20 Chapter 16
'Normal Speech'
'Thoughts'
'Bijuu/Summons/Gamer/Techniques'
'Bijuu/Summons/Thoughts/Techniques'
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer, or any series for that matter. If I did the last thing I would do is write fanfiction for your amusement. I am also way too lazy to come up with new creative and funny disclaimers to post on every chapter, so I'll be copying this one and pasting it on every chapter. I've got better things to do with my time, like reading fanfiction, write fanfiction, eat, do work, work out, read fanfiction...you get the idea.
(P.S. Did you guys know I like fanfiction?)
Author's Note: sigh, I have no idea how many times I rewrote this chapter, but I was never able to get it to feel the way I wanted it to. I'll 100% understand if this chap isn't the most well received I've had, but whatever. Next week will be better (to me at least.)
Chapter 16
Gamer's Body
It was my unique innate ability that was the main reason for my rapid growth and accelerated healing factor. However, that was not all.
What made this ability unique was that every injury my body took was converted to some level of "damage" regardless of where I was attacked. My HP was just a measuring tool that denoted how much punishment I could take before my body could no longer support itself or regenerate.
I figured that factors such as the strength behind the attack, the amount of energy contained within the attack and a few other things were what contributed to the levels of damage I took. Normal human weak points like my heart and lungs did not seem to really factor into how much damage an attack could inflict upon me, or at the very least, they didn't factor in too much.
But then that really begged the question.
What exactly was I?
"We're getting close to The Land of Lightning. We'll hang around there for a bit before making our way back home. Dove?" Lion asked.
My teacher focused for a moment before nodding. "A couple of the clones I left behind sensed them heading our way. I think we've got them hooked."
"Good." He said before signaling us to stop. "We have about half an hour ahead of Iwa and with our traps a little more than that. We'll stop here for a moment. Catch your breath and tend to your wounds." He ended before glancing at me for a moment.
I sighed and dropped to the ground as the rest of the Anbu did so as well.
I could sense that most of them were exhausted.
I could see that a good majority were injured.
And I knew that there were less Anbu here now than what we had started with.
"As team captain, it is a necessity that I know the capabilities of each member of my squad so that I can draft the most optimal plan for any mission." Lion began as he stood across from me, arms crossed.
"Lion." Boar began as he walked beside him. "What is the meaning of this."
Panther, the last of the three squad captains, stood to the side and looked at Lion questioningly.
Some of the Anbu were just sitting around.
Others were treating their wounds.
All of them were definitely paying attention to what was going on here.
Lion looked at me. "That is a question I would like to ask him. What the hell happened during the battle with the Jinchuuriki? With the Four Violet Flames Formation up, the only possible way you could have vanished like that was if you used some kind of space-time technique."
Startlement and surprise were the emotions I felt emanating from the surrounding Anbu, though they hid them perfectly as they continued to act as if they hadn't heard anything. I could understand the surprise, after all, creating or mastering a spacetime technique was quite a huge deal. These techniques represented more avenues to piece through enemy lines and catch them defenseless.
They were feared as well.
If someone would just teleport past all your traps, guards, and defenses and kill you, wouldn't you just die with injustice?
Finally, they were hard to learn and even harder to create.
Very hard.
"If I had been briefed about the fact that you could vanish with the enemy like that, I could have planned a more appropriate course of action that would have reduced the amount casualties on our end." Lion explained, his irritation slightly rising. "It's understandable that you wouldn't want your technique to be known. However, you should know that you wouldn't have had to worry about it being spread or talked about, yet you withheld something that could have helped us immensely."
I looked down and bit my lip.
What he was saying was completely truthful.
With Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on everyone's tongue, no one would have been able to speak of my ability to unauthorized personnel. The chances of it leaking would have been astronomically small especially considering that I was in the Root division of Konoha's Anbu. The people here would suffer through the worst torture in order to keep information about our village confidential.
Danzo took a lot of steps to ensure the Leaf's secrecy.
I understood that.
Yet, I kept this ability of mine a secret even though many more of our shinobi could have been saved if I had made either the Hokage and/or Danzo aware of my ability.
Was it wrong of me to have kept it hidden?
I severely doubted that anyone would have been able to replicate it and even if they could, ID Create was still spacetime ninjutsu of sorts which meant that it should be difficult to learn.
Besides that, this technique wasn't something I was particularly afraid of being known for. After all, Minato's Flying Raijin was arguably just as frightening as he could easily implant his seal formula on an enemy shinobi and teleport to them right in the center of their village.
Granted, the other villages probably screened their shinobi for something like that since Minato's Flying Raijin was quite well known, but what could they really do to stop him from teleporting everywhere? What would anyone have been able to do to me if they found out about ID?
It was not like the other villages had a Fuuinjutsu master skilled enough to place a spacetime blockade around their village.
The best case scenario, if I had told the Hokage or Danzo about my ability, would have been that no one outside of authorized and trusted individuals would ever find out about it and the fact that I have it.
The worst-case scenario would be that the entire shinobi world learns about my ID Create skill and plasters my head with the highest bounty imaginable in fear of me assassinating them. With my Empathy and Energy Resonance, even if I was caught in a trap, I would see it from kilometers away and would be able to use that very skill to run away.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really didn't have a reason not to have told Hiruzen at the very least. We could have used my ID, traveled to the heart of the camp, left my ID, assassinated Roshi before he could wake up, and that would have been it.
It might not have been that easy, but the casualties would undoubtedly have been much less. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to change what had already happened.
"…I have no excuses."
Lion looked at me for a moment and took a deep breath. "What has happened has already happened and cannot be changed even with space-time ninjutsu." He said, before asking. "At the very least, did you complete the mission?"
