After the Science Project presentation at Konoha's Academy,Sayako strolled proudly through the road that led towards the Uchiha residence. Did she won the project? No. In fact, Sayako was kicked out the contest again, as she brought another piece of shinobi-ware that was borderline illegal, at least for Academy students. In fact, it was the same piece as last year, the kunai arm cannon, yet she modified it with a brand new laser-pointer and a recoil control system that minimized the brutal recoil of that cannon to an almost nonexistent extent.
It would be logical if Konoha's Ninja Training Department decided to kick Sayako from the the Academy and even banning her from entering ever again. Yet, this little devil fascinated not only the juries of the contest but arm dealers as well, hiding amongst the crowd as simple viewers and citizens. None of them however approaches her because... who the hell would attempt to start negotiation and close a deal with a 10 year old girl about getting the rights to manufacture a weapon?
The most plausible scenario would be the arm dealers approaching Sarada but there was no guarantee that she'd accept.
Hayato on the other side didn't even show up at the contest. No one knew the reason.
Then suddenly, as Sayako walked towards her home, a big smile on her face reaching all the way up to her ears, a tall black silhouette jumped in front of her, probably belonging to a man.
"Hello young lady!" the man shouted with a raspy and rough voice. Sayako screeched in absolute shock, gathered massive amounts of chakra and unleashed a powerful left cross at the man's left side, all those actions in pure reaction and no thinking at all. She felt her fist connecting, his bones crashed into tiny pieces and his flesh twisting and flying away in a horrific way. Yet, something peculiar happened at that moment. When she swiftly flickered her eyes, she noticed that the man wasn't dissappeared!
"Woah,Woah,Woah, chill the fuck out!" the man, now appearing besides her, said in absolute horror. Sayako could clearly see his characteristics now, his appearance was quite familiar.
He was tall and quite pale, his blonde hair were covered by a brown jockey with the Konoha insignia on it. His eye were covered by rectangular red sunglasses and his cheekbones were very apparent,as his cheeks sunk into his bones, even though this man somehow seemed not older than wore silver ring earrings and there was something like a scar that peered from the right lense of his glasses, as if something exploded near his eye. The rest of his outfit proved that he was a shinobi, heavily armed in fact.
He wore a brown, high-necked flak jacket, with diagonal pads for shoulder he had a shirt, tucked up until the elbows, with velcro on the arms where the Uzumaki clan emblem was put. On his black belt, other than different types of pouches and incomprehensible equipment he had a sabre-like sword strapped and pouch strapped on his right thigh with a weapon that seemed like a pistol. Finally he wore black trousers, black bandages wrapped around his calfs and shins, sandals, while suspicious was the fact that his right arm was covered by bandages.
As she judged him by his appearance, Sayako theorized that he probably used genjutsu to escape her punch or some unknown variant of the Body Flicker jutsu.
"I don't want no trouble!" he raised his arms "I'm just interested in that thing in your left arm!"
"Youuu... don't seem like an arms dealer."Sayako replied with her eyes narrowed to the point where they became small slits, as she scanned this mans appearance once again.
" Hah me! Arms dealer? Nah! I'm more like a test guy!By the way I'm Yamanaka Inozen, Konoha Special Jonin, specializing in computers, communication, programming and hacking. You are Sayako, right? Sayako Uchiha?" he offered his hand in a polite manner, yet Sayako reluctantly offered back hers.
" Yeah?Sooo... Waddaya actually want?"she asked another question, her suspicion at its fullest.
" As I said, I'm interested in that kunai cannon in your left arm. We in fact gonna test it in action, blow the fuck away some infrastructure and perhaps some bodies. That's why Im here-"
" That's why we ARE here." a womanly figure popped out from Inozen's shadow, as if she teleported behind him. Her sudden debut shocked Sayako and mostly, her appearance.
She was a hooded girl, wearing a black, short-sleeved combat shirt with several pockets on it, God knows what she had in those pouches. Her arms were shinobi-ware, as Sayako instantly recognized the model that this girl had chosen. They were the Kaminarimon Slick-arms,arms that greatly boost speed, strength and dexterity, by sending lightning chakra to the arm's artifical muscles.
She wore black shorts and her legs were also modified. Of course, Sayako knew the types of legs that she implanted in her. The Kangaroo legs, a goofy name indeed, that's used springs and hydraulics to greatly increase running speed and jumping height.
Half of her face was covered by a mannequin mask, a lock of black hair fell between her glowing, purple bionic eyes. Sayako had never seen this type of shinobi-ware. Perhaps it was custom made.
"And... You are?" Sayako lifted a her eyebrow. Yet, the girl didn't answer immediately.
"Nox..." she gave of her name, in a cold manner, with almost a whispery voice. Sayako couldn't help but desperately force her laugh down her throat as she heard that edgy name.
"There's no damn way their parents legit named her Nox." she thought.
