Author's note! The new chapter is up! I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail.
A SHINOBI IN EARTHLAND
CHAPTER 14
A pleasant breeze was blowing in the forest, as Erza sat up on the ground trying to rest while Neji moved closer.
"Are you guys okay?" Neji said.
"I'm fine, just a little tired. I'm worried about Honoka though" Erza said, as Honoka was still on her lap with her eyes closed.
"That shot that she tool earlier seemed pretty bad. But I'm sure that her armor and her shield should have protected her and reduced the damage" Neji said.
"Maybe. I sure hope so. Hey Honoka, are you okay? How are you feeling?" Erza said softly as she leaned closer to the girl in her lap. Honoka hummed as she repositioned herself on Erza's lap and shifted on her side.
"Mmm, so soft!" she mumbled with a happy smile and a shade of pink on her face. Erza blinked a little confused for a while and it took her a few minutes before she realised, with a slight blush, that Honoka was resting rather comfortably on her large, soft bosom.
"So, Honoka. Are, um, you feeling comfortable?" Erza said as she tried to have a calm tone her voice, while still blushing.
"Hmmf, yes! Very comfortable!" Honoka purred with delight, but suddenly her eyes shot wide open in shock as realisation hit her, and she sat up instantly like she bounced on a spring. "Aha, ha, I mean yes, I'm fine! I'm totally fine, thanks for asking!" she said with a heavy blush, as she rubbed the back of her head while laughing in embarrassment.
"I see. I'm glad that you are feeling better" Erza said with a cool voice as she folded her arms, while Honoka just stared at the ground between them, still with an embarrassed look on her face.
"Good. It seems that both of you are fine then" Neji said simply with his typical pokerface.
"Huh? What's up with this guy? He didn't react at all!" Honoka thought surprised, with a slight sweatdrop.
"Still, I wonder how the others are doing. I hope they are fine. We should better find them fast" Erza said.
"Leave this to me. Byakugan!" Neji said as he activated his Byakugan and scanned around the forest. "When we got inside the forest I used the Byakugan to pin point all of you, that's how we split up and we were able to find you quickly. It looks like Lee has already won his fight. Good! There are two others with him. A girl, that must be one of your friends, and another guy. He seems to be wearing some sort of formal suit" Neji continued with some surprise.
"Some sort of formal suit? I see, that must be Loke! Of course he would be there" Erza said with a smile.
"There's also a big guy who seems to be unconscious, but out of danger. And, a small cat" Neji said slightly confused.
"The big guy must be Jinrei. It's a good thing that he is not seriously hurt" Honoka said.
"And the small cat is Happy, Natsu's partner. I'm not surprised that he is with Lucy though" Erza said lightly.
"Oh right, I remember seeing something like this on Kakashi's report. Now, let's continue. Naruto and Lee didn't go very far from each other, so he should be close. Got him, I think he finished his fight as well. Your friend, Natsu, is with him as well" Neji said as he continued his research.
"Natsu, I knew you could do it" Erza said with some pride.
"That means that Kenji was defeated. Tell me, is he all right?" Honoka said, worried.
"He is down, but he seems alright" Neji said.
"Good, he is fine" Honoka sighed in relief.
"I guess that leaves just one fight" Neji said as he deactivated his Byakugan.
"Yes. Gray's fight" Erza said seriously.
"And Sasuke has gone to his aid" Neji said thoughtfully.
"Is there a problem? This Sasuke, he is strong like the rest of you guys, right?" Erza said as she noticed his face.
"That's not the problem. Sasuke is a strong, skilled shinobi, but when it comes to teamwork, it's not really his thing. I have the feeling that everyone, one way or another, worked together to win their fights. Even we did, in a way. But Sasuke can be pretty proud and, well, really stubborn, to put it lightly. I don't think I can imagine him working together with anyone" Neji said.
"And their opponent is Arkana. He sure isn't easy to deal with" Honoka said. Erza however, smiled widely.
"It's fine. Gray can handle himself. And he can be pretty stubborn too, actually. Perhaps those two can work together better than you think" she said.
