They could have been back in Konoha. Sasuke watched Naruto and Hinata chatting below a tree, a picnic spread out between the two. Outside the park the main street of the village teemed with life as the people went about their daily lives. If it wasn't for the faces of the dead walking Sasuke would have thought it pleasant. Instead he forced himself to watch as Shikamaru chatted to Iruka, a tiny baby Jiraiya running down the street, a store that he was positive was an ichiraku clone. It made him sick.

They were all fake. Fake bodies with fake minds. And inside them all was the foul chakra that had destroyed his friends. That and something else. This magic was not chakra, and Naruto would not tell him how he had created it.

It was time to investigate.

S-Class quests were hardly different from the normal sort, Sasuke had decided. The monsters were slightly stronger and the locations more remote, but other than that, they were quite similar to the upper A-rank. He had heard about quests ranked for their political strife, but he was not touching those with a ten foot pole, politics was never worth the money.

The quest he was returning from had been of the former kind. The monster had been large but lumbering, its great strength useless as Sasuke flowed around its sweeping attacks before piercing its heart with a well timed burning thrust.

He was looking forward to a rest. Since Gildarts had set off on his 100 year quest the month before he and Laxus had been picking up the slack, and the workload just increased as they did so well. Really it would be a relief when the S-Class exams came round again, they could use another hand.

He made good time back, arriving before sunset and headed back to the guild to grab some food.

The guild was as loud and boisterous as usual. He returned the nods and waves of several members as he made his way to the bar.

"Oy Sasuke! Over here!" Cana was sat in her usual spot, a beer in hand and a plate of fries in front of her. Sasuke pulled up a stool alongside her, quickly stealing a few chips from her plate as she took a swig from her drink. "Your back soon, i swear you only left for your quest this morning"

"That was two days ago Cana. Have you been drunk the entire time?"

"Hic, maybe" She grinned at him.

Sasuke sighed and turned to the bar maid to order his own meal and drink, taking the beer given and draining it in one, receiving another straight away, the service was excellent if nothing else.

"I would have thought you would be training for the S-Class exams? Try and get past the first stage this time"

This sombered her slightly and she sat her mug down with more force than strictly necessary, "Why? It's not like i have a chance at winning. Erza or Mira will win this year, and I'm not getting in the middle of that cat fight."

"Well not with that attitude. There's your first problem straight away"

"I'm not even sure if i'll be chosen this year, Levy has become a real monster recently, she may be picked over me"

That was a fair point. Sasuke looked over to where Levy had her head deep in a book. Ever since he had introduced her to basic chemistry she had become five times more dangerous, there were few things less destructive than a puddle of water and some Cesium.

They were interrupted before they could continue by the master, who had hopped up on the bar in front of them, his own drink in hand.

"Yo Sasuke. Welcome back. Mission complete i assume? Good, i have a little job for you, if your not busy?"

"Depends on what you want, i was planning on just relaxing for a week or two"

"A rest! But Sasuke we have so many jobs for you, if you take a rest it's all going to be on Laxus! Then he'll complain. Then I'll have to bribe him to work more!" The master was begging now, though his attempts of using puppy eyes was not helping his cause with Sasuke. "Besides my idea IS a way to reduce your workload"

That got Sasuke's attention, enough that he actually put down his drink to show he was listening.

"I want you to take Erza and Mira on an S-Class with you. The exams will be held after you get back and i'm thinking we make two new members. The ranks are quite thin at the moment no one passed for years before you and Laxus did."

"So what do you say, babysit the girls on a quick mission to show them the ropes then the chance to rest when those two takeover afterwards. You know Erza's work ethic after all, and im sure if you challenged Mira to keep up with her she'd try to overtake."

Sasuke considered the offer. On one hand he could offload all his quests on to the two eager newbies, on the other he would have to put up with the two fighting each other for a whole mission. But he could stop going on these useless quests which didn't even require his skill level. Plus if he didnt he would just be nagged by Mira till she became S-Class anyway. That decided it.

"Fine, but i get to choose the mission"

"Within reason, no choosing a 5 year quest to try and kill them off" The master joked.

Sasuke glared at the tiny man, then got up and walked over to the staircase. "If i do this i'm having a months break when they turn S-class"

"Two weeks!"

"Three"

"Done"

The deal set Sasuke headed up determined to find a nice simple mission, hopefully one with rail connection to the start point, no way was he putting up with them for a full journey.

As the trio's journey dragged into its seventh hour Sasuke considered Suicide. That would at least give him ten minutes peace while he revived.

It had all been going so well, he found a nice mission on the coast, just an hour away from Hargeon by train. Mira and Erza had even been pleasant for the first hour as they were too excited by the mission to fight each other.

Then the train broke down. Then the bandits attacked, though that was probably the high point of the day. Then the two girls complained about how to deal with their new prisoners. So now he was travelling on the slowest moving train ever, with two arguing girls in a rear carriage filled with tied up bandits who stunk to high heaven. It was times like this he wished he could die.

Thankfully the journey was almost over, he could see the lights of the town on the horizon and smell the salt of the sea in the air. Even the two terrors had calmed slightly, all of them looking forward to a good night's sleep.

"So what's the plan Sasuke?" Mira asked, "Where are we staying tonight?"

"No idea. I thought we would have got there hours ago so i thought we might be done in a day. Now though, its your mission, im just babysitting. You tell me the plan."

"I know a rather lovely place in town" Erza piped up, clearly excited by the opportunity of rest, "It has a spa, soft beds and they make the best cake in town, we should go there straight away!"

"Heh, typical" Mira spat, quickly drawing a furious gaze from Erza, "I say we push on and find these guys straight away, i want to crack some heads. Best place to do that will be in a bar. So let's go get a drink and see what we can find out, if nothing happens we can just get a room there."

"I guess finishing quickly would be good. The less time spent with you the better."

"Why you!" Mira lunged for Erza who met her halfway and they fell to the ground in a flurry of fists.

Sasuke left them to their fight, it wasn't his job to keep them safe from each other. As far as plans went Mira's was the better, even Erza could admit that, and a drink sounded perfect after this journey from hell.

"I see a place now" The train was already pulling into the station, the town not being very large made it obvious that the one Inn in town was right in front of them. Mira and Erza changed the direction of their fight, pushing and pulling each other as they attempted to continue hitting each other and look out the window at the same time.

Out the window was one long street with the majority of the buildings in the town lined up along it. Dead ahead of them was the one establishment which remained open at this time of night, large open windows spilled light onto the empty streets and raucous music could be faintly heard even from inside the moving train.

"Well, if we are going to find the deadbeats of the town, it will be there"

Mira nodded in agreement to Erza's words. "Looks like a fun place"

"Enough" Sasuke interrupted before Erza could respond and start the fight again. "You two can head over now, I'll deal with the bandits and meet you there. Find out what you can or book us some beds, I'll see you soon"

The two nodded before quickly departing out of the window of the train which was crawling to a halt. Sasuke turned to the bound captives, noticing one of them was awake and watching him.

"That wasn't a good idea was it?" The bandit nodded.

"You reckon the place will be standing by the time i get there?" The prisoner slowly shook his head.

"Yeah me too. Meh. Not my problem"

By some miracle the bar was still standing by the time Sasuke arrived. Although the music had stopped and had been replaced by the sounds of a cheering crowd. Inside he found exactly what he thought he would, Erza and Mira rolling around on the floor trying to punch the lights out of each other.

Sasuke ignored them completely and headed to the bar, sitting down in front of the barman who was rather anxiously watching as the two girls rolled around on his floor.

"Can i get a drink please"

"Hello?"

Sasuke was completely ignored as the barman leaped across the bar headed towards the fight as the two rolled into a table, upending it and spilling drinks everywhere. He sighed and was about to stand up to break the fight up when a bottle of Sake was placed in front of him.

"Here, that should keep you happy till that idiot has finished cleaning up"

Sasuke looked up to find a large man smiling down on him.

"Welcome to town, don't think i've ever seen you around before, what brings you here stranger?"

