ValeronWriter
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Chapter 95
🕑 Added 2025-03-27 03:06:50 +0000 UTCSo now I was walking through the forest that lead to the Uzumaki Mask Shrine with my escort.
Anko of all people, I was curious about who was going to be sent, but maybe I should have expected this, The Order was responsible for killing Orochimaru after all.
But contrary to my expectations, she didn't start off with pestering me about Orochimaru's death.
When she was in Ayumu's field of vision, she put on a serious face.
But with my 360 divine sight, I saw that she opened her mouth to start talking like 3 times at this point.
As far as I could tell, she seemed conflicted on how to approach the subject.
Someone impulsively volunteered and was now struggling with the parts that weren't thought out, I'm sure we've all been there.
Eventually, she steeled herself.
"So, did you participate in the war?" She asked simply, her tone carefully casual.
"Nah, I'm not a fighter." I answered idly. "I was keeping an eye on the whole thing, but I wasn't directly involved."
"Ya didn't use the whole teleporting thing to move your guys into position?" She sounded slightly offended at the thought of me not using my 'ability' effectively enough.
"The Watcher did that, so there was no need for the great 'Saint Ayumu' to do anything." I said, which caused her to stop talking for a bit.
That was one of the problems with Shinobi, way too focused on the hidden meanings and trying to figure out what you were saying between the lines.
"Just ask, you don't need to dance around it." I said eventually, taking pity on her. "All the details are old news by this point, so they aren't a secret."
"I don't believe he just died from having his heads cut off, How did he actually die?" Anko asked immediately, her tone slightly sadistic.
"Incinerated, he left the main body as a distraction, the one we gave to Konoha, and was caught by a Star-Eater, there was nothing left."
She frowned at that, but didn't say anything else.
"Star-Eater, huh? Those are those big crow wolf things, right?" She asked after a few moments of silence.
"Yeah." I confirmed simply. "All of them can breathe fire, either in a beam or wide arc."
You know, I straight up told her that she could ask about everything, but she was still hesitating.
"I said you could just ask, if you insist on wasting time, then I will get annoyed." My voice was still casual, but I was about to enter my Petty Mode if she kept trying to weasel out information when I offered it freely.
And sure enough, the blunt approach got results.
"A bit before the Kirigakure Invasion, my seal stopped hurting." Anko revealed hesitantly. "No twinges of pain, no constant focus to old it back, it just went passive."
Anko watched me expectantly, clearly wanting an answer, she had probably been waiting for a year or more to get this question answered.
"Like I said, he's dead." I stated. "And the Watcher didn't want him avoiding his punishment, so every remnant of his soul that he had lying was erased from existence."
There was silence again, this start and stop conversation was a bit annoying, but this was important to her, so I let her take her time.
"So that's it... what a shitty end." She muttered eventually.
But her voice wasn't filled with melancholy or sadness.
She was satisfied.
"You know, if you wanted to you could use the Cursed Seal now, it is free from Orochimaru's influence, so it's just a big ball of snake flavored Nature Chakra, you would not be on the level of a real Sage, but it would put you firmly on the level of a strong Jōnin."
She didn't answer with words, instead, she just hummed in thought.
***
We reached the temple, I honestly expected some sort of presence, emanating ominously out from the Shrine, but there was nothing like that.
"Well, there it is, let's see what secrets are waiting for us inside!" I said cheerfully, walking into the entrance.
Anko followed closely behind me, I saw her tense up, ready for danger.
But I ignored her, instead, walking towards the wall of masks, one was interesting, because while the others lacked any Divinity or any kind of energy, this one was fully empty, not even a hint of the Nature Chakra that permeated everything in this world.
I picked up the mask, examining it.
I still didn't want to just dump DP into it to figure out its secrets, so I did the thing I always do when faced with an unknown.
Fuck around.
I put it on my face.
And immediately, the facade of it just being a normal mask dissolved.
The air turned cold, and the sound of heavy breathing filled my ears.
Anko was already standing defensively in a corner of the room.
I turned around, already knowing what I was going to see.
There he was, floating ominously in the middle of the room, his face stuck into a wide smile.
"You know, it's kinda rude to sneak up on someone like that." My voice sounded echoey and strange. "Hello, Shinigami."
He didn't respond, simply staring at me.
"Ah, the silent type, I get it." I continued. "Well then, I am just here to pay my respects and introduce myself."
No response.
And for a moment, I wondered if he wasn't actually sentient, just a technique, but I saw something interesting, unnoticeably to a human eye, his eye was twitching into Anko's direction.
Hmmmm, now this was a mystery, what the fuck is the Shinigami?
"Fakegodsayswhat?" I suddenly said, causing Anko to look at me with bewilderment clear in her eyes.
"Damn, nothing." I muttered disappointedly.
Well, looks like the polite way was a no-go.
I gathered some DP, a small amount, and slowly reached with it into the Shinigami's form.
And I was promptly and rudely interrupted by a tanto cutting off Ayumu's head faster than a person could blink.
Almost as fast, the Shinigami dashed towards Anko and swung down at her.
I restrained the Shinigami, freezing his physical body in place, the Ayumu body walking over towards his head while Anko stared at the tanto that almost impaled her.
I picked up the head, and placed it on my neck, the flesh melded together.
But the Shinigami was growing stronger, or rather, the rate it was using Divine Power to break out of its restraints was increasing.
"Anko?" I called out, she looked at me. "Leave, this will not be a fight you can participate in."
She hesitated, but with a body flicker, she disappeared from the Shrine.
The Shinigami's face was impassive, still stuck in the same expression.
The sky turned dark, stars spread all across the once clear blue sky.
Something moved behind them.
"Now... what are you?"
Comments
Moustafa Al_taweel
Complete 💯✅
Romero
That, makes a lot of sense actually. I figured there was a time skip, just didn't know how long it was. Also, Thanks for the chapter!
Valeron
Small notice, I accidentally cut off the 'A YEAR AND A HALF LATER' from the last chapter, this and the last chapter take place after a timeskip.
