Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and Fairy Tail.
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(12th March, Year X789)
"Oi, Macao what are you thinking?" Wakaba curiously asked his long-time friend, as he saw that his friend had a thoughtful expression on his face.
Both of them were inside the Fairy Tail guild hall sitting on a couple of bar stools, with a glass of beer in their hands, and were just looking at the other members of their guild, who were happily drinking and chattering among themselves.
Today was a Sunday morning, so most of them were just relaxing inside the guild taking a break from jobs while talking about the jobs that they had done this week.
The guild master took a sip from his glass of beer and let out a relaxed sigh from his mouth, he then looked at his curious friend and answered, "Just thinking about how the whole atmosphere in the guild had changed in these past four months."
Wakaba chuckled knowingly, "I know what you mean, my friend. It had indeed changed quite a lot."
It has been four months since they had gotten their newest recruit and that recruit was responsible for the change in the attitude of the guild members and the shift in the whole atmosphere in their guild.
Just four months ago the whole guild had been edging close to losing complete hope in ever reviving their precious guild back to its former glory after they had failed to even get past the first round in the Grand Magic Games. The members had been losing their optimism, spirit, and even their will to train or move forward after they had lost their strongest mages during that unfortunate incident, almost five years ago.
Both of them being the eldest and veteran members of their guild were beginning to fear that they might have to unfortunately disband the whole guild that they loved so dearly. As there were only 15 members in their guild after so many of its members had left the guild due to a lack of job requests, the decline in their strength, and most importantly the ever-piling debts of their guild.
Macao was even beginning to get concerned about his son, Romeo. His son who used to be a very optimistic child seemed to have been getting more withdrawn day by day and was beginning to develop a very cynical attitude over the years. However, thanks to the timely and fortunate arrival of their 'savior', his son was back to being his previous optimistic self.
Both Macao and Wakaba had also seen the change in the attitude of the other guild members. They seemed to be taking more jobs, regardless of the job rank and were starting to train to improve themselves. As all of them now knew that they could finally regain the glory and reputation of their precious guild once more.
All of these changes in the attitude of the members and the guild were only possible because of one person, and the two veteran members of the guild were keenly aware that without that person they would have been forced to take some decisions which would have made both of them ashamed, once they inevitably meet their former master and friends in the afterlife.
Both of them knew the exact person responsible for all these changes was their newest member, Naruto. They didnt know how such a strong mage like him hadn't been part of any guilds in the past. They didn't even know where Yajima-san had found such a strong mage from, but they were eternally grateful to their former member for recommending Fairy Tail to the blonde.
The blonde with his work ethic, enthusiasm, and his optimism had been able to influence the attitude of the other members positively. The spirit and the zeal that the member had lost during those tumultuous years were slowly rejuvenating and most importantly, the hope that they had lost in the past had been reignited due to them getting such a strong mage like Naruto in their guild.
No one in the guild even knows how strong the blonde was, they didn't even know how many types of magic the blonde even knew, but all of them were certain that he was a very strong mage. As it was not every day that someone beat a whole guild and the guild master within just a few seconds, while simultaneously invoking fear among the members of the said guild.
Both of them still remembered the day when they had learned that Naruto had defeated the whole Twilight Ogre, including the guild master, Banaboster. The shock and disbelief that had spread throughout the members of Fairy Tail when the blonde explained the reason behind Thibault and his guild mates bolting out of their guild hall was still fresh in both of their minds.
After that day, Twilight Ogre stopped coming to Fairy Tail to bully and harass them for money, though it didn't mean that Fairy Tail had stopped paying the money that they owe to their neighboring guild. They were still paying their debt every month but the exchange between the two guilds was much more amicable than before and didn't involve any sort of bullying.
"You know, I still can't believe that such a strong mage like Naruto decided to join Fairy Tail. When any other top guilds in Fiore would have accepted him without even thinking twice." Wakaba mentioned his thoughts to his friend, who chuckled and nodded in agreement. If it was four years ago they wouldn't have been surprised but now...when Fairy Tail was considered to be one of the weakest guilds in Fiore, it was really unbelievable. Though none of them were complaining about it, in fact, they were really grateful that the blonde had joined them.
"We should really send something to Yajima-san as gratitude for recommending Fairy Tail to Naruto," Macao told his friend who laughed and nodded in approval, as both of them knew that without their senior mage's request/recommendation to Naruto, the blonde wouldn't have joined their guild.
"I just wished that we had some high-ranked job requests so that Naruto could do them and get the necessary job requirements needed to be promoted to S-class." Wakaba sighed wistfully while taking a chug from his glass and continued, "Everyone here knows that the boy is S-class just by the fact alone that he defeated all the members of Twilight Ogre and not even including his mastery over so many types of magic. If he gets promoted it would greatly increase the guild members' spirits knowing that we have an actual recognized S-class mage in Fairy Tail."
To be promoted to S-class, a mage was required to pass certain requirements. Just giving the title of S-class to a mage by the Guild master was not sufficient, as the records of the mage were required to be handed to the Magic Council for evaluation, where they would also check the number of B-rank and A-rank jobs completed by the mage, as it was necessary to know if the mage could handle him/herself in S-ranked jobs. While also checking whether the mage could hold himself against already promoted S-class mages.
Four years ago, it wouldn't have been much of a hassle to promote Naruto to S-class, due to their late master Makarov being a member of the Wizard Saints, and the decisions and judgment of a Wizard saint were respected even by the council. But Macao wasn't a Wizard Saint nor an S-class mage himself, so his promoting Naruto to S-class won't be recognized by the Magic Council.
"It's funny you mentioned us not having any high-ranked jobs, Wakaba. " Macao gave his friend a mischievous glance, taking a poster out from his jacket and then handing it to his friend, who confusedly took the handed poster and opened it.
After seeing what the poster was, Wakaba's whole body shooked in disbelief and turned to his friend who seemed to be enjoying his reaction, "Is this an A-ranked Job request?" He asked to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.
"Yup, it is indeed an A-ranked job request, you old coot." The guild master cheekily answered, "This poster was faxed(1) to the guild this morning by the Magic council jobs registration department(2)."
