Hidden Guild: Silent Leaf

by kingoffire1

Years ago, Fiore was protected by a group of five independent guilds that worked in the shadows unknown by the public. They were believed to be destroyed and any survivors were forced to find a new life. These rumors were wrong as one guild survived. Crippled, they were abandoned by the kingdom and left to disband. Instead they've been biding their time so that they can return.

14. Chapter 14: Alliance of Convenience

Hidden Guild: Silent Leaf

Chapter 14: Alliance of Convenience

Disclaimer: I own neither Fairy Tail nor Naruto they belong to Mashima Hiro and Kishimoto Masashi respectively

A/N: To clear up any questions about last chapter. One, Naruto and Sasuke are both weaker than Laxus even when they are going all out. Two, from what I understand when Laxus used his Dragon Lacrima he gained the properties of a dragon similar to Gajeel's Iron Scales, which is why I stated that Demon Slayer Magic would not be as effective against Laxus as Dragon Slaying Magic. I apologize if I wasn't clear on that issue. And third, the Demon Lacrima in Naruto is a Lacrima not Kurama so there is no insane power boost. If there is still confusion about this please PM me and I will clarify as long as it won't contain spoilers.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon Talking"

'Demon Thinking'

"Telepathic Conversation"

'Flashback'

Magic/Magic Item

Location/Time Change

Magnolia Town

The stranger that had talked to Laxus during the Fantasia Parade stopped in front of Naruto's house and knocked on the door. He waited several minutes before knocking again, louder this time. He waited a few more minutes again and gave an annoyed "Hn" at the lack of an answer. He then pounded on the door to wake the sleeping blond within. Grumbling was heard inside, along with the sound of angry footsteps. Naruto swung the door inwards and angrily shouted at the stranger. "Quit knocking, dammit! Some people are trying to sleep!" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then recognized who was at the door. "Well, shit."

"Hn. As pleasant as ever, Naruto-kun." The stranger told him. "And most people are awake after noon."

Naruto let out a grunt as he looked around before he motioned for the stranger to come inside once he had made sure no one was watching. Naruto walked into his kitchen to get his morning ramen as the stranger took off his sandals and sat down in one of his chairs. "So, what are you here for, Itachi?" Naruto asked while slurping ramen. "And how did you know which house was mine?"

"Can't I just stop in to visit an old friend?" Itachi asked innocently while he took off his hat and placed it on the table in front of him. His face was revealed to have deep tear troughs and unfocused onyx eyes with a single horizontal scar that spread across both of them. "And who else would paint their house orange?"

"Not when you're in uniform." Naruto told the blind mage. "And how the hell do you know what color my house is?"

"I didn't." Itachi said with a slight smirk that caused Naruto to make a little "tsk" sound at falling for such an easy trick. "I came for the festival. And to see how the mission was going." Itachi replied. "I was asked to check up on all of you by Leader-san."

"Scouting for new members still? I thought you had already filled the gaps." Naruto commented.

"Not all of them. We're selective and not all the selections are willing to join. Like Kakashi-sensei." Itachi told him.

"Or Ero-sennin." Naruto muttered as he finished his bowl. "So, why did you stop here? I'd bet money you didn't stop anywhere else."

"Is it wrong to be concerned about a fellow member of the Hidden Guilds, especially after what happened?" Itachi asked.

"You know I heal fast." Naruto shot back.

"I can still sense the Lightning Magic on you and a distinct lack of Demon Slayer Magic. Care to explain?" Itachi asked.

"I may have overused the Lacrima to heal myself after taking two of Sakura-chan's pills." Naruto admitted without looking Itachi in the eyes. He could feel the famous Uchiha glare being directed at him and it was a lot worse when Itachi did it instead of Sasuke. It was the scar and tear troughs, they were just unnerving when put together.

Itachi let out a sigh. Naruto never did fully understand the meaning of holding back. It was time to go then. If there wasn't an issue with Naruto's Lacrima, then he should probably get going. Itachi rose to his feet and grabbed his hat. "If that's all, then I'm off." He told Naruto, who gave him a lazy wave as he got up and started down the hall.

Naruto stopped to grab a stack of papers from a desk. "Give this to Shikamaru when you see him." He asked before throwing the stack at Itachi.

The mage caught the papers without turning around while putting on his sandals and then grabbed his walking stick from beside the door. "Hn."

Itachi walked outside and started to head towards the town's exit. He hadn't been completely honest with Naruto. Red Dawn hadn't managed to replace any more of the members they had lost for four years. Most of the survivors were unwilling to part with each other and everyone else had already either been turned down or declined. Few were willing to become a part of an independent group in the first place, and even fewer were strong enough to qualify. Red Dawn was relying on the next generation to take over for them. But with the losses of multiple members and some of their protégés, they were running out of options. Itachi was off to pick up one prospect that he knew would be willing to accept the offer. He just needed some training to get him ready.

Hargeon Safe House

Once he had reached his destination, Itachi knocked on the safe house door and waited. The slit slid back and Shikamaru lazily looked at the mage. His eyebrows rose behind the door at seeing Itachi in the easily recognizable Red Dawn uniform, but still asked for a password.

"The crow flies with the red clouds."

Shikamaru opened the door and let Itachi inside. "Sasuke, your brother is here." He called into the house. Shikamaru then sent Itachi a questioning look when he handed him a stack of papers.

"Naruto's report on Laxus." Itachi answered the unasked question.

