Harem (Up to this chapter): Seilah, Irene.
"Naruto" Normal Speech.
'Naruto' Normal Thought.
"Rasengan" Jutsu/Power/Technique.
"Kurama" Demonic/Dragon Speeches.
'Kurama' Demonic/Dragon Thoughts.
Fairy Guardian: Resurrection
Chapter 11
"You look so cool in those gears, Erza," Juvia said and turned her head to look at Erza while she and the other competitors for the first game were gathering into a group in front of Mato the Pumpkin.
"Thank you, Juvia." Erza smiled as she put her hand on her forehead protector and readjusted it on her forehead, holding the metal plate with her fingers. Taking some of the advises Naruto had given her during their training, she had added some improvements to Kunoichi Armor, one of them being a holster that she wore around her right thigh. She also replaced the metal armguards with a pair of chakra steel armguards, which were lighter but much, much more durable and fit her fighting style perfectly. She also wore black Shinobi sandals, fingerless gloves and put on a form fitting mesh armour underneath her top.
"You're very strong Erza," Juvia continued as she looked at the taller young woman "but I don't have any intention to lose here."
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Juvia." Erza smiled with a nod of her head.
"Against someone like you, I'm going to have to go full force as well." Lyon said as he looked at the two witches of Fairy Tail "But of course, it's for Juvia." The rain woman blushed furiously at his statement, but of course, she was more worried about what Gray would think than some sweet words from his rival.
"I'll be looking forward to fighting you, Lyon. Remember that I'm also not going to hold back." Erza said with a confident smile before turning her attention back to the front, looking at Mato "Anyway, this has been bothering me since the preliminaries, what are you exactly?"
"Exactly what I look like." The Pumpkin said, clapping his hands together and tilting his head to the side "I'm a pumpkin." Erza shrugged. He might be just one of the organisers in disguise, but she couldn't care less about the situation Jellal and his friends had told her.
"Excuse me for a moment." Narpudding stepped forward "We still haven't been informed about what kind of contests we're going to take part in today. In fact, all of the contests are being kept secret, but regardless what it is, all competitions are being kept secret, but regardless of what it might be, having two comrades competing, Fairy Tail has a huge advantage, right?"
"Wrong." Erza spoke up firmly before any of them could say anything "Having two comrades on the same battlefield is more of a disadvantage than an advantage, especially with two people who have never fought as teammates before." She crossed her eyes on her chest before continuing "Taking hostages, targets to threaten, interrogation for information… you should know that there are countless ways your opponents can use your friend to create their own advantage against you."
"She's right." Rufus of Sabertooth nodded his head with a confident smile "I'm fine with it."
"It makes no difference to me." Yeager nodded his head.
"I think it is okay too." Beth nodded her head.
"Keh…" Narpudding could only grumble and decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being.
After that, when the teams had finally gotten to the stands and secured their watching positions, Mato the Pumpkin announced loudly.
"Now let's start. FIELD, OPEN!" He pointed his finger to the sky, causing the crowd to cheer out in excitement. In a flash of light, the arena changed into a city, shocking the spectators. In an instant, as the other competitors disappeared, Erza found herself standing alone in the middle of the whole city, which with just a single glance she realised it was a perfect replica of Crocus.
"Are we supposed to play hide and seek in here?" Eve worried, looking around the city.
"Where shall we hide?" Beth was worried too.
Narpudding was unhappy and Rufus remained quiet with the same confident smile.
"This is weird, how are we going to play hide and seek like this?" Yeager commented, looking around.
"Everyone in the stadium! Please watch what happens in the town through Lacrima vision!" Large scenes appeared above them, each scene was focusing on each competitor. "The eight competitors don't know the whereabouts of each other. The rule of this game is very simple. You will play hiding and seeking at the same time. Find other inside that city. You can use any kind of magic you like because you just need to land a single, but direct hit. It doesn't matter whether you get injured or not if a direct hit is made, a point is added to the attacked and taken from the victim, damage doesn't matter." Chapati explained.
"Ugh… what is he talking about?" Natsu grumbled.
"Just a simple hide and seek game with a twist," Naruto said thoughtfully while scratching his chin. While Erza could use her stealth skill very well, she would still have some troubles against those who had tracking abilities. Even in the past, Shinobi who were the best in stealth could get detected easily by those who were specialised in tracking.
Then suddenly, countless blurs appeared on the street, and then suddenly, the whole streets were then filled with clones of the eight contestants.
"Wha…?" Erza said in surprise. The other contestants also shared her expression as they looked at the clones of themselves and their opponents "clones?"
"That's right everyone. Those are your clones. If you make a mistake and attack the clones, you'll be counting off one point." Chapati finished his explanation.
"They've all got their faces…" Lucy said nervously as she looked at the clones.
"Ughp… so many of them." Natsu growled, feeling sick just by looking at the crowd of clones.
"Seriously, it makes you all dizzy just by looking at them." Gray nodded his head in agreement.
Then suddenly, all three of them heard a small laugh, and then their heads to Naruto, who were shaking slightly.
"Muwahaha!" Then suddenly, he shocked everyone when he busted out in laughter, slapping a hand on his face. He laughed so hard and so loud that the others had to turn their heads to look at him strangely "Oh man, this is gold!" He continued to laugh, throwing his head back.
"The hell is wrong with him?" Gajeel asked in annoyance like he had always been while looking at the strange man. His teammates could only look at Naruto, while Mira didn't know whether or not should she feel humoured by Naruto's strange action.
"Who the hell is that guy?" Sting asked in annoyance "Man, I hate his laugh."
"Erza called him her teacher, didn't she?" Hibiki asked, and his comrade Ren nodded his head.
"What's wrong with him?" Sherria asked as she pouted.
"Why are you laughing?" Natsu and Gray asked at the same time.
"Oh man…" Naruto said after finally calming down "You know, I thought this game was a bit challenging, but they have just made this whole game a lot easier for Erza." Everyone widened their eyes in shock at his declaration "This is a perfect playground for her."
