Fairy Tail's Tailed Beast Slayer (滅尾獣のフェアリーテイル/Metsubijū no Fearī Teiru)
Chapter 10: Demon Swordsman of the Hidden Mist
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Naruto. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima while Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
September X777,
It was a peaceful afternoon in the town of Magnolia. Birds were chirping, civilians were chatting, kids were playing. Even the frequent visitors from the Konoha settlement seemed to mend in with the jovial atmosphere. It was unfortunate that inside the Fairy Tail guild; things weren't as peaceful as it was outside…
"What was that, Ice Stripper!?" Natsu bumped heads with his infamous rival as sparks were flying between them.
"You heard me, Pyro Freak! Just how many times do you have to come in here and cause some kind of ruckus?! Some of us have something that they need peace and quiet for!" The raven-haired male said while pushing the salmon-haired boy back in irritation.
"Well it's not my fault that your stupid habit is annoying me! I mean, when was the last time you didn't strip!?"
"What are you-" Gray looks down to see everything but his boxers were stripped off. "Aw man, not again!" Everyone who was watching sighed at the commotion the two boys were making. Especially with most of the kids as they saw the two duking it out again,
"Do they always have to fight whenever they have some kind of disagreement?" Elfman asked the brown-haired girl who just shrugged in response,
"Trust me, they alway have something against each other. We don't know why but it always happen no matter what."
"You would think that they would have some courtesy," Sakura exasperatedly said to the group, "Considering you guys are still adjusting to the atmosphere here, right Lisanna?"
"It's okay, Sakura." The younger girl said to the older girl, "If they need to fight, then let them. They're going to run out of steam eventually."
"Trust us when we say this but some of their arguments might take a long time to 'cool' off." The shorter blue-haired girl commented just when the two boys began to comically sock each other.
Unfortunately, their fight had lead them towards Erza who was sitting nearby, eating her usual cheesecake. When she finally noticed that they were approaching, Natsu and Gray trampled over her and made her cheesecake fall onto the guild floor.
"Well... they've just screwed themselves." The brown-hair girl monotonically commented while taking a sip from her drink. A second had passed as Erza fully processed what had happened. She approached both Natsu and Gray who were still fighting with each other and grabbed both of them by their hair. She pulled them apart and slammed their heads together soon after, leaving them lying on the ground in pain.
"How many times do I have to keep telling you two? You're not allowed to fight in the guild hall, do you understand?" The scarlet-haired girl scolded, emphasizing the last word in a menacing tone.
"Yes Ma'am/A-Aye!" Both boys exclaimed panically while getting back up in an instant. The brown-haired girl and Sakura giggled at their responses. But that all changed when Erza was suddenly kicked to the other side of the guild hall by a white blur.
"Oh no.. Mira-nee, why did you have to do that?" Lisanna said in a scolding manner upon recognizing that it was her older sister that kicked Erza down.
Mirajane, to an extent, seemed to changed her demonic arm back to normal and she got rid of the cloak she wore when she first came to Fairy Tail. After ditching the cloak, she also changed her attire to an extent. Instead of a simple spaghetti top and skirt that was underneath the cloak, she now dons a midriff-revealing halter and short-shorts complimented with a belt that had a demon-shaped buckle. Mira also has thigh-high boots, a simple silver spiral bracelet on her right wrist, and a collar on her neck. Besides the outfit change, she also has her hair worn up in a high ponytail with a violet-red ribbon tying it.
"Do what? I didn't do anything, Lisanna." The older girl replied back to her sister while picking her ear, "If anything, it's her fault for not accepting my fight from yesterday."
The others just stared at Mira incredulously until they heard wood falling onto the ground. They turned their heads to the sound and saw Erza emerging from the rubble with an angry sneer on her face, scarring the boys while the girls just sighed at what was about to happen.
"And the blood fest's about to begin... " The brown-haired girl commented while the shorter blue-haired girl turned to the former with a disbelieving look on her face,
"Mou, Cana! You don't have to say it like that!" The shorter girl exclaimed to the older girl as she nonchalantly shrugged at the girl's scolding. Just when Cana had shrugged, both Erza and Mira charged at each other with malicious gleams in their their eyes,
"I'LL BEAT YOU TO A BLOODY PULP!" The armored red-head yelled out at her attacker who replied back with the same angry tone,
"I LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY, ARMOR-PLATE!"
The two girls instantly clashed heads while gripping onto the other's hands as they try to overcome the other in terms of physical strength. The kids just watched both of them continuing to fight with one and another while calling each other various names,
"JUST STAY DOWN, YOU MIDRIFF-BEARING WITCH!"
"WHY DON'T YOU, METAL-WEARING SCANDAL!"
"Way to keep it original, girls…" Cana muttered quietly while boringly watching the girls continue their scuffle.
"Oh sure. She gets all mad when we get into a fight but she can wreck the whole guild whenever she wants to…" Gray commented while Natsu and the others watched Erza and Mira duking it out. The former seemed to had flames burning in his eyes as the fighting continued on,
"It doesn't matter." The others turned to look at Natsu as he continues to watch the two girls fighting, "Just one of these day, I'm going to give them a beating they'll never forget."
"Honestly you idiot, can you think of anything else besides fighting all of the time?" The fire wizard turned his attention from the fight to Sakura who had an annoyed look on her face, "Take it from someone who doesn't get into petty fights like you usually do with Gray."
