chapter 25

"Candy-Sama!" Naruto was really beginning to hate that title. He was very quickly starting to learn that the title of 'Sama' didn't fit him at all. He wondered if being called Hokage-Sama would've bothered him this much.

"Maybe this is why the old man hated when I called him Hokage." Naruto released a wistful sigh to himself before he allowed his attention to focus onto his newest pain in the ass.

She was a female of unquestionable attraction with some rather questionable features. Her head of red hair was about shoulder length and fell over her ruby colored eyes. The girl was somewhat tall, managing to come up to Naruto's chin. The two fox ears twitching from the top of her head gave her slight boost in height. A white kimono covered her form as several fox tails swung lazily behind her.

"Please do not call me that." The blond groaned out. If he had known that his fox companion would become a pain in the ass, he wouldn't have taken it back with him. Now he had to deal with a girl that magically transformed from a fox.

"I don't want to say I told you so, but I did." Kurama chimed in. His comment went almost entirely ignored by the blond as he decided to keep his focus on the girl.

"But you are Naruto, are you not? Tamer of Ophis, and Slayer of Kokabiel. Capable of avoiding the archangel Michael and Lucifer. God of Nature and swe-"

"Yes, yes, that's me!" Naruto interrupted the girl. Her introduction was an almost carbon copy of the one Pan gave which was slightly worrisome. He didn't want that type of reputation spreading throughout the supernatural grapevine. The fewer people who knew of his feats the better.

"So if that is you, isn't it only right that I refer to you as Candy-Sama?" The girl questioned innocently. Her response came in the form of a loud groan from the blond as he buried his head into his hands.

It was too late. She was too far gone. There was no convincing her otherwise.

"Just … what do you want?" The blond's voice was muffled as he spoke through his fingers. His defeated tone served as a stark contrast to the excited look that popped up on the girl's face as she pulled a piece of parchment from her kimono.

"On behalf of Kyoto, the Youkai faction and Kunou-Sama, we humbly request your assistance in the retrieval of Yasaka-Sama." The girl read off the scroll before rolling it back up and storing it back into her dress. When she lifted her head to observe the blond's reaction, she was met with an utterly stupefied look from Naruto.

"What did you just say?" Naruto asked, unable to completely comprehend what the girl just said. He immediately regretted his question when the fox began to reach back into her kimono to retrieve the scroll.

"No, no, no. Just explain what you said." The teen was clearly exasperated as he spoke. Luckily for him, his message seemed to get across to the fox girl as she retracted her hand from her cloak. The blond couldn't help but let out a thankful sigh at this as the girl dived into her explanation.

"Our leader Yasaka-Sama has been kidnapped by some unsavory characters. In her leave, Kunou-Sama has taken up her position. Unfortunately, Kunou-Sama is really young and can't exactly rule properly. Plus, Yasaka-Sama has the key to the great powers that dwell within Kyoto. We must retrieve her immediately or the whole world could be destroyed." The fox's voice grew panicked towards the end of her speech. Naruto could do nothing but groan and move his hands to his temples in an attempt to stave off the headache he was inevitably going to have after dealing with this.

"Why did you come to me? I don't get the point of coming all the way here just to ask for my help. Isn't there someone else you guys could've asked for help?" The blond questioned in a somewhat futile attempt to wriggle his way out of the situation. As soon as the fox girl mentioned the destruction of the world, a large part of him knew he was going to get involved in some shape or form.

"Well, why wouldn't we come to you?" The girl's voice had a slight bit of shakiness to it, tipping Naruto off to the fact that the next thing to come out her mouth would be a bold faced lie. He didn't need any empathetic abilities to know that.

"Y-you're the tamer of Ophis and slayer of Kokabiel! You defeated the hero Heracles and pur-"

"Can you tell me the real reason now?" Naruto interrupted the girl as his lack of patience decided to rear his head. The combination of being lied to and his slowly growing headache were not doing much to aid his patience either.

