Yo,

I'm back with the Next Chapter of Shadow Light. Do follow, fav and share your feedback with me.

Thank you for your support for Shadow Light for the past 2 years and hope it continues and grows even more!

Without any further ado, let'sget started.

"Normal speech" people talking.

'Normal thought' people thinking.

'Telepathy' conversation through Telepathy.

"Kurama/Dragons" Kurama or Dragons speaking.

'Kurama/Dragon thought' Kurama or Dragons thinking.

"Jutsu/ Magic" is being used

Enjoy.

Shadow Light

Chapter 40

Perception

"Kaa-sama, who is this?" The young girl asked, turning to Yasaka, shocking Kurama and stunning Yasaka.

"WHAT THE FUCK, NARUTO? YOU BLOCKED ME FOR DOING THIS?! TO HAVE A DAUGHTER!" Kurama exclaimed in shock. He knew he made the blonde sterile. Unless the idiot made himself potent again, this couldn't have happened.

"AS IF I KNOW! I'm sure I made it sterile so this situation doesn't happen." Naruto yelled at Juubi.

"Guess what! It failed. She is a Kyuubi as well. One with more potential, but a Kyuubi nonetheless. She is definitely Yasaka's daughter." Kurama rebuked. Naruto didn't have a comeback for that.

"Naruto? As in Naruto Naruto?" Hiyori asked in realisation.

"Kanao-chan, he is Naruto-sama… an important person from the Devil Faction." Yasaka introduced and Kanao bowed in respect.

"Thank you. But I'm here as a part of the school trip." Naruto came out of his banter in his head as he heard Yasaka speak. They got lost in each other's eyes. Hiyori on the other hand stared at Naruto in awe.

She heard about him from Yasaka many times. The Fox Priestess can't forget the man even after she became the faction leader and would reminisce when the heat season approaches.

The imagination she had about the man didn't fit the person in front of her, but she has this inner feeling that he shouldn't be messed with. As if there is something terrifying hidden behind that handsome face of his.

They finally found out about his whereabouts during the Rating game between Jiraiya and Riser Phenex and Yasaka was amused to say the least. She was so happy that they declared a holiday of joy the next day in Kyoto.

"Ama, Kaa-sama, others are waiting for us," Kanao yelled and was out of breath when Yasaka noticed her.

"Gomen, Kanao-chan. Shall we move?" She asked the blonde who nodded.

"Ask her. Ask her how that brat was born." Kurama poked him. Naruto appeared in his mindscape with an impassive look.

"Someone is excited. Why don't you sleep while I crack this?"

"Hmph. The last time I listened to you, you fathered a daughter. I'm not gonna allow that again." Kurama said smugly.

"She is not my daughter, Kurama," Naruto said and Kurama looked at him with an unimpressed look.

"Test it with shadows yourself." He said with a shrug. On cue, Kurama poked Kanao's shadow with Naruto's and got a feel of her magic. His eyes opened wide in realisation.

"That means-"

"Yes," Naruto cut him off.

"Now shut the fuck up and calm down. I don't want anyone to sense you. We are in Yokai territory."

"Heh. They will piss in fear if they sense me. Hahhahhahhahhah." Kurama laughed. Naruto shook his head. He sat in Yasaka's car with Yasaka, Kanao and Hiyori as they moved to the hotel Yasaka reserved for Naruto's school trip.

As they reached the hotel, they saw 4 concerned girls waiting for the blonde at the entrance. Naruto saw Rossweisse, Sona, Akeno and Rias waiting.

As he stepped out of the car, they ran towards him in concern. "Idiot, you should have joined us," Rossweisse yelled.

"Did you perhaps forget that?" Sona asked, adjusting her glasses with a tinge of concerned anger in them.

"Maybe I should punish him for this?" Akeno chimed in with a sweet smile.

"No Akeno. You shouldn't do that." Rias sighed, unable to say anything.

"Now, now, there is no need for concern, girls. She is gracious enough to drop me here when I missed joining you." Naruto said, turning to Yasaka with a happy smile.

"Thank you, my lady. We will be in your care from now on." Naruto said officially as the other 2(Rosseweisse and Sona) forgot to talk to Yasaka as representatives of Kuoh.

"It's an honour," Yasaka said and with a goodbye, they dispersed. Naruto and the girls walked into their rooms in the hotel. Yasaka and her group left for her residence.

"You didn't invite him?" Hiyori asked, surprised. Yasaka gave her a small smile.

