Okay, so this update has been overdue for days, if not a week. I was busy reading other stories and watching youtube videos of Maximillian Dood while listening to Powerwolf and Sabaton for story inspirations. Btw, I have a plot bunny that DOMINATED my mind for two whole days and I can't get it out of my mind. Truthfully, I only have the premise and several scenes, including the ending one, thought out but that's been enough for me to play it out in my mind with tracks from my IPad and I can't stop thinking about it.
It's a self-insert Touhou fic, though it emphasizes the huge amount of 'fucked' I am where Yukari is a sadistic bitch to me for implied but 'unknown' reasons as she intends to let Gensokyo make me suffer, prevent me from getting help from Reimu, and pretty much destroy my pretty idea of the Touhou universe while tarnishing my image in the eyes of my favorite Touhou crushes, and everyday is a brutal struggle for survival against the elements and various yokai that are simply impossible for a non-magical, unenhanced human like me to overcome without being as self-driven as Naruto and pragmatic and dirty like Kiritsugu.
Luckily, there are several very powerful monsters and deities that don't like Yukari and would love to piss her off, but getting their help is only half the battle. There are no natural power-ups, hidden magical capabilities, or deus ex machina for me. I'm 100% percent human and I'm only going to be able to survive using my strengths, my wits, exploiting relationship statuses of various figures, the sheer determination for vengeance against Yukari and an impossible amount of luck. This may sound easy to some who know the lore and characters by heart but I don't. I am only aware of some of the games and characters. This is what would make it different to other self-insert stories. My idea of vengeance? To survive enough that I can slug Yukari Yakumo right in her fucking smug face even if it kills me.
I know I don't need to start another story so I'll just be writing it over a length of time and post it as massive mega-chapters, like 40k words or something, or just write that much and then upload like 4 chapters of 10k words or something.
Hey, surprise edit here and before the chapter even posted too! This update is MONTHS behind. Why? Why indeed and it's a very good reason.
Chrono Trigger for first time.
'nough said.
It was a week since their journey had began.
After having stayed an hour for tea from their temporary hostess, Pein and Konan had been following Mikumo Kushinada, the legendary and ancient martial artist assassin and newest member of the Akatsuki, to where she claimed the equally fabled Phantom Masamune lived.
Pein and Konan's own knowledge of the legendary warrior was only slightly better than the hidden villages' history books about her, save for perhaps Konoha as its two founders had fought with the mysterious woman multiple times throughout their lives before the founding of Konoha and once more a few years after its birth.
Now one of the other two people to have ever been Hashirama and Madara's equal just might know more than any other person alive this day if her claims of having tea and spars with Masamune on a semi-regular basis were any bit true.
Attempts to gather intel on the biggest prospect of the Akatsuki's recruitment were met with short answers that merely half-answered them and yet gave them more questions to ponder. Clearer information was not easily given, if at all. Apparently, people-much more women who lived in a time where group societies were dominated by males and who were so powerful in their own rights- tended to get along quite well after several decades, seeking the company of each other to share tales and memories of nostalgia of times where life was much more harrowing to live in.
It was almost tranquil and beautiful in its simplicity. Two old veterans of war getting together to talk about the 'good times' that the younger generations nowadays could not imagine.
While neither of the original Akatsuki pair would normally contemplate such thoughts much, the week long travel and brief answers forced them to do much to pass the time. Eventually, thoughts turned towards the Tsvìets.
Pein truly was taken by surprise at their arrival and he honestly had been tempted to try to strike down the smaller aircraft when it had flew into his city until it transmitted Queen Love's message for them all. He had watched in amazement as the mothership pulled their very planet and moon into a portal. That part was not a pleasant experience. Pein had an idea that the towers were meant for much more than just tethering the planet to the ship when that strange energy field spread over the land between each other. His danger senses had been going nuts when they neared the portal and when they went through it. It was like his life was one mistake away from being extinguished.
Soon, in just a matter of days after finding them a new star that wasn't going to turn into an abomination and try to devour them all anytime soon, this alien queen had brought about a non-aggression pact between all major ninja villages and with it, a peace none of the villages wanted disturbed for fear of getting excluded by the lucrative trade partnership the Tsvìets set up to easily give them all resources and materials they desperately needed and would usually start a war for in the first place.
Why did Pein still want to continue the goals of the Akatsuki? Did the new peace not achieve the original goal of their group? Was it perhaps his ego and pride from having convinced himself for so long that with the eyes of God, he was destined to bring about this peace? Could he actually be that petty or perhaps it was because the ones bringing about this peace were outsiders? Shouldn't Humanity's problems be solved by humans and not aliens?
