Chronicles from the Order of Stars: The Beginning

by Xomniac

Good and evil have always been in conflict. Ten heroes from different worlds, as well as their allies, will join the war between the opposing sides, following their predecessors' steps. Multi x-over.

3. Multiversal Introductions

Chapter 3: Multiversal Introductions

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

-0-

Location: Unknown

Negi had a headache.

Unknown to his fellow teachers, his students, or even his closest, pactio-wielding friends, he was quite prone to acquiring headaches.

But of course, who wouldn't in his situation? He was the teacher of 31 teenage girls, each with their own unique personalities, quirks, and problems! Sure, he loved his class to death and God help whatever fool tried to threaten or hurt them, but not even he was completely immune to Class 3-A's antics!

Right now, his headache was tantamount to a full day of attempting to teach the class how to properly conjugate an adverb in the definite future tense. After Asuna and Ayaka started fighting. Multiplied by ten.

What was causing this headache? Nothing much, just a slight change of scenery and a minor situation.

Well, maybe calling it a "slight" change of scenery would be a mistake. After all, not many would call suddenly going from in front of a freakishly tall tree to an empty white void "slight".

And also, "empty" would be just as big a misnomer, seeing how there were other people in the seemingly endless white expanse besides Negi and his friends.

Which was, in fact, the "minor situation"…

"Someone better tell me where the hell we are or else things are going to get rough!" "Aw c'mon Yu, calm down!" "DON'T CALL ME YU, ONE-EYE!" "Kanda, leave him alone, Lavi, now's not the best time to antagonize him!" "Butt out, bean-sprout!" "…what did you call me?"

"Hey you, Straw Hat guy, FIGHT ME!" "Natsu, will you just shut up already?!" "YOU WANNA FIGHT GRAY!?" "Both of you, calm down!" "YES MA'AM!" "Well, looks like some things don't change no matter where you are…" "Aye!"

"Hey you, step away from the Tenth!" "Gokudera, calm down, he was just-! GOKUDERA, PLEASE PUT AWAY THE DYNAMITE!" "WOAH! THIS PLACE IS EXTREMELY HUGE!" "Wow, these are some cool special effects." "Back away, or I'll bite you all to death."

"Brother, will you please stop trying to kill them? I'm sure it was an accident!" "LIKE HELL IT WAS! THEY CALLED ME A FILTHY MINISCULE COCKROACH!" "No they didn't!" "HAHA! Man I love watching you squirm, Fullmetal! Hey, I think that the albino in the black coat called you a midget!" "HE SAID WHAT!?" "Greed, let the Prince go right now before I make you!" "Oh? You and what army, ninja-girl?"

"Well now, this is an odd predicament. Well, at least it's not all bad. Pardon me miss, would you mind bearing my-?" SLAM! "OUCH! What did you do that for Sango!?" "WHAT!" SLAM! "THE HELL!" SLAM! "DO YOU THINK IT WAS FOR!?" SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! "Some idiots can't take a hint, right Inuyasha?" "You got that right Ship-! HEY WAIT A MINUTE, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING!?"

"WOW, THIS PLACE IS HUGE! IT'S ALMOST LARGE ENOUGH FOR A GUY AS AWESOME AS ME! HAHAHAHAHA!" "BlackStar will you shut up!? I'm trying to figure this out…Um, Liz, is Kid OK?" "Yeah, don't worry about it, he gets like this sometimes when he's in a crowd. We just have to wait awhile." "Hee hee hee! His mouth is still foaming! Bubbly bubbly bubbly!" "There's a weird bald guy with a spear doing a weird dance here! I don't know how to deal with weird bald guys with spears doing weird dances!"

"Geeze this is troublesome." "This doesn't make any sense, how the hell does a skeleton have a chakra system!?" "HEY GUYS, CHECK IT OUT, THAT CAT HAS WINGS!" "SOMEONE BETTER EXPLAIN WHERE THE HELL WE ARE, OR ELSE THINGS ARE GONNA GET MESSY!" "WOOF!"

Negi could only pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. Not only was the chaos of everyone talking highly distracting, but he could also see that tension was swiftly mounting. Shouts were becoming more aggressive, weapons were being drawn, and he could definitely see magic being prepped. Unless something happened soon, the situation would swiftly devolve into a battle royale.

Luckily, Negi had several points working for him. First off, as a teacher, he was at least slightly used to this kind of chaos, and was able to pick out certain parts of the surrounding conversations. Second, Negi was, to put it simply, a genius; thanks to his extensive intellect, Negi was able to put together an argument he hoped would be enough to get everyone to calm down. And finally, Negi's magical specialties were Wind and Lightning based magic, and a little known fact about Wind-magic users was that they had quite powerful breath - though he had demonstrated this multiple times due to a few unfortunate incidents involving his students skirts and a high pollen count.

It was thanks to this powerful breath that Negi was capable of producing a whistle tantamount in volume to that of a fog-horn.

FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Everyone cringed in pain, hastily covering their ears to try and block out the horrendously loud noise.

When he stopped whistling, Negi immediately started talking before anyone else could start. "Please, everyone calm down and think about this rationally! Look, I realize that you're agitated and scared, you don't know where you are or how you got here, but everyone else here is exactly the same! Listen, I don't want to be in this situation any more than any of you, but the fact of the matter is that we're the only ones here, and I'm certain that if we work together, we can figure out what's happened and go home. Alright?"

There were a few seconds of silence before several sounds and signs of affirmation were given by the people present, though more than a few were reluctant.

Negi sighed in relief. 'Crisis averted. Now we just have to figure out what's happened' He was snapped out of his thoughts by one of his friends.

"Wow Negi," Said Asuna. "That wasn't half bad!"

"She's right boyo," Evangeline said as she cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. "Normally you'd have been panicking and scrambling to salvage that situation. Where'd this confidence spring from?"

"A lack of both sleep and coffee." Negi groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Believe me Evangeline; I just want this situation over with."

"Oh?" Evangeline questioned as she grinned maliciously, baring her fangs. "And you're not even slightly scared of the hell I'm going to put you through for not calling me Master?"

"Terrified. But right now we have bigger problems to deal with." Negi deadpanned.

"Um, excuse me?" Everyone's heads turned to look at a teenage Japanese girl who was in a high school uniform and carrying a bow and quiver. "If we're going to be working together, shouldn't we introduce ourselves?"

"She's right," This came from a blond girl with pigtails in what looked like a British school uniform with an indecently short skirt. "I might as well start. My name is Maka Albarn, and this," She then gestured to the albino kid in the yellow jacket standing next to her. "Is my partner Soul."

Soul raised his hand. "Yo."

A kid with spiky blue hair suddenly jumped up and started shouting. "MY NAME IS BLACKSTAR AND I'M-!" SLAM! The kid fell over backwards, a lump smoking painfully upon his cranium. Behind him was a tall girl with her black hair in a long ponytail. She was rubbing the back of her head with one hand while the other held a kunai with the blunt end smoking.

She chuckled nervously. "Um, sorry about that, he gets like that sometimes. Anyways, my name is Tsubaki, and this is my partner, BlackStar." She gestured nervously at the still twitching youth.

Next was a tall blond in a red shirt wearing a cowboy hat. She was standing over a kid in a black suit that had three white stripes in his hair. Crouching next to him was a girl dressed similarly to the one standing up. She was laughing happily as the kid in the suit's mouth continued to foam.

The tall one sighed wearily. "Well, guess I'm next. My name's Liz and this is my sister Patty." Hearing her name, Patty looked up and waved, still grinning happily. "And this," she nudged the unconscious boy with her foot. "Is our partner Death the Kid, or Kid for short. You'll have to excuse him; he'll probably be like this for a while."

The next person squirmed uncomfortably as everyone's gazes shifted onto…now that Negi looked at the person, he wasn't sure whether or not it was a boy or a girl. The kid was wearing a black robe with a white collar and had short pink hair, but other than that, there was nothing about the person to denote gender.

The person glanced nervously left and right before looking down and sheepishly poking his(?) fingers together. "M-My name's Crona," Crona swallowed heavily having a hard time getting the next part out. "C-Crona Gorgon"

"Hey, are you a boy or a girl?" This was shouted by a boy in a red shirt with a straw hat on, who was swiftly struck over the head by an orange-haired lady.

Crona cringed at the question. "I-I'm a boy. C-Could you please stop staring at me? I-I only know one way to d-deal with people staring at me and I d-don't want to let Ragnarok do it…"

"Who the hell is Ragnarok?" A man with spiky black hair and piercings asked rudely.

Crona opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by a voice that seemed to originate from within his body. "ME, jackass!" Suddenly,Crona hunched over as his back started to bulge. A spout of black liquid ripped out of his back, taking the form of one of the oddest creatures Negi had ever seen. It was jet black, save for white spikes poking out of it and a white X that was centered on its face. There were two blank eyes with Xs for pupils on both sides of the X. "I'm the Demon Sword Ragnarok, and don't you forget it!"