I nodded my head and gently thrust my hand forward, ripples appearing in space as my hand went inside my Inventory. I ignored the surprise since, at this point, I didn't care if they saw me use my inventory. If anything, I would just say that this and the ID were the same skill. It's not like Inventory was revolutionary as this place already had things like seal scrolls which, while not as good, worked well enough. With that done, I tossed the scroll to Lion who deftly caught it with one hand.
He opened it ran his chakra through the scroll before in a puff, Roshi's head appeared. After confirming that it was the real deal, he put the head back into the storage scroll. "At least you completed the objective." He said while keeping the scroll on his person. He looked and nodded at both Panther and Boar before looking at the surrounding Anbu, "We don't want to loiter here too long or else we will have to deal with Kumo as well. Rest up for 1 more minute then we'll get a move on."
His piece said, he walked away.
Panther followed suit after glancing my way for a moment.
Boar nodded at me before going to do his own thing.
And then, it was just me.
I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips as I turned around and walked towards my teacher who was leaning against a tree, looking at me with a serious countenance.
I stopped in front of her and wondered what I should-
My head whipped to the side as a stinging sensation appeared on my cheek.
I blinked. "…ow."
"That was for disobeying my orders and almost getting yourself killed in the process." She said.
I rubbed my cheek, idly wondering what she would have done if she found out that I had actually died…
She kneeled down to my eye level and removed my hand from my cheek before leaning forward and placing her lips against it. "That was for coming back safely."
"Maybe I should do stupidly suicidal things more often…"
"I'm sorry for worrying you." I said. "I just didn't want to risk anything happening to you."
She sighed and ran her fingers through my hair. "And I don't want anything to happen to you. Promise me…" she said as she placed her hands on either side of my cheeks and forced me to look at her. "That you won't carelessly risk your life like that."
"I'll try."
She narrowed her eyes and pinched my cheeks.
Really hard.
"…ow…it hurts…please stop."
She huffed and let go of me before stating, "Put on some clothes at the very least. You shouldn't be walking around so exposed. We're about to leave."
I blinked and looked down, noting that I was practically naked. The only reason I didn't notice this earlier was because I was used to using Henge tor my clothing. The technique in and of itself allowed me to copy the appearance of another person, including their height and clothing, so it was simple to just form clothing on my body. Of course said clothing had practically no defensive purposes and required a constant input of chakra to maintain, and therefore they felt like air.
Anyways, I simply utilized my inventory to instant-equip some more of my Anbu gear.
Yep, I could do that.
My teacher raised a brow at me, "How did you…?"
"Spacetime ninjutsu."
She looked at me blankly for a moment before looking away and commenting, "…You're bullshit."
"Language."
I was flicked in the head.
Hard
"Why…"
"Alright let's continue moving!" Lion stated as he stood up, the rest of us following suit.
The path we took led us into The Land of Lightning's territory where we slowly began to remove our chakra trails before turning around and heading back towards the Southwest direction where Konoha was. With my teacher's help, we were able to avoid enemy detection quite easily and made it back home with few complications.
It was past midnight by the time we arrived and used one of our many hidden entrances throughout the village. It took a relatively short period of time for us to eventually meet with Danzo who awaited there quietly.
Lion stepped up, along with Boar and Panther, with the scroll in hand, before speaking, "Our mission was a success. The enemy was on our trail till we arrived at Kumo before we hid them and returned back." Saying so, he passed it to Danzo.
Danzo turned his lone eye to the stroll and picked it up before nodding his head, "You've all done well. With your success, you all have paved a path towards Konoha's victory in this war. With this, your work is complete. You're all dismissed."
"Yes, Lord Danzo!"
With that, the Anbu split up to go their separate ways. Lion, however, stayed back and whispered to Danzo about my skill, which I could hear perfectly with my enhanced hearing. For a moment he motioned in my direction, Danzo following his line of sight and nodding.
With that, Lion bowed and vanished.
"Tsk, snitch."
"Squirrel." Danzo called.
Before I moved forward, I felt Kotoe place a hand on my head and rub it before she vanished.
I walked towards the bandaged man and stood in front of him.
His eye stared down at me expressionlessly, "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"…I have no excuse." I replied with my head kept down.
We stayed in silence.
"There's no need for you to stand on ceremony." Danzo said causing me to look up.
"Your Mystical Healing has saved the village from countless casualties and has increased our force by over a thousand from the restoration of the previously handicapped shinobi." Danzo said as he looked at me. "You have already given more than what this village could ask for with no rewards. All I want to know is if that skill is transferable."
I blinked in subtle shock at his words as I had thought he would have made me spill. Only a moment later did the words he had asked fully register and I replied, "It's an innate ability…I suppose it could be counted at a Kekkei Genkai, after all, I've been able to do this for as long as I could remember."
Lie Successful!
What was I supposed to say? That a higher dimensional being decided to give me a book that taught me how to create pocket dimensions? I didn't quite think something like that would sit well. Besides, I sincerely doubted I could teach someone ID Create since I myself didn't know how it fully worked even though I could use it, so by that definition, it was kind of like an innate ability.
It wasn't a complete lie.
Danzo nodded at my words, seemingly satisfied and relieved. "Then that's fine." He said before asking. "To be truthful, for the amount you have benefited the village, I feel that it is only right that you get something for your dedication. Speak if you have something in mind."
I closed my eyes.
To be honest, I actually did want something and it had been something that had been on my mind for a long period of time now.
I kind of wanted to leave Root.
I'd been here for years already and while I gained a lot of experience as a shinobi and in addition to harsh training I most likely wouldn't have received in the academy, I just wasn't keen on being here anymore. It wasn't that I had become afraid of Root or anything (Gamer's Mind wouldn't let me), but I was just a bit fed up with the constant missions I had been sent to.
