Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail. If I did then there wouldn't be nearly as many fake outs and Deus Ex Machina as there were in canon.
Greed: Yeah, instead everyone dies like it's Game of Thrones or something.
Skillet: Hey!
Greed: Oh you know it's true! The death list for Arc 2 of Ninja of Santoryu was so long it reached the damn floor! And didn't even count the flashback deaths!
Skillet: Hey, I haven't killed anyone off in this story!...Yet!
First S-Class Trial Arc
Chapter 4: The Bitch of Blue Pegasus
While Lisanna was having her encounter with the shinobi of Konoha back in Magnolia, those chosen to take the S-Class trial were currently on the express train to Hargeon along with Makarov and Gildarts. Having been chosen by Naruto as his partner right off the bat, Natsu journeyed along with them but wasn't exactly happy about it. If for no other reason than his debilitating motion sickness "Somebody please get me off this thing. I think I'm dying!"
"Bet you wish you'd picked someone else as your partner now eh Naruto?" Gray mocked them while midway through stripping out of his clothes in the middle of the train. Hearing Natsu was going to the trials by partnering with Naruto, the ice mage refused to be left behind and partnered up with Erza "If he's going to be like that the whole trial, then we've got this in the bag."
"Gray, don't be rude." Erza scolded her partner, before giving a glare to her own rival, who had stuck to Naruto's side ever since the train departed.
"Just so you know Naruto-kun, I'm not going to hold back during these trials. So if you have to fight me and Elfman, you're probably going to lose!" Mirajane gestured to her younger brother, who seemed to be a complete nervous wreck.
'He seems even sicker than Natsu.' Naruto thought as he saw the neurotic Elfman, before turning his attention to the more quiet candidates on the train ride, Laxus and Cana. Cana had chosen Levy for the S-class trial due to her knowledge potentially coming in handy, while Laxus chose another member named Freed for similar reasons 'I don't know much about this Freed guy, so I'll have to keep an eye out for him, and Laxus has never shown me his magic. I already know Cana and Levy are ridiculously strong too, and that's not even taking Erza-chan, Gray, and Mira into consideration.'
"Hey Naruto, what's with the long face? I'm sure you'll do fine!" Macao patted Naruto on the head with a grin "Of course, not well enough to beat me and Wakaba but..."
'And then there's those two...'
After a few more moments of those chosen to participate in the trial anxiously awaiting the start of the trial and trying to come up with a plan of action, the train slowed to a stop and signaled their arrival in Hargeon "Yeah baby! We're finally here! Get ready jerks cause me and Naruto are gonna kick all your asses!" Natsu immediately sprang back to life once the train stopped moving, and began hopping around the train.
Being equally as excited, Mirajane asked Makarov "So Master, now that we're here what will our first challenge be?"
"Oh, we're not actually at the site of the S-Class trial yet." Makarov nonchalantly said, pissing off everyone except for Gildarts "Did I forget to mention that?"
"KIND OF!"
"Don't worry children, we're just making a quick stop to meet up with some old friends of mine." Makarov explained as he led the S-class candidates off the train, though they all still seemed very irritated by the delay. This was especially true for Laxus, who gave his grandfather another hateful glare before stomping off the train.
"So who do you think we'll be meeting anyway?" Naruto wondered aloud, curious as to who would be so important as to suddenly stop them on their way.
"If their friends of the Master, their probably an old fossil too." Gray joked, before a strange smell filled the air "Hey, who bathed themselves in cheap cologne?"
"Calm down men, the S-Class trials will begin for you all very shortly. Meeeeeeen." A silky smooth voice came from nearby, from a short and ugly man wearing a white suit, joined by two handsome young men in black suits around Naruto's age, with one being brownish blonde hair and pale skin and the other having black hair and dark skin "We are of the Blue Pegasus guild, and we are also here for the S-class trials!"
Noticing the look on the terrified Erza's face, Natsu decided to ask " Hey Erza, who are these guys?"
"Those morons are Ichiya Kotokubi, Hibiki Lates, and Ren Akatsuki from the Blue Pegasus guild, an allied guild of Fairy Tail's." Naruto growled in irritation, also having a previous encounter with them. However, his face turned into that of horror when he felt a familiar presence sneak up behind him.
"Hello there Naruto-chan! You've certainly grown up in these past two years." Bob danced his way over and started hitting on the young men of the Fairy Tail guild, with the exception of Natsu who he discounted for being too young.
"YOU'RE SO CREEPY!"
"Down Bob, we're here to test our mages not make them piss themselves." Goldmine of Quatro Cerberus arrived and scolded his fellow guild master "Besides, Naruto already has his hands full with the ladies."
