Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 26: "Fallout"
(Year: X784)
"You are getting closer, Naruto," Azura's voice gently rang through his mind, "You have almost reached the ability you longed for. Be careful, though. More God Slayers have fallen on this path than not. You must—"
Naruto was violently pulled from his dreams when he was hit over the head with her broom. He sat up with a jerk only to be hit over the head a second time. When the third strike hit him, he turned to the source, "Stop, you crazy old lady!"
"This is what you deserve!" Porlyusica continued to smack Naruto with the broom, "Dropping off a guy in a coma only to fall in one yourself! Quit inconveniencing me!"
"If you don't like dealing with people in comas…then stop hitting the guy that just got out of one!" Naruto desperately tried to defend himself from the broom of doom.
"Baa-chan!" Fu ran into the room and stopped the older woman, "You need to stop waking up people with your broom!"
Porlyusica scoffed, "Please, I'm a medical professional. The boy has recovered. He just needed a wakeup call."
"Gah…" Naruto pulled off the covers and swung his legs off the edge of the bed, "How long was I out?"
Gaara entered the room more calmly, "A few days. Almost everything has calmed down already, you lucky bastard. You got a free pass through the BS."
"Yes, apparently falling into a coma was a huge blessing for me. I didn't literally sleep through a part of my life at all," Naruto scoffed.
"Hey, I would pay for that luxury," Gaara grunted.
"You mean that you'd pay for that luxury again," Fu noted, "Not that I'd let you. I ain't going through that worry again."
Gaara just grumbled.
Porlyusica rolled her eyes. She turned and stepped toward the exit of the room, "I'm going to fix you some medicine, boy. Don't you dare think about leaving yet."
"Fine, fine," Naruto waited until she left then said, "We're totally leaving right now, aren't we?"
"Oh, completely," Fu opened the window as Gaara handed Naruto some spare clothes and armor, "Let's go before she gets back."
Once they were outside and a good distance from the old woman's tree home, Naruto spoke again, "So what exactly happened when I feel asleep? I remember something about Marissa making me and Arashi saints, but that's about it."
"Well, that's actually the interesting thing," Gaara noted as they all found a shaded spot to relax, "Apparently, the Rabbit Church or whatever has a precedence of naming God Slayers saints in the past. It goes back around four hundred years. Basically that gives you a lot of leeway because the Magic Council now has to go through the church to arrest you."
"How did that ever get passed through legislature?" Naruto questioned.
"Apparently, it was approved by the Royal Family a long time ago," Fu shrugged, "That's all we could get out the Rune Knights. They weren't very happy with having their jobs made harder. Although, they did look happy that they didn't have to write up a huge report about a destroyed mountain."
"Um…" Naruto tilted his head, "Why?"
"Xion reconstructed it with her magic," Gaara let out a low whistle, "You should have seen it. Just one snap of her finger and the mountain was back. Then, when Arashi woke up, he recreated the foliage. Poof. Like nothing ever happened. You God Slayers are weird. Destroying and creating shit on a whim…"
"So Arashi woke up before me?" Naruto frowned.
"Yeah, but he seemed oddly happy," Fu noted, "He just bowed to you and left. I'm surprised that he recovered faster than you of all people."
"I think it might because of something that happened," Naruto stared at his arms, "For a few seconds in that fight, I felt different. Weightless. Hell, I was actually flying. It was like I was reaching into an entirely different power."
"Weird," Gaara stroked his chin, "I wonder what it means…"
"I wish you had the power earlier," Fu noted, "Then maybe you two wouldn't have had trouble with whoever you were fighting. By the way, I never found out. What exactly happened?"
Naruto looked at Gaara, "You didn't tell her yet?"
"We were busy doing…things…"
Fu grinned, "He was busy making things up to me."
"I see," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I guess I should start with the basics. There's a group from the Elemental Nations called Akatsuki. Somehow, they crossed the barrier and are trying to hunt down us jinchūriki."
"Oh Kami!" Levy dropped the heavy beam she was carrying and wiped the sweat from her eyes. Like almost all of the guild, she was helping to rebuild the guild hall. Unfortunately, her lack of physical strength made it so she wasn't the biggest help in this scenario, "That's heavy…"
To Levy's shock and shame, Laxus strode over to the beam. Even with dozens of different heavy objects thrown over one shoulder, he reached down, easily grabbed the beam, and threw it on top of the pile like it was nothing.
"Hey! I would have gotten that…eventually," Levy huffed.
Chuckling, Laxus grabbed a smaller post and handed it to Levy, "Here."
"Thanks…No! Don't do this out of pity!" Levy shouted and walked beside the taller man.
"It's not pity, Levy. We've all got our own strengths, right?" Laxus snorted, "Besides, you're still hurt, and I have a lot of pent up energy from not getting a real fight."
"Fine," Levy did not look happy, though.
"Don't look so down," Laxus continued to trudge through the busy crowd of mages uncaringly, "You actually helped out more than I did during the war. Heard you took down an S-class mage. Good job."
Levy blushed at the compliment, "T-Thank you."
Laxus hummed in thought, "If you become S-class in the next exam, Fairy Tai's reputation and strength will definitely grow. Sure, Natsu and Gray are strong too, but they're still a bit too destructive for the job."
"Is that all you think about?" Levy rolled her eyes, "Making the guild stronger?"
"What else is there to think about?" Laxus shrugged despite holding such heavy objects, "That's why I think this war was a good thing. You stepped up big time. Gaara and Naruto might be closer to actually joining, and Elfman got an upgrade. Plus, we got our Demon back. No other guild will compare to us soon enough."
At the mention of Mira, Levy looked over to see the white haired mage happily laughing with her brother, "Things did work out well in the end. Although, Mira didn't completely go back to like she was before."
"Angel in peace. Demon in battle," Laxus smirked, "Perfect for the guild. Oh, and there's that stacked blonde that Phantom was after. She beat Aria, right? Nice. And she's green too. That means she'll only get better."
"Do you have to define her as stacked?" Levy tilted her head down in depression for a second before raising it, "That reminds me, I need to go visit Lu-chan. She's supposed to still recovering at her apartment."
"I'd wait till tomorrow. Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy went to visit her," Laxus shook his head, "She's probably going to be worn out."
"Mah…Good point. I'll just go visit Jet and Droy instead. They seem to be happy when I visit."
"Yep," Laxus grunted and put his stack of beams down. Levy did the same with her smaller plank, "By the way, I got to ask. Why didn't you just created a crane with your Solid Script and use that?"
Levy blinked before smacking her own forehead, "Doh!"
Laxus burst out laughing, "And that's why we need people at our side to point out the obvious stuff we overlook. Why do you think I keep the Thunder Legion so close all the time?"
Natsu groaned as the train lurched again, "Gah…"
"Wimp," Gray rolled his eyes, "You won't be able to help Lucy like that. Get ahold of yourself."
"Why would she even go back to her dad?" Happy questioned, "She didn't seem to like him that much."
"Who knows," Erza frowned, "But whatever the reason, we need to be there for her. Either to back her up, or drag her back."
"You seem really fired up about this," Gray noted.
"No, she's just mad that she couldn't go help nurse Naruto back to health," Happy giggled, "Cuz she liiiiiikes him!"
Erza's glare made Happy flinch back in fear.
"Don't worry," Gray tried to calm down the situation, "He'll be there when we get back."
"You think so?" Erza fidgeted in her seat, "Because he always seems to rush off without a second thought."
"The guy is in a mini-coma," Gray snorted, "He's not going anywhere until he wakes up. And even when he does, he's probably going to need a few days to get back to full strength."
"Being injured never stopped him before," Erza muttered.
Gray raised an eyebrow, "What's got you so tense?"
"I…I just…" Erza sighed, "I've got a bad feeling. Before the war, Naruto gave off this aura that made me feel tense. Maybe it was just the threat of war playing tricks on me, but for some reason, I have the feeling that if I'm not there when he wakes up, something bad will happen the next time we meet. And then…I don't know. Things won't ever go how I want."
"Well…" Gray rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort, "I'm not the best person to give a pep talk about this, but…Come on, it's Naruto. He's basically a less perverse version of Gildarts. He might wander off and be gone for a while, but he always comes back the same. Don't worry about it. Even if he's gone when we get back, you'll get your chance to talk to him and tell him…um…"
"That you liiiiike him!"
"Shut up, cat!"
"Gaaaaah…"
"And you two Natsu!"
"A-Aye, sir!" Both the fearful Natsu and Happy moaned in fear.
"So, Deidara and Sasori, huh?" Fu sat in a lotus position looking up at the clouds, "That's a weird combination."
"Right?" Gaara shook his head, "And there's probably a lot of more of people like them. Who knows how many people could be in it?"
"They're probably all highly skilled shinobi," Naruto reasoned, "And they can travel across the border. Tracking their movements will be impossible."
"So one enemy falls only for a more dangerous group to show up," Fu sighed, "Typical. What do we do about them?"
"Unfortunately, neither of us got any useful info out of them," Gaara rubbed his temple nursing a headache, "So we have to play this by ear. Our next move has to be careful. If Akatsuki finds out about the people we care about, they'll use it against us. So staying with Fairy Tail or Cait Shelter is a big no."
"The best place to go would be Marissa's church," Naruto reasoned, "From there, we can send out a warning to all the jinchūriki. Plus, we can ask Marissa to have her sources keep an eye out for Akatsuki members."
Fu jumped to her feet with a smile, "And we'll to get kick back and enjoy the life of luxury. As the entourage of a saint, they're going to have to worship us, right?"
Gaara nodded, "And we can find out what the whole saint status really means for you. There's always a catch to things like that. Besides, you probably have a lot of questions for her about God Slayers after your fight with Arashi."
"Which reminds me," Naruto Requiped his God Slayer book and a small vile of blood, "Look at what I got?"
"Alright!" Fu fist pumped, "Let's crack that book open and find out some secrets!"
"I hear you, Fu!" Porlyusica's voice echoed through the forest, "Get back here so I can finish healing the dumb blonde!"
The three jinchūriki shared a look. Gaara spoke up, "Do it on the road?"
Naruto and Fu nodded, "Do it on the road."
Xion grunted as she reclined into a large couch, "You owe me, big, Marissa. I hate dealing with politicians."
Yagura glanced at her from the opposite end of the couch, "Are you kidding me? I was the one that outtalked all the politicians. All you did was make a showy entrance and reconstruct the mountain that Number Nine and Kazen destroyed."
Marissa walked over to the tall woman and short man to hand them a glass of wine each, "Thank you, Xion. And you too Yagura. I'm sorry for the inconvenience."
"Well, it wasn't a total inconvenience," Xion quickly chugged her drink, "Watching two God Slayers fight was pretty damn epic."
"It was a rather spectacular bout," Yagura took a more polite sip of his drink, "I wasn't expecting Number Nine to win, though. Sending us there made me think that you expected him to lose."
"I considered that as a possibility," Marissa took a seat in a cushion chair across from her guests, "But I mostly wanted you there to stop them from killing each other. I must say, though, having Naruto make Arashi into an ally was not what I was expecting."
"Yeah! I know right?" Xion let out a laugh, "When he woke up, Arashi actually bowed to Uzumaki before he fixed the forest on the mountain! I felt like I was watching a drama!"
"This will make it easier for you in the future, correct?" Yagura questioned.
Marissa nodded, "I will need as many God Slayers to work together as I can. With those two now on good terms, I can bring together six of the seven. In fact, I've already sent out a message to the Fire God and am preparing messages for the others."
"Will the plan work without the Death God Slayer, though?" Xion wondered.
Marissa giggled, "Maybe. Maybe not. But I think I have a way to fix that variable. Each god has different criteria for how they choose their God Slayer. The best way to get Ankhseram's and the previous Death God's attentions was to try to control death. So I was thinking that we could use—"
Marissa paused when the door to her chambers opened to reveal Roshi. He quickly strode into the room and leaned against Marissa's chair, "We have a problem."
"Oh no," Marissa pouted, "And we just began celebrating. Can it wait?"
"I don't think so," Roshi noted, "It's Itachi. He's in the library and demanding an audience with you. Obviously, I can't go and deal with it. He'll recognize a jinchūriki, so…"
Marissa sighed, "I should probably go deal with this. You two make yourselves comfortable and enjoy yourselves."
"Awesome!" Xion jumped up and grabbed the entire bottle of wine, "Let's get drunk!"
