A week later I was once again watching with minor amusement as Fugaku and company argued over plans during the briefing.
I sighed as Fugaku argued with the Kurama heir about their next big plan...
After our successful first day, we had mostly pushed Kiri to the edge of Noodle country.
After they realized what was happening and had withdrawn their troops, it was already too late as we had destroyed thirty-five of the forty or so camps.
The remaining few were packed with survivors and reinforcements and were now not worth the potential risk in uprooting.
There were only the original large camp and a few other makeshift large camps left before they were completely out of Noodle Country...
Now Fugaku wanted to make the final push and oust them from Noodles while the Kurama heir wanted to take a wait and see approach...
Regardless of today's outcome, I was leaving in a week...
Which was likely why Fugaku was pushing for a final push...
I snorted and an Inuzuka Jonin raised an eyebrow at me.
After a quick shrug, he went back to what he was doing, while I sat and pondered.
I had taken out more than a sixth of the camps myself, so Fugaku would likely want me to stay...
He might have already requested my transfer to Noodles...
Meaning I had to take off before the Hokage got around to ordering me to stay...
Bang*
I watched with mild amusement as Fugaku slammed his hand down and glared at the Kurama heir with his Sharingan active...
I sighed and drifted back into thought even as Fugaku flared his chakra.
Though I could make a lab here I didn't want to end my tutelage under Orochimaru...
There was still much he could teach me...
Well, that and Fugaku stole my new sword...
I was pretty pissed about losing it and wasn't looking forward to doing Fugaku any favors...
...
After what felt like three hours of arguing it was decided that we'd make a final push tomorrow to try and oust Kiri from Noodle Country completely.
The main worry was that Kiri would avoid our frontal assault, bypass us, and run into The Land Of Fire.
I didn't think it was likely and thus paid it no mind.
Kiri was far more likely to send the rest of the Swordsmen down to deal with us, that was the most pressing concern.
At least in my opinion...
...
I mulled over the idea of bringing pizza to the Naruto-verse while idly watching our army's preparations.
It's been so long since I've had pizza...
I wonder if I could get the camps cook to make it...
I sighed and dismissed the silly thought instead opted to think about the coming battle.
Kiri's spies and scouts were likely to see us preparing and Kiri would prepare in kind.
Meaning that a large clash was extremely likely.
Fugaku and I would have to deal with whatever strong ninja came, while our armies fought around us, it didn't sound all that fun as it was going to be a shitshow.
I didn't consider Fugaku strong enough to do anything should Kiri toss their Jinjuriki at us, and I doubt he could pull a Madara and control the Tailed Beast should it appear...
Not every Uchiha could control a Tailed Beast...
I shook my head and started towards my temporary housing.
I needed to practice my Fuinjutsu a bit...
The Four Symbols Seal or the Five Elements Seal should be enough to handle a Jinjuriki...
Hopefully...
...
Two armies met in a large field and stared at each other menacingly, there was visible tension, muscles were coiled, weapons were held at the ready, and the air was thick with chakra that even non-sensors such as myself could feel.
I took a deep breath and started forming my Dermal Armor.
I looked over Kiri's front line for a moment trying to spot their Jinjuriki or any Swordsmen that were there.
Seeing nothing, I activated my Byakugan while covering my face with my usual bone mask.
Fugaku turned and started speaking to the army behind us, but I tuned him out and instead opted to study the Kiri-nin with my Byakugan.
There was a distinct lack of anyone with large reserves.
I narrowed my eyes, slowed my perception, and started to scan again though this time slower.
Again, there wasn't anyone noteworthy...
There were a few with High-Jonin level reserves, but they didn't seem to have big seal covered and chakra saturated swords...
It was unusual...
I poked Fugaku in the side, distracting him from his speech.
"There aren't any Swordsmen or Jinjuriki..." I mumbled.
He nodded and went back to his speech.
I shrugged and turned my focus back to Kiri's army, they seemed content to wait as did Fugaku.
I let the thought of jumping in and kick-starting the battle bounce around in my head for a bit.
They were clumped together...
It would be impossible not to hit twenty or so with a single attack...
The more I thought about the more tempting the idea was...
That and standing around like this felt silly...
With that thought in mind, I sent a tendril of chakra up to my forehead and unlocked my seal.
A few heads turned towards me, from the enemy side as well as Konoha's
I made a hand-seal and twenty clones appeared around me though without their signature poof of smoke.
The two armies held their positions, they seemed content to let me do what I wanted to do.
A mistake.
I took a step back and watched as the clones made two huge Lightning Rasengan on each hand and flung them into the still stationary Kiri-nin.
The Rasengan's pierced the enemy line, killing many in their subsequent expansion.
The clones hadn't stopped and charged up two more and threw them into the Kiri-nin once again before running headfirst into them building up more Lightning Rasengan as they went.
The Kiri-nin hadn't reacted until the clones started their charge but now they came like a flood towards our line.
I chuckled as ninja after ninja zoomed past me following after my clones.
Kickstarting a battle was an oddly good feeling...
I was hit with multiple waves of memories just after the thought, immediately dispelling the good feeling I was indulging in.
As chakra filled as they were, they were still fragile Shadow Clones...
I stayed still and let the slight headache recede.
I studied the battlefield for a moment trying to see where I was needed the most.
I spotted a part of our lines that was buckling and Shunshined towards it.
It's time for some fun...
...
I noted there was a distinct lack of bloodline users while decapacitating yet another Kiri-nin.
My sword was coated in lightning and twice as long as it usually was, this was because I found it more efficient to kill six or seven with each swing instead of the usual one or two.
As I zipped around the battlefield cutting many in half I kept an eye out for bloodline users.
I spun in a circle using my sword to clear an area around me and buy me some time to think.
"Sigh..." I stopped my spin and sighed loudly while scratching my head.
With not a single bloodline user in sight, I was feeling a tad bit cheated.
I didn't even notice it a week ago but now that I was surrounded and dodging waves of jutsu like there was no tomorrow the lack of bloodline users was obvious.
I idly focused on my surroundings as the ninja surrounding me started jumping away.
I turned my attention to four Kiri-nin who had spat a stream of water out and used it to create a wave that was coming towards me while picking up blood and bodies from the battlefield.
I anchored my feet to the ground and ignored the red wave of water that the ninja launched at me while ignoring their comrades.
"Sigh..." The wave hit me and I sighed again though this time the sigh was heavier.
I coated my lower body in electricity and electrocuted anyone standing in the big ol' puddle the ninja had created.
I kept the electricity up and drifted into idle thought.
Water Ninjutsu seemed useless...
Your only option was Water or More Water...
Or sometimes Lots Of Water...
The electricity surrounding me dissipated as I had given up on it after seeing I'd killed just about everyone in the water.
I caught a kunai and threw it at the Genin who was deluded enough to think that such a thing would do something.
The kunai embedded itself in his stomach and I watched for a moment while his female teammate dragged him away by the back of his shirt.
I had a moment of peace as no-one wanted to approach the circle of death that I had created around me.
As fun as this was it was getting a little repetitive...
Water Ninjutsu wasn't very interesting as far as Ninjutsu went.
There was a distinct lack of threatening moves, that and water was easy to electrify unless the user purified the water, which was considered a high-level skill...
I was pretty much unchallenged as I made my way through the battlefield ignoring their jutsu as though it was a gentle wind.
After I figured out, I could anchor myself to the ground Water Ninjutsu became so boring...
"Sigh..." I heaved another heavy sigh and Shunshined towards a more populated part of the battlefield.
I had work to do after all...
...
Kiri was retreating and no orders were given so I stayed where I was.
I flicked my Bone Sword ridding it of blood.
I missed my other big ass sword...
But using my Bone Sword was more stamina efficient...
I sighed heavily as I saw a few Kiri-nin limping towards their comrades only to be completely ignored and left behind.
Kirigakure...
What a shitty village...
I ignored the injured Kiri-nin and started towards Fugaku while deactivating my Byakugan and absorbing my bone mask.
"We going to follow them?" I pointed vaguely in their direction with my sword.
Fugaku shook his head and started heading in the direction of the camp.
The lingering Konoha-nin followed his example and picked-up any wounded comrades and started towards the camp.
After a moment I shrugged and started towards the camp as well.
Though we didn't kill them all and push them from noodles, the battle wasn't a total loss...
We did good damage to their cannon fodder and received damage to our cannon fodder in return...
The average Kiri-nin was well above the average Konoha-nin, it was only due to their lack of S-Ranked ninja and our surplus of S-Ranked ninja that we did so well...
I sent a tendril of chakra up to my seal and closed it, I started sending excess chakra into the seal as I made my way towards the camp, my smile slowly disappeared as more and more chakra left my body.
I stared at the sky while walking, feeling slightly empty again.
Being in Kiri with nothing to do was bad for me...
I was tired of waiting for the next attack while twiddling my thumbs...
I should make my escape as soon as possible...
I'll probably start going a little crazy otherwise...
...
After a few mundane days of helping in the field-hospital, I was once again watching Fugaku argue with the Kurama heir.
It was amusing until I realized that Fugaku didn't have to argue and could have just ordered everyone around.
I wasn't sure if he was just arguing because he liked arguing or if it was because he was easily led on.
Either way, what once was amusing was now annoying.
"Sigh..." I sighed loudly earning me a few looks.
The heir was the main dissenter in the debriefings and meetings, he always wanted to take a more passive approach then what was being done and always seemed to have 'a better plan'.
It was annoying...
And thankfully it wouldn't be my problem in four days...
With me here Fugaku wanted to push Kiri out of noodles and then bring the fight to Water Country while I was away...
The heir wanted to keep them at the tip of Noodles as it was hard for them to get supplies shipped from Water Country over to Noodles...
Both plans were alright in my opinion...
So, I didn't offer any input.
Regardless of what was decided I was out of here in four days...
And that was all that mattered...
...
I hummed while reading the report Fugaku handed me.
Kiri lost their Jinjuriki to the Raikage...
"Nice..." it couldn't have been better timing.
With their Jinjuriki out of the way, there was little Kiri could do to Konoha now.
The report said that the Jinjuriki was mortally wounded, meaning that they would have to transfer the Three-Tails to someone or something...
The thing with Rin might happen soon, or Yagura might become the Jinjuriki and the Rin thing might not happen at all.
It depends on whether or not Madara was still set on manipulating Obito or if he had set his sights on someone else...
The best part of this was that there was no possibility of a Jinjuriki fucking us up in noodles...
But it freed up some of Kumo's strong fighters...
You win some and you lose some, I guess...
I handed the report to Fugaku, who took it with a grunt and set off towards his tent.
Another plus to the situation was that I didn't have to stay here, being competent in Fuinjutsu was a large part of the reason I was here.
Being assigned here for longer was much less likely to happen with the Jinjuriki dying.
All in all, today was a good day.
"..." I stared at the sky as I had realized something.
After a moment of thought, I realized that the Rin thing was something that happened towards the end of the war.
Meaning Kiri might not have a Jinjuriki for a long time...
Today was an even better day then.
Not having to deal with a Jinjuriki for a long while was good news...
...
I rose long before the sun was up and left the camp as soon as possible.
I avoided the guards and sentries and ignored a few Hyuga guards who came after me.
After a while of running my few pursuers stopped their chase.
I had a wide smile covering my face, not at all caring for whatever reprimand I might receive for making the guards chase me.
Noodles was hellishly boring and I hoped to never go back.
I couldn't wait to get back to my lab...
I'd just have to have Minato moved back to grass so the chances of me getting sent anywhere lower a bit...
My smile stayed on my face for most of the trip back.
...
I opened the door to my lab and enjoyed the blast of warm air that hit my face.
I shut the door behind me and took a deep breath through my nose enjoying the familiar smell of my lab.
Sterile with a faint metallic tinge of blood.
Lovely...
I felt at home.
It was a nice feeling...
I basked in the feeling for a moment longer before shaking my head and starting towards the door.
Mom and Duy likely wouldn't apricate a surprise midnight visit...
But it would certainly entertain me for a while...
Interlude.
...
"So, how'd Minato and Orochimaru's attempt to oust Kumo from Frost go?" Shiro didn't turn his attention from the seal he was concocting.
