(August -X778)
The roar of the crowd drowned out every other sound it felt like he was listening to the waves of the ocean. But it was a sound he had become numb to thanks to years of constant battle and having his senses honed. Even in a new body, it was no different since all he had to do was relearn it.
Sweat dripped off of his face as he let out sharp quick breaths, slightly worn down from his current challenge. Nevertheless, he was the victor, the one left standing, the one whom the crowd was cheering for as the hefty unconscious carcass of his defeated opponent, a massive humanoid bull was being hauled away alongside a row of equally large humanoid goats or at least their forms.
"YEEESSS! Eat it Raster!"
The war chief screamed at the top of his lungs with sheer joy and adulation for what his champion had accomplished. Rubbing it on the face of his rival, another clan chief was the icing on the cake. Sasuke was the dark horse of this tournament and he knocked it out of the park.
"So, the little rascal has a pair after all. You got lucky finding him, Ragnar" the other war chief, Raster, grumbled, still having trouble comprehending the fact that a small kid was able to defeat some of his best warriors.
"Luck has nothing to do with this my friend, I knew Sasuke was special the moment I met him" Ragnar grinned and continued rubbing his victory over his rival.
"You say that every time something good happens to you" Raster whined, shifting slightly from his throne to reduce the discomfort.
"It seems the ancient spirits have cast their favor and chosen a champion for this year's festival. Feast your eyes on Sasuke Uchiha! Slayer of beasts!"
The crowd, mostly consisting entirely of berserkers roared their lungs out, some in their human form while others transformed into all kinds of humanoid creatures. In the middle, stood Sasuke, neither basking nor rejecting their adulation but simply standing still and being in the moment.
As the two chiefs stood up, the crowd was immediately silent as the leaders raised their hands. Ragnar beamed with pride while Raster showed a begrudging amount of respect with a firm nod. The silence slowly began to dissipate as the audience began stomping the ground. It started with one or two until eventually the rest joined in and the earth shook from their stomp.
"From this day forward, your name shall be remembered in our record of champions. Your accomplishments shall be known throughout the world, wear it with pride" Ragnar declared, pointing his fingers towards Sasuke.
"Let us raise our voice and show our appreciation for this year's new champion: Sasuke!"
"Sasuke! Sasuke! Sasuke!" cheers of his name began raining down on Sasuke, who groaned in agitation. The reason he agreed to this tournament in the first place was to honor the deal he made to rescue Mirajane. The last thing he wanted was infamy. Though perhaps, when he thought more on it; given the current state of things, being infamous wouldn't be a bad thing at all. The dark guilds had gone silent and making himself the target would be a surefire way to draw them out. But more than that, he honored the deal not out of a sense of pride or righteousness but because he couldn't afford to burn bridges with a potential ally. The berserkers had proven themselves to be helpful and there was a likely chance that they had some knowledge of the underworld and he was going to need that information.
…..
Sasuke stretched his arms and slowly rotated them to ease the stress on his shoulders thanks to the ordeal that he put them through by participating in this tournament. He had to constantly remind himself that he was no longer in his physical prime and thus, could no longer easily push himself as hard as he could despite his skill and tactical mind. It would be an uphill battle to regain his former speed and strength to catch up to the rest of his skills and abilities.
"There's the conquering hero!" Ragnar, the clan chief approached him with open arms, clearly overjoyed by not only him honoring their agreement but winning the entire thing for him. It certainly inflated his already big ego. Without considering his consent, Ragnar grabbed the much smaller boy, lifted him, and squeezed him tightly.
"Too…. tight" Sasuke struggled to breathe as the enormous muscles began to nearly crush him.
Thankfully, the clan chief had the where with all to know when he was going too far and gently dropped the Uchiha to the floor. "Ah, lighten up boy" Ragnar advised him, slapping Sasuke's back which nearly made him feel like his lungs were about to explode, "You fought against some of our best and won! And you're not even one of us! Just a teenie tiny little human...I think"
Before he could come up with a reply, Sasuke had to voraciously cough out loud to recover from the back slap that the berserker gave him, clearly unaware of his strength, just like a certain Mr. Gildarts from Fairy Tail. "Right" Sasuke croaked, his throat still parched from all the coughing he did.
"So" Ragnar spoke up once more, hands on his hips, "What will you do now?"
Sasuke stretched his neck sideways and rubbed his shoulders. After he had taken the time to compose himself, he finally came up with an answer, "I'm looking for a dark guild called Grimoire Heart. Know anything about it?"
"Grimoire Heart?" Ragnar wondered out loud, before shrugging his shoulders and apologizing, "Sorry, I don't follow dark guilds that much. Although, I will say this: there's talk amongst some of our people down in Crocus of some nasty rumors."
"What kind of rumors?"
"That some of the dark guilds have started developing a new kind of magical item, one that allows humans to turn into demons for a short period."
Sasuke's face perked up once he had heard the news. The darks guilds had been quiet as of late and requests to take care of them had dried up quickly. These two factors seemed too good to simply be coincidence, since, given what he had just heard, they were most likely planning something big down in the capital city.
"A poor imitation of our abilities if you ask me" Ragnar had finished his ramblings, though, by that time, Sasuke had already prepared to make his leave. Ragnar did not make any attempts to stop him, rather, he simply smiled and gave him one last farewell, "Planning to go there? Well then, good luck. Give them a good fight!"
