Sorry everyone for the long wait, initially I had planned on updating a couple of stories of my own before this reading just to keep in line with my own mental schedule, sadly a mix of writers block and disliking where the chapters were going had me repeatedly rewriting the chapters and I have still yet to finish them. So I have pushed them to the side for now, so that I can make actual headway on this reading as well as other projects. Again sorry for the wait but without further ado the next chapter of Reading: Shadow of Fairy Tail.
Jiraiya scowled briefly at Tsunade before sighing at the small smirk she shot his way. It was impossible for him to stay angry at the woman for any amount of time. With a quick flip he turned to the fourth chapter of the story and began reading.
Kunugi Station
Parked near a cliff, the Fairy Tail mages saw what damage was already left by the Eisenwald dark mages. By the looks of it, most of the wagons including one damaged were left on the rails while the station was filled with the train's passengers that were left stranded and were denied entrance into the station by the Fiore military that had arrived.
"I don't get it. I can understand stealing a car or a boat, but why would you hijack a train?" Lucy wondered while looking through the window with Happy.
"It doesn't make sense if they wanted a good getaway since they could only follow the tracks."
"That is a good point, however I have a feeling that a getaway is the last thing on their mind." Kakashi pointed out getting grim agreement from his fellow readers.
"Yes, that's true but they are quite fast." Erza agreed.
Lucy then brought up "Then why did Naruto go down there if we just have to follow the tracks?"
This time Gray in his shorts explained "Because it's better to know what we're heading into instead of walking towards a trap. Naruto knows some in the military so it should be quick."
"Naruto really seems well connected, he seems to be important to a lot of organizations if he works so closely with both the council and the military." Sakura commented. She wasn't overly surprised after thinking back to some of the missions on team 7 really Naruto had proven how well he made ties with others.
"Gray, your clothes!"
Gray looked down "Huh?"
Then a shadow jumped up and was in the sky for a moment.
Happy knew who it was "Naruto is back!"
"Konoha shinobi are kind of well known for acrobatics, comes with the forest territory I think." Asuma said getting understanding nods from the mages.
"Yeah all shinobi are acrobatic but we typically use mostly rooftops and trees for movement in battle. It's minor but every advantage pays off, and training on that turf leads to greater jumps like what Naruto can do." Iruka added.
"He can jump that high?!" Lucy gawked in surprise as Naruto lands in front of the mobile.
"And?" Erza asked, "What did you find out?"
"It's confirmed, Eisenwald was here and they hijacked the train. A big number of them also, possibly around fifty or so. But that's not the biggest discovery."
"Hey why didn't he just send a shadow clone, they send back all the info when they disperse right?" Sakura asked.
"Maybe he went with them, Shadow clones are great for recon but they are also fragile, being present to make more as needed could be necessary." Neji guessed.
"What?"
"I heard that the train has stopped, it's not moving."
Erza demanded, "Where?"
"Oshibana Station, the military is about to make a move. They got the whole area surrounded."
"Then get in!" Erza ordered as she tapped the magic back into the mobile "We got to get there quick!"
Naruto quickly hopped on the roof and warned his passengers beneath him "Hold onto something."
"What are you talking ab-AAAH!" Lucy fell back into her seat as the mobile was speeding through the valley as fast as it could.
"How is Naruto still standing on the roof without any issue after that?" Lucy asked.
"Chakra." All the shinobi answered in a bored tone as if it fully answered her question causing the blonde to send a mild glare at the ninjas.
Clover
In this small peaceful town a conference was being held for guild masters all over the Fiore kingdom, sure not all guild masters were present but a large amount of them did come here to have a good time.
"Wait I thought those conferences were important meetings about serious issues!" Lucy shouted out.
"Oh they are, but a big part of the conference is for all of us masters to meet up for old times sake and compare how things are running in our guilds and just keep close bonds." Makarov explained getting the few wizards who felt like Makarov was using them as an excuse to be lazy and drink to sit down.
"They also give the guild masters a chance to unwind away from their guild. No matter how much a master loves their guild sometimes they need a break." Mavis pointed out getting a few of the guild members to reluctantly agree still feeling that Makarov was using it as an excuse to get out of work.
Tsunade hummed in thought at the idea before a faint glare from Shizune caused her to roll her eyes. Really the girl could let her off the hook from time to time right?
Well, one tried but now was twitching on the table and not moving for a good hour. Who was it? It was Master Makarov, and what made him do this? He just found out three of Fairy Tail's most destructive mages became a team and went on a mission.
"I thought I was having a legitimate heart attack for a moment." The old wizard somberly pointed out getting huffs of indignation from the aforementioned team.
"Ah-Ah-Ah," Makarov muttered.
"Jeez Maky, you look like you just saw a ghost, don't be silly it isn't that bad." Said a fellow guild master named Bob. Bob was a bald elderly man who was wearing an interesting line of clothing. He is seen wearing a purple spaghetti-strap shirt accessorized by a gold and fuchsia hoop necklace, and a vertical-striped pink and purple shorts, and to finish it he also wore red lipstick and blush on each cheek and had actual wings that could help him fly. And to add the fact, yes, Bob is a man.
"That's…interesting choices in an outfit." Kurenai tried to say politely.
"It's horrendous." Ino flatly said.
Makarov jumped back up and steam came out of his ears "Can't you see what I'm dealing with here?! Natsu, Gray, and Erza are three wrecking balls who cause more damage than anyone else in the guild!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Another guild master said seeing what Makarov meant by. His name is Goldmine, guild master of Quatro Cerberus. He's a slim man of average height and has a mildly squared face with wrinkles what were noticeable on his forehead, the sides of his mouth and below his eyes. He also wearing dark sunglasses and wearing a simply plain T-shirt and a pair of pants. He also wore a very recognizable hat that resembles the witches in fantasy stories.