While Naruto didn't notice, Goldmine seemed to bring attention to the thunderous glares Erza and Mirajane had given Bob. It was then he introduced his own chosen mages, a boy around Erza and Mira's age who was clearly drunk and the other who was a large man with blue and white face paint and a black cloak "These boys are Bacchus Groh and Semmes Tops. They're all I'll be needing the take you down in today's trial."
"Hehe." Bacchus hicced and swayed around before his attention was brought to Erza and Mirajane, who he began to hit on his drunken state "Sup babes, why don't you ditch these losers and join Quatro Cerberus with me?"
While they would have smacked the drunken mage for this, Naruto and Elfman immediately got up in arms by displaying their Wind Devil Slayer Magic and Take Over magic "Stay away from my sister punk!"
"There's no way you're taking either of them teme!" Naruto growled, while Bacchus tried to push the ex-shinobi away.
"Let the grown ups have their fun gaki."
"I'M A YEAR OLDER THAN YOU!"
"So this what our guild has to worry about in these trials? Some drunk fools, a bunch of children, emo teenagers, and some old men?" A scantily clad green haired woman wearing a blue beret and a red overcoat made her presence known with a smug sneer directed towards the Fairy Tail candidates.
This smug attitude managed to piss of most of the guild, with the exception of Wakaba who merely gave her a lecherous glare "Oh wow, she's a Sorcerer Weekly centerfold Karen Lilica! This trial just keeps getting better and better!"
"You do realize she just insulted us right? And for that matter, where's your partner lady?" Macao asked, irritated with Karen's attitude.
"I don't exactly need one, I'm the strongest mage in Blue Pegasus all on my own!" Karen flipped her hair back before giving her opponents another arrogant glare "You brats should quit while you're ahead."
"Why you-" Naruto clenched his fists in anger, wanting to fight the celestial mage right then and there.
"Enough talk, we've got till high tide hits to get in and get out of the trial ground." Makarov said before telling his old friends "You're lucky you boys are former members of Fairy Tail, otherwise I wouldn't even consider something like this. Come, to Tenrou Island!"
"NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN! WE'RE HERE TO BRING YOU HOME!" Lee continued to run around Hargeon looking for his old friend along with Gai, while the other members of the team searched the normal way by asking for any sightings of him.
Having met up with Team 10 and Gaara's group once they'd made it to Hargeon, Team Gai continued asking for information with very little results "You're only going to scare him off by screaming like a lunatic Lee-san." Gaara told his former opponent while showing a 12 year old Naruto's picture to passersby.
"At least they're actually doing something to help!" Ino growled as she glared at her teammates, who were simply chowing down at a nearby restaurant or watching the clouds "Don't you idiots even want to bring Naruto back home or not?"
"It's not like I don't want to see him again, I'm just being realistic about our chances. From what we've heard, he's some sort of famous mage now, and considering how crappy everything went down for him back then he has every reason to stay in Ishgar." Shikamaru said bluntly which resulted in him getting smacked over the head by a pissed off Ino.
"Stop saying shit like that you stupid slacker! Did you forget how horrible Sakura felt after what happened?"
"Well, in case you've forgotten Ino, she called him every nasty word in the book after we did our job and brought back that traitor. Just because you've forgotten that doesn't mean the rest of the retrieval team have to." Neji scowled, angrily remembering the direct aftermath of the Sasuke Retrieval Mission two years ago.
Having no rebuttal, Ino turned to her other teammate for support "Chouji, don't you think Naruto is going to come back with us?"
"I dunno Ino." Chouji said while swallowing the cherry pie in his mouth "This is the best pie I've ever had!"
"This is the worst pie I've ever had!" A boy with spiky pink hair sitting on the stool next to Chouji. In response to their opposing statements, the ninja and the mage glared at each other before taking a large swig of their drinks.
"This drink is delicious!"
"This drink is awful!"
Realizing they'd just disagreed over the quality of their meal again, Natsu and Chouji gave each other another harsh glare "There's something wrong with your tastebuds gaki."
"Yeah? Well, I think there's something wrong with your big fat head!" Natsu replied before calling to a nearby waiter "Hey old guy, I'll take 50 of those steaks to go!"
Chouji also beckoned to the waiter with an evil look on his face "And I'll take 51 of those cherry pies!"
"Actually, make that 52 steaks!"
"53 pies!"
"54 steaks!"
"55 pies!"
"60 steaks!"
"70 pies!"
"80!"
"100!"
With their bizarre argument reaching its climax, Natsu and Chouji screamed while preparing for a bar fight "I'M GONNA BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU!"
"Do you morons have the slightest idea what you're fighting about?!" Kankuro yelled in frustration at the two, as they were causing a scene around the bar.
