The Fairy Tail mages meandered about the deck of the ship, conversing happily. Their rescuers eagerly asked questions about what had happened during their time on the island.
"A dragon, of all things?" Jet asked in awe.
Natsu nodded with a huff. "Yeah. I tried to talk to it, but he just swatted at us."
"Master tried to buy us time," Levy added, "but with his injuries, he was no match, so Naruto stepped in."
Jets eyes widened as he turned to Naruto. "You fought a real dragon?"
"Eh, it wasn't anything too crazy. Everyone else fought him before me, but nothing worked. All I did was make him angry," Naruto said waving a hand. "We still ended up asleep for 7 years."
"Yeah, but it was still freaking awesome!" Natsu praised, slapping Naruto on the back.
'How sweet,' Kurama said with a mocking tone.
'Aren't you like 1,000 years old? I'd think that you'd be a little mature.'
'You're one to talk, kid. You're 17 years old and your clothes still resemble the one's you wore at 12.'
'Touché. What did you bring me down here for, anyway?'
'Nothing major. I just noticed a subtle change in your chakra. It probably has something to do with the fact that that was only the second time you've used my chakra.'
'That's it?' The fox nodded. 'Well, I'll let you know if I notice anything different later on.' Naruto turned his attention to the people around him, still recalling the events on Tenrou Island. He stood and climbed to the crow's nest atop the mast, letting the cool wind flow around him. His smile became evident as the unpleasant feeling of the sun's heat were carried away with the breeze. 'It's decided. I'm sleeping up here.'
"Naruto. Wake up. Naruto. Naruto!"
The blond jolted awake. A short moment passed and his vision cleared. "What do you want, Gray?"
"We've reached land, dude. Get off your ass!" Gray said with excitement. The ice mage jumped off the crow's nest down to the deck below. Naruto stood and stretched his groggy body before behind Gray. He immediately realized his mistake. When Gray jumped out, he held on to the ropes that lead down to the deck, but Naruto, in his haste, had forgotten how high up the crow's nest actually was.
"I wonder how much has changed in 7 years," Makarov said.
"A lot, actually," Warren began, "but not all of it is necessarily good for Fairy Tail."
The mages walked off their boat and into the port city of Hargeon Town. They were immediately greeted with looks of confusion from the people in the port town. "We're getting a lot of attention right now," Lucy said.
"Gihihi! They look like they saw a ghost!" Gajeel said with a laugh.
"Well, it has been 7 years," Makarov said with a stroke of his mustache. "Let's get back to Magnolia before this reaches the media. I don't want to deal with any large crowds right now."
The mages around him readily followed his advice and headed to the train station. The ride to Magnolia was a relatively short one, thanks to new, faster train models.
Everyone stepped off the train, only to find a crowd blocking their path. 'What the hell. I thought we left Hargeon Town to avoid this,' Naruto thought.
Makarov turned and spoke. "Don't say anything to the reporters. It would be best to keep all the details under wraps." The mages nodded and began their trek to the guild. Naruto stayed on the train and peeked through the window, picking someone in the crowd to transform into.
'I might be disguised, but following them would be useless, since the crowd is just gonna follow them, too.' He decided to make a detour to his apartment, or what he hoped was still his. He walked a good distance from the train and dispelled his transformation. He soon noticed that no one seemed to recognize him, even without the transformation.
'You were never very exposed to the public eye,' Kurama reminded him.
'Yeah, that sounds about right,' he replied with a grin. 'I can just rejoin Fairy Tail and it'll be like I was never there,' he thought, looking at his palm.
His old apartment building finally came into view. Naruto entered with high hopes, but left with a crushed ego. He was homeless once again. And the little bit of furniture he had had been auctioned to the highest bidder. The only thing that would be worse would be if his bank account was suspended. He hurried to the nearest bank.
"Mr. Uzumaki, there's good news and there's great news. The good news is that your account is still active." Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "The great news is that your account's interest compounded at 6% annually."
