What's up everyone. I'm surprised how many people voted for this crossover this fast. There were a lot of votes, so people, here you go. I hope you like this version of a Naruto Fairy Tail crossover. There are a couple of darker things though in this chapter that some people might not like. But that's why this fic is rates M instead of T. So if you don't like it, read another story.

Anyways, enjoy the story. Disclaimer: I don't own either Naruto or Fairy Tail. I'm just not that cool.

Begin!

Chapter 1: The Demon of Fairy Tail

"Woooooooow…" Lucy looked around her in awe. "This… this is really Fairy Tail." Her eyes gleamed with wonder. She was standing at the entrance of the famous mages guild, Fairy Tail. She had tried so hard to finally make it here, and now that she had finally set her eye upon what she had dreamed of as a child, it was even more amazing than she had imagined it would be.

Her heart threatened to burst from her chest. She had never been this happy in her life. She could barely even move her legs she was so overcome with joy.

Mages of every level littered the halls of Fairy Tail. They stood together, standing as one as Fairy Tail had based themselves on. Everyone was smiling as if they had been friends their entire lives. They chatted meaningless conversations with each other, laughing at one another's stories.

Too the far right was a large bar filled with Fiore's finest alcohols. Lucy gapped in awe as on one of the bar stools sat a long-haired brunette woman who was drinking from an entire keg. On left, Lucy saw a very large man preaching about how real men should be while flexing his insanely large muscles. Sitting a few stools down from the brunette woman was a boy about the same age as her new friend Natsu. He had black hair, and no shirt.

She turned around when Natsu patted her shoulder. She only saw his back however as he began walking toward the middle of the guild hall, a big goofy grin on his face.

"SUP! Everyone! Guess whose back?!" He shouted to everyone. They all turned to Natsu. "It's me, the one and only, the great Natsu!"

"Heard you made quite the ruckus out there Natsu. Try to keep the damage minimal next time alright." A buck toothed man smirked before he got a kick to the face that sent the man flying into a table on the other side of the guild breaking it.

"The hell did you say to me Krov?!" Natsu shouted out while Lucy was in the back trying to calm Natsu down. Krov apparently got back up on his feet looking just fine, nerve vein shown on his forehead.

"Don't shoot the messenger idiot! It was just a rumor! I should kick you ass right here and now for that." He said cracking his knuckles only to receive a punch to the face.

"Bring it you old fart!" Natsu yelled. At those words, everyone started to join in on the brawl. Tables and chairs were being overturned right and left. Glasses were being flung everywhere shattering on impact.

"Shut the hell up retard. You're gonna give me a headache." Lucy turned only to blush at seeing a basically naked black haired boy in front of her

Natsu pointed at the boy and glared while having his other arm in a headlock with Krov. Lucy saw that there was fire practically spitting out of his mouth. "What'd you call me bastard!" Natsu shouted getting in the naked teens face dragging Krov with him, "I don't take kindly to people who can't even dress themselves."

"What?" The boy finally looked down, noticing he wasn't wearing anything. "Ah, crap!" he said getting a punch to the face.

"Take that you bastard! Umph!" Krov finally got out of the headlock and punched Natsu in the stomach sending him flying after the half naked teen.

"Natsu, you bastard!" Gray yelled, only for said boy to collide with him making both of them hit the dirt.

Pretty soon their antics had caused a brawl to start between every member of the guild. The big man from before picked up both Natsu and Gray, slamming them into each other and then tossing them across the room. The brunette chucked a now empty keg that she was just drinking from, smashing three people at once. Natsu and Gray jumped up from the rubble of their previous flight, both attacking the large man. The girl at the bar looked up at Gray.

"Gray, your underwear." She said annoyed. Gray looked down.

"Crap! Not again!" He said looking both left and right for his clothes when he saw a laughing Natsu twirling his underwear on the end of his finger. Then Gray noticed that Lucy was right next to him. "Miss, would you mind letting me borrow your underwear?" He asked, completely serious.

"Hell no!" Lucy yelled, hitting him in the face with a wooden beam. He went flying backwards into a wall to the left of the guild. Lucy looked on, awe-struck by how fierce these guild members were. Just a moment ago, they were all laughing together, and now they were just beating the crap out of each other.

"Who are you? Are you new to the guild?" Lucy turned to the new voice behind her. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was.

Her idol, one of the most famous, and sexiest, females of Fairy Tail, Mirajane was standing right next to her with one of her usually beautiful smiles on her face. Lucy had idolized every centerfold picture of Mirajane there was in the magazines she read. Mirajane was the most beautiful woman she had ever laid her eyes on.

"M-Mirajane-san!" Lucy exclaimed, unable to speak anything else.

Mirajane laughed, closing her eyes she gave a smile, "Don't worry, it gets like this occasionally. Especially when Natsu and Gray are together. Those two have been at it forever."

"Don't you think that you should stop this though? It's getting a little out of control." Lucy said. Mira smiled.

"This? Don't worry about it, this happens all the ti…." CRASH! Mira was unable to finish her sentence however as a stray body from the still ongoing fight flew and hit her right into her causing her to crash into a table. "Besides it's kinda fun." She said as her soul looked like it was about to leave her body

"Mira-san! Don't die!" Lucy shouted, looking horrified. A second later, Mira got back up and Lucy saw that her smile still remained, even though blood was flowing down her face.

"I'm fine! Happens all the time, this is nothing." She reassured Lucy.

"A-are you sure? That looks kinda bad…" Lucy observed. Mira waved her hands dismissively.

"I'm fine. Anyway, as I was saying…" Though poor Mira was again interrupted, but this time it was a loud voice coming from the back of the guild.

"Enough!" A low voice rumbled, stopping the fight instantly. A humongous black shadow in the shape of a man with two horn-like growths came out from the back of the guild. The shadows head reached the ceiling.

"He's huge!" Lucy shouted, her eyes almost popping out of her head. Mira just laughed.

"Oh hello there master! I didn't know you were still in the guild." Mira smiled. The giant looked down at the bartender.

"Oh and what is this?" The giant growled out, his eye's laying on Lucy. "New recruit huh?" The giant then began to decrease in size, and the black shadow started to dissipate. Soon, there was an extremely short old man standing in front of Lucy, with his hand raised in a mock salute. His balding white head was covered with a silly looking orange and white-stripped pointed hat.

"Hey there, I'm Makarov, the master of Fairy Tail. Nice to meetcha." The old man greeted. Then the old man back flipped onto the second floor. He hit his head on the railing, but got up and acted like nothing happened. "Everyone!" He shouted angrily, getting everyone's undivided attention. He pulled out a stack of paper from his pocket, and started to wave it in front of them for all to see. "You've done it again fools. Look at these documents I received from the council.

Everyone looked down in shame. "Cana!" The heavy drinking brunette from before looked up. "You drank every last bit of wine from that tavern and then charged the bill on the council!" Makarov looked over to the large man that threw Natsu and Gray. "Elfman! You beat up your client because he said men were better off learning than being big strong idiots!"

The large muscle man looked down. "He insulted my manliness." He spoke, much quieter than before.

"Loki… Flirting with council member Elder Reiji's granddaughter. A certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation too." Loki just sweatdropped.

"Gray." The still unclothed boy looked up at the master. "Good job sweeping out the smuggling organization, but you walked around the town naked afterwards. And ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried." Gray scratched his cheek, embarrassed.

"And Natsu…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head, still laying on the floor from the fight that had happened. "You destroyed the Devon Thief family, but also destroyed 7 other houses that belong to the townspeople. Leveling a historical clock tower in Tully Village. Burning down a church in Freesia. Damaging parts of Lupinus Castle. Nazuna Ravine Observatory collapsed and thus stopped operations. Destroying half of Harujion's Port." Natsu looked away, angry at his mistake.

'Most of the articles covered in the magazine were done by Natsu, huh…' Lucy thought. She looked around at the guild members who were being yelled at, feeling slightly depressed. They all seemed pretty mad at themselves for their mistakes. She was about to say something, but Makarov beat her to it.

"Arzach. Levi. Kulov. Reedus. Warren. Visca. Etc…" The man continued as he stared down angrily at the guild members. "And where the hell is Shinobi?! He finished his mission perfectly and then destroyed half castle he was working in!" Everyone turned their head and looked in a corner. Lucy couldn't see the man but heard him.

"…Everyone else was destroying things in their missions…. I thought I would try to join in." Came a monotone voice. Makarov glared at the man before lighting the pieces of paper on fire.

"Forget the council members, who cares?" Lucy looked up, rather surprised. Every guild member looked up at their master, Natsu ate the burning paper as the master threw it away form him. "Who cares about the damn council?" Every member except for Lucy shouted.

Makarov grinned, looking at every single member with a look of pride. "Listen up you delinquents. The power to overcome reasoning, is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the spirit flow within us and the spirit flow in nature connect, they form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring all of your sould into whatever you do is the magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher ups, your magic won't improve. Do not fear the fools of the council. Do whatever you think is right!" He shouted with his hands in the air. "That's the way of the Fairy Tail Mages!" The entire guild then erupted into cheers as they started to celebrate once again.

Lucy smiled. This really was a cool place. She could really get to like it here.