"Chouji, we can't fight with our chakra delayed remember? And besides, we can't afford to buy 80 steaks!" Ino growled at her teammate, before she noticed something about the boy he was arguing with. Specifically the familiar red guild mark on his right shoulder "Shikamaru, isn't that the-"
"Hey kid, you're part of the Fairy Tail guild right? We're looking a member of your guild that looks like this." Shikamaru showed off the picture of the younger Naruto to Natsu, who immediately recognized the person in the photo.
However, before he had a chance to respond to Shikamaru, Gray and Naruto showed up from the crowd "Natsu, where have you been? The boats for Tenrou Island are about to depart!"
"Yeah, Flame Brain, we've been looking everywhere for you!" Gray growled at the Dragon Slayer, not noticing either the looks of shock from most of the Naruto Retrieval Team, or the look of attraction directed at him by Ino "If we end up getting disqualified because of you then-"
"WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto screamed in shock when he saw his former comrades and friends in front of him, completely silencing what would be yet another argument between Natsu and Gray. Before anyone could speak, Naruto grabbed his friends by their wrists and ran off as fast as possible in the opposite direction "COME ON GUYS! WE DON'T WANNA KEEP JIISAN WAITING ON US! DATTEBAYO! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
"What are you doing Naruto?"
"I haven't paid yet!"
"Hey wait, Naruto! We just want to..." Shikamaru tried to yell after his old friend, who had vanished as soon as he'd appeared "Troublesome."
"That sucks, we finally get a good lead on him after all these years and he just runs away from us. I'm thinking you may have been right Shikamaru." Chouji said sadly, which managed to snap Ino out of her boy crazy stupor induced by Gray and immediately pissed her off.
"Don't say stuff like that dumbass! Of course he wants to come back, he just doesn't want us to know how much...he's been slacking on ninja training while he was gone is all!" Ino tried to reassure himself, which gathered the attention of a passing fisherman.
"You guys talking about that blond fellow from Fairy Tail? Brings back memories to when I first fished him out of the ocean." The fisherman told them before bringing up something else that proved to be rather interesting "You know, some other Shangese folk were looking for him to. They had these strange black cloaks with red clouds painted on them, and one of them had a huge bandaged up sword."
While these men would only look like an odd pair of wanderers to the people of Fiore, those living on the continent of Shang immediately recognized the description. This compelled Gaara to ask "These men, where were they headed?"
Due to the strange lack of wind currents around Tenrou Island, those chosen to participate in the S-Class Trial between Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and Quatro Cerberus were currently boiling hot and ready to keel over from thirst. The sole exceptions to this seemed to Natsu who enjoyed the heat, Bacchus who was to drunk to care, and Naruto who seemed to be in shock about what happened earlier. Gray tried to ask him what was the matter after they'd made it to the boats, but he seemed particularly evasive about the topic.
Natsu would also be pressing him for information, but he was to busy dry heaving over the side of the ship "Damnit this sucks, why is this boat so shaky?"
"Probably because of your motion sickness Natsu." Wakaba said while smoking his cigarette before approaching Erza "Hey Erza, do you know what's up with your boyfriend? He's been acting weird ever since they got back with Natsu."
"What? I don't know what Gray has been telling you but me and Naruto are not dating!"
"I remember when me and Macao first picked up that kid in Hargeon. It was a balmy 72 degrees with..."
While Wakaba rambled on to the uninterested Erza, Elfman and Mirajane looked at the scene, with the latter having an evil grin on her face "Everything is going according to my plan now!"
"Plan? What do you mean Mira?" Elfman asked his older sister.
"I offered Wakaba half the money I make on my next five jobs to distract Erza while we're on the way to the trial. This way I can spend time with Naruto-kun without any distraction!" Mirajane said excitedly, before she approached her crush who seemed to be in an almost catatonic state "What's up Naruto-kun?"
"Oh nothing Mira! I'm just excited for the S-Class Trial is all." Naruto tried to pass off his nervous shaking when he thought about why Konoha had shinobi in Fiore.
"Gray and Natsu were talking about something earlier, about some Shangese people who knew you. Those guys, they're from the village that kicked you out aren't they?" Mirajane managed to intuit this due to the information Naruto has previously given her about his past "You already told me about everything happened back then, so just spill it Naruto-kun!"
"Yeah, you're right. I don't know why they're here or anything, but I've got a bad feeling about it."
"Don't worry, if they want to hurt you or anything we can just kick their asses and be done with it!...Also." Mirajane tried to ask her crush with a deep red on her face "Did you have a girlfriend back in Shang?"
Needless to say, Naruto turned out to be very confused by this question "Well, there was this girl I kinda liked, but she always hated me. She made that pretty damn clear when I left two years ago. The only one she ever seemed to care about on our team was Sasuke."
"Sasuke? You mean that dick who tried to kill you on your last mission?"
