I'M BACK BITCHES! Man, I stay away from you guys way too long- away from this story too. I don't know, just writing this lovely mash-up and writing a good Asura just brings a smile to my face. And my plans. Oh my, my plans for this are absolutely devious.
BUT FIRST! I have a little question, just a tiny one. Should I pair Asura with someone? I'm planning on possibly pairing Harry with either his Zanpakuto or Death the kid, but what should I do for his big bro? I'm making Asura's love for Arachne quite real, but what should I do for our favorite ex-kishin?
It probably won't happen in this arc or the next arc but who should I do it with? And remember, you have all the characters from Harry potter, Naruto, and Bleach on the table! With the exception of Snape. I'm sorry fangirls, but I find the man disgusting. I don't bash him too much because I understand his reasoning but... I don't like him at all. It's just that I wouldn't want to fuck him and I can't see why anyone else would either.
Anyways, enjoy the story!
A sound soul
dwells within a sound mind
And a sound body.
CHAPTER 10: Arc Finale! Bring on the Madness!
"Father, I'm having second thoughts about this whole idea," Asura said quietly from behind his desk. He had set up a mirror opposite of his desk so he could have a call with his dad if he needed to. Which right now he did, quite badly in all honesty.
Death's head tilted to the side, "What's wrong Kiddo? You've got control over yourself and you're taking the proper precautions for something like this." Asura sighed. His dad knew what he was talking about, hell, he had been calling almost every day for the entirety of the week. They had debated this whole thing back and forth repeatedly and they always ended agreeing they had to do this.
The ex-kishin's head fell in his hands, "But what if I lose control? You can't leave Death City and I'll be right next to a school full of children without anyone to control me. We can't ask Justin, not after he fell to Madness for a little bit and by that logic neither can we ask Stein." Asura rubbed his temples.
"Perhaps I can call in a favor from the Leaf village?" Asura looked up curious. After all, what experience did they have with Madness? Their ancient wards were so powerful that they hadn't even noticed anything happen. There was a blip or two, two of the Jinchuiriki namely, who suddenly were a bit more mentally unstable but beyond that, they saw nothing.
Death chuckled, "Yes, they have not dealt with Madness specifically, but they have dealt with Genjutsu so they are used to illusions. If I prep one of them with the right techniques, they should be fine." Asura nodded, seeing his point but still struggling to see their use in this particular scenario.
"But Father, they are shinobi. Do they have any techniques for healing the effects of Madness?" Because if they did, it would be a god-send. Sure, none of their people could learn how to use it but it would still be incredibly useful if there was another group that no one knew of they could call in to deal with Madness.
The Grim Reaper shook his head, "They don't have a specific technique, but they do however have a man who has the genes of the First Hokage, whose Wood Style allowed him to control the Tailed Beast. Think of this as a test case for them as well. They might need to make use of his abilities soon themselves."
Asura looked up with a grim smile, "Their Jinchuriki about to blow? He's been more prone to using his anger and the Nine Tails' Chakra I hear ever since my little escapade." The Grim reaper nodded in agreement. It was exactly the situation- the Madness wavelength had hit shortly after the Chunin exams and Naruto had permantely been suffering side effects unknowingly since.
"They may need their man to lead Naruto's teams just in case, so this could be good practice for then. I'll call them up." Asura bowed his head. He was glad his Father was as understanding and wise as he was, because god knows they didn't need to have the Grim reaper be some crazy old man or some idiot who just went around handing out gifts to those who trick him like a Death Santa (Cause that certainly hadn't happened in the Harry Potter world; obvious sarcasm is obvious).
"Thank you Father. I'll let you go now. I really need to be finishing up my work and heading to bed. I'll see you later." His father said goodbye to him before Asura cut the connection. He sighed, picking up his quill- why did he have to use the stupid things anyways- and got back to grading the papers in front of him. Curse wizards for not using multiple choice tests he could just run through a machine.
"Are you almost done preparing the area old friend?" The professor looked back from where he stood watching his students practice their spellwork and saw Dumbledore, with a small grin on his face. Asura let himself smile as well and nodded as the Headmaster stepped closer to join him where he stood.
School was finishing its third week, the month drawing to a close. For a first week that went so slowly, enough to write almost tens of thousands of words about, the second and third weeks had just flew by. "Yes, I've got the space ready in the Forest. I've been setting up wards and arrays to keep it safe. I got some help from Flitwick as well."
Asura turned to the older (looking) being and held out his hand, "I forgive you Albus, and I hope you can forgive me as well. I freaked out a bit when I heard what you had done, but in truth you did what you did with good intentions. So long as we learn from those mistakes and make better choices I cannot blame you."