Upon hearing the pink-haired girl's comment, Gray, along with Cana and the blue-haired girl, all sighed exasperatedly. Elfman and Lisanna looked between the three in confusion at their behavior while Sakura heard the sighing from the three,
"You guys want to explain something here?" Sakura raised an eyebrow in anticipation at their answer,
"Look no offense, Sakura, but you're not exactly one to talk about getting into 'petty' fights, as you call them." Gray blatantly stated, making Sakura slightly twitch in anger at the semi-naked boy's accusation,
"Gray has a point, Sakura." Cana supported Gray's comment as Sakura irritatedly turned her attention back to Erza and Mira's fight, "Ever since Sasuke has joined the guild, you've always been getting into competitions about him with that girl that usually visits the guild on occasions with the other Konoha kids..."
"Well.. Okay, we might've gotten into petty fights ourselves…" Sakura reluctantly admitted, "But at least we were fighting for 'specific' reasons, unlike you two dimwits."
Both Natsu and Gray turned to Sakura with offended expressions and were about to yell at her until the former heard someone walking past them. Natsu turned around and saw that Sasuke was the one who had walked past them. The others noticed Natsu suddenly look behind them without a word so they looked in his direction and saw Sasuke walking towards the request board.
"Tch. I never understood why he doesn't bother to talk to us. I mean he seems to be alright with you guys but then he ignores the rest of us. What's his deal?" Gray said to Elfman and Lisanna as they looked at each other for guidance.
It has been a few weeks after Sasuke and the Strauss siblings joined the guild, the former was the only one who kept his distances away from the other guild members. They didn't know why he seemed so aloof to them but every time they try to interact with him, he would simply stay silent and walk away like they weren't there. But after many tries, the guild members just decided to leave him to his accords so they would possibly be spared from his "wrath". Although in Elfman and Lisanna's eyes, they knew he was kind and understanding (in his own way). Partly because of his part in convincing Mirajane to stay at Fairy Tail with some cryptic words that Mira understood completely. Ever since, the others have speculated that he might've become a Fairy Tail member because of that very incident.
Just as Lisanna was about to reply, the others noticed Sasuke pulling a pamphlet off of the request board and walked past them again to get to Makarov. The short master noticed Sasuke's presence as the latter presented to him the pamphlet he took,
"Hmm… This request you're taking is rather difficult for someone your age." Makarov told the stoic boy who just stood there in boredom, "Are you really sure about about this?"
One of the older men who were drinking nearby glanced over the short man's shoulder and recognized the request,
"The master has a point here, kid. According to Hiruzen-san, this job was asked by a well-known bridge builder who needs bodyguards to bring him back to the Land of Waves." The older man said, "Not to mention that the road that leads to the Land of Waves are inhabited by not only vicious animals but also a whole mob of bandits."
"Macao's right there, kiddo." A pompadour man said as he lit the cigarette in his mouth, "You might be capable of taking care of yourself but even you can get exhausted eventually."
The raven-haired boy stood his ground while staring at the three men with uninterested eyes. Seeing that there was no way to convince him otherwise, Makarov then took a chug of his drink and declared,
"If that is what you wish, then you may go."
The two men were about to protest at the old man's decision, the latter interrupted them and finished his statement,
"However, you must at least be accompanied by at least two others and a veteran wizard. They're your fellow guildmates after all so take the time to know them all in times that you need to work with others."
Despite being very far away; out of nowhere, Sakura dashed towards the bar, engulfing the others in dust clouds. The four noticed the girl stopping in front of them as the older men sweat-dropped at the sight of the girl's fanatic eyes. The men at the bar were aware that Sakura had develop a deep fan-girl crush on the new guild member. They also figured that when Sasuke gets older, he'll be a looker as a young adult and attracting a lot of attention from the females, much to their amusement. But regardless of the obvious attraction, the young male just ignored Sakura and her friend when they began to fight for his attention.
"I can come along with you, Sasuke-kun! At the moment, I don't have any brand of magic but I can treat any injuries you obtain and fend off any bandits that catches you off-guard."
Even though her proposal was considerate to some, the other bunch of wizards, however, were able to see that she was using it as an excuse to get closer to Sasuke. Sasuke emotionlessly looked at the long pink-haired girl and eventually narrowed his eyes in disdain. Just when he was about to say something cold, Natsu suddenly came up to them and yelled out,
"Oi, Sakura! You can't just run up to Sasuke and volunteer your help if you can't even use some kind of magic!" Sakura became extremely irritated at Natsu's intrusion and his accusation and suddenly emitted an enraged aura, making the others back up a little. Just as she was about to bash Natsu's head in, Mirajane suddenly pushed Natsu to the side and gets in Sakura's face,
"Mira-nee…" Lisanna exasperatedly groaned while Elfman began shaking in nervousness at what was about to happen,
"Look here, Miss Pompous-Forehead. I usually wouldn't agree with what Natsu says but I can say that you're not going to go with Sasuke. Especially when you're only going with him just to have some fantasy of yours come true."
"What did you just called me, Witch!?" Sakura angrily growled as she and Mirajane began to venomously glare at each other. Fortunately, Makarov used his brand of magic, Titan (Kyojin/Jiyaianto), to separate the two raging tweens before the situation escalated, much to the others' relief.
"Now both of you calm down this instant! It doesn't matter if one person has one brand of magic while the other doesn't, we are all still members of Fairy Tail! And as members of this guild, I will not have these kind of arguments in the guildhall and instead of having those arguments, we help each other to grow stronger and cover each other's weaknesses. Do you all understand what I'm saying?"
