~Two Years Later~
The screams of Mirajane, the Fairy Tail cover girl, pierced the air as the massive, mobile Phantom Lord Guild Hall began to slowly crush her at the command of Phantom Lord's Guild Master, Jose.
That should teach the Fairy Tail tramp to try pulling a fast one on the Master of the nation's strongest guild. He thought with a smirk. His feeling of superiority was cut short as an explosion sent a series of tremors running through the giant mecha guild. His face went slack for a moment when the power used by the mech to form the Abyss Break Magic Circle was cut by another quarter, signaling the defeat of another of the Element Four.
Impossible! Jose mentally raged. Titania Erza is down for the count, and I doubt even that Salamander character is anywhere near powerful enough to down one of the Four. So who could have-
He was answered when a strange, white-haired horned beast jumped from the smoking hole that had been opened by the explosion, and ran along the hall's arm, pulling the hand open and lifting the white-haired cover girl from its grip.
That white hair... So that fool Beast-Arm Elfman managed a full body takeover after all. The guild master wondered. Yes, I suppose that would be enough to surprise Sol. "No matter." He called over the mech's intercom. "It'll take a whole lot more than some failure of a Fairy takeover mage to defeat the remaining two Elements." He laughed dramatically for the effect of his words to drive home. Even with two down, there isn't anyone left standing that could stand against- He was pulled from his musings as another tremor rocked the massive hall. Power had dropped down another 25 percent. Juvia the Rainwoman was defeated.
Jose stood stock still as his face purpled with rage. Why were these worthless fairies giving him so much trouble? First they had managed to stand against the guilds Jupiter magic cannon, dismantling it and taking down Totomaru of the Rainbow Flame in the process. These pathetic weaklings shouldn't stand a chance, yet another of his elites had just fallen.
Enough. Enough. "Enough!" He shouted for everyone to hear. With a swift gesture of his hand, the number of his shades assaulting the Fairy guild members on the shore tripled, before merging into a single, massive dark entity. The creature moved forward, ignoring the Fairy Tail members completely. Fists black as night rose high into the air, before crashing down onto the already ruined guild hall. Ignoring the cries of outrage and anguish from the Fairy Tail trash, Jose ordered the shade to renew its efforts. He laughed out loud as the creature rose for another strike - before it was swallowed by a storm of sand rising from the beach.
All of the members of Fairy Tail stood in silence, along with Jose, as the reality of what had happened dawned on everyone present.
Impossible. That's positively impossible. There isn't a single one of those weaklings who could defeat my ultimate shade. How can this be- Another tremor rocked the mecha, signaling that the last of the Four, Aria of the Heavens, had fallen.
Dark energy swirled around Jose as he struggled to keep his rage in check. If you want something done right... Jose marched down the stairs leading into the grand hall, the sight of an unconscious Aria, a battered Titania, and a bruised and bloodied Salamander greeting him.
"You see," Jose called mockingly as he descended to ground level, charging his hand for an attack behind his back. "This is why I can't stand you Fairy scum. You just don't know-" He flung his hand from behind his back, launching a dark magic projectile straight for the wounded Dragon Slayer, which was intercepted in midair by Titania. "-when to give up." He finished with a chuckle. He paused as the two exchanged a few words, and easily blocked the sudden strike from the Requip mage as the Dragon Slayer ran from the room, no doubt of to find that Heartfilia brat. Jose turned his gaze from the retreating mage, back to Titania, smiling expectantly.
"Seems it's just the two of us n-" His grin widened further upon realizing that Titania had been joined by that Beast-Arm weakling, and Fairy Tail's resident Ice Make wizard, Gray Fullbuster, along with that upstart cover girl. "Pity. More kindling for the Fairy funeral pyre, eh?"
The three mages seemed to rally before charging against Jose, confident in superior numbers. Foolish Fairies. Within minutes, both of the newcomers were down for the count, being tended by the Strauss girl, leaving Titania alone. Again. Over the next few minutes, Jose found himself impressed, if only slightly. The girl managed to hold her own, and honestly believed she had him on the defensive. A point blank blast of his dark magic relieved her off any such delusions, leaving her completely at his mercy.
"I think I'll make an example of you, my dear Titania. I wonder, how much fight will your loser guild have left when I torture you before their eyes?"
