Twins and Tales
Last Time on Cloud Gamer
I rolled my neck, the audible pops soothing my mind. "Just a memory of Minato… a conversation we had when he came back from one of his missions, about black and white." I stopped there and Hiruzen seemed satisfied, a small smile on his face.
"Alright, well we can look into this advanced class at a later date, if you wouldn't mind writing up a proper plan for it Lord Uzumaki, considering it is your idea." It clearly wasn't a question, so I gave a thumbs up to the old Hokage and laid back in my comfortable chair.
Chapter 51
Small disclaimer, ages in this story have been shifted.
(Kurenai part 1 in canon: 27
Kurenai in this story: 17, 29 at the time of part 1)
Full explanation at the end of the chapter!
"Drink, drink, drink!" I chanted, watching Hayate empty a small bottle of sake into his gullet. Yugao and Hayate's celebration was delayed slightly because of a mission, but now that everyone was on break we met up at Hayate's place to have fun.
Yugao slapped me upside the head lightly, "don't promote his bad habits, you'll bring back his cough." She tried to pry the bottle from the drunken man but he pranced around while laughing, dodging her attempts.
"Ah, their youth shines so brightly." Guy said dreamily, almost like a little girl watching a fairy tale. Asuma, Kurenai and I all sighed, taking a sip of our drinks while Raido chuckled.
"You three are going to be dead by midnight." He continued laughing, being the only one too scared to join in on the bet.
Guy turned back and flashed a wide smile with a thumbs up, "Youth!" He shouted randomly and we all took another drink. Yugao finally snatched the drink from her boyfriend's hands and sat back down on her chair with a heavy sigh. "I swear, he's going to become an alcoholic in the future."
"Hehe, is anyone up for another bet?" I laughed lightly, not bothering to turn to Yugao and instead focus on the events in front of me.
"What about?" Asuma brought his attention off of Yugao and looked to the middle of the room before Yugao groaned in annoyance loudly.
"How many articles he'll take off before he gets his drink back. I say he'll be down to his underwear." I watched Hayate tear off his shirt, crying loudly about how his dear ambrosia was taken from him.
"Shit, a thousand ryo says he's going to be naked." Asuma held out a hand and I shook it.
Yugao got up from her chair and tried to wrestle her boyfriend's clothes back on, the rest of us laughing at the conflict. "Ten thousand says he'll be fully clothed." Kurenai raised the stakes with a smirk. Asuma and I looked between each other before, smirking before the agreement was made.
"What a youthful showing!" Guy leapt from his chair and began to help Hayate… or Yugao, depending on where you saw it from. Asuma, Kurenai and I all took another drink. It was weird how easily people our age could get drinks and such, with just a protector on my forehead, I could buy as much as I wanted!
Raido deadpanned towards the middle of the room. "I can't believe a celebration for both of them turned into babysitting duty." He sighed, grabbing a cider for himself from the fridge.
"I know right, it's great!" I chirped, reaching into my inventory and grabbing a certain bottle out. "While we're waiting, does anyone want a taste of something good?" I lifted a hefty glass bottle onto the table, it was quite the exotic product.
"Straight from the land of waterfalls, Yugi gave it to me as a gift." I explained, turning the bottle around so they could see the label. 'Lightning Spring Distillation.'
"Yugi? And this looks like normal spring water… if a bit yellow." Asuma stared pointedly at the bottle before looking up at me. "But I can tell from that smirk this is a lot more than that."
I laughed and nodded. "Yugi, a good friend of mine that's working in the land of Iron. This however, is something really dangerous… and you can have some!" I offered partially to see what would happen, considering I had a technique to immediately erase the effects, but also because it was allowed recreationally in Konoha, though I doubt they would have seen it before.
"Yeah no." Yugao bonked me on the head a little harder this time. Of course the ANBU member had to kill the fun! Though what I was doing was dangerous, I did plan to explain things thoroughly before I gave them anything.
"Tch." I scoffed jokingly. "Party pooper." I chucked the bottle back into my inventory and pulled out an actual bottle of alcohol, just a red wine from the land of water. "Are you sure we should hold off on cake?" I asked Yugao. The woman shrugged and I pointed a thumb behind me, where Guy and Hayate were now both shirtless and dancing around.
"Ugh." She groaned, I idly pulled the box from my inventory and placed it on the middle of the table. "Hayate! Come here!" She shouted, leaving no room for even a drunken man to argue.
Hayate smiled happily and waltzed over, standing side by side with his girlfriend. Yugao rolled her eyes and picked up a knife, putting Hayate's hand under hers. "Happy birthday you two!" We all cheered, letting the two of them cut through the cake smoothly.
Sadly, I would have to save the special substance for another day… a day when I wasn't ten thousand ryo poorer.
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Hyuuga Compound - 2 days later, 3pm.
