Alright guys, here the next chapter for this story. Now I just wanted to tell you all that there will be pairings in this story but here's the thing, you all can suggest what the pairings should be. So you can either Pm me or post a review on what you want as a shipping, if it's the most common one requested then that shall be the ship of the story.

Chapter 2: Anima

Deep in thought, Sakura walked through the village. The people were like always, chattering, laughing… living. Everything looked like it always did, and yet so many things had changed ever since that fateful day.

The day Pain, leader of the Akatsuki and wielder of the legendary Rinnegan, had attacked the village of Konoha. He had come like the wind, completely unexpected, and had attacked them without mercy. A whole ninja village, the strongest of the five, had been unable to defeat a single man. Well, considering that Pain had used several dead bodies that point was debatable. And yet… Sakura shuddered when she remembered the pure, unadulterated power the man had possessed. With but a single gesture the whole village had been reduced to nothing but rubble.

And then he had come. Naruto. Her teammate and best friend, though she would never say that out loud. He had done what had seemed impossible. He had defeated the man who had called himself a god. A man, who had wielded what almost, appeared like the powers of an actual god.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" A voice asked in a worried tone.

Sakura's head shot up when she realized that someone was talking to her. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even been looking where she was going. When Sakura looked up she saw a by now familiar face. Not that there many people with blue hair in Konoha anyways.

"Are you not well, Sakura? You seem a little distressed." She pointed out.

Sakura smiled a little. Who would have thought that she would talk to this person one year ago? So much had happened since this day…

"No, I'm alright. But thanks for your concern… Konan."

With Natsu

"I'm bored…" Natsu complained loudly. His head rested on the table while an occasional sigh escaped his lips.

The Dragon Slayer of Fire sat at a table in the Fairy Tail building together with Lucy, Gray, Juvia and Wendy. The Celestial Spirit Mage sighed, annoyance evident on her face.

"Drop it Natsu, and for the last time we are not going out to look for a member of Konoha. The Master forbid it, remember?" Lucy said, earning another sigh from the Dragon Slayer.

"She's right Natsu." Gray, the ice mage of Fairy Tail, added. "We barely won against Oración Seis. You shouldn't be so eager to throw your life away."

"… At least I'm not throwing my clothes away." Natsu muttered. Everyone turned their heads to look at Gray, who was, once again, clad in only his boxers. They no longer wondered about it. Craziness was apparently one of the criteria to join Fairy Tail.

"Crap! I did it again. Oh well, it's not like I care about it anyways…" Gray shouted as he tried to find his clothes.

"I don't care what Gramps said! I wanna fight some strong guys, and that Maelstrom guy was just as strong as Gildarts! And if I beat him, everybody would be happy, too." Natsu had raised his head from the table and looked at his friends. At least he wasn't sulking anymore.

"I wonder about that…" Lucy muttered. "I mean, what do we know about Konoha anyways? What have they done to be considered as a Dark Guild? Exterminating demons doesn't really sound evil if you ask me."

The group hmm-ed collectively. It was Wendy who spoke up again first. "Well, we do know that some of them killed the scouts that had entered the forest. And that 'Maelstrom' person really hurt Gildarts. If they were good guys they wouldn't do things like that."

"Not necessarily. Juvia knows that sometimes you are forced to do things you don't like to do. Perhaps they had no choice." Juvia added.

"Yeah, but still, you don't have to kill people just because you don't want them to go somewhere Juvia…" Lucy answered hesitantly. It was hard to say someone was evil when you knew next to nothing about them.

Silence returned to their table, a stark contrast to the rest of the guild which was bristling with excitement. Though there were occasional discussions about Konoha, most mages had decided to drop the matter. The Master had said not to interfere, and he wouldn't tolerate anything else. And yet every one of them had the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time they had heard from this mysterious Dark Guild.

With Sakura

Konan had taken Sakura to a small dango stand so the two of them could have something to eat. Once they had ordered, the two of them had chosen to sit on a bench in a nearby park. It was still a little strange for Sakura to walk or even talk with the former S-rank missing-nin. But despite the prejudice and ill will Konan had received when she had first come to the village, the paper master had preserved and had slowly been accepted. Of course Konan was no longer walking around in her black Akatsuki cloak. She had that much common sense luckily.

Instead she now wore a short blue combat kimono with metallic bracers on her shins and forearms. Around her left arm was a forehead protector, but it didn't bear the leaf symbol. It was a scratched Ame forehead protector, the same she had been carrying ever since she had joined the Akatsuki. And just like Naruto would always keep the forehead protector he had received from Iruka, so would Konan keep the forehead protector she had gotten together with Nagato and Yahiko.

"What were you thinking about, Sakura? You looked like you were lost in your own little world." Konan asked the pink haired shinobi.

Sakura turned to Konan and hesitated a bit. She had gotten to know the origami ninja through Naruto after the whole "Earthland Disaster" as it had been dubbed. Sure, they somehow got along, but Sakura still had a little trouble being open around the elder ninja.

"Well, I've just been… thinking. About Konoha. Everyone acts like nothing is wrong. But how can they? We're not even in the same world anymore!" Sakura complained before continuing. "We're trapped in this stupid forest like caged animals, and the only time shinobi are allowed to leave is when they go on scouting and income missions… Neither of which I'm actually suited for."

Konan simply nodded, her features as cool as always. "I can understand your worries, but look a little closer, Sakura. The people are not ignoring the fact that they are trapped in a different dimension far from home. They just try to put the fear behind them, to assure their loved ones that everything is alright, because if everyone was constantly worrying, the fear of the unknown would never leave their hearts."

Sakura thought of Konan's words and looked up at the blue sky. It looked just like the sky at home. And yet it was so different. Sakura was unable to keep the sadness she felt out of her vice. "Konan… Do you think we'll ever return home? Do you really think we'll find a way to summon this gigantic magic once again?"

"I honestly don't know, Sakura-san. But let's just believe that Naruto will find a way. If anyone can save this village, it's him. He already did it once, didn't he? Just like he saved Nagato…" Konan replied before a certain voice came into her head.

"I… will believe in you...Naruto Uzumaki."

Nagato's voice had been raspy and weak. But the eyes of the Sage of Six Path's descendant had never been fuller of life. A technique that surpassed even the boundaries of life and death… That was the true extent of Nagato's power. But it came had come at a heavy price. Nagato had already been exhausted when he had used his powers to restore the lives of the Konoha citizens he had killed. Perhaps it had been the same power that had attracted the giant vortex in the sky that had appeared shortly afterwards. Konan had been headed towards Amegakure to bury Nagato and Yahiko when it appeared.

The space-time magic, Anima.

No one in the Elemental Nations had ever seen something like this. And Konoha had still been in complete disarray when it had struck. Even Konan and Naruto, who had been a few miles away from the city, had been sucked in, just like the ninja who were on their way back to Konoha. But what was Anima? And why had it taken them to this strange world? In the year the shinobi had been stuck in Earthland, all they had managed to find out was a name. But what was its purpose? Where did it come from? And who controlled it? These questions had been put on a hold for a while. After the initial confusion, a new Hokage had to be elected since Tsunade had been in a coma at the time. Konan was sure, if the old war hawk Danzo had been elected, she wouldn't be here now. But she had been lucky. Without the daimyo, the jonin had voted, and since they had been facing an unknown crisis they didn't want to trust an old man who might just die before the village was completely rebuilt.

The first weeks had been tough. They had hidden the village in a forest the only Mokuton user of Konoha had created (a feat that had left him exhausted for a week), and the spies they had sent out had soon discovered that they were no longer in the Elemental nations; that not shinobi, but mages were fulfilling most of the jobs ninja did where Konoha had come from.

Konan had been placed under arrest due to her connection with the Akatsuki, but since Naruto had stood up for her, they hadn't treated her too badly (especially since every strong ninja was more than welcome given the new circumstances). After all, even though the whole village had just been sucked through a gigantic portal in the sky didn't change the fact that Naruto had saved the village from Pain, and heroes tend to have some privileges. It had taken a lot of effort for the villagers and shinobi to rebuild their homes, but thanks to a certain wood user it had gone faster than normally. And just when Kakashi had decided to send out emissaries to the cities of their new "home", disaster had struck.

Danzo's private army, ROOT, had assassinated some people who had been trying to scout the new forest. The situation had turned from bad to grave. There was no way a government would trust an unknown militia after that stunt. Kakashi had tried to have Danzo arrested, but the old veteran had managed to slip away, taking at least two dozen ROOT ninja along with him. No one knew where he was hiding now, but they doubted they had seen him for the last time. But the damage was already done. Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, had been forced to order their barrier master to cast an incredibly strong illusion over the village and the forest, making it impassable for any outsider. It had worked so far, but without any income they would have been unable to afford seeds and livestock. Thus they had begun to send out undercover shinobi. They took missions normally reserved for mages, but they had to be careful. Too many shinobi popping up at the same time were bound to attract attention.

