Naruto could only stare at the scene in front of him, his jaw hanging open. A massive brawl was in progress within the guild hall. Tables, chairs, and people were flying in every direction.

"This place... This place is awesome!"

"You're right about that, gaki," Ero-sennin agreed, ogling the female mages of Fairy Tail appreciatively. "I think we're going to enjoy our stay here."

Just as Naruto was about to leap into the fray, a nice-looking white haired girl approached them. "Hello, my name is Mirajane. Can I help you two?"

Jiraiya, a lecherous grin appearing, was quick to respond, "Of course! How would you like to help me with research for a novel of mine?"

Mirajane looked intrigued. "What kind of research?"

"Research of a romantic nature. You could start by posing for me in your bathing suit."

Naruto grinned, waiting for the girl to punch the perverted Sage across the room.

He almost fainted when she gave Ero-sennin a smile and a laugh, instead. "Alright! That sounds fun! Would you like to see my portfolio first?"

Ero-sennin looked like he had just won the lottery, and a trickle of blood began to flow from his nose.

"Oh yes, gaki, we're going to enjoy our stay here very, very much!"

Naruto recovered as he watched Mirajane lead Jiraiya away. He shook his head slowly. Just how different was this dimension? Shrugging, he jumped into the massive free-for-all.

After five minutes of throwing punches to his heart's content, the fighting began to die down around Naruto. The mages around him seemed to be respectfully watching a small, old man.

The newcomer looked up at Naruto. "Are you Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yes! And you'd better remember me, Old Man! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" Naruto responded enthusiastically.

"I don't think I'll ever forget you. I'm Makarov, the Master of this guild. Now, where is your guardian? The three of us have a few things to discuss."

"The old pervert? Right over there." Naruto gestured to a corner where Ero-sennin sat. His face couldn't be seen from behind the copy of The Weekly Sorceror Mirajane had given him. Still, Naruto could easily imagine the expression on his face as perverted giggles rose from behind the magazine. "Ero-sennin! The old man here wants to talk to us!"

Jiraiya slowly lowered the photo spread, exuding disappointment.

"Perhaps another time, Mira-chan," he said, as he reluctantly joined Naruto and Makarov. The three of them left the guild's main hall and entered Makarov's office.

"Now, what are we going to do about you two? I had a short chat with Mystogan just now, but I want to hear from you."

"We just need a little temporary accomodation until we can find a way to get back home," Ero-sennin explained. "Of course, we don't expect charity. Mystogan described your guild's system of missions, and we'd be willing to do some of those. I'm also an extremely famous author of fine literature, where I come from. I'm sure I could republish my novels here."

"Fairy Tail can lend you enough money to rent an apartment. You can pay us back later," Makarov offered. "Of course, only guild members can officially take missions, so you'll always need someone to accompany you. Unless you wish to join..."

"No. Our loyalties lie with Konohagakure," Ero-sennin gestured to Naruto's forehead protector, "and we only intend to remain here for a short amount of time."

Old Man Makarov nodded understandingly. Ero-sennin looked slightly distrustful. Naruto understood why. The situation seemed way to good to be true, especially to a cynical old spymaster like Ero-sennin. The old man was being way too generous. Ero-sennin hesitated, then asked, "Why are you helping us? For all you know, we could mean harm to you or your guild."

"The two of you are stranded here. You need someone to to lift you from solitude and help you on your way. It is the right thing to do; it is the way of Fairy Tail."

Jiraiya nodded solemnly, accepting the explanation for the moment. "Thank you, Makarov-dono."

"What's going on, Ero-sennin? You've barely said a word for the past hour!"

Naruto and Ero-sennin were sitting outside while Naruto worked on creating a storage seal. He had 50 more clones doing various other training.

"Hmm? I'm just trying to figure something out."

"That seal thing?"

"Not this time." Ero-sennin sighed. "You know, gaki, even I can see that there's too much hate in our shinobi world, and it only keeps growing... Did you know that Fiore hasn't been involved in a major war for nearly 400 years?"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Accurate written history in the Elemental Nations barely stretched back 100 years, when the chaotic Era of Warring Clans had ended. Since then, there had been three major wars. Naruto knew that Ero-sennin had actually fought in two of them.

Jiraiya continued. "I hope that one day, we can all come together and understand each other, but I don't know... I don't know how to get there. Are the answers here?"