Normally, he would be more confidant with his eyes but he knew that even though the Sage created the moon, it paled in comparison to moving one and the planet as well. There is also no telling what sort of weaponry that massive ship has. The sheer disadvantage his group would be at is the only reason he's chosen to pursue Masamune and Mikumo. Given Mikumo's nature as an assassin, peace would obviously be bad for business and she has a few strong principals that wouldn't allow her to just flat out murder someone for murder's sake. The question that presents is what would she gain helping them find her friend? What would Masamune's motivations be since she has not been heard or seen from in decades?
Pein silently pondered this situation for many days as the group had traveled across the southern seas of the Elemental Nations, using Mikumo's connections to easily travel through Nature, Sakura, and finally Sea countries without any hassles. It was once they were on the southernmost shore that Pein and Konan finally had an idea of their destination and old superstitions caused them pause.
"You've brought us here...to the Shore Bordering Another World," Konan said. Mikumo gave a small smile as if she found it humorous.
"You're correct, Konan," the assassin responded, not bothering with honorifics as she'd grew to drop them over the trip. "My friend lives where no one lives..beyond where anyone travels to and from safely. We will make for the continental divide and ride several days through the Ends of our World. Masamune makes her home beyond that point. I hope you are tolerant of cold weather."
From there was a boat ride south towards the continental divide. Out here, there was nobody on the seas as the great walls of fog that clung to the seas here were incredible thick and resistant to water and wind manipulation. Many call these waters cursed and haunted by the spirits long forgotten.
The wall of fog was atleast a thousand feet high and stretched literally from one end of the Elemental Nations' continental map to the other without so much as a land marker beyond it. They say it was the same for the violent countries over in the Western continent. The fog itself was so massive and thick that even Pein's eyes could only see the chakra of Mikumo in front of him and Konan behind him; nothing else was perceivable. It had been like this for the past day and Mikumo assured them that it'd be a three days' travel and to not sleep else they would be taken in their sleep. When asked, Mikumo again only gave them barely an explanation, merely citing it as one of the reasons merchants, explorers and ninja tended to avoid these waters.
So, heeding the woman's advice, both shinobi only closed their eyes to rest them but never hard enough to sleep.
By the second day, Konan's breath became visible. Pein's two paths didn't breathe so they were better off, and Mikumo was in some sort of meditative trance that had him only see a small mist of warm breath coming from her face once every few minutes.
It was on the third day that something changed.
laaa~ lala~ lalaaalaa~ lalaaalaa~
laaa~ lalaaa~ lalaaa~ lalalaaa~
It was a haunting melody, a woman's voice echoing out across the water. Pein and Konan were instantly alert, no surprise but they held back from any sort of action as Mikumo didn't seem worried despite finally moving her body by taking a small yawn.
''Whatever you do..." she began, her voice quiet yet they could hear the strength in it.
"..do not make any noticeable sounds that might disturb the lullaby. Do not paddle or make any overt movements that might disturb the waters and mist."
Taking a page given, Konan spoke softly. "How will we maneuver the boat then?"
laaa~ lalaaa~ laaalalalalaa~
laaa~ lalaaa~ lalaaalalalaaa~
lalalaaaa~
lalalaaa~ lalalaaa~ lalaaa~
lalaalaaa~ lalaa~ lalalaaalalalaaaa~
"The water is already taking us where we need to go. Relax, and remember..." she turned her head enough to look back at Pein and Konan. "Do not disturb the area. You will anger the ones around you."
What?
Glancing around, Pein and Konan felt their spines stiffen as they saw the 'ones' Mikumo was talking about. Large shadows came from the fog in front of them, dozens of them. When close enough, they saw the shadowed beings as a graveyard of ships of all sorts of sizes and ages. They were torn to splintered heaps in most cases and the waves, or some force, had pulled them together to make several islands. The three people's small boat continued on past these hulks and Pein's Rinnegan allowed him to truly see.
"Konan," he whispered, getting her attention. He did not look away from the scenes around him. "Do not...touch these waters or make any noises. I may be able to defend myself with these eyes but you wouldn't.''
The woman was deathly quiet as she tried to gaze at him hard enough for him to feel her question. Mikumo tilted a head in interest, not looking back but wondering what the inheritor of the Sage's eyes would say.
Pein's eyes watched as spirits in their thousands shambled about. Shambling was perhaps the wrong word. All were floating or swimming about the shipwrecks like legless phantoms, many bearing horrific wounds that probably represented how they were killed in life. The ghouls were semi-transparent and were too out of focus for him to point out specific facial features as the chakra of their beings was extremely thin and spread out over their entire phantasmal bodies and not like a network in a living body.