"First, is he telling the truth?" Makarov asked, looking at the young woman who was smiling.
"Yes, I believe so." She nodded. She had no doubt that Erza was going to dominate the game.
"Okay then! Start! Disappear in silence! Just like a black cat hiding in the dark night!" Chapati announced as the crowd went wide wild with excitement when an organiser hit the gong "Under this situation, you should restart from somewhere else after ten seconds. You can restart for no matter how many times within the time limit. The time limit is thirty minutes. The team that gets most points will be the number one team."
Instantly, every competitor started looking for their opponents while doing their best not to get detected. The first one minute had gone with no noticeable conflict, aside from a few mistakes made by the other teams.
However, when Juvia found Beth of Mermaid Heels, the battle was officially started. Beth used her magic, shooting multi carrots at the rain woman, but every single one of them passed through her body harmlessly. Then Yeager appeared from behind, tried to make a sneak attack on her, but Lyon came to the rescue and froze him before he could make any move.
"You're welcome, my dear!" Lyon blew him a kiss, posing dramatically while dodging Juvia's sharp blades of water.
"Hey hey!" Gray growled as he glared at Lyon "Concentrate on the competition, will ya?!"
Juvia wanted to use a more powerful spell, but before she could do it, Narpudding appeared behind her and attacked all three of them, hitting Juvia with his punch much to her surprise, earning himself three points in the process.
"What is Erza doing?" Natsu asked as he focused his attention on Erza, who was still walking around aimlessly "Why doesn't she make any move?"
"Can you see that no one has found her yet?" Lucy asked.
"But it's not like anyone she has found anyone either." Gray pointed out before looking at Naruto "That face tells me that you know what she is trying to do… care to share?"
"Just wait and see," Naruto smirked.
Then suddenly, snow started falling from the sky, making everyone widen their eyes in surprise.
"What do we have here?" Chapati said as he looked at the sky "Snow falling in the town?" It was Eve of Sabertooth's spell.
"My my Eve-kun…" Jenny smiled as she leant her cheek against the palm of her hand.
"Psh… does he think that we mages will get weak in the cold or something?" Jager asked as he looked around.
"That's not it!" Ichiya said, "In this cold, you will see human's breath."
"Clones are just illusion images, so the real human will show themselves." Ren nodded his head.
"That's the idea…"
"I see it." The handsome mage of Blue Pegasus said as he looked up from the ground and looked around and shot forward, attacking every single mage he found, getting three points for himself. Lyon was undetectable, because of his ice power, low temperatures didn't affect him.
Erza looked around for a second before closing her eyes. Then, her breath became steady, slowing down and soon it disappeared.
"Hold on a second…" Eve said as he looked around. He couldn't find the strongest woman of Fairy Tail anywhere "Where is Erza?"
"She is holding her breath." Laxus nodded his head.
"But how long can she hold it?" Mira asked worriedly.
"Last time I check, around two or three hours, give or take a few minutes," Naruto answered simply, causing everyone to cry out in shock.
"Everyone is doing their best, but for some reason, Rufus of Sabertooth and Erza of Fairy Tail have not a moved at all!" Chapati announced as he looked at the two competitors who hadn't earned any point for themselves "They aren't catching anyone, but they're not being caught by anyone either!"
"This challenge is far too simple..." Rufus declared as he appeared on the highest building of the town "I remember perfectly. The nuances of your movement... your footsteps… your magical signature. I remember... I remember it all... Memory makes..." Rufus started casting his magic, causing everyone to look at him in utter shock "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni (Into the night of falling stars)"
Several beams of lightning, reminiscent of shooting stars, were released into the air and struck all of his opponents with great forces no matter where their positions were. Even with a water body, Juvia cried out in agony and fell down to the ground. Team Natsu was left shock was they saw Erza being struck by the same lightning from Rufus.
Narpudding managed to avoid the blast and shot into the air, straight to Rufus.
"Hihihi, you're sticking out like a sore thumb!" He laughed and attacked the man, however, his fist passed through the Sabertooth's mage's body harmlessly "Crap, a clone!"
"That was a memory of me standing there" Rufus appeared behind Narpudding and raised his hand, the same meteor then struck the Raven Tail's mage "I have no need for a decoy."
"He got them all! In one instant, he took the lead! That's the power of Rufus! That's the power of Sabertooth!" the spectator screamed and cheered for Sabertooth, while its mages were grinning smugly, glancing at Fairy Tail's teams.
"This challenge isn't interesting at all, Organizer. So I have no need to hide what so ever. Even if I were to be found, I wouldn't be able to hit me... What left of me is just a memory, after al-" then suddenly, someone appeared behind him in a blur of swirling leaves, shocking him along with the spectators who were looking at him, even his team's members.
"Found you…"
Erza Scarlet muttered calmly as she summoned a kunai and slashed him across his back, causing him to cry out in agony before she delivered a powerful kick to his spine, sending him flying down to the ground. Fortunately, he was teleported away before he could hit the ground.
"H-How…?" Rufus gasped in shock as he reappeared beside the Erza who were lying on the ground "I hit you!"
"There is no way Rufus magic can miss a target like that," Sting shouted in shock. Then he and everyone cried out in shock when the red-haired woman in front of him exploded like a bomb, sending him away once again, earning Erza another point.
"That's not how our clones work!" Mato cried out in panic, throwing his hands around wildly.
"Of course…" Naruto said loudly and smugly as he raised both of his hands "Because it's not your cheap clone. it is a shadow clone."
"Shadow clone?" Natsu asked in amazement "You can create more shadow?"
"Create clones, flame brain." Gray immediately corrected him, scolding about his stupidity.
"And that clone actually managed to trick us, Rufus and even the Lacrima visions to believe it's the real one this entire time. How is that even possible?" Makarov muttered. In all his life, he had never witnessed such a skill like that before.