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"My lord, it's not as you had hoped…"A side branch member of the Hyuuga, a doctor, was currently examining Hiashi's wife's bloated stomach. She was now 8 months pregnant, it was a bit late but they could now see the results of their attempts.
"Does that mean–" Hiashi began, only for his wife, Natsuko to interrupt.
"A daughter!?" She almost squealed. Hiashi smiled slightly at his wife's demeanor before turning back to the doctor.
"Well, not exactly…" The doctor played with his fingers for a bit, frightened in the face of the Hyuuga.
"There's no point in wasting time, please speak up or I'll have another doctor brought in." Hiashi's impatience clearly showed, the man sat straight up and smiled.
"Not just one, all the tests say you may be having twin daughters. Congratulations, Lord Hiashi." He bowed deeply, his face directed towards the floor.
Hiashi was shocked, he couldn't even tell if his surprise was from disgust or happiness. Sure, he wouldn't get the perfect heir he wanted, but he had not one, but two beautiful girls that would soon be born. Natsuko was far clearer with her thoughts though, cheering at the announcement. "Two!? Hiashi, did you hear that? Two, not one, two girls!"
"Yes, yes, I heard." Hiashi replied, smiling towards his wife before she clamped down her emotions.
"I know it isn't what you–"
"That doesn't matter, all I wanted was an heir. One of my own blood. Thank you for supplying that Natsuko." Natsuko put a goofy grin on her face, holding up a peace sign.
"No problem, anytime!" A small blush creeped onto Hiashi's face before they both burst out into laughter, even the doctor joining in. The joyous environment was interrupted by the arrival of another servant.
"Lord Hiashi, your presence has been requested by Lord Uzumaki." The man said, bowing low at the door. Hiashi's eyes narrowed but he nodded.
"Of course, please set up some tea in the main hall. I'll meet him myself." Hiashi commanded, the servant leaving quickly after another bow. He soon left the room, leaving Natsuko with a grim look on her face.
Shin stood at the front of the compound, two Hyuuga guards standing by his side as an escort before Hiashi made his appearance. "As much as I'd like to know why you're here first, please follow me to the main hall." Shin noticed Hiashi's tone lacked the subtle coldness it often held, but waved it off and followed him regardless.
After sitting down and having their tea served. Hiashi gestured for Shin to speak. "It's not too important of a matter, I just have a few questions. For your ears only." The boy looked around the room, immediately glancing at two guards that had camouflaged themselves in the corners of the room.
Hiashi frowned, but dismissed the guards and turned his attention back to his fellow clan head. "So what is it?"
Shin smiled and held up three fingers. "First, I'd like to congratulate you on your wife's successful pregnancy."
The Hyuuga was slightly stunned, but his frown only grew, his eyes narrowing towards the young man as if trying to burn a hole through him. "How did you find out? Who told you?"
Shin laughed slightly but waved his hand as if to brush off the questions. "Nobody told me, I simply sensed it. Two lifeforms' chakra slowly growing inside of your wife's stomach."
"Sensed it? You can't fool me Uzumaki, please answer my questions honestly or I'll have you removed." Hiashi scoffed, the veins around his eyes slightly pulsing.
"Believe what you want, I was just stating the truth. Second, I'd like to diagnose your wife, or at least give her a checkup. As a medical ninja and sensor, I believe something is… odd about her." Shin became serious near the end of his sentence, making it clear he wasn't joking.
"I have no reason to trust or believe you, so I will not be letting you near my wife, boy." Hiashi scowled and stood from his position, Shin staying seated.
"Finally, I'd like to provide your clan with something I've been working on." Shin procured a scroll from the inside of his robe and threw it to the Hyuuga patriarch.
Hiashi put up his right hand and easily caught it, unfurling it after confirming it wasn't a rigged scroll. "Is this supposed to be–?"
"It's exactly what it looks like, it took a few days of work but I managed to redesign your caged bird seal into 4 designs. Just to give a bit of variety so it isn't such a burden. I'm of the belief it shouldn't be so limiting, so now you can supply a choice to the branch family on where they would like to have it." There were 4 designs on the scroll, all of which could be easily replicated by any one of the Hyuuga seal masters. Though, there were some slight changes Hiashi was inclined to discuss.
"Out of curiosity, why?"
"I was bored." Shin shrugged, taking a sip of his tea. "Plus, it was a fun exercise while I'm working on my skills."
Hiashi looked back at the scroll, using his basic sealing knowledge to try and understand the formations and instructions. 'A bracelet design, a choker, a band, and even just a simple cross. How could he fit so much functionality in such a small seal?'
Shin easily saw through the man's cold exterior and explained. "It looks simple on paper, but as an example, please put some of your chakra into the cross design. Don't worry, it won't apply to you or anything." Hiashi nodded and did so, watching the cross morph into a large windmill shape, before spinning around, leaving kanji in every inch of its wake.
