A/N: Sorry this is late, and sorry it's shorter than normal, and maybe a teensy-tinesy, itty bitty little bit sorry for the evil cliffhanger at the end. If the universe is kind to me, I'll make it up to you guys with a double-update next week!

(which may or may not include a side of the terribly late third installment of Wandering Fairies! Complete with more Zeref! And Erza! But I promise, no sign of my favorite crackship of Zeref and Erza. Okay look, Zeref-Mavis is OTP, but Zeref-Erza is best crack ship and if you guys want my justification for it I'll put it in the comments over on AO3 so it doesn't clog up this author note too much)

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please save all cliffhanger inspired homicide for AFTER I get to play the Final Fantasy VII Remake!

And of course, as always, enjoy!

"So, not that I'm upset to be given a break with that stupid bunshin thing, but why aren't we training today?" And leaving Naruto behind, Natsu leaves unasked as he looks up at Kakashi, fingers laced behind his head. His hair bobs idly against the backs of his hands as he keeps a pace ahead of Kakashi, flanking the client.

"Maa… I just had a feeling, is all… didn't want to leave it to a clone if it turned out to be true." he shrugs a shoulder idly, eye focused on his book, and Natsu deadpans.

If he's that worried he's got a funny way of showing it!

He also totally fails to address Naruto's absence, and there's a reason, Natsu knows, he just can't figure it out!

Grumbling to himself, he tries to think it through.

Naruto was pretty exhausted last night… but he heals crazy fast, even exhaustion doesn't affect him long, so there shouldn't have been any issue with waking him up… Even if he were a little more tired than normal, he's still got more chakra than Sasuke and Sakura combined! It shouldn't be an issue!

Natsu glares up at the sky, scowling.

I'm missing something obvious! I just know it!

Wave is a desolate place. Even half-distracted with his own thoughts, Natsu can't help but notice how run down everything is, how empty the people look. Hollow eyes and hollow stomachs and men with swords laughing down the streets and trying to appear unobtrusive as they pass.

It doesn't take more than a glance, to see how the greed of one man devastated the entire town. It makes something burn in Natsu, makes him itch to do something other than just train and guard an old man - makes him want to fight, now, put a stop to Gato, to anyone who could do this sort of thing to people-!

Sitting on that impulse is hard, and it's only because his own instincts agree with Kakashi's vague 'feeling', that they'll have a bigger fight ahead of them he needs to save his strength for - if he were in his body, he'd be able to take out all these wanna-be mercenaries easily, and still have the strength for another fight!

Every time he thinks he's making progress, getting Sakura-chan's body stronger, it's as though he just finds new things to prove he's just. Not. Good. Enough. He tries to be understanding, with himself and with Sakura-chan, because he never meant to end up here and he's been told often enough, by pretty much everyone, that his standards were a bit unfair for normal mages, so he shouldn't expect her to be as strong as he was, even at her age, but still. Natsu's never really been 'weak' before, not like this, and he hates it, hates how it makes him feel like he isn't even strong enough to protect himself, nevermind anyone else.

- Natsu's never been one for despair, and that's not what this is - Despair is what the people of Wave feel, hopeless, and like fighting is pointless, and all they can do is lay down and hope they die quick-! No, Natsu knows it's not despair. Just- just a feeling of weakness, of not being good enough, of wondering just how long until he dies because he can't keep up and for some reason, it feels familiar. There are things he doesn't remember, things even older than the unnatural terror of Sakura-chan's subconscious mind, and he wonders when, exactly, he last felt too weak to protect even himself-

He smells the blood before the bridge is even in sight. Kakashi stiffens, slipping away his book in the same instant, and Natsu has to wonder if it's instinct, or if Kakashi has sharper senses than most as well.

The bridge comes into sight, mist parting unnaturally quickly to give them a clear view of groaning bodies, men tossed aside like ragdolls, limbs broken and bent askew - none of them are lethally wounded, but some of those breaks don't look like they'll heal right without magic, and two partially-shrouded figures at the center of the bridge say Kakashi won't get a chance to use whatever jutsu he might know to help them.

"Seems you're short a brat, Copy-nin!" the sword-guy's mocking voice echoes through the mist as Team 7 steps up to the foot of the bridge, and Natsu grimaces. The wood of the bridge is slick with condensation, and he wouldn't want to fight Gray on this sort of battleground if he didn't have to, nevermind someone who's actually faster than him. As Kakashi slides a hand up to his headband though, Natsu sighs quietly. Just cause he'd rather not fight a water mage on a bridge right over the water when the stakes are actually high, doesn't mean he's gonna back down! His shoulder barely twinges now, and he's been itching for another fight-!

"Maa, Natsu, you'll protect the client won't you? I'd rather not have him try and break past my guard for Tazuna-san."

Wait-

Wh-AAAAAAAT?!

Natsu gapes as Kakashi strides forward, Sasuke sparing him only a passing glance as he charges towards the masked shinobi from before-

Natsu could spit fire he's so mad! He bites the inside of his cheek, because if he wastes his magic spitting flame he'll have to be pissed at himself and right now he's saving all of that for Kakashi-!

Spinning around, he grabs Tazuna's arm and marches back past the bridge.

"Ah-Natsu-chan-?"

He growls a, "Shut up-!" just as sword-guy's mocking voice echoes through the mist.

"Keeping your little girl out of the fight, Kakashi? Such a pity, she's so fun-!"

Natsu's grip on Tazuna's arm tightens enough the man whimpers, and he just pulls harder. "C'mon you useless drunk or I'm gonna pick you up and carry you-!"

Mercifully - for his back if nothing else - Tazuna does hurry up, and once they get back to the groaning bridge-builders, Natsu lets go of the man's arm and pushes him towards them.

"Get these people medical attention or something- make yourself useful!"

"Wait, you're not actually staying to guard me-?"

Natsu growls, scratching at his head as he tries to think of how to explain it. "It's not- that guy- tch! We beat him before! If his accomplice hadn't showed up when they did, he'd have lost! He won't come after you until he's had his rematch and proven he's able to win! Kakashi's just being overprotective cause my arm is still recovering but I don't need his baby'ing! I'm Natsu Dragneel and I'm not gonna let some stupid scratch keep me out of a fight! So go deal with those guys and leave this to us!" He runs off, back to the bridge, before Tazuna can respond, reaching carefully for his magic.

Dragon Slayer magic grows stronger with emotion… There's at least a little of my magic here, but Sakura-chan doesn't have the training… gonna have to try anyway and hope for the best, cause I don't have anywhere close to enough for a real fight…

In just the short amount of time it took to drag Tazuna off out of sight, the battlefield of the bridge completely reshapes itself into something nearly unrecognizable.

Wha- where did all this ice come from?!

The air, formerly hot and humid, carries an unnatural chill, and his breath fogs, adding to the mist as he darts closer.

He hears Kakashi, and sword guy, and Sasuke, but not the accomplice Sasuke ran to fight before.

Silent…

Reaaaaaally silent.

Natsu catches a faint whiff of their scent - a crisp, cold smell he's only ever associated with Gray and Lyon before, people who've dedicated themselves so strongly to Ice magic they take on the very scent of their element - accented by the lingering trace of bitter herbs and blood.

He gets close enough to see, and finds Sasuke in a dome of icy slats, the masked accomplice flickering between them instantaneously, launching barrages of both icy and metal needles at Sasuke as he goes.

The Uchiha's sharingan spins fiercely as he dodges and blocks everything he can, but he never gets a chance to launch his own counter-attack, flinching with every needle that finds a mark in the non-lethal places he can't afford to block.

Natsu is half a step from throwing himself between two slats of ice when it occurs to him that it'd be harder to find a chance to attack himself, under that onslaught. Stumbling at the last moment, he glares at the icy barriers.

Sasuke casts him a quick glance, then double-takes so blatantly a brace of needles get through his guard and pierce his wrist. Natsu grimaces, backing up a step, and focuses.

He's angry at Kakashi, and the stupid sword guy, and Sasuke, and the maked person Sasuke's losing against, and himself, and this whole damn situation, and he lets it burn, carefully trying to watch out for any attacks launched at himself as he focuses on those emotions, focuses on the flickers of fire ghosting underneath Sakura-chan's chakra, focuses on his desire to protect this team, new and uncomfortable as it is, and finds himself rewarded as that infitismal flicker of power grows.

It's not how Dragon Slayer magic is supposed to work, not at all, the emotions just naturally fuel the flame, and Igneel would lecture him for ten hours straight if he caught Natsu using such a dirty trick to enhance his magic, but Sasuke can use fire too, and if those ice slats could be melted naturally they probably would be, by now - the air starts to shimmer around him, and he releases a breath he didn't even know he was holding as fire begins to flicker up and down his arms without burning.

A soft voice echoes from the ice, and Natsu's surprised to realize it's the first sound he's heard the masked person make since he arrived.

"Foolish girl… there is no flame that can melt my mirrors. You only waste your power."

"Yeah?" Natsu growls, mist and water evaporating as he cocks back a fist, "you wanna bet on that?!"

He punches, fist colliding with the ice mirror, fire coursing through his body as fierce and free as ever, travelling down his arm and through his fist and into the world with a breathless ease Sakura-chan's chakra has never managed.

Four things happen at once.

A puff of smoke is drowned out by the masked accomplice's scream of surprised pain as Sasuke throws himself backwards, arms coming up to protect his eyes, and the mirror shatters.

...Natsu should have picked a mirror Sasuke wasn't standing directly behind.

Though considering they were all in a circle… ehehehe…

Natsu gasps his next breaths as he scrambles to grab the last of his quickly-fading magic, but it slips through his mental fingers, the air flickering with wisps of flame before they all peter out, the rest of his magic once again sealed too deep for him to grab.

He knew he'd likely only get one spell off but dammit he was hoping he could-!

The faint tinkle of scales falling off his arm to bounce on the wood of the bridge is drowned out by Naruto's exultant cry.

"Whooooa! That was awesome Natsu! No wonder you thought Sasuke's fire was pathetic! Ne, ne can you teach me-?"

"Dobe!" Sasuke snaps, stumbling away from the rest of the mirrors to stand next to Natsu, glaring at the masked figure as it melts out of the ice to face them, the ice fading away into nothing. "We're in the middle of a fight?!" It wasn't a question, more an accusation towards the blond for not taking things seriously, and Naruto chuckles uncomfortably.

"R-right, right, sorry-"

"Zabuza-sama was correct. You are truly an unusual child, Natsu-san, was it?" the figure tilts their head to the side, mockingly curious as they cut across Naruto's apology.

"What's it to you?!" Natsu bites back, sliding into a defensive position, grimacing in displeasure at Sakura-chan's slow-moving chakra, made even more obvious by just how smooth his fire magic was moments before.

A clink of metal sounds as Sasuke pulls the last needles from his arm, sliding into his own position at Natsu's side, Naruto awkwardly scrambling to join them both in facing their opponent.

"Hmm… I wonder. I expected extraordinary potential from a survivor of the Uchiha clan's tragedy, but you… you took even Zabuza-sama by surprise, and I must wonder where such strength has come from. I suppose it is no great matter. For Zabuza-sama's dreams to see fruition, I must truly harden my heart and kill you all. Please know it is nothing personal."

Natsu's pretty sure he jinxed it, before, thinking about how he wouldn't want to fight Gray on the bridge, because the masked shinobi is good. One hand lashes out with a mix of kunai, senbon, and the occasional physical attack, while the other makes a variety of one-handed seals that have lances of ice shoot from the bridge, the mist coalescing into physical form to attack from all sides, and Natsu almost hates to admit it, but the shinobi fights smart.

Sparing their own chakra by using Zabuza's already thick and present mist to make it easier to form their ice, to launch attacks from any direction, their one-handed seals as fast as Lyon's ever were, and maybe it's just his lack of magic speaking, but Natsu doesn't think those creations have any of the weakness the white-haired ice mage's did.

Somehow, between the three of them, Naruto's endless clones and Sasuke's spinning eyes, and Natsu's sharp instincts and sharper reflexes, they manage to gain the advantage. The masked shinobi stumbles back, grunting as they clutch their side, one of Sasuke's kunai buried to the hilt, and a group of Naruto's clones lunge forward, clearly intending to beat their enemy unconscious -

There are no handsigns. No pause, no warning, one instant the shinobi hunches over, clutching the knife in their side, and the next, lances of ice spike out, impaling everything in reach with uncaring ferocity.

The Naruto clones pop, all of them, and the acrid stench of blood fills the air.

One of the Narutos doesn't disappear, curled over a shaft of ice as thick around as both Natsu's arms, blood staining the ice a glimmering red.

Naruto chokes, blood and spittle flying from his mouth as he wheezes and gags, and Natsu moves thoughtlessly, charging forward to do- something-

Naruto chokes again, and the ice begins to steam, a viscous red aura beginning to bleed out from the blond's gasping form.

Sasuke winces, turning aside and covering his eyes as though from a bright light, and suddenly Natsu remembers the red flecks that begin to seep into Naruto's chakra when he gets too exhausted.

Kakashi's willingness to leave the blond behind today, knowing there would be a fight, begins to make a terrible amount of sense as Naruto screams, an unholy shriek that echoes unnaturally, as even the mist itself begins to look as though it were bleeding.

The sickly red aura grows, as Naruto's back arches unnaturally, the blond still half-impaled on the ice, his screams turning into an unearthly howl.

And then the tail starts to form.