Yoooo.
Been a while everyone, I believe we left off at quite the peculiar time last chapter. Just makes this all the more exciting I suppose.
I've never been very good with writing battle scenes but I'll try my best to please you all with this upcoming fight scene, that said if you don't find it satisfactory, do find it in yourselves to forgive me.
Battle scenes are my weak spot as a writer.
With that said, I hope you all enjoy.
Start:
The following explosion that ensued shook the entire building and the mages within it.
Naruto by chance looked up and spotted a large piece of debris about to fall right down on a pair of unsuspecting wizards.
Reacting with almost instantaneous speed, he dashed towards the pair of mages, picked them up and carried the startled mages away from the danger zone and back towards the bar just in time as the debris smashed into the floor.
Bam!
Needless to say, the simultaneous feeling of both horror and relief welled up within the mages as they gazed at the spot they formerly stood in. "Oh God! We would have just died!"
"I don't know who you are man but thank you for saving us."
Naruto put them down, ignoring the wide-eyes and astonished looks of the mages around him as he gazed off towards the entrance of the guild.
Much to his and everyone else's dismay, it turned out that the invaders weren't arrogant enough to just come by themselves.
How did Naruto and the mages of Fairy tail arrive at such a grim conclusion? Namely because of the numerous dozens of bodies that ran into the destroyed entrance of the guild and towards the wizards of fairy tail all the while letting out bloodthirsty battle cries.
The number of dark mages charging inside the guild outnumbered the fairy tail mages five to one, and that was not mentioning that their strongest and most capable mages were not around currently.
But despite the terrible circumstances they were dealt with, that hardly stopped the wizards of Fairy Tail from releasing a battle cry of their own before they too charged and intercepted the dark mages in the middle of the guild.
Sidestepping a fireball that flew by him, the shinobi quickly jumped onto the fray, taking out the masses of dark mages starting with the one who blew that fireball at him.
Punch, dodge, knee, kick, weave, elbow. Naruto danced as he fought the countless number of dark mages that kept flooding into the guildhall. Growing annoyed as whenever he knocked one out, two more followed before he struck them down too.
Jumping to the side to dodge the clumsy elbow strike sent out by one of the remaining dark wizards, Naruto responded by throwing a nasty tornado kick that connected with the bastard's face before he was sent rocketing back into a group of five wizards on his six.
Now done with the cannon fodder, Naruto seallessly created a clone that hid away in order to stealthily gather Senjetsu chakra just in case.
Turning towards the entrance of the guild, Naruto instantly had to duck down as a backfist courtesy of that demon, Jackel if he remembered correctly, flew over his head.
Jackel narrowed his eyes, raising his knee to slam into the human's face only to be surprised as Naruto caught his knee, holding onto it with a tight grip as he spun a full three sixty before hurling Jackel away.
The explosive demon grunted as he skidded to the ground before he smirked and dove back in, thrusting a fist and smirking as Naruto raised a forearm and blocked it.
'What!?' Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as a yellow light emanated from Jackel's fist before a small explosion rang out and had him sliding back into the bar.
Suppressing the urge to wince, Naruto ignored the pain flaring at his left slightly scorched arm as he glared at the smirking demon. '…I had thought his ability to somehow make explosions would only happen when his palm would land on something, obviously I made a mistake in doing so.'
Discreetly eyeing his opponent's feet, the former jinchuriki wondered if his ability could also be activated from his feet, he hadn't seen him do it till now but… 'To be on the safer side, it's probably safe to assume that he can.'
Not wanting to give his opponent the ability to cause more destruction and wanting to end this quick, Naruto blitz towards Jackel, ducking underneath a punch then slamming an uppercut at Jackel's sternum before a left hook followed and landed on the demon's cheek.
Spitting out blood and stumbling back a couple of steps, rage encompassed the explosive demon as he roared before he threw a roundhouse kick that Naruto bobbed underneath before sending out a low kick that swept Jackel off the floor with his back landing painfully on the ground.
