Damn, I got some nice reviews on the last chapter, which I'm more than happy about. I honestly don't think that this chapter will be as great, and you will probably see why near the end.
Kurama Thunderstorm: His abilities will expand due to the Blessings in the future. He'll be getting a new Blessing with each Arc. As for another affinity… maybe. There's the issue that he was only trained with Wind, and that was just to add it to the Rasengan. He never learned any other wind jutsu. He wouldn't know any other jutsu with a different element unless he made them himself or until he gets a Blessing depending on which ones he gets. But if I do give him a new affinity I might let him use it in conjunction with his wind element to make a Kekkei Genkai
First Guy: Some of your guesses are correct, but remember that these people have to be people who are dead. Gaara may have died once, but he is still alive. I won't reveal which ones you guessed correctly for spoiler reasons.
I'm glad most people liked the pairing a chose. I also got a few requests of people to add. Mostly Erza, but also got Levy too. So that might happen, but I do want to keep this small. I'm still not great with writing romance and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
Juvia wished that she and Naruto could just bask in the suns warm rays for hours. It is one thing to never have felt such a sensation, but it's another thing to experience the sensation with someone you truly care for, but alas, she was still stuck in the real world.
A slightly pained groan brought Juvia back from her daydream. Her head snapped towards the direction on the noise, fully knowing it was only her and Naruto on top of the giant at the moment.
"Are you alright?" Juvia asked, getting into a seated position and leaning forward slightly.
Naruto was rubbing his temples with a wince, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just my clones are getting dispelled gradually and their memories are giving me a headache. Phantom Lord is really doing a number on Fairy Tail right now." Naruto said, standing up and dusting off his soaked pants.
Juvia looked down in guilt. She felt bad about supporting this attack on Fairy Tail in the beginning. Well not really support, but she didn't try to go against the orders she was given. Even though she was 'defeated' early on in the assault, her magic linked to the Abyss Break accelerated the speed until Naruto persuaded her to cut her ties and magic power to Phantom Lord.
Naruto easily noticed this and crouched down so he could be at eye level with her, "Hey, don't blame yourself. I said that Phantom Lord is doing some damage to Fairy Tail, but there are no major casualties yet," Naruto said, flashing his somewhat childish and warm smile to the rain woman, who couldn't help but smile in return.
Naruto stood up once more and held out his hand, "Alright, c'mon. I've got a job to do and I can't just leave you up here alone." Naruto said kindly.
Juvia looked at his hand and after a moment, she gently grasped the outstretched appendage. There was a faint blush dusting her cheeks, enjoying the warm feeling she felt when their hands touched. Naruto pulled her onto her feet with ease. He reached down and grabbed her cylinder shaped hat and handed it to her. She gratefully took her hat and placed it back atop her head.
"Okay, so I'm guessing that you're probably too tired to help me fight the other Element Four, right?" Naruto asked, noticing her drooping eyes. Getting a small nod in return, "Okay, so I'm going to have a clone take you into the woods until this all blows over. After that, I'll find you, okay?" Naruto asked, waiting to get an affirmative.
After receiving another nod, Naruto formed the cross hand seal. A medium amount of smoke was created, followed by another Naruto standing next to the original. Already knowing what to do, the clone scooped up the blue haired girl, who let out an 'eep!' of surprise.
"Wait!" Juvia shouted just before the clone began to run, stopping the clone in its tracks. "You need to stop the remaining members of the Element Four in order to stop the Abyss Break." Juvia said hastily, knowing Naruto would need this information.
Naruto blinked a few times before he finally registered the information. Naruto let out a sheepish chuckle, "Phew, I'm glad you told me that! I was about to try and find some other power source, but knowing this makes my job that much easier. Thanks Juvia!" Naruto said. He couldn't believe that he could've just gone right into the guild without this knowledge. Well he was already planning on taking out the Element Four members anyways, but this just seals the deal.
