Hidden Guild: Silent Leaf

Chapter 25: Pyrrhic Victory

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

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon/Dragon Talking"

'Demon/Dragon Thinking'

"Telepathic Conversation"

'Flashback'

Magic/Magic Item

Location/Time Change

Kakashi's Group

A disguised Kurenai clicked her tongue in disappointment. She had used her Illusion Magic to try and pick up the location of Ultear by pretending to be running a message for her from one of the other living Kin members. It had yielded no results as barely any of the grunts knew where she would be and those that did have an idea were wrong. It was getting quite frustrating.

"Another dead end?" Kakashi asked. He was with Asuma under Kurenai's Glass Body illusion that made them transparent. "Damn, this isn't getting us anywhere," He muttered.

"We could try the direct approach," Asuma offered, "Or you could try one of your sensory magics."

"I did. There's too much interference. Kisame's fighting Hades and they're screwing with all the magic signatures on board. It will take a hell of a lot of power to get a clear signal." The two weren't even throwing their magic around, they were just monsters with magic. The natural rise and fall in power that came from fighting was overwhelming when combined with the ship's size. Unless Ultear started busting out the big guns for no reason they weren't going anywhere.

Kakashi's eyes lit up with an idea. "Asuma, start destroying the ship," He ordered.

The smoker looked at him in confusion, "Why? I thought we were trying to be subtle about this."

"Ultear's in charge of fixing the ship if anything goes wrong, so if we cause enough damage she'll be forced to use her magic to fix it."

"And then you'll be able to lock onto her magic signature." Kurenai finished.

Kakashi nodded at her and Asuma pulled out a black cigarette. "Okay then. Here I go!" He sucked in a deep drag and exhaled out a black, gritty substance. Asuma then let out a small stream of fire, "Burning Ash!"

The black smoke cloud exploded in a burst of flame and force that destroyed the hallway and spilled over into the rooms around it, starting fires in several of them. Screams of pain and fear were heard and several low-ranking mages came rushing out of them. Nearly half of them were having trouble moving and they all were on fire.

Asuma winced at the results of his attack, "Forgot about the rooms," He muttered. He held his hand up and made a swift slicing motion across his body, "Vacuum Blade." A blade of wind was expelled from his hand and sliced through the mages, ending their suffering, and traveled into and through the wall at the end.

An alarm began to blare and Asuma sheepishly scratched his beard. Kurenai put her hand on his shoulder. "I think you got their attention," She dryly told him.

"That was the point, right?" Asuma's partners gave him a look, "Just check to see if anyone's coming." He said in defeat.

Kakashi closed his right eye and the Mirror Eye in his left socket spun in place while he activated his Sensory Magic. He felt out for a new magic signature that would indicate Ultear's position. Instead he got a different kind of magic. It didn't feel old or young like he remembered Ultear's did, it felt heavy and large. Larger than what it was supposed to feel like, especially thanks to Kisame and Hades. Kakashi got a lock onto the mage and opened his other eye in shock. Who he found wasn't supposed to be on board, they had made sure of that. Shino had sent him on a wild goose chase and he wasn't supposed to meet back up with Grimoire Heart until right before they set off for Tenroujima. This was bad, really bad.

The others had noticed Kakashi suddenly tense up and then drop his magic and they were concerned. "Kakashi, what is it?" Kurenai asked and reached out to grab his shoulder.

The contact broke seemed to break him out of a trace, and Kakashi shook his head like one of his dogs. "We've got trouble."

"Is it Ultear?"

"Worse." Kakashi mentally adjusted his plans. He may not have been as smart as the Naras, but he was still regarded as a genius. He could work with this. "Asuma. Kurenai. Bluenote is on board."

"What? He's not supposed to be with a hundred miles of the ship," Kurenai exclaimed. "How did he get here so fast?"

"I don't know, but this doesn't bode well for us. Bluenote could bring the whole ship down on our heads," Kakashi said.

"That'd be bad," Asuma stated the obvious. He took a quick puff from his cigarette, "I could kill for one of the Hyugas right now," He said with a look at Kakashi.

Kurenai turned to Kakashi and finished Asuma's thought, "Or someone like them."

The silver-haired man nodded, "I hate to leave you two like this, but I have to eliminate Bluenote before he becomes a problem."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be fine," Asuma assured him.

"Meredy's on her way here," Kakashi warned them, "Be careful."

"We will," Asuma's words were uselessly said as Kakashi had already disappeared.

"How far away do you think she is?" Kurenai asked Asuma.

The man just shrugged his shoulders, "She'll get here when she gets here."

A brief burst of power was the only warning the two got before a storm of blue swords that appeared to be made of light were launched at them. They were expecting the attack and easily dodged before looking to the source of the attack. A young, pink-haired girl with green eyes had her hand outstretched and pointed at the pair. She had golden wing-like ornaments in her hair, a red cape over a purple leotard, and brown thigh-high boots. "I am here to eliminate the intruders." Meredy said in a dull tone.

Asuma requipped his trench knives and shifted into a boxing stance, "Damn. Meredy is a kid? That wasn't in her dossier," He swore.

"I don't think it was supposed to be. At least, not in ours," Kurenai replied. Meredy had been initially assigned to Haku as her assassination target. Kurenai was willing to bet that Haku's dossier was different than theirs and the assassin had agreed anyways. It reminded her of why she had never requested for training under Bloody Mist. Had she known that Meredy was a child she would have protested her death, and she would have had a pretty solid backing from most of the other members.

"Well, how do you want to play this?" Asuma asked.

Another flurry of the blue swords flew at the two of them and delayed Kurenai's answer. She quickly cast an illusion over Meredy that should make it seem as if they were moving opposite of their true actions. "I don't want to kill her, but we can't just let her keep walking around. She's part of the Seven Kin and from the reports she's strong," The reports also said that she had complete devotion to Ultear and that her stoic and calm personality was just a front to hide her childish side. "Maybe we can take her hostage and lure Ultear out?" Kurenai suggested.

Asuma was glad of the cop-out, he didn't want to have the blood of a kid on their hands and using her as bait was a convenient excuse for not leaving her on the ship where she was sure to die, "Let's do it."

Kurenai dropped the illusion and Meredy started when she saw the two fakes she had been keeping track of disappear only to be together and in front of her. She quickly recovered and waved her hand at them, "Maguilty Rays." Long yellow blades appeared from behind Meredy and were sent at the mages.

Kurenai shifted backwards and Asuma rushed forward with a barrage of punches, "Flying Swallow." Wind Magic surrounded his trench knives and extended the blades. With every punch a sword broke and shattered into shards of magic. Kurenai rushed in from behind him and lashed out with a kick yhat Meredy ducked under. The pinkette was surprised when a second kick hit her from the side and sent her rolling down the still smoldering hallway. The original Kurenai disappeared and the real one faded into existence.

The two approached Meredy with caution while she climbed back to her feet, "Give it up, kid. We've read your file; you aren't going to be able to beat us," Asuma told her. Shino had been sure to record her magic's strengths and weaknesses and even if the two of them were hit with her Sensory Link then they'd still be fine as long as she didn't hit them. With Asuma's versatility with his magic they wouldn't be any problems avoiding her swords.

"I won't give up," Meredy told them through clenched teeth, "There's still that man that I must kill. Then I'll be able to go to the Ultimate Magic World with Ultear. Everything will be perfect after that." The little girl gave the two veteran mages one of the fiercest glares they'd ever seen, "I won't let you destroy that!" The hallway in front of her filled with blue blades that kept forming, "Maguilty Sodom!" Meredy screamed while thrusting her hands forward and launching her blades.

Asuma moved his left arm in front of his body and held his hand parallel to his body while moving his right arm down and positioning his palm to the ground. "Flaming Thousand-Armed Murder." Magic power surrounded the man and formed into a many armed figure behind him that was on fire. The figure thrust all of its arms forward and began to shoot a fireball out of all of them. The fireballs destroyed Meredy's swords and the arms continued past them while still on fire.

Meredy looked on in horror while her magic was destroyed and she saw death approaching, 'No. Not like this. I can't die yet!' Images of Ultear rescuing her from her hometown flashed through her mind. 'Ultear. Ultear, save me!'

The palms stopped just before the girl who had tears streaming down her face. Asuma dropped his magic and shifted nervously, 'Maybe I overdid it?' He thought to himself. The look on Meredy's face certainly said so.

Kurenai apparently agreed and slapped him on the back of the head, "Sage, Asuma, we're trying to knock her out not scare her to death," She berated her companion.

"Sorry, sorry," He apologized. "I just meant to show her how futile continuing to fight was. Guess I went a little overboard."

Kurenai sighed in exasperation and shook her head. She turned to look at the still terrified Meredy, "What do we do about her now?"

"I'd say just tie her up and keep her here. If her connection to Ultear is that strong then she should come running after feeling all of that magic power being used. Then we just wait for her to show up and kill her before she knows that we're here."

"But what do we do about Meredy after that?"

Asuma probably responded to Kurenai's question, but Meredy didn't hear it. She was still stuck on "kill Ultear". Her heartbeat had spiked along with her breathing while she tried to comprehend what she had heard. The people in front of her were planning to kill Ultear. They were going to kill Ultear when she came to rescue her. It would be her fault that Ultear would be dead.

No.

She wouldn't let that happen. Couldn't let that happen. Ultear had saved her when her entire world had been destroyed, now it was her turn to save her.

Meredy's hand lashed out and sent a ray of pink magic that struck both Asuma and Kurenai. The two cried out in shock and looked down at their wrists where a symbol of three interlocked loops had appeared with a heart in the center loop.

The two relaxed slightly when they saw that it was just Sensory Link. They were confident that they'd be able to block anything that Meredy planned to do to them so it was a moot point. Then Meredy held up her own arm and everything went straight to Hell.

Three Spread Sensory Link. The advanced form of Sensory Link that allowed the caster to insert themselves into the link. It was what had been the deciding factor for turning Maguilty Sense into a Lost Magic. Because it made it next to impossible to avoid death-by-suicide if the caster chose. And that was Meredy's plan.

Asuma and Kurenai felt each other's feelings through the link. They also felt Meredy's. And what they felt was pain, fear, determination, and regret. They knew what was going to happen even before the glowing blue blades appeared around her neck like a giant pair of scissors. "Kid, don't!" Asuma screamed and rushed forward with Kurenai next to him.

'I'm sorry, Ultear. Sorry that I won't be able to help you kill those that took your mother away from you. Sorry that I won't be able to see the Ultimate Magic World with you. But most of all, I'm sorry that I have to leave you. I hope you can understand that this is all for you.' Meredy silently apologized to her savior. She opened her tear-filled eyes and screamed at Asuma and Kurenai, "I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH MY MOTHER!"

The swords moved.

The trio gasped.

Their bodies fell.

They laid there until the rushing water swept them all away.

Darui's Group

Darui led the way through Grimoire Heart's airship followed by Yugito and Gaara. Since splitting with Kakashi's team the trio had been systematically searching their section of the airship for Ultear, and after the alarm went off they started destroying the ship as they went and killing the grunts that tried to stop them. Eventually they'd make enough noise to draw the remaining two members of the Seven Kin to their position so they could eliminate Ultear and allow Sasuke to destroy Hades's artificial heart.

While they were in the middle of a hallway, an orb came flying at them and was blocked by Gaara's sand. The red-haired mage recognized the orb and his sand began to settle around the group in preparation for an attack. Ultear walked out of one of the doorways and called the orb back to her hand, "Oh? I didn't expect to see you again." She told Gaara before glancing at the other two, "And you brought some new friends."

Gaara said nothing and motioned for his sand to attack her. Sand Shots were launched down the narrow hallway only to be countered as Ultear advanced the time of her orb and created multiple duplicates that took the hits. Gaara's sand began to eat away at the orbs, but Ultear just turned them back to normal and then turned Gaara's sand into dust, making the stoic mage frown slightly.

Darui and Yugito watched the exchanged and chose to stick to long-range attacks until they got out of the corridor. Lightning bolts sprung to life and were dispelled just as fast thanks to Ultear's magic. She gave a slight laugh at their efforts, "Is this the best that the assassins from the Hidden Guilds can do?"

