25 Chapter 25

NazgulBelserion just for you I'm releasing two more chapters today.

Much love, stay safe mate.

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"Shiro my Eternal Friend!"

I'm not sure how I felt about the emphasis he used on the word eternal.

"Gai! It's been a while! Have you been Youthful lately?"

Meaning were you just training or were you about to train?

"I was just fanning my flames of Youth, my Youthful friend."

Meaning Gai already did his routine.

Ok...

"Want to spar?"

Gai gave a nice guy pose, a thumbs up, wink, and winning smile.

"AN EXCELLENT IDEA!"

Gai reached behind his back and pulled out some...

Nunchucks?

Since when did Gai use nunchucks?

"Here I come my Youthful friend!"

Seriously why nunchucks...

...

"Shiro?"

Hmm?

"Yes?"

Mom was staring at my new pet.

"Why do we have a rabbit?"

I didn't answer but gestured to the rabbit.

"His name is Emergency Rations."

He was my new pet.

"Who's going to feed him when we're on missions?"

He could fend for himself.

"No worries, I'll hire a Genin team to look after him."

Hopefully no one let him out, he was near impossible to catch.

...

"What are you drinking?"

I was sunbathing and enjoying my alone time when Kushina started bothering me.

"It's the source of my strength."

I looked at my drink and gave it a little swirl.

It was pretty much a health drink, I was using resources faster then my body could get them from my normal food and Duy created supplements.

Thus my drink

"Want some?"

I offered her some, with a kind smile.

"I'd love some!"

I had a second cup beside me that I had intended to drink.

"Here ya go!"

I gave the cup to her.

"Thanks!"

She didn't even have the cup a second before she took a swig.

"HUUUURGGEHH!"

Kushina immediately started vomiting.

She stumbled away from me and out of view.

I continued to hear the sounds of retching for a few minutes afterwards...

Poor Kushina...

...

Eight months had passed since Mikoto's dinner, I had two months until my eighth birthday where I would then be allowed to take the Chunin exams.

I could now hide my chakra, was passable with Lightning Release, and was able to make basic seals and copy simple pre-existing seals.

Sadly, I wouldn't be making any original seals any time soon.

I spent a lot of time practicing the Shunshin and trying to make it more efficient, I could now use it to travel long distances and could now do multiple short Shunshin 'jumps' around an opponent.

It was becoming my most used combat technique next to the Gentle Fist.

My medical skills didn't make any progress for the first four months until I started sending Henged clones to any villages we passed.

I'd let the clones run wild and heal anyone they could, it led to many shenanigans but it also improved my medical ninjutsu so I'd take what I could get.

I also enhanced my nerves/reflexes.

A reflex is a simple and automatic response to a stimulus.

If you touch something painfully hot you will automatically withdraw your hand, so it's a reflex.

It's pretty much your brain receiving information via the nerves and your body reacting to it.

When you touch something hot there's a small delay where you don't feel anything until your brain receives information from the nerves that the thing your toughing is hot.

The reason for this delay is how fast the signal can travel from the nerves in the hand, to the spinal cord, to the brain, and back down to the muscles.

So, I wanted my nerves to conduct signals faster.

The first thing that popped into my mind was lightning chakra.

Sadly, lightning chakra did more harm than good, and there were a few mishaps...

So, I spent time looking at different people mainly ninja and non-ninja.

I realized that non-ninja had smaller nerves or neurons while ninja had bigger neurons.

Ninja didn't just have bigger nerves their neurons were also insulated with a super salty conductive fluid that allowed for faster electrical transmission.

Something that civilians lacked.

So, I just had to make my neurons bigger or more conductive...?

The only problem with making the nerves bigger was the lack of room.

The nerves throughout the body, especially in the spine only had a certain amount of room.

If I wanted to make them bigger, I'd also have to make more room.

It wasn't too much of a problem, my bones were already abnormally sturdy and if I cut some bone away it wouldn't affect me overly much.

After my research was done I was ready to experiment.

I caught 14 rabbits and attempted to enhance their nerves...

I then had one nerve enhanced rabbit and a large amount of rabbit stew.

