So, I've been occupied with my first semester at Mizzou so things have been slow when it comes to writing; that and I have been working on an actual, non-fanfiction, story and have been pretty happy with that. Anyway here's chapter four and expect more updates for this story and Shadow of Fate soon. By the way, Dragon Age Inquisition is my life now.
Disclaimer: Pretty sure I do not own Naruto, but since it is over that could change right? Fairy Tail ha ha no… I do not own it either.
"So bandits huh?" Naruto spoke more to himself. It was not the glorious first mission he was expecting. Ever since he killed Weisslogia he has been doing things like beating bandits and monsters on his travels.
The woods were quiet as he searched for the camp and even Lector was surprisingly reticent. It was strange for the exceed and his partner to not be avidly talking, but Naruto's partner believed it was because of all the non-stop action that their lives had taken these past few days.
Losing a fight to a S-Rank mage and joining a famous guild, then getting into more fights at Fairy Tail. Even now, they were on their very first mission; it was just bandits but still. Things had been hectic.
"Lector," Naruto turned to his partner, "be careful, they're close. I can smell them."
His partner nodded.
Naruto began to charge up his white magical energy in his hand before shooting in it a straight line through the trees. The resounding blast resulted in screams of pain.
The Dragon Slayer began to run towards the camp to follow up his initial attack. "Hakuryuu no Tsume (White Dragon's Claw)!" The resulting attack blew through several bandits.
A whistling noise caused Naruto to barely sidestep the resulting arrow shot from their archer. Hoping to eliminate their ranged support before he could cause more damage, Naruto began to channel his signature attack as a Dragon Slayer. "Hakuryuu no Hoko (White Dragon's Roar)!"
The beam blew straight through the right shoulder of the archer before Naruto dragged it through the other bandits and their camp.
"Naruto watch out!" Lector's call to Naruto helped him dodge a fatal sword slash from behind. Based on the man's size and decorative armor, Naruto assumed that he was their leader, if this rabble could be called an organized group.
"I'll skewer you! You little monster!" A vertical slash that Naruto avoided by leaping backwards. "You mages ruin everything!" A diagonal cut that he ducked under. "All this pain and suffering is no-" His words were cut off as a fist enveloped in white energy slammed itself into his chin driving him a solid five yards into the air.
Naruto broke out into a grin, "You talk to much –ttebayo."
"That was not bad. Problem is, I just gathered those boys up and I don't like the idea of some stupid uppity mage coming in and ruining my efforts."
Naruto turned to the source of the gravelly voice. It had the quality of rocks rubbing against metal. Its source, however, was one of the strangest beings Naruto had yet to see.
The being, since it could not be called a person, had large plant-like appendages emerging from around its head. The head itself was split into two distinct halves; one black with a yellow eye and a white side with a distinctly different yellow eye. Its body was wrapped in a black cloak with red clouds spotting it that seemed as if it were packed full. Naruto did not want to know what it had underneath to make the baggy cloak look so full.
"They were to be good fodder serving a cause they knew nothing about. Just the troops we wanted." It voice changed, this one had the consistency of bells or a wind rustling through leaves. "Though a Dragon Slayer is a much greater find."
Naruto's fist clenched and set himself into more a fighting stance. "How'd you know I'm a Drgaon-Slayer?"
The darker voice spoke again, "Other than the fact that you were shouting it in the name of your attacks?" Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "That magic is very distinctive. Any one who knows anything about Lost Magic should be able to recognize it."
"And we know a lot about Lost Magic!" The happier voice shared with the Dragon Slayer and his Exceed partner.
"Idiot! You shouldn't share such pivotal information so lightly."
Naruto was very overwhelmed, but Lector managed to find the question he wanted to ask somewhere within all the confusion. "W-Who are you? What are you?"
"He's a good boy; we should tell him. I think the others might like him too. It has been so long since we have had a new recruit into the organization." The white side argued to its other half.
However, the Black side seemed to disagree. "He's too young and too weak. Besides, look at the mark on him. He's a Fairy Tail mage. You think he would join? Then you are as stupid as the boy is."
"Hey! I'm not weak! I'm the true Dragon Slayer, Naruto Uzumaki!"
Lector was quick to chime in defense of his partner. "Yeah, Naruto-kun is the strongest there is! You won't find anyone better than him."
"Well they clearly haven't seen our organization." Black Zetsu muttered to itself. "You won't be joining our group. You couldn't cut it against such powerful mages."
"Who said I wanted to? You two have been talking in front of me as if I'm not here. Well I'm tired of it! So maybe I should just kick your ass and leave! Especially if you're the one who assembled these bandits." Naruto channeled his magic into his right fist and drew it back while breaking out into a run only to abruptly stop as the being began to meld into the ground itself.
"Sorry good boy but we have to be leaving now," the white spoke in its usual chipper tone, "but we will be seeing you soon, Naruto-san."
After they were gone Naruto turned to Lector with confusion in eyes. "What just happened?"
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
Walking back from missions was great, Naruto had quickly decided. It was just him and Lector wandering around like old times and they got to see all kinds of new people and places.
For example they had walked into a small town he had never heard of and order some of the best ramen he had every had. So far, apart from the whole creature in a cloak, it was a good day.
"You might want to leave here son and find some place to stay the night. Things are going get a little wild here pretty soon."
"Why's that sir?" Lector asked the ramen chef.
The old chef sighed in exasperation, "There's this dark guild of mages who have pretty forceful on us. They were a lot worse when we didn't give in to their whims but we humbled up after they killed our mayor." His eyes darted around as if to look for someone to be eavesdropping, "some even say that they are affiliates of the businessman, Gato."
"If you need help; I can stop them." Naruto offered the older man, "I'm pretty good with destruction, besides it sounds fun."
The shadows around the man's eyes darkened, "Do you really think you could do that? A lot of people around town will just bow to their will, but if you think you can stop them then do it. Be careful, though, I hear their boss is really powerful."
Lector smiled, "Naruto-kun is the strongest ever! He won't lose to some guild drop-outs or even their super boss because he is a super Dragon Slayer who can kill dragons and bend the heavens to his will."
Naruto began to grin himself before bumping his fist into his partner's, "Yeah! This should be fun and we can help these guys."
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
Sasuke Uchiha strolled into the small town to liberate them from the dark guild members. Apparently, Master Jose knew their master and wanted to weaken them at all costs and his first test was to defeat them. If he could do that then he would be full access to the magic archives Phantom Lord possessed.
He looked around. According to Master Jose, they appear on Monday after midday so now all he had to do was wait.
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
The group of sinister mages was quite a large one Sasuke noted. A group of five meant that they were certainly a team and therefore would be quite efficient when working together so he would have to watch out for surprise attacks and feints. They knew each other's abilities and would probably put that to use.
However, that same skill could be turned against them. Well-oiled teams often ran the same successful patterns and if he could anticipate them then he could doge them and throw their teamwork into a combination of confusion and frustration.
"Hey!" A voice rang out, but Sasuke noted that it was not from the group of five, "are you the mages that has everyone so scared? You don't look like much." A blond mage walked up with his hands behind his head and a small bipedal cat at his side.
Apparently the cat could speak as it chimed in, "Of course they seem weak to you, Naruto-kun. You're the strongest ever."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. How annoying.
The one covered in bandages, which Sasuke assumed was the leader, shared his sentiment. "I'll put this idiot down with one move." He raised a gauntlet, covered in holes, and rushed towards the blond.
The next thing Sasuke knew a lance of white energy blew through the bandaged mage stomach leaving a burning hole.
"Dosu!" the group's lone female yelled before her teammates jumped into action. Sasuke watched another one; wearing a mask and sunglasses, receive a white energy-clad fist to his face.
Part of Sasuke knew that this was his mission and that he was the one who should be whopping these mages but his eyes could not leave the spectacle. One mage, using his superior speed and strength, was overwhelming five opponents as if he were fighting puppies. While Sasuke was rather confident that he could do it to, it was something about how this mage went about the fight that had him mesmerized.
The blond would catch the fist of one of them and twist his hand, breaking theirs. Another, wearing a metal faceplate and the kanji for death on his shirt, would try to unleash a blast of wind from his hands only for the blond to throw one of the attacker's own teammate in front of the attack.
He then ran up to said attacker and took him out of the fight by delivering a swift kick to his genital area. Sasuke had never seen anyone fight like this.