"I …. Ummm" The fox girl grew undeniably nervous after being called out by the "god". She began to shake slightly as she refused to meet the blond's eyes. The duo entered into an awkward bout of silence as neither of them spoke a word.

"Well…" The young girl was the first to break the silence. "Kunou-Sama is … she is a bit young. So when she heard about a new candy god who had their own shop she got really excited and … wanted to get some samples." The girl managed to stutter out while slowly raising her head to meet Naruto's gaze. When she finally managed to get somewhat eye level with the blond, she was met with a completely impassive look. The look on the teen's face sent her into a panic as she quickly jumped up to explain herself.

"B-b-but that isn't the only reason! You're supposed to be a new god and Kunou-Sama is going to be the ruler of Kyoto eventually. She thinks it's a good idea to have powerful allies in the future and thinks you'll make a perfect fit." The girl blurted out her words as quick as she could. It wouldn't be very good to offend a god by saying you only want their help just so you can get some samples. Though, now that she thought about it, some of the more narcissistic ones would probably take that as a compliment.

Fortunately for the girl, Naruto was the furthest thing from narcissistic. He was selfless and his selfless attitude was making it damn near impossible to not offer the girl a bit of his help. So it was with a heavy sigh and a growing headache that Naruto finally relented.

"Give me all the information you guys have so far and I'll see what I can do." The lack of energy in the blond's words was entirely made up by the bright smile that appeared on the girl's face. She began to jump up and down excitedly while letting out a high pitched squeal.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! Kunuo-Sama will be so happy to hear this. I'll get you everything you need as soon as possible." Those were the last words Naruto heard from the girl before she was promptly engulfed in a cloud of smoke. It took a few seconds for the smoke to clear and when it did, it revealed that the girl was once again in her fox form. The creature seemed to almost salute the blond before turning on its heel and leaping into the forest. The sound of branches breaking and trees rustling followed her disappearance for several seconds before the forest finally settled into a state of peace and quiet once more.

"I told you not to bring the fox back with you. I told you the fox wasn't normal and would only cause a headache. But, you didn't listen to me. Now look what you've gotten yourself into."

"Shut your mouth, Kurama!" Naruto yelled back at his partner as he began to march back to his house. A scoff and a dark chuckle served as the fox's response, causing the blond to speed up in his retreat back to his home. Any of the patience he had to start the day with had quickly dispersed after speaking with the pair of foxes.

Plus, he had a feeling that he was going to need as much energy as possible with the crap he just got involved in.

A massive form shot through the empty air that polluted the Dimensional Gap. The figure was traveling at speeds that seemed unfit for its size. The flying figure continued to break any illusions connected to its size by suddenly flaring its wings up, sending it shooting up into the air. It performed barrel roll-esque maneuver before idly floating in the middle of the sky.

"Hell yeah!" Great Red explained as he flapped his wings to keep him afloat. His voice was almost impossibly loud as it carried on for miles and miles within the Gap. He had just performed his first official barrel roll without crashing head first into the ground so he was pretty excited. He had been practicing ever since his battle with Ophis so to finally have accomplished it made the legendary dragon very happy.

Speaking of the dragon god, Great Red's attention was snatched away from his accomplishment when he briefly glanced a small speck flying through the air through his peripheral vision. He quickly twisted his massive body to face the fast moving speck, only to gain a view of Ophis' back as she flew away from his position.

"Hey!" Great Red yelled at its fellow dragon. The Apocalypse dragon didn't get even an ounce of Ophis' attention as the girl refused to even hesitate to acknowledge his shout. Her lack of action served to only annoy the dragon as he took off towards her.

"I said Hey! Were you watching me?" The True Dragon yelled once more, now much closer to Ophis. The girl couldn't possibly ignore him now that he was so close. At least, that's what Great Red assumed. Unfortunately for the dragon, he underestimated Ophis' ability to be apathetic. The Infinite Dragon seemed to be completely unaware of his existence as she stayed set on her path.

