The next morning.
"Ah…N-Nori? I don't think these are the real deal...right?"
"Nyah~! Of course they are, Rose-chan~! Don't you remember how kunoichi did their thing~?"
"Um…no? I don't think you ever specified…?"
"Well…it goes like this, nyah~..." Kuroka practically slithered up to my side, her body scraping against mine as she brushed her hand against my chest, "Oh~, darling~..."
Kuroka mutters hotly, right into my ear.
…It's taking more willpower than I'm willing to admit to not push her head down where it can be put to use.
Considering how Kuroka couldn't seduce her way into getting bred for who knows how long before this, I have to say, the kunoichi outfits are very effective.
The only reason she's not getting bred right this second is because Rose is quite literally standing right in front of us.
Though granted, unlike Kuroka, if Rose had the confidence she wouldn't even need the kunoichi attire to seduce anymore.
Though it certainly helps. A lot.
Honestly, I'm not exactly surprised the Kunoichi outfits are borderline taimanin in style.
Just instead of a latex body suit as the base, it's almost normal, albeit extremely revealing cloth, and a ton of fishnets...in Rose's case.
Kuroka's is just plain sexy.
In contrast, the shinobi, or male version, of the outfit…is making me look like a bargain bin discount version of Tengen from Demon Slayer.
A hand band, a midnight blue full-body jumpsuit that doesn't even flush properly against the skin, and some sandals.
Can tell which profession the world favors most, huh?
Now, where was I? Oh yeah.
I tilt my head to meet Kuroka's eyes, and without an ounce of hesitation, state rather plainly, "No, Kuroka, I'm not giving you more money for cash shop items in your game. If you wanna be good, get good."
Kuroka recoiled, "Nyah!? Cash shop items! T-That isn't what I was gonna ask for!"
"...Why'd you stutter then?" I pointed out and was promptly ignored as she continued unabated.
"I'll have you know that I'm Peak Wildcat in Warfields–!"
I didn't understand a single lick of anything she just said.
So, I tuned her out, as all boyfriends do, and looked at Rose.
She seemed nervous, and embarrassed, considering what she was wearing…could have been worse considering what Kuroka was trying to pull in front of her.
I reach over, patting the white-haired former Valkyrie on the head, drawing a surprised squeak from her…and an indignant mewl from my cat girl.
"Are you even listening to me!?" Kuroka cries out in realization, more than questioning.
"No. Now get good." I rebuke.
"Nyah!? Yoouuu!"
I then proceed to continue ignoring her, giving her a minor snort as she starts…rapidly batting me on the head. Like an actual cat.
Though much like an actual cat, it didn't hurt at all.
…Cute.
In any case, I smile at Rose, "You'll do just fine, and if you don't want to, you don't have to wear the outfit, either, alright?"
"E-Eh!?" Rose squawked in surprise, "B-But! I couldn't not wear it after you spent so much on it!" She shivers as if recalling the purchase the same one would a traumatic event, "T-That wouldn't be right!"
I shrug at her, "Doesn't mean you're obligated. If you don't wanna wear it when we leave, you don't gotta wear it. Simple as that. I just wanted to see you two in one because I knew you'd both look incredibly hot in them."
"H-H-Hot!?" Rose stammered, nearly falling over at my monkey-brained reasoning.
Kuroka, meanwhile, exclaimed, "You're damn right! Nyah!" And continued her 'assault'.
"Mhmm~!" I confirm easily and happily, "Very hot. But, as I said, you don't have to wear it if you don't want to, alright?"
Rose looks down for a second, blush burning across her face, eyes darting every which way as she thinks.
It doesn't take long, maybe a moment or two, but eventually, she stills with an exhale, and looks back at me, still blushing, but now with a much more resolute fire in her eyes.
"I-I'd like to try!" She exclaims, and I simply chuckle.
"Then go ahead…but just in case, bring a change of clothes with you, alright?" I advise, which she nods to, quickly standing up to go do so.
I can't help it when my eyes follow her as she walks away.
"...she works the kunoichi outfit better than me, I think, nyah." I hear to my side, turning to see Kuroka having done the same thing, though more analytical than my admittedly lustful one.
