Sasuke left the tribe in his 21st year as chief. He had been preparing for this, using illusions to make himself appear older and older till he left a clone, dead of natural causes, in his stead and left for good. He had enjoyed his time with them, his people, but he no longer had the time to sit about relaxing, things were happening that he did not understand and he needed answers.
He looked back at his peaceful village one last time, its new hidden spot would hopefully keep it safe for as long as possible, he had relocated them all to a dark forest, then behind the strongest illusion he could craft he had hidden the village and a wide area round it.
They should be safe, he prayed they would be safe. But he had no time to worry for them anymore.
He had a blonde to trackdown.
"Sasuke! Sasuke! Sasuke!" The crowd chanted his name cheering on their champion who was struggling in this epic clash of wills.
"Cana! Cana! Cana! Wooo!" The other half celebrated as with a last large gulp Cana finished off her barrel raising it above her head to show not a drop was left to come. Finishing but seconds after Sasuke groaned and sank to the table head in hands, he just lost drinking contest with a 16 year old.
"Haha yeah, take that Sasuke!" The red faced girl was busy gloating, after turning 16 the month previous she had taken to alcohol like Erza to cheesecake. No one was quite sure how a tiny girl was handling all the alcohol without dying of blood poisoning but the bets for how long her liver would hold out had already started.
Sasuke had been at the guild 8 months now and had settled into a routine. Wake up go to the guild and hang around until a mission caught his fancy or he was sucked into one of the endless brawls. As far as routines went it was easy, fun and different almost every day, the perfect combination for him. The missions so far had been far too easy but the Mater was still not allowing him to take S-ranks until he had officially joined the rank, something laxus had made sure to remind him of every time he saw him.
As far as friends went Laxus was one of his closer ones, after the blonde had returned from his first S-rank mission with a new tag along Bixlow the newly minted Thunder God Tribe had began to tackle a chunk of harder and harder missions as if they were in some sort of competition. When he was back at the guild his brash competitive nature made him easy to get along with, Laxus liked a fight and a drink, but also had very little tolerance for weakness in either, luckily for Sasuke he struggled in neither and could spend comfortable hours in the blondes company drinking in almost silence.
On the other end of the spectrum completely Mira and Cana had both recently started partying hard, they had taken to dragging anyone they could get on to nights out that left the guild completely to find more active night spots in the city. Fortunately for him, Sasuke had managed to avoid most of these, he barely understood this whole clubbing thing, the music they played was little better than noise to him.
But now as Sasuke retreated from the cheering crowd he sat by one of the newer members of the guild. Levy had only recently joined the guild and remained slightly shy and in awe of the whole spectacle of it. Sasuke enjoyed her company for the most part, she was far more clever than many others and he was able to have in depth discussions with her about the nature of Etherno and the mysteries of the source of magic. This made recruiting her as an unwitting spy very easy as she treated it as her own personal investigation.
Levy had not yet noticed he had sat down across from her, too engrossed in her book, allowing Sasuke to relax into his chair, he'd had enough fun for one morning.
Slam. Obviously the universe did not agree with him. The Second floor door opened to reveal the master of Fairy Tail, who jumped up onto the balcony rails to address the guild. "Alright alright listen up you lot i have an announcement to make. The S-class exams will be next month, and i have chosen the participants." The guild was deathly silent everyone was sat forward in their seats hanging on the masters words.
"Ahem, the chosen six who will participate in this years S-class exams are, Erza, Mira, Cana, Macao, Freed and Sasuke. Each of you must choose a partner to accompany you, you may not choose an S-class as your partner. That is all" and he jumped down again, disappearing back behind his doors which slammed behind him leaving the guild in turmoil as discussion and betting began to take place.
Sasuke blanched as a crowd formed around him, asking who he would choose to be his partner, offering themselves for the service or simply asking him how well he would do. Looking around it seemed everyone was getting the same treatment, Mira had quickly chosen Elfman as her second an obvious choice given how often they worked together. Macao and Wakaba were chinking tankards together to cement another obvious pairing. Freed seemed to be sizing up Bixlow and Evergreen, choosing Bixlow if the man's cheers were anything to go by.
