Chapter 11

Naruto scratched at the side of his head as he looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, then back up at the address on the door in front of him. Since it matched, he proceeded to stuff the paper in one of his pockets, then knocked on the door a few times.

His trip had been uneventful, there wasn't much to look at that he hadn't seen before, especially when traveling near train tracks. Often times he got a kick out of running alongside a train going at full speed, waving at passengers who were just staring at him wide-eyed and mouths agape. Then he would take off running faster than the train itself, and arrive at his final destination hours, and sometimes even days beforehand.

Even though he hadn't had the time to look at Weekly Sorcerer Magazine lately, his journalist friend Claire had mentioned that they were running a 'Fire Shadow Train Sightings' tally just for fun. Supposedly it was a big hit, and many train companies had stated that train ridership had actually gone up a decent amount over the last year; they believed it was because of those who wanted to glimpse at Fire Shadow running alongside them.

Smiling slightly, Naruto raised his hand to knock on the door again, but hearing several latches on the other side caused him to still his fist. Lowering his hand and waiting patiently, several more latches were undone, then the door was cracked open slightly. Naruto saw an elderly man from behind the portion that was open, one with a long beard that came down to his stomach... though the man didn't seem to be a whole lot taller than Makarov, so that wasn't saying much.

"Ehhh? Who are you? Whaddaya want?"

"I came here from Magnolia Town. Makarov Dreyar asked me to deliver a small package to you." Naruto grabbed the envelope from one of the pockets on his new Jounin vest, showing the Fairy Tail Insignia that was on one side of it to the elderly man.

The vest Naruto wore was mostly a copy of his original one from Konoha, with a few adjustments. Instead of the spiral on the back, he had the tailor alter it to be a Fairy Tail symbol. There was no chakra-resistant material in it either, it was now just a simple vest with a lot of pockets.

He only wore his Fire Shadow gear now when he was on missions. Fire Shadow was the alias that had gotten all the attention, just as he had hoped. Among friends in the guild and a few people outside of it, he was Naruto, and could move around uninhibited. He had no problems wearing his new vest in pubic either, most people likely assumed it was an article of fan memorabilia, most guilds sold such items.

"Ehhhh, Makarov, huh? It's been a while since I've heard anything from him. I wonder what he wants this time." The man moved away from the opening, and Naruto noticed as the last of the lock-chains holding the door in place fell away. Shortly after, the door opened completely, and the elderly man beckoned Naruto inside.

Nodding, Naruto stepped inside and looked around the entrance. There wasn't much to look at, a few random pictures of various nature scenes and a grandfather clock, some stairs leading up, and an open arch leading to another room at the end of a short hallway. Turning around, the blond observed as the man expertly reattached all the bolts that he had previously undone.

When finished, the elderly man didn't say anything more, but simply beckoned again for Naruto to follow him through the open doorway. Falling into step behind the man, Naruto silently observed as he moved with a bit of a limp, but it didn't appear to impede his movement to any large degree.

The room through the open doorway was apparently the kitchen, as it had all the standard fare that one would expect in such a room. The man gestured to the table, and Naruto swiftly moved over to it, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He set the envelope down on the table, watching as the gray haired man walked over to a nearby counter.

"Can I getcha something to drink? Water? Tea?"

"Water is fine. Thanks mister..."

"Huh? Oh..." The old man chuckled as he poured some water into a cup. "You can call me Seth. Everyone else does. It's an alias, but you'd know all about those, wouldn'tcha... Fire Shadow?"

Naruto's eyes went wide for a moment, then immediately narrowed. "How did-"

Seth merely chuckled as he walked over to the table, halting Naruto's question in its tracks. Shaking his head, the old man clucked his tongue as he set the glass of water down near Naruto, then grabbed the envelope and looked it over.

Chuckling again, he handed the envelope back to Naruto. "Open it, and I'll answer any question you have."

Eyebrow arched in curiosity, Naruto accepted the envelope once again. Focusing chakra into his hand and muttering a few words, he touched the seal that was on the back of the envelope. It flashed a dull blue for a second then faded, the back of the envelope opening slightly.

"Hum, very good. You can hand it back over now."

Doing as he was instructed, Naruto opened his mouth to speak again, but Seth beat him to the punch.

"As for how I know who you are, I've known since you first arrived at Fairy Tail. Makarov has been keeping me updated about your situation since you arrived here in Earthland."

"Then you know about how I got here, and that I'm trying to learn seals to get me home?"

Seth nodded as he hopped up into a nearby chair, then began pulling various papers out of the envelope. "Yep. Though dimension hopping is no easy task, no one from Earthland has been able to do it for many years, and as far as I know the dragons have no interest in doing it. I'm a seal archivist for the Mage Council in Era, so every seal we ever encounter passes by my eyes at some point. Actually, you likely know my apprentice, Fried Justine. He's in Fairy Tail."

"Fried? Yeah! We were actually chatting about seals for a little while before he was called off to a mission with his team, but I haven't heard from them in a while. His are a little different from mine though, he calls his enchantments, and he can create them in the air thanks to the magic of his eyes."

Seth nodded. "That made him intriguing enough for me to allow him to become my apprentice. His ability to channel magic power through his eyes to make a solid magical surface in thin air to write on? Incredibly unique. However he still has the limitation where he needs to use runes to power his enchantments if he leaves the area, much as I hear you do with paper tags."