"Yeah, he was really handsome and brooding and stuff, not to mention the top of our class. All the girls really seemed to like him, especially Sakura. But she and Sasuke never really treated me as an equal even after all the time we spent as a team together. They never bothered telling me important info, and if they did it was months after the fact." Naruto said somberly as he remembered his past with the members of Team 7.
"That bitch sounds like a real piece of work if you ask me Naruto-kun. She really wasn't worth your time if she'd treat you like that, and not notice a good thing in front of her. I mean I don't know what this Sasuke prick is like, but considering how he tried to kill a comrade his personality leaves a lot to be desired. Besides, you're the hottest guy in the guild so-" Mirajane immediately silenced herself when she realized she was extremely close to accidentally confessing her feelings to Naruto.
Luckily for her, Naruto was as dense as he was strong "Thanks for trying to cheer me up Mira."
"It's no problem Naruto." Mirajane said bashfully, before Makarov, Bob, and Goldmine gained the attention of their candidates.
"We're almost ready for our first trial kids, so look alive!" Makarov said as he pointed to the island where the S-Class Trial would be taking place; it was large and rocky looking with two layers to it's topography and a large tree that had taken root on the island that was its most noticeable feature "This is Tenrou Island, the burial ground of Fairy Tail's Founder, Mavis Vermillion."
"And you're going there dressed like that?" Gray asked Makarov about his tropical shirt, not noticing he'd stripped out of his own clothes once again.
"Gray, your clothes!"
"Mavis Vermillion, the first master." Naruto said in awe at the island before him, it reminding of his new dream like the Hokage Rock in Konoha used to remind him of his old one "I will become an S-class mage here today."
"Now then, for the first trial each guild will have the same thing. At the smoke signal on the shore you'll see several different paths, most of which will lead you to face your competition in combat. Whoever wins each fight will be allowed to move on to the second phase of the trial, which will unique based on each guild." Goldmine announced while pointing at a map of the groves that formed the paths.
"However, there will be one serenity route which will require peace of mind to pass. That should be pretty easy for you cuties though, so you mostly have to rely on luck to get that one. Normally we'd have extreme combat routes where you'd fight other S-class mages, but since we only have Gildarts it wouldn't really matter much." Bob continued the explanation before the boat suddenly dropped anchor in the middle of the ocean.
"Now then, don't dawdle! I want to be back in Magnolia by nightfall!"
"Alright! This gonna be awesome!" Natsu said as he and Naruto ran through one of the combat routes after having made it to Tenrou Island after getting a jet boost through the water through their wind and fire magic "I hope we chose the route with Gray and Erza!"
"I wanna fight that Bacchus jerk!" Naruto growled, remembering his previous encounter with the drunken mage. When they'd made it to the part where the two groves connected, they came across someone else who'd pissed someone off earlier.
Karen Lilica, who'd already had her Celestial spirit keys out and ready to go "So it looks like I'm fighting you brats? I was hoping that this would be quick so Master Bob would make me S-class already, so it looks like the stars are in my favor already."
"You know, people have always had a nasty habit of underestimating me and what I can do. And when that happens, I put them in the ground." Naruto slammed his fists together, while he and Natsu prepared to fight the arrogant celestial mage "You're Karen Lilica right? I can see you're living up to your nickname as the Bitch of Blue Pegasus!"
"Why you little brat! I'll make you eat those words!" Karen sneered at Naruto, before whipping out a silver key that would help her fight.
"Open, Gate of the Chisel: Caelum!"
Once Karen unlocked the gate, a bizarre looking celestial spirit that resembled a metal sphere with a halo above it appeared from nowhere. While Naruto was familiar with Celestial Magic due to his mission to steal Daybreak, Natsu was surprised to see this "Wait a minute, where that robo-thing come from?"
"That's a celestial spirit!" Naruto immediately recognized the type of magic Karen was using.
"So you know this type of magic brat? Then you should know it would be in your best interests to surrender to me! My ability as a celestial mage is unparalleled, and it's what makes me much more powerful than a rookie like you." Karen said as she turned Caelum into its sword form which she proceeded charge Naruto with. However, the wind mage was able to figure out what her plan was in the time it took the spirit to transform and made his own plan of action.
"Open, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!"
Once Karen finished her swing towards Naruto, she'd realized that she'd hit nothing and that both of her opponents had suddenly vanished with only a few patches of misplaced dirt to indicate where they'd gone. Before she could react to the situation, Naruto had popped out of the ground with a spell at hand aimed right at her back.
"Wind Devil's Rasengan"
Karen was just barely able to dodge the powered up red rasengan in Naruto's hand, giving him a smug glare as she side-stepped his attack "Nice try brat! I don't know how you got underground like that, but it will take more than that to trick me!"
