Naruto looked up at the large sign at the exit of the train station, WELCOME TO MAGNOLIA, it said. Getting here had taken forever though, it had only taken two days and a few hours on the train but to Naruto it felt like it had taken months. He wandered out of the train station and took a good look around, he didn't want to get lost twice in one day.

Magnolia was a pretty large town it looked like, most of the buildings where at least two or three stories high so it was hard to get a grip of where he was. His stomach growled and he wrapped his arms around it ``aah better find a place to get some food before I head to fairy tail.´´ that said he started to wander down the street he was on, there were not too many people out at the time but seeing a nice looking man he walked up to him and asked ``hey hey do you know any restaurants around here?´´ the man looked down at Naruto for a second before pointing at a towering building that could be seen over the rooftops. ``see that big building? If you walk towards it you will eventually get to the main street where most of the restaurants and other places in this town are´´

Naruto started to run towards the large building, shouting a quick tanks to the man that had given him directions. He was eager to get some food, he had actually missed eating lunch when he was in era and sitting on the train for the last few hours he had been unable to get any food.

He finally got to the main street and stopped to take in the sight before him. The long and wide street was well lit and lots of people crowded about the various shops, restaurants, and bars that were found in the many buildings. He walked down the street slowly taking in all the sights, and then he noticed a particular building with an orange sign with a weird name on it, ignoring the name he focused on the fact that in a smaller text under the name was the word restaurant.

Yep that decided it he was totally eating there, entering the restaurant he looked around for a place to sit. The establishment was packed with people at almost every table, but in the corner Naruto spots an empty table. He hurried over and quickly sat down so no one else would take the table, picking up one of the menus he looks through it and smiles. He had no idea what any of the things listed on the menu was. Seriously what the hell is a flambe, was that even edible. He sighed and decided that he might as well try the grilled steak, hopefully that would taste good.

He put the menu down and stared at something incredibly weird, in front of him was a person not much taller than a two year old child, chugging the contents of a big mug down.

What? Was all Narutos mind could manage to form at the sight

the old man put the mug down and Naruto got a good look at his face, the small person was a really old man with a mustache and a strange orange clown hat on his head.

WHAT?! Naruto had heard a story about these things, he remembered when gramps had told him about it. What was it called again? ``A gnome?´´ he spoke quietly. However the tiny man seemed to hear him and started laughing loudly ``HAHAHAHAHA! A gnome you say!? HAHA´´ Naruto had a hard time doing anything other than stare at the stranger in front of him, the old man seemed to notice his stare and introduced himself. ``kid I'm not a gnome, my name is Makarow Dreyar, im the master of fairy tail´´ ``oh´´ was Narutos answer, to shocked by the strange sights just now to process what he had just been told.

A waitress came to the table and Naruto ordered the food he wanted and some water, Makarow ordered more beer as well.

Naruto sat there looking shocked for a few moments until something hit him, didn't the old man just say he was the master of fairy tail. He looked at the small man who smiled back at him. ``hey hey are you really the master of fairy tail?´´ he was a bit suspicious, guild masters were supposed to be super strong. The old man nodded happily and proclaimed ``indeed I am kid´´ Makarow was a little surprised when the kids face lit up in a giant smile. ``hey hey I wanna join fairy tail! Can I? Can I!?´´ Makarow laughed at the boys enthusiasm ``kid to join a wizard guild you will need to be a wizard , show me what your magic is and ill let you join. Oh and tell me your name kid!´´

Naruto smiled widely once more and said loudly ``My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And this is my magic!´´ his loud voice made Makarows expectations rise but they died quickly when Naruto just sat there with a look of concentration on his face. After a few moments of silence Naruto brought his hands up and showed Makarow the clump of dark stuff floating in-between them. After letting the old man look at it for a few seconds he changed it's shape into that of a knife.

The time Naruto had spent on the carriage and on the train had not been wasted, he had used the time to work a bit on his magic and had managed to form the darkness faster and could change it's shape without making it disappear when someone touched it.

Makarow looked at the knife of darkness and then shifted his gaze to Naruto who had started to sweat a bit from maintaining his magic for so long. ``you can stop now kid´´ said Makarow, and Naruto let the darkness dissipate with a sigh ``Naruto I will let you join fairy tail, but do tell me, why did you want to join my guild?´´ Naruto smiled ``fairy tail is the strongest guild right? Well I want to be the best and strongest wizard ever!´´ Naruto almost yelled the last part happily.

