Warning: Errors and language.

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Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and Naruto are awesome works of Mashima Hiro and Kishimoto Masashi
respectively.
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CHAPTER IV: The Factual Reason

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"They were the perfect pawns to bring peace in this world once again. And now, we have you… You
have no other choice other than to involve yourself and partake with us, no matter how greatly you
detest it, even if you loath to do it, you shall. You must."
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Pein curled his lips into thin line; he noticed her inward battle, as he spoke. "Then I will edify you
with our… or rather, his intentions. Listen very well."

Lucy straightened her posture and listened attentively to whatever he would say.

"You are brought here to do something for our organization… the Akatsuki."

'Akatsuki? That was their guild's name, right? Wait? To do something with them? Are they recruiting
me?' She thought.

Kidnapping wasn't a form of recruiting, now was it? She sighed and let him continue.

"Whatever things Madara had verbalized to you are pieces of his intentions. He found you… resilient
enough to become a part of his organization to attain world peace and harmony in this world."

World peace? Wait. Earthland is peaceful. There's nothing wrong with the peace.

"You are brought here to help us hindering the endless war between countries."

War? There's no war. The Magic Council is dealing with wars so there is peace and order. At least she
knew Fiore is at peace.

"You are here to help us manipulate the world by implanting pain, agony and trepidation to all
people to restore the peace once more."

He sounded quite malicious; his intention about world peace was quite a shock. What is he talking
about pain and agony? This is a dark guild. Akatsuki was a dark guild and she was sure about that
now.
"The world is peaceful. What are you talking about then?"

Pein paused suddenly and narrowed his brows slightly. "You really do not have any idea, do you?"

Lucy managed to give him a glare and he stared back at her in slight amusement. Her looks were
enough confirmation that she was eager to have answers. Frustrating as it may seemed but Pein
found himself pretty amused that this woman had little fear talking to him.

"If you insist finding out the answers, then you shall follow me," he turned to his back and he faded
in the darkness. Lucy hesitated at first but she gained courage and began walking towards the
direction where she assumed Pein had left.

XXXXX

She found herself standing in the middle of what seemed like an office room. There was a table
there with lots of paper tacked neatly on top of it and on the sides. There were shelves standing in
the corner and two decent couches.

There was a big and wide open window in front of her and she found Pein standing there, his back
facing her as he watched the rain falling endlessly from the sky to the ground below.

Lucy could see the thick layer of grey clouds above and she assumed that this place was raining for
years. She also assumed that they were in a high place because of the coldness of the temperature
and the humidity.

She stepped towards Pein as he gestured her to stand beside him. She did so but quite hesitantly.

Standing side by side, nobody dared to speak so Lucy took this chance to observe the place below
her.

The place seemed dull and lifeless to her. It was colourless, motionless. Looking down on the streets,
she was surprised to see a small town. She saw few people passed by with their umbrellas facing
her. The town was quiet and the sound of the falling rain was the only thing she could hear. The
place was lifeless, colourless. The only colours she could distinguish were white, black and grey.

But a part of her saying that the place was peaceful. She could feel that the townsmen were living in
contentment and in satisfaction. Their lives were simple and yet satisfactory, not so extraordinary
and yet, they were still happy.

A small smile appeared in her lips.

The gentle and yet chilling wind hit her body and she covered herself to gain warmth.

"What do you think of this place?" Pein asked suddenly out of nowhere.
She looked at him curiously and her shivering was long forgotten. She saw his peaceful expression
while looking at the town below them. He was neither smiling nor frowning, his face was blank but
she could see and she could feel the satisfaction and contentment in his ringed eyes.

She remembered the question suddenly. Looking down on her feet, she had to think for a moment
to answer his question or not. His question was too sudden and out of place. Besides, it was nothing
to do with 'edifying of his intentions'.

But for some moment, when she noticed the soft expression on his stoic face, she decided that the
question might be one of his edifying. She sighed before drawing her attention back to the town.

"It is simple and yet… peaceful." Had her eyes weren't too focused on the town, she could see the
smile appearing in Pein's lips for a brief moment.

"This town had been one of the many places assaulted by the Great Shinobi War long time ago." She
looked at him, his expression changed from calm to slight rage.

