And I present you Chapter 8. Enjoy.
After Naruto had given Hisui a general explanation into the intricacies of magic, they decided to meet up daily to continue the lessons.
Of course Naruto wouldn't neglect his own research into the archive but that could be done on the side. Currently it was far more important to him to grasp the opportunity that had presented itself in front of him.
Hisui had become his student of course normally this wouldn't be that big of an opportunity if one did not consider the girls position.
Hisui E. Fiore was the princess of the kingdom of Fiore once her father abdicated or died she would inherit the throne and be known as Queen Hisui. She would then be Queen until she found a suitable husband that would become the new king. The only case where this would not be the case was in the case of her father remarrying and fathering a son which would be highly unlikely given what Naruto so far had come to know of the diminutive king.
But for now she was his student. She was young, impressionable and was, to some extent, infatuated with him.
All these factors would play perfectly into his hands. The more time they spent together the more she would become attached to him and she would become all the more susceptible to his goals. If he could get the resources of the royal family to use in his endeavour he was more likely to succeed.
The King or Queen had a large degree of influence on the Magic Council in Era, within reason. So using this venture he would be able to keep tabs on Dark Guilds, specifically those of the Balam Alliance which in turn would increase his ability to track their movements.
Of course that was not the only benefit. Another benefit was the vast wealth of the royal family itself. The Fiore family had amassed riches over centuries and since there had never been a King who had flaunted their wealth to absolute excessive proportions their wealth had only grown and grown.
For a single moment he even had contemplated if he shouldn't simply end up proposing to Hisui and become king himself which would make a lot of things easier, since he could do them himself instead of having it done by proxy but in such a case his name would be spread across the Kingdom and no doubt Erza Scarlet would then recognize his name and expose him, which would not bode all that well for his plans.
For now though he would continue teaching Hisui magic.
Today he would get her started on the basics of Crystal Make magic.
They met on the same balcony that they had their first lesson on. As soon as Hisui had closed the glass door behind her Naruto gathered his magic and with a large swish of his arm the area was blanketed in an illusory magic. Everyone else would merely be seeing Hisui and Naruto talking to eachother instead of practicing magic.
"I'm ready to learn, sensei." Hisui stated eagerly as determination burned in her eyes
"Indeed, you are, Hisui." he noted with a hint of mirth "Now then the basics of molding magic begins with crafting the substance of choice. Before you can even think of imparting commands into your constructs and have them move according to your will you need to be able to create these in the first place." Naruto held out his right palm and his magic energy gathered inside of it to create a small round, ruby colored orb "In the terms of Crystal Make this process is referred to as Crystallization. You start by gathering your magic in your hand and then shape it into the desired form." he explained and nodded towards Hisui "Go on give it a try but start with something simple." he held up the red glistening orb that glinted in the wintersun as an example
"Hai, sensei." Hisui held out her palm in front of her, closed her eyes and started willing her magic into her hand. A green glow enveloped her fair skinned palm as she felt the warmth of her internal energy wrap around it.
'Crystallize. Crystallize. Crystallize.' she repeated like a mantra inside of her head 'Become a crystal. Become a crystal. Become a crystal.'
She could feel her magic coalesce towards one point. She could feel something in the center of her palm, something with added weight. She opened her eyes and smiled as a small round disk shaped piece of green crystal, barely a milimeter in diameter, was lying in her palm.
She presented the disk to her sensei "I did it, Naruto-kun." hoping that the success on her first try would impress him.
'If everything is going to work that well when I try it for the first time I will learn everything in record time.' she thought with increased confidence
"Let's see." Naruto wanted to snatch the green crystal disk out of his students hand but as soon as his finger had made contact with the disk the construct fell apart into fine, green particles of dust.
As her first try turned out to be a failure, Hisui's confidence shattered like the piece of crystal she had created.
