Hello everyone, another update as you can tell. We're moving right along, so please enjoy.
Some people have mentioned previously about focusing too much on teasing or making fun at one character in a chapter, and part way through this, I came to realize poor Lucy receives a lot of teasing focus this time around. That being said I simply felt it went well with the chapter and in the long run decided to keep it.
Either way, please review and enjoy the story.
"I think I wanna read next." Cana said as she took the book from Kushina, before the group could continue however another flash of light flickered into the room and yet another reader had joined the group. One that looked rather unhappy about the situation.
Tayuya practically growled at the others of the room as she made her way to sit beside Sasuke, though neither seemed any more fond of the other than they did the rest of the room. It was clear Hagoromo or Mavis, whoever had collected her had also explained the situation for her.
"Riiiight, so I guess I'll just read then." Cana said as she turned back to the book.
Morning;
The sun came as it shined over the small village that lay on the island. Inside it, was the hut of the Fairy Tail members who were about to wake up.
"Gnaaaw!"
Lucy yawned as she was the first to sit upright of the three wizards. Of course, she was the only one to actually put effort on waking up. Gray, Natsu, and Happy still were sleeping like roses.
The same couldn't be said for Lucy who had bags under her eyes and she had a tick mark on her head. If you wanted to know why she looked like she didn't have enough sleep? That's because of the snoring of her teammates who sounded like monsters taking a nap.
Some pitying glances were sent her way by many of the others, especially among the kunoichi who had teammates with similar...conditions.
A frown appeared on her face while she stared at them.
"Hey, missy."
Lucy quirked when she heard that, she first thought it was Happy but when she turned around she saw that it was Kosuke, the small red toad she met in an early occurrence.
The small toad reaches its small hand out with a little folded up piece of paper in it "This is from Naruto."
"It really would be nice to have little messenger toads like that." Mira said getting nods, while Jiraiya smirked. He wasn't even using the opportunity to try and hit on the attractive young woman, simply proud of his summons.
"Oh, okay..." Lucy accepted it and opened it up "Thanks by the way-"
"At least you are learning to be respectful." Jiraiya huffed at the blonde causing her to frown at the man.
"How was I supposed to know toads could talk?" Lucy asked in disbelief.
"You have a talking cat that flies." Tsunade pointed out. She was a summoner as well, and while not annoyed like Jiraiya was playing at it still seemed weird to her for others to be so shocked by it.
"And for your information, I can talk," Kosuke said crossing his arms "I still remember the 'it' comment."
"That was awfully rude of you Lucy, you might have hurt that helpful little toad's feelings." Erza said in a serious voice, causing the blonde to squawk in indignation until she saw the humor in the woman's eyes.
Lucy's face suddenly turned red after hearing that. She then suddenly remembers it and that thought never came up.
"I-I-I apologize for that comment." The celestial mage said with sincerity.
"Much better." Jiraiya said as if he was praising a child.
"You're a very weird person." Lucy pointed out with a dry stare.
"Bah, there you go being rude again." Jiraiya said in an uppity tone.
Tsunade and Kushina had to try and hide the grins at what Jiraiya was doing. Kushina was definitely still mad at him about Naruto not even know him till he was twelve, but still, the two Kunoichi had spent years around Jiraiya's goofy demeanor as well as his odd sense of humor, that usually made it's victim feel more stupid for having even been in a conversation with him.
Kosuke only smiled at her "That's no problem. I'm not the guy who likes to keep a grudge, see ya." The small toad poofed away in smoke.
Lucy turned to her teammates and she wasn't surprised they slept through the conversation, so she opened the note and starts reading it.
I'm waiting for you guys at the abandoned Moon Temple, just keep going north and you will notice it.
Just make sure you all come as quick as you can, time is running out.
Naruto
"Time is running out?" Lucy asked confused after reading the note. Does he have knowledge of what the mission was about?
"Something tells me Naruto will be stringing us all along by the nose for the whole quest." Lucy said after having finished glaring at Jiraiya once she realized he was trying to purposefully rile her up.
"Even this far into the story it can be jarring to think about how different our Naruto and this Naruto are." Neji said getting some nods.
When the team first talked to the villagers they were astonished by what they were seeing. All the villagers were under some kind of spell that caused their human bodies to turn either their legs or arms or even their whole bodies into demons.
"That's amazing, and disturbing." Kushina said as she tapped her chin in thought. She wondered, with the connection to the shinobi world if this wasn't the cause of something like Orochimaru's experiments. She wasn't even aware her thoughts were shared by several more of the group.
Tayuya and Sasuke both initially thought the same, until both came to the same conclusion that despite how upset they were, these people were far to at peace and well safe for Orochimaru to have any kind of involvement.
After listening to the village elder, he believed that the moon was the cause of all of it. mainly because the moon had the color of a purple shade over their island and that forced them into these unwanted transformations. Even though it sounded crazy, the results were already horrifying to hear that some of those who couldn't handle these painful transformations anymore were forced to be put down indefinitely, including the village elder' son.
"Was that the same for your group?" Levy asked.
"Yeah, it was totally freaky, but things worked out." Happy replied.
It was horrible to hear such a thing, but when the elder pulled out a picture of his son, she recognized the man in an instance. It was the same fisherman who brought them over here to this island.
"So he isn't dead?" Tsunade asked, more to herself but some of the others glanced her way.
"Or he's a ghost." Natuso said getting looks from the others until he pointed at Kushina and Tayuya causing the others to blink owlishly realizing that technically Kushina and Tayuya were in fact dead.
There was more to this mystery then there was on the quest, no doubt in her mind. They'll have to figure out what it was.
"Smart." Kurenai praised getting a smile from Lucy.
"For a blonde bimbo maybe." Kiba said under his breath before getting a pop on the back of his head and glares from not only Kurenai and Shino, but the usually meek Hinata too. Needless to say the Hyuga heiress wasn't fond of bullying.
But first, she had to wake up her teammates. She looked outside, seeing that it was morning.
The perfect timing.
Later
"For the last time Natsu, there's no way we can destroy the moon!"
Several in the room snickered though Team Erza simply chuckled at them having 'technically' shattered the moon.
Only twenty minutes after leaving the village, Natsu and Gray already were in a heated argument on what to do now with the mission.
"But we have to find a way to fix those people up?" Natsu said throwing his hands behind his back "We cannot just give up and leave, that will only reflect badly on Fairy Tail's reputation."
"I take back what we said earlier, not even Naruto was that...I don't even know what word properly describes him." Ino whispered to Sakura getting a nod from her friend.
"Still his dedication is just like Naruto right?" Sakura asked back getting a nod from Inro in return.
"I'm not saying we should quit, flame for brains, I just say we cannot destroy the moon!"
"Who are you calling flame for brains-"
As had become common by now, the pair of boys was glaring at one another, but the ever present Erza Scarlet kept things from escalating.
"Guys, stop arguing. The lady said frustratingly."
The two turned around, with Happy just carelessly flying above them and Lucy being inside one of her celestial mages, which to be clear is that it was a walking clock named Horologium.
"That's an interesting strategy Lucy." Kushina said looking at the image fo the girl squeezed inside of the clock.
"Well he's actually really durable, so it keeps me safe in there." Lucy replied.
"But you're just wanling in the woods aren't you?" Konohamaru asked.