"It's a code name." Inozen replied as he noticed Sayako's bewilderment mixed with a slight laughter. "She does not wish to reveal her true name."
"BUT!"Inozen shouted, an abrupt shift in tone that shocked Sayako."Enough with all these bullshit! Let's go test that cannon and blast some fuckaroos into pieces!"
"WAIT!" Sayako halted him, a worried expression formed in her face. "You said, now and earlier that we're gonna blast some bodies? Sooo...we're gonna kill people?"
"Well, yes?Isn't this what have you been training for?" Inozen looked down at her, speaking with a sarcastic tone. He didn't however expect her reaction.
"Cool!" she shrugged, definitely not the reaction that'd someone expect from a 10 year old girl when she's being told that she's literally going to blow up people...
"So like, we go right now?" she looked up to Inozen with a wide smile, her enthusiasm couldn't be contented. Inozen didn't give an answer, he simply stepped forward and strolled towards the road.
"Follow me." he ordered her and Sayako turned her head around to see if Nox was following as well. However, she was nowhere to be seen.
"What?" Sayako narrowed her eyes in suspicion "First, she appeared out of thin air and now, she dissappears in the same way? It can't be. Some type of spacetime ninjutsu! It must be!" she then turned towards Inozen once again, who had already progressed far, as he hasn't noticed that Sayako wasn't following him.
Then, she took notice of something that was written on the back of Inozen's vest. Something sewn with golden thread. It was a quote written in kanji.
"ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, BUT NOT ALL LOVING" Sayako couldn't quite grasp the true meaning of the quote, so she theorized that Inozen was some type of edgelord.
"Hey! Wait for me!" she wave her hand and ran towards him.
_________
"Sooo, like, uhm, is it legal to take an Academy student on a mission without receiving their headband?" as they walked through the dense forest outside of Konoha, Sayako asked Inozen, who, without uttering a word, pulled out a scroll out of his pouch and opened.
" Search law number 2984/762 paragraph 3."he spoke near the scroll which appeared to be a well hidden device.
" According to law number 2984/762 paragraph 3,a jonin has the right to take an Academy Student to a mission with them for assistance or training. The student will not receive any payment, if the mission is accomplished, however it will be normally registered to their profile " a womanly, robotic voice spoke from the scroll.
" What?! So I get nothing?" surprised by the fact that the law prohibits any kind of payment to her, Sayako yelled irritated.
"Yes nothing... Formally." Inozen's final word relieved her.
As they exited the woods they found themselves into a small hill that had a great view towards the plains from the cliff . Inozen ordered Sayako to prone and so did he in order to remain undetected from the enemy. Yet Sayako could find no threat in her field of view. In fact the only man-made object in the plains was a 24-hour shop and a small village a few kilometers away.
"Soooo,we remain undetected from who?I don't see anyone."she asked Inozen bewildered, receiving a slight chuckle.
" You're gonna tell me!"Inozen replied and pointed with his fingers at his eyes.
" W-what do you mean?"she asked with a worried tone, her heartbeat getting faster and faster, as she understood what Inozen meant with his gesture.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean'? Use that goddamned eye prowess of yours to see what's under that 24-hour shop!" Inozen was visibly losing his patience, as he knew Sayako pretended that she didn't understand what he was talking about.
Cold sweat streamed through her face, soaking her black beenie. She felt a very disturbing sensation in her chest, a sensation that she probably never felt before.
"Ho-How do you know?" barely able to utter any words, Sayako stuttered with her eyes widened from fear. "I've never said it to anyone, other than mom and grandma!"
"How do I know?Perhaps I'm God or some shit, WELL THAT DOESN'T MATTER JUST FUCKING USE IT!"Inozen yelled, receiving a similar response.
" OKAY, OKAY, SHUT UP! I will "she swept away the sweat and formed the ram seal in front of her.
" BYAKUGAN!" veins popped around her eyes, which lost their vibrant blue color and achieved a very pale steered her eyes towards the shop and it seemed that something very ominous was taking place.
" A fucking Uchiha with Byakugan. Goddamn, Mama Nature probably smoked some hard crack while making Sayako and her brother!" Inozen thought and laughed at the sighting of an Uchiha using the Byakugan.
"So, what do those fancy eyes see?" he asked in a sarcastic manner. Sayako didn't reply immediately, dazzled by what was happening in that 2 4-hour shop and beneath it.
"The clerk...Underneath his skin every inch of his body is covered in shinobi-ware. Maybe there are for self defense but... That's too much for self defense!" Sayako noted after scanning the clerk from head to toe.
"30 meters underneath there's a large facility. Rectangular machines with thousands of scrolls in them decoding information! Why do they need so much computing power?" and upon hearing Sayako's words, Inozen sharply turned his head towards her, his uneasiness apparent.
" This is gonna hurt a bit. " a tiny wire came out of Inozen's bandaged arm and injected itself into Sayako's nape.
