The Prophecy child

by Knight Rider204

What will happen when a boy who has never seen the outside world and carrying the burden of many, steps on Ishgar. He has been trained like a soldier. But a curse prevents him from making new friends and family while his own have been sacrificed for his sake on the land of his ancestors. NarutoXHarem. I don’t own the cover image

9. The Tenshi Incident

THE PROPHECY CHILD

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Chapter 8: The Tenshi Incident!!

"Talking"- Normal person speaking

'Thinking'- Normal person thinking

"Talking"- Demon/ Dragon speaking

'Thinking'- Demon/ Dragon speaking

Disclaimer: Neither do I own Naruto nor fairy tail. I just own my imagination

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~[ Unknown Forest ]~

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X778,

Cold winds were steadily rustling through the green tops in the highlands. It began as a slow whispering in the air. The sky was grey. A bit gloomier than it normally is at this time of the day. A storm was approaching from north-east. It was hauntingly quiet and peaceful as dark clouds rallied across the sky changing the weather and thereby alerting the living creatures of the forest that resided below of the forbidding lash down.

In the forest with large, thick and tall trees like skyscrapers that seemed to touch the sky, two individuals walked along a dirt path that was far-less used. Apparent, from the growing grass that made it difficult for one of the two to distinguish exactly which way they were headed while the second one walked peacefully without bothering to notice his partner's discomfort or the weather's untimely call.

The living creatures in the forest, searching for shelter noticed the two approach and hurried away from them while the younger ones called out to the smaller one of the duo with their respective chirping, roaring or barking. The smaller one of the travellers seemed to understand what the animals were trying to convey and nudged his partner who was walking while humming a tune to himself.

"Troublesome...Look I know I enjoy being quiet to take a nap. But the forest residents are trying to warn us about the approaching storm." The smaller of the duo exclaimed in a bored tone which contradicted his childish voice extremely. He shifted his red eyes under the hood of his cloak to check, if his partner was paying attention. Surprisingly enough, the taller of the two didn't even make some noise while walking in the forest full of foliage.

The red-eyed individual was currently perched upon his friend's head as they trudged towards their destination. On closer inspection of the duo, one would notice that the smaller one of them was actually too small and out of shape to be a human. He was dressed in a plain orange hooded cloak that masked his further appearance.

The taller of the duo looked upwards with a calm gaze, appearing to just now noticing the drastic change in weather which would cause a wreck in any normal traveller's plans in this large forest. However, this was no mere traveller. This was Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Currently the last survivor from Konoha, the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze and also known to some people as the Prophecy Child. Although he didn't even know about the last title.

He had grown somewhat in the last two years, he appeared to be of perfect height for his own age. His hair had grown a bit but he still refused to comb them into any specific style, allowing them to sway on his head with all of their unruly glory. He wore his regular clothing only with the difference of his knee-length plain black hooded cloak which concealed his appearance and protected him from the upcoming rainfall.

"Very generous of them. However, we cannot afford to stop here. The cloaks will protect us from rain. Also, if we rest now...we could loose our sense of direction due to the upcoming storm... again!" He said in a monotone voice having entered his 'mission mode'. He whispered the last part to himself.

"Tch...Why do we even have to pursue this path? It doesn't make sense, WE WOULD'VE BEEN ON THE TRAIN RIGHT NOW! IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO THIS SPOOKY DEMON HUNT!!" His partner shouted out in his ears ignoring his friend's grunts of pain due to the extreme proximity, at which he exclaimed his frustrations.

Suddenly a heavy and serious atmosphere settled between the two. All of the forest residents seemed to become silent, only the sound of rustling leaves could be heard as the winds crashed into the dense forest trees. The smaller figure glared at Naruto while his partner just stared blankly at the dirt path ahead of him.

Suddenly Naruto disappeared from under the small figure, making him yelp comically due to the sudden lack of footing. From under the hood, the figure floated steadily while searching for his blonde companion. He waited in anticipation, as if expecting a sudden attack on him. As weird as it was, this was what was drilled into him from the moment he was hatched .

Cautiousness.

It wasn't his fault though, his friend did test him occasionally on his understanding and application of shinobi skills. He took off his cloak, to prepare for any attacks the blonde would attempt on him. That Bastard was a sadist when it came to training!

His discarding of the only clothing on his body revealed his form which was hidden from the world a second ago. Oddly enough, the figure resembled some kind of species of a feline from the looks of it. But it wasn't any normal feline from a long shot.

The crimson eyed feline had fur the same shade of red as his eyes. The ears and whiskers were a bit longer than that of a normal cat's. The tail behind it looked very canine-like, like a fox's tail. The tail was pure red fur, no tipping of white. The claws on the cat's paws were an obsidian colour. The fur that covered the cat's eyes and eyelids were a coal black colour. His mouth was outlined in black as well. It had now grown a pair of white Angel like wings which explained his apparent ability to fly. A Fairy Tail guild mark was etched proudly on his red back in black colour. His red keen eyes scanned the surroundings, alert for any attack.

His small, black nose twitched as he recognised a familiar scent amidst the many others that were present in the forest. He turned left ready for an assault...only to sweat-drop at the sight in front of him along with all the observing forest animals who seemed to be watching their act in amusement.

Naruto was sitting on the ground, back facing the crimson feline. His knees pulled up to his chest and he was drawing circles on the ground with his index finger in depression. An imaginary dark cloud looming over him with the kanji for sad, depressed and disappointed floating nearby. The small feline's eyebrows twitched but he didn't do anything because...because...

OH! Because he was lazy!

He facepalmed in his mind when he realised he was criticising himself in his own thoughts. He watched as the blonde looked at him from the corner of his eyes and then averted them in an exasperated manner, irritating him to no end.

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL HERE, YOU ANNOYING BLONDE!" He shouted again this time scaring away all the forest residents hiding nearby. Their amusement turning into horror as they heard his loud shriek.

"Tch, kurama you are such a whimp!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood up and dusted himself, ready to continue their incomplete trek.

Small raindrops started falling down, being cushioned considerably by the tree leaves. They made a pitter-patter sound as they made contact with the ground. The now dubbed kurama sighed heavily.

"How Troublesome! We will loose our way due to this storm, won't we? I hate rain, it makes my soft fur wet and drippy!" He asked rhetorically then whined while patting his fur with his paws.

"No need to worry Kurama! There is no need for us to follow this path now. I can sense some multiple disturbances in the air currents in the northern direction. It seems to be a small village!" Naruto answered positively while using his heightened sense to judge the direction for any human settlements. His reassurance seemed to work as the crimson cat sighed in relief.

"Finally! We've been lost for ages! And it's all because of you, bastard. If it weren't for that high magic surge that happened a week ago we would've been lost forever!" Kurama exclaimed in annoyance before jumping on Naruto's head succumbing to his laziness due to flying for so long...according to him.

Naruto's expression turned serious as he thought about said phenomenon

"I disagree, we would've found our way to the town regardless. But this magic was demonic and it disappeared three days ago. I wonder what happened?!" Naruto defended his case even in this serious situation but eventually returned to the matter at hand.

"Maybe some guild took care of it. Or it might've escaped us by moving out of your sensing range." Kurama added his two cents about the subject.

"True, lets investigate!" Naruto declared and marched forward with the same professionalism that came with his 'mission mode'.

The forest became less denser as the trees became scarce around the two of them while they continued their journey forward, towards the small village that lay ahead of them.

It was a small village. From what Naruto could see from afar, it was surrounded from all the sides by mountains and thick forest. It had nothing special but just a tall church like building that appeared to be destroyed on its outskirts. Small houses with red roof tiles were scattered around in the village. A glowing river with crystal clear water snaked it's way through the village border. A bridge connecting the open farm fields and residential area of the villagers stood out the most from his view.

Kurama groaned inwardly, great another rural village to rescue! He had lost count of how many they visited in their year long journey in between missions and their main quest. He hated walking! They had to be cautious and most importantly awake all the times!

In trains, atleast it was peaceful and he could take small naps!

Naruto just narrowed his eyes at the small trace of demonic energy he saw lingering around the church with his ruby eyes. He deactivated them and started walking towards the small settlement.

"Kurama, gather intel from the surrounding animals about the destruction of the church, I will enter the village and seek out for any information there myself." Naruto said in an authoritative tone which caused Kurama to nod obediently which was very uncharacteristic of him as he took off towards the surrounding forest.

Soon after Naruto made his way towards the village with silent steps while the storm raged on in the background.

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~[ The Village Outskirts ]~

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The Greenwill village was a very secluded village, away from any major towns and little to no communication with the nation itself. Most people lived a very normal life, depending upon the harvest and the forest resources for their sustainable survival. There were no mages around in the immediate area and they rarely ever had one travelling into their own humble abode but they did use the various magical tools sold in the kingdom for their everyday work.

Truth be told there was an innate animosity for mages in the general populace of the village. They despised them due to their jealousy of not being able to be as efficient in doing any job as a wizard. It was a normal occurrence in the kingdom itself, mages were hired for almost all jobs and the civilian populace, thus experienced a kind of disadvantage in any business. This was also true for a whole village who couldn't offer any major contribution to the kingdom and thus they were ignored, mostly.

But this time, they really wished they had a wizard in their own town. The people were terrified to their core. There was a heavy pressure in the air itself. A week ago, despite their inability to detect any magic signature or magic power in general, the populace had noticed a haunting and dreadful aura around them.

The following day, the priest of the church that all of them attended, was found dead. His body which was once exuberant and shined with serenity was frail and pale white in his last moments. It was as if his soul had been ripped off his body by the devil. The villagers had been terrified of the sight, they still were.

Add onto that, the children who were closest to him were also nowhere to be seen. Those siblings were the priest's only outlet to his spiritual life. He laughed with them, taught them, fed them and played with them even. They were orphans of one of the farmers but no one wanted to carry the burden of three small children on their own shoulders so they were on their own from the day of their parents' demise.

But now they were suspicious of their lack of presence in the village. They were still in their old house, that much was confirmed. There was nowhere else to go other than the village for supplies and food. They didn't even have the resources to be able to feed themselves for a whole week without the priest. The eldest of the siblings, did cook nice food which was appreciated by the villagers as they bought it enthusiastically whenever the girl would sell her homemade foodstuffs.

On the outskirts of the village, a small one story house which appeared to have been through better days, stood within the raging rainfall and heavy wind of the storm which started calming down slightly. It was located near the aforementioned church which was now nothing but ruins.

Inside the house, two small silhouettes could be seen working on something near a lit candle, which casted a shadow upon the bed in the corner. On the bed, a third person appeared to be asleep. The smaller one of the two was a cute girl with short white hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink dress with a red collar. The other one was a slightly older boy with parted white hair and black eyes. He was wearing a blue sleeveless jacket over a white shirt with blue pants. He also had a rather broad build for someone his age.

The third was the oldest of the siblings, who was wearing a black cloak which concealed all of her form. She had platinum white hair which could almost be mistaken as silver, with two long bangs framing each side of her beautiful face. If she had her eyes open, one could see bright blue eyes of a little lighter shade than Naruto's. These three were the Strauss siblings and they were having a horrible time for the last couple of days.

"Elf-niichan, Do you think these riceballs will turnout as good as nee-chan's?!" The smaller one asked her older brother with a questioning gaze as she cocked her head to the side in a cute manner, seeking his approval on the matter.

Elfman seemed conflicted for a moment but then smiled softly at his little sister, "I dunno...But I think they will be delicious! You put your best effort in them afterall, Lisanna!"

He finished while patting her head affectionately. Lisanna smiled happily and sighed in content in the familiar warmth her aniki's hands exuded. Elfman also had a satisfied smile on his face, the conversation relieving their stress built up from the recent events.

A comfortable silence hung over for several moments between them. Suddenly Lisanna started sniffling with small tears pouring down her round cheeks. This caused the atmosphere to do a 180, as the eldest one jerked a little in her bed after hearing her sister cry. No one noticed it though. Elfman engulfed his sister in a comforting hug easing her aching heart a little.