Putting her middle finger into the ring at the end of her kunai, Erza then swirled the kunai around before catching it in her hand, holding it upside down. Summoning another kunai in her other hand, Erza threw herself down, freefalling before she turned her body around in midair and landed on a nearby rooftop. The moment her feet touched the ground, the red-haired Kunoichi leapt onto the closet building, then the next one, and the next one…
"WHA…!" Natsu and Gray cried out dramatically as they threw both hands into the air. They had never seen Erza moving like that before, and with such speed and grace too.
"There are some minor problems there and there but... basically, that's how we move around." Naruto explained with a smirk.
"Basically?!" Lucy exclaimed. That was too extreme in her opinion.
With the speed Erza was moving, it didn't take her long to reach her first targets, Beth and Eve. Silently, they both agreed that she was a much bigger threat than each other, and decided to attack her at the same time. Eve fired a medium-sized snowstorm, White Fury, from his right palm toward Erza, but she simply rolled to the side to avoid it. Beth cast her spell and fired carrots that flew as fast as bullets, but they barely slowed Erza down, as she could dodge them easily by moving her heads and body from side to side.
When she reached Beth, Erza slashed her weapons vertically, cutting the Mermaid around her torso and getting her teleported away in a flash, taking another point. Instantly, she turned around and jumped at Eve, who raised his hand to cast another magic. However, before he could even open his mouth to shout out the spell, Erza got him to him first, stepping onto his knee to climb onto his shoulder before wrapping her legs around his outstretched arm. She twisted around, throwing him to the ground with her.
"You are dead!" Narpudding cried as he jumped at Erza, trying to attack her with his massive hands, but Erza had seen him coming. Before her back could touch the ground, Erza had looked up and thrown the kunai in her right hand at him. The kunai impaled itself into his right shoulder, forcing the safety spells to teleport him away.
"W-wai…" Eve said, but Erza had already sat up and punched him in the face. After he had been teleported away, Erza lied down and raised her lower body and then jumped onto her feet. Four massive petals with rows of rounded teeth on their inner sides and massive spikes on their outer ones suddenly rose from the ground around Erza and tried to close themselves around her.
Keeping a cool head, Erza put a hand on the ground and summoned a windmill shuriken in her other hand, which she raised in the air behind her. Spinning it in her hand, Erza threw it at the petal in front of her, cutting it down in the process and opening a gap for her to jump out before the other three could close around her. The windmill shuriken continued to travel forward and reached the caster of the spell, Jager, who was too slow to dodge a weapon that was thrown with great speed.
"Wow." Mira exclaimed in amazement "I have never seen Erza fighting like that before." She couldn't help but glance at Naruto. It was no doubt the result of her training under him.
"I'm coming for you, Erza!" A wave of water appeared and circled around Erza, and she knew instantly it was Juvia, who had turned her body into water.
"I'm not going to hold back, Juvia." Erza smiled as she dodged the blades of water fired from the wave. Leaping into the air and turning her body around, Erza threw her kunai at the water woman.
"You do know it's no use, don't you," Juvia asked with a smirk. She wasn't wearing her Sea Empress Armor, but even if she did, she had a plan to counter protect herself from it, so she was confident that she could land a direct hit on her.
"I know…" Erza smirked in response, forming a snake hand seal in front of her "Next time, you will need to double check what is thrown at you." she pointed, and Juvia looked down. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the kunai floating inside her body, with a strange paper attracted to it.
Before she could get it out, it exploded, unleashing a huge wave of electricity that ran through her water body, which only made the attack even more effective.
With a cry of pain, Juvia was teleported away.
"Those are basic electricity infused explosive tag, in case you guys are wondering." Naruto explained. It was an improvement version of the traditional explosive tag, created by the mistress of weapons, Tenten herself.
"That's the basic?!" Lucy exclaimed once again in shock. That tag took down Juvia and could seriously hurt her in a real battle.
"Hold on, what is that?!"
Someone exclaimed and pointed their hand at the giant foot of ice that appeared in the air right above Erza. It then fell down and slammed onto Erza, crushing her underfoot.
"You have your guard down." Lyon Vastia said with a confident smile.
"Lyon, behind you!" Jura shouted, but even if he could hear it, he couldn't make it when one of the Erza that were walking behind him suddenly turned her head around and attacked the ice wizard from behind. The ice foot disappeared, showing a crushed wooden log where everyone thought Erza was.
"What is it this time?" Natsu asked eagerly, getting excited.
"Basic Kawarimi, body replacement technique," Naruto answered.
"How is that even possible?" Lucy asked in amazement "I didn't see her doing anything."
"High speed," Naruto answered shortly.
"She doesn't even change her armours and yet she is destroying her opponents…" Bacchus, another muscular man, and the strongest member of Team Quarto Cerberus said with a lazy smile "As expected from a fine woman." With that, he removed a gourd from his belt and put it into his mouth and started drinking.
After running for several blocks, Erza located Rufus, who had just taken two points from Narpudding and Beth. In an instant, she was right in front him, ready to strike him down.
"Make sure to remember… because this is Fairy Tail's power!" She cried and slashed him. Without taking a second glance, Erza turned around and went to find her next targets.
"Un...un-unbelievable! Is this the true strength of the guild that was the strongest seven years ago?!" The roaring in the stadium rose to a fever pitch, with screams and cheers of admiration. With her amazing and flawless performance, Erza had turned the people back to Fairy Tail. No longer were they booing them, they were cheering for Fairy Tail, for Erza and Chapati the announcer riled them up even more, "That's the end of the first even everyone! Erza Scarlet has dominated Hidden! That victory…no one can complain about this! The cheering has yet to stop!"
"Erza-chan's just the best!" Milianna cheered with a wide grin, while Kagura, who was standing next to her, were calmly looking at Erza.
"That's Ichiya-san's girlfriend for you." Hibiki sighed with a nervous smile "I should have expected this…"
Jura clapped his hands while smiling "What an amazing skills! Simply magnificent"
"So this is Fairy Tail…" Orga and the wizards of Sabertooth looked less enthusiastic than the others while Rufus was limping out of the arena "I don't like this… at all"
"That was awesome Erza!" Lucy exclaimed happily as Erza made her way toward them.
