Chapter 12: Weekend Training
"We're finally doing this then, huh?" Naruko asked with some dread as she stared at the building in front of her.
"Better now than never," Benihime announced while resting on the Uzumaki's shoulder.
After arriving home last night Naruko had just simply crashed on her bed in exhaustion and only woke up in the morning due to her alarm. It was by some miracle she hadn't destroyed that infernal machine as her body rose. This was followed by her putting on workout clothes and automatically going through the exercise regimen. Then when the girls got back home Naruko summoned two shadow clones to make breakfast as she finally got a hot bath.
Once that was done, she equipped all of her repaired leather gear alongside the thief gloves since the leather braces didn't cover her hands. Next, she looked for the glasses they acquired from the mad priest's laboratory and equipped them.
{Equipment}
(Narrow) Rectangular Glasses |Accessory 1|
Description: A common pair of lenses used to help the wearer read or have a better look at the world. Just wearing them makes you feel smarter!
+5 INT
Then Naruko looked herself in her new full-length. Today the Uzumaki decided to wear her black jacket with orange fox head hoodie over a dark orange t-shirt, dark blue pants, and black ninja sandals. Her blonde hair was left down and held out of her eyes by her green mask goggles. To her surprise, using the goggles as fashion items hide her glasses much like her helmet and the armor under her clothing. Finally, the gamer put on her Slime King watch and was out towards her next destination.
This location, which the pair were now standing in front of, was the library. Today's mission was to get the needed material for Benihime to teach Naruko how to read and write. Last night the Navi and Hokage had theorized that between the shadow clones' ability to share information and the Gamer Mind's ability to learn and retain new information from books Naruko would have a much easier time learning these basic skills. However, they would first have to get into the library without getting immediately kick out.
"Maybe we just cut out losses and sneak in?" Naruko suggested.
Yet before either of the girls could reject or plan out the action the door opened. The person who walked out turned out to be the teacher for kunoichi specific skills, Suzume. The curly raven-haired stopped upon seeing Naruko and blinked behind her glasses. The chunin then turned around to see through the glass door into the library before turning back to Naruko with a smile/smirk.
"Guess I owe Umino-san a baker's dozen after all," Suzume said with some cheer in her brown eyes. Then she adjusted her glasses and asked, "Is there something you wish for Uzumaki-san? As one of your teachers, if you're looking for a particular class subject, I could provide help."
Naruko heard this and had to think of a response. On one hand, Suzume-sensei was one of the few people that didn't hate her. Sure, the chunin teacher was someone who likes to follow rules had more than once clashed with the troublemaking student but the woman was always fair in class. Heck, that woman had even taken the time to help Naruko understand the intricacies of skills like flower arranging, applying make-up and how to pass off as a normal civilian female. On the other hand, the Uzumaki didn't know if she could trust the woman with the knowledge of her shortcomings.
"I think you can trust her," Benihime said through their communicator. "I can't sense any hostility towards you from her. Plus, as she said, it's her job as a teacher to help students looking to learn."
Naruko heard this, thought about and sighed in acceptance. Then, she looked around, saw some people walking by and asked the woman to crouch. Suzume raised an eyebrow but figured the child must have been embarrassed so she complied. Naruko then cupped her hands around the woman's ear and whispered.
"I don't know how to read or write so I came here to learn."
Whatever Suzume had been expecting was not this and at first, she thought this was another prank. However, when she turned to see the honesty in the girl's cerulean eyes she frowned. Many questioned flooded the chunin's mind at this revelation. Thankfully she managed to join the majority of them into two.
"How is that possible? How could you have reached your age and grade without knowing how to do this?" At the question, the whiskered blonde shrugged in with a weary smile.
"No one ever bothered to teach me," Naruko answered and added, "And by the time Iruka-sensei was my teacher I just kind of learn to copy or imitate what everyone else was doing. Most of the time it came out as unreadable or that I answered in the wrong place by accident. In the end, I managed to fake it as someone with horrible penmanship and no sense of organization."
"And the reason you did well in my class is that I didn't use written tests," Suzume added with a frown. She had known that a lot of the other teachers outright hated the small Uzumaki for the burden placed on her. Yet it was truly aggravating to know they would neglect the girl this much.
'We're teachers! It's our job to help guide our students to be the best they can and survive the world outside the village walls, dammit!' she thought with anger before sighing. Then she stood up and said, "Okay, Uzumaki-san. After what you have said I've taken into consideration giving you some tutoring. Therefore, let's go in, get you a library card since you probably don't have one and then pick up some entry-level books to show you the basics."
"Thank you, Suzume-sensei!" Naruko said and followed the chunin instructor into the library.
Their first stop was the counter where an elderly lady was writing in a book. Suzume introduced the elder librarian as Nonoko and asked her if she could make an ID card for Naruko. The elderly woman looked at the child with a critical eye behind her glasses for a moment before agreeing, much to the Uzumaki's surprise. Nonoko then opened a drawer and pulled out a blank ID card that had a seal in the middle. She handed the card to Naruko and asked if the girl had anything to draw blood.
"Excuse me?" a startle Naruko questioned and both adults chuckled.
"Don't worry dearie," the elderly librarian started "You just need to place a drop of blood on the seal. Then you have to feed the card with your chakra. After this seal with write in your name, age, card id number, and access level. The seal on the card also has a second function.
By infusing chakra in the back of the card, it will create a blue window with white letters that lets you see the list of books, scrolls, newspapers, magazines or manuscripts you have either read, completed, bought or borrowed. Normally civilians do not have access to any books or scrolls related to any type of jutsu. However, as you are an academy student, you'll be granted entrée to jutsu from F to D-rank.
Any books, scrolls, newspapers, magazines or manuscripts you wish to take out or buy for the library must be brought here to the counter. For borrowed items, you will be asked to provide your living address the first time or if you have to change the billing address and pay 15 copper. Normally loaning periods are one week and should the item not be returned in the allowed day late fees will be 1 copper per night."
After the instructions and Naruko completed making her card Suzume asked in they could borrow one of the tutoring rooms. Nonoko nodded and gave a numbered key to the teacher who accepted them with gratitude. Next, the student and instructor were in the child's section collecting the needed studying material. Once that was done the pair entered their assigned room which Suzume was quick in preparing for the lesson. The chunin was about to start when she heard a popping sound and turned to see the room filled with white smoke.
The poor woman nearly had a heart attack when she saw five Uzumaki Naruko's sitting on their chairs around the grey table. The student seemed to notice her distress and gave an embarrassed grin.
"Sorry for the surprise. After the Hokage told me about the Kyubi sealed in me and learned about my learning problems he said it would be for the best that I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He explained how their memory-sharing works with the caster and how I could carefully use it to improve my studying. The real trick is to dispel the most advanced one so everyone else gets to the level, replace the clone and repeat the cycle. It also helps a ton if you get a clone to make others. That way backlash from lots of memory is reduced considerably."
"H-H-He taught you the Shadow- Wait, you know about the seal?!"
"Somethings happened and he had no choice but to tell me," Naruko said with a shrug. Then she added"Thanks for being one of the few people that don't judge me for it, Suzume-sensei."
"I see," Suzume said flatly and soon clear her throat. Thus, for the following hour and a half, Naruko and her clones were tutored on the basics of how to read and write.
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[Outside of the library]
"Thank you again for the tutoring lesson, Suzume-sensei," Naruko said with a respectfully bow. The chunin smiled at the action and adjusted her glasses.