Both Sakura and Mirajane looked at each other with disdain at first but when the Master said his piece, they eventually backed off and turned away from each other. Seeing that the situation has ceased, the Master turned his attention to Sasuke and was about to tell Sasuke on who to take with him, a familiar voice spoke its opinion to him,
"If you really need a veteran wizard to accompany Sasuke on this escort mission, then I can do that for you, Makarov-dono."
"I can see that you still have your habits of being a former ANBU, but I do appreciate your offer, Kakashi." Makarov said as he slightly turned his head around to see the Konoha shinobi behind him, squatting on the counter. Everyone else, except for Erza and Natsu, were shocked to see the masked man appear out of nowhere to speak casually to their Master.
Upon seeing the masked shinobi, Natsu ran up to Makarov and Kakashi as he stared at the latter with star-struck eyes,
"That was awesome, Masked Guy! Are you really some kind of ninja that Tou-chan has told me about?! And how in the world did you just appear without us even noticing you!?"
The younger kids just sighed at Natsu's enthusiasm to Kakashi's appearance. Even though they've explained to him several times, it would seem that Natsu still doesn't understand the concept of shinobi tactics. Kakashi slightly sweat-dropped at the name Natsu gave him but still found the young boy somewhat intriguing due to his brand of magic.
"So you're Natsu, right?" Natsu was puzzled by the man's sudden question but nodded nevertheless. Kakashi stared at the boy for a few seconds before eye-smiling at him,
"I can see a lot of potential in you. You might not be as smart as the others, but I can still tell that your Dragon Slayer Magic (Metsuryū Mahō) says otherwise. After all, it's rare to come across those who have learned Lost Magic (Rosuto Majikku) these days."
Natsu rubs his nose in embarrassment from the praise he received from the ninja. Kakashi got up from the counter and walked up to the young boy. Once in the boy's proximity, the masked shinobi looked down to Natsu and asked,
"So is it okay if I asked you to come along with me and Sasuke on this mission?"
The others, excluding Makarov, were flabbergasted at the man's sudden request. Sure they knew Natsu has potential as well but they also know that if he were to go all out, something was assured to be destroyed. The adults and kids were about to tell the masked man to reconsider until Natsu yelled eagerly,
"You bet, Masked Guy! I'll beat those bandits to a pulp and show that no one should mess with a Dragon Slayer!" Even though Kakashi was slightly impressed by Natsu's enthusiasm, he couldn't help but feel somewhat offended when Natsu still calls him "Masked Guy". Regardless, he nodded and turned to Sasuke who just stared at the commotion with emotionless eyes and asked,
"This won't be an issue now, won't it Sasuke?"
The question might've came as friendly, but the young male knew that he shouldn't refuse the masked shinobi. Especially since he could sense that the masked man was strong and there was something familiar emitting from the man's concealed left eye. Having no other choice, the raven-haired boy nodded and walked past the others,
"Do what you want. As long as you don't get in the way, I really don't care."
"Ano, Jellal. Why is Naruto-san staring at Sayla-san like that?"
The blue-haired male turned to his left and looked down to Wendy for a brief second before focusing his attention back to the blond tween,
"Honestly Wendy, I'm not entirely too sure. But seeing him like this, I think I know what he's up to…" Jellal told the young girl as they continue to focus on the commotion that was occurring.
Their whiskered friend was staring really closely at the she-demon, almost as if he was trying to figure out something. Even though Sayla still had her emotionless composure, she too was a bit concerned as to what Naruto was thinking at this moment.
"What exactly are you up to?" The blond remained silent to Sayla's question, making her eyes narrow even more in suspension.
This kept on for what seemed to be forever in Wendy and Jellal's eyes. Just when things were about to get even more boring, Naruto snapped out of his trance and bopped his clenched right hand into his other hand in enlightenment,
"I got it!"
The she-demon saw the grin that Naruto was bearing and couldn't help but feel creeped out by it. She then backed away a little when the blond got in a little too close to her face. Wendy tilted her head in confusion at the commotion while Jellal felt sympathy for Sayla's situation. All three of them watched Naruto kneel down and began to dig through his backpack, looking for something. Eventually, he found what he was looking and took it out to show to everyone.
"Ta-da!" The blond's grin still remained on his face while the others either had curious, confused, or stoic expressions on their faces. Their eyes were focused on the object that was in Naruto's hand: it was a long white cloth that would probably be mistaken as a headband or a bandana. Still not understanding what the blond was thinking, Wendy stepped towards Naruto while keeping her eyes onto the white cloth,
"Naruto-san, what are you planning to do with that?" The younger girl asked while the blond was angling the cloth in his hands like a ruler at Sayla's head. His facial expression clearly read that he was trying to figure out what to do with the white cloth. After a few seconds of observation, he took a step closer to Sayla and was now just a few inches away from her.
He then began to wrap the white cloth around Sayla's head as the latter was starting to become slightly curious at the blond's actions. Tying the cloth with one tight tug, Naruto finished wrapping the top of Sayla's head with the strand of fabric. Taking a step back, the blond, along with Jellal and Wendy, took in the current appearance of the she-demon. Naruto managed to wrap the cloth like a turban and now Sayla's horns were completely concealed, although the concealed appendages now made her head slightly bigger.
"Um… Naruto, was there a particular reason why you just wrapped a long piece of fabric around her head?" The tattooed male asked in confusion as Naruto turned to Jellal with his infamous grin on his face,
"Well of course I have a reason, Jellal! I mean, what would happen if we have to stop somewhere and the people there will see her horns?"