Naruto nodded, wondering where Seth was going with this. However, instead of saying anything more, the elderly man began shuffling through the papers in his hands, eyes opening wide at various points.

"Desperate to get home, ain'tcha?"

The shinobi was drinking water when Seth talked again, and nearly choked in surprise. Setting the glass down again, he gave the older man a curious look. "What do you mean, desperate?"

Seth snorted, tapping at one of the pieces of paper. "This whole 'Release and Vanquish' mission. I can see Laxus doing something like this to prove he's suitable material to lead the guild when his grandfather steps down, but for you to agree to it as well... it makes you come across as rather foolhardy."

Naruto frowned, looking away for a moment. "I never said I liked what the mission entailed, but I do want to see my home again. Not only that, but it will be best for everyone in the long run, from what I hear. The old man thinks I'm the only one capable of doing what needs to be done, while getting what I need at the same time."

Sighing, Seth closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "From what I've read about you, it's probably true. I'll trust Makarov's judgment." Opening his eyes again, he gave Naruto a sharp look. "Well, we'd best get started on me reviewing the basics with you. You'll never understand what you need to look for if you don't have the basics down. I will also help you as best I can with what limited knowledge I have about dimensional seals so hopefully you won't need to look for much more when the time comes."

"Got it."

"Good." Slowly getting back to his feet from where he was sitting, the short man beckoned for Naruto to follow him once again. "Come. Much of what you're going to learn was created by the person your mission relates to. I never thought I'd be teaching anyone about him again in my lifetime."

A loud banging noise on the door downstairs immediately roused Naruto from his light slumber. Stilling his breath, he quickly hopped out of the bed, reaching for a kunai he left on the nearby dresser, only to hear the banging noise start again, followed by a muffled voice shouting for Seth to please answer his door.

Naruto grabbed a scroll instead that was next to the kunai on the dresser, promptly releasing the security seal and unfurling it. Pumping a small amount of his chakra from the various gates in his body into the scroll, he held still as small puffs of smoke appeared on his person. As the smoke cleared, Naruto immediately began adjusting his Fire Shadow outfit so that it fit properly. Quickly pocketing both the kunai and the now empty scroll, he quietly made his way down the hallway, away from the room he had been using for the last four days.

Perching at the top of the stairs, Naruto once again held his breath as he listened to the conversation taking place downstairs.

"What do you mean it's just... gone?"

"It's like I said, Master Seth! The mayor sent me here to ask you for those barrier runes! The first survivors just arrived a few minutes ago!"

"Hmm... I see. Fire Shadow, did you know anything about this?"

Naruto heard the man behind the door shout his name in exclamation, but ignored it as he leaped over the railing and landed in a crouch next to Seth. "Is this about The Beast?"

"So, you did know."

Naruto shook his head. "I know Fairy Tail sent a team to handle it, but they weren't supposed to arrive for another three days or so, according to Makarov. Something must have happened."

"Hmmm..." Seth's eyes clouded over for a moment, then he nodded and unhooked the last few latches holding his door closed. Opening the door fully, he gestured for the messenger to come inside. The younger man did as instructed, only for him to look around and eventually spot Naruto wearing his uniform. The messengers eyes went wide, and he looked about ready to say something until Seth spoke up again.

"You, follow me. I'll take you to the runes, they are in my workshop. I'll have to explain to you how to set them up."

As the messenger nodded, Seth turned to Fire Shadow, giving him an inquisitive stare. "I assume you're going to go investigate the ruckus?"

"I think that would be for the best. My other mission was to observe the team sent to take on The Beast."

"Will you return so I can finish teaching you what you'll need?"

Naruto shrugged slightly. "I will, but I don't know how soon it will be. Just from what I've heard, it sounds pretty bad, so I may not be able to return right away."

Seth hummed for a second before nodding his head and shooing Naruto away with one of his hands. "Very well. Go do what you need to do. I expect to see you again at least within a month, no later. Someone of your caliber shouldn't have any trouble returning within that time frame."

Chuckling, Naruto offered Seth a brief three-finger salute, then promptly ran out the door faster than the average persons' eyes could follow.

Seth turned to the messenger again, only to groan and roll his eyes. "Shut your mouth unless you plan on catching flies."

The messenger immediately blushed, doing as instructed. "S-Sorry. It's just... I never thought I'd see Fire Shadow here..."

Shaking his head and chuckling, Seth turned towards the doorway at the back of the hallway. "Yeah yeah, just forget about the celebrity for now. We have more important things that need doing."

"Yes sir."

Naruto closed his eyes briefly as he stopped on a branch, processing the memories of a few clones that had recently dispelled. It wasn't hard finding the target town, the light from the flames that currently engulfed a large portion of the town lit up the early dawn sky brightly enough for him to pinpoint the location without having to try that hard.

Upon arrival he had immediately created about three dozen clones with orders to locate and help anyone that needed it. Most clones had quickly set out and started quenching fires with various water techniques, but several others were speeding through the streets and over rubble, looking for any survivors. The few clones that had dispelled had helped a large group get out of the town before they ran out of chakra.