"Why haven't you posted it on the job request board then?" Wakaba questioned, though he already had an idea as to why his friend had yet to post the request.
"You already know the reason, Wakaba. I want to give this Job request to Naruto. He has completed more than 30 D-rank jobs and 10 C-rank jobs in just four months, and we already know how strong he is, so completing an A-ranked job would greatly increase his chances of getting promoted." Macao explained to his friend, taking another sip of beer from his glass.
Wakaba nodded agreeing with Macao's reasoning and then implored in a bit of concern, "Though, would it be a good idea to send the boy alone in his first A-rank job? I think we should send someone with him just to be on the safe side."
"I was also thinking about sending someone like Max or Warren with him, to at least guide him and inform him about the locations. Naruto did say that he wasn't particularly familiar with Fiore geography." Macao divulged his thoughts to his advisor, who after thinking for a bit agreed with his plan.
While they had complete faith in Naruto's strength and his way of handling any jobs without causing any damage to properties— which was sadly, still very much prevalent among the members even while doing only simple C-rank jobs—which the guild master and his advisor were very thankful that their strongest member didn't leave any sort of destruction while doing jobs. But, the blonde was technically still a 'rookie', and letting him do an A-rank job alone would be a bad idea and pretty irresponsible of them.
"Though doesn't the job description seems a bit...weird?" Wakaba mentioned as he read the job request.
"So, you also noticed it huh?," Macao asked and sighed, "It can't be helped, this is the first A-rank job request that had come to our guild after so long, and to not take it just because of the weirdness of the job description would be a grave mistake for the guild future and not even including the reward money, which would greatly help to pay back some of the guild debt."
Wakaba knowing that his friend was correct with his assumption, decided to just accept it, albeit a bit reluctantly. Though, both of them had complete faith in Naruto's strength and his decision to overcome anything during the job, if it went south.
"Where is the kid anyway? I haven't seen him in the guild this morning?" Wakaba curiously asked his friend.
"He went out to the town with Asuka and Romeo in tow, as Asuka had been nagging him to treat her ice cream," Macao told his friend, and both of them chuckled at the thought of someone so strong like Naruto being so weak against the demand of a 4-year-old girl.
(Line Break)~~~~~~
"Asuka-chan, can you please eat your ice cream quickly?" Naruto begged his 'little sister' in dismay as he felt her ice cream melting and dripping on his hair. He was carrying Asuka on his shoulder, who was happily eating the ice cream that he had bought not at all concerned with the fact that her ice cream was melting and dripping on his big brother.
"I'm almost done, big brother." Asuka giggled as she slowly licked her vanilla ice cream cone, taking her sweet time which was completely opposite to what Naruto had requested.
Naruto sighed in defeat and decided to just ignore the dripping ice cream on his head. He then looked at Romeo who was walking beside him, enjoying his ice cream while also holding a plastic bag in his right hand which was filled with different packets of ice cream.
"So, Romeo, how's your training going on?" Naruto curiously asked the guild master's son, as he had given the boy some taijutsu katas to practice and some exercises to strengthen the body about a month ago.
Since the boy had requested to train him, and due to Naruto, not knowing any actual magic to train Romeo, had decided to just train him in taijutsu, while also helping the boy to develop his physical foundation.
"It is going all right, I guess." Romeo answered as he stopped licking his ice cream cone and looked at the blonde, "I just wished you could teach some of your magic spells big brother."
"Now, now...don't be like that my cute little brother." Naruto teasingly chided the now annoyed boy, "Always remember what I have told you, no mat..."
"...matter how many magic spells a mage may know, it won't matter if the mage is punched in the face with overwhelming speed before he could even cast his magic spells." Romeo completed his brother's words of 'wisdom' while rolling his eyes a little as he said those words.
"Ha...ha, It's good that you remember that, Romeo," The blonde laughed and ruffled the boy's hair playfully, "Remember, just shooting magic spells at your opponent won't win you a fight if your opponent can just dodge them. So, you need to first improve your body, your speed, and your hand-to-hand combat if you ever met such kinds of opponents. Like I've told you before, I didn't use any of my magic to defeat Twilight Ogre, I just used my speed to get close to them before they could even react and punched the daylights out of them."
"Yeah, yeah...I know." Romeo sighed, knowing that his brother was right, and decided to just finish his ice cream before it completely melt. Though it didn't mean that he was happy with it, he wanted to learn some cool new magic spells! But he also understands that his brother couldn't teach him any of his magic because he had promised his teacher to never teach it to anyone.
However, the boy didn't realize that it was a complete bullshit excuse made by the blonde.
"Big brother Naru, more ice cream!" Asuka demanded and pulled on the blonde hair after she had finished her ice cream.
"Ow...ow...Asuka-chan, stop pulling my hair!" Naruto yelped in pain as he tried to stop the little girl, "and I can't give you more ice cream, your mom would kill me!"
After a few minutes, Naruto finally managed to calm down the little girl on his shoulder after he promised to give her more ice cream, once they get permission from her mother. Though, the girl had a noticeable pout on her face throughout their walk to their guild.
The three of them walked inside the filled Fairy Tail guild hall, and Naruto headed straight to a table to hand over the little devil on his shoulder back to her mother. While Romeo handed the bag of ice cream to the blonde and walked toward the counter.
"Bisca-chan, we are back. Can you please take Asuka-chan?" Naruto pleaded to the green-haired woman, who chuckled seeing his tired expression, "By the way, I only gave her a cone of ice cream as I had promised you."
"Thank you, Naruto." Bisca thanked the blonde and took her unwilling daughter off the blonde shoulder, "Asuka-chan, let's give your big brother Naru some rest. He seems to be tired."
"Thank you, Bisca-chan." Naruto gratefully thanked the woman after and handed the bag filled with ice cream to her, who gratefully accepted it "These are some ice cream that you could treat this little devil later with."
"By the way Naruto, Master Macao had asked you to meet him in his office," Bisca informed the blonde.
"Oh, really?" Naruto asked in confusion, "Do you know why?"
Bisca shrugged and told the blonde, "I don't know, he just said that it was something important."