"You don't know? You don't have the answer?" Naruto inquired.

"Not yet. Who knows-maybe I won't find the answer in my lifetime. I'll be counting on you, then. Can you succeed, if I fail?"

"Don't talk like that, Ero-sennin! Of course you'll find the answer!"

"Well, I appreciate your faith in me..." Ero-sennin ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately. "Alright, Naruto, let's lay down a couple of rules. We're in a new dimension now."

"Really?" Naruto asked in a crestfallen tone.

"First, do anything the Guild Master asks, within reason. Second, don't use ninjutsu in front of anyone without a good reason, and if you do, then don't explain your techniques. The people here don't seem to know about ninjutsu, so we should use that to our advantage. That means no shadow clones where people can see them."

"No shadow clones? Even in front of guild members?"

"It's best to play it safe for now." Ero-sennin seemed to note the unhappiness on Naruto's face, and switched tactics. "Let me show you what an incredible advantage this is. Imagine that you're pulling a prank on someone." This caught Naruto's attention. "If no one know's abou shadow clones, you could easily use leave a clone somewhere public while you, under a transformation, pull the prank. Instant alibi!"

Now that Naruto thought about it that way, there was no way he was going to show the guild members his shadow clones. A grin slowly spread on his face as he considered the possibilities. He was really going to enjoy his stay here.

"Third rule. Share as little information as possible about our home. It might seem harmless here, but a ninja can never be too careful. I don't think I need to mention that that goes double for your... condition." Ero-sennin finished. "That's all the rules I have right now. Can you follow them?"

"Believe it!"

"Great! Now, let's work a bit on your taijutsu."

Naruto woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. Nothing would ever be able to replace Konoha, but this place was already beginning to feel like a second home. He fit in in a way he never had anywhere before. In Konoha, he had been ostracized because of the Kyuubi. Even the ninja who should have known better tended to look down on him. Painful memories of the Kyuubi and Naruto's seeming incompetence saw to that. When travelling with Ero-sennin, being a ninja had always set him apart from the civilians in the towns and villages they had visited.

Here, though, the mages didn't look down on him. Here, being loud and causing destruction seemed to be normal, almost expected. And, of course, no one knew about the Kyuubi. They never would, if Naruto had his way.

Ero-sennin had rented them an apartment about ten minutes walking distance from Fairy Tail. Naruto was excited to get there this morning. Ero-sennin had said that they could go on their first mission today.

"Come on, Ero-sennin! Let's go! It's time for our first mission!"

From the room next door, Ero-sennin let out a groan. "Wake me up tomorrow, instead..."

Naruto remembered that Ero-sennin had gotten into a drinking contest with a girl named Cana Alberone last night. He was obviously feeling the effects of that now, although he hadn't even come close to winning. Naruto wondered for a moment what the two had wagered on the contest, then decided he was probably better off not knowing.

"But Ero-sennin, we're going on our first mission today! We can't miss that!"

Ero-sennin grumbled, but grudgingly rose from his bed. Apparently, he had it was better for his headache to get up than to try and sleep through his student's yelling. He looked terrible.

Ero-sennin stumbled to the door, and the two of them began to make their way to Fairy Tail.

"So, gaki, what training did you get done while I was... indisposed?"

"Look! I made my first sealing scroll!" Naruto brandished the roll of paper proudly. He'd used it to store hid ninja tools, the scroll about fuinjutsu Ero-sennin had given him, and a few cups of ramen. It couldn't hold very much, but it would only react to his chakra. He'd never had a personalized sealing scroll before.

Naruto put away the sealing scroll and waved around an explosive tag. "And look at this, Ero-sennin! It's a special explosive tag I made. It can knock someone out without killing, maiming, or even scarring!"

"Anything else?"

"I was just about to show you! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A Naruto doppelganger appeared next to him in a puff of smoke. With its help, Naruto formed a whirling sphere of chakra in his hand. The clone remained, stabilizing it.

"Pretty good, huh?"

"Pretty good," Ero-sennin agreed. "I think you're ready to take the Rasengan to the next level. You can have your clones work on it while you and I study other things."

"There's another level? Ero-sennin, you've got to show it to me!"

"Calm down, gaki! I was just thinking that you ought to learn to do the basic Rasengan with one hand. You know, without using any shadow clones. It'll make you a much more dangerous shinobi. And, once you get that done, I'll teach you the final level of the Rasengan. One that even the Fourth Hokage wasn't able to complete."

