Chapter 13

"What do we do with a d-*hick*-runken sailor, what do we do wi-*urp*th a 'runken 'alor, 'at 'o 'e 'oo 'v..."

...I honestly...have no fucking idea what goes through Fire's head sometimes.

WHEEEEEE!

Fire, sweetie...did you get into the medicine cabinet again?

LOOK JACK I'M FLYI-*CRASH*

...For fuck sake.

Oh...ahem. Uhh, if any of you lovelies could please have a tiny little peek at Trials of the Wylfen Corsair, that'd be just peachy. It's currently one chapter...and 20,500 words...yeah, I went overboard with it. Hope ya enjoy!

(Also, the song Akari sings at the start of this is Masterpiece, by WAR*HALL. You should check out JennyMusic on YouTube for songs like this, they are...beautiful. Masterpiece, Man of Stone and Light are just...beautiful.)

Chapter 13

"And I don't wanna miss the masterpiece..."

Singing along quietly to another song in her random mix, Akari twisted her ankles a little and spun around, using her rotation to speed up her weaponry as she threw them. A moment later they thudded deeply into the target, parting the wood with ease and embedding itself hilt-deep. "The beauty that's blooming all around me." Kicking her foot into the ground, Akari formed a hand seal, using that to cover for her casting of Megami no Te, which brought a spike of earth from the dirt to impale her target in the front. "The birth of a child and the way they grow."

Several more spikes then stabbed in from the side, following through by all coalescing together to completely entrap the wooden dummy then swiftly crunching together, obliterating her target. "The sun sinking down in the afterglow." With a flick, Akari used her control over the dirt currently consuming the target to pick her senbon out from the wood, spitting them out towards her at the same speed they went in. She continued singing along to the song as she practiced, using several different Jutsu.

Tossing out several senbon wreathed in Phoenix Fire, she then chased it by using a Great Fireball, cocooning the weapons within the flames and concealing them. The flames struck first, spewing across the surface of the target, followed quickly by her senbon, thrown fast and hard enough to pierce entirely into the target, the tips coming out the other side with ease.

Humming, she then closed her eyes, ensuring her Fuinjutsu barrier was still perfectly alright. It was there to stop anybody coming too close while she was performing anything dangerous, something she had to get the Hokage's permission to do. He was curious, but after she cited Susanoo training, he was plenty understanding, directing her to use one of the private training fields for her activities. After making sure the barrier was completely undamaged, and nothing was contained within bar a few birds and critters, she opened her eyes again, the swirling red Sharingan in either eye blazing with her own personal patterns.

"Susanoo!" Clasping her hands together, Akari cast the first tier of Susanoo, feeling with a grimace as it hungrily gulped up 10% of her total chakra stores in a single second. Around her, a ribcage of pure chakra began forming, midnight black in colour while the aura was, though still dark, not completely opaque. The bones snapped together with an audible crunch, cocooning her first before growing upwards to begin forming the rest of the skeleton.

As the arms, legs and head of the Susanoo were created, Akari yawned. She'd been practicing for a few hours, and before that she'd been writing out Golan seals for Sei to take to the hospital, so her left hand ached a small amount. Of course, it had nothing on the pain of being stabbed, shot or exploded, so she could deal with it, it was mostly just a mental drain, leaving her feeling a bit out of sorts. She finished forming the Susanoo and looked about.

It was completely skeletal, no musculature or skin anywhere to be seen. Casting the second level would make it appear as a giant humanoid, adding those muscles and other parts. Then tier three would add armour, as well as the ability to summon weaponry by forming raw chakra into shapes. It would also receive wings which granted flight, though it was rather unwieldy and difficult to maintain altitude.

She pressed her fingers into a seal and dispelled the Susanoo at level one, then with idle fingers, Akari drew out her newest acquisition from her inventory, flipping the blade across her fingers a few times and getting a feel for the weapon. It was a little off-balance, but had none of the dark marks which were present after it's first reforging, so evidently this was the original dagger. It could have been a thrice-forged weapon, but the wooden grip was unblemished, leading Akari to draw the conclusion that it was unlikely.

