Fairy Tail: Metal and Threads

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Caelum, the Village Hidden in the Mist. 

November, x788. 

*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* 

In the forest surrounding the Village Hidden in the Mist, more than a hundred kunai and shuriken came flying from the trees towards a man standing on the forest floor with his hands in his pockets. However, as if he did not even notice the incoming projectiles, the man continued to walk aimlessly. 

Yet, before any of the projectile weapons could get within three feet of this man, a tall man, standing at 6'6" tall with light brown skin, grey eyes, and dreadlocks wearing a black tactical body suit, they stopped in place. Then, without warning, they were sent back towards the ones who threw them at more than triple their initial speed. 

"Argh!" 

"Damn it! Ahh!" 

"Ahh! My leg!" 

Then, before the ones who threw the weapons, shinobi from the Mist Village who sided with the Mizukage in the civil war, could react, they were pinned to the trees they were hiding in by the same weapons they threw with unerring accuracy. 

The lucky ones only had their clothes pierced and pinned to the trees. However, the unlucky ones, or rather those who reacted but weren't fast enough to evade, were pinned to the trees with the kunai piercing through their legs, arms, and other body parts. The only saving grace was that none of them were fast enough that the weapons missed by a significant margin, hitting a vital area by mistake. 

"Damn, we've been doing this for three days already." Alfonzo, the man responsible for incapacitating so many shinobi, said in a bored tone. "When is Yagura gonna come out." 

Despite his complaints, Alfonzo still did what he was tasked with, capturing the shinobi he defeated. So, after being covered by arcs of violet electricity, courtesy of his [Electromagnetism Magic], he sped around the area knocking out all his assailants and restraining them with anti-magic cuffs. 

"Anyway, I wonder how Laxus and Marin are handling themselves." Alfonzo muttered as he used his [Metal Magic] to gather all those restrained by the anti-magic cuffs. "I mean, it's been a few days since I've seen them. *Sigh* Quests like this really suck. I've seen way too many people die for this stupid war." 

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the battlefield of the civil war, two teams of about a dozen shinobi were battling to the death for their ideals. Luckily, since this skirmish just started, only one shinobi had lost their life thanks to the ambush that started the battle. 

"Give up you traitors." A shinobi from the Mizukage's side shouted while running through a series of hand signs. "If you do, Lord Mizukage might show you mercy. [Water-Style: Water Bullet]." 

As soon as his words ended, the shinobi took a deep breath. Then, he exhaled a pressurized ball of water at the back of a rebel shinobi that was engaged in battle with one of his comrades. 

Sensing the danger, the rebel shinobi intended to disengage with the opponent he was fighting. However, before he could, he felt a thin wire wrap around his wrist, holding him in place. Then, when he looked down to follow the wire back to its source, he saw the enemy he was just fighting smirking at him while holding the wire tightly. 

Reacting quickly, the rebel shinobi reached into his weapon pouch and retrieved a kunai. Although this would definitely end his career as a shinobi, he was tired of the way Yagura was running the village and wasting the potential of its younger generation. 

The fact that his younger brother was one of the academy students that died in the graduation test when Zabuza Momochi killed all the other shinobi hopefuls adding to his defiance. 

However, just before he could swing the kunai down to sever his own wrist, the shinobi felt a hand on his shoulder, making him gently lower his raised arm. 

At the same time, the person who stopped the rebel shinobi pointed the blade of a doubled-edge kodachi at the incoming [Water Bullet]. 

"[Transformation Magic: Extend]." A female voice chanted. 

An instant later, the blade of the kodachi did exactly what the spell would suggest, extending towards the [Water bullet] and piercing through its core, causing the [Ninjutsu] to splash to the ground harmlessly. 

The interruption caused the entire battlefield to fall silent. No one, other than the two shinobi of the Mizukage's forces that had the rebel shinobi surrounded saw the blonde woman with pink tips and pink eyes, Marin, fall from the trees. Yet, her voice, that was not particularly loud, caused everyone to pay attention to her. 

