Chapter 12: Demonic Takeover

"I'm glad you were all able to make it home safely my children. This act by the Lord of Turtles require further investigation and will not go unpunished! I will not have my children come to harm!" Master Makarov shook with rage in the Guildhall after hearing the tale of wizards and shinobi.

Kakashi was as cautious of this wizard as he was Gildarts. The power that came from him was insane. That power, coupled with his short stature, reminded him a lot of the Tsuchikage.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened sir, if I had known that you had dragon slayers, I would have left Naruto back in the village."

"No need for the formalities young man, you may call me Makarov!"

"Alright then, well we thank you for your hospitality Makarov. I hope you don't mind if we stay in town for the time being. We're waiting on updates from Lady Tsunade on our next move."

Makarov took a sip from his beer, "Of course my boy. Lucy has offered to let Sakura stay with her, and you boys can stay at the local inn. As a gesture of good faith, form this moment you'll be honorary members of Fairy Tail."

Kakashi bowed deeply, "We thank you deeply for you, hospitality."

"Oh yeah! Say that again dragon breath! I dare you!"

"You wanna fight demon boy!"

Just like that, a Fairy Tail brawl had begun. Elfman and Gray got involved when Naruto and Natsu started knocking over drinks.

Meanwhile, the girls were watching from the sidelines.

"So, it's always this crazy then," said Sakura. She had a half mind to slap Naruto up the head, but he seemed to be having fun for once.

"Yeah…this guild is full of psychopaths…" replied Lucy.

"It's what makes the guild such a fun place!" exclaimed Lisanna. Sakura had only briefly heard about Lisanna's history, and how she had been thought dead.

"I don't know if fun is the word I'd use for these ruffians," said Carla.

"At least the booze is cheap!" added Cana.

"Well, I kinda like it. It's definitely a lot less formal than back home. In fact-"

Whatever Sakura was going to say next was cut off by a naked Gray slamming her in the face.

"Gray my darling!"

Naruto was frozen in fear at what he had just done, I'm a dead man…

"Naruto, you idiot!"

Sakura stomped over to her teammate and grabbed him by his shirt collar with an arm, lifting him into the air.

"If you pull one more stunt like that, I'm going to clobber you! You're embarrassing us in front of the wizards!"

"Sorry, Sakura!"

Just as Sakura was about to accept his apology, she got slammed by a thrown Elfman. The big guy had been throwing down with the rest of the guild when Natsu pushed him over a barrel. Just like that Sakura Haruno, with a temper, she inherited from her master, joined in the brawl.

"Yeah, this chick's a real man!"

"What did you just call me?"

"Sakura! Take it easy! It's a compliment!"

"Buzz off Naruto! I'm going to show this man what it means to be a kunoichi!"

"Oh yeah, then prove it!"

Elfman placed his elbow on a nearby table, "A manly match of arm wrestling!"

Sakura locked her hand with his, "You're on big guy!"

Meanwhile in the Village Hidden in the Leaves…

Yamato and Sai had arrived only a short while before Gildarts ended up strolling through the front gate of the village. He had been escorted to the Hokage's office with the rest of his motley group of travelling companions.

"So, you're the legendary Gildarts. Jiraiya had a lot of things to say about you," Tsunade said while reading over the report that Yamato and Sai had written up.

"I hope they were good," replied Gildarts, rubbing the back of his head.

"For the most part. Didn't say how you lost that arm of yours though."

"That was a dragon named Acnologia. He's the same dragon that almost destroyed our entire guild seven years ago."

"I see, well thank you for bringing this to my attention. I've already arranged for a team to begin scouting the Land of Turtles. Trying to manipulate the Village into a war like this…right after our battle with Pain, this is not a coincidence."

There was a knock at Tsunade's door. Without waiting for permission, it opened and in walked the rest of the rookie nine, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame.

"Reporting and ready Lady Hokage," said Shikamaru.

"Good, Shikamaru you're in charge. You're to escort the sand ninja to their Lord Kazekage at the border of the Land of Turtles. I want you to then work with them and scout out what's been going on," Tsunade turned to Sai and Yamato, "I want you two to stay here and continue rebuilding the village. With this team out, and the one I sent to join Team Kakashi, the village is going to need all the defence it can get."

"You sent out another team to Team Kakashi?"

"That's correct Choji. Team Guy is on the move to contact Kakashi and bring a message to Master Makarov."

"What do you want with gramps?" asked Gajeel. The shinobi had utterly forgotten about their visitors amid their planning.

"A request to help us. This affects him too."

"I can give you a reply right now. Any Feudal Lord, evil nation or dark shinobi who wants to wage war with Fairy Tail will learn to regret it. Me, Lily and the shrimp will go with your boys. Call it an advance force," Gajeel replied with a toothy grin. Levy and Lily nodded in affirmation.

"I thank you for your assistance then. Understand though, if you are joining my shinobi, you follow Shikamaru's orders. If you can't keep up, that's it. Do I make myself clear?" When the wizards nodded, she turned to the rest of the squad, "You'll leave first thing tomorrow at dawn. Now Gildarts, I want to talk to you privately."