"Fight with those skills afterwards!" Natsu grinned toothily.
"So, what do you think?" Erza asked, looking at Naruto.
"You could have done it better." Erza pouted when he said that "But good work." He winked, causing Erza to smile brightly.
"Aw, thank you, sensei."
With that, the result was announced. Fairy Tail Team A got the lead, while Sabertooth followed shortly behind. Lamia Scale and Fairy Tail team B got the third and fourth place, while Blue Pegasus captured the fifth position. Mermaid Heel, Quarto Cerberus and Raven Tail fell at the bottom three.
"Go Fairy Tail, go!" Mavis cheered earnestly and excitedly with the rest of the guild as the announcements came on.
"Now if you excuse me" Chapati cleared his throat to silent the crowd "Let's take a look at the battle's system" A hologram appeared on the air, showing the match-ups "The first matchups has been decided by the organisers themselves."
"I hope there are some interesting matchups" Yazima commented.
"The first round on the first day, please welcome Naruto Uzumaki of Fairy Tail Team A and Bacchus Groh of Quarto Cerberus!" the crowd cheered. They knew how powerful Bacchus was, and while they didn't know anything about Naruto, after Erza's amazing performance, they were all eager to see another Fairy Tail wizard in action.
"I'm first huh?" Bacchus asked with a confident smirk "Perfect!"
"Oh! Naruto is the first?!" Mavis squealed excitedly while the members of Fairy Team were clapping their hands, cheering for Naruto "I am so exciting!"
"Seriously…" Naruto growled before sighing longingly, dropping his head "Oh well, it's too late to back away now. Better go with the flow."
"Do you best, Naruto." Lucy encouraged Naruto as he stood up and turned to leave.
"Yeah yeah…"
"Show him hell, Naruto!" Natsu and Gray cheered while laughing like two maniacs, throwing their right hands into the air.
"Good luck sensei…" Erza called after him, before adding just as loudly "But you won't need it, will you!?" Naruto said nothing in response, only waving his hand.
By the time he got to the arena, Bacchus had already gotten there long before. who clearly didn't want to take him seriously. He was lying on the ground, with a bored look on his face.
"Go Naruto-kun!" Mira cheered along with the rest of Fairy Tail.
"You're Erza's teacher, aren't you?" Bacchus asked while shaking his gourd around "So you must be stronger than her." He pointed his hand at Naruto, his smirk still presented on his face "But tell you what, you don't look that good to me."
"Your point is?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I can easily beat you." He declared "However, in order to make my victory a whole lot sweeter, like the wine inside this gourd, I want to have something so celebrate." He then turned his head back to Naruto "How about we make a bet?"
"Interesting." Naruto nodded his head with a small smirk. He would never back away when it came to gambling "Okay, what do you want then?"
"Your guild has some real beauties right there." Bacchus smirked widened "You're Erza's teacher, and you seem pretty close with that Mirajane beauty… If I win, you lend them to me for a night… both of them at once." Instantly, the members of Fairy Tail roared in anger, while Erza and Mirajane flinched in shock at what they just heard.
"Excuse me, what?" Naruto asked, his voice lowered and his eyes became sharp "What did you just say!?" He wasn't deaf, and he heard every single words every clearly. For the first time in a very long time, Naruto felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time.
Anger…
How dared he talk to her like that?
"Lend the girls to me for a night, Erza and Mirajane, both of them at once." Bacchus repeated his previous words before continuing "Bring them to…"
"What are you going to do with them then?"
Naruto asked. However, his voice was icing cold, so cold that it sent chill down everyone's spine. Even Seilah, who were watching from a secret spot on top of one of the statues around the stadium, couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
"Well, I'm going to have a lot of fun with them, of course. My bed has always had some fair shares for beautiful women like them." Bacchus stated simply.
"Alright then…" Naruto said, giving him a void smile "You win, you're free to do whatever you want with the girls…" He said "But if I win… I will break every last bone in your body." He stated murderously, creating a heavy atmosphere around the stadium.
"Pu!" Bacchus' cheeks puffed out as he tried to hold his laughter in "You're an interesting man, aren't you!? You sure you can do that?"
"I keep my promise." Naruto nodded his head curtly.
"Erza, what is that his magic? How can he be so confident that he can beat Naruto?" Gray asked, turning to Erza who had fought multi times with him in the past.
"His magic type is a type that focuses magical energy into his hands. It's a relative orthodox magic" Erza said with a serious tone as Bacchus stood up and got into a fighting stance "However, the secret of his strength is mastery of a martial art that allows him to use that magic to its fullest potential. It's called the Hikasho (Hanging-chop fist). It's a martial art that uses special stances to make particularly effective use of Palm-strikes. But what is even scarier is that he added some improvement to that and created a drunken hanging-chop fist."
"Drunken… like with booze, you mean?" Gray asked.
"Yes… it's impossible to predict the drunken falcon's attacks." Erza nodded her head "On top of that, the destructive power is enchanted as well, which is a part of the key for him to victory. He sure has gotten a lot stronger than seven years ago." Erza then pointed to the gourd on the ground "Even more so, it seems he decides to fight Naruto without drinking a single drop of alcohol."
"Is he even takes this fight seriously?" Lucy asked in shock. Erza only shook her head in response.
"A night of dream with those girls, how wonderful," Bacchus said, still keeping the smirk on his face. As soon as the gong was struck, the Quarto Cerberus mage leapt forward and charged at Naruto, his fingers put together, aiming for his head.
However, before he could deliver a strike, Naruto shot his hand out and grabbed Bacchus by his neck. He lifted the man into the air and then slammed him down to the ground before kicking his stomach, sending him back to where he was lying a few minutes ago.
"Heh, you're stronger than I thought." Bacchus said as he got up from the ground "My soul is shaking."
Ignoring his confident words, Naruto turned to Mato and asked him.
"Pumpkin, are you the referee of these matches?"
"Yes, I am." Mato nodded his head.
"Good, I want you to make a promise that you won't stop this fight no matter what happen." Everyone gasped in shock at his demand.
