A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

Venturing into this Village of Wizards

After catching up with his long-lost mentor, surviving a brief encounter with the Axis Cult, and facing two new monsters he now despised, Naruto found himself standing at the entrance of a small village.

The Crimson Demon Village.

'I should have known... Ero-Senin did say he knew a mage that would probably go on dangerous quests with me.'

Naruto thought with a bitter smile on his face as he took in the scenery. He knew very little about the Home of the Crimson Magic, but from what Megumin had told him, he knew it was a town full of Arch Wizards. Thinking back, it was pretty obvious this was where Jiraiya was leading him to.

At the front of the entrance to the village stood a very realistic statue. It had the head and wings of an eagle, and the body of a lion.

Jiraiya followed the blonde's gaze and walked up to the statue.

"This is a griffon, which is one of the monsters from the quest you want to take on."

"It must be pretty strong if the Crimson Magic Clan keeps a statue of one at the front of their village."

Naruto said as he marveled at how life-like the statue was. Just looking at the monster made him grow excited.

"Actually, this poor sucker made the mistake of flying into the village and got petrified by one of the mages. They decided keep it here as a landmark where groups could meet up."

Jiraiya said while patting the griffon statue a few times.

"...Eh?"

Naruto gaped as his mentor walked past him. From what Luna had told him about griffons, they were one of the more powerful monsters out there. Which was part of the reason why the quest he wanted to take required him forming a party of experienced adventurers in the first place.

Megumin was the only Crimson Magic Clansman he knew, and the girl was a short-fused kid who could only use one spell a day. While that spell was super powerful, it was also very inefficient in battle.

But for someone to turn such a powerful beast into stone and casually decide to keep it as a reference point in the village... Were the Crimson Demons actually amazing people?

Naruto shook his head and followed Jiraiya into the village.

As they walked through the entrance, Naruto sensed an overwhelming magical presence. But it wasn't hard to tell where it was coming from as the people going about their day strolled by. He could sense a great amount of mana from each and every person that walked passed them. Even the children running around had an abnormal amount of mana in them.

As expected of a town of mages.

"It seems you're able to sense all the mana in the villagers. That's funny, since I don't remember you being a sensor type at all back then."

Jiraiya noted with a bemused expression.

"Of course! Learning how to sense mana was one of the first things I trained for when I got here!"

Naruto stated proudly, and Jiraiya seemed impressed. If that was enough to impress the older man, Naruto couldn't wait to see the look on Jiraiya's face when he showed him Sage Mode.

But the mana wasn't the only thing Naruto had noticed.

"Everyone here is kinda dressed like Megumin. Actually, they all kinda look like Megumin too."

Naruto said as he took in the appearance of all the mages they passed by.

Just like the little girl dubbed as "Explosion Girl" back in Axel, the mages here all had dark hair and red eyes while wearing a mixture of black and red clothing.