This chapter was written by DeathGodSlayer
"Flash Step: Over The Horizon!" Naruto called before instantly teleporting across the battlefield, floating weightlessly in mid-air over a flying gargoyle statue now brought to life. "Rasen: Gan!" He yelled forming a sphere of pure spiralling magic in has palm before drilling it into the back of the statue gargoyle, destroying it instantly], before spotting another gargoyle underneath allowing himself to drop and drill the sphere through the larger ground gargoyle statue, destroying it as well.
Naruto stopped momentarily, looking around at the scene, the small room had been filled with dust and rubble, overhead, he and Evergreen took control of the flying gargoyles. Evergreen using her ability to fly with her Fairy Dust magic, Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun to annihilate them quickly.
"Solid Script: Rope!" Levy called from beneath him, created the word rope in the air, created from rope. Jet quickly took hold of him, and with his God's Leg, ran quickly around twenty soldier gargoyles and bundling them together. "Droy, now!" He screamed towards his black haired partner.
"Got it!" Droy replied quickly, throwing his Live Coal seeds into the mix of gargoyles before slapping the palms of his hands together. "Hammer Plant!" Large vines with plant hammers at the top emerged from the ground, quickly pummelling the twenty gargoyles into rubble. "Levy! Go again with Solid Script!" Droy shouted to the small blue haired girl, having her repeat their team battle formation.
'It's a good thing these gargoyles are weak and already broken, we're taking them out quickly.' Naruto smirked victoriously as he destroyed another flying gargoyle with Rasen.
Just then a loud zombie like moan was heard, they all turned to the source. From the stairs came a massive statue gargoyle, every step shaking the ground they stood on. Standing at least 25 feet tall, this monster held a large sceptre tipped with a hammer like ball, unlike the other conventional weapons the smaller gargoyles used. Dressed in armour like details with a long stone cape stuck in a fixed position surrounding it, on its head was a deformed crown, with small spikes digging into its head from the base of the crown.
As it approached it swung it's massive sceptre towards Levy who was unprepared for the attack. 'Shit!' Naruto thought with worry, staring directly at Levy. "Flash Step: Target - Levy!" He quickly teleported to her location, having enough time to throw her out the way, yet not enough time to move himself, he took the fall force of the swing from the sceptre, launching him across the hall into the wall of the cave. The king gargoyle hit several of its 'subordinates', destroying them instantly.
The king gargoyle swung it's sceptre again, trying to hit the others, but the dodged effectively being more ready for its attack, the attack collided with the cave's walls, shaking the entire hall. Large chunks of rock began falling from the ceiling. 'It's gonna cause a cave in if it isn't detail with quickly!' Naruto grunted as he stood back up, taking out his Contract Gun. "Load Platinum Disc!" He shouted as he took out his newest disc and loaded it into the gun. "Summon: Eleventh Year Xushi: Yirrow the Dog!"
A bright light shone from the gun, as the light faded, he found that everything about Yirrow had changed; he presented a new form to Naruto, the one that so far seemed the most human. The fur had left his face, save for short blue hair on the top of his head, with a stripe of black fur, the blue hair was long enough to resemble two ears. A black mask covered his red eyes and shorter muzzle, revealing only the cheeks, mouth and parts of the forehead, revealing tan skin. Yellow fur covered his torso with a large spike in the centre of his chest. Sleek black fur covered his shoulders, and forearms where another two spikes grew from the back of his hands, as well as his legs from his knee downwards, his upper arm and thighs were covered by sleek blue fur. His body was very lean, not nearly as muscular as his other form, and was also much shorter in comparison, now standing around the same height as Naruto himself.
"Thank you for summoning me Naruto, I was beginning to worry about your safety against these things, I can feel Spedisie's curses radiating from them." Yirrow spoke in a cool, calm voice, yet his brow furrowed in what appeared to be anger.
"We need to defeat it quickly, Yirrow, can you help?" Naruto asked as he moved to stand next to the dog spirit.
"Yes." Yirrow nodded affirmatively. "This will be a good opportunity to practise what you taught me." Yirrow smirked, overflowing with confidence. Naruto grinned himself, remembering his last conversation with Yirrow.
-Flashback-
"So what did you want, Yirrow?" Naruto looked at the small dog in front of him, being taken away from Lucy by the small dog who made a request from of the blond a while ago.
