Chapter 30: Alchemy

Author Note: I'm still busy but I just thought I'd write this one for you guys.

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Two weeks passed after Zatara's 'visit' and things have been quiet for the most part in Tokyo.

"AAHHHHHH!"

Quiet for the most part.

Sora, disguised as a homeless man walked away from a dark alley. It was evening and light was scarce, hiding what lay in the dark alley.

Fresh blood stains littered the floor in the alley. The bodies that let out said blood laid beside them, sprawled unmoving and dead.

'Another bust.' He thought as he mentally crossed out one more location.

'That just leaves one more place.' He thought as he vanished behind a parked car, blurring into existence on the roof of the building beside it.

He now had the form of a middle aged woman with a ski mask hiding all her features other than the tuft of dark blue that poked out of the side of the face.

One thing he understood by heart is that you can never be too cautious. It's better to be cautious than to be caught unprepared.

Switching forms on his less than legal trips and activities made tracking him an impossible task. Sprinting off at high speed, it didn't take him much time to reach his apartment.

While making sure he wasn't being followed with Energy Sensing, he entered the apartment in his true appearance.

Upon entry, the first thing he saw was Zatanna being sent flying with her back hitting the wall. Despite that, he didn't seem bothered as the one who sent her flying was the spitting image of himself.

He had reviewed his memories to be sure he got it right and eventually managed to get the shadow clone jutsu down. With how much Naruto used it, it wasn't wrong to assume that Sasuke who possessed the sharingan knew the hand seals to it.

The only problem was the management and splitting of his chakra. For now he could only manage one clone without feeling exhausted but anymore than that and they wouldn't last more than a minute before disappearing.

Zatanna was currently sparring against his shadow clone. The fatal weakness of most magic users was their inability to fight when magic wasn't an option. This was Sora's reason for 'educating' her in such arts.

As for why he didn't simply enroll her in a dojo or something similar, he wanted to level up his teaching skill. Besides that, this was faster and more efficient.

The martial arts taught nowadays are the ones for non lethal attacks, unless you're looking to join an organization like the league of shadows.

He wouldn't have his student/teammate fighting with such weak willed techniques. She was learning fast but not fast enough to pose a threat to him.

"Oh…you're back early." She said breathily as she panted in exhaustion.

He looked to his clone who still looked as fresh as he created him. That was to be expected after all. It would dispel after one hit, meaning that it had to make sure not to get hit at all during their spar.

"Yeah. It was pretty uneventful." He said solemnly.

She gave a grim look of understanding as she got to her feet. She knew that he did things that would put him in jail for life. One of such things was the fact that he didn't spare his opponents.

So far, not one of his opponents has seen him more than once if you don't count Abbadon and Zatara.

Her knowing that fact surprisingly didn't change anything as she did nothing to stop him. Despite that, he knew that her knowing what he did and him asking her to kill someone else were two different things.

'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.' He thought as he tossed her a bottle of water from the kitchen while checking his panel.

••••••••••••••••

[Template Name: Sasuke Uchiha]

[Template Progress:17.3%]

[Skills]:[Engineering Mastery Lvl 61] [Energy Sensing Lvl 32] [Sealing Mastery Lvl 49] [Medical Knowledge Lvl 34] [Art of the Mind Lvl 31] [Analyze Lvl 10] [Teaching Lvl 13]

••••••••••••••••

With clones now helping him, his skills leveled up faster than they would have if he leveled them normally.

He had also realized that any ninjutsu he learned would only be counted as part of the template instead of a skill on its own.

"Something came in for you while you were away. It's on the counter." She said as she took a sip of the bottle.

Like she said, there was a package placed on the counter. It was shaped like a box and had gray wrappings.

"It took them long enough." He muttered under his breath as he took the package in his hands.

Without wasting time, he tore away the wrapping, revealing it's content. It was a dark red book with the title 'Guide to Alchemy' printed on the cover.

As soon as he finished tearing the wrapping, he was met with a prompt that made him grin.

[*Ding!*]

[Do you want to learn 'Alchemy']

[Yes] or [No]

He restrained the urge to laugh in victory. He was wary about whether it would work and fortunately for him, it did. He immediately accepted the prompt.

A dull white light covered the book before vanishing as suddenly as it appeared.

[*Ding!*]

[You have gained 'Alchemy'!]

He felt the knowledge of the skill being engraved into his mind. He couldn't help but raise a brow as he mentally reviewed the skill. It was quite weird.

Alchemy was an art that should require rare and magical ingredients but the author of this book seemed to stress on making the process less dependent on that.

Instead of magical ingredients, almost anything can be used, depending on what the user wants to create.

He stretched his hand into the cabinet beside him, bringing out a jar of coffee powder. He then grabbed an empty cup, filling it with water. Grabbing a small spoon, he scooped a small amount before pouring it into the cup and then stirring.

During the process, he felt a small amount of his chakra leave his body and flow into the mixture. He continued stirring and before long, mixture was completely smooth.

Instead of the dark brown color that was expected, the mixture was a dull yellow color all through. He used observe on it to confirm his thoughts.

[Object: Wake-Up Potion]

[Effects: Fills the user with a small amount of stamina.]

'Just as I thought. There aren't concrete rules and specifications on what ingredients to use and steps to follow.'

'The end results are dependent on the ingredients used and the intent of the creator during the process.' He thought as he inspected the potion, ignoring the level up notification.

He turned to the slightly exhausted Zatanna who had been watching his weird actions from the center of the living room. The clone had dispersed during his experiment, leaving her to watch him in confusion.

"Drink this." He said as he passed the concoction to her.

"And what exactly is this?" She asked skeptically, feeling the mystic energy from it.

"It's a potion." He said simply, shocking and confusing her a bit.

"Creating potions is a delicate art. You were only at the counter for five minutes at most. How is this possible?" She questioned with a mixture of awe and confusion.

"It's a weird process that I'd rather not explain. The main point is that I want to see it's effects." He said.

"And you need me to be your guinea pig. Really touching." She said dryly with a roll of her eyes.

Sora gave a 'go ahead' gesture causing her to sigh as she raised the cup to her lip.

"If anything bad happens, I won't forgive you." She said as she downed the contents of the cup.

Sora watched, trying to figure out how long it would take for the effects to kick in.

"It tastes a little sour." She said as her face scrunched up a bit.

"Do you feel different?" He asked her as she dropped the now empty cup.

"I don't feel any differ-" She didn't finish as her eyes suddenly went wide.

"I felt it. I'm not as tired as I was before I drank it. It's like an energy drink, except this one actually works." She said, smiling a bit at the end.

'Success!' He screamed mentally, confirming the time of effect and delay before it kicks in.

"Do you have any more of it? I could really use another one right now." She said as she slumped against the wall exaggeratedly.

"You do realize that with this, I'm upping your training a bit. After all, you won't need that rest period anymore." Sora said.

Any joy that Zatanna felt for the creation of the potion died on the spot as she felt cheated. The smile on her face diminished as the one on Sora's grew.

"Why did it have to work?" She asked herself in despair as she slumped to the ground despite the small amount of energy that the potion had provided her with.