"Heh, you've gotta slow down a bit, ma'am. You might as well be speaking a different language," Naruto said.
"Well, to put it simply, you have more money than you started with. Explaining how interest works to you seems like a lost cause, no offense," the banker finished.
"None taken! That's all I wanted to hear anyway," the blond said as he left the bank. 'This is awesome. I'll probably be able to find a better place than last time,' he thought happily as the guild came into view.
As the building grew closer, Naruto managed to pick out some of its details. The color scheme had shifted to something dark and creepy, and the sign in front of it read Twilight Ogre. 'Did we move guild buildings or something?' He walked straight through the double doored entrance and found a multitude of unfamiliar faces there to meet him.
"Who the hell is the orange kid?" a voice yelled.
"Ha. Probably just some weakling who thinks he's strong enough to join us," another voice replied.
"Speaking of weaklings," said a man who had just stood up, "Where is Thibault? He should be back with payment from those little fairies already."
"Oh, he's right here," came a new voice from behind Naruto. "It looks like Fairy Tail has already paid all its 'debts' to this guild." Naruto turned to see an angry Erza and Mirajane standing in the doorway, a limp mage at their feet.
"Hey, Mira, don't you think they owe us payment?" Erza asked, grinning.
"Hmm. I think you're right," Mira replied, transforming into Satan Soul. "7 years of bullying our friends should amount to, I'd say, this guild building."
"W-what the? Who are they? Get them out of here!" Twilight's guild master commanded.
Naruto shook his head at the mayhem that would soon occur. 'They can handle this with no problem. I think I'll go take a look at what might be hiding in the guild master's office.' Naruto jumped across the room up to the balcony, and strolled into the office. "Bingo!" he said quietly to himself.
He turned around towards the office door upon hearing some heavy, frantic footsteps. "U-um, could you maybe give that to me?" the man asked fearfully.
"Give you what? This safe full of money?" He took on a contemplative look before speaking again. "Nah, this is ours now."
"T-that's illegal! My guild earned that mon-"
"It's funny you'd say that. This book is the record of who owns the building we're in right now. For some reason it still says Fairy Tail. That makes me think that you actually decided that it would be a good idea to steal our guild building from us."
"Fine! I'll just take it by force!" The man dove at Naruto in a poor attempt to tackle him. Naruto gripped the book tightly and hit him across his face, leaving him unconscious.
"That settles that." The teen picked the guild master up by the collar and dragged him downstairs to find that only Erza, Mira, and a few defeated mages remained. "You guys work fast," he said with a chuckle.
"We didn't have to do much. After we sent the first few flying, the rest ran." Erza explained. "Is that their guild master?"
"Yep. He was trying to get the safe upstairs, but it turns out that it legally belongs to Fairy Tail."
"I see. Well, we're finished here. We'll go let everyone know the news," Erza said.
Naruto nodded, walking out of the guild with the large man dragging at his heels. Naruto turned him in to the first guards he saw and returned to the guild.
The shinobi entered the guild to find that everyone had already moved everything into the more spacious guild building. He walked to Makarov who was seated in his usual spot on the counter, sipping a beer. "Yo, Master," he greeted.
"Well, actually, I'm not the master. Macao is," he said.
"Wrong again," Macao began. "I just retired, and I name Makarov Dreyar as the next guild master of Fairy Tail."
Makarov laughed. "Well, isn't this something. I've just set a record as the first person to be guild master of the same guild twice!" Everyone laughed and cheered, happy that the homey atmosphere had returned. "Now what was it you needed?" he asked, turning back to the blond standing beside him.
"I need my guild mark back," he said, grinning. "My hand doesn't look right without it."
Makarov's arm stretched out, allowing him to pat Naruto on the back. "Well, we'll have to see if you're strong enough to represent our name proudly before I can let you join," he said in a joking tone. The room burst into laughter, raising their morale even higher.