"A would ask you for a favour, Naruto." Yirrow replied, before closing its small eyes. A bright light enveloped him, Naruto watch the small dog as it suddenly grew in size, moving to stand on its hind legs only.
As the light faded, he found that everything about Yirrow had changed; he presented a new form to Naruto, the one that so far seemed the most human. The fur had left his face, save for short blue hair on the top of his head, with a stripe of black fur, the blue hair was long enough to resemble two ears. A black mask covered his red eyes and shorter muzzle, revealing only the cheeks, mouth and parts of the forehead, revealing tan skin. Yellow fur covered his torso with a large spike in the centre of his chest. Sleek black fur covered his shoulders, and forearms where another two spikes grew from the back of his hands, as well as his legs from his knee downwards, his upper arm and thighs were covered by sleek blue fur. His body was very lean, not nearly as muscular as his other form, and was also much shorter in comparison, now standing around the same height as Naruto himself.
"How did you do that?" Naruto asked with interest, Yirrow had now presented three very different forms to himself.
"My main magic, Species." Yirrow replied in a very calm, collected voice. "It is a very complex transformation magic, much more different than regular Transformations or even Take Overs. I can morph different aspects of my body to suit any battle, this form, is my Speed Forme, it gives me my highest possible speed, as well as uncanny reflexes, however it negates strength, pitting me weaker against foes who can match my speed but also have strength, such as Wiin when he uses Burst." He explained quickly, yet in detail. "What I wanted to ask Naruto is if that magic you used against me whilst I was under Spedisie's influence, Rasen. Is it possible to learn it? It would dramatically increase this forme's power."
Naruto's eyes widened with surprise at the request, before he beamed widely. "Of course I'll teach you it, you share your power with me, it's only fair I do the same."
-Flashback-End-
"Let's go!" Naruto shouted, with incredible speed, Naruto and Yirrow sped around the cave, both of them with Rasen: Gan charged in their hands, they attacked different parts of the 25 foot tall gargoyle, Naruto attacked it's right hand, yet only destroyed up to the elbow, however the gargoyle lost the sceptre with the attack, Yirrow drilled his into its left leg, his wasn't as strong or perfect yet as Naruto's leaving a large hole in its leg rather than destroying it.
Naruto jumped high in the air, drilling another Rasen: Gan into its chest, illuminating the gargoyle's face. That was when Naruto noticed it, the jewel in the centre of its crown, it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. The gargoyle moved to grab him with its remaining hand, but the blonde mage quickly jumped away.
Naruto placed his right palm behind his left hand, extending his arms out. "Rasen: Taihō!" He called, the spiralling sphere of pure magic grew in his hands being larger than the usual size of Gan, instead of moving, the sphere extending into a horizontal pillar of pure magic, striking the gargoyle on the left shoulder, enough to completely blow off its head and arm, crumbling the rest of the gargoyle to pieces.
Its head flew towards Naruto, and he quickly grabbed it, before a terrible shaking could be felt. It was if the place was programmed to destroy itself with the destruction of the king gargoyle. Walls began to crumble and crack, larger chunks of rock collapsed from the ceiling.
"Yirrow go back!" Naruto yelled towards the spirit, which nodded before disappearing in a faint light. "Everyone get out, the place is gonna cave in!" He called to the rest of his team.
None of them wasted anytime, they all sped through the cave, the collapsing ceiling not far behind them, luckily the pathways were straightforward, quickly directing them towards the bright light of the open sky.
They jumped out of the cave's entrance just as it collapsed, forever closing off the cave to trespassers again.
"That was close!" Jet sighed loudly, laughing quietly in relief. "Say, Naruto, why did you keep that things head?" He looked towards the blond with scepticism, seeing the king gargoyle's head in the blonde's arms.
However Naruto didn't respond, he looked at the jewel on the monster's crown. A tortoise, with a snake coiled around it was present on the front. 'How bizarre…' He stared in confusion at the design. His fingers moved towards the jewel, and with slight difficulty he plucked it from its stone casing.
It was flat, just like his discs, made out of a peculiar blue diamond like substance, on the opposite side of the disc, it had the symbol for something known as 'Black Tortoise'. He casually dropped the head of the gargoyle, staring at the disc with awe and wonder. 'Just what is it?'
"Your fighting skills and natural leadership have impressed me," Evergreen spoke to him, breaking him out of his fixated trance upon the disc. "Something that isn't easy to accomplish."
The blond only looked back at her, nodding once. "Come on," He called to the entire group. "We should head back to the town."
"We all went in different directions in the cave, so we searched the entire place. The only thing that was in the cave was a room in the centre of the cave filled with gargoyles made out of stone. But they came alive and started to attack us, our fight with them caused a cave in, but there was definitely no treasure in the cave and no signs of mining for treasure, it appeared to be just a regular old cave." Levy explained the situation to the village's leader, Anhalterin. Who appeared suspicious of the story as he listened to it.
"Hmm….. And you're sure there was no treasure at the cave?" He mused as he stared at the team.
Naruto subconsciously tightened his grip on the disc, whilst his other hand moved to his back pocket gently touching the journal book he found in the cave. "Positive. There was nothing there." The blond replied for the group after a few seconds.
"That's a pity, makes me wonder if you even deserve a payment if you came back empty handed." The old man spoke to himself out loud, stroking his chin contemplatively as he thought on the matter.
"Wait a minute." The blond spoke again, his brow lowering with annoyance. "The request explained that the job was to explore and search the cave, there was no specification on returning with treasure. If you wanted treasure returning, you should have stated in the request. The matter of fact is that we performed what was required from us as stated in the request, and we put our live on the line in that job. We DESERVE a payment." Naruto spoke with authority, his blue eyes flaring slightly with anger, his stare locked onto the old man, and it was something that Anhalterin did not want to challenge.
"Very well, follow me and you'll receive your payment…."
"150'000J split between the four of us, makes 37'500J each." Naruto spoke as he evenly spread out the money on the table in the team's train booth, setting up four even stacks of jewels. "By the way, when did Evergreen leave, I thought she would have wanted part of the money?" Naruto added the question as he picked a stack up and put it back into his pocket.
"She left when we went with Anhalterin to get our payment. I suppose she wanted to make her own, quicker way back to the guild, she is quite reclusive actually, I doubt she wanted to spend an entire train journey with us as well." Levy replied with a cheery complexion as Team Shadow Gear pooled their cuts into one stack before Levy picked the whole sum from the table.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders after carefully listening to Levy's explanation. "Oh well, it's not like I'll probably ever see her again it that's the case." He spoke with a small smile, before fishing through his pocket, taking out the diamond blue disc once again, flickering against the light that shone through the window.
"Naruto, just what is that?" Droy asked with interest, his head nodding towards the small item in Naruto's hand.
Naruto's eyes did not move from the small disc. "I have no idea." He replied honestly, still fixated upon the small item. "But it looks a lot like my summoning tools. I'm going to research it when I get back to my apartment tonight."
"Laxus," Evergreen stood staring at the back of her leader, her idol as he was sat down, his long cape pooling over the chair he was sat on, spiky headphones covering his ears, and spiky blond hair being seen on his head. "I have found you your final member."
She saw how his head raised slightly; it appeared that even he was surprised at the news. "Ever, you, Fried, or Bixlow have never spoken those words towards me before." He didn't turn his head to meet her eyes in conversation. "None of you have ever deemed anyone worthy enough to fill that missing member. The mage must be something special."
"He is, Laxus." Evergreen responded with a smirk. "He has some interesting magic; A form of Stellar Spirit Summoning-"
"Stellar Spirits!" Laxus scoffed at the magic. "Not interested, those mages are weak."
"You don't understand, Laxus. I've never seen Stellar Spirits like his, his didn't use keys to open the gate, his used a gun. He called it Shēngxiào Entity Summoning." Evergreen responded with slight fear, worried that she might of wasted Laxus' valuable time.
"… And what else?" Laxus suddenly spoke after a few seconds of silence, as if contemplating the new knowledge. His head turned to the right, revealing a large lightning bolt shaped scar on his face, going over his right eye down his cheek.
Evergreen sighed in relief at his reply. "He has a Teleportation magic; Flash Step, even my eyes were unable to keep up with him. But his last magic was the most incredible; Rasen, he made Raw Pure Magic spiral from nowhere in his hand, its power was devastating."