The nerve enhancement worked, though not in a way I liked.

The rabbit reacted to things faster then he could see them.

The rabbit's visual reaction time and his body's reaction time were very different now.

The rabbit seemed to react to stimulus automatically before it could even comprehend what it was doing.

I wasn't sure how I'd adjust to the same myself.

If someone puts their hand on my shoulder, I might accidentally grab them and flip them.

Or if someone launched a Fire jutsu at me my body could start automatically getting away from the 'hot' and react before I even consciously registered that there was a jutsu coming my way.

It wasn't a bad thing, I was just worried about opponents finding ways to use my reflexes to trap me.

It was probably an unnecessary worry, but that didn't stop me from having anxiety about it.

So, without further ado, I enhanced my nerves over a months time.

...

My enhanced nerves led to my body moving a lot on its own, something I had expected.

If I knocked something off the table I would grab It before I even thought about it.

If my mom threw a kunai at me my body would automatically start dodging before it even left her hand.

It was nice...

It made me faster, and better able to react when using Chikaku no kyōka.

I'd liken it to having more pronounced instincts...

I'd hear the woosh of a kunai slicing through the air from behind and my hand would snatch it from the air and toss it back before I'd even thought about it...

Now my body was reacting faster.

Next, I needed my brain to do the same.

I didn't know how that would look, perhaps my perception would be permanently slowed?

I didn't know...

But the speed the brain processed things had a lot to do with how fast the neurons conducted electricity...

So perhaps enhancing the neurons in the brain would make me smarter?

It was something I was wary of testing...

But something I'd have to get around to.

I wanted to scan Kakashi and Minato to see what made them smarter than average.

There was a lot to do.

...

"I haven't seen you in a few days, what have you been up to?"

I've been looking for some Byakugan that won't be missed...

"I've been meeting with different clan members and trying to make friends."

I wanted some spare Byakugan, in case something happened to my own.

"Any success?"

Some...

"No, most of the clan are unlikeable."

I ended up deciding that I should wait until the war starts to nab some Byakugan.

...

"Shiro, you've been moody lately."

Yes, it was almost that time of the month...

"We have to do a mission soon."

I didn't like missions.

"I'll let you pick if that will make you feel better."

It wouldn't, but I'd never turn down an opportunity to pick a mission.

...

Things went as they usually did, I looked at the missions with disgust while my mom held back her laughter.

There were only two options that weren't total garbage.

Both B-ranked.

There was a rouge Konoha shinobi that escaped to the Land of Vegetables, it'd take about ten days of travel to get there and we'd have to pass between both Lightning Country and Water Country by boat.

And there was a one-armed Mist Jonin named Edano Ryoko, that had taken over a village on the border of Fire Country and Noodle Country, this trip would take around three days.

I wasn't interested in a near month-long mission...

...

We arrived at the border of Noodle country.

The village was about five kilometers away, we had stopped and mom was checking using this time to check the situation in the village.

Judging by the look on her face, it wasn't looking good for the villagers.

"How's it looking?"

Mom blew a heavy breath from her nose.

"The men are dead, only the women and children remain."

Meaning murder hobo Ryoko had been having a blast, raping and murdering his little heart out.

"So... can I fight him?"

With my gravity seal off I was confident I could kill our target.

"As long as your careful."

Sweet, my first Jonin.

...

We approached slowly, eventually, we got within a kilometer and I was able to see our target.

He was tall with cyan hair and eyes, he had a katana next to him marking him as a swordsman.

He was having a hearty meal and being serviced by the naked village women.

He was living it up...

I spotted the kids they were in a different part of the small village and being cared for by what I'd call the ugly village women...

Sigh...

"What do we do with the villagers after I kill Ryoko?"

I hoped we could just leave them, I wasn't interested in walking at civilian speed to the nearest town or city...

"We'll figure that out later."

Alrighty...

"Want to guard the children?"

I didn't want Ryoko to get any hostages after-all...

She nodded and disappeared towards the children...

...

I was within two-hundred meters of Ryoko, he had finished his meal, bent one of the women over the table, and was now thoroughly enjoying himself.

