Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

"Human Speaking"

'Human Thinking'

"Demon/Summon Speaking"

'Demon Thinking'

"So, what you're telling me is that you faced a demon of Zeref, as well as Black Fire's strongest mage, and managed to beat them both?"

Makarov said, his eyebrows raised with an incredulous look on his face. Naruto nodded in confirmation, prompting him to continue.

"And said Black Fire mage was controlled against her will and is standing beside you, wanting to join Fairy Tail? She's also Erza's surrogate older sister?"

Another silent nod, this time with Erza joining in as well. Katsumi straightened out slightly at being mentioned, hoping the supposedly benevolent Guild Master would accept her into Fairy Tail.

Makarov stared at the two, before sighing. He opened his drawer, pulling out a bottle of sake. Throwing his head back, the three before him watched as his chugged the entire bottle in two seconds, before putting it down and returning his attention to them.

"I'm getting too old for this shit."

And so, Katsumi was enlisted as yet another member of Fiore's number one guild, Fairy Tail. Erza had been overjoyed, immediately dragging Katsumi to Kami knows where to catch up after spending years apart.

'Another day, another mission that almost resulted in my horrible death.'

Sighing, Naruto calmly watched the members of Fairy Tail partying like no tomorrow. They were most definitely a rowdy bunch. It was a welcome change of pace compared to the seriousness of his comrades back home, though it was almost too rowdy for him at times. It was like they never took a break from the partying and drinking to do anything else.

"Aren't you going to join in?"

Naruto lazily tilted his head to see Mirajane smiling at him as she dried a beer mug.

"Nah. I'm tired, and I need sleep. I'm just about to head down to the basement to pass out," he replied truthfully, returning her smile.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but Master wanted to talk to you about something in his office," she informed him. Naruto sighed, slightly disappointed that his sleep would be held off for a bit longer.

"Right, I'll head over right now."

'I knew I wasn't lucky enough for him to not call me to explain my battle or something.'

"So what did you need me for?" Naruto asked as he entered the office, closing the door behind him. The sounds of the guild were immediately silenced as he stepped in the comfortably sized room.

Makarov looked at him, his gaze sharp.

"You've caused quite a bit of trouble, you know?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow questioningly, his silent urge for elaboration answered a moment later. "You pretty much singlehandedly defeated Enceladus, a demon of Zeref of all things, and that's prompting quite a commotion with the magic council."

Naruto looked at Makarov, keeping his face blank. On the inside he was facepalming slightly. It seemed his attempts to lay low really weren't working out.

'Of course, I just had to do something big.'

"It's not really a cause for concern, but they want you to report to the Magic Council in Era and recount your mission in a month's time," Naruto let out a breath that he didn't notice he had been holding. He was relieved that he wasn't really in trouble. At most the probably wanted a mission report.

'I was expecting something so much worse. But I should probably be careful while I'm there. Who knows what else they might ask. I wonder why they're giving me a month?'

"Oh well, okay. Anything else you need?"

Makarov shook his head.

"Well then, I'll be heading out to pass out in the basement. Ciao," Naruto promptly turned and left, not wasting a second as he ran to the basement. He made sure to carefully avoid any guild members, lest he be caught in their celebrations.

'Because everything going the way I planned it would be too freaking mainstream.'

"What do you think of him, Erza?" Makarov asked her, fingers intertwined as he sat at his desk. The mage before him was thoughtful as she recalled her meeting with the man.

"He's certainly a very strong mage, Master," she began. "At the end of his battle with the demon, he was faced with this giant blue ball of magic. Yet he never faltered in his step, and responded with an attack of his own. Mystogan and I were both blinded, but it's obvious his attack overpowered the demon's. I've never felt such a concentrated release of energy from anyone."

The new mage raised many alarms in Erza's head. Where had he come from? How had he gone unnoticed for this long, considering how powerful he was? A mage of his caliber did not appear out of thin air, with spells capable of overpowering those created by demons. These questions would make any person suspicious.

Yet, for the life of her, she could not see him as a threat. It was perhaps naive of her to do so, simply because he had spared her sister. Yet something about him spoke to Erza. She knew, that without a doubt, he would do anything for his friends.

Makarov sighed. "That boy is hiding something. I don't think it's anything serious, but he's definitely keeping it to himself. So young, and already weighed down by burdens."

Erza was confused at this statement. "He seemed rather carefree to me," she commented.

Makarov shrugged. "When you get to my age, you can tell things like these. His expressions are definitely carefree, but there is hidden depths in his eyes. Of course, I can only hope he finds someone to confide in here."

Erza nodded, clearly understanding what he meant now. Everyone had their monsters locked away in their closets. And while she would be a hypocrite to force him to confess his, she too hoped that he would speak to someone, if only because she knew what it was like to have no one. Fairy Tail had been where she found her solace, as had many others, and she hoped that he would find his.

