Changes in the soul

Each new year at the Academy began on the sixth of April, just in time for the cherry blossoms to bloom. During this time, the streets of Konoha are very picturesque, as Hashirama has deliberately planted many cherry blossoms around the village, causing the streets to be filled with the scent of cherry blossoms, and pink cherry blossom petals to fly everywhere, falling from many trees that are thickly covered with beautiful pink blossoms.

Right now, I'm mostly studying and training with a lot of clones, which makes me mentally tired, and it's times like the Cherry Blossom Festival that really take my mind off my regular routine. During the Cherry Blossom Festival, there is a festival in the village a few days before training starts, where the townspeople can have fun, eat street food and admire the cherry blossoms.

This particular festival was Sakura's favourite, as it was almost a fair in her honour. Me, Mito, Sakura, Ino and Hinata were strolling through the fair, the girls dressed in beautiful Japanese women's kimonos, looking very cute.

Ino and Sakura had been fighting a lot lately because of Sasuke, and now they were arguing about a Sharingan wielder again.

- Sakura, look, there's Sasuke! - Ino shouted suddenly, pointing around the corner where someone had just turned.

- Sasuke-kun! - Sakura shouted and ran to where Ino was pointing.

- Naive idiot. - Ino grinned angrily and looked after the fleeing Sakura.

- There's no Sasuke-kun there. - Hinata muttered, looking for our classmate with Byakugan.

- I know. - Ino continued to gloat that she'd tricked her friend out of nowhere.

- Of course Sasuke isn't here, he's over there by the fan shop. - I said, nodding towards the shop.

- ..." Ino thought for a second and then ran towards the fan shop shouting: - 'Sasuke-kun!

- But there's no Sasuke there either. - Hinata said quietly.

- I know, Hinata-chan. - I smiled slightly, "Sasuke didn't come to the festival at all... but the girls still follow him around, it's kind of a shame.

- Not offended, but jealous, eh, Naruto? You're jealous that Sasuke has girls after him and you don't, Dentebayo. - Said a red fox in a kimono.

- Of course I'm jealous. If I were the heir of a clan, I'd have girls after me too, but I'm an orphan without a clan or a clan to speak of. - I replied.

- Naruto-kun, you're wrong... you..." Hinata was about to say something but got confused and started to blush.

- Hinata! - A small red-haired girl in a kimono, who was from the Hug Clan judging by her distinctive eyes, said sternly, "So this is where you ran away from your father.

- Sister. - Hinata spoke quietly when she saw the girl, "This is Hanabi, my younger sister. - She introduced her younger sister.

- Oh, nice to meet you, Hinata's sister, my name is...

- I don't care what your name is, since I don't know you, then you're nobody. - The princess of the Hug Clan replied with disdain, and Hugi was now the largest and strongest clan, so this little brat could afford to act arrogantly.

- My dignity had been trampled on again, this time by the little Hyuga girl. - Frustrated, I said... the sad reality is that I am no one in Konoha... yet.

- I'll be the Hokage and you can make your own clan, the most powerful in Konoha, dattebayo. - Mito encouraged me.

- Hinata, I'm going to tell my father what kind of fools you are friends with and he will forbid you to associate with them. - Hanabi said arrogantly and proudly went back to her father.

- Sister, stop! - Hinata ran after Hanabi... and considering that Hinata was wearing a kimono and a wooden geta, she wasn't running very fast.

- So we have been abandoned by all our friends. - I muttered.

- Yes, it's just you and me now, Dantebayo. - Mito said with a kind of joy and pressed himself against me.

- Let's go to the clearing and have a look at the sakura, soon after the academy starts, we need to have a rest - I turned towards the sparsely populated park.

- Oh, don't remind me of the academy, I don't like studying, dattebayo. - Mito said as we walked together in the park.

- I know you don't like studying because I'm the one who has to make you go to the academy and make sure you don't fall asleep in class. Mito, if you want to be a Hokage, you have to study to be a Hokage. - I scolded the redheaded girl.

- I know, I know, you've said it a thousand times, Dattebayo. - Mito replied and we sat down on the bench... or rather, I sat on the bench and Mito sat on my lap.

- If only you had listened - I started stroking the red head of a lazy little vixen while we looked at a beautiful park with cherry trees in bloom, their petals dropping in the breeze.

In a few days, our last year at the academy would begin, and next year, we would be genin and probably busy with a mission and wouldn't be able to sit and admire the cherry blossoms like this.

At the Shinobi Academy, children are trained for seven years, from the age of six to thirteen, so in the last year at the Academy, there was a special course for girls, taught by a honey kunoichi, a female shinobi who uses seduction and sex to gain information and spy.

The first piece of advice from this instructor was that kunoichi should always be attractive, for all men are somehow sorry to harm beautiful girls, so if a kunoichi is beautiful, the enemy shinobi might have a shaky hand before striking. Also, after losing a battle, a kunoichi might beg a man to let her live in exchange for sex, still better to sleep with the enemy than to die... at least it would be better for the village if the kunoichi survived and could continue to do the job for which this kunoichi had been trained for seven years, spending time and resources. All in all, these courses helped the girls to effectively use their natural advantages in the kunoichi profession.