"REALLY?! Teach me right now! I can learn the boring stuff later!"

"Not yet, gaki. You still have a lot left to learn before you're ready for that. There's a lot more to being a shinobi than learning new jutsu. The 'boring stuff' and the basics are just as important. This training trip was never about jutsu; it was always about giving you a better foundation to work off of. We're building your skills from the ground up."

Ero-sennin was always talking like that, but how could he bring back Sasuke without knowing better jutsu? The Rasengan hadn't been enough last time.

Ero-sennin gave a short chuckle. "You'll understand one day, gaki. When you have students of your own, demanding that you teach them new jutsu, you'll probably tell them the same thing."

Undeterred, Naruto used his secret weapon. "How about if I show you my new and improved Sexy Jutsu?"

A small rivulet of blood flowed from the perverted Sannin's nose. "It's... it's not that easy, gaki! It's just that if you can't completely master the basic Rasengan, there's no way you'll master the completed version. So, please! Show me the new Sexy Jutsu! I'll teach you... um... my Transparency Jutsu! Ever wanted to be invisible?"

Naruto thought about it for a few seconds. He could probably get a bit more out of Ero-sennin. He scoffed, loud enough for his sensei to hear. "Is that all I would get for showing you my awesome original jutsu?"

Before Ero-sennin could reply, they came in view of the guild. It had been impaled with a dozen enormous metal rods.

"Ero-sennin? I don't think the guild's supposed to look like that." A large number of guild members were gathered outside, looking confused and angry. "Phantom Lord," Naruto heard the mages whispering among themselves. What's Phantom Lord? Naruto and Ero-sennin listened, usure what to do. Phantom Lord, it seemed, was a rival guild to Fairy Tail. From what Naruto could tell, guilds were sort of like miniature demilitarized hidden villages. Was this other guild invading?

After several minutes, Old Man Makarov showed up. His face was red and shaking with carefully controlled fury.

"As everyone undoubtedly knows by now, Phantom Lord has taken credit for this cowardly attack. As much as those scumbags deserve it, though, we are not to retaliate in any way. We must allow the council handle it. In the meantime, until the guild hall is repaired, we can operate from the basement."

Now, Naruto was even more confused. "Why aren't they going to fight back?"

"Well, gaki, it's part of their answer."

"Answer?"

"It's part of how they keep peace in this world." Ero-sennin clarified. "They're trying to stop the cycle of revenge. If they strike back against Phantom Lord, the fighting will probably continue until one or both of them are destroyed. If Fairy Tail did win, how would those who had precious people in Phantom Lord feel? They will attack as well. Hatred gives birth to hatred. Someone has to stop it. Makarov is doing that while the stakes are still low. No one was injured, after all."

Naruto realized that Ero-sennin must have put a lot of thought into those ideas. He gained a greater measure of respect for his sensei, as well as Makarov-jiji. Briefly, he imagined what would happen if Konoha was attacked, and his precious people were all killed. Would I be strong enough to end the cycle of revenge? Would I refuse to follow Sasuke's path? To his surprise, he couldn't answer those questions. Hopefully, he would never have to. He couldn't even imagine how painful that would be.

They joined the rest of Fairy Tail in the guild's basement. An oppressive atmosphere surrounded the mages. Old Man Makarov was drinking himself silly while giggling and reading a familiar orange book. This Old Man's a closet pervert, too? When had he managed to procure a copy of Icha Icha Paradise, anyway?

After nearly an hour of languishing with the depressed guild, Naruto and Ero-sennin left with the intention of training some more. As they were leaving, they saw a group Fairy Tail mages, none of whom Naruto recognized, returning from a mission.

Their party consisted of two boys and two girls, all looking three to five years older than Naruto, and a blue bipedal cat with a green backpack. Naruto assumed the cat was an Earthland version of a summon. One of the boys wore a scarf and had pink hair, like Sakura. The other had black hair and was wearing a flower-printed island shirt. The first girl had long blond hair and a whip strapped to her side. The last girl looked to be the oldest of the four, with long red hair and wearing a breastplate comfortably. Jiraiya gave her a long look. Naruto was certain all sorts of perverted thoughts were running through his head.

