Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 13: "Dark Heart"
(Year: X779)
Naruto stood on a branch of a rather tall tree. He was surrounded by shrubbery and leaves that all worked to hide his position from the group he was observing. Dark binoculars stood in front of his gleaming red eyes to further improve his already sharp eyesight. From the hill that he was located on, he could perfectly see the abandoned town at the bottom of the slope.
"Are they there?" Gaara questioned as he leaned against the bottom of the tree.
"Yeah," Naruto confirmed as he continued to peer through the binoculars, "They're there alright. It looks like they came in on an airship."
"Really?" Fu's eyes lit up. She suddenly dropped down to an upside down hanging position on a branch in front of Naruto. The blonde's vision was completely filled with mint hair and curious eyes, "That's so cool! How come Fairy Tail doesn't have an airship?! We're an actual legal guild! We should have something cool like that!"
Naruto lowed his binoculars, "One: Fairy Tail is only barely a legal guild with the way you piss off the Magic Council. Two: Don't kid yourself, if you had an airship, it would be broken in five minutes. Three: Move so I can see, bug brain."
"Fine, fine," Fu sat up and removed herself from Naruto's line of sight, "Ruin my fun ideas. Yeah, it would break in five minutes, but it would be the best five minutes of my life!"
'What's the big deal about an airship?' Chōmei, the Seven-Tailed beetle, questioned. Her voice sounded almost insulted, 'We can fly by ourselves, Fu-girl. Just use our wings instead of crude engines and magic power.'
Kurama grinned at Chōmei's tone, 'Oh? Is the big bad bug insulted? How cute. Maybe your host wants to fly in style instead of with gross insect wings. Did you ever think about that?'
'Can it, Kurama,' Chōmei hissed, 'It's the principle of the matter, and you know it. You'd feel the same way if Naruto-boy suddenly started to want another Bijū.'
Kurama snorted, 'And why would he want that exactly? I'm the strongest by far. Even all of the other Bijū combined are no match for my greatness.'
'There you go again, going on about raw power. Well, it's not all about power, idiot! Other things factor into a fight too. Like skills and luck. And I've got plenty of both of those to spare,' Chōmei's voice was proud and mocking.
'Would both of you shut up?! GAH! It was enough hearing the fox's voice every day, but now we have to deal with the bug too? Damn it! They're giving me a headache! And headache's make me want to rampage through a whole goddam city!' Shukaku roared out in annoyance.
'All of you, stop it,' Naruto ordered mentally, 'I'm trying to concentrate on the enemy.'
"You know, it's pretty cool that the Biju can talk to each other like that," Fu mentioned as she reclined on her branch, "Funny too. It's like hearing when Erza, Mirajane, and I fight. Insults and demeaning tones followed by bits of unspeakable violence."
"It can be convenient," Gaara admitted, "It allows us to communicate mentally in a way, even if the Kurama and Shukaku tend to re-word the messages for their amusement."
"But it's also annoying if I'm trying to concentrate, and they won't shut up," Naruto grunted as he watched the dark guild move through the city. Most of the mages down there were nothing to take note of, but there were two people that caught his eyes. They seemed to be arguing about something.
"That's what Jii-san always says about us," Fu noted.
Gaara rolled his eyes, "Oh, I wonder why that is."
"No idea," Fu suddenly sat up, "I mean, I get why he would be mad at everyone else, but me? I'm too cute to stay mad at."
"Let's agree to disagree about that," Gaara crossed his arms.
"You say that, but I stopped you from leaving," Fu stated smugly, "Beware the power of the kawaii. No one can stand up against the almighty force known as kawaii."
Gaara groaned, "Naruto, can I just sit this one out? I really just want to walk away right now."
"No," Naruto lowered the binoculars, "I'm going to need both of your help for this one. I need to go down there before the two people in charge down there leave."
"Why's that?" Fu questioned.
"Because I just saw them use their powers," Naruto looked up to Fu, "One of them is a God Slayer, and the other is a jinchūriki."
"Damn it!"
Utakata ignored the shout of frustration and continued to blow bubbles from his pipe. Having noticed that the town was empty, the jinchūriki instantly sat down under a shaded tree and brought out his tea set from his Requip space and began to relax. His companion on the other hand had other ideas.
"I…hate…this!" Zancrow shouted in between kicks. In a rage, the teen was kicking the rubble of a building he just burned down. With long, wild blond hair that could be compared to a lion's mane and wide, crazed red eyes, the Grimoire Heart mage appeared quite unstable. Similar to Utakata, Zancrow wore a kimono. Unlike Utakata's blue color scheme, loose fit, and sloppy appearance, Zancrow's clothes were outfitted with armor, hung over only one shoulder, and had a golden and dark blue color scheme.
