GKonohagakure no Sato
Year 69
Totsu POV:
I wasn't inherently malevolent. Dishing out suffering upon others didn't bring me any pleasure, not even when it was directed at those I considered enemies. But, on the flip side, I couldn't claim to be a paragon of virtue either, not by a long shot. Sure, like any ordinary person, I'd occasionally experience moments of empathy and benevolence, but those instances never came at my own expense.
Though I sympathised with people who suffered— as was the norm in my past existence — if raising a hand in assistance meant the lack of common luxuries, then I would rather not.
Such was the extent of my selfishness.
I brought the cup filled with tencha flavoured hot water to my lips and took a moderate sip, enjoying in the resplendent taste that held a sweetened tardiness to it.
A gentle smile bloomed in appreciation on my childish face, "I finally brewed an adequate cup of Tencha."
The need to express my thoughts was a conscious decision. I had a guest, so I engaged in lighthearted conversation before the silence could become awkward. While I had come to appreciate the absence of noise, I knew that subordinates often felt uneasy when sitting in silence with their superior, face to face.
The man before me, a former street stray like many of my employees, was a slightly older fellow, likely in his early thirties. He wasn't particularly handsome; the hardships of the streets had taken their toll. However, the comfort and stability he had found after my tender mercy allowed him to shed some of the hopelessness that plagued all strays.
He stood— although he was sitting at the moment— healthier and happier, enough so that I'd heard he found himself a girl and was saving to build a house in the farm regions.
It truly was a perfect story of rags to riches. But I found tragedy to be a much common theme in life, where most opportunities were just machinations from biased forces.
I was one of those forces, and this time, my satisfaction came in the form of physicality.
The man before me laughed, though there was awkwardness in his voice. I guessed it was only appropriate seeing as I was still a child with words unmatching the appearance. But I was also shinobi, eccentricity was our forte.
"I would say it's more than just adequate, Kimura-sama."
He said after taking a sip of his own.
I took the comforting words for what they were… I honestly had no idea what the man was tasting, his mixture, I had only tried separately.
"Thank you, Katari-san," I placed my cup down and looked at the man, "Do you know why I have requested for you before your leave?"
Katari-san shook his head honestly, "Okata-san merely told me that you wanted to talk with me before I went to Yugakure."
I nodded, I didn't really share much of my intentions with anyone, "There's a new product I like you to deliver to our branches in that nation, one that would most likely boost our revenue as it would their tourism."
I placed a note of where he could go to collect the product on the table and I gestured for him to take it.
"I would like this product to be isolated to Yugakure and be sold in small quantities, with buyers needing to place their orders in advance."
This was an honour and an opportunity to make big money. I could practically see the lust for wealth in Katari-san's eyes as his hand trembled towards the piece of paper.
"Kimura-sama, I…I don't know what to say," this kind of emotion I had only seen when I offered him a chance to become a runner in my company.
And now, I was offering him exclusivity and a chance to expand into his own branch of runners.
I feigned abashment at the genuine joy from the man.
If we lived in a kinder world, I would have felt bad about my actions.
"You have nothing to say, Katari-san. It was your contribution and luck that earned you this outstanding opportunity."
But in all honesty, it was his luck that earned him this.
Katari-san's movements started to become dragged, and his eyelids heavy. Some poisons and drugs in this world were odd, the one I gave to the man caused immediate unconsciousness when the target's emotions became unbalanced.
But perhaps the most important of all was that it only caused physical rest but left the metaphysical chakra channels functioning as if the person was still conscious.
Because of course prerequisites for Fūin application on a human had to exist…
I took a lazed sip of my brew as Katari-san flopped to the table face first.
"I really outdone myself on this one," I chuckled with a slight shake of my head. I placed the cup on my table and stood, patting down the wrinkles on my kimono as the feigned excitement melted off my youthful features.
Silent steps took me to the back of my unfortunate guest, I pulled at his haori, prying it off his form and exposing his back to me. His flesh was a canvas of harsher days gone and careless breeding.
