Sword and Shield [Prologue: Sweet Dream]
Title: Sword and Shield
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 14+
Warnings For This Chapter: Character Death (minor spoilers), a blood-based Bloodline Limit.
Notes: The descriptions in this one are more technical than they generally will be in future chapters, due to the subject matter
Mamiya took a step back to admire the great stone arch she and Asuka had just conjured in the middle of the clearing. Yes, this would do very nicely. A jutsu of this magnitude needed an appropriate focus, after all. She brushed the sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve. "Looks good."
Asuka frowned. "It could be prettier."
"It doesn't need to be pretty as long as it gets the job done," Ichirou said, walking over to it with a tape measure, a large ruler, and a string with an iron stake on each end. He measured out and marked on the ground where the exact centre was, then drove one stake straight down into the point with his foot. He shortened the string to the appropriate length with a knot on the bight, and then used the second stake to carve a perfect circle into the flattened ground, just big enough to touch the inside edges of the arch's sides. Then, he shortened the string again, measured it, undid the knot, tied it again, measured it again, and, this time satisfied, made a smaller, concentric circle, three-fourths the diameter of the first one. He removed the stake in the ground, drew lines to split the inner circle into fourths, and then began carefully carving out a different delicate pattern of curves in each quadrant. Once that painstaking work was done, he left the circle and rest against one of the trees. Akiko hurried over to offer him a canteen, and he drank greedily from it.
"The next part's going to be the trickiest," Emi said, wringing her hands.
"Don't worry," Ryou said, and gave her a dazzling grin. "The conditions you came up with are ironclad. All I have to do is write them, right, Ichirou?"
"That's right," Ichirou said. "Just be careful not to step on any of the lines."
Ryou nodded, and, facing the circle, performed a genjutsu on himself. He could now see a perfect Archemedian spiral going through the outer circle until it reached the inner one, and, written clearly along it starting from the outer edge, the exact conditions that Emi had written. All that was left was to trace the writing, and he began to do so, working backwards and upside-down from the end to avoid hemming himself in and potentially disrupting any of his own or Ichirou's work.
Make a door to a world such as shall be described herein: A world inhabitable by humans. A world that is rich and bountiful. A world that speaks the same tongue we do. A world whose native peoples cannot use chakra. A world where power can conquer all. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close.
It had taken him hours, but, finally, Ryou's work was done. He formed a hand seal and released the genjutsu, returning his vision to normal. "Akiko, Kazuo, it's ready."
The siblings nodded in unison, and Ryou moved away from the circle so they could do their work. They stood side by side, Akiko's left hand and Kazuo's right meeting between them, palms facing and fingers intertwined. Kazuo's hand all but engulfed his younger sister's. Chakra began to flow freely between them, and they activated their bloodline limit.
A thin trail of blood pulled itself out of each of their mouths, moving like something solid and alive. The trails met in the air, and then branched off in opposite directions, quickly forming another circle a few feet above the other one and brushing up against the stone without staining it. Once the circle was complete, lines of blood began branching inward, inscribing a regular heptagon within the circle, followed by both types of regular heptagram, one after the other. At each point, a smaller circle began to radiate out until they were large enough that even one of Ichirou's hands could fit inside it comfortably. The secondary seal circle complete, Akiko squeezed her brother's hand slightly and they started to carefully lower it down. The blood soaked into the ground, and the two lines still connecting it to Kazuo and Akiko's mouths detached and slithered back into their throats. Almost immediately, the blood in the ground began to turn brown, and then black, and the ground began to harden.
"It's done," Kazuo said. He and Akiko exchanged a grin.
"We're gonna be kings and queens!" Akiko cheered as she skipped over to one of the circled points. She crouched down and put her right hand on it. Kazuo, much more calmly, walked over to the one adjacent to her and followed suit. Mamiya, Ichirou, Ryou, Emi, and Asuka each found a point and did the same.
"On my count," Mamiya said. "One. . . two. . . three!"
"Kinjutsu: Seikai no Hashi!" Seven voices rang out through the trees for the last time.