The pink haired boy shook with anger as Mirajane softly explained what had happened, and darkness covered his face. Naruto could understand their pain. It was the pain Naruto himself had experienced when Orochimaru had invaded Konoha. He tried to convey his empathy when he caught the older boy's eyes. Then, Naruto and Ero-sennin left to search for a good training ground.

Naruto and Ero-sennin ended up training in a secluded forest area just outside of Magnolia. Naruto summoned hundreds of shadow clones again to go through his various training exercises. Some sparred with taijutsu, others worked on the Rasengan, another group did chakra control exercises and still more studied fuinjutsu. Ero-sennin gave pointers every once in a while, although most of his attention was focused on That Seal, as Naruto dubbed it.

When Naruto dismissed all of his clones, he was left feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically. No. Exhausted didn't even begin to describe how he felt. He collapsed on the spot. He felt Ero-sennin carefully pick him up and begin carrying him back to their apartment. Maybe, just maybe, if Naruto did this every day for as long as it took, he'd be strong enough to protect all of his precious people, and to bring Sasuke back. Then, he'd become the greatest Hokage that Konoha had ever seen. The thought warmed him as he drifted off to sleep in Jiraiya's arms.

Naruto woke up with the satisfying aches and pains that were the evidence of a good training session. Ero-sennin was already up, studying That Seal again. Every once in a while, he would scribble a note or two down in his notebook. Naruto wondered how much progress he was making. Although it was easy to forget most of the time, Ero-sennin was a seal master with a genius level intellect. If anyone could solve it, he could. He had trained the Fourth Hokage, after all.

"I'm awake now, Ero-sennin! Now, let's go get our first mission!" After what had happened yesterday, they hadn't been in the mood to do a mission, and asking a guild member to accompany them would have felt insensitive, even to the oblivious Naruto. But today was a new day. They would definitely go on a mission today.

As they approached the guild house, they noticed another commotion.

"...Phantom Lord..."

"...Southgate Park..."

"...three of them..."

What is it now? If anything, the guild members were more upset than they'd been yesterday. So much for going on a mission today, Naruto thought wryly.

Naruto and Ero-sennin, in unspoken agreement, made their way to Magnolia's Southgate Park.

When they arrived, they saw three Fairy Tail mages hanging from a tree, with Phantom Lord symbols painted on them. Naruto recognized them as Team Shadow Gear. They had met on Naruto's first day at Fairy Tail. It made his blood boil to see them treated this way, but at least they weren't dead. Orochimaru would have left corpses.

Naruto shuddered. The Snake Sannin never failed to get under his skin. Worst of all was the feeling of helplessness the creepy ninja gave Naruto. Orochimaru had taken some of Naruto's most precious people from him, and none of his efforts had been enough. Hokage-jiji. Sasuke.

Naruto shook his head to clear away his dark thoughts, returning to the present. Old Man Makarov and the new group of mages from the day before had shown up in the meantime.

The old man's wrath felt tangible. "I can stand being reduced to a run-down beer hall... But no parent can stand idle while the blood of his children is spilled!" He smashed his staff into the ground, and golden magical energy became visibly flowed off of him.

"To war!"

The demeanor of the gathered mages changed at the declaration. They steeled themselves, slowly filling with determination.

To war!

Makarov watched Naruto and Jiraiya closely. He didn't know what it was about the two of them that gave it away, but Makarov could tell. They had experienced war, even the barely teenaged youth. They must have had terribly difficult lives before they came here.

Team Shadow Gear was being carried away on stretchers. The medics had said that they would be fine, given care and enough time to recover. Thank Kami, he whispered.

He turned back to Jiraiya and Naruto. "You two must stay out of this. It is a matter of Fairy Tail."

Naruto's face fell, but Jiraiya smiled diplomatically. "Of course, Makarov-dono."

Lucy watched over Team Shadow Gear as they lay in their hospital beds. Jet, Droy. Levy-chan. She remembered when she had met the blue haired Levy and her two admirers. Levy-chan had somehow heard that Lucy was writing a novel, and had forced Lucy to promise that she could be the first to read it. She had been so fun and friendly. Now, Levy-chan was here in a hospital bed. How was that fair?

Lucy gave a start when the door suddenly opened. Two people she didn't know walked through the door, although she did recognize them from yesterday, when she and her team had returned from their mission to find the guild hall destroyed. The first was a tall, middle-aged man with long white hair, reaching all the way down his back. He had a forehead protector engraved with the kanji for 'oil'. The second was a blond boy dressed in a distinctive orange jumpsuit. He what looked like three whisker marks on each cheek, and also had a forehead decorated by what appeared to be a stylized leaf.

