A/N - Ayo I'm not dead

XxXxXxX

The first thing Naruto became aware of was a sense of weightlessness along with the wind blustering around him powerfully. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, the blond yawned and stretched at length as he felt the abundance of energy now surrounding him. That whole experience in Edolas had left him dog tired. He couldn't wait for a long soak in a bath and then bed.

Opening his eyes, the blurry world around him sharpened into focus.

"WOAH!"

Letting out a surprised howl, the blond threw his arms down and positively erupted chakra as the ground rocketed up towards him. Thankfully, he stopped almost on a dime, his huge expulsion of wind saving him from a very painful crash into the earth. Sighing in relief, he turned his eyes back to the fading clouds of the Anima. "Stupid thing, of course it throws me out into the sky." Scowling in annoyance, he watched as the Anima began shrinking as it deposited the last of its magical cargo back into Magnolia.

Now that the wind wasn't rushing through his ears, he could hear a squabbling group not far from his location. Chuckling as he recognised the voices, he floated over slowly and saw to his amusement all the Fairy Tail guild members he'd met in Edolas tangled up with one another. It seems that the Anima hadn't thrown only him out in the sky.

Erza, Grey and Natsu were on the bottom of the pile with the rest of them strewn above, Lucy finishing it off being the cherry on top.

"GREY! Get your hand off my ass! That's fighting dirty!"

"It's not like I want it there any more than you fire-balls! Who knows when you showered last?"

The two men then pushed up and over at one another, effectively burying Erza into the ground and thwarting her escape attempt. "Happy! Help me out here! The ground needs a good cleaning and I know one Popsicle whose face makes a great towel!"

The blue cat had problems of his own though. "Ghurk, Lucy, you're so heavy, get off! My lungs are being squeezed out my nose!"

The blond girl squeaked indignantly and flicked the little animal's ears. "That's anatomically impossible you insufferable little pest! I just need to unwind myself from Wendy's legs and I should be able to get free!"

All the while, Wendy was panicking and stuck on repeat howling, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" as she did her best to save Charla from the crushing force.

All this made for a fantastic impromptu routine and Naruto observed the whole scene with quite the amused smirk on his face for a while. Seeing Happy start turning even more blue though, he decided it was finally time to intervene.

"Aaaand HUP!"

"WAH! Oh, Naruto! You made it back safely!"

Chuckling tiredly as he dropped Lucy back to the ground, he nodded and pulled Charla out by the tail, followed by Wendy by her foot. The little white cat was absolutely furious and she desperately tried to cut his arms to ribbons with her claws. Unfortunately for her, she failed to make even a dent in his reinforced Senjutsu (Sage Mode) skin. Meanwhile, Wendy just hung there bright red and tried to hold her skirt down over everything. She was dropped to her feet quickly enough and then Charla was bowled into her arms in haste.

"YOU VILE INGRATE! HOW DARE YOU HANDLE WENDY AND I LIKE THIS? I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!"

Ignoring the threats, Naruto looked over her head to Wendy and winked. "Keep snaggletooth occupied please? She's not really happy with me."

Looking down worriedly at the raging cat, Wendy nibbled her lip as she replied, "Uh, Naruto I really don't think you should keep antagonising her like this…"

Naruto didn't get much of a chance to reply as an outraged, "ENOUGH!" bellowed through the forest. Metal gauntlets gripped the back of the two feuding males and drove them face first down into the earth, deep enough that only their legs were showing.

Dusting herself off as she stood up, Erza fumed silently as Gajeel also extracted himself from the last of the flailing limbs. Trying to smooth herself out as much as possible, a familiar shock of orange caught her eye and she gasped out, "Ah, Naruto! I'm pleased you were able to work out how to get yourself home!"

Stifling a snort, Naruto's cheeks puffed out as he looked at her dishevelled hair state. All the sticks, rocks and dust Natsu and Grey had rubbed into her scalp made it look like she'd had a perm. It was glorious. He just nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Waaaah… I'm so thankful we're all home now! It's been far too long, I'm exhausted!" Lucy may have moaned that with honest fatigue, but she still moved over to try pull her partner out of the dirt. Grabbing Natsu's leg, she started tugging.

"So, how did *tug* you manage *tug* to get yourself *tug* back!" Toppling over as she uprooted the hyperactive mage, Natsu carried on from her question as if he wasn't just buried.

"Yeah! You weren't all sparkly like the rest of us! You were just plain and boring while we got to fly through the sky!"

Chuckling as Lucy tried to push the boy off her stomach, Naruto answered, "Just something to do with my Senjutsu. Not worth the trouble explaining."

A very thick arm wrapped around his neck though and he was pulled into the steely eyes of Gajeel. "I think it's worth explaining. Especially after you go and throw us all out of a building right before it blew up. And then not a moment later, you off and disappear! You wouldn't have anything to do with that would you?"

All eyes rounded on him and Naruto began sweating bullets. "N – no? Of course not, what makes you think that?"

"Come to think of it," there was a crunch of earth as Grey freed himself, "you sure seemed to be pretty cluey about what was happening. Why wouldn't you have told us what was going to happen if you knew?"

"Heh heh, that's just, uh, my ninja senses. Chakra stuff, you wouldn't understand." Clearly they were not buying it, so Naruto pried for a way out, "Um, uh, oh! So has anyone seen if the guild back yet or do we need you three dragonslayers to beat on the magic crystal again?"

That was enough of a distraction as everyone flinched. Turning to look in the direction of the town, Erza shook her head. "No, we couldn't see anything as we were falling. Best we take a look."

"I got that!" Taking the opening, Naruto gripped Gajeel's arm and threw him into a tree. Not caring for the curses launched at him, Naruto shot up into the sky and looked towards the horizon. His cheeks stretched into a wide grin as he spied the whole of Magnolia back in its place, not a pebble out of place.

"It's all there! It's all back as it should be!"

The group below him let out a cheer and began running towards the town, headed off by Natsu. Even now, after everything they had all been through, it seemed like his energy was bottomless.

As for Naruto… with the suspicion now taken off him, he felt the exhaustion of everything from the last few (what felt like) months wash over him. He'd not had any time to rest and recover or to process the truly horrible things he'd seen. Edo-Gajeel was right, was he ok? Confidently he could say yes, but he still needed to unplug and slow down for a while.

His clothes were in a horrible state and they smelt absolutely rancid. While he knew the guild would be in full swing once the main tribe arrived back, for once Naruto did not feel like being at the head of the party. What he needed was a bath and rest.

The minor problem he had right now was all his savings were currently stashed at the guild with Mirajane as his account manager. He'd have to go see her and withdraw enough for a quiet place to stay. He couldn't stomach to be near anything as noisy as the guild right now.

Dropping back down to the ground, the blond dug deep and used up the last of his Senjutsu to perform a lackluster, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

There was an explosion and a toad roughly the size of a horse appeared before him. This one was a banana-yellow in colour with yellow-orange lumps on its back arranged in such a way you could nestle yourself in between them like a moist chair. Brown eyes protruded quite a bit above its head and each socket had a single, long red fleshy horn rising from the top. Grunting weakly, Naruto pulled himself on top of the amphibian and sighed as he relaxed into the nodes protruding from its back.

"Ma and Pa have been wonderin' when you'd summon one of us, ya know?"

The sticky but fluent speech rattled Naruto for a second. Right, they'd been expecting him to summon almost daily.

"Yeah, can you please apologise to them on my behalf, Rooty? I'm sure Ryu was able to let you guys know a bit about what I was goin' through."

The large toad nodded. "He said you'd been havin' a hell of a time with some crazy redhead human lady. Not to worry, Ma and Pa aren't angry with you. Just try remember for the future."

Sighing with relief, Naruto nodded and sunk down into the toad's back. "Oh that's great news. Thanks for that. Please tell them I will do it from now on. For now, I am really tired and need to get to the guild. Are you able to find your way there? It's the loudest building in the city."

Rooty snorted and nodded. "I can hear them from here. Fairy Tail was the name, right?"

Nodding, Naruto didn't even bother replying as he drifted off to sleep.

XxXxXxX

"N-Naruto… Hey, are you ok?"

"Mmm, who'sat?"

Eyes opening blurrily, a timid shape was standing back several paces from Naruto's ride. Yawning deeply, he rubbed the sleep from his lids with a palm and looked up to see Lucy cautiously looking over his position on the big toad.

She looked like she wanted to touch him, but the fear of the huge amphibian was holding her back. "What's this you're sleeping on? Where did you find it? When I approached you, it said something to me but I couldn't understand anything."

"Oh yeah, this is Rooty." Stretching, Naruto only just now realised it was dark. "Why are we out here anyway, Rooty? Why's it so late? Did you get lost on the way?"

The toad looked at him in confusion, clearly not speaking the language. "Whoops, hold on a second Lucy."

The toad and blond then had a quick discussion before Naruto translated. "Yeah, so this is Rooty. I guess you can call him a transport toad. I really wanted a nap before coming to the guild so I had him bring me here. He said I was sleeping so deeply he didn't wanna disturb me. I guess I really needed that. He said he wasn't sure who you were so didn't let you come close. He basically told you to stay away." Stretching again, Naruto rolled off the toad's back and dropped to his feet. He didn't need to elaborate on the few curses the protective toad had aimed at the innocent girl. "I still feel totally dead though. I could sleep for a week. I was just about to head in, grab a few Jewels then find a hotel to collapse in. On that, why are you outside? Where's Natsu?"

To that the girl grumbled and kicked at the ground. "You missed an almighty scrap between everyone. I ended up getting kicked out, so I've been wandering the streets waiting for them all to calm down. I was just headed back there now."

Naruto snorted to himself. 'Exactly as I expected. I'm glad I steered clear.' Turning back to Rooty, he gave the big toad a scratch on the head before dismissing him. "If that's the case then hopefully I can sneak in, see Mira-chan and be on my way with no one any wiser."

Lucy perked up at this and raised an authoritative index finger. "You may not get the chance to see her! Reason being and super importantly, there's this girl called Lisanna who's come back! It turns out she is Mira and Elfman's sister who they thought had died!"

"Wait, you mean that Lisanna? The one in the guild in Edolas?"

Lucy blinked in surprise. "Wait, you mean to say you know her?"

Thinking back to the brief encounter, Naruto winced. "Well, I wouldn't say I knew her at all. Only that I met her at the guild and tried to question her about why she was full of magic and everyone else wasn't. She didn't take too kindly to that and stomped off in a huff. This actually makes so much sense in hindsight."

Lucy hummed in contemplation, finger on her lips. "Well, I can see why she'd be protective of things after what she told us. Apparently, she was sucked over in an Anima on death's door and poor Mira and Elfman thought she'd died. When Mystogan sent all the magic from Edolas back here, she was brought home. It was a beautiful moment watching her get to reunite with everyone!" Her big blue eyes began to mist up a little at the memory and she chucked, rubbing a knuckle into her eyes to clear the tears. "I'm such a romantic, I love seeing these kinds of things. You really did miss something truly touching."

Naruto chuckled and nodded in mild acceptance. "It was that good hey? I'll just have to ask Mira-chan all about it when I get back then. I'll just take the risk that she is available. If she's not, I'll work something else out. Care to join me in a leisurely walk?"

He was met with the girl batting her eyelashes at Naruto coyly. "Only if you're willing to lead. I'm feeling a bit sappy right now if you can't tell."

Laughing lightly, the taller teen held an elbow out and Lucy slipped her hand through the offered nook. "Well then, who am I to deny a pretty girl her request?"

The sound of their soft laughter and conversations followed them all the way to the guild.

XxXxXxX

What greeted them upon their arrival was a total devastation of the main guild hall. Tables had been upended, curtains and cushions had been torn asunder and all manner of damage had been rendered to the stone walls, not to mention the Fair Tail members scattered everywhere. "Ah, no place like home, right Lucy-chan?"

Her flat gaze surveyed the bodies strewn across the hall with total resignation. "This is such a mood killer. Why can't for once in the guild's history a party end normally?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," quipped Naruto as he started picking his way through the debris, "this IS normal for us."

"You know what I mean, Naruto," came the huff of a reply. Chucking to himself, he made his way around the edges of the guild where the least amount of damage was found. There was some scratching coming from behind the bar and he had a strong suspicion as to who that could be. Noticing that Lucy hadn't followed, he looked back to the entrance and spied her crouched over Natsu. She had her hand on his forehead and presumably was making sure he'd survived the brawl.

Rolling his eyes in amusement, Naruto left her to it and flipped one of the stools back to its feet and sat down at the bar. It wasn't long before a familiar silvery mop of hair appeared from inside the butler's pantry. What was different about it though was that it was in fact Elfman who squeezed out from inside. "Oh, Naruto! Where have you been? You missed a most manly of reunions! You'll never believe this, but my younger sister Lisanna has returned!"

The shear joy radiating from the gentle giant immediately had Naruto beaming back. "I know some of what happened! Lucy-chan told me about it as we came back!" He threw a thumb over his shoulder, motioning to the girl now caught in one of Natsu's headlocks as he thrashed around in his sleep. "I am genuinely so happy to hear you guys were reunited. I'll have to catch up with you three and properly introduce myself to her. I met her briefly in Edolas and I didn't make the best of first impressions."

He quickly waved his hands defensively as he saw Elfman's eyes narrow. "Oh, it wasn't anything bad, just a miscommunication! It'll be an easy fix."

Chuckling, the giant hefted a bag over his shoulder and shook his head. "I'm sure if I can trust you with Mirajane, I can trust you with my dear Lisanna. I would like to hear the full story though. Both my sisters have made their way home for the night as you could understand. I was just grabbing some extra food as we don't have enough to feed three mouths and it's too late to buy anything. You're lucky you caught me."

Letting out a light sigh, Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I figured it was a long shot but I wanted to try anyway. I just needed to get some Jewels from my stash Mira-chan is managing for me. I need a place to crash for a few days that I can call my own."

"Oh, was that it?" Naruto snatched a bag out of the air Elfman threw at him. "That should sort you out for tonight at least. I can just have Mirajane fix me up tomorrow from your account."

Eyes widening at the amount of money in there, Naruto looked back up with appreciation. "You are an honest to goodness lifesaver. Thanks so much for this!"

Chuckling deeply, the largest Strauss sibling pulled himself from behind the counter and clapped a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't mention it. You'd do the same for me. Treat yourself for a change, last I heard you were sleeping on couches or in trees."

Moving to follow his friend out, Naruto scratched his head sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's not far from the truth. Any hotel recommendations?"

The two teenagers continued their talk as they walked out of the guild, totally oblivious to Lucy desperately straining for help from within Natsu's iron embrace.

XxXxXxX

The warmest of touches to Naruto's face gently began to rouse the teen. Inhaling deeply through his nose, he rolled over ever so slightly to get out of the morning sun. The deep, fluffy covers clung to him like a clandestine lover, desperately trying to stop him from escaping.

Bleary eyes cracked open, trying to remember where they were. Everything after leaving the guild was much of a blur, such was his fatigue. Elfman's recommendation had drastically cut down his search time for accommodation and procured him a beautiful one-bedroom apartment with a spa, balcony and breakfast all included.

Judging from how late the sun was up through, Naruto guessed he'd probably missed breakfast. It took him another half hour to drag himself from the bed and into the bathroom for a morning shower and soak. The blond genuinely couldn't remember the last time he'd had a good wash, so he properly pampered himself.

When Naruto walked out an hour later wrapped up in a bath gown, he was looking and smelling just about the freshest he'd ever been in his life. The temptation to fall back into the bed was just about as sumptuous as he'd ever experienced, but the grumble his tummy made was more than enough to turn him away.

Looking around the lavish room, it took a moment before he noticed something off to the side. "Oh sweet, what a score! Elfman, you did not miss recommending this place!" Dropping into a plush chair, he picked up the all-day breakfast menu from the coffee table and started browsing. There were far too many choices for any normal meal, so Naruto did what any starving ninja would do and simply ordered one of everything.

The kingly feast that was delivered to him fifteen minutes later was nothing short of heavenly. From eggs to bacon, pancakes, waffles, sizzle steaks, little spicy sausages and everything in between, Naruto inhaled it with the gusto of a dying man. The staff wisely refused to comment on just how much food he was consuming and kept it coming. They figured if someone was this hungry, they shouldn't be disturbed, no matter how sick the staff felt from watching it all be consumed.

Now stuffed fatter than a Christmas turkey, Naruto was ready for the obligatory food coma which followed. Slipping back into the luxurious bed, he wasted no time falling straight into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Several hours later, the rousing snort of the teen filled the room who was woken only by the busting urge to use the bathroom. Breakfast, apparently, came back to bite hard.

What followed gave Naruto a chance to flex some of his Lightning nature skills to try and burn away the odor. Needless to say, the bathroom door remained closed for the rest of the evening.

After that excursion, the blond found himself plopped back in that first lush chair by the coffee table, still dressed in his bath gown while lazily gazing at his disheveled but clean clothes that had been delivered to him earlier.

The sun was dipping behind the horizon at this point and it was finally time to make the decision on where to go for dinner. He did have to get some money from Mira-chan first though. That was motivation enough in his mind to get moving, so pulling his scruffy old clothes on, the teen made his way to the guild.

XxXxXxX

'It really is incredible how fast they put this place back together,' mused the teen as he strode into the now perfectly clean guild hall. Not even 24 hours later from the guild brawl and everything was back to how it should have been. Patrons of all sorts were now seated at the benches with waitresses floating between everyone gathering orders and refilling drinks.

It was a much calmer night this time with the majority of the troublemakers (i.e. Natsu) being suspiciously absent. Come to think of it, Naruto was mildly surprised he hadn't been interrupted by one of the guild members flying into his room to find out where he'd been the whole day. He wasn't about to question his luck though because this day of nothingness had been simply wonderful.

To his delight, Naruto spotted the usual silver haired bar maid running duties behind the bar, smiling as brightly as ever and handling cash and drinks with utmost efficiency. Spotting Naruto, her eyes widened and she waved cheerily. "Just take a seat, I won't be a moment!"

He did as instructed and dropped into an empty table off to a quiet side of the hall. What the blond wasn't expecting was Elfman's huge body to plant itself opposite him. "Evening Naruto. I trust you had a most manly evening in that hotel?"

"You bet I did!" gasped the teen, happy to have a chance to thank the man. "I don't think I've slept in such peace and comfort in years! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! I'll be staying there for a while, I'm not about to give up that luxury just yet."

Nodding understandingly, Elfman crossed his arms with confidence. "Absolutely, it's the only place one as manly as I goes whenever I have some downtime to myself. Mirajane and I would regularly go just to use the spar amenities… well, now it will be all three of us since we've been reunited."

"Ah, Lisanna!" Naruto clued on immediately. "Tell me more about how you guys first met again! I dare say it would have been like seeing a ghost."

Shaking his head, the strongman's eyes glassed over as he recalled the moment. "I still pinch myself. I dare say this will take quite some time before I believe she's truly back with us. We were at her grave when she found us. It was no doubt only seconds but that moment stretched out for hours as she ran into our arms. I'm manly enough to say I haven't cried that hard since we first lost her. It was magical."

They then fell silent; Elfman wrapped up in the still raw feelings and Naruto observant enough to not interrupt. It actually segwayed nicely into allowing Mirajane time to make her way over with her long-lost sister in tow. The youngest of the Strauss siblings was almost hiding behind Mirajane and pointedly didn't make eye contact as they sat down at the table.

"Thanks for waiting, I've taken fifteen minutes off so we have time to chat," tattled Mirajane as she tucked her skirt under her bottom to sit. She planted herself beside Elfman with Lisanna closely attached to her other side. Looking over the three, Naruto smiled as warmly as possible and bowed his head. "Thanks for taking the time out for me. I won't be long, especially with everything going on."

"Not a worry at all! You know we always have time for you after all you've done for us," chided Mirajane. "Elfman let us know you also had some things to say to Lisanna so we made sure to be here for that."

"B-before that…" a whispered voice rose above anything else anyone was going to say. Lisanna had finally squared up and was meeting Naruto's eyes for the first time with resolve. "I just wanted to apologise for how we first met. I didn't have to treat you like that and I know it got you in trouble with everyone in the Edolas guild."

"Apology accepted," came the split-second reply. Naruto met her gaze resolutely and held out a hand. "If anything, that's exactly what I was gonna say to you! I clearly pissed you off at the time but had no idea why until we all got home. Let's just say it was a mutual misunderstanding and leave it at that."

"Oh, not at all! I wasn't angry, I was just caught off guard that you realised I wasn't an Edolas native! I wanted to protect the Mirajane of the Edolas Fairy Tail from any further heartache." Nevertheless, she took the outstretched hand. "However, let's put this behind us. You helped save Edolas with Natsu and the rest of the team. For that, I'm so thankful!"

"Oh you're just so thoughtful!" The young girl was then squished into a deep hug by her older sister. "I know I've said this so much already, but I must say it again, you really haven't changed from when we last saw you!"

Lisanna giggled and squeezed her sister back, all the while Elfman sat rigid and tried to choke back tears. After a few moments the siblings composed themselves and Naruto felt free to ask Mirajane his original request.

The silver haired beauty snapped her fingers in remembrance and started getting up. "That's right, Elfman mentioned to me you were staying at our favourite hotel getaway. I already fixed him up for your accommodation from the other night. I assumed that was fine by you?"

"Yeah of course!" Naruto got up and moved over to their side of the table. "I would have asked you to do it if you hadn't. Anyway," the teen turned and beamed down at Lisanna, "It was so good to fix that mix-up. I'm so happy you're back over here with everyone! I'm gonna get out of here for now, but I'll see you around!"

She waved cheerily and bid him farewell as Elfman began chatting with her about something. Turning from the pair, he drew up alongside Mirajane as they walked back over to the bar.

"It sounded like you guys had a really rough time in Edolas. I almost feel guilty for being stuck in that crystal and not able to help more." Naruto looking over at the frowning barmaid. Sighing, he bumped his hip off hers. "Stop that. You know as well as anyone you were all out for the count. It all worked out in the end, and you even got your sister back! It doesn't always end so well, so let's take the win for what it is!"

Mirajane grumbled a bit but nodded acceptingly. "I know, I know. It's just… well, it's frustrating." She sighed and ruffled her hair irritably. "I can't stop thinking about how it could have turned out."

"You're cute when you're grumpy." Mirajane shot him a pout. "And if that's the worst thing that happens, then we've done well. My old teacher used to say, "Don't trouble yourself over things you can't control. Learn from the lessons of the situation and disregard the uncontrollable. Any extra brain power wasted on that is energy not focused on the next threat around the corner." He was such a pain in my ass, but he knew what he was doing. Maybe you could take a note from that nugget of wisdom."

Having reached the bar, Naruto plopped himself down in a stool while Mirajane went rustling out the back in the safe for Naruto's Jewels. Coming back, she handed him a thick wad of bills and then draped herself over the bench top with a sigh. "Yeah I guess he's right. It seems to have worked for you so I'll try forget it."

Pocketing the cash, he then waved one of the larger notes under the girls nose temptingly. "Well, how about this. You tell me a good place to have dinner and I'll make it my treat to help. Deal?"

Snorting very unladylike, Mirajane rolled her eyes in bemusement and waved the note away. "You're such a charmer. I just hope you're ready to go somewhere fancy because I'm feeling really picky right now. I won't be able to stay out long though, just so you know."

"Awww Mira-chan, can't you break curfew for once?" A scroll slapped into his face as Mirajane ignored his puppy eyes and replied, "If I didn't already have plans for later with Lisanna and Elfman. You're lucky I have the time for you even now. I hope you have a spare change of clothes in that scroll of yours because you are NOT accompanying me dressed like that. Go clean up and I'll meet you here at the end of my shift in an hour."

Pulling the scroll into view, Naruto confirmed it did hold a few changes of clothes. Tucking it into his jacket pocket, he pulled himself to his feet and whined pathetically. "But that's a whole hour! What am I meant to do with myself until then?"

"You can start by coming with me, young man." The startling request came from down near Naruto's ankles and both he and Mirajane looked down with surprise. The little Guild Master was looking up at the blond in his usual orange outfit, eyes closed in a well-meaning smile. "Unless I'm interrupting something?"

"He's just teasing me currently," Mirajane piped up before Naruto could say anything. "Please, keep him occupied for a while so I can get back into my duties."

Chuckling, Makarov rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Come then Naruto, I do need to ask something of you anyway if you please?"

Sighing, Naruto nodded acceptingly and turned around to stick his tongue out at Mirajane as they left. She returned fire with her own tongue, before winking at him with a smirk and getting back to work.

Leaving the teasing woman behind, Naruto followed Makarov up the stairs and into the master room. "Close the door behind you, that's a good lad. Can't have any itching ears hearing this."

Cocking an eyebrow, Naruto did as requested. Locks automatically latched and sealed the pair inside. "What's all the security for? I feel like I'm about to be dragged before a court or something."

The old man guffawed and waved a hand. "As I said, itching ears. I wanted a more robust security to keep our more troublesome mages at bay. This will also allow us to chat in perfect peace."

"Right, so on that," Naruto drew up a chair and dropped in front of the large desk, "what did you need to talk with me about?" He paused in consideration and then continued with, "And I have something I'd like your opinion on if that's alright?"

Perking up, the old man nodded. "Of course, anything for the most aspiring ninja of Fairy Tail!"

Naruto smirked. "I'm the only ninja of Fairy Tail."

Makarov closed his eyes and crossed his arms in defiance. "My point still stands. Anyhow, would I be able to put my request to you first?"

Naruto nodded and motioned for the Master to continue. "Well then, I need to firstly inform you of a development. A bit of a promotion for lack of a better term. You still have your status as a temporary Wizard of the Ten Saints, correct?"

Blinking once, Naruto dug about in his pockets. "Uh, yeah I think so… hold up a second, where did I put it? Um… oh, here it is!"

Pulling out his badge confirming his status, Makarov nodded. "I didn't actually need you to show me, more that you remember your position. The reason for this is that I spoke with the Magician's Council to confirm the rank that badge gives you. It's worth mentioning that you're the first person to ever not only be labelled as a 'temporary' Saint, but also that you did it before you were an S ranked mage. Prior to this, you would have been listed as an A rank, but after getting word from the Council, I can now confirm you're an official S rank mage! Well done!"

"Wait, what?" Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "You mean there's an actual ranking system of mages? I thought it was either you were S ranked or not!"

"No one ever thought to tell you this?" came the confused reply. "Didn't the ranks on the job board mean anything to you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I honestly just thought it was related to the job only in terms of difficulty or pay. I spoke briefly about job ranks with Gildarts when I first met him, but he didn't go into much detail. I didn't know there were levels for mages to reach."

The old Master hummed thoughtfully and put a finger to his lips. "I guess there's not really much pomp and bluster for the lower ranks. That's all internally organised within individual guilds. Some have rank up celebrations, others don't. At S rank, that's the first level where it must be lodged with the Council. Reason being is that because those jobs are so dangerous, if there's a mage with a particular talent suitable for a job, they can be personally requested to take on the mission. Following?"

The young teen nodded. "We have something similar back in my home dimension. It's a little different to what is here though by the sound of it."

"Well tell you what," replied Makarov as he kicked his heels up onto the bench, "I'll fill you in on this world's ranking systems, then I'll ask my request."

Naruto leaned forward with a grin. "Sure, sure! I'm actually pretty excited to hear what this 'S' rank would equal for home!"

"Well then, let's kick this off," replied Makarov as he started ticking the ranks off on his fingers. "First, we have D rank. Bottom of the barrel level. Carry someone's groceries home. Clean the moss off homes or algae out of pools. Those sorts of jobs. You can imagine how C, B and A would gradually increase in difficulty, so let's skip those and go to S rank."

Pulling his feet back down, the old mage linked his fingers under his chin and rested his elbows on the table. "S rank is where death can occur. Only the highest caliber mages get the honor of being ranked as such. You already know a few of these mages here in Fairy Tail; Erza, Mirajane and Mystogan being prime examples of S ranked mages. Beyond this comes SS ranked. You must have completed minimum 50 S ranked missions to be considered for one of these. Erza is our closest contender for such a rank. Now, what was next again?"

Humming to himself, the old man drummed his fingers on the table. "After that comes the 10 Year Jobs. These are equal to a Saint Tier mage, so by the Council's reckoning this is where you'd be ranked."

Naruto let out a long whistle as a very wide smile stretched across his face. "Wooooah… I'm actually ranked that high? I had no idea it means that much! I'm way higher than just an S rank!"

"Technically yes, but in reality, no." Makarov was quick to dump a cold bucket of water over Naruto's parade. "While on paper you are listed as Saint Tier, the fact you're only temporary means they don't know exactly what to rank you since you were never officially examined. They can comfortably low-ball your power as an S rank so that's what they were willing to commit to."

Makarov then pre-emptively shushed Naruto's impending complaint. "Hush, I tried to talk them up to an SS rank for you, but they wouldn't have it. So suck it up, you've got your S rank so just accept it for now."

Ignoring Naruto's now disgruntled pouting, the old mage continued. "10 Year Jobs are listed as such because no one has been able to complete the requested job for 10 years. They are extremely dangerous and require an official blood waver signed stating that in the case of injury or death, the hosting party will not be held liable, regardless of how the injury or death occurred. Following that, there's a big jump to a 100 Year Job. There's only a handful of these active in the world and are the highest ranked jobs available. I assume you understand why?"

Naruto nodded. "Because that job has been listed for over 100 years and is still unfinished, right?"

"Right," came the positive reply. "To tackle one of these jobs, you would be classified as a Transcendent mage. These people are freakishly strong, a once in 100 year level of ability and the confidence to match. The closest person we've ever had to a Transcendent mage is Gildarts. You met him on his way home from that mission."

Naruto's eyebrows raised. "Didn't he say he failed that one?"

Makarov waved the comment away. "The very fact he came back from that alive is a testament to the man's strength. He's the first person ever to walk away from that particular mission with their head still attached, the rest of his body notwithstanding. So no, he's not Transcendent, but he's just about as close as possible. The Council is actually looking into that now and whether they offer him the title regardless."

Frowning, Naruto chewed over that bit of info in his mind. These higher ranked missions seemed like they were the ultimate test of ability. For the Council to consider offering Gildarts a rank like Transcendence even though he failed it was a bit like when Ero-sennin, the snake bastard and Tsunade-baachan were given the title of Sennin by whoever that guy was who kicked their collective asses. Even after losing, they still got a legendary title.

Which begged the question: what was it that nearly killed Gildarts and what would that thing be ranked?

Seeing the gears turning, Makarov answered the brewing question. "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then yes, there are ranks above Transcendence and this is where it gets really dangerous and blurry. Because there's been such few creatures, not just mages, to reach these levels, it's hard to say where one starts and the other stops."

Makarov then trailed off and the room descended into quiet. Waiting until realising no more info was coming, Naruto edged, "So what are these ranks and why aren't you telling me them?"

Sighing, the old man raised an unimpressed eyebrow and gave the teen a once over. "Because I'm weighing up if it's worth telling you. Knowing your hair-trigger impulsiveness, you're liable to dash out and try hunt down something at this level for a challenge. All that would accomplish is you winding up a bloody smear on the foot of something enormous."

"Oh come on old man, when would I do something like that?"

A massive karate chop smacked down on the top of the blond's head after Makarov expanded his hand to the size of a large dog. "Don't call me old! And does you gallivanting off into the countryside challenging Grimoire Heart ring any bells?"

Naruto nursed the growing lump on his head and winced as he rubbed it. "To be fair, that was entirely unexpected. I was simply dropping through to see Ultear-chan and got dragged into that mess."

"A likely story," came the suspicious reply. "I still don't fully believe you were one hundred percent innocent in all that."

The Guild Master then sighed and scratched his head. "Whether or not you challenged them intentionally is beside the point. The fact remains that the sum total of that whole guild only just begins to scratch the very bottom of these higher levels. Imagine single individuals with more power than that whole guild combined. That's what we're talking about here."

Sitting back into the chair, for once the blond let the magnitude of what was just relayed to him sink in. Makarov wasn't just talking about tough mages. These creatures were on the level of potentially even Kyuubi.

"Oh good, you're actually understanding what I'm saying." Looking down at the Master, Naruto noticed him looking at him approvingly. "These tiers are big and bad. We don't talk much about it with the lower levels, but once you pass S rank, the discussion needs to be had."

Naruto waved him on. "Well, may as well tell me then. I get the feeling you were going to have to tell me even if you didn't want to."

Grumbling at being called out, Makarov mumbled something about troublesome youths before continuing. "Damn your insight. You better not get a big head about this. In any case, yes, I need to give you the rest of the ranks, if only so you know when to high-tail your ass out of a situation to save your life."

The Master shifted in his chair and leaned forward intensively. "There are 3 ranks after Transcendence. These are World Class, World Prime and finally Apex. There are no job titles associated with these levels, they're more a flee on sight rank. World Class threats could level an entire country. World Prime threats could level multiple countries. As for Apex… there's only a couple of beings in history who could ever be considered as such. At this level, they could sink entire continents if they desired."

Naruto chewed his lip for a bit as he considered these ranks. Kyuubi would comfortably sit around the Apex rank, of that he was sure. No one had seen the giant fox at full strength, but if a single tail could level a mountain, then all nine of them could surely wipe out a continent. The smug chuckle from the back of his mind confirmed the theory and also cemented his decision to avoid anyone at that level. "Do you know of anyone or anything who's reached these higher levels?"

"Not officially." Makarov had a finger to his temple, rubbing it back and forth to try stimulate his memory. "The only beings I'm aware of who could fit into these higher tiers would be the dragons. Igneel, Natsu's foster parent, would be at the Would Prime level. The other dragons would be close to that, so if not World Prime, then high World Class. As far as Apex, there's only one I can confidently say reaches that. Even Zeref, for all his incredible power, may only sit at a World Prime."

Makarov held his fingers up to air quote around 'Only' to emphasise the incredulous nature of the topic. "Truly, the only being I know of who could be currently called a definitive Apex rank would be Acnologia, The Black Dragon."

Naruto hummed in thought. "A dragon even stronger than the dragons. That sounds honestly absurd. Is Acnologia still alive or is he a scary history lesson?"

"Unfortunately, he's very much alive." Makarov let out a sigh. "We know this is because that's why Gildarts failed his mission. Acnologia tore off his arm, leg and carved out some of his gut. The very fact Gildarts managed to survive the encounter is remarkable. He brought back invaluable information on the dragon which was immediately relayed back to the Magic Council. You can see why they're contemplating offering him the Transcendence rank now. While he may have failed the mission, he succeeded in bringing back so much more."

Naruto's eyes had grown as Makarov spoke. "So, you're telling me Gildarts managed to go toe to toe with the strongest dragon who ever lived?" A bead of sweat slipped down his brow at the implication. It turned out Gildarts wasn't just a funny old perv with a wicked handshake. He was practically a living legend. His respect for the man had just jumped a hundred-fold.

Interestingly, Naruto noticed Makarov had the same pinched look of awed respect in his eyes. If that was the case, might that mean Gildarts was even stronger than the Master? "If I may ask… what's stopping Gildarts from stepping into your shoes when you retire?"

"Bah, don't even get me started!" proclaimed Makarov angrily as he waved his hat around. "I've offered the stupid position to him more times than I can count, but he keeps dodging the responsibility by saying, "You can't cage an eagle, you gotta let that bird fly free", or some nonsense like that." The old Master thumped his fist on the desk in frustration. "He's more than capable of filling these shoes, he's just too lazy to do so!"

Naruto snickered to himself under his breath as the old mage fumed. "That sounds so much like Kakashi-sensei. They would have got on amazingly well."

Letting out a long sigh, Makarov scratched his bald scalp before putting his hat back on. "That's why I am still sat here in this chair and not in a swanky holiday resort enjoying my retirement. Obviously there's other impressive candidates coming through, but they're still years away from being able to run a guild." He sighed again. "I'm just in it for the long haul it seems."

Changing topics, the mage then viciously pointed at Naruto. "So coming back to the main point, you do understand the danger now, correct? If so, promise me profusely that you WILL NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES go out and try challenge Acnologia! Are we clear?"

Throwing his hands up in immediate submission, Naruto nodded appeasingly. "I might love a good challenge but I'm not suicidal. I won't try challenge him, I promise."

Sitting back with a huff and crossed arms, Makarov grunted with finality. "You damn well better keep that promise. If I so much as catch a whiff of you thinking of running off after him, I'll kick your ass so bad you won't be able to crawl out of here, let alone walk out."

Laughing openly, Naruto rolled his eyes and wiped a tear away. "Oh come on, the chances of me even bumping into him are slim to none. I'm not interested in taking any Hundred Year missions; I just want to find a way to control this stupid Kyuubi Shroud and then get home."

Sighing as the last of the chuckles subsided, Naruto then took control of the conversation. "So with that cleared up, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Oh, right, I forgot." Sitting up straight, Makarov interlaced his fingers. "It's to do with the topic of you stepping up to an S Rank. In a week or so, we will be announcing the S Rank trials. I have in mind eight people to nominate to go through the test. I would have nominated you but you're well past that now. Nevertheless, you still need to go through the trial on paper, so I was hoping you would be happy to join in as one of the judges. Mirajane, Erza and Gildarts will all be participating as obstacles the mages need to overcome. By joining those three, you get the chance to dust up a few S Rank hopefuls along with getting your stamp saying you participated in the event. What do you say?"

Naruto face lit up. "So you mean I get my guaranteed S Rank by wiping the ground with Natsu's face? You don't even need to ask! I'll be there!"

"How'd you know Natsu was one of the challengers?" Makarov puzzled.

Naruto shrugged. "Oh come on, he's one of the strongest mages in the guild. I'd have to blind AND dumb to not think he's getting a shot at S Rank."

"Fair enough," the Master allowed. "Well, if that's the case I'll put your name down in the registry. Now, what may I do for you?"

Happy to be moving on, Naruto patted his tummy. "Well, as I said earlier, I want to know what's happening with the Kyuubi Shroud. I know so far that it has something to do with the Ethernano in the air here; the Kyuubi confirmed this fact itself. Yajima confirmed that it's not anything that's pulling it out from the outside either. The timing of it tumbling through the seal after I enter Senjutsu is also too perfect to be a coincidence. It's been getting more and more frequent ever since it first appeared during the battle with Laxus and the colour of both the Kyuubi and shroud has now changed to match the gold aura of the Ethernano. I honestly feel so close to an answer, but there just feels like something's missing that I'm not understanding. I was hoping you might be able to think it over a bit as you know far more about Ethernano and its properties than I do."

Blinking several times, Makarov leant back in his chair after the deluge of info. Taking a moment to digest everything, he first started with, "The fox and the shroud have taken on the gold colour?"

Naruto nodded.

"And this is something that's never happened back in your home dimension?"

Naruto shook his head. "Even the Kyuubi was confused by it at first. Once it worked out the Ethernano wasn't dangerous to its existence, it sort has just accepted the colour change."

Humming, Makarov pondered things more. "And this only happens after you enter that… Sen Jitzu thing?"

"Senjutsu, yes."

Falling silent, Makarov closed his eyes thoughtfully while Naruto waited with bated breath. After a few minutes, the old mage opened his eyes reflectively. "I think it may have something to do with this seal that the energy is passing through."

Naruto shook his head immediately. "Thank heavens no. I already checked, it's all in place and nothing has changed."

"No, you're not quite following me." Makarov insisted, trying to approach the topic from a different angle. "The Ethernano is in the fox now. When you enter the Senjutsu... did I say it right?" Naruto nodded. "When you enter the Senjutsu, you draw the Ethernano into yourself the way you would draw in energy naturally at home. In my mind, this is somehow creating a bridge that's allowing the energy from the fox to flow straight from it into you with less resistance. How does that sound?"

Nodding contemplatively, Naruto pondered the suggestion. "That does sound reasonable. I'm not totally sold on the idea though because I am being influenced less and less by the fox in higher power level states. If I draw out more than 3 tails worth of power, I lose control and hurt friend and foe alike. Why am I not being influenced anymore? The Kyuubi still hates my guts as much as ever so that much hasn't changed."

Makarov grunted in acceptance. "I see your point. Hmm, that is a tricky one. It does seem like a good development though, wouldn't you agree?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yes, but to a point. Old Yajima was kind enough to offer me some insight on it last time we spoke which really helped. So while I am more confident in it, I still don't have total faith I won't lose my mind during one of these Shroud leaks. The chance of it happening seems to be reducing more and more, but for the sake of everyone around me, I want to be one hundred percent confident nothing will happen."

"Let me think on it then." The old Master pushed his chair back from the desk and dropped to his feet. "I think a bit of mental chewing overnight might be enough to help shed some light on the topic. Happy to wait until then?"

Standing up, the teen stretched and flexed to get the muscles in his legs moving again. "Yeah, sure. Let's come back to it. For now, I have a date with Mira-chan to get ready for!"

Pulling open the now unlocked door, Makarov nodded. "If you're taking Fair Tail's jewel out for a night you best clean up. You look like a bum who just happened to have a shower."

Looking down at his tattered clothes, the blond chuckled. "That's definitely next on the agenda. I'll get going now! Chat tomorrow!"

XxXxXxX

Naruto stared flatly at the siblings opposite him. "You know, I would be all about taking two pretty ladies out for dinner, but why Elfman too? It's not quite the atmosphere I was aiming for, if you catch my drift."

Elfman just roared with laughter and continued to tuck into the large roast before him. Lisanna and Mirajane were much more demure about it, but still snickered behind their gloved hands as they sipped on some expensive mocktails.

Mirajane had picked an incredibly upper-class black-tie restaurant to dine at and when she first rounded the corner to the entrance, Naruto's eyes nearly fell out of his head. She was dressed in the most immaculate silver gown that held the eye captive no matter where you were looking. Her hair was held up in a bun by two ceramic hair sticks that allowed just a few wavy strands of her fringe loose on either side of her face. She held a complimentary ornate fan in her hand that she'd occasionally open and close absent-mindedly. When she saw her blond date, she simply floated over to him to wrap him up in a warm hug. Every eye in the hall was riveted to her and Naruto knew there were hundreds of jealous eyes pinned on him.

It was a rather large and not all together welcome surprise when a few moments later, Lisanna and Elfman followed their eldest sister in. Each were dressed to match Mirajane and when all three stood together, they were a visual force to be reckoned with. Lisanna and Mirajane were the epitome of grace while Elfman's imposing size was the very definition of a dapper gentleman. Naruto had made sure to dress well once he found out where they were going, but seeing all three of them standing there made him feel significantly under-dressed.

Immediately upon sitting, Elfman had ordered the entire entre menu and tucked into it without a second thought. Mirajane and Lisanna each nibbled on bits of the platters but left Elfman to finish most of it. Naruto absently grabbed some of the food as well, but for the most part he was too busy trying to work out where the extra guests had come from.

Eventually coming to himself, Naruto couldn't help but ask, "So, uh, Mira-chan, the extra company is nice and all, but I thought it was going to be just the two of us?"

Mirajane sincerely cocked an eyebrow and offered, "Well, I did say I was busy with Elfman and Lisanna afterwards? We will be heading up to the mountains for the night and will be leaving once we're done here. This is our very first outing as a family again and I thought you'd be happy to join us in the festivities."

This brings us back to the question Naruto first asked that had the siblings laughing at him. "Come now Naruto, you think I'd miss the chance to see my darling sisters dressed to the nines? Let us bask in their glory together!"

To be fair, Naruto couldn't blame his male counterpart. They were absolutely stunning and Elfman was proud as punch to stand beside them both again. Sighing, Naruto shook his head and cocked an eyebrow at the trio. "Yeah, I get that. I really do. I guess I was just excited to have Mira-chan to myself for the evening."

"Our apologies then." Lisanna couldn't help but cover a suspicious giggle as she looked between her sister and the despondent lad. "Next time, we will make sure to give you the whole evening to hang out. Right, Elfman?"

The large man pointed a fork at the smaller teen and nodded. "Of course, provided you treat her as manly as possible."

Naruto gazed flatly at the giant, desperately hoping Elfman would clue in to exactly what he just said. Alas, he was obliviously already tucking back into his meal while his sisters laughed at him.

"Don't mind that Naruto, you already know he has a strange way of emphasising things."

Naruto turned his eyes over to Mirajane forlornly and whined, "But it just sounds so wrong! Does he do it on purpose?"

"Who knows? We may never find out." Chuckling into her mocktail glass, Mirajane just winked at the blond and finished her drink.

The rest of the meal ended without too much interruption and after much small talk and joking, the time came for the group to depart. Meandering to the exit, the group began exchanging farewells. Lisanna and Elfman excused themselves to visit the bathroom one last time, leaving the original duo to finish things themselves.

"I suppose I need to say thank you and sorry for tonight." Taking Naruto's hands in her own, Mirajane looked into his eyes apologetically. "I know you were looking forward to an evening with me, however I can't bring myself to be apart from the family just now. I didn't have a chance to tell you before we arrived so I just figured I'd apologise afterwards."

'Those damn doe-eyes. Ero-sennin, you weren't wrong saying they are a man's greatest unresolvable weakness.' Sighing in defeat, Naruto squeezed the soft hands in his. "Yeah, I get it. Don't feel bad about it, I realise how much you guys are enjoying being together again. I just hope we can do this again soon, maybe without company?"

The poster girl for Fairy Tail giggled and smiled serenely. "I'm sure we can work something out." She then leant in and pecked him on the cheek. "That's for taking everything in your stride." She then pulled his forehead down and pecked him on the forehead. "That's for helping bring everyone back home safely." Pulling back, she gazed into his eyes for a moment before leaning forward and pressing her lips lightly against his. Pulling back, the dusting of a blush frosted her cheeks as she murmured, "And that's just because I wanted to."

Right then, Lisanna and Elfman came back to collect their sister. "Well then Naruto, thank you so much for hosting us tonight!" Each of the Strauss siblings bowed their heads in thanks to the teen. "You enjoy the rest of your night and we will see you soon!"

"Yeah… take care guys…"

Taking their leave, Naruto stood there awkwardly as he waved them goodbye. He kept waving for a while even after they'd moved well out of sight. The doorman standing off to the side had seen everything and muttered under his breath, "He's the luckiest bastard in all of Fiore."

Responding impulsively to the comment, Naruto breathed, "You're damn right I am", and then began stiffly walking back to his hotel.

XxXxXxX

"Morning old man!"

Shouting in surprise, the Guild Master backhanded Naruto into the wall of his office out of reflex. "For crying out loud Naruto, don't do that to me! I could have had a heart attack!" He paused for a second before then chopping the teen on the head, "And stop calling me old!"

Pulling himself from the hole, Naruto dusted himself down and dropped into a chair. "My bad, I forget you're the jumpy type. I'll make it up to you somehow. Do you like ramen?"

There was some excited shuffling behind Naruto and a voice he recognised piped up with, "On that, you still owe me two bowls with twelve pork slices in them for scaring me a while back. I hope you remember this."

Gasping excitedly, Naruto spun around to see an equally diminutive man walk in through the door. "Yajima-san! When did you get here?"

Dressed in his usual cooking outfit, the little old man hid a smirk of satisfaction as he walked past the teen. "I got in late last night. I've been meaning to visit Ma-bo for a while now. With the girls now trained up, I can leave the restaurant to them for a few days."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the mention of the pink haired triplets. "Oh, Shelly, Kelly and Sally? How are those three doing? Did they ever recover from that hangover?"

Yajima chuckled. "It took them well over a week before they were functioning as normal. They certainly made good use of your clones during that time. On that, they asked me to get you to send them some new ones. The old ones are nearly about to pop."

That caused the blond to pause for a moment. "Wait, they're still active?"

Yajima cracked an eye to study the boy. "You mean you didn't know they were?"

Naruto shook his head. "Well, no, I thought they dispelled during the mess with Edolas. I imagine Makarov filled you in on that?"

The man nodded.

"Well yeah, it is a bit of a surprise. I guess I've never really tested to see how long they could last without combat. To hear they've lasted this long is actually pretty interesting news, so thanks for that." Clasping his hands together, the ninja then focused. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

The three clones immediately dashed out the door and took off to Hargeon Town. Ignoring them departing, Yajima climbed into one of the chairs opposite Makarov and settled down. "Shut the door again, that's a good lad. We have some things to discuss while I'm here."

Realising Makarov and Yajima must have chatted over his problem the night before, Naruto quickly did as requested and dropped into the chair beside Yajima. Cutting straight to the chase, Yajima kicked things off by asking, "So, how has the Fox Shroud been recently? Any flare ups?"

Naruto nodded and began recounting the numerous times it was pulled out during the shambles of Edolas. He went into detail of when and where, along with the situation around it being pulled out, as well as his emotions at the time before, during and after the event. He spoke non-stop for about half an hour and both men listened intently, not interrupting once.

Finally winding up the story, Naruto sank back into the chair with a sigh and massaged his forehead. "So you can see that it seems to be getting better, but I still don't have a full understanding why. I think I'm close as I said, but I'm just missing something."

Both Makarov and Yajima remained in thought for a while after the boy finished his tale, each stewing in their thought and occasionally casting gazes towards one another. Finally, Yajima reached down and tapped his tummy. "So this seal of yours over your navel, to clarify it's a filter of sorts to allow the power of the fox into your body?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep, that's why I have such a large chakra capacity. It's been leaking into me ever since I was born."

Makarov then chimed in with, "Would your extra large capacity mean you can handle more of the Fox's power than normal people?"

Naruto crossed his arms and frowned in thought. "Well, the fact I can handle it at all is something only I can do. Reason being, and this is just what my teachers told me, is because if one of these Tailed Beasts are put into an adult, they explode or something. It has to do with the way their chakra coils are developed. Kids are still growing so their systems expand to accommodate the extra energy. This doesn't mean we're immune to the effects, rather we just have a heightened tolerance of it."

Tapping his lips with his index finger, Makarov mused, "So you have a higher resistance to this sort of poison." Looking over at Yajima, he then asked, "And you said you're dealing with outbursts that are growing physically more powerful, however you're dealing with less and less mental disturbance. May I confirm Naruto, that you're only experiencing this after you enter your Senjutsu technique?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that's been the only thing I can think of that's been consistent. I obviously thought Mira-chan or those Keys of Zeref might have been doing something, but all those options have been ruled out."

Looking at his old friend, Makarov smirked. "Yam-bo, I think you're onto something."

Eyebrows raising high, Naruto looked over to the little man. "What are you thinking? Do you have an idea?"

Nodding very slowly, the cook took his time to organise his thoughts before saying anything. "I must preface this by saying it is just a theory, however with you confirming a few things I think I may have figured it out."

He raised a finger. "Firstly, you can confirm the Ethernano in the air has well and truly infiltrated the Fox at this point, correct?"

Naruto nodded. "He's as golden as the midday sun right now."

Yajima then raised a second finger. "His energy is spilling out of you after your technique by rushing through the seal. Over time its negative effects are reducing even though the power output is increasing."

He raised a third finger. "What was being filtered out to a safe level is still flowing into you in these moments."

He raised a fourth finger. "Along with this, with every single occurrence, so far as I'm aware, the impact of the poison on your mind is reducing further and further."

He levelled a gave at Naruto and finally proclaimed, "I believe the type of energy the seal has been filtering is the issue here."

Naruto's mouth slowly dropped open as the old man continued to speak. "Consider this, before you arrived here, the seal was working hard to slow the effects of the Fox's power upon you and allow you a chance to adjust to the extra energy. By coming here, the Fox seems to have absorbed the Ethernano in a similar way that mages do. I cannot comment on how exactly this happened since I have no understanding of its physiology, however I'm willing to gamble on this."

Shifting subconsciously, the old man began stroking his chin as Makarov then took off from where Yajima stopped. "The very first time you entered this Senjutsu technique of yours, you drew in the Ethernano for the first time. This energy is obviously different from what you're used to, even though it offered you the same sort of stat boost. At that point in time, the effects of the Ethernano on the Fox were only just beginning to show. This is where the Ethernano comes in."

Leaning forward on his desk, he locked eyes with his old friend to make sure he was moving the hypothesis in the right direction. "The Ethernano seems to be acting as a bridge between the Fox and your internal storage. That seal of yours is used to filtering poison out of your system. Clearly whoever created it was masterful enough to allow it to move energy of similar natures back and forth freely through it while holding the poisonous energy of the Fox at bay."

Memories of that horrible moment confronting Orochimaru on the bridge surfaced. The fox was unable to leave his cell, but Naruto was freely able to pass through the seal to allow the Kyuubi full access to him. The blond shook his head in shame and embarrassment, locking away the memory again. The implications of what that meant though remained. The seal had recognised his energy and freely let him pass through and back out while the Kyuubi remained trapped.

Not noticing the moment of regret from the boy, Makarov pushed on. "So after a long discussion last night, we have come to believe that the Ethernano has linked the outside of the seal with the inside and unintentionally allowed your seal to open up the floodgates of the Fox's power. In the beginning, there was still a large amount of the poisonous impact on your mental state because there was only a small amount of Ethernano in the Fox and as such the seal was having a hard time regulating it. As time progressed though, more and more of the poison was reduced by the purifying impact of the Ethernano. This in turn allowed more of the energy through the seal freely, while the seal itself kept the mental effects of the fox at bay."

Each of the old men nodded at one another before turning to Naruto. "What do you think? Does this sound plausible?"

The boy in question did not immediately respond. In fact, he was rather shocked by the revelation. The possibility of this was infinitely better than he'd have hoped. No matter how slim, this meant there was a chance he could use upwards of seventy percent of the Kyuubi's power with NO side effects. The slight possibility of being able to tap into six or seven tail's worth of power both thrilled and terrified the young ninja.

Swallowing thickly, he croaked out, "M – may I have a glass of water first?"

A few minutes later he had himself a cool cup which he filled and drank several times to calm his nerves. His face was still pale though and he wasn't about to trust himself to stand up just yet. The two old friends opposite him were wise enough to remain silent for the moment and allowed him plenty of room to process everything. It was well over twenty minutes before Naruto was able to look the men in the eye and speak his mind.

"I… I have no idea how this could have happened, but everything you said makes perfect sense. For what I know of the seal, you've described it perfectly. I honestly am a bit shell-shocked, this could have huge implications for the growth and development of my techniques and abilities. I guess the only way to confirm this is to chat with the Kyuubi itself. May I take a moment?"

The old men immediately nodded. "Yes, in fact we insist you do."

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Naruto nodded back and pulled his legs up onto the seat. Willing his pulse to calm, he sunk into the recesses of his mind to appear before the enormous animal.

XxXxXxX

Gold and majestic, the Kyuubi looked down upon him distastefully and snorted in disgust. "Finally figured it out, huh? Pathetic human, any longer and I'd be sure that you'd never work it out. Curse those two old toothpicks, I was enjoying watching you writhe in fear."

Naruto blinked owlishly up at his captor and breathed, "So it's true?"

The Kyuubi rolled its eyes and turned its back on him. "For as long as you're in this repulsive world, I suppose it is. I rue the fact I have such little control over this development. The only joy I could derive from all this was watching you scurry around trying to figure it out, yet now even that has been snatched away from me. However!" The Kyuubi suddenly whipped around and slammed into the cage bars as hard as it possible could, a resounding gong like crash echoing throughout Naruto's mind. "The second we are back into the Elemental Nations I will purge every dot of this repugnant Ethernano from my body. I hope you're ready for the backlash of my energy to crash into you the second you return."

Glaring at the silent teen for a moment longer, the great Kyuubi's eyes then softened before it turned away from its captor and rested its head on its hands. "So go, enjoy this moment. Gloat over the free prostitution of my powers. Gloat, then begone."

Hearing almost a resigned sadness within the deep growl of the Kyuubi, Naruto's heart softened ever so slightly towards the animal. It might have been causing him hell for the most part, but it still must be said that the Kyuubi had helped him quite a bit during his stay over here in Earthland. Chewing his lip thoughtfully, Naruto looked up at the seal holding the cage doors shut. Breathing in deeply through his nose, the teen then exhaled and replied, "No, I don't think I'll do that."

Large, curious red eyes slowly turned to lock on the comparatively tiny human. Naruto continued, "You've made it abundantly clear you hate being caged up. I am not going to release you, however you have helped me out a ton recently. To respect that, I will not gloat over you and I'll only use your power when absolutely necessary to survive; the times when it seeps through after Senjutsu not counting, obviously."

The animal gazed at Naruto for a long while silently. Its large eyes considered the teen with a new expression, an expression Naruto was not expecting at all. He didn't know what to say or do with this weird gaze the Fox was giving him, so the blond cleared his throat loudly and declared, "So there you have it! Be thankful I'm so kind and thoughtful of you! I hope you will remember this gesture of goodwill in the future, dattebayo!"

He pointed animatedly at the Kyuubi, expecting a snarky retort. The large fox remained silent though, simply staring at Naruto with these strange new eyes. Looking around uncomfortably, Naruto began to backtrack. "So, yeah, remember it! I'm going now so… bye!"

Fading from view, the considering eyes of the Kyuubi long remained on the spot Naruto had formally occupied.

XxXxXxX

Coming back to the surface, Naruto held a contemplative look as he chewed over the hint of defeat he picked up from the Kyuubi. That was the first time he'd ever seen the enormous fox hold even a mote of anything other than arrogant confidence and he wasn't sure what to do with it. Filing that problem away for a later date to deal with, he turned his blue eyes back to the expectant pair before him.

"I… I guess everything you said is correct. Kyuubi confirmed that's what's happening."

Both old men lit up in bright smiles at the confirmation. "That's wonderful to hear my boy! That's a mighty weight off your shoulders. You must be thrilled." Noticing the blond not immediately rejoicing though, Makarov quirked an eyebrow. "Is everything alright though? You seem unusually quiet."

Pausing, Naruto chuckled awkwardly and rubbed a hand through his hair. "Uh, yeah! I guess I'm still processing all this. Kind of a big reveal and all. I'm not sure what to do with the information now that I have it."

"You do nothing."

Naruto looked at Yajima in surprise. "I do nothing?"

The old man nodded. "You do nothing. Nothing has changed from before this conversation to now, you just know why it's happening. If it's too much to deal with now, then don't. You have just learnt you have time because nothing will happen, so take as long as you need to work through the relief, questions and whatever else is running through your mind."

He then rested an elbow on the desk, a move that looked decidedly uncomfortable for the very small man. "If you need to talk, I'll be here for a few days. Ma-bo is always available to you too, so don't go thinking you have to stuff these emotions down."

Makarov then mentioned, "And don't forget your friends! You've got all these wonderful guild mates who'd drop everything they're doing if you simply asked for help. Use them. Humans are not meant to be solitary creatures. We learn and grow together." He stared deeply into Naruto's eyes. "I mean it. If you need to talk, find someone you trust and ask."

A lump seemed to well up in Naruto's throat from the earnest encouragement of these old mages. They were touching on sore points from his childhood and with the current waves of emotions crashing over him from the last hour, he wasn't sure he could speak. Simply settling for nodding, he watched Makarov sit back with a knowing look on his face. "Good. So, take your time as Yam-bo said. You'll be ok, just take it slow and process things. I'll be announcing the S Rank trials in about a weeks' time. I'll need you for that day, but until then take your time and do whatever you need to do."

"If that's alright... I might head home now if that's alright," said the teen as he pushed himself up. He put a protective hand over his tummy unconsciously, a motion neither mage missed but didn't comment on.

"That's more than ok Naruto. You head on out, Yam-bo and I still have much catching up to do. Go and enjoy the rest of your day and take it slow."

Reaching for the door handle, Naruto paused and turned back to the old men. Biting his bottom lip, he bent ninety degrees at his waist in a deep bow. "I really can't say how much I appreciate all your help all the way through this. Really, thank you."

Sharing a look, the old men chuckled together and replied, "Think nothing of it. You're an important young man to us. We'd do it all again if required."

Snorting, Naruto stood up and rubbed a palm into his eyes as he felt tears of gratitude threated to spill over. "Ha, hopefully I don't have anything else like this happen then, I've had more than enough of this kind of excitement!"

Smiling warming, the young teen then took his leave and headed home for the day.

Watching the door close as Naruto left, the two men stared after the boy as Makarov mused, "It's tough to remember he's only sixteen sometimes. He holds himself with such confidence and maturity for the most part."

Sighing, Yajima rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger in fatigue. "Honestly Ma-bo, kids are getting more powerful and the challenges they face are more risky with every generation. The things they're dealing with would have crippled us at their age."

Grunting in agreement, Makarov leaned back in his chair, still eyeing the door. "You're not wrong. I hate the fact I'm still here, but with all the trouble these punks keep getting into I dare say it'll be another few decades before I'm able to escape."

"Hmm." Falling silent for a moment, Yajima then turned to Makarov. "Well then, since Naruto has gone, shall we pick up where we left off over a bowl of ramen?"

Perking up, Makarov nodded and jumped off the chair. "That's right, I still owe you after you saved our tails before the council after the Phantom Lord debacle. One Fairy Ramen with fifteen slices of pork, correct?"

"Just twelve will be plenty," corrected the old cook as he climbed off the chair. Drawing up beside his friend, they slowly made their way down to the kitchen, chatting all the while.

XxXxXxX

Falling into bed, Naruto let the cushiony mattress absorb his weight and fleet some of his cares away. Physically, he was fighting fit. Mentally, he was running on empty. Everything from the last few months seemed to be hitting him all at once and he suddenly felt really homesick. He just wanted to get back and see all his old friends again and make sure they were ok, eat at Ichiraku again, and most importantly, see how the town rebuild was going.

Staring at the ceiling, what the old mages mentioned about talking came to mind. Absently flicking through some seals, Naruto muttered, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)," and slapped his hand down on the bed.

A small but intelligent looking toad appeared on the bed sheets. It was a green, smooth skinned variant with a little brown collar clipped around where you'd expect a neck to be. It looked at his summoner expectantly and asked, "What may I do for ya, sir?"

"Well, you've already helped me a bit just by being here," chuckled the blond. Rolling over to face the toad, Naruto rested his cheek on his hands and asked, "Can you tell me how everything is doing at home? How's Konoha? Is everyone ok? And do you know how long before I'm able to come back?"

Stroking its chin, the little toad mused, "Well, it's tough to say but I think for us it will only be a few more days, or so the elder toad mentioned. For you it's still possibly several weeks away, but that all depends on how quickly our dimensions sync up. As for Konoha though, I think you'll be pleased to hear how it's doing!"

The toad then dived into a long-winded explanation of everything that was happening with his friends, the rebuild, the toad world and everything in between. All the while, Naruto lay there captivated, drinking in the news of his home world with joy and letting the stories carry him away from his thoughts.

XxXxXxX

Omake

"It's all for the sacred order of the magical world!" proclaimed the loud voice.

"FOR THE SACRED ORDER!" echoed a dozen or so.

The large, spacious and spherical room echoed with the chorus. It was dimly lit, save for a single tall pulpit in the very center of the room that was illuminating the walls with a pale yellow and orange glow. About the pulpit faced four enormous statues of large, winged, topless angels with outstretched hands towards the pulpit. They stood waist deep in a crimson fluid that rippled with power, magical circles reflected upon the surface from the roof above.

On each hand of the angels stood one incredibly powerful mage. Each one represented a position of the newly established Magic Council. These men and women were some of the strongest mages of their generation; mages of exceptional capacity and quality who had long served in the ranks of their guilds and kingdom.

They all focused their attention though on the single, tall individual who occupied the pulpit at the center of everything. Gran Doma, the intimidating and striking mage who first offered Naruto his position as Temporary Wizard of the Ten Saints leered out at the rest of the council around him.

They'd just finished discussing the unending stream of complaints that flowed into their chambers about Fairy Tail and the insincere apologies said guild repeatedly sent back. It was decided that upon their next breach of Council regulations, they were to be disbanded and dissolved.

Grunting in satisfaction under his breath, the stern old man looked about his fellow council members and thought to himself, 'Finally, after the last fiasco with the R System and Jellal and Ultear betraying us, we might finally be able to win back the respect and confidence of the Kingdom.'

Right at that moment though, a doorway to the room was kicked open forcefully and a bright orange individual strode into their midst. "Konichiwa bitches! How are we doing today? It's your favourite Temporary Wizard of the Ten Saints, Uzumaki Naruto at your service!"

A stunned silence filled the room as every mage stared down at the teen. Never, in all the Council's history, had anyone walked in on them like that. Not a moment later, a puffing sentinel toad dashed in after Naruto in desperation and latched onto the lad's arm. "I am SO sorry, honoured council men and women! I will remove this man immediately. He barged his way through saying he had need to speak with you about his position as Wizard of the Ten Saints, regardless of the fact your council was in session!"

"The… the AUDACITY OF THAT MAN –" began one of the council members, but before he could really get going, Gran Doma silenced him with the wave of a hand. That's not to say the head of the council was feeling all that benevolent right now as burning eyes of fury glared down at the infuriating child. However, being a Wizard of the Ten Saints, temporary or not, afforded the teen some very high privileges. Regretting ever giving the blond menace the title, the older mage slowly bit out, "And to what do we owe the honour of having you here? I would like to say that you should mind your words as right now, you are stepping on very thin ice with us after that introduction."

Casually ignoring the threat, Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets while the toad pulled on his arm futilely. "Well, I figured I owed you guys a visit since it's been a while. Makarov also filled me in on you guys giving me that S Rank status! It's pretty cool so I had to say thanks."

'I will grind my dentures flat if he stays here much longer.' Gran Doma took a deep, longsuffering breath and ventured, "You are most welcome. Now, if that was everything, I'd advise you leave even faster than you came."

"Yeah sure, sure, I'll catch you guys later!" Spinning on his heel, Naruto strutted towards the door. Right as he was about to walk through it, he paused and cocked an eyebrow in thought. "Though, there was one other thing I needed to chat with you guys about."

Spinning about, he ignored the furious flinches of the mages above him and the increasingly panicked tugging of the toad on his arm. "I feel a little hard done by, ya know? I've been serving as a Temp Saint for ages now and you've still not found me a replacement. If I remember correctly, you said if you couldn't find one, you'd make me permanent, right?"

Eyes widening in shock and horror, all the elder mages stared at Gran Doma for advice. Technically, what he said was the truth, and if that was the case they'd be stuck with this problem for far longer. Carefully measuring his reply, the head of the council allowed, "Yes, that is the truth."

There was a succession of breaths being sucked in and furious faces began to formulate objections to that. Before they could get a word in first though, Gran Doma continued with, "However, there is a time limit to how long we have to find one. Council has six months from initiation of the Temporary Saint's title to find a replacement. We are still looking and I trust you'll understand when I say that we will most certainly have one ready to take over your position. Now, if you'd excuse us we –"

"Hmm, that's not what this says." Interrupting with ease, Naruto pulled a little rule book from his pocket and opened it to somewhere in the middle. Thumbing through a few pages, the teen hummed before announcing, "A-ha!"

Turning the book to everyone to see, including the toad, Naruto recited, "Under section 16 of page 37, if a replacement of the Temporary Wizard cannot be found within a month of initiation, he shall reserve the right to become a fully fledged member of the Ten Wizard Saints at his discretion." The blond then flicked over a page. "You probably confused it with Section 16 of page 38, where I have 6 months to prove my worthiness of the position." He shrugged nonchalantly. "An innocent mistake. I forgive you."

He let the statement hang in the air as he pocketed the book. "It's been over a month by now, and I'll be damned if I don't get that permanent position and my title as a Saint Tier mage. So now, I'm here to claim what's mine." Pausing, the blond quickly amended, "By that I mean, I discret to use my reserved right to join the Ten Saints as a permanent member."

His cheery grin only served to worsen the council member's moods as they realised their predicament.

"Where on earth did he get one of those?" muttered one of the councilmen darkly. Hate him passionately though they may, the council was an absolute stickler for rules and regulations. It was what kept the world ticking safely and for them to ignore this would be the equivalent of them breaking the rules like Fairy Tail.

Between those two evils, this dense, smiling, thorn in their sides was the drastically better choice and they all knew it. Grinding his teeth in physical pain, Gran Doma managed to piece together a forced apology. "It seems like I did indeed… overlook that part of the rules. I vow here and now this will never happen again."

The council members all looked like they'd just swallowed a mouthful of salt water.

Glaring down at the teen, Gran Doma continued, "You are permitted to make your attempt to enter into a permanent position as one of the Ten Saints." A light suddenly flashed in the old mages eye and he suppressed a satisfied grin. "Though, as per the rules of Section 17 on page 38, you will only receive as many attempts as the council will permit. You have one attempt. Fail, and you will not only never be allowed to join as a permanent member, but we will strip you of your current status as a temporary member!"

Eyes lighting up, the rest of the council realised what Gran Doma had done. By backing the teen into a corner like this, they were guaranteed up to six months without his interference, and then upon him taking the test, will most likely be rid of him altogether! The test was notoriously hard, many of the current council members had tried to take it at one point but failed. While the option to take it again was open to them, currently none of them had the ability to do so.

Oblivious to their thoughts, Naruto just picked his ear complacently and quipped, "Yeah, that's cool, I already know the rules. Can I get this started now or not? I wanna be home for dinner."

Eyebrows raising, Gran Doma replied, "You mean to say you don't wish to prepare for the grueling tasks ahead of you?"

Blowing a piece of earwax off the end of his finger, Naruto watched in fascination as it landed in the crimson fluid around the angel statues and started fizzing. "Nah, I'll be perfectly capable as I am. So can I start already?"

Barely containing his anger, the powerful mage's face darkened as he growled out some foul curses against the boy. Feeling a blood vessel in his eye pop, the old man looked at the terrified toad who'd been standing there unnoticed. "Take our… guest… to the test center. Make sure to record everything as closely as possible. We wouldn't want him to fake any results, would we."

Shrieking in terror, the toad bowed repeatedly as he tried pulling Naruto out the door. "Yes, of course Chairman! I'll see it done immediately!"

Finally succeeding in pulling the teen from the room, the door slammed shut and sent the room back into silence. Looking around him, the old man watched as every single mage in the room began puffing up. Sighing heavily, he magically filled his ears with earplugs right as the indignant screeches of the council members erupted.

XxXxXxX

Standing in a large training hall, Naruto was warming up with light cardio and stretches as his toad guide stood before him with a clipboard. He watched as the amphibian flicked through the pages, clicking its tongue and occasionally making notes on different pages. Coming to the last page, the toad spun the clipboard around and held it out to Naruto. "If you would honored mage, please sign the bottom of this form."

"Sure thing." Reaching out, Naruto scribbled down his initials. "So what's this for?"

The toad recited the answer with ease. "These are the terms and conditions of taking the Ten Saints test. In essence, it stated that under no circumstances will the Mages of the Council, nor the extended Council, nor any employees of the Council be held liable for your death or injury sustained during the test."

"Oh, sweet, sounds exciting." Throwing the clipboard back to the toad, Naruto got back to stretching. "So what's the deal? Do you have some super important mission I need to clear in an impossibly short time span? Have I got to wrestle a rogue mage out of a cave in the snow? Or maybe rescue a lost princess from the hands of a terrible dark magician?"

By now the blond was bouncing animatedly, the excitement filling his bones as the toad started digging into a box beside them.

"Grip this please."

Pausing his anticipation, Naruto looked at the strange tool the toad was now holding out to him. It looked like a horseshoe, but with a handhold at the front for him to grab onto. A dial sat at the top of the contraption that had varying units of measurement on it.

"Come again?"

The toad answered patiently, "Please grip this. It's the first test."

"Uh, ok?" Reaching out, Naruto looked over the thing before gently squeezing the handle. The little needle sprung up on the dial and recorded the force. "So what is this exactly?"

The toad looked at the dial and recorded the measurement. "It's exactly what it looks like. It's a grip strength machine. It records how powerful your grip strength is."

Staring blankly at the toad, Naruto looked at the thing in his hand again. "That's it?"

Straightening, the toad nodded. "Correct. The Council has a benchmark for the rank of Saint Tier a wizard to hit. If you can complete the test with a higher than 80% efficiency, you shall be passed as a Wizard of the Ten Saints and obtain the rank of Saint Tier you've been chasing."

"Oh." Having the wind knocked right out of his sails, Naruto blandly turned the dial over to look at his score. "So I got 77 kilograms. What does that mean, and did it pass?"

The toad flicked its tongue around its mouth in thought. "While impressive, it's nothing special. A Saint level mage should be able to pull over 500 kilos."

Naruto 'ah'd in understanding and held it out. "Mind if I try again? I wasn't really giving it my all."

Pausing mid-sentence, the toad nodded. "Yes, I suppose you may. I didn't fully explain the process as I simply expected you to understand. My apologies."

"mY aPoLoGiEs" mimicked Naruto in annoyance.

Ignoring the mocking teen, the toad continued, "Please make sure you give it your all this time around. I can't give you any more attempts."

The ninja huffed in annoyance. "Fiiiine. Give me a sec."

Pausing, he quickly entered Senjutsu. The toad looked at him in mild surprise as he took on toady characteristics.

"Right, full power grip. I hope you're ready."

The item crumpled under Naruto's hand. The sentinel's eyes nearly popped out of its head.

Holding it up to look at the dial, the pin had flicked well past the 500kg mark at the very end of the dial and was now stuck in place. "You got another one I can try or is me breaking it enough?"

Regaining composure, the toad coughed into one hand and nodded. "Yes, we have one more that can handle higher forces. We keep this one off to the side for when a physical buff mage comes through. Since they are so rare, we don't often use them. Please wait a moment."

Disappearing into a room, there was a moment of silence before a squeaky wheel started chirping as the toad wheeled out a much, much larger version of the broken grip tester. The handle was roughly the same size, but it was reinforced with magic seals and other structures to make it far more durable. The dial above though was far less impressive with the final number only being 100.

Naruto pointed at it. "Hey, isn't this just going to break again? 100 kilograms is nothing."

Coming to a stop before the teen, the toad shook its head. "You misunderstand. That's not 100 kilograms, that's 100 tons."

A grin cracked Naruto's face. "Well then, this sounds much more fun!"

Lining himself up, he grabbed the handle. "Ready? And, GO!"

Squeezing with all his might, the machine groaned with the force applied but held true. Relaxing, the teen pulled his fingers from the warped metal of the hand grip and looked at the dial. "Aw man, only 20 tons? I thought I could do better than that. Still, it's good enough to pass this test! What's next?"

Swallowing thickly, his examiner simply nodded and motioned for him to follow him to the next room. Ignoring the mindless chatter, the scribe then wrote down '120 tons' in the result column of the exam and flipped the page over.

XxXxXxX

A/N - well then, good to see you all again! It's only been what, *checks watch* 2 years since I uploaded? I told you I'd get around to it eventually.

I'm really pleased with finally getting this chapter out of the way. The big reveal of just what has been happening with Kuruma and the leaking kyuubi cloak has been something I've been building towards for literally years. It's such a relief to finally get it out there for everyone to enjoy. A big congratulations to those few people who worked out what I was doing! Not many of you picked up what it was, but there were a few, so well done.

I really hope you can see where I am leading with this development too ;) next arc is gonna be wildin'.

As for me, life has been busy, but that's just excuses you aren't particularly concerned with. If for some reason you are, feel free to DM me. We can chatter about it there.

For now though, I do want to say thanks to everyone who's continued to review. Even now, 2 years after the last update, I'm still getting notifications that people are reading and enjoying my story. That in itself is just mind blowing to me as something I'd have written off as dropped ages ago is still gaining attention. It's the continuing support of the reviews, follows and faves from everyone which push me to finish this gargantuan story up.

If you wish to see more, keep the attention coming. At the risk of sounding like an attention whore, it's true. The more reviews I see, the harder I try to find time to get the next chap up.

In any case, it's been a pleasure finally getting into this last arc. I'll see you in the next installment!

Lanky Nathan