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Chapter 4

X774

Kushina with a depressed sigh looked up from the scroll she was reading hearing the door to their temporary home open. "Any news Minato?" She asked looking up at the tired form of her husband who hadn't been getting that much sleep in the past year along with the few of Konoha's elite ninja that survived the fighting.

Looking at him now she could see the bags under his eyes and the grey hairs that were appearing from stress after everything that happened since the dragon attacked Konohagakure. Almost everything was destroyed in its path when it landed in the red light district of the village looking like it was searching for something.

The village lost a good number of their ninja that day leaving no one spared in its rampage. Not even Danzo and his hidden Root hiding underground could escape its wrath when the gargantuan dragon took a breath of all things eating every justsu the villages Anbu could throw at it. 'Kami the destruction.' Kushina thought shivering just remembering seeing the village engulfed in a flash of light then nothing no ruble, no survivors, just everything caught in the blast gone.

"Otogakure and Amegakura are completely gone we couldn't find any survivors in the area after the dragon went through those two villages." Minato told her reminding Kushina how the other villages descended during the confusion trying to see if they could get something to help them improve their weak standings like everyone else did during the twenty-four hours the dragon wreaked havoc across the Elemental Nations.

"Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure got hit almost as bad as we did while Kirigakure ripped itself apart during the kekkei genkai purges after the Mizukage's sudden death." Taking a seat Minato took the offered coffee handed to him. "From what we could piece together before the attacks happened it looks like it was searching for something in every village destroyed and we just happened to be the last one the dragon visited." 'And the worst hit because of its attack.' Both of them thought at the same time.

"What, what about any of the Jinchuuriki." Minato knew she really ment Naruto every time she asked about the missing demon containers. He didn't have the heart to tell her their youngest child was most likely dead or caught by slavers since Jiraiya couldn't find a single trace of him.

"Still nothing since most of them disappeared last month." It was strange when one moment during the rebuilding all the Jinchuuriki were reported to have frozen around the exact same time only to move on like nothing happened a second later. Even stranger was when most of them disappeared that very same night after they froze even with all the extra security around them leaving only Kumo with the only Jinchuuriki while his children were stuck in bed almost all the time recovering. He couldn't figure out why but after that night their seals slowly started falling apart with each day that passed and the Kyubi's chakra leaving them a little at a time.

"Do you think we'll ever find him?" Kushina asked him placing her coffee down on the table. She looked Minato in his eyes seeing the uncertainty in them and it broke her heart as she tried holding onto the last shreds of hope.

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X782

Two days have passed since Cana found a bloodied Asura during her job at Mt. Hakobe and the guild was starting to get worried about Natsu since he hasn't started a single fight with Gray or anybody else just heading towards the infirmary every morning.

"I have returned from my current job, where is the Master?" Erza asked walking into the guild scaring everybody there since nobody heard her walk in to focused on watching Happy flying towards the infirmary with some fish for Cole.

"In the infirmary with Natsu and Asura." Mira informed her seeing everybody was to scared to move under her piercing gaze.

"Who's Asure?" While Erza was getting answers Makarov was watching the scene unfold in the infirmary though his eyes glanced over the X-shaped scar in the middle of the child's face. He knew a few ways someone could get a scar like that and it angered him knowing someone would do that to any child.

Natsu suddenly grinned hearing Asura groan slightly watching his fingers twitch. "Asura." Asura slowly opened his eyes hearing someone familiar calling his name. "Hey Asura, come on Asura wake up." Natsu called again shaking his friend slightly trying to be careful with all his bandages. "Wake up or I'll let Cole and Happy eat all of the sweets we have left in the guild." Natsu got the answer he was looking for when Asura's eyes snapped open and a fist connected with his jaw sending him crashing into the nearby wall.

"Nobody touches my sweets." Asura mumbled rubbing his eyes with a tired yawn completely missing Cole and Happy high fiving and Natsu pulling himself out of the wall with a grin on his face. "Cole why are there people in our hotel room?" Asura asked still stretching slightly as he looked around the room until he caught the scent of brimstone causing his head to snap towards the pink haired teen looking at him while rubbing his jaw with a grin. "N-Natsu is it really you?" Jumping out of the bed Asura hugged Natsu in a tight embrace with tears in his eyes finally finding someone he knew after so many years spent searching for clues.

"It's me Asura." Natsu told him prying the injured Asura off of him when Cole landed on his shoulders crying tears of joy seeing his dad awake.

