Another day and another mission from Orochimaru.
I was supposed to kill a merchant who was selling to Kumo.
He was the seventh son of some noble in Fire Country and was using his name to send fellow merchants through Frost to Kumo.
I expected it to be a complete waste of time and was not let down in the slightest.
After taking an explosive tag to the leg I acted in self-defense and blew up an entire building.
Sadly, that earned the ire of Orochimaru as the assassination was supposed to be quiet.
I wasn't affected by Orochimaru's constant blabbering about failing the mission.
I wasn't making my way through a trapped building to kill someone.
With the satisfaction of a job well done, I made my way to the lab in preparation for some post-mission fun.
...
"Aomi bring me the tumor please."
I had created a fleshy mass using A's cells and now it sat suspended in a nutrition solution.
It took constant attention from Aomi, myself, or my clones to keep the fleshy mass alive but it was worth it.
The mass was the size of my torso and the sight of Aomi rolling a giant fleshy tumor looking thing on wheels over to me never failed to amuse.
"My baby!" I took it and dragged it over to the side of the room under the unamused gaze of Aomi.
I popped the lid off and reached into the gooey solution and touched it with the tips of my fingers.
I manipulated the cells of the mass and slowly my hand was engulfed.
Now that I had my tumor glove on, I turned my attention inwards and started to guide my Spiritual energy down my arm and into the tumor.
I continued feeding the tumor spiritual energy while I fed my chakra into the Strength Of A Hundred Seal.
After a couple of boring minutes, my reserves were nearly empty and only had some dregs of tumor chakra from the previous time, I had done this.
I turned my attention back to the fleshy mass and started absorbing the chakra from it.
After a few minutes, the process was done and I started manipulating the tumor to free my hand.
I gave my hand a shake, ridding it of the nutrition solution.
"Alrighty, go give my baby back to the clone." I ignored her disgusted look and walked over to the sink to free my arm from the remaining nutrition solution.
As fun as it was too weird Aomi out, I'll be happy when I don't have to spend my time keeping a mass of cells alive.
I just needed a few more day's worth of chakra and I should be good...
Although I hadn't gained as much as Isami had I still gained much from A's physical energy.
My body's resistance to Lightning Release had grown greatly and I was now close to completing my version of the Lightning Cloak.
With my Dermal Armor, the Lighting Cloak might be able to exceed A's own.
I wouldn't get my hopes up though.
My newly gained Lighting Resistance wouldn't be able to exceed years of practice that the current Raikage and future Raikage put into the Lighting Cloak.
But hopefully, over time I'd bridge that gap.
So, my next step was to train the cloak...
And train it repeatedly.
I absently mindedly dried my hands.
Train the cloak and try to get rid of Minato's Genin...
I've had them for two weeks now...
Plan of action decided I made my way out of the lab.
...
The training was going to take up a good portion of my time, but that was in the future.
I had to let my body soak up the chakra and I had to use the chakra a little to keep it flowing through my body.
So, for the next two to four weeks, I'd be training heavily with the chakra I'd made using the fleshy mass.
Being seen with a separate chakra type by the local Hyuga might become a bother.
But it wasn't anything a little murder wouldn't solve.
I brushed the thought off and decided that blackmail and threats were the better options.
"Sigh..." If all else fails, a little murder was ok.
Now would be the ideal time to take our month-long break.
I was somewhat vulnerable as most of my chakra was put inside the seal.
The chakra that I needed to use the Shikotsumyaku.
The bloodline with the longest name.
I could unseal the chakra anytime assuming I had some warning.
But it was better safe than sorry...
I held back a sigh and wondered why I hadn't thought of this earlier...
Now I had to go see if I could take some time off.
Orochimaru wasn't going to be happy, and we hadn't been interacting as of late.
Perhaps he wasn't interested in me anymore, or perhaps he had other things to focus on.
Or he could be getting paranoid...
I smiled wearily and decided that I better ask for leave soon.
Orochimaru should have eaten a while ago and he might be in a good mood.
Hopefully...
...
"No." Orochimaru didn't even pause to consider it.
Which was fine, but I would've liked the illusion of thought at the very least.
"Alright." I didn't bother to protest, I was probably needed, so it was fine.
I hadn't expected a yes anyway.
"What ya working on?" I pointedly stared at the thing on the table.
Orochimaru side-eyed me, likely having a mental debate about how much to share.
"Chakra is the bridge between body and soul." Orochimaru paused and tapped the tiger-human hybrid on the forehead. "I'm trying to influence the soul through the body and chakra."
"Sadly, the soul is no longer as malleable after the age of twenty." Orochimaru turned the hybrids head towards me and I looked into its glassy eyes. "Though the more chakra one has the faster the soul is influenced."
Orochimaru tapped on its forehead and spoke again.
"I had given up on manipulating the soul, but now that I can expand the specimens chakra network I've started experimenting again."
I raised an eyebrow when Orochimaru started running his fingers through the hybrid's hair.
"By changing its DNA, physical features, giving it the memories of a tiger, and the chakra system of a tiger, it becomes a tiger chakra-wise." Orochimaru turned its head back and closed its eyes with his fingers.
"Those changes are reflected in the soul." I hummed I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
I grabbed the hybrids clawed hand and used the Diagnostic Jutsu on it.
There wasn't much chance to its body's structure, the muscles and bones were stronger, and the chakra system was different but other than that the hybrid was still internally human-shaped.
"So, chakra can influence the soul?" I released its hand and took a step back.
"Hmm..." Orochimaru hummed in affirmation. "Chakra is the bridge between body and soul." He repeated.
"What's the purpose of influencing the soul like this?"
Orochimaru stayed silent, and after a moment it became clear that it was on purpose.
"Sigh..." Perhaps there was no purpose to this experiment, Orochimaru might be doing this just for the sake of doing it.
Orochimaru sent me a mildly annoyed look at my sigh.
I rolled my eyes.
"Thanks for sharing your knowledge Sensei." I bowed.
Orochimaru nodded, though he didn't look as happy as he usually did at my use of 'Sensei'.
"Leave me." He eyed the hybrid. "I have work to do."
I nodded and sent him another bow, before beating a hasty retreat.
I had some thinking to do.
And I had to ask for some books on the subject...
Perhaps when he's in a better mood.
...
I spent a while trying to figure out how Orochimaru could see the soul but gave up on it after realizing Fuinjutsu was likely the answer.
I shifted my focus back to chakra wondering if the chakra I was running through my body was changing my soul.
That could have been the case for Isami as she was much younger than I was but I doubted that my old soul would change much.
Then again who knew, I knew nothing substantial about the soul.
It was mostly guesswork on my part.
"Sigh..." Perhaps that's why I could use the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku...
My chakra has been affecting my soul for a long time...
I flipped my pillow over and enjoyed the sensation of cool fabric on my face.
I now had a lot of questions...
But Orochimaru wasn't too forthcoming with his research into the soul...
I might need to sick around him for a while.
There was still much to learn.
...
I gave Isami a transfusion using my blood.
There weren't any changes other than an increase in appetite.
Something similar happened when she first got A's blood, she just needed some nutrients as her body was changing slightly.
It was good as it meant the physical energy from my cells was doing something.
I stopped scanning Isami with the Diagnostic Jutsu and hummed quietly to myself.
Perhaps a flesh transplant would be more beneficial?
If blood was doing this well, cells that were directly connected to the chakra network would likely have better effects...
I let the idea bounce around and found myself liking it.
It was something to try at least, probably on a prisoner.
Aomi tapped me on the shoulder bringing me back to reality.
Isami had taken off, likely wanting to train with Duy while the offer was valid.
"The notes please." I held a hand out and received the notes not a moment later.
I glanced at the notes and nodded.
"Good work." There was nothing to add.
Aomi nodded and started towards the tumor as it was about time for a good ol chakra making session with Tumor-chan.
I snickered.
My new favorite thing to do was making Aomi cringe in disgust.
And Tumor-Chan was indeed cringe-worthy.
But perhaps a human name would be even more cringey...
...
Jerky in the Naruto-Verse was not seasoned very well.
I stared at the piece of thinly sliced jerky sadly.
It made me sad to eat such garbage when I knew it could be so much better with different seasoning.
"Sigh..." I tossed it into my mouth and slowly chewed it, the taste of salt and smoke was ok, but it could be better.
Better tasting jerky was probably low on the list of things that need improvement, so I wouldn't see it for a while.
As nostalgic as I was feeling about tasty jerky, I didn't care enough to try my hand at making it.
I was a murderer, not a cook.
"..." I stared at Aomi and wondered if I should make her go off in search of better jerky.
Aomi met my stare and raised an eyebrow.
"Like what you see?" I winked at her and she looked away.
Whatever...
...
"Hello, Senpai." Rin sent me a cheery smile that reminded me of Minato.
I nodded at her in greeting and studied Obito gasping and sweating form in the distance.
"Senpai, why's your hair black?" Rin pointed at my head.
I didn't need the clarification, I knew what hair was and where it was located.
"I'm going on a mission soon and people run or surrender when they see me." I paused for a moment wondering if I should soften what I was about to say.
"It makes me uncomfortable to chase down and murder people, it feels more justified when they fight back." Rin looked perturbed even though I held back a great deal of what I wanted to say.
Not telling her about how happy a good fight makes me was the right move.
"The black-hair is nice, it makes us look more like mother and son." Mom changed the topic and averted what would have been a long stretch of awkward silence.
I nodded at her in both thanks and acknowledgment.
"Want me to keep it?" It was easy to do and would throw people off for a while.
Mom shrugged.
"As much as I like it, it isn't you." Mom nodded to herself. "Black hair doesn't look cool when it's covered in blood like white hair does."
I nodded in agreement.
"I like white anyways." I jutted my thumb at my clothing.
Mom nodded and started towards Obito, who was still running around the frost-covered clearing.
"Any news from Sensei?" Rin quickly shook her head.
"That's annoying..." The fighting in Grass might be picking up, that or they needed someone in Sand Country or Noodles.
I had things I wanted to do and having Minato's Genin here was putting a dampener on my experimentation.
"Whatever." I stared at the sky to see how much time we had. "Chakra control or sparing?"
Rin tapped her chin and glanced at Obito for a moment.
