In N-dimensional space, a certain god of mischief watched a certain timeline peter out without producing anything of interest.
Disappointment, after a few universes met heat death you sort of got used to not every scheme panning out, even if the only thing you were after was amusement.
"Hmm, not enough," Toltiir noted, just after Naruto had died for the umpteenth time without ever really calling the Sword of Mercy fully into being. Once against Zabuza when he'd manifested a nonmagical version of the Sword of Love instead of the clever gambit of having a clone of himself thrown as a windmill shuriken to distract the bad guy and free Kakashi. Then, if he caused that not to happen, most of the time the boy's trainers completely ignored the possibility of manifesting Woundhealer.
You can't miss what you've never known. So even when he had someone train him to use his Weapon Master gift, they mostly focused on what they knew: more kunai.
It was depressingly un-fun and un-funny, so Toltiir rewound that particular timeline from watching is many branches end, mostly in deaths to Akatsuki, but one particularly gory one had Sasuke force an imprisoned Naruto to act as a gladiator, using his gift for copying the skills of a wielder with their weapons as a sort of training dummy for the Sharingan user, copying the skills of ancient and revered masters by getting Naruto to duplicate their weapons.
Well, that was disappointing. Especially since Woundhealer would have been a bit of a game-changer if the kid ever got to the point where he could've pulled it out. Considering the possible psychological effects on just about any of the major ninja, or anyone else with traumas/phobias/mental problems in the timeline, Woundhealer, intelligently applied, was probably the most powerful sword given the circumstances.
But it wasn't any fun if they wouldn't use it.
Perhaps just a bit more meddling.
Naruto slowly rose to a seated position. "Owie."
"What was that you just said?" asked Sakura. "If it was a poem, it wasn't a very good one."
"What was what I just said?" asked Naruto, before locking up in information overload as he Saw and came to Know another sword crafted by a god of the forge, made of meteoric steel, hammered on a forge of star-stuff and quenched in blood and life and death.
The sword's basic material construction was the same, only differing in a single marking, that of a wedge driving into a block engraved in white on its hilt. The comprehension of that sword's Power was once more overwhelming to Naruto, as he Knew and Understood that sword Stonecutter was highly specialized, able to carve any stone of whatever thickness or density as easily as soft butter.
Unwittingly, he blurted out:
"The Sword of Siege struck a hammer's blow
With a crash, and a smash, and a tumbled wall.
Stonecutter laid a castle low
With a groan, and a roar, and a tower's fall".
"Still not a very good poem," Sakura shook her head.
"Hmm," Toltiir considered. One part of his mind toying with the possibility of upgrading Sakura's bloodline to sort of a Midas Touch, so that anything her flesh contacted would turn pink, the same color as her hair.
The point of introducing Stonecutter was not so much for the sake of the Sword of Siege, though it did have possibilities, especially against Gaara - not that Naruto needed help against him, as he usually befriended him anyway. No, its uses against earth jutsu aside, Stonecutter just wasn't very interesting in this environment, the point was to get Naruto to copy another sword in hopes of improving his ability to comprehend Woundhealer from having Seen another very much like it.
This would mean less training required to bring out either one, and hopefully some ninja would be more interested in the possibilities if presented with more options.
It did not pan out that way, however. Results from that timeline were almost no different that the first minor tweaking.
"Okay, ninja want their pointy bits." Toltiir idly turned a few laws inside out in a Full Metal Panic universe so that Love really did conquer all.
"So, one more sword," the elder god concluded, about to lose interest in this little project that so far had failed to be amusing. "One of the combat ones, so hopefully he'll use it this time."
"Dragonslicer? Could be amusing to make it only combat Sharingan users instead. Powerful against certain key enemies, yet funny to watch him fighting to restrain it from carving up his teammates. No, on second thought they'd never let him learn to manifest it once they'd heard of that disadvantage.
"Farslayer could be a trump card. Ability to manifest it, only for it to fade away after a hit, takes away its worst weakness. However it's too good, and would either turn out boring, or he'd get mind-controlled into being someone's assassination toy.
"Mindsword? The village would make him Hokage the instant he manifested it, and while the image of an orange-dressed, ramen-obsessed village of ninja is amusing, every enemy ninja who drew near the place would be sucked in to join the collective," and that got dull fast.
"Townsaver?" Toltiir almost selected this one at once, as it fit the kid's ambition so perfectly the drive for him to wield it would almost certainly bring it, and by extension Woundhealer, into play fairly quickly. When drawn in defense of unarmed people in a fixed position it was not an overstatement to say that Townsaver could singlehandedly defeat an entire army.
However, the Sword of Fury made survival of its wielder no priority at all, and drawing it was almost certainly a fatal decision as it could and would use the wielder's body to deflect and absorb attacks if that would result in the protection of the people it was trying to defend.
Could be done if dual-wielded along with Woundhealer. But that was asking a lot of the lad when he had yet to successfully manifest any sword in any variation of this timeline thus far.
Actually, given that the worst restriction Naruto faced was manifesting any sword at all, and holding it for even a few seconds at full, untarnished power would be at the limit of the kid's skill for years, it made sense to grant him one of the ones that would ordinarily be overpowered.
"Doomgiver it is," the elder god chuckled, then settled in to watch with a bowl of popcorn shaped like tiny chicken heads. "And a freebie activation the first time or two he is in danger."
"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked laconically after the boy's second fit, although carefully noting inside the lines about this 'sword of siege'.
Anything that threatened castles, or tumbled walls, was of interest to a jonin of a village who used such a defense.
"Eh?" Naruto sat up even more slowly this time, rubbing his head. He glanced up at his sensei before freezing again, locked up as he Saw and Comprehended another sword's Power.
"The Sword of Justice balances the pans
Of right and wrong, and foul and fair.
Eye for an eye, Doomgiver scans
The fate of all folk everywhere".
The team was silent for a moment.
"Is that it? Or are you going to have another seizure now?" Kakashi spoke indifferently as he read his book, carefully making notes on a piece of paper to send back to the village.
"Still not a good poem," Sakura objected over her folded arms. "I think you should give up trying, as you'll never be as good as Sasuke." The sudden image of Sasuke reciting poems to her locked up the kunoichi's mind as strongly as comprehending the true and complete nature of a Sword of Power had done to Naruto.
Sasuke shivered involuntarily in response.
"Just kill me now," Naruto groaned, lying on his sick bed, covering his eyes so he didn't have to See any more swords suddenly imprinted over the inside of the shrine.
Rin was running hands covered in green medical chakra over his head. "Well, he burst a few blood vessels, but he'll be alright. You may want a medic along to take care of him over the next few days, however."
Satisfied Naruto wasn't going to lock up on another overload any time soon, Kakashi leaned back against a wall and resumed reading. "Any hints about what that last one meant?"
"Doomgiver," Naruto recited almost involuntarily, his impression of the nature of that sword rebounding within him so powerfully it was almost as though the words echoed out through his vocal chords. "It turns any attack directed toward it or its wielder back to the source."
Kakashi's gaze suddenly sharpened to what would almost be a frightening intensity had anyone noticed. Instead he slouched to his feet and began walking towards the entrance, first summoning a ninja dog to take his note on what happened back to Konoha, then out into the sun. "Come along. The mission won't wait all day."
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Sapphire Cat
(Posted Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:38)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.