Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Anything I write in this story is purely from my thoughts

Chapter 17

"Naruto! You idiot!" Makarov's voice rang through the empty guild hall as a bright light emerged from the piece of that was thrown towards his grandson.

Everyone braced for the inevitable expecting for the guild hall to blow up along with everyone else.

But the explosion never came…

They opened their eyes only to hear the angry growls of an irate Laxus. Looking over to the source, they held in their laughter so as not to anger the S-class Wizard any further.

"Oh shit!" A few wizards cursed at the sight of Laxus's murderous glare. "Naruto had gone and done it this time!"

"I'm going to kill him," The master's grandson grumbled to himself.

MAGNOLIA TRAIN STATION

A random pedestrian, a young lady, was minding his own business walking through the halls just like another day. Nothing unusual happening.

That was until, in front of her, in a flash of yellow a blonde-haired man and a red-haired woman in armor appeared out of nowhere. It scared the beejeezus out of her!

One moment there was nothing there, the next moment, these two come out, out of nowhere.

She placed her hands over her heart to calm it down. Once she did, she recognized the two. "Oh my god! It's Naruto! Why are you with Erza?"

"Well, we're going to go get my guildmates," Naruto answered.

"Oh, you know, funny thing though, I saw Natsu and Lucy the other day walking out of town," The lady said.

As this conversation was ongoing, Erza stood there with her head spinning. Naruto suddenly grabbed her and they instantly disappeared from the guild. The next thing she knew, she was in the train station with the world around her going round and round. Good thing though, she was able to pull herself together.

Before Naruto and the girl's conversation got any further, the S-class Wizard placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed tight.

"Warn me next time you're going to jump like that," Erza said with an angry tone in her voice that scared the crap out of Naruto.

"Uhh…Yeah, sorry about that," Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Why did you have to leave in such a hurry anyway?" Erza asked.

"Well, let's just say Laxus is going to be super pissed at me when he sees me next," Naruto said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Oh my god, what did you do?" The redhead nursed her head for the possible migraine that would happen when they get back.

Naruto was about to answer, but Erza stopped her, "No, never mind, I don't want to know, just as long as you left the guild intact. More importantly, we have three wizards to catch, so if you wouldn't mind, miss?"

"Oh, not at all," She shook her head. "Good luck with whatever it is that you're after."

HARGEON PORT

Man, Naruto remembered the last time he was here. It was the first time he met Lucy and Natsu. The former was getting hypnotized by a Fire Wizard who Naruto couldn't even remember the name of. I guess he was that forgettable. Oh, and what he couldn't forget though was Natsu and Lucy wrecking the port. Man, how could he forget about that?

Anyway, we find the duo at the same port where Naruto, and currently, Naruto was asking the fishermen and boatmen for a ride to Galuna Island. Well, it was supposed to be Erza asking around, but after the incident at Oshibana Station, Naruto didn't want that to happen again. Think of all the guys working here knocked out if Naruto allowed Erza to do the questioning. Everyone would be out cold!

Naruto was at the tenth fisherman now, and it was the same answer as before. They were rejected at the mere mention of the cursed island.

"Tsk, I told you I should have been the one to ask the questions," Erza grumbled at the side after the latest rejection.

"I don't think that would change anything, Erza," Naruto sighed.

"What are we supposed to do now?" The S-class wondered aloud.

"If you use my wings, so we could fly there," Chomei said from inside Naruto's mindscape. He sat in a thinking pose this time so that he won't seem like he was spacing out again.

"What happened to our plan of laying low?" Naruto asked inwardly.

"I don't think you have a choice here, Naruto," The seven-tailed rhinoceros beetle answered. "Or are you afraid of crashing again?"

"Hey! Naruto, I told you that was an accident," Naruto protested at the tailed beast's teasing. "I told you that was an accident!"

"Yeah, little man. Keep telling yourself that," Chomei said. "So, any other bright ideas, genius?"

"I can still walk on water?" He suggested.

"Are you sure?" The rhino beetle said using Naruto's eyes to look at the horizon. "Those rain clouds over there don't look very friendly."

"Nah, what could possibly go wrong?" Naruto waved off the concern. "I ran here from Tenrou, didn't I?

