Chapter 2: A Mission and a New S-Class Mage
Naruto had been in the guild for about 3 weeks and if he was honest with himself he found that he liked fairy tail much more than he ever liked Konoha, he had a lot more fun both on missions and off with all the brawls and parties, the people were energetic, kind and fun.
He made quick friends with Natsu and Grey, taking pleasure in whacking them for fighting. Natsu reminded him of himself before the war… and didn't refuse all of his challenges, but limited them to 4 times a week.
Naruto also became friends with master who loved pervy sage's icha icha series which I found in my personal belongings scroll. Mira and Elfman were kind although Elfman reminded him to much of guy and lee a bit with all that talk of manliness and use of physical fighting.
Cana became a good drinking buddy as neither of them could really get drunk and they even went on a date, which nothing happened romantically and they both decided on remaining drinking/poker friends.
The only S-class mage he had met was Laxus who was in his opinion an ass, when Naruto offered his hand the man merely scoffed and muttered that weaklings weren't worth his time.
Naruto woke as sunlight shone through a gap in the blinds he glared at the window for a minute before getting up out of bed and looking at the clock, to his surprise it was already 12 o'clock, he couldn't remember the last time he had slept in. So decided he'd better get dressed and go over to the guild.
After a nice breakfast… or lunch whatever you call eating pancakes at noon, Naruto found himself in front of the guild doors but scared to open them. He couldn't hear anything inside at all which had never happened before. Preparing for whatever lied beyond he pushed open the doors to find the guild hall nearly empty except for Mira who smiled and waved before going back to cleaning some cups, Macao and Wakaba who were drinking and playing cards, and Master who was reading icha icha violence with a perverted blush on his face letting loose a giggle every few seconds.
Sitting on a bar stool between Macao and where master was sitting on the bar he asked Mira for some water, taking a sip he thanked Mira in his usual exuberant tone and asked, "Where is everyone? I've never seen the guild this empty."
Mira decided to answer, "Everyone is on jobs, the S-class Promotion test is in 2 weeks so everyone is doing as many jobs as they can hoping to elected to participate."
Naruto poked Macao, "Why aren't you guys out there?"
With out looking up from there game they spoke simultaneously, "I'm married."
Naruto merely snorted "what about you Mira?"
She just gave me her sweet smile while Wakaba snorted, "I'm already an S-class mage I just stopped taking missions after…" Naruto looked up to see she was almost in tears. "My sister died."
Naruto gave her what he hoped was an apologetic look, "Mira, I didn't mean to bring back bad memories, I…"
Mira cut him off wiping her eyes, "It's okay you didn't know, I just miss her." Naruto nodded understanding, as a war veteran, the pain she was feeling.
Naruto trying to change the subject spoke again, "So would I be eligible for this year's trail?" while he enjoyed the current missions it would be fun to get more of a challenge, even with all of the handicap seals he had on, most fights were way too easy. Or, perhaps fighting monster like people and in a war had turned him into a monster himself… yeah probably that.
Mira shrugged looking over at Master who was still absorbed in the book, annoyed by his antics Mira bonked his head, "wha, what Mira?"
Mira just shook her head, "Naruto was wondering if he could be in this year's S-class trail."
The short man put the book down and popped his back into place, "I won't nominate him, I haven't seen you fight other than those fights with Natsu but Natsu isn't S-class material yet. An S-class mage of fairy tail has to be able to handle almost anything and stand above the rest in strength, speed, intelligence, and heart. I haven't known you long enough to know if you are a good candidate but I was impressed with your fights with natsu, although, if you go on a mission with an S-class mage and get his or her nomination you would be able to participate."
Naruto nodded in consent, "So who are the other S-class members?"
Mira spoke up again, "Erza, Mystogen, Laxus, and Guildarts."
Macao decided to speak up again, "well you and Laxus got off on the wrong foot so to speak, Guildarts is on a long term mission for the foreseeable future, no one has even seen Mystogen besides master, which leaves Erza." He shifted uncomfortably at the end.
Naruto's trained eyes caught this "Is she bad, I know Natsu and Grey go on about how scary she is but she cant be that bad can she?"
Macao merely shifted in his seat and remained quiet seemingly fearing that she would hear him and punish him when Mira spoke, "Erza is a good person she is loyal and kind." Then she muttered something that sounded like really pretty but naruto wasn't sure.
Master seemed to have heard and giggle perversely as an idea formed in his head, "maybe you'll fall in love like the two in this book, the young strong spiky haired blond Kinato and the stunning sexy redhead Mushina."
Naruto blushed as Mira whacked the pervert in the head before the two names clicked in his head, "wait, did you say Kinato and Mushina?"
Makerov nodded extending his arm with titan magic to prevent mira from taking his new favorite book. Naruto's hand clenched and he yelled out "that perverted idiot!" Everyone turned toward him surprised at the random outburst, suddenly rather embarrassed by the stares Naruto explained, "my parents names are Minato and Kushina, My stupid perverted godfather wrote that book based off my parents… eww I really hope almost none of that ever happened."
An Awkward silence entered the room as nobody had anything to say. Eventually Mira started humming a pleasant tune banishing the silence, Naruto joined the card game much to their noticeable ire. But, seeing as Naruto's luck was even better than Cana's it was understandable, after 30 minutes of being cleared out Macao and Wakaba decided they needed to take a job as they had just lost their pocket money for the month and it was only the 8th of July.
Seeing as Master was preoccupied, Naruto made conversation with the only other person currently in the guild, "So Mira tell me more about different ranks and what does being S-Class entail?"