" What are y-"
" Shhhh! "he quickly shushed started flowing through that wire, sharing Sayako's view with him. Inozen let off then a chuckle of sarcasm.
" Of course! The reports were correct!This explains the constant blackouts in the area!"
" What's that facility? "
"Heh! Illegal Crypto-currency mine! Those things have become the new cartels!" Sayako didn't understand anything of his words.
"C-crypto currency?"Sayako asked since, even though she was very knowledgeable in tech, she didn't have a clue what was this " crypto currency". Inozen then found himself in a difficult situation because...how could someone explain crypto currency to a 10 years old child?
"Well it's uhmm... A type of digital currency that can't be printed, but is generated from the net, hence 'mining'. There is a finite amount of it, yet even 1 of those worth a shit load of actual, tangible ryo. To mine them, you need to solve a fuckton of mathematical problems, that's why you need all of this computing power that you see in front of you. "
Sayako's jaw dropped upon hearing this.
" Woah! So we barge in and wreck this crypto-mine thing into pieces? "
" Not like this. We can't barge in from that tiny entrance that connects the mine to the shop. We need a bigger entrance."
"That's were I come in?" Sayako asked enthusiastically, almost jumping from her covered position. "With my kunai cannon?"
"Short of. There are hidden chakra and heat cameras in this store but I will disable them, I'll make it seem like a simple malfunction so they won't get suspicious." Inozen started conceiving the plan yet Sayako barely paid any attention, as she was eager to test her invention in real then unplugged the wire that slithered from his bandaged arm.
" So? How do we barge in?"Sayako asked and Inozen pulled out a bunch of paper bombs from his pouch.
" You can make Shadow clones right? "an utterly stupid question some would think considering Sayako's genetic background but her prosthetic implants prohibited her from duplicating herself, as the shadow clone jutsu couldn't replicate complex technology. However, scientist at that time had taken consideration of this problem and thus, Sayako had implanted in different parts of her body the Organic Body Emulators, or O.B.E. for short, which had the ability to send chakra transmissions to the neural network, making it believe that shinobi-ware in someone's body were organic parts. Nevertheless, this comes to the cost of the shadow clone's number, thus Sayako is only able to generate only 2.
"Only 2"she replied and gestured with her hand.
" It will suffice. Come, create them"Inozen demanded and so she did. Two of clones of hers emerged from white smoke.
"The first one will cover herself in these paper bombs, then will use the transformation jutsu to shift into her original appearance without the paper will head to the shop supposedly going to buy something. The second clone will jump as high as she can in order to gain a vertical angle and fire at the 1st clone with the kunai cannon. The kunai will impact the ground and the shockwave will soften up the soil. The paper tags will detonate in a matter of milisecs after the kunai impacts and decimate the ground, leading to the crypto mine. "Inozen laid out the plan in detail, simple yet he thought it'd be quite effective.
Inozen then pulled out a small kunai from one of his pouches, enough to fit into Sayako's arm. Around it a blue paper tag was wrapped, in a similar manner with a paper bomb.
" This paper tag is programmed by me using fuinjutsu. It will make the kunai spin horizontally, greatly increasing it's stability and piercing power." Inozen held this special kunai near her and Sayako snatched it from his hands.
" How many personnel is in the mine? Are they armed? "
" Uhmm... 20,no,30 people,armed mostly with close ranged weapons and scientific ninja tools. "
" Good, we initiate the attack!" Inozen declared with determination.
"Prepare!" he stated to Sayako with a smile "You should be proud that your first A-rank mission is with me as your supervisor!"Inozen then weaved a handsign and ordered Sayako to step back a bit.
" Lightning Style:Microwave Radiation "a beam of low energy microwaves emitted from his bandaged hand darted at the chakra cameras in the shop, throwing them off function momentarily.
" Go now Sayako! It's our chance to attack! "
__________
Sayako hastily headed to the shop, trying to appear as much calm and less suspicious as possible. She entered and saw the clerk sweating in front of a monitor, as he was nervous to fix the malfunctioning cameras.
Sayako walked towards the cash desk reluctantly, arms behind her back.
"Uhm, hi. Can I get the 'Narutonic Zero Sugar' energy drink please" she grinned at him, trying to appear as much innocent and non suspicious as she could. The clerk took of his eyes the monitor and glance at her, wiping his sweat away.
"Yes" He grabbed the energy drink from the fridge. "It'll be 20 ryo"
Sayako put her the pouch of her cargo pants and pulled only a few coins, 8 Ryo to be precise.
"Uhm... Sorryyyy, heh. I don't have 20 ryo with you mind if I pay with a kiloton of TNT?" and of course, Sayako couldn't halt back her sarcastic attitude for a moment and risked being caught. The clerk however didn't take her seriously.
At the moment they spoke,Sayako's 2nd clone slotted in her arm through a breech the kunai that Inozen gave her and inserted a ball of paper bombs through an opening in her elbow. She gathered chakra in her feet and jumped, achieving a near 90 degree angle. Her hand ejected and fell from the wrist, as the only things that held it were some artifical muscles and tendons revealing a cannon-like barrel.
