— — — — — —
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
Erza strode over, hauling a cart piled high with an absurd amount of luggage.
"That's... a lot of luggage!"
"Huh? You two were new Fairy Tail members, right?" Erza's eyes shifted toward Uchiha Kitaro and Lucy.
"Yeah, I'm new here. My name's Lucy. Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Uchiha Kitaro. Mira asked me to come along and help out. It's a pleasure to work with you."
"I'm Erza, good to meet you both. So, you're the new recruits everyone's been talking about in the guild!"
"Lucy, I heard about you taking down that mercenary—impressive work."
"Uh... that was actually Natsu's doing. The story's a bit exaggerated…"
"Kitaro, You beat Natsu right after joining the guild. It's been a long time since we've had such strong newcomers. You use swords, right? If we get some time, let's have a sparring match."
Erza's gaze shifted to Kitaro, her eyes practically radiating a competitive spark. She knew Natsu's strength well enough—if he got serious, even she might struggle. For someone to defeat him so easily, this newcomer was clearly worth testing.
"Sure thing!" Kitaro replied with a confident grin.
"I was a bit worried about the dangers of this mission, but with the two of you on board, our chances of success just skyrocketed."
"D-Danger?!" Lucy's face paled. Dangerous missions weren't exactly her cup of tea.
Before long, the group boarded the train.
"Haaah… haaaah…"
Natsu looked utterly miserable, slumped over from his usual motion sickness.
"Ugh, just looking at you is annoying. Go sit somewhere else!" Gray grumbled, glaring at him.
"I'll help him," Kitaro offered. "Natsu, look at my eyes."
Natsu weakly lifted his head, meeting Kitaro's gaze. Instantly, Kitaro's Sharingan activated, and with a flash of hypnotic power, Natsu collapsed, sound asleep.
"Kitaro... your eyes?!" Lucy exclaimed, startled by the sudden transformation. Gray and Erza turned their heads in equal surprise.
"Eye magic?" Erza asked curiously.
"Something like that. It's called the Sharingan—it's a bloodline ability, meaning I was born with it," Kitaro explained with a relaxed smile.
"Your eyes must have some special powers," Gray remarked, sensing the immense strength behind them.
"Yeah. The Sharingan has three main abilities: enhanced perception, the ability to copy techniques, and hypnosis. What I just used was the hypnosis ability—anyone who makes eye contact with me can be put to sleep instantly."
"That's incredible!"
Even with Kitaro's simple explanation, the trio couldn't help but marvel at his abilities.
"By the way, Kitaro, you've already shown us fire and water magic. What else can you do?" Lucy asked.
"Wind, fire, water, earth, and lightning—I dabble in all of them. Honestly, I've learned so many skills that even I'm not sure of everything I can do."
Kitaro chuckled, thinking about how ridiculously extensive his skill set was. Sure, he knew plenty, but using them effectively? That was a different story. It reminded him of Kakashi, the "Copy Ninja" who knew a thousand jutsu but relied on just a few in real fights.
Mastery wasn't about showing off everything—just knowing when to use the right tools.
"Wha—?! You're serious?!" Lucy's jaw dropped.
"Yeah, but knowing a lot doesn't mean I use them all. In actual battles, I usually rely on a dozen or so techniques."
"A dozen?! And you call that 'not much'?!"
Both Lucy and Gray were visibly floored.
Erza frowned slightly. "Aren't you worried that learning so much might make you spread yourself too thin? Most mages specialize in one type of magic to truly master it."
"Not at all. For me, picking up new abilities is pretty easy. The key is carefully selecting the ones I actually need," Kitaro replied. "Then I combine and layer those powers to complement each other."
"For example, take my eyes. The Sharingan gives me unparalleled perception, so even the fastest movements can't escape me. But my field of vision has blind spots. That's why I also mastered Observation Haki, which lets me sense the presence and movements of anyone around me, even outside my sight."
"In this train car, for instance, there are 56 people in total, 38 of whom are behind me."
Happy perched on the seat to count. "Whoa, he's right!"
"Also," Kitaro added with a small smirk, "the ticket inspector is about to come into this car."
Raising three fingers, he started counting down. Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy all turned toward the back of the train.
"Three, two, one—"
Click!
The door to the car slid open, and a ticket inspector stepped in.
"He really came in!!" Happy exclaimed, his jaw dropping.
Erza and the others were equally astonished.
"That level of sensory awareness is amazing!" Erza remarked. While mages generally had some form of sensory ability, precision like Kitaro's was rare, unless one specialized in that type of magic.
"Right? With this setup, I have no blind spots and no risk of being ambushed," Kitaro said casually. "Magic is a powerful tool, so I've always wanted to learn the bits that would be most useful to me."
Though Kitaro spoke nonchalantly, his words carried weight, leaving everyone deeply impressed.
Lucy, still curious, asked, "But why didn't you start learning magic earlier? If you're just starting now, isn't it kind of late?"
Starting magic training as a child was ideal, as it increased the likelihood of awakening a magic source. Starting later often meant diminishing returns.
Kitaro smiled. "I come from a remote village where magic wasn't a thing. This is actually my first time encountering it."
The group exchanged glances, finding no reason to doubt him. It wasn't unheard of for remote villages to lack exposure to magic.
After all, Fiore was a kingdom where magic was prevalent mostly in larger towns and cities. Remote areas were still steeped in simpler ways of life.
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