Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. He's his own man. Plus, slavery is bad, m'kay?
TSUKUMOGAMI: THE LIVING SEALS
Chapter 4 - Getting to Know You
Note: Sections headed with a character name are focused on that character's thoughts. It's kind of an experiment, so please let me know if you find it confusing.
The door cracked open and a man poked his head through. A mask and headband covered most of his face, so Naruto had trouble even figuring out if he knew the man. The only clearly visible feature was the stark white hair sticking sticky up wildly. The three fresh genin stared at the man for a couple heartbeats.
"Hmmm… how do I put this? My first impression is… you're a bunch of idiots."
-=oOo=-
"Well, let's begin with introducing ourselves." Kakashi leaned against the railing of the academy's roof as if the only reason he was here was because there was nowhere else to be.
"Haven't you already read our files? I'm sure you know more about us than we would tell you." Neji ground out resentfully. Apparently the long wait for their sensei had more of an effect than he'd allowed to show.
Kakashi yawned. "Humor me. You know… likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Those kinds of things. Why don't you start us off, silky-hair-kun?"
Rolling his eyes, the Hyuuga genius stood at attention. "I am Neji Hyuuga. What I like and dislike are irrelevant. Dreams are for those who do not understand the role that fate has for them."
"*cough*douche!*cough*" Naruto added helpfully.
"... Right. Okay, panda-chan. You go next."
Tenten couldn't light people on fire with her glare, but not for lack of trying. "Fine. I'm Tenten Shiranui. I like gadgets and training. I dislike people who don't take being a ninja seriously. You know, the kind of people that show up late to everything." Naruto chuckled, earning a smirk from Tenten. "My dream for the future is to become a great kunoichi, like Tsunade Senju, the slug sannin!"
Kakashi stared at her for a moment. Hopefully not TOO much like Tsunade. Debt collectors were no joke. "And finally, blondie. Tell us something about yourself."
Naruto popped to his feet. "Yosh! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like Ichiraku ramen and the sealing arts. I dislike when I make a mistake in the last seal element and have to scrap the whole thing." Naruto pouted and kicked at the tiles on the roof. "And my dream is to find my family's legacies and return them to where they belong. Dattebayo!" He ended by punching his fist into the air, oblivious to the dangerously narrowed eyes of one of his new teammates.
Kakashi wasn't, however. This… might require a slight change of plans. "So that's it for introductions-"
"Hey! You didn't introduce yourself!" Naruto's accusing finger acted as the visual exclamation point.
"Eh? Ok. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmmm…" Kakashi briefly stared off into the distance. "Moving on. Tomorrow morning, the three of you will begin your shinobi duties."
"What kind of duties?" Tenten asked with more than a little eagerness.
"First, the four of us are going to do some survival training."
Tenten furrowed her brow. "Wait… not a mission? Didn't we just get done with training?"
"This isn't normal training. This time, I'm your opponent."
...
"You mean like a spar, right? So you know how to best train us? After all, you're a jounin, and we only just became genin."
"Not exactly. If you don't beat me, then I'm afraid you're going to have to go back to the academy. After all-"
"WHAT!? We just passed the graduation exam! We graduated! How can you make us go back?" Naruto was vibrating with angry energy.
Kakashi cocked his head to the side in response. "The exam was just to determine who had the chance to become genin. Of the 24 graduates this year, only 9 will become full genin. Whether or not you will be one of them is up to you. Tomorrow morning, be at the bridge by training ground three at six o'clock. And don't bother eating beforehand. You'll just throw it back up." With that the masked man gave a too cheerful smile, somewhat obscured by his mask, and vanished in a whirl of wind that stirred up the fallen leaves on the tiles around them.
"Bastard. He doesn't even sound like he wants to be a teacher. Do you think he'd fail us on purpose?" Naruto's concern was apparently shared as neither of his new teammates had an answer for him. Neji just stood up without a word and started walking away.
Tenten shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I can probably ask my uncle about our him. I mean, neither of us would draw much attention if we failed, but I can't see Neji being failed. People are already talking about how one day he'll be in ANBU." She dragged out the last syllable as a terrible thought crossed her mind. "Do you think he might fail some of us, but not all of us?"