"It's not only that. Sasuke is used to fight for his own reasons. It's been a long time since he fought for someone other than himself, and I'm not sure if he even remembers what it means to be part of a village, part of a team, to have actual bonds. I want to think that he changed like Naruto does, but I'm not sure if can actually change so quickly" Neji said.
"Then Gray will remind him that having bonds really means. And probably knock some sense into him while he's at it" Erza said with confidence.
"I know that Arkana is really strong, but if Erza says that everything will be fine, then I agree with her" Honoka said.
"Perhaps you are right" Neji said thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, deeper inside the forest Gray and Sasuke were standing ready for their fight.
"Stand back. I'll take care of this guy" Sasuke said.
"Hey, wait a minute! What makes you think that I will simply stay here and let you do all the fighting? We're supposed to fight together. Besides, this guy is pretty strong" Gray said in protest.
"You're still tired from your previous fight, aren't you?" Sasuke said.
"Well, maybe I'm not in my best condition, but I can still fight" Gray said annoyed.
"Then you'll just get in the way. I'll fight this guy" Sasuke said simply. Gray growled angrily.
"Tsk. Out of all the guys who could come, I got the annoying one" he thought irritated. "Fine then, have it your way. Go ahead and do your thing" Gray said as he sat down.
"Good. I'll finish this quickly" Sasuke said with confidence as he slowly unsheathed his sword.
"You'll finish this quickly? I do believe I'm being underestimated. No matter, you'll realize your mistake soon enough" Arkana said with a smile as he threw a number of purple glowing cards, which flew towards Sasuke at great speed. Sasuke charged forward, dodging most of the glowing cards and blocking some of them with his sword.
"He's fast and pretty skilled with that sword" Arkana thought with some surprise as Sasuke attacked with a swift swing of his sword that he managed to block with his cane. Sasuke then continued his attack by landing a swift kick to his opponent's midsection, followed by a hard strike to his face that sent him flying backwards, but Arkana managed to land on his feet.
"Dark Bombers!" he said as he threw a number of cards that were surrounded in purple flames. Sasuke once again blocked the cards with his sword and attacked with even greater speed, landing a hard kick on his opponent's chin which sent him flying high in the air, and continued his attack by leaping in the air and attacked with swift swings with his sword, which Arkana tried to block with his cane. The two of them started a quick paced battle, while still in mid air, for a while until Sasuke succeeded in landing a number of quick strikes, followed by a hard kick which sent his opponent crashing on the ground.
"I guess he wasn't being confident for nothing after all. He really is good" Gray thought as Sasuke landed on his feet.
"What's the matter? Is that all you've got?" he said with a smirk. Arkana however, laughed silently.
"I see. You're pretty strong, shinobi. But, don't think you've already won just because of a few lucky hits! This fight, is just getting started" the hat wearing mage said as he got up slowly.
"Whatever. If you say so" Sasuke said with a shrug.
"Such arrogance! It looks like somebody needs an attitude adjustment!" Arkana said, as he threw a number of glowing cards.
"This thing again?" Sasuke said as he got ready to block the cards again with his sword, but instead, the cards started flying around him rapidly. "What?" he said surprised.
"You didn't really think that I would try a direct attack again, did you? Spiral Card!" Arkana said with an evil smile as the cards started flying towards Sasuke with even greater speed, striking him from every direction as Sasuke tried to block them.
"Damn it, this isn't working. They are too fast. I need to try something else. Chidori Nagashi!" Sasuke said as he suddenly hit all of the cards around him at once as he was surrounded with blue colored sparks.
"This must be what Hun called Ninjutsu. This boy seems pretty skilled at that too" Arkana thought.
"That was a nice trick. Now let me show you one of mine" Sasuke said as he flowed his lightning release chakra through his sword, making it glow with lightning, and attacked with a swift swing that nearly landed on his opponent. Sasuke's eyed blinked in surprise as Arkana turned into a cloud of mist, causing the sword to swing through him, and vanished only to reappear a little further but at a safe distance.
"That was close" Arkana said sweating slightly.
"This guy can use Mist magic too?" Gray thought surprised.
"You're quick to get away. But, do you really think that running away is going to help you win?" Sasuke said.
"Maybe not, but for the moment it seems better to keep you at a distance. As long as I have a distance from you, I should be fine" Arkana said.
