A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

A Blast In The Past With These Fools!

Armed with his adventuring gear, Naruto trekked down the streets of Axel with a grin on his face. His etiquette coaching had gone well, Aqua didn't cause any trouble during the lunch, and he was now on his way to the guild to take on a quest with Yunyun. Rent was due and his wallet was empty, and Kazuma had said the reward money from Syvlia's bounty would take the guild a couple days to collect.

Chalice offered to pay for his services, as the ramen had been a huge success. But Naruto declined since he would have felt bad for taking the man's money after he'd made such a generous last second exception for his training.

Besides, it was finally time to start questing with Yunyun again. He couldn't remember the last time they'd gone on an adventure together and was looking forward to it.

'Should we finally go on the Griffin and Manticore quest? It should still be available... I doubt any of those guys willingly accepted it.'

Naruto thought when a familiar mop of pale blonde hair burst out of a nearby alleyway.

A wild Dust appeared!

"Boss! I need your help!"

Dust wailed as he ran up to the shinobi looking frantic.

"What, do you owe someone money again? Sorry, but I'm completely broke so I can't bail you out this time."

Naruto stated while making a shooing motion with his hand.

"No! I mean, I do owe people some money... But that's not what I need help with! I got into an argument with Lynn, and I ended up accepting a super dangerous quest that no man has ever come back from alive just to spite her! Taylor and Keith have abandoned me, and I didn't have anyone else to turn to! You can have all of the reward money, just please help me!"

The delinquent adventurer begged while sinking to his hands and knees, prompting the ninja to panic as they were quickly drawing in a lot of attention.

"O-okay, okay! Just get up already and tell me about this quest! Yunyun and I are going to work today anyway, so we can help you out."

Naruto urged for the boy to stand, and Dust grabbed onto his pants while sniffling.

"T-thank you Boss! I swear to follow you until the day I die!"

"S-stand up already! Also, would you seriously stop calling me Boss!"

-His mood now less than chipper, Naruto sighed as he and Dust made their way towards the Adventurer's Guild. Luckily, the people who had witnessed their little fiasco didn't seem to be bothered by their antics.

"So, what's this quest-Oof!"

Naruto grunted when a body suddenly tackled him from behind, and he forced himself upright to avoid crashing onto the ground.

"Darling~!"

'Oh no...'

A wild Cecily appeared!

Tiredly looking to his left, Naruto found a pair of wide blue eyes staring right into his. His face immediately flushed, memories of his departure from Alcanretia instantly resurfacing which made his heart leap.

Prying the crazy priestess from his body, Naruto crossed his arms and (mostly) leveled his gaze on her.

"Hey, Cecily... What are you doing in Axel? Weren't you supposed to be overseeing the reconstruction of Alcanretia?"

"Yes, but then Lord Zesta assigned me to the Axel branch to make sure there weren't any more reformed members here! Isn't that wonderful? Now we can pick up where we left off!"