Chapter 72 - Arc X: True Form- Chapter 6

Yuji let the girls talk first, hoping to catch up on news. Asuna didn’t have anything new to report (at least, to Yuji), and Azami was much the same. Both girls were walking on eggshells around Yuji. He couldn’t help but smirk, wondering if it was his newfound abilities leaking out, or if they were worried about his emotional collapse. He admittedly hadn’t been in the best of shape the last time he’d seen them.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” he said firmly, not even letting them voice their concerns. “The prophecy thing has me dealing with some stuff, but for the first time, I feel like I can really handle it. But…”

Asuna had a flash of insight.
“You want to know if I can gauge your ability…the way Miko did.”

Yuji nodded slowly. He hadn’t brought it up, not wanting to make Asuna feel inferior as the new Uzume in case she couldn’t. Judging from her reaction, however, she did seem to know how, and was actually waiting for Yuji to ask.

“Three is the perfect number for this. Come with me!”
--

The small temple on the outskirts of the Leaf Village was uninhabited at the moment. It was small, and really closer to a shrine, save for the saiguden (ritual implement storage area), which was almost the same size as the shrine itself.

“We need a few things.”
Asuna rattled off a list. At Yuji’s questioning glance, she shrugged a little and told him that “I haven’t been Uzume for long. The ritual tools make the task easier for me. Miko didn’t have time to pass on everything to me. Usually, there is a training period, but the circumstances…”

Yuji left to collect the tools on the list, while Azami and Asuna changed. Asuna slipped into her Uzume robes, which were a deep black, in contrast to the shrine maiden’s typical outfit, which Azami was donning so she could act as an assistant. Uzume/Asuna’s robes were complimented by a hairpiece that threaded through her ponytail at the base of it. On each side there were symbols. One of the sun, one of the moon, equally balanced. Around her neck was a necklace made of pearls and heisoku rope, with a mirror pendant at the end. In her hand was the Spear of Izanagi.

“What do you need that for?” Azami wondered. The blade was still dinged from Miko’s use of it. It was still a holy relic, but why Asuna needed it now was an interesting question.

Asuna stood upright, looking powerful and nearly omnipotent. Her words seemed to carry more weight and dignity now. She sounded almost ethereal as she spoke. She was both sad and thoughtful, or so the manner of her speech would have indicated.
“Yuji’s power is not yet fully his to control. I need to look inside his mind, to see him at his most powerful and most vulnerable, to see what state of Heaven’s Temper/Ten no Kishootsu he is at. He will need bare all and trust me. Even though I know he will, there is always the chance of danger.’

Yuji returned now, carrying a ceremonial dagger, a pure white cloth that looked like a Furoshiki, and a set of wooden restraints.

“Good. Now, we need to make the symbol markings…Yuji, you need to take off your shirt and sit in the center. Azami, can you make the marks while I prepare the rest?”

Azami gave Yuji a playful once-over. “I don’t know if I can keep my mind…or my hands…off of Yuji there.”

Yuji shrugged, blushing a little, but responding with a solid “I don’t know if you could keep up with me anymore. Besides, you shouldn’t make sexual comments in a temple, right?”

Azami didn’t reply right away. She grinned instead, resisting the urge to hug her friend. Seeing such a hopeless case smile was very refreshing.
“Good to see you out of the dumps for a change.”
-
--

The moment between Naruto and Sakura had passed. For a few fleeting minutes, they were ready to go back to one of their apartments and get as close as physically possible. But, surprisingly enough, it was Naruto who raised the question that derailed that.

“Sakura…are we right about this? I mean…”

Sakura, who had her vest half off from their intense make-out session, really didn’t feel like getting into that right now. But it was clearly important to Naruto. If they were going to understand…no, even just tolerate each other, they needed to listen to each other. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little forlorn as she shifted her pink bra back into place and zipped her vest up.
“About what?”

“Well…us. Why did we fall in love?”

Sakura raised her eyebrows. “Wow…you sure know now to kill a buzz. What the hell are you saying all of a sudden?”

“Why did we fall in love?” Naruto repeated, an urgency in his voice that Sakura had missed before. Clearly this wasn‘t a new line of thought for him.

“Well,” came her exasperated reply, “You’re a boy and I’m a girl, and the natural order of things-”

But he shook his head, holding her at arms length. “That’s not what I meant. I mean…well…are we REALLY in love?”

Sakura couldn’t believe how insensitive and stupid he was being. She did not just let him cop a feel so he could dump her. She’d rip his arms off, if he was lucky. She was about to say so when the words Naruto had been trying to speak spilled out of his mouth.

“What if we’re only in love because of that prophecy?! What if we’re just puppets?! What if this-”
Naruto waved an arm toward the village and all contained within.
“-What if all this is just happening because it was going to, no matter what? Would we have fallen in love, no matter what?”