Makarov watches on with a smile seeing the looks on their faces as the two Dragon Slayers reconnected with each other after so many years apart. Turning around he walked out of the infirmary to give them some time alone only for a loud explosion to be heard rocking the guild the second the door closed behind him.

"WHY ME!" Makarov yells with anime tears hearing the fighting going on behind him just imagining the future bills that he'd get for having two Dragon Slayers in his guild if Asura agreed. While Makarov was stuck in thought a rain cloud over his head some of the older members of the guild came running hearing the explosion only to find the wall leading outside missing. "Figures flame brain couldn't wait to fight him." Gray mutters with a small smirk glad to see Natsu out of the strange mood he's been in for the past two days.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

"Water Dragon's Pressure Claw!"

Hearing those two attacks snapped Makarov out of it when he started running towards the back of the guild followed by everyone else to see Natsu and Asura trading blows in the air. 'Those two idiots better not get hurt again or Porlyusice will have my head if I have to call her back.' Makarov yelled inside his mind all the while trying not to pull his hair out just seeing how big his future bills were going to be.

"It's been six years since we last fought each other Natsu and I'm strong enough now to put your flames out." Asura told his childhood friend with a grin on his face ignoring the fact he was only wearing his pants and the bandages wrapped around the top part of his body.

"Yea right, I'll turn your water into steam just like last time." Natsu replied with a grin of his own as their fist clashed again while Happy and Cole kept them in the air so they wouldn't destroy the guild.

Holding his free hand out to the side a blast of light shot out of a smaller version of Asura's Seal trying to nail Natsu only for Happy to cancel Aera causing them to drop down towards the ground seconds before it could hit them then activating it again. Flying down after him they both kept trading blows unaware of the guild watching them fight. "Natsu!" "Dad!" "My transformations almost up!" Both of their partners called out at the same time dropping Natsu and Asura on the ground who just kept on fighting with matching grins still on their faces.

"Water Dragon's Pressure Fang!"

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

"They look evenly matched with each other." Levy observed seeing the way they fought against each other. Like normal Jet and Droy agreed with hearts in their eyes while a few of the people nearby just shook their heads watching them fawn all over her.

"Asura's a man to keep on fighting while recovering." While most of the guild talked amongst themselves cheering either Natsu or Asura on Makarov watched with his years of experience knowing the Water Dragon Slayer was pushing through every attack little by little. It amazed him seeing the injured teen up and fighting minutes after he woke up from loosing that much blood. 'He'd fit in perfectly around here.' Makarov thought seeing the damage the both of them were doing to the training area.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" The blast of fire had most of the guild screaming for him to get out-of-the-way only for Asura to raise his hands calling out.

"Rho Aias!" A shield in the shape of an iridescent flower with three petals formed in front of Asura seconds before the attack could hit him. Makarov held back some of the guild members when the fire from Natsu's attack swallowed Asura and his shield only for his theory to be proven right when the flames died down to show him perfectly fine. Some of the more experienced mages in the crowd noticed a few cracks forming on the first layer of the shield but other than that Asura looked unharmed.

"Sorry Natsu but I've picked up a few new tricks during my travels." Asura told him with a smirk before he took a deep breath of his own drawing in the water from the air around him. "Water Dragon's Roar!"

Makarov along with everyone else watched the high pressured stream of water hit Natsu dead on sending him crashing back through a few trees before finally stopping. "Looks like its one hundred and five to one hundred and three Natsu." Asura laughed out doing a little dance with Cole when he saw Natsu out cold from his attack.

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A still bandaged Asura stood in Makarov's office looking around at the pictures on the wall while the Master took his seat. "If Natsu's here then I'm joining Fairy Tail." Asura told Makarov getting the old man to smile seeing the happy gleam in the teens eyes. "So how do I join gramps? Is there a test or something I need to fill out?"

"No nothing like that I just need to know what types of Magic you know for your file and that's it." He told the teen pulling out some papers from a drawer to start his file only to drop his pen in shock when Asura using Archive showed him the list. "That's a lot of Magic you're trying to learn my boy." Makarov said out loud while writing the different branches of Magic down in his file only pausing when he got to Great Magics causing his eyes to drift towards the lower part of Asura's bandaged arms where he knew the pair of emblems were tattooed in dark crimson ink.

"Yep and I plan on learning a lot more to show up my old man when I finally find him." Asura told Makarov breaking him from his thoughts as reached for the magical stamp.

"Where would you like your guild mark then Asura?" Makarov asked his mind going over everything he just read and saw with his newest child.

"On my left shoulder and orange with a black outline if you could." Asura answered him pulling up his bandages so Makarov could stamp his shoulder with his brand new Fairy Tail guild mark. Asura smiled looking at his guild mark before using Requip to pull an orange shirt from his pocket dimension while Cole got a light blue guild mark on his back.

Following his new Guild Master outside they stood on the second floor balcony overlooking the first floor when Makarov shouted for them to be quiet. "Listen up Brats!" His booming voice halting everything in an instant. "As most of you already know this is Asura U. Waterfang and Cole. They just joined the guild recently and are our two newest members, so lets give them a welcome Fairy Tail style!"

While the party raged on Mira picked up a few things most of the other guild members messed watching Asura seating at one of the tables talking to Levy. She picked up the almost unnoticeable pink flush on Natsu's cheeks when Asura smiled at him and the jealous look that clouded his eyes when Gray started talking with their newest member.

Mira hid her smile when Asura grabbed Natsu's arm to get him to set down with them spotting the flushed look on his face when their hands touched. She couldn't help but stare herself even if it was only for a little while having seen the muscles Asura had when treating his injuries.

"So you noticed it too huh?" Cana asked putting down her mug to stare at the new guy who somehow was able to get Freed of all people into a discussion about Letter Magic. That heart warming smile of his could have caught any girls heart but from what little Cana could pick up from watching them was that Asura's eyes were on his fellow Dragon Slayer meaning none of them had a chance from the moment they found each other. Though both of them shared the feeling that the pair of Dragon Slayers were oblivious of what was going on between them as they watched Natsu growing bored with listening to the three of them talk and ran off to pick a fight with Gray.

"It wasn't that hard to pick up on after watching Natsu the past couple of days." Mira admitted seeing the grin on Cana's face as she refilled her mug. Suddenly a flash of light filled the guild hall causing a few people to tense until they heard the sounds of a woman crying.

"Really Aries I'm fine honest." Hearing Asura's muffled voice the guild looked over to see the Water Dragon Slayer's face wedged between the breast of a crying pink haired girl with horns. Floating in the air next to them was a metal sphere with a halo like circle above it and a few of the people nearby took a step back seeing the towering figure of an orange mechanical bear looking down at them.

"Um Aries was it?" Levy asked tapping the crying girl on the shoulder trying to get her attention. When she did look her way all Levy did was point down before Aries squeaked in alarm pulling away from Asura while apologizing profusely.

"It's fine Aries." Asura told him trying to catch his breath from almost being suffocated when he glanced up seeing his other two Spirits nearby. "Hey Polaris, Caelum I guess you guys were worried about me too." Polaris just waved while drinking from a jar of honey while Caelum made a few beeping noises.

"Who's your friends?" Macao asked looking up at the towering form of Polaris. That was until Natsu came running from across the guild hall with a shout of "Fight me!" He was in the mood for another fight but with Polaris this time wanting to test himself against the giant bear.

Hearing the sound of a glass shattering Asura glanced over to a table off to the side seeing a teen with mildly short orange hair looking at them with shock. 'Wonder what his problem is?' Asura thought before being drawn into the fight with his Spirits and the guild.

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Hours later Natsu, Asura, and Aries could be found exiting a store in Magnolia Town's shopping center having just sold the duffle bag filled with Blizzardvern scales. "Yep it was some crazy old guy calling himself Zelretch who taught me the Rho Aias spell." Asura answered Happy looking down at the cat in his arms while taking a glance at Aries and Cole who were looking around at the busy streets now that it was around lunch with people walking around. "He kept laughing about random things like the verbal tick I had as a kid or the slight obsession I have with sweets." Hearing a choked laugh he turned to glare at Natsu only to see him looking sideways while whistling innocently.

"Really, how come?" Happy asked as they headed towards the train station for the sudden job Natsu wanted to go on with him.

"No clue hell he even fell off his chair laughing when I told him what I thought about ninjas." Asura replied thinking back to the strange old man who tagged along with him for a week during his travels.

