The first thing Naruto felt was the throbbing sensation in his head. He attempted to open his eyes only to shut them again as white light invaded his senses. Letting out a groan, he slowly sat up putting his hand to his head. "What the hell?"
"You're finally awake." He had sensed an unhostile presence upon waking, but the words nonetheless broke him from his thoughts. Still struggling to see, he peered in the direction of the voice, making out a tall lithe figure. "You know you've been asleep for nearly a week."
That was enough to rouse the blond. A week? What happened that I needed a week to recover? Very quickly the events from before came to him. The battle, his grave injuries, "Kurama!" he shouted. He retreated into his mindscape scanning fervently for any trace of the fox only to be met with nothingness. To his dismay he found he could no longer feel the natural presence of the other tailed beasts either. Realizing that what the fox said had come to fruition, he opened his eyes staring hard at his hands.
The woman, now irately pulling his ear grumbled, "You know it's damn rude to ignore someone who's looking after you!"
Looking back at the woman with his vision now restored, he took a moment to regain his composure and take in her appearance. She was an elderly woman with bright pink hair, but that wasn't what stuck out to Naruto. She stood with a powerful presence that demanded respect. "I owe you my thanks then," he started. "Who are you? Where am I?"
"Hmph. In truth most of your wounds were already healed by the time that fool Makarov found you so don't bother with the thank yous. My name is Porlyusica and you're in my home."
So Kurama's portal stunt did work.
"I see… so Porlyusica, where am I exactly?" he reiterated.
"The east forests of Fiore."
Naruto frowned. The name was foreign to him. He prided himself on having traveled extensively across the globe, not to mention all of the master spy networks he had inherited from Jiraiya. Not once had he ever heard a mention of this Fiore the woman spoke of. Amidst the pause in conversation, Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl once again breaking him from his thoughts. The two shared a glance that ended with the woman letting out a sigh that Naruto could only interpret more as an annoyed grunt. Walking across the room and returning with a steaming bowl, Porlyusica commanded, "eat."
Complying, Naruto gestured his hands together in a silent affirmation of thanks and dug in with gusto. Very rarely did he have the opportunity to enjoy luxuries like a hot meal amidst his usual array of soldier pills and nutritional rations. He couldn't help but don a slight smile, recalling the meals Hinata made for him when he was injured early on in the war. She was killed not long after, and such happy thoughts seemed to recede into distant memory.
Throughout the rest of the evening he spoke with Porlyusica about Fiore and the elemental nations. Gruff as she was, Naruto had grown a strange liking for such attitudes. It carried an air of genuineness. "I see… so you've never heard of these elemental nations? The leaf? The war? Nothing?"
"No. Like I've already said it's unlikely we're even talking about the same world. You should speak with the guild master of Fairy Tail, Makarov. He might know more than I."
"And you think this Fairy Tail might help?"
"I said Makarov. Not his band of brats. You can worry about that tomorrow, for now you can stay the night. Since you seem fine I want you out of here by sunrise." With that, Porlyusica curtly spun on her heel and retreated to her quarters.
Naruto thought about his next move. This Fairy Tail was his only shot in the dark to learn more about this world and the possibility to return to his. Though concerned, Naruto was still exhausted and very eager to get more rest. The next day he rose early and thanked Porlyusica for her aid. Tying his cloak and strapping his weapon to his back, he set out deeper within the forest.
Truthfully, his inability feel the other tailed beasts bothered him. Since awakening he had felt strange, as if a part of himself had been removed, not so unlike his missing appendage. Finally in a satisfactorily secluded spot beside a lake, he sat down in a meditative pose. Stretching his chakra as far as possible through his mindscape, he called out to the bijuu only to unsurprisingly be met with silence. No more six paths powers.
Recalling his final conversation with the Nine-Tails, he mused to himself. Kurama brought me to some realm apart from the elemental nations. All he said was I would be brought back to the real world once I was healed. Again frowning, he concluded that whatever this enigmatic portal through realms was, it didn't have a bias. A thought suddenly occurred to him. My summons! He rolled his eyes at his own lack of insight and flashed his one handed seals.
"Kuchiyose!"
The complex summoning characters etched into the ground under his palm spreading like a web. A puff of smoke… and nothing. Naruto held his pose a moment longer then let loose a tired sigh. Overcome with a feeling of isolation, he reflected on the times his allies had been a beacon of hope for him and furrowed his brow in frustration for taking so long to pay them any mind. Instead he had found himself in his latest years consumed by his savagery and ruthless focus in battle. Removing these thoughts from his mind, Naruto steeled himself and hopped to his feet hoping to get used to his now limited body. He stepped out onto the surface of the water, effortlessly releasing chakra from beneath his feet. Drawing chakra to his palm, he formed the familiar blue sphere, letting it spin brilliantly in the sun's rays. He held it for a few seconds then let it dissipate.
At least I still have good control of my chakra.
Counting the small victories, he moved on to kenjutsu. Drawing his chakra sabre with his left hand, he took a few brisk swings then held it out in front of him in the standard ready stance. The weapon felt weaker in his offhand. Though years of training had rendered him largely ambidextrous, the slight lack of depth in his swings served as a reminder to his predicament. The blade gleamed in the sunlight, much like it did the first he had trained with it. It had been a gift from Kakashi, the same famed blade his father, Sakumo Hatake once wielded. Kakashi had given it to him as a passing of the torch after he finally stepped down from his role as Hokage. By then Naruto no longer desired the position and had turned it down, but he graciously accepted the gift at his lazy sensei's insistence.
Blazing through a set of parrying stances, he let the blade fluidly dance from one side to the other. He performed another parry, then thrust the blade for a stab. Hopping back to mimic dodging a strike, he lunged forward bringing his blade across in a wide horizontal arc from his right to left, finishing his imaginary opponent. Satisfied, he huffed away his remaining exhaustion, sheathing his blade.
He paused, noticing his reflection on the lake's surface. Deep scars covered his well-built frame, giving him an aged look much older than he was. Tracing one scar up to his arm, he stopped upon the ANBU symbol, bringing his thoughts to his time spent under "Bird's" tutelage. The old captain was largely responsible for tempering much of Naruto's brash nature into the competent focus he now possessed. He was quieter now than in his youth. Contemplative. It was with ANBU under "Bird's" leadership where he was forced to learn that his constant desire to resolve things with happy endings simply held no place where things were not so cut and dry. He recalled his first mission in black ops to incite a rebellion against a bandit lord's rule in the smaller neighboring villages. As his squad dispersed throughout the town, he came upon a group of bandits alternating themselves upon a young girl much too young to be of marital age. Even with the best intentions, sometimes the only remedy for the sake of one's sanity was cold steel. Keeping himself concealed, he crept behind the first man and slit his throat with his kunai. The man fell to his knees clutching his neck, desperately gasping but only making a pitiful gurgling sound.
"What the f-" Before the second bandit could even finish his sentence, Naruto had closed the distance and lodged his kunai with such force in his throat that it crushed his windpipe entirely. Drawing his ANBU blade, he turned to face the third bandit. In complete desperation he let out a cry and swung at Naruto with his knife. Ducking the wild sideswipe, Naruto lunged upward at blinding speed, shoving his weapon through the bottom of the bandit's throat out the top of his skull. He quickly pulled the blade free from the body causing a sickening grinding sound as bone scraped steel. As the bandits already lifeless body fell to his knees, Naruto roared, and in one fluid motion severed the man's head from his body.
He stood there for a few moments panting heavily, taken aback at his own brutality. Suddenly recalling his mission and the woman, he turned to her, her eyes wide with terror. As he stepped forward she screamed, "P-Please don't! Get away!" As she fervently tried to back away from him. Dismayed, Naruto simply leapt away and alerted a few nearby women of the girl's whereabouts. Where was the happy ending in all of that? Shaking his head at his naivete, he dusted himself off, resolving to find the guild Porlyusica spoke of and set out for the direction of Magnolia Town.
Finally at the vibrant city, Naruto had little trouble navigating the straight paths with the help of Porlyusica's directions. He couldn't help but gawk at how different it was from the elemental nations. Tall buildings of stone in designs he'd never seen lined the streets for what seemed like miles. Long and enormous horseless carts seemingly glided across tracks of metal and wood. The people, however, hustled to and fro going about their busy lives not so unlike the Hidden Leaf, though there wasn't the sticky haze of apprehensiveness from the war. His eyes caught a blacksmith shop nearby and made a mental note to return and stock up on much of the gear he was missing.
Soon enough, he came across a tall, ornate building with the unmistakable words "Fairy Tail" on display. Naruto rose an eyebrow and the curiously similar roofing design to some of the more important buildings back in the elemental nations, but just as quickly discarded it as coincidence. Marching forward, he pushed open the great double doors only to once again raise his eyebrows, only this time in incredulity. He had expected an official sort of operation, not mugs of liquor flying across the room at the same pace as the vulgarity. This place reminded him of some of the gruffer bars he had visited with Anko and Ibiki. Nonetheless, it gave the distinct air of character, where one knew that good and honest times were had.
A young woman he had already identified as the barkeep then approached him with an enthusiastic smile. "Hi stranger!"
The blond returned with a light smile of his own, "Hello to you too."