Naruto woke up late for a shinobi. Looking at the alarm clock beside his makeshift bed, he noticed that it was nine o'clock. Blinking the crustiness out of his eyes, he got up and headed towards the showers at a brisk pace, intent on quickly heading out and training like crazy.

Fifteen minutes and a relaxing shower later, he was heading up the stairs towards the main hall, gathering his thoughts.

'I need to get better. Madara is going to find this place eventually, and when he does, I'll have to fight him. For that, I need Kyuubi's chakra. To get that, I need to beat Kyuubi. Man, someone up there really freaking hates me,' he whined, though he had every reason to do so. The challenges he faced were things that most normal people would not ever face in their lives. Not to mention, these challenges had been at nearly every corner of his life so far. He was sure this was bad karma for being a serial killer or something.

Perhaps he had been a serial killer that fed his victims poisoned ramen. To make such a mockery of the food of the gods would most definitely warrant severe punishment. If that had been what he had truly done, then Naruto supposed he deserved even worse. Perhaps he would have to face a Madara Uchiha that contained the full power of the Sage of Six Paths, and Naruto would somehow meet the real sage and receive half his power, with Sasuke receiving the other half. And because Sasuke was still in their home dimension, Naruto would have to face the ultimate villain with only half of said villain's power, and then the Kyuubi would be ripped from him, and then Madara would destroy this world, and then-

"Where are you going?" A distinctly feminine and dignified voice called from behind him, pulling Naruto from his erratic thought processes. Naruto decided he would have to reign in his imagination. There was no possible way Madara would ever magically get the powers of the Sage. Nope. Not at all. No way.

Looking back, he noticed Katsumi behind him, dressed in her usual attire, with the exception of wearing athletic pants with a kimono-like top rather than a full kimono. A later of white bandages tightened the top at her midriff, her katana sheathed at her side.

"Just heading out to train a bit. How come?"

Katsumi stared at him curiously.

"You seem plenty strong already. What reason would you have to train even more?"

Naruto thought over her question, feeling a sense of deja vu from when Makarov had asked him the same thing a few days earlier, before shrugging.

"Well, you can never be too strong. And I wanna get stronger so that I can protect my precious people better," he replied truthfully, memories flashing to Haku.

Katsumi nodded, though she still looked slightly confused. Naruto had defeated her with seeming ease, as he hadn't actually been injured or hit by any of her attacks. While she had powered down her magic so as to not leave lasting injuries or kill him, Katsumi doubted she would be able to win even if she had gone all out.

"Well then, I'll train with you," Katsumi said with a stare that dared him to deny her.

Naruto opened his mouth to do just that, until he saw the look on her face. Having dealt with such a look multiple times from Sakura, he immediately shut his mouth. He wasn't sure if Katsumi was prone to random acts of violence, but if she was, Naruto would rather eat Sakura's punches than Katsumi's sword.

'I've known Sakura-chan long enough to know what that look means,' he thought with a light shiver as images of his mutilated body flashed his mind at the thought of denying Katsumi.

Naruto led Katsumi towards a different clearing from the one he had discovered and used earlier. Looking around to survey the area, Naruto nodded to himself, and created a Shadow Clone, overloading it with chakra. Giving it a look, the clone nodded to it's creator, understanding it's task.

'This way, I'll be able to keep training with Wind Chakra and still be able to train with Katsumi.'

Looking back at her, he noticed that she was slightly slack-jawed at the sight of the clone. Before she could ask, Naruto took it upon himself to explain.

"It's one of my signature jut-magics. It was actually the first one I learned. And yeah, that's a solid clone."

At the explanation, Katsumi gathered herself and nodded.

"I see. Anyway, what is our plan for today?"

Naruto scratched his chin in thought. He usually knew what to do, but telling someone before he actually did it was much harder than it looked. It was like he instinctively went through exercises.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to come along, so I guess doing some warm up stretches and exercises, and then have a couple of hand to hand spars, no magic."

Katsumi nodded her consent.

"Very well. Whenever you're ready."

Three long, intense hours of training later, Naruto and Katsumi were both sweating heavily and attempting to catch their breaths. Gulping in precious, and much needed oxygen, Naruto managed to get enough into his lungs to formulate relatively coherent sentences.

"It's so...much better...training...with another...person," he managed to get out between pants. Katsumi nodded tiredly, too tired to even focus on anything but essential life functons, her chest rising and falling as she lay on the ground, resting. The ground was so soft that she could almost fall asleep. At this rate, she probably would.

"That was...certainly...very...strenuous," she managed to reply after a while.

Naruto nodded, going over the past three hours in his head. After doing about a half hour of stretching, they had proceeded with an hour of doing various exercises. The rest of the time was spent sparring.

'She's good with that sword of hers. I'm pretty sure she was holding back when we fought. That sword is scary.'

Naruto was slightly traumatized by the amount of times he had almost been horribly decapitated by that sword. Maybe those visions of mutilation hadn't been that far off from the real thing.

'Indeed it is.'

Naruto blinked at the voice. 'Kyuubi?'