Sasuke took the bottle, popping the lid and taking two large chugs before answering, "Rumours" He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a cutout from a newspaper and placing it on the bar, "7 disappearances in the last month alone from this town and its surroundings, i've been paid to find and retrieve them"

"Hmm good thing that" The man took the bottle back to have a drink himself, "It's been a right nasty business that, one of my own friends daughter got taken a few weeks back, he's been mad with grief since"

"Really, any idea who could be responsible? I've only begun my investigation so any help is appreciated"

"Your better off asking him then. I'd leave it for the morning though he'll be drunk by now, and all the worse for it. You'll find him in the house two from the end, Barden's the name, he'll be your best chance for info in this town"

"Thank you, you've been very helpful" Sasuke rose from his seat and strode across the room to where the two girls were still fighting. Reaching out he grabbed a handful of hair in each hand and tugged, instantly separating the two as they were lifted from the ground by their hair, each crying from the pain and clawing at his hands.

He gave them a last shake and dropped them on the ground. "Enough. Your being an embarrassment to the guild." He then turned to the Innkeeper who was already rushing to clean up the mess his team had left in their wake. "I apologise for the mess. Do you have any rooms free? We will be staying for at least a night possibly more"

The Innkeeper looked positively pained at the idea of letting them stay in his establishment but wilted under the disturbing presence Sasuke gave off, running behind the bar and retrieving two room keys, "Here, rooms 201 and 202. Breakfast is from 7. Enjoy your stay" He gestured to the stairs his position clear, if they were going to stay they could leave the bar and give him some peace. Sasuke lead the way up the stairs, the two girls following, Mira muttering rebelliously under her breath the entire way.

Sasuke held the door to a room open and gestured to Mira who stomped in, Erza made to follow when he slammed the door behind Mira.

"Hey" she cried "What are you doing? Where am i staying?"

He stared at her like she was stupid "You think after all that I'd let you two share a room? I'd wake up to the whole town destroyed. Your staying with me." He moved over to the other door and walked through it. Looking back over his shoulder when he didn't hear her following, he laughed at her shocked expression. "Haha whats that look for? You think I'm trying to get you by yourself? Hmm? Think i have dubious intentions for you?" He paused to laugh again, "Please, your not really my type. Way too controlling"

Sasuke went into the room still chuckling, leaving Erza to stand in the corridor face burning in a mixture of shame embarrassment and rage.

In fact for the rest of the night she didn't speak a word to Sasuke, not that he seemed to care, if anything her silence seemed to amuse him further.

It was not till they were finally in bed for the night did she talk again.

"Sasuke, are you awake?"

"Hm"

"Do you- Do you think I'm ready for S-class?" Erza lay on her back staring at the ceiling, and so missed Sasuke rolling over to face her. "Last year, i thought i was ready but then you beat me so easily, it didn't seem like you were even trying. Plus i totally failed to control Natsu, what if i did that with a team. I could get everyone killed…" She trailed off, staring towards the ceiling as if she could see straight through it.

"Thats why your ready" Sasuke spoke quietly, but the fact he replied at all was enough to shock Erza from her thoughts. "Your right. Last year you were overconfident. You thought no one would challenge you and paid the price"

Erza sighed in shame from the memories, reaching up to pull crimson locks through her fingers.

"That's why this year you'll succeed"

"What, but i haven't got much better from last year"

"In skill no. But in mentality, you've aged a 100 years. Sometimes that makes all the difference" Sasuke rolled away, signaling the end of the conversation.

Erza lay there, thoughts swirling in her head. 'He's not that bad afterall' she decided 'Even Sasuke belongs at Fairy Tail" Making herself more comfortable she pulled the blanket up to her chin and settled in to sleep.

Mira knocked on the door for the second time. They were all gathered outside the house of Barden, the man who had lost his daughter, but had yet to get any sort of response from inside.

Sasuke was ready to give up and walk away when the door next to them opened.

"Will you stop that racket!" A large house wife shouted, baby held under her arm slurping from a milk bottle. "Can't you see the man's not home!"

