Thanks for the reviews, I'll take my time here to answer two people. First one... Why didn't Nagato just lock them somewhere? Why would he? It's not like he knows they are a criminal guild, to him they are just a bunch of clowns after his Rinnegan. Even if he was, all his known techniques are meant to kill. Also, there was a guy who reviewed saying Hades was downplayed. He wasn't. Please bear in mind that Hades does not currently possess Grimoire Heart and his Demon Eye, since he only achieved those by the time of the canon, and this story is taking place 8 years in the past. He is without two of his most powerful weapons and did not know anything about the Rinnegan abilities. As I said in a previous chapter, I am not trying to make a "Godlike Nagato" story, but I am not going to portray him as weaker (or stronger) than he actually is just for the sake of writing an intense battle scene. This story is not even battle-centered, power levels are not that relevant for it. Also... indeed, 'Amaterasu 300' is not a canon spell, but not everything must be canon: that's exactly the point of writing fanfiction. At least as long as the change makes sense ("lore-friendly", per say). It especially can't be helped in a crossover, since I'm trying to avoid the "NARUTO CHARACTER GETS THROWN INTO A NEW WORLD BY A DEITY WHO HAD NOTHING BETTER TO DO" approach and want it to be coherent.

Thanks to everyone for all the favourites and follows. I'm happy to know that so many people are enjoying my story. Just like the two fellows above, let me know if there's something that is bothering you and I'll answer (as long as it isn't a major plot thing, since it would be spoiler) as soon as I can. Don't be afraid to send me a PM or something like that if you want to, some people did and it does not bother me at all. I am taking notes of everything you guys say and am willing to change a few things, but please understand that the final word is mine. I'm not trying to be arrogant, it is just that I know what my plans for the story are, and am not going to change things if I think they will harm its consistency in the future.

Warning: as of 12 June, 2022, this chapter has been completely rewritten. A lot of the story in it was changed, to the point it is a whole new chapter. I've done this because I felt the original chapter was extremely boring and had nothing actually going on. Now it has important elements to drive the story onwards. Chapter 7 is also mostly finished by now and I will be releasing by next sunday, just to give people time to read this one and be aware of the changes done to the story.

Nagato felt his head ache as his eyes opened. How long had he slept this time? It did not matter. For some reason, every time he fell asleep for the past few days a strange dream had been bothering him. Even worse than the annoying dream was the fact that it would always disappear from his memory the second he woke up, meaning he could never remember what he'd dreamed about — he just knew it was an important piece in the puzzle to understand what was going on with him, and that it was most likely the same dream every single time. It was maddening!

It had been over a week since his fight with Hades. In the aftermath of that battle, Nagato had passed out due to absorbing too much energy, which both confused and worried him: that had never happened before, not even once. Over the years, Pain had absorbed a lot of chakra, and the only time it had any negative effect on him had been during his fight against Naruto, due to recklessly absorbing too much nature energy from him. But Hades did not use Sage Art, so what was it? Nagato's only theory so far was that the energy wielded by mages, albeit compatible with chakra to an extent, was meant to be handled in a different way. Unfortunately, he knew frighteningly little on how magic energy worked, and did not even know where to start. Besides, he did not have the time. It probably would be easier to just use Human Path on someone, though it might be a bit unethical to do so without their consent.

The day after the fight, he'd awaken in a completely different place, a village inhabited by demons. It does sound pretty bad, and it looked even worse, but despite the situation they were actually nice people who'd found him unconscious near the ruins and done their best to help. The one who rescued him was named Bobo, the son of the chief of their tribe.

"Mr. Moka, do not fret. I mean you no harm" Nagato told the chief after noticing his discomfort. He spent one day and a half in that village, but it was enough time for him to realise the Rinnegan made all of them nervous. None of them even knew why they felt that way towards his eyes, they just knew to avoid it, just like they felt it was a good idea to stay away from the ruins at the other side of island.

"So... where are you going now?" Bobo spoke up.

"I... am not sure yet. But there is a place that got my attention. It is called the Sun Village. However, I still have something to do at the ruins"

After staying with them for over a day, some did overcome the fear and approached him. Some, like Bobo and Moka, even talked to him. But most would either stay away from him or be quiet in his presence, as if getting his attention was a frightening thought.