"It's similar to a spiral staircase. I just stacked four restrictor seals and a nerve seal on top of each other."
"I haven't heard of a nerve seal before." Hiashi responded, rolling the scroll back up and stashing it inside of his robe. "I'll take this to our seal masters for them to examine, but for now… I'll let my wife decide if she wants your diagnosis."
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Shin POV
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'Damn I love this skill.' I closed my eyes, turning off 'observe', now called 'extrasensory analysis'. That happened after it combined with my innate sensor abilities. 'System, what's my reputation level with Hiashi?'
"600/1000 in the tolerated category, if you are successful in your quest, that will move into the friend level."
'Ah, how times have changed. I'm striving to be in the friend zone.' I smiled, following Hiashi into a room where his wife was apparently already getting a checkup.
"Hello, sorry to interrupt." I bowed politely, to which the Hyuuga matriarch nodded. "I have reason to believe you may be injured, or have been poisoned. I'd like to give you a checkup, but it's up to you and Lord Hyuuga."
Natsuko looked towards Hiashi, who shrugged. "It's up to you, my love." She frowned slightly, but looked back towards me.
"I'll have Hiashi in here while you do your task. That's my only request." She said calmly.
"Of course, and feel free to have any medical professionals you wish to confirm the actions I am taking." I bowed once again and activated my ketsuryugan, staring deep into her body.
'Clearly poison.' I noted, my eyes being able to stare just deep enough to see her blood running purple past her spine, a surefire sign there was less than necessary oxygen. I also noted the pulses in her chakra. "Has anyone been using something new with you? Like a new brand of tea, or even a cream."
"Not to my knowledge… Hiashi?" Natsuko looked towards the man who frowned.
"Alright, the other option, do you, or have you been getting regular massages?"
"Yes, to help with the back pain." She replied simply.
"A new masseuse, or masseur?"
"Yes, we had one brought in from…"
"The Land of Hot Water." Hiashi reminded his wife.
"I'd like you to bring this person in, along with the creams they use." I requested, turning to Hiashi.
"Why?" He responded, clearly skeptical of my observations.
"I have a feeling they have poisoned you through the use of a cream or moisturizer, whatever they use." Hiashi's frown deepened, but he nodded and left the room.
As soon as he was away, I looked back to Natsuko. "Is that acceptable?"
"Yes. Now why do you have those, and what are they?" She gestured to my eyes and I crossed my arms.
"Let's make a trade. You tell me why you had me kick Hiashi out, after you requested him, and I'll tell you about these." Her chakra pulses earlier were clearly morse code, specifically what she said was 'extra, leave'.
"Fine. Where, and how did you gain those medical skills of yours? I'm well aware of my condition, and it shouldn't have been able to be sensed, even by the byakugan." She narrowed her eyes at me and I smiled slightly.
"Glad to impress. My dojutsu has been with me for years, and it allows me to clearly see, and control blood. My perception goes far enough that I can view inside of people's bodies with enough focus. Your blood flow lacks oxygen, it was easy to tell."
"Blood… was there not a clan with the same optic powers?"
"Yes, I'm a descendant of them, but a far one. Now why have you poisoned yourself, or had yourself poisoned?" I asked. The woman gestured for me to come closer and leaned towards me, telling me something I would never forget.
"Hm, alright. That's… quite the shock." I stumbled backwards but stopped in place. "Though I am going to cure you now, my pride as a human and medical ninja will not let me leave you alone like this."
Right as I finished my declaration, Hiashi re-entered the room with a young blonde man with green eyes and a container in his hands. I nodded and took the container from his hands, 'inspecting' it before I shook my head. "No, this isn't it. Whatever, I'll just diagnose her and call it a day." I put my hands together and had Natsuko lie on her side.
'Blood style: Puncture.' I finished gathering chakra in my hands and placed them against the woman's back, slowly pulling them backwards as a thorn of thick, purple blood pierced her skin and left her body. I trapped it inside of a test tube from my inventory and healed the spot cleanly. "Have your doctors synthesize something to combat this, thank you for letting me treat you." I bowed deeply to Natsuko before leaving, handing the tube to Hiashi on my way out.
'All in a day's work.'
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Flashback - A day ago
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"I'll be explaining your skills to you now. Everything you learn, or skills you gain will create a skill associated with them. This can include jutsu like the fireball jutsu, or mundane tasks like cooking or cleaning. They slowly improve as you use them, and once they hit the maximum proficiency level, they will evolve or combine to create a brand new skill. All of your skill point vouchers that you held in the past have been converted into S POINTS, which can be used at the shop to buy skills you may not come across out in the world. The shop will be further explained later." System explained in a robotic tone, like she was reading from a manual.
