Chapter 181: Assassin

Is this some kind of divine punishment? Somehow he came to the conclusion that it must be that. If this was because of all the mistakes he made in his two lives, then, this might make sense. His mind was so tired that he finally gave up and threw himself off the cliff in a direct fall into total insanity. His willpower shattered like glass and he thought deeply about this. Surely death in this place was a gift no one had ever achieved, a salvation no one would ever attain. But this is Toru's hell, a place unique and only for him. Something was manipulating this part of the Throne of Heroes and worst of all, the World was allowing it.

"It's fine this way..."

He decided this was what he deserved after everything he did. His mistakes could no longer be fixed and there was no going back. Every one of his sins were being punished in this place, at least that was what Toru thought and he stuck with that idea in his mind.

"I seek the path that will lead me to an answer."

However, a man's voice echoed in the distance, and a bright light manifested in front of Toru. It was there that the surroundings lit up, revealing the scenery in which this boy found himself. It was the Crimson Ocean, where thousands of souls inked with blood complained and belittled Toru.

"Who are you?"

He asked, and the man's voice rang out again.

"By the authority of the Holy Church. The Cleric Enforcer of Heresy."

A cleric? An executioner? These were words Toru had not expected to hear. No doubt he felt confused. His mind was already too broken so he thought this was just one of his many delusions, but the voice was real, the voice was calling him.

"I call to you, hero of another age. That angel who delivers God's message. The light of justice that will prevail."

Yes. Someone was calling Toru. They called him hero and angel, words with deep meaning to Toru. Slowly he reached out with the intention of touching the light that manifested.

"The blood of the son of God will not be shed in vain, for I will see to it that this does not happen. Attend to my call, listen to my prayers. You, who are hidden in the highest of the spiritual, answer and show yourself to me."

Toru finally felt that the voice was real.

"Someone needs me..."

He looked up and a couple of tears fell. He thought about the possibility of getting out of here and the chance to find a new goal. His heart was broken into pieces, and his mind even more troubled than when he was alive, but he had a wish. That wish was something that anyone would wish for.....

"I want a better future.."

But Toru wasn't just anyone.

"A future where I don't have to feel like this anymore. A permanent death... a happy ending where I no longer exist..."

The most selfish wish anyone could have permeated deep in his heart and finally touched the light. As he touched the light, his brain received a flood of information and his body began to disappear in a great cloud of vapor. In his eyes the scenery changed, and a white light under his feet manifested in the form of a magic circle. With the information he received directly into his mind, Toru understood the situation and closed his eyes. 

'A war... a wish... the Holy Grail... Fuyuki, Japan... Magic... Servants... Masters... Magus... Noble Phantasm... Assassin...'

-Fuyuki, Japan-

He recalculated everything in his mind and his invocation to the earthly world was successfully completed. With all the information he received in order, he took out the broken dagger from the seal on his arm bandage and pointed it at the person in front of him. With a tired, emotionless and a little gloomy sigh in the middle of this dark room, he asked:

"Are you... are you my master?"

In his eyes, a man with an empty gaze looked at him with a rather curious gesture. The man replied to him:

"I am"

Then Toru nodded his head and put the dagger away. He approached the man and offered his hand to greet him. The man understood the gesture and I greet him the same.

"Kotomine Kirei, that's my name"

Toru couldn't help but see a man with an expression similar to his. Even the two of them had the same dull look. Memorizing his Master's name, he nodded his head.

"I am Assassin."

That's all he planned to say about himself. No more, no less. This is a war where he will fight alongside his Master to obtain the wish that the Holy Grail can fulfill. Toru already had an idea of what he should do with the basic information. Keeping his own identity secret was the best option he could take, because if someone discovers his identity, they can easily deduce what abilities he has based on this. The same goes for the other Servants.