"Eh," I sort of refute her, "Rose right now doesn't have the confidence for a seductress, her body is of course right, but…"
Kuroka shakes her head, "...is everyone in Asgard stupid or something?"
I huff a chuckle at that, "Probably."
Rose comes back with a rather large…suitcase, eventually.
Apparently, the girl wanted to be extra prepared, just in case, and I allowed it.
You never know what can happen after all.
With Rose ready, I picked up the girls and we were off to our destination.
~ A New Sun ~
On the outskirts of Kuoh, there's a seemingly abandoned building,
It looks maybe around two stories, perhaps three, with an old Japanese style aesthetic to it.
Yet, inside? The appearance almost completely shifts.
A traditional Japanese garden is what first greets you upon walking in, and if it's during the day when you visit, you can see just how the garden gets its sunlight despite being entirely indoors.
Sunlight pours into the garden from the windows surrounding the enclosure from above, bouncing and reflecting off the myriad of weapons lining the garden's walls; Japanese swords, sickles and chains, kunai, shuriken, and more.
The garden itself seems to be on the ground floor, taking up pretty much the entire thing.
At the far end of the room, there's a tokonoma, essentially a recessed alcove meant to display art or other items of appreciation, with open hanging scrolls.
There are also lanterns covered with fixed paper dangling all around the gardens, though they aren't lit as it's morning.
…The passwords were 'mountain' and 'potato' to get in here, which not going to lie? Kind of cheapened the experience of walking in here.
For me at least, Rose and Kuroka didn't seem at all irked about the incredibly shitty passwords.
Potato especially. Sure, it's unexpected, but it's also really damn dumb.
Seriously, would it have been too much work to come up with something cool and effective!?
My train of thought takes a stop, and a plunge, just the same as my body does…straight into the pond I was sitting cross-legged on.
With an annoyed groan, I sit back up, my torso easily coming above the water.
It's not a big pond, of course, being inside a building and all, but it'll do.
To my right, and left, I hear snickers. Turning to see my clones still sitting around despite the disturbance, leaves stuck across their head, arms, and chest, facing forward with their eyes still shut.
"Oi." I huff out, "What are you two laughing at?"
The me on the left snorts, "Who do you think?"
The me on the right follows up, "Not like there's much else to do besides sit here…the girls went off to learn mundane Ninjutsu stuff, after all."
I roll my eyes as I start picking up the leaves that had scattered about the pond when I fell in.
With a hefty huff, I raise my leg over the water line and set it down right on top of its surface as my leg hums with a dull deep golden color.
I lift my other leg, and move them both inward, curled and pointed toward my hips, to complete your basic meditative pose.
That done, I slap the leaves across various points along my body and start again.
Chakra Control Training. That's what this is.
More specifically, it's a mixture of two of the exercises. Leaf Concentration and Water Surface Walking.
I figured it was about time I speed-ran this. After all, I'm actually going to require more control for the later stages of my training, and even in general, this has been a long time coming.
Shame the water couldn't be on the ceiling or something…that'd probably be more effective than this, and maybe less boring?
I sent a clone to go with Rose and Kuroka this time because I wanted to participate in this part of my training personally rather than just making clones do all the work.
I'm not scared of my clones rebelling or some nonsense like that, I just don't want to get used to making my clones do all the work for me.
Also…
"Not much else, huh?" I muse, shutting my eyes to focus on the tight spin of chakra in my body, "Guess you could sit there and ponder how the both of you are fat."
Both sides of me suddenly echo with outraged spittle sounds.
"The hell!? We're the same person you–WOAH!?"
"Yeah! The hell dumbass-HNGH!?"
Followed by the unmistakable sounds of two people falling into the water like a couple of rocks.
Also, sometimes, my clones need on-site reprimanding, and although I'll get the memories of being outraged that I called myself fat for no reason, it'll be worth it.
"Worth it." I snort out, as my two clones pop out at either side of me, continuing their outraged rambling, which I quickly stop with a smirk and held up hand.
"Alright, alright…that's enough. You two, disseminate, and I'll resummon more clones to get a start on preparing for Fire Ninjutsu specifically."
They continue grumbling but do as I say easy enough, poofing into smoke.
I damn near snorted again though, watching them, or me, fall in from their perspective while I sat there with an incredibly stupid smirk was even more funny than just hearing about it.
