DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, FAIRY TAIL, OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS
A/N not really needed at all this chapter. Read, review, and as always, enjoy!
Chapter 24
Natsu stepped out of his apartment with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head. Running through what was now their usual routine, he knocked on the doors of the other three wizards, signaling that it was time for breakfast.
Gray and Laxus soon emerged from their rooms, letting out yawns just as big as Natsu's. They waited on Gajeel for several minutes, knocking another couple of times. When it was clear that the iron dragon slayer didn't wish to be disturbed, they all shrugged, turning to head to Ichiraku's. Natsu and Gray always led in these situations, with the quiet Laxus trailing behind.
As they walked, they saw the first villagers begin to start their work days. Some busied themselves with baskets of clothes or fruit, others let down awnings for their daily sales. A few ninja were also up and about, though they were most likely still up from their night shifts.
This became apparent when Izumo and Kotetsu walked past the three wizards, rubbing their eyes in attempts to stay awake.
"Man, I hate the night shift," Izumo complained.
Kotetsu shrugged. "At least it's quiet. I still can't believe Master Jiraiya and that guy that turns himself into iron left so late at night, though."
Instantly, the three wizards turned around. Natsu grabbed Kotetsu's collar and shook him like a dog. "What? Did you say Gajeel left the village with that old man?!"
"Where are they going?" Gray asked.
Izumo and Kotetsu exchanged nervous glances. "No idea."
Natsu let go of Kotetsu, turning to bolt for the Hokage's Tower. Gray and Laxus followed him up to the point where the fire dragon slayer nearly busted down the door to Tsunade's office. "Where the hell did you send Gajeel?!" Natsu demanded.
Tsunade looked confused as her eyes rose from her paperwork. "What?"
Shizune looked completely shocked at the three wizards that came in unannounced and unexpected. Her eyes met Laxus', who shrugged unapologetically as Natsu continued his assault.
"I said where'd you send Gajeel and the old man? And why are we not invited?!"
Tsunade looked at Natsu with a deadpan expression. "Seriously? That's what you're mad about? To answer your question, I didn't send Gajeel anywhere. Jiraiya, on the other hand…."
"The guys guarding the gate last night said that Gajeel left with Jiraiya," Gray explained.
Tsunade's eyes widened. "What? That mission was just supposed to be for Jiraiya. That old fool. He's going to get both of them killed."
"Who's gonna get who killed?" Natsu asked with a confused expression.
Tsunade looked completely serious. "Gajeel is going to get the both of them killed. The mission I sent Jiraiya on is an infiltration one. He is trained in extensive infiltration and espionage tactics, Gajeel is not."
Gray chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Gajeel may not be trained, but he grew up on some rough streets, he knows how to blend in."
"I can't see how, what with the dark clothing and all the piercings," Tsunade remarked. "But I suppose it's too late to recall them, we'll just have to wait for them to return," she said quietly, word etched across her features.
Her facial expressions did not give the dragon slayers much confidence in their chances of seeing their friend again, but they knew she was right, the only thing that they could do would be to wait.
They stalked back to Ichiraku, Natsu and Gray's shoulders slumped, while Laxus remained his usual mask of anger and stoicism. Naruto brightened when he saw them.
"What took so long?"
After breakfast, Gray branched off from the others for what had now become a weekly visit to an emotionally detached former lackey of Danzo's. He walked the same route as always, through the dark hallways of the Torture and Interrogation division until he reached the cell he was looking for.
The occupant raised his head and smiled at Gray, but the ice wizard knew it was still a fake. "You again. What is your fascination with a single prisoner?"
"You still don't get it," Gray sighed. "I'm trying to help you not waste your life, Sai."
The pale boy dropped the smile, but his eyes were still bright, even curious. "I have thought about what you have been telling me. And I wish to know more about this friendship that you speak of. What is a friend?"
Gray was taken aback by that question. He'd never met someone who didn't know the definition of a friend. "Uh, well...a friend is someone who you're close to, and associate with. You understand their feelings, and you develop bonds between one another. They become like an extension of family."
"Family," Sai tested the word, as if wondering if it sounded like it fit his vocabulary. "But I have no family."
"Not yet," Gray said. "You have to forge bonds and make your own family."
In that instant, Sai's mind wandered to his brother. Danzo had indeed subjected him to harsh emotional training, but he had never been able to drive away the feelings that Sai felt for his brother. "My only blood ties are dead, I have no family."