The clone didn't wait for Juvia's response, sprinting away with its precious cargo wrapped in its arms. Once Juvia and the clone were gone, Naruto proceeded to search for a way to enter the giant. This only took about one minute because he found a glass window facing towards the sky that was on the same platform that he and Juvia were fighting on. Using a kunai, he pried the latch open and slid inside with practiced ease.
XXXXXXX
After about three minutes of walking, Naruto could honestly say that he wished that he was a sensory type ninja or an Inuzuka, because he had no idea where he was supposed to be going. To him, all of the hallways looked the same. They were all just fancy stone and tiles to him, and it was getting on his nerves. He had already tried tracking any of his allies with Sage Chakra, but that only worked on those who used chakra. These mages used something different. He would have to ask about this later.
Naruto tried to remain focused and keep some semblance of stealth, but instead he just threw his hands into the air in frustration and sighed loudly. Not even caring that he was basically behind enemy lines.
"Where the hell is anyone on this damn thing?!" Naruto shouted at nobody. He honestly wanted someone to find him at this point, be it friend or foe, so he at least was doing something productive. He would prefer to find an enemy, so he could interrogate them for the layout of this place.
Naruto's acute senses took hold of him when he heard a roar echo down the corridor, followed by slow paced stomping. Seeing nowhere to hide from the possible threat, Naruto drew a kunai and got into a battle stance.
Whatever made the noise down the hall must have been farther away than Naruto thought. Eventually Naruto lost his patience and created a clone to figure out what was supposedly approaching him. Naruto watched as his clone sprinted down the hallway ahead of him and turned to the right. After about thirty seconds, Naruto got a surge of memories. The clone actually got clothes-lined as it went to make another turn into a different hallway. Whatever it was that hit the clone was big, strong, and pissed. Naruto was only able to remember a large arm strike the clone in the nose before the clone dispelled.
Naruto swallowed to wet his dry throat as he waited with baited breath for the creature to approach. Eventually the stomping got louder and louder, and soon Naruto could hear deep and low breathing. Naruto almost felt compelled to take a few steps back in fright. The suspension was just tugging at him at this point.
Finally, the creature came into view, and Naruto's eyes went wide from its appearance. The memories he received didn't give the creature enough credit for its size. The creature nearly had to squeeze its way into the hallway due to its width and height. The creature had green skin covering its face, chest and abdomen, whilst the rest of its body was covered in maroon colored fur. It had a medium length silver mane and beard. It had teeth that should belong to a carnivore and a set of horns on its head and shoulders. Sharp claws extended from each of its large fingers. The only article of clothing on the creature was a lair of ripped blue pants. Thighs seemed somewhat thinner and scaley while it had talon-like feet. All in all is was quite the sight to see. Naruto looked into its eyes. The only color in the creature's eyes was white, no pupil or anything. Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw a scar going down its right eye. The scar was jagged and ran only a few inches down, but something about that scar seemed strange to Naruto.
'That scar seems familiar…' Naruto thought, trying to force the memory of where he had seen a scar like that into his mind. His thoughts were interrupted when a large fist went to strike him. Naruto jumped into the air to avoid the attack. Usually a rookie mistake, as this could lead to a hard to avoid follow up attack, but Naruto assumed that due to its size, it wouldn't be able to hit him before he touched the ground again. Unfortunately looks can be deceiving. Naruto hadn't predicted for the beast nearly as fast as it apparently is, because the next thing he knew, he was sent flying down the hallway, bouncing off of the ground a few times before landing on his hands and knees, skidding to a halt.
Naruto winced form the pain. He could only hope that none of his bones were broken. As Naruto stood up, he winced once more on a pain in his shoulder. Naruto ran his opposite hand onto the hurting shoulder and found the problem quickly. His shoulder was dislocated, fantastic.