"They will figure out that she's a demon. But I still don't get- " Jellal answered back and was just about to question Naruto further until it clicked in, "Oh… That's actually kind of smart. But regardless, what if we just happen to encounter wizards? That cloth won't be able to help us if they managed to analyze her magic power or if they managed to snag the cloth off. So what do we do then?"
Wendy and Sayla watched the boys debate on the current situation about concealing the latter's demonic origins. The she-demon was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable that she had become the main topic of their argument. So in order to make it stop, she stepped in between the two as they focused their attention onto her,
"Listen, it doesn't matter if my horns were wrapped up in this cloth or my ethernano remains the same. In the end, I'm still a demon in flesh and in blood; nothing can ever change that." Both boys turned their attention onto her when she spoke. When she noticed that they've stopped arguing, she was about to say something else when Naruto stepped forward and stared at her with the same serious gaze he uses when he's fighting or defending his point,
"Sure, this might not be the best plan that someone like me could come up with. But to me, it doesn't really matter if it manages to succeed or not. All I care about is that you'll be able to walk into other villages as an individual, as a human being. Just with that result alone, I'll be contempt with it, even if it does fails some time down the road."
After hearing Naruto's little speech, Jellal couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the whiskered blond's answer. He had sort of expected something like that from Naruto, especially that he was just doing his best to help his friends out in any way he could think of. Sayla seemed to understand what Naruto was saying and so she couldn't help but soften her emotionless face and smile slightly at the blond's proclamation. The she-demon was starting to feel more adjusted to the cloth wrapped on her head and thus she walked out of Naruto and Jellal's way and heading northward.
"I'm assuming she's alright with it, right?" Naruto leaned over to Jellal as he whispered to the latter. The latter shrugged in response when the she-demon turned around and raised an eyebrow in a sense of silently asking why the three of them are still standing there. Wendy began to run ahead of the boys who were still standing off to the side until they got the notion and caught up to the girls.
The four continued their way on the abundant path in the forest. The afternoon air blew right past them as Wendy runs ahead to embrace the breeze momentarily. Both Naruto and Jellal smiled amusedly at the young girl's actions while Sayla looked on in curiosity as they walked behind Wendy in a casual pace. As they walked on the path that could lead them anywhere, Naruto came to a stop, causing both Jellal and Sayla to stop and turn around to see the blond staring into the distance.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" The younger girl heard Jellal speak as she noticed the three stopped walking and saw Naruto still staring in the opposite direction. The blond slightly lift his head to look up to the sky and saw several birds flying away from something. Just when Wendy walked back to Jellal and Sayla, a loud boom was heard as several more birds began flying away and getting caught up in the other flock, creating havoc in the sky. But that was the least of both Jellal and Wendy's concerns as it was more focused on their friend who suddenly left them behind and was now heading towards the source of the commotion.
"Matte! Naruto, where are you going!?" The blond didn't stop to respond back as he was focused on getting to the location of the noise. Jellal rubbed his head as he sighed tiredly,
"I'm really starting to think that he has some kind of habit that always involves him getting into some kind of trouble…" Wendy looked at the older boy in confusion while the she-demon just stared at the direction Naruto ran off to. Seeing no other choice, Jellal grabbed Wendy's wrist as they began to run after their blonde friend,
"Well, we might as well go after him, so he doesn't cause even more trouble. Right Wendy?"
"Hai!" The young girl replied back as she was trying to match Jellal's running speed. Sayla noticed them getting farther away and eventually began to follow them. Little did they know, the four of them were soon going to face against a danger that was classified as "demonic".
Even though the masked shinobi was reluctant on taking Sakura along with them, her skills in first-aid turned out to be actually useful at the time. Especially when it came to the sudden ambush from the Demon Brothers and Natsu freezing up when it came to facing them. The boy might have some fighting experience from his time learning his Dragon Slayer Magic and his times fighting Gray but this, to him, was a different experience entirely. Natsu was never brought up in a life/death situation, so when the Demon Brothers suddenly appeared and "killed" Kakashi, the pink-haired boy couldn't help but to freeze up in fear. Sure Kakashi revealed himself to be alive, but all that Natsu could think of at this point was how Sasuke managed to retain his cool. Especially since the latter taunted him after seeing Natsu tense up after talking so big in the guildhall.
From there onward, Natsu steeled himself ready for the rest of the mission, although he did comedically panicked when he slitted his hand to get the poison out of him. That aside, it turned out that the request Sasuke picked out turned out to be more difficult than it was supposed to be as Kakashi had suspected it to be. So the masked man had their client, Tazuna, by his choice to reveal the real details about the mission. And when he did, only Natsu and Sasuke to an extent were shocked to hear the details of the mission. It turns out that Gatō, a famous shipping magnate, had taken control over Tazuna's homelands to use as a base for his drug and smuggling businesses, isolating the country completely and making it deprived of any food stock from the other countries. Tazuna hoped that the bridge he was building would bring prosperity back to his homelands but Gatō became aware of this and hired several mercenaries and shinobi to assassinate the bridge builder.
Upon hearing Tazuna's reasons for deceiving them, the group still decides to escort the bridge builder back to the Land of Waves without any resentment. As they made their way to Tazuna's home after arriving, Natsu tried to prove himself once more but failed comedically when he accidentally attacked a stray rabbit. Which catches up to the current situation happening now as everyone quickly ducked to dodge a flying broadsword coming at them. As it wedged itself into a tree trunk, a man instantly appeared standing on the hilt of the massive sword. He was a tall man with a pale complexion and short spiky brown hair. He wore a forehead protector sideways and had bandages wrapped around his lower face like a mask. His attire consists of a belt around his exposed chest along with striped baggy pants, brown opened sandals, and matching wrist/leg warmers.
Tension filled the air as both Natsu and Sakura were trembling at the amount of power the man was emitting. Even Sasuke was slightly shaking in fear of the man's presence. After a few seconds, the man finally spoke while continuing to observe the group,
"Well now, this explains why the Demon Brothers failed in killing the old man. After all, no average man shouldn't underestimate Kakashi of the Sharingan (Sharingan no Kakashi)." The raven haired boy turned to the masked man in shock as Sakura and Natsu looked confused at the revelation.
"Zabuza Momochi…. The Demon of the Hidden Mist (Kirigakure no Kijin)..."
"Sha..rengan… What the heck is that mummy talking about?" The pink-haired boy loudly asked in confusion while the others just continued to observe the swordsman,
"Kakashi of the Sharingan…. I never imagine that a famous shinobi like you who has such a large bounty in the bingo book would play escort for a measly bridge builder. But nevertheless, I get to experience fighting with you close at hand." The bandaged swordsman leaned down to the hilt of the sword and grabs it.
The kids saw the masked man reached to the headband that was covering the left side of his face. The tension began to rise up again as the three were watching in anticipation when more of Kakashi's concealed side was being unveiled at a time.
"I'll admit…" The three became confused as to why the masked man said that, "Out of all of the bandits that could've been lurking about, I didn't expect a famous missing-nin like yourself to be someone's hound dog. But a mission is a mission so in order to fulfill that mission, I must defeat you if we want to complete it."
Kakashi moved the headband up and opened his scarred left eye, revealing the iris to be crimson red with three tomoes circling the pupil. The kids, especially Sasuke, were shocked at the appearance of the eyeball while the swordsman waited in anticipation for any movement from the masked shinobi.
"So there it is: The Sharingan… Let us test if it's really all that praiseworthy!" Zabuza disappears in an instant as everyone but Kakashi looked around for the swordsman. While everyone else was on the lookout for Zabuza, Sasuke couldn't help but think about the Sharingan in Kakashi's left eye.
"I don't understand… The Sharingan's supposed to be an Ocular Magic (Gan'nai no Mahō) that's only inherited in the Uchiha Clan... My clan… So how does this guy have it in the first place?" Sasuke thought in his mind while Natsu became impatient with the Sharingan revelation and yelled out loud,
"Urgh! It's Sharingan this and Sharingan that! Could someone explain what the heck does that even mean!?" Sakura looked at the boy with a mixture of annoyance and befuddlement. It was then mist had begun to surround the area, causing the group to increase their guard. Silence had begun to consume the atmosphere as the kids were beginning to feel fear embodied them until Kakashi's voice managed to pierce the silence,
"Daijoubu, I won't let him harm any of you." Kakashi slightly turned around to look at them with reassuring eyes and eye-smiled at them, "After all, it is my duty as a shinobi of Konohagakure that I protect my comrades. That also includes the future generation of wizards that Makarov-sama speaks so proudly of."
The three, especially Sasuke, were surprised to hear those words from someone they had met a few hours ago and were actually encouraged by them. Feeling the tension in their bodies fading away, they adjusted their stances so they could respond instantly to any of Zabuza's anticipated ambushes. But the odd thing was that no matter how hard they tried to keep an eye out for the swordsman, they couldn't hear any movement at all. Noticing this, Natsu decides to sniff the air for Zabuza's scent but all he could get was seawater. Without any hesitation, the masked ninja began to focus his chakra into one major point of his body and unleashed it all at once, breaking through the mist.
But when the mist dispersed, a quiet "swoosh" was heard so Natsu, Sasuke, and Sakura turned around behind them to see Zabuza crouching with his sword in hand right behind them but in front of Tazuna. Fortunately, Kakashi appeared the moment Zabuza was just about to lift his sword to cut down Tazuna. The bridge builder would've been cleaved in half if Kakashi didn't react as quickly as Zabuza. The masked ninja then kicked the swordsman towards the lake and goes after him. The swordsman lands on the large body of water with ease as Kakashi continued to charge towards him. He lunged a kunai into Zabuza's left pectoral but to his surprise, the latter dispersed into water. The real Zabuza then cleaves Kakashi in half, horrifying both Sakura and Natsu greatly while Sasuke was slightly caught off-guard from the scene. But the horrified feeling was set aside when Kakashi also bursted into water and appeared behind Zabuza with a kunai pointed near his jugular.
"It's over now."
"Sugoi! I'm not sure how he did that but that was awesome!" Natsu exclaimed in admiration but then he turned his head towards Sakura and Sasuke, "Eh, what did he do anyway?"
Sakura smacked her forehead in irritation at the boy's naïvety while Sasuke (to an extent again) and Tazuna looked at the boy in shock. Fortunately, they didn't have to explain anything to him as Zabuza begins to laugh in satisfaction,
"Well done, Kakashi." The swordsman complimented despite his current situation, "You really do hold to your title, especially with your usage of the Sharingan's ability to copy all sorts of spells and techniques to the smallest of details. You can even mimic the movements and breathing of your opponents with ease. The Sharingan really is such a marvelous tool."