There were a few seconds of silence as everyone stared at the strange creature. Ragnarok looked around before raising what on his body passed as an eyebrow. "Heeey, what gives? I'm a sword made out of this brat's blood that just popped out of his back, isn't anybody gonna, I dunno, scream, attack, anything!?"

A kid in a black coat with white hair raised his hand. "Actually, we've seen a lot weirder." There were mumbled agreements from everyone else.

Ragnarok blinked before slumping down. "Screw you guys…" He mumbled.

The kid with the white hair cleared his throat. "Well, I might as well go next. My name's Allen Walker. This is Lenalee Lee," A girl in black uniform with short black hair smiled and waved. "Kanda," A tall man who had his hair in a long ponytail and was carrying a sword huffed. "Lavi," A kid wearing an eye-patch with bright red hair smiled broadly. "Miranda Lotto," A woman with sunken eyes and short, curly black hair jerked and gave a nervous smile. "And Arystar Krory III." A tall man with a mostly black hair and a streak of white hair leading in front of his face smiled kindly, exposing a pair of fangs.

"That's everyone with-!" Allen was cut off when a gold ball seemed to fly out of his pocket and slam into his forehead. "OW! Oh, sorry Tim!" Allen held out his hand, on which the winged gold ball landed, facing the crowd. "This is Timcanpy, my golem." Timcanpy flew off of Allen's hand and proceeded to flit amongst the crowd. "That's everyone with us."

"Oh! Oh! Me next! Me next!" This was shouted by a kid wearing a strawhat whose shirt was opened to expose a vicious scar shaped like an X on his chest. "My name's Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" This drew some murmurs and looks of apprehension from most people, as well as looks of respect from others.

"LUFFY!" A woman with long orange hair shouted. "For the love of-! Before anyone gets the wrong idea, we're not like other pirates! We do not rape, loot, pillage, or plunder in general! Though if there is enough gold on the line…" The woman's eyes glazed over as she started to drool before she snapped out of it. "Er, anyways! I'm Nami, the navigator; Also, the only sane one on the crew besides Robin over there." She jerked her thumb at a black haired woman with a thin nose who was standing behind her with a tranquil smile.

A huge man with robotic arms struck a pose, slamming his gigantic forearms together above his head. "I'M THE SUUUUPEEEEER CYBORG SHIPWRIGHT, FRANKY!" This drew groans from half the assemble people, and looks of unending awe and admiration from others, Luffy included. There were also cries of excitement from a kid with pink hair wearing a scarf made of scales and a blonde kid with whisker marks on his cheeks.

A buff man who was wearing a strange pair of goggles and had an incredibly long nose puffed out his chest and pointed a thumb at himself. "I'm Usopp, and I'm the greatest marksman in the world!"

A man with green hair with three swords at his side huffed. He opened one of his eyes to send out a bone-chilling glare. "My name is Roronoa Zoro." He stated. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "This guy's Sanji, our shitty cook and resident pervert." When he didn't feel a foot slam into his head, he blinked in confusion before smirking and turning around. "What, you're not even gonna deny it anymore you shitty-WHAT THE HELL!?"

He and everyone else stared in shock. Lying on the ground, a blond man in a suit had a fountain of blood spurting up from his nose. Kneeling next to him and seeming to treat him was a strange furry creature with a pair of antlers.

"Chopper, what's wrong with him!?" Nami asked.

The creature, Chopper apparently, turned to Nami, panic evident in his eyes. "I don't know! He got here almost immediately after we got here!"

"Is he gonna be OK?" Luffy asked in concern.

"Yeah, don't worry, I recently stocked up on supplies, blood included. I just wish I knew what made him get like this." Chopper said.

A tall skeleton that was somehow moving gave a facsimile of a sigh. "Phew, that's a load off my bones, which is especially important for me! YOHOHOHO! SKULL JOKE!" The skeleton turned towards the crowd. "Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Brook. Pleased to meet you." He turned towards the girl in the high-school uniform. "By the way young lady, may I see your-?"

Before he could finish his sentence, his face was re-acquainted with the bottom of Nami's heel. "WILL YOU STOP ASKING THAT!?"

The girl looked on in fear for the skeleton. "Um, is he alright?"

Nami kneaded her forehead in frustration. "Believe me, he and the rest of these idiots have suffered worse, and you do not want him to finish that question." Nami looked at the girl. "So what's your name?"

The girl jumped in surprise. "Oh! I'm Kagome Higurashi, nice to meet you! This is Inuyasha." She gestured at a boy with silver hair and, surprisingly enough, dog ears, who was standing aside with his arms crossed and an unpleasant expression on his face. He grunted as acknowledgment. "Sorry about him, he's not very…social."

Next to step forward was a man in purple robes that was carrying a staff with a gold ring on top. "Hello. My name is Miroku." He turned towards Robin. "Pardon me miss?" Robin raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Would you mind b-?"

That was as far as he got before a ludicrously huge boomerang slammed into the side of his head. "WILL YOU STOP ASKING THAT!?"

Nami raised an eyebrow at the twitching monk before turning towards the boomerang's wielder. "You too, huh?"

The boomerang-user sighed as she slung her weapon over her shoulder again. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with plates of pink armor on it. "Every time he meets a girl. My name's Sango by the way, this pervert," she nudged Miroku with her foot. "is my fiancé."

"Well guess that just leaves me." Everyone looked down to see a short kid with a fox tail and fox ears. "Hi! My name is Shippo!" A small white cat with two tails jumped next to him and started nuzzling him. "Oh, sorry, almost forgot. This is Kirara."

"That's everyone who's here with us." Kagome said.

Nami blinked in surprise and pointed. "What about her, isn't she here with you?" Kagome and her friends turned to see who she was pointing to and promptly recoiled in surprise.

Standing silently behind them was a woman with long black hair, clad in a priestess uniform. Her face bore a neutral expression.

"K-Kikyo!" Kagome exclaimed in shock. "How did you get here?!"

Kikyo looked at Kagome. "Same as the rest of you. I arrived at the Sacred Tree moments before the light did," she stated in a flat voice.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is she an enemy?" Luffy stated as he tensed up for a fight.

Inuyasha whipped around, his hand on his sword's hilt, sneering at Luffy. "Try anything and I'll rip your head off!" he growled.

Kagome rushed in front of Luffy. "No, stop! It's alright! We…just weren't expecting her is all."

Everyone remained tense for a few seconds, but Kikyo didn't move. Most of the people relaxed, but not everyone. Those who held more experience than others stayed in their alerted states. After all, almost everyone there had gotten ready to attack her if need be, but she hadn't even flinched. This told them two things; a lot of the people present could and would put up a fight if the need arose, and this Kikyo woman was far more experienced than most would perceive.

One of these battle-ready individuals stepped forward. She was a woman who was wearing plate armor, had long red hair, and held a stern, no-nonsense expression on her face. "My name is Erza Scarlet. Me and my friends are mages from the Fairy Tail guild."

Maka tensed slightly and narrowed her eyes. "Mage…" She asked cautiously. "As in…magic?"

Erza narrowed her eyes in return. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

Maka relaxed slightly and plastered a nervous smile on her face. "Oh, no reason." Outside, she had a calm façade. Inside, her mind was awhirl. 'She's telling the truth, but their souls are fundamentally different from Witches. What the hell are these people!?'

Erza kept her suspicious glare on Maka for a few seconds, but broke it off when one of her companions, this one with pink hair and a scarf that seemed to be made of scales, spoke up. "My name's Natsu Dragneel! Hey, Luffy, right? Want to-HURK!" He was abruptly cut off when Erza trapped him in a chokehold at her side.

"I apologize for his behavior; he often gets rambunctious like this. No worries, I can pacify him." Everyone watched nervously as Erza's idea of 'pacification' appeared to be holding onto Natsu as his face ran through a series of surprising colors.

A girl with blond hair chuckled nervously as she looked on. "Yeah, this happens a lot…oh! And my name is Lucy Heartfilia, nice to meet you!"

The man next to her chuckled. He had messy black hair and, surprisingly enough, was clad solely in his boxers. "'A lot', she says. Try daily!"

Lucy leveled a glare at him before smiling deviously. "Hey Gray~…" she said in a sing-song voice.

The newly named Gray slapped a hand over his face. "No, don't tell me, I'm naked again aren't I?"

Natsu managed to choke out a laugh. "Damn it!"

A small girl with long black hair tapped tugged on Gray's hand. "Um, Gray?" she held up a bundle of clothes. "I think these are yours."

Gray smiled and took the clothes. "Thanks Wendy."

"Hmph." A lot of the people were shocked when a small white cat spoke up. "You can thank her by trying not to do that again."