Lucy just blushed and grumbled about everyone picking on her during this chapter so much. Konohamaru just remained confused.
Lucy spoke out something but couldn't be heard so the walking clock said "We need to focus and find that temple where Naruto is waiting for us. The lady stated sternly." Horologium said repeating the words of his mistress.
"But where do you think we should begin? It's a big island."
"Just go to them middle, or if there is a mountain, go there. They always love to build ruined temples on mountains." Jiraiya said.
"When have you even been to an island temple?" Tsunade asked.
"I used to go to the temple in Uzushio before the end of the Second War a lot." He answered.
"The Whirlpool temple was built on a river bank at the lowest point of the island." Kushina slowly said while giving Jiraiya a confused look.
"Okay, fine it's just in every book the temple is supposed to be at the heart of the island on a massive mountain. Maybe have some sort of ancient guardian or cult or something. Maybe a giant monster." Jiraiya explained.
The majority of the readers rolled their eyes at the eccentric Toad Sage. Team Erza however stared at the man with how vaguely correct he was right about what they would encounter. The whole cult and giant monster at a temple on a mountain at the heart of an island describing exactly what they dealt with.
"YAAAAAAAAA!"
the two Fairy Tail mages stopped their tracks and got into battle formation while Lucy screamed yelling.
"Ahhhhh, what was that yelling? She screamed loudly." Horologium stated in a calm demeanor.
"YAAAAAAAAA!"
"Let's go find out what it is!" Natsu said as he started running for the screeching with the others following him soon after.
"Hey, wait for me. Said the lady frightened." Horologium said repeating his master's words while following close behind them on his own pace.
Before they knew it, from the bushes appeared an enormous blue rat wearing a corset was running away in tears with her back covered in bruises and cuts, going down the hill right towards the sea.
"They might as well put a sign up saying Naruto Was Here." Kakashi said with a laugh at the fleeing rat. A few laughs joined him.
This left the female celestial wizard in shock inside the clock until Horologium disappeared away and left Lucy on the floor, landing on her butt.
"What was that all about?"
"Ey Lucy, come on!" Happy said flying by commenting "Get off your lazy but and move."
"Damn Cat." Lucy growled. She was definitely lazy, she just wasn't as insane as most of her guildmates thank-you-very-much.
Lucy became pissed after hearing that and got up quickly and started chasing after Happy "Come back here cat!"
Naruto was just rolling up a sealing scroll he just used, putting the man in a strong rope with a seal on it to prevent the prisoner or anyone to touch it as a written kanji was written on it across the rope covered smuggler.
"Seals." Kushina and Jiraiya said simultaneously with proud smiles.
"Let's hope nobody is stupid enough to touch you..." The written seal started to vanish away, leaving no tracks.
Even though it took a few moments, the seal started showing sparks of electricity, giving away that the trap seal was working. Naruto has been working on the art of sealing jutsu ever since he left the Hidden Leaf Village and learning about his heritage.
"Good, I get hiding Minato's heritage from him and the world, but mine wouldn't have made his life literally any more difficult than it was. He should have access to all the Uzumaki scrolls left in Konoha." Kushina complained.
After finding out that the Uzumakis were renowned for their skills and perfection in the art of sealing jutsu he decided that he wanted to learn more about it. not slacking off, he knew that his abilities were still unknown to many of his fellow guildmates, all except for a handful of people like Gramps, the Magic council and few others.
Most of the mages were a bit disappointed that Naruto was so protective with what he told his guildmates, feeling like he didn't think he could rely on them. Makarov though smiled softly in understanding of the boy. Some things were simply best kept secret for as long as possible.
On the opposite side of the room Kushina was abuzz with joy at the prospect of Naruto continuing the family tradition of skill in fuinjutsu.
He puts the scroll away in his coat "Now, that's settled."
"Naruto!"
He turns around to see Gray, Natsu and Happy appearing from the woods and running towards him.
"I wonder where you guys would arrive." He saw that someone was missing "Say, where's Lucy?"
"I'M HERE!"
They turned around to see that out from the bushes came Lucy, tripping over and face planting, badly.
Some of the room cringed at the display. It wasn't terrible, but Lucy seemed on par with most civilian girls for the shinobi and the mages couldn't help but join in their grimace at the hard smack into the ground from the blonde.
"..." Naruto sweat dropped "Okay, you okay?"
Happy reached out to Lucy saying "Come on Lucy! You're being lazy."
If looks could kill Lucy's glare would have burnt the cat to a crisp, though it didn't help that most of the room was holding in light laughter at Happy's teasing.
Lucy pissed off stood up and ranted "Who're you calling lazy! I'm the one who woke you up! Told you about the message and got us in the right direction!"
"She's as hot headed as the two boys." Choji whispered to Shikamaru.
"More like she's as hot headed as Sakura without the punch. The whole team is like a reflection of Team 7 if they were less prone to trying to kill one another." Shikamaru said, side-eyeing the traitor of Team 7 nearby.
"Okay, okay." Naruto tried to calm her down "We appreciate what you've done Lucy. No need to be angry."
Lucy calmed down as she listened to him, glad someone acknowledged her effort.
"Naruto the peacemaker." Tsunade said with a laugh getting a few laughs from others that remembered him going back and forth with Sasuke.
"Hey, Naruto, who's this guy?" Naruto turned around to see Natsu crouching down to the tied up prisoner. Happy landed on his head and poked a few times on his forehead.
Lucy saw he was in bad shape "Is he-"
"No, he's still alive." Naruto interrupted "Just somebody who I found in a tunnel."
Makarov was happy Naruto had held back from killing the man, but he had slowly come to accept the fact that more than likely Naruto would be handling any of these 'missing-nin' with deadly force. The way the elder shinobi had made it sound in the break to him, the safest way to protect his guildmates and new home might lead Naruto to killing shinobi to make sure they couldn't be harmed by them first.
It was a distasteful thing, but from what he could tell about the boy, he didn't take such action lightly, or at all if he could avoid it. The burden of such choices most likely heavily weighed on him which saddened the old master. Even without actually meeting Naruto in person, he felt he adored the boy as one of his children from this reading alone.
"Tunnel?" Gray asked "What tunnel?"
"I'll show you, follow me," Naruto said as he started to walk towards the temple, leaving the prisoner on his own. They asked if it was such a good idea but Naruto assured them that they don't need to worry about it.
The slightly dark chuckling of Kushina as she thought of seals caught the group off guard. It was clear the Uzumaki was a bit imaginative when it came to her seals. Which likely meant Naruto was too.
Naruto stopped and pointed out "Here it is." Right in front of them was a huge opening in the floor, with what looked like a bottomless pit.
"I went down to that hole, and it seems like it is connected to a network of tunnels that are going throughout the island." Naruto said, "but most of them lead to the mountains." He left out the tunnel that would go directly to the hidden shipyard of the smugglers, to not compromise the mission.
Gray stared at the pit "Are you sure it's safe, I don't want to be buried alive."
"From what I saw, they look pretty decent. So you've got nothing to worry about...unless you are claustrophobic." Naruto answered to Gray as suddenly they were pushed aside by Natsu who jumped above the pit.
"Who cares?! LET'S GO!" He exclaimed as he went into the pit, with full excitement for adventure.