In retrospect, Kirei found it strange that Assassin had not revealed his name to his Master. If Kirei did not know the identity of this Servant, then, he would not be able to give him specific orders during the war. He needed to know what Assassin is capable of doing, but he also felt a little disappointed. Assassin is the worst Servant class, the weakest of all, but he sustains himself thanks to his stealth and espionage skills. As for combat, that's another matter. The physical stats for combat in Assassins are always low and Kirei believes that the Servant in front of him is the same. Well, it was so according to what he learned from Tokiomi.

"Aren't you planning to tell me your identity? I think that's something necessary for the war. I must assume you already know all that it entails."

"I know and I understand. But my identity is something I will keep to myself. I have no intention of disobeying your orders, but as for my identity, I will say nothing about it."

"That doesn't make sense. How am I supposed to-"

"I'll take care of the combat. I won't reveal my identity, but I assure you I won't fail."

Kirei didn't understand this. How Servant that he is, Assassin must obey his Master's orders without complaint, but it seemed that this guy was quite stubborn and rebellious. There was also something Kirei was interested in testing in case the summoning was successful and that was the Command Seals. How now he had the chance, he decided to use the first seal, but first....

"May I ask why?"

Toru nodded his head before answering.

"My past is somewhat complicated and, in short, something too personal. I would be grateful to you, Master, for allowing me to keep my identity this way. I know it must seem strange, but this is how I am. This is a part of me that I could never change, and this past is something very important that I won't dare tell anyone."

"I see..."

Understanding Assassin's way of thinking, Kirei sighed and shook his head. Assassin turned out to be a rather peculiar Servant, but he didn't care about that. He didn't care if Assassin didn't want to reveal his secrets. Servants, as he understood it, were tools used by Magus to achieve their goals. Now that Kirei had become a Magus, his salvation lay in Tokiomi's victory, and Assassin, as his Servant, would guide him on this steep path to salvation. With this in mind, ignoring everything Assassin said earlier, he raised his hand where he had the triple red mark and said:

"I, Kotomine Kirei." 

He remembered Tokiomi teaching him how to use the Command Seals. The process was quite easy, give the command with using the Seal in mind and that was it. It was quite simple compared to learning related to magic. 

"With the authority the Holy Grail has granted me."

Assassin frowned at this. He thought his Master would be someone sympathetic, but he was wrong. He realized that he misjudged Kirei. And right now, once Kirei gives the order, he must carry it out without being able to refuse, that's how Command Seals work. It is a final order that Assassin will not be able to escape from.

"I order you to reveal to me your identity and all the details necessary for this war."

One of the three marks on Kirei's hand slowly turned opaque until it almost disappeared. At that moment, Assassin lowered his gaze and sighed. A long three-second silence filled the room. It seemed that the Command Seal had not worked, but Kirei gave a specific order, as Tokiomi had taught him, so it must have worked. Assassin was quiet, but suddenly....

"My name is Toru, Asahi Toru of the Asahi clan. I was born in a large village located in the center of the Fire Country, Konohagakure."

Kirei listened carefully.

"Throughout my life I have trained as a shinobi. Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Senjutsu, different disciplines related to the ninja art, I mastered a large part of that. I guess with everything I mastered I became one of the most powerful people of my time, but my life, what I considered my identity, at some point I doubted it. I grew up in Konoha, studied at the Ninja Academy, joined a team, got betrayed and had to flee the place I considered my home."

Toru looked up, where his dark rainbow eyes slightly illuminated his face.

"They wanted to see a criminal? Well, I became one. But in the end all my decisions led me to a place I never expected to end up. My death, the Fourth World War. It was there that I let all my power out and, with my last strength, I committed suicide alongside the enemy."

Pulling out the daggers, they were illuminated with the light of shakuton.

"A power to shake the world, a power I held in the palm of my hands for ten seconds, but now I am nothing compared to when I was alive. The Grail limited most of my power. Now I only have my speed, my basic level ninjutsu, my taijutsu, my Noble Phantasm and my eyes."