A blue cat standing next to her covered his mouth with his paw in an-unsuccessful-attempt to hide his smile. "Gray's an idiot…"

A third cat, this one black with a scar over one eye, addressed everyone staring at them. "What, never seen a talking cat before?" Most shook their heads. Luffy tried to speak, but Nami hastily slapped her hand over his mouth.

A tall kid with orange hair and a huge sword strapped to his back spoke up, "Yeah, but it was just someone disguised as a cat."

Soul raised his hand, "Same here, save that ours is a cat that disguises itself as a human."

The black cat blinked in surprise. "Well, this isn't a disguise, these are our real forms. We're called Exceed. My name's Pantherlily. This Is Carla," The white cat nodded. "And Happy." The blue cat smiled wide and waved.

Once Pantherlily was done talking, a woman with blue hair and a heavy coat made a small bow. "Juvia Lockser."

A man with long, spiky black hair and lots of piercings stepped forward. "Gajeel Redfox, Iron Dragonslayer."

"WOOOW! You're a Dragonslayer? That's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's right, that's awesome!" The blond with whisker marks yelled. "Hey, how many dragons have you killed?"

Gajeel grunted. "None, all the dragons disappeared a long time ago."

Luffy and the blonde deflated. "Seriously?" The pirate asked. "That's lame."

"Yeah!" The blond agreed. "Why do you call yourself a Dragonslayer if you haven't killed any dragons?"

"Because that's not what being a Dragonslayer means." Wendy said shyly. "When we were younger, Gajeel, Natsu and I were all raised by dragons, and they taught us magic. Gajeel was raised by Metallicana, a metal dragon, and learned Iron Dragonslayer magic, and I was raised by Grandine, a sky dragon, so I learned Sky Dragonslayer magic."

At that point, Natsu managed to pop his head out from beneath Erza's killer grip. "And I was raised by Igneel! He was really cool, and check it out!" Natsu thrust his hand in front of him, which suddenly came ablaze. "He taught me Fire Dragonslayer magic!"

Luffy and the blond gathered around the hand. "Wow, that's so awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's incredible!" The blond concurred.

"I know, right!" Natsu said happily. Then he turned towards the blond kid. "Hey, what's your name?"

The blond blinked before drawing himself upright and pointing a thumb at himself. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage of Konoha Village!"

Luffy blinked in confusion. "What's a Hokage? Can you eat it?"

"No!" Naruto said. "The Hokage is the strongest, most respected ninja in Konoha!"

Natsu and Luffy froze as they stared at Naruto. "Hang on a second, does that mean you're…" Luffy said quietly.

"A ninja!?" Natsu finished incredulously.

Naruto looked between the two nervously. "Yeah?" He said anxiously.

Natsu and Luffy slowly looked at each other before they whipped their heads around to Naruto again, this time with stars in their eyes. "AWESOME!"

Naruto reared back in surprise. "R-really!?"

"Heck yeah!"

"Ninjas are so cool!"

Naruto quickly recovered before smirking. "Then you'll love this!" Naruto raised his hands in a cross-shaped handsign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke, and standing next to Naruto was…a second Naruto!

Luffy and Natsu's jaws dropped. "COOL!"

Naruto and his clone both rubbed beneath their noses. "I know right?" They looked at Luffy curiously. "Hey Luffy, what can you do?"

Luffy grinned happily. "I ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit, so now I'm a Rubber Man," He hooked a finger in his cheek and pulled, stretching his entire cheek at least half a foot to the surprise of everyone who wasn't a member of Luffy's crew. "Ad now I can do schtuff lige dis!"

"Wow!"

"That's gotta be one of the coolest things I've ever seen!"

Sadly, all good things must end. And this happy gathering was swiftly ended by three crushing blows from three female fists.

Nami ground the heel of her palm into her forehead. "I'm so sorry about Luffy, he never knows when to shut up."

Erza sighed. "I know the feeling; I have to constantly keep Natsu under control."

The pink-haired girl who had took out Naruto groaned dejectedly and slumped forward. "I feel your pain, I really do."

Naruto groaned as he got up. "Their pain!? You're kidding right?"

The pink-haired girl hit the back of his skull again without even looking. "Shut up and stay quiet please." She drew herself upright. "Anyways, my name is Sakura Haruno, I'm Naruto's teammate."

Nami blinked in surprise. "So you're a ninja as well?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, we're all ninja from Konoha, a.k.a. the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Hearing this, one of the people standing with the group stiffened and cast a quick glance through the assembled ninja before slowly starting to tiptoe away, trying to draw as little attention as possible.

A man with spiky white hair raised his hand in a lazy wave. The only part of his face visible was his right eye, the rest was covered up. "Hi, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'm the person in charge of these guys." He said in a kind voice. Upon hearing his name, the person sneaking off increased their pace, remaining unnoticed.

A woman who had purple hair and was wearing a tan trench coat smirked in a playful yet predatory manor. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, Konoha's Number One Se-MMPH!" She was cut off when Kakashi hastily clamped his hand over her mouth.

He offered a sheepish chuckle to the baffled onlookers. "Sorry, she can be rather lively at times."

Naruto scoffed. "Lively? Are you kidding? She's completely cra-YEARGH!" He was cut off due to dodging a very pointy kunai that had somehow slipped out of Anko's pocket.

It wasn't her fault of course. The darn things were ever so slippery, but that didn't stop her from nonchalantly twirling them around her fingers while humming innocently.

Kakashi felt his eye twitch. "As I said…lively." Anko giggled happily from behind his hand.

Another ninja, this one with his hair in a spiky top-knot, heaved a sigh. "Troublesome snake-woman…I'm Shikamaru Nara. These are my teammates, Chouji Akamichi," A large boy wearing red armor who had been munching on a bag of chips waved, "And Ino Yamanaka," A girl in a purple top and skirt smiled, "If it helps you remember us better, just think of us as Team 10."

A boy whose hair was in a bowl-cut and was wearing a horrible jumpsuit stuck his fist in the air and began introducing himself rather loudly. "HELLO! MY NAME IS ROCK LEE, IT IS A-!"

That was as far as he got before the butt-end of a kunai collided with his fore-head and knocked him out. To the shock of everyone present, the kunai came from-

"Tsubaki!?" Maka exclaimed in confusion.

The tall girl squeaked as she clapped her hands over her mouth. "I-I'm sorry! It's just, living with BlackStar, I don't mind his speeches but sometimes I have to stop him and, and, oh I'm so sorry!"

The two people who had been standing behind Lee, a girl who had her hair up in two buns and a boy whose eyes were extremely pale shared a glance before shrugging simultaneously. "Meh."

Tsubaki blinked in confusion. "Wha-?"

"We do not have any grievances with what you just did." The white-eyed boy stated bluntly.

"Truth be told, we were about to shut him up ourselves, you just beat us to the punch." The girl said. She stooped down and picked up the kunai and began examining it closely. "Nice kunai, really well kept. Steel core with a tungsten skin?"

Tsubaki took a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Uhh…yes! It works better for me."

The girl smiled and tossed the knife back to Tsubaki. "I know what you mean, I prefer to use a wide variety myself. I'm Tenten, and this is my teammate Neji Hyuuga. We're Team 9."

"Well, guess that means we're up next!" A boisterous looking teen said loudly. He had red face paint shaped like fangs on his cheeks. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and these are my teammates, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga." A boy in a hooded trench-coat adjusted his glasses, and a girl with long hair and pale eyes waved meekly. "We're Team 8!"

The large dog sitting next to him barked loudly. Kiba opened his mouth to say something, but Chopper cut him off.

"He says his name is Akamaru and that he's Kiba's owner. He apologizes in advance for anything Kiba does. Apparently he's not housebroken yet."

This set off a round of laughter while Kiba blushed furiously. "Buh-wha-!?" He pointed a finger at his laughing dog. "Traitor!"

Kakashi chuckled at the antics. When the laughter died down, he addressed the crowd once more. "So, any questions?"

Luffy raised his hand. "Uh, yeah, what's with those metal things you guys are wearing?"

Naruto thumbed the metal plate on his forehead. "These are our headbands, the symbol shows what village we're from."

Luffy crossed his arms and smiled happily. "Oh, alright then. I just asked cause that girl's looked different."

At that, all of the Leaf ninja's attention was focused on Luffy. "Which girl are you talking about exactly?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Luffy blinked before turning around and pointing. "That girl over there."

The crowd parted before him to reveal a girl who was very, very still, standing on her toes.

She slowly turned her head around, a nervous smile present on her face. "Ah heh heh…hi?"

She had brown skin, amber eyes, and bright, mint green hair. She was wearing a white top that exposed her midriff,a white skirt that was split up the sides over fishnet undergarments, and an orange clip in her hair. She was also wearing a pair of white arm-warmers. On her back, she was carrying a red tube covered by a red cloth, with red straps criss-crossing over her chest.

