Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
June 26, x791.
After a long day of training, Alfonzo once again found himself in the guild hall's kitchen. Though the Grand Magic Games was coming soon, that would never stop the members of Fairy Tail from using their points to trade for delicious meals made by possibly the best chef in the world.
"Um... Can I have a plate of spaghetti and meatballs?" A timid, female voice asked, barely audible over the hustle and bustle of the guild hall.
"An order of chicken cordon bleu, please." A sharper female voice added.
"Yes, and I'd like a bowl of Katsudon!" A louder, more excited male voice said shortly afterwards. "Such a dish is just what I need to let my youth explode."
'Well, those are voices I haven't heard in a long time.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he started to quickly prepare the ingredients. 'I guess Wendy's training with Tsunade is finally over.'
"Sure!" Alfonzo shouted back. "Coming right up. And welcome back, Wendy and Carla. Lee, it's good to see you again, too."
Wendy and Carla, shortly after last year's Grand Magic Games, received a quest from Tsunade. She wanted Wendy to help her new disciple, Sakura Haruno during her training, especially since she, as the Fifth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, had very little time to focus on Sakura's training.
And although it was not specifically mentioned in the quest details, Wendy received personalized training with Sakura whenever Tsunade was free. So, the arrangements killed two birds with one stone.
On top of that, whenever Wendy was not helping Sakura train or working at the hospital to help out, she could spend as much time with Rock Lee as she liked.
Even Carla, who was not particularly adept in healing, was able to get some training. Though, it was mostly in hand-to-hand combat. But with her more human [Transformation], that would come in handy whenever she and Wendy took quests together in the future.
"Huh? Bushy Brows? Is that you?" Naruto, who was alerted when he heard a familiar voice from home, asked while raising his head from the bowl of ramen in front of him.
On a side note, there were sixteen more empty ramen bowls piled up on the table, as well.
"Ah! Naruto, my friend." Lee shouted while turning around with a thumb raised and a sparkle shining from his smile. "It is good to see you again. How have you been over the last three years. Have you been living youthfully?"
Noticing that it really was Lee, Naruto smiled. Then, he lowered his head and basically inhaled the rest of the ramen and broth in his bowl before tossing the empty bowl onto the top of the tower on the table.
While Naruto was running towards Lee with excitement shining in his eyes, when he saw what Lee was wearing, he came to a screeching stop and stared at his friend with his eyes opened wide.
"Wait!" Naruto shouted while pointing at Lee's torso. More specifically, the forest green vest he was wearing on his chest. "Lee, is... is... is that a Jōnin vest?"
"Ah! I see you've noticed!" Lee shouted happily. "Indeed, it is. Last year, I participated in the Chunin Exam held in the Village Hidden in the Sand. And thanks to Wendy, who helped me a lot with my training..."
"You mean healing you after you pushed yourself too far." Carla interjected.
"... I was able to progress rapidly." Lee continued, Carla's interjection thoroughly ignored. "And after that, while going on missions with my teammates, Neji and Tenten, both Neji and I were promoted to Jōnin. From what I've heard, Tenten isn't too far away from her promotion, either."
"Seriously?" Naruto replied with envy flashing in his eyes. "I've been with Fairy Tail the whole time. So, none of my quests have been evaluated by Granny Tsunade."
While Lee continued to smile, raising his thumb in encouragement. Wendy, after seeing Naruto's downcast expression did not know what to say. So, her eyes were swimming around the guild hall nervously.
However, before she could come up with something to say, Wendy noticed that there were some people missing.
"By the way, where are Erza, Natsu, and the others?" Wendy asked curiously. "I don't see them around. And it's really close to the Grand Magic Games. Aren't they going this year."
Just at that moment, Alfonzo, while floating a metal tray containing Wendy's, Carla's, and Lee's orders behind him stepped out of the kitchen, his shift coming to an end.