'Good to know, open the shop for me please.' I replied, a blue screen appearing in front of me with a currency marked 'S' in the top right corner. Currently, I had 496 S POINTS, enough to buy a skill I was surprised I didn't have yet.
'I'll buy 'Observe' for 400 S POINTS.' The number dropped and a ping blared in my head, with my character sheet having a 1 in the top right, like a little notification. I waved it away and immediately started leveling it up, going as far as walking into the streets where I analyzed every single person until I saw a rare sight, Hiashi and Natsuko walking around outside of the compound. After analyzing the woman, a status effect appeared under her name.
'HEAVILY POISONED'
Quest unlocked!
Save the Matriarch of the Hyuuga clan!
Objective 1: Diagnose and cure the Hyuuga Matriarch
Objective 2: Discover how her condition occurred
Hidden objective 1: ?
Hidden objective 2: ?
Rewards: 10 S POINTS, Dungeon "Hyuuga Manor" unlock, +500 reputation with Hiashi Hyuuga, +1,500 reputation with Natsuko Hyuuga.
Rewards for hidden objectives: 300 S POINTS, Title "Trusted"
Failure rewards: -500 reputation with all Hyuuga clan members, +500 reputation with Natsuko Hyuuga
ACCEPT? [Y/N]
'Wow, new menus, how cool.' I deadpanned at the eccentric text before accepting the quest and walking back home. 'No way the Hyuuga will let me in without compensation, especially Hiashi.'
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Flashback end
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"Quest complete, rewards will be deposited shortly."
"Congratulations on your first quest completion. Seems you missed the hidden objectives though." System laughed slightly at the last part.
'Bite me. What were they?'
"Well, the first one was revealing the truth to Hiashi, and the second was convincing him to get rid of the bird cage seal entirely." System explained.
I rolled my eyes. 'So completely unrelated, great.' My hand gripped the handle to Kakashi's hospital room door and I quickly swung it open, using my palm to bat away the fist that was flying towards me.
"Kakashi? What's wrong?" I asked, taking a step backwards into the hallway. The boy mumbled something back and I rubbed the back of my head. "Of course you can't talk, must be dehydrated, need some water?" I reached into my inventory, grabbing a bottle while keeping my attention on the boy in front of me.
"I finally decided." Kakashi spoke quietly and I narrowed my eyes. He burst forward in a flash of speed, his forehead protector flying off to show his sharingan spinning wildly, the pupil dilated. My hands came up above my face, blocking a right punch before a kick was sent towards my left side.
'Shit.' I coughed, skidding across the tiles before staring at Kakashi. The boy was already running towards me as I cloaked myself in Kurama's chakra, catching his hand before throwing him forwards and chopping the back of his neck to knock him out.
"Something is odd with the boy." Kurama announced.
'Yeah no shit, let's purge it, shall we?' It'd worked for Hayate over time, so no reason it shouldn't work for Kakashi's problem.
"I'm not sure we'll be able to. Give him a cloak, we'll see." I grabbed Kakashi and chucked him over my shoulder, giving him a version 1 cloak. "It's a chakra parasite, seems you were right. I'll burn it up, but it'd be a lot tougher if it was fully matured."
'Fully matured? Can you give me a rundown of what it does?'
"I'm not an omniscient being, brat, plus, it's already dead. Oh, and he's waking up."
Kakashi shuffled on my shoulder before hopping away, his face slightly pink. "Sup."
"W-What happened?" Kakashi asked, standing in a fighting stance.
"Just some stuff, you've been out for about a week. Then you suddenly attacked me. Got any idea on how it all happened?" I dragged him inside of his hospital room and sat him on the bed.
"Yeah, when I went to Mikoto's place, she was like, berserk or something. She tried to kill me, and I escaped with Naruto after getting stabbed with her sword."
"Was there chakra on the blade? Like using a coating technique?"
"I… think so? I remember my chakra strings, when I stuck them to the sword and she channeled her chakra, I felt something like a worm or something crawling across it."
"Alrighty, good to know. Go make a report to the Hokage or something, I'm gonna go home and sleep." I ignored the new quest alert and flickered from the room, leaving Kakashi behind.
Quick chapter that was all over the place, but as promised, the changes to canon ages are listed below. The reason for the changes is at the very end!
Kurenai - 15 - 17
Asuma - 15 - 17
Raido - 19 - 18
Kakashi - 14 - 17
Guy - 14 - 17
Yugao - 10 - 17
Hayate - 11 - 17
Itachi - 5 - 13
Reasoning: Ages were weird and shit.
Anyway, subscribe to the Pat (reon) if you want early chapters and progress!
More system stuff will be spread through the story, to stop a dump from happening like last time with the stats, unless you all like and want that. Go vote on the poll, it's on my page.
That's about it, cya! - tired