"Hate what?" Utakata questioned as he held his tea pot over one of the black flames that covered the rubble.
"This, dumbass! This has happened four times already!" Zancrow sneered and gestured around, "Everyone's gone! How are we supposed to craft the keys to awaken Zeref if every town we go to is abandoned!?"
"I suppose it will just take more time," Utakata noted, "Perhaps there is someone in the guild tipping people off?"
Zancrow eyed the jinchūriki, "Yeeeeeaaaah. Maybe it's that…"
"Are you implying something?" Utakata poured tea into a cup.
"Naw…" Zancrow looked away, "Just know that you don't like these missions."
"I don't like any missions," Utakata argued as he sipped his tea.
"Hahahahahahahaha! That's true!" Zancrow grinned wildly, "It takes a lot of goading for Lord Hades to get you to do anything! Lazy ass! I should kill you!"
"You won't kill me," Utakata noted, "I'm the only one in the guild that you actually like."
"True, true. At least you either get out of my way or fight equally with me," Zancrow shrugged, "Everyone else just gets in my way. Either they've got too much of a stick up their asses or they get in my way like these sacks of shit."
"W-we're sorry, Zancrow-sama," One of the mage soldiers trembled in fear. Each one of the Grimoire Heart's forces had a distinct face and outfit, but Utakata didn't bother to even try to remember them. He agreed with Zancrow on what they were, the cannon fodder, "It's not our fault that the town is empty."
"Yeah…" Zancrow's hands lit up with black flames, "But I need to take my anger out on someone."
With a flick of the wrist, Zancrow sent a fireball at the nameless mages. They were instantly covered by the dark fire. Screaming in pain and panic, the mages dropped and began to roll around desperately to try to put out the flames. Some even began to remove their clothes or try to use magic to get the flames off of them. Nothing worked, though.
With a sigh, Utakata raised his pipe to his lips. Hundreds of bubbles rose from the end of the pipe. They floated towards the screaming mages. With gentle pops, the bubbles popped and spread chakra laced liquid on the mages. The fire quickly receded and left gapping, burned, and relieved mages in its wake.
"AW!" Zancrow whined, "Why'd you do that? It was fun watching them scream."
"T-thank you, Utakata-sama…" One of the mages mumbled out.
"I didn't do it for you," Utakata went back to his tea, "Your screams were annoying. Plus, I don't want to do any more recruitment missions. Those suck."
"That's a good point," Zancrow sighed and slumped his shoulders, "Fine, let's just burn the village to the ground and head back to the airship."
"Alright, let's…" Utakata paused.
"Hmm?" Zancrow raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Something wrong?"
"Saiken is speaking," Utakata noted, "We have visitors apparently."
"Oh reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaally?" Zancrow let out a low chuckle, "Where are they?"
"Over there—"
Just as Utakata was about to point to the side, a black whirlwind blasted through the area. All of the cannon fodder mages were sent flying away. Zancrow and Utakata, however, calmly dodged the attack and let the wind run its course. The destruction in its wake was a sight to behold for the two Grimoire Heart mages.
Zancrow let out a low whistle, "Well, would you look at that? That's some impressive shit right there."
"Indeed. That black wind cut a few buildings in half," Utakata gently placed his tea pot and cup on the ground and looked to where the attack came from, "If I'm not mistaken, that was God Slayer Magic."
Zancrow gave a grin so wide it looked like it was going to split his face in half, "I know. Black wind…Sky God Slayer, right? I've heard of this guy. The Unstoppable Sword."
Three figures stepped from where the attack originated. The two Grimoire Heart mages recognized two of them, but the third was lost to them.
"I wasn't aware that the Sword and the Shield had a female companion," Utakata noted as he pulled out his bubble pipe once more.
"Me neither…Hey, lady!" Zancrow called out, "Who the hell are you?"
"What?! You don't know me?!" Fu scowled, "Damn it! Everyone always goes on and on about Erza the Titania and Mirajane the Demon! How come no one ever recognized me?!"
"Because they don't want to?" Gaara suggested.
"Wait…Titania and Demon? Aren't those Fairy Tail mages?" Utakata questioned.
"Yep! Master Hades said that we should remember people in that guild," Zancrow crossed his arms and nodded, "Oh wait! That hair! I actually remember her! Her magic is fun! I'd love to test my fire against it!"
"I remember you saying that when Master brought her up…" Utakata nodded, "She's Fairy Tail's Bug Bomb."
"I have a nickname!?" Fu began to jump up and down with glee, "Yeah! People know who I am now!"
"That's not a good thing," Naruto noted, "That removes the element of surprise. People can prepare for you now."
"Oh, please! No one can prepare for me."
Gaara nodded, "She has a point."
