I'll be away soon. My family is arranging this stupid strip to Toronto, which I have no interest in— no offence to those who live in Toronto, though— and we'll be gone for 10 days. But I assure you that I'll be plotting…er, plots, for chapter 28 during the oh-so eventful ride inside the tour bus. T-T
Everything I'm phrasing here seems to be rather negative. Ah well, perhaps it is caused by my bad mood:(
Oh and…Dobby :'(
It just, somehow, struck me. Just like that. Perhaps I'm just a stony-hearted bastard back then, when I read about his –SPOILER-, until I saw Neolannia's review, and thought that I should really have included Dobby's and Hedwig's name onto the deserve-a-hug list in which I've posted on chapter 26.
August 14th, 2007/8/14
I took my Provincial Exam today, for Math 10, and there's a question I didn't get. If you know the answer, please tell me! Since I couldn't type the whole equation out— simply because I can't— I'll try my best and describe it to you, and you can write it down or how ever you like.
Here it is:
"X plus X-to-the-power-of-3/4, OVER the square-root-of-X." (Actually, the sentence 'X to the power of 3/4' is in radical form, if you know what I mean, but I don't know how to say it lol.)
I was told to simplify that expression. But seeing that I haven't seen a question like that before, all I could do was try my best, and I picked— it was multiple choice— the following answer for my, er, answer.
X to the power of 3/4.
Is it right? Hope it is. Or else I'm doomed.
Chapter 27: When misfortune turns into miracles
Orochimaru did not seem to have kept his promise; when he had finally figured out the secrets of the transmutation circle, April was already creeping up behind the three Sannins and Jiraiya and Tsunade had found this delay considerably frustrating.
"Look," Tsunade snapped, once she had successfully cornered Orochimaru right after dinner, when students were starting to file out from the Great Hall, "I know you would look as though you were ready to kill when we refuse to listen to you, but it's been two weeks already! Two weeks! And you said it would only take you one day to figure out the meaning of that stupid transmutation circle!"
"It's complicated," snarled Orochimaru, apparently disgusted by Tsunade's outburst, "It's harder than I've expected! And if you still continue to use that snappy mood against me, I might as well refuse to tell you the truth of that circle."
Tsunade hesitated. She had remembered, not long ago, that Orochimaru was positive about the circle having some connections with her homeland. And seriously enough, she would do anything to return to Konoha.
She glared at him, but said, "Fine then. So, you told Jiraiya and I to meet outside Slytherin's common room at ten?"
Orochimaru nodded, "The best for not to be overheard. We'll find a suitable place to discuss our plans afterwards."
And so at half past nine, when almost everyone was back inside their dormitories, Jiraiya woke up and crept out of the Gryffindor common room. Once he had approached the deserted hallway, he took out two objects from his pocket; a piece of parchment and his borrowed, battered school wand.
He held out his wand uncertainly and muttered, "Lumos."
Just as he had expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened; the hallway remained as dark as ever.
Jiraiya sighed. Magic was just too hard for him to handle, and there weren't any Jutsu that could produce light, and only light, either. At least, none that he'd known of.
"Let me do it."
A light not far from him flickered with blue, and Jiraiya almost jumped in surprise. He turned around, and saw Tsunade walking casually towards him, her barrowed wand emitting an unnatural glow.
"Still haven't mastered it yet?" Tsunade grinned, and Jiraiya flushed. "Shut up," he said, before turning away, "Anyways, let's go to the Slytherin common room— put your wand closer, will you?" For he had flipped open his blank piece of parchment and held it out to Tsunade.
"What's that?"
"A map I borrowed from Harry," explained Jiraiya, "It's quite handy. It shows the whole of Hogwarts and all the people within it, so you can easily avoid the ones you don't want to meet."
"Cool," beamed Tsunade, "What do you have to do, though?"
At this point, Jiraiya looked rather embarrassed, "Well…you have to use your wand and say the words, and I've tried, but for some reason, it just won't open up…"
Tsunade looked at him understandingly, and Jiraiya quickly pushed the Marauder's Map forward, "So you try, Tsunade! Put your wand tip onto the parchment and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'"
Tsunade stared at him, her eyebrows raised, "What? You want me to say that?"
"Go ahead," said Jiraiya, trying not to laugh.