Roshi grinned, "I second that motion!"
Gajeel glared at Arashi as the Nature God Slayer exited his apartment with a bag over his shoulder, "Hey. Where you going?"
"Hmm…Don't really know," Arashi adjusted his tie and looked out into the distance, "Never really thought that I would come out of the war okay. Maybe I'll go visit Kaa-san's grave for a bit. Then…I'll have to find a new goal."
"And you were just going to leave without telling me," Gajeel stepped up to Arashi, "I am going with you after all."
Arashi smiled and placed a hand on Gajeel's shoulder, "Gods and Dragons cannot walk the same path, my friend. Not enough room for them. We just meet up at rest spots along the way."
"So that's what Phantom Lord was? What our friendship is? A rest stop?" Gajeel spit out his words bitterly.
"No, of course not," Arashi removed his hand and stepped back, "Gajeel, you are the only real friend I have, but what you need is a lot different than what I need."
"And what exactly do you think I need?" Gajeel snapped.
"Something or someone that won't abandon you and leave you in the dirt," Arashi noted, "What you need most is stability. That's something you've never had. But me? I need to shake my world view up. Everything I thought I knew was wrong, and I need to keep moving for a while. If you come along with me, you'll only get more volatile."
Gajeel looked away, "Fine, whatever. Not like I really care."
Arashi chuckled, "You know…Fairy Tail seems like a fine guild. A place people with dark pasts can go and find family."
Gajeel scoffed, "They wouldn't take me in. Not after what I've done."
"I think you'll be surprised," Arashi took a few more steps back, "I was with Naruto. People associated with Fairy Tail are of a different sort. Go to them and find your happiness, Gajeel."
"Would you shut up already and just go!" Gajeel snapped with his back turned to Arashi, "Kami! At least when Metalicana left, he didn't lecture me when on the way out!"
Arashi nodded, "Just don't go into the darkness, Gajeel. Trust me, I've been there. It won't bring you happiness. Find your light, as I am about to find mine."
"Go!"
Arashi gave one more smile before turning to go, "You'll see that this is for the best, my friend. And when we meet again, and you've found your real smile, I'll buy you a drink. Just like old times."
Gajeel continued to hold completely still as Arashi walked away. Once his sensitive ears finally lost track of Arashi's footsteps, he let out a gasp and a sob. He violently began to wipe the tears from his eyes. Arashi was right. Fairy Tail did seem nice. When his eyes were finally dry, Gajeel began to walk the opposite way that Arashi went. It was time to find his own way. He could only hope that Master Makarov would give him a chance.
Fu skipped ahead and turned back to face her male companions, "So? Let's break out the book! I've been wondering what the whole God Slayer thing is about for years now."
Naruto nodded. He bit into the glass vile to hold it while turning the page to the book's back blank page. Holding the now open book with one hand, he dripped some of Arashi's blood onto the white sheets. As soon as the blood made contact with the page, words danced to life. Almost like they were alive, the letters scattered around the pages. Eventually, they finally calmed down enough for the writing to be legible.
"Wow, this was intricate," Naruto noted, "April-sensei was paranoid about this."
Gaara and Fu shared a look at the seeming digression of how Naruto addressed his teacher. The red head just shrugged and looked down to the pages with his blonde friend, "What does it say?"
"Let's see…"
In my studies of my ancestor's past, I've learned some very interesting things about God Slaying Magic. One of which is, despite my best efforts, I will never be able to use Sky God Slayer magic. Even with my mastery of Sky Magic, I'm missing the one key component. The blessing from the Sky God.
Originally, the One Magic rose from the chaos that was originally our universe. From that One Magic, seven deities were born and created seven base elements that structured the world we know today. For a long time, these gods ruled over the world and everything in it. Like with every ruler, though, corruption eventually came. Civil war broke out between the seven deities. Knowing that they could never really defeat each other, the gods decided to extend their battle to the mortal plane and decide who was the ruler of the gods through a battle royal.
Each god blessed a single human with their element. In their arrogance, the original gods did not realize that their blessing bring aboutt their demise. The blessing of a god did not just create a powerful human. It created a God Slayer, a being which can kill what is unkillable. All seven of the original God Slayers trained and perfected their art to the point that they pushed past the limits of humanity. In a burst of power, they became one with their element and obtained the level of power that only the gods themselves know. From what I understand, this level of power is the peak of God Slaying Magic. It is referred to in text as "Demigod Mode."
Instead of using their new powers to fight each other, the God Slayers turned against their benefactors. They killed and overthrew the original deities to become the second generation of gods. This second generation learned from the previous generation. They knew that eventually the corruption and madness that came as consequence of the power and immortality of the gods would bring ruin to them as well.
In their wisdom, the new gods came together and constructed the laws that they and every other god that came after them would have to follow. Every half a century, the gods would pick new God Slayers to eventually slay them. This would prevent any long rule of corrupt gods and give peace to those that ruled over the world. Once the new gods were crowned, they would pick out new minor gods to rule over the other elements that branched out from the One Magic.
For millennia, these laws worked perfectly and created an era of peace and stability that allowed Earthland to prosper. Unfortunately, the system fell four hundred years ago. Something happened in the generation of God Slayers that included the man that would eventually be known as the Dark Mage Zeref. Despite what history says, it wasn't Zeref that brought the change to this world. No, the change came from outside. The one person that changed everything was a goddess from another reality.
Her name was Kaguya.
Pain looked across the dark cave to the figures of the comrades that were able to get to the meeting, "Deidara and Sasori have not checked in yet."
Madara shook his head, "They might have fallen. That's the problem with being separated so far. We can't know until either they come back alive or Zetsu gets back and tells us what happens."
"And what of Itachi and Kisame?" Konan questioned.
Kakuzu let out a grunt, "Itachi has been acting strange as of late. He seems to have become obsessed with the Zeref fellow."
"The guy that can't die?" Hidan scoffed, "That's my thing! He can't steal my thing! I'll cut him to pieces and show him what a real sacrifice to a god is like!"
"You do realize that this Zeref is four hundred years old, right?" Kakuzu's voice came out dryly, "If anything, you copied him."
"Shut up!"
