Mirajane Strauss hummed happily to herself as she walked back to the Fairy Tail Guild Hall with a large brown paper bag of fresh groceries in tow.

The lines were longer then expected on a Wednesday morning so she took a shortcut back to the Guild Hall with supplies for dinner in hand, hoping she would make it in time. The weaving alleyways of Magnolia City were almost always free of crime because of the close proximity of two rather prominent guilds. The rarity of even a pick pocketing incident was almost non existent for those bearing the stamp of an official guild like hers.

It was why it came as such a shock when she felt a malevolent presence drop behind her, before her world went dark.

A fresh breeze gently kissed his face as Naruto's mind came into focus. He could feel the soft warm sand beneath his skin, the steady current of the ocean lazily rinsing his legs of the grime and stains of battle and grief. For the first time in his life he felt calm, and more aware of the world even with his eyes closed then he ever had before.

Is this peace? He idly thought as he forced himself to open his eyes to the new day before him.

Blue skies sprawled from the horizon with careless clouds floating towards the sea. He envied them. No worries in the world, no pain felt or tears shed. He could finally understand what Shikamaru saw in them. He saw freedom.

He almost wished that he could lay here forever basking in the rising sun, but he knew it was a hopeless dream. Too much was still at stake. Slowly he rose, stretching as he did to relieve his muscles of the tension of the journey to the battlefield and fight afterwards. A lone tear slid down his face as the image of his final sensei and friend Kirabi. Sorry Kirabi-sensei, but I don't have time to mourn for you or the others properly, but I will honor your memories. It's a promise of a lifetime.

The blond shinobi stood and surveyed his surroundings in an attempt to gather his bearings… and was shocked.

Wha? Where the hell am I? He thought helplessly as he looked around. It occurred to him that Konohagakure, being in the middle of Hi no Kuni had no beaches, and that he had never seen a tree quite like the ones that were near by. They were thin and tall, unlike the thick majestic canopies that his Village was named after. Panic began to set in as he brought his hands up to the ram sign to flood his systems with chakra and break whatever genjutsu had hold of him only to leave him breathless. Where the hell is my chakra?

It was then that he made another painful observation. He couldn't feel the corrupted presence of the Kyuubi's malevolent chakra. The blond closed his eyes in deep concentration as he willed himself within his mindscape to the prison of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

When he opened his eyes, he could only gape. The large sewer-like room that within the past two years had become more familiar to him then nearly any other location was in shambles. A large chasm stood in the space where the cage of the demonic fox once held fast. The strong iron bars that had held the beast at bay for nearly two decades were scattered around the room, twisted and jagged. No…

Naruto gulped as he slowly lifted his shaky gaze to the ceiling where the large pipes representing his immense reserves of chakra coiled between each other like a nest of snakes. Heh… no wonder I can't mould anything…

The pipes were mangled almost beyond recognition. Vicious gaping holes lined the tubes in an almost horror-like version of a flute. "My chakra…" he whimpered, feeling the full gravity of the situation as he ripped his mind from his mental realm.

He took deep breathes, Calm down Naruto, think… think… think…

An idea lit up in his head like a light bulb. Of course! Senjutsu!

He sat in the sand crossing one leg under the other and brought his hands back into the ram sign for concentration. The shinobi cleared his mind and eased his breathing even more, allowing the nature's energies to flow into him. He enveloped his body and soul into the peaceful charka and began to notice major differences between what he was used to.

For starters, it was easy to control. Before it was almost a constant battle between him and the energies over balance between physical and spirit, now it seemed tame and gentle. It had a different feel to it as well that was hard to describe, almost a different texture.

He pulsed the energy through his system in vain in an attempt to dispel any illusion that may have hold of him only to open his eyes again and look around in exasperation. There was no change.

What would Kakashi-sensei do?

Naruto slammed his palm into his forehead as his shinobi mind reverted back to lessons he hardly remembered taking. Shinobi rule # 13 - When in a strange area the first thing a shinobi should do is gather information and reassess the situation.

He stretched his senses out, blanketing the area in a thin later of the natural energy. It only served to create more questions. Not only did the trees look different, but they felt different. It was subtle, and anyone who wasn't as attuned with nature would have passed the slight differences off as nothing. Naruto however wasn't a Sage for nothing though. There was a serenity to them, a peaceful glow of energy that hummed from within in a gentle song of tranquility.