No way had this town engaged in war. The people here were living harmoniously. War are for those
people who were drawn in misunderstanding and she could see the silent understanding lingering
around this town.

"I sensed your slight confusion but I am speaking you the truth about the war," Pein implied. "Wars
are everywhere in this world. Wars are the result of greed, hatred and… misunderstanding of
people."

"There are no wars happening and there were no wars happened before, or that was what I have
knowledge of. Besides, the Magic Council is responsible of dealing with those kinds of hindrances,"
she stated as a matter-of-factly.

Pein narrowed his brows at the mention of Magic Council. What is that? Maybe that is from the
world this girl came from. Interesting.

"Miss Heartfilia, do you believe that other worlds do exist?"

This question made Lucy turned towards the pierced man.

What's with the sudden change of question? It was out of the topic and was quite suspicious, if she
may add. A while ago, it was about peace and the involvement of this village in wars long ago and
now, he was asking about other worlds. It didn't make any sense. Is he trying to confuse me or some
sort, she thought…

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Pein stared at her impatiently, his brow twitching
slightly. She cowered because of those strange eyes of his so she decided to answer the question
instead.

Recalling his question, she turned her gaze towards the grey sky and began forming answer
mentally.
'Other worlds? Hmm, let's see...'

And with the mention of other worlds, a sudden memory flashed in her mind like a lightning. "Yes, I
do believe," she answered, recalling their fight against the Edolas' version of themselves.

"Why?" Pein's fast question. Had she known better, she could sense the slight curiosity and interest
in his voice.

"I have been in one of those other worlds."

"Enlighten me," he said, no, he ordered — basing on the tone he used.

Lucy hesitantly nodded her head because she was suspicious about him asking those weird
questions to her. Sure, maybe he was unaware of the other worlds but still, she couldn't get the
thought off her being wary about his actions.

"The name of that world is Edolas. We were sent there through this time and space magic — this
magic was some sort of high-class and rare Teleportation Magic, but once we got there, we couldn't
use any kind of magic. It’s like the magic we possessed was trapped inside our body and we couldn't
release it and make use of it."

Edolas. Magic. Possessed. These terms interested Pein more — that is if she was telling the truth and
she was not just being senile like some Uchiha, so he let her continue.

"The magic is limited in that world, so limited that it is impossible for us to use it anymore and it
sucks when you can't use magic. Thanked Kami that Jellal gave us the pill which let us to use our
magic in our own free will, without limits."

He nodded, telling her that he was listening attentively. She continued, smiling every once in a while
remembering their Edolas counter parts.

"There was this magic that was put in reverse, making all the limited magic in Edolas be released and
be sent back to Earthland once again, including us because we have magic within ourselves. And
now, with Jellal leading the Edolas, that world is free of magic and is leaving like a normal world,
without magic. Just human beings… No magic, no wizards… After then, we were sent back to
Earthland again like nothing happened," she finished.

"Interesting," Pein mused. "Then, so, if I tell you right here and right now that you are in a different
world as this very moment, you are going to believe it, yes?" She nodded though quite hesitant. He
smirked. "Then, I benignly welcome you to the world of shinobi, Miss Lucy Heartfilia."

XXXXX

Gray slowly opened his eyes and shut it back when the blinding light of the sun flashed in his eyes.
He grunted and rubbed the pain off of his eyes as he pushed himself to sit.

Rubbing his temples, he tried to remember what the hell happened. He looked around a moment
later when the pain in his eyes subsided and he found himself sitting in the middle of a forest.
Tall trees surrounded the whole area, tall grass and different kind of shrubs covered the entire
ground. He could hear the sound of different birds as well as the rustling noise of the leaves caused
by the wind.

Strange it was, but he couldn't sense anything. It was like, he was meditating. All things were relaxed
and calmed, except the sudden groans he heard behind him.

Turning around, he saw Natsu lying on his back on the ground. Gray's eyes twitched in annoyance
when he realized that he slept with the dragon slayer. He decided to freeze the bastard to death.
That would be a great prank to wake the pinkette.

Slamming his fist into his palm, he was about to cast his ice spell when he spotted a portion of
Natsu's abdominal skin which was tanned, almost dark brown in color. Narrowing his brows, he
dropped both of his hands and crawled towards Natsu. He ran a hand on the wounded skin and
Natsu groaned in slight pain. He stirred for a moment then he was motionless again.