Her forehead protector was tied to her upper right arm. Luffy was right, it didn't share the Leaf ninja's symbol. Instead, it bore two jagged lines that reflected each other.

The girl turned around fully and held her hands behind her back, emitting the aura of being the perfect girl. "Sooo… nice weather, huh?"

Kakashi didn't buy it for a second and instead cut straight to the heart of the matter. "Your forehead protector is from the Hidden Waterfall village. Who are you?"

At that question, she struck a pose. She tilted her head back, pointing one thumb at herself and other planting her other fist on her hip. "I'm the conqueror of awesome, and the purveyor of all goods! The Beautiful Green Menace, Waterfall's number one solo kunoichi, Fuu!"

Kakashi crossed his arms. "Never heard of you."

She slumped forward with a sigh. "Yeah, no one ever has."

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "Why were you in the Hidden Leaf and why did you follow us?"

Fuu looked up at him and blinked in confusion. "Wha-?" Her eyes shot wide as she realized exactly what he was talking about. She staggered back, shaking her head and arms vigorously. "No no no no, you've got it wrong, I wasn't anywhere even close to Konoha. I was in the Land of Rain when I got that stupid letter, AND when that light got me, I swear!"

Kakashi didn't let up. "Waterfall and Leaf are allies, why did you try and sneak away?"

Fuu poked her fingers together sheepishly. "Well, you see, it's not my fault. I was surrounded by foreign ninja in a strange place. And not just any foreign ninja, but the Copy Ninja Kakashi. I just did what I thought was right is all."

"Then why are you a solo ninja? Waterfall uses three-man cells like us."

This last question struck a nerve in Fuu, causing her to flinch.

Before Kakashi could press on, a short boy with spiky brown hair and brown eyes interposed himself between the two ninja. "Stop it! What's the point of all these questions? All you're doing is scaring her!"

With the verbal assault ended, Fuu was able to regain her confidence. "First off, it takes a lot more to scare me, and secondly, One-eye, I'll have you know that I'm a solo kunoichi because I'm a Special Jounin, so there!"

Kakashi blinked in surprise for two reasons. First, he'd seen the boy earlier, and he'd been shaking like a leaf, scared out of his mind! Now though, he was standing in front of an older, more experienced person who could easily become an enemy and wasn't even flinching. Second, the fact that someone as clearly young as Fuu managed to become a Special Jounin so quickly. The last person to do that had been, well, himself!

Putting these facts aside, Kakashi came to a decision. "You're right," He sighed. "I guess I was going a little overboard there, it's just that you can never be too careful. Fuu, I apologize if I was being rude."

The self-proclaimed "Beautiful Green Menace" blinked in surprise before giving a toothy smile. "Apology accepted," She fixed Kakashi with a mock-glare, "Just don't let it happen again," She teased.

Kakashi waved his hand. "I won't, I won't." He turned his eye towards the boy who'd interrupted him. "So, that was a pretty brave thing you did. What's your name kid?"

The boy blinked in surprise before sheepishly scratching his head. "B-brave, me? N-no way! Anyways, I'm nobody special. My name's Tsunayoshi Sawada, but everyone calls me Tsuna."

"Ah, come on Tsuna, don't undersell yourself!" This was said by a tall boy with short dark hair and a laid-back smile on his face. "You're a great guy!"

A silver-haired teen smoking a cigarette took a step forward. "For once, I agree with the baseball freak, you're an incredible man, Tenth!"

Kakashi blinked curiously. "Tenth?"

Tsuna hastily opened his mouth to say something but was cut off. "He's referring to his title."

Every looked around to see who had said that but no one could see who did.

"Down here."

Those who looked down were stunned to see what appeared to be a newborn baby wearing a suit and fedora. Around his neck was a golden pacifier, and sitting on his fedora was a green chameleon.

"Ciaossu."

Everybody reeled back in shock. "H-holy crap, did that baby just talk!?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Well this is new…" Lavi said bemusedly.

"Hey kid, wanna j-MMPH!" Luffy was cut off by Nami and Usopp simultaneously restraining him.

When the shock wore off, Anko leaned forward with a disbelieving look on her face. "So, brat…got a name?"

The baby returned her look with an unflinching stare. "I'm Reborn, the world's number one hitman."

Anko gained a savage grin. "Really? I'll believe that when pigs-!" BANG!

Everyone froze. The only thing moving was the smoke slowly rising from the green pistol that had suddenly appeared in Reborn's hand and was pointed a mere inch above Anko's head. "Care to finish that sentence?"

Anko was stuck with her mouth wide open, frozen in shock. 'Th-this killing intent! I-it's huge! It's suffocating! If he hadn't been messing around…I'd be dead!'

The pistol flashed green before reverting to the chameleon that had been on Reborn's hat. "Didn't think so."

Reborn addressed the rest of the shocked onlookers. "As I was saying, Gokudera over there called Tsuna 'Tenth' because that is his title, the Tenth Boss of the Vongola Famiglia."

Allen frowned in thought. "Hang on a second, famiglia, that's Italian for family…" Allen looked up in shock. "You mean that kid is the boss of a mafia family!?"

"Yes," "NO!"

These were stated calmly by Reborn and shouted hurriedly by Tsuna respectively.

The panicking brunette turned on the mini-hitman. "Reborn, I've already told you, I'm not going to become the Tenth Vongola Boss!"

The deadly baby glanced at the unwilling boss out of the corner of his eye. "And I told you, it's my job to make you the boss."

Tsuna spluttered. "Bu- I- Reborn-!"

He stopped babbling and started screaming when he found a gun pointed at his head. "Do you really want to argue this right now?"

Tsuna shook his head vigorously and breathed a sigh of relief when the gun once again transformed.

"So you're being press-ganged into becoming the head of the mafia?" Kagome asked.

Tsuna nodded tiredly. "Just one Famiglia, but yeah. It's not like I have much of a choice, the decision was made awhile back, and I'm the last descendant of the First Vongola Boss, Primo, so now even if I say no, I'll still have people gunning for me."

Kagome pursed her lips before turning on the other people in the group. "And what about you? You're his friends, aren't you? Why are you letting this happen?!"

The silver-haired one, Gokudera, bristled angrily. "Hey, watch it! We're the Tenth's Family, it's our job to protect him! Even if the rest of these guys are idiots, I'm the Tenth's right hand, I'll protect him with my life!"

The tall smiling boy shrugged. "He's right. Tsuna is our friend we wouldn't let anyone hurt him. By the way, my name's Takeshi Yamamoto, but please, call me Yamamoto."

There came a noise that sounded like someone choking on spit from a group of people who were wearing black kimonos, but other than that things continued to proceed as normal.

Another boy, this one with white hair and a bandage across his nose stuck his fist in the air. "HELLO! MY NAME IS RYOHEI SASAGAWA, IT IS EXTREMELY-!" THUNK! THUNK!

He was cut off when the blunt sides of two kunai simultaneously struck his forehead and knocked him out.

The first one came, at this point to the surprise of no one, from-

"TSUBAKI!"

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to, it was a reflex, I swear!"

As for the other one…

"Tenten, was that really necessary?"

"Oh come on, you train with Gai and Lee on a daily basis and not take every available opportunity for silence you can get, I dare you!"

Tsuna gaped at the scene. At least until Reborn jumped on his head. "Stop gaping like an idiot No-Good-Tsuna." The Tenth was quick to comply.

One of Tsuna's "Family", however, was laughing his short toddler ass off. "HAHAHAHAHA! That was funny! Can he do it again?"

Tsuna wheeled on him in, well, not righteous anger, but still, it's the thought that counts. "Lambo! You shouldn't say things like that!"

Lambo turned away from Tsuna, smirking as he nonchalantly picked his nose. "Whatever."

Gokudera took a menacing step toward the afro-clad child. "Listen to what the Tenth says you stupid cow!"

Lambo's only response was to stick his tongue out at Gokudera and pull his eyelid down.

"Kufufufu." The ominous laughter made Lambo and a few others freeze in fear. Slowly, nervously, the afro-bearing toddler turned around to gaze up at the figure behind him. He was tall and was wearing a dark leather ensemble. His indigo, spiky hair was vaguely reminiscent of a pineapple. His eyes were mismatched, with his left a normal blue, while his right had a bright red iris. He had a creepy grin on his face and an ornate trident propped up against his shoulder.

"You know..." His grin widened just a bit, going from creepy to slasher. "You're rather annoying."

Forgetting the previous bravado he had been showing, Lambo shrieked and dashed to hide in his safe place… which actually appeared to be Gokudera's face.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME YOU STUPID COW!"

"WAAAAH!"

Tsuna watched this with a scared expression on his face before whirling around to fact the tall teen. "Mukuro! Why did you do that!?"