These last two things interested Kirei quite a bit leaving aside that such a Fourth World War. 

"Noble Phantasm, your eyes..."

Toru continued.

"My Noble Phantasm, Saigo no Yoake, lies in creating plasma by nuclear fusion using the hydrogen present in the sky, but this requires a large amount of chakra/mana, which makes the nuclear fusion not shut down. Although it is useless to use it if I am in my weakest state, as I will disappear after using it, plus this itself also takes a large part of my Master's mana, which can be dangerous for you. As for my eyes, these are a hybridization between the Sharingan [Revolving Copying Eye] and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception. I named this hybridization 'Shigan' [Eyes of Death], as they show me golden lines in existence that, when cut, I am even able to assassinate targets that are not 'alive' from the start."

Toru blinked once, causing him Shigan in his eyes to go out. With that, he said as much as he could. He took advantage of the fact that Kirei's question wasn't that specific and only revealed what seemed to be of use to the war.

...

Having heard this, Kirei was a bit confused. Leaving aside that Assassin's power has been reduced too much with his summoning, Assassin said some interesting things. As Toru looked at Kirei silently, the latter thought.

'Fourth World War'.

If Assassin participated in the Fourth World War, that meant that this Servant really came from the future. Furthermore, he named the Country of Fire and a large village called Konohagakure. That is not something that exists today, and considering that it has only been a little over four decades since the end of World War II, what Risei said in the letter seemed to be true. Although this was only Kirei's interpretation, for Toru really did not come from the future, but from another world.

"Asahi Toru, uh..."

Assassin undoubtedly looked like a Japanese native, his facial features gave him away. He thought then that possibly the future of Japan would be called 'Fire Country' and would be divided into large villages or cities. If the Fourth World War is real, then that would be a long, long time away.

'Possibly in that future I will no longer be alive, so it is not worth worrying about things that have not happened yet, much less if it is a very distant future'.

That was his final conclusion.

"What should I call you, Master?"

In order to forget the fact that he was forced to reveal his secrets, Toru changed the subject and, in a soft, rather calm voice, asked his question. Clearly Kirei was going to answer.

"You can call me whatever you want, as I think that's not something relevant."

"Understood, Kirei-sama."

Toru bowed and waited for some order from his Master, but the Master just turned around and started tidying up the room. Everything looked messy after the summoning, so, believing that Kirei needed help, Toru started to tidy up everything around him. But when he turned around and saw the briefcase on the table, he sighed wearily, understanding everything at last.

'I see... so this is where it came from...'

That piece of metal, gleaming and perfectly preserved. He reached his hand timidly closer and grasped the fragment of the dagger. He admired the object silently and remembered the time he got angry at the Nanabi's Jinchūriki. Toru searched with his eyes for the piece of dagger on the battlefield after the explosion, but he didn't find it, but now this fragment was here, in the case on the table.

'How did this part of my dagger end up here?'

Keeping the fragment in the seal on his right wrist, Toru continued to tidy the room and thought about this, but in the end he found no answer to his question. 

***

Having tidied up the entire basement, Kirei said nothing more other than, with this, part of his training was complete. In the end he thought that a healthy body requires the right food and the predetermined hours of sleep, so he went upstairs to go to his room and rest, but he realized that Assassin was following him in complete silence.

Toru didn't know exactly what to do, it seemed that the war was still quite a while away, which left him very little to do until then. Kirei noticed this as well.

"Keep an eye on the surroundings of the mansion."

Toru nodded at this order and walked off down the hallway. Kirei entered his room after seeing this and lay down on the bed to think before going to sleep.

'A Servant from the future...'

He closed his eyes finally.

***

While this was going on, Toru walked over to one of the windows and opened it. Before he could jump out, he heard a noise behind him, which made him look back. Turning around, he saw a little girl with long brown hair down to the nape of her neck. The girl was dressed in white pajamas resembling a long-sleeved dress, who was looking confused at the stranger in front of her.