Darui shrugged, "Sorry, but we aren't technically trained assassins." They were trained in assassination techniques, but not as assassins specifically. That was more of Bloody Mist's area of expertise. Darui then requipped his large cleaver blade into his hand, "Could you go easy on us and die?" He asked before coating the blade in lightning and rushing forward. Yugito's eyes changed from dark to one green and one yellow and her nails extended into claws as her Cat Demon Slayer Magic activated and she followed. Gaara watched from afar while spamming his Sand Bullets.

Ultear smirked at them all, "You won't keep us from freeing Zeref and reaching the True Magic," She told them before accelerating the time of her orb even further and filling the hallway with them.

Darui sliced through several of the orbs, but knew he would be overwhelmed. He sent some hand signals at Yugito who nodded and replaced him at the front, her fingers spread wide so that her claws would destroy as many orbs as possible. Darui stepped back and held his hands out. A halo of light began to glow around them as he focused, "Branched Lasers." Blue lasers shot out from his hand and pierced every orb that they encountered, filling the hallway with an eerie glow. Yugito followed in the gap that was provided from the orbs' temporary destruction.

Ultear was able to dissipate the lasers, but was unable to stop Yugito's punch from hitting her stomach. The Demon Slayer then activated her Cat Demon's Claws again and began to unleash a flurry of swipes at her. Ultear began to take several cuts due to her magic only sending Yugito's Demon Slayer Magic forward while her elongated nails were still able to land hits. Gaara soon joined her with his sand formed around his hands in a pair of clawed gauntlets that were coated in his own Demon Slayer Magic. The pair began to push Ultear back and she was forced to drop her concentration on her orbs, allowing Darui to break through. Gaara saw a chance and feinted a slash only to spin around Ultear and stab at her from behind.

Ultear faked falling for the feint and allowed Gaara to flank her. Before he could strike, she turned back the time on his Sand Armor and trapped him in a shell of rock. "Gaara!" Yugito yelled in shock. The sand user always kept himself covered in a layer of sand for his backup defense. An air tight backup defense. If the sand was now rock he wouldn't be able to filter in any air and his mouth had been shut when Ultear essentially petrified him.

"You bitch!" Ultear received a scratch on her face that came just short of removing her eye. Yugito began to attack her even faster, channeling lightning around her to boost her speed and reflexes. This proved to be her undoing as Ultear allowed her to adjust to her enhanced speeds before pulling the metaphoric rug out from under her and removing her Lightning Armor. Yugito overextended and was no longer fast enough to recover when one of Ultear's orbs slammed into her stomach and then back. Ultear had spared two from pestering Darui to attack Yugito. That nearly cost her as Darui shot another Branched Lasers that allowed two to go through since the orbs had been removed. While she was taking care of the lasers, Yugito stabbed two kunai through her feet and pinned her in place.

Ultear screamed out in pain and Yugito shifted into a four limbed crouch and launched herself upwards to land a hammer-fist into Ultear's jaw that actually forced her feet around the kunai. Ultear propped herself up on her elbows and spared a glance at her feet. They looked bad. Two large holes had been ripped through them and they were bleeding pretty badly. Ice formed over the holes to stop the bleeding and she grabbed onto two orbs that lifted her into the air so she could move. "You'll pay for that," She swore with venom dripping from her words and death in her eyes.

Yugito and Darui had regrouped while Ultear recovered. After Yugito's hit all of her orbs had surrounded her in a barrier that they didn't want to test. Darui had tried his lasers again, but they had just dissipated when they got close. Gaara was still behind Ultear and they were worried about how much air he had left. "Yugito, you distract her while I free Gaara-san," Darui told her. She nodded and the two jumped into action.

Ultear, however, had reached her breaking point, "Enough!" Ultear yelled while throwing her hands out. Yugito gasped in shock and felt her magic drain. She had been converting all of her magic into Demon Slayer Magic and Ultear had just got rid of it all. Yugito dropped to her knees and tried to catch her breath while Ultear looked down at her, "Huh. That was supposed to destroy your Lacrima," She told her in slight confusion. A glance to the side showed her Darui rushing forward while surrounded by black lightning, "Oh? A God Slayer."

"Lightning God's Heavenly Fist!" Darui roared before taking a swing at Ultear.

She ended his magic and ducked out of the way of his fist. The sword swing just an annoyance. "Haven't you people learned anything?" She haughtily asked while Darui's cleaver rusted and broke.

Darui allowed himself a smug grin, "We're not the ones you should be looking out for." A finger pointed past Ultear, "He is."

Ultear whipped around to see Gaara holding his hand out as if he was holding onto something. He had been very displeased to find himself suffocating. That was what he was supposed to do to his opponents. Using his sand against him had just pissed him off. So he probably took a little too much pleasure in his next move, "Sand Coffin." He intoned while closing his hands.

Ultear screamed out in agony as all of the sand that Gaara had been subtly putting in her body through all the cuts Yugito made destroyed her circulatory system. Her screams abruptly stopped when the sand collected at her heart and burst it from inside and she dropped to the floor.

"How did you free yourself?" Darui asked while helping Yugito to her feet. He had only seen Gaara at the last minute when Ultear had him cornered. He had been sure that the Dust Devil member was still trapped in rock and slowly dying. Hell, the statue was still standing.

Gaara walked back to the rock statue and pushed it over, revealing that the entire back portion was missing, "My sand is everywhere. As long as I have even the tiniest of grains I can erode everything around me into more sand," He explained before gesturing to the remains of the shell. It was quickly engulfed by sand and when the sand moved away there was nothing left. Gaara's expressionless eyes turned back to Darui, "Shouldn't you report this?"

Darui focused back from his thoughts of how scary his other teammate was at Gaara's words. "Right." He pulled out the Lacrima and contacted Sasuke. "This is Darui. We've eliminated Ultear."

"Roger," Sasuke's bored voice came out of the Lacrima, "You should hurry up and rejoin Kakashi-sensei. He's in a bit of a bind."

Darui wasn't sure what surprised him more, that a mage of Kakashi's caliber was in trouble or that Sasuke sounded concerned. "What kind of a bind?" He asked even while they began to move through the corridors.

"Bluenote is on board."

Before they could react to the news, a roaring noise was heard and the group only had time to face the direction of the noise before hundreds of gallons of water crashed into them and washed them away.

Kisame vs Hades

Kisame was bored.