This left Sasuke Erza and Cana as the last free members and they were each receiving a veritable hoard of applicants. Sasuke observed his hopefuls, there was really no point to taking any of them, it wasn't like any of the current S-class would trouble him and the other competitors didn't even feature on his threat list, the only way Sasuke might be troubled would be a test that required more than brute strength. Well that made the decision easy.
"Hey Levy, fancy a holiday?"
"Me?" Levy looked shocked to have been spoken to and was shrinking away from the glares and shouts of disbelief from the crowd around her, "But Sasuke i'm weak there's no way i could be any help"
"You think any of this lot can?" Sasuke questioned, dismissing the rest with an absent wave of his hand "I'm confident about taking anyone in this guild in a fight, meaning the only help i'll need is in the brains departement, and in that there's no better choice than you"
Levy blushed from the praise. Failing to meet Sasuke's eyes completely she stared at her toes and considered her options. Yes Sasuke was supposedly super strong, completing most missions without even using magic and competing could be interesting she would get to see the Fairy Tail Holygrounds! That decided it.
"Okay, Let's do it!" Eyes blazing with the chance of new knowledge Levy stood upon her chair with a fist raised skyward. "S-Class here we come!" Sasuke chuckled at her abrupt mood swing.
Across the room Cana and Erza were still making their decision. They had both thinned the heard of potential partners and had been left with a shortlist of the best. Namely, Natsu, Gray, Max and Warrod. For Cana Warrod was straight out, she was more of a support style herself and needed a more frontline guy to tank some blows for her, however it would have to be someone smart enough to follow her plans which kicked Natsu straight out.
"Gray, lets do this" Gray had a wide range of abilities with his Ice-make including the ability to shield and protect her as she set up her own attacks making the decision fairly easy.
"Natsu you will not disappoint me" Erza had simply decided that Natsu would make a convenient distraction that would at least annoy anyone else they came across, that and he would never give up and his tracking abilities.
"Allright, S-Class here i come!" Natsu cheered. Gray merely smirked as he casually removed is top.
I regret this already, Thought both female mages as they watched their partner strip or dance around shouting respectively.
Sasuke watched as the last partners were chosen. Now the roster was complete. Not that he was particularly worried about any of his competitors, there would only be one victor from this exam, Him.
"Faster" Sasuke shouted as he sent a trio of fireballs hurtling across the field to nip at the heels of Levy who screamed as she picked up her pace, almost sprinting across the field, jumping barrels, ducking trip wires and avoiding the many projectiles Sasuke threw her way.
"Is it too late to give up!" She cried for the 4th time that day, receiving no response as usual as Sasuke sent a larger fire ball towards her. She squeaked as she threw herself to the ground to dodge it, letting it sail over head singing the tips of her hair as it skimmed over her. She lay there panting even as Sasuke called for her to get up and move again, this time she was done, could not have moved if she wanted too.
"Well that was an improvement at least" Sasuke strolled over to offer her a hand up which she gladly accepted. "That's almost an hour longer than last week, by the start of the exam we should be able to double it again"
Levy groaned at that, the thought of even another minute of this torture was enough to make her want to crawl into her bed and stay there till this whole exam was over. Immediately after choosing her as his partner Sasuke had began constructing a grueling training regime to get her up to his high standard before the exam started. While it was working, and she could see the visible improvement to both her stamina and strength already, she had never cared overly for the physical side of magic and was not enjoying the experience.
"Come on" Sasuke said as he pulled Levy to her feet, "Lets go have some lunch, then we can focus on some book work for the afternoon, i have an idea on how to increase the power of your word chains" he set off towards the guild leaving Levy to slowly shuffle after him, sufficiently motivated by the promise of new spells to follow him.
That afternoon Hargeon was rocked by an explosion that sent tree's and dirt flying into the air from the forest. When some guild members were sent out to investigate all they found was Sasuke and Levy returning, Levy speaking at a thousand words a minute hands flailing wildly and her face sporting an almost manic smile, Sasuke was simply smirking.
The other competitors gulped in trepidation, the rest of the guild simply grinned. This exam was getting far more interesting.
