Dragonslayer
Chapter 36: Erza Uzumaki Namikaze
"Fairy Tail"- Regular Speech
'Fairy Tail'- Regular Thoughts
"Fairy Tail"- Flashbacks
"Fairy Tail"- Dragon/Demon/Monster Speech/Names of Spells
'Fairy Tail'- Dragon/Demon/Monster thoughts
Fairy Tail- Stating of the year or a place
Summary: I was told I was alone...in a world where NAKAMA were every person's desire. Then HE found me, he said he saw great potential in my small body and he raised me. Because of him I lived...I learned...and I finally found someone I could call nakama. Even if he didn't call me the same. That is why I will do whatever I can to live up to his name. As the son and dragonslayer of the greatest being I have ever met. Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.
(Insert Music: Fairy Tail- Christina)
Magical Bomber Christina, Skies of Fiore
The members of Blue Pegasus were busy doing the majority of the technical work such as maintaining the internal pressure of the airship as they were at a very high altitude of over three hundred feet, making the sure the lightning lachryma that powered the airship wouldn't overload and continued to release a steady flow of current to supply energy throughout the entirety of the still damaged Christina and also managing the airship in its entirety.
Through the large frontal window of the control room, the Light Guild Alliance members, consisting of Gray, Happy, Charle, Wendy and the Trimens of Blue Plegasus, were able to gain a view of the star and moonlit night sky. There was also a wonderfully beautiful view of the rampaging tower of Nirvit-made destruction that was Nirvana as it was being held back by the two hundred foot tall mass of crimson and black fur that was the seven tailed Onibi Myobu.
Note the sarcasm.
"Explain to me again how you got this thing back in the air?" Charle asked.
"Well..." Hibiki was the one to answer as his fellow Blue Pegasus members were busy doing what they could with some of the working equipment. "...it was quite simple really, Charle-chan."
"Don't call me -chan." The feline growled, but the Sky Dragonslayer kept her grip on the Exceed to prevent her from clawing at the man's face. Ignoring her animosity, Hibiki continued to speak.
"Well after Natsu-kun and Erza-chan went ahead to go and help rescue Wendy-chan from Oracion Siete's clutches, we managed to regain consciousness after our fight with the large giant from Oracion Siete. We had regrouped with the members of Lamina Scale as they had managed to find Jura-san and they told of us the original plan to regroup with you guys after finding Jura-san at our meeting place. Afterwards we came up with the plan to see if we could get Christina up off the ground. My using my Archive Magic I was able to pull up the blueprints for Christina and so we all pitched in to do the maximum amount of work that needed to be done to fix it as best as we could. And Ta Daaaaaa...Christina can fly once more because of the genius that is teamwork."
Eve then rushed over and held Wendy's hand as he dropped to one knee. "We then picked up Wendy-chan and Erza-chan along the way when we picked up their magic energy signatures on the radar, thus our teamwork will rise to greater heights. Isn't that right, my lovely Wendy-chan?"
Wendy blushed lightly before removing her hand from the former Rune Knight cadet's grip. "E-E-Eve-san, please stop doing that. Y-Your method of flirting is very disturbing."
"Awww, but you're so cute when you're embarrassed."
"And you'll see I'm not if you continue to bother her you little man whore." Charle snarled as she held up her paws, her retractable claws making themselves known to the world once more. The youngest member of the Trimens laughed nervously and raised his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright, no need to bring out the claws, Charle-chan. We're all friends here."
"Then stop flirting with a girl who's obviously too young for you, you pedophile."
"Oi, I'm not a..."
Charle got in Eve's face and growled at him. Eve swallowed the remaining words for his sentence as he felt the female Exceed's claws tickle his neck.
"You're in your late teens, seventeen or eighteen at most. You are currently trying to flirt with and win the heart of a young, twelve year old girl who hasn't even hit puberty yet because said girl is twelve. Given these facts, you are therefore in fact a pedophile. That includes your friends if they do this to twelve year olds as well."
Hibiki, Ren and Ichiya looked away, whistling innocently as they refused to make eye contact with the Exceed. Charle gestured to them. "Case in point. Therefore, all of you are either in the extremes of being inactive sexually or you guys are just that disgusting. One or the other, could be both, but either way, Eve-san, you are very much a pedophile."
"But..." The blonde halted his speech when Charle lightly touched his jugular with her middle claw.
"Please...give me more of a reason to kill you."
"Charle, don't bully Eve-san." Wendy reprimanded her partner, pulling her away from the blonde. "Pedophile or not, Eve-san has to help man the airship and it's not nice to shove your claws against people's throats." Wendy bowed to Eve. "Sumimasen."
"It's...It's okay, Wendy-chan. I'll just go waaaaay over there and not bother you or Charle-chan again." Eve scampered off to whatever blinking and whirring piece of machinery that was the furthest away from the daughter of Grandine and her homicidal feline partner. Wendy sweatdropped, muttering another "Sumimasen" to the young man before holding up Charle to face her.
"Do you really have to threaten everyone? Maybe this is why I'm your only friend." Wendy said. Charle's dark eyes narrowed at her dragonslayer partner.
"I'm your partner. I'll protect you from everything you can't protect yourself from." Charle replied. "Dragonslayer or not, you're too nice to people sometimes." Being the mature twelve year old that she was, Wendy countered the jab to her character by sticking her tongue out at the white furred cat. Suddenly, a massive shock wave raced through the air.
The Christina shuddered and creaked from the strain, but the Blue Pegasus mages did what they could to stabilize the equestrian mecha.
"What the hell was that?!" Gray exclaimed as he pressed his body up against the wall to stabilize himself.
"Show us what we got Hibiki!" Ren exclaimed. Hibiki heeded the dark skinned mage's words and tapped a few keys on his holographic keyboard and a three-dimensional representation of the surrounding airspace between themselves and Nirvana appeared.
"Scans from Christina's sensory attachments are showing that the air is now saturated with numerous amounts of eternano. What ever it was that hit us, it was most likely a pulse of magic energy. The pulses are still hitting us and are extremely large." Hibiki tapped a few more keys before nodding to Ren and Ichiya. The two nodded back and then pressed a few buttons and twisted dials. A humming sound came from Christina before it died down. "Alright, I've managed to boost Christina's defenses. We're generating counter-pulses to combat the ones coming directly at us from Nirvana, but I'm not sure how long we'll be able to keep this up since we don't have much power to spare to begin with. Twenty minutes is the most we can manage to keep up the shielding."
The sound of running footsteps then met everyone's ears. Turning to the door that led to the control room, said entryway opened to reveal the members of Lamina Scale.
"What hit us?" Lyon asked.
"We all felt the entire ship shake." Sherry added. "It nearly caused the medical equipment to fall over, but we were able to prevent that from happening."
"Speaking of which, how are our patients doing?" Gray asked. Toby scratched his dog-like nose before answering.
"All are still unconscious, but Lucy-san and that blue haired guy..."
"Jellal." Gray clarified, though with a bit of an edge to his tone. Toby nodded his head. "Yeah, that Jellal guy, he and Lucy-san seems to be the most stable. I'm sure things would have been much worse if Wendy-san hadn't been here. You really helped us out there."
Wendy shuffled her feet against the steel floor, blushing lightly while rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "It wasn't anything big. I just healed a few flesh wounds. Though Jura-san's condition was the worst out of them all since he suffered the misalignment of his spine. It could have been broken, but luckily his bone density is rather large. Sumimasen, I should have done better."
"Wendy, for such a prideful dragonslayer you really become very shy when someone compliments you." Yuka said with a sweatdrop.
"Well, my Onii-san was the only one to ever give me praise and it was only when it was justified. I do take pride in my healing and combat abilities, but it's just a bit of a shock since I've rarely had an outside party critique my work so I tend to get flustered a lot. Only Master Roubaul and Charle-san have needed healing every now and then and so it wasn't exactly much to work with in terms of compliments."
The Lamina Scale members nodded in understanding before Lyon turned back to his fellow student of Ur. "So Gray, back to my earlier question, what happened? What hit us?"
"Hibiki said that it was a pulse of eternano, obviously coming from Nirvana." Gray pointed his finger at Hibiki's holographic representation of the situation. "The pulses are still hitting us, but they managed to reroute some power to generate some counter-pulses. We got approximately twenty minutes before we lose the defenses."
The white haired Ice Make mage nodded to the black haired one. "Just what the hell is going on out there though?"
"I'd call it pandemonium." Charle answered. The word did sum up what they were witnessing quite well, so no one replied to the Exceed as they watched through the Christina's large frontal window.
Even though so much was going on within the Christina, none of them could tear their eyes away from the scene before them. Even the Blue Pegasus mages, who were supposed to be keeping an eye on the mechanics, couldn't help but stare at what was happening.
Explosions of magic energy that even they could feel from their far-off positions, tore through the air and decorated many different areas of Nirvana. Tongues of white flame tore through the sides of Nirvana before bursts of magic energy dotted the upper regions of the massive weapon of mass destruction. Some were a mixture of silver and black while others were black and dark blue. Visible air currents could be seen swirling every which way.
Given the fact that there was also a giant seven tailed kitsune holding back the ancient Nirvit creation, it was easy to say why this sight was being quickly burned into their minds.
Their eyes suddenly widened when they saw a massive beam of energy tear through the air and destroy a large portion of the Woodsea's forest. When the smoke from the explosion cleared a massive crater of scorched and cracked earth was all that remained of the formerly forested area.
"What the hell?!" Gray exclaimed.
"It's like a war zone out there." Charle muttered. Wendy hugged the Exceed a bit tighter as she sensed her Onii-san's magic energy in that attack. She knew Naruto was the cause of that level of destruction. After all, not many black and blue magic energy beams had the capability of wiping out areas of land about half the size of a mountain.
"There's something in the crater." Hibiki informed his companions. Everyone turned to the Trimens member as he activated Christina's telescopic viewing camera. There were originally two of them as the eyes of Christina's horse head were the telescopic viewing cameras, based off of the viewing capabilities used to target objects when using the Satellite Sqaure: Etherion. However, when Christina had been felled earlier by Brain's attack, one eye was destroyed.
A holographic screen came up, zooming in on the crater's location. In the centre of the crater was a single figure.
"NATSU!" Everyone cried out in alarm. He was bleeding...a lot. Burns covered his skin and from the way the telescopic camera showed his rapidly moving chest, he was having trouble breathing.
"I'm going to go down and get him!" Happy exclaimed.
"I'm going too!" Gray prepared to go out with his fellow Fairy Tail mage, but stopped for a moment when the Cait Shelter mage spoke.
"I'll take you there." Wendy said as she stood in front of the Fairy Tail mage. "Natsu-san is on the verge of dying. From the way his chest is moving he probably has a few broken ribs and he may have gained punctured a lung in the process. You'll need me there if we're going to have to bring him back to the airship alive. Those burns on him don't help him at all either. Charle-san, Happy-san, you need to help with carrying Natsu-san."
"AYE SIR!" Happy gave a paw-salute. Eve tapped a few buttons on the console he was operating and one of the side windows of the control room opened outwards.
"There's your quick exit! Now go!" The blonde told them. They didn't even nod their heads in thanks to the former Rune Knight cadet as the four of them leaped out of the window and began to go into a free fall. Gray planted his left fist into his right palm and a ice blue magic seal formed beneath him.
"Ice Make: Eagle!" A mighty eagle of pure ice formed, even releasing a screech like the actual flesh and blood creature. As he landed atop the avian creature, Happy and Charle glowed with magic energy.
"Aera: Max Speed!" The wings of the Exceed sprouted forth from their backs in a flash of white light and Wendy merely used her abilities to manipulate the air currents to fly.
The group then took off towards Natsu's location as fast as they could. A trail of wind and frost marked their path as they rocketed through the skies. The trees, the clouds, everything around them became literal blurs of colour. It was no surprise when they began to develop a mild case of tunnel vision. In under five minutes, the foursome had managed to reach the smoldering crater that was Natsu's current resting place.
Wasting no time, they immediately dropped down to the pink haired dragonslayer's body. Happy and Charle swooped down and grabbed the son of Igneel before turning around on the dime. They flew alongside Gray as they held the rosette's body from underneath so that it was relatively straight. Wendy rested herself down on Gray's ice eagle and placed both her hands over Natsu's body. A soft light blue glow covered her hands and washed over Natsu's body.
"How is he?" Gray and Happy asked, looks of concern etched across their faces.
Wendy frowned deeply as she drew back her glowing hand. Due to the speed they were moving at, it was obvious Wendy needed to work on a stationary object. Two flying felines were not going to cut it. A table would do nicely in her opinion. However, it was also due to this need that she had only managed to try a mere diagnostics check on the son of Igneel.
Key word being 'try' in this situation.
The Fire Dragonslayer was suffering, that much she could tell, but unless she could settle the Fire Dragonslayer down she wouldn't be able to run a proper examination. Suddenly, her enhanced hearing picked up a new sound, or rather the loss of one. She focused her hearing organs on the point of origin of the loss of sound, blotting out all others as she did so. Her brown eyes widened significantly. They needed to hurry.
"MOVE FASTER, NOW!" Wendy yelled. The sudden outburst caused everyone to widen their eyes in shock at her words.
"What?! What's happening?!" Gray asked.
(Insert Music: Fairy Tail- Fairy Tail Slow Theme)
Medical Bay, Magical Bomber Christina, Skies of Fiore
Due to it being located on the lower areas of the mighty Christina, the medical bay of the gargantuan airship was very much intact. Nearly all equipment had been undamaged, sines a few small glass bottles of iodine solution and sodium chlorate, but undamaged nonetheless. Currently, three of the medical bay's ten rooms were occupied.
In the first room, Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail's resident Celestial Spirit mage, lay in her bed. She was covered in bandages, her previously reddened and peeled skin had been removed when Wendy healed her and she regained her original lightly tanned complexion and she was clothed in a hospital gown. Within this room, Erza Scarlet was currently holding the hand of her unconscious guild mate. The monotonous beeping of the heart monitor filled the room and the brown eyed weapons master watched the numbers on the screen which represented her heart rate and blood pressure.
"Lucy, you've really done a great job so far on this mission." Erza said to her blonde friend. "To take on Angel all by yourself is truly a feat worthy of praise. Ameyuri-sensei and Kisame-sensei would be very proud to see how far you've come after training with them. I'm sure the kusarigama and power pole have been serving you well on the battlefield and is what ensured your survival against someone as powerful as a member of the Ballam Alliance."
She stroked the younger girl's head before tucking away a loose lock of hair behind her ear. The crimson haired mage laughed lightly. "Oh, I forgot to tell you what happened when we found you? By the first Master, I swear Natsu looked like he was going to tear the whole of Earthland apart if it meant avenging your loss. He looked like he would have fought a dragon if it meant getting to Brain to finish him for your sake. You...You really changed the guild when you came to Fairy Tail, Lucy. Even though you thought you were useless and that you were weak, you had a surprisingly strong will that could rival even the Master's."
She traced the pink mark of Fairy Tail on the back of Lucy's hand. "You've gotten remarkably stronger, Lucy and I can assure you that even though you had your doubts when you were training with Ameyuri-sensei and Kisame-sensei...you are no doubt worthy of the mark on your hand."
Erza rose up from the chair and her gauntlet covered hand squeezed the Celestial Spirit mage's own lightly. "Get better, Lucy. Natsu would be upset if you didn't wake up."
The red haired mage let go of her friend's hand and proceeded to exit the room, unaware of the small smile that graced the blonde's lips upon her leaving.
Erza closed the door behind her and then walked towards the room that was two doors away from Lucy's. As she walked past one of the doors, she looked through the small window on the door to view the room's contents.
In this room, Jura Neekis, member of the Ten Wizard Saints, was wrapped in bandages and all four of his limbs were placed in casts. A particularly large amount of bandages were wrapped around his head and covered his, formerly swollen, right eye. His back was forced back into alignment by Wendy, but even if he were to wake up, Wendy had said that it would still take time before he would be able to walk again and so as a precaution, they attached a back brace to the the muscular Earth Magic user.
The Requip Magic user winced inwardly as she took note of the Wizard Saint's condition. The man had surely taken a beating, that much was clear. The brown eyed woman then moved on and stopped before the door she was aiming for. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled audibly while running her hands through her hair in an effort to calm her nerves. She slapped her cheeks lightly before gripping the door handle.
She tentatively opened the door and her fearful gaze settled on the unconscious blue haired man that had once been her best friend. Jellal Fernandes hadn't had any sort of injuries sines his amnesia and mild magic energy poisoning due to his proximity with the Etherion crystals that had been stuck to his body during his time of unconsciousness in the coffin Brain had sealed him in. As a result, he didn't have to be hooked up to a heart monitor, but he did have an IV tube feeding him drips of morphine to keep him asleep.
Erza walked towards Jellal and sat in the chair near his bed. She didn't do anything, merely watching his sleeping visage and being hypnotized by the periodic rise and fall of his chest when he breathed. Finally, she spoke.
(Insert Music: Fate/Zero- Grief)
"Hey, it's me." Yeah, great start for a conversation with an unconscious guy. "Guess some things never change when it comes to you. Even when you're confused and lost you still manage to find a way to nearly get yourself killed...again."
Jellal merely exhaled.
"A few weeks ago at Akane Resort, you had Wally, Simon, Sho and Milianna bring me back to you at the Tower of Heaven. To be honest, I was happy to see them all and we caught up as we recalled old times. Well as much happy old times as one could find when trapped in a towering piece of infrastructure designed for slaves."
If the man had been conscious, Jellal would have sweatdropped at that sentence.
The Titania of Fairy Tail laughed lightly as she looked at the unconscious amnesiac. "When you were posing to be your own twin brother, Siegrain, I always had that itching feeling in the back of my head that the resemblance between you and Siegrain was too close. Even if you were twins, that tattoo on your eye...far too complex to even be defined as a birthmark in my opinion." Her hands tightened into fists as she clenched her skirt. "So when you threw off that hood and showed your face to me again, after so many years of not seeing it, I was happy. I could even go so far as to say I was downright euphoric when I saw you again. Truly I was."
A period of silence reigned throughout the air of the small hospital room. Erza's nostalgic look lost its luster and then everything after that came flooding back. Her emotions of love, happiness and nostalgia were replaced with hurt, betrayal and rage.
"...But then you pulled that bullshit stunt and tried to use me as a sacrifice for your outlandish scheme to activate the Tower of Heaven! I went back in hopes of seeing you and I did! You talked to me, you laughed with me, you...you hugged me just like how we used to when we were only child slaves during our days in the Tower of Heaven!"
Erza rose up from her chair. "I kept holding back, I even prevented myself from using Caliburn when we fought in that hellhole with the naive idea that the man I called my friend was still in there and you proved me wrong the entire time! You...You tried to kill me and even then I wept for you when Natsu destroyed the Tower, when I thought you had died!"
She hadn't realized it, but she had walked up to Jellal's bedside and was yelling in his face. Though, the morphine in his system kept him within the realm of sleep as he, like Erza herself, didn't register the increase in volume of her words.
"And now you're here! Alive!" The disbelief was noticeable in her voice. "Wendy tells me that you now have amnesia so you can't even recall anything! You're not aware of your past, your actions, your thoughts, you're not aware of anything!" Erza gripped Jellal by the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to her. "I can't even berate and belittle you for anything because you wouldn't have remembered any of those things! You wouldn't remember anything."
Erza's grip loosened a bit as her voice dropped. "You wouldn't even remember that I...that I loved you, Jellal Fernandes." Her body shook and tears dripped from her non-prosthetic eye onto the fabric of the former Ten Wizard Saints member's clothes. "Damn it, I loved you, you bastard! I loved you and I still do, but after everything you've done...you tossed me aside like I was trash and you tried to kill my friends and I! You manipulated our nakama to bring me to you and you twisted my heart, knowing that I still loved you and then crushed it beneath your heel!"
Her tears fell in greater amounts. "A person can never forget or lose the feeling of loving a person. Even if we were children, the way I felt for you was real and I cannot simply let that feeling leave me." Erza bent her down low and her crying visage curled its lips and bared her teeth in a snarl. "I've thought for many a month regarding how I felt for you and looked at the realistic point of view. Jellal Fernandes, unconscious and an amnesiac you may be, but if any part of you is conscious and remembers the things you've done, then you better hope that that part of you is listening intently because I will say this only once."