What the hell had happened to him? He asked mentally and upon stating the question mentally,
moments of last night’s battle flashed in his mind instantly.

Their mission to capture a mage, the clearing that was damaged, the mage they caught in the middle
of the clearing which was destroyed beyond repair, the lightning that mage used against Natsu, the
vortex that mage made to capture them both, Natsu shouting that they would kill the bastard and
retrieve Lucy back.

Lucy.

His eyes widened in realization. They fought the mage who kidnapped Lucy and they lost against
him. Gray remembered Natsu and him being sucked and after that, everything went black.

"Let me make it short. How will Lucy find it to see you two again if you three meet under different
circumstances? Pretty nice idea, is it not?"

That's it. That mage brought Natsu and him in the world where he brought Lucy.

He gritted her teeth. If he saw that mage again, he would fucking kill him. Vowing that to himself, he
stood up and studied the atmosphere of the 'world' he was in.

No wonder he couldn't sense anything. The atmosphere was almost the same like the Edolas. He
couldn't sense any magic from anywhere besides his own magic and the magic Natsu possessed. And
would that also mean that they couldn't use their magic as well, like what they experienced in
Edolas?

"I cannot tell yet if I do not test it." He thought out loud, bringing his fist over his palm again. "And if
I can't perform my ice magic again, then this world shall be damned—"

Just as he was about to cast his spell, a metal weapon out of nowhere appeared in his line of vision
and said weapon was heading towards his direction. His eyes widened a bit. He jumped backwards
to dodge the weapon. It landed on a nearby tree behind him. Gray glared at the direction where he
assumed the weapon came from as he walked towards the weapon slowly.

He pulled the metal weapon out of the tree and he studied it. It was heavy for a normal person but
he could manage to hold it with ease. It has a rounded end and a sharp end on the opposite. The
handle was covered with bandage for easy holding. The sharpened edge was so sharp that it could
passed through his arm when made contact directly.

Who the hell would throw something like this to him? After asking himself that thought, he felt
another attack coming to him. This time the weapons were not one, not two but almost ten of them.

Quickly, he used the weapon in his hand to deflect the other but he missed two, cutting the skin of
his arm and his cheek in the process. He hissed a bit, not because of the pain but more on to the fact
that he could not avoid those weapons in time.

"State your reason for intruding Konoha!" Gray heard a man's voice from afar. He narrowed his eyes
to have a better look but the man was completely hidden. He swore something under his breath.

"I'm giving you a minute to think for an appropriate answer, intruder! And do not make any lies or
you'll find yourself be in deep shit—I mean trouble!" The voice continued.

Gray clicked his tongue and decided not to engage in a fight. He wasn't sure if he could use his magic
to defend himself and he wasn't sure if Natsu would wake up to give him a hand, not that he wanted
help anyways.

He let out a resignation sigh and dropped the weapon on the ground. He raised both his hand and
shut his eyes closed.

Later enough, two men and a woman appeared in front of him, one was wearing a black shirt, his
abdominal skin was in sight and he had a very, very pale skin, the other man was wearing a black and
orange jacket with matching pants and the woman was wearing a red shirt, a skirt and sandals.

"State your reason for intruding—" The blond in the black and orange suit stated but the woman
with pink hair — yes, pink hair and Gray wondered for a second if Natsu knew her or not — cut him
off with a punch on the head. "Ow!"

"He heard what you said, baka!" The pinkette exclaimed.

"But I felt good saying that, it was like I'm a Hokage or something!" The blond complained while
rubbing his aching head.

The pinkette ignored him and glanced towards Gray. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she
glared at him. She was not glaring out of hatred or angst; she was glaring because she was wary of
him.

"I don't actually know either," Gray answered which earned him glares from the blond and the
pinkette. The ravenette was looking at him with his expression neutral, but the distrust and wariness
were present as well, just a little unnoticeable.
"What do you mean you don't know either?" The pinkette asked again. She saw the other pinkette
lying on the ground so her glare intensified tenfold. "Did you do that to that man?"

Gray turned and looked at the sleeping Natsu before turning his gaze towards them again.

"No," was his short answer and the pinkette glared at him more, if that was possible. She was
obviously agitated by his lack of cooperation to give satisfying answers so the blond decided to step
in.