The food Naruto had ordered came and so did Makarows beer, Naruto ate as Makarow started talking again. ``you want to be the strongest? Well then you have a lot of training to do boy! It took you a while to even summon your magic and maintaining it seemed to take it's toll on you.´´ he paused to take a sip of his beer ``how about this, come to the guild hall tomorrow and well get you a guild mark and I can help you train a bit!´´

Naruto nodded eagerly and mumbled a ``yesh´´ through his mouthful of potato and the mystery meat he had ordered.

Makarow laughed at the boys antics for a while, and then explained to the boy how to get to the fairy tail building. When Naruto was done eating they left the restaurant and when their separate ways. Makarow went back to his house, and Naruto went and found a hotel where he could spend the night.

XOXOXOXOX

Morning came and Naruto stood outside the large castle looking building that was called the fairy tail guild hall. There seemed to be some construction work going on at the building but it looked mostly done. ``Looks great right?!´´ Naruto jumped and looked down at the small old man he had met yesterday, he laughed at Narutos reaction as he walked towards the building and beckoned for Naruto to follow.

They entered the guild hall and found that it was void of people ``we recently rebuilt this building so most of the members are out doing missions again. Oh and better to tell you now Naruto you wont be going on any missions for until I say your ready for it´´

``eeh why not!? I wanna do missions! Like saving a princess, or beating up a bunch of bandits and stuff like that!´´

``hahaha! You wont be able to beat anyone up if you cant use your magic properly!´´ Naruto pouted but followed Makarow to the other side of the large hall they were in. they arrived at a long bar and Makarow leaped over it with ease, he called to Naruto from the other side ``just wait there and I'll get the guild stamp, it should be somewhere around here!´´

Naruto decided to take a good look at the place while he waited. The guild hall was a pretty big room with large windows on the sides. Between the doors and the bar was a large space littered with several large tables that could probably seat up to eight people or more. The tables were placed so that there was a clear path from the door to the bar. To the left side of the bar there was a large billboard with several papers pinned to it. Looking up he noticed that there was even a second floor with more tables.

``damn! I can't find the stamp!´´ Makarow was still rustling about under the bar so Naruto decided to take a better look at the billboard.

He walked over to it and picked a note up, it was a request to deal with a 'vulcan' that had attacked farmers a few times. There was a short description of what had happened and after that in big letters it said 'REWARD 25000 jewel'. Naruto didn't know what a vulcan was but it must be pretty strong to warrant so much payment.

Suddenly a yell of frustration came from the bar and Naruto looked over to see Makarow climb up to sit on top of it. ``i cant find the stamp so well just have to take care of that later for now we-´´ he stopped talking when the door suddenly opened and a woman walked in. ``oh, good morning master. And who might that be.´´ the woman was dressed in a flowing red dress that almost reached the floor. Her hair was white and long, reaching almost all the way down her back.

``this is Naruto our newest member'' said Makarow and Naruto waved a greeting to her. ``oh my a new member, it is very nice to meet you Naruto! My name is Mirajane.´´

Naruto smiled widely and rubbed the back of hid head nervously ``aah eeh nice to meet you too!´´ Naruto had never met any girls who were as pretty as the one before him, it was something he could get used to though!

``Mira do you know where the guild stamp is?´´ Mirajane looked at the old man before going around to the back of the bar and bent down for a few seconds. When she came back up she held out a small square stamp to Makarow. He took it and turned to Naruto ``well then where do you want your mark?´´ Naruto looked at him blankly for a second before he realized what the man meant ``wait that goes on my body? How's that gonna work it will just wash off in a few days right?´´

Makarow laughed loudly and Mira tried to hide her giggling at Narutos question. ``Naruto this is a magic stamp, the mark will stay on you for as long as you are a part of this guild. Now where do you want it and in what color?´´

Naruto stood quietly in deep thought for a moment, then he seemed to come to a decision and zipped his orange sweater down and took it of as well as the t-shirt under it. He turned his back to the old man and said ``put it right there in the middle!´´ he tried to point at the space between his shoulder blades. Just to be sure it was the spot Naruto wanted Makarow put his finger to the space between Narutos shoulder blades and Naruto quickly said ``yeah right there!´´

Naruto put his shirt and sweater back on and turned to Makarow who smiled widely ``well Naruto you are officially a member now! Welcome to fairy tail!´´

authors note

Wasn't sure whether I wanted to continue and make the chapter longer or not but I decided to stick the 2k words chapter length. If you want to see longer chapters then please leave a review and tell me.

Also next chapter Naruto will finally start training and learning more about his magic.