Very worth it.
I form the clone sign myself quickly after, forming two new clones at the pond's edge.
"So…" the new left-side clone wonders aloud, "What are we doing boss?"
I crack open an eye and look at the me, wearing my trademarked and patented very punchable smirk.
"...You already know what." I sigh, "I literally made you two with the idea in mind."
"Yeah, well." Righty picks up for Lefty, whilst wearing the same smirk, "We wanna hear it, you know? Just in case!"
My eyebrow twitches.
Do my clones have enhanced pettiness or something?
Regardless, I crane my head towards the scattered leaves, drifting in the pond.
"Take a bunch of these leaves, and work on burning a perfect hole through the center without turning the entire leaf into cinders." I state the very simple training regiment.
It's essentially a fire version of the wind training regime used in the series.
"Oh yeah, we gotcha boss, we gotcha." Lefty agrees verbally, while Righty hums his agreement.
I swear if I get more back sass from the clones while we're here…
I shake my head, quickly not letting that anger get to me, lest I fall into the pond. Again.
It's a shame this is all I'll be able to do here, beyond learning mundane Ninjutsu.
…Or should I call it real Ninjutsu instead, because Naruto's version is technically the fantasy magic version inspired by the real deal?
Eh. That'd get kind of confusing in my head.
Regardless, when we head back home for the night, that's when I can start looking at properly figuring out jutsu.
Going to need the training hall for that, since I'm probably going to be throwing around tons of fire.
And exploding. That's a very likely possibility.
Good thing I have the perfect target dummy!
~ A New Sun ~
Me~!
"...Come on now boss, ain't this a bit much?" The clone, who I think was Lefty, stands now at the opposite end of my estate's training hall.
A whole day of training has passed with the old Iga Ninja Master, and progress has been about as expected.
Started slow with the beginner stuff, in this case, he was teaching how to use throwing weapons like shuriken.
Cool stuff. If pretty simple. Being supernatural, it didn't take long for everyone to get it down.
Can't say any of us will be carrying around a bunch of throwing weapons from now on, but at least we'll all be good at darts now?
The more interesting stuff will come later, I know, but until then…
Eh, at least the girls seemed to have fun. Especially Kuroka.
Now then, as for my training?
It's time to develop Ninjutsu, particularly Fire Ninjutsu, with my very willing test dummy over there.
As for why I decided on Fire Jutsu instead of, say, trying to figure out seals?
Because fuck trying to figure out seals! That shit was tough in-universe, and I'm not even in-universe!
I legitimately don't have even a first clue on where to start with seals, and if I did, I'd still hesitate to mess around with them.
I can deal with a failed fire jutsu, what with my straight immunity to heat and flames, but a failed seal?
That could do anything from exploding to telefragging me into the moon. So, yeah, no.
If I want to learn Sealing, I'm probably shit out of luck unless I actually go to the Narutoverse to learn.
Until then though, assuming I even figure out how to do that, I'm stuck with Fire Jutsu, and perhaps a little something else that should work well with my Breathing.
Now, first things first, starting with what I know already.
"It's perfectly fine! You'll be fine!" I call back to Lefty, "Just stand perfectly still, alright?"
"...A-Alright boss." He utters back, defeatedly.
Heh. This is what you get for being a smart-ass earlier!
I hold up my hands and rapidly form the few hand seals required for the first, but not only, jutsu that I know.
The one I've had practically since the start of my journey.
…And that I've only used like, once, I think? Maybe twice?
Well, now a third I suppose.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Bird. Tiger.
I make sure, this time around, to commit the way the hand signs twist and churn my chakra around to memory for a little bit after this.
"Fire Release: Fox Fire."
Fire explodes out from my back, swirling to form 10 burning compressed orbs of flame.
With a wave of my hand, the fire orbs fly, surging toward Lefty whilst spinning like a wheel.
"Oh, man…" I hear Lefty groan, before bracing himself and taking the attack head-on.
I nod as the wheel of flaming orbs explodes, creating a whirlwind of twirling flames in its strike zone.
The technique is much stronger than when I first used it, that's for sure. Don't recall the flaming whirlwind, just an explosion.
As the fire burns out and dissipates, Lefty can eventually be seen once again, unharmed, of course.