"Very funny," Naruto laughed as the stamp made contact with his palm.
"Look, guys, we've got a new member! Let's make him feel at home!" Gray yelled. Suddenly, Naruto was knocked to the ground then dogpiled on by a large number of people.
They all spent the rest of the day simply having a good time. Night fell, but no one went home. They all decided to sleep at the guild that night.
Things were calmer the next day, but it seemed that word had reached the masses that Fairy Tail's strongest members had returned, and a crowd had accumulated outside the guild. Everyone in the guild mingled about like usual, while Makarov and Macao spoke to each other exclusively.
"Well this is just great," Makarov complained.
"It was only a matter of time," Macao replied. "What do you think we should do? Just ignoring them probably won't have much effect."
Makarov rubbed his temples. The thought of having to explain their disappearance gave him a headache. "You're right. They want a story to bring back to their bosses."
Both men sat quietly in thought about how to handle the situation. Suddenly, Macao's eyes lit up. "I have the perfect idea! Do you remember what I told you about the Grand Magic Games?
Naruto and the mages around him watched as Makarov calmly walked towards the guild's entrance.
"Is he gonna say something to them?" one person asked.
"Shut up! I want to here what he says!" another mage yells. Silence filled the room as the old man pushed the double doors open.
The crowds of journalists in the street went still when the front doors of Fairy Tail opened wide. Makarov stepped out into the sunlight and cleared his throat. "I am aware that Fairy Tail has been last place in the Grand Magic Games for the past 7 years, but that drought ends now! I swear on my title as guild master that we will win the Games this year!" He then turned around, walked back into the guild, and took a seat on the counter.
Everyone, from the reporters, to the guild members, was stunned. The reporters erupted in excitement, the sound of their voices penetrating the walls of the guild, which was still silent.
"LET'S GO!" Natsu yelled. Everyone followed his lead, cheering and chanting.
"QUIET!" Makarov commanded. "Allow me to explain everything to any of you who may be unaware." He sipped from his mug and started again. "Former guild master Macao has informed me that Fairy Tail is ranked as last place of all guilds in Fiore. Winning the Grand Magic Games would put us back on top where we belong."
"Let's do it, then! There's no guild stronger than us!" Natsu declared.
"It's not that simple. We've been gone for 7 years," Erza started. "We're behind everyone else by a long shot." Natsu was about to protest when he remembered how he barely beat Max in a spar.
"That's right. We're currently at a major disadvantage," Makarov agreed. "You have about 3 months until the Games, so if you plan to participate, I suggest you start training. There is no guaranteed spot in team Fairy Tail. I'm picking those who progress the most."
It didn't take long for people to begin discussing their training. Others simply left to start training immediately.
"With 3 months, we might have a chance!" Wendy encouraged happily.
"Let's train like real men!" Elfman yelled.
Naruto sat quietly, planning what kind of training he could do for 3 months. 'I wouldn't say that I'm 7 years behind, since I was already a good ways ahead when I got here, but this is the perfect time to try that.'
'Don't tell you're going to try to use magic,' Kurama groaned.
'I don't have to tell you, you can hear my thoughts.'
'I don't think that's a good idea.'
'I've done it before with lacrima orbs and I'm not dead yet, so I'll be fine.' The blond stood was about to leave when Erza waved him over.
"Naruto, we're all going to the same place to train. It'll give us a chance to spar when we aren't training alone."
Naruto contemplated his decision. 'Train alone and make limited progress without anyone to test my limits against, or train in a group where I'll be able to give and receive constructive criticism, leading to an overall better experience.' "Sounds good."
"Alright, then. Meet us at the south gate of Magnolia in an hour." Naruto nodded and went on his way.
He went to a camping store and bought a large backpack that could carry lots of clothes. The blond bought a canteen and a knife. Then he went to search for clothes. 'I'm gonna go with my gut feeling and buy clothes that are appropriate for hot weather. Going farther up north would take a few days and they probably don't want to waste any time.' He filled his back with underwear, shorts and t-shirts of various colors. 'This should be enough. Perfect timing, too.' A short walk to the south gate reunited him with the others.
