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Chapter 33: "Luck"

(Year: X784)

Azuma frowned at the static screen, "This is what you brought me in for? A dead screen?"

Zancrow angrily beat against the magical device, "The stupid thing died right at the good part! The Dragon Slayer went nuts and then the thing short circuited! Master Hades, can you fix it?!"

"Not without entering the tower," Hades noted. "The lacrima short-circuited from the sheer power that Dragneel was emitting."

Azuma raised an eyebrow, "Wait. All that power was from the Fairy in the tower? I felt it even from here. I thought that it was from you."

"No," Hades shook his head. "That demonic magic did not belong to me."

Bluenote scratched his chin, "Interesting. That power was truly terrifying, even to me. Could it be the fire that he ate?"

"Perhaps," Hades remembered what Natsu had said right before the signal was cut. He declared himself Itachi's end. Or E.N.D. based on the power he felt. Strange. While his underlings didn't know the complete history of Zeref, Hades did. The E.N.D. was supposed to be Zeref's most dangerous demon. Tartaros, one-third of the Balam Alliance, claimed that the E.N.D. was their master.

This required a lot of research. While his followers bickered, Hades considered his options. The alliance he held with Tartaros and Oración Seis did not require him to be forthcoming with information. It was more of an agreement to stay out of each other's way. The demons didn't need to know about this incident. Who knew how they would react to this. At the very minimum, they would attack the Dragon Slayer for using their master's name. After all, for all he knew, Natsu could have just went nuts after eating those chakra flames.

Perhaps he just remembered the name of the E.N.D. from stories from his supposed father. Hades recalled stories of how the Fire Dragon King Igneel failed to kill the demon. At the same time, he could not deny the Dragon Slayer's power. It was truly terrifying that he could feel it even from this distance from the tower. Right now, he was uncertain of what the truth was. Did Natsu just go nuts, or did Igneel adopt the E.N.D. in order to tame it? There were too many unknowns.

Hades eyed Zancrow. There was only one certainty. He needed a way to subdue the pinkette. The Flame God Slayer was his best option to counter that power. Zancrow would need further…Oh no, "That fool!"

The members of Grimoire Heart turned to their master in alarm. Utakata blinked, "What's wrong?"

"We need to move the ship right now," Hades turned to step out of the room. "The Bug Bomb has lost her mind. She's going to bring the whole tower down with that cursed magic. How could Makarov let her learn that?"

Azuma frowned, "What do you mean?"

"She's activated Jackpot magic with her bombs," Hades shook his head. "If something goes wrong, then the explosion could rival Etherion in power. Everything could be turned to ash, and I refuse to stick around in case that happens."


Kisame landed on top of the water with a small splash. His back was pointed to the tower. The wide sea in front of him spread far into the horizon. A wide grin spread across his face as he saw Fu hang a kunai with a wire at the end around her neck like a necklace, "A bug wants to fight a shark on the water? Not smart, Nanabi."

"I don't have any other options," wings burst from Fu's back so that she could lift herself up into the air. "I would have gotten everyone else killed if I went all out in the tower."

"So you're sacrificing yourself for your friends? How kind of you!" Kisame released Samehada. The scaled sword stood on top of the water on its own. His hands blurred into dozens of different hands signs. "Suiton: Shark Bombs!"

Some of the water around him turned into sharks. Growling, the liquid beasts lunged towards the jinchūriki. Oddly enough, Fu did not move to dodge the attack. She smirked as the carnivorous fish drew close. Before the ninjustu could hit her, the animals collapsed into the water from which it originated. Kisame blinked as he didn't see her do anything. His eyes flashed up to see a zero flashing above his head.

The sound of buzzing directed his attention back to his target. A few of Fu's remaining bugs were flying towards him. He scoffed. Before the insects could explode, he grabbed Samehada. A single swipe should drain the chakra from them. To his shock, his sword swing didn't do anything. The bugs exploded in a surprisingly big explosion. Fortunately for him, his reaction speed allowed him to jump back in time to avoid completely getting swallowed up by the explosion.

To his complete annoyance, more bugs followed the original attacks. They surrounded him on all sides. A large five flashed above Fu's head. Kisame noticed this and deducted what the numbers meant. Growling, he canceled the flow of chakra to his feet. He slipped below the surface of the water. His hands flashed through symbols to create a water barrier around him. The eight above of his head surprised him. His shield easily withstood the explosion above him.

Samehada gurgled. It wrapped around him. As the master and sword fused together, Kisame's appearance became even more like that of a shark. A tail burst from his rear. Fins extended from his elbow while his fingers and toes became webbed. His now long head looked up to see Fu high in the air. He grinned. From what he could tell, the jinchūriki cast some sort of spell which changed the power of moves. The higher the number meant the stronger he attack. The count went up to at least eight, but it could go a lot higher.

Whatever the spell was, it made it so that Samehada could not absorb the attacks. He knew that it couldn't stop magical attacks, so that meant the explosions mixed chakra and magic. This was dangerous for him, but it was bad for her too. Chuckling, he dodged the bombs that the girl dropped into the water. If she used a spell, then she switched her energy focus within a few minutes. The Nanabi was now on a time limit before her wings gave out on her. Sure, the bugs might still be usable, but if he got her into the water, then he won. Especially if the enhancement spell had a time limit too.

"Come on, girly," Kisame chuckled. "You're the one gambling everything on this. You better find a way to get me out of the water, because all I have to do is wait you out."


"It's Natsu!"

Gray's exclamation drew everyone's attention to the approaching pink haired man. The party had collapsed in exhaustion when the hellish atmosphere had faded. Only Gaara and Gray remained conscious. Having shaking arms, the ice user had been forced to put Juvia on the ground. The duo stood guarding over the other downed mages until they recovered enough to start moving again.

Gaara frowned as the unusually stoic Natsu stepped towards them, "What's he carrying?"

"Is that…" Gray's eyes widened. "A burnt-up corpse?! Jesus, Natsu! What the hell happened?!"

Natsu ignored the questions. Once he was by the other mages, he gently set down Itachi's corpse before removing Happy from his shoulders. With both of weights off of him, he finally addressed his friends, "Look after that guy. I need to bury him."

"Wait a second," Gaara stared down at the disgusting form of the deceased Uchiha. "Did you do that?"

"I…don't know," Natsu looked away. "He used some weird fire on me and everything went blank. I think it blew up in his face or something."

"So he caused that heat up," Gray muttered.

"Yeah," Natsu turned to leave.

Gray grabbed him by the shoulder, "Hey! Now is not the time to split up again! Things are going nuts in this tower!"

"I know," Natsu muttered. "I'm going to put an end to it."

"You shouldn't go alone," Gaara noted.

"I have to."

"No you don't. Natsu, we—" Gray froze when he saw the intense look in his friend's eyes. The joking, carefree Natsu was gone in this moment. This version of the Dragon Slayer was deadly serious.

"Something is wrong. I can smell death in this Tower. More than this guy," Natsu hissed. "One of us needs to stay with this group, and you're shaking."

Gray looked down to see that he was still trembling, "I can still fight."

"Not till you compose yourself," Natsu argued. "Right now, I'm closer to 100% than you. Help get these guys out of here and keep them safe. I'll get the others so we can leave this goddamn tower behind once and for all."

"Alright," Gray released his rival. "Go kick ass."

"Will do," with that, Natsu turned to run back down the halls.

Gaara focused on his sand, "I have enough energy now to carry these guys to safety. Let's get that done before the Etherion drops."

"Yeah," Gray nodded. His worried expression never dropped, though. For some reason, he knew that things were going to get a lot worse before they got better. He could only hope that his friends got out of this mess alive.


Han lugged his three subordinates over his shoulders. All of them were unconscious and defeated. Based on their injuries, he could guess who their opponents were. While some of their losses were understandable, he was not pleased with them. They would have to be punished later. Then, they would train until they sweated blood.

"Han-sama…"

The armored giant glanced to the woman. She stared at him in adoration. He grunted, "What is it, Ikaruga?"

"I'm so sorry that I lost," she whispered. "Can I suggest a spanking as my punishment?"

Han chuckled, "It's not punishment if you enjoy it. Perhaps I should order you to not be in my presence for a week."

"Nooooo~" Ikaruga moaned. "That's too cruel, Han-sama. I did manage to kill my enemy after all."

"That you did," Han hummed. He saw the corpse not far from his female underling. Part of him almost felt sorry for the girl. Lucy Heartfilia was an innocent that seemed to constantly get thrown in the deadliest of situations. She had a very extensive history for such a new professional mage. There was a lot of potential that had been wasted. Hell, Number Nine apparently saw that too. He had a history with her if Han's memory was correct. Naruto Uzumaki was where Lucy Heartfilia's transformation began…

Ikaruga blinked as her master paused his trek, "What's wrong, Han-sama?"

"That conniving woman," Han laughed. "Maybe the gods really are blessing her crusade considering how things seem to work out for her. She set the pieces up, and they all moved as she wanted. Now I'm really interested on how this works out."


Fu flew over the bubbling sea. She spun and twirled to avoid the burst of water which came from the Kisame. To her surprise, the man seemed to be able to actually breathe underwater. He had been down there for several minutes, which ruined her plans to ambush him when he came up for air. In fact, he seemed extremely comfortable deep below the surface of the water.

Cursing, she flew high enough to keep the Suiton attacks from getting to her. Once high enough, Fu stared down at the smirking Kisame. She was burning through too much time this way. If only the missing ninja was a dumb brute, then this fight would have been over quickly. Kisame seemed to be as cunning as he was strong. With that combination plus the time limit she was on, Fu knew that she wouldn't get out of this fight unharmed.

Taking a deep breath, she commanded all of her bugs out of her containers. The swarm buzzed around her in a shroud which hid the girl from view. From below the water, Kisame watched with extreme interest as the large cloud of insects formed in the sky. The sight reminded him of stories about great plagues. While on land, he might have been concerned about so many explosives gathering above him. Below the water, none of the airborne creatures could reach him.

Kisame watched as Fu shot out of the bottom of the swarm. She was covered in a coat of bugs. Without a single moment of hesitation, she plunged right into the sea. Laughing, he swam right up next to her. Smirking at the jinchūriki, he went in for a punch only to pull back as some of the bugs left the girl and blew up. Despite the six which popped up over her head, the explosion was immediately smothered within the water.

Moving above her, Kisame watched as the bugs around the girl floated away uncontrollably. They couldn't fight properly below the water. When most of the bugs were gone, Fu tried to swim around her foe in order to get back to the surface. Kisame immediately intercepted her. He grabbed onto her to hold her away from the air.

"Idiot!" Kisame barked. "You should have just run away! There's no way for a bug to beat a shark underwater!"

Fu remained predictably silent. He never expected her to speak within the water. To his surprise, she did smile at him. She pointed up while dissolving into a concentrated swarm of bugs. Eyes wide at the revelation that she was a bug clone, he followed her pointing finger to see the real jinchūriki moving right above the surface of the water. She gave a thumbs down as a one flashed above her head.

Cursing, he tried to move to do something to prevent the explosion which would surely follow. While he doubted that a one had any benefits, it would be enough with the number of bombs below him. Unfortunately for him, he had no time to do anything before the explosion happened. The low number did significantly weaken the burst to the point where it couldn't injure him below the water, but it did manage to push him back to the surface once more.

A bit dazed by the sudden shove, Kisame couldn't recover in time to prevent Fu from grabbing onto him. In a surprising show of strength for such a thin girl, she carried him high into the air. Growling, he ordered Samehada to act. Spikes burst out from where the girl was touching him. Despite her hand getting pierced, Fu refused to let go. Fighting through the pain, she carried him as high as she could as the blood dripped back down to splatter into the ocean.

Roaring, Kisame swiped a clawed hand at the bug girl. Before he could hit her, she released him. Just as he felt a sense of victory at being freed, he realized that he had been carried high above the water. Flailing around, he realized that the situation had been reversed. Instead of a bug trapped beneath the water, a shark was left flopping through the air.


Natsu felt his body go numb. In the face of raging snowstorms, he couldn't even feel the cool touch of the wind. Gray's ice spell felt like a refreshing dip in a pool at best. A fire dragon was not affected by temperature, but his soul froze over the moment he spotted Lucy's lifeless body. He knew the instant he saw her. Her body did not move with even the tiniest hint of breath. The stench of death flooded through the hall. She was gone and had been gone for a long time now.

"Lucy," Natsu crashed to his knees. "Hey. Wake up."

She did not move. He knew better than this. Even an idiot could see the signs, but he was not speaking from his mind. His hand slowly reached out to gently nudge the girl. Pleas left his lips for her to move. Despite his begging, Lucy's corpse did not magically come back to live. Death wasn't so kind as to undo what has been lost after a bit of begging.

"Shit!" tears began to stream down Natsu's face. A loud sob left his lips. "Damn it! Lucy! What the hell!? You just die after everything we did to keep you in the guild?! Bullshit! This can't be real! Hey! You...you...AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

He violently punched the ground. The stone crumbled beneath his power. After a few moments of violently reacting to the tragedy before him, he dragged himself over to Lucy's unmoving form. Natsu began to sob uncontrollably. Not caring about the drying blood spreading over his chest, he hugged his friend close.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He had been determined to protect her, yet she died anyway. Lucy died without him around to help her. Just like Lisanna. He was such a terrible friend. People kept dying, and he couldn't do jack shit about it.

Fire burst from his back. He snarled in hatred, "I'm going to take down this goddamn tower!"


Ultear smirked as Etherion readied to fire. Seeing such a powerful magical weapon truly was a beautiful sight. It was well worth all the time and effort to activate it. Well, it wasn't like it was difficult. Manipulating the Magic Council proved easier than she thought. Everything was very amusing to her. They fretted about their political careers as if they really mattered. It was always the players with the least relevance that thought themselves as the most important. Speaking of which…

Jellal's projection faded from beside her. With the job done, there was no longer any need to keep up the charade. He would now focus on resurrecting Zeref using the power of Uzumaki. Such a fool. Not only did he think that Zeref was dead, he thought that he could take a Sky God Slayer. While Jellal was extremely powerful, Uzumaki was on a different level. His fight with the Nature God Slayer proved that.

There was a reason that every major group had interest in Uzumaki. Ultear still remembered when the Magic Council borderline arrested him. She knew the moment that she saw him that he was a major player. Hopefully, he and his group would give up their vendetta against Zeref. She would hate to have to slit their throats. The pain in their eyes was extremely relatable. Especially the sand user…it was almost like he has the same…

Shaking her head, Ultear sparked magic in her hands. The Magic Council had outlived their usefulness. The chaos of their destruction would give Grimoire Heart the opening they needed to finish their plans. Arc of Time quickly ate away at the foundation of the building. As the old farts began to scream, Ultear turned to leave. It was time to return to her guild. Meredy would surely be happy to see her again.


Kisame expected the swarm of bugs to immediately jump on him, but they had seemingly disappeared. Not wanting to get caught up in whatever the jinchūriki had planned, he flashed through his hand signs in order to activate his counter attack. A nine flashed over his head, "Suiton: Great Shark Bullet!"

The water immediately jumped up from the sea. In the form of a massive shark, the liquid flew up with its massive jaw wide open. Empowered eight times over by the Jackpot magic, the shark grew as wide as the tower in the distance. Its hundreds of teeth were pointed right at the two shinobi. While Kisame would be fine taking the hit, Fu knew that she would get crushed by the ninjustu.

To Kisame's shock, her wings disappeared to let her fall down to follow his descent to the shark. Before he could smirk at her seemingly loss of her chakra, his eyes widened in fear as a large ten popped up over her head. The number glowed for a moment before shifting into three sevens. Fu laughed in victory as she began to glow as well. Her light did not originate from her jackpot, though. Kisame immediately realized where the bugs had gone. She had absorbed the bugs into herself.