Toru thought how to explain this strange situation. So, in order not to show himself as someone aggressive, he relaxed his muscles and said:

"Good evening." 

She bowed politely to show that she wasn't going to do anything unnecessary and looked the girl in the eyes.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. I'm not a thief or anything, really. Kirei-sama just summoned me, though perhaps I'm not allowed to say that? Well, he gave me the order to keep an eye on the surroundings tonight. That's what I was going to do now..."

The girl was still confused, and obviously couldn't trust the words this strange boy was telling her. Even though everything was so dark, she could more or less see the boy's face inside the black hood. He was a rather young boy, an 'onii-san' from the eyes of a japanese infant. In fact, this strange boy's face had features that she considered 'kind' but somehow 'sad'. This boy's gaze was dull, as if he had no soul, as if he had resigned himself to suffering. She felt a little sorry for that, but he was still a stranger so she plucked up her courage and looked him up.

"What's your name, what are you?"

Toru sat on the window frame ready to jump and answered this girl's question.

"My name is something I can't reveal, but you can call me Assassin. Besides..."

His eyes glowed in the darkness with a strange color resembling a dark rainbow where the color blue predominates. In the center of his iris was a black X slowly rotating.

"I am a ninja."

The body of that boy in front of her blinked for a second and disappeared from her sight leaving a small breeze because of how fast he moved. She ran to the window and looked around, but no one was there. She felt confused and even thought that what she saw was just a figment of her imagination, or much worse, a ghost that made an appearance to scare her in the middle of the night. Although the latter could not be true. That boy even knew Kirei, in that case....

'Assassin...'

The girl, Tōsaka Sakura, closed the window and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. While she was at it, she remembered the face of that stranger over and over again. A kind face with a sad expression, that was all she could see in that mysterious boy.

***

On the roof of the mansion, Toru observed the surroundings. Everything seemed quite normal, a different world that resembled the world of his past life, when he was that emotionless scientist. He wanted to soar high using his Rinnegan, but even that evolution of his eyes was restricted. Even so, he still had a lot of strength in his legs so, seeing all around him once again, he took a strong leap, which took him quite high.

The air up there was quite cold, as it was already quite late at night. The lights of the buildings, even though this was not Russia, brought back quite a few nostalgic memories. In fact, during his life as Alek Gusev, Toru was in Tokyo for one of the few lectures he used to give to the next generation of researchers. 

"Everything looks so much the same..."

Far from the landscapes filled with old-fashioned Japanese-style houses, this place was much more modern than when Toru lived in Shinobi World.

"Light pollution is also a problem, huh..."

He felt back in his past life, which he didn't consider a good thing. Those memories only made him suffer. He didn't want this. Though maybe that was why he was summoned into this world.

"To fulfill my wish..."

Toru fell quickly and landed in front of the mansion rather gently. If this was the Shinobi World, surely the ground would have cracked from the impact, but it seemed that, being a Heroic Spirit, he gained abilities based on his Servant Class. It also seemed that Toru, by moving at the speed of light, the surroundings did not suffer the consequences of this. It was as if his footsteps were slowed down in such a specific way that this did not cause havoc to his surroundings. It was quite convenient and possibly the other Servants also have abilities like this, no, they definitely do.

Upon being summoned to this world, Toru was granted the Assassin class, based on his actions in life. There were six other classes besides the Assassin class and Toru already had that information in his mind. Each Servant would receive the same information when summoned, he was aware of that, so he had to be prepared for when he faced them.

"Well..."

With a leap he appeared on the roof of the mansion and sat there. From the seals painted on the bandages on his arms, he pulled out that dagger fragment next to the daggers and looked at them carefully. 

"Hm... maybe I can repair it..."