When he started fighting against Hades he had been pumped. Here was a guy that had one of the top three spots in the bingo book and he was supposed to fight him man to man. It had started out great! He didn't bat an eye when Samehada had absorbed his magic and had even switched to a physical weapon. Sure it was only a chain-knife, but the world wasn't perfect. The guy also had a way to convert magic into his preferred darkness attribute and canceled any advantage that Kisame could have had because of Samehada. That's how it should be, two guys trying to cut each other in half, no magic needed. Unfortunately, the event wasn't as good as advertised.

Kisame found himself lazily deflecting another one of Hades' attacks with his oversized sword. This was really getting stale. It should have been obvious from the start, but Hades had no real power behind his attacks. Sure the knives were annoying and getting cut from one would make him bleed, but that was about it. From what Kisame could tell, Hades was primarily a magic user and not a physical fighter, at least, not anymore. There were signs that said that he used to be a straight fighter—little tics that weren't seen on mages. A level of skill that just didn't come from using magical weapons and could only be obtained through blood, sweat, tears, and hours of rigorously practicing how to get that one move to work just right without having an outside force to help you. Too many people relied on fancy weapons that would move themselves in midair with a thought instead of a perfect flick of the wrist. Kisame could respect that kind of talent. But Hades was out of practice and it showed. His moves just didn't have that extra 'oomph' behind them that would allow him to go toe-to-toe with someone wielding a weapon that naturally hit harder. Maybe if they had fought each other a couple of years earlier Hades would have retained some more of his old skills, but if the magical chain-knives from the start were any indication the man hadn't used a real one in years. He probably only kept a real blade on him out of habit more than anything else. How disappointing.

Hades, on the other hand, was getting quite annoyed with the strange looking blue-skinned mage. He was wielding his giant sword with ease and it prevented him from using any magic. He had considered trying to overwhelm its absorption, but he wouldn't have enough time to prepare a spell strong enough. He recognized the Samehada and knew of its capabilities. He wasn't willing to use anything short of a Jupiter Cannon against it. Even then, if it failed Kisame would gain all of that magic power for himself. Hades's ability to convert magic into Dark Magic wasn't even close to the level that Samehada was on. If fact, he would have probably been injured greatly if Kisame started to throw around higher powered Water Magic. Fortunately for Hades he had immediately switched to trying to cut him in half after seeing him block his Water Bullet.

Hades flicked his wrist again and brought his chain back around to try and wrap up Samehada again. If he could just get that blade away from Kisame then he'd have a chance to kill the man before he recovered it. His single blade was too small to do any real damage if it ever hit and Kisame's skill made it so that him connecting would be unlikely. He just needed an opening, no matter how small, and he'd have him.

Hades's chance came when Kisame grew tired of waiting and bull-rushed him after knocking aside his chain for the ump-teenth time. The Red Dawn member was able to skillfully avoid the blade when Hades tried to attack him from behind, but was then forced to block the attack from a second chain-knife that Hades had kept up his other sleeve. Hades used the chance to wrap the chain around Samehada and trap the sword in place. The two then entered a struggle over the sword. Kisame was kept at a disadvantage due to Hades's second blade trying to skewer his head. Eventually, Hades was able to wrap his other chain around Kisame's left arm. Now the two were in a standoff, with Kisame struggling to move and Hades unable to move without freeing Kisame.

Kisame's face split into a toothy smile before his cheeks puffed out and he spat a Water Bullet at Hades. The old man was forced to duck out of the way and his grip slackened. He tightened the chain holding Samehada, but instead of attempting to recover his signature weapon, Kisame yanked hard with his left hand and caught Hades off balance. With the chain loosened, Kisame requipped a plain sword into his hand and used it to run Hades through before he could recover. Kisame smiled at his shocked look, "Gotcha, old man." He cut his sword out of Hades's side and requipped it away before picking up Samehada and slinging it over his back. The sword opened up a toothy maw at the top and began to make indiscernible noises.

"I know you don't like it when I use other swords, but you were stuck." More noise from Samehada, "I was trying to free you, but that wasn't working, was it?" A disgruntled noise followed by the sword shaking its scales, "Like hell that would have worked!"

Their conversation was cut short when a series of magical seals appeared over Kisame. He jolted in recognition and reached to pull Samehada out. He disappeared in a flash of purple power as a shockwave rocked the ship.

Hades stood with his hand outstretched and observed the destruction that his Amaterasu spell had wrought. Kisame's attack had hurt, but his Devil's Heart was still intact and nothing short of disintegration was going to kill him.

Before the smoke cleared Kisame's voice was heard, "Great Tsunami Prison!" A tidal wave of water spawned from Kisame's location and came crashing down over Hades. It didn't stop there and soon the entire airship was flooding. The weight being too much for the engines to handle and with the lack of manpower soon began to drag the airship back down to earth.

Hades recovered from the disorienting attack and saw that the entire room was underwater. Even more terrifying was Kisame's new appearance. The man's already vague shark-like appearance had been enhanced by absorbing Samehada. His cloak and the shirt he wore under it had been destroyed along with a good portion of his pants. It was irrelevant due to the increase in size. He now was a monstrous shark-human hybrid with gray skin that appeared to be made of Samehada's scales. There were two fins that stretched behind his arms which now ended in webbed and clawed hands along with his feet. A large dorsal fin extended from the top of his head and down his back. He also had a tail that thrashed through the water like an excited dog's that matched the giant toothy grin he was sporting.

'What in the Hell…?' Hades wondered. He then realized that Kisame had also grown gills and wouldn't be dropping his spell soon. He raised his hands to begin converting the water only for Kisame's claws to rip through his side and force him to release his magic and air at the same time. He glared at Kisame and began to plan a counterattack that would allow him to get some air. This fight would be difficult, but he couldn't lose. Not when he was so close to meeting Zeref again.

Hades waved his hands and created an air bubble around him so that he wouldn't drown, "Come. Monster."

Before they could move, the entire ship around them lurched, and it began to descend. First slowly, then it suddenly began to plummet downwards far faster than just an engine failure. Then they hit the ground and the airship twisted and collapsed around them.