Makarov sighed putting his hands on his head to ease the headache he had "Oh, how am I going to deal with this…"
"Are they really that bad?" Tsunade asked.
"Worse." Several members of the guild said getting shouts from the trio of wrecking balls and a giggle from Mira.
Then a letter dropped out of the air and landed on Makarov's head, he looked up and saw the small bird flying out the window, not even saying anything. He took the letter of his head and saw that it was from Mira again but this time in writing.
He opened the envelope and took out the letter, reading it his expression changed from pain to seriousness "So that is why…"
"Excuse me, Macky," Bob excused as he was curious "what is in there?"
Makarov looked up and sighs "That damn council, I knew this day would come. Do you remember Erigor? From Eisenwald?"
"Your other looks real mad old man." Konohamaru pointed out getting a flick to the ear from Iruka for his disrespect.
"I am sure he is for the council doing what they did with Naruto." Makarov said with a chuckle. He loved kids no matter how annoying they were and this Kono seemed to be the underling of some kind to Naruto. So he was probably a great kid himself.
Goldmine nods "yeah, I know about him. That guild is banned now for a year now for accepting assassination missions. Why?"
"Because I believe that's the mission those brats are at right now." Makarov said to them looking down the letter "Here says that they are chasing down members of Eisenwald and Naruto suspects that they are planning something."
"Naruto you say? Then it must be serious." Goldmine said holding his chin.
"He has so much respect from so many high ranking people. Naruto-kun is really showing how brightly his flames of youth burn in Fiore!" Lee shouted with Gai cheering beside him.
"Naru-boy is in on it? Oh boy," Bob grabbed his face and giggled "That boy is something."
"Suddenly not as jealous of Naruto attracting so much attention." Several men including Kiba thought all at once.
Makarov was in deep thought 'Something like Erigor isn't someone to be messed with due him not being afraid of shedding blood. There's only one reason why Naruto would ask Mirajane to warn me about it…'
Makarov took a deep breath and pinched the side of the letter slightly 'Of course, the Magic Council…'
"Hey Makarov." Goldmine asked his old friend "You alright?"
"I'm fine, but I just got a reason to hate the old bats of the Council even more."
"If it helps at all I don't think Naruto will go through with killing him unless he absolutely has to. As shinobi it's expected to kill for us, but Naruto has always done things his own way and while he loves to fight he hates killing." Kakashi said getting nods from the other shinobi and small smiles from the fairy tail guild.
Line Break
The mobile Erza was driving was going fast while taking quick turns, causing bystanders to react fast before they could get hit, Naruto still was still on the rooftop with Gray holding next to him, while Lucy and Happy were sitting in the back passenger seat, and Natsu was still lying on the ground with his motion sickness kicking in.
"Erza! You should slow down! You;re going to run out of magic before we even get there!" Gray yelled to her as he was clinching on the roof.
"While I understand your concern Gray, if we don't arrive soon innocents could be killed by lullaby." Erza answered with a determined look likely shared with her story counterpart.
"Yeah, maybe, but if you had used up too much magic you would be a liability when fighting Eisenwald and that could lead to even more innocent people being hurt as well as you." Gray said getting a slow and reluctant nod from the red head.
"There's no saying how many innocent people could die if Lullaby's song is played. I can't stop, we have to stop Eisenwald before it's too late!" Erza argued as she was focused on the road. She was right, with a crook like Erigor you couldn't imagine what he would do.
"But at this rate-" Gray started but felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to Naruto.
"Erza's right, we can't afford to lose any more time, Gray." Naruto said without turning away from the road "He killed once, so he won't hesitate next time…"
Gray remembered what Naruto said was right and stopped speaking, while from the window, Lucy saw them talking and saw that Naruto's way of thinking was rather odd…
Happy blinked his eyes and started to ponder "Hm...I feel like there's something you need to know Lucy"
The readers leaned forward to hear what Happy had to say. Perhaps more background on this other Naruto.
"Oh what is it"
"...I don't remember" Happy said causing Lucy to sweatdrop.
The entire group groaned in annoyance at the cat while Happy laughed at the situation.
From up the roof, Naruto could see a big cloud of smoke reaching the sky and saw it was coming from the big building in the middle of town.
"What's that up ahead?!"
"That's trouble for sure," Naruto said focused on the smoke.
Oshibana Station
Outside the station a large crowd that surrounded the entrance of the station and between the station and the crowd workers of the train station, trying to keep the order of things like the military already entered the building to clear out the rogue mages.
"Please stand back!" the conductor pleaded as he spoke through a megaphone "The station is closed!"
Naruto and Erza were the first to walk up front with the others following them.
One of the conductors spotted them walking up towards Naruto "Hey sir, you have to go back in line, you too lady-" The man didn't get to finish his sentence as he was head-butted by Erza, knocking him out instantly.
"That seemed a little unnecessary." Lissanna said getting a blush from the red head. Sometimes she got a bit too caught up in the situation.
"Uhm, Erza that wasn't-"
"At least there is a voice of reason on the team now." Makarov said.
"What about me?" Lucy asked only to pout when she was ignored.
"Let me handle it, Naruto." Erza said before turning to the conductor's colleague "What's going on!?"
"Huh?"
Erza head-butted him too before he could answer her question. Making Lucy sweatdrop after seeing this.
"Kakashi, she's worse than Kushina!" Jiraiya whispered in terror at his grandstudent only to realize the man was still as stone and staring at the redhead as if having flashbacks.