"Fucking Imbecile." Tayuya scoffed.
"Well, that's Natsu for you." Several Fairy Tail guild members sighed out with fond smiles on their faces.
"AYE!" Happy joined in as he flew down after his best friend. Gray followed suit by jumping after them, leaving Lucy and Naruto the only one left.
Predictably Lucy protested "Nuh-uh, I'm not jumping in that pit in a million years!"
"Maybe if you ask him nicely Naruto could pick you up and jump for the both of you Lucy." Mira teased the girl.
Lucy blushed but shot a look at the take-over mage. "Hmm if I recall your other became a model to try and get his attention, wouldn't it make you jealous if I did that?"
Mira was surprised by Lucy's response but soon giggled along with her at the teasing.
"Come on, I ain't that deep." Naruto said trying to convince her "You want to help those villagers get cured of their demon state, right? So just jump, nothing will happen."
"I don't know..." Lucy said crossing her arms, she then remembered something and turned back "Wait, how do you know how those villagers look like?!"
Naruto began to scratch his head as he had to come up with something and luckily he did "Well, I actually asked one of my summonings to keep an eye on you."
"Oh he's looking out for you, that's so nice!" Wendy said with a smile. Though a few older readers repeated the girl's words with a bit different enunciation and plenty of laughter. The poor celestial mage could only blush a bit more and wave the laughing Cana to carry on.
"Huh?"
Naruto reaches his hand behind Lucy's ear but then he pulls it back, showing that in his hand was small yellow toad wearing a small blue fabric jacket resting in his hand. Munching on a candy bar. The small toad noticed the blonde girl and smiled at her, greeting in his innocent voice.
"Hello. My name is Gamatatsu."
"Oh he's so cute!" Wendy said, getting agreement from several others.
Lucy blinked a couple of times before reacting;
"AHHHHH!" jumping backward "NOT ANOTHER ONE!"
"Your attitude almost offsets your figure." Jiraiya grumbled, he would also have gotten a swift smack from Tsunade if she wasn't busy being surprised that a girl's personality could offset a figure like Lucy's for him.
"Hey, he's got a name you know." Naruto responded back in defense of his small friend before pointing out "Aaaand you're in the middle of the pit."
The group laughed again at the situation while Lucy continued to press her red face into her palms.
Lucy quickly looked down and started to fall down screaming her lungs out cussing Naruto out that it was his fault until she landed on something.
and that something was Natsu's groaning as he became a pillow for the blonde Celestial mage.
"Lucy... how much do you weight?..."
Several males shuddered at that single question. The poor fool.
"YOU DON'T ASK ME THAT!"
Lucy suddenly enjoyed a break from teasing as baleful glares centered on the pink haired mage giving him rather judgmental looks.
Gamatatsu turned to Naruto and asked, "Did I do something wrong?"
"Lucy upset the cute baby frog." Happy accused trying to take some of the glares off his friend.
It succeeded to a small extent.
"Toad." Jiraiya said with a roll of his eyes. 'Everyone always called them toads, it's not hard to tell the difference.' He mentally complained.
"No Gamatatsu, she's just not used yet to talking toads yet, just give her some time." Naruto said to reassure to the small buddy but saw he was feeling sad "Hey, if we get out from this island I will buy you some snacks, that okay with you?"
"Wow, I actually did hurt his feelings." Lucy said a bit sadly especially now that the little guy was talking with Naruto. She had to agree he was a cute little thing.
Gamatatsu grew a smile on his face and threw his hand up "Yay!" before he disappeared in a pole of smoke. After that, Naruto jumped into the pit, following his friends. Just when a person entered the temple. The person had blue spikey hair, sharp teeth and a bandaged covered sword to his back with glasses
Several readers had their eyes narrowed trying to memorize the characteristics of the figure and think back to if he had been encountered before.
"Sharp teeth like that are common with ninja from the Hidden Mist, he might be a missing-nin from there." Asuma pointed out.
"With that bandage covered sword you don't think he is one of them do you?" Kurenai asked in slight worry. Naruto was strong, the story had proven that so far, but if it was one of them they were renowned for how dangerous they could be.
The Mages listened with worry about who this person could be. Whatever the group he belonged too clearly had the elder shinobi slightly tense at the thought of them.
With Naruto
Naruto landed on his feet to the ground. He then looked up and thought he heard something.
Meanwhile, Lucy got off of Natsu and began bickering against Happy for calling her fat which turned into a shouting match.
"Not the best place for that." Kushina said with a small smile. "Still, teach them a lesson on how to talk to girls when you get the chance. Oh, I could help even."
The redhead internally laughed at the slightly pale faces on the boy and cat. The only ways this whole thing could be better is if Minato and Naruto were here too.
Naruto, on the other hand, sensed something, he puts his hand down on the floor and started to concentrate on his surroundings and soon he started to feel the energy around the island.
"I didn't know Naruto was so skilled at sensing." Tenten said in surprise.
"His father could do the same, just pressed a finger to the ground and knew almost everything he needed about his nearby enemies." Kakashi said getting nods from Kushina and Jiraiya who had been around him more than the others.
'Hmmm, I sense there are more than three active chakra users on this island. Me, Tayuya and that Kiri nin and a couple of others, possibly more rogue ninjas, maybe some of Gato's former henchmen. Whatever the number, I need to make sure the others don't find out. Or this could get really ugly. Especially that the amount of chakra these unknown shinobi have are no doubt above mid chunin level, that's way too much to handle if we come across them as a team.' Naruto thought it out, it was already a great risk of compromising the mission with Natsu and the others on the island. Let alone that most of these shinobi possible have no trouble in killing them, so he took a decision that was for the best.
Makarov was once more smiling at seeing the true nature of this other Fairy Tail's member. Naruto was obviously protective of his guildmates. He just hoped he didn't forget that the guild was more than willing to help him too.
He turns to the Fairy Tail mages "We'll split up."
Team Erza seemed annoyed a bit, especially as it was clear Naruto was splitting up from them to fight stronger enemies alone. Despite that they could tell he was doing it out of care, not ego.
They all stopped their arguing amongst each other and stared at him.
"Huh?"
Naruto pointed out both sides of the tunnel "The tunnel goes both ways, the one on the left leads directly to the mountain, there is where you're all going that way, making your way to the top." He said walking passed them and going for the tunnel to the right.
"Okay, what about you?" Gray asked him "Who's going with you?"
"No one, I'm going by myself. Gray, you'll be leading the team."
This surprised a few of the readers as they expected Naruto to know that would start an argument.
"SAY WHAT!" Natsu protested "Why do you let him be team leader, he can't even keep his clothes on!"
"Shut it, fire brain!"
"Up yours, ice moron!" The two strong wizards were at each other again.
"Enough!" Naruto ordered them "Gray, keep your clothes on and lead the team, Natsu you-"
"Screw that! I'm going!" Natsu said grinning as he went to the left tunnel and got Happy following him "Let's explore, Happy!"
"Hmm, it might be possible Naruto said Gray was in charge just to start that fight." Shikamaru said.
"What do you mean?" Erza asked.
"Well think about it, they were going to argue with him about going off alone, but by saying Gray was in charge, someone who is Natsu's biggest rival he changed the argument about Gray's leadership, essentially making the decision final and distracting the boys with something else." Shikamaru said.
"That's a good plan, but it also caused Natsu to start running off on his own." Erza responded.
"Yeah, it seems anyone with pink hair is even more troublesome than I thought blondes were." Shikamaru said, getting a shout from both Natsu and Sakura.
Shikamaru just looked at the others as if to say his point was proven.
"Aye!" the cat flew after him. Gaining irritating ticks from Gray.
"Wait up moron!" the ice user yelled going after them. With soon followed Lucy going last. Leaving Naruto alone to let him go on his own route as he turned to the other side of the tunnel. If he had stayed longer he would've noticed that a shadow was descending from the top.
"Do you think this shinobi will go after Naruto or the others?" Macao asked.
"If they aren't a sensor than they would probably go after Naruto, he is going to be alone so in theory it should be the easier fight." Kakashi said, though he couldn't be certain what the ninja was thinking, they had no real idea of their plans yet, they just assumed he was a missing-nin attempting to eliminate Naruto and the others.
Sprinting through the tunnels, Naruto made his way quickly to where Tayuya was supposed to rendezvous with him.
But he'd been slowing down lately as he had sensed something ever since he entered these tunnels. Now that he was on his own and far away from his guildmates, he now assumed it was now the time to deal with his pursuer.
"So they did go after Naruto, and he not only knew but was ready for it." Kushina said with pride at her son's coming ambush.
"Let's end this." Naruto's hand reached into his pouch and pulls out a couple of items he would need to use before jumping up into the ceiling, hiding into the darkness.
His pursuer stopped his tracks and started looking around, hoping to find a clue to where he was.
*Click!*
"Huh!?" the pursuer turned around and quickly took out his blade. Then in front of him, something was falling from above the air.
It was a safety lamp that shattered into the ground and exploded.
"A distraction?" Erza asked.
"He's manipulating his pursuer into where he wants him." Kurenai said with a grin. She used similar tactics regularly with her genjutsu.
The mysterious man flinched by jumping back into the darkness in hope to conceal his identity, but he didn't notice that Naruto landed behind him.
"Wrong move buddy."
The assailant tried to turn around but got kicked in the face by Naruto before he jumped off again, just when he tried to slash him with his blade.
"I don't know if the kid is just so much better I thought, or if they have lost some of their edge." Tsunade said.
Naruto landed again behind the unidentified swordsman and kicked the guy in both his legs, making the guy.
"Ugh!" the guy dropped to his knees. Naruto didn't listen to his response before essentially kicking the guy across the area, into the wall that he landed his back against with.
"This guy isn't even getting a chance to fight back." Natsu said in annoyance. He wanted to see an awesome ninja battle afterall.
"No shit, we're shinobi, not samurai dumbass." Tayuya called out causing Natsu to roar at what she said to him only to be restrained by Gray and Erza from attacking her.
The guy dropped his sword, disarming him and giving Naruto the chance to incapacitate him. From out of his hand, Naruto summoned four kunais and threw them at the swordless swordsman.
"He's living up to the clan name." Kushina practically cooed at seeing even the small use of seals. Likely Naruto had taught most sealing to himself so it was doubly impressive.
He hit the sleeves of the arms and legs, trapping him. He then appeared in front of him with a small paper in his hand which he pushed on the guy's chest. After that he grabbed the assailant by the throat and forced his head up, starting to suffocate him a little.
"Ugh! Urgh! P-please stop!"
A light of fire appeared behind them, it was Tayuya carrying a safety lamp that was lit and came across the fighting
Tayuya frowned at seeing her other there. It felt unfair that the other her was not only alive but free of that prick Orochimaru too. Hell free of the whole shinobi world as far as she could tell.
"The fuck is going on here?" She said as she shed the light over to them and saw it.
Naruto was holding onto someone he had in a tough position. Also, she'd noticed something was laying on the ground.
"W-Wha- why is my Chakra numb?!" The guy said trying to channel his chakra but was unable to do.
"Look down on your chest."
The guy looked down and saw the paper on his chest had a kanji written on which read 'To suppress'
"That's my boy!" Both Kushina and Jiraiya cheered only for the whitehaired man to help and dodge a single swing.
"Shut-up you old toad!" Kushina growled before waving Cana to continue.
"T-This is a-"
"I've put a Chakra-Suppressing Seal on you, making you fatigued now that I've blocked all of your chakra." The shinobi now was cornered and had nowhere to go. Without even seeing the man's face, Naruto could already feel he was in a state of panic.
"That's a fair reaction too, he's completely at their mercy, even if he broke out of Naruto's grip somehow that seal puts him at a huge disadvantage now. Hopefully he's smart and cuts a deal with the kid, otherwise…" Tsunade said.
The group frowned slightly at what she was insinuating.
Tayuya then looked down to what was in front of her feet and picked it by the handle, the sword had bandages covering it but the shape of it gave away its identity "Hey...I recognize this sword..."
"As I thought." The elder Ninja mumbled together.
Naruto kept his grip on the guy's throat and asked "What is it Tayuya?"
"This is the Hiramekarei, one of the famous swords wielded by the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist." Tayuya now shot up to him "This guy must be one of them!"
"So are these guys like super strong then?" Natsu asked, a fire burning in his eyes at the thought of a tough opponent.
"Well, they are sort of broken up right now. Remember that civil war that was mentioned? These guys come from the same place so they sort of scattered." Tsunade explained.
Naruto turned to the shinobi and asked his friend "Give me some light."
Tayuya did that and raised the safety lamp up, the light shinned upwards and revealed the face of the swordsman. It surprised them that when they saw his face he was almost their age. His short, tufty blue hair and dark eyes and shark pointed teeth and black-rimmed glasses. He wears square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants.
"More than likely a new recruit to the seven swordsman then. Most likely the village was trying to recruit new loyal members after most of the others abandoned the village." Kakashi explained not just to the mages but youngest shinobi as well.
"Identify yourself." Naruto asked while releasing KI to intimidate him, he had not used it in a long time but now he took no chances "And you better not lie to me."
A few people that knew the potency not only of a Jinchuuriki's KI, but an Uzumaki, or even just Naruto's in particular grimaced at the thought. Even Sasuke flinched slightly at that remembering a few moments during his battle at the Valley of the End.
The blue-haired shinobi hesitated for a moment
"Speak up!"
"M-My name is Chojuro!" He quickly responded as he felt the grip grow tighter "I'm a jonin from the Village Hidden in the Mist." The now identified Chojuro revealed his name, rank, and village.
Tayuya raised her eyebrow "Aren't you still called the Bloody Mist village? And aren't you sick Kiri ninja still in a killing spree going after bloodline shinobi?"
The group as a whole gained darker looks at the reminder of the horrible things occurring with the Hidden Mist.
"No, we don't call ourselves by that name!" Chajuro shouted out with some anger out of the defense of his village "We dropped that cursed name after the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi took office!" he explained that the civil war had ended in his country a little over a year ago and now a new Mizukage had taken power and brought peace again to the village and all over the Land of Water with the support of the Daimyo and her faction of followers who were loyal to her.
This brightened up the mood again. It seemed things were getting better then if those types of horrible things weren't happening anymore.
