Author's Note: The reviews are showing up now so that's great. I want to thank Some Guy In An Ambulance for his long and descriptive explanation as to why the mokuton is such a powerful bloodline as well as those who weighed in as well on the subject as well. I was focusing more on just the fact that other bloodlines can do similar things and neglected to consider the battlefield control part of it as well as its versatility.
Also this chapter talks a bit about transplanting bloodlines and I want to assure everyone that Shiro will Neverhave the mokuton, sharingan, byakugan or the Rinnegan unless he acquires them after defeating Kaguya at which point it probably wouldn't even matter anymore. I just feel that there are enough fictions out there with any one of those combinations and I don't want to saturate it any more than it already is. That being said he could acquire a different bloodline but that's still up in the air at the moment.
Thanks for reading and enjoy.
It took an hour or so before Hina had calmed down enough to stop chasing me and after that I took to wandering the village for a bit looking for a good tea house to go to a tea ceremony. I found one that seemed decent enough called the Joukeian and went into it. The atmosphere within was very peaceful and I saw a receptionist sitting behind a desk studying me. As I made my way over she bowed. "Welcome honored guest. How may I help you today?"
"I was wondering what times are available for a tea ceremony and how much it costs per person."
"Of course sir." She picked up a sheet of paper and slide it across her desk so it was in easy reach for me. "On there you will find all our services provided. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have." I picked up the paper and quickly read through everything on it. After that I set it down and considered it for a moment.
"If you were to recommend one of these services to someone who has never experienced a tea ceremony before which would you recommend?"
"Either the morning or afternoon informal tea ceremony which would take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and would serve thin tea." I hummed in thought before nodding decisively.
"Alright. Would I need a reservation for this or do you accept walk ins?"
"Walk ins are welcome for the informal ceremony but not for the formal one. It would be better to reserve the time slot just to be sure that it is available for you though."
'Makes sense.' "Great, I'll be back after I coordinate with my friend."
"Of course. Have a pleasant day." She bowed to me and I gave a small one back before I exited Joukeian and saw Jiraiya leaning against the side of the building waiting for me. I made my way over to him when he waved at me and as I approached he stopped leaning against the wall and straightened up.
"I owe you a jutsu now." He said cheerfully and my mind blanked before it clicked.
"The invisibility one?" I couldn't help the note of glee that entered my voice at the thought.
"Yep, I'm a man of my word. Follow me then." We both flickered away and ended our journey in one of the many training fields surrounding Konoha. "Alright watch closely now. I call this the Transparent Escape Technique." He slowly made the required hand signs and right before my eyes disappeared. I could still vaguely sense that he was in front of me through my chakra sense but other than that it was like he wasn't there at all. He dropped the technique and stood before me. "Now you try. Don't worry about it being perfect though."
I made the required hand signs and the ding came up.
Ding!
Learned Transparent Escape Technique(Active A rank(200(150)/min)) LVL 1 – 0%
This technique forms a coat of chakra over the user's body that bends light to make it seem as though nothing is there.
Decreases casting time by 5%
To me it looked like a haze had settled around my body and as I tried moving around the haze cleared. Realizing that it would be better to witness this from an outside perspective I dropped the technique and created a clone who reapplied it. When the clone wasn't moving it was like nothing was there at all but as soon as it did there was a very visible shimmer in the air not unlike a heat wave. It needed work but I was confident that I could fix that with practice. I turned back to Jiraiya and gave him a bow.
"Thank you for sharing this jutsu with me." He waved it off.
"I said I would and you seemed to have found its limitations quicker and less painfully than I did. It can improve with practice though." He grimaced as though remembering something horrible and considering him he was probably doing something perverted beforehand. "Nevertheless I have to go coordinate some things with Minato so if there's nothing else…" I shook my head. "Great. Ah, but before I go though." He gave me a goofy grin and a big thumbs up. "Have fun trying to explain that you have a date to Kushina."