"Suit yourself," Chomei said. "My chakra is available if things don't go as planned."

"Got it," Naruto nodded as he returned back to the real world.

Fortunately, Erza just asked him a question and he made it just in time to answer it. "Do you have anything that could help?"

"Uhm, ever tried walking on water?" Naruto stated like it was a perfectly normal thing.

"This isn't the time for joke Naruto," Erza said in a stern voice.

"No, no, no, hear me out of this one," Naruto said.

Erza stared at him for a while like he grew a second head, but now that they didn't have any other choice on the matter, she decided to listen to what Naruto was going to say.

WITH LUCY

The Celestial Wizard panted now that her opponent was defeated. The girl she fought was now out cold after that tidal wave that Aquarius made. It was a great idea actually. This girl had the ability to take over her spirits no matter who she brings out, and if it wasn't that, she takes over the rock formations controlling them like a marionette.

Aquarius had a few choice words for Lucy. She left in a huff, pissed at being controlled. She somehow found a way to blame the Celestial Spirit for her predicament. I don't know how she found the connection, but there you go.

So, now, Lucy laid on the bare ground tired from the repeated summoning of her spirits, but things don't always end well, do they? She forgot about the giant rat, and it was now bounding straight for her.

"Oh no!" Lucy screamed in fear as the overgrown rat lunged towards her.

But then, she heard the familiar swirl of energy that she came to know from his partner. She watched as a blonde swooped in and slammed the swirling orb on the rat putting it out of commission.

The blonde turned to her and regarded her with concern.

"Are you okay, Lucy?" He asked.

"Naruto?" She gasped out in surprise. She wasn't expecting him to come all the way here. Natsu immediately dragged her out of the house on the quest. She didn't even have enough time to leave a message for him. "What are you doing, here? Not that I'm complaining about you saving my skin."

"Well, you better see for yourself," Naruto said pointing in the direction behind Lucy.

Lucy gulped. She didn't expect the master to send someone else so quickly after he sent Grey. When she turned around, she saw a deep glare wash over her.

"Erza-san," Lucy broke into nervous sweat. "What brings you here? Hehe…"

"Enough talk, you know why we're here, don't you?" She asked not dropping the glare.

"Ah, ah, no…I mean…eep!" She stuttered out but she squeaked when the S-class Wizard's glare somehow deepened. "You came to take us back?"

Breaking the serious mood, a blue cat came gliding through the air with a relieved look on his face. "Lucy, you're— Ahhhh! It's Erza!" The cat immediately turned on his heel and flew away. What he didn't expect though was Naruto jump in his way and grab him by the tail.

"Where's Natsu?" She asked her tone not changing despite the small segue.

Naruto didn't expect what happened next. Lucy somehow gained some determination and spoke up, "Look here, I apologize for selfishly coming here, but this island is in a grave condition!"

The blonde's face shrunk at the tone her partner was using. He knew well and good not to talk back to red-haired females. He listed them off the top of his head: his mom, the girl who was with Sasuke when he was rogue, Sakura—Wait! She doesn't have red hair! I guess I can let this pass, pink does have a bit of red in it. Let's see, where are we...Ah, here we got…Tsunade—Now this I can't let pass, her hair is not even red…Although, I can see his point. She does have the blood of Uzumaki running through her veins.

Anyway, I've strayed from the story. The point is, Naruto knew not to anger these kinds of people. It was sort of like a death sentence.

He stared at Erza as Lucy explained the situation. For a second there, he thought that his companion was going to consider her words. That broke his brain a little, not that there was anything fixed about his brain in the first place.

(Naruto in the background: Hey! Tell my story right; Narrator: I am telling your story right; Naruto: Then stop insulting me!)

Don't mind him. Well, Naruto sighed in relief when the angry look returned to Erza's face. Things weren't broken or out of place after all.

"Absolutely not!" Erza said not changing her stance.

"Then at least let us finish the job," Lucy said, but she eeped when Erza summoned a sword and pointed it at her throat. This prompted Naruto to spring into action.

"Woah, woah, woah! Let's not go that far!" Naruto reasoned forcibly trying to get Erza to lower her sword. "Master told us to bring them back. I assume he means alive right?"