The boat ride had so far been quite pleasant, Sasuke decided as he stretched out in his deck chair and enjoyed the chilled cocktail he was currently sipping on. He wasn't sure why a full bar was being provided on a boat taking them to an exam but he wasn't going to say no to a drink, it's not like the alcohol really affected him much after all, and if it removed some from his competitors from the race, Cana Macao and Wakaba seemed the likely candidates, all the better for him.
The Master had welcomed them aboard some hours ago and they had been making a good pace out into what seemed like empty ocean ever since. Besides from the reveal that Natsu really didn't do travel the journey had been quite pleasant, everyone seemingly choosing to act friendly for now until the exam began, though Sasuke was watching out for tricks regardless, he wasnt that trustfull.
Searching out to the very limits of his senses he finally felt something. They were approaching an Island, their destination? Probably. He gave Levy a nudge waking her from her nap, "We'll be there soon, be ready" She nodded, her face resolute if a bit nervous.
For thirty minutes the boat sailed on as normal, the mood on deck however had grown far more serious as everyone had picked up on the tone shift, pairs had split from the group and last minute plans and tactics were being discussed in hushed whispers. As the island came into view the tension only increased, for many this was their first time seeing the fabled homeland of Fairy Tail and they looked upon the island with awe.
Finally as they got close enough to the Island to see the individual tree's upon the shore the master emerged from below deck.
"Alright you brats who's ready for a little competition" Ignoring the cheers from Natsu, and the complaints from Macao that he was over 30 god dammit, he began his explanation, "Now the exam has three stages, stage 2 can be found down those tunnels" He pointed to the shore where a number of entrances into the rock could be seen. "Stage 1 is getting there, and there are no rules, everything goes. Have fun kids"
Before he could even finish his sentence the boat had rocketed into action. Letting their age show their experience, team old men had been at the front of the boat from the start and had jumped down onto a platform of smoke before the master had finished talking.
Fast on the uptake Sasuke had quickly grabbed Levy and taken a superhuman leap that left the boat rocking in his wake as he flew towards the shore. "Levy platform!" he shouted at the screaming girl, regaining her senses Levy gave a shrill "Solid script: Earth" creating a floating word of earth that Sasuke was able to push off of, jumping closer to the beach with every jump.
Back on the boat Cana and Gray were running over a platform of ice, Freed and Bixlow were floating on the man's puppets. Mira was riding elfman to shore, the big man racing forward in an impressive butterfly stroke as Mira sat upon his back. This left just Erza and Natsu on the boat, Natsu having yet to recover from his bout of sea sickness, Erza had obviously given up on the patient method as she grabbed the boy and threw him off the boat, requipping to her Aqua armour she jumped off herself to follow the pink haired boy.
As the first to the beach Sasuke had the first choice of tunnels to take, as far as he could tell they all seemed identical, "What do you think?" he asked Levy, i can tell there's at least one powerful person down there, but i've got no way to tell which is where.
"From what i've heard we will have to fight one of the other S-Class members, but as there are far more teams than S-Class we'll probably fight each other first to cutdown the numbers.
"So what you're saying is that it doesn't matter what we pick, well that makes this an easy choice" Sasuke setoff down the first tunnel, Levy following along after him.
With a final grunt of exertion Erza tossed Natsu from the waves to the shore, he fell to the beach with a wet thump as his mouth filled with sand as he impacted the beach face first. Wading out of the water to meet him Erza sighed as she stomped on the boys back, making water shoot from his mouth like a burst fountain. "Come on Natsu we're late" she commanded as the boy shakily got to his feet, eyes still swirling from his near death experience.
Eyeing the tunnels ahead she saw that to no surprise all but one tunnel was blocked by a large rock, leaving one tunnel, number 4, as their only option.
"Ragh! Lets go!" Natsu screamed as he ran off down it, senses regained and wounded pride ready to heal itself.
Smiling despite herself Erza hurried after him, she had made a good choice, Natsu was too stupid to give up. Though he had run out of sight already, that was a problem.
A big problem it turned out.
Coming round the corner and out into the opening of a large cave she saw Natsu already unconscious bound and gagged in the middle of the cave. Watching her approach, one foot planted firmly on his captive was Sasuke.
"Erza, nice of you to join us. We we're starting to worry you had drowned on the way here and we would never progress. Sorry about Natsu, we heard him coming from the second he set off down the tunnel and he fell straight into my little tripwire, should i untie him? It might give you more of a fighting chance"
That was more than she could bear to take. Erza moved. From standing to requipping, to launching herself across the room. The movement took less than a second and she unleashed a swipe of her sword fast enough to produce a sonic boom as it cut through the air at lightning speed. Sasuke parried with a swipe from a small knife that appeared in one hand. The strength of it threw her clear across the room and she spat blood as her back smashed into the rocky wall.
"That looked like it hurt" Sasuke called over to her, she growled and let the leopard print armour disperse into magic, replacing it with a more complete set of interlocking plates. "Yes that looks like a better choice, don't want to go full speed if your still slower than your opponent with it"
This time her attack was dodged, Sasuke bobbed and weaved around her as she swiped at him with precise controlled attacks. Getting into the rhythm she made a quick switch into her more aggressive black wing armour, the extra range of her larger sword succeeded in making Sasuke block not dodge, the extra weight behind the blade forcing him to dig in his heels and push against her. Erza grinned as she forced him down, her superior strength prevailing as she looked into his eyes. Sasuke was grinning.
Erza gasped as her back was crushed by a massive weight that sent her crashing back to the floor. Turning her head she saw a massive weight resting on her back, a large block reading Iron. 'Stupid' she had forgotten all about Levy in her rage and had paid the price now all she could do was watch as Sasuke looked down on her, like he always was. Erza gave a wild scream and pushed. The weight toppled from her and she sprang to her feet and jumped back to stand across from Sasuke.
"Ready to go again? That was lesson two by the way, never forget the other target. Lesson one was keep an eye on your own team by the way" Sasuke teased, inwardly chuckling as Erza's face turned even more red.
"Stop teasing her Sasuke" Levy begged from the side, Sasuke may not be scared of Erza ,but she was, and she wouldn't have his protection once they got back to the guild.
This seemed to just make Erza angrier, instead of attacking she requipped once more into a rather revealing outfit, a long flowing dress of blades that scraped the ground before she rose into the air, summoning a sea of blades to circle around her in a spinning circle of pointed metal.
"Heaven's Wheel" She called, sending flying blades towards them in a shower of sharp metal.
Sasuke grabbed Levi in tight to his body to shield her from the deluge as he knocked and parried away the shower of metal. Dodging away from the last falling sword he raised his hands to his mouth, ready to retaliate in this battle. Three flaming bolts shot towards Erza who swooped through the air to dodge them, only to come right into the path of another two that struck her in the chest sending her falling to the ground once more, broken plate and fabric trailing after her.
Landing in a crouch she glowed as she requipped again, not wasting a moment as Sasuke came towards her at speed, a large wall of flame leading his assault on her position.
Erza came out of her requip with a smile, planted her feet and held her sword out confidently to tank the coming flames. Her flame empress armour shone bright as the onrushing fire washed over her, thanks to her armour she felt none of the heat and she smiled at Sasuke, confident in her ability once more, she twirled her sword to redirect the flames back at their maker. The sword glowed as it absorbed the flames, a soft glow that turned to a shining beacon that exploded with a shrieking crack sending burning fragments of metal shooting across the cavern.
Erza screamed as her unprotected face was spattered by red hot metal, she brought her hands to the face to tear burning metal away from where it had caught and stuck in her skin.
"Levy water! Now!" Sasuke called as he rushed to Erza's side, grabbing her arms in one hand he quickly removed the offending pieces of metal with the other, "Stupid girl, you saw what happened to Natsu last time. What the hell were you thinking?"
Erza either didn't hear or was incapable of replying, her screams had diminished to a pained whimper that became a soothed moan as Levy dumped water on her, the chilled liquid relieving her from the burning pain. Levy followed up the water with a solid block of ice that she held up to Erza's face.
Erza was heavily breathing now, the immediate rush of pain had left her, leaving just a dull ache that was slowly numbing out as her face bagan to freeze instead. Levy continued to fuss over her but Sasuke had walked over to the now broken sword and was inspecting the hilt. He turned back to her and their eyes met. Now he knew what she knew, that Sword was a pure element sword, capable of absorbing flames of all creation, pure Etherno should not have caused that reaction.
Now Erza was sure, Sasuke had lied before, his power used another source, something that could break even the fabled Flame empress blade. She wasn't sure what had that sort of power, but she doubted it was anything good. She continued to glare at him even after he turned away, she would find out what he was. And then the whole guild would know the truth.
Sasuke and Levy continued further into the cavern. After the battle had been resolved two more doors had opened, one for the victors and the defeated. They had woken Natsu and instructed him to take Erza down the tunnel to receive more expert medical attention than the limited ability of cooling the burns. Then they had proceeded down their tunnel and began their walk forward.
Levy glanced sideways at Sasuke once more, she had been feeling guilty ever since the match end. While the injuries Erza sustained were by no means life threatening they still could potentially form lasting scars and looked rather painful to boot. She was as yet unclear why Erza's sword had reacted as it did to Sasuke's fire and was currently too shy to question it, he wasn't particularly forthcoming with answers that was for sure. Realising she would have to open this conversation herself she opened her mouth to ask-
"Stop, were here"
And was interrupted. Sasuke had flung his arm out across her body before she could take another step forward.
"Ahead is another opening, inside is one person. And there very strong"
Levy gulped, she had forgotten about the task ahead as her thoughts had run with the previous battles but now her focus was snapped back like an elastic. Ahead was an S-class mage, one of the strongest in Fairy Tail if not Fiore as a whole, and she had to fight them.
"Is, Is it Laxus" She managed to squeak, the blonde still frightened her slightly, his personality never particularly resonated with hers.
"No, it's even better" Sasuke was grinning now, and Levy decided that may be more frightening than what was to come, "Don't worry Levy, I'll keep you safe, just go with formation B and this will all work out"
Plan decided they continued forward, round the corner the tunnel widened out to meet the frame of a large Oak door, patterned carving around the edges detailed fairies and monsters circling one another in an endless pattern.
Sasuke pushed them open with enough strength to send them slamming against their hinges. The revealed room was similar to the last, an open rocky cavern with no decoration of sort, standing in the middle was one man, tall, red haired and smiling.
"Haha finally. I thought no one was ever going to arrive" Gildarts laughed as he swept both hands open wide to greet them in, "Welcome to the second task, your job is to prove yourself worthy, I am the sole judge and my condition is thus. To be S-class you must be strong, unless you can defeat me you will fail this exam, so come, Sasuke."
Sasuke stepped forward, "Heh, to be honest i hoped it would be you i faced, kicking Laxus about would just feel mean, I'm going to enjoy this"
Sasuke was sent back into the wall with a slam. Gildarts had moved faster than the eye could see to deck him in the face with a fearsome right hook.
"Oh yeah" Sasuke stood from the rubble, brushing aside the rock and dust from atop himself "I'm going to enjoy this"
He sprinted towards Gildarts and the two began a collision of blows that kicked up dust and debris and shook the walls of the cave themself.
The two seperated, eyes meeting as they shared identical grins from the fight. Sasuke found himself actually struggling physically, he could feel as Gildarts magic threatened to tear him apart, forcing him to use his own chakra to defend, and so reducing the power of his own punched that stopped him from blowing Gildarts away.
"You really are strong" Sauke complimented the man across from him "You certainly live up to the hype"
Gildarts chuckled, pulling a fist back ready to destroy everything in front of him "I am the Hype!" he struck.
His punch released enough force to cause parts of the ceiling to collapse, the cavern was filled with the sound of rockfall and the sight of thick dust that hide all from view.
Looking around Gildarts was pleasantly surprised to be snuck up on. Te kick to his rear sending him shooting out of the dust cloud to the caverns roof. Sasuke had survived, and was standing below smirking up at him.
"Kill him"
Gildarts back hit something soft. Turning he saw the roof of the cavern had filled with words. Soft bouncy floating words, that spelt hydrogen. Gildarts had just enough time to wander what that was before another word was sent up to meet them. This one said Fire, but Gildarts was easily able to dodge the slow moving spell, letting it skim past his head.
Then the world erupted and Gildarts was suddenly on the ground again, and his entire body felt like singed meat.
Groaning he pulled himself to his feet, Sasuke now stood across from him and almost behind him was Levy, ducking away from Gildarts gaze as much as she could.
