Devan opened his eyes with genuine surprise, quickly sitting up on his bed, ready to smile and leap for joy when he felt a sudden wave of dizziness. "W-what?" he grabbed his head tightly before feeling as if his whole body was throbbing.
"Shit..." he cursed under his breath as he noticed the world slowly losing its brightness, "Is this an enemy attack?" he wondered before collapsing unconscious onto his bed.
...
In Devan's dream.
A rather poor village could be seen, with a young man wielding a staff, his movements elegant as if he were dancing. He had no eyes; his sockets were empty while his body, dry and thin like a small dead tree branch, seemed on the verge of collapsing.
The young man swung his staff through the air, the air splitting with his movement, a small shockwave forming around him. That same stick he held began to glow slightly with a greenish hue.
The young man pushed it forward gracefully, his figure moving like a warrior delivering a lethal thrust to an enemy.
Then, without saying a word, the young man planted the staff into the ground. It glowed almost intensely with that greenish tone, the earth cracking slowly, and almost as if there were an immense green lamp buried in the ground, light emerged from the fissures.
It didn't take long for a strange being to begin rising from the earth, ascending quickly and appearing with such force that a lot of rocks and dirt were sent flying.
The thing that appeared was clad in black armor, carrying a long sword with inscriptions at its waist, from its helmet a characteristic light shone while riding a skeletal horse with curved, glowing horns.
"Apocalypse Rider..." the young man's voice was heard as he smiled and the world slowly faded away.
...
In his bed, Devan, still completely unconscious, began to wake up. He blinked a few times, moved slightly on his bed, and slowly opened his eyes.
He had seen the scene of that strange young man in his mind as if he were a spectator, and although his mind still felt unresponsive, Devan still understood something from the depths of his heart.
"Is it... a new spell?" he said in a voice so low it might as well have been a whisper. He forced himself to sit despite his weak body and unconsciously his mind turned to the Fractured Mind Counter, which had now dropped its count to "200."
The necromancer blinked, touched his forehead, and scratched his head, still unable to comprehend what was happening.
After sitting and thinking about his dream for a while, he finally regained some composure and mental clarity, "Was that a dream?" he asked himself, "No... the counter dropped to 200, 1000 have been deducted from me, but..." he narrowed his eyes.
Devan quickly stood up, in his mind as if it were a memory, there was one more spell besides the three basic spells: Bone Spear, Curse, Skeleton Summon.
In addition to those three basics, in his mind there was a new spell, "Apocalypse Rider," which, according to his perception, could take all the magic in his body to use at once.
"It's likely the counter will help me on my path in necromancy," Devan concluded quickly. If the counter gave me a necromancer spell every thousand points, then should I just focus on increasing the points on the counter?
"I should try this spell," Devan told himself, but he quickly shook his head. He couldn't do it in the village; he would be easily found. A bit anxious like a child with a new toy, the necromancer quickly left his apartment.
He took fast steps down the hall and went down the stairs, ready to go to a nearby forest and take advantage of the absence of Anbu to test his new spell.
However, just as he was about to leave his residence, a man was waiting for him at the main door. Devan stopped at the entrance, looking warily at the man behind the fences surrounding the residence.
"It's an honor to see you, Lord Danzo," the necromancer bowed slightly before straightening up to the door, opening the lock, and finally saying, "Would you like to come in to see the residence?"
Danzo shook his head, gave a half-smile while lightly tapping his staff on the floor, "It's a nice residence. According to Sarutobi, this is where Naruto lives, Right?" The old man asked an obvious question, so Devan simply nodded a few times.
"Once Naruto disobeyed Lord Hokage's orders and got into trouble, but, naturally, Naruto is special so he was simply scolded and nothing more," Danzo observed Devan calmly.
"However, Devan, if a ninja had disobeyed orders in that way, he would have been executed immediately. Do you understand me?" The old man's voice grew slightly graver.
Danzo stepped aside, pushing some flowers on the ground with his staff and looking at the green grass of the garden, "It's been a while since you've gone on a mission, Devan. Why don't you take one now?" The implications were obvious.
However, despite Danzo's words, Devan remained calm, although he narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind at ease, "I am on a mission right now, Lord Danzo, I must protect Naruto," he explained calmly.
But Danzo shook his head a couple of times, quickly letting out a deep, restrained sigh before turning halfway, "Let one of my Root ninja replace you for a few days. On the border with the Sand Village, there is a family of valuable weapons makers. We need to escort them to the village to ensure we have specialized weapon craftsmen for the next war."
Danzo turned halfway to look Devan in the eyes, "You will be accompanied by an old acquaintance, Anko Mitarashi. Also, I learned from Kakashi about the strange disappearances of Kurenai and Altair's corpses. Those gold coins don't seem particularly interesting, though they are valuable," Danzo walked calmly back outside.
"I will investigate those Fractured Mind Coins for you, and Naruto will be protected. You have nothing more to do in Konoha, Devan. I entrust this mission to you," Danzo threw a scroll at Devan along with a bundle of bills.
Devan narrowed his eyes tightly, a kind of irritation running through his whole body. Does this old man really think he won't notice what he's plotting? "If Lord Hokage wanted to assign me a mission, he would simply send one of his Anbu," he thought to himself.
"Since old Danzo came for this, it means this mission doesn't come from Lord Hokage, but from you, Lord Danzo. But why?" While Devan pondered, he couldn't help but think about how he transmigrated into this body.
The original Devan, an unremarkable Jounin ninja, had died on a mission, killed by two powerful unidentified enemies. The whole team of four people he had gone on the mission with were also killed.
Transmigrating into a dead body that was fully healed when he took over, Devan had his own speculations about why his predecessor had died.
Now, looking at Danzo smiling warmly at him, the necromancer could guess the reason his previous self had died.
"Understood, Lord Danzo, I will make sure to complete the mission," nevertheless, the necromancer accepted the mission calmly, wearing a smile.
Chapters Ahead on: [email protected]/tgthegoodd
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