Sayako fired the cannon at the store with no hesitation and the blast from the paper bombs in her arm propelled the spinning kunai at multi-mach speeds. It pierced the ground, disintegrating both Sayako's clone and the clerk. The kunai continued it's way all the way to the mine and the shockwave that was generated propagated though the soil, causing it act like a wave. Milliseconds after, the paper bombs that were in Sayako's clone detonated simultaneously, producing an explosion that blew the store into shrapnel and the wider area into a crater.
The strong shockwave was felt greatly by the two individuals, as it was able to topple down trees. As they were covered behind the cliff, shrapnel, rocks and pebbles smashed around them with great velocity, making it seem that a direct impact with them would be lethal. Suddenly then, an arm splashed in front of Sayako, blood droplets soaked her face.
Her eyes widened, her heartbeat started raising it's tempo and her mouth felt dry, as Sayako was reminded that this wasn't some type of AR simulation at the Academy but a legit situation. Death could be lurking at any corner and this realization made Sayako gulp in nervousness. She never felt this way before.
"Look at the remnants of the store! How many dead?" he shouted at her, as her thoughts were disorganized by the sighting of the mutilated hand, a sight pretty common for Inozen. She shook her head and glanced at the crypto mine. Several equipment completely destroyed,she was unable to count the dead as most of them had been completely shredded into pieces.
"I-I don't know! 20 alive!"
"Go! We charge now. We'll catch those wannabe investors off guard!" he declared and jumped off the cliff, landing on the crater and dashed swiftly at the opening for the crypto mine that had been created. Sayako did the same instinctively, creating another shadow clone to assist her.
Inozen slided in the mine though the opening and grabbed his pistol-like tool from it's pouch. A wooden-handled railgun pistol to be precise. He charged the weapon with massive amounts of lightning chakra, making it's barrel glow blue and launched a small projectile at ridiculous velocity. It pierced a grunt's head, blasting it easily like a watermelon.
Another grunt attacked him with two fiery blades that emerged from his palms, yet a chain was wrapped around him with a sickle attacked on the edge. The wielder of the weapon, hidden by the dust, pinned the grunt down and pulled the chain, slashing him in half.
Other 5 grunts charged simultaneously, armed with swords that were infused with fire chakra. Sayako, as she caught up to Inozen, wouldn't let them progress any further.
"Wind Style:Vacuum Sphere" Sayako molded wind chakra in her mouth and breathed hundreds of small wind blasts, similar to a machine gun . The blasts precisely hit the grunts, why were unable to avoid them, with enough force to even tear away parts of their flesh.
When the dust cleared the wielder of the kusarigama, the sickle and chain, appeared. It was Nox, who mysteriously emerged out of nowhere.
As the next wave of grunts prepared to attack, Inozen unwrapped his right arm from the bandages, revealed a bizarre, alien-like bionic arm made of metalling wires that were tightly banded together. Lighting jolts engulfed his arm, indicating the activation of a jutsu.
One of the attackers, wielder of a nodachi, an abnormally long katana, stopped his attack. Instead he performed a long and wide slash, chopping his two buddies in half. Then he grabbed his weapon and pushed it through his throat, killing himself almost instantly. Inozen bizarrely grinned at the sight.
"You Konoha bastard! " one of the grunts screamed furiously . "What the fuck did you do to him?!"
"Black magic!" Inozen responded at him retaining his grin. And thus, this huge grunt, who had armor implanted in different parts of his body instead of skin and huge bionic arms, decided to take part in the battle with the remaining friendlies.
The 9 of them attacked Inozen and Nox and the big one charged at gasped at the sighting of him running frenzied towards her while dragging with him different kinds of crypto mining equipment.
The giant leapt and crashed onto the ground, slamming and smashing the ground with a single palm strike. Sayako barely evaded the attack by dashing back and charged at him, her artificial muscles in her arms loaded with chakra. She swung her arm at his head while he was still down, directly hitting him with great force on the left side of his head, who was fully metallic with many bionic eyes implanted on his forehead . The blow, even though terribly strong, was ineffective.
"This guy! He is loaded with titanium bones, artifical high-density muscles and metal plated skin! How am I supposed to even scratch him?" she thought worrying as she scanned his body with her Byakugan. The giant got abruptly up bringing an uppercut with him, an uppercut which Sayako dodged by leaping back.
" Water Style :Water Spirit Wave! " she extended her left arm and point finger, gathering water chakra at it at such amount and density, that the water ball at the edge of her finger started glowing. She launched it yet, even though it was known that this jutsu could pierce though metal, concrete and blast humans in half, it harmlessly splashed on the giant's shoulder.
"Are you trying to kill me with a water pistol? Seriously? Couldn't expect less from a 10 year old baby!" he arrogantly boasted about his durability.
Sayako however, in response to his words, found a weak spot in him. The solar plexus! Even though this guy was loaded with artifical muscles, there wasn't anything protecting this particular spot of his she just had to land a hit on it. Easier said than done.
"I'll fucking rip that Byakugan out of your face!" the giant growled and once again started hurling punches at her in a very sloppy manner, making it easy for Sayako with her trained taijutsu to evade. Then, as the giant continued his punch barrage a blade came out of his arm, a move which Sayako had predicted thanks to her Byakugan. She answered by swiftly grabbing a kunai from her pouch and extending it's blade with water chakra, forming a sword. She managed to deflect the slash, giving herself an opening to attack by thrusting her water-made sword into his solar plexus. Yet, it didn't pierce through.
The giant unleashed a powerful elbow blow. Sayako couldn't make it in time and only raised her right arm to block. The blow send her flying, punching her through machinery and slamming her against the wall. She gasped and grunted in terrible pain and agony, falling on the ground,since most of her right arm had been destroyed, while her organic part of her body where the metallic connector with her bionic arm was implanted was bruised. The force of the blow managed to even dislocate her shoulder and fracture her clavicle bone, several ribs crashed as well.
Never she had felt so much physical pain before. Her body was shocked, she was unable to neither scream or cry in pain. She simply stood there on her knees with her gaze fixated on her destroyed arm which had know become a formless amalgamation of metal, artifical muscle and blood.
Yet, she quickly snapped out of her confusion upon hearing the giants footstep coming had only one option left,as using the kunai cannon was impossible since she was out of paper bombs.
She pulled out the last kunai out of her pouch and she weaved hand hand signs, only her left hand.
"Wind Style:Gale Galm" she launched a high-speed gust of wind that propelled the kunai towards the giant's abdomen. He thought that his cybernetic armored skin would easily deflect the kunai, but he was wrong. The kunai exploded in white smoke, revealing that it was actually Sayako's clone, who entered with her in the mine but no one noticed her disappearance. The clone gathered massive amounts of chakra in her left arm and unleashed a powerful haymaker in his solar plexus. The sound that was produced was deafening, only comparable to an explosion.
The blow literally incapacitated him, as he fell down and curled in pain. Unable to breath and only letting out quiet gurgles of pain, liquid came out of tube-like machinery from his mouth from which he was breathing. It appeared to be vomit mixed with blood. He coughed in desperation for air but it was futile.
He then attempted to stand up but it was impossible. Not because he was physically incapable though. Sayako noticed his shadow connecting through a line with Nox's shadow. She instantly recognized it. The shadow paralysis!
Inozen then, after defeating the rest of the goons, slowly walked towards the giant. Unable to do anything to prevent his face,he was just staring Inozen with all of his eyes in terror. Everybody in the underworld knew that death from Yananaka Inozen's hands was far than peaceful.
Inozen's bizarre bionic arm turned into hundreds of metallic strings that extended and wrapped around the giant's head, inserting themselves into his brain. Then, deals appeared on Inozen's arm accompanied with lightning jolts. The giant let out a shivering, blood curdling scream before felt her heart shutting down, unable to bear her enemy's screams of terror and agony. Sayako had indeed spending a lot of time in hardcore shinobi AR training sessions, enough time for her to be immune to gore and blood. But the real thing was very different from this computer generated simulations.
The metallic wires retracted and formed again themselves into an arm.
"Good, I got what I needed!" he thought as he was staring at the giant's body, completely forgetting about Sayako that stood some meters away, bruised and bleeding.
"Holy shit!" he shouted as he witnessed Sayako's condition, who was piggiebacked by 's wrecked right arm fell on Nox's face, soaking her mask in blood.
"So, she's... alive?" he asked in a slight sarcastic manner as he stared at her.
"Of course I am!I ain't getting down so easily!" she instantly replied grinning , retaining her energetic course, her fake grin could be easily spotted, as veins popped in her forehead, indicating her struggle to cover and hold back her excruciating pain.
"Why do you stand there doing nothing, fucking retard?" Nox cussed at her partner. "Help me transporting her to a medical ninja!"
"Medical ninja? Pffff! Fuck off!My cousin's gonna fix her all right!" Inozen retorted gesturing with his hand.
"But first, we gotta report what happened to the Konoha HQ!" he added.
Inozen then picked of a peculiar device from the rumble. It seemed like a scroll that had different types of machinery attached on it.
"Goddammit!That's a GPU! Those crypto-miners are the reason why my PC is stuck with 10 year old equipment!" he grabbed it and pulled it near his face with great irritation.
"Uhm... Inozen? Y'know I'm really hurting,like, terribly hurting right here!" Sayako, with an expression of great discomfort, called back Inozen as she noticed that he completely forgot about condition.
"Oh, yes... right. I forgot."
