She narrowed her eyes...the boy from before...
"N-Naruto!" Rias called out in surprise, shocked that he seemingly forgot about the situation at hand and that he entered the conversation so suddenly.
The reactions were varied among the whole group.
Yuuto, Mio, and Maria all had sheepish grins, complete with sweatdrops at the blond's method of entering the conversation.
Akeno had a sly smirk, pleased that the blond intervened.
Yuki's lips twitched upwards, not surprised that he entered in such a way.
Koneko's eyes softened in slight relief, maybe he could do something?
Issei fist pumped, confident that he could do something.
Asia was just happy that the whiskered blond made it at all.
Grayfia, for her part, was somewhat annoyed at the interruption and intrusion. In response, she felt that the boy required a lecture in manners to set him straight.
Riser looked even more annoyed at the intrusion, wishing to end this ridiculous situation before it escalated.
"Who the hell are you, you cad?" the older blond asked with an annoyed scowl.
Naruto ignored him entirely. "Sorry everyone! I was really busy with some work, but it seems that the person that I've waited to see again has arrived! Grayfia-san, right? Listen, I want to talk to you about this Riser guy..."
The room was silent, in awe at the obliviousness of the teen.
The maid wasn't as surprised, he reminded her of her husband a little bit, she was used to his silly antics by this point. This boy had nothing on him.
"Riser-sama is right here."
Naruto blinked, turning slowly to face Riser face-to-face.
"...Who the fuck are you?" the shinobi asked, a befuddled look stuck to his face.
...
"I believe that the strongest queen has already introduced me...I'm the son of the glorious Phenex family, Riser Phenex." Riser retorted, getting annoyed at this nobody.
"Bullshit. I heard that the Phenex clan are based off the legendary phoenixes...you don't look like a bird. You're a phony!" the whiskered teen declared, before turning to Rias. "You don't have to marry a phony! Rejoice! As you have been saved from your engagement!"
The room was silent again, the blond's audacity was incredible.
Riser was now beginning to get angry, who did this little shit think he was!?
"Rias, who is this little shit and what is he doing here?" Riser questioned, a dark look entering his eyes.
The red-head snapped her head to the older blond in shock, surprised at his blatant antagonism.
But before she could reply, the whiskered blond continued.
"Eh? Do you continue to deny that you're a fake? The evidence is all here though, right? Phoenixes are fire chickens! So if you were a real Phenex...then I'd be able to serve you over a fire...take a piece out of you...put teriyaki all over it...then take a bite out of it and call it 'delicious'! Can you do that!? Phenex Riser!?"
Riser's jaw just slammed to the ground.
"...It's...Riser Phenex..." was all that the older blond could say, as he stared incredulously at his fellow blond.
Naruto just waved off his comment. "You're in Japan. Deal with it. Seriously though...I'm disappointed because I wanted to give you a souvenir as a fire chicken...look."
The shinobi then took a large stack of small paper from his pocket and showed it off to everyone.
There was a picture on the front.
It was a drawing of a chicken on fire.
It was the fruits of his labors!
"See? It was gonna be a gift to get you to back off of this engagement...a nice little token of appreciation. But you ruined it, now you can't get the flip book." Naruto stated sadly, then he showed it off to Riser and began flipping the pages.
As the pages were flipped, it made the stagnant pictures seem like frames from a real television. The scenes portrayed a flaming chicken that was running around in circles frantically.
The shinobi even began to make small noises to help with the imagery.
"Buc buc...bucawk! BUCAWK!" Naruto chirped loudly, innocently helping the scene with his input.
Then the final scene of the flip book ended with the flaming chicken falling flat on it's face, finally ending the fire.
...Then getting set back on fire again.
...Because it was a fire chicken.
Naruto finally closed the book, a sense of finality reaching his voice. "To think that I got my hopes up...you're a disappointment. You should've been edible. I prefer my fire chickens to yours any day."
...
...
"You...LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT!"
Naruto couldn't help but notice that Riser seemed upset.
"You think...that you can just waltz in here...decry my name...question my family's prestige...insult me...and just get away with it!?" Riser roared in his fury.
...
"Yeah, kinda did." the shinobi retorted while he began to yawn.
Riser lost it.
The Phenex's wings were flared and fire began to envelope him. His furious eyes were honed on the other blond, intent on doing some serious damage.
Then someone stepped in.
"As the queen of Sirzechs-sama's Peerage...I cannot allow anyone to get hurt. Verbal sparring is admissible, but unless the fight is sanctioned, there won't be any fights here." Grayfia interrupted solemnly, she illustrated her point by flaring her demonic energy.
That took the wind out of Riser's sails.
Rias was watching the entire proceedings go down with a frown, why was Naruto being so...insulting? That wasn't really like him...
Then she saw the absolutely wicked smirk on his face as Grayfia intervened.
It dissipated as quickly as it appeared however, smoothed over into a concerned frown.
She narrowed her eyes, just what was he up to...?
"...You know what. I have been somewhat rude haven't I? Maybe it's best that we have a little spar to release some tension. After all, we can't have a good conversation when everyone is so tense, right?" Naruto suggested casually, trying very hard to not let the grin on his face get too big.
The maid narrowed her eyes, was this boy a fool? Allowing himself to clash against a high-class devil? He didn't have demonic energy either...or any other energy signal that she was familiar with. So did that mean that he was human?
Even more of a reason to disallow any fight.
"I agree. I promise that the cad won't get killed in the fight. It's fine if no one dies right? Just a little stress reliever for everyone involved." Riser agreed with a dark smile.
"See? Even the fake fire chicken agrees."
Grayfia stared at the two blonds, positive that this wasn't a good idea.
...But she was in her 'maid role' as her husband would describe it. She had no real say while she was like this.
So reluctantly, she gave up and agreed to the sparring session.
"Naruto...what are you up to?"
"...Nothing much. Just leave it all to me, ok?"
Rias stared at the whiskered teen, eyes boring into his head with high intensity.
But the shinobi didn't budge, unimpressed by her efforts.
But he did say one thing.
"Rias-san, just follow my lead alright? If I ask you something, just follow through." the shinobi said quietly, before turning to face his 'sparring partner'.
The high-class devil sighed, she didn't understand what the point of all of this was...
She felt a hand clasp her shoulder.
She turned around to stare face-to-face with Yuki, who was staring at her calmly.
"...He hasn't let us down yet."
...Fair point.
Rias sighed, she couldn't help but be worried though. This engagement would change her life, and not for the better.
"I think that you shouldn't be worried too, Rias-sempai. This is Naruto after all...if he says he's got this...then he probably has some sort of crazy plan that no one could guess in a million years." Mio reassured her red-headed elder, sure that her 'brother' has got this under control.
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