Titania and The Hunter
Chapter 13: Between A Rock and A Sharp Place
In the next few days, Gintama The Final Chapter: Yorozuya Forever was released in theaters and shall conclude the Gintama anime indefinitely. And even though this is Gintama we are talking about so there is still a high chance that it is just trolling and it may return sometime next year due to (we all know it) overwhelming fan support, that there is still a chance that I will never get to see another episode of one of my favorite series makes me feel sorrowful.
And even though I am looking forward to new anime series over the summer, most noticeably Highschool DXD New and Kaminomi Goddess Arc, I still can't help but remember all the my other favorite series over the last few years that have ended.
I may not get another season of Haganai. Oreimo has finished its light novel series so no more of our favorite black cat cosplay girl and yandere. Magical Index still has some hope due to such mass popularity so there may be a season 3, or there may not be. Soul Eater is ending. Binbougami-ga is ending. Code-Breaker is ending. I'm still sad about Negima, Medaka and Reborn after all this time.
And even all those critics and haters out there, who scream in anger and find the worst nit-picking details in their current qualities, will undoubtably feel sad when Naruto, Bleach and Fairy Tail meet their ends.
But I can at least find comfort in the fact that even though all of these series may come to an end, all the hours they have spent with us will never leave our hearts. The moments we lost our breath. The moments we laugh out of our seats. The moments when our eyes well up in sadness or joy. And even the moments when we cringed in horror. Even though a franchise may end, it will always continue on with us, and we hope that it can affect the next person along as much as it did us.
Plus, the Gintama manga is still going on, so I still get my weekly dose of lazy samurai.
Onward to the BIRTHDAY BANANZA BASH
Post-made: T-Too-Too much chibi Erza! C-can't handle the cuteness! Too much! Tooooo muchhhhhhhhh! C-Chris Hanson! He's gunning for me! Oh noooooooooo!
Also, just listened to season 2 dubbed in English. And somehow, Ichiya being voiced by Cooler just feels so right.
########Hunter########
July 4 X779
"I'mmmmmmm sooooooooooo booooooooorrrrreeeddddd!" A head of pink hair said as he sprawled out lazily on the table. Normally, this would be the part where the other young black-haired Mage would tell him to shut up. Then the Dragon-Slayer and Ice-Maker would get into a loud argument, call each other names and generally annoy the entire guild in the process.
Except Gray was at another table, equally sprawled out and just as bored as Natsu.
In fact, most of the guild was lying around, bored out of their minds.
Over the last week, every member of the guild had gone on several requests taken from the board. And after everything was said and done, they had no more jobs to take for the rest of the month. The board had been dry for three days now and everyone was suffering from a severe case of Cabin Fever.
This being Fairy Tail, they tried to remedy this situation with a full blown party that shook the entire building as a celebration of completing all of their jobs. Which succeeded in cheering everybody up...
For about one day.
The arrival of new jobs was supposed to be delivered today but it was running late for some reason. So now, everybody was on a pretty bad low of energy.
"Lisanna~, bored~...boooooooooooored" whined the little kitten atop the white-haired girl's scalp. He was gnawing on what was left of the fish tail he had been eating earlier.
"Happy, not now. Go annoy Mira-Nee or Elf-niichan."
"Lisanna~, bored~...boooooooooooored" her two older siblings echoed to the young girl.
"Oh shut up."
"Isn't there anything to do? We can't just sit here waiting for more requests, right" Cana said as she tried to lift up her head.
"Wait! We've still got missions we can take!" Natsu yelled as he jumped up on the table with a righteous fire in his eyes.
"Really?" Most of the guild got out of their stupor and looked at the young Dragon-slayer excitedly.
"Yeah! We've got S-Class Requests!"
As a collective, everyone besides Natsu sat back down with a resounding thump. "Seriously guys! I bet there are a ton of S-class stuff we can do!"
True, there was probably a surplus of S-Class Requests upstairs on the second floor board. Since the only two S-Class mages left were in the guild were Gildarts and Laxus. But as they already knew...
"Natsu, give it up. You know this doesn't end well for any of us." Mira groaned as she really wasn't up for dealing with Natsu's useless attempts to take a request he couldn't complete.
"Come on. While Jii-chan isn't looking! Happy, follow me!" Natsu jumped off the table and ran towards the stairs behind the bar counter, his faithful friend flying by his side.
"Aye Si-"
*Crunch*
The guild couldn't help but cringe as they heard Natsu and Happy having their bodies crushed into the floor so deeply they made imprints. The giant fist lifted off of them and shrunk down to normal side, revealing the two boys twitching helplessly, Happy's wings occasionally fluttering.
"Natsu! Happy! Geez not again." Lisanna ran over to the two and tried to pull them out of the ground. Makarov walked out of the back room with Erza by his side, both of them shaking their heads in disappointment.
"It's not enough that Naruto keeps bitching to me about wanting to take S-Class requests, now I've got to be stopping you two idiots as well. I'm getting to old for this shit." Makarov groaned to himself as he jumped up to his spot on the counter. "You can stop acting out now you punks, good news. The requests are coming in today!"
"Finally!"
"I thought they weren't coming!"
Lisanna nudged Natsu and Happy as everybody was screaming in delight. "Natsu, the jobs are coming in."
"H-hooray..." Natsu lifted up his shaky head and gave her a bruised smile before falling back into place.
Erza walked over to a table and sat down in it, yawning tiredly. Mira slid over to sit across from her. "What's wrong with you?"
"I just had to tell Master that Naruto won't be around for a couple of days."
"Really?" Erza nodded and Mira adjusted herself to look at her more directly. "What's wrong with blondie this time?"
"He said he's been feeling kind of sick for the last few days. And so he won't be able to come to the guild for a while. Probably from eating mostly ramen for the last few days. It's his own fault in the end."
"He's sick?" Mira whistled in disbelief. "I swore that idiots couldn't get sick in the first place. So why don't you just drop him off at Porlyusica-San's house and leave him to her?"
"I wanted to ask for her assistance but when I came to her, she said, 'I'm sick of having to take care of you snot-nosed brats every second of every damn day! Runny noses, skinned knees, who knows what else you'll force me to fix if I have to help that idiot with a little flu! Tell him to get better on his own damn time!'" Erza mimicked with an almost scarily familiar imitation of the human-hating medical advisor in the woods. "Something like that."
"Yeah, seems like something she would say. So what? Do we have to bring him his meals and change his diaper from now on?"
"No. He said he would be fine hold up in his home for a little while. I removed all the ramen I could find before I left so he will have to eat something else for now. I can trust him to take care of himself." Mira raised an eyebrow at her incredulously.
"Well, its not like he could be worse off?"
########Hunter########
A few moments earlier
The carriage was being drawn into the limits of Magnolia Town. The two men on the front of the carriage were arguing about something, the several crates in the carriage tremble around.
"Junior! I told you to feed the damn horses before we set off on the delivery! It's your fault we're late with drop-off now!"
"And I told you, you crotchety old geezer, that we need to be feeding these stupid things better! If you want to deliver faster, up the ante!"
"Shut up kid! You don't even know what you are saying!
"I'll tell you what I'm saying! What I'm saying is-"
Before this pointless argument could advance any further, the old and young duo noticed that a sudden shadow had appeared over them. And that it was shrinking faster and faster. They both looked up to the sight of a blond boy falling towards them, screaming his head off.