"However," Kakashi sensed another presence behind him and just as he turned around to see another Zabuza; the Zabuza in his clutches dissolved into water and ensnared the masked shinobi in a dome of water, shocking the bystanders with the sudden trick,
"You should've pay more attention to my movements more." The masked ninja tried to break out of the watery prison but to avail, it doesn't work. The swordsman turned his attention from the trapped Kakashi to the group of four who were watching the entire commotion,
"Now then. Where were we?" Zabuza creates another Water Clone (Mizu Bunshin) while staying nearby the water dome that is keeping the masked shinobi under wraps. Kakashi is rendered to observing the Water Clone approaching the group of four, making them tense up into battle positions.
"Get Tazuna to safety now! Run away while you still can!"
The three kids heard their leader shout out to them as the Water Clone is getting closer to them. Just as they were about to obey Kakashi's orders, Natsu takes a step forward as he stared at the clone with unwavering eyes,
"You dolt, what are you doing!?" The pink-haired girl exclaimed as she saw the boy slowly walking towards the clone, "We have to obey Kakashi-sensei's orders now! You don't stand the slightest of a chance against him!"
"That fool, what exactly is he doing?" The old bridge builder commented while Sasuke observes the young Dragon Slayer's actions in slight curiosity.
Even though he saw what the swordsman was capable of since he was able to trap someone like Kakashi with ease, he remembered his vow earlier and he couldn't go back on it.
"Natsu, don't be a fool! Obey my order and take Tazuna out of he-"
"I DON'T CARE!" The pink haired Dragon Slayer cried out with conviction in his voice.
Everyone watched the young boy approach the clone with no hesitation in his movement and there was something that could be read inside his eyes that Zabuza instantly identified it as bravery,
"I don't care if this guy's stronger than I am. I'll admit it; I'm not as strong as I thought I'll be, but I won't be scared now. I won't back down now when there's something that has an advantage against us. Like I said before, I won't back down in the face of the foe in front of us! I'll stay and fight until this guy is beaten to a pulp!"
Natsu charges towards the Water Clone with his fists lighted with fire, intriguing an interest from Zabuza,
"Admirable little brat, aren't you? But you're off your league by a few years; especially since your fire will stand no match against my Water Release (Suiton)." The real Zabuza said as he senses the clone raising the giant sword above its head. The clone begins to swing the giant sword towards the charging boy who dodges at the last second.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist (Karyū no Tekken)!" The Dragon Slayer throws a right hook with one of his lit fists but the clone instantly blocks the punch with its sword. The clone pushes the boy off as he instantly rebounds and puts out the flames on his fists as he leapt into the air with his right foot lit on fire instead.
"Fire Dragon's Claw (Karyū no Kagizume)!"
The clone blocks the descending kick with the giant sword and pushes the boy back as the clone prodded the sword into the ground. It then made multiple hand signs at an extremely fast pace, causing everyone to marvel at the clone's speed.
"What in the- What is that clone doing?!" The pink-haired boy exclaimed in confusion while Sakura realizes what the clone was going,
"That clone… It's making multiple hand signs at a fast pace, it should be impossible to make hand signs at that speed! Which means-"
"He's going to unleash a spell that requires a large amount of ethernano and chakra…" Kakashi thought in his mind as he watched the water below the clone begin to swirl around him after a blue magic circle appeared. The water then moves behind the swordsman and emerges from the lake as a giant dragon of water.
"Sugoi, he created an actual dragon- Wait a minute, how in the world can he create a dragon just from water?!" Natsu said in amazement but then turned into a questioning tone right after he watched the magic spell activate.
"It's not a real dragon, you moron. It's a magic spell that just looks like a dragon." Sakura explained in her usual annoyed voice. Natsu didn't turn around to yell back as his attention was more focused on the clone of the Kirikagure ninja as he was still preparing his attack.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet (Suiton: Suiryūdan)!"
The body of water began to fly towards the others while Natsu remains where he is and began to inhale oxygen into his lungs. Even though Sakura was yelling at the younger boy to get out of there, Natsu didn't budge from his spot and just focused his attention at the incoming dragon-shaped current. When the water current was at least a few feet in front of Natsu, he reclined his head back and took aim at the water current,
"Fire Dragon's Roar (Karyū no Hōkō)!"
A magic circle appeared briefly in front of Natsu's mouth and disappears when the boy spewed out a large amount of flames. The flames collided with the water dragon as the body of water was able to overwhelm Natsu's flames, causing the Dragon Slayer to get pushed back. The young boy tried to retain his ground but he kept on getting pushed back even further until he felt like he couldn't hold on any longer. With little strength he had left, Natsu amplified most of his remaining ethernano into his breath attack, breaking through the water dragon and now heading towards the clone. Everyone was mostly filled with shock on how someone of Natsu's caliber was able to break through an elite swordsman's spell. It was fortunate for the clone that it was able to dodge the attack at the last second, leaving some of its left shoulder singed.
Natsu, on the other hand, landed on his bottom from the recoil of his last-ditch amplification. And that was all the Zabuza clone needed as it recovered a few seconds later and ran towards the vulnerable Dragon Slayer with its sword in tow.
"Natsu!" Kakashi yelled out as Natsu was feeling too tired to dodge the incoming attack as the clone was closing in on him. Sasuke, unlike Sakura, began to run towards Natsu, intending on getting the dense boy out of his current situation.
The raven-haired boy took out a couple of shurikens from his utility pouch and threw them towards the clone. The clone dodges them with ease but they delayed the clone longed enough for Sasuke to pull Natsu back onto his feet and drag him away. But just as they strode at least two feet away, the clone regained its balance and caught up to them with the giant sword raised above its head.