"You're welcome, Uzumaki-san. Now you just have to have to practice but don't be afraid of asking Umino-san or I help if needed. The academy does have a tutoring program for students and both of us tend to work on the program regularly. Still, I never thought I get to see someone used shadow clones the way you did."
"It's thanks to my abnormally dense chakra and fast healing factor but thank you anyway. Also, I'll send a couple of clones to practice back home and you'll likely see me on those tutoring classes. I have a lot of catching up to do! Oh and before I forget. Sandaime-sama will probably be asking for the academy staff to meet with him soon due to some information that he has uncovered about the Headmaster. Given you'll help me did much I thought it would be appropriate to warn you before someone tries to stab you in that back. There are very few staff members I can see being trustworthy."
"I see. I guess my next stop for today has been decided then. Thank you Uzumaki-san."
With that instructor and student parted ways both feeling accomplished. One for seeing her student's improvement and the other for finally being able to do something people took for granted. Sure, Naruko's read slower than a snail and her writing still looked like chicken scratches but at least she could now understand the symbols on the page. That was worlds above what she could do last night and it was thanks to one person, a real teacher no less, taking their time to show her the right way.
"Here I thought teachers were just meant to torture us homework and math. Guess I was wrong," Naruko commented while walking to her next destination.
"Oh, that is still part of their job but yes most of the time real teachers just want to see their students improve," Benihime added while she noticed they had entered the merchant district. "Anything, in particular, you want to buy?"
"Not this time," the blonde said with a smile and looked around.
It took a while to find the location that Naruko was looking for since she was practicing her newfound ability to read by reading all posters or signs they came across. Still, she managed to find the store with a sign with a kunai going through a gold coin. Below written in lager black letter it read Higurashi Weapons. The chime at the door announced her presence to the person on the register who welcomed her. The cashier turned out to be her honorary sister Tenten Higurashi, aka Katana-nee and just the person she was looking for. The two quickly recognized each other and Naruko walked to the panda girl who was in the process of polishing a set of kunai.
"Considering the smell, I'm willing to bet you've being doing that since before we met," Naruko commented and Tenten laughed.
"Yep, mom and dad always wanted me to take over the business one day so they taught me early. Cleaning the cuties and darlings around the shop has become my go-to way of meditation at this point," the brunette told as she finished. "Now, are you here for business, pleasure or a new job?"
"A bit of all three actually," the Uzumaki responded without missing a beat, much to the genin's surprise. "See, recently I've come into some information about storage seals that ended up with me creating an entirely new one. However, Hokage-sama, who at the time was with me do to relate matters, forbid me from making more than seven. One for me and one for him. That left me with five that I would give to people I trusted. You, Kanata-nee, are one of those people."
"Okay?" Tenten responded with a questioned eyebrow. "Say I don't believe you, which is true given how we used to work, how would you prove to me that what you're saying is true?"
"See those three barrels full of discount weapons?" Naruko pointed to her right, the teen's left, to which the genin nodded.
After this, the Uzumaki walked over while summoning three shadow clones and took out her ninja pouch. At this point, the item was more for distraction as she could summon for her inventory at any point but she needed to make this illusion seemed real to "sell" the item to her friend.
"Okay, look carefully because this is what I want to give you." With that said she ordered the clones to lift the barrels one by one and put them inside her small pouch. Between the three copies, they easily lifted the heavy objects and inserted them into their new storage space. Once they were done, she turned to her sister who had her jaw on the floor.
"Wha… But… You… How?! That was more than 50 medium-sized objects! No matter how many people have tried they had never been able to get a Large Storage Seal to work a container that small," Tenten said in disbelief of she was seeing.
Naruko laughed at this and said that this was why these pouches were special. She also made sure to explain why the Hokage had forbidden the mass production of these storage seals. While the female Higurashi was happy with it given the versatility, she wasn't willing to go against the leader's order. Plus, this still meant she would have an extremely rare item that people taught was only a dream.
"What the catch? Things like this always come with one," the twin hair-bun wearer asked with crossed arms and analytical chocolate eyes. The whiskered blonde smiled at this.
"Very true and its two actually," Naruko announced held up her hand. "First, I'll need a drop of your blood and a lock of hair. This way the pouch will only react to you. Second, when I finally tell you how I make these you must not tell anyone I don't deem trustworthy. Think of it as a trade secret."
"That's it?"
"Yep! Think of it as a family discount."
Tenten stared at her sister's blue eyes for any sign of deception but found none. Sure, her little Knives had always been hard to read behind that mask of smiles and grins of her. But, in the short amount of time the two played together as kids, the brunette had learned to read some of the girls tell and didn't find them. Thus, she chuckled and agree as this would mean she could carry even more surprises for her enemies.
The Weapon Mistress of Konoha was one step closer to becoming a legend!
"Okay, now that you have my hair and blood," Tenten said while putting her hair back into their twin buns. "Is there anything else you want? New kunai, shuriken, repair kits for your weapons and armor? Bet you would love a whetstone for the scythe of yours."
"What type of whetstone? I'm sure I can pay the bronze and silver ones but I don't know how expensive the gold ones are." Naruko had to raise an eyebrow at how the cashier burst into giggles at her question.
"Wow, Knives. That a good one!" the brunette laughed. Thankfully she calmed down quickly. "I was talking about our stone or ceramic whetstones. Considering you're a student I doubt you have the coin for a wheel but I'm sure you could afford one of our blocks. Heck, I can even throw in an instruction booklet for free since it would probably be the first time your using one."
"Oh, well which to do you suggest?" the whiskered student asked. Her weapons didn't need sharpening, cleaning or polishing but that didn't mean she didn't want to learn about this. Especially so when her concept of whetstones looked to be incompatible with reality. 'Who knows, maybe doing it the right way will get me something?'
[+1 INT for thinking of creating the forbidden union between 2D & 3D!]
"I would suggest the ceramic one. Easier to use and makes those blades nice and sharp. Plus, they don't break as often as the natural stone ones." Tenten answered like a proper sells-woman.
"I'll take one of those then," Naruko said while trying to ignore the pop-up. Not noticing the blonde's annoyance, the brunette turned back to the shelf behind her. From there she opened a drawer and pulled out the desired items before ringing them. Without protest, the bill was paid by the student.
"Thank you for your purchase and please come again!" the genin said with a grin that infected her little sister. After which the blonde said her thanks and good-byes as she turned to leave. "Hey, wait a moment!" Tente cried out before harshly grabbed the girl's shoulder and turned her around. Naruko was about to complain when she was met with a fierce but annoyed glare. "Put the barrels back," the chocolate eye girl commanded while pointing at the empty stop.
Naruko, confused, turned to see her three shadow clones still standing there waiting for orders. The Uzumaki nervously sweated and chuckled embarrass since she had completely forgotten that.
"Whoops."
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[Hokage Mountain – Yondaime's Head]
While many would think eating lunch on top of one of the monuments of their leaders was disrespectful Naruko didn't care. Sitting here, where the whole village could be seen, always had a soothing sensation on her as if none of the hateful words or glares could reach her. Plus, now that she knew her element was wind, Naruko finally understood why feeling the free air was so calming and energizing.
"You know, Beni-chan? I think it's about time I start training for real. I've had this power for almost a week and I've barely done anything with it. I know I'm just starting but being so much weaker than everyone is just getting annoying."
"Well, your level 5 now, right? There should be a new option for a dungeon map raffle. The first pull is free but every other one you will need a gold key."
At this information, the Uzumaki blinked in surprise and opened her Game Shop. Sure enough, there was a new tab for the raffle and with instructions. As Benihime had explained, you did need a Golden Key but only if you wanted to ensure you would get a random epic-rarity level map. However, that didn't ensure it would be a map appropriate to the player's level. The shop also explained the random maps could be generated but money had to be provided.