__________
Back to the Yamanaka HQ, Sayako was treated in the clinic by a cousin of Inozen's, apparently she was competent in her job as she effectively treated her wounds, even replacing her broken arm.
"Sayako-chan,Inozen told me about your proficiency in chakra control, so, It wouldn't be a bad idea for you to learn medical ninjutsu right? I mean, you can ask your grandma for help!" she suggested as she was attaching a new prosthetic right arm to medic, Yumi was her name, didn't seem like a doctor at all, as she was dressed in the standard Yamanaka Battle Dress Uniform, making her appear more like military person rather than a shinobi.
"Well, it's... not a bad idea. I'll talk to my granny, she won't refuse Im sure!" Yumi chuckled at Sayako's words.
"Well, Lady Sakura was my professor in the Medical School. She was strict, her expectations were high, she used to give us a load of homework and most of the students usually failed her classes. Well, I didn't!I was a huge nerd!" she laughed and blushes slightly.
" I don't blame Lady Sakura for her strictness. She made sure only the best of the best became medical ninja! Also, knowing her for a long time, I doubt she'll be softer with you just because you are her granddaughter."
"Heh,no shit!You better not see her when she has a temper!" Sayako, as terrible memories were recalled, grinned at the image of her grandmother going absolutely nuts for even minimum problems.
Using a mechanical gauntlet with several tools on each finger she attached the new prosthetic arm on Sayako.
" Seriously!" Sayako said disappointed and irritated "A 3d printed arm? Like, my previous one had legit artifical muscles with which I made progress, gains! You're telling my that I lost them now?"
"Oh I'm sorry, but I had to give you something quick and cheap to replace your arm. But don't worry, we'll contact the Scientific Ninja Tools team to recreate your old arm using muscle memory!" Yumi tried to calm her and reassure her, since Sayako had a tentency to fixate on things, especially if they were shinobi-ware.
" Okay! "Sayako jumped from the bed" Gotta leave or mom will kill me!" she headed towards the automatic door.
" Don't forget the pills! " Yumi waved back.
_______
After exiting the clinic, Sayako found herself inside the Yamanaka HQ. A gigantic place for sure, filled with weird types of sensory and monitoring machinery, Yamanaka clansmen working behind huge supercomputers and strolling here and there carrying equipment. Only few weren't doing anything, those who were sitting in the HQ's canteen. Inozen was one of them, who waved his arm so Sayako could see him.
Sayako approached him and sat on a chair besides him. He was puffing on a cigarette while enjoying a cup of espresso.
"Dude... How old are you?" Sayako asked with her eyebrow raised, after noticing the cigarette between his fingers.
"15"
"And you smoke?" Sayako threw another question shocked as she was. Inozen, nevertheless, didn't respond and changed topic.
"It appears that my cousin treated you well. So... How did you find the mission?"
Sayako blankly stared at the table for a moment, conceiving an answer.
"The whole thing... From the beginning to the end. It was brutal... we, we didn't even gave em a chance to bargain or surrender. We walked in and shredded them!" her usual energetic and eager attitude dissappear, a blank stare took it's place.
"Bargaining? Chance to surrender?Gah!" Inozen choked on his coffee.
"Pffffhahahahah! In the shinobi world? Miss Uchiha, talking and bargaining is a politician's job. We are not politicians, we act when they fail. Politicians sell lies and empty promises, we sell terror! Brutal tactics have another purpose other than being fucking effective. They sent a message to whoever wants to fuck with us! "Inozen puffed his cig and smirked maliciously.
" Sent a message to whoever wants to... fuck with us? "she lifted an eyebrow, her head tilted a bit.
" Come on Sayako! You are a clever girl! I'll give you an example. Have you and your brother ever got bullied? "
" No"
"Exactly" Inozen pointed at her. "You haven't cause everyone with whom you interact with knows that they'll get a few teeth removed and a few broken bones if they do! I mean look, I can personally find many reasons to bully you, the fact that you're the only in your class with cybernetic features, your ancestry and much more."Sayako pouted and squinted her eyes upon hearing those words.
" Are you doing this on purpose? "
" No, no, not at all. What I'm trying to say is that in this wicked world peace is enforced rather than encourage through healthy relationships. People stay peaceful out of fear not out of love. So, what are we doing is bestowing fear in the hearts of our enemies so we can ensure that they'll never attack us. "and as the conversation started shifting into a more philosophical side (Sayako's head hurts just even hearing the word" philosophy") she gazed at the digital clock inside the cafeteria.
"Y'know it's... time for me to go, mom will be shouting again. G'day Inozen!" she said as she got up from the chair. And as she turned her back to leave, Inozen called her once again.
"Sayako!" she abruptly turned around.
"I hope that this mission became a motive for you to train harder. The giant that you fought earlier is considered one of the weakest men in the shinobi world!" Inozen gave her an advice, yet a warning as well. She just smiled widely and gestured with her hand.
" Okay,no worries. Next time we'll meet my progress will leave your mouth open!"