Opening his eyes again, he proceeded in the direction that he last heard a roaring noise, which he could only assume was The Beast. There was a lot of ground that was messed up along the path he was traveling in various places, which led him to believe there was some kind of fight that was still going on between the Take Over Trio and The Beast.

A sequence of bright flashes not too far away in front of him illuminated enough of the surrounding area for him to make out a dark figure that was looming above several trees. Gritting his teeth, Naruto pumped chakra into his legs, launching from the branch he was on into the direction where he saw the figure.

There was another brief flash and a longer roar, followed by several other loud noises that Naruto couldn't quite place. He didn't have long to contemplate it, however, as something large was tumbling through the air right at him.

"Whoa!"

Immediately halting his momentum, Naruto immediately pushed off the side of a tree and evaded the object with barely any room to spare. The object crashed into the nearby forest behind him, the sounds of snapping tree trunks and branches filling the early dawn air.

Eyes wide, Naruto turned to look what it was, only to see that it was actually another tree that had apparently been flung from where the fight was happening. The tree's trunk was now cracked in multiple places, but it apparently had been ripped right out of the ground to be used as some sort of makeshift weapon, as the root ball was still attached.

Inhaling a deep breath, Naruto turned back around again, heading ever closer towards the roars which were growing ever louder. He swore he heard some shouting from up ahead, compelling him to push himself forward even faster.

Be ready for anything.

I'm always ready for a good fight. Bring it on.

"Gyaah!"

Mirajane hit the ground hard, her body going limp as a small crater formed around where she impacted. Groaning as she sat up, the white haired woman shook her head a few times to get the stars out of her eyes. Leaning back on her elbows, she breathed in deeply, watching as The Beast started pounding its large fists against its broad chest as it roared.

To be accurate, however, this wasn't quite The Beast. They had already subdued it right outside the town. Their fight had messed up only a small portion of the town, but what happened after is when the horror truly started.

"Elfman! Wake up! You must take control of him!"

Mirajane climbed to her feet, wobbling unsteadily for a moment. She tried to stand up straight, only to wince and lean forward again as she brought an arm around in front of her, supporting her ribs. One or more of them was definitely broken. A crashing noise caused her to look up again, only to see that The Beast had ripped another tree out of the ground and was glaring at her menacingly.

"Elfman! I know you're in there! You're stronger than this!"

Against both her and Lisanna's wishes, Elfman had tried to perform a take over merger on the unconscious Beast. At first, it seemed like all would be well, until suddenly he began grabbing his head as his magic power shot to proportions she had never felt from her younger brother before. After that, all hell broke loose as he proceeded to rampage through the rest of the town as it swatted most of her powerful attacks away like they were nothing more than minor annoyances.

Grumbling to herself, she started gathering her own demonic energy in her hands, courtesy of Satan Soul, and prepared to launch another blast at him. So long as she could keep him distracted long enough for Elfman to regain control, Lisanna would never become a target.

The Beast moved forward swiftly and swung the tree at her - much, much faster than she had anticipated. The Beast was likely pulling on Elfman's magical reserves and using talents that were attributed to other creatures which Elfman had previously taken over. It was nowhere near this agile when they subdued it the first time.

Quickly switching over to defense, she felt the rough tree branches impact against her energy shield, causing sparks to fly and leaves on the tree to ignite. The power of The Beast was still too much for her drained state to handle, however, and it didn't take much for the branches to break through and send her flying.

She was flung through the air again, this time skidding painfully along the ground for several meters before coming to a stop. Coughing a few times, she brought her hand up to her face to wipe away the grime she felt on it, only to stare in shock as she realized her hand was no longer clawed, meaning Satan Soul was no longer in effect. If it ended against her will, that could only mean she was running seriously low on magical power.

"Mirajane!"

Mirajane looked up in horror, only to see Lisanna circling above her in one of her flying support forms that looked like some kind of swan.

"L-Lisanna! Stop! Stay away and hide!"

Not heeding her advice, Lisanna dived down and landed next to her sister, quickly switching back to her human form then running over and inspecting Mirajane for any damage.

"You're hurt. We need to get you out of here." Lisanna started reaching for her sister's shoulder, but Mirajane pushed her away.

"No. No... I still have some power left. I brought you on this mission and I will protect you. I'll make sure Elfman wakes up in there."

"You're out of power. I can tell. I'll get Elfman to wake up, just watch."

"W-What? Lisanna! No, stay away!"

Ignoring her elder sister's plea, Lisanna started walking steadily towards The Beast. It let out a low roar, but strangely decided to remain docile for a moment, likely sizing up its newest target.

"Elfman? Big brother? Can you hear me?"

The Beast's head cocked to the side slightly as it looked down at the small girl in front of it. Other than that one movement, it made no further actions to acknowledge that it either heard or understood her.

"I know you're in there and that you can hear me. Our mission is done, remember? We defeated The Beast, and we're ready to go home."

The Beast still made no further movements, but let out a small growling noise as it continued to look down on her. Lisanna lifted her arms up and opened them, as if offering a hug.

"Come on, Big brother! Let's all go home. You, me, and Mirajane. I know everyone is waiting for us!"

The Beast leaned it's head back slightly and let out a mighty roar. Mirajane watched with growing dread as it slowly lifted a hand in the air, while Lisanna continued to stand there, looking up with her arms open.

In the time it took her to blink, The Beast roared again, and swiftly brought its arm down.

Mirajane barely noticed as the hand hit Lisanna, sending her sister crashing into the nearby forest. It wasn't until she actually heard the cracking of tree branches that she actually turned to look. When she finally processed what had happened, a piercing shriek filled the night air.

"Lisanna! No!"

Naruto grunted, slowly opening one of his eyes, then the other. Blinking rapidly, he shook his head to clear it, only to feel the crumbling remains of his mask fall from his head. He lay there for a few moments, wondering if he had blacked out or even what the hell had happened. Kyuubi was trying to say something, but for some reason a ringing noise in his ears was blocking out most of what the demon was saying, even though Kyuubi never spoke anywhere outside of his body.

It wasn't until some of the tingling that was happening all over his body stopped that he felt something trembling in his arms. Feeling some hair brushing against his chin finally knocked the memories into places about what had just happened. Looking down slightly, he noticed that Lisanna had her hands covering her face as she lay against him, and was likely in shock.

"Ugh... Lisanna, if you ever do something like that again, I'm going to make you go through Natsu's training. Do you understand me?"

Lisanna breathed in sharply and looked up, the top of her head bumping against Naruto's chin. Naruto winced at the new pain, but it didn't seem to affect her as she gaped at him with wide, red-rimmed eyes.

"N-Naruto-niisan? Is it... am I..."

Naruto started to chuckle, but immediately began coughing instead, and tasted blood in his mouth. That's likely what the Kyuubi was ranting to him about that he couldn't hear earlier.

"You're... fine. In better condition than me, at least I hope so. Because... I fucking hurt all over."

Lisanna immediately scrambled off of him, and started to look him over. Naruto tried to chuckle again, but winced as he felt a pain in his chest. Waving Lisanna off, he focused on pulling some of Kyuubi's chakra, and groaned as he felt the familiar burning sensation rush to where his worst injuries were.

The younger girl watched in amazement as Naruto's visible wounds started fixing themselves right before her eyes, small plumes of what looked to be steam rising from the worst among them.

"Naruto-niisan? What's going on? I can use one of my take over's to heal you!"

"No." Naruto slowly started climbing to his feet, rushing faster when he heard The Beast let out another roar. "Kyuubi is healing me. I'll be fine. I need to go save your sister now."

"She needs healing too, I can come-"

"No!"

Naruto's barked order made Lisanna wince and take a step back. Looking down, she moved one arm across her chest to grab the elbow of her other arm. Naruto's face immediately softened, but his voice was as strong as steel.

"I don't want to risk having The Beast target you again. I'm going to have to use Kyuubi's power, and it's going to be an intense battle. I'll lure The Beast away and try to knock him out, only when we're out of sight do you go help Mirajane. Am I clear?"

Lisanna sniffed and wouldn't meet his eyes, but nodded quickly. "Yes."

"Good. Stay out of sight for now. I'll try to end this as fast as I can."

Turning around swiftly, Naruto quickly sped from the area, following the path that had been cleared when he came crashing through the trees with Lisanna in his grip.

Be ready for the cloak, version two.

I thought you'd want to go Sage for this.

I'd prefer that to be safe, but we don't have the time to synchronize. I also don't feel like bickering with you about using the sealed hatred form. Mirajane needs help right now from what I saw.

Just let the human die. That Beast is dangerous, it would be better to be prepared.

No! I refuse to let anyone die. You know me better than this, Kyuubi.

I still don't see why you bother with-

Kyuubi! Shut up and do it! Now!

Fine. Here comes the burn, fool.

Naruto immediately let out a choked scream as the vile red chakra engulfed him completely, forming a solid protective barrier around his body. Nine tails began waving about behind him, and he could feel each of them sort of... connect with his subconscious. In a strange way they had minds of their own, but he could still control them individually if needed.

Coming to the edge of the forested area, Naruto watched as The Beast continued lumbering towards Mirajane. The mage did not appear to be moving, being exhausted plus the thought of losing her sister likely meant she didn't care what happened to herself at this point. It was also the first clear look he got of The Beast. It easily towered over everything, and was twice the height of most of the trees in the area. What was the most odd about it was it's composition - bird like feet with a torso that resembled a powerful ape. It had two sharp looking horns that came out of the top of its head, as well as one large horn that came out from the back of each shoulder.

Cursing silently as The Beast grew closer to her, Naruto moved to stand between two sturdier looking trees. Using four tails, he had two each grab a tree on either side, and he began to walk backwards quickly. He felt the chakra of the tails stretch like rubber, and heard the trees groan and crack as he moved backwards.

When he felt it was enough, he lifted his feet off the ground, the tails launching him like a slingshot. Both trees snapped with the force of the air as he was launched from between them, and a decent sized cloud of dirt and fallen leaves followed in his wake.

Naruto barely had enough time to curl himself into a ball, his tails wrapping around him as he smashed into The Beast like a cannonball. The Beast let out a roar of surprise and pain as Naruto collided with it, and it was unable to maintain proper footing as it slowly fell to the ground on its side, causing the ground nearby to shake.

Ugh, crap. What the hell is that guy made of? It felt like hitting a brick wall, even with the cloak.

Probably a trait of other monsters the human has taken over. It wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah, but still. Damn...