Tsunade pointed her wand on the parchment and muttered, doubtfully, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." And instantly, the map of Hogwarts blossomed in front of their eyes. Tsunade inhaled excitedly.
"Wow…" was all she could say.
Jiraiya held out the map and examined it. "Look, we'd better get going, Filch is only a floor on top of us."
And so they took off, walking as silently as possible, turning around corners and tiptoeing down staircases. Five minutes passed, and Jiraiya stopped suddenly, peering over the end of the corridor. Tsunade almost bumped into him.
"Why did you stop?" she whispered, but Jiraiya didn't reply. Instead he held out the Map to her.
"Look at this," he said. Tsunade's eyes fell upon the Map, and saw something rather unusual on it; a pack of dots, each representing a different person, were filing out slowly from a wall… a wall?
"Wait…but how…?" Tsunade started, "Are those people? How could they— maybe they're ghosts…?"
"No, they can't be," replied Jiraiya, "Or else Harry would be dead. Look." He pointed at a dot appearing from the solid wall, which was marked 'Harry Potter', and Tsunade's eyes went wide.
"But then—" she jerked her head sideways, and her eyes landed on a wall somewhere far from her right. Perhaps she had heard soft footsteps, or perhaps the hurried rustling of robes, but either way, students in two to threes emerged from what looked like a simple wooden door curved right out of the wall, and Harry Potter was among them, walking silently, yet in a fast pace, with Ron and Hermione toward the Gryffindor tower.
"Damn," the two Sannins heard Harry whisper to his friends, "I shouldn't have lent the Map to Jiraiya today, now we could only trust our luck to not get noticed by Filch…"
"Well, perhaps Jiraiya needs the Map today as much as we do," said Hermione matter-of-factly, "It won't hurt lending it to him once in a while."
"Yeah, but, we'll be in big trouble if Umbridge saw us organizing an illegal organization," said Ron, looking nervous, "Next time lend the Map to Jiraiya whenever we are not holding a meeting, mate," he added to Harry, "It won't be that hard, to tell the truth."
Harry rolled his eyes, and suddenly he stopped at his tracks.
"What's wrong?" asked Hermione fearfully, as though she had thought Umbridge had somehow appeared in front of them.
"No, it's…um…" stammered Harry, as he turned his head desperately around, apparently looking for someone among the scattered crowd of his DA members, "Well, I forgot to ask Cho…"
At his words, Ron grinned, and Hermione immediately made a turn to leave, pulling Ron with her. "Well then, we won't be disturbing you, Harry," she said, and smiled sweetly at him. He flushed, and could not hide the attempt to glare at her.
Harry took one last look at them walking away into the dark, then turned his head back to the opposite direction. Okay…how should he phrase this…how should he ask Cho to go out with him this coming trip to Hogsmeade?
His brain swam with never-ending answers as he sped through the hallway, between the small pack of students, looking for the Ravenclaw girl, when he stopped, yet again, in his tracks.
He was not looking at the back of Cho, for she was nowhere to be seen among the remaining students, but at two figures standing rather still like a statue around the corner, and he was sure they weren't members of Dumbledore's Army.
Harry whipped out his wand, and the others, who had seen him doing so, gasped in fear and quickly drew out theirs too.
"No," breathed Harry, "pocket your wands and run! It's dark out here, they won't be able to see who you—" but he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes and fired a Stunning Spell without thinking: the red jet flew across the corridor and it looked as though it would surely hit one of them when, to Harry's astonishment, they had avoided it as though the Spell was just a feeble paper airplane.
"What the hell did you do that for?" yelled a bemused voice, and Harry immediately knew that it belonged to Jiraiya. Sure enough, the two Sannins stepped out from the dark, with Jiraiya looking quite annoyed.
"Hey, how come you guys—?" started Harry, but Tsunade cut over him. "We should be asking this question, Harry," she said, though her tone sounded amused rather than angry, "We saw you guys coming out of a wall on the Map, and heard you saying something about an illegal organization—"
"Look," said Harry quickly, "What you heard just now is what you heard just now, okay? Promise me not to tell anyone about this— it's not like we refuse to let you know, but these meetings are confidential, and if Umbridge finds out—"
"He's worse than dead," nodded Fred, pointing his finger at Harry. Harry shoved his hand off.
"Right then," he said, "so will you promise? Please?"