Currently, the redhead was on his way to a place named Sun Village. Yes, perhaps it would seem silly that after visiting a moon-shaped island, his next destination would be a place named after the sun, but it was not just intuition this time. You see, Nagato had returned to the ruins a few days after defeating Hades. As he had expected, carved in the ceiling was actually a map. Unfortunately, it did not represent only the kingdom of Fiore. These stars were scattered across two continents as it seems, and luckily two of them — including the golden one — were located in what Nagato assumed to be Fiore, so he marked these two locations in the map of the kingdom that Porlyusica gave him.

There was only one problem: money.

The world is a huge place, and it would indeed suck to travel around either by food or spending chakra with summoned creatures. The best way to move inside Fiore was to ride a train, however after a few days Nagato ran out of money. He'd never had such problem before, because unlike the in the past now there was no Akatsuki or Konan to help him, plus he did not want to commit any crimes to get more, so Nagato only now realised he needed a reliable way of earning money, otherwise he'd quickly run out of food as well. It would be pretty embarrassing to be given a second chance just to die of starvation.

'I'm sure someone in this town would pay for my help. Just need to look around'

So far, Nagato had earned some jewel — the currency used in Fiore — by helping around the train station. It was honest work and it did feel satisfying to earn what he was gaining, but the redhead couldn't help but feel his talents and time were being wasted with menial tasks such as carrying crates around. Luckily for him, this was about to change.

"What do you mean there's no train?!"

The one who yelled was a man dressed in a fine (and probably expensive) black suit. His blonde hair was slicked back, and the mustache on his face was nicely trimmed. No doubt someone very rich, and probably famous considering how the ticket seller reacted.

"S-sorry, Mr. Heartfilia, but we had a problem and-..."

"Then fix it already! I cannot wait until tomorrow!"

"Now, now, Jude. It's not the poor lad's fault, and I doubt he can do anything to fix it" Someone interrupted. It was a woman. Her hair was blonde like Jude's and she was wearing an elegant pink dress. She seemed roughly the same age as her husband, and a young girl clung to her left arm.

Jude was still evidently angry, but his wife's words seemed to calm him a bit.

"I need to work, Layla. We can't be stuck here for an entire day!"

"Why dad is angry?" The girl muttered to her mother. Despite being much younger, her face was the spitting image of Layla's.

"It's nothing, Lucy... don't worry, okay?" Layla whispered back, then turned her attention back to her husband. "Well, there are other ways to travel, right? We don't need to ride a train"

Jude gave his wife a suspicious look.

"What do you propose?" He asked.

"Well... you know, we could either travel on foot-..." She chuckled at her husband's look of disbelief. "Or use some other vehicle, I am sure there is one somewhere in this town"

"It's dangerous." He responded after a few seconds.

Layla looked at him in silence. Their daughter was just listening by this point, though she probably didn't understand much of what she heard.

"... then hire a mage or two to escort us." The woman spoke again.

"And where in this town would I find a mage? If we try to hire a guild they would still probably take a day to get here even if they responded immediately, and by then we can just ride a train."

Now that got Nagato's attention. He'd been listening for a while now, mostly due to boredom. He was not exactly a mage, but he could most certainly protect them against a few random bandits, even if they happened to be mages. As Layla fell silent again, unable to find something to say to her husband, the redhead decided it was about time to introduce himself.

"Excuse me?" He called them as he approached.

All three of them looked at Nagato immediately, each reacting differently to his presence. Jude seemed suspicious, like he was trying to guess if the Rinnegan bearer was there either to rob him or to beg him for money. Talking about his eyes, Layla immediately noticed them, but she did not seem afraid, unlike the demons of Galuna Island or her daughter, who quickly looked away. The woman's expression seemed to change from curiosity to confusion, then disbelief, all that in a split second. 'Great', Nagato thought, 'another one who knows about the Rinnegan, it seems.'

"My name is Nagato. I apologise for that, but I happened to overhear some of your conversation" The former Akatsuki leader said. "If it is a mage you need, I can help. I am a... mage myself"

Referring to himself as a mage seemed a bit silly, but he did not feel like explaining what a ninja was. Jude still looked suspicious.

"A mage, you say. Prove it. What guild do you belong to?"

"Now, Jude, there's no need for t-..." Layla started as she got over her shock.

"It's okay, ma'am. I understand his concern" Nagato interrupted her politely. Remembering the guild mark he got from Makarov just before he left for Hargeon, the redhead pulled the right side of his collar down so that he could expose the mark on his shoulder. It was red in colour, a scarlet red just like the colour of his hair. "See? I am a mage of Fairy Tail. Master Makarov is a friend of mine, too"

"I was hoping to get someone from Phantom Lord" Jude said dryly.