With Kakashi

A tall and muscular man walked through the hallways of the airship. He had his dark hair pulled back in a long ponytail by several straps and large sideburns that were angled up towards his hooked nose. He wore a sleeveless blue and black cloth over a dark shirt that had a sun on the lower portion of it. Over this he wore a white overcoat that went down to his baggy pants which were tucked into his boots. The most eye-catching part about the man was that the ground bowed around him and the roof seemed to be sinking towards him while he walked.

The man stopped when he came across Kakashi nonchalantly leaning against the wall while reading from his orange book. He kept walking closer to Kakashi and noticed that he was apparently unaffected by his gravitational field. Eventually, Kakashi looked at Bluenote over his book, "Can I help you?" He asked in a bored tone, every muscle tensed to move if the man attacked.

"Yes," Bluenote said with a hint of amusement, "Show me how far you can fly."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him and blurred away in a burst of speed right before the gravity around his previous position spiked and pulled the ceiling down to the floor. Bluenote turned to attack Kakashi again, but was suddenly crushed under a huge force of gravity. He was quickly able to counter with his own gravity and looked over to where Kakashi was standing. He took special notice of the mage's spinning red eye.

A twisted smile grew on Bluenote's face, "Excellent. This is excellent."

Gravity clashed again, but Kakashi had copied Bluenote's Fall and Rise and the man wouldn't be able to use it against him. The larger man swiftly changed tactics and began to rip up portions of the hallway to use against Kakashi. The silver-haired mage responded by turning into blue lightning and darting past the debris. He stopped in midair and sent a Lightning-Make: Hound, but once it got too close to Bluenote the gravity increased and forced the attack into the floor as expected. What wasn't expected was that the extra lightning that he had pumped into the attack didn't discharge across the floor due to the sheer amount of power that Bluenote had put into a casual block.

"That's it," Bluenote said while pointing at Kakashi's face or, more specifically, his left eye. "I don't care about what the Hidden Guilds want with Grimoire Heart or Zeref. I was only here for one thing, but now I have another target," Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he caught what Bluenote was implying, "I want power, and that eye will give it to me."

"Sorry," Kakashi apologized with false cheer, "But this eye was a special gift from a friend of mine and I'd hate to be one of those people that re-gift things." Bluenote rushed forward and threw a punch at Kakashi that he easily caught in one hand despite their differences in size and the amount of Gravity Magic the dark mage was using, "Especially one as useful as this," Kakashi finished in a harder tone before discharging his blue lightning through Bluenote's arm.

The other mage grit his teeth against the pain and flared his magic to force Kakashi to release his hand and then grabbed onto his arm before he could react. He pulled him in for a knee strike to the chest and then a haymaker to the side that Kakashi blocked. The silver-haired mage then thrust his arm forward and pushed Bluenote back with a gravity-enhanced palm thrust. The large man only skidded a few feet before coming back for more.

The two exchanged blow after blow in an attempt to take the other down. Bluenote had adapted quickly and only used his magic in small bursts to enhance his attacks while Kakashi was running the gauntlet of every magic he had that could help in close combat. The two separated, but neither seemed affected by the fighting beyond minor marks where a few punches and kicks broke through.

"You can fly pretty well, but nothing can fly forever," Bluenote said before extending his hand out at Kakashi, "Fall."

Kakashi attempted to counter with Rise, but Bluenote was pumping a lot more magic than usual into it and he was overwhelmed. He braced himself and was able to remain standing albeit with difficulty. Bluenote noticed and capitalized on that weakness by rushing forward with his arm outstretched to take Kakashi's eye, and possible his head.

Before he got within arm's reach, Bluenote was punched by a giant, skeletal hand that was coated by light blue fire. Bluenote looked up from his new place in the hallway's wall and followed the skeletal arm back to where an entire upper portion of a human skeleton that was covered in the same flames surrounded Kakashi. Before his eyes the skeleton grew flesh and then armor began to appear around it. When it was done, there was the torso of a man with a spiral shaped mask around its face and wearing heavy armor. "What in the world…?" Bluenote said in disbelief while pulling himself out of the wall.

"This is the second half of my friend's gift. The first magic I ever copied, Avatar Magic: Kamui." Kakashi said. Two three-sided shuriken with curved edges appeared in his avatar's hands, "This is over." He told Bluenote before throwing both the shuriken at him.

Bluenote smirked at Kakashi's proclamation and lazily went to force the shuriken into the ground. His smirk then disappeared when his magic wasn't working and he was forced to actually dodge out of the way to avoid getting bisected, losing most of his ponytail in the process. Kakashi's avatar then rushed forward and sent a punch at Bluenote that he also couldn't stop with his magic. "How?" Bluenote muttered while picking himself up from the ground, "How are you dodging my gravity!" He demanded. Without waiting for an answer, he flung his arms forward and clasped them together, "Disappear! Black Hole!"

A ball of black and purple magic appeared before him and began to suck in everything in its surroundings. Kakashi's avatar began to move towards the ball and Bluenote laughed in triumph. His laughter soon died when the avatar didn't stop at the Black Hole and instead walked right through it. "Impossible," He breathed out in disbelief. His Black Hole was unbeatable. It just continued to get stronger as time progressed, and he just kept walking as if it wasn't there.

Inside of his avatar, Kakashi was panting slightly while moving towards Bluenote. Kamui, the Avatar of Intangibility. Unlike with Susanoo's lightning or Amaterasu's fire, Kamui's intangibility was always active. It was also only able to be sustained for a maximum of five minutes and wasn't a popular form. Obito had been the first person to learn it in over a century and even he hadn't used it that often. It was a trump card and one that Kakashi wished he had never had seen. But he had, and in his friend's memory he would use it for Silent Leaf, the guild he had loved. The unique shuriken weapons of Kamui formed in Kakashi's magical hands, "Die."

Bluenote watched the shurikens fly at him with a thunderous expression. He wasn't going to die here. He was Bluenote. The strongest of Grimoire Heart. The 'Scourge of the Cabria War'. He wasn't going to die here. The dark mage flung his hands wide and called upon all of the magic power he had left, "FALL!"

The shurikens cut through Bluenote and left him in three pieces, but the damage was done. The entire airship shuddered as his magic took hold even in death and began to drag it down to the earth.

