I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OC

Chapter 9

I stared at the leather-bound notebook in front of me. It had a dark brown cover and looked remarkably ordinary. Nothing seemed out of place about it, as if it were just a random journal. However, when I opened it, pictures of various men and women stared back at me, a single picture upon each page, with numerous scribbles under each page.

When I had first learnt about the bingo book in this world, I had quickly managed to appropriate one for my own use. The bingo book from Fire country contains all the information about missing-nin around the Elemental Nations, as well as notable shinobi and kunoichi from other countries. I had collated the information into my own book, as well as whatever rumours and hearsay I could gather about these ninjas in case I met them out in the field. I then formed various strategies to take down each one of them, keeping in mind their strengths and weaknesses, like their stamina, elemental affinities, physical build and intelligence et cetera. Of course, all these were written in code, and also in a second notebook that I kept hidden in case I misplaced it.

I had just finished collating the new information on Kakuzu that I had learnt in the discussion with Shisui Uchiha and the Hokage. Frankly, his ability was not only disturbing, but also ridiculously overpowered. Not only does it allow him to obtain the elemental affinities of others, and use threads with the strength of steel, the most important ability is the extension of his natural lifespan. Disregarding the fact that we have to kill him five times to ensure he is dead, the fact remains that he is extremely old and thus has accumulated a great deal of battle experience. This sole fact means that he will likely be prepared for any usual forms of attack and only an attack of overwhelming strength or something he has never seen before would surprise him.

I leaned back, closed my eyes and let out a sigh. I still could not get over the concept of myself reincarnating into a different world. A world that made fun of ninjas by making them out to be massively overpowered warriors that fought in the open, often one on one, with attacks that could bend the elements. At the apex of all these stood the S-class monsters. I could not knowingly call them ninjas anymore, for they had clawed their way up over mountains of bodies, and rivers of blood to stand at the top of the shinobi realm. Each one was so massively difficult to injure, much less kill, that they could no longer be called human. They had abilities that normal ninjas could not fathom – teleportation, invulnerability, summoning beasts larger than the Hokage Mountain were just some of them. In the current generation though, there is a drop in ninjas becoming recognised in S-rank.

After the end of the third ninja war, less ninjas died, allowing good, well trained ninjas to remain. This meant there was an increase in highly trained ninjas. However, for all their abilities, it is also through this lack of war and conflict that caused many of them to stagnate. Most of them still trained regularly and kept their skills sharp, but they lacked the edge, the sharpness and the desperation that made strong ninja break through the barrier and transcend to the top to become a legend. They lacked the will power to try new things and create their path to success. Compare Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake for example. The Yondaime was born in a time of war and developed his skills through a ridiculous amount of conflict and battle, causing him to develop his abilities to their peak and constantly invent new techniques that launched him into worldwide renown. On the other hand, Kakashi, who was also lauded as a prodigy, developed at a similar speed, but once the third war ended, he started to stagnate. His only original technique was created during the war, and after that, he only relied on his Sharingan for new techniques. Theoretically, his sharingan coupled with his genius should have made him an s-rank by now, but without the war, he lacked the drive to continuously improve at the same rate, leaving him as an extremely strong A-rank ninja in the end.

But what I wanted, what I desperately needed to be, is to be an S-rank. With my skills, I knew I could kill most people. However, unlike in my previous world, I could no longer just rely on them, I will have to grow so overwhelmingly strong that when ambush and diversionary techniques do not work, I can still use devastating attacks to complete my mission. After all, that was the creed of shinobi.

***BREAK***

The sun was peeking out and barely colouring the sky a rosy hue when Shisui left the hospital. He was eager to stretch his legs and get back to training. After the defeat, and there was no doubt it was a defeat for him, by Kakuzu, who was sure to come back stronger and tougher, he had an unquenchable need to get better and improve himself.

At the moment though, he was free from the shackles and the tyrannical bed site manner of the little nurse. She was a devil in disguise, preventing him from leaving through the hospital window, which was how he usually escaped from the oppressive place, by placing a multitude of explosive tags around it, and shock tags on the door. He really wanted to strangle whoever either taught her seals or told her about them and let her self-study. It was a plain abuse of authority, he thought with a mini pout.