"So Crocus, is it?" Makarov affirmed, "And can you trust your source?"
"No" Sasuke blatantly pointed out, "But it's still worth checking out. I'll be heading there tomorrow."
"What!? No, I forbid it!" Makarov blurted out, slamming the table.
The abrupt actions of the guild master surprised Sasuke, causing him to blink. He had never seen the master raise his voice, at least against him since he didn't cause so much trouble, but more importantly, he was confused since he didn't seem to have any issue with Sasuke doing things his way before.
"I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry" the old man apologized before he composed himself and rested on his chair. "What I mean is, don't go there without some help at least" he cleared up.
Even if the misunderstanding was cleared and he knew the old man meant well, it was advice Sasuke couldn't fully agree on. "The longer I wait for help, the worse it'll be" he argued.
"I understand that and trust me, I want to take action against them just as much as you do" Makarov explained, pausing before looking at Sasuke right in the eye, "But I'm concerned about you."
"Me?"
"Every time I see you come back to the guild, you're covered in scars and bruises. Not only that, but I've noticed that none of them are related to any quests, otherwise, I would've known" Makarov stated, "You've told me before that your goal was to get your left eye back, but I'm worried that you're letting it become an obsession."
Sasuke appreciated his concern, but he didn't feel like it was warranted for him nor was it the time for it either. "You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine."
"You're not the first person to tell me that," Makarov said, leaving his chair and standing between Sasuke and the door, cutting him off, "And I can promise you that it never ends well."
The dangers of obsessions; he didn't need Makarov to lecture him on that, given his own experience with the subject. His whole life was defined by one obsession or the other, whether it was getting stronger, seeking vengeance on Itachi then for his clan then the entire shinobi system, and every time, it resulted in nothing by failure, not because he didn't achieve his goals but because achieving them only left him broken and worse off. So, he could get where the old man was coming from, even if the context for it were very different. With a groan, Sasuke backed away a little while staring down Makarov. "Then what would you have me do? Hang around and let the dark guilds get away with plotting who knows what?" Sasuke asked with an irate tone.
"I never said you should simply let them be, but let's say you found them, what would you do then? What would you do if you met a member of the Balam Alliance?" Makarov retorted, "You're skilled, there is no doubt about that, but those wizards have spent decades honing their magic to their absolute peak. If what Cana said is true, then you nearly died fighting a lesser mage in Misty Bloom. How do you think you'll fare against the strongest dark guild members?".
Without hesitating, Makarov turned his back and removed his shirt, revealing a myriad of nasty scars than ran all across his back. "These were the results of my fateful encounter with the leader of Tartaros. It was years and even though I could not see his face, the power he displayed was beyond my comprehension. He slaughtered many of my comrades li while I barely managed to escape with my life."
"Hmmm" Sasuke mumbled. He was at a loss for words as he paced back and forth. He hated to admit it but Makarov was right in this instance. His encounters have proven that while he could hold his own, there were opponents who were far above him, at least for the time being. He'd need the full power of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan if he were to stand to chance, but it was something he didn't have at the moment. Even if the scars themselves were inconsequential since he couldn't gauge just how powerful this leader of Tartaros must be, it still got the point across.
"Like I said, if you're going to take the fight to the dark guilds, then you're going to need help" Makarov advised him.
"And just what kind of help, are we talking about here?"
"Remember Sasuke, the battle against the forces of darkness isn't just your fight alone nor Fairy Tail's" Makarov declared, slowly marching towards his desk. "I'll contact the other guilds and let them know of the situation. With any luck, you'll have aid in your investigation."
Not that he was against any help, but Sasuke didn't want other people getting involved in his mess either. Then again, considering the number of times he's had his hide saved by numerous people, having a few backups wouldn't hurt either. But that left another matter. "So, what am I supposed to do until then?"
"Why don't you spend some time here in Magnolia, smell the flowers, meet some people" the guild master suggested, "You've been away for a while, so I'm sure Erza and the others will be delighted to talk to you again. Might even help you remember what you're fighting for."
"What I'm fighting for" Sasuke spoke in his thoughts. He had been away for a while or rather, much like Gildarts, he was constantly on the road. But it was just that, aside from Erza and maybe Gray, talking to other people felt awkward and disjointed, like he didn't belong in most conversations aside from simply sitting quietly and listening in.
"By the way" Makarov announced, getting Sasuke's attention, "Natsu said he found a dragon's egg. You should see it for yourself if you're curious."
"A dragon's egg?"
…..
"You're kidding me? A dragon's egg? Don't tell me you believe in all that garbage"
Baffled was the best word to describe what Laxus was feeling after returning from a job only to hear from the mouths of Macao and Wakaba that Natsu had discovered a dragon egg.
"I dunno, Natsu said he was raised by a dragon so why not" Macao shrugged.
"Yeah, liked I'd buy that" Laxus dismissed Macao's claim, unconvinced by his answer.
"Give em a break, they're kids" Wakaba pointed out, "Lisanna even made a little bitty house to protect the egg."
"That's so cute"
"Dawww, puppy love"
As the two adults cooed over the thought of Natsu and Lisanna together, Laxus had already departed from their presence in disgust. "You guys are lame" he stated as he left, unable to stand another second listening to them.