It had worked fine so far. That is, until Sakura told Konan that Naruto had managed to get their cover blown.

"I wonder what the future holds… If things take a turn to the worse, there will be a war. Kakashi-sensei said that while we hold the advantage in numbers, this only applies as long as we face about two or three guilds. If the whole magic force of the country attacks us, we're toast. Some of the mages here are on a level comparable to a Sannin!" Sakura explained. She had tried to hide it, but she was really worried, especially since some of her friends were still out there.

"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do, Sakura. The magic council wouldn't simply accept us as a normal guild, especially when they hear that we're basically assassins. A lifelong imprisonment would probably be the best outcome, and if we choose to fight, we'll just become what everyone else already thinks we are. And… once blood has been spilt, the hatred will grow. This is the vicious cycle of war Nagato had tried to end…"

The two kunoichi continued to sit on the bench, their thoughts focused on the unknown future. Would Konoha be alright? Would they ever find a way home, or was this where Konoha would finally fall?

"Please be alright, Naruto." Sakura whispered softly. After all, in times like these, a hero was needed more than anything.

With Naruto

"Finally, we're here! I hadn't thought my guess would be THAT far off…" Naruto shouted as he stretched his arms.

"Naruto… If, and that's a very big if, we ever go on another mission together… I will never allow you to contribute anything to the mission but the fulfillment of your orders. Is. That. Clear?" Shikamaru said.

Two figures stood at the gates of the lively town of Magnolia. While one of them had sun-kissed blond and spiky hair, the other one had black hair that was held up in a single, thick ponytail, giving his head the appearance of a pineapple. And currently, the one with the pineapple hairdo was seriously pissed. His companion had said that the city they had just reached was perhaps three or four away. Oh, they would have reached the city in that time… if they were as fast as the Fourth Hokage, the "Yellow Flash" of Konoha. It had taken them six hours of almost non-stop running to reach the city of Magnolia, and Shikamaru was more than slightly pissed that Naruto had no idea about the geography of his assigned area.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry. Besides, I never had to plan things like that! Pervy Sage was the one who did the planning. I just tagged along on the training trip!" Naruto explained, hoping that would calm down his friend.

Shikamaru merely let out a sigh. "Ugh, just stop being so troublesome and let's find a place where we can get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Another reason why I want to get home. Now the only place where I can get ramen is in Konoha. Ah, sweet Ichiraku Ramen… How long has it been?" Naruto asked himself out loud.

Shikamaru delivered a light punch to the back of Naruto's head, returning the Toad Sage's consciousness from his dream world back to reality.

"Quit it Naruto. Seriously, this no longer a case of 'liking' the food, you're addicted." Shikamaru pointed out.

The two shinobi began their search for a restaurant or at least a market where they would be able to buy something to fill their growling stomachs. But since they didn't want to draw attention to themselves they had to do it normally, and that took its time. Unfortunately their search proved rather fruitless, and after half an hour of searching they were still as hungry as before.

"Shikamaru… I can't take this anymore… I'm starving." Naruto whined.

Shikamaru's eye brow twitched slightly when he heard Naruto's whining. "You're not the only one who's hungry Naruto, so quit your whining. This is getting troublesome… Where the hell can we find something to eat in this town?"

Naruto's and Shikamaru's silent prayers were answered in the form of what Naruto would later describe as "a silver haired angel carrying salvation bringing food at the side of a demon".

Translated, this meant that Mirajane and her younger brother Elfman were currently walking down the street with their hands bags filled with food. The guild had run out of some supplies, and since Mirajane was the one responsible for the bar, she had volunteered to do some grocery shopping. Elfman, who would never allow a woman to do the man's job of carrying the heavy bags, accompanied her. Thus an interesting meeting was about to happen.

"Shikamaru! Do you see that! Food! There IS food in this town!" Naruto exclaimed exuberantly. His mouth had already begun to water when his eyes fell on some noodles he spotted in one of the bags.

Mirajane and Elfman were quite confused at the sight. They had never seen those two young men, but they were obviously hungry. Being the kind-hearted soul she was, Mirajane approached the two of them, choosing to talk to the one who was not dancing a "happy dance".

"Um, excuse me, but are you two alright? You seem to be lost. My name is Mirajane, and you are?" Mirajane asked.