"You better have not been watching me. If you were, I'll ki-" Great Red quickly found himself eating his own words when, in one smooth movement, Ophis turned from her path and darted towards the massive dragon. Before he could even register her movements, the infinite dragon slammed full force into Great Red's chest. The silence that usually persisted throughout the dimensional gap was disturbed as a sonic boom ripped through it. Great Red found himself propelled backward at break neck speeds as an aching pain spread throughout his chest. He couldn't even think to right himself as the shock and the pain of the situation temporarily immobilized him.

"Such a pest." Ophis mumbled to herself as she watched one of the main sources of her annoyance fly away from her. Great Red soon became a tiny red speck on her vision as the momentum from her attack carried him away from her. She had tried her best to show a little patience, something Naruto had been attempting to instruct her on, but found the task to be impossible with the overly annoying Great Red in her presence.

"I'll apologize later." She told herself as she set herself back onto her path. The concept of a promise was another thing that had been taught to her by the blond. He had said when one makes a promise, they should never break it. She would have to apologize to him later for breaking her promise of trying to be less violent.

But first, Cao Cao. Her apology would have to wait until she eradicated that man from existence. His treachery and the mere fact that he was alive at the moment really annoyed the Infinite Dragon. Any attempts to hold in her annoyance with the man would only end with more violence.

"Sometimes violence isgood." Ophis mumbled to herself as she sped through the gap. She would have to bring that up with Naruto once she saw him again.

"You're oddly calm for someone who has been kidnapped."

Yasaka briefly opened her eyes to observe the owner of the voice. With the chains restraining her arms and legs, she couldn't do much else from her seated position.

Cao Cao's smiling face greeted the leader of Kyoto. His smile irked her. The man was undoubtedly handsome but his attractiveness only served to make him more irritating to the woman. It may have been because he was the mastermind of her kidnapper or it could have been that he simply had a face that easily agitated her.

"I am calm because this is merely temporary." Yasaka closed her eyes as she spoke. The woman honestly did not look the least perturbed by her restrained state.

"Oh, why is that?" Cao Cao looked honestly amused from his position leaned against the cell wall. The man didn't seem to have much fear of any action from the woman since he stood so casually within her cell.

"Because my people will come. And when they do, you and your friends will perish." Yasaka stated before descending into silence. Her comment seemed to amuse Cao Cao as a guttural chuckle slipped past his lips.

"You surely have the demeanor of a leader. Unshakable even in a situation like this." Cao Cao pushed himself off the cell wall before taking several steps towards the Youkai. He stopped once he was directly in front of the sitting woman. His eyes almost seemed to shine in the dimly lit room as they stayed focused on Yasaka.

"I respect that. You at least get that that from me unlike the rest of those freaks." The smirk on the man's face faded away for the first time as a disgusted sneer took its place. The look on lasted for a single moment before his smirk was back in its place as if it never left.

"Unfortunately for you, having my respect will not halt what happens next. You and your people have had your time in the sun. It's humanity's time to bask." With that statement, the blond promptly turned on his heels and exited the open door of the cell. He barely got a foot out of the door before another male entered the room. This man seemed much more timid as he basically tiptoed his way into the room. Even with the staff clutched in his hand, the male seemed frightened out of his mind as he stood in front of Yasaka. The youkai seemed to sense his fear as one of her eyes cracked open to observe the new arrival.

"I'm … I'm sorry about this." Georg mumbled out before thrusting his staff out in front of him and squishing his eyes closed. Yasaka raised a single eyebrow as an incomprehensible mumbling began to exit the man's lip. The woman briefly recognized the words as having a latin origin before her focused was snatched away from her.

A pressure settled on her head. One instant she was sat in her cell and the next she felt as if her head had been forced underneath water. The world around her became indistinguishable as color and lines blurred into one. Confusion and a sudden, overwhelming sense of weariness left her motionless. Her consciousness finally faded from her grasp as her vision descended into black.