"Get Out Of The Way!"
The two men yelled in worry and tried to get out of the way to no avail. The boy crashed into the back of the carriage, causing the wooden crates to fall off and careen to the ground. The citizens of the town looked towards the accident before going back to their normal lives.
"Shit! The papers! Grab 'em before they fly off" the older man demanded as he pushed the younger one off the carriage and started to desperately grab the request fliers before they were swept away.
The black-cloaked blond rubbed his head and saw the men he had run into trying to pick up a bunch of papers. He found his balance and started to follow their example, grabbing as many papers as fast as possible.
After about a full ten minutes of rummaging on the ground, searching behind barrels and corners and running after any papers that floated in the breeze, all three men were leaning against the carriage breathing rapidly.
"I-I think that's all of them." The old man wheezed out.
"T-there weren't any others that I could see so I think we are good." The younger man said as he fell on his butt.
The whiskered boy wiped his forehead and started to pick up the crates he knocked over with a grunt. "Here. Let's try to put them back before we lose them again." The two men nodded and started to place the dozens of papers back into the wooden container.
After they were done, the boy helped them lift it into the back of the carriage and everything was set back up.
The young teen walked up to the two men, "Sorry I knocked your thing over. I was helping the store owner fix up his roof and I missed a step."
"It's alright kid, we got everything together so no harm done."
"See ya later kid!" The two men whipped the harness and caused the horse to pull the carriage again. The two men turned around and waved to the blond boy as he waved back to them. The boy kept waving until they rounded the corner and were out of sight, lowering his hand.
Slowly, a naughty and diabolical grin started to stretch from cheek to cheek as Naruto tried his best to stifle a chuckle forming in his throat. Naruto looked from side to side before pulling his sleeve open and taking out a crumbled piece of paper. He unfurled it and read the sheet with a picture of a strange formation in the middle of a lake.
S-Rank
URGENT! NEED ASSISTANCE!
There is a group of bandits trying to steal legendary artifacts from a sacred tomb. We need immediate assistance before it is too late!
Warning: Please accept before the 7th of July
8,000,000J
Perfect.
Naruto laughed in glee before pocketing the paper into his pants. He started to jump up the side of the building he had jumped off of and lifted the pack he had prepared before jumping into the carriage. He hefted the sack over his shoulder and made his way to his destination.
Antirr.
########Hunter########
2 Days Later
Naruto knew that what he was doing wasn't going to be safe. It wasn't going to be simple. And it wasn't smart.
Hell, this might probably be one of the worst ideas to ever pop up in his head in all of his years.
But damn it! If he wasn't excited out of his god damn mind to try it!
Naruto had known for a long time the route and routine which the request carriage took to the guild. And he knew that his constant requests and attempts of asking Jiji if he could take an S-Class request were never going to work. He also tried to ask one of the current members to let him work with them as a team.
But Gildarts had taken some extremely difficult SS-Class request that was sending him off on another long absence. Like usual.
And the newest addition to the pride of Fairy Tail was none other than the grandson of their Guild Master, Laxus Dreyar. Now despite how most felt about the stubborn teenager, they couldn't help but want to congratulate him for his success in becoming the first S-Class in a long time. So the entire guild was throwing a party in his honor as a celebration.
The result? He burnt down the banner they made for him and he made a proclamation to all of the guild. Saying that he was fucking sick of how pathetic this guild was. That among the dozens of 'supposedly' strong mages in Fairy Tail, that he was the first member with enough potential to gain the rank of S-Class since Gildrats all those years ago.
And he said, with a crooked smile and tone that would think he was a man among mice, he said he was going to be the next master. And when he was, there was going to be a new Fairy Tail. And all of them that couldn't keep up, weren't going to last.
Needless to say, Naruto wasn't jumping at the chance to ask Laxus for a favor.
So now, he stole a mission.
What better way to walk away with a request then to steal it before it could reach the guild. Course, this meant he wasn't going to get that 8 million jewels reward in the end.
And god knows how the guild is going to react when he comes back. Erza will probably hate him for a while. Master was definitely going to dish out some serious punishment.
But that was something he could live with. If S-Class requests were really that difficult, then the experience and strength you gain from them must be just a rewarding.
And if he was going to face such severe enemies in the future like Grimoire Heart or Damnation again, he was going to need as much of it as he could get.
And after the stories he had heard about them. Levy's experience. When a guild Macao and Wakaba used to know was destroyed. The sheer volume of Rune Knight bodies that were found. It was sort of terrifying to hear.
Plus, Parker-Ojisan's story really hammered it in further then it already was.
########Hunter########
"Seriously kid? You want to try and fight Damnation? Ha, that's rich" the grizzled old man laughed as he worked behind the counter. The young teenager felt his blood boil as he threw the goods he was stacking in the shelves back into its box.
"Don't laugh like that you old bastard! People like you shouldn't be giggling like a little girl! Hell Erza doesn't even laugh like that!" Naruto yelled as he felt like he was being treated like a little kid again by the salt and pepper-haired man he visited every other week.
"Hey watch what you're handling brat, break anything and I'm deducting from your pay!"
"I barely get paid anything to begin with! I take this job out of pity you geezer!" Naruto and Parker started to bitch at each other as they pressed their foreheads together in seething anger.
"Brat you'd get served by Damnation faster then you can piss your diaper!"
"I think you've got it mixed old man! I can control my bowels unlike you!" Parker grabbed the shorter boy and stuffed him in a head lock, Naruto's arms flailing around in hateful fury.
Parker spun him around and let him go,"Pfft, if you ever have the urge to come back, send Erza-chan instead! She is actually tolerable! Unlike some people!" Parker dusted himself and faced the other direction, roughly fixing up the items on the back counter.
"Screw you! How can you guys be so afraid of something you haven't even seen? They're terrifying, sure, but why the hell can you let something like this go on?" Naruto was about to storm off in anger and head home-
"I know kid. I know all too well." Naruto stopped his march out and looked back towards the old man that had first taken him in when he came out of the tower. Still a little miffed, he looked at the man with a slightly raised brow.
"I knew another kid that was pretty eager to become a Mage as well. He always ran straight into a mission without ever considering what could happen to him. But he always came out on top with a shit eating grin plastered on his damn face. He was one of those kids that always cheered the place up." The man said with a nostalgic tone heavy in his voice.
Naruto felt his eyes lighten and he turned back towards the old man with a worried look. "And...what happened?"
Parker stopped his work and seemed to freeze for a moment before resuming what he was doing. "The guild he joined decided to take on an assignment to attack a squadron of Damnation that had been sighted near their location. The day before he left, he came to me and told me what he was doing. We got into...into a pretty big argument."
"The last thing we said to each other was 'See you in hell you damn kid! See if I care!'..." Parker sighed and shook his head tiredly. "I was called in during the week to try and identify the body. Don't know if they could even call what was left a body?"
Naruto stood there and looked at the man sadly. The young man never showed it but Parker-Ojisan was basically the closest thing he ever had to a stable father figure. Always there when he wanted to talk and if he ever stayed too long he was always welcomed to dinner. Naruto and Erza always loved to see the stingy old man, even if the two guys never stopped arguing.
And to see the normally stoic and unflappable man appear even a little vulnerable told loads to the Fairy Tail Mage.
"About a week after the kid died, his mother went into a fit of depression. Feeling like there wasn't much left in the world to live for now that her dearest treasure was taken from her. And before the month was over...she hung herself in her room."