Shikamaru sighed. Now he had to read another troublesome report. He knew that he should have stayed in bed this morning. The mage walked over to his desk and got settled to begin reading. He quickly skimmed through the report and grunted at the contents. Naruto wanted to put Laxus on the watch list instead of the threat list. He could understand his reasoning, but the final call would have to be made by Master Hiruzen.

Sasuke walked into the room with a half-eaten tomato in hand. He stopped across from Itachi and the two brothers stared at each other for several seconds.

"Niisan."

"Sasuke."

Sasuke walked forward and hugged Itachi. "It's good to see you again." He told him.

Itachi returned the hug. "Yeah, it's been a while."

Itachi set his stuff down before the two went and sat down in the living room. "Why are you here?" Sasuke asked as he finished his tomato. "I thought you were still looking for new members for Red Dawn."

"That is why I'm here." Itachi said. Sasuke looked at him in surprise. "Red Dawn needs members. We still have two empty seats not including mine. I can't keep working as a Red Dawn member with my blindness." Itachi told him. "No matter how well I can use Sensory Magic there are still things that I can't and won't be able to do." He said to cut off Sasuke's protests before they began.

Sasuke's words died on his lips. He had always seen Itachi as untouchable, even after he had been blinded. He was the youngest mage to ever be accepted by Red Dawn, whose members were known for their strength and ability. And he had even stayed with them after he lost his Mirror Eyes along with his sight. Sasuke had known in the back of his mind that Itachi was weakened after that, but to hear it aloud was still hard to accept, even if it was Itachi himself saying the words. He gave out a sigh. "What does that mean?" He finally asked.

"Sasuke. I have decided that you will be my successor." Itachi announced. He held up a plain white ring with a kanji for vermilion written over a red background that was attached to a simple chain. "But first you will have to earn the position." He warned before leveling a serious look at Sasuke. "Do you accept these conditions?"

Sasuke eyed the ring in Itachi's hand with reverence. He had always dreamed of joining his brother within the ranks of Red Dawn. Naruto may have wanted to be the guild's ace and eventual master like his father had been, but Sasuke had always dreamed of joining the strongest organization that ran independent of the other guilds. They were the ones that came in when the shit hit the fan. Army-killers, monsters, forces of nature, these were all terms used to describe the members of Red Dawn. In exchange for giving up loyalty to a single guild, they were placed in charge of missions across the entire continent and always on high alert. They were Hidden Guilds' emergency counter-measure for the Wizard Saints, guild aces, and the main deterrent for invading forces, an organization that was hidden from even the king and Council –their ultimate trump card. If he took the offer he would most likely not see his friends or mentors for years at a time. It was a tough decision that many chose not to accept, but Sasuke had made his choice long ago. "I do." He finally said after a long pause.

Itachi felt a sense of pride in his brother's choice, but let nothing show on his face. "Then pack your bags, we leave in five minutes." He informed him.

Sasuke nodded and went to his temporary room. He gathered his possessions and tied them into a simple backpack that he then requipped away. He went to leave the safe house, but stopped next to the working Shikamaru. "I'm leaving."

"I know." Shikamaru said without looking up from Naruto's report. "I expected that from Itachi-san's visit. I also expected you to accept his offer." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow when Sasuke placed three envelopes on his desk. "For your team, I assume."

"Hn. They already knew my decision. This is merely a formality." He stated.

"Must be, since you've obviously been carrying these around for a couple of years. Call me crazy, but I'd say that you've had this planned and that you all were expecting this." Shikamaru mentioned

"What makes you say that?" Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru held up three envelopes of his own. "These were with Naruto's report. They're addressed to you from Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura. I'd wager that the three of them have each their own set to hand to you before you left in case they couldn't see you off."

Sasuke stared at the letters in shock before giving a smirk. Apparently he was more transparent than he had thought. They had known that he would try to leave without saying goodbye and had planned ahead. He took the letters from Shikamaru and walked towards the door where Itachi was waiting. "Thanks, Shikamaru."

"See you later, you troublesome bastard."

Together the two Uchihas left the safe house and Hargeon Town to begin the training Sasuke would need to earn his ring.

Several Days Later

Jiraiya walked into a room filled with several guild masters. The new council had set up a plan to return the people's faith in the Council and relieve the fear of the Hidden Guilds. As their first motion a team of various mages from the strongest guilds in Fiore would be assembled to take out one of the three main dark guilds of the Balam Alliance, Oracion Seis. It made sense to attack the smallest guild, but Jiraiya had his doubts about the idea. He was planning to present the idea with his own personal touch at this special meeting that had been called in place of the regular guild masters meeting.

"Myoboku-san, why are we here?" Goldmine asked.

"It better be important or I'll make you spin!" Ooba -the leader of the Lamia Scale guild- yelled. She was an old woman with wrinkled skin, small eyes, bony hands, long earlobes, and her gray hair tied up in a huge, three-tiered bun who was wearing a red cloak that had a dotted collar over a dark purple vest, studded bracelets, and a sun emblem necklace.

"Relax, Ooba. I'm sure that Myoboku's news are important." Roubaul said in an attempt to placate the old woman. Roubaul was a small and thin old man with dark eyes, whose face was dominated by a large white beard and sideburns that connected to his bushy eyebrows and a small red tattoo of a dot surrounded by two arches. He was bare-chested and had a large headdress made of purple feathers with red tips, a necklace made of teeth, bracelets and bandages on both arms, a light cloth over dark pants, and simple shoes.