Shikamaru eyed the young woman in front of him carefully. His sharp mind analyzed both her and the intimidating looking man behind her. Said man was eyeing the two shinobi as well. It was clear that he would protect the woman if anything happened, his body language was as clear as day for Shikamaru. But why did the two of them set off so many alarm bells in the back of Shikamaru's head?

"The name's Shikamaru, and well, we're not really lost… We just got here and were looking for something to eat, but our search proved rather fruitless till now… And just ignore Naruto over there. He gets a little weird without his noodle soup." Shikamaru said as he pointed towards the blond shinobi.

"Well, my brother and I just came back from shopping. Why don't you come with us to our guild? I'm sure the Master wouldn't mind if you two just ate a meal there." Mirajane offered with a kind smile.

And now Shikamaru's danger sense had just gone into overdrive. A guild! The two of them were mages. That was why he had felt so uncomfortable! They hadn't noticed yet that he and Naruto were from Konoha. Now, if Shikamaru could just talk him and his partner out of this situation…

"Really, we can get food?! Awesome! Let's go Shikamaru! And thank you so much Mirajane-chan! How can we ever repay you?" Naruto asked with a jump. Naruto had landed between Mirajane and Shikamaru, smiling at the silver haired woman with the deepest gratitude he could muster. Mirajane smiled in return and looked at the blond sunshine called Naruto… And immediately froze when she saw the headband with the leaf symbol, hidden behind the blond haired boy's locks.

'They're from Konoha!' Mirajane mentally cried out.

Elfman saw his sister freeze and noticed it as well. He wasted no time and leapt at the blonde, his right arm already transforming into that of a mighty beast's. Naruto almost missed the attack since he wasn't prepared for an assault, but his honed ninja reflexes kicked in at the last second, making him dodge the attack with a back flip.

"Hey, what was that for?! Are you crazy or something?" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Silence you villain! A man should never do evil! I, Elfman of Fairy Tail, will punish you!" Elfman answered loudly. The thought that his opponent could be very dangerous or that the master had forbidden them to engage any members of Konoha in combat was promptly forgotten.

"Seriously, just what the hell is wrong with this guy?!" Naruto shouted while dodging Elfman's monstrous fists. Without Sage Mode, his punches weren't nearly as effective as this guy's, and while Naruto had discovered that he could keep Sage Mode longer in this world, it also took longer to synchronize for him. So that was pretty much impossible to do while dodging Elfman's furious fists. But while Elfman was stronger, Naruto was faster. The sage used his superior speed to kick his opponent in the back, sending him flying into, or rather through a house. Naruto wasted no time and hurried after his opponent, leaving Shikamaru to deal with Mirajane.

"Damn, we've attracted way too much attention…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Shortly after Elfman's outburst Mirajane had opted to attack him with pretty decent hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, the citizens had of course noticed the battle, and were fleeing the scene. This was bound to alert the other members of the guild in no time. Shikamaru calculated that they probably had less than five minutes before enemy reinforcements appeared.

After another clash, Shikamaru and Mirajane separated, the latter threateningly glaring at the lazy genius. "What do you want in this town, Konoha mages? Are you so arrogant that you think the two of you could take out the whole Guild of Fairy Tail?"

Shikamaru chuckled sheepishly as he placed his hand on the back of his hand. "To be honest, we just wanted to grab a bite. Naruto over there is pretty bad with memorizing a map though, so we had no idea that you guys were in this town… Now that I think about it, I'll have to make sure Naruto gets punished for being so stupid… Always dragging me into such messes…"

Mirajane was a little unsettled at how calm her enemy seemed. Was he that sure of his own strength, or was he trying to catch her off guard? Either way, the former S-Class Mage wouldn't let them get away. But it was too late; as Shikamaru had gathered the chakra he needed and only formed a quick handseal to use his technique on his unsuspecting victim.

"Shadow Possession, success." The black haired chunin smirked. His opponent hadn't noticed that he had positioned himself in front of the sun during their short fight. Now he only had to wait for Naruto to finish his opponent and then they could make their escape. Perhaps Naruto could summon a frog for them to flee with, even though it took almost twice the amount than back on their world. Well, at least it still worked at all.

"What kind of spell is this? I can't move at all!" Mirajane exclaimed. "Damn, I let my guard down! I hope Elfman is alright, his opponent looked more like a fighter than this one…" Looking for any way to escape the technique Mirajane looked frantically around, until her eyes saw something strange.

