Opening Notes

Personal Comments: Sorry it took so long! First of all, there were loads of circumstances. Secondly, it took me a while to get everything juuuust so, and even now it's not perfect, especially since this is over 8000 words by itself (9000 with notes). If you think something could be improved, tell me xD Especially if I missed a word or two here and there ^_^;;; ...now that I think about it, I think I started too many paragraphs with character names. I'll fix that soon, that's usually a complaint the English grads level at me.

Actually, I think I'll start naming the chapters from now on... this fic seems like it would be easy to do such a thing.

Deadman2020: Lol at Sakura VS Elfman... it's not happening, sadly, but a nice thought.

And thanks to the reviewers for reminding me about poor Hinata! Apparently I had forgotten about her completely... she's such a wallflower. Yamato was forgotten even more than she was, though xD

Questions/Answers: Q: Why the auditions? A: Because the shinobi are suspicious xD Even Gajeel wasn't that suspicious. Q: Why is the Raikage such a jerk? A: He'll lighten up soon, I promise. Q: How will Sage Mode be affected by the magic world? A: I actually reread Fairy Tail recently and discovered a likely answer to this; the answer is that Naruto won't be affected much at all. It's everyone else that needs to worry about it. Q: Why did Naruto ask the clones instead of dispelling them? A: Notice that he dispelled Minato; he knows he can do this, but he didn't. It's because they were pretty far away, so he has no clue if they're within view of anyone. Q: Why is Naruto still chasing Sasuke? A: To kill him. That was stated; Naruto was hoping he wouldn't need to, but he decides right there during their battle that he needs to, and then Sasuke escapes. Q: Why is this so popular? xD A: Because it's freaking Naruto and Fairy Tail, that's why!

Disclaimer: ….you know the drill xD

Chapter 4: Fairy Tail Auditions 2: Girl power!

After lifting her hand from Matsuri, Sakura stepped forward next, confident in her own abilities. "I'm your next fighter!"

Makarov nodded in approval of this girl's attitude... though mentally, he was frowning at her looks. She's a little too flat for my tastes... oh well. "Alright then. Name?" "Sakura Haruno." "Combat specialty?" Sakura decided to be a bit more specific than Naruto and Gaara had been, but still vague. "My hands and feet."

The Guild Master wondered what the comment meant. Should I send in Miki...? No, her magic isn't actually her body. Natsu is still winded from that hit to the gut... Gajeel would be overkill. Jet or Elfman would probably be best... Lucy, however, had stepped forward while he was speaking. "Master... can I fight?" The elder mage looked at her, his eyes containing his question. "Natsu and Gray got to fight, and I haven't gotten to prove myself to the whole Guild yet! This is the perfect opportunity to show everyone that I'm not who they think I am!"

A voice rose over the crowd. "Yeah! Let the Cosplay Queen fight!" Lucy recognized the voice as Bixlow, a man who knew not to underestimate Lucy- she guessed he was helping her out... in his own way. It was still enough to make her red with rage, though.

Makarov, however, laughed it off. He knew that Bixlow had been defeated by Lucy, as well; Lucy was almost the opposite of a body-enhancement type mage, so he didn't see too much of a problem with this match-up. "Alright, then, do what you will." Makarov walked over to the middle of the arena, and raised his hand. "Sakura Haruno VS Lucy Heartfilia! FIGHT!"

Lucy immediately jumped backwards, taking out her set of keys as she did so. "If your magic is only body-enhancement, you're out of luck!" She detached one of the golden keys, and twirled it through the air. "Open, Gate of the Bull! Taurus!" She placed it on the ground, as if "unlocking" it. Sakura noticed the ground rumbling the instant she did it, and the ground between them bulged. A moment later, a large... cow, man, thing erupted from the ground. Sakura was a little on the surprised side- in human terms, he was a giant as well as a muscle man, carrying around a gigantic ax. However, he also seemed to be a two-legged cow. The cow turned to Lucy, and his voice carried a great deal of affection behind it.

"Lucy! It's so good to see your boobs!"

As Lucy turned bright red from embarrassment, the crowd immediately burst into laughter. "Her Stellar Spirit's a pervert!", "He's a cow! I thought he was supposed to be a bull!", and other such comments were easily heard even from Sakura's position. Sakura, however, was glowing bright red from rage.

"You... you... PERVERTED COW!" She charged the large creature, disregarding all else but the pervert in front of her. The more experienced mages began analyzing her every move, with Erza going first.

"She's not enhancing her speed... so she must be enhancing her strength."

Makarov nodded as he got back into position with the other mages. "I've never heard of someone who only enhanced their strength, though. She must have a lot of confidence in her body if she's charging Taurus like that. Plus... her stance. It's both rough, but entirely flexible. She knows how to fist-fight."

Taurus, however, only picked up the killing intent from the pinkette and turned towards her. "Oh? You think you can defeat me in a fight, no-boobs? I could take you on bare-handed!" He put down his ax, and threw a punch at Sakura... which she easily dodged, and then she punched the large spirit in the stomach. There was no movement for a few seconds, causing Max to comment. "What just happened? What is this girl's magic, that can only be used at such a close range? She didn't blow him away, yet he's staying still!" After he finished speaking, Sakura removed her hand from Taurus's gut... and he fell over, unconscious.

She arched her back, obviously feeling quite pleased with herself as the spirit disappeared back to where it came from. "Nothing quite like knocking out a pervert with one punch! Naruto usually requires two."