Myoboku took a seat at the head of the table and let out a sigh. "First, I'd like to thank the five of you for coming to this meeting. You were summoned to discuss the creation of an alliance that will take out one of the three pillars of the Balam Alliance, Oracion Seis." He announced.

The guild masters were surprised at his words. To take out one of the top three dark guilds in the all of Fiore was a tall order. "And why are we attacking them?" Makarov asked.

"To quell the dark guild activity and strike a fatal blow against dark guilds everywhere." Myoboku lazily droned out. "At least, that's the answer I was told to give you. The actual reason is that the new Council wants to look good to the people. Dark guild activity plummeted when word got out that the hidden guilds were still around. Several guilds surrendered within a week and the Council wasn't able to cover it up. Now they want to one-up Silent Leaf's demonstration and take out a powerful dark guild. There was some more political bullshit, but I zoned out after they mentioned something about keeping up appearances." He admitted.

The masters sweat dropped at Myoboku's blunt statement. They would have been able to read between the lines and recognized the Council's true intentions easily, but to have it told to them without any dancing around the subject was surprising, especially as Myoboku waved it off as unimportant.

"So we called together the eight strongest guilds in Fiore to handle the problem." He raised a hand to prevent questioning. "Only you five agreed to the summons. Some of the other guilds still don't trust the Council after the Silent Leaf and Tower of Heaven fiascos, another reason why we are doing this. Now I want to ask you, what do you know about Oracion Seis and who are you willing to send to fight them?"

Roubaul immediately raised a hand. "Oracion Seis is after Nirvana, a magic created by most of my guild's ancestors, the Nirvit. It has the ability to force one to change from the side of light to dark and vice versa." He explained.

"Oh, how terrifying." Master Bob said with his hand over his mouth. "If they were to access that magic, who knows what they'll do."

"It's concerning as Nirvana was made as a war deterrent. If it were to be used as a mechanism of war, then my people's hope for peace would be destroyed. I'm willing to send two of my best mages to fight Oracion Seis, if they agree to the task. Sakura Haruno and Wendy Marvel. They both are able to use Healing Magic and are also able to fight if needed." He announced.

"Isn't Wendy a little young to be sent off on a mission like this?" Goldmine asked in concern. He had met the pair of healers after Kiba had recommended them to fix up the guild members hurt from the first and hopefully last of Lee's drunken rampages. The Sakura girl had been frightening with her super strength and take-no-shit attitude, but Wendy was her polar opposite with a timid attitude and shy personality.

"Their age doesn't matter, only their capabilities. If they have the ability and are willing, then I see no reason to prevent them from fighting." Roubaul stated. They did not live in a world where being young meant that one should be coddled and protected from what was wrong in the world. If you had the means and drive to learn how to fight, you were taught how. What you did with it was up to you. Sometimes the young had to grow up faster than one would like, but no one had the power to protect everyone from the world's darkness.

Goldmine hummed at Roubaul words, but he agreed with the old mage. Especially as an ex-Fairy Tail member, where most of the strong mages were young and everyone had some tragedy in their life. "Fine. I'm only comfortable with three of my mages going to fight: Bacchus, Lee, and Kiba. But Bacchus and Lee are on jobs at the moment so only Kiba would be able to make it. He'll probably accept the offer and if either Bacchus or Lee becomes available, then I'll send them too."

Ooba wasn't going to let the other guilds show up Lamia Scale. "I'll send four of my best mages: Lyon Vastia, Sherry Blendy, Choji Akimichi, and 'Iron Rock' Jura Neekis." She said with a grin. She knew that none of the other guilds had a Wizard Saint as their ace, or one in their guild at all, Makarov as master being the exception.

"Are you sure that they'll want to come?" Myoboku asked as he stopped writing down the list of possible volunteers.

"If they don't, I'll make them spin!" Ooba yelled while twirling her finger.

"I'll ask Ichiya-kun, Eve-kun, Hibiki-kun, Ren-kun, and Neji-kun if they'll want to fight Oracion Seis." Bob volunteered.

"Fairy Tail will send our strongest team." Makarov said with a smirk. "Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster, Natsu Dragneel, Naruto Uzumaki, and Erza Scarlet." With some of Fairy Tail's most destructive and strongest mages on the job, Oracion Seis wouldn't stand a chance. Either the guild would be destroyed, Nirvana would be destroyed, or the general location of Oracion Seis's headquarters would be destroyed. By the end of the mission something would have been destroyed and Makarov wouldn't have to write an apology about it. His brats would be able to destroy as much stuff as they wanted. If he actually worded it that way most of the guild would probably volunteer to fight Oracion Seis. It was a disturbing thought.

"Okay, so we have seventeen mages to take on Oracion Seis. That should be enough to defeat them or at least destroy Nirvana, judging from their records and your confidence in them." Myoboku said after putting away his pen. 'There's also one mage from Silent Leaf in each team. I know for a fact that they'll jump at the chance to take on one of the Balam pillars. I just need a clone to inform Shikamaru and Sai of this and then have them contact the others with the instructions for a plan. If we take at least one of those bastards alive, then we could potentially learn about every guild they have under them.' He smirked internally. 'The Council's attempt to make us look bad is ironically the best opportunity we've had in years.'

Bob held up a hand. "We can use my villa. It's close to where Nirvana is supposed to be located and would be more discreet than Cait Shelter's guild."

"That's fine. You all can iron out the plan after I leave. The Council only wants the names of the mages who are going. Everything else is up to you." Myoboku said before he brought out six files on the Oracion Seis members. "We don't have much on the members. All we know is that there are six of them and that they are very strong. Their magic is mainly unknown, so warn your mages to be prepared for anything." He cautioned.