Meanwhile, Marin, after stopping the shinobi from cutting off his own hand, surveyed the battlefield. And when she saw the corpse of the shinobi who lost his life during the ambush, she could not help but feel a tinge of sadness. 

"I hate this quest." Marin muttered as she lowered her blade while simultaneously [Transforming] the bracelet on her other hand into an identical blade. "I just want it to end so I can go home and cuddle with Fonzie. [Bend All Creation to My Will, Nova]." 

As soon as Marin finished her release chant, her blades began glowing in a seven colored light. However, before anyone could get a good look at them, Marin thrust them down in to the ground. 

"[Bloom]." Marin chanted. 

In the next instant, thin spikes shot out from the ground. However, these spikes only targeted the Mizukage's forces, leaving the others completely unharmed. 

Despite the sneak attack from underground, the most experienced of the shinobi were able to dodge the attack, leaving blocks of wood to be impaled in their place. However, those who were too slow to dodge, were skewered through their legs and arms, completely incapable of fighting anymore thanks to the injuries they sustained. 

Meanwhile, the rebel shinobi, after hearing the "Poof" sound generated by the shinobi who used the [Substitution Jutsu] to escape Marin's attack, snapped back to their senses, quickly subduing the rest of the enemy forces. 

"*Sigh* I really hate this." Marin muttered once again. "I wanna go home." 

*Clap!* 

Shaking her head to push those thoughts to the back of her mind for now, Marin then clapped her cheeks to get her head back in the game. 

"Alright, let's hurry up!" Marin shouted, getting all the rebel shinobi's attention. "Let's get these guys secured and back to the prison. We don't want them dying on us." 

With that, all the rebel shinobi nodded their heads while Marin resealed her [Soul Armament]. Then, they all took out anti-magic cuffs to restrain the shinobi before dragging them back to their base so everyone's injuries could be taken care of. 

At the same time, Laxus, standing in the center of a clearing in the forest, was surrounded by a group of nearly thirty shinobi on the Mizukage's side. Yet, instead of Laxus looking intimidated by the situation, it was the shinobi who looked as if they did not know what to do. 

"Well, are we just going to stand here all day?" Laxus asked while looking around disdainfully. "Or are we going to fight?" 

"Why the hell is he here?" The captain of this shinobi squad asked in an apprehensive tone. "The reports said that traitor Ao was unable to get anyone from the mainland to come back with him. How did the Anbu drop the ball so bad on this one?" 

"Captain, what are we waiting for?" A Jōnin wearing a mask asked as he started running through hand signs. "As long as he can't see us, he'll be easy pickings. [Ninja Art: Hiding in Mist Jutsu]." 

As soon as he finished, a thick mist, emanating from below the shinobi began to spread all over the area, lowering visibility for all those engulfed in the mist. 

"You idiot! I didn't give the order to attack!" The captain shouted. 

"Finally, we're getting started." Laxus said with a savage grin as the mist washed over him. 

A moment after Laxus' words ended, the entire area was washed over by the mist. And the Mist Shinobi who were not familiar with Laxus' capabilities, felt much safer, as they were all masters of the Mist Village's silent killing technique. 

Unfortunately, low visibility or not, Laxus did not care. 

"[Lightning Dragon's Iron Hammer]." Laxus chanted as he raised his right fist over his head. 

*Zap!* 

A moment later, with a large amount of lightning concentrated in his fist, Laxus punched downwards, slamming his fist into the ground. 

*Boom!* 

Upon impact, the entire clearing, which was covered in mist, lit up as the ground cracked and bolts of lightning shot out from the cracks. 

"Ahh~~~~~~~!" Many of the shinobi screamed in unison after being electrocuted. 

As for those who did not scream, their bodies simply could not handle the current, as they all fainted instantaneously. Meanwhile, as the one who cast the [Hiding in Mist Jutsu] was one of those who fainted, the mist began to clear rather quickly. 