Gildarts burst out laughing. "Hahaha that was fun, really didn't see that coming, I'm sorry to say i almost forgot about you Levi, looks like i paid for that! Hahaha" doubling over himself Gildarts collapsed into a further bout of laughter that carried on for a full minute before, with visible effort, he stifled himself to a last chuckle before continuing "Ha we'll call it there, anymore than that and i think the cave will collapse"
A stone fell from the ceiling, as if to prove the point, and all three moved towards the exit in a slightly rushed manner.
"Well" Gildarts paused to listen to the rumbling sound of falling rocks, now coming from behind them, "That all finished with a record low amount of destruction. Let's head on to the third task" He set off down the corridor, still laughing uproariously.
"I can't tell, is he really smart or strong? Or really stupid?"
"Levy, Levy. Soon enough you'll realise the stronger someone is the more chance there completely insane, normal people don't have the drive to do so."
"Well what about you, your pretty strong"
Sasuke snorted and set off after Gildarts leaving Levy standing by herself in the tunnel.
"I wish that didn't answer my question but it really did" She ran off after the two insane mages, considering her life choices.
The meeting place for the post 2nd round was in uproar. On one side Gray and Cana were helping to finish heal Erza, who was hidden beneath the large ice sculpture perched upon her face. Next to them Macao and Wakaba lay groaning, the wounds they had received at the hands of Mira still fresh and sore. Mira herself was still kicking and screaming behind a gag, despite being beaten to within an inch of her life by Laxus she just kept getting up again, so in the end he had simply chained her up to end the fight and had neglected to untie her yet, no one else seemed willing to do so either.
Freed and Bixlow sat sulking, their defeat from the Master still fresh in their minds, this left Laxus as the only one around to try and calm Natsu who was mad that he hadn't got to do anything. That is if punching qualified as calming.
The master perked up from his nap as he felt the presence of Gildarts coming towards him. From the last cavern the man emerged, hair filled with dust and smiling broadly. The master sighed, great everyone had lost, that meant no one would be made S-class this year, he really needed to rethink this exam format.
Sasuke appeared from behind Gildarts. He looked no worse for where besides the dust that seemed to be covering all of them as Levy appeared too, blue hair filled with pebbles and clothes tattered and torn.
"Yo Master! One for the third task here"
"What!" screamed everyone who was able. Even Mira making muffled sounds of surprise from behind her gag. Laxus had doubled over laughing and fallen from his seat.
"What? He was pretty strong. Plus i collapsed the cave so had to cancel the rest"
Everyone sighed at that second line, that sounded more like Gildarts.
"Yes!" Cheered the master. Blanching when everyone stared at him, "Um hmph, I mean, Congratulations Sasuke, as the only Mage left in the competition i procalim you the new S-class of Fairy Tail. Follow me for the initiation, otherwise known as, the third task"
The clearing erupted in complaints and arguments as everyone who was able protested the decision, except Laxus who was too busy laughing on the ground still.
Sasuke followed the master through the forest. The shadows danced around them as they passed under the large trees. This really was a beautiful place, Sasuke decided, the large forest reminded him of Konoha, the empty Island untouched by humans in recent years gave way for a natural feeling so hard to recreate.
The Master stopped ahead of him. They had arrived at an open clearing, the edges of the tree's and the path Sasuke walked was cast in shadow but the clearing was lit up by a circle clear of greenery above it like no plant was willing to grow in what should be contested space. In the middle of the clearing stood a tall white Gravestone with large letters carved into it.
"Here we are. The Shrine of the First Master of Fairy Tail, Mavis. This is where all Mages of Fairy Tail must make their Oathe. Step forward Sasuke, place your hands upon the stone, and swear to protect and serve the Guild"
Sasuke stepped forward towards the stone. Placing a hand upon its chilled service he began to speak.
"I Uchiha Sasuke swear to fight for Fairy Tail, to take missions for the guild and complete them to the best of my ability. I swear to protect my guildmates and help them in achieving their goals."
'Liar'
The voice sounded in his head, and Sasuke jumped like he'd been stung.
'Do not lie to me boy, but do not fear to tell the truth, speak in your mind, tell me your wishes and i will judge you truly'
'Who is this, how are you speaking to me?'