But someone else was also listening in on the conversation and she was none too pleased by what she had heard. It started with an audible growl before Mirajane proceeded to smash the table Macao and Wakaba were sitting on with one hand.
"What the heck is your problem all of a sudden!?" Wakaba shouted.
"Can't you just sulk around like a normal teenager!?" Macao added, being just as baffled as his drinking partner.
Their yelling went unheard as Mirajane was busy in her world, her body shaking at the thought of her beloved little sister hanging out with the guild's resident problem child. "I knew something was up when she didn't show up at the guild this morning. So, she's been hanging out with Natsu, has she?" she muttered to herself, still oblivious to the big mess she had made. As if having a realization of the implication of Natsu and Lisanna hanging together, Mirajane suddenly yelled at the top of her voice, "SHE CAN'T BE FRIENDS WITH SOMEONE FROM TEAM ERZA!"
"She is seriously PO" Macao nervously murmured.
"Try to chill out, jeez!" Wakaba pointed out.
On the other side of the hall, Sasuke and Erza were listening in on the fiasco, curious as to what was going on. Much like Laxus, Sasuke himself was a bit surprised when he heard that Natsu found a dragon egg even if he wasn't as baffled by it as the others were since he had never seen a dragon in real life nor the thought of encountering one in the first place. Aside from the stories he had been told long ago and their description of what a dragon looking far different from his interpretation, the closest he had ever encountered towards what they would call a "dragon" was his encounters with the ice drakes back in Trieste.
"I didn't think she could get any crankier than before," Erza remarked as she looked on.
Sasuke quietly nodded as he took a sip of water. Having accepted Makarovs advice to take a break, the Uchiha met up with Erza and watched the scene unfold. He found Mirajane's change in demeanor and personality incredibly jarring. It was as if one moment she was this scared, timid girl and then a temperamental, foul-mouthed delinquent the next. Perhaps he didn't understand her as well as he thought he did.
"Hey you" Mirajane called out, walking over to Sasuke with a vexed look. "You came back a while ago, didn't you? So, you seen Natsu and Lisanna?" she asked, pointing at him.
"No"
"Then why do you look like you just got ran over by a herd of Vulcans?" Mirajane placed a hand on her hip and scowled, before immediately looking away, "Not that I care or anything."
"Hey, leave him alone, Mira" Erza interjected, displeased with Mirajane's perceived abrasiveness towards Sasuke.
"Or what? Afraid he'll ignore you?" Mirajane shot back with a gleaming smirk.
Erza's face morphed into that of outrage, clearly seeing the challenge initiated by Mirajane from that smug look on her face as if daring her to do something. "Why you" she growled as the two immediately locked horns, glaring daggers at each other before coming to blows.
"I'm gonna bury you alive!"
"I'll make you beg for mercy"
Before anyone could even so much as blink, the stare-down escalated into an all-out brawl as the two traded blows, physically and verbally.
"Is that armor your wearing stacked!?"
"Like showing off your love handle!?"
"Ugly prude!"
"You stupid witch!"
"Thunder thighs!"
"Skinny twig!"
When Sasuke decided to take a break, he had hoped for some peace and quiet. The reason he chose to hang around with Erza was because she was one of the few with whom he didn't have to awkwardly converse with, being that she had been his friend for the longest. But now, she had become just as fight-crazed as Natsu and Gray were, whenever Mirajane was around and it was also starting to get a bit too loud for his comfort. Maybe having a rival wasn't a bad thing for her, since it allowed her to play off someone and push herself to become even better than before, he just wished their apparent rivalry wasn't so loud and destructive all the time.
"Annoying, isn't it?"
Sasuke felt a strong presence behind him and looked back to see Laxus sitting close to him, leaning on the table. They had barely interacted before and he wasn't sure what he was doing now, but he had a bad feeling about it. What little contact they made always resulted in Laxus giving off an unpleasant stare at him for reasons he had no idea about, though the feeling was mutual. Worse, he was the master's grandson, meaning he was destined to succeed as the guild master someday.
"Then again, having a couple of chicks fight over you doesn't seem so bad" he continued with deadpan seriousness and not a single hint of humor or irony. "Speaking of fights sounds like the old man gave you quite the earful this morning. I could hear him yell at you all the way from down here."
"What do you want, Laxus?" Sasuke asked, facing away from the blond wizard.
Laxus for his part also refused to make eye contact with the Uchiha and continued leaning on the table and facing the other side. "Nothing really, just curious as to what the old geezers favorite kid did to piss him off so much" he sardonically replied.
Sasuke rolled his eye and groaned. "Listen, I hear a new rumor every day but the old man doesn't have favorites" he addressed. The last thing he wanted was for another rumor to spread about Makarov showing favor to him. The can of worms that would open if that happened would probably make him want to leave town, permanently.
"Oh really? Then how do you explain the recent visits you've been getting to his office?" Laxus insisted, unconvinced by Sasuke's explanation. "You two must have some pretty big secret if you ask me. Something really important."
"So what? Gonna start talking about it to everyone in the guild?" Sasuke rebuffed his implication with a dare.
"No need for that. I have no interest in exposing secrets" Laxus condescendingly reassured him, "After all, once the master croaks, I'm gonna be the one to take over. I just need to wait a little longer."
"Hmph" Sasuke let out an indignant huff but refused to utter another word, all the while Laxus began standing up and taking his leave.
