The Man Who Cried Saint

by KiShang

Assault an impenetrable facility. Check. Free two S-class prisoners from jail. Check. Search for a missing teacher. Double check. Starting a guild wasn't exactly as easy as Naruto Uzumaki had first thought it to be.

3. Of guilds and new beginnings

And here it is; the long-awaited chapter of The Man Who Cried Saint! I sincerely apologize for my tardiness; more will be explained in the author's note below. But let me not keep you waiting with words any longer. On with the story, I say!

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Chapter Three

Of Guilds and New Beginnings

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(Wisteria Town; Present day)

Welcome to Wisteria town - as you probably know, this is the alcoholic capital of Fiore. The people here are jolly and hardworking, and they seldom turn down the offer of a good beer. However, what they loved even more than booze was their local gossip, and that was the reason a rather noticeable buzz had settled around town today.

"Did you hear? Wisteria town now has its very own magic guild!"

"Really? You're kidding, aren't you?"

"I'm not! I saw the posters around town just the other day! Finally, something interesting is happening around this place!"

"But... who would possibly want to set up a guild here? Surely, no guild Master in his right senses would think to do so. I doubt a mage has even stepped foot in this town in decades!"

"There's that Uzumaki boy..."

"Oh, you mean Naruto? Yeah right, like anybody actually believes that story he cooked up."

"It said on the poster that the new guild is currently searching for mages... I think I have a pretty good shot!"

"Hah hah... Don't be hilarious, Wes! You wouldn't know what magic was even if it leapt up and bit you on the nose!"

"Ow!"

The hub of activity was entertaining as always, so it was easy to miss the hooded stranger who entered the Golden Swan beerhouse and snuck up to its portly bartender.

"Morning, Naruto-san", Inari greeted, nary a movement of his lips.

"Morning", the hooded man replied cheerfully, "Did my order finally arrive yet?"

"Yes, Naruto-san. I had them rolled up and delivered directly to your… house."

"Oh? Is that so? Well, thanks then, Nai, you're a lifesaver."

Inari shrugged as the man slapped him heartily on the back and walked out of the establishment. He wasn't sure he should even wonder what the eccentric blond planned to do with such a huge amount of booze.

XXXX

"Finally!", Naruto declared, stepping back from the counter and admiring his handiwork. The bar behind the counter had just been completed, and freshly procured bottles and barrels of wine had all been arranged in neat rows behind a glass display. Grinning to himself, he wiped his brow and looked approvingly around his newly polished guild hall… only for his gaze to fall, upon noticing his 'companions' lounging around uselessly.

"Thanks for nothing, you guys", he snapped.

"You're welcome?", Kyo yawned, barely hearing what had been said.

"The pipes in the third room on the second floor need fixing, Naruto-sama", Samui drawled from her spot by the large fireplace, still clad in two pieces of towel; one wrapped around her torso and the other wiping furiously at her hair, "And the door on the room next to that one has come unhinged."

"Well, what did you expect?", Naruto grumbled, "Those rooms were meant for paying tenants. You slackers moved into them without giving me a single dime."

"Did you say something, Naruto?", Samui's eyes flashed frostily.

"No. Not really", the toad sage sighed, returning to his inspection of the bar. The last thing he needed now was to put up with Samui when she was in one of her cranky moods.

"How do you expect us to pay for them anyway?", Kyo piped up, still reclining on his choice sofa; an old copy of the Sorcerer Weekly magazine in his hands, "I'm broke. Samui's broke. We're all broke. Plus there's nothing to do around here."

Naruto decided then and there that his choice to deck the guild hall with lush furniture rather than the usual wooden table and bench was definitely the worst idea he'd ever had. There would be no getting them off their butts now.

"On another note", Samui added, "How did you even get the money to acquire all this, Naruto?" She gestured around the complex, "We could never afford such expenses before."

"Er... bank loan?", Naruto replied, feeling a nervous tingle run down his spine. There was no way in hell he was telling them about the fortune Jiraiya had willed him in the event of any unfortunate circumstances. If they found out that he was now a billion jewels richer, they would be sure to rip him off even more than they usually did.

Samui narrowed her eyes at his answer but thankfully didn't pursue the matter.

"You know, the mummy over there actually has a point, un", Deidara spoke up, drawing Naruto's attention to the fact that he was also present in the room, "How do you aim to keep the guild running if you don't get any mission requests?"

"I'll think of something", Naruto snapped, "We just need to sign more members first."

"And how do you intend we do that? How do you intend to market the brand? Do you even have a business plan yet? You know; goals, strengths, weaknesses, guidelines - that sort of stuff?"

"Wow", Kyo chuckled, not bothering to lift his head from a well worn page depicting his favorite swimwear witch, "For someone who is only interested in blowing stuff up, you seem actually pretty well versed."

Deidara shrugged, "It comes with the job description."

"Well, what do you want me to do?", Naruto frowned, biting his lip thoughtfully, "Maybe we can do a bonanza? First twenty customers get mission requests completed free of charge?"

The group fell into thought for a moment.

"Nah", they finally declared in unison.

"You're right, that wouldn't work", Naruto groaned, tugging on his bangs, "How about this; I'll draw up flyers promoting the guild with the words: Toadstool - any task you can't handle, we'll get it done in a jiffy!"

"Does that include babysitting and doing dishes?", Samui asked distastefully.

"Or changing diapers", Kyo muttered, turning green.

"We have to make sacrifices, won't we?", Naruto smirked, liking the idea of finally putting them to work, "As long as it is in the best interests of the guild, we'd just have to go along with it. I'd say it's decided; I'd draw up the posters and distribute them today." He then withdrew three saucers from beneath the bar, "Anybody up for a drink?"

All three guild members raised their hands eagerly.

"You'd have to pay for it, though."

They grumbled and returned to their seats.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Council headquarters; six days ago)

Lahar walked at a brisk pace, the memories of what he'd just seen still fresh on his mind. There was still a lot of paperwork on the Yoshino mess that needed to be completed; and to his absolute horror, he found that all was not well in the magic capital either. The criminal; Naruto Uzumaki, had escaped execution, taking down the mini-etherion and the newly refurbished council secretariat in the process.

After a grueling hour of overseeing the reconstruction process and carrying out any damage control that needed to be done, the bespectacled knight was then summoned to a meeting that hadn't really been on his schedule: a meeting of the squad captains.

The captains of the Detention corps were a fairly renowned bunch as far as the magical world was concerned. They were the heralds of the Council, the fore-runners in the fight for justice. However, despite their famed stature, it was no secret that they all, in truth, had a poor inter-work relationship. Squad captains were meant to carry out all types of tasks for the magic council and they could go years without even crossing each other's paths. Therefore, it was to be a surprise to Lahar the moment he was whisked away by one of the Council's scribes to the abandoned hall that had been hastily converted for the purpose of the meeting at hand. Doranbolt was the first to notice him walk through the door.

"Lahar, thank goodness! You're alright!"

The bespectacled man frowned. Obviously, his failure at Yoshino had already preceded his arrival. There was nothing more humiliating than receiving a beat down – but receiving a beat down, and needing an explicit council measure to even escape alive certainly put you suck on a whole other level.

His footing wavered as part of his mind returned to that hellish place once again. To think that the Council would actually condone such evil…

"Doranbolt", he greeted cordially, "It's good to see you again."

"Well, that's one way to look at it", the scar-faced man sighed, crossing his arms in his seat, "Especially after everything that has happened this past week."

Lahar nodded, glancing at the other captains seated around the only table in the small room. The number of the group varied at different points in history – up to the point that they once made up a full score, during the period of the Cabria war. However, with the recent re-popularity of magic guilds and the decreased lustre of military work, times had now changed. The number of captains in the service of the Council was now a meagre six – a far cry from their glory days – and yet, still more than the amount of skilled mages au totale in the employ of the rune knights. Currently, only four of these people were gathered in the room.

"Captain of the first unit; Shino Aburame", the most stoic one of them - a young man with bushy hair and dark shades - began, calling the meeting into order.

"Captain of the Third; Pakura", a woman with green hair followed - her most prominent features being the two orange bangs framing the both sides of her face. Lahar cringed, remembering the last time an innocent intern had asked her if her hair or her bangs had been dyed. The man hadn't looked the same since.

"Fourth unit captain; Lahar", he dutifully announced his position, before Doranbolt who finally ended the call.

Pakura frowned, seemingly unsatisfied with the turn-up. Her brown eyes scanned the room unemotionally. "As expected, the sixth unit captain is unavailable - pertaining to his duties at headquarters, but is there any feasible reason why the Second is not here?"

Doranbolt smirked, "Knowing him, he's probably off somewhere on another glamorous search for youth."

