Grinding Sword and Chain 4

One Month Later

"I didn't think you were literally saying you won't help me," Loke said with a wheeze as he walked in the hot sun in a barren area in Fiore, trying to dig for water.

"What did you expect? Help when you ask?" Naruto asked rhetorically, from his perch on a nearby tree.

"At least some water when I'm thirsty." Loke gasped out, unable to maintain his balance.

"Don't play dramatics. You could have simply used your Twister or Chain magic to dig. Who told you to dig yourself, genius?"

"But, but-"

"I saw you trying for that girl. Is that the reason why you want to show your strength? By digging a well with your hands in a barren land?"

"Ok, ok. I admit. That's a foolish idea. Help me." Loke asked.

"No. Do it. You still have 20 more to do and the month has already passed." Naruto said with a disappointed sigh.

"What?! I didn't take that long. I almost did 3 jobs a day!" Loke yelled, horror-struck.

"You are doing this job for a day, genius. You didn't fully complete 3 jobs a day, but you are close. Come on, complete this already." Naruto nudged and Loke used his Ring Magic and dug the hole.

He used it again and again and reached the area where it was wet. With one last Twister, he was able to penetrate through a hard layer and water started coming out.

"Sweet water!" Loke said and gulped a few litres. After feeling refreshed, he stood and with the help of his chain as rope, climbed to the top.

"It doesn't matter if the Harvest Festival has started. I'm going back to the Guild only after completing all these!" He vowed and took the now completed flyer to be stamped.

'He is doing great. He decreased whining and is relying on his power and overall improved in using them and thinking well.' Naruto went through his assessment.

"Naruto looks like that girl is interested in you. Will you put a word for me?" Loke asked with a lecherous smile and Naruto got a tick mark at that.

It's one of the things he started encountering with the orangette. He started to rub off on him and Naruto began to notice how the remarks he made suited the person in question.

He shook his head, coming back on topic and smacking the bespectacled man for distracting him. From the day their journey began, Loke jumped on every opportunity to distract Naruto or just to make him laugh like him, like a pervert.

Though Naruto is trying his best to not fall for the trickery, he doesn't think he can control it for long. Only if he had the chance to test whatever the lion spirit is saying, he can give a strong counter.

With similar yet different thoughts, both of them moved to the next village, in search of their next job.

With Kagura

"Ha, ha. I didn't think A-class jobs were this tough." Kagura said with laboured breaths. She was in front of a bipedal beast which was terrorising the nearby village.

"What did you think? Everything will be a cakewalk?" Naruto asked, surveying the damage she had caused this time.

"I didn't expect you to complete all those jobs that easily," Naruto said approvingly. Kagura has completed her set of 40 jobs a few days ago and currently, they are on the 41st job.

Completing 40 A-class jobs in 30 days is not easy as some of them needed extended stay. First, she went through extermination once and completed them as soon as possible.

Naruto was amazed by her speed, which reached up to 2 A-class jobs a day when it was simple extermination and her planning was perfect.

She picked the close area jobs first and finished them first and moved to another area after that. They came as a big advantage for her as she only had 1 area left which has the majority of her 9 jobs spread.

"Looks good. What improvements did you observe in this month?" Naruto asked cautiously.

As she started gaining practical experience, she started to sync with Archenemy and was able to use it well. That doesn't mean she mastered it already though.

Naruto had a great plan to test her power and if everything goes correctly, he can test her with another one of his interested persons.

And the change in him also started affecting his stay with Kagura. More than often, he would observe some small details a little too closely just for the looks of it and he knew they were not gone unnoticed by the purple-haired girl. She kept quiet about it and Naruto liked it that way.

"Hmm. There are few. But the important ones I would say would be my control and bond with Archenemy. I should test it though. I don't think I can freely use it unless I want to destroy something badly." She explained to Naruto.

"Hmm, so you say these monsters are not enough to test yourself?" Naruto asked and Kagura nodded in affirmation.

"That's new. I never thought you were the cocky type." Naruto said with a teasing smile.

"You never thought many things about me. But I am confident in my abilities, that's it." She said neutrally. This is the next change he observed in her.

After travelling for a month together, she started talking to him frequently unlike before when she would just be quite to the side unless the matter is concerned with or about her.

"I guess this trip is more useful than expected," Naruto said with a smile and Kagura agreed.

"Let's go. I don't think Loke won't take long at the rate he was running." Naruto said with a smile and with a nod, they started to their next destination.

Meanwhile

Fairy Tail Guildhall

"Hey Sirius, where is Naruto? It's been long since I last saw him." Natsu asked the ramen eating jaguar who lazily turned to him.

Sirius started going on jobs with others to improve his relationship with them as he was free and made quite a few connections.

The one he liked the most was Levy. She was cute and liked to explain everything to him, unlike his good-for-nothing blonde father, who demand a more hands-on approach.

After the blue-haired girl, it's Cana for sure. She rarely goes on a job and the one she goes always had high rewards which makes his day all the better.

Though he does have a few thousands of Jewels with him, who doesn't like extra money and he also has few leeways with Cana as she is most of the time drunk.

He also went on a job with Mira's sister and brother who want to go on one but Mira is busy. He liked Elf-man and Lisanna. Elf-man is more or less like him but a little meek.

He didn't see Mira till now and thought she was on a job alone. Squashing all the thoughts, he turned to the Fire Dragon Slayer to answer.

"He went on jobs with Loke and Kagura."

"Huh, 3 of them?" Natsu asked, confused.

"Nah. Loke and Kagura we're the one who does the job while Naruto and his clone accompany them separately," Sirius explained and Natsu nodded.

Unknown to them, a certain female is also listening, just back from her training. She trained hard to improve her control of her power and to get a grasp on all the accumulated power. This made her crush the glass she was drinking from but showed no outward reaction.

"When will they be back?" Gray asked curiously, not noticing anything out of the normal.

"Well, from how many jobs he took, I'll say in a week or two."

"Just in time for S-class selections, I see. It would be a year for him and Erza." Macao said from the side. Cana, who was listening, got a gloomy look at that.

"Who do you think will be selected this time?" Wakaba asked.

"Me for sure. I am going kick that blonde's ass." Natsu proclaimed and pumped his fists high into the air.

"As if gramps would select someone like you," Gray commented offhandedly.

"I still have 2 months to go and you watch!" Natsu said, inching closer to the ice mage.

"Bring it on!"

"There they go again. And when I thought the Harvest Festival and Fantasia were peaceful this year." Makarov said from his stool at the bar table.

"It's not gooing to lasst loong Maaster. Erzza will be back soon." Cana said in her drunken stupor and Makarov nodded. Soon a guild brawl started, uninterrupted until the red hair knight stopped it with her iron foot and knocked everyone for their childish excuses.

And Cut

Don't forget to suggest to me the techniques of Mangekyou Sharingan you like Naruto to have and if they are good, they might be given to Naruto.

Tell me what you think in your comments or DM's. See you all in the next chapter.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Black Infinity 1289,

Ja Ne.