"What did I do wrong?" she asked Naruto, hoping he would be able to explain the 'mystery' to her
"I know where your mistake was the question is if you noticed as well." his inquisitive gaze bore into Hisui who looked at her hand and shook her head
"I'm sorry, I don't know." she looked up to her teacher, her eyes gleaming with hope "Can't you tell me?"
"Now what would you learn if I simply told you everything." he shook his head in amusement before smiling at his distraught student "But I suppose I can give you a hint. What did you think about when you created the Crystal?"
"I was trying to crystallize it. I thought really hard about turning my magic into the crystal." she responded "But I don't see how that is supposed to help me." she frowned in confusion
"Then let me ask like this. What was missing? Why did the crystal instantly crumbled when I touched it?" the blonde mage inquired hoping it would jog his students thought process
"What was missing... missing..." Hisui placed her index finger on her lip 'The crystal crumbled... what does it mean if something crumbles?' Naruto watched the green haired girl struggle to find the answer, but he was confident the girl could come up with the answer. Hisui once more created on creating another crytal. Again it formed into a disk like shape. She prodded the object with her finger and it, once again, crumbled into dust. The crystal she created was so brittle.
'So it crumbles because it is brittle. Which means it breaks apart. Why do things break...' Hisuis brow furrowed in thought '...Of course! They are simply not durable enough to be kept together. So durability is missing...Which means the answer is...'
"Hardness!" Hisui suddenly shouted "The Crystal wasn't hard! I merely thought about making a crystal but I forgot that it has to do more than look like one. I forgot to make it hard like a real crystal."
Naruto beamed down at her and softly patted her head "Exactly. You focused so much on simply creating a crystal that you forgot about adding the properties it needs to have." he affirmed her answer, causing his student to smile "Now go on and try again with what you've learned."
Again Hisui's magical energy gathered in her hand. This time she would not forget to add hardness to the crystal.
'Turn into a crystal and be hard.' she repeated inside of her head. The magic converged once more and very slowly solidified until a familiar weight settled into her hand.
She once again stared at the small piece of crystal in her hand and held her hand out for Naruto to take a look at it.
The blonde's hand inched closer to the object in her palm 'Please don't crumble, please don't crumble.' she begged internally that she didn't screw up once again
The blonde's fingers touched the small, coin like object and it didn't crumble, much to her delight.
She beamed in happiness that it had worked this time around.
He held the small coin up into the air "Solid work." he confirmed before tossing the crystal coin into the air. The small green object disappeared from sight until it came back down again, clattering to the ground and shattering softly upon impact.
Hisui stared at the spot where her construct had shattered. She looked sad at having, in her mind, failed once more only to feel Naruto's hand softly stroking her hair.
"Now, don't look so down." his voice was soft and encouraging "It was an excellent second attempt. You remembered to add hardness this time around but you can't expect things to work out perfectly in such a short amount of time. If you had been able to do everything on your first try, I would even say that you wouldn't even need me in such a case." he joked, laughing softly at his own joke "I didn't think you were trying to get rid of me this fast."
"No, no, no. I am not." Hisui was flustered as she tried to deflect his accusation "I am not trying to get rid of you."
"Hahahaha." Naruto laughed loudly at the way she was acting "I know, I was just joking." he told her with a smirk
"That was mean." Hisui glared at him but with how she was trying not to laugh it didn't work out quite as well as she wanted to
"Now get back to work, Hisui-chan." he told her "Now keep working on making your crystal even more durable."
Despite his friendly exterior Hisui ended up learning that Naruto could be quite the slavedriver. He had her repeat the task again and again until the sky darkened. Never once had he seemed to be satisfied with her work, he always told her to keep practicing and keep improving. While Naruto did give her words of encouragement not once did he let her ease up or stop.
All the other instructors she had, had were always overly cautious with her. As soon as she showed any sign of exhaustion they insisted on taking a break or stopping. Her blonde haired teachers style seemed to be the complete opposite of that. Even if she looked tired he kept her practicing.
