A Simple Teenage Shop Owner

28

"Naruto?"

The blond hummed in response at the sound of his name. He turned his head towards the voice and saw the concerned eyes of Rias Gremory staring back at him.

"Did you have anything to do with that?"

"What?" The shinobi seemed confused at the girl's question. Sitting at his counter was Rias' peerage in its entirety, Gasper included. The dhampire was covered from head to foot with a thick pair of oversized sweatpants and sweatshirt. Despite his nervousness at being out in public, the boy had been pretty enthusiastic in participating in the conversation the peerage had been sharing, the conversation Naruto had completely missed out on.

"The strange sightings around time?" Rias attempted to clarify. When she was once again met with a confused look from the shop owner, the girl decided that she needed to get a little bit more in depth.

"For the past couple of nights there has been several strange sightings around the city. Different beasts ranging from an oversized cat with two tails to a giant turtle swimming in a lake. The creatures all disappeared shortly after being sighted. I was just wondering if you knew anything about it." The girl finished. Naruto gave a thoughtful hum at the girl's words before he began to slowly return to his snack making.

"I haven't heard anything about it. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any weird stuff though." The blond reassured the devil with a soft smile. This response seemed to satisfy the girl as she nodded at the boy before returning to her conversation with her peerage.

With Rias' attention now away from him, the blond dedicated his full focus onto his treats. The boy looked strangely serene as he carefully sculpted a tower out of whipped cream.

While outwardly the shinobi looked as calm as a nun, inwardly it was a completely different story. The blond was having a very different type of conversation with some of the tenants of his body.

"Really? I let you guys out for one night and you get caught!" Naruto mentally yelled. His shout was met with a series of disgruntled mutterings that echoed throughout his mind.

"I just want to point it that only Isobu and Matatabi got cau-"

"Shut your sand-covered mouth, Shukaku, before I set you on fire and seal it shut." A vaguely female voice shouted out, interrupting the first voice. Silence followed the voice's outburst, showing that the original had wisely followed it's orders.

"Look, Naruto-kun," The feminine voice spoke up once more. "We weren't aware of the surveillance equipment that this world contained."

"Okay, I can accept that. But, what about Isobu? You were laying in the middle of a lake. Just before sunset! How do you explain that?" Naruto asked through his mental link.

"...I was hot." Naruto sighed at the massive turtle's response. He didn't know what other response he expected from the creature, considering its soft-spoken nature.

"Look, if I'm going to let you guys out more often, you ca-"

"As much as I enjoy listening to you fuss at my idiotic siblings, you have guests." Kurama's voice cut right through the blond's sentence. Almost immediately, the shinobi switched his attention to what was occurring outside of his head.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Dulio." A small grin spread across the shopowner's face at the sight of exorcist. The man was dressed in his usual priest garments as he strode across the shop to the counter. His appearance caught the attention of Rias' entire peerage as they kept their eyes locked on the man, even as he took a seat at the counter next to him.