"Guess, I'll just go to his office then," Naruto sighed wondering what the old man wanted to tell him, "Bye, and Asuka-chan don't cause much trouble for your mother, okay?"
"I don't cause any trouble!" Asuka pouted indignantly, causing both her mother and Naruto to chuckle at her cute expression.
"Yeah, right." Naruto quipped and headed toward the guild master that was on the second floor while greeting some of the members on his way.
These past four months had been really good to him, joining Fairy Tail was one of the best decisions that he had ever made. He had been able to get close with all the members, and all of them were now like family to him. Old man Yajima wasn't lying when he told him that Fairy Tail bond was like a family.
At first, he had been a bit skeptical and worried that he wouldn't be able to change the attitude of the guild positively, as the old man had requested him. But, it seems the guild only needed someone strong in their midst to raise their spirit, and in time that actually happened, with him not even having to do much.
In these four months, he had completed countless D-rank and C-rank missions, even accompanying some of the older members in some of those C-rank missions.
He was really dreading the day when Kurama finally wakes up and he would have to live all of them behind. So he was going to give his all with the limited time that he had to make the life of these people better, while also, trying to bring back Fairy Tail lost glory once again. It was the least he could do for these people, who he now considered his family, and for the Yajima, who had helped him so much in this world.
However, he promised himself, that he would find a way to return to this world no matter what.
"Yo, old man. Why did you call me in your office?" Naruto directly entered the office without even knocking at the door. He noticed that apart from the master, Wakaba was also present in the small office, both going through some documents; probably sent by the magic council.
Macao's eyebrow twitched a little and looked at the grinning Naruto, "How many times have I told you to knock before you enter Naruto? and stop calling me old man, damn it! call me master!"
'Where did the respectful blonde sunshine from 4 months ago had gone? or was the boy always disrespectful like this?' Macao wondered while ignoring the annoying laughter from his friend.
"Well, not happening old man," Naruto said with his grin now almost threatening to split his face, "You are old so I'm going to refer to you as an old man."
"You don't refer to this idiot as an old man," Macao complained as he pointed at his laughing friend, "and we're both basically the same in age."
"Well, " Naruto winked at Wakaba playfully and stated, "He looks much younger than you so I don't call him an old man. while you look like the oldest person In the guild."
Wakaba laughed even harder as he saw his friend's face turning completely red in frustration because of the grinning blonde statement.
"It's good to see you, my boy." Wakaba greeted Naruto as he tried to reign in his laughter.
"Good to see you too, Wakaba." Naruto greeted back while giving a knowing thumbs up.
"It's all your fault, Wakaba," Macao glared at his friend, "because of your bad influence Naruto had stopped calling me master."
"Now, now...Macao, the kids just messing with you, Ya know." Wakaba chuckled, waving off his friend's accusation.
Macao sighed at his advisor's nonchalant attitude and turned to the innocently whistling blonde, deciding to just let the matter slide...for now and get back to the important matters.
"Naruto, I called you here because I wanted to personally hand you a job request that I want you to complete," The guild master spoke and then gave a folded job poster to Naruto, "Read the job description carefully and tell me whether you think you will be able to complete it or not."
When Naruto curiously opened the job poster handed to him by the guild master, his eyes widened in surprise and excitement when he noticed something, "Is...Is this really an A-rank job request?"
Both the older mages chuckled seeing the excited expression on Naruto's face, "Yes, it is indeed an A-rank job request, my boy." Wakaba ensured the blonde.
"As Wakaba had said, this is really an A-rank job request that the guild received this morning and I wanted you to be the want to take it," Macao explained to the excited Naruto and directed the blonde to read the job description, who nodded in excitement and started reading it.
"...requesting capable mages to defeat a minotaur that had been attacking the villagers of Minori Village and stopping them from fishing and collecting from the nearby river, which is the only source of water for the villagers...Note: The Minotaur can absorb magic... Reward: 600,000 jewels."
After finishing reading the job description, Naruto looked at the two older mages and asked in confusion, "How do the villagers know that the Minotaur can absorb magic? Does it mean that some mage had already taken the mis...job before and failed?"
If that was the case then the job should be an S-rank job! Though there was a slight chance that there was a mage in the village and could have fought the Minotaur, otherwise the villagers wouldn't have known if it could absorb magic or not.
"I told you, didn't I? the kid would surely not miss that part." Wakaba chuckled as both he and his friend nodded in agreement at the blonde's observation.
"You are correct with your observation, Naruto, " Macao sighed at his friend's annoying chuckle and smiled at the boy, "The job description is a bit strange, there is a possibility that some mage had taken the job and failed while also relaying the information to the villagers that the Minotaur could absorb magic, which would have ultimately made this an S-rank job, just based on the fact that it can absorb magic. But, it seems the villagers had opted out the information that a mage had fought it before, to not pay for an S-rank job request."
Naruto mulled for a bit after hearing the guild master's explanation and said, "Well, this is the first A-rank job request that the guild had gotten in a long time, so I think it would be a bad idea to decline it, even though, it seems a bit fishy. So, I'll accept the job request and complete it for the guild's reputation."
"Thank you, Naruto." Macao thanked the blonde gratefully for accepting the job request.
"No problem, Old man." Naruto grinned and gave the old man a nice guy pose.
"By the way, I can't let you go alone in this job. I know you will be handle yourself but you need to take Max and Alzack with you, just to give you some support and help if the job goes awry." Macao told the blonde in a serious tone indicating that it was non-negotiable.
"Sure. I was also thinking of asking you to send someone with me to guide me to the village, anyway." Naruto confessed as he agreed with the master's suggestion.
"Also, if the job ends up being too out of control and if you think that you won't be able to defeat that minotaur, don't hesitate to bale out from the job and just return to the guild, okay?" The guild master advised the blonde in concern.
"Alright, old man. You don't have to worry about it."
"When will you be leaving for the job then?"
"Hmm..." Naruto pondered for a few seconds and asked, "How long would it take to reach Minori village by train?"
"There aren't any train routes connected to Minori village. So you have to first take a train to Oshibhana Town which would take about 30 minutes and from there you would have to walk north to reach the village, which would take another 45 minutes."
