Seraphim Beginning

The nightmares kept coming. 

It was storming in the village of Hoshigakure this night, which, being in a desert, was indeed a rare occurrence. However not entirely unheard of if a strong enough storm struck the mainland and came straight for them. The Hogokage lay awake this night, sat upright in bed, a cold sweat upon him as he inhaled deeply to attempt to gain control of his frantically beating heart. After a few moments of heavy breathing he calmed himself, using his exercises in preparing for a fight to bring his heart rate down and his mind into clarity. Placing his hand upon his head, forefinger and middle fingers upon his temple while his pinky and ring finger rest upon his nose. Dark thoughts tormented him this night, as they had for every night since he had returned from the Kage Summit. For nightmares invaded his dream every time he attempted to sleep. Thought of cutting down his student again and again, the teens final words to him as he died, wishing for his death. "I hope Xyxer kills you, you worthless coward. May your death be more meaningless than mine..." He would those words again and again, sometimes throughout the day as he went about his business. The memory of his friend and student tormenting him endlessly. However that wasn’t the worst part of it all. As the days wore on his mind began to put other people in Kotetsu’s place. Denkiteki, Kyousuke, Kenshin, and the one that affected him most of all, Hikari. 

Seeing the figure of the woman he had so deeply fallen for looking up at him with cold, unrelenting eyes as she spoke the words to him "I hope Xyxer kills you, you worthless coward. May your death be more meaningless than mine..." Almost send him into a pit of despair before he reminded himself that it wasn’t real. It was just his nightmares plaguing him again. The visions however simply kept coming. Like a bombardment against his own sanity they continuously struck at his mind. He needed to clear his mind for a bit, get out of his home and take his mind off of things. With this mind the young man got out of bed and began to prepare himself. Underclothes, armor, with weapon, Twilight. He armed himself with all of his own personal gear before running some cold water on his face in his bathroom, leaning over the sink as he let the cold water slowly drip from his face into the sink for a moment. Afterwards he would grab a towel and wipe his face of the water and sigh deeply before nodding and teleporting away, off to his office to do some work. Arriving in flash of light outside of his office door to hear a startled gasp near him. 

Turning his head toward his secretary he’d raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Natsumi? What are you doing here this late?” He’d ask simple at the raven haired woman with the shoulder length hair as she held her hand over her heart. The poor woman’s heart rate having skyrocketed due to Valen’s sudden entrance. She’d take a moment to calm herself down, taking a small drink of water before taking a deep breath and looking back toward him. “I could say the same thing to you Hogokage-sama. I’m here doing paperwork, I can never sleep during these storms. Luckily they’re exceedingly rare.” She would say with a small smile as she cocked a curious eyebrow at him a question obvious in her eyes. “Trouble sleeping myself, figured I might as well be productive.” He would say, dodging around the entire reason he couldn’t sleep. Figuring that such information was simply none of anyone’s business. With a small nod she would portray her understanding before pointing toward the door. “I do have bit done in there already. I’ll bring these in as a finish a sizeable portion of them.” She would say, to which Valen would nod at her in acceptance. “Very well then, I’ll get to it then.” He would say before striding toward his door and entering his office swiftly. 

Once inside he’d simply flip the switch next to the door, and light would illuminate the room showing his spacious office with the back window being the size of the wall with the view of the storm raking itself across his village mercilessly. The sound of the rain drops peppering his window giving a constant buzz of noise throughout the room. The occasional lightning strike and thunderclap would sound, splitting the monotonous sound of the rain with that of great claps of sound that brought to mind a great clash of blows within the heaven’s. The lightning, streaking across the night sky and illuminating the surrounding world for but a brief instant. The office was lined with bookshelves, filled with books. None of which were any of the classified files one might find within the room. Those, those he kept within a locked and sealed room, that was hidden within his office. It was the same secret room Kyousuke had shown him when he first learned to teleport. The man had shown him where the space time defense mechanism was. Valen had the actual classified documents, moved within there. Although copies of the shinobi record were kept in the library so a jonin needing information on a prospective student didn’t need to try to come to the kage to get such information. 

Toward the back of the office of course, was his desk, a large, ornate piece of furniture that was always organized and tidy. Behind it sat his chair and a window the spanned the entirety of the back wall. The glass barrier, while usually flawlessly see through due to routine cleaning was perfectly visible as it caught rain against itself causing the water to slide down it’s surface toward the ground below. The Hogokage began to move across the room, reaching the sheath of his sword as he did so he could lean it against the desk as he worked. Sitting comfortably with a sword attached to the hip was rather difficult in a chair after all. As his hand touched the sheath however a bolt of lightning would streak across the sky and Valen would swear he’d see someone out of the corner of his eye. Turning to what he thought he saw he’d see absolutely nothing. Blinking once in confusion, but not wasting time, his gray eyes would turn gold for a moment as he looked with chakra vision to see if anything was there. Again, nothing, he could see absolutely nothing there. Cocking an eyebrow for a moment, he’d look around once more before turning off his eyes and giving a small shrug. “Must’ve be seeing things.” He’d say before finishing his journey toward the desk and sitting himself within the chair behind it, sword leaning against the window behind him as he began to work. 

