Light Dragon (2)

At the base of Mount Koryu, the ruins of what was once the Ryu Clan dwelled were left untouched for a long time.

Most of them are emptied out but Shinobi seeking treasures or secret jutsu. However they don't find anything valuble because all the jutsu belonged to the clan is passed onto Kuroma eventually.

"There's something disrupting my chakra around here... I can't use a jutsu as effective. Are you guys the same?". Shou had felt the strangeness of this place from the moment he stepped into the gates of Ryu Clan place.

Hikari shrugged her shoulders. Kuroma thought for awhile seeing that.

'It should always been like this. Only people from the Ryu clan can withstand the aura around here. Unless you have special equipment made a specific material. Or...'.

Kuroma take the huge scroll hanged behind his back and opened it. It's so long and really contains everything probably.

"Wait for awhile".

Kuroma take out few empty tags and write down some seal. After minutes it's done.

"Here. Paste it all over your body".

Shou nodded and did so. Each tag allows his chakra to withstand the strange aura until it felt completely nullified!

'Wow. It works wonders. Thank you Kuroma-san'.

They waste no time and went further after searching few buildings.

"The shrine there looks quite interesting. Maybe there something there?". Shou mentioned the obvious. Thinking about it, he found the bow in a shrine and so it might have the same design.

They all went pass the offering table and into the inner hall of the shrine.

Doesn't seem to have anything... Except a dragon statue at the end. This dragon has 2 wings, and is a little different compared to Okami which has no wings.

It's a little weird that it felt like a Deja Vu seeing the layout of the shrine.

The three of them check out the statue. Shou looked around at the windows. There's nothing special about it as it works like a normal window currently. But Shou does not think it should work the same as the one in Yuki clan. Because the Ryu Clan cannot use demonic mirror.

Shou looked at the statue and noticed the mouth is slightly open... Perhaps there's something they could put in it.

Shou eyed the token or the circular clan emblem hanging on both of their waists.

Obviously, for the last members of the Ryu Clan to have it means it's passed down onto them. It must have an important function other than just a symbol.

"Kuroma-san, I think you could try to insert the token you have into its mouth. It might be a mechanism".

Kuroma raised his eyebrows, not really believing it could actually does something. He did it anyways and waited for few seconds.

Well, figures. There's no way-

The whole room starts to shake!

The siblings has a surprised Pikachu face, reminding Shou how Haku also made the same face back then.

Grumble2*

The statue began to move on its on to the side, revealing the staircase to the hidden basement.

The three of them look at each other before lighting up a torch and go down.

Kuroma lighted the torches at the sides of the cavern hall.

There's a circular altar with some carvings on it and black symbols all over the altar. And right in the middle, an ancient looking blade is sticking into it.

"This must be... The Dragon Blade". Kuroma remarked. He walked forward to approach it but Shou stopped him.

"Wait. I think we shouldn't touch it first. From what I have seen (in previous life memories), you could unseal the dragons if you pull it out. I think...".

Because he remembers how the dragon was wreaking havoc wherever Hikari (who carried the dragon blade) went. So it must starts from this blade. Probably pulling it out will unseal the dragons sealed in Mount Koryu.

"It will cause chaos on the country. The dragons would try to get the blade and cause monsters humanoid to spawn anywhere the blade goes".

Kuroma thought for a second.

"Then, what should we do next?".

"Kuroma-san, we need to prepare the ritual needed to seal the dragon first - at Mount Koryu probably. Once the preparation is done we can unseal the blade and go ahead with the whole thing in one fell swoop".

"Your scroll must contain a sealing jutsu right?".

Kuroma eyed him for a second. He take the big scroll from his back and opened it up. He rarely opens it up fully but now he had to and it's really meters long. He's not sure which ancestor of his had the idea to make such a big long scroll close to 2 meters length.

"There are quite a few...". There are seals used to store jutsu of 5 nature in them.

He opened the scrolls further, until the very end.

"Dragon Essence Seal...". The description is quite confusing.

"It requires 5 essence of nature. I am not sure what it is".

Shou thought about it.

"It should be, the power from each dragons of different elements... The light dragon is split up into 5 dragons and so, we can get the essence from each of them. The dragon blade may be necessary for this".

Kuroma look at the description further below.

"Power that can destroy the world".

...

"Let's go to Mount Koryu then". Kuroma thought about it.

They all climbed Mount Koryu right after wasting no time.

Hikari seems tired after walking such a long distance and had to hike too.

'Nii-san... My legs are giving out. Lets rest a little'.

Kuroma went to her and squated down.

"Climb up".

'W-what? No need. Let's just rest. It's embarassing...'.

"Hm. Fine".

Shou laughed a little seeing these siblings. Her brother cares for her a lot didn't he.

While resting, Kuroma had a thought about their life. They were always chased away for no reason just because they look different. The cruel treatment from people around. He remembers his little sister, crying because some kids called her a monster and throw stones at her back when they were kids.

Thinking about it, he felt angry.

The light dragon...

He looked at Shou, having a second thought. Right. He can make a new world with that power. At this time, a seed of betrayal sprouted.

...

They continued their journey up after some rest.

'Shou-san, what exactly are we looking for here? There's only trees around... And very high waterfall'. Hikari look up to see the waterfall falling from such a high peak.

"There should be an entrance behind the waterfall. Let me check".

Shou make ice construct at the side of the waterfall to climb easier.

As he climbs he try to see through the water to see if there's an entrance. After he gets tens of meters up high, he finally sees a big darker shadow behind the water curtain.

Here goes nothing-

He flickered into the water curtain, passes through it and arrived at a cave entrance!

Ice Clone technique-

He sent a clone to scout first in case there are traps. But soon after the clone returns and give the report.