"Guess again" Sasuke said as he suddenly shot a long, light blue colored, lightning blade from his hand, impaling his opponent. Arakana's eyes shot wide open in surprise, but he smiled as he disappeared. Sasuke didn't even blink this time, instead he just turned around and blocked another card that suddenly flew towards him, which exploded and fell on the ground.
"I knew that you would somehow slip away again" Sasuke said as Arkana appeared from behind some trees, and walked towards him slowly.
"I expected that you would be able to attack from a distance as well, so I got prepared and had my cloning card ready. But never mind that, I got a special magical trick ready, just for you shinobi" he said as he took a small ball out of his pocket.
"A ball?" Sasuke said a little confused.
"Watch out! This guy can make even the simplest things dangerous! He's up to something" Gray yelled in warning.
"Tsk, tsk! Now why would you spoil a magical trick like that, by giving away the surprise? No matter, it's not like it will make a difference" Arkana said as the small ball started levitating, grew to the size of a volley ball, and flew towards Sasuke at a great speed. Sasuke was caught by surprise as the ball landed hard on his face, it flew away and attacked again, this time landing on his midsection. The ball kept flying around swiftly and attacked from different directions, until Sasuke sliced it in half with his sword.
"That's it" he said but the ball suddenly explode once it was cut, surrounding the spot in smoke.
"You should be more careful. Now, you're not getting tired, are you? Because things are about to speed up. With this special card here" Arkana said as the dust settled down.
"Another card?" Sasuke said slightly panting as he got up.
"Exactly! A very special one. My Speed Card" Arkana said as he activated his card and he started slightly glowing with a golden light. He then charged forward with an incredible speed, attacking Sasuke with a barrage of swift blows.
"He suddenly got much faster" Gray thought worried. Sasuke tried to attack but he kept missing as he could barely see Arkana. All he could see was a blur before he got another barrage of blows that sent him flying backwards.
"What's the matter? Too fast for you?" Arkana said with a mocking tone.
"How annoying. Okay, time to get serious. Sharingan!" Sasuke said as he got up and activated his Sharingan. Arkana's moves suddenly became slower, clearer, he was no longer a blur. Sasuke could still see him move fast, but he could actually see his moves. Arkana attacked again, but this time Sasuke was ready as he easily blocked the strike.
"What? How did you block me?" Arkana said shocked.
"Apparently you are not fast enough" Sasuke said as he landed a hard blow, sending Arkana flying backwards. Sasuke continued his attack by dashing forward and landing a hard kick on his opponent's chin, which sent him flying high in the air. He then jumped high in the air as well, moving closer to his opponent.
"Shishi Rendan!" he said as he landed a barrage of hard kicks on his opponent, sending him crashing on the ground. Sasuke landed on his feet as Arkana got up slowly.
"This was, unexpected. Card of Recovery!" he said as he activated another card, surrounding him momentarily in a blue light which seemed to heal him. "That's better. Although, I won't be able to use this one for a while" Arkana said as he put his card back to his pocket.
"Do not underestimate the power of the Uchiha!" Sasuke said with a strong voice.
"I suppose, you are stronger than I thought, shinobi. And there seems to be something special about those eyes of yours" Arkana said thoughtfully.
"Those eyes, they are the same as Kakashi's. They both have this Sharingan" Gray thought.
"Well, since you have special eyes, perhaps we should even things up a bit. It's time for one of my favorite cards. Magical Mist!" Arkana said as he held a glowing card in front of him, causing a thick, white mist to surround them.
"Really, a mist? That's not going to work" Sasuke started to say, but he stopped surprised. "Wait a minute, what's up with that mist? I can barely see anything" he thought as the mist grew thicker around him, giving him the impression that he was floating inside a large cloud.
"My Magical Mist is not an ordinary mist. Usually, it nullifies almost every magical attack that gets inside it. But, since it is in its more spread form, it just weakens any attack. Instead, as you probably realized, it drops the line of vision to a little more than an arm's reach, making it completely disorienting. I'm afraid this fight is over for you" Arkana said with a laugh. Sasuke looked around, trying to pin point his position, as Arkana's voice seemed to come from every direction around him.