"It is done…" Georg mumbled out as he lowered his stand. The man stepped to the side, allowing Cao Cao a view of his captive. The nine-tailed fox looked sat mute. The man couldn't help but crack at smile at the blank look now present in her eyes. Georg had truly worked his magic and hypnotized her.

"Excellent work!" Cao Cao looked exuberant as he directed his smile at Georg. The pliant man offered his leader a bashful smile along with a quick nod of his head. By the time he looked back up, the True Longinus wielder's had set his attention back onto Yasaka.

"Truly excellent work. Have some of our members bring her to the summoning area. We are finally ready to summon the Great Red." Cao Cao spoke as he turned to walk out of the cell. With his back to the man, he missed the somewhat frantic nodding of Georg. Still, the man knew his request would be fulfilled. And, very soon, the birth of his plans will follow.

"Great Red … I cannot wait to meet you."

"HEY YOU!" For one of the few times within her infinitely long life, Ophis growled. How could she not when her main source of agitation had, for some odd reason, didn't get the message that she rather not be bothered.

"How can violence never be the first option when beings like him exist?" The thought floated through the dragon's mind as she turned to confront her rival. Running away from the beast would only delay the inevitable. She had managed to get the dragon's attention onto her and now she must deal with it.

"What." It was less of a question and more of a final warning to turn away lest you face the wrath of a god. Unfortunately for both parties, the warning went flying right over Great Red's head as he lowered it until his snout was mere feet away from Ophis.

"What makes you think you can just spy on me then hit me and run away?" The dragon shouted even though his audience was only mere inches away from his mouth. Unfortunately for Ophis, this meant that a small amount of spit landed on her. This action only served to worsen her already agitated state as she immediately evaporated the liquid with a quick flare of her energy.

"I was not spying on you. Now, go." Ophis curt reply was followed by her turning her back to the massive beast and continuing her journey away from him.

"Dont tell me what to do!" Great Red let out a horrifyingly loud yell at be ordered around. Even with the tremendously high volume of his shout, his words had no visible effect on his fellow dragon as she continued to grow further and further away from him. A hot huff of air left his mouth as he raised his head till he stood at his full height.

"Stop ignoring me!" The dragon shouted before twisting its right wing downward, aiming at the Ophis' retreating form. A victorious shot left its mouth moments afterwards when he felt almost no resistance as his wing crashed through Ophis' position. Any sense of victory then preceded to immediately leave him when he attempted to pull his wing back only to encounter a huge amount of resistance. A second attempt at pulling back resulted to him in getting pulled forward as the resistance grew stronger. The massive dragon was sent toppling forward, unable to balance or keep himself upright due to lacking control of one of his wings. His body slammed roughly into the ground of the dimensional gap, sending it shaking and cracking beneath his form.

"You … are annoying." The Great Red lifted its head at the sound of the voice. His massive eyes met with Ophis' and for the first time in its existence, the dragon felt its stomach drop. For the first time since their initial meeting, the dragon saw pure rage in his counterpart's eyes. The fluctuating cloak of energy shrouding her body only spelled out pain and suffering for him.

"I don't like annoyances." Those were the last words Ophis spoke before her energy cloak expanded to hundreds of times its original size. The deafening roar that followed the cloak's expansion actually served to strike a pang of fear in Great Red's chest.

He may have made a mistake.

He made a mistake. There was no denying it. Going along with that fallen angel's plan had been one of the worst decisions he had ever made in his life. The amount of trouble it had brought him made that very clear. Unfortunately, this only seemed to be the very beginning of the trouble he would have to face.

"So you really don't have any alcohol here?" Naruto let out a small huff as he turned to face the only customer present in his shop. As soon as the man had taken a single step through the door, every customer within the building shot up to their feet in an erratic, crazed raze. They raised hell in the shop for about thirty seconds before running out into the streets. At the time, the blond could only watch in complete shock as they mixture of men, women and children poured out into the streets, stunning and confusing every pedestrian that they passed. By the end of it all, he was left with an empty shop excluding one sheepish man that looked as if he had been forcibly dragged out of a rave.

