~Jacob's Pov~
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It's been a few days since the incident with Orochimaru. During this time, Ayata and I have been busy working on the seal I found at his hideout. We're making decent progress at least, but it's still a work in progress, and there's still a good chunk to figure out.
Kurenai on the other hand has started her recovery too. She's doing much better and should be back on her feet in a few days. Seeing her regain her strength has been quite relief for the both of us...
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"Hey, Ayata, could you pass me another bottle of ink please?" I went through another bottle just like that.
"Coming... Here, and make sure to keep a spare next to you." I smirked, and thanked her for passing them both for me. Ever since we began studying this seal, we've been burning through our ink supplies... But, it was well worth it.
"Anything new on the seal?" She asked, I nodded, "Yeah, I've figured out its basic functions... Some voodoo type crap is what it is. This, like my seal has the capacity to utilize Nature energy, however... It doesn't allow for conversion to regular chakra, but rather the opposite..." I answered.
"Interesting, I found something else as well, you should come see this." She pointed to a part of the formula. "This part of the seal here shows that it could potentially also alter someone's body; but, I'm not entirely sure yet." I listened to her keenly. Looking at her findings, I realized something interesting.
"No... You might be right... One part, it converts raw chakra into nature energy for the user, while this functions targets the cells of the user using said Nature chakra, just think about it for a second. They both go hand in hand." I added.
"Wait a moment... Are you trying to say Orochimaru made a seal that would empower the user via cellular mutations? Hold on, let's say you were correct, this formula seems very much incomplete, and the mutations it chooses are random, at best."
"Yes, precisely... In a sense, it's likely a knock-off forced sage form. In fact, if someone used something like this for an extended period of time..."
"They might just lose their minds..." Ayata finished it for me and I nodded, "Still, there's more to figure out, but from what I understand so far, this thing was made in a rush, or that last component of the seal was the true purpose of its creation." This thing in all it's intents and purposes was genius in design.
"Still, this isn't something anyone can just do, sage chakra isn't meant for everyone, and it could easily kill you if you're not even careful with it. Yet, he still ran the risks? Forcing it on this level meant that he would have extremely low percentages of success..." Ayata began rubbing her temples...
I sighed, "I know, believe. And, the scary thing is, this thing's likely almost complete and even then it would still be flawed..." Regardless of Orochimaru's schemes, we could reap massive benefits from this if we do manage to tweak it here and there a bit, we might be able to get amazing results...
In fact, If we could somehow make this seal perfect, we could become exponentially more powerful than we are... Still, this process might take the rest of our time, or more to even complete, and this is assuming we spend hours out of our day and commit to do it.
And then it hit me... What's the one technique a ninja can use to get something done in a very short span of time? 'The Shadow clone Jutsu... How stupid could I be?'
"Ayata, I have an idea..." , I saw her raise her eyebrows, and in that instant, I quickly weaved the hand-signs, summoning over 20 shadow clones, which should be more than enough for getting the job done.
"...If I may ask, what's the use of the clones?" She asked, I indulged.
"Hmph~ These aren't just regular clones, little Nara... These are shadow clones, smarter, more durable copies the of the regular ones. And the one thing they can do that's very powerful if utilized correctly, is to gain experience." I smiled.
I looked towards all 20+ of them, "You all know what to do, scatter and study the seal with the information you all now have..." They nodded, and began, my reward for it? The look of astonishment on Ayata's face.
"Come on, let's go see how Kurenai's doing."
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We made our way to where Kurenai was resting, her condition having stabilized but still in need of care.
"Oh, Jacob, Ayata." I motioned her to stop before she continued, I didn't want her to waste her breath.
"Hey, you doing alright?" I asked, she nodded slowly, "Y-yeah, I'm just still a bit sore, but I'm fine so far..." She added.
Ayata smiled, "That's good, me and Jacob just wanted to check up on you, just to see how you were doing with your recovery..." Ayata chimed. They seemed to be getting along well, I'm glad...
She nodded, "I'm going along fine, really. The only thing I'm still trying wrap my head around is... All, this." Kurenai, looked at both me and Ayata, while scanning the surroundings at the same time. I couldn't blame her for being confused either. I would be too.
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"Ayata, if you don't mind, could I speak with Jacob alone for a moment?" Kurenai asked, "Of course, I'll give you two some space." Ayata took one last look, and left the room... Thought, her expression didn't sit well with me, not in a bad way of course, but it was odd...
"Hey..." I heard Kurenai's voice distract me from my little thought, "Yes? Is everything fine?" I asked gently, "I... I just wanted to say, thank you for doing this for me, i-if you hadn't showed, I... I..." I saw her trembling. I grabbed her hands, trying me best to calm her down, "It's ok, Kurenai... It wasn't any issue for me, really. Plus, I was just worried when I never saw you in the last few weeks."
However, I felt tears drops on my hands... She must have been terrified. I would be too, not knowing when I would die, and being tortured for that long, it likely traumatized her... Slowly, I felt her hands wrap around me.
It was clear that she needed some more time to cope with everything, and a shoulder to cry on too...
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"How was it?" Ayata asked, it looked like she was waiting for me, "It's the typical response in a situation where one goes through that kind of situation, but she's strong..." I slowly took off my coat.
"She even spoke about how some of her family members might be worried sick about her, as well as her friends... I offered her to leave when she was done recovering, but on the terms that she should never tell anyone about me, you or this entire base... Though, I don't think we'll need to worry about the latter." I smirked.
She just nodded with her own smile, "Well, let's look on the bright side for now... Those clones of yours are quite something." she remarked, she looked genuinely impressed by the efficiency of my shadow clone's work so far.
Truthfully, I was very much too.
"They're a pretty handy tool, especially for future tasks ahead that might require more extensive amounts of time, and analysis," I replied, acknowledging their usefulness in situations like this. In the future, this little technique would be invaluable.
On that thought, I had an idea, "Alright, let's gamble then, I'm betting they crack that seal in a month? How does that sound?", I gave my bet, I saw her smile "You're on, I'm gambling a month and a half; the loser has to do anything the winner says, you ok with those conditions?"
I nodded, "Let the best man or woman win."
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END