The night wore on as he moved through his paperwork. Natsumi bringing in more as time wore on. It was tedious work, but it did need to be done. Granted, usually the tan skinned man would utilize clones for this the desire to take his mind off of his nightmares was paramount. So utilizing clones to do the deed would be quite counter productive. It was reaching around midnight, he has arrived at about ten, when Natsumi came in with another stack, setting it on the desk and speaking clearly. “I think I’m going to go home and try to get some sleep Hogokage-sama. Do you need anything before I go?” She’d ask simply, raising an eyebrow in curiosity to which Valen would lean back in his chair in thought before sighing. “If you would put a pot of coffee on as you leave I’d appreciate it. Don’t worry about waiting around to bring me a cup. I’ll take care of a few more forms before coming to get it myself.” He would say with a small smile as she nodded “Of course, it’ll be ready in a few minutes.” She would say before turning and leaving out of the door, closing it softly behind her with a gentle ‘click’. With a grimace he realized that he only had about another hour’s worth of paperwork to do. He wanted to keep himself busy for the night so he wouldn’t think too much on the nightmares but at this rate that wouldn’t be possible. He sighed deeply before continuing on with the paperwork. He might as well get it over with, then figure something out. It wouldn’t do to leave it undone. 


“Allocation of forces for patrol duty..Request for protection on the way to outlying Havenite villages. List of resources available in terms of food stores. Team captain report, budget for defensive expansion..” The list would go on and on as he went through the paperwork, the storm raging behind him, not seeming to be letting up anytime soon. It truly had to have been a powerful one to have retained such strength this far inland. Were the villages closer to the coast alright? He shook his head of the thought, they didn’t give a lick over what was happening here to them at any time. So why should he care about them beyond what they were doing militarily? Was that more short sightedness though? Part of him worried for any civilians, he always did though. Shinobi however were trained to take care of themselves and between Risako and Xyxer they should be able to handle any dire situations due to any kind of massive storm that hit them. Besides, the thought that they wouldn’t be prepared for such a possibility was ludicrous in his eyes. 

After about fifteen minutes of dealing with the rest of the paperwork he’d stand, and move toward the door to go get some coffee. He’d reach for his sword as he did, never leaving it far from his grasp. As he grasped the sheath a flash of lightning could be seen and he’d swear he’d seen something again. Blinking in confusion he’d lift the blade, grasping it by the hilt and drawing it out, setting the sheath on his desk as he did. He’d hold onto the hilt, looking up and down the blade for anything out of place. It might be considered odd if someone were to not be aware of the swords history. However those very few who knew it would know that what he was doing was not odd in the slightest. The blade could very easily be reacting in an odd fashion to something. For the sword had been forged centuries ago, infused with chakra and an intense hatred. Solely forged with the intent of the forgemaster leaning toward vengeance. It had given the blade a dark sentience, steeped in anger. Valen had found the sword, and tried to bend it to his will, and failed. In that failure he killed one Hoshigakure shinobi, and critically injured one more. The latter only being saved by the timely intervention of Hikari Namikaze. It corrupted his thoughts to the point of nearly becoming a murderer, or at least he thought it would have. Had he not gone to the same woman who had saved the boy he nearly killed.

The intent was to seal him within herself, to force him and the sentience within the blade to share a singular body of chakra. The intent had been to purify the blade, to exorcise the dark essence from it so that it could be used safely. Well, as safely as sword went could be used of course. It had worked, but only barely. The hatred of the creator still resided within that dark blade, and he barely managed to defeat it using the chakra from the very Cursed Seal that the same woman he had been sealed in gave to him. Darkness defeating darkness, to bring something to the light, ironic no? It was then that he realized he loved the woman who had done so much for him. But that was a thought process that he didn’t need to go down. As he considered the sword he concluded that there was nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t giving off any kind of chakra, nor was it radiating the sense of bloodlust it had once held as Crimson End. He was holding it length out, the hilt pointing toward him at about chest level. He was about to sheath the blade when another flash of lightning arced across the sky, illuminating the world once more and causing him to see something that almost made him jump out of his skin. 

The image of Kotetsu on the end of the blade, the sharp weapon appearing to be going through him and a blood trail moving down his body toward a waist that no longer had anything lower attached. Valen’s eyes would widen in disbelief for the brief moment, in which time would seem to stand still. The specter, not saying a word as it simply stared at him, with the same lifeless stare Kotetsu had done as he spoke his final words. Just as quickly however, the image was gone, the lightning dissipated as quickly as normal but to Valen seeming to take ages. He almost dropped his sword in shock from the image. Only his reflexes keeping the hilt of his blade in his hands. Suddenly, another lightning bolt flew through the air in the distance, another image appearing. This time of Kyousuke, in the same manner, half his body cut off, hanging off the blade of his sword as he stared at Valen with the same cold eyes. The current Hogokage could imagine the words of the now dead Kotetsu coming from this spectors mouth as well. Seemingly clear in his mind but alas, the apparition said nothing before the fading light of the lightning, as quick as a snap, took it away. 

Valen could feel his heart pounding in his ears as he hypnotically held the blade, who would appear next? Who’s judging, cold, dead eyes would fall before him upon the next strike of the heaven’s? Thunder clapped through the air, he’d heard once that the number of seconds it took for thunder to sound after lightning struck was the distance it was from you in miles. How far off did lightning have to be to not produce light in an area? Should this be happening? He didn’t know, he couldn’t think, the beat of his heart seemingly got louder as the next crack flashed through the sky. The apparition of Kenshin appearing on the end of his blade, the same eyes, those same eyes, they all had the same goddamn eyes. The lightning dissipated, the cold visage of what was once a close friend disappeared. His sword felt heavy now, as if the weight of each of these individuals was pressing down on the blade. Another flash, and his late master appeared before him, in the same manner. Valen watched to see if he would somehow heal, or regenerated as Xyxer had mentioned he could do at the summit. But nothing happened, he just hung off the edge of his sword, staring at Valen with the same cold, dead, judgemental eyes of the others. 

The lightning faded, Valen’s heart was pounding, sweat began to glisten on his forehead despite the normal temperature within the room. A cold feeling of dread began to settle in his stomach as he slowly realized what was going to happen next. Said dread turned to leaden iron as the next flash of lightning decorated the night sky with it’s luminescence and she appeared. Long blonde hair, reaching down to her lower back, frayed and blood spattered, flawless skin, and the cold, dead, judgemental eyes that he had been seeing this entire time from each every one of the apparitions he had seen that night. She didn’t speak, didn’t move, but the cut in half form of Hikari Namikaze affected him more prominently than anyone else had that night. His heart lurched as the site, and he fought to keep from throwing up. His sword finally dropped from his hands, he couldn’t handle looking at the form of the woman he loved dead on his blade. He couldn’t fathom the idea that he would ever do such a thing. Turning toward the window he’d press his forehead to the pane of glass that separated him from the outside world. His mind racing as he considered what in the hell was happening. Had Twilight forsaken him? 

Or had he forsaken it? 

When he purified the dark blade, he had destroyed the corrupted essence that lay within the blade. The one that urged him to kill, the one that wanted him to spill the blood of anyone he could. However, when he cut down Kotetsu at the summit, he had killed an ally in cold blood. Butchered him like a stuck pig and let him bleed out to death like an animal. Had he given in to whatever darkness the cursed blade had once instilled in him? Was it still there? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t think of any other reason for his prized weapon to cause such cruel apparitions to appear to him. He could ignore it maybe? Just get through the lightning strikes as best he could until the storm blew past and continue life as normal? Only that still left the nightmares. The images that plagued him within his mind were twisted, vile, things that he would never do to his allies. But were they showing him what could happen if he continued down this path? If so, then Twilight needed to be removed. He needed a blade that would not consider his doing what he felt was necessary as forsaking it. He needed a sword he could utilize fully that wouldn’t plague his nightmares. As these thoughts crossed his mind, arcing through it like so many lightning bolts in the night sky he saw his answer. A flash of lightning illuminated the building not too far away in the market district. The roofed forge that Kotetsu had made, now cold and abandoned due to lack of a blacksmith to utilize its facilities. He thought about it for a long time, if Twilight was trying to tell him what was happening to him mentally, then maybe he could utilize it to help in this. 

Picking up the blade he had dropped and sheathing it, the Hogokage would disappear in a brilliant flash of light. Reappearing within the forge in an instant and immediately took in his surroundings. The forge was cold, obviously, the nearby anvil, hammer, tongs, thick leather gloves and insulation for wrapping the blade were well organized and in tip top shape, as Valen would have expected from Kotetsu. It was here he intended to forge a new blade, from the shattered remnants of Twilight. One that would be one with himself. He drew his current sword, the blade glinting in the lightning strikes still peppering the sky with their luminescence. The snake shaped guard staring up at him as he held it against the nearby anvil. Then he’d pick up the nearby hammer, and smack the hilt off the end of the blade, tossing the piece of material aside before setting the blade aside for now while he got the forge heated up. In his mind, he was committed now. There would be no turning back from this. Casting a fire jutsu into the forge, lighting the fires and heating the smithy up immensely the temperature of the room would increase steadily. His chakra was what was heating the process now. The very power behind his body and soul would be what forged this sword anew. 

He wasn’t certain how he knew what he was doing. Was he being guided by the hand of the original smith who forged Crimson End? The unpurified Twilight. Was Calin Yamato, somehow guiding his actions? He couldn’t be certain, all he knew was that he needed to allow the forge to heat up as high as possible before setting the form of Twilight into the forge, melting it down into liquid steel which would then be recast into a sword fit for his hand. As he allowed the fire he had started within the forge to heat up he’d begin to get things together for engravings on the blade and pommel. Setting everything aside to be used later, he would turn around and see the flames from forge licking up, the light and heat radiating up. Good, it was ready for the next step. Valen would proceed to take the metal blade and drop it onto a thick stone plate over the forge, the heat would melt down the metal which would flow down the sloped surface and into the awaiting crucible, where the next step would begin. He waited patiently for the hot forge to do it’s work, the metal of the blade slowly melting into a molten state before it began to slowly slide down the stone slab and into the crucible below. Once it was all filled Valen made sure the mold for the longsword style he wanted was properly secure before opening the crucibles bottom with a lever. The molten metal flowed outward, down into the mold and forming a singular metal blade. The entirety of the sword was in this mold, including the hilt and pommel. Once it cooled he would grind it into a honed and sharpened edge before engraving it and then hardening it. Afterwards it would just be a matter of tempering it. Then the blade would be finished. 

First however it needed to cool, and then heated up and allowed to cool slowly, this process, annealing was required to make the sword soft so it would be easy to grind. However Valen knew of a trick to make this process by much quicker. How he knew, he wasn’t certain. Again, maybe the spirit of Calin Yamato was helping him, allowing him to forge a weapon that he would utilize as his own. Rather than using one Calin had made. Running his chakra through the mold, done by placing his hand on the edge of it, but not the molten metal of course. He would evenly cool down the metal to have the desired properties. Once this was done, he’d take the blade out. It didn’t look particularly grand at the moment. The engravings weren’t on there, and it wasn’t shape. It was merely a long shape of metal. That however would be getting fixed next. The kage would take the blade to the grinder, and put on the necessary goggles to prevent the sparks from getting into his eyes. He’d proceed to grind the swords edge and point into a honed edge than any sword user would be proud to utilize in combat. He channeled his chakra into the blade as he did this, using it to help in the process of making the lethal edge even more incredibly sharp. Once this was done, he took the sword to a nearby table and began gathered the engraving tools. He’d slowly hammer in the engraving, again utilizing his chakra to help with the process, the energy flowing into the blade and the engravings freely. He’d alternate between channeling his normal chakra, his light release chakra, and his wind chakra into the blade. Intending to create a weapon that could utilize these properties to their fullest. 

Once the engravings were done, he would utilize another fire jutsu to heat the blade up to an extreme temperature before dunking it into a solution of oil that would cool the blade down rapidly. Once a certain amount of time passed he would pull the blade out, the now hardened edge absolutely razor sharp although brittle. He could feel the flow of his chakra moving in and out of the blade seamlessly. As if it knew him, it was as if he knew what this new weapon could do without even trying to discern its latent abilities. Now however it needed to be tempered, so he would begin to utilize another fire technique, to heat the blade to a lower temperature than before, avoiding the point of austenization. Afterwards he would dunk the blade in the cooling oil once again. Before repeating the process several more times. This would cause the blade to lose its brittleness, while allowing it a certain degree of flexibility. At this point, the blade was nearly complete. All that was left was to dry it down, which he did with a nearby cloth, before wrapping the leather wrapping he had prepared for it while the forge was heating around the hilt of blade. Once this was done, he hefted the blade in his hands, marveling at the balance and weight of it. This blade spoke to him, not literally, not mentally, it just seemed to follow his movements as he swung it around in testing. As if it was meant for him and him alone. It was as if Twilight was waiting to be made into this form. Utilizing two slabs of hardwood he would measure out the width and length of blade on them and core out a bit so that the sword would fit snugly into the recess when it was all put together. Then he’d fuse them together with chakra, and cut the excess off to create the scabbard for his longsword. Cooling down the forge, setting everything back as it had been, and looking around to make sure everything was just so. Valen would nod his head in acceptance before teleporting home. Where he would set his sword against the wall as it should be and finally go to sleep. 

He’d have no more problems with nightmares. 

[Exit]

WC: 4317

Claiming: Seraphim 1000/1000 destroying Twilight in the process, the rest of Dismissal of Dawn (It's at 7104/8000 atm proof here with other links on stat page) 40 AP from finishing the mentioned technique without using the 25% discount. The rest (2421) toward Light of Aetherius putting it at 2421/8000.

Approved