He sighs, pulling his arms down from his face to reveal his activated eyes, before giving me a thumbs up.
I give him a thumbs up back.
Now, here's where things are about to get a little…weird because it's going to require me to play with my hands for a little while.
Okay, it's going to look downright cringe-inducing.
I'm going to figure out the hand seals for the Great Fireball Jutsu, aka, the staple Fire Jutsu.
To that end…
I form a dozen more shadow clones around me, and we all sort of look at each other, before turning away…embarrassed.
Then start forming random hand seals, quickly, like a bunch of kids playing ninja.
Lefty across from us actively cringed at the sight.
It got even worse when the clones - divided as their powers are - started bursting with random small gouts of flame, the completed technique of whatever their string of hand signs led them to.
This is essentially what I'm going to have to do, every time, I want to figure out a technique's hand seals.
Luckily, with over 12 mes around, it doesn't take too long to figure out the technique.
Unfortunately…
As the clone that figured it out popped, we all just stood there, staring at the ground, despondent.
The Great Fireball's hand signs are the same as Fox Fire's, except for one.
All the clones popped out of sheer depression, as I slowly raised my hands, and did the string.
Snake. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger.
One difference.
One.
Fuck me.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball…!"
I spit out an absolutely gigantic ball of fire.
Lefty's eyes widen comically, "Ayo–!"
The entire hall shudders as the ball of roaring flames collides with him.
I stare at the smoldering circle where Lefty was standing.
Hmm. Okay. So I may have put a bit too much into that technique. Way more than was needed.
So much so that the sheer force of the attack was enough to pop the clone.
With a sigh, I form another, albeit significantly more weary, clone.
"...Try not to overdo it again, yeah boss?" The clone half asks half begs.
I merely wave him off, already thinking of the next jutsu to try and figure out.
I've got a list of sorts, but it's not like I need to follow a particular order after the Great Fireball…especially since most are derivatives of the Great Fireball.
Fire Dragon Bullet, Blazing Meteors, Great Dragon Fire, Dragon Flame Release Song, and so on. They're all just fireballs with a different coat of paint.
While knowing them would be great ranged options, the final goal I'm working toward for Fire Ninjutsu is a Fire Release Chakra Cloak.
My preferred method of combat will always be with a sword, and up close, where I can't simply sheath my blade to form hand seals and use jutsu.
For that, I'd need to either learn one-handed signs or get so good at chakra control that I can just throw out techniques with little preparation.
In any case, I still need to get good enough at handling fire-natured chakra to use a cloak, and once that's done…
Figuring out how to combine Ninjutsu with my Kenjutsu properly, then dabbling in a little bit of Taijutsu for a specific method.
I do wonder, if I can figure it out, how the Seven Heavens Breathing Method would meld with Total Concentration and my Breathing Style.
But that's for later. For now…how about I try for Dragon Flame Bullet?
~ A New Sun ~
With the way mundane Ninjutsu training has been going, I can't imagine us not completing it in a week or two.
Once that's finished, I think I'll take Suzaku out on that date I've been thinking about.
But as of right now, a few days into training, I'm out in my estate's gardens with Kuroka.
Her presence is required for this next part…so I don't turn into a stone statue of something and die.
Admittedly, I'm probably jumping the gun here a little bit, but I figure I may at least try.
"So let me get this straight," Kuroka sighs, standing at my side over me as I sit on the ground, "you're going to do a thing with Senjutsu that might turn you into…something. And if I see you starting to turn, you want me to use my Senjutsu to slap whatever it is you're doing out of you?"
I nod, enthusiastically, "Pretty much, yeah."
"...This sounds like a terrible idea." Kuroka breathes out, legitimately concerned, "I've never heard of Senjutsu doing something like that before, and striking at you with my Senjutsu…that could hurt your soul, you know?"
"My soul, I know for a fact, will be fine." I wave off her second concern with ease, "Divine bullshit, and all that. As for the whole Senjutsu thing…you haven't heard about it, because this type of Senjutsu is unique to that energy source."
She blinks, tilting her head in confusion at my words, though it only takes a second of thought before the realization dawns on her face, "Ohhh…that's…hmm…" She crosses her arm, pouting slightly, "I still don't like the sound of it."
