Yo, here's the newest chapter! I'm going to continue to work on this arc since this story (and One Piece) need to be go on track, so i'll finish this arc first and at least get to chapter 10 for this story. Also I'll be holding a Q and A for the next chapter. So be happy to ask me anything.

Enjoy!

Hargeon Town

Hargeon, a big port town that holds not only perhaps the largest port of the southern part of Fiore, but also held the reputation as one of the most beautiful towns of the kingdom. With most of its population being in the business of the seas like fishing, they also have a big marina for all types of ships, from big transport ships to small fishing boats. The town also had a train station, a public park, and a series of diverse restaurants.

Naruto was inside one of the restaurants, eating a warm meal he had paid for. After arriving at Hargeon town he decided to go and eat something before he would try and find a boat that could bring him to Galuna island. If he was lucky because he had already been warned by some of the dock workers that many sailors would not go near that island because it was cursed.

He finished his meal and sighs out of delight before ordering "May I get a glass of water, please?"

"Coming right up."

Naruto nodded as he starts waiting patiently for his drink, he looks around to see that the place was packed with happy customers enjoying their food. He then notices that at one table a group of young women who sat at a nearby table were watching him and giggled to each other.

It was not new for Naruto to have that kind of attention, thanks to the reputation as a member of Fairy Tail and the many tales that of him fighting bandits, rogue mages and other acts, he was almost recognized everywhere where he went by people who recognized him by his appearance, especially his mask.

The Bartender came with his drink "Here is your drink."

"Thank you." Naruto said as he pulls out some coins as payment "Here."

The bartender took the money "Anything else?"

"No, thank you," Naruto said as the bartender nodded and walked away to help other customers. Just when Naruto started to drink his water, and little man was walking up and took a seat next to the blonde shinobi.

"I see you're drinking water, good. At least you're thinking of your health."

Naruto stopped drinking and saw who it was, chuckling he began "Come on, old man. You come all the way from Era for that?"

The small person chuckled "I'm just concerned about your health, that all. I remember back when that the only thing you liked to eat was ramen. And you only drank can soda."

"And now thanks to your fostering, I came out okay. Thank you for that, Yajima. For everything."

The short old man who revealed to be Yajima was a member of the Magic Council. He was also a former member of Fairy Tail, which also explains him always defending the guild. He was also one of the few who knew of Naruto's background.

It was no secret among many of the Magic Council of Naruto's background and former affiliations to the other side of the ocean because he wasn't the first case of someone who came from the other side of the sea to reside and live in the magical continent….

"So, you're planning on going to Galuna island on your own…. I must say that I find this strategy of yours too risky." Yajima stated.

Naruto sighed as he knew the old man would find it reckless "I know you are a concerned old man. But if what Kageyama says is true, then there will be at least a lot of bandits with a lot of explosives there, possible some ninja's among them too."

"Then you know that I won't let you go there alone." Yajima said as he revealed something "I know that you're having trouble on getting there due to most sailors not wanting to get to Galuna island. But I found someone who's willing to bring you there."

Naruto was surprised, he had almost spent the whole afternoon trying to find someone "Who?"

"A local who owns a fishing boat, says he would do it for free. You'll find him in the port. He's waiting for you."

Naruto was glad he now had a way to reach Galuna island "Alright, what's the guy's name?"

"Bobo, no last name, just Bobo. He wears a blue cap, an light green cape and has a mustache. He's easy to spot as he's waiting on his boat for you."

"Okay, then I'll get to it then."

"Before you go, I need to ask you. What have you done for the Eisenwald boys?"

"Oh them? I let Mystogan handle it." Naruto said "I gave him the location of the safe house, some town up north on the countryside. There they will be lying low until all the Eisenwald members are apprehended."

Yajima nodded "Good. You better leave now. before it gets dark."

"Alright, if you say so." Naruto said standing up "I'll contact the council when the job is done."

Yajima understood "Okay, just be a careful boy. Don't let anything happen to you."

Naruto chuckled "Of course not. See you around." He said before walking away from the counter and walking for the exit.

"Oh, Naruto!"

He stopped and turns around and saw a scroll was thrown to him by the old man, it was a message scroll.

