Story 21 Celestial Path Chapter 1

"Dude... You died in one of the worst ways possible." My sponsor spoke with horror as I stared out blankly at the reminder of how I died and the terror I felt.

"You died in terrible agony, terrible mental anguish with no one capable of helping you... And for that I am sorry. But... On the other end from my point of view, it was fucking hilarious haha!" My sponsor broke into cackles of laughter as my face twitched violently.

"You got catfished by a girl who not only wasn't the racial color she had in her pictures, but she was two hundred pounds more than the picture beheld haha!" 

With a deep breath, I banished back the terrible thoughts as my sponsor continued and brought out all my mental trauma after dying literally not even half an hour ago. "She tripped on the restaurant table and when the three hundred pound woman slammed into you, onto the ground... You literally died due to her breaking your ribs!"

At his constant laughter, I couldn't help it and snapped out. "Oh yeah and how did you die huh?" 

To which my sponsor gave a wry grin and said frankly. "Found out my own blind date was an Onlyfan's model. And that my uncle was who introduced her to me was also a subscriber for her and the shock made me choke on meatballs while we were at a nice Italian restaurant... The last thing I heard as I was choking to death was the woman muttering under her breath that the meatball wasn't even that big." 

'You know what... Maybe my death wasn't so bad.' I thought as my sponsor shook his head and said more seriously. "Alright! Now down to business, your soul is on the stronger level so it can accept a cheat-based system that will help you gain power before your soul digests the cheat making its powers your own. Now we will sort out the cheat, your reincarnation destination, and of course your gender swap."

"My fucking what?" I asked with confusion and he just chuckled waving his hand side to side saying.

"Bro just kidding, we would never do that. Never in ten thousand reincarnations has Jake been gender bent... Unless they were weird and wanted to do it to themselves to feel what being a chick was like with their own power but anyway!" He almost shouted at the end as he hurriedly changed the subject.

"Now I got you slotted in having a Celestial Grimoire which will reach into the multiverse to grant you perks, magical abilities, power sources, and even items of power from across non-reality. The Celestial Grimoire will give you these boons via something we call CP, and that is basically a measure of soul growth and power as you do things and your soul becomes stronger."

I nodded in understanding as he took out a glowing rainbow-like book and then he pushed it towards me where it floated into my chest with my hands seemingly phasing through it. Even as my hands phased through the book that went into my body, I felt fill my inner vision fill with countless stars with a sort of lock-on feature within my soul that could reach into those stars to grab them or something.

"Hmm, the Grimoire fits well enough. That's good I was worried I would need to fit the Celestial Menagerie into you." My sponsor muttered before he took out a couple of files and once I felt like I wasn't tasting purple and hearing the collapse of stars I swallowed and asked.

"Where am I going? I assume a fictional reality made manifest or something like that?" At my sponsor's nod even though he didn't look up from the files I continued with some anticipation. "Sooo, can I go to DXD? Or I don't know Honkai Star Rail maybe?"

My sponsor gave me an amused look and said with a wide grin. "Brother I get it... Kafka and Jingliu are great. I have another Jake I am closer to that was reincarnated there in a more alternate universe version of there with cultivation using Stellarons and it was a mess but he became great there. Anywho! Yeah no though, you are already slotted into a particularly interesting universe, to say the least."

I felt a shudder rising up in me at the way he said 'interesting' and I firmly asked in a deadpan. "When it comes to supernatural elements, interesting always means troublesome... Where the hell are you sending me?" 

He held out a file and it flew directly into my hands and he said evenly. "Oh, its an alternate universe of Naruto basically. Where the world's supernatural forces were far more active and not just a plot device in the canon timeline. So in this one for example, when Kaguya Otsutsuki came down to the world and planted the world-draining Chakra tree..."

My sponsor's face went through a couple of different expressions before he said wryly. "Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi descended from the very sun, burned down most of the Chakra tree, and then savagely beat Kaguya like an unwanted stepchild with Tsukiyomi using his domain of the moon to mental fry Kaguya's mind so Amaterasu could take her on as an immortal Miko without issues." 

I stared at him blankly as he continued. "So yeah, most of the timeline although slightly changed is mostly the same just with people other than just ninja's being important... As Monks can call upon a miracle from the gods, and the Samurai clans are also blessed by the divines along with having Chakra so they are some of the strongest people in the world in a straight fight."