With Naruto

"What the hell, Naruto? You didn't join us on purpose, right?" Rias blurted.

"I'm sure he did it on purpose." Sona agreed.

"This definitely calls for punishment," Akeno said with an ecstatic smile.

"You three think I'm a ghost?" Rossweisse asked the three girls and they all looked at her in shock. They thought she left when Naruto came back.

"Sorry, Sensei." The girls apologised. Naruto gave Rossweisse a wink at that.

"Now disperse to your rooms." She ordered and when Naruto started following her, she pointed him to another room and the blonde went into it. As soon as he opened the door, he felt a familiar green-haired girl jump on him.

"Someone had fun," Reni said, reading a book. Naruto returned Alice's hug and scanned to see all his clubmates in the room.

"So they allotted rooms clubwise here?" He asked and a blonde-haired member nodded.

"Where did all that talk go?" Naruto shook his head remembering Rossweisse's bold words.

"Poor Rosy-sensei. She thought the Principal allotted all the seats and rooms. The seats were allotted by him, but the rooms were allotted by the Student Council." Reni said and the others nodded dumbly. Naruto can see the merit of this arrangement. They can freely communicate without interference.

"So how was your little side trip? Yasaka, is it?" Alice asked and Naruto gave her a toothy smile.

"Well. Though I got quite a surprise when I was found."

"Surprise and you don't fit in the same sentence, Naruto-kun," Saeko said, sharpening her sword.

"You are not wrong on that." Naruto shrugged.

"As if," Kurama scoffed.

"Is the poor foxy upset that he got blocked again?" Naruto asked and Kurama didn't reply.

With Yasaka

After having dinner and finalising the plan with Hiyori and putting Kanao to bed, Yasaka moved to her quarters to retire for the day.

"You can come out now, Naruto-kun." She called and from her shadow, a shadow came out.

"You caught me, Yasaka-chan," Naruto said with a cheeky smile and his hands up in submission, sitting on her bed. Yasaka sat on his opposite side, both facing each other. An unbreakable silence fell over.

"Aren't you curious about Kanao?" Yasaka asked. Naruto smiled at her. "I know you enough to doubt you, dear." Yasaka smiled at him.

"I didn't doubt you would. But Kanao is my sister's daughter, who died a few years after her birth. After that, she grew near me. As she can't remember her mother, she treats me as her mother. But she knew the truth." Yasaka opened.

"You don't need to tell me all this, Yasaka. You know that. We could be like the last time."

"Things changed, Naruto-kun. We are not the same as we were 4 years ago. Our standings are not the same outside as well. That's why I want to be truthful. Truthful at least with the man I love." She said with a sincere smile. Naruto closed in and hugged her.

"You definitely became sensitive. Guess one of the perks of being close to Nature energy." Naruto said with a smile. Yasaka knew she shouldn't be surprised. She knew Naruto wasn't normal. She felt that when she met him.

He is oddly understanding of her and agreed with her proposal. He didn't pry her about what and why he should do it when she left him without any answers. But the most intriguing part she felt is the change in chaos in Nature's energy.

When she first became the Kyuubi and took over the control of Ley Lines in Kyoto, she felt Chaotic. So chaotic that she wanted to go on a rampage. But it all changed the next day.

She felt the impurity from Hiroshima and soon Nagasaki vanish as if they were erased. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the important points as they have a key line each passing through them.

Due to the radiation there, so much chaotic energy is created and affects the natural energy through the leylines which were vulnerable and easily corrupted. That's one of the reasons why Youkai these days started to go rogue.

In the old days, the corruption in angels and the change in human's way of thinking lead to a change in the natural energy in them and corrupting the low-willed Youkai which couldn't handle the corruption and went rogue.

But these days, because of the desires negatively affecting humans, it seeps into nature, corrupting them. She also knew about the nuclear disaster that happened in Chornobyl as most Youkai got affected by it.

These 3 incidents damaged nature irreparably in addition to the ions corruption that happened in the world combined affected her race adversely.

As the Kyuubi, her duty was to protect her people and ley lines and stop them from further corrupting any poor soul. But the second day when she was about to start a meeting, they all felt a sudden surge in Nature energy nearby.

It started slowly and soon, a large chunk of nature energy was gone. It was as if a black hole sucked it. They were apprehensive about the sudden change and when Yasaka thought of taking things into her hands, a sudden surge of nature followed.

It was so pure that they all felt suffocated for hours. Fits of coughing followed as everyone started falling ill. She was in hospital for 3 weeks herself. When they thought the situation was dire, everything stopped.