This energy… this is not Nature Chakra… he thought, as he scanned the substance. There was no mixture of physical and spiritual energy, no yin and yang about it that made chakra what it was. It was pure in a sense that even the most flawless diamond couldn't manage. The name came to him in a gust of wind, almost as if from the land itself, "Eternano…"

Naruto had no idea how he knew, but deep within his heart he knew it was right.

The energy was everywhere. It surged in each blade of grass, each breath of air. It was the force of the wind and the tide of the ocean. It was the heart of the world.

The sound of a piercing scream echoed off the trees, penetrating his soul. It was no scream of jubilation, no scream of cheer… it was a scream of pure terror.

He gathered the energy and swirled it around his calves in a manner similar to what he used with chakra and exploded deep into the tree line.

He felt them long before he saw them. Comparing the energy pools of the flora and fauna of the ever thickening forest to the two figures ahead was like comparing a glass of water to a river. The differences in the flow of energy between the duo however were like night and day. Whereas one was swirling in a reckless and chaotic pool in an almost hungering manner, the other was still and calm, like an empty lake on a breezeless day.

Naruto slowed his pace, sacrificing speed and momentum for silence and stealth. He put his years of shinobi experience to use as he cautiously crept up to the opening of a clearing.

Two people were below him, one male with a muscular physique, along with a bound female who was slightly smaller then the average height of a woman.

The male had long spiky silver hair a pair of hakama shredded at the bottom with no shirt. Blue tribal style tattoos stretched across his abdomen, chest and arms and he had a shredded scarf wrapped around his neck. Two black tattoos were on either eye in the shape of stitched scars. One of his hands held a large scythe that he propped on his shoulder while the other held a rope attached to a girl.

The girl was stunning. She had long flowing ivory hair that framed a gentle face and went down to her mid back, where it curled slightly at the ends with her bangs held up in a small upwards ponytail. Doe-like large blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. A long maroon dress covered her figure, accentuating every one of her voluptuous curves before ruffling at the waist line and spanning down her covered legs. A dirty strip of cloth was wrapped around her mouth as a gag. Her petite hands were bound together at the wrists with a thick blue rope flickering with tiny almost unseen symbols. Must be some sort of seal on it.

He watched on as she tugged against the rope with all her strength, seemingly unfazed by friction burns from the tightly coiled rope. Her long heels dug deep into the ground, making each step a chore for the other.

The man had a furious look on his face as he tried to get her to stop resisting. He tugged roughly on the line, causing her to lose her footing and fall on the ground, snapping a heel of one of her pumps, "Get up woman! None of your precious Fairy Tail losers can hear you out here. No one will save you. Just quit making it such a pain in the ass! The Balam Alliance will pay good money for you alive, but I'm sure I could get a good deal for you dead too. One could only imagine the amount of fun we could have before you finally begged for the end…" the man said with a leer.

She mumbled something through the cloth gag in her mouth and glared at the man. A look of hatred and terror mixed across her face in an expression that no one with eyes as pure as hers should have ever been forced to make.

The man began dragging her roughly across the ground, cackling. Naruto's fists clenched in fury. He could watch no longer.

Mira tried to yell at the man to no avail. The filthy gag that the man had torn off from the bottom of his already ragged and dirty trousers in order to prevent her from screaming had prevented her from making anything other then the smallest whimpers and grunts.

The back of her head ached where she had been struck, and her vision was still slightly blurry from the aftermath. She could feel where blood had crusted and scabbed, and prayed that it was just a minor concussion.

It took the woman a moment to process the gravity of his threat before tears blossomed in her eyes. The Balam Alliance… She knew exactly what those people would do to her, and she made plenty of enemies within it when she was still on the active roster.

She had tried using some of her magic, but the ropes tied to her wrists seemed to be draining her of it whenever she tried to use it.

All she could do was struggle and delay, fighting the man tooth and nail for every inch of ground he gained with hope that the guild had noticed her absence and sent people out to search for her. Mirajane was one of the most well known figures in the city, someone had to have seen something.