I wanted a little more time to myself and to the few people I cared about.
Root would suck away that time easily.
I still wanted to be a shinobi though since that was the only way I would be able to make money.
Well, not the only way as I could sell Fuuinjutsu pieces, but it was the best way for me.
However, I didn't want to leave my teacher behind.
If I hadn't been around, even if she didn't die, she would have been severely wounded and while thanks to my Mystical Healing such a thing wasn't a huge deal, I would prefer it never occurred in the first place. I doubted, however, that Danzo would let her go since she was an extremely adept sensor.
I just wanted to keep her in as little trouble as possible…
"Excuse my request if it is too excessive." I began.
Danzo looked at me with a raised brow and motioned for me to continue.
"I would like to be relieved of my duties in Root." I began before quickly elaborating. "I will still be a shinobi of the Village and will still go on missions that are asked if me, but I want the option to decline them. Additionally, I'd like to take up my own missions if possible."
"Doable." Danzo said. "However, you must accept at least 75% of the missions that you otherwise would have done as a Root shinobi."
This was probably the best deal I could get and it worked fine by me. As long as I could say no to fighting another Jinchuuriki, I was perfectly fine.
So I nodded.
But I didn't leave immediately.
Danzo narrowed his eyes, however, as I stayed rooted in place, "Speak what else is on your mind."
"I…" I paused and contemplated my words before sighing. "During this mission, my teacher almost died. I understand that it is a shinobi's duty to die for their village…" I personally wasn't quite keen on doing that though, but I digress. "…but she is a great asset to the village and sending her in such a perilous mission in the future would be detrimental to us if we lost her."
Another round of silence.
"Then, what are you suggesting?" Danzo asked slowly.
I paused for a moment before replying, "I hope that you provide her with missions that don't involve fighting individuals on the levels of Jinchuuriki. Additionally, I would like to be notified of any mission you give her so that I might partake in it."
If I wasn't going to be in Root anymore then I obviously wouldn't be on my teacher's team and therefore would get every mission she did. With this, I could do what I could to keep her safe. It may seem stalkerish, but I had slept in the same bed with her for over 4 years.
This was nothing.
"Even if you hadn't asked." Danzo began. "I would have done so."
Eh?
"The situation at Kannabi bridge would have been very dangerous if the 4-Tailed Jinchuuriki had entered the fray." Danzo explained. "I had gathered all of my available force just to make that threat a non-issue. Kannabi bridge needed to be destroyed or this war would drag on longer than necessary. I truly would have preferred not to place her in this situation as her skills are invaluable, however, I had to do whatever was necessary and use all my troops."
"Oh…" well, at least I didn't have to worry too much.
Then, I suddenly blinked in shock as I looked up at Danzo.
I wasn't sure if I was able to keep my surprise in check.
He was smiling.
Danzo was smiling.
This was the second time I had ever seen him display a fragment of emotion and it was truly weird.
"That young women found a good seed." Danzo whispered with a smile before looking my way and tapping his cane on the ground. "Your requests are reasonable and I have considered them. You're dismissed."
Before I could even say anything else, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.
I really couldn't understand him...
With that, I too used that technique to vanish from my spot and appear in front of the door to my teacher's apartment. Before I even knocked on the door-
"Come in Yoru."
Sensor and all that.
I opened the door to see my teacher laying on the couch in her living room and closed it behind me.
"What brings you all the way over here?" She asked as she stretched her limbs.
"I live next door." Legitimately right across the hall from her.
She blinked, "Ohh yeah, that's right." She then chuckled, "Is that it though?"
I shook my head, "I left Root."
She froze.
"Of course, as I'm now a freelance shinobi of the Leaf, I have the option of picking my own missions. Additionally, I'll still go on all the missions you go on. I'll still be by your side."
She looked at me for a moment before motioning for me to come forward to which I obliged.
Suddenly, I felt her grip my wrist tightly before she pulled me into her embrace.
"It's already late." She said as she lay on the couch, still holding on to me tightly. "So I'm going to sleep."
She didn't leave room for argument as she closed her eyes.
I blinked.
"Well, at least her chest is comfortable…"
I sighed and internally shook my head.
I took a deep breath and focused within myself.
With that, my eyes closed as I drifted off…
I slowly opened my eyes only to witness darkness around me. The only visible light source was the "tree" constellation in the distance made up of green "stars" or crystals, which glowed in an intricate pattern reminiscent of the foliage of an Ash tree.
I looked below the foliage and noted that the tree constellation had a "trunk" and "roots" which glowed like a galaxy. Additionally, in the center of the tree's "trunk" was a hole so dark it seemed to devour everything around it, yet it was contained within the tree.
And then I felt a pull.
My eyes hardened as my body was yanked away from its previous position and pulled towards the gaping hole of the tree. The green "stars" suddenly elongated before vanishing behind me as if I had traveled at warp speeds.
Before I could contemplate any further, the black hole appeared closer in front of me before it encompassed my view…
I blinked once as I adjusted to the sudden addition of light before my eyes widened.
It was as if I was in a whole new world.
Around me were an innumerable amount of blue screens, each depicting rows and rows of complicated code. I couldn't even begin to understand what was being written on them, but I could absolutely understand that this was the work of immense brilliance.
"Why thank you."
That voice…
I turned around.
In front of my view was a man who had definitely not been here just a moment prior.
He looked exactly like I did: Silver hair, brown skin, similar height.
The only difference was in our eyes was that while mine were silver, his were golden and vertically slitted as before.