"Enough," Pain's eyes narrowed at them, "We need to stay focused. Madara, can you go and stop Itachi from going on a quest to hunt down this Zeref? Even if he did drag the jinchūriki across the world border, I would prefer not to mess with a man with an Empire behind him and an obvious mental instability problem."
"I still need Marissa's help to cross the barrier," Madara let out a snarl of dissatisfaction, "I'll contact her as soon as we're done."
"Are you sure that it's smart to rely so much on this woman?" Konan questioned, "Everything just seems too convenient with her."
"Zetsu has verified everything that she's said," Madara stated, "Don't think that I blindly trust her. I've had her watched for two years. Nothing suspicious has come up. She is exactly what she seems."
"A naïve girl with too much power," Pain shook his head, "The entire world is too coddled. It is for the best that we quickly get the jinchūriki and leave. We need to fix our own broken world, not deal with this carefree magic world."
Brain looked across the table to the rest of his guild, "We will be moving soon. Marissa has everything set up."
"So we're working under her now?" Racer hissed out angrily.
Brain sighed, "We've been working under her for a long time. She knows everything about us, our allies, and our assets. If we try to rebel, then she'll crush us."
"Bullshit," A purple haired man with pointed ears noted. He was gently petting larger purple snake, "I say we attack her altogether. She can't beat the six of us all at once."
"No…You're wrong, Cobra," Angel trembled in fear, "She's on a whole different level. It's inhuman. She kept up with Racer WITHOUT MAGIC."
A tense silence spread throughout the room.
"Father…" A tired looking young man with extremely wild black hair looked to the leader of the guild, "What does she want from us exactly? What is her end goal?"
Brain just shook his head, "I don't know, Midnight. She just one day randomly decided to meet with me, demand my cooperation, and asked me everything I knew about Nirvana."
"So…Our goal is still to unlock the rich weapon known as Nirvana, right?" Hoteye was a rather large man with a squared, almost jewel shaped face and long flowing orange hair, "Could we not just use her and betray her once we have the weapon."
"That was my thought," Brain nodded, "But it will be difficult to pull off. She obviously wants to use Nirvana herself."
"But for what for?" Midnight questioned.
"That's the big question, isn't it," Brain sighed, "All I know is that if she gets a hold of that weapon…I don't think anyone will be able to stop her."
While the history of my ancestor's old home has long since been lost to time, I do know that Kaguya was the ruler of that world. She had obtained the power of 'chakra' which now flows through my own body. For years, she studied all the abilities the energy gave her. One of the stranger abilities was the power to step through dimensional walls at will.
That was how she arrived in Earthland. To the alarm of all seven gods, she appeared through a large tear in the sky. It did not take long for people to bow and worship her unbelievable power. Obviously, this made the gods nervous. Kaguya's powers were so great that she could rival them on her own. She could easily disrupt the flow of the world that each generation of gods had carefully crafted. At first, they just asked her to leave. Unfortunately, Kaguya refused to stay away for some reason.
No amount of research has shown why she felt so drawn to this world. Perhaps she was a control freak. Perhaps she wanted to find peers that could actually relate to her. Whatever the reason, though, she kept returning and causing problems. Each time, the gods became more hostile. This led Kaguya to turn her attention to the gods' natural enemies, the God Slayers.
Six of the seven God Slayers wanted nothing to do with her. The seventh…the God Slayer of Death…Zeref was drawn to her. Bitter from his own curse into immortality and the death of his brother, Zeref allied with Kaguya to overthrow what he viewed as a corrupt and unfair system of the gods. That was his mistake.
Kaguya did not want to kill the gods. She wanted to rule them. Together with Zeref, she created a seal that chained the gods' physical forms and halted their power. Kaguya then began her rule over both her home world and Earthland with an iron fist. Upon seeing Kaguya's cruelty, Zeref turned against the Rabbit Goddess. With the help of the goddess's sons and God Slayers from Earthland, they managed to force Kaguya back to her home world and seal the dimensional barrier between the worlds. From what I gathered from the ancient tombs, Kaguya's sons then defeated her and sealed her away forever.
With the world's now separated again, Zeref tried to undo what he had done and accept responsibility as the new god of death. Unfortunately, things could not be undone so easily. The seal placed on the gods could not be undone. Their physical forms were trapped behind a shield that could not be broken except through the death of the creators of the barrier.
The God Slayers instantly turned on Zeref. All of them fell before him. Now stuck as the remaining God Slayer, Zeref could only wait until the gods gained enough energy to pick new God Slayers to take their place. Despite their efforts, none of them managed to kill Zeref or break through the seal to get to Kaguya. Generation after generation tried, but all failed. The gods even tried bringing warriors from the other world to be God Slayers. This didn't work. Even my ancestor fell before Zeref.
(Note 1: I don't know how the other world's people can do magic. Needs research.)
(Note 2: There appears to be a time difference between the two worlds when the seal is intact. Earthland has only progressed 400 years while a millennium has passed in the other world. Needs research.)
Update: X764
My attempts to use Life Make magic has backfired. My hopes that my ancestry might get me a blessing from the Nature God were crushed. My son did not come out as expected, and I am now slowly dying. It seems that the blessings from the gods are more complex than I could have imagined. Poor Arashi is suffering for my foolishness.
Update: X774
I have met a child from the other world. Naruto Uzumaki. He has the ability of chakra and claims that the Sky Goddess claimed him to be her slayer. The poor child doesn't know that Azura has doomed him. There is no way for him to reach the goals he seeks with the seal in place. Luckily, he has not learned Sky God Slayer Magic yet. I have decided to take him in and try to lead him down a different path.
Update: X775
My plan failed. Naruto has his mind set on becoming a God Slayer. He speaks with so much conviction about his dreams. I realize now that's what I was missing. My passion was to become a great mage. Not for my element. I realize now that I can't stop him. He will be the Sky God Slayer.
I can only pray for him. He's getting dragged into a messed up situation. Once he activates his magic, the compulsions will start. God Slayers are motivated to kill gods. The longer they don't accomplish their goals, the more obsessed they become. If he does not somehow manage to break the seal and kill the goddess who blessed him, he'll fall into insanity just like Zeref had before him. But breaking the seal is impossible. Zeref has proven many times that he can't be killed. Not even Acnologia or the other Death God Slayer chosen could finish him off.