Jiraiya was surprised at how doubtful Harry had sounded toward Tsunade and him, and could not help but express the coolness in his voice, "I assure you that we Shinobi aren't tattle-taling scum, so your secret is safe with us. But in return, I would want to know what you guys are up to—appearing behind a door which is not even marked upon the Map."
At this point Harry hesitated.
Finally, he said, "We're starting a rebellion for Dumbledore, for Hogwarts, against the Ministry— and Voldemort."
Fred and George piped up. "And we call ourselves, 'Dumbledore's Army'." They said in union, and the Sannins grinned.
----------------------- -------------------------- ----------------------- ------------------------- ---
"Look who's late?" muttered a voice in the dark as Jiraiya and Tsunade approached, panting, apparently out of breath for running all the way toward the Slytherin Common Room.
"Bumped into some interesting obstacles, that all."
"Right," Orochimaru looked at his watch, "Let's go down to the grounds, it's safer discussing the circle there, and Tsunade might as well take a look at it."
Both of them nodded, and the three of them disappeared in a puff of smoke, the sound unheard by others.
The next thing Jiraiya knew, howling cold wind was mercilessly piercing through his skin as he landed softly on the grass, outside the castle. He saw his companions appeared beside him, and he called, "Oi! Next time tell me to wear a jacket first, Orochimaru!"
But Orochimaru didn't seem to have heard him. He motioned the other two to follow him through the forest and a few minutes later, they had arrived at the familiar clearing, where the transmutation circle was still barely visible— despite the darkness.
Tsunade edged forward, her heart thumping against her ribs, as she stared down at the symbols, transfixed.
"Right then," Orochimaru started as he knelt down beside the circle. The other two followed suit, so once they were seated, it gave passersby an impression of a Bonfire Meeting, except that there weren't any bonfires in the middle.
"So, how much secrets have you discovered?" asked Jiraiya, nodding towards the book Orochimaru was holding, in which he had fished out from his bag just now.
"Depends on how you put it," said Orochimaru, "To me, the information I have right now is all I needed to know." And he flipped open to the page he had marked, and from inside his pocket, he took out a notebook; it contained the translations of the Sealing Arts Jiraiya had read out from the transmutation circle.
"I've spent a night inside the Common Room translating these," he said, holding up the note book, "and my guess was correct: it was a Teleportation Jutsu—テレポートの術— you get the idea. But this Jutsu isn't like the one we often use. It is meant for a really wide-ranged distance, and it requires a hell lot of chakra, that's why almost nobody in our Shinobi world uses this, seeing that the whole landscape isn't huge."
"So what to say is," Tsunade tapped on her chin, "whoever drew this is trying to enter Hogwarts from somewhere very far away? But what about the Alchemic circle?"
Orochimaru looked up at her.
"The Transmutation Circle of Time Alternation," he said. Tsunade simply stared at him.
"…What?"
"The Transmutation Circle of Time Alternation," Orochimaru repeated, his eyes locked on hers as he held up the page. But when Tsunade squint her eyes to take a good look at the circle printed on the page, she frowned, "Yeah…but then, this is a Circle that steadies one's soul in their own body, the description says so…what does it have to do…?"
Orochimaru placed a finger on the page, to mark it, and then flipped back a few pages. There, printed in large Japanese fonts, were the words:
Section 56: The 24th Law: Transmutation Circles of Time Alternation
"Actually, I meant to say one of the Transmutation Circles of Time Alternation," said Orochimaru, pointing towards the Circle on the ground, "Because this one, is crammed into Section 56, which means this Circle has everything to do with time traveling…"
Tsunade jumped up at the words 'time traveling' and gasped, yet the other two showed less enthusiasm.
"Yes we know, Tsunade," said Jiraiya, rolling his eyes, "We've heard enough of your whimpering already. But even if it can travel through time, I doubt that we can make it work. I mean, there're too much complicated magic in between."
"…Perhaps," muttered Tsunade as she sat back down, looking rather disappointed.
"Let's put this matter aside for a moment," said Orochimaru firmly, glancing towards Tsunade, "And concentrate on Lupin's case instead. As I was saying, this Circle has everything to do with time traveling. And if my guess is correct, time traveling is a very dangerous journey, and so, a person has to rely on this Circle in order to successfully travel from one dimension to another, or else your soul— or spirit— may be torn into pieces through the process. Like Hermione had said: Time is a tricky business."