Dumbledore looked bewildered but shook his hand, eyes a bit misty from the sudden forgiveness, "No Asura, I should be asking for your forgiveness. I am an old man- but that does not make me right or perfect. I shouldn't have let my ego get in the way of asking for advise. I've known you for too long to have not discussed it with you, and I've known your Father even longer. Forgive an old man's arrogance."
The ex-Kishin smiled, "This is exactly what I was talking about. You have no need to ask for forgiveness when you obviously regret and have now learned from your mistakes. You are alright with me." The two turned back to watch the class, standing in companionable silence as the much younger people worked at their lesson with energetic enthusiasm.
"Ah, Asura, why is there a rather irate penguin attacking Weasley?" A string of softly mumbled curses came forth before Asura made his way over to the redhead, who was currently yelling at the penguin that was angrily pecking at his kneecaps as Dumbledore looked on with a smile.
"MR. WEASLEY, WHAT PART OF MY INSTRUCTIONS SAID TO TURN MR. MALFOY INTO A PENGUIN?!"
The space in the Forbidden Forest that Asura had been referring to was a large circle that was once populated before Asura had blasted them away. He then had got to work, first laying down layers of Madness and arrays made to help direct and control it.
Madness was the best defense against Madness, after all, if a madman is attacked with madness what is changed? For example, if a freak accident made Albert Einstein spontaneously twice as smart, how could you tell? What difference does it matter? Similarly, if a madman is mad twice as mad, how different is that?
These wards worked off a slightly different principal, more that if you knew the wavelength of Madness you could use a equal yet opposite wavelength to cancel it out. It was the same principal used in noise canceling devices used by muggles. It was the best way to nullify Madness attacks.
Then he had gotten Flitwick to help weave intricate spells over the area, preventing muggles, wizards, everything short of an old blind guy named Jeb from finding it. That was one lesson Asura had learned over the years of being freed- those guys were near impossible to ward off. Everyone else would be repelled easily though if they tried to find this place. Only those they wanted entering would be able to.
Lastly, Asura had put a powerful anti-Madness ward around it, a ward that's only purpose was to absorb massive amounts of Madness that could leak- especially if he unleashed his full power. He also planned for Flitwick and Dumbledore to be there as well as the Leaf shinobi- Yamato was his name -with them to try and help control the situation.
It was the end of the third week when he arranged for everyone to meet in the Forest for the procedure. That night he went to get Harry from Gryffindor Tower; he found him in the Common room with his friends. Harry caught his eyes and Asura nodded. It was time.
Harry managed to escape from where his friends were- it was helpful that the two were engaged in yet another one of their infamously pointless arguments. He couldn't say he liked the Weasley, but he supposed any boy could be rounded out by the girl, or guy, he got with. Hopefully Ms. Granger would soften the kid's rough edges.
"Are they going to ever hitch up?" Harry shrugged his shoulder. He was a bit nervous, what with what they were about to do. He did appreciate his teacher making small talk to take his mind off of things though so as they walked out of the tower, the portrait closing behind them, he continued it by asking his ow question of his teacher.
"You have anyone in your life Professor?" He honestly didn't know whether or not the older man would answer the personal question, but the Professor was pretty chill in general. He hoped he hadn't offended the man's sense of privacy; luckily, it seemed he hadn't.
Professor Asura sighed, "As a song goes, 'I haven't been there for the longest time'. I've had a couple relationships over the years, but they... don't turn out well. The last one ended up dying during our... relationship." Harry felt sympathy for the teacher. He didn't seem too old so that must have happened recently and it seemed to still hurt.
They walked in silence out to the Forbidden Forest, moving to the area Asura had set up. Flitwick and Dumbledore were already there... as well as a man with weird armor and sandals on. He had a headband with a odd looking symbol that looked a little bit like a leaf etched into it. Harry looked at him with confusion, never having seen anyone like this man before.
Asura saw Harry's confusion and introduced the man, "You remember your studies about Japan and the Elemental Nations?" The Boy-Who-Lived nodded and Asura continued, "This is Yamato. He is a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village, Konohagekaru or Konoha for short. He's here to help in case things go badly."
The man nodded, "We were only too happy to help. The Civilian Council took a little convincing to get me out here but we managed to entice them with the idea that we'd get Lord death's favor if we helped out." The ninja sighed and Harry felt for their Kage- politics always sucked, especially when the people in charge were idiots (He didn't mean for that to be so easily applicable to the Ministry, but they were all (except for people like Mr Weasley) idiots).
"Well," Asura said, "Let's get this started boys." The Professor steered the teen over to the middle of the area and had him kneel in front of him. "Now Harry, you need to listen carefully. You'll go under and if you come out you must watch the world around you." The raven'haired boy looked at his professor.
