Chapitre 61: Chapter 61 Awaken
Their ship set sail across the crystal blue waters toward the horizon. It was a simple ship with massive red sails and a crew of humanoid beings. Some were human others bizarre hybrids of various beasts, whether it be mice, crow, or frog, the variation was random. Naruto and his team stood at the front of the ship to watch as the horizon got closer. Soon they would sail up the horizon into the sky and arrive at the cloud city of Serannian. The city frozen in time Celephais never fully disappeared as behind them, almost as if the world they lived on had no true horizon other than one that linked the sea to the sky. For the first time when they turned around they seen the city of Celephais in all it's glory against the shining blue of the Cerenerian Sea, and against the green and white of the snow-capped Mount Aran. It was as if the city were built between liquid sapphire and brilliant emerald tipped with marble. The Turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath shined bright as the beams of the sun reflected off it. The valley of Ootg-Nargai hugged the sea as they watched as horses drifted off the cliffs. The wild and untamed beasts and other wonderous fantastic creatues from the Tanarian Hill only added to the beauty. In the distance at the edge of the Tanarian Hills could be seen the Monastery of Yuth, where yellow-skulled monks resided, and who would never leave their haven. They were devoted to the Gods of Dreamlands.
"I think I see what Kuranes ment when he talked about the beauty of the city", said Sakura.
Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, but do not gaze to long at it. many dreamers have become so engrossed by the imagery they never leave, and thus leave their body in the waking world to atrophy and rot, the Dreamlands may be beautiful, but they are very deadly, and not always in the most obvious of ways", said Naruto.
Sasuke only looked on with a face of peace and solemn, rather than his usual face of apathy and stoicism. It was a welcome sight. Several days had passed and still the city of Celephais could be seen in the distance. When they turned to see the Horizon near they smiled though none of them forgot Naruto's warning of the dangers of the Dreamlands. The sky was stitched to the water below as if sky and sea were one and the same, though the absence of waves was a strange and alien sight. The mist of white and pink clouds were just as breathtaking as the city behind them.
Below them they clear crystal waters revealed schools of bioluminescent alien fish and massive sea monsters that fed on them. As the boat touched the sky Sasuke and Sakura braced themselves, but were surprized by the seemless transition as their ship simply lifted into the sky with no movement making it obvious they just did. They looked behind them, or was it below, or above. It was difficult to tell as the sea seemed to be both behind them and above them as well as above. It was a sight of grandure no words could ever capture. Several sea monsters seemed to wave at them as if they were wishing a pleasant trip, others would feed on the glowing fish and ignore the ships in the sky. The shining sea disappeared behind a white and pink fluff of clouds.
"So, we are sailing on the sky", asked Sasuke.
"Yep, we get off at the cloud city, after that this ship will continue toward the moon before turning back, but we will awake long before that", said Naruto.
"They can sail to the moon, I'm not as surprized as I should be by that", said Sakura.
Naruto smiled.
"Good, it means you are thinking in four or more dimensions rather than the usual three. The strangeness of the world will become familiar to you, natural resistance to the mental effects of the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods, all by simply accepting the impossible as a regular occurence, it won't provide outright immunity, but it will be good enough", said Naruto.
"Is the things out there really as strange as in here, I mean this is just a dream", said Sakura.
"Not only is it as strange as here, but much stranger and more malicious, intentional or otherwise", said Naruto.
They looked forward to see a shining city of pink marble and clouds far away. It was like a beacon in the world, calling out for anything to behold it's beauty.
"Sasuke, Sakura, welcome to the cloud-kingdom Serannian", said Naruto.
As they neared the city they were rendered breathless by the shininng beauty that would put the city of Celephais to shame. It was much simpler to imagine the world as a dream simply by looking at the city of celestial white and rose. Now more than ever they wished to forever remain in the dreamlands, though Naruto's words rung through their minds they did not fully tell of the dangers of want of the dreamlands.
"Remember what I said. A frog of brilliant colors may be beautiful, but they are also the most toxic, remember the dangers in the most beautiful of things", said Naruto.
They averted their gaze from the city for only a moment as they collected themselves. Then they turned back. The rose colored marble towers were surrounded by clouds. Naruto cleared his throat gaining their attention.
"Now that you got that out of your system, maybe we should wake up now, before you become addicted to the beauty", said Naruto.
"Can we at least visit, for just a little while", asked Sakura.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. He stared at thir pleading faces for only a moment before he sighed.
"One hour, that is all. After that, we wake up", said Naruto.
They both smiled and looked back to the city, Naruto shook his head. As long as this was watched and limited there would be no lasting damage. It took only a few hours to reach the marble docks of the Cloud Kingdom. Instantly Sasuke and Sakura wandered the city to behold it's beauty. Naruto stood behind them keeping mindful of how long they were their. They visited various shops as the day went by. It wasn't long until Naruto noticed that not five minutes had went by with what had felt like hours. He sighed. Sakura and Sasuke were unconsciously altering the flow of time to make the most of this trip.
"Time to go", said Naruto.
They turned to see him.
"Come on, it hasn't been an hour yet", said Sakura.
"Thats because your wish to remain here is altering the flow of time, this is Kuranes city, not yours Sakura. Altering the rules of a city not yours is not polite", said Naruto.
While both Sakura and Sasuke tried to complain Naruto was steadfast and clapped his hands. The world around them melted into a blur of pinks and hites before fading to black.
Naruto woke on the table he slept on, Xel still stood over him.
"How long did we sleep", asked Naruto, groggy as he wiped sleep from his eyes.
"Three days", said Xel.
Sakura and Sasuke lifted off the table and rubbed their heads.
"Wha-What happened", asked Sasuke.
Naruto stood and stretched.
"We woke up, we've been sleeping for three days", said Naruto.
"Three days", said Sakura confused.
Naruto nodded.
"A good thing to, any longer and people would worry", said Naruto.
He turned to Xel.
"What happened while we slept", asked Naruto.
"Much, we have captured the Zero tails and Shinno apparently he wishes to join us. He is till being treated with caution until we hear of your decision, they will arrive within the hour. The scientist has prepared the blood of the Hyuuga for your consumption, and we have discovered the identity of the assassin who tried to kill the Hokage, a ninja by the name of Kabuto", said Xel.
"Kabuto, he's the assassin. Have we warned the village yet", asked Naruto.
Xel shook his head.
"Their is no way to do it without revealing ourselves, thus far the village is still in lockdown", said Xel.
Naruto nodded.
"We wait for the clones to come back, Get me Neji's blood. After that we deal with Kabuto", said Naruto.
Xel nodded. He stood up hefting Samehada over his shoulder and left the room. Naruto turned to his teammates.
"So how are you feeling", he asked with concern.
"Like I slept for three days on my arm, nothing but pins and needles", said Sakura as she flexed her hands.
"Not bad, but I wish we could have seen more of the city", said Sasuke.
Naruto shook his head.
"That would have been dangerous", said Naruto.
"If you say so, anyway what do we do now", asked Sakura.
"Well I have work to do, you can use the training room for now", said Naruto.
Sasuke stood up and cracked his neck.
"Sounds good to me, coming Sakura", he asked.
This caught Sakura off guard for a moment but she nodded and they left. Moments latter Naruto got settled. He enjoyed being able to see sound once more, it was one thing in the dreamlands he was unable to do. After a moment Xel came in with a large cannister of blood.
"Here you are my lord", he said as he handed it to Naruto.
Naruto shifted into his eldritch form. He carefully grabbed the canister snd opened it. He dipped the blooddrinker tendrils into the ichor and drank. Slowly the eyes on his cheeks tingled. The bottom ones turned a milky blue and his pupil faded. As he drank more and tasted the blood his eyes turned into a star shaped lavender iris. He looked around. At will he could see through walls and flesh. To see the flow of chakra or the movement of blood and bone. When he finished drinking he saw the world around him. While he already possessed a pseudo 360 degree vision with the eyes covering his tentacles, it was different to be able to see through his own flesh.
He could even somehow see his own face, a strange and alien concept that he quickly gre used to. Though the sight of his own Eldritch face was troubling. The eyes on his cheeks were layered much like his whiskers. The top showed the strange fusion of the Mangekyo Sharingan and the bottom was the star shapped byakugan, but what really caught his attention was how the middle eye seemed to be a lighter color then it should have. He had never really tken to looking at his own face in this form, even when he could just use his tentacles to do so, but with how the byakugan worked it made it difficult not to notice. While the middle eyes on his cheek still appeared as the Eyes of Azathoth, they were not the color the should have been. He waved this off as he flexed his wooden tentacles. They to had changed.
While most eyes were the eyes of Azathoth, some were normal sharingan eyes with no hint of the influence of the eyes of Azathoth. Others were normal Byakugan turned to Xel who was holding Samehada as if it were a child, which was an amusing sight for Naruto. To see a Deep One show any parental traits, though he ignored it.
"Well with that done I think I should get to work, first before the clones arrive let us discuss the assassin", said Naruto.
As he shifted to normal Naruto felt light-headed, and strangely very cold.
"Are ou alright my lord", asked Xel.
"I'm fine, but sleeping for three days cannot be good for me. Anyway, the assassin. I have a simple idea on how to fix that. We send a shadow clone to the ANBU transformed to look like Kabuto and sneak around a bit as if we are stealing secrets. When discovered the clone will dispel in such a way it appears as a body flicker. If we time it right and leave just enough evidence to point to Kabuto they will take him. With their interrogation techniques they will find out he is the assassin", said Naruto.
Xel nodded but thought for a moment.
"An excellent plan, but there is one problem. They will no doubt read his mind, they will see he did not perpetrate the break in done by the clone", said Xel.
"I know, but that will be a minor thing compared to the assassination, they will believe he hid what he was after and try very hard believing he knows some secret that was important enough to hide in such a way. They won't let Kabuto out of their sight. Once they realize execution is the best way to make sure the secret they will think he knows but really doesn't to be kept a secret, he will no longer be an issue and the lockdown will end", said Naruto.
"It has many problems, but it could work, humans are small-minded", said Xel.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"I take offence to thar", he said with mild irritation.
"You are not human my lord. Come let us wait for the clones", said Xel.
Naruto sighed and shrugged as he and Xel left the room.
Up above the final preparations for the new Hokage was underway, and by tomorrow, Danzo would be announced as the Hokage. Danzo almost smiled as the preparations were about to finish. He was drawn from his amusement when Sai entered the room.
"You called for me", asked Sai with a complete lack of emotion.
"Yes, it seems as if your mission to watch the Uzumaki child has nit bared fruit. As such I have a new mission for you", said Danzo.
Sai stood up as Danzo straightened his back.
"I want you to wait for when he leaves his home, search it for anything suspicious and bring it to me", said Danzo. Sai nodded and Bowed as he left the room.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone