Fairy Tail's Tailed Beast Slayer (滅尾獣のフェアリーテイル/Metsubijū no Fearī Teiru)
Chapter 9: The Bonds of Friends and Rivals
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Naruto. Naruto belongs to Makashi Kishimoto while Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
Note: I know I said I'll upload this before I go back to University. But because of writer's block and stress from personal matters, I got delayed for quite a while. I also know that some of you have messaged me to update and I would like to say that I'm sorry for keeping you guys on hold like that. I've thought of leaving an author's note to explain the reasons why I didn't update but I didn't get to that because of important matters outside of Fanfiction once again. So I'll say this now so I don't worry the majority of you about updates: this story will most likely be uploaded with new chapters at least once/twice a month (or on a specific date via author's note), depending on how much I got written down or how much work I've got from my University classes. Once again, I'm very sorry for the delay and I hope this chapter pleases you all.
August X777,
Peaceful silence was all around the atmosphere of the abundant forest. Even though there was chirping from the birds and insects, it was still peaceful regardless. As for though resting from constant traveling, they soon become entranced from the sounds harmonizing with one and another. Especially for a young girl such as Wendy.
When Naruto and Jellal told the young girl to wait with their new companion to get firewood, Wendy became slightly upset at them leaving her behind even for a little while. Even though she wanted to help them, she easily complied to their order because she really wanted to know more about Sayla. After the two boys left, she was unsure on how to start a conservation that wouldn't bother the female demon. But as she listened to the chirping of the birds and insects, her thoughts became more at ease. With the tranquil sounds in her head, she walked up to the older female as the latter was watching two squirrel-like creatures share a chestnut together,
"Ano…" The she-demon turned her attention from the squirrels to Wendy upon learning the girl's voice, "Was it really true that you were.. left behind in the village when you were just a baby?" Sayla stared at the young girl with stoic eyes while Wendy began to felt chills shiver down her spine upon seeing the demon's eyes. Fearing that she might've asked something personal, Wendy began to reconsider starting up a conservation. She raises her hands in front of her and waved them in embarassment to take back what she asked,
"Y-You don't have to say anything if you don't want to…" The little girl shyly mumbled out loud, "So, um… You can just forget that I asked-"
"It's alright; you don't have to worry about offending me by asking that question." Wendy stopped waving her hands as she stared at the older female in shock while putting her hands down, "I don't remember much about that day but everything that you've heard from the others is true. I was dropped off in front of Ichirō-sama's manor twelve years ago when I was an infant."
"Do you know who dropped you off at the village?"
Sayla shifted from her gaze from Wendy and towards a bunch of falling leaves, causing Wendy to also stare at the leaves. More leaves were beginning to fall on top of the pile but this didn't help the young girl feel comfortable from the awkward silence. The young girl was starting to wonder how Naruto was able to crack through the demon's impeccable silence. Fortunately for Wendy, the she-demon didn't intend to leave her in the dark quite yet,
"I'm… not too sure on that. According to Ichirō-sama and Atsuko-san, it was apparently a woman but she had a cloak over her face so they don't know who it was."
"A cloaked woman?" Just when Wendy was about to ask Sayla for more details, several squawks were heard up from above. The two females looked up to the sky and saw several birds flying to the southeast. Wendy observed the flock of birds with curiosity while Sayla sensed two magical presences fighting several smaller ones from the direction that the birds flew from.
"Sayla-san, what was-" The young girl tried to ask the older she-demon when the latter grabbed ahold of Wendy's wrist and began to slowly venture deeper into the forest with the blue-haired girl in tow,
"Chotto matte, Sayla-san." Wendy started to say while she tried to match the she-demon's walking speed, "Where are we going-"
Sayla instantly grabbed ahold of Wendy and threw the both of them onto the ground just as three giant shurikens flew and impaled the trunk of a tree. The older female glanced up to the top of the trees and saw several men observing them with predatory eyes. Slowly bringing herself and Wendy back on their feet, the younger girl noticed the men that the she-demon was eying coldly. They were all wearing stitched tan bodysuits and had breathing masks over their mouths. In addition, they all wore headbands with a forehead protector that had four small vertical lines marked on it. The younger girl became scared of the men upon seeing their eyes so she hid behind the she-demon and unconsciously clutch tightly on Sayla's kimono.
Just as one of the men took out a kunai, he suddenly dropped it and to his shock, began to choke himself. The others turned their attention towards him until one by one, they began to tightly grip their own necks,
"W-What is going on!?"
"Why are we strangling ourselves all of a sudden?"
These questions were bouncing all around in the heads of the men as some of them were beginning to lose oxygen. One of them had lost their footing and plummeted to the ground while the others were trying to regain control of their bodies to no avail,
"Dammit! Why can't we break loos- gyak!" One man wheezed in anger only to feel his grip tighten even more on his neck.
"It- It must be some kind of Body Possession Magic (Shojitai Mahō) that girl is using…" One of the men thought to himself as he saw Sayla not being fazed by their suffering.
She may not have any idea on why those men were trying to ambush them, Wendy was starting to feel sympathy for the men's suffering. When the young girl glanced up towards the demon's face, she became even more frighten at Sayla's cold and emotionless face. Wendy used one of her hands to grab the demon's wrist, snapping her attention from the men to Wendy. One look from Wendy's eyes and Sayla saw the fear and anxiety welling up in the girl's eyes from her actions. One by one, the men felt their hands releasing their grips and noticed that they could control their own bodies again. The men turned around and swiftly retreated in fear of losing control of their bodies again.
"S-Sayla-san?" Even though she protected both Wendy and herself, the demon felt slightly guilty for scaring the girl as she felt Wendy clutching her kimono very tightly. Seeing Wendy's frightened eyes made the demon remember the confusion and fear she felt when she was Wendy's age.