My doppelgänger pointed behind me. "Why don't you take a seat?"
I blinked and turned around, now noticing a chair which had definitely not been behind me before. That being said, I still sat down with my twin following suit as a chair suddenly appeared behind him.
"I know you have plenty to ask me." He stated. "I'll try to ignore your mind while you ask questions, so don't hold back. Do note though that there are a few things that you won't understand even if I told them to you."
Where did I even start?
There was so much I wanted to ask him about every since I had met him all those years ago.
I paused before asking the most relevant question to mind. "Who or what are you really?"
"I'm a snake." He said
I blinked. "…What?"
"You asked me what I was and I told you."
"How…" I stopped and looked at him carefully."…What?"
My intelligence was definitely showing.
My counterpart chuckled. "I only appear this way because you wouldn't even be able to comprehend my true form just as you cannot comprehend a 4-, 5-, 6-, etc. Dimensional existence. Of course, I exist outside the concept of dimensional planes so that's a moot point."
"…"
"Oh." He began. "I also like to eat what you would call Universes. Though there are higher tiers of them such as Multiverses and Hyperverses. I prefer to eat Hyperverses though."
Hyperverses?
"Ahh, they are 'multiverses' in the general term but I call them that because they are 12-Dimensional realities and above. I like the Infinite Dimensional ones though, they have a variety of flavor."
"…"
"Don't worry though, I won't eat your world and I don't plan on eating for some time. I actually haven't eaten in a…" He paused in thought for a moment. "Actually, the concept of time is irrelevant to me so I couldn't really explain to you how long…Let's just say a really long time."
"…"
I decided that for the sake of my mental health, I'd simply try not to think about this past minute too much.
So, I asked a different question.
"What am I?"
He paused and thought for a moment as if wondering how to word his answer. "The simplest answer would be that you're human in all the ways that matter."
"All the ways that matter?" I asked back.
"I'll put it this way, what exactly makes a human a human? Is it their genome? Then what about those with large genetic mutations? Is it their looks? Then what if an alien looked exactly like a human? Is it a Status you are simply born with? Then what about the very first 'humans'? Where they not simply a product of evolution from the first unicellular microbe till now? Are they not also humans? When did the term human apply to humans?"
I took in his words.
I could somewhat understand what he was trying to explain to me.
"You can be considered a different breed of 'human', but at the same time, you simply cannot be classified as such. You are better in every way with potential that can allow you to reach unfathomable heights."
I stayed silent at that and closed my eyes for a moment.
"I see…"
I didn't feel any different from knowing this.
But at least I knew.
" …What exactly is my purpose then? Why the Gamer ability? Why do I even exist?"
He hummed. "Well that's up to you, isn't it? The Gamer is simply a tool to help you track your progress throughout your journey and of course to help you stay alive." He leaned back into his chair before continuing. "If you want your life to have some meaning, well, it'll be up to you to find it."
That told me absolutely nothing.
He simply smiled.
I opened my eyes and focused on the other things that had caught my attention and asked the second most prominent thing in mind. "What is that 'tree' outside? Those green 'stars' that make up the foliage…What exactly are they?"
J snapped his fingers in reply causing a large screen to appear in front of us.
Depicted on it was the complete view of the 'tree'. The green glowing 'stars' made up its foliage and were akin to its leaves while its trunk and branches glittered with small white lights similar to those of a galaxy.
"The Tree of Genesis."
I blinked.
That name meant absolutely nothing to me.
'J' explained. "It was here before the concept of space and time existed and will be here till the concept of eternity ceases to exist."
I really couldn't comprehend what that meant about the tree, but I nodded nonetheless. "I see…and what does it do?"
Suddenly, the picture of the screen magnified towards the glowing 'stars' which were, in fact, the crystals that hung off the tree which acted as leaves. Suddenly, the screen stopped zooming as it focused on one crystal in particular,
The glittering green crystal depicted a scene I was quite familiar with.
18 individuals (and 3 cats?) were holding their hands in a circle and above them towered a large dark dragon. The beast's wings unfurled before it took a deep breath, Energy coalescing within its gaping maw.
With nothing to stop it, it unleashed a breath of immense power towards the individuals, obliterating the island they were on.
"That is one of the infinite worlds that the Tree Contains." J explained as he looked back towards me. "Every concept of fiction is contained on the branches of the tree as 'leaves' or those crystals. Each one depicts entire worlds and stories."
What?
"Every world and story that has ever been conceptualized exists within the tree. It contains an infinite number of infinitely layered worlds with infinite possibilities and impossibilities. It is a boundless existence and all that you truly see of the Tree is only the surface of what your mind is able to comprehend."
I literally could not understand that, so I opted to simply nod at his explanation.
"Once in a while, I snack on a few of its 'leaves' though…Does that make me vegetarian?"
"…"
Wait.
"Don't other people exist in those worlds? Doesn't that mean…"
J tilted his head at me, "Do you know how many microbes are on the apples you eat? Do you care?"
I paused.
So to him, living creatures were mere microbes…
"Yes and no." He replied.
"I thought you weren't going to read my thoughts…"
"I can read your thoughts whether I want to or not and I wanted to correct you." He replied. "The only living creatures that exist as microbes in my eyes are Hyperverse level beings or those of Tier 1B. Any creature below that is non-existent to me."
Wait, Tier 1B?
What type of individual would you have to be to see Tier 1B individuals as nothing more than microbes? I couldn't even comprehend how strong you would have to be.
Minato was around 6C which meant he would level Islands with his strength.
What could someone above 1B do?
At that moment, J raised up his hands before a display appeared in front of him. "I can only tell you and not show you, afterall, it would be too dangerous otherwise."