"Chakra control please!" Rin sent me a brilliant smile.
I nodded absently while staring at mom and Obito who had started sparing.
Obito didn't seem to want to spar so it was just mom chasing him around the field with the threat of bodily harm.
I turned away from the spectacle they were creating and started towards a large tree on the edge of the clearing.
Hopefully, mom would motivate Obito some, he could use it.
...
...
Interlude.
Orochimaru-Sama had ordered Shiro to disguise himself, infiltrate Keishi and assassinate a merchant.
It couldn't be known that we assassinated the merchant.
So Duy, Sumiko, and I were tasked with keeping a lookout while Shiro stealthily made his way through the building and to the merchant.
The mission was going well.
Boom*
Until the building exploded.
The explosion was massive and easily the biggest explosion I had ever seen, it shattered nearby windows and debris the size of me rained throughout the immediate area.
I turned to Sumiko as she was the leader.
'Proceed' I signed.
Sumiko shook her head with a look of annoyance.
I was about to question her when I was distracted by the scent of burnt flesh.
I turned and saw Shiro kneeling behind me.
He was horribly burnt and I would have been worried about had I not seen bone peeking through patches of rapidly healing burnt skin.
"I see you had fun..." Sumiko's dry voice startled me.
Shiro stared at his mother quietly for a moment before replying.
"Yes, lots of fun..." Shiro's voice was equally dry.
'Retreat' Duy signed while looking uncharacteristically serious.
Shiro nodded and took a running leap off the building and onto the adjacent one.
Sumiko, Duy, and I followed after him at a more sedate pace.
...
"So how did the building explode?" Duy still looked serious.
Yawn*
Sumiko rubbed one of her eyes and yawned.
"Shiro did it." Her bluntness surprised me and I couldn't stop the snicker that escaped me.
Sumiko looked at me and smirked.
"They had a sensor and knew Shiro was coming, so they decided to trap the building." Sumiko's smirk widened. "Shiro probably didn't want to go through all the traps and blew them up."
"There wasn't supposed to be any ninja." Duy spoke up. "Especially in Fire Country's capital."
I nodded in acknowledgment and looked at Sumiko.
"There wasn't" Sumiko smirked. "They arrived just as we started."
I nodded in understanding.
Had it not been Shiro who was sent, the merchant might've survived.
But the ninja arriving when they did, meant that we had a leak somewhere.
The timing was too good.
Though it seemed that they didn't know who would be sent...
"Eat now, we're leaving when Shiro finishes his shower." Sumiko knocked me from my thoughts.
I nodded and Duy nodded as well.
He was looking less serious now.
I sent him a nod and started on my ration bar while he nodded back.
...
We were halfway to Frost Country when Shiro spoke breaking the silence that had befallen us since we left Keishi.
"Orochimaru's going to throw a fit." Shiro's voice was bland, he didn't seem to care all that much.
Sumiko nodded with a small smile on her face.
"Yes, but it was you who blew the building up, not us." Shiro shrugged and I nodded.
Orochimaru-Sama's attention would be focused on Shiro.
"I could always blame Aomi." Shiro's eyes met mine and the playful glint in them made any panic I felt disappear.
"How Unyouthful!" Duy summer-salted in front of us and landed in a pose.
"Young Shiro! You must be kind to the Beautiful flowers of Konoha!" Shiro gave Duy a thumbs up.
"How Youthful! I will never mistreat a Beautiful flower Duy-San!" I let out a silent groan and covered my face with my hands.
This was embarrassing.
Shiro and Duy continued their antics while Sumiko and I sped up.
After a moment the youthful chatter was barely audible and I was feeling less embarrassed.
Thud*
With a wave of my sword I felled a large tree, it was like cutting through butter with a warm knife.
Using Lightning Constructs as an extension of my Bone Sword was an excellent decision on my part.
I ignored Aomi's disapproving look with practiced ease and let the construct disperse.
"The wood will be used, stop looking at me like that." Aomi didn't my casual tree chopping.
Which was why I was doing it.
Well...
That and I couldn't use Lightning Constructs in spars anymore.
They were simply too deadly.
"How about you keep your hair-color and we make your eyes a glowing red." Aomi didn't even acknowledge the question, she just ignored me.
That's fine, I didn't know how to make eyes glow anyways.
"What about Uzumaki-red hair and bright yellow eyes?" I was again ignored.
I scratched my chin.
"What if we do some sort of design on your iris? I'd be like a tattoo on your eye." I stopped focusing on Aomi as I found the idea more interesting.
The pigment was extremely easy to manipulate in the iris, I could probably make whatever I fancied.
And the Sharingan's markings immediately came to mind.
I liked the idea of randomly giving people tomoe and making it look like they had a Sharingan.
They would likely be hunted by every village...
On second thought, perhaps that's a bit cruel.
I guess it depends on how much I disliked the one I did it to...
"Alright, let's go." I turned to see if Aomi was paying attention. "We've got to give my baby a proper funeral ."
Well, burn first and then burry.
...
Woosh*
Aomi exhaled and the fleshy mass was covered in a bright orange flame that seemed to stick to the mass.
I thought about dramatically bawling and causing a scene, but Aomi had grown numb to my dramatics and it was no longer as fun to weird her out.
