CHAPTER 5

"Yeah, well that still doesn't mean it's a good idea." Laxus said, as he slammed a fist into a Vulcan.

"But who knows what will happen if I don't investigate?" Sasuke replied, dancing out of a monster's reach and slicing it with his sword.

"I don't know, it just seems dangerous." Laxus swept his hand, lightning sycthing across and frazzling two Vulcans.

"I still think I should try." Sasuke stabbed a Vulcan and lept over it. He flicked his wrist, decapitating another monster.

"Fine. But I'm coming with you." Laxus extended his palm and fired a sphere of lightning, disintegrating the last Vulcan.

It had been a week since what they now referred to as the 'Snake Incident.'. Most people assumed they had just been on a tricky job that involved snakes, but Laxus knew otherwise.

They had returned to the guild, and were discussing a plan in low voices over tea.

"I don't like it, but we can't use ordinary methods. If this guy is as dangerous as I think he is, then a normal advert wouldn't work."

"So what do we have to do?"

"I don't know."

"I have an idea. But you won't like it."

"What is it?"

"We send them a message."

The building stood proud, relatively small and out of the way. It was slightly grubby and tattered and you could hear the noise from outside. It was home to a dark guild.

The name was engraved over the entrance, Demon Hand. The mages inside were boasting about mugging some travellers.

"Yeah, then I snuck up on them and grabbed their stuff! You should of seen their faces!"

The members laughed.

"Wait. What's that sound?"

It was the sound of thunder. But the sky was clear.

The front of the guild was blown to smithereens. Two boys walking in. One of them was blond, had a lightning-shaped scar on his face and was wearing t-shirt and jeans. Lightning crackled around him.

The other had black hair hanging in strands, was wearing black leather and had striking red eyes. He carried a sword in his hand.

"Hey!" One of the members rushed at them. He was big, but he wasn't the smartest. He went to punch them, but the black-haired boy grabbed him by the throat. The member kicked and squirmed but the boy didn't let go. The member finally went limp and the boy dropped him onto the ground.

"They took down Rick!"

"Get them!"

Another member charged at the black-haired boy, brandishing a dagger glowing with energy. The black-haired boy didn't even move but the blonde raised his arm and a stream of lightning crashed into dagger-wielding member, sending him crashing out through the wall of the guild. The black-haired boy walked forward and spoke in a clear voice.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I am looking for information on someone called Orochimaru."

He got no answer.

"All we want is information. He can do this without violence, although Dark Guilds like you probably don't deserve any better. Tell us about Orochimaru and we will walk away from this. If not, well..."

He pointed his sword at them.

"You think you can just walk in here?!" One of the men shouted.

"I don't."

The man looked down and saw a sword point at his throat.

"I know." The boy smirked.

The leader smiled, trying to conceal his fear.

"You heard him. Charge!"

Demon Hand charged, and Team 7 went to meet them.

Laxus dodged the grab of a man who's hands were crackling with energy and slammed his knee into the man's stomach. He struck again and again, until the man passed out onto the ground.

Sasuke gathered chakra round his fist and punched a man through the wall. He used his chakra to sweep past the mage's spells and jutsu. Someone took a swing at him so he grabbed their wrist, concentrated chakra into his hand and crushed the bones.

The attacker screamed and Sasuke placed his hand on their chest, sending electricity sparking through them. They collapsed.

Laxus turned into Llghtning and streaked past his attackers before smashing them into the ground. He flipped back and fired multiple balls of lightning into the ground, throwing back into the nearest men.

He weaved past a earth spell and grabbed the mage and raked him across the wall. He turned to see Sasuke kick a man in the stomach and backhand him across the face.

"That's the last of the trash." Laxus called to Sasuke.

"Not quite." They turned to see a man struggling to his feet and trying to run.

Laxus was on him in an instant, slamming him into the ground while Sasuke watched, arms crossed. He walked over and crouched down.

"So, anything we could use?"

"No. Go to hell!" The man spat.

Laxus twisted the mage's arm behind his back. The man yelled in pain. He looked at Sasuke, who just raised his eyebrows.