"We apologise for the disturbance" Erza attempted to placate the women, "Do you know where he might be, we wish to question him about the disappearances"

"I'd try the bottom of the ocean" She spoke coldly, "The fool ran off last night to the docks yelling he was going to search every ship until he found his daughter. Not that i blame the poor fool. There's no other clues going and the rune knights are as useless as ever"

"But why the docks, surely they've checked the ships in port?" Mira questioned the lady who snorted at the statement.

"Not in these parts they dont, this is prime smuggling territory. Captain slips the dockmaster a pouchfull and he could be openly carrying the crown jewels and no one would bat an eye"

"Well i think we know are heading then" Erza turned to the group to address them as one, "To the docks"

The docks were fairly empty so early in the morning. Fishermen were still out on the sea catching the morning tide and sailors of the larger cargo ships were still drunk in the pub or passed out in their bunks.

Feeling out with his senses Sasuke immediately picked up what could only be a slaver ship. Over 50 non magicals tightly packed in the lower decks of one of the smallest ships currently docked. Surprisingly it gave no outward appearance of its grim hold, colourful bright sails and sparkling wooden planks that had evidently been washed and scrubbed of barnacles. Still this was not his mission, he could end it now if he wished, now to see how the girls would handle it.

"What do you think?" Erza questioned Mira, attempting to work like a team.

Mira had her eyes screwed up as she rather obviously wracked her brains for a solution. She sighed and shrugged, "I've got nothing. Lets just raid them all and hope for the best"

Erza seemed unwilling to go with the strategy but clearly had no better idea. The two were even preparing to set off to a ship each when Erza was almost trampled by a delivery cart.

"Wowa", the driver called out, swiftly slamming on the breaks, "Sorry about that missy. Been doing this all night I'm falling asleep at the wheel"

"That's alright" Erza replied as she dusted down her armour, "Say, you've been here all night? By chance did you see a man coming to the docks last night, may have been screaming and shouting, our friend was drunk last night and ran off"

"Oh him!" The man broke off into a round of deep chuckles "Yes he was here. Round one in the morning he came running in screaming his head off. Don't you worry your friends got him"

"Our friends?"

"Yes. The ones in that boat there" He pointed to the slavers ship, "They explained how much of a drinker your friend is, mind you they all looked a rough lot, you take some strange company miss" He released the break and moved his cart off, still laughing under his breath.

"Well" Mira cracked her knuckles and stretched her arms out, "I think we have our target"

"Agreed", Erza drew her sword and turned too the ship, "Sasuke watch for escapes, Mira with me"

In a burst of displaced air they were gone. Two jet trails of female power hurtling towards the ship. Mira reached it first, choosing to forway the clear entrance ramp, instead punching straight through the hull and setting the boat rocking in the water.

Erza jumped high above, coming down with an overhead strike that shattered the deck in two giving her passage into the belly of the ship.

Sasuke watched as they disappeared into the wreck. He waited for another 5 minutes as the sound of crashing and screaming drifted from the open wounds of the ship.

The fight had drawn a crowd of onlookers who were all creeping closer to the hole Mira had made to attempt to look inside. The ship master had ran out of his house, half dressed, and was rushing forward when Sasuke held his arm out to stop him, "Mage business" he pushed the man back, lifting him off his feet so that he fell to the floor in a heap, "Stay out of it"

This only increased the mutterings from the crowd, and Sasuke received a good deal of suspicious glares from some shady looking men who all started to slowly walk back to their respective ships, smugglers no doubts.

By now the sounds from inside had ceased and Sasuke felt it time to check up on his team mates.

Inside the ship he followed the trail of splintered wood and moaning bodies till he eventually came to the stairs to the lowest level. The first room was seemingly legitimate cargo, the whole hall was stacked with large boxes of wheat flour and koji. He stepped past it to find what must have been the last line of defence, four men laid passed out on the floor with one more still conscious attempting to crawl towards the next room.

"You bitches are dead" He whispered, "No one messes with Huge shipping"

Sasuke stomped on his head as he walked past, swiftly knocking the man out as he stepped into the final room.

Inside was a crowd of cheering and crying young people, all of them no older than 30, and with them was Erza and Mira.