"That happened about ten years ago. "See if I care"... Those were the last words I ever said to my son." Parker looked over to Naruto with a stone face and gave him a level look. "I know that you will never give up to guys like that Naruto. But don't go in there thinking you are dealing with people. Because monsters like that, will take everything you know away in a blink."
########Hunter########
Naruto walked into the bustling town noticing that there wasn't as much chaos and urgency evident that the request said there would be. He pulled out the flier and read the meeting point for acceptance.
The Broken Counter
Naruto walked around the center of Antirr, looking for the badly named hotel. After a few minutes, he found a two-story sized building that had a flickering neon sign with the name he was looking for.
Naruto walked through the doors of the building, looking for his liaisons for the request. Among the dozen of people in the lobby, he had to try and find the people who had sent out for the request.
"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. No one is coming. No one is coming. What do we do? What if no one comes in time?"
"Calm down. We received word that someone was going to come in time so we just need to wait. I trust the guilds to send somebody capable of the job." A man wearing a funny brown hat, with a scarf and a shaggy dark brown beard said to his older companions.
Naruto looked at them rather blankly. Yep, with his luck, these were the guys.
Naruto walked over to them, "Excuse me? Are you the group that sent out for the mission? Something about it being ur-"
"Yes! Yes! Thank you my good man!" The man started to enthusiastically shake Naruto's hand and lead him to the table. "Come, come, sit down. Do you need anything?"
"Um, no. No I'm fine." The Fairy Tail Mage was feeling quite freaked out as several old people start to poke his face and sides like he was an object to be examined. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, from Fairy Tail."
"Ah, yes yes my boy. Sorry. My name is Jean-Luc Neville. I'm part of The Archeological Society in the search of rare and ancient sites all across Fiore." The man stopped his exposition when he saw that Naruto had not changed his facial expression at all when he said that. "I find really old places people don't know about and look through them."
"There you go."
"Yes. Listen..." Jean-Luc pulled out a large map from his back-pack and laid it out across the table for Naruto to see. "You see here..." The man pointed towards a highlighted lake circled on the map, "This is where the ruins are located. At the bottom of the lake."
Naruto slowly lifted his head and looked at him in astonishment. "T-the lake?"
"Yes! At the bottom of this lake is a massive sanctuary that holds more than a century's worth of treasure and information!"
"Treasure! Really!" Naruto almost jumped out of his seat in excitement.
"Yes, but that isn't what is in need of protection. It is what we believe lies in the very epicenter of the sanctuary." Neville pulled out a leathery book from his pack and started to flip through the pages.
"How much do you fit in the bag?"
"Tons. Ah, here we are." He laid the book on its back and turned it around for the young boy to see. "The legends about what lay beneath the surface of the water says that it was a vault. A place where powerful weapons were stashed away, never to be seen again. These weapons were said to bend the very elements themselves to the wielder's mercy. And if you could use just one of them, then your power would grow exponentially. And the ones who made them were..." He pointed down to the illustration on the page as Naruto looked fiercely.
"Dragons." He muttered lowly.
"Before the dragons went extinct 400 years ago, several of them worked with humans to form swords that could harness a piece of their power. When the swords were finished, the dragons blessed each one of them with their magic. Among the hundreds of blades forged, only seven were still intact. And when the magic was harnessed, the blades changed shape to better control their power. And that is what lies at the bottom of the lake." The archeologist flipped the page for the boy to see the last picture.
It was a picture of dozens and dozens of dragons flying over the separated water of a lake as in the middle of it was a building with seven shining swords found in the middle.
"The Dragon's Den. The vault of the Ancient Dragon Swords."
Naruto swallowed a lump of anxiousness, but couldn't help but try to hide the smile growing on his face. He looked at the picture before trying to realize something. "Wait? If this thing has been underneath the lake for centuries, why is it only now in danger?"
"Because normally, the vault can't be open. No matter what magic is used, on any side, the building is impenetrable from the outside. But it does reveal to have an opening. Once a year, on July 7th, the doors underneath the lake will open to anyone who comes to them. Over the last few decades, many people have tried to enter the building on this day, but none ever return. After sometime, the idea of entering the building was forgotten."
Naruto sat there quietly thinking things over. "Then why do you need me to stop someone from entering a place no one can return from?"
"Because the men who are going into this place, have something that could guarantee them a safe way out."
"And how do you know all of this?"
"Because the book this was copied from," he waved the hardback copy in his hand around, "was discovered a few decades back along with another item. This book was the compass to telling us where and what was inside the vault. And the other item was the way to walk in and out of it alive." Neville closed the book. "What you need to know is-"
"Don't worry!" Naruto slammed his hands on the table and stood up proudly. "I just need to make sure that I stop whoever is coming to the Den from getting there. Seems easy. Naruto Uzumaki is on the case!"
"B-but, the people who are coming-"
"You don't need to tell me so much about these guys. If they are so scary I'd rather meet them in person then listen to their ghost stories. That seems to be the way I best operate anyway. Which way is the lake?"
"It's just east of here, close to the mountains. About a day's travel" one of the older members said to the whiskered boy.
"Got it!" Naruto started running out off the door and straight for the hills.
"W-wait! You don't have to face them! You just need to stop-"
Neville tried to reach him before he left but the young Mage was already out of his reach. He looked down to the small old man with a gob-smacked look.
"I think that words would be wasted on that young man. Better to just let him out and do his job" he said with a smile as his body was shaking. "I could see it in his eyes. Something that even if we tried to stop him, he'd just push his way through and power on."
Neville wiped his face slowly and looked to the direction the boy had already vanished to. This was all they could do now. Put their faith in the man that had been personally sent to stop the 44 Ronin.
Now all they could add to the mission was their faith and hope.
Jean-Luc turned around and was headed back to the hotel when he ran into an extremely muscular torso. Neville stumbled back and looked up at the extremely large man that had appeared behind him and his society. Him and the short wrinkled members all shared the same opinion when looking up at him.
"Wow..."
"Excuse me" the giant man said with a deep voice, raising up their request flier. "I was supposed to meet Neville-Dono here for the matter of the request?"
Jean-Luc pointed at the man in confusion. "B-but if you're here, who was that?"
########Hunter########
Naruto carefully walked through the forest, spotting deer and boar and all forms of wild life among the plains. He smiled at the pure untapped beauty that was so far out in the mountains that he could forget about how beautiful this world was. He continued to walk towards the crevice of the mountain until...
He froze. He sensed a sudden existence of a vast magical power appear out of thin air. And then disappear in the same instant.
Naruto turned around in shock to find nothing behind him. He looked around cautiously as he tried to pinpoint the presence of the grand magic he felt a moment ago. From underneath his cloak, he formed one of the spiked bats for defense in preparation of anything.
"You shouldn't have tried to trick them like that scoundrel."
Naruto's eyes widened before he tried to jump back from the voice behind him. A pillar of solid rock popped out of the ground and impacted into his left side. Naruto raised the bat in his left hand and guarded against the attack.
The whiskered boy was thrown a dozen feet back, skidding across the ground as he kicked up dust. He dropped the dented and broken bat and clutched his bruising side. He took a shallow breath as he stood back up and summoned his Excalibur.
He glared at the man slowly marching out of the shadows. He was a tall, extremely well-built man wearing a green jacket and skirt that went past his knees. His brow-less eyes furrowed at him as each step he took closer to Naruto felt like a huge weight pressing on his back.