Thus, we stood and quietly watched as the experiment was consumed by the flame and slowly reduced to ash.
Sadly, I realized too late that I could have kept the tumor and that I should have gotten my mother to use it.
Fuck...
...
"Shiro." Mom stared at me with barely concealed annoyance.
I met her stare with an innocent face.
"Yes?" I started inspecting my nails to further develop my facade of innocence.
She silently pointed towards the statuesque thing in the corner of the lab.
It was of course an armored skeleton wielding my usual thin Bone Sword.
"That's Kuro." Mom stared at Kuro.
I stared at Kuro with her.
"I hope Kuro is the skeleton's name." Sadly, it was not.
The giant phallic protrusion coming from its pelvis was Kuro.
"Please get rid of it." I nodded without argument.
Kuro was only here temporarily, I was going to use the skeleton as a puppet and see how that went.
"That's a bone puppet, I got bored and decided to add Kuro." Mom's face was blank.
She just pointed at Kuro.
"Why is it as big as my leg?"
Because it wasn't as funny when it was a normal size.
"It's modeled after my own of course." I said not bothering to conceal my amusement.
Mom didn't share my amusement.
"It seems like your overcompensating." It was now mom's turn to be amused.
I rolled my eyes not bothering to argue.
I was going to make a clone walk the puppet and Kuro around the camp.
Both to test the puppet's functionality and for a laugh.
"It's a Bone Clone that ran out of chakra and then was repurposed as a puppet." I wanted to call it a Bone Shadow Clone.
But Bone Shadow Clone was too wordy.
"You made your special Taijutsu style yet?" I opted to change the topic.
Mom nodded and gave me a look I couldn't decipher.
"I completed it a while ago." She paused in thought. "Haven't had much opportunity to use it though."
I opened my mouth to ask her about it, but I was beaten to the punch.
"I've applied for leave. It's what I came for, before getting distracted by Kuro." She pointed at Kuro as she spoke.
"Kuro is distracting..." I agreed absently.
Mom was leaving, which couldn't have come at a better time.
This was the calm before the storm, mom leaving now was ideal.
"Take Duy with you, I don't have the time to watch over him." As much as I liked him, I couldn't spend much time with him.
I had my own duties and projects that ate up most of my time.
"Take Obito and Rin as well, I'll approve all the forms." Mom sent me a displeased look.
I ignored the look and rolled my eyes at her.
"I'm not bending the rules or anything, the requests are approved or denied at my discretion." It was up to whoever was doing the paperwork whether or not they got to go or had to stay.
It was pretty lax compared to some of Konoha's other garbage.
"Alright get out of here, I've got stuff to do." I shooed her, stood up, and proceeded into the sealing room as Aomi had named it.
Aomi had been patiently waiting this whole time, and it wouldn't do to make her wait any longer.
...
Mutation Inducement was something I hadn't used much.
It was random unless you knew a lot about what you wanted to do and how to do it.
I didn't have a particular goal, I was just using it on a few different genes in my blood.
Mainly the Hyuga chakra density genes though.
"Aomi put him back. We're done with him." He'd be monitored for changes.
I would then Overwrite the blood of some prisoners and observe the effects.
Sadly, random mutations were indeed random...
And random in this case seemed to mean useless.
Because that's what most of the mutations seemed to be.
"..." Aomi nodded silently, picked up the test subject, and threw him over her shoulder.
Most of the time there was little to no notable change, and even when there was some change it was so minor that it didn't matter in the scheme of things.
I've used mutation inducement on various genes to little effect, it so far seemed useless.
But I'd stick with it for a while, maybe I could get lucky.
And if I didn't get lucky, I'd find a Hyuga with better chakra density then myself and steal his genes.
That was the current plan.
At least until I found something else to do.
...
I stood and waved Team Irregular, and Team Minato off.
Aomi was offered a break as well but she refused, so at least I had some company.
Said company was waving with me and sending the back of my head a sour look.
She sadly didn't find Kuro as entertaining as I did.
Perhaps using the puppet to attack her while she was sleeping was a bad choice on my part.
"Well, now that my favorite very squishy people are gone, we can attack Kumo's camp." A wide smile covered my face at the thought.
There had been a lack of mayhem, panic, madness, and havoc lately.
I missed it.
"We'll need to do some stuff before that though." Aomi looked relieved.
I rolled my eyes and started towards the interior of the camp.
I had two months to myself.
I'd try to make the most of it.
...
"I'd use less chakra then that, you're trying to make their wounds a pain to heal. You're not trying to melt through them" Aomi had taken my advice and learned how to coat her blade in flames.
Sadly, she melted her blade as it was not chakra conductive, thus I made her a new one.
"It's the same as your last sword just a little lighter if you want any changes made let me know." Aomi nodded and used the sheath from her previous sword to store the Bone Sword.
I tapped my chin and studied her.
She was soon leaving the cannon-fodder zone and was about to enter the hard to kill cannon-fodder zone.
If I trusted her more, I would give her bigger reserves which would move her well into the too hard to kill cannon-fodder zone.
Sadly, I couldn't trust her.
Her loyalty to myself was less than her loyalty to Konoha...
The letters between herself and the Hokage showed as much.
"Sigh..." Aomi raised an eyebrow and I waved her off, nonverbally telling her to just ignore me.
I was out here bloodying my hands for Konoha and the Hokage still wanted to have eyes on me, enough so that he'd take the time to personally pen a letter to Aomi...
Well...
As long as he didn't bother me that was fine.
I had relative freedom and my notes were in seals on my person.
No notes could be stolen and no-one obstructed me.
And that was the way I wanted it.
If I was going to be watched, then Konoha wouldn't benefit from what I was doing.
Not that they would've even if I had not been annoyed.
"Leave the sword and sheath in the lab when your there, I'll apply some seals on it and make it as close to indestructible as I can." I wish I had caught on earlier.
I wouldn't have invested so much time into her.
Now she was friends with all the people I surrounded myself with and she was too valuable to dispose of.
This whole ordeal was a shame.
'You ok?' Aomi held her notebook in front of my face. 'You've been standing idle for a long time.'
She tapped 'long' a few times with her pen.
I nodded.
"Just got lost in thought is all." I took a moment to gather myself, I was feeling slightly emotional.
I was grooming Aomi to become my second in command.
And finding the letters between Aomi and the Hokage put a dampener on that.
"Alright you are free for the day, go have fun." Aomi nodded and left, I however remained so I could stew for some more.
I was getting extremely emotional about the ordeal.
"Sigh..." It was probably puberty...
Aomi hadn't even done anything sneaky or overt, she was just reporting to the Hokage, she didn't think it needed to be hidden.
But I still felt betrayed...
And I doubted that she even considered telling the Hokage about what I was doing as a betrayal.
I wasn't even sure I considered it a betrayal.
After all, I hadn't ordered her to keep what I was doing quiet.
"Sigh..." I attempted to hold the sigh back but was unsuccessful.
This also brought Duy into question.
Was he also reporting to the Hokage?
Mom was to Hokage's go-to gal, but maybe he caught on to the fact that she held a great deal back.
There was still more to think about...
My friends and acquaintances had been a blind spot and the Hokage used it.
Though I don't know what I did that made him so focused on me.
Perhaps it was my rapid acumination of strength.
Or perhaps it was my Orochimaru like behavior.
Maybe it was my age.
I didn't know and could only guess.
...
Everything was sealed, the Fuinjutsu covering the lab was removed, and I ordered the building to be modified.
Now there would be a personal lab below the usual lab.
Said personal lab would be heavily restricted and used only by myself.
The whole process would only take a day or two.
Sadly, moving everything back and redoing the Fuinjutsu protections would take an additional two days.
So, I was going to be training and bothering Orochimaru while some clones worked on the lab.
...
Orochimaru was entertaining a guest and denied my generous offer to assist him, so I cleared out some space in my quarters and made a makeshift lab.
Thus, the DNA for poison immunity was done.
However, disease immunity was a work in progress.
Mainly because it was complicated.
STD's and such were easy to do as they were just infectious and the immune system could combat that if it knew how.
Hereditary diseases were not as easily fixed.
They would have to be tailored to individuals and was not something I could fix easily.
There were also diseases involved with natural aging which weren't easily fixed.
And then there were deficiency diseases, where your body lacked something and started breaking down.
So, Disease and Poison Immunity were no longer a fitting name.
They were now dubbed Disease and Poison Resistance.
Because when I thought about it, it wasn't actual immunity.
Just resistance...
I pushed the slight shame I felt back.
Everyone gets overzealous with their naming once and awhile...
...
My new underground lab was done, and after having the place cleaned by some Genin I was ready to move my stuff back.
With a single hand-sign, I was surrounded by clones and ready to rumble.
"Charge!"
I pointed towards the lab and the clones madly rushed towards it.
The clones descended upon the lab with ferocity.
In moments the clones had started on the seals using ink that they had stolen from somewhere.
It was beautiful.
I opted to watch the controlled chaos instead of participating.
"I've got purple paint, time to put it to good use!" The clone held it up like it was a trophy.
"What are you talking about you silly bitch, the walls should be white. Get that purple shit out of here." Another clone smacked the can of paint out of its hands.
I smiled.
My clones were having a blast and so was I.
It's not every day you get to watch 'you' argue with 'yourself' about paint choices after all.
...
The lab was done.
Aomi was busy rearranging the lab as the clones had decided to leave everything lying around, and I was going through my notes again.
I kept getting distracted with other more interesting experiments and often opted to put what I was doing off.
When I did so I usually forgot about it completely.
Like indexing the Hyuga's DNA and creating the ideal Sensor DNA.
Or forcefully opening someone's Gates, or flesh transplants, or making artificial Byakugan.
There was lots of stuff I had forgotten in favor of things that would provide more immediate benefits.
I looked out the window and stopped my pondering.
"Aomi, go order some public bathrooms to be built and ban public urination." A man was pissing on a wall across the street and ruining the view I got from the labs' only window.
Aomi let out a heavy but silent sigh and made her way out of the lab without complaint.
I nodded to myself while wishing I could open the window and hit the man with a senbon.
I didn't mind the public drunkenness, but watching someone piss while I was trying to stay focused was annoying.
...