He flickered away as my eyes widened. 'I think I just played myself.' I slumped down onto the grass as I considered my options. Going rogue seemed like the best option at the moment but I'm sure Saiko would just drag me back. I let out a groan as I realized I would have to explain it to her as well. 'Stupid, stupid fool. Too smart for your own good indeed.' My self-pity fest ended quickly as a wave of calm swept over me and I relaxed.
Whatever will happen, will happen, and there's nothing I could do about it. For now I have two new justus to work with including the scroll I received from Kirito and I never finished reading the quest rewards screen. Deciding to go with the jutsu first I pulled that out of my inventory and 'ate' the knowledge.
Ding!
Learned Wind Bullet( Active C rank(250(154))) LVL 1 – 0%
Air is condensed and shot out of the user's mouth at high speeds. Upon impact the bullet will shred the target with high speed slashes of wind.
Decreases casting time by 5%
Pretty similar to my wind blades if I'm being honest but most of my wind techniques slash the target and having more variety is always welcome. Putting that to the side for the moment I read the complete message for completing the Chunin Quest and whistled at the results. 4 levels, the invisibility jutsu which I just got, and a rank up along with some money. Pretty good haul for a quest reward.
I was about to close the quest screen until a quest in progress caught my eye. 'Kaguya.' I mused as I looked over the quest and its extravagant rewards. Why does that name seem familiar and why does it fill me with dread? My fingers drummed a steady beat on my knee as I half glared at the blue screen. Going by the timestamp for the quest I received it mere hours after reincarnating but I didn't have a perfect memory until two years later so it was a bit fuzzy thinking back that far.
My brow furrowed as I thought back. I remember seeing chakra instead of mana and thinking Naruto. Naruto? Another name that feels familiar. Didn't I call Kushina the mother of Naruto and didn't I know who Danzo was before he introduced himself? Why would I do that? Unless…
Ding! For finally realizing that parts of your memory have been erased take +1 INT and +1 WIS. It only took you 5 years. Idiot.
I stared blankly at the screen for what felt like hours before I blinked heavily. I didn't feel anger or fear at this revelation but a burning need to know why? Why would whomever took my memories leave me with enough clues to piece it together? I could be fairly confident that I wasn't being influenced mentally because the skill Gamer's Mind would take care of it so why would my memories of this world be removed? Because that's the only reason I could think of to why I knew some people's names before they were even introduced or this quest that was sitting here gathering dust. Sitting there I had a moment of clarity. I had selected yes to play a game of life, but if I was the game master I would remove any foreknowledge the player had of the game.
Ding! Gained +3 INT.
A self-deprecating smile formed on my face. What a joke. My life as a game to amuse others yet I wasn't mad at the fact and not just because Gamer's Mind was keeping me calm. I had selected yes and been reborn. My actions thus far were still my own and as long as they stayed that way trying to blame an unseen force for my problems would be weak and the weak die here.
I stood up and blinked at the failing light. Apparently I had stared at the screen for hours on end and with a rueful chuckle I set off towards Kushina. For now I would trust my younger self and think of Kaguya as the end boss of this world. When she came I would do exactly as it said and pluck out her eyes for myself because I had grown fond of this world and the people here. For now though I have a bed time story to tell to two young girls and a 'final' boss to face when Kushina hears about my date.
~Interlude~ Minato
After Shiro had run off being chased by a mad as hell Hina I glanced over at Jiraiya and as our eyes met we were able to maintain our stoic expressions for about a second before we both burst into laughter.
"Ahaha, that's my student. The ladies love him just like his amazing sensei." Jiraiya wiped away a faked tear as he spoke between laughs.
"I think your definition of love is a little different Ero sensei but I can't wait to see Kushina's face when she hears about this." Jiraiya gained a devious smile before he spoke.
"Don't tell her at all. Let Shiro try to explain." I smiled as I imagined it.
"You're a cruel, cruel man sometimes."