They traveled for what felt like hours. The constant tugging of her arms and the draining of her energy along with the tree coverage blocking out most of the sun made her lose all semblance of time. She had contemplated giving up, before dashing the thought quickly from her mind. I'm a mage of Fairy Tail. Active or not, surrender is not in our vocabulary, she thought, as a fire of determination spread through her veins.

Mirajane had always prided herself on her ability to sense the flow of the magic in world. The subtle life blood of the land she loved so much. It wasn't a common talent, in fact it was exceedingly rare. It took a great attention to detail, and something that with her natural abilities at transformation, she did phenomenally.

The energy she felt was unlike any signature she had ever come across before in her life. Everyone and everything had its own unique signature of Eternano. Every blade of grass, every flying fish. It was subtle in life forms that did not exercise their reserves regularly, but it was there if you looked close enough. This energy however… it felt like the trees beside her, the clouds above her, the breeze around her, the grass below her. It felt like everything. And then it was gone.

How could energy like that just disappear?

Then it was back, right in front of her. A tall blond man wearing torn and ragged orange pants appeared between her and her captor, left hand grasping the rope and right foot extended where the Dark Mage once was. A crash into a tree a few yards away revealed his new position.

The man looked down to her with a gentle smile on his tanned face. His blond hair gleamed in the few beams of sunlight that made it through the canopy and his eyes seemed to hold an unearthly glow. They were bright blue with small erratic swirling deep blue lines. His physique was impressive to say the least. Lean chiseled muscle wired under his flawless sun kissed skin in an almost hypnotizing manner. Out of habit her eyes instantly searched the revealed flesh for a guild emblem, only to find nothing. The man reached down with his other hand and untied the ropes from her wrist and helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his face full of concern.

"Y-Yes... Thank you for saving me…" she said, as her breath hitched with the sudden eye contact. She tapered off leaving a pause, not knowing the name of the man in front of her.

"Namikaze Naruto, and what's your name?" He questioned, steadying her as she wobbled slightly.

"Mirajane Strauss."

As he was about to say more, the man that he had kicked grunted and pulled himself up to his feet. Wind kicked up around them furiously, mimicking the attitude of the furious dark mage.

"Do you realize who you're dealing with, fool? I'm Shinigami Erigor, the strongest mage of the Dark Guild Eisenwald! You will pay for trying to rob me of my prize!" the silver haired man yelled as he began to hover in midair.

He raised his left hand and extended his index and middle fingers and made a rapid slashing motion. A large purple seal appeared in midair before launching high velocity blades of wind at Naruto who made no attempt at dodging. When the attack landed a large cloud of dust obscured the newcomer from view.

Erigor began cackling. "Don't you see? You're out of your league fool. Now if you're still even able to move, run away so I can get my revenge on Fairy Tail before I end you."

"Huh, what was that supposed to do exactly?" Came the voice from inside the dust. When it cleared it showed the man standing in the same spot, not even a scratch on his flawless body. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cut this short," he announced.

Naruto held out his right hand and began to focus the energy. Unlike usual a dark blue diagram appeared over his hand as he began to focus the attack much like the purple one his opponent had used. An orb of bright blue energy swirled over the diagram with dark blue streaks, "Huh. That's different," he said as he glanced at his attack before settling his eyes back on the target.

"I'll give you one chance to surrender," Naruto announced.

"Ha! Like you could even touch me with that!" Erigor boasted as he flew up higher.

"Wind Magic: Storm Mail!"

Another diagram showed up, this time heralding the appearance of a grey tornado-like armor that encased Erigor, "This Storm Mail is impeni-"

Naruto vanished from where he was standing without a sound, causing Mirajane to gasp in surprise. So fast!

Within the blink of the eye he reappeared, coming back in sight just behind the self proclaimed Shinigami with his hand drawn back, before launching the swirling orb forcibly into the opposing villain.

"Rasengan!"

The attack grinded through the storm mail imploded on the soft flesh beneath sending Erigor flying down to the earth at high speeds, breaking through multiple trees during the plummet.

Mirajane watched as Naruto silently landed on the ground in a crouch, powerful leg muscles absorbing the impact from such a height with no difficulty at all. Who is this man, and what kind of magic was that he used?