"Who are you? Friends of Levy-chan?"

The older one struck a pose and spoke dramatically, "I'm Jiraiya of the Sannin, the Legendary Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku!"

Then, he gave her a lecherous smile she recognized from Taurus, her perverted Celestial Spirit. "And who are you, little miss? I'd very much like to get to know you."

The blond boy rolled his eyes before introducing himself as well. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! We're... er... guests of Fairy Tail. We just thought we'd visit while the guild fight Phantom Lord."

"They're leaving? Already? I've got to go, then!"

"Well... they already left," the blond boy answered. "But you can stay here with us! What's your name?"

Oh, well. Someone had to stay behind to take care of Levy-chan, after all.

"I'm Lucy!" she replied, consciously leaving out her last name. "Pleased to meet you!"

"The pleasure is mine," Jiraiya said. Lucy sighed. Weren't there already enough perverts in her life?

"Ero-sennin!

"Don't call me that, gaki!"

Lucy smiled as Naruto chatted happily beside her. He always had a smile on his face, and he talked a million miles an hour in his loud voice. Before she came to Fairy Tail, she would have found it annoying. Now, it just seemed cute. Constant exposure to Natsu did that to a person.

Unfortunately, his perverted guardian had accompanied her as well. She tried her best to ignore the leers he directed her way. She only tolerated it because Fairy Tail was at war, so it was best that people stayed in groups.

The two of them had gone with her when she went grocery shopping. The younger boy craved the attention she offered him, and the older man craved... She abandoned that train of thought. They were on their way to Lucy's apartment, laden down with food.

As they neared their destination, it suddenly began to rain. Odd. There weren't any clouds in the sky. A blue haired girl dressed in dark blue appeared at the end off the street.

"Oh, no! A sunshower?" Getting wet was the last thing she wanted.

"Drip, drip, drop," the newcomer said, her voice monotone. How creepy. "Yes, Juvia is the rain-woman. Drip, drip, drop. Who are you?"

"Nani?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Um, who might you be?" Lucy demanded.

The blue haired woman ignored them.

"Drip, drip, drop..." she said again as she passed the trio. After a few second, she suddenly pulled out a pink parasol and opened it.

"It has been a pleasure. Fare thee well."

"Nani?!" Naruto repeated, sounding exactly as confused as Lucy felt. Jiraiya suddenly had a serious, wary expression. His body shifted into a combat stance. Naruto followed suit.

"Non, non, non!" A new voice exclaimed.

Lucy turned around, trying to locate the voice. Jiraiya and Naruto fixed their eyes on a portion of the road in front of them. Naruto reached one hand toward a pouch strapped to his thigh. The woman (Juvia?) stopped and turned around.

"Non, non, non!" The voice said again, and a shape began to rise from the spot Naruto and Jiraiya had been staring at.

"Non, non, non, non, non, non, non!" A bizarre man was standing in front of them. He had dark green hair that stood straight up, a thin mustache, and a brown suit. "With non of 3, 3, 7, I say to you bonjour!"

"It's another weirdo!" Lucy cried in horror.

"Juvia-sama," he addressed the blue girl. "You mustn't abandon your job now."

"Monsieur Sol," Juvia greeted him coolly.

"My monocle, it whispers to me, yes," the Frenchman informed her. It tells me that this madamoiselle is our beloved target?"

"Oh, so it was this girl?"

"Target?" Lucy asked, stunned.

"I do apologize for the late introduction. I am-" Sol was forced to cut his introduction short as a knife whistled past his face, barely dodged in time. Lucy glanced over to see Naruto holding another.

Before Lucy could react, a bubble of water encased her and her companions. Lucy realized she couldn't move, and that her keys were now lying on the ground, out of her reach.

"Nothing can escape Juvia's water lock," Juvia stated without emotion.

"Is that so?" Jiraiya asked, a knife at Sol's throat. Naruto had a knife at Juvia's throat as well. How? Lucy looked around and saw a pair of logs floating in the water where the pair had been only seconds earlier.

Juvia's face showed emotion for the first time. "How?"

Jiraiya ignored the question. "Now, you two are going to release Lucy and surrender, unless you want to suffer the consequences."

