Hey guys!
Welcome back to chapter 11 of God of Requip! So a little bit of explaining for you guys as I have a few things to go over.
1: As of this chapter the pairing has been changed from Naruto x Erza to Naruto x Minerva due to various polls and reviews pointing out that I seemed to write Naruto and Minerva with much more chemistry than Naruto and Erza.
2: I have started Uni so I have absolutely no idea how that's going to affect my writing schedule
ONTO REVIEW REPLIES!
Zeroexpo13: Thank you~ I put a lot of work into this story!
Danilek12: Sounds interesting but not what I'm going for. Sorry! Hope you enjoy what magic he does end up learning however
Redlox2: I'm glad you enjoyed my decisions regarding Naruto and the Tenrou group in the last chapter. And worry not about the pairing because it has now changed! xP
XenoLucifer: It does really have a good ring to it! And honestly it was something that just happened by complete accident. I just had an idea that they train together and just let the characters bounce off each other. And it ended up happening how it did.
AAAAAND THAT ALL FOR THE REVIEW REPLIES!
Now it's time for my shameless shill:
Discord, gg /ctMzhq3 (remove spaces, and replace comma's )
Donating sites: Plasma Assassin (Skeletal Dragon icon)
AND NOW ONTO THE BEGINNING OF THE GMGGGGGGXXXxxxXXX
"You guys are alive!" Droy and Jet cheered while tackling the group of sobbing and screaming mages who had just appeared.
"Damn you moustache bastard! Give us back our timeeee!" Lucy cried into the sky while Jet and Droy nuzzled a crying Natsu and Gray.
"So much time lost…" Carla sighed with her face in her hand while Happy cried alongside her.
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"Woah! So that's where you were these last three months!" Levy said while leaning on a table.
"Those damn bastards! Not telling us and wasting our three months!" Lucy cried out in anger.
"Well they did say that they were excited to see you back…?" Jet tried to calm her down.
"It was only four weeks for them!" Lucy roared, getting the man to yelp and tip his chair back, hitting his head on the floor and curling up while clutching it.
"Levyyyy! Please kiss it betterrrr!" He whined, getting a sweatdrop from the girl as she tried to ignore him.
"You guys should be lucky that you were in a different dimension… Master Naruto practically tore up the country for like a week trying to find you guys…."
"O-oh… S-so uhhhh, do we have a way to tell him…?" Wendy asked with a sheepish expression.
"One of your celestial spirits visited him and he ended up stopping. They must have told him where you guys were!" Levy realized while banging her fist on her other palm.
"That must have been where Virgo went for that hour…" Erza muttered, her arms crossed and one leg crossed over the other.
"Yeah…I wonder what Naruto's doing?" Lucy asked, getting shrugs from Team Shadow Gear.
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With Naruto
Minerva blinked and leant back as Naruto's sword swung past her face in an upwards diagonal arc. Naruto landing in a single armed handstand before a small gust of wind ruffled the grass and their clothes as he flipped back over her, striking out with another two strikes as he spun rapidly. The girl having to dodge the first one and hurriedly blocking the second.
With a yelp she suddenly leant back, showing off impressive flexibility as a naginata blade sliced through the air. Her eyes drifted down before widening slightly as she saw the pole of the naginata coming out of the sole of Naruto's shoe where the minute glowing portal of his requip could be seen around the pole. His leg swinging around as he spun. The naginata flying out of the portal and up into the air as he threw his sword at her.
Pushing off with her feet she somersaulted backwards and landed on her feet, sliding back slightly as bubbles of her space magic surrounded her fists once more. Watching her opponent catch the falling weapon and spinning it rapidly, stirring up the wind around him as he fired off two blades of wind before rushing after them.
Minerva glared and created two distorted bubbles of space-time which absorbed the blades of wind. A faint, nearly invisible, glow surrounding her for half a second before bubbles of space-time surrounded her hands as they clapped together, catching the blade of his naginata between them.
The ground cracked underneath the buxom mage as she struggled against his strength, beginning to bend back as he pushed down with his naginata. With a growl the bubbles of magic around her palms brightened and every part of the Naginata within the bubbles disappeared with a pop and a quick snap, making Naruto begin to fall forward as he lost balance.
A grin stretched her lips as she disappeared with a crack of displaced air. Appearing above him with her arm drawn back, launching it forward. A glint of metal in the corner of her eye drawing her attention to it, her dark green eyes widening in horror as the slowly spinning form of Naruto's tri-pronged kunai registered in her mind. The feeling of displaced air bringing her attention back to her opponent who had just disappeared, seeing him appear besides his sword he had thrown earlier before disappearing again.
A sharp inhale was all she could hear as she filled her lungs with as much air as possible. Feeling the magic spell take hold on her body right before Naruto's fist passed through her back causing him to pull his fist back in a panic. With a sharp exhale her spell ended and her hand touched the ground, her gaze snapping to her left as she disappeared with another crack of air.
Turning around she heard an explosion of air and dirt, seeing Naruto flipping and somersaulting through the air wildly towards her. The wisps of his wind magic dissipating as he flew towards her. For a brief moment her vision swirled and Naruto disappeared, only for her father, Jiemma, to appear in his place.
'I can't react in time!' She thought in a panic, freezing up as he cocked his fist back.
A massive impact was heard as dirt and dust flew up in the air, scaring hundreds of birds away with loud squawks and cries. The dust slowly settling to show a rather unique sight.
Minerva stood stiller than a statue, her eyes clenched tight shut as she had her fists clenched tight by her sides. Obviously expecting a powerful blow to either her face or her upper abdomen. Naruto sighed silently and stood up straight from within his dirt crater caused by his rapid stop. A sad smile and look in his eyes covering his features as he placed his left hand on his hip and turned his right hand from a fist into a flicking motion. Flicking her nose using his middle finger, getting a cute yelp from her as she held her nose in one hand and glared at him dangerously.
"Naruto…." She growled, thought there wasn't really any heat or real anger in it.
"AWwww~ Don't be like that Minerva~." He grinned teasingly as he clasped his hands behind his back.
One exploding bubble of space-time later and Minerva got to watch Naruto skip across the ground and through a tree, getting a pained groan from his body underneath the destroyed tree as his foot twitched. Minerva scowled with a blush as she turned away and smoothed down her dress.
There was the sound of a tree groaning and a large thud as Naruto slowly stood up, groaning and wiping some dust and splinters off himself while staring at his arm dryly. A small splinter hung out of his arm before he nonchalantly pulled it out and flicked it away.
"Jeez that was a bit rude," He responded with a grin before feeling a tug on his magic and looking in its direction "Hey, so the Tenrou members have just returned from the Celestial realm. I need to go check up on them. See you at the Grand Magic Games!"
In a crack of air he disappeared, leaving her there in the clearing by herself, allowing her to get the chance to calm down and look down at her palm before grinning.
"Finally, a chance to see how his predecessor lives up to her title…."
XXXxxxXXX
With Naruto and Team Natsu, hours later
"I'm fairly certain nearly all of you could beat my IQ into the ground in your sleep. But are none of you worried about what is clearly a trap?" Naruto asked as he followed after his guild members with his hands clasped behind his head.
"You could have stayed behind if you're worried." Gray suggested as he followed behind Erza who was leading the pack.
"And that wouldn't stop you idiots from going now would it? And considering they asked for all of you, any trap would be tailored to get all, or at least most, of you. So I'm your best chance at getting out with everything still intact"
"Oi! Are you calling us weak!?" Natsu roared, turning around with a small flickering flame coming out of his mouth.
"Should I answer that truthfully?" Naruto asked with a teasing grin, his eyes closed and smile absolutely befitting a prankster partnered with a kitsune of all things.
"You! Grrr! Say that again you-"
"A bridge!" Levy cried out, catching everyone's attention as they came across a small chasm with an old and completely ruined bridge which had snapped long, long ago.
Before their eyes it began to repair itself and rise back into the air. The rope unfrayed and reattaching itself to the rope of the otherside as chunks of wooden planks flew through the air and attached themselves back to the bridge until it was in pristine condition.