Asura explained, "There is a high likelihood that you could hallucinate due to the process. If you see something is attacking you, you must not move. You listening harry? It's possible that whatever is going to hit you isn't there at all or is next to you and you moving will kill you. Let us deal with whatever it is."
Harry nodded nervously and everyone watched in anticipation as Asura laid his hand on Harry's forehead. Their eyes closed and Harry felt his body go numb as he drowsily tried to stay awake. I'll protect you Harry... His Zanpakuto whispered in his head, Don't worry...
"HARRY MOVE!" Harry's eyes bolted open in terror as a monster rushed his face, his face half eaten, its limbs twisted, hysterical laughing. Harry threw his arms up as he screamed in terror. DON"T MOVE HARRY! A voice splashed through his brain like cold water, causing him to faint as the clown neared him.
KYAA! A sword flashed through the air, bisecting the creature and its twisted body. The black and white being stood over his King's body panting, I can't let these things hurt him! This has to work! He settled into his stance, sword in front of him as in the distance the approaching wave of monsters filled the sounds of the air with horrifying laughter, pitching into a frenzy.
"Is it going well?" The trio murmured amongst themselves, as they watched, "I haven't felt anything, and nothing seems to be amiss." They watched the two on the ground, staring intently at Harry's face, never noticing the line of stitches where Asura's third eye was beginning to bleed.
"Harry..." The teen groggily was pulled out of the blackness in his mind, "Harry open your eyes. It's me, Asura." Cracking his eyes open, Harry looked up at the face of his professor, who was smiling down at him, "Welcome back to the land of the living." Harry grinned back and took Asura's offered hand.
"Wait-! Dumbledore-sama, his forehead! It's bleeding!" They bolted into action, as the wind began to pick up, russling in both Harry's and Asura's hair. They ran to activate spells as the ends of Asura's scarves begin to float around, ends suddenly sharpened, watching them as if they had minds of their own. A low chuckle came from the Professor.
"So everything went well?" Harry asked his Professor as they hiked through the woods, which was much denser than he remembered, "Where did the others go?" The older being smiled as he threw an arm around the teen's shoulder as they walked along the pathway.
"It went so well they already left for the castle. They're waiting for us you know, along with your friends. They're all waiting for you back there." Harry nodded, happy that everything had gone well, glad that none of the possibly bad side effects of the process had happened. All that talk of hallucinating was really scary to think about.
Harry suddenly thought of something, "Hey Professor-?" He looked up and screamed in terror at Asura's twisted grin, gnarled hands, crazed laugh, and that single, horrible, bloody eye in the middle of his forehead.
A red beam of chakra was flowing out of Yamato's hand, his eyebrows furrowed with concentration as the professors defended him from the scarf tentacles that were ruthlessly attacking them from all sides, "I managed to weaken him for a second. Hopefully it was enough to help Harry figure out what's going on."
Harry clawed at the face in front of him, nails raking the man's face, causing the Professor to let out a howl of pain. With a choking gasp, the teen felt a hand grip his neck and then he was suddenly weightless, wind rushing past him. With a sickening crack, he felt his body slam into the ground, skidding a few feet before coming to a stop.
He shivered, feeling something oozing down his forehead, something sticky and disgusting. With what little strength his had left, he shakily lifted his head, wondering what what was preventing the monster he had seen from killing him. Standing protectively over him was a black and white teen, battered and bruised, with white blood oozing out of the wounds in his pitch black skin.
In that moment he knew- it hit him like a ton of bricks, a bolt of lightening through his brain, he felt light headed, could barely breath. As his eyes threatened to close, drooping ever lower, hand reaching for his Zanpakuto, as his head laid down on the ground his throat choked out a single raspy word, a name."M-Monokuro..."
Inside the Zanpakuto's pure white eyes a single black ring appeared as a brilliant white grin spread over his face at the sound of the word, "Finally." Harry's world was swept away in blackness, the darkness caressing him lovingly as he fainted once again to the sounds of screams, this time coming from his Professor.
"WATCH OUT!" The trio dodged Asura's flying body as it sped towards them, finally slamming into the wards surrounding the area, his screams filling the the warded section of the forest, "What was that Albus?!" The Headmaster shook his head, no ideas coming to mind.
A hand grabbed Flitwick's and Dumbledore's shoulders, "You two! Look at Harry!" The whirled around to look, but stopped dead in their tracks, mouths gaping. All around Harry's kneeling body, the shadows and inky blackness of the night was rising up, tendrils bubbling out of the ground angrily, swirling around the teen protectively.
They jolted as a growl emitted from behind them. "Kuikku! Move!" Yelled out Yamato as he pulled the Headmaster and Professor with him, hurriedly getting out of the way of the beserking being behind them, "Kami Dumbledore, what is Harry doing?! Did Asura-?" The Headmaster shook his head.
"I believe it is something else entirely," he murmured as they watched Asura's scarves clash with the black gooey tendrils of darkness surrounding Harry. Like two nests of angry serpents they clashed, neither side gaining the advantage in the long ranged fight. Asura let out of blast of energy rocket towards Harry, but from behind the boy an equally powered ball made of shadows blasted forth and they exploded in midair in between the two.
Rushing the teen, Asura broke into a run, tentacles keeping the darkness from stopping him. As he closed the gap, a short pitch black rod shot out of the ground in front Harry. His eyes bolting open revealing blindingly white pupils with a single black ring in them; Harry's hand grabbed the rod and swung it, connecting with the Professor's jaw with a crack.
The Professor sprawled onto the ground, head quickly snapping up in an angry snarl, preparing to unleash hell on the teen. Without a second thought, the black rod came crashing down on Asura's head again, knocking him to the ground. With another hit the being's growling silenced as Asura's consciousness slipped from him.
The wind died down and the other three adults inched towards the very scary looking Harry. The teen looked at them and nodded, "Take care of the King for me. Let Death's Son know I do not hold this against him; I know he fought it as much as we did." The Headmaster looked at whatever was controlling Harry's body, Elder Wand pointed at it.
"Who are you? And why should we trust you for that matter? I have done enough harm to this boy to simply take your words to mean you are a good being." Not-Harry smiled and nodded in understanding, his own hand lowering the black rod he used as a weapon.
"I am Harry's Zanpakuto Professor. He spoke my name awakening me, and I will never let him go now that he knows who I am." Dumbledore nodded in understanding; he did know a little about the Soul Society, mainly from what Asura had told him. Not-Harry closed his eyes and the shadows dissipated, the tendrils and rod melting into thin air.
Yamato blurred forward and caught the falling teen's body. They looked at the boy in silence before Yamato quietly spoke, "To endure so much with so little training... He puts us Shinobi to shame." Dumbledore nodded and levitated the fallen Professor's body up.
"And he will endure much more I'm afraid. Asura seems stable- Harry's Zanpakuto really knew how to hit him. Knocking him completely out." They all looked to each other; the amount of power needed to knock even a partially released Asura out was impressive.
"Let's take them home."
Whew! There we go, Arc One is done! How'd you like that finale? Was it good enough for you? I hope so, cause it wasn't easy to write.
We finally know Harry's Zanpakuto's name! Monokuro, meaning "Monochrome"- a fitting name for a guy made of literally two colors am I right? If you couldn't figure out what was happening, Monokuro's Shikai release turned him into a rod like the ones in Nagato's back in Naruto. Harry gains the ability to control shadows near him and create tendrils from them.
Well, now onto Arc 2! I'll hopefully back soon folks! And now that we know Monokuro's name, who do you think I should pair Harry with? Death the Kid or Monokuro (or both)?
Please Please Please review, it gives me the drive to continue. And if you don't like the story, well review anyways. Just don't say you were "tricked into reading it" then continue reading and review again on a later chapter. Kind of makes your argument pointless you know?
And because I'm in the giving mood, here's another Omake, a short one though. Have fun and see you all! FallenSHIN0BI out!
OMAKE: HARVEY THE WONDER HAMSTER
"We might have a-ah, a slight issue..." The staff all looked at Hagrid. He swallowed nervously, "Just ah, just listen for a second..." The staff quieted and waited... and waited... and waited... and waited... and waited...
"How long is this going to take?!" Umbridge burst out but was quickly shushed by Flitwick's tiny hands. Then they all heard it; it sounded like a large number of feet marching to a beat, band instruments playing.
They all looked out the door as streamers and confetti flew in. The Ravenclaws were all marching in formation, parading forth carrying a platform with a, with a... hamster?
"HARVEY! HARVEY! HARVEY THE WONDER HAMSTER! HE DOESN'T BITE, HE DOESN'T SQUEAL, HE JUST RUNS AROUND ON HIS HAMSTER WHEEL!"
They all watched with stunned expressions as Harvey did, indeed, run on his hamster wheel as the Ravenclaws sang happily.
"HARVEY! HARVEY! HARVEY THE WONDER HAMSTER! HEY HARVEY!"
The staff all turned to Hagrid... who had dissapeared. All that was a there was a note that read- "Have fun. Gotta look after the animals."
Asura sighed, and everyone looked at him. He shrugged, "At least we aren't suffering from an attack by radioactive hamsters from a planet near mars." He pulled out a fire extinguisher, "Well, time for some crowd control."