A New World, The Story Of A Lost Shinobi
Day after last. Training still hurts. More sleep.
Don't care, out.
"Master Erigor!"
The dark guild members looked on in absolute shock as the aura continued to press down on them. Their leader, their death god, defeated in a single hit? Impossible! The weight continued to increase on them until an agitated growl sounded out from the wreckage.
"Don't write me off yet you fools. It'd take more than that to finish me."
Redirecting his gaze, Naruto locked eyes with the man as he rubbed a growing lump on his jaw. Turning to the side, he spat out a wad of blood. A slightly maniacal glint had entered his eyes and he stared up at the blond, smiling at him through bloodied teeth.
"You must really want to die maggot! Oh, trust me when I saw once I'm done, I'm coming for your head!"
Naruto balled his fists up and frowned. "Why wait? Come at me now!"
Chuckling, Erigor winced as he touched his lump. Standing, he let his magic begin to lift him off the ground, quickly riding above Naruto's current position. "While I'd love to, I currently have more pressing issues. Don't worry though, I WILL find you. Men! Finish off this lot will you? Leave the blond one alive though. He's mine!"
Seeing him flicker, Naruto jumped at him. "WAIT!"
Just as Naruto reached him though, Erigor phased out, disappearing from view. Shooting through his after image, Naruto flew a little way before landing on the far wall. Growling, he punched it, leaving a small indent in the cement. Calming himself, he took a few breaths and closed his eyes. That cursed Kyuubi chakra had started coming through again, affecting his mind. It had been a while since someone had been able to rile Naruto up like that. Turning his thoughts internal, Naruto scrutinised himself.
'What is it about him that made me so crazy? Even around Pein I didn't lose it like that. So what was it about him?'
Sighing, Naruto shook his head. Killing him randomly like that wouldn't be upholding Jiraiya-sensei's teachings all that well. It wasn't a drive to kill for revenge though, so what was it? The answer was right there, but just out of his grasp. Standing, Naruto let the minute amounts of Yoki seep back into the seal. Turning his gaze across the tracks, he looked at the group who were now fighting. Natsu and Gray had disappeared, leaving only Erza and Lucy to fight the guild. Snorting, Naruto crouched. Whose bright idea was that?
Jumping, Naruto flew over the tracks, landing lightly on a carriage roof before front flipping over the mob, twisting his body one hundred and eighty degrees to land facing back at the fight. Erza seemed to be handling herself well enough, the powerful woman pulling weapon after weapon from the air to deal with the varying attacks that came at her.
Lucy had summoned some strange looking, well dressed man with crab legs sticking out from his spine. He also sported a matching pair of short red antennae, sticking out from his head at a forty-five degree angle. He seemed to be flowing through the group of men, cutting them down with a pair of... scissors? Not quite sure what to make of that, Naruto just crossed his fingers. While the two were doing a good job of finishing off whoever ran at them, there were still plenty more who were eager to fight. Erza seemed to be running low on power too, probably as a result from driving that weird vehicle too fast.
"Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone)."
Instantly surrounded by twenty replicas of himself, Naruto charged forward into the fray. As his clones began to create havoc in the ranks of weak mages, Naruto backed up to Erza, knocking away a mage at her back.
"Where Natsu, Gray?"
Her sword disappeared in a bright glow to be replaced with a long spear with which she used to catch a downward sword swipe. Parrying it, she knocked the man to the ground with the blunt end before delivering him a powerful kick to the ribs, blowing him back and knocking down a few of his friends.
"While you were having your reflective moment over there, I sent them to catch up with Erigor. I hope you don't mind."
Dodging a swipe, Naruto unleashed a furious uppercut into his opponents gut, lifting him clean off the ground and knocking him out instantly. "Alright. I go to Lucy now."
Watching Naruto disappear from the corner of her eye, Erza frowned. Where had that malicious aura he was emitting disappear to? From what she knew, it took a lot of control to even focus intent like that. To simply switch it off as Naruto had done was beyond anything she had met before. Sliding around another feeble attack, Erza let her weapon glow and swapped it out for a mace, swinging the heavy weapon down and landing a solid blow to the man's legs. Stepping over him, she continued her swing into the man behind the first. Crying out in effort, she let it glow and brought her second hand around, catching a pair of twin swords. There was definitely more to Naruto than met the eye, and she was going to find out what it was.
"KYAH!"