Kakashi was going to attempt to nullify the gravity, but after he dropped Kamui he heard the sound of rushing water and turned into a bolt of lightning that left through the hole created by Black Hole and out into the sky. He activated Wind Magic and watched the airship plummet. It was moving too fast for him to be able to do anything about it now. "Well, that isn't going to look good in the report," He muttered. He hoped that everyone would make it out okay, but with all that water in there he couldn't use his Lightning Form to check on them without possible killing everyone inside.

On the Ground

Shikamaru, Suigetsu, and Haku all looked up when they felt Zabuza's magic power spike and then drop shortly after. Suigetsu smirked, "Zabuza-sensei just finished off that crazy bastard," He cockily stated.

"That's good," Shikamaru absently said. His thoughts were still on Tsume and Kuromaru. Their magic had disappeared earlier and he still wasn't sure what that meant. He also couldn't feel Zoldeo's magic either and that was concerning. All three of their magic signatures were missing which could mean several things, none of them particularly good for the Hidden Guild members.

Suigetsu saw his concern and smacked Shikamaru on the back, "Don't worry so much. With Zabuza-sensei here we have nothing to fear."

'Not with the magic power that I'm sensing from him,' Shikamaru didn't voice his thoughts though. It wouldn't do to crush moral like this. They needed all of it that they could get.

A snapping sound was heard and the three quickly spun to see Tsume walking out of the forest with a pronounced limp and blood streaming down her face. She gave them a crooked grin, "I got the goat-bastard."

"See? Nothing to worry about," Suigetsu said. He began to walk over towards Tsume with a grin. "Nice job, ya crazy bitch. Where's your dog?" He asked while slapping Tsume lightly on the back.

Instead of answering him, Tsume shoved her hand into Suigetsu's chest and kicked him away. The other two jumped to their feet but Suigetsu waved them back, "Stay away! She put something in me!" He warned before the Explosive Lacrima in his chest went off and Suigetsu was scattered everywhere.

"Tsume-san, what the hell?" Haku exclaimed. She wasn't worried about Suigetsu—he'd pull himself back together in a few minutes—she was more concerned with Tsume's actions.

A line of knights appeared behind Tsume and Zoldeo made his way to the front of them. "Excellent work, Tsume, or should I say 'The Bitch from Hell, Tsume'," Zoldeo said, making sure that they knew what had happened.

"Bastard," Shikamaru growled out. He went to attack Zoldeo, but was stopped when two arrows slammed into him, one striking his knee and the other burying itself into his gut. He dropped down and rolled behind a tree before two more struck the ground where he had been.

"Shikamaru!" Haku shouted in concern before having to dodge her own arrows. She looked around and saw that the knights and Tsume had surrounded her. She clucked her teeth in distress and then raised her hands, "Ice Mirror Dome!" Dozens of mirrors made out of solid ice formed around the fighters. Haku immediately jumped into one and began to travel through the mirrors to avoid detection.

The knights began to try and hack through the mirrors to limit her movements, but found that they were much tougher than they appeared when their swords just bounced off of them. It also made it easier for Haku to kill them by jumping from an opposite mirror and knocking a knight into the mirror he just failed to break. Soon, bodies impaled with a giant icicle or frozen solid began to drop out of the mirrors to distract the knights. Even under Zoldeo's control the knights were still distracted when their dead comrades began to fall like rain.

Zoldeo sighed in disappointment. He had been expecting more from his knights. The ice girl was strong, even while under the effects of his magic. Perhaps it was time for him to step in. "Tsume, to meh," He bleated. The enslaved mage appeared by Zoldeo's side on command. She had been trying to track Haku down without success. Even in her Black Wolf Form the Bloody Mist assassin was too fast for her to catch. "We're going to destroy these mirrors," Zoldeo stated and then emphasized his point by lashing out with a kick that slammed into the middle of a mirror and sent cracks through the entire structure. Not enough to shatter it, but more than enough to render it useless.

Up in a mirror towards the top, Haku frowned under her mask. 'Damn. I didn't expect him to be that strong.' She looked down and watched Tsume turn into her Hellhound Form. 'That could be a problem,' She noticed as the pair began to attack her mirrors with flames and kicks.

Outside of the dome, Shikamaru began to perform some basic first aid while keeping an eye out for the man that had shot him. His knee was in agony and he doubted that he'd be able to move it after this, even if Tsunade got her hands on him. There was only so much that magic could do and he didn't think replacing most of his knee was on that list. That was to say nothing about his stomach. Mentally, he knew that it looked worse than it was, but with all the blood he was losing it was hard to keep that in mind. 'Fuck!' He internally swore. This was not good. He could see Haku's dome shrinking from here, but he couldn't do anything without taking another arrow. He needed a miracle now. Where the hell was Suigetsu?

A hand clamped down on Shikamaru's mouth and turned his head away from the tree's edge. The shadow user lashed out with a quick punch meant to break his opponent's wrist, but was stopped by his other hand. "Calm down. It's me," Shikamaru relaxed at the familiar—if scratchy—voice of Zabuza. He took a moment to get a good look at the man and he was rough. Shikamaru could make out the burns that covered his body and he was looking tired. Once he had made sure that Shikamaru recognized him, Zabuza removed his hand, but held his finger to his lips to indicate that he should stay quiet.

"What happened to you?" Shikamaru asked in the lowest tone he could manage. Getting shot in the stomach and bleeding out made it hard to speak without hissing in pain, but he managed.

"Killed a god killer. Took a pill. I'm fine. What's going on?" Zabuza briskly answered while peering around the trunk.

"Zoldeo got Tsume. Turned her into one of his summons." Shikamaru nodded towards the ice dome, "Haku's fighting the both of them now. Suigetsu got a Lacrima shoved into his chest that blew him up. He's all over the place."

"How long ago was that?"

"About a minute and a half."

Zabuza "tched" in disappointment, "It'll take him too long to reform by himself. He's out of it for now." He pointed to the arrow shafts sticking out of Shikamaru, "How'd you get those?"

"Sniper got me. Probably another of Zoldeo's summons." He pointed over to a set of arrows in the tree behind Zabuza, "Nearly took my head off when I tried to peak around the corner. Won't even let me use a mirror to look."

Zabuza hummed in thought, "Do you know where he is?"

"North. Straight ahead. About four hundred yards. He's got this whole area pinned down good. This is the third tree I've used." Shikamaru looked at Zabuza, "Why? You got a plan?"

