Magnus: Here goes another chapter, hold on a little more, the Chunin exams are about to begin, just remember, Read and Review!
Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto or anything you believe is being mentioned in this fanfic, Reiko Zonbolt, Arshi Uzumaki and Yukina Hyuga belongs to Kage Bijuu, the Harvesters are co-owned by Kage Bijuu and me, the other OCs belong to me
Chapter 32
Ascension
It was a normal day at Konoha, or at least as normal as it has become to be, with colossal short rantings from the Academy of Alchemy, with screams of pain from the hospital, the Hokage smoking some weird herbs, and inside the Znbolt compound, Sasuke was evasdropping on someone else conversation, one that was extremely interesting to him
"Ok, let me see if I got this right, Shizune, your true name is Idun, and you are a Goddess?", Tsunade asked
"Yes, my true name is Idun, and I'm the Goddess that guards the Golden Apples of Life", Shizune replied
"And these apples grants eternal youth and near immortality to those who eats them?", Tsunade asked again
"Yes they do, and they are only for the Aesir and those we choose as dign enough to ascend to be one of us", Shizune said, while walking to be behind Lee
"Why didn't you tell me this before?", Tsunade demanded
"Because, while I'm a Goddess, I'm the weakest of our kin, and I couldn't risk you to try to steal the apples just for your benefit, it's nothing personal, but humans have a long history of greed", Shizune replied, making sure that Lee was well positioned as a shield
"Then why you tell me now?", Tsunade asked, she was eye twitching now
"Because unlike me, my older brother here can defend me against anything you or anyone else can try!", Shizune replied, giggling like a little girl
"And this overmuscled kid here is your older brother...", Tsunade stated more than asking
"Yes, I'm Tyr, The God of War, and strongest of the Aesir", Lee replied proudly
"Powerful, the most powerful, second only to Father Odin, because Thor was the strongest", Shizune corrected
"THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE HE HAD HIS HAMMER!, BASICALLY HIS STRENGTH WAS ONLY BASED ON HIS HAMMER, WHAT KIND OF GOD PUTS ALL HIS FAITH ON A HAMMER TO FIGHT HIS BATTLES?!", Lee shouted, Tsunade immediately understood that there was some discomfort between this family of gods
"WAIT A SECOND!!!, what do you mean 'was'?, what happened to that hammer head?", Lee asked, and everyone perked at this
"He is dead...", Shizune replied, this time with pain in her voice
"WHAT?!", Lee shouted
"I'm sorry uncle, but I was so happy to see you again, that I failed to tell you the worst parts of what happened since you sacrificed your life to give us an oportunity...", Thrud interjected
"I see... what about Heimdal?", Lee asked now, getting ready for the worst
"He died too, gave his life for us, he was accepted into Valhalla", Shizune replied, and then Lee decided to ask something more wide
"How many... of us are left?", Lee asked
"Only us and the Valkyries...", Shizune replied, and Lee fel to his knees, this was far worst than he imagined... without kingdom... without his father... and for the first time since his awakening, Lee, The God of War, cried
Meanwhile, at the Academy of Alchemy...