The series of events that occurred next registered higher and higher on Jose's scale of concern. The battered fairy spewed some drivel about the power of friendship and bonds; the usual fairy trash philosophy. Very low on the scale of concern. Then, as if in defiance of bringing down the morale of her guild, she called forth one of her blades in an attempt to impale herself. Slight concern, if only for the girl's mental state. What caused him pause, however, was the wall of sand that rose from the ruined floor of the hall, catching the blade a few inches from Titania's back. A light bulb went off in Jose's mind.
That sand... Again?!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Erza-nee. And you always said I was the reckless one." The sand shifted as a smug, reedy voice issued forth, taking on a humanoid shape while resting its 'arm' on the shoulder of Titania. She seemed to tense at the sound of the voice; she obviously knew the identity of the speaker, but clearly wasn't expecting them. The voice exuded an aura of confidence, and held an air of –
What is this feeling? Jose idly wondered. "Who are you?"
The sand shifted again, and began falling away to reveal the person beneath. Shirtless, and well-muscled, with skin the color of sand, covered with dark blue markings, like tattoos. His light brown hair was in a low pony-tail, hanging past his shoulders to the middle of his back. His eyes –
What the hell is up with his eyes? And I thought Aria could be unnerving. Jose thought with a start. Unnerving? Is that what I'm feeling, unnerved? Surely not; he's just more fairy garbage.
But despite his self-assurance, Jose could not help but be unsettled by the stranger's eyes. Sclera black as night, with golden irises and pupils like four-pointed stars. Nobody has eyes like that.
The sand fell away completely, leaving the thing clad in a pair of loose-fitting black pants and a pair of odd sandals. And a tail, swinging to-and-fro behind his back, tan with blue markings, like his skin.
"What are you?"
The man/thing locked eyes with Jose for a moment, acknowledging him for the first time since its arrival.
Its strangely handsome face drew back in an unsettling grin, displaying razor-sharp canines. "Me?"
It took a moment, turning the question over in its head as it pondered the answer. His smile returned as he nodded to himself.
"Hungry... Bored." He began, a dangerous gleam in his eye. "I had planned on convincing Mira to prepare some ramen for me as a treat for completing my training journey, but… some rather rude fellow, whom we shall not name currently –" at this, he shot a very pointed look directly at Jose – "saw fit to leave the guild hall in shambles. Now, I'll just have to pay them back, ten times over…" As he finished speaking, a cloud of sand gathered around Erza and the other fairies, lifting them up and out of the ruined hall, and coasting them safely back to shore.
"Now that they're out of the way," He stated with a grin. "How about you and I play a while?"
A gust of sand tore itself from the rubble-littered floor and went howling into Jose's face, leaving him blinded and unable to defend against the stranger as he delivered a shattering blow to his gut, sending him crashing into the stairway behind him.
"And to answer that first question." The beast called out mockingly, its crazed laughter echoing throughout the guild. "The name's Naruto Uzumaki. Remember it."
Jose was beside himself in anger as he pulled himself from the newly made crater.
"What guild are you from?! I know of every single one of those weak and pathetic Fairy Tail Frauds, but I don't know you! Who sent you to help these-" His next bit of rant – Seriously, this guy talks way to much considering he's in a fight – was cut short as his opponent delivered another crashing blow that fed the Phantom Lord Master his front teeth.
"Insult Fairy Tail again. Speak one more word against my family. Give me a reason to actually want to take you seriously, and I will end you." Uzumaki growled out, his words laced with an overwhelming sense of –
So that's what I felt. Jose thought numbly as he tried not to choke on his own blood. His very essence permeates the air around him with pure killing intent. This… thing wants me dead and buried, and he's willing to do it himself.
"You." Jose managed cough out. "You are unlike any Fairy Tail mage I've ever even heard of. I can feel the power coming off of you in waves! Join me, and Phantom Lord! Put that skill to work for me, and I'll make sure you have everything you could ever want!"
The sand creature cocked its head to the side as Jose spoke. "Will we purge the weaklings in your guild?"
"Of course! This little war has proven that it's time for some much needed change in our membership."
"What of the Element Four?"
"Weaklings, the whole lot of them! None nearly as powerful as you."
"And what are your plans for Fairy Tail? Will we crush them after Phantom regains strength?" The sand beast asked excitedly. Jose could already see the prestige this new tool would bring the guild.
"Like bugs beneath our feet." Jose held out his hand expectantly. "So, what do you say to that?"
The creature grasped his arm in a firm handshake and smiled, baring his fangs for Jose to see. The Phantom Lord guild master found that he was rooted to the spot by the beast's eyes, and saw that sand was rising from the floor, covering the lower half of his body and slowly inching upwards. As the sand crawled up Jose's neck, he tried to cry out for help, tried to blast the sand away with his magic, but the words caught in his throat, and his body refused to obey.
Just as the sand finished forming its cocoon around his form, he had a short moment of clarity, recalling a guild master conference years ago, and a name that had surfaced dozens of times from every single guild; the name of a monster from Fairy Tail that had left in the dead of night, with no warning to anyone. A mere child, capable of holding his own against Fairy Tail's strongest wizard, capable of levelling mountains with a single breath.
I was wrong! Gods save me, but I do know his name! "You're the Tailed-Beast of Fairy Tail! The monster, BIJ-" His revelation was cut short, however, as his opponent finally deigned to answer his offer, the monster's voice issuing from the sand itself.
"What do I say?" The sand rumbled and shifted around him as the beast laughed. "Subaku Sōsō."
Jose felt the sand shift for a moment, and then he felt nothing.
. . .
Naruto stood silent for a moment as his sand shifted itself to remove the remains of the Phantom Guild leader, before collecting it into a disc beneath his feet and using it to guide himself back to the Fairy Tail guild waiting on the shore.
As he touched down on the shore, he released the sand under his control, before whispering under his breath. "Release." All of Fairy Tail watched in surprise as a breeze flowed through the surrounding group, signaling that the stranger had released whatever magic he had been using.
In place of the strange sand user stood a fair-skinned young man with piercing blue eyes, and three whisker-like marks on each cheek. His blonde hair stood up in spikes on his head, held out of his eyes by a steel-plated headband bearing the Fairy Tail symbol. Around his neck hung a green crystal on a simple loop of black twine.
He grinned good-naturedly and opened his mouth to speak, but found it difficult to find the right words as his face was driven into the sand by an armored boot. Erza did not look pleased.
"Where have you been?" She asked casually.
To everyone's surprise, the blonde responded just as casually, as if he wasn't eating sand at the moment. Granted, there wasn't a single person in the group who could understand his response through the dirt. Besides Erza.
"I see. And what made you think that was a good idea?"
~gravelly mumble~
"Well, I don't really care if it was to get stronger! You could have informed me!"
~mumbling~
Erza blushed for a moment, taken aback by the blonde's clever word play. The rest of the group sweat dropped at the sheer absurdity, and therefore, normality of the situation.
Erza removed her foot and helped the boy to his feet. He seemed completely nonplussed by his previous predicament, and smiled at the guild members again.
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki, and it's good to be back!" He called out with a giggle.
"Naruto?" The gathered guild members wondered aloud, the whispered name rippling throughout the crowd.
"Am I supposed to know you?" Someone called out.
Naruto fell flat on his face at the question, before turning to look at Erza. "They don't remember me?"
Erza's response was drowned out as everyone began laughing and cheering hysterically, rushing forward to lift Naruto off the ground.
"Of course we remember you!" Macao called out. "How could we forget?"
"Welcome back Naruto!" Someone shouted from the crowd
As everyone pulled the blonde left and right, catching up with the young mage, Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail's resident Celestial Mage and newest member, and the main target of Phantom Lord's attack, (who had been rescued from Gajeel by Natsu) found herself drawing a blank. She leaned over to Mira and whispered. "Who is he? I've been reading about Fairy Tail since I was a kid, and I've never heard of anyone named Naruto."
Mira giggled sweetly at the question, unsurprised. "Of course you haven't. Nobody outside of the guild ever called him by that name before he left. This was years ago, back when he and Erza joined the guild together of course, but back then he went by the name of Bijū."
"Bijū? What kind of name is that?"
"It's what his magic is. A form of takeover called Bijū Soul, just like my brother's Beast Soul or my old Satan Soul; it means 'Tailed Beast.'"
Lucy's eyes seemed to light up in recognition. "Oooh, I remember reading about Bijū! One of the very first issues of Sorcerer Weekly I had ever read said that he was one of the youngest Fairy Tail mages to make S-class wizard, ever!" She glanced at the goofy blonde mage, who was currently dancing like a fool with Vijeeter and several others. "Him?!" She asked incredulously.
"Yep!" Mira responded with a knowing smile. "Don't let his demeanor fool you, though. As far as strength goes, Naruto could very well be the strongest in the guild, aside from maybe Gildarts, though the two of them haven't fought since before Naruto left."
"But the magazines said that he left the guild without warning. Why would someone obviously as popular as him leave the guild?" Lucy pondered out loud, missing the way Mira's body stiffened at the question, before a loud shout overtook the babbling guild.
"NARUTO!" A familiar voice cried out. The entire area was lit up as a massive ball of fire engulfed the sky above the celebrating guild. "Fight me! Fire Dragon's Brilliant-" Natsu's shout and attack were cut short as the blonde haired mage made an odd motion with his hands and seemed to take a shallow breath before unleashing a massive torrent of water from his mouth, washing Natsu – and his attack – into the water behind the ruined guild.
W-wow! Lucy muttered to herself. He didn't even bat an eyelash at him!
"Sorry Natsu, maybe next time." He called out apologetically. "I sense Gramps is on his way, so I'm gonna go meet him. Everyone!" He shouted over the celebrating guild, catching everybody's attention. "Start cleaning up! We need to get this whole area cleared so we can get ready to make repairs on the guild hall tomorrow. Okay?"
Everyone shouted the affirmative and went about clearing out all the debris as Naruto turned to leave, followed by Erza.
. . .
The atmosphere was tense when Makarov came face-to-face with Naruto; it had been several years since the boy had left the guild in the dead of the night, and Makarov feared that the boy he knew may not match the young man standing before him.
"Gramps…" Naruto finally said, finding himself bothered by the intense scrutiny he knew he was under. "It's been a long time."
Makarov nodded sagely. "That it has, my boy, that it has." His gaze shifted, and his face became serious. "Did you find what you were after?"
The blonde nodded, his whole body trembling as he held in the sobs threatening to wrack his body.
Makarov's gaze softened. "And?"
Erza found herself taken aback when teardrops began hitting the ground at Naruto's feet, and he rushed to the Master, lifting him into the air in a rough embrace.
"Gone." He choked out between sobs. "All gone. Butchered the day I was taken." He set the elderly man down, before falling to his knees. "My parents, all of my friends. Even my sensei. This guild…" He raised his eyes to meet Makarov's, ashamed.
"You all are the only family I have left. I was wrong to leave, because being around for my family needs to be my first priority."
Makarov rested his hand on the boy's shoulder, letting his tears flow out as Erza watched, unable to think of how to react.
"That's right, my boy. We're your family; we have been since you arrived, and we will remain until the end of times. This guild is your home." Makarov wrapped his arms around Naruto, and soon felt Erza join the embrace as well. Although he couldn't be sure, he could have sworn he saw a smile slowly light up the boy's face.
My home…
. . .
…is in shambles.
"Sooo~, let me get this straight." Naruto stated clearly. His body trembled ever so slightly, a physical cue to everyone present his mood was extremely… precarious at the moment. "I was gone for, what, half an hour? And in that 30 minute window, you two not only did not clean up as I asked you to, you got into some stupid brawl over a bento box that Gray mysteriously received out of thin air?"
"And! Not only did you get into a fight, when both of you should be resting your wounds from our previous little war with Phantom, but you allowed your little 'scrap' to tear down what little bit of guild hall we had left standing!" He all but shouted at the two cowering before him. "Do you have any idea what was inside that hall? Do you, Gray? Natsu?"
"P-precious memories of your childhood at the guild?" Gray stuttered out.
Gray felt what little bit of bravery he had left wilt under the gaze Naruto pointed his way as the blonde chuckled so darkly that the sun seemed to dim in his presence.
"As if I would be bound by such things… You two… you destroyed the guild. Which means you destroyed the kitchen… Which means…" He let the sentence hang and, surprisingly, Natsu was the first to connect the dots.
"Ra- ra- ramen?!" He asked in terror as he felt Naruto's gaze shift to his shivering form.
"Ramen?" Gray whispered in disbelief. "You mean that you were cooking? How is that even possible?! You just got back!"
"Rule Number One, Gray. Never underestimate me when I'm hungry. And Rule Number Two…"
Shock reverberated throughout the gathered guild members as his words hung in the air. Even Erza had always been wary of the infamous second rule.
"Never. Ever. Stand in the way of my meal time when I'm hungry. I will give each of you a five minute head start. After that…" He didn't need to fill in that particular blank, as all that remained of the two were clouds of dust where they had been previously standing.
To Lucy's utter bewilderment, several of the guild members were placing bets with Cana on a variety of outcomes, none of which placed any confidence in the two runaways escaping. Numerous others seemed to be praying for the two as if they were already buried six feet below.
"Why is everyone betting against Natsu and Gray? I know that Naruto is supposed to be strong, but…" She trailed off into silence as the Cana and Wakaba began snickering at her statement. "What? What did I say that's so funny?"
To her surprise, Elfman answered her question. "There isn't a soul in Fairy Tail that can stand against Naruto when he's on the warpath like that. Not Gray, not Natsu. Not even the other S- Class mages."
"Well, what about Gildarts?" Lucy asked, recalling her previous explanation from Mira. "Your sister said that the two were usually evenly matched."
"Well," Cana stated gravely, her face taking on an odd expression. "She probably didn't mention that in those fights, Naruto didn't use any of his Takeover Magic, right? Old man Gildarts used his Crash Magic, but he couldn't land a hit on Naruto; he's too fast, and his hand-to-hand skills are crazy strong."
Seemingly from nowhere, Erza joined the conversation as well, startling Lucy as she seemed to materialize from the air.
"Naruto and I agreed that he would never use his magic against another guild mate, unless absolutely necessary. The reason behind that is that even I have no idea how strong he is when he fights seriously, and I've known him since before we joined the guild. What I have seen, however, has shown me that he is unbelievably powerful. The reality is, Naruto could very well be one of the strongest wizards on the continent."
"Strongest on the continent?!" Lucy whispered in awe. "Is he as strong as the Master, then?"
As if in answer, Makarov suddenly appeared as well, sitting cross-legged on top of the chalk-board Cana was using to keep the bets. "As strong as me? As if." He said with a smile.
Lucy heaved a sigh that she didn't realize she had been holding. Thank goodness! I don't know how I would feel about having someone as crazy strong as that hanging arou-
"He's way stronger than I am! That little brat's in a whole different league from me." He stated matter-of-factly, not fazed in the slightest at the admission.
As Lucy fainted, frothing at the mouth as she imagined someone as scary/goofy as the boy she had just met outclassing the most powerful mage she had ever met, money exchanged hands as several of the watching members muttered about having known all along that Naruto was a monster in his own right.
As the five minutes came to an end, Naruto disappeared in a flash as he raced down the streets away from the guild, tracking the two wayward mages like a bloodhound.
As shouts of terror and pain echoed across the city, money exchanged hands once more as bets were fulfilled and points racked up on the small chalk-board. Despite the circumstances leading up to it, and his current occupation, there wasn't a single soul that could say they weren't overjoyed to have the young Takeover Mage back home.
Erza smiled fondly as her adopted younger brother came trundling up the boulevard less than fifteen minutes later, hoisting the battered forms of Gray and Natsu over his shoulders. She wasn't even mildly surprised to see that there wasn't a single scratch on his body.
It look like we haven't been the only ones getting stronger, little brother.
"So, how far did they get this time?" Cana called out.
Naruto paused as he seemed to calculate some sort of complex equation in his mind before bursting into an uncontrolled fit of laughter.
"Nowhere near far enough." The blonde responded, his family roaring their approval, even those who had bet that it would take longer.
Naruto smiled widely as he walked back to the gathered guild, setting the two unconscious mages somewhere that they could rest. "Alright, playtime's over! Let's get to work rebuilding this guild, yeah?" And with that, everyone set to work, clearing away the shattered remains of the old guild, plans being concocted on how this time, it would be even better than before.
Even with family as rambunctious those two... It's good to be home.