I raised up a hand as this was rather confusing so I asked. "So where does this leave me? Am I being reincarnated there or just being dropped in and where?'

My sponsor made a humming noise as he looked between me and a couple of files and asked frankly. "Well, do you want to be trained and gain power along with making friends and allies who will stand beside you? Or do you want to be dropped in and have to make your own way in a world that doesn't like outsiders that much?" 

At his blunt question, I couldn't help but deadpan and say flatly. "Obviously the first option... As of now, I am worried about Youkai and other monsters of Shinto myths that could be a major issue." 

My sponsor stilled and shook his head saying with a wry smile. "You should be... As Youkai can use Chakra and in a war-torn world like Naruto, monsters like Gashadokuro those starving giant skeletons that are hundreds of meters tall are very much an issue to say nothing of other man-eating monsters like Gumiho that can easily desiguise themselves." 

But my sponsor shrugged his shoulders saying "Well are you ready? I got a nice fresh orphan corpse that died of a clean heart attack for you to be inserted into with no weird bloodline curse and the orphan's parents being Chunin for Konoha."

I deadpanned hearing that and he just chuckled and said. "Well have fun in Naruto land. Oh and enjoy the mental download of your previous body so you can integrate with the world and have a natural name as Jake can't fit there obviously."

And with that I felt my sponsor's negligent hand wave tilt my chair back and I was sucked into a portal that sucked me away.

-

The portal that sucked me away not only transported me away through reality but I had the wonderful feeling of my healed body dissolving around me painlessly thankfully but it was still disconcerting.

But then came the memories, the memories of Akari Sadra, an orphan of a couple of nameless Chunin of Konoha who died when the Kyuubi tried to get out of its prison and its malevolent chakra called upon and birthed many a monstrous Youkai that caught Konoha flatfooted by the monsters forming within their sealed and normally well-protected city.

Though I wasn't sure if Obito/Tobi was even a thing with the timeline changes of the Otsutsuki being smacked down. But I knew that the Fourth Hokage was still alive in my new memories as he was still the Hokage.

Akari at the time of his 'death' was at the grand old age of fifteen years old and was just starting the ninja academy the next day. He had died from a heart attack due to the Land of Fire's oppressive summer heat that put him into the dirt as he was doing the mandated training that the Academy recommended for civilians to begin.

The ninja academy in Konoha had two sides, at first. For one, the clan and otherwise ninja-raised children started out much younger at the age of thirteen when the human growth cycle allowed them to properly take the strain of training along with having a developed enough mind to process the more serious nature of chakra usage.

Civilians on the other hand only started their training at age fifteen and they both would graduate at age seventeen at this point due to the 'long' era of peace which had stretched out for the past ten and half years.

It was obvious enough that civilians weren't looked upon as having as much potential.

My eyes snapped open as I groaned aloud at feeling my new sore body that was lying down in on my semi-communal bunk bed here in the main Konoha orphanage sitting up and I got up and left my four-bed little room to head to into the bathroom to check out my appearance with my own eyes.

I had dark black hair that was a good few inches long so it wasn't that short, a set of dark green eyes, and a lighter complexion... All in all, I wasn't super handsome, but I certainly wasn't something a girl or young woman who swear off which was perfectly fine with me. 

'Akari Sadra... Not a bad name, though I will miss my old name, but I can't use an English name here, especially with how I have been reincarnated into this body.' I thought as I sighed and went back to my thankfully still empty communal room where I tried to get back to organizing my memories as I knew that the Academy would be starting for me tomorrow.

'Ok... So I am within Konoha, monsters are definitely a thing due to the Clan War's being even worse due to mass monster births due to the amount of left behind bodies, and grudges left behind after all the battles. Uhh let's see, Minato Namikaze was still the fourth Hokage so no major changes there.'

I was mentally reviewing stuff I needed to keep track of... As it could be bad news for me to blurt out something like wondering if the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto or something when I learn that Naruto didn't even have the Kyuubi or whatever if Kushina was still alive.

With that all said... I mentally screamed a bit before calming down as I realized that my bed was uncomfortable as hell as it was more of a thin pad than an actual mattress. 