"It is only 11 am now, so we can easily reach the village before dawn... Alright, I'll be heading out after 30 minutes then. As I want to eat some ramen before I go to my first ever A-rank job." Naruto stated, getting a sigh and a resigned nod from the guild master already accustomed to the blonde's weird obsession with ramen.
'Yeah, right...some ramen. More like 6 bowls of ramen.'
"Okay, then I'll inform Max and Alzack about the mission," Macao said to the blonde, who nodded in agreement while giving a mock salute and turned to get out of the office.
However, Naruto paused in his steps and turned back to the two older mages in the office, with a curious expression on his face.
"Did you forget something, my boy?" Wakaba inquired as both of the veteran mages saw the blonde stop on his way out and turn to them.
"Yeah, I really wanted to ask this both of you before, but I kinda forgot to ask," Naruto confessed as he stared at the two mages curiously, "What is a minotaur anyway? Is it some kind of fish monster?"
"HAHAHA!!!" Wakaba laughed hysterically hearing Naruto's question, while the guild master groaned in frustration covering his face with his hands.
'Maybe...it isn't a good idea to send this idiot to do this job.'
(Line Break)~~~~~~
(Minori Village, 2 hours later)
"So this is Minori village, huh?" Naruto asked as he observed the various wooden huts with thatched roofs. The Village small was rather peaceful, as it was kinda in the middle of a forest, tucked far away from the noise and hectic atmosphere of larger towns or other villages.
It had taken Naruto, Max, and Alzack roughly 2 hours to reach Minori village, more than what their guild master had told them, due to the train arriving late in Oshibana Town and also due to the path to the village being rather muddy and flooded because of the rain last night.
"Yes, it is indeed Minori village," Max confirmed as looked at the map provided to them by their guild master and then turned his head around the village to observe it, along with the blonde and Alzack.
The two older Fairy Tail mages were still finding it hard to believe that they were both on an A-rank job, after so long. Both of them couldn't help but snicker a little as they recalled the shock and surprise that permeated the guild when their master first informed them that Fairy Tail had finally gotten an A-ranked job request.
Some of the members like Jet and Droy were dejected that they wouldn't be able to go or take the job themselves, but most of them wholeheartedly agreed and understood that if anyone were to take the job, it had to be their newest guild member Naruto.
"Let us first find the person that had requested the job, then we will decide how to proceed with our job," Alzack suggested to his two guild mates, who nodded in agreement and started walking around the village; while approaching some of the vi villagers to inquire them about the job request because there was no mention of the client in the job description.
As the three Fairy Tail mages wandered around the small village, they noticed that some of the houses were destroyed, and the trees around the village were heavily damaged, some of them were even outright uprooted from the ground.
It seemed like a heavy storm was the cause of this, which was very unlikely as there was no storm yesterday or even during the whole week, other than some light rainfall. This means that the Minotaur was the cause of all this destruction.
Along with the destruction around the village, the three of them also noticed that the villagers appeared to be quite reserved and looked like they were afraid of something, while occasionally glancing at the forest that was surrounding the village.
After a few minutes, they finally found the house of their client, apparently, it was the village chief that had requested the job to Fairy Tail.
Naruto knocked on the door and after waiting for a few seconds in front of the door, an elderly man finally opened the door for them.
"Hello, uh, are you the village chief?" Naruto greeted and asked the man.
"Yes, I'm the chief of this village," the elderly man smiled kindly, nodding his head, "How can I help you, young man?"
"Oh, We are from Fairy Tail," Naruto announced as he, Max, and Macao all showed their guild marks to the chief to confirm their claim. Naruto then took out the job poster from his jacket and showed it as well to the village chief.
"We are here to complete the job that you had requested to our guild." Naruto declared.
The elderly man's eyes lit up in relief as he realized that the mages that had accepted their plight were finally here, "Thank you! Thank you! for accepting my request. Please, why don't you all come inside"
The three mages entered the house while thanking the village chief for his hospitality and sat on some chairs offered by the man.
"So, old ma... I mean chief, " Naruto corrected himself when Alzack pinched him on his thighs and questioned, "Can you tell us a bit more about your village situation and about that minotaur?"
"Of course, young man, " The chief nodded and started detailing the events that had been happening around the village.
Apparently, the minotaur had suddenly appeared in the forest around two weeks ago and started attacking the any villagers that went to the forest to collect fire wood and even stopping them from moving toward the river, which was the village only source of clean water. The minotaur was also destroying the vegetation in the forest, while also killing the animals there; which had chased away almost all the animals and birds from the forest and if it was not stopped soon then it would completely destroy the forest, which the villagers had always relied on for their survival for generations.
However, the most worrisome information was that the minotaur had now started raiding and destroying the village, even injuring dozens of villagers in its rampage. The most recent attack that it had carried out on the village was yesterday, which explained the scene that the three had witnessed during their stroll through the village.
"...hence I want to request you three to stop that beast's senseless rampage, once and for all, and kill it! So that it won't ever return again." The village chief took a deep breath as he finished with his explanation.
"You want us to kill it?" Max asked, raising his eyebrows a little at the request. While he didn't have any qualms with killing a mindless rampaging beast like the minotaur, but at the end of the day, it was still a sentient being.
"Yes! Unless it is killed, it will never stop terrorizing the village. So I request you three to please kill it!" The village chief pleaded, bowing his head a little.
"Hmm...before we do that, " Naruto spoke, glancing at his two fellow mages, who gave a nod and then stared at the elderly man, "I want to ask you some question that had been bugging me for a while."
"What question...?" The man looked at Naruto with a confused expression on his wrinkled face.
"First, uh...are there any mages in this village?" Naruto asked.
"No, there aren't any mages in the village. But why are you asking this?"
Naruto ignored the question and asked the man another question, "If there aren't any mages in this village how did you know that the minotaur can absorb magic?"
"Well...we just...knew that" The village chief nervously answered and began to sweat a little.
Seeing the man getting nervous, Naruto and his other two companions were now fully convinced that the village chief was hiding something from them. So Naruto decided to continue on with his questioning...
"Why are you so convinced that the Minotaur would return to the village unless it is killed? Does it mean that the minotaur was chased away by someone before?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes at the sweating old man.