"Oh, and here's a little word of advice, on the house since I like you so much" Laxus stopped and faced Sasuke, who in turn, stared back, his words dripping with condescending insincerity "Don't believe a thing that the old geezer says."
As the heir to the guild strolled out of his space, the Uchiha continued narrowly glaring at him, his advice kept ringing in his head. What made Laxus approach him like this and say those things? Was he after something? An implication of threat perhaps or even warning. There was not a lot to go on at the moment but one thing was clear….
He had to keep an eye out for Laxus.
What he hoped to be a quiet morning turned into another of Fairy Tail's usual ruckus, something that grated Sasuke to no end. It didn't start this way, as earlier at dawn, things were surprisingly much quieter. He did try hanging out with people aside from Erza, such as Gray and Cana, reminiscing their time back in Misty Bloom and the events that transpired there. Sasuke for his part mostly kept to himself and remained quiet while Cana and Gray did most of the talking, but at the same time, he didn't mind spending some more time with Gray and getting to know him a little bit better.
It was no different with the others as well like Levy, Macao, and Wakaba, all of whom greeted him with the usual friendliness, Erza who was always ecstatic to see him, and Mirajane, who was a bit rougher and to the point before quickly moving away. Initially, he was a bit confused to see her all by herself without Lisanna nor Elfman in sight until he remembered that Lisanna was helping Natsu raise a supposed dragon's egg.
It was exactly at that moment that a certain pink-haired boy kicked down the front door of the guild hall and stormed in, looking like he was about to burn the entire place down for some reason or another, which in turn, ruined any tranquility that Sasuke was hoping for.
"Alright, out with it! Which one of you stole the egg?"
Natsu yelled as he began interrogating each and every single person for information, starting with Gray and Cana, before moving on to Laxus and Erza. By the time he was done with them, he moved on to Sasuke, who was already anticipating his arrival with a sigh.
"Sasuke, you stole it, didn't you!" Natsu angrily pointed at the one-eyed boy.
"I just got here yesterday. I don't know anything about the egg you idiot" Sasuke bluntly replied.
The situation escalated even further the moment Mirajane started teasing Natsu about him eating the egg, resulting in the boy threatening to beat up Mira. What followed was the usual routine of them hurling insults at each other while brawling. Sasuke for his part simply sighed and tried his best to block out the noise, hoping that these fights would become less reoccurring in the years that would follow if the guild could survive that long. Simultaneously, his thoughts also went back to a time in his life when he would do the same with Naruto, constantly insulting each other while brawling, of course with him coming out on top most of the time, making him feel like the last person who should be lecturing them on not fighting since he didn't have much ground to stand on.
Much to his relief, Erza managed to break up the fight before Mirajane most likely destroyed Natsu and made attempts to act as the mediator, solving the proving through dialogue. It caused Sasuke to blink a little, but seeing her take charge and attempt to solve the problem diplomatically did make him crack a smile, even if only for a little bit.
Eventually, the truth came out once Elfman approached them with the egg, which Sasuke was seeing for the first time, and was surprised by how large it was. The middle Strauss admitted to taking the egg to take better care of it and just as he handed it over to Natsu, the egg began to hatch as a white light shone from within and floated in the air before revealing its true form for everyone to see.
There were a lot of ways to describe how he felt when looking at that thing, perplexed being one of them. "A flying…..blue….cat…huh" he noted with an almost confused tone as if surprised that he even said those words. The blue cat eventually landed in Natsu's arms as everyone rushed in to see it for themselves and began cooing nonstop.
"It's so cute!" The guild members shouted in unison as they gathered around the cat.
Amidst all of this, Sasuke could hear Natsu happily proclaim "Happy the dragon!" which almost caused him to chuckle until he realized what he was doing. Surprised by this turn of events, Sasuke looked around to see a crowd of guild members all happily chatting and having fun with each other's company, the kids that were bickering before were hanging out without any issue and even Laxus, someone who shared his preference to keep himself seemed more content than before. It was at that moment that he understood why Makarov was so insistent on him staying for a while, to try and enjoy himself in the company of others. The smiles, the infectious laughter, and the happiness they exuded: it was a reminder of what he was fighting for and the consequences of losing himself to his obsession. He may not be around all the time, but they had become the closest thing to family to him, even if he wouldn't admit to it.
"You're not going to join up with the rest of us"
Sasuke looked up to see Erza standing in front of him with a smile.
"Erza?" Sasuke said, a little taken aback by her presence though not unwelcoming either. "I can see everything from here just fine. Don't worry about it"
"Natsu kept telling people it was a dragon's egg. But who would've thought it would turn out to be a flying blue cat" she stated, alluding to the scene upfront.
"I've seen weirder," Sasuke said.
"I see" Erza noted as she lowered herself and looked Sasuke in the eye. "So how long are you gonna be here this time?"
"Probably a day or two, maybe longer depending on the situation" Sasuke answered.
"In that case, why don't you keep me company? It's been a while since the two of us just hung around" Erza suggested, giving off a beaming and radiant smile.
He couldn't find it in himself to say no to her offer though he did not fully know why. Maybe he was just tired of wandering around by himself. "Okay, so what do you wanna do?" he asked.
"Well…" Erza perked up and clasped her hands upon hearing his reply before speaking up, "I thought we should spar. I've picked up a lot of new tricks since the last time you taught me but I really wanna know what you think."