(Note 3: There's a rumor I once heard from scholars of the Rabbit Church that Zeref and another Death God Slayer fell in love once. Then, he killed her. I wonder if that's true considering that there's supposed to only be one slayer for each god at a time. But there have been exceptions to rule before.)
Even if he does accomplish that, how will he possibly deal with Kaguya? The poor boy is doomed. I have thought about telling him about this, but from what I understand, knowledge of the God Slayer origins is a double-edged sword. It allows God Slayers to get closer to achieving Demigod Mode, but it also speeds up the mental degradation process. If I want him to be have as much time as possible, I need to keep this from him, yet I cannot bring myself to destroy my work. A blood seal will have to do. And if Naruto finds a way to break this…if Arashi truly is still alive…He's doomed.
Forgive me, Naruto.
Hades sipped the wine glass in his hand and looked out the front of window of his flying base. For once he was allowed a moment of peace and was determined to enjoy it. He knew that it wasn't going to last long.
"OI, MASTER HADES! MASTER HADES!" Zancrow came rushing into the room.
Hades sighed. That just proved his thought, "What it is, Zancrow?"
"Look at this!" Zancrow held up a newspaper that detailed the events of the Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord guild war.
"Yes, I was well aware of that guild war," Hades sipped his wine once more.
"Not that! I don't care about fights between weaklings!" Zancrow pointed to the pictures of Naruto Uzumaki and Arashi Kazen, "There was a fight between God Slayers, and I wasn't invited?!"
"From what I understand, their fight was a personal matter," Hades argued.
"Gah!" Zancrow was still seething, "I hate this! All these years of training, and I still feel like the weakest God Slayer! Look at this! They destroyed a mountain!"
Hades let out a chuckle, "I love your enthusiasm, my young subordinate. You wish to prove yourself, but your time will come."
"I can only fight the other members of the guild so often," Zancrow grunted, "The only people I haven't beaten are you and Bluenote. If I want to keep up with the Nature and Sky God, I need a challenge to push myself."
"The boy is not wrong, Master," Bluenote as he leaned against the doorway, "I think we can all benefit from seeing a rematch between him and Uzumaki."
Zancrow grinned, "He's got the right idea."
"Hmm…" Hades sipped his wine again, "Lady Marissa did send an invitation for you and Utakata to join her in a meeting with the other God Slayers. You could request a rematch then."
Zancrow pumped his fist, "Yeah!"
"Until then, perhaps both of you would like to stretch your legs and get a view of Uzumaki in action," Hades smiled and placed his glass down on the nearby table.
Both Zancrow and Bluenote perked up at this.
"Let me tell you about a side project I've been keeping an eye on. Have you ever heard about the Tower of Heaven?"
Kami leaned against the railing of the balcony that extended from his room. Only a pair of shorts covered his muscular form in the night. His Rinnegan eyes looked up to the various balls of energy that circled above the world of Edolas. That was his gift to this world. Unlimited energy was available throughout Edolas because of him.
Suddenly, someone hugged him from behind. Kami was not surprised by this. He knew that she was behind him. The soft, unclothed curves brushed against his back giving him the feeling of something that almost every man in Edolas secretly desired for but knew only he received.
"Why are you out here?" A soft voice wafted into his ear.
Kami gained an amused look, "I could ask you the same thing. Aren't you afraid that someone will see you?"
"We are pretty high up. Very few could possibly see us," Soft hands traced the edge of his shorts, "But the fact that it's still possible…Isn't the taboo exciting?"
"You're incorrigible, Erza."
Erza Knightwalker licked his shoulder, "You love it, though."
"Hmm…" Kami turned to kiss the shorter woman. She responded by gripping his spiked hair tightly and pulling him closer in need.
Pulling away, Erza looked up at him lovingly, "You never answered my question, love."
Kami sighed, "You kiss me like that then regress the conversation?"
"I am a tease…" Erza's hands continued to dance across his waist.
"It is the other world…Earthland," Kami explained through a sigh at the feeling of her hands, "The God Slayers…the jinchūriki…Naruto Uzumaki…It all worries me."
"Then why don't you do something?" Erza began to kiss his jaw, "Attack them first."
Kami's own hands rubbed her back and began to trail downward, "I've already seen too much war in my life. My home world is a war torn hellhole. Bringing that to two worlds…it doesn't feel right."
"But is it necessary?"
"Possibly. Naruto Uzumaki could go either way on his path right now," Kami remembered viewing the fight between Uzumaki and Kazen, "There is so much humanity in him…and so much hatred. It reminds me of my brother."
"So that's why you're conflicted," Erza stopped her movements and looked at him, "So what are you going to do?"
"Right now? Just wait," Kami admitted, "I'll keep an eye on Earthland and see how things progress. If things get worse…then I'll act."
"And until then," Erza's hands snapped out and tore the clothing from Kami's body, "Let us enjoy the peace and time we have."
Kami's hands finally reached their destination. He grasped the soft flesh of Erza's rear and brought her up. The knight responded in kind by wrapping her legs around his waist. They were pulled flush against each. Hardened muscle met soft curves. Groans and moans carried out through the air as the two of them met in the oldest dance in history. Turning to brace his lover against the railing, Kami allowed himself to forget was troubling him before and instead focus on the incredible feelings he shared with the red-haired goddess in his arms.
Lucy was still covered in wounds and bruises as she stood before her father. Throughout the years, the room had not changed at all. The young Heartfilia woman remembered the day her life changed. Naruto and his friends had met her father in this very room. Part her wondered how her life would have been if that had never happened.
"What are you doing?" Jude frowned at her daughter, "Coming before me like that…You're better than that, girl."
Lucy had to agree. She had never appeared like this before her father. Despite the servants' insistence, she did not change into a fancy dress. Instead, she stuck to a more comfortable and practical outfit of jeans and a form fitting Heart Kreuz blouse. Not only that, she refused to use any makeup to hide any of the various bruises on her face, and her many bandages were on display.
"Go fix yourself up then come back," Jude ordered.
Lucy held herself still and gave her father a steady gaze, "I don't think that will be necessary. This shouldn't take that long."
Jude stroked his mustache, "That is true. I'm glad that you returned on your own will after that whole fiasco with Phantom Lord. Everything worked out it seems. I don't even have to pay Jose."
Lucy just held her steady gaze, "I apologize for leaving without a word. That was immature of me, and I deeply regret my actions."