Things had finally calmed down. Everyone went back to talking and laughing with each other. Natsu was basically eating the guild out of house and home. Cana had gone back to drinking, her face now slightly flushed. Elfman was flexing his muscles, talking about how manly he and his muscles were. And Mira was sitting next to Lucy on the bar stools while Lucy went through some paperwork.

When she had finally finished, she handed it to Mira, who through the papers. Once she was done, she smiled. "Ooh, a Celestial Spirit mage. We don't see too many of them anymore." She said. "Great! Everything seems to be in order." She placed the papers onto the counter, and then took out a stamp. "Alright, where do you want the guild symbol and what color do you want?"

Lucy stretched out her hand. "Pink, and on the top of my hand, right there." She said instantly. Mira stamped Lucy's hand, bringing it away after a moment to show the brand knew symbol that proved you were a mage of Fairy Tail.

"Congratulations Lucy." Mira said brightly, "You are now an official member of Fairy Tail."

Lucy looked at the symbol on her hand with fondness. She turned to where Natsu was stuffing his face. "Natsu, look!" She held her hand out. Natsu turned to her and kinda blew her off.

"Great Luigi, good for you." He said her before diving back into his food.

"It's LUCY!" Lucy shouted, glaring daggers at Natsu.

Next to here, Mira laughed whole-heartily. "You'll get used to things here pretty fast, Lucy-san." Lucy looked over to Mira, her previous anger forgotten.

"You think so?" She asked.

Mira nodded. "Absolutely." Smiling at the girl. Lucy then looked around the guild hall at the many different people who were there. It seemed like everyone was happy and having a great time. Her eyes then fell upon an oddity. There was a man who was sitting in the back of the guild away from the others. He was dressed very strangely as well, black clothing and what appeared to be grey chest armor. His arms were covered in metal arm guards and black gloves. He was wearing what looked like sandals that had spikes. She saw that he had pouches on his back-waist to carry his things. On his shoulder, there was an orange tattoo of the guilds symbol telling the world he was from Fairy Tail. On his back, Lucy could barely make out a short blade of some sort. It looked like tanto from what she could tell from it. The thing about him though, is that his face was completely covered with a black facemask. Across his eyes though there was a metal headband that also had the mark of Fairy Tail in the middle of the plate.

On top of his head though, looked like there was a cat of sorts. But this cat looked a little different from normal cats. This one resembled Happy in some sort of way. The fur was black, but around his mouth it was white. The cats fur extended up to his head so much that his fur was sticking out and had formed into what closely resembled the shape of a pineapple. The also cat wore what looked like to be a green vest that had pouches in it.

When the man noticed Lucy staring at him, he lifted his head towards her and nodded in her directing, as if to greet her. She blushed slightly at being caught, and nodded back to him.

"Ooh, already swept off your feet by someone?" Mira's voice rang out from beside her. Lucy let out a small 'eep!' and turned to Mira, her face as red as a tomato. She started to wave her arms around crazily.

"No, no, no! It's not like that really!" She shook her hands back and forth then looked down, embarrassed at being caught staring at someone. "He's just kind of mysterious, sitting there all by himself."

Mira nodded, "Yep, he's always like that. He keeps to himself, and no one has ever seen his face, though he's been with us for such a long time. Six years I believe. He never really talks about himself too much. All that we really know is that he is a ninja of sorts." Lucy looked over to Naruto nonchalantly while Mira talked about him. He had gone back to staring at the walls of the guild. Mira eyes showed a sad expression. "Despite being so quite, he's a pretty pleasant guy. He does have that monotone side to him though. But the important thing is that he takes care of the other members. I kinda wish that I knew him a little better actually to be perfectly honest." Lucy looked at the saddened Mirajane.

"Then why don't you?" She asked raising an eyebrow, confused as to what could be holding the beautiful woman back. Mira just sighed.

"I've known Shinobi for so long." She stated, "It's just so weird to go up to him and just have a normal conversation with him. I feel bad that I haven't really tried to be open with him in all these years." Lucy looked up and saw that a few of the mages in the guild had listened in on their conversation. Most just scoffed and blew off what Mira had said, but a few had sadden looks etched on their faces. "But he's not the easiest person to talk to though. He only talks when talked to and usually it's only a few words. No more than necessary."

"Sounds like that's just an excuse though." Lucy sad.

Mira looked down at her feet in embarrassment. Wanting to get of that awkward subject she remembered something. "Oh!" She started. "There's another thing. He never takes any mission over a high C rank, low B rank." Lucy looked at Mira in surprise. "I honestly think that he could take a higher mission, but down on paper, he's only ranked a C-class mage.

'Well that's kinda lame…' Thought Lucy. She laughed awkwardly. "But he looks so professional, how can he be that weak of a mage?" She asked. Mira shrugged.

"I don't know. I honestly think he is stronger, but since he's so mysterious, we don't have anymore information on him than that." This really piqued Lucy's interest. If there was one thing that Lucy loved the most, it was definitely a good mystery.

"The person who know him the best though would be Cana." Mira said pointing to the woman who was drinking an entire barrel full of alcohol. "Rumor has it that he trained with her for her S-class exam." This shocked Lucy.

"How did she do?" Mira blinked.

"She did amazing. Honestly I was so surprised at how strong she had gotten in that time. Shinobi probably is only a C-class mage cause no one knows about what he can do. Not even the master knows." She said. Lucy couldn't wrap her mind around that. This Shinobi character was definitely hiding something and she was the one who was going to find out what.

"So…. What's the deal with the strange cat on his head?" She asked.

"Oh! That's Shikamaru." Mira said pleasantly, "He's kind of lazy, but he's nice too. He's exactly like Happy though. He can talk and fly as well." Mira laughed as Lucy stood there shocked that she had seen another talking flying cat. "He's actually quite intelligent too. But Shinobi has apparently trained him pretty well from what I have seen."

"What do you mean?" Lucy said confused at what the girl meant. Mira smiled and pointed at the pair as she held up a glass.

"Watch this." She said before chucking the glass at the man. Lucy gapped.

"What are you doing?!" She half yelled half asked. Mira just pointed at the man. Lucy continued her gaze watching the glass fly towards the blonde until it was about to his face until Shikamaru knocked the glass away with his tail without ever looking up or opening his eye. Lucy stood there in shock. Mira just laughed.

"That always happens. I don't know when it was that we started to notice that, but they always have their guard up. I think it's kind of cute really." She said with a smile before sighing. "I really wish that we knew more about him."

"Then why don't you go and talk to him." Came a voice from behind them. Both girls jumped in fright and turned around only to see that Master Makarov was seated on the table top right behind them.

"Master!" Mira said with her hand over her heart. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that." Makarov just brushed her off.

"If you really want to get to know somebody," he started, "Then you have to talk with them, no matter how many times it takes." Lucy looked at the master.

"Then why don't you talk with him Master." She asked.

"Cause I know all I need to know about him.." He replied closing his eyes. "I know that he would protect this family of mine until his dying breath." Both girls just stared at the old man. "And that is really the only thing I care about. He is my child along with you two you know." Both Mira and Lucy looked at the master thinking about what he had just said. Lucy then steeled herself.

'Well, if I'm going to join this guild, I might as well get to know everyone.' She thought. "Excuse me guys, I'm going to talk with him." She said as she turned around and headed in the man's direction. The Master then looked at Mira, expectation in his eyes. Mira just blinked.

"I think I'll let Lucy go this time. When I see him next then I'll talk to him myself Master." She said smiling a little defensive. Makaov just grunted in acknowledgment closing his eyes as he took another puff from his pipe.

Shinobi sighed, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet on the table in front of him, slightly disturbing his napping partner on the top of his head. He was bored and he really wanted to go and take a mission. On his missions, though extremely easy, he would take that time to explore new and different areas to see what the world had to offer. Many times though it would lead the man into trouble which was 'troublesome' according to his furry companion on his head. Also he would take that time to train as well to make himself stronger. He was by no means weak, but he felt that it was always better to be safe than sorry. The time he was gone was never long though. He was only gone for most about 1-2 weeks tops. He wanted to make sure that he was at the guild as much as possible so that just in case something happened, he would be there. It was silly of him to think that way. Too many of the mages here were high class and didn't need defending, the Master was here most of the time anyways. But he knew that a well thought out plan could take out even the most powerful of people with simple tactics. That was drilled into him at a young age. Naruto rubbed his side in remembering a couple of past events.

He couldn't leave though. A new member of the guild had just arrived and Makarov had asked him to stay a little while longer. He wouldn't say no to the old man either. If it wasn't for him, Shinobi wouldn't be here now. He wouldn't have his family. This was his family too and he was going to do anything required of him to make them happy.

"Would'ja stop moving around already Naruto? Your making me dizzy." Said the voice above him.

"Then you can find someplace else to sleep you lazy fleabag." Naruto said in a monotone voice. Shikamaru really had been a blessing in disguise to the man when he had found him years ago. Shikamaru was really the only friend that he had in the entire guild where he could somewhat open up and be a little of his past self.

"If I wasn't here, then you probably would've been hit by that glass dumbass." The cat said once again resting his head down and closing his eyes.