"Sounds good" Sasuke nodded and smiled back.
"Great! Let's start tomorrow" Erza let out a beaming grin.
"Here, take a look" another individual interjected himself between Sasuke and Erza. As the two kids looked up, they saw a tall man with short orange curly hair handing over a piece of paper to Erza. "What do you think?"
"This is amazing!" Erza spoke in awe of the painting that he had done in mere minutes. "You really are great at what you do, Reedus!"
Sasuke had to agree with Erza. For what seemed like an ordinary painting, it immediately endeared itself to Sasuke thanks to its uncanny realism and impeccable attention to detail. Everyone looked exactly like their real-life counterparts, even himself. Perhaps, it was one of his abilities as a mage or maybe it was simply sheer hard work and talent, but whatever the case, an idea struck the Uchiha's hand.
"Reedus?" Sasuke spoke up as he handed the painting back.
"Qui?"
"There's something I wanted to ask of you"
Mirajane watched the scene unfold from the distance. It wasn't her business and she didn't want to come off as petty but the sight of Erza happily hanging around with Sasuke and seeing him loosen up only in front of the redhead irked her for some reason. She let out an indignant "hmph" and looked away with her eyes closed, not wanting her annoyance to be conveyed to others.
"Is something wrong Mira" Lisanna asked.
"It's nothing" Mirajane answered and tried to brush the issue aside as she frowned and moved someplace else.
Erza ran forward and thrust the practice sword towards Sasuke's face, who moved out of the way and deflect the attack with his dummy sword. Erza used the momentum of the parry to spin around and strike Sasuke from the side, who predictably blocked it and delivered a side kick that caused Erza to stumble back.
"You've improved"
Hearing his compliment, Erza smirked and wiped the sweat off her forehead. "I told you I've been practicing"
While the two continued exchanging strikes, a small audience gathered to watch them. Gray. Cana, Lisanna, Levy, and Natsu alongside Happy all gathered around and sat at the nearby hilly slope as they observed the sparring session.
"You know, when you told me Erza and Sasuke were fighting, I was expecting some hard-hitting action and big explosions, but this…...this is just boring" Gray complained as he furrowed his eyes.
"Tell me about it. I thought they were gonna go all out" Natsu groaned. Without warning, Natsu suddenly rose to his feet as flames erupted from his hands. "Alright, this is getting too boring now! You know what? I'll take them both on and beat em!"
"Natsu!" Lisanna called out.
"Wait, you idiot, do you have a death wish?!" Gray warned him.
Natsu refused to heed their warnings as he roared and leaped forward. "Sasuke, Erza, you better watch out coz I'm coming for ya!" he shouted.
Just as he was about to throw his first punch, however, Erza and Sasuke smacked him in the face in unison and sent him flying back as he landed face-first on the ground with his butt sticking out.
"Stupid is as stupid does, hahaha" Gray chuckle at the sight of his arch nemesis getting trashed.
"Oh Natsu" Lisanna was a lot more sympathetic, but even she sighed in disappointment.
Out of concern, Sasuke and Erza made their way over to Natsu, who was still lying on the ground dazed and looking like he was seeing stars. "If you want to get the jump on your opponent, then don't announce yourself like a fool" Sasuke knelt and consulted him.
"I'll beat you both next time" Natsu continued mumbling, obliviously to Sasuke's advice, earning a sigh from both the Uchiha and Erza.
"Guess he's still out of it" Erza noted.
Amidst the scuffle, Happy flew over to his friend and tried to wake him, shaking him with his little paws. "Hey Natsu, are you okay?"
Happy speaking took startled Sasuke as he stood up and looked over at Erza with a confused look. "Is it just me or did that cat just talk?" he asked, scratching his head.
"Guess you wouldn't know. Happy's a quick learner. He's growing up fast" Erza replied, snickering at his dumbfounded expression because it was quite rare for him to look so out of place.
As Natsu slowly came to his back to his senses, he sat up, looking dejected at being beaten so easily and with barely any effort. He knew both were beyond his level but he just couldn't accept it; it wasn't in his nature to not be stubborn.
"You've got heart" Sasuke spoke up, as Natsu looked towards him and blinked, "You just need to start using your head as well."
"Exactly" Erza added.
In response, Natsu almost looked like he was about to get wide-eyed before quickly looking away and pouting. His pride wouldn't allow it.
"Hey Sasuke!" a familiar voice called out from a distance, inching ever closer with inhuman speed. He had a sharp angular face with orange hair much like Reedus. Once he reached Sasuke, he skidded to halt his momentum as he panted heavily in front of Sasuke.
"Jet? What are you doing here?" the Uchiha asked.
Jet took a while to catch his breath before answering. "The Master told me to give this to you" Jet took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it over to Sasuke, who took it off of his hands, opened it, and read its contents as Erza tried to peek over to look at it to no avail. Natsu himself looked up with wide eyes and Happy took the initiative to sneak a peek from a better angle to give Natsu the answer, even if his reading skills were still underdeveloped.
Once he finished reading it, Sasuke folded the paper and stuffed it inside of his pocket as he handed over his practice sword to Erza.
"What's wrong? What did it say?" Erza inquired, taking the dummy sword from Sasuke's hands.
"It's nothing serious, I'll just go out of town again tomorrow" Sasuke reassured her.