Sayla turned her body slightly to Wendy so she could look at the young girl directly. But the demon had no experience in comforting another person and began to slowly caress Wendy's hair.
"Are you… feeling better now?"
It felt awkward at first but as she continued to gently brush through Wendy's hair, the girl began to lose some of her anxiety towards Sayla. Wendy then smiled gratefully at the demon's attempt at comforting her as she began to giggle, catching the she-demon's curiosity,
"Gomen ne," The young girl said as she stopped giggling upon seeing Sayla's expression, "It's just- um… It looked like you never had comforted someone before, am I right?" The older demon tilted her head while Wendy continued to say, "But it's okay. You tried at the very least and that's always a good thing, according to Grandeeney. And if you need advice, you could always ask Jellal or Naruto-san to help you."
The curiosity in the she-demon's eyes instantly turned into slight shock at the little girl's words as she never thought that Wendy would know such things. Sayla regained her usual composure but unlike before, Wendy could see some amusement in the older demon's eyes. The young girl then let go of the she-demon's kimono as she tried to see if she could find Naruto's or Jellal's scent in the air. Sayla paid close attention to Wendy's actions as the little girl quickly turned back around and grabbed the demon's hand with both of hers,
"Ne, let's go find Jellal and Naruto-san. Maybe they've gotten the firewood we need for dinner by now." Wendy insisted as she pulled Sayla along as she followed the direction that the two scents were coming from. Little did Wendy know, both Naruto and Jellal have encountered a minor problem.
A very minor problem….
It has almost been a month since they were kicked out of their village, but it was only a few days since the siblings have met their newest companion. At first, the raven-haired boy shrugged off the siblings' request to travel with them multiple times. But after several tries and his slight curiosity about what was Mira hiding, Sasuke agreed even though he had the same stern look on his face. When they began traveling together, it was really awkward for the boys' part as Elfman always felt frightened everytime he took a glance at Sasuke. Lisanna, on the other hand, wasn't as creeped out by Sasuke's stern demeanor; in fact, she tried to start up a conversation with him most of the time they were walking. But she was only met with silence as the older boy ignored most of the time and when he decided to talk, he only spoke a few words that were either cryptic or very rude.
Even when they've stopped to rest for many nights, Sasuke always distanced himself from the siblings when they ate and when they slept, much to Lisanna's annoyance and Elfman's relief. But as they begin to sleep, Sasuke always took unnoticable glances at Mira's sleeping figure, trying to figure out the strange presence in the girl's cloak. But he wasn't able to comprehend it at all every time so he decided to suppress his curiosity and went to sleep.
Days have flown by just when the small group have crossed multiple forests, ravines, and a desert; the group arrives in the lively town of Magnolia. As the group ventured further in the large town, they could feel so much familiarity from the many civilians they were walking pass by. Lisanna and Elfman were fascinated by how the streets of Magnolia were so big that the civilians didn't mind if the two accidently bumped into anyone during their sight-seeing. What really caught their attention, especially Sasuke to some extent, was the giant building to the outer north that had not only three flags hanging on the top level but also the sigil for one of the most infamous guilds of Fiore: Fairy Tail.
"Sugoi… So this is Fairy Tail. It's just like how everyone back home said it was, right Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked Mira eagerly but upon seeing her emotionless expression, the younger girl piped down and glanced over to the boys. Elfman was keeping his excitement contained inside himself while seeking looks at the older male who was just staring at the guild with some kind of reminiscence. Without any further delays, the four entered the guild only to stumble across some kind of scuffle between two boys with everyone in the building watching with mixed feelings.
One of the boys had messy salmon-pink hair along with olive eyes. He had a white scaled-patterned scarf wrapped around his neck as he wore a red tunic-like shirt with dark mustard shorts. The other boy had raven-black hair and eyes like Sasuke but unlike Sasuke, his hair wasn't spiky at the back of his head. What was really disturbing about this particular boy was that he had nothing on except for blue boxers.
"I know that it was you who ate my fire-grilled steak, you streaker! Now `fess up!" The pink-haired boy angrily exclaimed to the other boy who was staring at the former with the same amount of annoyance,
"You think it was me, pinky?! Why would I eat something that would obviously burn the inside of my mouth?! For all we know, you could've have tossed it aside without even knowing it!"
"Oh brother, here they go again…" One of the spectators commented as the two boys began to comically hit each other,
"That just comes to show that fire and ice really don't get along so well…"
The boys continued to scuffle for a few more seconds while the recently-arrived guests and the spectators kept on watching this commotion. That was, until, a young scarlet-haired girl came over to them, grabbed their heads, and then slammed them together, causing them to fall onto the ground barely conscious.
"E-Erza.." The boys managed to say in their pained condition. The aforementioned girl wore a gray chestplate with complimenting shoulderpads over a white blouse. She also wore a skirt that went to her knees and had long black socks to go along with her brown shoes. Besides her outfit, her long scarlet hair seemed to be braided into a single ponytail as she stared down at the knocked-out boys with disapproval.
"You imbeciles… I told you two several times not to fight. What part of my instructions do you two not get at all?" Some of the spectators shuddered at the fierce tone in her voice while the boys began to sweat tremendously in fear, "So I'll say this once more: You'll not try to start up a fight in this guild, especially when we have guests arriving to see your commotion."
"Yes, ma'am-" The raven-haired boy exclaimed indignantly until he, along with everyone else, processed her warning and said,
"Guests?"
Erza pointed to the siblings and Sasuke as most of the inhabitants turned their heads to look at them. Elfman felt slightly anxious from having the majority of the guild staring at them while the oldests in the group just stared back with their emotionless eyes. It was Lisanna who managed to break the silence and spoke in her usual friendly voice,
"Excuse me; is there by any chance that your master is here? There's something that we need them to check on about Mira-nee's arm."