"I know!" Naruto responded with a grin, before Natsu freed himself from the ground as well, sending a fist directed right at Karen's face.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist"
"What?!" Karen only had a few seconds to block Natsu's attack with Caelum before he made contact, but she wasn't prepared for two sudden kicks to the back, one from a celestial spirit maid with pink hair who appeared from the ground along with Natsu, and a wind powered one that sent her painfully tumbling to the ground.
"Wind Devil's Southern Star"
After managing to pull herself up from the ground and cracking her aching back, Karen glared at her younger opponents "You brats, how do you have a Golden Zodiac Key?"
"I got it after a job as part of a reward. Virgo's been a great help ever since." Naruto gestured to his loyal celestial spirit, who was a lot less bulky and younger looking than she was under Duke Everlue.
"Is it time for punishment Master Naruto?"
"Of course, I have no idea how to get her to stop saying stuff like that."
While Karen was even more furious with this at first, this quickly turned into another look of arrogance on her face before making a demand "Brat, hand over that key to me. I'm a supreme celestial mage, whereas you're just a rookie! It's wasted on someone like you, so why don't you just hand it over!"
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack"
Natsu didn't let Karen finish her demands, as he charged her with another strong attack, which she for some reason took head on by suddenly throwing her weapon away "If you want to talk, do it after we're through kicking your butt lady!" Karen didn't seem too intimidated by this though, as she evilly smiled in spite of the searing pain the attack was causing her. It was at this point Naruto realized what her plan was when he saw Caelum transforming again.
"Natsu, look out!"
Once Caelum had finished its transformation into a cannon, it charged a dangerous looking green beam which was aimed near Natsu and Karen. Then without warning, Karen tossed Natsu in the path of the laser, hitting him dead on and engulfing him in an explosion. The celestial mage admired her handiwork for a moment before facing Naruto "One down, one to go. Do you get why you can't beat me now brat? My skills are way more advanced than yours!"
"You talk to much lady." To Karen's surprise, Natsu easily got out of the fire with only a small scratch on his side, and ate the entirety of the flames "You're never going to beat us if you just keep using party tricks with that robo-thing of yours."
"Why you little." Karen growled before suddenly sending Caelum back and summoning a new spirit, which a shy looking girl with pink hair and horns wearing a white, fluffy dress.
"Open, Gate of the Ram: Aries!"
"What did you summon me for m'am?" Aries asked, fearful of what Karen would do.
"Shut up! Clean up this trash for me Aries!"
"Oh really?" Naruto growled, a bit irked with how she was treating this new spirit "I think it's time we ended this, right Natsu?"
"You've got that right!" Natsu said as both him and his partner focused their attacks directly at Karen, who didn't seem to worried.
"Fire Dragon's Roar"
"Wind Devil's Rage"
Both attacks flew from their mouths and collided in midair, merging and strengthening their destructive capability while they flew straight at Karen. However, before the attacks could reach their target, Karen suddenly pulled Aries over and used her as a shield. Naruto gaped in shock as the celestial spirit screamed in pain, before the attack died out leaving Karen unharmed, while Aries had been severely beaten. Seeing her spirit had been beaten, Karen angrily through her to the ground "You little weakling! You should be able to handle more than a little magic from these two!"
"Hey!" Naruto angrily yelled at his opponent after seeing what she'd just done "What the hell do you think you're doing? How could you use one of your spirits as a shield like that?"
In response to Naruto's question, Karen merely smirked at her opponent "Why shouldn't I, celestial spirits are nothing but tools for a mage to use to their advantage. If they can't serve their master's will than they're little more than trash! If you were smart you would have thrown that spirit of yours in front of Caelum, then your little friend wouldn't have been hit."
"I wouldn't ever treat Virgo like that! Our contract is like a promise of equality between us, and I never break my promises even it kills me!" Naruto growled in anger while preparing another attack against Karen "Now I know why you're really called the Bitch of Blue Pegasus! It doesn't matter how many spirits you have, or how strong they are. I won't let myself lose to someone who would treat their allies so horribly!"
"And that's what makes you weak brat! This trial was over for you the moment it started! Close, Gate of the Ram" Karen sent the torn up Aries back to the Celestial World, before pulling out another Golden Zodiac key which she thought would help her handle whatever Naruto or Natsu had in store for her.
"Take this!"
"Wind Devil's Rail Gun"
"Open, Gate of the Lion: Leo!"
Naruto formed two Devil Slayer versions of his Tempest Cannon in his palms, and fired them at Karen with intent to end the fight right then and there. However, his attack was suddenly stopped when a well dressed man with spiky orange hair and sunglasses appeared in front of Karen and deflected the attack with a sudden flash of light from his body. Once his master was out of danger, Leo gave the women an icy glare "I saw the state Aries was when she came back to the Celestial World. You'd better have a damn good explanation for this."
"Hey, if you're looking for someone to blame, blame the brats. They were the ones attacking so I had to use her to defend myself." Karen casually explained to her strongest spirit.