"Though I could just slit your throat and burn your body to ashes with Caliburn..." Erza paused in her speech as she spiked her magic lightly. Her mind drifting into the sadistic and darker areas of her psyche as she imagine her tearing apart Jellal with the blade of Merlin. She shook her head from side to side, abandoning the thoughts and let her magic energy die down.
"No...I won't. That sort of fate is much too easy for you. Instead, I will let you live and hand you over to the authorities. The Rune Knights will take you to the deepest parts of their prisons where you will live out the rest of your life in confusion and misunderstanding as to what you have done. It will be a fate worse than death for a man such as yourself and I hope you suffer in your last moments when you die. You do not mess with me or my nakama and expect me to forgive you, you understand me you unforgivable bastard?!"
Erza climbed off of Jellal's body and let him fall back with a soft 'thump' onto his pillow. "Fairy tales are fiction and in Fairy Tail, it's time we stopped looking at the fantasy we thought the world once was. There are ugly monsters that can tear the world apart with either power or words and you are one of those monsters, Jellal Fernandes. As of this moment, to me, you are just the hollow shell of the man I once knew. You are no longer my friend, you are no longer a nakama and you are no longer the man I had once loved with all my heart and soul."
She walked over to the door and gripped the door handle, turning it to open it. She glanced back over her shoulder and the Titania of Fairy Tail glared at her now former love, but the tears still continued to fall to the white tiled floor.
"Goodbye...and may you burn in hell."
She left the hospital room, closing the door behind her. She took in another shaky breath and quickly gripped the walls to steady herself as her legs felt a bit weak. She sniffled and wiped her eyes before walking down the halls of the medical bay to head back to the top and see what was going on with the others.
However, that was when she heard the sounds of rushing footsteps. Erza quickly reacted and flattened herself against the walls as five figures rushed past her.
'Happy, Charle, Grat, Wendy and...was that Natsu?' Erza's eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of the blood and peeled skin that trailed behind the two Cait Shelter and Fairy Tail mages. The crimson haired woman shook her head in disbelief and the slamming of one of the empty hospital room doors snapped her out of her stupor.
She ran down the very spacious hall towards the newly lit medical room. She slammed open the door herself, though she broke off the door's bottom hinge in the process.
She really needed to work on controlling her strength when doing stuff unconsciously.
"What's going on?! I thought I saw Na-OH MY GOD!" Erza's eyes widened when she caught sight of Natsu's form. The young man was practically the definition of being a lump of flesh. It didn't help that he was covered in blood, mainly by the skull, face and chest. His left arm and leg were bent at angles they shouldn't have been bent at and she could literally see the muscle tissue at the areas where the burns were located.
Wendy was rushing around the room, giving directions to Gray, Happy and Charle.
"Gray-san, prepare the stand, get the IV needle, the bag of morphine and the syringe set! Charle-san, Happy-san get me some iodine solution and chloral hydrate from the chemical cabinet right there on your left!"
"Aye sir!" Was Happy's response.
Erza shook her head as she watched Wendy work with amazing skill and efficiency with setting up the various medicinal chemicals and apparatus. Despite living in a forested area, it was clear she was no stranger to medical equipment and the way they were used. She hung the bag of morphine up by its clip and then readied the syringe set required for the drips. Setting up the tube needed to transport the morphine, she attached it to the drip syringe on one end and then attached the other end to the intra-venous needle.
She then took another syringe and filled it with 5 centimetres cubed of chloral hydrate from the container Happy was holding before moving over to Charle with a cotton pad. She lightly touched the iodine solution, dyeing the white cotton a golden yellow before rubbing it over Natsu's wrist. She stabbed the syringe with the chloral hydrate which effectively worked to put Natsu into an even deeper state of sedation as he had been groaning in pain during the whole process.
When the Fire Dragonslayer went silent, she stabbed the iodine covered artery on Natsu's wrist with the intra-venous needle and the morphine began to steadily enter his system.
"Come on, move faster magic! Come on!" Wendy urged herself as she held her hands over Natsu's body. A pale blue glow washed over Natsu's body and Wendy had the magic energy wash over the son of Igneel.
"Wendy, what happened to Natsu?! Why is he like this?! What's wrong?!"
"SHUT UP!" Wendy exclaimed. Erza's eyes widened when she saw the angry and tear filled eyes of the young daughter of Grandine. "I'm doing what I can as fast as I can Erza-san! I don't need you asking me questions in the middle of me trying to save Natsu-san's life! Now if you're going to just stand there and distract me then get out!"
"Wendy..."
"OUT!"
Erza stepped out, raising her hands in surrender. The red haired woman was angry at being yelled at, but when she saw Wendy's expression on her face as she tried to discern the problems with Natsu with her Sky Dragonslayer Magic, it was obvious just how much she needed to focus. Erza remained silent and stayed out, but only just outside the doorway so that she was able to watch. That and the fact that she busted the door down earlier.
Wendy's magic continued to wash over Natsu and she assessed the damage done to him through her diagnostics spell.
"Five broken ribs, four cracked. High levels of internal bleeding and magic energy loss. The left humerus, radius, ulna, tibia and fibula are all broken along with lightly cracked femur. Blunt force trauma to the head which resulted in the cracking of the northern region of the skull. Third degree burns caused by pure eternano. Eternano poisoning." Wendy's teeth gritted as she listed her patient's conditions and the five who watched grew a bit paler.
"Also, like I said on the way here, his heart beat's beginning to slow! We need to act quickly otherwise Natsu-san will die!"
Everyone's eyes widened as they looked at the pink haired mage.
'Natsu...dying?' Erza thought. She couldn't even comprehend that ever being a scenario in her head. Those two words being put close to one another, in her opinion, would have been like trying to mix oil and water.
Wendy's hands glowed brighter as her magic coated Natsu with sky blue light. Peeled and burned skin fell away and the scorched and bleeding muscle tissue was replaced with stronger and repaired muscle tissue. A fresh coat of skin grew back due to Wendy's abilities and Natsu began to look like himself again, at least on the outside. Wendy pushed harshly against his broken arm and leg to shift them back into position before applying her magic once more.
The sound of bones cracking echoed throughout the medical room and the three Fairy Tail mages and Charle watched in disgust and fascination as Natsu's arm and leg twisted and snapped back into place.
His heaving chest began to slow as his ribs were repaired and the numerous bruises that marred his body, in addition to the massive of amounts of internal bleeding, began to vanish.
"Gray-san, help me push Natsu's bed to the operating room here on the Christina." The black haired mage nodded and gripping the rails of Natsu's bed, he wheeled his dying best friend through the halls with Wendy. Charle and Happy flew alongside them and Erza followed after once she removed herself from the wall after being nearly run over by the hospital bed. Fire Dragonslayer and all.
"All of you, I'm going to need your help when I do the operating." Wendy said. "If you're queasy and squeamish about seeing blood and internal organs, I'm sorry for being blunt, but suck it up and get over it. Natsu-san's life is at stake here." The four nodded as they pushed through the swinging doors of the O.R.
They settled Natsu's bed and then rested him on the operating table. Wendy then began to utilize her high levels of speed and ran through the medical bay and pulled out a respirator so that Natsu would be able to breathe before they began. She then raced around the room, pulling out medical tables and tools, large fluorescent bulb lamps and finally, a camera hooked up to a monitor.
She hooked Natsu up to a heart rate and blood pressure level monitor, the periodic beeping echoing from the monitor's speakers informing them that Natsu's heart was indeed still beating, though the fact that it was now dropping below 55 bpm showed that he was in the early stages of Bradycardia and that his blood pressure was now at 88/60 showed that things were currently in the red.
(Insert Music: Two Steps from Hell- Heart)
"My healing his wounds managed to stop his heart from being forced to increase blood flow to release the necessary platelets to create fibrinogen and form scabs over his wounds, but I think that eternano poisoning I picked up earlier and the fact that his lung is still punctured is still causing these values to be present on the monitor." Wendy spoke.
"Happy-san, hold the camera and keep it over Natsu's chest, I'm going to cut him open down and the camera will show a large, high resolution image on the monitor for me to see. Ok?" Happy nodded. The blue furred Exceed took the camera from atop the monitor and hovered in the air, flapping his wings lightly to keep himself aloft.
Having clothed themselves with the proper surgery attire, Wendy, Gray and Erza stood around the operating table. It would have been kind of humourous when one saw a twelve year old acting as head surgeon and standing atop a small stool to get a view of her patient, but no one had time for laughs.
The monitor activated just as Wendy held up her gloved hand and willed the air currents around her fingers. Wendy looked at the digital clock on the monitor.
"2:51 AM, commencing surgery on patient Natsu Dragneel." She muttered to herself. Erza and Gray couldn't help but take in sharp intakes of breath when Wendy raised her wind coated fingers.
Once all the necessary equipment was in place, Wendy took a deep breath and quickly sliced open Natsu's chest with her thin air blade. Taking some forceps that were laid out on the small tools table beside her, she held onto the loose skin and peeled it back.
Happy and Charle immediately turned green as they saw Natsu's rib cage and the organs within said chest cavity. Taking another set of forceps, Wendy peeled back the other half of Natsu's peeled chest tissue to reveal the rest of his chest cavity. Sternum, rib cage, it was all there.
"Retractors." Wendy stated.
She didn't waste any time waiting for the others to figure out which tools were the retractors and so she grabbed them herself. She spread apart Natsu's ribs, the third and fourth left ones, to get better access to the right lung, the one which was noticeably smaller than the left due to it collapsing. A small rip was present on the organ from where the broken rib had impaled it.
Wendy reached forward with her glove covered hand and then had her magic inject itself into the patient's lung tissue. The magic of the Sky Dragon flowed through the collapsed organ and Natsu's sedated form released a loud gasp as his lung tissue was completely healed and the organ re-inflated. Wendy nodded in satisfaction before forming another wind blade around her fingertips, only this time a high pitched whine was heard from it.
"What are you going to do with that?" Happy asked as he kept the camera on Natsu's open chest.
"High frequency wind blade. I got the idea from the oscillating saw used to cut through bones in actual surgery. I need to get to the heart to make sure there's nothing physically wrong with it so I'll be cutting his sternum. If there is something physically wrong then I can fix him." Wendy explained as she looked up at the viewing screen where the tips of her fingers appeared.
With that, she began to cut cleanly through the dense piece of bone. The literal backbone of the chest cavity was cut through by the high frequency wind blade, the high pitched whining varying in pitch as she cut straight down it. Once she finished, she took the retractors from Natsu's ribs and then used them to cleanly separate the sternum as it was cut in half.
With the sternum and rib cage moving accordingly due to the retractors' use, the entirety of the heart and inner chest area were visible for all to see. Natsu's softly beating heart was visible to them and Wendy quickly grabbed the small vacuum hose and began to clean the blood coating the son of Igneel's cardiovascular organ.
"Gray-san, hold this. Keep sucking up any excess blood that covers the heart." Gray nodded and began to vacuum up the blood coating Natsu's heart. Wendy watched the heart and frowned deeply. She looked at the viewing screen, her frown increasing and then her eyes widened when a loud beeping echoed through the air.
"What is that?! What does beeping mean?! Beeping usually is bad!" Charle panicked. Wendy looked to the heart monitor and her eyes widened. She had been so caught up in getting to Natsu's lung and trying to look for the problem with his heart that she forgot to keep an eye on the heart rate monitor. Everyone else could have been excused since they didn't know one shit about surgical procedures.
"Dragons be damned, I can't believe I fucking didn't keep an eye on it!" She cursed. She quickly reacted and began to flood Natsu's heart with the healing aura of her draconian mother's magic energy. However, her eyes widened when she noticed the beeping was increasing. Natsu's heart rate did not change for the better as it continued to steadily drop.
"No No No No!" She pushed more energy against the blood pumping organ.
"Heart's at 20 bpm and BP's dropping to 50!" Erza read on the monitor.
"I CAN SEE THAT!" Wendy snapped. "Damn it! Damn it, I..." Her eyes teared up as she continued to try and heal Natsu's heart. "Shit, whatever it was that he did to himself that gave him eternano poisoning, it's blocking my magic from healing him."
"Can't you break through it?" Gray asked.
"No, can't. The diagnostics spell I used on his heart earlier showed that there are too many types of magic energies melding with the cells in his bloodstream. I can't get my magic to break it down in time!"
"What about increasing his metabolism? Have his body maybe burn it out since his blood is hotter than most people's so maybe the heat could flush whatever it is that's poisoning him, out." Erza suggested.
"And what would that do? The metabolism generates energy by breaking down food in the body to generate nutrients and then spreads it to the specific areas of the body where said nutrients are required! Blood flows to carry those nutrients along the blood vessels to get to those organs and areas. If I increase his metabolism, I increase his heart rate and currently, we can't fucking afford to do that!"
Everyone's heads snapped up and they all fell silent. A single, loud, monotonous sound echoed through the O.R. and that sound could only mean one thing. The realization struck them hard. Tears lined Wendy's and Happy's eyes, Charle was just in shock and Gray and Erza gritted their teeth and tightened their hands into fists.
"Im-Impossible." The Ice Godslayer muttered as he dropped the vacuum hose in his hands and fell to his knees.
"No...not like Rob-Jiji. He can't be dead!" Erza cried out. "HE CAN'T BE DEAD! WENDY DO SOMETHING! FIX HIM DAMN IT!"
Wendy's hands merely fell away from his body and she looked at the motionless organ that was the Fire Dragonslayer's heart. Tears fell from her eyes just as much Erza's and Happy's, her sadness and helplessness allowing her to make Erza's screams and shouts mere white noise to her. She raised her head and looked at the screen.
HR- 0 bpm
BP- 0/0
Status: Flat-lined.
(Insert Music: Naruto Shippuden- Madara VS Naruto)
Woodsea, Fiore
"Damn it you fucking piece of archaic shit, stop moving and just die already!"
Kurama's patience was running thin. Bad enough he'd been fighting off Nirvana and holding it in place for the past few hours, but now Naruto had flown off and was tearing it up through the forest if the noticeable sounds of explosive fighting was any indication. Kuram sighed in boredom and annoyance before his ears twitched as he felt a sudden spike in magic energy.
"Oh? Well this is interesting." He raised his head and glanced past the massive arachnid-like piece of architecture. He felt Naruto's magic energy in the distance where a noticeable amount of fallen trees marked the path of his battle when he and Zabrock had tackled each other off of Nirvana and into the forest below. "His magic seems much more in control and there's less of that bestial rage present." Kurama chuckled. "Looks like the brat finally got a grip on himself. Given that fact, I guess he'll be just about wrapping up his battle."
As if on cue, massive bursts of wind created visible distortions in the air.
"Oh there's the Fuuton spells." Kurama winced a bit as he took note of the numerous flashes of blue that dotted the night sky. "Damn, the brat's not holding back if he's using that many Energy Make attacks. Let's see, that's one...two...seven...twelve...twenty-two...sixty-four strikes with his Rasengan huh? Must be using Rasengan Rendan by my guess. And here comes the Dragonslayer Magic attacks."
Bursts of black and dark blue were visible to Kurama's eyes before he saw a massive cloud of black and blue that descended from above. The tip of said cloud turning into Acnologia's roaring head, white eyes and blue flame-like markings included. Kurama released a low whistle as he watched the dome of energy expand outwards, practically tearing apart the landscape and leaving nothing but a crater of scorched earth outlined by broken and toppled trees...which had a diameter at least twice the size of his skull. Given the fact that he was cur
"Holy shit, he used his Metsuryu Ougi on the guy. Well...that guy's dead. Now if he can just get out of the way I can finally BLOW YOU THE FUCK UP!" Kurama roared as he shifted back to Nirvana. Even with his seven tails dug into the ground, Nirvana was still managing to drag him along the dirt. Damn lachryma powered super spiders.
The blood coloured kitsune's ears twitched as he picked up a shift in the wind and felt an approaching, familiar magic energy signature. Shifting his eyes away from Nirvana, Kurama gave the blonde dragonslayer a growl.
"About fucking time you insolent brat! While you've been busy getting the shit kicked out of you, nice look by the way, I've been stuck playing push-it-super-strong with this piece of shit for over a few hours! It's practically a few hours from sunrise!"
Naruto looked over himself. He was literally half naked from the neck down. His face mask to his undershirt had been lost in the titanic four-way battle to the death and he lost his right pant leg. It was a miracle his golden flame necklace was still intact. And people thought object protection seals were stupid.
His healing factor had quickly rid him of all forms of physical damage, internal and external, but he had to wait a few minutes before making his way over to Kurama in order to ingest the necessary amounts of eternano to keep moving. He had only taken in the minimum amount so he was still on the verge of exhaustion and using Fuuton: Tobu didn't help ease said fatigue.
"Shut up, Kurama. Fire Dragon had managed to unlock Dragon Force, Zabrock Granfall proved to be a better close-combat specialist along with the fact that he had an unbelievably durable body structure and..."
"Blah Blah Blah, excuses. Look, can we get this over with now? I've been pissed off at this Nirvana thing and I just want blow this stone motherfucker to pieces."
Naruto and Kurama glared at each other before the kitsune grinned widely. "Nice to see you got your head on straight this time around, kit. You got a good look in your eyes. No more problems with that psyche of yours?"
Naruto shook his head before tapping the side of his skull. "My mental condition has been completely eradicated, my dear kitsune. Also, as you see, I've done what I've had to do here. You may bring your struggle to an end."
Kurama chuckled before a manic look burned in his crimson eyes. "Damn right I will." Kurama removed his tails from the ground and the sound of bones and muscles being rearranged echoed through the air. A deafening howl tore through the air as the mighty Onibi Myobu transformed into his bipedal form. With a roar, Kurama lashed out with his upper limbs and dug his claws into the sides of Nirvana. His muscles tensed visibly beneath his fur before he lifted Nirvana into the air.
"GOUKAKYU!" A blazing red fireball exploded against the underside of Nirvana and sent it soaring higher into the air.
The gargantuan weapon of mass destruction made an arc as it began to succumb to projectile motion and gravity, falling to earth with smoke and embers trailing behind it. Kurama growled before dropping back down onto all fours, his musculature reverting back to the arrangement that made him quadrupedal.
"I'm feeling very pissed off. I'll give that thing a flashy goodbye." His seven tails arced over his head and settled over his muzzle before he opened his jaws. His eyes shone like rubies in the moonlight and the eternano began to condense before him.
The positive blue and the negative red energies were pulled from the atmosphere itself and from Kurama's own magic energy stores, condensing into a powerful and dense sphere of purple-black eternano. When the energy pooled together to a suitable level in front of Kurama's gaping maw, he reared up on his hind legs and then crashed down on the forest floor and unleashed the pent up energy along with his emotions of annoyance and rage.
"BIJUUDAMA!" Kurama unleashed a bestial roar and the ebony energy sphere tore through the air, toppling trees from the winds generated by the speed at which it moved at. The timing had been perfect and just before Nirvana had hit the ground, the Bijuudama crashed into it. The seven tailed kitsune's attack pushed against Nirvana's own form and sent it careening through the air.
After flying for a few hundred feet, Nirvana crashed into the ground and the eternano bomb detonated. A massive explosion of white, red and blue lit up the night sky in the distance in the form of a massive dome that easily matched Naruto's earlier Metsuryu Ougi spell in terms of explosion diameter. The energy tore through Nirvana's rocky exterior. The ancient weapon appeared to crumble as the destructive attack ate away at its body and then completely obliterated the massive Energy Lachryma that powered it and prevented it from being destroyed.
The flaw in Nirvana's creation was that in order to stop it, all eight Energy Lachryma in its limbs had to be destroyed simultaneously. Kurama's attack obviously served that purpose and as the massive flash of light and energy died down with the mushroom cloud that had formed, a large empty area composed of scorched earth was all that remained of the mighty Nirvana.
The Onibi Myobu unleashed a powerful roar to the moon above to let all those who saw his powers know just who the victor was.
Magical Bomber Christina, Skies of Fiore
"Please tell me you all saw that." Ren muttered.
The present members of Lamina Scale and other three members of Blue Pegasus all nodded their heads.
"That level of power is just...unreal." Lyon said.
"And to think people made the effort to try and kill and/or subjugate that thing." Sherry added.
If anyone had any doubts before, SS-Rank and Flee on Sight were well deserved titles for the Onibi Myobu. The fear instilling roar of the canine beast echoed through the air served to enhance that.
Woodsea, Fiore
Naruto settled himself down on Kurama's head before turning to face the airship that was in the air.
"Should we shoot them down? It'd save us a lot of time if we just killed them all now." Kurama commented.
"Baka-kitsune. Imouto's on that mechanical contraption and even if she wasn't, she would obviously reprimand me for killing those she obviously would have made relationships with during her mission."
"It's been one day." Kurama deadpanned. "But then again, you and I made a partnership in a day too when we first met."
"Let them be, you mangy furball."
"That's mangy furball of badassary to you." Kurama countered. Naruto rolled his eyes before looking at the Christina once more.
"We'll get Wendy the day after tomorrow as we require some form of rest. Afterwards, I'll take care of the Light Guild Alliance. I have some business concerning one of their members."
"What kind of business?" Kurama raised a non-existent eyebrow as he glanced up at Naruto. The blonde's hands clenched into tight fists and his lips curled into a deadly snarl.
"Family business."
(Insert Music: Two Steps from Hell- After the Fall)
Medical Bay, Magical Bomber Christina, Skies of Fiore
The singular note of the flat line echoed through the O.R. as Wendy continued to stare at Natsu's dead body. Her hands were shaking and she stepped away from the Fire Dragonslayer.
"I...I couldn't...I...Erza-san, Gray-san, I'm so sorry!"
"NO!" Erza walked over to the blue haired girl who was currently in a state of shock at having someone die on the table. She was in a state of shock from having someone die before her, period. "Wendy, you're the only one of us here who has any sort of medical experience! Please..." Erza voice lost its stern and demanding tone and broke down to a pitiful tone of pleading. "Please Wendy...bring Natsu back to us."
Erza's eye was brimming with tears. "Please Wendy. He can't be dead, he can't die...please bring him back to us."
Wendy remained silent as she pushed herself away from Erza. She shook her head from side to side as the panic and fear set in.
"Natsuuuuu!" Happy's tears fell onto the dead dragonslayer's face, crying his heart out for the young man that raised him. He was practically his father, best friend and brother all wrapped into one fire spewing package. Charle merely hovered in the air, silent. What could she say after all? She had no relation to Natsu and she couldn't reprimand anybody for their reactions because she had no idea what to do and she had no right to.
Gray looked at Happy's sobbing form. Climbing back to his feet, he looked down at the son of Igneel. The Ice Godslayer snapped his head in Wendy's direction as she was backing away from a crying Erza Scarlet. The student of the Shiva the Ice Goddess stepped in between the two females and faced the daughter of Grandine before bending down to her eye level.
"Look, Wendy...you're scared and you're frightened. I get that, but you're the only one who can save Natsu. He may have flat-lined but there are people who can bring people back even when then they have died on the table. You're the daughter of Grandine the Sky Dragon aren't you? You're prideful and powerful dragonslayer who has great amounts of pride in her abilities! That's what you said when we first met, so don't break down on me now, Wendy Marvell!"
Wendy continued looking down at the floor. The student of Ur sighed.
Please...he's..." Gray glanced at his rival out of the corner of his eyes. "...he's my best friend and I'd rather face that Nirvana contraption ten times over if it meant keeping him from staying dead."
"But you...you don't understand, Gray-san! I can't save him! It's impossible!" Wendy clutched handfuls of her hair, threatening to rip them from her scalp from how tightly she held them. "I can't use any of my magic to help him. The eternano poisoning in his body is preventing it from working because of how many different types of magic seem to compose the energy that he seemed to have in his body. His magic circulatory system and cardiovascular system rejected everything I do. Not even an AED can restart his heart at this point! What am I supposed to do?!"
"That's why we're looking to you, Wendy. Please, do something...anything you can." Gray pleaded.
"I...I..." Wendy paused when her brown eyes widened. She pushed Gray aside and walked up to Erza who had her face in her hands, her body shaking uncontrollably from her loud sobs at seeing one of her close friends die in front of her. Wendy sniffed the red haired swordswoman and her eyes widened as she found the source of the odd scent. She reached out to Erza's skirt and picked out a small blue crystal the size of a grain of rice.
"No way." She whispered. Her head snapped up, her gaze shifting from the small Etherion crystal to Erza's crying form. "Erza-san!" The Titania of Fairy Tail's head snapped up at her name being called out.
"Huh?" She sniffled.
"Erza-san, your armour and your clothes...you have the same magic energy covering them which is the exact same feeling that comes from the magic energy that gave Natsu-san his eternano poisoning!" Wendy gripped Fairy Tail's strongest female mage tightly by her shoulders. "Where were you before you ran into us? I know you didn't have that magic energy on your body before we came onto the Christina."
"I..." Erza wiped her reddened eyes and sniffled. "I w-w-was in...J-J-Jellal's r-room." She stuttered due to her crying. Wendy's eyes widened and her eyes moved from side to side in a rapid manner as her brain worked at a rapid pace, piecing together a solution. The blue haired dragonslayer nodded her head in understanding before turning to Gray with a look of determination on her face.
"I can save Natsu-san. I know what to do."
"You can?!" Everyone in the O.R. looked at the Sky Dragonslayer and she nodded her head in confirmation.
"I can, but listen to me carefully when I give you these instructions." They all nodded their heads as they wiped away the tears from their eyes. Wendy turned to Gray. "Gray-san, keep your gloves on and hold on to Natsu-san's heart. You'll be manually performing the actions of the heart by squeezing it to continue pumping blood through his body."
"But...he's dead, how can that..."
"Even if the heart stops, the body is still partially active, especially in the brain. Natsu-san's body won't be truly dead until approximately thirty minutes have passed. If cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the action I'm having you do now, is done within at least four minutes after the heart stops, the patient can be saved. In a maximum of twelve minutes after the cardiopulmonary resuscitation, advanced cardiac life support is to be applied. Right now it's only been..." Wendy looked at the heart monitor's digital clock in the corner of the screen. 3:45 AM it read. "...it's been three minutes since his heart stopped. Natsu-san still has a one minute window! GO!"
Gray nodded and ran up to Natsu's body. He didn't even hesitate as his gloved hand reached into the open chest cavity and gripped Natsu's heart. He held it firmly, but too tightly that he would crush the organ. He kind of needed it after all. As Gray began administering the squeezing procedure to keep Natsu's heart pumping, the blue haired girl raced out of the room.
Erza, Happy and Charle mentally kept track of the time and not even a minute had passed before Wendy raced back into the room with a small syringe, a small black belt of some sort, a mortar, a pestle and a volumetric cylinder. That was in her left hand. In her right hand was the container used to store the Etherion crystals that had still been wedged in Jellal's flesh when he was brought aboard the Christina.
Wendy quickly held the belt out to Erza. "Erza-san, wrap this around my arm tightly. Afterwards, take the mortar and pestle and crush the solid crystals into a fine powder. Your strength should easily get the job done." Erza nodded and took the belt before wrapping tightly around Wendy's arm, just below the bicep muscle. She was smart enough not to completely sever the blood flow through her arm completely as she made sure it was secure before she began crushing the Etherion crystals.
Wendy then bit off the cap of the syringe and injected the needle head into her branchial artery and pulled out blood until the ten centimetres cubed mark. She then pressed down on the syringe's plunger, releasing her blood into the volumetric cylinder. She held the cylinder in her hands and pumped a small bit of her magic energy into it, the blood gaining a light blue hue that gave the illusion that it was purple.
'Good, there's some phagocytes and B-lymphocytes in here.' She thanked Erza as she handed the mortar that contained the powder of Etherion. She poured the blood from the cylinder into the mortar and lightly mixed the contents so that the small granules of Etherion mixed with the blood of the Sky Dragonslayer. In two minutes, the mixture was fully made and Wendy charged a bit more magic energy into her mixture.
"Come on antibodies, don't fail me now." She muttered to herself as she continued to pour her magic into the mortar mixture. Her eyes were closed tightly in concentration and she prayed to the Dragons that this procedure would work. And it did.
"YES!" Her cry echoed through the O.R. before she took out a new syringe from her jacket's pocket. She pulled on the plunger and removed the blood-Etherion mixture before running up to Natsu's body. She then looked at the heart that Gray was currently squeezing before telling him to stop. As he did, the Sky Dragonslayer began injecting five centimetres from the syringe into Natsu's aorta and pulmonary vein, respectively.
Once she had finished, she placed her hands over Natsu's heart and continued her original plan of pumping him full of healing magic. They say that too much medicine can be a poison, but in the case where the guy was practically all but completely dead, then Wendy couldn't afford to hold back. She stared intently at the blood pumping organ as it took on a sky blue glow.
"Come on, Natsu-san! Please...live."
Ba-dump!
Ba-dump!
Ba-dump!
Everyone's eyes widened as the sound echoed through the now silent O.R. The sound of the beating heart was practically deafening to them and a grin broke out onto their faces.
"HE'S ALIVE!" Wendy exclaimed. The Sky Dragonslayer suddenly found herself being wrapped in hugs from three sides by the Fairy Tail mages while Charle gave a smile at the scene. Wendy then removed the retractors and forceps as she reattached his sternum and sealed his chest shut once more.
"You...You really did it." Gray muttered.
"Thank you, Wendy!" Happy and Erza squeezed the girl tightly. Wendy nodded.
"You're welc-urk!" Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head as Erza applied more pressure. "Erza-san...choking...not breathing." The four other beings in the room laughed at the blue faced Wendy before letting her go.
"You are really an amazing person, Wendy Marvell." Erza bowed to the twelve year old. "Thank you so much for saving our nakama."
"Thank you very much." Gray and Happy bowed on their hands and knees alongside their red haired nakama. Wendy's eyes widened as she shook her hands frantically.
"No! Please don't bow! I was happy to help you all and plus Natsu-san is a fellow dragonslayer so I couldn't really just...let him...you know...die." Her words began to degrade into unintelligible mumbling as she poked her index fingers together with a blush of embarrassment on her face.
"Come on. The fog has lifted so let's get the matchstick to an empty room and have him rest." Gray said as he walked over to Natsu's body and gently placed him onto the bed they had brought him into the O.R. on. Erza gripped the other side while Happy and Charle flew alongside them. As they exited the O.R., Erza looked to the Sky Dragonslayer with a confused expression on her face.
"Wendy, what exactly did you do to make Natsu alive again?" She asked. Gray and Happy nodded their heads to show that they wanted to know too. Charle merely dropped down from the air and rested atop her partner's head.
"As the Sky Dragonslayer, Grandine Kaa-chan's magic gives me a higher level of healing than practically any other creature on the planet. I have a healing factor and so my brain works faster to generate an immunological response and it acts automatically to create things like antibodies to poisons, diseases and in Natsu-san's case, I was able to generate a passive artificial immunity for him by using my blood and magic to whatever it was that made up those eternano crystals that we found on Jellal-san's body."
"So you're basically saying that you made Natsu immune to whatever it was that made those crystals?" Gray asked.
"Yup." She nodded. "Since the magic energy in those crystals was so potent, it prevented my magic's abilities from working on Natsu's body effectively since it had already diffused through his body in the bloodstream. Now when the body creates an immunity, the white blood cells known as lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes to be exact, they create antibodies that can bind to the antigen and thus allow for phagocytes, white blood cells that engulf and destroy antigens, to do what they do."
"But you did the process outside of your body when you mixed your blood and the crystal powder." Erza said.
"That's why I pumped my magic energy into the mixture. My magic would forcibly stimulate the B-lymphocytes to generate the antibodies and allow for the phagocytes present in the mixture to begin a recognition process as to what to look for in Natsu's body when I injected the mixture into his bloodstream. I then sped up the process for Natsu's body to accept my blood mixture and help purge the viral magic energy in his cells by pumping him full of Sky Dragonslayer Magic. Once he was free of that, the phagocytes began destroying the broken down eternano particles in his blood stream and I was able to perform a little spell I developed to jump start Natsu-san's heart."
"That's amazing." Happy gaped in awe. "What kind of technique is that?"
"It doesn't have a name, but basically I used my magic to manipulate the air particles over Natsu's heart and rubbed them together. This friction would generate minute electrical shocks that are invisible to the naked eye. Obviously, since it's my spell I can see them. The shocks then worked to jump start Natsu-san's heart and thus I brought him back to life."
Erza, Gray and Happy were in complete and utter shock. Wendy had basically just created a new form of anti-venom for magic poisoning and a personal AED through air particle friction.
"Way to rape their minds, Wendy." Charle patted her charge on the head and the Sky Dragonslayer giggled. Wendy released a yawn, stumbling a bit as she did so. She then fell forward and Charle acted quickly and grabbed the twelve year old before she hit the ground.
"WENDY!"
The group looked over the young dragonslayer, but paused when the sounds of light snoring met their ears.
"It's alright." Charle assured them. "She's probably just tired from using her magic and mind for so long. Not to mention it's practically four o' clock in the morning. I'll go put her to bed, you guys stay and watch Natsu." Erza and Gray did as they were told before Charle flew away with a snoozing Wendy.
Cait Shelter Guild House, Woodsea, Fiore
Two Days Later
Once the Oracion Siete mission had been effectively completed the destruction of Nirvana, the members of Blue Pegasus and Lamina Scale had lost sight of the Onibi Myobu as it appeared to have shrunk down in size, disappearing into the forests below as if it had never been there. Though the destruction left behind by it was a clear reminder that it had indeed happened and that it was no dream nor an illusion they had witnessed.
With Charle's help, the crew of the Christina managed to land their half-destroyed airship at the guild of Cait Shelter in order to rest their bodies and minds. An accommodation Master Roubaul was happy to provide for the people that helped keep his two guild members alive and well.
Despite two days having gone by, Jellal, Natsu and Jura were still unconscious. Though no one really cared for the former Ten Wizard Saint member. Lucy on the other hand, had managed to make a fully recovery earlier in the morning. Sitting in one of the Cait Shelter huts, the bandage covered members of the Light Guild Alliance sat and chatted with one another to discuss the events that occurred to those that were not around to see it.
Mainly Lucy.
"By the way, Wendy, I've been meaning to ask..." Everyone looked to Erza as she spoke. "How did you learn so much about medicine? Pardon my bluntness, but as strong as you are, you are still twelve and it's kind of hard to imagine that someone as young as you learned so much about human physiology and medicine and became so adept at it."
Everyone turned back to Wendy.
"Well it's quite simple really." Wendy started. "Ever since I came here to Cait Shelter, Master Roubaul always gave me mission requests involving medicinal work. And on the days that I was allowed to spend some free time after completing those missions, he advised me to stay with some of the nurses and doctors I was to work with and they taught me everything they knew through books and practical work. I was a quick study and when I learned fighting from Onii-san, he had me learn about anatomy to hit where it hurts and Grandine Kaa-chan taught me a lot about healing in general before she left in X777."
"That's so cool." Eve said with stars in his eyes.
"Yeah." Lucy said softly. "So...you're sure that Natsu's okay?" She was a mixture of happiness at hearing the pink haired teen was alive, but was still completely worried when she heard about how he needed surgery to even survive after his battle with Brain.
"He's fine." Wendy assured her blonde friend. "I made sure to check him this morning before you had woken up. His heart is still beating and I gave him another check up concerning his lung and it's fine too. He'll be back up in fighting shape by tomorrow and his deafness will have gone away by, I downgraded it from two months to a week when I fixed him up before he went to fight, about four to five more days."
Lucy released a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."
"Gee, you sound really concerned when it comes to Natsu." Sherry had a sly grin on her face.
"Well yeah, he nearly died." Lucy shot back with a glare at the pink haired woman. "What's your point?"
"The point is that you like Natsu and he likes you back." Suzuki chuckled
"I do not!" She yelled, her face turning slightly pink. "And he doesn't look at me like that anyway. We're just friends."
"Yeah sure, like any 'friend' would run through the forest screaming how they would avenge one of their nakama to take on the leader of a dark guild who was currently in control of a gigantic super weapon of mass destruction." Ren said as he rolled his eyes.
"Not to mention he was on a warpath if you remember what Erza told you. The guy even threatened me if I somehow got you hurt while he went off to fight for your sake. 'Keep her safe or I'll tear you a new one' is what he told me." Gray said as he shuddered a bit. "The guy is scary when he wants to be."
"H-H-He really said that?" She asked.
"Oh yeah." Gray said. "That firebrand was seeing red when he saw you all covered in blood and stuff when we found you. We just told you this, I know you're blonde and stuff, but geez..."
"Lucy has injected Natsu with the parfum of love." Ichiya said, waggling his eyebrows as he sent a wink in Lucy's direction. Lucy shuddered at the angular faced man's action, but then her brain registered what he said. Her face turned red with embarrassment and one could literally see steam flow from her ears.
"L-L-Love?!"
"Lucy liiiiikes Natsu." Happy snickered.
"DON'T ROLL YOUR TONGUE LIKE THAT!" She exclaimed as she tried to wring the blue furred Exceed's neck only for said feline to hide behind Erza.
"Don't be like that Lucy." Erza smiled at the younger female. "I think it's kind of sweet that Natsu actually has someone he'd go that far for. Ever since...a certain incident..." Lucy became confused at the pause, becoming even more so when Happy and Gray also fidgeted a bit. "...Natsu has never exactly been as close to someone of the female persuasion as he has since he met you."
"Natsu liiiikes you."
"SHUT UP!"
"The matchstick went on a warpath and literally tore the trees apart when he went to go avenge you. If that's not Natsu's form of love, then I don't know what is."
"A girl and her idiot." Charle chuckled. "Cliche, but it works."
"I believe there is a song to commemorate the teasing of a nakama." Hibiki said as a glint of mischief shone in his eyes. Everyone grinned toothily at the blonde, including the shy, but-not-shy-when-in-combat-or-serious-situations, Wendy Marvell. Ichiya reached into his pocket and pulled a harmonica.
"Did you always have that?" Erza asked.
"I am a man of many talents, Erza-chan. The parfum of love is often found in music." Erza shuddered when he blew a kiss at her.
"Everyone is ready Ichiya-sama." Ren and Eve said, interrupting their leader's flirty time with the hot redhead. The other members of the Light Guild Alliance then turned to Lucy and hummed in harmony as the leader of the Trimens blew the note for Middle C.
"Lucy and Natsu sittin' in a tree!" The members of Blue Pegasus began.
"Kay Eye Ess Ess Eye En Gee!" Lamina Scale followed up without missing a beat.
"First comes love..." Wendy and Charle sang.
"Then comes marriage!" Gray, Happy and Erza managed to sing despite their laughter.
"Then comes the baby in a baby carriage!" Was the simultaneous finish.
They all then began to break out into howls of laughter as Lucy hid her blushing face in her hands. "I hate you all." She muttered.
"True, but you loooove Natsu." Charle and Happy snickered.
Lucy looked to the heavens and cried a waterfall of anime tears. "Please, deities of the world...just take me now."
The brown eyed kusarigama wielder blinked in confusion when the laughter came to an abrupt halt. Turning to face the entrance to their temporary resting place, she and the others looked to see the aged guild master of Cait Shelter that was Robaul.
"Master Robaul." Wendy and Charle rose up and bowed to their Master. The old man stared long and hard at the Sky Dragonslayer before giving her a warm smile. "Master?" The daughter of Grandine tilted her head in confusion.
"You have a visitor, my child."
"Visi-" Her eyes brightened. "ONII-SAN!"
Wendy rushed out of the hut and left a sudden breeze in her awake. The Light Guild Alliance members all blinked in surprise before rushing out the door as well, Roubaul making sure to step to the side when they rushed past him. However, just as they had all settled themselves outside the hut, their bodies froze in shock and horror at what they saw before them.
The Ogonno Fuujin stood before them in all his glory. Kurama was in his kitsune form and sat on his haunches beside the blonde dragonslayer and chuckled at their reactions.
'I wonder how they would have reacted if they saw his state of dress before. I always wondered why you kept spare outfits in that Seal Magic: Pocket Dimension of yours.' The kitsune swished his single tail back and forth.
Wendy leaped into the air and wrapped her arms around her older brother figure's neck. Naruto went with her momentum and spun her around before she tightened her grip on him. She moved her head away from the crook of his neck so she could look him in the eyes and grinned toothily at him.
"You weren't lying, Onii-san! You really came to take me back!" Naruto's piercing blue eyes held a soft look to them.