"Something like that," Zabuza mumbled, only half paying attention. He turned to Shikamaru, "I'm going to take care of our archer problem. Do me a favor and look out to the tree's left."

"If I keep giving him a chance he'll eventually take my head off."

"Just do it, you baby."

Shikamaru snorted, but complied. His prediction proved true and this time he got a cut across his cheek for his troubles. "What good did that accomplish?" He asked with an annoyed tone, but when he looked back, Zabuza wasn't there anymore. "Great," He muttered aloud while shaking his head. He reached back down and picked up the bandages. Zabuza could go off and do whatever the hell he wanted, Shikamaru had wounds to dress.

Haku nervously bit her lip inside of one of her mirrors. She could feel Zoldeo draining her magic and the mirrors were getting easier to break. One of his kicks could shatter them now and Tsume's fire was melting them like ice cubes in a heat wave. She was getting kind of screwed here. 'No choice then,' Haku reached out with her magic and requipped her weapon before launching herself out of the mirror.

Zoldeo and Tsume were surprised when Haku suddenly appeared behind them and then just as quickly disappeared into another mirror without doing anything. They thought she was just running, but soon she did the same thing again, and again, and again.

"What the hell is she doing?" Zoldeo wondered aloud.

Haku's movements continued for a few seconds until she stopped in front of them. They immediately noticed that she was carrying what appeared to be a large sewing needle in her hands. One hand was resting on the hilt and the other held some wire tied around the eye at the base. Haku gave a quick tug on the wire, "Wire Crucifixion." Previously unseen wire that ran between all of the mirrors pulled taunt and tied up the two mages.

Zoldeo struggled against the wires, but found that he could not break them. "How? My magic should weaken yours."

Haku shifted her grip so that she was holding the needle-like sword in a throwing position, "There's nothing magical about Nuibari. There's just a Lacrima at the base that holds an infinite amount of really strong wire."

Zoldeo's jaw clenched and he glared at Haku with a thunderous expression, "No. I am above you humans. I will not die at a human's hands."

Before Haku could pierce them both, Suigetsu's head formed near her feet, "Haku! Back!" He shouted at her.

Years of working alongside each other had given Haku a deep trust in her partner, despite her issues with his personality. Thus, when she was told to move she didn't hesitate and abandoned her attack. While heading towards the woods, Haku looked back and saw why Suigetsu had warned her. The Grimoire Heart airship was plummeting out of the sky and was close to landing on them. She made her way to Shikamaru's location and grabbed onto the sloppily bandaged mage before taking off again at an impressive speed. Zabuza appeared next to them with his sword put away and both arms behind him to help him run. When he reached them, Shikamaru weakly grabbed his arm and before anyone could say anything, he pulled them into the shadows.

Once she had entered the shadows, Haku's hold on her Ice Mirror Dome and Wire Crucifixion both dropped. But by then it was too late. Zoldeo screamed in rage and frustration as the airship crashed down on top of him. Next to him, Tsume closed her eyes and a small smile crept across her face.

Shikamaru rose out of the shadows with Zabuza and Haku and collapsed onto his side while breathing heavily. He placed his hand to his stomach and confirmed that he had ruined the patch-job from earlier. "Shit," He groaned while reaching for the small medkit in his jacket.

Haku came over and stopped his shaking hand before he could try to stitch himself together in a way that would give Sakura and Tsunade an aneurism just by hearing about it. She held her left hand to his side and used her magic to keep it cool and numb and went to work with the needle. "Thanks," Shikamaru weakly told her.

Zabuza had requipped his Kubikirbocho and was leaning on it while looking at the wreckage. "Damn, I doubt anything made it out of there unscathed," He muttered while keeping his eyes peeled. It wouldn't do for them to get killed just because they assumed their enemy was dead without checking.

He heard rustling in the water that was leaking out of the ship and tensed, but relaxed when he saw it was just Suigetsu. The white-haired teen shook himself like a dog and walked over to Zabuza, "Hey, Sensei."

"Suigetsu," He acknowledged, "What's the status in the ship?"

The younger mage closed his eyes for a minute and reached out with his senses through the water. "I'm getting a lot of bodies and blood, but that's probably just the grunts. There's some that have been dead for a while, and, wait. Yeah, we've got some live ones," He reported.

"Any of ours?"

"I think. There's a damp spot that isn't completely soaked which might be from Sandman. I've got movement by the engines that I'm not sure of, and... Whoa," Suigetsu opened his eyes in surprise, "Kisame-sama is here."

If Zabuza had eyebrows they would have been up in his hairline, "Kisame-san? What's Red Dawn doing here?"

Suigetsu shrugged at his sensei and they watched as a large blade of water cut through the wreckage and continued into the forest, "I don't know, but he seems pissed."

"Or he's just being lazy and doesn't want to climb through everything," Zabuza said.

They sensed something approaching and looked up to see Kakashi floating down towards them. He landed on his feet and sat down on the wet ground next to them with a heavy sigh. The pair noticed that he was breathing heavy and had replaced his headband. "Hatake, you look like shit. What happened?"

"A minor complication. It appears that we won't have to send a team after Bluenote later," He said.

Zabuza whistled, "Damn. That bastard was on the ship. How didn't you all notice?"

"Hades must have been keeping him collared. I wouldn't even have known if I hadn't tried sensing out Ultear. Guy was making his way through the ship and warping everything around him. He was the only other person on board that could be felt through Kisame and Hades' fight." He told them. "Those two were throwing so much magic around that I could only feel twenty feet around me before it went fuzzy."

Zabuza motioned towards the crash site, "I take it that he was behind that?"

"Yeah. Got pissed at me during our fight and decided to bring the whole thing down on my head. Crazy sonofabitch."

"Sounds like it. So now what? We go look for survivors?" Zabuza asked. Kakashi was still in charge of the mission.

"Give me a minute to catch my breath and then I'll try sensing them out," He said.

While they were waiting for Kakashi to recover, Kisame and Sasuke made their way out of the rubble to join them. Kisame was back to normal and had Samehada slung over his back while Sasuke looked like a drowned rat and was shooting angry glares at his partner. "All I'm saying is that you could have waited a few more minutes before stabbing the damn heart. I was having fun," The larger man was telling his companion.