The first file showed a portrait picture of a tanned man with spiky red hair styled back from his head with a tuft covering his forehead and two bangs that framed his face. He had two earrings, dark slanted eyes, a flat nose, and prominent canine teeth. "This is Cobra. He is usually seen with a large purple snake and is known to use Poison Magic." Myoboku said.

He moved on to the next file. It showed a man with a long face, a prominent, long, hooked nose, extremely long and thin yellow eyebrows that jutted out from the sides of his face, a large spiky blond mohawk down the middle of his head with the rest of his hair shaven and black. He wore a reinforced chin guard that reached all the way up to the green-tinted sunglasses that he had over his eyes. "This is Racer. Judging by his name, he probably uses a type of Speed Magic."

The next file had a man whose face was made entirely of geometric forms, with blue eyes that had long lashes, no eyebrows, a prominent flat nose, full red lips, and long and wavy hair that flowed down to below his shoulders. "This is Hoteye, also known as 'Hoteye of the Heavenly Eyes'. As his name implies, he has a type of Eye Magic that allows him to see over long distances and through objects." Myoboku explained. "These are the three mages we know the most about. The rest are mostly mysteries as to what kind of magic they use."

"That isn't much information to go on." Makarov said with a furrowed brow.

"I know." Myoboku said with a grimace. "Next is Angel." She was a young and beautiful girl with pale skin, short silver hair in a bob cut that had a small part that curled up into a halo with a dark blue ribbon that had four bows that covered her ears in her hair that left two tresses to go over the ribbon and frame her face, and purple eyes.

Myoboku moved on. "This is Midnight." He was a lean young man with spiky black hair on the top and straight white hair on the bottom of his head with two strands framing his face, the right one had five red beads in it. He also had noticeable lashes under his eyes, black eyeliner, and wore dark purple lipstick.

"Last is Brain, the guild master." Brain was a dark-skinned man that had black lines tattooed on his face, dark eyes, and straight silver hair that reached down to his back.

"All of these mages are highly dangerous and your guilds will be compensated for undergoing this task. You have three days to prepare your members. Good luck." Myoboku told them as he got up from his seat and left the room, signifying that the meeting was over. The masters were left alone to plan their assault on Oracion Seis.

Hargeon Safe House

Jiraiya - using his Camouflage Magic - approached the safe house and knocked on the door. Shikamaru opened the slot, but before he could send out his shadow to try and catch Jiraiya again, the disguised man gave his code phrase. "The toad watches the hot springs."

Shikamaru grunted and still used his shadow to grab Jiraiya. After making sure of his position, he opened the door and forced the mage to walk inside and shut the door. "Sai, get in here!" He called down the hall. When Sai appeared, Shikamaru nodded his head to the space in front of him. "I think I have Jiraiya-san in my shadow, but I'm not sure. Splatter some ink on him, would you?"

Sai nodded and used his Ink Magic to cover Jiraiya from head to toe in ink, revealing his irritated expression. "Dammit, brat, I gave my personal code. Was this really necessary?" He questioned.

"Yes." Shikamaru told him after dropping his shadow. He was still pissed about Jiraiya pulling that shit on him the last time. Sai returned the ink back to his brush and the two dark haired mages sat down on the couch. "What's so important that you had to send a clone out here all the way from Hargeon?" He lazily asked.

The white haired mage's clone sat down across from the two of them with a serious expression. "The Council is having five guilds form an alliance to take down Oracion Seis." The clone told them.

Shikamaru frowned at the information. "They moved faster than I thought. What's the plan?"

Jiraiya's clone held up a folder before tossing it on the table between them. "All the information on the operation is in there; including files on who is going and the meeting point. We have five of our members going and I want you to come up with a plan that will capture as many Oracion Seis members as possible and showing that Silent Leaf is the one doing it. We'll show the Council who is better at one-upmanship." The clone said with a smirk.

"Troublesome. I'll draft a plan and have Sai send you a copy along with everyone else." Shikamaru said as he opened one of the files on Oracion Seis.

"Perfect." It said before it paused. "Also, the operation begins in three days. Have fun with that." The clone dispelled itself.

Shikamaru and Sai deadpanned at the smoke the clone had left behind. "Troublesome bastard." Shikamaru commented before he went back to reading. He cynically wondered what it felt like to sleep as he started to work on a plan.

Fairy Tail Guild, the Next Day

Naruto lounged in the guild hall and lazily waved at the returning members of Team Natsu. "Hey guys, how was the job?"

"Tiring." Lucy and Gray said together with a worn-out look on their faces.

"Delicious!" A stuffed Happy and Natsu declared while they patted their stomachs.

"Educational." Erza, who was still wearing the orange 8-Island waitress uniform, said with a smile. "Are you able to go out on jobs again?"

"Yeah, Porlyusica finally cleared me, so Mira-chan can't keep me here." Naruto said with a smirk. That damned lightning took forever to get out of his system, until his Lacrima started working again. Even then Porlyusica refused to clear him until he completed her recommended (required) resting period. "Nice dress, Neechan." Naruto mentioned.

"Isn't it? It was nice of Yajima-san to let me keep it." Erza said.

Naruto jerked his thumb towards the back of the guild. "Mira-chan had Reedus draw up a chart in the back. She wanted you guys to see it after you got back." He informed them.

Erza requipped back to her normal armor and led the way to the back. Natsu and Happy elected to ignore the chart in exchange for eating more food. Where the pair kept it all was a mystery.

"What is this?" Lucy asked.

"An organized chart of all the dark guilds." Mira informed her.

"There sure are a lot of them." Cana commented as she scanned the amount of guilds and the interconnecting wires in between them.

"A lot more than there should be." Naruto darkly muttered as he found several of the more hated names to the Hidden Guilds in general, especially some of the survivors.

"Why did you put up this chart?" Lucy asked.

"Master called from the meeting and asked for it to be put up. It had something to do with why the regular meeting was cancelled." Mira explained.

"What's the big circle for?" Elfman asked, referring to the large circle that surrounded three guilds that had most of the lines coming from. In fact only one guild wasn't connected to one of the three guilds in the circle.

"Juvia knows. It's the Balam Alliance." The Water Mage said. "The most powerful force of all the dark guilds, made up of Oracion Seis, Tartarus, and Grimoire Heart. Each of those guilds has smaller guilds, through which they control the underworld. Except for Raven Tail, which is an independent guild." She explained.

"And the former Hidden Guild, Silent Leaf, is apparently still in operation and now considered a dark guild." Erza said. "But considering their past and recent actions we can probably say that they won't be joining the Balam Alliance anytime soon."

'What do you mean "former" Hidden Guild? Last I checked the only people that knew our location and roster were our members.' Naruto thought.

"What are all the crossed out boxes for?" Gray asked.

"Those are guilds that were defeated or disbanded." Mira said.

"Ah! Eisenwald is one of those." Lucy said in surprise.

"They worked under Oracion Seis, huh." Gray muttered after following the lines.

"So did Ghoul Spirit, the guild the Thunder God Tribe took out." Elfman noticed.

"I remember a lot of these names." Wakaba said as he studied the chart.

"Some of these guys used to be official guilds." Macao remembered.

"All the guilds that Juvia and Gajeel-kun destroyed while in Phantom Lord were under Oracion Seis!" Juvia happily said with a smile.

"I hope that they aren't mad at us." Lucy said as she felt chills go up her spine.

"Don't worry about it, Lucy. Those smaller guilds are only a source of income and power that Oracion Seis probably used in order to remain anonymous. Why would six incredibly powerful mages that control a third of the underworld come after us for that?" Naruto asked.

"That's not helping." Lucy whimpered.

"About that." Voiced Makarov, who had just returned. "We're going to attack Oracion Seis." He announced from the doorway.

The mages stared at Makarov in shock. After they just went over how powerful they were, he wanted to attack them? It was insane, even by Fairy Tail standards. After a pause Mira spoke up. "Welcome back, Master." She said with a happy tone, causing all the mages to face vault. "How was the meeting?"

"You're missing the point!" Lucy yelled at the oblivious mage.

"Master, what are you talking about?" Erza asked.

"Yesterday's meeting was called by the Council. They want the official guilds to take down Oracion Seis." He announced.

"We got the shaft again, huh, Gramps." Gray commented.

"Fairy Tail is going to do that?!" Juvia asked in disbelief.

"No. The enemy is too strong to face alone, this time." Makarov said as he walked into the guild hall. "If we were the only ones to attack, then the entire Balam Alliance would turn on us, regardless of the outcome. So we have formed an alliance of our own!"

"AN ALLIANCE?!" The entire guild cried out. No one could remember an alliance ever being formed between official guilds.

Makarov continued. "Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus, and Cait Shelter have formed an alliance in order to take down Oracion Seis with the backing of the Magical Council. Each guild is going to send members to fight them."

"We could take those guys alone! Hell, I could take them alone!" Natsu declared, finally finished with his meal and putting his two cents in.

"Idiot, Master is thinking about the consequences afterwards." Erza told him.

"Wait, there are only six people to fight, right? Then how ridiculously strong are they?" Lucy asked in fear.

"Well, take Laxus, add five more of him, take away his soul, increase his strength a bit, and that should be how strong they are." Naruto gave Lucy the supposed equation for how strong Oracion Seis was. No one really knew any exact details about them since there were six people and no one that had fought them had lived to tell anyone about it. All they had to go on were rumors.

Naruto's words once again caused Lucy to whimper in fear.

Next Day, in a Carriage

"Why am I a part of this?" Lucy questioned with her head in her hands.

"This is a pain for us as well. Stop complaining." Gray told her.

"Master personally chose us for this mission. Shouldn't we be honored that he trusts us this much?" Erza said.

"But when it comes to fighting, wouldn't Juvia or Gajeel be a better choice?" Lucy asked.

"Gajeel wasn't even in the guild and Juvia was already committed to a different job." Naruto called out from the front where he was driving the carriage with a piece of straw in his mouth from who-knew-where. "And believe me, she would gladly have swapped places with you in a heartthrob."

"Don't you mean heartbeat?"

"I know what I said." Naruto responded with a pointed glace at Gray.

Lucy let out a sigh. "Why are you even up front? Reedus drew the carriage and it knows where to go, so it doesn't need a driver."

"Where would I go? You guys are packed in tight enough with Natsu's body taking up most of the space. Happy and I are stuck out here." Naruto pointed out. Natsu had been knocked out earlier by one of Erza's punches at Naruto's request and Happy was on the carriage's roof.

"So it's just the usual gang in the end." Lucy sweatdropped.

"It's for the best. This is the first meeting between the different guilds and their delegates. It's important that our own delegates have a good relationship with each other before we try to make new ones." Erza reasoned.

"We're here." Naruto lazily drawled out before spitting out the straw.