"For the last time, no. This is a candy shop. We don't serve alcohol here." The blond's patience had left a noticeable trail when it made its exit, leaving Naruto in a rather agitated mood. His face was set in a scowl as he leaned heavily against the counter while staring the man in his eyes.

"For a candy god, you arent really acting the sweetest at the moment." The man's words earned him from the shop owner. Seconds later, a chuckle left his lips at the stupidity behind his joke. Naruto didn't seem to find the joke nearly as amusing as his head slammed soundly into the counter seconds before a pain-filled groan left his lips.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The words sounded tired as they left Naruto's lips. His meeting with Pan had drained up a large amount of his patience for dealing with supernatural creatures.

"I know the first couple of weeks can be a bit of a pain but you'll get used to it." The man completely avoided the as he walked up the counter and made himself comfortable in one of his seats. Naruto raised his head as the heavy scent of grapes and pine cones invaded his senses. The grinning face of the bearded man greeted him as he proceeded to drag his upper body up off the counter.

"Who are you?" The blond asked. Each word was emphasized as he tried his very best to not scream at the man. His attempt at doing just that grew indescribably harder when the man in front of him conjured a glass of what looked to be wine out of thin air before beginning to sip leisurely at him. The blond was left grinding his teeth as the god consumed his drink with a small smile and a pleasured sigh.

"Me? Some call me Bacchus, but I prefer Dionysus. Makes me sound a little less of a drunken slob. I'm the God of a bunch of stuff. The only ones you need to worry about are parties, wine and fertility. What am here for is to greet you before any of those lunatics get to you. Unfortunately, it seems that Pan managed to beat me here. Stupid, useless goat boy. Can't even take care of his own domain." The last two sentences were muttered out by the god but Naruto still managed to pick it up. A part of him was curious to the origins of the wine god's statement but the more rational part of him rationalized that not knowing was the much more painless and headache inducing option.

"And by greet me, do you mean get rid of all my customers?" The blond questioned while glancing at the now empty seats of his shop. His sips were physically waved away by the god as he took another long gulp of his wine glass.

"Mortals can't really handle my presence all too well. Drives them a bit crazy. You're obviously not having that issue." Dionysus casually explained while twirling his glass. The contents of the glass seemed to around its rim, dangerously close to spilling out but never reaching that point.

"Obviously." The blond stated before the two descended into silence. The god seemed occupied with his wine twirling while the blond wearily eyed him.

"What now?" Naruto questioned after several long moments of silence. Dionysus looked away from his glass to the blond as a small smirk wormed its way onto his face. He set down the glance and leaned back into his stool as he placed his hands behind his head.

"What happens now is that I tell you everything you need to know about the load of crap you're going to have to deal with." The god stated.

"Seems a little too good to be true." Kurama chimed in. His partner couldn't help but agree as his cerulean eyes narrowed at the god.

"How nice of you. And I guess you're just doing this because you're such a nice guy." The blond questioned sarcastically, earning him a small chuckle from the son of Zeus.

"Good. You're not some naive fool. I can work with that." Dionysus jumped from out his seat. His full height made it so that he came only an inch or two short of Naruto's.

"Admittedly, no. Nothing in this grand world of our comes free. Though, the price of my advice is rather small, if I do say so for myself."

"I'll be the judge of that when you actually tell me what the price is." Naruto shot back.

"Well … its rather simple." Dionysus stopped to take a short glance at the wine glass that now sat out of his reach. With a snap of his fingers, the goblet was back in his hands. The blond in front of him couldn't help but think of the action as a complete abuse of power.

"I don't know if you know this or not but Kuoh is rather famous for its grape harvest." Naruto blinked owlishly at the man's words

"Grape Harvest?" The blond echoed, his voice muddled with uncertainty.

"Yes, grape harvest. Grapes do not exactly grow that frequently in this area. A while back, I came to visit and enjoyed the party scene so much that I decided to bless this city with a bountiful grape harvest. Now, mind you, this was way before the rowdy angels and devils decided to move in. With all the wild stuff happening lately, my precious grapes have been getting destroyed." The god sounded genuinely saddened as he spoke about the destruction of his grape. The blond felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy as Dionysus took a long sip from his glass.

