Ak-Jaidyn: Like I said in the PM, I am planning on working on my other stories, but I am more inspired to work on this one, and Itachi Sitri at the moment.
Slaggedfire: Yeah, it was a typo, I will change it at some point.
Shadow Joestar: Yep, here comes the training for the Grand Magic Games, although I'm not completely sure everyone trusts him completely yet.
E.N.D.83: Thanks, and out of the whole guild I thought those two were the ones to most likely react, while some would keep their slight distrust towards him in silence.
Sandi091000: Thanks, and I hereby greet you.
Vonneyboy21: Thanks, and how that encounter will go down, well it will most likely be a mess, but there are still ways to go before they have their first encounter.
Guest: Some girls are bound to try and try and steal Itachi away from Mira, but I'm not going to go into detail, plus if I am not mistaken I thought that Seilah from Tartaros was in a yuri relationship with Kyouka. But we'll see, I am not going to give any sort of spoilers for what I have planned.
zubhanwc3: The tension is not completely gone no, Charle for one has made it clear that she doesn't trust him, and she most likely only apologized because of Wendy. But the point with things being resolved this quickly was so that they could still work together for the games, although there is still slight tension in the guild. And was Madara redeemed though? He only had a friendly chat with Hashirama before he died, I would think he would still have some messed up way of thinking on how to bring world peace, just a different way from before. And if not that, he would still be very much obsessed with power.
MayanPanther: Thanks!
Classy Uchiha: Thanks, and Dragon Cry, I don't know, maybe. We'll see.
Ita1412: That is true, the two worlds thoughts about killing are the complete opposite. In the Shinobi world you are to kill if it is an enemy that gets in the way of your mission and such. While as in Fairy Tail, there are some rare exceptions for killing, if you kill a member of a dark guild then sure no problem, kill someone during a war which is to be expected, and that's pretty much it. And Itachi is who he is, he hates himself for the choices he has made and all that. But even though in this world Itachi can avoid killing, there might come a time where he has to make an exception or two.
Mr. Haziq: It's usually not a good sign. And well, in an episode of Boruto one of the ones from Kaguya's clan turned his byakugan into red six tomoe rinnegan. So, I guess it's possible.
Guest: I am making a next generation actually, so yeah that's not a bad suggestion. I'm not much of an artist, so I am not on devianart. And I will see what I can do.
Red Raven 007: Well, there will always be some who don't accept one for their decisions, an example is the Itachi-haters that hate him for torturing Sasuke too much and stuff.
Guest: Although that would have been good, I am not planning on bringing in Shisui in this story.
Insaneauthor050701: We already talked about it through PM so no need for me to say the same thing twice.
usha: I have something planned that could include Mystogan, and maybe I could include scenes like that with the Magic Council.
Chapter 24: Preparing for the Games!
Itachi stood before the horrified guildmembers of Fairy Tail, as Itachi had announced that he will prepare the ones that would represent their guild in the games, and everyone was horrified at the idea of it. "How long until the Grand Magic Games starts?" Itachi looked over at Romeo whom was looking rather excited about the thought of them rising to the number 1 guild once again.
"Three months! Three months from now!" Romeo replied looking rather excited, a look that was only shared by Natsu.
"Three months? Very well, my test will be given to groups that have proven themselves capable of participating in the games throughout these three months. I will not tell you when it is your groups turn so make sure to be prepared. Of course, once I announce who will compete in the tests, I will give said group, one day to come up with a plan, and give you basic instructions. Let's say we will start the tests in one week from now, you all have time to train until then. I suggest you all get ready, because if you fail the test… well, let's hope for your sakes it doesn't come to that." Itachi gave a friendly smile at the end, a smile that indeed was friendly but terrifying for the Fairy Tail guildmembers. "In the meantime, good luck." Itachi then vanished into a murder of crows that flew out from the open windows, and it took a mere few seconds until various guildmembers broke into groups and went on training trips.
Itachi's crows gathered on a mountain top at the very outskirts of the town of Magnolia, around said mountain top was a valley filled with mountains. Some crows flew in circles around Itachi, whom looked up at them. "Go and check on the progress of various groups, and report back to me within a week's time." Itachi ordered and over ten crows flew to various different locations, leaving Itachi with three more crows. "As for you three… Go and see if you can find anything on Madara and the Akatsuki members that were brought back by Zeref." Itachi ordered and the three crows flew off as some of their black feathers fell around Itachi. Itachi was very careful when it came to facing off potential enemies, and now knowing who said enemies where he needed to gather information about them, and to find out who the last Akatsuki member that was brought back was, as so far, he only knew of Sasori and Kakuzu. "Now then… time for me to work on my own training, I should start by working on my stamina and perfectly fuse my ethernano with my chakra to use my mangekyou abilities better." Itachi opened his eyes as his mangekyou flared up bright red and his red susano'o aura flared up around him. The pressure, and the mere level of aura and power released from Itachi sent shockwaves around him, and the very earth and air around him was shaking.
Groups of Fairy Tail members stopped dead in their tracks on various different locations and looked towards the source of where this power came from. Natsu and his group recognized this power as Itachi's, so did Laxus', and Mirajane's group all felt this power, and couldn't help but feel determined to train themselves to get stronger. Even further away in a meeting with the Ten Wizard Saints, well some of them anyway, they all looked in the same direction.
"This power…" Jura uttered as the other four members of the Wizard Saints that were with him had a drop of sweat running down their foreheads. "… Itachi-dono, his even stronger than I remember."
"This power… It's comparable to God Serena, no, it even exceeds it." An old man that looked like a walking tree said with a smirk.
Meanwhile, inside of what looked like an old castle, three figures stood on a balcony. "This is definitely Itachi-san… he is way stronger than he used to be." The shark like looking man known as Kisame smirked, as next to him was Sasori and Kakuzu.
"It's been seven years… I started to think Acnologia had killed him." Kakuzu said as they all looked out towards the source in the distance.
"Well, when the time comes, he will find out his not the only one who has grown stronger." Sasori said with a stoic expression on his face.
"Itachi-san… I can hardly wait for our reunion." Kisame let out a small dark chuckle.
Meanwhile, on the sea there was a boat about to cross the boarders of Ishgar, and onboard was one man covered in a cloak. He had his arms crossed, and his right index finger slightly twitched up as he felt a surge of power, he turned around with his eyebrow raised and smirk creeped up on his face. "I look forward to dancing with you, young Uchiha."
Back in the mountains Itachi formed the Perfect Susano'o around him, that spread its powerful wings sending massive gushes of wind, that blew down some trees surrounding the area. "Normally I can contain my Susano'o in this state for about 10 minutes, let's see if I can make that 30 minutes." Itachi said as his Susano'o let out a powerful mighty roar as the sun started to go down over the mountains.
As the days passed, and the end of the week had come. Itachi with his Perfect Susano'o flew in a valley with mountains. Itachi's Susano'o formed five Yasaka beads and shot them out as Itachi glared at them with a trail of blood running down his right eye.
Amaterasu!
The black flames merged with the Yasaka beads, and once the blazing beads clashed into a mountain each, they exploded in what looked like volcanos erupting only with black flames instead. Itachi then quickly formed a hand seal, as a shadow clone of him popped out from a cloud of smoke, the clone leaped back and inhaled its breath.
Fire Style: Grand Fireball!
The clone spitted out a massive ball of blazing fire, Itachi narrowed his gaze as the Susano'o around him vanished and he formed a set of hand seals on his own and inhaled his breath as his right eye cried out even more blood.
Fire Style: Inferno Fireball!
Itachi spitted out a massive ball of fire that merged with the blazing black flame of Amaterasu, and easily overpowered the Grand Fireball, and quickly vaporized the shadow clone.
Itachi landed into the valley with the destroyed mountains that were burning with black flames around him. Itachi fell to the ground and his eyes were reverted back to normal, and he began panting and sweating. "After a week… this is all I can manage…" Itachi panted as the entire area around him that once was a valley of mountains, had been all reduced to rubble, cut in half, or exploded with black flames. He hadn't made that much progress when it came to increasing his time limit with the Perfect Susano'o, he had been able to cross the 10 minuet limitation he had before, but he still had ways to go and three months to improve himself, minus the days he will spend testing some potential groups for the games.
Itachi reached into his pocket and took out a chakra replenishing pill, he chewed on it and could feel his chakra coming back to him. He then stood up and stretched his arms. Then ten of his crows flew around him and they all landed around him. "Okay then, let's see who is mostly suited for representing our guild in the games." Itachi formed the tiger hand seal and the information from his crows, went directly to him. "Hmm, Natsu and his group hasn't come back since they went to the Celestial Spirit world… strange. Let's see… out of the various groups, the ones most suited for the games not counting Natsu's group, would be… Laxus, Mirajane, Gajeel, Freed, Cana, Elfman, Bickslow, Evergreen… And who was with Natsu's group again? Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Juvia, Levy, Happy, Charle, Jet and Droy, whom the two later is still on the last spot the others were before entering the Celestial Spirit world. Out of them Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy, Wendy and Juvia seem to be suited the most. But since they haven't returned I will start with the others." Itachi said to himself as he began thinking who he should pick as the first team to be tested if they are ready. Itachi then attached a letter of information onto six of the crows. "Gather the ones whom I have deemed worthy for the test." Itachi ordered as the crows flew away. "Seems only two groups will face my test… Oh well, they are all strong and skilled enough." Itachi said to himself.
Meanwhile, Gajeel was with Pantherlily, meditating under a waterfall, when suddenly a crow flew up to him. "Hmm," Gajeel took the note tied to the crows' leg, as it flew off. When he read it, he smirked and had a drop of nervous sweat running down his forehead. "Ya damn right I'm worthy."
Meanwhile, in a training camp, were Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna and Cana had gone to train, three crows appeared next to Mirajane, Cana and Eflman. They took the note tied onto their legs and the crows flew off. Once they read the note, Elfman and Cana looked nervous while Mirajane just giggled.
Meanwhile, with Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe, two crows flew down and one landed on Laxus' shoulder, the other on Freed's, they both took the note that was tied to the crows' legs and then the crows flew off. The two gained a smirk, while Bickslow and Evergreen looked a little disappointed that they didn't get one.
"You have herby been chosen for my test, come and meet me at the guildhall. More information will be given once you arrive, you will meet up tomorrow for the information, and the test will begin the very next day after that. Signed, Itachi Uchiha." Was the content of all the notes given to the potential representatives for the guild in the games.
The very next day, the ones who had been chosen for Itachi's test, plus those who had no interests in participating in the games, and the guild master, were gathered in the guildhall. Then a murder of crows arrived and formed into Itachi. "Welcome, I have picked the six of you to participate in my test. I will also inform that only one other group has been chosen to take the test, but since they are nowhere to be found at the moment I decided to take you first." Itachi informed and several people looked relived that they were most likely not among the chosen ones. "Now time for some information, you will meet up tomorrow at the training grounds. Now this exercise will be a survival exercise, against me. It will determine if you are ready to participate in the games, if you fail you will not be allowed to participate. Also, this test has a 66% rate of failure." Itachi said and Laxus sweated slightly, Gajeel paled slightly, Elfman gaped with wide eyes of horror, Freed had a nervous smile but looked confident that he and Laxus would succeed, Cana looked nervous, and Mirajane just kept smiling while a drop of sweat ran down her forehead. "So, meet me tomorrow morning so that I can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and determine if you are ready for the games of not. If you want to you can bring any kind of weapons you might need. Also, you should avoid having breakfast, unless you enjoy throwing up that is." Itachi said with an amused smile and a light chuckle.
"Throwing up? How hard is this exercise?!" Cana questioned looking even more nervous.
"Now don't be late, or else, I will hunt you down." Itachi said with a smile while giving them a cold glare.
"…"
""Understood."" They all uttered while the ones who weren't participating struggled to hold back their laughter.
"I will see you six tomorrow morning." Itachi said and his body dissolved into a murder of crows that flew out the window.
The crows gathered outside of the training field, and Itachi instantly went up to a tree and chopped it down with a wind style jutsu. He then split the tree into six stubs, and then he started by planting them into the ground in a straight row. "That takes care of that." Itachi dusted off his hands, then he once again turned into a murder of crows and they flew into his own new rented apartment. "Okay then, how did this go again? Oh yeah, making enough bento boxes for the ones taking the test besides one, so I will have to make five. Lord Third's exercise will be very useful to determine if they are ready or not." Itachi then created four shadow clones, and they all started to make a bento each.
In the end, it took him five hours to make the perfect bento boxes, leaving over a hundred different "failed" samples around his apartment. "There all finished, at last they are perfect." Itachi said to himself, then he looked around his apartment to see all his failed bento boxes laying around and basically surrounding him so he had no place to walk without stepping on a bento box. "… I might need some help with my perfectionist issue."
The very next day, Itachi sat on a tree stub with the five bento boxes placed right before all the stubs. And in Itachi's right hand were five small bells with a red thread attached to them. The first one to arrive were Mirajane and Elfman.
"Morning Itachi." Mira greeted him with a warm smile that Itachi returned.
"Good morning, Mirajane, Elfman." Itachi greeted the two siblings.
"Morning, ah!" Elfman let out a yawn.
"So, did you eat breakfast or not?" Itachi asked and suddenly heard their stomachs growling, which made Mira blush slightly out of embarrassment. "I take that as a no."
"Well, you told us not to…" Mirajane uttered while still blushing faintly.
"Hn." Itachi smiled a little, then Laxus and Freed arrived, also with their stomachs growling, followed by Cana whom also had her stomach growling.
"Can we hurry this up? I'm starving…" Cana uttered while holding her hands over her stomach.
"Sure, just need to wait for Gajeel." Itachi replied and then the Iron Dragon Slayer flew in, well Pantherlily flew him in, and Gajeel was snoring and asleep.
"He didn't wake up in time, so I grabbed him and brought him here." Pantherlily replied and slammed his tiny paw on Gajeel's head making the Iron Dragon Slayer open his eyes for a split second and then closed his eyes again. Pantherlily then grew into his giant size and slammed his fist into him, making Gajeel wake up.
"Wah! What the hell was that for?!" Gajeel shouted at Pantherlily and then noticed Itachi and the others staring at him.
"Well, good morning Gajeel, I was just about to hunt you down." Itachi said with a friendly smile making Gajeel give Pantherlily a thankful look. "Okay then, let's begin." Itachi said and showed them the five bells. "In my hand here, I have five small bells, your assignment is to steal them from me. You have until noon to steal them, those who fail will be tied to a tree stomp and go without lunch."
"… That's why you didn't want us to eat breakfast?" Laxus questioned while holding his hand over his growling stomach.
"I told you, didn't I? You should avoid eating breakfast, I didn't say you weren't allowed." Itachi corrected and they all looked slightly annoyed at him.
"Ugh! You sneaky little bastard…" Gajeel growled.
"Hey wait, you said five bells, but there are six of us." Mirajane pointed out and then they all seemed to have realized.
"That's right, those who gets a bell passes the test, those who doesn't fail. And those who fail will not be allowed to participate in the Grand Magic Games." Itachi said and they all looked at each other like they were competition. "Also, you should come at me with the intent to kill, that way your chances of success will increase."
"Oh my, not sure how I feel about that…" Mirajane said not feeling like trying to come at her boyfriend with the intent to kill.
"Try and imagine that he is with another girl." Cana said with a smirk trying to hold back her chuckle.
"That works." Mira said as her expression darkened and Itachi started to look a little nervous, making everyone else chuckle.
"Anyway, let's start the test, shall we?" Itachi said as he flared up his sharingan. Laxus cracked his knuckles as lightning flickered around him.
"Laxus we should work together and get a bell each." Freed suggested and Laxus looked at Freed with a raised brow.
"Freed if you can't get a bell on your own, then your useless." Laxus replied, fully determined to get the bell by himself.
"I-I am so sorry, forgive me for my ignorance, Laxus." Freed bowed his head.
"Are you sure you don't want help Elfman?" Mira looked up at her younger brother.
"Sorry, nee-san. But if I can't get that bell on my own I wouldn't be a real man." Elfman said cracking her knuckles.
"No way I am going to fail." Cana said as she held her magic cards in her hands.
"Geehee, I have waited for a chance at fighting him, this will be great." Gajeel cracked his knuckled with a wide grin.
"I wish you good luck." Pantherlily said as he flew up to a tree branch to watch them participating in the test.
Itachi let out an inwardly sigh at how they all failed to see the true meaning of this test. Mira and Freed were at least close to getting it right, although they didn't know what the purpose of the test was they were at least willing to work together with others to try and get the bells from Itachi. The only hope for them now was to realize the true meaning of the test during the exercise, or he would have to result to plan b. "Okay then, begin!" Itachi said and eagerly Laxus, Gajeel and Elfman charged head on.
Laxus appeared behind Itachi with his fist raised and with a violent amount of lightning flickering around it. Gajeel appeared on Itachi's right side with his arm turned into an iron blade. And Elfman had turned into a massive Weretiger to increase his speed, and he raised his claw. Itachi sighed as his body turned into a murder of crows, and Laxus' fist clashed into Elfman, Gajeel's blade swung into Laxus' side, and Elfman slammed his claw upside Gajeel's head. The crows then gathered into Itachi hovering above them, and he threw a kunai knife with a paper bomb tag attached to it between them, once the kunai stabbed into the ground it exploded in a fiery explosion.
Once the smoke of the explosion cleared, it revealed the three young men with their bodies covered in dust from the explosion with dumbfound expressions. "You idiot! You got in the way!" Laxus shouted at Gajeel.
