Chapter 2 - The Raven

"They're very persistent."

Despite that he was running at a considerable speed, he still couldn't lose his pursuers. He also didn't want to run at his faster speed and exhaust himself because he had no way of knowing whether anyone was waiting ahead to ambush him or not.

'I do not have the Kyuubi anymore. I can't rush headfirst into situations like before.'

Now that he no longer had the demon fox sealed inside of him Naruto realized that being a jinchuuriki had been not only a curse but a blessing too. While his stamina and vitality were still above the average thanks to his Uzumaki heritage, nowadays they were significantly inferior compared to when he was a jinchuuriki because Kyuubi's chakra amplified them to unreal levels - he had even healed from having his lungs obliterated by an A-ranked lightning technique. However, these days, Naruto could not afford to mindlessly rush into everything like he used to. He no longer had such an insane regeneration and healing factor, nor did he have the same stamina.

When he arrived in the middle of a canyon, he suddenly stopped. He was now in the open. It was impossible for someone to sneak up on him from anywhere. Two silhouettes appeared on the rocks surrounding the edge of the canyon. It was a tall and thin man with a blonde and black hair styled in a mohawk. He was dressed in a red racing suit and a had a pair of sunglasses on.

The other one was a brown-haired man with a scar on his right eye and the grin on his face showed that his teeth were sharper than normal, giving him a feral look. The fact that he was riding on a gigantic purple snake only added to the dangerous impression he was giving off.

The two of them jumped down the cliffs and came closer to Naruto. When they were in front of him, the one-eyed man spoke:

"Raven. You're a very hard man to track down."

Naruto raised an eyebrow unimpressed.

"Raven? I see you have only one eye but I didn't think your eyesight was that bad. I'm blonde-haired and I got blue eyes. What part of me looks like a raven?"

The other man chuckled at Naruto's words, appearing to be in a good mood.

"Ah, I think the two of us are gonna get along well. I like easy-going people."

In exchange, Naruto snorted.

"I don't have the habit of making friends with those that are chasing after me with the intent to kill."

'At least not anymore.' he added to himself.

"Mah, mah, who said anything about killing you? Nobody needs to die if you're a reasonable man. After all, our terms are not bad at all."

The man riding on the huge purple snake was still easy-going but Naruto could feel that he was no longer trying to hide his killing intent.

"You seem to be under the wrong impression that I owe you something."

This time, it was the blonde man that started to speak:

"Eisenwald. Does that name tell you anything?"

Naruto adopted a mocking thinking position.

"Hmm lemme see... there might have been a bunch of lowlifes that I've wrecked 2 weeks ago. They were pathetic. I didn't even get a scratch after I was done with them.''

The two men's faces darkened at his mockery. But they couldn't refute his words because, to prove that he was the one that destroyed the dark guild Eisenwald, Naruto had used a lacrima to record the entire fight. When the media got wind of it, it went viral. A man with pitch-black hair, eerie fully black eyes and a pair of enormous black feathered wings had single-handedly destroyed a powerful guild like Eisenwald! In the recording, the several dozens of mages had not managed to land even a hit on him. It was as though he could see in the future - like he knew their moves from beforehand.

It was that video that made his fame spread across the entire kingdom of Fiore. And it was the journalists that gave him that nickname - "The Raven". He was publicly acknowledged as one of the strongest Take Over Mage in the country. Take Over Magic was not an easy brand of magic to master. It was extremely dangerous and, if one was not born with a talent for it, they could very easily end up dead or not gain any success in it at all. That said, many thought that, considering how young he was, "The Raven" could one day become strong enough to rival even one of the 4 gods of Ishgar, Wolfheim.

However, while the general public was in awe of him, the Magical Council was not. Several dark mages died that day. Even if they were criminals, they considered that someone like Naruto had no right to kill them.

''So we've heard. But do you seriously think you can do something like this and just get away with it?

Naruto sighed pitifully.

''Aww, come on, a man gotta eat somehow! We're all tryin' to survive, ya know? You kill innocent people and do whatever illegal shit is that you, dark guilds, are doing while I do odd jobs for a living. It just happened that I saw the Magic Council issuing a fat bounty for the guild or person that disbanded Einsenwald. I couldn't pass on that chance now, could I?''

"As for those who died, I wasn't even trying to kill them. Most of them killed each other by missing me and hitting the others, anyway. How was it my fault?"