"Then I guess we will have to begin without him", Pakura growled, assuming her unvoiced position as leader of the squad captains. Gesturing towards the lacrima crystal on the centre of the table, she summoned a set of images to appear on it, "These are the targets. I am sure we all know of the escaped convict; Jellal Fernandes, however, he is not our main priority right now. The other one though…"

"There's no point in that", Doranbolt piped up, "I doubt there's anyone in all of Fiore who isn't aware of him by now."

Pakura ignored his comment, "The other one is target Naruto Uzumaki. He has been declared a national threat by the magic council. Right now, a nationwide manhunt has been ordered for his head; of which I have been put in command of."

"What level?", Lahar asked, calmly observing the image of the blond man who looked uncannily similar to his own mentor.

Pakura glanced at him, "A triple S-class threat."

"What?", Lahar gasped in surprise, "There haven't been any triple S-class threats in Fiore since the great wars!"

"My point exactly", Pakura frowned, "You've faced the man, Lahar, what is he like?"

Lahar fell silent for a moment, tightening his grip on the edges of the table. What was Naruto Uzumaki like?

"He – he is a monster", he finally conceded, "He's the son of Minato-taichou and a student of Jiraiya-sama, so what would you expect? However..."

He thought back on the incident that had happened only a week ago.

"He isn't vile like Brain of the Oracion seis or Hades of Grimoire Heart. He doesn't give off that signature malevolent aura you come to expect with most villains. He almost seems...", he struggled to find the right word, "... mellow?... at least, not enough to justify the level of a triple S-class."

"This man attacked an impenetrable facility, took out the prison court mages in one hit, released two high level dangerous criminals, and later attempted to activate an R-system right in the middle of Era", Pakura spoke coldly, "Tell me again how that doesn't justify a triple S-class."

"I don't know", Lahar replied, not appreciating her tone, "You asked me to tell what he was like and I did just exactly that."

"What about his magic?", Doranbolt perked up, "The Council never mentioned anything about it but I heard he uses fire magic of some sort."

"Not just fire", Lahar muttered, still feeling the phantom pains of third degree burns – nothing the council's healers couldn't cure, thankfully. "He also makes use of earth."

Doranbolt raised an eyebrow, "You can't be serious. You mean he's skilled enough to use multiple elemental forms combat-wise?"

"The target is a toad sage", Pakura mused, "If his magic is anything like Jiraiya's, then it should be expected that he has mastered multiple elemental forms. Toad magic is a lost sage-type magic that specializes in fire, mud and oil, from what I've heard. Add that to his supposed mastery of other miscellaneous sage skills and we might actually have a problem on our hands."

There was silence for a while – silence that was interrupted only by the buzzing coming from within Shino's uniform.

"The thing is", Doranbolt finally spoke, "Truthfully speaking, I doubt the rune knights have the power to deal with this kind of enemy. If he was put on such a high threat level, why not just send the wizard war saints after him or one of the other gui-?"

"NO!"

The other people reacted with surprise at the outburst, causing Lahar to fidget and fiddle with the reams of his sleeves.

"I'm just saying", he tried to cover sullenly; "the war saints are a last resort for a good reason. I have seen them at work. This man has not warranted such measures yet."

In his opinion, no one ever should.

Pakura glanced at him suspiciously, her eyebrows poised in distaste, "Whether or not you think he has shouldn't be any concern of yours. That would remain a decision for the Council. They have seen fit to place him in our charge for now."

The image on the lacrima shifted to depict a map of Fiore. Lahar noticed that the location of some of their garrisons had also been highlighted. "As we speak, a fleet of ships are already prepared to mobilize at our any command. Our units have also been positioned at various stress points, ready to pick up arms at any moment."

Lahar seemed surprised by this, "Do we already have his location?"

Pakura smiled deviously, "No, but someone is working on deducing that for us." She turned to the last member in the room, "Shino?"

"There is more than a small difference between working on doing a task and actually doing that task", Shino replied, his second set of words since the meeting began. He was staring idly at a bug that rested on the tip of his index finger as if he were communicating with it, which, knowing Shino, he probably was.

Pakura chuckled softly, "Shino currently tracks the whereabouts of Uzumaki."

"I slipped my insect unto him during his infamous incarceration", the bug lover continued as if he hadn't heard any of them, "Gran Doma-sama must have evidently foreseen his escape. As long as he doesn't leave Fiore, I'd still be able to trace him. Right now, my relay bug is currently trying to process the signals being sent in. Would it take some time? Yes - but would I deliver his coordinates to you? That, I can guarantee."

"Then it is settled", Pakura finished, "Once the coordinates come in, the captains of the first, third and fifth divisions are responsible for bringing this man in."

"We'd need a plan", Doranbolt frowned in thought, "A criminal like this – we can't just attack him head-on, plus..."

"I'm coming along too."

"Wha? What do you mean?", Doranbolt perked up, glancing at his friend, "Someone would need to stay behind in order to respond to other threats. We can't leave the headquarters undefended."

"No", Lahar gritted out, his shoulders quaking in anxiety, "I'm coming along. Naruto... no, Uzumaki, is teacher's son. I can't just sit back and allow him to keep soiling the name of the man who trained me."

"What are you talking about, Lahar?", Doranbolt protested, "Namikaze-sama trained me too. It doesn't mean I get to act recklessly!"

"This is dumb", Pakura spat coldly, "As the leader of this operation, I will not allow you to jeopardize its undertaking simply because of your personal ties to it."

"You would need my help!", Lahar barked uncharacteristically, "I've faced the man before - at least two of us would be needed to take him down! - and then what about his accomplices? Have you forgotten about them? He's been spotted in the company of three renowned criminals; Deidara, Ultear and Jellal! What would you do if all four were together? Even the might of three units of rune knights wouldn't be enough to take them all on!"

"If we find Deidara, I will take him on myself", Pakura hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits, "You underestimate the power of the knights, captain Lahar. You are not the only rune master under service." She then turned to the rest in the room, "Get prepared. We'd leave on my signal. In the meantime, Doranbolt, I'd like you to re-establish contact with the second division captain. We could use him."

"Got it", the man nodded, keeping an eye on his friend who now sat rigidly still; his fists clenched around the edges of the table.

Something was wrong with Lahar, he finalized. The man usually never spoke out of turn. He couldn't exactly pinpoint it, but something had changed in his friend.

What exactly had Lahar seen in Yoshino?

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(Wisteria town; present day)

The sun was already high in the sky when the first customer finally walked into the guild – a sophisticated-looking, straight-nosed lady in a fabulous dress and hat. As planned, Naruto was already at his work station, awaiting any arrivals.

"Afternoon, ma'am", he smiled disarmingly, "How may we be of service?"

"Iz theez ze geeuuild called Toadsteul?", she asked in a nasally thick voice.

Kyo snorted from his spot on the couch, "No, it's the one called Pigstew - but I'm pretty sure we had a signboard out front anyway."

Naruto frowned at the snarky remark but decided to ignore his rebellious subordinate for now, "Yes, it is, madam. How may we be of service?"

"Geood. I waz viziting from out of town when I zaw your poster (she held it up), 'any task you can't handle, we'll get it done in a jiveey'?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes. That would be ours."

"Since I would be busy for ze rest of ze day, I waz hoping you could help me walk my dogs?"

"How is that a task you can't handle?", Samui muttered.

"Of course, ma'am", Naruto smiled, "We'll get on it right away… Kyo!"

"What?!", the man choked out.

"Since you love to run your mouth anyway, why don't you be a dear and help our client walk her dogs. The request is free by the way, madam."

"Oh, thank you, kind sir", the woman replied.

"Hey, I'm not...", Kyo began, but Naruto's eyes narrowed and a shadow fell over his face.

"Get on it... now", he growled.

Kyo grumbled but eventually followed the woman out of the guild.

"Great", Naruto grinned once they were gone, opening a logbook and writing in it, "We've gotten our first customer ever!"

"A bit banal for a first job", Samui noted, raising a disinterested eyebrow, "Why didn't you charge her?"

"She's our first customer", Naruto shrugged, "I thought it would be nice."

"You're too easily stimulated, Naruto-sama."

The blond blinked at her statement.

It seemed Naruto's new strategy had actually worked because not even a minute later, another customer walked into the guild; a farmer this time, in a trademark vest and straw hat. Naruto took the request down and barely had time to set his pen before yet another one walked in.

"Hey, isn't that Uzumaki-san?"

"Woah. So the rumors were true. You really are a mage, Naruto!"

"Annabelle misses you, you know. Aren't you going to ask for her hand in marriage again?"

It seemed that most of the residents of Wisteria were visiting simply to sate their curiosity on the newly established guild. A lot of them were familiar with Naruto and ended up placing one or two requests in order to patronize the guild. After some time of this, the aforementioned blond groaned and cradled his head in both hands.

"I think I finally understood what the pervy sage meant when he advised that you should never let your past catch up to you, even though he probably meant that more in the context of the feminine sex than anything else". He shook his head, "Maybe I shouldn't have started a guild in a town that I was already familiar in?"

"You're only just realizing this?", Samui sighed, sitting across him on a barstool, "What's really got me bothered is that, at this rate, the Council's going to get wind of our activities and put a stop to it soon."

Naruto groaned again but then his look changed to a sly nature when he caught sight of the perfect mounds of cleavage obstructing his view, "You worry too much, Samui-chan. You know, if you wouldn't mind stopping by my place later on, there's this nifty little trick I can use to help y..."

"If you so much as complete that statement, Naruto-sama, you'd end up finding a certain piece of your anatomy dangling out front as the new sign of our guild."

"Hey!", the sage squeaked, hands reflexively shifting to his nether regions, "I was only offering to give you a massage!"

Samui's blue eyes glinted, "My point, exactly."

"Hah hah hah!", Deidara guffawed, pouring himself a drink of sake from a small bottle he nursed in his hand, "That's what I call a good whipping, un. You haven't changed one bit, Samui-chan."

"Shut up", the woman hissed.

Naruto glanced between the two of them then leaned in to whisper conspiratorially with Samui, "What's the deal between you two anyway?", he nudged his head at Deidara, "Is he really your brother like he says?"

Samui looked visibly troubled, "I have no relation to that man."

"Ouch. I heard that", Deidara called.

Naruto spared him a suspicious glance and began turning to Samui – but then his eyes widened in realization and he suddenly rounded on the other man.

"Where did you get that from?!", he screeched.

"Say what?", Deidara asked.

"The sake", Naruto growled, watching as the man took another sip of his beloved wine, "How did you get that?!"

"Er... From the bar, I think?"

"You stole it?"

"No", Deidara corrected, wagging his finger at the irked sage, "I took it."

Naruto sneered, the whisker-marks on his cheeks turning a bit more feral, "You don't get to drink unless you've paid for it."

"Hey, man, I've been in the freezer for years. Where exactly do you expect me to get the money to foot my bills from?"

The Guild Master's look turned devious, "Well, you can start from here" - and he handed a list of tasks over to the other blond, "I'm sure these will keep you busy enough. You can pay for the drink when you're done."

Deidara took one look at the list and paled, "Weeding a farm and finding some woman's cat? Un, you underestimate the relevance of my art, I think. It wasn't meant for any of this."

"Well, maybe, when you raise enough money, you can go start a gallery and practice whatever stupid nonsense your art was meant for!", Naruto growled, "In the meantime, get to work!" He handed a similar list over to Samui, "This is yours."

The bootylicious blonde perused it with a raised eyebrow, "I notice with some dismay that you're not participating in any of this, Naruto-sama."

"I drew up the posters", Naruto shrugged, grabbing an already clean glass and beginning to wipe it down, "I distributed them too. Besides, don't you think it would be bad business for a guild if the guild master actually went around completing requests for its members?"

"Who made you guild master?", Deidara piped, "I don't remember swearing you in."

Naruto ignored him, "Oh yeah, if you run into Kyo, can you give this to him?". He handed the girl another list of tasks. "And do you know what?", a dark look fell over his face, "To make your tasks even more interesting, why don't we have a game? Whoever comes in last place between you two would have to answer to me – and carry out cleaning duties for the whole of next month."

"You're kidding", Samui frowned.

"Yeah", Naruto sighed sarcastically, "If my name was Billy and I loved continuous tenses – but it's not – so in the meantime, you better get on it."

The woman opened her mouth to complain some more only to notice that Deidara was nowhere to be found.

"It seems that somebody already gets the message!", Naruto smirked, "I can only imagine what cleaning this whole place is going to feel like."

"Naruto-sama!", Samui whined exasperatedly, jumping off her stool and running out the hall too.

"Hey, make sure to get that list to Kyo as soon as possible!", the blond called after her, "It should be the first thing you do!"

He smiled as he watched her run down the streets.

Yep, running a guild was definitely turning out to be the most fun he'd had in years.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Commander Pakura! We are steadily approaching target; contact is approximated to be in two hours!"

"Requesting permission to establish contact with the nearest garrison, sir!"

"Permission granted", Pakura huffed; pulling on the reins in her fist to bring the war-beast she rode to a stop.

"We make camp here, men!", she bellowed, "Take fifteen minutes to pull yourselves into order!"

Her soldiers seemed more than willing to oblige, and soon every one of them had dismounted from their respective beasts in order to relax the fatigue gained from the long ride.

"Shino?", Pakura called, dismounting expertly and trekking towards her other colleague.

The bug user was still on his war-beast, a faint image of the insect sitting on his finger reflecting off his shades.

"If we continue in this direction, we will eventually break out into the border mountains", she informed him; a small frown marring her features. Fiore's relations with Caelum were shaky at best, and those mountains cast an unusually ominous shadow over the landscape – probably due to the role they'd played during the events of the Cabria war, "Are you sure we are on the right track?"

Shino barely even acknowledged her, but then he asked stiffly, "Which is the nearest town from here?"

Pakura curled her lips in thought, "Considering our present bearing, I'd say Wisteria is."

"Then that's where we're headed."

The woman nodded, satisfied with his conclusion. Of all her various colleagues, Shino was the one she could most effectively work with. The man was crisp, straight to the point, and incredibly efficient; and after years of having him serve under her division - before his promotion, of course - she could now say that she was very confident in his exceptional tracking skills.

"I fail to see how you think a squad this small could be anywhere near effective."

Doranbolt on the other hand, she wasn't too sure about. The man, along with Lahar, had been the glorified disciples of the Yellow Flash back in the day; but she was pretty much certain that neither had been able to live up to the high expectations set for them by the Council. Doranbolt was also something of a loose cannon. She had heard about his screw up on the Tenrou Island mission – his inability to bring the actions of the polytriad of Grimoire Heart, Fairy tail and Zeref to the attention of the council.

Not that it was a bad thing the way the whole incident later turned out, she thought with a smile, turning around to face the man. Fairy tail had destroyed Grimoire Heart, and Zeref had subsequently obliterated them – leaving their beloved island as nothing more than a crater in the bottom of the sea. The only problem, she recalled anxiously, was that they still had no idea where Zeref was located. That, in itself, was the premise of a disaster.

"A larger squad will draw attention to ourselves and make it more difficult for the men to carry out battle plans", she replied smoothly, "These are the best soldiers in the Rune Knights. They've been trained for purposes such as this."

Doranbolt looked around at the bunch thoughtfully. Even he could see that there was no doubting it. These soldiers were good – the elite of all three of their divisions.

"Lahar is the most proficient rune master in the knights as of now", he muttered defensively, "And he learned everything he knows from the best."

"There are other great rune masters in the army", Pakura responded.

"But he is the best", Doranbolt pressed on, "Considering the opposition we might face, I won't deny that, despite your logic, we still could have used him."

"I would not let your friend jeopardize the mission", Pakura spat, "In fact, the only reasons I'm allowing you to participate in this right now is because, one; it was ordered directly from the Council, and two; you've proven to be able to keep a cool head on occasions, which you're actually not doing right now!"

Who's the one not keeping her cool?, Doranbolt pondered. However, before he could come up with an adequate reply, they were swiftly interrupted.

"I would think that we would be better off making use of our time to draw up a plan to apprehend our target, rather than arguing uselessly amongst ourselves", Shino drawled, the distaste obvious in his voice, "Wisteria is a small inhabited town located just east of the mountains. How do we plan on waging war against Uzumaki and his accomplices without causing harm to the denizens around?"

Pakura sighed. Shino was right, as always. They had priorities they needed to keep in sight.

"I've thought of that", she conceded, "If Uzumaki is alone, we might need to act swiftly in order to apprehend him. However, should the others be with him, we might be forced to perform a simple tactical recon-and-retreat. We can't afford to have casualties – however, it also begs the question. Is Uzumaki sneaking around town, or is he simply hiding in plain sight – under full protection of the people?"

"We might need to speak with the mayor", Doranbolt offered, "Wisteria is one of those unlucky towns which do not come under the direct protection of the rune knights, and still do not own a legal guild of their own."

"Our army is stretched thin. We cannot be everywhere at once", Pakura spat, "Why not Crocus get their asses off the ground and actually do something for once?"

Shino interrupted once more before another argument could break out, "Then it is settled, is it not? We'd send two emissaries ahead to speak with the mayor, then another group to act as scouts. The rest of us will camp around the city's main exit, ready to spring into action at any signal."

"What would we do if it is just Naruto and Jellal?", Doranbolt pondered. He knew his limits. There would be no way their group would ever be able to take on two wizard saint level mages without some fatal casualties of some kind.

Pakura, however, simply smiled, "We'd take them both down."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Council headquarters; unknown location)

Org was getting increasingly tired of these meetings. If he sat down any longer in this chair, he would be having pressure sores. A report had just come in from Pakura's squad that they had identified the criminal's suspected whereabouts and were currently zeroing in on the location. As usual, the council had seen it fit to call another gathering almost immediately.

"Wisteria is a rather un-remarkable town", Fiorellio read off a report he'd gathered, in his high business-like tone, "It's been fairly quiet for the past few years and there have been no notable occurrences in the area."

"What is the city's given population?", someone asked.

"About four hundred or thereabouts, maybe less."

"Do we not have a garrison in that area?!"

"Unfortunately, master Gronkjaer", Fiorellio frowned disapprovingly, "although I believe that to be your responsibility – we do not."

"Chairman-sama", Tao began, "Now that we have his location, shouldn't we be taking more pre-emptive measures? Since the war saints cannot be bothered, why don't we think of sending a larger army or one of the greater legal guilds?"

"Why don't you think of going yourself?", Org grumbled beneath his beard.

"That would be unnecessary", Gran Doma replied (thankfully having not heard Org), "I have the utmost faith in Pakura's ability. Besides, there are other pressing matters that also warrant the use of our resources. Tell me, has Jiraiya been found yet?"

Stheno was the one to speak up, her voice tense with strain, "I'm afraid not, Chairman-sama."

Gran Doma frowned, "Jiraiya needs to be found. If anything, only he can take responsibility for the actions of his wayward student. When was he last sighted?"

The councilors exchanged wary glances.

"Stheno?", Gran Doma barked; irritated, compelling the aforementioned woman to speak.

"Jiraiya's last contact with us was two years ago. He hasn't answered any of our summonses since."

"Two years?"

"Yes. However, our spies have informed us that about that same time, it had also been rumored that he had been active in the Caelum kingdom – with his student; Naruto Uzumaki."

"Caelum kingdom?", Bocholt; who hadn't heard the news yet, started, "What could they have been doing in that blasted nation – except conniving with our enemy?"

"That brings us to the next issue", Stheno continued smoothly, "Because whatever Jiraiya and his student must have been doing in there greatly coincides with another matter that all too recently occurred – the assassination of the infamous leader of Caelum."

A deathly silence fell over the council room. Even Org was shocked by the implications of that statement.

The leader of Caelum had been the tyrannical dictator of the country for years. In a nation where magic was pretty much uncommon, those who possessed magic skills were viewed as higher beings and abused their power more often than not. Caelum's leader had been a typical example of this – albeit an extremely powerful one. There was a reason why both their nations had never really gotten along, after all.

"Find Jiraiya", was all the Chairman could say at length, "I want him and his student brought before me. And bring me more information on the matter."

Org frowned. It seemed the case of Naruto Uzumaki was getting increasingly intricate with each passing day.

XXXXXX

"Atchoo!"

"Aw, that's not fair, big bro! We are playing Toad bomb not atchoo."

Naruto frowned, whipping his nose on his sleeve, "Sorry. Someone must have been talking about me."

His toad summon rolled his eyes. The two of them were currently engaged in a game of cards atop the bar-table.

You might not know this, but Toad bomb is a game Jiraiya invented to help lessen the boredom during him and his student's countless travels. It required a special deck of cards however – one which exploded in the user's face with every bad hand.

"No offence, big bro", Gamakichi spoke, "But these days, if you actually sneezed every time someone brought your name up, I'm pretty sure you'd have blown off your nose by now."

Naruto shrugged, returning his attention to the game, "Alright, go fish!"

"Oi! We're not playing that either!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The mission had gotten off to a hitch right from the very start. Pakura had underestimated just how bold their targets were being within the small town. The two emissaries; the ones sent ahead to speak with the mayor, were passing by a small fence when they were spotted by a man walking a dog and painting the bricks at the same time.

"Uh oh", Kyo muttered, dropping his paint brush and fleeing from the scene; the poodle also abandoned behind.

"Hey!", one of the knights yelled after him, "Halt!"

"Alert captain Pakura!", the other commanded as they gave chase, "I recognize that man! I think he's one of them!"

Pakura was busy supervising defenses outside the town entrance when she noticed the flare go off. The signal had streaked upwards the sky in a short bust of red smoke.

"That is...", she frowned, "They've made contact already?"

"I'm on it", Doranbolt called, before vanishing with a blur.

"All units, get ready to move!", Pakura barked, turning to her squad, "I want a barrier activated around this area to prevent anyone from leaving town! Shino, can you get airborne?"

The bespectacled man nodded, spreading his arms wide. There was a brief surge of magic energy in the atmosphere and then he whispered,

"Bug magic: Spiraling cloud."

A large multitude of dark colored insects escaped from his sleeves and rose into the air. Within moments, they had formed a dense cloud that began moving steadily into town.

"Alright", Pakura grinned at the sight, "Let's go catch our criminal."

The knights were not the only ones to notice the flare. The people of Wisteria had noticed it too and were wondering what was amiss in their quaint, little town. Samui stared into the sky, the trimming shears meant to be in her hands laying forgotten on the ground.

That's a council signal, she realized, Naruto-sama!

"I'm sorry, ma'am", she addressed the old woman in a rocking chair beside her, "But I'll have to leave now. I'll come finish the gardening tomorrow."

"Take your time, dear!", the lady called after her even as she left.

Meanwhile, with Kyo; the raven-haired man was getting increasingly annoyed by his petulant pursuers.

"Stop there! Halt right this minute!"

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen", Kyo sneered, upping his speed. Taking a sharp turn, he vaulted over a low wall and slipped through an alleyway, his pursuers following suit; hot on his heels.

There was silence for a little while and then two sharp thunks were heard before the black-haired man strolled out of the alley, dusting his palms off.

"Well, that took care of that", Kyo grinned, "Although, I wonder what the knights are doing here in -". The hairs rose on the back of his neck and it was instinct alone that forced him to dodge to the side; avoiding the blow that would have collided painfully with his skull.

"Dammit, you bastard!", he stood up and roared, "What level of idiot attacks a man when he is not looking?"

His attacker showed himself. He was of moderately tall height with a unique scar marking the left side of his face. Kyo couldn't recognize him, but he was dressed in the robes of a high official of the consulate, and to the rogue, that was information enough.

"Tell me", Doranbolt began, "Are you acquainted with the felon; Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Er...", Kyo stalled, gazing up innocently, "If I say no, does that mean you would leave me alone?"

"Wrong answer."

The newcomer vanished from sight and Kyo was forced to leap back in response. The first melee was short and incredibly brutal. His attacker was efficient in his strikes, and his teleportation magic aided his fighting style immensely. Kyo himself was no slacker in the hand to hand department either, however, due to Doranbolt's magic, he was forced to stay on the defensive; each going for lethal strikes, but only managing to cast glancing blows on the other.

"So this is the mighty Flying thunder god magic I've heard much about", Kyo panted, once the both of them were locked in a standstill.

Doranbolt didn't bother correcting the man. His version of teleportation magic was much too inferior to the one created by his teacher, however, he was still pretty impressed with the manner the man had managed to hold his own thus far. At first glance, his opponent hadn't really seemed like much – what with the tattered clothes and bandages – but the moment their skirmish had begun, the rogue had slipped into combat form seamlessly. However, something else still bothered him.

"Are you so confident in your skills that you would aim to take me down without resorting to magic?", he asked.

"Pretty much", Kyo boasted, "You're magic ain't anything special, you know. Teleportation as a rule can only allow one propel himself in a straight line. You telegraph which direction you'd move before even doing so."

"I see", Doranbolt nodded, impressed. It hadn't taken the man any time at all to deduce the true weakness of his magic. However, since his time on Tenrou Island, he had been looking for other ways to improve his technique.

"Direct line!", he bellowed.

The speed of the blow caught Kyo off guard, sending him rocketing into a wall. The man managed to right himself with neck-breaking reflexes but it still wasn't fast enough as Doranbolt was upon him once more.

"Dammit!", Kyo gritted his teeth, as he was punched into another wall yet again. Slamming a hand on the concrete, a seal magically appeared on it, just as his opponent vanished from sight once again.

"Direct line!"

"Kusarigama!"

Doranbolt snapped to a stop mere inches from the blade which would have slit his throat had he ventured any further.

"Oops", Kyo grinned, holding both bladed ends of the weapon defensively around his form.

"You play dirty", the knight-captain observed, glancing at the blade currently tickling the hairs on his Adam's apple, "That was a quick use of Requip magic."

"Forgive me for not doing so earlier on", Kyo replied, straight-faced, "But I usually skip out on classes that train me how to lose correctly."

"It doesn't matter", Doranbolt growled in annoyance, "You will not win here. You'd tell me the location of your partner even if I have to beat it out of -"

"Not partner", Kyo interrupted sternly, "Master. Guild Master."

"Guild Master?"

"Yep, of the Toadstool guild!". He flicked his wrist casually but Doranbolt was quick enough to avoid the slashing motion of the blade. The other end was hurled at him almost instantaneously but the captain still managed to steer out of its way.

"I warned you!", Doranbolt yelled, "If you wouldn't give in peacefully, then... Direct line!"

"Mag x100!"

The teleporting mage vanished with a flash, only to realize belatedly that he had overextended on his teleportation; causing him to crash straight through three buildings before coming to a face-jarring stop on the fourth. Groaning, he slid down the length of the wall and crumpled to the ground. He didn't move again.

"Sorry about that", Kyo grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head as he approached the fallen man, "But if you've seen half of what I have, you'd quickly learn that there is no such thing as a fair fight."

He took note of the man's unconscious state, and the blood currently dripping down a side of his scarred face. Sighing, he went about procuring some bindings to wrap the man in.

He had only just finished bundling the man up (in a ton of bandages) when he noticed a dust cloud quickly approaching his location. Raising a hand to his eyes, he tried squinting at the in-coming wave only to get bowled over and into a dumpster.

"Get out of the way!"

"Argh! Watch where you're going, dammit!"

"Kyo?", Samui screeched to a stop, only just recognizing him, "What are you doing?"

"Coulda asked you the same thing", the man groaned, rising shakily to his feet. He stepped out of the dumpster and tossed a banana peel off his scalp.

Samui wrinkled her nose. "I'm heading to the guild!", she yelled, "I think it might be under attack! Didn't you see the flare?"

"Er... about that..."

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me... did you set it off, Kyo?"

"No", he replied, straight-faced. Technically, he hadn't exactly been the one that had done so. Samui seemed suspicious of his answer but then she noticed the unconscious mage lying at his feet.

"T-that is... That is Doranbolt!" She turned to her teammate, "Then it means the Rune knights are really here!"

"I guess."

They were stopped from saying any more when they noticed an ominous shadow descending over the area. Looking up into the sky, Kyo spotted a dark, dense mass of cloud travelling rapidly in a direction opposing the wind.

"It's heading for our guild", Samui whispered in realization, "We have to stop it, Kyo. Follow me!"

The dark haired man sighed as he watched the woman take off again. There really was no rest upon joining a guild, was there?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Captain Doranbolt is down."

"What?", Pakura gasped, shocked. It hadn't even been twenty minutes since he'd entered the fray! "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes", Shino replied noncommittally, "Why? Because it is what my bugs relay to me, therefore, it is the absolute truth."

"I am a bit bothered by that cloud", a third voice added; rather baritone, and a bit worn with overuse, "Wouldn't it have been less noticeable to disperse those insects around town than coalesce them all together in one place?"

The bug user's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes", Pakura sighed, "It would have. But Shino's bug cloud magic is not just some simple surveillance technique. It also allows the user to pinpoint and engulf an already preset target."

"In this case, you mean this Naruto person."

"Yes", Pakura replied, "I'm glad you responded to our call... albeit a bit belatedly."

"I apologize for that, Pakura-chan – but Ichiya thought it necessary to belay my arrival once again. Although, I must admit, it was somewhat refreshing to have such a hot-blooded spar of youth!"

The green-haired, orange-bangs captain ignored him.

"How many magic signatures are present within that town, Shino?", she asked instead.

"Excluding Captain Doranbolt, that would make four", the young mage replied, maintaining a steady connection with his bugs, "Two of them are stationary northeast from this direction, while the nearest one is moving rapidly across town just west of here. However, there is only one Wizard saint-level mage among them, and he is far off towards the back of town."

"That would be the target", Pakura concluded, "It's a good thing we wouldn't have to deal with Fernandes too."

"Hmm? Wizard saint level, you say?", the third person muttered, stroking his chin, "Interesting..."

"My bugs are currently honing in on the tracker I placed on his person. They would be upon Uzumaki's location in mere minutes", Shino continued, "And once they do, they will take him out instantly."

"Then that would be our signal. Once Naruto has been incapacitated, our forces would move into town and eliminate the rest", Pakura declared, "Ready your weapons, men! We wouldn't bother taking survivors."

The knights behind her saluted grimly.

Shino was still standing next to his comrades, when he felt a foreign pressure invade his head.

"What's wrong, Captain Aburame?", Pakura asked, noticing his discomfort.

"I don't know...", the bug mage frowned, rubbing at his temples, "It's like..."

He cursed the moment he realized what had gone wrong. He tried terminating his connection with the insects but it was already too late. A powerful pressure ripped through his skull and he cried out in agony before crumpling to a boneless heap on the ground.

"Shino!"

Pakura was at his side in an instant. However, the man was out cold, unable to respond to any of their calls.

"Medic!", she snarled to the group behind her, hoping that Shino hadn't been permanently harmed.

"It seems they also have a telepath on their team", her other colleague casually observed, uncrossing his arms from his muscular torso, "We can't sit back any longer, Pakura-chan. They know we are here and have taken advantage of the fact by incapacitating two of our captains already. Since the subdue-and-scouting plans have failed, I'm guessing we would move into the attack phase?"

"I know!", Pakura spat, turning to face the man, however, he was no longer by her side, having already vanished at her words. The plan had gone awry, but maybe, things could still be salvaged. She just hoped that Guy would leave something behind for the rest of them once he was done.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Earlier...)

"Oi, oi, what do you think you're doing?", Kyo sighed, mostly in irritation.

He was currently standing atop the old church; the highest building in all of Wisteria. His partner was seated upon his shoulders, her long legs balanced precariously across his torso. Were it to be anyone else upon him, Kyo would have taken full advantage of the brief respite offered him to enjoy the finer parts of the female specimen. However, this was Samui – the ice queen. Kyo knew very well what those lovely thighs could do to him if provoked – and that was the reason for his foul mood; seeing as he now had an extra pair of limbs on his shoulders, and yet couldn't even dare to lift a finger to them no matter how tempted he was.

"Will you just hold still? I recognize that magic. I need to be as high up as possible to counter it". Of course, all this was said this with all of her trademark stoniness, as if she didn't give a care in the world for the discomfort she was causing him.

Kyo did exactly as ordered while the blonde mage raised dainty fingers to her forehead, closing her eyes in concentration.

"This is the magic of Shino Aburame", she murmured, "His bugs trace signals, which means he must have planted a tracker on one of us prior to this."

Kyo observed the dark cloud that was already upon their position. It was obvious that the guild building was its target, and seeing as Naruto would be the only one in there... well, he'd already known that the Council couldn't have let them off that easily.

"What do we do now?", he asked, worriedly.

Samui kept her eyes shut tight, "This type of magic requires a strong connection to be maintained between insect and user in order to work right. If I can tap into the right psychic frequency..."

Her eyes immediately snapped open, blue pupils glowing, "Mind eye magic: Blade!"

A psychic ripple spread outward from the girl. At first, it seemed like nothing had happened, but gradually, Kyo began to notice a distortion among the bugs. The cloud soon came to a complete halt, and the magic insects fluttered to the ground, dispersing into glitter in the process.

"Is that it?", Kyo inquired, letting the girl off.

"Yes."

The dark-haired man watched her adjust her short skirt distractedly, "I guess we are real lucky to have you on our team then – but what is the next course of action?"

Samui was already walking towards the edge of the tiled roof, "Get Naruto-sama and leave. We can't stay in this town any longer."

"Seriously?", Kyo balked, "You think the boss is just gonna abandon his new guild, after he only just built it?"

The woman turned to glare at him, "It's only a building."

"Well, yeah, I know, right?", Kyo shrugged in response, "But good luck telling the boss that. I don't know how the Council located us this quickly, but if Naruto has any say in the matter, then they'd be the ones packing out of town, not him."

Samui had been about to reply when the both of them were suddenly blinded by a brilliant surge of light. The flash died down and they found themselves staring at a monster of a man who seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere.

Okay, so, maybe he wasn't really a monster, Kyo thought – the man being only fairly tall and still retaining his most human-like features. However, that was as far as his humanity went. Kyo took one look at the bowl-cut hair, thick, bushy brows, and prominent lower eyelashes, and couldn't help screaming out in shock.

"Ow! My eyes! It burns!"

The newcomer's grin widened; an action that proved that the blinding light from before had actually been the sunlight glinting off his immaculate teeth.

"Indeed!", he boomed exuberantly, "It is most youthful to feast your eyes on your opponent right before an explosive battle begins!"

"What's the deal, man?", Kyo chuckled, noticing the strange green attire the man wore beneath his council robes, "Can you believe this clown, Samui?" When he didn't get a reply, he turned towards her in worry, "Samui?"

"Don't be fooled, Kyo!", Samui barked, a strange fear creeping into her voice, "This man you see before you... T-that is… That is Might Guy!"

Kyo returned his attention to the newcomer.

Might Guy?, he wondered, a bit of apprehension now seeping into him, What type of guy was a might guy?

In any case, anyone who could make a woman as coolheaded as Samui freak out could only be regarded as a definite threat. The black-haired mage slipped into a fighting stance without even realizing he'd done so.

"I see you've heard tales about the green beast of youth", Guy observed patiently. His eyes were narrowed, sharp; studying them. "You're not too un-youthful yourselves, you know", he concluded, "But I must ask of you; are you allied with Naruto Uzumaki – the ones responsible for the elimination of our captains?"

Samui met his gaze unflinchingly, "Yes."

"I see."

Suddenly, Guy drew his feet together in a fighting stance, and slipped his right arm behind his back, raising the left before him like a shield - in the universal sign of come get it.

"Then you understand why I cannot let either of you escape here alive", he warned, "So sorry."

"Kyo, MOVE!", Samui yelled.

The brunet saw the blow before it came. He tried to defend against the powerful onslaught, however, before his arms could even complete their arc; the jaw-breaking kick smashed against his face, blasting him clean off the roof.

Samui gasped, her heart leaping into her throat. The former dark mage was one of the best hand to hand specialists she could name. For him to be taken down so easily!

"Don't take your eyes off me, fair maiden!", Guy bellowed.

Samui ducked gracelessly to the ground, but it was enough to save her as the captain's spinning kick sailed effortlessly over her head. Withdrawing a dagger from her sleeve, she took a swipe at the airborne man only for him to vanish before the blow could connect.

"Leaf whirlwind!"

Shit!, she cursed, unable to stop the man who had now reappeared directly within her defenses.

"Great kick!"

The powerful kick slammed into her jaw, causing a shockwave of pain to rend through her skull even as she was sent rocketing skywards.

She gritted her teeth in pain. I would not go down like this!

Her eyes glowed blue in defiance only to dim in shock when she sensed a presence appear directly beneath her.

"I can see you are the telepath", Guy's baritone voice cut across the wind to her, "You are indeed dangerous, so you must forgive me for the manner in which I must use to take you out."

"How?", Samui gasped, craning her head to gape at the man who was now floating in perfect sync beneath her.

"I will make this as swift as possible", Guy apologized. He wrapped both arms around her torso and gripped her tightly, "Front lotus -"

"What the hell do you think you're doing to Samui?!", someone yelled.

Faster than he could blink, Guy was knocked clean out of the air, and a pair of warm hands gathered the woman before she could crash straight through the roof.

Samui opened her eyes to gaze at her savior only to realize she didn't even need to. She could recognize that grin and that voice anywhere.

"You filthy pervert!", Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger to the captain, "Were you trying to hump her just now?"

The green beast spluttered at the accusation, making animated motions with his hands, "W-what?! I did no such thing! That is a most un-youthful claim to make!"

"Don't lie to me!", Naruto snorted disdainfully, "I saw you clearly! I'm the only one allowed to even dream of humping her like that!"

"Naruto-sama..."

The blond stopped his accusations momentarily to glance worriedly at the girl, only to receive a fist to the face.

"Okay", he groaned in pain, "I deserved that."

"Be careful", Samui wheezed, her ire at her leader already forgotten, "He's strong, Naruto-sama, almost as strong as you."

"Why don't you stop your yapping, sis", another voice interrupted, "We're here now. We'd take care of things."

Deidara swooped in on a great clay bird; Kyo's limp form resting atop it.

Guy's eyes widened in surprise, "You!"

"Yeah, me", Deidara countered, his lips stretching wide in amusement, "Seriously, what did you people expect? I'm a part of this guild too!"

Naruto turned to the artist, a look of suspicion on his face, "Where have you been?"

Deidara shrugged, "Here and there. You honestly didn't expect me to waste my art doing all those awful chores, did you, leader? I've told you before – art is an explosion!"

"This is bad", Guy observed, sticking a finger beneath his chin, "Two of the three men we've been searching for the most are right here before me. Am I youthful enough to take them both on?"

"Your battle is with me!", Naruto growled, spraying spittle. He turned to Deidara. "Take these two and head back to the guild", he instructed, handing Samui over to the man (she still managed to squirm at the artist's touch despite her weakened state), "I'll deal with you later."

"Sorry, can't do that, un."

"What do you mean?"

Deidara placed a hand over his brow, unveiling his artificial eye, "A squad of rune knights are headed our way, leader-san. Not that I doubt your unique skills, but I'd say even you would find it hard-pressed to take on captain atom here and those runts all at the same time."

"Fine", Naruto grunted, "You can help out, but get Samui-chan to safety first."

"Now, you're speaking my language", Deidara grinned, creating another clay bird to transport his fallen guild mates, "But I'm already way ahead of you, ya know? I haven't really been doing nothing all day. Watch this."

XXXXXX

The Rune knights were upon their war-beasts, making a beeline for the church when they spotted some funny shapes skittering across their path.

"What's this?", a garrison sergeant asked, pulling to a stop to observe the creatures. They looked like overlarge crickets; the only differences being their whitish color and rather life-less appearance.

"Hey, what do you think these are, Captain? Are they trying to distract us?"

The other knights halted in turn to inspect the weird creations.

Pakura took one glance over her shoulder; towards the source of the commotion, only for her face to pale in recognition, "You idiots! Get away from those! That's clay magic! They are all bo - !"

Atop the church, only a few metres away, Deidara grinned, raising two fingers to his face.

"Katsu."

A miniature explosion resounded throughout town.

"So, what do you think, un, leader?", the artist smirked, licking his lips hungrily, "Art is an explosion, right?"

"Pakura!", Guy yelled out in distress, racing to stare over the edge of the roof at the scene. He turned to face the two men, fury written all over his visage, "You monsters!"

"Deidara", Naruto spoke calmly.

"Yeah?", the artist grinned, looking expectantly at his leader.

"Those men – the ones you just bombed. They were your former comrades, right?"

"Yeah, well, you can say that", Deidara muttered.

"And you were once their leader too?"

"Un, I guess."

"Good", Naruto smiled, the action not exactly reaching his eyes, "Go down there and help them. If any of them are dead, I won't forgive you."

The former captain of the Detention corps blanched, "Say what?"

"You heard me", Naruto spat, "Those men were once your comrades. If you can bring harm them without a second thought – or a first one for that matter – I shudder to think what you would do when you finally leave our guild."

A brief silence descended over the rooftop. Even Guy blinked at the two men in surprise.

Finally, Deidara conceded; crouching low on his bird. "I'll do what you want this time, leader", he grunted nasally, "But remember; my art always comes first. It constantly demands a demonstration."

He rose into the sky.

"You are something else, Uzumaki-san", Might Guy noted, watching the other blond fly off towards the carnage, "If I might ask; why are you doing this?"

"Doing what exactly?", Naruto replied, withdrawing a pinkie from his ear.

"Everything", the green beast sighed, stepping forward, "You are obviously a man of honor. A fine man; and the student of one of the finest men I've ever known! What could possibly be the reason for your bad blood with the Council?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. I just needed answers, I guess."

"I see", Guy nodded in understanding, "A political issue then. It pains me to use lethal force against the son of a man I greatly admired too. However, I hope to assuage that by making this battle as quick and painless as possible."

"That's fine by me", Naruto smirked, "I wasn't exactly planning on stalling either. Can we get started then?"

"I guess we can."

"Okay", Naruto grunted, rolling his shoulders, "Wait a minute - what's that?!"

"What?", Guy turned, looking in the direction the blond had pointed.

"Sucker!"

A powerful fist rammed into the captain's stomach sending him hurtling through the air. Guy spun and righted himself almost instantly.

"That was most un-youthful, Uzumaki-san."

"Heh", Naruto grinned, cracking his knuckles, "Maybe it was; maybe it wasn't. But you hurt my guild members. That is more than reason enough to make you suffer!"

Guy frowned, settling into the comfortable stance of the Strong fist technique. The air grew dense with the heaviness of mahou; and anticipation, like electricity, cackled between the two fighters.

"Sage magic: rooftop projectiles!", Naruto began.

Of course, if the blond aimed to beat him with any weak telekinetic move, he had another thing coming. Guy didn't even blink as he watched the tiles slide off the roof and race towards him.

One moment, he was standing some distance away from his attacker, his strong fist form still in place; the next, he was beside him – the tiles impacting harmlessly where he once stood.

"You'd have to do better than that, Uzumaki-san", he warned, "Leaf great kick!"

To his ultimate surprise, however, Naruto leaned backwards, completely avoiding the blow. A sandaled foot sped straight up and smashed into Guy's face, almost sending the green beast toppling off the roof!

"I've already seen you use that move once", Naruto grinned, "You honestly think you can catch me with it? Well how about this, Toad magic: Oil flame bullets!"

The concentrated pins of fire razed across the entire roof, blasting numerous protrusions to dust. Despite this, Might Guy, was still swift enough to avoid them all. Making a beeline straight for the blond, the two men clashed with a thunderous noise, exchanging blows at an extraordinary pace. Both were durable enough to shrug off the respective hits each landed, but Naruto soon tired of the game. He got his opening when Guy tried to sweep his feet from out under him with a Leaf gale kick.

"Oil flame bomb!"

Making a giant toad leap into the air, Naruto soared over the other man, bringing his two indexes to his mouth in preparation for the devastating fire attack.

The stream of white fire engulfed the roof, forcing it to crumble in its entirety and collapse into the sanctum below. Naruto landed gingerly on a section of the wall, inspecting the damage he had wrought. Guy himself stood tall at the base of the church, still in the Strong fist pose, a defiant look in his eyes. However, his council robes had been burned off, leaving only his green spandex, which still appeared immaculate despite his singed nature.

"How long were you hoping to keep doing this?", Naruto shouted down to him, relaxed, "Your style is impressive and all but I was hoping for some magic to keep things interesting!"

"A true wizard should always be willing to train both his magic and body, Uzumaki-san", Guy replied calmly, "I train six hours a day in order to attain perfection."

"Yeah, yeah, while that is good and all, you do realize that there are some opponents you simply cannot overcome with hard work alone, right?", Naruto questioned, sagely, "Sometimes, you would need more than just rigorous training to do the impossible."

Guy seemed genuinely insulted by the mere assumption, "A genius of hard work will always come out on top, Uzumaki-san! The only fire-proof way of doing anything right is by working with your own hands, and sweat and blood!"

"Nah, hard work is overrated", Naruto continued, "If hard work meant everything, I don't see a rookie like Jellal making it as one of the Wizard Saints before even hitting maturity. And don't even let me get started on the rest! Face it, a traditional genius is ten times better at anything a commoner can do – even if he puts in ten times less the effort."

Silence followed Naruto's words. Guy remained pensive for a moment; then steadily dropped his stance. He shook his head sorrowfully. "I realize with some dismay that you have a rather pitiable outlook on life, Uzumaki-san", he mourned, "Although your fighting style and magic closely resemble that of Jiraiya, it is obvious you have a substantially different mentality from him."

A powerful magic aura blossomed around Guy, and thick veins began protruding from his temples. "However, to prove you wrong, I would show you, Uzumaki-san. The power that became accessible to me only through hard work. Feast your eyes on my magic – that of my beautiful youth!"

"Youth?", Naruto raised an eyebrow, perplexed. The man was definitely over forty. That perplexity, however, turned to seriousness when he sensed a sudden spike in the man's magical power. "What the...?"

Guy's hair was now standing on end; blown upwards by a powerful wind churning from his feet. His irises had gone completely white and the muscles hidden within his green spandex had become even more pronounced. His entire skin had now taken on an eldritch red hue and blue magical aura cascaded over him in waves.

"This is it; Springtime of youth magic!", Guy bellowed, even as his energy tripled again in size, "Daytime tiger!"

Naruto had only one word to say as Guy erupted in a fury and rocketed upwards in a powerful punching motion.

"Damn."

He was in for a world of hurt.

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Pakura sensed the powerful energies that had erupted around her and couldn't help breaking out a tiny smile. Guy was going all out. With his springtime of youth magic, he was nigh unstoppable. Nothing short of a Wizard saint could contain him whenever he began his assault. It was this reason alone that had succeeded in making Guy one of the most revered and renowned knights in all of history – almost as revered as Minato-sama himself! As long as he kept his body in optimum condition, the spandex-loving captain could use the power of the constellations to assist him in battle – giving him a power boost equivalent to that of ten S-class mages all at once!

Grimacing, she rose to her feet; her ears still ringing from the earlier attack that had befallen them – and feeling somewhat happy that a part of their mission was at least, going according to plan… that is, until she caught sight of him.

He was hovering on his bird, leaning down to inspect the wounded and pillaging them in a pile across the street. Fury danced across her vision and she didn't even bother deciphering what he had been doing before she exploded in cosmic rage.

"DEIDARA!"

The first blaze orb flew past his head, missing his face by mere inches and slamming into one of the knights who had just been in the process of getting up. Instantly, the man withered – every iota of moisture sapped from his body – his now too-big uniform crumpling to the ground.

"Shit!", Deidara cursed, taking swiftly to the skies.

Pakura took only a second to balk at the man who had unfortunately gotten in her line of fire before giving chase. They could resuscitate him later on if they managed to get him to a clinic in time. Nevertheless, her primary target was the bastard, and she wasn't about letting him escape her sights anytime soon.

"Come back here, murderer! You're under arrest in the name of the Council! Stop!"

"Are you mad?", Deidara called over his shoulder, looking incredulously at her, "You crazy bitch, I know what you can do! I'm not letting you get close to me even with a thirty foot r -!"

Pakura had taken aim once again, and six of the pinkish blaze orbs streaked at meteorite-like speeds through the air. Deidara dodged all of them expertly and turned on his bird, responding in kind. Three miniature bird-like missiles shot out of his palm, making a direct route towards Pakura. Moments before impact, they enlarged in size, prepared to take out a large portion of the street... only to wither and disintegrate.

"Have you forgotten?", Pakura smirked darkly, even as a pinkish aura encircled a radius around her form, "My magic easily trumps yours. Organic or inorganic, your clay still possess aqueous molecules that I can dry up."

"You mean water of crystallization?"

Her response was another plethora of orbs, fired straight at the artist. Large masses of cloud dried up on contact with her magic and Deidara looked back at her in fear.

"What's your problem?! If you keep this up, you'd do more than harm the man you just did! You'd harm the ecosystem and innocent bystanders too!"

Pakura charged up another blaze orb; sneering, "Don't compare yourself to me, you lowlife! You willingly used your own men as meat bags and suicide bombers in your obnoxious quest for glory! I would never forgive you for tarnishing the honor of our name!"

"Are you sure that's what this is about?", Deidara paused, mid-air, "I know I did some terrible things, but can you definitely say that your behavior isn't a direct result of the manner in which I left you?"

"Blaze magic: Elimination of the wicked!", Pakura screamed.

A gigantic orb of pinkish energy was fired at the airborne man. To the onlookers below, it looked like a giant alien blob had just swallowed up the sun.

"Let's see you stop that one", Pakura smirked, watching the orb swell rapidly in size. The more moisture it absorbed, the bigger and faster it would get – up to the point that even Deidera, with his famous mach speeds, would find it difficult to avoid.

The artist on his part, however, didn't even bother to move. He stood stoically; even as the big ball of death zoomed towards his position. Moments before impact, he leapt backwards off his bird and brought his palms together, grinning; "I told you; art is an explosion. Katsu!"

The avian he had been hovering on exploded, coloring the sky a fiery red. The arid condition forced all the moisture out of the immediate atmosphere, and the orb; left with nothing else to absorb, slowly dissipated.

"You said you're magic counters mine", Deidara bragged, already hovering on a new bird, this one much sleeker in design than the last, "You forget that mine easily counters yours too. We're locked in a stalemate, un." He scratched at his head for a moment, "Or maybe, we're not locked in a stalemate. I'd like to believe that I can trump you any day."

Pakura glowered in anger, unleashing another wave of blaze magic at him.

"How long do you intend to keep doing this?", the blonde man taunted, even as he expertly evaded the projectiles, "I can dodge these in my sleep!" Some of the orbs came very close to hitting his person, but any that did were instantly negated by his clay bombs. A set of missiles streaked through the air in retaliation, but they too were deactivated by Pakura's deadly force field.

Deidara would have been content with keeping this up, only to notice Naruto get blasted into a wall out of the corner of his eye.

"You okay there, leader?", he yelled.

Naruto emerged from the rubble, looking very un-amused.

"Maybe you want to switch dance partners?"

"Shut it", the toad sage growled, glaring once at Deidara, but then he had to switch his attention to Guy when the man landed in front of him.

"I must compliment you, Uzumaki-san", Guy appraised, "You are doubly strong in both will and constitution."

"Constitution?", the blond replied, perplexed, "Isn't that like a law or something?"

"It can also mean physical characteristics, Uzumaki-san."

"Oh."

Guy adjusted his pose, the blue aura still swirling rapidly around his form. "Few can survive a direct hit from my springtime of youth magic, you know", he bantered, stretching his limbs out, "However, you've taken multiple hits to critical areas, Uzumaki-san, and still you stand. If you weren't an enemy, perhaps I would have commended you better?"

Naruto shrugged; albeit, doing so a bit painfully, "Yeah, I guess that's just me."

"Your youthfulness is truly impressive, Naruto-san! I appreciate your feelings of sportsmanship! To reciprocate, I'll let you get one free hit in since I haven't actually given you the chance to fight back since I youthfully activated my magic!"

"Nah thanks, I'll pass", Naruto grinned, "I'm not really ready to attack you yet either."

That got Guy to stop short, "What do you mean 'not ready'? Do you mean to say you've been letting me pummel you all this time?"

"Well, kinda", the blond continued on, looking suddenly serious, "I was thinking I could just run around and let you wear your magic out."

"Wear my magic out?", Guy spluttered.

"You called it Daytime tiger, didn't you? Which means; when the day runs out, you'd be powerless, right? I noticed your punches have been getting weaker each second, and look, the sun's even setting now!" He finished off by pointing towards the horizon.

Guy revaluated his opinion on the criminal; Naruto Uzumaki, there and then. He wasn't a noble-but-dumb villain. Not by a long shot. He was actually freakishly and deceitfully perceptive.

"A correct deduction, Uzumaki", Guy announced, all traces of formalities forgotten, "My springtime of youth magic works with the hour of the clock. Daytime tiger, as the name suggests, is at its peak at noon and loses its strength with each hour that passes by. However..."

The blue aura dimmed to near-imperceptible levels one moment only to be replaced by a blazing, orange hue seconds later.

"It is not the only time-based move in my arsenal! Sunset eagle!"

Naruto blanched. Life certainly didn't throw him any breaks, did it?

Guy dashed forward, but this time, Naruto stood his ground. A spinning orb of concentrated magic rose to life in his palm.

That is Minato-san's trademark magic technique!, Guy realized belatedly.

"Rasengan!"

The rasengan and his fist collided, releasing a powerful burst of mahou that sent both mages flying backwards.

"Ouch", Naruto groaned, extricating himself from a building wall, and feeling a throb in his shoulder in addition to the numerous other injuries he'd already received, "Maybe I should have completed the pervy sage's training before I started going up against these types of guys."

He watched his opponent rise to his feet from a ruined building several streets across from him. To his ultimate disappointment, he noticed that the man didn't even seem hurt in the slightest.

Dammit, We can't keep going on like this!, he cursed. Guy's strength would only increase as darkness fell, and although Naruto felt sure he could still best the man; there were other matters that needed attending to. Kyo and Samui were still wounded, and he couldn't possibly risk their safety for his petty revenge, in the case Council reinforcements decided to show up. Therefore, he made a decision that he would have never believed making only one week ago.

He retreated.

"Deidara, we're leaving!", he yelled, even as he watched Guy power up with a roar and prepare to blast towards him.

"What?!", the artist yelled back incredulously, still weaving across the air like crazy, "You're seriously gonna leave you new guild building behind? You?"

Naruto couldn't allow himself to answer. He waited till the last possible second before successfully leaping away from Guy's charge.

"Food cart destroyer", he whispered.

The green-clad mage was too busy righting himself from his charge, that he didn't notice the five thousand ton of toad meat summoned right on top of him… until he was buried almost four feet into the ground.

Okay, so it was a dirty tactic, but Naruto didn't exactly care at this point.

He landed atop the humongous, strange-looking toad (almost the size of a small hill) and yelled once more hastily, "Deidara!"

A loud explosion resounded and the blond artist rocketed out of the sky, crashing to a painful stop next to his leader's feet; a shit-eating grin on his face. However, his left sleeve; which he clutched in his right hand, seemed shrunken and emancipated.

What did you do?, Naruto began to ask, but a feral shout caused him to glance out to the streets below. A grave-looking Pakura strode forward, out of the smoke; her head practically bald save for a few choice strands. Death radiated out of her in the form of a massive, pinkish hue.

"Uh-oh", he gulped, "Who's that?"

"Some girl I dated". Deidara took one look at her and cringed, "You better get us out of here, leader. It won't be pretty."

"Right", Naruto mumbled, gathering his wits about him, "Get in."

"Get in? But what happened to the other two – not that I really care, mind you. And what about our gui…?", the other man trailed off; realization creeping into his features. He slapped a palm to his face and moaned, "Don't tell me. This is our Guild house?"

Naruto's response was a grin, and Deidara felt the rough, gland-filled surface open up beneath him, before he fell into a freefall; into the depths of the guild house-now-turned-amphibian below.

Naruto was just about preparing to follow after him, when he noticed a small crowd gathered just outside of the edge of the battle radius. Amongst them were a few of the townspeople he had come to be somewhat familiar with.

There was lumberjack Wes and his two younger brothers; Russell and Lowe, miner Hampton, Gustov the butcher, old man Damien; along with his goats and his now heavily pregnant wife; Miriam. Farmer Mason stood beside his teenage daughter Annabelle; her whitish-blond hair fluttering softly in the wind. Right next to them was the entire Le Fau family, Petunia, Old crone, Elijah Whitaker; and Naruto could have sworn he spotted Inari the bartender lingering just behind the back of the crowd. Everyone looked at him with varying degrees of fear or awe on their faces (all except Inari, who remained as bland as ever), and Naruto was suddenly filled with an epiphany.

He loved this people. He could just imagine himself settling in this quaint, little town someday.

"Wisteria town!", he yelled at the top of his lungs, feeling he had to say something, "I am Naruto Uzumaki; toad sage and second Guild Master of the Toadstool guild! Do not be afraid! You have all just witnessed the birth of what would someday become the greatest guild in all of Fiore, and for that, I am most grateful! Thank you… Thank you all for your patience and kindly treatment towards me! And I assure you, you would not be disappointed! The wretched Council might try to break our spirits, but they would never succeed! This marks the beginning of a new era! An era of…!" Three blaze orbs flew past his head at that moment, almost killing him on the spot.

"Wellthen!", he squeaked rapidly, watching a deranged Pakura charge up a frighteningly huge, skull-like orb, "We'llbegoingnow. Dohaveaniceday!"

He made a magic seal and vanished; even as the mutant toad took a giant leap across the length of the town – shrinking into normal size mid-air – before disappearing into the mountains.

His actions that day put Wisteria on the map and gave the townspeople enough gossip to feed their descendants for generations.

The legend of the Toadstool guild had begun.

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CHAPTER END

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A/n: I am not dead yet. I have not dropped out of existence either. I simply could not find the time. This chapter was a real bitch to write, taking me several long weeks to edit and an hour more to upload. In hindsight, I realize I have gone back on my promise to release shorter, more concise, straight-to-the-point chapters, and that is a flaw in my writing I shall begin working in earnest to correct immediately.

Yoshino Island in the last chapter was inspired by – unfortunately, no one guessed right – Isengard in the LOTR universe. Therefore, since no one guessed it right, nobody gets to have me include their OCs in this story (tongue out). The three wizard saints of war were called in by the Council to quell the unrest, and something happened in there that seems to have tainted dear Lahar more than a little bit.

The Council members are not OCs. They are actually the real Council members as depicted in the anime. However, since I didn't know their real names, I had to make up mine for them. I hope no one is pissed about that. Kyo is my only original character in this story. There might be one more later on, but neither of them would take any attention off of Naruto.

A few people have asked about the pairing. My favorite Fairy tail babe of all time is Mirajane, but I doubt I'm going to impose that selfishly on you guys. I wrote this story without a pairing in mind, and for the most part, I'm glad I did so. However, should one ever crop up, it would be a pairing so weird and terribly dastardly that no one in their right senses would have ever thought to see coming.

Did anyone enjoy the inclusion of Pakura? I know I did.

Er, like I mentioned before, this story would only stick to canon facts released up until the Grand magic games arc (and by extension, the sun village one), ergo, it would probably have conflicting material with anything that follows up after that in the Fairy tail manga. Why? Because it would be a pain adjusting my storyline to continually fit each weekly release, and I like my story better this way, anyway.

I like to chat with my readers (hey, is anyone even reading this?), which brings me to my final note: HOW COME THIS STORY DOESN'T HAVE ANY MORE REVIEWS, GODDAMMIT? It's kind of bad that I put so much effort in this, and get almost nothing in return. I want to improve as an author. I need some constructive criticism! And I get that sometimes readers have nothing helpful to say, but even then, a small appreciative review would be nice. I'm a slow updater, yes. But don't you think I'd be faster if I got enough feedback to motivate me? Huh?

That is not to say I'm unappreciative of all those who did review, and for the little you gave me, I thank you. Seriously. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

Next issue; Stop the desert tide. The release date is sometime before this month runs out. I'm planning for a monthly release, maybe twice a month if I can help it.

Take care, you peeps. Feel free to ask any questions if you have any.

REVIEW!