I took a moment to jot down a rough summary of what happened and slid the sheet over to Shiro.
Shiro quickly glanced at the sheet and turned his attention back to his seal.
"So not good then..." Not good was an understatement.
Two squads of Anbu were lost along with a quarter of the camps Jonin.
It was good that I hadn't been included in the battle.
I surely would have perished...
Shiro pushed the seal he had been working on away, withdrew a letter from his desk and ripped it open without an ounce of care.
The letter was addressed to Shiro and arrived early this morning, only had now had Shiro bothered to open it.
"The Hokage seems rather unhappy..." Shiro tapped the letter occupying the space on his desk.
I raised an eyebrow and Shiro waved me over.
The letter was heavily coded and I couldn't even begin to decipher it.
I tapped the letter and raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, I forgot..." Shiro turned his eyes to the letter.
He hummed and stared at the letter for a moment.
"Basically, the Hokage was unimpressed with how I handled myself in Noodles." Shiro tapped a section of the writing in the middle of the page. "Skipping debriefings, insulting clan heads, beating Inuzuka clansmen, using Genjutsu to make people think they have clothes on when they were naked..."
Shiro smirked at the last one.
"...Poking a Hyuga in the eyes, knocking people out when they talk too much, and ordering an Uchiha to be publicly spanked. Hahaha..."
Shiro giggled like a child.
"There's more but let's not get into it." I soundlessly chuckled at that.
I wish we could get into it, it sounded silly.
It was a side of Shiro he often suppressed, and I really wanted to hear about his shenanigans as he called them.
"The Hokage basically wants me to be better behaved..." Shiro's eyes met mine. "But I think it's important to do what makes you happy."
A small but sinister smile started forming on Shiro's face wiping the smile from my own.
"You have a limited amount of time in life, and that time shouldn't be wasted on bending to the knee and conforming to the wishes of others." Shiro's smile continued to slowly grow.
"If something makes you happy, then do it." Shiro's smile was wide and filled with joy.
I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise and every fiber of my being told me to run.
"Whether that includes battle and mayhem in my case or torturous experiments in Orochimaru's." Shiro's smile stretched his face in an ugly way.
My skin was covered in goosebumps.
"Do whatever makes you happy, even if it's frowned upon." Shiro's smiled widened further and his chakra filled the room causing my breath to hitch.
A second later Shiro's chakra disappeared as fast as it appeared.
"Where was I going with that..." Shiro drummed his fingers on the desk.
"Oh, yea." Snap*
Shiro snapped his fingers.
"Aomi you need to do things that make you happy." Shiro nodded to himself.
I took a deep breath trying to adjust to the sudden shift in mood.
I nodded mutely, and Shiro looked away seemingly satisfied.
I took a seat in my usual spot in the corner of the lab and took some time to calm myself.
I forgot that Shiro was as powerful as he is.
Even though he was only twelve, he had already eclipsed most of the ninja in the village in terms of strength.
Shiro was rather odd and unassuming, I had gotten comfortable and forgot that he was both my boss and extremely powerful.
I'd keep that in mind from now forward.
Shiro it's good to see you!" Minato's cheery greeting disrupted the one-sided conversation I was having with Aomi.
I ignored Minato for a moment and instead studied his Genin.
Obito looked stupid and weak, and Rin looked the same as she had the last time we spoke.
So, nothing had changed.
"Good to see you Sensei." I nodded at him. "Obito, Rin, good to see you as well."
Kakashi scowled at me and I smiled smugly at him.
His annoyance was delicious.
"When are you leaving?"
I directed my question towards Minato while still smiling smugly at Kakashi.
"We're leaving two-weeks from now." Minato crossed his arms while he spoke. "There's a good chance that Kumo will try something, so I've been ordered to stay for a while."
My smug smile faded and I hummed.
"Hmmm... That sucks..." Minato hanging around meant that I couldn't do gruesome experiments for awhile.
It was a shame, but I didn't want Minato to cause me any trouble.
"Oh, yea..." I gestured to Aomi who had been silently watching our exchange.
"This is my favorite minion Aomi, she helps me in the lab." I wasn't sure what else I could add to her introduction. "And she doesn't speak."
I nodded to myself for a job well done and gestured to Team Minato.
"This is Obito, Rin, and Minato." I pointed to each as I spoke and made a show of ignoring Kakashi. "Minato was my Jonin Sensei, Rin and Obito are my cute little Kohai." I conveniently ignored that they were older than me.
Aomi sent the group a wave while staring at Minato in awe and as per usual didn't speak.
Aomi and the group exchanged silent waves and nods.
"Well it's been a blast but I've got work to do." That was a total lie.
I sent them a wide wave and started towards the lab.
I had things to hide away, just in case Minato went snooping...
...
Anything even vaguely incriminating was sealed away and kept in my Kunai pouch, I left the notes on poison and disease immunity out as they were more innocent and likely wouldn't cause much fuss.
Minato might have already been snooping so my efforts might have been meaningless...
But it was better safe than sorry.
So away all the fun stuff went...
Minato is anti-fun...
I snickered at the thought.
Whatever...
I'll have to find something to do until Minato leaves.
Perhaps I should enhance some of our cannon fodder...?
Or maybe I could find some poison users and get some of their blood...?
I'd see...
Poison wasn't an immediate concern...
So perhaps Konoha will gain some super soldiers...
Or whatever the Naruto-verse equivalent was...
But if it was known I could create super ninja, I'd likely be killed off in some sort of conspiracy or plot...
I yawned loudly.
So perhaps super soldiers were a no go...
I wouldn't want someone getting a hold of their body and figuring out how to do the enhancements anyways...
...
After a vague threat, Orochimaru handed some of A's blood over to me.
It was now my job to parse through his DNA and see what genetically made him, what he was.
Orochimaru had already parsed through his chakra composition and personality traits.
So, I was left with his bodily attributes and whatever active junk DNA I could figure out.
After that, I could probably take some of his traits for myself...
They would probably take extremely well...
I was still a young body-wise, if not in mind...
Which would hopefully help.
I shrugged and rolled the small vial containing A's blood around in my fingers.