"Hmm…They appear close," Utakata noted, "I was aware that the Sword and the Shield had some affiliation to Fairy Tail, but I never realized they were traveling with a prominent member of the guild."
"She's actually a new addition," Naruto admitted, "We thought it would be best to have some backup just in case things went south. In fact, this was originally about reconnaissance, but when realized that you two were a God Slayer and jinchūriki…"
"Woah! They know what you are? Is that bad?" Zancrow sent Utakata a side glance.
"No, It would be impossible for them not to know considering that they are all jinchūriki themselves," Utakata noted.
"Really? Three of them together at once?" Zancrow eyed the enemy group, "And one of them is a God Slayer, too…Oh, this is going to be fun."
"I agree," Naruto stepped forward, "A God Slayer my own age and about my skill level? It's not something I can ignore. My name is Naruto Uzumaki, God Slayer of the Sky. I challenge you, Fire God Slayer."
"Hahahahahahaha! I like your style!" Zancrow's smile dulled down to something a little less insane, "I'm Zancrow of Grimoire Heart and the God Slayer of Flames. Now, let's burn this place to the ground."
Fu frowned as she reclined in the shade of a destroyed building. Gaara and Utakata sat a few steps away from her. They were both drinking tea while chatting about their different experiences in Earthland.
"I appeared in a strange tower," Utakata noted, "It was nice. Wet and quiet. Although, the other people there were a bit annoying. Especially this red-headed brat. She kept going on about 'honor' and how I 'should you my powers for the betterment of humans' and shit like that."
"I popped up in a desert," Gaara mentioned before taking a sip of his tea, "Might suck for you, but I was right at home there."
Utakata shrugged, "To each his own. Although, I do wonder why we seemed to be dropped off in areas that we were comfortable with."
"Well, Naruto told me that our teleporting had to do with the gods or something," Gaara explained, "Maybe they decided to have pity on us for once."
"Pit on us…Yes, that would be a change of pace for the people forsaken by the gods," Utakata let out a snort.
"Indeed."
"Okay! Hold on!" Fu jumped to her feet and pointed at them, "Why are you two so buddy buddy?"
"Why not?" Gaara questioned, "Neither of us really want to fight right now, and we don't have anything to do until our friends are done. Which reminds me, I noticed that ever God Slayer has a jinchūriki companion. There's our friends for example, but Naruto and I also ran into two other God Slayers. They both had jinchūriki with them."
"How interesting. I wonder what the implications are…" Utakata stroked his chin in thought.
"But they're the bad guys! I get that Naruto wants a fair fight, but why the hell are you drinking this guy's tea!? It might be poisoned?" Fu frowned angrily.
"First off, I brought my own cup, and we're drinking tea from the same spot. No way to poison me like that," Gaara noted, "Also, fair fight? What makes you think this is about a fair fight?"
"What? Of course this is about a fair fight. Why else would Naruto want to fight one-on-one?"
"Because he wants to test his abilities," Gaara noted after drinking some of his tea, "That's the main reason we fight dark mages in the first place. Naruto wants us to be stronger. And that can't happen right now if I help him fight the Fire God."
"I suppose it could be a two-on-two fight, but I'm certainly not in the mood for that," Utakata mentioned.
"So, we sit and wait," Gaara shrugged, "Naruto will be done soon, and this guy seems agreeable enough. So I don't mind."
"Well, I do! They're the bad guys! They kill people! We should fight against them, not drink tea with them!" Fu argued.
"I see. You think we're the good guys…the heroes…" Gaara shook his head, "You're wrong."
"What? But all you two do is good deeds," Fu shrunk back in shock.
"Only because it benefits us," Gaara stated without shame, "We don't care about good or bad. We do what we want, when we want."
"As it should be," Utakata nodded his head, "We are jinchūriki and shinobi. We kill. We steal. We ruin lives and not lose a moment of sleep over it."
"But…Shouldn't we try to be good people?" Fu questioned, "After all, we have a second chance in this world."
"Tell me, Fu," Gaara stared into Fu's eyes. She almost flinched back from the intensity of the glare, "And make sure to answer this honestly. Don't you remember what it was like? The stares filled with hatred. The words demanding we stop existing. The loneliness that humanity forced on us while demanding that we serve them without question. I know you think about it. We all think about it. With that always in the back of your mind, do you really care about normal people? About people you don't even know? About humanity?"
"I…I don't…" Fu looked away ashamed, "But shouldn't we at least try to care? Or…pretend to? After all, we're human too."
Gaara then looked away from the girl and towards the exploding buildings in the center of the town. "That's we're you're wrong. We are the sacrifices of humanity. We are jinchūriki, not humans."
"Sky God's Strike!"
"Flame God's Elbow!"