"I...I...I'm really sorry!" The old man finally broke down and bowed in front of the three mages.
"I'm really sorry, for not being completely transparent in the job description! I didn't have any other choice! Our village doesn't have enough money to pay for an S-rank job request, so I didn't include that information in the request. Otherwise, it would have turned into an S-rank job and we were only barely able to collect the money for an A-rank job request. Please, don't leave us!"
"Oi, who said that we will leave you old man?" Naruto asked, ignoring the stare given to him by Alzack, "Just because of some jewels we are not going to leave your village to suffer. Fairy Tail doesn't work that way, ya know."
"Really? You won't leave us?" The old man sobbed, lifting his head and looking hopefully at the three mages.
"You bet! we aren't living until we kicked that Minotaur's beefy ass!" Naruto grinned giving the sobbing old man a thumbs up, which was mirrored by his companions...minus the thumbs up.
"Thank you! Thank you! This village will always be in your debt for your kindness!" The Village chief bowed again as he gratefully thanked the mages.
"No problem, old man. I just want you to tell us everything first, okay?" Naruto told the man, who nodded his head rapidly accepting the mages deal.
The village chief composed himself and started to speak, "What I didn't include in the job description was that...a mage from Sabertooth had accepted..."
"Sabertooth!?" Max exclaimed in surprise and then sheepishly apologized when he saw Naruto and Alzack glared at him for interrupting the chief.
"Ahem...ah, where was I?" The chief confusedly asked, causing the mages to sweatdrop.
"A mage from Sabertooth, " Alzack helpfully provided.
"Ah, yes. Sabertooth...just 3 days ago a mage from Sabertooth had accepted the job request and came to the village. He then went to the forest to fight the minotaur, however, he was not able to defeat it and only managed to break one of its horns. He was forced to retreat from the forest and promised me that he will return the next day with his partner to finally defeat the beast and complete the job." The man took a deep breath and continued,
"However, he didn't return the next day as he had promised, instead it was the minotaur who came back to the village looking even bigger and angrier than before and started rampaging all over the village. So, I didn't have any choice but to send another job request to the magic council job registration department located in Oshibana town, last night. which was then thankfully accepted by your guild."
As the three Fairy Tail mages heard the Village chief's story, they only had one thing running through their mind, 'what kind of an asshole makes a promise and does not fulfill it?'
"So..." Alzack was the first to speak as he stared at the solemn-looking old man, "that mage was the one who told you about the minotaur being able to absorb magic, right?"
"You are correct, " The man nodded, "he was the one that informed me about that."
"Who was that asshole mage that broke his promise anyway?" Naruto angrily asked, gritting his teeth in anger.
Even though the Village chief was taken aback by the anger in Naruto's tone, he answered the question, "I don't remember his name but he had blonde hair just like you and was accompanied by a cat that could...uh, fly and talk.'
"..."
"..."
"Oi, old man? are you trying to pull our leg or something?" Naruto asked confused by the answer, his earlier anger completely vanishing from his expression.
"No, I'm not lying, young man. He really did have a cat with him that could talk and fly." The old man confirmed his previous statement to Naruto.
"Uh, Naruto..." Max called the confused blonde as he and Alzack had a guess who that mage was, "The village chief isn't lying, I know it's kinda hard to believe but that mage might be one of the Dragon slayers from Sabertooth. As every dragon slayer seems to have a cat that can talk and fly."
"Really? Are there really cats that can talk and fly?" Naruto inquired, surprised and a bit amazed by that information.
'Are they some kind of summon animals then' He wondered to himself.
"Yup," it was Alzack who spoke this time, "In the past, Fairy Tail also had four dragon slayers and three of them had cats that could fly and talk as well." He explained to the blonde as he fondly recalled the memories of his late friends.
"Wow..." Naruto said as tried to wrap his mind around that strange yet, amazing info.
"However, this information is really disconcerting for us," Alzack spoke again, now with a serious look on his face gaining the attention of all the occupants in the room.
Seeing his companions looking at him in confusion, he explained, "There are only two dragon slayers in Sabertooth, both of them are known to the public as the twin dragon slayers of their guild and if I'm not wrong, they were both promoted to S-Class mage just last month. So, if an S-class mage wasn't able to defeat that minotaur, then the chances of us defeating it are pretty slim."
Naruto mulled over his friend's explanation, while Max looked completely worried by what he had just heard.
"Don't wo..." Naruto halted his words as he sensed something approaching the village from the forest, while Max and Alzack looked at him confused by his sudden pause.
After finally realizing what it was, Naruto turned to his two guildmates and the village chief, "That minotaur is heading towards the village." He informed them in a serious tone.
While Max and Alzack became slightly nervous hearing the information, the Village chief's whole face turned pale in fear.
"Please...I...please stop that beast!" The village chief pleaded to the three mages as they were the village's only hope now.
"Don't worry, old man," Naruto said and grinned at the man assuringly, "I promise that we will stop it, and Naruto Uzumaki never breaks his promise. Believe it!"
Both Max and Alzack smiled, their previous nervousness fading away as they saw the confident look on their friend. They both knew that if anyone can defeat a beast, which not even an S-class mage could accomplish, then it had to be Naruto, Fairy Tail's strongest mage.
"Come on, guys. Let's kick that overgrown cow's butt." Naruto cheered with a determined expression and headed out of the house, followed by his two amused friends, to stop the minotaur from rampaging the village.
(Line Break)~~~~~~
"well...shit," Naruto cursed as he stared at the approaching minotaur with wide eyes, "I don't think you guys did justice to that cow...no, bull...when you were describing its appearance to me."
Alzack and Max both looked completely shell-shocked, their previous nervousness returning full force.
The three of them were standing near the outskirts of the forest where Naruto had sensed the minotaur was coming from, deciding to stop it from entering the village and defeating it right here. Since entering the forest themselves and fighting it there would have been a bad idea.
However, when the Minotaur finally appeared in front of them and they saw its size, they were completely baffled.