"Oh, they'll be back today." Alfonzo said with a smile as he made the tray land on the bar between him and the three youngsters.
Though, calling them youngsters would not be completely correct, either. Wendy was already nineteen years old. Though, she was still short and petite, she had all the womanly curves that would be expected of a young woman in her prime.
Meanwhile, Lee was about seventeen. Though, he did not look much different than he did three years ago. Just a bit taller. And from what Alfonzo could feel with his [Metal Magic], he had a substantial amount of weight wrapped around his legs and under his clothing.
As for Naruto, he would be sixteen in a few months. He was also quite a bit taller and the spitting image of his father, Minato. He even had his hair styled the same way. Though, he still liked wearing bright orange, which no one in Fairy Tail thought was a suitable color for a ninja.
Hearing Alfonzo's response, Wendy looked a little disappointed that the people she did most of her quests with were absent. However, Wendy's disappointment was nothing compared to Carla's. And the reason why was obvious.
For almost an entire year, Carla had been with Wendy. And for quite a bit of that time, she was forced to see Wendy being all lovey-dovey with Lee. Yet, she, who was separated from Happy, could only video call the cheerful, foolish, fish-obsessed blue Exceed. Even then, half the time Happy was too busy arguing with Natsu about his fish being eaten.
Naruto asked Wendy, Carla, and Lee all kinds of questions about what had been happening in the Village Hidden in the Leaves over the last three years. And the newly arrived trio answered all of his questions. And to Naruto's surprise, everyone who graduated from the Ninja Academy with him had already become Chunin, catching up with him and Sasuke while they were away.
"Oh, by the way, why are you all the way out here, Lee?" Naruto asked, realizing that he had not asked about that since he saw Lee.
"I'm on a mission to escort Wendy back to Fairy Tail." Lee said with a smile. "I'll be heading back with you, Lord Jiraiya, and Sasuke after the Grand Magic Games. And at that time, I'll be acting as a guard for Miss Fu, as well."
"That makes sense." Naruto said with a nod. "Well then, until then, you should train with us. I wanna see just how strong you've gotten since I saw you fight Gaara in the Chunin Exams three years ago."
"Ah! Speaking of Gaara." Lee said. "He became the Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand earlier this year."
Hearing that, Naruto's eyes opened wide in disbelief.
"He beat me to it..." Naruto muttered while lowering his head in contemplation.
Seeing Naruto's response, Wendy and Lee looked at him with Worry. Carla, on the other hand, was taking glances towards the guild hall's entrance, clearly hoping that the rest of Team Natsu, Happy in particular, would come back.
Eventually, Naruto raised his head, determination burning in his eyes.
"Even if Gaara did it before me, I'm still gonna be Hokage someday! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.
Naruto's explanation made Wendy and Lee breathe sighs of relief. Meanwhile, Carla jumped at the loud declaration before glaring at Naruto for startling her.
As for Alfonzo, who had been standing behind the bar while the four chatted, he only smiled wryly.
'Naruto really only started getting the Village's recognition after he took down Pain in the canon.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'But since Fairy Tail took them down more than a year before what would have happened in canon, I'm not sure what he'll do to get the title of the Village's Hero. Hell, there won't even be a Fourth Great Ninja War at this point. I hope we didn't mess up his career track.'
After having that thought, Alfonzo eventually shrugged it off. Although he felt sorry for messing up the events that led to Naruto's rise, there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't just let the Akatsuki trample over Fairy Tail when they came knocking, after all.
Like that, the rest of the afternoon went by in normal Fairy Tail fashion with the atmosphere being as rowdy as ever. However, Team Natsu did return before night fell. And when they did, Mavis made an announcement over the guild's magic items, calling Laxus, Fried, Cana, Ultear, Gray, Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, Gajeel, and Juvia into her office for a private discussion.
And while the ten previously mentioned wizards were confused as to why they were summoned to see the guild master and the rest of the guild was curious to know what was going on, Alfonzo and Elicia had a pretty good idea what this was all about.