Mukuro kept his grin firmly in place as he turned his mismatched gaze on Tsuna, who barely withheld what would have been a very visible flinch. "As I said, he was annoying." He swept his eyes over the onlooking crowd, meeting several eyes. Some flinched away, others met him defiantly. His grin widened just a hint more. "My name is Mukuro Rokudo. A pleasure to meet you all."

Behind him, a girl who was wearing a dark green school uniform stepped forward. She had an eye patch covering her right eye and was shaking slightly. "Um… I..." She stole a glance at Mukuro when she thought he wasn't looking before gulping heavily and continuing. "My name is Chrome Dokuro." She gave a swift bow. "Nice to meet you." And with that she stepped back again.

Tsuna looked at her with worry in his eyes before looking back at the crowd. "Er, so I think that's everyone who's with us..."

"Stupid little herbivore..."

Tsuna jumped forwards in surprise, screaming with shock. "HIIIIE! H-H-HIBARI!"

The other members of Tsuna's Family quickly distanced themselves from the individual who had been standing behind Tsuna. He had dark hair that hung over his face but that did not obscure his eyes. He was wearing a jacket but kept his arms free of the sleeves.

Tsuna eyed the newcomer with obvious panic. "S-s-sorry Hibari, I d-di-"

"Quiet, Herbivore."

Tsuna's mouth shut with a click.

The intimidating individual repeated the action that Mukuro had performed, gazing over the crowd. But where Mukuro had locked glares with those who could manipulate and resist manipulation, and scared those who could be manipulated, Hibari stared down those who were strong in a primal sense, and unnerved those whose wills were of a weaker calibre.

Hibari grunted. "My name is Hibari Kyoya. Do not herd with each other, or else..." His glare's predatory aspect intensified. "I will bite you all to death."

Gajeel's lips drew back in a snarl. "Who the hell are you-"

Tsuna jumped in front of the Dragon Slayer, arms waving vigorously. "Nononononono! PLEASE don't get him angry! He's not kidding, he will kill you!"

Gajeel turned his glare on the Mafioso heir. "And what will keep me from killing you, you little shit?"

In a blur of movement, two people interposed themselves between Gajeel and Tsuna. Gokudera was giving the pierced mage a look designed to kill while he grasped several sticks of dynamite in each hand. Yamamoto had a sword pointed between his eyes and his face was in a complete reversal of the previously laid back attitude he had before.

"Just try it you iron bastard," Gokudera growled as he inched his dynamite towards the cigarette held between his teeth. Yamamoto's eyes merely narrowed further.

"Will you idiots knock it off already?"

The three glaring men whipped their heads around to look at who had spoken. It was a kid. He was short only around four feet tall, with blond hair tied in a ponytail and golden eyes. He was wearing a red coat and had gloves on both his hands. "We're trying to figure out this mess and get the hell out of here. Mind saving the pointless fighting for later?" he said in an exasperated tone.

Yamamoto blinked at the boy's words, while Gokudera and Gajeel tensed.

The Iron Dragonslayer took a step towards him, "Why you little-!"

Gokudera also turned towards him, "Who the hell are-!"

But both were halted before they could cause any damage.

"Gokudera!" The shout from Tsuna froze the silver-haired boy in his tracks. "This isn't the time for violence! Will you please stop already!?" This caused the pyrotechnist to hurriedly snap his bombs back to wherever he'd pulled them from and hastily bow while profusely apologizing.

On the other hand, Gajeel was stopped by a single hand touching his shoulder. Turning around, he levelled a glare at whoever had dared to interrupt him. His piercing red glare was met with a glacial blue one, belonging to none other than Juvia Lockser. They silently stared at each other for a moment before Gajeel finally huffed and faced forward again, but with the tension gone from his body.

Juvia sighed a breath of relief. Lucy hesitantly stepped next to her, looking forwards. "Wow Juvia, how did you pull that off?"

Juvia eyed Lucy, temporarily considering whether or not she should deny her 'rival in love' before dismissing the thoughts. "Back in Phantom, Gajeel's temper was always a problem, so members of the Element Four were assigned to accompany him on his missions. We made sure that he wouldn't offend clients or get arrested. Juvia simply decided to remind him that now is not a good time to start a fight."

Juvia smirked, furtively glancing at Gray before submerging into her own fantasies. 'And I was able to do something truly impressive! Now my darling Gray will admire me and surely fall in love with me!'

Lucy sweatdropped as the blue-haired mage dissolved into giggles as she gazed dreamily at Gray. 'Should have seen this coming...'

Meanwhile, Gajeel had turned back to the blonde in the red coat. He looked him up and down before addressing him. "Hmph, you stopped a pointless fight. You've got a good head on your shoulders, pipsqueak."

It appeared as if everyone who was with the kid suddenly froze. Snickering and facepalms could be heard throughout the group.

The kid's head was tilted down, his face covered by the shadow of his hairline. He twitched.

Once.

Twice.

Then...

In a flash, a huge person wearing an incredible amount of armor scooped up the blond kid, gripping him from below his shoulders. Milliseconds later, the kid...erupted for lack of a better term.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO TINY THAT HE COULD GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH MICROBES AND POTENTIALLY CURE CANCER!?"

Someone behind the struggling kid blinked in surprise. "You gotta give him credit, he's creative if nothing else..."

Meanwhile, the person in the suit of armor was fighting ferociously to keep the incensed blond in check. From within the armor came a voice that sounded far too young for someone of that size. "Brother! Please! He didn't say anything even remotely like that!"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER, I'M STILL GONNA RIP ALL HIS PIERCINGS OFF AND MAKE HIM EAT THEM!"

Gajeel grinned impishly. He leaned forward till he was face to face with the blond. "You're too much of a kid to do that."

The blond's pupils contracted to pinpricks and he froze.

He twitched.

Once.

Twice.

CHOMP!

"YEARGH!"

"BROTHER! LET GO OF HIS NOSE!"

In the end, it took several minutes of yelling, screaming, pulling, prying, hitting, choking, bargaining, apologizing and tickling to get the blond to let go of the Iron Dragon Slayers nose.

Not in that order either.

Once it was over, the two parties were left restrained by their respective groups, glaring furiously at each other.

Gajeel rubbed his bleeding nose. "Cocky li-!" He was cut off by Juvia's elbow jabbing him in the side. He glanced at her before reevaluating his choice of words. "Was that seriously necessary?" he demanded.

The blonde huffed. "You called me short!"

"AND YOU THOUGHT BITING MY NOSE OFF WAS AN APPROPRIATE REACTION!?"

The blonde blinked in honest confusion. "What, didn't you?"

Gajeel was about to jump the kid when the person in armor holding the blonde spoke up timidly. "Um, brother?"

The blonde looked up at the person's helmet. "Yeah Al?"

"I think that this time you might have gone a little too far. Maybe you should apologize"

"WHAT!? But Al-"

"Brother."

The blonde growled before he sighed in defeat. "Fine..." He looked Gajeel in the eyes. "I'm sorry for trying to bite your nose off," Ed groaned through his gritted teeth.

Gajeel grinned. "Damn right you-!" He received another jab to the stomach, this time from both Juvia and Erza. "But-!" His protests were met by two very furious glares. He growled before resigning himself. "Fine. I'm sorry I called you a small pipsqueak…" 'Which you totally still are.'

The blonde's eye twitched. He opened his mouth to unleash a verbal barrage, but was halted by his brother. "Ed, please!"

Ed growled, but finally breathed a deep sigh. "Apology accepted."

The person in armor let the blonde go. "There, see? Everything's worked out. Oh! I almost forgot, we were supposed to be introducing ourselves. I'm Alphonse, Alphonse Elric, but everyone calls me Al." he waved politely. "It's nice to meet you all."

The blonde brushed himself off before standing upright. "And I'm his big brother, Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Just call me Ed"

Nami eyed Ed with disbelief. "Big brother?"

Ed's eye twitched imperceptibly before he turned towards her with a predatory smile. "Why yes, big brother," he stated with a false calmness. "I'm 16 and Alphonse is 15. Got a problem with that?"

Nami was about to respond but changed her answer when she saw Al hastily shaking his head and waving his arms behind Ed's back. "Er, no, none at all!"

Ed smiled. "Good."

"Um, I've got a question," Naruto said raising his hand. "What's with the armor?"

Ed and Al glanced at each other before hastily looking away. Ed was covered in cold sweat. "It's a hobby," they answered simultaneously. Everyone present who had any sense noticed the obvious lie, but decided that due to their discomfort it would be better not to pry.

A heavy set man with slicked-back blonde hair and a mustache and glasses stepped forward. "My name is Heinkel. This is Darius." He gestured at another heavy-set man with black hair and mutton-chops. "Jerso." This was a black man with dreadlocked black hair. "And Zampano." A man with spiky blonde hair who was wearing glasses.