Natsu glared at her, and then at Naruto, obviously offended. "I could take a HUNDRED punches like that!"

Naruto placed a hand on the older boy's shoulder, his face completely serious. "..I'd give you four, tops."

The Dragon Slayer was obviously angered, but Gray (who had come back from shaking all of the sand out of his boxers) smirked. "That's still twice as many as he can take, Natsu."

While Natsu cheered, the rest of the mages had to roll their eyes- Natsu had apparently missed the whole point of Sakura punching other people. Meanwhile, Lucy was going over in her head who to let fight next. She took out Taurus... so she's incredibly strong. But he's not particularly fast... I could use Cancer, but then he'd cut her hair, and then she'd never forgive me. Sagittarius isn't exactly non-lethal... so I guess I'll pick... She took out another key, and this time was "unlocking" the space in front of her. "Gate of the Maiden, open! Virgo!"

This time, apparently the thing she summoned was... a girl in a maid outfit. She had pink hair and orange eyes, and while the first wasn't unusual (in Sakura's mind), the second most certainly was. "You called, Master?"

Lucy pointed at Sakura, appearing quite determined. "We'll use your magic to defeat her!"

Virgo nodded. "I see... you wish to punish her. Do you wish to punish me, as well?" Lucy again turned bright red as the crowd laughed at her expense. "A maid? I want a maid!" "She's into that, huh? Are all of her spirits perverts?" "When you hear 'Virgo', this isn't exactly what you'd expect!"

Sakura, however, was ready to fight whenever Lucy was. Virgo acknowledged this, and immediately disappeared into the ground, leaving a hole where she was standing. Lucy snapped out of it, and took out her whip. "Alright then... from here on out, it's two-on-one! I hope you're ready!"

Sakura smirked as she stood combat ready for a few moments. "Attacking me from underground? Not the smoothest move you could've made!" She raised her fist, and brought it down onto the ground beneath her. Nobody dared say a word when they saw the earth in front of Sakura break apart and fly into the air in large chunks. Virgo popped her head out of one of pieces of earth, obviously surprised.

"? There ought to be more earth in front of me..." Sakura took advantage of the opening that was now presented, and immediately punched Virgo's face in. As she expected, Virgo disappeared into trickles of light as Taurus had. "I see... I thought she couldn't be human, because you summoned her the same way you summoned that perverted cow."

Lucy took note of the comment. She doesn't know about the Stellar Spirits? But she's with that other summon guy... "What kind of summons are you used to, if you don't normally see human-like ones?"

Sakura realized the implications behind the question: summons in this world were like the last two, creatures that were varyingly humanlike. Naruto's "blood summon" technique had certainly surprised them earlier, so she guessed they were bound to be questioned anyways. "Animal summons, like toads and dogs. They're living creatures that you have to connect with before they allow themselves to be summoned; summoning them takes a lot out of you, and you can only summon one type of animal."

Lucy catalogued the information for later research; Levi might know about this kind of thing. "Alright then... who should I summon next..."

Sakura dashed at the blond, obviously not caring about what she could summon. "No one!" However, before Sakura could punch the older girl, her fist was intercepted by someone else's hand. She was pretty shocked- she didn't even get the chance to enhance the force of it, because this guy had literally come out of nowhere. She looked up at the man holding her fist- he looked perfectly human from this viewpoint, he was a blond man wearing a suit and sunglasses. Since he was apparently human, this ticked the kunoichi off; fights ought to be fought by the people involved, after all. "This is her fight, don't interfere!"

The man obviously didn't care. "Lucy... are you alright?"

Lucy was surprised that the man had appeared so suddenly, as was the crowd if their whisperings were anything to go by. "Loke... why'd you come out? This isn't a life or death situation or anything..."

Loke turned to Lucy, smiling. "Well... you were probably going to call on me anyways, but... I'd rather not see anyone touch your beautiful face except myself." For a third time, the crowd seemed noticeably excited. "So it's true- Loke was a Stellar Spirit!" "Is Lucy his girlfriend?!" "Did he just appear without her summoning him?" Sakura noted that some other people weren't being quite so quiet about their love of this "Loke" person, if the fangirls squealing was any indication.

He faced Sakura again, still gripping her fist. "Your magic was so strong before... but when you punched me, I only felt the strength of an average person. You must release it in quick bursts, within milliseconds of contact... is it because you don't have a lot of stamina, or is that just how the technique works?"

Sakura brought up her leg to kick Loke in the side, but he jumped over her head, her fist still in tow, and twisted it behind her back. "Lucy is my master... I won't let you harm her." She realized by his wording that this man was another summon- an extremely human one, more so than that maid, and obviously quite experienced with combat as well as chakra control. If he wasn't even human, Sakura had to wonder just how old this guy really was, and it clicked in her head what that meant.

"Y-you old pervert!" She raised her leg, intent on slamming it down on Loke's own foot, if it was even there. If he was as experienced as she thought he was, it probably wasn't; still, it would serve its purpose all the same. Loke released her and immediately jumped into the air, avoiding the sudden upheaval of the ground beneath him. "Old? I'll have you know it was just a few months ago I was voted most eligible bachelor in the magical world!" Sakura was immediately upon him, fist raised to strike a finishing blow while he couldn't move in mid-air. His hands suddenly began glowing, and he waved his left hand in front of his body, creating a shield of light that blocked Sakura's punch. When he didn't even budge despite her using her strength, she realized that it would be useless aiming for it; the shield disappeared, apparently trailing after Loke's hand. He brought his right fist forward, aiming for Sakura's chest; she put both of her hands in the way to intercept, but the light surrounding his fist pushed her back before she could catch anything solid. Everyone was impressed when her landing further kicked up a lot of dust, especially Natsu. "Yeah! Kick her butt, Loke! Show her what Fairy Tail can really do!"