From as far Naruto and Tayuya know, if they would compare the intel of this guy and the smuggler they had interrogated earlier then at least the numbers of enemy threats should be at least between fifty to seventy.
"That might end up being an issue, if they all have shinobi weapons they could be very destructive. Even more so if they are reckless with things like those explosive tags." Erza said with a frown.
'Hmm, did the smuggler lied to us? Nah, we didn't specifically ask how many shinobi were there. If this moron is telling the truth, we may be going into a shitstorm full of skilled killers. Huh, lucky that Naruto made the fucker turn into an asexual." Tayuya grinned when she told Naruto that he may have put too much pressure on the guy's private parts...
Many of the men grimaced at the thought.
"How could he, to another dude, enemy or not?" Kiba asked in wonder getting looks from the older shinobi.
"Kiba, I believe simply saying ninja in this circumstance should suffice." Shino slowly said with his usual monotone while adjusting his glasses.
"Ninja terrify me more and more everytime we learn something new about them." Jet quietly whispered to Droy who nodded his head in agreement.
Naruto noticed the scratch through the guy's headband and asked him "If you're a shinobi of the Hidden Mist, why do you have a scratch through your headband?"
"I'm undercover-"
"Well, that's awfully convenient." Kushina said.
"What? That he is undercover or that he has that as an excuse?" Iruka asked.
"Well, both, though I can't shake a certain feeling…" Kushina trailed off before waving Cana forward.
"He's lying!" Tayuya stated.
"Fucking obviously." Tayuya agreed with herself.
"Must you use such language? There are many younger readers as well." Carla chided Tayuya.
"I most fucking so need to use such shitty language you worthless flying pussy." Tayuya replied back, though Carla refused to take the bait and simply huffed and looked away.
"I swear I'm not!" Chojuro spoke out trying to convince them "I'm on a mission to infiltrate a group of rogue Mist shinobi. Who are on this island here stockpiling a large sums of weapons. Please, don't kill me..." Naruto didn't see this guy was a big threat since he'd been honest, so he released him.
"How is he so certain?" Mira asked.
"Well it could partially be that Naruto can be a good judge of character as long as he is focused." Kakashi explained. While the younger ninja may have been misled by Mizuki in the past, he had been emotional at the time and Mizuki took advantage. This Naruto was completely focused and much harder to fool than a confused and hurting child.
Chojuro took the chance to breath when he was removed from the wall.
"Alright, now, explain everything to us. We're not the enemy here."
The blue-haired swordsman took deep breaths and looked at them "Why didn't you just kill me?"
"Because you are still a wealth of information." Nejis said.
"Naruto-kun also doesn't like to hurt people. He just wants to help them." Hinata said quietly.
Kushina smiled at the girl, causing her to blush under her crush's mother's gaze.
"Because, you obviously have more information about this supposed 'smuggler's ring' that we're knowing of. And now you told us it also harbors rogue ninja we want to know more...Also, I sense no bad vibes from you. So assume you're legit." Naruto explained his reasons for putting a little bit of faith in this guy.
"Can he actually sense that?" Sakura was disappointed when all she got were shrugs.
For some reason, Chojuro sighed in relief. Not knowing he was standing in front of two other infamous rogue shinobi's themselves.
"Well, yeah but they aren't rogue by choice." Konohamaru argued to defend his boss.
"I don't think most missing-nin are rogue by choice Konohamaru." Iruka said chuckling as he knew what the boy meant.
"Gah, that's not what I mean. I mean they didn't do anything wrong!" Konohamaru argued.
"Naruto freed an enemy shinobi and killed some of the council and seemingly blew up the hokage tower." Shikamaru pointed out.
"But he did it to protect the leaf!" Konohamaru argued further.
"Maybe, but perhaps he is protecting his idea of the leaf and only endangering the actual village." Shikamaru said again.
"What the hell Shikamaru you can't actually think that!" Ino shouted at her teammate. She wasn't Naruto's number one fan or anything, but this was uncalled for.
"I don't, but it's worth seeing it from other points of view. Besides it's possible the other versions of us think that about him from whatever we were told about his attack from the first chapter." Shikamaru explained calmly.
The group was quiet at that. The thought was saddening as well as eye-opening.
Tayuya on the hand didn't let her guard down and said openly "Shithead here may be putting little words for you, but I don't. so speak up."
"Yeah, and I can't fucking believe I'm going along with what that shithead says either." She said only for Kushina to smack her in the head.
"I have a literally famous temper and I don't have as bad of language as you, being as you're my clansmen, you'll tone it down or I will." Kushina said with a steely glare sent Tayuya's way.
The younger redhead scoffed though she was also sweating heavily. She had been told a couple stories about Konoha's Red Hot Habanero.
Chojuro's shyness kicked in for a moment after the redhead's comment and then started explaining how he infiltrated a group of twenty rogue Kiri shinobi who were working with some smugglers in moving a large stock of explosives to a safe place for them to store it all up.
"This is a highly dangerous infiltration mission," Tayuya said to the Kiri ninja "surely you must have a partner or something all this time with you."
"I was with my partner, but..." Chojuro looked down and felt ashamed to even mention what to his partner.
Naruto saw the look on his face "He got killed?"
Chojuro just shook his head "No, he got captured. Cornered when they found out we were undercover."
"That might be worse." Jiraiya said sadly. Missing-nin weren't known for being merciful, any prisoners they took usually prayed for death by the time they got it.
Nodding to his answer "Okay, just one more question. you said they were smuggling to this island right, Anything else that was different that was brought here?"
"Well, we didn't actually plan on it. but the leader of the smuggler's ring had been given a large sum of cash for some strange people in robes and masks who wanted to be brought to this island. Most of them wore the same mask. Saying they wanted to revive a guy named 'Zeref' or something."
"How is it everytime Naruto walks out of his house, he is saving a princess, defeating an evil cult, or overthrowing a dictator? My missions have almost all been finding lost items for nobles or tracking down a thief." Kiba grumbled in annoyance.
"Luck of the draw?" Kakashi halfheartedly replied.
"Luck my ass, what I wouldn't give for a simple delivery mission. Last time I thought we had one, we ended up saving a town head's wife and daughter from kidnappers which led to us having to bring down an entire kidnapping ring." Sakura said in annoyance.
"It's great for your reputation though." Kushina said.
"People have started turning down missions with Team 7, not because of Naruto being a Jinchuuriki but because they don't want to be sucked into toppling an empire or fighting a demon or something." Tsunade pointed out to Kushina with a dry stare.
Kushina simply laughed at that, making the rest of the group question the sanity of the Uzumaki clan in general.
Naruto and Tayuya became stiff when they heard that. The name was no stranger to them, especially to Naruto who had already come across one of Zeref's creations "Did they tell you where they were going?"
"No," Chojuro said before saying "but we know where they were going, ever since they arrived on this island, they are on the top of the mountain, doing some kind of creepy ritual they do every night."
Naruto kept listening and giving questions "Did they brought something with them?"
"Yes, under the escort of different people, they were bringing something massive with them. I don't know what it is but it's obviously bigger than that rat that was pushing it," Chojuro said still weirded out by that big rat in odd clothing, how was that intimidating anyway? "but it was very cold, and I sensed it was alive but not in a position to respond." Naruto nodded and turned to Tayuya before turning back to the Kiri shinobi.