All the nature around them was purified and the Faction elders declared that it was a miracle by Inari-Sama. The corruption of Youkai was stopped and her people reached heights they never thought reachable before.

"We train our people to fight against nature's natural corruption and focus on their duties to protect Kyoto. But because of the purification, they were able to train without an additional effort on controlling their mind and became strong." Yasaka said tearfully.

"Is this a tearful thank you?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Thank you won't suffice, Naruto-kun. But I should thank Serafall though. How is your peerage?" She asked with a teasing smirk as she started to undress.

"My Peerage, eh? They are doing well. You want to meet them?" Naruto asked as he followed in her footsteps.

"I'll meet them when I join you." She said with a confident smile and a happy face as she saw what she wanted.

"Now you have 4 years to make up. Let's get started," And like that, the light went off and Kurama was blocked.

Next Morning

After filling the 4 years gap, Naruto and Yasaka woke up in high spirits. Yasaka because she is going to show around Kyoto to Naruto and the blonde because he got one more person on his road to world peace.

Yaska agreed to his plan which got her an extra round with the happy blonde. As the sun approached, Naruto left to join his group with one last kiss.

Everyone met at the hotel's reception and after a happy meal, Yasaka started her tour around Kyoto.

"Good morning and a warm welcome to Kyoto, students and Teacher of Kuoh High. My name is Hiyori and I'll be your host for your trip." Hiyori introduced herself while Yasaka and Kanao stood smiling behind her.

They are happy as Hiyori is stuck with the group as their guide as she lost in a quick 3-way rock paper scissors. It sucks to be the host and they all knew it.

"Let me give a brief history of Kyoto. Celebrated as the residence of the Emperor, and Japan's principal cultural centre for almost 1,100 years, Kyoto today boasts numerous things to do and great places to visit, including exploring the fine examples of sculptures, paintings, and other art forms in its many museums and galleries.

Our trip includes many great sites which have centuries-old architecture, much of it influenced by Buddhism with 30 of the city's temples still serving as centres of various Buddhist sects, along with some 200 Shinto shrines within the city limits. Let's get started." Hiyori said as their buses arrived to take them around.

First on their list is the Nijo Castle. It's a complex structure which has several buildings containing many significant works of art and is famous as the location chosen by the emperor to issue the rescript abolishing the country's once-powerful Shogunate.

Next came the Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine. It features a spectacular four-kilometre-long avenue of bright orange "torii," or arches, each dedicated by a business with notable sculptures of foxes, reputed to be messengers of the gods.

This is not false as every fox is a Youkai and they report to the Kyuubi, which is worshipped as the local God and Protector of Kyoto, which is not far from the truth as Yasaka is the protector of Kyoto and leader of the Youkai faction.

Naruto can feel the 1000 pairs of eyes on him because of his passive Draconic aura and the overwhelming Senjutsu he possesses can be easily sensed by any trained Youkai close to him.

"See what happened. Now they are shit scared of me." Naruto groaned to Kurama who gave him this wonderful idea.

"Meh. It's not a big deal. Now those puny kits know their place and not to touch you if anything happens." Kurama boasted about his actions with a laugh. Naruto sighed.

Rossweisse is not satisfied with her observations. She knew something was up between Naruto and that bimbo of a woman who is the head of the tour. She didn't like it one bit. Though she acted normally as if she is a human.

Naruto looking for a boyfriend for her didn't make things easier for the white-haired Valkyrie. He showed her a few guys who really looked nice. They have good wealth and own a building in Kyoto as well, which is more than she imagined. But they all lacked something.

Something she couldn't put a finger on. Though the blonde didn't relent and showed a good-looking guy 1 every hour, trying his best to get her a boyfriend amidst his classmates' laughter and boos.

"How about this one, Rosy-sensei?" Naruto asked pulling a red-haired man from the crowd halfway through their trip. He is better than most men she saw till now and she decided to give him a go as he felt familiar for some reason.

As soon as he touched him, Naruto knew who the man was. He was surprised seeing him here though as he already selected him, he can't go back now.

"You picked the right man, Naruto." Kurama uncontrollably laughed.

"Hello, my name is Aka Yume. Nice to meet you." The man said with a bow and Rossweisse was impressed with his manners.

"We'll settle with him for today, Naruto." She asked politely and Naruto sighed in relief. While Great Red came into his mindscape.

"What's going on, Naruto? Why am I dragged into this? And is that the same girl I had to use my power to wake up when you made her sculpture?" Red asked in an amused tone.

"Yes, you remember her? She is my teacher and she doesn't have a boyfriend."

"She seems young with good magic. Why doesn't she have a boyfriend?" Red asked curiously. Naruto didn't pay much attention to Red's words as Reni started to tease him.

"Eh, you'll see won't you?" Naruto smirked and left his mindscape.

As this is her first date, Rosseweisse was a bit nervous while Akai was in high spirits as he met his Naruto again. Naruto gave him a small glimpse of the girl in front of him just so he can act accordingly.

"So, Rossweisse, what do you like to do in your free time?" He asked, starting the conversation.

"Um, I love to read and learn about different cultures and histories. Especially cultures. That's why I'm in Japan. I wanted to know more about the culture." She answered after a minute of mustering her confidence.

"That sounds interesting. I love learning about different cultures too. I'm a bit of a foodie and love racing, so I love trying new cuisines, restaurants and bikes. Oh yeah, Bikes! I have the largest collection of sports bikes and cars as-" Naruto's shadow pinched Akai's shadow and he immediately shut up from going on a tangent.

Though the blonde is not there with them, he is keeping an eye on them with his shadows.

"Oh, that's great! I love trying new foods as well. What's your favourite cuisine and if you are ok sharing, bike?"

"I can't pick a favourite. I have loved all of them from time immemorial. I just love the rich flavours and comforting dishes. How about you?"

"I have a soft spot for Swedish and Norwegian food. There's something so hearty and satisfying about a good Lapskaus and meatballs dish." She said, easing a bit into the conversation.

They both laughed and continued to chat about their interests and backgrounds. As they got to know each other better, they found that they had a lot in common and that they both enjoyed exploring new things and learning about the world around them.

Though most of the things Akai said were tailored to fit her personality as he doesn't want to scare or make a friend of Naruto sad. He talked about bikes and racing for the most part while Rosseweise talked about education and money.

The date overall gave a good idea for the young Valkyrie how to get to know new people as she is an introverted and reserved person. Naruto picked her up on their way back from the trip.

She told Akai that she will think about him and the Red Dragon laughed uncontrollably in Naruto's mindscape at that. It was an amusing day to him as well and after a goodbye to the blonde, he vanished.

The day was hectic for the students as Hiyori is relentless in her job and didn't allow them to have any fun aside from their tour plan. But she took them to a famous shopping mall at the end of the day to let them chill and got good marks in the students' books.

Naruto got many bills to pay on that day, not that he complained about paying them. He also paid for Rias, Sona and Akeno just to taunt them as they didn't have human currency with them.

Most of their needs and payments are taken care of by Lord Gremory as he should look after his territory and the cards and money they have are only effective to Kuoh where they have different contracts.

The day ended in high spirits for everyone and all moved to their rooms including the blonde lovers as they planned to go on a date on the last day in disguise of course and split to plan for it.

Day Later

The second day of their trip was also uneventful with all students seeing more historical and important sights. Naruto on the other hand is busy planning for his date as he wanted it to be a surprise for Yasaka. He knows he is doing it in her territory and so used his Shadows to seal off the space he is going to take her to be a surprise.

Just like that, 1/10th of Kyoto vanished from all Yokai's senses and this resulted in a panic among the masses as they thought they were under attack. Yasaka managed to convince them otherwise.

Though Naruto didn't listen to what Yasaka told to Youkai, he saw many amused faces when they went back to their positions guarding the city. He also kept a close eye on Rosseweisse's date as well.

Red managed to impress her but she seems iffy about it for some reason and so they moved on to the next fella. While Red was very much amused by the stunt, he vanished in panic as he will be late for a Flip and Fold Unicycle match in France.

"What are you planning for this date if you don't mind me asking?" Kurama asked, unable to suppress his curiosity.

"You tell me, as a Fox, what do you like?" Naruto asked his good old friend.

"A sparring match?" Is the intelligent response he came up with. Naruto gave him an unimpressed look.

"Is it going to be that dream session you want to do with Grayfia?"

"You don't need to go into details!" Naruto yelled at a guffawing Kurama.

"Not anything like that. It's going to be very simple. A candlelight dinner with no one around. And I'll personally cook all the dishes." Kurama is unimpressed.

"It's lame."

"As if a stupid fox like you get it. I'm sure she was never treated normally in her life being brought up to be the next Kyuubi. How about I share some of your chakra with her then? Does it sound interesting?" Naruto asked with a happy face.

"We both know she can't survive our chakra, Naruto. It's just too potent to be shared. Maybe back when I'm just a Kyuubi. It's many decades since I've been Juubi and we both kept growing. Now our chakra is so intertwined, I'm sure even with Rinne-sharingan and Onmyōton(Yin-Yang style) it's hard to separate." Kurama gave an honest reply. Naruto nodded in acknowledgement and continued preparing for their date.

Rias and Sona observed how Naruto often disappears. Sona has a suspicion that he uses clones, but for the love of Maou, she can't find a difference and so kept her observations to herself.

As the last few times she thought it was a clone and charged, she was thrown back hard and taught a memorable lesson in chess. It's not like Naruto will tell her how to differentiate.

Speaking of spars, one is coming soon and both of them are looking forward to it. This is going to be their first spar in their 2nd year and they knew if they want to recruit powerful sacred gear users, they need to be strong.

Though they don't train that hard, their training does show them results in Sona increasing her magic pools by 26% while Rias managed to gain more control over her magic.

Akeno on the other hand didn't slack behind them and increased her spell's range by a large margin. But if there is anything that increased in her is her spells ferocity. After a recent talk with Reni, Akeno's attacks changed.

None of them spoke about what they talked about, but the change is the result. Tsubaki also gave her best to master her Sacred Gear as well. Mirror Alice as she thought was only used to reflect attacks. Until Miya broke the mirror.

Tsubaki went blank, not knowing what to do. As she can't summon another mirror and have a cool-down period. And no one wantedly broke her mirrors in the past. It's a situation she wasn't in her last.

That's when Miya threw one of the broken shards, which had physical form at Tsubaki who was frozen in fear. Sona stopped the attack but just like that, Sona's peerage was given a boost in their capabilities.

Coming to the present, Sona had this jealous feeling when she saw Naruto helping Rosy-sensei find a boyfriend. It's not like she thought ill of the poor woman, it's just the amount of interest he is showing in it.

Naruto on the other hand spent time with his group and classmates not to raise any suspicion and when they returned to their hotel to rest, he sneaked from Rosy's watchful eyes and appeared in front of Yasaka in her quarters.

As she doesn't have solid cloning ability like his, she can make illusions, but not solid and fully functional clones like him, they planned the date at her convenience. Naruto took her hand and vanished to the date he planned.

Restaurant

They sat opposite side by side as Naruto's started to serve their meal with a glass of champagne to the side. Yasaka is surprised to say the least.

She has never been on a date as Naruto was her first and she didn't have enough time then to go on a date. The candlelight set up has surprised her alot with only 1 big seat to sit on. Her little make-up did justice to highlight her beauty in the dim candlelight. Naruto enjoying the feast that's her beauty.

"Don't you want me to eat?" He asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Why, Naruto-kun?" She asked, confused.

"I can't anything if you are this beautiful," He said with a genuine smile.

"As if you are looking bad." She said with a giggle. He didn't think candlelight dinner will be this amazing as he didn't expect it when he planned. They dug in, eating between small talk.

"This is a nice change of pace, don't you think?"

"It is. It's wonderful to just sit here and enjoy silence beside you."

"Agreed. I didn't expect this to be this wonderful."

"Of course it will be wonderful if you listen to the great Juubi-sama!" Kurama boasted. Naruto gave the Juubi a blank look.

"Aren't you the one who said it's lame?"

"I don't remember saying such a thing." Kurama vehemently denied it.

"What did you say to your people yesterday when this area got sealed away? I'm sure it caused quite panic," Naruto said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Aren't you interested? I said I'm going to surp-" they sensed a large burst of demonic energy release in their surroundings and Naruto turned to Yasaka who took a big gulp of air.

"The demons from Yomi-no-kuni were released. We must evacuate everyone before they start rampaging the city!" Yasaka said in urgency. Naruto's face turned cold at that she felt a large force descend upon Kyoto in an instant.

'What pressure!' Yasaka thought in awe. Though she knew the pressure isn't intended towards her, its passive aura is affecting due to her closeness to Naruto.

"Yasaka dear, I'm sorry for this disturbance. Let's take care of this and continue our date." Naruto's strong voice pulled her out of the gutter that passive aura put her and she stood to neutralise the threat.

And Cut.

That's it for this chapter folks.

See y'all in the next chapter.

Suggestions are welcome.

R and R.

Black Infinity1289,

Ja Ne.