Diving to the side, Lucy landed with her hands over her head as a sword narrowly missed her, shaving off a few weeks worth of hair in the process. Hearing him grunt, and then exhale, she looked up as the man flew over her head to land in a boneless heap several meters away. Looking over her shoulder with wide eyes, she saw Naruto standing there on one leg as he kicked through with a roundhouse, implanting another man into the ground solidly. Kneeling down, he looked her over before holding a hand out. "You ok?"
Blushing lightly, Lucy nodded and took his hand. She eeped as he easily pulled her to her feet, steadying her. What she didn't expect next was for him to wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace and spin her around.
"N-Naruto!"
She felt an impact jar through his body as something connected with him. Flinching, he snapped a fist up knuckles first into the face of a man who just landed a heavy punch into the middle of his back. Blood squirted from the orifice as his eyes rolled into his head. He wasn't given a chance to fall over though as Naruto spun through with a back elbow, catching the assailant to the cheekbone and blowing him away.
Naruto gently put Lucy down as the pretty girl's mind caught up with everything that happened. If Naruto hadn't just pulled her around in that hug, she would have caught that last blow to the back of her head. Finding herself blushing again, she looked up at Naruto as he glared around them making sure it was safe for the moment. He caught her spell bound eyes though and chuckled sheepishly.
"Sorry. You ok?"
Not quite trusting her voice, she just nodded. She couldn't remember the last time someone took a hit like that for her. Realising she was staring; she blinked a few times and looked away.
"T-thanks. I'll be alright now."
Apparently not, from the way Naruto pushed her to the side to land a solid fist in the surprise attacker's face. Frowning, Lucy tightened her fists. She was a mage of Fairy Tail, and here she was, needing to be protected like a child!
Frowning, she pointed at the rest of the group and cried out to her spirit. "Cancer! Cut all these guys down to size!"
The dark glasses he wore flashed as he crossed his arms. "Shrimp!"
Naruto's nose crinkled when he heard the speech quirk. "Wait, what?"
In a flash of steal, Naruto watched as the man dubbed Cancer shot around them at a blinding speed, quickly disposing of the rest of the men around them. There was one thing Naruto couldn't understand though.
"Why shrimp? He a crab!"
Lucy looked a little perplexed at the question. "It doesn't matter what he says, so long as he gets the job done!"
Naruto looked at the man as he snipped his scissors around his body in a strange dance. "Yeah... but still..."
Pouting, Lucy looked away. "Well sorry for something I have no control over."
Hearing Erza cry out, the pair looked over. She seemed to be getting cranky at the never ending stream of Eisenwald members. As such, her body had started glowing again as she requiped a whole new armour. The Eisenwald members all paused and looked up in delight as her original armour faded away, leaving her body dressed in nothing but light. Placing a hand on his hip, Naruto raised an appreciative eyebrow as he observed the lack of clothing. Yup, she was definitely a very well developed woman alright. Hearing a sigh off to his right, Naruto looked over at a star struck Lucy.
"I think I'm in love..."
Resisting the mental images that wished to spring forward, Naruto shook his head. A nose bleed now would do no good. Once the light passed, Naruto looked up to see Erza now dressed in a whole new outfit.
She was covered in a scaled metal outfit, with elbow length gauntlets and thigh high metal boots, hidden beneath a shin length skirt of pleated silver. Four wings of polished chrome also attached to the back of her torso plate, the front of it revealing her stomach and a very servicing amount of cleavage. Two small wings stuck out from under her loose hair just above her ears, the fringe now hanging low across the right side of her face. Two matching swords were clasped in each hand, and around her was a halo made out of probably ten or twelve gleaming swords.
'She's telekinetic?'
"Dance my swords! Circle Sword!"
The swords began rotating around her body, picking up speed until they were nothing more than a deadly glinting hoop of steel. Crying out, Erza flung them into the frozen crowd and in one move, decimated the forces of Eisenwald.
While, spectacular, Naruto couldn't help but question her judgment. "Why didn't she just do that first?"
Happy, who had been conveniently absent during the fight, decided to make an appearance. "'The Knight' is Erza's trump card in most fights. It takes a lot of magic power though so she usually saves it till last."
"And where were you hiding, useless cat?"
Crying out as Lucy grabbed him, Happy squirmed around in vein, trying to escape the cheek pinching torture. Ignoring them, Naruto jogged over as Erza fell to one knee, clothing reverting to what it was originally.
"You ok?"