While Leo still seemed very angry with Karen as he was stranger to this sort of behavior from her, he focused his attentions back to Naruto, Natsu, and Virgo "As a celestial spirit, I'm bound to the will of my master for every job and every fight. You should know that I won't be holding back."
"Neither will we lion guy! Bring it on!" Natsu said to Leo, only for the spirit to suddenly appear right behind him.
"As you wish."
"Lion Brilliance"
Before Natsu managed to react to Leo's movements, the Lion Spirit had already sent a strong wave of solid light right into his back and sent him flying. Leo prepared to perform his next attack on Naruto, only for Virgo to pop out of the ground in front of him and try to deliver a hard roundhouse kick to his head "I'm sorry for the trouble Leo, but I can't let you bring harm to Master Naruto!"
"Right back at you Virgo! Looking good by the way!" Leo said while preparing to lay down another attack on her after she'd missed.
"Regulus Impact"
After Virgo was launched back the lion shaped ball of fire, Naruto moved like lightning in order to catch her before she could hit the ground. However, Leo followed up with another spell directed at Naruto and the injured Virgo, only for Natsu to intervene and eat it whole. The Dragon Slayer proceeded to counterattack with a mighty roar directed straight at Leo.
"Regulus Impact"
"Fire Dragon's Roar"
Once the attacks collided with each other, Leo swept around Natsu and began fighting him with close combat for a brief period of time before gathering enough light from the area around him to make a small claw. However, Leo was prepared for Natsu to dodge this as well and blinded him with a flash of light before impaling the Dragon Slayer's forearm with the claw of solid light.
"Lion Brilliance"
"Paw of the Pride"
"Natsu!" Naruto screamed in horror as he saw his partner's arm go limp.
"That's it Leo! Now take out the other brat's celestial spirit! Show no mercy!" Karen ordered Leo, which managed to horrify both him and Naruto.
While Leo looked like he was about to refuse the order, he quickly remembered what defying a direct order could entail if the Celestial Spirit King ever found out or what Karen would do to Aries, and gave Virgo a sad look "Virgo, please forgive me for this!"
"Regulus Gatling Impact"
Leo had to physically force himself to attack his fellow member of the zodiac by running up and focusing Regulus energy into his fists, only for Naruto to intervene at the last moment by taking the hit for Virgo. Naruto had no time to come up with a counterattack and was hit head on by dozens of Leo's hits at once before being rocketed back into the trees. It was then that Virgo's gate was forcibly closed the to lack of magical power on Naruto's part.
Seeing her opponents on the brink of defeat, Karen put her hand up to her mouth and gave out a loud noblewoman's laugh "Do you brats get it now, my usage of the tools known as celestial spirits is superior to all other forms of magic. You never stood a chance of beating me from the start. Now if you excuse me I'll be taking my prize." Karen immediately reached to steal Virgo's key from Naruto's side, only for the Devil Slayer to suddenly move and grab her before she could.
"I won't ever let you take her...and treat her like you treat Aries and Leo...Virgo isn't just a tool to me...She's my friend!" Naruto dug his fingernails into Karen's skin to prevent her from moving, in spite of the fact that she was now harshly kicking him.
"You little fool! A golden zodiac key is far to valuable to be in the hands of a novice like you! They should belong to an elite like me." Karen kept digging her feet into Naruto's side, not noticing that he had been eating the air around them, or that Natsu was getting back up in spite of his gored arm.
However, Leo did notice and prepared to clash with Natsu again "You kids are tough, I give you that."
"We're a lot tougher than you jerks think we are." Natsu focused all of his magical power into the arm that wasn't wounded and prepared to finish off the celestial spirit, while Leo followed suit and gathered energy into a golden magic circle.
"I won't ever let you take her...and treat her like you treat Aries and Leo...Virgo isn't just a tool to me...She's my friend!"
However, before Leo could perform his spell, Naruto's words echoed into his head 'No, I can't fight someone like that.'
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist"
With Leo suddenly turning off his magical power and stopping dead in his tracks, Natsu took the opportunity and struck Leo straight in the gut with all his might, bringing the spirit to his knees. This turn of events shocked Karen, who lividly screamed at Leo for his defeat "Leo, what do you think you're doing." While Karen was distracted by the sudden failure of her strongest spirit, Naruto took the opportunity to use his regained strength to attack.
"Wind Devil's Rasengan"
Karen barely had time to dodge, with the increased strength of Naruto's spell leaving what would ordinarily be a small scratch a large cut on Karen's normally fair face from the graze "Why you little-"
"Wind Devil's Southern Star"
Naruto kicked Karen high into the air with his wind powered leg, before focusing his magical power into his palms and aiming at the midair celestial mage as she screamed in a mixture of rage and terror "You used Leo as a shield earlier and missed this attack! I think you should have a taste!"