"Remember who taught you how to do that shit?" Naruto said, "And how many times have I told you not to call me that here in the guild?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"Troublesome… Speaking of troublesome, here comes something that looks troublesome." Shika said. Naruto expanded his senses outwards and noticed that the new recruit was headed his way amidst the fighting of the guild dodging table, chairs, and bodies. Once she reached him she stuck out her hand and smiled at Naruto warmly.

"Hi there! My name is Lucy. It's nice to meet you." She said. Naruto didn't move for a moment causing the girl to feel a little awkward for still having her hand out in the air. Shikamaru opened one eye to look at the girl before closing it once again. Then Naruto moved his feet to the ground, stood up and looked down at the girl. Lucy saw that the man stood around 5'10" 5'11". His body was lean and muscular from what she could tell. Then the man put out his hand and gave the Lucy a firm handshake.

"Shinobi…. Nice to meet you." He said with little emotion in his voice. Though Lucy did notice that it sounded like someone her age though. After the greeting they both stood there awkwardly looking at each other…. Well Lucy supposed that Shinobi was looking at her, at least his face was in her general direction. She started to shuffle around nervously her arms behind her back.

"Umm…." She voiced out.

"Is there something that I can help you with Lucy-san?" Shinobi asked with his emotionless voice, causing Lucy to become even more awkward than she was before.

'What's with this guy?' She thought before taking in a breath readying herself. "Well since I am new I was wondering if I could get to know the guild a little better you know?" She said with a smile on her face. Shinobi continued to be silent in front of her. "I-I was hoping that we might talk… You know… to know a little about each other?" She asked hopefully. At this point she was quiet nervous of the man. Mira was right, he hardly spoke at all. Just when she was about to 'say sorry for bothering you', Shinobi beckoned her to the seat right next to him.

"Would you like to sit down?" He asked getting a smile from the blonde girl. Nodding her head she allowed him to pull out a seat for her and scoot it into the table for her.

'Well at least someone in this guild is a gentleman.' She thought as she watched him take another seat right next to her.

"Would you like something to drink?" He asked. Lucy just shook her head.

"I'm fine thank you though." She smiled before looking to the side of his head seeing a swishing tail going back and forth. "So is that a cat just like Happy?" She asked. Shinobi nodded his head a little causing the cat to grumble on his head.

"Introduce yourself Shika." Shinobi said. Shikamaru grumbled.

"Do I have to?" He drawled out, "She's a woman, that means she's troublesome." Causing Lucy to get a tick mark on her head crying out, "HEY!" Shinobi's response was just a flick of his head causing the cat to come crashing down on the table. Grumbling and rubbing his head he stood up in front of the girl.

"Troublesome." He said. "My name is Shikamaru. It's nice to meet you although you're probably going to be troublesome in the future." The cat said with his paw out waiting for a handshake. Lucy still had her tickmark on her head but shook the cats paw regardless.

"Why do I hate all the talking cats that I know?" She mumbled to herself though Shinobi heard her.

"You get used to them I guess." He said, "Shika and I didn't get along for the first little bit that we were together. But now he's the friend that I trust in the most." Lucy smiled at that.

"Umm… I know that this might be rude, but how do you see with that headband around your eyes?" She asked. Naruto could tell a couple people heard the question and leaned in a little closer to hear what the man would say.

"I have trained myself to be able to not rely on my eyesight alone to maneuver myself around in daily life." He stated.

"Umm.. Ok…. Why?" She asked, it kinda sounded stupid to her though.

"It's helps hone the senses so that you will never fall into an enemy trap or be sucker punched in the face." Replied a sleeping Shikamaru. "The bastard made me do the same thing for a long time before he let me take off that damn thing. It was a drag." Lucy looked at the cat in awe, then back at Shinobi.

"It's actually a common thing to do where I come from." He said to try to clear up why he would still do such a thing. It made sense to them, why not everyone else?

"So Shinobi-san, where are you from?" She asked curiously.

"I am from a village that's called Konoha in the Elemental Nations." He said, Lucy now furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Elemental Nations?" She repeated softly, "I've never heard of such a place. Shinobi nodded.

"I wouldn't expect you to, it's in a very distant land that's very far away." Lucy nodded in understanding.

"So what did you do there?"

"I was a ninja for my village." This got Lucy's attention.

"Really?! A ninja?!" She asked. Shinobi just nodded. "That's soooo cool! I've never met a ninja before." Just then she heard a snort coming from the sleeping cat on the table. "You gotta problem with me kitty?!" She yelled at the cat with her fist raised. Shikamaru just sighed.

"Troublesome." He said going back to sleep.

"Forgive him. I have tried to instill manners into him, but he has been stubborn of late as you can see." He said getting a small giggle from Lucy.

"It's fine. So tell me more about being a ninja!" She said excitingly. "What did you do?!"

Naruto began to then tell the blonde-haired girl about what it meant to be a ninja and the different things that they did. He of course toned it down a lot. A ninja's business wasn't a pretty thing, especially the area that he was in. He then learned a little bit about her. That she was a celestial mage, she loved to read, and that her goal was to become the greatest celestial wizard in the world. They spent the entire day together just talking, though they didn't realize it. Everyone was just staring at the duo talking. This was the longest that the guild had ever seen Shinobi talk. Naruto's boredom was long forgotten and Shikamaru finally got to sleep a little longer.

Naruto was in his usual spot of the guild the next day, feet propped up on the table with his chair leaning back. His conversation with the celestial mage yesterday had turned up some unpleasant memories from his past that he never could get over. He sat there thinking about many different events.

Flashback no Jutsu:

A six year old blonde boy could be found digging through the dumpster in the back of a restaurant looking for a decent meal that was edible. He wore a filthy white shirt that now was a disgusting brown and green from being overused and never being washed. It was full of holes and the shirt was possibly twice as big as the boy. He had a pair of overused shorts as well, holes adorning all sides of the cloth. No shoes, the boys feet were basically black from all the dirt and grime he goes through. He had blonde hair that was matted down, tangled in knots and smelled just like that dumpster. He had vibrant blue eyes and three lines adorning each side of his cheeks. The boy was obviously malnourished and one could see bruises and scars lining his body. Had one had a look underneath his so-called shirt, one would be able to see scars all over with the word 'DEMON' etched into his upper back. That had been one of the boys most painful experiences that night

Flashback in a flashback no justu.

The blonde haired boy was running for his life throughout the streets of his village. No one was going to help him, he already knew that. He just needed to keep ahead of the group before they tired out and gave up on the 'demon hunting' as they called. October 10th, every year, the villagers would gather around with fire and pitchforks to go after and hunt the so-called demon.

The boy turned into an alley he thought was cleared, only to be punched backwards by what he thought was a ninja. A chunnin if he had to guess. The rest of the mob chasing him caught up and bound the boy.

"P-p-please! Don't hurt me anymore." He begged the mob. One man came up to the boy with hatred in his eyes before turning the boy around and taking out a kunai that he had borrowed from a ninja

"Don't hurt you anymore?" The man growled out fury in his eyes as he heated the kunai. "Why shouldn't I? You took the most precious thing away from me you monster." The kunai was now glowing red with heat. The man then started to brand the boy on the ground dragging the kunai along his skin. The boy screamed and screamed until his voice went horse as the tears were running down his face from the burning of the flesh that the man was inflicting on the child. He struggled desperately to get away without any luck though. "You want me to stop?!" He roared out, "THEN GIVE MY DAUGHTER BACK TO ME DEMON!" With that the entire crowd started to cheer as they saw the boy writhe in pain. Acid was then brought out and dragged across the letters that the man had carved on the boy to cauterize the wounds. The villagers knew about the boys crazy regeneration rate, but if they were to seal the wound before his body could, those marks would be left on the boy forever.

After using the acid the rest of the crowd then began punching, kicking, biting, stabbing, or doing anything they could possibly do to humiliate the boy. After an hour of beating, the boy looked like a charred corpse on the ground. Both his arms and legs were contorted in angles that they shouldn't have been. Some people might have wondered how he was still conscious. The chunnin that stopped the boy in the beginning came and bent over the boy looking him in the eyes before holding up a syringe.

"I made sure that you would feel every bit of that demon." He said before urinating on the kid, then dragging him over to a dumpster and chucking him inside. He didn't need the ANBU or the Hokage to be finding the boy in that state in the middle of the road. Wiping his hands off on his jacket before walking away.

End Flashback in a Flashback no Jutsu

That was a little under a year ago. The boy had been kick out of the orphanage after he managed to heal himself up a little after that. Doctors and nurses wouldn't see him, but for some reason, he would always recover very quickly from almost every incident that would happen. Everything except for the scars that the villagers gave him. He was alone, and the boy knew that. Only three people in the entire village could he even consider as human being to him. The Hokage, the two ramen makers at his favorite ramen stand. They were all very kind to him.