"Um…" Mato wasn't sure how to response, and he looked rather uncomfortable.
"I'm fine with it," Bacchus said as he picked up his gourd from the ground. He needed to change his strategy. Naruto was faster than he thought "I lose and he will break my bones sooner or later, so why wait? It's a promise between men, after all." He drank the wine, gulping the entire gourd down. Drunk, his movements became unstable and the smirk on his face became wilder than ever. He then took a stance and ran at Naruto with a speed greater than before.
"Okay, I promise." Mato nodded.
"That's all I need." With that cold declaration, all hell broke loose.
Bacchus tried to strike Naruto's cheek with his palm, but the blond simply raised his hand, catching the drunken wizard's wrist, stopping him. He then moved his head to the side, dodging the second strike aiming at the other side of his head, before raising his other hand, putting it on the backside of Bacchus' elbow, and pulled.
"AHHHH!"
The entire stadium gasped in shock and cringed painfully at the sound when Naruto broke Bacchus' left arm, causing the mage to cry out in pain. Releasing his wrist, Naruto then linked his hand with Bacchus's, knitting their fingers among each other before tightening his grip. The bones of his fingers and his hand twisted and broke like toothpicks under his strength. By the time Naruto had balled his hand into a fist, Bacchus' hand was completely useless.
"Have fun with this," Naruto growled as he pushed it forward, punching Bacchus in the face rapidly. The more muscular mage tried to get him with a hook strike, but Naruto shot his other hand out, countering it with his own punch.
Bacchus cried when the bones inside his right hand were broken the moment his hand came into contact with Naruto's punch. His right elbow and the bones inside his right arm also suffered a huge force and broke in the process. Naruto released his hand, and sent a barrage of twenty punches at Bacchus' chest in less than two seconds, breaking all twenty-four ribs he had inside him, before sending a palm strike to the middle of his chest, pushing him back several feet.
"Here, drink this," Naruto growled as he ran forward, using his foot to kick Bacchus' gourd into the air. Naruto then caught the gourd and thrust it into Bacchus' open mouth, before jumping and kneeing him under his chin, forcing him to close his mouth and breaking the gourd, and a few teeth, in the process.
As his arms had become completely useless, Bacchus tried to forfeit but Naruto didn't let him and continued his assault. He kicked the man on his right knee with so much force that he broke it, causing the lower half of Bacchus' leg to bend ridiculously forward when he fell down while crying out in pain. Not stopping there, Naruto did the same to his other leg, kicking him so hard that his bones broke in half or to pieces with a single attack.
Bacchus, at the moment, could barely stay conscious. He was experiencing a lot of pain at the moment. Naruto had broken all of his ribs and the bones inside his limps, but his attacks were so precisely that he hadn't made any external injury.
"Let this be a warning to you, trash…" Naruto said as he picked Bacchus' limp body up by his neck "… because next time, it won't be just your bones." Releasing him, Naruto then jumped into the air delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Bacchus' face, sending him across the field like a lifeless doll. He crashed very hard into the wall, breaking his spine, neck and the back of his skull in the process.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get up, Mato ran as fast as his short legs could carry him toward the man to make sure that he was still alive.
"P…pumpkin… thanks the god, he is alive. Medic!" The pumpkin cried after feeling his pulse, which was weak but still there.
In the end, Naruto didn't have to hold back that much to make sure that he wouldn't kill the man. As a hand to hand combat mage, he had dense muscles and well-trained endurance. A normal human would never survive that kind of damage.
The medics appeared and quickly put him on a cart to carry him away. "I…" After the doctors had finally left the arena, Mato then turned back to face Naruto, stuttering nervously. The crowd was also too stunned to make a noise. Even Chapati and the other two announcers were speechless and didn't know what to announce "I guess… The winner of this match is Naruto Uzumaki!"
Instantly, the crowd exploded in excitement, cheering Naruto's name and Fairy Tail. The immortal Shinobi almost snickered when he realised how exciting it was for them, human. Give them blood and they went wild.
"Human…" Seilah muttered as he looked at the crowd with a disgusted look on her face.
Era might change, nations might disappear… but human would never change.
They would never change.
The rest of the first day of the Grand Magic Game was uneventful and rather less excited for everyone because they were predictable. Sabertooth earned ten points after Orga Nanagear had destroyed Flare of Raven Tail with a single blast of his god slayer magic. Lamia Scale had gotten a victory over Fairy Tail team B when Jura defeated Mystogan, aka Jellal. Unfortunately for the blue haired man, he was disturbed by Ultear and Meredy. Blue Pegasus had claimed the fourth position when Ren Akatsuki defeated Araina Webb of Mermaid Heel.
"Man, this shit was dark!" Natsu commented as he watched the record of Naruto's match on a Lacrima recorder "Oh! That's nasty!" He cringed when he heard another breaking sound "Great job, Naruto!" He grinned, giving the blond a thumb up.
After the end of the first day Grand Magic Game, both Fairy Teams went to visit Wendy and Carla to make sure that she was okay before heading to the nearest bar of Crocus town, with Cana being the one who was sitting inside when they arrived, which of course was not a surprise.
"Yeah yeah…" Naruto said lazily, waving his hand dismissively at Natsu.
"For a moment, I thought you were about to kill him right there. I was so worried you might overdo it but it turned out that you knew exactly what you were doing." The third master of Fairy Tail said to him before standing up, holding his cup of beer above his head "So, let us give a toast to Naruto who fought to protect the flowers of our guild! Anyone else, aside Erza of course, from Team A, would have failed and let our girls fall into that lecherous bastard's hands." Naruto groaned when the members of Fairy Tail roared in agreement.
"The fuck old man!? What do you mean by that?!" Natsu, Gray and Lucy cried at the same time.
"But you have to admit that. You cannot defeat Erza, let alone someone as strong as she was." Nab joked, causing Natsu and Gray to glare at him with evil eyes.
"So, let's do it!" Everyone held up their drinks before the master declared "To Naruto!"