"Manipulating Pure Magic is impossible, Ever! You know that!" Laxus' whole body rocketed up, turning around quickly to glare angrily at her. "Magic must be channelled through a medium! Light! Fire! Water! Wood! Even the body itself!"
"But the kid did it though, I watched him do it!" Evergreen jutted back quickly in fear. "He has talent, and he is powerful, Laxus. Give him a test, and he will pass it."
Laxus seemed to calm at the words, before a cool, calm smirk appeared on his face. "Very well, I shall give him a test to prove his capabilities. Where is he?"
"Well that's the best news of all! He's already in Fairy Tail, he joined only a couple of weeks ago!" Evergreen spoke happily, Laxus' happiness was her happiness.
Laxus appeared to grin at the news even further. "Excellent, that shall be his test. I hear whispers that they plan to attack the guild soon; testing himself against them will prove just how strong he is." He finished with a dark chuckle, "Tell me Ever, what is his name?"
Evergreen smirked in response to the question. "His name is Naruto Namikaze…"
Naruto lay comfortably on his bed in his apartment, one hand resting behind his head, the other held the new diamond like blue disc between the thumb and index finger. He stared in fascination at the small disc, he could make out the picture on it, a picture of a tortoise with a snake coiled around it, on the back was two symbols, Winter and North.
'Elife will have the answers for this…' Naruto thought conclusively about the all-knowing snake. Taking out his contract gun and her disc. "Load Platinum Disc." He pointed the gun directly in front of himself. "Summon: Sixth Year Sishi: Elife the Snake!"
He fired the gun, yet nothing happened, he fired again, yet still the door did not open. 'What's happening?' He stared down with confusion towards the gun.
Before a powerful light fired out of the gun, enveloping the entire room with white light, blinding Naruto, he could make nothing out from the room, everything went white.
"Naruto."
His eyes widened at the voice, as the light dimmed he saw Riegin, floating effortlessly in his room, his armour completely equipped, hiding his face from view. "We must speak."
Naruto immediately understood Riegin's meaning. Riegin must speak, he must listen. "This has not happened for many centuries, one of the Benitoite discs falling into a summoner's hands."
"So this is what this is? A Benitoite disc?" Naruto spoke, raising the disc into view of Riegin, who nodded once in return.
"The Benitoite discs are at a level even beyond us Platinum disc summons, only four of them exist, and for the longest of times, I believed that they had been lost to the ages. Yet by coincidence, or by sheer dumb luck, you, the first Shēngxiào Entity summoner in 400 years finds one." Riegin commented.
Naruto marvelled at the small disc in front of him. "Is it really that rare?" He spoke in a hushed whisper filled with awe.
Once again, Riegin gave one small nod. "And their power is beyond imagination, these spirits are beyond you at this moment in time. Forming the necessary bond between them is extremely difficult. Only the most courageous of mages, only those most at peace with themselves can harness their true power."
"Can you tell me anything else about them? What are they? What can they do?" Naruto began bombarding questions at the Leader of the Shēngxiào zodiacs.
Riegin only shook his head once. "That is as far as my knowledge on them goes. And don't bother asking Elife, I have already instructed her not to discuss the topic with you. You are not ready to pursue them, not yet anyway."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly, before a small smile grew on his face. "So is that all you came to tell me, Riegin?"
"There is more." Riegin nodded affirmatively. "Times have changed, Spedisie has begun to make faster, more unpredictable movements. You are not safe Naruto, while Spedisie continues to roam free without restraint. Yet despite that, you have ran into two of his schemes, even met him face to face, yet you have managed to elude his grasp. Elife has felt his movements, we know it is you he seeks, he has become fixated upon you, and he will not stop until he has claimed you for his own."
"What do you mean 'claimed me'?" Naruto asked with much confusion. "And just who is this Spedisie? You spirits have some bad history with him, and he told me that you betrayed him in the past? Just what is going on!"
"Perhaps another time…" Riegin commented quietly, not even attempting to answer his questions. "Spedisie has begun to move, and you need protection, that is all that matters. I know I said to face me when you deemed yourself ready, but times has changed. I believe you are ready to undertake my challenge."
Naruto's eyes widened with unimaginable shock as he stared at the dragon summon. "You're challenge…?"
Riegin nodded once again. "Yes. My challenge is simple, but perhaps the most difficult challenge of all. This is my challenge…"
You must release all of the spirits you have found so far…