'No, the other giant, 100 foot tall, nine-tailed fox inside your head. Who else?' Kyuubi said, his voice overflowing with sarcasm.

Naruto scowled in response, though he didn't allow his expression in real life change. 'What do you want? And how are you talking to me?'

'Well, I only recently found out I could talk to you like this. Anyway, I noticed you fighting the vixen, so I wanted to suggest that you learn how to use a sword from her.'

'Why?'

Naruto couldn't see Kyuubi, but he could practically feel the 'You're an idiot' look that Kyuubi was giving him. A light smacking sound resounded from his head, and Naruto mentally sweatdropped as he realized the Kyuubi had facepalmed. Or was it facepawed?

'Kid, you have a Wind affinity. Which means you can sharpen your weapons so they can cut through pretty much anything. Having a sword to channel chakra through would be much more powerful than your pathetic kunai. Besides, that way, when we fight, you might be able to do some halfway decent damage."

'Go screw yourself, fuzzy. And fine, I'll ask her.'

"-ruto. Naruto!" Naruto blinked, seeing Katsumi waving her hand in front of his face, looking just about ready to slap him if need be.

"Huh? I mean sorry, just zoned out a bit. What were you saying?"

"It is of no consequence. I was suggesting that we head back to the guild to get something to eat."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

Picking himself painfully off the ground, he held out a hand for Katsumi to take. Katsumi took it graciously, smirking ever so slightly. "Why thank you, kind sir."

Naruto grinned in response, otherwise remaining silent. Still grinning, the mage and the shinobi began walking back towards Fairy Tail. Deciding that now would be the best time, Naruto cleared his throat and spoke.

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to use a sword?"

Katsumi looked at him, surprised. "What reason would you have to wield a sword?"

"Well, it's actually for a magic I'm working on. I can use my kunai, but using a sword would make it much more effective. And you seem like you know what you're doing in terms of using a sword, so you're kinda the best person for me to ask."

"I suppose I can teach you."

Naruto grinned widely.

"But, I want you to teach me something in return."

Naruto frowned slightly, having been hoping that she would be nice and just teach him. What could he even teach her? Other than some more taijutsu, and maybe some weapons training, there was not much really the swordswoman needed to work on. 'I guess I'll offer that, and see if she agrees.'

"Well, the only thing I can teach you is more about hand to hand combat, since I noticed yours was a little rusty. And I also make a pretty good sparring partner," Katsumi stared at him, causing him to wonder if she would agree or not. Finally, she inclined her head ever so slightly.

"That seems fair. Very well then, I will teach you the way of the sword, and you can help me with my hand to hand. Same time tomorrow?" Naruto let out a hidden breath of relief.

"Sweet! And, uh, yeah, that sounds good."

"But you will have to buy your own sword. We'll use wooden swords in the meantime for practice though," she said, Naruto nodding his understanding a moment later.

"Yeah, no problem. Let's hurry up and go back now, cause I'm really hungry."

Arriving back at the guild, the time now just past noon, they both noticed that the guild members were engaged in a brawl. Naruto, having seen this before, just sweat dropped and opted to let them deal with it. Katsumi, still being new, was staring at the guild members with a raised eyebrow and slight concern at the bar fighting. Seeing this, Naruto spoke up.

"Don't worry, they do this all the time. It's all frie-" Naruto was cut off by a random mug sailing through the air and hitting him upside the head. His eye twitching, he turned to face the guild, only for Gray to come sailing out of nowhere and land on him. Pushing him aside, Naruto looked up once again, the twitch even bigger, only to be punched in the face by Natsu, who had been aiming for Gray. The tick mark looked practically ready to explode. And explode it did.

"Oh, sorry Naruto, didn't see you the-"

"You're all so freaking dead!"

Punching Natsu into the ground, he picked him up by the leg and started spinning him around. With a feral roar, he jumped into the fray, using Natsu to knock around Fairy Tail members left and right. Naruto glanced down at Natsu momentarily, noticing that he was unconscious from the spinning. Deciding to let the kid off the hook, he spun him on final time, and flung him at Loke, who was knocked unconscious by the flying Natsu.

Grinning viciously, Naruto picked up two random guild members he didn't know, who he would later learn to be Jet and Droy, and charged once more, causing mass amounts of collateral damage to the guild wherever he went.

Half an hour later, the unconscious guild members, which was the whole guild, bar Naruto, Katsumi, and Mirajane, were stacked in a massive pile, with Naruto sitting at the top, picking at his fingernails nonchalantly. Katsumi gazed at him with severe amusement on her face.

"Did you really have to go that far?"

Naruto whistled innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Katsumi shook her head, exasperated by the behaviour of the man who had defeated her. Sure, he seemed lighthearted while they fought, but this was even more than she thought him to be capable of. Mirajane giggled slightly, before suddenly frowning.

"Master's not going to be happy at the amount of damage we did to the guild when he gets back."