But then a little note popped out of the air making me blink and snap the slowly floating downward note. [BTW, fuck you. You are making me spend some of my own soul's energy as you rolled such a power.]

"Huh what does tha-" I shuddered as I felt something enter my soul and abruptly get ripped out as information filled my mind.

[One dose, three sips, of Hourai Elixir, You may drink it yourself or give it to others. The first sip prevents you from aging, the second sip makes you immune to illness, and the third makes you deathless. Your soul is preserved for eternity at the moment of the third sip, and no ordinary force is capable of affecting it.]

[Your soul is preserved for eternity at the moment of the third sip, and no force is capable of affecting it. Even abilities to kill anything simply slide off you, as the wielder finds they can neither target you nor cause you to die. Your body is like a temporary vessel for your soul; if it is harmed or even destroyed utterly your soul shall simply instantly regenerate a new one.]

I immediately held out my hand and then in an instant a small ceramic vial was left in my hand. 'Holy shit... This is the Hourai Elixer from Touhou which gives conceptual immortality. How the fuck did I roll this... And do I even want to drink this? As should I drink this, that would mean I would literally live beyond the heat death of the fucking universe itself.' I thought with trepidation as I beheld this insane vial.

But after a moment of thought of someone coming into the room, I broke the ceramic top to the vial and a cold medicinal scent filled the room and without another moment I downed it.

Drinking the vial of the Hourai Elixer, I shuddered as I could feel as my body was being frozen in time along with the very Celestial Grimoire itself shifting as my soul was being upgraded and elevated to exist in a perpetual state of existence. "Ugh!" I groaned as I held my chest.

It was less of pain, and more of the agony of my body coming being spiritually augmented and from the bare knowledge I had of Chakra I could feel the spiritual side of my chakra flare out in power as I felt something in my brain seemingly pop or something with a flicker of blue light forming around me and I could feel the chakra flooding my meager body as a pain filled my body.

But even as I crushed the vial within my strengthened hands I groaned as I could feel what I was sure was Chakra rushing through my body in great amounts. "This... Is not fucking pleasant. Did the Elixer give me like a tail's worth of spiritual chakra or something?" I muttered to myself as I stood up with a grimace as I felt pain shooting through my body in sharp jolts with each step.

'Well, fuck... Do I need to go to the hospital or something?' I thought as I went out of my room and as I left room and saw some of the other kids of the orphanage in the hallway that separated the many rooms of the orphanage I could feel the pain in my head going away but the feeling of the rushing energy never really seemed to stop.

So I shrugged and went over to the kitchens as my body was feeling rather hungry as I had done a bunch of training before I reincarnated here.

"Oh, Akari how are you. You looked rather exhausted when you came in after your run." The matron asked me kindly and I smiled remembering the orphanage matron Matako was an old sweet sweet-hearted woman who took care of us with kindness.

But hearing her question about my current state of being... I could only give a wry smile as I said. "Just needed a drink and to rest for a while. I got too excited about going to the Academy tomorrow."

The matron gave a slow hum as she continued washing a massive bowl of rice that was going to be fed to the couple hundred orphans who never got adopted here at the orphanage. "Well, I will make sure you get a bigger rice ball... Just keep quiet about it Akari." She said in a conspiratory whisper.

I nodded and after washing my hands I began helping her wash the rice with a couple of other older teenagers coming in to help as well with us each taking one of the huge barrel-sized pots to continue washing the rice.

Once we completed washing the rice we started cooking the donated meat and vegetables that the local grocery stores of Konoha gave to the Orphanage for tax breaks so that we could have some good protein and nutrition to make sure we grew up strong and healthy.

Konoha and the rest of the 'Hidden' villages may happily use child soldiers for the wars that occur between the many nations within the Elemental Nations. But they didn't see any point in sabotaging our growth as children at the very least and thus made sure that although we didn't get all kinds of sweets we certainly weren't lacking in any kind of food.

After eating the five meat-stuffed rice balls I was allotted with mine being a bit bigger than the other teenager's, with Matako winking at me I went back to the communal four-man room to pack up my meager belongings. As once I joined the academy I would be formally known as an asset of Konoha and would thus be moved into a small apartment while I was in the school system.