"A dragon keeps their promises, imouto. Though I didn't present it to you verbally, I made the promise that I would one day come back for you." Wendy nodded happily before dropping out of her brother's grasp and then wrapped her arms around Kurama's neck. The horse sized kitsune bent his neck low enough for the girl to nuzzle her face into his soft fur and the girl giggled as she did so.
"You're as soft as ever, Kurama-chan."
"Oi, brat. What did I tell you about the -chan thing?"
"Not to use it."
"So then why do you?"
"Because it's fun to see your annoyed face."
Kurama sweatdropped as the blue haired girl beamed at him. "How did you put up with her?" He asked as he turned to Charle who had flown over to their side. The white furred Exceed sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"Patience." She replied. "Lots of patience." Kurama nodded and then picked the girl up and settled her onto his back making the girl kick her legs about with restrained glee.
"Onii-san and Kurama-chan came for me." Closed her eyes and sang happily. "Oi, why did you two take so long to come and get me and Charle-san?"
"We wanted to make sure you got the appropriate amount of time needed for you to recuperate. This was a very stressful task for you to carry out, fighting Oracion Siete, so we made sure that when we came to get you you would be at your best. I can't come pick up my Sky Dragon when she's tired and cranky. By the Dragons you were such a handful when you were tired."
"I was five!"
"And now you're twelve, but that doesn't make things any better. You'd have been tired, cranky and under the influence of your new hormone excretions." Kurama replied.
"Onii-san and Kurama-chan are so mean to me." She muttered as she pouted cutely.
"Wendy!" The Sky Dragonslayer opened her eyes and looked to her fellow Light Guild members.
"Yeah?"
Gray pointed with a finger at the blonde wind manipulator. "They are SS-Class mages and Flee on Sight criminals of the Magic Council!"
"The Ogonno Fuujin and Onibi Myobu!" Happy cried out.
"How could you fraternize with a killer and a murderer?!" Hibiki exclaimed. "How could you not tell us that you were friends with this...this...this freak?!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Blue Pegasus member.
"He's a monster!" Ren added.
"He's someone little girls like you shouldn't even associate with and yet you hug him and call him 'Onii-san'!" Lucy and Gray growled out. Naruto, Wendy and Kurama glared at the seething members of the Light Guild Alliance. Though Naruto took a deeper look at the group and took note that Lamina Scale's were forced. He gave a small nod of his head to show his approval of them keeping up their appearance as Light Guild members and not his secret subordinates.
His eyes then gave a great deal of focus on Erza and he noticed that beneath the rage, there was confusion and...was that a tinge of happiness he saw?
Once he got over his little analysis of the people before him, he turned to Wendy. "Imouto, do you want to or should I?" His little sister's eyes lit up before she gestured to him.
"Oh, Oh can I do it, Onii-san? Can I? Pleeeeeease!" Wendy begged. The blonde released a small laugh at the girl's antics as she brought out the Puppy Dog eyes.
"Very well, imouto. You don't have to use those eyes on me, I would have let you do it anyway."
"Yay!"
"But let me do the first step. Okay?" Naruto said with a small smile beneath his face mask.
"Okay." She grinned as the blonde rubbed the top of her head.
"That's my girl." The blonde then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath of air and rolled his shoulders.
(Insert Music: One Piece- Difficult)
Naruto took a single step forward and his eyes snapped open revealing the cold and unforgiving gaze that made many fear him. Killing intent and magic energy flowed from his body and made the members of the Light Guild Alliance tremble before him. Happy had immediately passed out and the members of Blue Pegasus, sines Ichiya, fell to their knees as they felt as if gravity had increased.
"My imouto sees you all as her comrades, her nakama. As her nakama, you have earned a special place in her heart and so I will not kill you. Not to mention I find amusement in seeing you 'Light Guilds', as you call yourselves, struggle and try to play yourselves off as tough and have the audacity to insult me right to my face." Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Now listen to what she has to say to you all."
Naruto stepped back as Wendy hopped off of Kurama's back and in a burst of speed, was already standing beside Naruto with a glare.
"I have told you all about how Onii-san and Kurama-chan were the ones who raised me and made me who I am today. Six years ago, before they dropped me here at Cait Shelter, he raised me as his student. He didn't have to and he didn't want to. Both he and Kurama-chan could have left me alone to die in the forest and I would have not been around to be here with you all if he hadn't killed the wolves that tried to eat me when Grandine Kaa-chan left me." Wendy's eyes gave them harsh glares. "Onii-san and Kurama-chan kill others, whether it be dark mage or Rune Knight, but they have never killed without reason."
"Never killed without reason?" Gray scoffed. "Are you fucking kidding me? The bastard nearly killed us on multiple accounts and murdered five Rune Knight squads in cold blood!"
"Onii-san doesn't attack people who aren't worth his time. Tell me something, Gray-san, who instigated the attack in your cases? Did Onii-san strike you first or did you?"
"We did, but that's because..."
"Because nothing!" Wendy immediately countered. "Look at your facts before you point fingers and call people killers and murderers! Onii-san and Kurama-chan know they are powerful and the thing about people with power is that they tend to only fight those that either attack them or those they know pose a challenge to them. In your cases, Gray-san, you just admitted to attacking Onii-san and Kurama-chan first and thus the act is one out of self-defense. Those Rune Knights probably did the same since Onii-san was still in the early stages of being a criminal and thought they had a chance."
"They didn't." Kurama chuckled. "You should have seen their eyes when we killed them. Good times."
"Indeed." Naruto added.
"Onii-san, Kurama-chan, not helping." Wendy deadpanned. Naruto and Kurama gave the young girl a thumbs up causing her to sweatdrop. "Anyway, like I was saying to you all, they are not murderers. None of you have the right to judge them simply because the Magic Council says they are criminals and killers! The Magic Council has it's own dark shadows. After all, behind every great fortune is a great crime and what makes us Light Guilds any different." The wind whipped around Wendy as she bared her teeth and her magic spiked.
"Now make sure you understand this...I do not take kindly to insults directed towards the two that helped raise to be the mage that I am today. If not for them, I would probably be either dead or a shy, sniveling brat who wouldn't even be able to have the confidence to fight for herself. Ogonno Fuujin and Onibi Myobu are just titles and they are nothing to me. To me they are my Onii-san and Kurama-chan! I love them and nothing will ever change that!"
She solidified her claim by standing beside Naruto and held onto him. Naruto smiled beneath his face mask, the points of his sharper than average canines poking against the fabric.
"Very well said, Sky Dragon."
Wendy beamed at her brother figure's approval.
The group of Light Guild members could only stare in shock at the pre-teen dragonslayer. Though now that they thought about it, it did make sense. Wendy had unbelievable control over her element of the sky when it came to her offensive attacks and her confidence in her abilities was extremely high. But like her older brother figure, she was deserving of her mild case of vanity.
"Ready to go, imouto?" Naruto asked. Wendy nodded. "You sure?" He gave a jerk of his head and Wendy followed the direction of the cranial motion where she saw the old Nirvit man that had been her master. Her eyes widened before looking to Charle. The winged feline nodded and followed after her charge as she ran up to Roubaul. The two stopped right in front of the old man and bowed to him.
(Insert Music: Naruto Shippuden- Yuukimaru's Theme)
"Master Roubaul, you've been a great teacher, parent, friend and Master to Charle and I. I'm sorry, but I have to go and I'm even more sorry to say that I don't really feel all that sad to go." Wendy said with a frown. Roubaul chuckled before shaking his head. With the staff in his hand, he gently placed it under Wendy's chin and made her rise back to her full height so he could look her in the eyes.
"Wendy Marvell, you have been like the granddaughter I never had." He smiled at her. "It does pain me to watch you leave after all the time we've spent together, but I know you have been waiting a long time for this day. Your lack of sadness is understandable and I did tell you after all...on the first day we met. A dragon always keeps their promises."
"And you were right." She whispered. "I...I'm going to miss you, Master."
"And I you, my child. But you have your real family to return to."
Wendy's body shook as tears began to spill from her eyes. "Y-You're...You're too kind, M-Master." Charle patted the young girl on the head.
"Now now, don't cry my dear. Didn't you just say you weren't sad to go?" Wendy nodded as she wiped her eyes. She then straightened herself out and raised her head high making the old man laugh. "Wendy Marvell and Charle...as Master of the guild of Cait Shelter, I resign you both of all responsibilities and duties regarding the guild's welfare and status and thus you are excommunicated from Cait Shelter. May you live long and prosper."
With a snap of his fingers, the Cait Shelter marks on the back of Wendy's hooded jacket and on Charle's dress vanished from view as if they were never there.
"Now before you go, just promise this old man one thing." Wendy's brown eyes stared into his coal coloured ones. "Become the beautiful and strong mage I know you will become in the future. That's all I want from you...it's all I've ever wanted from you."
Wendy nodded.
"Look after her as much as you can. You've got help this time so I trust it won't be as much of a bother as it was before." Charle and Robaul shared a laugh and the Exceed nodded her head.
"I will...Roubaul-san."
The two former members of Cait Shelter turned around and nodded to Naruto and Kurama. In a flicker of motion, the two were already in front of Wendy and Charle. Naruto picked up the girl and rested her on Kurama's back while Charle took her perch atop Wendy's head. The dragonslayer and Exceed made Naruto roll his eyes as he realized just how much the two girls looked like himself and Kurama when Kurama always rested atop his own head in his Exceed form.
Naruto bent down to Roubaul's height and whispered, "Roubaul-san, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but...I'm going to need you to keep yourself grounded here for a while longer as I have some questions for you. I have a bit of a...family issue...to deal with so once I have completed the task I will come straight back to you."
"I've managed to hold this illusion of false life for over four hundred years, Namikaze-kun. I think I can manage a few more hours and it's the least I can do in exchange for gifting me with such a lovely young girl to look after ever since I lost my own family and to your partner for destroying Nirvana. Despite it being a creation of my own people, the evils that ancient weapon had created are beyond monstrous so I will adhere to your request, Namikaze-kun." Naruto nodded his head in thanks to the elderly Nirvit survivor.
Kurama ran off into the forests as a blur of crimson and Naruto hovered in the air. He directed his gaze at Erza as she stared intently at him. His eyes flickered to the left where Kurama had run off and she got the hidden message, her reply being a nod. With that, the blonde appeared to vanish into the wind.
A few moments passed before everyone released the breaths that they had unknowingly kept trapped within their bodies.
"To think that Wendy-chan was raised by the Ogonno Fuujin and Onibi Myobu. I'm going to go lie down and rethink my life." Ren muttered as he walked back into the house. Hibiki, Eve and Happy had all fainted since earlier on. Gray gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly while Lucy was in a state of shock.
"I can't believe after all we've been through, she just leaves us for those two!" Gray exclaimed as he lashed out and slammed his fist against the ground, cracking it slightly. "She shouldn't have left with those bastards! She could have stayed with us, with Fairy Tail! What do they have that we don't?!"
"What they have are her trust and her love." Erza replied. Everyone who was conscious turned to face the Titania of Fairy Tail. "He is her brother and the Onibi, her friend. She was raised by them, so it is only logical that one would accept the only family that they have left in their lives and return to them should they come back."
Erza took a deep breath and then walked away from the group and headed in the direction of the forests.
"Where are you going?" Lucy asked worriedly as she saw the frantic look on her guild mate's face.
"I...I have to...I just...I need to take a walk." Erza said, the stress evident in her voice as she ran off into the forests.
"Erza!" Gray went to go after her as she disappeared into the brush, but Ichiya's grip held tightly onto his bicep.
"Let her go, Gray. She's obviously under a lot of stress and who can blame her. We just saw one of our newest nakama call the most dangerous man and beast in Fiore in a familiar fashion. Give her some time to think about her problems. The parfum of realization will come to her soon, just give her time." Ichiya said.
"Fine." Gray muttered darkly. "Oi, Roubaul-Jiji, got any liquor here! I need a drink!"
Woodsea, Fiore
Naruto and Kurama walked a short way through the forest before coming to a stop. The two turned around and Wendy and Charle looked at the two SS-Class criminals in confusion.
"Onii-san, why are we stopping?" Wendy asked. "We haven't even walked for five minutes."
"A better question would be why we're even walking in the first place." Charle stated. "You can fly and Kurama-san can turn into an Exceed like me and sprout wings."
"Because Naruto has business with one of your new friends." Kurama said. As if on cue, the bushes began to rustle and twigs snapped. Out of the brush, Erza Scarlet appeared, slightly panting from having broke out into a run to catch up with the blonde dragonslayer and his companions.
"Fuu...Fuujin." Erza gasped out.
"Erza-san?" Wendy's eyes narrowed as she jumped off of Kurama's back and in front of her brother figure. "You're not here to attack Onii-san are you?" She gained a confused look on her face when Naruto pushed her aside. The blonde then pulled down his face mask and revealed the lower portion of his face. Erza stared at the blonde's face and noticed the whisker-like birth marks on his cheeks.
"She's not here to fight and neither are we going to." Naruto said. "She and I have some familial matters to discuss."
"Familial? But she's not related to you."
"On the contrary, imouto. Erza Scarlet is in fact...my biological younger sister." Wendy and Charle had their eyes wide and their mouths agape.
"B-Biological...s-sister?" Wendy stuttered. Naruto nodded and Erza continued to stare at her brother.
"So...it's true then. We are related by blood."
"Indeed we are." He said with a blank look on his face. Naruto turned to Kurama and pushed Wendy towards him. "Take Wendy and Charle away from here. Our privacy is needed. And no eavesdropping before I go into the mindscape. Trust me, I'll know."
"Awww you're no fun." Kurama said as he placed Wendy onto his back once more.
"Get out of here, you mangy furball." Naruto growled. Kurama turned and then headed off into the brush with Charle gripping Wendy's hair tightly like Wendy was doing to the three tailed kitsune's fur.
When the two were gone, Naruto turned back, a stoic look on his face. Erza on the other hand had tears brimming on the edge of her non-artificial eye.
"Why? Why wait so long to tell me?" She asked. "I thought I was alone, that I was an orphan, that I had no family to call my own."
"I had only found out that we're related a few days before the guild war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. As for why I haven't told you, the truth was that I was angry. You were a weak, sniveling little brat who thought that just because she was raised with the morals of not being able to kill, that it gave you the ability to judge others who didn't follow your own ideologies of what is good, as being evil. I despised you for that and I denied any claim to us being related even though it was true."
Erza's eyes widened at his words.
"But as you grew stronger, more aware of the world around you, that it was no longer black and white and that there were shades of gray within it, I began to take a minuscule amount of interest in you. I gave you the hint needed to put the puzzle together and the reason I wanted you to figure it out for yourself is because...well...would you honestly have believed me if the words came out of my own mouth?" He asked. Erza shook her head.
"I wouldn't have, but...now that I know the truth, I want...I want answers." She said. However, her statement had no backbone to it as her voice cracked from the emotions she was feeling. "I want to know who you are? I want to know where you were? I want to know who are our parents were? I want to know what happened to them?" Her tears began to fall to the ground, dotting the green grass beneath her.
"I want...I want a family."
Naruto stared at his biological sister, merely watching her as she cried. He then began to walk towards her. "I wanted answers as well. I've been extremely busy with my own problems, mainly the problem of having a fractured mentality, that I never really got around to asking the questions concerning you, Erza Scarlet. You weren't even supposed to be alive from what I've learned concerning the fate of our blood family."
"Wh-What?" She gasped.
"We want answers concerning our relationship to one another and our family. I want answers on you and you want answers on me, so...we're going to get them." Naruto placed his hand on Erza's head and tilted it upwards so she was looking him in the eyes. The blonde dragonslayer leaned forwards and Erza's eyes widened as his forehead touched hers.
There was a flash of red light that blinded Erza's vision and then it all went black.
Naruto's Mindscape
Erza released a gasp as she forced herself into a sitting position. She looked around the area she was in. It was an endless white void with a spiral-shaped symbol that was surrounded by the kanji for the five elements of fire, water, earth, lightning and wind. In the centre of the spiral was the kanji for 'Soul'. The odd symbol cast a red glow across the void.
She rose to her feet and tried to walk towards the odd spiral, but found that she wasn't growing any closer to it after taking the first twenty steps.
"Are you done?" Erza's head snapped to the left, but she released a hiss of pain as she felt the whiplash from the movement. Erza glanced around the area as she pulled her eyes away from her brother.
"Where are we?"
"This is a mindscape. Mine to be precise. It is the inner consciousness of a person and where we will be given our answers." Naruto replied.
"It's rather empty."
"Inner consciousness, Titania. Do not aim to make such insults towards me while you are within my realm. I can make this place what I want it to be, but the void of white has grown on me, so I leave it as it is." Naruto explained.
"So...how exactly are we going to get answers?" Naruto didn't reply verbally, merely pointing behind her. Erza's head snapped around for the second time and her eyes were wide with shock as she saw the two figures that stood before her. Minato and Kushina looked at each other and then back at Erza.
"You've always said Naruto was my child, but we can definitely say that Erza is your child, can't we?" Minato said. Kushina nodded.
"Told you I'd make a hot ass girl child, 'ttebane!" Kushina grinned toothily.
"I never said you wouldn't."
Erza looked between the two and she stepped towards them tentatively. "Y-You're...Minato Namikaze and K-Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. Y-You're Wizard Saints, the two strongest people. B-But you're...you're dead."
"Now Erza-chan, is that anyway to greet your parents?" Kushina chided. "But then again, Naru-chan here stabbed me through the stomach and nearly tore Minato-kun's head off. You're lucky we're just spirits in the seal, Naru-chan."
Naruto rolled his eyes at them while Erza was still in shock.
"My...parents?" She asked. Minato and Kushina nodded. "You two...the members of the Ten Wizard Saints who had powers that exceeded the Four Gods of Ishval...are my parents?" The look of disbelief on the red haired woman's face was priceless and Kushina would have laughed if it weren't for the mood of the situation.
Minato and Kushina walked towards their daughter and nodded to her. "We are, Erza-chan." Minato said. "To think you were still alive after all this time, and right under Naru-chan's nose too."
"Why didn't you tell me yourselves that I had a sister?" Naruto asked.
"You hated us with a passion until recently so you would have instantly denied all claims to Erza-chan being your sibling, and you hadn't come into the seal to talk with us since your bout with Makarov Dreyar. You have your own problems, Naru-chan and we cannot exactly hold control in this place since it is your consciousness. We lost what little control we had when your psyche was stabilized." Minato said with a deadpan.
"Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, I..."
"Woah, hold on there kiddo." Minato said with a chuckle. "We're your parents. Unlike Naru-chan over there, you're actually glad to see us so formalities are not allowed here. Especially with family like us."
"O-O-Otou-sama...O-Okaa-sama." Erza was brought to tears once more before she flung her mental body at the spirits of her parents and wrapped them in her arms. Minato and Kushina looked down at their shorter daughter. Erza cried her eye out while Minato and Kushina consoled her by rubbing her back.
"Shhh, it's okay Erza-chan. It's okay, we're here for you now, just like we're here for your brother." Kushina said softly.
"It's okay, let it out." Minato added as he stroked the nineteen year old's crimson locks.
Erza cried for a few minutes and even after her sobs had died down, she was being steadily rocked back and forth by her mother. Having fallen to her knees, Kushina had to sit down as she continued to rock her daughter's emotional form. Kushina smiled softly at the younger red head in her arms before tilting her daughter's head up.
"Let me get a good look at you, Erza-chan." She whispered. Erza's large brown eyes stared into her mother's gray ones. "Ah, you still have Mito Obaa-san's brown eyes. I always thought they would turn into my eye colour as you got older, but I guess those recessive genes were permanent on you. They suit you well, Erza-chan." Erza blushed lightly at her mother's compliment, mumbling a small thanks. A tiny smile graced her tear stained face.
"Oh, you were such a beautiful baby when you were born. It eases my spirit to know that you turned out to be such a gorgeous young woman.
"I...I've always wanted parents." Erza released a choked laugh due to her sobbing. "I thought you abandoned me...that you didn't love me and so you sold me off to the Tower of Heaven and after what happened to Kakashi Nii-san and Obito Nii-chan I..."
"Erza-chan, those Tower bastards would have had to pry your from our cold, dead hands if they wanted to take us from you by force." Kushina replied sternly. "If we were alive, we would have cared and loved you so much. We would have fed you, changed your diapers as you were growing up, taught you magic. In fact, given your affinity for swords I'm sure if we weren't separated from you with your brother, you would have been the one to take Ascalon and Excalibur as my successor."
"What?" Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"Jealous of your imouto already, Naruto?" Minato smirked in amusement. "Come on, you know you deserve Ascalon and Excalibur as you are now. As she is, Erza couldn't wield those two with the same amount of skill and precision that you have now."
The two Wizard Saints chuckled as they heard their son mumble something along the lines of 'Damn right she can't'. Erza wiped her eyes and nose free of tears and mucus before looking up at her taller parents.
"What happened to you two? Why are you here with the Fuujin? Why were he and I separated? I want to know everything."
"It would be more beneficial to explain everything from the beginning." Naruto said. He then turned to his biological sister. "However, your memories will be needing some resurfacing as well since Tou-chan and Kaa-chan will only be able to remember what happened up to the point of their deaths. What happened to you before that is a mystery to them and myself."
"That is true, Erza-chan." Minato and Kushina agreed. "Your story is just as important as ours. Naru-chan, with your consciousness joined with Erza-chan's at the moment, I think it would be possible for you to draw upon Erza-chan's memories."
Erza turned to Naruto with wide brown eyes as he suddenly stepped towards her. The red head stepped away from him and glared fiercely.
"Brother or not, I don't trust you. Are you really going to draw on my memories alone or are you going to do something to this mental representation of myself?" Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Now why the hell would I do that?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "I need answers just as much as you do. Not to mention Tou-chan and Kaa-chan want to know what became of you when they were forced to run off with me into the unknown forested regions of Fiore's mountains where they met their untimely deaths."
Erza didn't look convinced and Naruto growled at her. "By the Dragons...look, I swear an Oath of the Dragon, I will not tamper with your mind or mental representation beyond the point of just drawing upon the necessary memories needed to answer our questions." The sound of thunder seemed to echo through the mindscape and thus his oath was sealed.
Erza stared into the young man's blue eyes intently. Suddenly, the strong grips of her parents' spirits appeared on her shoulders. Minato gave his daughter a reassuring smile.
"It's okay, Erza-chan. Naruto knows what he's doing."
The two Wizard Saints nodded to their son and the younger blonde nodded back. The son of Acnologia reached out with his hands and tapped his three biological family members in the centre of their foreheads before a swirl of what appeared to be mist, rose out of their skulls. Images began to flicker in and out of existence within the mist and the three looked at Naruto as they watched it.
"Your memories." He answered their unasked question. "Mental representations that can be played out with my mindscape due to the Five Point Elemental Seal's 'Soul' element when Tou-chan and Kaa-chan sealed their spiritual essences into me. Now I believe a suitable place to start would be at the time before mine and Titania's births."
Naruto spared his sister a glance. "Once their chain of memories has run its course, I will direct my consciousness to immediately lock onto the set of memories that you possess that are the closest to that of Tou-chan's and Kaa-chan's."
Minato and Kushina scanned the mist of memory images and called upon the ones Naruto requested.
"Very well. You and Erza-chan wish to learn about things from the beginning, so here it is."
(Insert Music: Fairy Tail- Tower of Heaven)
Flashback
Magic Council-Fiore Branch, Fiore
December 10th, Year-X762
"Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, what is your take on the situation?" Michello asked. The two Wizard Saint members were currently seated in a circular room that was illuminated by the various magic seals that acted as barriers, silencers and detectors of foreign members of the Magic Council. A high-end security protocol for the council room that was invented by Kushina herself.
"We honestly have very little to work with, Michello-san." Kushina replied. "Konoha is well fortified, but it will not do well to handle the onslaught of the Lizardmen. They are very territorial creatures as we have explained before. We have tried negotiations by sending out messengers to meet with them, but their reply was sending back the heads of our messengers and the shreds of our negotiation papers for peace treaties. They are obviously preparing for war."
"We would like to ask the honourable council for help in this situation." Minato said. "We know it is a difficult request to make given your own situation."
"Aye." Yajima nodded. "The Magic Council is currently busy with its own war preparations. Minstrel has begun sending their ships to invade Fiore and we are using many a Rune Knight to hold them off, but currently our navy is being beaten down due to Minstrel's technological advancements in naval warfare. They have created a powerful form of underwater weapon that can fire explosive rounds from beneath the waves, even as it is submerged. It is made of a powerful metal alloy that is resistant to fire and is an electrical insulator."
"They call it a submarine." Bellino informed the two Wizard Saints.
"Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, we understand that Konohagakure no Sato is your homeland and that you are trying to avert your village's destruction, but we currently do not have the resources to spare. Especially with Operation Black Water being prepared."
"So you're actually going through with that?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Aye. We have sent in Makarov Dreyar and Jose Porla to take their positions at the front lines. The Four Gods of Ishval are in the submarine we managed to take during the last battle and so the plan is so that once Makarov and Jose break through the submarine lines, we unleash the Four Gods and take out their battleships. This will clear a path for our own ships to get to the main land of Minstrel where we will deploy the troops we have present on the ships." Org explained. "We would like if you two would join the battalion. Your presence on the battlefield will boost morale and also improve the chances of success for Operation Black Water. With your help, we can push forward to Minstrel's shores and force them into submission and end this war." Said Org.
"I'm sorry, Org-sama. But along with the Lizardmen problem, Kushina has not been feeling well for the past two weeks." The Magic Council members turned to the red haired Wizard Saint. "Putting her into harm's way, especially a war, is not something she nor I plan to take part in at this point where her health is compromised."
"But your country needs you, Minato-sama." Michello replied with a stern expression. "Your wife can come after you save the lives of thousands of Rune Knight soldiers from being sent to their deaths."
Minato's sapphire orbs shifted to the cat-like council member who flinched beneath the gaze of the Wizard Saint.
"Kushina and I are the most powerful of the Ten Wizard Saints. We may be given status by the Magic Council, Michello-san, but despite Fiore currently being engaged in war, my village is about to enter one with creatures that can copy another's magic and my wife is not feeling well as I said earlier. As her husband, let me make this clear...NEVER..." Minato's voice raised abruptly causing the council members to jump in their chairs. "Never...say that my wife is second priority to my face."
The Magic Council was silent and Minato turned to his wife and held her hand in his own.
"We understand." Org replied as he took note of the light glaze in Kushina's eyes that came with the symptom of nausea. "Take care of your wife, Minato-sama. However, if you wish to try and stop the Lizardmen from invading, your best bet would be to place barriers around the village and maybe an invisibility seal, perhaps?"
Minato drummed his fingers on the table. "Your idea does have some merit, Org-san. Thank you." The two Wizard Saints rose from their chairs and held each other's hands.
"Honourable council." They bowed their heads before vanishing in a flash of yellow per Minato's usage of Seal Magic: Hiraishin.
Konohagakure no Sato, Eastern Fiorean Mountains, Fiore
The sound of a toilet flushing echoed throughout the estate that was the home of Minato and Kushina. Kushina stumbled out of the bathroom, nearly losing her balance as she finished washing her face free of whatever excess vomit lined her mouth. Minato was quick to grab his wife to prevent her from falling and looked over her form.
She was a bit pale from her violent release of her stomach contents, a glazed look filled her eyes to show she was still under the effects of her nausea, she had been in and out of the bathroom to pee for like twenty times in the past two hours, and last but not least...
"Minato-kuuuun, I don't really feel so good." She whined as tears fell from her gray eyes. "I'm scared, Minato-kun. I don't know what's happening to me. I think it's the flu, but it feels so much worse than that. I think I should go to the hospital."
"It's alright Kushina-chan. A few minutes of rest and then I'm going to go take you to go see Tsunade and Shizune at the hospital, ok?"
"ARE YOU FUCKING MAD?!" Kushina suddenly roared. "I HATE THE FUCKING HOSPITAL YOU GODDAMN LITTLE FUCKTARD! I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THAT!"
"I do."
"You don't love me anymore if you think of taking me to that hell hole." She began sobbing uncontrollably again.
There were the mood swings.
"Alright, honey. Calm down, you're just stressed." Minato consoled his wife.
"Did I ever tell you I loved you?"
"Multiple times. Now come on, you're not having time to rest yourself. We're going to the hospital now. Up we go." He picked up Kushina in his arms.
"Yaaaaay, upsies." She giggled like a child. "I hate upsies, put me down you fat ass!" Minato sighed and then the two vanished in a flash of yellow. Moving across space and time through the use of his Hiraishin, the two Ten Wizard Saints appeared before the hospital of Konoha. Minato looked at Kushina who was groaning in pain from the headache that came with whatever it was that was afflicting her in conjunction with the one that came from using the Flying Thunder God spell, the blood pounding in her head made her drowsy and she fell unconscious.
Though it worried him, Minato was also mildly glad for his moody wife to be out of it. He couldn't imagine the embarrassment he would have felt for them both if Kushina began having those mood swings in front of the other people waiting in the hospital.
Opening the doors, Minato walked in and looked around the waiting area. It seemed today was a slow day for the hospital since there were only about ten people in the area, but most of them were basic injuries. A boy with a broken leg, a girl with a black eye, an old man who kept shifting in his seat as if he had something shove up his ass...
'Okay, that guy may be in trouble.' The Wizard Saint thought. He walked up to the front desk and cleared his throat to get the attention of the young thirteen year old standing there. As soon as he did, the brown haired girl looked up from the files she was reading from. Her chocolate coloured irises, which had been filled with an aura of seriousness, brightened at seeing the two Wizard Saints before she straightened out her outfit which consisted of a long sleeved black top with a light purple apron-like skirt that was worn over a pair of black shorts. She had on a pair of black stockings and a pair of black open toed sandals that had a two inch heel to add a flair of femininity. The white medical coat she wore over her outfit was adjusted and she grinned toothily at the blonde Wizard Saint as she walked out from behind the desk and towards the two.
"Minato-sensei, it's a pleasure to see you."
"Same to you, Rin." He smiled at his former student. "I see your career as a doctor is starting to make some progress." Rin gave a laugh to voice her embarrassment, scratching at the purple tattoos on the side of her face.
"Minato-sensei, I'm not a doctor yet. I'm just a desk clerk for the moment, but with Shizune-sempai and Tsunade-shishou helping me I'm sure I get into the healing mage profession soon enough." She then frowned when she took note of the fact that Kushina was unconscious in his arms. "What's wrong with Kushina-sama?"
"I honestly don't know." He replied worriedly."She's been nauseous, vomiting and undergoing very odd mood swings so far. I think it could be the flu, but I'm a Wizard Saint, not a doctor. I was thinking maybe either you, Shizune-chan or Tsunade-san could help determine what's wrong with her."
Rin made the mental note of the symptoms Minato had just told her before nodding her head. "I'll do what I can. Tsunade-shishou and Shizune-sempai are currently dealing with a few other patients, so she won't be able to assist me just yet. Follow me to place Kushina-sama in an empty room for the mean time."
"Thank you, Rin." Minato smiled warmly at her. The young doctor bowed her head.
"Just doing my job, Minato-sensei."
"You know, Rin, you can stop calling me sensei. You haven't been my student in over a year." Minato said to her, but the teenage brunette merely smiled at him.
"That may be true, but old habits die hard. Not to mention that I find it would be disrespectful to you if I didn't. I mean, you literally taught Kakashi, Obito and I everything we know before you became a member of the Ten Wizard Saints." Rin said with a hint of sadness. "By the way, speaking of those two knuckleheads, you may want to look for them. They seemed a bit frantic and they wanted to speak to you."
"I'll do that."
Rin then led Minato to the empty patient room and rested Kushina onto the soft bed. Once assuring the red head was comfortable, Minato bent his head down and kissed his wife's forehead. "Get better, 'kay? I love you and I'll be back as soon as I can." He smiled when he heard the red head mumble out an 'I love you too' despite being asleep.
Minato then adjusted his flame patterned cloak before heading out of the hospital. The blonde walked through the streets of the relatively large village before two teenage boys, about thirteen years old each, flickered into existence in front of him.
The first had spiky, gravity defying, silver hair and a pair of coal black eyes. He wore a black tunic that was connected to a mask that covered the lower portion of his face, long black pants and a pair of black boots. Strapped to his body was a set of gray body armour that covered his forearms, shoulders, chest, back and thighs. The brown belt that attached the sheathe of the young boy's short sword to his back was wrapped diagonally across his chest from his right shoulder to his left hip. His skin seemed a bit on the pale side, which was a characteristic that always worried Minato about whether or not the boy was getting enough Vitamin D.
The second boy had short, spiky black hair and black eyes, but these ones were much more vibrant than the half-lidded, lazy looking ones of his silver haired companion. He wore a black t-shirt underneath a long sleeves, dark blue jacket with an orange trim and collar. The ends of the jacket stretched over the back of the boy's hands where metal plates were attached. He also wore a pair of dark blue pants and black boots. Attached to his forehead was a pair of goggles which had an orange tinted lenses and was connected to a pair of ear protectors. His skin was a light tan and he was grinning toothily at the older male standing in front of him.
"Finally, we found you Minato-sensei!" The dark haired boy exclaimed.
"Maybe we wouldn't have taken so long if you didn't wander off and I had spend some of the time looking for you." The silver haired boy said with a bored tone, though the annoyance was present as well.
"Oi, what I told you was the truth!" The black haired boy exclaimed. "I had to find another path because of the black cat that appeared and just as I saw you in the distance, this little old lady nearly fell and dropped her groceries so I had to help her with them! Just because I'm not an ass like you doesn't make me a liar!"
"You said that you had to help a child out of a burning doghouse after that."
"IT WAS ON FIRE! SHE COULD HAVE DIED!"
"Obito, Kakashi, enough." Minato said with a hint of amusement. "It's clear that Obito's telling the truth, Kakashi. Though I am a bit skeptical on that doghouse one."
"But it's true!" Obito cried out. "Why won't anyone believe me?!" The boy began to cry anime tears that began to form a puddle in front of him.
"Because you're a liar."
"Obito Uchiha, do not cry in front of your rival. Kakashi Hatake, stop calling Obito a liar." The two boys glared at one another, but then saw the older male glaring at them and they stopped. They bowed their heads lowly.
"We apologize, Minato-sensei." The Ten Wizard Saint member nodded in approval as he placed his hands on top of their heads and ruffled their already messy looking hair.
"Good boys. Now then, what is it you two wanted to talk to me about? Rin said you all seemed pretty frantic when Kushina-chan and I had been at the meeting with the Magic Council."
The two teenagers looked to each other as serious expression came upon their faces. They looked up at their sensei before pointing to the southern walls of Konoha. Obito spoke first. "Minato-sensei, we were doing border patrol like you had requested to do before you and Kushina-sama left. We thought we had seen something in the forests and decided to investigate a bit."
Kakashi continued. "We discovered there was a small band of Lizardmen setting up a camp about five kilometres away from the southern gates."
"What did you do?" Minato asked.
"We killed them." The two teenagers replied simultaneously.
"I used my Fire Magic and Kakashi used his new Lightning Magic spell...Chidori or something." Obito said as he scratched his head in confusion while trying to recall Kakashi's attack's name.
"You did what?!" Minato's anger was paramount as his sapphire orbs stared at Kakashi's form. The silver haired teenager made sure to avoid eye contact and found new interest with the ground. "Kakashi, I told you that your Chidori remains to be a liability in the battlefield until you can get rid of the tunnel vision effect! You become way too caught up in focusing on maintaining your speed to achieve the necessary amount of thrust to pierce the opponent and kill them! If Obito wasn't with you to act as a cover for you then you'd most likely be dead Kakashi!"
Kakashi remained silent while Obito was struggling to hide the grin on his face.
Kakashi was always a brilliant user of Lightning Magic was drafted early into the guard squad for Konohagakure's Mage Corp, receiving praise everywhere he went. Though Obito was a great user of Fire Magic like all members of the Uchiha clan, he didn't exactly meet the expectations set for him by said distinguished family members, so he was just an average mage. When he and Kakashi began working together with Rin, he began to develop a rivalry with Kakashi and became jealous of his superiority. The fact that Rin, whom he had a crush on, had a crush on Kakashi, didn't help the situation any better.
Thus, Obito was mentally ecstatic at seeing the 'genius' get chewed out by their sensei.
"I'm very disappointed in you for making such an idiotic move, Kakashi."
"I'm sorry, Minato-sensei."
Minato cooled his rage before turning to Obito. "Obito, what happened after you got rid of the Lizardman party?"
"Oh, yeah...we stopped them from being able to make a camp and then we reported to Sarutobi-sama at the end. Sarutobi-sama said to tell you about this and then go talk to him. He's expecting you now that you're back." Obito said. Minato sighed. Everyone wanted to talk to him. He had a sick wife in the hospital damn it!
"Fine, I'll go talk to Hiruzen now. You boys remain on stand-by though."
"Why?" The two tilted their heads in confusion.
"For just in case."
Minato vanished in a flash of yellow for the third time that day.
Hokage's Chambers, Hokage Tower, Konohagakure no Sato
In the past, there were other villages where their most powerful, politically and strength-wise, mage would be elected to lead their villages. Sadly, those other four villages had been completely wiped out when those four Mage centric villages began to aim for expansion.
The Magic Council had caught wind of these four, Kirigakure and their Mizukage, Sunagakure and their Kazekage, Iwagakure and their Tsuchikage and Kumogakure led by their Raikage, all aiming for a war with Konohagakure and their Hokage, which had been and still was, the most powerful of the five Mage villages. And beyond.
This led to the unfortunate decision by the Magic Council, and the king of Fiore himself, to declare the four villages and dangerous parties that threatened the existence of the entire kingdom of Fiore and its citizens and so the Satellite Square: Etherion was fired. The magic particle cannon fired four destructive shots that left not even a single building standing nor a single human being, mage or non-mage. Though the loss of life could be an exaggeration, it was obvious that even if there were survivors, which was highly unlikely, they would not be aiming to try this sort of thing again.
The Hokage was the title given to the one chosen to be the true leader of the village of Konohagakure. This title was given to a person who would be more than just a figurehead as the Kage title was given only to those who were seen as the strongest mage in the entirety of the village. Due to the calculations of their being only ten percent of Fiore's population that could be capable of using magic, that kept the village from having too many candidates to be Hokage, but even so...that just made the mages of Konoha even stronger as they were far more willing to train to better themselves and separate themselves in terms of power, from the rest of Fiore.
Minato appeared in a flash of yellow, already in a kneeling position within the chambers of the elderly Hokage known as Hiruzen Sarutobi. Over sixty years of fighting had taken its toll on the old man as shown by the tired look in his eyes. His dark coloured skin was covered with wrinkles, visible veins and liver spots. His gray hair had all but disappeared from the top of his leaving only the spiky locks that was attached behind him. He was dressed in the red and white robes and triangular hat that signified his status as Hokage.
"Ah, Minato-kun." The old man spoke with a grandfatherly tone of voice. "I trust you got the message to come from the boys?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Minato said.
"Don't kneel to this old man." Hiruzen laughed before releasing a series of violent coughs. Minato raised his head and looked at the man in worry.
"Hokage-sama, you really should step down soon. The stress is affecting your health and your smoking isn't getting any better."
"I've had to deal with fighting against the other five Hidden Villages for over fifty years when I started out as a mage and continued to fight. Even when I entered my sixties and we were in peace times, they still craved war and were struck down by Etherion. I think I've received enough incentive to be able to smoke, even at my age of seventy-five. And as for stepping down..." Hiruzen looked at the Ten Wizard Saints member before him. "...you know I want you to be my successor. I've been the Sandaime Hokage of this village for far too long and sometimes, I just want it to be over."
"And I told you that being a Wizard Saint presents me to hold duties towards the kingdom of Fiore and that in turn would conflict with my duties to the village should I accept to be the Yondaime Hokage." Minato replied. "It is that sense of conflicted duty that led me to come back here. The war with Minstrel and Fiore was escalating and they wanted Kushina and I to be a part of their battle plan to end the war. They have already called in Makarov and Jose, but we wouldn't accept because Kushina was feeling very sick. She has been so for the past two weeks."
Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe, but ended up releasing a series of ragged coughs. Puffs of tobacco smoke came out of his mouth with each cough before he sat himself down in his chair.
"Well I hope she gets better. However, though I would like to talk to you like this longer, Minato-kun, I need to get down to business."
"What is it, Hokage-sama?"