"Though it sounds kind of bizarre, it still makes sense to me," Jiraiya nodded, "Consider if something has gone wrong and your soul is stuck between nothingness…creepy."
"Not to me, though," Tsunade said, and Jiraiya stared at her. "Listen to this," she explained, "if those people— Death Eaters— have indeed traveled through time to get here…I mean, why would they? They live in Britain! They live right here!"
"You forgot about the Shinobi from the Rain Village," Orochimaru pointed out.
"So?"
"Those Shinobi, I think they're with Voldemort. He must have hired them or something but I'm quite certain that it was him who sent them to come and get you! And if they are with Voldemort, there could be a chance that a secret meeting was held over there— in our homeland— and the Death Eaters came back by using that Transmutation Circle!"
"You're blind-guessing, Orochimaru," Tsunade said, shaking her head, "There're too little clues to prove that you're right."
"But until then, we don't seem to have any other theories supporting this," said Jiraiya, pointing grimly at the Circle.
Suddenly Orochimaru stood up and started to head back towards the Castle.
"Oi! Where are you going?" Jiraiya called after him. "You know what?" Orochimaru replied, turning back to face him, "I think I'm going to experiment on the Circle."
"You've got to be kidding me!" shouted Tsunade, apparently outraged, "experiment on that? It's too dangerous! And we don't know anything about Alchemy, to be honest."
"Look, I know what I'm doing," snapped Orochimaru, "If you're such a gut-less person, I'll just do it on my own, and stay out of the way."
"Orochimaru!" Tsunade shouted out his name again, this time desperately, but Jiraiya cut in, "hey Orochi! Even if you're dying to try that Circle out, there's still no suitable place for you to do so."
And Orochimaru turned, raising his eyebrows, "Then I'll just find one." He turned around to leave, but Jiraiya caught up on him, "Listen, if you really want to do this, I recommend a place for you, and you won't be alone. We're coming with you."
At this point, Orochimaru didn't speak for a while, but later on he said, "…Fine then. Thanks."
Jiraiya grinned, looking back at Tsunade, and though she seemed to disagree, she still followed her comrades up the hill, back into the castle, and didn't protest.
------------------------ ------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------------
It was already midnight, yet the person sitting alone in the park did not move. He had his head bent low, leaning it heavily on his lap, and his hands were over his head, giving you a precise impression of a man that so often lacked of sleep.
A party of noisy people passed by, yet the man didn't stir. Then a boy, out of nowhere, came bounding up to him, a lit lantern swaying on a stick in his hand.
"Mister," the boy called in a clear, childish voice. When the man didn't respond, his poked his arm, and held the lantern in front of him, as though wanting to wake the man up with the soft rays of light.
"Mister!" The boy said again, and this time, Sarutobi glanced up with a dazed, tired look in his eyes. When he spotted the little boy standing in front of him, Sarutobi blinked.
"Hello there, may I help you?" he asked, but the boy said, "Mister, why aren't you with us out there? Celebrate with us mister! Don't just sit there!"
Sarutobi smiled a tired smile, and ruffled the boy's hair. "You go on," he told him, glancing at the festival not too far away, where specks of light and colorful Japanese-styled flags fluttered in the breeze, "Don't worry about me, I'll come and join you later, okay?"
Sarutobi knew he had lied, but the boy gave a toothy grin and ran off to join his family, whom were all wearing their beautifully decorated kimonos.
The would-be Hokage stood up silently and left. Nobody noticed.
He arrived at his apartment and headed slowly towards his lab, where he was sure that it was the place where the Sannins had disappeared. Sarutobi stared at the empty cauldron on the floor, unmoving, and he just stood there gazing at it for who knows how long.
"Just keep searching, Sarutobi," he thought to himself, "They are bound to reappear! I'm sure of it! We're talking about the Sannins here, Sarutobi, your students!"
Yet he still slumped down against the wall, defeated.
As his spiritless eyes darted around the room, something hidden among the bookshelves shimmered, and Sarutobi walked across the room, squinting at it.
My crystal ball.
Sarutobi frowned in wonder, thinking when was the time he had last used it. He approached the shelf, picked it up, blew off the thin layer of dust and examined it.
