October 10th, 762x

Hello everyone, welcome to a fresh installment of Dragon Prince!

Naruto Namikaze Redux and this will update on a weekly off and on basis. One week will be NNR and DP will be the other.

I don't own Naruto or Fairy Tail

The lack of a moon was like a bad omen, foretelling that there would be no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel.

The orange plumes of fire that rose into the sky were quickly lost to the dark contrast of the pitch black smoke which was lost to the darkness of night. The flames of a burning village and the trace of dark magic, plus the presence of a powerful magical source only serve to attract his attention.

He cursed to himself as he realized he had been too late, the smell of blood and lack of magical signatures from inhabitants let him know that there was likely nobody left, except for three signatures running away from the cultists.

The old dragon that once had been a man descended into the land below him, and turned into his human self.

Mages in robes that covered their bodies and facial features terrorized the small isolated village, spell fire flew all over the place.

They were so lost in manic destruction that the dark mages likely didn't realize that they had killed most of everyone who remained or were left behind.

Shaking his head the Dragon of the Apocalypse took off towards where he felt three uncorrupted signatures being overwhelmed, and he could spare them from Zeref's death group.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki were barely in their twenties. They hadn't even married yet, but they already had a bundle of their own.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be their baby boy's first birthday, but it didn't pan out as such as the two ran away from the burning village. Hoping to get their child away from the grips of that dark guild that had attacked the small and isolated community.

Carrying a year old toddler didn't help, as Naruto was making a fuss that would surely attract some assaulters.

However, they were stopped when a group of mages surrounded them. The leader stepped forward and said, "Give us the child, and no more harm shall befall upon this village."

"Wah!!" The toddler wailed, afraid of all the cacophony of chaos and destruction unfolding.

"Kushina, take Naruto and run." The blonde haired man spoke to his lover, he was by no means a powerful mage nor a warrior by any stretch. But he hoped he could take the heat off his family and allow them enough time to escape.

"Minato!" Kushina yelled, only to shriek horrified as the sound of pierced flesh hit her ears and the sight of the cloaked that pierced her lover's chest and took hold of his heart, blood splattered everywhere as the still beating heart was crushed under their assailant's hand. She knelt down at the grizzly sight, a hand covering her mouth as tears slid down her face. Her skin turned pale, and her frame shook in shock. To top it all up she doubled over and puked her guts out.

Naruto, her son's cry went unheard as shock settled in and she became unresponsive to the world around her.

But somehow, she managed to act just in time. Chains exploded out from her as the dark mages turned their attention towards her. She held Naruto protectively against her chest as she gave her back to the attackers, protecting him from the retaliatory spell fire.

She knew she was going to die, but those bastards would not take her baby! As tears blurred her vision she kept apologizing over and over to her son, voice barely above a whisper.

Suddenly a blue burst of magic, and her attackers fell to the ground dead. By this point, her back was painful, receiving multiple explosions and lacerations. She merely laid on the ground clutching her son.

"It seems like the bastard's worshippers never learn," a stern voice filled with disgust and something else Kushina couldn't quite discern.

Her body was cold and her vision was slowly losing color.

Then the man, dark skin and blue hair stood above her and crouched, "You're dying, it seems I'm too late."

Somehow, Kushina found the strength to speak, "P-please, m-my s-son,"

The man took the sniffling toddler, gave him a look over and said, "I can promise he'll be looked after, and I can promise he'll be strong. What's his name?"

"N-naruto," Kushina stated, her battle with consciousness becoming more difficult as she finished, "N-Naruto U-Uzum-maki,"

Finally, her strength gave out. As if a switch had suddenly been and her body went cold. As if sensing something had happened, baby Naruto started wailing his little lungs out.

Acnologia, dragon of the apocalypse left out a frustrated sigh. Oh how he hated Zeref, and the many problems the dark mage spawned. It had been several lifetimes ago that at one point they had worked together.

But it was nights like this Acnologia truly and utterly hated Zeref.

Hadn't old timers like them caused enough suffering? Did blood need to be spilled again and again?

The old dragon held the baby out, as the little toddler ceased his wailing to look at the stranger, and Acnologia saw tearful blue eyes, three whisker marks on his cheek and blonde hair. In that moment he saw the look that could only be described as pleading.

The dragon of the Apocalypse closed his eyes and brought the baby closer to his chest and promised, "You will be strong enough."

Eight years later

October 10th, 770x

Naruto Uzumaki , that was all he could remember. Adopted son of Acnologia, and dragon slayer in training. He didn't remember much from his life before his dad, but the old dragon did tell him of the last minute of his mother's life, how she protected him, and showed him to the grave the old dragon had made for his parents.

He would say he had a good life, despite living in a cave. True, his father was not the most emotional of people, but he showed he cared in his own way. He never had nightmares, but for some reason, he would get cold sweats every single night. It was abnormal, every night for him to go to sleep. Only for fear to grip him in the darkness of solitude.

His cave had nice furnishings like a bed, and a desk, and many things that had been salvaged from his burnt down village. Including several journals and spellbooks his parents had owned, and a picture of the three of them that sat neatly on his desk.

The soft breezes that calmed him were distinctively absent. Gray clouds covered the usually sunny skies, though his senses told him there would be no rain.

The ruffling of the grass and bushes alerted him of another's presence entering his sanctuary. He didn't bother looking up from his book, he already knew it was his father.

"Dinner will be served soon, we're training after that," Acnologia said from the entrance of the cave, "be down in the clearing within 20 minutes, we're having wild hog with some fruits and veggies!"

"Oh, of course! Dad!" Naruto replied with a hint of eagerness as he looked up from his book towards the entrance.

"Whatcha reading?" Acnologia asked with genuine curiosity as he made his way over to the blonde boy's desk, looking over the boy's shoulder.

Acnologia had made it pretty clear early on that he couldn't teach him conventionally as a dragon slayer since Acnologia himself couldn't recall being dragon slayer. In fact, alot of his memories before and after a certain event were lost to him. He remembered being completely out of his mind for centuries before finally calming down and regaining conscience.

So a lot of their training and instruction time was actually experimentation, so of course, naturally, the dark skinned man made sure naruto had plenty of reading material in magical theory and the likes.

He wouldn't have an inferior dragon slayer for one, and he found his son was truly creative when it came to creating spells, the Arcane: Rasengan had as much destructive power as the dragon roar allowing the boy more mobility.

"Oh, just this old book was written by someone called Dr. Melody, and although most of the pages had faded to time and wear, the clear segments have cool bits of knowledge of spellcraft," naruto explained with enthusiasm, "The one I'm reading about is called Aera, which in theory would give me wings to be able to fly!"

Ah that's right, Naruto yearned to take to the skies like a dragon. Ah, to be a child again with innocent dreams, it was then that Acnologia decided, "Well, How about we take the rest of the week to see if the spell is legit, and if you can master it, I'll treat you to a night out in a festival, deal?"

His son's eyes lit up wide and with glee.

He still hated Zeref for the darkness that robbed this pure hearted boy of his biological parents. They should be the ones seeing his prodigious talents not him!

Five days later

'... The key to Mastering Aera lies…'

Breathing in and out, Naruto concentrated his magic into his back muscles. Imagining wings, and focusing his magic. Commanding it to take the shape he wished, he had practiced the spell a thousand times.

Breath in

He felt the wind around him pick up as he felt the wings sprout and come into existence.

Breath out

Slowly, he stood up. Figuring he'd have a better chance at success and less chance of injury if he tried levitating from a standing position.

Breath in

He slowly felt himself getting lighter and lighter.

Standing as stiff as possible, he slowly began to levitate in the air. Feeling his feet leave the ground caused static to course all over his body.

Breath out

His foot hit the ground as soon as a certain smell bothered his nose, his eyes opened, shining a bright predatory red. Humans were nearing his cave, he quickly hid the journal and awaited for whoever it was that was intruding into his territory.

"What, a child?" A gruff voice asked, sounding confused. A large man with brown hair stood at the entrance, "Hey kid, what are you doing here? You should leave these mountains, they're dangerous."

"Leave, you're intruding in my territory." The child spoke out in a soft tone, his eyes taking on a darker red hue.

"Oi! You're a kid, you think- !" The man hissed, as he moved closer towards the blond.

That was all Naruto needed, before he inhaled, "Arcane Dragon Magic: Apocalypse Dragon Roar!" Pure blue magic shot out of the mouth of the kid and hit the intruder square in the chest, sending him flying out of the cave.

Naruto followed right after as he dashed straight at the intruder, fist covered in magic striking at the large figure. Hoping to do only one thing, kill.

Soon however, he was knocked back by a large gust of wind.

"It seems I need to teach you a lesson, you little bastard." The man stated, placing his arms extended outwards, hand facing the direction of the Dragon Slayer in training, "Begone with the wind."

Naruto dodged just in time as the gust of wind exploded. Only to find himself having to dodge multiple cutting attacks made entirely out of wind blades.

"That's an interesting magic you have there, kid."

"I'm the Prince of Dragons, mongrel, my father expects me to have the best magic." The blond spoke out, unfortunately. He had lost his equal ground advantage as his opponent began to float, using his wind magic.

"Prince of Dragon's heh? Well, aren't you a creative one." The brown haired mage said as he sent out more attacks at the child. Hoping to incapacitate him. The boy was practically overflowing with magic, he would fetch a nice price.

It was probably stupid of the child to do. But the annoying pest, who's foul intent he could smell from a mile away, kept evading his advantage thanks to his airborne position. So, Naruto activated Aera once again. Shakily floating to roughly the same altitude as his opponent, "this is the end of you, trash."

The burly man laughed, more blades of wind appeared in the air, at least a hundred of them by the boy's count, "Man, you're one funny kid. Do me a favor now and surrender before you get injured."

His magic faltered for a moment, causing Naruto to fall a few feet, but when he stabilized himself once more, his eyes widened as a hundred wind blades descended towards him.

The wind mage closed his eyes and smirked, having the expectations he would win this easy. Until he heard, "Thank you for the midnight snack. Now, you die."

Red eyes glowed brightly as Naruto's power increased exponentially, his four limbs having been covered in pure Ethernano, that was more akin to a blue flame than anything. And with great speed he flew towards his opponent, yelling out, "Apocalypse Dragon Magic: Decapitating Claw!"

That was the last thing the intruder saw, as his head was removed from his shoulder.

Losing control of his magic, that combined with his tired state. Naruto plummeted out of the sky, only to be caught by Acnologia. His gaze was as serious as ever as he set him down on the ground.

"You did well, rest soon," his father said softly, "I will see which towns nearby have a carnival."

The boy nodded, and turned towards the body, and checked it for any belonging. Inside the vest of the body, was a book on wind magic, which Naruto quickly pocketed to himself.

Acnologia didn't care for any mortal spoils, but he allowed his charge to keep anything he wished from any intruders they killed. It was a factor that allowed Naruto to grow a stack of treasure, including books, some form of currency called jewels, various weapons, gems, outfits, and magical artifacts.

His son's favorite were books on magic, such as Dr. Melody, who though faded, had given him two of his favorite spells, transformation, and now Aera, he also had acquired an extensive tomes on magic. Which had admittedly helped him increase his magical abilities, and now he could add to his collection a book on wind magic.

Especially since he and his father had hit a sort of plateau in their training, Acnologia was running out of things to teach him, and Naruto needed more experience to grow stronger. Experience he couldn't get from just sparring with his father.

They did find a festival, in a town called Magnolia. It was related to celebrations of a local guild who's name Acnologia did not know or care much for. Generally he genuinely and wholeheartedly preferred to keep away from humans.

But now he was in charge of taking care of a little human until the boy could fend for himself.

As he watched the blonde name Naruto run around the crowds, going from stall to stall and trying the different foods. Acnologia allowed himself to feel a little sadness, the boy was growing strong quickly. Soon there would be nothing left to teach his charge that the blonde couldn't learn and master by himself.

In truth, that was already the case. But no one could blame the black dragon for being sentimental, he was once human after all.

Towards the end of the night they stood off to the side amongst the crowd, Naruto sitting on his adoptive father's shoulders. Watching the parade as the floats drove down the streets.

Acnologia didn't enjoy being around humans, he loathed their feeble nature and the greed and darkness that corrupted them, no different from the dragons that betrayed and attempted to enslave them, back when he was just a humble human medic.

He ended up renting an inn for the night.

As he watched his adoptive son sleep, looking entirely too tiny in the queen size bed. Acnologia decided that emotions were weird, but the little moments of pure joy were worth it.

He also decided then and there, that even after it was time for Naruto to leave the nest, he would come by from time to time to make sure his boy was alright. After all, he did promise that his ward would be looked after by a dying mother.

The Dragon of the Apocalypse did not go back on his word. An omen of death he may be, destructive, powerful, but a liar he was not.

The following Morning the duo found themselves back at their mountain range. There was one more thing the black dragon was to teach his son, something he only knew about because he hung around the mother of the dragon slayers back in his days. But he and his boy would have to figure out the mechanisms of such… well, for himself, entering Dragon Force for himself back when he was but a humble human.

Wait… no, he hadn't just randomly turned into a dragon.

For some reason the memory returned to him now, he once supported Queen Irene and her army during the Dragon King's festival. He had once been a dragon slayer himself… how could he forget? Why was he remembering now?

He filed the memory and thought about it for later, he had a pupil to teach.

With Naruto's wide blue eyes paying attention to him, he spoke, "Naruto, what I'm going to teach you next is not something I can show you, as I'm already a dragon, but it's something that should benefit you throughout your life. It's an advanced ability of your kin, something every dragon slayer worth their salt should know, Dragon Force."

"What's that?" Naruto asked, a slight grin on the boy's lips at the thought of learning another skill from his father.

"It's a heightened state, it grants you comparable destructive power to a Dragon," Acnologia explained, adding on, "For most dragon slayers, they have to consume a matter consisting of their element rich in ethernano, however for you… well, you are the Arcane Dragon Slayer, you can consume pure magic, however, the more rich an environment the quicker you can enter dragon force."

Then he stood up after finishing his explanation, and produced a spinning ball of pure energy, "First to make sure you activate dragon force and while you learn to control it, I'll be providing the magic necessary. But as soon as you can activate it reliably, you'll have to learn how to activate it from the energy in the air around you."

Naruto nodded in determination, and began consuming ethernano as his father oversaturated the air with his magic. The blonde activated his aera spell to put some distance between himself and the blue haired man, and suddenly there was an explosion of blue.

The wings of the blonde's spell took on a more draconic shape, as blue eyes bled red.

Acnologia smiled, and made a come hither motion.

His son had activated the most powerful transformation.

Another memory hit the blue haired man as he blocked strikes from his blonde charge.

King Dragon mode? Bah! Apocalypse Dragon Force was superior. Take that Belserion!

"You're almost ready," Acnologia stated, "Just one final trial, and you'll be ready to get out of the nest, and explore the world by yourself."

"Really?" Naruto asked, feeling a little self conscious and insecure, "what is the trial?"

"Somewhere on this mountain range, I have hidden stash, I guess you can call them treasures of mine. Find the cave, and you'll get a present," Acnologia explained, "You'll need to truly think like a dragon and use everything you've learned."

"I'll do it!" Naruto exclaimed, putting on his nest bravado, but Acnologia could see the beads of sweat forming in the boy's forehead.

"Do me proud kid," The black dragon acknowledged with a smirk on his face, pulling out a map, he circled the general area of the cave and said, "focus on this part, now go!"

Naruto touched down near the area where his father had marked off from him. He was in the southeastern area of the phoenix mountain, just east of the area marked in the map.

As he walked deeper into the denser portion of the forest, he sniffed into the air and opened his sense of touch up for the magic lingering in the air. There was a lot of it, not enough to be overwhelming but enough to be uncomfortable, which meant there was a diverse ecosystem of magical creatures surrounding him the deeper he walked.

He pushed magic into his eyes, a red tint took his vision. Now he could see the traces of ethernano in the air and the signatures of the many critters and animals in the forest.

"The canopies are so tall," Naruto murmured, "I can't even see the sun anymore, it's dark."

The blonde continued walking, sensing and probing. If it was a cave he had to find, his father would either hide it with magic or put sentinels to guard it, so he was looking for very specific resonances.

Either a powerful illusion, or a group of magical signatures.

As he walked deeper into the forest, stretching his magic out he sensed some consequentially large number of magical resonances coming towards him. They lacked intelligence, and seemed to run on baser instincts based on the feel of their magic.

They approached fast, large primate-like creatures communicating through howls and yells alike. He saw their magic first, deep dark green and wholly unnatural.

"Vulcans," Naruto hissed, drumming his magic up for battle as two fists were coated in blue, flame-like energy. Ethernano particles seemed to close in on him as they got nearer and nearer.

One of the vulcan's launched a punch at him, the blonde boy stood still for a moment. Then ducked at the last possible moment, gut punching the creature in a quick counter attack.

The momentum of the vulcan changed upwards, however the blonde boy merely grabbed the monster by one ankle and swung it around and bashed another vulcan with it.

However Naruto was forced to dodge as three of the monsters jumped him at once. Jumping away towards a tree, he quickly reoriented himself and as his feet touched the bark he crouched and jumped towards another tree.

This time when he landed on the trunk already preparing another attack, a spinning ball appeared in his hand.

"Arcane: Rasengan!" The blonde yelled as he pushed his attack into the chest of one of the three. The attack ground into the beast for a few seconds before the attack exploded.

By the time the dust had settled, the blonde was nowhere to be seen. The two remaining Volcans, and the two who had been knocked out earlier gathered around the bleeding and cooling corpse of the one who had received the attack. Together they let out a primal roar that conveyed grief and anger.

Above them, hiding on the branches Naruto looked at them with glowing red eyes.

"They're angry now," The blonde boy muttered to himself, "but I need them to run and scurry back to the hole they crawled out of."

If he recalled correctly, those monsters liked to make their residence in caves.

Nodding to himself he activated Aera, having since mastered the spell as he sparred with his father while getting a grip on Dragon Force.

As he floated down to a safe height, he dispelled the wings and began to fall, ethernano floated around him as he coated his body in the primal energy that was Arcane Dragon Slayer magic.

As he landed, he punched the grown below him kicking up dust and dirt everywhere.

He quickly took out one volcan, and jumped back several feet, and inhaled.

As magic gathered around his stomach and began to be expelled, he called out the name of the spell, "Arcane Dragon Magic: Apocalypse Dragon- ROOOAAARRR!"

A vortex of blue energy shot out from Naruto's mouth. However, an unfortunate side effect of his dragon magic, he was nigh sensitive to ethernano, and thus he could taste his magic.

As he ended the spell he used his sleeve to wipe the foul taste of magic from his tongue and lips. Spitting out into the ground hoping to rid himself of the taste.

That was the price to pay as a result of being a walking incarnation of magic itself.

However his gambit worked, another volcan died having been caught dead center and close to point blank range by the spell while another lay injured. Likely soon to die as well, or be devoured by other creatures.

The last two were running away, not as fast as he had been expecting. His best guess is that one was injured. He activated aera again and began to follow the two from above.

As he approached the vulcans cave, the scent of different magic types became stronger. Naruto pinched his nose, as he observed the cave entrance from his hiding place. From sight alone he could make out a dozen vulcans.

The blonde scowled, he truly hated vulcans and their foul smelling magic.

He let go of his nose, but he still couldn't help the scrunching up that happened as the foul smell came wasting in again.

With magic energizing his body he leaped out of his hiding spot and landed in front of the cave entrance.

Immediately the Vulcans saw him and went ape shit, however Naruto had a plan. He knew that fighting inside the cave was risky, so it was better for him to draw them out into the forest.

The vulcan's communicated through howls and growls and other primal noises as they quickly overtook the forest floor and the branches of the trees to go after him.

He flew fast, quickly drawing them away from the cave as quickly as possible. Then, as one of the vulcans was mid jump he stopped and spun around, calling out, "Arcane Dragon Magic: Talon."

He kicked the vulcan down into the forest floor, then floated to the side, arcane: rasengan in hand as another of the beast came at him.

The fight continued on like that, with Naruto dodging and weaving and counter attacking every chance he could without allowing himself to be hit.

Five, ten, fifteen… The number of Vulcans was slowly beginning to overwhelm the nine year old boy as he soon found himself on one knee on the forest ground. Labored breathing, and his body ached with the intensity of his movements and the ethernano he had burned in such a short amount of time.

He had at least ten more vulcans to take down but didn't have the magic to do so.

"Time to kick the gear in," Naruto muttered to himself.

He opened his mouth and began to pull in ethernano from the air. However, he quickly had to break concentration as one of the Vulcans and he quickly shoved a rasengan into the creature's throat.

And that's exactly how Naruto found himself fighting the apes for the next ten minutes to his own frustration. He tries to consume enough magic to try and gather enough magic to go into Dragon Force.

And he would get interrupted by the vulcans.

Let it be said that Naruto Uzumaki hated Vulcans for very valid reasons. Their magic smelled rancid, they were savages, and little more than overgrown unintelligent cretins.

As his annoyance with these creatures grew, Naruto started leaking an aura of pure killing intent.

The remaining Vulcans froze, by bow there were only five of them remaining. But they stepped back and looked at each other with trepidation.

The killer intent on the area increased significantly, and Naruto found himself consuming more ethernano in one moment than he did practicing with his father. His eyes turned red, his fingers sharpened into claws. His faint whisker marks deepend, and his pupils took on a dranonic shape, as rounder slits instead of round.

The Vulcans tried to run away but they were all systematically cut down.

Even as a dozen from the cave arrived to see what the source of the oppressive outpour of magic was.

Acnologia sensed the magical presence of his son increase exponentially and smirked. The boy was strong, and would only keep getting stronger with more experience. It was time for the boy he had raised to finally go out into the world and make a name of his own.

It seemed like only yesterday that he was trying to teach the blonde child to speak, and read and the first steps of being a dragon slayer.

Now Naruto has completed his training. His promise had been fulfilled, and his expectations had been surpassed.

The Black Dragon of the apocalypse held a small little gem in his hand, he never thought he would end up making one. Much less sharing a portion of his power with anyone, he was a hoarder of ancient and forgotten knowledge and never shared it.

Now not only was he about to share his secret knowledge with a boy he had raised, but as he held the lacrima in his hand. He would also share a portion of his own power, for as strong as his boy was. Naruto was only nine, and he would rather be safe than sorry. He wondered, what other power would call to his son? What power would be compatible with the arcane dragon arts?

Naruto entered the secret chamber, and his eyes were drawn to all the sorts of magical signatures in the room. They were Lacrima, each containing knowledge and magic skills that if implanted, one could learn to harness them.

Standing in the middle of the room was Acnologia.

"Congratulations Naruto," his adoptive father said, "You've passed my little test. As a result, I have a gift for you."

The blue haired man extended his arm and presented a dark turquoise colored lacrima to the blonde, "This is my Lacrima, i made it just for you. Our time together is soon coming to an end, I have nothing more left to teach you, and the best way for you to grow stronger is to go out into the world, and experience things for yourself."

"Dad," Naruto called out as he took the lacrima, "does that mean that i'll never see you again?"

"No," Acnologia refutes, explaining, "I'll be around. It just means I won't always be there to protect you, I won't hold your hand either. You've learned the ways of a dragon, but now's time for you to follow your own path, not mines."

"Oh," the boy acknowledged, still downcast at having to leave his father.

"Tell you what, you can choose another lacrima for yourself." Acnologia said as he began to walk around the various dragon lacrimas as he said, "be sure to choose carefully however. Make sure that the power is compatible with arcane magic, it'll make the implant process much easier."

Naruto nodded as he began to look around, he activated arcane sight once again, having turned it off previously in order to not be blinded by the overwhelming magic of his father.

He looked around, drawing interest to a lacrima that was filled with a deep crimson energy. He came closer to it, it felt ominous for some reason, and smelled of the void.

"The Dragon of Destruction," Acnologia stated, "It's somewhat funny that you'd be drawn to it, the dragon who was named Acnologia before me, the guardian of my village. This was his power, it was also the first dragon I killed solely in the pursuit of revenge."

"You had a name before?" Naruro asked curiously.

"I don't remember it any longer," the blue haired man admitted, "some of my memories before and after a certain event are… beyond me."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgment.

Another lacrima caught his attention, not by sight. Rather, the smell was what attracted him. It was a scent he couldn't describe, it was heavenly and pleasant.

"The Dragon of Divine Protection?" Acnologia questioned with a certain amount of surprise.

"I don't know," Naruto said, "I don't want it, I just like the smell of it."

"Then, for the woman you fall in love with, it could be a great gift. Once you become a dragon like me, aging will not be an issue for you, you will never die to age." Acnologia explained, "So this could be a great gift for your future wife."

"Wife?" Naruto asked with his head tilted.

"A girl who you want to spend the rest of your life with, who makes you happy and whose happiness is the most important to you, someone you will love for the rest of your life." Acnologia explained, "But it's not the same type of love shared between a father and his son, it's different. You will know one day. You can pick one more, for someone so important to you that's not your wife, a best friend, or a child."

Naruto closed his eyes, this time. His nose twitched, as it led him to another one, "This one smells like ramen, I'll take it."

Acnologia snorts, "I forget, despite how smart you are you can be a knucklehead sometimes… only a fool refers to the dragon of despair as ramen."

"Let's go, I'll do the implants one at a time," Acnologia stated, "My lacrima goes first, it shouldn't take you long to adjust to it, a day or two. But the Dragon of Destruction will probably take longer."

Three weeks later

Naruto stood at the entrance of the forest facing his father, he was trying his best to be brave. He was the Prince of Dragons, and dragons did not cry!

His father said, "It's time. Go out, make friends. Have a wife and have kids."

"I will… I promise," Naruto stated as he wiped a tear.

"Live a good life Naruto, and become strong, strong enough to give me a good fight one day." Acnologia said, "Show the world that you're Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Dragon Acnologia."

The whiskered blonde nodded, and with both hands on either strap of his backpack he turned towards the path and began walking forward. A map on one hand, though the blonde didn't really need to walk, as his magic had settled from the implants of two lacrima, which had provided a considerable boost to his magic. It was still an important symbolic gesture for Naruto. He was leaving his home.

Leaving his whole life, the only life he remembered behind. Marching forward to make a life worthy of the legacy he had been entrusted.

Acnologia watched from his place in the path, on the entrance to his domain. A small smile, and a single tear falling from his lips.

He hadn't counted on getting attached to anyone since he regained his consciousness and sense of self. He had vowed to remain in seclusion from humanity after realizing what he had destroyed when corruption overtook his mind. But for some reason, eight years ago he had been compelled to raise a child. He had promised to do so to a dying woman, someone who he hadn't even known. An insect when compared to his considerable power.

As he watched his adopted son walking away, he remembered all the good times and the bad times. The tears, the laughter, how raising a boy had made him remember what it's like being human.

He remembered being a healer in the Kingdom of Dragnof, the dragon war, becoming a dragon slayer. Back when the likes of Queen Irene and Zeref were all working for the collective good of mankind.

He remembered the village that had been destroyed in the name of the Black Mage Zeref, the destruction of the kingdom he had once served loyally at the hands of a greedy consort. His own part of the Dragon King's festival where he emerged as a force to be feared by everyone.

Naruto would not follow him into his dark path. He knew, because he had darkness in his heart when he learned to become a dragon slayer. Naruto was a good boy, who learned to become a dragon slayer because that was the only life he could provide the boy.

So Acnologia turned around and walked into the forest, transforming into a colossal dragon of black and blue and flew away. He had a mission to continue, a mission he had put on hold for eight rather short years.

His son would not have to bloody his hands in revenge if he made sure to personally erase Zeref and his worshippers from the face of the planet.