"It's a title more than anything but, it allows you to go up to the second floor. That's where the S-class missions are held. There are 3 types of S-class mages and 3 types of S-class missions, Erza and I are currently intiate S-class mages so we can take normal S-class missions, Laxus and Mystogen are mid S-class and can take ten year missions if they want, and our ace Guildarts is one of the few high S-class in the country and is currently taking a hundred year mission which is a job that nobody has been able to complete in a hundred years. And Master is one of the ten wizard saints, which are the ten strongest mages in Fiore."
Naruto looked at master in a new light before he simply smirked, "Guildarts sounds like a fun fight, tell me about the others, Mystogen and them."
To his surprise she actually blanched, "fighting Guildarts is anything but fun. I thought it would be fun too, he completely destroyed me. He's a great guy though, one of the nicest you'll ever meet but he's not good at holding back and sometimes his magic slips out. He tends to just walk through walls rather than use doors…"
Naruto laughed in his head, it sounded just like A. "Laxus is always moody, but he used to be nice. His attitude went downhill after his father was kicked out of the guild for dark mage activities. He uses lightning magic."
"I don't know anything about Mystogen, he doesn't speak with anyone but master and he puts everyone to sleep whenever he comes for a jobs… I used to use takeover magic like my brother but, I took over demons rather than beasts." "Erza is like I said kind and loyal, but strict on most people in the guild as master doesn't really punish anyone. I feel like she has another side to her that she hides. She always wears armor and is the country's best requip mage I know of."
At Naruto's questioning look she explained, "Requip magic allows the users to store weapons and bring them out at any time with magic. Erza takes it to a whole new level and is the only person who can requip different armors and her fighting style uses different swords and armors with various effects."
Naruto smiled putting his hand on his sword, "I haven't had a good sword fight in a while, every bandit with one so far has no idea what they were doing and I haven't needed to actually use my sword yet."
"She should be back today her mission wasn't to hard this time so she will probably take you on a mission if you ask."
Naruto POV
As if to prove Mira right, the doors opened and a beautiful woman stepped in looking around in confusion, she had long scarlet hair, creamy white skin, dark brown eyes and lightly colored lips that I couldn't help but want to kiss. She wore armor like Mira said with a straight sword on her hip, below the chest armor she wore a… skirt? A bit strange but she pulled it off well with her long smooth legs. She also had matching gauntlets on her hands and steel boots that went to her shins. I had to fight off a blush, this girl looked just like the girl kami transformed into and I wondered if she was laughing her ass off in heaven and if she planned this on purpose.
She spoke in a smooth authoritive yet feminine voice, "Hey Mira, Master, where is everyone." She suddenly looked at me appraisingly, "and who is this?"
Master was still out of it, maybe I shouldn't have given him that book. It was mira who responded, "Everyone is away on missions because of the S-class trails in a few weeks, and this is…"
I spoke up, "Naruto Uzumaki, I joined 3 weeks ago. It's a pleasure to meet another member of my new guild."
Her eyes lit up in remembering something, "you're the new member I heard about on the way back, saving a caravan from a group of 500 thieves alone. I'm Erza Scarlet."
I sweat dropped at the exaggerated rumor, it was only like 25 bandits yet everyone seemed to think it was 500 for some reason, stupid press. Somewhere a man named Jason sneezed before yelling coooolllll. "Mira and I were actually just talking about you and the other S-class mages, I know you just got back from a mission, might be tired, and just met me, but I was hoping you would take me on a mission to evaluate whether or not I can participate in the exams. We don't have to go right now but just in the next few days."
The stunning woman studied me for a moment before her eyes laid on my sword which leaned against the counter next to me, "that's a beautiful katana you have… do you know how to use it?"
I just smirked, "I don't carry it around for intimidation, if I wanted that I use this sword." With that I unseal the kubikiribocho (zabuza's sword) I received from Mei after the war as a gift. Everyone including master seemed stunned by the very large sword and even more so that I was holding it straight out with one hand without any noticeable effort. As quickly as I brought it out it was back in a seal on my palm with a poof of smoke. "Anyway would you like to go on a mission together."
Master giggled over in his spot but I just ignored him. She looked at master for a moment before nodding, "I suppose I could take you on a mission, if you can take on 500 bandits by yourself then you are probably ready to at least try and become S-class." She went over to the board but sighed, "There aren't anymore missions. Master!"
Master surprisingly looked up from his book, "Yes, Erza-chan."
"Naruto wishes me to take him on a mission to evaluate him but there aren't any regular missions, will you allow him to go on a S-class with me?"
Master rubbed his chin in what I dubbed his thinking position, "yeah sure you two have fun." He started giggling in a manner to similar to Jiraiya for my liking, "but not too much fun."
Erza and I blushed scarlet as Mira finally took his book and whacked him on the head with it before reading it. As she read she got more and more red faced before she uppercut master with surprising strength yelling, "Pervert! Master you're not allowed to read this anymore, it puts too many thoughts in your head." Master pouted in a way a man his age shouldn't but only received a firm glare before muttering fine and drooped his head like a defeated man.
I looked up, blush dissipating, as Erza's voice returned to her, "Anyway, I'll meet you at the train station in an hour with a mission picked out so go get anything you need now." I nodded still feeling a light tinge on my cheeks and headed home to take a cold shower.
An hour later I was sitting on a bench waiting for Erza to show up. I had everything I needed in scrolls in my jonin jacket along with my weapon now at my hip, my 3 pouches, and a few blank scrolls for fuinjutsu. I turned to see erza rolling a ridiculously large cart of luggage behind her, "You going on a mission or are you moving."
She just chuckled, "people always stare at me oddly because of how much stuff I bring but you're the first to actually say anything. I like you already, you aren't deathly afraid of me because I'm the Titania of fairy tail."
I smiled knowing the feeling, after the war I had gained a reputation as being extremely strong and that equaled being unapproachable for most people. Other than the friends I made before and during the war, I didn't really get to meet new people other than the other kage and their right hand men, "You haven't give me a reason to fear you. So, you're an S-class mage it doesn't mean your not a kind person. I don't like to judge based off popular belief, I judge people myself and I believe if you open up to people they'll accept you."
She stared at me, "thanks for that, sometimes people treat me as some sort of monster or even sometimes an unmovable god and forget I'm a person too."
The train whistled meaning it would leave in 5 min. "Would you like help with your luggage."
She shook her head, "I always have this with me when I travel. I can handle the weight."
I rubbed the back of my head, "that's not what I meant." I pulled out a blank scroll, unraveled it in midair and wrote a large storage seal with practiced ease before tossing it above her stuff. With 4 quick hand signs the luggage was sucked into the scroll attracting her attention. The scroll rolled itself in midair before falling down to Erza who caught it with her armored hand. "is that your magic? Some type of mixture of Picto Runes magic?"
"It's hard to explain we should probably get on the train I'll tell you more about me in there."
She nodded and we went and found an empty compartment in the train. We sat across from each other comfortably listening as the train started up and began moving, "So Naruto tell me more about your Magic and yourself."
She seemed… nervous, she probably didn't socialize too often and felt awkward. But I was good at making friends, or so I have been told so I decided to be myself, "I'll do this like my first sensei did, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like training, ramen, swords, a good fight, and the colors orange… and scarlet." I glanced at her shining hair and her face flushed a little at the subtle compliment, "I dislike arrogance, disloyalty, and the prejudices that everyone subconsciously makes." I paused and looked out the window, "my hobbies are training, looking at clouds during the day and the stars at night, and going to the beach. My dream for the future is…" I almost said to become hokage but paused thinking it over, "to become a wizard saint. I'm the only person in the world who practices my magic which is a lost magic called Ninjutsu, what I did you're your luggage was a variant called Fuinjutsu, your turn."
She seemed a little surprised I put her on the spot but answered anyway, "I'm Erza Scarlet… I like strawberries, strawberry cheesecake, armors, swords, a good challenge, and the color blue and yellow. I dislike slavers…" her eyes zoned out for a moment something I didn't miss, "… dark guilds, traitors, and loneliness. I like to practice with and take care of my swords and armors, go on missions, and stop Natsu and Grey's fights." I snorted in agreement as that was very fun, "my dream…"
She got really quiet and seemed to be sad all of a sudden, "you don't need to tell me if you don't want to, but if you ever want to talk I'm there."
She looked at me, "sure… thanks again." We both sat there in silence for a while the rhythmic sound of the train moving on tracks and the loud talking from other compartments was the only noise heard when she spoke again, "I should tell you about the mission, here." She pulled out a piece of paper with the job request on it, "its rather simple A-class mission just help a small town with a bandit problem, its probably just A-class because the bandits have a mage leader or because there isn't a train station there, so we have to walk."
I nodded but inwardly disagreed, as a ninja I knew clients often lied or didn't give you all of the details so as to not scare you off or to pay less. But then again, this was a different world and perhaps it would be a simple mission, either way I would be ready to protect myself and Erza if need be. Realizing this she said A-class I spoke, "I thought there weren't any normal missions?
she replied, "one showed up on the board before I left." I simply nodded before changing the subject to food.
1 hour on a train and 5 hours of walking later we finally reached the place just after sundown, maybe Erza was right maybe it was A-class just because of the walk. Not that I didn't enjoy the long walk with my beautiful, temporary partner. Erza and I spent most of the time talking about different adventures although I had to edit most of mine to be legal here and be mages rather than shinobi, I felt she was starting to be more relaxed around me than she was when we first met. She was also being a lot less rigid and formal than before and I definitely like her more with her armor off, in a figurative manner of speech, although I don't deny that I wouldn't mind her literally taking her armor off either.
The town was pretty empty looking from the streets but I could sense the people either sitting of sleeping in their home, I could taste the fear and despair in the air. It brought memories of the wave mission back, the feelings I couldn't identify at the time but now knew like the back of my hand. These people had given up hope, that's why it was an A-class mission.
We approached a large building that was the mayor's building and opened the door. Heading inside we found the place quiet except for a woman probably the secretary stamping papers and the muffled sound of a heated argument in the room behind her. Suddenly a young teen probably 13 or 14 stormed out of the office, with a short glance he went past us, and out into the town.
Turning our attention back to the mayor and secretary who were now looking at us, "are you the mages we put a request for?"
Erza stepped forward, "Yes, I am S-class mage Erza Scarlet S-class mage and this is Naruto Uzumaki from fairy tail. We're here for the request you put out about bandits."
The Secretary and the Mayor looked at each other for a moment before looking back, "the situation has changed since we sent the request it is now S-class, I'm glad the Titania of Fairy Tail has come to help but will you and your friend be able to handle a whole dark guild?"
I was unfazed as this was my normal luck on missions, Erza looked at me slightly unsure as to whether I could handle it having never seen me fight before she had the right, after all she wouldn't want the death of a comrade and newly found friend on her head. "Tell us more about the mission, which dark guild is it."
The mayor sighed, "It started about a month ago when some trade caravans and travelers that came here started disappearing outside town, you're lucky to have not ran into an ambush. At first we thought it was just bandits but then we started finding the missing bodies, they were all mutilated and experimented on. According to our local doctor they were alive during those experiments which means there might still people held hostage. A week ago a bunch of men in masks came to town and took several people off the streets in broad daylight. When local law enforcement tried to stop them… one of them killed all of the police with one attack, he had to be the leader. After killing them he started some type of chanting and the people he killed got back up and helped him kidnap a few more people including my wife." The mayor clenched his eyes shut keeping the tears away, "I heard one of them say something about devil's hand before they left."
