Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail

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By Any Means

Chapter 8 - Phantom's Shadow Pt 1

Opening - V.I.P. by SID

0o0o0o0o0o0

"W-what the hell is that?" Natsu spluttered out, wide eyed.

"Phantom?" Loke questioned, even as the others members came to the same horrified conclusion.

"I-I don't have a big enough knife for that guys." Tenten said, eyes wide and jaw on the floor like everyone else.

"I didn't predict this. To think this is how they would attack us…" Erza stood in shock, holding the towel she had wrapped around herself on her run out tightly.

"The Magic Compacto Cannon, Jupiter… Ready…" The entire guild heard Jose's voice as the middle wall of the Guild slid down and a gigantic cannon extended out of it. A giant sphere of magical energy began to gather at the end of the barrel.

Erza charged forward without a second thought, her towel flying off in the process.

"Erza!" Mira screamed as she watched her friend rush forward to her seeming demise.

"What are you planning to do?" Macao asked.

Erza's body glowed as she Requipped into her Adamantine Armor.

"She can't be planning to take it head on!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Even with its high defensive capability she may not survive," Sasuke explained.

"Stop it Erza, you'll die!" Mira cried out.

Erza slammed the two shields on either of her arms together as the cannon began to fire. "Take cover!"

The magic energy gathering in the Jupiter Cannon finally reached critical mass and compacted, before launching as a pure beam of magical energy toward the Fairy Tail mages.

"ERZA!"

0o0o0 1 Hour Earlier - East Forest 0o0o0

"How long do you plan to stay here?! Go home now!" the pink haired healer Porlyusica yelled out, her red cape flaring about her, startling Alzack and Bisca.

"Uh, but… with the Master in this condition…" began Alzack.

"Please, let us care for him!" Bisca finished, pleading with the taciturn woman.

"Go home." The calm tone of voice was worse than the yelling. "The stench of fretting faces is the greatest poison to a sick man."

The two Gun Magic users looked at each other, both their spirits dampened by the healer's words.

Porlyusica was ignoring the two, staring at the sick Makarov, his skin tinged green and covered in sweat.

"This is from wind magic, isn't it?" She frowned, running through what spells she knew of that could cause these symptoms.

"This is the magic Drain. A fearful magic that forces your opponent's magical power to flow out." Makarov's labored breathing intensified for a moment before settling back down. "The drained magical power drifts off into the air and soon dissipates." The old pinkette shook her head.

"If we could gather Makarov's lost magical power, that would speed his recovery, however…" here she sighed. "It's already too late. His recovery will be prolonged…"

"I-is that so," Alzack commented, a grim look on his face.

"I will inform everyone," Bisca added, sporting a matching look.

Porlyusica's house was silent for a moment, before she rounded on them violently.

"You're still here?!" she demanded, veins throbbing in agitation, causing the Fairy Tail duo to cower back, surprised.

"Wait, you didn't want us to stay and listen?" Alzack got out, teeth chattering in fear.

The healer grabbed a nearby broom and began waving it around threateningly.

"Go home this instant! I hate the smell of humans!"

Dodging around Porlyusica's vicious attacks, Alzack and Bisca scrambled for the door, yelling apologies all the way.

Porlyusica harumphed at the two's hasty exit. She let out an exasperated sigh as she turned back toward Makarov and her other unwanted guest. "Didn't you hear me? I said to get out. I hate the smell of humans damnit."

"I heard you, I'm just choosing to ignore you." The flippant response caused the pink-haired woman's left brow to twitch in annoyance.

"Why are you here? Have you come to kill him? As you can see, he's already dying, assassin."

"I know. I came to repay a debt." He shrugged one shoulder, and sat down on a stool that he'd appropriated from elsewhere in the house, the black cloak with red clouds flaring around him dramatically.

"I don't remember inviting you to sit in my home, assassin. And what debt could you possibly owe him?"

"He merely did a kindness, is all."

"And what kindness did he do for you that would bring you into my home? And stinking up my house! Its bad enough he's sweating all over my bed. I swear this will be the last time I help that old fool," Porlyusica grumped.

"You really don't like humans do you?"

"No, I don't. Especially young fools who go barging into other people's homes."

"Relax. I'll be able to help speed up his recovery. Believe it."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Then prepare to be amazed." The "assassin" stood up and walked over to the ailing Makarov. He stood still for a moment, bringing his hands up in a prayer like state. Porlyusica raised an eyebrow, seeing the hooded figure standing still, before her other brow rose to join it as a wave a potent magical energy washed over her.

"This magic… it's very old. Are you sure you know what you're doing assassin?" Porlyusica eyed him as she watched him bring his hands down upon Makarov's chest.

"Positive. Now don't distract me. If I lose concentration for even a moment both he and I will turn to stone."

"STONE!?"