Erza knew better than to believe his words. Every time he left Magnolia and came back, he always returned worse for wear, obviously doing something that was incredibly dangerous if not reckless. If she had to guess, he was on some personal mission of his, maybe something that had to do with the tower.
Just thinking about that place felt like her heart was getting stabbed. But if Sasuke was doing something about it alone, then Erza felt obligated to assist him.
"Wait, let me come with you tomorrow. I wanna help" Erza offered.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine. I'll be meeting up with a couple of people that the master knows to help me" Sasuke politely declined her offer.
"But don't you think it'll be better if you had an extra pair of hands" Erza argued, "Especially if you're trying to back" she paused and looked at Natsu and the others before quickly leaning into Sasuke's ear and whispered those certain words " …...there."
Sasuke paused as he interpreted what "there" meant. He knew she was subtly talking about the tower and while her concerns were unwarranted, it did make him reflect on what Makarov had told him earlier. Still, he didn't want Erza to get involved in any business of his, for her own safety.
"I made a promise remember? I'm not going to break it. And it's not about…...' that place'" he placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to dispel her worries.
Erza was silent for a moment before she looked at Sasuke and spoke up, "all right. But let me know if you need any help, I'll fight."
"I will" he nodded.
The trip towards Crocus was rather uneventful, though, at the very least, Sasuke didn't have to trek through the whole voyage on foot since Makarov lent him a carriage. But Crocus wasn't the destination, at least not yet. As instructed in the letter, Makarov had arranged for a meeting point for his allies at a crossroads intersecting the different highways of Fiore, all of which eventually led to Crocus.
"Stop here" he ordered the driver, who awkwardly complied.
"Ummm…okay"
In the distance, stood a large young man with little to no hair on his head. His heavily muscular build contrasted his choice of clothing or lack thereof since he was bare from the waist up with only a long loincloth, blue pants, and furry boots to cover his lower half. The smile he showed also didn't mesh well with his intimidating appearance.
"Greetings, it seems you've finally made it" the man waved and anticipated Sasuke's arrival. "You must be the representative from Fairy Tail, Sasuke Uchiha, am I correct?"
"I am" Sasuke replied, "And you are?"
"Jura Neekis of Lamia Scale" the man answered, "We've been waiting for you for a while."
"We?"
"Why yes indeed" a slick, sultry voice slithered its way over to Sasuke's ear, vibrating inside of it. As he looked towards its point of origin, however, he was met with disappointment at the dissonance between the voice and its owner: a short, stout man with a rectangular face, another person with orange hair, and a very prominent chin. In contrast to Jura, the short man was well dressed in a white suit and pants with a blue rose adorning the left part of his attire.
"Meeennnn…." The strange man said as he skipped his way over to Sasuke before leaning in a little too close for Sasuke's comfort and taking a sniff out of him, making him gawk in awkwardness in the process. "Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff….My, my, what exquisite parfum you have there" the man boldly stated.
"It's called deodorant" Sasuke bluntly answered, pushing the stout man away just to regain his personal space and boundary. "Are you with him?" he asked.
"In a way, but not really" the man brushed his hair and continued, "I'm Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki. Esteemed arch mage of the Blue Pegasus guild."
Sasuke's eye twitched at the weirdness of it all. Admittedly, he had no clue how capable they were in combat and he knew better than to underestimate anyone. Still, he couldn't help but cringe at the sight of Ichiya, the so-called representative and top wizard of Blue Pegasus. At least Jura looked like he could fight and came off more dignified. The silver lining was that he didn't have to do this alone nor involve people like Erza or Gray and he now had the opportunity to observe the wizards from other guilds in action.
"Now that we've all gathered here, I believe it's time we discuss our next course of action. Sasuke, you said that there were rumors of dangerous dark guild activity in Crocus" Jura spoke up, addressing the situation at hand, "Could you elaborate a bit more?"
"According to my sources, there's talk amongst his people in the city that dark guilds are developing some sort of magical item that will allow humans to transform into demons. At least for a short period" Sasuke explained.
"Turning humans to demons, that does sound quite…. problematic" Ichiya stated, striking a somewhat strange pose and raising his hands in the air with one leg up, " Still, are you certain your sources are valid, maaan?"
"It doesn't matter if they're valid, if there's even a whiff of dark guild activity, it's trouble" Sasuke asserted.
"I concur with Sasuke, anything that has to do with dark guilds is a problem for all of us" Jura agreed, nodding along, "And even if his sources turn out to be nothing more than a false alarm, I believe it is safer to investigate it ourselves and confirm that nothing is wrong."
"Very well then, shall we procee-"
"Wait…we're being watched" Sasuke cut Ichiya off as he carefully made his way to the back of the cart.
"Is everything alright?" the driver asked, watching Sasuke gingerly make his way to the rear.
Ignoring the driver, Sasuke inspected the tail end of the cart. He could hear blatant giggling and muffling sounds coming from one of the large blankets that covered the contents, which were the drivers' goods. As he unveiled the blanket, what was revealed before him made him exhale loudly.
"Ummm….hi?"
…..
Natsu, Happy, and Lisanna sat on the ground as they looked on with dread as Sasuke crossed his arms and tapped his right foot for ten whole minutes. The fear of the punishment felt stronger than the punishment itself, whatever it may be. Erza was already a scary person when provoked, so they could only imagine how terrifying the normally quiet Sasuke must be.