"Hmm. A big gate blocked the entrance. There should be a mechanism to open it if he remembers correctly. Unless the siblings could open it by virtue of their bloodline".

Shou get down and tell them about it and decide to explore the inside.

'You. Block the waterfall. Hikari will get wet. Make some stairs too. She haven't learn how to use body flicker'.

"Okay(⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠￣⁠;⁠)".

Shou make some stairs and ice wall in the middle of the waterfall, making a canopy that split the curtain into two halves letting the entrance appear with no hindrance.

"Quick. It would melt fast".

They quickly entered and light up the torch to see more clearly.

A big stone door stood blocking their path. Kuroma touched the door and felt he could supply chakra to it. As he did, the door grumbled and opens up!

Shou thought that's really convenient. If he didn't bring them he might have to destroy the door or find the hidden mechanism somewhere.

They keep exploring the hallways and arrived at different locations with no obstruction. The doors block their paths but Kuroma always able to open it easily.

They have identified 7 different locations connected to the hallways.

Based on Shou's memories and matching things up, 5 of the locations are where the 5 dragons of the 5 elements would spawn. Or rather, perhaps the light dragon is split up into 5, and each of them is sealed at those 5 locations. The other 2 halls are where the light dragon would emerge after the 5 of the dragons combine, and the one hall is where the ritual would take place, he calls is Ritual Hall. There's even engraving in a circle in that hall, used in tandom with the sealing technique. 5 little pillars where a round object is supposed to be placed is there around the circular engravings.

Now, he remembers what happened in that game. Kuroma had succefully done the ritual, and become almost immortal and seemingly have infinite chakra. Well, that's wrong, because Naruto in 3 tails mode demolished him easily. But he remains uninjured mostly, but still beaten up.

Kuroma said the ritual was 'incomplete', and that the light dragon power in him is only as much as what his body can handles. It's still actually strong enough to one sidedly beat and fight against Lee, Neji, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke who come out of nowhere, and Yamato.

But Naruto with 3 tails Kyubi power forces him to get more dragon power into him, and instead Hikari interrupted him and those power gets into her instead. And she literally becomes the light dragon, or a part of it. It's similar to the situation where a bijuu take over its jinchuriki and absorb them completely.

From Shou's conjecture, the ritual is already complete the moment Kuroma harnessed those power, and the light dragon itself was not supposed to be revived, just a fraction of its power to be taken into Kuroma. Why would you create a jutsu that devour it's own user? So the ritual is indeed perfect for use with no drawback even.

So what happens at the end where Hikari is absorbed and become a part of the Light Dragon is actually things that went wrong. Thankfully the Dragon Blade is the literal solution to it - it split the Light Dragon from Hikari. And Hikari even remains alive and healthy after the Light Dragon is split away from her. It's just that the Light Dragon 'returned to heaven' or dies afterwards.

Shou theorised the blade is the tool used to split the Light Dragon into its 5 parts in the first place.

As for why it had to be split up, it's because the Light Dragon does not co-operate with its host and would retaliate and the Ryu Clan can't figure out how to handle or seal the true form of the dragon safely inside a person. Let's be real who would just co-operate with their capture and the one who jailed them just to use them as a weapon?

Shou asked Kuroma to look through the scrolls again for a sealing technique thats more powerful but there's none. Figures, the Ryu Clan never figured a way to safely use the true power of Light Dragon or make a jinchuriki out of it.

But...

Perhaps he could become a jinchuriki of a part of the dragon...

He asked Kuroma about sealing techniques thats only for one element.

"There is... True Element Sealing. It can seal large chakra source of a single 1 nature of the 5 attributes into a person. But it says no one succeeded and the power could devour the user".

'Just 1/5 of the dragon power and they are devoured...'.

Shou is not confident honestly. Too much risk, even if he try to seal only the water dragon for example. He is not from the Ryu Clan somemore, the chances of failing will be immense.

Shou thought for a moment. He can't risk dying for nothing. At least there already is a ritual used to draw a fraction of Light Dragon's power safely. It's already amazing it has no drawback. You know what, let's just settle for it first. He could become twice or thrice stronger with that in his assumption and that's fine for now.

"Okay. Kuroma-san, let's do the initial ritual then. After that, we can remove the dragon connection to you both".

They nodded and began preparing. Shou does not know much about Fuinjutsu and pick a little here and there seeing Kuroma does it. He had made a lot of sealing tags for combat so he's quite proficient in making the symbols required for the ritual around the altar.

After hours, they finally finished their preparation.

"Whew. Now... We just need to take the dragon blade, unseal the dragons, take their nature essence, and then come here to complete the ritual. Thank you Kuroma-san, Hikari-san. I will fulfill my promise after the ritual is done".

'Mm! But Shou-san, are you sure this is safe?'. Hikari felt it's a little hasty. They haven't even seen the supposed Dragons yet and the ritual is already prepared.

"Yup. It's definitely safe. But only a fraction of the Light Dragon power as much as my body can handle could be stored in me in theory. It's not it's true power but I won't die in vain at least". Shou shrugs his shoulders. Although he can't get the full power, it's enough in his opinion. He doesn't want Haku to be sad if he's gone and don't want to risk it.

'I see'. Hiraki nodded.

"Kuroma-san, Hikari-san, let's take rest for today and continue tomorrow".

Everyone agreed as they camped inside Mount Koryu. Shou had brought some rations while Kuroma went to hunt wild meats outside.

Kuroma had second thoughts about everything. He should... Take the power for himself. For revenge on the people who had treated them like garbage. He will destroy this world himself instead of waiting! He planned his betrayal without Shou knowing.

***