The meeting place was a pink villa that had a large heart-shaped window above the entrance. Inside it were pegasus statues, pink wallpaper with gold heart trim, candles that had hearts on the top and a large ornate staircase that led to the second story.

"This place is creepy." Lucy muttered.

"This is Blue Pegasus's Master Bob's villa. He offered its use as our meeting point." Erza informed her.

"That explains a lot." Naruto mumbled as he set Natsu down against a pillar. Happy then tried to wake up the unconscious mage as the rest of them looked around. "Where is everyone? We can't be the first ones to arrive."

"Yes, you have arrived!" A voice called out.

"Arrived!" Two more echoed.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Welcome!" The voice started to sing accompanied by the other two.

"Welcome!"

"Fairy…"

"Fairy…"

"…Tail…"

"…Tail…"

"…members!" They finished in unison. A spotlight was shone upon the base of the stairs to cover three figures. "Sorry for making you wait!"

"Oh, for Sage's sake. I just had to open my big mouth." Naruto muttered while he facepalmed.

"We are the delegates from Blue Pegasus, the Trimens." The middle figure and apparent leader introduced himself and his companions.

The spotlight disappeared and the figures were revealed to be three men in suits, who began to introduce themselves. "Hibiki of the Hundred Nights!" The middle figure introduced himself with a pose. He was a young man with a slim build, messy dark brown hair that framed his face, dark eyes, and long lashes. He was wearing a double-breasted dark suit that had red and white lines circling his sleeves and the bottom of his matching pants, a pinstriped blue shirt under the suit, black dress shoes, and a dark tie. On the left shoulder of his suit was a blue Blue Pegasus emblem.

"Eve of the Holy Night!" The youngest Trimen introduced himself with his own pose. He was a short, young, blond boy with a slim build, large dark eyes, and a bowl cut with some of his hair hanging over his face and a tuft sticking up in the middle of his head. He was wearing a dark suit and matching slacks that had a red cross motif on the ends of the sleeves and pants, a pink shirt with a purple tie, and brown loafers. His left shoulder also had a Blue Pegasus emblem in pink on it.

"Ren of the Silent Night!" The last man also introduced himself with a pose. He was a slim young man that had a very dark tan, dark, spiky hair that reached his shoulders and framed his face with a small ponytail in the back, thin eyebrows that jutted up like spikes, and dark eyes. He wore a suit with the jacket open, a yellow shirt with the collar open, dark pants, dark shoes, and a simple metal necklace. His left shoulder also sported a Blue Pegasus emblem in yellow.

"They're cool." Lucy said, especially when she compared them to the guys on her team. One was down to his boxers again, the other was getting slapped by a cat so he would wake up, and the last one was slamming his head into the wall.

"You're even more beautiful than the rumors say." Hibiki told Erza with a wink.

"It's an honor to meet you." Eve told her.

"Come this way." Ren guided Erza over to where a couch with a large heart on the back was set up by Eve.

"Warm towel?" Hibiki offered.

"Are you hungry?" Eve asked.

Ren came over and grabbed Lucy. "Have a seat yourself." He offered while leading her to the couch.

"What the hell are they doing?" Gray asked with a scowl.

Naruto stopped slamming his head into the wall to answer. "What they do best. Womanize. Those three playboys flirt with every girl they meet." He said as Ren slid a drink over to Lucy. Naruto went over to Natsu's prone form. "Happy, stop slapping Natsu, you got to put more force behind it." He then demonstrated what he meant by kicking Natsu in the side and thus waking the mage up.

"The hell was that for?!" Natsu angrily asked. He then looked around in confusion. "Where are we? And who're the sparkling guys over by Lucy and Erza?"

"We're at the villa and they're from Blue Pegasus." Gray explained.

Naruto walked over to where the playboys had their arms out. He grabbed the table and threw it at the three, knocking them over. "We are here to discuss how to fight one of the strongest dark guilds in the world. Not flirt with each other!" He yelled at the three mages. "Keep it in your pants until after we beat Oracion Seis." He struck a fearsome sight with the blood on his face to go with the scowl he wore that emphasized his whisker marks to make him look beastly.

"Naruto, you don't have to be so hard on them." A voice called from the stairs. Neji walked down with his normal calm expression. "They know how important this mission is." He reassured the mage.

"I hope so. Otherwise they're gonna get themselves or even worse, someone else killed." Naruto muttered darkly before he bumped fists with Neji. "It's good to see you again, man. Anyone else here?"

"Likewise. And so far Fairy Tail has been the first to arrive after us." Neji turned to the other Fairy Tail members and bowed. "I apologize for my guild mates' behavior. I'm Neji Hyuga, nice to meet you." He formally told them.

The rest of Team Natsu perked up at Naruto's casual greeting with the calm mage. Most of them deduced that he must have been one of the members of White Fang that Naruto was always meeting with, if the way they chatted was anything to go by. They were interested to meet another one of his old guild mates in what would hopefully be better circumstances than the last two they met.

"How do you work with those guys?" Naruto asked.

"You… get used to it." Neji hesitantly replied with a repressed shudder as memories of several of his past missions when he worked with the Trimens surfaced.

"Really?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow and a gesture to where the three mages were just now getting the table off of themselves.

"I was on a team with Lee and Gai-sensei." Neji reminded him. Naruto nodded his head at Neji's very valid point. Working with Lee and Gai-sensei was a testament to his patience.

The Trimens jumped back to their feet. "What was that for?" Hibiki demanded. "You could have killed us."

Naruto deadpanned at the three of them. "If you can't take a table to the face then you shouldn't be here."