"I got in the way?! You two got in the way!" Gajeel shouted at Laxus and Elfman.
"I had him! You two messed it up!" Elfman shouted.
"Shut up!" Gajeel slammed his fist into Elfman's face, and then the two started to brawl.
"Idiots." Laxus uttered and charged towards Itachi, swinging his right fist towards him, Itachi stepped back while tilting his head to the side dodging Laxus fist, Laxus then swung his right leg sideways towards Itachi's face, Itachi bent his body backwards and dodged. Itachi grabbed Laxus' ankle and swung his body crashing into a tree breaking it in half.
Dark Ecriture: Pain!
Freed had wings on his back and swung his sword to the side, sending dark rune marks towards Itachi, whom jumped up a little in the air avoiding it. Freed flew towards Itachi and swung his blade towards Itachi, whom blocked it with a kunai knife, Freed kept thrusting his sword towards Itachi whom kept deflecting it with his kunai. Itachi then twisted his body around and delivered a kick to Freed's chest sending him flying back.
Itachi then noticed something from the corner of his eye and jumped back a few steps, as magic cards stabbed into the ground in a row sending bolts of lightning. "Argh, so close." Cana cursed.
Itachi noticed something coming flying down from the sky and jumped back as Mirajane in her Satan Soul slammed her demonic claw into the ground forming a small crater. Mirajane then flew after Itachi throwing a barrage of punches and Itachi with his sharingan and superior speed dodged all the attacks, he then grabbed her by the wrists and they both looked at each other with a smirk. "You know, I didn't think we'd be going hot and heavy like this so soon." Mira teased with a sadistic smirk.
"Charming as always I see." Itachi smirked as whenever Mira entered one of her demonic forms her personality changed way more aggressively compared to her base from, that is more cutesy and innocent.
"Very funny cutie. I wonder, should I steal a bell or a kiss instead." Mira smirked as she swung her demonic tail towards the bells attached to Itachi's belt. "Or both." Mira said and pulled Itachi in for a kiss, but Itachi avoided her tail by twisting his body to the side and leaped back breaking the kiss.
"Seems you only got one." Itachi smirked as Mira let out a small chuckle and flew after him. Itachi leaped to the side and avoided Mirajane's attack.
"Would you quit the lovey-dovey stuff." Gajeel turned his arm into an iron club and extended it towards Itachi's belt where the bells were attached, Itachi jumped up and stepped onto the iron club and used it as a springboard to fly towards Gajeel, and then Itachi delivered a kick into Gajeel's cheek sending him into the ground. Itachi then jumped back making some distance between him and the others.
"I must say, it seems none of you are close to succeeding this test. And I have seen mere children succeeding this." Itachi said with a small sigh making Laxus, Gajeel, Freed, Cana and Elfman growl in rage while Mirajane looked like she began thinking about something.
'Wait, then this test must have been something done in his old world. So, we must have seen or heard of this test in his memories. But I can't remember…' Mira thought, and it was not a surprise that she didn't remember. After all, Itachi never went through the test, he had just heard about it. And considering all the things they witnessed him going through it's only natural that such a minor detail can't be remembered that easily. And it didn't take much longer until Laxus, Freed and Cana found the meaning behind Itachi's words just now, but they couldn't seem to remember it either while as Gajeel and Elfman didn't pay much attention to the meaning of the words Itachi spoke just that it was insulting to them.
"Now then, are you guys going to get serious or what? The clock is ticking." Itachi pointed out that the test did have a time limit, although they still had time before noon.
"You want serious? Alright I will show you serious." Laxus said as lightning flickered violently around his body. "Guys stay back, I am taking the first bell." Laxus narrowed his gaze at Itachi.
Lightning Dragon: Roar!
Laxus spewed out a massive wide wave of lightning towards Itachi, Itachi formed some hand seals at immense speed and inhaled his breath.
Fire Style: Fireball!
Itachi spitted out a massive ball of fire that clashed into the lightning wave making a massive explosion and forming a big smoke screen around the area. 'His trying to hide in the smoke? Even if he has a superior nose I still have superior eyes.' Itachi thought as he jumped up as Laxus was behind him trying to grab a bell. Laxus looked up at him with a glare and Itachi used this opportunity to put Laxus under an illusion, Laxus looked drowsy as he tried to resist, but Itachi had put too much power into the illusion and Laxus fell to the ground. "Hn." Itachi turned to the side as a wave of iron approached him. With nowhere to go as he was hovering in the air, the wave crashed into him.
"Outta the way! I will get a bell first!" Gajeel charged out from the smoke towards where Itachi was when the iron breath attack hit him. Only to find what would have been Itachi was a murder of crows flying around. "He got away?"
"Nice try." Itachi appeared behind Gajeel and grabbed him by the collar, then jumped over him while still holding onto him, and then swung his arm to the side throwing him across the field. Then the very next moment Itachi was trapped inside a barrier.
"I got you! The only way out from that barrier is to surrender one of those bells!" Freed said as he hovered in the air above Itachi.
"Oh? Nice trap Freed, really nice. Although, I saw it coming from a mile away." Itachi said as he turned into a puff of smoke.
"A clone?" Freed widened his eyes and titled his head to the side as a shuriken flew by.
"Nice reflexes too by the way." Itachi complimented as he stood on the ground behind Freed, Freed turned towards Itachi which turned out to be a big mistake as Itachi cast him under an illusion as well, making Freed fall to the ground.
"Beast Soul!" Elfman turned into the same beast he tried to take over when Lisanna supposedly died and slammed his massive fists down onto Itachi.
"Trying to sneak up on me? Seriously?" Itachi questioned with a raised eyebrow as he stood on Elfman's shoulder, and then kneed him in the chin. "Why can't you understand that neither of you can beat me?" Itachi hinted that they could never beat him alone, although that hint seemed to have slipped by them.
Satan Soul: Sitri!
Mirajane's outfit changed into a geometric printed body suit with a blue and white dress coat adorned by an over-sized black collar supported by two belts and a cape, she grew horns out from the sides of her head and her silver white hair grew longer, and she grew a pair of claws and royal blue markings appeared on her legs, and flames surrounded her. "Is this serious enough?" Mira charged at even greater speed and threw a series barrage of punches. "Elfman! Get up and help me!" Mirajane ordered which startled her younger brother.
"N-Nee-san…" Elfman uttered looking a little frightened.
"Do it now!" Mira ordered as she kept throwing a barrage of punches.
"R-Right!" Elfman uttered out of fear and quickly charged at Itachi as well.
'Did she figure it out? Or does she know that she needs help to get a bell from me? Either way seems she is ready.' Itachi thought with a small inwardly smile. Itachi then dodged a punch from Elfman by bending his back down, but then Mira swung her claw towards one of the bells. Itachi quickly leaped up as Mira's claw touched one of the bells before Itachi was able to get away. "That was a close one." Itachi said with a tiny smile.
"Damn, I was so close." Mira cursed but then she widened her eyes. 'Wait a minute…' Mira began thinking as she saw Itachi dodge attacks from Gajeel, Cana and Elfman as they all attacked him one by one. Cana then threw a magic card at Laxus that sent a bolt of lightning into his body, forcing him awake from the illusion.
"Argh! Dammit!" Laxus grunted at the fact that Itachi placed him in an illusion earlier, Itachi smiled inwardly over that Cana decided to help out Laxus.
Raging Bolt!
Laxus sent a bolt of lightning crashing down upon where Itachi stood, but the Uchiha dodged by jumping back. "Get over here!" Laxus increased his speed and charged at Itachi throwing a barrage of punches which Itachi either avoided or blocked, then the two rivals clashed their fists together sending small shockwaves around them and the sound of the clash echoed through the area.
"Take this!" Cana threw a magic card down onto Itachi whom jumped back and avoided it as it was the sleeping card.
"Next time don't make it so obvious that you are attacking." Itachi pointed out which made Cana grit her teeth in frustration. Laxus then walked up to Freed and slapped him awake from the illusion.
Gajeel then appeared behind Itachi and turned his right arm into an iron sword and swung it towards the bells. Itachi swiftly turned around and blocked the iron blade with two kunai knifes in an x-formation, but the impact sent Itachi flying back a little. "Tch! Quick little bastard!"
"Oh, Itachi is dealing with this better than I thought he would, as expected of the mightiest in the guild." Pantherlily commented as he watched the fight with great interest.
"You are all way to predictable, keep this up and you will all fail." Itachi this time dropped a very small hint by saying that they would all fail. Itachi saw that no one took that hint, but he did notice Mirajane looking deep in thought like she was close to the solution. Itachi decided to drop one last hint. "I know each and every one of you, I know your moves, I can easily predict what you are going to do next. If you were less predictable than maybe you all could pass this test by now." Itachi once again dropped a hint by using the word "all" if they didn't catch onto that they would fail.
Mira then widened her eyes as she realized it with the final hint Itachi gave. "Of course…" Mira uttered as the final hint seemed to have made her put the pieces together. "Everyone! Listen to me! Attack him together! The key to this test…." Mira shouted and everyone looked towards her with a raised brow besides Itachi whom just smiled. "… is teamwork!"
"Huh?" Gajeel questioned.
"Teamwork…?" Laxus questioned.
"Think about it, there was no chance for any of us to get a bell from him by ourselves! That's why he said if we kept attacking him like this we would all fail!" Mira said and to Freed, Laxus and Cana it all seemed so clear now, but one thing still escaped their mind.
"But, then why does he only have five bells when there is six of us?!" Gajeel questioned.
"It's a test to show how good we work as a team! Besides, didn't you hear him earlier, if we were less predictable we could all pass this test! That means even if one of us doesn't get a bell that person would still pass with us because we got them as a team!" Mirajane explained and everyone looked at Itachi whom just looked at them with the same stoic expression as always, but then he smiled and they all smiled with him.
"You heard the lady! Let's get him!" Laxus shouted and they all charged at the same time. Laxus was the first one to attack by throwing a right hook, Itachi dodged it by tilting his upper body backwards, then Elfman shoulder charged towards him, and Itachi jumped up and placed his right hand on Elfman's head and pushed himself over Elfman. Gajeel then slammed his fist into the ground sending multiple iron clubs up from the ground making Itachi jump up to avoid them, Cana then threw several magic cards at Itachi whom twisted his body in the air as the cards flew past him. Freed then appeared besides him and swung his sword towards the bells, but Itachi blocked his sword with a kunai, and then Mirajane swung her claw at a bell and grabbed it. She then fell towards the ground, rolling around in the dirt a bit, before getting back up and showing in her hand a bell.
"Alright guys! Let's keep going!" Laxus increased his speed and charged at Itachi whom got ready, when suddenly a barrier wall appeared in front of him, and then a magic card cut one of the bells off from Itachi's belt, and Cana leaped towards it and grabbed it with a smirk on her face. Quickly before Itachi could react Laxus flew at him at high speed, Laxus landed in front of Itachi while holding one of the bells with a smirk on his face.
"Oy! Elfman! Freed! Get ready!" Gajeel shouted and inhaled his breath.
Iron Dragon: Roar!
Gajeel spewed out a wave of iron and just as Itachi was about to escape, Freed blocked his exits with rune walls and Elfman leaped up over him making sure Itachi could not escape by air. Itachi had no choice and formed a few hand seals.
Earth Style: Mud Wall!
Itachi slammed his hands into the ground as a wall made out of mud popped up blocking Gajeel's attack, then Itachi leaped up towards Elfman, as the iron wave penetrated the mud wall. Elfman swung his fist at Itachi whom grabbed Elfman by the wrist and threw him towards the ground. But then Freed and Gajeel surrounded him, Gajeel attacked him up front and Freed attacked him from the back. Itachi dodged Gajeel's attack and kicked him in the chest sending him crashing to the ground. Then he jumped onto Freed's back and used his body as a springboard to land a few feet away from them.
Elfman got up and charged forward at Itachi, when suddenly a rope pulled Elfman hanging upside down from a tree by his right ankle. "Wh-What the?!" Elfman questioned.
"I was wondering when someone would fall for my trap." Itachi smiled a little, while Gajeel extended his iron arm that was now a blade to cut Elfman down. Freed stepped back a few steps trying to find the perfect opportunity to attack Itachi, when suddenly his right leg pushed up against a thread. And the very next moment multiple shurikens and kunai knifes flew out from behind a bush towards him. Freed didn't have time to react and tried to cover himself with his arms awaiting the coming pain. But it never came, Freed looked up to see Elfman in his Lizardman form shielding him.
"Huh, this is rubber…" Elfman said as he held one of the shurikens, and indeed it was made of rubber.
"Of course, I'm not trying to kill you guys." Itachi said with a smile as he stood behind them.
Dark Ecriture: Darkness!
Freed turned into a demonic like creature and charged at Itachi with full speed, and Gajeel turned his feet into iron spikes that stabbed into the ground, and then extended them sending him flying towards Itachi with his fist raised. Itachi blocked Freed's strikes, and jumped up to avoid Gajeel's and jumped up on the extending iron clubs that were his legs. But then, Elfman leaped at Itachi aiming for one of the two last bells, Itachi was about to avoid it but then, the sound of two bells hitting each other was heard. Itachi looked at the bells to see an iron blade stretching out from the iron club having cut off the last two bells, Gajeel then swung his iron club leg up sending Itachi flying as Elfman and Gajeel grabbed the last two bells.
Itachi landed safely onto the ground with a smirk on his face, while everyone had a smirk on their faces as well, even Freed whom looked happy that Laxus got a bell. Itachi then walked up to them and gave them a friendly smile. "You all pass." They all looked at each other with smirks.
""Oh yeah!"" Mira and Cana gave each other a high-five.
"Yeah! Who's the man?! I'm the man!" Elfman cheered.
"We had to work together though…" Gajeel pointed out with a small grin on his lips. They all then began sharing the five bento boxes with each other and relaxed for a bit.
"Hn, let's go Freed. I have to get stronger." Laxus said and was about to walk away to go and train so that he could get closer in strength to Itachi.
"I don't think I have to say this to you, but don't tell the others what the purpose of this test was." Itachi said as Laxus raised his arm as a sign that he wouldn't say anything and he and Freed walked away to train. "Same goes for the rest of you." Itachi said looking over at the others that all nodded in understanding. "You are all dismissed." Itachi said and they all walked away from the scene, besides Mirajane.
"Are you going back to your own training now?" Mirajane asked seeming as she wanted to spend some more time with Itachi.
"I have to, not just for the games, but for Madara and the Akatsuki as well." Itachi replied as he didn't want to lose anyone he cared about to them. He already knows that he could probably take on most of the members of the Akatsuki with maybe the exception of Nagato and Obito, then again Nagato was forever sealed and trapped in the Totsuka blade and even if he turned out to be the last revived Akatsuki member, Itachi knows that Nagato wouldn't want to fight him. But Madara, Madara was the one he was most worried about, after all Itachi has never seen what Madara is capable of nor what his abilities are, he had only read about them in legends. Plus, Zeref could have given him a power boost like he has done to Itachi, so there was no telling how powerful Madara was.
"I know, it's just… well… never mind." Mira turned around and began walking, although from the corner of his eye Itachi could see that she was upset.
"Hey, how about we go on a little date?" Itachi suggested, he had made the mistake of ignoring a loved one before in the past, he wasn't about to do it again.
"Huh? But… what about your training?" Mira questioned with a confused look on her face.
"It's okay, my body needs to relax for a bit anyway, I can't train all day you know, it's not healthy." Itachi said with a warm loving smile that made Mirajane blush a little before she smiled and ran up to him and linked their arms together. They then went on a nice walk around town, went to a café, went to the same lake where they had their first date to just sit around and relax, and before they knew it they had spent the whole day together. Itachi escorted Mirajane back to the training camp she had made with her siblings and Cana so that she could continue her own training. Itachi then returned to his own training back up in the mountains.
After three months of intense training, as it was only five days left until the Grand Magic Games, in the mountains where Itachi had spent his training days what was seen was the Perfect Susano'o, before it began fading and down jumped Itachi panting and feeling completely exhausted. "It's done…" Itachi uttered as he had managed to keep the Perfect Susano'o up for 30 minutes, more he could not accomplish in five days' time. A crow then flew down onto his shoulders. "Hn? They are back? I see." Itachi said as the crow had informed him that Natsu's group had finally returned from the Celestial Spirit world. "Time for them to start their test." Itachi's body turned into a murder of crows that flew into the night sky and towards the known location of his returned friends.
Itachi's crows flew down onto the beach as the sun was setting in the background and then the crows formed into Itachi. Then to his surprise, he saw Jellal, Ultear and the pink haired girl Meredy whom was a former member of Grimoire Heart like Ultear with his friends, Jellal looked more mature than before but otherwise he was just the same, while as Ultear also looked more mature but her hairstyle changed slightly as she had bangs going over her forehead, and Meredy looked far more mature she has grown into a beautiful young woman, her chest had grown bigger and her pink hair had grown much longer. "What's going on here?" Itachi questioned.
"Onii-san, is it time for out test?" Erza questioned thinking that was the only reason he would show up now.
"Well, yes, but… What's going on?" Itachi questioned and looked over at Jellal.
"I'm sure you have heard, of my prison break that is." Jellal said as he walked up to Itachi.