"Akari you also worried about the ninja academy tomorrow?" One of the boys asked me as we were laying in the dark room and I didn't respond. I just kept quiet and went to sleep as honestly... Yeah, I was actually kinda worried.

-

Thankfully by the time I woke up, the aching pain that was in my head had faded away thank all the gods. We had to get up bright and early for the ninja academy.

The following day a couple dozen boys and half a dozen girls dared to join the civilian side of the Konoha Ninja Academy from our orphanage and we generally stuck together until we got sorted out into our classes.

Once me and my fellow civilians got into the class I blinked, as I noticed very clearly clan ninja's in the blond-haired Yamanaka and otherwise small cliques of clan-born children. "Alright civies, sit down and shut up. I will be explaining your next two years of hell and what you have to live for and how it's up to you to decide if you give up, break during the training, or succeed." A voice spoke.

With a crackle of displaced air, a blur shot out of a panel of the ceiling and landed on the ground right in front of the speaking podium and I took in the tanned 'large boned' ninja and my eyes tightened on his form seeing how he was missing his right arm. However, a part of me was curious about how big he was. Whether or not he was an Akimichi clan member?

"Now! We publicly put out misinformation to make it sound like civilians will be on their own and not being pressured by already-trained clan ninja... That is clearly a lie as you can see. Now as for why we do it..." The ninja probably a retired Chunin due to his injuries gave us a look of disregard as he said flatly.

"Because forty percent of you will wash out of the academy even if we start soft and gentle in your earlier years, thirty percent more will be permanently relegated to the Genin Corps with no potential to rise any further, twenty-five percent may reach Chunin, and out of the tens of thousands of civilian born ninjas in Konoha's history that didn't marry into a clan... The rest will die with less than four dozen rising to be a true Jonin of Konoha."

He gave everyone cold looks especially towards the civilians as he said bluntly. "You want to be a ninja? Great, we will welcome you and bleed and even die alongside you but you have to pay your blood in full in these next two years of training hell to earn our respect." 

Many of the civilians began muttering slightly but I kept quiet and only continued to watch our teacher who let people air out their quiet thoughts before he spoke up. "Alright! Now my name is Hajime Akimichi, I will be your homeroom instructor, guidance counselor, and teacher on topics containing matters pertaining strictly to Chakra manipulation. Now in order to wake you all up... Everyone follow me, we are starting off with your homeroom wake-up routine."

Taking in the other students as we silently filtered out into the hallways of the school I realized there must have been seals or something crossing over the doors as I couldn't hear any of the other classes but their teachers didn't seem ready to be taking us outside just yet.

But focusing more on the students... I learned something very interesting that confirmed some of the prior memories I had. The Uchiha as a clan still existed as I could see their black eyes that matched their black hair. Along with holding an atmosphere of such confidence that pushed away even the other clan children as the Uchiha's stood together in their own clique.

'Huh, so I guess with Minato remaining the Hokage, the Uchiha coup never happened.' I thought as I shook the idle thought aside and refocused on Hajime as we entered the huge backyard of the academy and I could already see a couple of tracks for people to run on. Obstacle courses for people to train in agility, and of course dozens of tree stumps that were wrapped in padded ropes for people to punch and kick it looked like.

Hajime's voice then grew as he spoke. "Alright! Whereas a good number of other academy teachers train you guys via teaching information and then putting you all through drills... I believe in weeding out the weak in body and will first, before anything else! So before I even begin to teach you all anything about Chakra, you will all be running for the next hour!"

Even the clan kids groaned as Hajime slapped his hands together and pointed at the nearest track and said. "Alright! Go on! Or you are free to leave the academy right here and now!" 

I saw a couple of the civilian girls just give up then and there as the clan kids just started running at a light jog and knowing that a strong body was paramount I began jogging behind them. Though to call my run a jog wasn't exactly giving credit as it was more of a brisk walk.

But the teacher didn't call me out for my light run as his eyes just slid over my form before looking back to the clan kids and yelling out with annoyance. "Kosari Nara! Don't be using your chakra! This is training your body and if I see that again I will tell your mother!"

The Nara boy gave a dark shudder at the thought of his parent being told about this. But beyond that little call out I decided to keep looking around before it hit me and my lips twitched at the realization that with how I was in class 1-C I had no idea where the canon cast was, though I had a suspicion that they were going to be in class 1-A if I was even in the same year as them.