"Looks like her questioning methods are counter-productive." She said embarrassed, while she carried the motion sick Natsu on her back.
Gray nods "Erza has her own way getting things done."
"Where are your clothes!?"
"Even on missions?" Several of the shinobi asked out loud.
"Especially on missions." Gray's team answered getting a frown from the ice wizard as he pulled his shirt back on, after realizing he was undressing again.
Erza finished knocking out every conductor and finally got what she wanted "The Eisenwald Guild is inside. Let's move in."
"Right," Gray smirked, eager for a fight.
"So I got to drag this one around?" Lucy motioned to Natsu, who was still out of action.
"That's no problem." Erza though of an idea and turned to the male blond "Naruto?"
"Heheh it's like she has Naruto trained." Ino commented getting a blush from the red head mage and several laughs and cat calls from the readers.
"Urgh...Fine." Naruto groaned as he made a handsign and muttered something before a puff of smoke appeared next to him; revealing the other Naruto standing next to him.
"There," Erza smiled "settled."
"She acts like she did it." Natsu mumbled.
Lucy gawked "You can duplicate yourself!?"
"Aye!" Happy said "This is one of Naruto trademark abilities! You should see him fight!"
"We'll see that later. Clone, carry Natsu. He's got motion sickness again." The clone nodded and took it over from Lucy and held him on his back. Making it possible for her to stretch her back.
"Thanks," Lucy said to Naruto with a smile.
Naruto chuckles and replies "You're welcome."
"Let's go!" Erza ordered as they all entered the building.
Inside the Station
Running as fast as they could, the Fairy Tail mages quickly moved through the hallways as they listened to the information Erza had obtained from the conductors.
"A small army unit stormed in earlier but they had yet to return. I'm guessing they've been caught in a battle with the Eisenwald forces."
"Just as I suspected." Naruto said in as the others heard him out "The soldiers at Kunugi informed me that they got troops at every station. We need to defeat them now before they move again."
"I'm still impressed by Naruto's connections that he can apparently draw on." Jiraiya commented with a small grin. While he had adored his previous students, especially Minato, none had really taken to his more soft skills like building a network of connections, which he used primarily for spying and information gathering. Seeing Naruto developing similar skills made him proud.
Then they saw up the stairs what happened, the small army unit was lying there barely breathing, they were wiped out and left beaten.
Stepping towards one and checking his pulse for any vitals, they all seem unconscious, some of them carried some deep red stab wounds, almost lethal but still enough to torment the soldiers.
"They really did a number on these guys. Eisenwald is more capable than I had given them credit for." Asuma said getting several others to agree.
"I'm glad to see you admiring my work, Uzumaki."
Naruto looked up and saw Erigor sitting on top of one of the train wagons with in front of him over a dozen Eisenwald members staring down on them.
"We've been waiting for you. Fairy Tail Flies!" Erigor stated.
"Such an arrogant bastard. I can't wait to see him get his!" Kiba growled getting cheers from both groups of readers.
The Eisenwald members let their chuckles and smirks being heard to the vastly outnumbered Fairy Tail wizards.
"Wow, there's so many of them," Lucy said shaking.
"Lucy has a point, Eisenwald definitely has the quantity but I am sure Fairy Tail has the quality." Makarov stated proudly.
Standing up on his feet and said to the obvious leader "Erigor, Death God of Eisenwald. Is this your doing?"
Erigor only chuckled in response, that was enough of an answer to Naruto that it was him.
He then looked towards the Eisenwald members and recognized one of them "I thought you would be here. Tell me what's your name."
"Uramakihs." Ino stated.
"What?" Choji asked her.
"Oh it's Shikamaru backwards being as he is his evil opposite twin." She said with a smirk getting grumbles from the boy and laughs from the others.
"It's Kageyama, you fly." Kageyama said with a hint of disrespect "and it's your fault Erigor got mad at me."
"Pfft Boohoo." Gray said with a sneer.
"What do you want me to do, dude? Pat you on the back? You're part of a criminal conspiracy now committing numerous crimes," Naruto said walking up forwards the middle of the area.
"Hey Naruto, was-"
"You stole a forbidden artifact, hijacked a train filled with passengers, assaulted civilians and military personnel."
"Bastards." Natsu growled with nods from several other readers. Criminals were not fondly considered by the group in the slightest.
Erigor only could smile like they were accomplishments "So?"
"This Erigor seems like the worst kind of person. He takes joy in his abuse of other people!" Gai shouted.
"Truly he is no man!" Elfman agreed.
"Not even an ember of Youth Warms his soul!" Lee added.
The others did their best to ignore the bonding trio.
Erza stepped in front of Naruto, her hair began to flare up by her magic "What do you intend to use Lullaby for!"
"Oh, you haven't heard yet." Erigor smiles as he floated up in the air like a feather and hinted "What do all train stations have?"
"I don't like where he is going with that idea." Shikamaru commented with a frown.
"He flew!"
"It's wind magic!"
"Ha! Perfect, I tested Naruto during our trip without him knowing and his chakra has a powerful wind Nature to it!" Jiraiya boasted.
"So he has an advantage?" Lucy asked.
"More like he weakens Erigor's advantage." Kakashi commented. "By countering Erigor's wind with his own he has the advantage of his other skill and abilities to turn a fight in his favor." The wizard nodded in understanding now.
'So he's a wind magic user…' Naruto thought as he stared at him flying over to a large pole with four speakers on it.
"You plan to broadcast the Lullaby song?!" Erza yelled out, earning some concern looks from the other Fairy Tail members, except for Naruto who only narrowed his eyes at the idea.
"I knew I didn't like where this was going." Shikamaru growled surprising his team with his show of emotion.
What were they hoping to accomplish by doing this?
Erigor Laughed before explaining his intentions "Thousands of noisy onlookers are flocked to this station to get a glimpse of the action. Who knows, if I raise the volume enough I may be able to extinguish the entire city with my melody of death!"
"Boss won't let that happen! He's a hero so he can't be beaten!" Konohamaru shouted getting grins from several others and amused eyerolls from others.
"What reason do you have to commit such a heinous crime against the innocent people of this town?!" Erza angrily demanded.
"This is a cleansing of all the fools out there who fail to appreciate the rights they hold so dear, who remain willfully ignorant to the plea of those who had theirs ripped away. They've committed a sin by turning a blind eye to the world's injustice. Therefore, the REAPER has come to punish them!"
"It's their own fault for committing acts like assassinations in the first place knowing the consequences." Erza said.
What nonsense was this man saying?
"But killing them isn't going to help you get your right back it's only going to make it worse, that's the whole reason why you're kicked out of the Wizard League in the first place!"
"Thats also a good point." Erza stated seriously.
"At this point, we've given up trying to regain our rights." Erigor did not look convinced over his own flawed plan and says "We want power, then we'll be able to wash away the sins of the past and take control what happens in the future!"
"You're all completely insane!" Lucy yelled at what she heard.
"You get used to it." Lucy said to her past self. Several others, especially team seven sent her sympathetic looks having dealt with their own series of bonkers opponents.
"We're rolling in a new age of darkness!" Kageyama proclaimed as he puts his hand on the ground and made a slew smile against Lucy, saying directly to her "Course by the time that's settled, you flies will be long gone!"
Three shadows stretch out of Kageyama's own shadow and were going for Lucy. They jumped off the ground and formed into hands.
Then before they could hit Lucy, a big wave of fire struck Kageyama's attack down like it was nothing.
"Haha! Finally Action!" Natsu shouted.
Kageyama recognized the guy "You...you were the other fly on the train."
Natsu turns his head to him and smirked: "Eisenwald guy, I knew I remembered that voice."
Lucy was happy "Natsu, you finally woke up!"
Natsu saw a whole lot of Eisenewald members in front of him and remarked: "Oh wow, looks like we've got ourselves a party here."
"Uhm, Natsu, this isn't a party. This is a fight."
"I think he believes they are the same thing." Shizune said with a weary look. The poor woman was more than used to similar personalities who raised hell everywhere they went. No matter how much Tsunade claimed otherwise she was one of them.
The Lady Hokage felt her eye twitch in a strange sense of irritation before shooting a glance at the innocent looking Shizune in confusion.
Natsu bumped his fist "As I said, it's a party."
'Hm, the Fairy Tail flies flew right into my trap, everything is going exactly as planned, but I will not rest until they have heard the Lullaby's melody of death. Then we finally have revenge against those who wronged us.' Erigor thought while evilly smiling down at the small group, but mostly at Naruto who did no impressed him and thought he was just another fly…
"That's a mistake." Sasuke mumbled quietly before glaring at the others when they glanced his way. More for the fact that he realized he was being pulled into participating without intending it.
But boy was this psycho wrong.
"I'm done with this," Naruto said before he imploded with a puff of smoke, leaving an empty spot. Also, the other clone disappeared.
"Did he just leave?" Cana asked in shock.
"You take that back Boss doesn't run from anything!...Except maybe Tsunade or Sakura." Konohamaru shouted before mumbling the last part.
"What the!
"He's gone!"
Lucy just looks around "Uhm guys, where is Naruto?"
Happy just replies "Just watch…"
All the Eisenwald looked around Erigor stood up and scans the room around, where is this fly?
…
A figure jumps from the ceiling towards Erigor with a sharp object in its hands.
"Erigor look out!"
'CLANK!'
The scythe of Erigor stopped the kunai of Naruto that laid the first attack on him in midair.
They both landed on the ground in the middle of the station between both guilds. The clinching of the kunai against the scythe was a shrieking sound of the kunai grinding against the side of Erigor's blade.
"Let's end this bull." Naruto says, being irritated by their plan "Because you got yourselves some flaws in your plan."
Erigor's smile just grew wider "Oh? Enlighten me…"
"Heh." Shikamaru and Asuma shared a chuckle getting curious looks from the others.
"I figured he would notice it too." Shikamaru said waving to continue.
"Simple, got any earplugs?"
The room was quiet for a moment before erupting into laughter at that single line. Even Sasuke had a small smirk, if there was one thing he could admit missing about his old teammate it was the snark he seemed to occasionally pull out of nowhere to insult his enemies. As long as it wasn't directed at him of course.
…..
The sneers and smiles faded away in a second when he asked that question. While on the other side, the dragon slayer Natsu just laughed his ass off at their reactions.
Lucy dumbly pointed "Did he just foiled their plan?"
Happy stated "Aye!"
Gray nodded "Yep, he did."
Erza just shook her head "I should've known…"
The smile of Erigor the Reaper turned passive and he started to make his next move…
"I've always wanted to fight against you, Uzumaki. Let's see what you're capable off!" Erigor challenged as he went for him.
"Oh this will be awesome finally we get to see an awesome fight!" Natsu bellowed, and while Erza pulled him back into his seat she and the others shared the sentiment to a degree looking forward to seeing Naruto's strength pitted against Erigor.
"My pleasure." Naruto smiled as he sprinted for him. He couldn't turn down a challenge.
