27 Team 7 and The Reaper's Web Part 2

This fortress would be where Shiki pooled the resources he obtained. Naturally he also had set up ways to quickly move these resources away in case the fortress is compromised.

This fortress would serve as a storage and research facility with the capability to produces various resources required for Shiki's plans and projects. Many of its rooms had expansion seals placed on them, these were adjustable in the event that more space was required in the future.

One area of the fortress was a dedicated plantation were seals were in place to simulate the environments required by the various plants he "acquired" in the Land of Medicines.

While Shiki sto-obtained these plants and their seeds he also conveniently "came across" several graveyards of established clans in the three villages that existed in the land obtaining the souls and knowledge of the buried including the knowledge to create Blue Fire Powder a sort of gunpowder equivalent that detonated through absorbed moisture.

He also managed to acquire Roen, a powerful wolf like creature that possessed strength akin to that of tailed beast even though it lacked their intelligence. It was sealed in a boy named Kodon Kina but since he wasn't really the jinchuriki of a tailed beast he could easily extract the beast with no harm to the boy.

Shiki even made a deal by means of a soul contract with the boy's older brother Kodon Reishi, making him his loyal servant in exchange for safely removing the beast from his younger brother. Thus earning a skilled pharmacist for Shiki's cause.

He also managed to achieve the ability to produce a special genjutsu drug called Kotaro, unique to the Kodon clan and with a little help from Orochimaru's research, Shiki adapted it to allow for the production of other drugs, something he had a soul clone with Reishi as an assistant take care of.

As for Roen, Shiki was planning to seal it inside his ninken which he affectionately named Inugami. The seal itself would slowly fuse Roen's chakra into Inugami thus making it even more powerful than the original. This would only happen after Inugami received sufficient training however.

Another area of the fortress was dedicated to material and ore mass production. This was carried out by means of a seal considered a failure by the Uzumaki clan, the Matter Conversion Seal. The principle was that any material was placed in the seal and after sufficient chakra was provided, it would be converted into more material.

As to why it was considered a failure, it was because of its efficiency. Despite several improvements by different generations of the clan, this problem remained unsolved. Even when reproducing common wrought iron it took chakra nearly equivalent to that of a tailed beast, to make a few kilograms much less thing like Chakra Metal that were never successfully reproduced.With the unlimited chakra of the Dragon Vein however, this problem was completely averted

The remaining three areas were for research, assembly lines and finally the control center of the fortress. They were still under development though since Shiki still lacked some of the things required to make them work as he intended.

As for the two cuties accompanying the Reaper, they were Guren and Chinoike Chino. The former, Shiki managed to find her village before Orochimaru raised it to the ground and recruited her, as for the latter, it was slightly more complicated.

In the past, the Chinoike were one of the many mercenary ninja clans active in the Land of Lightning but after an incident involving the land's daimyo, the entire Chinoike clan was banished from the country. The Uchiha clan were hired to carry out this task, and they forced the Chinoike clan to settle in the Valley of Hell in the Land of Hot Water.

The Valley of Hell was thought to be uninhabitable and over the years, the valley's location was forgotten and the Chinoike clan faded from history. In truth however, the Chinoike were able to survive and enjoy decades of peace.

This was ended though, by internal strife. Being forced to live so closely together for so long caused even minor arguments to erupt into violence, the tipping point was whether or not the clan should seek vengeance against the Uchiha clan for exiling them there. In a single night, the man who came to be known as Oyashiro En slaughtered his clan leaving only his daughter, Chino, alive.

They left the valley and Oyashiro, guilty for his role in the deaths of his clansmen, decided to hide his identity from Chino, raising her to believe that she was the last of her family in the hopes that she would not repeat his mistakes while telling her that he had her entire family killed so that she would become the last possessor of the Ketsuryūgan, the clan's kekkei genkai, and thus a valuable commodity.

He then started making a career for himself as an arms dealer. He trained Chino to be a combination of bodyguard and means to resolving "business disputes". He also began collecting young children with kekkei genkai.

Shiki knowing this swiftly hatched out a plan and gave Oyashiro what he called the "Danzo Treatment" in other words Shiki painfully killed him, took his soul and left an obedient soul clone in his place. He gained Chino's loyalty by freeing and caring for her while afterwards, he then secretly went to the Valley of Hell.

There, Shiki acquired the souls of all the Chinoike clansmen and established a hideout in their former home. He then refined their souls along with the soul of Oyashiro and prepared to meld the resulting Yin Soul to obtain the power of the Ketsuryugan.

As a doujutsu, its power earned it comparison to the Three Great Dojutsu and was recognised by its reddish colour, giving a special appearance for the users of this dōjutsu, characterised as holders of "eyes as red as blood".

It conferred genjutsu casting abilities, either through physical skin contact with the target or meeting each other's gaze. Upon which it is possible hypnotise the victim in a variety of ways, or even delve deep into their minds to extract information. The Ketsuryugan also gave the users the ability to manipulate any liquid with a high iron concentration. As such, fitting with its moniker, the Ketsuryugan can manipulate the blood within a living target, whether if be themselves or another being.

Shiki was quite worried that he would be getting any more extra eyes but fortunately his worries were unfounded. After the melding the power of the Ketsuryugan was fused with the Sharingan. If he activated both at the same time his sclera would turn red while his already red iris from the Sharingan gained a much darker, blood red color like the Ketsuryugan finally, his pupils and three tomoe would gain a shining colour similar to those of the Ketsuryugan while maintaining their original shape.

He also created two small sealing gourds that contained vast amounts of water gathered from the Valley of Hell that possessed a very high iron content making it red and allowing wielders of the Ketsuryugan to manipulate it for various jutsu. He kept one for himself and gave Chino the other.

Back to Konoha and present events, the Rookies had graduated and the teams were the same as canon prompting Shiki to claim bullshit at the supposed balancing of the squads, since all the top students were settled together in teams. Naruto had easily graduated so the whole Mizuki incident didn't even occur.

After all, even if Shiki hadn't interfered with things, all the children from the village's main clans being grouped together couldn't be a coincidence! Oh well, it's not like it had anything to do with him anyways.

However, a great change occurred in Team 7, despite the members being the same as canon, there was a stark difference in Naruto and Sasuke's abilities and even mentality. Naruto still did the whole schtick with the blackboard eraser hitting Kakashi's head but differences appeared soon after.

After Kakashi asked their names, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams, while Sakura's "answers" were more or less the same, there was a stark difference in the ones given by both boys.

Naruto's answers were:

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto datebayo! The thing I like is Ramen! What I dislike is the gaze Shiki gives me when I mess around too much during training or annoy him it's impossible to describe . . ." Said the blonde with shivers running through his spine at the last part.

Hearing this, Sasuke contributed from the side while also shivering.

"It's like he is looking at the foulest filth in the world, with pure disgust on his face, as if asking "Why do you even exist?" Prompting Naruto to nod repeatedly in understanding. Leaving Sakura and Kakashi at a loss on how to respond to this trauma shared by both boys.

"Moving on!" Continued Naruto, having shaken off his previous state. "My hobbies are comparing various types of cup ramen and training with Shiki! As for my dream is to make everyone in the village acknowledge me and more importantly, surpass Shiki!"

"Ok then!" Simply responded Kakashi, his thoughts, his own. "How about you?" He asked turning to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What I like is the feeling of accomplishment when I managed to meet and surpass Shiki's expectations during training." Sasuke started with Naruto nodding to himself in understanding.

"There are a lot of things I dislike. My hobby is training with Shiki and I have two ambitions to surpass Shiki and to kill a certain man . . ." Sasuke trailed off.

'His brother . . .' Thought Naruto to himself with his head down. Clearly he and Sasuke and gotten close not only with Shiki but with each other as well.

Meanwhile, Kakashi considered the boys' responses.

'These two . . . They apparently put a lot of importance in this Shiki, they both seek his approval and dislike letting him down. If I remember correctly that was the kid that got an early graduation from the academy I think . . .'

After mulling over it for a bit, Kakashi continued by announcing the second test given to Academy Graduates and its low approval rate. This caused Sakura to worry about separating from Sasuke while the boys dreaded what would happen if news of their failure reached Shiki.

Giving the three instructions on where they would take the test tomorrow and what preparations they should make, Kakashi dismissed the trio.