[Adventure Map Raffle!]
150 bronze coins = 1 map of common or rare rarity level
300 silver coins = 3 maps of between common to legendary rarity level. Ensures that its at least super-rare or higher. [Can pay with Silver Keys]
500 gold coins = 5 maps of between common to epic rarity level. Ensures at least one is legendary or higher. (Can pay with Golden Keys)
"Dear Kami-sama! What is wrong with these prices?!" Naruko in distress, rage and disbelieve. Benihime just sighed and shook her head.
"It's a gacha mechanic. What did you expect? Those things are meant to drain you of all of your money and soul. Though I can't believe my creator would stoop so low as to add microtransactions into this."
"Microtransaction?! With 500 gold I could probably buy a house! There is nothing remotely micro about that," screamed the Uzumaki with enough force to slightly push back the fairy.
"Then I guess you'll just have to use keys," the smaller redhead said while adjusting her hairband and hair. In response, Naruko glared at the raffle before you could see a lightbulb lit up over her head as a devious grin grew on her lips.
"A raffle is gambling, right? HA! My blessing from the Lady Luck means I win any gambling event. So that means I'll get all 5 dungeon maps as epic on my first free draw! No need to use this again," Naruko proclaimed with a satisfying laugh.
Not three seconds later their ears were assaulted with an ear-bleeding alarm.
[WARNING!]
[The adventure map raffle cannot be affected by Luck based abilities or third-party software. Should the player use illegal means like third-party software a punishment will be given.]
"Oh, I am really starting to hate that bastard," the Uzumaki growled at seeing the warning. At least this time the system didn't outright punish her like how it happened in the last dungeon. Hence, she took a quick calming breath and decided that she might as well use the raffle this one time. 'Who knows? Maybe beating one map will reward me with another and so on. I sure as hell will not play those stupid prices.'
With that in mind, Naruko clicked the free 5 maps pull that was gifted to her. The moment she did so a chest with a question mark appeared before her. The chest then shook violently before exploding and five folded maps appeared in front of her.
[Adventure Map – Infested Sewer {Required Lv 1-5} |Common| acquired!]
[Adventure Map – Abandoned Village {Required Lv 1-15} |Common| acquired!]
[Adventure Map – Techno City {Required Lv 25-30} |Legendary| acquired!]
[Adventure Map – 1000 Dune Dessert {Required Lv 15-40} |Common| acquired!]
[Adventure Map – Slime Island {Required Lv 1-100} |Epic| acquired!]
[Due to the player owning five (5) or more adventure maps the player will be provided with an Adventuring Atlas |Special Item| book to store their map collection. NOTE: It is possible to find multiple versions of the same map. Should this happen the new version can be discarded or fuse with the previous one to rise its max level by five (5).]
"This is interesting," Naruko said as the book appeared on her hand. The book was of average size and a strong cardboard cover. To the blonde's surprise, the cover art was of herself and Benihime. In the art Naruko had her back to the reader while holding a backpack, her blonde hair flowing in the wind and Benihime floating beside her. They were on a hill overlooking a vast grand world ready to be explored.
The whiskered girl opened that book to see that only five pages had a map in them while every other page was empty. Wondering how the portals would work she touched one of them and a window appears asking if she wanted to enter.
"Wait," the fairy said. "I think it would be best if we go home and then enter the dungeon. The book is the doorway and who's to say leaving it here unattended wouldn't damage it. If the map is destroyed there is the very real possibility that we could never come back."
"Good idea."
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(Adventure Map - Slime Island)
[Hunting ground access time remaining – 2hrs;59mins;59secs]
[Special Condition: Monsters in the area only turn hostile if attacked]
Once Naruko passed through the gate she noticed the salty air, the warm sun on her skin and the sand beneath her sandals. A particularly strong gust of wind passed her from behind and on instinct, she turned to its direction. As Naruko's blonde hair whip behind her, she could only gasp in wonder with wide eyes at the large, expansive and sparkling blue visage before her.
"This is your first time seeing the ocean, isn't it?" Benihime asked with a smile at seeing her mistress pure wonder.
"Yes," Naruko whispered. "I've never even been outside the village's walls. Will I be able to find more places like this?"
"The world is full of places like this and with your powers, you'll find some even greater. However, we shouldn't waste much time admiring the scenery or we'll run out the timer."
It was only then the Naruko finally noticed the countdown timer on her UI. Confused she asked her fairy/manual why one was present now. Benihime explained that were special dungeons or areas that could only be accessed during certain times or conditions. Depending on the locations a variety of monster types or families could be gathered to battle them during the allowed time. These also meant one could potentially find variations of the monsters that are levels above the player's current level. Hence, they should pursue with caution if the area turned the inhabitants aggressive.
"Okay, that's good to know. So, given the name of this place I'm guessing the monsters here are all slime types, right?"
As if to answer her question she noticed a couple of Seaslimes moving around in their shells around the beach, the jellyfish-like Man o' War and Healslime interlocking tentacles and out in the ocean waters she noticed a shark-like Aqua Slime jump and eat seagull the had been flying by. Then, due to the bouncing behind, she turned to look at a normal Slimes moving along the edge of the sand.
Seeing those cute smiling creatures just hanging out almost made her feel bad about pulling out her scythe. Still, she needed to get stronger and she only had a set amount of time to spend here. Hence, Naruko chose to start with the regular slimes as she doubted her level would be enough to handle the later versions. Thankfully as she went further inland, she started finding other variations like the orange Box Slimes and She-slimes, green Bubble Slimes and by pure accident she let tree slimes combined into a Slime-stacks.
The last one managed to surprise her when she scanned them and they possessed an attack power of 76 alongside a defense of 83. At first, she couldn't believe that the silly looking trio could be stronger than the abomination she fought yesterday. All doubt quickly after getting tackled into a tree and the tree visibly cracking from the impact. Thankfully she managed to dodge the following attack and, against the wishes of her pride, ran away as fast as she could. Slime-stack seemed to become content with her choice as it stayed to eat the apples that had fallen from the tree.
"Dammit!" Naruko cursed out as she panted once she was far enough from the monster fusion. "I should have asked *pant* Hinata-chan and Ino-chan to help. *pant* I bet with a team I could-" She couldn't facepalm herself harder as her brain caught up with her mouth. Then she quickly crossed her fingers while molding her chakra, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
As the smoked cleared Naruko could see ten copies of herself waiting for orders. However, this time she noticed new information being displayed. A new player had entered the field.
(Guest) Shadow Clone Army [Lv1]
XP: 0/99
Hp: 10/10
MP: 750
[Do you want to read the Shadow Clone Army tutorial?]
[YES/NO]
"I can't believe you forgot your clones," Benihime deadpanned which made her mistress blush in shame. "Since you've been using them all morning for a task like cleaning, cooking and studying I thought you weren't using them because you wanted a challenge."
"No, I was clearly not using them because my wisdom stat is in the negatives," the Uzumaki reprimanded herself for dropping the ball like that. "Now let's see what this tutorial is about," she added while confirming the need for more information.
[Shadow Clone Army tutorial]
[As your sensei, Hiruzen Sarutobi, explained while teaching you the Shadow Clone Jutsu, this technique uses a vast amount of chakra from the user. However, due to your chakra mixing with mana the potency has increased dramatically which in turn lowers the MP requirements of any jutsu. This lets you summon multiple clones at a time.