Before a fight could start, a smooth voice called out from the stairs. "Guests, that is enough."

"Ichiya-sama." The Trimens said.

"Ichiya?" Erza repeated with a strained voice.

"It's been a while, Erza-san."

"I didn't think… that you'd be joining us." Erza stammered out as she broke out into a cold sweat and started to shake.

Ichiya was a short and stout man with short orange hair that jutted out to the sides and had a fringe on the left side of his face – a large face with a large and shining, flat nose, prominent cheek bones and chin, dark eyes, thick eyebrows, some stubble around his mouth, and two lines that pointed down to his nose from his eyes. He wore a white suit with elbow-length sleeves, knee-length pants that left his hairy legs exposed, an orange shirt, red bow tie, and a belt over his pants on the right side that held several vials, and had a blue rose on the left side of his suit. He had an orange Blue Pegasus emblem on his left shoulder like the rest of the Trimens. "I've longed to see you, My Honey." Ichiya said before he went into a pose. "Don't worry, Ichiya is at your service." He proclaimed as the very air around him lit up with sparkles.

"My Honey!" Lucy and Happy screamed out in surprise. They looked over and saw that Erza was shaking even harder. Although, she also looked as if she was going to be sick.

Naruto actually was sick as he coughed up blood at the sight of Ichiya and his eyes started to bleed as well. Neji patted him on the back as he dropped to all fours and coughed up more blood. "I probably should have warned you." He admitted.

"It hurts…" Naruto moaned out. "How can something as awesome as orange hurt so much? It burns my eyes."

"That might be the blood." Neji muttered. After being on Gai's team for years, one quickly grew immune to disturbing sights. Apparently Naruto wasn't as desensitized, especially when it came to his favorite color.

"You're Ichiya-sama's lover. We apologize for imposing earlier." The Trimens told Erza.

"I vigorously deny everything." Erza told them in a voice that clearly showed that she meant business.

"Naruto-san was right. We aren't here to mess around. Clean up this mess." Ichiya told the Trimens, who quickly removed the couch and table while calling him 'aniki'. Ichiya turned to the Fairy Tail members. "I've heard of you. Erza-san, Lucy-san, and the rest." He said with complete disregard for the male members even though he obviously knew who they were if his use of Naruto's name was anything to go by. Ichiya's nose twitched and he took a couple of deep whiffs before he pointed to Lucy. "Wonderful parfum!" He told her.

Lucy hugged herself and gave off a shudder. "You're really creeping me out." She told the short mage.

"I can't really handle him either." Erza admitted before she took several steps backwards. "Even if he is a great mage…"

"Okay. I think I'm good now." Naruto said before spitting out a glob of blood. He wiped the back of his mouth and stood up with Neji's support. "We should probably get started with sharing what everyone can do and- "

"Listen up, insufferable Blue Pegasus boy-toys!" Gray called out cutting Naruto off. "Quit flirting with our ladies."

The Blue Pegasus members stared at him with serious looks. "You men can go home now." Ichiya casually dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

The Trimens bowed to them. "Thank you for coming."

Gray felt his irritation rising as a tic mark appeared on his forehead. "They sent posers like you on an important mission?! I could wipe the floor with all of you!" He declared.

"Try us." Ren responded.

"We're strong." Eve warned.

Natsu finally heard something that he was interested in. "A fight? I'm in, let's go!" He said in excitement.

"Oi, did someone say fight?" A voice called out from the doorway. Kiba rode in on Akamaru and dismounted. "I'm up for that. Who're we fighting?" He asked in his usual straight-forward manner, with a bark from Akamaru.

'That's not helping.' Neji, Naruto, and Erza thought with a deadpan look at Kiba.

"Who the hell are you?" Gray asked.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka. And this is Akamaru. We're the Quatro Cerberus reps." He informed them, shocking some of the mages.

"Quatro Cerberus only sent one mage and a dog?" Ichiya said in disbelief.

Akamaru barked in displeasure at being overlooked. "Akamaru is a mage too." Kiba defended his friend. "And who else would they send? Lee and Bacchus are out on missions and the rest of the guild would get their asses handed to them on a platter. I'm the only one left to send."

"But only one mage." Ichiya repeated.

"Does it matter? You need all the help that you can get to take on Oracion Seis. Why does it matter how many mages a guild sends as long as they are strong enough to be able to fight?" Kiba asked. "And speaking of fighting, I could have sworn I smelled one."

"You actually stopped the fight instead of starting it this time, Kiba." Naruto called out.

"Really? Shit." Kiba said in disappointment. He wanted to fight the guys here, they had to be strong to be sent on this mission, right? "What's up guys? Naruto, you look like hell warmed over. What happened?"

It was true. Combined with the blood from his head wound, blood from his eyes, and the blood he had thrown up, Naruto looked like someone had tap-danced on his face with a pair of spikes. "Don't ask, long story."

"He threw up blood and started to bleed from his eyes when he saw Ichiya-san wearing orange." Neji told Kiba, making the tattooed mage laugh.

"Dammit, Neji! Why'd you tell him?"

"Because he would find it funny."

"That was good." Kiba said while he wiped the tears from his eyes. "Anyways, I passed by Choji and his guild members on the way here so they should be arriving…" The doors were slammed open and four figures stood silhouetted in the doorway. "…nowish."

"The delegates from Lamia Scale are here." A familiar voice announced. In the doorway stood Lyon. He had changed his outfit into a white fur-lined jacket, a red high-collared shirt with pink trim, and light gray pants that had black rhombuses that were linked together by black stripes held up by a belt with a silver buckle.

"Lyon?" Gray said in surprise at seeing his fellow disciple of Ur.

"Gray?" Lyon said equally surprised.

"So you did join a guild." Natsu happily stated.

"There's another one. All the men should just leave." Hibiki remarked.

"We aren't all men here." A feminine voice remarked. "Doll Attack: Carpet Doll!"

The carpet below Lucy rose up and attacked her. She avoided it, but paused. "I've seen that magic." Lucy muttered. The carpet moved aside to reveal a beautiful young woman with pink hair, a curvaceous body with large breasts, and blue eyes. Her hair loosely fell over her head and she wore a pink dress with black trim, bangles on her wrist, and a necklace. "Sherry?!" Lucy cried out in surprise. "You joined Lamia Scale?" She wouldn't have expected the love obsessed girl to join a legal guild after their fight on Galuna Island, but she probably just followed Lyon.

"Don't pretend to have forgotten me." Sherry told her haughtily. "But forget who I was in the past. I have been reborn thanks to love."

Ichiya got closer to Erza. "I must smell more of your wonderful parfum."

"Stay back! I'll cut you!" Erza warned the mage and requipped a spear that she waved threateningly at him.

"Lyon." Gray said.

"Gray." Lyon replied. The two disciples of Ur were apparently going to pick up from where they left off on Galuna Island.

"Bring it on!" Natsu shouted at the mages in general. He didn't care who he fought as long as they were strong. Or a mage. Or just willing to fight.

The Trimens darkly stared down Natsu and seemed to want to take him up on his offer.

"I like you guys!" Kiba said with a smile. "Let's go!" He said while he got into a crouch next to Akamaru who gave out a growl.

"I guess there's no choice." Naruto said with a shrug. His apathetic words did nothing to conceal the excitement behind them.

"I cannot bring myself to love you." Sherry told Lucy.

"Well, I hate you too."

Neji facepalmed at the mages' eagerness to fight each other. They had clearly forgotten the reason why they were here. He was going to have to block their magic just to get them to be in the same room with each other without destroying said room in the process.

A loud clap was heard throughout the room. "ENOUGH!" A deep voice called out. "We are here to make an alliance in order to defeat Oracion Seis! This is not the time to be fighting among ourselves!" A tall muscular man carrying a staff called out. He had a bald head, no eyebrows, and two black ovals above his dark eyes. He wore two black belts that diagonally crossed his bare chest, a short mantle that had a yellow fringe and blue and white horizontal stripes, a long loincloth that was dark blue with arches on the bottom that had small dots inside of them and had a yellow fur lining, a simple belt, fur boots, and reptile skin armbands that went from his wrists to his upper arms. Next to him was Choji, who shrunk his hands back to normal size and pulled out a bag of chips.

"Jura-san. Choji." Lyon said with a backwards glance to the imposing man and the armored mage.

"Jura." Erza said in surprise; having recognized the name.

"That man is the ace of Lamia Scale. 'Iron Rock' Jura." Hibiki muttered.

"Who?" Natsu asked, out of the loop as usual.

"He's one of the Wizard Saints." Happy explained.

"So? Naruto already said that that doesn't mean anything." Natsu said.

Naruto slapped him over the back of his head. "Don't put words in my mouth, dumbass." He hissed at him.

"Even I've heard of him before." Lucy muttered.

"Five Fairies and Pegasi, but four is more than enough for Lamia Scale." Sherry taunted Lucy.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Kiba asked her. "And don't judge until after the body count is tallied." He told her.

"With this, four of the guilds are assembled. All that's left are the delegates from Cait Shelter." Jura stated.

"I heard that it was only two people." Ichiya said from his place on top of the spear that Erza was using to fend him off.

"Does nobody listen to me?!" Kiba griped aloud. Seriously, how many times did he have to explain that it didn't matter how many people were sent.

Neji and Naruto put their hands on his shoulders. "No." Neji said.

"No one ever does." Naruto told him.

Kiba let out a depressed sigh and hung his head.

"Cait Shelter? Isn't that the guild that had that Sakura person and Wendy?" Lucy asked.

"And Carla!" Happy pointed out. The flying cat had fallen head-over-heels the first time he had laid eyes on the white cat.

A knocking was heard at the door and the assembled mages turned to look at the last delegates for the meeting. Sakura, Wendy, and Carla stood in the doorway. "We're here. So can we get this meeting started now?" The pink haired healer asked. The other mages who didn't know them stared in surprise at the Cait Shelter delegates. One was a kid and the other was a cat for God's sake. Granted, Kiba had brought Akamaru, but he was a large dog that looked like he would actually be able to fight.

Outside the Villa

Shikamaru stared through a pair of binoculars at the villa's entrance. He put them down and gave out a sigh. "That's the last of them." He told his partners. He turned around to face Sai, Gaara, and Temari. "Operation: Prayer Breaker start."

The delegates from seven guilds had come together to put a stop to Oracion Seis. But not all of the mages had the same method in mind.

A/N: This chapter was a bitch to write out. I kept having to put it off due to school, but now I got it done and all the mages are assembled. Sasuke's been taken to I-know-where by Itachi and won't be back for a long time. This is the exciting part for me as the canon divergence that I mentioned chapters ago is starting at the Oracion Seis Arc as planned. I've added some extra players to the board and some things are going to be shaken up and moved around. Planning to have fun with how this arc goes, but that will have to wait until January. Later.