"Ninja." He said simply as though that explained everything and in a way it did. "I'm going after him though. If he manages to outrun Hina I'll teach him the technique I promised him today."
My good mood vanished and I nodded. "Alright, but I need you to come as soon as you're done."
His face became as still as stone. "Ah, today's the day then?"
"After I finish with a few things, yes, it is." He didn't respond and leapt after Shiro as I teleported into the Hokage's office. As soon as I appeared there I started writing out the initial trade agreement between Konoha and Suna. The ink had barely dried before I handed it off to an ANBU with instructions to deliver it to the Kazekage. That done I checked my crystal ball and saw Jiraiya talking to Shiro outside a tea house. With the rate at which Shiro picks up new jutsu he should be done shortly so I put it away and motioned for two ANBU to step forward.
"Get me Dragon and Lord Danzo for a meeting in ten minutes." They both bowed and left, letting me sit back in my chair as I waited.
Not ten minutes later all three of them filed into my office and as they entered I activated the seals around the office. Both Dragon and Danzo seemed curious but stood stoically as they waited for an explanation. "Gentlemen," I stood up and faced them. "Today is the day that I kill the man responsible for the Kyuubi attack." There was a moment of silence before Danzo spoke up.
"How and why have you not done so before today?"
"During the attack I was able to tag him with the seal for my Flying Thunder God technique. I can teleport to his location at any time and I refrained from doing so before because I wanted to ensure that Konoha was as stable as possible before attempting to kill him as well as lull him into a false sense of security." He nodded at my explanation and Dragon spoke up.
"What would you have us do during your fight?" Their voice was monotone and stripped of all hints of gender.
"I need both Root and ANBU to be at full standby before I initiate the fight in case our fight takes us back to Konoha. Have everyone ready within the hour after this meeting is done."
"Hard but doable." Dragon responded. Danzo simply gave me a sharp nod.
"Good. Jiraiya will stand as the temporary Hokage while I am gone and become the next Hokage if the masked man succeeds in killing me. Dismissed."
"I like that part the least of all this." I heard Jiraiya mutter, but I ignored him as both Dragon and Danzo took their leave. "Are you sure you couldn't take someone with you for this?"
"No." I said frankly. "The masked man was fast enough to give even me some trouble and…" images of my newborn son being killed in front of me surface but I clamp them down with an iron will. "This is personal."
He frowned at me but slowly nodded. "Just don't let your anger cloud your judgement."
I slowly walked over to the window and stared up at the Hokage's Mountain to look upon my predecessors. "I won't, but he needs to be killed." There was a shuffling noise behind me and then a chair creaked as Jiraiya sat down.
"I know." We were both silent for a moment before Jiraiya spoke up again. "So I found Shiro inside a tea house."
I took the subject change gratefully. "I saw that. One of the nicer ones too if I recall correctly."
"Yep. Then I taught him the Transparent Escape Technique and of course he got it on his first try." He let out a dramatic sigh. "It's no fun teaching him new things. Half the joy of teaching is watching your students fail spectacularly, but it's like he's got the sharingan on all the time." I heard clothe rustle as though he shrugged. "Eh, what can you do? I did get to see him horrified though when I told him he'd have to tell Kushina about his date."
I let out a low chuckle. "That must have been a sight and a half."
"Oh it was. He's properly terrified of your better half's anger."
"Hey now. I'll have you know I'm the better half." He snorted.
"Sure kid, you keep on telling yourself that, but I know who the real power in your relationship is." I turned around to see him making whipping motions at me. I'm sure I could have come up with a witty reply but an ANBU and Root agent jumped through the window and knelt before me.
"I assume everyone is on standby then?" The both nodded and I dismissed them. I gave Jiraiya one last smile as I pulled out a scroll full of my special kunai and a rasengan formed in my right hand. Then I reached out towards that burning beacon in the distance and I disappeared from my office.
Before I could even consciously decipher my surrounding the scroll in my left hand began spewing tri pronged kunai into the air as I focused on the figure before me. He had changed his outfit to a black cloak with red clouds on them but I could still tell that this was the same man as before. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as my right hand inched towards his undefended back.
I could tell the moment he reacted as the distinctive swirl before he teleported started to form around him. I couldn't let that happen and I poured even more chakra into my muscles speeding me up minutely. It seemed to be enough as my rasengan plowed into his upper back. Unfortunately it wasn't an immediately fatal blow and as I tore his right arm off of him I could hear him begin to scream as he vanished.
Everything sped back up and I was left in an expanding ring of kunai and a falling severed arm. "Fuck!" I screamed at the heavens as I could feel my seal on the now detached arm that hit the ground with a wet splat. "Argh, I was so fucking close." My rage soared to new heights and then mellowed as I saw small trees start to sprout around the severed arm. I couldn't help the bitter chuckle that escaped me at the sight. "Of course he has a super sharingan and the mokuton. What's next? Does he have the Rinnegan as well?"
A quick glance around let me know I was somewhere in Kiri so I needed to get moving. I sealed the arm into a scroll and policed the battlefield for my kunai. Once I had gathered them all I teleported back to Konoha.
My stony visage must have tipped Jiraiya off because he didn't say anything as I started barking out orders. "Get me Orochimaru and have him meet me here now." One of the ANBU shot out of the room and I turned back around to Jiraiya.
"How bad is it?"
"Bad and worse."
"Damn." He muttered. I started pacing as we waited for Orochimaru to show up. As soon as he did so I motioned to him to follow and ordered the still waiting Root agent to take us to Root's most secure medical facility. I didn't miss the gleam in Orochimaru's eyes as I said that but paid it no real mind.
"I'll need to take you to Lord Danzo first. Only he and a select few have access to it." The Root agent said as we sped along.
"That's fine." I spat out as we entered a base. It didn't take long to reach Danzo and explain what we needed access for and for him to come along as well. It took even less time to reach the medical facility and I walked in, setting the scroll down on a table.
"The man that set the Kyuubi on us lives for now. I did manage to sever his right arm though." As I said that I unsealed the pasty white arm for them to see. Almost immediately small plants began to grow around it and each of them sharply inhaled.
"The mokuton." Orochimaru whispered in awe and he immediately started examining it.
"This is disastrous." I heard Danzo say. "How does an outsider gain access to both the sharingan and the mokuton? Our two most powerful and founding bloodlines. If our enemies have gained access to them and they can replicate them…" He trailed off and I grimly nodded.
"Unfortunately, I blew my chance to kill him for now. My seal was on his right arm and it was unlucky that I severed it as he fled. Now I don't know whether he'll be back or not but I'm betting on him not being dead by a long shot."
There was silence as Orochimaru continued to poke and prod the limb. "Do any of you have any suggestions on how to deal with this?" Neither Jiraiya nor Danzo seemed to have any plans but surprisingly Orochimaru spoke up.
"I might have one." I looked at him curiously and motioned him to continue. "During the war I became interested in bloodlines and, in my own private time, have been researching how to grant bloodlines to other ninja."
"We shut that program down." Danzo's voice was firm and Orochimaru just nodded.
"Yes you shut it down because of the deaths of our ninja while trying it, but I was using enemy ninja captured during the war." I could see where this was going.
"You need more people to test on don't you?"
"Yesss." He almost hissed out. "It was becoming difficult to procure new test subjects, but this arm will probably set me forward by years."
"You haven't used any of our own citizens or ninja have you?" I had to ask just to be sure.
"Of course not. I'm loyal to Konoha." I couldn't detect any sort of lie so I let it go.
"I'm sorry, but I had to ask." He waved it off and went back to focusing on the arm while I considered his request. Jiraiya seemed disgruntled about it and Danzo seemed intrigued by the thought of artificial bloodlines. Letting out a sigh I made my choice. "I'll issue the order to our hunter teams and ANBU that all rogue ninja are to be brought in alive, if possible, and they'll be delivered to your new department. Just keep the bloodlines that you put into them from outside Konoha, except for the mokuton. I don't need the clans to throw an absolute fit and claim we're trying to steal their bloodline."