Flames and wind dark as night met as the God Slayer's limbs crashed together. The elements danced around each other and blasted out. The surrounding buildings were covered by the fire and winds. The wind left deep gashed that looked deep enough to almost bleed while the fire continued to burn the wood away to ashes.
This occurred several more times as Naruto and Zancrow's attacks met several more times. Each blow caused incredible destruction to the town. Neither opponent seemed to care, though. They continued to trade attacks all the while having large grins on their faces.
Unfortunately, Naruto knew that he couldn't keep this up forever. Thanks to his control, his wind didn't completely feed into the flames not completely. His attacks were making Zancrow's attacks somewhat stronger. That was the problem when trying to fight fire with air. Air was fuel for the flames, and Zancrow knew that.
Just as Zancrow was about to unleash a large wave of fire, Naruto jumped back. With a shout of "Flame God's Scythe," Zancrow swung his arm in a sweeping motion. Fire blasted off of his skin and curved into a large arc. Just as the flame arc was about him, Naruto flipped over the scythe of fire and landed safely as soon as the attack has passed him. With its target missed, the attack continued down the street and crashed into a building. The arc quickly tore the building in half and left crumbing remains covered in ever consuming black flames.
"Hahahaha!" Zancrow threw his head back and roared with laughter, "You see that?! You chose the wrong person to fight, Sky God! The more you leave magic traces in the air, the more fuel I have to use!"
"True, I thought that might be the case. My wind is fine against other magic users, but a god's flames…" Naruto looked back briefly at the burning town, "I guess since we use magic on the same plane, then you get the element advantage."
"That's right!" Zancrow pushed his arms out to the side and tilted his head arrogantly, "You can't beat me! My flames are too strong."
Naruto gained a small grin, "Now, I didn't say that…" The blond then took a deep stance and spread his arms, "Arms X Vernier X Armor!"
Black wind danced around Naruto. It seemed to seep into his pores. His body gained a light blue glow as magical power enhanced his muscles and skin. Power seemed to radiate off of him as the black wind continued to dance around his feet.
With a blur of motion and an explosion of dust, Naruto rushed forward towards Zancrow. Arrogant and unprepared, Zancrow could do nothing as Naruto appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. The Sky God Slayer's fist rammed into the Sky God Slayer's face with bone shattering force. The wilder blond was sent flying backwards with a boom. His flight was only stopped when he slammed into the side of the building.
Sliding to his hands and knees, Zancrow desperately tried to regain his bearings. With blurry vision, he looked up to his enemy rushing at him once more. With a snarl, Zancrow rose to his knees. He desperately threw fireballs at the blur charging towards him. Each blast of fire missed at the blur moved around the street with flips and jumps that Zancrow wouldn't have been able to follow even if he could see straight. Soon, the blur was upon him once more.
With the blur at point blank range, Zancrow thrusted his hands forward, "Flame God's Razor!"
Just as the flames began to spark around Zancrow's fingers, his enemy acted. Bringing one leg up, Naruto kicked the hands and made them fling up into the air. A straight stream of fire blasted out of his hands and rose high towards the sky. The Black Flames spread out like water and began to fall like drops of acid rain.
Shocked by the reaction speed of his opponent, Zancrow could do nothing as Naruto acted once more. Grabbing onto the fire user's shoulders, Naruto spun and slammed his enemy into the wall once more. This caused Zancrow to gasp in shock and pain. The pain only continued as Naruto went into for beat down.
"Sky God's Outbreak!"
All Zancrow knew was pain. Dozens of blows rammed into his torso and body. He felt his bones groan under the assault of so many powerful attacks. With his back trapped into the wall and his front assaulted by the Sky God Slayer, the Grimoire Heart mage could do nothing to escape. After a few seconds of the beat down, the wall behind Zancrow began to crack. Then, with one final punch to his face, Zancrow was sent crashing through the wall.
Flying through the rubble, Zancrow crashed into the house. He landed on his back with a loud thud. Despite the pain that flooded his system, something else was quickly overpowering it. Anger burned in his chest. Gritting his teeth in anger, Zancrow sat up to look at the piece of shit that had hurt him.
"Flame God's Bellow!"
Black flames rushed out of Zancrow's mouth towards Naruto who was not expecting Zancrow to regain his bearing so quickly. Naruto countered with a below of his own. His attack was a lot later than Zancrow's attack, though. The bellow of wind was quickly consumed by the bellow of fire. Just like with Zancrow earlier, Naruto was sent flying black. This time, though, he was caught in a blaze of flames instead of fists.
"Hahahahaha!" Zancrow shakily pushed himself to his feet. Still weakened and weary from his beat down, the dark mage stumbled and trembled in his step, "How do you like that?! I got cha!"