Swinging the regular edge around, she peered at the opposing edge with sharp, scrutinizing red eyes. It looked like a normal edge, but she knew that, despite never properly being explained, it was canonically strong enough to literally cut through the fabric separating dimensions. Of course, as she was not in the universe the Subtle Knife came from, it probably didn't play by the same rules.

She flicked one edge of the handle with her thumb, shaking her head at the silly name. It wasn't a knife, it was a dagger, it had two edges. Not that it really mattered, it was just a fact which irritated her. With a single sweep of her arm, and the intent to do so, a rent in reality appeared before her. The edges were a pulsating red, nearly bursting at the seams, as if each edge yearned to be joined with the other once again.

The tear itself resembled a black tunnel, ending with a solid black sheet which was completely opaque and rippling occasionally. Even using the Mangekyo Sharingan she couldn't see anything through the obstruction. Presumably it was to stop her from opening dozens of rips in reality until she saw one she liked the look of. If she wanted to know what was on the other end, she'd have to go through.

Luckily, she knew just the trick.

"Ahh, Akari-san, a pleasure. I hear Deidara-kun is settling in nicely?"

Suppressing a growl, Akari shrugged. "I guess." The old Kage had decided that, since she knew him, she would be responsible for keeping an eye on him while he settled into the village. Fortunately enough, her apartment was too small for more than her and Naruto, and so Hiruzen was forced to, after Akari adamantly refused to move somewhere larger, purchase another apartment within her block for the young teen to live within. "I mean, he seemed happy enough. Might have had something to do with the girl I caught leaving one night thought..."

Akari tapped her chin thoughtfully, leading Hiruzen to chuckle, taking another puff from his pipe. "I see. Well, I assume this is not a simple friendly visit?" Akari had been waiting around for at least a half-hour as Hiruzen was busy with a meeting when she arrived and asked to see him. More than one or two of the shinobi that passed her by gave her subtle glares or talked about her in muttered tones, words like 'demon-bitch' or 'Uchiha' being used a lot.

But, on the flip side, at least a few people greeted her with smiles and polite conversation as they came to and fro, while even more gave her simply polite smiles as they hurried along. After the hospital 'accidentally' leaked out the person who invented the Golan-seals, she had an upswing of positive reactions from the shinobi of Konoha, though it took a while for the knowledge to spread. Then to top it off, since it was known that she was the Jinchuriki for the Kyuubi, many acknowledged her as the one who saved their village after it broke free. She never used tailed-beast Chakra, not even outside of the village. The seal was one written by her and Minato, meaning absolutely no leakage. And besides, even if it did start leaking, she was more than adept enough with seals to repair it.

If absolutely necessary, even utilizing the Tailed Beast Transfer Technique wasn't out of her reach. Though, she would never want to force somebody to become the container for a Tailed Beast. The Kyuubi was...reasonable, but only because she treated him kindly. He spoke to her when she wished, ever since she gave him permission and the ability (Not that he'd ever say he needed either) to see through her eyes he would speak within her mind, sometimes using it to mess with her, but most of the time being honestly and genuinely helpful, pointing out things she'd missed when doing something.

Once she misplaced a line on a sealing tag and nearly blew her hand off thanks to an extremely dangerous inversion-feedback loop, feeding chakra through itself and pulling from its surroundings, which would have done some major damage. Thankfully, Kyuubi pointed out the error a few seconds she was going to test it, and smugly told her exactly what she did wrong. "Akari-san?"

Hiruzen's voice jolted her from her thinking, where she quickly plastered a sheepish smile on her face. "Apologies Hokage-sama, kinda got distracted thinking." The man waved her on, puffing away carelessly. "So, I told you I was practising one of my...techniques." She pointedly looked towards the visibly-empty couch, thanking Kyuubi mentally for telling her exactly where the ANBU guards were. "One of them is a bit more dangerous than I'd like to admit. So, with your permission, I'd like to see the Scroll of Seals so I can learn the Kage Bunshin Jutsu."

The old man's eyes raised slightly, his lips curling into a small smile. "Akari-san, you do realize that the Kage Bunshin isn't a Hiden technique?" Blinking, Akari growled audibly.

