The Stars

"What a drag... hopefully I get home before Dad," Sora said softly while walking home, it was dark. way past his bedtime, his dad would not be happy with him being out so late. Today's work was great, the system needed a huge amount of time to recreate Orochimaru jutsu, and I had a hard time trying to recreate Orochimaru jutsu without enough information.

I had trouble creating a jutsu based on the information of animals out there. this couldn't be helped, as the jutsu I saw so far didn't have anything profound about them. only the jutsu created from the system were considered slightly profound in my eyes.

but everything worked perfectly today, I got to work with Orochimaru, and we are now trying to create a jutsu that would increase one recovery capability to the point they could heal from almost all forms of injuries, without damaging one lifespan, and would instead improve a person lifespan.

I had of course already made the basics of the jutsu, what I did with Orochimaru was like me holding a child's hands, and slowly leading him towards the right path. the same went for this world, this world seemed to have a peak stat of 10 for intelligence, I had yet to meet anyone who could even rival a hint of my intelligence.

Sighing to myself, I quickly returned home. where was harder than normal, with a slight frown, I went towards the light switch I had installed into the house. but the moment the light turned on, I was shocked to see Sakumo, Kashina, and my dad standing in the dark with a cake in hand, while they all said happy birthday at the same time the lights turned on.

I looked around the room and saw Kushina Gardens and even the 3rd hokage. I was truly caught off guard, now that I thought it... when did Sakumo disappear? I was lost in my talk with Orochimaru, I didn't notice.

My eyes went on to brighten after a moment of shock, and like a kid, I went on to enjoy the party while the grown-ups stayed to themselves. while I and Kushina opened the birthday gift they got me.

"by the way, when is your birthday?" I asked while looking at the stack of money my father gave me. he truly knew me best, what more did I want than a stack of money?

"July 10th... in 5 months," Kushina said softly, to which I nodded slightly. Kushina thought for a moment before realizing that in a few days, it would be Valentine's Day. she looked at me who was lost in my world for a moment, before blushing slightly

"that reminds me, Valentine's is around the corner. other than a few other people, you are the only one I wish to be my valentine." I said softly, causing the room to go quiet as all of the grown-ups looked towards us, shocked looks in their eyes, at my words.

Kushina's face turned bright red, which I didn't notice as was busy licking my finger and counting the money. before nodding my head slightly, and putting it aside, leaving my father's lips twitching slightly. but I ignored it all as I opened the 3rd hokage gift, where I was hit with a shock, it was a piece of metal. but not any metal. the same metal used in the creation of one of the 7 legendary swords, the Kiba.

The Kiba are twin swords that are imbued with lightning which increases their cutting power. They are said to be the sharpest swords ever forged. They are also called "Thunderswords", the lightning steel is a unique and rare ore that was used in the creation of the Kiba, and I wished to get my hands on it for some time.

Kushina's face turned dark seeing me just ignoring her exist for a piece of rock, her hands turned into fists, which caused everyone watching to grow worried. but luckily, Sora snapped out of his shock and stood up, without noticing the annoyed Kushina.

"If I'm not wrong, Valentine's Day was created by the Yamanaka clan as a day to celebrate the union of many clans to form the Hidden Leaf Village. it later turned into a day of union between loved ones. Since I considered you one of my loved ones, I guess I have to give you something. but what?" I said softly, leaving Kushina stunned for a moment. 

"cough, well. we should be leaving." Kushina Gardens said with a weird look seeing the weird state Kushina was in. Kushina was too confused to speak, how could one speak about such things with a straight face? but knowing Sora he didn't mean it in a romantic way, but friendly way.

So they left, with Sakumo seeing them off. I wanted to see them off as well, but the 3rd hokage wanted to see me.

"There is more that will be brought to your lab tomorrow. any idea of what you would create out of them?" he asked with a smile, to which I thought for a moment,

"There are many things I could use with this. for example. if I used this in the flashlight. the amount of chakra they would need would drop by a huge degree. I could even have the flashlight be turned into a weapon, turning them into lasers." I said calmly, stunning the 3rd hokage slightly.

"I have been thinking of working on something that would store chakra. I'm taking the concept of how people seal tail beasts into humans for this. of course, it would be far easier. I already have the basic concept of the thing. I call it a battery." I said calmly while taking out a scroll that had the concept of the battery.