After sending Aomi out to collect some Hyuga blood, I retired from the lab for the day and made my way to my usual training ground.
When I arrived, I noted that the ground had been patched up.
I nodded to myself and grabbed a scroll I had tucked away in my kunai pouch.
Lightning Release: Lighting Aura.
The user circulated lightning chakra in their body to increase their physical parameters. The lightning chakra stimulates the user's nervous system, enhancing their speed and their reaction time
The scroll was fresh from the archives, and it was what I believed to be the precursor to the Raikage's Lightning Chakra Mode.
The cloak was pretty much a really strong version of Lighting Aura with elements of the Shunshin thrown in.
I'd been trying to make my own version of the lighting cloak but I'd had little luck.
Even with the improvements from the chakra tumor...
I had thought that the tumor would be an instant fix but that wasn't the case.
I still seemed to be doing something wrong.
Sadly, I didn't know what.
I'd spend a little time on Lightning Aura and then I'd give it a go again.
If it didn't work, I'd ask Orochimaru for some tips and then I'd throw in the towel.
There wasn't much else I could do.
The Hyuga weren't cool with giving me their blood.
I even got a letter penned to me from Hiashi Hyuga telling me to keep my greedy little hands to myself.
I was slightly annoyed, but it was mainly because Hiashi had become the Hyuga Clan Head.
I hadn't been invited to whatever celebration they had.
What a piss-off.
I was probably the strongest Hyuga and they didn't even have the decency to pretend that they liked me.
There was also the fact that not being invited was likely a statement of some kind.
Sadly, I was better versed in murder than I was in politics and I had no clue what kind of statement they had made.
Mom and I were both anti-social, so I never had to attend any events so I never bothered to learn any social niceties beyond the basics nor the subtle art of political talk.
"Sigh..." And there was a chance that they had no motives and I was overthinking things.
But that was unlikely.
It was far more likely that I was being snubbed on purpose and that it was a statement.
I decided to put the ordeal out of my mind, the Hyuga were usually cunts and I had tried to be nice about getting their blood.
I'd just have to be a little rougher...
I drummed my fingers on the desk...
While I'm here I should write a note for Orochimaru.
It would be a good idea to try and oust Kumo from Frost...
"..." I placed a blank paper in front of myself.
Though Orochimaru might be averse to the idea, seeing as he and Minato had no luck last time.
I guess I'll see...
...
Trying to mutate the Hyuga chakra density gene had produced little results.
Which wasn't a surprise.
It was some good practice though.
I'd keep at it and see if it went anywhere.
But I wouldn't get my hopes up.
Perhaps I would get more interesting results if I used Mutation Inducement on a whole person and not just a small section of DNA...
It was an avenue worth exploring at least...
I'd get around to asking Orochimaru if he used the technique, hopefully, he had something to teach me.
...
I figured out that mutations to the Hyuga chakra density gene only seemed to provide a slight increase to chakra density at most.
So, I spent a lot of time collecting different mutations for the gene.
Any gene that showed an increase in chakra density was collected and used in the making of an overwrite seal.
From there I started mutating the genes and again, each time I filtered out those that showed no increase.
After filtering the genes that hadn't experienced an increase in chakra density, I simply repeated the process of making an overwrite seal and continuing to mutate them.
Most of the time it bore no results, but now and then there would be a minuscule increase in chakra density.
So, I would slowly advance the gene by way of artificial Darwinism.
I was eager to use my new method on other genes to see what I could do.
But sadly, doing one gene already ate up a lot of my time and it was currently unfeasible to do more than one gene at a time.
I had neither the required amount of test subjects nor the space to keep them.
Keeping prisoners alive and sedated was expensive.
So, it was not a priority.
Thus, most would end up dead under Orochimaru.
Both to save money and because Orochimaru didn't seem inclined to keep them fed and watered.
"Sigh..." I ran a hand through my hair.
There was also the fact that I needed people with Type-A or Type-AB blood for the experiment...
Which limited those that I could choose from...
...
As mid-April drifted in, it brought with it the realization that the year was almost half-way done.
Meaning that the next six or so months would be the end of the war.
Which was a bummer, as I found myself liking the war more then I disliked it.
No war meant there would be a lack of test-subjects...
"Sigh..." The lack of test subjects was more troublesome than the lack of fighting...
And how would I occupy myself went I couldn't go and slaughter a platoon of Kumo-nin whenever I felt the urge...
Different DNA would also become harder to collect...
Not that I had collected much to begin with...
I made a mental note to collect as much interesting DNA as I could...
I had no idea where to start...
I made a second mental note below the pervious mental-note, I had to figure out who's DNA I needed to get.
I nodded to myself, satisfied with my mental-notes that I'd likely forget.
At least it made me feel better...
...
I took a deep breath and coated myself in a layer of lightning chakra that I had been building up in my chest.
The blue cloak of lightning chakra stimulated my nervous system and further increased my speed and reaction time.
So, the Lighting Chakra Cloak was finally functional...
Now that my hair was no-longer being burnt off my body, it was a spikey mess.
I now looked like I was going Super Saiyan, and what an apt name that could have been.
If I was six years younger, I would have named it Super Saiyan Mode.
