Hehe. So um... I know the last time I updated was on April of 2013...and it's already June of 2014... I really can't make any excuses as to why I didn't publish the last chapter during that large time interval so as the author, I'm going to have to say sorry to all the followers of this story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the last chapter of this story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Fairy Tail

`tsuginomai

"Ten minutes?!" Naruto repeated, "I only have ten minutes to get back to my world?"

"Yes! Now go! There's no time to waste! The portal is located in the middle of the city. Despite the amount of people roaming the city at this time, you'll be able to make it if you leave now," Makarov explained.

"Alright. But…" Pausing, he glanced over at the four mages that were standing right beside him. Though he didn't stay there for that long, it felt as if they all had a special connection. And despite the fact that some of them decided that they should hand him over to Cana a few hours back, he knew it was going to be difficult leaving them.

"Naruto…"

Hearing that voice, Naruto felt overjoyed that she was the one to speak up through all this. Naruto watched as Erza took a step towards him.

"Look. It may not seem like it, but we're going to miss you. …I'm going to miss you especially…"

"Excuse me?" Naruto questioned, not catching her last sentence.

"T-The point is, you should go. Don't hold back. Go back to your world. The place where you belong."

His gaze still focused on Erza, he noticed her head turn slightly to the right where Makarov was standing beside her.

"Master, would it be alright if I escort Naruto back to the portal?"

Makarov nodded, "Oh. Sure. Wha-"

"I wanna come too!"

Taking his focus off of Erza, he took notice of Natsu who shot out from the side.

Makarov clasped his hands together. "Yes yes. Go ahead. Now go! Three minutes have already passed. You only have seven minutes left! Lucy! Gray! I want you two stay here."

"What? But Master!" Lucy whined.

"We want to escort Naruto back too! How come you're making us stay?" Gray asked.

"Naruto already has two escorts," Makarov replied, "Besides, I need you two to complete a special task for me."

"Special task?" Gray repeated.

"Can't you get two other members to do it for you Master?" Lucy complained.

"Say your goodbyes here. And make it quick. The clock is ticking."

After Lucy gave Naruto a goodbye hug and Gray gave him a goodbye handshake of some sort, him, Erza, and Natsu left in a hurry.

~x~

"So where exactly is this portal?" Natsu asked, "Like, do you remember any objects or buildings that were around it?"

"Well…" Naruto thought about it for a moment, "All I remember was that there were guards near the portal. They were circling around the hole."

"Hmmm. Though that isn't much information, I think I might know where this 'hole' is located at," Erza mentioned, "Follow me." From there, Naruto and Natsu followed Erza to wherever she was leading them.

I hope she knows where she's going… Naruto thought. He wasn't exactly in a hurry to leave his friends… but judging from how much time they had, he only had six more minutes before the portal closed.

About a minute of fast-pace venturing through the city had passed and Erza was still leading them to the place she had in mind.

"Erza, are you sure you know where we're going? We really don't have much time you know," Natsu reminded her.

"Are you underestimating my navigation skills?" she responded, "Don't worry. The place I'm leading you guys to is right… here actually."

Stopping abruptly, Naruto ended up colliding against her. "Ah," Naruto took a second to rub his face from the sudden collision. As soon as he released his hand off his face, he was relieved to see the portal which was a few feet away from him.

"I knew it. The portal is here. Right next to the Palace Guards armory building," Erza stated.

"Oh. Of course…" Naruto said sarcastically.

"That's it? That's the portal? It's just a hole in the ground!" Natsu pointed out.

"Yes. What did you think it was?" Erza asked.

"Well…"

"Nevermind." Taking a deep breath, a small smile lit on Erza's face.

Just by that, Naruto instantly knew that she was trying to keep herself from having a saddened expression show up on her face.

"So Naruto, there's the portal. You better go now."

Naruto looked over at the portal which for some reason wasn't guarded by Fiore guards today. Guess they already figured the exact time the portal is going to close, he thought.

He then averted his gaze back at his friends. "Hey. I still got four more minutes to spare. Besides, I want to say a few words of goodbye before I go. Natsu…" Going over to Natsu, Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know we've only known each other for about two days… but really, you're probably going to be the one that I'm going to miss the most. Continue blasting fire on people and stuff alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Natsu stuttered. He looked as if he was about to cry. "And you make sure to keep cloning yourself okay?" As soon as he finished, Natsu also placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto smiled. He really was going to miss Natsu. "Now Erza…" Removing his hand off Natsu's shoulder, he then went over to where Erza was.

"I just wanted to say-"

Before Naruto could even finish what he was about to say, Erza pressed her lips against his. As shocked as he was, he could've sworn from the corner of his eye that he saw that Natsu was even more shocked than he was.

"No more words. Now go. I don't know how the portal works so even though you may have a minute or so, the process of closing could start."

After the shocked state he just went through, he took a few seconds to look at the both of them. He suddenly noticed a single tear trickle down Erza's cheek. Naruto felt like tearing up himself… but really, he couldn't afford to do that.

Naruto nodded in response to Erza's request. "Okay." Before he made his way to the portal, he made sure to go up to Erza once more. Leaning in close to her ear, he whispered, "I'm going to miss you Erza." After landing a single peck on her cheek, he ran over to the portal which was slowly starting to disintegrate. Before he jumped in, Naruto made sure not to look back. He swore that he heard Natsu shout 'Make sure you come back and visit somehow' before he fell completely deep in the hole.

~x~

"Is the portal almost closed yet?"

"Yes. Just a few more seconds Lady Tsunade."

Falling down through the hole this time felt a lot shorter than it did when he fell two days ago. He was glad it did though because as soon as he heard that familiar voice and what she was discussing, he called out.

"Hey! Wait! Don't close it yet!"

Turning his body around in midair, he planted his feet against the wall and instantly began running up to where the light was coming from. As he was sprinting, he noticed that the hole was getting smaller and smaller each second.

Almost there… he thought.

Closing his eyes, he hoped and prayed in his mind that he would make it out before Lady Tsunade was able to completely close the hole.

With his prayers answered, he opened his eyes when he felt a cool wind breeze hit against him. "I made it out!" he exclaimed. As soon as his eyes opened, he noticed the people that were there were just staring plainly at Naruto. Those people can include Lady Tsunade, some Anbu Black Ops, and even…

"N-Naruto?" Sakura stammered, "That's where you've been the whole time?"

Sakura? Naruto didn't expect to find her there. But that didn't really matter. To be honest, Naruto's feelings for Sakura have been completely erased as soon as he met Erza so he didn't feel exactly happy to find out that she'd been looking for him this whole time.

"Sakura-chan… I-…" Before he could finish, Sakura gave him a nice punch on the head. Naruto winced in pain.

"Idiot! Don't disappear like that ever again. You had me worried! I can't have another teammate…!"

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're back and safe Naruto. You've been gone for a few days but your disappearance seemed to have caught everyone's attention," Tsuande mentioned.

Naruto was still in a bit of pain when he responded. "Grandma, you knew about this hole?"

Lady Tsunade didn't seemed ticked off by the fact that he just called her 'Grandma' again but she nodded. "Yes. The Anbu Black Ops reported to me about it. They weren't able to discover what happens if you fall in the hole though. Tell me, what exactly did you see in the other side of this portal?"

Naruto couldn't help but smile. "Heh. You have no idea..."

Well that was it. Again, I hope you enjoyed this story!

`tsuginomai