"Nii-chan, W-We s-shouldn't have gone to Jii-san's that day just like N-Nee-chan suggested. It is my fault, I was worried about him. But now, he isn't with us anymore and even Nee-chan has to go through all of 'this'...that too, to protect us!" Lisanna said with a shaking voice as she remembered the dreadful event and collapsed to her knees in the end with an utterly defeated look on her face.

"Don't worry Lisanna, everything will be alright! Once we have enough money we will travel to the town and cure Nee-chan's illness..." Elma's comforted Lisanna for a while. He helped her stand to her feet and dusted her off the smudges of mud on her knees.

The eldest one winced as she heard them converse about her 'possession' and looked down at her right had with tears leaking out of her eyes, draping the bed sheets wet. Her right hand was turned into purplish root like appendage which had green crystal like protrusions sticking out of it on multiple locations.

"Let's go! But slowly or else Nee-chan will wake up..." Elfman whispered leaning into Lisanna's ears as she nodded and they walked out through the door which made a creaking noise once it was shut down due to the rusted hinges. The rain had died down after many hours of continuous and heavy down pouring.

By the time both of the younger siblings were out of sight, the elder girl sat up straight from her fake sleep with a grim expression on her angelic face. She sighed in defeat as she stared at the her reflection in the mirror. Her once happy and fiery face had dulled down to a mortified and gloomy shell of it's former self.

She looked out of the window at the retreating figures of her siblings and stood up as she secretly followed them into the village. The fact that they had to sneak out of the house to earn money, alone on their own made her both disappointed and proud. Disappointed at herself for being unable to complete her responsibilities as the eldest sibling and proud of their mature and thoughtful nature.

While she was walking behind them through the farm fields, she couldn't help but feel anxious as she constantly stole quick glances at her demonified arm and hid her form with the cloak from any bystanders. It was a great risk to follow behind them, but she couldn't help but feel a pang of worry in her heart whenever she left her siblings alone. It wasn't her fault, honestly, they had been together since their birth and never once left each other's company.

After their parents' death two years ago, she had taken care of her siblings in her parents' stead. She learned a lot from her mother, but it was still limited to housework. But fortunately for them, the newly appointed priest-Jiisan of the church was a kind old man who provided them with food and money for their necessities. Thinking about him now made her silently sob but she shook it off immediately.

She couldn't mourn him, not now. These were difficult times and they had to be together and take care of each other just like in the past. Because they were family!

She cut off of her inner musings when a boy wearing a hooded black cloak with two blonde bangs framing his face which were his only visible features aside from his pleasant smile walked over to her siblings and greeted them as they steadily strode towards town.

"Hi, You look like my age! Great I didn't want to ask some troublesome old coot about directions anyway! So I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." Naruto greeted them as he waved happily at the duo.

'I am so lucky...' he thought in glee as he squared up, now facing them. He groaned in annoyance at the thought of gathering intel from old over concerned coots in the town. Most of them would be apprehensive of him due to his appearance. The remaining would show him sympathy, ask him about his reasons to travel alone, his well being and other such touchy subjects. And at last they would force charity over him by offering him jewels, place to live and other such things.

'I shouldn't think so...but kids are easy to trick and gain intel from...' he thought with an apologetic touch to his thought line.

It wasn't like he didn't try. The people of this village were a bit more apprehensive of him than normal. They were fearful of him even. There was an ever lasting tension in the air which built up whenever he made eye-contact or tried to converse with anyone. Something definitely was fishy around here. He noticed though, that these two weren't afraid of him but rather nervous like they were trying to hide something from him. It could be that they had more knowledge about the demonic magic surge or they could even be involved in the event itself.

The little girl being the chipper one of the duo smiled happily with her own wave, " I am Lisanna Strauss and this is Elfman, my aniki ."

The boy in question nodded shyly which was a totally opposite to his strong features. He felt a bit nostalgic when the girl called Elfman 'aniki' like he totally belonged to her. He remembered Seliah saying the same about Sasuke-san...

He quickly shook his head and cleared his thoughts to concentrate on the current conversation. He cleared his throat and continued, "I am new here. I am actually travelling through. So do you know which is the way to the nearest town here or if I can find a map somewhere around here?"

At his question both of the siblings had a hopeful tint added to their previously dull countenance. They seemed oddly interested in his statement. He wasn't sure what it was though? Was it due to them being cramped up in this village for their life? He wouldn't be surprised. He couldn't imagine a life in such an isolated place without any of his current adventures. Although, he had lived in an even more secluded village, Konoha was certainly more interesting compared to this village.

"Really! You travel at such a young age Naruto-san. That's so awesome!" Lisanna exclaimed with her usual outgoing personality. While both her present and hidden siblings were surprised as well. The elder girl peeked curiously from behind the long rice outcroppings of the farm she was hiding in. Unclenching one eye from between two green strands, not enough for anyone to notice though..:..or so she thought.

"It's nothing much! I am a mage so I do travel around to complete my quests..." he noticed both of their eyes widen in shock. He noticed the cart the older boy was pulling had some steam coming out of it.

The hidden white-haired girl flinched in surprise and some innate resentment at the boy's declaration. The idea of magic was absurd and absolutely unnecessary in her opinion. It was all because of magic that they had to go through such arduously painful days. If it wasn't for magic, everyone could live their life peacefully! Just cause some freaks wanted to boast about their stupid magic tricks people such as herself had to suffer!

"Really! Whoa you are a mage! We've never met one before! Can you teach me?" Lisanna asked with stars in her eyes as she jumped on her toes in giddiness, startling the blonde a little. Her siblings, meanwhile sweat dropped. What could a kid teach them? He was likely a newbie himself.

"I can. You have magic power but I don't recognise what kind of innate magic you possess. It isn't elemental." Naruto answered while scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Elfman looked curiously at the blonde with squinted eyes and Lisanna looked a little confused due to the unfamiliar terms involved. The hidden girl; on the other hand, narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the teenager. Can this guy really teach them about magic? No! This guy definitely was a fraudster who was trying to scam her innocent siblings.

Naruto sighed inwardly in slight annoyance. How could he just blurt out that? He had a job to do and explaining someone completely new to the magic world wasn't included in his to-do list when on a mission. It will be too much time consuming and troublesome.

"Well, What were you guys doing out here? It has just now stopped raining, not may people are out right now?" He questioned nonchalantly hoping to change the topic and deviate it towards his main goal, to know more about the tension that permeated in the air.

"OH! We were going to sell riceballs! We do this to earn money." Lisanna answered smiling hopefully.

"Hmm, I am pretty hungry too. How about I buy some? Afterall you are my only acquaintances here and I should support you anyway I can. Correct?" Naruto offered helpfully and smiled as he noticed their previous hopeful expression lighten up in happiness.

"Sure! Have some Naruto-san!" Elfman said shyly while handing out some riceballs to him.

Naruto eagerly took them. He wasn't lying, he was actually pretty hungry. He took a bite from the food and froze. It was very sweet. His face scrunched up in an unreadable expression. He schooled his expression and gave a happy smile after lowering his meal from his mouth. He couldn't just break the white haired girl's heart. It was obvious who made it. She had her finger crossed and was nervously waiting for his reply. He wouldn't admit it out loud but she was pretty adorable and with her bubbly personality it would feel like an absolute crime to make her sad.

"Wow! It's delicious. Who made this? Your parents?" He questioned absentmindedly without thinking to hide his slip up but his eyes widened in realisation when he noticed their crestfallen expressions.

"No...We don't have any parents..." Lisanna muttered quietly becoming even sadder than she was before.

Naruto winced at his mistake inwardly and his own expressions became grave. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up such painful memories for you. I should've realised earlier..." He admonished himself mentally for being too focused on his intelligence gathering and hurting their feelings.

"Oh! You said it's delicious, isn't it? Well Lisanna here made it Naruto-san and its her first try. It sure is great, huh?" Elfman spoke frantically trying to comfort his little sister who was on verge of tears.

Naruto rose an eyebrow in interest. So it was her first cooking attempt. "Then it is surely impressive, Lisanna-san. It isn't perfect and lacks some flavour but I suppose for your first attempt this is the best one could hope for."

As he spoke, Naruto could feel a deadly glare aimed at the back of his head, trying to drill a hole through it. He shivered involuntarily as he realised that, it was the hidden girl who was poorly attempting to hide from him. This girl was as scary as Erza! That thought made him pale and he felt a dreadful feeling rise in the pit of his stomach.

The eldest Strauss sibling was seething in anger and gritted her teeth quietly to calm herself down. That jackass! How dare he bring up their parents and make her cute little sister cry! She just wished she could stomp up to the punk now and kick his ass into oblivion.

As she bristled and continued restraining herself from beating the crap out of the hooded blonde a new person entered the trio's conversation. A mocking voice abruptly cut through between the conversing parties, gaining their attention.

"Oh! So little Lisanna can cook now, eh? Well, let's taste!..." A tall boy around his early twenties with black hair and khaki shirt walked over from the opposite side of the bridge.

He smirked smugly at the white-haired siblings who appeared to be a little afraid of him, "...don't worry! I'll pay. It's no fun messing with you when that hot-headed sister of yours' is not around!" He laughed mockingly and took out a riceball forcefully from Elman's hands.

Just as he took a bite from the food item, he sputtered and spitted out the mouthful of bite he took from his meal. His face contorted into one of disgust. He glared heatedly at Lisanna who backed away in fear and threw the riceball in his hand on the ground, near his foot. He stomped forward before trying to reach out for Lisanna's hair.

A gloved hand instantly latched onto his outstretched appendage, gripping it tightly and preventing him from touching the girl.

He tried shaking off the younger boy's surprisingly strong hold with force. The more he tried to free his arms or to reach for the girl the boy tightened his grip, stopping the blood from flowing into his palm.

The siblings were astonished at the mage's strength and equally cold gaze which they could somehow feel even from under his cloak. The polite and kind guy that they just met was so much different now. If they didn't know any better, they would've thought he was a totally different person in the same clothes.

The boy's hand started feeling numb, he sweated nervously and paled considerably in fear as the mage's gaze upon him started intensifying with each passing moment. Suddenly he felt his muscles and bones start to crack under the pressure applied to his wrist by the blonde. Groaning slightly, as the younger blonde again tightened his grip, he let his hand go limp and flung it away from the blonde with a wince as soon as the blonde loosened up his grip over his wrist.

"Tch, You will pay for that brat! And that riceball was batshit in taste. It was sweeter than a cake. Did you use sugar instead of salt while making it, you little whelp? I was a fool to think you would be as good at cooking as Mirajane!" The boy shouted out while running away from the group in fright stumbling with each step as his balance was slightly off due to the pain in his wrist.

As he disappeared from their sight, Naruto sighed warily. He looked over to a distraught Lisanna and flinched inwardly. She slid down against the light pole she was supporting herself against and started sobbing uncontrollably. Elfman stood helplessly by the side. He took out a riceball from the pack and took a bite only to gulp it in discomfort and look away from Lisanna.

"Liar! Lair! You Liar. Why? Why did you lie to us? Now he will tell everyone about my terrible food and no one will buy anything from us. How will we earn any money now?!!" Lisanna shouted out while crying and looking up at Naruto with unbridled anger in her tear filled eyes. She pointed a finger in his direction in an accusing manner making the blonde even more guilty.

"It is true that I lied..." He looked down in guilt and his arms slung down in shame before walking over towards the fallen riceball and picking it up, much to the siblings' surprise. He whistled a tune which caused some birds to land on his palm and chow down on the rice ball.

"But..." He looked up at the siblings before shifting his gaze slightly at an equally surprised and wide-eyed Mira. She yelped in surprise before jumping back inside the dense farm outcroppings in panic when she felt him looking at her from under his hood. She placed a hand on her racing heart and clenched it tightly before exhaling loudly.

"...It isn't like no one appreciates it. We shouldn't waste food because many don't even have the fortune of having this much..." he gestured at the birds pecking at the riceball in his hands with joy regardless of its taste.

"Besides it was your first try and you made it with love, right?" He asked a now quite Lisanna who nodded tentatively, "...then it doesn't matter if it tastes a little sweeter. It still is tasty for me. I want to buy all of your food for today Lisanna-san, is that okay for you?" He asked while smiling at the now flabbergasted duo.