"You did…" Once again, Zancrow was surprised by his opponent. Naruto walked out of the smoking crater he had landed in. He was covered in burns from the attack, but the flames that covered him had been smothered by his own magic. Not only that, the damage was quickly healing as the Sky God Slayer magic flooded through his system, "That was a good hit."
"What?! B-but how!?" Zancrow's jaw dropped.
"I've sparred against a fire slayer many times. I know how the basic concept of your powers work," Naruto shrugged, "I've worked on smothering flames, but your fire was definitely a big test. Didn't get away scratch free, though. Nice job. It's the first time in a long time that someone my age hurt me."
Zancrow trembled in furry, "No…No one can do that! Everything turns to ash before my flames!"
"Like I said, you're definitely a powerful guy. In a straight power contest, I'd actually say that you'd win," Naruto admitted with a shrug, "But I'm a lot better at fighting than you."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, you're wild and untamed," Naruto explained simply, "All power, no finesse. Something tells me that you've been training your fighting style to completely revolve around your magic. There are benefits to that, but it can't compare to my fighting ability."
"You think you're better than me?" Zancrow snarled at the blond, "I'm one of the strongest in my guild!"
"Better than you? Not really. I just know what it means to be weak," Naruto explained, "I've been training since I was a toddler. Every day I was beaten down and built back up. I know how to cope with that, and I have the hand-to-hand skills to prove it. I doubt there are many people that can fight equally with me just using their bare hands. That's my real talent. My magic just enhances that."
"Oh really!" Zancrow lit his fist with black fire once more, "We'll see about that! I'll beat your ass without any flashy move—"
Naruto dodged the attack and got Zancrow into a guillotine choke.
"Gack!" Zancrow scratched at the arm wrapped around his neck.
"You're the same as Natsu," Naruto mentioned, "Always rushing ahead wildly. I'll tell you the same thing I tell him, that's not going to work. When two equal powers meet, the person with the greater skill will always win. And I am way ahead of you in skill level."
"Ack!"
"Look, I'll let go of you, but you have to promise not to attack me again, okay Natsu…er, Zancrow."
Zancrow nodded desperately.
"Alright," Naruto released the other blond and quickly stood up.
"AH!" Zancrow took in deep breaths like his life depended on it, "You crazy son of a bitch! You could have killed me!"
"Trust me when I say, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead," Naruto offered a hand to Zancrow. The other God Slayer hesitantly took the hand and was helped up.
"Yeah, yeah…" Zancrow frowned, "Damn it. I can't believe you beat me like that…"
"To be fair, I've fought another God Slayer with a similar fighting style. I think she can fight gracefully if she really wanted to, but she's just strong enough to flatten everything in front of her," Naruto mentioned, "I learned a lot from her. If I didn't meet her first, I might not have won so quickly."
"I see…" Zancrow stroked his chin, "Interesting. I do learn faster when I train with Master Hades. Maybe I should look for stronger opponents instead of just crushing ants."
"That's pretty much been my plan for getting stronger."
"Alright, time to go," Naruto spoke up as he and a bruised Zancrow walked up to their seated companions.
"You done destroying the town?" Gaara glanced to behind the returning blonds. Most of the buildings were either rubble or burning to the ground.
"Yep," Naruto nodded, "Let's go. I'm happy with what we've achieved today."
"Me too," Zancrow gave Utakata a large grin, "Come on, bubble boy. We have a lot of work to do. I'm going to get so damn strong that I beat this SOB with one blow."
"I've never seen you so motivated," Utakata mentioned.
"Well, it's nice to have a rival that doesn't piss me off in the wrong way," Zancrow shrugged.
"Is there a pissed off in the right way?" Gaara questioned.
"Of course!" Zancrow let out a low chuckle, "I'm pissed off in a way that makes me want to kill him later instead of right now."
"That's impressive," Utakata looked towards Naruto, "You must have left a good impression."
"I suppose. Usually, I tend to rub people in the wrong way, so this is a nice change of pace," Naruto admitted. He paused when he noticed that the only female member of their group, "You okay, Fu?"
"Yeah…" Fu stood up and glanced at the dark mages, "I'm fine. Just thinking."
"Hmm…" Naruto studied Fu's eyes, "I see. You don't have to like this, you know. I know that we're acting pretty friendly with dark mages, but you should know that they're not our friends. They're rivals, and most likely, we'll fight again. Probably, next time it will be more violent and deadly. Especially because of their guild. Grimoire Heart is big on the Zeref worship. That may piss me off, but going on a rampage on them right now would be dumb. Their airship is right over there, and I'm sure they have some powerful mages. We'd probably be killed. Right now, I'm satisfied with what I got. I'll deal with the rest later, and I'm sure there will be a later."
"True," Utakata nodded, "Next time we meet, we might be assigned to try to kill you. Your work is obviously against our guild's goals after all."
"Psh! Like I care about that..." Zancrow rolled his eyes, "Master's speeches about our goals always goes in one ear and out the other. All I care about is good fights. As long as I get that, I'm fine with the mission. Especially if we're sent after you."
"Right…" Fu nodded and let out a small smile, "It will be a good fight..."
"Exactly," Naruto smiled as well, "What fun would it be if we defeated them now when we can have a better fight later? Especially because there aren't exactly a lot of God Slayers at my level to compete with."
"Okay! I call fighting the bubble guy!" Fu grinned at the other jinchūriki, "I'll beat your ass, Number 6!"
"You can try," Utakata blew some bubbles from his pipe.
"Until then, let's go," Naruto mentioned, "I feel motivated. Let's go find other people to fight."
"Why go looking when someone is right here."
Naruto froze as the voice. It was a voice that was ingrained in his memory. He often heard it in his angrier moments. It motivated him, pushed him to get stronger. That voice was the reason was the entire reason Naruto originally went on his quest to get stronger.
With his face twisted into an angry snarl, Naruto turned to the owner of the voice, "Bluenote Stinger. I didn't know that you were part of Grimoire Heart."
"Naruto Uzumaki," Bluenote looked down his nose at the blond, "I was wondering who was fighting against Zancrow. Two God Slayers fighting. Now that is interesting."
"Woah! You know Bluenote?" Zancrow questioned his rival.
"Yeah, he killed my teacher," Naruto clenched his fists.
"So that's the guy, huh…" Gaara eyed the man before him. Shukaku was screaming at him that this man was dangerous. Fighting him right now would be dumb unless he went full Biju mode.
Utakata felt the change in the air around the senior member of his guild, "I apologize, Zancrow. It looks like you won't get a chance to fight your new rival again."
"Yeah…" Zancrow felt beads of sweat roll down his brow, "Maybe…We should head back to the airship…"
Before the younger members of Grimoire Heart could move, though, Bluenote spoke again, "Tell me, Uzumaki, how high can you fly now?"
"Pretty high."
"Really? Let's see about that," Bluenote rushed forward. The ground began to tremble as Gravity magic began to radiate from his fist.
Naruto rushed forward as well, despite the shouts behind him. Like Bluenote, the blonde gathered his own magic around his fist. He punched up towards Bluenote as the older man brought his fists down. Without even meeting yet, Naruto knew he would lose in the power struggle. The Gravity Magic behind that punch was enough to level the entire area. Luckily, Naruto had an ace up his sleeve.
Bluenote was shocked when floating number three appeared in front of him. A lot of the magic in his attack seeped back into his body. His blow now weakened, Bluenote could do nothing as his attack was quickly overpowered by Naruto and he was sent flying into the rubble of a building.
Naruto let out a grin, "Thanks, Fu."
Fu stood off to the side. Her hands were pressed together as she stood in a deep horse stance. Numbers in symbols began to dance around her as she focused her magic on the two people fighting people in front of her, "Don't mention it."
Bluenote quickly pushed himself back up. He had not expected that, "That magic…"
"That's right, Bluenote. I brought a secret weapon," Naruto took a deep breath and then exhaled a twister of black wind. As he did this, a floating 8 appeared above his head, "Sky God's Bellow!"
Bluenote instantly went to stop the attack. He used his gravity magic to try to push the attack down before it could get to him. Once again, he was surprised when his magic didn't work. The bellow slammed into him and pushed him further into the rubble.
This didn't last long, Bluenote quickly jumped up and then retreated several meters. Fu quickly took notice, "He's out of my range!"
"Damn," Naruto looked to Gaara, "Shield now!"
"That won't work…" Magic blasted off of Bluenote in waves, "You may have surprised me, but that was only a few lucky shots. Luck falls before my power. Fall!"
Despite the pleas from his allies, Bluenote extended his arm forward with the intent to level the entire area. Gaara knew that his shield wouldn't hold against it, but he formed domes over him and his two friends anyway. They then braced themselves against the inevitable crush that was about to smash down on them.
It never came.
Bluenote paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Master Hades…Why did you stop me?"
"You get too caught up in your fights, Bluenote," An elderly man with long white hair and an eyepatch over his right eye spoke, "You would have killed two of our most promising mages, along with the potential of those three."
Bluenote gritted his teeth but still relaxed his stance, "I suppose you're right. I wasn't thinking. It wouldn't be any fun to kill them all now. I'll wait until they can pose a real challenge.
Hades nodded, "Indeed. Zancrow! Utakata! Go with Bluenote back to the airship. I wish to speak with these three alone."
Hearing direct orders from their master, both of the younger mages of Grimoire Heart quickly rushed away before anything else could happen. At the same time, Bluenote calmly began to walk away. Before he got too far away, though, he looked over his shoulder at his young rival. Naruto just snarled at him. Grinning, Bluenote turned and returned to his trek to the airship. The boy might not be ready yet, but he would be soon.
Hades eyed the children in front of him. He knew of them. They were quite promising for their age. Far more powerful than he was at their age. Of course, none of them could compare to him right now. They were effectively ants to be crushed beneath his feet.
"The Unstoppable Sword. The Unbreakable Shield. Fairy Tail's Bug Bomb," Hades noted with a small smile, "It's the pleasure."
'Be careful, kit,' Kurama warned, 'Something is wrong with this guy. He's even stronger than that monkey. But his power is unnatural. It's coming from an outside force. From that airship.'
'Noted,' Naruto nodded, 'This guy is definitely different from Bluenote. He may have raw power, but he also has skill. I can tell just by the way he stands.'
"What do you want?" Gaara questioned, "Are you here to finish what your subordinate started?"
Hades gently waved a hand in reassurance, "Nothing of the sort. I was just interested in such promising youngsters. After all, you're the ones that will eventually take control of this world. It would have been a waste to let Bluenote exterminate you without at least seeing you for myself."
"Yeah, well excuse us for not dropping our guards," Fu refused to let her spell drop.
"Hmm…" Hades examined the numbers and symbols that floated around Fu, "Jackpot. A very powerful but risky lost magic. The user can set up a space around them and can effectively manipulate the power of attacks. Downsides is that the effect is often luck based, and the user can't move while emitting it from their body."
Fu blinked, "How…did you know that?"
"I know a lot of things, Fu," Hades gave a gentle smile, "I know that you're part of Fairy Tail. You have a reputation for being very brutal to your enemies. Often leaving them a blubbering mess of smoldering flesh. Oddly enough, though, your tendency for property destruction is actually low for Fairy Tail standards. So you do have control."
Fu blinked.
Hades turned to Gaara, "Sabaku no Gaara. Your defense is well-known, but your offense is quite deadly too. Very deadly. Although, you have been holding back a lot since you left that desert."
Gaara scowled.
Hades finally turned to Naruto, "Naruto Uzumaki. God Slayer of the Sky. Apprentice to April Kazen. Bluenote speaks highly of your potential. I see why. Your skill in your magic and hand-to-hand fighting is exceptional. As is your control. I can see it in you. The instinct to kill. Each move you do is designed to kill, yet you hold back to avoid negative consequences. I'm impressed."
Naruto frowned, "How do you know so much about us?"
"Please, you think I would have a jinchūriki in my guild without investigating the others," Hades chuckled, "That would be dumb. Especially with you three being so high profile."
"I suppose so," Naruto popped his knuckle, "What exactly do you want?"
"Well, you joining my guild is the first thing that comes to mind," Hades commented, "But I doubt that will work. You don't respond well to threats or orders. I was amused by your work with the Magic Council by the way. Well done."
"You have a spy in the Magic Council, don't you?" Naruto noted.
Hades just smiled.
"Naruto, what do we do?" Gaara questioned.
"We leave," Naruto noted, "We can't beat him. It would be best to leave while we can."
"It'll leave a bad taste in my mouth, but you're right," Fu still didn't drop her spell, though.
"Smart," Hades chuckled, "But perhaps I won't let you do that. I believe a test is in order."
Raising a hand, Hades began to write in the air. Magic symbols appeared as he wrote. Once the symbols were all set, Hades thrusted his hand forward. To everyone's surprise, Fu's spell shattered.
"What the hell…" Fu stumbled back in surprise.
"You have skill, child, but not enough," Hades kept his hand extended. A magical chain with knives at the end blasted out of his hand. It quickly wrapped around Fu's leg. With a yank of his arm, he threw Fu around like a rag doll. He smashed her into the ground a few times until sand popped up and caught the girl.
Hades would have went to attack Gaara for interfering, but he was stopped by Naruto. The blonde went in with Sky God's Sword activated on each arm. Naruto swung his wind drills with the intent to tear Hades to pieces. Hades calmly released the chain holding Fu and defended against the blonde. Magic danced at his fingers as Hades blocked the attacks with his bare hands.
Each swing of Naruto's drills were knocked aside by Hades. This didn't stop Naruto, though. He continued his assault until Hades thrusted his hands forward with a gravity magic laced in it. Naruto crumbled to the ground in a heap. Hades went to chop down at the God Slay but was stopped when sand popped up once again and stopped his attack.
Turning to Gaara, Hades prepared to attack the redhead. He paused when he felt sand began to crawl up his legs. Soon, his entire lower half was covered with sand.