"We don't get many visitors to the guild hall. Can we help you with something? I'm Mirajane by the way.
"Naruto," he offered. "Porlyusica told me I could find your guild master, Makarov, here."
"The forest healer?" she questioned, giving him a quizzical look. "Ah! That's right. Master mentioned he found someone in the forests. I'm sure he'd want to speak with you. Come with me!"
Naruto followed her through the middle of the hall, ignoring most of the inquisitive and challenging looks he received. Mirajane brought him up the stairs to the back of the guild to a pair of large chamber doors, giving a them a few swift raps. To Naruto's surprise, a short elderly man about up to his waist in height managed to pry open the seemingly colossal doors.
"Right, I'll leave you two to it then. See you around, Naruto!" With an affable wink, Mirajane briskly turned and sauntered off.
"I see you've met Mira," Makarov chuckled, watching her trod away. "Probably the friendliest out of the bunch. Come in, I had a feeling Porlyusica would send you here."
Walking in and taking a seat, Naruto gauged the man before him. Though short he was clearly powerful. The blond could literally feel the suppressed energy rippling off of him in waves. He started, "I heard I have you to thank for finding me."
"Indeed I did my boy, you were very weak when I found you, although it didn't seem like you had any severe injuries. My name is Makarov Dreyar, the guild master of Fairy Tail."
Naruto returned, "Ah, right. Thanks again old man. I'm Naruto. I'm afraid I've got a lot to discuss with you."
Taking a deep breath through his nose, Makarov wordlessly ushered for him to continue. "Right. Well the thing is, based on what I've already spoken with Porlyusica about, it looks like I'm not from this world. I'm not talking about country or continent either. Some things happened and I've basically been taken from my own world and thrown into this one."
If Makarov was surprised he didn't show it. With crossed arms and eyes closed he let out a low grunt. "I had a feeling something like that might be the case. The reason I found you in the first place was because I felt a strange energy while I was nearby."
"Porlyusica said you might know something about all this?"
"I'm afraid not, as far as I'm aware, inter-dimensional magic is ancient and inconclusive."
Naruto sighed for what he felt like was the tenth time that day. I'm turning into Shikamaru. "Damn it."
Makarov studied Naruto carefully. While not sensing any malice, the blond man remained largely an enigma. Probing him, he asked, "What was your world like?"
Naruto thought hard about how to answer the question. His first inclination was to withhold as much information as possible. After all his business was one of espionage as much as it was warfare. Weighing against his circumstances, however, he decided honesty might be most prudent. After all, did he really have much to lose at this point?
"I was… am a soldier. Most troops are trained in both combat and techniques analogous to your magic. For the last eight years, our world has been consumed by a global war. I've always loved my home and my comrades and fought and killed to protect them, but after losing most of them over a war I fought so hard to prevent, I'm just not sure what it was all for. Anyway, just recently I was mortally wounded. To make a long story short, a… friend, was sealed inside me a long time ago and sacrificed himself to take me to a realm where my wounds could heal. Instead of sending me back home afterward, I was taken here. And here we are."
Sitting back in his chair, Makarov thoughtfully stroked his mustache. A soldier? The brats are strong and brave kids, but they know nothing of battles and wars, let alone killing. If I were to offer him a place here… Makarov was a seasoned man. He had seen and done many things to preserve what he believed in and could sympathize in a way with the man. It wasn't as if his own hands were completely clean. Oh, what the hell.
Sporting a grin Makarov spoke, "Naruto, you're a different caliber of a man than most of the younguns here. Still, it wouldn't sit right with me to just turn you away. I can offer you a place with us for the time being if you can help us out with a few jobs here and there."
His spirits lifting for the first time since arriving in this strange land, Naruto couldn't help but let a slight grin creep onto his face. "Sure thing old man, sounds simple enough."
"Excellent! Come see me again later and I'll have something arranged for you. For now I suggest you get yourself acclimated with the other members. They're a rowdy bunch but they can grow on you."
"Thanks." He reached out to shake Makarov's hand, both sharing a steady grip. When he tried to let go, Makarov's grip stood firm, eyes digging into Naruto's.
"A word of warning, Naruto. I'm not sure what the laws said back in your world, but killing between guilds is not allowed. Furthermore, many of my children have experienced loss, but they are naive and know little of death. We're a family here and we look out for each other, I expect you to do the same."
At his words, Naruto was fondly reminded of the Sandaime and his love for him and the village. With a somber smile, Naruto responded, "That's something I can respect old man. Thank you."
This is my first full fledged chapter, and can I just say I feel pretty good about it. Keep the reviews coming because I'd really like to improve my writing and I want to know what you all think. Thanks for reading!