"Why? It doesn't taste great! Why would you waste your money on it then?" Elfman asked in a little hesitation.

"I'm not really looking forward to cooking myself for the journey! I also know you guys would have to eat it yourself if you don't sell it to me. It will be forever etched in your memory, how your first riceballs turned out to be sweet. So I'll buy it and give you a better memory of your first cooking attempt." He said casually while the siblings seemed to be frozen in time with slightly moist eyes widened to their limit.

He waved his hand before them which seemed to zoom them out of their trance. Suddenly Lisanna lunged forwards and wrapped her arms around him. He hesitated slightly at the sudden human contact but settled for patting her head affectionately in return. Once she released him from the hug sniffling audibly, he handed Elfman a pouch of jewels which had enough jewels to last them for months before snatching away the pack of riceballs from his crate.

"Oh and don't worry about the change. I am sure we will meet again!...See you too 'white rat of the farm!'" He waved a goodbye to them for the last time and disappeared in a flash.

The duo had a gobsmacked expression on their faces as they weren't even allowed to process what had happened before the blonde flashed away. They returned to reality and Elfman started counting the jewels in the pouch while gulping a sudden lump in his throat. Lisanna had stars in her eyes and was jumping in joy, after witnessing the awesome flashing magic.

Mira stood there speechless with a violently twitching eyebrow at the 'white rat' comment. He could've come up with a better jab though, maybe it was because he hadn't seen her beautiful face until now. She had thought that the boy was some kind of a creep or another arrogant bastard who liked to brag about his magic. Her eyes softened considerably from their previous fierce self. They were full of admiration, respect and happiness as she stared at the spot the blonde stood moments ago. She smiled softly when she noticed how happy her siblings were. She was certainly proven wrong and she wasn't mad about it.

"Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. I wish we meet again...and this time face-to-face." She whispered to herself . She would make sure to show her face to him next time, to gauge his reaction...

She suddenly shook her head in denial with a slight pink dusting on her cheeks. She wouldn't deny she was a little arrogant about her looks. She was the most beautiful girl in the whole village, but never before had she been so contemplative and nervous about showing her appearance to someone else. She turned her attention toward her siblings' conversation just in time.

"Wow! Magic is so cool! Elf-niichan I wanna learn magic too!" Lisanna whined adorably while stomping on the ground with a pout.

"Lisanna look! With the jewels Naruto-san gave us we could take nee-chan to the town to cure her 'condition'" Elfman said joyfully as he held the pouch of jewels tightly in his hands.

"Elf-niichan! Didn't Naruto-san say that he wanted to travel to the nearest town as well? We should go home and prepare ourselves already. Maybe we can meet him on the road!" Lisanna exclaimed excitedly jumping on her toes.

"Sounds like a good plan, sis. Let's go! nee-chan should be awake by now! She will be worried for us if we don't return. We also have to tell her about the guy we met today." He shoved the pouch of jewels in his pockets before they stared walking away.

"Yay! We will tell her how cool his magic was and how he helped us like the knight who saves the princess from the story Kaa-chan used to tells us!" Lisanna exclaimed as she walked behind Elfman.

"But I am not a princess, sis" Elfman groaned in frustration. He was a man afterall.

Lisanna giggled as she started listing off things she would do when they meet the blonde again, "...maybe we can travel together to the next town with him or maybe he can help us with nee-chan's illness or he can teach me cool magic like he said before and this time I can make delicious riceballs for him..."

Mira laughed wholeheartedly throwing her head back slightly as she heard her excited sister's rant and witnessed both of her siblings' antics. She wiped off a stray tear from the corner of her eyes with her demonic arm, unknowingly. Then sped towards their home through the dense farm outgrowth to reach it before her siblings.

She never notice the cocky boy from before shaking in absolute terror after witnessing her demonic arm...

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~[Strauss Household]~

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"...and then he was gone with a 'zap'!" Lisanna twirled excitedly on her toes, slightly swooning. She just finished telling Mira about their encounter with Naruto. Not that she needed to...

Mira on the other hand kept up an annoyed facade. She kept giving a highly nervous Elfman a withering stare for the stunt they pulled without informing her. She had to keep up the act or else both of her siblings will notice the change in her countenance and either be suspicious or highly worried about her.

Although she smiled inwardly as a result her eyes struggled to keep up her glare upon Elfman and slipped into mild softness. Their happy(excited in Lisanna's case) demeanour made her extremely relieved. She was worried about the stress they were going through in the past couple of days.

"But he was a little weird. He said something about a 'white rat' in the end. Perhaps he can talk with animals?" Elfman contemplated innocently while scratching his chin in deep thought.

Mira's left eyebrow twitched violently at his comment and clenched her hands in irritation. Lisanna noticed her behaviour but shrugged it off as her ever present annoyance.

"Shut up Elfman! That freak just tricked you. There's no way he could talk to animals!" Mira exclaimed, effectively interrupting Elfman's inner musings.

Lisanna cringed slightly at her outburst but recovered quickly and chided in, "Mira-nee, Let's go! If we set off now we can reach the town early."

"It's late Lisanna. We can take off early in the morning so that no one would notice us when we sneak off." Mira said in an evenly calm voice.

"But we need to get you treated as quickly as possible!" Elfman added his two cents from the sidelines, still a little afraid of incurring his sister's wrath.

Mira was about to answer when the sound of multiple footsteps, walking through the foliage of the nearby field in between their house and the village interrupted her counter. Years of being vigilante from the nearby animals and the rare occurrence of criminals made her quite efficient in detecting sounds and their direction. From the current record, it seemed to be a great number of people and judging by the direction they were coming from, they were most likely the villagers.

As soon as she realised that, she immediately sprang up from the bed and hid in the corner, near the window to avoid being seen. Lisanna and Elfman too were worried since the villagers never visited them ever. They stood up and made an attempt to take a glimpse of the situation from their window...

CRASH*

BANG.BANG.BANG*

The sudden loud bangs on the door and the distinct sound of their window glass being shattered due to the stones thrown at their already dilapidated house alerted them of the seriousness of their situation.

"I-I s-saw i-it with my o-own eyes!!!! That arm! Ew! That bitch...She is t-the o-o-one who killed the priest!!" A very familiar and distinctively annoying voice shouted out over the panic of the crowd gathered around their house.

Elfman and Lisanna recognised him as the boy who denunciated their food. The Strauss cringed at the sheer amount of disgust in his voice. The siblings closed in on their eldest and huddled together in the same corner as her, losing their courage to face the crowd. They hoped the mob would disassemble over time and provide them with an opening to make a run for it.

"Demon! We must exterminate her before she kills more of us!"

"Traitor! She turned on the one who helped them for so long!"

"That witch! I knew something was wrong with her! I think she even killed her own parents!"

"Disgusting! We must rid this world off such filth! She's pure evil. The incarnation of a true demon!"

As the shouts and comments thumped onto their ears they felt their heart being pierced multiple times. Their heart sank and the agonising sense of defeat shared between all of the siblings was palpable in the air.

While her siblings were crying in distress; sullen over in defeat and hopelessness, Mirajane was chuckling bitterly in between sobs. How could this world be so cruel? Taking out every opportune chance of experiencing happiness from them! What was their fault? They lost everything but even that wasn't enough. She was cursed with this blight when all her intentions were to just save a kind man and protect her siblings.

Now, just as they were experiencing some sort of happiness and satisfaction, it had been snatched away from them. To light up a beacon of hope just to whisk it away just as swiftly and by the least expected people no less. She had expected some fear and hesitance from the villagers once they found out about her 'curse' but she never expected this level of hostility from her own villagers!

Even now she wondered. If she was a demon than who were these people to judge her? They so callously talked about killing her and her innocent siblings and even then presented themselves to be some kind of saints. She was no fool. She knew how they wittily charged them high and hid their extra food whenever she took stroll through the town to deny them of any help. They turned on her parents just as quickly after their death and left her with her siblings on the road. Even now they were selfishly thinking about striking down one of their own because of their fear and insecurity.

Behind the mask of the joyous and happy people, they were all dark and evil demons. Stalking their prey and waiting for their opportunity to strike.

In the guise of land this earth was hell!

As she continued to think, warm tears streamed down her face. With quivering lips she continued to hold onto the hiccups that threatened to escape her mouth. She chose to cry in silence. She had to be strong for her siblings, they were too young and naive to live in this hell!

The loud shouts and roars of anger suddenly started dwindling in numbers. Seeming to shut off like the city lights in the night sky. The slight shuddering of their cracked walls due to the forceful bangs of the mop died down abruptly too. Silence filled the room but it was dense with tension. The siblings dreaded that the villagers had retreated back to prepare an even more cruel punishment for them. On the other hand, they viewed it as an opening to escape.

Lisanna stood up to peer out of their window with a shaky breath. She opened up the window while tip-toeing to compensate for her short height. But what they didn't expect was for an odd cat like creature to jump into their cottage from the opening.

A slight cold breeze from the now open window caused them to shield their eyes from it. They readjusted their sight only to blink thrice in wonder while the red cat tilted its head to the side in confusion. Lisanna and Mira internally squealed at the incredibly adorable expression it was showcasing even though the latter will definitely refuse it out loud. But what happened next blew up their minds...

"Yo! I am Kurama!" With a male voice, he raised his obsidian paw in greeting to the siblings.

Their eyes widened in complete surprise with slack jaws as they exclaimed, " YOU CAN TALK!"

"Sheesh! Calm down. You will tear apart my eardrums! A cat has sensitive hearing, you know!" Kurama exclaimed in an annoyed manner while cleaning off his ears with his pinky nail.

The siblings were still gaping like a fish with ironically a pair of cat eyes in a comical manner.

"Kurama. Are the occupants all well?" A familiar but deathly quite and monotone voice spoke from outside.

"Yeah! You can come in!" Kurama called out and the siblings turned towards the voice. A cloaked boy with a fox mask waltzed in through the broken window without making any noise.

He looked towards the households through the slits of his mask. The sight intimidated the siblings slightly as Mira and Elfman sprang forwards in front of Lisanna protectively.

Suddenly the boy pointed towards them in an overly exaggerated manner, completely opposite of his cold personality moments ago and shouted out, "Hey! it's you, the Strauss duo...and you too 'whi-"

He was cut off suddenly as a frying pan made contact with his fox mask. He fell on his back robotically while the frying pan slid down his mask. Everyone looked up to see an annoyed Mira holding out her hands in a throwing fashion, thus proving she was the culprit with a violently twitching eyebrow.

"How lame!" Lisanna and Elfman exclaimed with a sweat drop.

"Ow! That hurt! Talk about the worst hospitality ever. Do you greet yourself by hitting each other whenever you enter your house?" Naruto asked sarcastically and stood up while balancing himself with the help of a bored Kurama, who looked ready to fall asleep.

"That's right! How dare you barge into our house! Now get out!" Mira shouted out while pointing towards the still locked door.

"Hey! Hey! I was just curious what was happening and helped out because I thought something wrong was going on!" Naruto held up his hands in a surrender.

Mira stopped rummaging through her houseware to find something better to hit the intruder and looked surprised. Her siblings instantly recognised the voice and snatched up the chance to save the blonde from their sister.

"Naruto-san! What are you doing here? And how did you help us?" Elfman asked a little less shyly than usual.

"So you know these guys. I honestly thought you lost your touch for a moment there and slipped off your act!" Kurama said with a smug smirk and a slightly teasing undertone despite his lazy facade.

"Shut up you damned neko!" Naruto grumbled while looking away slightly angry at the feline's audacious claim towards his own teacher.

The trio of siblings looked between the two slightly confused and curious, but then shrugged it off when they received no answers.

"Oi stupid masked freak! I am Mirajane by the way. Who the hell are you?" Mira introduced herself with a huff in her own style and also because she didn't want him to call her 'white rat'.

"Mira-nee! Be nice. This is the cool mage we were talking about!" Lisanna reprimanded her slightly before jumping up in excitement and pointing at Naruto before introducing him.

"Hi! I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and this furball over her is Kurama! He can be a little mean sometimes but he isn't insensitive. I raised him to be well-mannered after all. Nice to meet you though, Mirajane-san!", He introduced himself in a normal manner, wondering if she just had a habit to be rude to everyone. He didn't really know about bullies because he has been alone most of his life.