I reach up, putting my hands on her face, rubbing her cheeks with my thumb as I slowly bring her down to eye level with me.
I smile at her, and touch our noses and foreheads together, "If there's anyone I trust, to make sure I don't turn into a stone-cold statue of something, it's you, alright? I trust you, trust me that I'll be fine, yeah?"
Kuroka blushes lightly, slowly wrapping her arms around my neck, "That…isn't the problem, darling…you don't even know what you could turn into, what if…?"
I grimace, before shaking my head, and pecking her lips.
"You'll know." I state, resolutely, "I don't think it would be subtle."
However not knowing is still kind of a problem.
As I'm not training at one of the sage places, hell, not even the same universe…what will that do?
Will I randomly start turning into an animal every time I try and fail?
Will I even turn into an animal? What if I start turning into a tree or something? Or some other natural object?
The best case scenario is that nothing happens on a failure, the worst case…
Well, I'd rather not think about that.
Still, I have to try. Sage Mode is a pretty big buff, knowing I could gain access to it would be pretty huge, by itself.
Kuroka stares me in the eyes for a few moments, before giving me a light sigh and pulling away.
"...Alright," she starts stretching, not unlike a cat, "I'll be ready then, nyah~!"
With that done, she focuses straight down on me.
Well, alright then.
Let's get this show on the road.
I slide into a meditative posture, hands set in front of my torso in a praying-like gesture.
I become absolutely still.
Through DxD Senjutsu, I already know how to gather natural energy.
The thing is, this'll be my first time mixing it with my chakra, rather than my base lifeforce.
And so, bracing myself for…something, I steady my breathing, and pull on the natural ki around me.
Instead of pulling it into my ki, however, I direct it into the tight twisting spiral instead.
I very nearly gag, the sensation feeling like the spiritual equivalent of sending air down the wrong tube, but press at it as my chakra doesn't reject the foreign natural energy.
In fact, like a vacuum, it starts sucking in more.
Unlike DxD Senjutsu, which is more like a give-and-take, where the user pulses out their ki into the environment before absorbing back natural energy, this is more like a drain, a sinkhole, sucking in all the energy around it.
I move to put a stop to it, of course, at least try and slow it down!
But then I hear it.
Voices.
At first, there are few. Then a dozen.
A few dozen.
A hundred. A thousand.
They're all so…annoying.
So, incredibly, extremely annoying!
Out of the blue, my eyes are wide open, and I'm staring down at a slightly panicked Kuroka who has her palm buried in my gut.
With the spiritual equivalent of someone pumping your stomach, all that natural ki that I gathered, which now that I'm back to my senses I note was way over the balance line, flowed out rapidly, almost instantly.
I let out a low shivering groan, only pulling her palm back once she pushed all the ki I took in, out.
Once she was done, she grabbed my shoulders, "Darling…are you okay…?" She questioned, voice quivering slightly.
I nodded back, slowly, "Mhmm…" I hummed out, "That…did not feel pleasant. Ugh…what did you see?"
Kuroka let out a sigh of relief, "To be honest? Not much…it was less a physical change, more I could feel the ominous aura inside you building up…"
Well…that's certainly different.
Though, wait.
"Less, physical? So I did change a little bit?" I look at her with a raised eyebrow, to which she nods.
"Yup! You got little fangs, like me and Shirone!" She moves a finger to her upper lip, pulling it up to reveal she does have little fangs.
Cute~!
Still, I couldn't help but muse, "That's…it, huh? We'll have to try again, with clones–"
Kuroka's finger was all of a sudden on my lip, "Nope!" She denied.
"...Eh? Why not?"
"Because! I can't eject all the natural ki out of you quick enough to do several clones at once!" She boops me on the nose, "And if I'm too late with even one…"
I sigh, and nod in understanding, "I'm screwed."
"Yep, nyah~!"
Well, that's unfortunate, no speeding running this I suppose.
I'll admit that this is a different challenge than I expected, but I'm still nonetheless ready to take it on!
"Kuroka…" I look at her, "Ready to try again?"
"Hmm…I dunno…I do need my nightly cat snack…"
"Kuroka."
"I kid, nyahahaha~! You got this darling~...I'm ready!"