"Yea he was weird laughing about dads name and asking if we knew where to find a ramen stand." Cole supplied landing on his dads head when Asura stopped suddenly catching sight of an abandoned two-story store with a for sale or rent sign hanging on the door. Walking up to the terrace and peeking through the window Asura plus the two cats with him could see the interior of the store lined with empty display cases and places on the wall where weapons could be hung. Squinting his eyes Asura could just barely make out a kiosk near the back of the store that looked like it needed some slight repairs like the rest of the building along with the stairs leading up to the second floor.

"The top floor was turned into a living area by my last renter." The three of them jumped hearing a voice coming from behind them before quickly turning around coming face to face with a middle-aged woman wearing clothes to short for her age.

"How much are you asking?" Cole looked down at his dad to see him swallowing the lump in his throat at finding a shop for sale on the very same day they found Natsu. They both knew how his luck worked and were counting on it now more than ever for Asura to get a chance at starting his childhood dream.

"60,000 Jewels a month to rent with a 300,000 deposit up front or 9,000,000 Jewels to own either way." Asura saw the gleam in the look she sent him and it sent a shiver down his spine but he knew they'd have to save up for some time since he wasn't old enough to run a legitimate store just yet. 'Maybe if I can work something out with her.' Asura thought about to ask her a few more questions when a loud shout of rage was heard all over Magnolia Town.

"NATSU!" The shout Asura heard sounded like a demon out for blood to him as both of the scared cats clung tighter to his arms seeing people running for cover.

"Crap she found out!" Natsu who was waiting nearby with Aries yelled out turning pale with fear. Running up to Asura he grabbed his hand and took off as fast as he could with Aries a few steps behind them making a break for the train station.

It was a few tense moments as they ran where Natsu looked to afraid to even answer any questions until the doors of the train closed behind them. "Safe, thank you unholy form of transportation." Natsu cheered taking a seat with a grin even if the both of them looked uneasy being on a train.

"So who were we running from?" Asura asked seconds before the train started moving causing both of them to slump against Aries who was stuck in-between them.

"Erza Scarlet she's a demon." Natsu mumbled out while a nervous Aries looked back and forth between them unsure what she should be doing glancing at the pair who looking green from the motion sickness all Dragon Slayers suffer from. "I kind of knocked over the cheesecake she left on the counter when I was grabbing some food from Mira for the job." Using a simple bit of timed Sleep Magic Asura knocked both of them out for the three-hour train ride leaving the Spirit unsure of what to do now.

"You can go back to Celestial Spirit World Aries." Cole told her catching the Spirits attention when Natsu and Asura fell asleep. "Dad can just summon you again when we get there."

"I-If your sure." Aries really didn't want to leave again after what happened last time but knew she'd need to conserve her energy for now since she wasn't strong enough to do much at the moment. 'Maybe I can find another Spirit that could help me grow stronger.' With that thought Aries vanished in a flash of light knowing Asura didn't care about any of his Spirits coming or going anytime they wanted.

Her actions caused both of them to lean against each other causing Happy and Cole to hold paws over their mouths to keep from snickering at the sight. "They llllike each other."

Author's Notes -

Hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. After this chapter it'll be another time skip to the start of the canon. So please remember the warning I left on the first chapter saying it's not completely canon.

I don't know if I fixed the prices right but I'm basing them off what I've seen and a bit of guess-work on my part. If Lucy's rent is 70,000 going up to 80,000 and Fairy Hills rent is 100,000 a month with Erza paying 500,000 a month then I think everything should be fine to me. I'm also using Lucy's landlady since I didn't want to make an OC for something like that and figured why not.

The Rho Aias will be his ultimate shield against the strongest attacks thrown at him but he still hasn't mastered it at this point in the story. I just like it and you already got the warning in the fist chapter so I don't want to hear it. Besides it's not like he'll use it for every single attack since it'll use a lot of power just the ones that would kill him or someone else if he didn't.

Zelretch is Zelretch and I could see him doing that just for the laughs.

And yes most of the Jinchuuriki are coming to Fiore. I always like stories where they get a somewhat happy ending and I'd bring Killer B in but short of killing off A I don't see him leaving anytime soon and I really like the Raikage. Only two of them are joining Fairy Tail while the others are going to other guilds.

They fall under the rules I set up for the veil since in my mind at least the Biju sealed inside them are stronger than a 'regular' S-Class Mage. When I say regular I mean any S-Class Mage not in Fairy Tail since they're monsters when it comes to what they can pull off in a fight.

Response - (Thanks for your reviews.)