I'd use this to Overwrite someone else's blood and then I'd have a good supply to experiment with...
As A had Type-A blood I could just use Overwrite on someone with Type-A or Type-AB blood...
Perhaps Aomi would be interested...?
She had Type-A blood if I was correct...
It was something to consider in any case...
...
"Aomi want some of A's blood in ya?" I shook the vial at her in what I hoped was an enticing manner.
I needed someone I could keep around so I could try and make the two chakras mix, Aomi was ideal.
Aomi dashed my hopes with a very firm shake of her head.
"Cmon! You'll gain three new affinities and much denser chakra!" I shook the vial again. "Cmon, just a pinch of blood?"
Aomi just shook her head and crossed her arms while giving me a disapproving stare.
"Fine, go find someone from the camp with Type-A or Type-AB blood." I paused for a moment in thought. "As young as possible with a Lightning affinity, and make sure they know they're getting a blood transfusion and possible power-up."
I shoed her away with my hand and started unpacking my Fuinjutsu supplies.
Hopefully, I could figure out how to mesh chakras together...
If not, I'd need to try something else...
DNA manipulation would be easier, but I wanted the chakras to mix...
If I could figure that out, I might be able to make my own six-paths chakra...
As unlikely as it was to succeed, it was still worth a shot.
...
Kusumoto, Isami.
Brown hair and brown eyes, petite build.
Her outfit was the standard Konoha green Genin jacket with a blue shirt and blue pants underneath the jacket.
I stared at her over the folder containing her paperwork.
Isami was born to a civilian mother and a shinobi father, said father was dead leaving her mother to look after her.
Her father got stuck at Genin Rank and eventually was promoted to Chunin for his skill in Taijutsu and Trap Making.
He died sometime two years ago in an ambush, Isami's goal was to exceed her father and make her mother proud.
Sadly, she likely wouldn't be better than her father...
She was looking to be a long-time Genin...
"So..." I shut the folder and placed it neatly on the desk. "I need someone to have some blood swapped with their own, there would likely be a slight increase in the size of your reserves and chakra density."
I twirled a pen around while staring at the girl in front of me, she was a year younger than me and was ideal for a quick experiment.
I'd need her to live for a while so I'd have to get someone to take her under their wing as well.
So, she didn't die prematurely...
"Alright head into the room to your left, a clone will be right with you." I shoed her away and went back to thinking.
First, I'd give her a little blood and see how her body responds while I wait for the transfused blood to leave her system...
Then if she was fine, I'd maybe make her produce her own Raikage blood after a few little Overwrites...
If things went as planned, she might become Super Aomi V2.
Or Super Isami in this case...
I watched as Isami pointed at a door with a questioning look and shook my head.
"It's one door to the left of that one..." Isami nodded and went on her way...
Thankfully she didn't speak much...
Though once she got comfortable that might change.
"Sigh..." I sighed aloud and put my feet on my desk.
Although I said I wouldn't make super soldiers I was pretty much doing just that...
...
Aomi came out of the room looking rather bored so I assumed nothing bad had happened.
I raised an eyebrow and Aomi nodded at me, proving my guess.
Things were alright...
"Thanks." I sent her a nod in gratitude and went back to my notes.
A had a good bit of previously dormant mystery DNA that was likely awakened because of his huge reserves.
I had no clue in the slightest what it did and I had no clue how to even awaken the DNA in someone normal.
It was slightly annoying...
It could be useless or it could be a treasure...
It could do just about anything and I had no idea where to start.
"Sigh..." I sighed loudly as my thoughts were interrupted by the memories of my clone.
Things have indeed gone well...
Now I just needed to send some clones a few times a day to monitor her and things would be golden...
I held back another sigh as I returned my focus to my notes.
I still had things to do...
So, I shouldn't get distracted...
...
Poison immunity was going well...
People were jumping to give me their blood and I now had quite the collection of poison user blood.
The collection also included some people who survived an encounter with foreign poison users, which was a nice touch...
I guess Aomi was persuasive...?
I chuckled at the thought...
Now I needed to sort through all the blood and DNA...
Then I'd need to concoct a big ol strand of Immunity DNA...
And then I'll figure out what to do with it later...
My healing and medical knowledge made most poisons ineffective so it was useless for me...
But maybe Aomi and Mom would like some General Konoha Poison Immunity...?
I guess I'd see...
...
"Hello Rin, what brings you to my humble lab?"
Rin sent me a nervous smile and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.
"Can't I just have come to see my Senpai?"
I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to get on with it.
"Ummm... Can you teach me... while we're here...?" Rin's voice trailed off a few times as she spoke making me believe someone put her up to this.
She didn't seem comfortable asking...
"What do you want to learn...?" Instead of denying her like I instinctively wanted to, I figured I'd see where this went, the possibility of forming a friendship or even a life long ally was tempting...
Even if lifelong ally meant a year-long ally...
"I heard you are amazingly good with the Mystical Palm..."
I was good at it, but it wasn't something I could teach...
"Anything else?"
I could teach her what I knew about the Mystical Palm in a day but I couldn't do much more than that, there was a lot of chakra molding and finding the right mix of physical energy and spiritual energy involved...
It was something she would have to do on her own time...
"Ummm..."
Rin was taking her time in answering and that would have been fine had she not been interrupting my free time...
"It's fine." I made a hand-seal and a clone appeared.
Lacking the signature burst of smoke the clone just sort of faded into existence, it was neat.
"Follow me, we'll find something to do." The clone walked away.
Rin followed after it a moment later but not before staring at me for a moment.
"Sigh..."
I looked down at my notes.
There was a distinct lack of progress on A's blood, it was slightly disheartening.
Without lots of invasive DNA manipulation, I wouldn't be able to make any quick progress...
Sadly, invasive DNA manipulation caused lots of death...
And I didn't want to do so when Minato was so close by.
So, no progress for me...
But at least I got the gene for the future Raikage's reserves...
That and A's Gene for chakra density were the biggest finds...
I'd also figured out some of the genes responsible for his body's toughness, but I was hesitant to use those on myself...
As strong as A was, I would never want to look like him...
So, I think I'll just take the reserves...
I couldn't use the chakra density as it was part of my Hyuga bloodline and getting rid of it would mean getting rid of the Gentle Fist...
And I didn't want to look like a freak so A's bodily features were a no go...
So, bigger reserves were about all I would gain from this ordeal...
I closed the book and clapped my hands while mentally pushing my thoughts to a corner of my mind.
Clap* I clapped my hands together in glee.
It's almost time to give Isami her bi-daily check-up.
I was excited to see what came of the blood transfusion, it could be nothing or it could be amazing!
Regardless I was happy to get back to my roots.
Experimenting on helpless Genin!
I stood up and pushed my chair away with a smile on my face.
Here I come Isami!
Let's see what lovely new things I can discover today...!
...
...
Interlude.
I was quietly approached by Shiro Hyuga's assistant and offered something I couldn't possibly refuse.
A chance to become stronger, make my father proud, and lessen my mother's financial problems.
All that I needed to do was sign something and have a few blood transfusions and my chakra would change and grow stronger.
It sounded too good to be true.
And it likely was.
But I couldn't pass up the chance.
So, while I stood and watched as Shiro's clone finish up some final preparations I thought I'd ask some questions.
"Excuse me...?" The clone waved at me with a 'get on with it' motion while still writing with one hand.
I fidgeted as the look on the clone's face wasn't friendly in the least.
"What about my chakra will change?" I made my voice as light and gentle as possible as I didn't want to annoy the clone anymore then my presence already seemed to.
The clone was silent for a moment. "...Your chakra will get denser... and you'll likely get a few new minor affinities..." The clone trailed off as he finished the final stroke of the seal he was making.
The clone made a face as he looked at the seal.
"We're trying to mix the chakra of someone at Kage level with your chakra, your body and chakra will likely be strengthened as a result..."
The clone started circling the seal and I took a step back to get out of its way.
"My body?" I wasn't sure how I felt about that...
The clone stopped circling and nodded.
"With an increase in chakra and chakra density, your body will naturally strengthen to accommodate the chakra..." The clone looked over my shoulder and rolled its eyes. "Aomi, you're late..."
I turned and saw Shiro's assistant standing silently behind me.
She was dressed like a Medic-nin and that made the slight unease I had been feeling grow.
"Are you sure you don't want black hair and red eyes Aomi?" I turned back to the clone and saw him wiggle his eyebrows.
Shiro's assistant shook her head and ignored the clone while walking towards the back of the room.
"Whatever..." The clone turned its eyes to me. "Any more questions?"
I stood and stared at the assistant as she withdrew a syringe from a case and filled it with a solution
I bit my lip. "Will I look different and is there any chance of death?"
"No." The clone's answer was immediate.
The quickness that the clone spoke with made me fairly sure he wasn't lying, but how would I truly know if a ninja of Shiro Hyuga's caliber was lying?
"Anything else?" The clone stared at me with annoyance clearly shown on its face.
I stayed quiet trying to come up with a question but nothing came to mind.
"No, I'm ok..." For now, at least...
The clone nodded and said something but I was distracted by Shiro's assistant who was approaching me with a now empty syringe.
"Alright, Aomi take some blood." The moment he spoke I felt the needle enter my skin.
I felt mildly sick when I saw the syringe slowly fill with blood, so I looked away.
After a moment she was done, she healed my skin and walked away while the clone gestured for me to step away from the Giant Seal he had been working on.
"The seal will convert some of your blood into someone else's and within two weeks the blood will leave your system..."
The clone hummed while tapping its foot.
"Depending on how that goes we might have you back in the lab afterward..." The clone studied me for a moment. "Take your Kunai pouch off and Aomi power the seal."
I did as I was told and tossed my pouch outside the Seal and watched as the assistant placed both of her hands on the outer edge of the seal.
"Any... Fuinjutsu on your body?" The clone spoke as if it was an afterthought...
I quickly shook my head.
"Alright, you might want to sit down." The clone smiled.
I didn't do so in time and fell unconscious immediately, only having enough time to throw my hands under my head and stop my head from hitting the ground.
...
I woke up with a dry mouth and a slight headache.
They were both quickly eclipsed the almost warm syrupy feeling in my veins spreading to other parts of my body.
It felt like I had Kuromitsu in my veins.
"How are you feeling?" Shiro Hyuga's voice knocked me from my thoughts.
I took a deep breath and sat-up while trying to ignore what I was feeling from my blood.
"...Not good but not bad..." After hesitating for a while I eventually settled on that.
I turned and saw what could have been Shiro himself or a clone looking at me with blank white eyes and veins grotesquely bulging from his skull.
I've seen my Hyuga classmates use their Byakugan but their veins were never so pronounced.
"What does your chakra feel like?" Shiro stared at my stomach while he spoke.
His piercing stare made me want to hunch and cover myself with my hands but I refrained as I didn't want to offend.
I ignored his stare and focused on my chakra.
It took me a moment to ignore the new feeling coming from my veins and focus on my chakra.
"It feels..." I tried to find the words. "The same but different?"
I tried to find better words after seeing the slight frown on Shiro's lips but couldn't.
His veins receded and his eyes slowly turned back into their normal bright purple.
"Here take these, once per day after meals." Shiro reached into a drawer to his left and grabbed a transparent glass bottle containing some sort of pills.
"These are nutrition supplements, I take them myself so they're fine." He tossed me the bottle and I fumbled for a moment before they fell into my lap.
"Thank you, Hyuga-sama." I inclined my head trying to put as much sincerity as I could into my voice.
If Shiro himself took them, they were likely hard to get and expensive.
"No worries, now drink lots of water and rest up." Shiro stared at me while rubbing his chin. "I'll be around a few times a day to check on you..."
I stood up and bowed to him.
"Thank you for the opportunity Hyuga-sama."
Shiro nodded and motioned for me to follow him.
I took a deep breath and noticed I was feeling slightly tired.
I pushed the tiredness away and followed after Shiro while doing a slight jog to catch-up.
Isami launched an impressive lightning arrow at me which I promptly swatted away after giving her an approving nod.
A's blood had left her system but there seemed to be a lingering effect.
Her body's resistance to lightning and her lightning affinity was now extremely impressive...
I absently redirected her lighting palm and leaped away.
Isami gave chase and I rolled my eyes while taking her legs out from under her with a well-timed kick.
"Alright, that's enough for now." A clone meandered over and started healing Isami while I stood still and got lost in thought.
Although genetics determined your affinity it didn't completely determine the strength of your affinity.
It was part spiritual and part genetic.
As you used your element you awakened dormant DNA that subsequently toughened your body so it could better withstand your element.
There was also a spiritual component that I didn't understand too well.
According to Orochimaru's notes, repeated use of a technique was imprinted on your spiritual energy and that made said technique stronger and more efficient during future use.
Training made you better...
I rolled my eyes and ignored the stray thought.
Isami had seemingly skipped some steps somewhere and now could dish out some pretty powerful Lightning Jutsu and use them better then I could...
It was upsetting seeing my progress eclipsed by someone who had only learned the Justu a day ago...
And it made me wonder about what other people's blood would do...
Perhaps I needed some of A's blood as well...
I let the idea bounce around for a moment before eventually discarding it.
The physical energy and new chakra from A's cells had changed Isami's body slightly, it was an expected change but not a well-documented one.
So, it'd be best to wait...
Even if I couldn't immediately get some results, at least I had something to do for a while...
And that was frankly more then I expected from this experiment...
"Alright get up, you've rested enough." I ignored Isami's groan and started towards the middle of the impromptu sparing circle.
There was more improvement to be had for Isami.
And I didn't want to waste any time...
...
"What next Shiro-Senpai?" Rin my ever dutiful kohai bounced excitedly on her toes.
Minato had left but without his Genin.
So now some of my time was eaten up by my new 'friends'.
Thankfully most of our time was spent training, so It didn't feel like a total waste of time.
"I think Obito could use some encouragement..." I trailed off as I saw him dramatically dragging himself towards us.
Kakashi had left with Minato so it was just me and the Genin...
"I'm dying!" Obito was shouting to express just how badly he was 'dying'.
I ignored him and turned to Rin.
"It seems the Gravity Seal was too much..." I trailed off as I heard Obito groan in agreement.
Rin stopped her bouncing and shrugged.
"He'll get over it." She turned to Obito with her hands on her hips. "Isn't that right."
Obito bobbed his head from his spot on the ground.
"Sigh..." Obito was a sad sight, I was slightly wary of teaching the future big bad but I couldn't exclude him.
And exercising with a Gravity Seal wasn't teaching...
So, I was possibly in the clear...
That and the fact that the seal was on his right arm made me feel better about the training I was doing with him...
Hopefully, he would lose that arm...
I pushed the thought away and started towards the center of the field.
"Let's do some sparing!" I put as much cheer in my voice as I could.
I'd need the cheer, even if it was fake...
...
The level and potency of the chakra that a shinobi has affected their physical aspects.
The more chakra that a person has at any given time, the faster and stronger they are.
That was the passive increase that chakra provided.
With jutsu like the Shunshin or Tusnade's chakra enhancement, you could be further strengthened.
What I was after were the passive increases...
So, I wanted to use A's genes to increase my reserves...
I sadly couldn't jump straight to Tailed Beast level, I had already cheated when I jumped to High-Kage level and another abrupt increase in chakra would likely exceed what my body could handle.
So, if I did an Overwrite it wouldn't be immediately useful.
My chakra also needed an increase in density...
Being a Hyuga meant I already had dense chakra, but A had denser chakra then myself.
I wanted that trait but I'd have to give up the Gentle Fist in exchange...
I didn't use it anymore but I wasn't comfortable giving it up.
It was a large part of my early life in the Naruto-Verse and I had formed some fondness for the Taijutsu style.
Chakra density would also increase in time, so I could keep my current Hyuga genes and forget about the immediate increase in density.
So, yes to bigger reserves and no to denser chakra...
"Sigh..."
I also needed to think about poison immunity and disease immunity.
Even though they were called that I wouldn't get a full immunity...
It was just to protect against common diseases and commonly used poisons...
It wasn't useful for me, but my mother and Gai could use it...
So, I'd continue working on it...
Then there was the chakra stuff I was also working on...
Having someone else's chakra inside you seemed to awaken dormant DNA and provided slight boosts to your spiritual energy, physical energy, and affinity.
Or so it seemed...
There was also the problem of finding someone strong who's blood is compatible with me.
I could change my blood type but it was extremely complicated and not worth my time for the most part.
I wouldn't do so unless I caught myself an Ōtsutsuki.
But who knew what kind of blood they had...?
It could be literal liquid gold...
I had no idea, I wasn't an expert in Ōtsutsuki biology...
"Sigh..." Mom sent me a weird look and I rolled my eyes at her.
My lab wasn't a hangout spot, if my sighs were bothering her, she could leave...
I put her out of mind and started writing down what I needed to do.
I'd do the Overwrite soon and focus on Isami for a while...
Having Type-AB blood meant she was ideal for blood transfusions...
I'd also need to see what multiple transfusions did and see what a permeant or semi-permanent change to her blood would do.
Though that would involve a genetic change to her bone marrow...
Or a bone marrow transplant...
A bone marrow transplant would be easier but I wasn't likely to get any of A's marrow...
I nodded at my list and closed my book.
Sitting and thinking about it wouldn't do me any good.
My time was better spent interacting with Team Minato and my latest experiment/minion.
...
"I'm about to tell you something that you must never forget!" I stared deep into Obito's eyes.
Obito looked excited, I almost felt bad for what I was going to do.
"It's the secrete to my strength." I thought Obito couldn't possibly look more excited but I was wrong.
Obito unconsciously leaned closer to me and he looked to be close to bouncing in excitement.
"It's trash talk." I nodded sagely.
Obito whole body sagged and he glowered at me.
"Trash talk?" Obito numbly repeated.
I again nodded sagely.
"Even if you lose the battle you cannot lose the trash-talking war!" I pumped my fist and stared at Obito with conviction.
"Even if you are beaten, you must remember to insult your opponents' mother and question their sexuality!"
I lowered my fist and crossed my arms while trying my best to look serious.
"It's not over until you've crushed their spirits." I nodded and started walking like I had done a good job.
"Oh." I paused dramatically. "Chakra control is also important." I nodded to myself and continued towards my destination.
I could feel Obito's disappointed eyes boring into my back but I ignored them.
I wasn't interested in teaching Tobito.
...
Giving Isami more of A's blood didn't give her any more boosts after the original.
She could tap into a new chakra created from A's physical energy and her Spiritual energy but that was all that happened.
I figured continued blood transfusions would provide more benefit's but that didn't seem to be the case.
I decided that the next step would be to give Isami some of my blood and see what happened.
I wasn't sure if my blood would do anything for her and I figured it wouldn't do much as A's blood had already done most of what mine could probably do.
The blood transfusion was just unlocking dormant DNA with the introduction of strong chakra...
So perhaps blood wasn't even needed...
Maybe filling someone with chakra would strengthen them...?
I mulled over the idea for a while and concluded that's probably what happened to Madara when he was hooked to the statue.
I nodded to myself.
Now I had more stuff to look into...
At least I wouldn't be bored for a while.
...
"Things seemed to have slowed down lately." Mom said as she stared at Isami, Rin, and Obito who were training under the loving care of Duy and Aomi.
Aomi turned out to be a total freak and spent a lot of time training with Duy, I conveniently ignored that I spent a lot of time training with Duy in the past.
"Iwa and Kiri are focusing on Kumo, so Kumo can't spend much time on us right now."
Though that would change in the future, we were blocking key supply routes and Kumo would eventually commit to an attack.
"It's just a matter of time until we're pushed out of Frost by the Raikage." He just needed to be free enough to make his way here.
Mom remained silent.
I turned my attention back to the Genin and opted not to continue the conversation.
Silence was fine.
...
Orochimaru had made good progress in his experiments involving sleep.
Sadly, his progress came at the cost of my free time.
So, I got to man the desk and do the paperwork.
Aomi was dismissed from her job as my minion for the day so I didn't even have anyone to bother to pass time.
I could call Isami but she wasn't as much fun as Aomi...
A wave of memories hit me causing me to lose my train of thought.
The Overwrite Seal was done.
The clone had included some changes to my immune system or more specifically my white blood cells.
It wasn't something I had wanted but if the clone had gone through the trouble to do it, I wouldn't undo it.
So, I guess I'm getting a little boost to my immune system...
And the clone should have added some poison resistance genes while he was at it...
I rolled my eyes as I dug further through the memories.
The clone had worked itself into a panic imagining all the possible chakra enhanced STD's that existed and gathered blood from those who frequented brothels, eventually concocting a gene sequence providing instructions on fighting different illnesses.
At least the clone was productive...
"Sigh..." I stared at the mass of paper in front of me and tried to summon the will required to chew through it.
Thunk*
Sadly, I couldn't summon the necessary will and let my head fall on the desk.
With the power of delegation and clones, I finished the paperwork in record time.
So now I had a little bit of free time.
Sadly, not enough time for an Overwrite, but it was enough time to start on the poison immunity genes.
Everything was labeled neatly and I had a list of what each poison user used and had used against them at one point.
One poison user had most of what I required, but I'd still have to peruse other DNA to be as thorough as possible.
So, it would be pretty easy to do...
I would need to do some testing to ensure that it would work...
But other than that it was pretty straight forward.
Get the DNA, assemble the DNA, and make an Overwrite Seal so I could make more whenever I required it...
Easy peasy...
...
Duy handed me a picture of Gai and his team that he received.
Gai's features had grown more masculine as did his teammates, other than that I didn't notice anything different about Team Chōza.
Gai was still wearing his jumpsuit and I gave him a mental thumbs up.
Never let your youth fade!
I smiled and handed the picture back to Duy.
"Thanks."
I hadn't seen Gai in a long time and the occasional letter we exchanged didn't feel like enough.
"Where's Gai and his team now?"
Duy made a show of pointing towards the South-West.
"Gai and his team are fanning their flames of Youth in River Country while defending a fair maiden from a greedy noble!" I nodded.
Team Chōza was doing some sort of escort mission then...
"Thanks, Duy." I nodded and started to retreat towards my lab.
I was at my Daily limit for Duy time and had to escape.
"No problem most youthful Shiro!"
I rolled my eyes and sent Duy a backwards wave while continuing towards my lab.
...
I stood and stared at the Overwrite seal covering the floor of my lab whilst hesitating.
It looked good, there were no mistakes.
I was just hesitant to commit a good part of the chakra in my steal.
The danger of a Raikage attack was higher than it usually was and I wanted to have something to fall back on.
I took a deep breath and started calming my breathing.
As much as I wanted to save my chakra, waiting wouldn't do me any good.
Minato had some Seals around the camp and could arrive at a moment's notice.
I was as safe as I was ever going to be...
Sadly, that didn't make me feel better.
I unclipped my Kunai pouch from my leg and tossed it to the side.
Seals inside seals were usually a bad idea...
I unlocked the seal on my forehead and a single hand-sign later a clone appeared.
It started walking around the seal giving the seal its own check-over.
I closed the seal and started shunting the leftover chakra into the Seal by my feet.
The clone gave me a nod and I stepped into the seal soon after.
...
A lightning bolt the size of my torso streaked towards my face and I had barely enough time to make my mask.
Isami bathed me in lightning and my vision was lost for about thirty seconds.
Thirty seconds didn't usually feel like a long time.
But when my skin was melting and I couldn't see anything, it felt like an eternity.
"Alright that's enough, you've got me pretty good." I let my mask recede.
Isami looked pretty cocky.
"How'd that feel!" She started doing a victory dance.
I stared at her blankly, the only part of my skin that survived was my face and I felt rather sour about it.
I ignored the itch caused by my skins regrowth and thought about her bullshit Lightning Jutsu.
Every jutsu she launched with A's chakra was three times as powerful and twice as big.
It wasn't good for my poor skin...
I looked down at my pale hand, my skin hadn't had enough pigment and was now white.
My healing was faster than my body's ability to make pigment...
"Sigh..." I ran a hand through my hair.