"Sand Coffin," Gaara droned as he clenched his fists, "Sand Burial."
The sand began to constrict around the dark mage's legs. With a raised eyebrow, Hades reached down. He tried to use sand magic to try to dispel the sand. The man was quickly surprised when the sand refused to obey his commands. The jinchūriki's control seemed to be greater than his own.
Fu quickly decided to take advantage of Hades distraction. Insect wings jumped out of her back. With the speed of the wind behind her, she flew towards the aging man. She viciously kicked him on the side of the head. The mint head then followed up her attacks on the reeling man with several more attacks across the dark mage's body.
Before Hades could react and swat her away, Fu retreated. She flew towards Gaara and hid behind his sand shield. Blinking, Hades looked down to see that Naruto had tunneled his way underground. Wondering why, Hades looked to where Fu had attacked him. Bugs danced across his robes.
"Ah, shit."
As soon as those words left his mouth, the bugs and sand across his body exploded. The sand crushed him like a cobra while the bugs exploded and singed his skin. When the fire and sand died down, Hades was left in a smoking crater. Before Hades could even fall, Naruto jumped out of the ground and stood before the dark guild master.
"Sky God's Spear!" Naruto thrusted his arms forward. A concentrated blast of wind extended from his palms. The spear of wind crashed into the man and sent him flying into the rubble that was once a town.
"Damn…" Naruto grunted as he steadied himself.
'Kit, the old man's still alive. I feel the negative emotions rolling off of him. You need to get away from him,' Kurama warned.
"We need to leave, now!" Naruto roared to his friends. Before he could get a response, Naruto felt a magic chain grab him and drag him towards Hades' location. Before he could react to it, the chain released the blonde. Naruto tried to right himself as he fell, but the chains stopped him once again. This time, though, various chains danced around him. They cut and stabbed the blonde all across his body. Now a bloody mess, Naruto was pulled forward once more and landed in Hades' grasp.
Choking the bleeding blonde, Hades peered at his healing enemy. With his free hand, he reached up and removed the headband from Naruto's eyes. Angry demon eyes stared back at the old master, "Just as I thought. Your eyes tell it all. All the potential in the world. All the anger too. If only you didn't stand against Lord Zeref. You would have made a great ally. There's still hope for you, though."
"Are you going to ask me to join you?" Naruto scoffed and spit in Hades face, "Kiss my ass, old man. I'm going to kill Zeref, and I'll kill you too if you get in my way."
"Pity," Hades gently wiped the spit away and began to write in the air once more, "Amaterasu Formula 25."
Naruto gritted his teeth. His arms were still too damaged to do anything. The sky magic was doing its best to heal the damage, but it wasn't half enough. He knew that there was nothing he could do to stop the attack. Just as the magic was about to explode out of the formula, a large 2 popped up in front of Hade's face. Just as Naruto predicted, magic blasted against his face. Fortunately, though, it was far weaker than he anticipated.
"What…" Hades looked down to see a kunai embedded into the ground by his feet. Numbers and symbols danced around the object, "I see. She cast the spell on an inanimate object instead of herself. Limits the range of the spell, but gives her mobility. How creative—OW!"
While Hades had been talking, Naruto had focused his healing to his leg. The sky magic managed to heal almost all the damage. He viciously brought his leg up and kicked Hades where it would hurt the most. To aid his attack, the Jackpot magic cast on the kunai enhanced his kick as a solid 9 floated in from of his head.
Groaning in agony, Hades dropped the blonde and headband in his hands. Sand quickly popped up and caught Naruto with his headband. Swing his arms, Gaara quickly used the sand to carry the blonde back. He then picked up Fu and used the sand to fly away as quickly as humanly possible.
"Damn…" Fu groaned in exhaustion as she reclined on the sand, "That was harsh. I didn't know anyone could be that strong."
"Yeah…" Gaara looked down at the now unconscious Naruto, "That guy was a monster."
Looking up at the retreating teens, Hades let out a pained chuckle. Standing up, he brushed himself off, but he still winced in pain. He had not been expecting a low blow, "Very good. I'm very impressed. Those eyes…Hahahaha! Those were some good eyes. I could almost feel the darkness in your heart. Even more so than the one in my airship. I'm glad you survived. It will be interesting to see where you go from here. You may very well become the enemy you're trying to fight against. A second Zeref. Now that would be interesting."
Fu's Jackpot magic will be explain more in depth later on. Right now, though, I'll say that it is a very, VERY risky magic that either enhances or weakens magic based on the number that pops up. It's more complicated than that, but on a basic level, everything over 5 means it gets stronger. Everything under 5 means it gets weaker.
Thank you for reading and please remember to...
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