Also, the man was bald.
"Who are you?" Naruto said as he brought himself into a ready stance with both hands on the grip.
"I'm the man who took this mission. And I know that you are a fraud because my guild was the one who registered for this request. I ask that you stand down before I have to restrain you by force." The man said as he got into his own stance with his fists out.
The two mages silently looked at each other, their gaze not wavering from each others form. Naruto neglected the pain in his side as he concentrated on any opening the man left. But from the sheer force of the stone pillar and the presence he emitted, he knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
Naruto dashed to the side, avoiding several large spires of rock that appeared beneath him. He skidded to a stop and watched as the man waved his hands around, making the spires form together and create what looked like a giant hand.
The massive rock twisted around and aimed for him as he started to back-flip out of range. But no matter how far he went, the hand continued to stretch farther and farther, smashing through the base of the trees.
Naruto landed and dove straight for the stone gauntlet, the rock closing its hand and making a fist. Naruto charged his feet and jumped, missing the hand by an inch as he rolled along the arm and started to dash atop it. He summoned the Kusanagi to his other hand and used Armor over his whole body.
The baldy pointed his index and middle finger at the charging blond and pointed up. Suddenly, several smaller arms started to sprout out of the first one and stopped the Fairy Tail mage's advance. The whiskered boy desperately jumped off the arm and swung on the branch of a close tree.
He hung by the branch and looked over to where the Earth Mage was waving his hands around intricately. He stopped and pointed his fingers back up to him, causing the rocks to break apart and cluster together. They bursted forth towards Naruto's position in the trees.
Naruto clicked his tongue and spun on the branch, before cutting it off the tree and kicking it at the prone Mage. As the weapon user pushed off the tree before it was shredded to timber, the elemental Mage smacked the branch out of his way.
The bald man looked up to see Naruto coming down on him with his swords over his head. He sent up a wall of earth to guard overhead as Naruto slashed against the rock, cutting into it. Before he could attempt any further digging, several more spires erupted from it, nearly clocking the boy in the chin.
Naruto jumped to behind the trees and started to run circles around the man and gathered his magic to his hands. He sent a barrage of Flying Gauntlets from all directions. But the man just batted away the attacks with his bare fists.
Naruto and the man exchanged several long range attacks and jumped in close. Naruto started to slash at the man as fast and strong as he could. But the man parried each of his blade swipes with the palm of his hand, making Naruto look at the man in wide eyed surprise at his fighting ability.
The bald man leaned back and spun on his feet, crouching down to the boy's chest and landed his elbow against Naruto's center. The Fairy Tail Mage brought his left arm between the attack and his chest and grunted at the power of his strike.
Naruto jumped back from the force and focused magic into his feet, sending two shots of concentrated power soaring at the man. The man guarded as the attack hit the back of his arms, causing him to be pushed back. He realized he was being distracted as he turned around at the last second.
Naruto's blade came an inch within piercing his neck. The Earth mage's pillar stopped short of breaking through the blond's sternum and throwing him back several miles.
They stood still, their attacks still inches away from connecting. The large man looked at him with a ferocious, unyielding gaze. Naruto did his best to match the man's look, breathing heavily from the attacks to his side and from evading his devastating stone attacks.
"You aren't going to cut my neck?"
"I really don't feel like getting my hands dirtied before I even get to start my mission. You're not going to crush me are you?"
"I believe I may have, what's the saying, 'jumped the gun' on this decision. I shall retract my pillar if you sheathe your sword. Deal?"
Naruto looked at the man quizzically. "Deal."
The men stepped away from each other and dispelled their respective attacks. Naruto let out a tight breath and started to gingerly touch his bruising left. Shit, wide range attacks and they each packed a punch (no pun intended). He was glad they ended it now before he ran out of tricks to pull.
"Are you in need of assistance?"
Naruto stood up nervously, "No! No, I'm fine. Justing making sure I didn't get my clothes dirty or anything." He would have smacked himself in the face if he didn't have a strong Mage behind him who was watching his every move.
"Hmmmm, indeed." The man turned slightly to face Naruto. "My name is Jura Neekis. I am a Mage of Lamia Scale who has taken this request. It is a pleasure to meet you." The massive man bowed deeply to the young boy.
"Hello Jura. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I am a Mage of Fairy Tail that has also taken up this request to protect the Den of Dragons and keep the Ancient Blades safe."
"May I see some identification then?" Jura lifted up his shirt and showed a tattoo of a woman with a lower body of a serpent imbedded into him. Naruto nodded and grabbed the end of his sleeve at his right wrist, pulling it up and showing him his black fairy tattoo.
"I am sorry that I attacked you without warning such as that Naruto-Dono. But with the severity of this task, it is not improbable that a thief or spy for the Ronin would take this opportunity to gain as much information as they can to get the upper hand."
"It's fine. I faced worse things before." Naruto dusted himself off and started his trek back pass the mountains. "I'm sorry Jura-San but I must be on my way. We don't know the position of these so-called Ronin so I have to hurry."
"Wait. I wish to ask a few more questions before you-"
"I-I'm much to busy Jura-San! I need to be off!" Naruto said as he increased his stepping speed with a cold sweat running down his back.
"I've never heard of an S-Class Mage in Fairy Tail by the name of Naruto Uzumaki? Care to explain?" Naruto stopped his walk away as he froze in fear. He let out an audible gulp and made sure Jura couldn't see his face.
He was running as fast as he could, trying to kick up as much dirt as possible to keep a distance from him and the old man. But he noticed then that he couldn't feel the ground underneath his feet. He looked down to see he was hovering over the ground by a least a foot. He looked over his shoulder to see the Lamia Scale Mage holding him up by his collar like Lisanna did to Happy when he misbehaved.
"T-this isn't what it seems."
"I think you have much explaining to do Naruto-Dono."
"If you want an explanation, my senior is right behind you ready to attack." Jura looked shock as he quickly turned over his shoulder to look at the threat behind him. But saw nothing but the trees and woods.
"T-there's nothing th-" he looked back to the collar he was holding and noticed that it was lighter than before. He turned it around and looked at the empty cloak, with a note on the inside. He plucked it out...
See ya
He looked up to see the form of the blond already speeding over the hills. Jura yelled and chased after him, the cloak in his hands flapping around in the wind.
"Stop chasing me old man!"
"You have to go back!"
"Leave me alone you geezer!"
"I'm not a geezer! I'm only 21-years old!"
"NO ONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE BALD AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE YOU FREAK!"
Naruto could have sworn that the killer intent focused on his back increased ten fold after he said that as the bald (supposedly) young adult increased his speed and almost strangled the blond boy. Naruto had never been so happy to have his speed increase with his Armor then when he was evading the death grip of Jura Neekis.
########Hunter########
After running for more then a few hours, Naruto and Jura had stopped to take a breather besides a running stream inside the valley of the mountains.
"*huff**huff* A-are you ready to head back?" Jura said while propping himself up on his knees.
"N-not even close..." Naruto said as he sat up against a tree.
After a moment of silent breathing between the two, Naruto's stomach started to growl in hunger. He turned his head and felt his face slightly glow in embarrassment as Jura laughed. Then, Jura also felt his belly rumble, feeling famished himself.