Even Naruto was able to spot the flaw in the Salamander's thinking. "But... isn't Loke a spirit, and technically not a member of Fairy Tail?"

Happy decided to answer before Natsu could say something stupid. "Loke disguised himself as a mage, and he was part of Fairy Tail for three years before making a contract with Lucy a little while ago and returning to the Stellar Spirit world." Naruto showed understanding through smiling and nodding, but inside he was a bit confused. He could have gone home at any time, yet he chose to stay in this world for three years... I wonder what his reasoning was, because I certainly don't want to be stuck here that long.

As Loke fell towards the ground, he suddenly saw a boulder tossed from the dirt cloud and towards him. He opened his fist, and slashed at the incoming rock, causing it to split into sections, and he ducked into an opening between the layers. From his angle, he could see Sakura jumping towards him, fist raised for a punch. "Give up- brute strength isn't going to win you this fight."

Sakura, however, smirked when she touched the outer layer of the boulder with her hand, and immediately flipped up to the top of the upmost slice. Everyone immediately knew what she was going to pull, and if they didn't know that Loke was immortal, they'd be rather scared for his life right now. Sakura raised her fist for what she thought would be the finishing blow. "Say goodbye!"

Loke, however, was smiling. "Goodbye." The pinkette was confused for a moment before she was hit in the back of the head by a rock. "What the-?!" She turned around, and saw Lucy with some rocks in her hand, smiling innocently. The arena was all of a sudden covered in a bright light, and Sakura realized just how deep she had just buried herself. Loke's voice echoed across the arena as he called out the name of his attack. "REGULUS IMPACT!" The rock beneath Sakura's feet crumbled, and large fragments of it showered her from below, causing a great deal of pain with every blow and cut. The force of the explosion itself was enough to send her flying, and she braced for impact as the ground rushed up to her...

But the hardness of the ground was not what she felt; instead, it was someone's arms. She looked up, and for a moment she swore she saw Sasuke holding her. Her vision cleared, and she realized that it was Loke, and her anger instantly flared. "L-let go of me! What do you think you're doing?!"

Loke shrugged. "You weren't trying to kill Lucy... so I thought I'd make sure you didn't die. But if you want me to put you down..." The girl immediately felt herself land on the ground, and immediately regretted having such a quick temper. She tried pushing herself up, but trying to move her left arm was too painful right now; it was probably broken.

Max went back to his usual announcing; the intensity of the fight had apparently been enough to get him to shut up (to the relief of many an audience member). "And Lucy defeats Sakura in a surprising upset! All of her strength was useless in the face of the speed and ferocity of Leo the Lion, as well as the cleverness of Stellar Spirit Mage Lucy!"

Loke grabbed the microphone from him. "You forgot about... the power of our love!" As soon as he said that, the crowd erupted into a variety of sounds; some were people going "aw" over what a cute couple they were, while others were Loke's fangirls being rather upset that he was now officially taken. The spirit walked over to Lucy, and gave her a smile. "You should call on me more often, I want to take you on a date sometime."

Lucy, however, seemed rather angered and embarrassed that he had pulled such a stunt, if her beet-red face was any indication. "Wh-why don't you just go already? The fight's over... we can celebrate when I have more magic to keep you around."

The Lion smiled at the fact that she hadn't refused, and faded into light particles as he walked past her. Sakura, on the other hand, was limping towards the shinobi's side, having pushed herself up with just the one arm, obviously quite bitter. Power of love... if it were all that, none of this would be happening right now... "Sakura!" She was surprised to hear someone calling out to her, so she turned towards the source of the voice- it was Makarov. He seemed amused by something, as were the mages immediately surrounding him if their suppressed chuckles were anything to go by. "Where do you think you're going?"

The medical ninja was a bit confused by this. Did he mean that she was too injured to just be sitting on the sidelines? She could heal herself, it wasn't much of a problem. "I was going back to our side. I lost, after all..." She didn't realize it herself, but her tone revealed that she was also saddened by her situation, in addition to the other emotions she was feeling.

Makarov, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. "Well, we have some pretty good doctors on call for the Guild! It'd be a shame if a pretty girl of your skill ended up with scars because you ended up fighting the most powerful of the combat spirits!"

The realization of where this was going was very apparent on her face. "Most powerful...?"

Mirajane nodded, smiling. "To take out one spirit of the Ecliptic Zodiac in combat is the mark of a powerful fighter; you took down two." Lucy sighed as she hid her eyes behind her hand; the Ecliptic Zodiac spirits were mostly wimps compared to the mages of Fairy Tail. "To forcibly close Taurus's gate with a punch is unheard of, because of the sheer strength he is known to possess." The Raikage could be seen as rolling his own eyes at the comment, though none of the mages saw it. "When Virgo tried to attack from below, you knew to just destroy the medium she was moving through." Kakashi tried to shrink behind the other adult shinobi, feeling rather embarrassed at the memories of when she first demonstrated that trick. "And then, with only 'strength' magic, to fight Leo the Lion, the most powerful of all the combat spirits... other mages would have quit right then and there, yet you were willing to keep going despite how much of a disadvantage you were at." Naruto chuckled at that; he guessed Sakura had been taking lessons from Lee in the determination department.

Makarov extended his hand to Sakura. "In other words... all of the qualities that we want in our mages. So get over here already!" The crowd erupted into cheers as Sakura smiled and walked over to the Guild's lineup. Mirajane motioned for the pinkette to go over to her, and when Sakura arrived the older girl smiled and held up a box that Sakura assumed held first-aid supplies. "Let's get you patched up for now, and then you can go get a doctor to take a better look later, okay?"

Sakura realized that there was probably no such thing as "medical" magic in this world, if Hinata's observations about their "magic" being rather unrestrained was true. After all, healing took extremely precise control over your chakra- if their chakra was wild by nature, odds were that the concept of healing wounds with 'magic' was nothing but a children's story to them. She smiled, and nodded. "Sure... thanks. It's been a while since I've been this beaten up... that was a pretty rookie mistake, to forget who my target was..."

She felt a shadow fall over her, and looked up to see Lucy standing over her, a worried smile on her face. "Are you alright? This is only my second time summoning Loke for combat, and I didn't know how far he'd take it... I was only able to get in that one attack in the end, if you can even call it that."

Sakura tried to brush off any worries she was causing the older girl, though she was glad that apparently she had apparently overpowered her to the point of desperation. "It'll heal eventually... there's always someone stronger. So are all of your summons like that? Each with a completely different function?"

The blond could see herself getting along with Sakura just fine. "Yep! I have Taurus, for brute strength; Aquarius, for fighting by water sources; Cancer, for speed; Sagittarius, for range; Virgo, for digging; and Loke, for fighting on land. I also have some silver key spirits, for stuff like travel, knowledge, music, and I even have one as a pet!"

Before Sakura could comment, it was Mirajane that spoke next. "Lucy? How long have you had six of the Ecliptic Zodiac spirits?"

Lucy seemed surprised by the question. "Eh? Since... after the battle with Phantom Lord, I think? Why do you ask?"

The eldest girl smiled, and shook her head. "It's nothing, I just felt like asking." Mirajane didn't want the blond to worry, but she knew that eventually the realization would hit the Stellar Spirit Mage about just how powerful she really was; after all, there were only 12 keys in the world that could summon Ecliptic Zodiac spirits, and this one young girl possessed half of them.

The crowd was hungry for another battle, since there seemed to a bit of a delay. Max decided to try to calm them down by trying to get the next match started. "W-which of the newcomers will step forward next, and try to one-up that clash of titans?"

Matsuri felt determined to be able to show that she was just as capable as her fellow Chunin kunoichi. "I will!"

Makarov was amused by her exuberance, if his grin was any indication. "This one has spirit! Alright then... name?" "Matsuri." "Combat specialty?" "Capturing." Makarov could feel the sound of coins clinking in the back of his head. We don't have any "capture" specialists at the moment... Fairy Tail is known for its destructive potential. If she's any good at all, I'll take her! Even if all the others are like that first kid! He had to think for a moment of who he was going to send after this girl. Who do we have that would be hard to capture... I know! I'll send Jet! His super-speed would be a good counter to anything she might try. However, just as he was about to announce his decision, he was interrupted by Juvia, who was walking towards the center of the arena already. "Juvia! What are you doing?"

Juvia gave her master a glare possessing a previously unknown venom to it- it matched Mirajane's in quality, and that was saying something. "Let Juvia handle this one, Master."

Makarov had to at least give a semblance of a protest. "I-I know that you're hard to catch and all, but don't you think sending in one of-" Juvia's glare intensified; now it matched "Demon" Mirajane's in quality. Makarov wisely shut up.

Max's voice boomed over the stadium. "And the S-Rank Mage Juvia has decided to take on the new girl by herself! What could be the story behind this one?! If the new girl isn't careful, she could find herself in intensive care!"

Temari realized that bringing Matsuri along was a bad idea. "If those other guys weren't even of their highest ranks..." Kankuro only had one word to utter. "...Crap."

Juvia could see the reactions of the newcomers left in the back. "Oh-ho? It seems that Juvia has picked a fight with the weakling of the group..."

The Suna Chunin, however, wouldn't back down, and instead withdrew her jyouhyou, letting the tip hang loosely as she tied one end around her hand. Erza noted the choice of weapon. "A capture specialist... so, that string must have some kind of Anti-Magic properties, then. But what's with the tip on the end? Can't she manipulate it herself, like Miriana could? Or... does the string have some other properties besides Anti-Magic?"

The blue-haired woman in the arena, however, wasn't paying attention to any of that. "You think... you can capture Juvia with a string? Your precious "Lord" Gaara had to use Demon Sand in order to defeat the one man who ever defeated Juvia... A mere string will not hold Juvia!"

Makarov felt very nervous about letting Juvia fight this girl- the newcomers apparently thought of her as weaker than themselves, and Juvia seemed like she wanted to kill this girl. "......Matsuri VS Juvia Loxar! FIGHT!"

Juvia immediately started by spraying water directly at Matsuri from her hand. "Juvia's water can't be bound by string! You've already lost!"

However, the water kept going past where Matsuri should've been- the moment Juvia realized this, she saw the tip of the jyouhyou spiraling around her at an impossible speed, and within moments her limbs were bound to her sides. Matsuri was now behind her, the string extending all the way back to her fist; the moment the string had tightened, it had begun glowing with a pale blue color. "This string is extremely durable because my magic runs through it. Heat, cold, blades or muscles- if it has a solid form, it won't be able to escape." Matsuri patted herself on the back, mentally- if she could take out one of their strongest in one move, she'd probably be well on her way to being recognized as "elite" herself, and then she could get closer to Gaara-sama...

Juvia, however, turned to face Matsuri, obviously amused. "'Solid form'? Juvia thinks that you are naïve. There are things that don't have a 'solid form'." Juvia's body converted entirely into water in an instant, and the string fell to the ground, useless. "If Juvia sheds her body... then you won't be able to do a thing!"

Gaara's eyes widened; he recognized it as Suigetsu's signature jutsu, even more than his swordsmanship. "Th-that-!"

"That's Juvia's magic... complete and total mastery over the element of water." Gaara turned to face the speaker- Gray Fullbuster, the man he had defeated. Gaara only said only one word. "Complete?" The ice-mage nodded. "Yeah... she's what you call a "born mage". They're born with magic already instilled in their bodies for one reason or another. Their magic power is so great that they can't control it until much later in their lives. Juvia's "born magic" was water-based; her power was so great that rainclouds followed her every move, and it wasn't until this past year that she was even able to see the sun, because I beat her down so bad she didn't have excess magic power anymore. She was so grateful that when her Guild was disbanded due to having committed crimes, she came straight here."

Gaara was glad that such things occurred in this world- this way, his great power over sand wasn't nearly as suspicious as he thought it was. Perhaps now would be a good time to test his ability to weave half-truths. "...I thought so. Truth be told, I was like that as well." Gray's

eyes widened- this boy was born with sand magic? That... would actually explain a lot.

Juvia was firing blast after blast of water at Matsuri, who was doing everything she could to not get blasted, unable to even fight back. Meanwhile, Gaara started his story while watching the girl fight.

"My home was in a desert... every few generations, a sand mage of great power is born there. The locals attributed it to the spirit of the desert, saying it was his blessing to our village. But... they quickly realized that I was no blessing- I was a curse. When I was born, the desert raised up and swallowed my mother. When I fell asleep, the desert fell into such chaos that they tried everything within their power to keep me awake, giving me insomnia and night terrors. When I was angry, the sand reached out and crushed the limbs of those who angered me. If I felt fear, the sand immediately killed whatever I feared. Everyone in that desert feared me in return, treated me as a monster to run away from at first sight. Parents used me as a way to scare their children straight; "Use your water wisely or Gaara of the Sandfall will come!", they would say. My siblings resented me for taking their mother from them, and my father treated me as a tool to be used." Gaara was, by now, clenching the sleeves of his garb. Those who were around Gaara were rapt at attention, especially Natsu and Gray. Meanwhile, Matsuri had tried to hide behind some of the debris from Sakura's fight, but Juvia sliced through it with a high-pressure blast.

"Eventually, though, even my father took to fearing me, and posted a request- "Eliminate the Demon of the Desert". It cleared by the authorities, who were unaware that the request was for the death of a human being, as there really was a demon in the desert at the time." The disgust on the mages' faces was extremely evident. "The man who took the job... was my uncle, my mother's brother, the one man who had cared for me my whole life. He did everything within his power to assassinate me, but it was for naught- I was already eight years old, and my power had grown to the point that the sand blocked any attack that came my way." Makarov and Mirajane were listening rather intently as well, and the shock at the fact that all of this had happened to him by the age of eight was rather disturbing. "He tricked me into thinking he was going to give me a dying request, but instead... shattered the illusion in my heart that he had been crafting for years, that there were people who loved me. He told me that the only person in this world who would ever love me was myself, and while I was distracted blew himself up in a suicidal explosion."

At this point, Matsuri had just been hit by a blast of water and knocked over. Gaara didn't stop his story, despite how sick some of the mages were looking. "I was distraught- I took to trying to cut myself, to stop the pain in my heart... but, the sand blocked every attempt. I couldn't fall asleep, because my power had grown to the point that it ate away at my mind if left unchecked. For four long years, I was lost in the darkness... but then, at the age of twelve, someone stood up to me. He had no family- no history. No one had loved him, no one had raised him, and he was feared for a power he didn't even have. But... where some of the most renowned mages in the country had failed, he was able to defeat me."

The lesser mages let out gasps at this, and by now no one on their side was paying attention to the fact that Juvia had apparently absorbed Matsuri into her own body, except the ever impassive Gaara. Naruto thought it was a good story, the way he was telling it; Sakura was hearing about all of this for the first time, and so was just at attention as the rest of the mages.

"He had held no grudge; he certainly wasn't being paid to do it. He had no other reason for fighting me than because I had picked a fight with his friends. But... using the only spells available to him, spells that to normal mages were useless... spells that, to him, a boy whose sheer magical capacity was feared to the point that no one taught him spells properly, were able to be used as weapons of mass destruction. And so, with those basic spells, he overcame my most powerful defenses, my most powerful offenses... and was able to punch me in the face. My reality shattered- the sand stopped moving of its own will, I could sleep, I now understood what "physical" pain was... I understood the power of such things as friendship and the love of others. The world... was a much brighter place to me, and I owe it all to that one punch. And from then on, I fought to protect others, because that's what he did."

Natsu was apparently the one who had been most entranced by the story. "And... did your people stop fearing you?"

All of a sudden, Juvia let out a scream, catching the mages' attention- she was being electrically shocked, apparently from inside herself. She turned into water again, and Matsuri fell out of her body, coughing up water she had apparently swallowed. "Ha... ha... I didn't want to use that... water conducts electricity, so I didn't know how much of an effect it would have on you..."

Juvia had apparently withstood the initial shock, and was quite enraged. "Why you-!" Matsuri tossed the tip of her weapon at Juvia again, but Juvia just let it pass into her body, letting the tip come to rest inside her chest. "Did you forget? Juvia can't be bound by-!" Horrified realization dawned on her when she noticed that Matsuri wasn't trying to tie her up. Matsuri gave a tired smirk as her words on her magic echoed through Juvia's mind. This string is extremely durable because my magic runs through it.

A current of electricity ran down the string, apparently a bit stronger than the last jolt if the pitch of Juvia's scream was any indication. Juvia fell over, unconscious, while Matsuri fell to one knee. "Ha... ha..." Her face slowly changed as the realization of what she had just did dawned on her. "I... I did it... I won!" She turned to Gaara and cupped her hands around her now grinning mouth. "Lord Gaara! I won!"

Gaara clapped, and only made one comment on the question. "Matsuri grew up in that same town I did... and those two older teenagers over there are my siblings." The mages looked, and saw Temari and Kankuro grinning at Matsuri's accomplishment.

Makarov was almost too shocked to declare the winner. "Did that just happen...?" The crowd was silent, awaiting the announcement. He shook his head, in order to control himself. "W-Winner: Matsuri!" The entire stadium instantly burst into applause at the momentous event they had seen before them- this new girl, the complete underdog in this situation, was able to turn the match around at the last minute. Max was going crazy over his microphone. "The S-Rank Juvia of the Rain has tasted defeat at the hands of a girl and her string! This is one for the history books, folks!" Matsuri tried to get up to walk and bask in her newfound glory, but the moment she did so she fell over backwards, unable to move. "Heh... I guess compared to Lord Gaara, I'm still a baby, huh..." Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted into the air by what felt like the ground beneath her. "Th-this is...!" The other mages were impressed by the display of such long-range sand manipulation, while Matsuri could only blush. She was carried over to where Gaara was standing, and deposited; she looked at the most powerful ninja she had ever known, looking down at her with a smile... and she promptly fainted, with a smile on her lips and tears going down her eyes.

Gaara chuckled. "She overdid it... all of that high-speed movement had to have taken a lot out of her, and that electricity spell... I don't recall her knowing that."

Gray observed as Juvia was removed from the battlefield, on a stretcher. "Love makes you do the weirdest things... I'll never understand girls." Natsu and Naruto nodded in agreement, as if this was the greatest of sage wisdoms they could pass on to those around them.

Hinata smiled at what had happened. "I wish... I could do something like that... Take on someone so much stronger than me, and win..." Temari and Kankuro were the only ones who could hear her, so they didn't get that Hinata was referring to what had happened when Konoha had been leveled. Max called for the next fight, but Hinata was too lost in her daydreaming to really hear him. Temari shrugged, and gave Hinata a push; Max took that as the signal for her being the next to fight. "And we have a new contender already!"

Makarov jumped back into the arena, and performed his little interview. "Name?" Hinata realized with a start that she was in the middle of a crowded arena, and her shyness immediately took over, evident in how red her face had turned. "H-Hinata Hyuuga." "Combat specialty?" "H-hand-to-hand." While the crowd became enamored with how cute this girl was, the guildmaster was making his decision. He didn't even really have to think about it this time; there were only two hand-to-hand specialists in the Guild, and again Miki was a martial artist by hobby. "Jet! You're up!"

Immediately, a man appeared before Hinata, a blur on par with Rock Lee. When he stopped, everyone was able to get a good look at him- he wore a stovepipe hat, with multiple rings of fur, as well as a long, fur-lined coat. His hair was untamed, yet still seemed slightly organized since his had was pushing it all down. He opened his mouth to speak, and Hinata noticed that he had one fang; in her mind, this match was just another practice match with Kiba. "Alright, if you say so." He looked Hinata in the eyes, and realized that they weren't quite normal. White eyes? Is she blind? No... she's analyzing my appearance. She's probably got pretty good eyesight.

Hinata took a combat ready stance, looking determined. Makarov immediately took note of this contrast to the other mages thus far. Sakura was a close-combat fighter, but she was far more free-form... so this girl knows exactly what she's doing. If she has good reflexes, Jet might actually be in trouble here... and if her eyes are any indication, her eyesight's not the best, so she won't rely on something as simple as her sight to keep track of Jet. He raised his hand, showing that the match was to begin. "Hinata Hyuuga VS Jet! FIGHT!"

Immediately, Hinata activated her Byakugan- she could fight without it, but fighting with it was far easier. Jet averted her gaze the moment they changed. "Eye magic?! I'll just not look in your eyes, then!" He immediately disappeared, and the ninja noted that he had run around Hinata to attack from behind. There wasn't one of them who didn't know that this was not a valid tactic to use on a Hyuuga, though Kakashi noted that apparently "magical" eyes were perfectly normal in this world, as well.

Jet ran straight towards Hinata, and executed a jumping kick- only for Hinata to sidestep it, and force her palm into Jet's stomach. At the speed he was going, it was quite painful; and then Hinata added her 'magic' to the attack, launching Jet from her palm. He rolled in the dirt, trying to recover his bearings. "Wh-what just happened?!"