"It's broken into 3 parts. the first part is how electricity is stored in it. you channel your chakra into it, and the first part converts the chakra into electricity. the second part stores that chakra, with the last part being apart to release the chakra in a steady amount" I said calmly, 

"This could be used to power jutsu, houses such as ours, and so on. It is a nice concept. ad one day we could have a whole village being rained by such batteries. we could even create barriers. these barriers simply need a group of shinobi to power them now and then. and if we can perfect the energy usage, the shinobi might only be needed every week or so." I said leaving the 3rd hokage and Shima quiet for some time, realizing just how far I had thought about this concept. but above all, they understood how useful this could be.

"if I use this ore as the base of this. I can see this all happening. but it would be extremely expensive. but I'm working on something else..." So, I went on to show the 3rd hokage what I planned on working on for the following 3 months, leaving them all stunned at how I planned to work on so many things in such a short amount of time. 

"So. I will need the funding you giving me to increase by... 50%" I said with a smile, making the 3rd hokage lips twitch. this was a time of war, how could he give me so much funding? maybe in a time of peace, he would be more than happy to support me 100%. but right now? that was a fat nope

"... fine. what if I make another weapon." I said slightly unwillingly, which made the 3rd Hokage and my father's interest raise.

"Well, it's not much of a weapon. but a suit that could increase one overall capability. it takes one chakra and helps you mold it, compress it to the extreme, and shoot it off. it could even give one the power of flight, by turning your chakra into flames that shoot out of the feet. increase durability, and could even create chakra barriers. one that could rival the likes of the Hyuga clan Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation." I said with a smile,

Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation is a secret taijutsu of the Hyūga clan's main house, traditionally only known by the head of the clan and the clan's heir. The moment before the Hyūga is struck by an attack, they emit chakra from all of their body's tenketsu to block it. They then spin rapidly, repelling the attack and anything else in the vicinity, away and creating a protective shield for as long as they continue to spin. The greater the force of an attack, the greater the force with which it's repelled.

I pulled out another scroll which had an image of a human, wearing metal armor. many arrows were pointing to parts on the arrow, breaking it down for its use, and what ores would best be useful there. 

"... how long can you say you can create this?" the 3rd hokage asked with narrowed eyes, most of the plans I had for the following 3 months were all jutsu-based research, with some biology research.

"I can't say. with the current founding, I can't create such a thing. I need to study stuff, run many tests to connect a person's chakra with the suit, and so on. there are also the safety parts I need to add to it, I can't have people use up too much of their energy when wearing that suit and die. there are also unforeseen things that might pop up when testing. so I say 1 or 2 months to build it, and 1 month of testing." I said calmly, making the 3rd Hokage lips twitch in a short amount of time.

"I will increase your funding... under the condition you make it work. not in the run time, but... you understand right?" he asked, to which I sighed softly. but I nodded slightly. the study into biology would take too long to show effect and might have some unforeseen effects. plus, the 3rd hokage didn't like this field of research, although he put his dislike side for the sake of the village.

"Okay... how about this?" I said while giving him a jutsu. the 3rd hokage looked at the jutsu for some time, and could only look at me in shock. Shima who was taking the scrolls from the 3rd hokage hands when he was done looking at them himself, also froze when he looked at the Jutsu.

"It's a wind-based resangan. capable of destroying a person down to the cellar level... for someone against combat is this not contradicting?" The 3rd hokage asked slightly jokingly, but I shook my head slightly.

"I'm not a fool who doesn't realize that sometimes one needs to take a life to protect their loved ones. Most of the Jutsu I created I keep to myself, but I do plan to give them out from time to time." I said calmly, making the 3rd and Shima's eyes narrow

"yes, I completed combing all chakra transformations with the Resangan. I'm currently trying to see if I could use more spiritual energy in creating the jutsu to create a mind-based attack. but so far, I only see it as me creating a genjutsu with me having far greater control than normal." I said calmly,

Jutsu can be split into many branches, but the 3 main ones were Ninjutsu, which was pretty much chakra techniques. Genjutsu which was the use of more spiritual-based energy in one technique, and lastly Taijutsu, which was the use of more physical-based energy in one technique. pretty much, Genjutsu was illusion techniques, while Taijutsu was body techniques or martial arts techniques.

"fine... I will increase your funding by 50%. but you must start working with others starting today, I will send you the papers later in the morning." he said with a defeated sigh, this was an S rank, pure and simple. if the other jutsu were similar in power to this jutsu, then he wanted his hands on them... but he couldn't force me to give it to him, at least not physically. 

"sigh, what are your life goals?" Shima asked while sitting down with me, looking at the 3rd hokage about to leave. the 3rd hokage who was about to leave froze upon hearing this question and couldn't help but stick and listen. One might think it was rude for Shima to not see the 3rd off, but they were old friends. they didn't care for such a show of friendship.