"It's no use. Even with my Sharingan, I can't seem to find him" Sasuke thought as he suddenly saw some glowing cards fly towards him. While he was barely able to dodge them, they crashed next to him, exploding as they hit the ground. "Okay now, calm down. I need to focus. Maybe I cannot rely on my Sharingan for the moment, but I still have other senses. Focus, try to listen" the shinobi thought as he closed his eyes and tried to listen to his surroundings Something moving around him, someone moving closer from his side. Sasuke opened his eyes, his Sharingan still activated, turned around swiftly and managed to block the incoming attack. "I see you now" he said with a smirk as he landed a strong blow with his fist. He heard a groan and a thud as the mission soon dissolved, revealing Arkana on the ground, trying to get up. "Time to finish this" Sasuke said as he attacked with his sword.
"You might want to watch your step" Arkana said with a smile. Sasuke noticed a card lying in front of him a little too late, as he was caught in a powerful lighting vortex.
"Gah! Damn it, how could I be so careless?" he said panting.
"I guess I win after all. So long, shinobi" Arkana said as he charged towards him, pulling a small dagger from his belt. Suddenly, he was sent flying backwards from a strong punch.
"You! I didn't ask for your help" Sasuke said to the mage in front of him.
"I am not here to help you. I just got tired of waiting for you to finish. Besides, I was itching to punch this bastard for a while now" Gray said with a grin as he cracked his knuckles.
"Well, well, look who decided to join the show. So, you finally managed to get on your feet, ice mage?" Arkana said with a smile as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
"Oh don't worry about that. I can do much more than just standing on my feet" Gray said.
"I guess it can't be helped then. If you want to fight so much, then suit yourself" Sasuke said as he got back up.
"Gee, thanks. That's really kind of you" Gray said with sarcasm evident in his voice.
"Let's continue with the show then, shall we? Although, I'll make sure that it doesn't last much longer" Arkana said as he drew a card.
"It's funny that you would say that" Gray said with a grin.
"Because that's our line" Sasuke added with a smirk.
"We'll see about that. Magical Swords!" Arkana said as a number of swords appeared around him, which flew against them.
"I got this. Ice Make, Lance!" Gray said as he shot a number of long, ice made spears which collided with the swords, sending them falling on the ground along with chunks of ice.
"Interesting. My turn now. It's time for the Uchiha special. Katon, Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he shot a large fireball against Arkana.
"Magical Barrier!" Arkana said as he drew another glowing card and created a purple glowing, transparent barrier that stopped the flames. "So, fire and ice, huh? In that case, I'll use these. My Rumbling Thunder Card and I'll combine it with my Raging Wind Card. Lightning Storm!" Arkana said as he held the two cards at the same time, sending a windy tornado with lightning against Gray and Sasuke. The mage and the shinobi both dodged by leaping towards different sides, causing the tornado to pass between them.
"This is crazy! How can you use so many different kinds of magic?" Gray said.
"It's simple. Magic doesn't have a specific form. It's not something solid, it's fluid and changing, it's all around us in the air, in the nature and inside us, and it takes many forms. To be able to use the gift of magic, is the power of imagination. That's why my kind of magic is to try and use magic in its purest form, and not limit it. That's the reason I've been studying magic nearly my whole life" Arkana said.
"If you love magic so much, then why didn't you join an official guild? Wouldn't that make it easier for you to study magic, to have a proper guidance and improve your skills?" Gray said.
"Don't make me laugh! As if you official guilds know anything about the nature of magic. You guys just limit yourselves, you don't fully explore magic. Master Sid has showed me the real power of magic" Arkana said with a sneer.
"What kind of nonsense is that? There's much more to magic than power. Magic also comes from your feelings and your bonds with your friends" Gray said.
"Bonds, huh?" Sasuke thought.
"This kind of stuff is the exact reason why I didn't bother with official guilds. You are simply kidding yourselves with nonsense like friendship, so you can deal with being weak. As for the feelings, you do have a point there, but not the feelings that you think. Anger, rage, fear, hate, these are the feelings that can give you true power!" Arkana said with a dark gleam in his eyes.
"You bastard! If you want power, I'll show you power! Ice Make, Hammer!" Gray said as he shot a large, ice made hammer, which Arkana was barely able to dodge, while at the same time he blocked a kunai thrown by Sasuke.