Gray shrugged. "So? I don't have any living blood relatives. A lot of my friends don't either. You treat your friends like they're blood relatives."
Sai nodded, seemingly in understanding. "Friendship is intriguing, I would like to observe and learn more," he said with a smile.
Gray smirked. "That was the first time you might have used a smile in the right situation. You're still a prisoner, but I'll talk to whoever's in charge about letting you walk around."
Without another word, Gray placed his hands in the pockets of his white coat and trudged back the way he came, silently pleased with himself.
Natsu was exhausted. An entire day of training with Naruto, who seemed to have bottomless energy saw to that. Laxus and Gray were there as well. Along with Naruto, they'd been working on an idea that Kakashi had before Tsunade forbid Naruto the usage of the Rasenshuriken. Unfortunately, they had to do everything in secret, because if Tsunade somehow got wind of it, she would murder them.
If Gajeel had been there, the idea would have been complete, but the absence of the iron dragon slayer, as well as the weight of the mission he was on, seemed to bring the usually light tone of everyone down a few notches. That seemed to be the reason that they'd decided to train in the first place, to take their minds off of the impending fate of their friend.
As the four rested, a sudden flicker of movement caught their attention. It sent fear down their spines when Kakashi appeared in front of them, a book in his hand as he regarded them with his one lazy, expressionless eye.
"You're not supposed to be doing that jutsu, Naruto."
The blonde in question backed away from Kakashi slowly, an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei, I just needed to keep training."
Kakashi turned a page as he hummed to himself. "You know the dangers of that jutsu."
"Yeah but what's the point of creating it in the first place if I can't use it?!" Naruto yelled in exasperation.
Kakashi chuckled. "That's so like you, Naruto. You're lucky I'm not going to report this to Lady Tsunade."
The blonde brightened. "Really?! Thanks Kakashi-sensei!"
"On one condition," the leader of Team Kakashi said, holding up a finger. "You have to master the jutsu that the four of you are working on, and you have to find a way to throw it. Otherwise, I'm going to have to tell the Hokage."
Naruto nodded vigorously. "We won't let you down, Kakashi-sensei! Alright guys, let's get back to it!"
"Pass," Laxus said, retrieving his coat from where it hung on the branch of a nearby tree and swinging it over his shoulders.
"Aw come on, you tired already?" Naruto asked with disappointment.
Natsu gave a wry smile as he nudged Naruto and Gray. "He's probably just going to see his girlfriend."
Laxus froze and slowly spun around, fingertips crackling with electricity. He sent a small bolt towards each of them, causing the three to turn and run for the trees. They didn't get far, though, as the yellow bolts singed their butts, dropping them to the ground.
"I don't have a girlfriend, you morons," Laxus said as he turned back towards the village, leaving them rubbing their sore hindquarters.
Kakashi's eyebrow rose in surprise and a bit of amusement. He walked over to Natsu and crouched down. "Come with me."
The fire dragon slayer looked up at Kakashi with a mixture of fear and confusion. He rose to his feet and followed the white-haired shinobi, Gray and Naruto heading back for the village.
They walked for several miles, and natsu was about to ask kakashi how much farther when the shinobi turned to face him. "This spot should be far enough away from the village."
"For what?" Natsu asked.
"Well, since you're part of my team for the foreseeable future, I need to get a better gauge of your skills," Kakashi explained. "Yamato and I sparred against you, but all we really saw was that you're trained in hand to hand combat, and you use fire. Also, in our fight with Danzo, I wasn't really even paying attention to you, because I was so focused on the enemy. I do know a few details, though, like the fact that you can eat any kind of fire and use it to fuel your own attacks."
Natsu blinked. "So you want me to fight you out here?"
Kakashi shook his head. "No, I want you to show me every move that you know, and explain to me what situations work best for each one."
"I can do that," Natsu grinned. "The first one Igneel taught me is the Fire Dragon Roar. It looks like this."
Natsu turned and used the move on a nearby tree, which was split instantly in half, trunk aflame from the red-orange fiery attack. Kakashi quickly used a small water jutsu to extinguish the flames so that the entire forest wouldn't burn to the ground.
"So that's a ranged attack," Kakashi observed. "WHat situations have you found that it works best in?"
Natsu shrugged. "I guess whenever they're far away from me."
Unbelievable, it's a second Naruto, Kakashi said to himself.
Kakashi held his hands up as if to slow Natsu down. "Okay, forget the second part. Just show me all of your moves."