Sadly, my inner Weeb slowly died due to fading memories and a lack of Anime and Manga.
So, it was now called Lighting Cloak, as Lighting Chakra Cloak was one word too long for me.
"Sigh..." Aomi had been a large help during the process.
Well...
She wasn't an actual help...
She provided moral support and convinced me not to give up on it.
It wasn't much but it earned her some points in my book.
Not enough for me to like her, but it was enough to stop me from plotting her 'accidental' death.
So, I completed the lightning Cloak and Aomi avoided meeting the Death God.
It had been a productive week.
"Hmmmm..." I hummed and started increasing the amount of chakra coating me.
I poured a good bit of my reserves into the cloak and felt my skin start to burn.
The smell of burnt flesh and the arrival of Aomi who had appeared in a Shunshin distracted me.
I ignored the smell and Aomi, then continued feeding chakra into the cloak.
I felt a little too much of my skin flake off and found my current limit.
I brought some of the chakra into myself and reabsorbed it.
"Aomi hit me with a Jutsu." Aomi stared at me in surprise.
As I didn't have all day, I motioned her to get on with it.
And get on with it she did.
She made a string of hand-signs and released a stream of fire from her mouth.
Woosh*
I let the fire wash over me and felt both my worries and skin melt away.
Well...
Just my worries.
My skin was unscathed.
Now I had another good close-range technique.
"Alright, you can stop cooking me now." My world was no-longer covered in fire and I was feeling pretty good.
Now I wouldn't be so reliant on the Shikotsumyaku.
Unless I wanted to keep this as a hidden move...
"Sigh..." It could be decided later.
I turned my attention to Aomi.
"What'd you need?" Aomi started writing in her notebook.
I let the cloak fade and started trimming my nails with a chakra scalpel when it became clear Aomi wouldn't be done anytime soon.
"..."
Tap* Tap* Tap*
I turned my attention away from my nails and back to Aomi who looked pretty annoyed.
"What?"
Tap* Tap* Tap*
Aomi tapped on her book and held it out so I could see it.
'Orochimaru-Sama wants to see you. He has an old friend with him and is in a better mood than usual.'
I nodded.
"What's this friend's name?" Orochimaru being in a good mood was rare.
Aomi scribbled something down quickly.
'His name's Hiruko, he has white hair and pink eyes.'
I nodded.
It wasn't someone I was familiar with, nor was he a ninja of any renown as far as I knew.
"Alrighty let's go see them." I motioned for Aomi to follow and started towards Orochimaru's lab.
...
Hiruko and Orochimaru were two creepy peas in a pod.
Both were old, took excellent care of their hair, and gave off creepy vibes.
They were perfect for each other.
I stood off to the side with Aomi as they had elected to ignore me even though they knew I was there...
I drifted off into thought while they chatted between themselves.
After a good amount of thought, I decided that I wanted to learn Sage Mode...
But I also didn't want any distinctive animal characteristics...
So, I'd have to go the way of Hashirama.
If I couldn't figure it out, I'd have to use Fuinjutsu...
And if that didn't work out, then I would have to learn it from one of the summon clans...
That was post-war stuff though...
I also needed to pursue DNA and possibly soul related stuff while I had an abundance of test subjects...
So, there was lots to do before I even got into Sage Mode...
But Sage Mode was still something to look into in the meantime...
...
"...And this is Hyuga Shiro, I've been teaching him for the past year and a half." I dragged myself from the mental swamp that was my mind and bowed in Orochimaru's direction while remaining silent.
I was annoyed and my strained smile must have shown it because Orochimaru smiled in amusement.
"This is Hiruko, he's the creator of the Amalgamation and Genetic Mimicry techniques." Orochimaru smiled when I gave Hiruko a nod of acknowledgment.
Amalgamation and Genetic Mimicry weren't something I had any interest in, upon looking into them it was clear that they were made for bloodline theft.
So Hiruko was probably someone I should stay away from.
"I'm familiar with your work, you must have an impressive grasp of Fuinjutsu to make such masterpieces." I gave my best attempt at a friendly smile but was met with silence.
Hiruko just stared at me with what I could only call boredom and my smile became strained.
"Indeed." Hiruko's voice was as dull as his expression.
My smile fell.
"Any new projects...?" Hiruko nodded but remained silent.
I forced the smile back onto my face ignoring Orochimaru who seemed to be entertained by our exchange.
"Well it's good talking to you Hiruko, but I think it's time I take my leave." I saw Orochimaru's smile widen. "See ya Sensei." I sent Orochimaru a nod and beat a hasty retreat.
Orochimaru was being creepy and Hiruko seemed even less socially inclined then I was.
I didn't have it in me to carry a conversation.
With that thought I sped up, eager to escape.
...
Isami developed denser bones and had an increase in muscle mass.
"Denser bones and more muscles to move those bones..." I rolled my eyes.
So, nothing major or unexpected.
I just confirmed that chakra changed the physical body.
Which was something I already knew...
"Alright, get Aomi to draw some blood, and you are free to go." Possibly forever...
I was going to inject or Overwrite some others as well, mostly to confirm my findings...
So, Isami wasn't needed unless I wanted to mold her into a minion...