"You have the advantage in numbers. Time to even things up" Arkana said as he took off his hat and threw it in the air. The hat grew larger, large enough to fit someone inside, and feel on top of Arkana, covering him completely.
"What is he doing this time?" Gray said with wonder. The hat then started multiplying in more hats until they formed a circle around them.
"We are surrounded by hats" Sasuke said.
"Go ahead and pick one! Be careful though, if you choose the wrong one, you might be unpleasantly surprised" Arkana's voice seemed like it was coming from every hat.
"Surprised, huh? He probably has some traps under these hats" Gray said.
"Perhaps. Or, he could just be bluffing and simply hiding until he finds an opening to attack. Anyway, we need to figure out where he is" Sasuke said thoughtfully.
"We could dig him out the Fairy Tail way" Gray said with a grin.
"And by that, you mean?" Sasuke said with his eyebrow raised.
"It's simple. We'll just blow every single one of them" Gray said.
"What an insightful strategic plan" Sasuke said with his poker face.
"Hey, I don't see you coming up with anything better. Unless you can't handle something like this" Gray said twitching.
"Hmph! Just try to keep up you idiot" Sasuke said twitching as well.
"I told you already, blowing up things is Fairy Tail's speciality. Ice Make, Geyser!" Gray said as he slammed his hands on the ground, creating large, spiky blocks of ice that moved towards the hats and destroyed about half of them.
"Katon, Hosenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke said as he attacked at the same time by shooting a barrage of small fireballs, destroying the rest of the hats and noticing Arkana jumping from one of them.
"Damn it! That didn't work" he said as he landed on his feet. Arkana then got up, noticing shocked that Sasuke was moving swiftly towards him, ready to strike. Sasuke attacked with his sword and Arkana was barely able to block it with his cane.
" Got you now" Sasuke said as he pulled him closer, activating his Sharingan.
"What the? What's this?" Arkana said as he felt falling into a dark abyss. His eyes shot wide open and his body went stiff as he fell on the ground with a dazed expression.
"That's it" Sasuke said as he slowly walked away.
"What happened? What did you do?" Gray asked confused.
"I put him under a genjutsu. One of the specialties that the Sharingan offers. At first I wasn't sure if it would work since you guys don't rely on chakra for fighting, but it seems that it worked just fine" Sasuke responded.
"I see. Well, I'm not actually excited about a fight this way, but at least we won" Gray said.
"You guys use genjutsu too?" Sasuke said with some surprise and a tone of interest.
"Yeah. It's not very common, but there are mages who use Illusion Magic, in one way or another. I never liked this trick thought, I prefer a more straightforward way of fighting" Gray said.
"Is that so? I guess you wouldn't make a very good Uchiha then" Sasuke said.
"Well, not with that outfit" Gray said pointedly.
"What's wrong with my outfit? It's practical" Sasuke said.
"Sure, practical" Gray said with a hint of sarcasm.
"I don't want to hear that from a guy who runs around half naked" Sasuke said pointedly.
"Hey, shut up! It's just a habit that I picked when I was training, okay?" Gray shot back.
"What kind of training was that?" Sasuke said with wonder.
"A special one" Gray said. Suddenly, they both turned around as they heard some stirring.
"That, was an interesting trick" Arkana said, slightly panting as he got up.
"He broke out of the genjutsu?" Sasuke said surprised.
"It's not the first time that I fell into an illusion, although that was pretty intense. But, unfortunately for you, you are not the only one who can play with illusions" the hat wearing mage said as he drew a card.
"You can use illusion magic too?" Gray yelled.
"Every good magician knows a couple of illusion tricks. Card of Illusion!" Arkana said as he lifted the glowing card and a spinning whirlwind appeared, followed by a strong light that caused both Gray and Sasuke to close their eyes.
Gray opened his eyes and gasped in surprise. He found himself in a nearly destroyed town.