"Naruto Uzumaki." A voice said behind him causing the boy to jump in fright in the dumpster. "You are coming with us" He looked back and saw three men in cloaks wearing blank white masks that had the word 'NE' writing on it. Naruto wasn't the smartest child in the world, but he knew that if he went with these people, he might not come back alive. So nodding his head he started to get out of the dumpster, until he chuck a ball to the ground and a cloud of smoke appeared. Then he took of like a bat out of hell running away from the men. He had been saving that smoke bomb for a situation like this one. He had stolen it off of a chunnin that was kicking the crap out of him awhile back. Pushing that thought aside, he focused on paths that he had thought up of in the past year, for when demon excursions would occur. After about 5 minutes of straight sprinting the boy slowed down looking for his pursuers. Seeing no one he bent over panting and sweating heavily, regaining his breathe. Once his heart rate was under control, he stood back up only to feel a chop hit him on the back of his neck. Then all he new then, was darkness.

The boy woke up with a jolt as he inhales some substance, coughing loudly the boy's eyes raced around the room in panic. Trying to get up he found that he was bound to a steel chair with ninja wire wrapped around him tight. He saw that there was a single light above his head and the rest of the room was shroud in darkness. He saw one of the ninja who captured him holding some smelling salts in his hand before putting them away.

"H-HE-!" WHACK! He was interrupted with a brutal punch to the face almost causing the boy to fall to the floor. "FUCK!" Cried out the boy in pain, as the ninja reeled his fist back for another punch until a hand was held up in the air. The ninja froze in place looking at the man holding up his hand.

"That's enough for right now." He said as the ninja bowed and disappeared into the shadows. The man walked forward coming into the light. Naruto saw that he was old. Used a cane to walk around. He had bandages going around almost his entire body and face. He saw that he had an x-shaped scar on his chin. He wore a white shirt, with a black or dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. "Hello Naruto Uzumaki. You may refer to me as Danzō." He said calmly looking at the boy.

"W-w-what do you want with me?" Naruto asked fearfully. The man just stared at the boy emotionlessly.

"I want you boy, to become the greatest shinobi that this nation has ever seen." He said getting a confused look from the boy. "You have the greatest power known in the land inside of you. I am going to make sure you know how to use it jinchūriki. You were made into a weapon, I am going to fine tune it into the greatest in existence. This village will never know war again with your power present boy. I don't care what Sarutobi says, you will become great." He finished as he started to walk away from the boy back into the darkness. "Begin his conditioning." He said out loud. Naruto was confused until another fist hit him in his face. Then a few ninja came out of the shadows and started to pummel the helpless boy.

End Flashback no Jutsu

Naruto remembered the next several years during his service for ROOT were excruciating. They had literally beaten the pain out of him. He now almost felt nothing if someone hit him. They trained him long and hard, to the point where everyday the young boy would pass out from exhaustion, only for the next day for them to start with his training regimen again. They were extensive and particular in the things that they taught him. They focused most of his training on taijutsu and kenjutsu. Leaving out ninjitsu and genjutsu. They taught the boy how to sense and dispel a genjutsu, but nothing else. The only things that they taught in ninjutsu was the substitution jutsu, henge, and kage bushin. They also taught him medical ninjuttsu. Danzō was no fool. He knew that there were sealing methods to disturb the chakra flow from the bijū that resided in the boys body. So he had him hone his skills so that if he was ever injured, he could deal with the problem swiftly. No they focused mainly on honing his demonic chakra. Getting his body used to the poisonous chakra. They trained long and hard to the point where the boy could easily pull out three tails.

The one thing that didn't quite accomplished with the boy, was his emotional conditioning. The boy was stubborn and strong willed, but that is mostly in the past. At the time there were signs that he still had some emotional values still set in place and that they still hadn't broken him. He was close and they probably would've succeeded if it wasn't for a person who Naruto regarded as a father.

Flashback no Jutsu:

Naruto Uzumaki – 10 years old

Naruto, or Kitsune, as root had given him the name, was tied up and bound so that he couldn't move. He shifted his joints left and right to get a feel on the knots set in place. They were good. He couldn't even dislocate his shoulder to try to escape.

"Don't even bother with it gaki." Came the voice who was carrying him into a room before chucking him on the floor. Whoever this man was, he was dangerous. Kitsune hadn't even heard the man sneak up on him. Naruto waited patiently to see if there was some sort of opening of anything for him to read off of. He was rolled over and finally he saw who his captor was.

"Jiraiya the Sannin." He said slowly. "Why have you captured a fellow Leaf ninja like myself?" Jiraiya looked down at the boy. He wore standard ANBU armor and a fox shaped mask. He reached down to remove the mask. The boy held still as if to let the man do so, before the sannin's fingertips glowed blue and touched the mask.

The mask gave a fizzle and a pop, before Jiraiya had pulled it off of the boy. "Come on kid. I've been doing this stuff since you were conceived on the kitchen floor. A little shock seal isn't going to mess with me." He said now looking at the blonde-haired blue-eyed boy. "You've been a hard one to track down Naruto. Took me a good 2 years to find out that you were actually still alive, and another 2 to actually set this little meeting up between us." Naruto frowned at that information.

"So the mission that I was assigned to was false?" He stated.

"Oh no. That mission is very much real, think of me though as a little detour. Danzō-jiji thinks he's got everything in secret, he's not the only operatives that he has hidden in Konoha you know." Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but enough for Jiraiya to see. Danzō-sama was compromised. He had to alert him at once. "So after this meeting are you going to report me to your leader?" The Sannin interrupted the blondes thoughts. "I'm taking a huge risk here gaki, compromising my position in your little illegal organization. Just to talk with you."

"Why?" Asked Naruto, "Why would someone like you want to talk with me? Is it because of the Kyuubi?" Jiraiya's eyebrow rose.

"A little talkative there for a ROOT agent aren't you gaki?" Jiraiya chuckled, "That's alright though, that just means that Danzō hasn't completely broken you. And he told you about the fox huh? Of course he did, he's Danzō for crying out loud. I would be disappointed if you weren't able to use some of the Fox's chakra by now." Then Jiraiya proceeded to set up a seal array around the room. Once done the symbols glowed and then went dark. He smiled at the boy. "Silence seal, and a protective barrier. No one can go in or out of this seal. Fuinjutsu kid, I'll teach it to you sometime. Now lets get these bonds off you." He said leaning down to cut through the thick rope. As soon as he was through, Naruto leapt grabbing his tanto, added some wind chakra to the blade and made a swing for the Sannin.

Jiraiya didn't even blink as the sword came at him, only his hair on the left side of his face grew straight out and hardened blocking the blade. Using one hand he hit the boy in the chest hard. Naruto staggered back slightly, shook off the hit and started for the Sannin again before he felt his entire body feel like it had just become cast iron and dropped to the ground. He struggled desperately to get on the ground but he couldn't move his limbs more than an inch at a time. He heard a chuckle above him.

"Gravity seals gaki. They're pretty useful. I thought you guys in ROOT were supposed to be smart. I mean don't get me wrong kid, your good. Had you been properly channeling that wind chakra of yours properly, you would've most likely gotten through my own little jutsu there, but kid, there's a reason why I'm still an active ninja at my age." Naruto still was struggling on the floor. He tried to access the Kyuubi's chakra to capture the Sannin, but noticed that he couldn't. "Trying to use the fox? Don't bother, I screwed up your chakra network also when I hit you. I'll take it off of you later, but right now let's be a good little gaki and listen."

"W-what do you want with me?" He puffed out taking deep breaths. Jiraiya smiled.

"What do I want? Well it's pretty simple really. I want to train you." He said. Naruto stopped struggling when he heard this. For what purpose could a man of this stature want to train him for. He didn't understand.

"Why?" Was the only thing that Naruto said. Jiraiya sighed.

"Kid. I've made some terrible mistakes in my life. I personally wanted to take you in to be my own son when you were a boy." Naruto's eyes once again widened slightly. "But the damn council wouldn't let me. Looking back, honestly I should have just said fuck you and be done with it. And when I had heard you had just vanished, I went crazy. Now four years later I find you in a pretty hard-ass organization. Kid, you don't know how to be human." He finished.

"I don't understand." Naruto said processing the words that were spoken to him. "I am human. The demon is just sealed inside of…" He was cut off by the Sannin.

"I don't mean that kid. Please, give me some credit. I know the difference between the two of you." He said waving a hand back and forth. "No, what I mean is that you don't know how be a human being. You've spent about half of your life just either surviving in the streets or surviving in your training. Do you know why you do these missions that Danzō sends you on?" He asked seriously

"For the preservation and protection of the Leaf Village." Naurto answered like a robot. Jiraiya nodded.

"That's right, and do you know what this village is filled with?" He asked while Naruto stayed silent trying to figure out the meaning of the question. "It's filled with human beings. You don't even know about the thing that you are trying to protect gaki. All you know are just the things that you are ordered to do. Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like if you were just an ordinary citizen of this town. If you could switch places with anyone of them, what you would do. You've seen them on the street acting out their carefree lives. Haven't you ever wondered what that would be like." Naruto thought about that for a minute.

"No." He stated simply as Jiraiya fell on his face in surprise. "Maybe at one point in my life, but since I have been an active agent, I have no need of such trivial thought." He state emotionlessly.