Looking around the guild, Mirajane noted that Naruto had done more damage than the whole guild put together. Or was it the guild members doing the damage? Naruto had only really thrown them around, so it was their bodies doing the actual damage to the guild.

"Oh come on, how bad will it be?" he asked.

As if to answer his question, Makarov walked into the guild.

"Hey everyo-" Makarov paused, looking around the guild and nodding to himself. Naruto eyed him, slightly nervous for what his reaction would be.

"I see, so that's what happened. If you'll excuse me, I'll start hyperventilating in that corner over there," Makarov said, before proceeding to walk over to said corner. He sat down, hugging his knees tight to his chest, and began rocking back and forth, muttering to himself as his eyes bugged out.

"That's right, just a dream. A really bad dream. I'll wake up really soon. I want my mommy."

Naruto sweat dropped.

"Well, I stand corrected."

A few hours later, when everyone had woke up, and Makarov had finally accepted reality, Naruto was finally sitting down, eating some ramen.

'Well, that was fun. I should probably go grab a job or something. But something a little easier, and more solo.'

Naruto paused in his thoughts, feeling his clones dispelling themselves.

'Huh, what do you know? Turns out I finally managed to learn those other jutsus.'

Grinning a bit at his accomplishment, Naruto downed the rest of the broth, and headed towards the job board. Arriving, he noticed Katsumi there, looking over the jobs.

"Hey Katsumi."

She spun around, startled, only to relax when she realized that it was just Naruto.

"Oh, hello Naruto. Come for a job?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I was getting pretty bored, and I need the money since I can't keep bunking in the guild basement. Plus, it's not really the most comfortable thing."

"I see. If you don't mind, could you take a job with me?"

Naruto blinked.

"Um, yeah sure, why not? Which one?"

"Why don't you choose?"

Turning his attention to the job board, he carefully looked at each one, trying to find a good job. Finding one, he pointed it out for Katsumi to approve.

"How about this one? It's for demolishing a castle, and the pay is 400 000 Jewels. We can split, 200 000 each."

"Alright then. I will meet you tomorrow morning at the same time. We can go after we train."

"Alrighty!" he replied cheerfully, giving her a two fingered salute and an eye smile. Back in Konoha, a certain silver-haired shinobi was filled with an overwhelming sense of pride, despite the dark days looming ahead.

At nine o'clock, Naruto met with Katsumi again. Nodding to her, they began walking to the clearing they were at yesterday. Glancing at her, Naruto noticed that she was carrying a duffel bag, and was also dressed differently from yesterday. She was now wearing a t-shirt, with a unzipped hoodie over top, revealing small amounts of cleavage.

Wow, her boobs definitely looked gre- Naruto tore his eyes forcefully away from her at his last thought, scowling. 'Stupid ass Ero-Sennin. Even after dying, he's still out to get me.'

There was no way he would become a pervert!

Arriving at the middle of the field, Katsumi dropped her bag and pulled out two objects. Squinting, Naruto noticed that they were bokken, or wooden practice swords.

Katsumi tossed one to Naruto, who caught it with little effort, only for his arms to drop suddenly at the unexpected weight of the damn thing.

"What the hell?! This has to be a hundred pounds!"

Katsumi smirked a bit as he continued to rant, before deciding to tell him. "There's Gravity Runes on those swords to increase strength and speed. Since you were as strong as me in our fight, I put the settings to level 5, out of ten levels in total."

Naruto groaned lightly. Now having adjusted slightly, it wasn't that he would have problems holding it up. No, the problem would lie in moving it around against somehow who clearly practiced at this level of weight at an appropriate speed so as not to get hit. At least now he understood how her sword strikes were so fast.

"I'm gonna hate this aren't I?"

Katsumi's smirk only grew larger, giving Naruto all the answer he needed.

"Well, shit."

Naruto and Katsumi dragged themselves back to the guild to grab their things. While they had worked on swordsmanship for the first half, which involved utter torture for Naruto, they had done hand to hand for the second half, which Naruto severely enjoyed. He had made it absolute hell on Katsumi, going all out and using all sorts of tricks to confuse her. It was satisfying after the hell she had put him through. At least now they were even.

Long story short, both were dead tired from training, but feeling rather satisfied as well. Katsumi because she felt that she had improved much in their short time training, and Naruto because his clones had been working on his wind affinity and improved it to battle worthy levels. He was still far from what Asuma-sensei had been capable of, but he could now boast to be as good as Sora was since they last met.

Upon walking into the guild, he and Katsumi were immediately called over by Mirajane.

"Hey, Mira! What's up?"

"Nothing much. I was just wondering where you and Katsumi have been disappearing off too these past couple days. Is there something going on between you two?" Mira asked him, her eyes twinkling suggestively. Naruto furiously waved his hands in front of himself, especially praying now that Katsumi wasn't like Sakura. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that she was perfectly calm, and not about to castrate him. He sighed in relief, before replying, a light touch of embarrassment in his tone.

"No! We just go to train! Right, Katsumi?"

"That is correct, Mira-san."

Mirajane shrugged, smiling at the two. "Well, what can I get you two?"

"You already know for me Mira! Ramen!"

"And you, Katsumi?"

"I'll take ramen as well."

Mirajane disappeared into the kitchen. A couple minutes later, two steaming hot bowls of ramen were placed in front of them. Being extremely tired and exhausted, the two dug into their meal voraciously, finishing the bowl in a matter of seconds.

"Seconds!" They both said, though Katsumi in a more polite tone than Naruto's boisterous one. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the fact she had finished at the same time as him. Now that was impressive.

Mirajane only giggled, before immediately refilling their bowls with a snap of her fingers. She turned around, only to hear a cry for more the second she did.

Turning around, she sweatdropped to find Naruto and Katsumi staring each other down, eyes narrowed and lightening shooting between them.

'Is this some sort of competition?'

It was many bowls later than Naruto and Katsumi finished their unannounced eating competition, having both clocked out at twenty bowls of ramen each, on the mutual agreement that it would not do to be overstuffed before the mission.

Naruto rolled his shoulders as he sat in the train that was taking them to a town near the castle. It had been about four hours into the trip, and Katsumi had long since fallen asleep in the seat in front of him, resting her body from the intense training. He himself had only awoken a few minutes ago, having also slept to avoid the majority of the trip.

According to the brochure provided, they were nearing the town of Thela, which was about a mile from the castle they had been tasked to destroy. However, they would first need to locate the mayor of the town, who was the client for their mission. The mission was listed as urgent, though apparently they had up to a week to destroy it, in case they ran low on magic.

A half hour later, as Naruto was gazing out the window to stave off boredom, an attendant came by to tell him that they were almost at Thela, and that he should prepare to get off the train. Smiling in thanks, he dismissed the attendant, before turning back to the sleeping Katsumi. Reaching a hand out, he lightly shook her shoulder.

"Katsumi, wake up, we're almost-"

BAM!

CRACK!

"Ow, fuck!"

Katsumi yawned cutely as she awoke from her deep sleep, stretching her arms above her head.

"Where did Naruto go?"

As if to answer her question, a groan sounded from beneath her. Blinking, she looked down to see Naruto on the ground holding his head painfully, the table in between the two seats broken.

"What happened?" She asked while sweat dropping.

"I was waking you up, and then suddenly my head is bursting with pain and the tables broken. I think you punched me," He said, causing her sweat drop to increase further while looking slightly sheepish.

"Oh, sorry about that. In my years of hunting Dark Guilds, I learned to defend myself even in my sleep."

Naruto nodded at the answer, his head now magically healed. He could definitely agree with the wisdom in the words, considering that was something shinobi also developed over the years. Of course, their reasons were a bit different. "That makes sense. But you shouldn't have that instinct around allies, cause comrades don't hurt each other."

Turning to her, he noticed her staring at him.

"What?"

She pointed to his head. "Just ten seconds ago you were clutching your head in extreme pain and bleeding, and now you're just magically healed?"

Naruto shrugged. "I heal fast," he said, as if that explained everything.

Katsumi shook her head, not wanting to think too much of it. Magic was confusing after all.

"Whatever. Let's just go to the town now, before they notice we broke the table."

"Um, but shouldn't we pay?"

"No, of course not. Let's go," Katsumi answered as if that was the most obvious thing in the world, proceeding to grab him by the arm and throw him out the window. Throwing some jewels onto the broken table after deciding to be responsible, she jumped out after him. Unfortunately, her foot caught on the window sill while jumping, causing her to flail her arms as she fell forward.

Cursing silently as he righted himself, Naruto jumped upon noticing her slip and caught her mid-air. The momentum causing them to hit the ground, rolling over one another as gravity dragged them down the hill. When all was said and done, Katsumi was lying on top of him, straddling him.

"Thank you," she said, breathing heavily, head spinning. As she finally got her bearings, her face broke out in a light blush.

"What's wrong? You're getting a bit red," Naruto asked in mild concern. She didn't answer, instead opting to point down. He looked, just now noticing the position they were in, before also blushing.

"Oh. Oh!"

Scrambling off him, Katsumi looked away, still blushing. Naruto looked in the other direction, not meeting her eyes. After an awkward silence that lasted a few moments, she finally spoke.

"We should, um, go to the town and complete our job."

Naruto grunted, choosing to not say anything. He would not go back on his promise of not becoming a pervert. Ero-sennin would not win!

Glancing at the sign of Thela, Naruto noticed it was nothing like the town from his previous mission. Unlike the other town, which had an oppressive feeling hanging over it, this one seemed to be bustling with life, and overflowing with happiness. Merchants were manning the stalls, with townsfolk wandering about, looking through the variety of things available.

"Thela is one of the larger merchant towns in Fiore. Merchants frequently pass through the city to sell their wares, making it one of the central trading towns of Fiore, as well as a prominent tourist attraction," Katsumi read out loud from her brochure.

"I wonder if we can stay a while after completing the job to go shopping?" She mused, looking at Naruto expectantly. "Right?"

Naruto nodded. "Alright. I wanted to see if I can get some books on magic here anyway."

Katsumi smiled slightly in response. "Thank you. We should probably see the mayor anyway."

Nodding, Naruto motioned for her to lead the way, which she did. A few minutes later, they were standing outside the Town Hall of Thela, which was bursting with people moving to and from the hall, busy with work.

Walking inside, they noticed a receptionist furiously scribbling something on paper. Noticing them, she glanced up, a bright smile on her face.

"Oh, hello! How may I help you?"

"We would like to see the mayor. We are mages from Fairy Tail, here on a job request."

Looking at another paper, she once more turned to them, handing them a small rectangular card. "Certainly. The mayor is free at the moment, so you may go right in. Just insert this into the door when he permits you to enter. His office is the centre room on the top floor."

Katsumi nodded to her. "Thank you."

Walking towards the stairs, Naruto and Katsumi took in the sights around them. There were many paintings decorating the walls, portraying a variety of things. Some seemed to be portraits of people. 'Probably the previous mayors,' Naruto inferred. Others were depictions of various sceneries, from the city they were in to beautiful landscapes.

"Quite lovely, aren't they?"

Naruto and Katsumi spun around to see a jolly looking old man smiling at them. He was dressed in a black tuxedo with a matching white shirt. A large black wool coat draped over his shoulders to match the suit. The man laughed joyously at their surprise. "Please, forgive me. I appear to have startled you."

Katsumi just shook her head. "It is no problem. May I ask who you are?"

The man smiled more, his eyes twinkling. "I'm Black. Don Black, mayor of Thela."

As soon as he said this, Naruto and Katsumi both straightened. Noticing this, Don waved his hand casually.

"Now now. No need for such seriousness. You must be the mages I hired for the castle, correct?"

Katsumi nodded, whereas Naruto gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

"Wonderful! Please, come inside my office, and we will discuss the details, though there is not much to be discussed."

Seating himself, the mayor gestured for Naruto and Katsumi to sit as well.

"Now, as you know, your job is to destroy an old castle. It is rather ancient, and the stone making it up is quite unique. It attracts monsters to it after a certain time of being in existence. It is reaching the age, and the Magic Council requested we destroy it and send them the fragments for them to put them into use. So, your job is to simply destroy the castle. We will gather the fragments ourselves, so you do not need to worry about that."

Naruto nodded. "Alright. Is it alright if we do it tomorrow? I need some time to prepare the materials that I'll need. Plus, Katsumi wanted to go shopping for a bit and I wanted to look for some magic stores."

The mayor agreed, not really in too much of a hurry. The two beside him both seemed to be capable in their own right. "Certainly. Take your time with your date."

Naruto and Katsumi blushed as one. "He's/she's not my date!"

The mayor chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "If you say so. But when you get as old as me, you'll notice these things a lot. Anyway, I have took the liberty to book you a hotel to stay in, called the Golden Star, under the name Black."

Naruto and Katsumi both nodded stiffly, registering the information and taking their leave quickly.

"Ah, to be young again."

After exiting the building, Naruto and Katsumi chose to go their separate ways. Katsumi merely wandered off, saying that she wanted to look at the various stores and keep an eye out for deals, leaving Naruto to look for a magic shop. They had agreed to meet at eight o'clock, which left Naruto with 2 hours to do, well, whatever. With that, Naruto walked off in a random direction, hoping to find a magic store.

After half an hour of searching, and with no luck, Naruto finally decided to just ask someone. He asked a random towns person, who pointed him in the right direction.

After just five minutes of walking, Naruto came across the magic store, with large block letters reading 'Rocky's Magic Emporium' at the forefront of the store, brightly lit via a lacrima. Walking inside, he was immediately greeted by a gruff, but still friendly-sounding voice.

"What can I help you with?"

Turning to face the source, he noticed a large man, his body made up of rectangles and squared off, pun intended.

"I was looking for some books on Wind Magic."

The man thought for a moment before responding. "Sure, I give you some good ones. Name's Rocky by the way, owner of this humble shop."

Rocky wandered into the back of his store, coming back a few minutes later, carrying a stack of books, before sorting them into fours piles of three, with the last pile having only two.

"I wasn't too sure if you were a beginner or not, so I brought books from the Beginner level to the Master level. Each pile has an introductory book, a theory book, and a book filled with various spells. Of course, the master level doesn't have too many spells available, so the spells are part of the theory book. Masters create their own spells, and are pretty secretive about what they are. Not too mention that you don't see many mages that use Wind Magic."

Naruto groaned mentally. 'Great. The element that I can do is the rarest of the most common magics. What did I do in my past life to deserve this?'

'You know, I liked the mass murderer idea from before,' Kyuubi chimed in helpfully.

'...You might be on to something, fox.'

"I'll take the Advanced and Master level books for theory and spells," Naruto told him. Rocky grabbed the desired books and headed to the cash register. He punched in a few buttons, bringing up the total.

"That'll be Nine Thousand Five Hundred Jewels."

Naruto handed him the amount, having more than enough Jewels from his winnings, as well as his previous mission, eagerly grabbing his books to read and learn new spells from.

"Thanks!"

Arriving at the hotel, he checked in with the receptionist and headed to his room. The hotel itself was rather extravagant, and so was his room. It had a two large king sized beds that were covered by expensive silk sheets. The rest of the room was no joke either, with plush couches and a bookshelf filled with books of many different genres.

"Damn! This room's awesome! I gotta remember to thank the mayor later!" Naruto yelled as he jumped onto the bed and sank comfortably into the large mattress. Lying on his side, Naruto spread out his purchases in front of himself, and pick up the book called Advanced Theory: Wind Magic. Shuddering slightly, but enduring it for the sake of getting stronger, Naruto opened the book and began to read.

An hour of reading later, Naruto was finished reading the book. The book had talked about the various uses of Wind Magic and the many different ways it could be used for attack, defence and miscellaneous purposes. When he read about flying, Naruto had been absolutely giddy, like a child who had been told he could have all the candy in the world. How had he not thought of that before?

'I really have to figure out how to fly with chakra.'

Other than that, the uses of Wind Magic were pretty close to what one could do with a Wind Affinity normally, so recreating these spells wouldn't be as hard as he would have thought.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Naruto turned to see Katsumi stumbling in, holding multiple bags. Righting herself, she managed to get to the bed, dumping her luggage on top of it. Naruto watched her, amused.

"What's in the bags?"

"Clothes."

Naruto looked at her incredulously.

"How many clothes did you buy to warrant having 15 bags filled with them?!"

"A lot," came her simple answer. Naruto sweat dropped at the answer, shaking his head. Women and their shopping.

"Well, anyway, I'm just gonna pass out on the bed now."

"No, you can't."

Naruto blinked. "What do you mean, I can't?"

"I need someone to tell me which of these clothes I should keep, and which ones that I should return."

Naruto sighed, feeling eternal torture about to be wrought upon him. He had never been so right in his life.

"Definitely a mass murderer."

Naruto and Katsumi looked up at the massive castle towering over them. The stone making it up was a colour just slightly lighter than black. The castle itself was rather intimidating, with spikes jutting out of the walls and lots of holes where archers would have shot from.

'It's not a castle. It's a fortress,' Naruto concluded in his thoughts.

"How will we destroy the castle?" Katsumi asked from beside him.

"Well, we just need to destroy it, so why not unleash our most powerful moves on it, and hope it breaks?" Naruto responded, being unable to think of a plan better than the one suggested. Katsumi nodded, drawing her sword from its sheath. However, before she could do anything, there was a rustle from the bushes a few feet away from them, causing Naruto to grab her hand and disappear in a Shunshin to hide behind the tree line.

Looking from their hiding spots as Katsumi adjusted to the suddenly new location and sense of vertigo, they noticed a large group of men walking to the castle, led by an extremely fat man and wielding various weapons.

"So this is the castle? In which the legendary sword rests?" It was the fat man who said this, causing both Naruto and Katsumi to pay extra attention.

"Yes Boss Bora," the thuggish man to his right replied.

The fat man, Bora, laughed greedily. "Then let's go get it. We can make big money off this boys! That sword is worth ten times the payment of your average S-rank job in the black market! And that's just the starting price!"

At his statement, Katsumi's eyes widened marginally, causing Naruto to stare at her questioningly.

"That sword...It's priceless!" She whispered, causing Naruto's eyes to widen as well at the large sum of money.

"Naruto. We have to get that sword. Even if we don't sell it, a legendary sword in the hands of criminals is dangerous."

"Well, then why don't we let them get it for us, then beat them up, and take it?"

Katsumi nodded excitedly, her eyes still locked on their new enemies. "Sounds good."

It didn't take long for the men to disappear into the castle and come back holding a sword. It was the length of your average katana, seemingly average and without any special attributes. Bora drew it from it's sheath, revealing a wicked black blade that radiated evil. Deep inside Naruto, Kyuubi stirred.

'Kit, that sword...'

'What about it?'

'It's...evil. No...more like it's...sentient. It has a mind of its own. I can sense a powerful presence from the blade.'

'Should we destroy it then?'

'No! Are you stupid?! Look at that blade carefully, fool! See how sharp it is?!' Naruto looked, and indeed, it was sharp. This was further ensured when Bora swung the blade at a tree, slicing through it like a knife through butter.

'Shit! That's sharp!'

'Exactly! If you were to get that blade, and apply your wind chakra, can you imagine any defense stopping you?'

Naruto shook his head.

'Exactly! Now go get that sword! That man, Bora, he's leaving!'

"Katsumi," Naruto began, "You get the grunts. I'll head for the sword."

She looked like she wanted to go after the blade herself, but she conceded, taking out her blade, her magic spiking. She walked out from their hiding spot, attracting the attention of the men.

"Oh, now what's a pretty little thing like you doing here? You don't wanna get hurt, now do you?"

"Whether I wish to get hurt or not is not important. What am I doing here? That is obvious," Katsumi glared at the men, her magic levels spiking further. "I'm here to take that sword off your disgusting hands."

The men stared at her, before breaking into laughter. A random grunt spoke up. "You couldn't harm a fly, so what makes you think you can hurt us? That sword of yours, I bet you can't even use it!" Katsumi narrowed her eyes in anger. No one made fun of her skill with her sword! No one!

"Then let me show you just how much I can 'use' it."

"Flame Sword Magic: Dashing Crescent Moon!"

Katsumi dashed forward, drawing her blade in a manner resembling a crescent moon. Her speed was untraceable by their eyes as she dashed through their ranks, stopping behind them, her sword arm outstretched. Calmly, she stood, and slowly slid her sword back into its sheath.

"Ha! See what I mean! That did jack sh- agh!"

The blade closed with an audible click. Suddenly, fire erupted from wounds that were not there seconds before. It exploded outward, cauterizing their wounds almost immediately as the men groaned in agony from the simultaneous pain of being cut and burned. Katsumi grimaced. That was one of the moves she had left in reserve for the lowest of the low, simply because of the amount of pain it caused. Though she supposed thugs such as them were acceptable enough to warrant the use of the move.

Naruto shivered from behind his hiding spot as he watched Katsumi decimate their ranks.

'I hope I never have to be on the receiving end of that move.'

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he ran towards where he assumed Bora would be going. It wasn't hard to catch up with him. He was walking slowly and carelessly, drowning in thoughts of money. The sword was beside him, back inside the sheath.

Pulling out a kunai, Naruto threw it in front of the man, causing him to stop abruptly, frightened.

"W-who's there?! What do you want?!"

Naruto appeared in front of him, his hand cocked back. Before Bora could get even a squeak out, he was punched by Naruto full force, and sent flying. He collided with a tree, and was knocked out immediately. Naruto stared at the sword for a second, before reaching down to pick it up. As soon as he grabbed it, his vision turned dark and he passed out.

When Naruto came to, he was standing in front of Kyuubi's cage. Kyuubi was staring at him, looking bewildered.

"Oi, fox! Why'd you call me here?"

"I didn't."

"You didn't? Then how'd I get here?"

"Because I called you here."

Spinning around, Naruto was greeted by the sight of a tall, green haired man wearing a dark green hakama, with three sword hanging from his side and his left eye closed with a scar over it, much like Kakashi's.

"Eh? Who are you? And how'd you get here?"

"I am Sandai Kitetsu, the sword that is currently held in your hand. You are given a choice. You can drop my blade, and sell it. Or, you can attempt to wield me. Be warned, I am a cursed blade. All my previous owners have died wielding me in combat. The choice is yours."

"Then, I'll be the one to break that curse." Before Kyuubi could say anything, Naruto drew the sword from its sheathe, and threw it up into the air. He held his arm out, directly below where the sword would fall. The sword came falling down.

Ten metres.

Five metres.

Four metres.

Three metres.

Two metres.

One metre.

The sword missed his arm by a hairsbreadth, embedding itself all the way to the hilt into the floor of Naruto's mind scape.

"So you have passed. Very well, you may wield me. But know this, should you falter, I will turn on you."

With those cheery words, the spiritual manifestation of the Kitetsu disappeared.

"Great. Another thing that hopes to kill me," Naruto muttered to himself. He stiffened suddenly, and turned around to face Kyuubi, who was leaking out his killing intention.

"Um, I guess you're pissed at me?"

"You know how long it would've took to heal your arm?!"

"A long time?"

"Yes! Now leave, you foolish ape. The girl is thinking you have died." Kyuubi unleashed a wave of chakra at Naruto, which collided with him and sent him barrreling out of his mindscape.

-End-

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update! It's been about a month, and I'm really sorry. I got pretty busy with my exams, but now that they're done with, I can work on updating faster.

So, Naruto and Katsumi grow closer, and Naruto gets a sword! Zoro will not be featured anymore in this story (that was more of a little tribute to One Piece), and Naruto won't be learning any special sword techniques. The sword will be a regular sword. Except super sharp and durable! So, not much of a fight this chapter, just some set up here and there.

For all those people wondering what Katsumi looks like, I put the link on my profile. I didn't colour it, so if anyone would like to colour it really nicely and send it to me, that would be great. Just don't claim rights to the original, and you can do whatever you want with it. Please PM me though to tell me if you want to colour it, just so I know. I'll have a contest for the best colour pic of her. Winner gets a virtual cookie!

Going to the poll for Naruto's second affinity, Lightning is currently in the lead with 17 votes. Yay!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chap, and thanks to all those who reviewed for the last one! I'll try to update faster from now on. Keep reviewin and let's get me to a hundred reviews!

HokagenoNaruto, out.