"Damn it!" Kisame roared as he realized how royally screwed he was. He tried to will his Suiton shark to move more quickly, but he knew it was useless. "You'll kill yourself too!"

"There's a chance," Fu noted as she drew closed to Kisame. "While I have a fifty-fifty shot, you're definitely dead. It's a better deal than I had to begin with. Jackpot Suicide Bomb!"

The explosion which followed tore through several kilometers of open sea. Kisame and Samehada were immediately disintegrated into ash at the center of the inferno. Both the clouds and the water fled in fear of the mighty explosion. Off in the distance, even the Tower of Heaven shook from the force of the explosion. After the initial force faded to leave the fire and smoke to slowly disperse, Fu's body tumbled down to smash into the rolling sea.

Fu gasped as the water cooled her burned form. Every inch of her skin was covered in extreme burns. Her clothes were torn away. All of her chakra and magic were gone. Lying on her back in the water, she couldn't move any part of her body other than her eyeballs. Completely exhausted, she noticed the dark clouds forming above the tower. She watched as an even more powerful explosion fell over the tower. Instead of destroying the building, the Etherion seemed to be absorbed by the Tower of Heaven to crystalize the explosion into solid crystals.

If she could have, she would have scoffed. What a bunch of amateurs. Such a huge explosion being wasted like that. What's the point of such a huge bomb if it doesn't destroy its target? As she closed her eyes, she thought about everything she would do if she had been in charge of the explosion. Soon, she was unconscious in the middle of the ocean. Fortunately, her fight had scared away any possible predators. While she wouldn't get eaten by any sharks today, not everything was scared away. A large bubble of sand controlled by the recovered Gaara was rapidly approaching the battlefield in order to retrieve the downed jinchūriki.


Azuma stared out the window of the flying ship. His face remained calm as he watched the explosions faded in the distance. The only spark of emotion on his features was the awe in his eyes. His own reaction was rather subdued compared to some his guild mates. While Utakata continued to calmly blow bubbles, Zancrow was roaring with laughter.

"She just blew them both up!" Zancrow announced. "What a stupid idea! I love it!"

Bluenote shook his head, "It was a desperate move."

"One that paid off, though," Hades approached the group now that he moved the ship a safe distance from the battlefield. "I can feel that she still lives while her foe doesn't."

Utakata grunted, "Jinchūriki are tough like that, but I think even that was pushing it. Number Seven always did go on about being lucky. Perhaps she was right."

"No," Azuma spoke. "She forced her own fortune in that battle. If her explosions are anything like mine, then she's built up an endurance to her own power. While most would get torn to ash, she was pushed to death's door."

"It was bold," Hades agreed. "But that doesn't mean that there will be no consequences to such actions. Even with sky magic users, she's going to have a long road to a full recovery. She better hope that she doesn't get into any fights within the next month, because I can't picture her winning against any powerful opponents for a while."

While the others were critical of Fu, Azuma gained a look of respect. He had always been interested in the rumored Bug Bomb of Fairy Tail. Now though, he knew that she was a worthy foe. One day, they would have a battle for the ages. He could wait until she recovered, though. After all, he would have a lot of training to do to catch up to her level.

"Can we head back now, Master?" Zancrow questioned. "I want to see the Sky God's fight."

"That's no longer possible. With the ship so far and the lacrima broken, it would be a waste of time," Hades sighed. "Oh well. At least we got some rather important data on possible enemies. I always thought that it would be possible for us to overpower any of the light guilds. Now I know better. We must create proper plans to exploit their weaknesses."


Naruto blinked as the fallout of Etherion dropping faded. The falling smoke revealed that everything had crystalized upon having absorbed the magic of the bomb. Every gem shined with the raw power. The R-System now had everything it needed to work. He had no idea if the tower could actually work. Zeref's magics always seemed to work as intended, so perhaps it could actually bring someone back to life. There was not telling what would happen if it was used to try to bring back someone still alive. It would probably explode.

Despite the severity of the current situation, Naruto focused on something else, 'There was another explosion before Etherion. It felt like Fu. Kurama, is she alright?'

'Chōmei says that Fu-girl is still breathing but critically injured. You and Wendy will need to heal her.'

'Alright,' Naruto glanced up to his foe.

Jellal burst out into laughter, "Finally! Even after the weird heat wave and the Bug Bomb's stupidity, the Tower of Heaven has been completed. Soon Zeref will—oof!"

Wendy chose this moment to act. She had burst through her cage and attacked the distracted Jellal in the back before he could react. The Wizard Saint tumbled away but quickly recovered. Only minimally damaged, he was easily able to block the follow-up bursts of wind that Wendy flung at him. After a few seconds, he disappeared in a burst of speed. He flung a punch to the side of the Dragon Slayer's head. Before his attack could land, Naruto kicked him away with a leg covered in black wind.

Landing between the rolling Jellal and Wendy, Naruto finished sucking in Wendy's previous attacks into his stomach. With his protégé no longer being threatened, he immediately healed his wounds to leave him as spotless as usual, "Took you long enough. Did you enjoy seeing your sensei get beat up?"

Wendy giggled, "Maybe a little, but I was waiting for the right opening. If he blocked my first attack, you might not have had enough time to eat my magic and recover."

"Smart girl," Naruto patted her head affectionately while keeping his eyes glued on Jellal as the blue haired man stood back up.

"Damn it," Jellal growled. "How the hell did you get out?!"

"You can't cage the sky," Wendy noted. "Ignoring philosophical jokes, though, I picked the lock. Sensei taught me how to do it."

"And you wondered where it would be useful," Naruto took a battle stance.

"Ha! This changes nothing!" Jellal hissed. "She's still your weakness!"

Once more, the Wizard Saint disappeared in a blur. As he moved around the duo, Naruto activated his own magic to keep up with his foe. Jellal smirked as he was chased. He knew that their speed level was close to the point of being equal. There was no way for him to overtake him and prevent Wendy from becoming collateral damage.

"O swift wind that dashes through the heavens! Vernier!" Wendy cried.

Jellal's eyes widened as Naruto's fist crashed into his face. Before the dark mage could be sent flying back, Naruto followed up with dozens of extra punches which hit him at such speeds that Jellal felt like he was fighting six people at once. His vision blurred as he was hit through several crystals before coming to a halt face first on the ground.

Naruto glared down to his stunned enemy, "Wendy may be my greatest weakness, but she's also my best strength. If you fought me one-on-one, you might have had a chance. With her support magic, though, I'm untouchable to you."


Gaara gently cupped Fu's face as the woman continued to recline on the sand platform. Soft breaths left her burnt lips. She seemed to have long since collapsed after her fight. Based on the lack of anyone else around, Fu clearly won the battle at a great cost. She needed Naruto or Wendy quickly.

"Geeze," Gray examined the crystalized Tower of Heaven. "Didn't expect that."

Turning back around, Gaara examined the building, "It looks like the R-System is ready."

"Do you think the others are alright?" Gray questioned. "I know that Etherion couldn't hurt them like this, but I got this terrible feeling in my gut."

Gaara looked down to the corpse of Itachi which laid a decent distance from the rest of their unconscious group, "You and I took out two of the enemies. With that guy and the other shark guy gone, that leaves Number Five and the pink haired woman."

"What about Jellal?" Gray questioned.

"Naruto will deal with him," Gaara's voice was filled with certainty. "That leaves Erza and Lucy."

Gray frowned, "Erza won't die, but Lucy…I think that we need to head back."

Gaara glanced back down to his girlfriend who needed healing, "Good idea."


Jellal bounced off the ground for what seemed like the tenth time. He was covered in bruises. Blood dripped down his cut forehead. As he flipped over, he tried to send a burst of Heavenly Body Magic at his attacker. Naruto disappeared before the astronomical burst could hit him. He appeared behind Jellal and brought a knee up into Jellal's spine.

Gasping, the tattooed man flipped away. Like it had been proven multiple times before, he couldn't come close to Naruto in speed as long as the girl was active. He turned his hands to Wendy. Naruto immediately interrupted by elbowing him in the face. Blood rushing from his nose, Jellal tried to retreat but couldn't overcome the faster mage.

This was bad for Jellal. Attacking Naruto was useless with Wendy enhancing him. Jellal had a sneaking suspicion that the sky magic empowered the Sky God Slayer even more than normal mages for obvious reason. His only chance was to take out the girl, but the moment he took his attention off of Naruto, he got punished for it. Fleeing to get space was just as useless.

In most case scenarios, Jellal would have tried to destroy the environment to force Wendy to stop focusing on her enhancement spells. He couldn't risk breaking the Tower of Heaven, though. There was always Erza, but he had no idea how Naruto would react to her getting hit while unconscious. Not to mention he didn't exactly want to hurt Erza in the first place. That left the only option was for him to get help as well. Unfortunately, Han had left, and Ultear was too far away.

Without any other ways of dealing with the situation, Jellal went for taunting his foe, "You can't beat me alone, huh? You need a little girl to—gack!"

Naruto kicked Jellal in the gut, "Idiot. That won't work. You're the one that brought her into this in the first place."

Jellal gasped out blood from his mouth, "Such brutality. You would think that you would show a better example to your—oof!"

Another punch to the face sent Jellal flying into the far wall, "Please. She's been through worse in her own training. Words aren't going to help you here. You tried to go for a checkmate and got caught. After what happened with Arashi, you knew that you couldn't beat me on your own. I pushed myself to the next level, so you went for Wendy. These are the consequences."

Naruto rushed forward to grab his enemy by the throat. He lifted Jellal up against the wall, "I'm pissed off like you can't believe. I should kill you, but maybe it would be better to hand you over to the Magic Council? That would give me a lot of good press. Plus, those vindictive bastards would punish you for the rest of your life for what you did to them. Imagine it. Being tortured every day while knowing that you failed to achieve your dream. That sounds a lot worse than what I could do to you. The perfect punishment for hurting my precious student."

"You…bastard…" Jellal gasped while clawing at Naruto's grip.

Before Naruto could say anything, a loud roar sounded through the chamber, "Jellal! Naruto! We need to talk!"

All eyes turned to the entrance to see Natsu carrying Lucy's corpse to the top of the tower. The Fire Dragon Slayer was literally seething with anger. At the sight of the dead body, Naruto felt his stomach turn, "Natsu…I'm sorry, but now is not the—"

Jellal interrupted Naruto by placing both of his hand in front of the blonde's face. Magic burst off of the bluenette's palms to cover the jinchūriki in a blaze of heavenly energy. Wendy cried out in shock as Naruto stumbled back. His magic which was enhanced by Wendy immediately healed the burns on his face. Naruto growled menacingly as he punched Jellal once more, "Okay. That one was my fault. Natsu, get the hell out of here. This is my fight."

"Like hell!" Natsu gently placed Lucy's body down next to Erza. "I'm gonna kick the shit of him, and then you're going to explain to me exactly what's going on with your past!"

Naruto scoffed, "You should know better than to make demands from me. Why would you even care anyway?"

"Because…" Natsu clenched his fists angrily. Itachi's corpse flashed through his mind. He remembered the story from Lucy of how she met the other blonde. "A bunch of people from your past all just died, and each one of them claim that you're an asshole bad guy! Tell me that they're wrong!"

Naruto sighed. This was neither the time nor the place for such a discussion. Natsu always did think with his heart more than his brain in moments like this, though, "What do you want me to say? I'm in the middle of something. You're too late if you want a crack at Jellal. Just give me a minute and—"

"What's going on?!" it seems as though Erza chose this moment to wake up. She pushed herself to her feet despite the wounds from her battle with Han still being fresh.

Naruto sighed, "This part was supposed to be easy."


Next chapter is the last one for the arc.

Big thanks to Night Times who is still the excellent Beta of this story.

Thank you for reading and please remember to…

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