He did it entirely by his own consent, a far cry so far from what she had heard of the devils of old.
Did she, perhaps, allow her distrustful nature to control her actions?
She couldn't answer that question definitively yet, as she had only just begun to question her actions, but she at least knew one thing.
A true hero...wouldn't see these devils as evil beings, not after studying them for a bit.
No, instead, a true hero would be more likely to meet and become acquaintances with these new devils, these different devils.
After all, if more devils were like them, then less humans would be abused by the faction as a whole, wouldn't they?
Promoting harmonious co-existence instead of other harmful emotions and motivations.
But to do all that, she had to lay down her own distrustful disposition first.
She had to open dialogue, she had to believe that they were trustworthy.
Suddenly, a hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed in reassurance.
She couldn't stop the small smile that was growing on her face even if she tried.
At least she had one supporter.
So, with a surprising calmness, the battered teenaged girl took that dangerous first step.
"I am a hero." Yuki revealed, as if she was talking about something that was obvious.
Rias, prepared to hear a lot of things, just blinked in response to this, processing the fantastical knowledge that was just passed onto her.
Then she widened her eyes in shock.
A human hero was standing right in front of her.
At the moment, that hero didn't look too impressive, but it didn't change the fact that a sworn enemy of devilkind was standing in front of her, announcing her presence.
The shock wore off the second that she realized that, despite the lack of a threat she held in her current state, there was a distinct possibility that the blond helping her stand was also a hero.
It seemed that her Peerage had the same idea cross their minds as well, as they all began to get closer to their king in case hostilities arose, closing ranks against an external threat.
Naruto quickly noticed the rising tension, raised one of his hands up in a placating manner before things got ugly. "Woah, woah! Hold on there, weren't we gonna talk about this, Rias-san?"
Seriously, he was not looking for another fight so soon after the last one.
Besides, pissing off another faction was just a stupid idea, and so was needlessly showing off his abilities while dealing with them.
Rias snapped her attention back to Naruto with caution, who had already bent her knees a little to prepare for any fast movements required if hostilities emerged. "It seems that I was mistaken, Naruto-san. I'm sure that you can understand our...hesitation about bringing age-long enemies with us."
Naruto widened his eyes at that statement, connecting the dots.
'Enemies.'
Plural.
She thought that he was a hero!
"Rias-san, it seems you are a bit mistaken here...I'm not a hero. Only Nonaka-san here is a hero." Naruto tried to convince her earnestly.
"And how do I know that you're telling the truth exactly? After all, I can tell that you're definitely human, and you're helping her right now, like a good ally. So what other explanation is there when one of those humans just so happens to take the mantle of 'hero'?" Rias refuted, her guard not brought down at all.
Naruto's expression slid from faintly nervous to deadpanned in a matter of seconds, before slowly using his hand to point at the girl to his side.
"Because I just recently beat the crap out of her." he retorted.
Rias blinked at the statement before gaining a light blush due to her embarrassment, as it made sense that they weren't on the same side considering the condition of the hero.
Her wounds went beyond that of a spar between friends, since she was obviously in quite a lot of pain.
Nonaka just twitched at the reminder of her recent defeat.
"Yeah, we were enemies earlier today. But we came to an understanding after I beat her up, and I was helping her get to her house when you guys showed up. So you don't need to worry about having me as your enemy since I have no reason to fight you at all." Naruto eased the devils in front of him, hoping his logic would temper the tension here. "If anything, talking to you would be good since I finally get to find out what is going on with all of these supernatural factions."
The devils all shared looks with one another, apparently checking with one another to see if they believed the blond's story.
"...While I would advise caution, I think that he is telling the truth right now, Buchou." Akeno advised, sparing the two humans a look.
"...Not lying." Koneko agreed, her powerful ears at work. " Heartbeat is stable, not speeding up."
The Gremory heiress said nothing as she listened to her two Peerage member's council, moving her eyes back and forth between Naruto and Yuki.
She quickly made her decision.
"Very well, we will trust in your sincerity and believe that you mean us no harm, Naruto-san. We will all go back to my club room in Kuoh Academy and...go over our interesting circumstances." Rias said finally, aware that she was taking a huge risk by taking them back to her home base.
Then again, maybe not.
After all, if all she had to fear was a beat up hero, then the combined forces of her Peerage would be more than enough to overwhelm the her.
Of that she was sure.
It was the one that gave her the wounds that she was worried about.
Idly waving her hand, the red-head reactivated the magic circle underfoot in order to transfer everyone back to the ORC base, where they could speak without fear of any normal humans listening in.
The crimson circle then expanded, enveloping the ground under all those who were present.
Then, in a blinding flash, they were all transported away.
To their lack of knowledge though, it failed to transport another soul who was watching nearby, attracted to the battleground like the Gremory group was.
However, strangely enough, no one there even noticed his presence, despite their incredible abilities.
Regardless, the figure, which turned out to be a young man, quickly left to tell his master about the knowledge he has obtained.
Naruto blinked as he fell on his butt when the transportation was over with, along with Yuki, who was also now sprawled on the floor, moaning in pain at her sudden re-acquaintance with the ground.
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