Then, adopting a conspiratory look on his face, he spoke in a shush, as if he was afraid someone might hear him:

''But, between you and me, I think Eisenwald were a special kind of stupid... what type of imbeciles continue to accept assassination missions in broad daylight after the Magical Council specifically warned them?''

He shook his head in disappointment and tsk-ed a few times.

''Tsk! Tsk! They just don't do villains as they used to before.''

The one-eyed man's easy-going attitude has long since disappeared.

''Racer, Imma kill this sassy motherfucker, Brain's orders be damned!'' he growled towards his partner, his bloodlust flooding the air.

''I'm with you. He's seriously pissing me off!''

The blonde man, Racer, looked at Naruto and said:

"You've messed with forces beyond your understanding. The Balaam Alliance has full control of all the dark guilds in Fiore and not only. And Eisenwald was a rather important vassal of Oracion Seis."

"Initially, we intended to give you the opportunity to become a member of our guild but you lost that chance. We're going to teach you what it means to mess with Oracion Seis! You're going to-"

Whatever Racer wanted to say was cut short seeing as his partner suddenly shouted and pushed him to the side rather roughly:

"Racer, jump!"

A split of a second later, one of Naruto's Shadow Clones burst from the ground, the swirling mass of blue energy in his hand instantly grinding to dust everything it touched. The clone's Rasengan might have missed the two of them, but just when they thought they managed to evade it, the one-eyed man heard Naruto's thoughts thanks to his Sound Magic:

"Katsu!"

His only eye wide in surprise, the brown-haired man didn't even have the time to warn his partner. However, Racer's instincts made him activate his Slow Magic out of reflex. Cobra watched still in shock how the Shadow Clone exploded in slow motion because of Racer's magic. Racer barely had the time to push Cobra and his snake out of the range before the explosion occurred.

Through it all, Naruto's real body didn't move even an inch from his place. On the other hand, Cobra and Racer nearly died twice in 3 seconds.

From a safe distance away, Cobra and Racer stood next to each other, their backs soaked with sweat.

"This guy is dangerous," Cobra said with a grave expression on his face. "We've grossly underestimated him."

Racer nodded in agreement not exuding his usual smug attitude anymore.

"Oy, oy, what are you two mumbling there like a pair of schoolgirls? After all that talk about teaching me a lesson and killing me, don't tell me you got cold feet and want to run away now..."

Naruto didn't get a verbal reply but Racer suddenly appeared right in front of him, as though he had teleported! It was only his reflexes as a hardened shinobi that allowed him to parry a punch that would have hit him in the face. Only a moment later, a vortex of green poisonous air was shot at him from Cobra's mouth. It was Poison Dragon's Roar!

Naruto held his breath and quickly shunshined away.

"Running away? Us? It's you that's running away now!" Cobra laughed maniacally.

Naruto didn't get a moment to relax as Racer was upon him again, a flurry of punches and kicks raining on him. He managed to block only the first half before he could no longer keep up with the onslaught. However, after a few moments, he suddenly clapped his palms! A sonic boom was heard and Racer was launched backwards violently. It was as though he was hit by a truck.

Cobra's jaw went slack when he witnessed the scene: one mere clap of his hands caused a terrifying shockwave! The two Oracion Seis grouped up again, unconsciously starting to see Naruto as a foe that they could defeat only by working together.

Racer rubbed at his bruised hands as he tried to calm down his erratic breathing. Despite the flurry of punches and kicks that he had rained down on his opponent, he hadn't even scratched him. It was like his body was made of steel. In fact, it was Racer that hurt his fists and his shins from hitting him.

"He must have trained some sort of body-strengthening magic. His durability is ridiculous." Racers stated with an incredulous tone.

"But we have to keep him in close combat. Otherwise, he will make those doppelgangers that explode. We can't allow him to do that." Cobra said before following up: "Fuck... we've had no idea he was going to be so powerful even without using his Take Over."

"He is still not taking us seriously - we need to finish him off before he changes his mind and decides to use his Satan Soul," Racer added and Cobra agreed with him.

Cobra's snake partner enlarged and 2 draconian wings grew from its back. His own hands morphed into that of a dragon and his pupils became split. He intended on going all out. Racer too was about to cast his strongest magic but then, the two Oracion Seis members' knees buckled and they nearly fell to the ground.

"W-What is this?" They asked as their eyes focused on the cause of the phenomenon.

A dark haze started to seep out of Naruto's body and his hair slowly began to darken, becoming pitch black. The white of his eyes and his irises became black as well and then, a pair of massive black-feathered wings burst from his back.

"Satan Soul: Satori!"

The moment his wings appeared, an incredible pressure appeared. It was like gravity increased threefold.

"!"

"What magic power...!"

A confident chuckle came from his throat when he saw their terrified expressions.

"Come at me, bastards! Come, I'll eat you alive!"

He expected them to become all riled up and start attacking him in a frenzy or to at least swear back him. But they weren't. He did get a reaction out of them though, just not what he had been expecting - the two S-class dark mages that were said to be capable of destroying regular magic guild by themselves - they disappeared!

"Did they just...did they run away just like that?!"

Naruto stood floating in mid-air in his Satan Soul form with a stupid expression on his face.

"Aw, man, are you for real?! Just when I was finally getting into it, those cowards ran! What the heck?!"

With a sigh of disappointment, he cancelled his Take Over magic and let himself fall to the ground. After their first exchange, when he sneak attacked the two Oracion Seis members with his Shadow Clone, he became quite excited because of the magic they displayed.

'That Slow Magic was overpowered. It gave me the impression at first that he had a magic equivalent to the Swift Release from the Elemental Nations... Too bad that the actual user was weak as shit.'

Naruto's regret only grew as he thought about the other one - Cobra.

'I heard rumours that, when taken to the extreme, Sound Magic can even let one hear the other people's thoughts. I used to think that it was just a rumour but now that I met this guy I can see it was the truth all along. He had had no way of knowing I had hidden a shadow clone in the ground, nor that I was going to make it explode.'

'And he was a dragon slayer too. Maaan, what a bunch of pussies!'

Had Cobra and Racer worked well together they could have proven to be an extremely troublesome duo. One that slowed that opponent and the other that could predict their every move and deliver a devastating offensive as well - it was a deadly combo.

What Naruto was not aware of though was that his magic pressure alone was enough to terrify most mages. When coupled with the recorded proof of his Satan Soul's prowess, people would see him as being in the same league as the Ten Wizard Saints. It was no wonder that Cobra and Racer choose to safely retreat once they got a real taste of how ruthless his attacks were and how powerful he was.

Continuing to mumble dejected to himself, Naruto resumed his journey to Era where the headquarters of the Magic Council were.

One week later

A young girl in her early teens was walking by the riverside with her big blue eyes focused on a book. Every once in a while, the wind would blow her long tresses of white hair into her face and she would move it behind her ear to stop it from obstructing her sight.

One week passed since Mirajane's fateful encounter with Naruto. Following his advice, she went to Fairy Tail together with her siblings to apply for becoming members. And true to what he told her in the short letter, the master of Fairy Tail accepted them with opened arms. Then, using the jewels that he gifted them before parting ways, with the guildmaster's help, she rented a flat for her and her brother and sister somewhere very close to the guild. With the same money, she also paid in advance to the guild so their meals would be prepared every day in the mess hall.

Once the existential problems of food and accommodation were taken care of, Mirajane threw herself into learning how to control her magic. She spared no effort, spending many hours every day until she became exhausted. Even now, as she was walking towards the guild to eat, she was reading a book on Take Over Magic, on the street.

As she passed by a street stall selling newspapers and magazines a particularly vivid cover caught her eyes when she lifted them from the book to look at the street. Her interest piqued, Mirajane momentarily closed her book and headed towards the stall. After all, Take Over Mages were quite rare in Fiore. She was genuinely curious what were other Take Over mages like.

Take Over mage annihilates the dark guild Eisenwald

The title written in bold letter was covering the upper half of the magazine's front cover. On the remaining half, it was a photo of a black-haired man with pitch-black eyes and a pair of enormous black-feathered wings. Right under the photo, also written in bold was: "The Raven".

"Naruto-san!" she exclaimed.

His hair might have changed its colour but there was no mistaking it. She would recognize those scars on his face and those pitch-black eyes any time!

Paying up for the magazine, Mirajane took it and started to run towards Fairy Tail. Kicking the doors of the guild open, she burst in with her face radiating excitement - reason for which she attracted the attention of every member present in the hall.

After one week, like ordinary children were supposed to, Lisanna and Elfman quickly became accustomed to the guild and made friends with other children their age. Nowadays they were smiling and playing all day long, without a care in the world. Mirajane, however, was the complete opposite. Nobody in the guild has ever seen her even smile until then. She never spoke to anyone except for her siblings and she didn't spend any time at the guild outside of when she was having her meals. A red-haired girl her age had tried making friends with her only to be completely ignored.

That's why, when the other members of Fairy Tail saw the young girl wearing such an excited expression on her face, they naturally became very curious.

Disregarding the others' questioning looks, she made a beeline towards Lisanna and Elfman who were hanging out at that moment with 2 other boys their age, a pink-haired one named Natsu and another boy with black hair named Grey.

When Natsu and Grey saw Mirajane storming towards them, they quickly backed away warily. Mirajane had been in the guild for only one week but they had already suffered at her hands once for accidentally hurting Lisanna while they were playing. Objectively, Grey and Natsu were leagues above Mirajane when it came to their level in their magic but the physical power Mirajane possessed due to her demonic arm was no joke. Many of the younger or weaker members of Fairy Tail were wary of her and her temper.

"M-Mira-nee, is everything alright?" Elfman asked stuttering.

In response, she thrust the magazine with the front cover into his face and said:

"I found him! I found Naruto-san!"

\\\\\

That night, Mirajane couldn't sleep. There was a torrent of thoughts in her mind, keeping her awake. She could not stop thinking about the things she learned that day.

'I did assume he was strong. But I didn't think he was that powerful! He destroyed an entire dark guild, all alone!'

The author of the magazine even went as far as to compare him with the Ten Wizard Saints in power. She realized just how high above her he was. Just how far she was from ever reaching his level. Indeed, Eisenwald was not a super-powerful dark guild like the three guilds that were leading the Balaam Alliance - Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart and Tartarus. However, they were somewhere on the second level, right after. They weren't weak. Even Mirajane knew of them after only 1 week since her enrollment in a guild.

The last words Naruto had told her resounded again in her mind:

"Watch over your siblings until they become strong enough to tackle life on their own. Become a powerful mage yourself - an S-ranked mage - one of the most powerful in your guild."

"Then, in a few years, after you grow up and mature, if you still want to follow me, I will take you. This is a promise. And I never go back on my word."

Mirajane ground her teeth in frustration.

'What about me? I can't even control the appearance of this damned arm. How am I ever going to catch up to him?"

However, she calmed herself down and thought about the positive part. She had had no idea until then on how to ever find Naruto again. She knew nothing about him except for how he looked and his first name. But there were 17 million people in the Kingdom of Fiore alone. She was happy that she managed to learn more about him and find out the fact that he was a very famous wizard - that way, it was going to be much easier to find him.

Despite being past the middle of the night, she sat up from her bed and quickly dressed up in her day clothes. Then, putting on her hooded cloak - she never went anywhere without it because it helped in hiding her demonic arm - she silently left her room. After checking on her little siblings, she left the house and locked the door behind her. She went out for a walk in hopes of clearing her mind.

As she wandered by the riverbank her mind went back to what the guildmaster of Fairy Tail told her when she asked him the question: "What is magic?"

"Magic is an unreasonable power, but it is born from reason! It is not some miraculous ability. It is the combination of the spirit that flows within us with the spirit that flows within nature itself, incarnated in physical form! It takes a strong mind and focus! Magic is the pouring out of one's entire soul."

Unbeknownst to her, as she thought at those things, a change was taking place in her body. Now, she was finally clear about her goal: she wanted to become powerful for two reasons: to take care of her younger siblings and to be able to reach Naruto's level. He was like a mountain for her, a mountain whose peak she was determined to reach.

Mirajane stopped in her tracks when she took notice of what was happening to her. A rush of energy coursed through her veins like liquid fire and the demonic appearance of her right arm began to spread across the rest of her body. A purple wave of magic burst from her and she closed her eyes, not resisting the process. Her cloak and her clothes disappeared and were replaced by a very revealing red bodysuit. Her hands grew deadly-looking claws and fins, her hair became gravity-defying and - the biggest two changes - two demonic-looking wings and a thick reptilian tail grew from her back.

"Take Over: Satan Soul!"