As he pointed over to Kurama, Lisanna couldn't control herself anymore and hugged the life out of Kurama, "Awww...You're just the cutest!" She cooed.

"Troublesome please leave me! Oi sidekick help me over here!" He pointed accusingly at Naruto.

"Sidekick?" Elfman asked hesitantly. Naruto just kept a blank stare not that anyone could look through his mask but his message was conveyed through his silence.

"That's right!..." Kurama suddenly jumped out of Lisanna's grip and stood in a ridiculous pose with his small limbs. He had one of his hand outstretched forward while the other one was placed behind his head, "...Men and women respect me the utmost. Enemies tremble in fear hearing my name. Kids admire my charisma. I am the great neko Kurama-sama!"

As he finished his introduction, all was silent for a while until everyone broke out in a bark of laughter holding their stomachs in pain and eventually falling down on the ground. Even Naruto couldn't help himself. No matter how old Kurama's antics became they were still highly amusing.

"Oh...Ahhahhhah-Oh!...Ahhahahh-Oh! Alright so blondie you are his side kick,huh?-Hahhahah-Being a cat's sidekick, you must be pretty weak!" Mira controlled her laughter and said in a condescending tone to rile him up. She just couldn't help herself. It was one of her hobbies after all.

Kurama had a tick mark due to her comment but sighed, figuring it was just too troublesome to deal with. Naruto on the other hand kept his cool and understood her game.

He coughed slightly, gaining everyone's attention and dispelling the lively mood back to the pressing matters

"Alright! Now What was all this about a demon being here? I came here to investigate a demonic energy emergence from around a week ago. I haven't sensed any demonic presence up until now. And I can tell you know something. So can you help me?" Naruto questioned in a serious but still a softer tone.

Inhaling sharply, the Strauss siblings all tensed up at the mention of the word demon and took a slightly guarded stance against the blonde, expressing their apprehension towards him. Elfman and Lisanna liked Naruto a lot and trusted him but they couldn't let their guard down against anyone for their sister. After the betraying and traumatic event from earlier they couldn't bring themselves to trust anyone no matter what. Their life was threatened, they were afraid for their life, yes but more importantly they were afraid of their siblings' well being.

Mira more so than the others, being the overprotective sister she was. He was after a demon, she thought. What were his goals? Was he evil? Was he going to kill her because of that? She certainly wouldn't let him do that, she had too much to do rather than die! But why would he want to find demons? Was he crazy? He would also be cursed if he does that! She had to stop him! Unconsciously, a worried and soft tint leaked into her features as she thought that. Her caring side was still intact regardless of her traumatic experiences.

Naruto and Kurama noticed their sudden change in demeanour. Their eyes became sharp, observing him for any movements and their muscles tensed. Luckily, he didn't want to receive a vocal answer. He noticed from under Mira's hood a slight glow of green. He discreetly activated his ocular powers and observed her.

What he saw surprised him to no end. The red demonic energy with some kind of spectral womanly looking Demon was struggling with her own light blue magic energy. But what surprised him the most were her reserves! They were huge! Even more than Ultear and she used to be sick due to it!

Naruto concluded she would need high amount of magic if she ever masters her 'take over' to keep it active. Although judging by the situation she would have to or else the incomplete take over would cause her to succumb to the demon's bloodlust at some point in time. He suspected it had affected atleast her personality somewhat. He had read about a lot of magic but this was his first time seeing it for himself.

"I see...Your arm." Naruto finally exhaled a large amount and muttered in a glum tone.

Mira and her siblings flinched as she hid her arm under her cloak. He knew! What would he think? Would he also hate her like the villagers? That thought made Mira really sad for some unknown reasons.

"S-So W-What are you g-going to d-do? It's my problem; we'll handle it! Just leave us alone already! No need to tell me how I am a demon or how disgusting it is!!" Mira shouted at him with anger as tears of frustration leaked through her eyes. Although one could make out some guilt and sadness masked by the thin veneer of her volume of voice but its wavering gave it away.

She was tired of hiding behind a piece of cloth all the time! In her agitated state, She let her arm out for everyone to see, surprising her siblings. She looked away from the boy quickly, afraid of rejection, disgust, hatred and similar reactions. Out of the corner of her eyes though, she looked at him expectantly, gauging his reaction and hoping beyond hope to see acceptance in his bright blue orbs through the slits of his mask.

Naruto smiled under his mask. This girl was strong and her will was unwavering. He looked at her siblings and his smile turned nostalgic. That's right! Her family was her light. She would never become dark in nature even if he didn't help her. He was sure of it! He even thought that her love for her siblings was the reason for her talent in such a hard and mentally taxing magic. She was already strong enough to handle a normal mage, imagine once she learns control over her magic. He inwardly shuddered once he realised how scary she was and with her magic...

...a selfish chibi version of himself told him to run away!

He approached her with slow steps while her siblings inched closer to her, to protect her in case, even if it seemed hopeless. Kurama just observed from a far distance. As troublesome as it was, his partner knew what he was doing. He had full faith in him.

Mira waited with bated breath as he approached her, with sudden anticipation. There was that feeling again. She was angry at herself for being so conscious of herself around him. The feeling of always needing his attention and thinking about how he would feel towards her never left her after she returned home. It annoyed her to no end!

He took her hand in his hands, channelling some water slayer magic in it. The siblings tensed up, but soon Mira relaxed. Welcoming the warm sensation that rejuvenated her from her constant tiredness after that incident. It felt refreshing. Noticing her reaction Elfman and Lisanna loosened up a bit and observed curiously.

"How do you feel?" He asked in a smooth and gentle voice making all of them relax from the tense atmosphere. Mira and Lisanna blushed at this side of his personality while Elfman thought he was cool. He wanted to be like that for his siblings!

"I-I guess...W-Well, I-I feel relaxed and ...w-warm!" She looked away at the last word in embarrassment with the still present blush. Dammit! She cursed herself for stuttering but she just couldn't match his warm gaze anymore, till she melts under his concern.

"Great! I healed you up for your magic loss" He said in a more chipper tone to alleviate the mood and it seemed to work.

"You can heal! Wow so cool. I wanna learn." Lisanna chided with stars in her eyes that blinded the blond for a moment.

"Neat, huh?" Naruto stood up straight and poked the eldest sibling on the forehead eliciting a yelp from her as steam began to come out of her ears due to her embarrassment . "About earlier, I don't think of you as a demon."

Mira's eyes widened in disbelief. Did he just say that? A part of her hated herself for being so vulnerable in front of the blonde but she couldn't stop the tears that leaked upon hearing his words. These glistening moist droplets released all her anxiety, sadness and anger towards him and replaced it with hope, happiness and something in her heart fluttered.

"Y-You think...But I don't have magic..?"she trailed off in uncertainty not knowing what to say.

"Wanna know what caused 'that'?" He said while pointing at her hand in a casual manner.

Normally it would annoy her if someone talked so callously about such sensitive topic to her but she somehow knew he didn't mean it in a wrong way.

"Do you know about nee-san's illness? Can you heal her Naruto-san?" Lisanna couldn't help herself anymore and jumped up to him, holding one of his hands and tugging it in a requesting manner.

Naruto wrinkled his nose in disgust as he felt a vile magic pressure enter the vicinity. It was subtle. Like a breeze or a passing fake image and then it disappeared. Like his mind was playing games with him. He searched by concentrating and closing his eyes for better closure. He scoured up his sensing range thoroughly, but he couldn't find it. It was like it disappeared just as it appeared.

But Naruto was sure something was wrong. It disappeared like erasing itself from existence, blending in with the nature. He was sure it took a great deal of skill for that. Without his seals, he was sure he couldn't hide his magic completely like he usually did. So for something to do so, it must be something formidable.

It wasn't human either. Was it after Mira? It worried him greatly. He connected with this family perfectly, they reminded him of himself. Mira's condition, Lisanna's nature and the fire in Elfman's eyes to protect his family compelled him towards them. He could relate with them and felt a sudden urge to protect them. He controlled his emotions normally but he never neglected his gut feeling.

'Your instincts and heart are human. They will always help you become a better human...' Tou-san's words echoed out and he made up his mind.

"I'll tell you. But first let's get out of here. The people will wake up in sometime. I used less magic to not harm their mental state in anyway. We have wasted too much time as it is!" Naruto said in his monotone voice void of any life, returning to his 'mission mode'.

This side of his slightly unnerved the siblings but they were confused by his last words. The red furred cat noticed his partners sudden change and concluded it was some threat or unpredictable obstacle in their path. How troublesome!

Naruto helped them with their luggage and much to their surprise sealed it off in a scroll. They didn't get to react much upon it. Naruto unlocked the house and stepped out to find a very amusing sight, although he was the one who did it in the first place.

As the siblings followed suit they couldn't hold in their laughter at the sight. All the villagers were fast asleep. They were sprawled over everywhere with the weapons they were carrying. Pitchforks, hammers, staffs and swords were spread across the area. But that wasn't what amused them, the markings that Naruto decided to gift them as a parting gift were. It was hilarious!

"What did you do to them?" Elfman asked. This time not shy at all.

"I made them sleep with my spell. And how do you like the gift?!" Naruto said in between his snickers.

"Magic is so cool!" Lisanna cooed while purposefully snuggling in her new stuff toy-Kurama.

"Troublesome..."

With that they all walked off into the distance. Mira couldn't help the sad pang in her heart for leaving her birth place but she felt oddly safe. It was a feeling she never experienced since her parents' death.

---

~[After a week]~

---

"Oi, silver-haired chick! Hurry up! the breakfast is ready!" A distant shout from afar alerted Mira of her surroundings as she groggily woke up with a twitching eyebrow.

The eldest Strauss yawned tiredly while stretching her arms above head. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes cutely and winced as the irritating sun rays attacked her. She looked around, trying to clear out her blurry vision caused by her rather long sweet sleep.

Her eyes captured a mop of short white hairs in the corner of her peripheral vision. Once her sight was back to normal she noticed the bright light outside their tent flaps and realised they slept in late again. She gently shook her short haired sister to interrupt her slumber.

"Mou...let me sleep a little more.." Theyoungest Strauss mumbled in her sleep.

Mira sighed and sat up straight in her sleeping bag. She swiftly crawled out of their tent to enter the clearing they used as a camp. In the middle of the clearing, a crackling fire was burning away rapidly because of the firewood they collected last evening. On the opposite side, stood a tent similar to their own. At the log around the camp fire both Elfman and Kurama sat chowing down on a fish. Similar to their own, more fish sticking on a stick were lodged around the fire.

Mira walked over to the duo and sat down, "Where is Goldilocks?"

"He is training" Kurama drawled out.

"What's with his training? Shouldn't he eat before training? He is just trying to act so cool all the time from under that mask!" She scoffed out and took her own fish out of fire to eat.

"If I didn't know any better I would've thought you cared for him..." He stopped his sentence when he received a death glare from Mira. He didn't show it externally but gulped nervously with a bead of sweat running down his red fur while Elfman backed away from him in terror.

"Anyways, he doesn't act cool. He has to look out for the surroundings, food, camping place and navigate through this unknown forest while scouting for any danger. He is the only one experienced in travelling in this group." Kurama stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Huh? But shouldn't you be experienced as well? You are with him all the time right?" Mira asked with a raised inquisitive eyebrow.

"No. I know I am smart but I'm just two years old. I need my sleep, it's too troublesome!" He replied in a bored tone. Mira and Elfman sweat-dropped while thinking how someone can be so lazy this early in the morning.

"You sure are lazy cat." Elfman said hesitantly while Mira nodded in approval.

Kurama just clicked his tongue in annoyance. Was it too much to wish for less troublesome people in his life? It's not like he could complain, after all his best friend was the most troublesome person he had ever seen.

"Hey Elfman-san is right!" Naruto greeted as he jumped down from a tree in the clearing without his cloak, startling the duo. He smiled in amusement at their reaction before grabbing his own share of meal.

He sat down on the log and took a bite from it, "Thanks Kurama! You seem more exhausted today though, even by your standards!"

"Don't give me that! You were the one who made me fish this morning!" Kurama barked out in an agitated tone, glaring lightly at his partner.

