Someone was standing on my roof again.
I noticed it the way one noticed weather, by the pressure change; not by sight. The sensation from the wards settled behind my eyes, dull and persistent, like the beginning of a headache.
Cause if I acknowledged it, it became real. And if it became real, it became a problem.
The customer across the counter pretended not to notice anything either. A chūnin, judging by the flak vest, despite his youthful stature; looking over a katana as he flipped it over to see the other side as well.
"Good quality." The young man said, flipping it again. "You make these yourself?"
"Just like I make every other piece in this shop, as you already know." I nodded as I gestured to the wide assortment of weapons behind me, from simple shuriken to katanas and from kusari gamas to halberds.
"Not chakra steel, but lighter and more durable than anything else." He said as he did several test slashes. "How do you do it, Shishida-san?"
"Let an old man keep a few secrets to himself, or do you want me to get run out of business?" I snorted. "And how many times did I tell you to call me Jun, Hayate?"
"It simply feels weird, Shishida-san." Young chūnin said with a smile before coughing into his fist.
"Are you taking the medicine I gave you?"
"Yes, and the doctors really want to know how it works as good as it does." He said while giving me a mock pointed look.
"As I already told you, it's just an old family remedy." I rolled my eyes as I put the sword in its sack bag and tied it closed. "Drink it once in the morning right after waking up and one at night before dinner."
"Thank you." Hayate said with a smile as he took the sword and left the payment on the counter. "Shishida-san, there is something I wish to talk about. Will you be free tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" I asked as I pretended to wince. "Nah, I will be leaving the village for a few days tonight. Gotta meet with a friend at Morihara town."
"You're leaving the village? That's rare." Hayate said with wide eyes. "I don't think you left the village since before..." And then he cut himself as he realized his mistake. Making me smile patiently at him.
"Since before the Kyuubi attack, yes."
Where I had lost my brother and fiancé.
Hayate looked down in shame, knowing the fact that that night was a taboo subject for many people in the village. Yet I couldn't get mad at him. No matter what that flak jacket and that headband supposedly meant, in my eyes he was still barely an adult.
I really should get rid of this worldview, yet the new memories made it hard.
"I won't be gone for long, and Morihara town is less than a day of travel away even for a civilian like me." I said with a smile. "So don't worry and yes, you should ask out that lady friend of yours already."
"Shishida-san!" A professional killer had no right to look this cute.
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As I reached Morihara town and paid for a room, my mind wandered to a month ago. When a series of memories that didn't belong to me rushed into my head.
Or maybe it would be more accurate to say the owner of those memories woke up and everything before that was simply a case of me being in a half-asleep state. That certainly fit better considering how easily I had accepted the world shattering revelations like my whole world being a piece of entertainment. Or that the annoying brat was supposed to be the son of the Fourth Hokage and the local messiah.
Or the fact that someone had deliberately caused the night that killed Saburo and Misaki.
Honestly, fuck Obito and fuck his dumbass ideology. Coolest guy my ass.
Though, the memories were not the only addition. There was also some... upgrades.
A CYOA I had made, half as a joke and half as wish fulfillment, and it's choices seemingly followed me to this world.
To anyone else, I was a simple shopkeeper and blacksmith. But only because no one in this world could properly sense what I had now.
Magic Circuits. New 'organs' engraved inside my body and on my soul. Containing the knowledge of magecraft and the energy required to practice its arts.
Which would not save me from what was coming.
Sure, this world was full of mystery and there was a distinct lack of Gaia and Alaya, the will of the planet and collective consciousness of humanity, so there was theoretically no upper limit to what I could do with magecraft.
But I was no fighter.
No matter what preparations I made or how many plans I devised, there would come a day where none of it would be enough against the upper tiers of this world and their cutthroat policies.
The most obvious solution to that was to keep my head down and resume my life as an ordinary civilian. Yet that was not enough.
That's why I was at Morihara town. Away from Konoha for the one power of mine that definitely would be noticed by the village. So I had to do it away before going back.
Why was I going back despite all the dangers I listed? Because I was a stubborn old man. And despite all the dangers it had, I could not bring myself to abandon my home.
The home where Misaki and I were going to build a family together.
"This should be enough to keep the eyes off of here." I said as I placed the last flower shaped pin on the ground and activated the Bounded Field, which would divert people's attention away from my room, and looked at the ground in the middle of the room.
Where the summoning circle was drawn with chicken blood.
This was the one trump card I had. Summoner, a power that allowed me to summon a Servant from the Throne of Heroes. And unlike a normal summoning, most of the energy needed to keep the Servant would be supplied by the power as well. Meaning I would be supplying the bare minimum of energy needed. There was only one problem.
I had taken a drawback that interfered with this power. Normally I would be allowed to pick which Servant I wanted to summon but I couldn't do that. In exchange, I wouldn't be summoning a Servant.
I would be summoning a full Heroic Spirit.
The difference might seem small to some but it was ridiculous. A Servant was simply one facet of a Heroic Spirit, constrained by the class container they are summoned in.
A full Heroic Spirit on the other hand would be the full version of the Servant. Meaning that if I were to summon Cu Chulainn, he would have all abilities he could have in every possible class of his; including Noble Phantasms.
That was the kind of monster I would be bringing into this world.
And in case I ended up summoning someone like Gilles or Prelati or Angra Mainyuu... the only thing between a catastrophe and this world would be how fast I could activate my Command Seals.
"Let's do this." I said with a sigh as I thrust my hand forward and started to chant.
"Let the essence be silver and steel,
Let the foundation be my will,
A wall to harbor against the raging wind,
Let the four cardinal gates be sealed,
And tread the three-forked road from the Crown,
Reaching unto the Kingdom.
I hereby propose,
Let my will be your body,
And let your power be my fate.
If you abide this summons and follow the laws,
Then heed my call!
From the Seventh Heaven,
Wielding Three Words of Power,
Come forth from the ring of control,
The Guardian of the Heavenly Scales!"
The circle lit brighter and brighter as I chanted before finally the light became far too much for my eyes to bear and I had to look away as the smoke rose from the circle and the Heroic Spirit descended on the world.
When I was able to open my eyes, the Heroic Spirit had walked out of the smoke and was towering over me. The moment my eyes met those golden eyes, any thought of using the Command Seals were discarded. After all...
"I am the son of Alcmene and the great god Zeus, Heracles. Are you the one who summoned me?"
...I didn't have enough Command Seals to order this monster around.
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