"simple, to learn more about this world. it's so beautiful, the best way to fully see its beauty is to break down its complex working. from the origin of the universe to the origin of life. to if we are alone in the universe, so if we are all by ourselves. If we are alone in the universe, what makes us so special? but if we are not alone... both are scary. imagine an alien race traveling the stars. we humans would most likely be enslaved and researched on." I said softly, sending a chill down the two.

no one ever thinks about if there was life beyond the planet. but with my words, the realization hit them. if they were on a rock in an empty void, just floating there without other lifeforms to be found. that was extremely lonely to think about.

but if they were not alone, one had to start thinking that they might not be the best race out there. were their smarter races? all they have been doing for years was war, it was recently that tech started improving thanks to the villages being born. before the villages, one was lucky to live up to 30 years of age. so if there were other lifeforms and one that was not so busy fighting amongst each other... that was scary

"but then there are some interesting things I found. did you know you act before your brain decides for you before you are you even decide what to do. so the decision you make is already made in your subconscious, and you go on to act thinking you made the decision... it goes on to make me wonder if there is free will. there could only be free we control the circumstances, which we nearly truly do. person's actions can be guessed before the person even realizes what their action is... and the list goes on. it's like free will is an illusion. It's something I wish to see if it's true or not." I said softly, I studied with many rats.

"Why?" the 3rd hokage couldn't help but ask, what was the point of knowing such questions? Are they not better off being left alone? the free will part is not about if there was life beyond their planet. If there was life beyond their planet, it was best they get ready for anything. but for the free will part?

"for many things. if you know if we truly have free will or if we are just another illusion. what would happen if you create an illusion based on this idea? but I just want to know. if we do have free will, then it's for the best. if not, then I wouldn't care much. I would just move on to my next research. rejecting my findings is like rejecting the beautiful panting of the universe. the cycle of life and death, destruction and creations, tears and smiles." I said softly, while my eyes began growing heavy. I was still a kid of 7 years of age.

"anyways. like how lifeforms are born and die. I believe the same happens to stars and maybe even the universe. nothing exists forever. maybe one day the sun would die, and the universe would grow too old. maybe there is something beyond the universe. there are just so many unknowns. like how you can't sit knowing the village is in trouble, I can't sit without getting to know the world I live in." I said softly while getting up to go to bed, but I stopped at the last moment and pulled out a scroll.

"These are pictures I took of the stars. it's the main reason I believe the universe might die one day. we all know that light is the fastest thing in the universe, so the longer it takes like to hit Earth, it means the light we see is coming from the past. with this idea in mind, I took this image, a picture of the birth of the universe." I said while putting the scroll on the table, where everyone looked to see bright light, with a hint of a shadow-like humanoid in the center.

"you can still see this. from my findings, you can see this image from anywhere... almost anywhere. I have a theory that the universe has no end, center, or something like that. meaning if the universe was a paper, once you reach the edge of a paper, you would appear at the other edge. this means light from the beginning of the universe is traveling all over the universe," I said calmly, while Sakumo and the 3rd look at the shadow-like humanoid with chills.

"It's a bit scary. image if we were all born from a lifeform. just how powerful is that being to birth everything? than you have to wonder if he killed himself, or if something killed him. we were all born from that bringing or what, just a simple question. although I have to be careful not to catch some unwanted attention. so simple and careful stuff... a bit should be able to make some stronger telecop with this lightly steel. with them being boosted by chakra... I can't wait to see what I see. you guys and use the telescope if you wish. just make sure to record what you see." I said softly, making the two look at each other while I left.

the two went on to look at the stars, which were extremely powerful, seeing planets extremely far away. there was no light pollution in this world, so they had the purest of views. but it went further, as they could use their chakra to enhance the chakra viewing capability, allowing them to see many things. although they needed the help of a special camera to know what they were seeing.

"you're soon is a... genius." the 3rd hokage said while looking at the huge camera, which was showing an image of a humanoid. with the slightest move of the telescope, this humanoid would disappear, but it was already starting to fade.

"Is this an alien?" Shima asked with a raised eyebrow while playing with the telescope and trying to see what he could find. and to their shock, they found in the void of space, a huge ball of flame, slamming against a humanoid of light. They too looked closely and began seeing the aftermath of the battle, stars being destroyed along with planets like they were nothing.

"... are those gods?" Shima said in shock and horror. the 3rd hokage swallowed his saliva, they were not alone out there. and they seemed to be the mortals amongst the gods.