"What the hell were you three thinking, following me?" Sasuke asked with an irate tone.
"It was Natsu's idea" Without hesitation, Happy immediately confessed, pointing his paws towards Natsu.
"Hey! Who told you to snitch!" the pink-haired dragon slayer protested before immediately covering his mouth upon realizing that he just admitted to the crime.
Knowing how dim-witted Natsu could be, Sasuke turned to Lisanna; someone whose actions he found a little disappointing since she was always the more level-headed of the group. "What about you?" he inquired.
"Happy's telling the truth. It was Natsu's idea and we followed you here" Lisanna dejectedly confessed.
"You too Lisanna!" Natus cried out.
With the beans spilled, Sasuke looked towards Jura and Ichiya, the former looking on with his arms crossed as well while the latter continued striking ridiculous poses. Once he had made his decision, he took a deep breath and exhaled audibly, before aggressively scuffing the hairs of both Natsu and Lisanna.
"You've got some nerve tailing me" he chided the two of them, before turning his attention to Lisanna, "And what do you think would've happened if something happened to you on my watch, your brother and sister would've been worried sick."
"Oww, Oww, please stop!" Lisanna begged.
"Yeah, oww, we just wanted to see what you were up to!" Natsu added.
"What I do with my time is my business alone. I don't need you three poking your noses in it" Sasuke firmly stated.
"Oh yeah, I don't think so" Natsu argued, standing up and summoning flames from his hands with a big grin, "I bet you've been sneaking into some super-secret quests and getting some awesome fights."
Sasuke's response to his challenge was to swift bonk the dragon slayer in the head, knocking him back to the ground as Lisanna and Happy winced at the sight.
"You totally deserved that one, Natsu" Happy teased at Natsu's predicament yet still flew over to check on his friend.
As if the swift punishment was barely an inconvenience to him, Natsu immediately sat back up and began yelling at the Uchiha, "Hey what was that for!? Man, you're just as bad as Erza. Like a stinky, meanie crappy, rotting, turd poo."
"They're the same thing" Sasuke mumbled.
"What did you say?"
"Crap, turd, and poo. They're the same thing, you brain-dead idiot!"
Natsu was shocked, and so were Happy, and Lisanna. They had never seen Sasuke raise his voice and get so irritated before. Seeing him like this was a shocker and Natsu wasn't sure whether to be proud of it or fear the worst.
It wasn't the comment itself that made him lash out, but rather a culmination of Natsu's stubborn behavior and need to challenge him constantly that got under his skin. Perhaps the dragon slayer reminded him too much of Naruto, almost to an uncomfortable degree.
Hoping to calm things down, Lisanna slowly walked over to Sasuke and gently clarified, "We didn't follow you here just for fun. Erza's been worried sick about you and so is the rest of us because you always come back hurt. That's why the three of us decided to follow you and help you out with whatever problems you were having, so you'd come back without a scratch."
Sasuke's voice hitched as he raised a brow. In his early days, he would've easily brushed her comments aside and moved on, but now, he was seemingly unable to string up a proper response. There was a strange feeling swelling up inside; it felt like he was almost grateful for the gesture she was giving but more important than that, touched that they would care enough to do this, even if it was stupid and reckless. "I see..." he struggled to find the words to convey to Lisanna.
"If I may" Jura inserted himself into the conversation, "Perhaps it would be for the best to send these three-back home. We can continue with our mission later."
"No" Sasuke immediately rejected the proposal, returning to his old self again, "We've waited too long and wasted too much time. We'll take them along with us."
"Alright!" Natsu leaped in joy as Lisanna and Happy joined him.
"But you're going to have to do exactly as I say and in the first sign of trouble, you'll stay out of the way" Sasuke continued.
"What? C'mon" a dejected Natsu protested.
"Is there a problem?" Sasuke's entire expression changed from apathetic to murderous as he glared intensely at the three of them, the dark shadow covering his eye becoming more prominent as he frowned at them. It was enough to send shivers down the spines of all three of them.
"No sir. We understand sir!" the three said in unison. A new lesson was learned that day: Erza and Mirajane weren't the only terrifying forces at Fairy Tail.
"Good, then let's go. I expect you three to pull your weight."
As Sasuke continued lecturing the three kids, Jura and Ichiya curiously observed Sasuke's conduct and made their assessments of him.
"Meeenn, his reputation proceeds him," Ichiya said.
"Indeed. But I'm more interested in witnessing his skills in battle" Jura added.
Before anyone starts pointing out about Natsu still being while staying in a moving vehicle ; Remember that Dragon Slayer takes years to develop and those keen dragon sense only start growing as the slayer in question matures. That's why Wendy and Gajeel took much longer to develop those motion sickness than Natsu. Also, at this point, he's still just a kid and he's got years to train before his dragon sense are up to what they will be in canon.
Also regarding the pace of the story, it'll still be a slow paced one but I will be skipping over a year.
Tony the tired one: You have to understand the context of the story to know why he surrendered the Rinnegan. First of all, he felt he had no choice on the matter because he had spent a long time getting tortured and barely had the energy to fight back in the rebellion. By the time Jellal turned evil and confronted him and Erza, he didn't have much strength to fight back anymore. Also, Jellal was holding Erza hostage with his telepathy and he could've crushed Erza in any second. At that point Sasuke, felt he was choosing the lesser of two evils. It's also a symbolic representation of him being a different person to who he was before: he went from someone sacrificing anyone and everyone if it meant achieving his goals and getting more power to someone who's willing to sacrifice his power if it means saving someone else.