Naruto laughed, "Not so high and mighty now, huh?" He pushed himself up and dusted off his ass. "You can stay here and starve while you keep giving me the evil glare while I go find myself something to eat." Naruto walked over to the river bank and crouched down to look into the stream.
"Don't go thinking that I am unable to take care of my own nourishment, Naruto-Dono." Jura stood up tall and walked a few feet away from Naruto, looking into the river himself.
"Yeah, well I'd like to see you take care of your own food when you have to catch" he sent some of his magic into his left hand and fired into the river, causing dozens of fish with wings to pop out. "Flying Fish."
All of the fish started to flap their wings, flying around in circles over the two mages, causing the entire section of the forest to be shadowed. Naruto shot a smirk over towards Jura as the man narrowed his eyes, taking that as a sign of competition.
They both dashed away from each other and looked up to the soaring fish, Naruto summoning his swords and Jura raising a stone pillar. Jura tightened his fist and the pillar separated into floating rocks. He pointed towards the fish and the rocks hit every fish above him, knocking them down.
Naruto jumped up and spun through the air with his blades close to his chest. He extended them and started to slash every Pisces that came within reach, "Shredding Saber Winds!" All of the fishes' wings fell to pieces and the fish fell to the ground dead. Naruto landed in a crouch with a wide smirk on his face. "Hahaha, did you see that? If you want you can have one of-... Shit. That's a lot of dead fish."
Jura grabbed a group of branches and leaves that were lying around and placed them in a pile. He then grabbed two of the rocks and started to smash them together, making enough sparks to light the tinder. The material burst into flame and he started to roast the fish over the fire. "I'll finish these up quickly then I'll take care of the request."
Naruto was cutting the fish into raw sections and placing them apart. "Wimp! I just need the fish, don't have to bother with cooking or tenderizing. I'll finish first!"
"Not before me!"
Naruto grabbed a piece of the raw meat he had cut.
Jura pulled off a partially cooked slab from over the fire.
"ME-"
"-FIRST"
*chomp*
########Hunter########
*Bleeeeeegh*
"M-move over!" *Bleeeeeegh*
Naruto pulled himself back up from where Jura pushed him and continued to empty his stomach into the river. His and Jura's barfing sounds filled the clearing as their projectile vomit stained the formerly clear water.
After a solid few minutes, they both lifted their heads with glazed over, hollow white-eyes and drool down their chins.
"T-*hurbf*" Naruto covered his mouth and swallowed what was coming back up, "That was THE most disgusting thing I have ever eaten in my entire life." He said as he groaned and crawled over to where his bag was, using it as a pillow.
Jura fell on his back, "Perhaps it wasn't so wise to see who could eat the most helpings?"
"I blame you for finishing the first helping faster."
Jura groaned again as he tried to argue but was feeling too weak.
After a moment of hearing birds chirping in the air, one of them sounding suspiciously like it was saying, "Aho...Aho..." The two mages looked over to each other.
"I have some rations and preservatives in my pack if you want to share." Naruto said with a gurgle.
"We passed some deers and boars on the way here...if you start the fire again I shall go and capture some?"
"Truce?"
"Truce."
The two men tried to reach over and shakes their hands but stopped when they felt another grumble in their stomachs.
########Hunter########
Naruto dug ferociously into the meat and vegetables that he had on his plate, almost crying in joy at its vast superiority to the flying fish. Jura was moaning in joy at the flavor.
After they had finished, they placed their empty plates down and sighed contently.
"Alright, now that we have a moment, would you care to explain why you are taking this request illegally?" Jura asked from across the flaming wood.
Naruto chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, the truth is, I took this mission from the S-rank board in my guild."
"And you didn't get the permission from your guild master or higher ranks?"
"No. I doubt anyone else from my guild knows that I'm here."
"Then I should report you as quickly as possible. So why shouldn't I?" Jura left the question hang in the air as he waited for Naruto's answer.
Naruto looked at him with an unwavering gaze. "Because I need to get stronger. Even if I get punished or suspended or whatever, I need to get stronger any way I can. I need to gain it to protect my family from being hurt. And I said that I would complete this request, so if you want to stop me, you're free to try." He left that remark in the silence and matched Jura's glare.
Jura smiled and nodded his head, acknowledging his spirit. "I can't say that I approve much of stealing requests, but I've always held high regards for those that wish to gain strength for admirable reasons." He placed his hands together and bowed slightly to the boy. "I will honor your choice to take this mission, if you would be willing to help me."
Naruto smiled and bowed his head slightly in return.
"But I must say, this is quite a tough mission to have taken up."
"Are you sure? Just seems like a boundary job to me."
"But the level of difficulty is actually far more dangerous then it appears. This mission wasn't actually funded by the Archeological society, it was a cover for the Magical Kingdom to finally stop the group known as the 44 Ronin."
"Why is it so important to stop these guys?"
"Because other than being a major threat to the peace of the country, they have something that must be retrieved." Naruto looked at him with a wondering look. "The group was created only at most two years ago. It was a group that gathered primarily rogue swordsmen that traveled through Fiore. Under normal circumstances, groups like these would be treated as a mild threat, like most other dark guilds. But...their leader had something no one else had."
"Many years ago, along with the book that specialized in the Dragon mythology, there was a weapon that was discovered with it. A weapon unlike any other in existence."
Naruto leaned in to hear the story even better, Jura's stone-like face enhanced by the flickering light of the fire at night.
"The Kokuryū-Ken, Black Dragon Sword."
Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Centuries ago, at the end of a war, at the cost of hundreds of lives, the legendary black dragon flew off to never be seen again. Even after a battle with thousands of humans and dragons, that dragon was undefeated and unstoppable. But with the effort of all of them, they were able to remove a single jet black scale from its body. The scale was invulnerable, stronger and sharper then any sword or weapon that contacted against it."
"But the humans couldn't let something as valuable as a dragon scale go unchecked. So they gathered the best sword-smiths and forgers in the world. And they scorched and melted the scale in the flames of a volcano and reshaped it through the use of some of the strongest magics they could find. Over decades, the scale was reshaped and traveled through the world, being forged into a smaller and smaller shape."
"Until finally, they formed a sword. Blacker then the darkest night. Sharper then any other in existence. And stronger then any magic that was used against it. Any man who held a blade like that, believed himself to be invincible. And through the creation of a blade like that, the greed men had was shown throughout history."
Jura picked up a stick and shifted the fire in front of him, keeping it alive. "The blade gained and lost more and more masters as time went on. It was hidden for decades until it was found with that book. And over the last few years, ownership of such a weapon was argued and disputed by many. Through many faults and losses, the blade was sold to one of the wealthiest families in Fiore for the price of 500,000,000J."
"500 MILLION!" Naruto screamed as he jumped off of the make-shift seat from his pack. "T-th-that's like-like, I-I don't even know how much money that is! I could buy so much ramen with that!"
"Y-yes, it was a big surprise when it happened. Needless to say, the family Corporation of Bunce was extremely famous because of their purchase of that sword, and they became big players in the economic system of Fiore. But two years ago, the Bunce family was forced into bankruptcy and lost everything to the Heartfilia Konzern. Since then the Heartfilia Family has been receiving death threats from the remaining members of the Bunces."
"Hmmm, I think that sounds sort of familiar." Naruto said as he scratched his head, trying to remember where he had heard about such an event before.