"Non, non! We couldn't do that!" Monsieur Sol attempted to sink quickly into the ground, but he had underestimated Jiraiya. A glowing blue orb appeared in his other hand, and he used it to uppercut Sol. It exploded, launching the weird man into the air.

At the same time, Juvia managed to push Naruto away with a wave of water. The young boy didn't seem to bothered by this, though. He brought his hands together, shouting "Kai!"

A small explosion blossomed from Juvia's back. She landed on the ground, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya's hair had grown to epic proportions. He caught Sol with it, then slammed him into a nearby building, until he also fell unconscious.

The water prison around Lucy collapsed, and she gaped at the two guests of Fairy Tail.

"See, gaki." Jiraiya was apparently taking the time to lecture his young student. "Surprise can be a major advantage. If you can get a kunai at an unsuspecting opponent's back, you have the upper hand."

Naruto winced at this, like he was remembering something painful, embarrassing, or both.

"It doesn't matter how powerful their jutsu are if they never get to use them," Jiraiya finished.

Lucy picked up her keys. Once again, she'd been useless in a fight. If it weren't for these two, she would've been captured.

"So, who were these weirdos?" Naruto inquired.

"How should I know, gaki! You're the one who interrupted their introduction!" Jiraiya turned to Lucy. "Do you know who they are, or why they wanted to capture you?"

Lucy shook her head.

"Alright, Naruto. What should we do?" Jiraiya quizzed his student.

"Well, they're probably members of Phantom Lord, carrying out a war-related kidnapping. Since it's Fairy Tail's business, we should take them to the guild hall, make sure they have adequate medical treatment, imprison them, and wait for the guild to return. They can deal with these two."

Jiraiya nodded approvingly. "Excellent, gaki!"

Lucy didn't know what to make of the odd pair of mages. And she wasn't thinking about the ones lying unconscious in front of her. Just who were they?

Omake - Requested by Mzr90

Naruto grinned, remembering what Ero-sennin had said about shadow clones. He was going to pull such an amazing prank on the guild they would be reeling for weeks to come. And they wouldn't even know who was to blame. His first day at the guild was going to be very memorable. He sat quietly, in plain view of everyone, and prepared to watch the fun.

Anyone who knew Naruto would be immediately suspicious. Naruto. Sitting quietly. Grinning to himself. There would be only one conclusion: the apocalypse was imminent.

Unfortunately for them, no one recognized the signs.

Naruto's clone took careful note of everyone who had left the guild in the last hour. The original had left him with more than enough chakra for this. He stood just outside of the guild's entrance. He examined his surroundings carefully, amking sure no one was watching. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A dozen puffs of smoke appeared around him. Naruto's clone carefully assigned each of them their role in the prank. "Transform!" They shouted in unison. The fun was about to begin.

Clone #1

The first clone emerged from the cloud of smoke that accompanied his Transformation Jutsu, looking exactly like Old Man Makarov. He walked into the guild, a seious look on his face. All of Fairy Tail's attention turned to focus on him.

"Everyone! There is a very serious matter that requires our attention! Some evil mages were attempting a sinister magic in the area. I was able to apprehend them and put a stop to it, but not before several members of our guild were affected."

"Affected?" Someone asked. "How?"

"The spell has temporarily altered their personalities. It will wear off, in time, so do not worry. However, it is highly contagious. Avoid all contact, both physical and magical, with those affected." 'Makarov' warned the guild members. "Also, to preserve what remains of the dignity of this guild and the affected members, do not ever mention this incident again, to anyone. It is... highly embarrassing."

With that, 'Makarov' left the guild. As soon as he was out of sight, he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Clones #2 and #3

Two and Three entered Fairy Tail about ten minutes after One left. They had transformed themselves, respectively, into Mirajane and Elfman. Naruto had decided to model their new personalities loosely after his comrades from Konoha.

As they entered the guild, 'Mirajane' spoke loudly to 'Elfman.' "Hey! I'm starved! Could you help me get some food?"

"Troublesome woman!"

"Please?"

"Fine!"

The two of them found some food, and 'Mirajane' began to devour it at an unholy speed. It was a good thing Naruto had practiced so much with ramen. 'Elfman' merely stared through the windows at the clouds.

"So, this is the personality altering magic?" Wakaba muttered. The rest of the guild was coming to the same conclusion, and were keeping their distance. It was incredibly weird to watch Mirajane eat like that, and to see Elfman acting so... un-manly.