Looking up at him, the red head nodded as she caught her breath. "Yeah... I just used too much magic power. Give me time though, I'll be fine. You go help Natsu and Gray find Erigor. Take Lucy too, she'll be more use with you."
Straightening, Naruto nodded. Turning, he ran to the nearest door, briefly stopping to gather Lucy and Happy. Watching as the group disappeared; Erza allowed herself a moment of weakness as she dropped her hands to the floor. She was very low on magic power. Despite still not trusting Naruto after his initial comment towards Erigor, she had no choice but to leave it in his hands for the moment.
"Damnit."
Running along, Naruto tried to put himself in Erigor's shoes. 'If I was some floating freak bent on mass murder, where would I go?'
"W-wait! You're too fast!"
Looking over his shoulder, Naruto saw Lucy collapse against a wall, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Tisking in annoyance, Naruto skidded to a stop.
"You can't run?"
Shaking her head, Lucy gasped out an answer. "No... too...puffed!"
Walking back, Naruto knelt down in front of her. "Piggyback?"
The question got a foot imbedded into his back and he found himself face first on the floor, wondering what just happened.
"You wish you... could touch me some more."
Rolling over, Naruto scratched his head. "No? Just want to find Erigor fast."
Straightening up, Lucy closed her eyes. "Do you even know where he could be?"
Naruto shook his head as he stood, not even knowing where they were right then. Lucy let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. "Alright then, we need to try work out where he'd be. He said they were broadcasting it, so that means that they'll need to find the relay room. So that's most likely where they'll be!"
Squealing happily at her detective prowess, she jumped onto a surprised Naruto's back, kicking her heels into his sides and pointed forward. "Mush!"
"I thought you don't want ride?"
She shrugged. "I'm tired. Besides, don't you want to carry a beautiful girl like me?"
She started tearing at the eyes and placed a finger to her pouting lips, making herself look as adorable as possible. Ignoring that, Naruto looked at Happy. "She always like this?"
The cat blinked. "I suppose so. Nothing she ever does makes sense to me though."
Fuming, she dropped a fist onto Naruto's head. "Oi! I'm right here you know!"
Ignoring her, Naruto slung an arm through each of Lucy's legs and dashed off, eliciting a squeal of surprise from her at the rapid acceleration. "You tell me where to go!"
"Wait, that's Gray's voice!"
Skidding to a stop, Naruto looked over at Happy. "Where?"
Listening, the cat pointed at a destroyed door. "In there!"
Turning, Naruto ran in to collide with Gray as he came running out. Currently having more weight than Gray, Naruto steamrollered the teen, running him flat as his momentum carried him through.
"Gray! What wrong?"
Groaning from the floor, the mage rolled over, cracking his back in the process. As he got up, Naruto looked around curiously, seeing many spikes of ice jutting up all around the room, along with a member of the Eisenwald guild frozen within one extra big spike.
"What all this?"
Now kneeling, Gray looked up. "That's my magic, Ice Make. Enough here though! We gotta go find Erza and Natsu, Erigor is headed to the Guild Masters meeting!"
As the mage ran out, Naruto and Lucy shared a look. Readjusting his grip, Naruto hoisted Lucy up higher and ran out, easily catching up to Gray. Looking down from her seat, Lucy questioned the dark haired teen.
"So why isn't Erigor here?"
Casting her a glance, Gray grumbled something. "Can't you work it out? He wasn't going to play Lullaby here at all! That was just a rouse to get us trapped here!"
Gasping, Lucy grabbed Naruto's shoulders as she leant over. "No way! How could we have missed that?"
Gray sighed. "We were just too focused on the 'now', rather than trying to look ahead to see when they'd attack the meeting."
As Lucy leant back in fear, Gray cast her another glance as she bobbed away on Naruto's back. "So... what are you doing up there anyway?"
Blushing, Lucy raised a hand to her head and giggled. "Uh, I got tired?"
Rolling his eyes Gray let it go. "Whatever. Erza should be just here."
Appearing on a balcony that over looked the initial fight area, Gray called out to Erza, interrupting her interrogation of the Eisenwald guild members. "Erza! We need to get out of here! Erigor tricked us into coming here so he could lock us in while he went and attacked the masters meeting!"
Growling angrily, she thrust her current prisoner into the ground, smacking his head and knocking him out. "Damnit, just what we need! Where's Natsu?"
Gray shrugged. "We split up. We need to find him then escape!"
"Right!"
Standing, Erza leapt up the massive gap and landed lightly beside Naruto. Seeing him carrying Lucy, she glared at him. "Are you hurt Lucy?"
Blushing yet again, Lucy shook her head. "N-no, Erza, I'm fine."
"Oh..."
Casting them one more curious glance, Erza shook her head and poked Gray. "Lead us to Natsu."
"On it."
A massive boom sounded out from somewhere above the group and they all staggered around, trying to regain their balance. Hearing a frustrated cry after that, they all shared a look.
"Natsu."
Another boom and earthquake rocked the building and Erza ground her teeth together. "We must find him before he destroys the building. Let's go."
Taking head point, Erza started sprinting towards the noise, reaching a set of stairs at the end of the corridor. Charging up them, Erza looked around and saw Natsu kicking holes in the wall, his eyes flaming in fury as he cried out curse after curse at Erigor.
"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? COME OUT AND FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL MAN!"
A hand landed on his shoulder and in a scream of triumph, spun around, fist ablaze, ready to deck whoever it was that touched him. His hand collided with an outstretched palm causing a shockwave to blow out from the connection. The next thing he knew was fear as he looked into Erza's furious eyes.
"Where have you been all this time? Erigor has left!"
Backing away in fear, Natsu held up his hands. "I-I didn't know! I swear!"
Growling, the fiery mage resisted the urge to smack him and walked past the cowering boy. Seeing a balcony, she walked out onto it and was greeted by the sight of a massive protective tornado completely surrounding the building. Slamming her fist down onto the railing, Erza cursed. "How are we meant to get out of here? This is a one way wind spell!"
Naruto looked up at Lucy in confusion. "One way?"
Lucy's eyes hardened. "It means you can get in from the outside, but can't get back out from the inside, unless you want to get shredded in the process. There's no way to dispel it either."
"Hmm..."
Gently lowering Lucy to the ground, Naruto walked up to stand beside Erza. "Wind magic?"
Tapping her forehead as she though, Erza nodded. "Yes. And I cannot think of a way to break out yet."
Nodding slowly, Naruto reached out. The winds were very close and as he touched it, he felt his fingertips get shredded by the sharp winds. A hand quickly snaked out and grabbed it, pulling it away.
"What are you doing? Do you want to lose your fingers?"
Sucking the blood away, Naruto shook his head. "I heal fast. Just testing."
Rolling her eyes, Erza pointed back at Natsu and Gray, who were currently involved in another argument. "Go and stand with them if you have nothing better to do than shred your fingers."
Nodding again, Naruto stepped back, sucking on his fingers in thought. A giant tornado thing... he'd done something like that before, just nowhere near as large. He'd got stuck on it in the first stage of Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) training. He had simply crated a swirling circle of chakra to stir up the water balloon before realising he had to cause his chakra to swirl in all directions to break the elastic rubber. Doing that same first step here, but on a greater scale might break the tornado, mightn't it?
Holding his hand out, Naruto let his chakra begin to circle in his palm, watching how the air reacted to the probing. It took a moment, but he began to feel his clothes gently rustle in the breeze. Kneeling down, he held his hand out and watched as the dust from the floor began to rise into the technique, swirling around in his little whirlwind. Smiling, he cancelled the chakra flow. Now, if he could do that just on a bigger scale...
His smile widened as an idea appeared. Calling out to the group, he waved them in. "Maybe I have way to get out. Stay here and watch."
Eyes widening, Lucy reached out just as he turned. "How though?"
Tapping his nose, Naruto winked. "Magic!"
Running to the balcony, Naruto looked up and then jumped. The group followed him out, looking up as he scaled the building to alight on the very most tip of the building. Squinting, Erza frowned as he suddenly grew still.
"What is he doing?"
Remembering this lack of movement from before, Lucy's eyes widened. "I know what he's doing! He said something about Senjutsu (Sage Techniques) when he did that last time! It gives him heightened senses I think he said..."
Gray glanced at Lucy. "And how is that meant to help us?"
The girl looked at him. "Well, he said it didn't only help him with sensing things, but he didn't tell..."
Turning his face skyward again, Gray clicked his tongue as he waited. What did the weird blond have planned?
XxXxXxX
Standing perfectly still, Naruto let the natural energy surrounding him enter him and grant him strength. Shivering slightly as he felt the rush of new power, he opened his eyes and looked at the wind. It most certainly was powerful, whatever it was that caused it because while they were spinning around the tower at upwards of one hundred kilometres (sixty miles) an hour, they were that well controlled that they didn't disturb the air mere feet in from the perimeter. Nodding as his understanding of the technique increased, Naruto raised his hands into the ram seal and closed his eyes.
Swirl the chakra. Let the chakra take up the air and swirl it around. Good.
Now faster.
Stronger.
Wider.
Taller.
Thicker!
From the outside, Naruto began to disappear into a distorted air vortex as he began generating a tornado of his own. Reaching out with his senses, he pushed it up and outward, growing it to meet the size of the swirling winds just beyond his own. He frowned as they made contact, feeling the suppressive force of the enemy tornado trying to drag his own counter clockwise with it. Pumping more chakra into it, Naruto let it grow.
XxXxXxX
The group below had their mouths dropped open at the display of power, their jaws dropping ever further open as the swirling air around him continued to grow outward in a bell shape, moulding itself to the inside of the wall of wind just beyond them. Natsu looked over the edge as Naruto's vortex stretched past them, reaching right down, growing close to the ground. His eyes widened though as a familiar shock of blue caught his eye.
"Levy!"
Jumping from the balcony before anyone could say anything, he slammed a fire cased fist into the wall to slow his decent as he raced down. Quickly overtaking Naruto's wind, he let his hand fall from the wall and dropped the fifteen or so feet to the ground, landing solidly and dashing over to Levy. Grabbing her, he dragged her away from the edge of the wall to safety. Shaking her shoulders gently, he roused the girl.
"Levy, Levy! What happened? Who did this to you?"
Struggling to open an eye, Levy stirred and mumbled something. "N-Natsu?"
Nodding, he held her tight as Naruto's wind touched down, blowing out a considerable amount of rock and chewed up cement from the ground. "Yeah, it's me Levy, you'll be ok."
A familiar chuckle then sounded out from behind him. Turning his furious gaze to rest upon the man, Natsu ground his teeth together. "Kageyama."
The spiky haired man nodded with a grin. "Indeed! I see you found your precious rune girl too!"
Looking down at Levy, Natsu glared back up at the man. "You did this to her?"
He nodded, seemingly pleased with his work. "I had to! Don't take it personal or anything, just business. Couldn't let her finish those pesky things. They're an absolute pain to break. Though, I wouldn't mind if you did take it personal. That'd just give me another reason to fight you!"
Growling dangerously, Natsu gently put the girl down. Standing, his eyes disappeared into his fringe. "You dare... you DARE lay a hand on my friend?"
The man laughed. "Yeah, I dare! What you gonna do about it?"
Raising a deadly glare to meet the creepy man's gaze, Natsu clenched his fists, fire exploding to life around them. "I'm gonna beat you to within an INCH of your life!"
Screaming, Natsu charged, fist raised. Laughing, Kageyama raised his hands. Arrows seemed to shoot from his very shadow as he did so, all with the intent of piercing Natsu through. Arching his back into painful positions, Natsu managed to dodge them and fell back to gain some room.
"Ha! That all you got? You'll have to do better than to if you even want to get near me!"
Screaming, Natsu charged again.
Rising up more arrows, Kageyama sent them shooting in at Natsu. "You honestly think that will work? You just tried it!"
Ignoring the taunt, Natsu slammed his fists together before reaching both arms far behind his back. Flinging them forward, he screamed out in effort as the enhanced fire magic easily broke through the shadow arrows and smashed into the mage.
"Fire Dragons Wing Attack!"
Not even given a chance to scream, the explosion slammed Kageyama back into the wall behind him, through it, into another wall behind that, through that one as well and finally into the third wall behind that. Even then, the force was enough to create a mass of spider webbed cracks to splay out from the point of impact. Coughing once, Kageyama's eyes rolled into his head, blood dripping from his mouth as he slumped into unconsciousness.
Not even bothering to look at his handiwork, Natsu turned and ran over to Levy. He frowned up at the swirling wind barrier as it continued to grow. Something else was happening within it too because now he could hear a loud buzz coming from it, sounding much like one razor blade over another. Frowning at the strangeness, Natsu carefully picked up Levy and quickly left the area.
Naruto frowned as he felt the wind barrier continue to repel his own. His own just didn't seem strong enough yet, and if he was to pump more energy into it, he'd risk destroying the building and killing everyone inside. Maintaining a steady flow, Naruto decided it was time to up the power. It was a fairly simple technique to hold, just requiring a whole lot more chakra than the average Jounin had. With that in mind, Naruto began to mould the outflow of his chakra, twisting it with his own elemental nature. A high pitched whine began to emanate from the contact points as Naruto's own wind imbued tornado began to actively tear into the external one.
Breathing steadily, Naruto pushed more wind natured chakra into the tornado, smiling slightly as he felt it dig into the weakening wall beyond it. Just a little more and he'd be through. The noise unfortunately was proving to be a problem as it began to reach an ear piercing volume. Cringing, Naruto mentally called out an apology to his friends, asking them to endure it for just a small bit longer.
"Damn, what is this noise?"
The group on the balcony were all leaning against something for support as they clutched their tortured ears, poor Happy copping it the worst as his heightened sense of hearing made things so much worse. Crying out, Lucy slid to the floor.
"How much longer will this last?"
As if in answer to the question, a loud boom sounded out, shaking the very foundations of the building as Naruto finally broke through the prison. Sighing in relief, the group allowed themselves a moment of reprieve before looking out. Their eyes widened as they saw the last of the wind battle flick away, tiny whirlwinds dancing away down the streets as the power behind it dispersed. A moment later, Naruto swung in through the entrance, sending them an apologetic smile.
"Sorry about noise. Didn't think that happen."
Wriggling a finger around in her ear, Erza grunted. "It doesn't matter. It worked. Though next time you do something like that, you might want to think about the consequences beforehand."
Chuckling nervously, Naruto just nodded. "So, we go now?"
Nodding, the group turned and began running down the stairs. As they left though, Naruto noticed Happy had still yet to move.
"Happy?"
Reaching out, he tapped the cat. Looking up through a clenched eye, he let go of his ears. "Huh?"
"You coming?"
"WHAT?"
Pursing his lips, Naruto looked over his shoulder. It would probably be best if Erza and Natsu didn't know about this just yet. Come to think of it, where was that boy?
"Where Natsu?"
"WHAT?"
Cringing, Naruto looked at the temporarily deaf cat. Sighing, he scooped him up in his arms and ran after the group.
Reaching the ground, the group looked around for Natsu. Seeing him crouched over a small body, everyone panicked and rushed forward.
"Natsu! Natsu! Are you ok? What happened?"
Raising his tear stroked eyes, Natsu hiccupped. "It's over! It's all over!"
Gasping, Lucy raised a hand to her mouth, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. Gray, Naruto and Erza also gasped, not quite ready to believe that... that Levy was...
"THE NOISE IS OVER!"
Leaping around, Natsu crowed his thanks to the heavens above that that dreadful noise had finally subsided. A solid smack to his head later though, and Natsu was laying face first in the ground with Lucy screaming at him. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, SCARING US ALL LIKE THAT?"
Erza meanwhile had knelt beside Levy. While still unconscious, she was breathing fine. "She'll be ok. Natsu, how did this happen?"
Pushing himself from the floor, Natsu spat a wad off to the side in disgust. "That spiky haired prick Kageyama attacked her while she was writing runes. I told him I'd beat him close to death for even touching her, and I did. What's left of him is down there."
Pointing at a sizable hole in the wall, Naruto walked over and looked in. Seeing the bleeding mass of flesh three walls back, he whistled. "Nice!"
Pushing himself to his feet, Natsu dusted himself down and walked into the hole. "I can't let him die on me here though. I'm bringing him along so I can take care of him."
As Natsu walked in, Erza's eyes flashed. "That reminds me Naruto. What was that claim of yours inside that you'd 'kill' Erigor?"
Looking at Erza cautiously, Naruto shook his head. "I not follow..."
Crossing her arms, the rest of the group backed off. Sensing conflict, Happy disentangled himself from Naruto's arms and quickly flew over to Lucy, landing on her head. "You know full well what I mean. Why did you threaten to kill him? And what was with that horrific intent?"
Unconsciously grabbing his stomach, Naruto frowned. That wasn't a secret he was about to release just yet. Looking around at the group, he saw them all looking at him cautiously, interested in his answer.
"I am ninja where I come from. While I not like it, sometime, we kill."
A succession of gasps passed through the group at Naruto's confession. He'd actually killed someone before? Stepping forward menacingly, Erza clenched her fists. "How can you casually say that? Death is something to NEVER be taken lightly! No matter what they have done wrong, death is never the answer."
Frowning, Naruto didn't back down. "What do you know? Thousands in my world die because of evil men. If we weren't to kill them, then the killing keeps going. Revenge kills, assassin kills, they bad, but people who want power for evil reasons... they have their chance, but if they must, they die."
Taking another step forward, Erza raised a gauntlet clad fist. "But that is a HUMAN life you take! How do you live with yourself?"
Looking back calmly, Naruto easily met her gaze. "It's hard. Harder than you can imagine. But if it's to protect my home and peace, then I gladly lay down my life to take another's."
Stepping forward, Erza reached Naruto. The two were locked in a fierce battle of the wills, everyone outside of each other blotted out. Looking to the sky, Gray frowned. Stepping in, he placed a solid hand on Erza's shoulder. "Yes, it seems we have out differences, but for the moment Naruto is our ally. Time is wasting and you two are not helping. Erigor is our first priority here!"
Staring a moment longer, Erza stepped down, but not before one last glare. "This isn't over."
Naruto said nothing as they group began walking away. Natsu passed him, cautiously glancing over at him as he carried that Kageyama fellow along with him. Lucy also cast one more worried look over her shoulder before climbing into the SE and disappearing from sight.
Erza jumped onto the driver's seat and called out to Naruto. "You coming?"
Naruto shook his head. They all seemed a bit shaken by this so he decided to give them a little time to collect their thoughts. "I catch up."
Snorting, Erza revved the engine. "Suit yourself."
Spinning up the wheels, the mobile wagon took off, quickly disappearing down the street. Watching them go until he couldn't see them anymore, Naruto finally let his face soften. He could sympathise with Erza, but that didn't make her right. Sighing, Naruto ruffled his hair.
That could have gone better, but there were some recent events had enlightened him on life and death. Life was one big hypocritical circle. Live a life of peace and be killed by the evil of the world, or rise above them, kill the killers, and bring about peace. Death seemed to always be a solution to some situations, especially when the lives of innocents were at stake. The world Jiraiya spoke of was a world without each of these, but thus far it was proving to be a VERY big task to complete. Naruto wasn't about to back down from that though, not a chance.
Frowning, Naruto cupped his chin with his hand. There was something wrong with Erza for her to have reacted the way she did. The others were understandable simply because, if Naruto guessed correctly, they had never been faced with a person who had taken a life before. The look in Erza's eye though, it was almost like she was reaffirming something she had told herself, just as much as she was trying to convert Naruto.
Wandering inside the destroyed building, Naruto leant against a wall. Granted, this world was much more peaceful than his own, basking in the light rather than the shadows, but what would happen should a suitably evil person came along? Try to talk them out of it? While always a good starting point, most people like that hadn't responded all that well to Naruto's attempts. So far, he could count all the positive responses on one hand.
Thinking back to Erigor again, Naruto tried to work out just why he just rubbed him so completely the wrong way. Pondering it, Naruto nodded as he realised what it was. Having your system touched by the Kyuubi never helped rational thinking. Now that his head was clear, it made many times more sense.
Erigor had no alternate motive. While Pein wanted peace, Erigor just wanted death. There was no motivation for a greater good. He just wanted to laugh while the world burned. Shaking his head, Naruto sighed. That kind of man had no place in a world like this, or in any world for that matter. That kind of man was the kind that needed a death warrant on his head. It just seemed though that Erza, or the other members for that matter, didn't see it that way.
Rubbing his eyes, Naruto nodded to himself. If Erza couldn't understand that, then Naruto could sympathise. This world was a great deal different than his own. But she couldn't judge him for something she had never experienced. He gave a humourless laugh. If Erza had been the unlucky one to be shot over to his world, she'd probably be dead by now.
Looking to the sky out a window, Naruto sighed again. If he could somehow make his world like this one, then that would be just brilliant. No killing, no matter what. The thought brought a little smile to his face. It wasn't an 'if', he'd definitely make it, one day. Without a doubt, because that's what his father, the Third and his sensei entrusted with him. He would never let them down.
Tightening his head band, Naruto resolved himself. He was going to help finish off this mess he'd been dragged into and find out what was eating Erza so bad, but after that, it was time to say goodbye and find a way home. He had a job to do.
Looking around the corner, Naruto saw official looking people beginning to crowd around the entrance. Leaning back, Naruto quietly snuck back up the stairs and into the shadows.
No one even noticed the black and orange streak shoot from the third floor to the adjacent house.