"Is this… a shadow?!" She questioned out loud.

"I'm not surprised you realized it this quickly. I can tell you have lots of battle experience." Shikamaru calmly said. "This 'spell' as you call it, is my family's special technique. Only the members of the Nara Clan know how to perform it. As for how it works… I'm not that stupid to actually explain you how it works. Let's just say I could do more than simply hold you, though I don't plan to use those techniques." Shikamaru really hoped she wouldn't see through his fake confidence. He could feel that this woman was way stronger than she looked, and if she got serious he'd be at a disadvantage, especially since he was no front fighter and this girl seemed to specialize in direct assaults.

"But I also know you're trying to think of a way to stall time long enough for your friends to arrive, and that you're probably considering using your full power to break through my shadow possession, but you're cautious since you don't know how strong I really am." Shikamaru pointed out.

Mirajane was shocked. This young man was reading her like an open book. Was this part of his magic too? She couldn't allow herself to look intimidated."So you're just planning on standing there... You seem pretty sure that your blond friend is able to beat my brother."

Shikamaru frowned. "I'm not sure that Naruto can beat your brother, I know he can. After all, he's one of the strongest warriors of Konoha. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him… Didn't one of your guild members fight with him?"

"One of our guild members…?" Mirajane asked out loud. Who could he be talking about? The answer hit her like a ton of bricks. There was only one mage of Fairy Tail who had fought against a wizard from Konoha. The words of Gildarts echoed through her mind as she realized the danger her brother was in.

"The young man called himself 'Maelstrom' and wore a headband with a leaf insignia engraved on it..."

'Naruto… Maelstrom… You can write the name with kanji for 'Maelstrom'. Does that mean that blond boy is the mage that took Gildarts' arm?!' Mirajane was horrified. Elfman might have gotten stronger, but he was nowhere ready to fight an opponent of that caliber.

And her horror only grew when Shikamaru chuckled. "That Naruto… He always tells us that his name doesn't mean 'fishcake', but 'maelstrom'. I guess that Gildarts person was the first one to actually understand the name correctly, and if my estimations are correct, said maelstrom should come back around… now."

Just as Shikamaru said the word "now", a wall beside Mirajane burst open and a large figure stepped through it. At first glance Mirajane thought that perhaps Elfman had managed to escape or even catch the blond by surprise, but her hopes quickly disappeared when she saw that it was not one large figure, but two, and the smaller one was carrying the larger one over his shoulder. Mirajane couldn't help but to fear for her brother when she stared at the mage called Maelstrom. His eyes… they had changed. They were no longer blue, but golden with long rectangular eye slits.

"You even used Sage Mode, Naruto? Was he that tough?" Shikamaru asked in surprise.

Naruto shook his head as he dropped Elfman to the ground. "Nah, I just wanted to conserve my energy. I had to use some clones, but I managed to go into Sage Mode before the guy could deal damage to me. His magic was kinda creepy though… I mean, first his arms mutated, and then the rest of his body as well! It was like the Cursed Seal all over again!"

"No time to complain Naruto, we have to get out of here. Their friends will probably arrive soon, and I can't hold my Shadow possession much longer. Please cover our escape, ok?" Shikamaru ordered.

"Yeah, yeah. Just because you're higher ranked than me doesn't mean you can order me around Shikamaru." Naruto muttered while preparing a Jutsu.

"Actually, it means just that Naruto, and for your idiocy alone I'm considering asking the Hokage to assign you D-rank missions for the next month." Shikamaru threaten with a smirk.

Naruto paled at that, making Mirajane wonder just what those two were talking about and who this "Hokage" person was. "You wouldn't… You would." Yes, sometimes Shikamaru could get really mean, especially when he had gotten into troublesome situations because of others.

"Hurry up Naruto. I won't be able to hold her much longer." Shikamaru urged.

The young sage finished gathering his chakra and prepared to bite his thumb so he could summon a toad, but things came differently. Just when Naruto was about to draw blood, he heard someone shouting.

"Ice Make: Geyser!"

Naruto and Shikamaru were forced to jump away when suddenly two huge pillars of ice erupted from the ground, forcing Shikamaru to release his Shadow Possession Jutsu. The blond shinobi was impressed. To create so much ice out of nothing, even Haku had been unable to do this without draining his reserves considerably. Apparently the reinforcements had arrived. Shikamaru cursed under his breath. They had been so close to getting away, but now they had attracted even more attention. The tactician looked at the newcomers.