Naturally, more than a few members of the guild noticed Alfonzo's and Elicia's expressions, which differed from everyone else's. Even so, when they tried to ask them about, the two kept their mouths closed, only smiling mysteriously in response.
Naturally, this led to some discontent from the guild members. And to no one's surprise, that discontent led to some insults being thrown around. From there, the issue quickly escalated into a full-blown brawl, which also did not surprise anyone.
In these situations, Alfonzo and Elicia would usually slip away from the brawl quietly. However, something must have come over them today. Because, as soon as the first punch was thrown, they both jumped right into action, putting guild mates down with swift, precise punches, kicks, and throws.
By the time Mavis and the ten guild members she called up to her office made it down to the first floor, with the exception of a few, most of the guild was laid out on the floor, nursing bruises and bumps while whimpering in pain.
Meanwhile, Alfonzo sat at a table with Elicia sitting in his lap. Across from them, Lee was gushing about the power of youth while Wendy smiled nostalgically, having missed the guild's rowdy atmosphere while she was away in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Then, there was Happy and Carla, who were sitting together in a corner of the guild hall, lost in their own world.
"Looks like we missed the party." Natsu said in a downcast tone. "I wanna fight, too."
"This doesn't look like a party to me." Gray said while surveying the scene. "It looks like a massacre."
"Juvia thinks you could have handled it, my love." Juvia said in a lovestruck tone while hugging Gray's arm.
"Did they all manage to piss off Fonzie and Lici?" Cana asked before raising her flask and taking a long sip.
"Probably." Ultear added with a shrug.
"There's no probably about it." Laxus said with his arms crossed. "Who else could have done something like this other than me?"
"Don't act like you're the only one, Sparky." Gajeel said while staring at Laxus with a challenging smile. "But if you think you are, why don't we test just how strong you are?"
Laxus only glanced at Gajeel dismissively before going back to surveying the hall.
"If you want to fight Laxus, you'll have to get through me first." Fried said, stepping between Laxus and Gajeel.
"Any time." Gajeel replied with a grin.
"I really would have thought that they would learn not to mess with Alfonzo by now." Mirajane said while resting her right hand on her right cheek.
"They need more discipline." Erza said sternly. "They are so quick to start a fight. Next time, I'll take care of disciplining them myself."
Collectively, all the wizards laid out on the floor shuddered. Dealing with Erza, who did not know the meaning of holding back, was much more terrifying than dealing with Alfonzo and Elicia, who were objectively stronger than Erza.
"Anyway." Mavis said in a cheerful tone. "Remember, what we talked about is a secret. And if it gets out before it's time, I'll ask Irene to have a chat with whoever let it slip."
This time, it was Laxus', Fried's, Cana's, Ultear's, Gray's, Erza's, Mirajane's, Natsu's, Gajeel's, and Juvia's turns to shudder. As terrifying as Erza was, she could not hold a candle to her mother in that regard.
Nodding quickly, the ten wizards dispersed to check on the people they were close with, who were almost all laid out on the floor. Though, Levy, Lucy, and Brandish were not included in that group. Mavis, on the other hand, skipped over to Alfonzo and Elicia before plopping down in the seat next to Alfonzo.
"Welcome back, Wendy." Mavis said in a bright tone. "I hope your time training in the Village Hidden in the Leaves went well."
"It did." Wendy replied with a polite bow. "Thank you for asking, Master Mavis."
Naturally, Wendy had received news of Mavis' reinstatement as guild master while she was away. So, it was no surprise when her voice rang out over the guild hall earlier in the day.
Nodding at Wendy, Mavis then turned to Alfonzo and Elicia with a smile.
"It's done." Mavis said. "Now, we only have to wait until it starts."
Hearing that, both Alfonzo and Elicia smiled. However, their smiles were not their usual smiles. Instead, they were both wearing competitive smiles, looking forward to what was coming next.