"I guess that's our invitation…." Erza muttered as she began walking.
"…This is looking more and more likely to be a trap." Levy muttered.
"I'm beginning to get a little frightened…. " Wendy muttered while twiddling her thumbs together, looking up as Naruto's hand landed on her head.
"Hey, don't worry. I'll keep us all safe ok?" She smiled shyly and nodded.
They continued walking, Naruto following behind all of them, before noticing the three figures in front of them right before the rest of them did. His eyes narrowed slightly as most of them froze up.
"Jellal?" Erza asked with a shaky voice while the rest of the team, minus Wendy, all exclaimed in surprise at Jellal and his two companions.
"We asked for only Erza and her team to come." The pink haired girl said while glaring at Naruto.
"That's Fairy Tail's new guild master Meredy." The other girl said, making Meredy freeze and break out in a cold sweat, surprising Team Natsu.
"O-oh….w-why are you here?..." She asked before trying to compose herself.
"Your… message wasn't exactly normal. Thought it might have been a trap." He said while shrugging with his hands behind his head.
"That's… fair." Meredy sighed while slumping over to the side.
Naruto just grinned, even while keeping his senses open and himself alert, vaguely listening to Jellal, Ultear and Meredy talking while idly looking around. His blue eyes idly scanned through the foliage as they talked.
"But we didn't just call you here to introduce ourselves. Due to us being an independent Guild we can't come near the Grand Magic Games. So I'd like to ask you, Fairy Tail, for a favour."
"A favour?" Naruto asked, as he walked forward, his hands still behind his head.
"Yes… every year. I've felt a strange magical force…."
"Strange how?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes.
"It felt evil. It felt just like Zeref" Everyone in the clearing froze at Jellal's words.
"Zeref? You better not be fucking with me, 'ttebayo!" Naruto growled while lowering his hands and clenching his fists, remembering the stories of Tenrou Island.
"We don't know if it truly is Zeref. However if it feels like him, then finding out the source of the magic could help lead us to him." Ultear explained, trying to keep her cool in the face of his anger.
"Of course, winning or losing the GMG is a different matter. So we'll be cheering you on from the sidelines" Meredy said with a soft smile as she leant to the side slightly.
Naruto sighed and rubbed his palm on his forehead trying to control his breathing. Taking a few moments to sort his thoughts out.
The world then froze.
Meredy whined dramatically and looked over at Ultear as she stood with her arm out, holding her glass ball in her palm as it shined. Jellal just sighed and rubbed his temples with one hand over his face.
"Ultear why have you frozen time?" He asked while bringing his hand off his face with a flick of his wrist and tilting his head up slightly.
"Should we really be bringing Naruto Uzumaki into this?" She asked while Meredy sighed and began walking around with a bounce in her step, looking at Naruto with his eyes closed and his face in his palm.
"Of course, he's the Guild Master of Fairy Tail." Jellal argued with a dry tone.
"I understand that. But this is the first time we're meeting him and we're dragging quite a few of his members into something tied to Zeref of all people."
"He was one of the lead members of the War 33. Such help would be invaluable." Jellal stressed while holding his elbow with his other hand.
"But will he keep this to himself? This can't be something that's known outside this group." Ultear rebutted, Meredy just walking in a random pattern around everyone.
As she walked back over she looked over at Naruto while mid-step. And found him staring back at her.
Ultear and Jellal's head snapped towards her at speeds that would kill regular people as her foot met the ground and launched her as far away from Naruto as possible, landing in front of her teammates as Naruto's hand dropped down by his side and he stared at them.
"It's fine, I won't rat you guys out. As long as you don't mind talking~" His lips spread into a grin that would make any kitsune of legend proud, but only appeared terrifying to the three ex-criminals.
XXXxxxXXX
Naruto stared at the shack full of his screaming Guild members with a dry look before looking over at Ultear before Meredy gasped and covered her mouth with one hand while pointing at Naruto with the other.