"Alright! The next one is Fire Dragon Iron Fist…"
Natsu ran through all of his attacks one by one, with kakashi explaining to him after each one what situation would be best suited for it in the shinobi world. He also explained how someone might counter such an attack, but Natsu didn't seem to be listening to that part. The boy clearly didn't care about his own bodily wellbeing.
After the last attack in Natsu's arsenal, an entire swathe of the forest had been destroyed, leaving Kakashi in shock, his single eye wide with surprise at the amount of power that the wizard had just displayed.
"And that's my Lightning Dragon Roar!" Natsu declared proudly.
That's like Tailed Beast levels of destructive power, Kakashi observed.
"Did you say Lightning Fire Dragon? I thought you could each only use one element?" Kakashi asked.
Natsu shook his head. "You know how we eat our elements? Well I think if we eat the powers of other dragon slayers, we get the ability to use more than one element. Gajeel and I both can use more than one element."
"So I'm assuming you ate Laxus' lightning?" Kakashi asked.
Natsu chuckled in embarrassment. "Well, I wouldn't say I ate his lightning. I tried that in the past and it always made me sick since it wasn't fire. But we were fighting this really strong evil guy and Laxus transferred all of his power into me so I could beat him."
Kakashi nodded in understanding. "So what other element does Gajeel use?"
"Shadow," Natsu said. "He ate another dragon slayer's shadow and now he can use Iron Shadow Dragon Mode, which is way weaker than Laxus' lightning, I can tell you that!"
Kakashi facepalmed. "Does everything always have to be a competition with you people?" he asked, seemingly to himself. "Nevermind that. Can Laxus use another element?"
Natsu shook his head with a grin. "Nope! Just me and Gajeel."
"What if Laxus ate one of your elements?" Kakashi proposed.
Natsu looked as if he'd never thought of that before. "You want one of us to transfer our powers to Laxus?"
Kakashi held his hands up with a shrug. "It's just a theory, but I think it's worth trying."
"I'll ask him," Natsu nodded.
Kakashi returned the gesture. "Good. Now let's get back before it gets dark."
That night at Yakiniku Q was rowdy to say the least. The entirety of the Leaf 11 were there, along with Natsu and Gray. Laxus had of course declined rather politely to attend, electing to remain in his room, but Natsu and Gray both knew that he would go out with Shizune again. That left Naruto and the rest of his friends with Natsu and Gray.
The ice wizard had also received permission for Sai to be let out of prison, se he arrived a little late with the pale boy. Unfortunately, Gray could feel the eyes of the shinobi that had been assigned to watch Sai. Upon arrival, Natsu challenged Choji to yet another eating match, claiming that he'd trained for weeks to get his stomach in shape for that. Money exchanged hands just like before, and Choji cracked his knuckles as he looked to the crowd.
Fortunately for Natsu, no one saw him pour a small vial into Choji's drink beforehand. WHen the match started, the two were fairly even, untl Choji took a swig of his drink. A few seconds later, his movements slowed completely, and his face fell onto the plate of meat on the table before him. Natsu happily licked the juices from his fingers and stood to bow to the silent crowd.
The money flowed through the hands, all of it ending up with two people. Gray and Naruto high-fived, the blonde yelling about Ichiraku for a month. Shikamaru, on the other hand, was staring at his completely empty wallet with disappointment. He suspiciously eyed his best friend, his impressive brain working through all of the reasons for Choji's failure, but he decided to let it go for now.
When the group returned to their meals, leaving Choji snoring with his face still in his food, they struck up different conversations. One booth had Gray, Tenten next to him, Sai, Lee, and Kiba. The four of them were telling battle stories.
Gray had just finished telling the story of how he and his team had formed a coalition with other guilds to bring down the Oracion Seis. Lee and Kiba marveled at the accomplishments, but Sai studied Tenten curiously.
"Judging from the way that you look at Gray, you feel attraction, correct? I read it in a book," he said.
Tenten looked shocked, as if she had been subtle about it. She wordlessly swung her legs out of the booth and walked away to one of the other tables. Sai looked back to the others. "Did I say something wrong?"
Another booth contained Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, and Natsu. Ino leaned forward to look Natsu in the face. "So where's that hunk Gajeel?" she asked with an innocent smile.
"Uh, on a mission," Natsu revealed.
Next to them, Shikamaru was trying to turn Naruto's mind into a strategical one by teaching him how to play Shogi, but the blonde couldn't even remember how each of the pieces moved. Luckily, Sakura was next to him to offer support, but it didn't matter. Shikamaru still beat both of them with ease.