I kept running, just minding my business for a good while until I realized something... I wasn't getting tired, my body instantly healed any strain it was under almost instantaneously and unless I was power sprinting and running out of breath, I knew I wouldn't be feeling any strain so I decided to speed up a bit and I felt that rushing feeling of Chakra in my body naturally pushing my body to match the clan kids who were casually running.

As I got up to the faster-running clan kids I got closer to a trio of 'big' teens who were obviously Akimichi clan members... As they were munching on food even as they ran to deny the exercise any calories they could be losing with the trio of Akimichi boys sharing their bounty of snacks between the three of them solemnly as though it was their lifeline.

"We aren't sharing!" One of them who had dark brown hair said hurriedly as he held the large bag of jerky to his chest like it was his beloved child and I gave a wry smile before shaking my head.

"I know better than to try to ask an Akimichi for their food without being at one of their great buffets or grills. No, I had a couple of questions if you guys don't mind me asking." I spoke as I knew the Akimichi were considered as a whole a clan of good-natured people even in my inherited memories.

The three Akimichi shared a look before the one in the middle kinda slowed down to fall out of the lineup to ask curiously. "Whatcha wanna know civvi? We can't teach you any jutsu if that is what you want to know." The Akimichi added on with a wry smile.

I shook my head knowing full well that knowledge on how to control chakra was hoarded and not at all freely given out... And Chakra without a proper teacher was extremely dangerous to manipulate as the Orphanage at least once a year had a kid who thought they were the next Hokage and decided to try to be a monk or something and meditate to get hold of their chakra...

And damn near inevitably they would rush as they tried to make their Chakra do something and they would blow up one of their tenketsu/chakra points.

So I wasn't put out at the Akimichi giving me a blunt statement not to ask. No, instead I asked curiously. "Nah, I was wondering what you guys learned for the previous two years? If we are being put together with the Clan children I want to know what I missed out on." 

The three Akimichi laughed together before the leader gave me a look that clearly looked like he was pitying my future as he said frankly. "We spent the last couple years mostly training in publicly available Konoha martial arts to give us a foundation besides our clan-based martial arts. The lesser five elemental jutsu's to figure out our affinities, which they taught us how to train our elemental affinities and lets see..."

Another one of the Akimichi chimed in as he sneakily stabbed his hand into the leaders bag of chips with utter silence to steal a handful of chips. "Yeah, we also learned how to make some super simple seals, you know like making seals to seal up and collect dead bodies as leaving the dead out in the open is a war crime all the nations follow out of simple necessity due to the monsters that form assuredly from a chakra user's body and spirit." 

The leading Akimichi shrugged and said. "Yeah, that's it for the most part about the interesting stuff. They threw in a lot of history lessons about the previous Kages and their actions along with knowledge about the previous three Daimyo Wars we took part in."

My lips twitched at the reminder that Samurai, and Monks weren't irrelevant in this world and thus with Konoha and the ninja villages of other lands being more bound up by their Daimyo, the leaders of the land. The Daimyo themselves decided on whether Konoha went to war with other lands their ninja villages.

The Akimichi's gave me a look before the leader said. "Eh, if you are asking such questions then maybe you will have the drive to fix those holes. Anyway yeah after classes today the library is open to all students and you can look up those beginning elemental jutsu and other ways to train your affinities to find out which one comes easiest to you." 

I nodded and sped up a bit to get in front of the Akimichi's as I heard the respectful request for me to give them back their space at the back of the clan children's line so I ran forward and my lips twitched seeing a couple of black haired teens that were running like it was a punishment put upon them by a god.

'Whelp probably the Nara kids... Let's run past them.' I thought as I ran past the Nara's who were clearly running just ahead the slowest of the clan children.

And seeing as I didn't recognize anyone I just kept that pace until Hajime called out. "Alright! Thats enough! The civilians who lay down or stopped even walking instead of running are out! Go to the admin building and sit there and wait for classes to be over today before I deal with you!"

I saw a number of the civilian kids pale but under the ninja's fierce glare they meekly made their way off the center of the track course and went towards the main front building of the school.

With them gone and our class size cut down from like forty down to thirty, I realized that this class likely wasn't going to really be my class if like more than half the students being civilians, who were going to break from the harsh training or the teacher kicking them out if they didn't meet his standard. 