Naruto shook his head as he dragged himself back to his feet, then quickly looked in the direction he saw Mirajane last. She was still in the same place on the ground, it didn't even look like she bothered to see what caused the ground to shake.

Making his way over to her as he heard The Beast shuffling around behind him, he stopped nearby, but not too close. He could see her face, she was looking up at the sky with visible tear streaks running along her cheeks and jaw.

"Mirajane."

Naruto's deeper, rough voice caused her to shake her head once, but she still didn't move. It wasn't until he called her name a second time, with a little more power behind it, did she bother to look at him. Even then it wasn't until her eyes looked him over that she realized something was going on.

"W-Who... what?"

"It's me, Naruto. You need to drag yourself to the line of trees behind me. I'm going to take care of The Beast."

"Why?"

Naruto growled in aggravation, he needed her to move, and Kyuubi's chakra running rampant through his system, hatred and all, wasn't helping his patience any.

"Because your sister is over there waiting for you, and this area is likely to become a battle zone."

"Lisanna! Lisanna is alive? But I saw-"

"I don't know what you think you saw but you need to go now! She's fine! The Beast is coming this way again! I can't move you because I'll burn your skin! Now go!"

True to what he was saying, The Beast had managed to get back to its feet, and was roaring like crazy as it headed for them. Not watching Mirajane anymore to make sure she moved, Naruto took off towards The Beast. It raised a hand as he approached, as if to smash him into the ground, but Naruto managed to dodge just in time.

The cloud of dirt that was kicked up camouflaged Naruto temporarily, allowing him to get closer to The Beast's legs, and he extended his chakra coated fingers to form claws. As he ran by, he swiped at one of The Beasts's bird-like legs, only to find that he couldn't scratch it at all.

So much for that plan. Looks like this might become a power battle. I don't want to kill him though...

You may not have a choice.

I know, but I'm going to do everything I can to avoid it.

Getting a bit of distance between himself and The Beast, Naruto brought his tails around and began pumping chakra out of them in front of his face. A small, black mass of chakra formed in front of him, to which he opened his now-larger mouth and consumed it. Concentrating, he focused as the chakra began releasing inside of his body.

Aiming at The Beast, Naruto opened his mouth and forcefully expelled the chakra mass from his body, sending it flying towards his opponent. He heard as The Beast let out a bellow once again, then the projectile reached it, and any other noise was drowned out by the explosion.

Naruto sat and watched patiently as the smoke and debris slowly began to clear, only for his white eyes to go wide as The Beast, looking barely singed, took several steps out of the smoke cloud.

You have got to be kidding me.

I'd be impressed if this wasn't frustrating me, too.

Launching himself forward once again, Naruto attempted to run past The Beast faster than it could track, in hopes of getting behind it. The chakra-covered teen grunted in surprise, however, as his forward momentum stopped and he crashed face-first into the dirt. Lifting his head up, he looked behind him, only for his eyes to go wide yet another time.

"What the-"

The Beast had somehow managed to move fast enough to grab onto two of his tails. Naruto tried digging his hands and feet into the ground, but The Beast exerted more force than he expected.

"W-Whoa!"

Naruto felt the chakra from his tails stretch out a bit as he was pulled backwards and up into the air. He was launched up into a high arc, and had enough time to brace himself as The Beast used the grip on his tails to slam him into the hard earth. Naruto grunted at he hit the ground, squinting as he looked up towards the sky from within the crater that had formed upon his impact. The short reprieve didn't last long as The Beast once again yanked on his tails, pulling him from the crater, and settled for throwing him into the forest this time.

His mind blanked for a few seconds as he crashed through the forest, snapping twigs and trunks alike. Shaking his head as he tried to get the ringing noise to stop, he pushed himself up on shaky arms.

You know, I don't think I've ever been sent flying like that before. Other than the landing, it looked amusing.

Strangely, I feel the same way. But enough about that. I'm bringing out the bones for extra traction and armor.

You should just go full form; version three.

I'm really hoping I don't need to. If it comes to that, this area will never look the same.

Not paying attention to if the Kyuubi replied, Naruto let a little more of the Kyuubi's hate and chakra flow through him, and streams of chakra shot from his body forming into a fox-like skeleton. Lines of red chakra went from his body to the skeleton, connecting them so he could manipulate them as if they were his own. In certain situations he could manipulate the bones differently from his own body using chakra.

Charging forward, Naruto lowered his head, bringing the fox-bone skull down a little to protect him. Crashing through the forest, he knocked everything out of his way, leaving a strange sort of chakra-wake in his path.

Upon reaching the clearing once again, The Beast immediately spotted him, likely following the path of destruction that Naruto left behind him. Roaring yet again, The Beast charged at him, cocking an arm back in an attempt to smash him with his fist as he got closer.

Naruto felt himself shudder as he used his new bone appendages to grab and hold the fist as it hit him. The ground beneath both his and the bone feet gave way slightly from the pressure of the impact. Bringing his tails back around to converge on a point in front himself, he quickly formed a small amount of dark chakra in front of his face for a second time.

What are you doing, idiot? If you hit him with it at this range-

I'm not going to try hard to hit him with it.

What?

Just watch. I need a distraction.