"Naruto, sometimes, I think if you were a bit smarter, you'd be invincible," the Nara chuckled.
Naruto looked offended. "What? I'm smart!"
The last table, which Tenten had joined, contained Neji, Hinata, and Shino. All three were the silent type, and no conversation seemed to be taking place, which made Tenten wonder why she went over there in the first place.
"So, I hear you guys are working on a new jutsu?" Shikamaru asked Naruto and Natsu.
"Who told you that?" Naruto asked, not doing a very good job of covering it up.
Shikamaru shook his head in amusement. "Well, it better be something powerful. We're gonna need it if the Akatsuki come calling."
Natsu stood up and slapped a hand on the table. "It'll be the most powerful thing you've ever seen! We'll take the whole Akatsuki down in one shot!"
"But don't tell Grandma Tsunade about it! She'll kill me!" Naruto said with fear beginning to show in his eyes.
Sakura smacked Naruto on the back of the head. "If you hurt yourself, it'll be me you answer to, not her!"
"You're brutal, Sakura, you know that?" Naruto complained, rubbing the bump that was forming on the back of his head.
The rest of the night passed rather peacefully. Well, except for the incident where Natsu and Gray broke seven tables because they argued over which kind of tea tasted better at Yakiniku Q. They were promptly tossed out on the street, which pretty much ended the night for everyone.
They all bid each other goodnight, and went their separate ways. Natsu and Gray escorted Sai back to his cell, which now looked a lot nicer for some reason. Apparently, they'd decided that he deserved an upgrade after behaving so well.
Afterwards, the two wizards returned to their apartments. They arrived at the staircase at the same time as Laxus, and the three ascended and disappeared into their rooms. Settling down for the night, each of them couldn't help but wonder how their guild mate was faring on his mission.
"So much for bein' sneaky," Gajeel muttered as he and Jiraiya stared up at the figure floating above them.
"You've honed your jutsu magnificently. But even more, you've become quite a catch...Konan," Jiraiya smirked.
Gajeel threw off the simple tan cloak that Jiraiya had given him, preparing for a fight. "You know her?"
"She used to be one of my students, though I thought she was dead," Jiraiya admitted. "So who is this 'Pain'?" Jiraiya asked, looking up to Konan, who had grown wings made of white paper.
"It's really none of your business, sensei," she said.
Jiraiya scoffed. "And making those wings helps you feel like an angel? Does putting on an act like that really have any benefits?"
Konan stared at them with a cold gaze. "I've received my orders from a god. I will kill you."
Instantly, the sheets of paper that floated around her folded into sharp spikes and flew towards the two infiltrators. Jiraiya responded with a swift fire style that incinerated the papers before they could reach. Gajeel dropped into a ready stance, trying to be ready for anything.
Slowly, the paper began to push back against the fire, so Gajeel hardened into iron as Jiraiya rolled out of the way. "Toad Oil Bombs!" the Sannin spit a thick oil from his mouth, coating Konan in the thick liquid. Then, his hair elongated and reached up to trap her in its grasp.
"You're soaked in oil, so you can't peel apart. You had such a love of origami, and you were the kindest and gentlest of the three of you children that I trained. What happened to the others, Nagato and Yahiko? I heard you all died, but I guess that was a rumor."
Konan's eyes narrowed as she regarded Jiraiya with the same cold stare. The Toad Sage responded with the same gesture. "Oh, I see. So which of them became this Pain then?"
"Just what do you want, appearing before us after all these years?" Konan asked. "You should have done what Orochimaru suggested."
Gajeel sighed audibly. "Can we skip the reunion and get to smashin' already?!"
"Yes, I agree with the loud one," a new voice said. A figure dropped down on a ledge above Konan, slamming their palm onto the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!"
A giant crab appeared a second later, foam spewing from its mouth down at Jiraiya and Gajeel. The two leapt up onto the wall behind them to escape the cascade of white foam. Iron spikes protruded from the bottoms of Gajeel's feet, allowing him to walk along the wall without fear of falling.
Konan emerged from the foam and floated to stand next to the newcomer. He had long, orange hair tied back in a ponytail. A tuft of it hung down in long bangs on the right side of his face, covering a portion of his crossed-out Hidden Rain headband.
Jiraiya studied the pair for a few seconds. They seemed to have a dynamic between them, so they definitely knew one another. Then, he saw the eyes. The purple ripple pattern. The Rinnegan.
"Pain."