72 Chapter 72

Three months passed. It was spring and my modified crops had been planted. Nothing had happened with them and nothing would until April or May.

It was slightly annoying, but I was willing to wait.

My clone had gotten more adept with his Sand Manipulation and Magnet Release but it still wasn't anything impressive.

But I could afford to wait longer. The clone had only had the abilities for a few months, it was likely that he'd get better as time passed.

I also got knee-deep in Fuinjutsu, I was once again making steady progress. I still wasn't able to use languages from my previous life but I was steadily getting better at putting my intent into custom symbols.

I was starting on making my own custom seals. Nothing truly innovative, just more personalized seals.

Soon, I'd be making my own Flying Thunder God seals. And after that, I'd be invading the moon.

I was slowly getting closer to acquiring the Tenseigan, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

...

Mystery woman's bloodline was surprisingly easy to integrate. The clone was able to integrate the DNA after a small amount of experimentation on some local bandits.

The clone had integrated the bloodline into himself and didn't have any problems so far. Rapid healing would be a problem as the bloodline didn't heal everything correctly if there was too much damage.

Mystery woman's bloodline allowed for the integration of foreign chakra and cells, which was extremely ridiculous. No matter how many times I viewed the process I couldn't figure it out and it was frustrating.

It also made me realize that I might have given Orochimaru the key to the perfect body. He would be able to combine multiple chakras and multiple different cells to create a mishmash body that could use multiple bloodlines, although probably at a lesser proficiency than a natural bloodline user.

Having the DNA was better than having a mishmash of cells...

The clone was happy with the bloodline, but I only wanted the 'assimilation' part of the bloodline. I didn't need the faulty healing factor...

At least it wasn't too much work to refuel the clone now...

...

"Your chakra has changed again." Mom spoke, knocking me from my thoughts.

I nodded.

"Exchanging spiritual energy with the Clone changes my chakra a bit." But only a bit. My physical energy remained unchanged. "It'll change again in a few days, so don't be too surprised."

I was going to Overwrite myself with a modified version of Mystery Woman's bloodline. I just needed to do a few more tests before I did so.

It would hopefully make It easier to assimilate DNA, even as I aged and got older.

"Have you been training?" I asked, hoping she was making the best out of the overwrite.

Mom nodded.

"Yes."

I waited for her to continue for a moment. She didn't and I figured she wasn't interested in the topic.

"Any interesting missions?" I elected to change the topic. "Any maidens rescued? Any bandits killed?"

Mom shook her head with an amused smile.

"No maidens or bandits." She smirked. "We did kill some Iwa-nin though."

I nodded with a small smile on my face.

"You had fun I'm guessing?"

Mom smiled back.

"We all did."

I waited for her to continue but she didn't, again stopping the conversation.

"Alright, I've got experiments to get back to."

Mom nodded and waved me off, and I shook my head and headed to the basement.

I'd need to make another lab. I can't bring farm animals into the basement, because of the smell and because mom would probably disapprove.

...

I was at a weird place where I was strong and could kill a literal army of ninja, but I couldn't last more than a while against a Rinnegan user.

Or so I thought.

I did know a good bit about the Rinnegan, so maybe I could eke out a win of some kind?

I mulled over the thought for a while and dismissed it as wishful thinking. The Rinnegan wasn't something I could overcome without bullshit eyes of my own.

"Did you get a place set up for the animals." I spoke up, trying to get myself away from daydreaming about the Tenseigan.

The Clone nodded.

"Yes, but you could have just Overwritten them elsewhere."

I blinked and nodded as I realized he was right. I could do my gene editing at home and Overwrites elsewhere.

"Oops." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

That was a blunder, an expensive one too.

"Well, how was Orochimaru?" I changed the topic, feeling a little embarrassed about my lack of thought.

The clone shrugged.

"He liked the Byakugan." I smiled as that was good news. "The Jinchūriki body made him excited, but he was more interested in the Byakugan."

My smile grew.

"Good, glad he likes it." With the Byakugan Orochimaru could now see chakra, I wondered what he could do with it. "Hopefully he's not stingy with any finds he makes."

I didn't hold much hope, but maybe Orochimaru would share?

"Don't get your hopes up." The clone shook his head at me. "You know he's not one for sharing."

"Sigh..." I just sighed and nodded. The Clone was right, even if it's nagging was annoying.

I shook my head and stared down at the Seal I had long forgotten in favor of daydreaming. It was supposed to record everything about a body right down to its DNA and record it for later pursual.