"How long do I have to keep doing this?" Hisui panted out in exhaustion
Never once in her life had she felt as exhausted as she was feeling at this moment. This may have been because she had never been pushed quite as hard as she had been today. Her muscles weren't burning, she wasn't sweating. At the same time she felt tired, her body felt heavy, there was a certain kind of emptiness she was feeling.
Naruto snapped the book he was reading shut and gave her hunched over form a small glance.
"I believe now is a good time to stop." he stated "I don't want to push you further into magical exhaustion. In an hour or so you should be feeling much better." he pushed her ahead "Now off you go."
Hisui grumbled cutely as she trodded off towards her room to, no doubt, freshen up.
Naruto held the small, green gem coin, the one she had created before he had ended their training, in his hand. He inspected the small object thoroughly, turning it again and again in his hand. He tossed it high into the air, out of his sight, before it came back down to the ground. It hit the ground with a high pitched sound and bounced back up for a short distance before landing flat on the ground. He picked the coin back up again and looked it over.
"No cracks, no dents, no missing pieces." the piece had held together perfectly. That's how far Hisui had been after her sixth try though. He tested the small item with many different methodes and it continued to hold up.
Naruto called upon his magic and surrounded the coin in a red glow, marking it with his magic power.
Once again he threw the coin high up into the air.
He pointed his index finger towards the coin "Lightbeam: One finger." he muttered and from his finger shot a white beam of energy which hit the coin. The coint was propelled further away but he could still feel his magic wrapped around the object, it had not been destroyed by his attack "Lightbeam: Two fingers." His index finger was joined by his middle finger and a larger beam was shot towards the position of the coin. Again the coin did not break. A small smirk spread across Naruto's face 'Not bad.' he praised his students work "Lightbeam: Three fingers." His ring finger joined his other two fingers and together the emitted blast of light was even bigger than the two finger one. The beam raced towards the position of the falling coin and hit it. This time he could feel his magic power scattering. The coin did not withstand the force. This meant that the current durability of her constructs was somewhere above fourty percent and below sixty percent output of his lightbeam spell.
'That's far above what I'd expect after a single day of practicing.' he mused to himself when he was pulled out of his musings by clapping. He turned around to see Toma clapping at his short display of magic. After Hisui had gone to her room he had lifted the illusion, so it was no surprise that the King had been able to see him perform magic.
"Bravo. Truly splendid." he complimented Naruto "That was quite an interesting display of magic, Naruto my boy."
The blonde repressed the urge to snort and roll his eyes 'You haven't seen anything.' he commented dryly inside of his mind but put up a polite smile "Thank you, your Highness."
"None of that formality my boy. Just call me Toma." the small King said with mirth "You've been our guest for a bit more than a week now and I've only heard positive things about you. Except from Arika..." the king gave a slight sigh "But I know she can be a bit...eccentric; especially in her old age. So please forgive her rudeness."
Naruto kept his smile up "Don't worry, Toma." he waved the King's concerns off "I don't hold her attitude against her."
"You truly are a good boy." Toma stated and walked towards the edge of the large balcony "I'm sorry to say that we didn't have much time to talk these past days. I was quite busy with my work."
"Don't worry about that, Toma. Leading a Kingdom take up a lot of time." Naruto assured him "Besides I have been quite busy as well."
"So have you found anything interesting among those moldy old books?" the King asked "I'm afraid I myself never had much time or interest to go through all those things my predecessors collected."
Naruto nodded eagerly "Yes, I've learnt many things that were quite interesting." he admitted 'Most importantly the fact that Acnologia and Zeref have a connection.' but he kept that thought to himself
"Good, good. At least all those books aren't going to waste that way." the small King laughed before abruptly becoming deadly serious
For a second he thought the King had seen through his acting or knew that he hadn't told the truth but Naruto pushed that thought aside. He could not afford to jump the gun on mere assumptions. Acting strange would only make him seem suspicious.
"I have also been told that you've been spending a lot of time with my daughter, Hisui-chan." the King stated. His words were as cold as ice "What are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Naruto blinked dumbly as the King stared at him. The small man didn't intimidate him but he definitely could have intimidated others.