"I came across your friend, she wanted me to pass it to you."

"Oh,…" Naruto looked at the scroll before turning to Yajima "Thanks old man, see ya." He said before exiting through the front door and going straight for the port.

Yajima smiled as he saw the young boy leave with a smile, the bartender behind the counter asked: "Looks like a pretty decent kid."

"Oh he is," Yajima said smirking as he was served a glass of rum by the bartender "but sometimes he's just like the rest of Fairy Tail and having his moments; likes to fight, create havoc, or in his case he likes pranking people."

The bartender got closer to the man and asked: "I know this may be an...sudden question, but….is he one of those 'people'?"

Yajima became very careful with his words and retorted the question "…Why do you ask?"

"Don't worry, my son is engaged with one of them, a woman from Kiri I believe. I've noticed that many of the ex-shinobi who live among us mostly take distance from everyone else, never mind that they talk with members of the Magic council like you…"

This was something new to hear to Yajima, and he asked: "So you know of this little community…"

The bartender nods "She told me what she did," the bartender began to dry one of the empty glasses as he continued to talk "the life she lived, the missions she did, the people she knew died….including her only living relative, her sister."

Already understanding what the man meant "How did she cross the sea?"

"Smuggler brought her here." The bartender explained "Paid for a ticket, the trip took a month to arrive in this port. Came here with nothing but a backpack filled with clothes and a little money. She managed to escape the port police before they surrounded the smuggler's ship and arrested everyone else and deported them back to Kiri."

Yajima shook his head, he had read the reports of the smugglings, of course, all of it was confidential. Only a small percentage of people in the Fiore government and the Magic Council of Earthland knew of the existence of the Shinobi continent. How did most people not know? lack of knowledge? No interest? Or was it because the magical continent hasn't had real contact with the shinobi continent for over a century or all of them.

Still, these days the only thing that was coming from the shinobi continent were ships, unofficial ships that were mostly caught smuggling contraband like a dope, stolen goods or weapons, but these ships were also in a different kind of smuggling; people.

In recent years, the shinobi continent and the newly established Alvarez Empire had made contact in the first time in sixty years, breaking of the agreement of other magical countries who did not interact with the shinobi continent. The Western country had set up relationships with the shinobi countries and negotiated military agreements.

Of course this came with a price, the Alvarez empire and the rest of the magical community broke off all diplomatic ties after the empire was specifically warned multiple times not to do undergo any contact with the shinobis, since most feared their violent and dangerous way of life would destroy their long-standing peaceful way of living and progress in magic. The first reason why all ties of communications were cut off from the shinobis was that because the violence had spilled over to their lands.

So in the response under the Magic Council and the Fiore royal family, the travel routes were heavily restricted so the ships of the shinobis and the empire were forced to only go between Shinobi controlled sea territory and Alvarez controlled sea territory. And of course in there, a few smugglers tried to reach Fiore, but only a small percentage of those ships get to shore and get mostly raided by the Fiore military.

All of this was kept in secret, not even the population in Alvarez, Fiore or any other country in Earthland was informed about this, only the military, the magic council, and the royalty.

The bartender sighed "Imagine if that girl got caught, I've heard at least five others like her were on that ship, most of them were teens. All girls who had gone through hell."

Yajima saddened after hearing that, the Shinobi-Alvarez agreement also brought an unprecedented consequence; people from the shinobi continent left their homes for a new life, many of them were ex-shinobi who left the ranks.

Many ex-shinobi came in contact with the Fiore government and surprisingly pleaded for asylum, telling under truth-spells the story why they left the shinobi life in the first place, some of them were found out to have committed crimes and were deported to Alvarez, where they would be picked up by the tracker ninjas of their villages, awaiting mostly arrest…

But a good chunk of ex-shinobi was given asylum, many of them because they were underage, mostly genin who couldn't handle the pressure and the pain of the shinobi life anymore. Some even brought friends of them who wanted to escape. Most of these shinobi came from smaller villages like Ame and Kusa who went through brutal wars or others like Taki and Yuka. Also among them were a few from the big five villages, including from Naruto's village.