"That can't be a good sign." Macao said.
He'd taken his decision "Okay, seems like a change of plans, Tayuya."
Chojuro didn't know what to respond "You mean-"
Naruto helped him up and removed the paper from his chest before patting his shoulder "We're going to help you out to save your friend. If that's okay with you."
The group smiled at that. It was nice to see some kindness and help, between strangers made it even better.
...Yes! I mean, yes of course but are you sure?" The two walked passed him as he kept asking him "T-These are very strong people, their leader is a former ANBU black ops unit leader."
"Weren't those the guys in those masks?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah, they are usually a village's most elite soldiers." Choji answered.
"Oh don't worry," Naruto smirked as he picked up the Hiramekarei and threw it to Chojuro for him to catch it.
"Because we also got some tricks on our sleeves."
"I'm kind of excited to see the upcoming fights." Levy said.
"I am too, it will interesting to see the difference between our Galuna Island quest and this one." Erza agreed.
With the others
"Why, WHY IS IT HERE!" Gray yelled demanding the thing that was standing in front of him, the very thing he and the others came across was a relic from his painful and stressful past.
"Did you have to deal with that in your world too?" Tenten asked.
"Yeah, but I figure the story will have more details since it was sort of a big deal." Gray answered while Juvia did her best to comfort him. He seemed far better than the story version of himself, but clearly the coming issues still hurt him.
There in front of them stood the frozen solid Deliora, a monster Gray had witnessed destroying villages up in the northern continent. It a beast that stood higher than any monster he had encountered in his entire life and a powerful creature that could destroy anything in its path with such ease.
"Is it ironic or just expected that it was mentioned people avoiding working with Naruto to avoid things like fighting demons, and he just so happened to be gearing up to fight one now?" Sakura asked with a frown. Really the trouble that just migrates toward him was ridiculous.
Gray's teeth were clutching as the rage inside of him was boiling up, why was it here? Who brought it here? And who dared to disrespect the last wished of his master?
Lucy asked her friend concerned "Gray, you know what it is?" "
It...is..."
"Please, calm down."
Gray then spoke upon staring at the top where its head was supposed to be "It's the Demon of Disaster, Deliora."
Natsu somehow misheard him and repeated "Demon of Cabbage?"
"How did you even get cabbage from that?" Lucy asked. She should have expected the shrug she got in reply.
"Disaster." Happy corrected him.
"It's exactly the way it was before." Gray then demanded questions out of pure anger "What the hell is going on?"
Before anyone could answer to his questions they heard footsteps and quickly went to hiding behind some rocks nearby. And once they were hiding, from their hiding spots they saw two figures appear from the cave where they came from.
"I heard voices from here, I thought I did."
One was a tall guy who wore nothing but pants and had a dog like an appearance with brown hair, dog ears and a spiked collar around his neck. The other guy was a shorter guy with blue spikey hair that went up and wore a green outfit and looked rather calm
"I don't think these are smugglers, and they definitely aren't the shinobi. Are they cult or hooded people or whatever?" Ino asked.
"Yes. Though…" Gray started before trailing off.
"Let's just say you'll see them again after everyone leaves the island if things are similar to our world." Erza explained.
"Man its midday, I'm sleepy." The dog person said yawning.
The blue-haired guy said unfazed "Toby, you basked in the Moon Drip, didn't you? You have ears, and all."
"I was going to ask about that, but is that guy just affected by the same curse for the islanders?" Ino asked the mages.
"I dunno. We never really thought about it." Lucy answered. Shrugs from the others just had Ino sighing at that.
Toby seemed pissed off shouted "I didn't bask it! it's a fashion statement you jerk!"
"Knock it off I was just teasing you, don't have to be mean about it." the blue-haired dude said as they stopped right at the spot the Fairy Tail guy's stood for a moment.
Lucy started to whisper to herself "Moon Drip, is that what the name of the curse is?" then she saw another shadow appear and hide back again.
"Yuka, Toby."
The two wizards turned around to see their friend, a female with pink hair in piggy tails and blue eyes in a black dress with boots walk over to them.
"I've got bad news. Something terrible has happened."
"What now, Sherry."
"Angelica has been attacked," Sherry said in a dramatic tone "her face is covered in cuts and her body has burn marks all over her soft fur." Said in a saddened tone.
"Well, they know someone's on the island definitely." Wakaba pointed out.
"It's only a rat, maybe it got itself into a pit or something."
"Or not." Wakaba continued.
"She's not a rat," Sherry spoke out in her defense "she's a brave hunter prowling through the jungles to defend us. She's love!"
Both groups of readers looked confused by that statement. Even those that knew Sherry.
This left the Fairy Tail wizards who were in hiding dumbfounded and a comment slipped out of Lucy's mouth.
"I don't know who these people are but talk about a bunch of weirdos. Especially the chick with the pet rat."
"So harsh and judgmental. She's so lucky to be hot. Otherwise no-one would like her." Jiraiya said. Tsunade caught on to what he was doing and fought back a grin.
"What do you know you perverted old toad?" Lucy shouted as she pointed at him.
"It seems you're right Jiraiya. This girl really needs disciplined. Erza, I thought you were a team leader?" Tsunade added on to her old teammates shenanigans. They used to pull this game on Orochimaru all the time just to get him riled up as children.
"Forgive me, I'll be sure to remind all my guild mates to be respectful when we get back to Fairy Tail." Erza said with a stern tone causing the mages to sweat and several shinobi to quietly snicker at the expense of their counterparts.
"I don't think they're from the island, they don't smell that anyway," Natsu stated reeking a different scent from them and his nose doesn't lie.
"And it doesn't seem they're cursed like the villagers." Happy added the fact they all looked normal, to a degree at least.
"You say there is a possible intruder? What makes you say that?" This caused them to hide as the three kept talking.
"Angelica informed me that her attacker was a blonde man, wearing a mask was seen outside the temple, with one of the smugglers who went missing." Sherry said, "Before the brute abused Angelica and beat her like a dog."
"Tch, more like the rat she is." Kiba hissed. Honestly who would beat a dog?
Happy was not amused by the remark and came out to his defense "Like anyone likes rats, Naruto is the most animal friend I know." Happy was quickly pulled down by Natsu before they could spot them.
"That's very sweet Happy, that you stand up for my son, but you almost got caught. Sometimes it's best to remain quiet." Kushina said to the blue cat who nodded his head at the woman. While those that knew her in life stared at her like a hypocrite.
Sherry turned back to her comrades "We need to find him and exterminate him with any other intruders before master Reitei finds out."
"Good luck with that." Sasuke huffed. Uzumaki were like cockroaches as far as he was concerned, impossible to get rid of.
Yuka smirked nodding "You're right." While Toby barked yes, strangely.
"If they've seen Deliora. We absolutely must take them out. That's in the name of...Love!"
"That doesn't make sense." Hinata deadpanned surprising her team at the annoyed tone. Then again they were talking about killing her crush. That didn't win them points with the heiress.
"Don't you mean death?" Toby asked until they heard something from the tunnel.
"What was that?" Yuka said turning around "Let's check it out." They all three started running for the cave, being tricked by Happy and Natsu who just threw a couple of pebbles to distract them.
"Simple but effective." Asuma praised getting Happy and Natsu to high-five.