Taking the broken dagger and the metal fragment, Toru put them together to check the damage and these, as if they were two magnets of opposite poles, the broken dagger and the metal fragment, stuck together without needing to be close enough. He raised his eyebrows as he watched the metal seem to restore itself. It was as if the dagger had never been broken. Another miracle from that Holy Grail....

With that, Toru narrowed his eyes.

"Okaa-sama... your dagger is no longer broken."

Locked in that place called the Throne of Heroes, suffering an endless loop of two lives filled with pain, separated from the Unholy World where it seemed he would be reunited with his friends and family, that was him, that is who he is right now. He is Asahi Toru, Assassin-class Servant and Heroic Spirit, the one who sacrificed himself for what he believed was right. With a heart broken into pieces, aiming to get his wish, his eyes lit up with the dark rainbow light of death, his hands were covered in destructive flames and from his mouth he sketched a sigh of hot steam.

'Hm... leaving all that aside...'

The flames died down and he stowed the daggers in the seals of his bandages. The time had come to question this whole situation.

'The real reason why I am now in a different world.'

Remembering the story Obito told about the Asahi, that man from another world, who seemed to stop time and control the surroundings at his whim, it could be about a native of this world. As Obito told it, it seemed that this man did not manipulate chakra, but something different. Being summoned into this world, Toru felt his chakra system change. Looking at himself with the Eternal Kodō Shigan Shigan he realized this. His chakra system was different, it was as if it had been superimposed with another strange circuitry flowing throughout his body.

'In this world the senjutsu chakra is called "prana" and the normal chakra present in people's bodies is called "mana". Based on this, it means that I always had these strange circuits, but I could not activate them until I came to this world in spirit form. Of course, not having a body, I did not realize this. The blood inheritance left by that man in the Shinobi World made it possible for me to become a Heroic Spirit. But if I think about it, it doesn't make sense.'

Asahi Kyoko also possessed the Shigan, an ocular power that was not of this world, and it seems that the rest of the main family of the Asahi clan may also have come to awaken these eyes. In any case, due to their actions in the world, shouldn't they have become Heroic Spirits as well? At least Kyoko, he's mother, qualified for this. So what was the difference between Toru and his mother?

'If I think about it analytically, this could be due to the amount of blood inheritance present in the body. If my mother had DNA more attached to the Shinobi World, in that case, when she died, she ended up in the Impure World and not as a Heroic Spirit. What could differentiate me from my mother, is the amount of blood inheritance I received, that is, there are many factors that could have made my DNA more belonging to this world than to the Shinobi World'.

The most important factor was his eyes. While Kyoko only reached the second evolution of the Shigan, i.e. the Kodō Shigan, Toru went all the way to the final, the Rinne-Shigan. An important fact to note is that Kyoko seemed to have myopia. When she was going to read small print, she would put on glasses to see better. Perhaps that is another reason why she retired from being a kunoichi. It seems that the Kodō Shigan affected her vision a bit.

'How lucky I was to have had more of that man's blood heritage than the others doesn't make sense, but I guess sometimes the odds are never zero.'

Another important fact...

'I seem to be able to speak every language in this world. Well, I already knew how to speak Russian and English, but in my life as a shinobi I never felt it necessary to use those two languages, since everyone spoke Japanese. Just another miracle from that Grail, I guess...'

With the ability to communicate in different languages, that made everything even easier. In the end, he already knew his identity in this world.

'From now on, until this war is over, I will be Assassin. I will try to win the grail and then...'

I will wish to disappear...

He believed that he had already done all he could in his two lives, that he no longer deserved a third chance. If he wished to return to the past, what assurance did he have that he could get it right this time and not waste his life as usual? A third chance would only be repeating the same mistakes, that's what he thought. His life as a scientist and as a shinobi is over, now he is already dead. Not to return to that place full of torture and dread, he had that selfish wish in mind.

In conclusion, this foolish boy will never change. He has already sunk into the abyss of his own suffering and it will not be easy to pull him out.

To be continued...