Sakura had no simple answer. The thought had ticked at her brain for a little while, but she stuffed it back. She decided to give him the answer she had given herself.
“…No one makes you fall in love. The result of our actions becomes the future. Our decisions lead to the future. What happens now is the present, born for the sake of the future. But there is never ‘not’ a choice. There is always an option. I freely chose to fall in love with you.”
She paused, her eyes searching his, her hand reaching for his, but stopping short.
“What about you?”

Naruto didn’t hesitate as he squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Good point.”

Sakura giggled as Naruto’s lips met her neck.
“Thank Yuji. The human fortune cookie gave me that line.”

“We’ve gotta stop hanging around with him. I don’t want to wind up afraid of you!” Naruto added, nibbling happily at Sakura’s ear.

Their night went on without anxiety about their feelings.
--
--

The markings were finished, with Yuji at the center. Azami and Asuna knelt on either side of him, a hand on his shoulders.

“Go to your genjutsu world,” Asuna instructed. “Once there, release your full power, and then allow it to blanket the entire world you created for yourself.”

Yuji instinctively knew how to do all that, so he nodded and closed his eyes, making the focusing hand sign at his chest. The markings began to squirm like snakes, crawling all over him, leaving a cool trail as they moved.

Soon, he slipped into his genjutsu world.
-

He was standing in his big, empty field. In the distance there were the remains of the prison that had held his ‘other’ self.

Azami and Asuna were ready for him to release his power almost right away. Asuna drew a ward of protection, while Azami cast a barrier jutsu. At their signal, Yuji pulled out the curse bindings at his ki point.

A mix of black and red wound around each other as it burst into the endless sky above, reaching it’s zenith in seconds, then exploding outward in a haze of red and black fire. Small fireballs fell down to the ground, looking like hailstones of red, outlined with black.

“His ‘Heaven’s Temper’ chakra and his regular chakra have successfully bonded,” Asuna/Uzume noted, examining one of the small fireballs. “The black outline is his original chakra. The darker red layer in between the black and lighter red is his chakra color from birth. His emotional turmoil changed his chakra’s color, but not it’s nature. Finally, the lighter red…that is the ‘Ten no Kishootsu’ chakra. And it’s almost fully developed.”

Azami looked at that for a moment, but was distracted by Yuji. She was speechless, and could only get Asuna/Uzume’s attention by slapping her shoulder.

Yuji was suspended a foot or so above the ground, floating with his arms at his sides and his body bent slightly back. But his appearance was changing. A red glow cascaded around him, enveloping him with power. His tattoo pulsed with the same power, glowing red within the black lines that made it up. His hair also cooled to a deep obsidian to match his newly re-colored eyes.

His feet gently touched the ground, though he still seemed to move smoothly as if floating across the ground.

“It’s…odd. Different. But good,” Yuji murmured, looking at his hands as if not believing his own power. “So much energy and power…But I can still feel my original chakra…”

Asuna held out the Spear of Izanagi in front of her, as if in a guard position. It seemed to resonate with Yuji’s power, shaking in Asuna/Uzume’s hand. She let the weapon go; it streaked toward Yuji, floating above his head. Asuna held her hands together in a handsign, but not one Yuji recognized. She seemed to be chanting something to herself. She stopped, then raised a single hand.

“Art of the Spiritual Compass!”

Above Yuji, the black markings from his ‘real’ body began to swirl and twist, until they formed a circle. The Spear of Izanagi reacted, rotating itself until it pointed North-East.

“Perfect north is your ‘Tenshin’- ‘True Heaven’…you’re close, Yuji. Close to the perfect version of your power. Now we need to remove the final restraint…”

The compass disappeared, and the spear of Izanagi returned to Asuna’s hand, as if drawn there magically.

“Azami, if you’ll do what we discussed…”

Azami held out a long, beaded necklace. She began to shake the beads in a slow rhythm. Asuna reacted by radiating a chakra that was almost white. Her voice took on a beautiful, ethereal quality, and sounded as though she spoke through a filter, with an echo effect added.

“For this to work, Yuji, you need to trust me completely. Can you do that?”

Yuji held out his arms. “No need to ask. What is it I need to do, Lady Uzume?”

She cocked her head, moving toward him, her chakra shrouding her. It seemed as if she was here, where she could see Yuji, but where he could not touch her. The sunny environment and the gleam off the ground didn’t affect her.
“Yuji, I need to place you in the restraints.”

“But…they’re in the ‘real’ world, aren’t they?”

Asuna smiled peacefully; knowingly. “Lady Uzume. That is, the Third Lady Uzume, my predecessor, did not explain everything to you. With your abilities this close to ‘Shin Ten’, you may summon items and animals into genjutsu. That is an ability unique to you- the second ‘Ten no Kishootsu’.”

Azami nearly broke the rhythm of the beads at that bit of surprising news.
‘Second’?
Then…
Who was the first?

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment