Don't mind me, I'm just your resident Shinobi! - The Chapter 9 (Patreon)

He's Back!

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Disclaimer- I don’t actually own anything that the Mouse lays a claim to. He could own me at this moment; I wouldn’t know. All hail to the Mighty Mouse!

Kathmandu, Nepal

–Alex Warner–

Everyone knows that a good training arc needs a natural, picturesque area that was also remote enough that no one could accidentally stumble upon the Main Character training himself, preferably in a rather harsh and inhumane(to normal people) manner.

He exhaled, took a deep breath, found the air to his liking, and dropped his bag on the ground, looking at the dense forestry all around him. The diesel clatter of the jeep he’d rented for this specific purpose was grating on his ears, disrupting the otherwise serene noises around him, so he wiggled his fingers, creating chakra threads that seemed to wiggle about mid-air. He then slapped the bonnet of the jeep, and the same threads that felt so fragile as if they could be blown away by the wind any moment, seemed to come to life as they covered the distance in an instant, found the ignition, and turned it off, all without him having to look back at all.

Great, huh?

Now that he was done with sightseeing and hunting for training spots, he set about creating a makeshift camp for himself. Thankfully, this place had all the essentials that he might need, like water, good air, wood, and even convenient access to the city nearby, from where he could procure anything he might want.

Just because he was in the training Arc does not mean he had to forego modern conveniences. Protein Powder for example, was a marvellous thing that he questioned its sparse use in everyday life.

Naturally, since he had chakra and his body was suped up by said chakra, he could metabolise food at a far faster rate than others, and break it down into base components in a far safer manner.

The area was pretty remote, about a 3 hour one way ride back to the city proper, and had all the essentials he needed, including a cave, conveniently placed. Taking stock of all the camping gear he’d bought, he got to work. Of course, keeping the sceptre nearby was a given since that thing was a chakra magnet as well as a trouble magnet. 

In fact, had it not been for its gluttonous behavior regarding his chakra, he might have had to leave the sceptre behind. Its energy signature was only masked because of his chakra, and he intended to keep it that way. In the heat of the moment, he might have done some stuff and said some stuff that might or might not lead to Collateral Damage Barbie for the Kree Empire coming hunting him down, but he was in no shape or form ready to confront someone empowered by the energies of an Infinity Stone.

Not without his cool, god-like eyes anyway.

Speaking of the god like eyes and the powers he should have gotten from them, he kicked the lower part of the bag, the sceptre bursting out of the already peeled off zippers, right into his waiting palm. The impact felt significant, as if he was experiencing what Thor felt when Mjolnir just slammed right back into his waiting hand. Of course, he might be exaggerating here, but this just felt right to him. 

The next moment, chakra flowed into the sceptre, as he closed his eyes and swiped the sceptre in a wide arc, as his mind interfaced with something that had existed since the Dawn of Time. Ofcourse, he could not do so in its entirety, that would boil his brain off!

But using the Mind Stone and even the sceptre as dams, he was able to control the flow of information, in order to find…someone.

His eyes snapped open as he hefted the sceptre in one hand and blasted a bright blue ball of energy at seemingly nothing, only for the blast to disappear mid air, as if swallowed by something invisible.

As he suspected, can't really make yourself invisible from the Mind Stone, can you? Light can be bent, sound can be masked, but minds cannot be hidden from the Manifestation of Mind itself.

He squinted as reality itself glitched for a moment, space breaking apart like glass, before a hole appeared mid air, through which she came, stepping on air, walking towards him as if the threat she radiated was effortlessly done.

The shattered glass disappeared a moment later, as he was left with the Sorcerer Supreme floating mid air, looking down on him as if an angry monk, which she theoretically was. The signature yellow robes, the hood on her head hiding her shiny bald head, and the patent pending placid look on her smooth, wrinkle free face.

All in all, she cut quite an intimidating figure, someone who was not to be messed with at any cost, someone for whom he was supposed to bend and not the other way. Someone so rigid and with the power to back it up that there had been beings over a hundred times stronger and older than he was right now who had to fall back in the face of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Someone, to whom, he most definitely, should not have shown a smug smirk before hollering, “Yo! What’s up? Here to see my Training Arc?”

She was going to whoop his ass, wasn’t she?

___xx___

“You know,” He began, in an attempt at diplomacy, “this really does not affect me as  much as it would a regular, run of the mill human.” His voice was perfectly stable, no trembling, sir, as he was currently being hung upside down using the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, tied to one end of the tallest branch of the tree.

In a way, it was his fault. What was he thinking, choosing a place that could basically be considered a paradise for any slinging being, be it a Spider Man or anyone whose favorite spell was a kinky red and warm rope that had the property of unbreakable instilled in them.

And also, yeah, there was the whole attempt to make light of the situation and using the swinging the sceptre around to move in front of her, as if that was going to ward her off. 

So, yeah, in summary, he was a dork and an idiot for attacking her. The first sign of his stupidity was him being disarmed instantly, and the second, was the way the sceptre was currently floating in front of her, while she also floated mid air, as if in a deep meditation session.

The way that the sceptre flowed in nice geometrical patterns was kinda mesmerising though.

Huh, he wondered if all that blood flowing back into his head was becoming damaging after a while?

__xx__

After what felt like hours of just hanging around(heh), tangled up in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, he surprisingly didn’t feel sore or any pain from the ropes digging into his body at uncomfortable angles. Though, his earlier hypothesis of not being affected by being hung upside down was not holding as strong as it did in the beginning.

If only he could cycle through his chakra, and let it wash away any and all feelings of weakness and ignore any potential problems that could come through it, like a good and proper shinobi, but noooo, this damned poor excuse of BDSM rope hindered him from doing that.

Which is why, he was about to do something stupid like open his mouth and disturb what looked like a pretty serious attempt at meditation by the Ancient One, only for the sound of fingers being snapped resounding through the clearing, accompanied by the kink ropes disappearing, and his head almost making a hole in the ground.

Only his excellent reflexes saved him from that embarrassing fate, as he flipped mid air and landed on his two feet and one hand, superhero style. 

Snapping right up, he looked up, only to find no one floating there, looking down at him imperiously. His gaze slid down, and to the right, to find the Ancient One standing, with the sceptre floating by her side, ramrod straight, as if a private in the company of a higher ranked official.

Before he could ask for it back, she flicked her wrist, as the sceptre was sent careening towards him, hilt first, as he snapped it out of the air, the feeling ever familiar, as he sent his chakra into it on instinct, finding the same reaction as before.

“You are an anomaly, Mr.Warner,” was the first thing she said to me, which gave him a jolt, as scenarios of him being evicted from this universe in rather unfortunate ways, on account of being an outsider, began blaring into his mind.

The fact that he could realistically do very little to stop it was just serving as an amplifier for those bad thoughts. Thankfully, before he could do something stupid and probably unhelpful for his own cause, she spoke once more.

“By coincidence or through your unique energy, you have managed to lift the curse on the sceptre, saving yourself from the control of some very nasty beings."

“Curse?” god, he sounded like such an amateur when he said that. Of course, he knew what a curse was. He was speaking to Lady Magic herself, as far as his level was concerned, so her speaking curse meant it was a magical curse. But how did he do that, anyway?

Unheeding of his internal panic, she continued, “The sceptre is now free of any outside interference. I can confidently say that the sceptre is not influencing you on behalf of its previous owner.” She delivered that statement with a smile on her face, as if waiting for him to realise something.

Wait. 

His hand jerked as the sceptre was thrust to the side, floating two feet away from him, then promptly clattering on the ground when he realised what she was alluding to, “You mean it has been trying to influence me? It has a mind of its own?”

She shrugged, clearly enjoying everything, “Who knows. They have never been properly studied. The individual stones might not have much of a conscience but collectively? Maybe. All I can say is that they are items of great power and equal if not greater notoriety for a reason.”

“So why aren’t you taking it away from me?” He asked her as he absentmindedly rewound his past actions, to see if, at any point, it looked as if he was being brainwashed by the sceptre. Aside from an urge to keep it close to himself, use it to learn the Mind Arts, supply it with chakra for some reason, and defend it from everyone else coming for it, he couldn’t…

“Holy Shit!” He cursed out loud, a chill going down his spine as he realised how unbelievably arrogant he had been, to think that he thought himself capable enough of handling an Infinity Stone, however diminished and wrapped in safety equipment it might be.

Let alone the fact that the said safety equipment had a mind of its own, nudging anyone in the vicinity towards conflict.

“I assume you realised something?” 

He jerked back a bit, his mind running in circles as he tried to think things through. It would be unreasonable to just question his every decision just because of the sceptre. But it would be the epitome of foolishness not to take into account the very nature of the Mind Stone and the sceptre.

Still, all that could come later on, when he was not standing in front of the self proclaimed protector of the planet.

Cycling his chakra through his body, he relaxed slightly at the ever so familiar sensation, of the reassuring feeling of being definitely superhuman, even though it would hardly make any difference when it came to the Ancient One here.

He nodded at her, thankful for her words, even though he was still confused as to why she had not taken the scepter from him. Hell, with what he knew of it now, he would most definitely not want it near him, not until he was stronger and had the Sage Eyes unlocked. Or maybe, that was just his paranoia taking over his command centre.

“I definitely need to think over some stuff before I can move forward, but I don’t believe that the sceptre dictated all of my actions. It might have some influence but I refuse to believe that I was a puppet all this time. My mind is not that weak.” He said with an air of finality, and further relaxed as if the very act of saying that out loud had confirmed something for him, bringing with it a deep sense of relief.

After all, being mind controlled or brainwashed or having your own violated in general must feel yucky.

“I see, that is the right mindset to have. The Mind Arts are said to be the most insidious for a reason. Not knowing if you are of sound mind is one of the greatest pitfalls of the Mystic Arts. Not having confidence in one’s own mind is the very reason I have lost hundreds of talented people before they could reach a fraction of their true potential.”

“Thank you,” He nodded and then continued, “That being said, I am still waiting as to why you have not taken it from me. I assumed it would fall under your goal of protecting the planet.”

“From you?” She quirked an eyebrow at his question and offered one of her own. Noticing her pattern of not answering his questions in a straightforward manner and instead making him run circles with a small question of her own, he chose to remain silent this time.

Nodding slightly, as if he had passed some hidden test of hers, she continued, “Logic would dictate so, but only if one was judging based on the information you have, which is quite limited, I must say.”

Limited? 

“If one had hundreds, maybe thousands of timelines' worth of data, then they would make a much more informed decision, don’t you think?”

Something was wrong here. Why was she sparing so many words on him? She was supposed to be the Sorcerer Supreme. An unaging being. Lived for centuries. Killed more people and things than he could ever imagine. 

“The sceptre, while dangerous, can also serve as a powerful weapon. And in the right hands…”

Words were supposed to be not just rare but sacred for someone of her age, and yet, she continued droning on, speaking the same thing over and over again, just coated with a different flavour each time, as if…

It clicked for him. She was buying time, but for what?

His eyes widened, and it stopped her from speaking, as he realised something, something he should have known from the very beginning. Curse him and his stupid, dense head.

With a twitch of his finger, chakra sang through his body, as chakra threads, nearly invisible to the naked eye but not to her, lathed onto the sceptre which was all too happy to drink his chakra.

The sceptre slammed into his open palm with a satisfying thump as he sat on a nearby rock, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling and instead basking in the happiness of making a right deduction.

Gone was the calm, neutral look on her face, and all that was left was a cold, unfeeling expression with a very slight narrowing of her eyes, focused heavily on his right hand, which held the sceptre.

Hmm. Interesting.

Pointing at her with his left finger, he spoke, accusingly, “You can’t see my future, can you? Your Path to Victory….is blind.”