A few seconds later, when the mist cleared, the clearing was devastated. Even some of the trees surrounding the clearing had been scorched or were lit ablaze by Laxus' powerful spell. 

"Uh… I think I went overboard." Laxus muttered while surveying the twitching bodies, cracked ground, and burning trees in his surroundings. "I should probably let someone know that there are a few trees on fire. Wouldn't want a forest fire to start here." 

["They should be happy I did not deem this battle worthy of my presence."] Elexion, the Lightning Dragon King, said from Laxus' inner world. ["Because, had you tapped into my enormous power, this entire forest would have been little more than a smoldering crater crackling with remnant electricity."] 

"Yeah, yeah, I know you're great, Elexion." Laxus said while rolling his eyes. "For now, I need to make sure that as many of these weaklings survive as possible." 

With that said, Laxus took on his [Lightning Form]. Then, he started carrying the enemy shinobi, two at a time, back to the Rebel Base. 

"What is the meaning of this?" Obito asked while overlooking the entire battlefield from a hill outside of the forest surrounding the Mist Village. "Yagura told me that there were no guilds who came to help the Rebels. To make it even worse, they aren't killing the Mist shinobi. Instead, they're just incapacitating them. Meaning, even when this war ends, most of the village's forces will still be intact, no matter which side wins." 

While speaking, Obito, wearing his spiral patterned mask and black cloak with red cloud patterns signifying that he was a member of the Akatsuki, paced back and forth in frustration. 

"And where is Zetsu?" Obito asked emotionlessly. "There's no way those Fairy Tail wizards would have stayed hidden so long if he were here to scout Mei Terumi's forces. Hell, Yagura doesn't even know who has been taking down all his forces so cleanly yet." 

Reaching that point, Obito stopped his pacing and turned his attention to the Village Hidden in the Mist. 

"I'll have to use yagura." Obito said in atone filled with conviction. "Otherwise, the losses won't be enough to remove the mist from the Five Great Shinobi Villages." 

As soon as he finished speaking, the space around Obito began to distort into a spiral pattern. Then, before long, he vanished from where he stood, sucked into the spiral space. 

A few moments later, a similar spiral spatial distortion appeared in the Mizukage's office. However, the only person in the office, Yagura, a man of small stature, standing at 4'6", with short grey hair, bangs that covered the right side of his face while the hair on the left side was spiked upwards and pupilless pink eyes wearing the blue and white robes of the Mizukage, did not even react to the sudden change. 

"Yagura, it's time for you to act." Obito said after stepping out of the spiral. 

Without hesitation and with emptiness in his eyes, yagura, who had been going over battle reports, stood up from his desk. Then, he flung his Kage robe off and started making his way to his office's door. Meanwhile, Obito simply disappeared into another spiral space distortion before the door could be opened. 

"Guards!" Yagura shouted as soon as the door was open. "Follow me to battle, I've had enough of this farce. I'll make that Terumi traitor pay for her insolence." 

Without questioning Yagura's orders, a group of the most elite Anbu of the village appeared around him before falling in step to follow their Mizukage to the battlefield. 

At the same time, back at the Rebel camp, Alfonzo, who was about to head out to take down another group of Mist shinobi, froze. Then, he smiled while pulling out a device that was packed in the item pouch he wore on his waist. 

"Looks like the items I placed around the village worked." Alfonzo said to himself while looking down at the sister device to the ones he mentioned. "They just picked up a disturbance in space. Meaning, Obito just went to visit Yagura. And based on what I can sense with [MPD], Yagura is about to take the field." 

Reaching that point, Alfonzo turned his head in a certain direction. More specifically, towards the hill that Obito had been watching the civil war from. 

"And look what we have here." Alfonzo said while his smile widened. "The particles those items spread must have stuck to his clothes, as I'm picking up his location after he left, too. I guess that means I can leave the Three-Tails fight to Laxus while I go fuck with Obito for a while."