"YEESH! What did I just say!? Don't distract me! I've already put some natural chakra into his body, if I don't direct it properly both of us are screwed!"

0o0o0 Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Back of the Guild - Present 0o0o0

"ERZA!" The entire guild watched in horror as Erza took the Jupiter Canon beam head on, blocking it with her Adamantine Armor with its incredible defensive powers.

Erza grimaced as she felt the impact hit her magical shield and braced herself against it. She grit her teeth as she heard a multitude of cracks from her armor and shield. It wouldn't be long until her defense gave way.

"She isn't going to last. Damn it, we can't even save her!" Mirajane lamented as she watched Erza struggle to hold out.

"All we can do is have faith in her," Sakura spoke as she placed a hand on Mira's right shoulder.

The magical barrier holding back Jupiter's blast cracked further.

"It's going to break!" Erza grimly prepared herself. No one else was going to be hurt by Phantom. She refused to allow that. The redhead focused all her magical power into the shield, hoping it would be enough. It wasn't.

"I'm sorry everyone…"

BOOM!

0o0o0 Phantom Guild Hall 0o0o0

""Find Jose," he says," Shikamaru grumbled. ""If you have the chance, kidnap him."" The brunette checked the hall around the corner and, noticing it was empty, continued sneaking around the guild base.

"How the hell does he expect me to kidnap one of the 10 Wizard Saints? If I didn't know any better, I'd say the blond was trying to get rid of me." Shaking his head, Shikamaru continued to wind his way through the Phantom base. As he was about to sigh at his misfortune for the 27th time, he felt a large build up of magical energy from above which was then followed by a dull roaring sound and a massive thump, which shook the building.

"...I better check that out," he said, before falling back into a nearby shadow, disappearing from sight.

Inside the Jupiter Cannon control room, a pair of eyes opened in a shadow in a corner of the room.

"Hmph, she's holding up surprisingly well for a Fairy," Jose Porla mused, watching Erza struggle to block the giant beam of magical energy. He looked over to the masked mages that were controlling the Jupiter Cannon. "Up the power to the max. I've had enough of this farce."

"B-But Master, if we do that, there's a chance we could overload the system and-"

"Ehhh? Did I say you could talk back to me, you piece of trash?" Jose drawled out, a menacing look on his face.

"! N-no sir! Initiating max power transfer!"

"Well, that doesn't sound very good for Fairy Tail," the shadow thought to itself. "Let's see if I can do anything about that…"

The shadow's eyes closed for a second, before a thin tendril split off from the main body of shadows. Staying out of sight, the tendril threaded it's way across the room before merging with the shadow of the poor underling who had spoken to Jose. The underling briefly froze before he resumed motion, turning up the dial for the magical power output of the Jupiter Cannon. He reached full power, but instead of stopping, his hand kept turning, forcing the dial past the safety limits. The underling tried to stop, to turn the dial back, to shout out something was wrong, but he couldn't. It was like his body was frozen, except for his hand that wouldn't listen to what he was telling it to do.

The magical power heading to the Jupiter Cannon, surged, the increased rumbling sound bringing a smirk to Jose's face. That look was wiped right off as the menacing rumble of destruction turned into a distorted roaring and screeching sound, before all hell broke loose.

BOOM!

0o0o0 Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Back of the Guild 0o0o0

Erza wearily lowered what was left of her shield, the magical seal slowly fading out of sight. Heavy with exhaustion, Erza watched the exploding Jupiter Cannon fall into the lake below, smoke billowing out of the enemy's guild. A small smile graced her lips. "I… protected everyone." She then fell, no longer able to stand.

"ERZA!" Mira rushed over, Sakura not far behind.

"Help me get her inside." Sakura and Mira pulled then pulled the barely conscious mage up and rushed back into the guild.

0o0o0 Phantom Guild - Jupiter Cannon Control Room 0o0o0

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" Jose raged as his underlings cowered before him.

The accumulated magic power had overloaded the firing mechanism and caused a chain reaction of explosions that ripped the Jupiter Cannon's fuel lacrima apart and warped the barrel blowing the weapon into the lake below.

"I… I'm sorry Master Jose! I-I couldn't control myself! Something forced me to overload the cannon!" The subordinate bowed as he knew he had little chance of being forgiven.

Jose glared at his subordinate before he struck the fool down with his Shade magic.

Snarling, Jose addressed Fairy Tail. "Do not think this a victory! It was merely a fluke caused by one of my underlings! This is your only chance, hand over Lucy Heartfilia and I shall only destroy your pathetic guild hall!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You're out of your mind if you think we'll give you Lucy!" Natsu yelled, barely able to control his flames from spewing freely. The other guild members began shouting out in defiance as well.

Macao and Wakaba both shouted in agreement. "That's right! We're Fairy Tail!"