I sighed why couldn't I ever get normal missions, what was with all of the undead I had to fight? But, after fighting the edo tensei during the war this would probably be simpler. But, the main villain sounded too much like orochimaru and his experiments for comfort. I hope he wouldn't be as annoying as that snake. Seeing as Erza was still looking troubled I answered, "I'll be fine Erza." I gave her my bright smile that I knew would inspire confidence in anyone from past experience. She smiled back.
An hour later after having gotten a general direction from the mayor we were searching through the woods to the west of the town when I suddenly stopped, "we're being watched."
Erza blinked, "I didn't sense anything."
I nodded in agreement, "I didn't sense anything either, but I can smell and hear them moving. They aren't alive whatever they are."
Suddenly large crystal orbs came flying toward us from every direction and Erza cursed before glowing, switching to a more protective armor and yelled, "Lacrima bombs."
Trying not looking at Erza's glowing silhouette I simply spun in a similar way to Neji and waved both of my hands, using wind manipulation to make a large gust to blow all of the bombs away. "Get ready," I unsheathed my sword and got into my basic stance. Erza did the same facing the opposite direction when a bunch of bodies, all of them rotting and with add limbs/weapons to make them slightly more deadly charged at us from all directions at low chunin speed. There had to be a few hundred dead people charging us and there weren't that many missing people which meant he had done this somewhere else as well.
Pushing the thought away I focused on slashing, ducking, and weaving through the now puppet like dead bodies while also staying close enough to Erza so I could… slash I sliced one in half just as it was about to get Erza from behind. She grunted in thanks as I turned to face a new opponent, deflecting an axe turned arm I sliced the persons head off vowing to save anyone who hasn't been turned into this yet and stop whoever was doing this.
Suddenly shots went off from those gun things that Alzack and Bisca use and the zombies started coming in with guns attached to their limbs. Putting my sword away and running through handsigns I raised a thick circular earth wall that took the magic shots for Erza and I, taking it a step further I went through a few more handsigns and called out Futon: Shinku no ha(wind style vacuum blades.) The wind cut and shot the earth like shrapnel into the zombies and took out about 60 of them. The few stragglers on the opposite side of the blast were quickly taken care of and we got a slight break, "I'm adding necromancy to the list of things I dislike."
Erza grimaced probably not used to seeing so much death during missions, "this is more bodies than people missing…"
I nodded, "they have been kidnapping people for a long time who ever they are." My head snapped to the side when I felt a magic signature moving through the ground away from us. I cursed, how could I have missed him, I needed to train my energy sensing abilities to be better without sage mode which I still had to relearn do to the difference in energy. Erza noticed the sudden movement and I explained, "There was a scout watching the fight, he headed to the north I didn't notice until just now."
Trusting my judgment we headed north following a small river up into the mountains, no wonder these guys never got caught they were in the middle of nowhere about 10 miles northeast of the town. We eventually stopped to set up camp for the night as the stars were already out and it was cold. "umm… how do I get my stuff out of this."
I blushed embarrassed at my forgetfulness at times, "just think of what you want and put some magical energy into the seal… err drawings it will come out." It would, I checked to make sure they worked with magic using Natsu as a test dummy because he could just eat an explosion if one occurred.
Erza did as I instructed and to my surprise strawberry cake came out, "Strawberry cake? How much of the luggage was food?"
She blushed, "about three quarters of it. I know that might seem kind of gross, but I eat a lot."
I put my hands up, "im not judging, after all," I pulled out a scroll labeled 'awesomely goodness' and out poofed a bowl of ramen, "the nice thing about seals is food doesn't go bad so I put them in my place too." I started a small fire with some wood I collected and cooked my meal.
She looked at me oddly after I ate about 10 bowls of ramen, "you really like ramen don't you?"
"Yep, and you my lovely lady are just as addicted to strawberry shortcake." I laughed at her look of realization that she had eaten just as much cake as I had ramen. Deciding that I had enough to eat I stood up, "Now you get to see another piece of my magic." She looked up from her cake with a curious expression and I went through a few hand signs slowly so she could watch before slamming my hand into the ground yelling, "Doton: Chikyu no ie (Earth Style: House of Earth.)
Earth walls rose around us along with an empty doorway, two stone beds, a table with chairs, and finally a roof folded itself out of the wall, blocking the night sky.
Erza seemed pleased with my work, picking a bed for herself on the left side before sitting on the bed she made a cute eep when the earth moved down with her weight like a normal bed chuckling I said, "the beds look and are made of earth, but they are similar to normal beds just a little less comfortable but good enough to get some sleep." Pulling out a brush I wrote a barrier seal to keep people and animals out, "there, people can't get in other than the two of us."
She seemed surprised, "your magic is very versatile isn't it? You can keep people out, but what about those… people we fought earlier."
I frowned having not thought of the raised dead, "I don't know if it will keep them out, but it will keep out any living thing even a bug. The house itself is still open to attack from the outside, if that happens the walls are strong enough to handle a few attacks and we will escape underground with one of my techniques. Is that okay with you?"
We laid down and I eventually heard her light breathing signaling her peaceful sleep, for the rest of the night I stayed awake thinking about the mission, the possibilities playing through my mind, then I thought about Fairy Tail, which led to thinking about the beautiful girl sleeping 10 feet away from me.
She had a complicated history just like me, I could just tell from the maturity she had for someone in their teens and more importantly her eyes, the type of eyes that had seen the worst of life but persevered. My brain put together a conclusion from everything I knew about her and her body language, she had been a slave at some point and perhaps someone she knew still was one. That had to be her dream, to free her friends having figured that out I decided to wait to say anything until an appropriate time appeared which wasn't likely, or waiting till she told me. For all I knew I could be wrong but, my gut had never let me down before especially not when my brain agreed. Eventually the sun started coming up and I went outside to make her and myself breakfast.