They both flew backward and started going for blow, after blow after blow. The sound of clashing blades and speediness of both fighters got their guildmates to stand shocked and awed.
"I can't believe it, he's fast."
"He's obviously not some pushover fly."
"Yeah!" Cheered the youngest Sarutobi.
"Don't give him too much credit, he's still a fly."
"These members of Eisenwald seem very slow on the uptake. Why? Because Naruto is only just beginning to show his strength." Shino said while adjusting his glasses.
Lucy was amazed by the speed of Naruto's quick attacks "Wow, he's so fast I cannot even see him."
Then one of the figures managed to overwhelm the other and they both crashed through the first-floor wall behind the Fairy Tail members.
Erza took no time and ordered "Natsu, Gray. Go up and help Naruto in any way you can!"
"But-"
"NOW!"
"Aye!" both mages quickly went ahead inside the station, following Erigor and Naruto
"They're going after Erigor!"
"I've got this!" one of the Eisenwald members named Rayule said, wearing a noticeable tight hood covered in black and light stripes, he leaped on a ledge with vines shooting from his fingers "Kageyama, need some backup!"
"I'm coming! That pink haired bastard got some hell to pay!" Kageyama said before disappearing into the shadows.
"While I doubt those two could beat Natsu or Gray in a straight up fight, I can't help but think that with an ambush they will keep them from making it to Naruto to help against Erigor." Kakashi observed getting nods from the other experienced readers. THough none doubted that all of the boys would in the end come out on top.
Erza turns back to the rest of Eisenwald and addresses Lucy "We'll help Naruto out after we're done with this."
"I like your attitude Erza." Tsunade said shooting the girl a supportive look. Erza smiled slightly at the woman who was clearly respected among her group. Being the leader meant she had to possess enough power to back up her position, and from what she understood Tsunade was a support role fighter first and foremost. That spoke volumes of her skill. Not to mention she was beautiful too. She could see why the younger Kunoichi held her up as an idol and goal to strive for. She felt much the same after her short time getting to know the shinobi.
"Us...against all of them?" Lucy said worriedly.
"It's odd seeing myself like that. I have gotten so much more used to battles like that the few there don't seem like much." Lucy idly mentioned while others nodded.
"Experience can make all the difference. It can help you surpass seemingly impossible odds. Your team and entire generation have gained a great deal of experience like that over the last few years Lucy." Makarov said to the girl with a grandfatherly smile getting a cheerful smile in return.
The Eisenwald members didn't seem bothered by fighting two girls and were being cocky about it while giving hideous remarks.
"Pfft, these guys just keep showing how stupid they are." Kiba pointed out. He was more aware than most men how strong women could be. Between his mother, elder sister, sensei, and surprisingly strong teammate Kiba doubted he could ever look down on an opponent for their gender. Though he knew he had to learn to not look down on any opponent, something Naruto had helped teach him after embarrassing him in the Chunin Exams.
"My mamma always told me not to hit girls, but I can make and exception."
"I'm sorry ladies but you're not going to be cute anymore when we're done with ya!"
'Hmm, there are around half a dozen of them and only three of us, counting Happy in...let's see what you got, Lucy.' Erza only smirked while stretching her arm forward while channeling her magic into her hand
"I am looking forward to this. You remind me of a Kunoichi I knew Erza-chan, in more ways than one. I want to see if your skill in battle matches hers as well." Jiraiya commented, surprising several of them by the serious look on his face. He wasn't perving on the girl at all at the moment.
"Let's do this!" she summons a sword that appeared in front of her as she grabs for it.
"It came out of thin air!"
"That could be a very useful ability in battle." Gai said while his female student lightly slapped him on the side to shut him up. She wanted to see this without an interruption.
She took a firm hold to it and gave a standing threat to the rogue mages in front of her "If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again in my presence, I swear none of you will live to see tomorrow."
"Screw that, charge!" one idiotic man said as a group of Eisenwald members went for a frontal attack against Erza.
Oh, how dumb they were.
The guild and nin cackled at that though a few wished they could see Erza slap them around. Especially Tsunade who wished the girl had been in their world. She would have loved to take the girl as an additional student. She could just imagine combining Erza's weapon and armor ability with her own super strength and healing abilities. Oh well, the next best thing was seeing her kick the teeth in on misogynistic fools like this Eisenwald.
Line Break
On the first floor, they've crashed through several walls and they had ended up in a storage room somewhere in the station.
Naruto and Erigor jumped right over it and tried to lay a hit on each other, resulting in just each other's blade connecting again.
Naruto landed backward and saw that his kunai wasn't gonna hold it for long so he puts it back and thought on what he should do now against the floating wind mage.
"Naruto has grown so much." Iruka said with a smile seeing his former student handling the situation like a veteran shinobi. He couldn't be more proud of the boy.
"Come on, Uzumaki." Erigor smiles while wielding his scythe around until he points it at him "Make your next move!"
Naruto stood back up and breaths heavily under his mask, needing to find another way to lay a hit on Erigor since fighting him head-on wasn't going to work unless he wanted to destroy the building. Naruto then suddenly felt a burning pain through his head.
"While I appreciate his attempt to reduce damage, honestly it might be better to go all out and prevent Eisenwald from endangering the civilians with their plans." Makarov said.
As the group heard about his pain they grew slightly worried. They had forgotten he was entering the fight with an injury.
"Tsk!" He grabs for his head, must've been hit he got from the ANBU agent from earlier.
Erigor smiled at his chance and jumps right at him ready to cut him in half "Bad move pal!"
Just then when Erigor was about to attack, he himself stopped and moaned in pain, he got kicked and was bleeding slightly in the arm by one of Naruto's cuts.
