19 Chapter 18

His eyes opened, and he knew he wasn't in another world by Naruto's snoring. Sasuke was in the room along with Shuzine. The young woman was reading over some text while she waited. Naruto and Sasuke were also patched up. From the looks of it Sasuke had gotten into the fight. He was covered in bite wounds from various snakes and black blood leaked from his eyes like tears.

"What happened while I was out?" Bastion asked. Shizune was startled and raised a kunai. She looked over to him and relaxed.

"You weren't supposed to wake up for a few days." Bastion raised up only to feel intense pain and laid back down.

"I wish I hadn't. Why couldn't I have just slept until my injuries healed." Bastion said and smiled at Shizune. "So, Sasuke's eyes are bleeding black blood. He awakened the Mongekyou didn't he?" He asked.

"When you passed out from blood loss he thought you died and awakened it. He summoned the black flames of Amaturasu and burned orochimaru badly. Tsunade claims he'll need a new body soon. A stolen body's rejection rate increases after intense damage." Shizune said. Bastion nodded his head. He was stronger than ever, his chakra reserves were second only to the fox inside of Naruto in this room, but he needed to learn how to make use of them. Lightning was a huge weakness to his earth release. He needed to make a more permanent golem body and add a few lightning dampeners to it.

"Well, hopefully someone preserved his father's sharingan and Sasuke can replace his when we get back to Konoha." Bastion said. He was still in a conversation with Shizune and needed to figure some things out. Kabuto's perfect cell duplication would be nice, but out of his range of possibilities. Maybe in a few more years. He needed to learn medical ninjutsu. There were probably some books on the subject somewhere. The shadow clone technique would boost his progress. He needed to have a clone go out and study that subject exclusively. Then there was the custom golem he needed. He needed to build lightning rods and run some heavy cables through the main body.

He looked over at Shizune and raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand how someone your age can be so cold. I can see it in your eyes. The second you woke up you thought of ways to better your chances in combat next time. It isn't right for someone your age to have to think like that." Shizune said. Bastion glared at her, what she said rubbed him the wrong way.

"Would you have me be weak and rely on others exclusively. Orochimaru is too powerful to remain stagnant. I can guarantee he will be stronger next time we face him. He is immortal and has labs all over the continent dedicated to one path of jutsu or another. If the villages were truly at peace they would deliver a coordinated strike and deprive him of the peace he needs to continue to grow. There would be relief efforts from every village to assist Konoha in our time of need. Instead we have sharks circling ready to devour us if we show weakness. Peace is a lie, there is only passion, through passion, I gain strength, through strength, I gain power, through power, I gain victory, and through victory, I will be free. A creed of an order of fools but at least they know what to fight for. I am passionate about learning new ways to use my chakra and jutsu. That passion will make me strong and powerful. I will gain victory and be free from fear of Orochimaru." Bastion said.

"I just worry." Shizune said. Bastion let himself soften.

"Thank you for caring but don't let your care get in the way of survival." Bastion said. He held his hand and made a rasengan. Shizune didn't react and he held it in his palm. Instead of making it larger, he shrank it down. The smaller he made the sphere the denser the chakra became. He couldn't shrink it more than a grapefruit. He would need more chakra control.

He looked over at her. "You wouldn't happen to know any chakra control exercises, I can do in bed would you?"