They both slapped hands "Way to go." Natsu smirked at his buddy while Gray was too focused on the frozen demon that was there.
The group blinked for a moment as Natsu and Happy's action was repeated in the story.
Lucy turned to the cave and wondered "Do you think they were talking about Naruto?
They say the pet rat only saw him."
"Don't worry about Naruto." Natsu said grinning "Believe me those morons won't stand a chance against him."
"That's no kidding from what we've seen so far." Laxus commented.
Happy then asked a curious question "I do wonder, where is he?"
Meanwhile
Naruto, Tayuya, and Chojuro were hiding behind some rocks and were spying on their target;
The hidden smuggler's cave that was turned into a medium-sized dock, with two ships already there and hundreds of crates being placed on the ground. With the smugglers taking the cargo off the ships and placing them to the cargo bay. There were also some tents where they could sleep and some barrels containing alcohol for the partying after receiving good pay. Also in the middle of those tents were three wooden polls set up.
"Just as predicted this is a sizeable operation." Lissanna said. She was a bit worried, but had faith in her comrades to defeat the enemies present.
Patrolling around were indeed rogue shinobi, many of whom were wearing the old chunin and jonin uniforms that were worn in the time when the village was known as 'The Bloody Mist'. With some of them even wearing the masks from the infamous Hunter Nin Division. Giving away that some of them were ex-ANBU.
"This is a damn full-scale operation." Tayuya said shocked "This must've been taking at least months to set this all up."
"The enemy forces are really strong too. This may end up being a very difficult fight." Kushina said with narrowed eyes.
Naruto could only agree with Tayuya, this was no small scale one time smuggle route. No, this was a permanent one.
Chojuro, on the other hand, was looking around, trying to find his partner and hoping nothing bad had happened to h-
CRASH!
A crate had been accidentally dropped to the ground and its cargo was all over the ground. The cargo was numerous explosives tags.
The guy who dropped it was seen sweating as he saw one of the rogue ninja's approaching him, he had his mask on so the smuggler couldn't see if he was angry.
"No, no, it was an accident!"
"With how afraid he is, no doubt there have been prior incidents of the shinobi killing the smugglers." Kurenai pointed out.
The shinobi unsheathed his blade and was about to punish this man for his clumsiness.
"No pleas-" the smuggler pleaded.
Some of the readers looked away from the pedestal showing the images while the rest just clenched their jaws.
"That's enough!" The shinobi and smuggler turned around and saw a person who may be the leader of the operation, as he was wearing a mask with horns.
"I don't think that's a shinobi." Iruka said as he eyed the figure.
"Who's the dork with the stupid mask?" Tayuya questioned, finding it a stupid disguise.
"That is the leader of the wizard group," Chojuro said explaining to the two "he paid for the big shipment and a lot of his people to be shipped here. He goes by the name Reitei."
"Reitei..." Naruto narrowed his eye at this Reitei, wanting to see what this guy was going to do about the fuckup of the smuggler.
Gray was hoping his old rival and fellow student, since he was certain it was him hidden behind the mask, wouldn't stoop so low as to allow the man's murder. However he also knew that he was trapped in darkness at the time.
Reitei approaches the two while gaining the attention of everyone else "No need to kill him, let him pay for the damages he has caused with his paycheck."
Several of the group let out breaths of relief at the apparent leader's words. Gray sported a very small smile as well.
After hearing this, the blade-wielding ninja was first going to ignore him and cut this guy in two "This isn't your problem, boy. He screwed up, he pays for it."
The masked man stood still while he kept staring at the rogue chunin as he waited for his next move.
"But if you pay his collateral damages, I will promise I won't even touch a hair on his head." The masked nin said with a chuckle.
"What a scumbag." Natsu growled getting agreeing grunts from his fellow readers.
Reitei was now in the center of the attention as a person walked up to him from behind, this man was wearing a standard Kiri Jonin uniform and just had short hair with a ponytail tied up. A big grin on his face and a sleazy look in his eyes. His scratched out Kid headband was on his shoulder.
"I think this is the real boss then." Jiraiya said eying the missing-nin with a calculating stare.
"Chojuro, who's that guy?"
"He's Kenji Sotoki. A real piece of work." Chojuro said with a growl "This guy is no pushover. He was an ANBU commander who was the head of the Hunter-Nin Division in the civil war. He's a ruthless bastard who did the most despicable things you could imagine."
"He was probably one of those heavily involved with the massacres in Kiri then." Kushina spat venomously.
"He was ANBU?" Tayuya was stunned by how the guy looks "He looks like he's our age."
"Believe me, this guy was a true monster back in the Hidden Mist. He was one of the first to attack and kill many of his own comrades he found out or suspected were Gekkei Genkai users. The crimes this guy did in the civil war are the reason why he and his followers have turned their back to the fifth Mizukage and gone rogue." Chojuro said thinking back of the reports he read about Kenji, the things he was comfortable doing to anyone who had a bloodline were perhaps the most disturbing stuff he had ever read...
"Chojuro-kun is right, that man is void of even an ember of the honourable and righteous flames of youth he should have in such a position as ANBU!" Lee shouted getting a holler of confirmation of Gai and a shout of agreement across the aisle from Elfman about him being nowhere close to a man.
While not in the same words, the rest of the readers couldn't help but agree. This Kenji was a real monster.
Kenji chuckled at the masked Reitei and said "Please, my offer only stands for a moment..."
"...Fine." conflicting feelings could be felt from the Reitei guy as he turned around and started walking "I'm going back to the mountain. Just don't do something stupid."
Naruto watched how this masked guy named Reitei was leaving the scene unfazed, but some disturbances were sensed from him as it didn't go unnoticed by the three young shinobi.
"I don't sense any killing vibes from that guy," Tayuya said, "Most likely a wizard."
"While he could be a threat, I think they should focus on the ex-kiri shinobi. He comes off as waiting to snap at anything. He's really dangerous." Tsunade said.
"Yeah, I thought that too." Chojuro agrees with her "I'm more concerned about the ex-Kiri nin then I'm concerned about those guys.
"Like I said, I would focus on them as well. No offense to you wizards that went on this mission, but someone that vile with ANBU level skill and training is a major threat. Adding that to a small army of other shinobi, many with similar backgrounds, this would be an S-class mission for an ANBu team if I was to assign their elimination to someone." Tsunade explained.
Several other readers grew increasingly worried as more and more of the reality of the situation sank in.
"Maybe it would help to keep track on your shinobi so you don't have the highest rate of desertion in all of the Shinobi continent." Tayuya pointed out to this guy.
Tayuya laughed at her other's joke while just getting stares from the others.
"What? It's true isn't it?" She asked them.
"Still kind of mean and unnecessary to put on that kid." Kushina said.
"He's like my age, not my fault if he's too much of a pussy to accept that his village is shit." Tayuya fired back.
"At least it's not made of criminals anymore like Oto." Neji said with a sneer causing both Sasuke and Tayuya to glare at him.
"W-What has that have to do with anything."
"NOOOOO!" The three turned back to who screamed and they were horrified by what they saw.
The smuggler was beheaded on the spot, with his head sliced off in one slash by Kenji who had the indecency to chuckle at the corpse before turning to his comrades who were left unfazed.
"But, he said-" Wendy cried out as she buried her face into Erza's side with tears in her eyes.