"Shisui," He looked up to see his best friend standing across him, "You look better than the last time I saw you." Itachi may have been a few years younger than him, but he was always the more mature of the two, and he always had a way of speaking that made him feel older – not in terms of years, but rather in experience. There was an underlying tone that made you straighten your back and listen, even with his soft voice. Strangely, it reminded him of the devil girl – Midori, he remembered – and that made him start to compare the two even further.

From what he knew, she graduated from the academy early, just like Itachi, though she was not recognised as a genius unlike Itachi. In contrast, her graduation was considered a fluke and quite a few Academy teachers had petitioned to the Hokage to make her continue to attend the economy to no avail. On the other hand, from what he saw and observed, her medical skills were quite high – though she only has a Class C medical license – she was able to make pretty good quality seals, she was extremely stealthy considering she was able to sneak up on him a few times in his stay at the hospital and she had good deductive abilities from their conversation with the Hokage. Additionally, while he could not see enough of her body to determine how hard she physically trains, her walk and posture had a lethality and contained sharpness to it – like a sharp tanto wrapped in a velvet cloth – that he saw only when he used his sharingan around her. To have such control of your body was an extreme feat and only masters of taijutsus tend to give off such mastery of body.

He concentrated back on Itachi, "Hnn, getting into bad shape is to be expected when fighting sch a powerful opponent after all…at least I came back in one piece." The same can't be said for the rest of his squad members – they would all live, but more often than not, most ninja that gravely injured had to quit the work force and either get stuck doing administrative duties or find a civilian job. "How's Sasuke been?"

"The same…we should go back to the compound. My father is waiting for your report." Itachi replied, his face not shifting at all, his impassive gaze analyzing Shisui's body for any remaining wounds.

"Hnn, very well, let's go."

***BREAK***

An aging man in with a large white hat stood on top of the Hokage's mountain. He enjoyed the panoramic view for a moment, taking in the sunrise and the village waking up as shopkeepers started opening their shops for the days business and young civilian children and shinobi-to-be milled around the roads on their way to their respective schools. He noticed the hidden ANBU members that were keeping a watchful eye on the population, the steady, slightly arrogant gait of the Uchiha Military Police members as they eyed the crowd for any issues, and he noticed the slight signs left behind by the small bodies of Danzo's Root members as they went about looking and hearing for any information that might be interesting.

The recent fight between Shisui's team and Kakuzu was just one of the many weird occurrences lately, and he could sense a changing wind. Soon, there would be a storm engulfing the Elemental Nations. He could only hope Konoha would be ready for it.

Pulling his hat further down to cover his eyes, he disappeared with the breeze.

***BREAK***

Tokuma stared at Midori in fascination. His byakugan was shown on his face as veins protruded around his milky eyes. He had never seen a style of chakra training so ridiculous. She had got him to place 20 senbon on various tenketsus using their needle point. Not only was she keeping them upright and in place, she was coiling a chakra string – no, a thread – around each one, through each tenketsu. Normally only puppeteers used chakra strings and even then, they used it from their hands. The fact that she was using it from twenty different parts on her body, none of which are her hands, was mind-blowing. Granted she was not having much success yet, and he could only see the faintest head of chakra thread coming from 4 of her tenketsu, but it was already a sign of her future prowess.

At the corner of the training grounds, he saw Muta practicing his use of kikaichu in various formations for capturing and tracking, along with a steel web formed by a few wires coiling around his fingers. It was a style of combat he picked up from Midori, and while he was nowhere near proficient in them, he was working hard at it. Already, the synergy between the wires and his kikaichu was shining through and Tokuma could see the potential use in making more effective on the spot traps.

While he was observing his friends, he was not slacking, he was taking the time to go through an obstacle course designed by Namiashi-sensei to train his agility and increase his awareness, while at the same time teaching his mind to multitask since he was keeping an eye on both Muta and Midori even while avoiding the numerous traps. For a Hyuuga, strength was unimportant, precision and agility was. With a single touch of their fingers, they could immobilize or cripple a person, so having great strength was not useless per say, but rather, it does not add as much value as training his agility.

Rolling on the floor to dodge a crossbow bolt, he saw Midori's eyes flash open; Muta's deft flicks of his fingers as he recoiled the wires around his hand; and a flurry of leaves appearing in the middle of the training ground as his sensei appeared.

"All of you gather. I have news."


Author's Note

Thank you all for reviewing, I am sorry for being MIA for such a long period of time. I have been busy with the start of University and trying to cope with the hectic lifestyle. Hope you enjoy this chapter, tell me what you think and how I can improve!

The end.