"Hurts doesn't it?." Naruto pulls out another kunai and reaches for something in his pocket.
"Another one of those knives? Got nothing else to fight?" Erigor arrogantly spouted before sprinting over to Naruto, ready this time not only to kill him but to decapitate him.
A small ignition sparked in Naruto's free hand near the kunai "Nope, I'm just going easy on you."
"So many comebacks. I'm so proud." Kakashi said with his trademark smile.
Gray and Natsu were running through the hallway while trying to find Naruto and assist him in taking down Erigor.
"I can't believe she's making us work together, what was she thinking?"
The two boys began to sweat as they had an idea where this was going and the married eyes from a nearby red head put the fear of god in them.
"It's obvious she wasn't thinking, everyone, knows fire and ice don't mix!"
"Yeah, why does she always have to be so freaking bossy!"
The sweating intensified as suddenly Erza wasn't glaring instead smiling in a terrifying fashion at them, as if imagining using them for practicing her attacks.
"She should ask us to do stuff instead of ordering us around!"
"You're right, how about we train together when we get home. Just the three of us." Erza said in a far too friendly tone.
The two boys were horrified that their worst case scenario had actually been right.
Then they both stopped and for no reason yelled against each other "Why do you come along with me? Naruto only needs one guy to back him up!"
"I actually don't think he will need either of you." Happy said getting betrayed looks from them.
BOOM!
The building began to shake heavily that some of the trashcans that stood next to them began to wiggle one of them fall sideways.
Natsu looked around "What was that?"
"That must be Naruto," Gray figured out "Guess he doesn't need our help dealing with Erigor."
"Whatever, I'm still going to find Naruto, no way in hell I'll let something happen to my friends."
Several from Konoha smiled sadly at that. Naruto really did fit in with these Fairy Tail Wizards.
"I agree," Gray agreed as he looked up and saw that there the hallway ended in two ways "Let's split up."
Another explosion occurred and this time some tiles from the ceiling started to drop. Natsu and Gray turned towards each other and nodded.
"Let's get to it." They both departed in different hallways and started to look for Naruto.
The room was filled with smoke and rubble, the many damages Naruto and Erigor had inflicted during their fight had made one of the train station's room into something unrecognizable.
"A little overkill, but like I said, given the situation I can agree to demolishing any obstacle to stop the dark wizards." Makarov said with a grimace at the damage.
Unfortunately, with all the damage that had been done, Erigor was nowhere in the room. Leaving Naruto alone standing with a cut in the flak jacket he wore that also traced some blood of his.
"Bastard got a lucky strike." Naruto grunted while looking around "Just hopefully that last blow will stay with him…"
The readers were again worried about seeing another injury on Naruto. However they knew it was unlikely Erigor was doing very well after Naruto's last attack.
Naruto then focused some chakra into his hand and uses his sensor ability, which he had learned through the years with his summoning…
Feeling the energy of everyone in and outside the station, he sensed a big crowd of most likely the citizens of this town wondering what was going on. Then there were the dozens of bodies of military men who were heavily injured but were brought to safety by the conductors.
"Impressive sensing skills. He really would make a fine Hunter-nin skill wise at least." Jiraiya mentioned getting a nod from the Hokage as the contemplated the thought of having him learn from a few of Konoha's hunters if not join the ranks for a time.
Then there were the more pressing matters.
"Come on, let me see."
Gray was not that far away from where he was from and he's currently in a one-on-one fight against Eisenwald guys.
Natsu was running through the hallways trying to find him while not noticing he was being followed by one of the Eisenwald guys from a distance.
Happy and the new girl Lucy was also running through the hallways but were most likely trying to catch the chubby Eisenwald member that was fleeing.
And Erza was outside the station, doing her way to evacuate the whole city. With Luck.
He didn't need to be worried about his guildmates, while the Eisenwald guild now had no problems indeed in killing people, they won't even be able to lay a strong hit on Natsu or Gray due to them being more stronger than they are. Let stand try and challenge Erza who's basically indestructible to their level, Happy and Lucy would be fine due to their own situation, but this wasn't his biggest concern. Right now he needed to know;
"He has a lot of faith in us." Lucy said with surprise. While it was clear most of his faith was in Erza and Natsu and Gray, he seemed to think she could take care of herself in her situation adn that made her smile slightly alongside her team.
Where is Erigor?
He then opened his eyes and felt a huge magical source surrounding the station with it coming from outside the station.
"Hmm, now I understand." Naruto wipes off a little bit of blood off his wound with his thumb and stated doing a series of hand signs.
"Your plan is pretty predictable, Erigor. I should've known this wasn't your main target." He raises his hand in the air and was about to do another summoning.
"Oh, impressive for both parties, to have a distraction by attacking a population center while attacking the main target, even if the government or guilds know the civilians aren't the main target they have to divert resources to protect them. Meanwhile from just a moment of using his sensing ability Naruto seems to have gotten the gist of the situation." said Asuma.
"Better warn the others...Summoning Jutsu.
POOF!
Outside the station, people were beginning to worry what was going on in there, from what they witnessed that several groups of people entered the station, got it closed off and now explosions occurred within the station. Causing some concerns to the local population who were asking what was happening.
"What's going on?"
"Those explosions don't give me confidence."
"Who were those mages who entered the building before the military, where they backing them up?"
"Hey look, someone's up there."
Upon the balcony, Erza stood there with a megaphone and starts addressing the crowd that had assembled in front "If you value your life, you'll leave this station at once! This station is overrun by dark wizards! They're planning to use a deadly spell to kill everyone here!"