"What? I said I didn't touch a single hair on his hair, see not a hair." Kenji said while tapping his feet at the guy's head before his toe touches the hair of the head of the frightened smuggler. For the other criminals, they didn't seem to show much sympathy.
The readers were silent as they glared at the image of the man before them.
"Oh, now I touched it."
"This guy is a psychopath!" Natsu shouted getting some agreements.
"Hopefully Naruto takes care of him soon before he can do worse." Happy said in worry.
Tayuya was too shocked for words, okay she may have some dark thoughts and could maybe, just maybe fit in this guy's feet. But damn the guy was a sick fuck.
Chojuro gritted his teeth "That bastard..."
Naruto kept staring, his face didn't seem to fade in a different emotion as he started to pinpoint his targets for causing as much damage and chaos as possible.
"Oh oh he looks like Minato did whenever he was about to launch attacks!" Kushina cried out in joy causing the room to become a little lighter again as they chuckled lightly at her antics.
"I'm bored...Hey, go get our prisoners, let's have some fun!"
Some cheering was heard among the crowd as from out of the tents, a man with binders covering his eyes was being dragged towards the wooden polls in the middle of the camping site.
'So much for trying to brighten their mood.' Kushina thought sadly as the readers became somber once more at the sight before them.
a middle-aged man with blue hair which is styled in a moussed-up manner. He was blinded against the wooden polls as a small crowd of rogue shinobi was surrounding them and making snickering comments.
"What the hell are they doing?" Tayuya whispered before turning to the blue-haired swordsman "What kind of sick fucks does your village get?"
"I-I don't know, Kenji is-"
Naruto ignored the bickering as he was slowly removing a scroll out of his coat and rolling it out...
"Oh I can't wait for him to kick their asses!" Natsu shouted with several others cheering along.
Kenji walked over to the man and snickered "Hehehehe, out of all the shinobi who I have fought, I'm surprised but also honored to meet you again." He removers the binders "Ao-Sensei."
The group was shocked that the man was once his student. They felt terrible for him too, having to see his student become what he was.
The man revealed to be Ao was wearing an eyepatch over his right eye and he was angered "Kenji, don't you dare call me your sense'. You've lost that respect when you betrayed the village."
"Kind of reminds me of Sensei and Orochimaru." Jiraiya said getting a nod from Tsunade.
"Hehehe, come on. What about all the missions we had done together? All the time we'd spend together?"
"That was before you went out and started killing our own comrades!" Ao shouted at him "When you were on a killing spree against all bloodline users with your band of scum!"
"I'm glad there were some in this Kiri place that knew what was happening was wrong and tried to stop it." Mira said.
"Yeah, didn't they say they had a new leader and had stopped all that terrible stuff? Things have to be looking up for them." Natsu said with a smile.
"Those bloodline freaks had to be put in their place. Just like Kaguya Clan who'd thought it was a good idea to rebel against the Bloody Mist."
"You murdered children! Kids! INFANTS!" Ao yelled in outrage against his former student "Your bloodlust cost us good shinobi, loyal shinobi who fled or had to hide! It's only thanks to Lady Terumi that those purges finally stopped and put an end to your bloodshed."
"I think this Kenji and his men will have to die. I just don't see how they can be brought in peacefully or not be expected to try to continue doing such terrible things." Iruka said.
The Fairy Tail mages were uncomfortable with the whole situation but Makarov found himself nodding with the teacher's words. These criminals were likely to kill even more innocents if they weren't put down.
"Oh, but that won't last for long." Kenji said pointing around "Look around you, with the help of those who stayed loyal to me and with the resources we have gathered. We will go back to our home village, remove that cunt! And restore the reputation of the Village Hidden in the Mist back to the Bloody Mist!" Kenji said revealing his plot, gaining some roars of approval from his comrades who were still loyal to him.
"He's planning to try and retake Kiri? He's mad, even with the numbers and skills they have as well as the clear amount of money, they would be nowhere near matching the full might of Kiri." Sakura said.
"Yes, but the new Mizukage just took power recently, there is likely to be many in Kiri who at best will stand by to see if her support base is strong enough to hold her position. There might be some that actively oppose her too." Tsunade explained. She had some of the same issues with her village as well, she would have hated to be in Mei's position.
'So we got a coup plot on our hands...great, I just was sent here to stop a smuggling ring and now I found out I'm in the middle of a dispute that can cause a crisis on an international level.' Naruto thought 'Agh, what the heck, let's get this over with.'
"Naruto's mission luck strikes again. Imagine he is facing practically all the things we mentioned earlier. Fighting a demon, taking down a tyrant, indirectly saving a princess if you consider the Mizukage that, and destroying a cult." Kakashi said in more amusement than anything. At least it was never boring around him.
"And this will just be the beginning." Kenji said chuckling while walking around Ao "I know my former teammate of a demon is on this island too, with a bloodline user also." Ao eyes widened after hearing that, just what Kenji wanted to see.
"What?" Several people asked.
"Do you think he means someone like Naruto?" Gray asked.
"Most likely." Kushina growled.
"Get her over here!"
A feminine scream was heard as a woman, with only pants with her chest only covered in binders with wavy blonde hair was being dragged by one of the mask-wearing Kiri shinobi.
"These bastards." Kiba growled seeing the way they were treating their prisoners.
She was thrown to the ground as her back was exposed, showing her vein exposing orb on her back that looked hideous.
"What is that?" Lucy asked horrified by the 'thing' on the woman's back.
"I don't know, but maybe it has to do with the bloodline that Kenji mentioned?" Jiraiya said.
Kenji unsheathed his blade and held it over the girl's neck "I wonder what would happen if he'd found out his student was on the verge of being beheaded for the mortal sin of being a bloodline user." He raised it up "LET'S FIND OUT!"
Ao pleaded "KENJI, DON'T!"
The girl screamed out in tears "PLEASE HELP ME! ANYONE!"
"The poor girl is terrified. These scum need a real beating." Mira said with heat in her voice surprising several with her aggressiveness. She seemed so passive typically.
As the blade was coming down on her, time suddenly felt going slower. Like time itself went into slow motion mode when three explosives tags were already thrown.
All three hit its targets:
The barrels of alcohol;
The open crate filled with explosives tags;
And the biggest ship of the smugglers.
"Heh, boss to the rescue!" Konohamaru cheered getting agreement around the room.
And yet, before they all exploded, a bubble was seen flowing through the air above the tents. That bubble belonged to the pipe of the man who wore a blue kimono that had earlier eavesdropped on Naruto and Tayuya in the tunnels. He now was hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to save his student.
"Wait, is that the man that Kenji had mentioned? He's there to also save the girl. I wonder if he really is like Naruto." Kushina said.
The bubble then popped, making a loud and non-expecting explosion. Causing the battles of Galuna island to begin.
Between Wizards and Wizards as well between Shinobi and Shinobi.
BOOM!
"Oh man, I can't wait to see them fight!" Natsu shouted.
"It will be pretty exciting, who wants to read?" Cana asked.
"I will." Kurenai said as the book landed in her lap.
Another chapter down. Anyway, as always please check out AmusedLight, the original author of Shadow of Fairy Tail, and so many more awesome stories. You won't be disappointed.
Until next time!