"So that's how you could move in Ultear's time bubble! You already had your Second Origin! I just realized!" She said excitedly.
"There was that, but that alone shouldn't be enough to break free from my spell. I think it's because of your close ties with space-time magic. Given your teleportation rune-"
"Hiraishin." Naruto butted in.
"Teleportation rune." Ultear continued on, unperturbed "and your Requip magic."
"Does that mean Erza could do the same thing?" Jellal asked with a perked up eyebrow, Naruto beginning to grin teasingly as he heard the inflection in his voice.
"I'm not sure. It could be different for each person…" Ultear said while looking down at her crystal ball.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! MY BONESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" Lucy screamed out, loud enough that it was heard even over the screams of the rest of them.
"…And I think that's my queue to go. I'll keep an eye out during the games. However if you try to rope my members, my family, into something else, especially something more dangerous. There is no hiding place and no spell on this planet that will keep you from me." He said in a low voice, his blue eyes burning into the three of them before he disappeared in a displacement of air.
"I-intense…." Meredy muttered, with a pale complexion as her legs shook, the other two looking a shade or two paler as well.
XXXxxxXXX
Five days later
Naruto looked down at the members of Team Natsu with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
"So how are you all feeling? That little power-up everything you hoped it would be?" He asked the miserable looking mages while snickering.
"I still can't feel my left haaaaand." Wendy whined with tears in the corner of her eyes.
Asuka giggled and clapped while sitting on Naruto's shoulders, seeming to find enjoyment in their comical groaning and whining about the residual pain wracking through their bodies.
"Hey, I'm certain you guys will make Fairy Tail proud. Just don't feel too bad if you lose ok? Growth takes time." Naruto said, finishing with an almost sagely aura emanating off of him.
"Say's the guy who already had Second Origin! How'd you unlock that huh!?" Natsu bit back challengingly even as he lied on the ground pathetically.
"I unlocked mine naturally, just trained and got really strong" Naruto replied with a grin and a shrug, smiling at the jaw-dropped look of awe and jealousy he got from the members on the ground.
"Yep!~ Back in my day we didn't have a name for it. It was sorta just the second 'level' a Wizard could reach. Naruto actually achieved something pretty substantial by reaching it naturally!~" Makarov praised him as he walked up with Bisca and Alzack behind him, Asuka cheering happily at the sight of her parents "And you five have as well, in a roundabout sort of way" He laughed while fixing up the edge of his moustache.
"UZUMAKI!" A feminine voice yelled out, making Naruto sigh and drop his head while Bisca and Alzack began to snicker into their hands, Asuka just looking excited.
"Uzumaki…?" Lucy asked while looking in the direction of the yell and seeing a beautiful black haired woman in high heels and an expensive looking blue battle dress stomping towards them with seemingly no issue.
"'Uzumaki'? What'd you do wrong this time?" Bisca teased him between giggles.
"Bite me. Hey Asuka, sweetie, wanna hop off?" He asked, tilting his head back to look at Asuka.
"No way! Funny magic!" He sighed and tilted his head back down to stare Minerva in the eye as she stood before him.
She poked him in the chest "You said" She poked him again, more forcefully "2pm" Once again another more forceful poke "City square" She poked him again, finally getting a pained yelp from him.
"S-stop poking the same spot!" He whined, only to be ignored.
"And. Don't. Be. Late." With each poke it got more powerful and aggressive making him yelp each time.
"O-ow! I'm sorry! Jeeeez! I was just talking to my Guild, it can't be that late after 2 right?"
"It's 3:21" Makarov interjected with a teasing grin, the scene before him reminding him of him and his own wife in their youth.
"O-oh…" Naruto muttered, paling slightly and smiling nervously while holding his hands up in surrender.
"Hi Miss Orland!" Asuka greeted her happily now that her initial explosion was over.
Minerva just nodded at the small girl and placed a hand on her head, Asuka's form flickering and appearing between Bisca and Alzack who looked like they desperately wanted popcorn and some form of soft drink as they looked at the two powerful mages.