"As all of their personal items and luxuries were being repossessed, the heir to the family legacy, Àomàn Bunce-Dono, stole the sword before it could be taken into the government's possession. The man became so obsessed with holding this overwhelming power and he killed every official that came to take back the sword. Àomàn-Dono ran away and started to gather up a group of swordsman to help gain his fortune back."
"So if this guy wants his fortune back so badly, why doesn't he just sell the sword again? I'm pretty sure there are tons of people who would kill for that thing."
"Exactly. People would kill for that sword. So if he gathered enough followers who pine for power so badly they follow a man like him, then the promise of power and fortune would intoxicate anybody. Sell the sword, he could gather a fortune. Control the sword, he could gather an empire." Jura said as he looked into the fire, "This request isn't about protecting an archeological site, its about defeating a megalomaniac before he becomes any worse."
"Naruto-Dono, that is why it is too dangerous to be a part of this mission before you are ready. These men aren't like bandits or lowly criminals, they will do whatever they have to do to get what they are after. And if we get in their way, they will make us suffer until we would beg for release. So if you have any doubts about- What are you doing?"
Naruto was smiling like a excitable child as he bounced on his chair with barely containable glee. "Huh, what did you say? I wasn't listening."
"Okay...what did you hear then?"
"I was just thinking about if I take down criminals like that, I couldn't possible be in trouble anymore. And when everyone finds out I took down a bunch of bad guys with super strong weapons" Naruto laughed through his teeth as he thought about what could happen.
"Naruto I knew you could do it! You're the strongest!" Erza said with a giddy glee in her voice as her eyes sparkled.
"Naruto, you are too amazing!" Mira said as she swooned at the sight of the proud blond.
"We are not worthy! We are not worthy! Aye sir! Aye sir!" Natsu, Gray, Elfman and Happy said as they bowed before him.
"Naruto, you have to teach me how to be that good." Gildarts said as he was close to crying, Levy and Cana clapping and using glitter poppers.
Laxus was on his knees, completely unable to comprehend his weakness before the younger blond. "I-it's impossible! I'm supposed to be the best! How is this awesome, younger, much cooler blond so much better than me?" Before Naruto sucker punched him and sent him flying as a twinkle in the sky. Naruto propped his leg up and threw his head back as he laughed as loud as he could.
Naruto had a dreamy look on his face as he fantasized what was probably going to happen when he came back home. He shook his head around, "Sorry Jura, I didn't hear what you said?"
Jura felt a vein pulse as he took a calming breath. "I'm telling you, it is too dangerous to involve yourself in this mission. You may get hurt or worse!"
Naruto looked at Jura and frowned at him, "I know." Jura blinked at the serious tone. "I know I might get hurt. But if I can't even take a job with the possibility that I might get hurt, I may as well just stay home and wait to die. I'm not afraid of getting hurt. And if I don't want to die, I need to learn to become a better Mage. So stop trying to psych me out and live with this fact Jura," Naruto leaned back and crossed his arms together, smiling confidently.
"I'm going to help you take down the Ronin."
Jura looked at him stunned before closing his eyes and smiling with a nod. "I guess if you aren't frightened by that, then you are not someone that will falter in a time of need." He opened his eyes and reached out with his hand. "I thank you for the help Naruto-Dono."
Naruto smiled and reached out, gripping Jura's hand and shaking it, making a partnership between the two. "Also, I think you need this back. It could be useful." Jura reached behind him and pulled out Naruto's black cloak.
Naruto took his cloak back and stood up. He swung it over his shoulder and tied it up, completing his wardrobe with a confident smirk.
########Hunter########
July 7 X779
Naruto and Jura walked side by side, heading over the mountains and past a hill to finally reach the lake they aimed for. The two were an odd sight, the Earth Mage being much taller than the blond besides him. But even odder than that was that the taller Mage was seeming sheepish in front of the boy as he eyed him curiously.
"Naruto-Dono, please stop. This subject is very uncomfortable for me."
"Come on! There has to be an explanation! L-like you were experimented on as a child! Or maybe your parents dropped you in a vat of acid and you were forever scarred like that!"
"No...nothing like that...I've just always been bald..." The normally unflappable Mage said as he seemed slightly depressed from this choice of topic.
"Well okay. But I still don't believe that you could be 21 years old."
"Why not exactly?"
"Because I've heard other people say that they were young like that too, but since the last one..." Naruto looked off into the distance with a Thousand Yard Stare as he seemed to relive some horrible trauma. "I can't trust them."
"What happened exactly?"
"I-it's too much! The horrors...the fear...I'll never forget that face! The face of evil!"
(A few hundred miles away, in the Blue Pegasus Guild)
"Ma...Ma...MAAAANNNNCHOOOOOOOO!" The Perfume Mage sneezed all over his younger Mage companions.
"O-Oh God! It's Everywhere! It's In My Hair! Get It Out!" Jenny screamed as she ran around the guild, crying as she ran her hands in her hair.
"W-we-we have b-been blessed by Senpai's honor..." The blond boy said as he kept his gagging and shiver down to a minimum. "A-as men, we can't forsake such a gift."
"Hibiki...there's receiving a blessed honor from your beloved superior...and then there is being sneezed on. We just got sneezed on" the slightly tanned brunette said as he was sulking at the table, sitting across from their team leader.
He wiped his nose and gave them a sparkling smile. "Men~"
(Back to the Heroes)
Jura placed his hand in front of Naruto, stopping him in his tracks. Naruto looked up to him. "What is it?"
"I sense a mass of presences passed the hill. No..." Jura ran forward, Naruto following him as they ran up the hump of earth. They reached the apex, crouching down and looking over the scene.
As far as they could see, there was only the water from the lake. Naruto gawked at the sight of the huge body of water, second only to the even larger lake that rested behind his guild. The rising sun rejected off the water and clouded the depth of the lake.
And at the edge of the shore, there looked to be a small army pacing around. All of them were armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons. Some had spears over their shoulder. Others with pairs of axes attached to their backs. But most of the Ronin were with a single or several swords strapped to their bodies.
And at the front of the group was a man with pale skin and long, unkept black hair. He stood with a much undeserved confidence as he looked over the lake like it was his own personal possession. On his hip was a black sheathe that held what was most likely the legendary sword.
One of the men, a composed man with several large and small sword sheathes over his body, walked forward and bowed behind him. "Àomàn-Sama, are you certain that this is the location for the treasure?"
The man sighed and chuckled lightly. "Are you questioning my decisions, Réng?"
"N-no sir, I was just worried because-"
"Don't you worry about anything other then making sure no one gets in my way. The servants have to follow the word of their master, okay? Do you understand?" He said with a selfish smirk as the man stepped back and nodded his head. "Good. At least you idiots understand that much."
"Damn, are these the guys?"
"Yes. They must have been moving through the woods over night and arrived before us. Darn it." Jura said as he gripped the ground in angry disappointment. "We failed."
"It's alright. We've just got to stop them before they can-"
The legal mages stopped their conversation as they heard the Ronin go silent as a rumble shook the ground underneath them. The lake started to make waves, getting more and more violent as time went on. They all watched in amazement as the water started to separate, splitting apart like they were being pushed aside by an impossible force.
Àomàn smiled condescendingly as the water parted at his feet, and revealed a long flight of stairs that descended into the depths of the lake, a stone door at the end of it to enter the massive structure that reached from the bottom of the lake all the way to within inches of breaching the surface. The men couldn't help but stare in awe at the magnificent sight that revealed itself to them.
The former heir had already started to walk down the stairs. "What are you doing you idiots? Are you really surprised by something like this? You need to understand that anything less than a temple like this wouldn't be good enough for me to step in." He scoffed at the hateful looks the men glared into his back. He didn't care if these fools worshipped him or hated him.
All he needed was to use these fools to help him regain his empire. If they wanted to risk their lives to try and take his head...
Heh, let them try.
Jura clicked his teeth as Bunce and his men started to descend down the stairs. "We need to plan something. The temple will only open once a day so this is our only chance to stop them. If we can blindside them, then maybe we can-" he stopped when he saw Naruto stand up besides him. "Naruto-D-"
"HEY ASSHOLES!" The insult echoed through the valley, making all of the ronin stop in their tracks as they looked behind them to the figure standing atop the hill, looking down on them. Jura was right next to him, his eyes were white and his face was twitching in disbelief. "WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING! YOU'VE GOT TO PASS BY US FIRST!"
"Wh-what are you doing?" Jura yelled as he jumped up beside the blond boy.
"I'm stopping them from going inside."
"Why would you reveal our position before we could plan anything first?"
"If we waited any longer, they would have gone inside, taken the swords and came back out to show them to us. Is that what you want instead? Because that is stupid."
"NARUTO-DONO!"
"Who are you guys supposed to be?" The two mages looked over to where more than forty men were staring at them tiredly. Naruto walked forward and coughed in his fist.
"Sorry, where are my manners. I AM THE GREAT HERO OF THE PEOPLE! THE MAN WHO HOLDS THE HEARTS OF ALL THE CHILDREN WITH HIM AS HE SAVES THE DAMSEL! I AM THE GREAT! THE ONE! THE ONLY! NEKO-MAN!" The whiskered boy said with an exaggerated pose. "And this is my side-kick, MAGIC HEAD!"
Jura couldn't react. His jaw was completely unhinged as the guild standing between the hovering walls of water looked at them like they were lost idiots. Àomàn just shook his head, "Kill them."
A large chunk of the Ronin pulled out their weapons and charged the men on the hill. Naruto watched as the large wave of weapon users ran towards them as seven of them headed into the temple, already out of sight. "Shit. Thought that would scare them off."
"That was the worst idea I've ever seen anyone make before. Ever...of all time. Well what shall we do now? This many will hinder us if we try to power through them, and the passage will close before we get there."
"What do you think?"
"I think one of us should stay here and deal with the Ronin while the other follows them into the temple and stops them from getting the swords. I think I should follow them in, I have more experience with closed spaced fighting and battling multiple enem-"
"Let's play Rock-Paper-Scissors!"
"Huh?"
"It's easier and takes way less time! Okay Rock, Paper, Scissors..."
Jura fumbled with his arms as Hispanics started to make the motions. "W-wait Naruto-Dono, this is too irresponsi-"
"Shoot!"
Naruto: Paper
Jura: Rock
"Yes! I win! I'll take the temple!" Running forward as Jura stared at his rock in defeat.
"N-Naruto-Dono!"
"Trust me Jura!" The spontaneous Fairy Tail Mage smiled and gave Jura a thumbs up. "I told you I would take care of this! So take down the Ronin, and I'll take the Snobby Asshole and his flunky Lackeys! Deal?"
Jura looked at him in surprise before throwing his hands down on the ground, making a pillar appear under Naruto's feet and rocketing him over the charging Ronin and to the stairs. "Fine! I put my faith in you Naruto-Dono! Don't dissapoint!"
"Aye Sir!" Naruto spun and landed on the shore, running down the straits and following the Ronin's lead toward the door. Naruto ran down the stairs as fast as he could, noticing that the water had started to comeback into place, losing its magic. Naruto tried to run faster but felt the water start to slow him down, reaching his chest as the water filled up the lake again.
Naruto was surrounded, floating in the water as he looked in every direction, noticing that the stairs were falling back into the depth and that the door was slowly closing shut. He muffled under the water as he swam as fast as he could to the rapidly closing stone doors.
He concentrated the Armor to his feet and kicked off, propelling him forward and through the slit of the closing doors. The stone closed behind him but somehow he got caught, causing him to choke and release the air he was holding in. He looked behind him...
His cloak was stuck.
Damn thing!
Damn Jura for giving it back to him!
Damn his reluctance to give up on something that made him look so much cooler!
He squirmed around in the lake water, choking and clawing at the straps around his neck. After a few moments, he finally unhooked it from around his neck and started to swim for the light on the surface. He felt his lungs constrict in pain as his sight was starting to go into tunnel vision.
Finally, Naruto's head popped out of the surface of the water, taking several quick breathes to get the much needed oxygen back into his lungs. He doggy paddled his way over to the closest patch of rock and grabbed the edge, pulling him out as he crawled forward to give him some space. He coughed up a large amount of water in his throat as he choked out gasps of air.
He fell on his back and laid there for a moment to rest as he looked up at the ceiling. Around the room there were torches that illuminated the dark and lead the way to the hallway. Naruto turned over and looked down at the wet footprints that stained the ground towards the path.
Naruto glared at that direction and pushed himself up.
########Hunter########
The seven men walked through the stone corridor as they neared a light that led to a large room. Each of them preparing for whatever was ahead of them. The oldest member of the group, a man with long gold hair and a spear wrapped on his back, mused to the rest of the group with a condescending tone in his voice. "I think we must be reaching close to the chamber soon. And whatever has been protecting them for so long as well. You kids ready?"
"That a challenge ol'timer Qūzūn?" A crazy eyed man said as he pulled out the large axe and pointed it at the elder man. "Cause if ya think you or any stupid monster can stand up to me, I'd love to prove you wrong!" He said as he slid the tip of the axe over his tongue.
"That's cute kid," he said as his fingers inched closer to the grip of his spear. "Shall we test this confidence Ziháo-kun?"
"Oh, oh I want to try too!" A short, young boy said as he reached to his side and pulled out the chain and sickle. Spinning it around wildly as he smiled sweetly. "I haven't gotten a chance to cut anything up since Ào-chan made us start this stupid quest!"
Which was a crime in itself since he hasn't had a chance to kill for almost a week now.
"Diyi, don't get caught up in our fight!"
"No! No! I want to play too!" The little boy argued as he swung his weapon around like a plaything before expertly spinning them back into his hands. "Anything to kill the boredom!" He jumped up and readied to attack his own team, another two members getting ready to fight as well as the spear and axe user pulled back their weapons.
Until two katanas pierced the ground by Ziháo and Qūzūn's feet and two tantō embedded themselves into the hands of the other subordinates. Finally Diyi was stopped mid-jump and held by his collar by a tall man as he used a Wakizashi to catch the chain of the Kusarigama. "Diyi-sama, don't antagonize your teammates so much. You know Ziháo-sama and Qūzūn-sama are very irritable to such things."
"Aw, Réng-chan, way to ruin the fun." The kid said as he lost all of his excitement and slumped down. The black haired man lowered the boy to his feet and walked over to the two lower members, pulling his short blades out of their hands as they cried in pain. He sheathed them into their place at his hips as he walked over to the two katanas and pulled them out, putting them back on his back.
"You got lucky this time geezer."
"Sure I did you little shit."
"Enough you idiots! I think we found something." Àomàn yelled over his shoulder as they reached a huge room with a stone door at the other end. Over the archway was a massive stone body of armor with a large bat. And riddled across the entire room's floor were skeletons and bones.