The lone female now stood facing the lone mage who had wiped out her whole team. Kin drew her weapon of choice, senbon needles with bells, and tried to capture Naruto in an illusion but it was all for not.
"Hakuryuu no Hoko (White Dragon's Roar)!" A large beam of white energy cut straight through the needles and slammed kin through the wall of the town's market.
Sasuke felt his mouth drop slightly. This boy was another Dragon Slayer!
Naruto looked around at the fallen bodies. Some were whimpering in fear and others cringing in terror. He couldn't see the girl with the snake wrap but he was pretty sure that she was knocked out or worse. He noticed all the destruction too. He had left a better part of this town in shambles and laughed. "Looks like I overdid it."
"It's just because you have so much power, it has to be hard to control." Lector said with a raised paw.
Naruto laughed again. "I guess you are right."
"Hey!" A boy with black hair and black eyes wearing a black one-piece with arm and leg warmers adorned with small belts. "Those dark mages were my mission."
"Then go collect your reward. I finished them off but I don't want money 'cause I just wanted something to kill my boredom." Sasuke felt the other Dragon Slayer's smile, or was it a taunting grin, to be nauseating.
"That's not the point!"
Naruto's head tilted to the side, "Then what do you want?"
"I-" Sasuke was actually not sure why he had even approached the blond.
"I heard that they have a powerful boss if you want to go fight that guy." Naruto offered the other boy, "Anyway I should be heading back home. If you see a ramen chef can you tell him I took care of them? Thanks."
The blond started to walk off before Sasuke stopped him. "If you took my job from me then you should help me take down their boss."
Naruto stopped. When he turned around Sasuke saw the grin that would change his life forever, "That sounds pretty fun. Are you serious?"
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
Sasuke bounded through the forest looking for the base of the five dark mages with clues given to them by the elderly ramen chef. Naruto flew on with Lector.
"So according to the chef, this is not even their full base, but one run by a regional leader, one in a group of five." Sasuke said as he turned his head to the blond soaring in the hands of the Exceed.
"Sure, doesn't matter really matter though, right? You have to prove yourself and you're too weak to do it yourself so you called on me 'cause you're weak." Naruto said with a tone that implied humor but Sasuke was not in the mood. "What kind of magic do you use anyway, teme?"
Sasuke looked rather indignant, "I am a bastard now?"
"Sure why not."
Sasuke sighed. He was really coming to dislike this Naruto, but he would need to work with him, as he was not sure how strong this 'regional leader' would be. Going by the relative strength of his men, the mage leader probably wouldn't be anything special but he did not want to take any chances. "Like you I use Dragon Slaying magic."
Naruto was all smiles. "Really then you're the second one I've met. Other than myself… can you even meet yourself? Hey teme, you're smart, right? Can I meet myself or do I just you know exist?"
"Silence!" Sasuke said as he pointed to the compound within the trees, "We are here."
Naruto took on a facial expression that Sasuke could only describe as pouting, "That's why you are a bastard. Being all uptight and stupid."
"I suggest that we use a stealth tactic to subdue this regional leader and then incapacitate him from the darkn-"
Sasuke's words fell upon deaf ears as Naruto has already started his 'stealthy' assault by obliterating a better half of the building with a beam of pure holy light.
"You have must made a big mistake."
The speaker was the second strangest 'person' that Naruto had seen today and easily the strangest for Sasuke. He looked like a person except for the six arms that swayed at his sides. He then proceeded to use a magic, that Naruto believed should be illegal simply because it looked gross, and spit out a white glob in order to trap the flying dragon slayer to little success.
Lector would not be able to keep this up all day it seemed, "Naruto-kun! I'm almost at my limit."
"Got ya, Lector! Let's end this with our best!" As his Exceed partner dropped him on the ground, Naruto began to channel an immense amount of magical power between his hands, "Hori Rei (Holy Ray)!" The resulting attack fired an incredible amount of smaller energy blasts that seemed to bend towards Kidomaru and strike the spider themed villain leaving him in a crater filled with the debris of what was his master's regional base.
"AAAAAGGGHHH! You little brat!" Kidomaru had managed to survive the blast, but with great cost. He was missing two arms, specifically his middle left arm and his lower right arm, his right eye, and a better part of his chest and neck. "You think… you can just… i-insult Orochimaru-sama l-like that? I'LL SHOW YOU!"