An old man with a mess of black hair and a horribly disfigured face stepped forward. "I'm Doctor Tim Marcoh."

Behind him was a huge man. He had dark skin and white hair, and criss-crossing across his face was a scar shaped like an X. His eyes were obscured behind a dark pair of sunglasses. He glared at everyone present. "You may call me Scar."

Kiba scoffed. "You really expect us to believe that's your name?"

Scar pinned the ninja with his glare. "It's the only one you're getting," he replied in a tone of voice filled with promised pain.

Hastily acting to interrupt any conflict, a short, very young girl hurriedly ran forward. She had black hair and a bundle slung across her back. She also had her hair done up in a pair of spiky buns with small braided stands trailing out. There was also a miniature panda riding on her shoulder.

"I'm May Chang, heiress to the Chang clan!" The panda on her shoulder jumped up and down. "And this is Xiao-Mei."

A man in black clothing stepped forward. He had dark hair and a ponytail. His mouth was twisted in a vicious smirk. "The name's Greed."

A person wearing a mask and covered head to toe in dark clothing stepped forward menacingly. "Greed, this is your last warning. Let. Ling. Go."

Greed turned around, his pompous smirk still present. "And this is the last time I repeat myself lady. You. And what. Army?"

The person growled but before she could respond, Ed put a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go, Lanfan."

The person whipped around to stare at him. "But Edward-!"

Ed shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. He's still in there and he's fighting, but beyond that, there's not a lot we can do. Just take solace in the fact that he's alive and leave it at that."

Greed grinned. "You heard him, girl. Sit."

The ninja, Lan Fan, tensed, but was stopped by an arm being thrown in front of her by another person dressed identically to her, but with a different design on the mask. She stared at the person in shock. "Grandfather!?"

The person was quiet as he stared at Greed, who simply raised his eyebrow. "What do you want, old man?"

The person was quiet before he asked in a flat voice. "The prince is truly alive?"

Greed blinked in surprise before sighing and scratching his head. "Yeah. He's annoying, but he's in there."

The person nodded. "So long as the prince is alive, that is enough for me."

"But Grandfather-!" Lan Fan protested.

"Calm down Lan Fan. What is required is patience. For now, Greed inhabits the prince's body," her grandfather reassured. He then leveled a glare at Greed through his mask. "When the time comes, we will find a way to expel him from Ling's body. Once and for all."

Greed grinned viciously. "You're welcome to try old man."

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted out. "Mind telling us what the hell is going on here?"

Ed sighed, tired at having to play the sane man of his group. He'd have let Alphonse handle it, but at the end of the day he wasn't mature enough to handle this. He began by gesturing at Greed. "Greed isn't the only person in this body. Long story short, he's an alternate personality who took over. Ling's still alive, but he's shoved deep into his own mind." He then gestured at the two ninja-esque people. "These are Old Man Fu and Lan Fan. They're Ling's bodyguards."

Fu twitched. "'Old Man'?"

Ed looked at him flatly. "Well, we already have one Fuu over there," he said gesturing at the dark-skinned girl. "Would you rather we confuse you two?"

Fu stared at him angrily before sighing ruefully. "Very well."

"So, why exactly does this guy need a pair of bodyguards anyways?" Naruto asked.

"The guards said it themselves. Ling is a prince," the Straw Hats' archaeologist, Robin, stated. Nami looked at her before smirking. It had been awhile since she'd seen it, but she recognized the look in her eyes: a look of intelligence, a look that preceded Robin connecting a great amount of information . "And not only that, he's the prince to the same country and throne as May." May's face blanched and her jaw dropped.

Lenalee blinked. "Wait, didn't she say that she was an heiress?"

"Indeed, but her clothes and features indicate that she and Ling are from the same country, and both are of royal blood. If I had to guess, I would say that they are from rival clans due to how she seems to distance herself from Greed and Ling's bodyguards. Both of them must be vying for the same throne, which has either been recently vacated or is about to be."

Everyone stared in awe at the dark-haired pirate. May was gaping at how her and Ling's entire past had been effectively picked apart in minutes by a woman who until a few seconds ago hadn't even known their names. "H-how...!?"

Robin smiled at the dumbstruck heiress. "Oh, did I not mention? I'm an archaeologist."

Ed shook himself out of his stupor, deciding to get back on track. "Well, anyways, moving on. Mustang, you're up."

A dark-haired man in a blue uniform wearing gloves grumbled. "That's Colonel Mustang to you, Fullmetal."

"Wait, you're in the military?" Lucy asked in surprise.

Mustang nodded. "Roy Mustang, State Alchemist in the Amestrian Military. I'm known as the Flame Alchemist."

Maka furrowed her brow in thought. 'Wait a second… his title is the Flame Alchemist,' She looked at Ed who was glaring at the Colonel. 'And he said that he's called the Fullmetal Alchemist.'Her eyes shot wide open in realization. 'That must mean-!'

"Ed's in the military!?" Maka exclaimed in surprise.

Most people present looked at Ed in shock and surprise. The shinobi were the only ones who didn't seem that surprised.

Ed scowled at the attention. "Yeah, I'm in the military, what about it?"

Maka stuttered in shock. "Wh-what about it!? You're 16! How, why are you in the military!?"

Ed grit his teeth in annoyance. "I'm a State Alchemist, I had the skills so they let me in." He raised his hands when she opened her mouth. "Look, it's not that big of a deal, I've been in the military since I was 12!"

That was a mistake. Even the shinobi reacted this time at the shocking revelation, albeit not nearly to the extent of the rest.

Maka gaped at him for a few moments before rounding on the Colonel. "What the hell is wrong with you people!?"

Mustang was about to defend himself when somebody placed himself in front of him. She was a blond lady with her hair tightly pulled back and sharp eyes. She was wearing the same uniform as the Colonel. "Colonel Mustang did not force Edward into the military. He merely presented Edward with the offer to join. Edward decided to try out of his own volition."

Maka was about to speak more when Ed finally lost his temper. "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE SHUT UP! Look, the decision was my own and this is not the time or place to talk about it! Can we just shut up and move along!?"

Slowly, everyone present calmed down and allowed things to continue. "There, that's better." He threw an appreciative look at the woman. "Thanks, Hawkeye."

Riza smiled back. "No problem, Edward."

The person behind the Colonel cleared his throat. He was tall, gargantuan even! He had an extremely muscular physique and blond hair that was solely present in his small moustache and a small bit present on his bald head. Looking at his soul, Maka's eyes widened as she slowly snuck behind Tsubaki's back.

"Hello! I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong!" To the shock, awe, and more importantly, horror of everyone present, he ripped his shirt off, exposing his bulging muscles, which he began to flex. It was horrible, it was terrifying, it - were those sparkles!?"Behold! The great traditional greeting, passed down the Armstrong line for generations!"

Maka grabbed Tsubaki's arms when they whipped to her kunai pouch. The tall girl cast an appreciative glance over her shoulder. "Thanks."

Maka's eye twitched as the sparkles continued to shine. "Don't thank me yet. I'm already regretting this."

A short distance away, something similar was transpiring. "Neji, let me go!"

"No."

"C'mon, you have to!"

"No, Tenten."

"But what if Lee wakes up!? Do you want to see what would happen if he combines the Sunset Jutsu with, with, THAT!?"

"...that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"OH COME ON!"

Armstrong continued to flex his muscles in front of a crowd that was becoming less and less repulsed and more and more bloodthirsty. However, before anybody could act, Major Armstrong was halted by a sword being pointed at his face. It wasn't the sword that scared him though. He was far more terrified by the person holding the sword.

"O-olivier!"

"That's General Armstrong to you, you worthless embarrassment," the General growled. She was an imposing woman, wearing the same blue uniform as the other soldiers present, save that hers had a white fur lining. She had long blonde hair, a strand of which fell in front of her face, and large, full lips. "Put your clothes back on before I decide that you're no longer worth the trouble."

Many people present had seen people who could devest themselves in ludicrous amounts of time, but none had seen another human being put his clothes back on as fast as Major Armstrong did that day.

Ed suppressed a shiver of fear and revulsion. "Well, that's everyone here with us."

"Actually, there's still me Ed."

Ed and Al froze upon hearing the voice. Slowly, painstakingly, they turned around, fearing that they had indeed recognized who had spoken. Upon seeing her, Ed's jaw dropped open.

"WINRY!?"

She was a blond, with long hair stretching down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a white t-shirt and denim jeans.

"I- but- how!?"

"How do you think? I got the letter."

"And you followed it!? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Ed-!"

"Winry, why on earth would you-!"

"BECAUSE IT SAID I COULD HELP YOU!"

Ed stopped in shock. Winry huffed angrily. "The letter… it said that if I went, I'd be able to help you in the future. So… I went."