It wasn't going to be useful, it was the first thing that came to mind while I was pondering how I could test my abilities in Fuinjutsu.

It was somewhat hard to make, but not very useful.

"I'm having dinner with Team Minato in a few hours." Team Minato had adopted Gai and Isami, which was nice as I didn't have to do as many missions. Team Minato dragged Gai and Isami out often enough that we didn't need to do them as often. "Do you want to go instead?"

My Clone smiled.

"Why would I pass up the chance to freak Minato out?" Minato didn't like the Clone. Something about its chakra freaked him out. And the clone loved that.

"Good." I nodded. I was glad I wasn't forced to eat subpar barbeque and make conversation.

Poor food and pointless-conversation were among my least favorite things.

...

After a somewhat minor Overwrite, I was feeling unexpectedly good. Mystery Woman's DNA seemed to have done something beyond give me the ability to assimilate foreign cells and chakra easier.

"I haven't felt this good in a while." I had a giddy smile on my face.

My Clone shook his head with a smile.

"The Bloodline makes you adapt, or so I think." The Clone shrugged. "It seems more like adaptability then assimilation."

I raised an eyebrow and the Clone shrugged in response. He had to have figured that out within the last few days as we recently shared spiritual energy...

"I guess adapting to foreign cells makes more sense." I started cracking my fingers one by one and the Clone looked at me with disgust. "Adapting, in general, makes sense." I corrected myself after some thought.

My clone nodded approvingly.

"Not all adaptations are good, but some are." I nodded in understanding. "Right now, your body is adapting to your chakra, it's why you feel so good. Your body isn't about to explode from excess chakra."

I shook my head trying to shake the image from my mind.

"Have you had any problems with the bloodline?"

My Clone immediately nodded.

"Yes, I heal too fast now, makes it hard to draw blood." I raised an eyebrow and the Clone shrugged. "Not much of a problem for you though."

I guess faulty healing was not a problem when one was adept at Medical Ninjutsu. As long as one was vigilant enough, it wouldn't be a problem.

"You should make a Strength Of A Hundred Seal." I tapped my forehead protector, which hid said seal. "If I gave you a good bit of my chakra, you could go months without a refill."

The Clone didn't look overly enthused with the idea and shook his head.

"That's too much time, I can't go that long without using chakra." He scratched his cheek. "I'll die of boredom."

"Sigh..." I wanted the Clone to have more freedom, but I wouldn't push it. I had trouble fighting off my boredom with chakra, I couldn't imagine how bored I would be without my chakra.

I've become a workaholic...

I shook my head and headed upstairs. I'd eat something and have a look at my DNA. I had to make sure It wasn't degrading, DNA degradation would be a nightmare...

...

After getting my hands on some of Itachi's DNA I spent a week or so comparing it to the brown-haired Uchiha DNA and didn't find anything amazing.

I had expected to find Itachi's mystery illness but found no such thing. Or at least no signs of it.

I had hoped I could nix that illness, and have some way to gain favor from Itachi. But no chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis for Itachi it seems...

Maybe it was Mangekyō related?

"Hmmm..." I hummed and considered the thought.

I faintly remember Madara being bedridden and nearly blind before getting his Eternal Mangekyō.

Obito didn't have any problems, but he was half- Hashirama with all those cells he had...

Fugaku also had a Mangekyō that didn't cause him problems. But I hadn't seen Fugaku use his Mangekyō for anything more then Genjutsu, so I wasn't sure if that was the case.

Maybe it was the Mangekyō, maybe it wasn't...

I'd have to wait and see...

...

"Shiro! You don't stop growing!" I returned Kushina's hug while she screamed in my ear. "Why do you keep getting bigger!"

Kushina tried to pick me up but I anchored my feet to the ground with chakra. She pouted and released me from her grasp.

"Stop trying to carry me around." I exhaled heavily. "I'm twelve, much too old to be carried."

"Hmph!" Kushina hmphed and continued pouting.

I rolled my eyes and made my way into the apartment. Her sealing supplies were out and she seems to have been working on something before I arrived.

"What'cha working on?" I leaned over the half-drawn Seal, trying to decipher is purpose.

Energy containment, energy compression, and energy sealing were what I could gather, the rest was gibberish. Most likely self-made symbols.

"I dunno? Just something to pass the time..." Kushina trailed off as I stared at her.

"Hmmm...?" I hummed, not believing her.