"You say that," Jiraiya grinned, "But your body language says differently kid. Subtlety gaki, it's a thing." He then stood up and stretched his arms. Kid, you haven't been robbed out of your free will for right now, but if you want to keep who you are, whenever you have a longer mission, come to this place." He set a sheet of paper down in front of the boy. "I will be there whenever you need me. Think about what I said though. You'll thank yourself later in life if you do." He said before disappearing in front of the boy only for seconds later to notice that the pressure from the gravity seal had been taken off as well. Naruto got up, stretched out his senses in the room making sure that he was alone. He looked down at the piece of paper that was left for him. He picked it up and headed out the door. He started to walk towards his original destination, thinking about what the white-haired man had said the entire mission.

End Flashback no Justu

That had probably been one of the best decisions that he had ever made before in his life. The Ero-sensei let him be somewhat of himself. At least as much of himself as he could, being trained by root and all. But he didn't stop there, he taught him many different types of ninjutsu. The Yondaime's famous 'Rasengan', 'Needle Jizō', he even let him sign the summoning contract with the Toads of Mount Myōboku. The thing that really excited Naruto though, was fuinjutsu. He excelled in it and soak up everything that Jiraiya had taught him. As a present for his 12th birthday, he gave him the scroll containing the famous Hiraishin no Jutsu .

Honestly though, Naruto was grateful to both Jiraiya and Danzō. Jiraiya for saving himself from well… himself, and Danzō for training him in different arts of the shinobi. As terrible of a program ROOT is, they produce elite shinobi.

"Umm… Shinobi-san?" Asked a timid voice from his side. He poised his head in the persons general direction. He knew it was Mirajane, but just to let her know that he was paying attention to her, he turned his head.

"Mirajane-san." He said, "What can I do for you today." He noted that the girls heartbeat was faster today. It seemed like she was nervous about something. Many in the guild acted jittery when he was around, but Mira seemed like she was used to his behavior by now.

"Umm… I was talking to Lucy-chan…" She said quietly, "And I heard that your favorite dish is ramen. So I decided to make you a bowl." She said placing the bowl in front of the ninja. Shinobi looked at the bowl before turning his head back up to the girl. There was an awkward silence between the two of them from awhile.

"Umm… heh heh." Mira started nervously, "Well I might…" She stopped when she saw the man get up on his feet and bowed slightly to the woman.

"Thank you very much Mirajane-san." He said, "You are right, ramen is my favorite dish, so I thank you very much for being generous and making me a bowl." Everyone around the guild looked at the two in shock. They had never seen Shinobi act like this before. Mira's cheeks went slightly red before smiling.

"Your welcome Shinobi-san….. M-maybe when I have a little more time, we both can sit down to a bowl of ramen then?" She asked a little shyly. Shinobi just nodded his head towards the girl, getting the girl to smile a little more. Nodding back she rushed back to the kitchen to fulfill more of the guilds orders. Naruto stood there for a second thinking about what had just happened. Shikamaru was on the table, his tail swishing back and forth, one eye open.

"What's up with people now. I liked it better when you didn't talk to people. Talking to people is such a drag." He said before closing his eye. Naruto didn't know why Mira made the sudden decision to talk to him, but he didn't mind it. Maybe talking with her, he might just feel a little less guilty about what had happened 2 years ago.

Flashback no Justu

'I might have figured that Danzō-sama would have done something like this.' Naruto thought as he squared off in front of the leaf shinobi squad in front of him. They were obviously ANBU themselves. There were three of them. One had a bird mask while using some kind of crazy fuinjutsu that came off of his arm. Another had a cat mask, she had purple hair. And the leader of the group had a dog mask on, and gravity defying silver hair. Naruto looked at the three with some worry. These three were good. His ROOT team had already failed and fallend in battle. Naruto held onto the package of vital information that he had to get to Danzō. The other two ROOT operatives knew the importance of this package and sacrificed their lives so that Naruto might be able to make it. But it looked like they were about to have died in vain. Naruto thought that he was being deceptive with his emotional control, but it looked like Danzo had figured him out.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard it." The leader of the group said taking off his mask.

"Taicho?!" Said the cat-masked female operative before the man held out his hand to stop her.

"Kakashi Hatake." Naruto said evenly, "Why have you apprehended me and eliminated my team. We are both Leaf shinobi." Hatake scowled at that.

"No Uzumaki-san, we are not both Leaf Shinobi." He said, "You are a ROOT operative and do not answer to the Hokage or the 'Will of Fire'." Narrowing his eyes he said, "You have become a monster Uzumaki-san! Your father would have been ashamed at what you have become!" He growled out.

"Everything I do is for the sake of the village Hatake-san. It is for the safety of the human lives that live in the village." He said calmly his guard still up.

"Human lives?" Hatake laughed angrily, "You are just an ROOT figure. You don't even know what it means to be human anymore. I gave you the chance to save your comrades, but instead, you left them to die without even so much as to blinking. A friend of mine once said, 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' You Uzumaki-san are worse than trash." Kakashi's tightened his grip on his tanto. "I'm sorry Uzumaki-san, but I will not let you tarnish the name of your father because of what you have become. NEKO!" He shouted out as the cat-masked female leapt out with her katana drawn. Clones came from her body to confuse the boy, only to disappear in a cloud of smoke in the boy's vision. Naruto threw his tanto above his head and felt the katana hit his tanto hard.

Quaking underneath the strength of the ANBU, Naruto reached inside of himself and shot out a red-cloaked claw behind him, swiping away the bird-masked ANBU. Then Naurto felt something was off in the area around him. Neko gave one final push against the boys sword to throw him off balance she jumped back away from the boy. Naruto looked up and saw Hatake's Sharingan out and spinning widely. Naruto had never had to do battle with a Sharingan user, but he knew he would be at a disadvantage here. He went to move before the area around him glowed in a seal array. He tried, but couldn't move his feet. They were planted firmly in the ground.

'A trap seal?!' he thought as the air around him became distorted.

"I'm sorry Uzumaki-san. I failed both you and your father." Kakashi said sadly, "I hope in the next life you might come to forgive me. 'KAMUI'!" He shouted out before Naruto slowly disappeared into the vortex. Then everything was quite for a moment before Hatake sighed as he brought his headband back down over his eye. Seeing the stack of papers on the ground, he picked them up. "Let's return to base camp. I'm done with this." He said leaping off into the branches, his teammates following him.

End Flashback no Jutsu

"Hello Shinobi-san, Shikumaru-san. How are you today?" Asked another feminine voice.

"I was fine until a troublesome woman decided to disturb my rest." A certain cat grumbled out. A tickmark formed from Lucy's head.

"Yea, well all I see you doing is resting you lazy-ass cat!" She yelled out as animated lightings came out of her mouth.

"I am well Lucy-san." Shinobi said politely, lightly smacking the disrespectful cat on the head. "I take it your mission retrieving Macao was successful?" He asked getting a surprised look from the girl.

"You knew?" She asked wide-eyed. Shinobi nodded.

"Yesterday when Natsu stormed out of the guild hearing that Macao still hadn't returned to the guild, it was only logical that Natsu would go look for him. Then seeing your reaction to how Natsu grew up from Mirajane, I was guessing that you would have gone with him as well since I did not see you in the guild after that." He said getting a look of respect from the girl for his detective skills. "Plus, when you came in through the door, Macao was drapped over Natsu's shoulder." He finished getting Lucy to fall on her face.

'What a way to ruin a story.' Lucy thought before she got up again.

"So how was the mission?" He asked, getting a small surprised look from the girl before she sported a huge grin. She went into every little detail about the mission and how they had defeated the Vulcan who had possessed Macao. Naruto sat there listening to every word she said, along with a certain feline who had one eye open. When she was finished she noticed that Shinobi had his hands placed together underneath his chin supporting his head as if her were thinking. "I am surprised." He said after awhile. Lucy's eyes brightened.

"I know right?!" She said excitingly, "Who knew that he was so strong to defeat 19 of those monsters?"

"Not about that." Her trail of thought was interrupted by Shikamaru, "He means that he is surprised that Macao didn't beat them all." Lucy just stared at the cat in shock before looking at Shinobi who just nodded in conformation.

"B-b-but why?" She asked, "Natsu struggled against only one of those things before taking it down."

"The only reason why he probably struggled was because that beast had more power because it was in Macao's body." Shinobi said, "Macao is much stronger than that. He could take on a small army of Vulcan's if he truly wanted to." Lucy's eyes widened. "Macao is not only a very powerful mage, but he also has much experience. This is why I said that I am surprised that he was taken over. Even then, he should have been able to fight off the possession spell that Vulcan used." Shinobi finished.

"He's right." Shikamaru agreed, "Macao is one of the more experienced mages the in guild. It's surprising to see that a monster like that was able to take him out." Lucy felt a little bad for the guy.

"Hey now." She started waving her hands in front of her, "Don't you think that you're being a little harsh?" She asked them.

"No." Shikamaru said. "It's either be harsh and see the real picture, or be sympathetic and let people die." He finished getting a sort of nervous look from the celestial spirit mage. Shinobi sensed her apprehension.

"By the way, how are things coming along with you and your spirits?" He asked getting Lucy to blink before gaining a huge smile.

"Great!" She exclaimed before forming a sad smile on her face. "But after seeing how powerful both Natsu and Macao are, I am feeling like I am a little under qualified to be in the guild." Naruto looked at the girl.

"Then get stronger." He said causing Lucy to look up at the ninja, obviously not expecting that answer. "If you feel like you're not a good enough mage, get stronger. It's as simple as that. That's what both Natsu and Macao did. All members of the guild need to train every once in awhile to keep up their skills and become stronger." Lucy smiled softly at that. It was true, if she didn't want to feel like a burden anymore, then she was going to have to become stronger. Getting fired up, she was about to yell out something about getting stronger until she heard, "If you want, I could help you become stronger." Shinobi said getting an exasperated sigh from his feline companion. Lucy turned her head toward the ninja.

"Huh?" Was her initial response.

"I said, if you wanted, I could help you get stronger." Lucy looked at the ninja, never having imagined that he would have offered something like that. But thinking back on it, he was only a C-class mage. He wasn't really that powerful. Shikamaru must have seen something in her face that was reading this expression.

"As troublesome as it is," Shikamaru said, "Shinobi here is actually a great trainer. He was the one who got Cana ready for her S-class exams the last time around…. He was the only reason why she stood a chance actually." He finished before getting cuffed by the ninja. "What?! I try to help and here you go hitting me. You know what fine!" Wings grew from his back, "I'm going to go watch clouds then." With that he flew out of the guild leaving both Shinobi and Lucy there at the table.

"…Sooo…. Did you really train Cana for the S-class exam?" She asked curiously. Shinobi sighed.

"I gave her some advice in the beginning, then she demanded that I train with her. So yes, I guess I did a little." Lucy thought about his offer. She knew that Cana was a strong mage. She had read about some of the things she's done in Sorcerer Magazine. Well she had to start somewhere didn't she? She then grinned.

"Alright Shinobi-san, your on!" she said confidently, "I want you to make me the strongest you can." Shinobi grinned underneath his mask.

"Very well Lucy-san. I will meet you tomorrow morning then at 7:30 for your first day of training ok?" He asked getting a nod from the girl. Then digging through his armor he pulled out a book. Handing the book over to Lucy, she looked at him confused.

"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja?" She asked. Naruto nodded.

"The other day, you had mentioned that you had a passion for reading. I was wondering if you could read this and tell me what you thought of it." He said. Lucy felt something go off inside of her as she listened to what the ninja had said. He had actually listened to her. Something that apparently wasn't very common around here. Looking down at the book she noticed the authors name and gapped.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO READ THIS BOOK FOR YOU PERVERT!" She yelled chucking the book at the blondes head only for it to get scooped up by a tail from a cat. That didn't deter Lucy though. She then started shaking the man back and forth. "AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU WERE BEING A GENTLEMAN AND ONE OF THE MOST NORMAL GUYS IN THE GUILD, BUT IT TURNS OUT YOUR JUST A BIG FAT PERVERT!" She continued yelling at the man, who looked like his soul was starting to leave his body. Shikamaru, as amused as he was watching his partner get throttled like he was, decided to step in.

"Calm down Lucy." He said getting the girl to look at him. "This book is different from the rest of those books. It's not perverted at all like the Icha Icha series." The Icha Icha series had been published and was well known throughout the entire or Fiore. It was a very successful perverted series that was written a sage name Jiraiya. For that reason, Lucy recognized the author. Still not believing the cat she marched up to him.

"And why should I believe you?" She asked anger still in her eyes. Shikamaru sighed.

"Because that book was written by Shinobi's sensei." She blinked, "It was the very last thing that he gave him before he never saw him again. The fact that Shinobi is actually letting you read it is a huge deal. This book is like a treasure to him. This is the only copy that was ever made." He finished holding out the book with his tail as Lucy took the book away and stared at it.

'This book… is like a treasure to him?' She thought as she flipped through some of the pages. 'And he's letting me read it?' She blushed a little at the thought before turning back towards the man who was now on the floor, soul still leaving his body. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Shinobi-kun!" She cried out picking the man back up. Shinobi slightly shook his head while rubbing it with his hand.

"It's fine." He said, "I suppose, it's a normal response for a woman when she see's that author." Lucy blushed a little at the way she reacted. "I have a mission that I must do now, but I will stop by your place tomorrow at 7:30 for training ok?" He asked, getting a small nod from the girl, he beckoned Shikamaru to him and both of them left with a request in his hand. Lucy just stared after him, then a the book in her hands. She then let out a squeal of joy at the thought of reading this new book and ran out the door of the guild, book in hand. She never noticed the glare that she was getting from a certain brunette who was now chugging 3 barrels of alcohol at once.

The next morning came quickly as Lucy's alarm rang out causing the girl to stir from her sleep. Reaching over she shut off the device, letting out a large yawn while stretching out her body. 'Man, I'm tired.' She thought to herself. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before because she was up reading the book that Shinobi had lended her. It was amazing well written which surprised the girl seeing who the author was. This Naruto character was amazing. Almost like the perfect hero to her. He just never gave up looking for a way to break that curse. Lucy got up and went to the bathroom turning on the shower she stripped down and got in. After washing up she wrapped a towel around around herself before walking into her room where her eyes bugged out.

"MY ROOM!" She yelled out as she saw both Natsu and Happy pigging out on her furniture. Giving the pair a crescent kick to the faces, she yelled, "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Both cat and man rubbed their faces

"Owww…. Cause Mira told me that you got a new place…" He said Lucy still growling at him.

"She told you?" She asked, "So what?! Does that mean that you can just come in like that?!" She yelled pointing her finger at him, "Don't you know the phrase 'A hedge between keeps friendship green?! What you did is trespassing! A crime! You lack morals!"

"Hey… That hurts my feelings…" Natsu said.

"I'm the one being violated here!" Lucy replied. Getting ready to throw the dynamic duo out of her house she heard a knock at the door. She stomped to the door already irritated by one house guest. "WHAT?!" She yelled out swinging to door open widely. Shinobi stood there quietly for a second with Shikamaru on his head, before she recognized him.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked getting the girl to blush at her reaction.

"NO!" She yelled out, "Nononono! I'm sorry, but I just have an idiot in the house. Please come in." With that they both walked back in the house. Reaching the living room Natsu was exploring Lucy's new place before looking up.

"Shinobi?" He asked surprised. "What are you doing here?" He asked as Happy began to offer Shikamaru some fish. Shinobi was about to answer the boy when all of a sudden Lucy ran into the room grabbing both Natsu and Happy by their necks before shoving them out the door.

"Wellit'sbeengreattoseeyouguysolongf airwellwe'lltalklater!" She yelled out so fast that Shinobi could hardly understand what she said. Natsu on the other hand didn't get any of that before the door slammed in his face.

"…..Well that was rude." Natsu said to the door.

"Aye!" Said Happy.

"Whew!" Lucy let out a sigh, "Finally they're gone." She looked up only to see that both Shinobi and Skikamaru looking at her blankly. "Sorry about that." She said lightly blushing. "I don't really want anyone to know that I'm getting training. I want to surprise everyone with my abilities." She said wincing a little bit. "Is that ok?" She asked hesitantly.

"We're fricken ninja." Shikamaru said, "Deception of one's strength is a basic ninja skill. It causes your opponent to let their guard down and it gives you an easier time to take down a tougher opponent." Shinobi nodded in agreement. Then a thought came to Lucy's head.

"Wait." She said, "So does that mean that you're really not a C-class mage then?" She asked. Shinobi just turned around and walked out of the room.

"Let's get started he said." Leaving the girl in the room confused.

Soon Lucy found herself in the clearing of a nearby forest. She was a little nervous to say the least. She wondered what the man had in mind for training her magic. Mostly though she was giddy at the thought of being some powerful Celestial Mage, well known and famous throughout all of Fiore. She giggled at the thought of that until her thoughts were interrupted by the ninja in front of her.

"Alright." He said, "First off, I need to see how strong you are to begin with. We'll start with a light spar." Lucy nodded excitingly pulling out her key before Shinobi stopped her. "Without your spirits."

"What?! Why?!" She asked shocked that he thought she was going to go into battle without her friends.

"While it's true that celestial mages invoke powerful contracts with celestial spirits, what good is it if your celestial spirit can no longer defend you?" Lucy tilted her head in confusion. Shinobi sighed. "The main weakness of Celestial Mages is are that most of the time they can't defend themselves and rely too heavily on their spirits." A light clicked in Lucy's head. "For example, " Shinobi continued, "Before you came to our guild, I heard that you had your keys taken away from you and Natsu-san had to come and rescue you, is that correct." Lucy looked down ashamed.

"But that wasn't m-.." Shinobi held up a hand to stop her from continuing.

"I am not saying this to demean you or your abilities by any means." He said, "I'm just stating facts. If you were physically stronger or more adept to fight, you could've taken your keys back without any hassle whatsoever." Lucy thought about the comment for awhile before nodding her head.

"Yea, I guess your right." She said scratching the back of her head sticking out her tongue slightly.

"Also," Shinobi started again, "It also says what kind of Celestial Mage do you want to become as well." Lucy once again stared at the ninja in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"How do you view your Celestial Spirits Lucy?" Shinobi asked. "Tell me, are they just a source of your power that you can call upon? Or are they something else?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" She asked, "My Celestial Spirits are my friends. I would do anything for them." Lucy was a little angry at how Shinobi was already judging her. Maybe this was a bad idea to come out here. Shinobi just stared at the girl for a minute.