Muttering a curse, Naruto gripped just below his shoulder and popped the joint back into its regular position, all while trying not to cry out in pain. In a moment, the action was done. He has dislocated his shoulder in the past a couple of times while practicing the Giant Rasengan. There used to be so much recoil that he would damage his arm until he finally reduced its size until it was manageable. Naruto rubbed the tender shoulder while turning his alert gaze down the hallway, where he saw his new foe slowly approaching. Naruto could feel the floor shake with each of his heavy steps.
Naruto created several clones to distract the beast and hopefully find a few weak points in the process. Some clones threw shuriken at the beast, but the beast had thick skin. The shuriken just bounced harmlessly off of the creature. Others opted to use kunai to strike at tendons and normal human weak points, but found similar results. Once there were only two clones remaining, Naruto ran forward, holding his palm to his side while forming a Rasengan. He kept it at its regular size so it wouldn't be overkill. Thick skin or not, the Rasengan was a brutal attack to anyone.
The large beast swatted away one clone with the back of its hand, leaving only one more to distract it. The last remaining clone dug into its pocket and pulled out an explosive tag. It ducked under one swipe and slapped the tag onto the beast's chest, but this allowed an opening on the clone to be presented. The beast grabbed the clone by its leg and swung the clone onto the ground hard, dispelling it instantly.
The tag activated, creating an explosion that rocket the hallway and created a dense smoke cloud. The beast backed away from the smoke that enveloped it so it could see again, but felt an immense pressure on its chest before the beast could even notice it coming.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, pressing the swirling blue ball into the beast's chest. The Rasengan propelled the beast back several yards until it collided with a wall, creating a crater in the wall itself.
As Naruto cautiously approached the dazed and injured creature, he began to question just why the beast was in the Phantom Lord guild hall. He hadn't seen it when he attacked the previous night, and he was positive that if Jose had something like this in his arsenal when Naruto attacked, he wouldn't have hesitated to use it.
"So why is this thing here?" Naruto questioned. Was this creature from one of Phantom Lord's sub divisions? That was a possibility, but not a high one. Most of the sub division mages were on the ground helping in the assault on the Fairy Tail members. The only ones that Naruto knew were aboard the mechanized guild hall were the remaining Element Four members, Jose, maybe Gajeel, and the three Fairy Tail mages who were here for the same reason he was.
"Wait a second…" Naruto thought, then the realization hit. "Elfman?"
The response he got was a loud roar as the beast tried to pull itself out of the wall. Naruto took the time to analyze the facts that led to Elfman and the beast's connection. Elfman could transform his arm into that of a beast's. Never before had he shown the ability to transform his whole body, but maybe the reason was right before him. If he had the ability to transform his whole body, it may be hard to control. There was also the beast's appearance. The blue pants matched the ones that Elfman wore when he entered the building along with Gray. The hair color was also similar, as well as the placement of the scar. The same place where Elfman's scar was.
The beast tore itself out of the wall and immediately charged at Naruto, who rolled under the beast's legs. Naruto rolled back onto his feet and jumped backwards to gain some distance. Now having proof that this creature was definitely Elfman, Naruto didn't want to harm him further.
"Elfman!" Naruto yelled, attempting to get his attention. The beast however, didn't seem to listen. The beast charged once more, throwing swift punch at Naruto. Naruto ducked under its punch and sent a few of his own into the beast's ribs and outstretched arm. His new plan was to hit the muscles until they eventually gave out, rendering the beast's body useless.
The beast growled and tried to punch the orange and black-clad ninja once more, but Naruto was still much faster. Getting inside of the beast's guard again, Naruto sent more punches to its arms and a few to its legs. Naruto rolled back to avoid the beast's counter-attack, but the beast was able to catch Naruto's left arm with its large claw. Naruto was sent spinning into a wall, bouncing off of the wall, and falling to the floor. Naruto didn't allow himself to slow down though, knowing the beast would show no mercy to a downed foe. Naruto rolled on the ground, barely avoiding another powerful punch that left a small crater in the ground. Naruto quickly hopped to his feet and leapt back to gain distance again.