"To Naruto!" The whole guild cried in unison.
"This is for you, Naruto-kun." Mira appeared at his table and put a cup of beer down in front of him "It's on me."
"Well thank you…" Naruto said as he leant forward and picked up the cup of beer "You do know that this is not the bar at the guild right?" He looked at her and took a sip from his drink.
"Well, I can be your barmaid tonight." Mira winked playfully, swirling her finger around a strand of her white hair "You have a problem with that?"
"Sound intimidating, so I'm fine with that." Naruto shrugged, smiling at her.
"Anyway, I want to thank you, Naruto-kun." Mira said with a soft smile "Just like master said, if it weren't for you, I would have to follow Bacchus back to his place."
"Not that I have any problem with it, but it seems even you have so little faith in your friends." Naruto teased "I thought you guys were all about trusting each other."
"That's not what I…"
"Don't worry, I was just teasing you." Naruto shook his head, causing Mira to pout "And also, you're welcome."
"Anyway, I will see you later then Naruto-kun. I need to get back to my team to discuss our strategy." Mira said, turning to the side and pointing to her teammates "Gotta find a way to keep up with your team somehow, we're supposed to be the elite team here and we're so far behind you guys." She walked away, muttering the last part to herself.
"Try your best then," Naruto called after her, before looking at the seat in front him. The smile disappeared from his face as he glared at that person with half-lifted eyes "What…" he pressed hard "are you doing here?"
"Aw, I thought you would be happy to see me." Mavis Vermillion pouted cutely as she kicked her legs back and forth.
"A ghost who stays a few feet away from its grave is a bad one." Naruto finished his cup of beer.
"You do know that my body…"
"…corpse." Naruto interrupted, but she continued with a low tone, holding her hand at her cheek.
"…isn't inside my grave, right?"
"It still doesn't change the fact that you are a ghost. Do you know what people call a talking spirit that stays outside of a body? A freaking ghost!" He raised his hands and lifted them up and down in front of her face, saying hauntingly "Oohh… a ghost…"
"Would you knock it off?" Mavis wanted to slap his hands away, but her hand simply passed through his. He could touch her, but unfortunately for Mavis, it didn't work the other way around "Anyway, I see that you have made a lot of friends around here, good for you?"
"Friends? Nah, more like colleagues… aside from Erza, of course, she's my student."
"Speaking about Erza, here she comes." Both of them turned their heads to the side and saw Erza walking toward them, holding two empty cups and a bottle of beer in her hands "I will leave the two of you alone, you know where to find me." She told him before standing up and walking away.
"Good evening, master Mavis." Erza bowed her head to the first master of Fairy Tail "How do you do?"
"I'm fine, thank you. Good work today, you make me proud." Erza lowered her head and smiled gratefully. The short blonde then gave Erza a wink as she gestured her head toward Naruto "Have fun with him, okay?!"
"Thank you, master Mavis." With that, Erza continued her path toward Naruto, and asked him when she got to his table "Can I sit with you, sensei?"
"Make yourself comfortable then," Naruto said, holding up his hand and pointing it toward the seat in front of him.
Erza sat down and put the cups down, placing one of them one of him before opening the bottle.
"So what bring you to this quite spot?" He looked at the rest of the guild, who were celebrating team A's flawless victory "Don't you want to party with them?"
"Yes, but I also want to thank my teacher, who fought for me today." She filled his cup before moving to hers "If it weren't for you, I would have to follow Bacchus if it weren't for you."
"Mira came and said the same thing, so I would tell you exactly what I told her… you're welcome." He picked up his cup and smiled "I also want to properly congratulate you on your victory today, so cheer?"
"Cheer." Erza smiled and touched her cup with his. The two took a long gulp before putting the cups down "You know, while I appreciate what you do for me, I don't think it's necessary for you to… break all of his bones like that. If I am not mistaken, then there are two thousand different ways you can humiliate him, right?" You really didn't want to know how she knew that.
"Yeah, but I really don't want to humiliate him this time. I want to hurt him… bad." He knocked his knuckle onto the table before continuing "And before you get mistaken, no I didn't do it for you. He demanded you and Mira for a night and wanted to make a bet with me out of it, which could only mean that he had no respect for woman. More or less, it's an insult to the two of you." Naruto continued "Now we talk about student and teacher kind of a relationship. You insult the student you're insulting the teacher's teachings. You insult my teachings you're basically insulting me, ME of all people." He pointed at himself "So I couldn't take it lightly, and decided to teach him a lesson."
Erza looked at him, blinking several times before saying with a small smile while looking at her drink.
"You know… Mira told me when you were reasoning about something, especially when the reasons made no sense at all… you were actually just trying to keep your tough front, that cool boy attitude and that badass personality of a person who didn't give a fuck about those around him, while in truth you were one of the kindest people in this guild."
"The fuc… she really told you that?" Naruto asked in disbelief and turned his head to look at Mira, who caught him looking at her and waved her hand at him with a bright smile. What's with that woman? He couldn't help but wonder "Well, you know what, she's fucking wrong then."
"She also said you would instantly try to defend yourself when you're exposed too. Everything she told me so far has become the truths, so… well…" Erza giggled softly, and Naruto simply grumbled in response "You know… when she said you were one of the kindest people, it does mean a lot to me because of these people, they are the most kindhearted people I have ever known... my family." She stated softly "I guess it makes you more than just my teacher now, sensei."
"More than just a teacher huh?" Naruto asked, chuckling gently "Family?"
"I guess so…" Erza smiled as she leant forward "You act like a very strict father sometimes, sensei."
Father?
Said by Erza, that word was hard to take in more than ever, after everything that happened.
He didn't stay with the guild that night and left before midnight to find Seilah.
The next morning, was the start of the second day of the Grand Magic Game.
"The Grand Magic Games have finally entered the second day of the competition." Chapati said. He was wearing a brand new set of wig on his head, with the hair reaching down to his shoulders.
"What kind of fierce drama will we be able to see today?" The Wizard Saint, Yazima smiled. He, much like everyone, was eager to see what was going to take place on the second day of the largest magical event of the year.
"The second day's competition is Pandemonium." Chapati announced loudly "There will be one participant from each guild."
"Yosh, I am all fired up." Natsu punched the palm of his hand and grinned sadistically "This is my turn. I'm so going to leave those bastards in the dust and increase the gap between us."
"Suit yourself." Gray nodded his head.
However, before he could make it anywhere, Naruto grabbed the back of his scarf and pulled him back.
"Sorry kid, but your time has not yet come." Naruto said humorously as he stepped forward "I will go."
"Oi! What the hell man!?" Natsu asked in shock.
"Strategically wise, this is the opportunity for me to save myself from all the problem of this tournament for the next couple of days." He turned around and explained "I have already participated in a match yesterday. There are five of us. This Grand Magic Game is going to last for five days, so unless they want this tournament to become a simple wrestling show, they won't call me out again. Also, I decide to participate in this game because I don't have to fight in the first event again and you all will have your chances with them, right?"
"Well… sound fair enough." Gray nodded his head in understanding while Natsu grumbled in annoyance because he was dying to fight someone.
From Fairy Tail Team B, Cana volunteered herself for this event. She was the team's reserve and was there today to replace Jellal. While he was much stronger than the alcoholic woman, because the guest of the second day was Lahar, a magic council's member and also the Captain of the Custody Enforcement Squad, he couldn't participate. Quarto Cerberus sent out a guy named Novally, while Milianna of Mermaid Heel stepped out for the fight, after getting an approval from Kagura their leader. Jura Neekis represented Lamia Scale while Hibiki would head out for Blue Pegasus, while from Sabertooth, Orga headed down to the arena with a confident smirk on his face. Raven Tail sent out Obra, the mysterious mage with an odd looking creature on his shoulders.
Seeing Naruto walking to the middle of the arena, everyone cheered out in excitement, while the other teams' expression became serious. Based on their performances yesterday, Fairy Tail had proved to be a force to be reckoned with, but Naruto Uzumaki was probably the strongest of both teams.
"Seriously, I have to fight you?" Cana asked while chuckling nervously. Naruto only smirked in response.
After the competitors had gathered around Mato, he smiled and waved his hand around "Alright everyone, I'll explain how Pandemonium works." A mass of magic power suddenly burst from the ground and formed a giant, malevolent and also very sinister looking castle, causing everyone to gasp and widen their eyes in surprise. Mato pointed at it before saying "This is the temple where evil monsters nest. This is Pandemonium."
"It's huge!" Cana cried in shock
"Awesome…" Milianna couldn't stop herself either.
"Commencing analysis…" Hibiki murmured, activating his Archive with a smile and starting to analyse the place with his magic.
"W-wild…" Novally muttered with sweats covered his face, no longer felt so confident about it.
Orga meanwhile stared up at it with disinterest.
Jura glanced at Mato, "Where monsters nest… you say?"
Mato his head before continuing: "That's the setting-kabo! Within the temple, there are 100 monsters. Well, we call them that, but they're really just magical tools we created. They won't go after the audience or anything, so don't worry!" His words calmed the now nervous crowd. Mato continued, "The monsters are divided into five battle classes: D, C, B, A, and S! With the specifics set like this!"
"Incidentally, in regards to how powerful D-Class monsters are…" A Lacrima screen popped up with a camera inside the temple, where a massive, hound-like creature snarled and jumped at a stone statue, easily destroying it in one swipe. The crowd recoiled at the sight as Mato went on, "Ones like that and even stronger ones…the place where 100 of them are lurking, that's Pandemonium-kabo! The S-Class monster is so powerful that even one of the Wizard Saints can't be guaranteed to defeat it."
Lucy and Wendy looked uneasy, but Natsu swore with gritting teeth, "Dammit, I know should have gone in for this…"
"You want to get in on that monstrosity?!" Lucy shrieked in shock.
Mato continued, "In order, each of you will take turns selecting a number of monsters to fight with. That's called your Challenge Right. For example, if one person selects three monsters, then that's how many will show up in the temple. If that person succeeds in defeating them, then he or she gets three points and the next competitor goes in and can choose from amongst the ninety-seven remaining monsters. This will continue until all the monsters are defeated, or until everyone's magic power reaches zero, at which point, the competition will end."
Milianna smiled, "So, it's like a counting game."
Mato nodded, "Exactly. Situational judgment becomes important. Remember, the monsters have ranks, but no matter how many monsters you choose, the ranks are always random-kabo. If you're extremely unlucky, you might choose two and end up with the S-Class!."
Hibiki glanced over from his Archive spell, "Then some sort of battle strategy to avoid drawing the S-Class monster is necessary."
"If it's random, that strategy wouldn't work." Orga dismissed with a snort.
Hibiki shook his head, "Not quite. With probability theory and my Archive, strategy will work to some extent."
Mato held his hands up, "Points are given for the number of monsters defeated, regardless of their rank. Once you enter, you cannot withdraw until you've won or been defeated. If you happen to go down inside the temple, the number of points you've earned up until that turn will remain as they are. The number of victories for that turn, however, will be counted as zero, and you'll exit like that."
"So it's bad to be too greedy then," Pantherlily concluded with a serious tone.
"Yeah, but you choose one monster per turn and everyone else will get ahead of you, right?" Happy inquired.
"There are also a lot of strategy and calculations to figure out too," Carla said as she scratched her head with her paw. "How many monsters you should face, and how much energy you will recover from waiting for your next turn."
"It's unexpectedly difficult," Romeo commented nervously.
"And with that" A box full of sticks then appeared in Mato's hands, which he held out "Please draw your lots, everyone!" The competitors did so, and a number appeared on the sticks as they were drawn.
"Lucky me!" Naruto grinned as he looked at the number one on his stick.
"You're so lucky Naruto. It'll go back to your turn the most." She said to him while laughing wryly. She got the last spot.
"I was thinking that this competition would all come down to the luck of the draw..." the blond said with a small sigh as he stepped forward.
"The luck of the draw?" Mato couldn't help but sweat dropped at his statement "No, how should I put this. It's a game where maintaining your pace and situational judgment are more important than just the order of battle!" Mato tried to explain, but Naruto ignored him.
"Don't care…" He then cracked his neck around "Let's get this shit over with. I challenge all one hundred monsters!"
Pretty much every single person in the stadium was stunned by his declaration, some of them even gasped in shock, and looked at Naruto in bewilderment.
"I really shouldn't expect anything less from him." Erza smiled while shaking her head. She would have done the same if she were the one who represented her team.
Mato tried to stop her as Naruto continued to make his way into the tower "Th-that's impossible-kabo! It wasn't designed so one person could possibly defeat them all!"
"Do I look like I care…" Naruto called back and the door was closed behind him.
"Oi oi! Is he going to be alright!?" Makarov asked worriedly as Naruto appeared on the Lacrima visions around the stadium.
"Don't worry…" Mavis smirked mysteriously and didn't want to spoil anything more after that.
Naruto soon arrived at a huge arena.
"Oi, Erza…" he suddenly called the name of his students, instead of saying his challenge. Nonetheless, it surprised everyone "Erza, are you listening to me right now? Just speak, because I can hear you even from here."
"Huh?! Of course sensei. Lacrima visions have been activated." She answered.
"Good. I want you to watch closely." He looked around, observing the area "Today, we're going to test your observation and calculation skills."
"Seriously, now I don't think is the right time to…"
"Shut up and listen to your teacher." Naruto interrupted, and she immediately did what she was told. He then reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll "I want you to observe me closely because I'm going to show you the technique and its variants, something that made my good old pops one of the most powerful Shinobi in the history."
Erza gasped in shock, she knew that her first teacher was strong, but she had no idea that he was among the strongest.
Naruto then unrolled the scroll and tapped his hand on the seal in the middle, summoning a very strange looking kunai. It had three blades instead of one and several black words written on the white handle. Naruto then caught the kunai and held it horizontally in his hand in front of him.
"This technique… is called Hiraishin no Jutsu." He said seriously "The Flying Thunder God Technique."
"Damn… that is one badass name!" Gray said and Naruto nodded his head in agreement before saying excitedly
"I want one!" he then turned to Erza and asked in shock "What are you wearing?" the scarlet haired mage was wearing black glasses.
"Glasses… it helps me think, alright?" She raised her hand and summoned a small notebook and a pen "Don't look at me like that. I need to take note everything. Trust me because this is going to be really hard." She said when everyone, even Team B, turned their heads to look at her.
"Simply observe and tell me how it works at the end of the day. This technique is too hard for your level, because after all… it's S-rank."
"S-rank!?" Erza cried in shock, nearly dropping her notebook.
"What does he mean? S-rank?" Gajeel asked in confusion.
"Does that mean it's one of the most powerful ninja's techniques?"
"That's right." Erza nodded her head and readjusted her glasses and started explaining to everyone "Unlike magic, ninjutsu, or ninja arts, are sorted into ranks, from the weakest ones, E-class techniques to the most powerful of them all, S-class. E-class is the most basic and fundamental techniques for all ninja, like Kawarimi, while S-rank is at an extreme level. The difficulties of ninjutsu also increase with their ranks. Some E-class can be learnt in less than a day, while most S-rank can take a lifetime to truly master unless you're a genius or have the talent for it."
"EHH!?"
"Does that mean that you don't know any high-class technique?" Lucy asked.
"I know one A-class, but it took me three whole weeks to learn." Erza shook her head, causing everyone to widen their eyes in amazement "I also have never seen him performing any S-class techniques before…"
"My challenge is one hundred monsters." Naruto's call took everyone's attention back to the scenes. Monsters with various shape and sizes appeared and started crawling out from every corner of the area before starting to stalk Naruto like they were stalking a weak prey.
Three D-class monsters lunged at Naruto, who simply threw the kunai at them. Particularly, it looked harmless to them, and they dodged without trouble.
"What the…" Erza and the other wizards gasped in shock when the D-class monsters fell down to the ground lifelessly when Naruto suddenly disappeared from his position and reappeared behind them, catching his kunai with his hand. "How did he do that?" They were sure that he didn't teleport because no one could teleport to one place to another and take down a group of monsters standing in the middle like that.
In a brief moment, all they saw was a yellow flash.
Naruto smirked before spinning his kunai around in his hand.
"Let the game begin!"
End of Chapter 11
Note: Surprised!? Surprised!? Here is another chapter for you everyone! Because I had a lot of free time today as well I had decided to write a new chapter. I was so into it that I wrote 9k+ chapters without realizing it.
I hope you like Erza's performance and Naruto's battle with Bacchus, those are both something I had enjoyed writing. While Erza didn't show much of her skill set, it showed how much she has improved as a Kunoichi training under Naruto. More will be revealed in the future, but I guess it's okay for now.
My deepest apology if anyone feel Bacchus' arrogant nature is a bit too much and unrealistic to the current situation, but I have never liked his character, and used to want someone to just beat the crap out of him. Because it would likely never happen, I made him tick Naruto at the wrong place, and let our favorite blond give him a royal beating, aka breaking all the bones in his body.
This is the first time I have ended a story with a cliffhanger like this. It's actually my brother's idea. I wanted to finish Naruto's Pandemonium in this chapter, but he tolld me to leave it for the next chapter, because it was a must to do in order to keep the thrill and excitement up. Well, I did what he advised and hoped it would work out well.
I hoped you have come to like this chapter. Next chapter won't be coming out until next weekend, but if I can find any free time I'm sure that I will get to work on the next chapter. Mira will also have more scene times in the next chapter, and when it come to her, I always deliver some fan-services.
Read and REVIEW everyone! Your reviews are my biggest inspiration to put the best of me in every new chapter! I'm also aiming for 2k reviews (and also followers and favors) before chapter twentith, so I hope you guys will help me with it.
And as always, I will see you in the next chapter… bye bye!