Any hair I regrew would be white as well...
"That was painful, well done." My voice was bland.
Isami looked slightly guilty.
"Sorry I got too excited..." I wasn't sure what to make of the fake smile she sent me.
"Don't worry." I shrugged and started towards the lab while motioning her to follow. "I wanted to feel it's strength..."
I've never had this problem before...
Having to regrow my skin more then five times a day was less than ideal, I guess...
You've been able to use the chakra for a while now, tell me what you think about it."
My observations had been lacking, so I wanted her to fill in some blanks.
"Ummm..." She tapped her chin. "It's really dense, so it's hard to use the right amount..."
I nodded.
"Is it harder to control than your own chakra?"
Isami shook her head.
"I don't think so, it was at first but now it's not..."
Tap* Tap* Tap*
I tapped my pencil against the paper while staring at Isami.
"Any discomfort after the first week?"
Isami quickly shook her head.
"No." Unexpected.
Perhaps she couldn't sense chakra well...
"Has your diet changed over the past month?"
Isami hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"How much has your food intake, increased or decreased?"
Isami hesitated again.
"Ummm... I've been eating twice as much as usual."
I nodded slowly while wondering if it was because of the chakra or puberty.
"Have you had an increase in weight?"
Isami scrunched her face up and didn't answer.
"Any changes in your mood that you've noticed?" I wisely skipped the question.
Isami shook her head after a slight bit of hesitation.
She didn't want to talk about it.
"Any increase in energy?" Isami nodded but looked uncomfortable.
I nodded to myself.
It was about what I expected.
"Alright, unless you have something you want to talk about, we're done here."
I stared at her expectantly hoping she had something to share.
"Thanks." She bobbed her head and darted out of the room.
I raised an eyebrow but put it out of my head.
I instead focused on the apparent ease that she manipulated the chakra with.
I was worried that the chakra would be uncontrollable but that didn't seem to be the case.
Lucky me I guess...
...
I jumped the gun and replaced my own blood with A's.
I was overcome with a fever a few hours later.
My mom immediately proceeded to smother me increasing my annoyance over the whole ordeal.
"Thanks, but I can feed myself." I pushed the spoon away with my finger.
My mom pouted for a moment before smoothing her features over and adopting a serious look.
"You've never been sick like this, what happened." I rolled my eyes and mom rolled her eyes to mock me.
I almost rolled my eyes again but stopped myself.
"I gave myself a blood transfusion and my body doesn't seem to like it." I did everything right...
It was upsetting, this usually only happened when there were bacteria or white blood cell's in the donor's blood.
Which there definitely wasn't.
Calling upon years of practice, I ignored mom's disapproving look.
"No worries, my white blood cells just don't seem to like foreign blood." It wouldn't haven't been a big deal had I not been over-confident and replaced most of my red blood cells with A's.
"I'll be better in two hours..." Give or take ten minutes.
Mom nodded and flipped the cloth on my forehead over.
"This better not happen again, we could be attacked at any time." I nodded but my mind was elsewhere.
I was trying to get A's blood to produce as much physical energy as they could before I flushed them from my system.
I wanted a little of that chakra to play with, even if it would stop me from ridding myself of the fever for a while.
"It won't."
Mom nodded.
"I hope so." Mom leaned back in her chair stared at the ceiling while I gave A's blood my full focus.
I blew a quiet breath from my nose.
Annoying.
...
...
Interlude.
"Shiro, why do you keep switching fighting styles?" Shiro turned towards me and I continued. "You always seem to retire your moves after a few uses."
"Hmmm..." His eyes turned judgmental, and he hummed.
I scratched my nose with my thumb, feeling a little uncomfortable. "I was just curious..." But I would rather have let it be had I known I'd be stared at like I was an idiot.
After a moment of staring at me, Shiro spoke.
"I don't want to be predictable." Shiro had a touch of a smile on his face. "I've never had trouble killing people that were predictable."
The smile faded. "I don't want to be predictable like that." His voice faded as well. "Those who are predictable die..."
"And thus, I'm unpredictable, both in life and in battle..." His voice was only a whisper.
I just nodded, unsure of what to say.
"Well, let's not dwell on that." Shiro's voice and expression returned to normal. "How's my favorite Genin?"
I blinked feeling a little thrown off at the sudden shift in mood.
"Rin or Isami?" Three Genin were bothering Shiro, but I figured it was one of the two girls as he seemingly hated Obito.
"Rin." Shiro smiled but it was fake.
I ignored it and gathered my thoughts on the girl.
"She's doing well but has trouble when in a group, if she has Isami or Obito around she can't seem to get any training done." She usually spends more time fussing over Obito though, Isami wasn't much of a problem.
"No big deal, she's got a gravity seal on, that'll make up for her dallying." I nodded but didn't agree.
She could be more, but she continued wasting time.
"Well, hopefully Minato will take them soon." Shiro said and I shrugged.
It wasn't likely, Grass was getting more hellish last I heard.
While Iwa lacked S-Ranked ninja they more than made up for it with numbers and fanatical loyalty.
"I'm about to feed the prisoners, want to join me?" Shiro gestured to the direction of the prison.
As much as I loved being spit on and called a whore, I'd rather it be done by a pretty lady and not a disgusting unwashed Kumo-nin.
I held back a chuckle at the thought.
"No thanks, you can have fun by yourself." That came out a little dryer then I intended...
Shiro smirked.
"Shame, you could have been the last woman those men saw." I rolled my eyes.
In their dreams.
"Alright, I'll go check on Duy and make sure he not in the hospital again." And then I'd sleep.
Yawn*
Shiro nodded and started towards the door with a yawn.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then."
I nodded.
"Goodnight." I smiled.
Shiro sent me a warm smile. "Night mom."
I nodded and watched the door close.
"Sigh..."
As much as he changed, he was still my son.
Even if that change was jarring.
I rubbed my face, as I remembered the days when Shiro trained with Tokuma.
This is probably something all mothers go through...
Years pass and before you know it your child is a different person then what you remember.
It felt like I blinked and Shiro had become a whole new person.
"Sigh..." It was best I put it out of my mind.
It wouldn't do me well to dwell on it.