There were four of them, not counting the flying blue cat. One was a girl with blond hair and a short ponytail she had on the left side of her head. She had hurried towards the woman Shikamaru had just released. The next two were both young men, one with black hair and clad only in his boxers, the other with… pink hair? Did Sakura have relatives here? However, it was the last one that caught Shikamaru's attention. Of course he had heard of the famous Fairy Tail, even if he hadn't known that they were located in this town. But it was only because of this woman he understood with which guild they were dealing.

Erza Scarlet. S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail, nicknamed "Titania".

"Naruto… I think we're in deep trouble this time. And just so you know, I blame you for this." Shikamaru stated, earning a confused expression from Naruto.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth before turning to Naruto and shouted. "Because you've led us directly into the town of Fairy Tail for god's sake! And that one over there is Erza Scarlet, an S-Class Mage!"

Naruto flinched slightly when Shikamaru shouted but he was surprised when he heard what Shikamaru said. "What?! These guys are from Fairy Tail? No way!"

While the shouting between the two ninja continued, Lucy turned to Mirajane, who appeared a little worn out, but fine besides that. Elfman, who had by now been retrieved by Gray, looked much worse. It looked like the self-proclaimed "manliest" member of Fairy Tail had received quite a beating, and was still out cold.

"Mira, who are these guys? And what do they want? We heard the screaming and ran here as fast as we could, and some of the others should be here soon as well." Lucy asked Mira.

"Lucy, you have to be careful!" Mirajane urged her friend before talking to the rest of the group as well. "Those two are mages from Konoha, I saw the headband! And Natsu, Gray, Lucy. Don't fight the one in the orange cloak! He's the one who defeated Gildarts!"

This one sentence shocked everyone present. Erza swallowed nervously, but also calmed herself. She couldn't allow herself to show fear or hesitation. If worst came to worst, she would have to distract the two dark guild members so that the others would survive until the master or Gildarts arrived. She stepped forward, using her Requip magic to summon a large double-edged sword in her right hand.

"Everyone, stand back. I'll handle the blonde one. Natsu, Gray, I'd like you two to fight the other one. Lucy, I know you could help as well but I need you two protect Mirajane and Elfman. Mira cannot access all of her power yet." Erza ordered.

The three members of Fairy Tail nodded, Natsu and Gray stepping up besides Erza, while Happy quietly floated to Lucy.

"So you're those Konoha flunkies... I've been waiting for a chance to fight you guys!" Natsu exclaimed eagerly, a look of excitement clearly visible on his face.

"Calm down Natsu. We can't allow ourselves to be caught off guard." Gray said to his partner in crime. He was definitely the more level-headed one of the two.

Meanwhile, the two Konoha shinobi had also finished their little argument. Shikamaru rummaged through one of his pockets and fished out another cigarette, wasting no time to light it and take a deep breath of the calming smoke. Working with Naruto always increased his craving for the tobacco sticks.

"So damn troublesome… Looks like we'll have to fight our way out of this, Naruto. Well, at least they decided the match ups for us. Please hold back with your skills as much as possible though, we don't want to destroy this city after all."

Naruto simply nodded. He wished he could avoid fighting these guys, but they wouldn't believe them if they said that they weren't a dark guild. And thanks to Danzo's little scheme, they had already killed innocents in the eyes of the world. His golden eyes glared at the strongest female of Fairy Tail.

"Alright, let's do this!" Naruto and Natsu declared at the same time.

The Battle of Magnolia had begun.

Another Location

At the same time, several hundred miles away, the mage known as Mystogan silently walked through a field covered in mist. The cloak and bandana hid his face almost completely, leaving only his eyes visible. Suddenly, he stopped. He didn't move as he spoke.

"I see… so you're the disturbance I've felt. Who are you?" Mystogan asked out loud as he slightly turned his head towards a certain place.

A ripple spread across the empty space in front of the illusion using mage. The ripple then began to swirl, until it formed the silhouette of a man covered by the heavy fog.

"I'm impressed you managed to detect me… You're truly one of Fairy Tail's S-class mages, Mystogan… Or was it… Jellal?" A child-like voice said.

Mystogan narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" He said while one hand already gripped one of the staffs on his back.

"Who, little old me? I'm just an innocent passerby…" The voice replied in a childish manner.

The mist cleared slightly and Mystogan could for the first time clearly see this mysterious person. One thing would forever be burned into his mind.

A blood-red eye looking at him through an orange mask.