"How did I get here? Oh yeah, I remember now. This is just an illusion. How do I get out of here? And why does this place look so familiar?" he thought as he walked around. Most of the buildings were destroyed and some of them were on fire, making the night look like day and giving a sense of total destruction. "Wait, this is. It can't be" Gray said as he heard a terrible roar. He raised his head and saw a giant, demon like monster walking around. "This is the village that Deliora attacked. That means" Gray said as he turned around and found the people he was looking for. A young woman with short, black hair and two young boys behind her, one white haired that was knocked out and one black haired. Gray started running towards them, his forehead sweating and his heart pounding like crazy. "I need to get there. I need to save them. If I get close enough, I'll be able to help them. I'll this damn monster down with my own hands" he thought desperately as he ran as fast as he could. He got closer, but he could tell that he was already late, the demon like monster was already close. He could hear his teacher's words before she did her last move, the Iced Shell.
"I will seal your darkness away" she said smiling as she activated the Iced Shell, locking Deliora away in an ice prison, before she vanished in a blue light. Gray could only hear his younger self's cries as he stopped running.
"Ul, no! Damn it!" he yelled in despair as he beat his chest with his fist, feeling a gripping in his chest, and fell weakly on his knees.
Sasuke opened his eyes and also found himself in a familiar place.
"This is Konoha. And this place looks kinda familiar" he said as he walked on a large balcony until he saw a group of people. A older man was sitting on the rail of the balcony and three kids were sitting on some stairs. "This is our first meeting as Team 7. This is when Kakashi asked us about our goals and our dreams" he thought.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are many things that I hate, and there aren't a lot of things that I like. Also, I have an ambition that that I have no intention to leave as just a dream. The revival of my clan, and, to kill a certain man" he heard his younger self saying.
"To kill a certain man, huh? Ever since then, all I thought about was revenge" Sasuke thought the scene disappeared and Sasuke found himself in a forest. Four figures were on top of the trees. "This must be the fight with Gaara" he thought.
"I have already lost everything once. I never want to see an important friend die in front of me again" he heard his younger self say again before Naruto got up next to him.
"To wanted to protect those who are important to me. Back then, this is how I felt, but was that honest? Or was I just kidding myself?" Sasuke thought as the scene disappeared once again and he found himself standing at the shore of a river, with two large statues standing opposite each other at the sides of a waterfall. "This is the Valley of the End. This is where Naruto and I fought and, I left" Sasuke thought as he saw two figures. One was lying on the ground and the other one was leaning over him. Then, his younger self slowly got up and left. After a while Kakashi appeared, he picked up Naruto on his back, lowered his head and left too.
"So, this is it. This is what probably happened" Sasuke thought.
"We left" Sasuke heard a voice behind him and turned around quickly, only to see his younger self staring at him.
"What? You can see me?" he said surprised.
"We left. We abandoned everyone, and left" his younger self said again.
"So it's this kind of trick, huh? Clever, using my own memories against me, but it won't work on me" Sasuke said calmly.
"Of course it won't! You are, the great Sasuke after all" Sasuke's eyes shot wide open as Naruto appeared as well.
"Naruto too?" he thought with surprise.
"You always thought of yourself. You never cared about anyone else's feelings" Naruto said.
"Foolish little brother. If you want to get strong, hate me, detest me. And come and meet me, with the same eyes" Itachi said as he appeared.
"Now Itachi has appeared too?" Sasuke said angrily.
"Yes, Itachi. The only person that you are thinking about, since your revenge is the only thing that matters to you" Naruto said as more people started appearing.
"I pleaded you to stay Sasuke-kun, but you ignored me. You always had" Sakura said.
"I lead an entire team to get you back, but it didn't matter to you" Shikamaru said.
"I fought to my limits, but you never cared" Choji said.
"I gave the fight of my life, but you left anyway" Neji said.
"I fought my hardest fight for you, but you didn't care" Kiba said.
"Enough of this! Do any of you guys know what I've been through. Does any anybody of you know my pain, my loneliness?" Sasuke yelled angrily.
"I do! I've been alone my entire life! At least you have some memories, I have nothing. I was always hated and ignored. But I never turned my back on my friends" Naruto said. Sasuke stepped back as the shades started close around him, with dark expressions and cold eyes.
"This is just an illusion. Just an illusion. But they are right, aren't they? I was selfish. I never, thought of anyone's feelings" Sasuke said as he fell on his knees.
"What are you doing? Get up already!" a loud, clear voice was heard. Sasuke lifted his head and saw with a mix of surprise and confusion, a blurry image of Gray next to him.
"Another illusion? But, why this guy? And he seems, somehow different from the others" he thought.
"How much longer are you going to lie down? Get up!" Gray yelled.
"Wait, you are real! But how?" Sasuke said confused.
"Of course I'm real, although I'm not sure how. We'll talk about this later if you don't mind!" Gray said irritated.
"But, they are right. I abandoned everyone" Sasuke said.
"So what? Maybe you did some mistakes in the past, but how's lying down going to help? You need to move on, make up for your past mistakes, and your friends will be there for you, to support you and help you get up. Because that's what it means to have bonds! That's what friends do!" Gray said with a strong voice as he slowly disappeared, leaving Sasuke shaken with these words.
"Bonds, friendship. Do you even know what these words mean?" Naruto said.
"No, I don't know what these words mean. But, I intend to find out, with my real friends" Sasuke said as he slowly got up. "I will move on, and whatever comes my way I will face it, with my friends. I will no longer be haunted by the ghosts of the past! Now begone, get out of my sight!" he said with a strong voice as he swung his hand decisively. The shades slowly disappeared and Sasuke was momentarily surrounded by a strong light, until he found himself back in the forest, kneeling on the ground with Gray standing next to him.
"It was about time" Gray said with a grin as he slowly got up.
"What? But how, how did you escape my illusions?" Arkana said shocked.
"You did a good job, for a cheating bastard, using our past against us. Unfortunately for you, I've already dealt with my past before. I will keep the memory of Ul forever alive inside of me, and I will keep moving forward for the sake of her and my friends" Gray said strongly as he beat his chest with his fist.
"You should know better than to use an illusion on an Uchiha. Although, that friendship speech did its part too" Sasuke said with a cool voice.
"Damn you!" Arkana growled angrily.
"You're welcome, by the way" Gray said.
"I had to come back up to tell you to stop yelling in my ear. You were worse than Naruto" Sasuke said simply.
"Yeah, whatever" Gray said twitching.
"Anyway, I'm starting to get really tired of this guy. How about we finish this?" Sasuke said decisively.
"You have a plan?" Gray said.
"I might. We just have to coordinate our attacks" Sasuke said.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll go this way, you go that way" Gray said with a grin.
"Those illusions took a lot of magic. I need to finish this now. My magic tuxedo should protect me from a moderate direct attack, but I can't rely on this. I need to take them out before they get too close" Arkana thought as he drew a card.
"Let's go" Gray said as he and Sasuke dashed forward.
"Take this. Super Explosive Card!" Arkana said as he threw a glowing card. The mage and the shinobi dodged by leaping towards different sides, causing the card to crash on the ground and create a strong explosion. Sasuke continued his attack and moved closer to Arkana, his hand surrounded in blue lightning.
"Chidori!" he yelled as he drove his hand to his opponent's mid section. His magical defense prevented Sasuke from actually impaling him, but the powerful move did some heavy damage as he was sent flying in the air from the force of the attack. Arkana then lifted his head and saw Gray standing on a large block of ice, holding an ice made bow.
"Ice Make, Super Freeze Arrow!" he yelled as he shot a large arrow which landed on his opponent while still in mid air and sent him crashing on the ground.
"I lose again" Arkana said shocked as he passed out. Gray jumped from the large ice block and landed on his feet.
"That went well" Sasuke said simply as he sheathed his sword.
"I guess we kinda went overboard again. That's fine" Gray said with a smile as he sat on the ground.
Author's note: And there goes this chapter. One more team up between a mage and a shinobi was successful, I hope you all enjoyed it! Now I would like to talk about some thoughts, that I don't usually mention. While this story seems to be getting some good hits, and I thank you all for that, I don't seem to get a lot of feedback in the latest chapters. While I do enjoy writing this story, reviews can also be important, they can let the writer know if people like his story, what they like about it and encourage him to move on. Everyone who writes a story wants to get some good reviews, to hear the readers' comments and feel their enthusiasm, if they like their story, or listen to some suggestions. So, I would like to thank everyone who has left a review so far, and I would really appreciate it if you could leave a couple more reviews. Until next time!