Naruto just rolled his eyes in exasperation, though no one could see him doing so, "It is good for you. You're not capable of any credible physical feats due to your body but I think you still should do some physical training."

"And what does it have to do with me swimming in cold water!" Kurama inquired with a raised eyebrow, now interested in his reasonings.

"Well...um...swimming is a great exercise I guess..hehe!" Naruto chuckled nervously, sweating a little.

"Bastard! You just did that to spite me and interrupt my wonderful sleep!" The feline concluded with large eyes. How can his friend be so cruel!

Naruto kept quiet while brainstorming to find a quick way to divert this conversation, "Anyway, I found a merchant cart passing by. They said a town is nearby. We just need to find this 'Tenshi' Lake and head north from there."

"Hmph! Atleast we wouldn't have to sleep in the forest anymore. Let's just hurry up and catch a train for Magnolia already!" The feline mumbled to himself.

"Mm, do we have to enter a populated area? I am not ready yet." Mira said in a quite voice laced with uncertainty while taking a quick glance at her demonified arm.

"Look Mirajane-san it's improving. You've done great with magic control exercises and further more we can get more help from an experienced mage like the master in the guild. There's nothing more I can do." Naruto told her in a sympathetic tone. True, he didn't have a demonic appendage to deal with but in his village almost everyone knew about his status as a demon holder.

Taking a glance at Mira's arm with his ocular prowess he was a little relieved. It had gone through certain change. It no longer had the grotesque appearance and the green crystals had almost disappeared, indicating the demon's soul being overwhelmed by her magic. The arm just looked like a purple-claw like appendage now with black nails.

"What would that help with!? And it's not like you've told us anything about you! You haven't even shown us your face. What if you are a bad guy? What makes you think we are going to join this guild place you keep talking about? I bet it's just a group of magic creeps like you doing creepy things!" Mira exclaimed while scoffing at his audacity to order her around.

"I am a mage of fairy tail..." he extended his left arm and showed her the guild stamp for the umpteenth time, "...it's a light guild. If that's not enough, If I was a bad guy; Why would I take you to a town where you could potentially run away from me?" He finished in an irritated tone.

Mira suddenly formed a mischievous smirk on her face that had Elfman on the edge

" 'Fairy Tail', huh? What a girly name!? I bet you are a girl with a guy's voice! That's why you hide your face from everyone with that annoying mask!" Her voice took a condescending touch to it as she continued to tease the Konoha Mage further.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched violently and his body spasmed in irritation at her words. Her teasing was now getting on his nerves.

"I am not a girl! I can't show anyone my face. My enemies could pursue you if they find out you have any sort of connection with me. On that note, please don't mention my name to anyone except my guild members." He explained them with a serious voice before sighing.

Suddenly they heard a loud gasp from behind and turned around to see a fully awake Lisanna looking at Naruto with a half-awake surprised expression, running towards them.

"A-Are you talking about the bad demons, Naruto-san?" Lisanna stuttered in a shaky voice.

"Um...No. It's a dark guild named Grimoire Heart. It's one of the five most powerful Dark Guilds in Fiore. Sometimes humans are worse than any demon. Demons act on their bloodlust and hate for humans. Humans on the other hand, stab their own for their selfish needs." He replied her query with a calm expression. Mira could clearly relate his words with their recent incident.

Looking at the confused expressions of the siblings Kurama decided to make things clear for them.

"Guilds provide people with jobs, training in magic and protection in some cases. They are a great source of information as well. Now dark guilds are the same but they perform atrocious acts, break rules set up by the magic council and act against the kingdom."

All the siblings understood the system now. It was like the police and criminal gangs around their village.

Elfman and Lisanna trusted the blonde blindly because he helped them in the past but Mira wasn't so trusting. She thought it was naive of them. She couldn't trust anyone, not even the one who helped them. Besides he was hunting demons earlier, what if he was just leading them towards a trap? Or this guild of his was going to use them for their personal gains?

"Why were you hunting demons anyway? That doesn't seem to be any method to 'provide protection' if you send children on demon hunts! Clearly this guild of your's isn't as noble as you portray it to be." Mira fired back with a jab trying to make him spill out the truth for them. Surely, this guy wasn't so selfless to help anyone he comes across on the road.

Naruto sighed in defeat and truthfully he was a little impressed by this girl's perception. She always had her guard up around him and he wasn't even a least bit bothered by it. Even he didn't trust anyone blindly. It was admirable of her to adapt to any situations for her siblings' sake no less. She drew her motivation from her family. Just what Fairy Tail mages do...

"Demon hunting isn't my quest. My quest is a personal mission, given to me by my sensei. I was given the responsibility to learn about my magic through experience, something he couldn't achieve through his own teachings..." He smiled wistfully while the siblings listened attentively.

"...By visiting the 21 holy magic temples from the legends, that are revered to be the origins of different legendary magical beasts that existed before the era of the Black wizard, zeref..." He spat the last word in disgust and venomous hatred. The siblings and Kurama were now awed at the knowledge and purpose of his quest.

Although Kurama knew almost everything there was to know about his friend, he still was astonished at the level of understanding the blonde had about magic.

"...Me and Kurama set out on the quest an year and a half ago. I planned on setting out on this quest two years ago but the furball was too young to begin travelling at that point. I planned on leaving him with Erza or Cana. As much as he would deny it, he loves it when he is petted by those two..." He continued in an amused tone while Kurama growled menancingly.

Well as menancing as a two year old cat could look, although Lisanna found it cute and again snatched him up in her lap. All the other campers snickered at the felines misfortune; while Mira thought of using this point against the cat with a devious smile that greatly unnerved the audience.

"...But Master said something about taking responsibility of a new life and whatever so I had to take furball on the journey. I don't work well with others, I think it's because of my training but Kurama is a great companion to be with..." He admitted with an embarrassed blush while scratching the back of his neck and the cat in question looked away.

Mira snorted at their predicament but she had to admit it was pretty cute. Both were too stubborn to admit they were close friends.

"...We completed our mission two weeks ago but I sensed that magic influx from your village and I came to investigate. I don't particularly hunt demons but just look out for suspicious activities. It is also for experience in combat. I seek to be the strongest, so that I won't ever loose anyone precious to me! Dattebayo!" He finished his monologue with conviction but then clapped his hand over his mouth because of his verbal tic.

Dammit! He thought he got rid of that habit a long time ago! He was losing his touch! He told them so much about himself. He was glad he didn't actually spit out his real mission to retrieve important artefacts/information of his village and destroy the hideouts.

The audience seemed entranced at his speech but then they started chuckling and giggling respectively due to his slip-up at last.

Lisanna suddenly frowned as she looked closely at him, "But won't your family members get super worried about you. You shouldn't do such dangerous things. What if you get hurt badly?" She questioned him with a quiet voice barely above a whisper.

"Everyone you are talking about are dead.." he answered them collectively in a cheery but sad voice.

An eerie silence permeated in between the camp occupants, all reluctant to breach the topic anymore. The siblings felt really guilty for bringing up such sensitive topic, even if it was unintentionally. They couldn't think the extent of loneliness the blonde must be going through, they had lost everyone they had but they atleast had each other for support.

"Sorry she didn't intend to bring up bad memories for you." Elfman apologised and bowed in Lisanna's stead.

"It's all right! I did bring it up for you once!" He waved them off with a shrug but his lips remained intact in their downward fall.

"I think we should take off now! I wanna have an ice-cream once we reach the town!" The red furred cat exclaimed in enthusiasm. Naruto smiled at his friend's successful attempt to change the painful conversation.

Soon the group of five were on their way to the 'Tenshi' river...

---

~[ Tenshi River ]~

---

The group of four teens and a cat travelled through the forest, seemingly without any direction. They were travelling based on the directions given to the blonde by the merchants. All of the group members bar Naruto were unsure of whether they were heading the right way.

Kurama even brought up how the blonde misguided them while they were travelling towards the Greenwill village, which made the siblings even more unsure of their success. Mira was the most annoyed one of the group as expected, but she resisted the urge to bonk the blonde on his head in fear of effecting his memory. Naruto assured her that his memory was the best, but she seemed reluctant to accept his assurance.

Now the group reached their destination, much to the relief of the inexperienced group members while Naruto sported a smug smirk. Take that! How could anyone underestimate his awesome tracking skills!?

'Tenshi Lake' was ardent-silver in colour like a diamond flames. The visage of the lake was veneer-clear and tranquil, flanked by an avenue of cedar trees. The leaves of the trees floated above the peaceful water, with the depth of a void. The atmosphere was deathly quiet, the rustling of wind carrying the intoxicating cedar-sweet smell of the surrounding trees could be heard clearly.

The light from heavens lit up the scene perfectly as the glistening moist dew drops on the grass gave the surrounding ground a lustrous tint. The silence was highly unusual, evident by the absence of any life in the proximity. Unnatural phenomenon mostly led to problems, so the blonde mage had his guard up against any sort of danger as his sensing reached its high. The window-clear water gave away no motion but there was a minuscule amount of unbridled killing intent leaking through from below the surface, testing the Uzumaki's patience.

Their civilian paced trek came to an abrupt stop when the cloaked mage suddenly stopped. Mira was irritated to no end by his quiet countenance since entering the clearing. She didn't really like being quiet, they always talked and laughed throughout the journey.

"Goldilocks! Are you doing this suspense shit now? Why'd you stop suddenly?" Her agitated outburst startled her siblings to panic and broke the silence ringed spell around the surroundings

As she stomped her foot on the ground below her, she winced sharply. Taking a wide inhale of air she dislodged herself from whatever thorn she stepped on. She looked down to find an unusual grey-light stalactite-like stone poking through the ground. All of them checked their surroundings to find several more such outcroppings coming out of the ground.

'Coral, how unusual magic to have indeed' the mage thought in slight wonder before dispelling out of his sudden lapse. He checked the now red coral spike closely and found if it was packing any poison or any other harmful substances.

---

-( Start- Naruto OST- Akatsuki )-

There was slight decrease in Mira's magic level while the killing-intent from under the water surface became full blown. It's sheer vile presence made the siblings and Kurama feel nauseating. They bucked under the heavy pressure of the dense intent showering over them. They steadied themselves suddenly when a warm and even denser presence dislodged the feeling from over them.

"You can come out now!" Naruto shouted out loud in a monotone voice before throwing a single shuriken inside the water. Before the violently rotating star could enter the water, a sudden burst of water exploded out dripping everyone wet with the sheer force of emergence the new comer had.

A dark malevolent chuckle resounded in the surrounding as a shadowed figure revealed itself, stepping out of the pillar of water. The figure was a very tall, muscular demon, evident by his presence. He had a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale, blue-grey skin, matching the water sliding down his figure currently. He has small, round, white eyes, 3 sets of curved facial markings under his eyes, gills on his shoulders,and sharp triangular teeth. He also styled his blue hair in the form of a shark fin. He currently had a wide-devious grin which was highly reminiscent of a real shark.

He donned a dark sleeveless shirt paired with matching pants, provided with a waist guard, and striped arm and leg-warmers. He wore a black forehead protector which covered his ears and kept his hairs intact in their shark fin shape. He also wore a brown sash across the front and back of his torso to hold a large bandaged sword in place which had some scales poking through.

"Samehada approves of your energy demon-brat! I will take your life away for endangering my mission to retrieve the demonic energy source for our master." The fish-like demon stated in glee while licking his lips in anticipation.

The sword on his back spasmed slightly as some more scales protruded out of the bandages, shaking in exhilaration. He kept his stare fixated on Mira who was shaking slightly in fear.

"You are misunderstanding. The lady over here is human and she isn't coming with you!" The blonde retorted in the same monotone, highly amusing the demon.

"You noticed me and you possess magic impressive for someone so young from your pathetic species. Nonetheless, what makes you think I will let her go, inferior creature?" He sneered in disgust as he mentioned humans while the mage scowled in annoyance behind his fox mask and gritted his teeth in annoyance. What's with demons and their superiority complex!

"She isn't going anywhere because I'm going to protect her. You should just leave while you can, I do not wish unnecessary bloodshed in front of innocent civilians, demon!" He countered and two of his trusty tri-pronged kunai appeared in his grip.