"Wind Devil's Rail Gun!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Karen was blasted head on by Naruto's wind and blown straight out of the sky, before landing a few moments in a crumpled and defeated heap.
"Dattebayo." Naruto growled as he looked down at his defeated opponent, before realizing the gate sealing off the path had been undone upon Karen's defeat "Hey Natsu, you okay? I brought some bandages just in case, so I should be able to take care of that arm of yours."
"Got it, but first we've got to take care of this guy." Natsu said as he saw Leo stand back up.
"It's fine, I've only gotta fight you as long as Karen's capable of standing. Now that you've defeated her we've got no reason to continue this fight." Leo explained before preparing to head back to the Celestial World "I should be going now, Karen's not going to be happy when she wakes up.
"Wait, I may not be much of a celestial mage or anything, but why don't you and the others make a contract with me?" Naruto asked Leo "I know Blue Pegasus is cool and all, but it probably isn't worth dealing with the bitch over there. And Fairy Tail is always willing and ready for new members!"
Leo seemed to consider the offer for a moment, but decided against it "Sorry but no, our contracts with Karen are ironclad unless she's incapacitated, killed, or breaks them herself. But just for the record, you're already twice the mage she ever was." With that Leo vanished into thin air, leaving Naruto and Natsu alone.
It was then that the full gravity of the situation hit the two of them, and Naruto began giggling with happiness "Natsu, I think I just came one step closer to becoming an S-class mage of Fairy Tail!"
"Yeah! Let's go beat up everyone else now!" Natsu happily declared with his usable arm high in the air.
Back on the other side of the groves, the leaders and current S-Class of the Allied Guilds along with those who'd passed their trials waited patiently for the final path to declare its victor and for them to arrive so the exam could resume. Elfman and Mirajane had no injuries whatsoever from their trial, as they were lucky enough to have chosen the serenity route, while Gray and Erza had a few minor scratches from their fight.
Laxus and Freed likewise, were a bit roughed up along with Bacchus and Semmes; all of them waited patiently for the final victor to arrive, with it either being Naruto and Natsu of Fairy Tail, or Karen of Blue Pegasus. Erza was beginning to get anxious waiting for the result's of her crush's match "Naruto-kun's been gone awhile, he better not have lost to that hussy."
"Man, I thought he had it bad for you Erza. Behind that armor, you're pretty gaga for Naruto." Gray said, easily being able to see through Erza's feelings for the former shinobi.
"Don't be ridiculous Gray! Naruto is just a friend of mine like everyone else in the guild." Erza tried to get the idea out of Gray's head, though the ice make mage wasn't convinced in the slightest.
In fact, he was even more convinced than he was before now "You're acting like you didn't give the guy your first kiss. Look, all I'm saying is that it's pretty clear there's a mutual thing going on between the two of you, but unless you want to lose him you'd better be quick. Because Mira's got her eye on him to, and I have a feeling it's starting to work."
"WHAT?!...I-Ii mean, there's no way Naruto-kun and Mira have any chemistry. It's not as if Naruto was like a pariah for something he couldn't control like Mira was or-" Erza tried to reason with both herself and Gray, before remembering what Naruto had told her about his past "Oh."
Before Gray and Erza could continue their conversation any further, the remaining participants in the trial saw what looked like two figures coming out of the sole remaining grove. This Naruto with the beaten up Natsu draped around his arm, both with large grins on their faces "So, did we make it in time?"
"Naruto-kun!" Mirajane immediately glomped Naruto when she saw him come out, managing to piss of Erza who requiped a large sword into her hands.
"Hey, flame brain! You look pretty beaten up, you sure Naruto didn't do all the work for you?" Gray mocked his rival for the beaten up state he was in, pissing Natsu off once again.
"Watch it Ice Stripper! I don't think you did any better than me!"
"At least I'm not bandaged up like a mummy, Microwave Oven!"
"Mini-Fridge!"
"Matchstick!"
"Ice cube!"
"That's enough boys! Save the fighting for the rest of the trial." Erza separated Natsu and Gray before they could get physical, before she approached Naruto with a small but noticeable blush on her face "I knew you could do it Naruto-kun."
Also blushing, Naruto replied "Thanks Erza-chan."
"Let's see, Laxus and Freed defeated Cana and Levy, Macao and Wakaba fell to Bacchus and Semmes, Naruto and Natsu beat Karen, and the Trimens were knocked out by Erza and Gray. Meanwhile, Mirajane and Elfman took the serenity route and avoided fighting." Makarov judged those who made it through, while Bob was depressed that no one from his guild made it through "Let's see, we've got everyone here. Time to announce the final part of your trial. Fairy Tail, come with me and Gildarts if you please; Quatro Cerberus, stay with Master Goldmine for your challenge."