"I guess this is where we find the swords, huh?" Diyi said as he ran around the large room, picking up the skulls that rested at his feet and playing with them.
"Diyi-sama, please don't play with the dead bodies."
Ziháo looked around trying to find whatever this so called guardian was supposed to be. "Alright, so did this protector thing die or something? What do we do now?"
"We move on. Through the doors and to our prize. Hey, open the door would you?" The spear user commanded the two other lesser subordinates to pull the door open, which with reluctant swears they started to do so. After a moment, the two large doors were pulled open and a clear path was made into another shadowy hall with fire on the walls.
"All right, there you go! Can we get moving n-"
*SMASH*
All of the Ronin looked over in shock to where a giant stone bat had crushed the speaking subordinate into the ground, making a loud squish and staining the ground crimson with his blood and organs.
The stone golem above the doorway jumped down, pulling up his bat and gripped it tightly, looking towards the men that invaded its chambers. The other nameless ronin panicked and pulled out his sword, activating his Sword magic and running towards the giant sentient armor with killing intent.
The stone man just swung his bat with a mighty force and completely cleaved the upper body of the man off his legs, making another creamy spot on the wall.
The golem lifted the bat over his shoulder again and turned towards the men standing a few feet away from it. Giving them a look with its helmet-like head.
Àomàn looked at what remained of the two ronin that had tagged along and scoffed. "Damn. Guess we'll have to go with just being the 42 Ronin for a while." The golem twitched and all of the group slowly brought their hand towards their weapons.
"WHO DARES DISTURB THE DEN OF THE LEGENDARY DRAGONS! SPEAK NOW, AND MEET THE JUDGEMENT OF THE GREAT PROTECTOR, KICHIYO!" The massive, ground shaking voice bellowed as the Ronin looked up at it in shock.
Diyi looked at it with sparkling eyes, "Cool~, it talks!"
"I SAID SPEAK YOUR NAMES, MEN!"
"And it has no inside voice either." Qūzūn said as he covered his ears. Diyi pulled out his weapon and started to twirl it in excitement, Réng reaching out and stopping him from prematurely attacking.
Àomàn stepped forward, "I'm sorry Kichiyo, but me and my associates were trying to reach the temple. For academic purposes and to protect the natural treasures that reside inside-"
"NO! I SHALL NOT LET ANY PASS THIS POINT UNTIL THEY ANSWER THIS RIDDLE!" The former heir looked behind him at his followers and shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay. What is this riddle?"
"WHAT HAS FOUR LEGS IN THE EVENING, TWO IN THE DAY, AND THREE AT NIGHT?"
"Man."
...
"THAT IS CORRECT!" Kichiyo screamed as loudly as he could as the ronin in front of him clapped for their leader.
"Does that mean that we have safe passage to continue forward?"
"NO! I STILL HAVE TO KILL ANY AND ALL THAT WISH TO ENTER THE TEMPLE!"
The men looked at him in disbelief before the man with the spear walked forward. "Then what was the point of the riddle?"
"IT WAS FOR FUN! YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED HOW BORING IT IS TO BE IN THE CONFIDES OF THIS ROOM, ALONE, FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS WITHOUT FINDING SOME WAY TO PASS THE TIME! OH, I GOT IT, KNOCK KNOCK!"
The youngest member made his way forward. "Who's there?"
"SOME!"
"Some who?"
"SOME BITCH TRYING TO TELL YOU A FUCKING KNOCK KNOCK JOKE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
"Pfft" Diyi chuckled into his hands as the older men looked down at him in disappointment. "What? That was funny."
"Move. I want to handle this guy myself." The man pulled the axe from off his back and spun it in his hand, pointing it at the golem who readjusted itself with bat in hand.
The swordsman noticed something and turned his head toward the way they came, hearing footsteps running quickly to their position. He touched his master's shoulder. "Àomàn-sama, there is someone coming from behind."
"What?"
"One of those mages made it into the temple and followed us here. He will be here in a moment. What do we do?"
The young Bunce looked at the giant golem and then towards the hall they had come from. Their choices were to either hold the defense from both sides. Or...
"Excuse me, Kichiyo?" Àomàn said as he pushed Ziháo out of his way, making the man protest in anger and almost attack him instead. "Can I ask you a quick question?"
"OF COURSE! I ALWAYS NEED TO WORK MORE ON MY MANNERS ANYWAY!"
"What if I told you that we were heroes?"
"HEROES?"
"Yes. And we were trying to stop a villain from taking these swords for their selfish purpose before it was too late."
"I WOULD THANK YOU FOR THE THOUGHT BUT I STILL NEED TO KILL ANY AND ALL THINGS THAT COME THIS WAY! EVEN IF THEY ARE HEROES OR VILLIANS!"
"Alright, but wouldn't you say that taking out the bad guys took precedent over killing the good guys?" The ancient stone armor contemplated for a minute before nodding its head. "So if there was a bad guy, you would have to kill him first before you had to come and kill us right?"
"YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE!"
"Perfect. Because as it turns out~," he turned around and gave an open hand to where they had come from, making all of them turn in that direction.
Suddenly, from out of the shadows, a blond boy in a black shirt and long pants ran up, breathing heavily from running his way here. "Found you! Alright, stand down before-"
"We've got a villain right here."
"Say what?" Naruto had no time to question as he looked up towards the sight of a giant armor made of rock jumping over the men and holding a giant bat over his head. He panicked and dove to the side, barely escaping from being made into a pancake.
"DIE FOUL EVIL! YOUR RECKONING HAS COME!"
"Great. Then we'll just leave you two to your business. Kichiyo-San, when you are ready to kill us we will be down this hall." The men just walked down the hallway, some kid turning around and waving him goodbye.
"OKAY!"
"W-wait a sec-" Naruto tried to run forward but was cut off by the bat breaking the ground. Naruto Requip his swords and used them to guard against the low swiping bat, pushed off his feet and into the other side of the chamber, coughing up saliva.
"YOU SHALL NOT PAST VILE BOY! I, THE GREAT KICHIYO, SHALL ASSURE THAT!" The golem readied his bat to his hands and ran forward, his steps shaking the entire chamber as the boy looked up at the massive juggernaut coming his way.
"You want to get in my way too? Fine!" The boy channeled his magic over his whole body, giving his form a bright glow before it settled into a field a few inches from the skin. He gripped the swords in his hands as tightly as he could, looking up at the armor with a glare of pure anger.
Naruto ran forward, the swords running against the ground as they left sparks. Naruto jumped in the air and brought the blades down of the bat, causing sparks to fly between the steel and stone weapons.
"THEN COME ON AND BRING IT YOU BASTARD!"
########Hunter########
Done
I really wanted to get multiple chapters of this out at the same time but I'm just not that capable of keeping my mind on one thing for so long.
Which, for those who need a translation, means I'm extremely lazy and have very low work commitment. I can't wait to get a job!
So yeah, mini-Erza. Anybody else thinking there's going to be a war between her and Wendy in deciding who the best Loli of the series is.
That'd be funny as all hell!
Anyway...a chance for Naruto to power up a little more.
Also, to help with the idea. I not saying its beatable, but if every peaceful Dragon and Dragon-Slayer worked together, then maybe they would be able to at least remove one scale from Acnologia, at least.
ReadxReview
Thanks and bye