"They said we were teammates. How can they make us teammates and they turn around and split us up? And if they do something that slimey..." Naruto growled in the back of his throat. "Well, I don't care. We'll pass whatever test he throws at us tomorrow with flying colors." His bright blue eyes glinted mischievously as he considered the paint supplies hidden at the temple. "... maybe even literally." A low cackle worked its way out of the back of his throat as he turned and wandered off.
With a sigh, Tenten couldn't help but wonder what she must have done to deserve this.
-=oOo=-
Naruto kicked another rock into the stream below the footbridge. Wasn't punctuality one of the things they talked about at the academy? He was sure he remembered getting that talk from his teachers as well as youma-sensei. Apparently his new sensei missed that day.
Tenten sighed audibly, but really just looked disappointed. At least they were of one mind about that. Neji sat cross legged on a rock off to the side of the path and seemed, for all intents and purposes, oblivious to the world. Only the veins on the sides of his face indicated that he wasn't asleep. Youma-sensei told him a lot about that, but it still weirded him out more than a bit. It looked like he was seconds away from popping. The almost-giggle from that mental image quickly morphed into a grimace as the image reached its logical conclusion.
How long did they have to wait? The blonde glanced at the hairs on his bare wrist, blaming it for not carrying the watch he broke during training months ago. It was damn handy, but unfortunately it wasn't until he opened the thing up that he realized how far beyond "fixing the porch" such a task would be.
Tenten broken the silence first. "Do you think that maybe Kakashi-sensei meant a different bridge?"
"Maybe? I was sure he said training ground three. That's it over there. Right?" Naruto gestured at the three thick wooden posts sticking up out the ground. Tenten responded with something between a nod and a shrug while she leaned back into the railing. "Neji, can you see any other bridges from here? Maybe there's one in the grounds we don't know about."
For a few seconds it seemed like the boy with the immaculate hair hadn't heard them. "There are no bridges in the grounds. The next two footbridges along this stream are equally vacant." And just like that he was dead to world once again.
"Oh, uh… well thanks for checking." Creepy.
Long minutes passed and Naruto was halfway through triple-checking the contents of his knapsack when Neji moved again. As he turned his head, a burst of smoke exploded from the ground, leaving Kakashi-sensei standing casually, as if he'd been waiting for them to show up.
"Hey kids, good morning."
"You're late!" Naruto hopped up and down, pointing with his finger like he wished it were sharper.
Kakashi tapped his chin in thought. "Perhaps." Whipping a clock out of one of his pouches, he set is on top of a tree stump. "OK, this clock is set for noon." His other hand held a pair of silver sleigh bells, dangling tauntingly in front of them. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon… get no lunch." Already Naruto could feel his stomach shudder in protest. "I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but I'll also eat right in front of you."
At this point, Naruto was speechless. How could their sensei be so cruel? A quick glance showed his comrades-in-torture shared his sentiment, though it's possible that Neji was just constipated.
"You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump. Also… the person who doesn't take a bell fails, so at least one of you will be sent back to the academy."
If his sensei wanted to scare him, then he didn't know who he was dealing with. Naruto scowled and adjusted his new headband. He had a mission, and he wasn't about to fail because of a couple bells and a lazy scarecrow!
"If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai." The man continued. "You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."
Naruto ignored the last words as he dashed to the tree line. He'd show his stupid sensei who he was messing with. But for that, he needed some time. It wasn't until he'd ducked behind a copse of fir that he looked back to see his new teammates had similarly disappeared. Kakashi stood in the clearing seeming without a care in the world.
The blonde grumbled as he crept deeper into the woods. Youma-sensei always told him that a seal master with a plan could win in any circumstance. Naruto shrugged the strap of his knapsack from his shoulder and loosened the opening with a manic grin.
-=Kakashi=-
Kakashi hummed to himself as he pulled an orange-bound book out of a pocket in his flak jacket. No reason to bother flipping to where he left off last. He had other things to think about.
The girl, Tenten Shiranui, was currently poised on a low branch at the edge of the clearing, armed to the teeth and looking for an opening. Not that she'd find one, but who knows. From academy reports, she had a wicked arm. The chances of her catching him off guard were pretty small, but probably still best not to turn his back entirely, even to lure her in.
