A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

Picking Up Sages in a Dungeon Part One

"Are you sure that you'll be able to convince Aqua to come with us? That girl can be quite stubborn, you know?"

Kazuma asked as they ascended the stairs towards Naruto's place of residence.

"That may be true, but I'm sure that she'll come around if I ask nicely. I've gotten pretty good at handing that girl."

Naruto bragged while pointing a thumb at himself, but Kazuma remained unconvinced.

Dealing with Aqua was not an easy task. If you were too nice to her, she was quick to exploit that kindness. Naruto was a nice person, so long as you stayed on his good side, and Kazuma was worried that the blonde was being taken advantage of again.

"Come to think of it, hasn't something like this happened before in the past? Naruto seems rather lenient on Aqua when she bosses him around. You don't think he's like Darkness, is he?"

Megumin whispered into her party member's ear.

"Hey now... Don't say such scary things, Megumin. You'll raise a flag."

Kazuma responded while shivering at the thought of Naruto having similar tendencies as their party's resident "M".

At the same time, Naruto stopped at his door and unlocked it. The shinobi then proceeded to step inside with a bubbly smile adorning his face.

"Aqua~! I'm home~!"

"Oh! You're back early!"

Aqua sprang off the bed and ran over to the entrance to greet Naruto with a toothy smile of her own.

"Welcome home darling~! Would you like to make us lunch? Or have us?"

Cecily cooed something unbefitting that of a nun from her spot on the bed.

'Are we still doing the family setting thing? Or rather... Is Naruto always being greeted like this when he comes home!?'

Kazuma thought with a twitchy eyebrow when he suddenly felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Looks like our girl found a new home, Kazuma-san. Let's just go..."

Megumin whimpered while wiping a tear from her eye.

Ignoring the heartbroken mother, Kazuma turned his attention back to the others. Either Cecily's obvious implication went over the shinobi's head, or he just chose to ignore it as he jumped straight to business.

"I'll make us all lunch, but we'll eat it once we get to the dungeon."

Naruto said while patting Aqua on the head affectionately, but the girl squirmed away from his reach upon hearing his proclamation.

"Eh~? A dungeon? Why would we eat in such a cold and damp place? Don't wanna~!"

Aqua complained with puffy cheeks.

"That's right! If you want to bring us to a dark place, you can just turn off all of the lights and close the shades! The neighbors won't complain about the noise, I already asked."

Cecily added with a dangerous gleam in her eyes, puffs of steam coming out of her nose.

"...I'm not even going to ask. Anyways, Kazuma needs Aqua to go on this quest, and I decided to come along, so you're coming too, Cecily. After all, we still need to pay off your debt."

Naruto explained and stepped out of the way to reveal Kazuma and Megumin standing in the doorway.

Cecily squealed in delight upon seeing the little girl.

"Megumin~!"

"Geh...! C-can't breathe...!"

"Mmf! This size... *Sniff!* This smell... Perfect loli! Yunyun is good too, but she's a little too mature for my tastes."