That was when it happened: Sarutobi stared at it, unbelievably, at the cloudy sphere as the surface within swirled and shimmered, and revealed behind the mysterious smoke were what seemed to be curtains, hundreds and hundreds of them, each with their own unique design.
Sarutobi saw so shocked that he almost dropped the crystal ball. Holding it tight with numb fingers, he had noticed that the mysterious scene the crystal ball was showing to him belonged to some sort of...room. He frowned, yet again, and tried to peer into the sphere as much as he could.
Yes, it was definitely a room, and he seemed to be staring at a ceiling. A very high ceiling, as a matter of fact. And the dark, thick curtains were hung and dangled from it, blocking out the light streaming from outside so that they gave a soft red glow.
"But where is this place?" Sarutobi said to no one in particular as his eyes remained curiously glued to the sphere…and a high pitched scream followed his question.
But it was not Sarutobi who screamed. He jumped back and toppled over, clearly shocked that the crystal ball could actually produce a sound like that, and to his bigger surprise, the scene inside the sphere was instantly blocked so that Sarutobi could not see a thing anymore.
Feeling extremely bewildered, he staggered up to his feet and gazed at it. The thing— or rather, things— that were blocking his view had turned out to be faces, unfamiliar, strange, faces. And the people inside blinked with amazement, craning their heads from left to right as though looking for something on the other side that might have just disappeared.
"Is he there?"
"What did you see? Why did Tomas screamed?"
"He said he saw something inside this crystal ball!"
"What? You've got to be kidding!"
"Settle down, class, settle down!"
A babble of language were issuing from the crystal ball as well, and, bless him…Sarutobi couldn't understand a word they said.
"Wait— what-what are you?" Sarutobi shouted, leaning fearfully against a wall. Although he was an Elite, the sudden appearance of a bunch of strangers inside the crystal ball were still too much for him to take, "What is this? Some kind of joke? Who are you?"
But the people from the other side yelled more frantically still.
"Oh-oh! I saw him! I saw him!"
"What? Where?"
"He's trying to say something—"
"Professor Trelawney!"
"Class, class! Stand back! It-it must be an omen of approaching Danger!"
"…there she goes again—"
"Dumbledore! We have to get Professor Dumbledore, Professor Trelawney!"
"Yes…Yes! Dumbledore! He would have to be informed by this! Colin, off you go."
---------------------- ------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------- ----
"Handing water to the werewolf…ordering me to do dirty work…" a series of rasped muttering could be audible through the cell and Lupin sensed that someone was coming down the stairs.
No doubt, Fenrir Greyback had come to deliver his flask of water, and, no doubt, he was being extremely frustrated by this.
The metal bars in front of Lupin clanged, and it opened with a rusty creak. And Greyback stood there with a flask in his dirty, clawed hand. Lupin could not help but express an amused smirk. "Hello, Greyback," he said, "How nice of you to come and deliver my water."
Greyback's expression was murderous, but Lupin knew he was safe: Snape had come down yesterday to tell him that the Dark Lord had ordered every one of his followers not to cause him any damage, physically and mentally. Lupin's uneasiness had eased a bit since then.
Greyback growled, and flung the water flask toward him, in which Lupin caught it. "I 'ould have ripped your neck open if not for the Dark Lord's hideous orders," Fenrir's eyes shown as he bared his pointed teeth savagely, "You jus' watch, Lupin, by the time he has decided to depose of you, I'll be the first to 'elp."
With that he turned around and clambered up the stairs. As the doors slammed shut, Lupin was once again surrounded by darkness, with only a tiny ray of light shining through the metal bar windows.
------------------------- -------------------------- ------------------------ --------------------------
McGonagall walked with a fast pace through the halls of Hogwarts, looking both happy and worried. She turned a corner and approached the Great Hall, where students were seated neatly at the House tables, enjoying their lunch.
The Deputy Headmistress scanned the Great Hall with sharp, hawk-like eyes, trying desperately to find the three ninjas.
"Oi, look," Fred said, as he spotted McGonagall at the entrance of the Hall, "What's McGonagall doing there, looking all stern and stuff?"
"To me, she looks happy," George said, waving an airy hand, "Like Snape, she keeps her emotions inside her really well, though, so being happy or sad doesn't affect her a lot."
"Nah, I think she looks desperate," Jiraiya said, as he stole a chicken leg from George's plate.