It is thanks to this fact that a new combat skill was created. The Shadow Clone Army skill makes it so that the clones all share one mana pool. The Mp is the combination of what was used to create them. Should the army's HP (the number of clones) be whipped out and it still has MP remain that amount can be utilized to revive the allowed number of clones.
The Shadow Clone Army skill also allows the clones to level up through experience gain in battle like the player. Only ATK, AGI, INT and PER stats will grow through level up. Also, when summoned the clones' level will be determined by the level of this skill.
NOTE: each clone only possesses 1HP and 0DEF hence they will die from any attack that lands. There exists a method to increase DEF for clones but the player has to find what it is for themselves.]
"Now, this is interesting! Let's go kick the Slime-stack's ass ladies!" Naruko called out. In union, all of the clones cried and were about to charge when a powerful whistle got everyone's attention. Then turned to see a slightly irritated Benihime.
"I'm happy that you're playing on using this new skill to overwhelm your opponent but I think for now it would be best if you didn't. If you scan them, you'll realize that all of your clones have the same strength you had at Lv1 without the bonus attributes from equipment, skills or anything."
Doing as suggested Naruko scanned the clones. Sure enough, every single clone had there had their stats at 1. It would have been a massacre against her if they had gone to fight that monster. Then she looked at the timer and notice at least 30 minutes have passed and she still hadn't to level up which was the whole reason she had entered this map. With the mission back to the forefront Naruko decides to keep farming the lower tier slimes.
After this, the army of Uzumaki's proceeded to hunt down the creatures. Everything was going fine and the army had managed to level up at least once. That is until a clone had missed her throw and hit one of the King Slimes. The attack easily bounced off the gelatinous body of the high-level slime but it was enough for it to become hostile. Naruko was quick to cut her losses and threw all her remaining clones at it as she dashed away.
Poor clones didn't last more than two seconds.
Thankfully she managed to get enough distance that the creature didn't give chase. However, due to turning her head back to look back Naruko was unable to look at the small hill she was going to run over. Benihime did and tried to warn Naruko but the blonde couldn't stop herself from tripping. This caused her to rolled down the small hill but thankfully the damage was minimal as she reached the end. Yet as the Uzumaki got up, she felt an incredible amount of pressure on top of her.
While the presence didn't show any malice the amount of power it was radiating by just standing over her was mind-blowing. The Uzumaki's mind was quickly calmed down by her bloodline limit but she still had to force herself to gulp before looking up. There she found a humanoid figure about Kakashi's height staring down at her wearing blue armor that made them look like a super sentai. However, the armored figure also had a slight tattered red scarf wrapped around its neck and a golden slime emblem on its waist and knees. Even scanning it all she could get was its name: Ultra Slime.
"What are you doing here human?" the Ultra Slime asked calmly much to her surprise. She could also see he kept the red slime drill on his right arm at the ready. "Do not lie."
"I'm hunting monsters," Naruko answered towards the creature's visor. Time seemed to stand still as she felt the humanoid slime judging if she was worth his time. 'Dammit, I knew the level is this place went up to 90 but this is insane! It's like I'm being stared down by Jiji.'
The monster kept staring down at her and she could feel the nervous sweat building on her brow. Still, if the Uzumaki was going to die here she was going to make sure the creature saw the last defying spark in her eyes. The Ultra Slime's eyes seem to notice this before he laughed and offered her a hand.
"I like that fire in your eyes child! Here let me help you," he said good-naturedly. Cautiously Naruko took the hand and was easily lifted to her feet. Then the humanoid slime softly dusted her off. "Not many of your kind have that force of will when faced with someone as strong as I."
"I'm surprised you aren't trying to kill me like most of the monsters that I interact with," Naruko commented and the Ultra Slime gave boisterous laugh.
"There are many reasons shōjo: you're too weak to bother, you haven't attacked me, you aren't my nemesis and this island has a very nice clamming effect!"
"The first one seemed kind of insulting," the Uzumaki noted with some displeasure. Next thing Naruko knew the hill behind her exploded with enough force to pull the fox hood over her head and whip her hair. Blue eyes turned to see a drill encased arm coiling back from beside her head. A few more degrees of movement then showed a hole twice her size and without apparent end carved into the hill.
"Could you see me move?" the Ultra Slime asked calmly while staring down at the child. Even as her mind remained calm Naruko couldn't help by gulp nervously as she shook her head negatively. The super sentai chuckled good heartily and patted the gamer's golden head, "Then that is the reason why you wouldn't be a proper challenge for me. Now shōjo-"
"My name is Naruko Uzumaki," the girl's mouth corrected before she could stop herself. Thankfully she could feel the warrior's satisfied grin.
"Now Uzumaki-shōjo," the Ultra Slime started again while looking from something in his belt. "I must be my way to fight my rival Nemeslime! But since your potential has stroked my curiosity, I will give you these to help on your journey!"
[You've acquired the Squishy-Gooey Goodies recipe!]
[You've acquired Goometal x10!]
[You've acquired Challenge Coin – Ultra Slime (Lv90)]
"Thank you?" Naruko said confused at the thought of a monster just handing her equipment recipes and some of the corresponding materials. After this, the Ultra Slime was about to leave them the whiskered girl noticed the final item. "Hey, wait! Why did you give me all of this? We just met."
"Because when I woke up on this island, I heard a voice that said to find a human child and give her those items," he answered. "However, your fire shows that one day you could rise to be a true challenge. Hence, I see no reason why I shouldn't give you a coin to summon me so we can fight. Plus, should you defeat me I would gladly fight alongside you!"
"Can I give this challenge to another?"
"Come again?" Seeing and hearing to utter confusion on the creature Naruko repeated her question. The armor being blinked still confused, "Well yes. It is possible to bestow upon another the honor to fight me. But why would you pass a chance of fighting and possibly earning one such as I?"
The Uzumaki looked the red coin over in her possession. On one side was the engraved image of the Ultra Slime and on the other was an engraving of two swords clashing. Naruko closed her fist around the coin and smirk before looking at the humanoid slime.
"My world is divided into five-nation with the military of each controlled by the strongest man in the village. The man I know as a grandfather is one such man and by many considered the strongest of these five individuals. This is the person I wish to bestow the honor of fighting you. Would this be acceptable Ultra Slime-sama?"
The creature heard this declaration backed by the girl's unyielding conviction and felt his entire body shake with pure excitement at the promise of a real challenge. While he had long since grown out of the desire to kill and devour like most of its mindless brethren, he was still a monster. Battle was in his soul and this new opponent seems like it would be a good one. Hence the creature laughed in anticipation as he turned to leave but not before saying…
"Fine! Give it to your leader. Our battle shall be glorious!" With that final declaration, the super sentai slime walked towards the tree line and vanished in a burst of speed.
"It would be awesome to training under that guy if Jiji beats him. Don't you think Beni-chan?" Naruko asked and waited. Silence. "Beni?" she questioned again and looked but of her shoulders to find nothing. "BENIHIME?!"
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!" a voice called out from her shirt. Looking down she found Benihime's head popping out of the space between her boobs. "Thank the lord for the valley between the mounds," the fairy said with a sigh.
"What are you doing in my chest?" the now blushing girl asked. The fairy floated out of the shit and sighed.
"That explosive force of his punch nearly sent me flying but I managed to hold on to a few locks of your hair. After that, I climbed inside of your clothes to hide since, unlike you, I do feel fear. And let me tell you that power of his was unreal," Benihime answered while trying to fix her hair. Then she turned to face her friend, "By the way, what can you make with the recipes he gave you?"