"Alright, alright. I know a guy who can take you to him. Just let me contact him."

"Fine." Sasuke pressed his sword against the man's back. "but any tricks, and we'll kill you."

"Ok! Ok!" The man walked over to a table with a lacrima with a cloudy consistency. He placed a hand on the lacrima and it changed from cloudy to clear. He began talking quietly to it. Laxus could only make out a couple of words.

"Meet... Two... At the ruins." He put the lacrima down and walked back over.

"He'll meet you at two in the ruins tomorrow."

"Thank you." Sasuke hit the man on the back of the head, knocking him out.

"We've got our location." He told Sasuke.

Sasuke gave him a crooked smile.

"Yeah. We do."

They headed back home. It was late so Laxus crashed at Sasuke's place. Sasuke lived at the edge of the woods with a house carved into a rock face.

Sasuke unlocked the door and walked in. The house had a very plain was a kitchen, a comfortable room with multiple beds.

There were also a bathroom and a training room, with weapons on a wall and a punchbag. Sasuke opened a cupboard in the kitchen. He grabbed a leg of meat and tossed it to Laxus who bit into it gratefully. Sasuke took out a bowl of rice, a tomato and began to eat.

"I better get some sleep." He mumbled through a mouthful of rice. He laid down on his bed and managed to drift off to sleep.

He woke, and roused Laxus. The lightning mage yawned and sat up, grumbling. Sasuke tossed him some bread and cheese.

"Breakfast."

"Urgh. Shut up."

But Laxus ate. The bread was slightly stale and the cheese was too soft, but Laxus was grateful. They stretched, getting the tension out of their muscles, prepared their equipment and headed out.

"Are we going the right way?" Laxus asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Sasuke checked the map for the final time and looked around. "Wait, I think we're here."

Stone was littered around the landscape, broken and crumbled. Pillars and walls lay everywhere, testament to a once great structure. They crouched behind a wall, scanning the landscape for any people. He saw something that made his blood freeze. It was his brother.

He was tall, lean and strong. He wore a undershirt with a black cloak and red clouds . He hair was dark, and his eyes were red. Someone else was with him.

The guy's complexion was slightly blue, and so was his hair. He was tall and strong like Itachi, was dressed identically. He carried a large sword on his back, which was covered in bandages. He had gills on his face, and a mouthful of sharp teeth. He reminded Sasuke of a shark.

"This is bad!" He hissed at Laxus. "Supress your magic power!"

"Is that your..."

"Yes! Now be quiet. We might be able to sneak away if we're lucky."

"Come on out." Itachi's voice rang out through the ruins.

"Shit." Sasuke motioned for Laxus to stay down. He knew he couldn't beat Itachi, and as for his brother's companion, he wouldn't be weak. He didn't dare move, for fear of being heard. He heard Itachi's voice.

"Kisame."

"My pleasure." The shark man took his sword from his back and swiped, focusing chakra into his blade and changing it into water nature. A torrent of water gushed out, washing out the whole land, breaking stone and pulling Sasuke and Laxus into the path of the pair.

"Well, well, well." Kisame cackled, "look what the tide dragged in."

Laxus and Sasuke coughed up water, struggling to their feet.

"I did not expect to see you here, little brother." Itachi smirked.

Laxus didn't move. Sasuke had a look in his eyes that Laxus had never seen before. His body was shaking, he was pale and sweaty. But his eyes burned with a hatred that Laxus had never seen before. He looked like he was steeling himself to move. He drew his sword, but his blade was shaking.

Itachi was fast, faster then Laxus had ever seen. He grabbed a kunai and swiped at Sasuke, who barely managed to deflect the attack.

Kisame laughed. "Looks like I'm taking this one. Sharkskin will enjoy this." He eyed up Laxus.

The teen flicked his hand, and a lightning bolt tore towards Kisame. But the man simply held up his sword, focusing chakra around his sword. The lightning bolt impacted against Sharkskin, fizzling out and barely leaving a mark.

"You'll have to do better than that." He laughed.