The demon let out a booming laugh as if he heard a ridiculous joke, well this kid was a joke for him after all.

"Brat -HAHAHAHAH- you think you can stop me! Do you even know who I am? I am Kisame one of the nine demon gates of the Tartaros guild! I am way above your league! Don't worry I'll feed your magic to samehada too, once I am done with the lowly demon that is" he grinned the same sharky grin as he brought out his sword and unlatched it from his sash.

"How arrogant! You just told me your allegiance and identity without any reasons." He raised an eyebrow in slight curiosity. Tartaros was a very secretive guild as far as he knew.

"Human, dead creatures do not concern me in the slightest!" The now dubbed kisame snarled in disgust and then smirked arrogantly.

"Coral curse: Bloody mist" Kisame whispered to himself. Several more dome like protrusions from underground released a stream of Blood red mist that distorted the vision of the human group.

"Stand still. Don't make a move!" The blonde mage ordered in an authoritative voice.

His companions tensed slightly with sweat trickling down their foreheads in nervousness and trepidation. The blonde mage readied his kunais for any incoming attack.

His senses went haywire as Kisame appeared in between their group with Samehada, ready to shave off their torsos in half. The wind whistled as the bandaged sword glided towards Elfman in an upward arc.

Suddenly the the sword was blocked by a kunai which had an eerie blue glow around it which extended an inch outwards from the kunai. Naruto ducked against the counter slash that would've shaved off his head clean and tried kicking out Kisame's foot to render him unbalanced.

Kisame made a sound of surprise when the meat bag ducked under his slash. Most humans weren't fast enough to even blink before they were ruptured to death by his blade buried in their skull. He grinned viciously as he realised he could have some fun fighting this flesh bag! He jumped over his sweep kick but was taken off guard as a bone shattering kick made contact with his jaw, with amazing flexibility showcased by the fox-masked Mage.

Kisame wiped the trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his busted lips. He snarled in anger at the sheer humiliation of the situation! He was taking the boy lightly. He gritted his teeth in anger and decided to step up the game. "Release". After whispering the words Kisame disappeared in his bloody mist technique.

Naruto relaxed just a tiny bit as he prepared himself for another assault or perhaps an opportunity to dispel this annoying red mist thingy. Coral magic was highly unusual and it's effects were unpredictable as well. He narrowed his eyes as the hazy scene caused from battle adrenaline cleared up a little. His eyes widened slightly as he noticed tiny, powder like coral spikes hovering in the mist.

"Everyone hold your breaths in!" He shouted over his shoulder to his companions who quickly complied.

This was a first battle experience for them, most of them were civilian or not so battle ready. He had to plan an escape for them and then deal with this sushi-man!

"Breakthrough!" Naruto released a large amount of wind in all the directions effectively dispersing the red mist from the surrounding into the forest canopy.

Lingering remnants of the attack remained in the air around Kisame who was grinning madly at the spectacle. Naruto decided it was time to enact a little of his plans and made a hand sign behind his back towards Kurama.

"Man! This guy is so lame! He is playing with colours in a fight to death! Why don't you just finish off this Troublesome moron!" He questioned his partner in a lazy tone while looking mockingly at the now enraged demon gate while tapping his foot impatiently on an irritated mirajane's head.

The Strauss siblings all sweat-dropped at the terrible timing for the snarky comment. Why was he worsening the situation even more for them?! Kisame had budging veins all over his muscular body. The audacity of that cat to disrespect a higher being such as himself was intolerable!

Suddenly an exact replica of the mage appeared in a poof of smoke besides the original and charged their adversary with a raised kunai in its hand.

The real Naruto on the other hand, chucked two kunais quickly with the Amaterasu formula 28 at the demons either side, causing him to retreat back but not enough to escape the blast radius...

"Kai" As he uttered the words, Naruto took off while throwing a kunai at the distance and flashing away with the siblings who were flabbergasted by the sudden explosions. On the site though, two large explosions that rocked the lake shores resounded in the area completely blinding Kisame from the spectacle of his preys' escapade.

In the interim, the clone of the blonde halted his movements before sharply dashing to his right, dodging several sharp lances of coral that were launched from within the still alight explosions. As the scene cleared up the land had sunk inside of the lake, while the mud mixed water latched onto the demon's foot.

"Is that all you got brat! That's nothing! I can tank through larger explosions!" The now slightly smoking but otherwise fine demon cackled maniacally.

The clone remained silent, when the demon rushed him with a raised shaving blade ready to shave off his skull half-way through. The unfazed clone sidestepped but missed the sudden smirk that etched onto the demon's fish-like face. Kisame immediately lashed out with a powerful rotating blade swing. The clone brought up it's guard by blocking the swing with his kunai but the sheer force of attack caused him to get launched behind in insane speed.

The blonde's clone skidded to a stop, just as the demon pounced on him with his giant sword raised upwards in a cleaving slash. The clone quickly channelled wind all slayer magic to his kunai and blocked the overwhelming strike. With the obvious help from gravity and the demon's insane strength, the clone held its ground pretty admirably but his arms bucked under the strain.

Grunting, he quickly swiped his second kunai at the demons head, prompting kisame to bounce back on his toes. Taking the slight breather, the clone again regained his bearing for the upcoming, imminent clash, "Dammit! boss always leaves me with minimum amount of magic! That's just not fair!"

The fish-Demon was a little confused but quickly shrugged it off and rushed forwards with his sword skidding at his side. Both of the combatants clashed with each other, trying to gain an upper hand in the blade duel. Sparks flew around due to swift and precise ongoing battle of blades. The clone knew it was hopeless, that sword would need an equally powerful blade to counter it and he didn't have Ascalon with him.

Around five minutes into the battle, kisame quickly summoned a coral sword in his other hand and thrusted it into the clone's forehead with a bloodthirsty grin.

"HAHAHAHAH-You die blondie! But I must say you were good while you lasted. You actually made me use more magic than I thought I would've to spend in this fight-HAHAHAHAH!" Kisame bellowed with the same bloodthirsty grin intact, celebrating his enemy's demise.

The clone had some blood leaking from his mouth, leaking under his mask. The sight made the fish-demon's grin light up a hundred watt more brighter. Although the game had just started for Naruto...

"Nuh uh! Sushi Akuma-san, finally I was waiting for you to finally hit me..." the clone wagged his finger around like scolding a child with a hidden smirk.

Kisame furrowed his brows in confusion and mild curiosity. This flesh bag was enjoying his own death! This human was definitely an interesting one. He smirked again, maybe torturing and breaking him apart would be better. He wanted to try this once like Kyouka did with her victims.

"Why are you smiling, infer-" his cocky retort was cut off when he sensed high density magic being concentrated in the flesh bag, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when the human in front of him exploded out in a searing explosion. This one definitely burnt! A lot!

'A sacrificial move! Hah pathetic!' He thought before being consumed by the intense heat and light.

..

-( End- Naruto OST- Akatsuki )-

---

~[On the Sidelines]~

---

Moments earlier, the group of five flashed out of the clearing. They were on the northern side of the lake, exactly where the town's road was. Halfway through the road, naruto skidded to a stop and heard the piercing sound of the clash between his clone and the opponent.

He bit his own thumb before swiping the blood leaking out of the wound across the seal on his wrist, summoning his blade Ascalon for yet another battle. The siblings cringed watching the display as blood oozed out of his bite wound. But they were mesmerised by the sight of the beautiful crimson blade that appeared in a poof of smoke.

"Is it really necessary to drag this on so much! Just kill that sushi guy already!" Kurama grumbled from his position mid air. Apparently in the face of adversities, he did use his power to fly and not act lazy.

"Yeah. If I haste my way through, I could get caught in one of his tricks. Who knows what he packs?!" Naruto replied to his feline partner in a calm and serious tone.

"He has highly enduring body, he walked through the explosions like nothing!" The feline analysed with his own two cents.

"He is from Tartaros. He is holding back a lot of his strength and speed to play with me. His defence is strong, as expected from his coral magic. His offensive capability ranges into blade-Arts and coral based attack. Although with his body structure and appearance, we can assume he has some water ability." Naruto put forth his own theory and got ready to take off.

"Wait! What are you doing? Are you going there again? We can run off while that doppelgänger of yours handles him!" Mira said in a haste and panic, biting her lower lip in worry.

She thought she didn't fear anything after her fight with the demon in church but this demon was multiple times more terrifying. She just wanted to run and never look back into his killer eyes. The thought of fighting him seemed stupid to her, then why was this blonde-baka doing it anyway?

"My clone won't hold his ground for much more time. I will take care of this demon by myself! You all head towards the town and check out if there is a train station there." Naruto replied quickly just as a loud explosion lit up in the clearing they recently occupied.

He recoiled slightly by the sudden burst of memories he received from the clone but then shrugged it off and flashed away.

Kurama watched his partner with worried eyes, but covered it up quickly before turning around and flying towards the town. The siblings watched on with some annoyance as the cat just left his friend, without any regard for his health or safety.

"Kurama-kun What about Naruto-san? Shouldn't we wait for him? What if that demon hurts him badly?!" Lisanna voiced out her concerns in a more vocal manner than her siblings.

Kurama sighed. Truly this was the most troublesome situation he has been in!

"Naruto can handle himself. Believe me he will never lose a fight when he is protecting a friend. And you are all his friends!..." He started out as the siblings looked wide-eyed at his declaration. True the blonde was good-natured and talked kindly to them but he always acted aloof and secretive.

"...He seeks friendship everywhere. He couldn't watch anyone suffer. He is a very compassionate guy. He is always lonely and without him noticing it himself he seeks any kind of friendship from his surrounding people..." The red furball continued onwards as he urged the siblings to follow him and continued their trek. The siblings were even more surprised to find such a soft side to the professional looking guy they met a week ago.

"... But he is afraid and hesitant at the same time. Hesitant because he is followed by dangerous organisations all over Fiore and his past haunts him to this very day. People around him can be hurt because of that. Fearful... Let's just say he has had a very dark and sad past unlike any other. He is afraid of denial. People shunned him in his past a lot, to the point of isolation. Now he is antisocial and has very few friends. Even the guild mates we don't often converse with are hesitant to befriend him."

As Kurama finished his explanation, the siblings felt a little more connected to the blonde than before. Knowing more about him, they could understand his closed off nature. They could really sympathise with him, they were in a similar situation. Although on a lesser extent.

"Besides you haven't even seen him fight! He hasn't lost a single match till now!" Kurama declared with a confident grin before continuing towards the town.

The siblings felt a little relieved at his confidence. They peered in the direction the blonde took off in and sighed sadly before praying any deity listening them to keep their friend safe. Their hearts clenched at the thought of losing the blonde, but they simply couldn't help him in this situation.

Gritting their teeth in agitation due to their lack of strength to assist, the siblings stomped towards the town with quick strides...

---

~[ At Tenshi Lake ]~

---

-( Start- Naruto OST- Kokuten )-

The battleground cleared up again as the smoke from the Great Clone Explosion technique dispersed. A fast and wide gust of wind exploded out of the large crater, created by the recent attack. The sides of the crater were burning while in the midst of the rising smoke clouds kisame stood, enraged by his now supposedly dead enemy.

His body was smoking with several third-degree burn marks on his hands that were the closest body parts near the clone when it exploded. He sneered at the thought of a mere human injuring him to this extent but reigned in himself and decided to crush his other preys.

Suddenly his senses went haywire, his instincts screamed at him to duck. Duck he did, as a black sword with golden borders swiped off some of his hairs from over his head. Reacting quickly, the demon of Tartaros jumped backwards in haste and blocked the horizontal slash at his chest from his foe.

He looked up, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as his previously dead enemy stood in a blade lock with him. His blood boiled in rage! He pumped more energy into his arms to overpower his tiny foe and finish him off for good.

Grunting at the sudden increase in strength applied to the duel, Naruto lowered his sword at an angle making the shaving blade slide over a little and again retaliated with quick slashes at the enemy's wide torso. Although, his adversary expertly used his overly large blade with one hand. The demon took the control in his hands and made a fast devastating upward strike at his infuriating opponent while kicking off the blonde's arm holding his blade with a coral-jagged foot nicking the blonde's arm as he pulled back.