"Let's see," Naruko started while she opened her recipe book. "It seems like I can make all kinds of slime related equipment and items. Weapons, armor or items, you name it and it's here. Wow! I can make Metal, Liquid Metal, and Metal King Slime gear?! Ow, dang it, I need mithril to even start the chain and orichalcum for the other two."
"Still the normal slime weapons seem way better than your current gear," Benihime noted as she looked at the required materials. "You already have enough Goometal to make at least two weapons."
"And to make more I would just need is to fuse a chunk of iron ore with five slime drops," the Uzumaki finished with a thoughtful expression. Soon it turned into a smirk. "Well, I have yet to find any iron ore but I can certainly get the slime drops here."
After saying this she summoned ten more shadow clones and ordered them to hunt down as many normal slimes as they could. The clones saluted before spreading into different directions and Naruko drank a mana potion to replenish her exhausted MP. She had bought a bunch yesterday when the Hokage was teaching her the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Soon the +1XP windows started popping up as her clones went about their farming.
"Okay, while girls are working, what should I do? Let's the timer says I still have… Damn, less than 30 minutes left? I need to level up-"
[Naruko Uzumaki has leveled up!]
Naruko Uzumaki [Lv6] ~Trickster Queen~
Job: Novice
XP: 000 / 624
HP: 140 + 17 = 157
MP: 1,583 + 76 = 1,659
ATK: 017 + 1 = 018
DEF: 048 + 1 = 049
AGI: 015 + 1 = 016
VIT: 011 + 1 = 012
INT: 025 + 1 = 026
SPR: 275 + 6 = 281
PER: 011 + 1 = 012
Attribute Points: 0010 + 10 = 20
[You've learned Squelch!]
Healing skill: Squelch
MP Cost: 10
Cooldown: 30secs
Description – A technique many adventures learn so they can survive out in the wilderness. Cures {Poison} status on one target.
[Shadow Clone Army has leveled up!]
Shadow Clone Army [Lv3]
XP: 000 / 263
ATK: 002 + 1 = 003
AGI: 002 + 1 = 003
INT: 002 + 1 = 003
PER: 002 + 1 = 003
"Never mind then," the jinchuriki spoke with a chuckle. "Still I should get in more XP around here. But where?" As the girl questioned this, she used her scanning ability. 'There!' she thought as a bush moved and a sliver colored slime bounced out happily. "No way," Naruko thought as she looked at the new monsters. "~No way~," she repeated as an extremely hungry grin formed on her lips.
As if feeling the gaze of a predator on it the small Metal Slime turned slowly. Once its eyes meet the nearly salivating child staring down at it the creature shivered. Then in a blink of an eye the blade of a scythe slash at its face. It bounces harmlessly off its skin with tink sound.
Naruko saw this and tried again with the same result. For the third strike the little metal finally managed to regain its nerve as it squished itself to avoid the swing. Then it bounced back while casting a low powered fire spell at its hunter. Said hunter yelped before jumping out of the way.
Already fearing the rare creature would run away from this, Naruko called out ten shadow clones. Then she threw them at the elusive monster. Regretfully their attack proved to be just as effective as hers. Not only that but the slime had managed to destroy enough of the clones to make its escape.
"Oh no, you don't!" Naruko screamed as she saw the slime almost vanish in a burst of speed. Thinking quickly, she orders a shadow clone to transform into a solid black stallion that she mounted. Even before the smoke of the jutsu dissipated the horse rider was chasseing its target.
Still, her agile beast couldn't keep up with the small creature's speed. Hence, she quickly poured chakra into the horse and force Dash to activate around the transformed clone. The tick almost worked too well as the horse speed doubled and if not for the grip, she had on its hair Naruko would have been blown off. Still, there was something to be said about the thrill of seeing your ride leave a giant dust trail as it trotted at max speed. The rider then forced herself back into a sitting position with great effort. Once that was done Naruko looked to the front and to her surprise the Metal Slime was still bouncing a few steps in front of her.
"Holy hell! I think this thing be faster than Lee-kun without his weights," Naruko exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Just by a bit! Both him and this slime are just above a 100 in agility," Benihime yelled from inside the Uzumaki's jacket.
"Well that's not going to stop me," the whiskered girl declared once more summoned her scythe. Then she forced the shadow clone horse to go faster. Once she was on top of the slime, she took another swing.
SLASH!
-1HP
"YES!" The girl had yelled before jerking the horse to the left to avoid smashing into a tree. Then the horse and rider had to do a U-turn to give chase again as the smile bolted right. "Get back here!"
The frustrated yelled only seemed to fuel the slime's survival instincts as it started bouncing farther distances. Quickly, after drinking a couple more mana potions, Naruko doubled up on the power of the dashing ability. In seconds she found herself galloping right beside the slime. The race was on as both parties move through the small collection of trees. Any burst of fire was either dodged or blocked by a tree. Scythe slashes or throws were also dodged or blocked by either a gelatinous steel body or trees. Neither prey or predator gave an inch in their deadly race.
That is until a new cliff overseeing the beach appeared.
Only Benihime managed to notice the incoming drop off. Yet by the time, she could form words both parties leaped over the edge.
"We're going to die," a now hysterical Benihime as she saw multiple jagged stones waiting for me at the bottom of the 50ft drop.
"Not if I have anything to do about it," Naruko declared and leaped off of the horse as it dispelled in an explosion.
The small redhead screamed while holding for dear life to the blonde. The jinchuriki, however, utilize the force of the detonation to reach her flying target. Regretfully this also put her in the path of a small fireball which exploded upon impact with her chest. The fire hurt like nothing Naruko had ever experienced but she was not detoured! No, in fact, as it fueled the Uzumaki with ditermination as she did a dash jump right into the surprised slime. The flying tackle did not damage the gelatinous creature but it wasn't meant to.
"If I can't hurt you normally let get gravity to help out!" After this proclamation, she summoned three more shadow clones that held onto her back. Then in sync, they yelled "Transformation Jutsu!"
Next thing the Metal Slime knew the human hunting it transformed into a gigantic spike ball. Not a single area of the sphere's surface was left without a spike covering it. The small slime cried out in distress as it felt an impossible amount of sharp points dig into its membrane.
Then they two crashed onto the ground. Force the second time in its life the slime's metal skin was beating.
-1HP
[Metal Slime is stunned!]
As that message appeared Naruko's transformation and clones became undone from the force of the impact. Somehow between the chakra shell created by the transformation and her clones, the force of the crash landing had been nullified for her. That, however, had not saved the blonde from the disorienting feeling of having turned into an object with no sign of life, sense or ability to breathe and second regaining everything. The surreal experience of becoming nothingness last less than a couple of seconds. Yet to her mind it had been like an eternity and a half before regained its sense of self. Thus, it took Naruko sometime to realize she was laying on her back and her enemy was wide open.
"Hey!" Benihime exclaimed as she floated over her friend. "You have to get up or the slime will get away again!"
"Huh?" Naruko asked while drooling. Something was over her but for the life of her, the blonde couldn't tell what it was. "Shoary blobby. Ish can shmell eh squared, shee spiky and tasty periwinkle. Tangy."
"Why are you high? Oh, forget it," the fairy said as she pulled out of it girl to her feet. Then she forced the Uzumaki's scythe to appear on the girl's hands. "Come on! Finish it off," she exclaimed while pushing the girl towards the stunned slime.
Naruko felt herself being lifted as something was put in her hands and soon pushed forward. Still not having a sense to use her feet she almost fell flat on her face. Thankfully the weapon on hand got caught on some rocks and served to stabilize her footing. This, however, didn't stop her stomach from lurching and almost immediately emptying itself by way of her mouth.