The other women were cleaning up the table ignoring what was happening just a few feet from them.

I held back my sigh...

This was what happened when you were powerless in the Naruto-verse.

...

I arrived at the house and activated Chikaku no kyōka and my perception slowed.

Ryoko was occupied, most of the women were in other rooms with only three remaining in the dining room/kitchen.

Acceptable causality's...

I took a deep breath before barrelling through the wall with a One For All enhanced punch.

A second One For All punch sent Ryoko flying through the house and out into the street.

He tumbled and tried to recover, but his pants were around his ankles so he only flailed around and continued to tumble into another house.

I walked out of the hole I had created ignoring the screams and waited for Ryoko to get his bearings.

He stood up and kicked off his pants.

"You can put those back on, I'll give you some time."

I wasn't interested in getting literally dick slapped.

"Hahaha... you got me good!"

Ryoko ignored my generous offer and charged.

He was naked and without his sword and arm, so I didn't know what he hoped to accomplish.

We engaged in a flurry of blows, Ryoko used his arm to block my Gentle Fist strikes and lost use of it.

An One For All kick to the chest sending him tumbling again.

Lacking both arms and his sword Ryoko wasn't living up to his rank as a Jonin.

"YOU BITCH!"

Ryoko got his feet under him and took off in a sprint towards the forest.

A quick Shunshin and a swipe with a Chakra scalpel and Ryoko was short a head while I had gained one.

"Hahaha..."

I chuckled.

I deactivated my Byakugan and Chikaku no kyōka.

I grabbed Ryoko's head by its hair and made my way over to my mother.

...

"I see that your fight went well."

When people couldn't tell you were a Hyuga they tended to use their limbs to block your strikes.

"Yes, as you can see, I came out ahead."

I waved Ryoko's head around for effect.

"Shiro!"

She sent me a stern look.

"What? Ryoko thought that was funny. Didn't you Ryoko?

I held up the head, grabbed its jaw, and started making it talk.

"Hahaha, it was very funny Shiro!"

My mom shook her head.

"Stop playing around, go seal 'Ryoko' up."

I blink innocently at her...

"And I mean all of Ryoko."

She then started walking towards the house Ryoko had been occupying

...

The surviving villagers were rounded up.

Ryoko had done a number on the woman and they required some healing.

So, we would be staying the night while I healed them and they gathered their things so we could drop them off at a neighboring village.

I took some time to check Ryoko's belongings for potential loot.

His only possessions were his sword, kunai, a picture, and the money he looted from the villagers.

I looked at the picture, it was a younger Ryoko standing next to a brown-haired, big-nosed, bearded man, who had his hair in a top-knot.

Nothing useful.

I sealed Ryoko's belongings and left the money for the villagers to collect...

...

I was startled awake by my mom.

I locked eyes with her and realized whatever was happening was serious.

"We're being watched by a team of hunter-nin."

That was not good.

I activated my Byakugan extending my range as far as I could.

"Yeah I see them."

There were four of them, which didn't bode well for us.

There would be no peaceful solution, we had a body that they were supposed to dispose of.

The whole reason for hunting down missing-nin was so we could uncover village secrets from their bodies.

And Kiri's hunter-nin killed their own missing-nin to prevent that...

So, we had a conflict of interest...

We couldn't just hand them the body, even if we did, they would still hunt us down.

There was also the village folk to consider.

I briefly focused on a building full of sleeping children.

...

I watched as mom put contacts in her eyes, making them black.

Nice.

I gave her a thumbs up.

If they don't know you're a Hyuga then they won't dodge your strikes.

"So, what's the plan?"

Hopefully we are abandoning the village folk and racing straight towards Konoha.

"We're going to lead them away from the civilians and engage them."

I didn't like the sound of that.

"Were not leaving the villagers?"

A boy could hope.

"No we're not."

Dammit...

"So, what's the plan?"

...

Mom jumped out a window and Shunshined into the surrounding forest.

Three hunter-nin followed her leaving my range.

It seems jumping out the window before anyone could protest was the best way to solve arguments...

Sigh...

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