"Ok, there has been some time since you started, and as expected, near no one has been able to make any progress!", Ed stated in an annoyed expression, and every student gave sounds of depressed defeat, all of them dressed with red coats with the Flammel symbol on their backs
"But don't worry, this science is very hard to learn, and very slow progression is expected", Al interjected, and most of the students showed revitalized faces
"This is nothing but a charade!", one of the ANBU yelled
"What do you mean?", Ed asked calmly
"You are obviously giving special training to the ones that are making progress, there is no way that an ANBU will be surpassed by mere children and civilians!", the masked ANBU shouted angrily
"Now, let's some of the students explain this, because, nobody here has gotten any different education than the rest, now, Konohamaru, can you say something about this?", Al asked with a sweet smile, he, as well as Ed, were expecting this kind of reaction sooner or later
"Errr... at the start of the course, you explained that the younger we are, the easier for us to learn, that can be reversed too, so, the older we are, is harder for us to learn the secrets of Alchemy", Konohamaru stated, a little nervously, getting glares from the ANBU
"Good, Hanabi, can you further explain?", Ed asked to the Hyuga heir, who gave a nod
"Alchemy requires the user to use his or her imagination to guide the natural energies that bounds the mater into it's original form, to transform into another form for that mater, we children have a more liberal access to our imagination than adults, for hence, is easier for us to manipulate the energies that form the basis of the Alchemy", Hanabi explained
"Yet some kids have more imagination than others", Konohamaru added, and Hanabi jumped at him immediately, with a fury that resulted funny to watch
"KONO-KONO!, DON'T DARE SAY YOU ARE SUPERIOR TO ME!, NEVER!!!", Hanabi shouted while pinching Konohamaru's cheeks
"While that could sound believable, what about the civilians, they have activated the transmutation circles already, even when they hasn't been able to create anything yet, but we can't activate the circles!", The ANBU complained again, this time there wasn't any need to ask to the civilians for a reply, for Shiezka Haruno raised her hand, asking for the chance to reply, thing that Al welcomed
"There is a big difference between civilians and trained shinobies, shinobies are proficient on manipulating chakra, the natural energy of the body, by manipulating it, the natural forces that the Alchemy is based upon, find resistance in their flow thru the body of the shinobi, for hence, is even harder for a trained shinobi to use Alchemy than for a civilian, who is not trained to manipulate chakra, so, by learn to manipulate one of the energies, the other one becomes harder to use", Shiezka explained, and Al nodded to her explanation
"Wouldn't it be easier to say that once you learn one, the other becomes near impossible to use?", Winry Yamanaka interjected, and Shiezka face faulted, and this made Ed laugh, and the ANBU frowned, though nobody saw it due to the mask
At the park...
Two good friends and teammates were currently sat on a bench, one was smiling, taking in all the beautiful sights, the other was fighting to prevent his tears to come out, the first will ask out a beautiful girl this night, for a romantic dinner under the moonlight, the second, will lose the girl he had a crush on, for she expressed that this night she'll become a woman under the manly embrace of her love, which was not him
"Life is unfair and horrible...", Matsukaze muttered, and regretted doing so immediately, for his friend has the best hearing of the village, and perhaps the world
"What are you talking about?, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!, just because you lost one battle of love, it doesn't mean that you'll never get a wonderful girl that will love you for what you are!", Naraku said to his friend
"BUT SHE WAS THE PERFECT ONE FOR ME!", Matsukaze yelled
"Don't yell at me, I'm blind, not deaf, and maybe that's true, she was perfect for you, but were you perfect for her?", Naraku asked, and knowing were this will end, he decided to perk his ears to find something to distract his friend from his misery
"Naraku... I know I'm not perfect, but, really, is that chakra retard that perfect?, I mean, he only yells weird things about being the God of War and his glorious battles, what does he have that I don't, what does he have that Reiko can't tear apart her eyes from him, even when they are not together?", Matsukaze asked, sounding even more depressed
"You mean, besides him being far more stronger, bigger, and boisterous than you?", Naraku asked rhetorically
"And scarier", Matsukaze added, smirking
"And how am I supposed to know that?, I'm blind for God sake!", Naraku replied
"Ok, so, who sounds scarier, Lee or I?", Matsukaze asked now, suppressing a laugh
"OH!, that's easy!, you may sound like a macho, but he is truly scary!", Naraku replied, and then both laughed, suddenly, Naraku's ears perked out, he just detected a victim
"Hey, Macho-man, come with me, I heard a lonely girl!", Naraku suddenly said, and then went into a seemingly random direction
"What?, how do you do that?", Matsukaze asked, while following his blind friend, long time ago they decided, that Naraku will be always the brain of the team, soon they reached their target...
"Ah!, such a lonely night, and I desire the firm and warm arms of a well made man!", Sakura whispered to the wind, the words of her mentor still fresh on her mind and heart
"Sakura, I won't turn you down, but, please, do this for me, think about all your other options, look at the rest of the boys, and make sure there is no other one for you out there, weight in your heart your options, and if at the end I'm the one, then I'll gladly be yours"
'Doc... Dr. Marcus... Marcus-kun... you are so perfect that you want me to see for my own eyes that there is no other better than you, you are so wonderful!', Sakura thought in delight
'CHA!, just don't become a fangirl!, no one likes fangirls!, you must show him that you are capable of hold our own ground if the need arises!', Inner Sakura added, ready to offer as much advise as possible
"Pretty lady, why are you walking alone in a beautiful day like this?", Matsukaze asked, appearing suddenly at Sakura's side, this startled this, but the shock was short lived, shock that was replaced for a laugh
"Wow, nice try!, come out Naraku!, I know your are there!", Sakura shouted to the bushes, from where Naraku's head popped out
"How did you figured it out?", Naraku asked, and Matsukaze raised an eyebrow, for he was confused too
"Because bravado boys don't use that kind of approach", Sakura sweetly replied, this was the perfect chance of testing grounds, and solidify her choice of man
"Ok, let me rephrase it: Why are you here alone when you could be with me?", Matsukaze asked, on his usual manly pose, and Naraku face facefaulted
"Now, that's having no tact at all...", Naraku muttered
"See, that's more natural, you being a macho-man, and Naraku being all sweet and a gentleman, as for your question, I like to walk alone from time to time, it helps me to think clearly", Sakura stated, and the boys nodded, soon, they joined her on the walking
"It seems you have matured a lot, is the new doctor that good?, and I mean in the professional side, nothing dirty or with double meaning!", Naraku asked, with a smile that said that he was being truthful
"Yeah, you look like a different person, unlike the unworthy fangirl we saw some time ago", Matsukaze added, and Naraku felt the need to hit him on the head for such comment, yet, Sakura laughed
"Thank you for noticing it!, yes, I've matured, and I've changed my views, and yes, Doc is a wonderful teacher who not only has taught me the secrets of his art, but also has taught me several lessons about life itself", Sakura explained, and soon, the three were engaged in a nice conversation
Zonbolt compound, later that night...
The ceremony was ready, today two mortals, Midgardians, will ascend to become part of the Gods, to join the ranks of the Aesir, one God will confirm is rank too, and a Valkyrie will be granted greater power, there were more humans though, but these were well secured, so none of them would cause problems
"Your behaviour is unforgivable, the Hokage will learn about this", Tsunade reprimand the two shinobies that were at her care, she was more angry at the fact that she won't be able to see the ritual of ascension, just because someone needed to keep an eye on the last Uchiha and his mentor
"You should let me in, so I can steal the immortality, old witch", Sasuke muttered, too late he realized how loud he muttered it, fr Tsunade punched him away, with enough force to make him land on the main gate of the village
"Stupid brat!", Tsunade yelled, in anger, and Kakashi decided that running to check the health of his student was a really good idea right now
'Why Sasuke, why did you had to insult Tsunade-sama?', Kakashi thought
Meanwhile, in a dark room...
Ankiseth was looking into a mirror, as if enjoying his reflection, grinning so madly that it was a fact that some demons and angels died of sheer terror, he soon got closer to the surface of the poor mirror, and if anyone could been seeing this, would have sworn that the mirror was shivering, then Ankiseth exhaled on it's surface, and on the foggy surface, he wrote something, while spelling his doing
"42 – 42 – 564"
Ankiseth said, the surface of the mirror shined, and soon the image of a dark cloaked figure appeared, his face was covered with a bone-like mask
"Who is calling at this hour... oh... it's you... I guess this can't wait another hundred years...", the figure said with a funky paused voice, and Ankiseth started to snicker, thing that unnerved the figure at the other side of the mirror...
Magnus: Well, I hope you find the situations interesting enough, also I wonder if you recognized the number at the end... well, see ya in next chapter!