43 Mounting Preparations

He held a leaf in his hand and soaked it with chakra. It was spring, and his last element was taking the most time. Water was his weakest element. After 10 months he hadn't managed to soak a leaf. Turning his chakra into water was a challenge, one he had to pass. One of his clones popped in the desert filling him with new memories. A ball of water formed in his hand made from his own chakra. It wasn't true water.

The cry of a baby caught his attention. He picked up a pale infant with black eyes and black hair. Angel named the boy Mao; his skin was paler than Bastions. Holding him kept the baby from crying. Bastion sat down and contemplated the battle ahead. This fragile thing in his arms would fall victim first to the hallucinations and suicidal compulsions.

His life had become stress and training. Little Mao burbled and crawled on the floor. Already, the child reinforced himself instinctively with chakra. Mao inherited Bastion's powerful chakra and Angel's affinity to magic. He would be powerful, if Bastion could find a way for him to survive. Angel was already pregnant again along with the others. The impending doom had thrown their biological clocks into overdrive.

He left a shadow clone to care for Mao while he continued training himself. All he had to do was master water release and he could consider the first five elements mastered. Then he could work on his ultimate weapon.

One of his machines beeped and he picked up a handful of pills and swallowed them down. His reserves increased even more by a few hundred million. This new machine pulled in more natural energy and produced better pills. It allowed him to increase his power and train constantly.

Clenching his fists, he let his chakra blaze around him forming a cloak. There was no tailed beast inside of him, this state was his effort to unleash his full power. Not only did he enhance his body but a thin exoskeleton of chakra mimicked his movements further increasing his physical damage. In this state he naturally absorbed natural energy and transformed it into his own chakra. That was before he mastered earth, fire, lightning, air, and soon water.

His cloak was new and improved. His chakra was denser now, hard enough to tank most attacks. It could pierce and cut, burn, move quickly, and soon it would gain some much-needed flexibility. He approached a nearby stream and saw himself. Bastion didn't recognize the man staring back at him.

His hair was long tied in a ponytail, dark ebony curls fell to the small of his back and spiked everywhere. Bastion's body was thin, chiseled with dense muscles, and his face had frown lines. His mongekyou sharingan looked like biohazard symbols. He stood a tall six two and he felt vigorous.

The cloak spread across his body and turning him into a sort of hulk. His muscles expanded and his face filled out. His eyes no longer hurt and his vision enhanced beyond the normal mongekyou. This was the power of a ninja on the verge of becoming a six paths sage. He could do this, he would do this, and he would do it perfectly.

His depression wasn't gone but he wouldn't let it get to him anymore. He sat down with a bottle in hand and fed Mao. Even if they were to die, Mao was his son and a descendent of his ancestor. He would get the same system as Bastion surely.