Naruto used the bone claws to hold The Beast near him, his feet and tails now digging into the ground around him in an attempt to hold them both place. Once again focusing the chakra inside of him, Naruto leaned from around The Beast's clenched fist, aiming up towards its face, which was currently looking down at him and growling.

Opening his mouth, Naruto prepared to launch the chakra at The Beast's head. He didn't put nearly as much chakra into this one as before, so hopefully it would only stun it enough for him to get in a good blow. Seeing what Naruto was trying to do, however, The Beast started pulling harder, trying to get its fist out of Naruto's clawed grip. Just as the ground Naruto was digging into began to give way, he launched the chakra projectile towards The Beast's face.

It hit The Beast, but not in the way Naruto was intending. Instead of hitting directly, The Beast had pulled its head back enough to make the projectile miss impacting it directly, however the chakra blast still grazed its face. A large, bleeding cut appeared on The Beast's right cheek, going up towards its eye.

The small explosion in the sky from the chakra projectile served to distract The Beast further, as it looked up to see if there was another attack coming at it. Even if it wasn't part of his original plan, Naruto used that moment of distraction to his advantage, releasing his hold on The Beast's fist.

Quickly moving around behind The Beast and planting the bone feet into the ground to rapidly alter his direction, Naruto brought the bone claws together into a larger fist and coated them with the Kyuubi's chakra for reinforcement. Using his tails as a springboard to push off the ground, he jumped high into the air and brought the large bone fist up with him, promptly smashing it into the back of The Beast's head.

With a grunt, The Beast stumbled forward a step, then another, finally tilting forward and crashing into the ground, face-first. As Naruto landed on the ground at The Beast's feet, he observed as The Beast's size started shrinking, slowly at first, but then rapidly. When the transformation was complete, it was no longer The Beast lying there, but Elfman instead.

The male sibling of the Take Over Trio groaned for a moment as he woke up, then pushed his arms against the ground and rolled over. Sitting up and blinking a few times, he stared absently at Naruto who was in his demon cloak version two, bone armor still present.

"Are you coherent now?"

Elfman raised one hand, rubbing at the bleeding cut on his cheek. "Y-Yeah... who are you? What happened?"

"I'm sure your sisters will be able to explain. I need you to watch over my body."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Naruto didn't answer, but pushed the Kyuubi's chakra back behind the seal within him. The chakra slowly receded from his body; the bones disappearing and the chakra cloak exposing his normal features once again.

"N-Naruto! That was you? How did you manage to-"

The blond was aware that Elfman was still talking, and saw as he started climbing to his feet. But his vision was growing darker and darker around the edges, and it wasn't long before he felt his body start to sway. The last thing he remembered seeing was the dawn sky as his tunnel vision closed completely.

You're going to be out of it for a while.

Yeah... goodnight.

Hmph.

Naruto sighed to himself as he walked down the quiet streets of Magnolia Town. The scene of the guild hall wouldn't leave his mind. Nothing bad had happened, quite the contrary, but he'd seen some people in the guild treat him differently than he was used to. The entire hall was silent as he had descended the stairs after his debriefing with Makarov, and even though he tried to ignore the stares and whispers, as soon as he arrived at the bottom of the steps, Lisanna jumped into his arms and began to cry, thanking him again. He had seen her standing at the bottom as he descended, and Makarov had warned him that it would be best to let people say what they feel like they had to say to him instead of trying to sneak away.

It didn't take long after that for various members of the guild to come up and thank or congratulate him for a job well done. The biggest surprise so far of the night had been when Natsu came over, his eyes red, and bowed forward, thanking Naruto profusely then promising to work twice as hard at his training. The little blue cat Happy was bowing down from where he stood next to Natsu, and was likewise promising to be a more efficient fish-catcher, or something along those lines.

Naruto had done his best to be quick with his acceptance of any thanks or praise, and deflected the questions about what it was exactly that he did, stating he was tired. It seemed like Lisanna and Elfman had done a fine enough job telling the story anyway. The only thing that had grabbed his attention was that both Mirajane and Erza seemed to be missing, virtually the entire guild minus Gildarts and Mystogan were present.

Upon asking, Lisanna had informed him that Mirajane had pulled Erza away, saying that she needed to talk to her about something. Erza had proceeded to tell her, Natsu, and Gray that if she wasn't back when Naruto was done with his meeting that she would meet him at his place.

He had taken his time walking to his home on the outskirts of Magnolia Town, enjoying the cool night air. He had finally accrued enough money about a year ago to buy himself a decent place. It also doubled as his workshop, he had several rooms underground where he tested his seals. Most of the more volatile ones were done out in the wild, but most of them he could test in his home with no worries. Besides the workshop, he had plenty of spare rooms, and quite often he had let Natsu, Gray, and a handful of others sleep at his place after a long day of training.

Pushing some chakra into his palm, he placed it against the door to his house. There was a brief clicking noise, and the door swung open. It was one of his latest seal inventions, the chakra - or magical power - lock. Just push a little power into the seal and it unlocks and opens the door automatically; several of his friends were already attuned to the ones that gave access to the main parts of his house. Stepping inside, Naruto rolled his shoulders as he closed the door behind him. Looking down at his attire, he sighed as he remembered the battered condition most of it was in. As he began to unlatch the metal plates that protected his torso, he heard Erza's voice come from down the hall.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah, it's me. How long have you been here?"