"Ow, I feel sick," Naruko moaned in pain. Her entire body just felt wrong like it wasn't hers. Or maybe it was? Then she looked forward with some difficulty. "Oh right… the Metal Slime," she said after noting the stunned monster. The jinchuriki forced herself to stand as straight as possible. Then she lifted her scythe with the little balance she possessed and fueled the blade with chakra.
'Please let this hit,' she begged to the heavens. Unknown to the Uzumaki her scythe's blade became engulfed in dark energy. As she aimed the blade became twice its size and slowly started producing a dark purple mist. Then she launched a swing with every last bit of her strength even if it meant her entire body would sail along with the swing.
As the dark blade cut a path through the air it made a sound similar to the water crashing onto rocks. The movement of the blade also created a black rift in the area where the Metal Slime was. The black crescent moon ate way the light, tore apart space and seem to rot away time. Then as if the tear's very existence contradicted itself it imploded on itself with a muffled popping. In its wake, the silhouette of the slime remained before the monster convulsed and die with a silent scream.
[Congratulations! You've won!]
[You've gained 2010XP]
[Loot: Molten globules |super-rare| x01, and 20cc]
[You've leveled up!]
Naruko Uzumaki [Lv8] ~Trickster Queen~
Job: Novice
XP: 627 / 880
HP: 157 + 42 = 199
MP: 1,659 + 151 = 1,810
ATK: 018 + 2 = 20
DEF: 049 + 2 = 051
AGI: 016 + 2 = 018
VIT: 012 + 2 = 014
INT: 025 + 2 + 027
SPR: 281 + 12 = 293
PER: 012 + 2 = 14
Attribute Points: 0020 + 20 = 0040
[You've learned Death's Scythe!]
Death's Scythe - you've once felt what true nothingness is. Now you have called upon the encompassing oblivion to reside in the weapon chosen by Death itself.
Very low chance of hitting.
Instant {Death} if the attack manages to lands.
[You've learned Killing Intent!]
Killing Intent - a technique designed and refined by warriors since ancient times. Using a wave of chakra, the user can turn their will into an actual force that can press down on one or multiple targets.
Inflicts Fear on target of lower-level or without this skill
Cause death hallucinations if the target is 10 levels lower
Applying more chakra increases the pressure on the target
Skill can be used to counteract or resist an opponent's KI
[You've earned the title Slime Cleaner!]
Slime Cleaner - a title given to those who have hunted a multitude of slimes.
Slime kills for next level = 250
+10% damage to slime family
Seeing the screen showing that she just managed to level up twice and feeling the adrenaline of gaining new strength and learning new skills made Naruko laugh in elation. Not only had she managed to kill one of the most elusive monsters in RPGs but she got to experience the thrill of chasing and hunting it!
"That was incredible," Naruko exclaimed with a laugh as all sickness left her. "I felt like I was in an action movie! I didn't even think I could transform me clones like that. I just did it and pretty much winged it. Though turning into an inanimate object was surreal."
"I am more surprised by the fact that you could chase a Metal Slime," Benihime said with a proud smile. "In any games, they appear once they flee battle that's it. Guess being able to do so was thanks to mixing videogame world with the real one."
"Seems like it," the blonde noted while taking a look at her surroundings. They had reached another beach on the island though this one was mostly made of multiple rocks with the ones near the water had become sooth from exposure. Then she looked at the timer and notice she had at best ten minutes left.
"When the counter is finished, we're booted out, right?"
"Yes, after which we the map would lock for an amount of time before it can be entered again. Seeing how little time we have I'm guessing you wish to rest, correct?"
"Sure. Plus, I do need to distribute those 40AP I have now." With that, the girl opened her status screen and planned out her growth. From the hints that were given by both the vision and Benihime the Uzumaki had determined her job class was magically inclined. Hence, she needs to keep putting points into her INT.
'Still, that job class was really good using the scythe. That could mean it's a class that also uses strength so I need to feed my ATK. However, I also need more HP and speed to survive. Hmm... Okay, let's see how this setup looks?"
+50 HP = 259 HP
+10 ATK = 30 ATK
+7 AGI = 25 AGI
+17 VIT = 31 VIT
+5 INT = 33 INT
+1 PER = 15 PER
"You went for almost everything?"
"Had the points so might as well," Naruko answered with a shrug. Then she asked "What do you think I should do? There is not enough time to hunt down another Metal Slime."
"Why not meditate? That's the one skill you have yet to use. Maybe now that we only have the sound of the ocean around us it could help you concentrate."
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[Hyuga Clan Compound]
(Morning)
Hinata was in her clan's training hall going through the katas of her new fighting style.
Yesterday's experience in the dungeon, especially the fight with the boss, had been somewhat of an eye-opener. Sure, she had gotten a new set of abilities but she still didn't understand them well enough to be effective. Therefore, after walking up, the first thing she did was practice her Byakugan's new vision on her body. Just like with her two friends she could see her muscles, veins, and bones by adjusting the dial. However, another use for this showed itself when her eye managed to penetrate through the seals around her room.
This should not have been possible due to the seals being specifically made to block the x-ray vision of their eyes so that the residents could go about their lives without fear of prying eyes. Yet her eyes seem to be a contradiction as by lowering their power they somehow overcome the seals? Hinata couldn't understand it but it was clear that she was seeing the blue flames of her family members' chakra.
'Maybe it's not that my chakra usage is lower but that it becomes concentrated into a finer point?' Hinata thought to herself before deactivating her bloodline limit. After which got up and dressing in her training gi so she could get some early practice before breakfast.
This was where she found herself now. To her surprise, Neji-niisan wasn't in the hall today but out in the yard which was a blessing for her. Hinata knew the boy hated her and a part of her couldn't truly blame him for it. Sure, she had been much too young to fight an experienced jonin but the boy's father was killed at the end of the event.
'Doesn't mean he has to be such a jerk about,' a new more accretive side of her spoke up. 'Seems like a side effect of awakening thanks to Naru-kun. Hehe, it's incredible how much stronger I've become from just being around her. *sigh* If only I had the courage to befriend her before this could have happened earlier. Still, now I have a chance to be a real friend to her. *blush* M-M-Maybe even something m-m-more. *sigh* Though first I have to learn how to stop myself from becoming a blushing mess around her.'
Unbeknownst to the Valkyrie, she was being watched by two pairs of eyes. One set belongs to her little sister Hanabi who was trying hard not to let her jaw hit the floor. Hanabi knew her sister should be stronger by age, height, and weight alone as well as recently noticing that Hinata seem to purposely mess up her attacks during spars. Yet that didn't prepare her for the sight of her older sister practicing her new skills. The amount of grace, speed, power, and shear control the older sibling was showing as she practically danced or almost glided throughout the training hall left Hanabi in pure awe. The second pair of eyes, belonging to the Clan Head and their father Hiashi Hyuga. The father's gaze was more analytical as he remains in perfect control of the stoic visage of a clan leader.
Hiashi didn't let anyone see a reaction as he saw his oldest move about with a great deal more prowess than she had shown in years. He didn't even show distaste at seeing that the girl was ignoring the Gentle Fist's more rigid style for a modified version that relied on the girl's natural flexibility. No, he kept silent and observed his oldest display a level of skill she had never shown before. True, he could see many openings that could be exploited, mistakes in some movements and signs of some unfamiliar with stances but Hiashi couldn't deny this was working for Hinata. He could already tell that for someone with less skill than him this modified version of the Gentle Fist could difficult to deal with. This especially so for other practitioners of the original style as they would not expect their opponent to be that mobile.
Then Hinata finally stopped to breath and turned around.
"Oh! Otou-sama. Hanabi-chan. Good morning," Hinata bowed respectfully upon seeing the two. "How are you doing today? If it's time for breakfast, I'll be there shortly. I just need to finish my morning training."
"Did you not just finished?" Hiashi asked calmly. However, the very slight increase in the height of his eyebrow spoke volumes. 'Since when does she talk without her stutter? And she also managed to speak will looking me straight in the eyes?'
Hinata, seemingly ignoring or perhaps not care her newfound bravery could be seen as strange, smiled and walked towards her family members. Then the bluenette grabbed her naginata she had left resting against the wall next to the entrance.
"I just finished my hand to hand combat training. Now I must continue with weapons training," Hinata answered calmly while walking back to the middle of the training hall.
"B-But we don't use weapons," Hanabi managed to announce with a small stutter. She wasn't scared of her sister but Hanabi couldn't deny that Hinata somehow stokes an imposing figure with the long weapon.
"True," Hinata answer while taking a neutral stance. "Yet yesterday's training showed me how foolish it was to fight an opponent with access to a multitude of weapons without at least having one yourself."
"If you had any skills you wouldn't need a weapon," the scathing voice of her cousin Neji was heard from the entrance to the backyard. Up to this point he had been there doing her morning exercise silently. Hinata had heard what he said and frowned mid-thrust before a small smirk on her lips appeared. Everyone in the area had to do a double-take at seeing the normally shy girl's face gain such expression.
"Says the man that has not once won against Tenten when she uses her weapons." She knew just how out of character had commented was. Hinata knew that if it wasn't for her Byakugan being seen activating and deactivated they would have assumed she was an imposter. 'Heck, even with that they probably think I finally snapped under the pressure.'
"Hinata Hyuga," Hiashi called out with enough authority even Neji, how was glaring death at Hinata, couldn't suppress a brief flinch. "Care to explain this change in attitude?"
While Hinata still had the new boost in courage from her ascension she couldn't stop her body from jumping in fright. She had heard that reprimanding tone so many times it almost impossible to stop her body from doing its conditioned response. However, before the bluenette could turn back into the shy and meek girl everyone in the room thought she was Hinata caught her reflection on the naginata's blade. For a brief moment, Hinata's frighten face became that on a fierce warrior clad in her armor and ready for battle.
'Calm yourself Hinata,' she thought to herself as she took a breath. 'You chose to change and you knew that would be difficult. You already went up the first step and now this will be the next. Just say why you want to change.'
After assuring herself again Hinata took another breath while tightening the grasp around her weapon like a security blanket.
"I don't care," was the first thing that came out of Hinata's mouth. She was still looking down at her weapon as memories of her spar with Naruko replayed in her mind. "I… I simply don't care anymore. I see no reason to do so," she announced with a small smile. "Yesterday, as I lay on the ground beaten, humiliated and hurting I came to a realization. If this had been a real battle, I would have died and that only two people that would have cared about my death would have been Hanabi-chan and Kurenai-sensei."
Upon saying this the bluenette did lift her head and looked eyes her sister. No words were exchange but Hanabi's small nod and the slightly worried look was enough confirmation for Hinata. The oldest sister then turned and locked eyes with her father's stern visage. Doing so almost caused the eldest daughter her resolve but Hinata had promised to be there for Naruko.
'If I back down now. If I give up now. I'll never be able to face her or walk the same path as her. If I don't step forward now I will always be looking at her back,' Hinata told herself as she squashed whatever amount of fear that was trying to take hold of her. "It because of that realization that I simply stopped caring about my position as a Hyuga. Both you and the Council had already deemed me a failure and in some cases a mistake. Now I ask: why should I care about what people, who long since abandoned me, think of me?"
At the end of the question, Hiashi thought his daughter was truly expecting an answer. However, whatever he could have said would forever be unknown as Hinata continued as years of frustration finally boiled over to the surface.
"That final loss yesterday was all the answer I needed. I shouldn't care. I shouldn't because out there on the battlefield the only people I can trust will be my teammates and myself, not this clan that sees the second born as expendable," Hinata said and emphasized with a frown directed at her father. She knew that was an extremely low blow to the man and would also hurt her cousin but Hinata wanted them to know how mad she was.
"I cannot place my faith and life on a clan that regularly forces me to fight my little sister and then berates me for not wanting to hurt her." After saying this for the first time Hinata glared at her father. "And you know what disgusts me that most about that? It's the fact that I promised my mother, on her deathbed no less, that I would protect Hanabi-chan while you, Hyuga-sama, was there holding my shoulder. Then the moment my little sister was old enough to practice our clan's taijutsu I was forced to fight her."
At this point, Hinata's anger had found its foothold and vanquished her fear. Now she was out for blood, "You all knew how much I cared for my baby sister yet you wanted me to fight her. You wanted no demanded that I fought someone younger and weaker than me into submission. You practically ordered me to establish the supposed dominance of the all-powerful first branch on a small girl who had just barely learned to walk without falling every other step.
Hyuga-sama, you knew full well I would hate to do something like that. That such an act would be akin to spitting on Oka-sama's grave to me. Yet time and again I was forced to fight my little sister and out of sheer desperation, I held back. I held back because I knew that the moment Hanabi-chan lost to me you and the "illustrious" Elder Council wouldn't bat an eye before sending her to be branded with godforsaken slave seal.
All of this under the pathetic pretext of protecting our clan's bloodline limit. Worst of all is that I'm sure you, Hyuga-sama, believe is that horrible lie even if doing so would be an insult to Oka-sama. Heh, truth be told there had been nights where I would go to bed after another humiliation and wonder: Does he even love us? Are we just tools or trophies for him to display? And the best one: Did you ever love our mother?"
"That is enough, young lady!" Hiashi finally called out. His voice had barely risen for its normal stern tone but the slight shaking on his fists and clear glare were enough indications of his rage. "I suggest you're careful with your next words or-"
"Or what? You'll brand me with the Caged Bird Seal and exile me to the farthest branch house so you can forget I ever existed? Please, everyone in this room and everybody else listening in knows that you and Council were just going to do exactly that the moment I graduate the academy because you couldn't risk the chance of weak and pathetic excuse of a Hyuga like myself walking around outside the village walls. I was probably destined to die against the first bandit group I encountered and it wouldn't be good for our secrets if they pulled out my unsealed eyes from my corpse after all."
After that accusation, Hinata could hear the barely repressed gasps from Hanabi, Neji and from a few of the hidden clan members that had stopped to witness this confrontation. But at this point, Hinata didn't care as she knew as the elders and clan leader already decided her fate and position the moment she couldn't strike down her little sister. Thus, the former Hyuga heiress went to finish this show so she could leave.
"This clan already considers me a failure and I will accept it with pride. Brand my like all the others you deemed to be beneath you. But just like this clan has cast me aside I will abandon my faith in it and its delusions of grandeur. From now on I will keep training myself to improve on my expectations and not on the ones of a clan that already agreed that training me to survive is a waste of time.
From this moment forward I'll only believe in my future teammates and my power to survive this world. Therefore, I will cast aside delusional notions such as our Gentle Fist being the strongest taijutsu in existence. I will cast aside the falsehood of not needing a weapon other than my hands to win. In turn, I will become the strongest kunoichi I can be using my Byakugan and Juken in conjunction with ninjutsu, bukijutsu, and genjutsu I can learn to use effectively."
After that declaration, Hinata turned on her heel and started walking away towards the backyard entrance. This way she wouldn't have to bother the Hyuga Clan head to move so she could be gone from his sight.
"Now if you'll excuse me. I will finish my training elsewhere and buy my food for the day. Do not wait for me. I doubt I will return before dinner time is over."
With that, the once weak and meek Hinata Hyuga jumped to the roof and disappeared for the rest of the day.
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[Yamanaka Clan Compound]
(9:30AM)
"I'm going to decked that baka in the face when I see her," Ino moaned as she laid her head on the dinner table. To the blonde's left her mother Noriko chuckled.
"I thought you wanted to make peace with her?"
"That was before my brain started exploding in my skull," the young Yamanaka growled while lifting her head to rest on her chin. Then she glared at the instruments of torture used against her; a quill pen, a bottle of ink and a sheet of paper. "This is impossible! It's like-"
"Like learning how to reuse a limb after it was damaged?" Noriko questioned with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile. Almost immediately her daughter's blue eyes went wide with horror. The mother stopped the girl before she started apologizing. "None of that missy. I'll I'm glad that you understand that comments like those could be seen as insensitive and that you now have a baseline experience for relearning how to use limbs. But I've told you time and again not walk on eggshells around over that. Besides it thanks to that hand injury that I could quit being a shinobi to take care of you and follow my real dream of running our flower shop."
Ino saw her mother's content expression and she felt relieved. Still, this was a topic that was rarely talked about which was weird given her mother never shied away from shinobi talk. "Do you miss it? Being out on the field I mean."
"I would be lying if I said I didn't. There is just something about being out on the battlefield with your teammates at your side fighting to protect the downtrodden that give you a sense of fulfillment, you know? Still, I always did like working with plants and making potions more than slicing open a bandit's throat. Plus, I sleep well every night knowing that my elixirs and creams are out there being used in the hospital and field to save people's lives," Noriko explained while patting the girl's head. "Now why don't you try to do another straight line on the paper and you can take a ten-minute rest. After that, I'll give you a test on your botany and chemistry knowledge."
"You really want to see me have a class change, don't you?"
"My daughter has a chance to unlock the true power of her bloodline limit. A power not seen since the clan fonder I might add. There is no way in hell I going to let my child fail if I can help it. Plus, it will be the perfect FU to that insufferable grandmother of your," the brunette announced with a grin.
"Yeah. Her… you don't think she knows about me, right?" Ino inquired with a worried look. Seeing her child in that state awakened Noriko's mama bear instincts as the mother quickly enveloped her cub in a hug.
"Don't worry dear. Inoichi managed to cut your telepathic link before in reach anyone else last night. That monster has no idea of your potential and if we play our cards right, she wouldn't until it's too late for her. As far as your father and I are concern that woman already dug her grave. It's only a matter of time until we bury her. You gaining the chance to become stronger is just a bonus" the mother told as she kissed her child's forehead reassuringly.
"Thank you," the child responded as she accepted the affection and safety provided by her mother.
Last night had been an experience, to say the least. After Kakashi-sensei had dropped off and talked a bit with her parents they told Ino she was free to take a bath before dinner. After which they eat with the parents making a bulk of the conversation as, to both their surprise and pleasure, the young Yamanaka was too busy stuffing her face with the home-cooked meal. However, Ino knew she needed to speak to her parents about her new powers like Benihime suggested.
Hence, she had asked her parents to follow her into the training room. There Ino had thought of showing off her new abilities by maybe moving a training dummy or crushing a water bottle. Regretfully the moment she took off the circlet Naruko had made to dampen her power everything went wrong. Not a moment after the amethyst attached to the metal left heiress's forehead did the headache came at full forced and at least twice as strong. That was all Ino remembered because the next time the Yamanaka opened her eyes she was laying in her mother's lap with the dampener back on.
Understandably she had asked what had happened. Noriko and Inoichi looked at each other before nodding and activating a privacy seal. Once it was done the father explained that while Ino screamed in pain she had released a wave of chakra meant to establish a mental link with others through telepathy. This was naturally one the clan's strongest techniques which surprised both parents that their daughter could use it without the aid of amplifiers. Thankfully their jonin training had kicked in immediately as they heard their daughter's pain. Thus, Inoichi acted quickly by using his own mental strength to soothe the heiress ailing mind and putting her at rest.
However, the links had been established with the parents and while their minds where disciplined to withstand metal attacks and information extraction due to years of training their daughter's mind wasn't. Therefore, the two were able to acquire all the information Ino had gained about Naruko and the Uzumaki's new abilities from the telepathic broadcast the young girl had involuntarily unleashed. Thankfully, for Ino's mental wellbeing, the parents assured her that she wasn't in trouble and that they would meet with the Hokage to explain what happened.
"Don't worry my little flower. Naruko-chan, the secret is safe with us," Noriko had promised while cleaning her daughter's face with a cold rag.
After this, and the parents now knowing what their daughter had wanted to explain, Inoichi went on to inform that want Benihime called psionic abilities were just an extension of their bloodline limit. To the less informed they would say it was a natural evolution of an ability that uses mental powers as its baseline. In truth, however, it was more like finding and unlocking a door you forgot had been there all along. The reason behind this being that, based on old journals and text dating back to the creation of the Yamanaka clan, the first Yamanaka's mental powers where far stronger than the one the clan possesses today.
The patriarch hadn't gone into enough detail to explain these save that of three wide categories the founder liked to group the powers. The first category is called Trance which was their ability to manipulate other's minds. The others were Burst, which Inoichi speculated was what Ino had done in the dungeon, and finally, Rise. After that the parents promised to help their daughter master or at least control each one so she wouldn't be a danger to herself or her teammates while being an utter nightmare to her enemies.
"Ino-chan," Noriko called out and snapping her daughter out of her reminiscing. "Remember what your father said before he went to the Hokage. Burst is the ability to manipulate the world around us with our minds. Think of it exactly like chakra only it's an extra arm and hand that you can use to move things around you. Now first visualize an arm connected to your shoulder. Then let it grow until you reach the quill. Next, imagine a hand attached to the end of the arm and slowly grabbed the quill. From there dip the quill in the ink and softly make a line on the paper."
Ino followed her mother's instructions as she closed her eyes. In her mind's eye, the heiress imagined the arm slowly emerging from her shoulder. It wasn't stable was the limb kept twitching and its "skin" wiggled but at least it could move. Then as sweat started to build on her brow Ino visualized a cartoonish three-fingered hand at the end of the arm. Then she slowly lowered the hand towards the quill.
'Okay, now Ino… Firmly grasp it in your hand,' Ino told herself as missed the first time. 'Firmly grasp it,' she thought again as the quill lifted a little only to slip from her fingers. 'FIRMLY GRASP IT!' she yelled to herself. In less than a second, she managed to flick the quill pen to her forehead. "Ouch! Dammit, all! That like the tenth time," the young Yamanaka cursed as her stupid hand attacked her.
"Well, we never said it would be easier," Noriko said reassuringly while trying to suppress her laugh. 'Poor girl, it reminds me of Ichi-kun trying to lit up a match with his mind. He always managed to lit his hair on fire.'
A/N:
1) Naruko is still weaker than everyone else but you have to remember she had her powers reset. The girl hasn't taken the chance to start grinding.
2) I don't know why Hinata confronted her father this early. That scene pretty much wrote itself without much of my control.
3) Pat yourself on the back, if you know, were the terms for Ino's psychic powers come from.
Update (02/03/2020): Small change to Tenten's weapon shop name. By mistake, I called it Broken Coin when it should have been Higurashi Weapons.