If Kidomaru's body had already been horrifying before the attack and became downright disgusting after, then it was now hideous as he activated his level two curse mark. Horns emerged out of his scarred scalp and his damaged hands grew claws.
He once again spat out a mysterious substance although this time it was yellow colored as opposed to white and solidified into a bronze bow. The resulting arrow was faster than Naruto's own speed and, although he managed to avoid the intended heart shot, the arrow imbedded itself through his collar bone.
"Gah!" Naruto barely had time to think through the pain as another split right through his knee.
"Naruto-kun!" Lector screamed.
"Ahaha! You stupid brat! This is the power that all of Orochimaru-sama's servants are given! You are nothing befo-" Kidomaru never finished his sentence as a blade of pure shadow emerged from his chest. "Eiryuu no Yari (Shadow Dragon's Spear)! You talk to much, you know that?"
Naruto broke the shaft of the arrow ad removed the two halves. "Took you long enough bastard."
Sasuke smirked, "I should do this with you more often. I was able to easily sneak through and learn his strengths and weaknesses thanks to your distraction."
"Heh. That's what I do best," Naruto made an unfamiliar sound as he pushed the arrow in his shoulder through his body, "distractions."
Before Sasuke could retort a hatchet made of harden spider webbing almost cut through his forcing him to turn into shadow.
"You two stupid little brats!" Kidomaru yelled to the sky, "I'll kill you!"
He slammed his hand on the ground creating a massive cloud of smoke and in its wake emerged a giant spider the size of the building that Naruto had just destroyed.
Its jaws opened around a Sasuke preoccupied with its savage summoner only to find itself face to face with a beam of light energy to blow out one of its eyes.
Sasuke used shadows to warp to Naruto. "You okay? An arrow to the knee is no joke."
"I'm made of tougher stuff, you worry about the spider man over there and I'll kill the beast itself." Naruto said before Lector picked him up and took to the air. Meanwhile, Sasuke melted into shadows and began his assault on Kidomaru.
"OI! SPIDER!" the offending beast was blindsided by a flying Naruto crashing into its side on Lector. His punch shot the beast outwards and trying to regain its footing.
Naruto's assault was relentless striking the beast's head with a multitude of blows. The first was a right jab, a left punch delivered to its eye, a driving uppercut with his right again smashed its mandibles together and lifted it a few feet off the ground, and finally Naruto gave a series of light barrages striking the spider over and over again.
"Naruto-kun, it's not going down."
Naruto grimaced; Lector was right. "We just have to hit it something it won't see coming," Naruto paused for a moment and then began to grin a devilish grin, "Take the skies, Lector. I have an idea, a brilliant idea."
The Exceed and Dragon Slayer duo blitzed through the air weaving an intricate pattern of convoluted angles and twists that would make any bird jealous in order to dodge the webs of the spider.
"Eiryuu no Ringu (Shaodw Dragon's Scales)!" A barrage of smaller shadows began to pepper Kidomaru forcing him into a defensive position. Only for Sasuke to once again slip into shadow and force him back with a barrage of needles to emerge from behind him.
Sasuke began to emerge behind Kidomaru only for him to turn around and cut him in half. "Ha! You were stupid enough to use the same move twice against me!"
Kidomaru then felt a blade pierce his heart and as he choked on his blood and saw an undamaged Sasuke standing in front with his hand cloaked in shadow embedded in his chest."
"H-How?"
Sasuke smirked. "It was easy to fake such attack and you were stupid enough to fall for it."
His moment of triumph was interrupted as a loud scream split from the sky. Turning his head, he saw Naruto's cat partner carrying him in a straight dive toward the summon. Channeling energy in both hands, Naruto shot three blasts that bended around the spider from his right hand and went to attack with his right hand.
The spider moved itself to block the physical attack, but the light beams bended behind it delivering an explosive blow to its thorax. The pain left the summon unable to complete its guard and Naruto's punch obliterated what was left of its body.
"Even without my legs I win. Holy shit… I'm such a badass." Naruto muttered as Lector lay him on the ground.
"You sure you're okay?"
Naruto turned his head to his impromptu teammate. "Yeah I think I'll be fine. It's going to suck trying to get back to Fairy Tail when I can't walk good right now."
"Can't walk well, you mean," Sasuke corrected.