"Oh, yea..." Isami turned and raised an eyebrow. "Don't forget to apply for leave, so you can go see your family."
What's left of it anyway...
"Thank you, Shiro-Sama." Aomi gave me a shallow bow and left.
Now I got to sit by myself and stew in thought for a while.
What fun...
...
Orochimaru's foray into the mysteries of sleep was complete.
Sadly, I likely wasn't going to benefit from it...
Orochimaru wasn't in a sharing mood lately...
"Aomi, drop these on Orochimaru's desk and get two more prisoners afterward." Aomi took the folder I presented to her, nodded, and wandered off to do my bidding like the good little minion she was.
Orochimaru was now awake for about twenty hours a day and was using the extra time in a way he most certainly enjoyed.
Meaning experimentation and lots of death.
Which wasn't bad, now we were running low on prisoners and Orochimaru was more likely to attack Kumo.
He would need more test subjects soon...
"Sigh..."
I still needed to do a few tests using A's genes before we ran out of prisoners...
Hopefully, I could get that off my plate before we ran out of them...
...
During a mission, I stumbled upon the corpse of one of our scouts and got a pleasant surprise.
The brown-haired corpse was wearing the signature Uchiha clothing.
I placed my hands on the side of his head and fed my chakra into his eyes.
His eyes changed to a menacing red.
Nice a Sharingan!
Now, what do I do with it...
I honestly didn't care for it, but I doubted I would have another opportunity to get a hold of an Uchiha corpse.
"Aomi go kill that idiot hiding in the trees." I pointed at the blond-haired dark-skinned man who was badly hidden behind a tree.
Aomi nodded and darted towards the tree I pointed at with her sword drawn.
I nodded to myself and dug through my kunai pouch looking for an empty refrigeration seal.
Sadly, I didn't have one...
I sighed and grabbed a normal storage scroll.
Now I'd have to cut this mission short...
I sealed the body up and turned my eyes towards Aomi who slowly but surely overpowering her opponent with superior speed and superb use of her flaming sword.
Her opponent's sword was starting to look worn, the heat from Aomi's blade seemed to have a great effect.
I nodded to myself.
Coating things in chakra was always a good idea.
I quietly chuckled at the thought.
Ting*
Aomi swung and smacked her opponent's sword out of his hand and decapitated him with her following swing.
"Well done." I looked towards the new corpse. "Less chakra on the sword though, I don't have a fire affinity." Aomi nodded and I nodded back.
We probably should have kept this guy alive, he might have had information or could have been used as a test subject.
But there's no use crying over spilled blood...
"Don't decapitate the next one, we have Yamanaka that can be put to use." I pointed towards another tree and Aomi sped off to capture the sneakier ninja.
Poor girl probably thought she wasn't detected...
"Keep the limbs on that one!" I shouted in Aomi's direction and made my way over to the body she left behind.
Maybe something could be done with it...
...
Using the power of money, I got seven test subjects from amongst the camp goers.
Now I could inject them with some blood...
I'd give three of them my blood and another three of them A's blood.
And the remaining one would get both.
From there I'd see what else I could do.
I might make their own body produce A's blood or I might just give them a flesh graft of some kind.
I still wanted to figure out how one mixed chakra after all...
...
"Ummm... Sensei?" Orochimaru was moody but I was bored and had questions.
Orochimaru stared at the ceiling in annoyance.
"Yes, Shiro...?" His tone was dry, I could tell I was pushing my luck.
But I've been stuck and needed some tips.
"I've been trying to make a custom sealing script, my Fuinjutsu-teacher said it was all about intent." I paused as that got a rather big reaction from Orochimaru.
"But I've had no luck with creating custom symbols..." Orochimaru nodded like it was obvious.
He opened his mouth to speak but stopped halfway.
He appeared to think for a moment before he started speaking.
"Using 'intent' is not necessarily wrong but it's not how I would describe it." Orochimaru took a really deep breath.
He looked very annoyed, so I started planning my exit even as he continued to speak.
"You're assigning meaning or purpose to a symbol." He took another deep breath and appeared to calm slightly. "I wouldn't call it intent but it's close."
"The more specific the meaning or purpose of the symbol, the better the results." Orochimaru side-eyed me. "You then string the symbols together and make instructions for the seal using them."
"But sealing is different for everyone, baring the Uzumaki. How I understand and use Fuinjutsu will be different from how you understand Fuinjutsu."
"My teammate described it as the written language of hand-seals and my Sensei describes it as using a string of matrices to manipulate the world around you." Orochimaru paused for a moment before continuing.
"I'd describe it as making a contract with reality." He paused. "You make a contract and hide as many letters or symbols as you can within the shapes and script of the contract, so you can trick reality into doing your bidding."
I nodded in understanding.
Orochimaru's sealing looked to be mostly comprised of shapes, I now knew that there was more hidden in the shapes and script then what appeared on the surface.
"Thank you." I sent Orochimaru a deep bow.
Orochimaru nodded.
"Here's a book on Touch Sealing, don't use it unless you are vividly familiar with the seal your using." A snake slithered out of Orochimaru's sleeve and regurgitated the book onto the desk.
"Thank you, Sensei." I took the slightly slimy book from the desk and bowed again before taking my leave.
I had thinking to do...