Chapter 3 - The Magic Council

The past 2 days had been quite eventful for Naruto: while he was camping alone in the forest, he met 3 homeless children, of which one was just like him, a kindred spirit; a girl that made him think of himself much more than before. And then, just after he left said children at the outskirts of Magnolia town, on his way towards Era, the Magic Council's headquarters, he was ambushed by two of Oracion Seis' members, one of the three most powerful dark guilds in Fiore.

However, he treated the last incident as insignificant. It wasn't the first time someone tried to kill him. Not by far. S-ranked shinobi had been out for his life since he was a baby. And it was only three years before that an international terrorist organisation, the Akatsuki, started to hunt down his kind, one by one. His training trip with his now-deceased mentor, Jiraiya, had been, in fact, a way to protect the village too, to keep the Akatsuki away from Konoha.

'S-ranked shinobi were no joke. Most of the S-ranked mages are inferior.' Naruto thought to himself as he continued to run on his way. 'At the very least, none of the wizards I've met until now could threaten someone like Uchiha Itachi, or Ero-sennin, or that crazy bomber. Let alone Pain.'

A shiver went down his spine when he was reminded of the god-like Nagato Uzumaki who single-handedly destroyed the most powerful Shinobi nation in the world. Naruto considered himself well-rounded and very powerful, especially after having learnt the Sage Mode. However, his win against Nagato was a fluke. Something that he would have not managed without Kyuubi running rampant and without Pain having exhausted much of his chakra before their fight even started.

'I thought that people can understand each other. That, one day, peace will be achieved like that...how naive was I...the problem was never that people could not understand each other. It's that they don't want. People only care about using others!'

Filled with bitter thoughts, his bad mood that came from Racer and Cobra running away became even sourer.

"Even I can tell that hatred is spreading. I wanted to do something about it ... but I don't know what ... but I believe ... that someday the day will come when people truly understand one another! If I can't find the answer, it will be up to you to do it!"

They've known each other for less than 3 years but in that time, Jiraiya had become almost like a father to him. And he would never forget those words that the old shinobi entrusted him with. However, not forgetting them did not mean he would continue to live by them. After Pain destroyed Konoha, Naruto wanted nothing else but to kill him. He had never hated anyone as much as him, not even Orochimaru. But when the moment came that he finally had Pain at his mercy, he did not go through with it. He had decided to live up to his sensei's expectations of him, to continue his legacy - to spread peace in the world by promoting love and understanding between people. So he didn't kill Nagato. But now, he could no longer continue on the same path. He couldn't find any power in himself to pursue that idealistic dream. Not anymore.

'Understanding my ass! They threw me in jail! After all that I've done for them, I was sacrificed to a demon! If the ones I saw as my family did this to me, what can I expect from strangers?'

In his anger, his control over his strength slipped a bit and the ground suddenly caved under his steps. Criss-cross cracks appeared and a small 5 feet in width crater was left under the sole of his feet.

'Fuck! I should've left those bastard die! Should've left Pain to kill them all!'

Naruto scratched his head with both of his hands and yelled in frustration.

"Argh! It's that girl's fault!"

He didn't like thinking about himself or his past from the Elemental Nations. But after learning of Mirajane's pain, he was reminded once again of his own. Still, like whenever he was reminded of his past, he swore to himself:

'I'll never try to be a hero again!'

He didn't care about bringing peace into the world; not anymore. Now, after being betrayed and dying, Naruto could understand Nagato's view about the world and peace. Jaded as he was, he believed that indeed, only through pain can people empathise with each other - that's why he had felt the impulse to help out Mirajane; because he understood her pain. However, Naruto was still Naruto. He didn't want to cause other people pain just for the sake of "peace".

'If you have to force it, then that is not true peace.'

Still, he couldn't completely stop his desire to help other people. Naruto has always felt an impulse to aid the ones in need, to save the helpless and lend a hand to those who fell. It was his nature. While Konoha's betrayal and his death have massively curbed that impulse to play the hero, he still acted upon it once in a while.

Therefore, he found a compromise: a way to help others, but without them owing him their gratitude. A way to do something he was good at without forming bonds with other people and earning money in the process as well. Just pure business and nothing more. And that is how he started to do odd jobs: from being a bounty hunter to killing dangerous monsters and even gathering and selling precious and rare magical reagents.

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He was in the middle of an amphitheatre, all alone. On the sides, there were 10 wizards, watching him from the balconies that were so high up compared to the middle of the room that Naruto had to lift his head to see them. It was built in mind with the purpose of sending a nonverbal yet very obvious message: that the beings sitting in the balconies were superior to the ones standing in the middle of the room.

The one that looked like the leader of the 10 spoke. It was a tall and burly man with lazy-looking eyes and a bushy beard knotted in two buns.

"We have looked into your personal history and tried to find more about your past but we didn't get anything," he said in a grave voice. "Do understand that the Magic Council's power and influence in Ishgar is one of the largest. If there was anything to be discovered, we would have done it! But nothing came up. Besides, Take Over mages are very few and someone of your skill and power would have definitely made a name for himself until now. It's like you popped out of nowhere - we don't even know your name!"

"Who are you, Raven?"

Naruto didn't appear to be fazed by the string of questions. He had long since known that people would one day start poking around him for information. Since he couldn't just tell them that he was from another world, he had come up with a story after learning of the general affairs of the world he lived in.

"Uzumaki Naruto. 17 years old. I'm from Alakitasia continent, from the Alvarez Empire. I've never met my parents."

One of the 10 council members, a blue-haired young man with a tattoo on the right side of his face said:

"Orphan and from the Alvarez Empire...that's awfully convenient, don't you think?"

The reason for his words was that Ishgar had no diplomatic relationships whatsoever with the above-mentioned empire. Better said would be that the relationship was very strained, the Magic Council's two ultimate weapons being the only deterrent that stopped the Alvarez Empire from invading Ishgar again like they had done it once before. Because of that, there was no way for the Magic Council to check whether he was speaking the truth or not about his origins.

Naruto shrugged.

"Believe it or not, it's your choice."

Most of the members of the Magic Council immediately bristled at his devil-may-care attitude and Crawford Seam, the chairman of the Magic Council threatened:

"Don't forget who you're speaking to, boy! You're in front of the Magic Council! Your life is literally in our hands, especially after the stunt you pulled on Eisenwald a few weeks ago!"

Naruto's face showed an expression of annoyance.

"The stunt I pulled? You were the one that issued the bounty on Eisenwald! I did what you wanted!"

The leader of the Magic Council retorted:

"Our task had been to disband the guild. Not to also kill 12 of its members in the process!"

A formless pressure suddenly started to spread from Naruto.

"I only killed 4 of them. The rest killed each other with their attacks that missed me."

The pressure coming from him increased. The Magic Council members were just about to call in the Rune Knights but were momentarily overwhelmed by the oddity of the situation because Naruto was not releasing any magic power. What they were feeling wasn't the coercion coming from one's magical power. No, it was the psychological pressure coming from his mentality, from his extremely powerful will and the strong conviction in his own beliefs. When he spoke, his words carried power:

"I'm not a bloodthirsty man. I don't enjoy killing. But against someone who's coming at me with the intent to kill, I won't hold back. The blade and the fists don't have eyes. Accidents happen and people die sometimes. A battle between mages isn't a child's game. If you're ready to take someone's life, be prepared for someone to try to take yours as well. Whoever doesn't understand this simple truth is better off dead!"

The tension in the courtroom was so thick that you could cut it with the knife. Anticipating their reactions, before they could start screaming threats and warnings, he said:

"Just so you know, don't think I'm at your mercy. This isn't the real me. I'm just a disposable clone of the original."

Murmurs were heard among the members of the council.

"Clone Magic...that's Black Magic... how did you get a hold of it?" the youngest woman among them asked, her eyes throwing a calculative look at him.

Naruto secretly took notice of how incredibly attractive she was but his instincts were telling him that she was a dangerous woman. So he chose to deflect her question with a question of his own:

"Why have you summoned me here today? To play 21 questions or what?"

Org, a grey-haired man with a long beard and one of his eyes closed, shouted:

"Impudence!"

However, knowing that the man in front of them was just a clone, he could only steam in helpless anger. They could not take any actions against him, they couldn't even threaten him with anything.

One of the 10 wizards that had been silent until then, started to speak. It was a very short old man with thick eyebrows and a toothbrush moustache.

"We summoned you here today because we had to learn more about you. Please understand that someone of your power could pose a serious threat to the ordinary people's livelihood. There were cases when S-class dark mages destroyed entire cities. As the Magic Council, it is our responsibility to maintain the law and the order and to keep the mages in line. That's the reason why, nowadays, to become a registered mage, it is mandatory to join a guild and that's also why almost 100% of the legal jobs that mages undertake are settled through a guild. It's how we maintain our control."

'That's some control you have...At this point, I think there are more dark guilds out there than legal ones.'

Those were Naruto's thoughts but he didn't voice them out because he didn't want to antagonize them any further. He didn't want to become a wanted man simply because he couldn't keep his mouth shut - and the Magic Council certainly had the authority to declare him an outlaw and place a bounty on his head. Furthermore, the Council member that spoke last, Yajima, had been very open and honest with his words so Naruto finally understood the real reason why he was summoned there: the Magic Council wanted him to join a guild, to indirectly put a leash on him. By joining a guild, he would need to follow the guild's regulations and he would also inevitably form bonds with the other members, thus making the risk of him ever going rogue infinitely smaller. It was a smart and sensible tactic. But there was one problem: Naruto would rather become a wanted fugitive than join a guild. But if he refused their suggestion without giving a valid explanation, they would not want to listen to anything he had to say afterwards so he decided to try a different approach:

"I wasn't born with talent in Take Over magic," he began and the council members looked at each other confused at the random subject he started to talk about. But he continued nonetheless. "But as an orphan, magic was the only thing I had. I joined a guild and I worked hard. Harder than anyone. Since I had no other family, as years passed, I started to view the guild as my own family. I worked and trained even harder because of that. I wanted to make them proud, I wanted them to acknowledge me. I wanted to protect them. My dream was to become the next guildmaster!"

The 10 wizards realized that Naruto had unexpectedly started telling them about a very private part of his life. And he seemed genuinely sincere - the bitterness in his voice would not be so easy to fake. It was a stark contrast with his previously phlegmatic attitude.

"To become even more powerful, I left on a training trip; I was away for 3 years. When I came back, they were in the middle of a guild war with a rival guild in our city. And they were losing. But with the new power that I gained, I single-handedly turned the tides and defeated the enemy guild's members alone."

The Magic Council's members did not doubt his words about single-handedly winning the war because they had a recorded proof from only 2 weeks ago with him destroying Eisenwald alone.

"They hailed me as their hero. I became the Ace of the guild. I was finally being acknowledged and respected!"

"But that wasn't the case...in pursuit of power, they performed a ritual where they sacrificed a powerful mage in exchange for getting what they desired the most."

Naruto's eyes revealed true anger when he spoke next:

"I never saw it coming. The ones I saw as my family betrayed me, sacrificed me to a demon. After everything I've done for them, that's how repaid me...But the demon I was being offered as a sacrifice to possessed me. It used me to slaughter them all and feed on my guildmates' souls."

"During the following 4 months, I struggled against the demon for control over my own body every day. I thought I was going to go insane."

"But in the few moments of lucidity that I had, I slowly learned the Take Over magic. After months of desperate struggles against the demon that possessed me, I finally got my own body back and completely subdued the demon inside me. I took over its soul."

Complete silence followed his words. Even Ultear and Sigrain did not have anything sarcastic to say at the tragic story they just heard.

"That's why I'll never join a guild in my life. No matter the consequences!"

It was Naruto's own story, adapted to the new world of Earthland and mixed at the end with half-truths and lies. But it's because more than half of it was true that nobody suspected him of deceit, not even Ultear, who was a master of deceit herself.

Eventually, after a long silence, the chairman said:

"Then what is that you suggest? I understand your reasons for not joining a guild but you also need to understand that we cannot let a mage of your calibre run amok as he pleases."

Naruto's eyes were lighted by an idea.

"I will set up a shop in Magnolia. More exactly, an Odd Jobs business. I will accept legal requests from everyone, yourself included, just like any other guild. I will follow the regulations and the law and the Magic Council will also have full access to the records of my activities at all times."

The Council Magic's members looked pleasantly surprised by his proposition. However, they didn't immediately agree to it. They told him that they would think about it and that they would give him an answer after two days.

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Three weeks after her fateful meeting with Naruto, Mirajane was just returning from a job. She pushed the doors of the guildhall rudely, as usual, and, ignoring everyone, she headed towards the guildmaster's office to confirm the completion of her quest.

Unlike how she acted with most people, Mirajane held some degree so respect for Makarov who had only treated her and her siblings kindly from the moment he accepted them into his guild. So she didn't rudely kick the door of his office open too. Instead, she stopped to knock first. She was just about to do that when she heard an oddly familiar voice coming from inside:

"Mm, the sooner I start my business, the better. I would like it done by tomorrow."

Then, the voice she recognized as that of her guildmaster was heard:

"Tomorrow? I don't think Reedus can -"

"Eh?! You said he's formidable in Pict Magic. What's so difficult about painting a signboard?" the other voice said.

"You know how artists are... you can't rush them to anything. You can't force art."

A sigh was heard.

"I'll just send a request to another guild. I came to Fairy Tail first only because it happened to be the closest one-"

"No, wait! Seriously, I'll do my best to convince him. Better yet, speak to him yourself. I'm one hundred per cent sure he will jump at the chance. That lazy bum hadn't gone on a job for two months already!" Makarov said with chagrin. "You're my best chance at making him do something for once instead of always lazying around! There's no way he will pass on a personal request from the Raven!"

When she heard the last part, Mirajane's heart jumped.

'Did he just say Raven?'

When the implication dawned on her, the girl burst through the door, her heart filled with a hopeful feeling.

Naruto sat up quickly to his feet when the door was abruptly opened and took out a kunai from the pouch strapped to his thigh out of reflex. All his years of shinobi training and the countless life and death battles, however, did not prepare him for the young girl that threw herself at him.

"Naruto-san!" Mirajane cried out happily and jumped at his chest, her arms tightly clutching around his back.

If Naruto was very surprised, it was nothing compared to what the guildmaster felt. An expression of shock was on Makarov's face. Mirajane Strauss, the girl who became widely known as The Demon at only 2 weeks after managing to perform a full Take Over, just now had suddenly jumped into the arms of none other but The Raven, while excitedly calling him out by his first name! He could not believe his eyes.