As the shinobi and wizards filed out of the building, Shikamaru gestured for the rest of the squad to gather around him. He then walked over to the mages.

"It's a drag, but it looks like I'm in charge of this operation. That means that I need to be able to strategise with the information I'm given which includes whatever you three you can do. Give me the rundown, no holding back," he said.

Levy was the first to speak, "Alright then, my magic is called solid script. It's word magic…that well…perhaps I'd better show you…"

"Solid Script: Iron!"

The word iron dropped down in front of them, wholly made of substantial chunks of iron. Gajeel picked it up and quickly started to eat it. The ninja watched on in awe.

"Gajeel is an iron dragon slayer. That means he uses potent spells surrounding the element of iron, as well the ability to eat it to regain stamina, and me" said Panther Lily who transformed into his larger form, "I can take this appearance for a small amount of time and fly. I'm quite capable with a blade."

With that, he poofed back into his much less intimidating form. Shikamaru noticed the blade strapped to his back grew and shrank with him.

"Alright then, so we got a reliable flying messenger, a versatile resource creator and an explosive powerhouse," Shikamaru said, already starting to formulate strategies in his head. He was about to head home when Gajeel stopped him.

"Hey! Fair's fair! We told you what we can do, now you tell us about all your flashy abilities!"

Shikamaru turned to face him and nodded, "It's a drag, but ok. I can manipulate people's shadows to make them do what I want, I –"

"And I can grow myself to large sizes and expand my body. I can also roll super fast like a boulder!"

"I can send my mind into others to take control!"

Ino and Choji were both excited at the prospect of this new adventure. Ino wanted to see cute new wizard boys, and Choji wanted to try the food. After them Kiba, Hinata and Shino stepped forward.

"I work with my dog Akamaru here to pull off some crazy combo moves," said Kiba flashing his fangs.

"I have an entire swarm of insects living inside of my body that feed of chakra," added Shino quietly.

"I…umm…I fight with a special martial art passed through my clan…that works with my eyes," finished Hinata.

"That's insane! You guys have such interesting ways to use magic! Bugs and dogs and mind control! That's so cool! I can't wait till tomorrow!" said Levy.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, "Don't know why this whole thing's going to be a drag. I'm going home to get some sleep, and I think you all should too."

The sand shinobi started walking back to their hotel while the rest of the shinobi started on their way home. Levy, Gajeel and Lily decided to wait for Gildarts.

Back at Fairy Tail…

"You're so manly!" screamed Elfman. Sweat dripped profusely from his brow, and the veins on his forehead were popping out more with every second.

"You're pretty tough yourself big guy," replied Sakura, "but I ain't losing yet. Not when womenkind is depending on me!"

Sakura threw her all behind the final push, "CHA!"

Just barely managing it with one last explosive push, Sakura Haruno beat Elfman in an arm-wrestling competition.

"Way to go Sakura! I knew you would win!"

"Wow, Elfman! You got beaten by a girl?"

"Shut up Natsu! She's the manliest girl you'll ever meet!"

"Nice job! One more victory for girl power!"

"Thanks, Lucy. I could use a glass of water though."

Sakura walked over to the bar where Mirajane had already prepared an ice-cold glass for her. She gave her thanks to Mira as Naruto walked over. Mira, who was about to bring food to another table, accidentally brushed hands with the blond shinobi. Her face contorted into horror and the food fell from her hand. Her body staggered away, and she had to catch herself on the bar.

"Mira are you ok?"

As she caught her breath, Mirajane Strauss noticed the crowd that surrounded her, "Yes I'm ok now," she looked to Naruto, "I'm sorry about that. I was caught off guard, but I'll be ok now."

Naruto nodded once, the movement tense.

"What happened?" asked Sakura.

"You saw him, didn't you?" said Kakashi, ignoring the rest of the crowd.

"No, I only felt it. All that hatred and malice," Mirajane looked at Naruto, "You must be one of the toughest shinobi alive to put up with all that."

Naruto smiled while shaking his head, "It's not all me. It's because I have good friends standing beside me," Sakura rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I am happy to hear that young man. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a family to fall back on. Even if you walk by yourself, you'll never walk alone. That's what will make you truly great. Now hold your head high boy and know that you'll always be welcome to the Fairy Tail Guild!"

Makarov's words touched the shinobi, and they all raised their glasses high. That was a night of partying that will never be equalled at the Fairy Tail Guildhall. I night so fantastic that trying to describe it wouldn't be possible.

Later that Night at the Strauss Household…

"Hey Mira, are you going to be ok?" Lisanna asked from the other room. Mirajane had been acting strange for most of the night. Even now she held her head as if she was in pain.

"Yeah, I'll be ok! Just get Elfman to bed ok?"

"Alright…well take of yourself and don't worry about work tomorrow. I'll tell everyone you're not feeling well…"

"Thanks, Lisanna!"

Mirajane fell into bed then. She had bumped into Naruto throughout the night, and she would like to say it was by accident. She had felt his power and…it was intoxicating. She could feel the demonic power in her, waiting for a takeover spell. She was terrified, but kind of excited…