"We were supposed to kill Grimoire Heart. Stabbing the heart was the only way to kill Hades, so I stabbed the damn thing. Not that it mattered much, because somebody flooded the whole airship," Sasuke bit back with a glare.

Kisame ran his hand through his hair, "Yeah, Leader's not gonna be happy about that. He wanted to keep the airship."

"Even better," Sasuke muttered. They reached the other mages and he acknowledged them with a grunt. He walked over to where Kakashi was resting, "How's it going, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Been better," Kakashi looked at Sasuke, "You look like a cat that was left out in the rain." Sasuke made a disgruntled noise, "Sound like one too."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teacher's banter, "What happened to you?"

"Bluenote."

"Ah," Sasuke's lips pursed at the mention of the Grimoire ace. That must have been one hell of a fight. He knew that Kakashi was strong, but he looked like he was barely scratched, just low on magic. Either Bluenote's reputation was overinflated or he had been underestimating just how strong Kakashi was.

"How'd things go on your end?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke grunted, "I got the call from Darui's team that they'd killed Ultear, so I stabbed the Devil's Heart. Next thing I know the entire place is filled with water and before I recover from that the whole damn ship is crashing. So you could say that I've had better missions," Sasuke finished with a more annoyed look than usual and only scowled deeper when Kakashi chuckled at what he believed to be his misfortune (it was actually the effects of his scowl being ruined by his sopping appearance). He gave a 'humph' and moved on to check on Shikamaru.

Kakashi waited a few more moments and then climbed to his feet, "Okay, I'm good to go." The others looked at him expectantly, but before he began a large burst of sand came from the wreckage and a sphere of sand appeared. Wet clumps fell off of it like mud as it made its way over to the mages. When it got close enough, the sphere opened and dumped out Yugito, Darui, and an extremely displeased Gaara, who still had clumps of sand from his Sand Armor stuck to his person.

"I see you made it out alright," Kakashi stated in an overly cheery voice that did nothing for Gaara's nerves.

"In the most technical sense, yes, we made it out unharmed," The normally stoic redhead tersely agreed. "The only issue was when Yugito-san had her magic drained, but she took a pill and now that's not a problem."

Kakashi coughed awkwardly into his hand, "Yes, well let's see who else made it." He stood still for a moment and began to sense for any signs of life. As the seconds ticked by, even what little was seen of Kakashi's face became more and more grim. At one point they noticed him wince especially hard, but then he schooled his features. Eventually, he dropped his magic with a frustrated sigh.

The others looked at him expectantly, but were unwilling to ask what he had seen. Finally, he spoke up, "On Grimoire Heart's side there were no survivors," The mages relaxed at the news that their job was done, but Kakashi continued, "Asuma and Kurenai didn't make it. They died before the ship went down. I found Kuromaru's body deeper in the forest. I assume that Tsume also didn't make it," Zabuza nodded in confirmation. Kakashi turned to Kisame, "There's no chance that Hades could be faking his death?"

Kisame also nodded, "Bastard got impaled by at least three beams during the crash, probably because Sasuke-kun stabbed his heart."

"In that case all that's left to do is recover Zeref's keys and the bodies. We'll take the heads back to Silent Leaf and our fallen will be buried. Go."

The others left. They could tell that Kakashi was taking the deaths of his friends hard and were willing to give him some space. Sasuke walked over to Kakashi, "We'll be staying with you. Nagato-san wants us to report in with him at Silent Leaf."

"That's fine," Kakashi said without looking at him. Sasuke gave his sensei's shoulder a squeeze and then left. He knew what Kakashi got like and the man just needed time. It was the only thing for a wound like his.

Once he was sure they were all out of sight, Kakashi slammed his fist against a tree in frustration, leaving a large indent in the trunk. It was his fault. He had left Asuma and Kurenai to face Meredy alone. He had seen Bluenote as a bigger threat and had split from his team to deal with them. The logical side of him knew that they couldn't face Bluenote, but that didn't mean that he couldn't have stayed with them. Meredy's magic ran off of emotions and those two had been lovers. He couldn't have picked a worse matchup for them if he tried. They had reassured him that they'd be fine, but he should have stayed. They hadn't been informed about Meredy's age and weren't even supposed to come into contact with the girl, he had known that and still left them and look where he was now. Sage, he was going to have to tell Master Hiruzen that he had let his son and his fiancé die. How was he supposed to do that? Kakashi's hand went through his hair and he closed his eyes. There were four new graves that needed to be dug, four more names that would haunt his thoughts at all hours of the day. Four faces that he'd keep seeing out of the corner of his eye. Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Kakashi lashed out at the tree again and toppled it as tears ran down his face, partially hidden under his mask. Two questions ran through his mind, the same two that he always asked himself when he looked at Obito's grave, his father's grave, Minato-sensei's grave, everyone's grave. Why was he always the one alive in the end and when would it end?

Tenroujima Island

Naruto was seated cross-legged on the boat deck. Around him were the patiently waiting members of the kill team. Nagato was there with his two subordinates: Hidan, a man with slicked back silver hair and purple eyes, and Kakuzu, a man with dark skin, green irises, red sclera, and a masked that covered most of his face. They were all wearing their Red Dawn cloaks.

Naruto currently had hundreds of clones running around on the island, searching for Zeref. Sometimes they'd pop and he'd get his hopes up, but it was mostly because they were caught off-guard by one of the beasts on the island. But this time they didn't. Naruto jumped to his feet and pulled out his combat knife. He looked at the map of Tenroujima and stabbed his knife down, "There. Zeref's there."

Hiruzen nodded at Naruto and placed his hand on his shoulder, "Remember, don't leave the boat and keep it ready in case we need to leave in a hurry."

Naruto solemnly nodded at Hiruzen. He had just felt the power through his clone, but it was enough to humble him. That dark wave of magic had killed everything in its way. He subconsciously clutched his chest while he watched the team follow his clones. There was no need to keep the boat running in case they needed to leave in a hurry. There'd be no retreating. They'd either go back together—

—or Naruto would be going back alone.

A/N: So this was a doozy. Originally it was going to include the Zeref fight too, but I'll save that for the next chapter to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Hidden Guild: Silent Leaf. Not much to say on this one. PM me any questions you want answered. Later.