"We're Men! And Men don't give up their friends!"

"Hn."

"Everyone…" Lucy buried her head in her hands, tears trickling down her cheeks.

Inside the Phantom Guild hall, Jose looked on as his lacrima vision showed the defiant mages. A vein pulsed in his forehead at the impudence. "Don't make this any harder than it has to be, fairy trash," his voice boomed out. "Hand over the girl and I won't end your miserable lives!"

"We'd rather die than sell out a fellow guild member!" Natsu yelled back, his exclamation cheered on by the other Fairy Tail mages.

As Lucy's heart was simultaneously lifting and breaking, a hand on her shoulder caused her to spin around. "Mira?! Is Erza okay? Where's Sa-"

"Hush Lucy. She's dealing with everyones' injuries. Come with me." Seeing the girl's questioning look, Mira just tugged on her hand, causing the blonde to follow.

"Fine then!" Jose snarled, leaping to his feet. "Tremble in fear for the next ten minutes as I activate the magic that will end your pathetic lives: Abyss Break!"

"A-abyss Break?" Cana stuttered.

"Impossible, how could he-" Tenten was cut off as the guild hall began to morph, changing into a more anthropomorphic design that began to draw the magic seals needed in the air. "... Okay then…"

"Ten minutes? That's plenty of time," Gray smirked, his shirt lost somewhere earlier. "We'll just go and destroy that monstrosity first!"

"Manly!"

"Don't think I forgot about you, trash!" With that, dark magic began to coalesce in front of the Phantom Guild, before spewing out innumerable phantasms. "Have a taste of my Shade Magic!"

The magical constructs hurtled down at the Fairy Tail members, only to be intercepted by a wave of magic and steel.

"Hah, that wasn't so bad," Bisca said, flipping her hair back over her shoulder, her gun's barrel still smoking.

Alzack tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned to look at him, he merely pointed up into the air. She turned around, only to see the sky filled with even more of the phantasms. "Eep."

As the next wave of Shades flew in, Natsu punched his hands together and called out to Happy. "Happy! Let's get going!"

"Aye sir!" the blue cat responded, magical wings appearing as he grabbed Natsu and began flying off toward the Phantom Lord base.

"That charcoal head," Gray muttered. "Elfman, we're going too."

"Of course, that's the Manly thing to do!"

"Hn." Sasuke appeared next to the two, set on going with them.

"I'll stay back and heal everyone here, make sure nothing happens," Sakura called out from above Vijeeter, healing the Dance mage's leg.

"Go on!," Cana yelled out. "We'll hold the line here. Right Ten?"

"Right! I keep stabbing and they keep coming back for more! I'm in heaven!"

0o0o0 Fairy Tail Guild, Main Hall 0o0o0

Naruto stared down at the battered form of Erza Scarlet.

From what he could tell, from the rushed, but accurate, bandaging that Sakura had been the one to tend to her wounds. He could sense the little remnants of her chakra coursing through the resting red-head. He looked out the window and watched as the mages did their best to hold off Jose's shades while the few still body-abled mages went to stop Abyss Break.

"The odds are so against them they might as well as commit seppuku," Naruto commented as he watched the downed Shades reform and continue their unrelenting assault. For a moment he almost considered taking on Jose himself, but knew the old man would personally hunt him down for taking Jose out before he got a shot in. "Although I have to give them credit. They sure are spirited," Naruto said as the sound of Erza stirring caught his attention.

"Ung…" She struggled to sit up, still weary from holding back the Jupiter Cannon.

"You should take it easy. From what I heard you took on the Jupiter Cannon and won. I have to say you finally impressed me, Titania." Erza shot her head in his direction and immediately re-quipped a sword to her hand upon seeing the shinobi from the Lullaby incident. She made to attack, only to recoil in pain, stumbling forward and falling off the table that had been turned into a make-shift bed for her.

"Ahh!" Erza closed her eyes as she expected to hit the floor only to feel a pair of strong arms catch her.

"Woah! I said take it easy. You're still not back to par." Erza looked up into a black abyss of a hood, unable to see the face of the man holding her. She couldn't even see the pair of eyes that she had no doubts were there, hidden somewhere in the darkness. His voice sounded so close, yet far away at the same time. "It must be some kind of illusion magic to disguise his voice. He did this back at Clover as well when he destroyed Lullaby and disappeared with Kageyama."

"What are you doing here… assassin?" Erza questioned, emphasizing his criminal status.

"Heh, you know that's the second time today someone's called me that." Naruto chuckled to himself. "I, personally, think it's obvious what an assassin would be doing anywhere, don't you?" He helped her sit on the bench attached to the table she'd been using as a bed.

"So you've come to kill us and help Jose destroy Fairy Tail. I won't let you do as you please villain!" Erza glared at what she could only call a murderer. She knew she stood little chance in backing up her threat, but she would protect her family at all costs. At the least she could possibly injure him.