Konan looked around slowly but could only see gentle swirls in the mist. Judging by the unusual stiffness in her friend's Paths, he was seeing something she probably didn't wish to see.
A glancing at the icy waters dashed that mercy. Something was with the water as she could see the reflections of those just out of arms reach of the boat. Those things were looking right at their boat much like how she was looking at the mist. They knew something was moving among them but it was out of their ability to perceive clearly. Several were getting quite curious.
The woman almost flinched as a young child, about three, paddled up to the boat and laid a hand on it. Much to Konan's horror, her eyes began forming a clearer image of the ghostly child. A pale green face with a jaw sit from ear to ear that left the bottom and much of its tongue hanging out was the child's source of death when he was alive. Milky white eyes looked around at the boat before, as if feeling her gaze upon it, looked up into her own eyes.
"...!" It gave a low groan and reached up to her with both little arms. It was turning unbearable for the kunoichi and her shaky hands fought with her survival instincts. One wanted to reach out and pull the despairing spirit from the cold waters while her instincts were telling her NOO, YOU STUPID BITCH! IF THIS WAS A HORROR MOVIE, THIS WOULD BE WHERE YOU WOULD DIE CUZ WE DON'T HAVE A BLACK GUY TO TAKE THE ROLE OF DYING FIRST!
With much mental strength, she steadied her hands but it just wouldn't end there. The longer she had looked at the child, the more it seemed not just the child but the others around them could see her. Many began floating closer in curiosity.
Words are whispered by Mikumo but Konan couldn't hear them. The more she looked at the child and those around their boat, the more this ghostly world became visible. The fog began darkening to shades of green and the spirits began regaining flesh covered in wounds forever being devoured by phantom maggots.
She desperately tried to look away and reached out for Pein's shoulder but couldn't grasp his form even as he was looking at her. The more real this hell became the less real her own got.
grasp
"EEEKK!" Konan couldn't help the small shriek as she felt the baby spirit physically grab her hand, not noticing that it couldn't the first moment they'd met.
Her startled noise stirred the ghosts around her into a crying mob as many began floating and swimming towards her. She smacked the ghoulish child away in desperation, her fear allowing her to ignore the cry of sorrow and pain it let out as its small body was trampled underwater by the dozens more adult ghosts reaching out for her.
Konan's heartbeat was going to fast for her to count if she tried yet it seemed to be easily audible to the spirits around her for they increased their struggles ten fold, fighting each other in horrific displays to get to the living person. It was at that moment that an ethereal hand firmly grasped Konan's collar and PULLED.
With a swirl of lights, Konan's vision once again registered the white fog of the real world. Her hand holding a kunai shot at what grabbed her but another hand caught it. Both the constricting hands belonged to Pein's Asura Path who was glaring at the invisible ghosts with his Rinnegan fully exposed with both Paths. Unseen to her, the sight of the eyes scared the ghosts away, causing them to fight to get away just as hard as when they fought to get at Konan.
The woman's breathing was rapid and deep and she felt an unfamiliar warmth from the corpse of her old friend that served as the Deva Path of Pein as he held her to his chest until she regained some form of peace. Mikumo stilled stared ahead as if the event didn't even trouble her enough to be curious.
Konan eventually calmed down after several minutes until she assured Pein that she was alright. When he felt certain, he released her and turn a glare at their guide. Still remembering her words, he didn't yell or make any overt movements. While it was a relief to know his Rinnegan was effective at warding off the spirits, he honestly would have liked a bit of forewarning about this place's dangers.
"You see now why it's called 'End of our World,' Mikumo said from the front of the boat. She turned her head to show dull eyes uncaring for their scare. "The spirits lost out here can not find their way to the afterlife. Some have dwelled in these waters for thousands of years since before the Sage of Six Paths was born, Masamune first told me. In this fog, they are invisible to the Shinigami's senses for some reason.
It's for this anomaly that the spiritual imprints of their souls slowly mixed with the others around them, cursing these waters and fogs, making it all an extension of their own suffering existences. With so many souls and so much residual chakra from explorers after the Sage's time contained in such an area, they incidentally created a Yin-chakra world, a purgatory from the bleeding effect. The world you saw is the closest you'll get to Hell, girl."
The two were silent though Konan felt the small urges to vomit at what she'd experienced. She'd seen Pein bring people back to life. She's seen him rip souls from people's bodies. None of those ever gave her the feeling like being in that world did.
"W-why...why was I dragged into that...place?" she asked, her voice still weak as her nerves were a mess.
"The saying 'the eyes are the windows to the soul' originated from this sea. In ancient times, a few of the lucky survivors of groups who've sailed these waters came to such a conclusion and spread it around. By making eye contact, the spiritual imprints of the souls here desire the bodies of the living so much that to make eye contact with them opens the doors for them to enter you, inducing a form of 'real' genjutsu."