"I swear, I'm going to kick Kakashi in the balls for this." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, a silent request for her to elaborate. "He used it in front of me once during a spar, and when I asked if I could copy it, he went and told me it was a Hiden technique, which would mean I'd have to ask you. Oh, that's it, he's not getting any saury for a week, no, a goddamn month! See how he likes it when all the vendors refuse to sell to him! Ahh, speaking of food, would you like me to make up some hijiki-topped sardine fishballs for when I next come around as a thank you?"

Smiling, Hiruzen nodded. "That would be appreciated, though, I wonder how you'll get them on such short notice?"

"Trade secret." She smiled, a finger on her lips.

"-'t keep failing the-"

"-ing it again!-"

"-aid too much for i-"

Akari walked into a bar, her ears picking up several conversations the instant the doors were open. With experience earned through long practice she tuned out every voice aside from the one she was hunting for. "-Land of Hot Springs can't br-" Found it. She slid her way through the crowd, side-stepping around the few waitresses who were strolling around before coming to a stop directly behind the exact spiky mop of silver hair she was hunting for.

Raising her hand up, she was about to smack it down in a chop when- "That's not very nice Akari-chan." The man disappeared, popping up behind her with her raised hand in a vice-grip. Grinning, she kicked one leg up backwards, catching the man by surprise as she buried a foot in his family jewels. Stunned by the pain, his grip loosened just enough for her to rip her hand free, elbowing him in the face and knocking him flat on the floor. With nary a moment wasted she settled down on his freshly-vacated chair, smirking at the surprised looks she was getting from the other occupants of the booth. "Ow."

Suppressing a snort at the deadpan voice Kakashi made, she curled her head to the side to look over her shoulder. "In case you were wondering, that was for lying to me." She left the rest vague, waving over a waitress and ordering a drink. "And if you can't remember, maybe you should think of cutting back in the smut?" Those words, coming from a 16 year old, were certainly not expected by the other Shinobi around the table.

"Hey, uhh, Kakashi, mind intro-...-ducing us?" A red-eyed woman asked Kakashi, but looked at her eyes and shook her head, turning to look at Kakashi as he slowly got up from his spot on the floor. "Never mind. Kakashi, why didn't you tell us you knew the Crimson Medic?" The woman looked ready to put a hole in Kakashi's forehead, though the man ignored her in favor snatching another chair and sitting down, his one visible eye watching Akari warily. "Oh whatever." She refocused on Akari, a smile on her face. "Well, I'm Kurenai. I, uh, well, I want to say thank you."

Kurenai then bowed her head, tapping against the table gently before rising again. As Akari opened her mouth to question her, she elaborated. "My father was injured by a gas attack during an assault in Suna. Damn fools 'forgot' he and his team were in the area. He got out, but he was left blinded." Akari nodded her head, seeing what the woman was getting at.

"Well you're very welcome. I mean...I made the Golan seals because I wanted to help my brother after he lost his own eyes, but, since they can be useful for so many people, I don't really think it'd be very 'firey' of me to keep them from other Konoha shinobi who gave near-everything to fight for the village." Snorting at the wording Akari chose, one of the other Shinobi raised his glass.

"Words to live by!" The others raised their own glasses and matched his words, aside from Akari who didn't have a drink but still said the words, and Kakashi, who was still groaning a little about the kick in the balls.

He turned to Akari. "Did you really have to kick so hard?" He asked with a frown, though hidden behind his mask still visible in the contours.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" At the same time, she subtly kicked off two legs of his chair, sending him back to the floor with a thud.

"Okay, do it."

After a few (dozen) drinks at the bar, which wasn't a fun experience for Akari considering she couldn't seem to actually get drunk, either because of her Chakra or her Gamer abilities she didn't know, she all but dragged Kakashi to a training ground to learn the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu from him. "Couldn't you have gotten literally anyone else to do this?" Despite his whining, Kakashi pressed his fingers into a cross, while at the same time Akari watched, her Sharingan spinning as a puff of Chakra smoke appeared. A few moments later, a box appeared in the corner of her vision, though she ignored it in favor of grinning.

"Cool. And no, you owe me one, so fuck you." She said, zipping over to the clone of Kakashi and prodding it with a finger. "That's really weird. I know they're meant to be solid, that's the whole point, but the potential for these guys..." During the walk over, Akari basically picked Kakashi's brain clean on information for Shadow Clones, like the fact that once dispersed, they send all the remaining Chakra back to the host. But, more importantly, they also send back memories. Whatever the clone experienced, the user would experience, but in a far more brief period. Kakashi likened it to reading an entire book in a second, and still somehow comprehending every page you read.

Trying to define it further was just too much of a hassle for the lazy ninja. "Whatever." Picking a book from his pouches, Kakashi flipped to a dog-eared page and began reading, already wandering off. Ignoring his perversions, Akari opened her menu, dismissing the notification on her vision and instead focusing on the new technique she just picked up.

Shadow Clone Jutsu - Take the regular Bunshin. Mix on some more chakra. Then more. Then, just for good measure, a large sprinkle of more chakra. Voilá! You have a Shadow Clone. This Bunshin is corporeal, it can hit a foe, it can carry things, it can even (With an extra-large helping of Chakra) take a hit without dispersing. But, the best part? It shares its memories when it disperses. Enjoy! Usage - 150CP/cast, lasts 1 hour, every 10CP extra grants extra hour.

With a grin, Akari pushed her fingers into a cross seal and took a breath. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With a puff of smoke and a modest drain on her Chakra, an identical clone of herself appeared, shaking her head lightly before stretching out, clicking her fingers, shaking her hands about and hopping from place to place. It was pretty amusing to watch, but Akari had it in her mind that she would order the clone to do some basic movements, make sure it worked alright.

Evidently the clone picked up on what she wanted and began doing it without even her own input, as if it knew what she was planning, which would come in handy. Creating a few more clones, each fueled with several hours worth of Chakra, she let them go about the training ground, leaping from branch to branch, slipping through undergrowth, generally practising to ensure they weren't inferior to the original.

As they did that, Akari took out a notepad and pen, because fuck using a scroll and brush, from her inventory, settling down on the ground with her legs crossed. She began planning out everything she needed to test before she personally went into a rift. Like how long they lasted, how far she could go from the rift before it closed, how to close them manually, just to make sure she could close the one she'd opened already.

Right now she'd set up a seal around it and told Hiruzen that she messed something up and had to put a seal up to keep it contained. Nothing too dangerous as long as nothing messed with the seal, and that she'd fix it as soon as she could. He believed it. He wasn't happy that she'd basically made a small chunk of the training ground unusable, but the seal only took up a few square meters of space so it wasn't the end of the world or anything.

Going down the list, Akari winced as one of the clones slipped on a branch and smashed into it nose-first, dispelling abruptly and flooding her memory with exactly what it got up to. The strangest part though was how the memories were handled. She could actually recall near-everything the clone did for a few moments, though none of it was very interesting. Then, she forgot almost all of it. She could vaguely recall what her clone did, but not very well.

Mentally sending out a command for two clones to disperse at once, they did so, sending two conflicting memory streams into her mind, yet for some reason she could still assimilate all the information just fine. Shaking her head as she recalled Kakashi's attempted explanation, she created a new clone. "You know what to do?" The clone snorted, holding her hand out and taking the notepad from Akari's hand. The clone then wandered off to go sit against a tree, tapping their chin with the pen and occasionally writing something down.

The clones retained her memories and ideas, and so could be used to do menial tasks that she'd be able to do. Using this, Akari basically told that clone that she wanted her to go sit down and try to come up with any ideas she'd missed, any safeguards she'd have to get a clone to test before it would be safe enough for her to go through the rift. She also was experimenting with items the clones carried.

The clones appeared wearing the gear she was wearing, and they all had the same Kunai and Senbon she had when using the Jutsu, but they didn't have her knives for some reason. The one she just made also didn't have the notepad she was carrying. The rules behind that Jutsu were just...wacky, they didn't make any sense. With a shrug, Akari created a dozen clones to join those currently leaping through the forest, wincing at the chakra drain. It wasn't a ridiculous amount, a little more than first-stage Susanoo, but it wasn't a fun feeling draining her Chakra to such an extent.

Sighing, she began walking home to her apartment, idly wondering what to cook that evening.

"Not doing it, do it yourself."

Okay, so maybe clones weren't the be-all and end-all fix she thought they'd be. She realized on the way home that she could get a clone to do the cooking and she could go have a shower. However, it seemed they didn't just get her thought-process and reasoning, they also got her stubbornness. "Okay, if I do half of it, will you handle the other half?"

The clone tilted her head and finally nodded. "Sure." Okay, so it seemed that as long as she was willing to do the work right alongside them they'd be willing. But then she thought about the clone who was still at the training ground writing down things she'd have to test with the rift she'd make before she would go through. That clone seemed happy enough to do the work, so...

"Hang on, is it just when I'm doing dumb menial tasks that you guys will get snippy with me?" The clone grinned and stuck her thumb up. "Fuck sake. I was even going to brag to Hiruzen about how he could have just make shadow clones to do all his paperwork. Hey, do you reckon he could still do it, just get a few clones to take some of the strain off?" Her clone shrugged.

"I dunno. I mean, if you were doing the paperwork right alongside me I'd be fine with it. If you made a dozen of us and told us to do the paperwork while you went out to go get drunk we'd probably all just scribble over the pages then disperse, but that's with our own mentality, his clones could be more amicable to it considering his age, or your could be less, we don't know." The clone made a reasonable point, it was really weird talking to someone who went through the same thoughts as she did.

Stretching her arms out, Akari gestured towards the kitchen. "Well, you got anything, in particular, you think we should make?"

"Hmm, what's this?"

A figure approached the barrier in the training ground, one Hiruzen himself had to grant access to. Laying a hand against the barrier, the mysterious person clicked their teeth, funnelling chakra into the Barrier Shattering Technique, having plenty of chakra to spare without relying on others as the technique typically require. A substantial hole in the barrier was formed as the barrier chakra was forced away from the area, redirected just long enough to allow the intruder to step inside.

"Well now, I wonder whose been playing with Space-Time Ninjutsu..." They formed a clone to enter the rift, folding their arms over and watching as their identical mimic pushed its arm into the tear, then the rest of their body, swiftly vanishing into seemingly nothingness. A minute or two passed before the clone dispersed. "Ahh, very interesting. Well then..."

With little fanfare, the figure strode into the rift confidently. A few seconds later and Akari arrived, having been alerted that her barrier had been manipulated somehow. "Oh fuck." She muttered, spotting the barrier failing and the rift inside rippling, the edges crackling and pulsing violently. Just beyond, she made out a sliver of fabric disappearing within. Making a split-second decision, she used her Shunshin, charging at the rift and hurling herself inside.

In a desolate field scarcely visited, the rift, having been open too long, snapped shut like the jaws of a crocodile.

Dun dun duu!

The rift has closed, leaving Akari and a mysterious figure stranded on the other side. Who opened the barrier? What did they see on the other side which made them walk through it? Why was Akari such a goddamn hero and followed them? Find out next time on Drago-...err, War Dog!

(Also, I don't know which of you lovelies it was who did it, but, to whoever tried to donate money to me through the unmentionable website (The fact Fanfiction don't even let you say it is really stupid), I honestly from the bottom of my heart say thank you, you made my day. Knowing someone enjoyed my stories enough to even try...3 Thank you!)

Name: Akari Uchiha

Level: 48

Age: 15

Experience: 1456/48000

To Next Level: 46544

Title: Crimson Medic - Your exploits on the battlefield as a combat-medic have been noted, and many wonder if you will become equal to the Slug Princess.

Secondary Title: Tokubetsu Jonin - +25% experience gained during solo missions.

Health Points: 6500 - (100 Base + (Vit x End)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 1200/m - 20/s - Vit x End - Halted when afflicted with bleed status.

Chakra Points: 5000 - (100 Base + (Int x Wis)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 500/m - 15/s - Int x Wis - Halted when continuous chakra drain Jutsu in use.

Strength - 55

Vitality - 40

Endurance - 30

Intelligence - 30

Agility - 50

Wisdom - 30

Luck - 30

Chakra Nature(s): Fire - Primary, Lightning - Secondary