Naruto turned his head to assess the damage to his arm. The sleeve that covered his arm was cut clean through in three places. His arm was bleeding, but the steam coming off of his arms showed that the wounds were healing, thanks to the demon inside of him that he STILL couldn't get a hold of for whatever reason.
Naruto turned his head back to the beast and scowled. He didn't want to harm Elfman, but at this point Naruto didn't have a choice. He didn't have the time to create a clone and have it gather enough natural energy to hold Sage Mode long enough to retrain the beast. With a regretful sigh, Naruto held his uninjured arm out, creating another Rasengan. He let more chakra flow into this Rasengan, allowing it to grow in size and power.
The beast roared and charged at the ninja, as if declaring a challange. Naruto ran to intercept the beast's approach and thrust his Giant Rasengan-holding arm forward. Fist and sphere collided with a loud bang. A small battle of attrition ensued from the two forces.
"Giant Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, pushing the attack further forwards. Naruto was actually surprised at just how long the beast was able to hold the Giant Rasegnan back until its arm finally gave out, allowing the attack to small into its entire body. This time the beast was thrown right off of its feet and took off like a rocket back down the hallway. Naruto didn't waste time in pursuing his friend/foe, wanting to see if he would need to do more damage. It appeared that more damage wouldn't be necessary. The beast was sprawled out on the ground, its body covered in burns from the friction of the attack. It was still awake, which surprised Naruto. This form of Elfman's was more durable than he thought. Naruto created four clones, one to grab an arm or a leg so they could hold the beast down. Naruto leaned down and grabbed the beast's head and forced it to face him.
"Elfman! Wake the hell up! If you're such a man, you won't let this thing control you! What would your friends at Fairy Tail think if they saw you acting like a monster! You need to accept your power, not fight against it! You need to show the beast that you're the one in control!" Naruto demanded, staring straight into the beast's white eyes.
Naruto was speaking from experience in a way. When he was younger, he thought he had to force out Kurama's influence. As it turns out, Naruto just had to gain control of his power. He had to fight Kurama just to get control of his power. After finding a common enemy in Madara, Naruto and Kurama set their differences aside and became friends in way. Naruto assumed that Elfman's circumstance is similar. From what he heard, Elfman absorbed beasts, gaining their arms. It made sense if he tried to absorb a beast and control its entire body proved to be too much as opposed to just absorbing it's arm. The beast could still be conscious inside of him, influencing him to act this way. If so, then Elfman needed to show the beast that he was the alpha.
It seemed that Naruto's words had their desired effect, because the next thing he knew the beast was getting smaller. Naruto thought that it would revert back to Elfman's original form, but instead it just shrunk a bit. Naruto also noticed that the scar under the beast's right eye shaped itself to match the one Elfman had under his eye. Now it looked black and stitched up. Naruto's clones released their holds on the beast and dispelled.
Elfman blinked a few times, bringing his hand up to his eyes. His eyes widened when he didn't see his hand, but instead saw a large, furry hand, one that he recognized very well. It was the same one that killed his little sister after all. In an instant he remembered what had happened before waking up.
Naruto could see tears start to form In Elfman's beast eyes. Concerned for Elfman, Naruto asked the standard question, "Hey Elfman, you okay?"
Elfman's head snapped over to the voice that was oddly familiar. He saw Naruto less than a foot away from him. Elfman quickly looked away, seeing the state Naruto was in made him quickly figure out what happened and why Naruto was here.
"I lost control again," Elfman muttered in a deep voice. The tone in the voice didn't fit the body that it projected from, "I swore I'd never use this form again, and look what happened. I'm so sorry Naruto." Elfman said, bringing his hands to his face and letting out a pained sob.
It tugged at Naruto's heart to see Elfman like this. Now knowing that there was more to this beast dilemma showed that Elfman really didn't want to even think about his form ever again. From the short time he had ever been around Elfman, he seemed prideful and confident. So unlike what he was like at the moment. Naruto couldn't stand to see such a man in this state.