"Jiraiya!" suddenly McGonagall's voice barked through the hall, and Jiraiya was so surprised at the mention of his name that he squeaked and nearly dropped the chicken leg.
"Wh-what did I do?" the Shinobi glanced fearfully towards the Deputy Headmistress. "Oh, she must be accusing you for stealing," said George with an evil smile as he snatched his chicken leg away from Jiraiya.
McGonagall approached through the crowd of curious people. "Jiraiya," she nodded towards him, "may I ask where your teammates are?"
Looking confused, Jiraiya pointed towards the far end of the Great Hall, where Tsunade and Orochimaru were seated along with Harry and Ron. Yet McGonagall could barely see them, for the students from each table had started to unseat themselves and file out of the Great Hall.
Frowning, McGonagall turned to face Jiraiya again. "Jiraiya, there is something the three of you will have to see," she pointed out, "We suspect it has something to do with your homeland."
"Huh?" Jiraiya's eyes widened, "What has something to do with our homeland…?"
"You'll see," McGonagall assured him, "Now, I want you to go up straight to the Divination tower, there you'll probably see what I mean."
Jiraiya glanced over at Fred and George, and both of them shrugged. "Okay then…" Jiraiya said, looking uncertain, "Tsunade and Orochimaru are coming to, aren't they?"
"Yes they are. But you go first, or else he might vanish if we're too late."
"Who might vanish…?" But McGonagall had already shooed him out of the Great Hall before Jiraiya could ask anymore questions.
Bewildered, Jiraiya made his way towards the top-most tower of the castle, where the only available entrance was up a 10 feet ladder.
The classroom was empty, and the smell and the suffocating heat were considerably unbearable. Jiraiya surveyed around the small room and saw something other than draping curtains and bottles of sherry: a glowing crystal ball.
Frowning, he approached it, thinking whether or not McGonagall had intended him to see this. Jiraiya leaned closer cautiously and peered. The scene projecting from inside the crystal ball made him scream the loudest in his life.
The trap door flew open, and the other two Sannins sped across the room and stopped dead in front of the crystal ball.
"Sensei!"
Tsunade covered her mouth in shock as though Sarutobi didn't look like a human to her at all, tears swelling up in her eyes. Orochimaru simply stared down at the sphere.
"Tsu-Tsunade?" the slightly altered image of Sarutobi stared back up at them with his mouth hanging slightly open, "Jiraiya? Orochimaru? How…?"
"SENSEI!" As if the truth had finally struck her, Tsunade screamed out the words and gripped the crystal ball so tightly that it was quite a miracle it didn't crack, "Oh Sensei! We miss you so much! We really do! It was an accident! It was—"
"Tsunade!" Sarutobi shouted over his overwhelmed pupil with a look that was mixed between excitement, disbelief, and concern, "Where were you three? I've been looking for you all over Konoha! The Hokage even tried to find you in the other Hidden Villages!"
"We are so sorry!" Tsunade wailed as tears streaked down her cheeks, "I miss you so much! We-we are sorry for playing with your stuff! Something had gone w-wrong and we somehow arrived h-here—"
Sarutobi looked terrified. "What do you mean 'here'? Where are you? Are you all okay? Please— where in the world are you?!"
"It's— well…it's a long story anyways…you wouldn't believe it even if we tell you," Jiraiya smiled nervously and shrugged, then he quickly added, "It's okay though! We're quite all right over here! You don't have to worry about us!"
"Of course I have to be worried about you!" for the first time, Sarutobi looked angry, and Jiraiya seemed to shrink a bit, "Look, Jiraiya. You'd better tell me where you guys are, this is extremely serious!"
"Okay, okay!" Jiraiya held up his hands defensively, "Well, we arrived at this strange place…well, you won't believe this, but we've arrived at a place where magic actually exists"
It took quite some time for Sarutobi to absorb this little piece of information before he said, "…What?"
"Told you. You won't believe it," Orochimaru smirked, "But let's face the fact, Sensei. Magic does exist, and so does western dragons and Alchemy."
"But then," Sarutobi shook his head, "…Alchemy! How come? People had said Alchemy was science, but it was only some kind of witchcrafted-myth 'invented' by some insensible scientists…and magic! It has no logic!"