"Are you saying that he is your friend?"

"He is my nakama," Gray responded coldly. He would never ever in his entire life admit Natsu was
his friend, even if he knew he actually was.

"So, what happened here?" The ravenette asked as he made a step forward. "You have not been
attacked by other ninja, have you?"

Gray narrowed his eyes at the word. Ninja? Do they even exist? He thought they were just fictional
and they only appeared in children’s books and whatnots. Their existence never crossed his mind
once, even Natsu tried to be like them for many, many times ago. But seeing these people in front of
him, talking about ninja with that seriousness, he realized that ninja was a serious issue. Maybe they
were ninjas as well. So, maybe, this world was the world of ninjas. Their world is for wizards while
this is for ninjas. How ironic.

"Better to spit everything you know before it is too late, droopy eyes." Gray twitched upon hearing
this insult. Even in this world, he was called droopy eyes? Goddamn it. He glared at the one who
made the remark and fortunately, it was the blond. He could glare at him because he looked like he
was the dumbest among the three. Not that he was being judge mental but it was more of an
observation.

"If you consider the mage—I mean, the one we fought earlier a ninja, yes, we have been attacked,"
Gray said, recalling the events from before and cursing the mage in his mind.

"Do describe that ninja so we can take effective measures against him," The ravenette stated
expressionlessly.

Gray sensed that he could trust these people for now especially if Natsu and he were foreign to this
world. Gray could sense that these people, ninja as they claimed themselves, were trustworthy so he
would trust them, at least for now.

Glancing towards Natsu, Gray spoke. "Maybe you can attend the injuries of my nakama here first. I
won't do anything, I assure you."

The pinkette hesitantly gave him a firm nod before she approached the other pinkette. She sat down
beside him. She hovered two hands over his chest and soon enough, she was healing him. Gray
stared at the pinkette. She was using some sort of healing magic and that was considered a rare
magic. Awesome.
"So, do you have a name?" The blond asked Gray.

"Gray. Gray Fullbuster." He answered. He pondered for a moment what skills did these men possess.

"Gray, eh? Strange. By the way, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage, dattebayo." The blond
replied as he offered his hand which Gray took and shook firmly.

"Do not listen to that dickless, Gray-san. I am Sai," the ravenette implied. Naruto glared at him. Sai
pointed to the pinkette. "And the ugly hag there is Sakura Haruno."

"Shut it, Sai!" Sakura said, still fixing the damaged tissue of the other pinkette. "What's his name?"
She asked.

"He’s Natsu," Gray answered shortly.

She nodded and continued healing him when suddenly Naruto and Sai felt her tensed. The cause of
his wound was very familiar to her. The burnt marks and the ugly deformation of skin… it was made
by Chidori, no doubt that. Sasuke?

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, worry in his tone. Gray looked at Sakura with concern.
Couldn't it be? Couldn't it be that Natsu was — but he could still feel his magic, even though it was
faint…

"N-Nothing," Sakura answered softly before she withdrew her glowing green hands. She stood up
and looked at her teammates. "Do you think it is alright to bring these two men with us back in the
village?"

There was a pause before Naruto shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "Well, you're the
captain; it is your decision anyway."

"Good. Gray-san, please follow us. We will escort you to our village, heal Natsu-san and ask you
some questions if that doesn't mind you."

"No, it is okay." Gray answered as he picked Natsu and dropped him over his shoulder. The dragon
slayer groaned but remained motionless.

"This way." Sakura led the way to Konoha. Sai stayed behind the group while Naruto walked beside
Gray. They walked in silence. Naruto was surprisingly silent all this time until he broke it.

"Sakura-chan, would you want some ramen when we get home?" He grinned behind her back. He
would expect Sakura to yell at him like what she does all the time or punch him on the head or—

"Of course," she answered half-heartedly.

Naruto gasped in shock. He looked behind him and found Sai with the same expression; it's just that
the pale wasn't gaping and he was doing it in a somewhat less stupid way but Naruto could tell that
he was surprised as well. Naruto stared back at Sakura who was walking ahead of them and he
grinned. Sakura accepted a date at last.

Sakura was contemplating. She was having a conversation mentally. The pinkette, Natsu as she
recalled, was weird. His body was like theirs, of course, as well as his body structure. He was a
human after all. What makes him weird was his energy.

And it wasn't chakra. It wasn't even close to chakra. Chakra is the mental and physical energy
combined so she could distinguish it instantly while Natsu's energy on the other hand…

He has no chakra within him. And having no chakra means you are dead. But Natsu was still
breathing and he had this odd energy with him. A kind of energy she has not encountered yet.

It was like his energy didn't come from the mental and physical energy, it was foreign. It was like, he
borrowed it from something, or somewhere then he enhanced it so he could use it.

Wait. Borrowing energy and enhancing it? That's something out of this world.

Those two weren't even looked like ninjas. They dressed weird and uncomfortable to be a ninja.
They looked like from another village, or even from another world.

Another world? Okay, that's bullshit. She knew that they were many dimensions existed, like what
Kakashi used against Deidara and that Madara bastard used to escape, but she never knew, and
never would believe that there were another worlds out there besides their world.

More questions flooded to her mind that it made her feel a slight throbbing pain against her temple.
She sighed and healed the aching pain. She could deal with it when they reached the village.

Sighing out of resignation, she quickened the pace and decided to confront Gray as soon as they
reached the hospital.

XXXXX

Natsu woke up but didn't open his eyes yet. The pain in his abdomen had disappeared and he felt a
comfortable mattress behind his back, like that of Lucy's bed.

Lucy.

He pushed himself to sit but find himself immobilized. He couldn't move. He couldn't open his eyes.
He couldn't speak.

Shit.

Alarmed, he tried to sense the surrounding using his dragon senses. His hearing abilities picked a
woman's voice. The voice wasn't far from him.

"What do you mean you're not from here? Are you insane?"
He could also hear a familiar voice, a very annoying, familiar voice.

"I told you we're from somewhere you didn't know exist."

It was Gray's voice. He never had been so relieved in his life to hear that ice queen's voice. Not that
he would admit loudly. Anyway, to whom was he talking to? The female's voice was new to his ears.

"And where the hell is that?"

"Earthland."

The voices he heard were like arguing. Strange it was but he couldn't sense any danger in the air. He
sensed a different energy, a foreign energy that wasn't comforting nor was it uncomfortable. It was
just making him feel… uneasy.

"You're mental," the medic nin said with a resignation sigh. "I need to check you, Gray-san. You
must've been traumatized because of the ninja who attacked you earlier." Sakura moved towards
Gray, her hands glowing green.

Gray narrowed his eyes and put his guard on. He wasn't sure yet if this lady was capable only of
healing. "I am not mental, lady. I am just speaking the truth."

Sakura dropped her hands. She couldn't sense any chakra from these men. Even if they were civilian,
they should have at least chakra, even in small amount. She saw Natsu's functioning body so they
were still alive and breathing. No signs of being revived.

"We are brought here by someone, he's an enemy. We're on a mission and we're supposed to
capture him but he brought us here instead… along with another friend."

Sakura wasn't listening. It made her confused. There was no other world exist. But what was this
foreign energy she felt from them? What if they were telling the truth?

She needed to talk with the Fifth Hokage and Kakashi about this. However, she needed to know
everything about them first.

"Alright." she announced softly. Gray watched her carefully. "I'll believe in you and everything you
have said — that you are from this 'Earthland' and that you are not from here. I will believe in you,
unless…" She trailed off.

"Unless what?"

"Unless, you prove yourself to me."

The ice mage had to think about this first. The only thing that would prove himself that he was from
other world was showing his ice sculpting magic but he wasn't so sure if it would work.
If it didn't work then they were doomed. This world felt like Edolas. The usage of magic was limited.
If only he had the pill Jellal gave them, then he could perform his magic abilities without any
restrictions.

On the other hand, if he would chant about their world, about the guilds, about the wizards and the
dragons, she might think that they were actually idiots and he didn't want that to happen.

But, he had not tried it yet if he could perform his magic or not in this world. He would lose nothing
if he tried, right?

Sighing, he crouched down a little. "Okay. Tell me if it is proof enough." He received a nod from the
medic. He inhaled and brought his fist over his palm then he channelled his magic from his stomach
towards his arms and then…

Sakura watched in both awe and amazement as a blue magic circle appeared in front of Gray's
joined hands. She has not seen this kind of ninjutsu before. She wasn't even sure if it was a ninjutsu
or not. But she would not deny that it was beautiful.