"Trust me, Naruto. With the punishment that is waiting for them at the guild, they will wish they were dead," Erza said.

Both blondes gulped at the threat.

"Now, take me to the others."

THE NEXT MORNING
IN STORAGE FACILITY A FEW METERS FROM THE VILLAGE

"Is Gray going to be fine? Maybe I should go and take a look at him." Naruto asked the blonde who was tied up. Naruto didn't notice it the night before, but Lucy was only left with only a small portion of her skirt and her bra. Right beside her was Happy wrapped in ropes as well.

Before anyone could answer, the curtains of the building they were in opened revealing Gray who gasped at the sight of the very angry S-class Wizard.

"Erza, Naruto!" He said as he saw her, then he saw beside her, his two companions on this quest. "Lucy, Happy, are you two alright?"

"I tried to talk her out of it," Naruto shrugged. "But she insisted on it."

"I am very disappointed with you Gray," She began. "I heard from Master that he sent you to bring them back, so what are you doing here?"

Naruto gestured to him not to answer back anymore if he valued his life, but this fell into deaf ears as Gray spoke up.

"Where's Natsu?" Gray asked.

"That's what I like to know as well," Erza answered

"He wasn't here when we got here," Naruto added.

"How did you find this place," Gray asked. "I heard the village had a storage facility, but I didn't know where it is. I was only brought here because I was knocked out."

"Happy found it," Naruto said. "Erza made sure he wouldn't fly away."

"I thought I could get away too," Happy complained.

"So, none of you know where Natsu is," Erza sighed. "Naruto, tie up Gray. When you're done, come find me. We're going to find him. Once we're all together, we're going back to the guild."

"No," Gray said defiantly. "If you heard the story, then you know these people need help."

"What did you say?" Erza glared at Gray. "I don't think I heard you right."

The color drained from Naruto's face as Erza said that. Naruto did the same to Sakura enough times to know what was coming next, but thankfully, things didn't escalate that way.

"So what?" Erza said causing the blonde to sigh in relief. Gray wasn't going to die just yet. "This request has been sent to other guilds as well. It is more logical to leave this matter to another wizard that had been officially accepted the request?"

Gray grits his teeth, "I'm disappointed in you, Erza."

"What?" Naruto didn't think the redhead could get any angrier.

"Gray! No!" Happy warned. "Think this through!"

"So you intend to break the guild rules?" Erza said summoning a sword and pointed it at Gray.

With Erza's words, his old sensei's words rang through his head. It was the day he passed the bell test. Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. Naruto smiled.

'Even from far away, you are still your teachings still reach me, huh Kakashi-sensei, Obito…?' Naruto smiled to himself.

He walked forward and placed a hand on Erza's shoulder. He didn't feel fear anymore. "I think they have a point with this one, Erza."

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Erza said surprised at the boy's actions. He was compliant with her until now that is.

"I live by a philosophy," He repeated his sensei's and his senior's words. "Although, in this case, we cannot abandon the villagers when we know we can help them."

"Naruto…" Erza didn't know what to say. Naruto's words held wisdom in them. It felt like he had lived a whole lifetime, though he looked just as old as she is.

"So you can cut us down if you want to, but this is something that I must do," Gray challenged.

"These two must be out of their mind!" Happy wailed.

Erza lowered her sword considering the words of the two boys. She turned to the two wizards who were tied up.

"H-h-hey now, Erza," Happy stuttered out. "L-l-let us talk this out."

"Th-th-that's right, Erza-san, p-p-please calm down," Lucy added.

Their begging seemingly fell to deaf ears as she raised her sword.

"Woah Erza, what's gotten into you?" Naruto tried to protest, but Erza continued on her way.

"Wait—" All three wizards yelled as Erza swung her swords in two swift slashes.

When she was done, they sighed in relief as the ropes that tied up Erza and Lucy went slack.

"I know you would see reason, Erza," Naruto clapped her on the shoulder.

"I will overlook this one, for now, Naruto," Erza said keeping her stern tone. "And you, don't think that this changes anything. You will still receive punishment."

"Hai, hai," Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Aye," Happy and Lucy dittoed each other imagining what kind of punishment they would be getting.

"Now then, let us take care of this job."

IN THE WOODS NEAR THE RUINS

"So, that's why Leon is so gung-ho on breaking Deliora out of the ice," Gray explained as they ran towards their destination. "Defeating the demon is the only way he sees to surpass our master."

"I see," Lucy said. "That could be the only way he could surpass her since she's dead and all."

"No," Gray said. "He doesn't know it yet, but Ur is still alive."

Naruto ran in silence. After hearing the story, he couldn't help but relate to Grey's crazy sibling student. He remembered wanting to take revenge on Pain for killing his master. Although, this Leon guy wanted to kill the demon to surpass his master. He didn't understand that part, so he called him crazy. I guess he isn't that relatable after all?

"I'm sure he blames me for losing the dream of surpassing our master," Gray said. "It was my fault she had to save my skin anyway."

"Say what?" Naruto asked keeping pace with his companions. "What did you do?"

"Well, you see, we trained under the same master, Ur. We learned magic together with those weird training regimens. Even then, he had a goal to surpass Ur, while I was only after power to defeat the demon. He killed my parents after all."

Naruto huffed at that part of the story causing his friends to look at him.

"What's so funny?" Gray asked a bit pissed at Naruto not taking his story seriously. He may have hated her back then, but he had to admit, some part of him loved his master.

"Nothing," Naruto smiled to himself. "That just reminded me of an old friend of mine. I'll tell you all next time. Sorry about that Gray. Continue."

"Uhh…sure. Anyway, I felt that learning magic with her was useless. I wasn't getting any stronger in the time I stayed with her. I kept pestering her to teach me the stronger spells, but her answer was always the same: Maker Magic is unrestrained magic. Once you find your form, you will be stronger than ever before."

"Sounds like a good teacher," Lucy said.

"She was, but as a stupid kid, I didn't see it that way. I would continue to train with them, that was until I got news of Delioria attacking a nearby town." Gray continued.

"You left, didn't you?" Naruto commented.

"I did," Gray nodded. "I got fed up with her not teaching strong magic, but I still wanted to avenge the death of my parents, so I ran away. Long story short, Deliora had me creamed. The demon would have beat me to a pulp, but Ur came to bail me out."

"You were lucky," Happy said.

"Yes, I was," Gray continued. "But even Ur couldn't defeat him. He was a demon of Zeref after all. The battle got so intense that it made it to the point where she had to sacrifice her life so we could get away."

Naruto placed a hand on Grey's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, man. For what it's worth, I know she was thinking about you until the very end. I should know…my master…"

Naruto was lost in his thoughts remembering the tap on his shoulder from out of nowhere. He quickly regained a grin on his face. "After all, it's the job of the master to make sure the younger generation gets to see tomorrow."

"Wow! That's surprisingly profound of you, Naruto!" Lucy snickered ruining the mood.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto protested.

"You're right, Naruto," Gray suddenly said. "I will take care of him. He is my responsibility."

"Keep your guard up," Erza said screeching to a halt. "They found us."

"KEKEKE, we've finally found you, Fairy Tail," A whole lot of cultists in weird-looking attire came out of the woods.

"They're a bunch of weirdos!" Happy pointed at them.

"Go!" Erza ordered. "Lucy! You're with me!'

"But Erza!" Gray yelled not wanting to leave her behind.

"Trust in her," Naruto added. "Now, let's go! You could get through to Lyon!"

INSIDE THE TEMPLE

"Was it just me or did the temple look tilted back there?" Naruto said as they ran inside towards Gray's sibling student who had gone mad.

"Yeah," Gray nodded. "And I have one good guess on who did that."

"Natsu," They both said at the same time.

They continued running towards them until they made it to a recently made massive wall of ice.

"Tch," Gray clicked his tongue. "Did he really think that this would stop me?"

He placed a palm on the structure causing it to crumble revealing two wizards locked in combat staring each other down.

"Lyon!" Gray yelled.

"Ah, Gray," Lyon said relaxing. "I see you actually recovered. I didn't think you had it in you to return."

"I'll take care of him, Natsu," The ice wizard said walking forward.

"Out of my way Gray!" Natsu got in his face. "You already lost to him last time!"