"Don't be rude, love. Besides, we are in no position to be picky right now" Layla reasoned with her husband. "He clearly is a mage from a legal guild, it shouldn't matter from which one. If we are to get home anytime soon, I mean. We could always wait until they fix the train"

Nagato could tell right away her interest in him was due to his eyes, but he was not about to complain. As long as it got him the job, he was willing to play along. The daughter was staring at his guild mark, and now there was no fear in her eyes anymore, just curiosity. Probably her first ever contact with a guild.

Jude didn't seem happy about it, but he finally gave in. Beggars can't be choosers, even if in this case it was three finely dressed beggars.

"Very well, then. I am going to hire you."

(x)

(x)

(x)

Half an hour later, a blonde family and a redhead bodyguard were riding a wagon towards the Heartfilia family home. Speaking of, Jude was shocked to learn Nagato did not know what the Konzern Heartfilia was. His reaction had been funny enough, and Layla seemed to agree with Nagato on that, judging from her smirk.

"I still find it hard to believe"

"Sorry, sir. As I said before, I have not been in Fiore for that long, so there is a lot I do not know about this kingdom. I may miss a few things"

"Even if you are not from Fiore, the Konzern Heartfilia should be well know everywhere from this kingdom to Pergrande by now. So how come you do not know about it, is a mystery to me"

Nagato wasn't sure how he should respond to that. He did not want to say anything that would make him seem crazy, but simply ignoring Jude would not be a good way to deal with the situation. Luckily, Layla once again saved him. Her daughter, whose name Nagato had learned to be Lucy, was sleeping peacefully on her lap.

"Not from Fiore, huh? You must have travelled a lot, Mr. Nagato"

"Just Nagato is fine, ma'am. There is no need for honorifics" The Rinnegan bearer spoke. "And... yes. You might say that. I have seen a lot of the world in my younger years, before moving to Fiore. Master Makarov was very kind to let me join his guild"

"I see..." Layla continued. She was obviously trying very hard to make it sound like she was just asking out of curiosity, but Nagato was not a fool. He could see she knew something about his Rinnegan. "So, those eyes of yours are something unique to your country?"

The redhead stopped for a few seconds. He did not know what to say, but she seemed to know something about his eyes already, so lying to her probably would not be a good option. Besides, he didn't see any reason to distrust Layla.

"More like they're a condition unique to me, ma'am. You could say they are my magic"

"And what is it called, then?"

Nagato stopped again, then answered the question.

"In my homeland, it's called Rinnegan."

He could see the way Layla stopped breathing for a second. Her heart probably skipped a beat after hearing the name. Yes, she definitely knew something, though she still insisted in trying to make it less obvious.

"Eyes of Saṃsāra? Isn't it a bit presumptuous of you, Nagato?"

"Well..." He shrugged. "I did not name it, Mrs. Heartfilia. It's just what it is called"

"I see, th-.. what's happening?"

That's when the wagon suddenly stopped; there was a fallen tree blocking the road ahead.

"Sorry, ma'am. A tree is blocking the road" The waggoner explained. "I'm afraid I don't have enough strength to remove it"

Jude immediately looked at Nagato, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh" The redhead spoke up in realisation. He would've volunteered, anyway. As a shinobi, however, Nagato couldn't help but feel suspicious of what was happening there. Was it just a fallen tree? Had it been placed there on purpose? Could it be an ambush? He got his answer at the same time he left the wagon and walked up to the fallen tree. Thanks to his enhanced sensory skills, the former Akatsuki immediately detected energy signatures approaching them. Two of them were hiding behind the tree, actually. "Yes, of course. Don't worry. I'll take care of the situation..."

He didn't expected them rich people to understand what he meant by his change of tone, but to her credit Layla immediately tensed up, a clear sign that she understood what was going on. Jude didn't react as quickly, but he also realised something was off. As for Lucy, the sudden stop in motion was enough to wake her up. Nagato could hear her mutter something to her mother, who tried to keep her down.

'Should I just get rid of them at once, or play along?'

As he approached the tree and pointed his hand towards it, the two men jumped from behind the obstacle. One of them was wielding a sword, whereas the other one was unarmed, but Nagato felt something different about him; unlike his partner, this one was a mage.

"Hands up!" The swordsman demanded, pointing his sword at Nagato.

"Don't move!" The other one ordered.