The two were quickly making their way through the throng, they had evidently got their hands on the keys to the chains that bound the prisoners and were swiftly unlocking them. The captives once freed were quick to join the effort to help free their fellow prisoners and the mood inside was quickly turning celebratory as all but he last few were unchained.

The two girls were almost being mobbed by the crowd at this point but were taking it in their stride, Mira taking the compliments as the natural order and Erza simply brushing them off in her professional manner. Soon the last prisoner was released and the girls lead the cheering crowd out of the ship to the docks.

Outside a crowd was waiting to see the result of the fight. A cheering hoard of people was clearly not what they expected to emerge from the wrecked ship but soon they were cheering soon as they recognised faces in the crowd, of friends and family thought lost and soon there were several happy reunions amongst the celebrating crowd.

Sasuke stood with Erza on the top of the ramp, watching the happy crowd below. He turned to Erza, noticing the almost pained smile she was forcing.

"Well done, mission complete. I guess you were ready for S-Rank after all"

"Yes" She sniffed and rubbed her eyes before turning to him with a smile, "I am glad i was able to save these people. Slavery. It is a disgusting trade and i aim to stamp it out where ever i see it."

Sasuke nodded in agreement, "Indeed. Free will is one of the most important facets of the human existence. Without it, we're little better than animals, and monsters" He pointed behind them to one of the groaning slavers, "What should we do with this lot? I doubt this town has a prison big enough for this lot after all the bandits we handed in last night. Besides, prisons too good for scum like this"

"Sasuke!" Erza barked, fixing him with a steely gaze, "I hope your not implying what i think you are. We do not condone killing at Fairy Tail. These men are scum, true. But they will get a chance for redemption. After a long spell in prison of course"

Sasuke grunted. But offered no signs of agreement.

"Any way. Erza continued, for now i have Mira chaining them all up below in their own shackles" She grinned, clearly amused at the twist of fate "We can see about transporting them later"

"I believe i can help in that"

The two mages turned to see the man standing at the bottom of the ramp below them.

"Captain Leold of the Rune Knights, at your service" He bowed briefly to the two. "I was on holiday here with my family but am now returning to the capitol by ship. If you can chain all those slavers up i can fix there ship to mine and tow it to the city gaol"

"I see" Erza turned to Sasuke "Well that seems to be an easy solution"

"Hn"

"Very well. Thank you Captain we'll leave this in your hands"

It took little more than an hour to prepare the boats to leave. The prisoners were all chained up, the bandits from town were fetched too, to save making another trip later. Two sailors from the transport ship stayed with the prisoners to keep watch over them and feed them over the journey.

Erza and Mira waved as the ship departed, along the dockside many of the newly freed prisoners were still celebrating and were waving alongside them.

Sasuke watched it all from his seat on top of the registers building. He watched a boat full of criminals depart to a life in prison. A sentence that would be only 15 years for even the worst slavery due to the lax laws of the country, plenty of time for them to get out and cause more hurt, they were true scum. Scum didn't deserve life. Sasuke raised a hand to the heavens, hand splayed out and blocking the sun from his face, before swiping it down in one fluid motion.

Out across the water the ship was just picking up wind as it sailed into a perfect day of weather. The sun was shining. There was not a cloud in the sky. Which was why all were taken by surprise by the screaming bolt of lightning that struck the trailing boat like the gods own fury.

The mast disintegrated as it turned to ash. Water began rising from the hole that had pierced clean through the already damaged ship.

The crowd on shore could only gasp in shock. Too far away to offer anything resembling help.

The other boat frantically began to slow and turn, but its momentum kept it going so that it pulled the trailing boat apart by the rope connecting them.

The slavers boat was split clean in two. The hole Erza had created before linking with the lightning strike to create a crack dead along the centre of the ship.

Screams filled the air for just a moment as the prisoners sank beneath the waves. Their shackles both weighing them down and preventing them from hanging on as the floor tipped way beneath them.

Erza gaped at the scene playing out before her eyes. These people. Horrible people but people nonetheless had all just died. How could this happen? She looked to the sky which had remained clear throughout the ordeal. No clouds. So where had the lightning come from.