Being caught off guard by the sudden agile retaliation, Ascalon's wielder ducked backwards. His opponent quickly used the forward momentum from the last attack and reversed the grip over his sword before delivering a powerful descending slash at the human while jumping in the air for added power.

Quickly sensing the attack, Naruto dug his foot in the ground with force before kicking off the ground and jumping backwards to avoid the ground shattering blow. While in mid-air, the Konoha Mage used the now descending blade below his current position as a footing to jump upwards.

Wrong move! As soon as his foot touched the bandaged blade, Samehada started siphoning off his magic till he dislodged his leg from the blade with a hurried push, trying his best to prevent any other unpredictable effects. Naruto landed a few feet away from his opponent who brought down his sword on the poor land, shattering it like glass as the cracks reached his legs.

Hurriedly pulling back from the attack the demon looked upwards with an overly amused grin, " Well I don't know how you are alive...but I'm glad you did! Now I'll kill you slowly and have fun savouring the screams of pain you'd let out!"

"I feel a tremor of excitement as well, it has been a long time since I faced off against a sentient sword wielder!" Naruto replied in a monotone, changing his voice slightly while pointing at the shivering blade in the demon's hand.

Kisame waved off his dismissal of situation with a maniacal laughter. Samehada made some slurping voices as if sucking out the water from the nearby lake. Slowly the bandages from the sword peeled off, revealing a menacing shaving blade. It was narrow at the hilt and spread wide at the tip, with a raindrop like shape. The scales on the blade grew larger and it's mouth at the tip grew in a grin, revealing large shark-like teeth's.

"Hahahhahah-Samehada approves off your magic boy! Finally I can loosen up. I am itching for an all out fight!" Kisame shouted out in sadistic glee, grinning with his pronounced teeths.

Ascalon released a dark aura as well, but it wasn't as intense as its fellow blade, "You are jealous it has a mouth to eat! Gimme a break, this is not the time!" Naruto said flatly to his sword who apparently could understand him, with a sweat drop.

"Prepare to die! Insect!" Kisame declared while power up. His aura exploded out in a dark blue colour as his magical presence exploded out. Killing intent flooding out everywhere, kisame lowered his smirking face towards the blonde with a spasming Samehada in his hand.

'This magic is a lot...it isn't natural! It's about my first 4-seals combined...' The blonde exhaled loudly. This fight won't go unnoticed by the council and gramps will come to know about his exploits surely. Another lecture!

He groaned at the mere thought before snapping out of his lapse. He kicked forwards with his opponent mirroring him. The air around them rippled as dust clouds rose to the surroundings due to the sheer force of their movements. Their blades clashed as sparks flew out of the point of their contact. The heated sword duel continued on as both of the opponents danced in the battle of graceful swordsmen.

Two blurs of blue and yellow, danced over the clearing in high speeds barely observable for the untrained naked eye. Naruto continued his assault on the burly demon with his fast, precise sword style and moving around his foe to deliver decisive blows on the shark-like demon; his sword coated in deadly blue lightning. On the other hand, kisame continued his heavy, destructive blows on the agile opponent with his giant shark-blade, destroying the surroundings in a frenzy. He was frustrated with this annoying fly!

Swiftly spacing away from the heavy hitter, Naruto saw his opponent using his Coral curse lances technique to throw spears of corals at him from all of the directions. Graciously shifting the grip on his sword, Naruto expertly twirled around his sword in swift flowing strikes around him to cut off the coral spears sent towards his airborne figure.

But this was a little late as Kisame pulled back his head and puffed out his cheeks widely with a high amount of magic pumping into his oral coral based attack. Naruto didn't like this one bit. He was pretty acquainted with similar attacks and those weren't pretty.

"Coral Curse: Coral Blizzard" Kisame announced his attack in rage as a large breath attack filled with spinning coral pikes approached him. The demon grinned madly, he had used more magic in that! No way this human could escape death twice in a day.

As the breath attack closed in, Naruto charged up his own breath attack. His cheeks bulged out as blue energy swirled around his face.

"LIGHTNING SLAYER'S: RAGING BREATH" Naruto shouted out in haste as the demon's attack was few metres away from skewering his body all over. Blue lightning swirled out of his mouth. When both attacks met; grey and blue breaths struggled for dominance as the wind picked up under the collision point. He received some nicks, cuts and bruises from the stray residue corals connecting their spot due to his hasty attack.

Grunting at the sensation of sharp pain searing through the multiple wounds over his body; he blitzed through the opening toward his foe. Kisame scowled in irritation, the human was able to escape again!

"ACK", In his stupor, the fish-demon missed the blitzing blonde who pumped lightning magic through his legs and roundhouse kicked him in the head. He disappeared again in blinding speed, Kisame felt an intense pain at his lower rib area as a lightning encased fist connected with his torso, breaking his rib cage, making him keel over due to the force of the attack. He coughed up some blood due to the severe damage he received but refocused on killing this worm!

"Coral Curse: Coral geyser" Kisame shouted with a snarl as he thrust both of his hands towards the blonde. Coral spikes jutted out of the ground rapidly, fast approaching the slightly wide-eyed blonde who was surprised by the sudden increase of intensity in the battle. He quickly narrowed his eyes, exchanging attacks wasn't the solution to killing this abomination. It would take hours for anyone of them to get exhausted.

"Lightning style: Flashing Orochi!" The masked mage linked his hands in a clapping motion before thrusting one hand towards the Coral geyser. A giant Blue snake make out of lightning striked the geyser of Coral. Both attacks struggled for a bit, but the younger foe's attack was more adequate this time around and quickly overpowered the struggle.

Startled by the surprising increase of might, compared to the last attack kisame lost his cool as he pumped more magic into his colossal geyser structure, digging his foot into the ground. Blazing his eyes red for a moment under his mask, Naruto snatched the fleeting opportunity he was waiting for as the demon acted to recover his wounded pride.

"Water Slayer's: Water shuriken!"

Channelling a steady amount of magic in the ongoing attack, Naruto used the hand holding Ascalon to quickly use the lake water to form water shurikens in the form of ice flakes. The shuriken spun rapidly as he clashed the attack with his current attack, totally annihilating the opposing resistance.

Kisame's eyes widened in horror and dread, a human overpowered him completely. Preposterous! Rage filling his being, he reluctantly pulled out of his attack and jumped backwards, while chucking a quickly formed coral sword at the younger mage. He dodged the biting lightning snake which flashed upon dispersing. But several blue shuriken, crackling with electric sparks raced towards his airborne figure.

Kisame took out his sword and flung it around in the air while spinning in accord. Naruto skidded backwards after doing a backwards flip to dodge the clever coral sword, he flicked his wrist motioning the lightning enhanced water shurikens to follow kisame around.

Many of them nicked the demon and paralysed him for a fleeting moment. Just that moment allowed the shurikens to rain down on the Tartaros demon with all their numbers. Eyes widening in horror at the furious onslaught, a primordial feeling filled his being. Something he hadn't felt in centuries. Fear! Absolute terror of his death!

This kid was not normal! He was one of the stronger demon gates! If he could push him down at such young age...

He shuddered at the thought of facing him off in future when he hits his prime. He had to be put down now! For the sake of their master's revival!

But then he grinned viciously, a worthy opponent to fight to death! Even if he died he was sure he could get resurrected by the pods! His selfish battle craving side demanded him to ravage this moment of complete ecstatic battle.

"Coral curse: spiky dome!" He clapped his hands together as a dome of spiked coral shielded him from the onslaughting shuriken rain. Cracks appeared on the shield due to the repetitive and numerical strikes, but the technique held its ground and did as promised. Protected the Samehada wielder or so he thought...

As soon as the first shuriken struck, dealing noticeable damage to the shield; Naruto got into a quick draw stance and prepared his kenjustsu move...

"Lightning: Thunderclap and Flash!" He speed towards the creaking shield in flashing speed, blitzing through the shield and slashing the demon across his torso in a diagonal strike with Ascalon.

Kisame was the most surprised in his years of combat experience. This kid just bypassed his absolute defence in one attack. Impossible! Blood gushed out of his large scarring wound like a waterfall and he screamed to the heavens...

"AAAAHHHHHHH"

Slightly winded, Naruto sheathed his blade before turning towards the now bloodied demon, " Now Tell me about Tartaros!"

As Kisame heard the cold, demanding voice over his scream; he muffled his voice by biting his own lower lip.

"You...are something else...k-kid...I'll give you that! Now let's enjoy the ecstatic moment of battle together human!" He whispered it in a low tone which got darker with the passing time. He chuckled darkly as his appearance changed again.

His body bent over, as a crimson tint was added to his blue skin colour. He glowed slightly as his face became pointed outwards in a shark like shape, his gills spread across his neck and his eyes followed a menacing red colour. His forearms extended backwards and a shark fin protruded out of his back. His wounds healed slowly as Samehada was absorbed into him! He grew a reddish shield of coral on his entire body with several spikes on its armour.

Seriously all that effort was wasted! And what's with demon's eating their own weapons! It was official! Ascalon loved slaying demons! Why wasn't it the other way around? That sword had a mouth for God's sake!

Sweat trickled down Naruto's face as the aura around the demon exploded, giving out massive amounts of magic in large burst. The surrounding area was affected as well, Coral began growing on the ground and some grass tips like icing. This pressure was calm and heavy not chaotic. That demon transformed into some kind of fish! He had to keep himself away from water, it seemed a little obvious.

"This is my Etherious Form punk! Now let's start!" Kisame announced in glee before pouncing on the blonde with his new claw like appendage poised to tear apart his victim in chunks of flesh.

Naruto was caught off guard by the sudden change or thereby increase in the demon's speed and strength. He was punched into the guts by his opponent as the wind was knocked out of his body as he keeled over in pain, mouth agape in silent scream and his eyes bloody red in pain. He wasn't given any time to react or breath as kisame joined both of his hands above his head before hammering down on him with a coral encased blow.

"GRAAAAAHHHHH" The boy couldn't suppress his scream of agony as he was spiked across his chest with the blow. Thank god he added the chest plate under his shirt for better protection! Still his ribs creaked in protest as they threatened to break under the immense strength of that bloody sushi- demon.

A giant spike of coral jutted out of the ground poised to impale him in the guts as he descended down. Sensing the danger below, Naruto used wind magic to abruptly change his angle of descendance, surprising the shark like creature. He grappled the sharks outstretched arm and impaled it on his own coral outcropping. He jumped back before rolling out of an axe kick.

He wheezed in pain as the damage from their recent scuffle caught up to him. The demon even absorbed some of his magic everytime he touched his skin.

'Dammit! Annoying ability...' he thought in frustration before taking in a long breath and watched as the demon yanked out his hands from the coral spike.

'Looks like he needs to be put down by big guns...' Just as the blonde decided to act on his plan, his instincts screamed at him to get out of there but he was injured at his torso, thus detrimenting his movements slightly because of this sudden pain. He winced slightly but was suddenly jerked out over the ground, by what felt like a pin cushion.

"Coral Demon's Golem, isn't he just wicked!" Kisame shouted out from his position in victory, smirking darkly.

Naruto's eyes widened. He looked up to find a greyish-red golem with spikes all over his body, double in size to him with glowing yellow eyes crushing him in a bear hug. He flailed his arms and legs around in a futile attempt to escape his hold but failed miserably. The golem tightened its grip on him, impaling him with its spikes even more as his body writhed in pain.

"Now how should I kill you? You deserve an honorary farewell for your exceedingly brilliant performance!" Kisame said with a crazed grin on his smug face. He was enjoying this a lot!

Suddenly the demon reached out for the blonde's mask, making Naruto jerk back from the sudden moment. He was fortunate because the demon swiped his claws at his head in a beheading motion, intending to cleave his head off. Naruto kicked out on the demon's armour with a powerful kick, wincing slightly when his foot made contact with the spikes on the armour. This kick however caused the Golem to loose it's balance and fall back inside the water.

Splashed on by the cold feeling of water, Naruto drowned inside the water along with the heavy golem. He looked up to see the sparkling sun and an equally dark surface under water. He wasn't able to breath properly. Dammit!