Hinata seemed far calmer now that she was fighting. "This is a magic passed down only within my family, "White Eyes"... these eyes, when I activate them, allow me to see in a full sphere around myself. I can see any attack being made against me within a certain radius."

Jet stood up, and rubbed his legs- if they got too damaged, he couldn't fight, regardless of how much power he had left. Luckily, he knew how to avoid getting them damaged if his body got hit. "And... your attacks?"

Hinata had tried thinking of a way to make it sound less dangerous, but she knew even her toned-down version sounded dangerous. "...they are bursts of magical energy, similar to Sakura's magic but used differently. Usually, this magic is meant to inject my magic into your body and disable you without killing you. I have my own style, but it isn't any less dangerous."

Naruto shivered; he had moved down the line towards Sakura, to make sure she was alright. "Geez... I've never seen her acting like that. So cold, even when she's being nice."

The medic chuckled as she watched the fight while her arm was being splinted. "She's pretty different when she's fighting..." 'Inner' Sakura, who Sakura hadn't heard from in quite a while, made herself known. Different from when she's around you, you idiot! She trained with Neji's team, she can stay calm under any situation that doesn't involve you!

Jet frowned, and then decided to attack again. "If I can't attack from behind... I'll just assault from the front!" He charged Hinata again, this time from the front as he stated. "Wing Strike!" Hinata didn't even really bother trying to side-step, instead moving in for the finishing blow. She once again thrust her palm at Jet, who was already right in front of her, leg extended for a flying kick; the shape of a lion formed around her arm and rammed into the mage, throwing him quite a distance. "Lion Fist!

Surprisingly, Lucy was the first to comment on the technique. "That was... Loke's Regulus Impact spell!" The other mages had to agree with that assessment; there was no real difference between her "Lion Fist" and Loke's "Regulus Impact", besides the amount of power put into it..

Jet was trying to get up, but he was obviously having a hard time of it. "Ow... geez... it's hard to breath right now..." Hinata left her stance, deactivating her Byakugan. "Please... give up. My magic isn't meant to do light damage; normally, all it would take is one good blow for a human being to end up in the hospital."

Jet grit his teeth. "You think... that a mage of Fairy Tail would give up so easily! Eat this!" He started running in a circle around Hinata, causing a dirt tornado to form around her as he sped around. Hinata, however, merely resumed her stance, reactivating her eyes. Max decided to explain the technique to the audience. "Using his speed, Jet is creating a whirlwind with Hinata in the center! Not only can she not see outside of the funnel due to all of the debris, but he could attack from any side and she wouldn't see it until it was too late!"

Hinata, however, was unfazed, which was starting to annoy Jet. "You heard him! You won't be able to see me until it's too late!" After a few more seconds, he dashed into the tornado from behind the girl, about to perform a kick to her back. However, his foot was stopped by... something, before it reached her clothes. All of a sudden, she began spinning, and with that a dome of blue energy enveloped her, spinning and expanding rapidly.

What the crowd saw, however, was a blue glow from the center of the whirlwind, which suddenly expanded into a large dome that dispelled the tornado with its sheer size, throwing Jet from the immediate area. It quickly became apparent that he was now unconscious, as he was not getting back up. The dome disappeared, and Hinata stood in the center of a shallow crater the size of the energy dome she had created. Even Makarov was impressed by the display. "A dome of energy... I wonder how she made it?"

Max asked the question that was on everyone's minds- "What kind of spell was that?! It completely blew away everything around her!"

Hinata was still slightly tense, despite Jet not moving. "Heavenly Spin- It's a spell that creates a layer of energy around the caster. By itself, it can stop an attack, but by spinning, the layer expands and deflects everything; the faster you spin, the greater the dome's radius becomes. Combined with the White Eyes, it has been called the "Ultimate Defense"." She mentally patted herself on the back- she was able to convert 'ninja' terms into 'mage' terms, though she had spent the last several fights trying to come up with the explanations.

Makarov decided that Jet wasn't going to be getting up from a blow that powerful. "Winner: Hinata Hyuuga!" As the crowd cheered, Hinata suddenly reverted to her regular shyness. "A-ah! I... I won?" She turned to the lineup of mages, and saw Naruto giving her a thumbs-up. Her face turned beet-red, and a moment later she was flat on her back, unconscious. The crowd was silent for a moment, before Max regained coherence. "Is... she okay?"

Sakura sighed in frustration. "She got through the whole battle without flinching... but the moment she let her concentration go, her shyness knocked her out." Mirajane couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think... she'll be getting plenty of team invitations, regardless of her fighting abilities."

As the medics carried both Jet and Hinata away from the now more devastated arena, Max put out the call for a new fighter. "We still have two teenagers left before the adult newcomers try their hands! Don't be shy, step forward!"

Temari shrugged, and turned to Kankuro, her hand in a "scissors" position. "Fight ya for it."

Kankuro smirked. "Deal!" They immediately went into their 'battle'. "Rock, paper, scissors... go!" Kankuro thought he had won by choosing rock- but to his dismay, Temari had chosen paper. "But, you always go with scissors!"

Temari was already walking towards the center of the arena, a dark smile on her face. "And that's why I won, and you lost."

Makarov was already waiting for her in the middle of the arena, and performed his interview. "Name?" "Temari. I'm Gaara's older sister." Makarov knew that her choice of words was a challenge to anyone who thought themselves brave enough to risk Gaara's wrath. "Combat specialty?" Temari gave a smile- it was a poison-laced expression, the kind of smile that normally meant she was happy but right now it meant "I know ten different ways to kill you in the next five seconds." She opened her small hand fan and waved it at her face, confident in her own abilities; she doubted she'd need to take out the really big one inside the scroll on her back. "Distance fighting."

Makarov didn't quite know who to bring out; Macao might be able to do it, but he was a fire mage, while she was pretty obviously a wind mage. A woman's voice called out over the arena, obviously undaunted by Temari's hidden challenges. "I'll take her on, Master!" Temari watched as someone flew down to the arena using what appeared to be dragonfly wings extending from the back of her dress; the dress itself barely went above what it needed to cover, and circled her body from there. She wore glasses, and her hair was done up in an odd, tight style. She looked like a secretary trying to show off too much, in Temari's opinion; an alternative description, using 'fantasy' terms (Temari still couldn't quite believe that this world was completely like some fantasy story), would be 'an elf trying too hard to be a fairy'. She landed in front of Temari, and pulled out her more- obviously more expensive, Temari noted- hand-fan, hiding her face below her eyes. She had also placed her other hand on her glasses, in a manner that suggested to the trained eye that she was going to remove them, rather than the apparent motion that she was doing it to look sexy. Temari noted that something seemed off about those eyes; perhaps she had 'eye magic' like that Jet guy had feared Hinata had? "After all... I still haven't made up for what I did at the festival. Letting everybody see my magic might go over well with the fans."

Makarov seemed to be mulling it over in his head. Temari was obviously talented, but using Evergreen might just be pushing it... but, at the same time, all of the newcomers younger than Temari had proven quite capable in the end, and letting Evergreen fight in public was, as she had said, a rather good idea, for more than one reason. "Alright then! Temari VS Evergreen!" The two women tensed, despite both keeping the appearance of confidence by holding out their fans in front of their faces. Both teams tensed with them- the mages knew just how hard Evergreen was to take out, while the shinobi knew that if Temari got serious then the arena probably wouldn't last very long. "FIGHT!"

Ending Notes

Personal Comments: Cliffhanger?! Sorry, I wanted to stop here because I don't want to set too high a standard for how many pages I make per chapter. Plus, if last chapter was Naruto and Gaara, and this chapter was Sakura, Matsuri, and Hinata, it actually makes sense to keep Temari and Kankuro together.

I'm sure you've noticed that I've expanded on characters from both sides. For Loke, I made him more powerful than shown to match him up with what should be expected, as well as made him more 'serious' while he was actually fighting. In the end, he and Lucy were able to defeat Sakura. For Jet, there wasn't much to expand on in the first place, so even with expansion he's not much of a character. For Matsuri, I was expanding on her dedication to her weapon that she started on pre-timeskip, and thought of ways she could use it in her jutsu, though at the moment I've only thought of running normal chakra and lightning chakra through it (it's noted in the story that she had probably just learned lightning chakra). I plan on her being one of the characters who honestly tries to improve themselves with magic rather than trying to stick to the system from their old world.

Future plans: Of those who've fought, Gaara is the one least likely to try learning magic, though it would be fun to write him trying to learn and not quite getting it. Naruto would want to learn non-lethal magic, Sakura would want pretty much anything (her specialty is in healing, and she believes that healing magic isn't something she should be showing off), Matsuri might learn to control her string freely, and Hinata... I have no plans for her magic style, though there ought to be SOMETHING she can learn (if you want to send in suggestions, go ahead :P). Of those who haven't fought, I would think... Kankuro (whose 'magic' is in his puppets), Kakashi (who feels that he's not fit to be Hokage), and maybe Bee (who would want to learn Requip/Exquip) would be honestly interested in learning magic without outside prompting. Yamato's probably more than comfortable with his jutsu set, Raikage only cares about being able to punch you in the face (which he only needs the one hand for), and Konan has quite the jutsu as is (as easily defeated by Jiraiya as it was).

Fights still left:

Temari VS Evergreen (Sorry I left ya on a cliffhanger there, but I'll actually show it, I promise!)

Kankuro VS Bixlow (I'm not the only one who thinks this will be good, apparently; I actually can't decide who ought to win due to how their abilities match up)

Kakashi VS Erza (I have some plans for this, but there's definitely some details needing to be worked out; Kakashi probably won't even be too serious, considering how incredibly strong he is, and might actually end up regretting it in the end)

Yamato VS Droy (Still thinking on how to make this work, since Droy has only cast all of one spell in the actual manga; Jet did too, but his magic is more apparent than Droy's. Anyone have an alternate suggestion?)

Raikage VS Elfman (I don't think you could possibly change my mind on this at this point; Raikage will probably get the most pages devoted his actual fight out of everyone else here, and I really hope you guys enjoy how I pull it off. If you guys can guess how this is going to go before you read it, then I'll give you a cookie :P )

Bee VS Erza (Erza ought to be able to fight again by the time this fight comes around; I think she's the best person for this fight, and as an S-Rank mage she wouldn't take too much damage from a non-serious Kakashi)

Konan VS Kana (This was suggested to me, and I like it- I forgot that she existed, but at the same time her fighting style hasn't been explored too well so that's kinda why. If I can't make it work it's straight back to Macao, who would most likely beat Konan rather badly. Her opponent could seriously determine her path for the rest of the story, and I really want to work with her character, so)