Naruto snorted, "This is why you're a bastard."
Sasuke smiled for a moment before turning around and walking away. His mission was done here. Naruto's words as he left caught up with him though, "You're welcome, teme. This was fun; I hope we can do this again some time."
For the first time since he left Skiadrum, Sasuke felt something other than hatred and rage but he was not sure what it was.
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
It was not uncommon for mages to come back with wounds from a mission, but it was a surprise when Naruto came back carried by his talking cat with bloodstains running down his leg and chest. Worst of all, the Dragon Slayer was clearly inept when it came to medicine as he had shoved cloth into the wounds in an attempt to get to stop bleeding.
"Well I can't say I'm surprised, but everyone else here is." The white-haired girl who had started fighting with Erza before he left said as he floated on by, "They all thought you were some kind of big-shot who could crush a few lowly bandits without help. Looks like you needed help for a petty C-Rank mission."
Lector dumped Naruto onto a table eliciting a moan of pain, "The mission had complications."
"What happened Naruto?" Natsu asked as he ran up to his fellow Dragon Slayer.
"So I beat up the bandits," Naruto paused wondering if he should add the part about the man in the black and red cloak before deciding against, "Then I went to this town that was being bullied by some dark mages and beat them up."
"Some dark mages did that to you?"
Naruto did not know who asked that question nor did he have the energy to turn his head and see who it was, "No. They were working for some regional leader of a real powerful dark mage and this bastard and me joined forces and took him out, but he shot me with freaking arrows before I killed his giant spider."
Makarov passively listening in became worried, not for his new 'child' but for the damages that he would have inevitably done to this town he helped. "This fight with the spider, did it happen in the town? Please, don't tell me you destroyed anything!"
"What no!" Naruto said. "It happened in the woods," Makarov breathed a sigh of relief, "but when I kicked some dark mage ass in town I wrecked the place." Naruto paused for a moment, "Oh yeah I told them you'd pay for that, Jiji."
'He's the cruelest of them all,' Makarov though, 'telling me there was no damage to a city then stabbing me with those words.'
Mirajane snorted, "Sounds like you're pretty weak to me."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, but before he could say anything Lector started. "Like you could have done any of that. Naruto-kun is the strongest there is and that's final."
"I'm not the strongest, Lector." Lector's eyes looked down, "I'm in the top ten for sure, but I'm not the strongest. Give me a year." Lector leapt in joy and bumped his fist with Naruto's. 'I'm so modest.' Naruto thought happily to himself with a smirk.
"You're so arrogant!" Mirajane shouted at Naruto.
Naruto huffed, "If you were worth my time, I'd crush you but you aren't strong enough to be caught in my gaze."
"Y-You Bastard!"
Naruto's laughter, a series of snickers and short barks, rang out through the guildhall and the others began to join in one at a time. Another day in Fairy Tail, it seemed.
Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail
Zetsu rose from the ground at turned to the figure hiding in the shadows. His eyes, a purple ring-like pattern, narrowed slightly. "What of these new bandits? Did you instruct them to attack Crocus as we intended?"
"It seemed that their unruly nature attracted the attention of the guilds and a young dragon slayer, Naruto Uzumaki, destroyed them quite handily." The Black half spoke in its cold tone, before its other half decided to speak up, "Naruto-kun's so strong and such a good boy. We should offer him a spot in Akatsuki. We could use a dragon slayer in our ranks."
"Did you say Uzumaki?" The shadowed figure stepped forward in anticipation, revealing his spiky orange hair and numerous piercings. "We may have a use for him after all, Zetsu."
A squeal of delight emerged from the childish side of the dual-toned creature, "Can I go get him now, Pain-sama?"
Pain shook his head, "We have much more to prepare before we gather a vessel. We are still missing several pieces and, in the meantime, you must watch him. His survival is of the upmost importance. I will assign a pair of our mages to be around him at all costs while you monitor his movements in order to make sure that he stays in perfect condition. His wellbeing is now tied in with the future of world peace."
"A vessel? So you plan of changing the original plan of using yourself?" Black Zetsu muttered. "Not that it matters."
Unnoticed to the its other half and its 'leader', Black Zetsu turned his own eye to the statue that occupied most of the room. One of its nine eyes was open. 'Naruto Uzumaki… I underestimated your importance.'
