New Friend

Chojusen was brought by the Hidden Grass Ninjas to a shabby little house on the outskirts of the village. At the moment, he was unconscious, but because he was out of battle and had no opponent to face, his abilities were not restricted by the limiter. Needless to say, his body was naturally healing itself faster than when he used Yang Awakening in the battle against the boar.

As Chojusen was regaining consciousness, he heard an interesting conversation. A young girl with red hair, no older than Chojusen himself, was arguing with an older looking woman; presumably her mother, as she also had red hair.

The young girl said "Mom you have to stop doing this! Using that healing ability too much can kill you! How many have you healed today? Dozens? Hundred? I-If you don't stop… you'll die." As tears spilled out of the girl's eyes, her voice cracked and her face turned a light shade of red.

The girl's mom said "Karin, I have to do this. Even if I'm not doing this to continue living here in the house the village has given us, I'd still do it just to save another life."

As Chojusen heard this, he prepared to move himself to not exhaust Karin's mom more than she already was. However, before he could do anything, Karin's mom stuck her finger in his mouth and used her other hand to force him into biting her finger. He might be approaching a Kage's level of strength, but with no experience using his powers, the finger slipped into his mouth without him being able to do anything. Not half a second later, Chojusen felt his already moderately-healed internal wounds, disappear even faster; he marveled at how the bizarre healing skill worked.

As an expert in the field of yang energy, Chojusen couldn't mistake the energy being transferred to him as anything other than yang energy. However, unlike his Yang Transfusion Skill where Chojusen would convert his neutral energy into yang energy before using it to heal others, Karin's mom directly transferred her own personal vital yang energy into those she healed; no wonder she looked to be much older than she truly was.

Chojusen used his hands to stop Karin's mom, stunning her; she knew his condition was almost at a critical point, there was no way that little bit of healing she used healed him to the point where he could move with ease.

Chojusen gently pulled the finger out of his mouth and said "Thanks for the help. Now could you tell me where I am?" He was feigning ignorance, since now that his full abilities had been restored, he had his teleportation sensing abilities; he could just do a quick scan of the environment and know exactly where he was, or better yet, he could just ask the system to pull up his location the map.

Karin's mom was worried after seeing him wake up from a coma like it was nothing, but she responded to his question anyways. "Right… You are in the Village Hidden in the Grass. Some ninjas found you lying motionless on a battlefield and you were sent to me to heal you."

"Oh?" Chojusen paused for a second and then said "You know, your daughter is right. If you keep using that healing ability, you will eventually just kill yourself."

Before she could respond, Chojusen used his Yang Awakening Skill on her and completely restored her vital yang energy in mere seconds. Even the loss of yang energy spent over the years healing the people in the village was recovered in less than a minute. The effects of returning her back her yang energy where obvious, as she now looked like Karin's mother, not her grandmother.

Chojusen knew something was up with his skill, as it was several times more potent than before. When he checked his the skill panel of his status he was very shocked.

[Skills~

Energy Manipulation (4/100) → Energy Manipulation (13/100)

Subdimensional Teleportation (3/100) → Subdimensional Teleportation (10/100)

Rank D Water Healing (1/100) → (Double Rank Up) Rank A Water Healing (3/100)

Yang Awakening (2/100) → Yang Awakening (12/100)]

Chojusen was amazed that his skills increased so much after just one battle, but he knew to use his soul when communicating with the system. Thus, neither Karin, nor her mom, knew of the following conversation "System! Why did my skills rise so quickly?"

[Now that you have a limiter, you will be facing enemies on equal terms. Since that is the case, you will be using your skills to their max capacity — at that time — which is the best way to raise skill levels. You see, you're not only using skills at the level you are suppressed to by the limiter, instead the limiter forces you to use your skills at their max capacity to be equal to your opponent.]

Chojusen was brought back to reality from both Karin and her mom's screaming. Karin's mom said "How did you..." Karin's mom couldn't finish her sentence before her daughter tackled Chojusen.

Karin stared at Chojusen with eyes of wonder and gratitude and she refused to let go of him after latching on to him; an action which caused Chojusen to be confused. He understood if she was happy that he healed her mother, but why was she so clingy? Karin's mom apologized to Chojusen on her daughter's behalf and thanked him for healing her.