"I want that to stop. I refuse to let my blessing just go to waste due to the idiotic destructiveness of those Christians. Unfortunately, I am a busy man who has many responsibilities. You on the other hand …" The god trailed off to take yet another drink from his glass. This time, however, his eyes never left Naruto's.

"So in exchange for some information, you want me to take care of your grapes? Is that really it?" Naruto questioned, his voice betraying the large amount of skepticism within him.

"I don't sense any malicious intent from him."

"That's really it. I'm a benevolent man and us nature spirits should really stick together. Its best if we start our relationship on a good note, yknow." The man casually spoke before attempting to take another sip from his glass only to discover that it was empty. A sneer briefly crossed his face before, with a snap of his fingers, the glass was refilled to its original level.

"What do you think, Kurama?" Naruto questioned his partner as he was somewhat unsure how to react to the offer.

"I think you might as well go along with it. You already have the ire of Ophis. It wouldn't be wise to gain the agitation of another." Naruto let out a small sigh at his partner's words. They did not represent the best outcomes for him.

"Fine. I'll take care of your grapes." The blond spoke out loud. The massive grin that appeared on Dionysus' face the second the words left his mouth tipped him off to something wrong. His warning sense came a bit too late, however, as he was too slow to dodge the cup full of wine that the god threw in his face.

"What the hell was that?" The blond exclaimed as he wiped his face clear of the wine dripping from his brow.

"That was me blessing you. Enjoy it. I don't give it to many people." Dionysus said as his wine glass disappeared from sight. He gave one last look at the one who was still attempting to clean himself of the wine before turning and walking out of the shop, whistling a jaunty tune.

"I hate gods. I hate them so much." The blond muttered as he wiped his eyes of the wine. He looked up, ready to chew out the God, only to realize that the man was long gone. In his place on the counter, sat a rather thick book.

"How to survive in a world full of maniacs." The blond read out loud before opening to the first page of the massive book.

He was going to have a long night ahead of him.

He made a mistake.

He would never admit it out loud that he made a mistake but the throbbing pain that radiated throughout his body made it very clear to him that he made a mistake. He pulled on the dragon's tail and incurred her wrath. Even with his wounds healing and stitching themselves closed, he knew he was never going to make that same mistake ever again.

Or, at least for the next week or so.

"I … am finished with you. Leave or die." Great Red went through the effort in order to lift his head. Ophis floated several feet over her head, her ethereal cloak making her actual body barely visible to the dragon. Her eyes still carried a hint of the fiery anger that was present several minutes beforehand, but now an icy apathy took root.

"Make me!" The dragon seemed to instantly forget the promise he made to himself as he stuck out his tongue in a rather childish reply to Ophis' words. He instantly regretted those words when the girl's dragon body exploded around her in an instant. His stomach dropped as the massive dragon loomed menacingly over his body with nothing but malintent in its eyes.

"You ... are stupid. Die." Ophis said before swinging one of her claws down. He would never admit it, but the Great Red closed his eyes and actually flinched as the claws came crashing down towards him.

The dragon's eyes soon came creaking back open when he didn't feel the tell-tale pain of his fellow dragon's claws raking into his body. He was shocked to find that the dragon was nowhere to be seen. Completely gone. Vanished into thin air. Not a single trace of her or any of her energy.

"She ran away again!" The dragon growled in anger as he lifted his body off the ground, effortlessly as if Ophis just didn't beat a dragon-sized crater in the ground with his body.

"Next time she tries spying on me, she's going to get it." Great Red mumbled to himself as he began to fly away from the battleground. He had more important stuff to worry about now.

Like doing another backflip. Maybe even a front flip this time.

The Dragon Gate. An almost ethereal object that had no set destination in the physical world. Yet, every dragon in existence had some sort of innate connection to it.

In this case, the Dragon Gate manifested itself in a brilliant yellow magical seal. The seal was humongous, spanning the length of over 100 yards. Directly in the center of the seal sat a dazed Yasaka. The brightness of the seal seemed to respond to the slight movements of her body as she swayed erratically at its center.

"Beauty holds many form. This is surely one of them." Cao Cao smiled as he observed the seal. By his side, Georg sat with his eyes closed as he kept his control over Yasaka active. The duo were just among some of the few Hero Faction members present at the seal.

"The Great Red will soon appear and the beast will soon be put under our control." The man stated as he ran his thumb along the length of the True Longinus. His eyes seemed to sparkle in tandem with the light radiating from the seal as a wide smile wormed its way onto his lips. Humanity would soon prove to all that they were not just weaklings. With Great Red, the supernatural creatures of the world would bow to them all.

"It's happening." Georg mumbled with a creased brow just seconds before the seal exploded into an array of colors. All the heroes present were forced to cover their eyes lest they be blinded by its brightness. Cao Cao was among them as he used the shaft of his Longinus to block his eyes.

The man only dared to uncover his eyes after half a minute. The smile that had been present on his face before was still there as he prepared to meet and subjugate Great Red. The beast's idiotic and arrogant nature would only make the task that much easier.

But, all of his hopes were dashed when he fully uncovered and opened his eyes. Instead of seeing the great visage of Great Red staring back at him, he met the cold, yet fiery eyes of Ophis, someone he had been hoping to avoid as of late.

"Georg. Get me out of here." By this point, the man had broken his connection to Yasaka and was staring in horror at the infinite dragon god.

"You." The word was almost mumbled yet it carried loud enough for both men to hear it. Neither knew that a single word could contain so much malice. A shiver of fear ran down both of their spines as the dragon's energy began to pour out of her. All of the humans present within the chamber felt their breaths catch in their throats as the overwhelming presence of the dragon god fell upon them.

"Georg!" Cao's yelling snapped the magician out of his fear-induced trance. He turned and met eyes with the now panicked descendant of the Emperor of Wei.

"Out. Now!" The man all but screamed. Georg gave a brief side glance back at Ophis and saw that the dragon god was advancing towards the duo at a frightening pace. With his boss yelling at him and his death growing closer and closer to him, Georg had all the motivation he needed to prepare a teleportation spell. A shimmer fell over the duo as Ophis continued to close the distance between the three.

"Hurry, you fool." Cao yelled as he watched Ophis grow closer. His hand was clenched around his Longinus as he kept his eyes locked onto the dragon. He wasn't ready to face. Not now. Not today.

Lucky for him, today wouldn't be the day they fought. Just as Ophis got within several meters of the duo, Georg's magic took hold and whisked the duo away from their assured destruction, leaving the dragon staring at the empty spot where they once stood.

"Run from me. I will find you." Ophis mumbled to herself as she stared at the duo's previous position. She kept the staring contest going for several more seconds before shifting her attention to the various humans and beings that still surrounded what was left of the dragon gate. The group looked absolutely horrified as they stared up at Ophis' floating form.

"Violence … is needed now." The dragon god muttered before releasing the full extent of her energy. Immediately, half the group froze up once again while the other half began to run.

"You cannot run." Were the God's last words before descending upon her prey. The screams that followed would be lost to time as by the end of the god slaughter not a single witness was left to the horror.

A splitting headache was the first thing she awakened to. The smell of ashes, chalk and sulfur soon followed that. It was safe to say that she hadn't awakened somewhere pleasant.

Yasaka groaned as she raised up from her laid position. Her vision swam for a second before settling onto the various designs that sat beneath her. She took a brief look down at herself and saw that she was still dressed in her kimono. A further glance around the area revealed that the chalk designs stretched for several meters.

"Where am I?" The youkai couldn't help but mutter to herself as she stood to her feet. She didn't recognize the chamber she was in nor could she remember much of what happened to her. All she could remember were the last words of the man who kidnapped her before darkness overcame her.

"You." Yasaka almost jumped out of her skin as a voice rang out from above her. She immediately looked up only to receive an upskirt view of a girl that looked far younger than she. She immediately averted her eyes away as a small blush spread across her cheeks.

"Ah … I'm sorry. I didnt … I apologize." The youkai stuttered to the young looking girl. Ophis paid the woman's apologies no mind as she descended to ground level. Her feet lightly landed against the floor of the chamber before she made her way in front of the kitsune.

"You … are not like them." Ophis stated. The embarrassment she was feeling slowly began to fade away as Yasaka observed the young woman in front of her. The gothic-style dress covering her small form fit rather well with the apathetic look plastered on her face. Though, she was rather cute, even with the emotionless look on her face.

"Them? Who are they?" Yasaka questioned, now much more relaxed. The girl in front of her took a brief glance behind her, seemingly searching for something, before turning her attention back onto the woman.

"The heroes." Ophis curtly replied. The youkai gave a brief nod of understanding at her answer.

"No, I am not like them. They actually kidnapped me and I'm assuming they are the reason why I am here." Yasaka said.

"They brought you?"

The woman nodded her head yes. She waited for another question from the girl but received nothing but silence. It seemed that the young girl was lost in her thoughts as a blank look filled her eyes. The expression lasted only for a second before awareness returned to her.

"Do … you want to leave?" The girl questioned. Yasaka had to stop herself from squealing at how utterly cute she was being. The way she acted only brought up memories of her daughter who she was sure was missing her dearly right now.

"I actually would. Though, I don't exactly know how to get home. Would you happen to know where Kyoto is?" Yasaka questioned. Her spirits fell slightly when the girl gave a negative shake of her head. It seemed that getting home wouldn't be as easy as she hoped.

"I … know someone who will help." That made the youkai perk up. Maybe all hope wasn't gone.

"Will you take me to them?" This time, Ophis nodded her head, making Yasaka's face light upin a bright smile. No other words needed to be exchanged as the very next moment, the dragon ripped a dimensional tear directly in front of her. She didn't bother to look back at the youkai as she stepped through the tear in space and time. Yasaka hesitated only for a brief second before unknowingly following her savior.

"What the hell is wrong with all these people?" Kurama couldn't help but verbalize his thoughts as he read Dionysus' book through his partner's eyes. Naruto was having the same line of thought as his eyes scanned over the fiftieth or so page of the book.

"Incest, rape, murder, throwing kids from mountains, cutting heads off toddlers … these are supposed to be the gods of this world?" Naruto questioned. He was only 50 pages in and he had read so much information regarding the history of the gods. They were atrocious beings. Empathy was a thing that was barely practiced amongst them. It didn't matter if they were Egyptian, Greek, Hindu or Japanese. Each faction had a plethora of sick and twisted stories surrounding everyone from the head chief of the religion down to the lowest demigod.

"Oh Kami … these people are going to be visiting my shop soon." The blond wanted to wail as that thought struck him. How was he going to survive his encounters with these lunatics? He was going to go insane himself dealing with them.

The blond was brought out of his rather morbid line of thought when a literal rip in time and space appeared before his very eyes. He gave only the slightest reaction when he saw Ophis step out of the rip in space. His reaction became much more animated when he saw the very person he had agreed to look for step out of the same portal before the thing collapsed in on itself.

"I have returned." Ophis announced her arrival before taking a seat at Naruto's counter. The blond paid the dragon the slightest amount of attention as he stayed focus on the youkai that had appeared in the middle of his shop.

"Ah … hello there." The woman stated after several moments of silence. The blond blinked a few times to verify that what was in front of him was reality before sighing. He briefly closed his eyes as his hands made their way through his mane of hair.

"Hi. You're Yasaka, right?" The nod he received from the woman only confirmed his thoughts. Another sigh slipped through his lips as he closed the book Dionysus had given him.

He didn't think he would be reading anymore tonight.