"Kuhuhuhu, excellent." He paused and licked his lips. "If it would also be possible I would like young Shiro to help me."
"In what way? I was kind of thinking of having him and his team be sort of like a poster team for Konoha." I said cautiously.
"He intrigues me. Did you know that it has taken me almost two years to learn his Angel's Breath jutsu and that I still can't perform it without turning portions of my target to stone? The Uchiha even tried to copy it with their sharingan and found that they couldn't perform it. A jutsu that acts like a bloodline technique yet others can learn it. Absolutely fascinating."
"You still haven't told me how you want him to help." I said a little irritably.
"Right, right. I think that by using a combination of his jutsu and my medical techniques I can graft the bloodline onto a new person such that it becomes like they were born with it. I would also like a sample of his blood to study."
"If you think it could work I'm willing to let him try and as for the blood sample… You'll have to ask him as it is his bloodline which is protected by clan rights even if he doesn't have a clan at the moment."
He looked disappointed but nodded and I turned to Danzo. "I think we can get everyone off standby for the moment. The man would be too injured to do anything right now." His chakra flared in a pattern and several ninja outside the door jumped away. "Also could you be the one to issue Shiro's help with Orochimaru?"
"Yes." He said slowly. "If that is everything I need to get back to work and think on the ramifications of this." I dismissed him and as he left I rubbed at my forehead. Today turned to total shit pretty quickly after the Chunin Exam final. I need to vent and I think I know how.
"Jiraiya."
"Yes?"
"That place you went to with Shiro had hordes of undead ninja right?" Orochimaru perked up as I spoke but I gave it no mind.
"Yes, but why are you asking?" I gave him a smile.
"I need something to vent on." With that I teleported out of the room to appear back in the Hokage's office. Pulling out the crystal ball I saw that Shiro was just leaving training ground 6 and after putting the ball away I moved to intercept him.
"Shiro." He calmly, when is he ever not, turned to face me.
"Yes?"
"I need you to take me to your undead dimension." A thin eyebrow was raised and his green eyes stared at me inquisitively.
"Okay. May I inquire as to why you want me to take you there?" He reached out to grab ahold of me.
"I just need to vent on something." It would seem that was answer enough for him and as reality broke around us I struggled not to vomit from the sudden transition. As the world reformed into a broken parody and the smell of rotting flesh hit me I created a clone and had it try to use the Flying Thunder God technique to move between places in this dimension. When it was successful I smiled and turned back to him. "Stay back for the next part."
A horrible wailing came from a shambling corpse that was missing most of its face and left arm. I left it in favor of opening a scroll and as hundreds of tri pronged kunai flew everywhere I took the time to silence it. Already I could feel dozens of chakra signatures moving in on our position and I smiled. Time to work out some frustration.
~Interlude~ End
Under a blood red sky, as a full moon hung impossibly large overhead, I saw firsthand why people called Minato the Yellow Flash. Ninja zombies charged at us and they died helplessly as Minato moved amongst them so fast that all that was visible his golden hair flickering between them. Oh they tried to stop him for sure. Elemental attacks of all types flew at him yet he was never there when they landed and some of them were even hit by friendly fire. None of the zombies even got within 10 meters of my position and I simply watched as he performed his deadly dance amongst them.
As the last one fell and began to dissolve into motes of light a primal roar resounded from deeper in the forest and there was a rumbling noise as something large rushed towards us. We both turned towards it and a few trees were destroyed in its rush to get to us but it gave us a full view of it. I could only describe it as a zombified King Kong that stood at the height of a two storied house.