The voice giggled. Like a little girl, 'silly. I am Mavis the First Master, i judge all who join the upper echelons of my guild. Now tell me, what do you desire, what drives you?'
'I'm searching for the truth. I'm searching for my friend, i need answers and Fairy Tail gives me the resources and contact to help me'
'But is that all you do? Do you not spend time with the guild? Do you not party with the members? Do you enjoy it?'
'Well, Yes. I do.'
'Well! That's all i need to hear.'
Sasuke fought the urge to smack his face into his palms.
'I don't need to hear some pledge of sacrifice and duty, that's not what Fairy Tails about. You are free to search for you own dreams Sasuke, just don't ignore your friends at the guild when you do.'
'I'll try to keep that in mind'
'Great! In that case… Welcome, to the S-class'
And the gravestone began to glow, the white stone humming as it turned a radiant blue. Sasuke's guild mark lit up and he felt the nature of it change and twist.
"Congratulations Sasuke, you have passed the third trial. You are now aloud access to the 2nd floor of the guild building and and quest up there." The master was in front of him now and giving him a strange look.
"You've risen quickly through this guild Sasuke. I'm proud of the progress you've made and i look forward to seeing how far you can rise. But please, don't be afraid to trust us, i know you have secrets Sasuke, you don't get to this age without learning how to see a man's true nature, just try to enjoy yourself a bit more."
Sasuke traced the edge of his guildmark with his index finger. Not meeting the eye of the Master as he considered the very similar conversations he had just had.
"Sure" he smiled "I'll try"
It took 3 months of searching to find the other humans. Their village was thriving, large stone towers, streets, signs of infrastructure, all from a civilisation that could not be more than twenty years old.
Sasuke snuck through the town, easily dodging the handful of guards who patrolled the outskirts. Sticking to the roofs he quickly made his way through, watching and observing as he went along. Everywhere he looked he saw happy families, children playing and generally good people. What made them attack his tribe? What drove them to such cruel acts?
He felt the answer before he could think anymore.
His measured stealthy movement vanished as he leaped forward, clearing three buildings in one bound, moving again the second he landed to land on the side of the largest tower. He ran up the side and kicked in a window high up on the tower, pausing in the window sill as he gaped at the sight inside.
It was Naruto.
Not just Naruto.
"Sasuke! Welcome, you finally came to see me!"
Naruto sat upon a comfortable looking sofa, under one arm another figure stirred as if waking from sleep.
"Oh where are my manners. Sasuke meet my wife, say hello Hinata"
And the woman looked up at Sasuke with white pupiless eyes.
Well there goes another one. Not going to lie, i'm not happy with this chapter. It was never supposed to get this long but things just kept cropping up and it never started to flow together nicely.
Two more chapters of backstory then we can finally get to Canon. Erza has figured something out and Mavis has appeared. On that note, Mavis has not realised what Sasuke is, how could she? So dont expect anything on that front.
I'm expecting some backlash over OOC ness from certain characters this chapter, my exscuse is going to be simply, its not canon yet, Erza changes a lot after gaining the recognition of S-Class, inversely Laxus gets worse as even that doesnt make his grandpa love him.
I know Mystogan should be there already but i have decided to scrap that, he wont appear till later, shit dont make sense otherwise.
Review answers:
Rain: Thanks man, yeah i like that chapter too, not a fan of this one unfortunately but next one i've got cool stuff planned
Petem: Thanks again man, hope you can see what Naruto was working towards now, Naruto is always driven by protecting his friends, how do you protect someone from death? Bring them back!
Hades the scribe: I think i know the fic you mean, the one where Naruto's a hollow right? Ii enjoyed it but got distracted by tv and never finished im not much of a bleach fan and it got so heavy in bleach lore i was a bit distracted. Excellent point with Orochimaru/Pain thing hope this clears it up. Naruto was trying to recreate his whole life and friends hence the experimentation thing
Crimson: Yep Narutos bijuu absorbption made him fully immortal, we'll see that soon.
DontMindMe Anon: Thanks man, yeah im a hypocrite as thats the thing that annoys me the most with stories too, im just going to blame the fact im a computer scientist not an english man, If length.(word) 5 : DontLearn
Thanks for reading, (please dont give up due to this chapter)
Peace.