"That's going to cause a panic, which could cause an issue itself." Levy stated, a little surprised by Erza's choice to simply announce such a thing to the crowd.
"I'm sure it will explain my reasoning Levy, I understand the issue though." Erza said quite seriously.
This straight forward explaining by Erza got the crowd turns nervous.
"So I beg you, run as fast as you can!"
Just then pandemonium erupted and all the civilians began to flee away from the station, and from the town itself.
"Hey lady, why would you make anyone panic like that?"
Erza turned to the conductors "I would rather that than see all these people die. You should escape as well, it's too dangerous for you all to stay here."
"That is a fair point. It would be better to evacuate them in an organized fashion but that doesn't seem like you have that opportunity here. Well done in making the most with what is available to you though." Kurenai praised the girl.
The conductors listened to Erza told them and nodded just before they left the station. Leaving Erza alone on the balcony "Now that I've cleared everyone from the train station. I wonder what Erigor's next move is."
"Oof Jinx." Kakashi winced.
Just then Erza felt a strong wind from behind and turned around to see something that surprised her. The train station was surrounded by some strong wind that had the building surrounded.
"A wind barrier?" Erza asked herself just when Erigor appeared from behind.
Moments Later
Walking down the hallway, Lucy and Happy were looking for the fat guy.
"This is just stupid, that guy is nowhere to be found. We should head back to Erza."
"WHHAAT!" Happy scarily screamed, "You want to defy an order from Erza?!"
"Happy I am not unreasonable or some kind of monster." Erza said with a mix of hurt and irritation.
"What of course not! That's not what I mean, that is to say I'm just shocked because Lucy is always so afraid of you and I didn't think she would defy you like that." Happy answered.
"What!? That's not even a good lie you damn cat!" Lucy screamed.
"They shouldn't yell at such a cute cat." Hinata mumbled though Kurenai sighed from beside her hearing the girl. She was working on Hinata's blind spot for cute animals still. Well trying too, Kurenai had a bit of her own weakness when trying to work on Hinata's personality. The girl was as cute as the cat herself.
"We can't find him, so what?" Lucy asked like it wasn't such a problem.
"Erza isn't someone you ignore orders from, she's very scary when someone doesn't follow orders and can be persuasive in a painful way…" Happy said remembering the way Natsu and Gray were given a 'punishment' after they were caught fighting.
Lucy started to rethink that and nervously said "You know what? Let's continue searching."
"See." Happy said snidely to Lucy.
"Did you just not hear an entire paragraph to support your own lie?" She asked and was promptly ignored caused her to twitch at being dismissed by the cat. Again.
She then turns to the front and stopped out of shock.
In front of her was the other half of the hallway, completely trashed, with cuts to the wall and cracks and potholes everywhere and also some burning patterns on the ground.
"What the-"
Happy recognized this handy work "Looks like Naruto and Erigor fought here."
"That's no kidding it looks like a warzone." Gray mentioned. The story had mentioned Naruto being less destructive than the rest of their team but he didn't see that honestly.
"Are you sure? By the burn patterns, I would assume Natsu was here. What idea gives you that?"
"I would assume Natsu at first too Lu." Levy said getting nods from several other guild members and an outraged cry from Natsu.
Happy points out in the middle "Because there!"
Lucy stares down to where Happy was pointing at and saw that in the middle of the rubble, something was hopping towards them, it was…
A toad?
It wasn't just a normal toad, its skin was predominantly red in color with blue markings around his eyes and on top of his head. He also wore a pair of green goggles for some reason.
Happy greeted it "Hey Kōsuke."
"Oh he's my friend." Happy said in surprise.
"Hey Happy, how's it going?" The toad named Kōsuke greeted back cheerfully to Happy.
"Wow they really are friends." The others thought.
"It can talk?" Lucy was creeped out.
"So rude." Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi, Carla, Lily, and Happy said at once causing the blonde to shrink in on herself.
"Did Naruto give you a message?" Happy asked ignoring Lucy's rude comment."
Kōsuke nodded and pulls out of nowhere a small scroll "He says you guys should be reading this, it's important."
"Summoning contracts really are extremely useful." Choji pointed out in mild jealousy. It would be nice to have one of his own to help with missions.
Happy accepted the scroll and nods "Aye."
"Wait, why did Naruto give you the scroll, isn't he here?" Lucy asked.
Lucy didn't get a response as Kōsuke puffed away, leaving the two alone.
"Hmmp!" Lucy puts her arms under her chest "That was rude."
"Well, you called him it." Happy flapped her wings up and flew by Lucy "I'm not calling you a bimbo, obviously. I'm going to bring this to Erza."
"I normally dislike cats but this one is alright." Kakashi said.
"I like you too mister pirate."
"Ah, I hate them again." Kakashi cheerfully replied.
Happy floated down crying his crocodile tears into Natsu's back.
"Yeah-Hey!" Lucy turned to flying cat to cuss him but was just flying away "Wait you cat!"
Gray just was finished fighting one of the Eisenwald guys and was walking down the hallway with new information he manages to beat out of the guy.
"Better warn Erza about this." He said to himself as he started running towards the assembling area.
Meanwhile, the Eisenwald guy was left frozen in a frozen state.
"That's cold." Kiba said only to get slapped in the back of the head.
"Even you are better than that Kiba." Shino said while adjusting his glasses.
Back in the station, Erza had tied up all the beaten up Eisenwald members from earlier and was interrogating one of the members that weren't out cold.
"Just forget it...lady...there's no who can dispel Erigor's wind barrier…" the guy said in pain, Erza sure did do some damage on the guy.