"In those few years, after that Alvarez mess, I wonder how many of those poor folks made it here."

Yajima then muttered out "If I will say, possibly around a thousand by now…"

The bartender almost froze when he heard that "Do I hear that clearly."

"I know a thousand sounds a lot," Yajima spoke "but if you compare that to those who tried coming to Earthland, it's only a fraction that I don't even want to say that now lives here. So many children tried to get through, but so many didn't make it."

The bartender nods as he saw some sadness in the guy's eyes and spoke some words "Look up there, behind you."

Yajima turned around and saw a brown haired girl in a waitress outfit was writing down the orders from the customers, she looked like Naruto's age, had her hair in braids, had brown eyes and had a noticeable bump in her stomach that looked like she was expecting….

"That is my daughter-in-law, Koa, formally known as Miza Yuki. A former chunin from a village called Kirigakure, I'm correct."

Yajima questioned "I notice she's pregnant."

The bartender nodded as he starts cleaning another mug "She did not have an easy life if I can say, did you know that a civil war was going on in her home village? Because that's not it, you see she has what they call a 'Kekkei Genkai' some kind of ability to manipulate chakra into something that only she and her family could do."

Yajima nodded "Yeah, like family magic, Naruto told me about it. He told me he had a friend who possessed the ability to see enemies from up far and disable its energy sources by blocking them."

"Yeah, something like that. But her ability is to mix two different elements, she has the ability to use Hyōton."

"Hyōton?"

"Ice release. Like in the ability to use ice." The bartender said lousy "Like me get to the point, the civil war was raging because it seemed like their leader was under hypnoses by some guy with red eyes and dots. I think it was what they called a shoringan or something like that."

Koa came over with a plate filled with empty mugs and said "Sorry dad, but I've got to see my doctor, it's for checking the baby."

"Sure, go sweety. I'll warn the boy."

"Thank you." Koa smiled before walking to the back.

"Like I was saying, this fucker with these eyes, caused so much fucking trouble that these people in Kiri did something horrible, guess what?"

Yajima didn't want to know but he thought he at least had to. He shook his head "Tell me."

"They started a fucking purge, everyone who had a bloodline was slaughtered, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, girls, boys, babies, elderly. They just fucking killed people left and right, shinobi or civilian they were killing people like cattle."

Yajima saw the man was physically angered by telling the story.

The barman then puts the mugs aside and started strangling the towel in his hand like it was someone's neck "She lost her whole family, her mother, father, even her little sister and her baby brother. Because she just got this blood in her veins…she just came back from becoming a chunin in her exams in Kumo, and she comes back losing her family at the age of fourteen!" he silently growled. The small growl was noticed by some of the customers before they continued to eat further.

The man took a deep breath before he kept going "The girl manages to flee, lie low in a pig farm for a couple of days before she takes boat to the land of Waves, hides out there for a year, and then when she got some cash together, she then took a ticket from a smuggler's ship and got right to the port right south."

"Doesn't a ticket cost a lot? It's not cheap to get from one side of the ocean to the other."

The man slammed the towel beside him "How does an underage girl make money?"

That was a no brainer question when he knows how the guy said it. immediately turning the two men into disgusting feelings.

"Not only that, but she was also raped by customers who didn't want to pay, besides that they didn't even bother to pull out and impregnated her four times, forcing the girl to use the coat hanger if you know what I mean."

"Oh, lord…." The council member held his hand over his mouth "Poor girl…."

Koa walks out wearing her normal clothing with a brown coat "I'm going to the doctor."

"Okay, just be careful." The man said as she nodded. she left through the front door and got greeted by the neighbors who she waved at and laughed.

The bartender smiled at the girl's happiness, he then turns to Yajima and finally spoke his mind "And let me tell you something. That girl, she's a sweet girl, it took her a while to open up when she began to work here, but when she did, at her eighteenth birthday she told us, my son was the first to comfort her, then my wife than me. She and my son are about to marry and she's planning on becoming a mother and having a family with my son who she loves. She's not a Yuki anymore but a Seroka now, she's a Fiore citizen. Which means she's one of us." The bartender said pointing at his chest to make a clear statement.

Yajima nodded but noticed that the bartender wasn't finished.

"But I tell you, I know that if one of those scumbags from that village want to come here, and force her and my first grandchild to return to that hellhole they say is her home. I will not hesitate to snap their necks." The man said fringing the towel into his hands until it started showing signs of shreds.

Yajima understood the man's anger and complies by saying "You have my word mister, I'll do anything I can, to make sure that people like your daughter-in-law will be protected from any actions by the Alvarez or the Shinobi authorities."

"You better be, I'll be damned I let that girl go through such hell again, not with those savages who send kids into battles against other kids." The man said before throwing the towel to the counter "Sorry, but I gotta check the fridge, see what's for dinner."

"Sure, go ahead." Yajima nodded.

"Fucking savages." The man cursed under his breath as he went to the kitchen.

Yajima sighed after hearing that whole story "I thought I heard everything after Naruto's story, but now I'm more convinced….poor kids."

At the port was a man with a green cape and mustache was checking on the motor of his small boat that was waiting on the port.

Naruto walked up and turns to the guy "Hey, are you Bobo?"

"Yeah, that's me." The man said as he stood up and turns to the blonde "You Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yeah that's me, the old man said you could bring me to Galuna island."

"Yes, yes I can," said Bobo as he stepped off the boat to shake Naruto's hand "I see someone finally took the quest."

"Quest?" Naruto asked confused before he remembered that this island also held a curse "You mean that curse, why?"

Bobo sniffed his nose and looked around, not seeming to want to answer questions he said: "You going for the quest, or not?"

Rather than saying no and possibly losing his only transport to that island he said: "Yes, I'm going for that quest, but also for something else."

"Smugglers?"

Naruto nodded "Yes, you know anything about that?"

"Only that after that incident with Eisenwald, the guy who came here every day trying to sell something hasn't been seen for almost a week." Bobo turned around and points to the ocean.

"I believe they're hiding. Waiting for the heat to fall down. figures if you're selling illegal goods down the dock to some shady folks in the night."

Naruto raises his eyebrows to what the guy said, sounded like the guy knew something more than a normal sailor should. He's gonna keep it into his mind to ask him about it later "When can we set sail?"

"Right now if you want," Bobo said as he hops back into his boat.

Naruto smiled as he threw his bag into the boat, but before he could hop in next-

The blue cat of Fairy Tail, Happy flew in front of his face and greeted "Hey Naruto!"

"Happy? What are you doing here?"

"Oi! Naruto!"

Naruto recognized that voice and mentally cursed 'No, not now…' turning around he saw Natsu and surprisingly Lucy walking up to him.

"Natsu, Lucy, the hell are you guys doing here?" Naruto said walking up to them "You up for a new job or something?"

In response Natsu pulled out the quest flyer and showed it to Naruto, who grabbed it and started reading it, staring into disbelief….

Natsu smiled "Yep, We took an S-class job-"

The fingers of Naruto's hands were clinging into the paper and looked up to the laughing. Clearly, this was a plan of Natsu to prove himself to the others in the guild, figuring out that he was the only one either cunning or dumb enough to pull this off. And possibly in this case, it was both.

Moments later

Natsu was lying unconscious on the ground, with the s-class flyer stuck in his mouth while he had the face of a frozen buffoon.

"I didn't even know that was possible!" Lucy said frightened, the guy who was on the ground just got put into the ground like it was nothing, and this was the same guy who wrecked up half of Hargeon's city in one blow. How strong was Naruto then?

Happy flew up sweating and making excuses "Just that you know, it was their idea to-"

"Happy…don't even bother," Naruto said with a glare as a warning, scaring the cat away until it flew behind Lucy to hide.

"You in on this?" Naruto asked the celestial mage as he spoke with his arms crossed, in a disciplinary way. He was lying if he said he wasn't angry, what were they thinking? Going on a dangerous S-class quest with only the two of them, Happy excluded.

Lucy didn't give a response as she saw that they had been caught, looking down to avoid any eye contact.

She then mumbled out "I first did not want too….but, part of the reward is a golden key."

"Golden Key, you mean one of the 12 Golden Zodiac Keys?"

She nodded yes making Naruto now understand what here take is on this, of course, he forgot that Lucy right here was a celestial mage, just like her mother she wants to collect all twelve keys if possible. She made that promise to be a powerful celestial mage ever since the day her mother passed away….

Rolling his eyes around, he remembered a promise he once made….and of course, he couldn't break one, that is just not who he is "Alight."

Lucy shot her head up "Huh?"

"You'll be going with me, you, me, Happy and Natsu will go to Galuna island." Naruto said as he turned around and asked the sailor "You think you can take my friends with you?"

Bobo replied, "Of course, the more the merrier."

"Found you." Both blondes turned around to see Gray standing there.

"Gray, why are you here, you joined up with them for the job?"

"No, I'm here because gramps sent me to bring them back." Gray said coming closer to them "but I got to ask Naruto, why are you here?"

"I'm going to Galuna island to take down a smuggling ring." Naruto explained his main reason "I just came across them and now I believe it's for the better to go as a team."

"Is that so?" Gray questioned while looking between the two "That's strange because I haven't heard that there were any quests about smugglers in these parts. Then why haven't we seen one on the board? And last time I remembered, you aren't even an S-class wizard either."

Before anyone could ask, Bobo spoke: "Are you guys planning on going to the island or what?"

Gray turned to the sailor "No way-URGH!"

Lucy and Happy stood shocked when they saw Gray fell on his back, after being given a blow to the stomach by Naruto.

"Let's go."

Later at sea

The night had fallen over the sea and only a small boat was traveling through the wavy waters.

"Ughhh!" a sick Natsu laid his head over the end of the ship, with his sickness kicking in again he looked ready to puke his guts out.

"For crying out loud Natsu!" Gray yelled, he was tied up, not wanting to take any risks, Naruto tied the ice mage up.

"S-crew….you…" Natsu stated weakly.

Lucy sighed while watching the ordeal. She looked left to her that Happy was munching on a fish he caught jumping off the water fresh, and to her right she saw that at the far end of the ship was Naruto and the sailor, having their own conversation.

"And that is what the curse is." Bobo said finishing talking before pointing his finger at the full moon "There's something that makes the moon turn purple, that's when you're on the island itself. But if you look up now, it looks normal. Especially if you're not on the island."

Naruto listened to every detail the sailor had said, looks like not only was this man a native who lived on the island with a village, he was also the one who knew the whole island, every beach, every bedrock and tunnel he said was a possible hideout for the smugglers to stash their goods.

"Do you have an idea of how long this has been going on?"

Bobo replied back with the question "What? the smuggling or the curse?"

"Both."

"Three months, both of them," Bobo said surprising Naruto who turned to him with a stunned expression.

Bobo explained further while manning the ship "Three months back, I was out fishing until I noticed some small cargo ships nearing on the east of the island. It wasn't new for smugglers to use this island as a stop and then go to the docks, so we assumed it was just that."

Naruto narrowed his eye "But?"

"These ships never left, not the big ones at least just some smaller boats who made runs to the port once a week, mostly to buy supplies. One of those boats came in at night and did some sales to some not so pleasant people."

By this, he meant the ones who sold explosives tags and Naruto asked "What kind of people were buying it?

"Anything you can name, bandits, crime bosses, some pirates but most of these customers were wizards…"

Naruto guessed "Dark wizards by any chance?"

Bobo nodded at that.

"Damn…" Naruto said under his breath, this is what he feared, dark guilds having access to deadly weaponry from the shinobi continent.

He turns back "Where did you-" the sailor was gone, he disappeared just like that. How? They were in the middle of the sea.

"AN WAVE!"

Naruto turned around and saw that a huge wave was right behind them, ready to smash into their boat.

"Hold on the boat!" Naruto yelled as he held onto the side of it. The wave started absorbing the boat before it plowed into the sea with the boat into it. The sea then became calmer but at cost with the smallest ship disappearing from the water.

But that was no normal wave, because from afar, another small boat was spotted, with standing up was a man in a cloak, holding a hand sign over in front of him.

A headband was seen strapped around the man's arm, he was a Kiri headband with a scratch through it.