The blond man spared a glance towards the crumbled figure of Erigor before walking towards her. "Excuse me, but do you know which direction I need to go to get to Konoha? I need to see if anyone else made it out of the battle."

Konoha? Battle? What on earth is he talking about? "I-I'm sorry but I've never heard of a place called Konoha, and I haven't heard of any major battle anywhere."

The man gave her a confused look, "Konohagakure no sato? In Hi no Kuni? What about Sunagakure?"

Mira just raised an eye brow, "I haven't heard of any of those places. Where in relation to Magnolia City are they?"

She could see his confusion turning into frustration, "Magnolia City? Have you ever heard of the Elemental Countries?"

"No, I haven't. You're in Earthland, on the continent of Fiore. We should still be rather close to Magnolia though, where my Guild is. If you want I can take you there and we can get you some new clothes and some food. It's the least I can do for your rescue."

At the word food Naruto's stomach made a large growl, causing the man to sheepishly scratch the back of his neck. "That would be nice Mira-chan, which way do we go?"

"Mira-chan huh? I like it Naru-kun," she said with a smile, "I've been in this forest a few times, it should be this way. So what kind of magic did you use there? I don't think I've ever seen something like it."

"Magic?"

"You're really not from around here are you?"

Naruto sighed. His fears were made true by the complete lack of recognition in the gorgeous girl's eyes. How do I get home?

"No…" he sadly answered, as images of his loved ones flooded before his eyes.

Where is home… when the people who made it that way are gone?

A soft tear slowly escaped his eyes and slid slowly down his cheek. Sakura-chan…

The shinobi brushed it away with his sleeve before glancing at the girl beside him. She had a look of empathy on her face as she placed her hand on his forearm in a soothing manner, "Naru-kun, are you alright?"

His hand subconsciously reached toward the back of his neck as he forced a foxy grin over his face, "Of course! So what's this magic stuff? Is it anything like chakra?"

The look in her eyes confirmed that she didn't buy the lie, but she respected his privacy by accepting the subject change in stride, "No clue what chakra is, but magic is basically the physical embodiment of the spirit. Not everyone can use it though, only about ten percent of people can wield it. The techniques are fueled by an energy source called Eternano, which is the particles of magic. Following me so far?"

That must be the energy I'm drawing on… "I think so. This Eternano… is it just in mages?" he inquired.

"Every living thing has it, its even in the very air we breathe," she answered patiently, "My turn for a question though. What was that ability you used?"

"Oh that? That was the Rasengan. It was pretty awesome wasn't it?" Naruto beamed. "… Although it was a lot different then usual…"

"Different?"

"Yeah… I've never seen a diagram like that appear before. The coloring of it was a bit off too… It must be this weird energy," he mused.

"It seems to have many similarities to Make magic," Mirajane hypothesized. At the sight of the confused expression on Naruto's face she elaborated further, "Make magic is when a mage gives form to Eternano, although usually its with an element. Whatever you're doing, it seems to be concentrating pure Eternano particles in the form of an attack. It's really amazing, I've never quite seen anything like it."

The blond blushed at the praise he received, "Eternano… make?"

"Yep! You might have discovered a new powerful form of magic!"

"My turn for a question," he said, "that guy mentioned something about revenge on Fairy Tail. Why would someone want revenge on a fairy's tail? Wait, I didn't even know fairies had tails."

Her face lit up in amusement, a pristine smile lighting up her face. "Definitely not from around here. Fairy Tail is the name of the mage guild that I'm from. Its actually pretty famous, we're one of the top guilds in Fiore."

Guilds must be a lot like hidden villages here. "And the guild Eisenwald is like yours?"

"In a sense, but while Fairy Tail is an official guild… Eisenwald is one that has gone dark," the girl corrected for him. She caught his questioning expression and answered before he had time to voice it, "A dark guild is one that has committed a taboo like assassination where the Mage Council that governs us ordered it to disband. A guild becomes dark by ignoring the order, which puts a bounty on the guild."

As the pair walked back to Magnolia City Mirajane taught Naruto about the intricacies of magic and the guild system, along with some other useful information to have while he told her about chakra and shinobi.

Pleasant conversation made the hike back to the city pass relatively quickly, and before long the two stood at the gates, "Welcome to Magnolia," the ivory haired woman said cheerfully.

Naruto could only stare. The city was impressive, tightly packed buildings of a strange architecture towered over the cobblestone roads. People were everywhere, dressing in bright clothes with happy smiles on their faces. Market stalls were set up along the roads selling fresh produce and meats. It was a carefree attitude that Naruto hadn't seen in years… Not since Nagato's attack.

"Wow…" he mumbled.

"Pretty cool huh?" Mira asked.

"Yeah…"

They walked the streets quickly, Naruto's desire to get out from the increasing attention of the population because of his state of undress. The girl weaved through shortcuts around the town expertly, and before long Naruto found himself gazing at a modest sized three story building. FAIRY TAIL was emblazoned in large letters above the large orange double doors. A large orange pendant depicting a strange symbol was hung on the top floor. Must be their guild sign or something.

Without further adieu the beauty placed both hands on the handles and swung the doors open.

"Master, I'm back!" Mirajane yelled as soon as she stepped through the portcullis.

"Mirajane! Where have you been? I sent Elfman out to find you after a few hours. I thought you were just going to get some groceries for dinner!" A very small man said. The top of his head was bald and wreathed with grey hair that stood up on the sides with a large mustache engulfing his upper lip. He wore a buttoned up white shirt with a maroon vest, and dark blue pants. Over his shoulders hung a tan high collared cloak that was fastened by a cord over his breastbone.

"Oh I got kidnapped. Its okay though, this strange half naked man saved me so I invited him back here," the white haired girl said innocently, a smile reaching up to her eyes.

"Oh, alright th-HUH! What happened?" the aforementioned Master exclaimed.

Mirajane quickly recounted the tail to Makarov while Naruto glanced around the room. There were tables spread out throughout it with a few people sitting at each one focusing all of their attention between the diminutive man, Mira, and him, along with a bar at the end of the room. Before he had time to make anymore observations the small man looked over at him, "Thank you for saving our Mirajane-chan, Namikaze-san, Fairy Tail owes you a debt of gratitude. She tells me that you have a very unusual story though, would you mind coming to my office so we could discuss it?"

With a shrug Naruto followed the diminutive man to his office upstairs where he was directed to have a seat. The guild master walked around the desk and climbed up to his chair and sat down on a booster seat, making Naruto chuckle internally, "I apologize for not making a proper introduction at the door, but I was rather shocked at the tale. My name is Makarov Dreyar, and I've been the guild master of Fairy Tail for nearly fifty years."

"Don't worry about it, as Mira-chan told you I'm Namikaze Naruto. I'm a jounin shinobi of Konohagakure no sato," The blond ninja said, reaching out to shake hands with the elder.

"As to that, I'm afraid that in all my years of traveling I've never heard of such a place. What brought you to Fiore?"

Naruto sighed. I guess it would be too much to hope for that someone would have heard of home. He debated on whether or not he should with hold information from the man. In one hand as a guild master the man would need to have connections spread all around the land, especially with the wide variety of quests guilds seemed to accept. On the other, the man was an unknown.

Naruto hesitated, and searched the mans eyes. They had an immediate calming effect on him, reminiscent to the gaze of the Sandaime Hokage, old man Sarutobi. Just three feet lower to the ground.

Screw it, what do I have to lose?

"I was battling a man named Uchiha Madara, the leader of a terrorist organization that declared war on the shinobi nations. The battle started going south and I made a desperate call, trying to merge two drastically different energy sources in order to defeat him. I managed to meld the two for a while and took him out, then I remember pain, almost as if the chakra was exploding out of me, but blacked out afterwards. After that I woke up on a beach and you know the story from there."

"Interesting… These two different energies, what were they?" Makarov asked, curiosity lining his every word.

"One was nature chakra, and the other…" he trailed off a bit, before taking a deep breath, "was the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon that was sealed within me."

The guild master paused and looked at the man with a critical eye, "You don't seem evil. Why would you have a demon sealed within you?"

Naruto looked down, "This is personal alright? I'm telling you only because I'm hoping you might have an idea of getting back. Eighteen years ago Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi, the most powerful of the nine tailed beasts. My father was Hokage, the leader of the village. Tailed Beasts can't be killed. They are the embodiment of chakra given sentient thought. During the attack in order to stop the beast he sealed the Kyuubi in me, the day I was born."

Makarov watched Naruto in silence before finally speaking, "I will respect your privacy."

"Thanks old man, it's a stigma that I'd rather not have following me," Naruto replied honestly.

The elderly guild master paused in thought, and Naruto could almost feel the ideas running within the wise man's mind, "I have a few theories, although I would need to do some proper research on them before I could put any stock in them. The only one that would make any form of sense is that with the combination of these two potent energies you created a natural version of a hyperspace magic known as Anima."

"Anima?"

"Yes. I don't know much about them other then it forces a bridge between two worlds. Our realm, which is Earthland, and Edolas. One of our more reclusive mages could probably tell you more about them, but he is notoriously tight lipped about them, and anything else about for that matter."

"Who is this mage?" Naruto asked in curiosity.

"He goes by the name Mystogun," Makarov stated, "he's one of our more prominent mages, although he rarely ever comes into the guild hall. He only stops by when he's in need of a mission. Now tell me, this demonic being… do you have any form of contact with it?"

"I did before the incident, but when I woke up here the seal was gone and his cage destroyed," Naruto replied as a hand subconsciously rubbed his abdomen.

"I'll try and think of some ideas, but before that I want to see this magic that piqued Mirajane's interest," he said, hopping off the books and standing on the desk.

"All right then, give me a second," he held out his right hand and like before the diagram appeared before the Rasengan.

"Interesting… I'm guessing by your look that this isn't how it looked before you got here?" Makarov stated.

"No, there never was a diagram, and it was a lighter blue color. Its called the Rasengan."

"Impressive… It's like a compressed drill, yes?" The man didn't even wait for a reply as he continued to ramble. "The manipulation of raw Eternano… I never imagined something like this… Eternano Make Magic."

"Mira-chan mentioned that as well," he replied.

"Most mages these days like to classify their attacks. While not necessary needed, it adds a bit more flare to their abilities in the eyes of the civilians. More flare means more employability here in Fiore. A good majority of our fame here in Fairy Tail is due to its members wide range of flashy abilities. When non magical people see mages, they want to see flashy and catchy abilities."

"Hmm… so Eternano Make? I like it," Naruto said.

Makarov began pacing across the desk in thought, "Boy, you've given me some things to ponder. Mirajane vouches for your ability and I've gotten a good read of character from you in here. Seeing as how you don't have any place to really go, we would be honored if you would join Fairy Tail. I'll try and find you a way back to your lands, but until then you'll have a place here, some clothes, and a form of employment."

Whatever Naruto was expecting, it wasn't to be welcomed in with open arms. He did a double take as he stared back at Makarov. "A-are you sure?"

"Anyone who would risk their lives to save one of our members and ask nothing in return is welcome here at Fairy Tail. Now hurry up and say yes, get your guild stamp, and go get some clothes on. I'm not fond of being alone in a room with a half naked man."

Naruto cracked a smile. It was nice to be accepted immediately by a group of people for who he was. He nodded, not trusting himself to speak and elected to get the stamp in the middle of his chest in orange.

As he left the office and went down the stairs, he saw Mirajane waiting at the bottom. She smiled at him and said, "Welcome to the guild Naru-kun, now lets get you some clothes."

Author's Notes: My bad, actually forgot I had a story going until I looked at my emails and found a message in my inbox. Story is kind of slow in it, but it should pick up a bit faster from here. Its going to stay Naruto and Mirajane centric so that it doesn't affect the main storyline too much.

Updated 6/2/2012 - Corrected some grammatical mistakes that people mentioned, along with the gaping whole that I kind of skipped over regarding how his magic became known as Eternano Make. Added a bit more dialogue and tried to even out the rough spots a bit.

I was originally going to push the story a bit further before going back and revising chapters 2-4, but looking back, I realized how sub-par they were and that I would probably lose most readers here.

As always, reviews and constructive criticism are welcomed with open arms. If you have the urge to flame, just hit the cute little red box in the top right corner of your screen and go play in traffic J