"Real...genjutsu? That's..."
"Impossible?" Mikumo shot back. "I do believe the Kurama clan are capable of such a thing, are they not? They just do it backwards. Here, your soul is brought into the 'illusion' world, much like the Sharingan genjutsu Tsukuyomi does with your mind, only this isn't an illusion. Brief contact is just the spark of the fire. Continuous eye contact will bridge your existence to their world a piece at a time as more of their spirit imprint enters your body through your eyes until your soul disappears from our world, your body now inhabited by one of them."
...
...
The kunoichi looked at her friend who had a rare amount of worry in his eyes. "You soul changed. It had disappeared from this world, Konan. I had to cut off the Preta Path and Asura Path to switch them so that we could pull you back."
Konan glanced at the Asura Path and noticed it had a more human like quality to his facial structure.
"What...would have..happened to me had Pein not brought me back?" she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer really.
Mikumo for the first time, had something else in her stoic voice.
"Something far worse than any death you can possibly imagine, little girl. Masamune told me the first time I asked her. For months afterwards, I wished I had never asked. I'll spare you that same dread. Be thankful your friend can interact with spirits to such a degree. While I have ways to disrupt their spiritual cohesion, even I can't pull you out from that world and I doubt Masamune would care about you or Pein's goals enough to save you either."
"And you didn't think to offer any help?" Pein asked, a small amount of steel in his voice that had the woman's shoulders shake once from a chuckle.
"While I could have disrupted the spirit child that ensnared Konan, my method would have simply irritated the rest into reacting. Your eyes are more effective than my hands, boy. Like punching a swarm of bees, I would have simply stirred them into a frenzy, more than likely causing the death of the girl. The problems here was her ignorance and lack of survival instinct. She should have felt something inherently wrong with the child spirit besides the obvious. What are the standards for S-class shinobi these days?"
With nothing more to say and not caring for their responses, she went back to what they assumed was staring out ahead of them, listening to the lulling lullaby coming from somewhere in the fog, leaving a disgruntled Konan to stew over the harsh chastisement. She had earned her rank through her efforts and skills and didn't want to accept any criticism like she was given but considering who exactly had burned her pride.
All she could do was act her rank and not like a scared genin. Calming herself the best she could with relative quickness, she and the other three passengers could only glance around in brief moments if they wanted to but for the most part, they merely sat and listened to the lullaby continue while their boat was seemingly pulled by an invisible force.
"lalalaaaa
...
Laaalalaaa
lalalaaaa
...
lalalaaaa
...*hiss*..*hiss*...
Laaaalalaa
lalaaaalaaalaaa"
The lullaby was mostly the same hauntingly beautiful voice usually repeating every seven or eight lines but the two Shinobi and one corpse knew they were hearing something else. There were moments during and between the song notes where it sounded like heavy machinery moving in the background, as well as hissing noises and sometimes what sounded like a hollow, eldritch moan on the wind.
For ten minutes the singing continued even as the boat slowed to a stop against a small island of ocean debris. There were no more ghosts around them, Pein had assured them, allowing Konan to relax a little. Given from the lack of ease from Mikumo, it was a good assumption to say she already knew that seeing as how she'd been here before.
Surprisingly, the lullaby stopped as soon as their feet had touched the ground.
*crunch*
Pein, Konan and his Path looked down at the noise and none would care to recall later how they'd flinched at the sight of a child's rib cage, the skeleton weathered by the times and erosion had stood no chance under the weight of Pein's body. Though they didn't act alarmed, Pein did cut the connection to his recently switched Path to once again switch it with another. Moments later, the corpse stood up again as the Animal Path. It'd be the most important to have for its ability to summon the other Paths if negotiations broke down and the situation got out of hand for them. Rather than scold him in warning, Mikumo nodded in approval at his decision, not damning it one bit, almost as if she would not be surprised if the negotiations turned sour.
The four walked through a few hundred meters based on their footsteps and stride before a large shadow started manifesting in the fog. When they got closer, it was a massive ship- more massive then anything they'd seen produced by the Elemental Nations- and it was made of steel. However, time and nature had not been kind to the derelict vessel. The hull was rusting in many places while the rest was covered in layers of barnacles. The ship was partway sunk, it's stern pointing up towards the sky at a 45 degree angle. The ninja could not tell how big it truly was but it was atleast fifty meters. The rest of the stern was not visible so high up in the fog.
Thankfully, a small mercy in saving time was given to them as there was a hole a dozen meters wide in the bottom of the ship which had rough patches of carpentry and metal working to keep the ship stable and make the entrance a bit homely with there being a large porch, a few walls and a burned out wax lantern. What wasn't so homely was the macabre 'front lawn' decorations around the patchwork.