"Hmm, there is a weakness to every technique, it will just take time to find it. Sadly time is what is likely against them if Erigor escaped." Neji said.
With no luck, Erza sighs in defeat after failing to extract some information out of the guy.
"Erza!"
She recognized that voice and turns up and saw Gray standing there "What are you doing here?! I thought you were with Natsu!"
"We decided to split up, but never mind that. Listen up I just find out Eisenwald's real target isn't the station but Clover, the next town up!"
"What?"
"Erigor is heading towards the conference as we speak, he's planning to use the Lullaby to kill the guild masters!"
"While they had several flaws in their plan, overall it wasn't a terrible strategy." Shikamaru said.
"Stop complimenting the criminals you idiot." Ino scolded him, getting only a 'troublesome' in response.
Erza turned to the Eisenwald member and demanded: "Why didn't you tell me!?"
The guy turned pale.
"Hehe look at the terror on that guys face." Gajeel chuckled.
"Guys!"
Erza and Gray turned around and saw Lucy running towards them with Happy flying next to her.
"What is this!" Erza turned angrily to the celestial mage "I thought I told you to find that guy!"
Lucy froze out of fear but said "B-B-But-"
"We came across Naruto's messaging toad, Kōsuke." Happy says in Lucy's place while waving around the scroll "He left us something!"
He gave Erza the scroll "Here."
She opens it up and reads it with the others;
Erza, I managed to find out what Erigor's plan is, I figure out you will know it too. If you're reading this then you already know I'm going after Erigor before he reaches Clover so sorry if I left you guys in that wind barrier.
Naruto
Gray was reading it also and said: "So he already figured it out, I wonder how he got out of the wind barrier in the first place."
"Good question." Lucy said. They had to use her spirit to escape by tunneling but it didn't seem like Naruto had dug his way out. Perhaps he had gotten out prior to the barrier being finished.
Lucy asked a question to Happy "Is he capable of dispelling magical spells?"
"Not that I know off." Happy said shaking his head.
"That's not the priority right now," Erza interjected, "We must find a way out of this wind barrier and regroup with Naruto." She said grabbing her arm, the drainage of her magic really put her out of action for a while.
Then she remembered something "Wait a minute… That man Kageyama! If he managed to undo the seal on Lullaby then he should be able to do something with this barrier outside."
"Then he must be a dispeller, a seal breaking wizard." Gray said "He can break down the wind barrier. But where is he?"
Then the ceiling began to shake heavily again.
"That must be Natsu." Happy guessed.
"Then maybe he's fighting him right now." Erza said, "He said he wanted to fight Natsu."
"Then let's go before that idiot does something stupid," Gray said as they all started running for the staircases, leaving the Eisenwald members alone.
With one of them appearing from the wall, as the coward takes order to do a cowardly task…
"That definitely sounds ominous." Mira said with a frown.
Clover Canyon
The ravines that surrounded the vast valley had a miles long train tracks that were the road between Oshibana and Clover. Standing on it was Erigor with a smirk as he was closer to his goal
"I'm so close to clover and the guildmasters that I can taste it. And once more, the magic energy I used creating that wind barrier is almost recharged. Now it's time." Erigor smiled fully with confidence as he flew back up and looked down the tracks that lead to clover.
"You fools not only took away our work! But you robbed us of our rights! And now I'm going to make you pay!"
"He's delusional." Erza growled.
Then from the mist underneath the tracks, several objects sprung out and flew towards Erigor.
It was kunais with paper bombs attached to it.
They exploded in front of him and behind him, forcing the wind mage to land back on the tracks.
He looked around and saw the smoke covered a person's appearance.
"The Loser always has to make a grand entrance." Sasuke said with a scoff.
"Didn't you do the same thing in the Chunin Exams when you showed up late?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk.
"T-that was Kakashi's fault." Sasuke was embarrassed briefly before regaining his composure.
"You think you can hide from me?" Erigor said to the figure before running towards him and slashes at the person, only to be it nothing but smoke.
"What?"
"Hehe Boss can be scary sometimes." Konohamaru said in awe. It was like Naruto was a ghost.
He turns around and saw another figure.
"I got you now!" Erigor yells as he went over to the other side and slashes his scythe again, only to be it nothing again.
"What?" he looks around, still surrounded by black smoke and many figures.
He tries it again…
And again…
Again…
He stops and then yells out "Whoever it is, come out NOW!"
*Shink*
Erigor gasps, his pupils turned down,seeing a kunai knife pointed directly under his throat.
"Ah shinobi basics, why fight when you can just win?" Jiraiya chuckled getting laughs from the other nin and awkward chuckles from the wizards. The way Naruto was acting reminded them more of an assassin at the moment and it was strange for them to be on the same side of someone with that skill set.
The smoke started to clear out, with the boots of someone standing behind Erigor, it was clear he was tricked into the position the person wanted him to.
The smoke fully cleared, revealing that the person was Naruto. Standing behind Erigor with a kunai pointed at his neck and in a position where Erigor couldn't move.
Naruto then answered to his question "I'm here now Erigor...here to stop you…"
"SOOO COOOOL!"
"Oh please not this guy." Several wizards said at Jason's sudden appearance. The reporter of Sorcerer's Magazine had the Shinobi on edge from his sudden appearance and outburst and nearly gotten a kunai to the throat. Thankfully they realized the lack of danger and calmed down.
"I brought another viewer, perhaps you should let him read next." Mavis said with a bright smile getting groans from several wizards and a series of cools from the man. She couldn't help but giggle at his antics. He was so goofy and gave her Guild so much publicity. She figured bringing him in for a chapter wouldn't hurt.