Neji Hyuuga, the latest Byakugan prodigy. Excellent form, particularly strong with his bloodline. Entirely focused on combat over nuance. It was unfair to expect him to have diversified this early in his career, but it was hard not to expect too much from prodigies. Personal experience was a harsh teacher.
Much like his comrade, he'd taken cover just far enough into the trees to believe he was moving without being observed, but with the advantage of placing solid objects between himself and any view of his target. But the hair oil gave him away. It was a hair oil from a ninja village, so the scent was very subtle, but it wouldn't sell well if it smelled of tree sap and deer urine, so there was still something for a trained nose to find.
And then there's Naruto. The last Uzumaki. A personal heartache and a recent mystery. The Hokage assured him that he was well aware of the boy's movements but, despite a cursory investigation on his part, Kakashi didn't even know where he lived anymore. Some kind of secret training facility was his best guess. He'd personally handled a couple tags left behind from his pranks. Not commercial quality, but incredible for his age, and surprisingly varied. Definitely getting taught by a seal master, but the boy was pretty tight lipped about it. Once or twice he'd heard him say something about a "youma-sensei" while eating at Ichiraku's Ramen stand, but "ghost teacher" could refer to any ninja trainer. Except Guy.
Regardless, the boy had retreated far enough into the woods to be lost to Kakashi's keen senses. An odd strategy for a hit and run mission. Naruto remembered that the bells were here on his belt, right?
-=Naruto=-
Naruto's long-sleeved dark green shirt did a pretty good job of blending into the foliage as he zipped between trees and leapt over the groundcover.
He could set up under those branches. Plenty of places to hide tags. No... too open.
That tree with the big trunk could give him cover. No… too enclosed.
Hmm… that one could work. Now, if he's gonna make this trap work, he needs to figure out from which direction Kakashi is going to come from? So… which way is the clearing from here?
Naruto slowly turned around, taking careful note of all the details around him.
OK… so… where was here?
-=Tenten=-
Something about the way her new sensei (if she pulled this off) casually turned the pages in his book just screamed at her pride to intervene. But no, Uncle Genma didn't raise no fool. Tenten Shiranui wasn't going to get suckered in.
But... how do you wait for an opening when the target seemed to be nothing BUT openings?
By now, she'd lost track of both of her new teammates(?). No use waiting for someone else to take the lead. With a resolute self-nod, Tenten snapped her left arm forward, throwing her first salvo before dropping to the ground. Snipe and displace. Just like she was taught.
What she WASN'T taught, was what to do when your target snatches a kunai from the air and uses it to parry both of the other kunai without so much as shuffling his feet. Hell, he still had his book open! This wasn't going to work.
OK, so she'll have to be the distraction and hope Neji or Naruto can capitalize on it. Snapping up a fistfull of senbon from the hem of her jacket, Tenten burst from cover and let 'em fly.
-=Neji=-
How does one go about deconstructing a jounin? From what he'd seen so far, Kakashi Hatake was lazy and undisciplined, but he was still considered one of the best the village had to offer.
Tenten was making her move from the other side of the clearing. And as expected, Hatake-san was more than prepared for such an obvious attack. Watching the jounin react revealed a remarkable conservation of effort. If he was going to be open a gap in the man's defenses, it wouldn't be through this distraction.
Not that he wanted to see his temporary teammate lose, but there was no way that Neji would allow himself to fail. He would not allow himself to be inferior, like his cousin. Jumping at the first opportunity was a sure path to defeat.
-=oOo=-
No one was more surprised than Tenten when her senbon slipped past her sensei's borrowed kunai to stick in his chest. And thus she was caught flat-footed when the injured jounin burst into a cloud of smoke to reveal a log pincushion. In that pregnant moment, a hand burst from the ground below her and latched onto her ankle.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique)
In a flash, she was pulled into the earth, leaving only her head exposed, her smug opponent squatting nearby.
"Now now, Tenten-san. A ninja shouldn't act rashly. Here, I'm not without a heart." Kakashi picked a pair of chopsticks from his pouch and laid them in front of the squirming genin.
"Wha- what are these for?"
"For digging!" And with that, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves. Barely a moment later, another blur whipped through the clearing in pursuit. Tenten just stared at the chopsticks, unsure of which powerful emotion to feel first.
Ninja sandals contacted the branch with no more noise than a robin. Kakashi looked down on his oblivious missing genin, working away with ink and brush at the base of a tree. Truth be told, he was excited to see if Naruto really had the family talent for seals. Still, a seal expert without good field habits wouldn't last long enough to become a master. Naruto's exposed back was a problem that needed to be drilled out of him post haste.
Dropping down lightly a few meters behind the boy, Kakashi took note of the seal on the tree over his shoulder. A suspiciously complete looking seal.
再生 (saisei, "playback")
Paranoid instincts from a lifetime of ninja-training burst into life. Leaping away from the harmless looking genin, Kakashi cleared a piles of stones just as it burst into smoke, revealing a smiling blonde with hand outstretched. Not close enough.
Kakashi landed and took a second look at his surroundings. The illusion of Naruto at the tree remained undisturbed, and remarkably convincing. This wasn't a genin's clone technique. The shadows, the sounds. Wait… the brush is tracing already existing lines of the seal. Was it that simple? Naruto doesn't have the experience to imitate the effects his clone should be having on the environment, so he just recorded an illusion of himself and the area around him. The seal and the user didn't need to understand about a person's shadow over grass or the sound of horsehair against treebark. He did it, and the seal copied it.
And Kakashi fell for it.
A charging Naruto came within range, and Kakashi snagged the wrist and shoulder of the boy's haymaker, neatly twisting his arm behind his back. His taijutsu was honestly a bit of a letdown considering the trick that had just been played.
A moment later, his last remaining potential student burst from the brush with an economical two steps followed by a palm thrust to his chest. Or would have, if Kakashi hadn't spun his current opponent around and launched him at the leaping prodigy's feet.
Interestingly, Neji took the maneuver in stride and planted a foot on his incoming teammates body, pushing off to gain altitude and maintain his forward momentum. Naruto, however, didn't take as well to being stomped into the ground.
Advanced, but single-minded. Kakashi waited for the delayed palm thrust, stepping back to put the target just out of range. Neji flowed forward in response, striking at his hip and knee simultaneously. Rather than continue his retreat, the jounin snapped his hooked hands down to poke at the back of the Hyuuga's wrists, redirecting his momentum before contact. A flurry of strikes followed, but met no greater success.
A series of graceful failures built into a seemingly desperate two-fingered lunge as Neji pressed forward without claiming the ground first or unbalancing his opponent.
Kakashi's hand was a blur as it closed around the wrist of Neji's rear hand, which was dangerously close to the bells at his belt, and dragged it into the lead arm's elbow. The wide open genin could only stand his ground for the moment it took for Kakashi to send a palm strike to his solar plexus. The boy in white skipped across the ground sideways and lay gasping in the fallen leaves.
-=Naruto=-
Now was his opportunity. Naruto tucked his feet under him while Kakashi was facing toward Neji's prostrate form and launched himself at the man, kunai in hand.
Apparently, the first time that didn't work wasn't a fluke, because in a whirl of motion that Naruto had trouble following, he was flat on his back.
"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!" (Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu)
And then the lights went out.
Groaning, Naruto blinked up at the dark clouds overhead. Sitting up with a start, he took in his surroundings, but Kakashi had entirely vanished. His teammate was still on the ground, but he wasn't breathing heavy anymore. Did he pass out? He got hit pretty hard there at the end.
Hopping to his feet, Naruto quickly made his way to the other genin to wake him up. Keeping his eyes on the towering trees around him, Naruto knelt and shook the prone figure's shoulder. When he got no response in return, Naruto carefully rolled his teammate over only to jump back when he saw the wreckage of the body's chest. But this wasn't Neji. Blood poured from Mito Uzumaki's mouth as her eyes remained hauntingly open. Her deep red hair was indistinguishable from the stain blooming across her white robes.
"Youma-sensei! Wha… how?!" Tears traced the curve of the boy's face as he came to grips with what his eyes were telling him.
With the palms of his hands pressed to his eyes, he didn't see the clouds above shifting from their dark grey to a red deeper and more threatening than the red that made up the nightmare in front of him. Toxic power rolled through him as he crouched over the body of his most precious person.