"Well, all this guild nonsense is behind us," Jude turned to look out the window, "Good because I was about ready to use my wealth to destroy them."
Lucy did not react to that.
"The reason I called you back here is because your husband has been decided," Jude looked back to his daughter, "He is the son and heir to the Junelle family, Duke Sawarr. I'm sure you remember. He's expressed interest before."
Lucy did remember the short, sweaty man. He kept trying to grope her, "Yes, I remember him."
"By marrying into the Junelles, the Heartfilia Railways will be able to expand South," Jude explained, "This marriage has tremendous value to the future of the family. And you must also give birth to a son to continue our family."
Lucy didn't even blink at his words.
"That is all. You're dismissed to your room."
Lucy decided to speak up, "You misunderstand, father. I am not here to stay."
Jude looked at her in surprise.
"I came here to do the mature thing and tell you personally that I'm leaving home and never coming back," Lucy stated sternly.
"What?! But the family name—"
"The name Heartfilia means nothing to me. The only family name I care about is Fairy Tail," Lucy's intense stare made Jude flinch back, "There are things that I'll miss. The servants here that have cared for me. Mother's memory. My entire childhood. But I can't stay here anymore. I'm sure mother would agree. I have to do what makes me happy."
Jude just looked at his daughter with his jaw dropped.
"Fancy clothes…expensive food…luxurious living…" Lucy shook her head, "None of that makes me happy. Fairy Tail makes me happy. It may be crazy there, and I have to struggle just to make rent, but they respect and care for me just because I'm me."
"I…I…"
"So I'm leaving here to go there forever," Lucy stated. She finally moved from her spot. With wide strides, she stepped to her father's desk, "Now that I've done the mature thing, I'm going to speak as a mage of Fairy Tail. If you ever do anything to cross the guild again, I and my entire guild will consider you our enemy."
Lucy's hands snapped forward to grab Jude by the collar. Jude went pale. He never knew that his daughter was so strong.
"And if you're my enemy, then I won't hold back," Lucy stared right into Jude's terrified eyes, "I won't just defeat you. I will make you suffer. Do you see what I look like right now? This will be nothing in comparison to what I will do if you ever hurt any members of my real family again. Do you understand?"
Jude nodded slowly.
"Good," Lucy let go and gave him a gentle smile, "Goodbye, father. I do hope that eventually we can leave this behind us, because despite everything, I do love you."
Naruto, Fu, and Gaara had all stopped walking at this point. A thick silence fell over the area. Both Fu and Gaara shared a look. Gaara then looked to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Naruto? You okay?"
"So I'm the only one that didn't know this?" Naruto whispered, "All the others knew, and never said."
"There's a lot of rules, right? Maybe they couldn't tell you until you found out on your own?" Fu suggested.
"Yeah…Maybe…" Naruto flipped through the remaining pages to look at all the notes on different advanced Sky God Slayer abilities. Flight…Demigod Mode…Creating vacuums…
"What are you thinking?" Gaara questioned.
"You know that I don't believe if fate, but…" Naruto paused, "Was my desire to kill Zeref really something I chose? I mean…the fact that it now lines up with my other goal…Was this Azura's doing? Did she manipulate my path?"
"No," Fu shook her head, "How could she do that? Her power is really limited now, right? I mean, she only appeared to you twice in the space of what? Ten years? The book says that they need to build up power just to do things."
"Yeah," Naruto Requiped the items away, "Good thing we're going to Marissa. I still have a lot of questions that I bet only she can answer."
"What about what the book said? Falling into insanity…aren't you worried?"
"No," Naruto continued forward without looking back, "I've always planned to succeed or die. This changes nothing."
Hinata tiredly trudged through the Konoha camp. Dozens of shinobi bowed to her despite their injuries. She only acknowledged them with a nod of the head. There was too much on her mind to address everyone by name. The only person she gave a second glance to was a dark haired man wearing a high collar and shades, "Shino."
"Hinata-sama," Shino addressed the woman and quickly followed after her to the main medical tent.
Hinata sighed, "You don't have to call me that, Shino. We've been friends since we were twelve."
"It would be inappropriate to call you anything else," Shino argued, "Especially in front of others."
"Fair enough," Hinata gently rubbed her scared temple, "Tell me, how is he?"
"Bad. Very bad."
"I'm going to guess that's an understatement."
"Indeed."
With a shake of her head, Hinata entered the medical tent. She ignored the moaning and bleeding shinobi and walked to one specific bed at the end. With a pained look, she addressed the person on the bed, "Kiba."
A single eye opened from behind the bandages that covered almost all of the man's face. His limbless body trembled in agony as he woke up, "H-Hinata-chan?"
"It's me, Kiba," Hinata whispered gently.
"I-I'm so glad to see you," Kiba gasped out. His movements reopened some wounds causing his bandages to become bloodied once more, "You…you look beautiful, Hinata-chan."
"You don't need to lie, Kiba," Hinata noted while brushing her fingers across the many scars on her face.
"N-No…I…Sorry…"
A medic walked up beside Hinata, "I'm sorry, Hyūga-sama, but we can't save him. There's too much internal damage. He has an hour at most."
"Lady, I'm an Inuzuka. I can hear what you're saying even when you're whispering," Kiba let out a grunt.
Hinata looked to the medic, "Is there anything we can do?"
"No. I'm sorry."
"I see. Thank you," Hinata looked back down to Kiba. She watched him lie there and suffer, "What do you want, Kiba?"
"To die of old age."
Hinata's eyes narrowed, "That's not a choice any of us have anymore."
"Yeah…" Kiba gasped out as his insides felt like they just burst into flames, "I-I'm sorry. Please…do it. Make it end."
Hinata nodded, "Okay."
"I-I'm sorry that I'm putting this on you—"
Hinata silenced him with a single poke to the chest. Kiba seized for a single second before his suffering was put to an end. His glossed over eye stared unfocusedly at her. Without flinching, she gently moved her hand up to lower his eye lids.
Shino looked to Hinata, "Are you okay?"