Erza's head peeked from around the corner at the end of the hall for a moment before the rest of her followed, and she slowly started walking towards him. "I just arrived here a moment ago, myself. I was talking with Mirajane for longer than I expected to."

Naruto nodded, but remained silent as he finished unlatching his armor, gently placing the battered light metal against the wall. He looked up as Erza started speaking in a quiet voice, and noticed that she was looking at the plates as she talked.

"Mirajane told me about what happened. How you saved her and both of her siblings. She says if you weren't there, Lisanna would be dead and she probably would have been too."

"As bad as it sounds, she's probably right. It wasn't pretty. Elfman is going to be depressed for a little while, but he's dedicated himself to practicing his Take Over ability with Mirajane now, and even asked me for help when I'm available. Even Mirajane asked for any help I could offer in being more efficient with her magical power, but she claims she doesn't want to use Satan Soul for a while after this. So we'll see."

Silence reigned between them for a moment as Naruto turned to remove his shoes, leaving them by the door. As he turned back around, his eyes went wide as Erza had moved right up in front of him. Without a word, she gently placed her hands on his chest, moved up to her tiptoes, and kissed him.

At first, Naruto's mind went blank. It took him a few seconds to register that Erza had her soft lips pressed against his, and was keeping them there. A small part of who he used to be immediately wanted to break it and start cheering, but the new, more rational side decided that prolonging this wonderful moment was the preferable course of action.

Erza's eyes were already closed, so he slowly let his do the same as he brought his arms around, placing his hands on her back. The blond felt as she more fully leaned her body against his, but at the same time she pulled her head back and dropped down from her tiptoes, breaking the kiss. Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see her give him a faint smile, then move her head forward again to rest against his chest, right near his shoulder.

"Thank you, Naruto."

"I don't know what you're thanking me for, but you're welcome anyway."

He both felt and heard her chuckle, as her chest was pressed against his and her mouth wasn't far from his ear. She gradually moved her hands down from the sides of his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Airhead. Thank you for saving the Trio. Even if we seem like we hate each other to everyone else, Mirajane is my best friend, and my rival."

Thinking back to his own past connection with Sasuke, Naruto let a smile ghost across his face. "I know exactly what you mean."

He felt Erza nod against his shoulder, "Elfman will become that much stronger once he fully masters the Take Over, and Lisanna; everyone in the guild loves her. We would have been crushed if she had died, especially Natsu and Happy. So... thank you."

"No need to thank me. If Lisanna died, I would have been just as saddened as everyone else."

Erza nodded again, and they stood there in companionable silence for a few moments. After a little while, Naruto was about to speak up and ask if he could go get changed out of his messed up uniform, but Erza spoke first.

"Naruto?"

"Huh?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Naruto nodded. "Sure. All of the extra rooms are cleaned, so you can pick any room you want. I'll have to send a clone to the store, though, I haven't been shopping in a while so I don't have any good food for dinner tonight."

Erza giggled a little, but then moved away from Naruto, standing in front of him once again as she shook her head negatively.

"If I can pick a room, then I pick yours."

Blinking, Naruto gave her a confused look. "Why would you want to sleep in my room? I mean, I don't mind, but then I'd hav-"

He was silenced as she moved forward and kissed him once again. This one was more brief than the first, but she kept him from saying anything as she pulled away by placing a finger over his lips.

"I want to sleep with you, in your room."

It didn't take long for Naruto's eyes to go wide, but they didn't stay that way for long as his gaze immediately softened, and he nodded. When she pulled her finger away after his nod, he had a question.

"Are you sure?"

At first, Erza gave him a fierce look, but that quickly changed into something resembling a fond gaze as her hands moved forward, finding his, and intertwined their fingers.

"When you first got here over two years ago, I thought you were intriguing. Of course I also thought you were rather handsome, though being completely honest, I think my rivalry with Mirajane made you more interesting than you might otherwise have been. After seeing you in action, however, and understanding the way you thought... I wanted to get to know you better. So I had asked you to be my partner in the future.

"After a year of working with you, I began to realize that I liked you a lot, and I wanted to be with you more. Unfortunately I know it made me come across as selfish sometimes."

"But you-"

"Shh!" Erza gave him a glare, and he quickly shut his mouth, chagrined. "I know how I was acting, and I apologized, and we've already been over this. I know. Still, it happened. I started talking to Lisanna about my feelings, and she was the one who told me I was in love with you. I decided I wanted to tell you, and I was going to, but the whole 'being selfish' bit put that on hold.

"After what happened the other day, though, and how you came to the rescue of my friends... I know you're the kind of man I'd want to spend the rest of my life with, I just hope you'd accept me as well, selfish parts and all."

Erza looked back up at him again, her eyes glistening slightly. Naruto knew that he probably had some kind of stupid shocked look on his face, even though he had been quietly harboring feelings for her for a while too.

"Naruto, I love you."

That said, she promptly moved forward and kissed him yet again. This one lasted longer than the second one, and came close to lasting longer than the first, until she broke away. She gazed at him with half-lidded eyes, and some odd mental prodding in the back of his head made him realize she was waiting for him to say something now.

"Erza... I... I think I love you too."