'Wow. I didn't expect all of them to be coming too,' Naruto thought, pleasantly surprised. Team Natsu, Juvia, Wendy, and Team Shadow Gear were waiting.
"Alright. Everyone's here. Let's get going," Erza said. The others watched with slight confusion when the redhead began jogging away. "What are you standing there for? Come on," she said, still jogging.
The rest of the group quickly fell in line behind Erza, following her lead. 'I see. She doesn't plan on a single moment being wasted.' Naruto kept pace with the rest of them, working up a nice sweat.
Some hours passed. They made some short stops for snacks and rehydration along the way. Now the sun was about to set, eliciting a little worry from some of the members.
"Don't worry, it's just ahead," Erza reassured. Sure enough, they emerged through the trees and found a white sanded beach laid out before them.
"We finally made it," Natsu said, catching his breath.
"You're tired? That was nothing," Happy teased.
"Says the flying cat," Naruto replied. 'I guess 7 years of sleep really did effect my stamina.'
"It's already late, so we're done for today." Everyone sighed in relief and went their separate ways to get ready for the night. Natsu started the fire and before long, everyone was gathered around.
Naruto sat next to Erza and spoke. "So are we gonna have some type of schedule for training?"
"Somewhat. I'm not going to make everyone train like I do, since everyone has something different to work on. Just because we're all here doesn't mean all the training has to be together."
"Training should be easy," Gray said, "considering the people we have here." Juvia nodded vehemently, not even comprehending what he said.
"Yes, that's why I chose this group and location. I have an idea of how each of us could train," Erza explained. "For example, the hot weather hinders Gray's ice magic slightly, so he'll have to work to overcome it."
"I get it," Wendy said. "So Natsu would practice in the water. You're pairing opposites."
Erza nodded. "Exactly. This group is perfect, since you and Natsu are here. You two could practice on collaboration techniques since wind makes flames grow. Your magic will be a very valuable asset to Fairy Tail." Wendy's eyes brightened at the praise.
"That makes sense," Naruto said, "But what about Lucy, and Team Shadow Gear?"
"Don't worry about us," Levy started, "My team trains pretty often, so we have everything we do set to benefit us the best."
"Same here," Lucy agreed. "I'm just gonna work on increasing my magic power, and my spirits' powers will increase as mine does."
Erza smiled. "It seems like the next 3 months will be a great help for us all. I'm going to sleep. I want to start early tomorrow." The others followed suit and slept.
Naruto was awoken by the noise of other's moving around him. He opened his eyes and saw that everyone else was packing their things to go train. Sitting up, he stretched, wiped his eyes, and stood. "What kind of training should we be doing today?"
"Well," Erza said as she stretched her legs, "I was planning on training alone, but you could come along if you want. Everyone else is already doing their own thing."
"I might as well. I was never good at coming up with my own training exercises anyway," he said, sitting down and stretching his legs in sync with her.
"I'll make this easier for us then. Do you have any end goal for this training? Are you trying to master something? I probably won't be a big help since you don't use magic."
"Well, actually," the blond began, shifting to his other leg, "I want to be able to use magic." Erza an eyebrow. "You know that form where my eyes turn orange?" The redhead nodded. Naruto put his feet together and reached for his toes. "I achieve that form by absorbing Natural Energy from around me, but this world has magic particles mixed in, which I have to filter out."
Erza thought for a moment. "That's a lot like how mages produce magic. Our bodies absorb the particles from the air. I think I remember you saying that your body forms its energy from the inside."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I've used magic once before to activate a lacrima, but I didn't use it for any techniques, and that's what I want to accomplish on this trip."
Erza swung her left leg over her right and twisted the opposite way, stretching her hip. "What kind of magic were you trying to learn?"