This Minotaur looked completely different from Macao, Wakaba, Max, and Alzack descriptions. It looked much larger, almost dwarfing some of the trees...Naruto guessed that it was at least 10 meters tall, twice the size of what he was told and he could feel the ground shake a little on every step that the beast took.
The beast looked like it had just come out of the gym, as it had a chiseled body packed with bulging muscles, it had two large horns protruding from its head, and one of the horns looked like it had been broken in half. However, the most terrifying aspect of its appearance was its eyes...its eyes were completely red, and it was now glaring at them with those red eyes.
Overall, it looked like a huge bull, if they simply ignore the part that it had two human-like hands and was walking upright on its two feet like a human.
Naruto could tell that it was not one of those opponents that he could convince into surrendering. As he could sense that the beast was completely mindless, its eyes and body projecting only one thing...pure evil malice and wanting to cause only one thing...destruction.
'I guess, the chief was right,' Naruto sighed, 'we will have to kill it if we want to put an end to its destruction.'
"N.Naruto, " Max called the blonde nervously and asked, "Do you think we will be able to defeat it?"
Naruto looked at his two friends and saw that both of them were completely terrified judging by their expressions. So he decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Max, Alzack...I want you both to step back and let me handle this on my own." Naruto told the two mages seriously, who looked completely shocked by what they had heard.
"Naruto, are you insa..!?"
"RAWRR!!!"
Alzack paused mid-question when the three of them heard the minotaur let out a loud terrifying roar and started charging at them at an alarming speed, like a... bull.
Seeing the surprising speed of the beast and knowing that his two friends won't be able to react at all due to them being so terrified. Naruto quickly created two shadow clones beside his two friends without even doing the hand seal, the clones then grabbed their shoulders and quickly flickered them away to the roof of a nearby house.
While Naruto jumped high in the air to dodge the charging bull. As he dropped to the ground and turned he saw the minotaur stop its charge instantly, demonstrating speed and reflexes that a beast of its size had no business possessing them, and glare at him furiously with its red eyes.
(With Max and Alzack.)
Max and Alzack nervously watched their friend having a glaring contest with the enormous minotaur. Both of them felt completely useless, as they couldn't do anything to help their friend.
Both of them had thought that they would be able to provide some support to the blonde, however, when they saw the size and the malice exhibited by the minotaur, they knew that both of them would just be a hindrance to their friend. As Naruto would have to worry about them and might have to protect them if they fought alongside him.
On top of that, the beast was supposed to be able to absorb magic; so both of them being mages that heavily relied on their sand magic and gun magic, knew that they wouldn't be able to do much against it.
"Do you think your..., uh, boss, will be able to handle it?" Max asked in concern to the two clones that were beside him and Alzack on top of the roof of a house.
"Don't worry, the boss has a plan to handle the overgrown bull." one of the clones shrugged off Max's concern and answered.
"He has a plan?" Alzack asked curiously, wondering what kind of plan his daughter's favorite big brother had come up with in such a short time.
"Yup! And do you both want to know what his plan is?"
Both Max and Alzack nodded their head simultaneously, curious to know the plan.
Both of the clones gave a wicked grin, "Boss plans to punch that beast into submission!"
"..."
"..."
(Back to Naruto)
'I need to end this fast before it causes any more damage to the village or the forest.' Naruto thought, deciding his course of action. He was going to kill the beast swiftly, he didn't want to, but he didn't have any other choice. Even if he knocked out the beast and dropped it off somewhere, it was just going to continue with its rampage as it didn't have anything in its mind, other than causing destruction.
"RAWRR!!"
The minotaur let out another of its terrifying roar and charged at Naruto, just like the last time.
Seeing the beast charging at him, Naruto decided to act...he also charged straight at the beast, his eyes completely focused on the massive form of the charging minotaur.
As both of them were just a few feet away from colliding with each other, Naruto suddenly jumped upwards dodging the massive horns of the beast, while doing a front somersault in mid-air. He then grabbed one of the massive horns with both of his hands, while he was still in the air, orange pigmentation appeared around his eyes and his pupils changed into toad-like; indicating that he was now in his sage mode.
Using the insane amount of strength offered to him by the sage mode and also using the momentum of the somersault, he lifted the minotaur from the ground by its horn, while he was still airborne, and hurled it in front of him...easily.
The minotaur flew nearly 30 meters and crashed to the ground, creating a massive crater on the ground and causing the ground to shake due to the force of the crash.
Before the minotaur could even realize what exactly had happened to it, four Naruto clones appeared above the beast holding a massive Rasengan in each of their hands, and slammed it into the beast, causing a loud explosion and covering the large figure of the beast in the smoke of dust and debris.
As Naruto stared at the massive amount of dust created due to the explosion of 4 massive Rasengan in annoyance, one of the clones that had hit the Minotaur with the Rasengan flickered beside him, somehow not destroyed by the explosion.
"Boss, I think we kinda fucked up." The clone commented.
"That's putting it mildly, " Naruto said, completely annoyed by the turn of events. That overgrown bull had somehow absorbed most of the chakra from the 4 massive Rasengan! He didn't know how it was possible, but apparently, it could also absorb chakra not only magic!
...And if was not wrong he could sense the overgrown bull had gotten even larger than before! Now he knows why the beast was so large compared to what he was told. It had gotten larger due to absorbing shit ton amount of magic from mages!
"Dispel yourself, " Naruto sighed in annoyance and ordered his clone, "..and tell Max and Alzack to grab on to something, as I'm going to blast this bull into oblivion."
If it can absorb even his ninjutsu, then he was just going to punch it...hard.
The clone saluted Naruto after receiving his orders and promptly dispelled himself, understanding his boss's plan.
"Sorry, big guy... I'll have to kill you now," Naruto told the Minotaur, as he saw it slowly standing up, looking even larger than before and glaring at him furiously. If he was any other man, he would have probably been too scared to even move just by the malice and fury that the beast was currently directing towards him...but he was Naruto Uzumaki, such a level of malice was nothing compared to the malice and hate that he had been subjected too when he was just a child. It was nothing more than an itch to him.
A large amount of steam slowly began to emit from his body, gradually covering his whole body as he utilized the ability given to him by Kokuō, and activated the Boil release: unrivaled strength jutsu.