'I can't use Shinra Tensei right now, since I don't want to blow the wagon away. In that case... Banshō Ten'in'

Nagato reacted so quickly he raised his hand and sent a powerful forced lifted the fallen tree from the ground before anyone around him could even blink. When they realised what was going on, it was already too late; the tree spun and hit both bandits violently in the chest. Both of them were thrown away by the powerful swing. The one who was not a mage was knocked out instantly from the impact, but Nagato could sense the other one was still conscious.

However, the other energy signatures he'd felt before were approaching the wagon, two from each side. He waved his arm and sent the tree flying in the mage's direction all the while two new arms detached from his shoulders, hands meeting in front of Nagato's chest in a very familiar sign.

'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'

Two Nagato clones popped into existence, and each immediately ran to meet the ambushers approaching from the sides. Which left only the mage for him to take care of.

Speaking of, to his credit the man actually managed to defend himself by slicing the tree in half with a two-handed scythe. Thanks to the Rinnegan, the redhead could see the wind magic concentrated around its blade, which greatly increased both its reach and its sharpness.

"I wasn't expecting a mage" The bandit said at the same time he sent a wind slash towards Nagato, who easily dodged it. "But it doesn't matter. All the more fun, right?"

Nagato watched him carefully. He was pretty sure that he could take this man on, but at the same time did not underestimate him.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking us?"

Of course, this could just be what it seemed: a bunch of criminals trying to ambush and rob people. But, as a shinobi, Nagato knew he should never ignore what his intuition told him. The Heartfilia seemed to be just too big of a target for it to be a random occurrence.

"My name is Erigor" The man presented himself. "As for our goal, just know you are not it... which, unfortunately for you, means you can just... die!"

As soon as he said that, the man waved his free hand and sent a barrage of wind slashes towards Nagato, who jumped in order to avoid them. That's when his enemy flew towards him, scythe ready to strike. If only it was that easy — as soon as Erigor tried to cut him, the shinobi's robotic arms stopped his blade. There was no wind magic on it, either, which could only mean one thing...

'Gakidō' As soon as it approached him, the magical attack disappeared. Erigor did not have a second chance, no matter what he did he simply couldn't gather enough magic power to try another spell, and by then the mage was close enough for Nagato to touch him in the head. And just like that, their battle was over. 'Ningendō'

Of course, he did not actually take the man's soul away. All he did was influence it. At the moment, Nagato was trying to figure out what was going on. By touching his foe's head like that, he was able to use the Human Path to search his mind. In the shinobi world, it was not all that common for a ninja to simply attack another one out of the blue, especially when they happened to have an important client.

It could be just an ambush set for anyone passing by, but Jiraiya taught him to not let his guard down. A mage could make enough money in a guild, so why would this one just go around robbing random people? As he expected...

"Your goal is Jude Heartfilia's daughter. It doesn't matter how you will get the girl, but avoid killing her father — Mr. Fushiguro was very specific. He needs Jude alive for now. Do to the woman as you please, kill her if you must." The voice owner was the master of this man's guild, a man named Sutsuko. As for the mage Nagato captured... "And Erigor... avoid drawing too much attention to us. We don't want the Council to suspect Eisenwald."

(x)

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(x)

"Are you sure, Makarov? The Rinnegan?" Yajima was a former Fairy Tail mage and a new member of the Magic Council. Just slightly taller than Makarov, he was one of the master's closest and most trusted friends, but even with all his experience Yajima clearly did not bealieve what his old friend was saying. "Sounds like a fairy tale, to be honest with you."

Makarov couldn't blame him for not believing in the story, since the master of Fairy Tail himself was not completely sure of what he saw. The Thought Projection he was using to communicate with Yajime oscilated a bit for a second. After staying silent to hear Yajima's opinion, the short old man spoke again. "I know, but believe me... it was the Rinnegan. Purple, several black rings, just like Purehito described it once. Porlyusica has seen it as well. Something will happen within the next years. Fate has already set things up"

"If you say so, Makarov, I shall believe in you. But you should keep it a secret for now." As he said that, Yajima looked around quickly. "Think about it... not only many powerful dark wizards would be after this young man, but the Magic Council too. They would want to find a way to control his power, or if unable to destroy it. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered him a seat just to keep him under their watch, honestly" Once again the old man looked around and sighed. "Now I have to go, they must already be missing me. See you, Makarov"

Makarov's Thought Projection vanished as the master of Fairy Tail sighed. I'm too old for this shit.

Thanks everyone for reading. Don't really know what to say, so... see you around.