Ed stared at her wordlessly before he looked away. "...we'll talk about this later." He looked at everyone present. "Anyways, unless there are any other surprises, that is literally everyone with us, the end."

"Then I guess that we're next then," the tall, orange-haired boy said.

As everyone turned and moved to look at the boys group, Ed was tapped on the shoulder. When he looked over his shoulder, he scowled at the fact that it was Maka. When he opened his mouth, Maka held up her hand. "Look, I'm sorry about that scene earlier, but this is more important. I realize this is personal, but I have to say it anyways: There's nobody in your brother's armor, only a soul."

Ed bristled. "How the hell-" he whispered, but was cut off by Maka.

"I can see souls. And I can tell that your brother's soul is tied to the armor."

Ed stared at her before he scoffed silently. "Souls… you know, I consider myself a man of science." Maka almost made a snide comment on Ed's height, but caught herself before she uttered even a single grunt. " I don't believe in God, haven't for awhile now, but somehow souls exist and are actually a crucial part of my science. Crazy huh?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Maka and Ed whipped around to see Allen standing nearby. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear, and don't worry!" he said when Ed was about to speak, "I won't tell anyone, after all," He held up his left arm and undid his glove slightly, showing a small piece of the emaciated flesh beneath to the shock of the two. "We all have our secrets."

Ed stared for a bit before he got back on track. "You were talking about souls and science."

Allen shrugged. "Well, first, do you really think that your science disproves God?"

Ed looked at him. He thought back.

Pain. So much pain, so much knowledge being poured into his head,

More pain, his leg, why couldn't he feel his leg?!

A noise, moaning, he looks, and something looks back.

Ed shuddered. "I've seen things. Horrible things. Whether alchemy disproves that God exists or not is irrelevant. Even if God exists, there's nothing that can justify him letting all of it happen."

Allen looked at him in silence. "I've seen terrible things too. Things that would make other men scream and run. But those things have only strengthened my faith. After all, if God doesn't exist," Allen gripped the Rose Cross on his uniform. "Then what is it all for?"

Maka glanced between the two of them before she sighed. "I might be a bit jaded by my experiences with divinity, but in the end I think that there's one thing the three of us can agree on; whether or not God exists doesn't matter, we just have to keep on living, right?"

Ed nodded. "Yeah."

Allen smiled. "Agreed." He looked at Ed before smiling. "Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves," He extended his right hand. "Allen Walker."

Ed grinned and took it. "Edward Elric."

Maka placed her hand on both. "Maka Albarn."

The three exchanged grins and then turned around to continue watching the introductions going on.

"I'm Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki," the tall-haired boy with the cleaver strapped to his back said neutrally. Ichigo glanced over his shoulder at the group behind him before looking at everyone again. "Listen, this is going to sound really stupid, but I just have to make sure of this: You can see the guys wearing the black uniforms, right?"

Murmurs of confusion arose before Soul finally asked the question on people's mind. "You mean the same uniform you're wearing?"

Ichigo eyed him warily. "Yes?"

"Then yeah, we can see them. Is that a problem?"

Ichigo sighed exasperatedly. "No. In a way it makes things easier… though at the same time all that much more complicated."

A teenage girl with long orange hair and a kind, if slightly clueless, face smiled and tilted her head as she waved. "I'm Orihime Inoue. Nice to meet you all!"

Towering over most of the people present was a dark-skinned teen whose dark hair curtained over his eyes. "My name is Sado Yasutora. But most people call me Chad," he said in a deep voice.

Next to him was a teenager who was wearing a white uniform. His black hair was tightly pulled back and he was wearing a pair of glasses. The boy reached up and pushed his glasses up his nose as he examined everyone with his intelligent gaze. "Uryuu Ishida," he stated simply.

One of the people wearing the black uniforms took a step forward. She was very petite, and her hands firmly at her side. Her deep purple eyes were set, stern but not unkind, and her black hair was slicked down, a single strand tickling her nose. "My name is Rukia Kuchiki, a pleasure to meet you."

A red headed man of tall height crossed his arms. His eyebrows were furrowed, but nonetheless he was smiling a cocky smile. "Hi, I'm Renji Abarai, Vice Captain of the Sixth Division of the Gotei 13."

Rukia noticed how Maka's eye twitched. "Before anybody says anything, everybody except Ichigo in this uniform is a lot older than they look! Plus, it's not exactly a normal military."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Understatement," he muttered. His eyes then shot wide. "OW!" he yelled as he hopped around on the foot that hadn't just been crunched by the midget.

Rukia huffed. "Anyways, we're getting off track. Who's next?"

A man with feathers attached to his right eye all but strutted forwards. He dramatically swept his hand in front of him as he bowed forward. "Yumichika Ayasegawa. A pleasure, I'm certain."

Another guy who was bald and had a vicious look in his eyes smirked. " The name's Ikkaku Madarame, Third Seat Officer of the Eleventh Division."

A tall woman with long, messy strawberry blonde hair and a rather… prominent chest smiled sunnily. "Hi, I'm Rangiku Matsumoto. I'm the Vice Captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei 13. My interests are napping and getting hammered!"

Anko appeared next to her and returned the smile. "What a coincidence, those are my interests as well!"

Rangiku gasped dramatically "That is so amazing!" Her smile turned mischievous. "Wanna hit the town once we get outta here?"

"Will there be dango?"

"There will be dango."

"Then yes!"

The last member of the group, a short kid with spiky white hair, wearing a white coat over his uniform slammed his face into the palm of his hand as he sighed. "Dear lord, now there's two of them."

Rangiku threw Anko a smirk and then engulfed the kid in a hug and buried his head in her chest. "I know! Isn't it incredible, Captain?"

Kakashi blinked. "I'm sorry, but Captain?"

The kid finally managed to struggle out of his Vice Captain's grasp. "Yes, Captain. I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Division of the Gotei 13, a title that I earned, thank you very much."

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Well, that's all of us." He glanced over towards Negi and his class. "Guess that just leaves you kid."

Negi nodded. "Right then, my name is Negi Springfield. These girls are my students."

Natsu cocked his head. "Let me guess, you're older than you look, right?"

Negi sweatdropped. "Er...no, I'm eleven."

There were a lot of incredulous looks. Negi got nervous and began shaking his hands quickly. "Err, before anybody gets the wrong idea, I'm their English teacher! Nothing more!"

Erza crossed her arms. "A child teacher who knows how to use powerful Wind Magic casually."

Negi winced. "You picked up on that, huh?" He sighed. "Fine, I'm also a mage. I graduated from the Meridiana Magic Academy when I was ten. I was then assigned to be the English teacher for Class 2-A, now 3-A, at the Mahora Girl's Academy."

A tall girl with blue and green eyes and red hair that was done up in pigtails and tied up with bells clamped a hand on Negi's shoulder. "I'm Asuna Kagurazaka. Negi's been bunking with me and Konoka. I've been keeping an eye on the brat." Asuna's eye twitched as her hand tightened uncomfortably on Negi. "Or at least as much as I can. This little brat attracts trouble like a corpse draws flies."

Kiba scoffed. "How much trouble could a kid like him be?"

Asuna's eye twitched again and Negi winced as her hand nearly broke his arm off. "During Mahora's Summer Festival, his descendant from the future invaded Mahora with an army of robots in an attempt to fix the broken future she came from."

Everyone gaped at Negi and his class openly.

"And that's the short version!"

Fuu recovered first and grinned widely before raising her hand. "Where can I enroll for this place?"

A girl with long, straight black hair and a kind face waved her arms frantically. "No no no, you're getting the wrong idea! Mahora is safe! Plus, no one was hurt when Chao attacked, people actually had a lot of fun!"

Liz blinked. "Umm, I'm no expert, but how exactly is an invasion of robots fun?"

The girl made to answer but was interrupted when another girl who had the left half of her hair done up in a ponytail while her right was left loose. She also had a sword sheathed across her back. "Chao's robots used non-lethal weaponry, so we were able to disguise the invasion as an event in the Festival. We armed the Festival-goers with magical weaponry and let them and the army have at it. Whoever destroyed the most robots won." The girl then stood up straight and bowed forward. "My name is Setsuna Sakurazaki, this is Lady Konoe."

'Lady Konoe' huffed. "Setsuna! I already told you, call me Konoka!"

"My apologies Lady Ko- I mean, Konoka!"

Greed smirked. "Bodyguards, am I right?"

Konoka sighed. "Don't I know it..."

"Konoka!"

Behind them, a girl with orange hair and glasses sighed in exasperation as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Idiots, I'm surrounded by idiots."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow. "And you would be?"

The girl met his mismatched gaze in a bored manner. "Annoyed, tired, and frankly pissed off, but my name is Chisame Hasegawa. I'm the only sane person in this entire insane group."