"You may have lost control, but I'm fine and you're in control now, right? Just release that form and we can talk about this." Naruto asked gently, wanting to place a comforting hand on Elfman, but didn't really know what to do exactly. He was decent when it came to cheering up women, but when it came to men, especially men twice his size he just didn't know what to do.
Elfman didn't respond, but did as requested. Elfman's beast body glowed, and in a flash Elfman was back in his original body. Slowly, Elfman removed his hands from his face and sat upright. His expression was a mixture of shame and sadness. His body retained some of the burns from Naruto's attack, but he seemed to be ignoring the pain at the moment. He didn't even care that he was able to revert back to his human form at the moment. His mind was still a mess of emotions.
"So," Naruto awkwardly began. He didn't know how to tackle this. He didn't want to trigger something in Elfman, but he also had a job to do and needed to make sure Elfman was okay.
"Naruto," Elfman said, gaining the blonde's attention, "I… heard what you said a moment ago. You seem to know a bit about having something inside of you that is hard to control. Is this from experience?" Elfman asked slowly.
Naruto was unsure of where Elfman was going with this, but responded anyways, "Yes, I was in a similar situation in the past." Naruto said, bringing a hand to his stomach where Kurama had been sealed. He missed feeling the warmth of power that usually resided from his stomach. Was Kurama sealed even tighter somehow? There were just too many missing pieces for him to figure this out.
"I see," Elfman said quietly. Elfman wiped his eyes to force back the unshed tears, "Then I'd say we men share a similar pain in a way. I won't pry about yours if you don't about mine. We have a job to do anyways." Elfman said solemnly, slowly rising until he was standing on his bare feet. Elfman held back a wince from the burns he didn't notice he had until now.
Naruto knew that Elfman was still upset about his rampage and transformation, but Naruto honestly didn't know how to handle this. He barely knew Elfman, so he wasn't sure how far this beast thing went. He hoped that someone back at Fairy Tail that knew him enough would be able to help him once this whole ordeal was over.
"Yeah, you're right. So did you find any of the remaining Element Four members?" Naruto asked, bringing them both back to the task at hand.
Naruto didn't miss how Elfman stiffened at this question.
"Yeah," Elfman growled out, "It was the guy in the brown suit. Matchstick Sol or whatever. I couldn't care less about that unmanly bastard." Elfman said, his eyes slowly filling with rage. He remembered beating the living crap out of Sol in his beast form before it all went blank. He honestly didn't know if Sol was even alive at the moment, but he didn't care. Sol deserves it either way.
Naruto's eyes widened in realization, then pity, "He screwed with your mind, didn't he?"
Elfman turned to Naruto, remembering how he had warned them of Sol's powers. Naruto had put great emphasis on what Sol could really do. At the time, Elfman just assumed that Naruto gathered this information from his travels or something, but hearing the tone in Naruto's voice, he couldn't help but ask, "He did the same thing to you before?"
Naruto let out a mirthless chuckle, "Yup, nearly killed him for it." Naruto said, turning to face down the hallway, "I won't ask if you don't." He said, knowingly rephrasing what Elfman had said, leaving no room for discussion.
And with that, Naruto started walking. He wasn't worried about Leaving Elfman behind. Naruto figured that Elfman would consider himself still able to fight, and was proven correct when he heard rushed footsteps approach him until they were just behind him.
"Let's finish this then. I'm guessing you beat Sol, so that only leaves Aria. If we defeat him, then we stop the Abyss Break." Naruto said firmly, his voice carrying authority he hoped to use when he became Hokage, but that dream seemed so distant at the moment. He had a job to do here, only then would he worry about getting home once he had more time.
Okay, so in the show Mirajane tried to trick Jose by transforming into Lucy. But in this Lucy is already captured, so Mirajane doesn't have a reason to draw attention to herself. So Jose doesn't capture her, which means that Elfman doesn't have her to help him regain his control, leaving him to rampage. I didn't know how dialogue between these two should have gone, but I hope it's acceptable.