The remaining S-class candidates from Fairy Tail followed Makarov to a small clearing in the forest not from where they just were, before the old man revealed their next challenge "Somewhere on this island is the gravesite of Mavis Vermillion, one of our founders and first master. Gildarts will be waiting there to award whoever finds it first with the title of S-class."
"Wait, it's that simple? No giant killer crabs or anything?" Gray asked, sounding a little disappointed in the task's simplicity.
That is until he was dragged off by Erza however "Don't complain Gray, we just have to find the grave before anyone else does."
"Hey Natsu, are you okay to go on? You can't exactly fight with your arm like that." Naruto pointed to Natsu's arm that had previously been damaged by Leo.
"We're just finding a grave Naruto. It's not as if we're going to have to fight anyone on the way there or anything." Natsu responded to his partner's concerns while the teams dispersed outward on their own search for the gravesite of Mavis Vermillion.
However, once he was sure all of them were gone Makarov grew a look of thunder and spoke to a previously unseen enemy "I know you're here. Come out right now and I may be kind enough not to snap your neck."
"Your reputation is not without Makarov Dreyar. I see why you hold the fifth seat on the Ten Wizard Saints." A man in a swirled orange mask growled in a deep voice as he appeared from the trees of the forest "I presume you know what we came for."
"Man this is boring, I can't believe I came all the way back here only to be put on groundskeeper duty by the old man." Gildarts moaned in boredom as he paced around Mavis' gravesite, waiting for someone to find him "Still, Makarov's picked up some good kids. I can't wait to see which one will lead the guild in the next generation."
Gildarts was broke from his thoughts when he heard the sound of rustling from beyond the tree-line. Knowing that none of the participants could have found him that quickly, Gildarts yelled "Whoever you are, come out! I don't recognize your magic."
"That's because I don't need the magic this land is so proud of." A shark like man with a large bandaged sword on his back came from the woods "We know the Kyuubi Jinchuriki is part of your guild fairy. Unless you want the Akatsuki to tear you apart, I recommend you hand him over without a fight."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll be damned if we let anyone take a member of our guild away." Gildarts immediately reached for the red flare at his side, and fired it into the sky, signaling Condition Red "Now everyone knows you're here."
Kisame merely grinned at the S-class mage's words "Good!"
Naruto and Natsu walked through the forest looking for the gravesite, behaving as they normally did "Can you believe that Ice jerk, acting like he's better than me?"
"You know, you two remind me of something I went through a while ago. I just hope things go better between you and Gray than it did between me and him." Naruto remembered his past and ill-fated rivalry between himself and Sasuke.
This brief mention of Naruto's history reminded Natsu of something he'd meant to ask him previously "By the way, how did those guys from earlier know you? I mean, you're from Shang and they were dressed like they were from Shang so..."
"It's nothing Natsu."
"But they were looking for you. I mean they knew your name and had a photo of you so..." Natsu suddenly stopped when he noticed the large red light in the sky above them "Hey Naruto, what's with that red stuff up there? Think it's part of the trial?"
Naruto looked at the light in the sky and gaped when he remembered what the light meant from what Makarov had told them a week before "Condition Red! There are intruders on the island! They may be from a dark guild like Burningbane Goblin or the Southern Wolves or something!"
"Not quite #9-san." A chillingly stoic voice said, one that Naruto immediately recognized and froze in horror at the sound of. This voice belonged to a man in a black cloak with red clouds, with long black hair he'd kept tied back in a ponytail and long tear troughs coming his eyes "Your old friends from Konoha should have been more discreet when looking for you, because they us right to you. If you truly care about these people, I'd suggest you surrender before we're forced to take drastic measures."
(A/N): Look alive people, because shit has officially hit the fan! I bet you're surprised by such a fast update on this story after the last two took like half a year aren't you? Well, I've been another big Fairy Tail kick lately so that might have something to do with it. But don't get too excited though, as I've still got to focus on my other stories besides this as well. What I can say about next chapter is that it will be the first serious challenge Naruto will as part of Fairy Tail in this story, which judging by what I have later on is saying a lot.
Meanwhile, concerning the pairing...I am surprised by how much reception just suggesting a change got! I mean, damn I'm at almost a hundred within 3 chapters! However, unless there's a huge upset between this chapter and the next, it looks like I'll be changing the pairing to Naruto x Erza x Mirajane. I'm actually interested in what this could add to the story, but don't think I'll be starting a harem or anything. This will be the final change in the main pairing.
I'm sorry if you voted to keep the pairing the same, and I hope that the likely change won't hamper your enjoyment. Just stick with me for now and I promise to make it worth your while. Please leave a review if you're not gonna be a prick, and if you want to see more, follow and favorite. See you next time!
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