Demon Slayer
Fairy Tail x Naruto
#01: Tragic Birth

The night was quiet, warm, and rather serene. The sky was clear with a quarter-moon shining its faint light down upon the earth below with hundreds of stars visible and twinkling in the dark umbrella of night. All was quiet and peaceful, as was usually the case for the small village. The village could be described quite simply as quaint. Small enough and isolated enough from the rest of the world to be quite welcoming to those who called it home.

Then, in an unexpected eruption of smoke and noise, the calm was destroyed. A hill in the forest that surrounded and overlooked the village, a large shape shot out of the smoke cloud that was slowly dissipating. A shape that quickly leaned back, raising its monstrously large muzzle into the air, and letting out a ferocious and deafening roar. The roar caused visible ripples in the air, blowing over trees that were in close proximity to the beast, as the sound carried for many surrounding miles.

People in the village were quick to come running out of their homes, most were dressed in night clothes, to see what had caused the massive sound wave. All of them froze upon spotting the large silhouette that was framed in the moonlight. That was when its glowing red eyes locked onto the village itself and seeing the crowd of civilians standing outside.

Due to the darkness of night and the considerable distance between them, none of the civilians saw a tiny figure standing upon the monster's head. The figure was dressed in a high-collared black cloak with its hood and a simple red mask over its face. Looking disdainfully at the small village, the figure raised one arm and pointed at the hamlet. "Attack."

Nine tails suddenly sprung to life behind the beast as it crouched down and lunged forward to charge. The people of the village all screamed in terror as the more cowardly and defenseless tried to flee. Others quickly ran forward for the village's protective outer wall, bringing their hands up as magic circles sprung to life around them. After a few moments of gathering their powers, various magical attacks flew at the beast as the defenders bravely tried to hold it off and protect their village while its people fled. However, the magic attacks amounted to little more than pinpricks to the great beast that was bearing down on them.

When it reached the village, a large black ball of purest magical energy formed at its muzzle. After a long moment of concentrating the power of the ball, it took it into its mouth and launched it at the village. The poor village never stood a chance. The energy ball struck the village center and erupted in a massive blast of fire and power that utterly incinerated and shredded everything and everyone within a considerable distance. Not a single person survived. The masked man atop the beast watched the destruction silently, a faint tremor of excitement traveling through his body. Truly, the beast's power was indeed the stuff of legends and none of the stories about it exaggerated in its sheer destructive power in the slightest.

A split-second later, a blonde man in a white haori dropped down from the sky, heading towards the masked figure who was riding upon the beast. The masked man noticed his approach and the three glowing magic circles that were surrounding his posed hand, and was fast to abandon his mount to dodge the attack.

However, the falling blonde wasn't the least bit deterred as he landed upon the beast's head and slammed his glowing hand down upon it, right above its red eyes. The glowing magic circles momentarily flared brightly as the beast's red eyes turned blinding white and its entire body suddenly became awash with light. The beast raised its head as skyward as its body locked up, roaring in agony as the magic bathed it. But after a long moment, the light faded and the beast slumped to the ground, seemingly dead.

The blonde man leapt off the beast before it fell over and landed nimbly on the ground just before it, watching it with sadness. "I'm sorry, my friend," he uttered quietly. "You weren't yourself. I'm sure you'll forgive me when you wake up."

Just then, a faint flicker of killing intent sprang up behind him. The blonde man spun around instantly, a dagger already in his head as he drove it towards the masked man who'd risen up from the earth. Much to his surprise and annoyance, his dagger and hand both passed through the man's skull as through it were little more than air. The masked man raised his arm and was able to catch the blonde's wrist once it'd exited his face. From the single eyehole that was in the mask, a distinctive glowing red eye was glaring out of the darkness within as it studied the blonde man.

"Namikaze Minato," the masked man said, his voice muffled because of his mask but still understandable. "The newest and youngest of Ten Wizard Saints."

"And who are you?" Minato demanded. His face was calm and solemn but his voice was as cold as ice, a definite sign of just how furious he truly was.

"Who am I?" the masked man repeated, his posture one of mocking ease. "Who am I? Why, I'm the man who's gonna destroy this disgusting world we live in."

A split second later, Minato was lunging forward with his dagger at the ready. The following battle was as intense as it was short. Minato quickly deduced how his enemy used his space-time magic, how to counter it, and how to counterattack instantly. The end result being that he'd managed to severely wound the man and force him to retreat. But not before he gave Minato a final parting gift, trapping him inside an extremely narrow barrier while launching a massive barrage of attacks at him. Alas, while the masked man was forced to retreat after losing an arm, Minato was riddled with holes in his body and on the verge of death.

"Wh-What happened?" a deep voice asked. The beast had finally awakened. Catching the familiar scents of fire, dust, destruction, and blood, it lifted its head and looked in the distance at the smoking crater it had no doubt caused. Nose twitching, another familiar scent reached it, this one was even more pronounced with the scents of sweat and blood, especially blood. "Minato!"

Rushing over to the man, the great beast crouched down and looked closely at Minato's bleeding form. The man's eyes fluttered open and he smiled weakly up at the beast. "Sorry…Kurama…I wasn't…fast enough…this time."

"You knocked some sense into me nevertheless," Kurama the Demon Fox pointed out as he watched the man he'd come to marginally respect died. After living as long as he has, Kurama had become quite familiar with the limits of the human body and the sheer damage inflicted to Minato was practically a guarantee that he was going to die, so he didn't waste time and words by giving the man false hope of survival. "Are Kushina and your son safe? What happened to the masked man?"

"Man…left…" Minato gasped out, his breathing becoming increasingly faint. "Kushina…hurt…bad…Naruto…Please…Naruto…"

"I'll protect him," Kurama quickly promised, knowing what Minato wanted. "I'll train him like I did Kushina. One day, he'll be greater than both of you. I swear it!" Minato smiled weakly up at the Demon, using the last of his strength to nod in agreement. Then his eyes glazed over, his breath exhaled slowly for the last time, and his head rolled to the side where it came to rest.

That night, two great Wizards who hadn't even fully reached the primes of their powers died. The country of Fiore was rocked and shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of its most beloved and renowned Wizard Saint of the present day. But where one story ends, another shall begin. The story of the son of Namikaze Minato started that night, drenched in the blood of his parents and borne away by a creature the rest of the world would condemn as a heartless monster.