Secondly, what WE as the reader and writer SEE are completely different from what they see and understand the world around them. We know what the Rinnegan is capable of as well as its limitations, Jellal and the other characters do not. They're working under the assumption that the Rinnegan is some special eye from Zeref. Also, your statement of handing a minigun to an aggressor is almost correct, but it's more accurate to say that the minigun is empty and thus it's nothing more than a cumbersome, heavy hunk of useless metal. Even if Jellal got the Rinnegan, how do you think he was going to get it to work? Even those with Uchiha chakra like Tobi could only use one Rinnegan otherwise he would've been overwhelmed. If Jellal tried to rip his eye out and pop it in, he would've just collapsed at best. And later chapters have shown that no one else could do the same thing. Even Sasuke himself couldn't use it at the moment. Later on, he made it his mission to get it back because he feels it is his responsibility.
Also regarding some of your points : 1) this whine darkness thing was controlled by the time he reached the war since he talked with the kages – No it wasn't. He simply switched his goals and planned to betray everyone by making himself the newest threat as a means of keeping peace and that included execution. 2) he has -learned be careful with his shit after everything that went down – That is true to an extent, but he was still recklessly charging after enemies like Madara and making decisions based on his interest like trying to kill the tailed beasts despite Naruto's protests. 3) he literally admitted defeat to Naruto, the only thing that keep him going was not his darkness but the need to take the darkness of everyone else so he can burden the world alone. – His darkness was influencing his decisions. His plan was to do what Itachi did but on a bigger scale, not caring about the consequences or ramifications it would bring. When Naruto questions what would he have done if he met a threat that was too great, he had no answer. Once he admitted defeat to Naruto, he developed a new perspective on the world and wanted to learn more about it, showing a willingness to make amends and change.
Was it a stupid and reckless thing to do? Yes. But it's something that I felt Sasuke would've done in the heat of the moment not what I personally would've done, because I know how the story goes and that's what I have always have to remind myself when writing this story. These characters in this world do not have the perspective that I do and will make mistakes.
Drew86419: If people want to read my story, they can, if they don't want to, they won't. I'm not going to lose sleep over how many people favorites me and how many don't. But I will always appreciate those who do stick around, and I have absolutely no problem taking in criticism, so long as people don't act like jackasses. Maybe the story isn't how you envisioned it and that's fine, but I'm not writing this story for money or to get work. I write this story because I love both franchises and I want to impart my vision into it and it won't be everyone's cup of tea, I've accepted that. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not some god tier author who can do no wrong, I've made mistakes, plenty of it. I could just as easily stoop to your level and call you out on your own stories not having many views or having your own reviewers tell you how much your writing sucks but I won't. I'm not some punching bag, even I have limits. There's plenty of fairytail/Naruto fanfiction that you might find better suited to your taste. I hope you find them and enjoy them.
Iskandar Hero: I'm very fond of the Betty and Veronica tropes common in love triangles and it's been the basis of the rivalry between Erza(Betty) and Mirajane (Veronica).
Scaramouche38: The zero to hero journey is something I've always loved. It's kinda like starting a JRPG losing all your powers, stats and equipment and slowly rebuilding your way to becoming as strong as your prime and more. Regarding the replication of the eye, I always figured that it was plausible with someone like Zeref, given that he was a wizard prodigy and had centuries of knowledge. Also, Fiore is a completely different universe from the Narutoverse, and so how he discovered it will be revealed later.
Yoj1mb03796: Thank you so much for pointing it out. Some of these mistakes tend to slip through the cracks or because I idiotically overlook them. I'll be fixing them soon. I still can't believe I overlooked such a silly mistake.
Moose16364: Don't worry, I will finish this story so long as outside circumstances still allow me.
fruitspunchsamurai-987: Hagoromo was powerful enough to fight a being who could wipe out continents. It'll probably the only time you'll see him in action though, otherwise, he'd finish the plot too soon.
Seeking the Miraculous Dream: Its one of his other goals, both in this fic and canon. He doesn't want others to repeat the same mistakes he made. That's one of the reasons why he went to great lengths to stop Chino from pursuing the same path that he did in the Shinden story.
Sinner and Redeemer: Glad you like it.
Hydra 1996: You got your wish.
Aka Daka: If you read in my stories so far, you might notice that Ultear has a lot of screentime and chapter appearances alongside Erza, at least from the Fairy Tail side. So, if you love Ultear, you'll be in for a treat. I've got a lot of great arcs with her involved.
Kea-MX: But it's also more rewarding because you can't just make him a nice guy or a flirt and be done with it like you would with Naruto or anyone else. With Sasuke, for him to love someone, the connection and meaning behind that has to be strong. So while it's a challenge, it's also worth it imo.
Shiroyasha Rises: For all its problems, Boruto does a great job showing Sasuke interact with his wife and daughter. Those scenes have always helped me greatly in order to write Sasuke. For example, if I have writing Sasuke being nice, I just look at how he interacts with Sarada.
Black Luster: Erza would be the sweet, but plain girl next door while Mirajane would be the exotic, spunky but bitchy one, then the roles could reverse later. Kagura would be in between.