"If you insist." Laxus tensed focusing his magic. He clutched his fists. His muscles grew bigger, his teeth sharper, and his hair spiked. Lightning exploded. He smiled.

"Let's see how you like this."

He charged towards Kisame.

"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist."

His fist arced towards Kisame, who simply lent out the way. Laxus bought his foot around, but the shark simply took a step back, avoiding the blow. Laxus extended his palm, firing balls of lightning but Kisame simply weaved around them, a bored expression on his face.

Who was this guy? Sasuke had told him about his brother, who was scarily strong. But this guy. He was handling his Dragon Force with ease. This guy is incredibly dangerous, he had to be careful.

"Head's up."

Kisame's sword swept across, and Laxus barely managed to avoid it before it took his head. He jumped back and swept his arm across.

"Lightning Dragon's Heaven Dagger."

A dagger made of lightning flew towards Kisame, who swiped with his weapon deflecting the attack. The man shot forward, appearing in front of Laxus, slicing at the teen's arm. Laxus watched as the sword bore down on him.

He needed to switch to Lightning Form. But too early and he'd make himself an easy target. Too late, and he'd be missing an arm. He waited and waited. And... Now! He shifted to Lightning Form, the sword barely missing him.

He had just managed to avoid the weapon and streaking around, trying to get behind Kisame, but the man turned with him, following him. So he can keep up with my Lightning Form, Laxus thought. Impressive. He switched back to normal and lunged at Kisame, but the man grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Laxus turned and fired spheres of lightning at the ground.

Laxus used this to his advantage, leaping at Kisame with a lightning-coated fist. But Kisame swatted him away. Laxus sent forth a burst of lightning to cover his retreat, and leaped into the air. Daggers of lightning rained down, embedding into the ground around Kisame.

I haven't even had to move, Kisame thought. Was the kid's aim really that bad? Or... He looked up and saw the kid's magic flaring around him. Clever. He couldn't move for fear of the daggers exploding. He began to slide his sword off his back-

"Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist!"

A massive fist of lightning bore down on Kisame and smashed into his sword. Kisame sunk into the ground, and forced chakra into the spell, managing to dispel it. Laxus looked down. Kisame was smoking slightly, and his cloak was looking slightly worse for wear, but he was otherwise unharmed. Laxus was disheartened, but focused lightning around his feet and propelled himself behind Kisame.

"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist."

Laxus's fist arced towards Kisame, but the shinobi twisted and caught the attack, not breaking a sweat.

"Well, you caught me off guard, I'll give you that. You were interesting, and Sharkskin enjoyed the fight but you're boring me now. Time to die!" He hefted his sword. But he sensed something. He looked at the kid's other hand.
axus "Shit."

A spear of lightning was crackling in Laxus's palm. Kisame tried to throw him away, but Laxus put all of his body weight in front, so he didn't go that far. He cocked back his arm, power coursing through him.

"Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd."

The spear tore through the air, closing in on Kisame. He knew he couldn't block it with Sharkskin, it was too powerful, there was too much raw magic. Sharkskin would break. He began to weave hand signs. He got faster and faster but he needed more time, he needed more time-

"Water Style: Shark Bomb Jutsu!"

The jutsu collided against the halberd, the two attacks fighting for dominance. The landscape was ripped up as the attacks exploded out. But the jutsu broke through, smashing into Laxus, sending him flying back, sending him blasting through a pillar.

A splintered piece of wood stuck out through his ribs, blood dripping from his wound. Kisame placed his sword next to the teen's throat. Laxus spat blood and Kisame laughed.

He bought Sharkskin back, ready to kill Laxus.

"Kisame."

The sword stopped an inch away from Sasuke's neck. The man looked over to Itachi, who was holding Sasuke by the throat. Sasuke had some sort of weird black mark over his face.

"Sasuke!" He called.

"Be quiet." Kisame kicked him in the chest, hard. Laxus coughed and his eyes glazed over.

"I see my brother has made a friend." Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Was he strong?"

Kisame shrugged. "Eh."