Groaning, he attempted to get up but was too slow as Naruto quickly got on top of him, his knee pinning the demon's left arm while his left foot stomped on Jackel's wrist and kept it in place, Jackel desperately tried to free himself and failed as Naruto's sheer physical strength held him in place.
Now having free reins to do as he wished, Naruto unleashed his fury upon the explosion demon, showering his face with a flurry of powerful punches that had Jackel seeing stars.
Pulling back his right arm and enhancing it with potent chakra, Naruto tensed his fist and – "Aaargghghh!" and paused, whirling towards the direction of the scream and feeling his eyes widening in horror as the female devil from earlier was currently choking a hurt Mirajane and holding her up against the wall.
Evidently, Naruto wasn't the only one who heard it as nearly everyone near her vicinity cried out the waitress's name in distress.
"Nee-Chan!" Elfman yelled, running towards the bar and swinging his transformed arm right into Kyoka's exposed back.
Elfman gritted his teeth as Tempester appeared out of nowhere and blocked Elfman's punch before retaliating with a tornado circling strike. "Cyclone." He mumbled quietly.
Immediately, Elfman along with the many mages behind him, both light and dark, were sent flying as a massive, gray whirlwind exploded from Tempester's fist.
"E-Elfman." Mira wheezed out, clawing and scratching at the arm that held her up to no avail. Suddenly, the air left her lungs as Kyoka buried her fist in her stomach.
"Did I say you could talk my beautiful little slave?" Kyoka asked, a dark look permeating her gaze.
Naruto gritted his teeth at the sight before he turned back towards Jackel and struck the demon with a powerful punch that knocked him out.
Standing up, and bringing his hands into the ram formation, a quiet whisper of Kage Bunshin caused two hundred clones to materialize much to the shock of everyone present. Each clone knew their purpose and swiftly set out to either secure the safety of the citizens outside or help the wizards of Fairy Tail, immediately turning the tide of battle towards Fairy Tail's favour.
Shifting his attention towards the cruel she-demon, he took a step forward and had to quell the urge to smirk as a rush of natural power flooded his body, orange pigmentation appearing around the edge of his eyes, signifying him entering sage mode.
With the immense boost in physical attributes, Naruto seemingly teleported to Kyoka's location and swiftly threw a kick that connected with her sides and sent the she-demon plummeting far back.
Naruto wasn't done as he quickly turned towards the nearby Tempester and sucker punched him away in his surprised state.
Turning to Mira, he looked over her worriedly, ignoring the utterly shocked look on her visage as he scanned her body for injuries, grimacing at the purple bruising found on both her throat and on her stomach where a piece of her cloth had been ripped out, presumably from Kyoka's claws.
"N-Naruto, you…"
Forming another shadow clone who immediately carried Mira away to safety, Naruto returned his attention back to the fray and had to weave to the side as a giant and utterly enormous, yellow furred, man-wolf attempted to punch him.
In that same moment when the man-wolf overextended his arm, Naruto quickly formed a one-handed rasengan before slamming it into the demon's guts.
"Guhhh!" Jackel cried out in pain before his form was sent skidding back. As much as the shinobi hated to admit it, he had to give the monster credit where it was due as taking a rasengan to the guts and still standing was an impressive accomplishment. "You bastard! You think you can just beat me up then walk away!?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion before throwing a quick glance at the spot he had left the explosive demon earlier, seeing no body there confirmed his suspicion. 'Figures that he was not done.'
Raising his hand, the shinobi curled his palm in the classic come at me gesture and smirked as Jackel did exactly that.
Jackel in his wolf form was decently fast but unfortunately would have still come up short, even if barely, when Naruto would fight him in his base state. He wasn't being arrogant with that thinking, Naruto wasn't too sure about strength but he knew he had the demon beat in speed even when in normal state.
With his body now getting augmented by Senjetsu, Jackel stood no chance and the shinobi proved it when he dodged the wolf demon's kick then grasped onto the long limb, carrying the giant man-wolf over his shoulder before he slammed Jackel into the ground.
Knowing that a normal rasengan wouldn't do the job, Naruto swiftly created a giant rasengan and was forced to jump away as a gray cyclone tore through the spot he had just been standing in before continuing onwards.
Naruto grunted as he let the rasengan dissipate, clicking his tongue in annoyance as Tempester stood side by side with the now standing Jackel. "I don't need your help!"
Tempester shook his head stoically, never once looking away from the tense shinobi. "Don't be a fool Jackel, it's quite obvious that whoever this individual is that he's in a league entirely different than our own if he can throw us demons of Lord Zeref around like rag dolls."
Jackel snarled. "I was not being thrown around like a rag doll!"
"Regardless… I've come to help since none of us can hope to win against him on our own, the only reason Kyoka and Ezel don't join us is because they have their hands full with the clones and everyone else." He stated.
"Tch… don't slow me down." Jackel sprinted towards blonde, the gap between the two closing rapidly as he brought a massive claw for a downward slash.
Naruto leapt away before he was forced to create a clone that flung him away just in time for the clone to dispel due to the whirlwind that tore right through him.
Deciding to be on the offensive for once, Naruto blitz towards the massive humanoid lion demon, sidestepping the punch before he jumped and slammed his knee into Tempester's jaw before he followed it up with a cross right on the demon's snout.
"Arghhh!" Tempester cried out as he stumbled back.
Sensing the imminent danger behind him thanks to sage mode, Naruto instantly whirled around, grasping tightly onto the claws from either side that attempted to pierce his body before he jumped and delivered a punishing front kick right at Jackel's face before using it as a springboard to launch himself away as Tempester accidently slammed his fist into Jackel's already damaged visage.
"Oww!" The explosive wolf demon clutched his nose, glaring heatedly at the apologetic looking Tempester before they both charged the blonde shinobi.
Naruto, not one to wait, charged too, meeting them right in the center before he engaged them in combat, dodging, evading, and weaving through their strikes before he returned their loving gestures of peace with his very own.
To the outside viewer, it was as though art had come to life and taken on a human form, stunning any on viewers watching the shinobi mesmerizingly move around as though he was in an intricate, elegant dance.
It was… beautiful.
It was dare one say…perfect.
Only… there was nothing beautiful or perfect about the way Jackel and even Tempester tried to fight back against the shinobi only to fail miserably as Naruto eluded their rage-filled attacks before retaliating.
Stepping away from the extended fist, Naruto had no time to retaliate against Tempester as Jackel tried his luck by swinging a hook that the shinobi already saw coming.
Jumping fifteen feet high, Naruto quickly formed an enormous rasengan, the sheer size and brightness of it stopping everyone from fighting so they could gaze at the stunning spectacle.
Falling back down, Naruto twisted and turned so he was facing the ground before he thrust the massive Rasengan at the pair of demons.
"ARGHHHH!" "AHHRGHRGHH!" Twin screams rang across the guildhall as Naruto continued to grind the rasengan downwards on the demons.
Boom!
The rasengan exploded, dissipating and allowing the ex-jinchuriki to land on his feet.
He stepped forward, eyeing the deep, large crater within and instantly taking note of the unconscious and heavily battered forms of Jackel and Tempester all the while ignoring the baffled expressions of everyone present.
They were something else, Naruto didn't know if the people of this world – though he highly doubted it - were really resilient or if it was just these two demons in particular but to have survived against a massive rasengan and not… well die, it was impressive and Naruto had to at least credit them on that front.
But impressive or not, Naruto was hardly in the mood to sing the pair of demons praises when he had just gotten out of a war and lost virtually everything.
Turning towards the direction of the last two demons, ice-cold rage gripped Naruto as he eyed and took note of the various fairy tail mages scattered around Kyoka and Ezel, taking note of the various injuries that littered their persons and growing only more rageful before he decided to end this. Now.
Ignoring the shriveling cannon fodder fearfully rooted in their place, Naruto glared coldly at the shell shocked Kyoko and Ezel. "I will say this only once, surrender and I will be merciful."
That snapped them out of their shock, Kyoka gritted her teeth and her companion...
"Merciful!? Merciful!?" Ezel, so infuriated by the idea that a human, a human! Would be willing to show him mercy, instantly transformed into his most powerful form, glaring hatefully at the shinobi while threateningly waving his four blade-like arms in an intimidation display. "STUPID HUMAN! You won't get away with insulting me! I will keep you alive just so you could watch as I kill and eat your friends one by one."
Naruto only continued to gaze in silence, hardly impressed with the threat after having faced the Juubi itself. Still… the gall to threaten these people in front of him? The very same people who had been nothing but kind and hospitable with him when they knew about him and his motives…
Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Naruto raised his palm upward, a blue glowing sphere forming above his hand before four sharp blades protruded all around to form and look like a glowing shuriken. Nearly everyone inside winced and covered their ears as a loud screeching noise engulfed the guildhall.
Once determining that the fairy tail mages were at a great distance away did Naruto finally make his move. Blitzing towards the blue-skinned Etherious demon with incredible speed.
Suddenly, the shinobi slid to the floor once a meter away from the demon before throwing the Rasen-shuriken upwards into his torso.
Ezel was rocketed away immediately, disposed of in a matter of seconds, sent high into the sky with intense speed, nothing more than a dot in the vastness of blue.
BOOM!
The following explosion was by far the largest explosion of the day.
It was a spectacle to behold, a large dome of wind so powerful, so large, so bright, that the entire population of Magnolia witnessed it.
Even when the rasen-shuriken detonated from a long, far-flung distance away, everyone in Magnolia felt its power as the shockwaves blew nearly everyone off their feet and threatened to even undermine and destroy the homes and infrastructures of the city itself.
A couple of seconds have passed before the blue dome began to dull, decreasing in size before ultimately dispersing into nothingness.
Naruto shifted his torso to the last remaining demon, eyeing Kyoka with cold apathy as she gazed up at him with boundless terror.
He stepped forward and she swiftly backpedaled, forgetting all about the various mages around her.
Unfortunately, she backpedaled into a set of strong, sturdy legs.
A quick glance up revealed that she crawled right into the legs of the brother of the girl she was choking earlier.
So consumed by fear, Kyoka did nothing as Elfman frowned, hard… before he pulled back his fist and instantly knocked her out with a thundering blow to the head with his beast arm: Iron bull.
Now, with their heavy hitters taken out and still reeling from the display of Naruto's destructive capabilities, all the dark mages swiftly raised their hands behind their heads and gave up, lotta good that did when the clones appeared behind them all and swiftly knocked them out before dispelling.
It took a few seconds to comprehend that they won but once they did, Fairy tail exploded with a cheer, smiling and laughing in relief as they somehow, somehow managed to prevail against this terrible and dreadful circumstance.
Unbeknownst to any of them, Naruto walked out, feeling tremendous guilt as he wondered if the dark mages attacking had anything to do with him being here.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Four full days had passed since the unexpected incident that happened in Magnolia.
Within a day, news of the great battle and of the capture of three demons from Tartarus and roughly around two hundred dark mages being captured was brought to light.
So big was the news that it even reached the ears of the king.
After all, it wasn't everyday that a prominent city housing a powerful guild such as Fairy Tail would get invaded by dark mages and demons of Zeref.
Not mentioning the various other news that was heard, such as how all the strongest members of Fairy Tail were absent and yet Fairy tail still won against such overwhelming odds, about how there was numerous copies and replicas of one individual who was all around Magnolia, protecting the citizens from any dark mages wishing to inflict torment upon them.
And of course, there was simply no forgetting the massive explosion of blue light that threatened to destroy the city.
The entire country was aware of the news and seemingly that was all what anyone was talking about for the past few days.
Naturally, the magic council was heavily alarmed and within hours of the incident, had a massive bastion of rune knights arrive in the city and interrogate every single person, be they citizens or Fairy Tail wizards.
Once they learned of the reports of a powerful blonde mage who single handedly was responsible for the defeating of the demons, protecting the citizens with his many dozens of clones – something that was unheard of in the history of magic – and being the one who launched that attack that caused that massive explosion…
Saying that the rune knights went on a large manhunt the next day to find and interrogate Naruto was putting it lightly.
They only stopped when the king who, knowing that arresting the savior of Magnolia was extremely bad in both ethics and publicity, interfered, ordering the council to cease their search and leave him alone and leave him alone they did.
But while the magic council and rune knights were unable to search for him, that didn't mean that others couldn't search for Naruto.
Currently, Makarov Dreyar walked the woods, head overflowing with thoughts as he pondered about everything that had happened.
Never in his wildest dreams and nightmares did he ever imagine something like this happening.
It had only been around two to three hours after Lullaby was disposed of that Makarov along with his brats, seated at the train and still a couple of hours away from arriving back at their home town, were notified by Mira of what happened.
Needless to say, Makarov along with Erza, Natsu, Gray and Lucy grew horrified at the news and it was only after Mira, in an attempt to calm the tense and visibly worried master from further sinking into worry, showed the state of every mage who had been around when the dark guilds suddenly attacked.
Seeing his children alive and mostly in good health helped lessen his worries considerably but that didn't stop Makarov from wanting to see them in person or from demanding and probing for every single detail of the incident.
Once they arrived, Makarov alongside the newly created and hopefully temporary team – Makarov prayed - beelined for the guild.
Though the guildhall was in such a heavily damaged state, Makarov could care less, only feeling tremendous relief at the knowledge that his family was alive and safe.
And from his understanding, he owed it all to the young man who had been lying unconscious for a few days.
Wanting to profusely thank the young man who saved and protected his family, Makarov was dismayed to learn from an equally distraught Mira that Naruto had left when no one was looking.
Days had passed since then.
Days in which the master of Fairy tail was either busy reconstructing the guild alongside his mages or having to be privately spoken to by the council who, to the elderly wizard saint's delight, were forced to cease their interrogation thanks to the King.
God bless the king of Fiore.
But of course, when he wasn't doing either of those things, he was getting chewed out by Porlyusica for sending every single one of his mages who had been involved in the invasion towards her.
Was he overreacting? Probably.
But he didn't regret it.
All that mattered was that his brats were safe from the dark guilds and demons of Zeref.
Speaking of…
A rigid frown tugged Makarov's lips as he thought of the three demons who he learned from Yajima, belonged to the dark guild Tartarus.
To think that Tartarus was comprised of only demons from the book of Zeref was worrying. Even more worrying was the fact that they actually had the nerve to attack his guild when he was away…
The normally subdued fire in his pits grew to a smoldering firestorm as Makarov fumed angrily, it didn't matter if all ended well with his brats alive and three demons along with a little over two hundred dark mages were captured. The fact that Tartarus attacked his family…
He wasn't gonna let them get away with this.
"Are you alright old man?" Snapped out of his thoughts, Makarov stopped walking as he tossed his gaze on the right, blinking in surprise when he recognized the young blonde haired man standing back against the tree.
"I'm alright, just a little vexed from the incident a few days ago."
"Mhmm, I can imagine so." Getting off the tree stump, Naruto slowly walked over to the elderly wizard saint before he stood only a foot away. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."
Makarov smiled kindly in greeting. "Makarov Dreyar."
"I know."
Makarov chuckled. "Seems like we both were already aware of each other my boy, kinda makes the whole introduction all but moot."
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as well. "You don't say."
"That said I am glad and relieved to have finally found you, I have been meaning to talk to you for quite some time now." Makarov admitted.
Naruto nodded in understanding. "Same here, it's why I haven't left Magnolia and why I sought you out actually…" Taking a moment to breathe, the shinobi decided to just go out with it. "I've been wanting to apologize to you."
The third master of Fairy tail narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Apologize? For what?" He asked incredulously before shaking his head. "You have done nothing wrong my boy, in fact you did everything right and mere words fail to convey just how grateful I am to you for protecting my family and my city."
"There is a possibility that…" Naruto clenched his eyes shut before he opened them once more. "That what happened, happened because I was there… Nothing supports that theory currently but from my understanding, something like this was extremely unlikely and it only happened days after I wa-" "I will stop you right there."
Naruto blinked as Makarov interrupted him, a frown plastered on the man's elderly visage. "Here's what I know, in my absence and in the absence of our strongest mages, my children were left facing against four powerful demons along with roughly two hundred dark mages. With such odds, most, if not all of them would have been gravely injured at best, kidnapped or killed at worst."
Makarov took a moment to breathe, trying to calm his thundering heart as he was very much aware of what he came close to losing four days ago.
It wasn't that he didn't have faith in his children, he did but he also needed to look at things from a realistic point of view and realistically, with those odds and the fact that Fairy tail's strongest members were not present – excluding Mira who lost the ability to utilize her abilities – the situation could not have been any more dire for Fairy tail then it had been on that day.
"If not for you, that most definitely would have been the case… I heard every single detail from everyone, how you carried Macau and Wakaba away when a large piece of debris was gonna fall on them, how you took Mira to safety after saving her from a demon that was strangling her. The dozens of thought projections that somehow had physical form and were fighting alongside everyone else…"
The fifth ranked wizard saint laid a grateful hand on Naruto's shin. "You protected my family… many mages would have fled had they been in your place but you didn't, you protected my kids and for that I will always be indebted to you. Thank you Naruto." Makarov said in a low tone, his quiet voice adding a depth to his gratitude that the shinobi could nearly not fathom.
Naruto frowned softly, not feeling worthy of the elder's appreciation. "Yeah but they wouldn't have needed protecting if I wasn't there in the first place."
Such a situation brought back memories…
Yes. It had been less than three months ago that Konoha had been invaded by Nagato and reduced to rubble because the rinnegan user had been looking for him.
Everyone may have said otherwise but Naruto knew that he was partly responsible for the devastation of his home.
Makarov shook his head lightly. "We don't know for certain if that's the case but even if it was, I don't blame you. You didn't ask for this and I reiterate this again, you protected my family when so many others would have abandoned them and fled for their life."
"Well…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head a little sheepishly, having not expected such a heartfelt and genuine response. "I'm glad that you're not angry with me."
Amusement tinted Makarov's gaze as he smiled at the blonde. "I most certainly am not, that said, if you really do want to make me happy, then come walk with me back to Fairy tail and share with me a drink. Everyone's been dying to talk to you."
Naruto took a moment to contemplate the choice before he made up his mind. "I suppose there's no harm in seeing everyone."
"Not at all my boy." The wizard saint responded back cheerfully. "I know quite a few of my brats were sad that you left so abruptly, now that is the only thing that you did wrong in my opinion."
The shinobi winced at the scolding tone. "I know it was wrong to leave without saying anything but in my defense, I felt very guilty and couldn't be around any of them when their injuries were staring me in the face."
Makarov sighed. "Kids nowadays, they always love to complicate things."
A tick mark formed on Naruto's forehead. "I'm not a kid old man! I'm eighteen."
(I know that in canon that Naruto turns seventeen when he's in the war but here in this story he'll be a year older, just think of it as Naruto spending four years on that training trip with Jiraiya rather than three.)
Makarov laughed. "That's a kid's age to me."
"Whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"And while we're heading back, perhaps you'd be willing to entertain me with a story or two."
Naruto tried desperately to not smile but failed as the old man's mood was infectious. "Are you sure, all my stories are pretty long."
Makarov laughed as he walked back towards the direction of Fairy Tail, Naruto flanking him on his right. "Then it's a good thing that we have a long walk ahead of us."
END.
And that marks the end of this chapter. This chapter was very tough to write, mainly because I've never been very good with writing battle scenes and it was an honest struggle to write this one.
My bad if it is on the short side but I'm afraid that when it comes to my stories, the battle element will be lacking compared to the rest.
I have Chapter 4, 5, and 6 posted on my p.a.t.r.e.o.n Feel free to check it out lads, here's the link
www.#patr#eon.#com/Demon_Knight939 (Just remove all the hashtags)
I do hope you all enjoyed the changes to canon and enjoyed the chapter regardless, it was pretty fun to write despite the difficulties.
Anyway take care lads.
Peace.