"SASUKE-KUN!"
Time seemed to slow down for Sasuke and Natsu as they saw the giant sword get closer to cleaving them regardless of how much distance they were putting themselves away with. Even though Sakura wanted to help the both of them (Sasuke more specifically), she knew that she had to protect Tazuna regardless because that was the mission they were assigned to. Just as the sword was just a few inches away, an orange and yellow blur suddenly appeared above the clone and dove towards it, causing the clone to lift the sword at the very last second to block the incoming attack. Unfortunately, since the clone lifted the sword during its trajectory, it caused the clone's defense to be very sloppy and letting the blur stamp the sword right into the ground.
The force of the sword being wedged into the ground made the clone lose its firm stance while it sent Natsu and Sasuke flying from the force of the collision. The sword itself instantly cracked from the attack while the clone was then kneed in the chest by the same blur, causing the clone to exploded into water. The blur was sent back from its attack as mixture of dirt and dust flew all over, concealing the blur's identity from the naked eye. The majority of the occupants were shocked at the events that just happened and were now wondering who in the world was that. Kakashi, however, recognized the chakra and ethernano signature of the blur a few seconds later. Immediately, he couldn't help but think of an old memory in his past replaying in his mind as the clouds of dust and dirt cleared up, revealing Naruto standing right in front Sasuke and Natsu.
"What the- Another kid?!" Tazuna exclaimed in disbelief as he couldn't believe that a single boy was able to actually send a sword two times his size into the ground. Sakura had the same shocked expression on her face as she took in the boy's appearance and thought of another idiotic Natsu in an instant.
Both Natsu and Sasuke were faring the same thoughts in their heads about the new arrival, although Sasuke recollected himself a second later. The latter thought about the sheer force of strength the blonde had used to stamp the sword with while Natsu could only stare in disbelief at another strong person appearing in front of them. The real Zabuza, on the other hand, watched the blond carefully for any incoming movement Naruto was going to make.
"That boy… That was no ordinary kind of strength you would find in someone so young… The pink-headed one was one thing but this one managed to crack Kubikiribōchō (Decapitating Carving Knife), even though it was just a copy of the original. Just who is this boy?"
"Oi, Pinky, Slick-head." Naruto called out to Natsu and Sasuke, "Are the two of you guys okay?" Just as Naruto turned around to check on the two, he was then face-to-face with an irritated Natsu,
"Teme! My name's not Pinky, it's Natsu! Get it through your skull, Whiskers!" Naruto felt his left eye twitched while Sasuke, Tazuna, and Sakura gaped at the boy's attention span in the middle of a fight.
"My name's Naruto, not 'Whiskers'! Ttaku, you're just as worse as this guy that I know…" The whiskered blond exclaimed out loud, causing Sakura and Tazuna to sweatdrop at the comment,
"Just as I thought, this guy's another Natsu but our age…."
Sasuke quietly observes the new arrival and had the same thoughts as Sakura but unlike the pink-haired mage, he sensed something in the boy that was unusual to him. He knew that someone like him shouldn't be able to break a giant sword that easily even if he had some help from the drop down. That was when that Sasuke noticed that the blonde's leg was radiating some kind of orange-yellow glow at the time. Which means that the boy had some kind of magic that amplified his strength to an abnormal level for a regular human.
Naruto noticed the other boy staring at him with an observant eye and so the whiskered blond stared right back. Even though he wasn't perfect with sensory quite yet, but something in his mind told the blond that the raven-haired boy was someone he shouldn't mess with yet. He ignored the thought for now and turned back around to see Kakashi trapped in a dome of water with a "mummy-like" swordsman standing next to the dome,
"Ka-Kakashi! Is that you!? What in the world are you doing in there?!" The blonde exclaimed while Zabuza quietly observed the boy for a little longer before creating another Water Clone.
"Get rid of him."
The water clone nodded as it began to run towards the three boys. They saw the clone heading towards them as Naruto stepped up in front of Natsu and Sasuke, bringing suspicion from the others on what he was going to do. The blond focused his chakra and ethernano into his forearms, causing them to glow a mixture of orange-red and yellow. This brought even more attention to Naruto as he lunged towards the clone who just raised its own Kubikiribōchō above its head.
Naruto managed to dodge the incoming strike as he slides to the clone's left, fists poised to strike at any given moment. Without any hesitation, the blonde struck at the Water Clone who managed to lift its giant sword to block every single blow Naruto dealt. But it did came at a price as Naruto with his multiple strikes managed to crack the cleaver into two and prepared to strike the clone once more,
"Ggyahh!" Naruto cried out as he managed to punch the clone in the gut, making it dispersed just like the last clone. Wasting no time, the blond began to run towards the real Zabuza who was astonished at how fast his clone was dispatched. The swordsman regained his composure and amplified some of his magic into the water beneath him, causing it to stir towards the charging blonde.
Sasuke, realizing what was about to occur, ran after the blonde and in the nick of time, pulled him away from the water that was going to wash him whole. As the two of them were still airbound, the water began emerge from the lake, following Zabuza's command to swallow them whole. Naruto refocused his ethernano and chakra into his arms and repositioned himself in Sasuke's grip as he managed to grab the stream of raging water as if it was a physical object itself. This made not only Zabuza even more curious about the blond's power, but also Sasuke and the spectators as they couldn't believe that Naruto was able to pull off such a deed.