"Congratulations," He said getting the girl to blink, "You just passed my first test."

"What?" She asked.

"I wanted to see what your spirits meant to you. If you had said that they were only your tools or something along those lines, I wouldn't have trained you." He said getting Lucy to go wide eyed. "Celestial spirits are special beings, but that doesn't make them any less of a living thing that us. Lucy-san, your goal out here is to be able to establish a connection with your celestial spirits stronger than you can ever imagine. A celestial spirits power can also be affected by the power of the summoner as well." Lucy just gapped at Naruto, she had never heard of that before. But it all made sense. "Someone once told me," He continued, "That those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Lucy-san, I will make you strong enough so that you will be able to battle alongside your friends. If someone steals your keys again, you'll be able to kick their ass and take them back yourself." Shinobi said passionately. Both Lucy and Shikamaru just stared at the man.

"What a drag." Shikamaru said with a sigh, "I knew that being in that guild was going to affect you sometime. Your getting too emotional now. Troublesome. I liked it better when you were as stiff as a board." Lucy just giggled.

"Anyways," Shinobi said getting back on topic, "Lucy, I want to see the way you fight, so we are going to have that spar." Lucy nodded getting herself in what she thought was somewhat of a guarded stance, her hand on her bullwhip. "Shikamaru." He simply said.

"Man, do I have to?" He asked whiningly, "I would prefer to just sit here in the grass and watch these clouds." He said looking back up at the sky.

"I could be training strictly you." Shinobi said getting a shiver from the cat.

"Damn sadist." Shikamaru mumbled getting up and walking across the clearing across from Lucy.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" She yelled, "I'M NOT FIGHTING A CAT!" Shikamaru just rubbed his poor little cat ears.

"Damn woman. This is why fighting women are such a drag." He said.

"Lucy-san, I personally trained Shikamaru in combat so that I don't have to worry about him if we are in battle. Shikamaru." He ended. Then the cat standing before her fizzled out and in its place stood a man around her age. His face looked like it had on an irritated expression. He has fairly long jet-black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, There were studs now in both of his ears. He was wearing a green flak jacket, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals, and green lined mesh armor on his wrists and ankles. On one of his sleeves, there was the same headband that Shinobi had over his eyes, but it looked like the headband was sewn into the fabric. He also was equipped with a tantō, horizontally strapped onto the back of his flak jacket via a brown strap. He wore a belt with some bags attached to it around his waist. Lucy just gapped at the man in front of her.

"Shikamaru has learned an advanced type of Caster Magic call Transformation." Shinobi said. "It will be easier for you to fight his when he isn't a tiny runt." Shikamaru let out a tisk for the comment. "This will help me evaluate your skill in combat. Defense only Shika." Shinobi finished.

"Tch… How troublesome.." He answered.

"Ok Lucy-san." Shinobi said, "Please attack him…. And anything goes." He finished jumping off to the side of the clearing letting the two in the middle have their space.

"That may be a fancy transformation," Lucy said confidently, "But your still a cat. You better be ready." Shikamaru just looked at the girl lazily before huffing and turning to the side putting his hands in his pockets.

"Whatever, just hurry up and attack." He said getting the girl to growl at him.

"FINE!" She yelled out grabbing her whip and flicking it out at him. The transformed man lazily dodged the attack by jumping over the whip without even taking his hands out of his pockets. Lucy once again struck, only the Shikamaru to lazily dodge once again. As this went on, Lucy just got more angry at the 'cat', and started to swing her whip wildly at him.

"Damn…It….You…Stupid….Cat…. HOLD STILL!" She yelled out, with every word swing her whip around madly at Shikamaru.

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru sighed, "Why would I do that? I don't want to get hit with that. Maybe Happy was right. Maybe you really are stupid." He said causing the girl to go into a mad frenzy of whipping and cursing. On the side lines, Shinobi was carefully studying her movements.

'Other than being very accurate with that whip, there's not much to it. She knows nothing of physical combat.' He sighed before clearing his voice. "Disarm her." He said. Before Lucy knew it, Shikamaru grabbed the part of the bullwhip when she had swung it and gave a sharp tug.

"H-H-HEY!" Lucy cried out as she stumbled forward and fell on the ground. "What'd you do that for you damn cat?!" She yelled out as Shikamaru threw her whip away.

"Shinobi wants you to attack me in hand-to-hand combat now." He said simply, Lucy looking at him blankly before registering what he had said.

"I can't do that!" She cried out, "If I couldn't hit you with my whip, how the hell am I suppose to hit you with my hands?!" Shikamaru just shrugged.

"Dunno, don't care." He said simply.

"Shikamaru, light offense." Shinobi said. Lucy was startled when Shikamaru started dashing towards her. Taking a large swing, Shikamaru threw a right hook at the girl only for her to dodge it. Shikamaru brought up his knee to hit the girl in the gut, but Lucy once again dodged it by flipping backwards.

'Now this is interesting.' Thought Shinobi as he leaned in placing his hands together watching the fight escalade. Granted Shikamaru was taking it easy on the girl, but Lucy was pulling some surprising maneuvers out there dodging his friends fists and feet. After awhile though, he saw that Lucy was tiring out quickly, that's when he held out his hand.

"Stop." He said causing Lucy to fall to the ground panting for her life while Shikamaru just huffed and put his hands back in his pockets. Shinobi came out to them in the clearing.

"That was better than I had hoped." He said causing the panting girl to look up at him. "Your accuracy with your whip is impeccable."

"But…pant..pant… I didn't hit him once with it… ." She huffed out.

"That's just because Shikamaru is faster than you." Shinobi replied. "You also let him get in your head and lose any bearing of the fight that you were in. Shikamaru has a unique hand-to-hand style. It's meant to aggravate the enemy so that they are bound to make mistakes. By constantly looking bored and uninterested in the fight, this causes the enemy to stop thinking clearly, leaving openings for him to exploit on. Now your hand-to-hand is terrible." Lucy sweatdropped.

"You could've been a little nicer about it." She pouted.

"I have a combat style though that I think you will excel in though." He said getting the girl excited. "The thing that surprised me though, was your acrobatic skill and ability to dodge." Lucy gained a victorious smirk on her face.

"HA!" She yelled pointing at Shikamaru, "Take that you damn cat!"

"Tchh… You do realize that this was only a light spar don't you?" he said causing Lucy to blink, "And the fact that it was hand-to-hand, that's my worse combat ability you know." He finished with a smirk of his own when he saw the girl squatting on the ground pointing her fingers together crying anime tears.

"Enough." Shinobi said getting both of their attention. "This was an evaluation for Lucy-san. For now, we will start with physical conditioning. Then Lucy-san, I will show you a proper way of fighting and introduce you to some katas." Lucy blanched.

'Physical conditioning?!' She thought worriedly. She could have sworn that she saw Shikamaru flash her an evil smirk. Naruto took out a large scroll from behind him and unfurled it.

"What is that?" Lucy asked curiously as she saw the symbols on the scroll. They weren't any like she had recognized.

"This, "He started as he started tracing his finger across the different symbols reading which on he wanted, "Is a sealing scroll. Think of it as a little longer way to do requip magic." He said finally finding the one that he wanted. He placed his palm on the paper and let out some chakra, causing there to be a burst of smoke. Lucy let out an "eep!" in fright. As the smoke cleared, she saw that there laying on the paper, was another scroll. Picking up the scroll, Naruto handed it to her. "I want you to study this. These are the katas and different techniques that you will be learning." Opening the scroll, she looked at it and saw that there were pictures of certain stances here and there. But everything else was covered in those strange symbols.

"But how can I read this? I have no idea what it says." She said expectantly to the ninja. Shinobi shrugged.

"Get Levy-san to help you out with that part. I don't have time to do that." He said. A tickmark formed on Lucy's head.

"What the hell kind of teacher are you?" She yelled pointing at the man before he grabbed her wrist. "Huh?" She said. A light then glowed from his hand. She yanked her hand back and saw another one of those weird symbols on her wrist before the light died down and the mark disappeared.

"What was that?" She asked in wonder.

"Let me see your other wrist." He said. Silently she held the other out and he placed another symbol on it. Then he did the same on her ankles. She still could swear that Shikamaru was snickering at her behind her back. When he was done with the marks, he stood back and put his hands in a weird symbol. "FUIN!" He said causing the symbols to glow on her body.

'They're beautiful.' She thought at she stared at the symbols until she felt a huge weight being placed on her body and she fell like a stone to the Earth. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?!" She cried out, Shinobi walking up to her.

"Gravity seals." He said simply, "Right now you are around 3 times your body weight." Her eye's bugged out. "First we will start you off with a light jog, then push-up, sit-ups, pull-ups. Then we'll have you run through the first of the katas. Up on your feet Lucy-san." He said. Shikamaru couldn't hold it in anymore, he just started busting up laughing at the poor girls predicament. She shot him an evil glare for laughing at her misfortune.

"You too, 'FUIN!'" He yelled out. Shikamaru just blinked at he registered the words and let out a yelp as he too fell to the Earth, causing a crater to be formed.

"Ha ha. Serves you right jerk." Lucy said sticking her tongue out at him. Shikamaru, grumbling curses under his breath shakily got up to his feet, only to fall down again when his transformation let out.