'So this is just him being a regular old, protective father?' Naruto chuckled inwardly as his imagination had cooked up much worse scenarios. However he had to give it to the small man, he pulled that one off very well.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean?" he tried to keep in character and feign ignorance of the situation
"I may not have very much time for Hisui between my duties but even I can obviously tell that she is at the very least infatuated with you. A polite, kind, good looking, young man who rescued her from something that is absolutely vile? It is easy to tell that such a combination would cause her to have a slight romantic interest in you." the King was blunt in his explanation "I do not wish for my daughter to get hurt. That is why I am asking you again what are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Naruto gulped. Toma was very insistent. Naruto knew he would not be able to dodge the mans question, he would have to give the man that would satisfy him.
"You are right. It didn't escape my notice that the Princess has a heightened interest in me." he answered clinically as the King continued to scrutinize him "I will not lie. Your daughter is attractive and she has managed to capture my interest as well."
"So you are just interested in her because she is good looking?" the King frowned angrily at the answer and Naruto rapidly shook his head.
"No, don't misunderstand me." the blonde quickly deflected but he could still feel a dark presence, which he thought the King incapable of producing, bear down on him "Hisui...she is a very kind and hard working person. She is quite clever and cares for others. She is a bright, young lady who will undoubtly be a good Queen someday. I think there are very few who would fail to be captivated by her earnest personality."
Toma's pursed his lips, apparently not yet happy with that answer.
"Over the years I have received many proposals for Hisui's hand in marriage. Some from noble's that wish to strengthen the position and others from the regents of other countries such as Peregrande Kingdom or the Principality of Veronica." the King explained his stony gaze never wavering for even a second "I do not need another person that merely wants to take advantage of Hisui's status as Princess."
"I understand that...sir." Naruto responded "I can assure you that I do not merely see Hisui-chan as a ticket to money, fame and power or some sort of trophy I can use to brag. For me she will be the cute, endearing girl that didn't know how to use a pair of chopsticks."
Naruto's repsonse was met with silence. The tension was so thick one could have cut it with a knife.
Eventually a smile spread across Toma's face and he patted Naruto on the back "I'm happy to hear this answer." he told the blonde, who seemed visibly relieved "Hisui was always a bright and happy child. Her mother and I loved her dearly and even the death of my wife, her mother didn't seem to be able to daunt her. But I guess I coddled her a bit much." Toma sighed wistfully "I barely let her out of the castle and when I did, only under heavy protection. It is no wonder that she wanted to go out and enjoy the freedom; without being under the constant watch of guards. I can not fault her for that and I am very happy that she has met you. In you she has found a friend her age, something I could not provide her with but something that is invaluable." He gave the blonde an approving nod "You seem to make her happy Naruto and that's why you get my approval."
'Did he just say what I think he did?' the blonde asked himself in surprise "I'm sorry but what did you just say?" he asked in shock and Toma laughed boisterously
"I said you have my approval." the King smiled happily "I know it is probably a bit premature for these things but you have my approval to court my daughter if you wish to." Toma elaborated "I don't think you will hurt her and if you somehow do end up hurting her..." the mans expression darkened " There will be hell to pay."
Naruto knew that this was no empty threat but a promise. However it was perfect. This way he would not have to worry about anything when things between Hisui and him got more serious. Having the approval of the King was a perfect boon for his plan to ensnare the princess.
"Don't worry sir. I won't hurt her." Naruto promised with a bright grin
It was so easy to tell people what they wanted to hear, to make them see what they wanted to see.
"That's what I wanted to hear." the King returned the blonde's gesture with a grin of his own "There is another matter I wanted to speak to you about."
Naruto signaled the small man to go on.
"You remind me of someone. I don't know how I didn't notice it before but this hair color of yours, those untamed yellow spikes, your blue eyes and even your splendid display of Light Magic. They remind me of a mage I was a great fan of, before he died. His name was Min-"
The King was cut off before he could finish his sentence "Minato Namikaze." Naruto finished for Toma
"Yes, exactly." Toma nodded in confirmation, surprise evident on his face "I take it you must not be hearing this for the first time." The King guessed and Naruto chuckled in response.
"It is not the first time no." Jiraiya had told him once that he had looked like his father and Hiruzen Sarutobi had made more than enough allusions to it as well
"Are you related to him by any chance?" and Naruto nodded in response
"Minato is...was my father."
"What an incredible surprise!" the small King squeaked in surprise "I didn't know Minato had any children."
It wasn't really a secret it's just that it was never made common knowledge among those that didn't personally know his father, mother or that lived in Konoha.
"It was just never made common knowledge that my father had any children." Naruto shrugged it was not that big of a deal
Toma then gasped in shock as he realized something "If you are Minato's child then you must be from..." the King's expression was somber "I'm sorry to say that Konoha is..." he couldn't finish the sentence the thought was too horrible
"I have already accepted Konoha's fate." Naruto responded, his voice was without any inflection "You should not apologize for something that is not your fault."
'Especially to the one that is responsible for it in the first place.'
Toma gave a heavy sigh "Perhaps you are right about that my boy but..." he shook his head and his eyes flickered up to Naruto before he turned towards the city below him "At least the one responsible for it was brought to justice."
'Not as much as you would like.' Naruto thought with an inward smirk.
"But enough of this dreary and dreadful talk." the King declared and changed the topic back to Naruto's father "Your father was a good man. I never met him personally but his deeds preceded him. He single handedly defeated many Dark Guilds and imprisoned them. He was a beacon of justice, an exemplary citizen and his prowess as a mage was undisputed. If he had been still alive he would have been one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Maybe with due time he could have replaced one of the Gods of Ishgal."
Naruto's mood dropped. His father. He had never gotten to know him but because of him he had not been killed by a rampaging demon the day he was born. Sacrificing his life he had completely eradicated the demon to save his wife, his son and everyone living in Konoha.
It was a valiant and inspiring effort and he could not hate the man for doing that. The man had done nothing wrong. Naruto could try as much as he wanted but he would never hate the man on the contrary he was thankful that he was alive. He respected the mans strength of mind to go through with such a heavy self-sacrifice. He respected Minato's strength as a mage and somewhere inside of him there was a longing to meet his parents.
Of course he would still rather meet his mother than his father, if he could choose. However he doubted that if he could talk to either of them that they would be proud of him. He was a dark, evil and vile mage. He was a Slayer of hundreds all for his selfish desire for revenge. He had sworn revenge at all cost against Zeref after he had paid the villagers of Konoha back for their heinous ignorance. He had replaced one target for revenge with another one.
"Is something wrong my boy?" the King asked in concern after Naruto had not answered for a while as he had been completely lost in his thoughts
"Just thinking what my father would say if I could ever talk to him." the blonde admitted with a hint of sadness
"I'm sure he would be proud of such an upstanding young boy."
Naruto gave a silent nod but his thoughts were quite different 'I doubt that. I doubt he would be.' the blonde thought before pushing those thoughts away, he could not afford those thoughts. He would go through with his revenge to the very end.
"Last I heard Jose Porla of Phantom Lord was nominated for the empty spot on the Wizard Saints wasn't he?" although his attempt at changing the topic was quite clumsy the King didn't comment on it
"Yes, a ghastly man." Toma said with a grim expression "I met him during his inauguration. He just seemed like a very unpleasant kind of person." the King shuddered as he remembered the meeting, even as a non-mage he was able to feel the mans sickening aura "Minato would have been a much better person for the spot." the man clapped his hands together "Now then I believe we have spent enough time out here in the cold." the Kind turned around and walked towards the large glass door "I wonder what wonderous meals the chefs have prepared today." as the small man stepped through the glass door he could be heard humming a soft tune.
Naruto gave a wry small as he stared down at the illuminated city before his stomach rumbled in hunger. He too turned around and walked away from the balcony towards the dining hall where he planned to enjoy eating the delicacies the chef's would prepare.
'It definitely beats eating a bowl of ramen a day.' he thought with a chuckle
Naruto enjoyed a filling and delicious dinner with Hisui and her father before he went to bed.
The following days he had Hisui keep practicing her durability until the small jade coins could at least withstand one light beam. After three continuous days of practice Hisui had managed to arrive at the level of durability Naruto had demanded of her.
The day after Naruto started her on shaping.
"You have done well so far in getting your constructs as durable as you have." Hisui beamed at his praise "But so far this only holds true for a very small and simple design. In a fight a small coin like that is useless." the green haired princess' confidence was once again dashed "But I have confidence that you will manage to complete this lesson just as well as you have completed the last."
"Hai, sensei." Hisui burned with determination
"Now then, your next lesson is Shaping." the blonde explained and Hisui focused all his attention on him "Shaping refers to the act of molding the created material into a specific shape." to exemplify this he created a small ruby dagger which he promptly shattered into specs of crystal dust "The amount of magic you have to spend depends on the amount of crystal you have to create. The small coin you kept creating used up next to none, which is why even with as little training as you had you could keep creating them again and again all day long. However as your creations become bigger and more complex so will the amount of magic it takes." Hisui absorbed the knowledge her teacher had presented her with " So now I want you to create something different from your coin."
Hisui nodded "Yes, sensei."
The green haired girl held out her hand and she felt her magic flowing into her hand.
She concentrated on the shape she wanted to have. She hardened and crystallized the magic in her hand until small weight burdened her hand. There, on top of her palm, laid a small jade colored marble. It was perfectly round without any edges and it glistened in the sun just like Naruto's ruby marble had when he had demonstrated Crystallize to her.
"The shape is looking good." Naruto confirmed as he looked at the marble in Hisui's hand but when he tried to pick it up it cracked and fell apart into little pieces "It seems like you concentrated too much on getting the shape right and forgot to appropriately set the durability." the blonde analyzed "Try again." he ordered her instantly and Hisui let the jade pieces drop to the floor before concentrating her magic once again.
This time she resolved to get the durability right as well. Once her magic had coalesced and she felt the heavy weight of the jade in her hand she frowned. Instead of a perfectly round marble there was a small piece of jade with many edges in her hand. It very much looked like someone had mined it freshly out of rock.
Naruto smirked at her as his blue eyes twinkled with amusement. He took the object out of her hand and fired one of his light beam at it which it barely managed to withstand. Once Naruto went to pick it up again the object crumbled a sign that it was below the durability of her jade coins.
Hisui gave small sigh "Not enough shaping this time." she commented which got her a "Right you are." from Naruto
She tried it again and again and again but not once did she manage the jade to form a perfect orb, only the many edged slivers.
Eventually Hisui growled in frustration "This is impossible."
"And here I thought you would do better than that. Clearly my faith in you was misplaced." Naruto commented dejectedly hoping it would encourage her to do better
"But Shaping and Hardening at the same time is like trying to look left and right at the same time." Hisui argued in frustration and Naruto shook his head
"No it's actually far from looking left and right at the same time." he said and held up both of his hands "This is more akin to it." he placed his hands over one another and forged another knife. Then he held up just his right hand and forged the same knife again.
"Which of these knifes do you think is better?" Hisui looked confused "Aren't they both the same?" she asked and he shook his head
Naruto held up the knife he had created with both his hands "This one is stronger, more stable." he hit the knifes against eachother and the one he had created with just his right hand got destroyed upon impact, proving that his statement about the knife created by both was stronger.
"Can you guess why this one is stronger?" he asked his student who shook her head "I split the shaping and the crystallization of the magic between my two hands."
"Wouldn't it be easier with both hands? Since you split the process between both?" she inquired and got a smile in return
"You might think it is easier because of that but exactly for that reason it is harder." he replied and Hisui looked truly confused "You see, you have to completely split the process between two hands. There has to be an absolute one hundred percent split between the two processes, if you even one bit mix the two processes again your results will be quite poor." he brought his hands back together "Let me demonstrate." In seconds the magic had gathered and been shaped in Naruto's hands. When he removed them she could see two misshapen marbles, just like her attempts "If you mix the two processes again instead of keeping them seperate you will instead get two inferior results instead of one superior one. That's why the methode of using both hands is something requiring much more mental discipline which makes it mostly unsuited to learning the basics."
Hisui nodded in understanding. If she was already frustrated trying to combine shaping and crystallization with one hand then she would be even more so if she tried it with both. The increased frustration would erode her mental discipline even further which would lead to even worse results. That was probably one reason why she was doing progressively worse.
"Thanks, sensei." she bowed her head to him and took a deep, calming breath before releasing the air that she had accumulated in her langs with an equally big exhale.
She once again activated her magic.
'Shape and harden. Shape and harden.' she repeated the mantra in her head as the magic took form in her hand, slowly the magic hardened into a tangible form. The edges softened until they were completely smoothed out. Once again she held a completely round jade marble in her hand.
"Let's see if this one ended up better." Hisui's blonde teacher picked up the marble and it didn't break apart, a good first sign. The object completely withstood the initial tests of durability. Now came the final test the object had to undergo.
He threw the marble into the air and pointed his palm towards it "Light Beam." the bright beam of energy shot towards the crystal that was falling back down towards the ground.
The beam washed over the crystal putting its durability to the test until it touched the ground with a loud noise. The marble was still intact. Naruto picked it up and unlike the failed attempts it didn't break apart.
"Good job, Hisui." he praised his green haired student
"Thank you, sensei." she responded with a small smile, feeling more confident than before only to be brought back down to earth
"Now get back to doing it again and again to show the it wasn't a fluke." he smirked as she hung her head in defeat
"Yes, sensei." she muttered and went back to practicing her Crystal Make under the watchful eye of her teacher.
Undiclosed Location
The small shine of two torches barely illuminated the dark room and Orochimaru liked it that way. Two unimportant mooks flanked the door to his inner sanctum not that anyone who knew where it was would be stopped by them but he needed the few dark mages that had entered his services and were not strong enough to be considered for any outside operation something to do. Truth be told, after Guren, Tayuya, Sakon, Ukon, Jirobo and Kidomaru had been eliminated his operations had taken a severe hit but since he was so focused on the mage known as Crimson Reaper he didn't even notice the drop in productivity.
Once he had the boy in his grasp all that could be taken care of in record time and he would be one step closer to immortality to boot.
In fact he remembered why the little Reaper had looked so familiar. The boy was the spitting image of Minato Namikaze a good friend of his pesky old friend Jiraiya and a disciple of 'The Professor' Hiruzen Sarutobi, just as Orochimaru himself had been.
The boy had been a force to be reckoned with. His light magic had been not just for show but also because he had been an embodiment of a light mage. Minato had valiantly upheld justice and order. Rarely if ever did he take a humna life and now his son had become one of the most notorious dark mages in the last few years, even if he was thought to be deceased the name still instilled fear in the hearts of many people.
It was a deliciously, delectable irony. A taste worth savoring to the utmost.
"Orochimaru-sama." apparently Kabuto had entered the room while he had been deliberated the irony of a son being almost the opposite of his father
"Did you manage to find the Reaper's current location?" the snake like man hissed in question of his second in command who gave him a smirk in return.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses "Of course, Orochimaru-sama." the grey haired young man responded with utmost confidence "A boy matching his description has been seen in Crocus."
"Crocus." the pale faced dark mage repeated. Crocus was the Capital of Fiore.
Kabuto nodded "Apparently it has been said that he is a guest of the King and has been residing in Mercurius." the 'Ghost Surgeon' elaborated further
"What an interesting boy you are, little Reaper." Orochimaru released a dark chuckle, no mage had ever been allowed to set foot into Mercurius but here young Naruto had managed to do it "Keep an eye on him and inform me should he leave Crocus."