Her head tilted to the side, a small smile ghosting upon her face. In the dim lighting of the foyer, it was hard to tell if it was an amused smile... or a more menacing one.

"You only think you do?"

Naruto panicked a little and began to stutter, but he felt both of her hands squeeze his, and it strangely worked wonders at calming him down. Taking a deep breath, he decided to start over.

"No... I know I do. I'm just not very good at this. I know it might sound weird, but I guess I'm a lot more used to being confessed to, rather than doing any confessing. But yes, I do love you. I'm fairly certain that I have for months, but I was too nervous to say anything."

Erza smiled before settling back against him once again. "I'm glad. I was nervous too, I've never felt this strongly about anyone before, so I didn't really know what to do either."

There was more silence between them until Naruto cleared his throat.

"So... uhm... what do we do now?"

"Now?" Erza spoke in a slightly teasing voice as she separated their hands, then proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling his head down a little to place her forehead against his, "Now we go to your room. I have an S-Ranked mission for you, should you choose to accept it."

Naruto grinned, the innuendo not lost on him for once, considering the overall mood. He felt as a blush slowly worked its way over his face. "A mission from you? Of course."

The redhead smiled before pushing up to peck at his lips yet again, then released him and started walking down the hall. "You'll have to follow me to come get it."

Naruto kept the silly grin on his face as he watched her disappear around a corner, then closed his eyes and let his head loll backwards so his face was pointed towards the ceiling.

"So this is what it feels like, huh, Ero-sennin? It also only gets better from here?"

Chuckling to himself, Naruto shook his head and opened his eyes, then started walking down the hall to follow after Erza.

"I'm hooked already."

A/N: Not much to say. Hope everyone is satisfied with the outcome in regards to Lisanna, and are going 'finally!' with Naruto and Erza. Some people might be surprised at how bold Erza might suddenly seem... but she always has been. The only thing that has been holding her back is nervousness, as she stated. Both at the party when asking Naruto to be her partner, and now. She just finally overcame that nervousness.

As for the team name poll, over 100 people have voted already, so get your votes in if you haven't. The current winning choice so far is only winning by a difference of 2 votes, just so everyone knows! I'll probably leave it up for a few more days before closing it and posting the results.

Also, for those who have been asking - I'm completely up to date on the latest chapters for the 'Big 3' from WSJ, as well as smaller titles from them like Beelzebub and Medaka Box, and monthlies like Rosario+Vampire. There are also several Kodansha titles I follow, among others.

Reviews: (I should probably note that I'm speaking casually below, therefore be warned that it's likely there are canon spoilers if you aren't up to date.)

Time Skip - Yep, and another one is right around the corner.

Rikudo Sennin - Yeah, it's not just in his mind now. That's nice and all, but coming up with a name for it isn't going to be easy, not with one potentially showing up in canon soon. Besides that, it's not really 'Rikudo Mode' or anything like that, he doesn't have the Rinnegan - Kyuubi only remarked how similar the seals used to contain him inside Naruto were similar to those the Rikudo Sennin used. For now, with lack of a better alternative, I'm referring to it as the 'Sealed Hatred' form. Which is essentially what happens, Naruto keeps Kyuubi's consciousness and hatred sealed away while he uses the pure chakra freely. The form in this story will contain everything revealed so far in canon.

Naruto Undercover - Not really necessary, he's the type to either sneak around and get stuff done or just blow it all up, y'know?

Teaching Shinobi Skills - He can try teaching others, but since most of them are beyond the age for ninja training, it can't be easy. No one can do any of his signature techniques, nor will they ever be able to.

'Whipped' Naruto - He isn't really whipped. Kyuubi just likes getting on Naruto's nerves, obviously. Not only that, Kyuubi was previously sealed into two females. Now he gets to see what it's like from the other side of the fence to be the whip-ee instead of the whip-er.

Canon Humor - I'll do my best to keep it as it is, just inserting Naruto and modifying where appropriate. Honestly, as far as canon is concerned, I may just skip or skim a lot of the actual manga scenes, and have Naruto scenes where he's doing his own thing. I'm still working on drafts for chapters and haven't really decided yet. I've been concentrating on getting my own post-canon custom stuff fleshed out.

Duration - I don't really want to say, because every time I have with my other fics it's never been accurate. From what the looks of what I have written down, though... 15-20 more chapters. Don't hold me to that number though. Could be more, could be less.

63 Challenges - The reason for the low number of 'official' challenges is because most of the time Naruto has had Natsu beat into the ground from training. If he wasn't attempting to train Natsu, the challenge number would probably be in the five hundreds.

Shodai Death Redux - No, he died in a war, I'm pretty sure. He was alive after the fight with Madara, because he captured Kyuubi. It was the first time Kyuubi was sealed into a jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Mito, his wife. Naruto is the 3rd generation Uzumaki to contain the Kyuubi.

Mystogan Dimensional Travel - He won't say anything until it's appropriate, since it's a magic skill he's learned and doesn't use seals for. The spell only lets him go back and forth between Edolas and Earthland.

Jellal, Edolas, Etc. - If it has appeared in canon, it will make an appearance in this story. Some aspects will obviously be fleshed out more than others.

Sequel Hint - Naruto and Erza will remain together. I'll give a hint a chapter, I guess. I reserve the right to pick which question I feel like answering from reviews, if any of them.