The training year had been generally quiet, and towards graduation, after one more day at the academy, Mito started to lock herself up in her apartment and do something, to be precise, she started to train Henge, but Transfiguration never came out due to poor chakra control... well, I was glad that Mito at least had her last year of training and that I didn't have to ask her 100 times, but she usually gets bored with training anyway, so it doesn't help her at all. However, now the girl seems to be motivated before her graduation and is practicing her transformation every day in her apartment... well, great, now there is an extra clone who usually takes care of Mito, so now she can either train or study... so the clone chose the latter and went to the hospital to learn medical techniques and practice her Iryenjutsu while treating patients.

At first, I didn't think that operating on and going through someone's intestines would be very pleasant... but when I saw the gruesome wounds, rivers of blood and organs falling out of patients during my medical training, it didn't make me want to vomit or feel disgusted. I think my death had an effect here, after all I had lost my former body and died, but I also realised that the death of the body is not the end, the body is just a shell for the soul, so I could safely treat shinobi with any wounds, no matter how horrible they were. To me, wounds are just damage to the physical shell that I can easily repair with medical techniques and healing magic.

A week after I started Mito's training, I returned to my apartment and opened the door to find a completely naked, sexy, busty, red-haired girl with fox stripes on her cheeks standing in the hallway.

- Naruto, what do you think of my seduction technique, Sexy no Jutsu? I've been practising it for a week, Dattebayo. - I asked in Mito's voice as the hottie twirled around, showing off her voluptuous, attractive body.

- There goes my fighter, now officially awakened. - I murmured, looking at Mito as she used Henge and turned into a naked adult version of herself, "Mito, the technique is simply arousing... I mean delightful.

- Naruto, and that's your kunai tugging at your kimono like that, isn't it, dattebayo? - Mito asked smiling, pointing at my groin.

- Yes, exactly kunai... just a second... breathe in and out..." I closed my eyes and used a medical technique on myself to take away my arousal, since some honey kunoichi use an aphrodisiac to arouse the target, then the ninja medics developed a counter technique that takes away the arousal in reverse... I think this technique will come in very handy for me soon.

- There's a kunai missing..." Mito jumped and her huge breasts began to sway very sexily, "Oh, there's a kunai missing again, dattebayo! - She said cheerfully.

- My kunai is not your plaything. - I created a wave of chakra that I sent to Mito and destabilised Henge, turning the beautiful naked adult girl into a beautiful young girl in an orange bathing suit," Mito, get dressed and don't use that technique in front of me again. - I warned her and looked at her sister, and she had noticeably grown breasts, she's about one and a half already, so even without the transformation, Mito is already quite attractive.

- Why? Didn't you like it, Dantebyo? - As if innocently asked the red fox, who, along with the other girls, has already taken a course at the Honey Kunoichi and is well aware of the relationship between men and women.

- I liked it very much. Mito, you are very beautiful and when you grow up, you will be incredibly attractive.

- Thank you, Naruto, dattebayo. - The red haired girl smiled and blushed a little.

- Mito, you've done well, you've learnt Transfiguration, now all you need to do is learn more Illusion Clones and you'll definitely be able to pass the final exam. As for you, I would advise you to master the Illusory Clones... if you don't learn them by the time you graduate, you will have to repeat your senior year and you can forget about the dream of becoming the Hokage, ruling Konoha is not something a repeat student of the Academy would have to deal with. - I said.

- Shh... I can't make those clones, Dattebayo. - Mito complained.

- You were never good at it either, Henge, but you practised and were able to learn. I have faith in you, little fox, don't let me down. - I stroked the girl and kissed her on the forehead and then I went to sleep... and all night long I had erotic dreams with a busty red fox in the leading role.

****

Throughout my time at the Academy, my traits gradually increased through training and mental development, which eventually gave me access to new abilities and skills in the system, which I activated for Skill Points. These abilities are:

≪ Artefact Smith - Requires 200 Intellect, 200 Wisdom, 110 Magic to activate. Activation costs 150 skill points. (A small space fold is created in the soul with a set of rituals and various spells for artefact crafting. An item can be placed in the artefact smithy and weak enchantments can be cast on it. You can also use this skill to cleanse materials of impurities and make blanks for artefacts.) ≫

≪ Great Healing - Activation requires Intellect 200, Wisdom 200, Magic 100. Activation cost is 60 Intellect points. The cost of using this ability is 50 mana. (Spell from Healing Magic that can heal fatal wounds and injuries, regenerate a limb or grow a new one if nourished. Immediately neutralises weak and medium poisons, gradually neutralises strong poisons and weakens fatal poisons. Activating this ability increases passive regeneration). ≫

****

With Doton's help, I found stones and ores that contained metal, brought them to the surface, and placed them in the Artefact Forge, where I refined the ores and stones into pure metal from which I made shurikens and kunai, enchanting them for strength, durability, and sharpness.

At my underground training base in the Valley of Accomplishment, I conducted a series of tests to find a suitable form of kunai. The first was an ordinary rhomboid kunai - just a blade and a handle with a ring at the end.

The kunai was quite heavy because of its shape, so it flew quite slowly, but because of its mass it had excellent stopping power, and strong shinobi could throw this projectile with enough force to give it enormous speed, so overall this shape is optimal for most shinobi, which is why it is used.

Secondly, I examined the three-bladed kunai that Minato used for the Flying Thunder God technique. The kunai itself was much thinner than a standard kunai and therefore lighter and faster in flight, with the blades on the sides helping to stabilise the kunai in the air, giving it stability in flight.

These blades also made it easier to block enemy weapons, but especially as a throwing weapon, the three-bladed kunai was not a good choice. Minato himself used these kunai to quickly scatter the Flying Thunder God's spatial markers around the battlefield to which he could teleport, so he was more concerned with the speed of flight than the kill rate. Minato's kunai was needed to get to his opponent quickly and strike Rasengan at close range.

The third kunai I tested was a hybrid of the usual kunai and the three-bladed kunai, to which I had added eight herringbone-like spikes from the beginning to the end of the kunai.

Now, if this projectile got stuck in the flesh of an opponent, he would not be able to pull the kunai out easily because of these spikes, he would have to pull it out together with pieces of flesh and intestines. The wide blades at the ends of the kunai prevented him from pushing the projectile through and pulling it out, dragging it through the wound to the end. The kunai weighed less than a normal kunai, but more than a simple three-bladed projectile, so there was a balance between killing power and speed, and the spikes increased the damage when the kunai hit the body.

I decided to use my own kunai specifically... a kunai like that is scary even for me to hold, and if an enemy sees my weapon they will think twice before attacking, because in case of a conflict they would have to remove the spiky stuff from the wound... which I can also smear with poison, and in my Iryenin course we were taught how to make poison, because without knowing how to make poison, you won't know how to neutralise that poison.

Shurikens also come in different shapes and numbers of points, but in terms of size, they are usually around ten centimetres in diameter, so I also checked out all the options to find the best shuriken shape for me... but the main problem with shurikens is their small size and weight. On the other hand, a strong shinobi can throw a shuriken with great force and speed, so the small weight of the projectile itself is not so important, but I am not a particularly strong shinobi.

The one I liked best was the Fuma Shuriken, also known as the Shureken of the Wind Demons, which is a huge four-bladed flying projectile, each blade about sixty centimetres long - as long as the blade of a standard one-handed sword. Essentially four flying swords connected by a ring, the Fuma-Suriken is very dangerous on impact due to its massive size, but when amplified with the Wind Element chakra, it becomes a very deadly circular saw that cuts enemies in half.

A full-fledged Fuma Shuriken is too much for me, but I find ordinary shurikens useless, so I decided to make a compromise - a three-bladed mini Fuma Shuriken with a diameter of forty centimetres. This projectile is more compact than the standard one and a half metre Fuma Shuriken, but far more deadly than the usual small shuriken. Since I have the Wind Elemental, I can throw small circular saws at my enemies, and the spatial markings on my weapon allow me to retrieve the projectiles for another shot, so I don't need many of them. So I made two mini-fuma shurikens out of quality metal, using all the weapon enchantments I had.

I am now comparable in strength to a good chuunin or an inexperienced tokubetsu-jounin, and when I throw my kunai or shuriken with all my might, they can pierce small trees, and when I add my wind chakra, my projectiles can pierce huge rocks, so now I am definitely ready to graduate from the academy.

I also decided to make myself a mask, like in ANBU, so that my hoshingan would not shine when I fought enemies. I had a lot of ideas for this mask, I even made several prototypes, but in the end I decided on a metal helmet mask with six slits near the mouth for ventilation, with the air passing through a filter. The eyes were covered with blue sapphire eyepieces, good thing sapphire is just aluminium oxide and is second only to diamond in durability.

The mask is made from a three-to-one alloy of titanium and gold, resulting in a metal that weighs the same as steel but is eight times stronger. In addition, the mask has been enchanted, creating a network of magical lines in the alloy through which the chakra circulates, further increasing the strength, hardness and durability of the helmet. I also added an enchantment to lighten the weight of the mask, as well as enchanting the filters for added air purification efficiency.

The mask proved to be quite intimidating, but most importantly, functional and reliable. Later, when I am fully grown, I plan to make and enchant a full suit of armour, for which I still need to collect metal, as mining titanium and gold is very difficult in the low ore content area. I have been told by the library that there is a lot of metal-rich ore in the Land of Iron, so I will have to send clones there to mine the raw materials, but for now I will wear normal clothing that has been hardened with magical enchantments.