"Of course, Orochimaru-sama." the bespectacled boy responed "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, what of Kimimaro's status?" the amber eyes of the dark mage glinted in the sparsely lit room
"You will find that he is coming along quite well." Kabuto informed his master
Currently in another part of the underground complex the white haired boy known as Kimimaro was training.
"997..." he grunted in exertion "998..." another grunt escaped the young mages lips "999..." he counted with another sound of exhaustion "1000." he said finally, finishing his counting.
The boy pushed himself off, of the ground into a standing position and something clattered to the ground. The light lavender colored, zip up shirt was unzipped and hung loosly over his black pants. The boys upper body was completely drenched in sweat.
"One thousand push ups are satisfactory." he noted without any hint of pride for his achievement. This was made even more impressive by the fact that he apparently had multiple, heavy, iron bars stacked on his back. As evidenced by that fact that a whole lot of them were lying on the ground next to the spot where Kimimaro had done his push ups.
His body was once again in a better shape but all he had done so far was mere physical exercises not once had he exerted his magic after he had overcome his disease.
"Next step. Incorporation of magic." he said almost mechanically and began gathering his magical energy.
"Bone make: Bone spear." a large, white object appeared in front of him. The object had a long white handle and a very sharp tip. The object was shot forward and embedded itself into a nearby wall.
After Kimimaro had used the spell he dropped to one knee "My magic ability is insufficient." he muttered with a frown "I wont be able to serve Orochimaru-sama like that." he forced himself to stand up and gathered his magic once more.
He would not fail Orochimaru, like all the trash that died had. He would serve him without a fault. He would drag the Crimson Reaper in front of his Master's feet.
He. Would. Not. Fail!
-Spell Grimoire-
Crystallization – Molding Magic, Caster Type, Basics
The Crystallization process is the basis of Crystal Make Magic. The Caster gathers his or her magic power in his or her hands and begins compressing and molding it into a solid form.
Hardening – Molding Magic, Caster Type, Basics
Hardening is the process by which a Crystal Make Mage increases the durability of the compressed magic. If this step is forgotten the substance in question will end up being very brittle and break apart at a mere touch. Hardening and Crytallization are part of the same step and usually not differentiated.
Shaping – Molding Magic, Caster Type, Basics
Shaping is the process by which the shape of the crystallized magic is molded into a different shape. Large and complex designs consume more than small and simple disigns.
Crystal Make – Molding Magic, Caster Type
Combining the Crystallization/Hardening and Shaping process the Mage can begin to create and mold their crystalline constructs into any shape or form they can imagine.
Jade Coin – Modling Magic, Caster Type, Supplementary, E-Rank
A Crystal Make spell of the lowest level. The Caster forms a small disk that resembles a coin but doesn't have any monetary worth. It is too small to be used seriously in combat and merely serves as a way of teaching a student the process of Crystallization.
Jade/Ruby Marble – Modling Magic, Caster Type, Offensive, Supplementary D-Rank
These Marbles can serves as projectiles but unless they are thrown with enough force they are unlikely to deal any substantial damage. They can also be used to distract someone.
Otherwise this merely serves to teach the additional step of Shaping.
Ruby Knife – Modling Magic, Caster Type, Offensive D-Rank
A simple knife created with Crystal Make. Does not have any special properties. Useful for stabbing people at short range.
Lightbeam: One/Two/Three/etc. finger – Elemental Magic, Caster Type, Offensive C- -(C Minus Minus) -Rank
A weakened version of the lightbeam. Instead of using the whole palm to gather light magic and shoot it towards the intended target.
One finger holds roughly one fifth of the original spell's strength. Two fourty percent. Three sixty and so forth.
Bone Make: Bone spear – Molding Magic, Caster Type, Offensive B-Rank
The user fires a sharp bone spear at high velocity towards its target. Can also be picked up and used as a regular spear.