After hearing the questions, some of the wizards turned to each other with questioning eyes, wondering if they should comply with the girl's request. The two boys, along with three other girls, looked at the four with bewildered expressions until a cough was heard from the bar counter. The four saw that the cough came from Makarov who was in his casual outfit with his staff in hand.
"The master of this guild would be me, young one." The short elderly man leaped off of the counter and he approached the four kids with a friendly smile, "So what can I help with this Mira-nee?"
"It's.. something that only you can see." Mirajane said in a quiet tone which Makarov heard quite well. The elderly master also sensed that the girl was clearly hiding her right arm in that cloak of hers. Knowing that she won't reveal it with the observing eyes at the moment, Makarov turned to every one of them,
"Well don't just stare at the poor girl like this. Go on back to your usual business." Just like that, the guild wizards who were watching went back to either chit-chatting or drinking their alcoholic beverages. The short master of Fairy Tail then gestured to the four to follow him to which they complied to an extent. As the group of four were following the short master up to his office, the three girls noticed the two boys and Erza approaching them with curiosity in their eyes,
"Do you guys know what was with those four?" Erza asked the girls who just shrugged in response,
"We really don't know since they've just arrived around the time these two knuckleheads began to duke it out again." The pink-haired girl said in irritation with the last few words, making the boys approach her angrily.
"WHAT WAS THAT, FOREHEAD GIRL!?" The blue-haired girl tiredly sighed while the pink haired girl was irritatedly twitching with anger while the last girl boringly rolled her eyes at their insult.
"Calm down, Gray, Natsu. Getting angry at Sakura won't do you any good. We just have to wait until the Master comes back out of his office with them. Anyways, Gray; your clothes…"
"What about my- Argh, dammit!" Gray began to panic as he was searching for his clothes while the girls shook their heads in annoyance while Natsu was laughing hysterically at Gray's predicament.
Around this time, the group of four with Makarov arrived at his office as the elderly man told them to come in as he sat down in his chair as he then asked,
"Now then, what is it that only I can see, my dear?"
Sasuke kept his glance on the cloaked girl as he then became slightly shocked when Mirajane took out her right arm. It was no wonder he sensed something peculiar about the girl: the girl's arm was practically demonic in both shape and form. While both Elfman and Lisanna began to felt afraid of the observers' reactions, they saw that Makarov wasn't terribly fazed by this. It actually looked like he knew what was wrong but he needed to hear the whole story first.
"How exactly did this occurred to you, child?" Lisanna looked towards Elfman who shared the same anxiety for their troubled past. Sasuke managed to regain his calm composure and was now curious as to why the three siblings constantly travel from multiple places to the next. Something inside him told the boy that there was some animosity involved in their past. Fortunately, Mirajane wasn't going to keep them in the dark any further,
"It began a month ago… Me, along with my brother and sister, lived in a small but peaceful village a few kilometers from Onibus Town. That was until a demon had come to the village to raid our home without remorse. When the village was almost about to collapse from the demon's frequent rampages, I chased it down up to the village's church and I… I… somehow merged with the demon, causing my arm to be like this. After that, the others began to fear me because of the possibility of me becoming a demon myself.. That's… That's why we came here; to see if you have some way to cure this."
Lisanna and Elfman looked down to the ground in pain as they remembered how the villagers treated them when they saw Mirajane's arm. Even though she tried to hide in that cloak, they had already knew what was underneath it. While Sasuke observed all three of them with keen eyes, the boy felt some sympathy on their treatment as he thought of what happened in his nightmare. Makarov looked like he didn't seemed to be fazed by the brief story the hooded girl told everyone. But the truth was, he was severely angry. Angry at how the siblings were forced to leave their own home; just because their older sister unintentionally absorbed the demon terrorizing their village and thus saved their home from a ravaging demon. But the elderly man managed to keep his cool as he looked at the four with understanding eyes,
"So that is why you all only want me to know this secret, huh?" The two younger siblings turned their heads towards Makarov who still had those eyes of sympathy towards the four as he then said,
"My girl, you don't have to worry about the demon possessing you whatsoever." The three siblings and Sasuke had their eyes locked onto Makarov, wanting to hear out his explanation. Seeing their desire, the short elder continued his explanation,
"You have magical prowess inside you, my dear. For what you did to that demon, you did absorbed into your body. However, that is just the usage of a brand of magic known as Take Over (Teiku Ōbā). By absorbing the demon into your own body with Take Over, you have acquired the demon's power for your usage without any fear of it taking control of you whatsoever."
Lisanna and Elfman looked to their older sister with joy and relief upon hearing that their sister won't be possessed by the demon. Mirajane, on the other hand, raised her demonized arm to eye-level as she stared at it with saddened eyes. Even though she felt Lisanna and Elfman's joyous stares towards her, she was more focused on her arm that she didn't noticed both Sasuke and Makarov looking at her with anticipating eyes. It was almost as if they knew what she was thinking at this very moment,
"The demon's power…." The hooded girl thought to herself in sadness as she clenched her demonic hand hatefully, "I never asked to be given this gift…"
Meanwhile, back with Naruto and Jellal, they were on their way back with firewood in hand when Naruto accidently stepped on a Gorian's tail. The primate of course got enraged at Naruto, beckoning him to apologize to him. Jellal tried to dispel the tension between the two, but it was all in vain when the Gorian called more of its friends over after Naruto socked it in the mouth. With no other choice, the two boys began to ran for their lives, much to Naruto's displeasure.
"Darn it Naruto! You didn't have to start a fight with them just because you don't want to apologize to a giant ape! We could've of just taken the easy route but no, your stubbornness just had to get us into even more trouble now!" Jellal exasperatedly yelled at Naruto as they were running away from the mob of Gorians.
"Well excuse me if I don't want to apologize to some arrogant monkey! I have my own personal pride too, dattebayo!" The young blond argued back while he and Jellal picked up his running speed.
"Oi, gakis! Oh-Oh, don't think you're getting away!" The lead Gorian exclaimed to the two boys as they continued to chase Naruto and Jellal.
Even though Naruto and Jellal were carrying an arm full of branches, they were still able to hold some distance from the horde of green primates. But they knew that the Gorians would catch up to them in no time flat. Wasting no more time, Naruto skidded to a stop, much to Jellal's bewilderment and the primates' confusion. But before they could comprehend what was going on, the blonde turned to Jellal and gave him his pile of branches as he turned back to the horde of Gorians. It was then that Naruto caught them even more off-guard when he lunged towards the leading Gorian and rammed into the primate's chest head-on. The force of the collision caused the Gorian to be launched back into some of its other Gorians, sending them flying as the remaining Gorians stopped in their tracks.
"Why you- OH-OH!" One Gorian yelled in anger as it raised its right fist above its head. Naruto noticed the Gorian after he landed from his lunge and dodged its attack in an instant. Two other Gorians tried to surround the blond as he dodged. Both of them reached out to grab him but Naruto responded to this by jumping in the air and kicked one Gorian away. He then turned to the other primate with his cheeks inflated,
"Nine-Tailed Fox's Howl (Kyūbikō no Unari)!" Naruto spewed a crimson beam of compressed Ethernano directly at the other Gorian, blasting it a few kilometers while hitting more of the Gorians that stood in its path.
Just when the two remaining Gorians were about to smash Naruto with their giant fists, a strange mist had begun to surround them. As Naruto planted his feet on the ground, he turned around in time to see the Gorians fall onto the ground, snoring really loudly.
"What in the-" Naruto mumbled in confusion until he noticed the mist disappearing, revealing Jellal to be the perpetrator of the mist, "What did you do, Jellal? Was that some sort of spell?"
Jellal took a deep breath as he put the staff he was holding away, "Yeah, it was just simple Sleep Magic (Nemuri no Mahō). It isn't that great for straight-out offensive but when it comes to these kind of situations, I'm glad that I know Sleep Magic."
Naruto walked up to one of the sleeping Gorians and began to lightly tapped its ribs with his foot. Noticing how the primate didn't even winch at the boy's foot as it blissfully snored, Naruto turned to his companion awe-struck,
"Yeah, it really does come in handy at times like this. So how long will these crazy apes stay asleep for?"
"At the very least, a few hours or so. I can also manualing lift the spell and they'll wake in 5 seconds." Jellal said as Naruto walked away from the sleeping Gorians and approached the former. Just when the young blond grabbed some of the branches in Jellal's arms, they heard rustling in some nearby bushes, making Naruto drop the branches he picked up.
"Something's coming…" Jellal stated as the two of them turned to the source of the rustling. They got themselves ready when Naruto felt something familiar in the air. He couldn't understand the feeling at first but whatever was in the bushes, as it got closer, he then remembered where he felt this sensation before.
"Hold on. I-" Jellal turned to Naruto and saw the look of recognition on his face,
"Naruto?"
"I know this feeling. This feeling is coming from-" A loud footstep interrupted the blond's claims as a blackish-brown boot stepped out of the bushes. The two boys resumed their stances as a whole figure came out of the bushes. That was when upon getting a full glance of the figure, Naruto and the new arrival glanced at each other and saw recognition with each other.
Naruto recognized that long black mane-like hair from two years ago. The boy had grown a few more inches; even though he was taller than Naruto to begin with. Gajeel's outfit consists of a sleeveless black tunic with studded edges at the shoulders, a gray belt around his waist, and dark peach pants. He seemed to have gotten three piercings on his eyebrows along with two more on each side of his nose and below his mouth. Besides piercings, he also has two sets of five earrings pierced onto both ears. With his current appearance, the boy Naruto met two years ago now looks even more menacing than he used to back then.
While in Gajeel's eyes, he saw that Naruto had grown slightly taller but just about to reach the bottom of his chin. Instead of the white t-shirt and blue pants he wore back then, Gajeel noticed that the blond was now hearing an orange hoodie with short blue sleeves and blue wristbands. Naruto also wore green cargo pants and had the same opened sandals as before but in a bigger size. Compared to him, Gajeel saw that Naruto hardly changed a bit facial wise as he still had those same whisker-like markings on him.
While the two gazed off with each other, Jellal felt the tension in the atmosphere and was beginning to feel anxious about their stare off; that was until,
"AAAHHH! IT'S YOU!"
The two boys pointed at each other in an exaggerated manner, making Jellal somewhat befuddled from their behavior. They continued to point at each for a few more seconds until Naruto exclaimed,
"Aw man, you've gotten a lot more intimidating since I last saw you, Lizard-Eyes!"
"Again with the Lizard-Eyes! I already told you, Blondie-McWhiskers, the name's Gajeel! Get it through your dense skull!" Gajeel yelled back at Naruto for emphasizing his slit eyes. Upon hearing the Dragon Slayer's remark, the blond got even more pissed at the slit-eyed male.
"And I told you my name's Naruto! So you get it through your own skull first!"
The two males began to growl at each other while Jellal could only stand in place like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The blue-haired boy stepped in between Naruto and Gajeel in hopes of preventing any sort of confrontation,
"Look you two. Arguing with each other isn't going to resolve any sort of issue you guys have. So how about we calm down and we can-"
"STAY OUT OF THIS, JELLAL/TATTOOED-EYE! THIS IS BETWEEN THE TWO OF US, GOT IT!?"
Poor Jellal could only covered his ears upon hearing the loud exclamation from the two boys. It was fortunate that his Sleep Magic didn't wore out yet; otherwise they would have even hindrances to deal with. Gajeel roughly pushed Jellal aside as he and Naruto stepped towards each other, making their foreheads come into contact,
"Now as I recalled correctly, we didn't get to finish up our fight from back then, didn't we, Blondie?" Gajeel said with a mixture of anticipation and reminiscence,
"Yeah I remember. But are you prepared for the butt whooping I'm about to give you, Slit-Eyes?" Naruto remarked back while Gajeel's eyes narrowed in annoyance upon hearing the name.
Jellal felt the intensity emitting from their gazes, signaling him to back away as soon as possible. The two boys backed away from each other but then instantly lunged forward a second later. Both sides threw several jabs, punches, and kicks but they managed to block every single one with ease or by countering with their own hits. During the exchange, Gajeel was smirking at how much Naruto was matching up to him for blow to blow. But unlike the black-haired boy, Naruto seems to be getting bruises from all of the blocking he has done so far. Wasting no more time, Gajeel backed off as his arm, from the elbow down, transformed into an iron club, shocking Jellal as he observed the battle. The dragon-slaying wizard extends the pole-arm towards Naruto as the blond leaps into the air to dodge it,
"Gi-hi. Not bad, Blondie-McWhiskers, but…" Another pole had extended out from the top of Gajeel's club-arm. Naruto didn't had time to react when the unexpected pole had struck him in his stomach, sending him crashing into a tree,
"I've got a lot more tricks up my sleeve this time."
Rustling was heard in the treetop that Naruto crash-landed into. The tumbling was getting louder and louder, making the slit-eyed tween and Jellal pay close attention to the blond's fall. But when Naruto crashed onto the ground, he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, surprising Gajeel and Jellal in the process,
"What in the-" Naruto suddenly dashed out of the bushes to the left as he socked Gajeel on his left cheek, sending the latter flying into a nearby trunk. Naruto shook his right hand in pain while Gajeel quickly got back up with a satisfied grin on his face,
"Well, what do you know? You too have some impressive tricks on ya." Gajeel said as he turned both arms into iron clubs and extended them towards Naruto. The blond managed to dodge both strikes while several more had extended out of Gajeel's arms, to which Naruto responds by avoiding all of the poles with precise timing. He then used the clubs he dodged as leverage and was now in the air above Gajeel. Infusing chakra into his fists, Naruto descended towards Gajeel who retracted his arms back while transforming his right hand into a medium-sized sledgehammer.
"Iron Dragon's Hammer (Tetsuryūtsuchi)!" The dragon slayer pulled his transformed fist back and flung it towards Naruto who had his right hand in the pose of a claw.
He then thrusted his chakra-infused hand towards Gajeel's fist, causing the two forces to collide with equal strength. The two were then repelled back when their attacks ended in a stalemate and created a strong backlash from Naruto's chakra-infused hand cracking Gajeel's hammer. The two instantly recovered as Gajeel lunged towards Naruto with his right hand now in the form of a sword. Naruto dodged the initial strike while Gajeel kept on trying to hack the blond who kept on dodging until he charged up chakra in his right hand again and grabbed the transformed appendage. Gajeel turned his left arm back into a club and stretched it towards Naruto who then thrusted his left hand in the same claw pose at the exact moment the club reached him. With chakra infused in his left hand, Naruto managed to shatter the club upon contact, surprising the Dragon Slayer even more.
"There's just no way… My iron's supposed to be the strongest metal there is… How in the world are you able to break through my iron!?" The long-maned male asked in agitation while he tried to loosen Naruto's grip on his sword-arm to no avail. The blond tighten his grip on Gajeel's sword-arm to the point of creating cracks on the blade itself. Seeing no other choice, the slit-eyed male made the jagged edge of the blade to buzz in Naruto's grip, causing the blond to slowly lose his hold on the steel blade. Even with his hand infused with chakra, the blond could still feel the saw-like edge cut through his skin.
Tighten his grip as firm as possible, Naruto then threw Gajeel with all of his strength over to a horde of trees, causing them to fall over on top of the Dragon Slayer. While Naruto focused his Tailed Beast Chakra to heal the large gash on his palm, Jellal watched the entire exchange with shock. He was even more concerned at how they were able to be on par with each other when it's clearly shown that both of them have immense power that's practically inhuman.
"And yet… As they continued to fight with one and another…." The tattooed-eye boy thought to himself while he and Naruto observed Gajeel emerged from the pile of tree trunks with minor scrapes. But what was really surprising was that both he and Naruto seemed to be smiling, obviously relishing the fight they were having,
"They seem to be complimenting each other through those grins. Almost as if.. they're acknowledging each other as worthy opponents, regardless of their different quirks."
As the two males were observing the other's movement, they could tell that they were slowly running out of breath to keep their battle going. Sensing the other's intention, they've begun to inhale the oxygen or ethernano in their air as their cheeks inflate from the action. Both males focused their magic power into their mouths as they reclined their heads backs to take proper aim,
"Nine-Tailed Fox's-"
"Iron Dragon's- (Tetsuryū no)"
"HOWL/ROAR (Hōkō)!"
Both brought their heads back up as they spewed out their respective breath attacks. The two blasts collided with each other, both were trying to overpower the other in this final attack. As the two blasts were pushing each other back, the collision had caused a strong turbulence to occur, making Jellal struggling to keep his ground while some of the plant life was being blown away on the spot. Eventually, the two boys amplified more of their magic power into their breath attacks, causing the attacks to explode upon gaining more power. Both Naruto and Gajeel were sended flying from the sheer force of the stalemate but they soon regained their ground a second later. They had used almost half of their remaining power as they panted exhaustedly while watching the other's movements. But when they were about to charge at each other once more, a tremendous roar was heard nearby the area, catching the attention of the three boys.
"What in the-" Jellal exclaimed out loud as he unnoticably dispelled his Sleep Magic on the Gorians, waking them up. But they, along with the three boys, heard the violent wing flapping above them so without any warning, they quickly ran away.
"That smell… No doubt, it's a-"
"You've got to be friggin kidding me!" The blond yelled out in irritation, making Gajeel annoyed at his abrupt yelling, "I've already had it with those stupid handless lizards! I don't want to deal with another one again!"
"Handless lizards? You're not saying that a Wyvern is approaching, are you Naruto?" The tattoo-eyed male asked his companion when the wing-flapping got closer and a giant Wyvern had landed in front of the three. Upon closer inspection, Naruto noticed that this Wyvern is slightly different than the ones he came across during his time with Kurama. For one thing, it was a bit bigger than the Wyverns in the mountains: in fact, its scales were bright lime-green while the ones in the mountains were grayish-blue in color. Besides height and scale color, the Wyvern in front of them had a more definite head that made it look like their life-long rivals: the Dragons.
"Gihi, so it was a stinking Wyvern after all. Wonder why it decided to come here all of a sudden?" The slit-eyed male asked in his usual manner while Naruto had an irritated look upon seeing the giant creature.
"I don't know but why I get the feeling that it came here for food?" Jellal theorized while Naruto muttered something about "It's always the same with these blasted lizards…".
The Wyvern let out a ferocious roar as it marched towards the three boys. They all dodged in different directions as the giant winged lizard tried to gnaw them. Naruto infused chakra into his fists, making them glow orangish-red, and launched several punches at the Wyvern. The blond leapt away just when the Wyvern swept its tail at him, leaving it wide-open. Luckily, Gajeel saw the opportunity as he transformed his right arm into an iron club and stretched it towards the Wyvern's stomach, making it tumble backwards.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing?! That thing's mine to deal with!" Naruto shouted irritatedly to Gajeel who just scoffed at the blond while retracting his arm back,
"What do you mean it's yours? Why should I have you hog all of the fun when I get to have the chances that those spineless reptiles are no match against a dragon?" The black-maned boy said arrogantly, making the whiskered blond even more pissed off with the taller male.
"You wanna repeat that, Lizard-Eyes? Because I'm already annoyed with these handless lizards already!"
"Well then just stay down and eat some bark to pass the time, Blondie-McWhiskers!"
The two boys then butted heads once more while Jellal looked at the two with a mixture of shock and annoyance. The Wyvern, who recovered from Gajeel's attack, didn't care what was going on and just simply began to march towards the three once more. The tattoo-eyed male noticed the Wyvern closing in again and turned his gaze back at the two boys,
"Can the two of you save the arguing for later!? The Wyvern's closing in again!" Jellal took out his staff once more after he took off his backpack and placed his pile of branches inside. The two stopped arguing for a brief moment and saw the Wyvern raised its head back to get a proper shot at gnawing them. The two glanced at each other for a brief moment and both have read the same thought in the other's eyes,
"We'll settle this later; right now, this Wyvern needs to know its place!"
As the Wyvern's head came into range, Naruto crossed his fingers together to make the hand sign for his usual Shadow Clone Magic (Kage Bushin no Mahō). A platoon of ten clones appeared behind Naruto as they, along with the original, dodged the Wyvern's jaw. After that, the clones surrounded the Wyvern's head and tried their best to held it down through its horns and scales. The giant reptile tried to unfetter from the clones' grip but the clones had infused chakra into their hands, making their grip stronger. The original Naruto infused both chakra and ethernano into his right arm as swirls of crimson red and orange energy twirled around the arm. The clones sensed their creator coming in as they automatically dispersed when the original punched the Wyvern on the nose with his enhanced arm,
"Nine-Tailed Fox's Strong Arm (Kyūbikō no Kyōken)!"
An explosion occurred once the chakra and ethernano in Naruto's fist made contact with the Wyvern's nose. It pushed the giant reptile back a few meters as Naruto was sended flying from the recoil of the attack. Seeing his opportunity, Gajeel leapt into the air as his right arm transformed into some kind of large spearhead,
"Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs (Tetsuryūsō・Kishin)!"
The black-maned male fired several steel spears from the large spearhead in rapid succession, hitting the Wyvern dead on. The giant reptile later emerged from the cloud of dirt that was created from it being impaled to the ground from Gajeel's attack. With a deafening roar and locking onto the healing Naruto, it raised its wing above its head to squash the vulnerable blond. But just before Naruto could dodge the attack, a violet beam hit the Wyvern straight in the face, knocking it off-balance. The blond quickly turned around to see that Jellal was the one who fired the beam as he had his staff pointed at the wyvern with smoke emitting from the tip.
"Don't just stand there, Naruto! Keep your focus on the Wyvern while it's wide-open!"
The blond turned his attention back to the giant reptile behind him while Gajeel kept on assaulting the Wyvern with more of his relentless attacks. Not wanting the Dragon Slayer to have all of the glory, the blond charged towards the reptile as he created more clones on the way. They made their arms and feet glow orangish-red as they leapt towards the Wyvern with unbelievable strength and attacked the reptile with a barrage of enhanced punches and kicks. The army of clones, along with the original and Gajeel, kept on their assault until the Wyvern roared out loud, causing them to be sent flying back to Jellal while the clones dispersed. The two managed to regain their ground and skidded to a stop just before they almost bumped into Jellal. The Wyvern charged towards the three soon after it stopped roaring. Jellal pointed his staff at the reptile once more and fired another beam from it, pushing the Wyvern back.
The boys took this chance to attack as Gajeel transformed his right arm into the jagged blade once more while Naruto had a bubbly orange-red cloak surrounding his hands. With their enhancements, the boys repeatedly slashed and clawed at the vulnerable Wyvern, making it tumble backwards after taking all of those hits head-on. A few seconds later, the Wyvern regained its balance again but the three noticed that it was beginning to get exhausted from their attacks,
"Well now, the damn lizard's finally calling it quits. You're really to wrap things up, Naruto?" The blond had a shocked expression on his face upon hearing Gajeel call him by his name. Regaining his composure, the blond nodded once and replied eagerly,
"Ah, I'm ready when you are, Gajeel."
The blond turned his head to his companion as he saw Jellal nod his head in apprehension. The three and the Wyvern tensefully stared at each other, watching for an opportunity to strike. As time passed by with neither side moving, the leaves on the surrounding trees began to fall in anticipation for the final strike. Suddenly, as one random leaf had fallen on top of a thistle, the Wyvern charged at the three boys once again. The Wyvern raised its tail and swung it towards the three whom dodged it in the nick of time. Jellal, after rolling to the Wyvern's back, placed his staff onto the ground as he made some weird handsign, causing the staff to glow purple,
"Now!" The staff amplified multiple waves of energy from beneath as they all envelop the giant reptile inside. The waves then cloaked themselves onto the Wyvern as they exploded altogether, damaging the Wyvern. Upon seeing the Wyvern tumble backwards from Jellal's attack, a green magic seal appeared under Gajeel's feet as his entire body became covered in iron-like scales,
"Iron Dragon's (Tetsuryū no)-" Gajeel lunged forward and planted his right fist into the Wyvern's ribcage,
"Hard Fist (Gō Ken)!"
A magic seal had appeared in front of Gajeel's fist as it empowered more magic power into his punch, sending the Wyvern flying into a crowd of tree,
"Oi Naruto! It's all yours now!" The iron-clad male bellowed loud as he turned his head slightly to see Naruto summoning another clone as it gathered tons of ethernano into the orange in Naruto's palm, making the sphere expand and creating several red rings to surround it.
"Tailed Beast Secret Art (Bijū Ōgi)!"
The clone dispersed after completing its task and Naruto began to charge towards the Wyvern with the sphere still in his right palm,
"Roaring Enigma: Spiralling Wave Bomb (Gōzen'nazo・Rasenhadōdan)!"
Naruto skidded to a stop as he placed his other hand on top of the sphere and then threw it towards the Wyvern. The sphere hit its mark as it pulled the reptile in its course of trajectory, damaging it with the red rings and the sheer force of its compressed chakra and ethernano. Once the sphere reached at least a kilometer, it exploded; destroying a portion of the forest while hurting the Wyvern even more. The backlash of the attack reached the three boys as they managed to held their ground until the sudden gust disapparated, leaving a cloud of smoke to risen in the distance.
"Holy crap…" The male Dragon Slayer said in awe while the iron scales on his body disappeared, "That was some spell you managed to pull out, Maelstrom. It wasn't all that bad considering..."
Upon hearing the word "Maelstrom", Naruto was about to yell at Gajeel for not saying his name until he remembered something. During the time he spent with Kurama, he had learned that not only does his name mean a special ramen topping, it also meant "Maelstrom". So after processing it in his head, the blond turned his head and goofily smiled at Gajeel,
"Well, it's wasn't that biggie; but I gotta admit, your iron-like scales were pretty cool too, Redfox."
Jellal sighed in relief upon seeing that the two weren't going to start another fight. But when he saw both of them walking towards each other, the tattoo-eyed boy began to reconsider his chain of thought. That was, until they bumped fists when they're a few feet apart,
"You kicked some Wyvern butt back there; let's settle our little dispute some other time? Maybe by then, we'll be a lot more badass than we were today." The black-maned male wagered to the blond in front of him. Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement but then nodded his head a second later,
"I'll be waiting until then. Redfox." The two boys pulled their fists apart from each other as Gajeel began to turn the other way and walked into the depths of the forest. The male Dragon Slayer turned to look at Naruto and smirked at him one last time before heading deeper into the forest.
Jellal began to approach Naruto as they saw Gajeel walking further out of sight and the former nudged his elbow into Naruto's side.
"Oi! What in the world was that for, dattebayo!?"
"Geez Naruto, just when I thought the two of you would duke it out again; you guys go and bump fists with each other while declaring another fight. It almost looked like the whole forest won't live to see another day." Jellal said in amusement while Naruto crossed his arms and turned away in an immature manner,
"Tsk, as if I would try to pick another fight while we're both exhausted from the last one." Jellal raised an eyebrow at Naruto's explanation. Seeing his friend's confusion, the blond then added,
"And besides, I know for a fact that we'll see each other again. I don't know why but I can just tell from our fight. So until then, the two of us are going to get even more stronger so our next fight will be exciting as it was today."
"If you say so, Naruto." Jellal said while putting the staff out of the ground and onto his backpack. He looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was starting to descend from the horizon, "We should get back to Wendy and Sayla. I think our "little" delay had pass through the afternoon."
"We don't need to rush, Jellal." The tattoo-eyed mage looked at his companion as the blond pointed to one of the remaining bushes. The bushes made a rustling sound upon Naruto pointing it out as Wendy stepped out of it with Sayla's hand in her grasps.
"Jellal, Naruto-san; we found you!" The little girl jovially exclaimed as she let go of Sayla's hand and ran up to the two boys. As Sayla slowly approached the three, she noticed that the two were smeared in dirt which didn't go unnoticed by Wendy,
"Why are the two of you covered up so badly? Was it that hard to find firewood?" Wendy asked the two boys curious as Naruto scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, obviously trying to think of an excuse,
"Well, you see, Wendy. We sort of ran into a kind of mess-"
"The kind of mess that Naruto seems to attract Gorians with and make them chase us all day." Jellal teasingly said while interrupting the blond, making the latter somewhat annoyed. It did however make Wendy giggle at Naruto's "silliness",
"That does sound exactly like what Naruto-san would do!" Naruto looked at the girl in shock before letting out a sigh and uncomfortably laughed at his own predicament.
Even though she hasn't comprehend happiness just yet, Sayla still found it intriguing to see Naruto being teased yet he acts so carefree about it. The blond noticed Sayla gazing at them so he goofily smiles at her, breaking her emotionless mein. Just when the laughing finally ceased, a loud grumbling was heard as Naruto held his stomach embarrassedly,
"So anyone up for some dinner now? Because I'm starving right now."
"Perhaps." The three turned their heads towards Sayla who narrowed her eyes at Naruto and Jellal in an observing manner, "But you two must clean yourselves first before we start eating."
Naruto and Jellal turned to look at each other before scuffing each other to get rid of the dust and dirt stuck on their clothes and hair. Wendy and Sayla, unfortunately, were caught in the crossfire so they began to dash out of the way (more of Wendy dragging Sayla) before they got even dirtier from their scuffle.
"Was there any particular reason why you two didn't clean yourselves away from us?" Sayla raised an eyebrow puzzlingly while Wendy stared at the two with an angry pout. But this didn't last long as the little girl began to laugh at how the two boys were comically cleaning each other. Eventually, the two managed to clean themselves where there's just barely any dirt or dust on them. Naruto turned to the girls with his usual grin before he turned back around and walked in that direction,
"Nah, it's just what most people would do just to mess with each other." Even though he couldn't see the she-demon, he could tell that she narrow her eyes even more in confusion. Hearing his stomach grumble even more, Naruto turned to the others and said out loud,
"Can we please find a decent spot to eat now? My stomach's really getting hungry at this point."
Both Jellal and Wendy giggled at Naruto's predicament as they soon began to walk up to where Naruto is. As the three were in the same parameter, Sayla watched the three interact once more while catching up to them. Even though she has only traveled with them for a few weeks, Sayla felt their jovial personalities help her feel like she was a part of their group all this time. And even if she was to be treated like an outcast to most people, she knew that they will be the only ones to see her as something more. Especially since who could resist looking at the infamous grins that Naruto always gives to cheer up everyone around him.
Somewhere in the remains of Konoha, a young male explored the fallen village, his eyes filled with the urge to find someone in particular. He might've look like an average boy with black neck-length hair but his bat-like ears and the tattoos on his forehead and left shoulder made him stand out more. Especially when it came to the extremely long sleeve that he had to conceal his right arm. No matter how tired his legs felt, inside his head, he had to keep going. Because somewhere out there, he'll find whoever it was that he was looking for,
"So Meiō-sama(Underworld King) was right about another of our brethren being here. I must say, it's a bit shocking to find out that you still have the appearance of a young human insect."
The boy turned around to see a cloaked figure approaching him with the air of someone superior in power. He couldn't tell what the person's face looked like besides from her chin and lips, he could see from the small glimpse in the cloak that the person was a woman. What really caught his attention was that when he looked down towards the woman's feet, he could see bird-like talons in place of usual feet.
"I can see that you're rather curious as to who I am." The boy looked up to the woman's head as he could see her lips curl up into a rather gentle smile, "Fear not, little one. For I am just like you, a demon created from a Book of Zeref (Zerefu Sho)."
The woman's answer surprised him but his facial expression didn't show it though. Narrowing his eyes in questioning, he asked the cloaked demon,
"Why are you here?"
The smile remained on the demon's face as she kneeled down to the boy's height and took out her arm from her cloak. The young demon saw the she-demon's fingers were sharp talons as they softly brushed through his short hair. He looked up and he could see inside the hood that the woman's face was covered in some kind of face mask. Knowing that he still wants his answer, the hooded demon replied,
"I came here in search of my fellow brethren on my superior's orders to recruit for our guild, Tartarus." The boy still had the questioning look in his eyes as the she-demon continued, "But before I explain that to you, I know that there's something else that you want to know. Now do tell, I won't criticize you for whatever question you may have."
The male demon took a deep breath in and exhaled softly as he said the question that had plagued his mind for who knows how long.
"If I join your guild, will I be able to search for more of our kind?"
"Perhaps; is there another of our kind that you want to sought out, young one?" The she-demon asked curiously as the younger demon slowly nodded his head a few seconds later. "Rest assured then, if you join Tartarus now, you can make a request to Meiō-sama to let you continue your search for this particular person of yours. Now what do you say, young one?"
The younger demon remained silent for a little while. His mind felt like he shouldn't at first but upon hearing that he could continue to travel in search of whoever he was looking for, his answer became clear. With no hesitation, the demon nodded his head once to which the cloaked demon's smile curled up even more,
"Good. Now then, I haven't introduced myself, haven't I?" The demon stopped brushing through the younger demon's hair as she stood up and looked down at the boy with her smile still intact,
"I am known as the Slave Star Angel (Reiseiten) of Tartarus: Kyouka. May I ask what it is your name, young one?"
The younger demon looked down from the cloaked demon's gaze in thought but then looked back up as he introduced himself to her.
"Luklab."
End of Chapter
As I said before, I might update this story once or twice a month depending on my current situation. But I ask you all to be patient if I don't hold up on this if there's a change in my personal matters outside of Fanfiction. Besides personal matter, I've also been constantly on watch for the Fairy Tail manga to gather the necessary information I need for this story. And before I close this ending note, as you all can see with the ending, there's going to be changes for the Tartarus Arc. It probably won't be satisfying to some but I hope that I can still please you guys with what I have in store.
Thanks for reading and please leave a review. It's greatly appreciated.