Erza's Monologue/POV
Erza woke up to a pleasant smell in the air and sat up. Looking around the small room she looked over to Naruto's bed only to find it empty, standing up in her armor she walked outside where she heard a sizzling noise and a crackling fire. There standing in his strange green vest stood the man she had met only yesterday cooking a meal for her, it was an odd thought for her as she spent most of her time alone on missions. She wasn't anti-social, she just didn't know how to interact with people in a non-business way and people tended to avoid her because of her strictness. Yet the man in front of her smashed through her shield getting her to tell more about herself in one day than most in the guild knew of her. He was kind and good with people that much was for sure… not to mention attractive. No, she shut the thoughts out of her mind, "I'm not looking for a man yet… besides I still have to save them… and he probably like someone like Mira or Cana more than someone like me."
Naruto POV
I heard a noise so I turned around to see Erza standing there still armor clad, looking a little drowsy or perhaps she was thinking I couldn't tell, "Morning Erza I almost finished breakfast. Did you sleep well?"
She nodded at me, "the bed was as comfortable as any I've been on."
I chuckled, "maybe that's because you sleep with armor on."
She didn't laugh but, she blushed, "it makes me feels safe."
I mentally questioned why she told me that, it was pretty personal thing to say. Maybe she was getting comfortable with my presence, "that's fine, I just think you would find beds more comfortable in clothes rather than metal armor." She shrugged in a non-committal manner and I dropped the subject, having finished cooking two decent sized omelets I hand her one and began to eat myself.
She took her first bite and her eyes widened before she dug in full-gusto, "You're a really good cook, wish I could cook like you or Mira. What is this by the way?"
I blinked, she didn't know what an omelet was… duh different worlds, there had to be foods here that didn't exsist in my world and food I could make that weren't here. "Mah mah Erza it's not that amazing, just an omelet and scrambled eggs. Though, I could teach you to cook some stuff, if you'd like. I know how to bake strawberry shortcake." I could see her mouth water at the prospect of homemade cake and I chuckled. "I take that as a yes?"
She nodded and we both stood up to clean up before setting off in the direction we thought we should go. An hour of walking later I could feel… something I wasn't really sure what it was but I led us into the canyon where I felt it prepared for anything.
Or maybe not, there were a bunch of dead men on the ground that matched the description of many of the known members of Devil's Hand according to Erza at least. There bodies were in a circle around 5 foot tall earth made staff that was sucking red beams of magic out of all the dead bodies around it into the red tip of the staff when someone started laughing like a demented person above us.
We both looked up to see two people, one of them a man with black hair, wearing a jester costume laughing like crazy the other was an emotionless pink-haired girl around the age of twelve. The man spoke first, "hahahaha! More death, more sacrifice, more demons, Zeref will be reborn! He will, night mother has spoken so." The man cackled again, "awaken demon of Zeref tell us how to restore your master." A magic circle appeared next to him and shot at the staff which was hit. Not breaking like you would it expect the staff grew and grew more until it was about three fourths of the size of a biju. A pair of eyes opened on the large staff before the object stretched and transformed into what the man said it was, a demon.
The creature was large, grey and made of stone with two large horns on its face which held an angry expression on its bull-like head, the body was humanoid but without a reproductive organ (that would be disturbing) and with a long tail that looked rather sharp. The creature grunted and said a very cliché monster line, "Who dares disturb a demon of Zeref's own creation the great and mighty Tamaishi."
The jester jumped around excitedly yelling for the great demon's attention, "Me, me the assassin of Tartaros along with the youngest member of Grimore Heart. We awakened you and brought sacrifices so as to learn how to revive your own master, lord Zeref will return!"
The large demon merely tried to squash them but displaying more skill than he let on, the jester from Tartaros dodged the quick strike along with the young girl of Grimore Heart who still remained silent. The creature turned its attention towards us, "sacrifices… very well I shall kill you all!"
Erza and I separated as Tamaishi shot boulders out of its body in every direction. I saw the Jester and girl engage Erza seeing her as the greater threat of the two of us, which left me the demon. Not wanting to destroy very much of the surrounding nature or hurt Erza I started of with mid sized attacks of earth, water, wind and lightning. Every attack literally did nothing and the creature didn't react, "puny attacks won't harm me, the only ones who have ever been able to harm me are Acnologia and lord Zeref himself." I silently agreed and jumped to the right to avoid another barrage of rocks. I lifted my hand above my head and formed the technique of my father's creation, then having created a perfect rasengan I started to mix in sharp wind blades creating my first original technique… well besides the sexy jutsu. The bell like screeching attracted the other three peoples' attention as they watched me chuck the head sized rasenshuriken at the creature's chest.
When the rasenshuriken hit, it expanded to the size of Tamaishi's chest in a large orb shaped maelstrom of cutting winds that appeared to be consuming the demon which howled in pain. I saw all three of the mages mouths drop considerably at the deadly attack in the corner of my eye before the two dark mages jumped away from Erza and by extension myself. Erza chased them out of sight as the winds and dust settled leaving me the sight of the large demon still standing clutching its chest that had large deep gashes running across it. I smiled at the creature which yelled, "how dare you, I will kill you."
The largest magic circle I had seen to date appeared above the creatures head and I went through 40 handsigns, "Raiton: Ni-Juu Piasudoragon (Lightning Style: Twenty Piercing Dragons)/ Oni Mahou: Hyaku Man Ryusei (Demon Magic: One Million Meteors.) the demon and I called out the name of our chosen attack as my twenty large lightning dragons weaved their way through hundreds of thousands of small house sized rocks toward the demon. I was following close as I could after my dragons through the nearly impossible to navigate asteroid field, directing them toward the cracks in the creature. Several times I was nearly crushed but survived only to luck and wind manipulation to change directions. I had lost 2 dragons to the demon's attack when I could finally see it behind all of the falling rocks about 200 yards away I launched the remaining dragons at a faster speed. Tamaishi saw this and shot more rocks from its outward pointed hands, the attack took out 5 more dragons which left 13 out of the original 20 which all struck the magnificent demon in my chosen locations across its body. The creature gave an unholy scream before cracking and falling apart. I dodged the last of the falling rocks before I stopped, panting like crazy, "ahh man I'm out of shape, damn it I'm tired, actually it might have been the lack of sleep the night before. I fell on my back and closed my eyes. I laid there for ten seconds when I heard a gasp. I opened my eyes to see Erza, "Hey Erza, are you okay, you hurt?"