I looked towards Minato and saw twin rasengan form, one in each hand, as he leapt at the beast. He ducked under a swinging fist and his arms extended as each rasengan was plowed into a leg. The beast let out a terrible roar as large portions of its legs simply ceased to exist and stumbled forwards until it began to fall. Minato had not let the opportunity pass and as the beast stumbled he ran up its back and began to pummel its head with rasengan after rasengan until there was nothing left.
Ding! Gained 3,000 ryo
As the beast began to disintegrate Minato flashed around the clearing collecting all his kunai and then ended his journey standing next to me. "Well that was exciting wasn't it?" He asked with a grin on his face.
"You just killed 80 genin level opponents and a mid-sized boss summon in a minute." I said dully.
"Ahahaha," he rubbed the back of his head. "They might have been as powerful as a genin but they were far more stupid than a regular genin. Same thing with that monkey."
"Still…" I trailed off and he shrugged.
"A Hokage has to be powerful. Now can you get us out of here? I want to go take a nice long soak in a bath." I wordless reached out and grabbed hold of the murder machine, I mean Minato, and the world broke around us once more. He looked a little green for a second but then shrugged it off and smiled at me. "Want to join me for a soak and get rid of that stench hanging off us."
"I guess I shouldn't go around smelling like dead people."
"That's the spirit. Follow me then." We set off and arrived at a decently sized hot springs soon enough. After a quite thorough wash we went out to the open aired hot spring and relaxed in the water. "So you have a date with Hina. How are you going to break it to Kushina?"
I let out a groan and sunk lower in the water. "I briefly considered running away and living as a monk for a few years but then I realized that mom and Saiko would just drag me back and the heckling would be even worse. In the end I'll just roll with it and keep Mito and Karin between us. Maybe a good old puppy eyes would do the trick." He let out a laugh before taking a sip of sake.
"I heard you were trying to weaponize that from Kushina. How's that going?" I turned it on and he flinched before looking away. "Pretty well I suppose." He muttered the last part to himself and then drained the cup.
"How did you even end up having her agree to a date anyways?" I made small waves in the water as I considered how to answer.
"It was a bet for the final round. She wanted me to kneel before her and kiss her feet as I proclaimed her the best. I just wanted someone to go with me to a tea ceremony. She's the one that called it a date and then she got all embarrassed afterwards. After that I just wanted to play a prank on her because she always tries to be prim and proper but then has such funny reactions when she loses it."
He let out a small laugh at that. "Kind of backfired on you there didn't it?"
"Yeah." I let out a sigh.
"Just don't take it too far, alright?"
"I know." We sat there for a while and after Minato had finished his second cup he stood up.
"Let's go face the music then." With a groan I stood up as well and we put on our freshly laundered clothes quickly enough. As we were getting closer to the ANBU base I spoke up.
"Can you protect me?"
"I'll try, but she's a force of nature." I nod and as I open the door to their room I was scooped up and bundled off to the dining room table. Behind me I saw Minato calmly enter and grab Mito and Karin into hugs. 'You're worthless as a meat shield.'
"Shiro, I've heard you have a date with Hina. What do you have to say for yourself young man?"
"Mercy?"
She snorted. "I'm fresh out. Now tell me everything." The questioning was long and arduous, but it was familiar and I wouldn't change it for anything.
Age: 6 years - 1 month
Title: Root Shinobi
LVL: 23 - 41% to next LVL
HP: 1,260/1,260
Chakra: 39,218/39,218
Elemental Affinity: Water
STR: 133(159.6)
VIT: 126
END: 114
DEX: 143(157.3)
INT: 121(128)
WIS: 105(111)
LCK: 20
Points: 49
Money: 304,546
Skills Gained
Wind Bullet( Active C rank(250(154))) LVL 1 – 0%
Air is condensed and shot out of the user's mouth at high speeds. Upon impact the bullet will shred the target with high speed slashes of wind.
Decreases casting time by 5%
Transparent Escape Technique(Active A rank(200(150)/min)) LVL 1 – 0%
This technique forms a coat of chakra over the user's body that bends light to make it seem as though nothing is there.
Decreases casting time by 5%