Gray felt his magic ran through his body and he smirked in relief. "Ice Make: Floor!" The floor Sakura
was standing on turned into ice and she needed to charge chakra to her feet to keep herself from
slipping.

But realizing that she couldn't, she slipped and fell on the hard, cold floor with a pained thud. She
winced upon feeling the burning coldness on her thighs.

Gray sweat dropped but couldn't help himself to smirk. He could perform his ice magic, great!
Woohoo! He was crying with joy but he didn't show it.

Finding Sakura was still on the frozen floor, he walked over her and offered a hand to help her up.
"Sorry… I got a little carried away…"

Sakura looked up at him. And she blushed furiously when she saw Gray leaning towards her wearing
nothing but his boxers. Acting in pure instinct, she charged chakra to her fist and punched Gray on
the face as hard as she could. "Pervert!"

Gray slammed on the nearest wall and dropped on the floor, unconscious. The frozen floor
disappeared and Sakura stood up, sweat dropping.

"Oops, I think I got a little carried away as well."

XXXXX

"I will signify your trivial scepticism, Miss Heartfilia," Pein ruminated; his voice was carefully
collected and calculated. "Where should I begin in favor of your liking concerning your confusion? I
will resolve any matters you discern with difficulty and intricacy regarding the matters you desire to
have knowledge of."
Lucy was silent for a while. After she'd known from him that she was now in another world, her
confusion and disbelief only intensified tenfold.

She still couldn't bring herself to absorb that piece of information. Being within another world was
serious business. There would be no guarantee that she could come back to her own world. And that
worried her so much.

Although she wouldn't be that surprised if she was brought to another world, it was still hard for her
to accept it. It was all too sudden and too abrupt.

"I apologize to disrupt you in the middle of your inner contemplations," Pein stated simply and
blankly. "However, I believe that it is wiser to acquire answers by means of inquiring rather than
presuming things. Would you not agree?"

Lucy locked gaze with the rinnegan bearer for a moment before her eyes shifted down on the floor
to process his words. He has a point, she thought. If she needed answers, then she should ask, right?
Assuming things would just lead her to nothing.

"You are right," she responded softly, her eyes were stern with the determination to seek for
answers. "I shouldn't bed surprise if I was brought here. I'd been in another world before, though."
She was feeling a sudden weight on her chest. She didn't know why. "But, I will demand for answers.
You will provide me the truth, won't you, Pein-san?"

The way she spoke his name made him quiver ever so slightly. He pondered briefly how the girl
could do that to him. He dismissed the thought off immediately as it was nothing but unimportant.
"Yes, certainly. Just specify them."

For a brief moment, Pein contemplated what is so special about this young woman. He found
nothing really exceptional about this girl, aside from the fact that she came from another world. He
sensed no danger, no killing intention from her. She was pure innocent and oblivious about the
cruelty and viciousness of the world. And he needn't someone like her inside his organization.

However, as much as he wanted to cast this young lady away, he could not defy his true leader.

Madara.

Pein had no idea what's gotten into the Uchiha's tricky mind. Madara brought other people from
another world before but those cretins were nothing but worthless pieces of trash. He told Madara
that he was just wasting time and chakra for nothing. As a response, Madara chuckled and vanished
from his rinnegan eyes. The Uchiha was probably headed to another world, to capture useless specie
again. After that, he came back with this blonde lady who was too gentle to be a part of a violent,
vicious organization.

"Who brought me here?" Pein was interrupted in the middle of his internal assessment. "I believe
his name is Madara. Who is he?"

Pein was definitely not expecting her to ask that question. She was rather sharp by analyzing and
studying first the people involved for the cause of her being here.
"What do you really connote by that? He was the one who brought you here, quite obviously. And
apparently, he is a part of this organization. I fail to see an alternative answer to resolve that
question, not including the facts you already have known, of course."

Lucy fought the desire to scowl at his polite language. And his tone was too calm for her liking and it
frustrated her to no end. "I just can't believe that someone was more superior to you when
everybody was addressing you as their Leader-sama. What I do really mean is what Madara's real
position in this Akatsuki."