I didn't proud myself on my pragmatic view when in came to bloodline continuation, but I really didn't want to condemn my kids to ugly looks and lesser minds.
Concentrating on the man's chakra network, I felt it flow as expected…
"Good, but I will need a bit of help to apply my Juin."
My chakra pulsed and moulded as it patterned in to a formula for a Bunshin. Adding Earth transformation to it and the addition of a solid core yielded me with a Jutsu I had come to perfect in recent months.
Doton: Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu!
The Bunshin shot out of my body and swiftly began to prop Katari-san into an optimal position. I felt little discomfort from the Jutsu's performance, save for the slight dip in my primary reserves.
A brief sense of pride warmed my heart at this accomplishment.
"It's getting easier and easier every day."
I hadn't been idle these past months and have dedicated more and more of my time to my Juinjutsu creation project. The fact was, my body's unfamiliarity with chakra has been a bothersome obstacle that needed swift rectification.
I'd come to realize that my basic strengths must reach S-rank before anything else. Currently, the only notable aspects of my overall strength that fell into that category were Chakra Control— which aided in Body Augmentation, Chakra Recovery, Chakra Molding, Swift Nature Transformation, and Chakra Concealment— and Jutsu Performance with little to no hand seals.
But all my physical attributes were at best high genin level, pushed to low jonin by relying on my Chakra Control, Sensing, and Ninjutsu. The issue was, my body lagged behind.
And that was a big no-no!
To address this issue swiftly, without overly depending on time or the successful acquisition of Senninka, I incorporated a new function into my partially completed Juin:
Network and Body Hardening: This feature is designed to steadily enhance the user's chakra network and physical constitution.It aims to eliminate the vulnerabilities commonly associated with first-generation shinobi.
I no longer needed to consciously exercise my chakra network or familiarise my muscles with chakra, the Juin applied on my nape in a form of a single white spot handle that for me.
As a consequence, I had a bit of a growth spurt, shooting up a full 8cm and matching some of my classmates in height— mostly the girls, but I was gifted with the essences of absolute equality.
"Okay, let's start."
I said as I brought my finger to my mouth and bit into it, infusing the blood that bled from it with my chakra, beginning the cursing process at I wrote my Juin formula on Katari-san's back.
I needed to nudge at the man's chakra in some places to engrave the curse in to his spiritual body.
For all its versatility, Fūinjutsu was a real chore to study and understand, much less perform.
Of course, this wasn't a disadvantage to a Fūinjutsu master…or just a combat-inclined Fūin user.
I immediately began to churn my chakra after finishing the last character of the curse formula and watched the thing start to pulse a greenish glow.
My hands flew into seals.
Tori!
Uma!
Tatsu!
Mi!
Seishin-teki dorei-ka no Juin! (Mental Enslavement Curse Seal)!
The characters on Katari's back began to swirl and reverse into a single point before becoming a single green dot on his nape.
"Success."
The Bunshin nodded to my excited word, immediately beginning to reclothe Katari-san and placing him where he had once seated.
Done, the clone went outside the house to dispelled itself.
Unfortunately there was no chakra retrieved…
'The Kage Bunshin really is the superior form of Bunshin Jutsu.'
With two fingers in front of my face, I sent a pulse of chakra and intent in Katari-san's Juin as I took hold of his desires and amplified them threefold with selective ease.
"Go home and enjoy whatever time you have left with your partner, Katari-san. You and I have work to do on Sunday."
The man's eyes snapped open…and then an embarrassing demeanour claimed his face as he scratched at his head, "yeah, I guess I should, Iyomi-chan is gonna be so happy."
He looked at me, stood and bowed.
"Thank you for this opportunity, Kimura-sama, I promise I won't disappoint you."
I nodded and watched him leave with anticipation in my heart.
"I should begin my own preparations."
Through the alignments of heaven, I had found myself fortunate to acquire a very precious B-rank jutsu in a form of a scroll.