"Yeah, I've heard a few things about it. I assume the two of them broke you free." Itachi said and looked over at Ultear and Meredy, Ultear had a look that said she wanted to discuss something with him. Jellal then went on to explain how they have come to ask for help to locate a mysterious magic energy related to Zeref that has been sensed around the time of the games. And that in return for doing this they have offered to help Natsu and the others unlock their second origin, a reserve for magic power if you will. And of course, how Jellal, Ultear and Meredy have formed an independent guild known as Crime Sorciere that has been taking down Dark guilds in their quest to find Zeref. And naturally Erza explained how they wasted their three months by going to the Celestial Spirit world where one day equals three months in the human world. "I see, well that is complicated… very well I will also help, I have a few more questions for Zeref anyway so anything that can help me find him is something worth checking."
"Thank you, and… thank you for stopping me, back at the Tower of Heaven." Jellal bowed his head down in gratitude.
"No need for thanks. I wasn't good enough to save Simon… so there is no need for thanks." Itachi said as he still felt guilty over the fact that because he overestimated his own abilities, Simon had to die.
"No, I was the one who-" Jellal couldn't finish his sentence as Ultear interrupted him.
"I was the one controlling Jellal back then, whatever he did wrong falls onto me, including the death of this Simon." Ultear said with a look of grief.
"You were being manipulated yourself, try not to be so hard on yourself about it." Itachi said.
"Anyway, let's begin. Do you want me to do the same for you by the way?" Ultear asked as she readied her crystal ball.
"I know for a fact that I have chakra reserves, but I guess this Second Origin might be useful to activate. So, go ahead." Itachi said as they started with Natsu whom already had some magic symbols drawn on him. And the next moment Natsu fell to the ground growling in pain.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a bit?" Ultear asked looking at Itachi.
"Sure."
"I want to know more about where I come from, my father. And these eyes." Ultear said as her eyes turned red with three black tomoes circling a black dot in the center. "Please, tell me about where I come from. Tell me everything, please I need to know." Ultear begged and seeing as she was an Uchiha she deserved to know about their clan's, Madara's history and about her own power.
"Your father stems from a shinobi clan from an alternate world known as the Element of Nations, the name of his clan is the Uchiha. A group of people born with a special bloodline power or Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan the Mirror Wheel Eye. It grants an Uchiha incredible visual prowess." Itachi said and Ultear looked slightly shocked for a moment that her father comes from an alternate world, but the shock quickly died down as she payed closer attention. "The Uchiha clan is rumored to stem from the god of shinobi, known as the Sage of Six Paths, whom had a child known as Indra that was the founding member of our clan you could say. Back in your father's time, the Uchiha clan were a clan for hire to fight in wars between nations, and children were sent into the battlefield to fight for their lives. The Uchiha, was so mighty and powerful, that only one clan rivaled them, the Senju clan of the forest. Whenever one nation hired the Uchiha the enemy of that nation hired the Senju, so the two clans were rivals. There were two very important people in the clans, Madara Uchiha whom was the son of the clan head, and later on became the clans head. And Hashirama Senju the son of the head of the Senju and the future head of the Senju clan. These two were bitter rivals, they fought countless of battles, some battles that would leave a very scar on the earth itself." Itachi continued explaining the story which Ultear found fascinating.
"They were really that powerful?" Ultear questioned to which Itachi nodded.
"The Sharingan are very special eyes indeed. They are awoken when the user experiences powerful emotions or phycological trauma. The emotion at the source of this, is love. Ones an Uchiha experiences love it triggers something in their brains that leads to the sharingan being activated, and the eye will evolve the stronger you become and the more emotion you experience. However, the sharingan has another step besides the three tomoe state." Itachi said as he morphed his eyes into the Mangekyou. "It is called Mangekyou Sharingan, it grants the user immense visual prowess, that far exceeds the normal sharingan. However, there is a crucial condition that must be met for it to awaken." Itachi said and Ultear looked a little frightened to figure out what it was. "One must witness or take the life of someone close to them, a best friend or a family member. Madara and his younger brother Izuna were the first ones in our clan to awaken these eyes. Rumors say that they killed their best friends, but no one is really sure what happened. This is what granted them the highest ranks amongst the Uchiha clan. However, although the Mangekyou is powerful, it is like a light, eventually it will fade and shut itself down, resulting in blindness. Madara began experiencing some the pain of losing his light, he tried everything but nothing worked. Then, one day, Madara's younger brother, Izuna Uchiha, died from an injury he suffered from a battle… and he gave his eyes to Madara, awakening a new light within him, a light that would be known as the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and his eyes never faded again."
"Then, what about you, won't you go blind eventually?" Ultear questioned looking a little concerned.
"Not to worry, the Ethernano supplies my eyes with energy so I won't go blind, it is just like having an Eternal Mangekyou actually." Itachi assured.
"I see, continue please."
"Then after one more battle with Hashirama, the Uchiha and Senju declared peace between the two clans, and together they founded a village known as Konoha, the village hidden in the leafs. But then, one day Madara left the village and his clan, angered over the fact that they surrendered to the Senju and that his brother died for nothing. He returned one day to exact revenge upon the village, and he brought a beast known as the nine tailed fox, and had one last battle with Hashirama at a place known as the final valley, Madara is said to have died there. But now, it seems Zeref brought him back, along with myself and a few known associates of mine." Itachi said, he told her everything he knew about her father, but he wasn't sure about telling her about the fall of the Uchiha clan yet.
"But, why would he do that? If things were peaceful, why would he risk destroying it?" Ultear questioned as it did seem meaningless to ruin the peace because of a grudge.
"Madara was angry, angry over the death of his younger brother, angry over the fact that the Uchiha clan just wanted to surrender like that. It is the curse of hatred in our clan. Like I said about the sharingan being awoken by the feeling of love, that love turns to hate, especially since the Mangekyou requires one to lose a loved one to activate which creates hate. Your father was one of the ones who fell into the circle of hatred. And couldn't escape it like many others from our clan." Itachi said as he felt sad over remembering his father and clansmen falling into a circle of hatred, and how Sasuke also fell into the circle of hatred.
Ultear looked stunned after hearing this. "We're from a cursed bloodline of hatred…" Ultear uttered seeming to understand why she ended up holding such hatred.
"Love leads to hate, an endless circle of hate where you think there's no way out. But there is, people who are dear to you, friends that can support you, they are what can help you escape from the circle of hate." Itachi said with a warm friendly smile as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Just remember you are not alone." Itachi said as he looked over at Meredy that was smiling warmly as she was talking to Juvia.
"Still… to think I only exist because Zeref brought my father back from the dead and to this world… I don't know what to think." Ultear looked down feeling slightly ashamed, anger, regret.
"Still, you are free to walk your own path. Where you come from, has nothing to say on where you are going in life, that decision belongs to you." Itachi assured and Ultear looked slightly relived. "There have been many Uchiha's who have escaped the circle of hatred or been able to exit it."
"I'm still not sure about myself though… I mean I have so many sins, evil is within me." Ultear said with a sad smile.
"I myself have had a dark past, but I was able to escape the circle of hatred, I experienced a lot of pain in my life. But at least, I have some good friends to help ease my pain and let me live happily again. That is all that matters to me now, to live my life with them and to protect them. And you are not evil, you weren't born evil, no one is. People make bad decisions from time to time, and a bad day can lead them down a dark path of evil, but no one is born evil and one can escape from the dark path. Trust me, everything is going to be okay, you just have to give it time, live your life with the ones you love." Itachi said and Ultear then had a trail of tears running down her face that she quickly wiped away with her arm.
"Thank you, you really are kind." Ultear said.
One question however nagged inside Itachi's mind, something he needed to ask her. "Tell me, have you managed to find anything out about your father for the past seven years?"
"I looked into him for a little bit, didn't find much. I went around the old town my mother used to live in and asked about him. They told me that my mother just brought him one day to town out of nowhere, and that he ended up staying with her having no other place to go. And slowly they started to form a relationship, and together they protected the town from any monsters. And that one day, he just left, and no one had seen him ever since." Ultear said and Itachi narrowed his eyes as he looked up into the sky.
"I wonder… what he is planning? Has he changed for the better? Or did he remain just the same as in his legends?" Itachi said as he just looked up into the sky.
"Judging by what you've told me you have every reason to be worried. I just want to find him and ask him why he left my mother, and if he knew she was pregnant with me before he left." Ultear said as she was curious about her father and wanted to find out more.
The very next moment Erza and Jellal returned from their private talk. "How did things go?" Itachi questioned as he looked at Erza whom didn't respond, just blushed faintly, same with Jellal. Itachi seeing this sent some glares at Jellal, showing his slight overprotective side. Then later everyone else got the symbols drawn on them and started to unlock their Second Origin, and everyone besides Erza and Itachi were incapacitated from pain, Itachi wasn't sure whether it was because he didn't have a second origin, or if it was because he already had unlocked it through training that he wasn't affected.
As they had gone through so much pain, Itachi decided that they should have a two-day break before the test started. Itachi decided to tell them the same information he had given the previous group. "Now this exercise will be a survival exercise, against me. It will determine if you are ready to participate in the games, if you fail you will not be allowed to participate. Also, this test has a 66% rate of failure." Once Itachi said that Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Wendy and Juvia gaped out of shock while Erza enjoyed the challenge. "So, meet me tomorrow morning so that I can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and determine if you are ready for the games of not. If you want to you can bring any kind of weapons you might need. Also, you should avoid having breakfast, unless you enjoy throwing up that is." Itachi said with an amused smile and a light chuckle. And everyone besides Erza had a look that said "How dangerous is this test?!"
Once the two days had passed, Itachi had taken them back to the guild's training grounds, with five bento boxes that he had Mira make for him this time placed by the tree stubs. "Welcome, now I will tell you what the test is, but first, I trust that no one of you had breakfast?" Itachi asked as he looked around at the six new test takers, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Wendy and Juvia and their stomachs growled as a sign that they hadn't. "Good, now…" Itachi held out five bells. "Your goal is to steal these bells from me."
"But there are only five…" Gray pointed out.
"I assume the one who doesn't get a bell fails." Erza said.
"Hn." Itachi used his Uchiha "hn" as a sign of confirmation, while at the same time it wasn't since he didn't confirm anything. "You have until noon to get them from me, and those who doesn't gets tied to that stub and doesn't get any lunch."
"That's why you didn't want us to eat anything?!" Natsu questioned as his stomach growled even louder.
"I said you should avoid, not that you weren't allowed." Itachi corrected which made most of them look at him with a deadpan expression. "Well then, begin!"
Natsu instantly charged at Itachi. "I am all fire up now!" Natsu covered his fists in flames. Natsu jumped a little up in the sky right above Itachi and swung his flaming fist towards him. Itachi tilted his head to the side and dodged Natsu's fist, grabbed him by the wrist and threw him into the ground.
"You need to learn some patience." Itachi said as Natsu desperately tried to reach the bells attached to Itachi's belt.
"Get out of the way flamebrain!" Gray leaped up as a cold breeze came from his hand.
Ice Make: Lance!
Gray shot out five ice lances towards Itachi whom threw five kunai knifes with paper bomb tags attached to them, they clashed into each other creating an explosion. Itachi then leaped away from Natsu and made some distance. He noticed that Erza had gone into hiding to sneak up on him.
"You can do it Natsu!" Happy cheered as he and Charle were watching them taking the test.
"You can do it Wendy! But be careful!" Charle shouted while glaring at Itachi for a split second before focusing on Wendy again.
"Umm, don't you guys think we should maybe work together? I mean Itachi is so strong it would almost be impossible to-" Lucy was about to suggest something that would have made them pass the test, although.
"Hell no! I'm taking Itachi down on my own!" Natsu cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, and I will get a bell before flamebrain here." Gray declared which caused Natsu to growl at him.
"What was that you damn stripper?!" Natsu shouted at Gray as they bumped their heads together and glared at each other.
"You heard me!" Gray shouted back as they began to fight each other which made Itachi sigh.
"U-Umm, I think Lucy was r-" Wendy uttered but got spoked when she saw Natsu and Gray growling at each other seemingly as they wanted to get the bells on their own. "N-Never mind…"
Erza was hiding behind a bush while eyeing Itachi trying to figure out her next move. 'If I get one of those bells, I can finally prove my strength to Onii-san… as long as those two morons don't get in the way.' Erza thought as she looked over at Natsu and Gray that stopped fighting for a second and charged at Itachi, before they crashed into each other, and started fighting again.
"Get away from Gray-sama!" Juvia blasted Natsu away from Gray with a wave of water. "Gray-sama! Let's go and take those bells together!" Juvia said as she only seemed to care about helping Gray.
"Heh, alright." Gray smirked and brought his right hand into his left palm.
Ice Make: Hammer!
Gray charged at Itachi with a massive ice hammer, while Juvia sent a barrage fire of water slicers at Itachi whom formed a set of hand seals.
Fire Style: Fireball!
Itachi spitted out a massive ball of fire that evaporated Juvia's attacks and once it clashed with Gray's ice hammer it created a massive cloud of steam. Itachi looked around in the steam cloud for anyone approaching. Then suddenly a sword flew towards him, Itachi blocked it with a kunai, then Erza appeared in front of him and kneed Itachi's palm making him let go of the kunai, she then grabbed her sword and swung it towards the bells. However, Itachi grabbed her wrist, stopping her from reaching the bells. Itachi then delivered a kick into Erza's gut sending her flying back a few steps.
Itachi then jumped up as Taurus swung his battle axe into the ground where he stood. "Nice try Lucy." Itachi complimented the celestial wizard, Itachi then kicked the spirit in the chin, jumped up a little and threw a punch into the spirit cowman's face sending him crashing to the ground.
"Moo, I'm sorry Lucy…" Taurus uttered before vanishing in a flash bright light and returning to the celestial spirit world.
Fire Dragon: Roar!
Natsu spewed out a massive wave of fire towards Itachi, Itachi had a stoic expression as the fire wave got closer until blasted right into him. Natsu leaped towards the spot where Itachi stood, only to find him gone. "Huh? Where is he?" Natsu began smelling after him and looked down. "There you are!" Natsu swung his fiery fist into the ground and Itachi leaped up from the ground, then fire erupted from the ground creating an explosion.
"Hoh, nicely done there, Natsu." Itachi complimented the dragon slayer. Natsu smirked and quickly leaped after Itachi.
"I have so much power now! I'm gonna take you down!" Natsu declared as he surrounded his entire body in flames.
Fire Dragon: Sword Horn!
Natsu flew towards Itachi like a missile. "Getting a little carried away, aren't you?" Itachi said with a raised brow as he jumped to the side while forming a set of hand seals, and just when Natsu was right beside him.
Wind Style: Gale Palm!
Itachi sent a blast of wind crashing into Natsu's side sending the dragon slayer rolling on the ground. Natsu quickly leaped towards Itachi and with his feet covered in flames and his fists.
Fire Dragon: Claw!
Natsu delivered an axe kick towards Itachi's head, Itachi blocked the kick with his right arm, Natsu then spun his body with his fist raised.
Fire Dragon: Iron Fist!
Natsu swing his fist towards Itachi's face, Itachi caught his blazing fist with his left hand. Itachi pushed Natsu off and spun kicked him in the chin sending the dragon slayer crashing into the ground. "You got spirit, but your attacks are all way to predictable." Itachi said and then jumped up as an ice axe swung over where he stood, Itachi jumped onto the ice axe and leaped towards Gray and delivered a kick to his chin. "Gray you know when to attack, but you are still too predictable as well." Itachi said and dodged another barrage fire of water projectiles from Juvia. Itachi threw a kunai knife with a paper bomb tag attached to it towards Juvia, it flew right into her and exploded, and her body exploded like a water balloon.
Juvia gathered her body back with all the water puddles on the ground. "You know Juvia, you are also too predictable as you always help out Gray. If you all keep going like this you will all fail." Itachi then looked around and sighed seeming as no one caught that hint. 'Seems trying to get them to inspire working together might be more difficult than the previous group. Maybe if I should go about this a different way, maybe I can use the rest of the traps I set up around here.' Itachi thought about going full on ninja on them.
Itachi then looked at his feet and jumped up as the pink haired maid known as Virgo popped up having been summoned by Lucy. Then six arrows flew towards him while he was in midair, shot from Sagittarius the man spirit in a horse costume. Itachi threw six kunai knifes and deflected the arrows.
Sky Dragon: Roar!
Wendy spewed out a massive whirlwind wave towards Itachi. 'Seems Wendy and Lucy are willing to work together, Juvia will only work together with Gray, Natsu doesn't want to work with anyone and neither does Gray. But, why isn't Erza working with them?' Itachi thought as his body turned into a murder of crows that flew away from the whirlwind. Itachi's crows flew further into the woods, and everyone followed after him besides Natsu that was still recovering from Itachi's kick earlier.
"Ow! Ow! Where did they go?" Natsu questioned looking around seeing that no one else was there. Then he was about to follow them when he looked over at the bento boxes by the tree stubs. Natsu began to drool while his stomach was growling. "… Maybe filling my tummy is all I need to beat Itachi."
"He isn't that stupid, is he?" Charle questioned as she noticed Natsu eyeing the bento boxes.
"What do you think?" Happy said with a nervous smile.
"He is." Charle said.
"Aye."
Lucy and Wendy ran together in the woods. "Where did the others go?" Lucy questioned.
"I don't know…" Wendy uttered as it felt like they were being watched. "Itachi is a little scary now…"
"Well he is a skilled ninja, so… yeah it's creepy." Lucy agreed on the creepy feeling of them being watched. "Honestly, I think he is expecting too much from us… Waah!" Lucy was suddenly pulled up by a robe tied to her ankle as she had walked into a trap. Then her skirt fell down revealing her daring panties. "Eeep!" She quickly pulled her skirt down. "Not cool Itachi!"
"Lucy!" Wendy looked startled that Lucy was suddenly pulled up by a robe and now hanging upside down.
"Hello Wendy." Itachi's voice was heard as he stood behind her, she slowly turned around and the next thing she saw was red glowing eyes, then she looked drowsy and fell asleep. "Honestly, I thought it would be Natsu or Gray that would fall for that trap." Itachi said looking up at Lucy with a stoic expression.
"Wh-Whatever! Just get me down!" Lucy said with a teary face.
"Now that wouldn't be that much of a test now would it? Besides, maybe one of your fellow test takers will come and help you." Itachi dropped off a hint of teamwork.
"W-Wait! Please cut me down!" Lucy begged.
"Maybe Wendy can once she wakes up, although she should be knocked out until noon." Itachi said looking down on the sleeping little dragon slayer.
Lucy quickly brought out one of her golden zodiac keys. "Cancer!" Lucy summoned forth the crab man that used his scissor claw replacements to cut Lucy down.
"You need a haircut, baby?" Cancer posed.
"No, but get me one of those bells!" Lucy pointed at the bells attached to Itachi's belt.
"Got it, baby." Cancer leaped at Itachi, Cancer swung the scissors around to try and cut off one of the bells.
"You know, you should have waited until I was a little further away so that you could surprise me." Itachi spitted out a small ball of fire crashing right into Cancer's gut making him vanish in a flash of light, sending him back into the celestial spirit realm. Itachi then threw a shuriken towards Lucy, that flew right past her and stabbed into the tree behind her.
"AAAAAA!" Lucy screamed in horror, then she stepped back, and screamed again as a second rope pulled her up so that she upside down, once again, and her skirt fell down revealing her daring panties and Itachi looked at her with a stoic expression, as she was hanging there still recovering from the shock with the shuriken earlier.
Meanwhile, in a different part of the forest, Juvia looked to her left side as she heard Lucy's scream. "That was… Lucy? She's on her own, Juvia's got to find Gray-sama." Juvia began fantasizing about her and Gray, in the woods, alone going hot and heavy.
"Hey, Juvia, behind you." Juvia turned around and let out a scream of shock as she saw Itachi looking her right in the eyes. The next moment the water mage looked like she was in a trance as Itachi placed her under a genjutsu.
Gray pushed himself through bushes and trees. "Agh! Where the hell did Itachi go? It's almost noon, I have to find him and get one of those bells." Gray said to himself when suddenly his leg pulled up against a string. "What the hell?" Gray questioned when suddenly a barrage fire of kunai knifes and shuriken flew towards him out from a bush.
Juvia then woke up and looked around to see Itachi was nowhere to be seen. "What happened to Juvia? Ah, Juvia needs to find Gray-sama!" Juvia instantly began moving through the woods.
"J-Juvia…" Gray's voice uttered.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia turned around with a smile, that quickly vanished when she saw her beloved Gray stabbed all over with kunai knifes and shurikens and he was covered in blood. "G-Gray… sama…?"
"J-Juvia… help me… p-please help me." Gray fell over in a puddle of his own blood.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia screamed in terror as her rage took over and water surrounded her. Then suddenly the image of Gray vanished as she felt someone hit her neck, and then she passed out.
Itachi was standing over her. "Should have known that she wouldn't just pass out, I'm actually a little impressed." Itachi said and left using sunshin to teleport himself away.
Meanwhile, Gray had shielded himself with an ice shield. "Geez, was he trying to kill me?"
"They are made of rubber, so no, I wasn't trying to kill you." Itachi sat on a tree branch over Gray with a smile on his face. "Say, I heard Juvia scream earlier, sure she might not need your help? And what about Lucy and Wendy?" Itachi couldn't make a clearer hint than that without telling him what the test was about.
"They are though, especially Juvia, I know she is fine." Gray replied with his gaze narrowed at Itachi.
"Is that so? Well, she is strong, but not invincible." Itachi pointed out and saw a flash of worry in Gray's eyes.
"Yeah well… It's not like you would do anything to her." Gray said as he knew Itachi cared about them all.
"Well that's true, alright then." Itachi jumped down from the tree branch as Gray readied an attack.
Ice Make: Ice Cannon Barrage!
Gray made a cannon out of ice and shot out multiple ice cannon balls at Itachi whom quickly threw multiple kunai knifes with paper bomb tags. Once they clashed into the ice cannon balls with the kunai knifes a massive explosion erupted. Gray swung through the burning smoke with ice blades to try and find Itachi, but then, Gray was suddenly pulled down. And when the smoke cleared it revealed Gray's head sticking up from the ground.
"You really think this can hold me?" Gray looked up at Itachi that looked down on him.
"Well, with this is it will." Itachi held Gray by the back of his head and forced him to look Itachi in the eyes, and the very next moment Gray fell asleep. 'Strange, my crows haven't noticed anyone trying to help Lucy, Wendy or Juvia. I expected that Natsu wouldn't, well with maybe the exception of him helping Lucy, but Erza should have.' Itachi thought as he couldn't figure out why Erza wouldn't help them out. 'Wait… seriously.' Itachi vanished with sunshin.
Natsu held one of the bento boxes as he sat up against a tree stump. "Ah! This smells delicious! Thanks for the grub!"
"You know, I know you aren't exactly the smartest, but even I didn't think you would do this." Itachi stood on top of the tree stump Natsu sat up against.
"Uhh, I was only joking…" Natsu uttered out of fear.
"Nice try." Itachi smiled when suddenly Natsu swiftly turned around and jumped back, then flames erupted around him and lightning started to flicker around his flames.
Lightning Flame Dragon Mode!
Itachi widened his eyes a bit as Natsu's power sent powerful gushes of wind around them. "Take this!" Natsu powered up even more.
Lightning Flame Dragon: Roar!
Natsu spewed out a powerful wave of fire mixed with lightning towards Itachi. The wave blasted right into Itachi and it blasted further taking a whole massive part of the forest with it. Once the wave died down it revealed Itachi on the ground. "Alright I got him! Ha! I won!" Natsu reached for a bell when suddenly Itachi's body vanished in a puff of smoke. "Hey what the-"
"Again, nice try." Natsu turned around and all he saw was Itachi's sharingan.
"Don't ya dare try and put me under an illusion! Fight me fair and square Itachi!" Natsu shouted while pointing at Itachi.
"… Alrighty then, show me how much you have grown, Natsu." Itachi said and got into a fighting stance making Natsu grin while flames and lightning flared up in a violent surge of power. Natsu leaped towards Itachi with his fist raised with fire and lightning engulf his fist.
Lightning Flame Dragon: Iron Fist!
Natsu threw a powerful punch at Itachi whom formed a set of hand seals.
Water Style: Water Wall!
A magic circle formed on the ground in front of Itachi, and out popped out a wall of water that caught Natsu's punch. The lightning from Natsu's punch spread through the lightning and electrocuted Natsu's body, although because of his lightning flame dragon mode Natsu didn't take that much damage. Natsu increased the intensity of his flames and the water evaporated.
Natsu then threw another powerful punch at Itachi whom caught it, Natsu then jumped up a little and delivered a spin kick which Itachi blocked with his left arm. Itachi then pushed Natsu off him and delivered a kick to his chest sending the fire dragon slayer into a massive boulder, that melted from the heat Natsu was releasing. Itachi looked at the hand he caught Natsu's punch with and saw a few burn marks. "Not too shabby Natsu, you really surprise me." Itachi complimented.
"Heh, I'm not finished yet buddy! Uargh!" Natsu powered up even more as flames and lightning flickered around him violently. Natsu then engulf his left hand in lightning and his right in fire, he then slammed them together combining them, forming a massive sphere of flames and lightning.
Lightning Flame Dragon: Brilliant Flame!
Natsu threw down the destructive sparkling blaze sphere of fire and lightning at Itachi. Itachi leaped back and avoided the blast of the sphere by an inch, the sphere exploded in a fiery explosion that created a crater. "Your destructive power has grown, although you still have ways to go." Itachi said as he was a little impressed over Natsu's growth in power.
"Oh yeah?! How about you get serious and fight?!" Natsu wanted to defeat Itachi, although he wanted to defeat Itachi at his best.
"I doubt you could handle that." Itachi said with a stoic expression as he jumped back and created a shadow clone, and they both formed different hand seals.
Wind Style: Whirlwind!
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!
Itachi's clone created a long snake water dragon and Itachi spitted out a massive whirlwind that merged with the water creating a massive water whirlwind. Natsu charged up a massive amount of fire and lightning around him, he then inhaled his breath.
Lightning Flame Dragon: Roar!
Natsu spewed out a massive wave of fire and lightning that clashed into the water whirlwind. The two attacks were locked in a power struggle and then it all exploded into a massive explosion that created a massive cloud of steam that covered a massive part of the training grounds.