________
It was late in the noon, the sun was setting behind several thunderstorm clouds which emitted filled the atmosphere with their electrifying lights and deafening thunders, while the cold breeze of a November's night was accompanied by the rustling of the leafs of the trees. Sayako walked towards her residence with her head lowered, sunken in deep thoughts.
" Well I got perfect chakra control right? This means I can ask from granny to teach me medical ninjutsu. But, healing people ain't my forte. How can I weaponize it?Maybe I can hone my kenjutsu skills as well, they are sloppy as fuck!" she thought to herself.
She found herself in from of the Uchiha residence,the camera at the garden's door scanned her face and granted her access. Before even remotely approaching it, the automatic front door opened and Sarada dashed out of it.
"Sayako!" she shouted worried in a volume high enough for the whole neighborhood to hear her. She kneeled down and hugged her, with her herculean strength, leaving her almost out of breath.
"Are you okay? Do you still hurt? Do you feel dizzy? Is your vision blurry? Why did you came on foot, you could've taken the tram!Are your chakra levels okay?Have you experienced any headaches? Do you want a painkiller? -"
"Mom!" Sayako let of her hug and placed her arms on her shoulders.
"I'm fine! In fact I don't even need these!" she unwrapped the bandages on her head and the one that held her left arm still in order for her clavicle bone to heal. Yet, she easily made circular movements with her arm,while the bruises on her head had already disappeared.
Sarada, not expecting that move, widened her eyes in shock. As she was trained in medical arts, she could easily tell that Sayako didn't hurt at all.
"Well except maybe this crappy, cheap prosthetic arm! But the Yamanaka dudes said that they'll make me a new arm, same with what I had before!" she said lifting her arm with a wide grin of excitement. Sarada's face whoever was still frozen in shock,something that didn't went unnoticed by her daughter.
" You... ok mom?"
" U-uhm yes! Yes! I was just thinking it something. "she exclaimed in an awkward manner, got up and straightened her glasses.
" We... Better go inside! That miso soup is gonna be cold! "Sarada said, still flattered by the fact that Sayako's bruises and broken bones healed in a matter of a few hours.
" This... This shouldn't go unnoticed! Better call mom! She'll probably be flattered as much as me after hearing this! "she thought and gulped in nervousness.
" Mom? " as Sayako walked to walked the automatic door she abruptly stopped and glanced at Sarada with her piercing blue eyes. Sarada understood that something bugged her from the beginning.
" What is it hon? "she patted her hair.
" Hayato is upstairs right? I'll call him from dinner as well!"Sayako in fact mostly wanted to see if her brother was doing well psychologically, since those pessimistic things that she told her two days earlier were alarming.
" Yes of course, but... he is not in his best mood right now. It's hard for him to understand that we are doing this for his own good" she gave her daughter a smile.
"Also..." she turned behind her for one last time as the door opened, giving her mother a glance testified seriousness and nervousness that Sayako displayed not even once in her life.
"Can we...Talk about this Inozen dude? Like, when you have time?"
Sarada responded with nothing but with a blank stare, yet something made in it clear that underneath this stare hid unexplainable awkwardness and knew, just by Sayako's single sentence, that her daughter already understood what kind of person Inozen was.
"Not now. Maybe... Tomorrow..."
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Sayako hastily entered the house and walked the stairs towards Hayato's room. The door of his room had a small led light at the top, red it's color, which indicated that it was locked.
"Hey it's me! Open!" she shouted and hardly knocked the door. The light flashed green and the door opened. The room was almost fully dark and she witnessed Hayato sitting at the edge of his bed, his back facing the back. His hair unkempt, an unusual sight indeed, still wearing his pajamas. There was a single source of light in the room that was emitted from Hayato's palm. Sayako approached him slowly and glanced at the Pocket Fireball Jutsu in the middle of his palm.
"Is-is this the Pocket Fireball Jutsu?" she stuttered in surprise "Wow! You did it, your first elemental ninjutsu!" Hayato, upon noticing her presence, closed his palm and extinguished the fireball.
"Are you okay?Mom said that you were pretty badly beaten up. You seem fine to me though..." he slowly turned his head towards her and noted that his sister didn't bear any injuries at all.
"PFFF! Too bad! Just when we all thought that she'd come back house in a casket!" a voice resounded in Hayato 's head.
"Well... dunno! Got even a few bones broken but they got fixed very quickly!"
"To be honest all those stuff don't matter now' cause it's time for dinner. Come on! Miso soup will be cold!" Sayako pulled her brother's arm and he slowly got up. He then tied his hair to the usual bun and stretched.
"Was real combat similar to the simulations?" Hayato suddenly asked as they exited the room. Sayako's expression changed to a serious one, as she couldn't forget that arm splatting in front of her during her mission, nor that metallic giant monster charging towards her as she gasped in horrible agony.
"Nothing like it at all..."
"So how was it?"