Skeletons pinned upon the ship by their hundreds, Pein and Konan now realizing that the ship wasn't covered in barnacles but rather skeletons so thick that they overlapped each other making the effort of counting them a trying task if someone would attempt to. From a closer inspection of the area, they saw that majority of the skulls had a single puncture wound right through the middle of the face between the nose and upper lip. They were evidently killed by a single stab through the skull, whether it was through the front or from the back, no one could tell without looking more closely but Pein knew that all of these kills were made by striking at the part of the spine that controlled the central nervous system. A guaranteed kill.
The silence was broken by Mikumo who spoke a little bit louder at a normal level.
"Let me do the talking first. Masamune is not fond of me 'getting right to business' so she'll be even less tolerant with you two. She is a bit...eccentric and bipolar. There's not many people she actually sets aside time for outside of hunting her next prey. Try to remain relax and don't overreact. Only act as you would amongst any unknown threat. She may want to unnerve you as a test. She has a much lower opinion of ninjas nowadays than even I, and she's been active more in the past twenty years than I have since the First Shinobi World War."
Mikumo didn't ask for clarification. She would be disappointed if she had to ask. Pein and Konan though were wondering what exactly Masamune was up to, or what Mikumo's standard of 'active' detailed.
She stopped just before the entrance way and looked them both in the eyes with the most serious glare they'd yet to see.
"Finally, under no circumstances, will you inquire about her child. She will undoubtedly bring him up in conversation but she is violently, irrationally overprotective and paranoid when it comes to her child. Even compliments may change her whole mood. If she brings him up, just nod and try to redirect the topic."
Instead of looking away, she held their confused gazes until they both gave their own nods of agreement. Satisfied, she disappeared with her company into the dark bowels.
NADUSA and MODRD stood in an open area deep within the hills of Uzushiogakure. They were underground, of course, as with the knowledge that there are atleast two entities capable of traveling into their colony with ease and possibly spying on the event, the two did not want any blackmail to be gained and used against their meticulously established public image.
Before them and the forty drone guards surrounding the room were around five hundred people. Many wouldn't use the term 'people' but these beings were, just not 'people' restricted to humans. There were mixed groups of aliens of numerous types; P.O.W.s of recent and/or current conflicts throughout the galaxy cluster. The Tsvìets were by no means 'at peace' as there were at the least 130 conflicts NADUSA could name off the top of her head that they were having 'aggressive negotiations' with at the moment, though last she'd heard, SING had ordered an elevation of hostilities to put down most of these fronts while she rests in the nursing caverns in Cradle of Life. NADUSA wasn't aware of the cause but apparently SING did not want to be bothered by the small wars when she returned which meant that her focus outside of NRTO was on something else.
Putting the troubling thoughts away as they'd given her and MODRD enough problems within the past day already, she performs a series of handseals only a few shinobi would have knowledge of.
Snake→Boar→Ram→Rabbit→Dog→Rat→Bird→Horse→Snake→*claps hands*
There was a flurry of blue lights congregating behind her from everywhere for several seconds before a massive, white specter appeared; first to fully materialize was its left hand, holding a set of red prayer beads, then quickly following that was its head full of massive white hair a small dagger with a bandage wrapped hilt sitting in its fanged mouth. The rest of its body quickly formed without fanfare aside from short evil chuckles.
The Shinigami finally made another appearance in the story and its hair wrapped around the body of NADUSA's soul that floated before it and behind her. MODRD knew what to expect from this jutsu but seeing someone inconceivably close to her hearts being held by an invisible entity that ate souls still almost forced a knee-jerk reaction to attack it.
When the deity of Death looked down at its summoner, it was surprised to see a Tsvìet. Glancing around and noticing all of the gathered creatures and humans who had a broken look in their eyes, he quickly put two and two together.
"So, you have summoned me for another bargain, Tsvìet."
Getting over the unnatural chill throughout her body, NADUSA nodded. "As per part of the pact between you and my queen, I summon you with these offerings in return for aid."
The hair of the Shinigami let her soul free, allowing it to return to her body where she stumbled for a moment and was instantly beset by a worried but calm MODRD. Giving her lover a nod of affirmation, the two looked over when the noise of the prisoners crying in fear or elation began. The drones could not see the Shinigami so even though they'd been given information about the process so they'd know how to act, the sudden activity from the usually silent crowd caused them to step forward with their weapons raised in alarm. Thankfully the ambassador had made it clear that no one shall attack without her order giving it.