-=oOo=-
Neji pushed against the ground and rolled his neck with a satisfying crack. Kakashi had left the clearing and would have to be tracked. While he slowly climbed to his feet, he couldn't help but rub the center of his chest. That hit would have been his death if the jounin hadn't pulled his punch. As expected of a jounin fighting a genin, but Neji wasn't just any genin. He was better. He had to be better.
Stretching his arms back, he quickly confirmed that the bruising wouldn't slow him down too much. Still, it would be a good idea to make a poultice for it when the exercise was finished.
Glancing at his temporary teammate, curled up on the ground and moaning quietly, Neji gave a derisive sniff. Some people just weren't cut out to be ninja. It was probably better for Naruto to be the one to go back to the academy.
With his bearings returned, Neji leapt off into the trees to track down their sensei.
Naruto rolled over, unconscious of everything except what was happening in his mind. A pitiful groan, interrupted by a sob, was all the sound left in the deserted glade.
-=Kakashi=-
Kakashi watched the prodigy fly by following his false trail back toward the first clearing with a sigh. All three of them showed talent and plenty of motivation, but he was fairly certain they hadn't said a single word to each other since the exercise started. If they went into the field with this mentality, any enemy ninja team worth their salt would try to isolate and overwhelm them.
Knowing what's wrong was one thing, but teaching a bunch of kids how to open up to each other wasn't exactly his area of expertise. Maybe they'd be better off with someone else after all.
Still, Naruto's seal trick certainly had his attention. It wasn't the kind of thing that could work twice on the same person, but most of the time something like that wouldn't need to. Combined with the combat skills he'd already seen from Neji and Tenten, they could be an impressive team.
Thirty minutes left. Should he toy with them some more? If they're frustrated enough, they might turn to each other in desperation. At least it'd be a start.
A shiver rolled down his spine as his conscious mind recognized a foreboding feeling seeping through the woods. The hair on his neck had barely stood on end before Kakashi had turned and sped off toward the source.
It took only moments for him to find Naruto on the ground with his back painfully arched and his clenched teeth choking off a cry. An aura of toxic red energy whirled around the genin. Was that the Kyuubi? From a few meters away, Kakashi could feel the energy growing slowly stronger, increasing with every writhing moment of Naruto's suffering. His eyes were closed. Was he still in the death mirage genjutsu? The chakra around him should have broken a genjutsu of that level even if the user remained unaware. Was the Kyuubi keeping the genjutsu intact?
Kakashi reached through the burning red chakra to touch the boy's shoulder, pushing a surge of his own chakra through him.
"Kai!"
As soon as he felt Naruto's chakra stutter, he snatched his hand back, fingers beet red and feeling numb. Still, Naruto was calming down without the genjutsu pushing his anxiety levels higher. The foreign energy seemed to reluctantly recede, leaving Naruto laying limply on the ground looking like he'd been out in the sun too long. Kakashi let out the breathe he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
The chakra leak from Naruto's prisoner was certainly in its very early stages, so most of the village shouldn't have felt a thing, but the jounin really wasn't looking forward to writing up the report on this one.
The boy needed training even more than he realized.
With his adrenaline ebbing, Kakashi picked up Naruto's limp form and draped him over his shoulder before leaping back into the trees.
-=oOo=-
Neji landed in the first clearing already frustrated. He'd been had. The trail was subtle, but clear, until suddenly it wasn't there at all. Kakashi had led him on a wild goose chase. Schooling the subtle frown he'd allowed onto his features, Neji took in his new environment.
Tenten was climbing out of a hole in the ground holding a pair of chopsticks. Did he even want to know?
The clock was still sitting on the tree stump. Twenty minutes until noon.
"So I take it you lost him?" Tenten asked without looking up from brushing dirt off her formerly nice pants.
"There are twenty minutes left in the exercise. There isn't enough time to track him down, and he will likely return to this clearing before the time is up. We will set a trap."
"We?" She looked up at the prodigy with a mischievous grin. "He really must have done a number on you if it's 'We' all of a sudden."
Not dignifying her with a response (and certainly not with a blush), Neji simply continued to scan the area for potential advantages.
Tenten pouted a moment. "OK, fine. What's your idea?"
-=Kakashi=-
In retrospect, Kakashi would fully admit that he was distracted. Of course, he would follow through on the test now that the immediate danger appeared to be over, but he was thinking far too much about the Hokage's reaction than he was about a team of genin hellbent on stealing his bells.
He landed next to the clock with three minutes to spare. As he was unloading his unconscious passenger, his instincts kicked back into gear with the sound of a kunai cutting through the air. Dropping Naruto a little harder than intended, Kakashi jumped back. The fourth tree stump, that frankly shouldn't have been there, burst into smoke as an angry Hyuuga genius closed the last couple steps before he could touch the ground.
Even taken off guard, the genin was still years from fully capitalizing on such a misstep. Kakashi contorted himself in the air just enough to flank Neji's forward hand to clamp an iron grip onto his wrist. The rear hand shot forward and Kakashi brought his knee up to take the shot on his left thigh, causing it to instantly become numb. If there was more time, perhaps it might have been enough, but Neji didn't have the luxury of a battle of attrition.
Kakashi touched down with his good leg just in time to hear several more kunai coming from the treeline. A lightning quick substitution revealed another pincushion log, but Neji was already racing toward the jounin's new position with Byakugan blazing. Realizing his new hiding place was pointless for his fight, Kakashi stepped out from behind the tree and waited for the genin to close.
Initially, Neji appeared to be making headway by pushing Kakashi toward his weakened left leg, but Kakashi managed to occupy both of his hands and shot forward to smash his hitai-ite into the bridge of Neji's nose. Dazed on the ground, Neji watched as another Kakashi came out of the woods dragging a re-dirtied Tenten.
*Ding*
Kakashi started dragging Neji toward the stumps by his leg, but the genin quickly shook off his stupor and climbed to his feet. Still, properly humbled, Neji stalked over to where his two teammates lay on the ground.
Tenten sat up, holding her shoulder tenderly.
Neji stared hard at the jounin. This test was designed to be unwinnable. He'd misunderstood the win condition, but that didn't answer the most pressing question on his mind. He cut quite a figure looking so menacing with blood trickling down from a cut on his nose. "So how did he do it?"
Kakashi cocked his head to the side. Did he hit Neji's head too hard? What was he talking about? Naruto? Kakashi glanced down at the blonde on the ground and something clicked in his head. His eyes were still closed, but he didn't look unconscious. Feeling a sense of humiliating dread, Kakashi glanced to his belt and found what he had feared.
One bell.
Figuring the jig was up, Naruto gave a painful groan as he propped himself into a sitting position. One hand came up to eye level and he dropped something that dangled on a short string with a pleasant jingle. Naruto's shit-eating grin was just insult to injury. Kakashi was never going to live this one down.
-=oOo=-
Author's Notes:
Yep, it's been approximately forever since I've posted something here. Suffice to say, I had lots of time to write back when I started, and then I got a good job, bought a house, and had a kid. Now that I'm more settled, however, I've been getting antsy to do something more creative (and you can thank my wife for supporting that impulse). I don't know if this means I'm back, but I'm going to try to rebuild my writing habits.
For those commenting about Naruto's lack of general ninja ability compared to what he "should" have after learning from Mito (at least a ghost of Mito), she could not adequately teach him taijutsu the way that clan members can learn through sparring. And frankly, she doesn't know how long her imprint will last. Her primary task is to pass on the Uzumaki legacy to Naruto. That means that he is EXTREMELY advanced at sealing (for his age), but also distracted from studying more benal topics that Mito wouldn't want to bother with or couldn't teach very well as a chakra imprint.
As a final note about comments, I really appreciated the positive comments that have been left for this story. I may be itching to write something, but it was the comments that convinced me to write more of this story. Thanks.
Moving on. Ah, the bell test. I hope you like how Naruto's abilities were portrayed. I was trying to strike a balance between a 12 year old and a Naruto who receives more serious, but limited training. Naruto is going to become pretty powerful, but not anytime soon, and maybe never as powerful as he eventually gets in canon. If he's smart, he won't need to be that powerful.
If all goes well, the first Tsukumogami hunt should start in the next chapter :D