"RAWRR!!"
The Minotaur let out one of its furious roars and was about to blindly charge at Naruto once again, but...
Naruto suddenly disappeared from his spot in a massive burst of steam and before the beast could even react, the blonde appeared in front of it and letting out a roar of his own delivered a devastating punch in its chest, using all the strength given to him by his sage mode and boil release for the first time in this world.
As Naruto's punch connected, a heavy amount of steam burst from his fist as he released all the pressure that he had built up on that punch. A loud blast echoed around the area as a sizeable shockwave erupted from the punch, and the force of the shockwave even propelled him back a little, though he was able to easily land on his feet.
However, the Minotaur wasn't as lucky as it took the full force of the punch. The result of his sage mode and boil release enhanced punch was something Naruto had already predicted would happen...and more.
The second the punch connected, the beast was rocketed back almost 80 meters, like it was some sort of ball, its massive body not even stopping when it crashed through multiple trees in the forest and only stopped flying backward when it slammed on a massive rock.
"..."
"Ah...shit! I think I overdid it." Naruto cursed, deactivating his sage mode, as he saw the massive destruction caused to the forest.
'So much for ending it fast to not cause unnecessary damage.' He sighed tiredly, already imagining the tongue lashing he was about to get from Macao.
He was about to go and check on the Minotaur to see whether it was alive or not, as he wanted to be 100 percent sure that it had died, even though, he was certain that it had died the second his punch had connected in its chest. However, before he could do that he heard two familiar voices shouting his name behind him.
"Naruto!!"
He turned his head and a massive grin appeared on his face, as he saw Max and Alzack running toward him shouting his name at the top of their lungs. Thankfully, both of them looked completely fine, though their hair looked like both of them had just woken up.
Behind them, Naruto also noticed the villagers, including the Village chief, running toward him with varied expressions on their faces.
"Yo, guys!" He greeted his two friends as they got near him and gave them a nice guy pose, "I told you didn't I? that I was going to kick that overgrown bull beefy ass."
Well, he didn't kick it...more like punching it, but that's beside the point.
"Y...Yes...you did." Max wheezed as he hunched and tried to breathe in as much air as possible.
"Wh...What was...that?" Alzack too wheezed, struggling to breathe, "and are you...alright?"
~(Two minutes ago, with Max and Alzack)
Max and Alzack's jaws dropped in shock when they saw Naruto flip the massive minotaur by its horn and hurl it on its back like a rag doll.
"What the heck?" Max gapped at the scene that they had just witnessed.
"How...did he do that?" Alzack asked one of the clones in shock.
The two clones grinned mischievously at their shocked expressions, "We are just awesome like that!"
Max and Alzack face faulted at the clone's declaration and thought, 'Guess his clones act and think the same way as him as well.'
Deciding to just ask their questions to the original Naruto later, both of them turned their attention to the fight.
"Is that steam emitting from Naruto's body?" Alzack asked in confusion.
"You are right, " One of the clones replied, and told them the half-truth, "Boss is currently using one of his strength enhancement magic and that steam is one of the side-effects of that magic."
"Does that steam damage his body then?" Alzack asked as he and Max got concerned after hearing what the clone had said.
"Nah, the steam doesn't hurt him, though it will burn anyone if they got too close to it." The clone clarified and calmed the two down.
"Oh, and by the way, the boss just advised you two to hold onto something." The other clone nonchalantly informed the two men, who got a bit confused and somewhat concerned by their friend's advice.
Max and Alzack then turned their attention back to the fight and again felt their jaw drop when they saw Naruto suddenly disappear from his spot and appear right in front of the minotaur.
Though both of them concluded that Naruto didn't just disappear as he often did with his teleportation magic, instead he had dashed toward the beast at such an astounding speed that both of them couldn't even comprehend or see him move from his spot.
*Wooosh!*
"What the fuck!?" Max gaped just like before when they saw Naruto punch the beast on its chest with such force that a massive shockwave was even generated.
Both of them felt their hair being blown by the shockwave and finally understood why Naruto had advised them to hold onto something. They also noticed that the two clones that were with them had dispersed, possibly due to the shockwave or due to their magic running out.
Max and Alzack gaped as they saw the minotaur fly back like a bullet, crashing through the forest, destroying multiple trees in the process, and finally stopping when it slammed on a big rock.
As they saw the damage caused by Naruto, they couldn't help but wonder about how strong their friend even was. Both of them and the whole Fairy Tail guild knew that he was strong, undoubtedly, the strongest mage in the guild currently; but what they had just witnessed now was something they were finding hard to believe. They had only seen one man causing so much damage just by a punch in the past, and that man was none other than Fairy Tail's late Ace, Gildarts Clive.
Though they were now completely sure of one thing, they wouldn't let Naruto ever punch a human like that. Just thinking about the damage it would cause to a human made them a bit squeamish.
~~~~(Present)~~~~~
Naruto chuckled seeing his two friends wheezing hard and advised, "Yes, I'm alright, Alzack. And before you two ask me any more questions, first try to calm yourself down by taking a deep breath."
"Young man! Did you manage to kill the minotaur?" The Village chief ran toward Naruto and asked hopefully, praying that the beast that had caused so much suffering to his village was finally dead.
Naruto turned his attention to the village chief and toward the villagers who were staring at him and the destroyed path in the forest where the minotaur had landed in shock. Even from far away, they could see the once bulging chest of the beast, completely caved in.
Naruto then glanced at the motionless beast and saw the damage on its body...yup that overgrown bull was dead, he was 100 percent sure now.
"Yes, old man. The minotaur is finally dead, now you don't have to worry about it causing trouble to your village, anymore." Naruto smiled and assured the old man and the villagers.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! We are in your debt!" The old man bowed to the three mages gratefully, his action mimicked by the villagers as well.
"No, problem. Just remember to pay us the reward for the job, old man." Naruto grinned and reminded the old man.
"Of course, of course, just come to my house I'll pay you your reward." The old man nodded heartily.
"That's all well and good, chief," Alzack spoke, deciding to ask the most important question which he thought was going to be the main problem for the villagers now, "But what are you planning to do with the body?"