With the Shinigami no longer touching her, NADUSA could only see the prisoners crying out and collapsing like puppets with their strings cut. While the sight of dying people was nothing to write home about for her, the nature of the assault didn't fail to raise some hairs on her neck.
For the Shinigami, he was actually interested in his new meal. Sure, he's had humans before but there were species he'd never imagined and their souls tested different from the rest. Normally, a weak soul and a strong soul would cause a taste to vary between bitter and sweet but there were now flavors he'd never had. The blue-skinned aliens that looked like half-melted gelatin tasted watery while this green, armored scale one with two heads was spicy. Of course, since he never tasted these flavors before, he didn't know the correct term for them, only knowing that they were different. It's not like deities drank or ate regular food varieties like the Humans do.
The new flavor overload brought back memories of the thousands he'd eaten when he first met his demonic yuki-onna. Her beautiful, human-like body was a plus but he could really only feel her soul's presence to be the most attractive. The sadistic satisfaction in her eyes when he'd begun eating the souls was something unusual for him to witness. Sure, she wasn't exactly seeing him but the fact anyone could get a kick out of watching thousands of lives crying out in despair and being devoured one after another stirred unusual but exciting feelings in his incorporeal body.
He looked over at the two aliens watching and didn't see anything like what SDTH had expressed. He could only pause in his eating and sigh dejectedly, his appetite slowly going away. Sure, as for the contract, he'd finish this meal, but still.
'It just feels empty without her watching.'
A few minutes later and a cavern filled with dead people, he shook himself out of the gloomy mood he'd gotten in and touched the two women's shoulders, causing them to jerk their eyes up at him in reflex.
''Your part is fulfilled. What do you need help with?"
'Really, I just hope it's nothing to make my mood worse. I wonder how SDTH is doing. Has she...perhaps made any inquiries about me? How would I go about asking of her well-being without coming off as creepy? Would such a woman even be bothered by that?'
NADUSA held out an item of strange design for him to see. It didn't look like anything interesting upon initial glancing but he got a feeling of familiarity from it. He didn't like it. Perhaps he was still hung up on SDTH not being the one to summon him.
"Do you recognize this device, Shinigami?" she asked respectfully. Well, she was polite at the least.
Doing his part, he looked at the item more closely, picking it up with his right hand that usually held his cloak. Now that he was holding it, he really didn't like it. He didn't hate it per say but something about it just irked him right in the temple.
"I can say that I don't recognize it but something about it seems nostalgic and not in a good way. Why would you expect me to know of things some mortals have crafted?"
'Really, a gloomy reminder of his SDTH not being here was not fair for the amount of souls provided.' Can his mood get anymore worse? For some reason, a saying humans are fond of scratched at his memories but he couldn't recall the words.
"MODRD here recovered it from Takigakure ninja. They used it to extract the Seven-Tailed Bijuu from its host and put it in a baby in several seconds. The memories of one of the ninja recalls a figure meeting with their village leader. The name Masamune came up. Do yo-!?''
'APPARENTLY IT CAN!,' the god absently thought as the mention of that name caused him to unconsciously tighten his grip on the women's shoulders to the point even they were wincing in discomfort. 'Ohhh, I remember that name. Hmm? Oh, better loosen up.'
He readjusted his grip which earned him a pair of hiss-like growls from the aliens, their eyes and feeler bulbs brightening in hostility. 'Please, the Uzumaki women I've eaten have given me worse.'
"Apologies. Yes, I know that name. I will usually hear it upon the last curses of some souls that I eat. Soooo...she made this device then? I wouldn't be surprised. Her age would have given her plenty of time to create something so complex and given that Uzumaki Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, it's no wonder why you're alarmed by its existence. Due to not much knowledge of her known by records or living people, I assume, you've summoned me to find out, yes?"
NADUSA nodded while she rolled her shoulder, her temper getting back under control now. "That's...correct, Shinigami-sama. All we know of her through historical texts is that she was a wondering warrior during the Warring Clans Era over a hundred human years ago."
The death god wasn't surprised. Not many people kept books around back in those times except for clans and if he was a gambling man, he'd bet Masamune wanted as little information about her remembered as possible.
"I expect that would be because Masamune was very obvious in her attempts to keep information of her accounts out of enemy hands. To know how one fought was to know how to counter them. Masamune was very practical. Her skills were impressive enough that she never used jutsu and most of her kills went unheard by history due to her covert work ethics. A single stab wound through the skull under the nose was her signature. Very few ever lived more than a minute against her."
"People like the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara?"
The two saw the deity grumbled a little at the mention of the two names.
"Yes, those two were exceptional killers for their time and would be unmatched in this ninja era. She battled both a couple of times, the landscape often getting reshaped on part of the two men with their powerful jutsu. I only saw her fight in person once back when the Uzumaki were around before the birth of the ninja village system. I'd been summoned by an Uzumaki in a suicide attempt to take her with him but her skills were far more impressive. She moved like a ghost to even my eyes and ended it with a single stab through the back of his head and out from under the nose, severing his spine instantly. With him dead, I collected his soul and returned but not before that woman threw me an insufferable smirk."
The two women still didn't show much expressive language with their bodies besides the few glances to each other. Really, it was kind of boring that they didn't give many reactions for the readers to visualize. This exposition was kind of boring him.
"So, we can assume she's still alive somehow?" MODRD asked, finally saying something.
"Very much so, I'd assume. I nor Yami have met her soul anywhere in the afterlife."
NADUSA looked confused. Finally, an emotion! "You aren't sure? How is that possible?"
They were treated to the death god grumbling loudly and even letting a few muffled curses out. They ended up waiting a full minute for the being to quit brooding and finally answer their question.
"No, I'm not sure. It's possible because I can't see her soul. She is lost from my sight as if in a fog. It has been this way for several hundred years."
"So, she is that old. Please tell us more about her if you can. Do you know her origins?"
He counted to ten to ease the ungodly migraine he's feeling with the subject. Really, let him go back to being a mysterious, cheat character of hax stomping plot convenience.
"She's actually older. I don't know how she is alive but the first time I felt her was about a thousand years before the Sage of Six Paths came about. I felt her on the precipice of life and death yet she pulled herself out of my reach. From that day on, I felt much killing in the years to follow, most of the souls cursing the name Masamune. Hmmm, I would say it was about thirty years after I'd first noticed her that I could no longer feel or see her soul. She was pretty sloppy in her kills the first couple of years but she got better and better until the only way I am sure she's still alive is whenever I grab a soul that has a hole in it where she'd stabbed their body. I'm not sure when or where she found a soul cutting sword but given her clean kills, it's not like it ruins my meals. I had only finally realized the perpetrator of all of those assassinations when I saw her in action and recognized her. She's gotten her own unique style of looks and looks like she's only aged a few years since she nearly died. That is all I can really tell you about her. I'm certain you might find more from the leader of Takigakure if he really did have a meeting with her. Anything else?"
NADUSA shook her head, filing away his behavior with this subject and wondering just how much he might actually know. "Just answer me one more question. How many souls have you fed on from her personal kills?"
The Shinigami would raise a brow or shrug his shoulders if it wouldn't have made him look less professional. "I don't know..about two million...ish. For the eras before the ninja system, there were wars all the time. Since ninja didn't exist like they do now, these battles were usually larger, averaging a few thousand for each side of a battle, though sometimes it'd be in the tens of thousands. Why do you want to know something like that?"
Another unsaid message between the two women had both nodding in some inexplicably vague way that couldn't be anything other than cliche and intentional to him. "Well, the Bijuu was not the only thing extracted from the late Jinchuuriki but her soul as well."
'...what?'
"It's unknown for how long she's had the capabilities to produce this effect but if she's known how to do it for over a thousand years, then considering all of the things you can think of her using souls for, it's quite likely she might have been robbing you of alot more than two million...ish meals. It's possible that's how she's lived so long and has hidden herself from your senses. I can only imagine so much yet it's all hypothetical. Shinigami-sama, are you well?"
The deity didn't know when his teeth had clenched so hard that it snapped the handle of his dagger into spiritual splinters but atleast he wasn't crushing the Tsvìets' shoulders again, instead having his hands by his sides and clenching them, causing him to disappear from their eyes. The expression on his face was not something he'd like mortals he didn't intend on eating to view.
Still, the thought that Masamune, his biggest donor, was probably holding out on him really dumped a jar of piss in his cereal. If she really was running around invisible to his senses, killing people and taking a fraction of HIS souls to sustain herself like some kind of vampire Death God knock-off, he was so gonna make her regret it ten-fold. Truly, he never really minded that she seemed to be immortal. She was killing and feeding him on a monthly basis so he was okay with her. What really pissed him off so much was that if this thievery is how she was immortal and this device is indeed the proof needed to make the claim sufficiently plausible, then he'd basically kept a sufficiently dangerous criminal out of Kami and Yami's notices due to his own gluttony. Oh, if this claim was true, he was so boned.
Letting out a snarl, he placed a hand on NADUSA's shoulder, returning to her view.
"I will investigate this claim and the device. Know that it will not bring harm to Naruto or whatever Queen Love calls him now. If it is proven true, Masamune will have gained an incredible amount of power over the millennia. There's no telling what she is truly capable of. The situation will call for me, Kami and Yami to wipe her out of existence. This world is already volatile. Throwing in a demi-God of Death will ruin any peace you've created. It would be good for you to investigate Takigakure as soon as possible."