Pein blinked, astonished at her blunt response. So she noticed, he thought. He straightened his
stance. "I applaud your immediate scrutiny without specific validation. However," he fixated gaze
with her momentarily. "I believe that you deserve to understand everything as it appears that you
are vigilant enough to tolerate this kind of things."

"Please," Lucy practically begged. She palmed her face with both hands and let out a sigh of
resignation and exhaustion. "Tell me everything I need to know. Tell me the reason why do I have to
be in these… predicaments."

Pein watched in slight amazement the girl in front of him as she kneeled on the ground. He turned
around and gazed over the village once again, contemplating and thinking where he should begin.
"The world of ninjas is, at present, undergoing several tribulations such as misunderstandings and
greed of power, which of apparently, resulting to various confrontation and wars between shinobi
countries." He paused momentarily, discerning any reactions he might trigger from the blond.
"These wars persevered for hundreds of years, resulting to infinite amount of deaths and
unreasonable hatred towards comrades. Because of the misunderstanding and greediness of the
people, deaths became an everyday nature of every human person, whether a shinobi or not…"

Lucy actually flinched at the mention of death. And Pein did not miss that. She stood up from her
kneeling position and watched Pein's back. She listened to him carefully.

"Nobody dared cease such catastrophe, resulting to more deaths and lies… The world was concealed
of the truth. People talked and spoke only of lies to the innocent; they spoke lies for their own good.
They, in actual fact, did not care. All what matters to them was power… money… their safety…"

Lucy's brows narrowed, already imagining the world in chaos. It was a horrible sight.

"Nobody ever tried to hinder these predicaments. Some maybe had thought to stop the quandaries
and chaotic crisis, but nobody, in truth, tried. Some maybe tried but they were not capable enough
to make a change, hence they ended up dying in the end. The world needs a stronger force, not of
simply an individual but of a well-built organization," Pein turned to her ever so slightly to stare at
Lucy in the eye for a moment. "That is why I do exist."

"You're the only one capable to create an organization who can stop these hindrances," Lucy
mumbled, balling her fists as she stared at the floor. Somehow, she could sense a very strong power
that radiates from this man, even stronger than any other dark mage she encountered. Not only
power, but also authority… control… competence…
"Precisely," Pein carefully opt his choice of words to convince Lucy to side with them. The Akatsuki
was not the real evil. They were not the real enemy of humankind. He turned around so he was
facing her completely, the light outside gave him an intimidating shadow, as his bright eyes pierced
her being. "That is why I gathered all the strongest shinobi around the world who knew pain more
than anyone else. Kakuzu, Hidan, Kisame, Itachi, Sasori, Deidara… They experienced pain and they
fought it. Their pain was the only thing they need to encompass their true potential as a shinobi.
They were the perfect pawns to bring peace in this world once again. And now, we have you… You
have no other choice other than to involve yourself and partake with us, no matter how greatly you
detest it, even if you loath to do it, you shall. You must."

"No, no, please do not include me in this," Lucy said softly, not making any eye contact. She started
to shake, trembling from all the things she heard. "I am not as strong as them. My pain is nothing
compared to them… I am not ready for such responsibilities as to stop these wars…"

"Nonsense. Madara would not convey you here for nothing," Pein said sharply. "He knows you more
than anybody else you know. He knows your pain more than anybody else."

"I do not want to concern myself with you, or with anyone in this world," she said quite loudly, her
voice was firm and stern, as if demanding. "I am a wizard; I'm not from this place. This is your
problem. Please, don’t let me get tangled in your mess. I know nothing about any of you. And you
know nothing about me."

Pein kept his stare at Lucy hard and austere. "You are now one of us. Once you laid a foot inside this
world, you are now one of us. Escaping is impossible now. You now carry your responsibility and you
cannot deny it."

Her vision became clouded. She was going to cry. Once again, she dropped on the floor and covered
her face. Pein towered over her, not showing her any sympathy.

"I… I wanted to see this Madara. I have to talk to him… Bring me to… to him, please?" She asked in
between sobs.

"No. I am here to make you understand—"

"Please!?"

Pein glared at her for being interrupted but said nothing. He stepped closer to her. "Very well.
Remain here." With that, Pein strode away and left Lucy all alone by herself.

XXXXX

It's been two hours since that blond lady left the room and the occupants of this room were so
bored, so bored that they could braid their intestines just to do something.