"As a Fairy Tail Wizard, I won't lose to him this time," Gray said crossing his arms out in front of him.

"Th-that stance!" Lyon's eyes widened while Gray's two companions were confused.

"Your torture to the inhabitants of this island has gone on long enough!" Gray declared. "Leave this island or else."

"Or else what?" Lyon regained his composure. "You don't have the guts to sacrifice yourself!"

"You underestimate me," Gray simply said as he released massive amounts of power. It was then that Naruto realized what he had intended.

"What is he doing?" Natsu asked.

Naruto didn't answer. He simply walked forward calmly until he was behind the raven-haired ice wizard.

"So, what's it gonna be, Lyo—" Gray began, but he was interrupted by a fist on the top of his head.

"What was that for?" Gray protested. "I was handling him!"

"Why do you have to sacrifice yourself to get through to him?" Naruto asked.

"Is that what you call that?" Natsu got in his guildmate's face. "Cause to me it seemed like running away!"

"Look here you two!" Gray shoved his two companions away. "He is my responsibility! He turned out this way because of me, so I have to stop him even if I have to die for it."

Lyon stared at their exchange progressively getting angrier by the second. They were arguing in front of him disregarding him like he wasn't a threat to them. Is this how cocky Fairy Tail is? He didn't get to voice his thoughts as the whole temple rumble for the second time that day.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto asked no one in particular.

"That must be Zalty," Lyon muttered. "Now, all your hard work will be all for naught."

"Alright I'll give you this one, but if you lose to him or try anything stupid like that again, I'll kill you myself, you hear me?!" Natsu yelled making a break for their opponent's other companion.

"Loud and clear," Gray acknowledged. "You better back him up, Naruto. He'll need help."

"I'll let this one slide, Gray," Naruto simply said as went through the wall of ice that Gray broke earlier. He could hear the Salamander's frustrated grunts not too far away.

"Natsu!" Naruto called out.

"No!" Natsu pointed a finger at the blonde. "It's bad enough that Gray had to steal my fight. I ain't giving you this one too! Look for another one!"

"Bad move, Salamander," The masked old man said as he sent his orb at a distracted Natsu and trapped him to a wall.

"You should always watch your opponent when you're fighting," Naruto lectured. "Even you should know that."

"Grrr," Natsu struggled to break free from the walls.

'Damnit, him of all people…' Zalty inwardly cursed. 'No matter, Deliora will soon be free.'

"Ah the famous enigma of Fiore," Zalty greeted. "I've heard about you, so you've finally shown yourself, have you?"

"You!" Naruto gasped pointing a finger at the old man. "That magic signature…I can't mistake it...Have we met before?"

'Crap! He's on to me!' Zalty thought to himself.

He didn't show the worry on his face. "I assure you. You and I haven't met yet. Now, on behalf of Reitei Leon-sama, you won't get close to Deliora!"

Zalty sent several orbs around the blonde kicking up dust. When the dust cleared, Naruto was nowhere to be found. He scanned his surroundings trying to locate the blonde; he knew that the attack wasn't enough to finish him off. He extended his head backward to narrowly dodge a fist aimed at his face.

Aiming his hands to the ceiling above them and caused the floor above to crumble on top of him. Naruto looked above and swiped his hand above him knocking the rubble away with a gust of wind.

He looked up to see Zalty standing face to face with him. "You are quite the opponent, I see." He spoke.

"You can cut the crap, Councilman Ultear," Naruto said finally remembering where he last felt this magical signature.

"Whatever do you mean?" Zalty feigned ignorance. "I do not know what you are talking about."

"You won't fool these eyes," Naruto countered.

Zalty let out an evil laugh that morphed into the laugh of a woman. Now standing in front of him was the very same Ultear he remembered from his trial at the magic council, except now she was wearing a tight-fitting battle suit that hugged her figure. "Yes, those piercing eyes of yours. I see the Rune Knights reports weren't lying."

"What are you even doing here?" Naruto asked.

Before Ultear could answer…

ROAR

A loud roar shook the temple, maybe even the whole island.

"Why can't a council member come to an island for a vacation?" Ultear said. "Besides, you have a demon to worry about."

A/N: Hey! I'm ending the story right here. I'm already starting with the next one, so see ya!"