A hand fell on Chisame's shoulder. She looked up tiredly at the owner of said hand. She was tall, had long green hair, and had a pair of what could best be described as long, white mechanical ears coming off the side of her head.

"It is quite alright. It is logistically improbable for you to be the sole sane individual within our party. For example, myself, master, and Negi are quite lucid, at least as much as yourself."

Chisame's gaze turned venomous. "So your way of reassuring me is by telling me is that I'm just as sane as some of the looniest people here?"

"Indeed."

Chisame rubbed her eyes. "Thank you for that, Chachamaru. Thank you for that so much."

"You're very welcome Chisame." The girl turned towards the crowd. "I am Chachamaru Karakuri. I am a magically fueled gynoid." This caused a mass reaction from the more intelligent people present.

Naruto blinked. "Um… what's a guy-noid?"

"N-Naruto… a gynoid… a gynoid is a female android. A humanoid robot!" Sakura exclaimed dumbfounded.

Chachamaru nodded. "Indeed." Chachamaru tilted her head. "I am curious. Based upon your clothing and the items you carry, your civilization from wherever you come from seems to be less advanced than our own. How did you recognize what I was?"

Sakura blinked. "Er… yeah, we don't have androids or such, but we do have science fiction, so..."

Chachamaru nodded. "Very well. I should also introduce to you all my master." She gestured next to her, to a short, blond girl. "Allow me to introduce my master, Evangeline A.K. McDowell."

Evangeline smiled viciously, exposing a pair of very, very sharp fangs. "Nice to meet you all. Or at least, that's what I'd say if I had that much of an interest in any of you at all."

Erza narrowed her eyes. "And what exactly gives you the right to be so condescending?"

Evangeline smirked more. "The fact that I'm several hundred years old, have an extensive arsenal of black magic, and am one of the most wanted individuals in my world?" Evangeline looked up as she nodded her head left and right, seeming to be thinking thoroughly. "Yes, I believe I've earned the right to act like I'm better than all of you because, oh, I dunno, I am?"

A lot of the people present tensed on hearing Evangeline's shortened rap sheet, but Negi hurriedly waved his hands, drawing their attention. "Wait wait wait wait, Evangeline might have been bad in the past, but she's better now! She's taught me how to fight, she's been a big help," Negi gained a determined look, shocking more than a few people present. "And more importantly, she's my student. If any of you try to harm any of my students for any reason whatsoever, I will personally demonstrate every last lesson that Evangeline has taught me. Is. That. Clear?"

Negi swept his gaze over the suddenly subdued crowd before returning to his previously relaxed demeanor. "Alright then!" He turned towards the individual behind him. "So girls, who's next?"

"U-um, I guess m-me, Negi."

This stuttering introduction was delivered by a petite girl whose violet hair fell down to cover her eyes. Flanking her on her left was another short girl with long, braided blue hair who had a bored expression on her face and was sucking on her juice box. On her right was a tall girl with long dark green hair and two strands poking into antennae. She had glasses and a wild smirk on her face,

"I-I'm Nodoka Miyazaki," the purple-haired girl said.

"I'm Yue Ayase," the blue-haired girl, in a deadpan voice, stated.

"And I'm Haruna Saotome! Nice to meetcha!" the green haired girl shouted boisterously.

"Heh, me next!" This proclamation was given by the only other boy in the group. He was as tall as Negi, had a mop of dark hair, and most shockingly, had a pair of dog ears poking out of said hair, as well as some fangs. "The name's-ERK!"

The dog-like boy was cut off suddenly when he was tripped by a tall girl with light brown hair and a very laid-back expression on her face. Her eyes were closed like that of an archaic smiling fox, but her hair and its colour did not synergise with that image. It was brown, and was mostly cut into a three-tailed hairdo. Two framing her face and reaching her bust, and another going from the nape of her neck down to her shins.

She smiled down teasingly at the glaring boy. "Sorry about that Kotarou, I just thought it would be best if you don't say anything unfortunate, de gozaru." She looked back towards everyone. "I'm Kaede Nagase, and this is Kotarou Inugami. A pleasure to meet you all, de gozaru."

Kotarou got up grumbling. "Stupid ninja, one of these days I'm gonna-URK!" He was cut off when his feet were swept out from beneath him again. Kaede just looked ahead humming pleasantly.

"Oh, oh, me next!" This vigorous introduction was given by a dark-skinned girl who had blond hair done up in a pair of messy ponytails. She was dressed in a cheongsam with slits on each side, exposing her legs. "I'm Ku Fei, aru! Nice to meet you all, aru!"

"Well, my turn," a tall girl with bright red hair done up in a messy ponytail spoke up next. Shockingly, floating behind her was a semi-transparent girl with white hair, red eyes. The floating girl was dressed in an old Japanese school girls uniform.

"I'm Kazumi Asakura, reporter extraordinaire!" the red-haired girl said as she flashed her camera. The floating girl hid behind the reporter, looking at the people warily.

"Um, Kazumi? I-I don't like the way everybody is looking over here. It's like they can see me..." she said shyly.

"Actually, that's because we can see you," Orihime said pleasantly. She blinked in surprise when Class 3-A reacted with varying degrees of shock. "Um… were we not supposed to?"

Kazumi gaped openly. "You-you can seriously see her?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Didn't we already say that?"

Kikyo hummed idly. "It is not surprising that they expected her to be unseen. She appears to be a spirit."

The girl slowly came out from behind Kazumi, poking her fingers. "Y-yes, that's right, I'm a ghost. My name is Sayo, Sayo Aisaka." She waved shyly. "Hello."

Unseen to most of the people present, the members of the Gotei 13 - the ones with more than a single brain cell anyway - were whispering amongst each other fervently. Finally, Rukia composed herself and stepped forwards. Catching Sayo's attention, Rukia acted as calmly as she could as she asked her a question. "Excuse me, Sayo? Pardon me if this appears uncouth but… how long have you been… deceased?"

Sayo twitched imperceptibly. "Er..."

Kazumi stepped in front of her instantly. "HEY! Watch it, do you have any idea what you're asking!?"

Rukia stepped back. "Sorry, sorry! I'll just-!"

"Eighty."

Rukia blinked. "I-I'm sorry."

Sayo's eyes were shadowed by her hair. "I died eighty eight years ago. I've stayed in Mahora ever since."

Behind Rukia, Captain Hitsugaya appeared to choke on his own saliva incredulously. When Ichigo questioned him, he dragged him down and began whispering fiercely with him, all the while staring discretely at Sayo.

Rukia gulped imperceptibly. "I-I see. I'm sorry for digging up bad memories."

Sayo swallowed before smiling. "It's alright."

Rukia stepped back and joined in the conversation, followed by a vigorously thinking Uryuu and a confused Orihime.

Negi scanned who was behind him to see who was left behind. "Let's see, I believe that that leaves… Mana? Zazie? Is that you?"

The last two students were both dark-skinned. The former, Mana, was distinctly taller. She had long dark hair, with her face framed by two frames. Slung across her back was a very large sniper rifle. The other, Zazie, was shorter. She had light gray hair. She also had a pair of markings on her face. Below her left eye was a red teardrop mark and a red line down across her right eye.

Both had bored expressions on their faces, but where Mana was looking around and lazily examining everybody, Zazie looked genuinely bored with what was going on.

Mana looked at Negi. "Yes, it's us. We received the letter and decided to investigate. We showed up just as the light did."

Zazie shrugged. "Thought it would be interesting. Wasn't disappointed."

Negi's eye twitched before he sighed. "Well, I supposed that's that. Everyone present and accounted for."

A chorus of agreements arose from everybody present. However, when the noise died down, a single person coughed, drawing everyone's attention.

There was a tanned man with a white hooded kimono with a red rim. The hood shadowed the upper part of his face. "Greetings. My name is Shinji Takuma."

A smile played across the man's face.

"I am the reason you are all here."

When everybody's face properly registered their shock, he clapped his hands together.

"Now then! Let's get to work..."

To be continued...

A.N.

DONE! Jeeze that was looooong! I'm sorry that took so long to write, but jeeze, writer's block plus this being one of the more boring parts equals really long time to write! Anyways, that parts done, maybe now I'll be able to write faster...anyways! For those who don't know, Shinji Takuma is the OC from my Editor HTM's fanfic, "Tales Of A Dimensional Travelling Gutsy Ninja". I assure you, this fanfic crossover is not frivolous, it is in fact intrinsic with the plot. Still though, either way, thanks for reading this far, tell your friends about my story, and good night!

Editor's note: I wanted Shinji to be female, but because the other author insisted otherwise… there you go! THANK YOU FOR NOT BEING ACCOMMODATING TO MY SELFISHNESS, XOMNIAC!... wait, that's a good thing.

And for those confused about my wish to make Shinji female, there is a simple answer to that. I'm a trans woman, so it would make sense to make him "her", since he's a representation of who I am/was before I came out. :3