Just like that everyone stopped mid-celebration as they realized that Alzack was asking a very sound question. Al the villagers look at their chief, wondering whether he had any plans.
"I... don't know, " The old man muttered as he couldn't come up with any logical plan to dispose of the massive dead body of the Minotaur.
They couldn't really burn the body as it was laying in the middle of the forest, which might cause a forest fire, and even if they planned to burn the body in another place, they wouldn't be able to lift it because of its weight. They could dispose of the body by burying it under the ground, but it was pretty impossible for them to dig such a large crevice in the ground to fit the body.
The last option for them is to just leave the body there, but it was too close to the village, and he really didn't want to imagine the smell that it would emit, once it start to rot.
However, the village chief didn't have to think much as just like before, he had Naruto Uzumaki to solve his village's problems.
"I'll handle it, old man," Naruto assured the man as he saw the worried expression on the man's face, "I'll seal the body by using my rune magic and dispose of it far away from here."
"Really? You can do that?" The Village chief asked in surprise and a bit of hope.
Even Max and Alzack were a bit surprised by what Naruto had said. They knew that he could seal things by using his strange form of rune magic, but they didn't think that he could seal bodies...especially of that size.
"Yup, don't worry about it!" Naruto winked at the man, giving his usual nice guy pose.
(Line Break)~~~~~~~
(1 hour later)
The three Fairy Tail mages can be seen slowly walking along the muddy road to Oshibana Town.
After Naruto had sealed the body of the Minotaur, the whole village surrounded the mages and thanked them profusely for defeating the monster that had terrorised them for weeks. The Village chief handed them the 500,000 jewels reward for their hard job and had even invited them to stay there for the night; as the villagers wanted to throw a feast for them.
However, the three mages politely declined the offer as they had seen and knew that the villagers were...kinda broke and didn't want to impose on them too much.
So, after saying their goodbyes to the kind villagers, the three Fairy Tail mages went on their way to Fairy Tail.
"Arg!!! I'm so stupid!" Naruto cursed, slapping himself on the face for forgetting a very important ability of his. They had been walking on this muddy path for about 10 minutes now, while he could have simply teleported them back to their guild. As he had a tri-kunai marked on Macao's office.
"Oi, why are you hitting yourself?" Max asked a bit freaked out by his friend's action, even Alzack was taken aback a little.
Naruto took a deep breath, berating himself for his stupidity, and turned to his friends, "I kinda forgot that I could teleport all of us back to Fairy Tail, instead of walking to Oshibana town and sitting on a train for hours."
"Oh...so you want to use your teleportation magic to teleport us to the guild?" Max asked nervously, even Alzack had some sweat forming on his brows.
"Yeah! Come on, grab my shoulders. I'll teleport us back to the guild."
Max and Alzack sweated nervously, as they saw Naruto fully determined to use his weird teleportation magic.
What Naruto didn't know was that both Max and Alzack already knew that he could simply teleport them back to their guild, but they didn't ask him to do that because they hated the side effects of the magic on them.
Both of them grimaced as they recalled the first time when Naruto had teleported them.
"Oi! What are you guys doing?" Naruto asked as he saw his friends hadn't budged from their spot, "I'm getting really hungry, so grab my shoulders fast. I want to go back to the guild as fast as possible."
"Uh...Naruto, I think...we should just travel, uh normally." Alzack nervously tried to dissuade the blonde.
"What? I'm not taking another step on this muddy road. My shoes are all covered in mud! and this is my only pair of shoes!" Naruto argued, fully annoyed by what Alzack had suggested, and simply grabbed the arms of both of his friends before they could even react, and...
"Wait! Naruto!" Max and Alzack's panic cries were completely ignored by the blonde.
...teleported them all back to their guild master office.
If Naruto, Max, and Alzack had walked on the muddy path for another few minutes they would have met an odd group of people on the way.
(Line Break)~~~~~~
(Minori Village, 20 minutes later)
*Knock* *Knock*
The elderly village chief opened his door as he heard someone knocking on it loudly, wondering who it was.
As he opened the door, his eyes widened in surprise, "You two! what are you doing here?"
"Hello, chief! I'm here to defeat the minotaur as I had promised you!" A person with wild blonde hair grinned at the man, which was mimicked by a strange red cat that was standing on its hind legs.
"What...? but you promised to come yesterday."
"Ah...sorry about that." The blonde person sheepishly answered, "Me and my partner Rogue, kinda suffer from motion sickness. So, both of us decided to walk from our guild to this village on foot, instead of taking the train."
The Village chief sweat dropped at the excuse, though he had a feeling that the blonde was somewhat telling the truth.
"Where is your partner then?"
"Oh, Rogue along with Frosch went to grab something to eat as both of them were hungry." The blonde replied and grinned confidently, "With him supporting me in the fight, there is no way I'm losing to that Minotaur again."
"Sting is correct, " The red cat grinned confidently as well and declared, "That Minotaur has no chance of defeating Sting now, as he and Rogue had never lost a fight against anyone when they are both fighting together as a team."
"..."
"That's...good to know," The village chief spoke, still finding it hard to believe that the weird cat could speak. "But you are a bit late to defeat the minotaur, as someone had already managed to kill it just an hour ago." He informed them.
"WHAT??" Both the blonde and the red cat cried out in surprise.
"Yes, you both heard it right. Since you didn't come yesterday, I posted another job request to defeat the minotaur, which was accepted by the guild called Fairy Tail and the.."
"What? Fairy Tail!??
*end*
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A/N: (1) Faxed: I don't know whether the Fairy Tail universe has Fax machines or not. But I decided to add them as it kinda makes it easier to explain how the job request gets delivered to the guilds.
(2) Magic council job registration department: It is not canon, but I decided to add them as it also kinda makes it easier to explain, how the job request from great distant locations are delivered to the guilds. It is nothing but a department sponsored by the magic council, their offices are in every town and city. Clients who are not near any guilds send their job request posters to its office, and the office would then fax them to all the guilds.
For example: Since Minori village is far away from any guilds, the village chief sends the job poster to the Magic council job registration department in Oshibana town, which then faxes it to the guilds.
I hope you guys like the chapter.