"It doesn't matter. The point is that it exists. We saw it with or own eyes," Orochimaru was growing a little impatient, "Look, I know this would strike you senseless, but then I have to tell you this: You might think that we're just a few seas away from the East, since this is where magic is said to exist, but it's not that simple. Tsunade and confirmed that you and I, are actually thirty-three years apart from each other— yes, thirty-three years. There was a time jump." Orochimaru nodded firmly, for Sarutobi had tried to argue back.
Tsunade's eyes swelled and cried even harder. Jiraiya had no choice but to pat her gently on the back. "Sensei," Jiraiya glanced gravely into his teacher's eyes, "I know this is really disappointing and it looks as though we won't see each other again…but then, we're working on it! I mean, Orochimaru has found this Alchemic Transmutation Circle combined with our Sealing Art— yes, I know— and he suspected that Shinobi of our kind were actually teleporting between this dimension and ours!"
Sarutobi looked shocked, "What—? You mean to say—"
"—That we aren't the only outsiders here. Yes we aren't," nodded Orochimaru, "In fact, some of them— and I meant to say Rain Ninjas— tried to ambush Tsunade once, along with other wizards. But she beat them all anyways. "
Yet Sarutobi still looked shocked, "Rain Ninjas? If you said that they are the ones using that Circle, it sounds as though they knew that this— this— magic world exists all along…"
"That's precisely my point," Orochimaru said, then gave a little smile, "So I was thinking: If they can use it, why can't we? It'll be perfect; If we've managed to figure out how to make the Circle work again, or simply reverse it, we'll be able to get back home, and meanwhile, accomplish another mission as well."
"What mission?" asked Sarutobi, looking confused.
Tsunade whipped her face with her sleeve. "Well, there's this friend we have to save, Sensei, before we could do anything else," she explained, her voice still shaking slightly, "That person— Remus Lupin— saved my life once, you see. And now, he is held hostage by this Dark Wizard called Voldemort— everyone in the Wizarding World fears him, to tell the truth— I really want to go and rescue him, but then…the problem is, we don't know where he is…"
"And we think that the Transmutation Circle has a lot to do with this as well," Jiraiya said, grateful that Tsunade had finally stopped crying, "If we're successful in 'reversing' it, perhaps we can figure out its original location and find out where Lupin is!"
But Sarutobi had smiled at the word 'reversing', much to the Sannin's surprise. The future Hokage knew that he still had millions of questions to ask his students, but looking into their desperate faces, he couldn't help but wait and leave all the questions until later. Now, he had more important things to tell them.
"I think I have a solution to that," he said, and the Sannins were rather taken-aback by this.
Sarutobi turned to face Orochimaru, "Didn't I tell you, once, that Sealing Arts could be reversed?" and Orochimaru just stood rooted to the spot, until a soft 'oh!' escaped his lips. When Sarutobi laughed at his awkwardness, Orochimaru flushed and muttered, "Then I've forgotten, so what?"
"Ah, it doesn't matter," said Sarutobi, still chuckling, "As I was saying, Sealing Arts could be reversed. If you tell me the descriptions of all the symbols in that Sealing Art, I might be able to figure out its origin."
Orochimaru was at the verge of taking out his notebook when he stopped, sounding doubtful, "But it's combined with that Transmutation Circle, will your calculation for the Sealing Art still be accurate?"
"It won't hurt if we give it a try," Sarutobi shrugged, "Now, I need to know more than the descriptions, Orochimaru. If you guys can manage, I also need to know the time and the area surrounding it, landscape and such…"
"That's not a problem," Tsunade shook her head firmly, desperate for Sarutobi to continue, "Ask away, Sensei! We'll tell you everything you need to know!"
It was just after noon and the cheerful rays of the sun were streaming onto the Grounds of Hogwarts, and the depression that lingered after a night of heavy rain seemed to have lift. Carried away by the wind, it left for good, and Tsunade had never felt so happy in her life.
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Took me 19 pages this time…wow. That ought to keep you quiet for some time XD Of course, don't stop reviewing lol.
Btw, check out this person's awesome artworks— and her taste in music:
(Delete all spaces.)
http :// ashen -ray. com/
Don't forget to press the play button on the Music section. To tell the truth, I listened to this when I wrote this chapter. Oh and her web comic: Blackbird! Don't forget about her web comic:D
Shilin Huang, she is called. Her works inspired me to practice more on CGing. Because her style is my favorite of all.