Tier: 1A
Level: Irrelevant
AP: Outerversal
SPD: Irrelevant
STR: Outerversal
SS: Irrelevant
DUR: Outerversal
INT: Incalculable
What…
What did that even mean…?
"Now as I was explaining." J continued, swiping the screen away and ignoring my dumbfoundedness. "Any creature below 1B is non-existent to me but of course there are some exceptions. Individuals who have created their own multiverse that are intertwined with the Tree have my attention which usually means those of Tier 2C and above might barely register as existing beings in my eyes. Only if they decide to intertwine their world with the tree of course."
"…"
Was he not going to explain what his status mean?
What the hell was Outerversal?
And an Irrelevant Level?!
"Of course, you're also the other exception."
I looked at him blankly "…I'm filled with joy."
"Now back on the topic of the various worlds, I would caution you to be wary." He continued in a tone of severity, one which I hadn't expected to come from him. "There are a very, very, small amount of creatures/beings who transcend the concept of dimensions and exist beyond all time and space and could be considered Boundless…They are the lords of their own fictional realities which are intertwined with the Tree but are not an actual part of it. They are neither good nor bad nor do they care about beings who still exist within the concept of dimensional planes, but you will not want to meet them regardless. If I was to rate them, they would be Tier 0. I could put up a fight with the help of the tree, but then we'd probably destroy every concept of reality…"
My heart nearly stopped at that.
I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples Gamer's Mind allowing me to function at near optimal cognitive capacity. I decided that I really didn't want to know anymore so I focused on something else, "Then those worlds…Could I somehow…go there?"
"Of course you can." He replied. "As long as you reach Level 100, you'll have an opportunity to visit those worlds."
Ping!
Quest Alert!
To Infinity, and Beyond!
The worlds on the Tree of Origin are vast and boundless with infinite possibilities and impossibilities. There is so much to explore and see, but you have to earn that chance.
Reach Level 100.
Reward: System Update
Failure: The only way you could possibly fail is if you died.
The only option was for me to accept.
So I did.
I looked down in thought.
Another question had suddenly surfaced in my mind.
"…When I first accessed this place years ago, I saw a crystal of my homeworld, but in it depicted the Nine-tails' rampage…What was that about? Was it the past or future? What would have happened if I had touched that screen?"
"Alternate reality."
I perked up.
My look-alike continued to explain. "Every branch of the Tree contains innumerable crystal 'leaves' which represent alternate realities of an original world. The closer the leaves are to the tip of the branch, the more similar they are to the original world. Each branch represents the connection between these similar worlds or alternate realities."
So that world I had seen was simply an alternate reality.
The crystal it had been shown on was huge so it must have been a work very close to, if not actually being, the original. It made me wonder what had happened in that world, but there was nothing I could really do so I didn't dwell on it.
This place though.
These worlds had new things…
People…
Places…
Stories…
One day when I was ready, I would explore them and find something worthwhile for myself…
There was simply so much new and overwhelming information. A Tree that contained an infinite number of higher dimensional and lower dimensional worlds? Branches that contained alternate realities of a singular world? A crystal that contained a world? And all of this I could simply access whenever?
I closed my eyes and sighed. This entire journey, this entire trip here, the time I spent in this place…it gave me a lot to think about.
"Thank you." I said as I stood up and bowed.
There were a few more things that I wanted to ask him about, but with the amount of information I had just received, I felt like I needed to digest it for a moment.
There were an infinite number of worlds…
Infinite possibilities…
"How do I leave?" I suddenly asked.
In the past, I had usually been yanked out either because J had kicked me out or because I hadn't leveled up Meditation to level 100 and simply haven't been ready to stay here for a prolonged period. Now, however, it seemed like I could.
"Just think it." He replied.
I nodded and closed my eyes in concentration. I focused on escaping this place and in but a moment, I felt a hard tug.
My body was yanked away from its position at immense speeds as I suddenly exited the "tree" and flew back far enough that I could see the entirety of its outline.
My body was hurtled through the dark void of my inner soul…
Congratulations! [Meditation] has leveled up by 1!
Meditation (Active) Lvl 100 MAX.
Passively increase INT by 200%.
Passively increase WIS by 200%.
Passively increase ENGY by 200%
HP and CP regeneration increase by 1000% when active.
I slowly opened my eyes…
My teacher was already gone and I was there alone on the couch with a blanket covering me.
I turned to the side and found a note on the living room table which I promptly opened. I scanned it, realizing that Kotoe had decided to to take the day off and go to the orphanage.
I folded it up and removed the blanket before walking outside my teacher's apartment.
My gaze turned ahead, noting that the sun was high in the sky and judging from its position, it was pretty early in the day.
My gaze then turned downward, my visual senses noticing that the streets below were covered by a thick blanket of snow.
I could see little children frolicking around, oblivious to the notion that they could become sick by playing in such a frigid environment.
I narrowed my eyes in thought…
What could I do today…
Usually, when I wasn't on a mission I would train with my Restriction Seals, or in my ID, or try to come up with a new Fuuinjutsu project to work on…
"Speaking of Fuuinjutsu, I can work on Amenotokotachi later on…"
Before any of that, however.
"What is it Mouse?"
A figure landed next to me.
"Lord Hokage has informed me that Lady Tsunade has requested to meet you at Konoha Hospital."
I turned to face him before nodding, "I see. I'll be there in a minute."
Mouse nodded before vanishing in a burst of speed.
"Well, it looks like I found something to do for a little while…"
With that thought, I concentrated for a moment before using the Body Flicker to suddenly appear in front of Konoha hospital.
I felt for Tsunade's chakra for a moment before I quickly found her.
The security of this place was very severe mainly due to the war but also because of the Fuuinjutsu seal I had manufactured some time ago. As a result, as soon as I showed the guards my identification, I was immediately let in.
The ability to restore limbs and heal all wounds to their prime?
All the other villages would probably start focusing on Konoha, more specifically, our hospital and medical staff. There was already word spreading about my seal which was to be expected. Who knew how many people had suddenly regrown their limbs? And who knew how many low key spies were around the village?
The other villages definitely knew about us, however, Sand was our ally and Water Country was going through some tough times ever since that mission I had gone on some time ago.
That only left the Hidden Stone Village and Lightning country. With the success of yesterday's mission, Iwa would no doubt begin to slowly put pressure on Lightning. Additionally, if we were able to cut off their supply line at Kannabi bridge, Konoha would secure its victory over Iwa.
Lightning always had some sort of beef with Konoha and took any chance they could to harass us, but if Iwa began to put pressure on them, we wouldn't have to worry too much on that front.
With those thoughts, I arrived in front of a guarded door to what lead to one of the much larger rooms of Konoha Hospital. I once again flashed my identification which allowed me access to the room.
The first thing I noticed as I stepped inside the room was a large, highly complex, 4 cornered Fuuinjutsu inscription on the floor. At each corner were 2 medical ninjas; one of which sat on the point of the Four-cornered seal and the other stood behind them.
At the center of the seal lay a broken and severely bruised form of a man while at the head of the seal sat a young woman who seemed to be leading the operation.
I carefully looked at all four corners of the square seal before narrowing my eyes as I noticed a young girl, no older than 12-13, sitting on one of the corners. She was a fair-skinned girl of average height for her age and slender build. She had onyx eyes and straight, shoulder-length, jet-black hair with bangs that covered her ears and framed her face.
I watched as she worked while also not slowing down the other medical ninja as they worked meticulously to stabilize the injured individual who was in the center of the formation. I could feel her precise control over her chakra as she steadily inputted it into the seal while also matching the rates of input of the other medical ninja.
"What do you think of her?"
Tsunade asked beside me.
I leaned against the wall of the room while slipping my hands in my pockets. "What is going on here?"
Tsunade looked at me for a moment before returning her gaze back towards the proceedings. "That square formation-"
"I'm aware of what it is." I replied before she could finish. "What I'm curious about is why you are using the Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique when I've already provided Mystical Healing."
The Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique…
I had taken no small amount of influence from it when creating my own technique.
Tsunade scoffed, "This was how severe and often debilitating wounds used to be healed, but more importantly, it required precise chakra control and teamwork between the medical ninja involved. So far I had only chosen Medical ninja whose control and overall capabilities had allowed them to execute this technique to perfection."
I nodded in understanding. "So you are testing to see if that little girl has the skill necessary for my technique? What happens if she makes a mistake."
She looked at me in amusement, "you speak as if you're much older than her." Saying so, she returned her gaze back ahead, "I believe my apprentice is sufficiently prepared and I have sufficient confidence in her that I know she won't make a mistake. If she does, however, I am right here to make sure everything goes smoothly."
I nodded before continuing to focus on the healing ahead. I watched as the injured shinobi's wounds were ever so slowly closing. The missing sections of his body were being filled with an agglomeration of his own cells as they were perfectly replicated and fixed into his wounds.
I paid careful attention to the girl's chakra flow as she contributed to the formation. It was steady will very little fluctuation, though it was not perfect. If I had to say, I would a CC rating of around 88-90%.
After a long period of time with the medical shinobi switching in and out of the rotation, the man's wounds eventually became fully closed.
"Alright, you've all done well." Tsunade stated as the medics panted from exhaustion.
The lead nurse slightly inclined her head, "thank you lady Tsunade." She then paused before looking at me. "This is…?"
"Your evaluator." Tsunade replied with a smile.
I blinked "evaluator?"
"Evaluator?" The head nurse asked in confusion.
"Exactly." Tsunade replied before looking at me. "He's an extremely adept sensor and can give you an accurate percentage level of your chakra control."
"That's incredible…" the woman replied with the other medic behind her shadowing her wonder.
"Ahh, so that's what she wants…"
Whenever Tsunade had first introduced me to the medical ninja that she had picked out to obtain my seal, I had utilized my sensing capabilities to gauge their level of control. My chakra sensing capabilities were quite unique in that while they currently had a much shorter range than my teacher's, they allowed me to glean much more information about the energy flow of individuals in general.
I nodded my head at Tsunade before concentrating for a moment. While I hadn't been paying explicit attention to their chakra as they were doing the procedure, I had still felt and remembered how it flowed.
I looked at all 9 medical ninjas who had participated in the procedure before looking at the head nurse.
"90%"
She blinked. "I suppose that's good?"
"Very." I replied. "Your control is phenomenal."
She smiled heartedly before I moved on to the next individual,
"88%"
The man blinked, "Is that…?"
"Very much above average. You have good control."
He bowed before I moved on again.
"88%"
And again
"87%"
And again
"87%"
And again
"89%"
And continued on…
"87%"
"88%"
Before I stopped at the last individual, the young girl that Tsunade had wanted me to look after.
She looked at me straight in the eyes with no visible trace of hesitation before she suddenly blushed and looked down.
I was beginning to think that my charms mainly worked on people my age. Either that or I had been hanging around people who were either too used to my adorable visage and/or were seasoned killers who weren't too easily swayed.
Wait, what was I thinking?
I internally shook my head.
"Your name…?"
She blinked at my sudden question before straightening up. "S-Shizune!"
I nodded. "89%. Your control is very high."
By the way, Tsunade had around 95% control.