"What do you think about the woman, yeah?" The blond asked all of the sudden. He was just trying
to make a conversation to kill time.

"Ooh, goldilocks was into the bitch," Hidan teased from the corner of the room.
"Fuck you, Hidan, yeah. I was just trying to kill the boredom."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hidan shrugged and decided to take a nap.

Kisame knew that Deidara was trying to open a conversation so he decided to play along. "She
looked like a whore. Leader-sama must've taken her to be a slave or something." Then he laughed
hard.

Deidara rolled his eyes. "It should be quite obvious, yeah."

"If Leader-sama hears you, you will be all in deep shits, I tell you!" Hidan snickered.

"I can’t fucking believe I'd be hearing that from someone like you, Hidan, yeah." Deidara retorted
and Kisame laughed.

Hidan lazily gave them the finger and muttered filthy things under his breath.

"No, really, can't you feel this strange energy from her, yeah?" Deidara could not believe himself
asking these questions but he was interested about the blond lady, not in a romantic way though. He
didn't know why. Maybe because of the same hair color. Yep, that's the reason for it.

"She has an interesting energy," The ex-mist nin said, catching his group mates' attention.
"Samehada says she didn't have any chakra within her. It was surprising that she was breathing. As
far as I know, human without chakra are supposed to be dead. But she, well, I really don't know
what she is," Kisame voiced out his thoughts.

Deidara nodded. He was having the same thoughts as Kisame. "Maybe she's from another world,
yeah?"

"That's bullshit."

"Jashin-sama believes in other worlds, ya know."

"That's bullshit, too," Kisame shook his head. Is there another world exists other than theirs? He
believed there isn't. Well, except the world of the summoned animals, creatures and beasts. But
hey, at least they were related to ninjas!

"I believe that the blond lady came from another realm," The Uchiha announced. All men turned
their heads towards Itachi who was now stopped reading.

"Yeah? How could you say that?" Kisame asked, disbelief was written on his face. "You aren't doing
that just to piss me now, are you?"

"No." Itachi's firm response and gave his partner a hard look. "However, her foreign energy is
verification enough that she does not originate from here."

No one replied as everybody considered his statement. That made any sense, though.
"And remember her mentioning about guilds and other stuff, yeah? Those things are weird! That
might come from her world, yeah," Deidara said, which added to the confused thoughts about the
woman.

"Maybe she's just naturally and completely insane, you know. Those are natural, you know."

"Fuck that, gills. I'm maybe telling you that she's bitchy insane and some other fucking stuff before,
but I believe in what the red eyes and goldilocks said. They made fucking sense, ya know."

But before Kisame could argue his point, Konan entered the room again. Her face was as neutral as
ever. All arguments ceased at the presence of the God's Angel.

"Leader-sama wishes for all your presence in the meeting room right now." With this being said, she
left the room.

Deidara blinked then stood up. "Well, let's just find out, yeah?"

The other stood up. Itachi walked towards the door followed by the grumbling Kisame. Deidara
followed next then Kakuzu.

"Hey, gills, wanna bet?" This made Kakuzu paused momentarily. His sense of hearing heightened
suddenly. "Let's see who's right and who's goddamn wrong."

Kisame paused, making Deidara slammed himself onto the mist nin's hard back and shouted a 'hey,
yeah!' which was ignored. "Bring it on, Hidan."

Hidan smirked.

"She's insane. 12,000 ¥!" Kakuzu exclaimed that made Hidan rolled his violet eyes.

"Whatever. Your rotten ass is always present at times like this anyway, fuck that," Hidan cursed and
walked passed his partner, who growled at him dangerously. "Jashin-sama believes she's from other
world of all mother fuckers. 12,000."

"15,000 with Kakuzu," Kisame laughed.

"10,000 with Hidan, yeah," Deidara rubbed his aching nose, glaring at Samehada who tried eating
the bomb artist's chakra every once in a while.

"Hey, red eyes, wanna fucking join us?"

Itachi was walking ahead of them but he still heard Hidan. "No," his firm replied. Kisame and the rest
who stopped to discuss the 'betting' started following the Uchiha.

"You're always a fucking kill joy red eyes, seriously."

"Please refrain yourself from making such childish nick names, Hidan."
"Whatever."

CHAPTER IV — END.