"As you know, Obito and Kakashi discovered the Lizardmen's small camp outside our walls. The Lizardmen are very territorial as you know and though we have lived in peace with them for years, some of our spies have discovered the reason behind their sudden aggression."
"And what is it?"
"Their current leader, Red Claw, named because of his red scales and claws, seeks to take the entire forest area as his own. To be King of the Forest, if you will. The Lizardmen have lived on these lands for hundreds of years, long before Hashirama-sensei and Tobirama-sensei helped found the village with Madara Uchiha and colonized it. Red Claw seeks to take the land as his own and raze Konoha in the process. We don't know when, but war is definitely coming to our doorstep, Minato-kun."
"I understand, Hokage-sama. I will make necessary preparations." Minato replied. "I've actually had the idea to utilize some of mine and Kushina's Seal Magic formulas. Mostly barriers, but I also aim to bring in an invisibility matrix that will mask the village from sight. I've already drawn up the plans in my head and once Kushina is better, I will get her to help me make the matrices. I hope that it will be be effective against them, but with their ability to copy a single form of magic to use as their own, there's no telling how well this plan to stall will work."
"We will take what we can get, Minato-kun. Do what you must."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Konoha Hospital, Konohagakure no Sato
Kushina groaned as she woke up from her slumber.
"Ugh, my head." She muttered as she held her throbbing cranium. "What the hell happened?"
"Oh, you're awake!" Kushina's head snapped in the direction of the voice and her gray eyes widened when she saw Rins standing there. "I'll go get sempai and shishou, they've been waiting for a while for you to wake up." Kushina blinked in confusion as Rin sped off to look for her superiors. The female Wizard Saint looked around the room and saw the white ceiling, white walls, white curtains...
"Ugh, I'm in the hospital. I told Minato-kun I hated this place, but does he listen to me, nooooo." Kushina frowned as she huffed. After adjusting them, she leaned back into the soft pillows and watched the ceiling fan spin. However, she quickly turned away when she felt a spike in her headache and nausea again. She climbed out of her hospital bed and went to the room's bathroom where proceeded to relieve the sudden pressure on her bladder.
"Something is definitely wrong with me." She muttered. "I never pee this much."
After doing her business, she washed her hands and exited the home of the porcelain throne. As she did so, the red haired Wizard Saint heard her room door open and this time Rin returned with two older women.
The first was a pretty woman who looked to be about the age of nineteen with a slightly rounded facial structure and was fair skinned. She had short black hair that came down to the base of her neck and black eyes. She wore a dark violet kimono with cream coloured trim with her white medical coat worn over it. She had on a pair of black high heel shoes and was currently spinning what looked like a senbon needle between her fingers.
The second woman was not pretty. She wasn't even beautiful. She was downright gorgeous. She had long, pale blonde hair which had two long pigtails tied up on either side behind her head. She had a slightly angular facial structure and was fair skinned, but lighter in tone in comparison to the other woman. She had golden brown eyes, as if someone had mixed honey and chocolate to make her iris colour, and wore dark red lipstick. She wore a dark gray tunic with black lines adorning it and a pair of long, navy blue pants. Like the other two females before her, she wore a pair of black high heels that clacked against the tiled floor of the room. Over her tunic, she wore a dark green coat which had a circle of red outlined thickly by black. In the circle was the kanji for 'Gamble' in ebony. The most noticeable features on her person however, were the blue diamond tattoo in the centre of her forehead and the jade crystal that hung around her neck.
"Tsunade-san! Shizune-chan!" Kushina's gray eyes brightened at seeing the two women again. Tsunade Senju and Shizune Kato smiled back at Kushina.
"Hey, Kushina-chan." Tsunade greeted her.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Kushina-sama." Shizune bowed respectfully to the Wizard Saint. Kushina sat herself down on the bed as Tsunade grabbed one of the chairs usually used by visitors and sat in it.
"So, Rin-chan has been telling me that Minato-kun says you haven't been feeling well recently?" Tsunade asked. Kushina nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah. We originally thought it was the flu at first, but the flu virus tends to only last a week. I've been having problems for two and unless my immune system sucks, which it doesn't, something is definitely wrong with me and it's not the flu I have 'ttebane."
Tsunade and Shizune nodded their heads.
"Rin-chan said that your symptoms included nausea, headaches, vomiting and excessive use of the bathroom?" Shizune said with a questioning tone. "Have you been experiencing anything else?
"Especially the bathroom one. I've been pissin' a lot 'ttebane. It's really weird." Kushina then went into a thinking pose. "As for anything else, well I guess there would be I'm feeling tired a lot more often, I know it's something to do with the hormones because I've been having mood swings every now and then, and I've been having a small craving for chocolate."
Rin raised an eyebrow. "And by small you mean..."
"I ate two whole tubs of ice cream." She answered. "By myself. In an hour."
The first reaction was for the three females to be jealous of their crimson haired patient. The gray eyed woman just ate two tubs of ice cream and obviously didn't put on any form of weight. She'd be gaining weight they knew, but it wouldn't be from ice cream...or any kind of food for that matter. Shizune, Tsunade and Rin looked to each other and then back at Kushina with a knowing look in their eyes.
The gray eyed woman tilted her head in confusion at the sudden show of excitement on their faces. "What? Is there something on my face?"
"No." Tsunade replied with a chuckle.
"We know what you have, or at least we think we know what you have." Shizune spoke this time.
"But it's best to just run some tests to make sure." Rin added.
Kushina nodded her head. "Alright, let's do it, 'ttebane!"
And so a variety of tests were done. Progesterone, oestrogen, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and leutenising hormone (LH) levels were all observed as well as the rate of blood flow throughout her body, mainly in her stomach and nether-regions. A few hours later, the two healing mages and the one healing mage-to-be, returned with the results of her tests.
"Well we've finished the test results on your hormone levels and blood work. Progesterone and oestrogen levels are excessively high and are fluctuating and your FSH and LH levels had their initial spike before dropping down to a moderate level. Your breasts have increased slightly in size and are fuller in shape and as for your blood, there's a difference in the amount being directed to your stomach and nether-regions."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you have one last test to take." Tsunade replied. The busty blonde held out her hand and Shizune rested the small box into her superior's hands. Tsunade reached into the box and pulled out a small blue stick of plastic and handed it to Kushina. "Pee on it."
Kushina nearly dropped the stick in her hands and looked at the three healing mages in front of her. "Huh?!" She exclaimed. "Tsunade-san, Shizune-chan, Rin-chan, you can't be fucking serious, 'ttebane?!"
"We are very serious, Kushina-sama." Shizune replied. "Now go into the bathroom and pee on the stick."
Kushina looked at the plastic test in her hands and gulped. She rose from her bed and headed into the bathroom and proceeded to do as instructed. There was a moment of silence as Tsunade, Shizune and Rin stared at the bathroom door and then, after a few minutes, the door creaked open. Kushina walked out with a completely shocked look on her face as she stared at the blue stick.
"Kushina-sama?" Rin and Shizune stared at the Ten Wizard Saint member worriedly. Kushina held her free hand to her mouth before handing the stick to Tsunade. The busty blonde swiped it from her red haired friend who was now on the verge of tears. Tsunade looked at the it and saw the red stripe on the white surface.
"The human Chorionic Gonadotrphin (hCG) hormone is proven to be present in her urine." Tsunade grinned widely. Shizune and Rin's eyes widened as Kushina continued to hold her hands over her mouth and cry. "Congratulations Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze...you're pregnant."
Namikaze Home, Konohagakure
Minato was currently in his study drawing up the seal tags that would be needed to protect the village from any sort of Lizardman attack, whether it be magical or physical. Although, it was the extremely technical part such as trying to mix in his seal matrix from the Hiraishin into the Barrier matrix itself that would pose trouble as barrier seals were meant to be structurally sound. Any sort of mistake in the seal itself would result in the entire thing blowing up from the magic energy being inputted to the barrier seal completely breaking down from a single hit.
Minato groaned as he scratched his head in annoyance. "Damn it, why does Seal Magic have to be so fucking complicated. I don't understand how Kushina-chan can handle this!"
"It's because I'm a whole heapin' set of sexy, badassary and awesome, 'ttebane!"
Minato whirled around and saw his lovely wife standing before him with a confident look on her face. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the practically euphoric look on her face that she was desperately trying to hide. Minato stood up from his chair and hugged the woman he loved.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he let her go. "What did Tsunade-san say?"
Kushina looked ready to burst, but she held it in. "I'll tell you once you tell me you are doing. Having trouble with some seals?" She asked. Minato sighed and nodded.
"Yeah. Hiruzen was telling me about the Lizardmen. Kakashi and Obito had found a camp of them lying a few kilometres south of the village and they killed them, but this is showing that they are getting bolder and beginning to prepare for a potential war front. I decided to take Org-san's words to heart and place Barrier Lock seals and an Invisibility seal matrix around the entire village to protect it." The blonde Wizard Saint explained. "Lizardmen can learn any single type of magic, but Sarutobi said the Lizardmen have been around for hundreds of years before Konoha was founded and Lizardmen have much longer lifespans than humans by a whole one hundred years. There's possibly a magic that one of them could use to break through the protective seals and so I'm not sure how long this protection will last."
"It'll be fine, Minato-kun. Your wife is an Uzumaki and Uzumaki are the best damn Seal Magic users on the face of Earthland." Kushina assured him. "Now then, what are you trying to do?"
"Trying to construct the Invisibility Seal and Barrier Seal while also mixing in the seal formula for my Hiraishin spell."
"Is that it?" Kushina scoffed. "You pussy. I can't believe the man I married is wussing out over this. Give me the magic pen." Minato did as he was told and handed her the instrument used to create his seals. Kushina began to look over the seal tags on the desk. She tapped the seal matrices and pushed a bit of her magic energy into the tags. She pulled on the outer edges of the seal formulas and they responded to her will, expanding and stretching. She then began writing the adjustments for her husband's seals.
"You want to to fit it in while also assuring stability. Expanding the perimeter of the formula will allow you to do that, but just put in some Chain Support seals along the inner layer and the extreme outer layer. A pentagram positioning of the Chain Support seals will allow for better stability. Now then, we just inscribe the formula for your Hiraishin in the centre of the pentagram." Kushina moved on to the other Barrier Lock seals that covered the desk before moving on to the Invisibility seal tag. "Now for the Invisibility Barrier, you're aiming to cover the entire village so just make it much larger. Then do the exact same thing like with the Barrier Lock seals and voila, you have your protective set up for Konoha all set up."
Kushina gave a dramatic bow. "Thank you, thank you I'll be here until death do us part." The female Wizard Saint grinned smugly as she tossed the magic pen at her husband who reacted and caught it while still wearing the dumbfounded expression on his face. "How did you..."
"Like I said before, I'm a whole heapin' set of sexy, badassary and awesome."
"Did I ever tell you I love you?"
"On multiple accounts." She replied as Minato set aside his seal tags and put away the magic pen in his person pocket dimension. The blonde then turned around and looked at his wife.
"So, now that that's done..." He clapped his hands together and rubbed them in anticipation. "...what did you want to tell me?"
(Insert Music: Naruto Shippuden- I'm Home)
His curiosity grew that much more when he saw happiness brimming in her gray eyes. She placed her hands on her stomach and showed the man she loved her trademark foxy grin. "Minato-kun...I'm pregnant. I'm gonna be a mother 'ttebane!"
Minato's mind broke. His eyes were wide, he could have dislocated his jaw with how far it had dropped. "You're...I'm gonna be a father!"
"I'm gonna be mother 'ttebane!"
"I'm gonna be a father!"
The two took steady steps towards each other. Kushina was the first to break out into a small run as they wrapped each other in tight embraces. They jumped around the study in pure joy. They didn't care when scrolls, pens and Seal Magic notes fell and were scattered across the ground, they didn't care that they knocked over the two chairs and they sure as hell didn't care when Minato tripped and caused them to fall over.
The two lovers laughed as they were lying on the ground. Kushina positioned herself so she was now straddling her husband and looked into his sapphire orbs with nothing but love and happiness and vice versa. The two Wizard Saints leaned towards each other and kissed. They held it for a minute before parting. The two grinned toothily and then pumped their fists into the air.
"WE'RE GONNA BE PARENTS 'TTEBANE!"
"HELL YEAH WE ARE!" Minato then pushed himself up into a sitting position while keeping a hold on his wife's hips. "So when did they say the due date was?"
"Tsunade-san said that because we're both mages, the length of pregnancy is going to be ten months instead of the original nine because mages also have to divert magic energy into the babies' bodies along with the nutrients from my blood. This is mainly to help the babies develop a stable magic circulation system. So it's January 10th so by the 10th of October we should have our children." Kushina replied giddily.
Minato nodded before a confused look came on his face. "Wait...you're using the plural a lot."
"Uh huh!" Kushina nodded her head rapidly as another wide grin came onto her face. "We got twins 'ttebane! It's that amazing?!" Her answer came in the form of another forceful kiss which she was more than happy to return. The two pulled apart, but kept their foreheads touching.
"I love you."
"I love you too 'ttebane."
Two weeks later, when Kushina's baby bump began to become more pronounced, Minato and Kushina had held a small party at their house. They had invited only close friends which included Shizune, Tsunade, Hiruzen, Kakashi, Obito, Rin, Chouza, Shikaku, Yoshino, Inoichi, Seiko and Mikoto. Seiko, Mikoto and Yoshino were also expecting children as well and so the wives were extremely happy...and loud...when the two Wizard Saints announced that they were having children.
"Congratulations!" Was the cry from the small group of guests. They then took turns rubbing Kushina's stomach and expressing their joy before Kushina was being led away from everyone else by Mikoto, Seiko and Yoshino.
"Ugh, I can't believe you guys are almost done with your pregnancies. The way you girls just described it me makes me dread the day the contractions start coming in. When are you all due?"
"March." Seiko replied. "So just two more months."
"I'm in July so that's too far away from yours Kushi-chan. I'll be sticking it out with you for a while longer."
"I'll be due in September. The child is lazy like his father." Yoshino murmured. Kushina sighed still.
"So have you decided on names for the twins yet?" Seiko asked. Kushina shook her head.
"No, not yet. It's only been a month, Seiko-chan and Minato-kun and I have been busy with our Wizard Saint stuff. However, because a month has passed we've both sent in our letters of temporary leave until the babies are born." Kushina replied. "So what about you three? Got names for your kids?"
Seiko, Yoshino and Mikoto all nodded causing Kushina to stare at them in shock. "Oh what the hell?! How?!"
"Motherly instinct." They replied simultaneously.
"Mine's gonna be Sakura." Seiko replied.
"Oh like that's so original. The gene for pink hair is always gonna be dominant so you probably didn't even have to think for that one." Kushina deadpanned. Seiko merely stuck out her tongue like the mature mother-to-be she was. "What about you, Yoshi-chan?"
"I discussed the names with Noriko and Chiharu. By the way, they are busy preparing their baby rooms so they couldn't come, but they told to tell you congratulations." Kushina nodded in understanding at Yoshino's explanation. Chiharu Akimichi and Noriko Yamanka had been pregnant before her and Yoshino so they were well on their way to being prepared for when their babies were born. Chiharu was due in March and Noriko was early September.
"Anyway, we've decided to keep to the Ino-Shika-Chou tradition again. Mine is Shikamaru, Chiharu's is Chouji and Noriko is sure she's going to have a girl for some reason so she's going to name her Ino."
"Geez, you guys didn't have to think at all for this shit." Kushina mumbled. "Mikoto-chan?"
"We decided on the name, Sasuke." Mikoto rubbed her stomach. "Itachi-kun picked it out."
"What's with you people? You say motherly instinct and you come with these bullshit reasons as to how you got your baby names all picked out." Kushina huffed. The three women laughed at their red haired friend's expense.
Minato watched from the couch as his wife continued to converse with her friends.
"So, fatherhood huh?" Hiruzen spoke.
"Yeah, though I do wish Jiraya-sensei would have been here to see this day. If he had been alive, I would have named him to be my kids' godfather."
"Really?" Shikaku asked. "The man you called Ero-Sennin, a godfather?"
"Yup. Despite his perverted-ness, Jiraya-sensei was a great man. He informed Hiruzen about Danzo's attempt at a coup with his ROOT faction, preventing the village from being internally destroyed, and he saved everyone at the cost of his own life by killing Orochimaru. That's testimony to Jiraya-sensei's strength and I couldn't think of any man more worthy to be my son and/or daughter's godfather." Minato smiled sadly.
"My student would have been honoured to be named a godfather, Minato-kun. I'm sure he's smiling down on you with pride."
"And if he were a ghost, he's probably gonna sneak into every physically attractive woman's home and peep on them." Obito and Kakashi added. A loud laugh came from the group of men as they remembered their fallen.
Detecting the solemn atmosphere that came with the discussion of the white haired pervert, Chouza tried to lighten the air. "Genius as a child, Wizard Saint as an adult and the guy who turned down wanting to be Hokage." Chouza chuckled. "Your kids are gonna have the most badass Tou-chan ever."
"Pfft, don't try to sell yourselves short." Minato countered. "You're a front liner in the Rune Knights, Shikaku is head of their Strategy and Intelligence departments and Inoichi has the Torture and Interrogation department at his beck and call. Your daughter is not going to have any boyfriends by the way." He pointed to Inoichu. The long haired blonde nodded his head stiffly.
"Damn right she's not. Not even your boys are gonna get through me." He glared at the three men in front of him.
"My son would turn out like me most likely. It'd be too troublesome for him to get a woman, much less your daughter. She'll most likely get both yours and Noriko's tempers and she's gonna be bossy like you. Don't give me that look, I've seen how you are with your subordinates in the T&I department." Inoichi scowled at his friend. His scowl deepened when Shikaku ducked under the swipe to his head and proceeded to sit on the couch...using Minato as a human shield.
"I'm telling you Kakashi, it's just plain unfair to us as men."
"No Obito, that's just stupid."
"Boys, stop fighting." Minato told the two teenagers. Obito and Kakashi walked over to Minato and settled in front of him. "What are you fighting about though?" Obito chose to explain.
"You know something, Minato-sensei?" Obito said with a look of realization on his face.
"What?" Minato asked.
"When people have kids, everyone crowds around the wife and pats her stomach, telling her congratulations. So why doesn't anyone point at the husband's crotch and tell him good job?" All the men looked at the Uchiha with bewildered looks on their faces. They then looked to each other and back to Obito.
"The boy speaks the truth!" They exclaimed. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock and Hiruzen, who chose to remain silent, merely laughed at the whole scene.
"Are you seriously considering this, Minato-sensei?!" Kakashi gripped his hair in disbelief. "Pointing at a man's balls and telling him good job is just plain weird!"
"No it's not, Kakashi." Inoichi spoke. "We men have just as much a part to play in the art of reproduction as the women. We deserve recognition!"
"As troublesome as it is, Obito's statement does have merit."
"Indeed." Chouza agreed.
"We will then go to the women and tell them to give us the recognition we deserve!" Minato raised his fists to the ceiling. "We do this, NOW!"
"YOSH!"
Kakashi and Hiruzen sweatdropped while Obito was trying not to laugh his ass off. As the group of four rose from the couch, Shikaku's brain kicked in and overshadowed his male pride.
"Wait!" He exclaimed. The other fathers-to-be turned to their nakama.
"If we bring this up, we're going to end up arguing. Then everyone's gonna gang up on us because women somehow manage to circumvent the cause of the argument to something else entirely and unrelated to the topic at hand and thus end up with more arguing. We're going to end up sleeping on the couches and despite how comfortable my couch is, I like my bed."
Minato looked to Inoichi and Chouza and the three men nodded.
"We do this, NEVER!"
"YOSH!"
(Insert Music: Bleach- Power to Strive)
Outer Walls, Konohagakure no Sato
October 10th, Year- X763
Ten Months Later
"ENERGY MAKE: RASENGAN!" Minato slammed the sphere of pure eternano into the belly of a Lizardman. He then ducked beneath the swipe of another's claws and grabbed the humanoid reptile by its outstretched arm and hurled it into the body of another. In a flash of yellow, he was already in their faces and delivered swift dual uppercuts to send them upwards.
"Kakashi, Obito!"
"HAI!" The two teenagers followed their commander's orders and struck. Obito took a deep breath as a red magic seal appeared in front of his body.