Hinata closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The challenges kept getting harder, "I'll be fine. Let's get moving. I have a lot to deal with before the end."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
Wendy hummed to herself as she and Carla were resting and eating lunch after a good morning training session. As she ate, the Sky Dragon Slayer was reading the newspaper, "Look, Fu's guild was in a war with Phantom Lord. Looks like they did a clean sweep. Not one loss. And Naruto-sensei beat another God Slayer. How cool is that?"
Carla scoffed, "What a bunch of brutes. Why were they fighting anyway?"
"It doesn't say. It just says that tensions were high for a while," Wendy noted.
"I bet the blonde had something to do with it," Carla noted dryly.
"Don't say that," Wendy frowned, "Not everything is Naruto-sensei's fault."
"Do you really think that he would involve himself in a war like that without the chance to get anything out of it?" Carla questioned.
Wendy was silent.
"Exactly," Carla shrugged.
"Still, I'm sure he had a good reason," Wendy argued.
"In his mind at least."
"I wonder what he'll do now," Wendy pondered out loud, "Do you think that he'll visit soon?"
"Maybe. It has been a while since he…" Carla paused as she saw someone approach them. She turned to the new figure with narrowed eyes, "Who are you?"
Wendy was not as suspicious. She was shocked, though, "Jellal?"
Carla turned to Wendy, "Jellal? The one that helped you get to Cait Shelter? What is he—Woah!"
Carla jumped up onto the log in shock when Jellal appeared right in front of them. Wendy also stood up. She had a large smile on her face.
"Jellal! I'm so happy to…" Wendy met Jellal's eyes. Her smile dropped, "You're not the Jellal I knew. Jellal never had such cruel eyes. Who are you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, little girl," Jellal sneered at her, "I've never met you before. But I have hear of you. You're Naruto Uzumaki's apprentice."
Alarmed by his words, Wendy grabbed onto Carla and leapt back to gain some distance between her and Jellal. To her shock, though, Jellal outpaced her with ease and appeared right behind her. She managed to avoid the strike to the back of the head and turned to the Wizard Saint once more.
"That's more than enough proof. No normal twelve year old could dodge that," Jellal smiled, "Tell me, do you want to go see your teacher."
"Like I'd go with you. I—" Wendy was silenced by a vicious magical punch to the head. Out of instinct, she tossed Carla to safety before Jellal grabbed her into a choke and quickly forced her into unconsciousness.
"No!" Carla desperately lunged at Jellal, "Wendy!"
Jellal viciously kicked the cat away. She never stood a chance as she bounced across the ground useless. With the cat now down, Jellal disappeared in a burst of speed with the unmoving Wendy still in his arms.
Marissa calmly stepped into the library of the church, "What do you want, Uchiha? I was in a very important meeting."
Dressed in an Akatsuki cloak, Itachi Uchiha was once again looking through the books on Zeref. Despite his still rather young age, his long, pony-tailed hair appeared close to graying from stress. The deep bags under his eyes also made him look far older than he was, "My apologies, but all this research on Zeref has brought some very interesting questions."
"Questions?" Marissa raised an eyebrow, "All of the information I collected is accurate I assure you. What you read here should give a pretty clear picture of what kind of person Zeref is."
"I know, but from what I understand…" Itachi closed the book he was holding, "Zeref would never have called the jinchūriki here."
"Oh? And why do you think that?"
"Because he's a big brother like me," Itachi's Sharingan eyes looked to Marissa.
"Yes," Marissa nodded slowly, "He attempted to bring his brother back to life through different means and was cursed as the God Slayer of Death as punishment."
"Then he spent years trying to find ways to die," Itachi agreed, "Including creating those demons of his. The pinnacle of which is the E.N.D., his brother brought back to life. None of that worked, though, so he spent the rest of his time creating that Empire in the West."
"I don't see the point of this," Marissa sighed out in exasperation.
"I'm getting to it," Itachi's eyes began to spin, "From everything that I understand, I can't see why he would bring the jinchūriki here to Fiore. If he wanted to destroy this country, he would have done it with his massive Empire. Bringing the jinchūriki here makes no sense. While beings of massive powers, none of them would be capable of killing him. So, all he's done is give an opposing country powerful weapons to fight against his own army."
"Are you really trying to find reason in a madman?" Marissa seemed amused, "You must have realized the strain immortality must have on the human mind. This all could have just been a decision he made in a session of madness."
"That did cross my mind," Itachi admitted, "But then I realized something."
"And that is?"
"How could Zeref break the locks that your gods made between our worlds?" Itachi's eyes narrowed, "The whole point of your God Slayers is to take the place of the gods so that there won't be an age of corrupt gods, correct? Zeref obviously rebelled against this somehow. So why would the gods let him do anything as big as dragging nine weapons of mass destruction into this world?"
"You're questioning the ability of a man that can bring people back to life? He's obviously defied the gods before," Marissa shook her head, "I think you're going mad yourself, Uchiha."
"Maybe. All this could be paranoia in my mind. After all, Zetsu has confirmed every drop of info you've provided for us. That's enough for Pain and Madara, but for some reason, I have this gut instinct that something's wrong. That you're hiding something. I think that you actually want the jinchūriki here."
"And why would I do that?" Marissa gave him a look of deep disbelief, "Why would I bring all of Akatsuki here then? Do you hear yourself? If not, I can play it back so that you can hear it from someone else. You're implying that I want the jinchūriki to be here, yet I also welcomed their greatest enemies into my church and provided information about their locations. Information verified by your own spy master. Tell me, why would I do this?"
Itachi took a deep breath, "Who is the Sky God Slayer?"
"Excuse me?"
"You've told us who all the God Slayers are except the Sky God Slayer? Why?"
Marissa smiled, "Well, obviously there is no Sky God Slayer at this time. The last one died twenty years ago fighting Zeref, and no one in Earthland has proved themselves worthy of the mantle yet."
"What about in the Elemental Nations?" Itachi suggested, "You see…There's this odd thing that I noticed. Possibly because I'm the only one that's been studying all this. People in Earthland cannot naturally use chakra, but people from the Elemental Nations can use magic. I have no idea why, and I don't really care; but I had this weird thought…what if a person from the Elemental Nations proved worthy to be a God Slayer?"
Marissa paused.
"What if that person was a jinchūriki, and in order for that person to cross the barrier, he or she had to drag the other jinchūriki with them?" Itachi questioned.