Series: Naruto and Hunter x Hunter crossover
Pairing: Eventual Sasuke/Kurapika
Rating: 18+ overall; this chapter 14+
Warnings For This Chapter: Character Death (minor spoilers), a blood-based Bloodline Limit.
Notes: The descriptions in this one are more technical than they generally will be in future chapters, due to the subject matter
Mamiya took a step back to admire the great stone arch she and Asuka had just conjured in the middle of the clearing. Yes, this would do very nicely. A jutsu of this magnitude needed an appropriate focus, after all. She brushed the sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve. "Looks good."
Asuka frowned. "It could be prettier."
"It doesn't need to be pretty as long as it gets the job done," Ichirou said, walking over to it with a tape measure, a large ruler, and a string with an iron stake on each end. He measured out and marked on the ground where the exact centre was, then drove one stake straight down into the point with his foot. He shortened the string to the appropriate length with a knot on the bight, and then used the second stake to carve a perfect circle into the flattened ground, just big enough to touch the inside edges of the arch's sides. Then, he shortened the string again, measured it, undid the knot, tied it again, measured it again, and, this time satisfied, made a smaller, concentric circle, three-fourths the diameter of the first one. He removed the stake in the ground, drew lines to split the inner circle into fourths, and then began carefully carving out a different delicate pattern of curves in each quadrant. Once that painstaking work was done, he left the circle and rest against one of the trees. Akiko hurried over to offer him a canteen, and he drank greedily from it.
"The next part's going to be the trickiest," Emi said, wringing her hands.
"Don't worry," Ryou said, and gave her a dazzling grin. "The conditions you came up with are ironclad. All I have to do is write them, right, Ichirou?"
"That's right," Ichirou said. "Just be careful not to step on any of the lines."
Ryou nodded, and, facing the circle, performed a genjutsu on himself. He could now see a perfect Archemedian spiral going through the outer circle until it reached the inner one, and, written clearly along it starting from the outer edge, the exact conditions that Emi had written. All that was left was to trace the writing, and he began to do so, working backwards and upside-down from the end to avoid hemming himself in and potentially disrupting any of his own or Ichirou's work.
Make a door to a world such as shall be described herein: A world inhabitable by humans. A world that is rich and bountiful. A world that speaks the same tongue we do. A world whose native peoples cannot use chakra. A world where power can conquer all. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close. Make the door, open the door, and let it never close.
It had taken him hours, but, finally, Ryou's work was done. He formed a hand seal and released the genjutsu, returning his vision to normal. "Akiko, Kazuo, it's ready."
The siblings nodded in unison, and Ryou moved away from the circle so they could do their work. They stood side by side, Akiko's left hand and Kazuo's right meeting between them, palms facing and fingers intertwined. Kazuo's hand all but engulfed his younger sister's. Chakra began to flow freely between them, and they activated their bloodline limit.
A thin trail of blood pulled itself out of each of their mouths, moving like something solid and alive. The trails met in the air, and then branched off in opposite directions, quickly forming another circle a few feet above the other one and brushing up against the stone without staining it. Once the circle was complete, lines of blood began branching inward, inscribing a regular heptagon within the circle, followed by both types of regular heptagram, one after the other. At each point, a smaller circle began to radiate out until they were large enough that even one of Ichirou's hands could fit inside it comfortably. The secondary seal circle complete, Akiko squeezed her brother's hand slightly and they started to carefully lower it down. The blood soaked into the ground, and the two lines still connecting it to Kazuo and Akiko's mouths detached and slithered back into their throats. Almost immediately, the blood in the ground began to turn brown, and then black, and the ground began to harden.
"It's done," Kazuo said. He and Akiko exchanged a grin.
"We're gonna be kings and queens!" Akiko cheered as she skipped over to one of the circled points. She crouched down and put her right hand on it. Kazuo, much more calmly, walked over to the one adjacent to her and followed suit. Mamiya, Ichirou, Ryou, Emi, and Asuka each found a point and did the same.
"On my count," Mamiya said. "One. . . two. . . three!"
"Kinjutsu: Seikai no Hashi!" Seven voices rang out through the trees for the last time.