She sat and bonked me on the head, "Yes, idiot I should be the one asking you that, you should have let me help." She paused a moment, "For leaving you alone with that demon please hit me."
I rolled my eyes, "Mah you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You had your hands full yourself with those two mages, what happened to them anyway?"
She sighed, "they got away, the jester distracted me with those dead bodies. He was the necromancer, he also used some kind of invisibility technique. The girl used some weird magic that shot swords that I couldn't block, they weren't physical but they hurt me directly through my nerves, or so she said." She looked at me, "why didn't you tell me you were this strong, you're stronger than Laxus I would think. Maybe even on Guildart's level."
I looked away, "I don't much care for boasting, like I said I don't like arrogance in people even when the person is strong." I looked over at her "Plus I wanted to see the look on your face when I showed you how strong I am, and it was totally worth it. Though it means the dark guilds know about me now…"
She somehow managed to face vault while sitting down, "well then… when we get back I will recommend you for promotion, we will have to tell master so he can hold a council with the other guild masters to decide what to do about Grimore Heart and Tartaros. And you owe me cooking lessons for being an ass by the way."
I snorted, "I would have done the last one anyway if you'd like." I looked around the once beautiful canyon and sweatdropped, "umm wow I did a lot of collateral damage, am I going to be in trouble with master."
She looked around before her face dropped, "Not you too. Why is everyone in or guild so destructive." She sighed, "master doesn't usually care and in this case there isn't any owned property that will cause paperwork which means he will care even less."
We made it back to the town, saying we completed the mission and received a large reward in return. As we went to the guild I told her in detail most of my skills and in turn she told me her own, which impressed me, I always held skilled weapon users in high regard. The more I learned about this woman the more I liked her.
The next day we arrived in magnolia after the 4 day mission and went to tell master about what happened. After explaining the mission, about the members of Grimore Heart and Tartaros, and the demon that was defeated. The old man accepted Erza's promotion request and we came out of his office and went to sit down when I got really tired and everyone started dropping like flies. Recognizing an illusion I brought my hands up into a ram seal, "kai." Then in sudden clarity I felt something I hadn't the whole time I had been there, chakra, I felt someone else's chakra. I got excited, another person from my universe when I stopped the man walked in, he was oddly dressed for a mage with lots of dark clothing, he wore a blank headband and only his eyes were visible because of his shirt's collar.
I was nearly ready to attack for putting an illusion on my friends when master spoke tiredly, "Mystogen, do you really need to do this every time you come for a mission?"
He spoke in a clear masculine voice, "Hai master, you know why." He turned to me, "who are you?"
I looked him over deciding on a course of action. "Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you."
He nodded heading over to the request board and picked one before showing master, "I'm taking this one."
He turned to leave but I put a hand on his shoulder, "where are you from? You don't have a drop of magic in you, just those staffs."
His eyes widened and he said, "come with me."
I followed him toward the door and Master called out, "release the spell."
Mystogen nodded without turning back and counted down as we left the building, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1." We both disappeared in a burst of speed/ magic.
In the guild
Everyone slowly got up as grey muttered, "was it him again."
Erza got up and looked next to her to see that Naruto was gone and spoke up, "Hey where did Naruto go?"
Master remained quiet, "your new friend seemed pretty interested I little misty. He even managed to stay awake and went with Mystogen to talk. Its good to know there are some worthy members of this guild unlike the rest of you."
Natsu yelled angily, "Laxus don't treat us like trash, get down here and fight me."
Everyone thought he might do it for a moment before Laxus burst out laughing, "Still the same Natsu, you wouldn't be able to lay a finger on me and that's no fun. Challenge me again in ten years."
With that final word he disappeared in a bolt of lightning, "Laxus, that jerk." Natsu muttered angrily.
Erza spoke the question on his mind, "Naruto went with Mystogen?"
Master merely nodded, "yeah they wanted to talk about something, its not my business to tell you." Everyone started talking to each other about what they could be doing.
On a hill outside Magnolia town I followed Mystogen who stopped just in front of me, "you ask where I am from, what do you mean by that?"
I stared at his back, "what dimension are you from? You have no magic like people from this dimension but have chakra like me, but seem unaware of it." He turned and looked at me, I knew from all my time with kakashi his eyes were questioning me. "Chakra is the combination of spiritual and physical energy in the body and permits shinobi like myself to perform feats of superhuman powers."
He contemplated this for a moment, "you say I have this energy in my body? Would others from my world have it as well?"
I nodded, "yes, now answer my question where are you from?"
He replied, "I am from Edolas, a parallel of this world where the people don't have magic… but apparently have this chakra you speak of. My father is king of that world and decided to take magical energy from here so as to save our world. I disagreed with him and came here to stop the anima, which are the things that take the energy to my dimension in the form of a lacrima." We were both silent for a moment, "could you teach me to use my energy?"
I felt his chakra network searching for any differences or problems, not feeling any I spoke, "I suppose I can take on an apprentice. Just tell me one thing, why do you hide from the guild? Im not from here and I don't hide."
He was quiet for a moment, "I am not like you, I have a counterpart on this Earth and he has a past with a member of the guild. I find it easier this way."
"fair enough now, I don't want to teach you the basics of chakra so." I made a clone, "he will teach you basic information and exercises until you learn them, Ja ne." with that I shunshinned outside the guild building and went in to have a good time with friends.
2weeks later in the Fairy Tail guild hall
I wasn't really surprised that everyone showed up so early. It was 7 o'clock in the morning but it was the day of the S-Class trail and everyone wanted to know who was nominated. I, despite being here for only 5 weeks, knew I was one of the nominees as I was with Erza when she nominated me, but I didn't say anything to anyone else as technically I wasn't supposed to know.
Master walked up to the railing on the second floor, Erza and Laxus just behind him, "Alright settle down you brats!" the talking instantly stopped and I nearly laughed at Natsu's expression of excitement and anxiousness. "We all know why were here so I will get straight to the point. This year's S-class trail has three participant and therefore it will not be held on tenrohira island like usual but instead in the stadium later today, I'm sure you all noticed the posters on the way here." He paused, "Laxus, Erza, and myself have all nominated one person who we believe is ready to take the trail. Laxus Dreyer has voted Freed Justine as a nominee for S-Class mage. Erza Scarlet has voted Naruto Uzumaki as a nominee for S-Class mage. I have vote Cana Alberona as a nominee for S-Class mage, the people named will be expected at the stadium at 12 o'clock pm today where I will tell you the task. The rest of you and the whole of magnolia will be allowed to watch from the stadium seats, and will be a fundraiser for all of the crap you brats have destroyed on accident…"
I heard a groan from both Natsu who was 'all fired up' literally and Grey who had managed to lose most of his clothes again, as pointed out by Cana. "Naruto fight me."
I snorted in amusement, "not today Natsu I need to prepare for the trails." He actually accepted this as a valid reason not to fight before heading off to pick a fight with Grey much to my gratitude.
5 hours later I was standing with the two other contestants for S-Class in the middle of a decent sized stadium that I had never noticed in Magnolia before now. The crowd was large, most people enjoyed watching mages fight live and on lacrima I assumed. I looked at Cana and she appeared really nervous but completely sober, the man Freed was calm mostly but, I detected light anxiety in his eyes. The crowd cheered wildly as Master, Erza, and Laxus walked out onto an over hanging ledge above us, "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the first publically held Fairy Tail S-Class trial." The crowd cheered louder, "Since there are only three members of Fairy Tail in this Years trail they will be having a three way brawl!" he paused as the crowd grew louder, "the three participants of this years contest are, veteran member of Fairy Tail and card mage, Cana Alberona." The crowd cheered and many men got a 'problem' as Cana showed up on a large screen in her usual bikini top, gave a sexy smirk, and winked, "A long time member of Fairy Tail and member of the famous Raijinshu (thunder god tribe,) Freed Justine." Freed replaced Cana on the screen and he gave a bow that caused a few girls who liked him to faint and the rest to cheer, "Lastly the newest member of Fairy Tail a man who moves like a intense maelstrom, Naruto Uzumaki." I saw my own face show up on the screen and I followed Cana's example by giving a sexy smile and waving, I heard several cries from girls throughout the stadium. That was a nice confidence boost. "Now the three of you will fight and the winner will fight Erza. The person who fights Erza will be judged by Laxus and yours truly to decide whether they are ready to be S-Class, losing to her doesn't mean you wont become S-class. The only rule is no maiming or killing. Now fight!"
All three of us jumped back Cana grabbed a deck of cards from her bag, Freed brought out his sword and I brought my hands together ready to make hands signs. Now I could have just ended it with my highest speed, this wasn't just a promotion exam, this was a show just like the chunin exam finals, meant to attract more business and show fairy tail's strength. Freed attacked first, sending one of his Dark Ecritures at Cana. This was a mistake as Cana immediately focused on retaliating on him and I joined her in a double teamed assault on the green haired man. Cana was using long range card attacks as I played with him using my sword cutting his hair smiggets at a time. He lasted pretty long I suppose, about 10 minutes before he left a very wide opening in his guard and whacked his sword away from him before stepping in, creating a weakened rasengan and slamming it into his stomach. The man spiraled into wall under Master and I turned my attention to dodging the attacks that were now headed for me, knowing the man was out but would be okay in about a week.
Cana launched bolts of lightning and pillars of earth at me as I flipped and sprung away. Going through a few handsigns I flipped to avoid a magic flare and while hanging upside down called my attack, "Suiton: Bakuhatsu Mizu Shogekiha (Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave)" I spit out vast amounts of water toward Cana who immediately pulled a card from her deck that raised the Earth to a level just above where the giant wave crashed. I landed on top of the 5 foot layer of water much crowds awe and ran through more handsigns, "Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu (Water Style: Water Dragon Technique.
A large serpent dragon formed, swirling upward before hovering above my head allowing the crowd a good look at it. It surged forward and Cana thinking quickly shot a red beam out of one her cards that sunk into the charging dragon before exploding, showering her and the first few rows of seats in water.
Cana through four cards into the water and four pillars of earth rose around me before they started cackling with electricity and shot down at me… and the water I was standing on. Silently cursing I jumped into the air spinning, creating a wind shield to block the lightning. Falling back toward the sparking water I ran through another set of hand signs "Doton: Chirkyu Purattofomu (Earth Style: Earth Platform)" I spat out earth until there was a small platform floating on the water for me to stand on without being shocked. "Not bad Cana, not bad at all." I pouted, "one might think your really trying to hurt me."
She laughed, "You're one to talk with your crazy water dragon."
She proceeded to throw another volley of cards at me, these caused a large amount of wind and wind blades to come at me at high speeds to switch I scoffed, holding my hand out I merely deflected it with minor effort, "you shouldn't use wind against me, after all I'm a maelstrom." I put both my hands straight out to do a technique I created to imitate Nagato, "Futon: Shinra Tensei (Wind Style: Almighty Push.)" and that's what it was an almighty push that sent a large shockwave of water toward Cana who jumped off her platform onto one of the others that she made for her lightning attack. Getting up she sent red and green magic shots from a deck of cards that I danced out of the way of. Deciding I wanted to end it, I sent a wind blade that cut down all of the pillars before running through handsigns, "Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder.) I slammed into the water and the whole pool of water lit up with electric sparks. Cana falling with the pillars had nowhere to go so I jumped up and caught her before she hit the water, "I win Cana, were still good right?"
She looked sad for a moment, "yeah were fine, I forfeit." The crowd roared in approval at my act of chivalry. I dropped her in the water playfully and she came up sputtering, "You big fat jerk." She grabbed my legs and tried to pull me down into the water but I didn't budge. "How are you doing that?"
I grabbed her hand and pulled her up, "it's a secret." She smacked me in the shoulder and I walked up the wall to Master and put her down. "So now I fight Erza-cha… I blushed embarrassed at my slip up which didn't go unnoticed by Master, who giggled, or Laxus who raised an eyebrow. Thankfully Erza was helping Cana with something and didn't notice. Master was about to comment before I gave him a shut up look.
I bowed to the cheering crowd before jumping down onto the water going through the signs for a jutsu, "Suiton: Kirigakure no jutsu (you should know this one)." All the water suddenly turned into a thick mist that spread throughout the whole stadium then I quickly manipulated the wind to move all of the water into the sky so people wouldn't get scared, on a side note it would probably rain tomorrow.
The ground was dry enough to fight and I was excited at the prospect of fighting another sword wielder. Erza walked through the normal entrance about 5 minutes later with her regular armor and sword equipped. Standing across from each other we both looked up at Master who announced, "Alright the winner of the free for all was Naruto Uzumaki, despite brilliant battle skills shown by Cana and Freed. Now Naruto will fight current S-class mage Erza Scarlet while Laxus and I decide whether or not he is ready for the jump up to S-Class. Begin!"
We stared each other down for a moment before launching at each other simultaneously, drawing and slashing our swords to lock in the middle in a quick test of strength in which I forced her back a step. She turned allowing my sword to run to the side of her before slashing at my front leg with her sword, to avoid being hit I jumped forward and over her in a front flip slashing downward only to be blocked and pushed away. I landed on my feet and sprung forward not giving her any chance to rest, she dodged an upward slash and countered, stabbing at me with a forward thrust I side stepped and jumped over her blade as she switched to a slashing motion half way through and we both locked blades again. All of this had taken about 8 seconds, which was fast… for a civilian, we both smirked and got faster and faster until the crowd of civilians were barely able to see us and even some of the mages couldn't follow. I continued to allow my body to control the blocking and pressing an offensive while my mind looked for openings in her stance or sword angle. We continued to hack and slash at each other neither gaining the upper hand, I saw her over step so I moved my leg behind hers and pushed against her sword with most of my strength. Instead of tripping like I thought she went into a back hand spring and separated from me nearly cutting my leg on the way. I was having fun and she looked like she was having fun, we were going low jonin speed, I wondered how she would do at high. I shot off like a rocket, she seemed only slightly surprised by the increase in speed and tried to adjust but I was overwhelming her. With a downward slash I thought I had her, only to be surprised when she dropped and rolled out of the way.
The girl glowed and I didn't attack, not wanting to run in blindly, when the glare went away… wow she was beautiful I had to stop an incoming boner through willpower alone, she was wearing an animal print top and bottom that didn't hide too much and rather than her long straight sword she held two daggers. This time she charged and I was slightly surprised by the increase in speed, she was moving borderline kage speed and I had to release my first resistance seal to match it swinging her two swords around in a practiced ease she had me constantly blocking slashes that ended up being bait for another slash. When I finally saw an opening again I took it, kicking straight out into her stomach which sent her about ten feet away before she found her bearings and landed in a crouch.
I put my mother's sword into a seal, unsealed seven swords tossing them into the air, each one landed in seemingly awkward positions and I settled into the stance that Killer B showed me several times, although I had to figure out how to move on my own back then. Everyone including Erza looked at me weirdly not expecting such a weird stance, on one leg I shot forward at the same speed as before startling her but she recovered in time to block two swords. I tossed, flipped, slashed, and stabbed the swords in a completely unpredictable way. Many slashes appeared on her arms and torso before one straight cut appeared on her cheek as she looked for a way out of the crazy dance of death. She looked up to see my foot coming down at her face and barely managed to jump back but when she landed I had a sword at her neck, back, stomach, side, and right thigh. "You're an excellent swordsman and I would love to spar with you after those cooking lessons."
She snorted, "that was pretty awesome, where'd you learn that?"
"from an old friend," I stated truthfully
"Hey Naruto, could you take the swords off of me," She asked.
I blushed as I had been enjoying being that close to her and reluctantly moved, "that was the most fun I've had in a while."
She smiled at me, "me too. Is there anything you can't do? I mean you cook, fight, build houses instantly, make friends, and I'm sure I missed something."
I took a mock thinking pose, "hmm, I can make solid clones of myself, teleport to a marked area, and hmm I got it, I can't fly… yet I'm working on it though." She giggled, it was the first time I had heard it and seen such a happy smile on her face. I think I fell in love with that laugh and smile at that moment or maybe not but, I knew for certain I wanted to see and hear it more already, to be the one to make her smile and laugh.
I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sudden roar of the crowd, had I missed something why were they so loud all of a sudden the match ended 5 minutes ago. I turned to Erza who smiled softly at me, "Congratulations, you are an S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail."
I looked into her honey brown orbs, "Thanks, Erza."
A/N: I know I took forever and I'm sorry but I hope the 10,497 word chapter makes up for it. If there are any mistakes, anything you don't understand, or questions then pm me.