She looked around wildly looking for any clue and saw only one thing even slightly suspicious. Sasuke sat alone atop a building. When had he left the group? Why had he left the group?

Sasuke the man with the strange power of effecting naturally formed Etherno…

But he couldn't have killed them! He was a mage of Fairy Tail. One of her comrades.

She continued to watch him as he stared across the water. Was it just her imagination or did he seem smug.

His face was as neutral as ever. But his eyes. His eyes seemed to burn with a fury that promised destruction to all in their path.

Erza shuddered. She had just been beginning to trust him. But could she?

Erza had no answer to that.

Sasuke listened as Naruto once again explained his experiments.

"So by neutralising the harmful parts of natural chakra that they take into the body with the components i've made their bodies naturally create they make a stable source of energy they can use to harness their abilities"

"Yes but what is that component"

"It really isn't important Sasuke. Now why are we worrying over this again. Come on i have something to show you! You've been moping around here for months i thought i'd make something to keep you busy"

Sasuke followed Naruto to the hospital, while nothing compared to the fantastical halls of medical centre it was a far cry better than the primitive tent Naruto had used back at the tripe. They continued up two floors to a long room filled with the cries of babies.

"Here we go" Naruto stopped in front of one crib "You seem so lonely by yourself, i thought you'd want a companion again, So who better than you favourite person in the world. Sasuke meet your wife!"

He drew back the cloth to reveal a baby. The faintest whiffs of pink hair on her bald head and bright green eyes that stared into Sasuke's soul.

"Well what do you think i t took a while to make pink ha-"

Sasuke stopped listening as Naruto trailed off into an explanation of the difficulties of the procedure.

He felt sick. No, scrap that he was going to be sick.

Sasuke grabbed a nearby waste bin and heaved into it. When he was done he turned to stare at Naruto who was watching him with confusion.

"Your sick. I- How cou- No!"

Sasuke turned and ran.

Away from the devil who walked in his friends body and called for him to return.

Away from the village filled with faces of his past that haunted his dreams.

Away from the baby that stared at him so innocently yet made his heart fill with hate and despair.

Sasuke ran. With no direction. No plan. Just Away.

Well that was longer than expected. I originally planned to deal with Lisanna by this

chapter but it just got away from me. Sorry about the slow update, my Grandma unfortunately passed away so i was very busy dealing with funeral arrangement and was in no state to write. Hopefully back to schedule now.

Stuff is happening! Albeit very slowly, i can't seem to condense my writing even though we're not even out the prologue yet, this story is meant to start with Lucy's arrival i swear.

Authors rant: This is my first story so i was quite interested in the number of reviews/favs i'd get and so was looking at some of my fave stories to compare. I came across an anomaly, my favourite fic, the fic i think is the best Naruto AU on the site has less than a 1000 favs! This is ridiculous. Everyone please, stop reading my story straight away go read

'Black Cloaks, Red Clouds'

I'm guessing it's not got much love as Tenten is the main character but that fic is amazing. It's got the most in depth discussion of butterfly effect ever, terrific OC's that fit in the future timeline perfectly and the BEST orochimaru overlord villain ever. I will just say imagine Orochimaru as 4th Hokage. Imagine that universe, will you don't have too, this story perfectly shows what would happen. Go read it!

Reviews:

Hades: Yeah for me bleach and fairy tail both have excelent intros and build ups then fail with the power creep, though both have awesome bits e.g. Bleachs soul society is one of the best shonen arcs period and Fairy Tails grand magic games is just great. Please stop reading my mind though, im gonna have to change the plot now...

Petem: Yeah get what you mean with the Sasuke vibe, i hope this clears up that he doesnt really care, its just to infiltrate the guild of 'friendship' he's trying to act slightly friendly, he does hang more with laxus more because right now laxus is pretty chill before he gets all power mad and angry with his grandad

Rain: What were you saying about Naruto's sanity? Yeah it somehow gets worse.

Kanna: Thanks i'll try

Some Grammar Guy: Thanks i missed that bit. My grammar is fairly shit so i do apreciate it being pointed out, i'll change them now.

Thats it for today, Thanks everyone who reviewed!