Kisame jumped inside the water and swam through it like a fish would. He had the advantage in this setting, as he swam around the blonde swiftly and sapped off his magic with every blow. Naruto closed his eyes in concentration before reopening them with a quick snap.

Electricity exploded out of him, as the blonde was covered in red magical energy all over his body. Blue sparks of lightning danced around him in frenzy destroying everything around. The Coral golem broke off as soon as the aura surrounded the blonde. A large pillar of lightning rose into the skies darkening it considerably. The red energy covered the blonde, as heat in the area increased dramatically.(Like zenitsu from demon slayer just red colour)

Kisame, sensing the danger wisely kept a safe distance away from his prey. He was in water, no matter what trick the boy pulled on him; he would die! The blonde rocketed upwards in the sky and landed on the water surface with a thunk. The water started acting violently, the surface rippled with the explosion of power while the waves moved frantically in the previously calm lake. The demon was surprised by this development, the brat could walk on water. What the hell!?

Naruto breathed calmly, the electricity around him slowly reigned inwards as it changed into red colour completely. He couldn't believe he had to push himself so much! But now that it was done he would test it's strength accordingly.

'Red lightning...second stage of the Lightning All slayer arts...but I had to enter the lightning drive...Kurama will get worried. I am pretty banged up too!' He thought, berating himself mentally for underestimating his opponent. He doubted he could've defeated the enemy with stage two alone though, so the drive mode was justifiable.

In a loud splash, kisame came out of his hiding in the water directly below him and tried punching him. With his new found speed, Naruto dodged and kicked the demon harshly in his abdomen, cracking the demon's armour slightly.

Kisame stared at his armour for a long time, did it get cracked from a single kick! His red eyes glowed in fury as he growled in rage!

"Hungry Demonic Coral Sharks" He shouted in a fit of rage as around twenty red sharks about the size of Naruto himself dived into the water and sped towards the calm blonde hungrily.

"Lightning Slayer's: Crackling hounds!" The blonde whispered in a dead quiet tone, as five red lightning hounds with large fangs appeared and met up the sharks in a struggle for dominance.

Both combatants' dynamic attacks, fought their own struggle while the mage and demon controlled them through magic. Slowly but surely, Naruto with his less numbers exercised more control over his hounds and crushed the sharks with his over potent magic. He smirked inwardly as his hounds jumped onto a winded kisame simultaneously.

Kisame wheezed in exhaustion before being hit by a nerve numbing shock that seared unimaginable pain throughout his body, shattering his armour completely. He floated onto the water to feign death, but his opponent knew better than to believe him.

Naruto pulled out an excited Ascalon who was immensely pleased at his overflowing energy, to finish off the demon. He slowly walked over water and positioned his red blade of death on the exhausted demon warily. He pulled up a good one on him last time, he wasn't letting his guard down until he was sure the sushi-guy was dead.

"You lose, demon! Now tell me about Tartaros and your death will be swift" Naruto said and affirmed his words by pulling up his head towards him and positioning Ascalon on his neck.

Suddenly kisame started chuckling darkly which became a mirthless and psychotic laughter with his maniacal flow.

"You...You are strong...very strong...but do you believe oh could kill me...heh. Don't shit me we can be revived! There is no end to me...SO..." The whole clearing. No scratch that! The whole surrounding forest began rumbling. It was like an earthquake, everything started shaking uncontrollably, and a pit of dread grew inside the blonde's stomach. This wasn't good! Not at all!

"...DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME! I WILL GET REVIVED!DEMONIC CORAL: GARDEN OF DEATH!" Kisame screamed in a crazed and maniacal manner as the whole forest area around them exploded with giant coral red spikes, larger than tress.

The blonde was drowned by the several spikes that threatened to skewer him and dodged them swiftly. He got lost into the jungle of spikes and it was impossible to dodge now. A loud squelching noise resounded, signalling kisame of his opponent's demise...

He slumped in exhaustion at the peak of his own coral outcropping, "Damn brat! Was something else..."

"That I am!" A familiar voice said from behind as a lightning encased hand ripped into his back, through his heart and out of his chest. Kisame's eyes widened in horror as he looked behind, into the unforgiving cold blue eyes of the enemy mage. His bones chilled to the core with fear as his final moments neared. There was no way he could heal his heart out new! Samehada was outta magic.

"Heh...You got me! A heart piercing spell. What a befitting finishing spell, human!" Kisame said with a somewhat satisfied smirk. He had the time of his life fighting the kid! He coughed out copious amounts of blood as the life dimmed inside his eyes.

Naruto was glad he marked him when he held up his head! It would've been a pain to find him in this forest if he didn't. He replied the dying demon with a wistful smile under his mask, "Raikiri, a technique which can cut through lightning itself. My sensei created it. Although you wouldn't remember it!"

His voice became deathly monotone in the end with a cold edge that scared the demon even in his last moments. Naruto brought out a brush and swiftly drew several magic seals and kanji for a very long seal over his back-neck. It had a blocker module along with many magic and blood as well as nerve related cluster. All in all it was a pretty hard seal to decipher, if someone ever tried.

"...I remember you said you could get revived. I don't know how but I'm not taking chances." Naruto clapped both of his hands on the central array as they glowed blue for several moments as the markings snaked towards the sealed circle with a kanji for 'memory'.

"UZUMAKI SEALING TECHNIQUE: MEMORIAL BLOCK!" As the technique was completed, Kisame's body went limp and fell down the coral peak at the ground. Naruto flashed away on the road to the town.

-( END- NARUTO OST- KOKUTEN)-

He slumped against a tree and sat down while trying to catch a breather. That was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. He looked upwards as a thought struck his mind. He stood up while holding onto the tree for support and limped forward. His injuries were healing thanks to his speedy healing ability!

'No matter how many of them I kill! I can't get satisfaction through it...' he looked upwards at the heavens with longing and a sad frown. The ring on his finger glowed red for a second but he didn't notice.

He just had to wait till he got healed enough to face Kurama and not freak out his new friends.

Friends! Yes they were his new friends but he didn't know if they thought so. He frowned but then smiled, he could always hold up hope after all!

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~[ Train Station, 6 hours later ]~

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Mirajane, Elfman, Lisanna and Kurama were standing at the entrance of the small train station of the town they had entered. After waiting for a long amount of time at the entrance of the town, they decided to proceed with searching for the train station. The siblings were concerned for their still absent companion but the feline reassured them otherwise.

Shortly after, around three hours ago the weather darkened considerably and Kurama's features tensed up slightly. They asked what was wrong but the furball insisted that it was just a battle effect, but they knew he was hiding something. After waiting around for about two hours at the train station's gate their patience was running thin.

"Hey did you hear! The magic council deployed troops around the southern forest!" A passerby said aloud in some concern.

"Yeah! Apparently a large red forest of spikes has grown out of nowhere near the Tenshi lake!" His female companion replied with some interest.

The group perked up at the mention of the lake, but kept quite.

"Yeah they say their was a mage battle! Atleast they found no dead bodies..." the other one trailed off with a dreaded expression.

"No way! Two mages caused that whole area to change so much!" The lady exclaimed in shock swallowing a sudden lump in terror.

"Perhaps there was a dark guild battle. But the council is taking care of the issue!" The male one informed in relief.

The overhearing group were both relaxed and a little bothered by the 'no death' situation. If there was no one present, did Naruto take off with the demon somewhere else? Kurama knew what was the cause, though he kept quiet.

After around fifteen minutes, a familiar flash startled them as the girls yelped in surprise while Elfman fell on to his butt. Naruto walked towards them with an inclination towards his right side, limping with grunts. The group was relieved their friend made it back successfully as their face lit up like stadium lights.

"You had to enter drive and you are injured this much! Was he that tough?" Kurama said with a raised eyebrow while sitting on Elfman's head.

"Yeah! I was late and underestimated him too much. He transformed into a freaking armoured humanoid shark!" Naruto exclaimed with a wince, as he clutched his chest area tightly.

"Take off that cloak. You are injured right? We'll help patch you up!" Lisanna said with a bright smile.

Unclenching one of his eyes under his mask, Naruto let go off his cloak. He had bandages covering most of his torso above his shirt, around his forearms and on his right leg. Elfman being the gentle person he was, helped the blonde by hoisting Naruto's arms around his shoulders for support.

"Thanks Elfman-san! That sushi guy wanted to turn me into a pin cushion..", Naruto said with a grateful smile.

"But didn't you know how to heal? Why can't you heal yourself?" Mira questioned with a concern laced voice as she stood covered in her cloak. She released a sigh of relief, seeings as Goldilocks wasn't injured too much.

"My healing magic doesn't work on myself! Although that aside...Mirajane-san..." Naruto started off with a serious note, but was cut off by Mira.

"Mira. You can call me Mira now. You are a part of our family!" She said with an angelic smile and a mild blush across her face. Her siblings looked surprised at the display for a moment, but then smiled once they realised her intentions.

Naruto blinked thrice, before his eyes widened in surprise. A twinkle of happiness spread across his normally neutral face, making it a cheerful expression. His eyes curled upwards as his lips twitched into a genuine smile.

"Thanks Mira-san!..." he said in a cheerful voice as Mira's heart fluttered hearing him call her that, "...So you joining our guild?"

"A-Ano,... Do you think they will a-admit m-me? I mean my a-arm..." She trailed off while looking down at her cloak where her arm should be.

The siblings looked hesitatnt for a moment so Naruto decided to do some convincing. He really wanted more friends in the guild where he could be free.

"Everyone live with their own interpretation of life. They exist with their own believes of the truth and their own view of the world. People fear what they don't understand. Magic drives you away from society, the other 90% population always views and treats us differently..." He sighed sadly. Reality was a bitter truth to swallow.

"..A guild helps us to come together. We treat each other equally and justly. We aren't related with blood but we act like a family. I don't understand it either but I know it's more exciting this way.." he laughed sheepishly at his own blurry insight while the others sweat-dropped.

"Mira-san you are what you think you are. Never think of yourself as a demon. I know it's hard but you must cling onto the light of your life, your family!...I think you would be the most angelic demon ever if you are actually a demon then!" He laughed out loud at his own joke but none seemed to think like him.

He looked at a shocked Mira who was thinking if this boy could actually read her mind. Although she did blush tomato red when he called her angelic...

He just motioned them to follow him towards the train station.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Train departing for Magnolia Town will be moving out shortly. Please enter the train as soon as possible and fasten your seat belts. It will arrive at magnolia in 6 hours!" A floating device announced in a loud voice while pumping furiously, alerting the group of the departure of their designated train.

"Shall we?" Kurama said in a bored tone. Fulfilling formalities was so troublesome!

"Yeah let's go I'll kick blondie's ass once I learn my magic!" Mira exclaimed while pumping her fist in the air with a devious smirk.

Both of her siblings sweat dropped and Naruto shrugged outwardly but was fuming inwardly at her constant teasing of him.

No normal person joined Fairy Tail it seemed!

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-{ Author's Note }-

I'm very sorry for the late update. My exams are coming in shortly! I haven't studied anything for almost two years but I edited the ready chapter for you guys!

Do review and inform me of my mistakes. Don't just point out stupid things like the dislike you have for story line, some people just don't want to read anything out of canon while some complain if I write anything cannon related or without changing it! Now, onwards the story will move towards development.

Naruto's eyes look like Gojo Satoru's from jujutsu kaisen only red. They don't have the tomoe. It isn't Sharingan, but an AU version of it in FT universe. It doesn't feature the curse of hatred too.

Some characters will have different looks. Now further I'll explain it to you with the progression. Be tuned for the next chapter. People who just want to hate on the story I suggest you don't read because of your demotivational comments I loose the desire to write. I think some people want me to continue so you get it right...

...Get out politely!

Although that's not to say don't point out my mistakes. I am not going to change the story pacing. The cannon will take atleast 3-4 more chapters. Also guess which character from Naruto is going to appear in this story soon...

If you do guess right, well I don't know what to do but it's fun so try your best...

Please follow and review with showering blessings. The more reviews I get, the more I am motivated to write. If you want fast update please support, follow, favourite, review, etc.

JA NE!!

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