Itachi's sharingan glowed in the mist as he looked around for Natsu's energy source. Natsu then leaped out from the mist with his fist raised, Natsu swung his fist at Itachi whom caught it. Natsu then swung his foot towards Itachi's face with flames and lightning engulfed around his foot. Natsu's foot clashed into Itachi's right cheek sending him skidding to the side, Itachi rubbed the spot on his cheek where Natsu kicked him. "And you have gotten stronger as well, but you still have ways to grow." Natsu growled and then engulfed his left hand in lightning and his right in flames.
Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!
Natsu spun his body around and created a powerful vortex of lightning and flames towards Itachi. Itachi narrowed his gaze at the vortex of lightning and flames, then he morphed his eyes into mangekyou sharingan. A red aura flared around Itachi and formed the skeleton stage of the Susano'o that blocked the vortex, however upon impact the vortex sent out powerful shockwaves. And the lightning flickered violently around them so that some trees were cut down, and the grass was burned away by the flames. Itachi then deactivated his Susano'o. "You have performed well, Natsu, although I believe it's about time to put this to an end." Itachi vanished at high speed with a rasengan forming in his hand. Itachi slammed the rasengan into Natsu's gut, Natsu widened his eyes as the lighting flame dragon mode vanished and Natsu returned to his base form, as he was sent flying crashing through a boulder and was knocked out.
"… One left." Itachi tied Natsu up to the tree stump and went back into the woods after Erza.
"I figured I would be the last one standing, you will soon see I'm not like the others." Erza said as a gush of wind blew past her and behind her was Itachi.
"I'm surprised, I thought you of all people would want to help out the others." Itachi said as he was slightly disappointed.
"What's that supposed to mean? This test's purpose was to test our own abilities to get a bell from you. Besides, I have waited to show you what I am capable of." Erza said as she changed her armor into her Flight Armor.
"I see, well, you don't have that long until noon, so I suggest you hurry up." Itachi said as he knew they had already failed the test. Erza charged at Itachi at high speed and aimed to get one of the bells, Itachi blocked her strike with a kunai knife. Erza kept moving at high speed and swung her blades swiftly around aiming at the bells. Itachi blocked each strike with his kunai. "You know Erza, you really have disappointed me."
Erza widened her eyes at hearing those words, thinking he meant him being disappointed over her strength. "Requip, Heaven's Wheel Armor!" Erza changed her armor and requiped multiple swords that floated around her.
Blumenblatt!
Erza charged with her swords towards Itachi, while holding two swords in her hands, she charged at Itachi and sliced her swords towards his belt and the bells. Itachi's body turned into a puff of smoke. "Clone." Erza uttered and swiftly turned around and requiped into her Purgatory Armor and swung her massive sword towards Itachi whom jumped up and avoided the strike. "Requip Armadura Fairy!" Erza requiped into a pink armor decorated with wings, and she held two identical swords.
Erza swung her swords at Itachi whom jumped back, Itachi threw a barrage of shurikens and Erza deflected them all with her swords. Itachi then pulled his arms back, as the shurikens were attached to wires, Erza noticed just in time and cut the wires before she was tied up. Itachi then formed a set of hand seals.
Fire Style: Fireball!
Itachi spitted out a ball of fire towards Erza, Erza requiped her sword in her right hand into her Flame Empress Armor. She swung her flame empress sword down and sliced the fireball in half. She then requiped her right sword back into her Armadura Fairy sword.
Itachi jumped back as Erza thrusted her blades forward, Erza gritted her teeth and stopped in her tracks before focusing her energy and let out a deep breath. "Ethernano Blade!" Her body got surrounded by a red aura that covered her two swords. She leaped towards Itachi whom formed some hand seals and slammed his palms into the ground, bringing up a stone wall. Erza easily cut through the wall like it was paper and kept charging at Itachi. Erza swung her sword sideways aiming at Itachi's upper body, Itachi bent down avoiding the slice and lightning flickered around his body.
Chidori Rotation!
Itachi's entire body was covered in lightning, and he spun his body around counter clockwise and electrocuted Erza making her fly back a few steps before regaining her footing. Erza got up while panting a bit and glaring at the bells attached to Itachi's belt. "I… will win." Erza uttered and requiped into a katana sword, then she gathered what she had left of strength gathering all the red aura into the katana making it shine in a powerful crimson light.
"It's over." Itachi said with a stoic expression, Erza however charged forward with her katana raised, when suddenly the alarm clock rang. "It's noon, you have failed." Itachi announced and Erza froze while her body was shaking in rage at her own weakness.
Later Itachi gathered everyone back at the tree stumps where Natsu was tied up to one of them, looking annoyed. "You all failed, none of you are suited to represent our guild in the Grand Magic Games." Itachi said with an ice-cold look.
"Argh! Come on man! We're some of the strongest in the guild! You have to let us participate!" Natsu shouted in outrage.
"No, all of you failed, you failed to see the purpose of this test. The only ones among you that almost figured it out was Lucy and Wendy." Itachi said and they all looked confused.
"It wasn't just about getting the bells?!" Gray questioned.
"Juvia is confused…"
"Wait, then what was the test about?! I don't understand!" Erza demanded an answer.
"I have told you about this several times, yet you couldn't even see it. Never do anything alone or you will fail. This test was about teamwork." Itachi said and everyone looked surprised and stunned.
"Natsu and Gray, the two of you were too busy fighting each other rather than focusing on a common task at hand. Juvia you were to focused on Gray to care about anyone else even though you knew Lucy might need your help. Erza, you were too busy trying to prove your strength to me that you never even considered that you might need any help. And I though you out of all people would get it right. Lucy and Wendy, the two of you at least understood that teamwork was needed, but you were too afraid to speak up to the others, or didn't see the point as you saw them determined to do it by themselves. However, this doesn't mean the two of you pass, but at least you can be considered for participating in the games, should anyone that are participating get incapacitated." Itachi said as he saw that they all had a look of shame for not figuring it out. "However, because I know what all of you are capable of, I am going to give you one more chance. First eat up, although, because Natsu tried to steal the food he is not allowed to get anything. If you give it to him, you shall all feel my wrath." Itachi gave them all a cold glare, and they all besides Erza flinched.
They all sat by the tree stumps while Natsu was tied up with his stomach growling. And Itachi was sitting up against a tree with his eyes closed. Lucy looked over at Itachi and then at Natsu whom had a sad expression on his face, with his stomach growling, while Happy sat on the top of the tree stump comforting him. She then looked back at Itachi whom had his eyes closed. "Psst, Natsu, here." Lucy held out some food from her bento box towards Natsu that lighted up with joy.
"What are you doing, Itachi told us not to." Juvia said.
"He isn't looking at us." Lucy said.
"She's got a point, besides we're going to need Natsu at full strength, if we are going to pull this off." Gray said and also took some food from his bento box, then so did Wendy, Juvia looked at Gray and also took a piece from her bento box to give Natsu, Erza looked at Itachi and then smiled as she also did the same.
"Thanks guys." Natsu whispered as he accepted all the food they gave him.
Then a massive puff of smoke appeared in front of them and Itachi stood there with his mangekyou glowing. "All of you…" Itachi uttered with a dark expression as he flared up with a powerful blue aura. And everyone besides Erza looked at Itachi with fear. "… pass." Itachi said with a friendly smile and they all besides Erza looked confused. "You all pass."
"W-Wait what…?" Lucy questioned.
"All of you passed my test." Itachi replied while still giving them a small smile.
"I was so scared…" Wendy uttered while still shaking like a leaf.
"Sorry about that." Itachi smiled while patting Wendy's head.
"Juvia is confused again." Juvia said and most of them looked just as confused besides Erza whom knew why, and Natsu whom was just happy over the fact that they passed.
"By helping a comrade in need, you showed me that you all know how to work together as a team. By disobeying my rule, you showed me that no matter what, you are willing to help out a comrade. That is why you all pass." Itachi explained and they all looked at each other with wide grins.
"I feel like such a fool… I was too busy thinking what you thought of me, that I forgot about what you always taught me, never to forget my friends." Erza uttered while looking down with a smile.
Itachi placed his hand on top of Erza's head. "At least you know now, so you won't fail like this again. Sometimes, one needs to fail to realize their mistakes. Anyway, until the games begin you are free to train, or do whatever you want."
"Alright! Grand Magic Games! Here we come!" Natsu shouted while burning away the rope around him and looked up into the air while spewing out flames. "I'm all fired up now!"
That is it for now!
I hope this chapter was to your satisfaction! In the next chapter the Grand Magic Games arc will begin with the teams forming. I have already planned out on who Itachi is going to replace in the games for Fairy Tail. Now in the games some events Itachi will be involved in is bound to change.
Also, what do you guys think about Itachi telling Ultear about the Uchiha clan and the Sharingan? Should Itachi help Ultear learn how to use the sharingan better? And what did you guys think of the bell tests? Also, should Itachi tell Ultear about his past? Tell me what you think about this in the reviews.
Anyway, leave a review!
-Later!