Seeing my disbelief Kushina opted to change the topic.

"Do you need any help?" She started stashing her projects away, hiding them from sight.

I just shook my head, both in refusal and because she shoved a lot of her work under a couch.

"No, I just came to see how you were doing." I was maintaining our relationship with visits and ramen. "I also brought ramen!" Said ramen appeared in my hand with a puff of smoke.

"Ohhh!" Kushina snatched the ramen from my hands and ran to the kitchen. She disappeared from my view and came back with an empty bowl.

I raised an eyebrow and accepted the bowl back.

I feel like I should have brought more...

"Thanks, Shiro, that hit the spot!" Kushina smiled and patted her stomach.

I nodded in acknowledgment while trying to decide whether I should stay or go.

"Alright, I can see that you are busy." I gestured to the paper that she had poorly hidden beneath the couch. "Feel free to stop by if you have time."

Kushina nodded, looking slightly embarrassed when I pointed out the papers hidden under the couch.

"Alright, thanks Shiro."

I nodded and Shunshined away. I had other people to visit, mainly Isami and Aomi. One needed training and the other needed some practice in manipulating DNA.

She wasn't good enough to do anything properly, but it never hurt to start early. It would give her something to aspire to in any case.

...

I found myself feeling lost and bored without the war. There was always something that needed to be done during the war, but now that I was at home, I usually had nothing to do.

With every experiment or task, I crossed off my mental list, I got a little closer to mind-numbing boredom.

So, I opted to create more work to stave off the boredom. Mainly by bothering Minato.

"Minato, teach me about Sage Mode." I poked him in the side, while mentally cursing my shortness. Minato was tall and it made me feel like a midget.

"I can't." Minato ruffled my hair. "You have to sign the Toad Contract if you want to learn Senjutsu."

"Hmmm?" I hummed and raised an eyebrow. "Was that an offer?"

Minato nodded his head in the affirmative and I drifted into thought.

The toad contract wasn't a bad choice if one was looking for a summon. But I wasn't sure it was what I wanted. The Toads were very mild-mannered, I was worried they wouldn't like me.

"I'm interested, but I don't think the Toads will like me." I said after a while. "Let me think about it, I'll get back to you on it."

I had tried to sense nature chakra, but I was extremely incompetent in terms of sensing. It just wasn't something I was good at.

I might have to get back into the sensor DNA. I had a whole lot of it and I could assemble a 'sensing gene' if I desired. But I didn't know what kind of sensor I would want to be.

How much range did I want? How detailed would I want it to be? Would my sensing be passive or active requiring focus? Did I want to take someone's already established natural gene or did I want to make an artificial gene catered to myself?

Lots of questions. Lots of thinking to do.

I guess I've done what I set out to do.

I've created more work for myself...

"Well, talk to the toads about me." I gestured to myself. "If they're interested, I'm interested."

Having the Toads refuse me at a distance was less painful than having them dismiss me to my face.

"Will do." Minato nodded and returned his focus to Rin and Kakashi who were sparing with Isami and Gai. "I'll come to get you when I get an answer."

Meaning, don't come to get me. I'll get you.

"Alright." I nodded and Shunshined away before I got dragged into sparing. I wasn't interested at the moment.

...

Wind Ninjutsu was pretty uninteresting as far as Ninjutsu went. Most of the Wind-Ninjutsu that the village had involved sending various amounts of wind blades at an opponent.

There were a few Jutsu's that involved sending a 'blast' of wind at an opponent, like Great Breakthrough or Gale Palm but those were the only ones I could find that didn't involve wind blades.

Everything good was either in other villages or hidden away somewhere. Blades and Walls of wind couldn't be all that the village had...

Could it?

I shook my head and rid myself of the notion. As always, the good stuff was hidden, meaning I would have to get the good stuff myself.

Which was annoying, but at least I had something new to do. That was more then I could ask for.

On the plus side, Fire Ninjutsu was plentiful if also uninteresting. I got to choose between, 'small fire' 'medium fire' or 'large fire'.

Every Fire Ninjutsu was a variation of the other, the only difference being the size and sometimes shape. It made picking easy as every Jutsu was nearly the same, but it also left me dissatisfied.

Why weren't there more interesting Fire Jutsu?

It can't be that hard to make something original...

I shook my head. The lack of interesting jutsu was annoying, but I could always make my own.

There was no need to settle for the generic jutsu when I could be original and make my own.

...