True to Makarov's words, he saw the path split in two. He looked at the two and trails and thought about his next action. Sighing, he decided to go with the path on his right. It didn't really matter which path he chose from what Makarov had said. Walking down the right path, Haruto's thoughts were on the trial, from what Makarov said both of them seemed like the same test. Shaking his thoughts away, he walked down the path without another thought on the test up ahead. The trail lead him to a clearing in the forest, and a someone was waiting for him. Standing there with his arms crossed was none other than Gildarts Clive. Once the man caught the sight of the redhead in crimson plated armor began to speak.
"Ah, finally! You know how long I waited for someone to come!" Gildarts exclaimed.
"The test please." Haruto said as he gave the older guild member a blank look.
"Fine. Kids these days…" Gildarts mumbled as he gave the redhead an annoyed look, "The test is rather simple. All you have to do is get to the other side of the clearing."
"And I can assume you will do whatever you can to stop me?"
"Of course kid, why else am I here for?"
"Very well then," Haruto said as he got into a loose stance, "Shall we dance?"
***
Gildarts continued to stare at the redhead as he crossed his arms and waited for him to take action, he was never one to take the offensive due to his magic, nor were any mages strong enough to make him go on the offensive. But from what he heard from the Master, Haruto was the type for an enjoyable fight, and he was able to beat Laxus with only hand to hand combat, but then again Laxus underestimated the boy.
"Remember kid, your goal is to reach the end of this clearing before the time runs out." Gildarts said as he pointed to the floating lacerima that had been placed their as the two were exchanging words.
"Very well then, I shall take the first step in this dance." Haruto said as he charged forward with his eyes locked on the man before him. Gildarts saw the the boy coming and prepared himself.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame" Haruto said as he spat out a massive wave of fire towards Gildarts who didn't even raise an eyebrow at the massive wave of fire that was speeding towards him and burning everything in its path. Gildarts lifted one arm and channeled his Crash Magic into it and waited for the flames to come into contact with his arm. Once the flames made contact with his arm, a net formed around the wall of flames and then it shattered into large pieces before disappearing into nothingness. Haruto's eyes widened slightly as he saw his attack disperse into nothing. He was able to destroy my attack effortlessly, this is going to be a very enjoyable dance. Haruto thought as a small smile formed on his face.
Pushing forward, Haruto sent a chakra enhanced punch towards the mage. Gildarts brought his arm to counter, grabbing hold of the incoming fist his magic sent a wave of magical power towards the redhead. A bright light consumed Haruto as the two held their positions. The light died down and Haruto was nowhere to be seen. Gildarts gave a slightly surprised look as he half expected the boy to be sent sprawling away. That was when his instincts kicked in, the years of combat and experience allowed his body to lean to the side and avoid a blow from the redhead.
Haruto rolled to the side to avoid a punch from the orange haired man. Pushing himself up, Haruto sent a kick towards the man who stopped it with a extended arm. Not allowing the man to counter, Haruto formed the Tiger hand sign and took in a deep breathe as the chakra in his lungs compressed into Fire chakra. "Fire Release: Majestic Fire Destruction." Haruto spat out a massive stream of fire towards Gildarts who quickly released the boy's leg and lifted his free arm to stop the incoming stream of fire the redhead just spewed from his mouth. Just like that his magic did its purpose and shattered the stream of fire into nothingness, but that was what the redhead needed. The light that was released when his magic took effect allowed Haruto to attack the mage by surprise. His fist connected with Gildarts face and sent him back slightly, but he was not done as he spun a bit and brought his leg towards the man who instantly held his arm up to block the kick. Spinning his body in 360 degrees, he moved his leg towards Gildarts. Bringing his other hand up, he got a better grip of the redhead's legs and tossed him aside.
Haruto was sent towards the trees as he shifted his body so his legs could reach the trees first. Adding chakra to his feet, they stuck to the trees as soon as they made contact. Haruto formed a quick hand sign and multiple plumes of smoke surrounded the area around him. The smoke cleared and multiple copies of himself were seen sticking to the trees and on the ground around the spot where he stood. Gildarts eyes widened in shock as he spotted the clones that now surrounded the blond.
Clone Magic?! Gildarts thought in shock, the amount of time had spent travelling and doing jobs for the Guild he had never encountered anyone who had been able to clone themselves. It was just amazing that the boy around 16 able to do such advanced magic, shaking away his shock, Gildarts looked over to the redhead and smirked.
"Clone Magic eh?" Gildarts asked as he eyed the multiple redheads curiously, "Never seen that type of Magic before, hope you don't disappoint."
"I aim to please." Haruto answered as he smirked slightly, "That magic of yours is rather intriguing, that offensive power is astounding. But how will your magic do against my Gunbai?"
"Gunbai?"
Gildarts gave the redhead a confused look, but his unspoken question was answered when every one of the Haruto's took out the fans strapped to their backs and charged forward. Gildarts stood there and waited for the clones to come to him, unleashing a wave of magical power towards the charging Haruto's, he watched as the closest one brought his fan up and 'Haruto' was consumed in a dull blue energy and it vanished as a barrier formed in front of him and stopped the magical blast in its place. Eyes widening slightly, Gildarts smirked as he added more magical power to his attack, the beam of magic became larger and the fight for dominance continued as Gildarts blast continued to try and destroy the barrier that Haruto had created to stop his attack.
The real Haruto was watching the fight between his clones and Gildarts from afar. In his young life he had been trained to be well, a shinobi. His grandfather Madara had taught him that it was fun to dance with his opponents and watch them desperately try to win the dance, it was also mandatory to gather information on the unknown. One of the main reasons why Madara simply wished for his grandson to learn of the unknown was because he himself hated the unknown and wished to be in control at all times. And the other reason was quite simple, knowledge was power. Having knowledge of the opponents skill and powers would increase chances of victory against him or her. Many would believe Madara was arrogant of his own skill to not bother in such a thing, but he was born in the Warring Clans Era. In that era life expectancy was at its lowest. It was simply kill or be killed, the stronger devoured the weak. And to survive Madara would always gather information on his opponents before engaging them in combat so it gave him a slight advantage against him or her. That same way of fighting was passed onto Haruto his heir. Though Haruto considered this a hobby, but neither of them had to do any sort of information gathering as they had Zetsu to do it for them. Now without the Zetsu, Haruto now had to gather information himself. But then again, he hardly bothered to gather any sort of information on enemies as he enjoyed the dance without prior knowledge of his opponents skills. The main sort of information he gathered was simply on the things that interested him.
Thinking of the times he spent with Madara and about the war he had been in, he began comparing the world where he originated from to the new one he now resided in. There were any things he frowned upon in this world. But one of the most prominent issue that the ruling government tended to ignore was simply the idea that imprisoning the defeated dark mages would solve the issue. It was a solution that would not last. Later on it would collapse on itself, the dark mages would abuse the system and use the the idea of being allowed to kill against the government. This short term solution was working so far, but it would fail eventually. Nothing lasted for long in the current of time, everything would eventually crumble to dust and be forgotten as ages passed on. Haruto had an amused look on his face as he continued to think about the differences between the two worlds, when he was younger he would have thought differently as he was young and his innocence was not stolen by the horrors of his world.