"I'll... Talk about it , the only thing that matters is that the kunain cannon is a total success! " she evaded the question as both of them headed down the stairs. Sarada was simultaneously speaking to the phone as she was serving the dishes with haste.
"I'm telling you, not a single scratch on her! You're thinking the same thing with me right? It's probably Momoshiki's DN-" Sarada noticed her children going down the stairs, quickly hang up the phone and tossed it aside.
"Ah! Just in time sweethearts!The perfect dinner for a cold November night!" she eagerly said as she placed the spoons on the table.
"Yeah, better eat as much as I can, 'cuz tomorrow is a difficult day!" Sayako exclaimed, a look of determination in her face. Sarada raised an eyebrow, since her daughter really didn't give a shit about anything in order to consider a day "bad" or "difficult".
"How so, honey?" Sarada pulled back the chair and sat on the table.
"After examining my performance during today's mission, I decided that I'll train in medical ninjutsu with grandma!" she declared, her mother's eyeballs almost bulged out from holding her laughter inside.
"Sayako,where did this come from?" she couldn't help it so a tiny chuckle slipped "I mean, medical ninjutsu isn't anything like your style."
"Mom! Trust me, 'aight? I now what I'm doing! I proved it by building a cheap, reliable, kunai arm cannon by myself, didn't I?"
Hayato couldn't help but narrow his eyes, as he understood well that something was wrong. This stemmed from the simple fact that he knew his sister well, they lived in the same household for 10 years after all!
" Thanks for the food, mom! " he let off a huge sigh of exhaustion and literally charged at his miso soup, devouring it with gluttony
" What the heck is she planning again? What other ridiculous idea has she conceived of again? Probably thought of a way to weaponize medical ninjutsu, knowing her..." Hayato thought as he had almost completely emptied his bowl.
And thus, besides Sayako's 2 big surprise, the first being her ridiculous healing prowess and the other her bizzare decision to start training in medical ninjutsu, that day concluded pretty normally in the Uchiha household. Nevertheless, Hayato didn't exchange a single word with his mother the whole day. Sarada, of course, found understandable her son's behavior and thought that it was better to accept by himself the fact that the surgery is necessary for him.
Hayato, as he gulped down the final portion of the miso soup, couldn't help but roll his eyes towards the silhouette that ate besides him, even though there was nothing in front of it. Hayato then once again caught something else with the edge of his sight. His mother's hand trembling, as ripples were caused in the miso soup in her spoon. It wasn't that Sarada was cold, not at all. Her hand trembled during winter, spring summer, autumn. Hayato was sharp enough to understand that his mother wasn't doing very well psychologically either.
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Even though at the Uchiha house everything was going quietly and normally, it was the exact opposite at the Yamanaka HQ, especially for was 12:00 AM and most of the clansmen hadn't left their posts behind the peculiar machineries that they operated. Inozen swiftly walked towards his own supercomputer, sweating and panting.
"Motherfucking clan administration, calling me for work at 12 am!" he thought extremely irritated and murmured several swears that were perhaps headed towards the Yamanaka clan administration. However, the reason they called Inozen back at work was definitely interesting, someone could say it was a once-in-a-lifetime reason...
Inozen felt a slight tap on his shoulder and abruptly turned around, his veins on his forehead popping out from anger.
"WHO THE F-" his anger calmed upon seeing the person who tapped him. It was Nox, not in her battle attire of course. She was wearing a plain grey hoodie and black sweatpants, it appeared that she changed those Kangaroo legs with normal human ones. Her face was still covered by a hood, a black cap and a mask.
"Ey yo, so a friend of yours told me that you're working an extra night shift today. I didn't haver anything better to do at home so I came here to keep your ass company. Sooo, how 'bout we order first the most unhealthy fast food in Konoha?"she spoke with her usual cold tone.
" Don't have anything better to do at home? Hello? Sleep maybe? "
" You know I sleep at most 2 hours a day. "
" Oh and yes! Yes we will order. How about we get an xxl ramen deluxe bowl each and a xxl pizza?Oh and a fucking gigantic cola, let's not forget."in fact, Inozen wasn't suggesting foods, he was ordering instead through a microchip in his brain.
*ORDER ACCEPTED! APPROXIMATE DELIVERY TIME IN 30 MINUTES*
That was the message displayed on Inozen's HUD interface inside his eyes.
" Now follow me!"he continued walking hastily towards his post." I swear we made the discover of the century tonight? "
" Aaaanddd... What the discovery of the century might be? "Nox asked indifferently, her hands in her pockets.
" Do you remember Kaguya Otsutsuki's scroll that Sasuke Uchiha brought to Konoha several decades back? "Inozen asked and received an affirmative nod from Nox.
" Well... That's it! Do you remember the brand new quantum computer the Scientific Ninja Tools team has developed lately for the Yamanaka clan. The new bad boy already proved its significance by deciphering the scroll!"
TO BE CONTINUED...