Her eyes widened before she cheerfully nodded. "Thank you!"
I looked back at Tsunade who clapped her hands. "Alright everyone, take a break. I'll take over from here."
"Thank you Lady Tsunade!" They chorused before leaving the room.
"Except for you Shizune." The blonde called out.
Shizune paused before heading back and stood next to her teacher. "Yes, Lady Tsunade?"
The older woman smiled and placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder before looking my way, "Don't you think she's qualified?"
Shizune looked between me and Tsunade in confusion before her eyes widened and she suddenly flushed, "Lady Tsunade I'm still very young…"
"That's not what I meant!" Tsunade exclaimed. "Jeez, what goes on through your mind."
Shizune blushed heatedly before shaking her head and asking. "Then what…?"
"You want me to give my seal to her?" I asked as I looked carefully at Shizune. "I suppose she has enough control but is she really qualified to know about its origin?"
"Humph, of course she is, who do you think I am?" The Sannin asked rhetorically. "She's my apprentice and a loyal shinobi. As long as I say it, she's qualified."
I raised a brow. "Whatever you say, but any consequences that arise from this will be shouldered by you."
She simply waved me off, "Whatever, the old man will understand. Just do it already."
I shrugged and stepped forward towards Shizune before asking, "Tell me, what type of design do you want? Something inconspicuous like Lady Tsunade's diamond or something more colorful."
Shizune blinked multiple times before looking back and forth between me and Tsunade, "I don't really understand what's going on…"
"My sudden ability to regrow limbs and heal the most debilitating injuries." Tsunade began as she looked towards her apprentice. "Where do you think I obtained it?"
"Of course you developed it on your own!" Shizune started with utmost confidence. "You're well regarded as the world's best medical ninja. Who else but you could develop such a unique medical technique? Wait! Are you about to teach it to me?!" She concluded with stars in her eyes.
Tsunade's eye twitched as her cheeks turned slightly crimson from embarrassment before she turned her head away. "I didn't develop it, he did." She finished, pointing at me.
Shizune's eyes widened dramatically. "W-What? H-how could that be…?" She looked back and forth between Tsunade's embarrassed face and my annoyed one. "He's younger than me! How could he possibly come up with such a thing?"
"Seals." I said simply. "I have a formula that does something that I don't feel like explaining. All you need to know it that when you activate it while using the Mystic Palm Technique, you'll regrow limbs. Now what design do you want and where?"
It seemed like all the reverie she had suddenly evaporated as she just stood there dully.
"Just give her a flower or something and place it on her thighs" Tsunade suggested.
"…May I ask why the design and placement choice?"
Tsunade rubbed her chin, "I think it will give her some charm for when she grows older…"
I raised both my brows and decided that I quite honestly didn't care. I turned back towards Shizune who was still deflated and poked her right thigh with my index finger before inscribing the seal on it. Countless lines of script appeared on her body before they coalesced at my finger and formed an intricate flower design.
"There, all set."
Shizune awoke from her stupor and looked at her thigh before pausing. "It looks…good."
"Your welcome." I replied before looking back as Tsunade, "Well, is there anything else you need from me?"
"Nothing much really." Tsunade said with a shrug, "Feel free to go anytime. I'll call you when I need you."
I rolled my eyes and made to leave.
Women.
"Wait!" Shizune yelled, stopping me in my tracks. "What's your name?"
I turned back towards her, "Yoru."
She said my name a couple of times to herself before she nodded with a smile and blushed, "Alright then Yoru. Thank you!"
I nodded and walked back outside before exiting the building.
Now, the next thing on my list was to collect Roshi's bounty, so I sent a clone out to do just that for me.
"Hmm, now I really have nothing to do…" I thought as I rubbed my chin.
"I suppose I can start working on my other project…"
With that thought, I looked around for a moment before shaking my head and deciding to Body Flicker to the training grounds. With that, I simply thought to myself…
"ID Create: Empty"
A bubble began to spread around me before encompassing the area I was in. The sky turned red, the wind stopped blowing, and the sound all but disappeared as the Instant Dungeon fully formed.
"Now then, it's time for experiments…"
I created a few clones to help me with said experiments as I focused on myself. I felt the flow of my chakra and it's many different natures before I opened the palm of my hand.
Balls of fire, lightning, earth, water, and wind floated on the palm of my hands in a circle. I had absolutely perfect control of my chakra and its natures.
As I mixed my water and wind nature's, a chill filled the air.
"Ice Release."
Next, I combined fire and earth, a smoldering heat emanating from my hands as a ball of lava floated on my palms.
"Lava Release."
I could also get Boil Release and Scorch Release if I wanted.
There was one other Kekkei Genkai I had been trying to replicate, though a frown marred my face every time I thought of it.
Water and earth…
The ground beneath me trembled as immense power welled up from beneath the soil.
The energy coursing through the earth built up to such proportions that I almost felt overwhelmed by it all!
The earth cracked, and up from the opening came...
...
...
...
...
...
Mud.
My water and earth release had come together to form Mud Release...
Seriously.
All there was in front of me was a pile of mud.
What the hell was Mud release?
Who the hell had ever heard of such a thing?
I could use earth style techniques that acted as mud.
Who would want an entire kekkei Genkai of it?
I wanted to hurt something, but who could I blame?
There seemed to be something missing from my ability to recreate Wood Release, but I couldn't tell what.
I sighed and dropped the slab of mud before focusing on the other difficult problem I had run into recently.
Magnet Release.
It was very unique…
I concentrated on the ground beneath me and snuffed out the fire, water, and lightning attributes. Next, I combined both my wind and earth natured chakra before raising my hand.
The ground began to tremble ever so slightly before a hand made of sand started to slowly form from the ground and grow as I raised mine. In just a moment, however, it crumbled and fell apart.
I was not discouraged as I took out a bunch of kunai from my inventory and focused on my earth and wind chakra while also trying to apply a little bit of lightning natured chakra to it as well. I picked up a kunai and injected the two chakra natures plus the supplemental lightning chakra into it before slowly lowering the weapon towards the other kunais on the ground.
The kunai in my hand came close to the ones in the ground before finally making contact.
Nothing happened.
I furrowed my brows. "They still don't attract…"
Magnet Release…
It was definitely something I wanted to create.
To begin, I knew for a fact that it was possible to create certain Kekkei Genkai and knew specifically that Magnet Release was one such "bloodline limit".
Or at least, one facet of it was.
While reading up on Kekkei Genkai in order to recreate some, I had found some interesting information about Magnet Release.
For one, there were actually two styles of Magnet Release: The Sand style magnet release and the Cloud style magnet release.
The main difference between them was obvious.
One came about from Sunagakure
The other from Kumogakure
But the differences were much more than that.
The One-tailed beast of the Hidden Sand Village was able to control fine particles of sand. From all the information I had read up on about it in addition to my own testing, I had found out that it couldn't control sand from earth release alone. Earth natured chakra was designed to control large solid constructs and lacked the fine control necessary to effectively manipulate rocks much smaller than gravel.
Therefore, the only way the sand raccoon could control such small particles was through magnet release chakra.
Suna, being one of the weaker hidden villages due to their location, had wanted more military might so they researched the abilities that manifested in each of Shukaku's hosts so that non-jinchuuriki could replicate them. From what I had found, they had been more or less successful in producing individuals with "Magnet Release", however it was actually somewhat limited.
On the other hand, The land of Lightning's Magnet release had come about when the Yotsuki Clan had made their home in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning for generations. The mountainous region had been subject to powerful magnetic fields, and over time their chakra had adapted to those magnetic fields and eventually developed into a new Kekkei Genkai.
The Cloud Style Magnet Release differed from Sand Style in mainly due to the fact that it simulated magnetic forces more accurately.
With my access to Konoha's informational archives, I had found out that Suna's Magnet Release superficially resembled real magnetic forces as the chakra fields generated by this bloodline granted direct control over any kind of mineral. However, due to the artificial nature of this bloodline, users had to learn through intense training how to attune their chakra to the unique atomic structure of each element of metal/mineral they wished to be able to manipulate.
While all transition metals could fall under its influence, with the difficulty of "learning" multiple metals; the unsuitability of many metals to combat usage; and the relative scarcity of most metals, it was most appropriate to simply choose a particularly hard metal to specialize in such as iron and gold.
The Third Kazekage had gotten famous through his use of iron sand.
On the other hand, Lightning country's Yotsuki clan could only control ferromagnetic metals, however, they did not need to attune to those metals through extensive training. Furthermore, they could also use their magnetic chakra fields to generate real non-chakra based electrical currents through the principle of electromagnetic induction, which could then be incorporated into Lightning Release ninjutsu to greatly increase their speed and power.
Even with all this knowledge, I had a hard time replicating their specific type of Magnet Release. Controlling stuff like sand or iron sand was great, but if I could obtain and develop the Yotsuki clan's Magnet Release abilities as well…
With those self-encouraging thoughts, I continued my work and sat there in silence as I thought about what I could do to perfect my Kekkei Genkai…
I took out a scroll and some ink before jotting down notes of my experiments.
May 24
It's obvious that elemental Kekkei Genkai have a strong biological component, however, whatever genetic processes drive their creation might be artificially replicated in an individual with high affinities for those elements.
I paused and thought for a moment.
I had Eidetic Memory and actually had no need to write stuff down, however…
I simply liked doing so.
It made me feel like I was actually doing something significant.
"Maybe I should get into research more often? Knowledge is harder to obtain than strength after all…"
I tapped my chin with my ink pen before a clone of mine popped and gave me more information about the ratio of energy he used, the timing of his fusion, and his execution.
I jotted down those notes before sighing.
Since Kekkei Genkai had such a biological component, I might have to meet up with Orochimaru at some point…
"One step at a time."
I had been working on this project for some time and had only managed to produce small results. Rushing wouldn't help so the only thing I could do now was wait and do more research into the subject.
"I'll be able to figure out something eventually…"
With that, I put my materials away and pulled out a different scroll that contained notes about my other project.
Amenotokotachi (Heaven)
When I'd taken a look at Minato's notes a few years back, I'd begun to work on improving my knowledge of spacetime seals.
I wanted to create a technique based off of the Flying Raijin while not just making a copy. In order to do this, I decided to tackle Minato's technique from a different angle.
That's when I thought of Amenotokotachi.
What if instead of marking something and teleporting to the marked area, I could mark multiple things and swap places of the marked objects. I had initially thought of teleporting object to me instead of teleporting to objects, but I found that such an ability would have less battle function. Swapping the places of any two marked targets, however, could be applied in many more ways during battle.
Of course, there was still a lot of research and practice that I had to do, especially since spacetime seals were quite dangerous. As long as I was in my ID, however, I think I'd be able to prevent the worst from happening.
"Besides…" I felt like I needed to complete this technique. I had a foreboding feeling that I would need this ability in the near future.
I wasn't going to take any chances.
So, I continued my research.
Yeah, I wasn't sure how I felt about Yoru's interaction with the Hyperdimensional entity, but I'm putting it out there and whatever happens, happens.
Hope that last part didn't feel too information heavy.
Reference:
. 2015/08/30/magnet-release/amp/
Plagiarism is bad folks.
Don't do it.
