A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

A Timid Mage for this Shinobi's Party

Naruto, Arue, and Yunyun were standing in front a small building in the middle of the village.

'A divination shop, huh? Sounds kind of creepy...'

Naruto thought and scratched at his whisker marks nervously. Fortune telling was the same thing as someone telling you what your fate was, and fate was something Naruto had long since forsaken. He shaped his own future.

"Then, shall we?"

Yunyun, who seemed awfully fired up, said and walked into the shop. If her fortune with Naruto turned out positive, then it would increase the odds of her joining his party!

Arue wordlessly followed her fellow mage into the shop, and eventually Naruto followed suit.

Inside the small building was a dimly lit room with large desk sitting in the back. Along the walls of the room were shelves that held what looked to be a variety of magical items. It all sort of reminded Naruto of Wiz's magic item shop, which made him wonder how the shopkeeper was holding up.

'I hope Wiz is doing alright... Kazuma is making sure she's eating, but I just hope she doesn't snap from not getting any ramen.'

Naruto thought when the door behind him suddenly snapped closed all by itself.

"!"

"You have done well to make this far."

Turning to the source of the voice, Naruto saw a hooded figure was now sitting behind the desk. Was that person always there?

The person took off their hood to reveal long flowing black hair and the signiture deep crimson eyes as all the other Crimson Demons. Her facial features were soft, yet sharp at the same time as her gaze seemed to pierce right through Naruto. But at the same time, her eyes showed a hint of interest.

"You're the fortune teller?"

Naruto asked the obvious question, and the beautiful girl nodded.

"That is correct. I am Soketto, the Crimson Magic Clan's number one fortune teller! I am confident to say that my divinations are almost always accurate. So tell me, what brings you to my domain?"

Soketto asked while eyeing the three people standing in front of her desk.

Before Naruto or Yunyun had a chance to say anything, Arue pushed the two of them forward.

"I would like for you to do a compatibility test for these two, please."

"!?"

As Arue stated their business, Yunyun's face flushed red and she quickly pulled Arue to a corner of the room.

"C-c-c-compatibility-!? I-isn't that something that c-c-couples do!?"

Yunyun stammered while keeping her voice low enough for only Arue to hear.

"What is Yunyun talking about? I believe I said this before, but I want to see if your meeting with Naruto was a fateful encounter. This compatibility test will tell us whether the two of you would be compatible as party members."

"I-is that so...?"

Yunyun looked back at Naruto and Soketto, who were waiting for them patiently, and poked her fingers together nervously. She was still skeptical, but was she perhaps looking into this test a little a too far?

"S-sorry about that..."

"Don't worry about it. This is just a test to see if we would make good friends, right?"

Naruto said with a cheeky grin and gave the girl a thumbs up.

"F-friends...!? Naruto-san and I?"

Yunyun nearly breathed out the words. Did he just suggest they could become friends? She was excited at the thought of joining an adventuring party, but the thought of being friends too was more than she could have dreamed of!