"Fire Magic: Odama Housenka/Giant Phoenix Flower!" Multiple fireballs about the size of basketballs spewed out of Obito's mouth and exploded against the bodies of the airborne Lizardmen before they crashed into the remainder of their small force. With the burning bodies being used as a distraction, Kakashi struck forth and gripped his right wrist with his left hand.
A blue magic seal ran over his right arm before lightning and magic energy sparked to life. The sound of one thousand birds filled the air and the dark eyed mage sped forth, leaving a trail of dust behind him in a way to show case the power of his attack.
"Lightning Magic: Chidori!" The Lizardmen didn't even have time to react or scream as their flesh was torn from their chests, their hearts completely vapourized by the high levels of heat and electricity made by Kakashi's attack. The bodies fell to ground, covered in blood and Kakashi glanced back at his sensei and teammate. "That's the last of them."
Minato nodded his head as he looked down at the bodies. "They are getting bolder. The Invisibility Seal is working only half of the time because they know exactly where the village is and now they are trying to break through the Barrier Locks. I'll use my Seal Magic and fix some of the damage done to the barriers. You two, get rid of the bodies."
"Yes, Minato-sensei." Kakashi and Obito burned the bodies with their magic and Minato knelt does by one of the seal tags which had been torn during the skirmish. He removed the tag and turned it to shred with his own Lightning Magic before making a few hand motions to activate Seal Magic: Pocket Dimension. He removed a piece of paper and his magic pen and began to draw out his formula for the barrier, but paused when he felt a small spike in magic.
His eyes narrowed as he ran into the brush and rested atop a tree branch. His blue eyes scanned the foliage for the magic energy signature, but as he was reaching out with his senses, a pulse of magic entered his cloak. He cursed as he lost the foreign signature, but answered the Communication Seal when he removed it from his cloak pocket.
'Yes?'
'Minato-sama, Kushina's ready to enter labour.' Shizune's voice entered his head.
'What?!'
'Minato-sensei, hurry up! She's starting to throw tantrums and is cursing you...plus...we have some...news.' Minato didn't like the way Rin had paused, but he nodded his head.
'I'll be right there.' He hopped down from the tree, replaced the Barrier Lock seal and then turned to his two other students. "Kushina's in labour. You two continue to keep watch and kill any Lizardman you see."
"Yes, Minato-sensei."
The Kiiroi Senko vanished in the manner that earned him his moniker.
Hospital, Konohagakure no Sato
Tsunade, Shizune and Rin were all sitting around Kushina as she was breathing heavily. Her skin was rather pale and she was sweating profusely. It didn't help ease her stress, nor the pain in her husband's hand which she was gripping tightly, as she listened to what the two healing mages and one trainee said.
"Minato-sensei, there's a complication with the twins." Rin said.
"What is it?" He asked seriously as he squeezed his wife's hand out of worry and to ease the pain in his own hand.
Shizune spoke this time. "The twins have grown rather well, but the problem is that one of them, the girl, she is underdeveloped physically and her magic circulatory system is still under construction. The boy twin has been taking the majority of Kushina's nutrients and magic energy and resulted in your baby girl's condition. However, not only that, but your girl is not in a position in the womb that suggests she is ready to be delivered and so we can only birth the boy."
"Is...Is my girl going to die?" Kushina asked with tears in her eyes. Shizune shook her head.
"No." She stated seriously. "Your girl will live. This is just a condition known as a delayed interval birth. It's rare, but it happens to mothers who have twins. One of the twins is born after the other and there are even rarer cases where one of the twins is born months after the first. This is one of those cases. Your daughter will live, but you will have to endure another labour process in the months to come as her magic circulation system and physical body continue to develop in the womb."
"But then what about the boy?" Minato asked. "How will you get him out? Do you need to do a C-Section?"
"We can birth him through normal means. It will not affect your girl foetus in any way." Tsunade assured him. Minato turned to Kushina and the red head nodded with determination blazing in her gray eyes.
"I don't care. I've carried them for ten months, I can manage to carry one of them for a few more." Kushina replied through gritted teeth as she powered through another contraction.
(Insert Music- Fairy Tail- Kizuna)
And so, after enduring the painful effort of having to clench her vaginal walls for an hour, which took forever in everyone's minds, the screams of encouragement to the red headed mother were replaced by the screams of one baby boy. Severing the umbilical cord and cleaning him, Tsunade wrapped the boy in a blue blanket and handed him over to Minato.
"Kushina-sama, we're going to make sure the birth didn't complicate your other foetus. Don't worry, it will only take a few moments and then you can see the boy." Rin said to her. Kushina was panting in exertion and only managed to nod her head as she planted her head harshly into the pillow. Once all was said and done, Minato walked over to his wife with tears of joy in his eyes.
"Look at him, Kushina-chan. He's so beautiful." Minato bent down to his wife. She took her son from her fellow Wizard Saint and sniffled as she blinked to hold back her tears.
"Damn right he is. The most badass baby boy on the face of Earthland." She released a choked laugh.
"Do you have a name for him?" Tsunade asked. Minato and Kushina looked at each other and nodded. Minato reached into his pocket and whipped out a small orange book that had the words 'Tale of the Utterly Gutless Mage' on the front.
"Naruto. That was the main character is Jiraya-sensei's book who fought with determination and refused to ever give up no matter how bleak the situation. My little boy is gonna be just like the character in this book. Isn't that right, Naru-chan?" Minato lightly kissed the forehead of his son. Kushina looked at the head of blonde hair on his head before they watched their baby boy squirm in his mother's grip. A yawn escaped the boy's mouth before his eyes opened.
The Wizard Saints gasped when they gazed into the large orbs of sapphire.
"He's definitely your boy." Kushina chuckled. Minato kissed the top of his wife's head.
"But he has your face." Minato then tilted his head in confusion when he noticed the two trios of lines on either cheek. "Tsunade-san, what are these marks on Naruto's face?"
Tsunade raised her head up from the birth certificate she was busy finishing before placing it into a folder. "Oh. Those are just birth marks. Nothing to worry about, but I think it's cute how they look like whiskers."
"He's like a cat." Shizune laughed.
"I say fox if his grin is gonna turn out like Kushina-sama's." Rin interjected.
"You hear that my little fox, you're gonna have your Okaa-chan's smile." Kushina rocked her baby boy back to sleep, his beautiful blue eyes closing once more. "Welcome to the world, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze...my little Naru-chan."
"We did good, Kushi-chan. We did good."
"More than good, we did absolutely badass work. Can't wait to see how our little girl turns out in a few months."
Timeskip- Seven Months Later
Forests, Eastern Fiorean Mountains, Fiore
May 10th, Year-X764
Magic energy flowed into his cloak pocket and he took out the Communication Seal. 'What?!' Was the stress filled answer.
'Minato-sensei, she's in labour.'
'Damn it Rin, tell her to hold it in!'
'Minato-sensei, that's a horrible thing to say!'
'Well when you're trying to fend for life while fighting hordes of giant bipedal Lizardmen who are using your own Lightning Magic and Energy Make against you, then maybe YOU can tell me how horrible things are!' He replied as he ducked under the snapping jaws and slashing claws of his attackers.
Rin was silent for a moment and Minato mentally sighed.
'Look, I'll move as fast as I can, but there's a few hundred of these guys here.'
'I understand. I'll tell her.'
The connection was severed and Minato vanished in a flash of gold.
"Lightning Magic: Heaven's Arrows!" The horde of Lizardmen surrounding him didn't even blink before they found their bodies engulfed in lightning. The resulting explosion finished them off before their bodies were crushed by Chouza's giant form. The Titan Magic user slapped the three giant Lizardmen with his staff and looked down at Minato.
"What's the verdict?!" His booming voice echoed through the air.
"She's in labour!" Minato yelled.
"Really?! Now?!" Inoichi commented as he manipulated the minds of a few Lizardmen to attack their own. The group was then speared through by several threads of shadow.
"Troublesome delayed interval birth." The scarred Shadow Magic user mumbled. "Go, Minato! We'll handle them!"
"But there's hundreds! Even the Uchiha are having trouble with them because the few that possess the Sharingan are being copied." The Sharingan was a special magic that was only found in the Uchiha clan of Konoha and was able to be awakened when the eyes of a fully realized Uchiha underwent a great emotional stress. Mainly anger or sadness. A magic technique that was truly all but invincible, but due to the peace times, the users of the Sharingan were lost and only one out of every ten Uchiha members were able to unlock the dreaded eye technique.
And these Lizardmen were pulling it off just by copying the magic of their Copy-Wheel Eye using opponents. Bad enough they were replicating other forms of magic, but now they had Sharingan using ones to deal with.
"We'll be fine!" Kakashi and Obito exclaimed.
"The way I see it, Minato-sensei, Kushina-sama is way worse than these guys!" Obito shouted out as he burned a Lizardman's face with a large fireball. Minato gritted his teeth, but surrendered to peer pressure.
"Fine, but let me give you guys a last helping hand. SEAL MAGIC: HIRAISHIN!" Minato leaped into the air and tossed a great deal of tri-pronged kunai knives from his weapons pouch, decorating the field with them. On each handle of the kunai, the seal formula for the Hiraishin was inscribed. It helped when a few of them pierced the flesh of some Lizardmen. Flashes of gold and blue tore through the battlefield before Minato took down every single Lizardman within his reach before firing off a Chou Odama Rasengan.
"You've done more than enough here now." Shikaku said. "Now go!"
Minato nodded and he didn't even blink before he found himself rushing through a wormhole in space-time. He didn't even stop to register that he had reached his location before he burst through the door of his wife's hospital room. The blonde was panting heavily as Tsunade, Shizune and Rin turned to him with frowns on their faces.
(Insert Music: Fate/Stay Night- Kizuna)
"Shhhh!" Minato sweatdropped before the three healing mages moved away from the bed where Kushina was rocking both her children in her arms. The seven month old Naruto gurgled as he lay with his mother, staring with wide blue eyes at his newborn sister. A few strands of red hair poked out of the pink blanket she was wrapped in.
Minato walked towards them and looked down at his new daughter. Said daughter looked up at him with deep brown eyes making him tilt his head in confusion. The baby girl did the same action causing the three healing mages and his wife to stifle their snickers.
"Now THAT...is your child." He joked. Kushina nodded her head as Minato took her into his arms. However, as soon as he did so, Naruto started to cry. Kushina held her son and bounced him in her arms.
"Shhhh Shhhh it's okay, Naru-chan. Tou-chan just wants to see your new imouto."
"Technically, they're twins." Minato said causing the gray eyed woman to give him a deadpan look.
"Really?"
"Sorry." He looked down at the brown eyed baby in his arms. "She has your great-grandma Mito's eyes."
"Yeah, but my genes are completely dominant in everything else. You got the lion's share for Naru-chan, but little Aka-chan is mine."
"Is that her name?" Minato asked. Kushina shook her head.
"Nope, but she has red hair so Aka-chan is just what I'm calling her until we find a name." Kushina then looked to Naruto. "What do you think, Naru-chan? What do you want your imouto's name to be? What do you want little Aka-chan's name to be?"
The seven month old toddler stared into his mother's eyes, sapphire meeting light gray. Suddenly, the blonde blurted out a sound.
"Za!" Naruto cried out. The adults in the room blinked in confusion.
"What?" Kushina asked.
"Za! Za! Za!" He chanted. Minato and Kushina looked at their first born and chuckled in amusement.
"Guess he wants 'za' as a syllable." Minato said. "But what about be a good name with 'za' in it?"
There was a period of silence before Rin spoke. "Erza!" She looked at the baby girl in her former sensei's arms. "Erza. Truth be told, the real name is Ezra which means 'Help' in one of the ancient languages of Earthland and is masculine, but Erza sounds like a good feminine version."
"You just switched around the 'z' and 'r'." Shizune deadpanned.
"But it works." Minato and Kushina said simultaneously. "What do you think, Naruto?"
The seven month boy clapped his hands together. "Za! Za!"
"He approves." Kushina laughed. Minato then bent down to his wife's level. "Well then, Naru-chan, thank you for helping us name your imouto, Erza Uzumaki Namikaze."
Timeskip- Five Months Later
Magic Council- Fiore Branch, Fiore
October 10th, Year X764
"Minato-sama, Kushina-sama, it's a pleasure to have you all back with us." Org smiled at the pair. "I trust the children are doing well?"
"Thank you, Org-san." The two bowed to the head of the Magic Council. "And yes, Naruto and Erza are doing quite well. Naruto's already knocking down all our crap since he started walking, but he still hasn't made his words. And Erza's been our little trooper, definitely Minato-kun's child in personality."
"Except when she's angry. Both of them have Kushina-chan's lungs, I'll you that." Minato scratched at his ear canal and Kushina slapped his hand away causing Org, Yajima and Belino to laugh at the scene. "So, would you mind telling us what you've called us here for, Org-san? Not to be disrespectful, but given how old they are, we'd rather not leave Naruto and Erza alone in Konoha and Kakashi and Obito aren't exactly the best influential figures on my boy."
"And what about Erza?"
"Erza has Rin and she can only do so much to protect Naruto from Obito's idiocy and Kakashi's apathy."
"Good point. So, you were saying?" She gestured to the council.
"Yes." Michello cleared his throat. "As we were saying, we called you here to tell you that even though you both haven't taken part in the operation itself, Operation Black Water was a success."
"It was?!" The two Wizard Saints exclaimed. The four Magic Council members nodded.
"Aye." Yajima replied. "Makarov Dreyar and Jose Porla completely decimated the enemy naval force with the Four Gods of Ishval, as expected of the Titan of Fairy Tail and the Ghost King of Phantom Lord and the mages who aren't considered human. Though we did come across a problem in the form of a cult of the Black Mage, Zeref, manipulating the king of Minstrel. They were trying to spread the word of their 'master', but Jose and Makarov stopped them."
"Stopped?" Minato questioned. "Not killed?"
"Well Makky was always a soft-hearted one despite his brash personality. Fairy Tail was raised with the ideology that killing was only a last resort option to conflict, but eventually that became twisted and warped to where it is now Fairy Tail's belief that killing is NEVER an option. As a former member of Fairy Tail, I was there when that ideology change came about and was proud of how Makarov managed to adhere to it, but he's followed the creed he made much too closely. Killing is a necessary evil in some cases."
"You old friend is being stupid then 'ttebane." Kushina stated.
"Indeed." Yajima spoke. "The fact that Fairy Tail stopped doing what was once needed to be done is the reason I left, but I lied to Makky telling him that I was old and tired. But I came here to the council to keep an eye on the old bastard. Anyway, Operation Black Water came full circle when we ordered Jose to kill them off. Though he and Makky are now conflicting with each other more and more."
The two Wizard Saints nodded. "So is that it?"
"Well actually, there's something else we need to discuss with you." Org said. "Or rather, what Toma E. Fiore wishes to discuss with you."
"The king wants to talk with us? What about?" Kushina asked. Org reached into his robe and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment. It was held in its cylindrical form by a beautiful golden ribbon and had the seal of the Fiore family, a stylized 'F' with the king's crown in the background, stamped on it with red wax.
"He wishes you to read this first before you are to head to the castle in Crocus." Minato and Kushina took the parchment from the First Seat of the Magic Council.
"Also..." Michello spoke up, his cat tail swishing behind him as he tapped his cane. "...concerning the Lizardman problem of yours, with Operation Black Water successful and the kindgom of Minstrel now under control, we..."
"Hold that thought, Michello-san." Minato reached into his cloak and pulled out a Communication Seal. He pumped some magic energy into the slip of paper and the seal glowed with violet light as it activated. Minato's cerulean eyes widened in shock before he turned to his wife. "We're going back to Konoha!"
"What's wrong?!" She asked, her alarmed tone mirroring his own.
"The Lizardmen have launched an attack on Konoha." The Magic Council and Kushina released gasps. "They've breached the walls and somehow there was word of an attack from the inside first. The Uchiha district is gone, Kakashi said. Obito was with him so he's still alive, but..."
"Flash us back!" Kushina ordered. Minato nodded, ignoring the cries of alarm from the council and their barks to ready the Rune Knights to help their most powerful Wizard Saints.
(Insert Music: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood- Crisis in the North)
Konohagakure no Sato, Eastern Fiorean Mountains, Fiore
Minato and Kushina reappeared in front of their home. Their eyes were wide when they saw it was in the middle of being attacked. Lizardmen were tearing through seal guarded doors and windows.
"GET! THE FUCK! OFF! MY! HOUSE!" The rage fueled mother roared. The Lizardmen turned around, but were prevented from doing any more when Kushina stamped her foot on the ground. "Blades Magic: Spear!" Three spears came out of the steel gray magic seals that appeared in front of her and stabbed themselves through the humanoid reptiles, killing them instantly.
The two worried and angry parents then rushed through their door and saw the dead bodies of Lizardmen lying on the floor. They were all burnt to a crisp. Ignoring them, the duo rushed through the halls of their home and entered their study. The heads of Kakashi, Obito and Rin snapped in their direction where they currently trying to quiet Naruto, who was wrapped in an orange blanket, and Erza, in a red one.
"Minato-sensei! Kushina-sama!" The three exclaimed with relief and joy. Kakashi however, was quick to revert to a serious mode as he held up a Chidori.
"Wait!" He stopped them from coming closer. "When did you two become Wizard Saints?!"
"What?!"
"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"
"January 19th, Year X750." Minato and Kushina replied simultaneously. Kakashi deactivated his spell and the sound of a thousands birds was once again replaced with the sound of burning buildings that surrounded them.
"I'll explain. The Lizardmen launched an internal strike first. It turns out that for the past few months, they have been capturing our spies and then copying their Transformation Magic to turn into them. No one would have questioned returning scouts since they had been giving us accurate information on the Lizardmen, but even so, this allowed them to bide time and strike. We've been cautious when we learned of this." Kakashi explained.
"I see. Continue, what happened to the Uchiha District?! What happened to Mikoto-chan, Itachi-chan and Sasuke-chan?!" Kushina's worry was paramount and Obito looked away as he gritted his teeth in rage.
"I...they took it out. Red Claw took out the Uchiha District with his battalion of Lizardmen that managed to survive the last attempt on the walls on the day Erza-chan was born. The Sharingan users fought against the Uchiha ones, but they fell due to the Lizardmen's numbers. Red Claw then proceeded to tear the place apart and burned it with the Lizardmen that had copied Fire Magic. Mikoto Oba-san...Itachi and Sasuke...they're all gone!" Obito yelled. Kakashi placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder while Rin tried to quiet the crying twins.
"And what about everyone else?" Minato asked.
"Chouza-san, Inoichi-san and Shikaku-san managed to do what they could and evacuated as much of the members of their clans along with some civilian families. We don't know which ones, but Kushina-sama, we are hoping the Harunos were among them. Also Hokage-sama is currently fighting Red Claw with the rest of his guard squad. We don't know how long they will last, but I doubt Hokage-sama will survive given his age and health." Rin spoke from a realistic point of view.
"Alright, well here's the plan." Kushina said. "From what you've told us, the Lizardmen have completely overrun the village. It's beyond saving so we're going to run. You three will take Naru-chan and Erza-chan while Minato-kun and I fight any and every Lizardman that blocks us from reaching the gates and beyond. Rin, you're a supporter as a healing mage so you carry them while Kakashi and Obito handle the fighting in case you three get separated from us during the fights."
The three teenage mages nodded their heads. Kushina turned to see her husband opening a large chest and stuffing any and every piece of paper he could find. He opened a seal locked drawer and removed a book titled 'Photo Album' and a toy drum rattle and dropped them in the chest along with the message from the king of Fiore that they would most likely never get to read.
Shutting the chest, Minato applied the intersecting Tetragram seals along with Barrier Locks and a few other precautionary trap seals.
"Just in case we get out of this alive, I'd like to have some things protected to prevent us from losing everything we have. We've lost the house, but like hell are we gonna lose that stuff I put in there!" Minato then kicked the chest underneath his study desk and the group of seven proceeded out of the house. The magic-made fires that had been spread throughout Konoha had then reached the Namikaze estate and were beginning to eat away at the protective barriers.
The group didn't look back as they heard the wood cracking and the house began to collapse. As they ran for the gates, a number of Lizardmen suddenly appeared as they broke through the ruins of Konoha's buildings and from the northern gate where they were headed.
"Lightning Magic: Dynamo!" A pulse of lightning raced out of the magic seals made by Kakashi and Minato and forced the Lizardmen into states of literal shock.
"Fire Magic: Blast Wave!" A wave of fire from Obito washed over the electrocuted Lizardmen and resulted in a massive explosion that circled their forms. Rin held on to Naruto and Erza, making sure to cover their ears so they wouldn't grow up to be deaf via explosions.
Minato and Kushina then went complete Over-Protective Parents mode on the humanoid reptiles. Minato punched two Lizardmen in the throat before pushing up on their shoulders to lift himself into the air and delivered a strong dual flying knee that sent them stumbling backwards only for two swords to impale them through the throat.
"Lightning Magic: Blade of Zeus!" A massive sword of pure lightning formed above everyone'es heads and with a cry of effort, Minato swung his arms down and the blade mimicked his movement. A powerful explosion of lightning erupted from the attack and the lightning continued to rip apart the earth before tearing apart the northern gate. Lizardmen bodies flew everywhere, but just as quickly as they died, more replaced them. It was like fighting the grunts of hydras. However, that didn't deter the group as Kushina then slammed her hands on the ground and a massive magic seal formed around her and the Lizardmen.
"Blades Magic: Forest of Steel!" Bladed weapons ranging from small knives to giant broadswords, rose up from the earth as if they were planted sprouts that were growing into trees. Blood and gore rained down from above as the enemy forces were impaled, dismembered or decapitated by the sudden eruption of blades from the ground.
The two Wizard Saints saw the oncoming army of Lizardmen as they broke through the northern gate area and entered the forest. Minato held out a hand and a large spheroid of eternano hovered in front of him.
"Energy Make: Odama Rasendangan!" The Giant Spiraling Bullet raced through the air and slammed into the earth in front of the Lizardman horde. Kushina turned back to the three teenagers as Minato continued to fire off explosive energy bullets.
"Run! We'll catch up with you two!" Kushina exclaimed. "Minato-kun placed Hiraishin seals on the blankets. We'll meet up with you three when we've killed these scaly bitches 'ttebane!"
"But..."
"GO!" The two Wizard Saints roared. The three teens nodded before running off. The Lizardmen aimed to follow, but were stopped when a trio of battle axes flew through the air and tore through their flesh. Kushina leaped after her weapons and caught one battle axe. She twirled it in her hands and swung it in an upward arc to bifurcate one Lizardmen before dropping low to avoid the swipe from another's claws. She spun with the duck and chopped it in half, letting the axe go so it could fly through the air and slice apart as many other Lizardmen as it could.
She then kicked off the chest of one Lizardman to get at the Air Magic using ones that hovered in the air. She summoned a spear and jabbed it through the reptile's heart and used the spear as an anchor to rocket off towards the other hovering Lizardmen. She grabbed one by the head and in an amazing show of strength, placed it in a suffocating headlock before twisting the head sharply to snap its neck. As the body fell, Kushina leaped towards the third, but it was wise enough to dodge.
However, Kushina summoned a trident tipped chain weapon. She flung the chain and the Lizardman was impaled through its spine by the mid to long-range weapon. Kushin flipping in midair as she fell and swung the Lizardman into the ground, forming a crater in the process. She then landed atop her recent kill and her body pulsed with magic energy.
"Seal Magic: Chains!" Golden energy chains decorated with sharp spikes grew out of Kushina's vertebrae and stabbed through a large number of Lizardmen before vanishing as quickly as they came. The bodies rained down from above, but none had the pleasure of hitting the ground as a large lightning dragon burst out of the earth.
"Lightning Magic: Dragon's Maw!" The lightning dragon was massive and easily swallowed the falling humanoid reptiles before it gave a roar and smashed into the earth. A massive explosion of lightning tore the earth asunder and electrocuted the Lizardmen caught in its blast radius, killing them. The wrath of the two most powerful members of the Ten Wizard Saints held no equal as they ripped through flesh, stabbed through scales, electrocuted and destroyed bodies in explosive displays of power and made the Lizardmen know why they were worthy of their titles despite their young ages.
The Kiiroi Senko flashed through the battlefield after scattering a few of his marked kunai and in a yellow flash, many fell to his Rasengan Rendan while Kushina unleashed her bloody feminine fury as the Chishio no Habanero. Blood as red as her hair, covered her body as well as Minato's and soon, hundreds of Lizardmen were now laying on the ground at their feet.
Panting, the two parents looked around the battlefield, observing the results of their parental fury. But it refused to end. A few hordes of the humanoid reptiles appeared from every single available angle and surrounded them. Minato and Kushina glared at their opponents and one Lizardman tried to take a shot at the two humans, but was grabbed by one of Kushina's eternano chains and slammed harshly into the ground, shattering its skull. Kushina snarled at her enemies with Minato. However, before the two could continue their path of carnage, the Lizardmen in front of them parted to reveal a figure clothed in white and red robes and wearing a conical hat with the kanji for 'Fire' on it.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Hiruzen!"
Their looks of surprise and mild relief were replaced with shock and anger when they saw the robes and hat fall away to reveal the crimson form of the leader of the Lizardmen.
"Red Claw?!" Kushina exclaimed.
"No...then that means..."
"Indeed, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. I have killed the old man that dared to lead a village in the middle of my domain! The forests belong to the Lizardmen and as their king, it is my duty to remove any and all foreign presences." Red Claw chuckled darkly as he raised his head. His golden eyes then flickered and revealed the crimson irises decorated with three tomoe surrounding the rounded pupil. "The Sharingan helps with that and maybe if you give in to my demands...maybe, I'll spare your lives."
"What do you want?" Kushina asked. "We're not going to submit, but it would give more of a reason to tear you a new one in your scaly ass when we hear it."
"A feisty one." Red Claw chuckled. "Well, Kushina-sama, as you may have known, my soldiers have been spying on your village for the past few months and thus we know many things about this village. Including your children, Naruto and Erza." Red Claw's toothy grin grew wider at their angry expressions. "We want them. To have the power spawned from the union of two members of the Ten Wizard Saints could ensure that my rule over the forest will last for eons and being capable to take over the areas beyond the forests will be an added plus once those two brats are able to use magic."
"LIKE HELL YOU'RE GETTING THEM!" Kushina and Minato roared.
(Insert Music: One Piece- Let's Battle)
"Blades Magic: Metallic Flurry!"
"Lightning Magic: Dynamo!" A flurry of blades appeared per Kushina's will and Minato coated them all with a great deal of golden and blue electrical energy. The storm of electrified weapons fell upon the Lizardmen.
"UNISON RAID: ELECTROMAGNETIC MURDER!"
"Sharingan: Electromagnetic Murder!" Minato and Kushina watched with wide eyes as Red Claw's tomoe began to spin and suddenly a magic seal not unlike their own, appeared in front of the Lizardman king. The electrified weapons were mimicked down to the last blade and its hilt and soon weapons clashed against another. A number of Lizardmen fell prey to the weapons that managed to break through their leader's counter while the two Wizard Saints had protected themselves with a wall of lightning.
Once the two Unison Raid spells ended, Minato and Kushina went on another rampage, aiming to get to their red scaled target. However, once they finished ripping through their enemies and got to Red Claw, the Lizardman leader used his Sharingan to summon a copy of Minato's lightning wall to defend himself from the Rasengan and energy chains that aimed to erase his existence.
"Sharingan: Dragon's Maw." The lightning wall became a massive dragon, but Minato quickly utilized his magic and caught the flow of the electricity and redirected it into the ground. "Hmm, to redirect a spell like that, you truly are a genius Minato Namikaze. Tis a shame you won't be alive for anyone to relish in your skills. Now then, I think by now is when I should have gotten your children."
"What?!"
"Yes, didn't you notice? While you were distracted by my hordes, I sent a small party to go after your little children and the tykes they had with them. Your children will live, but those three other humans are nothing less than filth." Red Claw growled. Minato and Kushina's eyes widened before the two latched on to each other and vanished in a flash of yellow.
(Naruto- Orochimaru's Theme)
Forests, Eastern Fiorean Mountains, Fiore
The two Wizard Saints appeared in front of Rin as she was busy running from the ten Lizardmen on her tail. She didn't even have time to yell out to them when they rushed past her and ended the lives of her assailants. Minato and Kushina then turned to Rin and saw her holding a bundle of orange and red cloth. The one year old Naruto released a mixture of gurgles and random noises.
"Rin...where's Erza?" Kushina snarled as she noticed the lack of her female twin child.
"Th-There were too many of them. At least forty." Rin replied. "I did as you said, hung back and let the boys do the fighting. However, Kakashi and Obito were being beaten back and so I tried to help, but then the Lizardmen were about to take the twins! I handed Erza to Kakashi and Obito and had them run away while I took Naruto! I panicked so I wasn't thinking clearly, please don't kill me!" Rin's eyes were releasing tears in large amounts and the brown eyed healing mage watched as the two adults released loud exhales.
They were pissed. Beyond pissed. But they knew that having three teenagers, especially one not completely bred for combat, take on a horde of Lizardmen was not exactly a winning situation.
"It's alright, Rin. But listen, with Erza's blanket lost to them, we don't have a seal to use an anchor to use the Hirashin and reach them. Do you know which way they went?" Rin pointed east immediately. "Good. Now then, we'll go after Kakashi and Obito and get our daughter, but you need to run. Doesn't matter where or how far, just keep running. Don't look back. Find any form of civilization and stay there, understood?"
Rin nodded before handing Naruto to his mother. "I'll keep Erza's blanket to use as an anchor for you all to flash to me when you get Erza back." And with that, Rin took off and Minato and Kushina headed east. The two Wizard Saints raced through the trees, moving as fast as they could to try and reach their daughter and her guardians, but suddenly a massive crash echoed through the forests.
A flash of yellow blinded them and their eyes widened as they saw the leader of the Lizardmen standing before them. Red Claw's Sharingan spun wildly as the afterglow of the Hiraishin left his body.
"You used the..."
"I did." Red Claw laughed at the shocked parents. "With a name like Copy Wheel Eye, it was pretty idiotic of you to use such a spell in front of it. To be able to flash to any location or object that bears the seal formula...I can catch you both and your little bastard son as long as I want. Not to mention the forests are mine to command. We Lizardmen have populated areas outside of your village for hundreds of years and so..." Red Claw unleashed a bestial roar to the heavens. Minato and Kushina paled when they heard the choir of roars that were returned. "...you're out of luck, humans. Hand over the boy and we will be merciful in killing you."
The two Wizard Saints gulped. No doubt there were more Lizardmen with a Sharingan for their eyes and Red Claw merely had to have them glimpse the Hiraishin's use before they could successfully copy it for themselves. The forests were filled with them and even if they killed Red Claw, the Lizardmen would still go after them as Red Claw would be an on-the-spot martyr.
So they did the only logical thing they thought of.
They turned and they ran.
Timeskip- 6 Years Later
Rosemary Village, Fiore, Year-X770
"Erza-chan, come on!" Obito called out. "Lunch time!"
"Coming Obito Nii-chan!" The six year old Erza Uzumaki Namikaze ran across the small yard towards the door of the small house. "Kakashi Nii-san, hurry up!"
"Yeah, yeah." The silver haired nineteen year old replied with a lazy wave of his hand. Kakashi adjusted his face mask as he followed after the vibrant red head and entered the small house. Obito stood at the table with a small meal of onigiri, fried fish and miso soup set out on the table for the three of them. Erza swung her legs excitedly as she and Obito sat down. Kakashi sat down as well before they clapped their hands together.
"Itadakimasu." They said before digging in.
"So Erza-chan, anything new you did this morning?" Obito asked. With Rin gone, Obito was more suited to being the 'mother-figure' to Erza. He didn't like being called mother hen by his silver haired teammate, but it was necessary in order for Erza to receive the best kind of fake-parenting she could get with the loss of a mother, father and twin brother.
"Oh, well I met a new friend today!"
"Erza." Obito and Kakashi looked at the girl with narrowed eyes. "What did we say about meeting new people?"
"Don't trust them. But Kagura-chan's different, she's..."
"No." Kakashi said sternly. "You stay with us and though socializing is important for a child, do you remember what we had to do to get to live in this village? We had to sign a contract saying you would be a candidate for Rosemary Village's heir's wife."
"Now obviously we aren't going to let that happen, but for you to survive we needed to make a necessary lie. We'll kill anyone and everyone if it means protecting you, but Erza-chan, do not trust anyone in this village. Am I clear?" Obito said.
"Yes Obito Nii-chan, Kakashi Nii-san." Erza said with a dull tone. "But then why don't you just keep me inside if you don't want me to go outside?"
"You need vitamin D and exposure to the outside world. Don't worry, Obito and I are always gonna be three steps ahead of your every move to make sure you don't hurt yourself."
Erza nodded and she finished her lunch. She helped her two guardians wash the dishes and then sat with them on the small couch while playing a game of chess with Kakashi. Obito was merely being a 'dummy-head', as Erza would call him, by pelting Kakashi with the pieces that were removed from the board. Erza stared the board as she remembered what she could about what Obito and Kakashi had told her.
She was told that she was born in Rosemary Village, but her father and mother passed away due to health complications. She had no siblings and Obito and Kakashi were assigned to be caretakers for as long as she was a child. Adulthood in Fiore was found at the age of seventeen and Erza was just waiting for that day to come. Anyway, for the past six years, ever since she was born, Kakashi and Obito did whatever they could to keep her safe and happy with them. But only with them. Socializing was a no-go, it was as if they thought everyone, including the children of Rosemary Village, were monsters in disguise that would snatch her away.
She loved her older brother figures. She really did, but being over-protective wasn't helping her fit in. Having bright red hair earned her the nickname 'Tomato Head' from one of the local boys...who was then slapped silly by Obito and then dragged to his mother's to be scolded.
Erza was removed from her thoughts when a sudden BOOM rocked the small house. Obito, Kakashi and Erza looked at each other and then ran outside. However, that was all they could before the sound of an object whistling through the air met their ears. The three looked up and saw a Bomb Lachryma flying from the catapult of one of the nearby boats that Rosemary Village was under attack by.
"LOOK OUT!" Obito shouted. He grabbed Erza and Kakashi before moving in a blur of speed. Obito and Kakashi ran around to avoid the exploding houses, the screaming men, women and children and the Bomb Lachryma that landed near them. Erza's ears were ringing from the explosions and suddenly she found herself being picked up and placed in a wooden crate.
"STAY HERE!" Was the order from her guardians. She nodded her head, holding her hands over her head and shivered with fear. She continued to hold her position, not even daring to look up until a pair of shadow covered her body. Her brown eyes brightened as she looked up.
"Nii-CHAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Her scream pierced the heavens as she was grabbed by the mask wearing, robed individuals. They tied a gag around her mouth to muffle her screams. Her chocolate coloured eyes widened she saw was the image of Kakashi and Obito laying dead on the ground as their corpses were being feasted upon by the odd-looking dog-beasts that were controlled by the invaders.
The trauma caught up with her and finally...she lost consciousness.
End Flashback
(Insert Music: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood- Trisha's Lullaby)
Everyone was silent as they looked at one another with wide eyes. Their answers were found, but not the answers they were expecting.
"Obito and Kakashi are...dead?" Minato asked. Erza looked at her father before nodding.
"Yeah." Was all she could say.
"What happened to you, Erza-chan?" Kushina asked.
"After that, I was taken to the Tower of Heaven and forced to be a slave for the next two years before I escaped." Minato and Kushina hugged their daughter tightly and she welcomed their embrace. The three then turned to Naruto who hadn't reacted in any way after seeing the truth.
"Fuuji...Naruto?" Erza spoke hesitantly. She received no response. "Onii-sama?" The red head suddenly found herself being dwarfed by the massive frame of her twin brother as he suddenly appeared in front of her. His blue eyes stared into her brown ones and they held the stares for a moment and Naruto's eyes narrowed.
The area around them shattered and in a flash of crimson, Erza found herself back in the real world. However, when she regained her bearings, she found herself in the same position she was in back in the mindscape. With her older twin staring her down with narrowed eyes.
"You are no sister of mine."
His words were not what she was expecting. "Wh-What?"
"The children of two deceased members of the Ten Wizard Saints, their two most powerful members at that. Our parents recognize us for who we are because they are meant to. The love of a parent to their child can be unrequited and/or unconditional, but you and I...we are not siblings until you prove yourself worthy of it."
"Why must I seek to prove myself worthy to be your sister?! We share the same blood, why can't you accept that?!"
"BECAUSE ERZA, YOU ARE INDECISIVE AS OF NOW!" He roared. "Let me ask you something...if you were to choose here and now, will you retain your name of Scarlet or will you take on the true last names that you would have had?"
"I..." Erza glanced down at the ground. "I don't know."
"Next question. We are bound by familial duty and by blood to one another, but yet are willing to say that with pride?"
"I don't know." She answered .
"Are you willing to abandon your family at Fairy Tail and be a family with me?"
"I don't know!"
"ARE YOU MY SISTER, ERZA?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Erza walked up to her brother and held onto his cloak as tears cascaded down her cheek. "I...I don't know, Naruto. I...I can't answer you, I answer anything. Why?! I know the truth now and yet...I can't do anything! I said I wanted a family...I wanted to know my parents...I got both, but I also want recognition. Please, Naruto...if you can give me that, I know I can be your family. I'll know if I can be your sister with pride."
"I already have someone who can say she is my sister with pride and she isn't even my sister my blood. We share the same blood yet I have done things that I know people cannot be proud of, but yet they are necessary for me to accomplish my goals. Your approval as my sibling does not matter in my eyes because to me you are not my sister." Erza hiccuped as she released another choked sob. "But..."
"But?" Her head snapped up in surprise.
If you wish to be recognized by me, if you wish to find yourself, then continue to find yourself and grow stronger. Continue to fight and aim for your goal...aim for me if that is what you wish to reach to. Will you be Erza Scarlet or Erza Uzumaki Namikaze? Being one or the other is not an easy choice to make, Erza. Believe me, I know." Erza's eyes widened when she saw his eyes take on a bright white shine. "But I made my choice as to what and who I wanted to be. If I can do it, then I know you can as well."
"Huh?" She asked innocently.
"You are the daughter of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. We share the same blood." Naruto stepped away from her. "Choosing who you really want to be is one of the greatest obstacles any person can face, whether they be human or not. However, the choice you make Erza...is the choice that will determine if I recognize you as my family or not. You're a grown woman, Erza and you are old enough to make your own choices. In the end, I know you will make the right decision. "
"H-H-How can you b-b-be so sure?" She stuttered as she aimed to calm herself down. Naruto raised a hand and Erza flinched as she expected him to lash out at her, but instead she became confused as she looked up at him. The tall blonde gave her a fanged smirk as he rested a hand on her head.
"Because I believe in you."
Erza's eyes widened as she looked up at her brother before smiling back at him. She nodded stiffly and Naruto returned her nod before vanishing into the wind.
(A/N: Ugh, that took FOREVER to write. I wrote as detailed as I could so as to cover up anything that could could be a plot hole. Of course, saying this I've probably blighted myself and people are gonna comment on plot holes in their reviews somewhere. Ugh, I don't care, I'm tired.
Anyway, the reason I didn't include the parts where Minato and Kushina died is because I'd basically be copying over the first chapter and you all know how that goes. And Erza going to the Tower of Heaven is the same as canon, just with the mild inclusion of Zabrock being present, but he doesn't really make an impact on her life in the Tower except emotionally as his attempts to free himself sparked her drive to make the revolution.
For the beginning part where Wendy is medical badass, I'm sorry to those of you who didn't have a clue what was going on. I'm aiming to be a medical student so I tend to have a decent grasp of certain medicinal practices and not to mention I had to make adjustments to include the magical circulatory system and stuff, well the details for those processes kind of took up most of the word count in this chapter. I didn't even mean to cross 30k, I was aiming for 15 at best.
Anyway, a small spoiler for next chapter. I will be beginning to open up into the NarutoxUltear interactions! WOOOOO! Finally, after all this time, I've finally reached the part in the story where I know I can get these two to interact without much disturbance. I know it took a while but the main reason them not having any sort of interaction up until this point, I could never fit in a perfectly good way to have these two spend more than five minutes with each other. I mean seriously, both have their own agendas and unless I could get the build up just right, I'd end up rushing through this stuff and probably have these two love each other by the end of two chapters. Which no one wants as everyone loves the struggles of relationship building.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter as I completed the story of what Erza is and Naruto's and her origin story. Remember to Review, Review, Review!)