"Come on, let's go sit in the shade of the tree's we are going to do our first lesson outside." He ordered as he brought us to a large tree that provided a good deal of shade away from the burning hot sun beating down on our forms after we all sat down... Or in the case of the Nara's just plopped down and actually laid down to look up past the tree's covering leaves to stare into the sky, Hajime continued speaking.

"Now I have a question for you all as you sit there... I want you to think, what is it to be a Ninja? What is a ninja? And most importantly what kind of ninja will you be?" 

I smiled hearing the rhetorical question as the other teenagers shared looks and I noticed a rather pretty blond girl was sitting beside me and after seeing her pupil-less looking blue eyes I realized she was a Yamanaka who ended up sitting next to me so I nodded to her with her winking as we looked back at the teacher.

Hajime waited for us to collect our thoughts before he abruptly pointed at a male Uchiha and barked out. "Shari Uchiha, what is it to be a ninja?" 

The darker brown-haired Uchiha stated plainly. "Flexibility is the core of being a ninja." 

Hajime nodded and said fairly. "Thats true Shari, a ninja beyond everything else needs to be flexible as they cannot beat an equally ranked Samurai in straight battle due to them training in the Eight Gates, and refining their bodies with special methods along with their Samurai clans often being blessed by the very Kami's above. And likewise, a ninja cannot assassinate a monk in their temple due to the very same gods watching their temples so closely." 

Our teacher took a deep breath before saying. "All Ninja's have their own thought process that allows them to succeed in this very unfair world. You all need to find your ninja way to keep your mind on task as you do the tasks this village gives."

Hajime clapped his hands together and my lips twitched as he looked at me and then looked down at his file to probably look up my name and my thoughts were right as he looked right back at me and said. "Akari Sadra, what kind of ninja will you be?"

Everyone looked at me putting me on the spot but thankfully I had experience in this feeling due to having my past life so I calmed down and after a moment I said honestly. "I want to be an alive ninja. Nothing else matters right?" 

There was a moment where Hajime looked at me in surprise before he burst into fat belly-rolling laughter with him smacking his remaining hand on his stomach with a loud rumble ringing out from the collision as he all but shouted. "Yes! That is a new one haha! I expected you to say you wanted to be a Kage, or even a cunning ninja. But no you just want to survive as a ninja... That thought process will get you far young man, now anyway." 

Hajime continued speaking about what it meant to be a ninja and I listened in with half an ear as I knew he was hard at work mentally conditioning the civilians into being soldiers for Konoha with his jolly nature.

Though as Hajime continued talking the Yamanaka who was sitting beside me spoke up quietly. "Akari Sadra huh. So you are civilian-born?" She asked.

I shrugged and said with a wry smile. "Eh somewhat, parents were ninja's who died during the Kyuubi incident so I ended up at the orphanage." 

The thing was... For all that ninja's commonly used sex to bleed away the stress of their job and obviously made kids doing so. They had an abysmal adoption rate with ninja's basically never adopting orphan children unless they were the closest of friends of the kids parents.

And with my parents being only non-descript Chunin, I remained at the Orphanage until now.

The Yamanaka nodded in understanding and said with a small smile. "I see, my name Inari Yamanaka, what are you doing after school today?" 

I raised up an eyebrow at her question and said wryly. "Finding my new apartment and making sure I have food stocked up in the apartment for the next week probably? Going to the library to look up methods of training my chakra without one of my Tenketsu exploding like a firework inside my own body."

Inari giggled and said with amusement. "Wow, so responsible... But I got a trade to offer you though. How about if I help teach you those same chakra exercises, and you help me work on some Genjutsu I need to practice on a civilian who doesn't have any prior experience with Genjutsu?" 

I gave Inari a long look before I said flatly. "I don't even know how to disrupt a Genjutsu... I appreciate the offer of teaching me the basics but I don't want to be left at someone's mercy when illusions are smashed into my perception."

To which Inari's amused expression abruptly died and she said plainly. "Alright then, good luck on figuring out everything on your own." 

'Wow... Talk about an abrupt heel turn.' I thought wryly as Hajime continued his simplified welcoming lesson into the Konoha Ninja Academy where he outlined the the subjects we would be learning for this year.