A/N: Sorry this is late! I got distracted binge-reading fic. I even discovered an old favorite author here on AO3 from back in the Livejournal days! I'm so happy! I plan to binge read even more of their fics ASAP.
I MUST READ ALL THE NEW FIC.
Anyway. Chapter's a bit longer than normal, to sort of make up for last week's short one I guess.
I apologize if Natsu is a little OOC. When I binge-read fic it kinda taints my image of characters and they all blur together in my mind and it's harder to write them properly which is why binge-reading should not happen until *after* I finish chapters.
Also my roommate still doesn't read/watch Fairy Tail, so she can't tell me when Natsu sounds out of character. *le sigh*
I had a second beta reader who specifically helped with my Natsu characterizations but the last time we talked they said that we should speak later because they were in the middle of stuff and I was never sure if *I* was supposed to reach out to them or if they'd reach out to me when they were done, and now it's too awkward. Alas.
ANYWAY!
Hopefully, once more, this chapter is not as bad as I fear. I am a fearful person by nature so I shall be hopeful that I am being unnecessarily fearful instead of having genuine cause for concern.
But as always, thanks for reading!
The next few days fall into an easy routine as Kakashi splits their days between training and more D-rank jobs. By the eleventh job with no sign of the she-demon bane of the genin, Natsu drags his teammates aside.
"Is it just me or is it suspicious how we haven't had to hunt that b- Tora yet?"
"Definitely suspicious! Have you seen how Kakashi-sensei's been working us too? We never spent so long training before! He's plotting something!" Naruto whisper-shouts, peering around as though expecting Kakashi to jump out at any moment.
Considering how the last three days have gone, Natsu can't blame him.
"Hn."
Sasuke adds his agreement with a flicker of his Sharingan.
Natsu very carefully doesn't look around for Kakashi, because someone has to be the non-paranoid one here.
"Ah! There you are, my cute little genin!"
Kakashi jumps off a nearby roof and lands easily between Naruto and Sasuke, smiling with his eye as he ruffles their hair.
"Wha-! We're not late sensei!" Naruto cries, flailing to get away. Sasuke shifts as far as Kakashi's hand will let him to avoid Naruto's reckless strikes as the sensei laughs.
"Maa, of course not! I just thought we'd have an early start today, and imagine my surprise when I found all of you had already left! What have you been up to all on your lonesome, hm~?"
Sasuke grunts dismissively and Naruto chuckles, clearly nervous. Natsu scrambles for a lie, because if they mention Tora, Kakashi will put them on that mission every day for the next year and Sakura-chan at least doesn't deserve that-!
Naruto babbles nervously about pranks, and Kakashi raises a disbelieving brow, but Sasuke doesn't react and Natsu can totally work with that!
So he tosses his hands behind his head and grins. "Nothin' wrong with a good prank, sensei," he starts casually, because the first rule of getting out of trouble is looking like getting in trouble is no big deal. Kakashi turns that disbelieving gaze onto him, and Natsu grins wider in return.
"What? I like pranks, and apparently Naruto's really really good! And it's not like there's any rules against it, is there?"
Naruto blushes, face lighting up as he hunches his shoulders up near his chin and it's nearly enough to make Natsu stop and stare because what?
What did I say?!
"You really expect me to believe that Sasuke-kun was helping you plan a prank?" Kakashi asks, and Sasuke snorts.
"Those losers couldn't plan their way out of a patchwork sack, and they promised to make it worth my time." He brushes Kakashi's hand off his head and shoulder-checks Natsu on his way down the street. "But I'd rather be training anyway."
Sasuke's casual arrogance is so infuriating that Natsu nearly misses the fact that the Uchiha actually supported their story. He spits out a rough, "Bastard!" anyway, grabbing Naruto's hand as he jogs to catch up to their brilliant jerk of a teammate.
"Actually," Kakashi interjects, and all three freeze to look at him. "I was thinking we might use a new training ground. Let's head to ground 36, shall we?"
Training grounds 36 is an obstacle course. Which Natsu wouldn't have much of a problem with by itself, really. It's not how he prefers to train, but anything is better than Tora, or going back to trying to get the hang of that stupid bunshin.
But an obstacle course with Kakashi actively interfering to mess them up in order to force them into helping each other out is miserable. Natsu stumbles out the other side of the course three hours later, feeling uncomfortably sticky with his own blood.
It's not that he's a stranger to blood, he's been in enough fights to be quite familiar with it, but bleeding during training isn't something he's used to at all.
He cants a suspicious glance towards Team 7's sensei.
No Tora mission, extra training, now this… there's something funny going on here!
He doesn't get a chance to question Kakashi about it though, because just as he's caught his breath and straightens up to face the man, a green blur bursts into the only clear part of the training field.
"Kakashi, my Eternal Rival!" Natsu freezes, and he catches Sasuke stiffening in the corner of his eye. Gai continues heedlessly. "I know you have many unyouthful habits, my Rival, but surely even you must draw the line! To not only be late, but to skip Hokage-sama's meeting entirely! And so I have sought you out! Tell me now that you will nominate your team for the exams, and I shall rush back to report it! And if I am late, I will run five hundred laps around Konoha! Yosh!"
"Wha? What exam? We have to take a test?" Naruto chokes out, horrified, and Natsu winces. Gai turns to look at them, and a feeling of doom creeps down his spine.
"You do not know?" he gasps, looking back to Kakashi. "My Rival, how could you! To not even inform your team! Truly my own students will win with ease if this is how well you have prepared them!"
"Maa…" Kakashi sighs, nose buried in a book. "Did you even wait for Hokage-sama to finish speaking before you rushed out here, Gai?"
"I do not understand you! I nominated my team and thought to seek you out while the others nominated theirs! I-"
"They won't be participating." Kakashi sounds exhausted to Natsu, though his posture remains casual as he thumbs through his book. Gai turns fully to face him.
"My Rival, surely I misheard you! This is a great chance! To try your team against mine, to see who is the better teacher! You would deprive your genin the chance to compete?"
Kakashi turns a page idly. "That's rather unyouthful of you Gai. You gave your team a year to train before entering them, but I'm not allowed to do the same?"
"Urk!" Gai startles, dropping his accusatory finger. "That is… of course I understand, but I waited a year only because the previous exam was in Kumo, and I thought for Neji-kun's sake… but for you to take your team out of the village on their first exam, when the current exam is here in Konoha, surely at least giving them the exposure would not be amiss, my Rival!"
"I discussed it with Hokage-sama previously, Gai. The decision is final. Now, if you wouldn't mind, we were training…" Kakashi trails off pointedly, though the effect feels ruined by his disinterested tone.
Gai shuffles his feet. "Kakashi… I know you did not want a team, but if you are holding back your students only because you feel uncomfortable… rather, if you would like to talk about it…"
Kakashi closes his book with a sharp snap.
Naruto jumps at the sound as Kakashi looks up to the green-clad man. "It was Hokage-sama's decision due to the results of Team 7's previous mission. If you're so invested, perhaps you should argue with him?"
Gai narrows his eyes, and turns abruptly. "Of course my Rival! And if I cannot change his mind, I will do a thousand pushups! Yosh!" he takes off, a blur of green quickly fading into the distance, though his receding shouts fill the small clearing for moments afterwards.
Kakashi's shoulders droop as he puts away his book.
"What test was he talking about?" Sasuke asks immediately, as though Kakashi's movement broke a spell.
Kakashi sighs, looking up to the sky. "The chunin exams are held twice a year, and take place in a different village each time on a rotating schedule. Genin who participate and make a good showing can be promoted a rank to chunin, and allowed to take both missions without their jonin-sensei and higher-rank missions, within reason and tailored to their skillsets. They might also take missions with entirely different teams of chunin, if not everyone on their genin team passed." Kakashi pauses for a moment, before lowering himself to sit cross-legged on the ground. "Everyone was hoping to find a way to return Natsu to his home before the Exams happened, because they will involve a lot of foreign shinobi in our village. Obviously, that hasn't quite worked out. Hokage-sama made clear that if Team 7 wanted to participate they'd need a different teammate, to keep Natsu away from the foreigners. So I made the decision not to nominate you at all."
"What?" Natsu blurts out. "That's not fair at all! I mean, sure, you guys are paranoid and it's stupid but that's just how yami guilds are! Why are you holding Naruto and Sasuke back because of it?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Naruto shakes his head. "We should all be allowed to participate! None of those guys from other countries even know Natsu so how would they tell him apart from Sakura-chan? We should be able to go together! Dattebayo!"
Kakashi raises an eyebrow. "Really now? So, when all of your Academy classmates call him Sakura-chan, but you keep calling him Natsu-kun, no one is going to be suspicious? At all? It's not as though Natsu will even be able to fool all of your classmates, and all it takes is one of them blurting it out at the wrong moment to inform all of Konoha's… visitors. It's far safer to leave him out of the exams, and keep this secret for as long as possible."
"Why did you refuse to let us have a different teammate then?" Sasuke asks, eyes narrowed, though Natsu notes with some relief that he's glaring at Kakashi and not him.
They were just becoming friends!
It'd suck if it all got ruined now!
"Teme! Of course we're not gonna replace Natsu!"
Sasuke ignores Naruto, staring at Kakashi, and the blond growls. Natsu stands uncomfortably between them, with no idea what to do.
It's not like I wanna get promoted in a yami guild! But I'm just supposed to sit around bored while everyone else gets to fight new people?! No way!
"Calm down Naruto. And Sasuke, by now you should be aware. Konoha, more than any other nation, emphasizes teamwork. Most of the genin without a team are older ones, whose teammates have either promoted or died. If I put a stranger of that sort on this team, Naruto would resent them for not being Natsu, you would try to assert yourself as the team's leader, and they would fight back, seeing themselves as the more experienced shinobi deserving of being in charge. You'd all spend so much time fighting each other that I honestly believe you would not pass the exam. As such, if you and Naruto would like, we can arrange for you to practice with other people going forward so that, if this situation is still an issue by the next exam, you can take a new teammate with reasonable chances of passing. However, Hokage-sama has made clear that Natsu will not be participating. And I have no intention of entering you and Naruto-kun into an exam you will not pass, with a complete stranger at the last possible minute."
Sasuke crosses his arms and glares. "You don't know that I'd fail!"
Kakashi stares up at him, entirely relaxed. "My decision is final."
Things go downhill from there.
The clearing will never look the same, truly.
Copious amounts of fire does that to a field.
Natsu reminds himself that jutsu-fire sucks, his magic is way cooler, and he tries not to be too jealous that he can't help burn everything.
"Sasuke's such a jerk!" Naruto glares, crossing his arms as he wanders without direction and scowls at everything.
Natsu laughs, casually lacing his fingers behind his head as he keeps pace with the blond.
"It's not funny! He- he was just- acting like we could replace you! You're our teammate! Even when we get Sakura-chan back, Natsu's still our teammate! We can't just replace you!"
Natsu wonders, sometimes, why Sakura-chan didn't tell Inoichi he was from a completely different world, even though she knows. But while he knows sparing… their… teammates' feelings likely had nothing to do to it, he's found it might become his own reason.
An Anima created by the world of Edolas and a complete coincidence no one can figure out are the only hints he's ever had that inter-world travel even exists, and the shinobi villages don't seem to study it either.
Somehow, the words slip out without conscious thought on his part.
"It wouldn't be like that."
Naruto spins around, horrified. "What do you mean! Of course it would! Sakura-chan's our teammate and Natsu is too and when you get back to your own body we'll find each other! We're Team 7! All of us! Even Sasuke, even though he's a jerk, s-so we'll be together! You can bring your friends here too, I don't care! Or- or I don't know! But-!"
"I'm not from the Outer Continents." Natsu's not sure why he says it, why he's telling Naruto the truth, but…
This isn't his world. And he likes the members of Team 7, all of them, and he isn't ashamed to consider himself a part of the team.
But they're friends, not family, even though he sometimes thinks they could be if he let himself get more attached -maybe he's already too attached- and right now, Naruto at least is holding himself back because of Natsu.
Natsu doesn't want to watch them participate in an exam without him. Doesn't want to know there are awesome fights going on that he can't participate in, doesn't like that he's got a team, however new, that would go into danger without him to watch their backs, but this is their world and their home and Naruto seems practically willing to throw away his own dream simply because he doesn't want to work with someone who isn't Natsu.
So he tells the truth.
"I'm from a different world entirely," he starts, and suddenly realizes he has no idea how to continue.
"Wha- a different-? You're talkin' crazy, 'ttebayo!" Naruto looks confused, and almost in denial as he sputters, and Natsu knows Sakura didn't keep quiet about it to spare Team 7's feelings but Natsu's pretty sure that's why he didn't want to, always avoided saying too much because surely it would get obvious and-
He shrugs, a bit uncomfortable. "It happens sometimes. I mean, this isn't the first time I got thrown into a whole other world cause of weird magic. Last time I kept my own body, but… My world's called Earthland. I'm part of a guild there. And even though it's happened a couple times, no one actually knows how to travel between worlds on purpose. So. Once I get back to my body, we wouldn't be able to find each other anyway. That's why you shouldn't make a big deal about working with a new teammate, at least until Sakura-chan can be the one working with you guys again. I won't be able to come back."
"What? NO!" Naruto shouts, shaking his head. "Don't be ridiculous! If you travelled to a different world in your own body once-"
"That was using a magic from that other world, and even they don't have access to it anymore, cause it was destroyed."
"I don't care! If they made a magi-whatsit jutsu like that we can too! You're part of our team! Of course we're not just gonna let you go!"
"And… what?" Natsu isn't really used to being the voice of reason, but even though there's no one around Naruto's yelling enough to attract attention and, well… being so willfully blind even Natsu finds problems with his logic. "I have a home. A guild, a family, and they have families and friends too! I could never ask them to just leave everything behind to come here, even if I thought this village would accept them, and I'm not gonna abandon them! But you have dreams, and precious people too! You've said before, you wanna be Hokage right? You can't be Hokage if you leave the village, and you can't exactly drag a whole village to another world! Even if we assumed it would be possible to… I dunno, open a gate our physical bodies could pass through, the best we could ever do is visit each other! And I would! I like you guys, and I'd love to introduce you to some of my friends back home, but we can't be a team like that. S-so… you shouldn't hold yourself back because of me."
"That's not fair." Naruto says, voice subdued, and Natsu fights back a flinch.
"It isn't. I'll definitely look for a way to visit, once I get home, because I don't want to say goodbye forever. But we both have precious people we would never abandon, so, even if I found one..."
"I don't want to say goodbye." Naruto's voice sounds too close to crying, so Natsu scoffs.
"Please. The way this experimenting with Inoichi-san is going, I'm gonna be here for a while. Everyone back home is strong, they can take care of themselves until I figure it out, but still. You'd think a guy like him would be a little more useful, yeah?" he tries to sound as scathing as possible, because Naruto's weird sometimes and actually likes Sasuke's attitude, and it must work because he laughs. A little watery, but he pulls up a foxy grin and Natsu deliberately doesn't say anything about how fake it is. But the moment he opens his mouth-
"Are you complaining about your sensei, Natsu-kun, Naruto-kun?"
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto cries, before Natsu even recognizes the man, and the blond tackles Iruka in a hug. The man stumbles slightly, arms laden with groceries, and laughs.
"You're as energetic as ever, Naruto. Were you coming to visit me?"
Naruto glances around, and they must be close to where No- ah, Iruka lives, because he chuckles nervously. "I, uh… that is…"
Iruka laughs again, shaking his head. "Well, if you help me carry these groceries I'll make you dinner tonight, Naruto. Perhaps if you stay in the kitchen this time, you'll learn something about cooking more than instant ramen?"
Predictably, Naruto explodes. "Iruka-sensei! How could you?! Ramen is the food of the gods, dattebayo! Natsu! Natsu tell him to stop blaspheming!"
"All food is good food!" he says with a grin as he follows the two across the street and toward a building that must be Iruka's home. Naruto wails, but still takes extra groceries so Iruka can properly unlock his door.
Natsu's pretty sure the man has a shinobi-trick, because everyone in this village feels paranoid sometimes, but he doesn't protest Naruto's helpfulness.
"You can help me cook too, Natsu-kun," he says, friendly but still… guarded somehow, and Natsu tries not to think about how he's possessing the body of one of Iruka's students.
He's pretty sure teachers get upset over that kind of thing, normally.
Not that he has much experience with it, but…
"I'm not really good in a kitchen," he says, because he's got visions of being skewered by cooking knives and he's not quite sure why. "I tend to light everything on fire and it all ends up burnt…" he trails off, suddenly distracted, because.
Well.
Right now, he doesn't really have his magic.
He's not even sure if Sakura-chan's body could handle eating fire.
And if he isn't in danger of eating cooking fires or making them bigger, he might actually be able to…
It's a weird thought, and he narrows his eyes as he tries to turn it over, idly kicking off his sandals as Iruka lets them in.
He's never really thought about cooking before, because in his experience people cook when they're hungry, and if he's hungry why would he bother to cook long, complicated stuff when he can just buy it if he has money, mooch of Lucy if he doesn't, or hunt something and burn it if neither of those are an option?
Also, if he's hungry enough he'll just eat the cooking fire and then Mira hits him with a ladle and tells him to go away and wait til she's done or make himself useful by cutting vegetables, which inevitably end up on fire, and then he gets kicked out to wait with the rest of the guild…
The idea of actually cooking weirds him out so much he almost turns around and leaves, but Naruto grabs his arm, dragging him to the kitchen and pointing out all the rooms in the apartment on the way over, and he has a knife in his hand and a board of… green stuff on it before he quite understands how he got there.
Natsu does his best, the knife's grip a bit uncertain in his hand as Naruto eagerly bounces around, filling water and measuring rice with abandon. Iruka keeps up an idle chatter, and he doesn't even realize the entire thing is a craftily placed trap until the man asks, casually, "A whole different world? What's it like?" and Natsu nearly answers before his brain catches up and he realizes-
"You're interrogating me!" he spins around, pointing the knife towards Iruka less as a threat and more just because it's in his hand, and he needs to point at the man so everyone knows exactly who he's talking about. "This entire time! You distracted me with the cutting and then interrogated me!"
Iruka smiles slightly, cheerful and friendly, and that is entirely at odds with his words. "You caught on quick. I do it to Naruto all the time, but he's never figured it out."
"Senseeeeeeei!" Naruto whines, eyes wide and aghast. Iruka ruffles his hair, grinning.
"If you're friends with Naruto though, of course I'm going to. He doesn't have so many that I can just let you go around hurting him, right? So. What's your homeland like? If it's an entirely different world, it must be unique."
Natsu's pretty sure there's another trap in the question, because apparently Iruka is a sneaky shinobi, but even Naruto looks less sad about the idea of Natsu being from another world and more curious, so he hesitantly answers. "I dunno, it's… home? We have guilds, and your village just feels like a guild but bigger to me, cause we do jobs and stuff, and have ranks and everything. Guilds are mostly small though, so everyone knows everyone who's in it, and we're all friends and family, at least in Fairy Tail. Other than that, it's just normal stuff right? Deliver this letter, kill this monster, find this super rare item that's hidden in this super dangerous forest filled with traps, just normal jobs. One time there was this job to steal a book, which was so weird-sounding that I took it cause it wasn't even a magic book but Lucy likes books, so…" he shrugs, not really sure what to say.
Home is home.
And he has no idea how to really explain it, because it's less the world itself he cares about and more his family, but that's not what Iruka was asking…
"Lucy?" Naruto asks, with a… pout? Natsu's pretty sure he's misreading that because it doesn't make sense, so he ignores it.
"She's one of my teammates! Along with Gray and Happy and…" he shudders, "Erza. She's pretty smart, and she was a noble or something once, she and Levy love to just talk about books together and she was new to the guild back then. So I looked for book jobs, cause you should always do jobs you like! I don't think she liked it too much though…"
He thinks back to that awful carriage ride, and the even worse train back.
He's not sure why trains are worse than carriages, but they are and Lucy was being too cruel!
Iruka swipes the vegetables, idly cutting a few of them finer and Natsu shakes off his thoughts, and glares.
If he didn't like it he shoulda done it himself!
Iruka ignores the glare, scraping the vegetables into a sauce on the stove, stirring them in. "Magic?" he asks idly, and Natsu really should learn to pay attention to what he's saying.
"Uh…"
"Food's done! Get the plates, would you Naruto?" Iruka sweeps the pots off the stove with exceptional grace, and he's pretty sure the guy puts Mirajane to shame with how easily he balances hot cookware toward the table.
Natsu hadn't even realized pot holders were on the table until Iruka puts the pots on them, and then everyone's sitting and serving food and…
"Is magic just another word for chakra or jutsu, or do you mean the actual magic that exists in our children's stories?" Iruka continues, voice friendly and curious, and Natsu's pretty sure the Academy teacher is the scariest shinobi he's ever met.