Marissa took a shuddered breath. Then, to Itachi's shock, she began to cry, "I…I'm sorry that I hid this…I just…I couldn't risk the chance of any of Akatsuki running away."
"Running away?" Itachi was bewildered by the idea.
"The Sky God Slayer is Naruto Uzumaki," Marissa reached out and grabbed onto Itachi's sleeve, "He…He has completely mastered God Slayer Magic like me, and he also has mastered using the Kyūbi's chakra. Not only that…he can combine them…"
Itachi's eyes widened in horror.
"Exactly…" Tears rolled down Marissa's eyes, "Uzumaki's a monster. Not just in power too. The things he's done…It's horrific. He killed his own teacher for strength. He's allied all the jinchūriki to create an army. He's tracked down and destroyed small guilds just for his own amusement. Nothing I do can stop him either. He's just too strong. If he wanted to, he could destroy the entire country in an instant with his power."
"I see…You're right. Some members of Akatsuki would run from that," The more selfish members of the group flashed through his mind. Sasori was too obsessed with his art living forever to fight that. There was no profit in it for Kakuzu. Hell, maybe even Hidan and Deidara would run. It wasn't like they had the any real loyalty to Akatsuki. Even Itachi himself was thinking twice about this, but he quickly crushed that thought.
"You see…" Marissa leaned forward and began to cry into Itachi's shoulder, "I…I didn't know what to do. I figured that only the Akatsuki might be able to help me from your world. That's why I brought you all here. I thought if I combined all of my forces with yours, then we would be able to defeat him."
"But…Deidara and Sasori were sent after him and the Ichibi," Itachi argued.
"I deliberately warned them not to engage, Uzumaki," Marissa let out a sob, "Their goal was to get the Ichibi. The sand user is his first line of defense. But they just contacted me not long ago. They couldn't get to the Ichibi because of this."
Marissa reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a newspaper. She showed it to Itachi. The Uchiha read about how Fairy Tail soundly defeated Phantom Lord when all of the powerful Fairy Tail mages gathered.
"I see…there were too many unknowns," Itachi slowly nodded.
"That war was the only window we had, except," Marissa gasped and pulled away, "You've been researching Zeref. I'm sure that you've read about the Tower of Heaven."
Itachi nodded, "Yes…I-I have heard about it. It can be used to bring people back to life."
"That…that might be a window to defeat him or at least weaken him," Marissa's face was still covered in tears, "Uzumaki has a single weakness. He has an apprentice who has not reached the peak of her capabilities yet. One of the many enemies he's made over the years is going to abduct her and use her as collateral to get him not to unleash his full power while drawing him to the Tower. I was thinking about how we could use this to stop him, but if he senses that the tower will be too much danger for him, then he won't go. He'd rather sacrifice what he views as his weakest asset than risk his own life."
"But if a small task force goes…" Itachi realized.
"Yes, he won't feel threatened. I was going to tell Pain about this, but he'd want to go himself. The sight of the unknown Rinnegan would scare him off…" Marissa bit her lip.
"Kisame and I wouldn't though," Itachi argued. The desire to use the Tower was in the front of his mind, "We could go in secret and ambush him while he's holding back. The Tower would absorb him and stop him altogether."
And it would also allow him to bring someone back to life…
"Exactly," Marissa shook her head, "But that would be asking too much of you."
"No, I'll do it. Kisame will agree too. He'll think that it will be fun," Itachi gained a determined look, "We'll make sure that Naruto Uzumaki is punished for everything he's done to both our worlds."
"Thank you so much…" Marissa whimpered out through her tears. She reached over to grab a pen from the desk and wrote the Tower of Heaven's location on the newspaper before handing it to Itachi, "Be careful, Itachi."
With a nod of determination, Itachi turned and exited the library to find Kisame to tell him about their new mission. For a full minute, Marissa continued to cry. When she was sure that Itachi was gone, her face twisted into that of annoyance. She pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from her face.
"Wow…" The form of Zetsu popped out from the ground, "That was impressive."
"Men are too easy. They're all weak to women crying," Marissa quickly fixed her features back to her normal absolute beauty, "Add in the temptation to fulfill their deepest desires, and they'll do whatever I want in a heartbeat."
"You just told him what he wanted to hear. I thought that he would be smarter than to fall for that," Zetsu shook his head.
"Itachi might be a genius, but he's still an Uchiha," Marissa ran her hair through her silky hair, "I noticed the moment I saw him. So filled with hatred. He lost his brother to the war, correct?"
Zetsu nodded, "That's right. His name was Sasuke. Not really a person of real consequence. But Itachi had a soft spot for him. The idea of punishing the person responsible for Sasuke's death while bringing him back to life must be too tempting for Itachi to resist. But you have a problem now, though, right? Itachi is going to try to kill Naruto now."
"Oh, he's going to try," Marissa laughed, "But he won't even get the chance to face Naruto. I've been keeping an eye on that fool Jellal for a while now. After all, that Tower of Heaven is the perfect way to replace Zeref. Once Itachi gets there, he's going to face the one enemy that he can never defeat."
"Never defeat? Who could possibly be that strong?" Zetsu questioned.
"It's not about strength. It's about countering every attack Itachi has. The same goes for Kisame," Marissa smiled, "Do you mind recording what happens? I want to look back and watch Itachi die blind and alone. It will be a fitting punishment for trying to out manipulate me."
"Sure. But I have to ask. Won't this hurt your future plans? Without Itachi and Kisame, we'll be missing four members of Akatsuki."
"That works better in my favor. I only brought them here to distract the jinchūriki anyway," Marissa shrugged, "Once everything is in place, Akatsuki will be unnecessary. Fewer members means less bodies I have to clean up for."
"And then, you're going to resurrect Kaa-san, right?"
"Don't worry. Your mother will be brought back," Marissa smirked at the plant man, "Only to die by the God Slayers hand."
"Oh, you can try, Water Priestess. But mama is far stronger than you think. She won't fall to you."
"We will see about that."
Two children born crying and alone
Their blood feud caused them to fight to the bone
Both came out with more than they could ever have dreamed
But things are far more complicated than they seemed
With the war now over and everything calm
The plot progresses to the next qualm
They march to a tower build out of reverence
Not yet knowing that it will bring the death of innocence
Big thanks to Night Times for becoming my new Beta for this story.
Thank you for reading and please remember to...
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