Chojusen had heard Karin's mom say that she had to heal people in the village to be allowed to live in their house and was very displeased. Not only was she given a dump of a house, she wasn't even allowed to live there if she didn't spend her own lifeforce healing others. Chojusen had been tainted with the lifestyle of a toddler for so long that his behavior was childlike itself.

Seeing this injustice prompted Chojusen to try convincing this mother and daughter pair to go with him to his home village. It shouldn't be that hard for him to accomplish this goal, given that he had once helped the fourth and current Hokage evade a village-wide calamity; surely Minato wouldn't mind sparing him a favor.

In a rather straightforward manner, Chojusen said "I heard a part of your conversation before you healed me and I think you are being treated unfairly. Would you guys be willing to live in my home village? I think I can arrange a place for you to live in without having to spend your lifeforce."

"Really?" Karin and her mom were starting to believe that Chojusen was some sort of angel. Not only had he healed Karin's mother, he even offered to give them a house free of charge.

"I don't know if I could find a way to repay you, even if I worked for the rest of my life..."

"You don't have to pay me back. I'm only doing this because I like your selfless personality. My village would be glad to have someone like you. Besides if you do come with me, I'll have a new friend to play with." After saying that last sentence he looked at Karin; he didn't particularly dislike her clingy behavior, and his opinion on friends was 'the more, the better.'

After Chojusen said his last sentence, the sparkle in Karins' eyes grew almost to the point of manifesting in reality. Karin's mom agreed to Chojusen's request and Chojusen told her one last thing before asking Minato for permission. "If you do get accepted into the village, I hope you can keep my power a secret. It'd be pretty bad if my friends and family found out I was this powerful after pretending to be normal for all my life."

Karin's mom wanted to know more about Chojusen's strength, but refrained from asking any questions; it would be rude to asked her benefactor for his personal secrets. Both Karin and her mother agreed to keep his strength a secret, and Chojusen directly teleported himself out of their sight.

Chojusen appeared inside the Hokage Tower in his Void Cloak, so no one could detect him. Minato was currently battling a Hokage's greatest foe, one which would ruin the lives of even the strongest ninjas; paperwork. Formal Kages could command the natural elements of the world and have grand battles that could shake entire countries, but paperwork was the strongest final boss to ever be seen by these strongest ninjas.

Chojusen casted Space Locking on all the hidden Anbu that guarded the Hokage's room and began talking. He said "Hokage, I have a request."

Hearing a voice come out of nowhere, caused Minato to grow alert almost instantaneously. But he quickly recognized the voice, to be that of the same person who helped him during Obito's attack. It was hard for him to forget the voice of someone so important in his life; if not for the mysterious stranger who helped him back then, his wife and even the village might not be around today. It was also hard to forget Chojusen's voice, since it was uncommon for someone — who is not a toddler/infant — to have such a high-pitched, childlike voice.

Minato lowered his vigilance just a tiny bit and said "So you've finally decided to talk to me after all this time. If you don't mind me asking, could you at least tell me who you are? I know you are not an enemy from your help back three years ago, so If it isn't too much trouble..."

Chojusen cut him off "No can do. At least for the next couple years, I will not let anyone know who I am. I also won't appear again unless the village is in trouble, or I need a favor."

Minato was helpless when facing this stranger helper, but at least he now knew that the village had another trump card in case another emergency broke out. Letting off an accepting sigh, he said "What can I do for you today?"

"I'd like to let a family of two live in the village. I also want for their living expenses to be covered."

Minato's eyes narrowed as he heard Chojusen's request. But after a second of thinking, he said "You'd need to introduce me to them first, before I can make a decision. If they aren't rogue ninja or traitors to the village, its possible for your request to be completed."

A bit of excitement was evident in Chojusen's voice as he said "Ok then, can I bring them here now?"

Minato wasn't surprised, as he had already seen this mysterious stranger teleport his wife to safety; teleporting two people to his office now wouldn't be an issue to this stranger. He said "Sure."

Chojusen teleported back to Karin and her mom and told them he would take them to the village through teleportation, so as to not cause them to panic. When Chojusen teleported back to the Minato's office with Karin and her mother, the look of shock on Minato's face was hard to miss; his line of sight was directed at both girls' flashy red hair.