Naruto couldn't help the laugh that escaped and mentally growled at himself for not being in control of himself, but he couldn't help it. "Hehe...hahahaha." He noticed Erza's glare harden at his belittlement of her threat and raised a hand to stop her from retorting. "Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just… it's just that you really can't see underneath the underneath can you?"

"What are you talking about?" Erza could tell that she wouldn't be able to catch him off guard. Despite the fact that she could see him standing in front of her, she couldn't feel any kind of magical presence. It was much like when those two were still in the guild training everyone. She was never able to feel a magical presence from them like she could from the other adult mages. The lack of magic meant she couldn't rely on her sensing to see an incoming attack. She had to be extremely cautious with this man.

"Ah, don't take any offense. It's very rare to meet a mage that can see the whole picture. Its odd though isn't it?"

"What's odd? Stop talking in riddles and say what you mean already!" Erza was finally sensing her comrades magical presence lowering. They were fighting for their lives and she was stuck here with a lunatic.

Naruto sighed, disappointed that she couldn't figure it out. Though he could somewhat understand. "She's stuck here and unable to do anything for her friends. Even without me here, she still doesn't have the magic reserves to go and help them. She's frustrated and I'm only making things worse for her. Though, I doubt she'll be thinking that soon."

"Our conversation. Don't you think its odd that you're having a conversation with an assassin, instead of being dead?"

Erza froze at that. It was true. She had no idea how long she'd been out of it, and from the looks of things it had been quite a while since she lost consciousness. The assassin would've had plenty of time to kill her and move on to the rest of her friends. So why had he waited for her to wake?

"Don't worry I'll answer for you." Naruto smiled, despite it being hidden behind the genjutsu he had placed on his hood to prevent anyone from seeing his face. "I'm not here to kill any of you. In fact, I'm actually only here for one reason."

"To kill Jose." Erza's eyes widened at the revelation.

"Bingo."

"Then why are you here? Shouldn't you be taking on Jose? Why aren't you helping us?!" Erza could feel her anger rising.

"Because he's not worth my time."

This time Erza understood the hidden meaning in his words and embedded her fist as deep as she could in his blacked out face, punching him to the ground. "Bastard! How dare you use us for your dirty work!"

Naruto said nothing as he stood up and wiped his broken nose of blood as he stood up. "Itai. That fucking hurt, 'ttebayo." He'd barely seen the strike coming and just barely reinforced the genjutsu disguising his face and voice.

"Good!" Erza moved to strike once more only to find her arm bent behind her and pain shooting throughout her body.

"Oi, calm down. It's not like I haven't been helping. Remember, my target is Jose, and his little war with your guild was merely an opportunity I couldn't ignore. I have to ensure you guys are either victorious or at least wear him down for me."

Erza tested the hold he had on her, trying to worm herself free. That resulted in him tightening his grip. "Calm down? You're using us like pawns! This isn't a game. I swear if anyone dies, I will hunt you down!"

"I'm sure you will. But you should have more faith in your friends. Isn't that what Fairy Tail is all about?" Erza once more struggled for freedom, but lacked the strength to do so. "Now, there is a reason we're having this conversation and a reason I'm not fighting. Beyond letting others do the work for me, that is."

"And what's that?"

"This war is your fight, not mine. Jose started it just before I could get to him, so you have first dibs, so to say."

"What?"

"Despite what you think, I'm not just a villain, as you so eloquently put it. I'm a courteous villain. And I'm pretty sure you're tired of this conversation by now. So I'm going to let you go, but you have to promise to not, and I'm going to repeat this, not attack me."

"And why shouldn't I?"

"Because attacking the guy who's trying to restore your strength is typically considered as rude. Also, I don't want to mess up your pretty face. It would be a great loss to all of Earthland."

Erza's face went as red as her hair. "Wh-what! I-I-I… wh-what do you m-mean restore my strength?!" She had no idea why she was so flustered. She'd been called beautiful before, even been the pinup girl for Sorcerer's Weekly, and asked out on several occasions. The best she could reason was that she'd never been in this kind of position before. Defenseless, at the mercy of an unknown assailant that could end her life at any moment. Suddenly his presence behind her was gone and she was free.

She blinked at the sudden feeling of freedom and turned to see he had backed up several paces.

"I really do mean no harm, Titania. And it is unfortunate that we're getting to know one another under these circumstances. Now I do believe there is a war going on, and from what I can tell, the fairies need their queen."

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Sorry for the long wait, life is a cruel mistress. Lord of the Morning wound up moving and I got busy with work and it was taking a while to get this chapter done so we decided to post what we have. Sorry for another cliffhanger there. Glorious fights incoming within the next few weeks so keep an eye out for the next chapter of By Any Means!