NADUSA bowed her head in gratitude for the surprisingly passionate response. She was kind of expecting there to be 'divine' laws or whatever preventing the trinity of deities from acting directly on the planet. She really shouldn't read too much fanfiction.
"Could you give us a description of her last appearance, Shinigami-sama? It would be most helpful."
He saw the reason and simply conjured a ghostly apparition of her latest appearance for both to see. The ghostly image showed quite the detail for a very beautiful, if gothic and scarred, woman wielding a six foot long nodachi with a simple, leather hilt and no sword guard. In fact, she had several similarities to DRGN SLYR if you switched the Under-Supreme Primal's black hair with white hair and made her more human sized with a slimmer body and more provocative dress style. This woman would definitely stand out but seeing as she's done such a damn good job of destroying information about her over the centuries, it's undoubtedly assured that no one would even know her in a crowd aside from being a scary looking beauty.
Thanks to their eidetic memory, the Tsvìets memorized everything they could from the front to the back. When asked, the Shinigami even had the apparition repeat the movements he'd seen her do against the Uzumaki. Even to NADUSA and MODRD's eyes, this woman was a clearly powerful opponent. Her speed was easily on par with a Tsvìet-Major's and her movements and single strike were without waste and flawless in execution. Yes, that was clearly a body and mind honed over centuries of warfare at the very least if you didn't count everything outside of battle. That Uzumaki's chances of victory truly were a snowball's chance in a sun. NADUSA knew she'd have to release two of her seals to even cross blades with this woman just based on speed and skill alone. MODRD was feeling the excitement every hunter her age feels when presented with what they feel will be a worthy prey.
The Shinigami was eventually good to go and he left with no fanfare save for a desire to pass a message of innocent inquiry to SDTH, one the women easily saw through and thought of as romantic...if a bit ballsy on the masochistic side. There's someone out there for everyone, apparently.
With their meeting over with, NADUSA immediately went to prepare a meeting with Takigakure's leadership posthaste while MODRD went to check on the baby Fuu but would deploy as her new lover's personal guard when the meeting was set, all the while playing back Masamune's appearance and movements in her head to find something to exploit. Begrudgingly, there was very little. She'd have to simply be faster and stronger than Masamune.
Heh, to think she was quite bored a day ago. It seemed DRGN SLYR's words were no hyperbole to just get her to come as a threat terminator. She idly wondered what other kind of monsters lived in this world, hiding in human guises.
So..yeah, I'm sorry for the long wait. It was WAAAY too long. This is actually suppose to be much larger but I cut the chapter 70/30. The next part should be finished in time for New Year's Day. Cross your fingers this won't be a let down.
So, I've finally shed some light on the main villain on this planet. Masamune is a character I've given ALOT of backstory and development to so I promise she's not some OC I pulled out of my ass who's overpowered just for the sake of having an overpowered enemy. She's a person, a monster with her own story, character and drive. I hope you all enjoy her as she makes her official appearance next chapter.
Hopefully I can get the next chapter to this and Ascension of the Tyrant King up before the end of the month. That'd be great for me and you. I have a plot twist in store for you readers of my Harry Potter/FSN story that will hit you like an RKO from outta nowhere. And it involves Zelretch and not him being a trolled.
Oh, small note: I renamed the Marmota art on DeviantArt to the Behemoth Terrestrial Dreadnought (incomplete). It is in the Tsvìets' arsenal and will appear WAY down the line.
Also, saw Thor: Ragnarok. Loved it. Best Thor movie.
Saw Justice League...barely tolerated it more than Batman vs Superman.
Saw The Last Jedi. For a sci-fi movie, I give it a six. As a Star Wars movie, it's a 2. Hell, Mark Hamill's expression to its ending at the premiere is both hilarious and sad. He looked like he wanted to turn into the Joker and Force Lightning and Choke Rian Johnson at the same time.
Phasma...waste of space. Finn...needed to die in TFA. Snoke...snooze. Rei...a Mary Sue with no rhyme or reason as to why she's a Mary Sue except femin-nazi logic. Rose...don't..even..get me...started. She made the dumbest line in the history of my movie history. Ren...had potential to do something amazing but didn't and his actions contradicts his feelings. Rian Johnson can suck Jabba's ass sweat. Luke...greatly acted, but horribly written. Fuck...you..Disney and Rian. Now that Disney owns Fox...I am seemingly losing all hope for cinema.
I knew he was retconning the EU of Star Wars but I didn't know he was retconning and rewriting the Force itself as well.
Okay, I'mma stop. I need my Chrono Trigger right now. Lu Bane Na signing off.