"How long until it wears off, do you think? Master Makarov never said..." Macao asked.

'Mirajane' gave a loud belch, then grabbed another helping. If only they served ramen here...

"It's troublesome, but maybe we should go to a BBQ place." 'Elfman' muttered. "I wouldn't bother, but it'd be even more troublesome if we got caught in another one of those fights."

'Mirajane's' eyes lit up at BBQ. "Let's go!"

The two of them left, 'Elfman' being dragged by 'Mirajane.'

Whispered conversations broke out among the guild members. Many were having a private laugh at the siblings' expense.

Naruto smiled. The fun was only just beginning.

Clone #4

Four didn't know the name of the person he had transformed into. The man had stormed from the guild's second floor, muttering about weakness and glaring at Naruto accusingly. He had blond, spiky hair that stuck straight up and a lightning-shaped scar over his right eye. He wore a cloak trimmed with fur and a pair of spiked headphones.

Naruto had a special treat in store for this guy.

Five minutes or so after Two and Three gone in, Four put on his brightest smile, then walked into the guild hall.

"Fairy Tail, it is I!" Four exclaimed. "The Handsome Yellow Beast of Fairy Tail has returned!"

He mimicked Guy-sensei's patented Good Guy pose, giving a wide smile and a thumbs up. He even managed to get his smile to shine.

Looks of absolute shock surrounded him.

"Do not look so surprised! I am enjoying the Springtime of my Youth!"

One by one, the guild members around him recovered, and began to express their amusement. Chortles, guffaws, chuckles, laughter, giggles, and snorts echoed throughout the guild hall.

"Laxus?!"

"...No way!"

"The... Springtime... of... his Youth!"

"Wonderful! The power of your Youth has returned to you! Now, if you do not mind, I will run up and down those steps 1000 times. If I cannot do that, then I will run 500 laps around the guild hall on my hands!"

The exercise was tiring, but humiliating this blond grump made it worth every step, shouting every once in a while about the Power of Youth. It was surprisingly intoxicating. When he had finished, he left the guild and dispelled.

Naruto

Nine clones later, Naruto's show was over, but the prank was just beginning.

The real version spiky-haired blond-Laxus-entered the guild again. A ripple of laughter swept through the hall. It didn't escape the mage's notice.

"What is it? Is something funny?" He asked threateningly.

"It's just... what you did earlier..." Macao offered.

"What are you idiots talking about? I didn't do anything!"

"Ah, I see. We can see why you'd want to forget that little... incident." Wakaba said. "We'll try ou best to forget about it as well... No, I don't think that's possible... we'll try not to laugh about it, though..."

The rest of Fairy Tail nodded and tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to suppress giggles. Laxus watched them darkly. What on Earthland had possessed his guild?

A/N: I'm back! And only a day late! In my defense, though, this chapter turned out extra long. Hope you enjoyed it. As always, let me know what you liked or didn't like.

Juvia and Sol v. Naruto and Jiraiya: My first ever fight scene, even if it was a short curb-stomp. That was the outcome that seemed logical to me, for a number of reasons. First, they were overconfident. Second, they wouldn't have been able to anticipate even simple ninja techniques like the Substitution Jutsu. This made them susceptible to being easily fools by things like shadow clones and Substitution Jutsus. Third, sneaking up behind someone makes them very easy to KO. In the very next episode of the anime, Aria defeats Makarov by sneaking up behind him. Aria is, of course, not even close to Makarov's power level. Situation matters as much as power. Fourth, Jiraiya's a Sannin. Even without his toads, there's no way he would be beaten by one of those two. In the manga, they were beaten by non-S-class Fairy Tail mages. In short, they're not as powerful as they hyped themselves to be, so they're more around Naruto's level. I probably could have stretched out Naruto v. Juvia more, maybe even having Jiraiya come in to help, but I'm satisfied with the scene as it is.

The Omake: Like I said last chapter, I want to do one of these at the end of some of my chapters, to fill in the history of this world, add a bit of humor, or whatever else I feel the story needs/the readers want. Did I do alright with this one? Any suggestions for the next one? Should I complete this one with what other clones did?

Naruto and Fuinjutsu: Yes, he's learning very fast. However, between who his parents are, using shadow clones to learn, and how quick he's shown to learn things in canon, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he could learn fuinjutsu at prodigy-level speed.