"Is there any way we could find out my affinity? I'd rather start somewhere where I'll have the most progress," he replied.
"I'm honestly not completely sure you'd even have an affinity, since your body doesn't naturally absorb magic particles. My guess would be to try a technique you already know, but instead of your chakra, use magic," she suggested.
Naruto nodded and crossed his legs, absorbing the energy around him. He felt the eternano that was mixed in with the nature energy and focused on it, only allowing it to pass into him. "Okay, I absorbed the magic. Here we go." He formed a cross symbol with his hands in an attempt to form a clone, but nothing happened. "Well that went better than expected," Naruto chuckled sarcastically.
Erza finished her stretches and requipped a book from her pocket dimension. She flipped through a few pages and began reading. "It says here that 'magic tends to select its wielder. If the mage's mind is weak, the magic will overtake them.' We were talking about affinities earlier, but in this context, an affinity is just whatever magic the mage can handle. In my case, it simply awakened one day."
Naruto sat back down and rested his chin on his fist. "So I have to wait until the magic gods chose me?"
"No, we can start with some simple magic. You already have quite the arsenal, so you don't need anything major anyway," Erza assured.
Naruto postured up. "So what do you have in mind?"
"Well," the girl began, "you could try thought projection to start."
"Alright, just tell me how."
2 hours passed and Naruto hadn't made any progress.
"Man, this sucks."
"Don't worry about it. It's only the first day. Remember that you've been using one type of energy all your life. Once you get this it'll be like riding a bike," Erza said encouragingly.
"I hope you're right." Naruto paused. Since this isn't working, you wanna work on something else? Is there anything you're trying to accomplish from this trip?"
"Apart from being strong enough to win the Games, no. I just want to sharpen my skills all around," she replied.
"Hmm. Well how about a quick spar? We can give each other pointers and go from there."
"I'm fine with that, but only if you use some sort of blade too," she replied, requipping her usual sword. "Is there any type of sword you prefer?"
"Um, just give me something short and light weight," he said. She tossed him a short, straight sword and they began. Erza went slower that she usually would, not sure of how skilled Naruto was with a blade. When she saw him handle her current speed accordingly, she turned it up a notch.
Their swords clashed, sending sparks into the air as the sounds of colliding metal filled the area. Erza knew that if she caught Naruto in a parry, she could break his sword under the pressure, so she pressed forward. Naruto adjusted, angling his sword so that they wouldn't stay locked for long.
"You won't avoid it for long," she said. "I've got a lot more gears in me."
"I don't mind a challenge," Naruto said grinning. He jumped in the air, avoiding another swing from Erza. "How about we stop holding back? Of course, I'll keep my word and still use a sword."
Erza smiled. "I'll make you wish you didn't say that." She dashed at Naruto at surprising speed. Naruto blocked her swing and kicked her away, immediately jumping after her. Being the master swordswoman she was, this had little effect. She dug her sword into the ground, slowing herself down. She grabbed Naruto's wrist and used his momentum to slam him into the ground. She drew her sword back and swung down at Naruto, who had no choice but to parry.
Naruto struggled against her. Her sword was heavier, and he was on his back. There way out except to beat her in this strength match.
'Wait! I could do that thing Asuma showed me!' The blond focused on pushing his chakra into his short sword. His blade became shrouded in a faint blue aura, cutting through Erza's sword slowly.
Erza pulled away and examined her sword. "You can sharpen things with your chakra?"
"Heh, yeah, but I'm really bad at it. If I was any good, I'd have cut through your sword like butter," he explained, standing back up.
Erza stared at the deep cut in her sword. 'This kind of thing would make shields and armor useless.' "Do you think it's possible with magic power instead?" she asked.
"I don't know," Naruto began, "but we've got 3 months to find out."
Surprise! I'm back. Sorry about the delay. I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself to finish this story, which is why things were rushed in the last 2 chapters, but that won't be happening anymore. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading!