes, not just the earth, but the whole solar system was the core. And then, there were many mythical realms connected to this ‘Mortal Realm’, such as ‘Biblical Heaven’, ‘Underworld’, ‘Asgard’ and many others. These mythical realms did not exist in the physical plane but rather in the spiritual one. By that definition, Avalon Kingdom could be considered as a realm of its own… somewhat, since some parts of it still existed in the physical plane of the ‘Mortal Realm’.

A crucial fact he learned was that the mythical realms could not exist without the ‘Mortal Realm’. In a sense, the whole solar system acted as both the root and the trunk, whereas all the mythical realms were the branches.

And as always, there were exceptions. One such place was where he was now.

The Dimensional Gap.

It was also one of the few things that even the oldest Gods like Shiva and Amun-Ra could not uncover completely. Some of its secrets still remained hidden.

What was its origin? Did it have any purpose?

One thing they knew for sure was that this place was massive. The Dimensional Gap was approximately twenty times bigger than the solar system, maybe more. He hoped not. With how big it was, it would be a pain to explore it completely.

But this was not the only place shrouded with mysteries. There was another one.

Hell.

Unlike Heaven, which had multiple iterations of it based on the factions, DxD world had only one Hell.

It was one place that even Shiva would try to avoid. Still…

“Ymir’s saggy balls!”

Naruto blinked and looked at the source.

Thor appeared in front of him, the gem on his bracelet was yellow with a hint of red. Releasing another string of curses, the Norse God looked at him, “Are you sure they are not broken?”

Currently, they were at one of many entrances of the Dimensional Gap. His friends were going further inside to test out the bracelets. So far, the tests proved that the bracelets were working, but not all of them were happy with the precise outcome.

Naruto smiled at pointed at the ladies, who were following him. The gems on their bracelet were pure green. But his smile strained when he saw Shiva’s gem had a yellow hue to it.

Feeling his gaze, Shiva turned toward him, “Do not mind him. These bracelets work, in fact, they work too well.”

That was unexpected. Naruto flew toward them, “How so?”

Shiva tapped the gem, “This does a wonderful job at indicating how much divine power we are releasing. Unfortunately, there are two issues as of now. One, sometimes the bracelet is triggered by our collective energy rather than our individual one if we are too close by. And two, our powers fluctuate based on our emotions and intents,” Shiva glanced at Thor before looking back at Naruto, “It is an obstacle, yes, but I think with time and practice we can overcome it.”

Thor grunted but did not refute.

“Or,” Shiva smiled as he looked at one particular direction, “We find a way to work around it.”

Naruto followed Shiva’s gaze, and blinked. A silver-colored medieval ship was floating toward them. A moment later Naruto saw who was controlling it. It was Amun-Ra.

The Egyptian God got close to the edge of the main deck, “All aboard, my friends.”

With a chuckle, Shiva flew toward the ship. Naruto and the rest followed behind him. Naruto was not sure about others, but he was quite stunned by all this. It was then Naruto noticed it. The moment everyone’s feet touched the deck of the ship, the gems on their bracelet instantly turned pure green.

“What? How?” Naruto examined his own bracelet, and then turned to face Amun-Ra.

“Oho~ It’s already working.”

“So, you have found a solution already,” Shiva stated.

Thor shook his head, “Mind telling us what is going on?”

“Sure,” Amun-Ra’s smile only grew, “Simply put, this ship erects a barrier that conceals our energy.”

“It cannot be that simple, right?” Scáthach asked as she looked at Naruto, “Naruto mentioned in one of his reports that how shielding is not a good solution for a long expedition.”

Naruto smiled at Scáthach, “It seems someone has read the reports.”

Scáthach and Thor gave an awkward smile, each for a different reason.

“Hmm~,” Amun-Ra mused, “Okay, I will try to keep it as simple as I can since not everyone here will understand the theories behind this barrier,” Thor pouted but did not refute Amun-Ra, who continued, “This barrier is constantly doing two tasks. One, it is absorbing our energy to fuel the ship and the barrier. So basically, the ship itself does not have any power of its own. Two, it is teleporting the excess energy far away from here. Meaning, as long as we are on board this ship, our collective powers,” Amun-Ra tapped the gem on his bracelet, “Will remain under control.”

“Wow,” Naruto was actually surprised, “You have created the solution within,” He blinked as he tried to recall when Amun-Ra had left, “Less than half an hour.”

Amun-Ra chuckled, “Actually, it took me less than few minutes to create the barrier, just had to figure out the right combination between space-time and chaos magic. What took me so long was to get the design of the ship right.”

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it. This made Amun-Ra to smile and wink at him, “You are not the only one with a keen mind, Naruto.”

Naruto returned the smile and made an exaggerated bow, “I admit my defeat.”

“So~ Can we start sailing already?” Thor interrupted. His eyes had a child-like zeal to them.

Amun-Ra raised his hand up, and then dramatically, he aimed forward,

“Onwards!”