Minerva then grabbed Naruto's collar and began to drag him behind her as she stomped away, once again cracking the stone underneath her feet with each step. Naruto having seemingly just accepted his fate and allowing her to pull him away without any fight whatsoever. Even if he did still appear a little pale.
"Keep our Master safe ok Minerva?" Alzack called out with his hands cupped around his mouth.
What the Tenrou members saw was Minerva raise her hand up and create a bubble of constantly changing colours which she fired at high speed, impacting Alzack in the face. The bubble exploded in a burst of yellow light and white smoke, sending Alzack backflipping through the air before impacting the side of a building and sliding down comically. Passed out and twitching as Makarov turned to look at the sighing Bisca.
"She seems a little prickly." He said as if discussing the weather.
"She's not the biggest fan of…people. Though much less our Guild. The only people she actually seems to interact with, with anything warmer than cold disdain is Naruto and Asuka." She explained, getting Makarov to click his tongue and nod.
"Who the hell is she!?" Natsu yelled while hopping to his feet and coating his fist in flames as he held it up angrily.
"She's Minerva Orland. The Ace of Sabertooth" Bisca explained before walking over to check on Alzack as he numbly groaned in pain.
"W-what the-"
"Sabertooth?"
"As in that Sabertooth? The number one Guild?" Wendy asked, nearly in a mumble.
"The one and only. She'll be your biggest threat in the games. If she even participates this year" Bisca said absentmindedly as she slung her husband's arm over her shoulder and held him up.
Erza hummed in thought, staring down at her own hand where she could still feel lingering pain from all of her joints as she clenched it and looked in the direction that they left. A determined fire entering her eyes as she burned the memory of Minerva into her mind.
"Well, while that was certainly interesting we still have to get to our hotel and sign in you know~" Makarov reminded them, getting a whine from Natsu and Lucy as all of them began trudging to the same hotel.
XXXxxxXXX
Hours later
"GOOD MORNING LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT IS NOW TWELVE AND THE PRELIMINARY ROUND OF THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES WILL SOON START! WHERE WE WILL BRING ALL 113 OF YOU TEAMS DOWN TO A MERE EIGHT!"
Team Natsu looked outside from where they were sitting in Erza's room, Lucy gulping as a bead of sweat trailed down the side of her face.
"THE RULES ARE SIMPLE! YOU'LL ALL COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER TO REACH THE EVENT GROUNDS FIRST!"
"W-Woah! The building's rising!" Gray exclaimed while holding onto something.
"Buildings all around the city are doing the same." Erza pointed out.
Poor Natsu just looked like he was about to lose his lunch as he desperately covered his mouth with his hands.
"YOU'LL ALL BE STARTING FROM YOUR LODGINGS AND FAIR WARNING. USING MAGIC IS 110% ALLOWED AND SUGGESTED! AS LONG AS YOU'RE ONE OF THE FIRST EIGHT TEAMS TO GET THROUGH THE LABYRINTH IT DOESN'T MATTER!"
"Labyrinth?" Gray parroted in confusion as they all looked between each other.
"IF ANY TEAM ARRIVES WITH LESS THAN FIVE MEMBERS THEY'RE DISQUALIFIED. OH AND ONE MORE THING, WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LIVES LOST IN THE LABYRINTH."
"They WHAT!?" Erza roared with a furious look.
Elsewhere, sitting atop a rooftop, Naruto sighed as he propped one knee up and rested his arm on it.
"And so it begins..."
"THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES PRELIMINARY EVENT: SKY LABYRINTH. HAS BEGUN!"
XXXxxxXXX
AAAAAAAAAAAAND DONE!
How're you all going? Hopefully pretty well. This Covid-19 thing has been pretty bad in certain places in the world and I know I have readers from all over so I hope you're all ok or getting better!
On another note. The reason this took so long is because as we're now entering Canon, I actually need a bit more knowledge of the GMG, so I had to read the manga to make sure I didn't fuck something stupid up. However this took a while, as evident already.
But regardless I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'd love to hear your feedback and I can't wait to see you all again!~
Adios!