"This is... impossible…" The bandaged swordsman mentally shouted out in his head while Sakura and the others had similar thoughts going on in their heads too,
"It's legitimately impossible to actually grab water like some kind of object. Sure we can hold it in our palms for a while before it sinks out of our hands. But this guy is actually gripping that stream of water like it has physical mass inside of it. What exactly is this power?" Sakura thought in her head as she was trying to rationalize the logic of Naruto's strange power-up.
"Say, Slick-Head." Sasuke turned his head towards the blond as they landed on the ground again, the latter still having a grip on the current of water, "Do you think we can create a good diversion to get Kakashi out of there?"
Natsu and Sakura overheard the blonde's words and the latter was about to ask how was Naruto going to break Kakashi out when Sasuke slightly nodded to the blonde's question,
"Yosh, ikōzo!" Naruto tighten his grip on the water stream, causing it to disperse and giving Sasuke the cue to charge towards Zabuza. Naruto provided back-up as he made the usual hand sign and created several Shadow Clones (Kage Bunshin) at his disposal.
"Well, what do you know? This boy has a lot of tricks up to his sleeves, doesn't he?" Zabuza commented as he grabbed the Kubikiribōchō from its hoist in anticipation of the charging fleet. As they got closer, Zabuza created another stream of water with his magic and depleted the fleet of its forces by half. The remaining clones kept on charging forward while Sasuke had blended in the crowd as the swordsman continued to wipe out the forces with several water spouts. When the army got decimated to only three clones, Sasuke took out a Fūma Shuriken and threw it towards Zabuza while the clones are following the shuriken's path like a magnet.
"If this is all that you got planned, then you need to stimulate your brain a bit more if you plan to outsmart ME!" The Kirikagure shinobi stated as he made a single hand sign with his left hand, causing water tentacles to whip the shuriken out of the way.
The clones jumped out of the way along with Sasuke as they too focused ethernano and chakra into their fists. Remembering what had occurred when the original did that, Zabuza used his magic to manipulate the water in various ways to disrupt the clones' approach. The clones kept on dodging every single one until Zabuza made the water take the shape of dragon heads and managed to engulf them inside the jaws, making them poof out of existence. Now it was just Sasuke charging at the swordsman alone until he realized one crucial thing: Where was the original Naruto? Figuring out what was going it, he turned around to his left and narrowly dodged an incoming fist from the original Naruto. But this was all a part of the whiskered blonde's plan as by disrupting Zabuza's concentration, he broke Kakashi out of his watery prison, allowing the masked shinobi to join in the fight once more.
"Damn gaki…" Zabuza cursed as he was forced to block an incoming blow from Kakashi.
"Sugoi, the whiskered guy's a lot smarter than he looks, right Sakura?" Natsu asked the pink-haired girl after marvelling over what just occurred,
"I guess… But honestly that must've been just luck for him. After all, it could've been Sasuke-kun who made the actual plan!" Sakura said in a love-dazed voice, startling Natsu and Tazuna to an extent from her expressiveness of her infatuation.
"The whiskered brat's really is something… To think that he was able to pull such a stunt with one of your own." Zabuza commented on the blonde's versatility to which Kakashi unknowingly smiled underneath his face mask,
"Well I only know the kid for a few hours but I've seen what he's capable of from the aftermath of his battle." Kakashi replied back to the Kirikagure shinobi, pushing the latter back with a forced shove.
Just as Zabuza was about to initiate the Water Dragon Bullet spell again, he allowed Kakashi to copy his exact movements and used the same technique. The two water dragons collided with other, dispersing into multiple droplets of water right as Zabuza was about to follow up with another spell until,
"Water Release: Great Waterfall (Suiton: Daibakufu)!"
Kakashi had copied the spell what Zabuza was about to do as multiple spouts of water had erupted from the lake as they streamed towards the swordsman in the form of a giant waterfall. Zabuza barely endured the attack as the wave had crashed above him and caused one part of the lake to be waterless for a short while.
"Whoa…." Naruto gaped in amazement of the masked shinobi's feat as the latter began to run towards the weaken Zabuza. With a kunai in hand, Kakashi was just about a few feet away from Zabuza as he then raised the kunai above his head to stab Zabuza with. That was until, just as Zabuza was getting back up, something pricked his neck, shocking the others on what just happened. Zabuza fell right on his stomach while Kakashi walked towards the body and realized that Zabuza was "killed".
"What in the- What just happened?! The guy suddenly fell onto his face like he's dead!" Natsu exclaimed as the others continued to observe the body until Kakashi only heard silence from the boy, but something seems off about the incident. Sensing a presence nearby, the masked ninja looks upward to see another masked individual but judging from his attire, he's associated with Kirikagure.
"A Kirikagure ANBU…. What are they doing here? And what is their objective for coming here?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he kept his eyes on the young man in front of them,
"Who are you?"
End of Chapter
It has been an extremely long while but I finally managed to get this chapter finished for you guys. There may be some mistakes that I might've overlooked but I'm sure that everything is still understandable for you guys to read. Other than that, I hope that you guys can understand the lateness of this chapter and I'll try to write the next chapter while I work on my final projects for my classes. Also, this chapter essentially starts the final arc for Part 1 and then we enter Part 2 of the story. After that, Fairy Tail/Shippūden canon officially starts in Part 3 which I believe starts around Chapters 20-30 according to my notes. Before I sign out, the character that was introduced in the end of the last chapter; I don't want to spoil too much but all that I can say is that I have very important plans for him especially since he has a connection to a certain incident.
Thanks for reading and please leave a review.