"Damn." He said, "Everytime he adds a new weight, I can't concentrate on the transformation anymore." He grumbled to himself.

"That's enough you two." Shinobi called out, "Unless you want to double your workload, get moving." Both grumbling, they both started out jogging. Shikamaru guided Lucy on the path that they were to take.

"Ugh…." Groaned Lucy as she let her head fall on top of the bar, "Damn sadist." She grunted out. She had barely made it through that workout. Light training her ass. That was hours on end of torture.

"Oh my." Said Mira, "Lucy are you ok? You look exhausted." She said her voice filled with concern. Lucy just smiled at the barmaid.

"I'm fine Mira. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Mira just looked at her before nodding her head. A thought came to Lucy's head. "By the way Mira, do you know anyone named Levy here?" She asked.

"Levy McGarden?" Mira replied smiling, "Yea her and her teammates just came back from their mission. They're right over there." Lucy followed her gaze until she saw a girl with blue hair hanging our two other boys. Her hair had the top cut short and the bottom longer, and was tied up with a colorful bandana around her head. She was wearing white shorts with a short sleeveless orange shirt with a black vest over it.

The boy next to her was a slim young man of average height. He had a sharp face, a prominent, flat and defined nose pointing downwards. He was wearing an open, light-brown coat with yellowish fur trimmings on its edges and sleeves, which reached down below his elbows. Below it was a high-collared purple shirt, with its collar mostly left open, which was sometimes seen left hanging over the checkered belt below it, with a rectangular buckle, and others tucked inside the buggy dark pants covering Jet's legs, in turn tucked inside dark boots. The most distinctive piece of his attire was probably the fancy, extremely high hat matching his coat, with a large brim and fur trimmings over its entire length, at regular intervals, plus a large furry ball on its top.

The other boy that was there was a tall, slim young man with black hair kept in an unusual, distinctive hairstyle, with a tuft of hair on top of his head jutting upwards and then curving frontwards,. His hair extends in a rounded form on his forehead, and was cut on both sides of Droy's head in a spiraling motif. He had dark eyes and thin dark eyebrows pointing downwards at their outer edges. He was wearing a simple white shirt, green checkered pants, and dark shoes with lighter soles. He also was sporting a pair of distinctive belts crossing his chest, each passing over one of his shoulders.

Lucy looked back to Mira, "Thanks Mira." She said waving to the barmaid and making her way over to the new girl. Limping slightly due to the gravity seals that were still on her she made her way and tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Um… Excuse me." She said to the trio gaining their attention. The other blue-haired girl lit up.

"Oh your that new girl who just joined? Lucy right?" She asked getting a nod from the girl. "Nice to meet you." She said with a smile. "I'm Levy, and these two guys over here are Jet and Droy." She pointed to the boys over her shoulder.

"Nice to meet you." Jet said smiling.

"Wow your cute." Hearts started coming from Droy's eyes. Lucy waved at the two.

"It's nice to meet you too." She said smiling. Levy then got up.

"So what can I do for you Lucy?" She asked. Lucy then took out a scroll from her pouch and handed it to the girl.

"I was told that you could help me translate this scroll. It's in another language and I can't quite seem to get it." She said.

"Really?!" She cried out excitingly, "I would love to! Wow this sounds fun!" She took the scroll from Lucy and unraveled it out on the table. She gazed at the characters on the paper for a few seconds before she showed a confused look on her face. "Lucy…." She started, "Where did you get this scroll?" She asked.

"Shinobi-san gave…eep!" She clasped her hands over her mouth quickly. Damn it, she wanted to keep that a secret. Levy's, Droy's, and Jet's eyes all bugged out at her answer.

"No way." Jet said, "You actually talked to that guy?" He asked. Lucy just looked at him.

"Of course." She replied, "He's really not that bad of a guy, just really quite that's all." She said. Levy looked at her.

"Wow." She said, "I can't believe that he gave you this." She furrowed her brow. "But where did he get this. I have never before seen these symbols before in my life." She said.

"So does that mean you can't translate it?" Lucy said dejectedly. Levy shook her head.

"Of course I can! It's just that I'm just surprised that he had something like this. By the looks of it though, it looks like it's some sort of manual on a fighting technique." She looked at Lucy, "Why would he give you something like this?" She asked. Lucy shifted around nervously.

"Listen, you gotta keep this a secret if I tell you guys ok?" All three of the group nodded their head. "Shinobi-kun is training me to become stronger." She said getting shock looks from the three.

"He's really training you?" Droy asked, "But he's not even that strong. He's like a C-rank mage or something like that." Jet nodded his head in agreement. Lucy looked down embarrassed.

"If he's only a C-class mage, then I must look pathetic." She said, "That damn cat of his whipped my ass left and right today." All three blinked at the blonde before falling over hard. Lucy puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "It's not that funny guys!" She cried out

"Haha, you mean that Shikamaru, haha, beat you in a fight?" Jet laughed out. Lucy got a tick mark on her head.

"Well, if I had my celestial spirits, then it would've been a different story." She yelled out. The three started to calm down from their little laugh.

"Then why didn't you?" Droy asked still chuckling.

"Shinobi said that there might be situations where I can't summon my spirits, or if I get my keys taken away from me." Lucy replied.

"That actually makes snese." Levy said nodding her head.

"So Shinobi said that I should learn this style of fighting to defend myself. The only thing is that I have no idea what it says. Shinobi said he was too busy to translate, so he suggested that I come talk to you about it." Levy's eyes shot out wide.

"He suggested me?" She said with shock. Lucy just nodded her head.

"Yea…. Why what's the big deal?" She asked.

"Well, you see…. No one really knows anything about him." Levy said. "It's just surprising that he knows anything about me."

"Yea, we're not even sure if he really likes the guild or not." Droy said.

"I think he does." Lucy said surprising the trio. "Earlier today he said to me something pretty profound. Like 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' I don't think that he would have said that if he didn't think this guild was his comrades." The three looked at Lucy and blinked. Their respect for the ninja rose just a little.

"…I had no idea." Levy said quietly, both Jet and Droy nodded with her.

"You should come with me sometime and try to get to know him." Lucy said getting surprised looks from the three. "I think it would be good for you guys to actually get to know the real Shinobi." All three looked down.

"But, we've known him for so long." Levy said quietly, "To just get up and say hey, lets hang out, it's kinda weird don't you think?" It was true, Shinobi had always really been in the guild since she got there, but she hardly even heard the guy talk. He was always in the back of the guild just silently looking at a wall or out a window. She had heard that he wasn't that great of a mage, but that really didn't matter to the girl. She was nervous though, the few times that she talked to him. It was more apprehension more than anything though. He was never rude to her, and settled some of the disputes at the guild….Well that wasn't right she laughed in her head. There was that one time when both Natsu and Gray were at each others throats again throwing punch after punch at each other. Shinobi just cam in the middle of them, picked them up and placed them away from each other. Everyone at the guild that day were shocked at his actions. Then Shinobi continued to show both Natsu and Gray how to execute a proper punch and kick. The entire guild at that point face-vaulted on the floor. Lucy shrugged.

"Better now than never right?" Lucy asked, "Come on, I'll get you guys to meet him sometime. He has a lot more of those scrolls too from the looks of things." This peeked Levy's interest a little. Thinking about it, looking back at both Jet and Droy, who both just smiled and nodded, she turned back to Lucy with a grin of her own.

"Alright, we're in." She said smiling, "Now, lets get this thing translated then!" She said putting on her gale force reading glasses, all parties gathered around her and watched her use her magic to find out what kind of techniques Shinobi used.

End

By far the longest chapter that I have ever written. I appreciate your guy's votes, and this is the winner of the poll. I hope that you guys like this little rendition of the Fairy Tail Naruto crossover. If not, meh, just move onto another story. I was going to keep going with this chapter actually until the beginning of the Lullaby arc, but I wanted to consult with you guys once again about the fighting style that Lucy uses. I want her to be hitting and smacking people left and right with her spirits, so let me know what you guys think. I have one in mind, but it might just piss people off, so I thought I would get some other ideas.

As for the parings right now, just in case you couldn't tell, Naruto and Lucy. But I'm planning on making this a multi, so I'll put up a poll to see who else should join. I'm only going to add like 2 more girls though to the pairings.

As for the beginning of this story, I will have to say it does resemble another writers beginning, but only until Lucy introduces herself to Naruto. I asked the writer if he was cool with that, but he never responded to me. I think he might have stopped using this site. Anyways, everything after that though is my work.

I really appreciate those who have reviewed my other stories, I hope this is living up to your expectations. Please no flames on stories. Suggestions are always welcomed though. And one other thing, if you're a guest on the site and ask a question in a review, I can't message you and answer that question. And I'm probably going to forget to answer your question in these little things at the beginning and end. So just login and review or pm me.

Also I know that Kakashi hadn't learned Kamui until Shippuden, I just kinda sped up the process of his training in that regard. It's fanfiction guys, not factfiction. Anyways.

Beta is needed for this story as well if anyone is interested. I got one for Shinobi turns Pirate. Anyways thanks a lot guys. I hope you liked it, now I have to get back to my lame studying life. Later.