"Anyway, leave them, they aren't worth it." Itachi leaned in to Sasuke and whispered something. Then he dropped him on the ground, and the black markings receded. Laxus thought he saw relief on Itachi's face, but it couldn't have been.

"Sorry, no hard feelings. Hehe." Kisame gave Laxus a shark's grin and slammed the butt of his sword into Laxus's head, knocking him out.

Laxus forced his eyes open. He was exhausted, covered in bruises, out of magic, his ribs were sharp and painful, he was still impaled and a couple of his fingers were broken.

He managed to pull himself up into a sitting position. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the wood and pulled. It came out cleanly, but blood splattered all over the ground. He placed his hands over the wound and began to walk over to Sasuke.

The teen was looking much worse for wear, he was holding his arm strangely and was barely conscious, but there didn't seem to be any lasting damage. He slung Sasuke's arm over his shoulder and they began to walk. Sasuke mumbled something incomprehensible, and Laxus had to lean in to listen.

"Let me help you." Sasuke placed his hand on Laxus's wound and sent a burst of fire chakra onto it. Laxus roared in pain, but the wound sealed over and the bleeding stopped. Laxus was amazed. Sasuke till had chakra left? How? But the effort had exhausted the teen and he went limp. Together they managed to get to Magnolia. Laxus saw the guild on the horizon but Sasuke hissed at him.

"No! Your grandfather can't know."

"Then what?"

"We find Cana."

They got to Sasuke's house, just as Laxus started to bleed again. They contacted Cana and she managed to get there quickly. They set Laxus down on the bed and Cana began to heal him.

"You're lucky. It's not infected."

She offered her arm to Laxus.

"Bite me."

"Urgh... What?"

"Just do it." Sasuke told him.

Laxus bit down lightly on Cana's arm, and the girls arm began to glow.

"I'm turning my chakra into energy and giving it to Laxus." She explained.

Colour returned to Laxus's face and Cana sagged. She looked tired.

"There, that should be enough. His fingers should heal soon. As for you..."

"I'm fine." Sasuke protested, but she pointed to a chair.

"Sit. I need to look at your arm." She could be strict when she wanted to be.

Sasuke sat while Cana checked his arm.

"It should heal soon, but no missions for either of you for at least two weeks."

"But..."

Cana gave him a glare, and Sasuke finally relented.

They stayed at the apartment for a couple of days and eventually recovered. They crashed at Sasuke's place for a while but finally got back to fighting shape. They sparred in the forest for a while and finally began to return to the guild.

"I can't believe how strong they were." Laxus muttered.

"That's my brother." Sasuke scowled.

"But we'll get them eventually." Laxus told him. He smashed his fist against the tree.

"Damn it!" He barked. "They were so strong! We'll defeat them!"

Sasuke clenched his fist. His encounter with Itachi had awakened something new in him. A new level of hatred had awakened inside him and it was burning bright. Itachi would suffer.

"No." Sasuke scowled. His Sharingan began to spin, revealing a new tomoe. Three in total.

"We'll kill them."

A/N: Sorry for late chapter. I might have to try and upload whenever. Because of a mild case of writer's block, my birthday and lots of work, I was late getting this up. We see a different side of Sasuke and Laxus in this chapter. We also see Itachi and Kisame. I enjoyed writing this chapter but not sure abut it's quality. They manage to make it out alive, but they were beaten badly. Also, I got a review about the first chapter because Gajeel called Sasuke's chakra Magic Power. I didn't notice that, and I am kicking myself for it. But because Sasuke's chakra has changed so much, it would be easier to mistake for magic power. Not the best explanation, but it makes sense right?

As for Fairy Tail, they finally take down Rahkeid although it took Sting, Rouge AND Kagura, who are all very powerful wizards. Happy spills the beans about Natsu and Zeref's connection, which no one but him knew about. That last panel with Gray made me wonder though. Zeref talks about Natsu's 'death', which is interesting. We get a bit of background information on Natsu's scarf, which was nice. A lot happened and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

Thanks for reading and leave a follow, favourite or a review.

Cheers,

Katsu :)